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It is happily remarked by
the editor of the Culloden Papers, with regard to the devotion of many
of the Highland clans to the exiled family of Stuart, that "it cannot be
a subject requiring vindication; nor," adds the writer, "if it raise a
glow on the face of their descendants, is it likely to be the blush of
shame." The descendants of William Maxwell, Earl of Nithisdale, have
reason to. remember, with a proud interest, the determined and heroic
affection which rescued their ancestor from prison, no less than the
courage and fidelity, which involved their chief in a perilous
undertaking, and in a miserable captivity.
The first of that ancient
race, who derived their surname from, the Lordship of Maxwell, in the
county of Dumfries, was Robert de Maxwell of Carlaverock. who, in 1314,
was killed at the battle of Bannockburn. fighting under the banners of
King James the Third. From that period until the seventeenth century,
the house of Maxwell continued to enjoy signal proofs of royal favour;
it was employed in important services and on high missions, extending
its power and increasing its possessions by intermarriages with the
richest and noblest families in Scotland. An enumeration of the honours
and privileges enjoyed by this valiant race will show in how remarkable
a degree it was favoured by the Stuarts, and how various and how
forcible were the reasons which bound it to serve that generous and
beloved race of Scottish monarchs.
Herbert, who succeeded
John de Maxwell, was one of the Commissioners sent by Alexander the
Second to England, to treat for a marriage with one of the daughters of
that crown; and, having concluded the negotiation favourably, was
endowed with the office of Lord Great Chamberlain of Scotland, which he
held during his life-time, and which was afterwards bestowed on his son.
Eustace de Maxwell, in
the time of Robert de Bruce, was among those patriots who adhered to the
Scottish King. The Castle of Carlaverock, one of the most ancient
possessions of the brave Maxwells, stands a memento, in its noble ruins,
of the disinterested loyalty of its owners.
The remains of
Carlaverock afford but a slight notion of its former strength. The
importance of its situation is, however, undoubted. Situated on the
south borders of the Nith, near to Glencapel Quay, it constituted a
stronghold for the Scottish noble, who scarcely feared a siege within
its walls, and when the army of Edward advanced to invest it, refused to
surrender, for the fortress was well furnished," says Grose, "with
soldiers, engines, and provisions."
But this defiance was
vain; after sustaining an assault, Carlaverock was obliged to capitulate
; when the generosity of Edward's measures excited the admiration of all
humane minds. The troops, only sixty in number, were taken into the
King's service, as a token of his approval of their brave defence; they
were then released, ransom free, and received each a new garment, as a
gift from the King.
Carlaverock was, some
time after, retaken by the Scotch, and Sir Eustace de Maxwell resumed
his command over the garrison, It was again invested by King Edward;
but, on this occasion, Eustace drove the English from the attack, and
retained possession of the fortress.
Afterwards, of his own
free will, he demolished the fortress, that no possession of his might
favour the progress of the enemy. He was rewarded by several grants of
lands, and twenty-two pounds in money.
In the fifteenth century,
Herbert de Maxwell marrying a daughter of the Maxwells of Terregles
(Terre Eglise), the son of that marriage was ennobled, and was dignified
by the title of Lord de Maxwell. His successor perished at Floden, but
the grandson of the first Lord had a happier fortune, and was entrusted
by James the Fifth to bring over Mary of Guise to Scotland, first
marrying her as the King's proxy.
The house of Maxwell
prospered until the reign of James the Sixth; by whom John, Lord
Maxwell, was created Earl of Morton, and made Warden of the Marches: but
a reverse of fortune ensued. From some court intrigue, the Warden was
removed from office, and his place supplied by the Laird of Johnstones;
all the blood of the Maxwells was aroused; a quarrel and a combat were
the result; and, in the scuffle, the new-made Earl of Morton was killed.
The injury was not forgotten, and John, who succeeded the murdered man,
deemed it incumbent upon him to avenge his father. In consequence, the
Laird of Johnstone soon fell a sacrifice to this notion of honour, or
outbreak of offended pride. The crime was not, however, passed over by
law: the offender was tried, and executed, in 1613, at the Cross in
Edinburgh; and his honours were forfeited. But again the favour of the
Stuarts shone forth; the title of Morton was not restored, but Robert,
the brother of the last Earl of Morton, was created Earl of Nithisdale,
and restored to the Lordship of Maxwell; with precedency, as Earl,
according to his father's creation as Earl of Morton.
This kindness was
requited by a devoted loyalty; and, in the reign of Charles the First,
the Earl of Nithisdale suffered much, both by sequestration and
imprisonment, for the royal cause.
In 1647, in consequence
of failure of the direct line, the title and estates of the Nithisdale
family devolved on a kinsman. John Lord Herries, whose grandson,
William, the subject of this memoir, proved to be the last of the
Maxwell family that has ever enjoyed the Earldom.
He was served heir male,
and of line male and entail of his father, on the twenty-sixth of May,
1696; and heir male of his grandfather, the Earl of Nithisdale, on the
sixteenth of the same month. At his accession to his title, the Earl of
Nithisdale possessed no common advantages of fortune and station. "He
was allied," says the Scottish Peerage, "to most of the noble families
in the two kingdoms." His mother, the Lady Lucy, was daughter to the
Marquis of Douglas; his only sister, Lady Mary Maxwell, was married to
Charles Stewart, Earl of Traquair; and he had himself wedded a
descendant of that noble and brave Marquis of Worcester who had defended
Ragland Castle against Fairfax.
In addition to these
family honours, Lord Nithisdale possessed rich patrimonial estates in
one of the most fertile and luxuriant counties in Scotland. The Valley
of the Nith. from which he derived his title, owned his lordship over
some of its fairest scenes. Young, rich, and happily married, he was in
the full sunshine of prosperity when, in the year 1715, he was called
upon to prove the sincerity of that fidelity to the house of Stuart for
which his family had so greatly suffered, and for which it had been so
liberally repaid.
It is remarkable that the
adventurers in the unfortunate cause of the Chevalier St. George were,
with rare exceptions, men of established credit, men who had vast stakes
in their country, and who had lost no portion of their due consideration
in the eyes of others by extravagance or profligacy. This fact marks the
insurrection of 1715, as presenting a very different aspect to that of
other insurrections raised by faction, and supported by men of desperate
fortunes. So early as the year 1707, it appears by Colonel Hooke's
secret negotiations in favour of the Stuarts, that the bulk of the
Scottish nobility had their hearts engaged in the cause, and that their
honour was pledged to come forward on the first occasion. In the
enumeration given by one of the agents employed in traversing the
country, Lord Nithisdale and his relatives are mentioned as certain and
potent allies. "In Tweedale," writes Mr. Fleming to the Minister of
Louis the Fourteenth, "the Earl of Traquair, of the house of Stuart, and
the Laird of Stanhope are powerful. In the shires of Annandale,
Niddesdale, and Galloway, are the Earl of Niddesdale, with the Viscount
of Kenmure, the Laird of Spinkell, with the numerous clan of the
Maxwells; and there is some hope also of the Earl of Galloway; Thus the
King's party is connected through the whole kingdom, and we are certain
of being masters of all the shires, except Argyleshire, Clydesdale,
Renfrew, Dumbarton, and Kyle." "An affair of this nature," adds Mr.
Fleming, "cannot be communicated to all the well affected; and it is a
great proof of the zeal of those to whom it is trusted, that so many
people have been able to keep this secret so inviolably." Such was the
commencement of that compact which, held together by the word of
Scotchmen, was in few instances broken; but was maintained with as
scrupulous a regard to honour and fidelity by the poorest Highlander
that ever trod down the heather, as by the great nobleman within his
castle hall.
Among the list of the
most considerable chiefs in Scotland, with an account of their
disposition for or against the Government, the Earl of Nithisdale is
specified by contemporary writers as one, who is able to raise three
hundred men. and willing to employ that force in the service of the
Pretender.
In the resolution to
carry the aid of his clansmen to the service of either side, the
chieftain of that day was powerfully assisted by the blind devotion of
the brave and faithful people whom he led to battle. Unhappily, the
influence of the chief was often arbitrarily, and even cruelly exerted,
in cases of doubtful willingness in their followers.
It will be interesting to
scrutinize the motives and characters of those who occupied the chief
posts in command, upon the formation of this Southern party in favour of
the Chevalier. Although some of these chiefs have obtained celebrity in
history, yet their efforts were sincere; their notions of patriotism, be
they just, or be they erroneous, deserve a rescue from oblivion; their
sufferings, and the heroism with which they were encountered, show to
what an extent the fixed principle to which the Scotch are said ever to
recur, will carry the exertions, and support the fortitude, of that
enduring and determined people.
To William Gordon,
Viscount Kenmure and Baron of Lochinvar. was entrusted, in a commission
from the Earl of Mar, the command of the insurgents in the south of
Scotland. This choice of a General displayed the usual want of
discernment which characterized the leaders of the Rebellion of 1715.
Grave, and as a contemporary describes him, "full aged;" of
extraordinary knowledge in public affairs, but a total stranger to all
military matters; calm, but slow in judgment; of unsullied integrity,—
endowed, in short, with qualities truly respectable, but devoid of
energy, boldness, and address, yet wanting not personal courage, there
could scarcely have been found a more excellent man nor a more feeble
commander. At the head of a troop of gentlemen, full of ardour m the
cause, the plain dress, and homely manners of Lord Kenmure seemed
inappropriate to the conspicuous station which he held; for the exercise
of his functions as commander was attended by some circumstances which
required a great combination of worldly knowledge with singleness of
purpose.
George Seaton, the fifth
Earl of Wintoun, was another of those noblemen who raised a troop of
horse, and engaged, from the very first commencement of the rebellion,
in its turmoils. The family of Seaton, of which the Earl of Wintoun was
the last in the direct line, "affords in its general characteristics,"
says a celebrated Scottish genealogist, "the best specimen of our
ancient nobility. They seem to have been the first to have introduced
the refined arts, and an improved state of architecture in Scotland.
They were consistent in their principles, and, upon the whole, as
remarkable for their deportment and baronial respectability, as for
their descent and noble alliances."
In consequence of so many
great families having sprung from the Seatons, they were styled "Magna
Nobilitatis Domini;" and their antiquity was as remarkable as their
alliances, the male representation of the family, and the right to the
honours which they bore, having been transmitted to the present Earl of
Eglintoun, through an unbroken descent of seven centuries and a half.
The loyalty of the
Seatons was untainted. The first Earl of Wintoun had adopted as one of
his mottoes, "Intaminatis fulget honoribus," and the sense of those
words was fully borne out by the testimony of time. The Seatoun Charter
Chest contained, as one of their race remarked, no remission of any
offence against Government, a fact which could not be affirmed of any
other Scottish family of note. But this brave and ancient house had
signal reason for remaining hitherto devoted to the monarchs of the
Scottish throne.
Four times had the
Seatons been allied with royalty: two instances were remarkable. George
Seatoun, second Earl of Huntly, married the Princess Annabella, daughter
of James the First, and from that union numerous descendants of Scottish
nobility exist to this day: and George, the third Lord Seaton, again
allied his house with that of Stuart, by marrying the Lady Margaret
Stuart, daughter of the Earl of Buchan. and granddaughter of Robert the
Second. In consequence of these several intermarriages, it was
proverbially said of the house of Seaton, "the family is come of
princes, and reciprocally princes are come of the family." And these
bonds of relationship were cemented by services performed and honours
conferred. The devotion of the Seatons to Mary, Queen of Scots, has been
immortalised by the pen of Sir Walter Scott. George, the seventh Lord
Seaton, attended on that unhappy Princess in some of the most brilliant
scenes of her eventful life, and clung to her in every vicissitude of
her fate. He, as Ambassador to France, negotiated her marriage with the
Dauphin, and was present at the celebration of the nuptials. He
afterwards aided his royal mistress to escape from Lochleven Castle, in
1568, and conducted her to Niddry Castle, his own seat. When, in
gratitude for his fidelity, Mary would have created him an Earl, Lord
Seaton declined the honour, and preferred his existing rank as Premier
Baron of Scotland. Mary celebrated his determination in a couplet,
written both in French and in Latin.
"II y a des com ten, des
rois, des dues aussi,
Ce't asscz pour tnoy d'estre Signeur de Seton."
The successor of Lord
Seaton, Robert, judged differently from his father, and accepted from
James the Sixth the patent for the Earldom of Wintoun; distinguishing
the new honour by a courage which procured for him the appellation of "Greysteel."
George, the fifth Earl of
Wintoun, and the unfortunate adherent to the Jacobite cause, succeeded
to the honours of his ancestors under circumstances peculiarly
embarrassing. His legitimacy was doubted at the time when his father
died, this ill-fated young man was abroad, his residence was obscure;
and as he held no correspondence with any of his relations, little was
known with regard to his personal character. In consequence partly of
his absence from Scotland, partly, it is said, of an actual hereditary
tendency, a belief soon prevailed that he was insane, or rather, as a
contemporary expresses it, "mighty subject to a particular kind of
caprice natural to his family, "
The Viscount Kingston,
next heir to the title of Wintoun, having expressed his objections to
Lord Wintoun's legitimacy, the young man, in 1710, took steps to
establish himself as his father's heir. Two witnesses were produced who
were present at the marriage of his parents, and bonds were found in the
family chests, designating Lord Wintoun as "our eldest lawful son," by
Dame Christian Hepburn Countess of Wintoun. "our spouse." This important
point being established, Lord Wintoun served himself heir to his father
and became the possessor of the family estates, chiefly situated in East
Lothian, their principal residence being the palace of Seaton, so
recognized in the royal charters, from its having been the favourite
resort of royalty, the scene of entertainment to Mary of Scots, and her
court, and the residence of Charles the First, when in Scotland in 1033.
It was afterwards the place of meeting for the Jacobite nobles, and
their adherents."
Differing from many of
his companions in arms, Lord Wintoun was a zealous Protestant; but
without any regard to the supremacy of either mode of faith, it appears
to have been a natural consequence of his birth and early associations
that he should cling to the house of the Stuarts. One would almost have
applied to the young nobleman the term "recreant," had he wavered when
the descendant of Mary Stuart claimed his services. But such a course
was far from his inclination. It was afterwards deemed expedient by his
friends to plead for him on the ground of natural weakness of intellect;
"but," says a contemporary. "Lord Wintoun wants no courage, nor so much
capacity as his friends find it for his interest to suggest." He was
forward in action, and stimulated the military ardour of his followers,
as they rushed with their ancient cry of "Seton" to the combat. The
earliest motto borne on these arms by the Seatons, "Hazard, yet
forward," might indeed be mournfully applied to all who engaged in the
hopeless Rebellion of 1715.
Lord Wintoun, like Lord
Derwentwater, was in the bloom of his youth when he summoned his
tenantry to follow him to the rendezvous appointed by Lord Kenmure. He
took with him three hundred men to the standard of James Stuart; but he
appears to have carried with him a fiery and determined temper,— the
accompaniment, perhaps, of noble qualities, but a dangerous attribute in
times of difficulty.
Robert Dalzell, sixth
Earl of Carnwath, was another of those Scottish noblemen whose adherence
to the Stuarts can only be regarded as a natural consequence of their
birth and education. The origin of his family, which was of great
antiquity in the county of Lanark, but had been transplanted into
Nithisdale, is referred to in the following anecdote. In the reign of
Kenneth the Second, a kinsman of the King having been taken and hung by
the Picts, a great reward was offered by Kenneth, if any one would
rescue and restore the corpse of his relation. The enterprise was so
hazardous, that no one would venture on so great a risk. "At last." so
runs the tale, "a certain gentleman came to the King, and said, 'Dalziel,'
which is the old Scottish word for 'I dare.' he performed his
engagement, and won for himself and his posterity the name which he had
verified, and an armorial bearing corresponding to the action.
To James the First and to
Charles the First the Dalziels owed their honours, and had the usual
fortune of paying dearly for them, during the Great Rebellion, by
sequestration, and by the imprisonment of Robert, first Earl of Carnwath,
after the battle of Worcester, whither he attended Charles the Second.
Undaunted by the adversities which his house had formerly endured,
Robert Dalzell, of Glenn, sixth Earl of Carnwath, again came forward in
1715 to maintain the principles in which he had been nurtured, and to
assist the family for whom his ancestors had suffered. During his
childhood, the tutor of this nobleman had made it his chief care to
instil into his mind the doctrine of hereditary right, and its
consequent, passive obedience and non-resistance. At the University of
Cambridge, young Dalzell had imbibed an affection for the liturgy and
discipline of the Church of England; whilst his attainments had kept
pace with the qualities of his heart, and the graces of his deportment.
He was, in truth, a young man of fair promise, and one whose fate
excited great interest, when a sombre tranquillity had succeeded to the
turbulence of rebellion. Gentle in his address, affable, kind-hearted,
Lord Carnwath had a natural and ready wit, and a great command of
language, to which his English education had doubtless contributed. He
was related by a former marriage between the families to the Earl of
Wintoun. whose troop was commanded by Captain James Dalzell, the brother
of Lord Carnwath. This young officer had served in the army of George
the First, but he threw up his commission at the beginning of the
Rebellion,—a circumstance which saved him from being shot at Preston as
a deserter.
Robert Balfour, fifth
Earl of Burleigh, was among the chiefs who, shortly after the outbreak,
avowed their adherence to the Pretenders party, lie was one of the few
Jacobites whose personal character has reflected discredit upon his
motives, and disgraced his compeers, his story has the air of romance,
but is perfectly reconcilable with the spirit of the times in which Lord
Burleigh figured.
When a very young man he
became attached to a girl of low rank, and was sent abroad by his
friends in hopes of removing his attachment. Before he quitted Scotland,
he swore, however, that if the young woman married in his absence, he
would kill her husband. Upon returning home, he found that the
unfortunate object of his affections had been united to llenrv Stenhouse,
the schoolmaster at Inverkeithing. The threat had not been uttered
without a deep meaning • young Balfour kept his word, and hastening to
the school where Stenhouse was pursuing his usual duties, he stabbed him
in the midst of his scholars. The victim of this murderous attack died
twelve days afterwards.
Nearly eight years had
elapsed since the crime had been perpetrated, and the wretched murderer
ha<l encountered, since that time, his trial, in the Court of Justiciary,
and had received sentence of death by
* Patten, p. 54. Life of
the Earls Marisehal, p. 130.
beheading; but he escaped
from prison a few days previously, by exchanging clothes with his
sister. He was then a commoner ; but in 1714, the title of Lord Burleigh,
and an estate of six hundred and ninety-seven pounds yearly, devolved
upon him. When the Rebellion broke out, his restless spirit, as well,
perhaps, as the loss of reputation, and the miseries of reflection,
impelled him to enter into the contest.
Such were the principal
promoters of the insurrection in the south of Scotland ; they were held
together by firm bonds of sympathy, and their plans were concerted in
renewed conferences at stated periods.
The twenty-ninth of ]\Iay
was, of course, religiously observed by this increasing and formidable
party. During the previous year (1714) the Jacobite gentry ha«l met at
Loehmaben, under pretence of a horse-racing ; and, although it does not
appear that the Earl of Nithisdale was among those 'who assembled on
that occasion, yet several of liis kinsmen attended. The plates which
were the prizes had significant devices : on one of them were wrought
figures of men in a falling posture ; above them stood one "eminent
person," the Pretender, underneath whom were inscribed the words from
Ezekiel, xxi. 27, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall
be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him."
When the races were ended, Lord Burleigh, then Master of Burleigh, led
the way to the Cross of Loehmaben, where, with great solemnity, drums
beating, and colours displayed, those there col-ected drank to " their
King's healththe Master of Burleigh giving the toast, and uttering an
imprecation on all such as should refuse to pledge it. These meetings
had been continued for several years, and, during the reign of Queen
Anne, without any molestation from Government.'54 Lord Nithisdale took a
decided part in all these measures, and was one of those who were
considered as entirely to be trusted by the Earl of Mar, with regard to
the projected arrival of the Pretender in Scotland. On the sixth of
August, 1715, that project was communicated by Mar to the Earl of
Nithisdale, through the medium of Captain Dalzell, who was despatched
likewise to Lord Kenmure, and to the Earl of Carnwath. Lord Nithisdale
obeyed the summons, and met the groat council of the Jacobite nobles at
Braemar, where the decisive and irrevocable step was taken.
Lord Nithisdale, in
common with the other members of what was now termed the Jacobite
Association, had been diligently preparing the contest. Meetings of the
Association had been frequent, and even public. The finest horses had
been bought up at any cost, with saddles and accoutrements, and numbers
of horse-shoes. Many country gentlemen, who were in the habit of keeping
only two or three saddle-horses at a time, now collected double the
number ; and a suspicion prevailed that it was the intention of some,
who were Jacobites, to mount a troop. But no seizure had been made of
their property in the last reign, there being few justices of the peace
in Dumfriesshire, nominated by Queen Anne, who were not in the service
of the Chevalier. Trained bands were, however, soon raised by
the well-affected gentry of the county for the protection of the
neighbourhood; and Nithisdale was traversed by armed bands, — Closeburn
House, then the residence of Sir Thomas Kirkpatrkk, [being a frequent
point of union for the friends of the Hanoverian interests to
assemble.:]: At Trepons, in the upper part of Nithisdale, was the first
blood drawn that was shed in this disastrous quarrel, Mr. Bell of
Nimsea, a Jacobite gentleman, being there shot through the leg by one of
the guards, on his refusing to obey orders. The occurrence was typical
of the remorseless cruelty which was afterwards exhibited towards the
brave but unfortunate insurgents.
By a clause in the act "for encouraging loyalty in Scotland," passed on the thirtieth of August,
power was given to the authorities to summon to Edinburgh all the heads
of the Jacobite clans, and other suspected persons, by a certain day, to
find bail for their good conduct. Among the long list of persons who
were thus cited to appear, was the Earl of Nithisdale. Upon his
non-appearance, he was, with the rest, denounced, and declared a
rebel.|| This citation was followed by an outbreak on the part of Lord
Kenmure and his followers, simultaneous to that on which the
Northumberland Jacobites had decided. And the borders now became the
chief haunts of the insurgents, who continued moving from place to
place, and from house to house, in order to ripen the scheme which
involved, as they considered, their dearest interests.
The loyal inhabitants of
Dumfries were engaged, one Saturday, in the solemnities of preparation
for the holy sacrament, when they received intimation of a plot to
surprise and take possession of the town on the following sabbath,
during the time of communion. This project was defeated by the prompt
assembling of forces, notwithstanding that Lord Kenmure, with one
hundred and fifty-three horsemen, advanced within a mile and a half of
the town, on his march from Moffat. Upon being advised of the
preparations made for defence, this too prudent commander addressed his
troops, and said, "that he doubled not there were, in the town, as
brave gentlemen there as himself, and that he would not go on to
Dumfries that day." He returned to Lochmaben, where, on the following
Thursday, the Pretender's standard was proclaimed : Lochmaben is a small
market-town about fifteen miles from Dumfries ; it served for some time
as the head-quarters of the Jacobite party. " At their approach,"
relates the historian of that local insurrection, r the people of that
place had put their cattle into a fold to make room for their horses;
but the beasts having broken the fold, some of them drew home to the
town a little before day; and a townsman, going to hunt one of 'em out of his yeard, railed on
his dog nam'd ' Help.' Hereupon the sentries cried I Where?' and
apprehending it had been a party from Dumfries to attack them, gave the
alarm to the rebels, who got up in great confusion."
Lord Kenmure, attended by
the Jacobite chiefs, and Lord Nithisdale, soon quitted the town of
Lochmaben; and proceeding to Ecclefechan, and thence marching to
Langholme, reached Hawick on the fifteenth of September, and determined
on proceeding from that place into Teviotdale. Meantime measures were
taken by the Duke of Roxburgh, who was Lieutenant Governor of
Dumfriesshire, to prevent the Castle of Carlaverock being made available
for the Jacobite forces. The Duke gave orders that the back bridge of
the isle should be taken off, and a communication thus cut off between
the Papists in the lower part of Galloway and the rebels in the borders.
The inhabitants of the parish of Carlaverock wore also strictly watched,
being tenants, mostly, of the Earl of Nithisdale ; and the same
precaution was taken with regard to his Lordship's tenantry in Traquair,
Terregles, and Kirkcunyean; yet, according to the statement of Mr.
Reay, a most violent partisan against the Jacobites, the humble dwellers
on these estates were but little disposed to follow their chieftain, who
took, so the same account declares, " only two or three domestic
servants with him." This, however, is contradicted by the assertion of
Mr. Patten, who specifies that Lord Nithisdale was followed by three
hundred of his tenantry; and also by the expectations which were founded, upon a close
survey and scrutiny, by the agents of the Chevalier before the
outbreak.
Lord Nithisdale had now
taken a last farewell of the beautiful and smiling country of his
forefathers ; with what bright hopes, with what anticipations of a
successful march and a triumphant return he may have quitted Terregles,
it is easy to conjecture. Unhappily his enterprise was linked to one
over which a man, singularly ill-fitted for the office of command,
presided: for it was decreed that the Jacobite forces, under the command
of Lord Kenmure, should proceed to the assistance of Mr. Forster's ill
fated insurrection in the north of England.
The history of that
luckless and ill-concerted enterprise has been already given. The Earl
of Nithisdale was taken prisoner after the battle of Preston, but little
mention is made of his peculiar services at that place.
Lord Nithisdale was, with
other prisoners of the same rank, removed to London. The prisoners of
inferior rank were disposed of, under strong guards, in the different
castles of Lancaster, Chester, and Liverpool. The indignities which were
wreaked upon the unfortunate Jacobites as they entered London have been
detailed in the life of Lord Derwentwater. Amid the cries of a savage
populace, and the screams of "No wanning pan," "King George for ever!"
an exclamation which proves how deeply the notion of spurious birth had
sunk into the minds of the people, the Earl of Nithisdale was
conducted, his arms tied with cords, and the reins of his horse taken
from him, with his unfortunate companions, into the Tower, lie arrived
in London on the 9th of December, 1715.
Of the manner in which
the State prisoners of that period were, treated, there are sufficient
records left to prove that no feeling of compassion for what might be
deemed a wrong, but jet a generous principle of devotion to the Stuarts,
no high-toned sentiment of respect to bravery, nor consideration for the
habits and feelings of their prisoners, influenced the British
Government during that time of triumph. The mode in which those
unfortunate captives were left n the utmost penury and necessity to
petition for some provision, after their estates were escheated, plainly
manifests how little there was of that sympathy with calamity which
marks the present day.
But if the State
prisoners in London were treated with little humanity, those who were
huddled together in close prisons at Preston, Chester, Liverpool, and
the other towns were in a still more wretched condition.
In the stores of the
State Paper Office are to be found heartrending appeals for mercy, from
prisoners sinking under dire diseases from too close, contiguity, or
from long confinement in one apartment. Consumption seems to have been
very prevalent; and in Newgate the gaol fever raged. For this rigorous
confinement the excuse was, that it had been found impossible to give
the prisoners air, without risk of escape. In Chester, the townspeople
conspired to assist the poor wretches in this endeavour; and perhaps, in
regard to those of meaner rank, the authorities were not very averse to
the success of such efforts, for the prisons were crowded, and the
expense of even keeping the unfortunate captives alive began to be a
source of complaint on the part of Government.
The great majority of the
prisoners of the north were country gentlemen, Roman Catholics, from
Cumberland and Northumberland,—men who were hearty and sincere in their
convictions of the righteousness of their cause—men, whose ancestors had
mustered their tenantry in the field for Charles the First. To those
whose lives were spared, a petition was recommended, and taken round for
signature, praying that their sentence of death or of imprisonment might
be exchanged for transportation. Cut, whether these high-spirited
gentlemen expected that another insurrection might act in their favour,
or whether they preferred death to a final farewell under circumstances
so dreadful, to their country, does not appear. They mostly refused to
sign the petition, which was offered to them singly : and the commandant
at Preston, Colonel Rapin, in his correspondence with Lord Townshend,
expresses his annoyance at their obstinacy, and expatiates on the
inconvenience of the numbers under his charge at Preston. At length,
after Captain John Dalzell, brother to the Earl of Carnwath, had signed
the petition, a large body of the prisoners were ordered to be
transported without their petitioning, and to be put in irons. They were
hurried away to Liverpool, to embark thence for the Colonies, gentlemen
and private soldiers mingled in one mass ; but orders were afterwards
sent by Lord Townsliend to detain the gentlemen. Three hundred and
twenty-seven prisoners had, however, been already shipped off. Those who
remained were not permitted to converse, even with each other, without
risk,—one Thomas "Wells being appointed as a spy to write to the
Jacobites, and to discourse with them, under the garb of friendliness,
in order to draw out their real sentiments.
From this digression,
which may not be deemed irrelevant, since it marks the spirit of the
times, we return to the unhappy prisoners in the Tower, which was now
thickly tenanted by the fallen Jacobites.
Lord Nithisdale had the
sorrow of knowing that many of his friends and kinsmen were in the same
gloomy and impenetrable fortress to which he had been conducted. It is
possible that the Jacobite noblemen were not hopeless; and that
remembering the clemency of "William the Third to those who had held a
treasonable correspondence with the Court of St. Germains, they might
look for a similar line of policy from the reigning monarch.
It must be acknowledged,
however, that Government had been greatly exasperated by acts of
violence and of wanton destruction on the part of the Jacobites throughout the country;
and that the general disaffection throughout the North, and, in
particular, the strong Tory predilections at Oxford, must have greatly
aggravated the dangers, and consequently, in a political view, have
enhanced the crimes of the Chevalier's adherents. "The country," writes
Colonel hapin to Lord Townsliend, "is full of them, [the Jacobites],
and the same spirit reigns in London."
"Oxford," writes an
informant, under the name of Philopoliticus, "is debauched by
Jacobitism. They call the Parliament the Hump; and riots in the street,
with cries of 'Down with the Rump!' occur daily." Even the fellows and
heads of the colleges were disposed to Jacobite opinionst; and the
Jacobites had expected that the city would become the Chevalier's
head-quarters as it had been that of Charles the First.
But that which hastened
the fate of the Earl of Nithisdale and of his friends, was the landing
of James Stuart, at Peterhead, in Scotland, on the twenty-second of
December,— an event which took place too late for his friends and
partisans, and fatally increased the calamities of those who had
suffered in his cause. On Monday, the ninth of January, he made his
public entry into Perth, and, on the same day, the reigning monarch
addressed his Parliament, as far as lies in my
power, I take this first opportunity of declaring that I freely give up
all the estates that shall become forfeited to the Crown by this
Rebellion, to be applied towards defraying the extraordinary expense
incurred on this occasion." As soon as a suitable address had been
returned by both Houses, a debate concerning the prisoners taken in
rebellion ensued, and a conference was determined on with the House of
Lords. Mr. Lechmere, who was named to carry up the message to the Lords,
returned, and made a long and memorable speech, concerning the rise,
depth, and extent of the Rebellion; after which it was resolved, nemine
contradicente, to impeach the Earl of Derwentwater, William Lord Widdrington, William Earl of
Nithisdale, Robert Earl of Carnwath, George
Earl of Wintoun, William Viscount Kenmure, and William Lord Nairn, of
high treason.
The same evening, a
committee was appointed to draw up articles of impeachment; and so great
was the dispatch used, and so zealous were the committee, that in two
hours the articles were prepared, agreed to, and ordered to be engrossed
with the usual saving clause. During this time, the Lords remained
sitting, and before ten o'clock the articles were presented before that
assembly.
On the following day, the
prisoners were conducted before the Bar of the House, where the articles
of impeachment were read to them, and they were desired to prepare their
replies on the sixteenth day of the month. Thus only six days were
allowed for their answers; upon application, however, two days more were
granted. The prisoners were allowed to choose counsel, and also to have
a free communication with any persons, either peers or commoners, whom
they might name.
On the twenty-first of
January, the King again addressed his Parliament, and referred to the
recent landing of the "Pretender" in Scotland. The reply of the two
Houses to this speech emphatically declares, "that the landing of the
Pretender hath increased their indignation against him and his
adherents, and that they were determined to do everything -a their power
to assist his Majesty, not only in subduing the present rebellion, but
in destroying the seeds and causes of it, that the like disturbance may
never rise again to impair the blessings of his Majesty's reign.'"
On the ninth of February
the six impeached lords were brought, at eleven in the morning, to the
Court erected in Westminster Hall, wherein both Lords and Commons were
assembled. The ceremonial of opening this celebrated Court was conducted
in the following manner :—
The Lords being placed on
their proper scats, and the Lord High Steward on the woolsack, the Clerk
of the Crown in the Court of Chancery, after making three reverences to
the Lord Steward, presented, on his knees, the King's commission; which,
after the usual reverences, was placed on the table. A proclamation for
silence was then heard. The High Steward stood up and
addressed the Peers, "His Majesty's commission is going to be read;
your Lordships are desired to attend."
The Peers hereupon arose,
uncovered themselves, and stood while the commission was being read. The
voice of the Sergeant-at-arms exclaimed, "God save the King!" The
Herald and Gentleman under the Black Rod, after three reverences,
kneeling, then presented the White Staff to his Grace, the High Steward; upon which his Grace, attended by the Herald, the Black Rod, and Seal
Bearer, removed from the woolsack to an armed chair which was placed on
the uppermost step but one next to the throne.
The Clerk of the Crown
ordered the Serjeant-at-arms to make another proclamation for silence ;
and amidst the stillness, the Lieutenant of the Tower brought in, amid
an assembly of their compeers, his prisoners. Lord Wintoun was alone
absent; for he had obtained a few days of delay.
The Earl of Nithisdale
pleaded guilty, with his companions in misfortune. On Thursday, the
nineteenth of January, when called upon for his answer, his defence was
couched in the following terms: "It is with the greatest confusion,"
he began, "the said Earl appears at your Lordships' Bar, under the
weight of an impeachment by the Commons of Great Britain for high
treason." He went on to declare that he had ever been a zealous assertor
of the liberties of his country, and never engaged in any design to subvert the
established Government and good laws of the kingdom.
"When summoned by those
who were entrusted with the administration of the government in Scotland
to Edinburgh, he did, he alleged, not obey the summons, being assured
that if he went thither he would be made a close prisoner. He was
therefore forced to abscond; for being at that time in ill-health, a
confinement in Edinburgh Castle would have endangered his life. The Earl
also stated that lie had remained in privacy, until several of the
persons mentioned in the impeachment had appeared in arms very near the
place where they had lain concealed. He then " inconsiderately and
unfortunately" joined them, with four domestics only, and proceeded in
their company to the places named in the indictment; but knew nothing of
the intended insurrection until the party "were actually in arms."
After some expressions, stating that he was deeply sensible of his
offence, he confessed, with "a sorrow equal to his crime," that he was
guilty; but referred to his hopes of mercy, grounded on his having
capitulated at Preston, where he performed the duty of a Christian in
preventing effusion of blood ; and on his reliance on his Majesty's
mercy."
On being further asked by
the Lord High Steward whether he had anything to say " why judgment
should not pass upon him according to law," Lord Nithisdale
recapitulated the points in his answer in so weak a voice, that the Lord
Steward reiterated the former question: "Have you pleaded anything in
arrest of judgment?" "No, my Lord, I have not" was the reply.
The Earl of Nithisdale
received the sentence of condemnation with the other Lords; and, llike
them, had the misery of hearing his doom prefaced by a long and admired
harangue. The sentence was then pronounced in all its barbarous
particularities; the law being in this, as the Lord High Steward
declared, deaf to all distinctions of rank, "required that he should
pronounce them." But his Grace intimated the most ignominious and
painful parts of the sentence were usually remitted.
Lord Nithisdale, unlike
Lord Widdrington and Lord Ivenmure, who had referred in terms of anguish
to their wives and children, had made no appeal on the plea of those
family ties, to which few of his judges could have been insensible. He
returned to the Tower, under sentence of death, to be saved by the
heroism of a woman; according to some accounts, of his mother
but actually, by the fearless, devoted affection of his wife.
"Winifred, Countess of
Nithisdale, appears, from her portrait by Kneller, to have conjoined to
an heroic contempt of danger a feminine and delicate appearance, with
great loveliness of countenance. She was descended from a family who
knew no prouder recollection than that their castle-towers had been the
last to welcome the unhappy Charles the First in the manner suited to
royalty. Her mother was the Lady Elizabeth Herbert, daughter of Edward,
the second Marquis of Worcester, and author of "The Century of
Inventions." Lady Nithisdale was therefore the great-granddaughter of
that justly honoured Marquis of Worcester whose loyalty and
disinterestedness were features of a character as excellent in private
life, as benevolent, as sincere, as it was conspicuous in his public
career. Yet, so universal, so continual has been the popular prejudice
against Popery in this country, that even the virtues of this good man
could scarcely rescue him from the imputation, as Lord Clarendon
expresses it, of being "that sort of Catholics, the people rendered
odious, by accusing to be most Jesuited."
The maternal family of
Lady Nithisdale were, therefore, of the same faith with her husband,
and, like his family, they had suffered deeply for the cause of the
Stuarts ; and it is remarkable that, with what some might deem
infatuation, many descendants of those who had seen their fairest
possessions ravaged, their friends and kindred slain, should be ready to
suffer again. It is impossible for any reasoning to dispel the idea.
Lady Nithisdale, on her
father's side, was descended from the Herberts of Powis Castle, who were
ennobled in the reign of James the First. She was the fourth daughter of
William, Marquis of Powis, who followed James the Second, after his
abdication, to Trance, and was created by that monarch Duke of Powis, a
title not recognised in England.* The titular Duke of Powis, as he is
frequently called in history, chose to remain at St. Germains, and was
at length outlawed for not returning within a certain period. He died at
St. Germains in 1696. Upon the death of her father, Lady Winifrid
Herbert was placed with her elder sister, the Lady Lucy, in the English
convent at Bruges, of which Lady Lucy eventually became Abbess. A less
severe fate was, however, in store for the younger sister.
Under these adverse
circumstances, so far as related to the proper maintenance of her
father's rank in England, was Winifred Herbert reared. How and where she
met with Lord Nithisdale, and whether the strong attachment which
afterwards united them so indissolubly, was
nurtured in the saloons of St. Germains, or in the romantic haunts of
Nithisdale, we have no information to decide, neither have the
descendants of the family been able even to ascertain the date of her
marriage.
It is not improbable,
however, that, before his marriage, Lord Nithisdale visited Paris and
Pome, since the practice of making what was called "the grand tour" not
only prevailed among the higher classes, but especially among the
Jacobite nobility, many of whom, as in the case of Lord Derwentwater,
were educated abroad; and this is more especially likely to have been
the case in the instance of Lord Nithisdale, since, as Lady Nithisdale
remarks in her narrative, her husband was a lJoman Catholic in a part of
Scotland peculiarly adverse to that faith, "the only support," as she
calls him, "of the Catholics against the inveteracy of the Whigs, who
wore very numerous in that part of Scotland."
To her participation of
those decided political opinions, which were inbred in Lady Nithisdale,
she appears not to have departed from that feminine character which
rises to sublimity when coupled with a fearless sacrifice of selfish
considerations. It was the custom of the day for ladies to share in the
intrigues of faction, more or less. Lady Falconbridge, the Countess of
Derwentwater, Lady Seaforth, all appear to have taken a lively part in
the interests of the Jacobites. The Duchess of Marlborough was,
politically speaking, extinct; but the restless love of ascendancy is
never extinct. The fashionable world were still divided between her,
and the rival whom she so despised, Catherine Sedley, Duchess of
Buckingham.
But Lady Nithisdale,
living in the North, and possibly occupied with her two children,
remained, as she affirms, in the country, until the intelligence of her
lord's committal to the Tower brought her from her seclusion years
afterwards ; she writes thus to her sister, the Lady Lucy Herbert,
Abbess of the English Augustine Nuns at Bruges, who had, it seems,
requested from her an account of the circumstances under which Lord
Nithisdale escaped from the Tower.
"I first came to
London," Lady Nithisdale writes, "upon hearing that my lord was
committed to the Tower. I was at the same time informed that he had
expressed the greatest anxiety to see me, having, as he afterwards told
me, no one to console him till 1 came. I rode to Newcastle, and from
thence took the stage to York. When I arrived there, the snow was so
deep that the stage could not set out for London. The season was so
severe, and the roads so bad, that the post itself was stopped; however,
I took horses and rode to London, though the snow was generally above
the horses' girths and arrived safe without any accident."
After this perilous
journey, the determined woman sought interviews with the reigning
.Ministers, but she met with no encouragement; on the contrary, she
was assured that, although some of the prisoners were to be saved, Lord
Nithisdale would not be of the number.
"When I inquired' she
continues, 'into the reason of this distinction, I could obtain no
other answer than that they would not flatter me. But I soon perceived
the reasons, which they declined alleging me. A Roman Catholic upon the
frontiers of Scotland, who headed a very considerable party, a man whose
family had always signalized itself by its loyalty to the royal house of
Stuart, would," she argued, "become a very agreeable sacrifice to the
opposite party. They still/' so thought Lady Nithisdale, "remembered the
defence of the castle of Carlaverock against the republicans by Lord
Nithisdale's grandfather, and were resolved not to let his grandson
escape from their power."
Upon weighing all these
considerations, Lady Nithisdale perceived that all hope, of mercy was
vain; she determined to dismiss all such dependance from her mind, and
to confide in her own efforts. It was not impossible to bribe the guards
who were set over the state prisoners: indeed, from the number of
escapes, there must either have been a very venal spirit among the
people who had the charge of the prisoners generally, or a compassionate
leaning in their favour.
Having formed her
resolution, Lady Nithisdale decided to communicate it to no one, except
to her "dear Evans," a maid, or companion, who was of paramount
assistance to her in the whole affair Meantime, public
indications of compassion for the condemned lords, seemed to offer
better hopes than the dangerous enterprise of effecting an escape.
On the eighteenth of
February, orders were sent both to the Lieutenant of the Tower and to
the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex for the executions of the rebel
lords. Great solicitations had, meantime, been made for them, and the
petitions for mercy not only reached the Court, but came down to the two
Houses of Parliament, and being seconded by some members, debates
ensued. That in the Commons ended in a motion for an adjournment,
carried by a majority of seven only, and intended to avoid any further
interposition in that House. Many who used to vote with the Government,
influenced, says a contemporary writer, by "the word mercy, voted with
the contrary party." In the House of Peers, however, the question being
put, whether the petitions should be received and read, it was carried
by a majority of nine or ten voices.
Put the sanguine hopes of
those who were hanging upon the decisions of the Lords for life or
death, were again cruelly disappointed. After reading the petitions,
the next question was, whether n case of an impeachment, the King had
power to reprieve This was carried by an affirmative, and followed by
a motion to address his Majesty, humbly to desire him to reprieve the
lords who lay under sentence of death. These relentings, and the
successive tides of feeling displayed in this high assembly,
prove how divided the higher classes were oil the points of hereditary
monarchy, and others also at issue; hut the Whig ascendancy prevailed.
There was a clause introduced into the address, which nullilied all
former show of mercy; and the King was merely petitioned "to reprieve
such of the condemned lords as deserve his mercy; and that the time of
the respite should he left to his Majesty's discretion." This clause was
carried by five votes only.
To the address the
following inauspicious answer was returned from King George: "That on
this, and other occasions, he would do what he thought most consistent
with the dignity of his Crown, and the safety of his people."
This struggle between the
parties ended, says the author of the Register, "in the execution of
two of these condemned lords, and the removal of some others from their
employments, that had been most solicitous for their preservation".
The objects of this petty
tyranny could well afford to succumb under the workings of that mean and
revengeful spirit, whilst they might cherish the conviction of having
used their efforts m the true spirit of that Christianity which
remembers no considerations of worldly interest, when opposed to duty.
Lady Nithisdale's relation of this anxious and eventful day, the
twenty-third of February, is far too animated to be changed -n a single
expression. She had refused to remain confined with Lord Nithisdale in
the Tower, on the plea of infirm health; but actually, because she well
knew that she could better aid his cause whilst herself at liberty. She
was then forbidden to see her husband but by bribing the guards, she
often contrived to have secret interviews with him, until the day before
that on which the prisoners were condemned.
"On the twenty-second of
February, which fell on a Thursday, our general petition was presented
to the House of Lords, the purport of which was to interest the Lords to
intercede with his Majesty to pardon the prisoners. We were, however,
disappointed. The day before the petition was to be presented, the Duke
of St. Albans, who had promised my Lady Denventwater to present it, when
it came to the point, failed in his word. However, as she was the only
English Countess concerned, it was incumbent on her to have it
presented. We had but one day left before the execution, and the Duke
still promised to present the petition ; but for fear he should fail, I
engaged the Duke of Montrose to secure its being done by one or the
other. I then went in company with most of the ladies of quality then in
town, to solicit the interest of the Lords as they were going to the
House. They all behaved to me with great civility, but particularly the
Earl of Pembroke, who, though lie desired me not to speak to him. yet he
promised to employ his interest in my favour, and honourably kept his
word, for he spoke very strongly in our behalf."
"The subject of the
debate was, whether the King had the power to pardon those who had been
condemned by Parliament: and it was chiefly owing to Lord Pembroke's
speech that it was carried in the affirmative. However, one of the Lords
stood up and said that the House could only intercede for those who
should prove themselves worthy of their intercession, but not for all of
them indiscriminately. This salvo quite blasted all my hopes, for I was
assured that it was aimed at the exclusion of those who should refuse to
subscribe to the petition, which was a thing I Is new my lord would
never submit to; nor. in fact, could I wish to preserve his life on
those terms. As the motion had passed generally, I thought I could draw
from it some advantage in favour of my design. Accordingly I immediately
left the House of Lords, and hastened to the Tower, where, affecting an
air of joy and satisfaction. I told the guards I passed by, that I came
to bring joyful tidings to the prisoners. L desired them to lay aside
their fears, for the petition had passed the House in their favour. I
then gave them some money to drink to the Lords and his Majesty, though
it was trifling ; for 1 thought if I were too liberal on the occasion,
they might suspect my designs, and that giving them something would gain
their good will and services for the next day, which was the eve of the
execution."
On the following day Lady
Nithisdale was too much occupied in preparations for her scheme to visit
the; Tower; the evening of the eventful twenty-third of February arrived; and
when all things were put in readiness, this resolute and well-judging
woman threw herself upon the confidence of one in whose power she was,
to a certain degree, and whose co-operation she could only secure by
such a proceeding. She sent for the landlady of the house in which she
lodged, and told her that she had made up her mind to effect Lord
Niihisdale's escape, since there was no chance of his being pardoned.
She added those few but thrilling words : " This is the last night
before his execution!" While she spoke, perhaps, the condemned nobleman
was supplicating on his knees to God for that mercy which was withheld
by man. Imagination paints the despondency of Lord Derwentwater; the
calm and dignified sorrow of the justly pitied Kenmure.
Lady Nithisdale then made
a request calculated to alarm a woman of an ordinary character; but she
seems to have understood the disposition of the person whom she thus
addressed.
"I told her that I had
every thing in readiness, and that I trusted she would not refuse to
accompany me. that my lord might pass for her. I pressed her to come
immediately, as we had no time to lose." This sudden announcement, which
a less sagacious mind might have deemed injudicious, had the effect
which Lady Nithisdale expected ; the undertaking was one of such risk,
that it could only be an enterprise of impulse, except to her whose
affections were deeply interested in the result. The consent of Mrs.
Mills was carried by storm, as well as that of another coadjutor, a Mrs.
Morgan, who usually bore the name of Hilton, to whom Lady Nithisdale
dispatched a messenger, begging her to come immediately. Their surprise
and astonishment," remarks Lady Nithisdale, speaking of these, her two
confidantes, " made them consent, without ever thinking of the
consequences." The scheme was, that Mrs. Mills, who was tall and portly,
should pass for Lord Nithisdale; Mrs. Morgan was to carry concealed the
bundle of " clothes that were to serve Mrs. Mills when she left her own
behind her." After certain other preparations, all managed with infinite
dexterity and shrewdness, these three heroines set out In a coach for
the Tower, into which they were to be admitted, under the plea of taking
a last leave of Lord Nithisdale. Lady Nithisdale, even whilst her heart
throbbed with agitation, continued to support her spirits. "When we
were in the coach." she relates, "I never ceased talking, that they her
companions might have no leisure to repent".
"On our arrival at the
Tower, the first I introduced was Mrs. Morgan (for I was only allowed to
take in one at a time). She brought in the clothes which were to serve
Mrs. Mills when she left her own behind her. When Mrs. Morgan had taken
off what she had brought for my purpose, I conducted her back to the
staircase ; and in going I begged her to send my maid to dress me, that
I was afraid of being too late to present my last petition that night if
she did not come immediately. I dispatched her safe, and went partly
down stairs to meet Airs. Mills, who had the precaution to hold her
handkerchief to her face, as is natural for a woman to do when she is
going to take her last farewell of a friend on the eve of his execution.
I had indeed desired her to do so, that my lord might go out in the same
manner. Her eyebrows were rather inclined to be sandy, and my lord's
were very dark and very thick. However, I had prepared some paint of the
colour of hers, to disguise his with ; I also brought an artificial
head-dress of the same coloured hair as hers, and 1 painted his face and
his cheeks with rouge to hide his long beard, which he had not had time
to shave.
"All this provision I
had before left in the Tower. The poor guards, whom my slight liberality
the day before had endeared me to, let me go quietly out with my
company, ami were not so strictly on the watch as they usually had been;
and the more so, as they were persuaded, from what I had told them the
day before, that the prisoners would obtain their pardon. I made Mrs.
Milk take off her own hood, and put on that which I had brought for her.
I then took her by the hand and led her out of my lord's chamber ; and
in passing through the next room, in which were several people, with all
the concern imaginable I said, ' My dear Mrs. Catherine, go in all
haste, and send me my waiting-maid; she certainly cannot reflect how
late it is. I am to present my petition to-night, and if I let slip this
opportunity I am undone, for tomorrow is too late. Hasten her as much as
possible, for I shall be on thorns till she comes.' Everybody in the
room, who were chiefly the guards' wives and daughters, seemed to
compassionate me exceedingly, and the sentinel officiously opened me the
door. When I had seen her safe out, I returned to my lord and finished
dressing him. I had taken care that Mrs. Mills did not go out crying,
as she came in, that my lord might better pass for the lady who came in
crying and affected; and the more so, as he had the same dress that she
wore. When I had almost finished dressing my lord in all my petticoats
except one, I perceived it was growing dark, and was afraid that the
light of the candles might betray us. so I resolved to set off. I went
out leading him by the hand, whilst he held hi» handkerchief to his
eyes. I spoke to liim in the most piteous and afflicted tone, bewailing
bitterly the negligence of Evans, who had ruined mo by her delay. Then I
said, ' My dear Mrs. Betty, for the love of God, run quickly and bring
her with you ; you know my lodging, and if you ever made dispatch in
your lite, do it at present: I am almost distracted with this
disappointment.' The guards opened the door, and I went down stairs with
him, still con luring him to make all possible dispatch. As soon as he
had cleared the door I made him walk before me, for fear the sentinel
should take notice of his walk, but T continued to press him to make all
the dispatch he possibly could. At the bottom of the stairs I met my
dear Evans, into whose hands I confided him. I had before engaged Mr.
Mills to be in readiness before the Tower to conduct him to some place
of safety, in case we succeeded. He looked upon the affair as so very
improbable to succeed, that his astonishment, when he saw us, threw him
into such a consternation that he was almost out of himself; which Evans
perceiving, with the greatest presence of mind, without telling him
anything, lest he should mistrust them, conducted him to some of her own
friends on whom she could rely, and so secured him, without which we
certainly should have been undone. When she had conducted him and left
him with them. she returned to Mr. Mills, who had by this time
recovered himself from his astonishment. They went home together; and
having found a place of security, they conducted him to it. In the mean
time, as I had pretended to have sent the young lady on a message, I was
obliged to return up stairs and go back to my lord's room in the same
feigned anxiety of being too late, so that everybody seemed sincerely to
sympathise in my distress. When I was in the room, I talked as if he had
been really present. I answered my own questions in my lord's voice, as
nearly as I could imitate it. I walked up and down as if we were
conversing together, till I thought they had time enough thoroughly to
clear themselves of the guards. I then thought proper to make off also.
I opened the door and stood half in it, that those in the outward
chamber might hear what I said, but held it so close that they cold not
look in. I bade my lord formal farewell for the night, and added, that
something more than usual must have happened to make Evans negligent on
this important occasion, who had always been so punctual in the smallest
trifles, that I saw no other remedy than to go in person. That if the
Tower was then open, when I had finished my business, I would return
that night; but that he might be assured I would be with him as early in
the morning as I could gain admittance into the Tower, and I flattered
myself I should bring more favourable news. Then, before I shut the
door, I pulled through the string of the latch, so that it could only be
opened in the inside.
"I then shut it with
some degree of force, that I might be sure of being well shut. I said
to the servant as I passed by (who was ignorant of the whole
transaction), that he need not carry in candles to his master till my
lord sent for them, as he desired to finish some prayers first."
Thus ended this singular,
successful, and heroic, scheme. It was now necessary that the devoted
Lady Nithisdale should secure her own safety.
She had, it seems, been
bent upon proffering a last petition to King George, in case her attempt
had failed. She drove home to her lodgings, where a friend, named
Mackenzie, waited to take her petition. "There is no need of a
petition," were the words that broke from the agitated woman; "my lord is safe, and out of
the Tower, and out of the hands of his enemies, though I know not where
he is." Lady Nithisdale then discharged the coach which had brought her
to her lodgings, a precaution which she always observed for fear of
being traced,—never going in the same vehicle to more than one place.
She sent for a chair, and went to the Duchess of Buccleugh, who had
promised to present her petition, hawing taken her precaution against
all events. The Duchess expected her, but had company with her; and Lady
Nithisdale barely escaped being' shown into the room where her friend
was with her company. She, however, excused herself, and, sending a
message to her Grace, proceeded to the residence of the Duchess of
Montrose. "This lady had ever," said Lady Nithisdale, "borne a part In
my distresses;" she now left her company to see and console the wife of
the rebel lord, of whom, she conjectured, Lady Nithisdale must have
taken, that night, a last farewell. As the two friends met, the Duchess,
to her astonishment, found her visitor in a transport of joy; "she was
extremely shocked and frightened," writes Lady Nithisdale; "and has
since confessed to me that she thought my troubles had driven me out of
myself." She cautioned Lady Nithisdale to secrecy, and even to flight;
for the King had been extremely irritated by the petition already sent
in by Lady Nithisdale. The generous Duchess was, among those who
frequented the Court, the only person that knew Lady Nithisdale's
secret. After a brief interview. Lady Nithisdale, sending for a fresh
chair, hurried away to a house which her faithful attendant Evans had
found for her, and where she was to learn tidings of Lord Nithisdale.
Here she learned that Lord Nithisdale had been removed from the lodging
to which he had at first been conducted, to the mean abode of a poor
woman just opposite the guard-house. Here the former Lord of Carlaverock
and of Nithisdale met his wife. Lady Nithisdale hurries over the
meeting, but her simple account has its own powers of description.
The good woman of the
house had, it seems, but one small room up a pair ox stairs, and a very
small bed in it. " We threw ourselves on the bed that we might not be
heard walking up and down. She left us a bottle of wine and some bread,
and Mrs. Mills brought us some more in her pockets the next day. We
subsisted on this provision from Thursday till Saturday night, when Mr.
Mills came and conducted my lord to the Venetian Ambassador's. We did
not communicate the affair to his Excellency, but one of the servants
concealed him in his own room till Wednesday, on which day the
Ambassador's coach-and-six was to go down to Dover to meet his brother.
My lord put on a livery, and went down in the retinue, without the least
suspicion, to Dover, where Mr. Michel (which was the name of the
Ambassador's servant) hired a small vessel, and immediately set sail for
Calais. The passage was so remarkably short, that the captain threw out
this reflection,—that the wind could not have served better if the
passengers hail been flying for their lives, little thinking it to be
really the case.
"Mr. Michel might have
easily returned without suspicion of being concerned in my lord's
escape; but my lord seemed Inclined to have him with him, which he did,
and he has at present a good place under our young master. This is an
exact and as full an account of this affair, and of the persons
concerned in it, as 1 could possibly give you, to the best of my memory,
and you may rely upon the truth of it. For my part, I absconded to the
house of a very honest man in Drury Lane, where I remained till I was
assured of my lord's safe arrival on the Continent. I then wrote to the
Duchess of Buccleugh (everybody thought till then that I was gone off
with my lord) to tell her that 1 understood 1 was suspected of having
contrived my lord's escape, as was very natural to suppose; that if I
could have been happy enough to have done it, I should be flattered to
have the merit of it attributed to me ; but that a bare suspicion
without proof, would never be a sufficient ground for my being punished
for a supposed offence, though it might be motive sufficient for me to
provide a place of security ; so I entreated her to procure leave for me
to go about my business. So far from granting my request, they were
resolved to secure me if possible. After several debates, Mr.
Solicitor-General, who was an utter stranger to me, had the humanity to
say, that since 1 showed such respect to Government as not to appear in
public, it would be cruel to make any search after me. Upon wine]! it
was resolved that no further search should be made if I remained
concealed; but that if I appeared either in England or Scotland, I
should be secured. But this was not sufficient for me, unless I could
submit to see my son exposed to beggary. My lord sent for me up to town
in such haste, that I had not time to settle anything before I left
Scotland. I had in my hand all the family papers, and I dared trust them
to nobody : my house might have been searched without warning,
consequently they were far from being secure there. In this distress, I
had the precaution to bury them in the ground, and nobody but myself and
the gardener knew where they were. I did the same with other things of
value. The event proved that I had acted prudently ; for after my
departure they searched the house, and God only knows what might have
transpired from those papers! All these circumstances rendered my
presence absolutely necessary, otherwise they might have been lost; for
though they retained the highest preservation after one very severe
winter, (for when I took them up they were as dry as if they came from
the fire-side,) yet they could not possibly have remained so much longer
without prejudice."
Lord Nithisdale went to
Home, and never revisited his native country; indeed, the project of the
Rebellion of 1745, and the unceasing efforts and hopes by which it was
preceded on the part of the Jacobites, must have rendered such a step
impracticable to one who seems to have
been especially obnoxious to the house of Hanover.
His escape, according to
Lady Nithisdale, both infuriated and alarmed George the First, "who
flew into an excessive passion," as she expresses it, on the news
transpiring; and exclaimed that he was betrayed, and that it could not
have been done without a confederacy. He instantly dispatched messengers
to the Tower, to give orders that the prisoners who were still there,
might be the more effectually secured. He never forgave Lady Nithisdale; and the effects of his powerful resentment were such, as eventually to
drive her for ever from England.
Inexperienced, young, a
stranger in the vast metropolis, Lady Nithisdale was now left alone, to
skulk from place to place that she might avoid the effects of the royal
displeasure. She absconded to the house of an "honest man" in Drury
Lane, where she remained in concealment until she heard of her husband's
safe arrival on the Continent. A report, meantime, prevailed of her
having been the means of Lord Nithisdale's escape ; and It was generally
believed that she had gone with him. To the surprise of the Duchess of
Buccleugh, Lady Nithisdale one day appeared before her, the object of
that sudden and perhaps undesired visit being to obtain, by the
influence of the Duchess, leave to quit London ; and to disseminate,
through her Grace, a belief that the safety of Lord Nithisdale was not
procured by his wife's means. It must have been one of the most
aggravating circumstances to that noble and affectionate being, to have
employed so much artifice in the conduct of this affair; but, if ever
artifice be allowable, it is when opposed as a weapon to tyranny.
"Besides, Lady Nithisdale had now not only her own safety to consider;
she had to protect the interests of her son.
Those whom she had
mortally offended were eager to punish her courage by imprisonment.
The Solicitor-General,
however, showed a more compassionate spirit than his employers, and in
the course of several debates in the House of Commons, submitted that if
Lady Nithisdale paid so much respect to Government as not to appear in
public, it would be cruel to make any farther search after her. It was
therefore decided that unless the lady were seen in England or
Scotland, she should be unmolested ; but if she were observed in either
of those countries, she should be secured. This might be a decision of
mercy, but Lady Nithisdale could not submit to it, unless she left her
son's estate to be ruined by waste and plunder. Hurried as she had been
to London, she had found time only to make one arrangement, which proved
to be of the utmost importance.
"I had in my hands," she
relates, "all the family-papers, and dared trust them to nobody. My
house might have been searched without warning, consequently they were
far from being secure there. In this distress I had the precaution to
bury them in the ground, and nobody but myself and the gardener knew
where they were: I did the same with other things of value. The event
proved that I had acted prudently to save these papers."
Lady Nithisdale
determined to return, at all risks, to Scotland; and it was, perhaps,
from her care in concealing the important documents to which she refers,
that the estates were not escheated. She soon put into execution the
heroic determination, of which she made no boast. Her journey was full
of perils; not only those incident to the time and season of the year,
but the great risk of being betrayed and discovered. Little respect was
paid, in that reign, when truly the spirit of chivalry was extinguished,
to the weaker sex. Ladies, active and instrumental as they were in
political intrigues. ,f found out, were made to pay the penalty of their dissaffection with hard imprisonment ; or, if at large, wandered from
place to place, conscious that the eye of the law pursued their
footsteps. Lady Seaforth, the wife of one of the rebel lords, was
reduced to necessity, even of the common necessaries of life; and Lady
Widdrington and her children shared the same cruel privations.*
Believing herself, also,
to be an object of peculiar dislike to George the First, Lady
Nithisdale's courage in braving the royal displeasure a second time,
certainly appears to border upon folly and a rash temerity. But she knew
well that if she could once reach the land of the Maxwells, the strict
respect paid to the head of the clan, and the remarkable fidelity of all
ranks of the Scotch to those who trust to their honour, would there prove her
safeguard. The great danger was in making the journey. But the young
heroic Countess dismissed all fear from her mind, and prepared for her
enterprise.
"In short," she thus
prefaces her narrative, "as I had once exposed my life for the safety
of the father, I could not do less than hazard it once more for the
fortune of the son. I had never travelled on horseback but from York to
London, as I told you; but the difficulties did not arise now from the
severity of the season, but tho fear of being discovered and arrested.
To avoid this, I bought three saddle-horses, and set off with my dear
Evans and a very trusty servant, whom I brought with me out of Scotland.
We put up at all the smallest inns on the road, that could take in a few
horses, and where I thought I was not known; for T was thoroughly known
at all the considerable inns on the northern road. Thus I arrived safe
at Traquliair, where I thought myself secure, for the lieutenant of the
county being a friend of my lord's, would not permit any search to be
made after me without sending me previous notice to abscond. Here 1 had
the assurance to rest myself two whole days, pretending that I was going
to my own house with leave from Government. I sent no notice to my
house, that the magistrates of Dumfries might not make too narrow
enquiries about me. So they were ignorant of my arrival in the country
till I was at home, where 1 still feigned to have permission to remain.
To carry on the deceit the better, I sent to all my neighbours and
invited them to come to my house. I took up my papers at night and sent
them off to Tratpihair. It was a particular stroke of providence that I
made the dispatch I did, for they soon suspected me, and by a very
favourable accident, one of them was overheard to say to the magistrates
of Dumfries, that the next day they would insist on seeing my leave from
Government. This was bruited about, and when I was told of it, I
expressed my surprise that they should be so backward in coming to pay
their respects; ' but,' said I, ' better late than never: be sure to
tell them that they shall be welcome whenever they choose to come.'
"This was after dinner,
but I lost no time to put everything in readiness with all possible
secrecy; and the next morning before day-break, I set off again for
London with the same attendants, and, as before, put up at the smallest
inns and arrived safe once more."*
The report of her journey
into Scotland had preceded Lady Nitliisdale's return to London; and, if
we may credit her assertions, which are stated with so much candour as
to impart a certain conviction of their truthfulness, their King was
irritated beyond measure at the intelligence. Orders were immediately
issued for her arrest; and the Monarch protested that Lady Nithisdale
did whatever she pleased in spite of him ; that she had given him more
trouble than any other woman in Europe. Again driven into obscurity,
Lady Nithisdale took the opinion of a very celebrated lawyer, whose name
she does not specify, and, upon his opinion, determined
to retire to the Continent. The reasons which her legal adviser assigned
for this counsel was, that although, in other circumstances, a wife
cannot be prosecuted for saving her husband, yet in cases of high
treason, according to the rigour of the law, the head of a wife is
responsible for that of a husband. Since the King was so incensed
against Lady Nithisdale there could be no answering for the
consequences, and he therefore earnestly besought her to leave the
kingdom.
Lady Nithisdale,
conscious of the wisdom of this recommendation, and wearied, perhaps, of
a life of apprehension, determined to adapt the plan recommended.
It is evident that she
joined Lord Nithisdale at Rome, whither he had retired; for the
statement which she has left concludes in a manner which shows that the
devoted and heroic wife had been enabled to rejoin the husband for whom
she hail encountered so much anxiety, contumely, and peril Her son, it
appears, also accompanied her, from her reference to "our young
Master," meaning the Master of Nithisdale; since, when she wrote, the
Prince Charles Edward could not be endowed with that appellation, his
father being then alive. Her narrative is thus concluded :—
"This is the full
narrative of what you desired, and of all the transactions which passed
relative to this affair. Nobody besides yourself could have obtained it from me; but the
obligations I owe you, throw me under the necessity of refusing you
nothing that is in my power to do. As this is for yourself alone, your
indulgence "will excuse all the faults which must occur in this long
recital. The truth you may, however, depend upon ; attend to that and
overlook all deficiencies. My lord desires you to be assured of his
sincere friendship. 1 am, with the strongest attachment, my dear sister,
yours most affectionately,
"Winifred
Nithisdalee."
Little is known of the
Earl of Nithisdale after his escape to Rome, where he died in 1744. He
thus lived through a period of comparative quiet, till his native
country was again on the eve of being embroiled in a civil war, more
replete with danger, subbed by greater crimes, and more disastrous to
his native country, than the short-lived struggle of 1715. An exile from
his Scottish possessions, Lord Nithisdale possibly implanted in the mind
of his own son that yearning to establish the rights of the Stuarts
which appears not to have been eradicated from the hearts of the
Scottish Jacobites until their beloved and royal race had become
lineally extinct.
The descendants of
William, Earl of Nithisdale, have never been able to ascertain where his
Lordship is buried. His noble and admirable wife died at Rome, as well
as her husband ; but her remains were brought to this country, and they
are deposited at Arundel Castle.
John Maxwell, who assumed
the title of Earl of Nithisdale, appears to have remained absent from
Scotland until the troubles of 1745 began. It was probably on the death
of his father in 1744, that he returned to take possession of the family
estates,—that this, the representative of the family of Maxwell,
ventured to appear in Dumfriesshire.
The following
correspondence which passed between the Earl of Nithisdale, popularly so
called, and his friend, Mr. Craik, of Arbigland in Dumfriesshire, is a
curious commentary upon the motives and reasons which actuated the minds
of the Jacobites in the second attempt to re-establish the Stuart
family. The first letter from Mr. Craik is dated October the thirteenth,
1745, when Edinburgh Castle was blockaded by Charles Edward, who was
publishing his manifestoes from the saloons of Holyrood House. The
answer from Lord Nithisdale is written in reply to one of remonstrance
addressed to him by his friend. There is no date, but it is obviously
written at Edinburgh.
The remonstrances from
Mr. Craik were instantly dispatched, to avert, if possible, any decided
step on the part of Lord Nithisdale. The arguments which it contains
shew the friendly intention of the earnest writer. Lord Nithisdale had,
in his former letter, challenged his friend to assign his reasons for
dissuading him from the enterprise.
Letter from Mr. Craik to
Lord Nithidale.
"My waiting for a safe
hand to convey this to you has prevented my answering yours of the
thirteenth sooner. It must give me g^eat pleasure that you have not
determined to engage in the present enterprise, which from several
apparent symptoms I had reason to apprehend; and if you stick by your
promise of doeing nothing rashly (fitt only for desperados indeed!) in
a matter of such moment, I shall be sett at ease from the anxiety I felt
on your account.
"In mine which gave
occasion to yours, I really had no intention to enter into the merits of
the cause : all I meant was, to make experiment how far my interest with
you could prevail to keep you undetermined till meeting, when I might
promise myself more success in reasoning upon the subject, than while
you remained in town, where the spirit of the place, the people you
converse with, the things you hear and see, all unite to inflame your
passions and confound your understanding. But since it has, beyond my
intention, engaged you to explain your sentiments at large, and to call
upon you to give my opinion; and since I suppose your arguments contain
all that can be said by those of the party who would be thought to judge
coolly and act reasonably at this juncture. I shall, with the freedom
and openness of a friend, consider them as they lye before me in yours:
and if I am forced to exceed the limits of a letter, you may blame
yourself, who drew me in. You tell me you arc ready to believe; I agree
in opinion with you, that as matters are come to this length, it's now
greatly to the interest of Scotland to wish success to the undertaking,
and that nothing but the improbability of success should hinder every
Scotsman to join in it. This, tho' a verrie material point, you take for
granted without assigning a single reason; but as I know it is one of
their delusive arguments, now much in use where you are, and the chief
engine of the party to seduce well-meaning men to concur in the ruin of
the constitution ami their country. I shall give you what I apprehend
you must mean by it in the most favourable light it will bear; and then
from an impartial stating of the fact as it truely stands, leave
yourself to judge "how far an honest man, a wise one, and a lover of his
country, can justify either to himself or the worlde, his being of this
opinion. The meaning of your argument I take to be this : that by the
unaccountable success of the enterprise and the tame submission of the
people in general, if the scheme misgive all Scotland becomes involved
in the guilt, and may expect the outmost severitys this Government and
the people of England can afflict tliern with; but on the other hand,
should the undertaking be crowned with success, as Scotesmen have the
merit of it, they must become the peculiar favourites of the family they
have raised to the throne, and reap all the advantages they can promise
themselves from a grateful and generous prince. I hope I have done
justice to your argument, allow me allso to do justice to facts and
truth.
ft The people of Great
Britain having found, from repeated experiments, bow precarious their
libertys were in the hands of the princes who founded their title to
govern them in hereditary right,—that however absurd the pretence was in
itself, no example could make them forego a claim which so much
flattered their ambition, and upon which only, with any shew of reason,
arbitrary power and tyranny can be built at last,—determined to secure
(as far as human prudence can) the possession of that inestimable
blessing to themselves and posterity by fixing the royal power in a
family whose only title should be the free choice of the people, and
who, should they attempt, would be restrained from inslaving those they
governed, and would not only act most absurdly, but might reckon upon
baring the same voice of the people against them.
"The maxims by which our
hereditary princes conducted themselves, were sufficiently felt to the
sad experience of our forefathers; thank God we were reserved for
happier times! History will inform you of their repeated and unwearied
attempts to subvert the constitution and inslave a free people. Their
sacrifizing the interest of the nation to France, their violating their
oaths and promises, their persecutions and their schemes to establish a
religion which in its nature is inconsistent with the toleration of any
other, though reasons of state may make it wink at this on particular
occasions,—but should I descend to particulars, it would lead me beyond
the limites I have prescribed myself.
"The present family have
now reigned over us these thirty years, and though during so long a time
they may have fallen into errors, or may have committed faults, (as what
Government is without?) yett I will defy the most sanguin zealot to
find in history a period equal to this in which Scotland possessed so
uninterrupted a felicity, in which liberty, civil and religious, was so
universally enjoyed by all people of whatever denomination—nay, by the
open and avowed ennemys of the family and constitution, or a period in
which all ranks of men have been so effectually secured in their
property. Have not trade, manufactures, agriculture, and the spirit of
industry in our country, extended themselves further during this period
and under this family than for ages before? Has any man suffered in his
liberty, life, or fortune, contrary to law 1 Stand forth and name him if
you can. Tho' the King's person, his family, his government, and his
ministers, have been openly abused a thousand times in the most
scurrilous and reproachful terms, could it ever provoke him to one
arbitrary act or to violate those laws which he had made the rule of his
government. Look into the reigns of the James's and the Charles's, and
tell me wither these divine and hereditary princes were guided by the
same spirit of mildness and forgivness?
"I am sensible how often
and how many destructive designs have been imputed to the prince upon
the throne and his ministers, of the cry raised against standing armies,
of the complaints of corruption, lonj: parliaments, and Hanoverian
interest pursued in opposition to that of Britain; but I am allso
sensible there is not a true friend to liberty, a dispassionate and
sober man, but who (now the mask is laid aside) perceives they were, at
bottom, the artilices and popular pretences of men struggling to force
themselves into power, or of those who in the dark were aiming the
destruction of our happy constitution.
"Men endued with popular
talents, of figure and fortune in the world, and without the advantages
of apparent disinterestedness on their side, will allways have address
enough, with a seeming plausibility, to pervert every act of Government
at home, and to defame and run down every publick transaction abroad ;
and disciples will never be wanting of capacity and passions fitted to
become the dupes of such false apostles. The corruption complained of is
but too universal, and it's to be feared too deep-rooted to be cured ;
it is the constant attendant of peace and wealth ; and such is the
depravity of our natures, that these blessings cannot be enjoyed without
having this plague, the most sordid and detestable of all vices,
accompanying them. But if it is in our governours, it is also in the
people, and change your kings and ministers as often as you please,
whoever is in possession, or whoever is in quest of power, will allways
lay hold of the vices, the follys, or the prejudices of mankind to
exclude others from it or to acquire it to themselves.
"It's to be hoped most
people now perceive with what views they were taught to exclaim against
and oppose a standing body of native and freeborn troops ; but it is to
be lamented their eyes were reserved to be opened only by the greatest
of all publick calamitys."
It appears, however, from
the following letter of Mr. Craik, that Lord Nithisdale was really
implicated in the insurrection :—
"My Lord,
"I am sincerely and
deeply touched with your Lordship's situation, and can honestly assure
you it would give me a real satisfaction could I any how contribute to
save you on this unhappy occasion. As you have (lone me the honour to
a»->k my opinion how you are to conduct yourself, and as the Doctor has
informed me of the circumstances of your journey, I should but ill
deserve the character of humanity and good nature you are pleased to
give me, if I did not, with freedom and candour, lay before you what,
after this day having fully considered it, appears to me most for your
honour, and the safty and preservation of your life and family.
" It is certain the
Habeas Corpus Act is suspended, and I doubt not but as soon as the lenth
you have gone and your being returned is known above, warrants will be
issued to carrie you up to London ; if you retire out of the kingdom, it
will not prevent your being attainted ; and I am afraid the unfortuuate
step you have made will putt your estate but too much within the reach
of the law, and your family is undone. If you stay till you are
apprehended, not only your estate, but your person is in the mercy of
the Government, and how far severitys on this occasion may be carried,
is not for me to prescribe; only I am apprehensive your religion,
quality, and estate, will make you but too obnoxious to the Government,
and when the affair is over, informers will not be wanting to furnish
them with materials.
"We are not ignorant
what arts and industry have been employed to draw you out of the
retirement and quiet you were well disposed to remain in. "We are
sensible you were imposed upon by those already embarked j and it will
acquit you before God and every sober man, if you no longer keep
measures with those who have deceived you in a matter of such moment,
when your life and fortune were at stake. My lord, I have impartially
laid before you the present circumstance you are in, as far as my
abilities enable me to judge, that you may have it under your Lordship's
consideration ; I shall next take the freedom to suggest what to me
appears the safest and most prudent part now left to you to act, and
which I likeways submit to your Lordship's own judgment, without taking
upon me to decide. What I mean is this, that your Lordship should,
without loss of time, surrender your person to the Governor of Carlisle,
and acquaint him you came to throw yourself upon the clemency of the
Government ; at the same time, your Lordship would, by express, have
some proper friend at London advised of your intention, and one of some
weight and interest, and who was fitt to put your conduct in the most
favourable light. You will easily perceive that this confidence in the
Government, and voluntary surrender of your person, and your preventing
all others in an early repentance must distinguish you, in the eyes of
the Government, from every other person who has embarked, and entitle
you to its favour and protection whereas, if you wait till you are
apprehended, or leave the kingdom, your case, tho' quite different, will
be ranked with those who have gone the greatest lengths, [f your
Lordship approve of this, if you think proper to lett me know by a line
to-morrow, I shall not fail) to be in town on Tuesday; and as J have a
friend at London who I know is very capable and well disposed to serve
you, if it be agreeable to you, shall, with the Doctor, concert the
letter proper to be sent."
The answer of Lord
Nithisdale contains a curious summary of some of the motives which
actuated the Jacobites of 1745.
letter from lord
Nithisdale to Mr. Craik.
Dear Sir,
"I have both yours,
giving your opinion on the present affairs, without assigning your
reasons, and as I take it, urging an answer from me, whether I am
determined to take a share in the present enterprise, which you seem to
think I should not. I shall answer the last first, by telling you that I
have not jet full]' digested my thoughts on that matter ; only be
assured I'll do nothing rashly—that's only for desperados. As to the
other, I'm ready to believe you agree in opinion with me, that as
matters are come this length, it's now greatly the interest of Scotland
to wish success to the
undertaking; and that nothing hut the improbability of success should
hinder every Scotsman to join in it; and indeed I don't think there's
great reason to fear that either, unless vast numbers of foreign forces
are poured into the country for support of the party in possession
"The Militia of England
are little to be feared, nor do I believe they'll be trusted with arms,
as there's a chance what way they may be used, particularly by that part
of the country who only know how to handle them. As to the Dutch who are
come over, there's now greater reason to believe they'll be recalled, and it maybe some time before others are sent in their place, if at all.
I do believe the United States, if they dare, will give all the support
they can ; but if France shall really prove in earnest, I imagine
they'll consider it necessary to be quiet. Other foreign forces may be
sent in, but on the other hand there's a very great improbability; thir
people will likewise get aid, and here there's assembling a very
numerous resolute army. The prospect of the situation of the country for
some time to come, must affect every well-wisher to it, and the
consequences to this part, if the undertaking shall misgive, appear to
me terrible ; it* it succeed, what have we to fear ? You'll answer, the
introduction of Popery and arbitrary government; but I don't imagine,
considering the success and fate of his grandfather and uncle, that will
be attempted; and as to any fear that we may be made dependant and
tributary to the foreign powers giving aid to the present adventure,
that I'm not apprehensive of, nor do I imagine it would be in his power
to accomplish, tho' inclinable to it. I shall say no more on the
subject; only it's easier preventing an evil than remedying, and that
may be applyed to both sides ; only this one further I observe, that I
think it's the interest of the nation to have a sovereign settled whose
title is unquestionable : we see the inconveniencys attending the
other. You'll perhaps answer, there will still be a Pretender ; but I
reply, not so dangerous an one, if at all. You write, in your letter,
that people may, without meaning, be treated and led away with popular
arguments. 1 assure you I'm none of these—what I have said now, is on a
Sunday forenoon. However, I should wish you communicate my mind to
nobody. If any material news occur before the bearer leave Edinburgh,
you shall have them ; and tomorrow in mind your commission, and any
other you shall give with respect to your nursery, &c., which I hope
you're still carrying on. and that your garden-wall is now completed. If
you had some pieces of cannon to place in it, would it not keep out
against an army not provided with battering-pieces, seeing it's at a
sufficient distance from the thundering of any castle \ Were it not for
fear of your horses, I should wish you came in here and saw the
fortifications made on our city-wall, and the army against which they
were intended; the last is worth your while. No Court in Europe is filled with such a set of welldook'd brave fellows.
*I hope my ilykers are
going on, and beg you'll acquaint the tenants to have the rents ready,
in regard I'm to be soon in the
country, and won't make any stay above a day or two ; this to you, but
to yourself I can yet fix no time for coming out as I can't think of
leaving Edinburgh till I see how matters turn, and it's also necessary
to stay and take care of my house, furniture, papers, &c. I believe I
shall eat my Christmas goose with you, if I don't go into England, which
I would incline for sake of a jaunt, if I thought it safe and had a
right set with me. I ever am, dear Sir,
" Your's &c."
Another letter from a
kinsman of Lord Nithisdale's shews that he was not alone in his
inclination to join in the Insurrection of 1745.
LETTER FROM MR. MAXWELL
OF CARUCHAN
"Dr. Willie
"October 13th.
"By accounts this day
from Edinburgh, allinost everybody is going along with the stream, so
that a short delay would lose all the merit. This has determined me to
do the thing so suddenly, that I have not time to send for you, unless
it were to see me go off, which is impossible. I depend upon your
protection for those I leave behind. "What gives me the greatest concern
is least some such creditors as have still my father's security, should
molest him in my absence. I recommend particularly to you, that if you
can hear of any, you'll endeavour to make them sensible that they are as
safe as before, and tell the comissary that I expect the same piece of
friendship from him. who lyes more in the way of hearing what passes of
that kind. I believe there are three or four thousand French or Irish
landed in Wales, with Lord John Drummoud. The Highland army marches
south the beginning of the week. Farewell dear Willie. God bless you!
Ever your's (Signed) Ja. Maxwell."
"Saturday.—I set out
before daylight to-morrow."
From Mr. Maxwell of
Carruchan, to Mr. Craik of Arbigland,
Since Lord Nithisdale's
name did not appear in the list of the young Chevalier's officers, we
must conclude that he did not persevere in his resolutions. There is no
date to Mr. Craik's second letter, but it must have been written after
Carlisle had surrendered to the Duke of Cumberland,—an event which took
place on the thirtieth of December, 1745.
The Earl of Nithisdale,
as he was styled, lived until the year 177(>, and possibly in peace and
prosperity, since the family estates were spared to him. He married his
first cousin, Lady Catherine Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Traquhair
by Lady Mary Maxwell, and left an only daughter.
This lady, named after
her celebrated grandmother Winifred, was alijo, by courtesy, endowed
with the honours of the forfeited rank, and styled Lady Winifred
Maxwell. Her Ladyship would have inherited the Barony of Herries, of
Terregles, but for the attainder of her grandfather. The estates of Lord
Nithisdale were inherited by her son, Marmaduke William Constable, Esq., of
Everingham Park, in the county of York; who, on the death of his mother,
assumed, by royal licence, the surname of Maxwell. The title of
Nithisdale, except for the attainder, would have descended upon the next
heir, Mr. Maxwell of Carruchan.*
I am indebted for some
of these particulars to the courtesy of William Constable Maxwell, Esq.,
present owner of Terregles, Carlaverock, and also of the beautiful
hereditary property of Lincluden. |
