[Sidenote: _fol._ 112.]
O Almighty God! I humbly beseech Thee to bless the King, the prince,
and Duke of Yorke, and all the dutiful branches of the royal family!
Endue them with thy Holy Spirit, enrich them with thy heavenly grace,
prosper them with all happiness and bring them to thine everlasting
kingdom! Finally I recommend to thy fatherly goodness all my
benefactors and all the faithful adherents to the cause for which I
am now about to suffer. God reward them! Make them happy here and in
the world to come! This I beg for Christ's sake, in whose words, etc.
Our Father, etc.
_A List of those who were evidences against my Lord Balmerino taken
likewise from his own handwrit._
William M'Gie, messenger.
Hugh Douglas, drummer to Lord Elcho.
James Barclay. } One of these three was servant to the
David Gray. } Secretary, and another of them servant
James Paterson. } to little Black Malcolm.
Roger Macdonald.
_Upon the truly noble Lord Balmerino._
In this brave Lord, the mirror of mankind
Religion, virtue, loyalty had join'd,
To make him great in ev'ry act of life.
But greater still when he resign'd that life;
With fortitude went through his martyrdom.
No nobler motto can adorn his tomb.
Strictly attached to royal Stewart's race,
For which he died, and by his death gave grace,
To the just cause he bravely did embrace.
Like great Montrose, he fear'd no tyrant rage;
Next to his prince, the hero of the age.
His glorious death to distant climes shall reach,
And trait'rous minds true loyalty shall teach.
His noble soul to us endears his name,
And future ages shall resound his fame.
_Extempore, upon viewing the scaffold immediately after the execution
of Lord Balmerino._
Lo! where undaunted Balmerino stood,
Firm without canting, seal'd his faith in blood.
In cause of right and truth unmov'd and just,
And as he knew no fear, betray'd no trust.
The amaz'd spectator drop'd the troubled eye,
As more afraid to look than he to die.
Whence sprung this great unparallel'd deport?
God and his conscience were his strong support.
[Sidenote: _fol._ 113.]
_Upon the death of Lord Balmerino, by a
non-jurant clergyman in London in a letter to a friend._
Short is the term of life, my honour'd friend.
Soon o'er the puny space with rapid speed
The unreturning moments wing their way,
And sweep us from our cradles to the grave.
And yet this puny space is fill'd with toil
And labours in the transitory scene,
To make life wretched, as 'tis frail and fleeting.
Rattles and toys employ and please our childhood.
Wealth, pomp, and pleasure, full as arrant trifles,
Commence the idols of our riper years,
And fill the mind with images as wild;
Absurd, fantastic, as a sick man's dreams,
Disquieting this span of life in vain.
He truly lives and makes the most of life
Who well hath studied its intrinsic worth,
And learnt to lay it down with resignation;
Can like thee, Balmerino! lay it down,
And deem it not his own, when honour claims it.
See the unconquer'd captive (matchless man!),
Collected in his own integrity;
Facing with such a brow the king of terrors,
And treading on the utmost verge of life,
Serene as on a summer's ev'ning walk;
Draws more amazing eyes upon his scaffold [Sidenote: _fol._ 114.]
Than ever gaz'd on laurell'd heroes car;
Triumphant in his fall o'er all that crusht him.
Amazement seiz'd the crowded theatre,
Struck with the awful scene; and throb'd a heart
In ev'ry breast but his. The headsman trembl'd
That rais'd the fatal axe. Nor trembl'd he
On whom 'twas falling. Falls the fell edge;
Nor shrinks the mangl'd victim! What are stars and garters?
All titles, dignities, all crowns and sceptres,
Compar'd with such an exit? When these perish
Their owners be as they had never been,
In deep oblivion sunk. This greater name,
As long as any sense of virtue lasts,
Shall live and fragrant smell to after times,
Exhibiting a pattern how to die,
And far the fairest former times have seen.
_Copy of a Letter to a gentleman in Holland, vindicating the
character of Arthur, Lord Balmerino, in a certain important
point._
[Sidenote: 1746 Sept.]
Dear Sir,--I have not yet been able to answer the cries of the
officers for beating orders, and I can conceive no other reason for
our Ministry's refusing them than that of the [Sidenote: _fol._ 115.]
Young Chevalier's being in Scotland, and that they thought that his
escape might have been saved through their means. But now that he
is safe arrived in France, I hope that we shall meet with no more
difficulties.
I had the honour to be of Lord Balmerino's acquaintance, and it was
my misfortune to be pitch'd upon to attend upon him in the Tower at
his last moments, and upon the scaffold, where I was witness to a
behaviour that even exceeded all that we read of in the heroes of
antiquity. His whole behaviour was so composed, so decent that it
greatly surprized the sheriffs, the clergymen, his friends and the
spectators; and at the same time not a soldier present but was moved
by his intrepidity.
My Lady Balmerino is now at my elbow, and she has desired me to
write to your Heer Pensioner that she is greatly offended at a
passage in your _Amsterdam Gazette_ of Tuesday, September 6th, 1746,
where, in giving an account of that Lord's unhappy end, the author
is so insolent as to insert so notorious a falsehood that it can in
no sort be justified. He has no authority from my lord, from the
sheriffs, from the clergymen, nor even from our lying newspapers.
The government here had a power over his body, and he has suffered
for his rebellion. But neither they nor their agents abroad have
any just power over [Sidenote: _fol._ 116.] his reputation. 'Tis
barbarous to the greatest degree, and lays us under a necessity, let
the consequences be what they will, to give you my lord's own words
on that point, a point which he had greatly at heart to clear up; and
they are as follows:
'I have heard since I came to this place that there has been a most
wicked report spread, and mentioned in several of the newspapers that
his royal highness, the Prince, before the battle of Culloden, had
given out in orders, that no quarters should be given to the enemy.
This is such an unchristian thing, and so unlike that gallant Prince
that nobody that knows him will believe it. It is very strange if
there had been any such orders that neither the Earl of Kilmarnock,
who was Colonel of the regiment of foot-guards, nor I, who was
Colonel of the 2d troop of life-guards, should never have heard any
thing of it, especially since we were both at the head-quarters the
morning before the battle. I am convinced that it is a malicious
report industriously spread to excuse themselves for the murders they
were guilty of in calm blood after the battle.'
[Sidenote: _fol._ 116.] I shall take it as a very great favour if
you are so kind as to lay the above before the proper person, whose
authority it is to take cognizance of it that he may be obliged
to retract in the most solemn manner, a falshood, uttered to the
prejudice of the reputation of one of the greatest men that ever was
born, let his principles have been what they will. It is my Lady
Balmerino's desire. It is mine, as his friend, and as a friend to
truth and justice.
I dare not presume to write to so great a man as the first person of
so great a republick. Therefore I beg that you will lay it before
him, and you will very much oblige, Dear Sir, your, etc.
_Sic subscribitur_, JOHN WALKINGSHAW.[54]
_London, 6/16 September 1746._
[54] Mr. Walkingshaw is frequently mentioned in this collection. He
was a London Jacobite, and was able to be of considerable service to
the Scottish prisoners there.
_P.S._--The above is writ by the direction of my Lady Balmerino.
[Sidenote: _fol._ 117.]
SPEECH of the Rev^d. Mr. THOMAS COPPACH of Brazenose Colledge,
Oxford, commonly (but foolishly) called Bishop of Carlisle.[55]
[55] He was the son of John Coppoch, or rather Cappoch, a tailor
in Manchester, and joined the Prince there, by whom it is said
he was appointed chaplain to the Manchester Regiment, and was
promised the bishopric of Carlisle. See two pamphlets reprinted by
Samuel Jefferson. (1) 'The Trial and Life of Thomas Cappoch (the
rebel-bishop of Carlisle),' 1839; and (2) 'An Account of Carlisle
during the Rebellion of 1745, to which is added a speech (supposed
to have been) delivered by Thomas Cappoch, the rebel-bishop, on his
execution at Carlisle,' etc. 18 October 1746: 1844.
[Sidenote: 1746 18 Oct.]
Dear Countrymen,--I am now on the brink and confines of eternity,
being to suffer a scandalous, ignominious death for my duty to God,
my King and country, for taking up arms to restore the royal and
illustrious house of Stewart, and to banish from a free, but inslaved
people a foreigner, a tyrant, and an usurper. For never was the
British nation since the Norman Conquest govern'd more arbitrarily,
or enjoyed more precariously. Never was a nation under the canopy
of Heaven more grossly abused, more scandalously imposed upon, or
more notoriously deceived. Liberty has been banished. Tyranny and
oppression, like a deluge, have overflowed the land. Places of the
utmost importance have been taken from the most deserving and given
to the illiterate, unexperienced or unqualified. Our fleets and
armies, once the terror of Europe, are now the scorn, contempt and
derision of all nations. The one, like Æsop's mountain, has brought
forth a silly, ridiculous mouse; the other has brought home eternal
infamy, shame and disgrace. Such a Ministry and such a Parliament
was [Sidenote: _fol._ 118.] nation never curs'd with. The former
for these thirty years past has exhausted our treasures, drain'd
our purses on foolish idle treaties and negotiations to procure us
allies and friends; and no friend or ally have we in the world we can
trust, rely on or confide in. The latter, vassals, creatures equally
despicable, void of honour and conscience, compos'd of pensioners
and placemen, have sacrificed their country, their all, to the
boundless ambition and insatiable avarice of a beggarly Hanoverian
electorate. Estimates, supplies and subsidies have been granted,
_nemine contradicente_, though never so illegal, unreasonable
and unjustifiable. Such heavy taxes and such a monstrous load of
national debt this kingdom never groan'd under since Julius Cæsar's
invasion; so that justice may say, never was Parliament (some few
members excepted, _rara avis in terris, nigro simillima cygno_) more
slavishly devoted or more sottishly infatuated.
Here it will not be amiss to introduce that worthy honest gentleman,
the Elector's Earl of Oxford.[56] When a motion was made by some true
patriots to bring him to give an account of his stewardship of the
nation's money, did not his Elector solemnly declare that a hair of
his head should not be [Sidenote: _fol._ 119.] hurt, conscious that
he had acted by his direction in sending sums to aggrandize his poor,
native, scrubby country, Hanover,--sums to engage the affections of
the wavering Dutch, sums to biass the votes at elections?
[56] Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, the Lord Treasurer.
These are facts the truth of which is too obvious. What soul inspired
with the least grain of courage, the smallest spark of honour,
or that sympathizes with the sufferings of his fellow-creatures,
would tamely sit down or patiently acquiesce under such monstrous
and unheard of grievances? When religion and loyalty, liberty and
property call to arms! when a prince adorned with all the gifts of
nature, and grace of education, endowed and enriched with every
virtue, amiable and commendable (_maugrè_ all your vile reports,
invidious reflections and slanderous aspersions; _maugrè_ all your
pulpit harangues, stuff'd with downright falsities, gross calumnies
and palpable absurdities), daily amidst the horrid din of war, risks
and exposes his precious life to conquer and subdue the Lernæan
Hydra, to deliver you from almost Egyptian tyranny, bondage, and
slavery:--a prince whose title to the crown is indisputable, whose
conduct and courage are inimitable and matchless, and whose virtue,
mercy, and goodness none can parallel or equal! _Nil viget simile aut
secundum!_
[Sidenote: _fol._ 120.] Such is your legal _jure-divino_, hereditary
and lineally descended Prince, whose father you exiled and excluded,
whose grandfather you rebelled against and banished, and whose head,
conscious of your own demerits, you have set a price on! Seeing the
heir, Come, say you, let us fall upon him and kill him, and the
inheritance will be ours. Be not too secure. Your iniquities are
almost compleated. The fulness of time is almost at hand, even at the
door, when the Almighty I AM, with my Prince under the shadow of his
wings, will pour out the vials of his wrath, fury and indignation on
that cursed, perjured and abandoned people, on this guilty, perverse,
wicked and adulterous generation. For the innocent blood of the
righteous cries Vengeance! Vengeance! O my native country! my native
soil! What pangs hast thou to endure! What throes to labour with!
What misery and desolation is thy lot and portion!
Kind Heaven! Avert all these evils by a speedy and blessed
restoration, that Albion may no more be scourged by vultures, storks
and logs; may once more see happy days, once more put on its ancient
lustre, pristin splendor and glory; that God and Cæsar may enjoy
their own just and due right; that [Sidenote: _fol._ 120_a_.] tribute
may be rendered to whom it is due, custom to whom custom, fear to
whom fear, honour to whom honour, and that the supreme powers may
receive the sovereign allegiance, obedience and subjection which are
really and duly theirs by the laws of God and nature in conjunction.
It is for sentiments and tenets of this kind I am now made a publick
spectacle, that my head is publickly to be exposed and my bowels
burnt; which I gladly and willingly submit to without the least
reluctance. Nay, I should rejoice beyond measure, if this simple head
of mine could be fixed on all the Cathedral and parish churches in
Christendom to satisfie the whole Christian world of the honesty of
my intentions and the integrity of my principles. And could it be
engraven on my tombstone:--
UNDERNEATH ARE DEPOSITED THE ASHES OF THE ONLY ENGLISH PROTESTANT
CLERGYMAN WHOSE HONOUR, COURAGE, LOYALTY AND ZEAL ARE CONSPICUOUS IN
HIS ROYAL MASTER'S CAUSE. DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI.
I should have been silent about my religion had it not been to
satisfie and open the eyes of severals who have been deceived by
false representations, which was, I believe, the reason I was spit
upon, struck, stoned, insulted and barbarously treated by severals
(some of whom are since dead), not only in Carlisle [Sidenote: _fol._
121.] but Kendall and elsewhere, when I was led in a string by Mark
Ker's dragoons through all the dirt and nastiness, with my arms
pinion'd, from Carlisle to Lancaster Castle, by an express order of
the pretended Duke of Cumberland, notwithstanding Baron Clarke's
specious harangue to make the jury believe I was not an object worthy
of their notice.
I declare then upon the faith of a dying man that I die an unworthy
member of that particular church, the Church of England, as she stood
before the Revolution, which I firmly believe to be truly primitive,
Catholic and Apostolic, free from superstition on the one hand, and
Fanaticism and Enthusiasm on the other. May she prosper and flourish!
May she, like a house on a rock, withstand all tempests, storms and
inundations, till time shall be no more!
And now, God bless my royal, true and undoubted sovereign, King
James, his royal highness Charles, Prince of Wales, Henry, Duke of
York and Albany! O Jehovah! bless, protect and preserve them! for
nothing but fraud and anarchy and confusion; nothing but horrid
bloodshed and barbarous murder, villainy, perjury, ambition and
cruelty, barbarity within and corruption without, have reigned
triumphant in [Sidenote: _fol._ 122.] this island since their
banishment. God bless all my enemies, persecutors and slanderers,
especially that corrupted judge, Baron Clarke, who put a most
malicious construction on every thing said at my trial! God forgive
Samuel Pendlebury of Manchester, John Hill, Thomas Joy, an Irishman,
John Gardener and Thomas Dennison, both of Carlisle, who all grossly
perjur'd themselves at my trial! O Lord God! send them timely
repentance and remission of their sins! I freely and voluntarily
forgive them; and humbly ask pardon of all I have injured in thought,
word or deed. I close with the dying words of my Saviour and
Redeemer, and the protomartyr deacon, St. Stephen, 'Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do! Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge! Lord Jesus, receive my soul! Amen!'
_At Carlisle upon Saturday, October 18th, the Festival of St. Luke
the Evangelist, 1746._
SPEECH of ANDREW WOOD, who join'd the PRINCE
in ENGLAND.
_Blessed are they who suffer for truth and righteousness sake;
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven._
[Sidenote: 28 Nov.]
[Sidenote: _fol._ 123.] FRIENDS, COUNTRYMEN AND FELLOW-SUBJECTS,--I
was born in Scotland, and brought up in the Established Church (as
they call it) of that kingdom. But of late (thanks be to God!) I saw
my error and became a member of the Church of England.[57]
[57] See a full account of how this came about at f. 806.
I engaged in this just cause, for which I am to suffer, out of the
true love and regard I had for my king and country. For I thought
it my indispensible duty to join my Prince when I found him in this
country endeavouring to restore his father, my lawful sovereign, King
James, to his undoubted right. I had the honour to be made a Captain
by his royal highness, raised a company out of my own pocket, and
served my Prince to the utmost of my power, even beyond what could
have been expected of one so little accustomed to military acts as I
was.
And for thus faithfully serving my king, and endeavouring to restore
him and your ancient liberties, I am to fall a sacrifice to the
Usurper and his bloodthirsty son, the pretended [Sidenote: _fol._
124.] Duke of Cumberland. But thy will, O my God! be done! And as
Thou art pleased that I suffer for truth and righteousness sake, I
resign myself entirely to Thy will!
And now I am in a few moments to launch into eternity, I do solemnly
declare, as I must answer at the aweful tribunal of Almighty God,
that the order said to be given by his royal highness for giving the
Usurper's men no quarters the day of Culloden battle is false, and
contrived merely to excuse the barbarities committed by the Duke and
his men on all those of our army who fell into their hands; for I
myself saw the orders of that day. No. It does not agree with the
Prince's former lenity at the battles of Gladesmuir and Falkirk.
I leave the impartial world to judge of this brave Prince's character
from his actions, which would require one of the greatest hands to do
justice to it.
O my countrymen! Consider the woeful situation you are in. In short,
all that ever your forefathers fought for is gone. You have nothing
you can depend upon, burthened with debt, ruined with a standing
army. Alas! you have no more than the name of Liberty. Rouse you
then while it is in your [Sidenote: _fol._ 125.] power, and take the
first opportunity to restore your lawful sovereign, King James, which
is the only sure way to make these nations happy. I leave my hearty
prayers for concluding the same, and I hope Almighty God will, in His
good appointed time, restore my lawful sovereign, King James. And
in a particular manner, I beseech Thee, O God! to bless his royal
highness, Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York.
I shall conclude with forgiving all my persecutors, hoping Almighty
God will of His infinite mercy, forgive me all my sins, through Jesus
Christ, pardon the frailties of my youth, and accept my imperfect
repentance.
Into Thy hands I commit my spirit, O Lord, Thou God of mercy and
truth!