manded no more, Jeffries answered, with a savage repartee, "That you shall have, by the grace of God. See that execution be done on Friday next, according to law. You shall have the full benefit of the law." *

We come now to the trials in Scotland. By an order in council of October 22, 1683, the King ordered the laird of Cesnock, and his son, the lairds of Rowallan, elder and younger, Crawford of Crawfordland, Fairly of Brunsfield, Alexander Monro of Beaucrofts, Baillie of Jerviswood, Mr. William Carstairs, Hepburn, son to Major Hepburn, and Spence, servant to the Earl of Argyle, to be sent prisoners to Edinburgh, to be tried according to the law of Scotland. This was done, as Wodrow says, because the Scotch law was far more arbitrary than the English.

Sir Hugh Campbell, of Cesnock, was indicted in February, 1684, not for the Rye House plot, but for harbouring rebels in the rising of Bothwell-Bridge. For the purpose of convicting him, two witnesses were brought, Ingrham and Crawford. When Ingrham was brought in, and was holding up his hand to swear, Cesnock, addressing him, said, “ Take heed now what you are about to do, and damn not your own soul by perjury; for, as I shall answer to God, and upon

* State Trials.

the peril of my own soul, I am here ready to declare I never saw your face before this process, nor spoke to you.” * This appeal had such an effect on both the witnesses, that they deposed nothing against him; and, notwithstanding the angry endeavours of the judge to draw evidence. out of them, the jury would hear no more, and the prisoner was acquitted. The following account of some curious circumstances which occurred during this trial, is given by Wodrow :

"As Ingrham was going on in his deposition, one of Cesnock's lawyers asked him, whether he had communicated this to any others, to seduce them thus to depone, and told him, he was now under a deep oath, and nothing less than his soul at stake. Ingrham answered, I believe I have spoken of it to several.' Then the JusticeGeneral asked, if Cesnock spake any other words to Crawford? Ingrham answered, My Lord, I am now upon my great oath; and I declare I do not remember he spake any more at all.'

66

Upon this there was a great shout and clapping of hands in the court; at which the King's Advocate said, in a great passion, that he believed that Cesnock had hired his friends to make this acclamation, in order to confound the King's evidence; and he never heard of such a

Protestant roar, except in the trial of Shaftesbury; that he had always a kindness for that persuasion till now; that he was convinced in his conscience it hugs the most damnable trinket in nature.

6

"After silence, the Justice-General interrogated Ingrham again; who answered, he had said as much as he could say upon oath: and the Justice-General offering, a third time to interrogate Ingrham, Nisbet, of Craigentinny, one of the assizers, rose up, and said, My Lord Justice-General, I have been an assizer in this court above twenty times, and never heard a witness interrogated upon the same thing more than twice; and let Cesnock's persuasion be what it will, we who are assizers, and are to cognosce upon the probation, upon the peril of our souls, will take notice only to Ingrham's first deposition, though your Lordship should interrogate him twenty times.' The Justice-General anwered him, with warmth, you are not judges in this case.' The laird of Drum, another of the assizers, presently replied,

Sir,

Yes, my Lord, we are (the) only competent judges as to the probation, though not of its relevancy.' Whereupon the whole assizers rose up, and assented to what those said. The Justice-General, in a great heat, said,

• I never

saw such an uproar in this court, nor, I believe,

any of my predecessors before me; and it is not us you contemn, but His Majesty's authority.'

"Silence being commanded, Crawford, the other witness, was called in, who, being duly sworn, and no objection being made against him, he deponed negative, that he did not see Cesnock for a considerable time, either before or after Bothwell-Bridge; that he does not remember that Cesnock spake any thing to him, either about the West-land army, or who commanded them.'

Whereupon there was another great cry made, and clapping of hands, which put the Justice-General and Advocate into a great rage, at what they reckoned an irreverent insulting of the Court. Then Cesnock's advocate craved the probation might be remitted to the knowledge of the assize, which could not be refused; and, after a short speech made to them by Cesnock's lawyers, they inclosed themselves, and very soon returned their verdict, Not Guilty.'" Notwithstanding this verdict, the two Campbells were sent back to prison; and being afterwards condemned by the Scotch Parliament, James the Second annexed their lands to the Crown, and confined them as prisoners at the Isle of Bass.*

* State Trials, vol. x. p. 974.

It is to the honour of Scotland, that no witnesses came forward, voluntarily, to accuse their associates, as had been done in England, by Rumsey and Lord Howard. The cruel means of torture were, therefore, used to obtain the convictions of those who were peculiarly obnoxious to the Court: and, even with the assistance of such dreadful engines, the ministers of the Crown were obliged to promise a pardon to the greater number, in order to obtain the execution of one or two individuals.

Spence, upon whose person some letters, written in cyphers, were found, was offered his pardon, if he would read them. He refused to do so; but would not say upon oath that he could not. Upon this, he was tortured and put in the boots, and then, being delivered into the hands of General Dalziell, he was, by means of a hair shirt and pricking, kept without sleep, as it was said, for five nights. All this proving ineffectual he was tortured with thumbikins, a new discovery, reported to have been brought by Generals Dalziell and Drummond from Muscovy. These barbarous means at length forced from him a confession, in which he owned, amongst other particulars, that Mr. William Carstairs, a clergyman who was in custody, had one of the three keys which were necessary to explain the cypher. This led to the torture of Carstairs. He with