[1294] The Laird of Macleod, in a letter to Lord-president Forbes, dated 18th December, 1746, says, “I saw unhappy Lovat to-day. Except for the feebleness of his limbs, his looks are good. He asked me several general questions, and particularly about you;—said he was resigned, and ready to meet his fate, since it was God’s will;—asked after his children, &c.” In another letter to the president, written two days thereafter, he again alludes to his lordship:—“Lovat behaved well at the bar of the house of peers, and they say with spirit. Granville and Bath spoke very strongly with regard to the seizure of his estate and effects; and that matter is ordered to be rectified, except in so far as private creditors come in the way.” Sir Andrew Mitchell, however, who was more of a courtier than Macleod, viewed matters in a different light. In a letter to the president, 26th December, 1746, he remarks, “Your lordship will have heard an account of Lord Lovat’s behaviour; and, therefore, I shall not trouble you with the particulars; only, I must observe, there was neither dignity nor gravity in it: he appeared quite unconcerned; and what he said was ludicrous and buffoonish; but his petition for the restoration of his effects, &c., was bold and well worded; which, however, would have been passed over without notice, had not Lord Granville bounced, and Lord Bath vapoured, and procured an order to be entered in the Journals, and have by that acquired to themselves a sort of popularity, which you know they very much wanted. No Scots nobleman spoke on this occasion; they are prudent and cautious. God bless them!”—Culloden Papers.
[1295] Trial published by order of the House of Peers. London, 1747.
[1296] He made several appeals calculated to move commiseration for his grey hairs. “My lords,” he said, at the commencement, “I have not had the use of my limbs these three years; I cannot see, I cannot hear; and I beg, if your lordships have a mind I should have any chance of my life, that you will allow either my counsel or solicitors to examine my witnesses, and to cross-examine those produced on behalf of the crown, and to take notes.” If he had been tried, on the charges brought against him, in Scotland forty-six years earlier, he would have been allowed this privilege; but the rules of English law confined the assistance of counsel, in cases of treason, to purely legal questions. At the conclusion of the second day he complained of the hardships of the early daily attendance to one of his infirm constitution, and said, “I must therefore beg that your lordships will indulge me with a later hour and some respite; otherwise I shall die at your bar,” but the request seems to have been unheeded. Another appeal of the same description, in which he said, “I fainted away thrice this morning before I came up to your lordships’ bar; but yet was determined to show my respect to your lordships, or die upon the spot,” produced a respite of a day.—Burton’s Life of Lovat, p. 257.
[1297] Burton’s Lovat, pp. 262, 263.
[1298] Culloden Papers, p. 302.
[1299] Burton’s Lovat, p. 265.
[1300] Burton’s Lovat, p. 265.
[1301] Vide Letter in the Stuart Papers from the Rev. Myles Macdonell to the Chevalier de St. George, dated St. Amiens, 4th May, 1747.
[1302] Among these were the Earls of Traquair and Kellie, Robert Maccarty, styling himself Lord Clancarty, Sir James Stewart of Good Trees; Sirs John Douglas, James Harrington, James Campbell, William Dunbar, and Alexander Bannerman; Archibald Stewart, late provost of Edinburgh, Chisholm of Comar, Cameron of Dungallon, Drummond of Bochaldy, Fraser of Foyers, Farquharson of Bulmarrell, Fraser of Avochnacloy, Dow Fraser of Little Garth, Fraser of Browich, Fraser of Gortuleg, Gordon of Abochie, Grant of Glenmoriston, Hunter of Burnside, Hay younger of Rannus, Irvine of Drum, Macdonald of Barisdale, M’Gregor of Glengyle, Macleod of Raasay, Gilbert Menzies, younger of Pitfodels, Moir of Stonywood, Æneas Macdonald, James Macdonald, brother to Kinlochmoidart, Macdonell of Glengarry, Macdonald of Glenco, Robertson of Strowan, Robertson of Faskally, Robertson of Blairfetty, Stuart of Kynnachin, Turner, younger of Turner-hall, &c., &c.
Among those formerly attainted and excepted in the above-mentioned act, were the following, viz., Lords Pitsligo, Elcho, Nairne, and Ogilvy, Lord George Murray, Lord Lewis Gordon, Lord John Drummond, —— Drummond, eldest son of Lord Strathallan, the Master of Lovat, Graham of Duntroon, Sir William Gordon of Park, Gordon of Glenbucket, young Lochiel, Dr. Cameron, Cameron of Tor Castle, young Clanranald, Lochgarry, young Barisdale, Macdonald of Glencoe, Macpherson of Cluny, Maclachlan of Castle Lachlan, Mackinnon of Mackinnon, Stewart of Ardshiel, Lockhart, younger of Carnwath, Oliphant of Gask and his eldest son, Graham of Airth, Roy Stewart, Farquharson of Monalterye, Hay of Restalrig, &c.