A.D. 1649-1650.
Commonwealth, 1649-1660; including Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell,
1653-1658.
Negotiations with Charles II.--Proceedings of Montrose
--Pluscardine’s Insurrection--Landing of Kinnoul and Montrose
in Orkney--Montrose’s Declaration--Montrose advances southwards
--Is defeated at Carbisdale--Montrose captured and sent to
Edinburgh--His reception there--Trial and Execution.
While the dominant party in England were contemplating the erection
of a commonwealth upon the ruins of the monarchy they had just
overthrown, the faction in Scotland, with Argyle at its head, which
had usurped the reins of government in that country, in obedience to
the known wish of the nation, resolved to recognise the principle of
legitimacy by acknowledging the Prince of Wales as successor to the
crown of Scotland. No sooner, therefore, had the intelligence of the
execution of the king reached Edinburgh, than the usual preparations
were made for proclaiming Charles II., a ceremony which was performed
at the market-cross of Edinburgh, on the 5th of February, with the
usual formalities.
This proceeding was contrary to the policy of Argyle, whose
intentions were in exact accordance with those of the English
Independents; but, as the melancholy fate of the king had excited
a feeling of indignation in the Scottish nation, he was afraid to
imitate the example of his English friends, and dissembling his
views, adopted other measures without changing his object. At the
instigation of Argyle it was agreed in parliament to propose certain
conditions to the prince as the terms on which alone he should be
entitled to sway the sceptre of his father. These were, in substance,
1st, that he should sign the Covenants, and endeavour to establish
them by his authority in all his dominions; 2d, that he should
ratify and confirm all the acts of the Estates, approving of the two
Covenants, the directory, confession of faith, and the catechism,
that he should renounce episcopacy and adopt the presbyterian form
of worship; 3d, that in all civil matters he should submit to the
parliament, and in things ecclesiastical to the authority of the
general assembly; and, _lastly_, that he should remove from his
person and court the Marquis of Montrose, “a person excommunicated by
the church, and forfaulted by the parliament of Scotland, being a man
most justly, if ever any, cast out of the church of God.”
These conditions, so flattering to popular prejudice and the
prevailing ideas of the times, appear to have been proposed only
because Argyle thought they would be rejected by the youthful
monarch, surrounded as he then was by counsellors to whom these
terms would be particularly obnoxious. To carry these propositions
to Charles II., then at the Hague, seven commissioners from the
parliament and kirk were appointed, who set sail from Kirkcaldy roads
on the 17th of March,[383] arriving at the Hague on the 26th. His
court, which at first consisted of the few persons whom his father
had placed about him, had been lately increased by the arrival of
the Earl of Lanark, now become, by the death of his brother, Duke
of Hamilton, the Earls of Lauderdale and Callander, the heads of
the Engagers; and by the subsequent addition of Montrose, Kinnoul,
and Seaforth. The following graphic sketch is given by Dr. Wishart
of the appearance and reception of the commissioners:--“When these
commissioners, or deputies from the Estates were admitted to their
first audience of the king, their solemn gait, their grave dress,
and dejected countenances, had all the appearance imaginable of
humility; and many who were not acquainted with the temper and
practices of the men, from thence concluded that they were about
to implore of his majesty a general oblivion and pardon for what
was past, and to promise a perfect obedience and submission in time
coming; and that they were ready to yield every thing that was just
and reasonable, and would be sincere in all their proposals of
peace and accommodation. They acted in a double capacity, and had
instructions both from the Estates and from the commission of the
kirk, in both of which the Earl of Cassilis was the chief person,
not only in what they were charged with from the Estates, as being
a nobleman, but also from the commission of the kirk, of which
he was a ruling elder. Their address to the king was introduced
with abundance of deep sighs and heavy groans, as if they had been
labouring, as Virgil says of the Sibyl, to shake the ponderous load
from off their breasts, after which they at last exhibited their
papers, containing the ordinances of the Estates, and acts of the
commission of the kirk, and pretended that the terms demanded in them
were moderate, just, and reasonable, and absolutely necessary for
settling the present confusions, and restoring the king; with which,
if he complied, he would be immediately settled upon his father’s
throne by the unanimous consent of the people.”[384]
The king, after vainly endeavouring to induce the commissioners to
modify the conditions to which his acceptance was required, and to
declare publicly their opinions of the murder of his father, to which
they had made no allusion, declined to agree to the terms proposed.
He at the same time stated, that as he had been already proclaimed
king of Scotland by the Committee of Estates, it was their duty to
obey him, and that he should expect the Committee of Estates, the
assembly of the kirk, and the nation at large, to perform their duty
to him, humbly obeying, maintaining, and defending him as their
lawful sovereign.[385] The commissioners having got their answer
on the 19th of May, returned to Scotland, and Charles went to St.
Germain in France, to visit Queen Henrietta Maria, his mother, before
going to Ireland, whither he had been invited by the Marquis of
Ormond to join the royalist army.
During the captivity of Charles I., Montrose used every exertion at
the court of France to raise money and men to enable him to make
a descent upon the coast of England or Scotland, to rescue his
sovereign from confinement; but his endeavours proving ineffectual,
he entered into the service of the Emperor of Germany, who honoured
him with especial marks of his esteem. He had been lately residing
at Brussels engaged in the affairs of the emperor, where he received
letters from the Prince of Wales, then at the Hague, requiring his
attendance to consult on the state of his father’s affairs; but
before he set out for the Hague, he received the news of the death
of Charles I. He was so overwhelmed with grief at this intelligence,
that according to Bishop Wishart, who was an eye-witness, he fainted
and fell down in the midst of his attendants, and appeared for some
time as if quite dead. When he had sufficiently recovered to give
full vent to his feelings, he expressed a desire to die with his
sovereign, as he could no longer enjoy, as he said, a life which had
now become a grievous and heavy burden. But on Wishart remonstrating
with him upon the impropriety of entertaining such a sentiment, and
informing him that he should be rather more desirous of life that he
might avenge the death of his royal master, and place his son and
lawful successor upon the throne of his ancestors, Montrose replied
with composure, that in that view he should be satisfied to live;
“but,” continued he, “I swear before God, angels, and men, that I
will dedicate the remainder of my life to the avenging the death
of the royal martyr, and re-establishing his son upon his father’s
throne.”
On arriving at the Hague, Montrose was received by Charles II.
with marked distinction. After some consultation, a descent upon
Scotland was resolved upon, and Montrose, thereupon, received a
commission, appointing him Lieutenant-governor of Scotland, and
commander-in-chief of all the forces there both by sea and land. The
king also appointed him his ambassador to the emperor, the princes
of Germany, the King of Denmark, and other friendly sovereigns,
to solicit supplies of money and warlike stores, to enable him to
commence the war. Thus, before the commissioners had arrived, the
king had made up his mind as to the course he should pursue, and
being backed by the opinion of a man of such an ardent temperament
as Montrose, the result of the communing between the king and the
commissioners was as might have been expected.
Connected probably with Montrose’s plan of a descent, a rising took
place in the north under Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine, brother
of the Earl of Seaforth, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, Colonel
John Munro of Lumlair, and Colonel Hugh Fraser, who, at the head
of a number of their friends and followers, entered the town of
Inverness, on the 22d of February, expelled the troops from the
garrison, and demolished and razed the walls and fortifications of
the town. The pretext put forward by Mackenzie and his friends was,
that the parliament had sent private commissioners to apprehend
them; but the fact appears to be, that this insurrection had taken
place at the instigation of the king, between whom and Pluscardine
a correspondence had been previously opened.[386] General David
Leslie was sent to the north with a force to suppress the insurgents,
who, on his approach, fled to the mountains of Ross; but he was
soon obliged to retrace his steps, in consequence of a rising in
Athole under the direction of Lord Ogilvie, General Middleton, and
others, in favour of the king. Leslie had previously made terms with
Urquhart, Munro, and Fraser, but as Mackenzie would not listen to
any accommodation, he left behind him a garrison in the castle of
Chanonry, and also three troops of horse in Moray under the charge of
Colonel Gilbert Ker, and Lieutenant-colonels Hacket and Strachan, to
watch Pluscardine’s motions. But this force was quite insufficient to
resist Pluscardine, who, on the departure of Leslie, descended from
the mountains and attacked the castle of Chanonry, which he re-took.
He was thereupon joined by his nephew, Lord Reay, at the head of 300
well-armed able-bodied men, which increased his force to between 800
and 900.
Having suppressed the rising in Athole, Leslie was again sent north
by the parliament, accompanied by the Earl of Sutherland; but he
had not proceeded far, when he ascertained that Mackenzie had been
induced by Lord Ogilvie and General Middleton, who had lately joined
him, to advance southward into Badenoch, with the view of raising
the people in that and the neighbouring districts, and that they had
been there joined by the young Marquis of Huntly, formerly Lord Lewis
Gordon, and had taken the castle of Ruthven. Leslie thereupon divided
his army, with one part of which he himself entered Badenoch, while
he despatched the Earl of Sutherland to the north to collect forces
in Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, with another part, consisting
of five troops of horse, under the command of Ker, Hacket, and
Strachan. To hinder the royalists from retiring into Athole, Leslie
marched southward towards Glenesk, by which movement he compelled
them to leave Badenoch and to march down Spey-side towards Balveny.
On arriving at Balveny, they resolved to enter into a negotiation
with Leslie, and accordingly Pluscardine and Middleton left Balveny
with a troop of horse to meet Leslie, leaving Huntly, Reay, and
Ogilvie, in charge of the forces, the former of whom sent his brother
Lord Charles Gordon to the Enzie, to raise some horse.
While waiting for the return of Pluscardine and Middleton, the party
at Balveny had not the slightest idea that they might be taken
by surprise; but on the 8th of May at day-break, they were most
unexpectedly attacked by the horse which had been sent north with
the Earl of Sutherland, and which, returning from Ross, had speedily
crossed the Spey. Seizing the royalist sentinels, they surprised
Lord Reay at the castle of Balveny, where he and about 900 foot were
taken prisoners and about 80 killed. Huntly and Ogilvie, who had
their quarters at the church of Mortlach, about a mile from Balveny
castle, escaped. Colonel Ker at once dismissed all the prisoners to
their own homes on giving their oaths not to take up arms against the
parliament in time coming. He sent Lord Reay along with some of his
kinsmen and friends and Mackenzie of Redcastle and other prisoners
of his surname to Edinburgh; all of whom were imprisoned. Huntly,
Ogilvie, Pluscardine, and Middleton, on giving security to keep the
peace, were forgiven by Leslie and returned to their homes. Colonel
Ker afterwards returned to Ross, took Redcastle, which he demolished,
and hanged the persons who had defended it. Thus ended this premature
insurrection which, had it been delayed till the arrival of Montrose,
might have been attended with a very different result.[387]
The projected descent by Montrose upon Scotland, was considered by
many persons as a desperate measure, which none but those quite
reckless of consequences would attempt; but there were others,
chiefly among the ultra-royalists, who viewed the affair in a
different light, and who, although they considered the enterprise
as one not without considerable risk, anticipated its success. Such,
at least, were the sentiments of some of the king’s friends before
the insurrection under Mackenzie of Pluscardine had been crushed;
but it is very probable that these were greatly altered after its
suppression. The failure of Pluscardine’s ill-timed attempt was
indeed considered by Montrose as a great misfortune, but a misfortune
far from irreparable, and as he had invitations from the royalist
nobility of Scotland, requesting him to enter upon his enterprise,
and promising him every assistance in their power, and as he was
assured that the great body of the Scottish nation was ready to
second his views, he entered upon the task assigned him by his royal
master, with an alacrity and willingness which indicated a confidence
on his part of ultimate success.
In terms of the powers he had received from the king, Montrose
visited the north of Europe, and obtained promises of assistance
of men, money, and ammunition, from some of the northern princes;
but few of them fulfilled their engagements in consequence of the
intrigues of the king’s enemies with the courtiers, who thwarted
with all their influence the measures of Montrose. By the most
indefatigable industry and perseverance, however, he collected a
force of 1,200 men at Gottenburg, about 800 of whom had been raised
in Holstein and Hamburg, and having received from the Queen of Sweden
1,500 complete stands of arms, for arming such persons as might join
his standard on landing in Scotland, he resolved, without loss of
time, to send off this armament to the Orkneys, where, in consequence
of a previous arrangement with the Earl of Morton, who was
favourable to the king, it was agreed that a descent should be made.
Accordingly, the first division of the expedition, which consisted of
three parts, was despatched early in September; but it never reached
its destination, the vessels having foundered at sea in a storm. The
second division was more fortunate, and arrived at Kirkwall, about
the end of the month. It consisted of 200 common soldiers and 80
officers, under the command of the Earl of Kinnoul, who on landing
was joined by his uncle the Earl of Morton and by many of the Orkney
gentlemen. Kinnoul immediately laid siege to the castle of Birsay,
which was soon surrendered to him; and he proceeded to raise levies
among the Orcadians, but was checked in his progress in consequence
of a difference with Morton, who claimed the privilege, as superior
of Orkney, of commanding his own vassals, a claim which Kinnoul would
not allow. Morton felt the repulse keenly, and died soon thereafter
of a broken heart, as is believed. His nephew, perhaps hurt at the
treatment he had given his uncle, speedily followed him to the grave.
[Illustration: General David Leslie.]
The news of Kinnoul’s landing reached Edinburgh about the 14th of
October, when General David Leslie was despatched to the north with
seven or eight troops of horse to watch him if he attempted to cross
the Pentland Frith; but seeing no appearance of an enemy, and hearing
of intended commotions among the royalists in Angus and the Mearns,
he returned to the south after an absence of fifteen days,[388]
having previously placed strong garrisons in some of the northern
strengths.[389]
Montrose himself, with the remainder of the expedition, still
tarried at Gottenburg, in the expectation of obtaining additional
reinforcements or of procuring supplies of arms and money. It appears
from a letter[390] which he addressed to the Earl of Seaforth, of
the date of 15th December, that he intended to sail for Scotland
the following day; but owing to various causes he did not leave
Gottenburg till about the end of February 1650. He landed in Orkney
in the beginning of March, with a force of 500 men, accompanied by
Lord Frendraught, Major General Hurry, and other gentlemen who had
attached themselves to his service and fortunes.
To prepare the minds of the people of Scotland for the enterprise
he was about to undertake, Montrose, about the close of the year,
had circulated a “Declaration” in Scotland, as “Lieutenant-governor
and Captain-general for his Majesty of the Kingdom of Scotland,”
in which, after detailing the proceedings of those whom he termed
“an horrid and infamous faction of rebels within the kingdom of
Scotland,” towards his late majesty, he declared that his present
majesty was not only willing to pardon every one, with the exception
of those who upon clear evidence should be found guilty “of that most
damnable fact of murder of his father,” provided that immediately
or upon the first convenient occasion, they abandoned the rebels
and joined him, and therefore, he expected all persons who had “any
duty left them to God, their king, country, friends, homes, wives,
children, or would change now at last the tyranny, violence, and
oppression of those rebels, with the mild and innocent government
of their just prince, or revenge the horrid and execrable murdering
of their sacred king, redeem their nation from infamy, restore the
present and oblige the ages to come, would join themselves with him
in the service he was about to engage.”
This declaration which, by order of the Committee of Estates, was
publicly burnt at the market cross of Edinburgh, by the hands of the
common hangman, was answered on the 2d of January, by a “declaration
and warning of the commission of the General Assembly,” addressed
to “all the members of the kirk and kingdom,” which was followed
on the 24th of the same month, by another “declaration” from the
Committee of Estates of the parliament of Scotland, in vindication
of their proceedings from “the aspersions of a scandalous pamphlet,
published by that excommunicate traitor, James Graham, under the
title of a ‘Declaration of James, Marquis of Montrose.’” The last of
these documents vindicates at great length, and apparently with great
success, those whom Montrose had designated the “infamous faction
of rebels,” not because the committee thought “it worth the while
to answer the slanders and groundless reproaches of that viperous
brood of Satan, James Graham, whom the Estates of parliament had
long since declared traitor, the church delivered into the hands
of the devil, and the nation doth generally detest and abhor;” but
because “their silence might be subject to misconstruction, and some
of the weaker sort might be inveigled by the bold assertions and
railing accusations of this impudent braggard, presenting himself
to the view of the world clothed with his majesty’s authority, as
lieutenant-governor and captain-general of this kingdom.” These
declarations of the kirk and Estates, backed as they were by
fulminations from all the pulpits of the kingdom against Montrose,
made a deep impression on men’s minds, highly unfavourable to him;
and as the Committee of Estates discharged all persons from aiding
or assisting him under the pain of high treason, and as every action
and word of those considered friendly to him were strictly watched,
they did not attempt, and had they attempted, would have found it
impossible, to make any preparations to receive him on his arrival.
Such was the situation of matters when Montrose landed in Orkney,
where, in consequence of the death of Morton and Kinnoul, little
progress had been made in raising troops. He remained several weeks
in Orkney, without exciting much notice, and having collected about
800 of the natives, which, with the addition of the 200 troops
carried over by Kinnoul, made his whole force amount to about 1,500
men, he crossed the Pentland Frith in a number of boats collected
among the islands, and landed without opposition at the northern
extremity of Caithness, in the immediate vicinity of John o’Groat’s
house. On landing, he displayed three banners, one of which was
made of black taffeta, in the centre of which was exhibited a
representation of the bleeding head of the late king, as struck off
from the body, surrounded by two inscriptions, “Judge and avenge my
cause, O Lord,” and “Deo et victricibus armis.” Another standard
had this motto, “Quos pietas virtus et honor fecit amicus.” These
two banners were those of the king. The third, which was Montrose’s
own, bore the words, “Nil medium,” a motto strongly significant of
the uncompromising character of the man.[391] Montrose immediately
compelled the inhabitants of Caithness to swear obedience to him as
the king’s lieutenant-governor. All the ministers, with the exception
of one named William Smith, took the oath, and to punish Smith for
his disobedience, he was sent in irons on board a vessel.[392] A
number of the inhabitants, however, alarmed at the arrival of foreign
troops, with whose presence they considered carnage and murder to be
associated, were seized with a panic and fled, nor did some of them
stop till they reached Edinburgh, where they carried the alarming
intelligence of Montrose’s advance to the parliament which was then
sitting.
As soon as the Earl of Sutherland heard of Montrose’s arrival in
Caithness, he assembled all his countrymen to oppose his advance
into Sutherland. He sent, at the same time, for two troops of horse
stationed in Ross, to assist him, but their officers being in
Edinburgh, they refused to obey, as they had received no orders.
Being apprized of the earl’s movements, and anticipating that he
might secure the important pass of the Ord, and thus prevent him from
entering Sutherland, Montrose despatched a body of 500 men to the
south, who obtained possession of the pass. The next step Montrose
took, was against the castle of Dunbeath, belonging to Sir John
Sinclair, who, on Montrose’s arrival, had fled and left the place
in charge of his lady. The castle was strong and well supplied with
provisions, and the possession of it was considered very important
by Montrose, in case he should be obliged to retreat into Orkney. The
castle, which was defended by Sir John’s lady and a few servants,
surrendered to General Hurry, after a short resistance, on condition
that persons and property should be respected. Hurry put a strong
garrison in the castle, under the command of Major Whiteford.
Having secured this important strength, Montrose marched into
Sutherland, leaving Henry Graham, his natural brother, behind him
with a party to raise men for the service. While in Caithness, the
only persons that proffered their services to Montrose, were Hucheon
Mackay of Skoury, Hugh Mackay of Dirlet, and Alexander Sinclair of
Brims, whom he despatched to Strathnaver, to collect forces, but they
appear to have neglected the matter. On the approach of Montrose,
the Earl of Sutherland, not conceiving himself in a condition to
resist, retired with his men, and putting strong garrisons into
Dunrobin, Skelbo, Skibo, and Dornoch, and sending off a party with
cattle and effects to the hills to be out of the reach of the enemy,
he went himself into Ross with 300 of his men. Montrose continued to
advance, and encamped the first night at Garty and Helmsdale, the
second at Kintredwell, and the third night at Rhives. In passing by
Dunrobin, a part of his men went between the castle and the sea, some
of whom were killed, and others taken prisoners, in a sortie from
the garrison. On the following day, Montrose demanded the prisoners
from William Gordon the commander of Dunrobin, but his request
was refused. Montrose encamped at Rian in Strathfleet the fourth
night, at Gruidy on the fifth, and at Strathoikel on the sixth. He
then marched to Carbisdale, on the borders of Ross-shire, where he
halted a few days in expectation of being joined by the Mackenzies.
While reposing here in fancied security and calculating on complete
success, he sent a notification to the Earl of Sutherland to the
effect, that though he had spared his lands for the present, yet the
time was at hand when he would make his own neighbours undo him.
Little did Montrose then imagine that his own fate was so near at
hand.
As soon as intelligence of Montrose’s descent was received in
Edinburgh, the most active preparations were made to send north
troops to meet him. David Leslie, the commander-in-chief, appointed
Brechin as the place of rendezvous for the troops; but as a
considerable time would necessarily elapse before they could be
all collected, and as apprehensions were entertained that Montrose
might speedily penetrate into the heart of the Highlands, where he
could not fail to find auxiliaries, Lieutenant-Colonel Strachan, an
officer who had been particularly active in suppressing Pluscardine’s
insurrection, was despatched, in the meantime, to the north with a
few troops of horse, for the purpose of keeping Montrose in check,
and enabling the Earl of Sutherland, and the other presbyterian
leaders in the north to raise their levies. These troops, which
were those of Ker, Hacket, Montgomery, and Strachan, and an Irish
troop commanded by one Collace, were joined by a body of about 500
foot under the Earl of Sutherland, Ross of Balnagown, and Munro of
Lumlair, all of whom were assembled at Tain when Montrose encamped
at Strathoikel. This movement brought the hostile parties within
twenty miles of each other, but Montrose was not aware that his enemy
was so near at hand. Strachan, who had early intelligence brought
him of Montrose’s advance, immediately called a council of war to
deliberate, at which it was resolved that the Earl of Sutherland
should, by a circuitous movement, throw himself into Montrose’s rear,
in order to prevent a junction between him and Henry Graham, and
such of the Strathnaver and Caithness men as should attempt to join
him. It was resolved that, at the same time, Strachan with his five
troops of horse, and the Munroes, and Rosses, under Balnagown, and
Lumlair, should march directly forward and attack Montrose in the
level country before he should, as was contemplated, retire to the
hills on the approach of Leslie, who was hastening rapidly north with
a force of 4,000 horse and foot, at the rate of thirty miles a-day.
[Illustration: SUTHERLAND OR 93^D. (Tartan)]
It was Saturday the 27th of April, when Strachan’s officers were
deliberating whether they should move immediately forward or wait
till Monday, “and so decline the hazard of engaging upon the Lord’s
day,”[393] when notice being brought that Montrose had advanced from
Strathoikel to Carbisdale, a movement which brought him six miles
nearer to them, they made arrangements for attacking him without
delay. Strachan advanced without observation as far as Fearn, within
a mile and a half or two miles of Montrose, where he concealed
his men on a moor covered with broom, whence he sent out a party
of scouts under Captain Andrew Munro, son of Munro of Lumlair, to
reconnoitre Montrose. Munro soon returned and reported that Montrose
had sent out a body of 40 horse to ascertain their movements. In
order to deceive this body, Strachan ordered one troop of horse out
of the broom, which being the only force observed by Montrose’s
scouts, they returned and reported to Montrose what they had seen.
This intelligence threw Montrose completely off his guard, who,
conceiving that the whole strength of the enemy consisted of a single
troop of horse, made no preparations for defending himself.
In the meantime, Strachan formed his men into four divisions. The
first, which consisted of about 100 horsemen, he commanded himself;
the second, amounting to upwards of 80, was given in charge to
Hacket; and the third, also horse, to the number of about 40, was led
by Captain Hutcheson. The fourth division, which was composed of a
body of musketeers belonging to Lawer’s regiment, was commanded by
one Quarter-master Shaw.[394]
The deception which had been so well practised upon Montrose by
Strachan, in concealing the real amount of his force, might not have
been attended with any serious effect to Montrose, but for another
stratagem which Strachan had in reserve, and which proved Montrose’s
ruin. Strachan’s scheme was first to advance with his own division
to make it appear as if his whole strength consisted of only 100
horse, and while Montrose was impressed with this false idea, to
bring up the other three divisions in rapid succession, and thus
create a panic among Montrose’s men as if a large army were about
to attack them. This contrivance was crowned with the most complete
success. Montrose little suspecting the trick, was thrown quite off
his guard, and alarmed at the sudden appearance of successive bodies
of cavalry, he immediately gave orders for a retreat to a wood and
craggy hill at a short distance in his rear; but before Montrose’s
men could reach their intended place of retreat, they were overtaken
when almost breathless, by Strachan’s troopers, who charged them
violently. The foreign troops received the charge with firmness, and,
after discharging a volley upon the horse, flew into the wood; but
most of the Orcadians threw down their arms in terror and begged for
quarter. The Munroes and Rosses followed the Danish troops into the
wood and killed many of them. 200 of the fugitives in attempting to
cross the adjoining river were drowned.
Montrose for some time made an unavailing effort to rally some of his
men, and fought with his accustomed bravery; but having his horse
shot under him, and seeing it utterly impossible longer to resist the
enemy, he mounted the horse of Lord Frendraught, which that young
and generous nobleman proffered him, and galloped off the field; and
as soon as he got out of the reach of the enemy, he dismounted, and
throwing away his cloak, which was decorated with the star of the
garter, and his sword, sought his safety on foot.
The slaughter of Montrose’s men continued about two hours, or until
sunset, during which time ten of his best officers and 386 common
soldiers were killed. The most conspicuous among the former for
bravery was Menzies younger of Pitfoddles, the bearer of the black
standard, who repeatedly refused to receive quarter. Upwards of 400
prisoners were taken, including 31 officers, among whom were Sir
John Hurry and Lord Frendraught, the latter of whom was severely
wounded. Among the prisoners taken were two ministers. This victory
was achieved almost without bloodshed on the part of the victors,
who had only two men wounded, and one trooper drowned. After the
slaughter, the conquerors returned thanks to God on the open field
for the victory they had obtained, and returned to Tain, carrying
the prisoners along with them.[395] For several days the people of
Ross and Sutherland continued to pursue some unfortunate stragglers,
whom they despatched. The result was most calamitous to Orkney, as
appears from a petition and memorandum by the gentlemen of Orkney to
Lord Morton in 1662, in which it is stated, that there was scarcely
a gentleman’s house in that country “but lost either a son or a
brother.”[396]
Montrose, accompanied by the Earl of Kinnoul, who had lately
succeeded to the title on the death of his brother, and six or seven
companions, having, as before stated, dismounted from his horse
and thrown away his cloak and sword, and having, by the advice of
his friends, to avoid detection, exchanged his clothes for the
more homely attire of a common Highlander, wandered all night and
the two following days among bleak and solitary regions, without
knowing where to proceed, and ready to perish under the accumulated
distresses of hunger, fatigue, and anxiety of mind. The Earl of
Kinnoul, unable, from exhaustion, to follow Montrose any farther,
was left among the mountains, where it is supposed he perished. When
upon the point of starvation, Montrose was fortunate to light upon a
small cottage, where he obtained a supply of milk and bread,[397] on
receiving which he continued his lonely and dangerous course among
the mountains of Sutherland, at the risk of being seized every hour,
and dragged as a felon before the very man whom, only a few days
before, he had threatened with his vengeance.
In the meantime, active search was made after Montrose. As it was
conjectured that he might attempt to reach Caithness, where his
natural brother, Henry Graham, still remained with some troops in
possession of the castle of Dunbeath, and as it appeared probable,
from the direction Montrose was supposed to have taken, that he meant
to go through Assynt, Captain Andrew Munro sent instructions to
Neil Macleod, the laird of Assynt, his brother-in-law, to apprehend
every stranger that might enter his bounds, in the hope of catching
Montrose, for whose apprehension a splendid reward was offered. In
consequence of these instructions, Macleod sent out various parties
in quest of Montrose, but they could not fall in with him. “At
last,” says Bishop Wishart, “the laird of Assynt being abroad in arms
with some of his tenants in search of him, lighted on him in a place
where he had continued three or four days without meat or drink, and
only one man in his company.” The bishop then states, that “Assynt
had formerly been one of Montrose’s own followers; who immediately
knowing him, and believing to find friendship at his hands, willingly
discovered himself; but Assynt not daring to conceal him, and being
greedy of the reward which was promised to the person who should
apprehend him by the Council of the Estates, immediately seized and
disarmed him.”[398] This account differs a little from that of the
author of the continuation of Sir Robert Gordon’s history, who,
however, it must be remembered, represents the Earl of Sutherland and
his friends in as favourable a light as possible. Gordon says, that
it was one of Macleod’s parties that apprehended Montrose, and is
altogether silent as to Assynt’s having been his follower; but both
writers inform us that Montrose offered Macleod a large sum of money
for his liberty, which he refused to grant. Macleod kept Montrose
and his companion, Major Sinclair, an Orkney gentleman, prisoners
in the castle of Ardvraick, his principal residence. By order of
Leslie, Montrose was thence removed to Skibo castle, where he was
kept two nights, thereafter to the castle of Braan, and thence again
to Edinburgh.
In his progress to the capital, Montrose had to endure all those
indignities which vulgar minds, instigated by malevolence and
fanaticism, could suggest; but he bore every insult with perfect
composure. At a short interview which he had with two of his children
at the house of the Earl of South Esk, his father-in-law, on his
way to Edinburgh, he exhibited the same composure, for “neither at
meeting nor parting could any change of his former countenance be
discerned, or the least expression heard which was not suitable to
the greatness of his spirit, and the fame of his former actions. His
behaviour was, during the whole journey, such as became a great man;
his countenance was serene and cheerful, as one who was superior to
all those reproaches which they had prepared the people to pour out
upon him in all the places through which he was to pass.”[399]
[Illustration: Castle of Ardvraick.]
At Dundee, which had particularly suffered from his army, a very
different feeling was shown by the inhabitants, who displayed a
generosity of feeling and a sympathy for fallen greatness, which
did them immortal honour. Instead of insulting the fallen hero in
his distress, they commiserated his misfortunes, and prevailed upon
his guards to permit him to exchange the rustic and mean apparel in
which he had been apprehended, and which, to excite the derision
of the mob, they had compelled him to wear, for a more becoming
dress which had been provided for him by the people of Dundee. The
sensibilities of the inhabitants had probably been awakened by a
bold and ineffectual attempt to rescue Montrose, made by the lady
of the laird of Grange, at whose house, in the neighbourhood of
Dundee, he had passed the previous night. The author of the Memoirs
of the Somervilles gives the following characteristic account of this
affair:--
“It was at this ladye’s house that that party of the Covenanters
their standing armie, that gairded in the Marques of Montrose,
efter his forces was beat and himself betrayed in the north, lodged
him, whom this excellent lady designed to sett at libertie, by
procureing his escape from her house; in order to this, soe soon as
ther quarters was settled, and that she had observed the way and
manner of the placeing of the guairds, and what officers commanded
them, she not only ordered her butlers to let the souldiers want for
noe drink, but she herself, out of respect and kyndnesse, as she
pretended, plyed hard the officers and souldiers of the main-guaird,
(which was keeped in her owne hall) with the strongest ale and
acquavite, that before midnight, all of them, (being for the most
part Highlandmen of Lawer’s regiment) became starke drunke. If her
stewarts and other servants had obeyed her directions in giving out
what drinke the out-gairds should have called for, undoubtedly the
business had been effectuat; but unhappily, when the marques had
passed the first and second centinells that was sleeping upon their
musquets, and likewayes through the main-gaird, that was lying in
the hall lyke swyne on a midding, he was challenged a little without
the outmost guaird by a wretched trouper of Strachan’s troupe, that
had been present at his taking. This fellow was none of the guaird
that night, but being quartered hard by, was come rammelling in
for his bellieful of drinke, when he made this unluckie discovery,
which being done, the marques was presently seized upon, and with
much rudenesse (being in the ladye’s cloaths which he had put on for
a disguize) turned back to his prisone chamber. The lady, her old
husband, with the wholl servants of the house, were made prisoners
for that night, and the morrow efter, when they came to be challenged
before these that had the command of this party, and some members of
that wretched Committee of Estates, that satt allways at Edinbrough
(for mischief to the royall interest,) which they had sent for the
more security, to be still with this party, fearing the great friends
and weill-wishers this noble heroe had upon the way he was to come,
should either by force or stratageme, be taken from them. The ladie,
as she had been the only contryver of Montrose’s escape, soe did she
avow the same before them all; testifying she was heartily sorry it
had not taken effect according to her wished desyre. This confidence
of hers, as it bred some admiratione in her accusors, soe it freed
her husband and the servants from being farder challenged; only they
took security of the laird for his ladye’s appearing before the
Committie of Estates when called, which she never was. Ther worships
gott something else to thinke upon, then to conveen soe excellent
a lady before them upon such ane account, as tended greatly to her
honour and ther oune shame.”
The parliament, which had been adjourned till the 15th of May, met
on the appointed day, and named a committee to devise the mode of
his reception into the capital and the manner of his death. In terms
of the committee’s report an act was passed on the 17th of May,
ordaining “James Graham” to be conveyed bareheaded from the Water
Gate (the eastern extremity of the city) on a cart, to which he was
to be tied with a rope, and drawn by the hangman in his livery,
with his hat on, to the jail of Edinburgh, and thence to be brought
to the parliament house, and there on his knees to receive sentence
of death. It was resolved that he should be hanged on a gibbet at
the cross of Edinburgh, with the book which contained the history of
his wars and the declaration which he had issued, tied to his neck,
and after hanging for the space of three hours, that his body should
be cut down by the hangman, his head severed from his body, fixed
on an iron spike, and placed on the pinnacle on the west end of the
prison; that his hands and legs should also be cut off, the former
to be placed over the gates of Perth and Stirling, and the latter
over those of Aberdeen and Glasgow; that if at his death he showed
any signs of repentance, and should in consequence be relieved from
the sentence of excommunication which the kirk had pronounced against
him, that the trunk of his body should be interred by “pioneers” in
the Gray Friars’ churchyard; but otherwise, that it should be buried
by the hangman’s assistants, under the scaffold on the Boroughmuir,
the usual place of execution.[400]
The minds of the populace had, at this time, been wrought up to the
highest pitch of hatred at Montrose by the ministers, who, during a
fast which had lately been held in thanksgiving for his apprehension,
had launched the most dreadful and bloody invectives against him, and
to this circumstance perhaps is to be attributed the ignominious plan
devised for his reception.
On the day following the passing of the act, Montrose was brought up
from Leith, mounted on an outworn horse, to the Water Gate, along
with 23 of his officers, his fellow-prisoners, where he was met about
four o’clock, P.M., by the magistrates of the city in their robes,
followed by the “town guard,” and the common executioner. Having
been delivered by his guards to the civic authorities, whose duty it
now was to take charge of his person, Montrose was, for the first
time, made acquainted with the fate which awaited him, by one of the
magistrates putting a copy of the sentence into his hands. He perused
the paper with composure, and after he had read it he informed
the magistrates that he was ready to submit to his fate, and only
regretted, “that through him the king’s majesty, whose person he
represented, should be so much dishonoured.”[401]
[Illustration: Montrose (his signature)
THE GREAT MARQUIS OF MONTROSE.
From a rare contemporary print in possession of W. F. Watson Esq^r.
Edin^r.]
Before mounting the vehicle brought for his reception, Montrose was
ordered by the hangman to uncover his head; but as the mandate was
not immediately attended to, that abhorred instrument of the law
enforced his command with his own hands. He thereupon made Montrose
go into the cart, and placing him on a high chair fixed upon a
small platform raised at the end of the cart, he pinioned his arms
close to his sides by means of cords, which being passed across his
breast, and fastened behind the vehicle, kept him so firmly fixed as
to render his body immoveable. The other prisoners, who were tied
together in pairs, having been marshalled in front of the cart in
walking order and uncovered, the hangman, clothed in his official
attire, mounted one of the horses[402] attached to the cart, and the
procession thereupon moved off at a slow pace up the Canongate, in
presence of thousands of spectators, who lined the long street, and
filled the windows of the adjoining houses. Among the crowd which
thronged the street to view the mournful spectacle was a great number
of the inferior classes of the community, chiefly females, who had
come with the determined intention of venting abuse upon the fallen
hero, and pelting him, as he proceeded along the street, with dirt,
stones, and other missiles, incited thereto by the harangues of the
ministers on occasion of the late fast; but they were so overawed
by the dignity of his demeanour, and the undaunted courage of soul
which he displayed, that their feelings were at once overcome, and
instead of covering him with reproaches, they dissolved into tears of
pity at the sight of fallen greatness, and invoked the blessings of
heaven upon the head of the illustrious captive. A result so totally
unlooked-for, could not be but exceedingly displeasing to the enemies
of Montrose, and particularly to the ministers, who, on the following
day (Sunday), denounced the conduct of the people from the pulpits
of the city, and threatened them with the wrath of heaven.
But displeasing as the humane reception of Montrose was to the
clergy, it must have been much more mortifying to Argyle, his mortal
enemy, who, contrary to modern notions of decency and good feeling,
surrounded by his family and the marriage party of his newly-wedded
son, Lord Lorn, appeared publicly on a balcony in front of the
Earl of Moray’s house[403] in the Canongate, from which he beheld
undaunted the great Montrose, powerless now to do him personal harm.
To add to the insult, either accidentally or on purpose, the vehicle
which carried Montrose was stopped for some time beneath the place
where Argyle and his party stood, so that they were able to take a
leisurely view of the object of their hate and fear, and it would
appear that they took advantage of their fallen foe’s position to
indulge in unseemly demonstrations of triumph and insult. For the
sake of humanity and the honour of tender-hearted woman, we would
fain disbelieve the statement that the Marchioness of Argyle had the
effrontery to vent her hatred toward the fallen enemy of her house by
spitting upon him. Whatever were the inward workings of Montrose’s
soul, he betrayed no symptoms of inquietude, but preserved, during
this trying scene, a dignified demeanour which is said to have
considerably discomposed his triumphant rival and his friends.
Although the distance from the Water Gate to the prison was only
about half a mile, yet so slow had the procession moved, that it
was almost seven o’clock in the evening before it reached the
prison. When released from the cart Montrose gave the hangman some
money for his services in having driven so well his “triumphal
chariot,”[404] as he jocularly termed the cart. On being lodged in
jail, he was immediately visited by a small committee appointed
by the parliament, which had held an extraordinary meeting at
six o’clock in the evening. Balfour says, that the object of the
committee, which consisted of three members and two ministers, was to
ask “James Grahame if he had any thing to say, and to show him that
he was to repair to the house to receive his sentence.” The house
remained sitting till the return of the deputation, who reported
that Montrose had refused to answer any of the questions put to him
till he was informed upon what terms they stood with the king, and
whether they had concluded any agreement with him. In consequence
of this information, the parliament delayed passing sentence till
Monday the 20th of May; and, in the meantime, appointed seven of
their members to wait upon the marquis and examine him on some points
respecting “Duke Hamilton and others;” and to induce him to answer,
the deputation was instructed to inform him, that an agreement had
been concluded between the commissioners on the part of the estates
and his majesty, who was coming to Scotland.[405] Montrose, however,
excused himself from annoyance by stating, that as his journey had
been long, and as “the ceremony and compliment they had paid him
that day had been somewhat wearisome and tedious,” he required
repose;[406] in consequence of which the deputation left him.
Montrose meant to have spent the whole of the following day, being
Sunday, in devotional exercises suitable to his trying situation;
but he was denied this consolation by the incessant intrusions of
the ministers and members of parliament, who annoyed him by asking a
variety of ensnaring questions, which he having refused to answer,
they gave vent to the foulest reproaches against him. These insults,
however, had no effect on him, nor did he show the least symptoms
of impatience, but carried himself throughout with a firmness which
no menaces could shake. When he broke silence at last, he said that
“they were much mistaken if they imagined that they had affronted
him by carrying him in a vile cart the day before; for he esteemed
it the most honourable and cheerful journey he had ever performed
in his life; his most merciful God and Redeemer having all the
while manifested his presence to him in a most comfortable and
inexpressible manner, and supplied him by his divine grace, with
resolution and constancy to overlook the reproaches of men, and to
behold him alone for whose cause he suffered.”[407]
Agreeably to the order of parliament, Montrose was brought up by
the magistrates of Edinburgh on Monday at ten o’clock forenoon to
receive sentence. As if to give dignity and importance to the cause
for which he was about to suffer, and to show how indifferent he was
to his own fate, Montrose appeared at the bar of the parliament in a
superb dress which he had provided for the purpose, after his arrival
in Edinburgh. His small clothes consisted of a rich suit of black
silk, covered with costly silver lace, over which he wore a scarlet
rochet which reached to his knee, and which was trimmed with silver
galloons, and lined with crimson taffeta. He also wore silk stockings
of a carnation colour, with garters, roses and corresponding
ornaments, and a beaver hat having a very rich silver band.[408]
Having ascended “the place of delinquents,” a platform on which
criminals received sentence, Montrose surveyed the scene before him
with his wonted composure, and though his countenance was rather
pale, and exhibited other symptoms of care, his firmness never for a
moment forsook him. Twice indeed was he observed to heave a sigh and
to roll his eyes along the house,[409] during the virulent invectives
which the lord-chancellor (Loudon) poured out upon him, but these
emotions were only the indications of the warmth of his feelings
while suffering under reproaches which he could not resent.
The lord-chancellor, in rising to address Montrose, entered into
a long detail of his “rebellions,” as he designated the warlike
actions of Montrose, who, he said, had invaded his native country
with hostile arms, and had called in Irish rebels and foreigners to
his assistance. He then reproached Montrose with having broken not
only the national covenant, which he had bound himself to support,
but also the solemn league and covenant, to which the whole nation
had sworn; and he concluded by informing Montrose, that for the many
murders, treasons, and impieties of which he had been guilty, God had
now brought him to suffer condign punishment. After the chancellor
had concluded his harangue, Montrose requested permission to say a
few words in his own vindication, which being granted, though not
without some difficulty, he proceeded to vindicate his conduct,
showing that it was the result of sincere patriotism and devoted
loyalty.
“He had,” he said, “not spilt any blood, not even that of his most
inveterate enemies, but in the field of battle; and that even in the
greatest heat of action he had preserved the lives of many thousands;
and that as he had first taken up arms at the command of the king,
he had laid them down upon his orders, without any regard to his own
interest, and had retired beyond the seas.
“With regard to his late invasion, he said, he had undertaken it at
the command and by the express orders of the present king, (to whom
they all owed duty and allegiance, and for whose long and happy reign
he offered his sincere and earnest prayers,) in order to accelerate
the treaty which was then begun betwixt him and them--that it was his
intention, as soon as the treaty had been concluded, to lay down arms
and retire at the call of his majesty; and such being his authority
and determination, he might justly affirm, that no subject ever
acted upon more honourable grounds, nor by a more lawful power and
authority than he had done in the late expedition.
“In conclusion, he called upon the assemblage to lay aside all
prejudice, private animosity, and desire of revenge, and to consider
him, in relation to the justice of his cause, as a man and a
Christian, and an obedient subject, in relation to the commands of
his sovereign, which he had faithfully executed. He then put them in
mind of the great obligations which many of them were under to him,
for having preserved their lives and fortunes at a time when he had
the power and authority, had he inclined, of destroying both, and
entreated them not to judge him rashly, but according to the laws of
God, the laws of nature and nations, and particularly by the laws of
the land--that if they should refuse to do so, he would appeal to
the just Judge of the world, who would at last judge them all, and
pronounce a righteous sentence.”[410]
This speech was delivered without affectation or embarrassment, and
with such firmness and clearness of intonation, that, according to
a cavalier historian, many persons present were afterwards heard to
declare, that he looked and spoke as he had been accustomed when at
the head of his army.[411] The chancellor replied to Montrose, in a
strain of the most furious invective, “punctually proving him,” says
Balfour, “by his acts of hostility, to be a person most infamous,
perjured, treacherous, and of all that this land ever brought forth,
the most creuell and inhumane butcher and murtherer of his natione,
a sworne enimy to the Covenant and peace of his countrey, and one
quhosse boundlesse pryde and ambition had lost the father, and by
his wicked counsells done quhat in him lay to distroy the sone
lykwayes.”[412]
Montrose attempted to address the court a second time, but was rudely
interrupted by the chancellor, who ordered him to keep silence, and
to kneel down and receive his sentence. The prisoner at once obeyed,
but remarked, that on falling on his knees, he meant only to honour
the king his master, and not the parliament. While Sir Archibald
Johnston, the clerk-register, was reading the sentence, Montrose kept
his countenance erect and displayed his usual firmness. “He behaved
all this time in the house with a great deal of courage and modesty,
unmoved and undaunted.”[413] The execution was fixed for three
o’clock the following day.
The feelings of humanity and the voice of religion, now demanded that
the unfortunate prisoner should be allowed to spend the short time
he had to live, in those solemn preparations for death, enjoined
by religion, in privacy and without molestation; but it was his
fate to be in the hands of men in whose breasts such feelings were
stifled, and whose religion was deeply imbued with a stern and
gloomy fanaticism, to which charity was an entire stranger. However,
it would be unfair and uncharitable to look upon the conduct of
these men as if they had been surrounded with all the advantages
of the present enlightened age. We ought to bear in mind their
recent escape from the most intolerant of all religions, of whose
persecuting principles they had not yet got rid; the hard treatment
to which they had been subjected by the late king and his father;
and the fact that they really believed they were doing their duty
to God and serving the best interests of true religion. It is
indeed difficult to be charitable to the uncharitable, tolerant to
persecutors.
No sooner had Montrose returned to prison, than he was again assailed
by the ministers, who endeavoured to induce him to submit to the
kirk, no doubt considering the conversion of such an extraordinary
_malignant_ as Montrose, as a theological achievement of the first
importance. To subdue his obstinacy, they magnified the power of the
keys, which they said had been committed to them, and informed him
that unless he reconciled himself to the kirk and obtained a release
from the sentence of excommunication which had been pronounced
against him, he would be eternally damned. But Montrose, regardless
of their threats and denunciations, remained inflexible. Besides the
ministers, he was frequently waited upon by the magistrates of the
city, with whom he entered into conversation. He told them that he
was much indebted to the parliament for the great honour they had
decreed him,--that he was prouder to have his head fixed upon the top
of the prison, than if they had decreed a golden statue to be erected
to him in the market-place, or ordered his portrait to be placed in
the king’s bed-chamber,--that so far from grieving for the mutilation
which his body was about to undergo, he was happy that the parliament
had taken such an effectual method of preserving the memory of his
loyalty, by transmitting such proofs of them to the four principal
cities of the kingdom, and he only wished that he had flesh enough
to have sent a piece to every city in Christendom, as a testimony
of his unshaken love and fidelity to his king and country.[414] But
annoying as the visits of the ministers and magistrates undoubtedly
were, Montrose was still farther doomed to undergo the humiliation
of being placed under the more immediate charge of Major Weir, who
afterwards obtained an infamous notoriety in the annals of criminal
jurisprudence. This incestuous wretch, who laid claim to superior
godliness, and who pretended to be gifted with the spirit of prayer,
of which he gave proofs by many extemporary effusions, gave Montrose
great uneasiness by smoking tobacco, to the smell of which he had,
like Charles I., a particular aversion.
During the night, when free from the intrusion of the ministers,
Montrose occupied himself in devotional exercises, and even found
leisure to gratify his poetic taste, by composing the following
lines which he wrote upon the window of the chamber in which he was
confined.
“Let them bestow on every airth a limb,
Then open all my veins, that I may swim
To thee, my Maker, in that crimson lake,
Then place my parboiled head upon a stake;
Scatter my ashes, strow them in the air.
Lord, since thou knowest where all these atoms are,
I’m hopeful thou’lt recover once my dust,
And confident thou’lt raise me with the just.”
On the morning of the 21st of May, 1650, the city of Edinburgh was
put into a state of commotion by the noise of drums and trumpets,
which was heard in every quarter of the city. The sound attracted
the notice of Montrose, who inquired at the captain of the guard
the cause of it. The officer told him that the parliament, dreading
that an attempt might be made by the mob, under the influence of the
malignants, to rescue him, had given orders to call out the soldiers
and citizens to arms. “Do I,” said the marquis, “who was such a
terror to these good men when alive, continue still so formidable to
them, now that I am about to die? But let them look to themselves;
for even after I am dead, I will be continually present to their
wicked consciences, and become more formidable to them than while I
was alive.”
After partaking of a hearty breakfast, Montrose entered upon the
business of the toilet, to which he paid particular attention. While
in the act of combing his hair, he was visited by Sir Archibald
Johnston, the clerk-register, one of his most inveterate foes, who
made some remarks on the impropriety, as he thought, of a person in
the dreadful situation of the marquis, occupying some of the precious
moments he had yet to live in frivolous attentions to his person.
The marquis, who knew well the character of this morose man, thus
addressed him with a smile of contempt, “While my head is my own, I
will dress and adorn it; but to-morrow, when it becomes yours, you
may treat it as you please.”
About an hour before the time fixed for his execution, Montrose was
waited upon by the magistrates of the city, who saw him conveyed to
the scaffold on the same vehicle on which he had been carried into
the city. In addition to the dress which he wore on that occasion, he
was now habited in a superb scarlet cloak, ornamented with gold and
silver lace, which his friends had provided him with. Long before his
removal from prison, an immense assemblage of persons had congregated
around the place of execution in the High-street, all of whom were
deeply affected on Montrose’s appearance. As he proceeded along, he
had, says Wishart, “such a grand air, and so much beauty, majesty,
and gravity appeared in his countenance, as shocked the whole city at
the cruelty that was designed him; and extorted even from his enemies
this unwilling confession, that he was a man of the most lofty and
elevated soul, and of the most unshaken constancy and resolution that
the age had produced.”
It had always been the uniform practice in Scotland to permit all
persons about to suffer the last penalty of the law to address the
assembled spectators, and on mounting the scaffold Montrose was
proceeding to avail himself of this privilege; but the magistrates,
who probably had received their instructions from the parliament,
refused to allow him to harangue the multitude. His friends, however,
anticipating this, had hired a young man, skilled in stenography,
who, having stationed himself near the scaffold, was enabled to take
down the substance of some observations which Montrose was permitted
to make in answer to questions put by some persons who surrounded him.
He began by remarking that he would consider it extremely hard
indeed if the mode of his death should be esteemed any reflection
upon him, or prove offensive to any good Christian, seeing that such
occurrences often happened to the good at the hands of the wicked,
and often to the wicked at the hands of the good--and that just men
sometimes perish in their righteousness, while wicked men prosper in
their villanies. That he, therefore, expected that those who knew
him well would not esteem him the less for his present sufferings,
especially as many greater and more deserving men than he had
undergone the same untimely and disgraceful fate. Yet, that he could
not but acknowledge that all the judgments of God were just, and that
the punishment he was about to suffer was very deservedly inflicted
upon him for the many private sins he had committed, and he therefore
willingly submitted to it;--that he freely pardoned his enemies, whom
he reckoned but the instruments of the Divine will, and prayed to God
to forgive them, although they had oppressed the poor, and perverted
judgment and justice.
That he had done nothing contrary to the laws of the kingdom, and
that he had undertaken nothing but in obedience to the just commands
of his sovereign, when reduced to the greatest difficulties by his
rebellious subjects, who had risen up in arms against him--that his
principal study had always been to fear God and honour the king,
in a manner agreeable to the law of God, the laws of nature, and
those of his own country; and that, in neither of these respects,
had he transgressed against men, but against God alone, with whom
he expected to find abundant mercy, and in the confidence of which,
he was ready to approach the eternal throne without terror--that
he could not pretend to foretell what might happen, or to pry into
the secrets of Divine Providence; but he prayed to God that the
indignities and cruelties which he was that day to suffer might
not be a prelude of still greater miseries which would befall his
afflicted country, which was fast hastening to ruin.
That with regard to the grievous censure of the church, which he was
sorry some good people thought it a crime in him to die under, he
observed, that he did not incur it from any fault of his own, but in
the performance of his duty to his lawful prince, for the security
of religion, and the preservation of his sacred person and royal
authority--that the sentence of excommunication, so rashly laid upon
him by the clergy, gave him much concern, and that he earnestly
desired to be released from it, so far as that could be done,
agreeably to the laws of God, and without hurting his conscience or
allegiance, which, if they refused, he appealed to God, the righteous
judge of the world, who, ere long, was to be his impartial judge and
gracious redeemer.
In answer to the reproaches of some persons who had endeavoured to
destroy the marquis’s character and reputation by spreading a report
that he had laid the whole blame of what he had done upon the king
and his royal father, he observed that such a thought had never once
entered into his breast--that the late king had lived a saint and
died a martyr, and he prayed to God, that as his own fate was not
unlike his, so his death might be attended with the same degree of
piety and resignation; for if he could wish his soul in another man’s
stead, or to be conjoined with it in the same condition after this
life, it would be his alone.
He then requested that the people would judge charitably of him
and his actions, without prejudice and without passion. He desired
the prayers of all good men for his soul; for his part, he said he
prayed earnestly for them all; and with the greatest seriousness,
submission and humility, deprecated the vengeance of Almighty God,
which had been so long awakened, and which was still impending over
his afflicted country--that his enemies were at liberty to exult
and triumph over the perishing remains of his body, but the utmost
indignities they could inflict should never prevail on him, now
at his death, to swerve from that duty and reverence to God, and
obedience and respect to the king, which he had manifested all his
life long. “I can say no more,” concluded the marquis, “but remit
myself to your charity, and I desire your prayers. You that are
scandalized at me, give me your charity; I shall pray for you all.
I leave my soul to God, my service to my prince, my goodwill to my
friends, and my name in charity to you all. I might say more, but I
have exonered my conscience; the rest I leave to God’s mercy.”[415]
A party of ministers who occupied the lower end of the scaffold now
attempted, partly by persuasion and partly by threats, to induce
Montrose to yield to the kirk by acknowledging his own criminality;
but he denied that he had acted contrary to religion and the laws of
the land, and, of course, refused to accept of a reconciliation upon
such terms. Finding him inflexible, they refused to pray for him as
he desired, observing, that no prayers could be of any avail to a man
who was an outcast from the church of God. Being desired to pray by
himself apart, he told them that if they would not permit the people
to join with him, his prayers alone and separately before so large an
assembly would perhaps be offensive both to them and him--that he had
already poured out his soul before God, who knew his heart, and to
whom he had committed his spirit. He then shut his eyes, and holding
his hat before his face with his left hand, he raised his right in
the attitude of prayer, in which posture he continued about a quarter
of an hour in silent and fervent prayer.
As the fatal hour was fast approaching when this unfortunate
nobleman was to bid a last adieu to sublunary things, he desired the
executioner to hasten his preparations. This gloomy functionary,
accordingly, brought the book of Montrose’s wars, and his late
declaration, which, by the sentence, were ordered to be tied round
his neck with a cord. Montrose himself assisted in carrying this
part of his sentence into execution, and while the operation was
performing, good-humouredly remarked, that he considered himself as
much honoured then by having such tokens of his loyalty attached to
his person as he had been when his majesty had invested him with the
order of the garter.[416]
Hitherto, Montrose had remained uncovered; but, before ascending the
ladder that conducted to the top of the gibbet, which rose to the
height of thirty feet from the centre of the scaffold, he requested
permission to put on his hat. This request was, however, refused.
He then asked leave to keep on his cloak; but this favour was also
denied him. Irritated, probably at these refusals, he appears for a
moment to have lost his usual equanimity of temper, and when orders
were given to pinion his arms, he told the magistrates that if they
could invent any further marks of ignominy, he was ready to endure
them all for the sake of the cause for which he suffered.
On arriving at the top of the ladder, which he ascended with
astonishing firmness, Montrose asked the executioner how long his
body was to be suspended to the gibbet. “Three hours,” was the
answer. He then presented the executioner with three or four pieces
of gold, told him he freely forgave him for the part he acted, and
instructed him to throw him off as soon as he observed him uplifting
his hands. The executioner watched the fatal signal, and on the
noble victim raising his hands, obeyed the mandate, and, it is
said, burst into tears. A feeling of horror seized the assembled
multitude, who expressed their disapprobation by a general groan.
Among the spectators were many persons who had indulged during the
day in bitter invectives against Montrose, but whose feelings were
so overpowered by the sad spectacle of his death that they could not
refrain from tears.[417] Even the relentless Argyle, who had good
feeling enough to absent himself from the execution, is said to have
shed tears on hearing of Montrose’s death, but if a cavalier writer
is to be believed, his son, Lord Lorne, disgraced himself by the most
unfeeling barbarity.[418]
Thus died, at the early age of thirty-eight, James Graham, Marquis of
Montrose, who had acquired during a short career of military glory
greater reputation than perhaps ever fell to the lot of any commander
within the same compass of time. That partisans may have exaggerated
his actions, and extolled his character too highly, may be fairly
admitted; but it cannot be denied that Montrose was really a great
commander, and that there were noble and generous traits about him
which indicated a high and cultivated mind, in many respects far
superior to the age in which he lived. But however much the military
exploits of Montrose may be admired, it must never be forgotten that
his sword was drawn against his own countrymen in their struggles
against arbitrary power, and that although there was much to condemn
in the conduct of the Covenanters, subsequent events, in the reign of
the second Charles and James, showed that they were not mistaken in
the dread which they entertained of the extinction of their religious
liberties, had Charles I. succeeded in his designs.
Among Montrose’s officers five of the most distinguished were
selected for execution, all of whom perished under ‘the Maiden,’
a species of guillotine, introduced into Scotland by the Regent
Morton, to which he himself became the first victim. The officers
who suffered were Sir John Hurry,[419] Captain Spottiswood, younger
of Dairsie, Sir Francis Hay of Dalgetty, Colonel William Sibbald,
and Captain Charteris, a cadet of the ancient family of Amisfield.
All these met death with extraordinary fortitude. Sir Francis
Hay, who was a Catholic, “and therefore,” as a cavalier historian
quaintly observes, “not coming within the compass of the ministers’
prayers,”[420] displayed in particular an intrepidity worthy of his
name and family.[421] After a witty metaphorical allusion to “the
Maiden,” he kissed the fatal instrument, and kneeling down, laid his
head upon the block. Colonel Sibbald exhibited a surprising gaiety,
and, “with an undaunted behaviour, marched up to the block, as if he
had been to act the part of a gallant in a play.”[422] An instance
of the unfeeling levity with which such melancholy scenes were
witnessed, even by those who considered themselves the ministers of
the gospel, occurred on the present as on former occasions. Captain
Spottiswood, grandson of the archbishop of that name, having on his
knees said the following prayer:--“O Lord, who hath been graciously
pleased to bring me through the wilderness of this world, I trust
at this time you will waft me over this sea of blood to my heavenly
Canaan;” was rebuked by a minister who was near him in the following
words:--“Take tent (heed), take tent, sir, that you drown not by the
gate!” (way). Spottiswood replied with great modesty that “he hoped
he was no Egyptian,” an answer which forced the base intruder to
retire among the crowd to conceal his shame.
The execution of Captain Charteris (the last who suffered) was a
source of melancholy regret to his friends, and of triumph to the
ministers. He was a man of determined mind; but his health being
much impaired by wounds which he had received, he had not firmness to
resist the importunities of his friends, who, as a means of saving
his life, as they thought, prevailed upon him to agree to make a
public declaration of his errors. This unhappy man, accordingly, when
on the scaffold, read a long speech, which had been prepared for him
by the ministers, penned in a peculiarly mournful strain, in which
he lamented his apostacy from the Covenant, and acknowledged “other
things which he had vented to them (the ministers) in _auricular
confession_.”[423] Yet, notwithstanding the expectations which he and
his friends were led to entertain that his life would be spared, he
had no sooner finished his speech than he was despatched.
FOOTNOTES:
[383] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 393.
[384] _Memoirs_, p. 351.
[385] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 405.
[386] See Appendix to Wishart’s _Memoirs_, p. 440.
[387] Gordon’s _Continuation_, p. 547, _et seq._
[388] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 432.
[389] Gordon’s _Continuation_, p. 551.
[390] Appendix to Wishart’s _Memoirs_, p. 441.
[391] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 440.
[392] Gordon’s _Continuation_, p. 552.
[393] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 9.
[394] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 9.
[395] Gordon’s _Continuation_, p. 555.
[396] Vide the document in the Appendix to Peterkin’s Notes on Orkney
and Zetland, pp. 106, 107.
[397] Gordon’s _Continuation_, p. 555.
[398] _Memoirs_, p. 377.
[399] _Memoirs_, p. 380.
[400] Balfour, vol. iv. pp. 12, 13.
[401] Wishart, p. 385.
[402] According to _Montrose Redivivus_, p. 181, the cart was drawn
by four horses.
[403] Now the Free Church Normal School.
[404] Wishart, p. 386.
[405] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 14.
[406] Wishart, p. 386.
[407] Wishart, p. 387.
[408] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 16, note to Kirkton’s _Church History_, p.
124. _Relation of the execution of James Graham_, London, 1650.
[409] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 16.
[410] Wishart, p. 391.
[411] Monteith’s _Hist. of the Troubles_, &c., p. 514.
[412] _Annals_, vol. iv. p. 15.
[413] Idem, p. 16.
[414] Wishart, p. 393.
[415] Wishart, p. 399. Balfour, vol. iv. p. 22.
[416] Wishart, p. 400.
[417] _Montrose Redivivus._
[418] “’Tis said that Argyle’s expressions had something of grief
in them, and did likewise weep at the rehearsal of his death, (for
he was not present at the execution). Howsoever, they were by many
called crocodiles’ tears, how worthily I leave to others’ judgment.
But I am sure there did in his son, Lord Lorne, appear no such
sign, who neither had so much tenderness of heart as to be sorry,
nor so much paternal wit as to dissemble, who, entertaining his new
bride (the Earl of Moray’s daughter) with this spectacle, mocked
and laughed in the midst of that weeping assembly; and, staying
afterwards to see him hewn in pieces, triumphed at every stroke which
was bestowed upon his mangled body.” _Montrose Redivivus_, edition of
1652. Note to Wishart’s _Memoirs_, p. 401.
The dismembered portions of Montrose’s body were disposed of in terms
of the sentence. Lady Napier, the wife of Montrose’s esteemed friend
and relation, being desirous of procuring his heart, employed some
adventurous persons to obtain it for her. They accomplished this
object on the second day after the execution, and were handsomely
rewarded by her ladyship. The heart was embalmed by a surgeon, and
after being enshrined in a rich gold urn, was sent by her to the
eldest son of the marquis, then in Flanders. The family of Napier
possess a portrait of Lady Napier, in which there is a representation
of the urn.--Kirkton’s _History of the Church of Scotland_, note, p.
125; edited by the late C. K. Sharpe, Esq.
After the restoration, the trunk was disinterred, and the other
remains collected, and on 11th May, 1661, were deposited with great
solemnity by order of Charles II., in the family aisle in St. Giles’
church. The remains of Sir Francis Hay of Dalgetty were honoured with
a similar mark of respect on the same day. For an account of the
ceremonial, see Nos. 27 and 28 of the Appendix to Wishart’s _Memoirs_.
[419] Hurry was at first condemned by the parliament to perpetual
banishment, “but the commission of the kirk voted he should die, and
thereupon sent ther moderator, with other two of their number, to
the parliament house, who very saucilly, in face of that great and
honourable court, (if it had not been then a body without a head)
told the president and chancellor that the parliament had granted
life to a man whom the law had appointed for death, being a man of
blood, (citing these words of our blessed Saviour to Peter,--‘All
they that take the sword shall perish by the sword;’) whereas, it was
very weill knoune, all the blood that that unfortunate gentleman had
shed in Scotland was in ther quarrell and defence, being but then
engaged in his master’s service, when he was taken prisoner, and
executed at the kirk’s instigatione.
“The parliament was sae farre from rebuking ther bold intruders, or
resenting those acts of the commission of the kirk, now quyte besyde
ther master’s commissione, as they will have it understood, and ther
owne solemne professione not to meddle in secular affairs, that they
rescinded their former act, and passed a sentence of death upon him,
hereby imitating ther dear brethren, the parliament of England, in
the caice of the Hothams.”--_Memoirs of the Somerville Family._
[420] Wishart, p. 412.
[421] “His constancy at death show well he repented nothing he did,
in order to his allegiance and Majesty’s service, to the great shame
of those who threatened him with their apocryphal excommunications,
to which he gave no more place than our Saviour to the devil’s
temptations.”--_Relation of the True Funerals of the Great Lord
Marquesse of Montrose._
[422] Wishart.
[423] Wishart, p. 413.--The practice of auricular confession seems
to have existed to a considerable extent among the Covenanters. It
is singular that had it not been for the evidence of the minister of
Ormiston, to whom the noted Major Weir had communicated his secrets
in auricular confession, he would not have been convicted.--See
Arnot’s _Criminal Trials_.