THE PRETENDER ESCAPES TO FRANCE.
The humane reader cannot reflect upon such a scene without grief and horror; what then must have been the sensation of the fugitive prince, when he beheld these spectacles of woe, the dismal fruit of his ambition? He was now surrounded by armed troops, that chased him from hill to dale, from rock to cavern, and from shore to shore. Sometimes he lurked in caves and cottages, without attendants, or any other support but that which the poorest peasant could supply. Sometimes he was rowed in fisher-boats from isle to isle among the Hebrides, and often in sight of his pursuers. For some days he appeared in woman’s attire, and even passed through the midst of his enemies unknown. But understanding his disguise was discovered, he assumed the habit of a travelling mountaineer, and wandered about among the woods and heaths, with a matted beard, and squalid looks, exposed to hunger, thirst, and weariness, and in continual danger of being apprehended. He was obliged to trust his life to the fidelity of above fifty individuals, and many of these were in the lowest paths of fortune. They knew that a price of thirty thousand pounds was set upon his head; and that, by betraying him, they should enjoy wealth and affluence: but they detested the thought of obtaining riches on such infamous terms, and ministered to his necessities with the utmost zeal and fidelity, even at the hazard of their own destruction. In the course of these peregrinations, he was more than once hemmed in by his pursuers in such a manner as seemed to preclude all possibility of escaping; yet he was never abandoned by his hope and recollection; he still found some expedient that saved him from captivity and death; and through the whole course of his distresses maintained the most amazing equanimity and good humour. At length a privateer of Saint Malo, hired by the young Sheridan and some other Irish adherents, arrived in Lochnannach; and on the twentieth day of September, this unfortunate prince embarked in the habit which he wore for disguise. His eye was hollow, his visage wan, and his constitution greatly impaired by famine and fatigue. He was accompanied by Cameron of Lochiel and his brother, with a few other exiles. They set sail for France, and after having passed unseen, by means of a thick fog, through a British squadron commanded by admiral Lestock, and been chased by two English ships of war, arrived in safety at Roscau, near Morlaix, in Bretagne. Perhaps he would have found it still more difficult to escape, had not the vigilance and eagerness of the government been relaxed, in consequence of a report that he had already fallen among some persons that were slain by a volley from one of the duke’s detachments.
CONVULSION IN THE MINISTRY.
Having thus explained the rise, progress, and extinction of the rebellion, it will be necessary to take a retrospective view of the proceedings in parliament. The necessary steps being taken for quieting the intestine commotions of the kingdom, the two houses began to convert their attention to the affairs of the continent. On the fourteenth day of January, the king repaired to the house of peers, and, in a speech from the throne, gave his parliament to understand that the states-general had made pressing instances for his assistance in the present conjuncture, when they were in such danger of being oppressed by the power of France in the Netherlands; that he had promised to co-operate with them towards opposing the further progress of their enemies; and even concerted measures for that purpose. He declared it was with regret that he asked any further aids of his people; he exhorted them to watch over the public credit; and expressed his entire dependence on their zeal and unanimity. He was favoured with loyal addresses, couched in the warmest terms of duty and affection; but the supplies were retarded by new convulsions in the ministry. The earl of Granville had made an effort to retrieve his influence in the cabinet, and his sovereign favoured his pretensions. The two brothers, who knew his aspiring genius, and dreaded his superior talents, refused to admit such a colleague into the administration; they even resolved to strengthen their party, by introducing fresh auxiliaries into the office of state. Some of these were personally disagreeable to his majesty, who accordingly rejected the suit by which they were recommended. The duke of Newcastle and his brother, with all their adherents, immediately resigned their employments. The earl of Granville was appointed secretary of state, and resumed the reins of administration; but, finding himself unequal to the accumulated opposition that preponderated against him; foreseeing that he should not be able to secure the supplies in parliament; and dreading the consequence of that confusion which his restoration had already produced, he, in three days, voluntarily quitted the helm; and his majesty acquiesced in the measures proposed by the opposite party. The seals were re-delivered to the duke of Newcastle and the earl of Harrington; Mr. Pel-ham, and all the rest who had resigned, were reinstated in their respective employments; and offices were conferred on several individuals who had never before been in the service of the government. William Pitt, esq., was appointed vice-treasurer of Ireland, and soon promoted to the place of paymaster-general of the forces; at the same time the king declared him a privy-counsellor. This gentleman had been originally designed for the army, in which he actually bore a commission; but fate reserved him a more important station. In point of fortune he was barely qualified to be elected member of parliament, when he obtained a seat in the house of commons, where he soon outshone all his compatriots. He displayed a surprising extent and precision of political knowledge, an irresistible energy of argument, and such power of elocution as struck his hearers with astonishment and admiration. It flashed like the lightning of heaven against the ministers and sons of corruption, blasting where it smote, and withering the nerves of opposition; but his more substantial praise was founded upon his disinterested integrity his incorruptible heart, his unconquerable spirit of independence, and his invariable attachment to the interest and liberty of his country.
The quiet of the ministry being re-established, the house of commons provided for forty thousand seamen, nearly the same number of land forces, besides fifteen regiments raised by the nobility on account of the rebellion, and about twelve thousand marines. They settled funds for the maintenance of the Dutch and Hessian troops that were in England, as well as for the subsidy to the landgrave. They granted three hundred thousand pounds to the king of Sardinia; four hundred thousand pounds to the queen of Hungary; three hundred and ten thousand pounds to defray the expense of eighteen thousand Hanoverians; about three-and-thirty thousand pounds in subsidies to the electors of Mentz and Cologn; and five hundred thousand pounds in a vote of credit and confidence to his majesty. The whole charge of the current year amounted to seven millions two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, which was raised by the land and malt taxes, annuities on the additional duties imposed on glass and spirituous liquors, a lottery, a deduction from the sinking fund, and exchequer bills, chargeable on the first aids that should be granted in the next session of parliament.
TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE REBELS.
The rebellion being quelled, the legislature resolved to make examples of those who had been concerned in disturbing the peace of their country. In June, an act of attainder was passed against the principal persons who had embarked in that desperate undertaking; and courts were opened in different parts of England for the trial of the prisoners. Seventeen persons who had borne arms in the rebel army were executed at Kennington Common, in the neighbourhood of London, and suffered with great constancy under the dreadful tortures which their sentence prescribed; nine were put to death in the same manner at Carlisle; six at Brampton, seven at Penrith, eleven at York: of these a considerable number were gentlemen, and had acted as officers; about fifty had been executed as deserters in different parts of Scotland; eighty-one suffered the pains of the law as traitors. A few obtained pardons, and a considerable number were transported to the plantations. Bills of indictment for high treason were found by the county of Surrey against the earls of Kilmarnock and Cromartie, and lord Balmerino. These noblemen were tried by their peers in Westminster-hall, the lord chancellor presiding as lord high-steward for the occasion. The two earls confessed their crimes, and in pathetic speeches recommended themselves to his majesty’s mercy. Lord Balmerino pleaded not guilty; he denied his having been at Carlisle at the time specified in the indictment, but this exception was over-ruled; then he moved a point of law in arrest of judgment, and was allowed to be heard by his counsel. They might have expatiated on the hardship of being tried by an ex post facto law; and claimed the privilege of trial in the county where the act of treason was said to have been committed. The same hardship was imposed upon all the imprisoned rebels: they were dragged in captivity to a strange country, far from their friends and connexions, destitute of means to produce evidence in their favour, even if they had been innocent of the charge. Balmerino waived this plea, and submitted to the court, which pronounced sentence of death upon him and his two associates. Cromartie’s life was spared; but the other two were beheaded, in the month of August, on Tower-hill. Kilmarnock was a nobleman of fine personal accomplishments; he had been educated in revolution principles, and engaged in the rebellion partly from the desperate situation of his fortune, and partly from resentment to the government, on his being deprived of a pension which he had for some time enjoyed. He was convinced of his having acted criminally, and died with marks of penitence and contrition. Balmerino had been bred up to arms, and acted upon principle: he was gallant, brave, rough, and resolute; he eyed the implements of death with the most careless familiarity, and seemed to triumph in his sufferings. In November, Mr. Ratcliffe, the titular earl of Derwentwater, who had been taken in a ship bound for Scotland, was arraigned on a former sentence passed against him in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixteen: he refused to acknowledge the authority of the court, and pleaded that he was a subject of France, honoured with a commission in the service of his most christian majesty. The identity of his person being proved, a rule was made for his execution; and on the eighth day of December he suffered decapitation, with the most perfect composure and serenity. Lord Lovat, now turned of four-score, was impeached by the commons, and tried in Westminster-hall before the lord high-steward. John Murray, secretary to the prince-pretender, and some of his own domestics, appearing against him, he was convicted of high treason, and condemned. Notwithstanding his age, infirmities, and the recollection of his conscience, which was supposed to be not altogether void of offence, he died like an old Roman, exclaiming, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” He surveyed the crowd with attention, examined the axe, jested with the executioner, and laid his head upon the block with the utmost indifference. From this last scene of his life, one would have concluded that he had approved himself a patriot from his youth, and never deviated from the paths of virtue.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760