[467a] Charles Mohun, fifth Baron Mohun, had been twice arraigned of murder, but acquitted; and during his short but turbulent life he had taken part in many duels. Even Burnet could say nothing in his favour.
[467b] This duel between the Duke of Hamilton (see p. [262]) and Lord Mohun, who had married nieces of Lord Macclesfield, had its origin in a protracted dispute about some property. The challenge came from Lord Mohun, and the combatants fought like “enraged lions.” Tory writers suggested that the duel was a Whig conspiracy to get rid of the Duke of Hamilton (Examiner, Nov. 20, 1712). The whole subject is discussed from the Whig point of view in Boyer’s Political State for 1712, pp. 297–326.
[467c] “Will” (MS.).
[467e] George Maccartney (see pp. [89], [387]) fought at Almanza, Malplaquet, and Douay. After the duel, Maccartney escaped to Holland, but on the accession of George I. he returned to England, and was tried for murder (June 1716), when Colonel Hamilton gave evidence against him. Hamilton’s evidence was discredited, and he found it necessary to sell his commission and leave the country. Maccartney was found guilty as an accessory, and “burnt” in the hand. Within a month he was given an appointment in the army; and promoted to be Lieutenant-General. He died in 1730.
[467f] Colonel John Hamilton, of the Scots Guards. He surrendered himself, and was tried at the Old Bailey on Dec. 12, 1712, when he was found guilty of manslaughter, on two indictments; and on the following day he was “burnt” in the hand. Hamilton died in October 1716, soon after Maccartney’s trial, from a sudden vomiting of blood.
[467g] “That” (MS.).
[468a] The story (as told in the Tory Postboy of Nov. 11 to 13) was that on Nov. 4 a bandbox was sent to the Earl of Oxford by post. When he began to open it he saw a pistol, whereupon a gentleman present [Swift] asked for the box, and opening it, by the window, found powder, nails, etc., so arranged that, if opened in the ordinary way, the whole would have been fired, and two barrels discharged different ways. No doubt a box so packed was received, but whether anything serious was intended, or whether it was a hoax, cannot be said with any certainty. The Earl of Oxford is said to have met allusions to the subject with a smile, and Swift seems to have been annoyed at the reports which were put into circulation.
[468b] “We have received a more particular account relating to the box sent to the Lord Treasurer, as mentioned in our last, which is as follows,” etc. (Evening News, Nov. 11 to 13, 1712).
[468c] Either A Letter to the People, to be left for them at the Booksellers, with a word or two of the Bandbox Plot (by T. Burnet), 1712, or An Account of the Duel . . ., with Previous Reflections on Sham Plots (by A. Boyer), 1712. Swift’s connection with the Bandbox Plot was ridiculed in the Flying Post for Nov. 20 to 22.