Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 16 — John Shaqi
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 16
General
Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 16
Scottish Borders (Scotland) -- Fiction
"We have all heard," he said, "that there is great wisdom in night
counsel (_consilium in nocte_)--forgive me--I do not say in dreams, or
visions, or consultations of the heavens, but in the weighing of
rational arguments in the balance of the judgment, when there is no
disturbing cause to shake the scales, and no prejudice to add a false
weight to the deductions of a biassed reasoning. I stand in a position
different from you all. You are fighting against your king, I against
my father. You are seeking what is offered to you by the terms in
question; I am fighting for what death or superannuation alone can
bestow--a king's crown or a vice-regent's tiara; and I am offered what I
scarcely deserve--an indulgent father's forgiveness and affection. Why
should I hesitate, when, by standing out, I may lose the crown and my
father's love, while, by acquiescing, I insure the one at present, and
retain the other by a sure expectancy? The words of Argyle have sat on
my heart all night. If I live till my father die, a crown and a coffin
are equally certain to me; and I shall put on the one and lie down in
the other with feelings better befitting the heir of a kingdom on earth,
and one in heaven, by acting as becometh a good son, than those that can
result from a consciousness of disobedience. Our commissioners,
therefore, have my authority for agreeing to the terms of peace."
This speech, so different from the one of the previous day, was received
with loud murmurs of dissatisfaction from the leading rebels, who
calculated with certainty on the steadiness of a youth, who, having been
untrue to his father, might safely have been suspected of a tendency to
a dangerous vacillation as regarded his new colleagues. The numbers on
the side of the prince were, however, great--perhaps amounting to a
majority--so that the discontented nobles were obliged to suppress their
chagrin, and permit the commissioners to go through the ceremony of
accepting the terms of accommodation. The treaty was therefore concluded
in the course of the day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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