Wintoun fearlessly replied that his counsel could show he was incapable of committing treason, with which crime he was charged in the indictment. This was in his boldest style of fencing. There can be no doubt that when he asserted the loyalty of himself and family, and denied that he had any design to overthrow the constitution of the realm, he thought of loyalty to James III. and the constitution as it was established under the Stuarts. At length, the Lord High Steward bade the managers for the Commons to proceed. Mr. Cowper jumped to his feet, and showed with alacrity that every iota of evidence against the prisoner was confirmed. He alluded to no rebutting testimony being even attempted; and, with something of a sneer, he commented on the absurdity of Lord Wintoun wishing his treason to be viewed in a light that should make it appear something quite different. When Mr. Cowper had finished, Sir William Thomson rose to make his thrust at a man who could not speak for himself, and who was not yet allowed to have others speak for him. Sir William was strongest when he denounced Wintoun’s plea,――that there were circumstances in his case which made it different from that of others, and entitled him to be more mildly dealt with,――as simply nonsense. It certainly was ignoble. As for the earl’s innocence of heart, ignorance of law, and loyalty to ‘the King,’ Sir William laughed at all three. He concluded by a demand for ‘justice,’ as the only way of obtaining safety and security for England. [Sidenote: _THE VERDICT._] Then, without a word having been spoken in Wintoun’s defence, the verdict of the peers was taken. There were ninety present. Thomas, Lord Parker, was the first called upon to pronounce an opinion; and this youngest lord, whose coronet was not a week old, arose, placed his right hand on the spot where he supposed his heart to be, said ‘_Guilty_, upon my honour!’ and resumed his seat. Each succeeding peer performed exactly the same action, and repeated precisely the same words. The last fatal word was pronounced by the Lord High Steward himself. Not one of the ninety was favourable to Wintoun, but the first who pledged his honour to the verdict soon became a greater criminal than the lord at the bar. He it was who as Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Macclesfield, anticipated being driven from his post by resigning the Great Seal. He had sold masterships in Chancery for great sums of gold, and winked at, if he did not encourage, those masters in recuperating their purchase money by embezzling that of the suitors. Wintoun heard the adverse judgment with perfect calmness, but that Friday night’s drive from Westminster Hall to the Tower was not a pleasant one. The Gentleman Gaoler carried his axe all the way, with the edge towards the condemned earl. The London Jacobites, as they grouped together in their public or private resorts, had some faint hope in an application for arrest of judgment. [Sidenote: _SIR CONSTANTINE PHIPPS._]