Volume I Part 16 (2/2)

Lord Derater hters of Sir John Webb, Baronet of Odstock in Wiltshi+re An ancestor of Sir John Webb had first acquired the title in the reign of Charles the First for ”his fa's cause, and contributed, as far as they were able, with their purses, in his defence,” as is expressed in their patent[182]

During the reign of Queen Anne, Lord Derater took no part in the various intrigues which were carried on by the Jacobite party He lived peaceably at Dilstone, where his naical events which hurried hirave had occurred But this tranquil deue, as it has been supposed, that the early playmate of James had become indifferent to the cause of the Stuarts The friends of the exiled family founded their hopes of its restoration on the well-known partiality of Queen Anne for her brother, and on the circuned to the tomb There seeer, she would have taken measures, in unison with the wishes of the bulk of the nobility, and in conjunction with her confidential e the next in succession In this hope, the wishes of the most respectable portion of the Jacobite nobility were tranquillized[183]

The sudden decease of Queen Anne disconcerted the hopes of those who had been thus waiting for the course of events; and the i those ere favourable to the house of Stuart of power, the succession of George the First was secured, under the aspect, for a feeeks, of the most perfect national repose It has been well explained, that, unless some circumstances connected with the birth and education of the Chevalier had favoured the interests of Hanover, a very different result would have appeared The notion so diligently spread abroad, of a supposititious birth--the foreign education of the young Prince--above all, the pains which had been taken to inculcate in his heart a devotion to the faith of both his parents, were considerations which strongly favoured the accession of the Elector of Hanover[184]

A year passed away, and that tranquillity was succeeded by an ill-concerted, immature enterprise, headed by a ht sort; and chilled, rather than aided, by the presence of that melancholy exile who presented hiloom of his aspect, and the inertness of his measures, the hearts that yearned to welcome hiust, in 1715, in the shi+re of Perth, that the people first began to assemble themselves in a body, until they marched to a small market town, named Kirk Michael, where the Chevalier was first proclaimed, and his standard set up[185] Meantiland and in Scotland, influenced by the Earl of Mar, began to collect their servants and dependants from different places, and under various pretexts, for their proceedings

There were also measures concerted in London by the Chevalier's friends; and a the more active of the partisans, was a certain Captain Robert Talbot, an Irish officer, who, upon being acquainted with the projected insurrection, took shi+pping and sailed for Newcastle-upon-Tyne By this agent, the resolutions which had been adopted by the Jacobites in London were conveyed to their friends in the north of England This was part of the scheme of the Jacobites; London was the centre of all their conferences, and froence was secretly conveyed in various directions: e were furnished with ether; letters were carried by private hands to various confederates, and debates and correspondence were carried on some months before the Rebellion actually broke out

The plot was ed with care and address The coerous, and the office of delivering theentlemen of Jacobite principles, who rode froinquiries to gratify curiosity: these travellers were all Irish and Papists

Another class of agents, consisting of Mr Clifton, a brother of Sir Gervase Clifton, and of Mr Beauhayentlemen, with servants, but were armed with swords and pistols These e from place to place, and kept up a constant intercourse between the disaffected parties, until all things were ready for action

Under these circumstances, Governht the whole concerted plot into action sooner than the confederates had originally intended Means were taken for the apprehension of several suspected Jacobites Towards the end of Septe others, received notice that there was a warrant issued by the Secretary of State to apprehend hiers were actually arrived at Durha this information, Lord Derater, who had at that time taken no ostensible part in the consultations of the Jacobites, and who, as it was thought by many who knew hients or not, adopted the line of conduct hbouring justice of the peace, whose nath and boldly placed hirounds of his accusation

Unhappily the entleman been zealously affected to the Government, or had he been a true friend to Lord Derater, he would either have persuaded that nobleers of Government, or he would have detained him, and thus prevented the rash outbreak which afterwards ensued Such is the opinion of one who knew all the parties concerned in the insurrection well Such is the statement of Mr Robert Patten, himself a Jacobite, and chaplain to Mr Forster He afterwards turned King's evidence, and received for that treachery, or, as he is pleased to call it, penitence, a suitable remuneration[187]

Lord Derater unfortunately adopted a course which could but have one termination He concealed himself from those ere employed to apprehend hiiven hiht have been deterred from a participation in the disastrous scenes which ensued He had noo children, a son and a daughter He had many valuable considerations to forfeit for the one abstract principle of indefeasible right to the throne Few men had more to venture Many of the Jacobites went into the field with tarnished characters, and with ruined fortunes: theyAhly principled men who co-operated in both the Rebellions, adventurers would appear, whose previous lives shed dishonour upon any cause; but the irreproachable, the prosperous, the beloved, could desire little more for themselves than what they already possessed: they ventured their rich and glorious barks upon the current; and let those who sully every motive with suspicion, say that there was no virtue, no patriotism, in the Jacobite party

By his own descendant, Lord Derater is believed to have hesitated upon the verge of his fate, but to have been urged into it by his brother Charles Young and ardent, courageous even to rashness, the first to offer hi to set no value upon his life where glory was to be obtained, the darling of his party, and, to sue, Mr Radcliffe rashly drew his brother into a confederacy, so agreeable to his own ambitious and fearless spirit But there was another individual on whom the responsibility of that luckless movement in the North er, of Etherston in the county of Northu the first thirty years of his life, this gentleman had scarcely been known beyond the precincts of his paternal estate He became a member of Parliament, and was drawn into the vortex of party without talents to adorn or judgh a Protestant, Mr Forster soon made his house the place of rendezvous for all the non-jurors and disaffected people of the county in which he lived; and he becaers of their schemes, almost before he are of the perils which he was about to encounter The party of the Jacobites was composed of very dissimilar materials Whilst some adopted its projects to retrieve character, or to attain, as they vainly hoped, fortune, whilst others were actuated by genuine led in the mazes of the intricate politics of that day fro at the head of faction: such was Forster; and his career was unsatisfactory and inglorious as his character eak

A warrant for Mr Forster's apprehension having been sent forth, he was, like Lord Derater, obliged to fly from place to place, until he arrived at the house of Mr Fenwick, at Bywell Lord Derater, meantime, had been secreted under the roof of a e, where he had remained in safety His horses had been seized by one of the neighbouring istrates, and had been detained in custody for several weeks, pursuant to an order in council; yet, when he had need of them they were returned ”I afterwards asked that lord,” Mr

Patten relates, ”how he came so quietly by his horses frohbourhood estee

I was answered thus, by that lord's repeating a saying of Oliver Croold,' and left me to make the application”[188]

Mr Fenwick, of Bywell, was a secret, though not an avowed Jacobite; and it was soon agreed that at his house should be collected all those ere favourable to the cause A ly held: it was decided that finding there was now no longer any safety in shi+fting froht all be hurried up to London, and secured in prisons, where they ht be separately examined, and induced to betray each other;--it was now time to appear boldly in ar James

In pursuance of this resolution, the place and hour of ; the sixth of October was na Here those who rode froentleht have recalled the days of the Cavaliers: the winding of the river Tyne in the valley; the rural village of Bywell; on the rising ground to the right a ruin, once the fortress of the vale, and held in former times by the Baliols, presented a scene of tranquil beauty, which soain

The low situation of Greenrig was deeents, and the party ascended a hill called the Waterfalls, from which they could see the distant country This spot is thus described: ”As you look upon Bywell fro point of view, the landskip lies in the following order:--from the road near the front of the river, the ruined piers of a bridge becoular cascade, the whole river falls over a wear, extended froht feet perpendicular; a ht hand, a salmon lock on the left: the tower and the two churches stretch along the banks of the upper basin of the river, with a fine curvature; the solemn ruins of the ancient castle of the Baliols lift their towers above the trees on the right, andround appears covered ood”[189]

On this height Mr Forster and his party paused; but they had not been long there before they saw the Earl of Derater, who ca He was attended by several friends and by all his servants, some mounted on his coach-horses, and all well arallant troop drew their swords They were reinforced by several other gentleton, where they stopped; and they then advanced to the spot where their friends awaited their approach They now entlemen and their attendants After a short council it was decided that they should proceed towards the river Coquet, to Plainfield: here they were joined by several stragglers: theyto Rothbury a sht, and continued their , the seventh of October, to Warkworth Castle

In thus asse his friends and his tenantry, Lord Derater was not blameless of undue influence and oppression The instances, indeed, of threats and absolute co dependants into participation, are very numerous; they may be collected fro the State Papers for 1715 and 1716 It is true that such excuses were certain to be alleged by es were substantiated, we must with pain confess that the virtues of the Earl of Derater, as well as those of other Jacobites, are sullied by a violent exercise of power over their tenantry OneLord Townshend froe from Lord Derater to Mr Forster, two days before the insurrection, and returning to his own house instead, he was one night dragged out of bed by seven or eight men, and hurried off to serve in the said insurrection without a single servant of his own attending hi's evidence, that the unfortunate man did all in his power to escape from Kelso, and really made the attempt; but it was defeated, for he was ever an object of suspicion to the Earl of Derater and Mr Forster, whose watchfulness kept hi the rebel troops[190] Party s; yet there was too ood in the character of Lord Derater for him, in the solitude of his own prison, not to remember in after days the heavy responsibilities which even by one act of this nature he had incurred, in coainst his will and conscience

Warkworth was probably chosen as a resting-place for the insurgents, on account of its strength Situated only three-quarters of a mile froe, guarded by a lofty tower, the Castle of Warkworth, which guards the town, commands a view both varied with objects of interest and ireat extent of land and ocean is to be seen The great Tower of the Percys, from which this turret rises, is decorated with the lion of Brabant, and is seated on the brink of a cliff above the town Fro the coast, h: the Fern Islands, dotted upon the face of the waters, the Port of Alemouth, and, at a little distance, the mouth of the river Coquet, with its island and ruined monastery To the north, a richly cultivated country extends as far as Alnwick; to the south lies a plain, interspersed with villages and woods; the shore, to which it inclines, is indented withfrom many scattered ha prospect

In this secure station the rebels remained for two days; and here Mr

Forster assumed the rank of General of the Forces in the North, a title which had been bestowed on him by the Earl of Mar On the day after his arrival at Warkworth, Mr Forster sent Mr Buxton, as chaplain to the troops to desire Mr Ton, the parish clergy; and, in the Litany, for Mary, the Queen Mother, and to oe, the Prince and Princess of Wales, &c Mr Ton declining to make this alteration, Mr Buxton took possession of the reading-desk, and perforht, and, hastening to Newcastle, gave notice there of what had occurred This was the first place where the Chevalier was prayed for in England; and Mr Buxton's sere full of exhortations, flourishi+ng argu insinuations to be hearty in the cause” These incentives were aided by a ”coe,” and considerable eloquence and erudition