+Source.+--_Culloden Papers: comprising an Extensive and Interesting
Correspondence from the Year 1625 to 1678 ... the Whole published
from the Originals in the Possession of Duncan George Forbes, of
Culloden, Esq._, p. 61. (London: 1815.)
No. LXXII.
An anonymous letter, written by Mr. Duncan Forbes to Sir Robert Walpole,
most likely in August 1716--a copy is extant (from which the present is
taken) in the President's handwriting.
Sir, ... When the late Rebellion was happily ended by the Pretender's
flight, his deluded followers found themselves all in chains, or obliged
to surrender and sue for mercy, or to fly their country with him. Every
man concerned in that odious work certainly deserved death, and the
punishment due by law; but humanity and prudence forbade it. It was not
fit to dispeople a country; nor prudent to grieve the King's best
friends, who mostly had some concern in those unfortunate men; or
expedient to give too just grounds of clamour to the disaffected.
It will be agreed on all hands, that the proper rule in this case would
have been, to have punished only as many as was necessary for terror,
and for weakening the strength of the rebels for the future; and to
extend mercy to as many as it could conveniently be indulged to with the
security of the Government; and this maxim every thinking Whig had then
in his mouth, however offended at the insolences of the rebels. In place
of a course of this kind, the method followed was, 1st, to try all the
criminals in England; 2dly, to detain in prison all those in custody in
Scotland, except some who had interest with certain great men to obtain
a previous pardon, to the manifest dishonour of the Government; 3dly, to
attaint a vast number of Scots noblemen and gentlemen; 4thly, to put it
out of his Majesty's power to grant any part of estates forfeited; and
5thly, to appoint a Commission for enquiry, and levying the rebels'
goods and chattels. The necessary consequences of this procedure in
general are two; first, it makes all those who had the misfortune to be
seduced into the rebellion, with their children, relatives, and such as
depend on them, forever desperate; and it's hard to tell what occasions
may offer for venting their rage. We see that want and hard
circumstances lead men daily into follies, without any other temptation;
but when those circumstances are brought on by adherence to any
principle, or opinion, it's certain the sufferers will not quit their
attempts to better their condition, but with their lives. 2d, as there
are none of the rebels who have not friends among the King's faithful
subjects, it is not easy to guess how far a severity of this kind,
unnecessarily pushed, may alienate the affections even of those from the
Government. But in particular, as this case relates to Scotland, the
difficulty will be insurmountable. I may venture to say, there are not
200 gentlemen in the whole kingdom who are not very nearly related to
some one or other of the rebels. Is it possible that a man can see his
daughter, his grandchildren, his nephews, or cousins, reduced to beggary
and starving unnecessarily by a Government, without thinking very ill of
it; and where this is the case of a whole nation, I tremble to think
what dissatisfactions it will produce against a settlement so necessary
for the happiness of Britain.
If all the rebels, with their wives, children, and immediate dependants,
could be at once rooted out of the earth, the shock would be
astonishing; but time would commit it to oblivion, and the danger would
be less to the Constitution, than when thousands of innocents, punished
with misery and want for the offences of their friends, are suffered to
wander about the country, sighing out their complaints to Heaven, and
drawing at once the compassion and moving the indignation of every human
creature.