There were noble men among these unfortunate Jacobites. The Earl of Derwentwater and his brother Charles Radcliffe; the three brothers, Lord Widdrington, with Charles and Peregrine Widdrington; old Edward Howard, brother of the Duke of Norfolk; even Alexander and William, sons of Sir Alexander Dalmahoy, were bound together. Two other brothers, John and James Paterson, of Preston Hall, were also in fond, but melancholy, companionship. William Shaftoe, of Bevington, had his son, John Shaftoe, at his side; two other Shaftoes, kinsmen of the former, and also father and son, rode near them. John Cotton, of Geding in Huntingdonshire, supported his father, Robert Geding. Two brothers Swinburne were among the prisoners, but not their father, Sir William. James Dalzell cheered the drooping spirits of his nephew, the Earl of Carnwath. Two Heskeths of Whitehill, Gabriel and Cuthbert, were pointed out by the soldiery as another father and son. In the same relationship were the two George Homes of Wedderburn; the George and Alexander Home of Whitfield; and George and John Winraham of Eymouth. William and George Maxwell were two brothers. Of cousins there were many. And among those of best blood not yet named were the Earls of Nithsdale and Winton, Viscount Kenmure, and Lord Nairn, with the Master of Nairn, his son. The flower of Northumberland chivalry, members of the old church, were there, Ordes, Forsters, Griersons, Riddells, Thorntons, Claverings, and Scotts. These, with commoner men, yet men in all essentials of manhood equal in quality, descended Highgate Hill amid crowds of spectators, who lined the roads from the hill to the Tower, the Fleet, Newgate, or the Marshalsea, into which prisons the noble herd was driven, according to their degree of nobility. ‘The crowd gave most remarkable demonstration of their abhorrence of this rebellion and of their loyalty to his Majesty,’ so says the ‘London Gazette;’ and no one expected it to say otherwise.
ARRIVAL IN TOWN.
Even a Quaker could exult at the sight of the procession of captives. Gerard Penrice, a prisoner, gave the following instance in his so-called ‘Life of Charles Radcliffe’: ‘A Quaker fixed his eyes upon me, and distinguishing what I was, said, “Friend, verily thou hast been the Trumpeter of Rebellion to these men. Thou must answer for them.” Upon this a Grenadier gave him a push with the butt end of his musket, so that the Spirit fell into the ditch. While sprawling on his back, he told the soldier, “Thou hast not used me civilly. I doubt thou art not a real friend to King George.”’
From first to last the prisoners had looked to be rescued. The Highlanders asked where the High Church Tories were? If they had had no heart for the fight, could not they now come to the rescue? Forster told his fellow-captives that a gentleman of Highgate had assured him that a Tory mob would rescue them before they reached London. Nothing came of it. Forster thought his quality might have taken him to the Tower instead of to Newgate. ‘When,’ says a Whig paper, ‘he understood that Gordon, Carr (Kerr), and Dorrell were executed the day before, and their quarters then in the box just by, in order to be set upon the gates, it spoiled his stomach so that he could not eat with his then unhappy companions. It was the Whig crowd that shouted at the prisoners in a triumphant manner. Not only were the streets thronged, every coign of vantage in and about the houses was occupied, and spectators on horseback and in coaches accompanied, followed, and in some cases drew up to enjoy the pitiful, yet triumphant spectacle. ‘It gave a very lively idea,’ said the ‘Flying Post,’ ‘of the triumphs of the ancient Romans when they led their captives to Rome.’
THE JACOBITE CHAPLAIN.
The rebel chaplain-general, Mr. Patten, rode by the side of the ex-Northumbrian M.P. Forster, the leader of the English Jacobites. It is hard to say which was the most coarsely assailed. The chaplain was audacious enough to talk treason as he went on his way. Forster was more reticent, but he was loudly taunted as a perjurer. He had taken the oaths to King George, before he transferred his loyalty to King James. The slang term for him was, ‘the Man under the Rose.’
Of priests and clergymen among the prisoners, few attracted more attention than this Rev. Mr. Patten. The Londoners looked with curiosity on a man who had delivered a sermon from such a significant text as the following—Isaiah xiii. 15, 16, ‘Every one that is found shall be thrust through, and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes. Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.’ This looks like a weak invention of the enemy, but it was believed in, at least by the Whigs. Even while the procession of captives was passing, swords were drawn at tavern doors, and in tavern rooms. If a Whig was there to call Mar a villain, and the prisoners hang-birds, a Jacobite’s rapier was speedily thrusting at his ribs to teach the other better manners.
LADY COWPER’S TESTIMONY.
Lady Cowper confirms these accounts. In her Diary, under date, December, 1715, she says:—‘This week the prisoners were brought to town from Preston. They came in with their arms tied, and their horses (with the bridles taken off), led each by a soldier. The mob insulted them terribly, carrying a warming-pan before them, and saying a thousand barbarous things which some of the prisoners returned with spirit. The chief of my father’s family was among them. He is above seventy years old.’ Lady Cowper’s maiden name was Judith Clavering; and it was the aged chief of that Jacobite house who rode defiantly through the Low Church blackguards. ‘A desperate fortune,’ adds Lady Cowper, ‘had drawn him from home, in hopes to have repaired it. I did not see them come into town, nor let any of my children do so. I thought it would be an insulting of the relations I had here; though almost everybody went to see them.’
JACOBITE REPORTS.