The SPEECH.
Lastly, I forgive all who had any hand in the Surrender at Preston; for they have surrender’d away my Life: and I would to God that were the only bad Consequence of it. But alas, it is too plain, that the Surrenderers not only ruin’d many of his Majesty’s brave and faithful Subjects but gave up their King and Country into the Bargain. For it was then in their power to have restor’d the King with Triumph to his Throne; and thereby to have made us a happy People. We had repuls’d our Enemies at every Attack, and were ready, willing, and able to have attack’d them. On our side even our common Men were brave, courageous and resolute; on the other hand, theirs were directly the contrary: insomuch that after they had run away from our first Fire, they could never be brought so much as to endeavour to stand a second. This I think my self oblig’d in Justice to mention, that Mr. Wills may not impose upon the World, as if he and his Troops had conquer’d us, and gain’d the Victory: for the truth is, after we had conquer’d them, our Superiours thought fit to capitulate, and ruin us. I wish them God’s and the King’s Pardon for it.
REMARKS.
This Paragraph is such a fulsom and flagrant Lye, that it would seem the Devil ow’d him a shame. To publish an Untruth of this nature, in view of the Bar of Heaven, proves the poor Man, or at least his Speech-makers, to have been more than case-harden’d. What the Design of the Faction could be, in handing such a Story as this to the World, which can be contradicted by Thousands of Eye-Witnesses, and by Mr. Hall’s Fellow-Rebels as well as by the King’s Troops, is not easy to be imagin’d; unless it be to spirit up the Faction to a new Rebellion, by telling them, that their Friends were Conquerors, but unhappily betray’d into a Surrender by their Leaders. Had this been true, what Fools must their Generals Forster and Mackintosh be to fly from a Government, where they had so much Merit to plead, to another which will certainly hang them, if Mr. Hall’s Accusation obtain Belief? One would be tempted to think, that when Mr. Hall read or sign’d this Speech, he did not expect to have been hang’d, but to have been rescu’d by the Jacobite Mob, and to have set himself at their Head as General; a Post which (if he says true) he certainly deserv’d much better than Lord Derwentwater, Lord Kenmure, or Messieurs Forster and Mackintosh. But be that how it will, if the Rebels make another Attempt, ’tis probable this scandalous Reflection may put our Generals and Soldiers upon another Method of managing the War, than to content themselves with the Surrender of the Jacobites at Discretion: and of what Service Mr. Hall’s Speech may be to his Party in this Case, they themselves are left to judg.
The SPEECH.
May it please the Almighty to bless, preserve, and restore our only Rightful and Lawful Sovereign, King James the Third! May he direct his Councils, and prosper his Arms! May he bring him to his Kingdom, and set the Crown upon his Head! May he protect him from the Malice of his Enemies, and defend him from those who for a Reward would slay him innocent! May he grant him in Health and Wealth long to live! May he strengthen him, that he may vanquish and overcome all his Enemies! And finally, when it pleases his infinite Wisdom to take him out of this World, may he take him to himself, and reward him with an everlasting Crown of Glory in the next!
REMARKS.
All that I shall say to this Paragraph, is, that the Prayers of the Worshipful Justice, and the Reverend Parson, are much of the same Strain, and, no doubt, they’ll meet with the like Answer. Indeed the Justice appears to have been the better Churchman of the two, for he prays for the Church in his second Paragraph, and puts off his Prayers for the King almost till the last; and the Parson shews himself to have been a better Lawyer than the Justice, because he prays for his King first, as the Head of his Church.
The SPEECH.
These, my beloved Countrymen, are the sincere Prayers, these the last Words of me, who am now a dying Person. And if you have any regard to the last Breath of one who is just going out of the World, let me beg of you to be dutiful, obedient, and loyal to your only Sovereign Liege Lord, King James the Third: be ever ready to serve him, and be sure you never fail to use all your Endeavours to restore him; and whatever the Consequence be, remember that you have a good Cause, and a gracious God, and expect your Recompence from him.