Traitor’s Letter - 1746
The Earl of Kilmarnock side with the pretender against King George II.
Introduction
During the eighteenth century, the Earl of Kilmarnock sided with the Pretender to the throne (Bonnie Prince Charlie) against King George II of England for reasons not altogether clear. After the rebellion was put down, Kilmarnock was tried by the House of Peers in Westminster Hall, where he acknowledged his guilt but pled for mercy. He was sentenced to die. On this day, 17 August 1746, the eve of his execution, he arranged for some poor shoemakers to be repaid (they had made shoes for his soldiers). He also wrote his son a letter from the tower—today’s quote is excerpted from it. The following day, he and fellow conspirators spent time together in prayer and then faced the axe courageously.
Quote
“I must take this way to bid you farewell, and I pray God may ever bless you and guide you in this world, and bring you to a happy immortality in the world to come. I must, likewise, give you my last advice. Seek God in your youth, and when you are old He will not depart from you. Be at pains to acquire good habits now, that they may grow up, and become strong in you. Love mankind, and do justice to all men. Do good to as many as you can, and neither shut your ears nor your purse to those in distress, whom it is in your power to relieve. Believe me, you will find more joy in one beneficent action; and in your cool moments you will be more happy with the reflection of having made any person so, who without your assistance would have been miserable, than in the enjoyment of all the pleasures of sense (which pall in the using), and of all the pomps and gaudy show of the world. Live within your circumstances, by which means you will have it in your power to do good to others. Above all things, continue in your loyalty to his present Majesty, and the succession to the crown as by law established. Look on that as the basis of the civil and religious liberty and property of every individual in the nation. Prefer the public interests to your own, wherever they interfere. Love your family and your children, when you have any; but never let your regard to them drive you on the rock I split upon; when, on that account, I departed from my principles, and brought the guilt of rebellion, and civil and particular desolation on my head, for which I am now under the sentence justly due to my Prince. Use all your interest to get your brother pardoned and brought home as soon as possible….I must again recommend your unhappy mother to you. Comfort her, and take all the care you can of your brothers: and may God of His infinite mercy, preserve, guide, and comfort you and them through all the vicissitudes of this life, and after it bring you to the habitations of the just, and make you happy in the enjoyment of Himself to all eternity!”
Thomson, Mrs. Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745. London: Richard Bentley, 1845.