Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
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A46076
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An impartial account of some of the transactions in Scotland, concerning the Earl of Broadalban, Viscount and Master of Stair, Glenco-men, Bishop of Galloway, and Mr. Duncan Robertson in a letter from a friend.
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Friend.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing I65; ESTC R15762
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20,378
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32
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the said Earl should with all his Friends and Followers joyn the Highland Army The said Deposition being read it was moved that the King's Advocate should be ordered to Commence a Process of High Treason against his Lordship and that he in the mean time should be committed Prisoner to the Castle of Edinburgh And 't was pleaded for the Earl that he might have time to deliberate his Answer before Impeachment this being a Surprize to him and doubted not but he would make it appear to the Parliament there was no ground for the Impeachment It was further pleaded for the Earl That Glengary not being summoned by a Judge to come in as a Witness against him and especially considered that he was a Roman Catholick had been in Rebellion against the King and never knew he had submitted to the Government unless done privately at this time and carrying an inveterate Enmity to the Earl's Family he hoped the Parliament would not found a Process of High Treason against him upon his Deposition These Arguments did not prevail It was further pleaded by the Earl That he had an Ample Commission from the King to do in that Affair all that he should think fit for effectuating his Design That as well His Majesty as all the World knew that in such Negotiations there must be Allowances for men Commissioned to go or at least pretend to go great lengths and to yield to such Condescendencies as they find most taking for accomplishing the Design That the Effect and Consequence had justified the Methods he had taken That not only they there sitting and their Constituents at home who suffered most in that unnatural and cruel War but also the Kingdom of England who for its own Safety was obliged to maintain some Regiments here in Scotland yea and all the Confederacy had reaped Advantage by his Conduct in that Treaty many Troops and much Money being now employed against the Common Enemy abroad which that troublesome War had exhausted for several Years here at home That seeing the thing it self was good and advantagious for the Nation he wondered Persons should take Exception against the particular Methods which in Prudence he was obliged to take in carrying it on however that he had made it known to Their Majesties whatever he had said or done in that Affair and had their Approbation since It was alledged that things now Libelled were not then known It was answered that upon a Complaint given against the Earl for these very things he is now accused of His Majesty recommended to the Privy-Council here to make Enquiry into the matter which was done accordingly and transmitted to the King that the minutes of Council would clearly shew the same and desired that the minutes might be called for but the Parliament did not think fit to call for them The Earl of Melvil then Secretary of State and now Lord Privy-Seal 't is said rose up and avouched the truth of what had been said and asserted that the Precognition taken bo the Council was upon a Complaint if not in the same words yet at at least to same purpose with what was contained in Glengary's Depositions was sent by the Council to him as Secretary of State then That he shewed it to the Queen the King being then in Flanders who kept it a whole Night by her that the next day he transmitted it to the King who he knew by the Returns he got from Flanders received and perused it The Duke of Queensbury did declare likewise that it consisted with his knowledge that His Majesty received the same he being then in Flanders with the King and heard his Majesty Discourse of the matter very often Upon this some Person moved That seeing His Majesty had taken the Earl's Behaviour to his own Consideration and had been informed of all the Methods of his Proceedings in the matter and had shewn a satisfaction with the Earl's Conduct by preferring him at that time to several Places of Honour and Trust The Parliament would please not to proceed in an Affair of such Importance against one of His Majesty's Ministers of State until he was first acquainted with it But this being refused it was desired in behalf of the Earl they would delay their Proceedings at least until the next Meeting but it was voted and carried that the King's Advocate proceeded immediately against him and an Order of Parliament was signed for Committing him to the Castle where his Lordship was carried immediately after the rising of the Parliament The Lord Advocate sent him a Copy of his Indictment and he was ordered to give in his Answer thereto by the First of July instant Upon the First instant the Earl desired an Exculpation which was granted to him Upon Adjourning of the Parliament to the Seventh of November next the Prosecution of the Earl is delayed till that time As for the matter of the Glenco-men made so much ado we are something in the dark as yet nor will I meddle to speak much less to write of any Point the Parliament have Voted only the Historical part of that matter is this That when the Earl of Broadalban did undertake to cause the Highlanders to lay down their Arms give over Hostility and to give Passive Obedience to the present Government by taking of the Oaths which was very well done whoever did it before they laid down their Arms there were two or three Indemnities issued forth by His Majesty encouraging them to come in and they did come all in by the prefixed Diet in the last Indemnity except the Glenco-men who it seems finding themselves without Help or Support by the other Chieftains and Clans coming in Old Mac Kean of Glenco himself only as I am informed as ad aram ultimam went to and prevailed with Campbel of Ardkinglass Sheriff-Deputy of Argile-shire a very worthy honest Gentlemen and formerly a great Sufferer six days after the Diet was elapsed who received him and Mac Kean took the Oaths though at the same time it was and is still the Opinion of many good men that to confide in these men or to bring them to Conformity to the Government were Penelope's telam texere Nor did the taking of the Oaths after the Diet prefixt was elapsed save or protect them or him from the lash of the Law not having come in in the terms of the Law the mercy tendered in the Indemnity being Conditional in case they came in and submitted before or upon such a day but was a ground for mercy and mollification of the rigour of the Law supposing him or them to have taken the Oaths bono animo and upon true Repentance I do not hear the rest of his Followers came in and took the Oaths judging it 's like he and they were safe by his only taking of the Oaths though post meridiem diei The Court it seems not knowing of these Transactions at a great distance of Four or Five Hundred Miles and being informed
by all hands that they were Nests of Thieves and Robbers His Majesty after refusal of many offered mercies sent to treat them as Enemies and Rebels Yet at the same time His Majesty by his Instructions as I am Informed left room for Mercy to them according to Discretion and Circumstances of Time and Affairs which is all could be expected in Reason from His Majesty The Master of Stair Secretary of State writ Letters it seems likewise at the same time to the Government or Officers of the Army there much to the same purpose but it 's said in severer terms and exceeding His Majesty's Instructions to treat them like the men they were represented What may be in this we know not not having seen the Master's Letters but many wish that they and all the Instructions relating to that matter of the Glenco-men had been Printed to undeceive the generality of good men who speak as they affect but could make no true Judgment of the matter as it then stood only this That the Parliament has been very Zealous to discover at whose Door the fault in killing the Glenco men lies That they were killed in cold Blood and under Trust judging themselves secure and safe with their Thirteen days Guests or Lodgers is undeniable But in fine The Parliament as you have it in Publick finds that His Majesty's Orders and Instructions had Mercy in graemio so that it cannot lodge there and God forbid it should They have likewise voted Sir Thomas Livingstoun Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces in Scotland who sent the Orders to Col. Hill Governour of Fort William and Hamilton his Lieutenant-Colonel clear of it as also Col. Hill have summoned Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton to appear before them to Answer concerning the said matter and upon further Scrutiny where the said Murder will fix I know not Grammatici certant adhuc sub judice lis est for the common Souldiers will readily say that they obeyed but their Superiour Officer's Command and the Master of Stair's Friends here say that they desire the Master's Letters to be Printed that the World may judge of them and if he be judged to have exceeded Bounds or His Majesty's Instructions it was his Zeal for the Government but never intended at the same time that these men should be killed in cold Blood and that he did not at all know that any of the Glenco-men had taken the Oaths either before or after the Diet when he writ these Letters being at Court Four or Five Hundred miles distant as said is so it 's wish'd the men who had the Trust of the Execution of the matter upon the spot had acquainted the Court or our Government of these unhappy mens then Circumstances before they went so far on in which case I doubt whether any of them had been killed or murdered and consequently no Reflection had been upon any part of the Goverment or any ever mentioned in the Affair It 's an old saying That the Counsels of Wise Men are certain but Events uncertain As for my own part I know nothing of it but God in Heaven and the Master of Stair himself knoweth best if he be guilty of a designed murder of these men or any others Nor will I Argue about any Point such a Wise Loyal Parliament have voted or found But this I may say That I do not understand where the Master of Stair's Interest lay to destroy the Glenco men for if he be any ways suspected to be a Jacobite it was not his Interest upon that score to destroy them by any means in Scotland their Religion and blind Zeal bending them then altogether that way whatever new Light these who are living of them have found of late and if he be thought to be a Church of England man though that be against our present Constitution yet no man in his right Wits will call it a Crime These men were not Presbyterians to be destroyed upon that score nor do I think any man would be so mad as to bribe him to kill them by Authority without the Hand of Justice going along with it Some good-natured People may say out of good will to the Master that they were Idle men Robbers Thieves Telluris inutile pondus Granting all that yet a Statesman's Interest was to make their Young men Souldiers or to send them to the Plantations which had been to good purpose But a man of his Trust Capacity and Reason to be Accessory to their Destruction in cold Blood is unaccountable And being the Honourable Parliament has found that Slaughter a Murder as no doubt it was in the manner it was done and that the Master exceeded His Majesty's Instructions it were a very pertinent Question to ask What under God's Heavens was the Master's Byass in the matter I can imagine none There was an Information Printed and dispersed as you heard formerly by Commissary Dalrymple hearing that his Brother the Master of Stair and his Letters were made mention of in the Commission appointed for Examining the Glenco Business in Vindication of his Brother's Behaviour and Conduct as Secretary of State in the said Affair Representing That if People did Construct some Paragraphs Sentences or Periods of his Brother's Letters so and so without connexion of other Sentences c. without hearing in his own absence they did not know what to say of it But if one Sentence c. were connected with others the whole would not bear the Commentaries the People might put upon them separatim and several other Arguments to this purpose The dispersing of which Informations after the Commission 's Sentiment and they being ready to report their Opinion in open Parliament gave Offence to the Parliament He said his Printing and Dispersing of them was before the Vote of Parliament and said he intended to give no Offence mean time he was reprimanded and was obliged to beg Pardon The Parliament since Summoning of Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton have declared him Fugitive for not appearing he is gone since into Flanders as we hear to wait upon His Majesty The Parliament have likewise made an Address to the King to send Persons home who may be found Guilty to be prosecuted for the said Murder or not as His Majesty thinks fit Sir This Parliament have done great things for His Majesty's Service and Safety of the Publick For though there might have been some misunderstandings between some of the Members yet all concurred unanimously to serve the King and the Country You know what was said concerning the Nation and Common-wealth of the Romans Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem For great matters take up much time to effectuate the ends proposed so as we have had good beginnings good proceedings hopes all our matters will end well for though the almost desperate and uneasie Jacobites who but fish in muddy Waters should vaunt upon the occasion of some Accidents as to see some honest well-meaning men differ only in Points of Opinion they being a People soon elevated to Castles of the Air and soon cast down to the Dust yet all the bustle they make comes to nothing at last but exposes themselves the more to folly And I am very apt to believe that all our seeming Differences would evanish upon the sight of our most Gracious King's Presence upon his Throne in our Parliament so will conclude with a great Moralist's saying or to this purpose That by the two Blessings of Reason and Union we might secure and defend our selves against the violence of Fortune Sense and Reason we have enough and what is wanting of the latter I hope the Defeat of Lewis Le Grand and our most Gracious King's I mean King William's Presence once here in our Parliament would I am certain effectuate I long to see His Majesty here Vale bene valeat Vivat Rex noster Gulielmus FINIS * Lintae foris talpae domi * Fortuna non mutat genus a A Counsellor at Law b Or one of the 15 Judges c Cases c Journal d Or Lord Chief Justice * Qui vindice nullo sponte sua sine lege fidem rectumque colebat * Beatus ille qui procul à negotii c. Horat. car 5. g The Articles was a Committee of Parliament then in use made up of the 8 Statesmen 8 Noblemen and so many Bishops and 8 Burgers and the Commissioner and Statesmen ruled all there h Or Pardon * Hic murus aheneus esto nil conscire sibi nulla palescere culpa i Attorney General i a Decree * sic stetit sententia k A Sist is a stop of Execution of a Decree by a Judge for a certain limited time l Lord Stair pay Tithes to the Bishop m An Abatement p In Presence of and by the unanimous consent of all the Lords q Produced r Or Annuity q Diet signifies the day appointed in the Indemnity to come in by * Faber est quisque fortunae suae a It 's a saying of the great Seneca That the best way to help every thing by a fair Interpretation and where there is a doubt is to allow it the most favourable Construction