EXECUTION OF DR. CAMERON.

Next to this very remarkable transaction, the incident that principally distinguished this year in England, was the execution of Doctor Archibald Cameron, a native of North Britain, and brother to Cameron of Lochiel, chief of that numerous and warlike tribe who had taken the field with the prince-pretender. After the battle of Culloden, where he was dangerously wounded, he found means to escape to the continent. His brother, the doctor, had accompanied him in all his expeditions, though not in a military capacity, and was included with him in the act of attainder passed against those who had been concerned in the rebellion. Notwithstanding the imminent danger attending such an attempt, the doctor returned privately to Scotland, in order, as it was reported, to recover a sum of money belonging to the pretender, which had been embezzled by his adherents in that country. Whatever may have been his inducement to revisit his native country under such a predicament, certain it is, he was discovered, apprehended, and conducted to London, confined in the Tower, examined by the privy-council, and produced in the court of king’s-bench, where his identity being proved by several witnesses, he received sentence of death, and was executed at Tyburn. The terror and resentment of the people, occasioned by the rebellion, having by this time subsided, their humane passions did not fail to operate in favour of this unfortunate gentleman; their pity was mingled with esteem, arising from his personal character, which was altogether unblemished, and his deportment on this occasion, which they could not help admiring as the standard of manly fortitude and decorum. The populace, though not very subject to tender emotions, were moved to compassion and even to tears, by his behaviour at the place of execution; and many sincere well-wishers to the present establishment thought that the sacrifice of this victim, at such a juncture, could not redound either to its honour or security.

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook