Thos. Waite.
To His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretarys of State, the Petition of Alexander Grant of Shewgly, Esq., James Grant his son, and the Rev. Mr. John Grant, minister of the Gospel at Urquhart, prisoners in Tilbury fort.[583]
Humbly sheweth, that Lewis Grant of Grant, Esqr, son of Sir James Grant, Bart, having with his men, some days after the Battle of Culloden, joyned his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland did by his Royal Highness’s Permission march with them to the Country of Urquhart near Inverness, to seize and bring in such Rebels as should be found in arms against the Government, That finding none he apply’d to your Petitioners who were then (as they had been ever since this unhappy rebellion) quiet and peaceable at their respective Homes entreating them as persons of Rank and Figure in that Country to use their best endeavours with such Rebels as might be still in Arms, to lay them down and surrender to the said Mr. Grant, with assurances that he would intercede with his Royal Highness in their behalf, and that after such surrender they should be permitted to return to their respective Places of Abode.
That your Petitioners were so successful as to prevail upon 84 Rebels of the name of Grant to surrender themselves and their arms to the said Mr. Grant, which he then thankfully and gratefully acknowledged as an event that would entitle him to some merit in his Royal Highnesses eye, and desired your Petitioners to accompany him and the said Rebel prisoners to Inverness, which they did.
That your Petitioners to their own, as well as the Neighbourhoods great surprise, were upon their Arrival at Inverness represented as Rebels and corresponding with those in open arms and as prisoners taken by him, and upon such false Information confined by his Royal Highness and have since been sent up prisoners without the least ground or charge but the false Information given by the said Mr. Grant.
That your Petitioners tho’ conscious of their own Innocence, and free from any guilt, have upon the said false Information been sent from Inverness to England and have in the course of the voyage been in no shape distinguished from those in open Rebellion, that from the great Hardships they have suffer’d, one of your Petitioners Alexander Grant near 70 years old, and a creditor by Mortgage for large sums of money upon the said Mr. Lewis Grant’s Estate, has been seized with and still lies ill of a Malignant Fever, and being, by Reason of his close confinement deprived of any assistance, is in danger of losing his Life whereby the said Mr. Lewis Grant’s sordid ends would be answered should this Petitioner die while under so heavy a charge as that of Treason.
Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your Grace to take this their very hard case into consideration and admit them to liberty upon reasonable Bail to answer such charges as shall be brought against them, or, at least, to change their present Confinement into a more comfortable one with Liberty to an Agent to repair to them at seasonable Times, the better to enable them to manifest their Innocence, and the Falsehood and Malice of the Charge against them, when called to an open trial.
And your Petitioners shall ever Pray
Letter from Sir Dudley Ryder,[584] Attorney-General and the Hon. William Murray, [585] Solicitor-General to the Secretary of State.
To His Grace the Duke of Newcastle