It must also be remembered that neither Wodrow nor Walker, nor any
writer on that side, has charged Claverhouse with exceeding the law.
They cry out against the cruelty of the deed, but on its unlawfulness
they are silent. We must suppose, therefore, that Hislop's case was the
case of John Brown: he had refused the oath, and was therefore liable to
death. But we cannot suppose that if Claverhouse had stood firm he could
not have saved the lad's life. It is absurd to believe that at the head
of his own soldiers, with another captain of the same way of thinking by
him, such a man as Claverhouse was not strong enough to carry his own
will against one who had not even the powers of an ordinary justice of
the peace. We must, therefore, conclude that he was unwilling at that
time to run the risk of further disgrace by any charge of unreasonable
leniency to rebels. Like Pilate, he was willing to let the prisoner go;
but, like Pilate again, he preferred his own convenience, and the
prisoner was put to death.
On Defoe's list of victims murdered, as he calls it, by Claverhouse's
own hand is the name of Graham of Galloway. The young man, he says,
being pursued by the dragoons, had taken refuge in his mother's house;
but being driven out thence was overtaken by Claverhouse and shot dead
with a pistol, though he offered to surrender and begged hard for his
life.
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