Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular WarAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular War
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
of Sir Alexander Macdonald. Sir Alexander was on the mainland in
Cumberland's army; but the young heroine had the address to induce his
wife, Lady Margaret Macdonald, to receive him; and as the house was
full of soldiers, she sent him to her factor and kinsman, Macdonald of
Kingsburgh, in the interior of the island, who brought him to a place
of safety. At last, on the 20th of September, he got on board the
French vessel. Lochiel and Cluny, and about a hundred other refugees,
sailed with him, and they landed at the little port of Roscoff, near
Morlaix, in Finistère, on the 29th of September, whence Charles
hastened to Paris, was received in a very friendly manner by Louis XV.,
and by the Parisians, when he appeared at the opera, with rapturous
acclamations.
Charles was, both in Scotland--on which his wild adventure had
inflicted such miseries--and in France, a hero of romance; but his
captured adherents had far other scenes to face than the lights and
luxurious music of the opera. The prisons were crammed to such a degree
with the unfortunate Gaels, that Government was compelled to stow
numbers away on board of men-of-war and transports, till fever broke
out and swept them off by hundreds, sparing the labours of judges,
juries, and hangmen. In Carlisle prison alone four hundred Scots were
jammed in a space not properly sufficient for forty! The poor prisoners
had been brought out of Scotland in open defiance of the Act of Union
and of the recognised rights of the Scottish courts; and now they were
called on to cast lots for one in twenty to take their trials, with a
certainty of being hanged, and the rest shipped off to the Plantations
in America without any trial at all.
[Illustration: THE END OF THE '45. (_After the Painting by John Pettie,
R.A., by permission of the late Captain Hill._)]
Amongst the most distinguished persons captured were Lords Kilmarnock,
Cromarty, Balmerino, Mordington, and Lovat. Cromarty, Balmerino, and
Kilmarnock were brought to trial before the peers in Westminster Hall
on the 28th of July. "Cromarty," says Horace Walpole, "was a timid man,
and shed tears; and Kilmarnock, though behaving with more dignity,
pleaded guilty, both expressing remorse for their past conduct, and
their fervent good wishes for the person and government of the king."
But old Balmerino, the hero of the party, pleaded not guilty, and
took exceptions to the indictment. "He is," writes Walpole, "the most
natural, brave old fellow I ever saw; the highest intrepidity, even
to indifference." All these noblemen were pronounced guilty. Cromarty
pleaded piteously the condition of his wife and family: that he left
his wife _enceinte_, and eight innocent children to suffer for his
fault. His wife's entreaties and the interest of the Prince of Wales
saved him; Kilmarnock and Balmerino were beheaded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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