THE FIRST REBELLION IN SCOTLAND.
Account of the rise and progress of the rebellion in Scotland, 1715; With full accounts of the principal traitors who were executed.
WE are now arrived at a very memorable period of the history of England. Neither the abdication of the throne by King James II. nor his defeat by King William III. at the battle of the Boyne, in Ireland, were admitted by the adherents of the family of Stuart, to bar their right to the crown. On the accession of George I. this question was in secret agitated with much warmth; when the earl of Mar, a Scotch nobleman of great popularity, and secretly a friend to the royal stock of his own country, determined upon the attempt to dethrone the king, and to overthrow the constitution. This nobleman was farther stimulated to attempt this dangerous measure, from being on the accession of the king, deprived of some offices which he held under the Tory ministry of Queen Anne; although, had he been permitted to retain them after the change of measures which then took place, this rebellion might not have broken out. When the earl found he was deprived of all share in the new government, he, in revenge, retired to Scotland, where be immediately began to tamper with such lords as possessed influence among the people, and found they wanted only a leader to set up the standard of the grandson of King James, who, by the Scotch, was hailed as the heir to the English throne, but by the government denominated the Pretender.
An invitation was now sent to the Pretender, who had taken refuge in France, to come to Scotland, while the friends to his cause were seducing and enlisting men for his service. This was done with all possible secrecy, yet their proceedings were soon known by the ministry, as on the 20th of July, 1715, when the king had not then reigned a year, he went to the House of Lords, where, having sent for the Commons, he told them from the throne, that a plan was on foot to invade the country by the Pretender; and that he suspected there were too many abettors of rebellion in this country.
He required, that until the rebellion should be quelled, the act of habeas corpus should be suspended, and preparations should to that end be immediately made.
Orders were issued for the embodying of the militia, the guards were encamped in Hyde Park, and several men of war ordered to guard the coasts, and intercept the army of the Pretender on his voyage from France to Scotland. Many persons were apprehended on suspicion of secretly aiding the rebels, and committed to prison.
Meanwhile the earl of Mar was in open rebellion at the head of an army of 3000 men, which was rapidly increasing, marching from town to town in Scotland, proclaiming the Pretender as King of England and Scotland, by the title of James VIII. An attempt was made by stratagem to surprise the castle of Edinburgh. To this end some of the king's soldiers were base enough to receive a bribe to admit those of the earl of Mar, who were, by means of ladders of rope, to scale the walls, and surprise the guard; but the lord justice Clerk having some suspicion of the treachery, seized the guilty, some of whom were executed.
The rebels were greatly chagrined at the failure of their attempt upon Edinburgh castle; and the French king, Louis XIV., from whom they hoped for assistance, dying about this time, the leaders became disheartened, and contemplated the abandonment of their project, until their king could appear in person among them.
Discontent, however, showed itself in another quarter. In Northumberland the spirit of rebellion was fermented by Thomas Forster, then one of the members of parliament for that county; and, being joined by several noblemen and gentlemen, they attempted to seize the large and commercial town of Newcastle, but were driven back by the friends of the government. Forster set up the standard of the Pretender, and proclaimed him the lawful King of Britain wherever he went. He next joined a body of Scotch troops in rebellion, and marched with them as far as Preston in Lancashire, before his career could be stopped by the king's army.
At this town generals Carpenter and Wills attacked the rebels, who defended themselves a while, by firing upon the royal army from windows, and from the tops of houses, but the latter proved victorious, though not without the loss of 150 men. They made prisoners about 1500, among whom were English Peers: The Earl of Derwentwater, The Lord Widdrinaton, The Earl of Nithisdale, The Earl of Winton, The Earl of Carnworth, Scotch Peers: Viscount Kenniure, The Lord Nairn
These noblemen, with about 300 more rebels, were conveyed to London; the remainder, taken at the battle of Preston, were sent to Liverpool and its adjacent towns. At Highgate, the party intended for trial in London, were met by a strong detachment of foot-guards, who tied them back to back, and placed two on each horse, and in this ignominious manner were they held to the derision of the populace, until the lords were conveyed to the Tower, and the others to Newgate and other prisons.
On the day after the victory of the English, the earl of Mar, with his followers, attempted to cross the Forth, with a view of joining the rebels, collected together in England; but a squadron of the British fleet having anchored off Edinburgh, they abandoned that design. Sir John Maenzte, on the part of the Pretender, fortified the town of Inverness; but lord Lovat armed his tenants, and drove him from his fortifications. This was a service of much import to the royal cause, as the possession of Inverness opened a communication between the high and the low lands of Scotland. The earl of Scathforth and the marquis of Huntley, appeared in favour of the Pretender; but on the earl of Sunderland threatening to fall upon them at the head of his tenants, they laid down their arms. Thus we find that the interest of Scotland was divided in the question of the right to the British throne. In England there was a vast majority in favour of the house of Hanover. [Note: Lord Lovat -- This Scotch nobleman, at this time active in the cause of King George, by a strange infatuation, during a subsequent rebellion, on the very same cause, took the other side, and fought for the Pretender, was taken, condemned, and beheaded on Tower-hill! A particular account of that rebellion we shall, also give, with, the trials and execution of the rebels.]
The Pretender, evading the British ships sent to watch his motions, landed from a small French vessel, with only six followers. This happened on the 23d of December, while the royal army, under the duke of Argyle, were in winter quarters at Stirling, and that of the rebels, at Perth. On the 9th of January, 1716, having collected a few hundred half-armed Highlanders, the Pretender made a public entry into the palace of Scone, the place of coronation of the kings of Scotland, while that country was a separate monarchy; assumed the functions of a king, and issued a proclamation for his coronation, and another for the convocation of the states.
These daring proceedings determined the duke of Argyle, who had, been joined by general Cadogan, at the head of 6000 Dutch troops, notwithstanding the inclemency of the season, to march in pursuit of the rebels, He proceeded to their head-quarters at Perth, but they fled on his approach. It appeared that the Pretender was encouraged by France to rebel, hoping , thereby to throw the nation into confusion, of which that deceitful government would have taken the advantage. To meet the expected succours, the Pretender and his adherents went to Dundee, and thence to Montrose, where, soon rendered hopeless by no news arriving of the approach of the foreigners, they, began to disperse. The king's troops pursued and put several to death; but the Pretender, accompanied by the earl of Mar, and some of the leaders of the rebellion, had the good fortune to get on board a ship lying before Montrose, and, in a dark night, put to sea, escaped the English fleet, and landed in France.
It is now time to return to the captive lords, and the other prisoners, taken at the battle of Preston. The House of Commons unanimously agreed to impeach the lords, and expel Forster from his seat as one of their members; while the courts of common law proceeded with the trials of those of less note. The articles of impeachment being sent by the Commons, the Lords sat in judgment, earl Cooper, the Lord High Chancellor of England, being constituted Lord High Steward.
The unfortunate noblemen, except the earl of Winton, pleaded guilty to the indictment, but offered pleas of extenuation for their guilt, in hopes of obtaining mercy. In that of the earl of Derwentwater, he suggested that the proceedings in the House of Commons, in impeaching him, was illegal.
Proclamation was immediately made for silence, and the Lord High Steward proceeded to pass the sentence of the Law, on those who had pleaded guilty, in the following words
"James earl of Derwentwater, William lord Widdrington, William earl of Nithisdale, Robert earl of Carnworth, William viscount Kenmure, William lord Nairn:
"You stand. impeached by the Commons of Great Britain, in parliament assembled, of high-treason, in traitorously imagining and compassing the death of his most sacred majesty, and in conspiring for that end to levy a bloody and destructive war against his majesty, in order to depose and murder him; and in levying war accordingly, and proclaiming a pretender to his crown to be king of these realms.
"Which impeachment, though one of your lordships, in the introduction to this plea, supposes to be out of. the ordinary and common course of the law and justice, is yet as much a course of proceeding according to the common law, as any other whatsoever.
"If you had been indicted, the indictment must have been removed, and brought before the House of Lords, (the parliament sitting.) In that case you had ('tis true) been accused only by the grand-jury of one county; in the present, the whole body of the commons of Great Britain, by their representatives, are your accusers.
"And this circumstance is very observable, (to exclude all possible supposition of hardship, as to the method of proceeding against you) that, however all great assemblies are apt to differ on other points, you were impeached by the unanimous opinion of the House of Commons, not one contradicting.
"They found themselves, it seems, so much concerned in the preservation of his most truly sacred majesty, and the Protestant succession (the very life and soul of these kingdoms) that they could not omit the first opportunity of taking their proper part, in order to so signal and necessary an act of his majesty's justice.
"And thus the whole body politic of this free kingdom has in a manner rose up in its own defence, for the punishment of those crimes, which, it was rightly apprehended, had a directs, tendency to the everlasting dissolution of it.
"To this impeachment you have severally pleaded and acknowledged yourselves guilty of the high treason therein contained.
"Your pleas are accompanied with some variety of matter to mitigate your offences, and to obtain mercy.
"Part of which, as some of the circumstances said to have attended your surrender, (seeming to be offered rather as arguments only for mercy, than any thing in Mitigation of your preceding guilt) is not proper for me to take notice of.
"But as to the other part, which is meant to extenuate the crimes of which you are convicted, it is fit I should take this occasion to make some observations to your lordships upon it, to the end that the judgment to be given against you, may clearly appear to be just and righteous, as well as legal; and that you may not remain under any fatal error in respect of a greater judicature, by reflecting with less horror and remorse on the guilt you have contracted, than it really deserves.
"It is alleged, by some of your lordships, that you engaged in this rebellion without previous concert or deliberation, and without suitable preparations of men, horses, and arms.
"If this should be supposed true, on some of your lordships averring it, I desire you to consider, that it exempts you from the circumstance of contriving this treason, so it very much aggravates your guilt in that part you have undoubtedly borne in the execution of it.
"For it shews, that your inclinations to rebel were so well known, (which could only be from a continued series of your words and actions) that the contrivers of that horrid design depended upon you, and therein judged rightly that your zeal to engage in this treason was so strong, as to carry you into it on the least warning, and the very first invitation: that you would not excuse yourselves by want of preparation, as you might have done; and that rather than not have a share in the rebellion, you would plunge yourselves into it, almost naked and unprovided for such an enterprise; in short, that your Men, horses, and arms, were not so well prepared as they might, and would have been, on longer warning; but your minds were.
"It is alleged also, as an extenuation of your crimes, that no cruel or harsh action (I suppose is meant no rapine or plunder, or worse) has been committed by you.
"This may, in part only, be true: but then your lordships will at the same time consider, that the laying waste a tract of land bears but a little proportion, in point of guilt, compared with that crime of which you stand convicted; an open attempt to destroy the best of kings, to ruin the whole fabric, and raze the very foundations of a government, the best suited of any in the world, to perfect the happiness, and, support the dignity of human nature. The former offence causes but a mischief that is soon recovered, and is usually pretty much confined; the latter, had it succeeded, must have brought a lasting and. universal destruction on the whole kingdom.
"Besides, much of this was owing to accident; your march was so hasty, partly to avoid the king's troops, and partly from a vain hope to stir up insurrections in all the counties you passed through, that you had not time to spread devastation, without deviating from your main, and, as I have observed, much worse design.
"Farther: 'Tis very surprising that any concerned in this rebellion, should lay their engaging in it on the government's doing a necessary and usual act in like cases, for its preservation; the giving orders to confine such as were most likely to join in that treason: 'tis hard to believe that any one should rebel, merely to avoid being restrained from rebelling; or that a gentle confinement would not much better have suited a crazy state of health, than the fatigues and inconveniences of such long and hasty marches in the depth of winter.
"Your lordships rising in arms therefore, has much more justified the prudence and fitness of those orders, than those orders will in anywise serve to mitigate your treason. Alas! happy had it been for all your lordships, had you fallen under so indulgent a restraint!
"When your lordships shall, in good earnest, apply yourselves to think impartially on your case, surely you will not yourselves believe that it is possible, in the nature of the thing, to be engaged, and continue so long engaged, in such a difficult and laborious enterprise, through rashness, surprise, or inadvertency; or that had the attack at Preston been less sudden (and consequently the rebels better prepared to receive it,) your lordships had been reduced the sooner, and with less, if not without any bloodshed.
"No, my lords, these, and such like, are artful colourings, proceeding from minds filled with expectation of continuing in this world, and not from such as are preparing for their defence before a tribunal; where the thoughts of the heart, and the true springs and causes of action must be laid open.
"And now, my Lords, having thus removed some false colours you have used, to assist you yet farther in that necessary work of thinking on your great offence as you ought, I proceed to touch upon several circumstances that seem greatly to aggravate your Crime, and which will deserve your most serious consideration.
"The divine virtues ('tis one of your lordships' own epithets) which all the World, as well as your lordships, acknowledge to be in his majesty, and which you now lay claim to, ought certainly to have withheld your hands from endeavouring to depose, to destroy, to murder, that most excellent prince; so the impeachment speaks, and so the law construes your actions: and this is not only true in the notion of law, but almost always so in deed and reason. 'Tis a trite, but a very true remark, that there are but few hours between kings being reduced under the power of pretenders to their crown and their graves. Had you succeeded, his majesty's case would, I fear, have hardly been an exception to that general rule, since 'tis highly improbable that flight should have saved any of that illustrious and valiant family.
'Tis a further aggravation of your crime, that his majesty, whom your Lordships would have dethroned, affected not the crown by force, or by the arts of ambition, but succeeded peaceably and legally to it; and on the decease of her late majesty without issue, became undoubtedly the next in course of descent capable of succeeding to the crown, by the law and constitution of this kingdom, as it stood declared some years before the crown was expressly limited to the house of Hanover. This right was acknowledged, and the descent of the crown limited accordingly, by, the whole legislature in two successive reigns, and more than once in the latter; which your lordships' accomplices are very far from allowing would bias the nation to that side.
"How could it then enter into the heart of man, to think that private persons might with a good conscience endeavour to subvert such a settlement, by running to tumultuary arms, and by intoxicating the dregs of the people with contradictory opinions and groundless slanders; or that God's providence would ever prosper such wicked, such ruinous attempts; especially if, in the next place, it be considered, that the most fertile inventions, on the side of the rebellion, have not been able to assign the least shadow of a grievance as the cause of it: to such poor shifts have they been reduced on this head, that, for want of better colours, it has been objected, in a solemn manner, by your lordships' associates, to his majesty's government, that his people do not enjoy the fruits of peace, as our neighbours have done since the last war: thus they first rob us of our peace, and then upbraid us, that we have it not. It is a monstrous rebellion, that can find no fault with the government it invades, but what is the effect of the rebellion itself!
"Your lordships will likewise do well to consider what an additional burden your treason has made it necessary to impose on the people of this kingdom, who wanted, and were about to enjoy some respite: to this end, 'tis well known, that all new, or increase of taxes, were the last year carefully avoided, and his majesty was contented to have no more forces than were just sufficient to attend his person, and shut the gates of a few garrisons.
"But what his majesty thus did for the ease and quiet of his people, you most ungratefully turned to his disadvantage, by taking encouragement from thence, to endanger his and his kingdom's safety, and to bring oppression on your fellow-subjects.
"Your lordships observe, I avoid expatiating on the miseries of a civil war, a very large and copious subject; I shall but barely suggest to you on that head, that whatever those calamities may happen to be, in the present case, all who are, at any time, or in any place, partakers in the rebellion (especially persons of figure and distinction), are in some degree responsible for them: and therefore your lordships must not hold yourselves quite clear from the guilt of those barbarities which have been lately committed, by such as were engaged in the same treason with you, and not yet perfectly reduced, in burning the habitations of their countrymen and thereby exposing many thousands to cold and hunger in this rigorous season.
"I must be so just, to such of your lordships as profess the religion of the church of Rome, that you had one temptation, and that a great one, to engage you in this treason, which the others had not; in that, it was evident, success on your part must for ever have established Popery in this kingdom, and that probably you could never have again so fair an opportunity.
"But then, good God! how must those Protestants be covered with confusion, who entered into the same measures, without so much as capitulating for their religion (that ever I could find, from any examination I have seen or heard), or so much as requiring, much less obtaining a frail promise, that it should be preserved, or even tolerated.
"It is my duty to exhort your lordships thus to think of the aggravations, as well as the mitigations (if there be any) of your offences: and I could have the least hopes, that the prejudices of habit and education would not be too strong for the most earnest and charitable entreaties, I would beg you not to rely any longer on those directors of your consciences, by whose conduct you have, very probably, been led into this miserable condition; but that your lordships would be assisted by some of those pious and learned divines of the church of England, who have constantly borne that infallible mark of sincere Christians, universal charity.
"And now, my lords, nothing remains, but that I pronounce upon you (and sorry I am that it falls to my lot to do it) that terrible sentence of the law, which must be the same that is usually given against the meanest offender in the like kind.
"The most ignominious and painful parts of it are usually remitted, by the grace of the crown, to persons of your quality; but the law, in this case, being deaf to all distinctions of persons, requires I should pronounce, and accordingly it is adjudged by this court,
"That you, James Earl of Derwentwater, William Lord Widdrington, William Earl of Nithisdale, Robert Earl of Carnwarth, William Viscount Kenmure, and William Lord Nairn, and every of you, return to the prison of the Tower, from whence you came; from thence you must be drawn to the place of execution; when you come there, you must be hanged by the neck, but not till you be dead; for you must be cut down alive; then your bowels must be taken out, and burnt before your faces; then your heads must be severed from your bodies, and your bodies divided each into four quarters; and these must be at the King's disposal. And God Almighty be merciful to your souls."
After sentence thus passed, the lords were remanded back to the Tower, and on the 18th of February orders were sent to the lieutenant of the Tower and sheriffs for their execution; and great solicitations were made in favour of them, which not only reached the Court, but came down to the two houses of parliament, and petitions were delivered in both, which being backed by some, occasioned debates that in the House of Commons arose no higher than to occasion a motion for adjournment, thereby to prevent any further interposition there; but the matter in the House of Peers was carried on with more success, where their petitions were delivered and spoke to, and it was carried by nine or ten voices, that the same should be received and read. And the question was put, whether the King had power to reprieve, in case of impeachment? which being carried in the affirmative, a motion was made to address his majesty to desire him to grant reprieve to the lords under sentence; but the movers thereof only obtained this clause, viz. " To reprieve such of the condemned lords as deserved his mercy; and that the time of the respite should be left to his majesty's discretion."
To which address his majesty replied,
"That on this, and other occasions, he would do what he thought most consistent with the dignity of his crown, and the safety of his people."
The great parties they had made, as was said, by the means of money, and also the rash expressions too common in the mouths of many of their friends, as if the government did not dare to execute them, did not a little contribute to the hastening their execution; for on the same day the address was presented, the 23d of February, it was resolved in council, that the earl of Derwentwater and the lord Kenmure, should be beheaded; and the earl of Nithisdale, apprehending he should be included in the warrant, made his escape the evening before, in a woman's riding-hood, supposed to have been conveyed to him by his mother on a visit.
In the morning of the 24th of February, three detachments of the life-guards went from Whitehall to Tower-hill, and having taken their stations round the scaffold, the two lords were brought from the Tower at ten o'clock, and being received by the sheriffs at the bar, were conducted to the transport office on Tower-hill; and at the expiration of about an hour, the earl of Derwentwater sent word that he was ready; on which Sir John Fryer, one of the sheriffs, walked before him to the scaffold, and when there, told him he might have what time he pleased to prepare himself for death.
His lordship desired to read a paper which he had written, the substance of which was, that he was sorry for having pleaded guilty; that he acknowledged no king but James the Third, for whom he had an inviolable affection, and that these kingdoms would never be happy till the ancient constitution was restored; and be wished his death might contribute to that desirable end. His lordship professed to die a Roman Catholic, and in the postscript to his speech, said, "if that prince, who now governs, had given me life I should have thought myself obliged never more to have taken up arms against him."
Sir John Fryer, desiring to have the paper, he said he had sent a copy of it to his friends, and then delivered it. He then read some prayers out of two small books, and kneeled to try how the block would fit his neck. This being done, he had again recourse to his devotions, and having told the executioner that he forgave him, and likewise forgave all his enemies, he directed him to strike when he should repeat the words "Sweet Jesus," the third time.
He then kneeled down, and said, "Sweet Jesus! receive my spirit! Sweet Jesus be merciful to me; Sweet Jesus" -- and appeared to be proceeding in his prayer, when his head was struck off at one blow and the executioner taking it up, exhibited it at the four corners of the scaffold, saying, "Behold the head of a traitor:-- God save King George."
The body was now wrapped up in black baize, and being carried to a coach, was delivered to the friends of the deceased; and the scaffold having been cleared, fresh baize put on the block, and saw-dust strewed, that none of the blood might appear, Lord Kenmure was conducted to the scaffold.
His Lordship, who was a Protestant, was attended by two clergymen; but he declined saying much, telling one of them that he had prudential reasons for not delivering his sentiments; which were supposed to arise from his regard to Lord Carnworth, who was his brother-in-law, and was then interceding for the royal mercy; as his talking in the way that Lord Derwentwater had done might be supposed to injure his Lordship with those most likely to serve him,
Lord Kenmure having finished his devotions, declared that he forgave the executioner, to whom he made a present of eight guineas. He was attended by a surgeon, who drew his finger over that part of the neck where the blow was to be struck; and being executed as Lord Derwentwater had been, his body was delivered to the care of an undertaker.
George Earl of Winton, not having pleaded guilty with the other Lords, was brought to his trial on the 15th of March, when the principal matter urged in his favour was, that he had surrendered at Preston in consequence of a promise from General Wills to, grant him his life: in answer to which it was sworn, that no promise of mercy was made, but that the rebels surrendered at discretion.
The Earl of Winton having left his house, with fourteen or fifteen of his servants well mounted and armed joining the Earl Carnworth and Lord Kenmure; his proceeding with the rebels through the various stages of their march, and his surrendering with the rest, were circumstances fully proved: notwithstanding which his counsel moved an arrest of judgment: but the plea on which this motion was founded being thought insufficient, his Peers unanimously found him guilty: and then the Lord High Steward pronounced sentence on him, after having addressed him in the following forcible terms:
"George Earl of Winton, I have acquainted you, that your Peers have found you guilty; that is, in the terms of the law, convicted you of the high treason whereof you stand impeached; after your Lordship has moved an arrest of judgment, and their lordships have disallowed that motion, that their next step is to proceed to judgment.
"The melancholy part I am to bear, in pronouncing that judgment upon you, since it is His Majesty's pleasure to appoint Me to that office, I dutifully submit to it; far, very far, from taking any satisfaction in it.
"'Till conviction, your Lordship has been spoken to without the least prejudice, or supposition of your guilt; but now it must be taken for granted, that your lordship is guilty of the high treason whereof you stand impeached.
"My Lord, this your crime is the greatest known to the law of this kingdom, or of any other country whatsoever, and it is of the blackest and most odious species of that crime; a conspiracy and attempt, manifested by an open rebellion, to depose and murder that sacred person, who sustains, and is the Majesty of the Whole; and from whom, as from a, fountain of warmth and glory, are dispersed all the honours, all the dignity of the State; indeed the lasting and operative life and vigour of the laws, which plainly subsist by a due administration of the executive power.
"So that attempting this precious life, is really striking at the most noble part, the seat of life, and spring of all motion in this government; and may, therefore, properly be called a design to murder not only the king, but also,the body politic of this kingdom. And this is most evidently true in your Lordship's case, considering that, success in your treason must infallibly have established popery, and that never fails to bring with it a civil as well as ecclesiastical tyranny; which is quite another sort of constitution than that of this kingdom, and cannot take place till the present is annihilated.
This your crime (so I must call it) is the more aggravated, in that where it proceeds so far as to take arms openly, and to make an offensive war against lawful authority; it is generally (as in your case) complicated with the horrid and crying sin of murdering many, who are not only innocent but meritorious; and, if pity be due (as I admit it is in some degree) to such as suffer for their own crimes it must be admitted a much greater share of compassion is owing to them who have lost their lives merely by the crimes of other men.
"As many have so done in the late rebellion, so many murders have they to answer for who promoted it; and your lordship, in examining your conscience, will be under a great delusion, if you look at those that fell at Preston, Dumblain, or elsewhere, on the side of the laws, and defence of settled order and government, as slain in open lawful warfare, even judging of this matter by the law of nations.
"Alas I my Lord, your crime of high treason is yet made redder by shedding a great deal of the best blood in the kingdom; I include in this expression the brave common soldiers, as well as those gallant and heroic officers, who continued faithful to death, in defence of the laws: for sure but little blood can be better than that, which is shed while it is warm, in the cause of the true religion, and the liberties of its native country."
After continuing for some length, much in the same strain as the foregoing address, his Lordship pronounced the usual sentence.
Soon after the passing this sentence, the Earls of Winton and Nithisdale found means to escape out of the Tower; and Messrs. Forster and M‘Intosh escaped from Newgate: but it was supposed that motives of mercy and tenderness in the Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Second, favoured the escape of all these gentlemen.
This rebellion occasioned the untimely death of many other persons. Five were executed at Manchester, six at Wigan, and eleven at Preston; but a considerable number were brought to London; and, being arraigned in the Court of Exchequer, most of them pleaded guilty, and suffered the utmost rigour of the law.
It will now be proper that we mention the cases of such other remarkable persons who suffered on account of the rebellion; and then we will make some general remarks on the nature and heinousness of that offence.