History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

i6o RISING OF 1715
Annan he probably controlled the feelings of the burgesses; but James Johnston
of Knockhill, Fergus Graham of Mossknowe, and many others in the neighbourhood
joined Nithsdale, and were transported to the West Indies to work in
the plantations when the movement failed. Knockhill fought at Sheriffmuir
and Falkirk ; but Clan interest enabled him to return home in 1722.
Provost Corbett of Dumfries first obtained the news of an intended meeting
of Jacobites on the Borders, and that their object was to capture Dumfries.
He sent to the Marquis, who was there the same day, narrowly escaping
capture on the road. As his brother, John Johnstone of Stapleton, was a
Jacobite, he had him shut up in the town prison, and then went to Edinburgh
to consult with the Government, leaving Westerhall and the other Sheriff-
Depute to organise the Militia, John Johnstone, Westerhall's second son, being
chosen captain of the volunteers.
Sir William Johnstone had collected a large supply of arms, but some were
temporarily left near Lochmaben, and promptly seized by a party of rebels
under Lord Kenmure (Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar). It was a disappointment
to find that the Jacobites who were arrested were their neighbours and
not Englishmen, who held aloof till they saw how the movement prospered.
It was the same with many of the Scottish gentry, who preferred to help neither
side till they felt sure which would win. Robert Johnston of Wamfray was one
of several lairds who met at the Market Cross in Dumfries and, while drums
were beating and colours flying, drank the King's health on their knees, every
one knowing that they meant James VIII., but, as the Lady of Westerhall was
nearly related to Wamfray, he escaped with a fine, although he had joined the
troop of horse raised at Moffat by Kenmure on behalf of the Prince.
Kenmure, not so fortunate, marched to meet Lord Derwentwater in
Cumberland, having found it impossible to take Dumfries. He was captured
at Preston, and executed the same day as Lord Derwentwater, Feb. 24, 17 16,
happy that their rank exempted them from the horrible punishment inflicted on
untitled Jacobites.
The poverty of Scotland as compared with England at that date is much
dwelt upon by travellers, and is shown by the very small bribes which even the
Scottish Peers most opposed to the abolition of their Parliament were willing to
accept in 1700, one of them being bought over to the English side with £11,
and the most exorbitant only requiring £30. In 1704 an Englishman passing
through Dumfriesshire sums up his impression of the country with the remark,
that if Cain had been born a Scotsman his punishment would have been not to
wander about but to stay at home. Still Dumfriesshire had one source of profit
not possessed farther north. The wine bills among the lairds, as well as among
the English gentry, were out of all proportion to the other expenses in the
eighteenth century, and before the Customs were made uniform in England
and Scotland, Annan was the headquarters of an extensive trade for carrying
wine, brandy, and other foreign goods into Cumberland, often on men's backs,
concealed in loads of hay, sacks of wool, or sheafs of wheat. Smugglers
flourished all along the coast, which was covered with small ships in their