Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-11-14

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mount; il was at Dilston that the
beheajed nobleman, being dead,
| yet spake. As firmly as the peas
antry in remote parts of France be-
lieye that Napoleon l. is yet alive,
and that he will appear some day,
gray great-coat, little cooked hat,
and all, to avenge the wrongs of bis
house, so have succeeding genera
tions of Northumbrian peasants
held that the spirit, at least, OF
| Earl James lowered around his pat
rimonial domains, and that a new
Radcliffe would arise to wear the
dead mans coronet, and to enjoy
his broad acres. 1t was in va; n to
tell these simple folks of acts Of at
tainder and forfeiture. They per-
sisted in their fidelity to his memo
~ as their feudal chief, and in Dc
claring that the beautiful old bor-
der ballad of Lord Derwentwater's
Good Night was not an everlast-
ing farewell; but an injunction to
them to wait patiently for the day
when the noble Ratcliffes should
enjoy their own again.
1t is passing strange that, beyond
the boundaries of family tradition,
into whieh-unless Lord Petre has
communicated his family muni-
ments to the Historical Manuscripts
commissioned would be imperti-
nent TO pry, much less is known
concerning the young, wealthy and
gallant earl of Der Fentwater, who
was executed on Tower hill after
the rs, than about his brother,
Charles Rateliffe, the titular earl,
who was captured on board French
ship in I746-7 and beheaded with
our trial, on an attainer thirty years
old. In Staying him the law was
most cruelty overstrained, for
Charles Radcliffe had long been in
the military service of France, and
if his immunity as French sub
ject could not be recognized, he
might at least have been permitted
TO claim the benefit of a tacit statute
of limitations in cases of treason.
Unhappily the government which
refused to show mercy to Charles
Radcliffe had the Derwentwater es-
tates in their fullest, clearest view
The crown had not clutched chem
personally; but they had been hand
ed over TO a board of commissioners
and the common pcople-Jacobite
and HanOverian-had an odd spice
of old English conservatism in
them, and could not be brought to /
sec how any board of commission 4
ers had right to the ancestral do \
b;s ID d62atla 2at q great English noble or
ample and minute account 7hlssS2al99, hssS2al an |
down to us. We are told how no.
bly, and modestly he bore himself;
how bravely he was dressed, Sin a
scarlet waistcoat, his hat full cock,
richly laced, and with a feather in
it, how piously he performed the
last offices of his creed; how he
gave the executioner a purse of
guineas, telling him il was all he
had, but bidding him to do his best
for poor gentleman in a pinch;
and how, when the sheriff coming
to an end of reading the death-war-
rant, exclaimed in loud tone, GOD
save King George he turned upon
him with u stern look, and in
loud clear voice cried out, God
save King James! So he died. De-
tails scarcely 50 copious have been
transmitted to us in the account OF
the last moments of his brother,
carl James, who was executed on
the 24th of February, ZIG. The
times were ruder; the HonOverian
government were alarmed and en-
ragged at the escape of Lord NTH
dale, who was to have suffered with
Derwentwatcr. Not u single voice
in the house of lords was raised in
his favor; and, to the credit of En-
glish letters, the only member OF
the house of commons who dared
to plead in his place for mercy 20
the condemed earl was a noted con-
trIbutor to the Spectator, named
Richard Steele. The young coun-
tess of Derwentwater, who is sup
posed to have been principally in
strumental in inducing her lord TO
join the rebellion, tried in vain to
melt the icy heart of George l.;
! Walpolo bOasted in the house of
commons that he had refused n
bribe of 100000 offered him to
spare the prisoners life. At the
last moment his peers relented and
addressed the king on his behalf
and that of his cOndemed col
| leagues; but 1t was too late. On
the scaflOld he read paper aeknOwl-
edging himself 4 Roman Catholic,
and atterward examining the block
and finding a rough place in it, he
made the eXecutiOner chip 1t off
lest it should hurt his neck, 4 sing
ular procaution to be taken by one
on the very threshold Of death. He
appears to have been a very weak
minded .amiable young man; and
by the poasantry on his estates, by
whom be was passIOnatly loved, his
death was regarded not as an act
Of strict justice, but rs judicial
murder. That belief was shared by
their descendants. The govern
ment reluctantly consented that his
body should be carried down to
Dilston for interment, instead of be-
ing buried beneath the dre; r. chap
ell within the Tower, cut in was in-
sisted that, 10 avoid the awaken
ing the sympathy of the POpuiation
OF the middle and northern counties
the funeral procession should only
travel during the nigh,. IN the
daytime the corpse rested in the
chapols belonging to the Catholic
noblemen and gentlemen; and on
its arrival at ThOrndOn, the scat OF
Lord Petre, that Earl James cot
fin was opened, and that his sever
ed head was sewed on to his body.
Back to Lord Petre's seat at Thorn
don have those poor bones gone,
and the curtain falls, it may be as
sumed forever, on the Derwentwater
romance.
i JULIA-'O, Carrie, I've got q