Mr. Fergusson, although one of the crown lawyers, enjoyed a wide reputation, even among the Jacobite party, for the moderation and the fairness with which he conducted the crown cases placed in his hands.  He had less employment than his colleagues, for only cases in which the evidence of acts of hostility to the crown were indisputable were committed to him, it having been found that he was unwilling to be a party to calling doubtful witnesses, or to using the means that were, in the majority of cases, employed to obtain convictions.

The lord chief justice’s letter to him was as follows: 

Dear Mr. Counsellor Fergusson: 

I have been requested, by Lord Godolphin, to place the case of the bearer of this letter in good hands, and cannot better carry out his request than by asking you to act in the matter.  Lord Godolphin has expressed himself most strongly as to the justness of his claim.  The bearer’s father was, he states, James O’Carroll, a noted rebel who was killed at the siege of Limerick.  This alone would, it might have been thought, have proved a bar to any action on his part against the present possessor of the property; but he is the bearer of a document, signed by the queen herself, reinstating him in all rights he may possess, notwithstanding the actions of his father or of himself.  It is not for me to make any comment upon the royal document, though I may say that I fear it may give rise to other suits, and alarm many loyal subjects who have become possessed of confiscated estates.  However, we must hope that this will not be so, as it is expressly stated that, in this instance, the pardon and restoration of rights are given in consideration of services rendered by this young gentleman to Lord Godolphin himself, and to the Earl of Galway.  What the nature of these services may have been does not concern me.

Gerald carried this letter to the address indicated, and on saying that he was the bearer of a letter from the lord chief justice, he was at once shown into the counsellor’s room.  The latter, a man of some fifty-five years old, with features that told of his Scottish extraction, with keen eyes and a kindly face, took the letter which Gerald presented to him, and begged him to be seated while he read it.  As he glanced through it, a look of surprise came across his face, and he read the letter carefully, and then looked at Gerald keenly.

“You are fortunate in having such good friends, Mr. O’Carroll,” he said.  “Before I go into the case, will you let me know something about yourself?  You are, I take it, some twenty years of age?”

“I am but a few months past nineteen.”

“By your figure, I should have put you as three years older; by your face, two years.  You must have been fortunate, indeed, to have gained the protection both of Lord Godolphin and the Earl of Galway.  No less than this would have sufficed to gain for you this rescript of Her Majesty.