of the habeas corpus, and were set at liberty. A general order was at the same time issued, for the liberation, without bail, of all who had surrendered themselves, upon being summoned by government in the previous summer, all those who had deserted from the rebels before leaving Perth, and all servants who had been prisoners with their masters in London. The marquis of Huntly, Glengarry, and several others in Scotland, received a full and free pardon, in regard of their having quitted in time the service of the chevalier. Some at London were liberated before trial, and many reprieved.

Though the prisoners in England were thus disposed of, and part of those in Scotland, there still remained those who had been taken at Dunfermline, Sheriffimuir, &c. who were confined in the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Blackness. For the trial of these, a court of Oyer and Terminer was appointed to sit at Carlisle, in the month of November, 1716. This court consisted of the lord chief baron Smith, barons Scroop and Price, Mr. Justice Tarcy, &c.; and it gave very great offence to all

I humbly desire your grace to consider your poor afflicted servant, and take him from this nasty prison, &c. &c.-P. S. My lord, I never did, since I was in Newgate, pray for the pretender by any name or title."

Mr. Paul's second letter to the archbishop, is nearly in the same terms as the first, only, perhaps, a little more ardent for mercy, and showing still more strongly the worthlessness of his professions; the following was sent to lord Townshend the night before his execution:—“ My lord, Mr. Patten was so kind to pay me a visit in my affliction, and desired me, if I knew any thing relating to the government, I would declare it. My lord, I solemnly declare, I call Almighty God to witness, I carried no letter off from Preston, though I told Mr. Patten so, which was only a faint, that I might go of; and if Mr. Patten will do me justice, he can tell your lordship how uneasy I was when I discovered my rashness. My lord, I depend solely upon your lordship's goodness, in this my miserable condition. I wish, my lord, I could have my life saved, that I might show to the world how heartily I am sorry for all my past errors, and no man shall demonstrate it more than, my lord, &c. &c. My lord, Mr. Patten saith it is an aggravation to my crime, that I prayed in express terms, in Newgate, for the pretender, by the name of king James; I declare I never did; I once more crave your lordship's kind assistance to procure me my life."

So much for the integrity of merely political martyrs. Mr. Hall's speech, and his conduct, were so much of a piece with Mr. Paul's, that we did not think it necessary to trouble the reader either with quotations or remarks. Vide Remarks on the Speeches of William Paul, clerk, and John Hall of Otterburn, &c. London, printed for J. Baker, and T. Warner, M.DCC.XVI.

true Scotishmen, who regarded this procedure as an open breach of the articles of Union, which expressly reserved the jurisdiction of the court of justiciary; and stipulated, that no subject of Scotland should be tried by any other court, or out of the kingdom, for crimes committed within it. This objection against bringing the prisoners to Carlisle, was urged by many who were no friends to their cause; and it was believed, that the prisoners, many of whom were no mean personages, would plead it in bar of trial, or, at least, in arrest of judgment. Only one, however, did so, and the court overruled his plea. Every mean that could be thought of had been used, to prevent the prisoners, generally, from having recourse to this plea, which it would not have been easy to set aside, without irritating, in a very high degree, the feelings of a country, which had, upon the whole, discovered any thing but a disloyal spirit. It was represented to the prisoners, that the court would most certainly set aside this plea; and by the laws of England, under which they would be then placed, they would be pressed to death, if they refused to plead to the indictment preferred against them; or if the court should find out some expedient to try them without their pleading, then they could expect no mercy from the government. These suggestions, however weak and unreasonable, wrought upon the natural fears of the prisoners, and, in hopes of mercy, they all (with the exception we have already stated) pled guilty to their several indictments, except four who pled not guilty; of these four, one was acquitted, two had a noli prosequi for some secret services they had done, and the fourth, brigadier Campbell, of Ormundel, made his escape when his trial should have come on. Mr. Hay, the individual who had the hardihood to decline the jurisdiction of the court, finding that his plea was to be overruled, withdrew it next day, pled guilty with his fellows, and afterwards made his escape out of prison.*

Though this court might be in its constitution, as regarded Scotishmen, somewhat irregular, and of course somewhat harsh to Scotish feeling, it was by no means bloodthirsty. Thirtyfour of the prisoners were set at liberty by his majesty's cle

* Campbell's Life of John, Duke of Argyle, pp. 269–273.

mency, without being brought to trial; and of thirty-two that were tried, though twenty-four were sentenced to be put to death, no day was fixed for that purpose, and the sentence was never put in execution. Nothing can be more absurd than the charges of vindictive cruelty, and insatiate thirst for blood, which has been so liberally charged upon George and his ministers, not only by the factious leaders, and the tory libellers of that day, but by too many of the historians of latter times, who seem to have forgotten that this was an insurrection, not so much against the new dynasty, as against the expanding principles of freedom, of which, perhaps by chance rather than of choice, that dynasty had become the natural guardians, and that the leaders thereof, especially in Scotland, had qualified themselves for the service, the greater part of them at least, by long lives of duplicity, and the most openly avowed perjury; while in England, the actors had been regularly exercised to outrage, robbery, and murder, ever since the bustling days of Dr. Sacheveral, during which period their lives had been often forfeited to the laws, had the laws been fairly administered, and sufficiently strong to have laid hold upon them. The truth is, that instead of being pursued with extraordinary severity, these deluded visionaries were, in many instances, treated with uncommon lenity, especially when we consider that their disappointment had neither corrected their principles, nor improved their understandings. They had inflicted a deep wound upon their country, and had totally ruined themselves, without benefiting their cause in the smallest degree; but they continued to dream of it as fondly as ever, and at the very time when their friends were embracing the gallows, were compassing the ends of the earth, to renew the hopeless and pernicious attempt.

The watchful vigilance of the earl of Stair, and the peculiar circumstances of the regent, the duke of Orleans, having rendered it impossible for the chevalier and his party to find assistance, or even protection for the present, from the government of France, the party cast their eyes upon that mad monarch, Charles XII. of Sweden, who had just returned from his Turkish captivity, and were already negotiating with him to place the chevalier upon the throne of Britain. By joining

the confederacy that had been formed against him in his absence, and especially by purchasing the dutchies of Bremen and Verden, which had formerly constituted a part of the dominions of the Swede, George had exasperated the fiery spirit of Charles to a high degree, and this exasperation, he was well aware, nothing but the most ample vengeance could pacify. To guard against this vengeance, was the principal end he had in view, in his visit, at this time, to the continent. Charles, however, was inexorable, and would not so much as listen to any overture, till Bremen and Verden should be restored. Bremen and Verden, George had purchased from the king of Denmark, and was determined to keep, even if it should be at the risk of a war with Sweden. To strengthen his interest, and more effectually secure him from the approaches of the pretender on the one side, he entered into what has been called the triple alliance. This was negotiated by general Cadogan, on the part of England; the Abbe du Bois, on the part of France; and the pensionary Heinsius, on the part of the States General. On the part of France, it was stipulated, that the pretender should immediately depart from Avignon to the other side of the Alps, and return to France or Lorrain on no pretence whatever that no rebellious subjects of Great Britain should be allowed to reside in that kingdom-and that with respect to the demolition of Dunkirk, the treaty of Utrecht should be executed in all respects to the satisfaction of his Britannic majesty. All the places possessed by the contracting parties, were mutually guaranteed, with the protestant succession to the throne of England; and, in case of the death of the young king, that of the duke of Orleans to the throne. of France. It contained also a defensive article, stating the proportion of ships, troops, &c. to be furnished to that power that should be shaken by factions at home, or invaded from abroad. This treaty was not at all popular in England. It was supposed to give unnecessary umbrage to Spain, with whom there was at that time much commercial intercourse; and it was alleged, that, on pretence of invasion, foreign troops sufficient to enslave the nation might be introduced.

*

* Smollett's History of England. Annals of England, &c.

A scheme was, in the meantime, formed for an inroad on the British Islands, by the king of Sweden, with a body of troops sufficient to cover the assembling of the malecontents from the various quarters of the kingdom. Charles himself entered into the project with great spirit, as it flattered his ambition, and promised to gratify his revenge; and it was encouraged by the czar of Muscovy, who had taken great offence at the offer made by the king of Great Britain to join Charles, and support him against Russia, provided he would allow him peaceably to retain Bremen and Verden. The ministers of Sweden, at the courts of London, Paris, and the Hague, became of course the agents of the pretender, and held a close correspondence with the disaffected subjects of Great Britain. The king returned to England about the middle of January, 1717, when he ordered a detachment of the foot guards to seize upon count Gyllenburgh, the Swedish minister, with all his papers. Sir Joseph Bankes, and Mr. Charles Cesar, were seized upon at the same time. Baron Gortz, the Swedish residentary in Holland, was also secured with all his papers, at Arnheim, at the request of the British minister at the Hague. The baron admitted that he had projected the invasion of Great Britain, and justified himself by the conduct of king George; who, without provocation, had joined the confederacy against his master, the king of Sweden -had assisted the king of Denmark to subdue the dutchies of Bremen and Verden, and had, in the issue, made a purchase of them from the usurper; and who had, in the course of this very summer, sent a strong fleet into the Baltic to cruise against the fleets of Sweden. It had been intended to open the parliament with a general indemnity, but these circumstances made the indemnity for the present to be laid aside.

When the parliament assembled on the twentieth of February, 1717, his majesty informed them of the triple alliance he had concluded, of the projected invasion, and—while he had ordered copies of the letters which had passed between the Swedish ministers on the subject, by which it would be found that the scheme projected by baron Gortz was plausible, ripe for execution, and had only been postponed till the army