A contemporary manuscript: the trial of James Stewart, the Appin Murder 1752
ANONYMOUS. The Appin murder: contemporary manuscript account of the Duke of Argyll's address to James Stewart of the Glen following sentence, with Stewart's reply. [1752].
Single sheet, 310 x 190 mm, closely written in ink on one side, with an identifying endorsement on the reverse recording Inveraray, 25 September 1752. Laid paper with watermark, folded into a small packet with the endorsement on the outer panel. Old folds, with small holes and short splits at the intersections, minor marginal loss clear of the writing, and light soiling; very good. The format suggests an account prepared for transmission or circulation, possibly for newspaper use, although no recipient or publication is identified.
A contemporary manuscript account of the closing exchanges in the trial of James Stewart, known as James of the Glen, convicted as an accessory to the murder of Colin Campbell of Glenure. Argyll declares Stewart "one of the greatest criminals that this or any other country ever produced", before rehearsing the Jacobite risings of 1715, 1719 and 1745 and accusing him of helping to bring his countrymen to ruin. Stewart submits to the sentence but calls God to witness that he had no previous knowledge of the murder, forgiving both the witnesses whom he accuses of swearing falsely and the jury for convicting him on "so small evidence". The account concludes with Argyll's remark to Lord Elchies: "this mans conduct from first to last confounds me I do not understand it".
A striking document relating to a notorious Scottish trial, revealing the political hostility surrounding Stewart's conviction in the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. Stewart was convicted as an accessory rather than as the gunman, the prosecution alleging his complicity in a murder attributed to the absent Allan Breck Stewart. His trial, presided over by the Duke of Argyll before a jury containing eleven Campbells, has become notorious as a miscarriage of justice. Despite maintaining his innocence, Stewart was hanged on 8 November 1752. The identity of the actual gunman remains unresolved. The murder and its consequences later provided central material for Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped and Catriona.