theirs. A day, therefore, at his own request, was assigned him, and the commons were ordered to prepare for their charge. At the appointed time the peers repaired to the court in Westminster-hall, where lord Cowper presided as lord high steward. 9. But a dispute arising between the lords and commons, concerning the mode of his trial, the lords voted that the prisoner should be set at liberty. To this dispute he probably owed the security of his title and fortune; for, as to the articles importing him guilty of hightreason, they were at once malignant and frivolous, so that his life was in no manner of danger. 10. In the mean time these vindictive proceedings excited the indignation of the people, who perceived that the avenues to royal favour were closed against all but a faction. The flames of rebellion were actually kindled in Scotland. The earl of Mar, assembling three hundred of his own vassals in the Highlands, proclaimed the pretender at Castledown, and set up his standard at a place called Braemaer, assuming the title of lieutenant-general of his majesty's forces. 11. To second these attempts, two vessels arrived in Scotland from France, with arms, ammunition, and a number of officers, together with assurances to the earl, that the pretender himself would shortly come over to head his own forces. The earl, in consequence of this promise, soon found himself at the head of ten thousand men, well armed and provided. 12. The duke of Argyle, apprized of his intentions, and at any rate willing to prove his attachment to the present government, resolved to give him battle in the neighbourhood of Dumblair, though, his forces did not amount to half the number of the enemy. After an engagement, which continued several hours, in the evening both sides drew off, and both sides claimed the victory. 13. Though the possession of the field was kept by neither, yet certainly all the honour and all the advantages of the day belonged to the duke of Argyle. It was sufficient for him to have inter rupted the progress of the enemy; for, in their circumstances, delay was defeat. The earl of Mar soon found his disappointment and losses increase. The castle of Inverness, ot which he was in possession, was delivered up to the king by lord Lovat, who had hitherto professed to act in the interest of the pretender. 14. The marquis of Tullibardine forsook the earl, in order to defend his own part of the country; and many of the clans, seeing no likelihood of coming soon to a second engagement, returned quietly home for an irregular army is much easier led to battle than induced to bear the fatigues of a campaign. 15. In the mean time the rebellion was much more unsuccessfully prosecuted in England. From the time the pretender had undertaken this wild project at Paris, in which the duke of Ormond and lord Bolingbroke were engaged, lord Stair, the English ambassador there, had penetrated all his designs, and sent faithful accounts of all his measures, and all his adherents, to the ministry at home. Upon the first rumour, therefore, of an insurrection, they imprisoned several lords and gentlemen, of whom they had a suspicion. 16. The earls of Home, Wintown, Kinnoul, and others, were committed to the castle of Edinburgh. The king obtained leave from the lower house to seize sir William Wyndham, sir John Packington, Harvey Combe, and others. The lords Lansdowne and Duplin were taken into custody. Sir William Wyndham's father-in-law, the duke of Somerset, offered to become bound for his appearance, but his surety was refused. Questions for Examination. 1. What was the conduct of the peers towards lord Oxford? 2. In what way was he defended by sir John Jekyl? 3. What was the answer of Walpole? 4. Who impeached the earl of Oxford before the lords? 5. What answer did his lordship make to the charge? 6. What proceedings were taken against Ormond and Bolingbroke? 7. In what state was the nation at this time? 8. Under what circumstances did Oxford request his trial? 9. What occasioned his being set at liberty? 10. What excited the indignation of the people? 11-14. Relate the particulars of the rebellion of Scotland. 15. Who, penetrating into the wild project of the pretender, sent accounts of all his measures? 16. Who were imprisoned in consequence? SECTION III. Swift to the north his troops he leads That bears the Briton to the foe.-Anon 1. (A.D. 1715.) ALL these precautions were not able to stop the insurrection in the western counties, where it was already begun. However, all their preparations were weak and ill-conducted, every measure was betrayed to government as soon as projected, and many revolts suppressed in the very outset. 2. The university of Oxford was treated with great severity on this occasion. Major-general Pepper, with a strong detachment of dragoons, took possession of the city at daybreak, declaring that he would instantly shoot any of the students who should presume to appear without the limits of their respective colleges. The insurrections in the northern counties came to greater maturity. 3. In the month of October, 1715, the earl of Derwentwater, and Mr. Forster, took the field with a large body of horse, and being joined by some gentlemen from the borders of Scotland, proclaimed the pretender. Their first attempt was to seize upon Newcastle, in which they had many friends, but they found the gates shut against them, and were obliged to retire to Hexham. 4. To oppose these, general Carpenter was detached by government with a body of nine hundred men, and an engagement was hourly expected. The rebels had proceeded by the way of Kendal and Lancaster to Preston, of which place they took possession without any resistance. But this was the last stage of their ill-advised incursion; for general Wills, at the head of seven thousand men, came up to the town to attack them, and from his activity there was no escaping. 5. They now, therefore, began to raise barricados, and to place the town in a posture of defence, repulsing the first attack of the royal army with success. day, however, Wills was reinforced by Carpenter, and the town was invested on all sides. In this deplorable situation, to which they were reduced by their own rashness, Forster hoped to capitulate with the general, and accordingly sent colonel Oxburgh, who had been taken prisoner, with a trumpeter, to propose a capitulation. 6. This, however, Next Wills refused, alleging that he would not treat with rebels, and that the only favour they had to expect was to be spared from immediate slaughter. These were hard terms, yet no better could be obtained. They accordingly laid down their arms, and were put under a strong guard; all the noblemen and leaders were secured, and a few of the officers tried for deserting from the royal army, and shot by order of a courtmartial. The common men were imprisoned at Chester and Liverpool; the noblemen and considerable officers were sent to London, and led through the streets, pinioned and bound together, to intimidate their party. 7. The pretender might, by this time, have been convinced of the vanity of his expectations, in supposing that the whole country would rise up in his cause. His affairs were actually desperate; yet, with his usual infatuation, he resolved to hazard his person among his friends in Scotland, at a time when such a measure was too late for success. 8. Passing, therefore, through France in disguise, and embarking in a small vessel at Dunkirk, he arrived, after a passage of a few days, on the coast of Scotland, with only six gentlemen in his train. He passed unknown through Aberdeen to Feterosse, where he was met by the earl of Mar, and about thirty noblemen and gentlemen of the first quality. 9. There he was, solemnly proclaimed. His declaration, dated at Commercy, was printed and dispersed. He went from thence to Dundee, where he made a public entry, and in two days more he arrived at Scoon, where he intended to have the ceremony of the coronation performed. He ordered thanksgivings to be made for his safe arrival; he enjoined the ministers to pray for him in their churches; and, without the smallest share of power, went through the ceremonies of royalty, which threw an air of ridicule on all his conduct. 10. Having thus spent some time in unimportant parade, he resolved to abandon the enterprise with the same levity with which it was undertaken. Having made a speech to his grand council, he informed them of his want of money, arms, and ammunition, for undertaking a campaign, and therefore deplored that he was compelled to leave them. He once more embarked on board a small French ship that lay in the harbour of Montrose, accompanied by several lords, his adherents, and in five days arrived at Gravelin. 11. In this manner ended a rebellion, which nothing but imbecility could project, and nothing but rashness could support. But though the enemy was no more, the fury of the victors did not seem in the least to abate with success. The law was now put in force with all its terrors; and the prisons of London were crowded with those deluded wretches, whom the ministry seemed resolved not to pardon. 12. The commons, in their address to the crown, declared they would prosecute in the most rigorous manner the authors of the late rebellion. In consequence of which the earls of Derwentwater, Nithisdale, Carnwath, and Wintown, the lords Widrington, Kenmuir, and Nairne, were impeached, and, upon pleading guilty, all but lord Wintown received sentence of death. No entreaties could soften the ministry to spare these unhappy men. The countess of Derwentwater, with her sister and several other ladies of the first distinction, being introduced into the presence of the king, besought his clemency for her husband, but without effect. 13. Orders were despatched for executing the lords Der Countess of Derwentwater interceding for her husband. wentwater, Nithisdale, and Kenmuir immediately; the rest were respited to a farther time. Nithisdale, however, had the good fortune to escape in women's clothes, which were brought to him by his mother, the night before he was to have been executed. Derwentwater and Kenmuir were brought to the scaffold on Tower-hill at the time appointed. Both underwent their sentence with calm intrepidity, pitied by all, and seemingly less moved themselves than those who beheld them. 14. In the beginning of April, commissioners for trying the rebels met in the court of common pleas, when bills were found against Mr. Forster, Mr. Mackitosnh, and twenty of their confederates. 15. Forster escaped from Newgate, and reached the con tinent in safety; the rest pleaded not guilty. Pitts, the keeper of Newgate, being suspected of having connived at Forster's escape, was tried for his life, but acquitted. Yet, notwithstanding this, Mackintosh and several other prisoners broke from Newgate, after having mastered the keeper and turnkey, and disarmed the sentinel. 16. The court proceeded to the trial of those that remained: four or five were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn; two-and-twenty were executed at Preston and Manchester; and about a thousand prisoners experienced the king's mercy, if such it might be called, to be transported to North America. 17. A rupture with Spain, which ensued some time after |