|
THE EARL OF NITHSDALE
FORTIFIES HIS CASTLES IN THE INTERESTS OF THE KING-DESCRIPTION OF
CARLAVEROCK AS RECONSTRUCTED, AND THRIEVE -BOTH OF THE CASTLES SURRENDER
TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL HOME, WITH CONSENT OF THE KING-TERMS OF THEIR
CAPITULATION- THE "PLENISHING" OF CARLAVEROCK: ITS RICH FURNISHINGS AND
EXTENSIVE LIBRARY-BOTH STRONGHOLDS PARTIALLY DEMOLISHED-PROVOST CORSANE
SUSPECTED OF INTRIGUING WITH THE ROYALISTS-METEORIC CAREER OF MONTROSE -
HE OCCUPIES DUMFRIES-CALLENDAR APPEARS IN THE VICINITY OF THE TOWN WITH A
COVENANTING FORCE, AND MONTROSE RETIRES INTO NORTHUMBERLAND- HE COMPLAINS
OF HAVING BEEN DECEIVED BY HARTFELL AND OTHER DUMFRIESSHIRE BARONS-HIS
BRILLIANT ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE HIGHLANDS - HIS BRIEF DICTATORSHIP, AND
UTTER OVERTHROW AT PHILIPHAUGH-DEATH OF CROMWELL, AND RESTORATION OF
CHARLES II.
MEANWHILE, as we have said,
the Earl of Nithsdale was fortifying his strongholds, and preparing to
make a bold stand in the district on behalf of King Charles. He could do
nothing for the royal cause in Dumfries, as the inhabitants were opposed
to it; and its places of strength, even if they had been held by him, were
of little value in a military sense. The Castle, though partially
repaired, still bore evidence of the rough handling given to it by Lord
Scrope in 1570. Thirteen years afterwards, a second fortress, on a small
scale, was built eastward of the ancient Market Cross, and north of the
present Queensberry Monument. In contrast to the old decayed Castle, it
was called the New Wark. It was a dull, heavy pile, composed of two
stories above the street level, with a bartizan running along the top to
protect the garrison, and strong vaults underground, in which the movable
property of the inhabitants was stowed away in periods of danger. The New
Wark was often of good service when raiding moss-troopers from the Border
paid hostile visits to the Burgh; but a party of Covenanters, armed with
cannon, would have made short work with its defences.
Carlaverock and Thrieve,
however, were still strong; and into each of these castles Lord Nithsdale
threw a portion of his retainers, with sufficient warlike stores and
provisions to fit them for a lengthened siege. When Cambden, in 1607, saw
Carlaverock, it was, lie tells us, "a weak house of the Maxwells," Lords
Sussex and Scrope having all but ruined it. In the course of a few years
it rose into a state of greater magnificence than ever; the first Earl of
Nithsdale employing the best architectural and engineering skill to make
it at once a palatial residence and a first-class fortress. The triangular
form, with a round tower at each corner, was retained. The moats were
deepened, so as to make the Solway waters, near which it stood, more
available for defensive purposes. A massive gateway, pierced by a narrow
curtain, and having a tower on each side, formed a colossal front, Over
the arch of the gate was sculptured the Nithsdale crest-a stag attired
proper, lodged before a holly-bush, with a shield resting on its fore
legs, bearing the Maxwell saltier, and the motto below, "I bid ye fair."
This escutcheon was surrounded by other heraldic decorations: the
well-known double-headed eagle of the Maxwells occupied the sinister chief
corner; in the dexter corner was displayed the royal arms of Scotland; a
band between six crosslets in the dexter corner of the base marked the
relationship which subsisted between the Maxwells and Douglas, Earl of
Mar; and the sinister corner of the base told their connection with the
Stewarts of Dalswinton, a daughter of whose house was mother of the first
Lord Maxwell.
Entered by the gateway was
a spacious triangular court, the east side of which, three stories high,
constituted the family residence; and so florid was its outside, and so
rich its furnishings, that it might have become the abode of royalty. On
the pediments of the lower story were engraved the Nithsdale arms, with
the initials of Robert, the first Earl, and his wife Elizabeth. A
heart-shaped shield, with the plain Maxwell saltier, was carved above the
first window; a shield, with the two-headed eagle, charged with a smaller
shield and saltier, surmounted by a coronet, rose above the second
staircase window: the third window was similarly adorned, excepting that
it wanted the supporters; and the fourth bore the familiar holly-bush,
with its usual occupant the stag. Above the first court door a huge eagle,
defensive-like, spread its wings, having below it a shield, and on each
side a rose. Two guardian cherubs supported a shield over the first window
of the second story, the shield displaying a double-headed eagle, charged
as before, and having under it the mask of a human head, with hands
drawing the jaws apart in such a way as to give a most grotesque
expression to the face. A tree, carved above the right-hand side of the
second window of the second story, bore, as emblematic fruit, a tiny
shield, with the Maxwell saltier and coronet, their owner being indicated
by the initials R.E.N. cut below. From a second tree, on the other side of
the window, hung similar fruitage, only that the initials were E. C. N.,
those of the noble Countess of Nithsdale. The lavish ornamentation of this
part of the castle was crowned by a series of classical groups, placed
over the three third-story windows, the subjects of which were taken from
"Ovid's Metamorphoses."
Such was the strong and
beautiful house which constituted the forlorn hope of royalty in Nithsdale:
not strong enough to resist the war-engines which were soon arrayed
against it; too beautiful to be marred by the baptism of their relentless
fire.
The Estates in Edinburgh
were duly apprised of Maxwell's hostile preparations; and as the South
Regiment, under Lord Kirkcudbright, was yet in an undisciplined condition,
they sent down a body of troops under an experienced officer -
Lieutenant-Colonel John Home - to lay siege to both Carlaverock and
Thrieve, so as to keep them from becoming rallying points for the
royalists. Colonel Home's contingent formed a portion of the Scottish army
sent southward under General Leslie in the autumn of 1640; and whilst
Leslie passed with his "blue bonnets over the Border," to co-operate with
the Parliamentary forces in England, Home invested Thrieve and Carlaverock,
and thus took one of the initiatory steps of the great civil war which
convulsed the island for eleven years.
Thrieve, as has been
already shown, was the chief castle of the Douglasses in Galloway. On
their downfall, it became the property of the Crown; and by a royal grant,
dated September 9th, 1524, this fortress, and that of Lochmaben, with all
their perquisites and appendages, and all the King's lands at Duncow,
Dumfriesshire, and the office of Steward of Kirkcudbright, were given to
Robert, Lord Maxwell, and the longest survivor of his sons, for a period
of nineteen years. The Maxwells continued to be keepers of Thrieve till
the forfeiture of the last Earl of Nithsdale, in 1715.
When Colonel Home laid
siege to Thrieve, it consisted of a colossal square tower, buttressed by
round turrets at each corner, the whole surrounded by a stout envelope,
with curtains for cannon, and occupying an islet of sixteen Scotch acres
in the river Dee. Its surviving relics still attest its ancient stability
and importance. The garrison consisted of eighty men, and that of
Carlaverock of a hundred, besides officers. Nithsdale held both castles
bravely for thirteen weeks; but finding that he was hard pressed, and
likely to be overcome, he sent a communication from Carlaverock, apprising
the King of the straits to which he was reduced, and of the alternative
which awaited him of accepting certain terms offered by the besiegers, or
being soon forced to surrender at discretion, if not relieved. His
Majesty, in reply, sent a letter suitably addressed, which ran thus:
"CHARLES R. - Right trusty
and right well beloved cosen and councellor, we greet you well. Whereas
you have represented unto us by your letter of the 12th of September, that
those who have besieged you so long in the Castle of Carlaverock have now
offered you honourable conditions to come out; and forasmuch as our
affairs permit not to relieve you so soon as we had determined, and as
seemss your necessities require, and being withal most willing to free
your person from further danger, and to ease you of the trouble and toyle
you have sustained by so long a siege, we do hereby (graciously
condescending unto your humble request) give you leave to embrace and
accept the aforesaid conditions, for the safety and preservation of your
person and estate, having withal a regard to our honour, so far as the
necessity of your present condition will permit; and we shall still, as we
have done hithertoo, continue our gracious esteem of you. Given at our
Court at York, this 15th day of September, in the sixteenth year of our
reign, 1640."
This royal epistle was
followed by another, addressed as before, and written later on the same
day, in these terms:" CHARLES R.-Right trusty and well beloved cousen and
counsellor, we greet you well. Understanding by this bearer, that altho
you were agreed with those that have beleaguered you in Carlaverock upon
honourable terms, for your coming forth, and rendering thereof, yet that
those conditions are not valid untill such time that they be ratified by
those that have made themselves members of the great Committee in
Edinburgh, and fearing that your enemies there will not give way to your
coming forth on such good terms, we are therefore graciously pleased, and
by these presents do permit and give you leave to take such conditions as
you can get, whereby the lives and liberties of yourself, your family, and
those that are with you, may be preserved: and in case they should urge
the surrending of our Castle of Thrieve, which hitherto you have so well
defended (and we wish you were able to do so still), our gracious pleasure
is that you do rather quit the same unto them; which, if so the necessity
require you, to do so on the best and most honourable terms you can,
rather than hazard the safety of your own person, and those with you; and
in such case this shall be your warrant and discharge. Given at our Court
at York, the 15th day of September, in the sixteenth year of our reign,
1640."
In accordance with the
permission thus granted, both fortresses were surrendered to the
Covenanting officer, after the annexed form of capitulation had been
signed by him and Nithsdale:
"At Dumfries, the 1st day
of October, 1640: The qlk day pns. of the Committee of Nithsdale, residing
at Dumfries, compeared Lieutenant-Colonel Home, and gave in and produced
the articles of capitulation past betwixt Robert, Earl of Nithsdale, and
the said Lieutenant-Colonel at the Castle of Carlaverock, the 26th day of
September last by past, and desired the said articles to be insert and
registrate in the bukes of the said committee, and that the extract throf
might be patent to any party havand interest, and the principal articles
redilevered to him, qlk the said committee thought reasonable; of the qlk
articles the tenor follows, viz.: - Articles condescended upon betwixt the
Earl of Nithsdale and Lieutenant-Colonel Home, the 26th day of September,
1640, at the Castle of Carlaverock. For the first article, it is
condescended on that for my Lord, his friends and followers, that there
shall no other course be taken with him and them in their religions than
with others of his or their professions. Whereas it is desired be my Lord
that he, his friends and followers, be no farther troubled in their
persons, houses, and estates, house-guides therein, then according to the
common course of the kingdom; it is agreed unto, that no other course
shall be taken with him and his foresaids, then with others of his and
their professions. Whereas, it is desired he and they may sorte out with
bag and baggage, trunks, household stuff, belonging, on their honour and
credit, to his Lordship and them, wt. safe conduct to the Langholm, or any
other place within Nithsdale, is granted. Whereas it is desired be my Lord
that guides intromitt with belonging to his Lordship's friends and
followers, restitution thereof be made; it is agreed to what course shall
be taken with others of his and thr condition shall be taken with him and
them. It is condescended upon be my Lord, takend the burden on him for
himself, his friends and followers, that he nor they sall not, in any time
coming, tack arms in prejudice of this kingdom, nor shall have any
intelligence with any prejudice thereof, upon their honour and credit. It
is condescended on be my Lord and his friends and followers, that they
sall contribute and do every thing lying incumbent on them, according to
the general course of the kingdom. Lastly, it is condescended on be my
Lord, his friends and followers, that he and they sall deliver up the
house and fortalice of Carlaverock to Lieutenant-Colonel Home, wt the
cannon, superplus of ammunition, and other provisions; and that he shall
remove himself, officers, and whole garrison and followers; out of the
said castle and fortalice; and this his Lordship obleist himself and his
to perform, upon his honour and credit, betwixt this and the 29th day of
September instant, 1640. Sic subscribitur: Nithsdale.- JON HOME."
The "bag and baggage,
trunks and household stuff," "left in the house of Carlaverock at my
Lord's departure," were worth bargaining about. Fortunately the list of
them made at the time, and duly attested by witnesses, has been preserved,
as it affords us a singularly interesting peep into a seventeenth-century
nobleman's household. The Earl of Nithsdale was addicted to literary and
scientific pursuits, and on this account was popularly called "The
Philosopher:" that a large stock of books should therefore figure in the
catalogue, is less surprising. There were lavish furnishings for the mind,
as well as sumptuous upholstery, luxurious apparel, and rich dainties for
the palate. The library is stated to have "stood my Lord two hundred pound
sterling," an immense sum (equal to a thousand pounds of our present
money) to be spent on books at that period. In one cellar were four
barrels of the wine which Falstaff favoured; in another, three hogsheads
of claret. We read that in my lord's chamber there was " a bed furnished
with damask, and laid over with gold lace;" that there was in my lady's
chamber "a burd and a falling bed." Musical instruments and pictures enter
into the list: but all else of a material kind was cast into the shade by
the number and magnificence of the "household plenishings," which included
five beds, two of silk and three of cloth, every bed supplied with five
coverings, massive silk fringes of half a quarter deep, "and ane
counterpoint of the same stuff, all laid with braid silk lace and a small
fringe about; with chairs and stools answerable, laid with lace and
fringe; with feather bed and bolster, blankets and rug, pillars and
bedsteads of timber answerable; every bed estimate to be worth an hundred
and ten pounds sterling." Then, we read of ten smaller beds, value fifteen
pounds sterling; of " seventy other beds for servants, consisting of
feather bed, bolster, rug, blankets, and estimate to be seven pound
sterling a-piece;" of two open trunks, "full of Hollond shirts and
phillabers, ... damask table-cloths, and gallons of towels;" forty pair of
sheets or thereby, and " seventy stand of neprey" - every pair of sheets
consisting of seven ells of cloth, at six shillings per ell, and amounting
to five pounds two shillings sterling per pair. Among the weapons
mentioned were twenty-two pikes, thirteen lances, twenty-eight muskets,
twenty-eight bandoleers, and a pair of two-handed swords. [The complete
list is given by Grose.]
Nithsdale became bound, as
we have seen, that neither he nor his friends and followers should, for
the time to come, take up arms "in prejudice of this kingdom," which
phraseology, though loose, was doubtless designed to prevent them from
fighting against the Covenant in future; but it had no such effect; and
when the Earl afterwards complained that Colonel Home "had suffered his
followers to spoil me ane coach, the furniture of quhilk stood me fifty
pound sterling," and had in many other respects broken the articles of
capitulation, Home could plead as his reason that his lordship and party
had, in the first instance, broken their parole, by once more identifying
themselves with King Charles. The Committee of Estates, on learning
Nithsdale's conduct, caused the chief fortress of the inveterate
"malignant" to be partially demolished; and the injury thus done to its
ancient walls has never been repaired, though, even in its present ruined
state, it presents the choicest existing specimen of castellated
architecture in Scotland. [The siege and dismantlement of Carlaverock at
this time are popularly attributed to Cromwell; but neither he nor a
Puritan force ever attacked the castle.]
"The howse of the Thrieve,"
as it is termed in the documents of the period, was similarly dealt with.
At a meeting of the Stewartry War Committee, held within its ancient walls
on the 19th of October, 1640, it was resolved, in accordance with a
warrant from Edinburgh, "that the sklait roofe of the hows and batlement
thairof be taken downe, with the lofting thairof, dores and windowes of
the samen, and to stop the vault of the said hows." This destructive duty
was assigned to the Laird of Balmaghie, who was also empowered to dispose
of the timber, stones, and iron work removed from the fortress for the use
of the public; "his necessar charges and expenses" being deducted from the
proceeds of the sale. [Minute-book of the War Committee. p. 67] On this
subject, the captor of the castle addressed the following note to Ensign
Gibb, whom he had left in charge of it:-" I did heir, at the Committie at
Edinburgh, that they had written to the Committie of Galloway, answering
to their letter, that they had fund the Thrieve to be unprofeitable,
giving orderes that they should flight [dismantle] the samen. If they have
deseyerit you to cum 'out that they might flight the samen, seing the
warrand, and taking the coppie thairof, signed under thrie or foure of
thair hands. In doing heirof, cum out with your gareson. Thir presents
shall be to you sufficient warand. - HOME. At Dumfries, the 17 October,
1640." And so the castle was given up to the Committee, and "flighted" by
their orders; William M'Clellan, of Barscoib, who had " use for certaine
friestane for building," being, it seems, the chief purchaser of the
spoils. A few days after the date of the above letter, orders were
received by Home from the Estates "to march up with the South Raigement to
the army with all convenient dilligence."
At this period John Corsane
of Meikleknox was Provost of the Burgh. On the 3rd of December, 1640, he
appeared before the Kirkcudbright War Committee, and presented a
commission from Colonel Home to the following effect:-" These are to give
full power, commissione, and warrand to Mr. John Corsane, provest of
Drumfries, to resaive from the commissares or collectores of the tenth and
twentieth pennies and rentes of our friends and bischopes within Galloway,
all such soumes of money as they have in readiness for the use of the
South Regement; with power to him to give acceptances and discharges of
his receipt thairof, quhilk shall be as valid and sufficient to the
foirsaid collectores as I had given thame discharges myself; and
whereanent I obleis me to renew thame discharges myselfe, upon sight of
the Provest's discharge, be thir presents, wrytten be me, Mr. Cuthbert
Cunnynghame, and subscribed with my hand at Drumfries, the last November,
Jm VIc and fourtie yeires, befoir thir witnesses, Roger Kirkpatrick,
bailie of Drumfries, and the said Mr. Cuthbert Cunynghame. - HOME."
Provost Corsane did much to promote the popular movement. He was a decided
Covenanter, but was anxious at the same time to get a reconciliation
effected between the contending parties. The nephew of Lord Nithsdale, and
allied by marriage with another branch of the Maxwell family,* he was
naturally averse to the prolongation of the war; and, on account of some
pacific overtures made by him, and other acts disapproved of by the
uncompromising Parliament which sat in 1644, he was fined in ten thousand
merks.
The Burgh was represented
in this Parliament by George Johnstone, and the County by Sir Robert
Grierson of Lag and James Douglas of Mouswald. On the 2nd of July (to
quote from the proceedings), "the House ordained commissions and letters
of intercomuning to be directed against them that are fugitives, and were
cited to the Committee of Drumfreis in the rebellione of the South." On
the 22nd of July, the House took up the case of " Robert, Earl of
Nidisdaill, and his deputies, who are Steuarts of Kirkcudbright;" and
inasmuch as the Earl was found to have been guilty of "rebellione," he was
deprived of his stewardship, and the office was conferred on Lord
Kirkcudbright.
The Scottish Covenanters
were now in full alliance with the English Puritans under Cromwell. A bond
of civil as well as of religious union between the three kingdoms-the
Solemn League and Covenant-was signed on the 26th of September, 1643, in
St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. As a result of this alliance, Leslie,
Earl of Leven, on entering England, joined his forces to the Parliamentary
army at York. The organization effected by means of the War Committees was
enlarged in order to meet the increased demands made upon Scotland by the
widening battle-field. As illustrative of the extent to which the landed
interest of Dumfriesshire was identified with the Covenanting cause, we
may quote the list of the Committee for Nithsdale and Annandale in 1644:-
"The Earl of Queensberry; the Earl of Annandale; the Earl of Hartfell;
Lord Dalyell; the Laird of Lag; the Laird of Closeburn; the Laird of
Amisfield; Maister John Douglas of Penziere; James Douglas of Morton ;
Thomas Fergusone of Caitloch; John Crichton of Crawfurdston; John Laurie
of Maxwellton; John Wilson of Craigleme; John Hunter of Ballagan; John
Douglas of Stanehouse; James Grierson of Dalgonar; Archibald Johnstone of
Clochrie; the Laird of Tindell; John Dalrymple of Waterside; the Laird of
Applegirth ; the Laird of Mouswald; James Johnstone of Corheid; Andrew
Johnstone of Lockerbie; Archibald Douglas of Dornok; the Laird of Wamfra;
Francis Scot of Cairtertown; Mathew Wilson in Greenhill; John Kennedy of
Halleithis; Robert Johnstone of Newtoun; the Laird of Drumerieffe
[Murray]; George Johnstone of Poldean; and John Johnstone, called
Viccarland." In the preceding year, Corsane of Meikleknox was not only on
the Committee for the Burgh, but he was the convener or chairman of the
whole body; but his name, for an obvious reason, does not appear in the
list in 1644, the Burgh members being given in it as follows:" John Irwin,
late Provost of Dumfries; Roger Kirkpatrick, bailie there; John Johnstone,
bailie there; Robert Richardson, there; John Maccleane, there" - Bailie
Johnstone, convener. [Acts of Scot. Parl., vol, vi., p. 132.]
At the period now reached,
James Graham, fifth Earl and first Marquis of Montrose, comes prominently
upon the stage. He is seen first as a devoted champion of the Covenant.
When Leslie's troops entered England, Montrose was the first man to cross
the Tweed; and encountering the vanguard of the English army, he put it to
the rout at Newburn on the Tyne. Soon afterwards, his jealousy of Argyle
extinguished his devotedness to the Covenant; and the outbreak of the
civil war found him opposed to his old colleagues, and fighting in defence
of the monarchy. The Marquis of Hamilton, the King's minister for
Scotland, having fallen into disgrace, Graham was called to occupy his
place as lieutenant-general of the kingdom. In an interview with his
Majesty at Oxford, he divulged a daring scheme that he had planned on
behalf of the royal cause : it was to do battle against the Leaguers in
Scotland, with the view of crushing the Covenant in the land of its birth,
leaving Rupert and his cavaliers to cope with Cromwell in England. In this
manner, he argued, the force of the Covenanting arms would be drawn away
from the King upon himself. "But the garrisons and passes of Scotland were
in the possession of the Covenanters. He requested, therefore, an order
upon the Marquis of Newcastle-now opposed to Leven in the north of
England-for a detachment of his troops, or at least a sufficient escort
force to enable him to cross the Borders. Even with these slender
resources, he undertook to reach the Highlands of Scotland, and to make
such head there as would ere long encourage the loyalists of that kingdom
to rally round the standard." [Napier's Life and Times of Montrosc, vol,
ii., p. 386,] Charles having sanctioned the bold design, Montrose
proceeded northwards, bearing instructions from his royal master, by which
he hoped to obtain the nucleus of an army.
He was accompanied by the
Earl of Nithsdale, and also, however strange it may appear, by James
Johnstone, Earl of Hartfell (son of the knight slaughtered by Nithsdale's
brother), and by James Murray, Earl of Annandale, both of whom were at the
very period members of the Dumfriesshire War Committee; and afterwards
another recreant, Sir John Charteris of Amisfield, joined the royal army
with a contingent of followers.
Montrose obtained only a
small, ill-disciplined force from the Marquis of Newcastle; but, putting
himself at its head, he pushed into Cumberland, crossed the Western
Border, and on the 14th of April, 1644, startled the Covenanting lieges of
Dumfries by entering the town with the royal banner displayed -no one
attempting to arrest his progress. When the South Regiment left the
district, it was comparatively undefended, and the War Committee had been
weakened by defections; but for which circumstances, the champion of
despotic rule could not have found such a ready entrance into Dumfries. A
zealous Royalist, too - Sir James Maxwell - was Provost: [Spalding, vol.
ii., p. 221.] a fact which in itself proves that a reaction had taken
place to some extent against the Covenant in the Burgh. The inhabitants
generally were still steadfast in their adherence to it. They could give
no effective opposition to the King's troops; but they received them
coldly, and, indeed, so discouragingly, that Montrose profited nothing by
his march across the Border.
Right or wrong, he
attributed his failure to bad faith on the part of professed friends,
rather than to the opposition of open enemies. If he had received the
support which he anticipated, he would have made Dumfries a starting point
for his meditated expedition into the Highlands; but in a disappointed
mood he resolved on retiring to Carlisle - a determination that he carried
into effect all the more hurriedly, on learning that the Earl of Callendar,
from whom he expected assistance, had gone over to the other side, and was
advancing against him at the head of seven thousand men. Before Montrose
was many miles out of Dumfries, the blue banner of the Covenant took the
place lately occupied by the royal flag, and was doubtless hailed with
enthusiasm by the inhabitants. Callendar's troops continued for some time
in the town, whilst those of Montrose ravaged Northumberland and Durham,
and eventually captured Morpeth Castle, in spite of a stout resistance
offered by its garrison, under Captain M'Culloch.
That officer, in afterwards
giving an account of the affair to a Parliamentary committee in Edinburgh,
repeated the views expressed to him by Montrose as to the double-dealing
of Lord Hartfell. When parleying with Montrose, before submitting to him,
M'Culloch inquired " the reason of his incoming to Dumfries, and invasion
of this kingdom:" upon which the Marquis "declared to the deponer that he
had assurance from the Earl of Hartfell of his assistance, and raising of
the country in his favour; but the said Hartfell deceived him, having
promised, from day to day, to draw up his men, and yet did nothing but
proved the traitor; and further, he said he thong ht to have betrayed him
by drawing him to his house." When, some time afterwards, Lord Ogilvie was
captured by the Covenanters, certain documents were found upon him which
he had received from Montrose for presentation to the King. In one of
these he used the following strong language with reference to his
treatment by the Border barons:- "You are to inform his Majesty," he says,
"of all the particulars that stumbled his service-as of the carriage of
Hartfell, Annandale, Roxburgh, and Traquair, who refused his Majesty's
commission, and debauched our officers, doing all that in them lay to
discountenance the service, and all who were engaged in it. Your Lordship
is seriously to represent the notable miscarriage of the Earls of Crawford
and Nithsdale; how often they crossed the business, and went about to
abuse us who had undertaken it, to the great scandal and prejudice of the
service." A curious game would seem to have been played, by Hartfell and
Annandale identifying themselves with the Leaguers, and at the same time
professing loyalty to the Crown. They appear to have been false to both;
but Nithsdale had given such evidence of his devotedness to the King as
should have placed him above suspicion.
Montrose, after reducing
Morpeth Castle, was required to unite his forces with those of Prince
Rupert. Before he could do so, however, the battle of Marston Moor was won
by the valour of Cromwell and the skill of Leslie. The royal cause was
thus overthrown in England, and the plans formed by Montrose on its behalf
were hopelessly shattered. Disguised as a groom, and accompanied by only
two friends, the hero, brooding over new schemes, hastened to the
Highlands, there to give them birth and development. By sheer military
genius, he, before many weeks elapsed, raised the fortunes of his royal
master from the dust of abasement to the summit of a splendid, but
short-lived, success. But at the very period when he was vanquishing the
Covenanters at Tippermuir and the Bridge of Dee, the anti-Royalists were
carrying all before them in the north of England. Callendar, now that the
enemy he had been sent to waylay was out of the road, left Dumfries,
effected a junction with the Earl of Leven; and to their united forces
Newcastle capitulated in October. Among the prisoners were the Earl of
Crawford, its commander, and Lord Maxwell, the Earl of Nithsdale's eldest
son, who were carried to Edinburgh, and incarcerated in its tolbooth,
where they and other captives lay till they were liberated by the
irresistible Montrose, who, following up five previous victories, routed
the Covenanters at Kilsyth, and became not only master of the capital, but
virtually dictator of the kingdom. The dictatorship, however, was so brief
that it must have seemed to Montrose himself, in retrospect, but a
dazzling dream. On the 12th of September he experienced the stern reality
of a defeat, at Philiphaugh, by the Earl of Leven, which all but
annihilated his followers, and destroyed the vision of a restored
monarchy, which he had built up on the basis of his six great triumphs.
Not a few Nithsdale and Galloway men fought under Leslie on this famous
field, and, among others, a regiment of infantry raised at his own expense
by Lord Kirkcudbright, and headed by that jealous anti-Royalist. Some
Dumfriesians were also present on the other side, under the Earl of
Hartfell, who, though at first mistrusted by Montrose, proved his
devotedness to Charles at. Philiphaugh. When the royal troops were
dispersed, the Earl, in company With other fugitives, lost his way, was
seized by the country people of the neighbourhood, sent to Edinburgh, and
sentenced to death by the Scottish Parliament, but had his life spared
through the interposition of the Marquis of Argyle.
Montrose himself escaped to
the Highlands, then took refuge in Hamburg; and, returning to Scotland in
1650, for the purpose of renewing the war, fell into an ambuscade, was
captured, and executed in Edinburgh on the 21st of May, about sixteen
months after the beheading of the King, whom he had served with
incomparable gallantry and devotedness.
Then followed the
ineffectual attempts of the late King's son, Charles IL, to restore the
monarchy which Cromwell had set aside. The Scots, aggrieved by its
abrogation, and deeply resenting the execution of the King, though he had
treated them shamefully, proclaimed Charles a few days after that dread
event; and he having subscribed the National Covenant and the Solemn
League and Covenant, a Scottish army, under General David Leslie, prepared
to do battle for his cause. Its defeat at Dunbar, and again at Worcester,
left Cromwell "master of the situation," and the Commonwealth without an
open enemy. On the death of the Protector, in 1658, he was succeeded by
his son Richard, whose feeble rule only continued for a few months; and in
1660 Charles was recalled from his exile-he having first, with his usual
facility for promise-making, made the "Declaration of Breda," in which he
offered indemnity for the past, and liberty of conscience for the future. |
