CAMPBELL. 



rd from this dilemma, by bringing Lord Nairn, an 

 ArchibJd. o \,\ infirm mnn, out of his bed at midnight, from 

 whom, though he had not heard the debate, and 

 even tell .'.t-li-cp while the clerk was reading over to 

 him the reasonings on both sides, they procured a 

 vote against the-earl. The cause was then remitted 

 to an assize, consisting of persons known to be hos- 

 tile to him, and whose sense of justice, if they had 

 any, was still farther biassed by the king's advocate, 

 who threatened them with a process of error. Nei- 

 ther the earl nor his counsel would say a single word 

 more, as, from the interlocutor on the relevancy, and 

 the whole complexion of the business, they perceiv- 

 ed that speaking could be of no service, and refrain- 

 ed even from objecting either to the jury or the wit- 

 nesses, though they could have urged valid objections 

 to both. A verdict was very soon brought in, all in 

 one voice, " finding the Earl of Argyle guilty of 

 treason, leasing-making, and leasing- telling ; and, by 

 a plurality of votes, finding him not guilty of per- 

 jury," thus endeavouring to impose upon the world 

 by an appearance of candour and discrimination. The 

 council immediately sent a letter to the king, inform- 

 ing him of what had taken place, and asking leave 

 to pronounce sentence. The earl concluded, from 

 a variety of circumstances, that the utmost rigour 

 was to be expected from the government in Scot- 

 land, and knowing also that a thoughtless, dissipated, 

 unprincipled king, however much he might other- 

 wise be disposed to favour him, would be easily in- 

 fluenced by these advisers to give any order on which 

 they were pleased to insist, he used means of mak- 

 ing his escape from the castle, and succeeded in the 

 attempt. In a few days he got safe to London, 

 leaving his enemies in Scotland to express their re- 

 sentment as they best could ; and they did it, after 

 receiving the king's permission, by proclaiming his 

 sentence at the Cross, and tearing his coat of arms 

 in pieces, as if he had been in open rebellion, and had 

 fled from justice. It was well known at court that he 

 was residing in London, for he did not take any ex- 

 traordinary pains to conceal himself, but no notice 

 \vas taken of him, although he was represented there 

 as a person of dangerous principles, who had been 

 guilty of treason, and who had even sinned grievous- 

 ly after his conviction, by making his escape, and 

 thus distrusting the royal clemency. It is even said, 

 that when some person very eagerly and officiously 

 put a note into the king's hand, intimating, that the 

 earl might be easily apprehended, his majesty, with 

 an indignation at the idea which did him honour, 

 tore it. and replied, " Poll, poh, hunt a hunted par- 

 tridge .' for shame !" This is given by the editor 

 of the Biographia Britannicn, on the authority of 

 private information ; and it is well, if it be true. 

 But it would appear that the earl did not trust murh 

 in the king's generosity, for he took the first op- 

 portunity of going over to Holland, where he con- 

 tinued during the remainder of Charles's reign. 



On James's accession to the throne, many gentle- 

 men belonging to Scotland, who had been driven 

 from their native country by the illegal and oppres- 

 sive measures of the government, began to think of 

 some hostile attempt against the arbitrary power to 

 which their expatriation was owing ; and, aware of 

 the respectability and influence of Argyle, they pro- 

 posed that he should place himself at their head, and 



endeavour to accomplish by force what he could not Cpbtl, 

 hope to obtain by gentler means. To this proposal 

 he readily acceded. It was not against hit country, 

 but in its behalf, that he was about to take up arms. 

 It was to tmintain the cause of civil and religious li- 

 berty of jiibtice and humanity of patriotism aud 

 of truth ; it was to restore a constitution which bad 

 been destroyed by its lawless and savage administra- 

 tors ; it was to give back to the people of Scot* 

 land those right? of which they should never have 

 been deprived ; and to re-establish the connection 

 which he and his followers naturally had with that 

 kingdom, and which had been dissolved by the hand 

 of unprincipled violence. These were the views 

 which actuated the breast and sanctified the conduct 

 of Argyle, in that rebellion, as it has been called, by 

 a very ordinary misnomer, which he directed against 

 the government of King James. But it did not 

 please Providence at that time to crown the efforts 

 of patriotism with success. The skill of Argyle's 

 management, indeed, was not equal to the excellence 

 of his object and the purity of his intention. Many 

 untoward and unforeseen circumstances occurred to 

 thwart his plans. Of the people from whom he look- 

 ed for active and zealous assistance, but who were 

 now greatly dispirited by the harsh treatment they 

 had experienced, much fewer joined him than he had 

 reason to expect. His measures were even discon- 

 certed by the refractory temper of those who, though 

 under his command, were yet too essential to his suc- 

 cess to have their opinions slighted. The Duke of 

 Monmouth, too, who engaged to make a similar at- 

 tempt in England, conducted himself weakly and 

 imprudently, and this tended to throw discredit on 

 the corresponding movements in Scotland, and to 

 render the accomplishment of their united purpose 

 impracticable. The whole enterprise failed almost 

 as soon as it commenced. Argyle was taken pri- 

 soner in the neighbourhood of Paisley. He was im- 

 mediately carried to Glasgow ; and from that, in a 

 few days, to Edinburgh. The manner in which he 

 was compelled to enter that city was most ignomi- 

 nious. More disgraceful treatment could not have 

 been given to the vilest criminal ; but at that period 

 it was the wise and the good who chiefly suffered, 

 and great personal merit seemed to be almost uni- 

 formly the signal for persecution and death. The 

 Earl's fate was speedily fixed. It was indeed a sub- 

 ject of deliberation, whether he should be punished 

 according to his former sentence, or in consequence 

 of a new trial and conviction. But it was decided 

 without any hesitation, that he should be put to 

 death ; and, as if it had been to shew how utterly 

 the rulers of the country at that time set all the 

 maxims of law and justice at defiance, and how much 

 they disregarded the opinions of the world and of 

 posterity, they condemned him to die on the sentence 

 pronounced against him in 1681, which nobody could 

 justify or defend, instead of impeaching him for ta- 

 king up arms against the government, which was at 

 least a plausible ground of accusation. The Earl 

 bore his fate with all the composure and magnanimity 

 of a Christian. He was beheaded at the Cross, on 

 the 30th of June 1685, aud both in his whole beha- 

 viour, and in the speech which he delivered on the 

 scaffold, gave a most unequivocal testimony to the 

 truth and power of religion. Of his deportment on. 



