Volume III Part 25 (2/2)
The reply of Lord Kil been a ”very fine speech, delivered in a very fine voice;” his behaviour during the whole of the trial, a ”nity and submission” Such is the avowal of one who could not be supposed very favourable to the party; but whose better feelings were, for once, called into play during this remarkable scene[367]
The address of Lord Kil in expression, will not, however, satisfy those who look for consistency in the most sole the summary of it, let it be remembered that he was a father; the father of those who had already suffered deeply for his adherence to Charles Edward; that he was the husband of a lady hatever may have been their differences, was at that awful hour still fondly beloved; that he dreaded penury for his children, an apprehension which those who reht well recall; a dread, aggravated by his rank; a dread, the bitterness of which is indescribable; the tereat These considerations, far stronger than the fear of death, actuated Lord Kilmarnock He arose, and a deep silence was procured, whilst he offered no justification of his conduct, ”which had been,” he said, ”of too heinous a nature to be vindicated, and which any endeavour to excuse would rather aggravate than diminish” He declared himself ready to submit to the sentence which he was conscious that he had deserved
”Covered with confusion and grief, I throw myself at his Majesty's feet”
He then appealed to the uniform honour of his life, previous to the insurrection, in evidence of his principles ”My sphere of action, indeed, was narrow; but as much as I could do in that sphere, it is well known, I have always exerted myself to the utmost in every part of his Majesty's service I had an opportunity to act in, from my first appearance in the world, to the time I was drawn into the crime, for which I now appeal before your Lordshi+ps”
He referred to his conduct during the civil contest; to his endeavours to avert needless injury to his opponents; to his care of the prisoners, a plea which he yet allowed to be no atone of Neither,” he said, ”do I plead it as such, as at all in defence of my crime”
”I have a son, my lords,” he proceeded, ”who has the honour to carry his Majesty's commission; whose behaviour, I believe, will sufficiently evince, that he has been educated in the firht up with the warhest zeal for his most sacred person
”It was my chief care to instruct him in these principles frorew up, in the justice and necessity of theood and welfare of the nation And, I thank God, I have succeeded;--for his father's example did not shake his loyalty; the ties of nature yielded to those of duty; he adhered to the principles of his family, and nobly exposed his life at the battle of Culloden, in defence of his King and the liberties of Great Britain, in which I, his unfortunate father, was in arms to destroy”
Lord Kilmarnock next alluded to the services of his father in 1715, when his zeal and activity in the service of Government had caused his death: ”I had then,” he added, ”the honour to serve under him”
Lord Kilmarnock proceeded to explain his own circumstances at the time of the insurrection: he declared that he was not one of those dangerous persons who could raise a number of men when they will, and command them on any enterprise they will: ”my interests,” he said, ”lie on the south side of the Forth, in the well inhabited, and well affected counties of Kil” His influence he declared to be very small
This portion of his appeal was ill-advised; for it seems to have been the policy of Government to have selected as objects of royal mercy those who had most in their power, not the feeble and impoverished members of the Jacobite party It has been shohat favour would have been manifested to the chief of the powerful clan Caned to receive it: and the event proved, that not the decayed branches, but the vigorous shoots were spared Lord Cronal part in the insurrection than either Kilmarnock or Balmerino, and whose resources were considerable, was eventually pardoned, probably with the hope of conciliating a nu to his surrender in extenuation of his sentence, and beseeching the intercession of the Lords with his Majesty, Lord Kilmarnock concluded--”It is by Britons only that I pray to be recommended to a British monarch But if justice allow not of mercy, nation; my last breath shall be employed in the most fervent prayers for the preservation and prosperity of his Majesty, and to beg his forgiveness, and the forgiveness of my country” He concluded, areat majority of those who heard his address
The Earl of Croment His defence is said to have been a masterly piece of eloquence It ended with a pathetic appeal, which fell powerless on those who heard him[368]
”But, after all, if my safety shall be found inconsistent with that of the public, and nothing but ht necessary to atone for my unhappy crimes; if the sacrifice of ed indispensable for stopping the loud deations that can be urged in my favour, the bitter cup is not to pass from me, not mine, but thy will, O God, be done”[369]
Balmerino then arose to answer the accustomed question He produced a paper, which was read for him at the bar, by the clerk of the court It was a plea which had been sent by the House of Lords thatto the prisoners, and which, it was hoped, would save all of these unfortunatethat the act for regulating the trials of rebels, and e his Majesty to remove such as are taken in arht be tried by the common courts of peers, did not take effect till after the facts, i treason, had been committed by the prisoners[370] The two Earls had not made use of this plea, but Lord Balmerino availed himself of it, and demanded counsel on it Upon the treat remark is made by one who viewed the scene, and whose commiseration for the Jacobites forms one of the few ah Steward,” relates Horace Walpole, ”almost in a passion, told him, that when he had been offered counsel, he did not accept it;--but do think on the ridicule of sending the the the Lords then took place; and the Duke of Newcastle, who, as the sa absurd,” took it up as a ministerial point ”in defence of his creature, the Chancellor” Lord Granville, however,to order, to return to the Chamber of Parliament, where the Duke of Bedford andcounsel,” and that privilege was granted ”I said _their_,” observes Walpole, ”because the plea would have saved theed that veryreturned to the Hall, and the prisoners being again called to the bar, Lord Balmerino was desired to choose his counsel He na a very able lawyer in the House of Commons Lord Hardwicke is said to have remarked privately, that Wilbrahaed as plead such a cause” But he was ain deferred until the following day, Friday, August the first, when Mr Wilbraham, accompanied by Mr Forester, appeared in court as counsel for the prisoners Previously, however, to the proceedings of the last day, Lord Balmerino was informed that his only hope was ill-founded; the plea was deemed invalid by the counsel; and the strahich had, with the kindest and most laudable intentions, been thrown on the stream to arrest his fate, was insufficient to save him He bore this disappointment with that fortitude which has raised the character of his countrymen: when he appeared on that last day, in Westminster Hall, with his brother prisoners, he sub brief and simple words, to his destiny ”As your lordshi+ps have been pleased to allow me counsel, I have advised with the in that paper which I delivered in on Wednesday last, that will be of any use to ive your lordshi+ps anyto the usual for ment, Lord Balmerino replied; ”No,his regret that he should have taken up so much of their lordshi+ps' tiain ti in the objection that would do hiht have wished unsaid: ”My lords, I acknowledgeyour lordshi+ps will intercede with his Majesty for me”
The Serjeant-at-Ar silence; and the Lord High Steward delivered what Horace Walpole has ter, and very poor speech, with only one or two good passages in it” On this, thereopinions Those who looked upon the prisoners, and sawupon acknowledged, though misapplied principles, could scarcely listen to that protracted harangue with an unbiassed judgh Steward's address had, throughout, one marked feature; it presented no hope of y nor plea upon which the unhappy prisoners ht expect it It a and able language, its effect upon every relation of society
In conclusion, Lord Hardwicke said, ”I will add noyour lordshi+ps to a legal trial; and it has been his wisdom to show, that as a small part of his national forces was sufficient to subdue the rebel ar enough to bring even their chiefs to justice
”What reh a very necessary part
It is to pronounce that sentence which the law has provided for crinitude--a sentence full of horror! Such as the wisdouard about the sacred person of the king, and as a fence about this excellent constitution, to be a terror to evil doers, and a security to the every tender heart with horror, the sentence of hanging, first to be put into execution, and followed by decapitation The horrible particularities were added--”_of being hanged by the neck,--but not till you are dead--for you must be cut down alive;_”--the rest of this sentence, since it has long ago been suffered to fall into oblivion, s, rest there By those to whom it was addressed, it was heard in the full conviction that it , nine prisoners of gentle birth had suffered the extreme penalties of that barbarous law[373]
Of the calm manner in which his doom was heard by one of the state prisoners, Horace Walpole has left the following striking anecdote:
”Old Balaiety: in the cell at Westminster, he showed Lord Kilmarnock how he must lay his head; bid him not wince, lest the strokes should cut his head or his shoulders; and advised hiht have another bottle together, as they should neverinto his coach, he said to the gaoler, 'Take care, or you will break lish populace could not forbear delighting in the co from Westminster Hall after his sentence, could stop the coach in which he was about to be conducted to the Tower to buy gooseberries; or, as he expressed it in his national phrase, _honey-blobs_[375]
That night, not contented with saying publicly at his levee, that Lord Killish prisoners, the Duke of cu his mistress a ball; but the notion was abandoned, lest it should have been regarded as an insult to the prisoners, and _not_ because a particle of highret for the sufferers could ever enter that hard and depraved heart Too well did the citizens of London understand the Duke of cu proposed to present him with the freedom of some company, one of the aldermen cried aloud, ”Then let it be of the Butchers'!”[376]
The commission was dissolved in the usual forms: ”all manner of persons here present were desired to depart in the fear of God, and of our sovereign Lord the King” The white staff of office was broken by the Lord High Steward; the Lords adjourned to the Chamber of Parliament; the prisoners returned to the Tower[377]