There was also another source of complaint, which, though appearing on
the surface to have originated with the Duke of Perth, was clearly
traceable to the Prince, or rather to his adviser, Secretary Murray. A
marked slight had been passed on Lord George Murray on the very night on
which the battery on Carlisle was opened. He had gone into the trenches;
and, seeing the Duke of Perth there, he had desired him, in case of
anything extraordinary happening, to let him know, and that he would aid
him by every means in his power. What private orders the Duke had was
not known; but, far from applying to Lord George for aid or counsel, he
sent to Brampton, seven miles' distance, whenever any difficulty
occurred, and acquainted the Prince with it, but took no notice of Lord
George, although he was an older officer than himself, and had been sent
to Harroby to cover the siege. Upon this, Lord George, who thought he
was entitled to know what had passed in the trenches, complained, but
received no satisfactory answer: and thus aggrieved, and, as he
conceived, insulted, he sent that letter to the Prince, which has justly
been censured as making an invidious distinction between the young
Chevalier and his father.[87]
These acts of indiscretion and intemperance were followed by another
proceeding still less worthy of the soldier and the man of honour: Lord
George Murray indeed lowered himself, when, at the same time that he
wrote to the Prince, he set on foot a petition praying Charles that he
would dismiss all Roman Catholics from his councils. This was aimed at
the Duke of Perth and Sir Thomas Sheridan; nor can we assign to it any
better motive than that it was intended to re-instate Lord George Murray
in the command. Some allowance may, nevertheless, be made for the
prejudices of a Presbyterian, acting on the determined and overbearing
nature of a high-spirited man. But the vital principles of our Christian
faith tend to soften animosities, to humble pride, and to accord to
others the same intention to act rightly as that of which we ourselves
are prone to boast. A sincere, a truly pious member of the Christian
church cannot be an intolerant partizan of certain modes of faith.
There dwells within his breast a deeper sentiment than that which is
inspired by the worldly and sublunary distinctions of sect. And Lord
George Murray, seeing his young and blameless rival, the Duke of Perth,
brave, honourable, and moderate, had shown greater zeal for true
religion had he not availed himself of an unworthy plea to base upon it
an invidious and covert insinuation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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