HERITAGE
paper, who included such well known fi gures as Sir Walter Scott, the Lord Advocate, the Solicitor General and the Lord Provost of Edin- burgh. The backers, shamed by their exposure, withdrew support and The Beacon ceased publi- cation within a year of its foundation. Following the demise of The Beacon, a similar Tory paper, entitled The Sentinel, appeared in Glasgow – like a pheonix from the ashes. This continued without interruption the same tirade of abuse and slanders against Stuart and his kind. Stuart became incandescent. He insti- tuted an action of damages against the two joint publishers of the paper, William Borthwick and Robert Alexander. Borthwick, alarmed by this, withdrew from the paper and in the process fell out with his partner over the fi nancial details. Alexander arranged for Borthwick to be impris- oned for an outstanding debt. Borthwick let it be known to Stuart that, if he would with- draw the legal action against him and arrange his release from jail, he might be able to help him to discover the author of the libels. Stuart responded eagerly; he arranged Borthwick’s release and Borthwick, who had retained the keys
to The Sentinel offi ce, building entered the and managed
to recover a quantity of documents that he deliv- ered to Stuart.
Stuart pored over these papers and discovered to his physical Duncan Stevenson, should divulge authors of these slanders.
Top: Sir Alexander Boswell was exposed as Stuart’s defamer. Above: One of the pistols used in the duel. Top right: Whig lawyer James Stuart challenged Sir Alexander Boswell to a duel. Top centre: One of Duncan Stevenson’s posters defaming Stuart.
Stevenson maintained the absurdity that he did not know who wrote the articles in his own paper. Stuart fi nally reacted by horsewhip- ping Stevenson in public in Parliament Square. In those days, before the great fi re of 1824, the square was the centre of commerce in Edin- burgh, teeming with lawyers and the public, who thronged the many shops,
taverns and
offi ces that surrounded the square. This public fracas attracted much attention and Stevenson retaliated by challenging Stuart to a duel. The etiquette of duelling at that time was
well defi ned; one consideration being that the participants should be of equal social status. Stuart declined the challenge on the ground that Stevenson was of inferior rank. This exposed Stuart to accusations of cowardice, which The Beacon exploited to the full. One of the litigants who had sued The Beacon managed to discover the names of the 15 secret Tory backers of the
94
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a more action.
He repeatedly demanded of the publisher
the names of
and printer, that he the
amazement that the offending articles had been written by his distant cousin, Sir Alexan- der Boswell, the elder son of James Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson. A duel was inev- itable. Boswell accepted the challenge on 23 March and both men appointed their ‘seconds’, who had the responsibility of managing the affair. Boswell chose his friend and distant rela- tive, John Douglas, the brother of the Marquis of Queensberry, while Stuart chose the Earl of Rosslyn, a distinguished general in the Napo- leonic Wars and a neighbouring landowner to Stuart’s estate in Fife.
The seconds agreed the duel could be delayed
for a fortnight to allow the men to arrange their affairs. Various locations were discussed – the continent, or somewhere in England, perhaps Berwick-on-Tweed. Two days later, on 25 March, late in the evening, both protagonists were separately arrested by sheriff ’s offi cers and taken to the sheriff of Edinburgh to be bound over to keep the peace within Edinburghshire. Someone, never identifi ed, had let the sheriff know of the impending duel and he had taken the only action available to stop it. The two men suddenly realised that news of their arrest would spread throughout the city the follow- ing day, making it impossible to conduct a duel
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