Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-12-04

hospital with the valley of the Tyne and
with the last fat Of the auctioneer at New
ark Castle the interest of the Derwentwater
romance NAV be said virtually to have dis
appeared.
Prior. however. 10 the sale taking place,
certain solemn arrangements, demanded by
the reol irenents of decorum, had been made
ot Dil-ton Castle The Greenwich commits
,ioners had an doubted parliamentary right
to dispose Of the Derwentwater estates, OF
which they have been for nearly two centu-
ries the trustees but it would scarcely have
been within the proprieties to have sold, at
the same time, the bones of generations OF
the dead Ratclifes 10 the highest bidder.
Thus. last week. the vault beneath the old
chanel was entered. and six collins were re-
verentlv removed. The first five contained
the ashes of Francis. the first earl, who died
| in 1896 of Edward, the second earl, who
died in 1905: of Mr. Francis Radcliffe, who
died in 1904 and of the Ladies Barbara and
/ Mary Ratclife. whose decease took place re-
spectively in 1896 and l726. These five collins
were carried to the cemetery of the Catholic
! church at llexham. there to be reinterred. Ii
was on the last coffin. however, that interest
/ principally centred, for in this were the re-
| mains Of James. third and last earl of Der
wentwater who. in the l1lG, and at the
early age Of twenty-seven, was beheaded on
/ Tower Hill. The dust of the Inflated Jaco-
/ bite earl has been removed to thornton, in
! Essex. there TO he reinforced in the family
vault Of Lord Petre. The removal took
place hv rail, and seldom has railway truck
| borne a stranger freight than that hearse.
l Il. / I'll. +aI gf
/ the Stuarts within \ considerable assem-
blage had gathered at Dilston in anticipation
| Of some attempt TO disturb the proceedings
| being made by the eccentric lady who
is under the impression that she is entitled
not only to claim an attained peerage
! but the confscated estates once belonging
| thereto.
The poor LADY,. however, did not make her
appearance. and the removal of the bodies
/ was quietly effected. \ " romance could
| scarcely be more efiectually efaced for the
removal Of the remains Of the Radclitfes
from Dilston will do much toward dissipa
/ ting the shaGowy prestige the locality has
! long enioyed. \ stately cenotaph may be
/ erected to the memory Of Earl james in tie
ancestral ,ephulchle Of the Petres, and suit
able memorials - the kindred NAV mark
their rc,tjng-place at Hexham but it was
| at Dil-ton that the romantic influence OF the
| family was paramont; it was at Dilston that
the Icheaded nobleman. being dead, yet
sake \ firmly A. the peasantry in remote
lart- Of France believe that Napoleon |. Is
/ Vet alive, and that he will appear some day,
! gray grelt-ca2t. little cooked hat, and
all. To avense tie wrongs Of his house, 50
have succeeding generations of Northum-
brian peasants held that the spirit, 1T least.
Of Earl james lowered round his patrinonial
domains. and that new Radcliffe would
arise to wear the dead mans coronet, and TO
enjoy his broad acres. 1t was in vain to
tell these nipple folks OF acts Of attainder and
forfeiture They persisted in their fidelity
to his memory a. their leudal chief, and in
declaring that the beautiful old border
ballad Of Lord Derwentwater's e" Good
Night was not an everlasting farewell,
but an injunction to them to wait patiently
for tie dag when the noble Ratcliies should
enjoy their own again.
It is passing strange that, beyond the
boundaries Of family tradition, into
whica-unlcss Lord Petre has communicated
h,s !aInily mgniments to the Historical
Manuscripts CommiSsion-it would be i'm
pertinent to prv, much less Is known concern
Ing tie Young. wealthy and gallant Earl Of
Derwantwater, who was executed on Tower
Hill after the Is, than about his brother
Charles Ratclifie, the titular Earl, who was
captured on board a French ship in l746-7.
and beheaded without trial. on an attainder
thirty years old. in Staying him, the law was
most cruelty oyerstrained, for Charles Rat
eliife had long been in the military service
of France, and if his immunity as French
subject could not he recognized, he might
have been at least permitted to claim the
benefit of a tacit statute Of limitations in
eases Of treason. Unhappily, the govern
ment which refused to show mercy to Charles
Radcliffe had the Derwentwater estates in
their fullest, clearest view. The crown had not
clGtched them personally; but they had been
handed over to 4 board of commissioners, and
the common peOple-Jacobite and Hanove-
rian-had an odd spice of English conserva-
tism in them, and could not be brought to see
how any board Of commissioners had a right
to the ancestral domains Of great English
noble. Of his demeanor on the scafold, an
ample and minute account has come down
to rs. We are told how molly and modestly
he bore himself; how bravely be was dress
! ed, - in a scarlet waistcoat. his hat full
cock, richly laced. and with a feather in it,;
how Tiously he performed the last Offices of
his creed: how he rave the executioner a
purse of guineas, telling him it was all he
had, but bidding him to do his best for
poor gentleman at a pinch; and how. when
the sheriff, coming to an end of reading the
I death warrant, exclaimed in a loud tone,
e God save King George - he turned upon
him with a stern look and in loud, clear
| voice cried out. God save King James
/ s. he died
Details scarcely 50 copious have been trans
4 mitted to Us in the account of the last mo-
ments of his brother. Earl James, who We :
executed on the 9th of February, l71.6
! The times were ruder; the IIanoyerian GOV
eminent were alarmed and enraged the
escape Of Lord Nithslale. who was to have
suffered with Derwentwater Not a single
voice in the house Of lords was raised in his
favor; and-to the credit Of English letters
the only member Of the house of ommons
who dared to plead in his place for mercy to
the condemned earl was a noted contributor
to the Spectator, named RichaI Steele.
The young Countess Of Derwentv,ater, who
it was supposed had been principally instru-
mental in inducing her lord Join ther
hel,ion, tried in vain to melt the lev heart of
George t.. Walpole boosted in the house of
commons that he had refused a bride of
500, 600 offered him to spare the prisoners
life. At the last moment his peers relented.
and addressed the king in his behalf and
that OF his condemned colleagues but it was
too late. On the scafold he read paper
acknowledging himself Roman Catholic.
and afterwards examining the block and
finding a rough place in it, he made the
executioner chip it off, least it should hurt
his neck-a singular precaution to be taken |
by one on the very threshold of death. He |
appears to have been a very weak-mind- |
ed but amiable young man and by the pea
santry of his estates, by whom he was pas
sionately beloved, his death was regarded
not as an act of strict Justice, but as Judi
eal murder. That belief was shared BY
their descendants. The government reluc-
family consented that the body should carried
down to Dilston for interment instead of
being buried beneath the dreary chanel
within the Tower; but il was insisted that,
to avoid awakening the sympathy of the
population of the midland and northern
counties, the funeral procession should travel
only during the night. In the daytime the
corpse rested in the chapels belonging to
Catholic noblemen and gentleman and it
was on its arrival at Thorndon, the seat of
Lord Petre, that Earl James's coffin VIZ
opened, and that his severed head was sew II
on to his body. Back to Lord Petre's %.
at Ihorndon have those poor bones .ona
and the curtain falls, it may be ASSUME 4 for
ever on the Derwenwater romance. ''