amed him; that he was
forced to do what he did, and that he had done it with reluctance.

The case was, however, afterwards referred to the Attorney General and
the Solicitor General, who gave it their opinion that Sinclair was
guilty of murder; for had the trial taken place in England before a
common jury, the judge must have directed the jury to find him guilty of
murder, no provocation whatever being sufficient to excuse malice, or to
make the offence of killing less than murder, when it is committed with
premeditation. How far the provocation was to be considered as a ground
of mercy, these legal functionaries declined to judge.

Upon the publication of this sentence, Sir John Schaw addressed a
petition to Queen Anne, praying for justice on the murderer of his
brothers, and appealing to his Sovereign against the extraordinary
recommendation of the court to mercy. He also wrote urgent letters to
the Earl of Stair and the Duke of Argyle, praying for their intercession
with the Duke of Marlborough that the murderer of his brothers might be
punished. He next wrote to the Duke of Marlborough himself. The
following letters show the earnestness of the pleader, and prove the
caution and subtlety of the General. Some deep political motive lay
beneath the mercy shown to Sinclair, otherwise it seems impossible to
account for the conduct of so great a disciplinarian as Marlborough in
this affair.

SIR JOHN SCHAW TO THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.

"May it pleas your Grace,

"Amongst the misfortunes that attend the murthers of my two
brothers, I thinck it's one to be constrain'd to appear importunate
with your Grace. The case, by the depositions of the witnesses,
being in the opinion of the learn'd lawyers of the most atrocius
nature, and not pardonable by the law of the country whereof we are
subjects, and such as indispensable requires my utmost applications
for redress, I cannot forbear the repeating of my submissive prayers
to your Grace for speedy justice. The blood of my brothers, the tyes
of nature, and the sentiments of friendship, would render the least
negligence on my part inexcusable with the world and with my own
conscience.

"I should deliver my petition personally, rather than venture to
give your Grace the trouble of letters, were I not sufficiently
assured of your Grace's justice, and at the same time willing to
gratifie my wellwisshers desires in