st youth, and to confirm him, as he grew up, in the justice and
necessity of them to the good and welfare of the nation. And, I thank
God, I have succeeded;--for his father's example did not shake his
loyalty; the ties of nature yielded to those of duty; he adhered to the
principles of his family, and nobly exposed his life at the battle of
Culloden, in defence of his King and the liberties of Great Britain, in
which I, his unfortunate father, was in arms to destroy."

Lord Kilmarnock next alluded to the services of his father in 1715, when
his zeal and activity in the service of Government had caused his death:
"I had then," he added, "the honour to serve under him."

Lord Kilmarnock proceeded to explain his own circumstances at the time
of the insurrection: he declared that he was not one of those dangerous
persons who could raise a number of men when they will, and command them
on any enterprise they will: "my interests," he said, "lie on the south
side of the Forth, in the well inhabited, and well affected counties of
Kilmarnock and Falkirk, in the shires of Ayr and Stirling." His
influence he declared to be very small.

This portion of his appeal was ill-advised; for it seems to have been
the policy of Government to have selected as objects of royal mercy
those who had most in their power, not the feeble and impoverished
members of the Jacobite party. It has been shown what favour would have
been manifested to the chief of the powerful clan Cameron, had he
deigned to receive it: and the event proved, that not the decayed
branches, but the vigorous shoots were spared. Lord Cromartie, who had
taken a far more signal part in the insurrection than either Kilmarnock
or Balmerino, and whose resources were considerable, was eventually
pardoned, probably with the hope of conciliating a numerous clan.

After appealing to his surrender in extenuation of his sentence, and
beseeching the intercession of the Lords with his Majesty, Lord
Kilmarnock concluded--"It is by Britons only that I pray to be
recommended to a British monarch. But if justice allow not of mercy, my
lords, I will lay down my life with patience and resignation; my last
breath shall be employed in the most fervent prayers for the
preservation and prosperity of his Majesty, and to beg his forgiveness,
and the forgiveness of my country." He concluded, amid the tears and
commiseration of a great majority of those who heard his address.

The Earl of Cromartie