POLITICAL HISTORY 



the batteries were directed. After an investiture of ten days the 

 garrison displayed the white flag, and the duke carried out his threat 

 that he would soon bring down about the rebels' ears ' the old hencoop,' 

 as he is reported to have called the castle when he first viewed it. 

 The only terms of surrender allowed were that the rebels should not 

 be put to the sword, but be reserved for the king's pleasure. 1 The 

 duke took up his residence at Mr. Highmore's house in English Street, 

 where the prince had lodged, and the garrison was imprisoned in the 

 cathedral. Carlisle was handed over to the care of Colonel Charles 

 Howard, one of the burgesses, a somewhat unusual duty for a member of 

 parliament to discharge. The quartering of the retaining force on the 

 citizens was a constant grievance. The clergy were loud in their 

 protests against the desecration of their church. On 10 January 1745-6 

 the prisoners were sent off to Lancaster and Chester. It was a melan- 

 choly procession as it filed through the English gate. The officers were 

 pinioned, with their legs tied beneath the bellies of their horses ; the 

 footmen marched two abreast, the ranks connected by a rope. Though 

 the people of Carlisle received little glory by the events of 1745, it 

 retains the distinction of being the last of English cities to stand a siege, 

 as Cumberland was the last English county that was trodden by the foot 

 of an invader. 



After the decisive battle of Culloden, the machinery of the law was 

 set in motion to avenge the rebellion. Carlisle was one of the places 

 selected for the trial of prisoners. Thither were sent no less than 382, 

 including some who had been taken at the surrender of the city, but 

 most of them were Scots captured at Culloden. The commission of 

 assize was opened on 1 2 August 1 746 by Chief Baron Parker and other 

 judges. As the trial of such a large number was beyond the power of 

 judges and juries, it was proposed as an act of extrajudicial grace to 

 the common prisoners, said to have been about 370, that they should 

 draw lots for one in every twenty to be tried and the rest to be trans- 

 ported. Some of the prisoners agreed to these terms, and in this way 

 the number of those who were indicted was reduced to 1 27, all of 

 whom with the exception of two were thrust into the dungeons of the 

 castle. True bills were found by the grand jury, of which Sir George 

 Dalston of Dalston Hall was the foreman. That time might be 

 allowed the prisoners for the preparation of a defence, the court was 

 adjourned till 9 September. On the return of the judges the assize 

 sermon was preached in the cathedral by Erasmus Head, one of the 

 prebendaries, who had been absent from his stall during the troublous 

 period. The wrathful ecclesiastic, hearing the ' clamorous blood ' of 



1 A medal was struck in commemoration of the reception of the city by the Duke of Cumberland, 

 a specimen of which may be seen in the museum of that city. It shows a bust of the duke in profile with 

 the legend : ' WILL : DUKE: CUMB. : BRITISH HERO : born 1 5th April, 1721.' On the reverse there 

 is depicted a representation of the rebellion a figure in armour destroying a monster : round the edge 

 is the motto : ' For my Father and Country,' and beneath, ' Carlisle reduced and Rebels flew, December 

 1745.' An illustration of the medal has been reproduced by Mr. J. A. Wheatley in his little monograph 

 on Bonnie Prince Charlie in Cumberland, p. 48. 



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