by the Honourable the Barons of His Majesty's Exchequer in II. Received by me Colin Campbell &c. (as in the former discharge) from James Stewart tacksman of Aucharn, also possessor of Glendurrar a part of said estate, for himself and the other tenants, &c. the sum of six hundred and eleven pounds one shilling and four pennies Scots money; and that &c.-at Glenure this 28th day of November 1750 years. COLIN CAMPBELL. Productions for the Pannel, BEING FIVE LETTERS WRITTEN TO HIM BY COLIN CAMPBELL OF GLENURE. Sir, I. Glenure, 8th November 1748. I think I can now, with some certainty, tell you, that I am Glenure appointed factor over the lands you possess, and other lands that belonged to your brother Ardshiel; and as the term is now at hand, will beg the favour, you desire the tenants and possessors to be preparing the rents. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, COLIN CAMPBELL. Addressed thus: To James Stewart in Auchindarroch in Duror. Sir, II. Glenure, 14th October 1749. As I intend Monday next to be in Duror, to hold a Baron- Glenure balie-court on the estate of Ardshiel, and call for bygone rents, Glenure have sent you this, to beg the favour you would let the tenants know of it, that they may be prepared to make payments, and not be out of the way; and I shall be glad to have the pleasure of seeing you at Taynaheinsaig Monday afternoon. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, COLIN CAMPBELL. Addressed on the back: To Mr. James Stewart brother to Ardshiel. III. Glenure Sir, Glenure, December 11. 1749. This moment I had your's by your servant, with the twenty pounds eighteen shillings and five pence Sterling, and the warrant I formerly gave you. Receive inclosed your note: your payments are very good, for which I am obliged to you. I intend, God will, to be at Edinburgh on, or a day or two before the 25th current; that is, I intend to set out from this place this day, or to-morrow eight days, and will go by Glasgow, and make no stop by the way. Remember Lady Ardshiel's discharges, and all your other tackling. I heartily wish you a good journey. COLIN CAMPBELL. My wife, who, I find, is your sincere wellwisher, returns you her hearty thanks, and is sorry you have such bad weather to travel, when you are so weak. Addressed on the back thus: To James Stewart in Auchindarroch in Duror. IV. Glenure Sir, Glenure, 6th April 1750. I have your's, and think it's quite right to have burliemen: they are frequently very necessary, and can't well be wanted. You will therefore appoint two discreet honest men for that purpose of the tenants; and, to prevent any complaints or objections, be sure you swear them to fidelity in their office. My wife returns you her thanks for your good wishes. am, Sir, your most obedient, COLIN CAMPBELL. I Addressed on the back thus: To Mr. James Stewart in Auchindarroch. Sir, V. Glenure, 14th March 1751. After you left this, something has occurred that makes it Glenure necessary that you do not set any part of Ardshiel, Auchindarroch, or Aucharn, till I see you after my return from Inverary; which is the reason I run you this express. Sir, your affectionate humble servant, I am, COLIN CAMPBELL. Addressed thus: To James Stewart of Aucharn, Duror. The proof on both sides, written and verbal, having been submitted, Lord Elchies said to the Lord Advocate that now was his time to proceed to address the jury, which Mr. Grant did as follows: : Advocate The LORD ADVOCATE Gentlemen of the Jury, it now becomes Lord my duty, to be assisting to you in the discharge of yours, by stating to you this case and summing up the evidence that hath been given in your presence, which I shall now proceed to do as well as I am able, after so long an attendance.* That attendance, I am sensible, must have been very heavy upon you, and hath been such as the like hath not happened since the Circuit Courts of Justiciary were brought to be held in this county; but I hope you will not repine at the great fatigue of this trial in a case whereof the importance is as unusual as the length of it, and in which your giving a just verdict will be highly for the service and credit of your country. I need not resume to you, gentlemen, the libel or indictment, whereof I presume you have been furnished with printed copies before you came here, that, being thereby informed of the principal circumstances which have been discovered concerning the murder of Mr. Campbell of Glenure, you might have leisure to weigh the import of these and be the better enabled to attend to the evidence that should be brought before you; and, on the other hand, the pannel, James Stewart, who is now standing his trial, was, by that libel, fairly informed of the principal facts and circumstances that were then discovered against him, so as *By the sixteenth Act, anno 1672, concerning the regulation of judicatories, article tenth, on the Justiciary Court, it is provided in these words "That, in all criminal pursuits, the defender or his advocate be always the last speaker, except in cases of treason or rebellion against the King." Lord he might have opportunity to account for these and clear Advocate himself, if, notwithstanding such strong appearance, he was truly innocent. The crime itself which gives occasion to this trial was of its nature the most horrid and atrocious that can well be conceived. Wilful murder, at any rate, is a crime most heinous, and, concerning the first murder, God Almighty Himself said to Cain, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground." And the murder now in question, as to this pannel's accession to it, was one of the most causeless and unprovoked that ever happened. Poor Mr. Campbell of Glenure was cut off in the vigour of his life, in the very road of his duty in the King's service, and for no other cause or provocation than his doing that duty; and then he was basely assassinated by a ruffian, who lay in wait for him and shot him from behind his back, so as he died upon the spot, leaving two infant children and his widow pregnant. And to this horrid violation of the laws of God and of humanity is to be added, in the present case, that the sole offence taken at Glenure was his acting in the quality of factor on the forfeited estate of Ardshiel, agreeably to his powers and instructions from the Barons of Exchequer, as being administrators for the King, whose property that estate was, and it was resented as a capital injury that the King's factor should venture to exercise His Majesty's property as freely as every subject may do his own. And, last of all, that this murder was committed on the 14th day of May last, just seven weeks after His Majesty had given his Royal assent to, and passed into law, the bill for annexing this and other forfeited estates to the Crown unalienably, and for applying the rents and profits thereof for the better civilising and improving the Highlands of Scotland. The clemency of the King had been extended early after the last rebellion, by the act of grace of the twentieth year of his reign, of which the pannel, James Stewart, among many others, had the benefit, and other beneficial laws were then made to secure and promote freedom, property, and good order in all parts of Scotland. And, to crown all, this last most beneficent act was made for the more immediate benefit of the Highlands of Scotland, out of which three rebellions have been raised since the accession of the Royal Family now happily reigning-an act of beneficence not to be paralleled in history, and calculated to render all the inhabitants of the Highlands good and useful subjects under this Government, by making them feel their own interest in being such, and rendering the meanest of them who will be honest and industrious, free and happy; and at such a juncture the murder you are now inquiring into received no small aggravation, as it was flying in the face Advocate of the Legislature itself, and endeavouring, as much as in these Lord criminals lay, to defeat or discourage the prosecution of a measure of government so highly gracious and beneficial to this country. The truth is, gentlemen, that, though God be praised, the Highlands of Scotland are in this age less barbarous than they have been in former times, yet in our own time there have been such instances of remaining barbarism as serve to prove but too strongly that these countries stand yet in need of being better civilised. I think it was in the year 1724 that, for an offence of the same nature with what was here taken, an attempt to remove certain Macphersons living on the estate of the Duke of Gordon in Badenoch, the late Gordon of Glenbucket, his factor or tacksman, was invaded, and received many wounds, given with intent to bereave him of his life, though he chanced to recover. You must all remember how basely Captain Munro of Culcairn was assassinated by lying in wait when he was acting in his duty in the King's service soon after the defeat of the late rebellion. And you must all have heard of the late barbarous enterprise of Robert Macgregor and his accomplices in carrying off from her own house the unfortunate Jean Kay, a young widow and an heiress, in the depth of winter and middle of the night into remote parts of the Highlands, and causing her to be married to that Robert, a person of no fortune and an outlaw for murder, for being a conductor in which attempt James Drummond, alias Macgregor, a brother of Robert, has been lately convicted. The excuse offered for James Macgregor was the same mistaken principle that appears to have misled the unhappy prisoner at the bar. It was said that James Macgregor was actuated by one of the best affections; he was seeking no personal advantage to himself by that enterprise, but only to make the fortune of Robert, his brother. And the now pannel, James Stewart, conceived a mortal enmity against Mr. Campbell of Glenure for disabling him to provide for the children of his brother, Charles Stewart, late of Ardshiel, attainted, by contributions levied from the tenants on that estate who had been under his influence. But, alas! what a delusion is it from such principle to be led to commit or justify the most heinous and abominable crimes. The care of the interest of one's kindred is doubtless a laudable affection, and even when that goodwill is extended to the remoter degrees, and enlarges the circle of benevolence, there is no harm in it, provided in both cases it be conducted with justice, and men exert themselves to serve their friends without violating the rights of other individuals or the laws of society and civil government; but he who robs or defrauds his |