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diff --git a/20946.txt b/20946.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a0a18e --- /dev/null +++ b/20946.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11021 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745., by +Mrs. Thomson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745. + Volume I. + +Author: Mrs. Thomson + +Release Date: March 31, 2007 [EBook #20946] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF THE JACOBITES *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner, Ted Garvin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +MEMOIRS + +OF + +THE JACOBITES + +OF 1715 AND 1745. + +BY MRS. THOMSON, + + +AUTHOR OF + +"MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF HENRY THE EIGHTH," +"MEMOIRS OF SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH," ETC. + +VOLUME I. + +LONDON: +RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, +Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. +1845. + + +LONDON: + +Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY, WILSON, and FLEY, +Bangor House, Shoe Lane. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In completing two volumes of a work which has been for some years in +contemplation, it may be remarked that it is the only collective +Biography of the Jacobites that has yet been given to the Public. Meagre +accounts, scattered anecdotes, and fragments of memoir, have hitherto +rather tantalized than satisfied those who have been interested in the +events of 1715 and 1745. The works of Home, of Mr. Chambers, and the +collections of Bishop Forbes, all excellent, are necessarily too much +mingled up with the current of public affairs to comprise any +considerable portion of biographical detail. Certain lives of some of +the sufferers in the cause of the Stuarts, printed soon after the +contests in behalf of those Princes, are little more than narratives of +their trials and executions; they were intended merely as ephemeral +productions to gratify a curious public, and merit no long existence. It +would have been, indeed, for many years, scarcely prudent, and certainly +not expedient, to proffer any information concerning the objects of +royal indignation, except that which the newspapers afforded: nor was it +perfectly safe, for a considerable time after the turbulent times in +which the sufferers lived, to palliate their offences, or to express any +deep concern for their fate. That there was much to be admired in those +whose memories were thus, in some measure, consigned to oblivion, except +in the hearts of their descendants; much which deserved to be explained +in their motives; much which claimed to be upheld in their +self-sacrifices, the following pages will show. Whatever leaning the +Author may have had to the unfortunate cause of the Stuarts, it has not, +however, been her intention only to pourtray the bright ornaments of the +party. She has endeavoured to show that it was composed, as well as most +other political combinations, of materials differing in value--some +pure, some base, some noble, some mean and vacillating. + +As far as human weakness and prejudice can permit, the Author has aimed +at a strict scrutiny of conduct and motives. In the colouring given to +these, she has conscientiously sought to be impartial: for the facts +stated, she has given the authorities. + +It now remains for the Author publicly to acknowledge the resources from +which she has derived some materials which have never before been given +to the Public, and for which she has to thank, in several instances, not +only the kindness of friends, but the liberality of strangers. + +A very interesting collection of letters, many of them written in the +Earl of Mar's own hand, and others dictated by him, is interwoven with +the biography of that nobleman. These letters were written, in fact, for +the information of the whole body of Jacobites, to whom they were +transmitted through the agent of that party, Captain Henry Straiton, +residing in Edinburgh. They form almost a diary of Lord Mar's +proceedings at Perth. They are continued up to within a few hours of the +evacuation of that city by the Jacobite army. For these curious and +characteristic letters, pourtraying as they do, in lively colours, the +difficulties of the General in his council and his camp, she is indebted +to the friendship and mediation of the Honourable Lord Cockburn, and to +the liberality of James Gibson Craig, Esq. + +To the Right Honourable the Earl of Newburgh, the descendant and +representative of the Radcliffe family, her sincere and respectful +acknowledgments are due for his Lordship's readily imparting to her +several interesting particulars of the Earl of Derwentwater and his +family. She owes a similar debt of gratitude to the Viscount +Strathallan, for his Lordship's communication to her respecting the +House of Drummond. To the Honourable Mrs. Bellamy, the descendant of +Viscount Kenmure, she has also to offer similar acknowledgments, for +information respecting her unfortunate ancestor; and for an original +letter of his Lordship; and she must also beg to express her obligations +to William Constable Maxwell, Esq., and to Mrs. Constable Maxwell, of +Terregles, the descendants of the Earl of Nithisdale, for their +courteous and prompt assistance. To James Craik, Esq., of Arbigland, +Dumfriesshire, she is indebted for a correspondence which continues, as +it were, an account of that family during the later part of the year +1745. To Sir Fitzroy Grafton Maclean, Bart., she owes the account of his +clan and family, which has been printed for private circulation. She is +also grateful to a descendant of the family of Lochiel, Miss Mary Anne +Cameron, for some interesting particulars of the burning of Achnacarry, +the seat of her ancestors. + +In some of these instances the information derived has not been +considerable, owing to the total wreck of fortune, the destruction of +houses, and the loss of papers, which followed the ruthless steps of the +conquering army of the Duke of Cumberland. Most of the hereditary +memorials of those Highland families who engaged in both rebellions, +perished; and their representatives are strangely destitute of letters, +papers, and memorials of every kind. The practice of burying family +archives and deeds which prevailed during the troubles, was adopted but +with partial advantage, by those who anticipated the worst result of the +contest. + +In recalling with pleasure the number of those to whom the Author owes +sincere gratitude for kindness and aid in her undertaking, the name of +Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq. renews the remembrance of that store of +antiquarian information from which others, far more worthy to enjoy it +than herself, have owed obligations. The Author has also most gratefully +to acknowledge the very kind and valuable assistance of Archibald +Macdonald, Esq., of the Register Office, Edinburgh, to whom she is +indebted for several original letters; and of Robert Chambers, Esq., to +whose liberality she is indebted for several of her manuscript sources, +as well as some valuable advice on the subject of her work. To Dr. +Irvine, Librarian of the Advocate's Library, Edinburgh, the Author +offers, with the most lively pleasure, her sincere acknowledgments for a +ready and persevering assistance in aid of her undertaking. Again, she +begs to repeat her sense of deep obligation to Mr. Keats, of the British +Museum, the literary pilot of many years' historical research. + + LONDON, + _October 27, 1845._ + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The history of the Jacobites properly begins with the brave and +conscientious men who followed James the Second to France, or fought and +bled for him in the United Kingdom. Of the few nobles whom that Monarch +had distinguished by his friendship when Duke of York, or graced with +his favours when King, three only in Scotland remained attached openly +to his interests: these were the Duke of Gordon, the Lord Balcarras, and +Claverhouse of Dundee, who may be regarded as the parents of the +Jacobite party in Scotland. "The other nobles of the late King's party," +remarks a great historian,[1] "waited for events, in hopes and in fears, +from the Old Government and the New, intriguing with both, and depended +upon by neither." + +Upon the death of Dundee, a troop of officers who had fought under the +standard of that great General, and who had imbibed his lofty opinions +and learned to imitate his dauntless valour, capitulated, and were +suffered to leave the country and retire to France. Their number +amounted to a hundred and fifty: they were all of honourable birth, and +glorying in their political principles. At first these exiles were +pensioned by the French Government, but, upon the close of the civil +war, those pensions ceased. Finding themselves a burden upon King James, +they formed themselves into a body-guard, which was afterwards +incorporated with the French army. It may fairly be presumed that this +remnant of Dundee's army, four of whom only returned to Scotland, were +instrumental during their abode in France in maintaining a communication +between the Court of St. Germains and their disheartened countrymen who +had remained in their Highland homes. Abroad, they supported their +military character as soldiers who had fought under Dundee: they were +always the foremost in the battle and the last to retreat, and were +distinguished by a superiority in order and discipline, no less than by +their energy and courage. + +There can be no doubt but that the majority of the great landholders in +England, as well as the Highland chiefs, continued, through the reign of +William and Mary, disposed to high Tory views; and that had not the +popular cry of the Church being in danger aided the designs of the +Whigs, the Highflyers, or rigid Tories, would not have remained in +quiescence during that critical period, which resembled the settling of +a rushing current of waters into a frothing and bubbling pool, rather +than the calm tenour of a gently-flowing stream. Throughout the +distractions of his reign, it was the wise policy of William the Third +to balance parties; to bestow great posts upon moderate men; to employ +alternately persons of different opinions, and by frequent changes in +his Ministry, to conciliate the good-will of both factions;--and this +was all that that able Monarch could effect, until time should +extinguish political animosity. + +Queen Mary, educated in Tory principles, and taught by her maternal +uncle, the Earl of Rochester, to consider every opposition to the +Sovereign's will as rebellion, was scarcely regarded in the light of an +enemy to the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, +notwithstanding her unfilial conduct;[2] and it is remarkable that, +during her life, great favour was shown at Court to the Highland +partisans of James the Second; distinctions were as much avoided as it +was possible; and the personal prepossessions of the Queen were supposed +to be on the side of the High Church Tories. + +During the reign of Anne, notwithstanding the coalition of Godolphin, +Marlborough, and other leaders of the moderate Tories with the Whigs, +and the reputation and glory which their combined abilities and +characters obtained, a conviction was still prevalent that the heart of +the Queen was disposed to the restoration of the ancient race, and that +her days would not close before a design to secure the succession to her +nephew would be matured, and the Act of Succession, which was chiefly +the offspring of Whig policy, should be set aside. There was, +doubtless, not only in the mind of Anne, but in that of her sagacious +predecessor, an apprehension that after the death of the last of their +dynasty, the succession would again be fiercely disputed. Impressed with +this conviction, it was a favourite scheme of William to invite the +child, who afterwards, under the name of the Chevalier St. George, was +the hero, in dumb show, it must be acknowledged, of the Insurrection of +1715, to receive his education in England under his kingly care; to be +bred up a Protestant; and to make that education the earnest of his +future succession. The proposal was rejected by James the Second, to the +great prejudice of his son's interests, and to the misfortune, it may be +presumed, of the British nation. For one can scarcely suppose a more +perfect combination of all the qualities calculated to form a popular +Monarch, in this country, than the natural abilities of the Stuart race, +perfected under the able guidance of so reflective a ruler--so +accomplished a general--so consummate a statesman, as William. The +education which that Monarch had planned for the young Duke of +Gloucester shows how enlarged and practical were his views of the +acquirements necessary for a Sovereign: it presents a scheme of tuition +which, if it may be deemed not wholly adapted to the present day, was on +the most comprehensive and liberal scale. But James, acting, at all +events, with the consistency of a sincere believer, returned, as +Dalrymple expresses it, "slowly and sadly to bury the remembrance of his +greatness in the convent of La Trappe;" and all future attempts on the +part of his posterity to recover the throne of their ancestors were +frustrated by the hollowness of French professions of friendship. + +The tranquil demeanour of the Jacobite party during the reign of Anne +may seem surprising, when we consider the avowed favour and protection +which were held out by Louis the Fourteenth to the royal exiles of St. +Germain. During the lifetime of James, who considered that he had +exchanged the hope of an earthly for that of a heavenly Crown, there was +little to wonder at in this inactivity and apparent resignation. Had it +not been for the influence of an enthusiastic, high-minded, and +fascinating woman, the very mention of the cause would probably have +died away in the priest-thronged saloons of St. Germains. To Mary of +Modena the credit is due--if credit on such account is to be +assigned--for maintaining in the friends of her consort, for instilling +in the breast of her son, a desire of restoration;--that word, in fact, +might be found, to speak metaphorically, written in her heart. To her +personal qualities, to her still youthful attractions, to her pure mind, +and blameless career of conjugal duty--to the noble, maternal ambition +which no worthy judge of human motives could refuse a tribute of pity +and admiration--to her disregard of low and unworthy instruments to +advance her means, as in the case of Lovat, even the warmest partisans +of the Revolution were forced to do justice. The disinterested and +sagacious Godolphin is said to have done more: he is supposed to have +cherished such a respectful enthusiasm for the young mother who thus +supported the claims of her son, as might have become the chivalric +Surrey. Whatever were the fact, during the existence of Anne, the +payment of a dowry to Mary of Modena, the favourable understanding +between her son, as he grew up to man's estate, and the English Court, +the small reward offered for his apprehension, the conniving at the +daily enlistment of men in his service, and the indulgence shown to +those who openly spoke and preached against the Revolution, were certain +indications and ample proofs that had the Queen's life been prolonged, +some effectual steps would have been taken to efface from her memory the +recollection of her early failure of duty to King James, and to satisfy +the reproaches of her narrow, though conscientious mind. That such was +the fact, the declaration or manifesto of the Chevalier, dated from +Plombieres, August 2, 1714, and printed in French, English, and Latin, +attests; and the assertion was confirmed by a letter from the Duke of +Lorrain to the English Government. This favourable disposition on the +part of Anne proves that she gave no credence to the report of the +supposititious birth of the Prince; although, in her youthful days, and +when irritated against her step-mother, she had entered into the Court +gossip on that subject, with all the eagerness of a weak and credulous +mind. + +Nourished in secret by these hopes, the Jacobites in England constituted +a far more important party than our historians are generally willing to +allow. The famous work entitled, "English Advice to the Freeholders of +Great Britain," supposed to be written by Bishop Atterbury, was +extensively circulated throughout the country: it tended to promote an +opposition cry of "the Church in danger!" by insinuating that the Whigs +projected the abolition of Episcopacy. It was received with great +enthusiasm; and was responded to with fervour by the University of +Oxford, which was inflamed with a zeal for the restoration of the +Stuarts; and which displayed much of the same ardour, and held forth the +same arguments that had stimulated that seat of learning in the days of +Charles the First. To these sentiments, the foreign birth, the foreign +language, and, above all, the foreign principles of the King added +considerable disgust: nor can it be a matter of surprise that such +should be the case. It appears, nevertheless, extraordinary that the +opposition to so strange an engrafting of a foreign ruler should not +have been received with greater public manifestations of dislike than +the unorganized turbulence of Oxford under-graduates, or the ephemeral +fury of a London populace. + +In Scotland a very different state of public feeling prevailed. In +England men of commerce were swayed in their political opinions by the +good of trade, which nothing was so likely to injure as a disputed +succession. The country gentlemen were, more or less, under the +influence of party pamphlets, and were liable to have their political +prejudices smoothed down by collision with their neighbours. Excepting +in the northern counties, the dread of Popery prevailed also +universally. The remembrance of the bigotry and tyranny of James the +Second had not faded away from the remembrance of those whose fathers or +grandfathers could remember its details. In the Highlands of Scotland +the memory of that Monarch was, on the other hand, worshipped as a +friend of that noble country, as the Stuart peculiarly their own, as the +royal exile, whose health and return, under various disguises, they had +pledged annually at their hunting-matches, and to whose youthful son +they transferred an allegiance which they held sacred as their religion. + +Nor had James the Second earned the devotion of the Highland chieftains +without some degree of merit on his own part. The most incapable and +unworthy of rulers, he had yet some fine and popular qualities as a man; +he was not devoid of a considerable share of ability although it was +misapplied. His letters to his son, his account of his own life, show +that one who could act most erroneously and criminally, did, +nevertheless, often think and feel rightly. His obstinate adherence to +his own faith may be lamented by politicians; it may be sneered at by +the worldly; but it must be approved by all who are themselves staunch +supporters of that mode of faith which they conscientiously adopt. In +private society James had the power of attaching his dependents; and +perhaps from a deeper source than that which gave attraction to the +conversation of his good-natured, dissolute brother. His melancholy and +touching reply to Sir Charles Littleton, who expressed to him his shame +that his son was with the Prince of Orange:--"Alas! Sir Charles! why +ashamed? Are not my daughters with him?" was an instance of that +readiness and delicacy which are qualities peculiarly appropriate to +royalty. His exclamation at the battle of La Hogue, when he beheld the +English sailors scrambling up the sides of the French ships from their +boats--"None but my brave English could do this!" was one trait of a +character neither devoid of sensibility, nor destitute of certain +emotions which appear incompatible with the royal patron of Judge +Jeffries, and with the enemy of Monmouth. + +During his residence, when Duke of York, at Holyrood, accompanied by +Anne Hyde, when Duchess of York, James became extremely popular in +Edinburgh; in the Highlands his hold of the affections of the chieftains +had a deeper origin. The oppressor of the English had endeavoured to +become the emancipator of the chieftains. The rigour of the feudal +system, which was carried to its utmost extent in the Highlands, +although softened by the patriarchal character of the chiefs, was +revolting to the chieftains or landholders under the yoke of some feudal +nobleman or chief; and they became ambitious of becoming direct holders +from the Crown. It was a scheme of James the Second to abolish this +system of infeudation, by buying up the superiorities,--a plan, the +completion of which was attempted by William the Third, but defeated by +the avarice and dishonesty of those who managed the transaction. The +chieftains, however, never forgot the obligation which they owed to +James:[3] they refused all offers of emolument or promotion from his +successor; and they adhered to the exiled King with a loyalty which was +never shaken, and which broke forth conspicuously in the Insurrection of +1715. "The Highlanders," says Dalrymple, "carried in their bosoms the +high point of honour without its follies." + +Without entering into the various reasons which strengthened this +sentiment of gratitude and allegiance; without commenting upon the +partly patriarchal nature of the clan system, and the firm compact which +was cemented between every member of that family by a common +relationship of blood; it is sufficient to remark, that to a people so +retired, in many parts insulated, in all, apart from daily intelligence, +far away from communication with any whose free disquisitions might +possibly stake their opinions, it was not surprising that the loyalty to +James should continue unalloyed during two successive reigns. It burned, +indeed, with a steady though covered flame. The Insurrection of 1715, +which seems, in the pages of history, to break forth unexpectedly, was +long in being organized. From Anne's first Session of Parliament until +the completion of the Union, Scotland was in a state of ferment, and +violent party divisions racked civil society. In 1707, the famous +Colonel Hooke was sent to the northern parts of Scotland from France, to +sound the nobility and chieftains with respect to their sentiments, to +ascertain the amount of their forces, and to inquire what quantity of +ammunition and other warlike stores should be necessary to be sent from +France. A full account of affairs was compiled, and was signed by +fifteen noblemen and gentlemen, amongst whom the Duke of Athole, who +aspired, according to Lockhart, to be another General Monk, was foremost +in promoting the restoration of the youthful son of James the Second. +This mission was followed by the unsuccessful attempt at invasion on the +part of James, in 1708; when, according to some representations, there +was a far more reasonable prospect of success than at any later period. +The nobility and gentry were, at that time, well prepared to receive the +royal adventurer; the regular army was wholly unfit, either in numbers +or ammunition, to oppose the forces which they would have raised. The +very Guards, it is supposed, would have done duty on the person of James +Stuart the night that he landed. The equivalent money sent to Scotland +to reward the promoters of the Union, was still in the country, and a +considerable part of it was in the Castle of Edinburgh; and a Dutch +fleet had recently run aground on the coast of Angus, and had left +there a vast quantity of powder, shot, and cannon, and a large sum of +money, which might have been secured. England was, at this time, +distracted with jealousies and factions; and although the great +Marlborough was then in the vigour of his youth, ready to defend his +country, as well as to extend her dominions, there were suspicions that +the General was not wholly adverse to the claims of James Stuart.[4] + +How far these expectations might have been realised, it is difficult to +say. The French newspapers had proclaimed the preparations for invasion, +and Louis the Fourteenth had taken leave of James, wishing him a +prosperous voyage, and expressing, as the highest compliment, "the hope +that he should never see him again," when a slight, accidental +indisposition disturbed the whole arrangement. The royal youth was taken +ill with the measles; upon which the French troops which had embarked at +Dunkirk disembarked. A fatal delay was occasioned; and the French fleet, +after an ineffectual voyage, went "sneakingly home," "doing," as one of +the most active Jacobites remarks, "much harm to the King, his country, +and themselves." + +Such was the fate of the attempt, in 1708, to place James Stuart on the +throne of his ancestors; and it will readily be believed that the +ill-starred endeavour did not add to the probable success of any future +enterprise. Scarcely had the accession of George the First, an event +which a certain historian denominates "a surprising turn of Providence," +taken place, than the removal of Lord Bolingbroke from office announced +to the Tory party that they had lost their best friend at Court. Upon +this intelligence reaching the Highlands, many of the Jacobites took up +arms; but this hasty demonstration of good will to their cause was +instantly suppressed. The Chevalier was, nevertheless, proclaimed King +in the night time, and three noblemen, the Duke of Gordon, the Marquis +of Huntley, and Lord Drummond, were kept prisoners in their own houses. +In the middle of November, the Chevalier's Declaration, asserting his +right and title to the Crown of England, was sent by a French mail to +many persons of rank in this country. For some months the country was in +a state of ferment, such as, perhaps, had never been witnessed since the +days of the Great Rebellion. The Jacobites were centered in Oxford, but +Bristol was also another of their strongholds; the course of justice was +impeded there by riots; and every effort was made, both there and +elsewhere, to influence the elections, which were carried on with a +degree of venom and fury, exasperated by the cry of "the Church in +danger!" + +In February, 1715, the Duke of Argyle, Commander-in-Chief of his +Majesty's forces in Scotland, received information that a vessel +containing arms and ammunition had landed in the Isle of Sky, and that +five strangers had disembarked there, and had instantly dispersed +themselves throughout the country. This was the first positive +indication of the combination, which already comprised most of the +ancient and respected names in Scotland. This confederacy, as it may be +called, had existed ever since the peace of Utrecht, under the form of +the Jacobite Association. In 1710, the formation of the October Club had +shewed plainly the bias of the country gentlemen, who, according to a +judge of men's motives who was rarely satisfied, "did adhere firmly to +their principles and engagements, acting the part of honest countrymen +and dutiful subjects."[5] + +About the month of May, the report of James Stuart's intended invasion +of Scotland, and particulars of the preparations made for it in England, +Scotland, and France, became public. Measures were, of course, instantly +taken to guard the coasts of England and Scotland, and to augment land +forces. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended in England, and in Scotland. +An Act, passed in 1701, for preventing wrong imprisonments, and against +undue delay in trials, was also suspended from the twenty-third of July, +1715, until the twenty-fourth of the ensuing January. A fleet, under the +command of Sir George Byng, was ordered to cruise in the Downs; and the +most active and vigilant measures were taken in order to put the nation +into a position of defence. The former intended invasion of 1708 was not +forgotten, and it acted like a warning voice to the English Ministry. A +Whig Association was framed among persons of rank and influence; and in +Edinburgh a body of volunteers was formed, who might daily be seen +exercising in the Great Hall of the College. + +Meantime the Jacobites were increasing in strength. During the last six +years collections had been made in the continental nations, purporting +to be for a "gentleman in distress," and the amount was said to have +exceeded twelve millions.[6] Of this sum, one hundred thousand pounds +was entrusted to the Earl of Mar. + +The whole scheme of the insurrection was matured, and the Chevalier had +been proclaimed King in different towns in Scotland, when the death of +Louis the Fourteenth cast such a damp over the spirits of the party, +that there ensued a consultation as to the expediency of their +separating and returning to their homes. In this emergency, unhappily +for the brave and ardent men whom he had assembled at Braemar, the +influence of the Earl of Mar, and the arguments which his sanguine +spirit suggested, prevailed; and the assembled chiefs parted, only to +meet again at their appointed places of rendezvous. + +The scheme of the Insurrection of 1715 embraced three different +movements. In the north, the Earl of Mar was to possess himself of all +the rich coasts of Fife, and also to maintain, in the name of James the +Third, the northern counties, which, with few exceptions, were soon +under the control of the insurgents. An attempt was made upon the +southern parts of Scotland, by sending Brigadier Mackintosh, with a +strong detachment of men, to cross the Firth of Forth, and to land in +the Lothians, there expecting to be joined by friends on the borders and +from England. In the west, a rising of the south-country Scots, under +the command of Lord Kenmure, was projected; whilst in Northumberland the +English Jacobites, headed by Mr. Forster, with a commission of General +from Lord Mar, and aided by the Earl of Derwentwater, was to give the +signal and incentive to the adherents of James in the sister Kingdom, as +well as to co-operate with the Scottish forces under the commands of +Brigadier Mackintosh and Viscount Kenmure. An attack upon Edinburgh was +also concerted. + +Such is the outline of a plan of an insurrection to the effect of which +the Earl of Mar declared the Jacobites had been looking for six and +twenty years. How immature it was in its conception--how deficient in +energy and union was its execution--how unworthy was its chief +instrument--how fatal to the good and great were its results--and, by a +singular fortune, how those who least merited their safety escaped, +whilst the gallant and honest champions of the cause suffered, will be +fully detailed in the following pages. Let it be remembered that the +task of compiling these Memoirs has been undertaken with no party +spirit, nor with any wish to detract from the deep obligations which we +owe to those who preserved us from inroads on our constitution, and +oppression in our religious opinions. It has been, however, begun with a +sincere wish to do justice to the disinterested and the good; and, as +the task has proceeded, and increased information on the subject has +been gained, it has been continued with a conviction that, whatever may +be the nature or merits of the abstract principles on which it was +undertaken, the Insurrection of 1715 forms an episode in the history of +our country as creditable to many of the ill-fated actors in its tragic +scenes, as any that have been detailed in the pages of that history. + + LONDON, + _October 28, 1845._ + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Dalrymple. + +[2] Rapin. Dissertation on the Origin and Government of England, vol. +xiv. p. 423. + +[3] See Introduction to the Memoirs of Cameron of Lochiel, p. 22. + +[4] Lockhart, vol. i. p. 239. + +[5] Lockhart, vol. i. p. 324. + +[6] Reay, p. 187. + + + + +CONTENTS + +TO + +THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + PAGE +JOHN ERSKINE, EARL OF MAR (with a Portrait) 1 + +JAMES RADCLIFFE, EARL OF DERWENTWATER (with a Portrait) 224 + +THE MASTER OF SINCLAIR 282 + +CAMERON OF LOCHIEL 313 + + + + +MEMOIRS OF THE JACOBITES. + + + + +JOHN ERSKINE, EARL OF MAR. + + +"The title of Mar," observes Lord Hailes, "is one of the Earldoms whose +origin is lost in its antiquity." It existed before our records, and +before the era of general history: hence, the Earls of Mar claimed +always to be called first in the Scottish Parliament in the roll of +Earls, as having no rival in the antiquity of their honours. + +From the time of Malcolm Canmore, in the year 1065, until the fourteenth +century, the family of De Mar enjoyed this Earldom; but on the death of +Thomas, the thirteenth Earl of Mar, in 1377, the direct male line of +this race ended. The Earldom then devolved upon the female +representatives of the house of De Mar; and thence, as in most similar +instances in Scotland, it became the subject of contention, fraud, and +violence. + +Isabel, Countess of Mar and Garioch, the last of the De Mar family, was +won in marriage by a singular and determined species of courtship, +formerly common in Scotland; the influence of terror. The heiress of the +castle of Kildrummie, and a widow, her first husband, Sir Malcolm +Drummond, having died in 1403, her wealth and rank attracted the regards +of Alexander Stewart, the natural son of Robert Earl of Buchan, of royal +blood. Without waiting for the ordinary mode of persuasion to establish +an interest in his favour, this wild, rapacious man appeared in the +Highlands at the head of a band of plunderers, and planting himself +before the castle of Kildrummie, stormed it, and effected a marriage +between himself and the Countess of Mar. Alexander Stewart, in cooler +moments, however, perceived the danger of this bold measure, and +resolved to establish his right to the Countess and to her estates by +another process. One morning, during the month of September 1404, he +presented himself at the Castle gate of Kildrummie, and formally +surrendered to the Countess the castle, its furniture, and the +title-deeds kept within its chests; thus returning them to her to do +with them as she pleased. The Countess, on the other hand, holding the +keys in her hand, and declaring herself to be of "mature advice," chose +the said Alexander for her husband, and gave him the castle, the Earldom +of Mar, with all the other family estates in her possession. She +afterwards conferred these gifts by a charter, signed and sealed in the +open fields, in the presence of the Bishop of Ross, and of her whole +tenantry, in order to show that these acts were produced by no unlawful +coercion on the part of her husband. The said honours and estates were +also to descend to any children born in that marriage. Some of her +kindred listened resentfully to the account of these proceedings of +Isabel of Mar. + +The next heir to the Earldom, after the death of Isabel, was Janet, +grand-daughter of Gratney, eleventh Earl of Mar. This lady had married +Sir Thomas Erskine, the proprietor of the Barony of Erskine, on the +Clyde, the property of the family during many ages; and she expected, on +the death of the Countess of Mar, to succeed to the honours which had +descended to her by the female line. By a series of unjust and rapacious +acts on the part of the Crown, not only did Robert, Lord Erskine, her +son, fail in securing his rights, but her descendants had the vexation +of seeing their just honours and rights revert to the King, James the +Third, who bestowed them first upon his brother, the accomplished and +unfortunate John Earl of Mar, who was bled to death in one of the houses +of the Canongate, in Edinburgh; and afterwards, upon Cochrane, the +favourite of James the Third. The Earldom of Mar was then conferred on +Alexander Stewart, the third son of King James; and after his death, +upon James Stewart, Prior of St. Andrews, who had a charter from his +sister, Queen Mary, entitling him to enjoy the long contested honour. +But he soon relinquished the title, to assume that of Moray, which had +also been bestowed upon him by the Queen: and in 1565 Mary repaired the +injustice committed by her predecessors, and restored John Lord Erskine +to the Earldom of Mar. + +The house of Erskine, on whom these honours now descended, has the same +traditional origin as that of most of the other Scottish families of +note. In the days of Malcolm the Second, a Scottish man having killed +with his own hand Enrique, a Danish general, presented the head of the +enemy to his Sovereign, and, holding in his hand the bloody dagger with +which the deed had been performed, exclaimed, in Gaelic, "Eris Skyne," +alluding to the head and the dagger; upon which the surname of Erskine +was imposed on him. The armorial bearing of a hand holding a dagger, was +added as a further distinction, together with the motto, _Je pense +plus_, in allusion to the declaration of the chieftain that he intended +to perform even greater actions than that which procured him the name +which has since been so celebrated in Scottish history. The crest and +motto are still borne by the family. + +This anecdote has, however, been rejected for the more probable +conjecture that the family of Erskine derived its appellation from the +estate of Erskine on the Clyde:[7] yet it is not impossible but that +tradition may, in most cases, have a deeper source than we are willing +to allow to it. "There are few points in ancient history," observes a +modern writer, "on which more judgment is required than in the amount +of weight due to _tradition_. In general it will be found that the +tradition subsisting in the families themselves has a true basis to rest +upon, however much it may be overloaded with collateral matter which +obscures it."[8] + +But that which ennobled most truly the first Earl of Mar, of the house +of Erskine, was his own probity, loyalty, and patriotism. Destined +originally to the church, John, properly sixth Earl of Mar, carried into +public life those virtues which would have adorned the career of a +private individual. In the melancholy interest of Queen Mary's eventful +life, it is consolatory to reflect on the integrity and moderation of +this exemplary nobleman. Too good and too sensitive for his times, he +died of a broken heart, the result of that inward and incurable sorrow +which the generous and the honest experience, when their hopes and +designs are baffled by the selfish policy of their own party. "He was, +perhaps," says Robertson, "the only person in the kingdom who could have +enjoyed the office of Regent without envy, and have left it without loss +of reputation."[9] + +From the restoration of John Earl of Mar to his family honours, until +the reign of Charles the First, the prosperity of this loyal and +favoured family increased, interrupted indeed by some vicissitudes of +fortune, but by no serious reverses, until that period which, during the +commotions of the Great Rebellion, reduced many of our proudest nobility +to comparative poverty. + +Among other important trusts enjoyed by the family of Erskine, the +government of the Castle of Edinburgh, and the custody of the principal +forts in the kingdom, attested the confidence of their Sovereigns. To +these was added by Mary Queen of Scots, the command of the Castle of +Stirling, and the still more important charge of her infant son. To +these marks of confidence numerous grants of lands and high appointments +succeeded,--obligations which were repaid with a fidelity which +impoverished the family of Erskine; and which produced, towards the +close of the seventeenth century, a marked decline in their fortunes, +and decay of their local influence. + +John, ninth Earl of Mar, the grandfather of the Jacobite Earl, suffered +severely for his loyalty in joining the association at Cumbernauld, in +favour of Charles the First. He afterwards raised forces at Brae-Mar for +the King's service, for which he was heavily fined by the Parliament, +and his estates were sequestrated. During all this season of adversity +he lived in a cottage at the gate of his house at Alloa, until the +Restoration relieved him from the sequestration. + +His son Charles, who raised the first regiment of Scottish Fusileers, +and was constituted their Colonel, began life as a determined Royalist; +but disapproving of the measures of James the Second, he had prepared +to go abroad when the Prince of Orange landed in England. He appears +afterwards to have pursued somewhat of the same wavering course as that +of which his son has been accused, and, joining the disaffected party +against William, he was arrested, but afterwards released. The heavy +incumbrances upon his estates, contracted during the civil wars, were +such as to oblige him to sell a great portion of his lands, and to part +with the ancient Barony of Erskine, the first possession of the family. +This necessity may almost be considered as an ill omen for the future +welfare of a family; which never seems to be so utterly brought low by +fortune, as when compelled to consign to strangers that from which the +first sense of importance and stability has been derived. + +Under these circumstances, certainly not favourable to independence of +character, John, eleventh Earl of Mar of the name of Erskine, and +afterwards Lieutenant-general to the Chevalier St. George, was born at +Alloa, in Clackmannan, where his father resided. He was a younger son of +a numerous family, five brothers, older than himself, having died in +infancy. His mother, the Lady Mary Maule, eldest daughter of George Earl +of Panmure, gave birth to eight sons, and a daughter. Of the sons, the +Earl of Mar and his brothers, James Erskine of the Grange, afterwards +the husband of the famous and unfortunate Lady Grange; and Henry, killed +at the battle of Almanza in 1707, alone attained the age of manhood. +The only sister of Lord Mar, Lady Jean, was married to Sir Hugh Paterson +of Bannockburn, in Stirlingshire. + +The Earl of Mar succeeded to the possession and management of estates, +heavily encumbered, in 1696.[10] His qualities of mind and person, at +this early period of his life, were not eminently pleasing. His +countenance, though strongly marked, had none of the attributes of +intellectual strength. In person he is said to have been deformed, +although his portrait by Kneller was skilfully contrived to hide that +defect; his complexion was fair: he was short in stature. In his early +youth the Earl is declared by historians who were adverse to the +Stuarts, to have been initiated into every species of licentious +dissipation, by Neville Payne: and the young nobleman is characterized +as "the scandal of his name."[11] Although his ancestors had been +devotedly attached to the interests of the exiled family, yet, it was to +be shewn how far Mar preferred those interests to his own, or upon what +principles he eventually adopted the cause of hereditary monarchy, which +had already brought so much inconvenience, and so many losses to his +father and grandfather. + +The first political prepossessions of the young Earl must certainly have +been those of the Cavaliers; such was the name by which the party +continued to be called who still desired the restoration of James the +Second, and fervidly believed in the fruition of their hopes. His +father had indeed, to use the words of Lockhart of Carnwath, "embarked +with the Revolution;" but had given tokens of his deep contrition for +that act, so inconsistent with his hereditary allegiance. But the +unformed opinions of the young are far more easily swayed by events +which are passing before their eyes than by the cool reasonings of the +closet; and the inclinations of the Earl of Mar's childhood were likely +soon to be effaced by the state of public affairs. The later occurrences +of the reign of William the Third were calculated not only to repress +the spirit of Jacobitism, but to shame even the most enthusiastic of its +partisans out of a scheme which the sagacity of William had defeated, +and which his wisdom had taught him to forgive. It was in the year 1696, +just as the Earl of Mar succeeded to his title, that the projected +invasion of the kingdom, and the scheme of assassinating the King, were +defeated:--that William, hastening to the House of Commons, gave to the +nation an account of the whole conspiracy. The House of Commons, without +rising from their seats, then "declared that William was their rightful +king, and that they would defend him with their lives." It was at this +important aera that James the Second, after long waiting at Calais, and +casting thence many a wishful look towards England, returned to St. +Germains, "to thank God that he had lost his country, because it had +saved his soul."[12] The hopes of the Cavaliers were thus wholly +extinguished: and to these circumstances were the first observations of +the youthful Earl of Mar doubtless directed. + +His guardians, seemingly desirous of retrieving the affairs of the +family, had endeavoured to imbue his mind with Revolution +principles;[13] and the famous association which acknowledged the title +of William to the throne of England, framed about this time, was signed +by many who became in after life the friends of the Earl of Mar. This +was precisely the period when that political profligacy, too justly +charged upon the leading men in this country, and which induced them, +under the impression that the exiled family would be eventually +restored, to correspond with the Court of St. Germains, was +tranquillized, although not eradicated by the great policy and +forbearance of William.[14] That single reply of William's to Charnock, +who had trafficked between France and England with these negotiations, +and who offered to disclose to the King the names of those who had +employed him;--these few words, "I do not wish to hear them,"[15] did +more to soothe discontents, and to repress the violence of faction, than +the subsequent executions in the reign of George the First. + +The Earl of Mar, left as he was at the early age of fourteen to his own +guidance, very soon displayed a remarkable prudence in his pecuniary +affairs, and a desire to repair by good management the fortunes of his +family,--a point which he accomplished, to a certain extent. His +dawning character shewed him to be shrewd and wary, but possessing no +extended views, and disposed to rest his hopes of elevation and +distinction upon petty intrigues, rather than to look upon probity and +exertion as the true basis of greatness. His great talent consisted in +the management of his designs, "in which," remarks one who knew him +well, "it was hard to find him out when he desired to be incognito; and +thus he shewed himself to be a man of good sense, but bad morals."[16] + +On the 8th of September, 1696, the Earl of Mar took his seat in the +Scottish Parliament, protesting, as his forefathers had done, against +any Scottish Earl being called before him in the Roll. He became a +frequent, but indifferent speaker in Parliament; but his continual +activity, and the address which he soon acquired as the fruit of +experience, together with the position which he held, as one generally +understood to be well affected to the new order of things, yet of +sufficient importance to be gained over to the other side, soon made him +an object for party spirit to assail. + +During the reign of William, the Earl of Mar continued constant to the +side to which he had declared himself to belong. His pecuniary +embarrassments, acting upon a restless, ambitious temper, rendered it +difficult to a man weak in principle to retain independence of +character: and it must be avowed, that there are few temptations to +depart from the road of integrity more urgent than the desire to raise +an ancient name to its original splendour. No encumbrances are so +likely to drag their victim away from integrity as those by which rank +is clogged with poverty. + +In April, 1697, Lord Mar was chosen a privy councillor; and shortly +afterwards invested with the Order of the Thistle; and the command of a +company of foot bestowed upon him. On the death of William his fortune +was rather improved than deteriorated, although he continued to attach +himself to the Revolution Party, who, it was generally understood, were +very far from being acceptable to the Queen. "At her accession," +declares a Jacobite writer, "the Presbyterians looked upon themselves as +undone; despair appeared in their countenances, which were more upon the +melancholic and dejected than usual." The management of Scottish affairs +was, nevertheless, entirely in the hands of the advocates of the +Revolution; and one of their greatest supporters, the Duke of +Queensbury, was appointed High Commissioner of the Scottish Parliament, +notwithstanding the representations of some of the most powerful +nobility in Scotland. + +To the party of this celebrated politician the Earl of Mar attached +himself, with a tenacity for which those who recollected the hereditary +politics of the Erskine family, could find no motives but self-interest. +James, Duke of Queensbury, was, it is true, the son of one of the most +active partisans of the Stuart family, to whom the house of Queensbury +owed both its ducal rank and princely fortune. Possessed of good +abilities, but devoid of application, and with the disadvantage to a +public man of being of an easy, indolent temper, this celebrated +promoter of the union between Scotland and England, had acquired, by +courtesy, and by a long administration of affairs, a singular influence +over his countrymen. His character has been written with a pen that +could scarcely find sufficient invectives for those politicians who, in +the opinion of the writer, were the ruin of their country. The Duke of +Queensbury falls under the heaviest censures. "To outward appearance," +says Lockhart, "he was of a gentle and good disposition, but inwardly a +very devil, standing at nothing to advance his own interest and designs. +Though his hypocrisy and dissimulation served him very much, yet he +became so well known, that no man, except such as were his nearest +friends, and _socii criminis_, gave him any trust; and so little regard +had he to his promises and vows, that it was observed and notorious, +that if he was at any pains to convince you of his friendship, and by +swearing and imprecating curses on himself and family to assure you of +his sincerity, then, to be sure, he was doing you underhand all the +mischief in his power."[17] + +These characteristics must be viewed as proceeding from the pen of a +partisan; nor can we wonder at the contrariety of opinion which prevails +respecting any public man who proposes a great and startling measure. +Honours, places, and a pension were showered down upon this most +fortunate of ministers; and his career is remarkable as having been +cheered by the favour of four sovereigns of very different tempers. In +his early youth, after his return from his travels, the Duke of +Queensbury was appointed a Privy Councillor of Scotland by Charles the +Second. He held the same post under James the Second, but resigned it in +1688. The reserved and doubting William of Orange placed him near his +person, making him a Lord of the Bedchamber, and captain of his Dutch +guard; eventually he became Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, and--to +abridge a list of numerous employments and honours--Lord High +Commissioner of Scotland. So far had Queensbury's fortunes begun with +the Stuarts and continued under the House of Orange. It appeared +unlikely that the successor of William--she who in her first speech +announced that her heart was "wholly English," to mark the distinction +between herself and the foreigner who had sat on the throne before +her,--would adopt as her own representative in Scotland the favourite of +William; yet she continued Queensbury in that high station which it was +believed none could fill so adequately in the disturbed and refractory +kingdom of Scotland.[18] + +During the early years of Queen Anne's reign, and in the season of his +own comparative prosperity, the young Earl of Mar entered into his first +marriage, at Twickenham, with Lady Margaret Hay, daughter of John Earl +of Kinnoul. The wife whom he thus selected was the daughter of a house +originally adverse to the principles of the Revolution. William Earl of +Kinnoul, in the time of James the Second, had remained at St. Germains +with that monarch. But the same change which had manifested the +political course of Lord Mar, had been apparent in the father of Lady +Margaret Hay. The Earl of Kinnoul was afterwards one of the +Commissioners for the Union, and supported that treaty in Parliament; +yet, when the Rebellion of 1715 commenced, this nobleman was one of the +suspected persons who were summoned to surrender themselves, and was +committed a prisoner to Edinburgh Castle. His daughter, the Countess of +Mar, was happily spared from witnessing the turmoils of that period. +Married in her seventeenth year, she lived only four years with a +husband whose character was but partially developed, when, in 1707, she +died at the age of twenty-one, having given birth to two sons. She was +buried at the family seat at Alloa Castle, an ancient fortress, built in +the year 1300, one turret of which still remaining rises ninety feet +from the ground. Seven years intervened before Lord Mar supplied the +place of his lost wife by another union. + +His days were, indeed, consumed in public affairs, varied by the +improvement of his Scottish estates, embellishing the tower of Alloa by +laying out beautiful gardens in that wilderness style of planting which +the Earl first introduced into Scotland.[19] He had the reward of +seeing his efforts succeed, the gardens of Alloa being much eulogized +and visited. This was by no means Lord Mar's only recreation; +architecture was his delight, and he introduced into London the +celebrated Gibbs, who, out of gratitude, eventually bequeathed a large +portion of his fortune to the children of the Earl.[20] It is refreshing +to view this busy and versatile politician in this light before we +plunge into the depths of those intricate politics which form the +principal features of his life. + +It was during the year 1703 that a political association or club was +framed consisting of the chief nobility and gentlemen of fortune and +afterwards known by the name of the _Squadrone Volante_. They acquired +distinguished popularity and influence by the patriotic character of the +measures which they introduced into the Scottish Parliament; and by +their professions of being free from any court interest, they gained the +confidence of the country. They were firm friends of the Revolution +party, great sticklers to the Protestant succession, forming a _separate +band_ distinct from the Whigs, yet opposed to the Cavaliers, or, as they +were afterwards called, Jacobites. The power of the Squadrone was, in a +great measure, the result of those jarring counsels in the Scottish +Parliament, which only coalesced upon one theme,--independence of +England--interference of "foreign" or English counsels, as they were +termed. This combination was headed by the Duke of Montrose, the Marquis +of Tweedale, and several other Scottish noblemen, to whom adhered thirty +commoners.[21] + +During the existence of this association, the celebrated "Queensbury +affair," as it was usually called, involved the temporary disgrace of +the Duke of Queensbury, and first brought to view those convenient +doctrines of expediency which afterwards formed so marked a feature in +the character of Lord Mar. + +The "sham plot," as it is called by Jacobite writers, was a supposed +intended invasion of Great Britain, disclosed to the Duke of Queensbury +by Simon Fraser of Beaufort, afterwards Lord Lovat; whose very name +seems to have suggested to his contemporaries, as it has since done to +posterity, the combination of all that is subtle, treacherous, and base, +with all that is dangerous, desperate, and remorseless in conduct. + +This tool of the court of St. Germains came over from France, in company +with John Murray, who was sent to watch his proceedings, and also to aid +his object in procuring the promises of the most distinguished Highland +chieftains to the furtherance of the projected invasion of England. The +assistance of Captain Murray was conjoined on this occasion, the +fidelity of that gentleman having been ascertained by the court of St. +Germains; whilst there existed not a human being who did not +instinctively distrust Beaufort: to Mary of Modena, who far more +ardently desired the restoration of the Stuarts than her consort James, +he was peculiarly obnoxious. + +The exiled Queen's fears proved well founded, for no sooner had Beaufort +landed in England, than he formed the scheme of converting this secret +enterprise into a means of obtaining reward and protection from the Duke +of Argyle, whose mediation with the Duke of Queensbury he required for +private reasons; he therefore notified his arrival to Argyle, who had +been his early and hereditary friend, offering at the same time to make +great disclosures, if he had previous assurances of remuneration. + +Such is the account of most impartial writers, and more especially of +those who lean to the Whig party: but, by the Jacobites, the very +existence of a conspiracy to invade England at this time was denied, and +the whole affair was declared to be a scheme of the Duke of Queensbury's +to undermine the reputation of the Cavaliers, and "to find a pretence to +vent his wrath, and execute his malice against those who thwarted his +arbitrary designs," for the completion of a treaty of union between +Scotland and England, which had been in contemplation ever since the +days of William the Third.[22] + +After much deliberation the Duke of Queensbury was induced to have +several communications with Fraser of Beaufort, and to listen to the +information which he gave, all of which the Duke transmitted to Queen +Anne, although he concealed the name of his informant. In consequence of +Fraser's disclosures, several persons coming from France to England were +apprehended on suspicion of being engaged in the Pretender's service, +and an universal alarm was spread, as well as a distrust of the motives +and proceedings of Queensbury, who thus acted upon the intelligence of +an avowed spy, and noted outlaw, like Fraser. A temporary loss of +Queensbury's political sway in Scotland was the result, and a consequent +increase of power to the Squadrone Volante. + +It was at this juncture that the Earl of Mar came forward as the +advocate of the Duke of Queensbury's measures, and the opponent of the +Squadrone Volante, who had now completely fixed upon themselves that +name, from their pretending to act by themselves, and to cast the +balance of contending parties in Parliament. The opposition of Lord Mar +to the Squadrone was peculiarly acceptable to the Tories, or Cavaliers, +who had recently applied to that faction to assist them in the defence +of their country against the Union, but who had been greeted with an +indignant and resolute refusal. + +The Earl of Mar therefore appeared as the champion of the Cavaliers, and +for the first time won their confidence and approbation. "He headed," +writes the bitter and yet truthful Lockhart, "such of the Duke of +Queensbury's friends as opposed the Marquis of Tweedale and his party's +designs; and that with such art and dissimulation, that he gained the +favour of all the Tories, and was by them esteemed an honest man, and +well inclined to the royal family. Certain it is, he vowed and protested +as much many a time; but no sooner was the Marquis of Tweedale and his +party dispossessed, than he returned as a dog to the vomit, and promoted +all the court of England's measures with the greatest zeal +imaginable."[23] The three parties in the Scottish Parliament, according +to the same authority, consisted of the Cavaliers,--that remnant of the +Jacobite party which remained vigorous, more especially in the +Highlands, since the days of Dundee,--of the Squadrone, "or _outer_ +court party," and of the present court party, consisting of true blue +Presbyterians and Revolutioners.[24] With the interests of the latter +party the Earl of Mar was undoubtedly engaged. + +Scotland was at this time, and continued for several years, racked with +dissensions regarding the Treaty of Union. No one can form an adequate +idea of the heartburnings, feuds, parties, and tumults, by which that +great measure was preceded, and followed, without looking into the +contemporary writers, whose aim it ever is to heighten the picture of +passing events; whereas the calm historian subdues it into one general +effect of keeping. + +The Earl of Mar took a prominent part in seconding the treaty; no man's +commencement of a career could be more opposed to its termination than +that of this politician of easy virtue. The Duke of Queensbury was for +some time so hated in Scotland as scarcely to venture to appear there, +but contented himself with sending the Duke of Argyle as commissioner, +and "using him as the monkey did the cat in pulling out the hot roasted +chesnut." But when he was, after an interval, reinstated in power, Lord +Mar was again his devoted ally. The influence of the Duke over every +mind with which he came into collision was, indeed, almost irresistible. +"I cannot but wonder," remarks the indignant Lockhart, "at the influence +he had over all men of sense, quality, and estate; men that had, at +least many of them, no dependance on him, yet were so deluded as to +serve his ambitious designs, contrary to the acknowledged dictates of +their own conscience."[25] + +In 1706, in the beginning of the session of Parliament, the Earl of Mar +presented the draught of an Act for appointing Commissioners, to treat +of an Union of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England. Thus was he the +instrument of first presenting to the Scotch that measure so revolting +to their prejudices, so singularly distasteful to a proud and +independent people. It is impossible to judge how far Lord Mar was +convinced of the expediency of the Treaty, or whether he was, in secret, +one of those who feigned an affection for the measure, whilst, in their +hearts, they wished for the preponderance of the votes against it. The +Treaty of Union was espoused by those in whose opinions Lord Mar had +been nurtured,--and originally, according to De Foe, it had been mooted +by William the Third, who declared that this Island would never be easy +without an union. "I have done all I can in that affair," he once +observed; "but I do not see a temper in either nation that looks like +it: it may be done, but not yet."[26] + +The Treaty, retarded by many interests, clashing between nations, but, +more especially, by the burning recollections of massacred countrymen in +the blood-stained valley of Glencoe, was now brought into discussion +just when the Earl of Mar was at that age when a thirst for gain, or an +ambition to rise is unquenched, in general, by disappointment. Differing +in one respect from many Cavaliers, in being of a family strictly +Protestant, Lord Mar had not the inducement which operated upon the +Catholics, in their undiminished, ardent desire to restore the young +Prince of Wales to the throne. Differing, again, in another respect from +many of the Jacobites, Lord Mar had not the tie of a personal knowledge +of the exiled King to fix his fidelity; or, what was considered far more +likely to have sealed his, or any adherent allegiance, he had enjoyed no +opportunities of cultivating the favour of the enthusiastic, bigoted, +and yet intelligent Mary of Modena, whose exertions for her family kept +alive the spirit of Jacobitism during the decline of her royal devotee +and the childhood of her son. Lord Mar seems to have been reared +entirely in Scotland, and he might perhaps come under the description +given by the eloquent Lord Belhaven of a Whig in Scotland:--"A true, +blue Presbyterian, who, without considering time or power, will venture +all for the Kirk, but something less for the State;"[27] but that his +subsequent conduct contradicts this supposition. + +The Treaty struggled on through a powerful and memorable opposition. It +is a curious instance of Scottish pride, that one of the objections made +to the Commissioners appointed to treat of the Union, was, that there +were six or eight newly-raised families amongst them, and but few of +the great and ancient names of Hamilton, Graham, Murray, Erskine, and +many others.[28] Never was there so much domestic misery and +humiliation, abroad, for poor Scotland, as during the progress of this +Treaty. The fame of Marlborough, and the fortunes of Godolphin, were now +at their zenith; they were considered as the great arbiters of Scottish +affairs,--the Queen being only applied to for the sake of form. These +two great statesmen treated the Scottish noblemen to whom the Cavaliers +entrusted the success of their representations, with a lofty insolence, +which galled the proud Highlanders, and went to their very hearts. + +"I myself," writes the author of Memoirs of Scotland, "out of curiosity, +went sometimes to their levees, where I saw the Commissioners, the Duke +of Queensbury, the Chancellor, the Secretary, Lord Mar, and other great +men of Scotland, hang on near an hour; and when admitted, treated with +no more civility than one gentleman pays another's valet-de-chambre; and +for which the Scots have none to blame but themselves, for had they +valued themselves as they ought to have done, and not so meanly and +sneakingly prostituted their honour and country to the will and pleasure +of the English Ministry, they would never have presumed to usurp such a +dominion over Scotland, as openly and avowedly to consult upon and +determine in Scots' affairs."[29] + +At home, the spirit of party ran to an extent which cannot be called +insane, because the interests at stake were those dearest to a +high-spirited people. "Factions," exclaimed Lord Belhaven, "in +Parliament, are now become independent, and have got footing in +councils, in parliaments, in treaties, in armies, in incorporations, in +families, among kindred; yea, man and wife are not free from them."[30] +"Hannibal, my Lord," he cried, in one of what Lockhart calls his long +premeditated harangues, "Hannibal is at our gates; Hannibal is come the +length of this table; he is at the foot of this throne: he will demolish +the throne; if we take not notice, he will seize upon these regalia; +he'll take them as our _spolia opima_, and whip us out of this House, +never to return again." + +In order to understand the effect of the Act of Union upon the hopes of +the Jacobite party, it is necessary to take into consideration the +following facts. The Act of the English Parliament, by which the Crown +had been settled on Queen Mary and her sister, extended only to the +Princess Anne and her issue. After the death of the Duke of Gloucester, +and about the end of the reign of William the Third, another settlement +was made, by which the Crown was settled on the House of Hanover; but no +similar Act was passed in Scotland. And at the beginning of Queen Anne's +reign, and until after the Union, the Scottish Parliament were legally +possessed of a power to introduce again the exiled family into Great +Britain.[31] + +During the course of the negotiations for the Treaty of Union, the Earl +of Mar formed an alliance with the celebrated Duke of Hamilton. In the +consideration of public affairs at this period, it may not appear a +digression to give some insight into the character of one who headed the +chief party in the Scottish Parliament, and with whom the Earl of Mar +was, at this period of his life, in frequent intercourse. + +James Duke of Hamilton was at this period nearly fifty years of age. His +youth had been passed in the gay court of Charles the Second, as one of +the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber of that monarch,--an office which he +only relinquished to become Ambassador Extraordinary to France, where he +remained long enough to serve in two campaigns under Louis the +Fourteenth. Upon the death of Charles the Second, Louis recommended the +young nobleman, then termed Earl of Arran, strongly and essentially to +James the Second, who made him Master of his Wardrobe, and appointed him +to other offices. + +Under these circumstances it is not surprising that in the honest and +warm feelings of the Duke of Hamilton, affection for the Stuarts should +form a principal feature. He had the courage to adhere firmly to James +the Second, amid the general obloquy, and to accompany the monarch on +his abdication to his embarkation at Rochester. "I can distinguish," he +said, at a meeting of the Scottish nobility in London, over which his +father, the Duke of Hamilton presided, "between the King's popery and +his person. I dislike the one, but have sworn to do allegiance to the +other, which makes it impossible to withhold that which I cannot forbear +believing is the King my master's right: for his present absence in +France can no more affect my duty, than his longer absence from us has +done all this while." + +Notwithstanding these professions, upon the unfortunate conclusion of +the affair of Darien, the Earl of Arran, after twice encountering +imprisonment upon account of the Stuarts, esteemed it his duty to his +country to take the oaths to King William, in order to qualify himself +to sit in Parliament. + +The character of the Duke of Hamilton presents a favourable specimen of +the well-principled and well-intentioned Scotchman, with the +acknowledged virtues and obvious defects of the national character. He +was disinterested in great matters, refusing many opportunities of +worldly advantage, and bearing for the first eight years of his public +career, a retirement which is always more galling to an ambitious temper +than actual danger; yet, it was supposed, and not without reason, that, +whilst his heart was with the Cavaliers, or country party, the +considerations of his great estate in England occasioned a lukewarmness +in his political conduct, and broke down his opposition to the Union. +Wary and cautious, he could thus sacrifice his present hopes of a +distinction which his talents would have readily attained, to his +adherence to a lost cause; but his resolution failed when the sacrifice +of what many might deem inferior interests, was required. + +The Duke soon formed a considerable party in the Parliament; and his +empire over the affections of his countrymen grew daily. To those to +whom he confided, the Duke was gracious and unbending; but a suspicion +of an insult recalled the native haughtiness attributable to his +house.[32] "Frank, honest, and good-natured," as he was esteemed by +Swift, and displaying on his dark, coarse countenance, the +characteristics of good sense and energy, the Duke was a bitter and +vindictive foe[33]--characteristics of his age, and of a nation +undoubtedly prone to wreak a singular and remorseless revenge on all who +offend the hereditary pride, or militate against the prejudices of its +people. + +Endowed with these qualities, the whole career of James Duke of Hamilton +was a struggle between his love for his country, and his consideration +for what he esteemed its truest interests, and his desire to support the +claims of the royal family of Stuart. His political career has been +criticised by writers of every faction; but it must be judged of as +having taken place in times of peculiar difficulty, and a due credit +should be given to the motives of one who displayed, during the greater +portion of his life, forbearance and consistency. "Had not his loyalty +been so unalterable," writes Lockhart, "and that he would never engage +in King William's and his Government's service, and his love to his +country induced him to oppose that King and England's injustice and +encroachments on it, no doubt he had made as great a figure in the world +as any other whatsoever, and that either in a civil or military +capacity."[34] "The Duke of Hamilton's love for his country," observes a +contemptuous, anonymous assailant, "made him leave London, and follow +King James, who had enslaved it. His love to his country had engaged him +in several plots to restore that prince, and with him, tyranny and +idolatry, poverty and slavery."[35] Upon the odious principle of always +seeking out for the lowest and the most selfish motive that can actuate +the conduct of men,--a principle which is thought by weak and bad minds +to display knowledge of the world, but which, in fact, more often +betrays ignorance,--another part of his conduct was misjudged. The +reluctance of the Duke of Hamilton, in 1704, to nominate a successor to +the throne of England, before framing the treaty touching "the Commerce +of Scotland and other Concerns," was ascribed by many to the remote hope +of succeeding to the Crown, since, in case of the exclusion of the +Princess Sophia and her descendants, his family was the next in +succession, of the Protestant Faith. Such was one of the reasons +assigned for the wise endeavour which this nobleman exerted to prevent +an invasion of the kingdom by James Stuart during the reign of Anne, and +such the motive adduced for his advice to the Chevalier to maintain +terms of amity with his royal sister. It was the cause calumniously +assigned of his supposed decline in attachment to the exiled family.[36] + +But, notwithstanding the inference thus deduced, the Duke of Hamilton +continued to enjoy, in no ordinary degree, popular applause and the +favour of Queen Anne, until his tragical death in 1712 occurring just +before the Rebellion of 1715, spared him the perplexity of deciding on +which side he should embark in that perilous and ill-omened +insurrection. + +This celebrated statesman,--one who never entered into a new measure, +nor formed a project, ("though in doing thereof," says Lockhart, "he was +too cautious") that he did not prosecute his designs with a courage that +nothing could daunt,--now determined to win over the Earl of Mar from +the Duke of Queensbury. The Duke of Hamilton was the more induced to the +attempt, from the frequent protestations made by the Earl of Mar of his +love for the exiled family; and he applied himself to the task of +gaining this now important ally with all the skill which experience and +shrewdness could supply. Hamilton was considered invincible in such +undertakings, and was master of a penetration which no one could +withstand. "Never was," writes Lockhart, "a man so qualified to be the +head of a party as himself; for he could, with the greatest dexterity, +apply himself to, and sift through, the inclinations of different +parties, and so cunningly manage them, that he gained some of all to +his." But the Duke met in Lord Mar with one equally skilled in diving +into motives, and in bending the will of others to his own projects. In +the encounter of these two minds, the Duke is said to have been worsted +and disarmed; and the Earl of Mar, by his insinuations, is suspected to +have materially influenced the conduct of that great leader of party. "I +have good reason to suppose," says Lockhart, "that his Grace's appearing +with less zeal and forwardness in this ensuing than in former +Parliaments, is attributable to some agreement passed between them +two."[37] + +For the effect of his newly-acquired influence over the Duke of +Hamilton, and for his other services in promoting the Union, the Earl of +Mar was amply rewarded. During the Parliament of 1705, he was +constituted one of the Commissioners of that Treaty, his name being +third on the list. In 1706, he was appointed one of the Secretaries of +State for Scotland; and afterwards, upon the loss of that office, in +consequence of the Union between the two countries, he was compensated +by being made Keeper of the Signet, with the addition of a pension.[38] +Those who were the promoters of the Treaty must have required some +consolation for the general opprobrium into which the measure brought +the Commissioners. The indignant populace converted the name of +"Treaters" into Traitors: the Parliament Close resounded with "very free +language," denouncing the "Traitors." That picturesque enclosure, since +destroyed by fire, was crowded by a vehement multitude, who rushed into +the outer Parliament House to denounce the Duke of Queensbury and his +party, and to cheer the Duke of Hamilton, whom they followed to his +residence in Holyrood House, exhorting him to stand by his country, and +assuring him of support. The tumults were, indeed, soon quelled by +military force; but the deliberations of Parliament were carried on at +the risk of summary vengeance upon the "Traitors:" and the eloquence of +members was uttered between walls which were guarded, during the whole +session, by all the military force that Edinburgh could command. The +Duke of Queensbury was obliged to walk "as if he had been led to the +gallows,"[39] through two lanes of musqueteers, from the Parliament +House to the Cross, where his coach stood; no coaches, nor any person +who was not a member, being allowed to enter the Parliament Close +towards evening: and he was conveyed in his carriage to the Abbey, +surrounded both by horse and foot guards. + +On the 1st of May, 1707, the Articles of Union were ratified by the +Parliament of England. That day has been set down by the opponents of +the measure as one never to be forgotten by Scotland,--the loss of their +independence and sovereignty. Superstition marked every stage of the +measure as happening upon some date adverse to the Stuarts. On the +fourth of November the first Article of the Union was approved; on a +fourth of November was William of Orange born. On the eighth of January +the Peerage was renounced; on an eighth of January was the warrant for +the Murder at Glencoe signed. The ratification of the Article of Union +was on the sixteenth of January. On a sixteenth of January was the +sentence of Charles the First pronounced. The dissolution of the +Scottish Parliament took place upon the twenty-fifth of March, according +to the Old Style, New Year's Day: that concession might therefore be +esteemed a New-year's Gift to the English. + +Finally,--The Equivalent, or Compensation Money, that is, "the price of +Scotland," came to Edinburgh on the fifth of August, the day on which +the Earl of Gowrie designed to murder James the Sixth.[40] + +The discontents and tumults which attended the progress of the Union ran +throughout the whole country, and pervaded all ranks of people. Yet it +is remarkable, that the nobility of Scotland should have been the first +to fail in their opposition to the measure; and that the middle ranks, +together with the lowest of the people, should have been foremost to +withstand what they considered as insulting to the independence of their +country. The very name and antiquity of their kingdom was dear to them, +although there remained, after the removal of James the First into +England, little more than "a vain shadow of a name, a yoke of slavery, +and image of a kingdom."[41] It was in vain that the Duke of Hamilton +had called, in the beginning of the debates on this measure, upon the +families of "Bruce, Campbell, Douglas," not to desert their country: the +opposition to the Union was bought over, with many exceptions, with a +price;--twenty thousand pounds being sent over to the Lords +Commissioners to employ in this manner, twelve thousand pounds of which +were, however, returned to the English Treasury, there being no more who +would accept the bribe. The Earl of Mar and the Earl of Seafield had +privately secured their own reward, having bargained "for greater +matters than could be agreed upon while the kingdom of Scotland stood in +safety."[42] + +Amidst the resentment of the Scotch for their insulted dignity, it is +amusing to find that this Union of the two countries could be deemed +derogatory to English dignity; yet Dean Swift, among others, considered +it in that light. "Swift's hatred to the Scottish nation," observes Sir +Walter Scott, "led him to look upon that Union with great resentment, as +a measure degrading to England. The Scottish themselves hardly detested +the idea more than he did; and that is saying as much as possible."[43] + +Swift vented his wrath in the verses beginning with these lines: + + "The Queen has lately lost a part + Of her entirely-English heart,[44] + For want of which, by way of botch, + She piec'd it up again with Scotch. + Blest Revolution! which creates + Divided hearts, united states! + See how the double nation lies + Like a rich coat with skirts of frize: + As if a man in making posies, + Should bundle thistles up with roses!" + +That the conduct of Lord Mar throughout this Treaty was regarded with +avowed suspicion, the following anecdote tends to confirm: Lord +Godolphin, at that time First Lord of the Treasury, wishing to tamper +with one of a combination against the Queensbury faction, sent to offer +that individual a place if he would discover to him how the combination +was formed, and in what manner it might be broken. But the gentleman +whose fidelity he thus assailed, was true to his engagements; and +returned an indignant answer, desiring the Lord Treasurer's agent "not +to think that he was treating with such men as Mar and Seafield."[45] + +At this time the Earl of Mar was said to be in the full enjoyment of +Lord Godolphin's confidence, and to have been one of those whom the +treasurer consulted, in settling the government of Scotland. The rumour +was not conducive to his comfort or well-being in his native country; +and the Earl appears to have passed much more time in intrigues in +London than among the gardens of Alloa. + +It was not long before the effects of the general discontent were +manifested in the desire of the majority of the Scottish nation to +restore the descendant of their ancient kings to the throne, and even +the Cameronians and Presbyterians were willing to pass over the +objection of his being a Papist. "God may convert the Prince," they +said, "or he may have Protestant children, but the Union never can be +good."[46] The middle orders openly expressed their anxiety to welcome a +Prince to their shores, whom they regarded as a deliverer: the nobility +and gentry, though more cautious, yet were equally desirous to see the +honour of their nation, in their own sense of it, restored. +Episcopalians, Cavaliers, and Revolutionists, were unanimous, or, to use +the Scots' proverb, "were all one man's bairns." This state of public +feeling was soon communicated to St. Germains, and Colonel Hooke, famous +for his negotiations, was, according to the writer of the Memoirs, +"pitched upon by the French King, and palmed upon the court of St. +Germains, and dispatched to sound the intentions of the principal +Scottish nobility." This agent arrived in Scotland in the month of March, +1707. The paper containing assurances of aid to James Stuart was signed +by sixteen noblemen and gentlemen; but the Earl of Mar was, at that +time, engaged in a very different undertaking, and was in close amity +with Sunderland, Godolphin, and the heads of the Whig party. + +The spring of 1708 discovered the designs of Louis, and the news of +great preparations at Dunkirk spread consternation in England. At this +juncture, the first in which the son of James the Second was called upon +to play a part in that drama of which he was the ill-starred hero, the +usual fate of his race befel him. He came to Dunkirk hastily, and in +private, intending to pass over alone to the Firth of Forth. He was +attacked by the measles; at a still more critical moment of his +melancholy life, he was the victim of ague: both of them ignoble +diseases, which seem to have little concern with the affairs of royalty. +The delay of the Prince's illness, although shortened by the peremptory +commands of the French King to proceed, was fatal, for the English fleet +had time to make preparations. A storm drove the French fleet +northwards; in the tempest the unfortunate adventurer passed the Firth +of Forth and Aberdeen; and although the fleet retraced its course to the +Isle of May, it was only to flee back to France, daunted as the French +admirals were by the proximity of Sir George Byng and the English fleet, +who chased the enemy along the coasts of Fife and Angus. It was shortly +after this event that the Pretender, upon whose head a price of a +hundred thousand pounds was set by the English Government, first +assumed the title of Chevalier of St. George, in order to spare himself +the expense of field equipage in the campaign in Flanders. + +The conduct of the Earl of Mar, in relation to conspiracy, has been +alluded to rather than declared by historians. He is supposed not to +have been, in secret, unfavourable to the undertaking. He was, +nevertheless, active in giving to the Earl of Sunderland the names of +the disaffected with whom he was generally supposed to be too well +acquainted. Many of those who were suspected were brought to London, and +were in some instances committed to prison, in others confined to their +own houses. On this occasion the advice of the great Marlborough was +followed, and the guilty were not proceeded against with more severity +than was necessary for the Queen's safety. The same generous policy was +in after times remembered, in mournful contrast with a very different +spirit. + +It was the ill-fortune of Mar to give satisfaction to none of those who +had looked on the course of public affairs during the recent +transactions; nor was it ever his good fortune to inspire confidence in +his motives. Some notion may be formed of the thraldom of party in +Scotland by the following anecdote:-- + +In 1711-12 the Queen conferred upon the Duke of Hamilton a patent for an +English dukedom; but this, according to a vote of the House of Lords, +did not entitle him to sit as a British Peer. Indignant at being +thought incapable of receiving a grace which the King might confer on +the meanest commoner, the Scotch Peers took the first opportunity of +walking out of the House in a body, and refusing to vote or sit in that +House. In addition to the affront implied by their incapacity of +becoming British Peers, it was more than hinted that it would not be +advisable for the independence of the House if the King could confer the +privileges of British Peers upon a set of nobles whose poverty rendered +them dependent on the Crown. + +Just when this offensive vote of the House was the theme of general +conversation, Dean Swift encountered the Earl of Mar at Lord Masham's. +"I was arguing with him, (Lord Mar)," he writes, "about the stubbornness +and folly of his countrymen; they are so angry about the affair of the +Duke of Hamilton, whom the Queen has made a Duke of England, and the +Lords will not admit him. He swears he would vote for us, but dare not, +because all Scotland would detest him if he did; he should never be +chosen again, nor be able to live there."[47] + +The Earl of Mar continued to be one of the Representative Peers for +Scotland, having been chosen in 1707, and rechosen at the general +elections in 1708, 1710, and 1713.[48] + +Upon the death of the Duke of Queensbury in 1711, the office of +Secretary of State for Scotland became vacant, and the Duke of Hamilton +and the Earl of Mar were rival expectants for the high and important +post. Government hesitated for some time before filling up the post, +being disposed rather to abolish it than to offend any party by its +disposal, and deeming it as an useless expense to the Government; nor +was it filled up for a considerable time. + +The tragical death of one who, with some failings, deserved the +affection and respect of his country, procured eventually to the Earl of +Mar the chief management of public affairs in Scotland. Whilst on the +eve of embarking as Ambassador Extraordinary to France, upon the +conclusion of the peace of Utrecht, the Duke of Hamilton fell in a duel +with his brother-in-law, Lord Mohun,--a man whose course of life had +been stained with blood, but whose crimes had met with a singular +impunity. + +The character of Lord Mohun seems rather to have belonged to the reign +of Charles the Second, than to the sober period of William and Anne. The +representative of a very ancient family, he had the misfortune of coming +to his title when young, while his estate was impoverished. "His quality +introduced him into the best company," says a contemporary writer, "but +his wants very often led him into bad." He ran a course of notorious and +low dissipation, and was twice tried for murder before he was twenty. +His first offence was the cruel and almost unprovoked murder of William +Mountford, an accomplished actor, whom Mohun stabbed whilst off his +guard. The second was the death of Mr. Charles Coote. For these crimes +Lord Mohun had been tried by his peers, and, strange to say, acquitted. +On his last acquittal he spoke gracefully before the Peers, expressing +great contrition for the disgrace which he had brought upon his order, +and promising to efface it by a better course of life. For some time +this able but depraved nobleman kept to his resolution, and studied the +constitution of his country.[49] He became a bold and eloquent speaker +in the House on the side of the Whigs; and he had attained a +considerable popularity, when the affair with the Duke of Hamilton +finished his career before the age of thirty.[50] + +A family dispute, exasperated by the different sides taken by these two +noblemen in Parliament, was the cause of an event which deprived the +Jacobite party of one of their most valuable and most moderate leaders; +for had the counsels of the Duke of Hamilton prevailed, the Chevalier +would never have undertaken the futile invasion of 1708, nor perhaps +have engaged in the succeeding attempt in 1715. Upon the fortunes of the +Earl of Mar, the death of the Duke so far operated that it was not until +all fear of offending the powerful and popular Hamilton was ended by his +tragical death, that the appointment of Secretary was conferred upon his +rival. The Whigs were calumniously suspected of having had some unfair +share in the death of the Duke,--an event which took place in the +following manner. + +Certain offensive words spoken by Lord Mohun in the chambers of a Master +in Chancery, and addressed to the Duke of Hamilton, brought a +long-standing enmity into open hostility. On the part of Lord Mohun, +General Macartney was sent to convey a challenge to the Duke, and the +place of meeting, time, and other preliminaries were settled by +Macartney and the Duke over a bottle of claret, at the Rose Tavern, in +Covent Garden. The hour of eight on the following day was fixed for the +encounter, and on the fatal morning the Duke drove to the lodgings of +his friend, Colonel Hamilton, who acted as his second, in Charing Cross, +and hurried him away. It was afterwards deposed, that on setting out, +the Colonel, in his haste, forgot his sword; upon which the Duke stopped +the carriage, and taking his keys from his pocket, desired his servant +to go to a certain closet in his house, and to bring his mourning-sword, +which was accordingly done. This was regarded as a fatal omen in those +days, in which, as Addison describes, a belief in such indications +existed. + +The Duke then drove on to that part of Hyde Park leading to Kensington, +opposite the Lodge, and getting out, walked to and fro upon the grass +between the two ponds. Lord Mohun, in the mean time, set out from Long +Acre with his friend, General Macartney, who seems to have been a worthy +second of the titled bravo. + +Lord Mohun having taken the precaution of ordering some burnt wine to be +prepared for him upon his return from the rencounter, proceeded to the +place of appointment, where the Duke awaited him. "I must ask your +Lordship," said Lord Mohun, "one favour, which is, that these gentlemen +may have nothing to do with our quarrel." "My Lord," answered the Duke, +"I leave them to themselves." The parties then threw off their cloaks, +and all engaged; the seconds, it appears, fighting with as much fury as +their principals. The park-keepers coming up, found Colonel Hamilton and +General Macartney struggling together; the General holding the Colonel's +sword in his left hand, the Colonel pulling at the blade of the +General's sword. One of the keepers went up to the principals; he found +Lord Mohun in a position between sitting and lying, bending towards the +Duke, who was on his knees, leaning almost across Lord Mohun, both +holding each other's sword fast, both striving and struggling with the +fury of remorseless hatred. This awful scene was soon closed for ever, +as far as Mohun was concerned. He expired shortly afterwards, having +received four wounds, each of which was likely to be mortal. The Duke +was raised and supported by Colonel Hamilton and one of the keepers; but +after walking about thirty yards, exclaimed that "he could walk no +farther," sank down upon the grass, and expired. His lifeless remains, +mangled with wounds which showed the relentless fury of the encounter, +were conveyed to St. James's Square, the same morning, while the +Duchess was still asleep.[51] + +Lord Mohun, meanwhile, was carried, by order of General Macartney, to +the hackney-coach in which he had arrived, and his body conveyed to his +house in Marlborough Street, where, it was afterwards reported, that +being flung upon the best bed, his Lady, one of the nieces of Charles +Gerrard, Earl of Macclesfield, expressed great anger at the soiling of +her new coverlid, on which the bleeding corpse was deposited.[52] + +General Macartney escaped. It appeared on oath that he had made a +thrust at the Duke, as he was struggling with Mohun; and it being +generally believed that it was by that wound that the Duke died, an +address was presented to her Majesty by the Scottish Peers, begging that +she would write to all the kings and states in alliance with her, not to +shelter Macartney from justice.[53] + +A deep and general grief was shown for the death of the Duke of +Hamilton. In Scotland mourning was worn, and the churches were hung with +black. It was in vain that the Duchess offered a reward of three hundred +pounds for the apprehension of Macartney; the murderer had fled beyond +seas. + +The Cavaliers lost, in Hamilton, an ornament to their party, from the +strict honour and fidelity of his known character. But the crisis which +the unfortunate Duke had in vain endeavoured to avert was now at hand, +and the death of Queen Anne brought with it all those consequences which +a long series of cabals, during the later disturbed years of the Queen's +existence, had been gradually ripening into importance. + +The Earl of Mar had openly espoused the High-church party in the case of +Sacheverel; and he had on that account, as well as from the doubt +generally entertained of his fidelity, little reason to expect from the +House of Hanover a continuance in office. No sooner had the Queen +expired, than those whom Lord Mar had long, in secret, been regarding +with interest, expressed openly their disappointment at the result of +the last reign. + +"The accession of George the First," remarks Dr. Coxe, "was a new era in +the history of that Government which was established at the Revolution. +Under William and Anne the Stuart family can scarcely be considered as +absolutely excluded from the throne; for all parties, except the extreme +Whigs, looked forward to the possibility of the Stuarts returning to the +throne. But, in fact, the Revolution was not completed till the actual +establishment of the Brunswick line, which cut off all hopes of a return +without a new revolution."[54] + +When the news of Queen Anne's dangerous condition reached the Chevalier +de St. George, he was at Luneville; but he repaired instantly to +Barleduc, where he held a council. As he entered the council-chamber, he +was heard to exclaim, "If that Princess dies, I am lost."[55] There was +no doubt that a correspondence with the exiled family had been carried +on with great alacrity, during the last few years of Queen Anne's reign, +with the cognizance of the Sovereign;[56] and that large sums were spent +by Mary of Modena, and by her son, in procuring intelligence of all +that was going on in the English Court. + +Immediately after the Queen's death, Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, +proposed to Lord Bolingbroke to proclaim James at Charing Cross, and +offered, himself, to head the procession in lawn sleeves. But +Bolingbroke shrank from the enterprise; and, with an exclamation of +passion, Atterbury exclaimed,--"There is the best cause in Europe lost +for want of spirit." The boldness of the proposition, and the ardent +temper from which it originated, recall, with regret, the remembrance of +one who, as Lord Hailes in his notes on Atterbury's Correspondence has +remarked, was "incapable of dark conspiracies."[57] + +The Chevalier was then residing at Barleduc, with a suite of sixty +persons; some of whom boasted of having taken part in the conspiracies +against William the Third, and were proud of having compassed the death +of that Sovereign. From time to time, Englishmen of distinction +travelled from Paris to Barleduc, under pretext of seeing the country, +but in fact to proffer a secret allegiance to the Prince. The individual +to whom these attentions were addressed, is described by an anonymous +emissary of the English Court, as leading a regular life,--hunting when +the weather permitted, and hearing mass every day with great precision +and devotion. "Il est fort maigre," adds the same writer, "assez grand; +son teint est brun, son humeur et sa personne ne sont pas desagreables." +In another place, it is added, "Il paroit manquer de jugement et de +resolution:" an opinion, unhappily, too correct.[58] On the question +being put by Bolingbroke to the Duke of Berwick, whether the Prince was +a bigot, the answer was in the negative. "Then," said Bolingbroke, "we +shall have no objection to place him on the throne." This anecdote, +which was told by the Chevalier himself to Brigadier Nugent, probably +gave countenance to the rumour spread in England, that James was likely +to renounce the Catholic faith, and conform to the English Church.[59] + +The Earl of Mar and his brother, Lord Grange, were now the two most +considerable men in Scotland. Lord Grange had been made Lord of Session +in 1707, and afterwards Lord Justice Clerk, during the three last years +of Queen Anne's reign. His character presents traits even more repulsive +and more dangerous than the time-serving and duplicity of the Earl of +Mar. Lord Grange was one of those men whom the honest adherents to +either party would, doubtless, gladly have turned over to the other +side. His abilities, if we judge of the high appointments which he held, +must have been eminent; but he was devoid of all principle, and was +capable, if the melancholy and extraordinary history of his unhappy +wife be true, of the darkest schemes. + +It would be difficult to reconcile, in any other man, the discrepancy of +Lord Grange's real opinions and of his subsequent efforts to restore the +House of Stuart; but, in a brother of the Earl of Mar, the difficulty +ceases, and all hopes of consistency, or rather of its origin, +sincerity, vanish. Lord Grange is declared to have been a "true blue +republican, and, if he had any religion, at bottom a Presbyterian;" yet +he was deeply involved in transactions with the Chevalier and his +friends.[60] + +Lord Grange was united to a lady violent in temper, of a dauntless +spirit, and a determined Hanoverian. Their marriage had been enforced by +the laws of honour, and was ill-omened from the first; therefore, where +respect has ceased, affection soon languishes and expires. The daughter +of Cheisly of Dalry, a man of uncontrolled passions, who shot Sir George +Lockhart, one of the Lords of Session, for having decided a law-suit +against him, Mrs. Erskine of Grange, commonly called Lady Grange, +inherited the determined will of her father. It was said that she had +compelled Lord Grange to do her justice by marrying her, and "had +desired him to remember, by way of threat, that she was Cheisly's +daughter." For this menace she suffered in a way which could only be +effected in a country like Scotland at that period, and among a people +held in the thraldom of the clans. Her singular history belongs to a +later period in the annals of those events in which so much domestic +happiness was blasted, never to be recovered.[61] + +With his brother, Lord Mar was in constant correspondence, during his +own residence in London; and although Lord Grange was skilful enough to +conceal his machinations, and to retain his seat on the bench as a +Scottish judge, there is very little reason to doubt his secret +co-operation in the subsequent movements of the Earl. + +Acting as if "he thought that all things were governed by fate or +fortune,"[62] George the First remained a long time to settle his own +affairs in Hanover, before coming to England. This delay was employed by +the Earl of Mar, in an endeavour to extenuate the tenor of his political +conduct of late years in the eyes of the Sovereign, and in placing +before the King the merit of his services and his claims to favour. The +letter which he addressed to George the First, when in Holland, was +printed by Tonson, during the year 1715, with prefatory remarks by Sir +Richard Steele, whose comments upon this production of a man who, +scarcely a year after it was written, set up the standard of the +Pretender at Braemar, are expressed in these terms: + +"It gives me a lively sense of the hardships of civil war, wherein all +the sacred and most intimate obligations between man and man are to be +torn asunder, when I cannot, without pain, represent to myself the +behaviour of Lord Mar, with whom I had not even the honour of any +further commerce than the pleasure of passing some agreeable hours in +his company: I say, when even such little incidents make it irksome to +be in a state of war with those with whom we have lived in any degree of +familiarity, how terrible must the image be of rending the ties of +blood, the sanctity of affinity and intermarriage, and the bringing men +who, perhaps in a few months before, were to each other the dearest of +all mankind, to meet on terms of giving death to each other at the same +time that they had rather embrace!" Thus premising, and declaring that +he could with difficulty efface from his mind all remains of good will +and pity to Lord Mar, Sir Richard Steele subjoins a document, fatal to +the reputation of Lord Mar--the following letter, which Lord Mar +addressed to the King, in explanation of his conduct. + + +LORD MAR TO THE KING. + + "Sir, + + "Having the happiness to be your Majesty's subject, and also the + honour of being of your servants, as one of your Secretaries of + State, I beg leave by this to kiss your Majesty's hand, and + congratulate your happy accession to the Throne; which I should have + done myself the honour of doing sooner, had I not hoped to have had + the honour of doing it personally ere now. I am afraid I may have + had the misfortune to be misrepresented to your Majesty, and my + reason for thinking so is, because I was the only one of the late + Queen's servants whom your Ministers here did not visit, which I + mentioned to Mr. Harley and the Earl of Clarendon, when they went + from hence to wait on your Majesty; and your Ministers carrying so + to me was the occasion of my receiving such orders as deprived me of + the honour and satisfaction of waiting on them and being known to + them. I suppose I had been misrepresented to them by some here upon + account of party, or to ingratiate themselves by aspersing others, + as one party here too often occasion; but I hope your Majesty will + be so just as not to give credit to such misrepresentations. + + "The part I acted in bringing about and making of the Union when the + succession to the Crown was settled for Scotland on your Majesty's + family, when I had the honour to serve as Secretary of State for + that kingdom, doth, I hope, put my sincerity and faithfulness to + your Majesty out of dispute. My family had had the honour for a + great tract of years to be faithful servants to the Crown, and have + had the care of the King's children (when King of Scotland) + entrusted to them. A predecessor of mine was honoured with the care + of your Majesty's grandmother, when young; and she was pleased + afterwards to express some concern for our family, in letters I now + have under her own hand. + + "I have had the honour to serve her late Majesty in one capacity or + other ever since her accession to the Crown. I was happy in a good + mistress, and she was pleased to have some confidence in me and + regard for my services. And since your Majesty's happy accession to + the Crown, I hope you will find that I have not been wanting in my + duty in being instrumental in keeping things quiet and peaceable in + the country to which I belong and have some interest in. + + "Your Majesty shall ever find me as faithful and dutiful a subject + and servant as ever any of my family have been to the Crown, or as I + have been to my late mistress the Queen. And I beg your Majesty may + be so good not to believe any misrepresentations of me, which + nothing but party hatred and my zeal for the interest of the Crown + doth occasion; and I hope I may presume to lay claim to your royal + favour or protection. As your accession to the Crown hath been quiet + and peaceable, may your Majesty's reign be long and prosperous; and + that your people may soon have the happiness and satisfaction of + your presence amongst them, is the earnest and fervent wish of him + who is, with the humblest duty and respect, Sir, your Majesty's most + faithful, most dutiful and most obedient subject and servant, + + MAR." + + "Whitehall, August thirtieth, 1714, o. s." + +This disgraceful letter was ineffectual. The Monarch, "whose views and +affections were, according to Lord Chesterfield, singly confined to the +narrow compass of his Electorate," and for "whom England was too big," +acted with a promptness and decision which gave no time for the workings +of faction. An immediate change of ministry was announced by Kryenberg, +the Hanoverian resident, at the first Privy Council; and among other +changes, Lord Townshend was appointed in the place of Lord Bolingbroke. +Well might Bolingbroke exclaim, "The grief of my soul is this; I see +plainly that the Tory party is gone."[63] + +For many months Lord Mar continued to maintain such a demeanour as might +blind those of the opposite party to his real intentions. It seems, +indeed, certain that at first he hoped to ensure a continuance in office +by exerting his influence in Scotland to procure the good conduct of the +clans: he was successful in obtaining even from some of those Highland +chieftains who were afterwards the most deeply implicated in the +Rebellion, an address declaring that they were "ready to concur with his +Lordship in faithfully serving King George." "Your Lordship," states +that memorial, "has an estate and interest in the Highlands, and is so +well known to bear good will to your neighbours, that in order to +prevent any ill impression which malicious and designing people may at +this juncture labour to give of us, we must beg leave to address your +Lordship, and entreat you to assure the Government, in our names, and in +that of the rest of our clans, who, by distance of the place, could not +be present at the signing of our letter, of our loyalty to his sacred +Majesty, King George."[64] This address was signed by Maclean of that +Ilk, Macdonald of Glengary, Mackenzie of Fraserdale, Cameron of Lochiel, +and by several other chiefs of clans, who afterwards fought under the +banners of the Earl of Mar. It furnishes a proof of the great influence +which the Earl possessed in his own country, but he had not the courage +to present it to the King. His Majesty, on the contrary, on hearing of +this address was highly offended, believing that it had been drawn up at +St. Germains in order to insult him, and his refusal to receive it was +accompanied by an order to Lord Mar to give up the seals. + +The Earl lingered, nevertheless, for some time in London, where he had +now some attractions which to a less ambitious mind might have operated +in favour of prudence. In the preceding year, July, 1714, he had +married, at Acton in Middlesex, the Lady Frances Pierrepoint, the second +daughter of Evelyn, first Duke of Kingston, and the sister of Lady Mary +Wortley. The Countess of Mar was, at the time of her marriage, +thirty-three years of age, being born in 1681. She does not appear to +have been endowed with the rare qualities of her sister's mind; but that +she was attached to her husband, her long exile from England on his +account, sufficiently proves. Her married life was embittered by his +career, and her latter days darkened by the direst of all maladies, +mental aberration. + +It is singular that so recently before his final effort, Lord Mar should +have connected himself with a Whig family. The Marquis of Dorchester, +who was created, by George the First, Duke of Kingston, was a member of +the Kit Cat Club, and received early proofs of the good will of the +Hanoverian Sovereign. It is true that Lady Mary Wortley augured ill of +the match between her sister and Lord Mar, detesting as she did the +Jacobite party, and believing that her sister was "drawn in by the +persuasion of an officious female friend," Lord Mar's relation. But +there is no reason to conclude that the Duke of Kingston in any way +objected to a match apparently so dissonant with his political bias.[65] + +Whilst Lord Mar remained near the court, the discoveries made by the +Earl of Stair in France, communicated the first surmise of an intended +invasion of England. Several seizures of suspected people warned one who +was deep in the intrigues of St. Germain, not long to delay the open +prosecution of his schemes. The melancholy instance of Mr. Harvey, who +was apprehended while he was hawking at Combe, in Surrey, alarmed the +Jacobite party. Mr. Harvey being shown a paper written in his own hand, +convicting him of guilt, stabbed himself, but not fatally, with a +pruning-knife which he had used in his garden. Upon some hope of his +confessing being hinted, it was answered that his Majesty and the +Council knew more of it than he did. The celebrated John Anstis, the +heraldic writer, was also apprehended, and warrants were issued for the +seizure of other suspected persons. + +Notwithstanding his strong family interest, the Earl of Mar could +scarcely consider himself secure under the present state both of the +country and the metropolis. The events of the last year had succeeded +each other with an appalling rapidity. The flight of Bolingbroke had +scarcely ceased to be the theme of comment, before the general elections +excited all the ill blood and fanaticism which such struggles at any +critical era of our history have always produced. Riots, which have been +hastily touched upon in the histories of the period, but which the +minute descriptions of memoirs of that period show to have been attended +with an unusual display of violence and brutality on both sides, broke +out upon every anniversary which could recall the Stuarts to +recollection. On St. George's day, in compliment to the Chevalier, who, +according to an observer of those eventful days, "had assumed the name +of that far-famed Cappadocian Knight, though every one knew he has +nothing of the valour, courage, and other bright qualities of the +saint," a tumult was raised in London, and among other outrages, +passengers through the streets of the City were beaten if they would not +cry "God bless the late Queen and the High Church!" Sacheverel and +Bolingbroke were pledged in bumpers by a mob, who burnt, at the same +time, King William in effigy.[66] A similar contagion spread throughout +the country; Oxford took the lead in acts of destruction; her streets +were filled with parties of Whigs and Tories, both of them infuriated, +until their mad rage vented itself in acts of murder, under the +pretence, on the one hand, of a dread of popery, on the other, on a +similar plea of religious zeal. A Presbyterian meetinghouse was pulled +down, and cries of "An Ormond!" "A Bolingbroke!" "Down with the +Roundheads!" "No Hanover!" "A new Restoration!" accompanied the +conflagration. On the same day similar exclamations were again heard in +the streets of London; and all windows not illuminated were broken to +pieces. The tenth of June, the anniversary of the Chevalier's birthday, +was the signal for a still more decisive manifestation. On that day +three Scottish magistrates went boldly to the Cross at Dundee, and there +drank the Pretender's health, by the name of King James the Eighth, for +which they were immediately apprehended and tried. + +The impeachment of Lord Oxford still further exasperated the country, +which rang with the cry, "No George, but a Stuart." The peaceable +accession of the first monarch of the Brunswick line has been greatly +insisted upon by historians; but that stillness was ominous; it was the +stillness of the air before a storm; and was only indicative of +irresolution, not of a diminished dislike to the sway of a foreigner. + +It is supposed that an intercepted letter which the Duke de Berwick, the +half-brother of the Chevalier, addressed to a person of distinction in +England, first gave the intelligence of an intended invasion.[67] The +burden of that letter was to encourage the riots and tumults, and to +keep up the spirits of the people with a promise of prompt assistance. +The impeachment of Viscount Bolingbroke and of the Duke of Ormond +followed shortly afterwards; and although these noblemen provided for +their own safety by flight, they were degraded as outlaws, and in the +order in Council were styled, according to the usual form of law, "James +Butler, yeoman," and "Henry Bolingbroke, labourer," and the arms of +Ormond were taken from Windsor Chapel, and torn in pieces by the Earl +Marshal. + +The English fleet, under the command of Sir George Byng, was stationed +in the Downs, in case of a surprise. Portsmouth was put in a state of +defence; and, during the month of July, the inhabitants of London beheld +once more a sight such as had never been witnessed by its citizens since +the days of the Great Rebellion. In Hyde Park the troops of the +household were encamped, according to the arrangements of General +Cadogan, who had marked out a camp. The forces were commanded by the +Duke of Argyle. In Westminster the Earl of Clare reviewed the militia, +and the trained bands were directed to be in readiness for orders. At +the same time fourteen colonels of the Guards, and other inferior +officers were cashiered by the King's orders, on suspicion of being in +James Stuart's interest; so deep a root had this cause, which many have +pretended to treat as a visionary scheme of self-interest, taken in the +affections even of the British army. + +A proclamation ordering all Papists and reputed Papists to depart from +the cities of London and Westminster, was the next act of the +Government. All persons of the Roman Catholic persuasion were to be +disarmed and their horses sold; a declaration against transubstantiation +was to be administered to them, and the oath of abjuration to +non-jurors.[68] After such mandates, it seems idle to talk of the +tyranny of Henry the Eighth. + +There is no doubt but that the greatest alarm and consternation reigned +at St. James's. The stocks fell, but owing to the vigilance of the +Ministry, information was obtained of the whole scheme of the invasion, +in a manner which to this day has never been satisfactorily explained. + +The Earl of Mar must have trembled, as he still lingered in the +metropolis. It is probable that he waited there in order to receive +those contributions from abroad which were necessary to carry on his +plans. He was provided at last with no less a sum than a hundred +thousand pounds; and also furnished with a commission dated the seventh +of September, 1715 appointing him Lieutenant General and Commander in +Chief of the forces raised for the Chevalier in Scotland.[69] Large sums +were already collected from Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and France, to +the amount, it has been stated, of twelve millions. It has been well +remarked by Sir Walter Scott, in his notes on the Master of Sinclair's +MS., that "when the Stuarts had the means, they wanted a leader (as in +1715); when (as in 1745) they had a leader, they wanted the means." + +With the eye of suspicion fixed upon him, his plans matured, his friends +in the north prepared, the Earl of Mar had the hardihood, under such +circumstances, to appear at the court of King George. A few weeks before +the Habeas Corpus Act had been suspended; but the Earl trusted either to +good fortune, or to his own well-known arts of insinuation. He braved +all possibility of detection, and determined to carry on the game of +deep dissimulation to the last moment. + +On the first of August, 1715, the Earl of Mar attended the levee of King +George. One can easily suppose how cold, if not disdainful, must have +been his reception; but it is not easy to divine with what secret +emotions, the subject on the eve of an insurrection could have offered +his obeisance to the Monarch. Grave in expression, with a heavy German +countenance, hating all show, and husbanding his time, so as to avoid +all needless conversation; without an idea of cultivating the fine arts, +of encouraging literature, or of even learning to speak English, George +the First must have presented to his English subjects the reverse of all +that is attractive. A decided respectability of character might have +redeemed the ungainly picture; but, although esteemed a man of honour, +and evincing liberal and even benevolent tendencies, the Monarch +displayed not only an unblushing and scandalous profligacy, but a love +for coarse and unworthy society. His court is said to have been modelled +upon that of Louis the Fifteenth; but it was modelled upon the grossest +and lowest principles only, and had none of the elegance even of that +wretched King's depraved circles; and public decency was as much +outraged by the three yachts which were prepared to carry over King +George's mistresses and their suite,[70] when he visited Hanover, as by +the empire of Madame de Pompadour. It must, independent of every other +consideration, have been galling to Englishmen to behold, seated on +their throne, a German, fifty-four years of age, who from that very +circumstance, was little likely ever to boast, like Queen Anne, "of an +English heart." "A hard fate," observes a writer of great impartiality, +"that the enthronement of a stranger should have been the only means to +secure our liberties and laws!"[71] + +A week after he had been received at the levee of King George, the Earl +embarked at Gravesend in a collier, attended by two servants, and +accompanied by General Hamilton and Captain Hay. They were all +disguised, and escaping detection, arrived on the third day afterwards +at Newcastle. It has been even said, that in order the better to conceal +his rank, the Earl of Mar wrought for his passage.[72] From Newcastle +Lord Mar proceeded northward in another vessel; and landing at Elie, in +Fifeshire, went first to Crief, where he remained a few days. He then +proceeded to Dupplin, in the county of Perth, the seat of his +brother-in-law, the Earl of Kinnoul, and thence, on the eighteenth of +August, crossing the river Perth, he proceeded to his own Castle of +Kildrummie, in the Braes of Mar. He was accompanied by forty horse. + +On the day after the arrival of the Earl at Kildrummie, he despatched +letters to the principal Jacobites, inviting them to attend a grand +hunting-match in Braemar on the twenty-seventh of August. This summons +was couched in this form, for fear of a more explicit declaration being +intercepted, revealing the design; but the great chiefs who were thus +collected together were aware that "hunting" was but the watchword. + +A gallant band of high-spirited chieftains answered the call. It is +consolatory to turn to those who, unaffected by the intrigues of a +Court, came heartily, and with a disinterested love, to the cause of +which the Earl of Mar was the unworthy leader. + +First in rank, was the Marquis of Huntly, eldest son of George, the +first Duke of Gordon, and of that daring Duchess of Gordon, a daughter +of the house of Howard, who, in 1711, had presented to the Dean and +Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh a silver medal, with the head of the +Chevalier on one side, and on the other the British Islands, with the +word "Reddite." The learned body to whom the Duchess had proposed this +dangerous gift, at first hesitated to receive it: after a debate, +however, among their members, it was agreed that the donation should be +accepted, and a vote was passed to return thanks to the Duchess. The +Advocates then waited in a body upon the Duchess, and expressed their +hopes that her Grace would soon have occasion to present the Faculty +with a second medal on the _Restoration_.[73] The Duke of Gordon, +notwithstanding his having been brought up a Roman Catholic, was neutral +in the troubles of the Rebellion of 1715, but his son took a force of +three thousand men into the field,--the clan siding with the young +Marquis rather than with their chief. The Marquis of Huntly was, +probably for that reason, spared in the subsequent proceedings against +the Jacobites, his participation in their schemes being punished only by +a brief imprisonment. + +William Marquis of Tullibardine, one of the most constant friends to the +House of Stuart, the Earl of Nithisdale, and the Earl Marischal, also +appeared at the time appointed. It was the fortune of the Marquis of +Tullibardine, like that of the Marquis of Huntly, afterwards to appear +in the field unsanctioned by his father, the Duke of Athol, who either +was, or appeared to be, in favour of Government, whilst his son headed +the clan to the number of six thousand. Lord Nairn, the younger brother +of the Marquis, also joined in the undertaking. Of these distinguished +Jacobites, separate lives will hereafter be given in this work: it +therefore becomes unnecessary any further to expatiate upon them here. +Of some, whose biography does not present features sufficiently marked +to constitute a distinct narrative, some traits may here be given. + +Charles Earl of Traquair, who hastened to Braemar, was one of those +Scottish nobles who claimed kindred with royalty. He was descended from +Sir James Stewart, commonly called the Black Knight of Lorn, and from +Jane, daughter of John Earl of Somerset, and widow of King James the +First. One of Lord Traquair's ancestors, the first Earl, had levied a +regiment of horse, in order to release Charles the First from his +imprisonment in the Isle of Wight; but, marching at the head of it at +the battle of Preston, he and his son, Lord Seatoun, were taken +prisoners and conveyed to Warwick Castle, where they languished four +years in imprisonment, with the knowledge that their estates had been +sequestered. + +Connected with the family of Seatoun, on his mother's side, the Earl of +Traquair had married the sister of Lord Nithisdale, being thus nearly +related to two of those chiefs who gladly obeyed the summons of Lord Mar +to the hunting-field. The Earl of Traquair appears to have escaped all +the penalties which followed the Rebellion of 1715, perhaps because he +does not appear to have taken any of his tenantry into the field. + +Less prudent, or less fortunate, William Mackenzie, Earl of Seaforth, +joined the standard of James Stuart with a body of three thousand men. +He was attainted when the struggle was over, and his estates, both in +Scotland and England, forfeited. He escaped to the Continent; but, in +1719, again landed with the Spaniards at Kintail; and was wounded at the +battle of Glenshiels, but being carried off by his followers, again fled +to the Continent, with the Marquis of Tullibardine and the Earl +Marischal. Lord Seaforth was one of those to whom the royal mercy was +shown. George the First reversed his attainder, and George the Second +granted him arrears of the feu duties due to the Crown out of the +forfeited estates. The title has been eventually restored. + +James Livingstone, Earl of Linlithgow, was amongst the many who +experienced less clemency than the Earl of Traquair. He had been chosen +one of the sixteen representative peers of Scotland, on the death of the +Duke of Hamilton; and enjoyed the possession of considerable family +estates, which were eventually forfeited to the Crown. He led a band of +three hundred clansmen to the field. + +Perhaps one of the most sturdy adherents of the Chevalier St. George was +James Maule, fourth Earl of Panmure. In his youth this nobleman had +served as a volunteer at the siege of Luxembourg, where he had +signalized his courage. In 1686, he succeeded his brother, and added to +the honours of a peerage those of a character already established for +bravery. To these distinctions was added that of being a Privy +Councillor to James the Second; but he was removed upon his opposing the +abrogation of the penal laws against Popery. Whilst thus protesting +against what might then be deemed objectionable innovations, Lord +Panmure was a firm adherent of James, and vigorously supported his +interests in the convention of estates in 1689. + +The accession of William and Mary drove this true Jacobite from the +Scottish Parliament. He never appeared in that assembly after that +event, having refused to take the oaths. Of course he disapproved of the +Union; and the next step which he took was to join the standard of the +Chevalier. + +After that decisive proceeding, the course of this unfortunate +nobleman's life was one of misfortune, in which his high spirit was +sustained by a constancy of no ordinary character. At the battle of +Sherriff Muir, the brave Panmure was taken prisoner, but was rescued by +his brother Harry, who, like himself, had engaged in the rebellion. +Panmure escaped to France: he was attainted of high treason,--his +estates, which amounted to 3456_l._ per annum, and were the largest of +the confiscated properties, were forfeited, as well as his hereditary +honours. Twice were offers made to him by the English Government to +restore his rank and possessions, if he would take the oath of +allegiance to the House of Hanover; but Panmure refused the proffered +boon, and preferred sharing the fortunes of him whom he looked upon as +his legitimate Prince. When he joined the Jacobites at Braemar, Lord +Panmure was no longer a young, rash man: he was in the sixty-fifth year +of his age. His wife, the daughter of William Duke of Hamilton, was, +after his attainder, provided for by act of Parliament in the same +manner as if she had been a widow. His brother, Harry Maule, of Kellie, +a man of considerable accomplishments, was so fortunate as to be enabled +to return to his native country, and died in Edinburgh in 1734. But Lord +Panmure, like most of the other brave and honest men who preferred their +allegiance to their interest, finished his days in exile, and died at +Paris, in 1723.[74] + +Kenneth Lord Duffus was another of those noblemen who had already +established a character for personal bravery. He was a person of great +skill in maritime affairs, and was promoted by Queen Anne to the command +of the Advice ship of war, with which, in 1711, this gallant Highlander +engaged eight French privateers, and after a desperate resistance of +some hours, he was taken prisoner, after receiving five balls in his +body. + +He was, however, released in time to engage in the Rebellion of 1715; +and though it does not appear that he took any followers to fight +beneath the Chevalier's standard, he was included in the Act of +Attainder. The intelligence was communicated to Lord Duffus when he was +in Sweden. He resolved immediately to surrender himself to the British +Government, and declared his intention to the British Minister at +Stockholm, who notified it to Lord Townshend, Secretary of State. +Notwithstanding this manly determination, Lord Duffus was arrested on +his way to England, at Hamburgh, and was detained there until the time +specified for surrendering had expired. He thence proceeded to London, +where he was confined more than a year in the Tower, but released in +1717, without being brought to trial. Lord Duffus died, according to +some accounts, in the Russian service; to others, in that of France. He +married a Swedish lady, and attained to the rank of Admiral.[75] + +Such were some of those Jacobite chieftains whose history has sunk into +obscurity, partly from the difficulty of obtaining information +concerning their career, after the contest was at an end. Amongst those +who met Lord Mar in the hunting-field, but who afterwards became +neutral,[76] although most of his clan joined in the Rebellion, was the +Earl of Errol, one of a family whose fame for valour was dated from the +time of the Danish invasion. The origin of the House of Errol is +curious, and marks the simplicity of the times. An aged countryman, +named Hay, and his sons, had arrested the progress of the ruthless +conquerors in a defile near Lanearty in Perthshire. The old man was +rewarded by Kenneth the Third with as much land in the Carse of Gowrie +as a falcon from a man's hand flew over until she lighted. The bird flew +over a space of six miles, which was thence called Errol, and which is +still in possession of the family; and the old man and his sons were +raised from the rank of plebeians by the assignment of a coat of arms, +on which were three escutcheons, gules, to denote that the father and +the two sons had been the shields of Scotland. The family grew in wealth +and estimation, and the office of Hereditary High Constable of Scotland +was added to their other honours. + +The Countess of Errol, the mother of the High Constable, and sister of +the Earl of Perth, had already taken a decided part in the affairs of +the Jacobite party. When Colonel Hooke had been sent over in 1707 to +Scotland, she had met him at the sea-coast, and had there placed in the +hands of that emissary several letters from her son, expressing his +earnest intention to support the cause of the Chevalier. The Earl of +Errol had also received Hooke at his castle, and had entertained him +there several days, and employed that time in initiating Hooke into the +various characteristics and views of the Jacobite nobility in Scotland. +He was thus deeply pledged to aid the undertaking at that time (the year +1707); and in a letter to the Chevalier, the Earl expressed his hopes +that he might have the happiness of seeing his Majesty, "a happiness for +which," he adds, "we have long sighed, to be delivered from oppression." +The Countess of Errol also addressed a letter to the mother of James +Stuart, as the Queen of England, declaring that the delays which the +Scotch had suffered had not "diminished their zeal, although they had +prolonged their miseries and misfortunes."[77] Whether, upon the rising +in 1715, the views of Lord Errol were altered, or that female influence +had been lessened by some circumstance, does not exactly appear. He kept +himself neutral in the subsequent outbreak, notwithstanding his +appearance at Braemar, and although his clan were for the most part +against the Government.[78] The Earl of Errol died, unmarried, in 1717: +his adherence to his Jacobite principles were not, therefore, put to the +test in 1745. + +To these noblemen were united Seaton, Viscount of Kingston, whose +estates were forfeited to the Crown; Livingstone Viscount of Kilsyth, +one of the representative peers, who died an exile at Rome in 1733; Lord +Balfour of Burleigh; Lord Ogilvy, afterwards Earl of Airly, and Forbes, +Lord Pitsligo. This last-mentioned nobleman was a man of a grave and +prudent character, whose example drew many of his neighbours to embark +in an enterprise in which so discreet a person risked his honours and +estate. He was the author of essays, moral and philosophical; and either +from respect to his merits, or from some less worthy cause, his +defection in 1715 passed with impunity. But, in 1745, the aged nobleman +again appeared in the field, infirm as he was: and one of the most +pleasing traits in Charles Edward's noble, yet faulty character was his +walking at the head of his forces, having given up his carriage for the +use of this tried adherent of his father. Attainder and forfeiture +followed this last attempt, but the sentence was reversed by the Court +of Session, from a misnomer in the attainder; and the venerable Lord +Forbes, surviving many who had set out on the same course with him, had +the comfort of breathing his last in his native country. He died at +Auchiries in Aberdeenshire, in 1762.[79] + +Several of these noblemen had been long contemplating the possibility of +James's return to Scotland. Like the Earl of Errol, they had been +dissatisfied with the prudence of the Duke of Hamilton, whose policy it +had been to postpone the risk of a precarious undertaking, and whose +foresight was acknowledged when it was too late. Lord John Drummond, +Lord Kilsyth, and Lord Linlithgow, had been all deeply concerned in the +schemes and speculations which had been formed in 1707, on the subject +of the Restoration; but the zeal of Lord Kilsyth had been doubted, from +his intimacy with the Duke of Hamilton, who was then objectionable to +the violent Jacobite leaders.[80] + +These chieftains were not unworthy to come into the same field with +Tullibardine, Nithisdale, Marischal, and their brave associates. A still +nobler band of associates was formed in the different members of the +house of Drummond, a family who could boast of being derived from "the +ancient nobility of the kingdom of Hungary:" and from the daughters of +whose house Charles the Second was lineally descended in the ninth and +sixth degree. Well may it be called "the splendid family of Drummond," +even if we regard only its proud antiquity, or the singular +"faithfulness of the family, or the accomplishments and virtues which +characterised many of its members." Nothing can be finer than the manner +in which the claims of birth are placed before us, in the address of +William Drummond of Hawthornden to "John Earle of Perthe," in his +manuscript "Historie of the Familie of Perthe:" + +"Though, as Glaucus sayes to Diomed (in Homer), + + 'Like the race of leaves + The race of man is, that deserves no question: nor receaves + His being any other breath; the wind in autumn strowes + The earth with old leaves; then the spring the woods with new endowes,' + +"yet I have ever thought the knowledge of kindred and genealogies of the +ancient families of a country a matter so far from contempt, that it +deserveth highest praise. Herein consisteth a part of the knowledge of a +man's own selfe. It is a great spurr to vertue to look back on the worth +of our line. In this is the memory of the dead preserved with the +living, being more firm and honourable than any epitaph. The living know +that band which tyeth them to others. By this man is distinguished from +the reasonless creatures, and the noble of men from the base sort. For +it often falleth out (though we cannot tell how) for the most part, that +generositie followeth good birth and parentage."[81] The two members of +the Drummond family who attended Lord Mar in his famous hunting-field +were James Earl of Perth, and William Drummond, Viscount Strathallan. + +The Earls of Southesk and Carnwath, the Viscounts Kenmure and Stormont, +and the Lord Rollo, complete the list of Scottish peers who were present +on this memorable occasion. But perhaps the more remarkable feature of +the hunting-match was the arrival of twenty-six gentlemen of influence +in the Highlands, men of sway and importance, of which it is impossible, +without a knowledge of Highland manners, to form an adequate notion. The +constitution of the clans is thus pourtrayed by one who knew it well. + +"In every narrow vale where a blue stream bent its narrow course, some +hunter of superior prowess, or some herdsman whom wealth had led to +wealth and power to power, was the founder of a little community who +ever after looked up to the head of the family as their leader and their +chief. Those chains of mountains which formed the boundings of their +separate districts had then their ascents covered with forests, which +were the scene of their hunting-excursions: when their eagerness in +pursuit of game led them to penetrate into the districts claimed by the +chief of the neighbouring valleys, a rash encounter was the usual +consequence, which laid the foundation of future hostilities."[82] + +These petty wars gave room for a display of valour in the chiefs, and +led to a mutual dependence from the followers. Alliances offensive and +defensive were formed among the clans, and intermarriages were +contracted between the confederated clans, who governed their followers +by a kind of polity not ill regulated. The chief had the power of life +and death over his large family, but it was a power seldom used. A +chieftain might be cruel to his enemies, but never to his friends. Nor +were those paternal rulers by any means so despotic as they have been +represented to be; of all monarchs their power was the most limited, +being allowed to take no step without permission of their friends, or +the elders of their tribe, including the most distant branches of their +family. The kind and conciliatory system adopted towards their clansmen +accounts for the warm attachment and fidelity displayed towards their +chiefs; and these sentiments were heightened to enthusiasm by the songs +and traditions of the bards, in which the exploits of their heroes were +perpetuated. Still there is nothing, as it has been justly said, so +remarkable in the political history of any country, as the succession of +the Highland chiefs, and the long and uninterrupted sway which they held +over their followers.[83] The system of clanship gives all the romantic +interest which the Rebellions of 1715 and 1745 inspire;--it perfects a +picture which would only otherwise be a factious contention for power; +it was annihilated only after the last of the Stuarts had fled for ever +from the mountains of Scotland. + +It was at the head of the clans that the Earl of Mar frequently placed +himself, at the battle of Sherriff Muir: he now welcomed their +chieftains to the field. Among these were General Hamilton, General +Gordon, Glengary, Campbell of Glendarvel, and the lairds of Auchterhouse +and Aldebar. + +So great an assembly of those whom the Chevalier afterwards not inaptly +termed "little kings," was by no means unusual at that period. It was +the custom among the lords and chieftains in the Highlands to invite +their neighbours and vassals to a general rendezvous to chase the deer +upon the mountains, and after the diversion was over, to entertain the +persons of note in the castle hall. This expedient would, therefore, +have excited but little attention, had it not been for several years +the practice of the Jacobites to hold these hunting-parties annually, in +order to maintain the spirit of the association, which had been carried +on since the peace of Utrecht. + +The halls of Kildrummie received the noblemen and chieftains that day +beneath its roof, and the Earl of Mar addressed his guests in a long, +premeditated harangue. He is described as having little pretension to +eloquence; but his hearers were probably not very fastidious judges, and +from the influence which the Earl acquired over those whom he led on to +the contest, it may be inferred that he understood well how to address +himself to the passions of a Highland audience. + +At first the Earl was heard with distrust,--at least if we may credit +the account of one on whom, perhaps, too great a reliance has been +placed.[84] + +"It is true, that at first," says Mr. Patten, "he gained little or no +credit among them, they suspecting some piece of policy in him to +ensnare them; but some were weak enough to suck in the poison, and +particularly some of those who were with him at his house, called +Brae-Mar. These, listening to him, embraced his project, and, as is +reported, engaged by oath to stand by him and one another, and to bring +over their friends and dependants to do the like."[85] + +The Earl began his harangue by expressing a deep regret for having +promoted the Union, which had delivered his countrymen into the hands of +the English, whose power to enslave them was far too great, and whose +intentions to do so still further were manifest from the proceedings of +the Elector of Hanover ever since he ascended the throne. That Prince +regarded, according to Lord Mar, neither the welfare of his people, nor +their religion, but solely left the management of affairs to a set of +men who made encroachments in Church and State. Many persons, he said, +were now resolved to consult their own safety, and determined to defend +their liberties and properties, and to establish on the throne of these +realms the Chevalier St. George, who had the only undoubted right to the +Crown, who would hear their grievances, and redress their wrongs. He +then incited his hearers to take arms for the Chevalier, under the title +of King James the Seventh; and told them, that for his part, he was +determined to set up his standard and to summon all the fencible men of +his own tenants, and with them to hazard his life in the cause. To this +declaration he added the assurance, that a general rising in England and +assistance from France would aid their undertaking; that thousands were +in league and covenant with him to establish the Chevalier and depose +King George. + +To these inducements were added others. Letters from the Chevalier were +read to the assembly, promising to come over in person; with assurances +that ships, arms, and ammunition would be dispatched to their aid.[86] + +The proposals of Lord Mar were unfolded with such address, and his +popularity was at that time so great, that one might have supposed an +immediate assent to his schemes would have followed. On the contrary +some degree of persuasion was required: the Highlanders are slow to +promise, but sure to fulfil. The very chieftains who hung back from a +too ready consent, never deserted the cause which they once undertook. +The universal fidelity to the part which they espoused was violated in +no instance during the first Rebellion. + +At length the assembled chiefs swore an oath to stand by the Earl of +Mar, and to bring their friends and dependants to do the same. However, +no second meeting was at that time determined upon: every man went back +to his own estate, to take measures for appearing in arms after again +hearing from the Earl of Mar, who remained among his own people with few +attendants. But the Jacobites were not idle during that interval. They +employed themselves in collecting their servants and kindred, but with +the utmost secrecy, until everything was ready to break out. Nor were +they long kept in suspense. On the third of September, another meeting +at Abbone, in Aberdeenshire, was held, and there the Earl directed his +adherents to collect their men without loss of time. He returned to +Braemar, and continued for several days gathering the people together, +until they amounted, according to Reay, to two thousand horse; although +some have said that there were only sixty followers at that time +assembled.[87] + +On the sixth of September, the standard of the Pretender was set up at +Braemar, by the Earl of Mar, in the presence of the assembled forces. +The superstitious Highlanders remarked with dismay, that, as the +standard was erected, the ball on the top of it fell off; and they +regarded this accident as an ill omen. "The event," says a quaint +Scottish writer, "has proven that it was no less."[88] + +This grave accordance in the verification of the omen, was a feature of +the times and country. "When a clan went upon any expedition," observes +Dr. Brown in his valuable work upon the Highlands, "they were much +addicted to omens. If they met an armed man they believed that good was +portended. If they observed a deer, fox, hare, or any four-footed beast +of game, and did not succeed in killing it, they prognosticated evil. If +a woman, barefooted, crossed the road before them, they seized her, and +drew blood from her forehead." This mixture of fear of visionary evils, +and courage in opposing real ones, of credulity and distrust, strength +and weakness, presents a singular view of the Highland character. It +had, however, in many respects, no inconsiderable influence upon the +contests of 1715 and 1745. + +From Braemar the Earl proceeded to Kirk Michael, a small town, where he +proclaimed the Chevalier, and set up his standard. He then marched to +Moulin in Perthshire, where he rested some time, collecting his forces. + +It is a remarkable fact, that up to this period the Earl of Mar was +acting without a commission from the Chevalier. The disposition which is +too predominant in society, and which leads men always to add the +bitterness of invective to the mortification of failure, has attributed +to the Earl of Mar, relatively to this commission, a line of conduct +from which it is agreeable to be able to clear his memory. It was not +very long after the meeting in Braemar, that Lord Mar discovered that +there was what he called "a devil" in his camp, in the person of the +Master of Sinclair, whose manuscript strictures upon the unfortunate and +incompetent leader of the Jacobites have contributed to blacken his +memory. + +According to the Master of Sinclair, the Earl of Mar produced at the +meeting a forged commission; but this statement is not only contradicted +by Lord Mar's own account, but completely invalidated by the fact that +the commission is in existence, among various other curious documents +and letters, many of which place the character of Lord Mar in a much +fairer light than that in which it has hitherto been viewed. The Earl of +Mar, in a justification of his conduct, printed at Paris, and added to +Patten's History of the Rebellion, gives the following account of the +affair: + +"It was near a month after the Earl of Mar[89] set up the Standard +before he could produce a commission, and it is no small proof of the +people's zeal for their country that so great a number followed his +advice and obeyed his orders before he could produce one. It must, +though, be owned, and it is the less to be wondered at, that his +authority being thus precarious, some were not so punctual in joining +him, and others performed not so effectually the service they were sent +upon, which, had they done, not only Scotland, but even part of England, +had been reduced to the Chevalier's obedience, before the Government had +been in a condition to make head against us."[90] + +The commission was, however, at that time written, although it had not +been sent over to Scotland. It is dated the seventh of September, 1715, +and is superscribed James R.[91] The Earl of Mar was doubtless aware +that such an instrument was in preparation. + +When the Earl had first arrived in Scotland, he found, as he himself +alleges, the people far more eager to take arms than his instructions +allowed him to permit; but before actual steps were commenced, that +ardour was cooled by two circumstances: first, by the Chevalier's not +landing in England, as the Jacobites had confidently hoped; and, +secondly, by the Duke of Berwick's not coming to Scotland.[92] The +vigorous measures adopted by Government made, therefore, a far greater +impression on the public mind than could have been expected had the Earl +of Mar been boldly seconded by him who was most of all interested in the +event of the contest. The Lord Advocate summoned all the principal +Jacobites to appear at Edinburgh within specified periods, in order to +give bail to Government for their allegiance. "Many," says Lord Mar, +"seemed inclined to comply." Yet the number of those who did comply with +the summons was inconsiderable; the rest, including the most honoured +names in Scotland, rushed into the insurrection. The different heads of +noble houses dispersed, and each in the district in which he had most +power, and in the principal towns proclaimed the Chevalier King. The +Fiery Cross was sent throughout the country, with blood at one end, and +fire at the other; and it was afterwards asserted by some of the rebels +who were tried at Liverpool, that they were forced into the service of +the Chevalier, the person who bore that cross assuring them that, unless +they hastened to Mar's camp, they were to perish by blood and fire.[93] + +Intelligence of the death of Louis the Fourteenth, which had happened +during the preceding August, reached Scotland at this time, and cast an +universal gloom over his party. It was even disputed whether the +Jacobite leaders should not disperse until news of the Chevalier's +landing should reassure them, or the certainty of a rising in England +should give vigour to their proceedings. At this critical moment Lord +Mar published a declaration which has been printed in most of the +histories of the period, exhorting all those who were well-affected to +the good cause to put themselves under arms, and summoning his +confederates to the Tower of Braemar, on the eleventh of September, +promising them, in the name of the King, their pay from the moment of +setting out. + +"Now is the time," said the Earl, "for all good men to show their zeal +for his Majesty's service, whose cause is so deeply concerned, and the +relief of our native country from oppression and a foreign yoke too +heavy for us and our posterity to bear. + +"In so honourable, good, and just a cause," he added, "we cannot doubt +of the assistance, direction, and blessing of Almighty God, who has so +often rescued the royal family of Stuart, and our country from sinking +under oppression. + +"Your punctual observance of these orders is expected, for the doing of +all which, this shall be to you, and all you employ in the execution of +them, a sufficient warrant." + +In a very different tone was a letter, written the same night by the +Earl to his baillie of Kildrummie: from this epistle, so characteristic +of the politic Earl of Mar, it was manifest that his own followers were +more tardy in the field than those of the other chieftains of the +Highlands. The means taken to intimidate and compel them are strongly +characteristic of the state of society in Scotland at that period.[94] +The reluctance of his clan must have been a subject of deep +mortification to Lord Mar, when, in one evening, the summons of the +Fiery Cross, paraded round Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, +could assemble five hundred men, at the bidding of the Laird of +Glenlyon, to join the Earl of Mar.[95] + +A few days after the assembling of the forces, the Earl of Mar, assisted +by his Jacobite friends, published a manifesto, asserting the right of +James the Eighth, by the grace of God, King of Scotland, &c., and +pointing to the relief of the kingdom from oppression and +grievances.[96] + +Whilst the adherents of James were thus assembling in the North, a brave +but unsuccessful attempt was made to surprise the castle of Edinburgh. +Ninety chosen men, under the command of Lord Drummond, were engaged in +this undertaking, of which the design was, to seize the citadel and to +place it under the command of Lord Drummond; then the artillery within +the castle was to be employed in firing their rounds by way of signal to +different posts, in concert. Fires were to be lighted up on the hills as +a signal to Lord Mar to march and take possession of the city. The +failure of this design was owing to the disclosure of one Dr. Arthur, a +physician in Edinburgh, to his wife, who gave information of the whole +plan to the Lord Justice Clerk, to whom she sent an unsigned letter the +evening she had gained from her unwilling husband intelligence of the +scheme. This failure, the first of those adverse events which +disheartened the spirits of the Jacobites, was, however, less deplored +than it would have been, had not the progress of the Earl of Mar's +exertions borne the most flattering aspect. In September, the Earl +marched to Logaret, where his forces still increased, and thence into +the beautiful region around Dunkeld; here he was joined, with fourteen +hundred men, by the Marquis of Tullibardine, and by five hundred +Campbells from the Breadalbane territory, headed, not by their chief, +but by Campbell of Glenderule, Campbell of Glenlyon, and John Campbell, +the Earl's chamberlain. Enforced also by the addition of two hundred +Highlanders from different quarters, the Earl of Mar resolved to make +the town of Perth his head-quarters. + +This was a wise resolution: the situation of that fine city presented +the most important advantages to the General of the Jacobite forces. +Seated on the river Tay, and near the sea-coast, it gave the Earl the +control of the East Lowlands, of the rich counties of Angus, the Carse +of Gowrie, Mearns, Murray, Aberdeen, and Banff, and also of the Shire of +Fife. It also cut off the communication between the north and the south +of Scotland, so that the friends of Government could neither act nor fly +from the enemy. Thus all the usual posts were stopped. The revenues of +the public fell into the hands of the insurgents who gave receipts for +them in the name of James the Eighth, and the landowners in the counties +subject to the Earl were taxed at whatever rate he chose to impose. +Perth continued to be the head-quarters of the Lieutenant General until +a few days before this disastrous contest was finally closed. + +At the first general review at Perth, the forces of Lord Mar amounted +only to five thousand men; but a few weeks afterwards, by the accession +of his friends in the north, they were increased to the number of twelve +thousand, both horse and foot, of well appointed men. That Lord Mar's +hopes were high, and, at this period, not without reason of, at any +rate, a partial success, the following letter addressed by him to +Captain Henry Straiton,[97] at Edinburgh, is a proof. It relates, in the +first instance, to the insurrection in Northumberland, under the +guidance of Mr. Forster, a gentleman of suspected zeal and little +discretion, to whom Lord Mar unwisely trusted the conduct of the gallant +but ill-fated bands who fell at Preston:-- + + "From the Camp of Perth, October 12th, 1715."[98] + + "Sir, + + "It was yesterday afternoon as I got yours of the ninth, which you + may be sure was very acceptable, and also the others you sent me. + Tom Forster tells me in his of the sixth, that they had taken the + field that day with a hundred and sixty horse; that he had sent to + the gentelmen of Lancaster who he expected to join him, and also the + gentilmen from the scots side, that he expected two thousand foot + from my camp and five hundred horse, that the town of Newcastle had + promist to open their gates to them, and that they intended to take + possession of Tinmouth. + + "They have been better than their word in coming together so soon, + and I would fain hope it has been occasioned by some consort with + our friends further south, who are to join them, and that the Duke + of Ormond is in England before this time, as I have reason to + believe he is. + + "My letters by M^{r}. E----ne[99] had not then reached those on the + boarder, but when they do, I hope it will put the project of + shooting themselves up in Tinmouth out of their thoughts; what good + could they do there? I have wrote so fully by M^{r}. E----ne upon + the subject of the way of their disposeing of themselves, that I + need say little of it now. You certainly know of the detachment of + two thousand foot, lying these severall dayes on the coast of Fife, + to get over, if possible; but now that there's five men of warr in + the Firth, I'm afraid it is not; however, they are stile about it, + and will do what they can: but for finding horse that way, you will + easily see is impracticable, unless the passage were open, and I + hope our friends on the boarder will not want horse from us. I was + very fond of the project of getting the passage of the whole armie + opened, when I wrote by Mr. E----ne; but since that time, beside + that of more men of warr comeing into the Firth, there's another + thing I know since, which makes me alter my thoughts about it, at + least of doing it soon, were it in my power. Mr. Ogilvie of Boin + arrived here from France on the sixth, as perhaps you have heard, + with my new commission, of which I send you a copie inclosed, and + letters from Lord Bolingbroke; but I know you have accounts of a + latter date at Edinb. so I need say the less of them. Lord + Bolingbroke tels me, that in all probability, the King wou'd land + very quickly in the north of Scotland; so until we be so happie that + he comes to us, or at least we hear from him again, which by those + letters I expect every day, I judge it were not prudent for me to + pass the armie at Leith or Queensferry, were it in my power, for + that wou'd be leaveing the enimie bewint the King and us, and he + might have difficulty in passing over to us, and being in danger of + the enimie; but this of passing the whole armie at any of these + places seems not likely to be in our power. + + "Lord Huntly and Earl Marishall are come up to us with their people + in very good order, but Lord Seafort is not, being deteaned by + forceing Earl Sutherland to submitt before he left that country, + which he has done by this time, and will be with us soon. I make + his not being come up the reason of our lying still here, but that + of our expecting the King or one from him, is the true one; and I + think we must do, until that happen, so as long as we loose no + credit by it. I thought it was necessary to let you know this, the + better to advise our friends in the South what meassurs to take; + which they had best determine by the success of our detachment + getting over to them,--what expectation they have of friends in + England joining them, and what is to be expexted about Edinburgh. If + they should be prest in England, which I hope will not be the case, + and could do nothing at Edinbrugh, they can march throw the south + and west of Scotland to Dumbartonshire, where before they can be, + Generall Gordon's armie or a considerable detachment of it, will be + before they can reach it, which they will aply join and be saif til + we meet them. Glengarry is actually marcht from Auchalator that way + alreddy. I have taken care to have detachments at all the places on + the coasts, where I judge the King can land, so I hope all is safe + for him when he comes on it; and so many of the cruisers being in + the Frith make the coast pretty clear, which is one good our + detachment in Fife has done, should they do no more. We have this + day sent two gentelmen to France (I hope) a safe way with a letter + to the Regent from the noblemen and gentelmen here, which we had + resolved on before Boin arrived; but should the King be come off + before it arrives in France it can do no hurt and may do good. + + "I have wrote to Lord Bolingbroke (who is to remain in France to + negotiate the King's affairs there during his absence,) a full + account of things here; and if the King be come off, which I hope in + God he is, he is to lay it before the Queen, to whom I have likewise + wrote. I'm exceeding sorry for the loss of honest Keith's son, but + these gentelmen will have it yet payd home to them. + + "As to your going to the South, or staying at Edinbrugh, I scarce + know what to say. I wish you could be in both places; but since that + cannot be, I leave it to yourself to do which you think will be of + most use to the service. If you go South I beg you may settle a + correspondence 'twixt Edin^{b} and this, and acquaint me with it. + + "I heard to-day that my letters to our friends in the West, + desireing they might go immediately South to join Lord Kenmore, came + safe to hand, so I hope they will be with him soon. I have sent you + some of the manifestos which were printed at Aberdeen, and are + finely done: I wish they may come to you saif. I also send you + encloset a letter to Sir Rich. Steele, which I leave open for you to + read and take a copie of. Pray seal it and get it put into the + post-house; and I wish you could get it printed at Edinburgh, tho' + let me not seen it; and if you send a copie to any of your + correspondants at London and Newcastle, to get if printed there it + would do no hurt. I'm endeavouring to get a correspondence settled + by barks from the point of Fife to Newcastle, which may be of use + to us, especially if the communications twixt us and Ed^{r} should + be stopt." + +On the very day of the Earl's arrival at Perth, Mr. James Murray, second +son of Lord Stormont arrived from St. Germains, bringing assurances of +support, and letters from the Chevalier, who had appointed him Secretary +of State for the affairs of Scotland. Mr. Murray is said also to have +presented the Earl of Mar with a patent, creating him Duke of Mar, +Marquis of Stirling and Earl of Alloway: "And though," observes an +historian, "there was little more said about it, yet the relation seems +justified by this, that in some of the papers printed at Perth, he is +styled the Duke of Mar."[100] + +Extensive preparations were also declared to be in progress for the +invasion of England. Twelve large ships were actually at that time at +anchor in Havre, St. Malos, and other places. These vessels, with +several frigates of good force, were loaded with ammunition, and manned +with generals, officers, and soldiers. A particular account of the +"Pretender's Magazine" is extant. But these preparations were all +frustrated by the remonstrances of the Earl of Stair at the Court of the +Regent of France. Admiral Byng was sent with a squadron to cruise on the +coast of France, and the ships ready to sail for the enterprise against +England were obliged, by command of the Regent, in order not to +implicate the French Government, to declare that they were thus +employed without the sanction or knowledge of the Regent. Thus, even +whilst Mr. Murray was raising the sanguine hopes of the Jacobites to the +highest pitch, their evil star had again prevailed. They were, indeed, +singularly unhappy in those in whom they placed confidence. Their +schemes perpetually got wind: whether it were owing to the irresolution +of some of their partisans, or to the great participation which the +female sex took in the affairs of the Chevalier's party, it is difficult +to determine. + +The Jacobite ladies were as fearless as they were persevering. The +Duchess of Gordon, whose present of a medal to the Faculty of Advocates +denoted her principles, and whose son, the second Duke of Gordon +suffered a brief imprisonment on account of his share in the +insurrection, was one of the most approved channels of communication +between the two parties. She generally resided in Edinburgh, where she +occupied herself as a mediator between some of the Presbyterians and the +friends of James. Colonel Hooke mentions her as one of the depositories +of all that was going on during his mission. + +The Earl of Mar, in his letters, refers repeatedly to different ladies +with approval of their zeal and courage, and mentions one of his fair +confederates in the north of Scotland, through whose hands many of his +letters were sent to different chieftains; but these channels may not, +in all cases, have been so secure as the Earl conceived.[101] + +The proceedings of the English Government were, meantime, marked with +energy and judgment. The various movements of the insurgent party were +met in every direction by a systematic resistance, the details of which +have been minutely detailed by historians, and belong not to a narrative +which is chiefly of a personal nature. + +On the fourteenth of September, the Duke of Argyle, Commander in Chief +of his Majesty's Forces in Scotland, and General of the army, arrived in +Edinburgh. The interest of this able and powerful nobleman in the +Western Highlands, his zeal for the Protestant succession, were +sufficient reasons for his appointment to this important office. The +following original letter from George the Second, then Prince of Wales, +gives an insight into the views which were entertained by George the +First upon the mode of conducting the warfare in Scotland. It is among +various other papers in the Mar Correspondence. + + "St. James's, 7th October, 1715." + + "I have learned, my dear Duke, by your two last expresses, the + embaras you are in through the want of regular troupes. We have used + such efforts that the King has consented last Wednesday to detach to + you four batallions from Ireland, to reinforce your camp. Orders + have been given to cause those marche who are nearest, and to cause + them embarque as they come up, without waiting for their + conjunction. It appeares yet by the departure of the Duke of + Ormond, from Paris, that the malcontents continue in their wicked + design of raiseing up troubles in this kingdom here, which is the + cause that hinders me from sending you Campbell yet, untill that I + see if he will not be necessary for his post, where I think that it + is best every body should be fixed. As soon as all appearance of + Rebellion is ended here, I shall dispatch you him, if you shall have + need of him there. With respect to the orders you demand, it would + be very difficult to give you them positive, not knowing the + situation of your affairs, as you may judge yourself. The King + remits himself entirely to your judgment, and to your conduct. All + that I can say to you is not to hazard an action without a probable + appearance of carrying it,--rather to shune an engadgment, and to + yeild to them the ground, than to expose the affairs of the King to + such ill consequences as would follow from a defeat. In case that my + Lord Mar march into England before that you receive your + reinforcement, I think you would do very well to allow him at least + with your cavalery, and to harass him untill that we march to meet + him. This last reasoneing is my own properly, but which you will + judge yourself, if practicable or not. Farewell, my dear Duke; be + assured of my esteem, and my sincere friendship." + + (Signed) "GEORGE P." + +The Earl of Mar now began to fortify Perth, and brought up fourteen +pieces of cannon for that purpose from Dundee and Dunotter Castle. His +time and thoughts were at this time occupied in concerting and +encouraging the movements of the southern insurrection conducted by +Viscount Kenmure. There can be no better means of showing the state of +the Earl's hopes and feelings at this time, than by giving them in his +own words. + + +TO VISCOUNT KENMURE. + + "My Lord, + + "I wish your Lordship and Mr. Forster may have gott my letters, + which I took all the care I could to send safe. I wrote last by a + lady on the twenty-third, and she is so discreet and dextrous, that + I make little doubt of its going right. I have since had two from an + indisposed friend of ours on your side the water, and with them one + of the twenty-second from Brigadier Mackintosh to him, where he + tells of his being joined by your Lordship and five hundred horse + with you,--Lords Withrington and Derwentwater, Mr. Forester, and + about six hundred English gentlemen. Your Lordship may be sure this + was very agreeable news to me, and now, with the blessing of God, if + we do not mismanage, I think our game can scarce fail. By Brigadier + Mackintosh's letter, it seems the English are all for your going to + England in a body to put into execution a certain design, and our + countrymen are for first having the Pass of Stirling opened, and our + armies joined. I apprehended there would be difference about this + before I saw that letter, as your Lordship would easily see by what + the lady carried. It is indeed a difficult point to know or advise + which of the two is the best for the King's affairs; and we on this + side Forth being so ignorant of your situation on the other side, + and also of the condition of England, that I could not take it upon + me to determine in it, or to give any positive orders what your + Lordship should do; but after stating the advantages of both, and + what might happen according as the enemy should act, I left it to be + advised and determined among yourselves on that side, who could not + but know a great deal more, as you should judge it best for the + King's interest in generall. + + "I know our indisposed friend, for whose judgment I have a very + great regard, advised coming to Dalkeith, and we have a report from + Fife last night that you have done so. + + "I long impatiently to know what resolution your Lordship and the + noblemen and gentlemen with you have come to. It is of great + consequence and deserves to be well weighed. If you are now come to + Dalkeith, I will adventure to tell my thoughts in it, which I was + not quite so clear in before when you were at a greater distance + from it. That place was a far way from the other, where I judge the + secret design was to be put in execution; and I am afraid before you + can get there they'll have so strengthened the place, and filled it + with troops, that the design would prove impracticable with the + small army you have,--and it might prove, too, (especially if the + Dutch troops come to England,) that you could not penetrate farther + into that country with safety, and retiring back into Scotland would + have many inconveniences. + + "Dalkeith is but a short way from Stirling, where we on this side + must pass (I mean near it), and I hope we shall attempt it very + soon; and when we do, your being in the rear of the enemy could not + but very much incommode them, and be of great advantage to us. The + Duke of Argyle would be so hemmed in at Stirling by your being on + the one hand of him and our being on the other, that I scarce see + what I can do but to intrench myself, and by that our passage over + Forth and joining of you might be very easy; nor do I see how the + Duke of Argyle in those circumstances can subsist long there. Were + we once past Forth and joined on the south side, we should soon make + our way good to England, and then should be much more able to put in + execution the project of our English friends, without being in any + danger of returning back to Scotland. It would be of great + consequence to have possession of Edinburgh, but I hear just now + that the Duke of Argyle has sent two regiments of dragoons, so tho' + perhaps that may prevent your getting possession of that town, yet I + scarce believe that they will be able with all the detachments that + the Duke of Argyle dare adventure to send from Stirling to make any + attempt against you at Dalkeith, which is so strong a place + naturally; and should the enemy return again from Stirling, you + might either follow them in their rear without danger, or take + possession of Edinburgh. Were once Lord Seaforth come up to us and + General Gordon with the clans which I expect every day, I shall not + be long of leaving this place, and I shall likewise be able to send + more foot over the water, as I sent the last, if you want them, and + your being at Dalkeith, they could easily join you. Should most of + the Dutch troops come to Scotland, as is probable they will, it + would be very hard for us here to pass Forth without your + assistance, which would be a great loss and a grateing thing. I hear + to-day from about Stirling that Sir William Blacish is upon the head + of several thousands in the North of England, but your Lordship and + our English friends will know the truth of this better: be it as it + will, I do not think it alters the case much. The main and principal + thing is for us to get soon joined all in one body, then I am sure + we should be more considerable than all the force the Government, + with the six thousand Dutch, can bring against us, and when once the + British troops see so considerable a force together, asserting their + King's and their country's cause, I cannot believe they will, but + rather join us, and restore their country to peace and liberty. + + "These, my Lord, are my humble thoughts, but they are with + submission to your Lordship's and the King's friends with you who + are equally concerned with us, and I know equally zealous, and you + all certainly know a great deal more than me here. + + "I beg your Lordship may make my compliments to our countrymen, with + you, and to those noblemen and gentlemen of England who have so + handsomely and generously joined you. I long impatiently to be with + you, and with all the haste I can. + + "I send copies of this three different ways, that one or other of + them may certainly come to your hands. + + "I also send by one of them, if not two, a power for your Lordship + to raise money for the use of your armie, which my commission for + the King fully empowers me to do and give. + + "I wish this may come to your hand, and I long to hear from your + Lordship, which it being necessary I should soon, I am, with all + respect, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, + + "MAR."[102] + +It was the intention of Lord Mar to remain at Perth until all the +Jacobite clans should have joined his army; but having gained the +intelligence that some arms for the use of the Earl of Sutherland were +put on board a vessel at Leith, to be taken northwards, he determined to +take possession of them. The master of the vessel had dropped anchor at +Brunt Island, for the purpose of seeing his wife, who was there: Lord +Mar sent a detachment to surprise the harbour, which succeeded in +carrying off the spoil, back to Perth. A report was at the same time +raised in Stirling: that the Earl was marching to Alloa, the Duke of +Argyle forthwith ordered out the picquets of horse and foot, and, also, +all the troops to be ready to march out to sustain them, if required. +But the Jacobite army did not appear; and the report of their advance to +Stirling was believed to be a false alarm, contrived by Mar in order to +draw off the attention of the Duke of Argyle from the expedition to +Brunt Island. + +The insurgents were now masters of the eastern coasts of Scotland from +Brunt Island to the Murray Frith, an extent of above one hundred and +sixty miles along the shore. On the western side, the Isle of Skye, +Lewis, and all the Hebrides were their own, besides the estates of the +Earl of Seaforth, Donald Mac Donald, and others of the clans. So that +from the mouth of the river Lochie to Faro-Head, all the coast of +Lochaber and Ross, even to the north-west point of Scotland, was theirs: +theirs, in short, was all the kingdom of Scotland north of the Forth, +except the remote counties of Caithness, Strathnaver and Sutherland +beyond Inverness, and that part of Argyleshire which runs north-west +into Lorn, and up to Lochaber, where Fort William continued in +possession of the Government. + +The Earl of Mar had resolved to impose an assessment upon the large +extent of country under his sway, to raise money for the use of his +army. It was of course an unpopular, though doubtless a necessary +measure. The sum of twenty shillings sterling was to be paid by each +landholder upon every hundred pounds Scots of valued rent; and, if not +paid by a certain day, the tax was to be doubled. In levying this +assessment, the friends of the Government were far more severely treated +than those of the Chevalier; and the Presbyterian Ministers, who had +dared to raise their voices in their churches against the Pretender, as +they called the Chevalier, were commanded to be silent on that subject; +their houses were plundered, and many of them were driven by tyranny +from their homes.[103] + +The northern clans were now on their march to join the camp at Perth. +First came the famous Laird of Mackintosh, better known as Brigadier +Mackintosh, chief of that numerous clan in Invernesshire. His regiment, +composed of five hundred men, whom he had persuaded to join in the +insurrection, was considered the best that the Earl of Mar could boast. +The Marquis of Huntley, with five hundred horse and two thousand foot, +next arrived; and the Earl Marischal shortly afterwards brought a +thousand men to the camp. But Lord Seaforth, afraid lest in his absence +the Earl of Sutherland should invade his country, was still absent; and +the anxiety of the Earl of Mar for his arrival is expressed in more than +one of his letters. The whole strength of the army amounted to sixteen +thousand seven hundred men; this number was afterwards diminished by the +detachment sent southwards by the Earl, and by the number of three +thousand who were dispersed in garrisons. But it was no common force +that was now encamped at Perth. + +At this critical moment where was the individual for whom these great +and gallant spirits had ventured their all, the hills so dear to them, +their homes, the welfare of their families, to say nothing of that which +Highlanders least consider, their personal safety? At this moment, the +ill-advised and irresolute James Stuart, was absent. What could have +been his counsels? who were his advisers? of what materials was he made? +why did he ever come? are questions to which the indignant mind can +scarcely frame a reply. The fact, indeed, seems to be that his heart was +never really in the undertaking; that he for whom the tragedy was +performed, was the only actor in it who did not feel his part; it was +reserved for a nobler and a warmer nature to experience the ardour of +hope, and the bitter mortifications of disappointment. + +It was not until the middle of October that the Earl of Mar took any +personal share in the contest between the Jacobite army and that of the +Government. Hitherto he had remained at Perth, acting with an ill-timed +caution, and apparently bestowing far more attention upon the ill-fated +insurrection in Northumberland, aided by the low country Scots under +Lord Kenmure, than upon the proximate dangers of his own army. The +detachment of a body of troops under Brigadier Mackintosh, sent in order +to assist the Lowlanders, who were marching back into Scotland, +accompanied by the forces under Mr. Forster and the Earl of +Derwentwater, was the immediate cause of the two armies coming to an +engagement. The Earl of Mar in his narrative thus explains his plans and +their failure. + +The detachment under Brigadier Mackintosh having been sent, +"occasioned," Lord Mar says, "the Duke of Argyle's leaving Stirling, and +going with a part of his army to Edinburgh. Now, had the Scots and +English horse, who were then in the south of Scotland, come and joined +the fifteen hundred foot, (under Brigadier Mackintosh) as was expected; +had the Highland clans performed, as they promised, the service they +were sent upon in Argyleshire, and marched towards Glasgow, as the Earl +of Mar marched towards Sterling, he had then given a good account of the +Government's army, the troops from Ireland not having yet joined them, +nor could they have joined them afterwards. But all this failing by some +cross accidents, Lord Argyle returned with that part of his army to +Scotland, and the Earl of Mar could not then, with the men he then had, +advance further than Dumblane, and for want of provisions there, was +soon after obliged to return to Perth." + +"But immediately after that we had got provisions, and that the clans +and Lord Seaforth had joined us, we marched again towards the enemy; and +notwithstanding the many difficulties the Earl of Mar had upon that +occasion with some of our own people, he gave the enemy battle: and, as +you saw in our printed account of it, had not our left wing given way, +which was occasioned by mistake of orders and scarcity of experienced +officers, that being composed of as good men, and marched as cheerfully +up to the field of battle as the other, our victory had been complete. +And as it was, the enemy, who was advanced on this side the river, was +forced to retire back to Sterling."[104] + +Such is the Earl of Mar's comment upon the battle of Sherriff Muir, of +which the friends of Government gave a very different representation. + +The Earl had, it is evident, no disposition to risk a general engagement +before the Chevalier arrived in Scotland. He had sent two gentlemen to +the Prince to learn his determination, and had resolved to remain at +Perth until their return. During his continuance in that city he +employed himself not only in throwing up entrenchments round the town, +but in publishing addresses to the people, to keep up the spirits of the +Jacobites. Since the Earl was never scrupulous as to the means of which +he availed himself, we may not venture to reject the declaration of an +historian of no good will to the cause, that he ordered "false news" to +be printed and circulated; and published that which he hoped would +happen, as having already taken place. "The detachment," he related, +"had passed the Forth, had been joined by the army in the South, were +masters of Newcastle, and carried all before them; and their friends in +and about London had taken arms in such numbers, that King George had +made a shift to retire." These falsehoods were printed by Freebairn, +formerly the King's printer at Edinburgh, whom the Earl had established +at Perth, and provided with the implements brought by the army from +Aberdeen.[105] + +In the beginning of November, the Earl of Seaforth arrived at Perth, and +the Mac Invans, the Maccraws, the Chisholmes of Strath-Glass, and +others, completed all the forces that Lord Mar expected to join him. +Truly might the Earl say, "that no nation in such circumstances, and so +destitute of all kind of succour from abroad, ever made so brave a +struggle for restoring their prince and country to their just +rights."[106] But the usual fate of the Stuarts involved their devoted +adherents in ruin: or rather, let us not call that fate, which may be +better described by the word incapacity in the leaders of their cause. + +The want of ammunition, which was to have been supplied from abroad, was +now severely felt. "I must here add one thing," says Lord Mar, "which, +however incredible the thing may appear, is, to our cost, but too true: +and that is, that from the time the Earl of Mar set up the Chevalier's +standard to this day, we never received from abroad the least supply of +arms and ammunition of any kind; though it was notorious in itself, and +well known, that this was what from the first we mainly wanted; and, as +such, it was insisted upon by the Earl of Mar, in all the letters he +writ, and by all the messengers he sent to the other side."[107] + +On the ninth of November it was determined, at a great council of war, +to march straight to Dumblane with the ultimate view of following the +Brigadier Mackintosh into England, with the main body of the army, +amounting to nine thousand men, whilst a detachment of three thousand +should, if possible, gain possession of Stirling. + +The engagement which ensued, and which was called the battle of Sherriff +Muir, was fought on a Sunday; after both armies had been under arms all +night. No tent was pitched for the Duke of Argyle's men, either by +officer or soldier, on that cold November evening. Each officer was at +his post, nor could they much complain whilst their General sat on +straw, in a sheepcote, at the foot of the hill, called Sherriff Muir, +which overlooks Dumblane, on the right of his army. In the dead of the +night, the Duke, by his spies, learned where the enemy were; for, +although on account of the hills and broken ground, they could not be +seen, they were not at two miles' distance. This was at Kinback; at +break of day, the army of Argyle was completely formed, and the General +rode up to the top of the hill to reconnoitre the foe.[108] + +The Earl of Mar, meantime, had given orders for his army to form to the +left of the road that leads to Dumblane, and whilst they were forming +in front of the town of Dumblane, they discovered the enemy on the +height of the west end of the Sherriff Muir. A council of war was then +held, and it was resolved, _nemine contradicente_, to fight. + +The Earl of Mar's forces had also been ready for combat during the whole +of the night. To the Highlanders the want of shelter was of little +consequence. It was usual to them, before they lay down on the moor to +dip their plaids in water, by which the cloth was made impervious to the +wind; and to choose, as a favourite and luxurious resting-place, some +spot underneath a cover of overhanging heath. So late as the year 1745, +they could not be prevailed on to use seats.[109] It was therefore with +unimpaired vigour that they rushed on to the combat. + +The Earl of Mar placed himself at the head of the clans: perhaps a +finer, a more singular, a more painful sight can rarely have been +witnessed than the rush of this great body of Highlanders to the +encounter. It was delayed by the Earl of Mar's despatching his +aide-de-camp, Colonel Clephan, to Lord Drummond, and to General Gordon, +with orders to march and attack immediately. On their return, pulling +off his hat, he waved it with an huzza, and advanced in front of the +enemy's formed battalions. Then was heard the _slogan_ or war-cry, each +clan having its own distinctive watch-word, to which every clansman +responded, whether his ear caught the sound in the dead of night, or in +the confusion of the combat. Distinguished by particular badges, and by +the peculiar arrangement and colours of the tartans, these devoted men +followed the Earl of Mar towards the foe. + +But the action cannot be described in a manner better adapted to this +narrative, than in the words of Lord Mar himself, in his letter on the +very day of the engagement, to Colonel Balfour, whom he had left in +command of the garrison at Perth. It is dated Ardoch, November 13th, +1715. + + "Ardoch, Nov. 13th, 1715." + + "I thought you would be anxious to know the fate of this day. We + attacked the enemy on the end of the Sherriff Muir, at twelve of the + clock this day, on our right and centre; carried the day entirely; + pursued them down to a little hill on the south of Dumblane; and + there I got most of our horse and a pretty good number of our foot, + and brought them again into some order. We knew not then what was + become of our left, so we returned to the field of battle. We + discerned a body of the enemy on the north of us, consisting mostly + of the Grey Dragoons, and some of the Black. We also discovered a + body of their foot farther north upon the field where we were in the + morning; and east of that, a body as we thought of our own foot, and + I still believe it was so. I formed the horse and foot with me in a + line on the north side of the hill, where we had engaged and kept + our front towards the enemy to the north of us, who seem'd at first + as if they intended to march towards us; but upon our forming and + marching towards them, they halted and marched back to Dumblane. Our + baggage and train-horses had all run away in the beginning of the + action. But we got some horses and brought off most of the train to + this place where we quarter to-night about Ardock, whither we + march'd in very good order: and had our left and second line behaved + as our right and the rest of the first line did, our victory had + been compleat: but another day is coming for that, and I hope ere + long too. + + "I send you a list of the officers' names who are prisoners here, + besides those who are dangerously wounded and could not come along, + whose words of honour were taken. Two of these are the Earl of + Forfar, who I'm afraid will die, and Captain Urquhart, of Burn's + Yard, who is very ill wounded. We have also a good number of private + men prisoners; but the number I do not exactly know. + + "We have lost, to our regret, the Earl of Strathmore and the Captain + of Clan Ranald. Some are missing, but the fate we are not sure of. + + "The Earl of Panmure, Drummond of Logie, and Lieutenant Colonel + Maclean are wounded. + + "This is all that I have to say now, but that I am, + + "Yours, &c. MAR." + + "P.S. We have taken a great many of the enemy's arms." + +Lord Mar, on this occasion, showed a degree of personal bravery worthy +of the great name which he bore. He had placed himself on the right, +and, as he was giving orders to the Macdonalds to charge that battalion +of the enemy opposite to them, he encountered a very close fire. "The +horse on which my Lord was," writes an eye-witness on the Jacobite side, +"was wounded, for he fell down with him upon the fire, and got away, and +my Lord immediately mounted another horse: he exposed his person but too +much, and showed a great deal of bravery, as did the other lords about +him."[110] + +The army of the Duke of Argyle lay on their arms all night, expecting +that the next day the battle would be resumed; but, on Monday the +fourteenth of November, the Duke went out with the piquet guard to the +field to view the enemy, but found them gone: and leaving the piquet +guard on the place, he returned to Dumblane, and thence to Stirling, +carrying off with him fourteen of the enemy's colours and standards, and +among them the royal standard called the Restoration, besides several +pieces of artillery, and many prisoners, some of them men of rank and +influence. + +Both sides claimed the victory of Sherriff Muir as their own; but, +however it may be argued, it is certain that with only three thousand +effective troops, Argyle had contrived "to break the heart of the +rebellion," and to subdue an army such as could never again be +reassembled. Between six and eight hundred of the Jacobites are stated +to have fallen on the field,[111] and several, among whom was the brave +Earl of Panmure and Colonel Maclean, were among the wounded. Lord Mar, +nevertheless, celebrated the engagement as if it had been a victory. + +Thanksgiving-sermons were ordered to be preached at Perth, and a Te Deum +sung in the church; and ringing of bells, and other demonstrations +deceived the hearts of those who knew little of the real injury done to +the cause, or amused others whose nearest interests had not suffered in +the Sherriff Muir. A paper was also circulated containing a report of +the battle, of course highly favourable to the Earl of Mar's part in +what he called his victory. The following is the statement which he sent +to the Chevalier. + + +THE EARL OF MAR TO THE CHEVALIER.[112] + + "Nov. 24, 1715. + + "Sir, + + "It was but yesterday that I had accounts of your being at sea, and + I thought myself obliged to do all in my power to let you know the + state of affairs in this island before you land in it, so that you + may not be disapointed upon your comeing. + + "I had the certain account yesterday of those who had appear'd in + arms besouth Forth, and in the north of England, all being made + prisoners at Preston in Lancashire, which I'm affraid will putt a + stop to any more riseings in that country at this time. + + "Your Majesty's army, which I have the honour to command, fought the + enime on the Shirreff-Muir, near Dumblain, the thirteenth of this + moneth. Our left behav'd scandalously and ran away, but our right + routed the enimies left and most of their body. + + "Their right follow'd and pursued our left, which made me not + adventure to prosecute and push our advantage on our right so far as + otherwayes wee might have done, however wee keept the field of + battle, and the enimie retir'd to Dumblain. + + "The armie had lyen without cover the night before, and wee had no + provisions there, which oblidg'd me to march the armie back two + milles that night, which was the nearest place where I could get any + quarters. Next day I found the armie reduced to a small number, more + by the Highlanders going home than by any loss wee sustained, which + was but very small. So that and want of provisions oblidg'd me yet + to retire, first to Auchterarder, and then here to Perth. I have + been doing all I can ever since to get the armie together again, and + I hope considerable numbers may come in a little time; but now that + our friends in England are defeated, there will be troops sent down + from thence to reinforce the Duke of Argyle, which will make him so + strong, that wee shall not be able to face him, and I am affraid wee + shall have much difficultie in makeing a stand any where, save in + the Highlands, where wee shall not be able to subsist. + + "This Sir, is a melancholy account, but what in duty I was oblidg'd + to let you know, if possibly I can, before you land; and for that + end I have endeavour'd to send boats out about those places where I + judg'd it most probable you would come. + + "Ther's another copie of this upon the West Coast, and I wish to God + one or other of them may find you if your Majesty be upon the coast. + + "By the strength you have with you, your Majesty will be best able + to judge if you will be in a condition, when join'd with us, to make + a stand against the enimie. I cannot say what our numbers will be + against that time, or where wee shall be, for that will depend on + the enimie, and the motions they make; but unless your Majesty have + troops with you, which I'm affraid you have not, I see not how wee + can oppose them even for this winter, when they have got the Dutch + troops to England, and will power in more troops from thence upon us + every day. + + "Your Majestie's coming would certainly give new life to your + friends, and make them do all in their power for your service; but + how far they would be able to resist such a formed body of regular + troops as will be against them, I must leave your Majestie to judge. + + "I have sent accounts from time to time to Lord Bolingbroke, but I + have not heard once from any of your Majestie's servants since Mr. + Ogilvie of Boin came to Scotland, nor none of the five messengers I + sent to France are return'd, which has been an infinite loss to us. + I sent another, which is the sixt, to France, some days ago, with + the account of our victory, who I suppose is sail'd ere now. + + "May all happiness attend your Majestie, and grant you may be safe, + whatever come of us. If it do not please God to bless your kingdoms + at this time with your being settled on your throne, I make no doubt + of its doing at another time; and I hope there will never be wanting + of your own subjects to assert your cause, and may they have better + fortune than wee are like to have. I ask but of Heaven that I may + have the happiness to see your Majestie before I die, provided your + person be safe; and I shall not repine at all that fortune has or + can do to me. + + "Your Majestie may find many more capable, but never a more faithful + servant than him who is with all duty and esteem, Sir, your + Majestie's most dutiful, most faithfull and most obedient subject + and servant, + + "MAR." + + "From the Camp of Perth, Nov. 24, 1715." + + +A fortnight previously the Earl of Mar had addressed the following +curious letter to Captain Henry Straiton,[113] at Edinburgh, to whom +many of Lord Mar's epistles are written. The allusion to Margaret Miller +refers to Lady Nairn, the sister-in-law of the Marquis of Tullibardine, +and wife of Lord Nairn, who, in compliance with a Scottish custom, took +his wife's title, she being Lady Nairn in her own right. The allusion +to "a dose" which will require the air of a foreign country to aid it, +seems to offer some notion of the Earl's subsequent flight. + + "Novemb. 8th, 1715. + + "Sir, + + "I had yours of the fourth this forenoon, which was very wellcome. + And I hope we shall soon see the certainty of what the accounts + makes us expect of these folks' arivall. I sent of a pacquet + yesterday with an answer to Margaret Miller's of the second, and in + it I sent a copie of my last to Mr. H----n, which was dated the + second and third, of which I sent him copies two different wayes, so + I hope he'll get one of them at least. They were pressing them to go + into England; and now that they are actually gone their, and in so + good a way, I am easie as to that. I hope God will direct and assist + them. + + "I thought to have marcht from this to-day. The foot are mostly + gone, and I march with the horse to-morrow morning. Our generall + revew is to be at Auchterardor on Thursday morning, and then to + march forward immediately. It is of great use to hear often from + you, and to have accounts of our friends in the north of England, + and what is doing in England beside; so I know you'll write as often + as you can find occasions. I fancie I may hear to-day from our + friends in the north of England, for I hope they had some days ago a + way of sending directly. It seems the Duke of Argyll's absence from + London is not like to do his own court of interest there much good. + I hope our manifesto's being disperced at London, will have good + effect; and I long to see what the prints call the Pretender's + declaration, and the declaration of the people of England. The run + upon the bank, I hope, will not lessen. The public credit must not + be once ruined to make it raise again, and I hope that time may be + sooner than we think of. We have rainy weather, but that is an + inconveniencie to the enimie as well as to us. My humble service to + Margaret Miller: I thank her for the information she gives me, of + one about me giving intelligence; but other friends may be easie + about it, for I am sure there is nothing in it; and I know what made + them belive, which I confess had colour enough. I wish she would get + the Doctrix to send a new dose to the patient she knows of, for + there was a little too much of one of the ingredients in the last, + which toke away the effect of the whole. It is the ingredient that + has the postponeing quality in it; and the patient's greatest + distemper is the apprehentions he has of a perfect cure being long + of comeing, and that it is not to be til he get the air of another + country. The dose must be carefully made up, and no appearance of + its comeing from any other hand but the Doctrix' own. Ther's some + copies herewith sent of a paper printed on this side the water, of + which I hear severall are at Stirling. The other two papers I got + to-day are given to revise, and are to be printed soon. I send you a + copie of a letter was wrote t'other day, and sent to the + Cameronians in the west. I wish you could send this one to some of + them in the south. This is all I will trouble you with; but I hope + both to get from you and give you good news soon, and I ever am, + with all sincerity and truth, yrs. &c. + + "Perhaps Capt. R----n will not be found to have done so much hurt as + was thought he designed; but this is not to bid trust him yet." + +By two manuscript letters among the Mar papers, it appears, however, +that the account soon afterwards published by Lord Mar was not so full +of artifice and untruths as his enemies represented. "He kept the field +of battle until it was dark," says one writer, in a letter dated from +Perth (November the 19th, 1715); "and nothing but want of provisions +prevented us from going forward the next day. We hear the Whigs give +various accounts of the battle, to cover the victory; but the numbers of +the slain on their part being eleven or twelve hundred, and ours not +above fifty or sixty, and our keeping the field when they left it, makes +the victory incontestable. Your friends that I know here mind you often, +and they and I would be glad to have the opportunity to drink a bottle +with you beyond the Forth." + +Another eye-witness gives a still more detailed account.[114] "I have +yours of the seventeenth, with the paper inclosed, wherein that +gentleman has taken the liberty to insert many falsehoods relative to +the late action, a true and impartial account of which I here send you, +which is but too modest on our side, and many things omitted that will +be afterwards made publick, particularly their murdering Strathmoir, +after he had asked quarters, and the treatment they gave to Panmuir and +several others, who, I hope, will be living witnesses against them. The +enclosed is so full that I have little to say, only that we have not +lost a hundred men in the action, and none of note, except Strathmoir, +and the Captain of Clan Ronald." + +The cruel spirit of party destroyed the generous characteristics of the +soldier, during the excitement of the combat: but how can we palliate +the conduct of one of the King's generals, Lord Isla, after the +fierceness of the encounter was over? The letter referred to discloses +particulars which were hushed up, or merely glanced at, in the partial +annals of the time. + + "So soon as they saw us coming down upon them, they marched off in + great haste towards Dumblain, and left several of our people they + had taken, among which was Lord Panmuir, who offered to give his + parole, not knowing what had passed upon the eighth; but he was told + by the person he sent to Lord Isla, that he could not take a parole + from a rebel, and they were in such haste that they lost him in a + little house, with several others near the field, where we found + them when we advanced and brought him along with us to Ardoch, two + miles furder, where we stayed all night and next day, until that we + heard the enemy were marched off to Stirling. He is now pretty well + and in no danger. Earl Loudoun passed him as he lay in the field, + without taking any notice of him, and he was wounded there by the + dragoons after he had surrendered to them; but I hope there will be + one other day of reckoning for these things. My Lord Mar sent off + two or three people to take care of Lord Forfar when he heard he was + wounded, and one of them waited of him to Stirling. He expressed a + good dale of consern that he should have been ingadged against his + countrymen, and sent a breslet off his arm to Lord Mar, so that we + all wish he may live. A good pairt of our baggage and the provisions + we had, were distroyed by our own people who went of from our left. + We are now getting provisions and every thing ready as soon as + possible; and I am hopefull we will be in a condition in a very few + days to pass forth without oposition. + + "We have got accounts this day of a victorie obtained by our friends + in the south, the particulars of which we long for. I have sent you + some copies of the printed account of the action to give our + friends. + + "So adieu." + +Notwithstanding the humane attentions shewn by the Earl to Lord Forfar, +that brave and generous nobleman died of his wounds. After lingering +more than three weeks, he expired at Stirling on the eighth of +December. He was wounded in sixteen different places, but a shot which +he received in his knee seems to have been the most fatal injury. The +conduct of the Earl appears in strong contrast with that of the Earl of +Isla; but we must remember that each party had its own chroniclers. It +is, nevertheless, a result of observation, more easily stated than +explained, that through the whole of the two contests, both in 1715 and +1745, the generous and somewhat chivalric bearing of the Jacobites was +acknowledged; whilst a spirit of cruel persecution marked the conduct of +some of the chief officers on the opposite side. The Duke of Argyle +indeed, in his own person, presented an exception to this remark, which +chiefly applies to those secondary to him in command and influence. + +The conduct of Lord Mar, in retreating to Perth after the affair of +Sherriff Muir, has been severely censured. But, as Sir Walter Scott has +observed, he met with that obloquy which generally follows the leader of +an unsuccessful enterprise. According to Lord Mar's own account (and it +has been corroborated by others), his retiring to Perth was unavoidable. +The Highlanders, brave as they were, had a custom of returning home +after a battle; and many of them went off when the engagement was ended. +The Earl of Mar was not, therefore, in a condition to pursue the +advantage which he had gained, but was forced to await at Perth the +arrival of the Chevalier, or of the Duke of Berwick; on the notification +of which, the Highlanders would have rallied to his standard. No +supplies had been sent; the gentlemen of the army, as well as the men, +had been long absent from their homes, and were living at their own +expense; and therefore were impatient for leave of absence. To add to +the general discouraging aspect of affairs, the fatal result of the +English insurrection, under the command of Mr. Forster, was communicated +at this time. + +At first the result of the battle of Preston was represented to the +Jacobites at Perth in a very different light to that in which the defeat +of the English Jacobites afterwards appeared. The following is an +extract of a letter from Lord Mar, dated the twentieth of November. +"This day we hear from good hands that they (the English Jacobites) have +had a victory, for which we have had rejoicings, and I hope in God they +are in a good way by this time. Let me hear from you often, I beg it of +you, and I'll long for the particulars of that affair. + +"I am doing all I can to get us again in a condition to march from home. +It will not be so soon as I wish, which is no small mortification to me, +but our friends; you may depend on it, that it shall be as soon as I +can, and no time shall be lost. It is wonderfull that neither the King +nor the Duke of Ormond comes, nor that I have not accounts from them. +Now that there is so considerable a party appearing in England, I hope +they will put it off no longer. I hope all your friends in England are +well in particular, but pray let me have an account of it. + +"Lord Tullibardin and Lord George are well; they are gone again to +Atholl to bring back their men, who went off that they might retrieve +their honour, as I doubt not but they will. It is a great pity if poor +Strathmore and Clanronald, and I'm afraid honest Auchterhouse, is +killed, for we can get no account of him. + +"I wish our prisoners may be as civilly treated as theirs are with us. +They are all sent to Dundee (the officers I mean), where they have the +liberty of the town, and wear their swords. My compliments to our sick +friend, who I am sorry is still so; but he has had a good second and +secretary. + +"Pray let us have some good news now, and I am with all truth and +esteem, + + Yours, &c." + +"Perth, November 20, 1715." + +"Lord Panmure recovers pritty well. The enimie give out that he gave his +parole when he was prisoner, but it was not so, he off'red it them but +they wou'd not take it from a rebel as they call'd him, and neither did +Strewan; so they were both resqued." + + * * * * * + +These letters place Lord Mar in a somewhat more estimable light than the +usual statements have done. The truth is, that we ought never to judge +of a man's actions before we have had an insight into his real motives +and circumstances at the time. Few individuals had greater difficulties +to contend with than Lord Mar. + +Harassed by cabals among the adherents of the Chevalier; unable to +account for the continued reserve and absence of that Prince; and +weakened greatly both by the secession of the clan of Fraser, who had +joined the Insurgents with Mackenzie of Fraserdale, but who now went +away, and joined him whom they considered as their real chieftain, the +infamous Simon Fraser, of Beaufort, Lord Lovat; the Earl began to listen +to those who talked of capitulating with the enemy. He found, indeed, +that he was forced to comply with the wishes of the chieftains, some of +whom were making private treaties for themselves. It must have been a +bitter humiliation to Lord Mar to have sent a message to his former +rival in politics, the Duke of Argyle, "to know if he had power to treat +with him;" but the measure appears from the following letter to have +been unavoidable. It was written after the news of the defeat at Preston +had reached Perth. It bespeaks some degree of compassion and +consideration for a man whose councils were distracted by dissensions, +and who was embarrassed beyond measure by the absence of the Chevalier, +to whose arrival he looked anxiously to give some hopes of revival to a +sinking cause. The Master of Sinclair, to whom Lord Mar refers as a +"devil," and who, since the disaster at Preston was known, "appeared in +his own colours," was the eldest son of Henry, eighth Baron Sinclair, a +devoted adherent of the House of Stuart, and one of those who had +withdrawn from the Convention of 1689 when the resolution to expel James +the Second was adopted. John, Master of Sinclair, was afterwards +attainted, and never assumed the title of his father, although pardoned +in 1726. + + "November 27th, 1715. + + "Sir, + + "I had yours of the twenty-second, the twenty-fifth, and also spoke + with the person you mention in it; I suppose he wou'd see you, as he + returned. The disaster of our friends in England is very unlucky, + both to affairs there and here. Since we knew of it here a _devil_, + who I suspected for some time to be lurking amongst us, has appeared + openly in his own colours. I forsaw this a-comeing some days ago. I + have endeavoured to keep people from breaking amongst themselves, + and was forced to go into the first step of it; but I hope we shall + be able to have the manadgement of it, and prevent its doing any + hurt, but to confounde in time comeing the designs of those who were + the promoters of it. It was by the advise of all your friends what I + have done, so let not our folks be alarmed when they hear of it from + I----g. It is odd where the K----[115] can be all this time, since, + by all appearance and all the accounts we have, he has left France + long ago; but that must quickly appear, and I hope to get things + staved off til it does. But without his comeing what can be done? + Tho' I hope that will not be the case. It is odd that others write + of Col. H----y and Doctor Abor--y, both at Parise, and that they do + not write themselves, tho' I'm told to-day that there's a letter + from them to me at Edinburgh, which I long for. We are told of + troops comeing from Englande, both English and Dutch. I doubt if + they'll ventur to quitt with both, and I would fain hope that none + of them will come soon. God grant that the K---- be safe. If he go + to England, as we are told he designed, I doubt not but he knows of + support there. I confess there's a great deal lost by his long + delay, but that certainly was not in his power to help, else it + wou'd not have been so. If he still come here, I hope we will yet be + able to make a stand for him this winter, but I thought I was + obledged to let him know the true situation before he land, which I + have done to the best of my pow'r, and lodged letters for him in the + places where I thought it most likely he wou'd come, so that he may + not be dissapointed by expecting to find things better than they + are. He has been so long by the way that it wou'd seme he is not + comeing to England, but that he is comeing round about Ireland to + Scotland; and neither he nor D---- O----d[116] be in England. It + wou'd seem that they will not stir there, which would make it a very + hard task here; but I hope Providence will protect him, and yet + settle him on his throne. + + "I find it will be sometime before I can stirr from hence, and if + the enemy get not reinforcments, I judge they will not stirr either; + but as soon as they get them they certainly will, and I'm afraid we + shall be oblidged to take the hills, which is a could quarter now. + I wish you knew a great many particulars I have to tell you, but it + is not safe writing them; there are some people with us who it had + been good for the King they had stay'd at home, where they want not + a little to be, and will leave us at last, but we must make the best + of them, tho' there be but ill stuff to make it of as the saying is. + Never had man so plaguie a life as I have had o' late; but I'll do + the best I can to go threw it, and not be unworthy of the trust + reposed in me. My service to Mr. Hall, and I hope he'll make my + compliments to his correspondent at P----se,[117] who he mentions in + his to me; but its odd that I have heard from none there myself ever + sine B----n came, especially since other letters come through. I + must own I have not had many encouragements, but that should be + nothing if I had encouragements for others. Should it please God + that the King's affairs should not succeed, but that people + capitulated, I do not purpose to be a Scots or Englishman if they + would let me, and all that I wou'd ask for myself is liberty to go + abroad, for in that case I wou'd rather live in Siberia than + Britain. If the King does not come soon, I find people will not hold + out long; but if he does, there are honest men enough to stand by + him and not see him perish. Pray let me hear from you as often as + you can, and when you write to Mrs. Miller[118] make my compliments + to her. I wish some of our men here had her spirit. I hope you are + now perfectly recover'd, but pray take care that you fall not ill + again. Adieu. + + "Pray cause give the enclosed to my brother as soon as it comes to + your handes. I beg you may apprise our friends at London and Parise + of what has been done hear to-day; the sending to Argle at Stirling + a message about articles of treaty, as appears from other papers, + which I tel you I was forced to go into;--that they may not be + surprised at it and think we have given all over, which might have + very bad consequences in both places. Do this by the first post. All + will come right again if the King come soon to Britain." + +The answer returned by the Duke of Argyle to Lord Mar's overture was +this: that "he had no sufficient powers to treat with the Earl of Mar +and his Council as a body, but that he would write to Court about it." + +To this reply, which was sent with much courtesy by the Duke, a +rejoinder was made, "That when the Duke should let the Earl of Mar and +his Council know that he had sufficient power, then they would make +their proposition." The proposal was sent up to St. James's, but no +further notice was taken of it, nor were the powers of the Duke of +Argyle extended to enable him to come to any terms with Lord Mar. But +although the negotiation thus died away, the weakness it betrayed among +the Jacobite party was highly prejudicial to their cause. + +James, during all the recent events, had been engaged in making several +attempts to leave St. Maloes. He had gone openly on board ships which +were laden with arms and ammunition for his use, but had withdrawn when +he found that his embarkation was known. He therefore changed his plans, +and crossing to Normandy, resolved to embark at Dunkirk. Having lurked +for several days, disguised as a mariner, on the coast of Brittany, he +went privately to Dunkirk, where he embarked, attended by the Marquis of +Tynemouth, the eldest son of the Duke of Berwick, Lieutenant Cameron, +and several other persons, on board a French ship, which, according to +some accounts, "was laden with brandy, and furnished with a good +pass-port." Thus at length having ventured on the ocean, the Prince set +sail towards Norway; but changed his direction, and steered towards +Peterhead, in Aberdeenshire. During all this time, the Earl of Mar +suffered from the utmost anxiety and perplexity for one who was unworthy +of the exertions made for his restoration. This is evident from the +following letter, dated November the thirtieth, to Captain Straiton: + + "The accounts of that person's[119] way of going on, and the danger + he is in, confound me; but I hope Providence has not preserved him + all this while to destroy him at last. I am doing all I can to make + it safe; and perhaps what we thought our misfortune, (the men going + home after Sheriff Muir,) may prove our happiness, they being where + that person is to come, and I send troops there immediately." + + "I knew before I got yours that the Dutch troops were coming + here.[120] Those by sea may come soon, but those by land cannot be + here a long time. They will now power in all the troups from England + on us; but I hope we may hold it this winter in spite of them, tho' + we shall have hard quarters in the Highlands. In case of what Mr. + H----ll writes me prove true, and happen, for fear of accidents + after it does, were it not fitt that you should write to France to + send some ships to cruise up and down the north-west coast to save + the person Mr. H----ll writes of, if things should not prove right? + and our friends in France can either send them from thence or Spain, + round Ireland? I hear of but two little ships of warr on that coast; + and the ships I would have sent may pass as marchant ships tradeing + and putting in by accident therabouts, which they often do. Pray + think of this, and write of it soon to France, as I intend to do + to-night by an express I am sending; and were it not fitt you should + write of it too to some trusty friend at London? But it must be done + with the utmost caution, for fear of disheartning the English. Tho' + the safty of that person is of such consequence that all ways is to + be taken for it, and all accidents guarded against. + + "I wrote to you the twenty-seventh, and in it I gave you account of + an affair which happened amongst us, which obliged us to send a + message to the Duke of Argyll. I hope this came safe to your hand. + His answer was very civil, and our return was in the words + following, viz: 'We are obliged to the Duke of Argyll for his + civility; that, since he has no powers to treat with us, we can say + no more now; but if at any time he shall have them, and let us know + it, we shall give our answer.' + + "I hope this affair has been so manadgd that all the spirit of + division amongst us is crusht; and pray take care to informe our + friends at London and Parise about it, that it may not alarme them. + I am affraid of its alarmeing the Regent, and keeping him from doing + anything for the King; for which reason I send an express to Lord + Bolingbroke to-night. I suppose it will be ten or twelve dayes at + least before the Duke of Argyll will have a return, and we may know + much before that time. If they agree to a treaty, it is still in our + own power; and if not, I hope people will stand together for their + own sake. + + "You speak in your two last as if you were opresst about our + divisions. All I shall trouble you further in relation to + this,--there are odd people amongst us, and those of whom it should + not have been expected; they had instild their spirit so farr into + many, that there was no steming the tide but by going into it, or + else breaking amongst ourselves, and, like them, make a seperat + peace; but now those wise folk are ashamed of themselves, and are + disclaimed by those who they said comissioned them. I do all I can + to make others forgett this behaveour of those people, and I hope we + shall be as unite as ever. If the King come, I am sure we shall; and + if God is not pleased to bless us with his presence, whatever we do + shall be in consert. + + "I beg to hear often from you, and particularly what you can learn + of the motion of the enimie and their designs. + + "I send a reinforcement to-night to Bruntisland of a hundred men, + and there was fifty in it before. + + "Lord Seaforth went north some time ago, and severall of Lord + Huntly's people; so I hope they togither will be able to keep Lord + Sutherland from doing much mischife, and e'er long to reduce him and + all the King's enimies there. We are not yet in so much apprehention + of them as Mr. H----ll seems to be. I am mightily pleased you are so + much recovered, which I know by your hand-writeing; but I can scarce + conceave how you get yourself keept free of our enimies,--may you do + long so, and + + "I am sincearly yours, &c. Adieu." + +On the first of December, the Earl having still heard no tidings of the +Chevalier, and being ignorant of his real movements, again writes in all +the uncertainty, and with the circumspection of one who knows not +whether his letter will be received. He seems always to have sent +duplicates of his letters. + + "I am in the utmost pain about the K----,[121] and I have done all + in my power to make him safe, but I hope Providence will protect + him. I sent one for France this morning, and I hope he may sail in a + day or two, but let that not keep you from writeing there too. I + would fain hope that the Regent has altered his measurs, and is + comeing into the K----'s intrest, else I do not see how it had been + possible for him to get thro' France: if so, I have good hopes, and + I wish he may come to us; but if not, and that England do nothing, I + wish he were safe again where he formerly was, for we shall never be + able alone to do his bussiness, and he will be in the utmost danger + after starveing a winter in the Highlands. Lord Huntley is still + very much out of humour and nothing can make him yet believe that + the K----'s a-comeing. He intends to go north, under the pretext of + reduceing Lord Sutherland, and his leaving us at this time I think + might have very bad effects, which makes me do all I can to keep + him. The Master of Sinclair is a very bad instrument about him, and + has been most to blaim of any body for all the differences amongst + us. I am plagued out of my life with them, but must do the best I + can. I expect now to hear every day of the K----'s landing; but + should he be any time of comeing, and the Duke of Argyll get his + powers and send us word of it before he come, our old work will + begin again, and I am sure I shall be deserted by a great many. Some + people seem so farr from being pleased with the news of the K----'s + comeing, that they are visiblie sorry for it; and I wish to God + these people had never been with us for they will be our undoing! + and what a plague brought them out, since they could not hold it out + for so short a time? I shall be blamed, I know, over all Europe for + what I am entirely innocent of. It will be my own ruin beside, but + if that could advance the K----'s affairs I am contented. In time I + shall be justified when my parte in all this affair comes to be + knowen, and I bless God I have witnesses enough who have seen all; + and if accidents do not happen them, my papers will show it to + conviction, for I have been pretty exact in keeping copies and a + journall. + + "Since I have wrote so fully to you, I do not write to Mr. H----ll, + for which I hope he'll forgive me.[122] + + "I am anxious to know if my brother got my note that was inclosed to + you in that of the twenty-seventh, which was to caution him in a + thing that I was affraid his over great concern for me might make + him do, and which would vex me extreamly if he did. + + "I long to hear from you again, as I suppose you will from me; and + as soon as I know of what you'll expect to hear of from me, you + shall. Adieu." + +In a few days afterwards Lord Mar had gained more precise intelligence +of the Prince's movements; on the delay at St. Maloes he puts the +favourable construction of the vessel's having been wind-bound, as will +be seen by the following letter. The dissensions in his counsels, aided, +as he hints, by the influence which the Master of Sinclair exercised +over the Marquis of Huntley, were, still, not among the least of his +difficulties. + + "December 6th, 1715. + + "Sir, + + "Last night one of the messengers I had sent to France returned, and + there came with him to Montrose, Mr. Charles Fleeming and General + Eclin; but they are not yet come here, nor some money that came + along with them. I have a letter from the King, the fifteenth of + November, N. S. from St. Malos; severall from Lord Bolingbroke, the + last of which was the twenty-seventh, and he belived the King then + to be saild, and he had been wind bound there three weeks; but he + did not sail, as I understand from the messenger til the eighteenth + inst., he having seen a letter from Col. Hay at St. Maloes, to Mr. + Arbuthnot, two dayes after he sailed. God send him safe to us, for + which I have done all in my power! It is in the hands of Providence, + and I hope God will protect him. It is not to be known where he is + to land, and indeed it cannot be known certainly. Even this has not + quite cured all the whims amongst us. Lord grant a safe landing, and + I hope that will. The Duke of Ormond is gone to England, and I + believe he has some troops with him and arms and ammunition. + + "I hear from Fife to-day that there landed at Leith on Sunday last + four hundred of the Dutch troops. I hope that's all that are comeing + by sea. I have the King's Declaration, which is to be reprinted + here, and shall be dispers'd in a few days. The less that it be + spoke that the King is to land soon, I believe the better, until he + actually does, for that but make the Government more alert. Were he + but once landed, I have reason to belive that there will be a new + face of affairs seen abroad as well as at home in the King's favour, + which is all I dare yet adventure to trust of it to paper; but I + hope in God were the King once with us all will be well. + + "There are more officers comeing to us from abroad different wayes, + so it's likely they may be dropping in every day. The Duke of + Berwick stays behind for a very good reason, and is to follow. The + King has been pleased to confer new honours on me, but I do not + think it fitt to take it on me til he comes, and if it pleases not + God he come to us safe, I am indifferent what becomes of all I ever + had, and this may go with the rest. It is goodness in him, and more + than I askt or deserve. I will long to hear from you; and tho' I + desire you not to let the news I write you be much talkt of, yet I + suppose it will be no secret, for I am obliged to communicate what I + get to so many that it cannot possible be keept, and yet I cannot + help this. Tho' Lord Huntley said little to me to-day upon my + shewing him my letters, yet I know it from good hands he is not a + bitt in better humour and that he will now positively go north; + which I suppose he'll write of to me to-morrow, for 'tis seldom now + he'll either see me or let me see him, tho' I take all the ways I + can to please and humour him, but all will not do: however, I hope + will not have many followers. Master of Sinclair is gone this day to + see his father upon a sharp letter he had from him yesterday about + his behaviour. Some others are ashamed of the part they acted, but + if the King come not soon all of them will relapse again. The clans + stand firm, and I hope will to the last. + + "Pray try to get notice of what private letters from London say upon + our proposeing terms, and let me know as soon as you can. Adieu." + +It is curious to trace the revival of the Earl's hopes, and the increase +of his confidence. The following letter contains, among other +circumstances, a reference to the supposed attempt of the Earl of Stair, +in France, to assassinate James. + + "December 10th, 1715. + + "Sir, + + "Yesterday I had yours of the fourth and fifth, for which I thank + you. I wrote to you on the eighth, which I hope you got safe, and + in it I told you of one of the messengers I had sent to France being + returned, and with him General Eclin and Mr. Charles Fleming, and + some money: since that Doctor Abercromby is returned and Lord Edward + Drummond is come with him and brought some more money. They come off + the same day with the others, and landed the same day at Aberdeen + the others did at Montrose. They only brought duplicates of the + dispatches I had by the others, and a letter to me from the Q---- + with a pacquet from her to the K----, by which you may be sure he is + sail'd, and we hourly expect to hear of his landing. Since those + people came, those amongst us who had been uneasy, are now comeing + to be in good humour again, particularly Lord Huntley; and I have + agreed to his going north with some of his horse to get all his + people there together to suppress those about Inverness, and also to + have them in readiness against the K. comes. Pray God send him safe + and soon, and then I do not despair of things going right still. Our + whole prisoners almost, I mean the private men, are like to take on + since they heard of the K----g's being certainly a-comeing; and + since they saw the two enclosed papers, they say that were he once + come, there will be news of their armie and all those prisoners. + Even those who do not lift with us, pray openly for the K----, and + that God may keep him out of the hands of his enimies. + + "The two enclosed are sent about to a great many places: it is + better to delay dispersing the K----'s declaration til he arrive, + since I hope that is near. + + "I admear we hear no certain accounts of the Duke of Ormond, for the + fifteenth inst. the K---- and Q---- too write to me that he was + saild a second time for England. + + "Pray God it may be well with him, and if he do not, then I wish he + may come here with all my heart. + + "We have heard nothing as yet of the Duke of Argyle's return from + London, and I imagine we shall hear nothing from him upon it, when + he does get it and I hope he shall never be askt for it more by us. + The Duke of Atholl will himself send his men against Crafourd. + + "I believe I forgot to tell you in my last that Colonel Hay mist + very narrowly being murdered in France, takeing him for the K---- + (being in one of his cheases), by Lord Stair's gang, and in their + pockets Lord Stair's orders were found to go to such a place, and + there obey what orders they should receive from Count Douglass[123] + (Lightly), let them be never so desperate. This is something so + horrid that I want words to express it. I tell it you just as those + from France tell me. The fellow was imprisoned by the government + there and reclaimed by Lord Stair. Lord Clairmont was actually + reclaimed by the Regent before they come away; so his being brought + to England after, may work something. I have just now a packet of + news sent me by A. M., for which I thank you. Notwithstanding this + great new General's being come, I see not how they can do anything + at Stirling till the Dutch join them, and that cannot be yet for + some time; pray Heavens the K---- come before them! I know by other + accounts as well as yours, from abroad, that they are not above four + thousand complete and some of these are lost. Our Highlanders have + got in their heads a mighty contempt for them, which may do good. + This goes by the Hole,[124] from when your packet yesterday was sent + me. I have nothing further to add now, but I hope soon to send you + agreable news. Pray give my service to I. H. and desire him to make + my compliments to his landlady and tel her, I hope she is now right + with her son, which I am exceeding glad of. Adieu." + +At length, on the twenty-second of December, James landed at Peterhead, +after a voyage of seven days. His arrival dispelled many doubts of his +personal courage, since, after all his deliberations, he adopted by no +means the least hazardous course by traversing the British ocean, which +was beset by British men-of-war. He had sailed from Dunkirk in the +small vessel in which he had embarked, and which was followed by two +other vessels, containing his domestics, and stores for the use of his +army. His immediate attendants were disguised as French officers, and his +retinue as seamen. It had been the Chevalier's original intention to +have landed in the Frith of Tay; but observing a sail which he suspected +to be unfriendly, he altered his course, and landed at Peterhead, where +the property of the Earl Marischal was situated. The ship in which the +Chevalier sailed was, however, near enough to the shore to be able, by +signals, to make signs to his friends of his approach. At Perth the +intelligence was received with the utmost joy, and produced a most +favourable effect, even among the prisoners of war, which Lord Mar +describes in the following letter. Up to the twenty-eighth of the month +he had not seen the Prince: + + "The 28th December. + + "Yours of the twenty-second I have got just now by the Hole, and I + sent one that way to you yesterday from our friend here, in which + you have the joyfull news of the King's safe arival, which I hope in + God will effectually sement what you recomend to us. Our friend went + yesterday morning to meett his master, who I hope will be here with + us again Friday; I pray God turn the hearts of his enemies, both for + the sake of him and their poor country! It will be a monstruous + crime never to be forgiven, if they now draw their swords against + him, since he has been pleased to give them a most gratious + indemnity for all that is past, without exception. All will now soon + be dispersed in the North that opose him. Sutherland's men are + deserting him, and the Frasers are all gone home. I make no doubt + but that we are masters of Inverness, and so consequently the whole + North before this time. I make no doubt but that the King's presence + will forward everything: it has already had great effects here: and + those that were for separate measurs have reason to be ashamed, and + I hope they will make amends by their future behaveor. We have sent + over some of the declarations, and ane other paket of them is gone + this night. Now is the time for every body to bestir themselves, and + that all resort here to their master. I ame persuaded you'l not be + idle. Those that made a pretext of the King's not being landed, are + now left unexcusable; and if those kind of folks now sit still and + look any more on, they ought to be worse treated than our worst + enemies. I beg of you to send us what accounts you can learn on your + side, and what they are now to do upon this news. I hope in God we + shall now be soon ready to give them a meeting! It will be of + consequence for us to hear often from your side, and we have little + other accounts than from you. I have sent yours by ane express this + day to our friend, and I hope to hear from you soon in return to the + last that went on Munday. The K---- lay on Saturday night at the + Earl of Marischall's house; he had a very good and safe passage, + and has given them fair slip, for I supose they did never rekon on + his comeing the near way. I hear there is a great resort to him, + since he landed, of all ranks. + + "The Duke of Athol[125] sent a pairty of two hundered of his men + yesterday morning, under the comand of his brother Lord Edward, and + his son Lord James, to Dunkeld to have surprised our garison there, + which consisted of about one hundred men of the clans; but it seems + the garison had notice of it some hours before they came, and gave + them such a warm reception, that they retired in great haste with + the loss of two men killed by our out-sentinels and five or sixe + wounded. I belive his Grace's men had no good will to the work, and + were brought their against their inclinations. They had nott then + gott the account there of the King's arival, els I belive they had + not atempted it. I wish our garison were now at Brunt Island, but I + hope that loss soon be made up. I hope you'll omitte no occasion in + letting us hear from you. Adieu. + + "The above is writte to H. S.,[126] but it will serve you both to + forward it to him. I got the money and the cloas safe. I expect to + hear from you soon. I have yours of the twenty-third. I have sent + over a paket to be dispersed, and some ane other way. Your letters + are longer be the way than they need so order it. Fall on some + proper way to gett the enclosed delivered by some person, but be not + seen in it yourself. If ane answer can be got, send it." + +The Chevalier slept in the town of Peterhead on the first night of his +landing, but on the second he was received at Newburgh, a seat of the +Earl Marischal; and the adherents who welcomed him as their Prince, had +there an opportunity of forming a judgment of one whom they had hitherto +known only by the flattering representations of those who had visited +the young adventurer, at his little Court in Lorraine. + +In person, James is reported by the Master of Sinclair to have been +"tall and thin, seeming to incline to be lean rather than to fill as he +grows in years." His countenance, to judge by the most authentic +portraits[127] of this Prince, had none of the meditative character of +that of Charles the First, whom the Chevalier was popularly said to +resemble: neither had it the sweetness which is expressed by every +feature of that unhappy Monarch, nor had his countenance the pensiveness +which wins upon the beholder who gazes upon the portraits of Charles. +The eyes of the Chevalier were light-hazel, his face was pale and long, +and in the fullness of the lips he resembled his mother, Mary of Modena. +To this physiognomy, on which it is said a smile was rarely seen to +play, were added, according to the account of a contemporary, from whose +narrative we will borrow a further description, "a speech grave, and not +very clearly expressive of his thoughts, nor over much to the purpose; +his words were few, and his behaviour and temper seemed always composed. + +"What he was in his diversions we know not; here was no room for such +things. It was no time for mirth. Neither can I say I ever saw him +smile. Those who speak so positively of his being like King James the +Seventh, must excuse me for saying that it seems to say they either +never saw this person or never saw King James the Seventh; and yet I +must not conceal that when we saw the man whom they called our King, we +found ourselves not at all animated by his presence; and if he was +disappointed in us, we were tenfold more so in him. We saw nothing in +him that looked like spirit. He never appeared with cheerfulness and +vigour to animate us: our men began to despise him; some asked if he +could speak. His countenance looked extremely heavy. He cared not to +come abroad among us soldiers, or to see us handle our arms to do our +exercise. Some said the circumstances he found us in dejected him. I am +sure the figure he made dejected us; and had he sent us but five +thousand men of good troops, and never himself come, we had done other +things than we have done. At the approach of that crisis when he was to +defend his pretensions, and either lose his life or gain a Crown, I +think, as his affairs were situated, no man can say that his appearing +grave and composed was a token of his want of thought, but rather of a +significant anxiety grounded on the prospect of his inevitable ruin, +which he could not be so void of sense as not to see plainly before +him,--at least, when he came to see how inconsistent his measures +were--how unsteady the resolution of his guides, and how impossible it +was to make them agree with one another."[128] + + * * * * * + +It was at Glammis Castle, the seat of the Earl of Strathmore, that the +Earl of Mar drew up a flattering account of the Prince, which he caused +to be printed and diligently circulated.[129] The whole is here given, +as affording an insight into all that was going on:-- + + "I have had three of yours since I left Perth, but I wonder I have + no letters from London. I mett the King at Fetteresso on Tuesday + se'night, where we stayed til Friday; from thence we came to + Brichan, then to Kinnaird, and yesterday here. The King designed to + have gone to Dundee to-day, but ther's such a fall of snow that he + is forced to put it off til to-morrow, if it be practicable then; + and from thence he designs to go to Scoon. There was no haste in his + being there sooner, for nothing can be done in this season, else he + had not been so long by the way. People every where as we have come + along, are excessively fond to see him and express that duty they + ought. Without any compliment to him, and to do him nothing but + justice, set aside his being a prince, he is realie the finest + gentelman I ever knew. He has a very good presence, and resembles + King Charles a great dele. His presence, tho', is not the best of + him; he has fine partes, and dispatches all his buissiness himself + with the greatest exactness. I never saw any body write so finely. + He is afable to a great degree w^{t}out looseing that majestie that + he ought to have, and has the sweetest temper in the world. In a + word, he is even fitted to make us a happie people, were his + subjects worthie of him. To have him peaceablie settled on his thron + is what these kingdomes do not deserve; but he deserves it so much, + that I hope ther's a good fate attending him. I am sure ther's + nothing wanting to make the rest of his subjects as fond of him as + we are, but thus knowing as we now have the happiness to do. And it + will be odd if his presence amongst us, after his running so many + hazards to compass it, do not turn the hearts of even the most + obstinat. It is not fit to tel all the particulars, but I assure + you, since he arived, he has left nothing undone that well could be + to gain every body, and I hope God will touch their hearts. His + Majestie is very sensible of the service you have done him and he + desires you may continue, for which he hopes he may yet be able to + reward you. He wrote to France as soon's he landed, and sent it with + the shipe he came in, which we hope got safe there long ago. It is + not often that we can have opportunity of writeing or sending there, + and the Queen and others will be mighty impatient to hear + frequently; therefore his Majestie expects you should write there + frequently, and give them all the accounts you can. I have reason to + hope we shall very quickly see a new face on affairs abroad in the + King's favour, which is all I dare comitt to paper. The Government + will nott certainly send all the strength against us they can, but + e'er long, perhaps, they may have ocasion for their troups else + where. + + "I belive one wou'd speak to you lately of a kind of comisary of the + Dutch, that may be spoke to, which by no means ought to be + neglected, and he being on your side the watter, it is left to you, + and you must not stick at offering such a reward as he himself can + desire, which I shall see made good: there should no time be lost in + this, and I'll be glad to know soon if there be any hopes that way. + + "Tho' the way of sending letters betwixt us be now much more + difficult than ever, yet you must write as often as you possiblie + can get any probable way of sending of them safe; and pray give us + all the accounts you can. I have ordred some of the King's + declarations for England to be sent you, and when they come to your + hands you wou'd get some way of sending them to London and other + places of England. Send the enclosed for my wife under a cover, as + you used to do; by my not hearing from her, I am affraid my last has + not come to her hands. When any comes from her for me, pray take + care that you send them a safe way. We long to know what effects the + news of the King's arivall had at London, Stirling, and Edinburgh. I + suppose you still hear from Kate Bruce. I do not understand what she + means by going to the country, which she mentions in her letter to + you. + + "I see in one of the prints that Lawrance is come off from London, + so by this time he must certainly be in Scotland; pray let me know + what you hear of him. If he be come, I suppose he'll understand + himself so well as our prisoner, that he will immediately give + himself up to us again. + + "The King wears paper caps under his wige, which I know you also do; + they cannot be had at Perth, so I wish you could send some on, for + his own are near out. + + "We are in want of paper for printing; is there no way to send us + some from your side? + + "Pray, send my wife one of the Scots and one of the English + declarations at the same time my letter goes, but under another + cover. Adieu. + + "Since writeing I have yours of the thirty-first and first, for + which I thank you, and am just going to read them to my master." + +Little dependance can be placed on the entire accuracy of either of +these varying descriptions,--the one penned by a disappointed, and +perhaps wavering, adherent, the other by a man whose personal interests +were irrevocably involved with those of James. We must trust to other +sources to enable us to form a due estimate of the merits of this +ill-starred Prince. + +James Stuart was at this time in his twenty-seventh year. From his very +cradle he had been, as it might seem to the superstitious, marked by +fate for a destiny peculiarly severe. His real birth was long disputed, +without the shadow of a reason, except what was suggested by a base +court intrigue. This slur upon his legitimacy, which was afterwards +virtually wiped away by the British Parliament, was nevertheless the +greatest obstacle to his accession, there being nothing so difficult to +obliterate as a popular impression of that nature. + +Educated within the narrow precincts of the exiled court, James owed the +good that was within him to a disposition naturally humane, placable, +and just, as well as to the communion with a mother, the fidelity of +whose attachment to her exiled consort bespoke a finer quality of mind +than that which Nature had bestowed on the object of her devotion. By +this mother James must doubtless have been embued with a desire for +recovering those dominions and that power for which Mary of Modena, like +Henrietta Maria, sighed in vain, as the inheritance of her son; but the +stimulus was applied to a disposition with which a private life was far +more consonant than the cares of sovereignty. Rising as he does to +respectability, when we contrast the good nature and mild good sense of +the Chevalier with the bigotry of James the Second,--or view his career, +blameless with some exceptions, in contrast with the licentiousness of +Charles the Second, there were still no high hopes to be entertained of +the young Prince; his character had little energy, and consequently +little interest: he was affable, just, free from bigotry although firm +in his faith, and capable of great application to business; but he +wanted ardour. From his negative qualities, the pitying world were +disposed to judge him favourably. "He began the world," says Lockhart, +"with the general esteem of mankind; but he sank year by year in public +estimation: his Court subsequently displayed the worst features of the +Stuart propensities, an intense love of prerogative; and his mind, never +strong, became weaker and weaker under the dominion of favourites." + +The ship in which James had sailed returned to France immediately to +give the news of his safe arrival, and at the same time Lieutenant +Cameron, the son of Cameron of Lochiel, was dispatched to Perth to +apprise the Earl of Mar of the event. Upon the spur of the moment the +Earl, accompanied by the Earl Marischal and General Hamilton, and +attended by twenty or thirty persons of quality, on horseback, set out +with a guard of horse to attend him whom they considered as their +rightful Sovereign. The cavalcade met the Chevalier at Fetteresso, the +principal seat of the Earl Marischal. "Here," says Reay, "the Chevalier +dressed, and discovered himself," and they all kissed his hand, and +owned him as their King, causing him to be proclaimed at the gates of +the house. At Fetteresso the Prince was detained during some days by +that inconvenient malady the ague. Meantime, the declaration which he +had prepared, and which was dated from Commercy, was disseminated, and +was dropped in some loyal towns by his adherents in the night-time, +there being danger in promulgating it openly.[130] + +On the second of January, 1715-16, the Chevalier proceeded to Brechin, +and thence to Kinnaird; and on Thursday to Glammis Castle, the seat of +the Earl of Strathmore. On the sixth of January he made his public entry +into Dundee on horseback, at an early hour. Three hundred followers +attended him, and the Earl of Mar rode on his right hand, the Earl +Marischal on his left. At the suggestion of his friends, the Prince +shewed himself in the market-place of Dundee for nearly an hour and a +half, the people kissing his hands. The following extract from a letter +among the Mar Papers affords a more minute and graphic account of the +Chevalier's demeanour than is to be found in the usual histories of the +day. + + "I hear the Pretender went this day from Glams to Dundee, and comes + to Scoon to-morrow; and I am shourly informed that your old friend + Willie Callender went to Glams on Wensday and kissed the Pretender's + hand, of whom he makes great speeches, and says he is one of the + finest gentlemen ever he saw in his life. Its weell that his landing + is keept up from the army, for he has gained so much the good will + of all ranks of people in this country that have seen him, that if + it was made publick it's thought it might have ill effects among + them. He is very affable and oblidging to all, and great crowds of + the common people flok to him. When he toke horse this morning from + Glams, there was about a thousand country people at the gate, who + they say, gave him many blessings: he has tuched several of the + ivil, as he did some this morning. He is of a very pleasant temper, + and has intirely gained the hearts of all thro' the places he has + passed. He aplyes himself very closs to business, and they say might + very weell be a Secretarie of State. He has declared Lord Marischall + one of his bedchamber. The toun of Aberdeen made him ane address, as + did all the other touns as he passed; and I hear he is, at the + request of the episcopal clergy in this country, to apoint a day of + thanksgiving for his safe arival, and likeways a proclamation, to + which will be referred his declaration, with something new, which + shall be sent to you with first ocasion. There came a battalion of + Bredalbins men to Perth on Tuesday, and ane other of Sir Donald + M^{c}Donalds this day; and they are now daily getting in more men. + + "This is all the intelligence I can give you, and I hope to hear + from you again soon, and lett me know what certain number are now + come over, and what more designed. Deliver the enclosed and tell him + these papers could not be gott him just now, but shall per next. I + ame affraid poor W. Maxewell wild be dead before you get this, of a + fever and a flux: he is given over this two days. Write soon." + +After the display at Dundee, the Chevalier rode to the house of Stewart +of Grandutly, in the neighbourhood, where he dined and passed the day. +On the following day he proceeded along the Carse of Gowrie to Castle +Lyon, a seat of the Earl of Strathmore, where he dined, and went thence +to Fingask, the seat of Sir David Threipland. On the eighth of January +he took up his abode in the royal palace of Scoon, where he intended to +remain until after his coronation. + +For this event preparations were actually made by the Earl of Mar, whose +sanguine spirit appears to have been somewhat revived by the presence of +the Chevalier. The addition of a new dignity to his own ancestral +honours had marked the favour and confidence of James. Before the +arrival of the Chevalier in Scotland, the Earl of Mar had been informed +that a patent of dukedom was made out for him; on which he thus +expressed himself in a letter, written before the Chevalier's landing, +full of gratitude and professions.[131] + +"Your Majesty has done me more honour than I deserve. The new dignity +you have been pleased to confer on me is what I was not looking for; and +coming from your Majesty's hands is what gives it the value. The patent +is not yet come, but tho' it had, I think I ought not to make use of it +till your Majesty's arrival." + +The Earl of Mar had now had an opportunity of throwing himself at the +feet of the King, which, as he expressed, "is the thing in the world he +had longed most for." But still, the difficulties in his path seemed to +be rendered more insurmountable than ever by the arrival of James. + +In the first place, the landing of the Chevalier evidently sealed the +doom of those gallant and unfortunate noblemen who had been taken +prisoners at Preston; and rendered all hopes of mercy futile. The +sixteenth of January, which witnessed the forming of the Chevalier's +council at Perth, was the day on which the unfortunate Derwentwater, +Nithisdale, Kenmure, Wintoun, and Widdrington, petitioned for two days' +delay to prepare for their trials. Their doom was hurried on in the +general panic; and in the addresses from both Houses of Parliament to +King George, it was declared by the members of those assemblies "that +the landing of the Pretender in this kingdom had greatly encreased +their indignation against him and his adherents." + +It is impossible that the Earl of Mar could have heard, without deep +commiseration, and perhaps remorse, of the peril in which those +ill-fated adherents of James were placed, although he may not have +anticipated the full severity of the law. In one of his subsequent +letters he remarks: "By the news I see the Parliament is to have no +mercie on our Preston folks: but I hope God will send them salvation in +time." One of his greatest sources of anxiety had been respecting the +movements of the Duke of Ormond, upon whose making a diversion in favour +of James, in England, Mar had counted. The news that Ormond, after +having been seen on the coast of England, had returned, disheartened, +was brought by the Chevalier, who heard of it at St. Maloes. The only +chance of success, the last hope, were centered in this resource. The +failure of this expectation was fatal, as Lord Mar conceived, to the +cause, and on it he grounded his own subsequent withdrawal from England. + +The entrance of the Chevalier into Perth, on the ninth of January, was +attended with far less enthusiasm than the previous portion of his +progress. His reception was comparatively cold. On asking to see their +"little kings" (the chieftains) with their armies, the Highlanders, +diminished in numbers by the secession of the Marquis of Huntley and the +absence of Lord Seaforth and others, were marched before him. James +could not help admiring their bearing; but the small amount of troops in +the camp filled him with a dejection which he could not conceal. When, a +few days afterwards, the unfortunate Prince addressed his council for +the first time, he said, with mournful truth, these words. "For me it +will be no new thing if I am unfortunate: my whole life, even from my +cradle, has been a constant series of misfortunes." This sentiment of +ill-presage was re-echoed in the address of the Episcopal clergymen. + +"Your Majesty has been trained up," said these divines, at Fetteresso, +"in the School of the Cross, in which the Divine grace inspires the mind +with true wisdom and virtue, and guards it against those false +blandishments by which prosperity corrupts the heart." And as this +school has sent forth the most illustrious princes,--Moses, Joseph, and +David, it was hoped that a similar benefit would accrue to the character +of the Prince whom the Episcopal Clergy thus welcomed to their country. + +Meantime the project of crowning the Chevalier at Scone amused the minds +of the people, and continued to be the subject of diligent preparation +by the Earl of Mar. Unhappily a ship laden with money and other aids, +had been lost on its passage from France, close to the Tay, for want of +a pilot.[132] The difficulties which were augmented by this misfortune, +are alluded to in the following extract from one of Lord Mar's letters. + + + + + "January 15th, 1715-16. + + "Sir, + + "I wrote to you yesterday by one that used to come here from Mr. + Hall, which I hope will come safe to your hands. At night I had + yours of the fourteenth, and this night that of the tenth. The caps + do pritty well, and I have orders to thank you for them. I send you + one of his own; if you can get such paper t'is well, and if not, the + other is what he likes best of any that you sent; so let some of + either one or other come when you have an occasion. + + "I am sorry Mr. Brewer[133] is ill, for his presence here wou'd be + of great use; and as soon as he is able I wish he wou'd come, which + I am ordered to tel you, and also that you may endeavour to get a + copie of the coronation of King Charles the First and Second, which + certainly are to be had in Edinburgh. Willie Wilson had them, and + perhaps some of his friends may have got copies of them from him, + which may be had. + + "I spoke to one some time ago about makeing a crown in pices at + Edinburgh and bringing it over here to be put togither, who, I + believe, talkt to you of it. That man was here some days ago, but + went away before I knew it is wisht that such a thing could yet be + done, which is left to your care. + + "In case there be occasion for it here, as I wish there may, bulion + gold is what I'm afraid will be wanting, but it will not take much. + Had not the misfortune I wrote to you of hapn'd to Sir J. + Erskine[134] there had been no want of that. We have got no farther + account of that affair, tho' we have people about it; but if they do + not succeed this night or to-morrow when the spring tide is, it is + lost for ever. There is more by the way tho', and I hope will have + better fate. I have ordered more papers to be sent you, and + certainly you have more of them before now. It is mighty well taken + what that lady (the letters from London say) has ordered, as to + those you sent her, which you are desired to let her have; and I do + not doubt she will do the same as to those concerning E----d. + Adieu." + +By the next letter it appears that the good opinion entertained by Lord +Mar of the Chevalier was real; since the whole of the epistle has the +tone of being a natural effusion of feeling, and is a simple statement +of what actually took place, and not the letter of a diplomatist. + + "Sir, + + "I have seen a letter from Mr. S----g, who had spoke with you on the + subject I formerly wrote to you of, concerning that fo--f--y of the + D----h to a gentleman with us, Mr. S----q's friend, and upon it our + master has thought fit to write the enclosed to him, and orders me + to tell you that you must cause give him an hundred guineas at the + delivery of the letter. The letter is left open for your perusal, + and I wish it may have effect, as perhaps it may. There's no time + to be lost in it, and I'll long to know what passes in it, and what + hopes you have of him. I sent you credit for five hundred pounds, + which I hope you got safe; but if by any accident it should not come + to your hands, Mr. S----q there, is a certain goldsmith that will + advance what there is occasion for this way. I send you enclosed a + letter, which may be of use in an affair I wrote of in my last. + + "We have got severall deserters since the K. came and last night + nine came in with their clothes and arms, and says many more will + follow soon, which I wish we may see. They say, too, that the two + regiments of dragoons are marcht from Glasgow for England, and that + two are to go from Stirling to replace them. Were they designing to + march against Scoon, sure they would not do this, nor is it possible + they can do anything in this weather; but if they, notwithstanding, + attempt it, perhaps they may find frost in it. + + "As I am writing I have received yours of the thirteenth. I read it + to the K----g, and delivered him the enclosed letter from Mr. + Holmes, which was very well taken, as you will see by the enclosed + return, which you'll take care to forward safely; and pray do me the + favour to make my compliments there. + + "Perhaps you'll hear things of the two northern powers[135] that + will look odd to your other friends, as no wonder; but all will come + right again--the time they had taken being out in a few days. + There's one sent some days ago to assist them, so I hope things will + be soon right there, tho' they have done much to spoil them, and + each of them makes an excuse of one another as they have done from + the begining. The K----, you will see by all the enclosed, is not + spareing of his pains. You must fall on the right way of having them + all delivered. + + "That to Seaforth he writes upon the great professions he made when + in France; he is such a fellow that I'm afraid it will do little + good. + + "I have nothing else material to say just now, but I cannot give + over without telling a thing which I'm sure will please you--that + the longer one knows the King the better he's liked, and the more + good qualities are found in him; that of good-nature is very + eminent, and so much good sense that he might be a first minister to + any king in Europe, had he not been born a king himself. He has + allowed Neil Campbell to go to Edinburgh t'other day on his parole, + he being ill, and it was with so much good nature that was evident + in his doing of it, that it charmed me. I wish you could get notice + how Neil represents it or expresses himself when he gets there; for + I wrote it at length to the gentleman who wrote to me about him. + Adieu. + + "If people from S----q be designing to come to us, they should + either do it soon or give us assurances of doing it soon as we are + in view of each other; and these assurances must be such that we can + depend on, for our conduct must in a great measure be regulated by + what we expect that way. + + "It were highly necessary that methods and measures were concerted + for the right way of doing this, which you should let such of them + as you know are so trusted know, and it is absolutely necessary that + they either send one to me about this, or let me know it certainly + some other way, that we may not be drawing different ways when we + are designing the same thing. + + "We have no return of the last message which was sent to the good + man of the house you wrote of, and t'is above eight days ago. I + believe he designs right, tho' t'is odd." + +The enthusiasm which was at first displayed towards the Chevalier was +soon cooled, not only by his grave and discouraging aspect, but by his +fearless and impolitic display of his religious faith. He never allowed +any Protestant even to say grace for him, but employed his own confessor +"to repeat the Pater nosters and Ave Marias:" and he also shewed an +invincible objection to the usual coronation oath,--a circumstance which +deferred the ceremony of coronation,--Bishop Mosse declaring that he +would not consent to crown him unless that oath were taken. This +sincerity of disposition--for it cannot be called by a more severe +name--especially diminished the affections of the Chevalier's female +episcopal friends, who had excited their male relations to bear arms in +his favour. But the circumstance which weighed the most heavily against +James, was the order which he published, on hearing that the Duke of +Argyle was making preparations to march against him, for burning the +towns and villages, and destroying the corn and forage, between Dumblane +and Perth. This act of destruction, from the effects of which the +desolate village of Auchterarder has never recovered, was determined on, +in order that the enemy might be incommoded as much as possible upon +their march; it added to the miseries of a people already impoverished +by the taxes and contributions which the Jacobites had levied. It +appears, however, from a letter of James's, since discovered, or +perhaps, only suppressed at the time, to have been an act which he +bitterly regretted, and the order for which he signed most unwillingly. +He was desirous of making every reparation in his power for the ravages +which were committed in his name.[136] + +On the ninth of January a council of war was held by the Duke of Argyle +at Stirling, where, by a singular coincidence, the council sat in the +same room in which James the Second, then Duke of York, had, in 1680, +been entertained by the Earl of Argyle, to whom he had proposed the +repeal of the sanguinary laws against Papists. The refusal of Argyle to +concur in that measure, the consequences of his conduct, and his +subsequent death, are circumstances which, doubtless, arose to the +remembrance of his descendant, as he discussed, in that apartment, the +march towards Perth. + +The country between Stirling and Perth was covered with a deep snow; the +weather was one continual storm; it was therefore impossible for the +army of Argyle to proceed until the roads were cleared,--a process which +required some time to effect. It is asserted, nevertheless, by an +historian, that upon Colonel Ghest being sent with two hundred dragoons +to reconnoitre the road leading to Perth, that the greatest panic +prevailed in that town: immediate preparations were made for defence, +and nothing was to be seen except planting of guns, marking out +breastworks and trenches, and digging up stones, and laying them with +sand to prevent the effects of a bombardment.[137] The Earl of Mar, +nevertheless, does not appear, if we may accredit his own words, to have +even then despaired of a favourable issue. The following letter betrays +no fear, but speaks of some minor inconvenience, which is far from being +of a melancholy description. The difficulty of procuring the right sort +of ribbon for the decoration of the Garter, is altogether a new feature +among the adversities of royal personages. It seems strange that James +should not have provided himself, before quitting France, with all that +was necessary to preserve the external semblance of majesty. + + "January 20th, 1715-16. + + "Sir, + + "I wrote to you the eighteenth, and sent severall others enclosed, + which I hope will come safe to you. The inclosed, markt D. F., is + from the King to Davie Floid at London, which he desires you may + take care to gett conveid to him safly and soon, it being of + consequence. The other is for my wife, which I beg you may forward + as usewall. + + "We are told that ther's some foot come to Dumblain, and that ther's + more expected there. And they still talk as if they designed to + march their whole armie against us nixt week. Perhaps they intend + it, but with this weather I see not how 'tis in their power. If they + do tho', upon their expecting we are to abandon Perth upon their + aproach, as I'm told they believe, they will find themselves + mistaken, for all here are resolved to stand it to the last, and + perhaps we will not wait their comeing the lenth, but meet them by + the way. We might have left it indeed, some time ago; but that time + is past, and the King's being with us alters the case in every + respect. After all, I cannot get myself to belive that they will + actually come to us in haste, and if they do they may mistake their + reckning. Sure I am, it were impossible for us to march to them in + this snow, and our folks are as good at that as they. The snow puts + me in mind of the children of Israel's pillar of smoke and pillar of + fire; and to say truth, ther's something in the weather very odd + and singular; I never saw such. + + "My cloathes are almost all worn out, haveing left some at the + battle: I know not if you could get me any made and sent from + Edinburgh; but if you could, I should be glad of it. Ther's one Bird + was my tayler and I belive has my measur, or some old cloathes of + mine, that he could make them by. Perhaps he's a whig tho', and will + not do it. I would have them deep blew, laced with gold, but not on + the seams. I have but one starr and no riban, but 'tis no great + matter for that, a better man than I is in the same case; he has + only one scrub, one which he got made since he came, and no right + riban. I believe ther's neither of that kind of blew nor green riban + to be got at Edinburgh; but if you could get some tolorablie like + it, you send some of both. Wine is like to be a more sensible want. + We got a little Burgundy for the King, but it is out; and tho' we + know of a little more, I'm affraid we shall scarce get it brought + here; and he does not like clarit, but what you'l think odd, he + likes ale tolorably well. I hope they will send us some from France, + but with this wind nothing can come from thence. George Hamilton + saild on Saturday last, and I belive is there long e'er now, which I + heartily wish he may, and I hope you shall soon see the effects of + his going with what he caried with him. + + "I am affraid Macintosh's men in England may be in hard + circumstances for want of money. The King has ordred some for them, + which is this daye given to a friend of theirs who was sent to me + from the North, who sayes he knows how to get it remitted to them. + + "By the news I see the Parliament is to have no mercie on our + Preston folks, but I hope God will send them salvation in time. + + "I wish you would send us the newspapers oftner for we get them but + seldome; the soonest way of sending them is by A. W. at Kirkaldy, + who will find some way of sending them to us, notwithstanding of + their garisons in Fife. + + "I'm affraid what I wrote to you of formerly to be in danger will + never be recovered, for it could not at this time, tho' it was + try'd; and I fear shall not the next either, tho' we are to do all + we can about it, and it was too much to go that way. + + "We have heard nothing further as yet from the goodman of the house, + as you call him, which I am surprized at. I can say no more now, so + Adieu." + +If we may believe the public prints of the day, dissensions now arose +between the Chevalier and the Earl of Mar: the former blaming his +general for having urged him to come over, when he had so small a force +to appear in his favour; the latter, recriminating that the failure of +aid from the Continent had discouraged the Chevalier's friends. The Earl +of Mar was severely blamed, to quote from the same source, for having +deceived the Chevalier in making him believe that the forces in +Scotland were more considerable than they really were, and for giving +his Scottish friends reason to suppose that the Chevalier would bring +over foreign auxiliaries. That the former part of these allegations +against Mar was untrue, is shewn by the letter which has been given, +explaining to the Prince the state of affairs; and rather discouraging +him from his attempt.[138] That the whole report was groundless, was +manifested by the favour and confidence which James long continued to +extend to the Earl after his exile abroad. + +For some time, the Earl of Mar and his party contrived to keep up their +hopes. The season was indeed in some respects their friend, since it +necessarily impeded the movements of Argyle's army against them. The +winter of 1715-16 was one of the most severe that had been felt for many +years, not only in Scotland, but abroad. In France and Spain the cold +was so excessive, and the snow so deep, that the country people could +not go to the market towns to buy provisions, whilst the plains were +infested with bears and wolves, emboldened by the desolation, and +ranging over the country in great numbers.[139] + +Whilst the intense frost lasted, the three thousand Highlanders who were +encamped at Perth were able to defy the English army, although now +supplied with artillery and ammunition from Berwick. Their security was +furthermore increased by a heavy fall of snow succeeding a partial thaw, +and followed by a frost, which rendered the roads more impracticable +than ever, especially for the foot-soldiers. This circumstance had even +occasioned some deliberation whether it would not be advisable for the +Duke of Argyle to defer his march to Perth until the winter should be +ended. Until the middle of January, it was the full intention of the +Highlanders, and also that of the Earl of Mar, to stand the event of a +battle, let the enemy's force be what it might. That they purposed thus +to maintain their ancient character for valour, was, even as those most +adverse to them allow, the prevalent report. It is borne out by the Earl +of Mar's correspondence. On the twenty-third of January he thus writes +to Captain Straiton: + + "The 23rd January. + + "I have yours of the seventeenth and the twentieth both togather + last night, and a paket from H. in the last. I wrote to you on + Saturday the old way, and sent you a paket enclosed, which I belive + is of consequence, so I hope it's come safe, and that H. has gott + it. He has had two or three sent him from this of late, different + ways, and one goes of this day by the near way he sometimes uses. We + hear from all hands of the preparations against us, but we resolve + to stand it, cost what it will, and if they come out we will + certainly give them battle, lett their number be never so great. It + must now be plain to all that will allow themselves to see, that + nothing less is designed by the present managers than the intire + ruin and destruction of this poor country, and of every honest man + in it; and if this will not be an awakened people, I know nothing + that will. Since this then is plainly the case, there can be no + choise in dying honourably in the field for so just a cause, or + leving to see the ruin and intire destruction of our country, our + King, and our friends and relations. For my part, I shall prefer the + first with all cheerfulness, and never desire to live to be a + witness to the latter, which certainly will be the case if it please + God our King should be defeat." + +The next paragraph of this letter speaks mournfully of disappointment in +those on whose aid the Earl had counted. + + "It must be a strange infatuation that has gott amongst people, + especially those that always pretended to be friends to our cause, + many of whom told before the King came that they wad certainly joyn + him when he landed, and made his not being with us the only + objection, and now when he is come they make some other shift;--I + must say such people are worse than our greatest enemies; and if any + misfortune should befal the King or his cause, (which God forbid!) I + think they that pretended to be our friends have very much to count + for, and are more the cause of it than any others, since no doubt + the ashourances that many gave to joyn us when the King landed was + a chief motive for his comming to us. I hope in God we shall be able + to opose them tho' their numbers should be greater, and to their + shame and confusion be it if they come against us. I hope very soon + the King will have such assistance as will defeat all their designs, + and that his affairs will take a sudden turn in other pairts." + +The most serious defection from the Jacobite cause was the submission of +the Marquis of Huntley and the Earl of Seaforth to the victorious arms +of the Earl of Sutherland, aided by Lord Lovat, in Invernesshire. +Seaforth had collected, on the Moor of Gilliechrist, twelve hundred men, +the remnant of those whom he had been able to save from Sherriff Muir; +but finding that Lord Sutherland had resolved to force him into an +engagement, he owned King George as his lawful Sovereign, and promised +to lay down his arms. This had occurred early in December, and, +according to Lord Mar, before the Earl of Seaforth, in those remote +regions, could have heard of the Chevalier's landing. Mar therefore +regarded it as a temporary cessation on the part of Seaforth and +Huntley, for a given period, of hostilities against the Government. + +As far as related to Lord Seaforth, the belief of Lord Mar was correct. +At the end of the days agreed upon for the cessation of arms, Seaforth +drew his people together, the influence of clanship enabling him to +summon them at will, like a king; and again appeared in arms. This was +the consequence of the news that James had landed having reached +Inverness. But Seaforth could not retrieve the cause of James in the +North, nor repair the effects of even a temporary submission. Eventually +he returned to the party which he had espoused, and escaped to France. +The Marquis of Huntley made his own terms with the Government. + +At this critical juncture, unanimity still prevailed, according to Lord +Mar, among the assembled chieftains at Perth. "I do assure you," he +writes, "that since the arms came here, there has not been a quarrel of +any kind happened among us--not even among the Highland men, which is +very extraordinary; and you may depend upon it there is the greatest +unanimity here just now, and all fully resolved to stand to it, let what +will come. I pray God preserve our King from the wicked and hellish +designs of his enemies! I hope we will be apprized of their motions, so +as to be in readiness to receive them." + +These expressions were written, but the letter which contained them was +not sent, on the twenty-third of January. The postscript, written in a +hurried hand, shows that the camp at Perth was not unprepared for the +coming attack. + + "Since writing of the inclosed, I have two from which I gott last + night with the paket; and ane account of that detachment of horse + comming out, who we hear came the lenth of Acterardie,[140] upon + which account the whole army here were ordred to be in a readyness + to march this morning, and we have no account they are returned: we + hear it was to vew the roads, and to try if it was practicable to + march their army, which they will find very hard to doe while this + weather holds. The account you gave in yours of their motions and + that detachment was very distinct. The K. read it himself,--it came + prety quick. I entreat you fail not to lett us have what accounts + you can learn, for what comes from you are among the best we can + gett. + + "The K. ordered a review of the whole army here this morning, and + they are all to hold themselves ready at one half ane hour's + advertisment. Lett me hear from you soon. Adieu." + +Again, on the twenty-fourth of January: + + "What is above should have gone this morning, but was delyed. Six + hundered of the clans are gone out this night to reinforce the + garison of Braco and Crief. I hear they have orders to destroy the + corn-yards and barns about Achterardir and Black Ford, which we hear + were revewed by the enemy yesterday. The King signed thir orders, I + can ashour you, most unwillingly; and caused put it in the order + that every thing should be made good to the poor people, with a + gratuity; and if any of them pleased to come to Perth, they should + be maintained and all care taken of them. This you may take for + truth, for no doubt they will make a great noise about it. + + "We have just now got ane account of a ship being come into + Montross, but we know not yett what she brings. Adieu,--writte soon. + I am in haste." + + "Eleven att night." + +On the twenty-fourth of January, the Duke of Argyle marched to Dumblane, +with two hundred horse, to reconnoitre the roads. The report that the +enemy was approaching, was quickly conveyed to Perth; and now was the +order to burn and destroy the village of Auchterarder, the contents of +the houses, all stores of corn and forage, mournfully and promptly +executed. It was supposed by this, that the march of Argyle's forces +would be impeded; but it produced no other inconvenience to that army +than obliging them to lie one night in the open air; whilst the +unpopularity it brought on James and his advisers, was long the subject +of comment to their enemies. It is consolatory to those who wish to +judge favourably of James to find this declaration in Lord Mar's +correspondence. + + "The King was forced, sore against his will, to give these burning + orders, as all of us were, could we have helped it; but this + extraordinary manoeuvre of the enemy made it absolutely necessary. + A finger must be cut off to save the whole body. I have ordered some + copies of a proclamation to be sent you. There is about two of the + places burnt, and there's another ordred about the rest. Adieu. + + "It was not amiss that this proclamation were sent to London." + +In pursuance of the cruel and impolitic commands to which Lord Mar +refers, three thousand Highlanders were sent forth to the act of +destruction. Auchterarder, Crieff, Blackford, Denning and Muthel, were +mercilessly burned; and the wretched inhabitants turned out at that +inclement season to destitution without a roof to shelter them. Many +decrepid people and children perished in the flames.[141] Had James +sought, in truth, to prepare a way for the Government in the hearts of +the people, he could not have adopted a more suitable means. In the Duke +of Argyle, he had a generous and humane adversary to deal with,--one +whose forbearance laid him under the imputation of a want of zeal for +the cause of the Government, and rendered him no favourite at the +English Court. The fashion at the Court of St. James's, according to a +letter in the Mar Papers, was, to rail against the Duke, and even George +the First and those about him joined in the unjust and ungrateful abuse. + +Even so late as Sunday, the twenty-ninth of January, when Argyle's +troops left Stirling and advanced to Braco Castle, Lord Mar appears to +have been in ignorance of their actual movements. Perhaps, like the busy +world of London politicians, he regarded the project of an attempt upon +Perth in such weather as impracticable. Such was the opinion at St. +James's. "Argyle's friends here," writes one near the Court, "speak of +the march and the attempt at present as madness." And another individual +writes, that "one half of their people must die of cold, and the other +be knocked o' the head. So it seems Argyle is dragg'd to this matter. We +cannot perceive, by all the letters that come up, any particular +certainty as to Lord Mar's number and his designs. The Court are +positive he will not stand; and they, as well as Ridpeath, assert +strongly that the Pretender is gone already as far as Glammis. The +Jacobites fancy that if he went thither, it was to meet and assemble +these officers that were landed."[142] + +Whilst in this state of perplexity Lord Mar thus writes: + + "Jan. 29th. + + "Sir, + + "I have keept the man that brought yours of the nineteenth and + twentieth, from A. W., on Saturday, till now, that I might have a + sure and speedy way of writeing to you when anything of consequence + happened, which we were expecting every minut last night. I wrote + one to you when I belived the enemie's front to be at Auchterarder, + and despatcht it; but late at night getting intelligence of that + party of the enemie who were marching towards Aucterarder haveing + marcht back without comeing the lenth of that place to Dumblain, if + not to Stirling, without halting by the way, I stopt my letter and + kepp it till they actually march, and then perhaps I may yet send it + to you, there being some other things in it necessary for you to + know upon that emergance which is needless other wayes. + + "In it I told you of my haveing received yours of the eighteenth on + Sunday, and last night those of the fifteenth and twenty-first both + togither. + + "By all appearance the enemie resolve to march against us, as one + might say, whether it be possible or not. They sent a party of horse + and foot to Dumblain on Sunday, which came near to Auchterarder + yesterday, I belive to try if the thing was practicable, but they + returned to Dumblain as above. We shall be forced to burn and + distroy a good deal of the country to prevent their marching, which + goes very, _very_ much against the King's mind, as it does mine and + more of us; but ther's an absolat necessity for it, and I believe it + will be put in execution this night or to-morrow morning, which + grieves me. Could it be helpt? this way of their makeing warr in + this, I may say, impracticable season, must have extraordinary + methods to oppose it. And I hope in God, any that suffers now, it + shall soon be in the King's power to make them a large reparation. + After all, when they have no cover left them, I see not how it is + possible for them to march. We are like to be froze in the house; + and how they can endure the cold for one night in the fields, I + cannot conceive; and then the roads are so, that but one can go + abreast, as their party did yesterday; and ther's no going off the + road for horse and scarce for foot, without being lost in the snow; + but if, after all, they do march, we must do our best, and I hope + God will preserve and yet prosper the King, who is the best prince I + belive in the world. + + "As for news in the kingdome of Fife, I suppose you wou'd hear that + a party of the M^{c}Grigors some dayes ago from Faulkland attacquet + a party of Swise and militia from Leslie and beat them, takeing + thirty-two prisoners, wherof eleven horse, as I hear. I have not + time to say more, so adieu." + + "January 29th, 1715-16." + +Again, in another letter on the same day, the Earl still seems to +consider the game as not then lost. It is amusing to find how, in the +carrying on of his projects, he availed himself of the aid of ladies, +and how troubled he sometimes found himself with "busie women." Whilst +this letter was being penned, Argyle was employing the country people +around Auchterarder in clearing the roads of snow: and on the following +day, he had advanced towards Tullibardine, within eight miles of Perth. +On that very Sunday, Lord Mar thus writes: it is evident he had at this +time formed no plan of retreat. + + "Sunday, 11 o'clock forenoon, Janu 29th, 1715-16. + + "Sir, + + "Since I wrote to you I have got yours of the twenty-second, one of + the twenty-third, and two of the twenty-fifth; the last of which, + tho' the first wrote, I got not til this morning. I wou'd have wrote + to you these two dayes by post, but we have had so many alarms of + the enimie's marching towards us, that I had not time, as I have + very little to say anything just now, for I expect ivery minut to + hear of their being marcht from Dumblain, where a considerable + number of them have been these two dayes this way. + + "The enclosed you must take care to send by the first post which is + opened again on purpose for you to read, but I'm affraid you will + not understand it all. As to that paper you sent me which came from + England, there can be nothing said to it from hence just now, only + that they are to do the best they can; and I hope shortly that + country shall have sent them where withall to enable them to make a + better figur than they have hitherto done. We are not in a condition + here to give them any help just now. Ther's one Mrs. Lawson, who + seems to be a diligent body, that complains a little that you do not + allow her to see you often enough, which I take to be the complaint + of an over busie woman, than which ther's nothing more uneasie; but + just now such people must be humoured, and she has really been + usefull. Before this goes 'tis very likely I may have occassion to + inclose one I formerly wrote to you upon a certain occasion, but + did not then send as I told you in another, the thing not then + hapning, but we expect it every minut. Deserters of all kinds come + in to us pritty fast, foreigners as well as subjects; and if they + but give them time, I am perswaded great numbers will. + + "'Tis now five o'clock and we have no accounts of any of the enimie + being come further than Dodoch, where a partie of them came last + night, so I'll detain the messenger. This goes by no stranger. + Perhaps they may find the roads impracticable, and by the burning + that they can advance no further,--at which, indeed, I shall not be + much surprised; and if so, may be forced to delay their + extraordinary march til more human weather for making warr. The King + was forced, sore against his will, to give these burning orders,--as + all of us were, could wee have helpt it; but this extrodinar manuver + of the enimie made it absolutly necessary: a fingor must be cut of + to save the whole body. I have ordered some copies of a proclamation + to be sent you, there is about two of the places burnt, and ther's + another order about the rest. Adieu. + + "It were not amiss that this proclamation was sent to London. The + little young letter enclosed is for Lady Wigton, which pray cause + deliver." + +On Tuesday, the last day of January, the Duke of Argyle passed the river +Eru, and took possession of Tullibardine. It has been stated by several +historians that the Jacobites fled from Perth on the same day; but the +following letter from Lord Mar, dated the first of February, shows that +the flight could not have taken place until the following day. This +curious letter, which was written at the early hour of six in the +morning, is unfinished. It is the last in the series of that +correspondence which has formed of itself a narrative of Lord Mar's +life, from his first taking upon himself the office of General and +Commander-in-Chief, to the hour when he virtually resigned that command. +In the midst of pressing danger his sanguine nature seems not to have +deserted him: his love of the underplots of life, the influence of "Kate +Bruce," and the arrangements for a coronation, were as much in his +thoughts as in the more hopeful days before Sherriff Muir and Preston. + + "Wednesday, about six forenoon, ffebruary 1st, 1716. + + "On Monday evening I gave you the trouble of a greatly long letter, + mostly on indifferent subjects, and sent it off yesterday to A. W. + If I was too tedious upon what concerned a woman and a Prince, it + was with a good intent, and to make matters plain. By what I hear + from R. B., and the Hole, that Argyle's forces were yesterday + forenoon at Stirling, and so was the regiments of dragoons there and + St. Ninian's, for accounts of motions there and thereabouts, on both + sydes of the river,--you may expect it best sent from R. B., the + Hole, and a grave gentleman. + + "By yesternight's post I sent of M^{c}Quart's letter; and indeed, in + most or all letters I write to that quarter for ten weeks past, I + alwayes requested that whatever was to be done might be quickly + done. I lykeways sent to London between fyve or six, several honest + hands, to put off the proclamation declaration about burning, and + that paper of which I some days ago sent you two copies. And now I + begin to think I have been in the wrong to Mr. S----g, in the short + character I gave you of him, at least, if it be true that I am told, + that he is not only author of that paper I sent you the two copies + of, but has got a very great number of them printed; and tho' I may + be an insufficient judge, I must acknowledge I am very well pleased + with the paper, for I think it full of plain truths; and besydes + other dispersings, I did indeed yesterday cause putt in fiftein + copies of it in the Lords of Session's boxes. + + "The litle letter to my good Lady W.[143] I caused carefully to be + delivered. I wish all women had some share of her good, sweet, easie + temper, for, as you will observe, over-busied women are most + uneasie; and I have had much experience of it within these four + months past in many instances, and with more persons than one or + two. The only inconvenience I had by Kate Bruce lodging in the same + house with me was, it brought in too many women upon me, and some + of these brought in others, and to this minute I cannot with + descretion get quit of them. + + "A good time ago you were pleased to tell me you could not well + conceive how I got myself keept free, but if you now knew what a + multitude knows where I lodge, you would wonder more; and indeed it + is no litle admiration to myself: but as soon as I have so much + strenth, and can fynd a convenient place (which is not easie), I + will change my quarters, if it were for no other reason than to be + quit of useless people of both sexes, that interrupt me from + busieness, or trouble with impertinent questions. And whyle I am + accuseing others of indescretion, I wish I am not so myself in so + much insisting upon and troubling you with such matters. + + "At Perth I have gott a collection of all papers relating to the + coronation of King Charles the First and Second, and shall send them + whenever you think fitt; but I suppose it may be convenient to lett + the present hurrie a little over before I send them to you. + + "How the great Generalls can imploy their hors to great purpose in + the deep snow, or how men and hors will long hold out in such + weather, is what I do not understand. I hope a shorter time than + they imagine will destroy, even without the help of an enemy,--at + least, make many, both men and hors, inserviceable." + +Much had been going on in the meantime, to which Lord Mar, perhaps from +the fear of spreading a panic, does not even allude to his correspondent +in Edinburgh. When it became known in Perth that Argyle had left +Stirling, the advisers of the Chevalier were dismayed and distracted by +contending counsels. But the mass of the army expressed a very different +sentiment, rejoicing that the opportunity of a rencontre with the enemy +was so near: congratulations were heard passing from officers to their +brother officers, and the soldiers, as they drank, pledged their cups to +the good day near at hand. The council, meantime, sat all night: the +irresolution of that body, towards morning, was disclosed to the +impatient soldiery: the indignation of the brave men, and more +especially of the Highlanders, burst forth upon the disclosure of what +had passed in the council. The gentlemen volunteers resented the +pusillanimity of their leaders: and one of them was heard to propose +that the clans should take the Chevalier out of the hands of those who +counselled him to retreat, and added that he would find ten thousand +gentlemen in Scotland that would risk their lives for him. A friend of +Mar, after remonstrating with these malcontents, asked "What they wished +their officers to do?" "Do!" was the reply; "what did you call on us to +take arms for? was it to run away? What did the King come hither for? +was it to see his people butchered by hangmen and not strike a note for +their lives? Let us die like men, and not live dogs."[144] + +On the thirtieth of January the Chevalier himself opened another council +in the evening, and in a few words proposed a retreat. Lord Mar then +addressed the meeting, and advocated the measure with a degree of +ingenuity and eloquence which, at that moment, we are disposed rather to +condemn than applaud; yet, his reasons for abandoning Perth were such, +as in cool reflection were not devoid of justice, and they might be +founded upon a humane consideration for the brave adherents of a lost +cause. He stated, first, as the cause of his proposal, the failure of +the Duke of Ormond's invasion of England. Secondly, the accession of +foreign troops to the Duke of Argyle's force. Lastly, the reduced number +of the Chevalier's troops, which then amounted to four thousand, only +two thousand three hundred of which were properly armed. Even in that +weak condition the Chevalier would, according to Lord Mar's subsequent +statement, gladly have maintained Perth, or ventured a battle; but when +the enemy with an army of eight thousand men were actually advanced near +to the place, it was found impracticable to defend Perth, the town being +little more at that time than an open village; and the river Tay on one +side, and the fosse on the other, being both frozen over, it would have +been easy to enter the town at any quarter. Added to this, the mills had +been long stopped by the frost, so that there were not above two days' +provision in the town. There were no coals to be procured: the enemy had +possession of the coal mines in Fife, and wood was scarce. The Earl also +contended that the Highlanders, however able in attack, were not +accustomed to the defence of towns. + +Reasons equally cogent were employed against going out to fight the +enemy, and a retreat northwards was at length proposed. But it was no +easy task to bring the brave spirits who had hailed the approach of +Argyle, to accord in sentiments which might spring from discretion, but +which ill agreed with the Highland notions of honour. The council, after +a stormy debate, was broken up in confusion, and adjourned until the +next morning. + +Some hours afterwards, a few, who were favourable to the abandonment of +Perth, were summoned privately by Lord Mar; and it was then agreed not +to fight, but to retreat. For a time this determination was concealed +from the bulk of the army, but it gained wind; and on the evening of the +thirty-first of January, eight hundred of the Highlanders indignantly +left Perth, and retired beyond Dunkeld, to their homes. That very night, +also, the Chevalier, who had far less of the Scottish Stuart within him +than of that modified and inferior variety exemplified in the British +line of the family, disappeared from the town, and repaired to Scone. He +supped and slept in the house of the Provost Hay; and on the following +morning, at an early hour, was ready for retreat. To do the Chevalier +justice, there was, according to Lord Mar's journal, much difficulty in +persuading him to this step: it was found necessary to convince him that +it had become a duty to retire from the pursuit of the Government, +which, as long as he was in the country, would never cease to persecute +his followers, who could not make any terms of capitulation so long as +he remained. He was obliged, at last, to consent: "And, I dare say," +adds Lord Mar, "no consent he ever gave was so uneasy to him as this +was."[145] Of that point it would be satisfactory to be well assured. + +On the first of February, four hours after the unfinished letter of Lord +Mar was written, the Jacobites abandoned Perth, and crossing the frozen +stream of the Tay, took their route to Dundee. They went forth in such +precipitation, that they left their cannon behind them,--a proof that +they never hoped to oppose again the victorious arms of Argyle. About +noon the Chevalier, accompanied by Lord Mar, followed his people towards +the North. He is said to have been disconsolate,--and, shedding tears, +to have complained "that instead of bringing him a crown, they had +brought him to his grave." This murmur and these tears having been +reported to Prince Eugene, of Savoy, that General remarked "that weeping +was not the way to conquer kingdoms."[146] + +The Jacobites marched direct for Dundee, along the Carse of Gowrie. The +Duke of Argyle's forces entered Perth only two hours after the Highland +army had entirely cleared the Tay, which, happily for their retreat, was +frozen over with ice of an extraordinary thickness. At Dundee the +Chevalier rested one night only; but leaving it on the second of +February, was again succeeded by Argyle and his squadrons, who arrived +there on the following day. + +The unfortunate Prince pursued his way to Montrose. His route along the +sea-coast gave credence to a report which had now gained ground, of his +intention of embarking for France. The loudest murmurs again ran through +the Highland forces, worthy of a noble leader, and the sight of some +French vessels lying near the shore confirmed the general suspicion. +This was, nevertheless, somewhat allayed by an order to the clans to +march that evening at eight o'clock to Aberdeen, where, in accordance +with the crooked policy and deceptive plan of Lord Mar, it was +represented that large supplies of troops and arms would meet them from +France. But a very different scheme was in agitation among those who +governed the feeble James, and perhaps, with right motives, guided him +to his safety. + +A small ship lay in the harbour of Montrose, for the purpose, +originally, of carrying over an envoy from James to some foreign court. +This vessel was now pitched upon to transport the Chevalier; the size +being limited, she could accommodate but few passengers: and therefore, +to avoid confusion, the Chevalier "himself thought fit to name who +should attend him." "The Earl of Mar, who was the first named, made +difficulty, and begged he might be left behind; but the Chevalier being +positive for his going, and telling him that, in a great measure, there +were the same reasons for his going as for his own,--that his friends +could more easily get terms without him than with him,--and that, as +things now stood, he could be of no more use to them in their own +country, he submitted."[147] + +The Chevalier then chose the Marquis of Drummond to accompany him: this +nobleman was lame from a fall from his horse, and was not in a condition +to follow the army. He, as well as the Earl of Mar, the Lord +Tullibardine, and the Lord Linlithgow had a bill of attainder passed +against them. The Chevalier on that account was desirous of taking these +other Lords with him; but both were absent: Lord Tullibardine was at +Brechin with a part of the foot, and Lord Linlithgow at Berire with the +horse. He ordered the Earl Marischal, General Sheldon, and Colonel +Clephan to accompany him. + +After these arrangements the Chevalier issued several orders which +reflect the utmost credit upon his disposition. After appointing General +Gordon Commander-in-chief, with all necessary powers, he wrote a paper +containing his reasons for leaving the kingdom, and, delivering it to +the General, gave him at the same time all the money in his possession, +except a small sum which he reserved for his expenses and those of his +suite; and desired, that after the army had been paid, the residue +should be given to the impoverished and houseless inhabitants of +Auchterarder. He then dictated a letter to the Duke of Argyle, in which +he dwelt at some length upon his distress at being obliged "among the +manifold mortifications which he had had in this unfortunate +expedition," to burn the villages. The letter, which was never delivered +to the Duke of Argyle, is in the possession of the Fingask family.[148] + +Having completed these arrangements, the Chevalier prepared to take +leave for ever of the Scottish shores. The hour had now arrived which +was appointed for the march of the troops, and the Chevalier's horses +were brought before the door of the house in which he lodged: the guard +which usually attended him whilst he mounted, were in readiness, and all +was prepared as if he were resolved to march with the clans to Aberdeen. +But meantime, the Chevalier had slipped out of his temporary abode on +foot, accompanied only by one servant; and going to the Earl of Mar's +lodgings, he went thence, attended by the Earl, through a bye-way to the +water side, where a boat awaited him and carried him and the Earl of Mar +to a French ship of ninety tons, the Marie Therese, of St. Malo. About a +quarter of an hour afterwards two other boats carried the Earl of +Melfort and Lord Drummond, with General Sheldon and ten other gentlemen, +on board the same ship: they then hoisted sail and put to sea; and +notwithstanding that several of the King's ships were cruizing on the +coast, they sailed in safety, and after a passage of seven days, arrived +at Waldam, near Gravelines, in French Flanders. + +The Chevalier sailed at nine o'clock. Some hours afterwards, Earl +Marischal and Colonel Clephan arrived at the shore, but they could get +no boat to convey them, for fear of the men-of-war that were cruizing +near. The Marie Therese, nevertheless, got out of reach of these vessels +before daylight. + +With what reflections Lord Mar left his native country a prey to the +power of an irritated Government, cannot readily be conceived. That he +left it at such a moment, is a fact which for ever stamps his memory +with degradation. The deserted adherents of James, being in no condition +to make a stand against the Duke of Argyle, betook themselves to holes +and caves, mostly in the remote parts of the Highlands, where many +lurked until they could safely appear; but such as were most obnoxious +took the first opportunity of ships to carry them into foreign +countries; and vessels were, to this end, provided by the Chevalier with +such success, that many escaped from the pursuit of justice. + +James, accompanied by the Earl of Mar, proceeded to his former residence +at St. Germains, where, in spite of the wishes of the French Government +that he should repair to his old asylum in Lorraine, he wished to +remain. In Paris, the Chevalier met two of his most distinguished +adherents,--the faithless Bolingbroke, and the popular Duke of Ormond. +Although aware of the unsoundness of Bolingbroke's loyalty, James +received him cordially. "No Italian," says Bolingbroke, "ever embraced +the man he was going to stab with a greater show of affection and +confidence." + +For some time the Chevalier lingered in Paris, hoping to see the Regent. +"His trunks were packed, his chaise was ordered at five that afternoon," +writes Lord Bolingbroke, "and I wrote word to Paris that he was gone. +Instead of taking post for Lorraine, he went to the little house in the +Bois de Boulogne, where his female ministers resided; and there he +continued lurking for some days, pleasing himself with the air of +mystery and business, while the only real business which he should have +had at heart he neglected."[149] + +Avignon was now fixed on as the retreat of the Chevalier; and thither, +after some delay, he retired, to an existence politically forgotten by +the Continental powers, until the war with Spain and the consequent +declaration of the Spanish King in his favour recalled him to +importance. + +Lord Mar, meantime, occupied himself in fruitless endeavours to excite, +once more, the struggle which had just ended so fatally. As far as +France was concerned, all those schemes upon which Mar successively +built were futile: no aid could ever be expected during the Regency. "My +hopes," said Bolingbroke, speaking of the Jacobite cause, "sunk as he +[Louis the Fourteenth] declined, and died when he expired. The event of +things has sufficiently shown that all those which were entertained by +the Duke [of Ormond], and the Jacobite party under the Regency, were the +grossest delusions imaginable."[150] + +Some of the remaining years of Lord Mar's life were, nevertheless, +devoted to chimerical projects for which he received in return little +but disappointment, ingratitude, and humiliation. One of his schemes was +to engage Charles the Twelfth of Sweden on the side of the Chevalier. In +a letter to Captain Straiton, the Chevalier's agent in Edinburgh, he +signified that if five or six thousand bolls of meal could be purchased +by the King's friends and sent to Sweden, where there was then a great +scarcity, it would be of service to his master in conciliating the good +will of Charles. This proposal was communicated by Mar's desire to +Lockhart of Carnwath, to Lord Balmerino, and to the Bishop of Edinburgh. +But it was the sanguine disposition of Mar which alone could lead him to +suppose such a scheme practicable. It was, in the first place, found +impossible to raise so large a sum from men, many of them exiles, or +involved in difficulties from the expenses of the recent insurrection. +It was also deemed folly to conceive that so large a quantity of Scotch +meal as necessary could be exported without exciting the suspicion of +Government. + +The next plan which Lord Mar contrived was not so fully unfolded as the +project of which Charles the Twelfth was to be the object. He wrote to +Edinburgh soon after the failure of the first scheme, to this effect: +that a certain foreign prince had entered into a design for the +restoration of James: that it "would look odd if his friends at home did +not assist him;" and he wished they would fall on some means to have in +readiness such a sum as they could afford to venture in his cause when a +fair opportunity occurred. The hint was taken up seriously by the +zealous Lockhart of Carnwath, and assurances were sent from "several +persons of honour, that they would be in a condition to answer his +Majesty's call." Among these, the Earl of Eglintoun offered three +thousand guineas; and the others "would have given a good round sum." +The conduct of the English Government to the Duke of Argyle, who had +been superseded as Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, and the strong +personal friendship between Lockhart and the Duke, emboldened Mar to +hope that a negotiation might be entered into with Argyle, and that he +might be persuaded to join in their schemes. At the same time, Lord Mar +enjoined the strictest secrecy in all these affairs, and with reason, +for the letters of the exiled Jacobites abounded in false hopes and +plans; many of their correspondents at home had not the discretion to +conceal their delight, when the sanguine expectations of their party +prevailed over despair. + +The agent employed by Lockhart to treat with the Duke of Argyle was +Colonel John Middleton. By him Lockhart was, however, assured that his +Grace would neither directly nor indirectly treat with Mar for "he +believed him his mortal enemy, and had no opinion of his honour; and," +added Middleton, "I cannot think Mar does, more seriously now than +before, desire to see Argyle in the King's measures, lest he eclipsed +him." It was therefore resolved by Lockhart, that the correspondence +between the Chevalier and Argyle should be contrived without Mar's +cognizance. A letter was written to James, and was forwarded by Captain +Straiton, enclosed, to the Earl of Mar, who was, in another epistle from +Lockhart, "entreated not to be offended that the contents of the letter +were not communicated to him, because he was bound to impart the same +alone to the King." + +This letter, containing a proposal so important to the interests of +James, is supposed never to have reached the Chevalier. Mar, distrustful +and offended, is suspected of having broken it open, and given it his +own answer in a letter to the Duke of Argyle, which tended to affront +and repel the Duke rather than to invite him to allegiance. When, some +time afterwards, Lockhart's son spoke on the subject to the Chevalier at +home, and represented what a fair opportunity had been lost, the Prince +replied, "that he did not remember ever to have heard of it +before."[151] Whether Mar was misjudged or not must be a matter of +doubt, but this anecdote proves how little respect was entertained for +his good faith, or even for his possessing the common sentiments of +gentlemanly propriety, when the suspicion of breaking open a letter +which had been entrusted to him was attached to his conduct. + +In consequence of the difficulty of bringing any scheme to bear, from +the want of a head, Lockhart had contrived a plan of having trustees in +Scotland to conduct it, to be empowered by James to act during his +absence, and in his behalf. This plan had the usual obstacles to +encounter among a set of factious partisans, who were only united when +the common danger pressed and common services were required, but +discordant and selfish in the calmer days of suspense. Mar, perhaps, +with greater wisdom than he was allowed to display, did not advance the +scheme; his reluctance to promote it was ascribed to his love of power +in Scotland; but since the plan was resented by Tullibardine, Seaforth, +and Penmure,[152] as infringing upon their dignity, there is as good +reason for believing that it was the suggestion of an intriguing +ambition on the part of the proposer, as that Mar resisted it on selfish +grounds. The notion was excellent, but the difficulty was to find men of +sufficient fidelity, honesty, and prudence to exercise functions so +delicate. + +The spirit of Jacobitism seems scarcely, at this period to have been +checked in the bosoms of the resolute people who had suffered so much; +and the Netherbow and the High Street of Edinburgh still resounded at +times with the firing of musquetry, directed against a harmless rabble +of boys who betrayed the popular feeling by the white roses in their +hats.[153] Nor was the lingering enthusiasm for the Jacobite cause +confined to the lower classes in either country. It is almost incredible +that men of Whig principles, who held high offices in the Government, +should, at various times, have engaged in correspondence with the agents +of James; yet such is the fact. + +Among those who were involved in these dangerous negotiations, Charles +Earl of Sunderland, the son-in-law of Marlborough, and at that time +Prime Minister of George the First, was one with whom Lord Mar treated. +Among the Sunderland Papers is to be found a singular letter from the +Earl of Mar to the Earl of Sunderland, urging that nobleman to assist in +inducing his royal master to accede to a proposal from which he might +himself derive a suitable advantage. "We find," says Dr. Coxe, +"unequivocal proofs that Lord Sunderland, who was considered at the head +of the new administration formed in 1717, was in secret correspondence +with the Pretender and his principal agents."[154] + +The letter referred to from Lord Mar, on which Dr. Coxe has inscribed +the word "curious," began with professions of respect and confidence on +the part of his Lordship, to whom it was quite as easy to address those +expressions to a man of one party as of the other. It contained also a +promise of secrecy, and an exaction of a similar observance on the part +of Lord Sunderland. He then alluded to the misfortunes into which the +British nation was thrown by the disputed succession, and the violence +of party spirit in consequence. The subtle politician next touched on +the subject of George the First, whom he delicately terms, "your +master." + +"Whatever good opinion you may have of _your master_, and the way that +things are ordered there at present, does not alter the case much; his +health is not so good as to promise a long life, and he is not to live +always even if it were good, nor will things continue there as they are, +any longer than he lives at most." + +He then suggests that the Earl would have it in his power to prevent the +dangers resulting from a disputed succession, "which can only be +prevented by restoring the rightful and lineal heir." + +"I can assure your Lordship," he continues, "my master has so many good +qualities, that he will make the nation happie, and wants but to be +known to be beloved; and I dare promise in his name, that there is not +any thing you could ask of him, reasonable, for yourself and your +friends, but he would agree to. My master is young, in perfect good +health, and as likely to live as any who has pretensions to his crown, +and he is now about marrying, which, in all appearance, will perpetuate +rightfull successors to him of his own body, who will ever have more +friends in those kingdoms, as well as abroad, than to allow the house of +Hanover to continue in possession of their right without continual +disturbance." + +The Earl then suggests that George the First should secure to himself +the possession of "his old and just inheritance, and by the assistance +of '_his master_,' and those who would join, acquire such new ones on +the Continent as would make his family more considerable than any of its +neighbours. + +"Britain and Ireland will have reason to bless your master for so good +and Christian an action; and Europe no less for the repose it would have +by it: and your master would live the remainder of his life in all the +tranquillity and splendour that could be required, and end his days with +the character of good and just." + +Lord Mar was at this time on the borders of France, where he proposed to +wait until he received Lord Sunderland's reply, in hopes that the +Minister of George the First might be induced to give him a meeting, +either in France or Flanders. "If you approve not of what I have said," +he adds, "let it be buried on your side, as, upon my honour, it shall be +on mine." "I am afraid," he adds in a postscript, "you know not my hand; +but I have no other way of assuring you of this being no counterfeit +than by writing it myself, and putting my seal to it." + +The following remarks on this letter are interesting; they were penned +by Dr. Coxe: + +"Singular as this overture, made at such a period, may appear, we have +strong proofs that it was not discouraged by Sunderland; for he not only +procured a pension for the exiled nobleman, but even flattered the +Jacobites with hopes that he was inclined to favour their cause. This we +find by intelligence given at a subsequent period by the Jacobite +spies." + +The following addition to the above-stated remark of Dr. Coxe is even +yet more astonishing: + +"On the death of Lord Sunderland the secret of this correspondence +became by some means known to the Regent Duke of Orleans, and he +hastened to make so important a communication to the King of England. +The letter written on this occasion by the British agent at Paris, Sir +Luke Schwaub, and the reply of his friend Lord Carteret, then Secretary +of State, are highly curious, because they prove, not only the +correspondence, but the fact that it was known and approved by the +King."[155] + +How near were the unfortunate Stuarts to that throne which they were +destined never to ascend! + +Upon the disgrace of Bolingbroke, and on his return to England, the +Seals had been offered by James Stuart to Lord Mar, who refused them on +the ostensible ground that he "could not speak French." The actual +reason was perhaps to be sought for in a far deeper motive.[156] + +In 1714 the celebrated Lord Stair had been sent as Ambassador to France, +chiefly to watch over the proceedings of the Jacobites, and to cement a +friendship with the Duke of Orleans, on whom King George could not rely. +The brilliant and spirited manner in which Lord Stair executed this +commission, the splendour by which his embassy was distinguished, and +his own personal qualities, courtesy, shrewdness, and diligence, +contributed mainly to the diminution of the Jacobite influence, which +declined under his exertions. It was from Lord Stair's address that +Bolingbroke, or, as Stair calls him in his correspondence, Mr. York, was +confirmed in his disgust to the Jacobite cause. + +Between Lord Stair and the Earl of Mar an early acquaintance had +existed. Agreeably to the fashion of the period, which led Queen Anne +and the Duchess of Marlborough to assume the names of Morley and +Freeman, Lord Stair and Lord Mar, in the early days of their confidence, +had adopted the familiar names of Captain Brown, and Joe Murray. + +Lord Mar had remained in Paris until October 1717; he then went into +Italy with the Duke of Ormond; but previous to his departure he called +on Lord Stair, and remained in the house of the Ambassador for four or +five hours. He appears to have declared to Lord Stair that he then +looked upon the affairs of his master as desperate. "He flung out," as +Lord Stair wrote, "several things, as I thought, with a design to try +whether there was any hopes of treating." Lord Stair, not liking to give +an old friend false hopes, declined "dipping into particulars;" adding +at the same time, in his account of the interview, "he would not have +dealt so with me: but in conversation of that kind there is always +something curious to be learned." + +They parted without explanation, and Lord Mar proceeded to Rome. The +correspondence between these two noblemen ceased for nearly two +years.[157] During that interval, James had married the Princess +Clementina Maria, a daughter of Prince Sobieski, elder son of John King +of Poland. The marriage could scarcely have been solemnized, since it +took place early in May 1719, before we find Lord Mar at Geneva, on his +way from Italy, resuming his negotiations with Lord Stair. + + +LORD MAR TO LORD STAIR. + + "May 6th, 1719. + + "Good Captain Brown will not, I hope, take amiss his old + acquaintance Jo. Murraye's writing to him at this time; and when he + knows the occasion, I am persuaded he will forgive him, and comply, + as far as he can, with what he is to ask him. My health is not so + good just now nor for some time past, as you would wish it; and I am + advised to drink the waters of Bourbon for it, as being the likest + to those of the Bath of any this side the sea, of which I formerly + found so much good. The hot climate where I have been for some time + past, by no means agrees with my health; and I am persuaded that + where some of our company is gone will still do worse with me. + + "The affair in which it might be thought my Captain would employ me + being now, I suppose, over for this bout, there needs be, I should + think, no objection to what I should ask. + + "I am come part of the way already; but I would not go much further, + without acquainting you with it. And now I beg that on the + consideration of the health of an old friend, you will give me + allowance or furlo to go to the waters of Bourbon, and to continue + there so long as I may have occasion for them during the two seasons + this year; and I promise to you I shall do nothing in any way, the + time of my being there, but as you would have me; so that this + allowance can be of no prejudice to the service. If you cannot give + me the furlo yourself, I imagine your Colonel will not refuse it, if + you will be so good as to ask it for me. + + "But because the first season of the waters is going fast away, I + should be glad you could do it without waiting to hear from your + Colonel about it, who, I should think, will not take it amiss when + you acquaint him with your having ventured to do so. Do not, I beg + of you, think there is any fetch in this, or anything but what I + have told you, which, upon honour, is nothing but truth, and all the + truth. + + "I hope there will be no occasion of your mentioning your having had + this trouble from me to any, unless it be to your Colonel and one or + two about him, and the person, it is like, you must speak to where + you are. There is one with me, an old school acquaintance of yours + too, Mr. Stuart of Invernethy, whom you have seen dance very merrily + over a sword; and if the allowance is granted me, I hope it will not + be refused to him, for whom I promise as I do for myself. + + "When I have done with the waters, I hope there will be no objection + to my returning to Italy again, if I have a mind; but I judged it + fit to mention this to you. + + "The person who delivers you this, will get conveyed to me what you + will be so good to write." + +Whilst he was thus in treaty with his former friend, Lord Mar was +stopped on his way to St. Prix, near Geneva, by the orders of the +Hanoverian Minister: his papers were seized and sealed up; and among +them, a copy of that which was written to Lord Stair as Captain Brown. +Lord Mar, who had borne an assumed name, disclosed his real rank, and +wrote to Lord Stair for assistance,--again urging permission to go to +the waters of Bourbon, or, if not allowed to go into France, the liberty +to return to Italy, "where," he said, "I may end my days in quiet; and +those, probably, will not be many in that climate." Whilst awaiting the +reply of Lord Stair, the Earl was treated with respect by the +authorities of Geneva; and "had only to wish that he had a little more +liberty for taking air and exercise." He expected that Lord Stair's +answer could not arrive in less than a fortnight: in the meantime, he +adds, "I shall be obliged, on account of my health, to ask the +Government here a little more tether."[158] + +His indulgent friend, Lord Stair, was, meantime, urging his cause by +every means in his power. "I wish Lord Mar," he wrote to the English +Ministry, "was at liberty upon his parole to the town of Geneva, or he +had permission to go to the waters of Bourbon. I should be glad to know +what pension you would allow him till he be restored?" + +Lady Mar was now in Rome, whither she had followed her husband soon +after his leaving Scotland. Her jointure, it appears, was stopped by +the Commissioners, and she was unable, without that supply, to travel +from Rome to Geneva. She was, probably, aware of Lord Mar's intention to +leave the Chevalier's service, for the Earl had written a long letter, +explanatory of his situation and intentions, to her father the Duke of +Kingston. "I have offered him for Lady Mar's journey," says Lord Stair, +"credit upon me for a thousand pounds." Yet notwithstanding this +liberality, Lord Mar now began to be extremely uneasy at Geneva, and to +fear that the Government meant "merely to expose him." In vain, for some +time, did Stair plead for him, with Secretary Craggs and Lord Stanhope. +They were evidently, from Lord Stair's replies to their objections, +afraid to have any dealings with him. "As to Lord Mar," writes Stair, +"the things that shock you, shock me; but our business is to break the +Pretender's party by detaching him from it, which we shall effectually +do by letting him live in quiet at Geneva or elsewhere, and by giving +him a pension. Whatever his Lordship's intentions may be, it is very +certain, in a few months, that the Jacobites will pull his throat +out,--you know them well enough not to doubt of it. The Pretender," he +adds, "looks upon Mar as lost, and has had no manner of confidence in +him ever since Lady Mar came into Italy. They looked upon her as a spy, +and that she had corrupted her husband. This, you may depend on it, is +true." Little more than a week afterwards, Lord Stair informed his +friends that "Lord Mar was _outre_ at the usage he had met with. He says +our Ministers may be great and able men, but that they are not skilful +at making proselytes, or keeping friends when they have them. I am +pretty much of his mind." + +It was, doubtless, as Lord Stair declared, the full determination of +Lord Mar at that time to leave the Chevalier's interests. "The +Pretender, I know," said Stair, "wrote him the kindest letter imaginable +since his [the Pretender's] return into Italy from Spain, with the +warmest invitations to return to his post." + +The letters which Lord Stair had received, in the course of this +negotiation, from Lord Mar, were instantly sent to Hanover. They were in +some instances written in his own hand, but without signature, and in +the third person. In the first which he wrote to Lord Stair, Mar +announced that he had quitted the service of James, and was desirous of +making peace with King George upon the promise of a pardon, and the +restoration of his estates. + +"You are to consider," says Lord Stair, writing to the Secretary of +State at home concerning this proposal, "whether it will be worth the +while to receive him. In my humble opinion the taking him on will be the +greatest blow that can be given to the Pretender's interest, and the +greatest discredit to it. And it may be made of use to show to the world +that nobody but a Papist can hope to continue in favour with the +Pretender. I wish," adds the Ambassador, "you may think as I do. I own +all his faults and misfortunes cannot make me forget the long and +intimate friendship and familiarity that has been between him and me." +It is consoling to find any politician acting upon such good +old-fashioned maxims, the result of honest feeling. + +Lady Mar having now joined her husband, Lord Mar resolved to make his +escape from Geneva. Lord Stair advised him against it; but adds, in his +letters to his friends at home, "I could hardly imagine that a man of +his temper, and in his circumstances, will refuse his liberty when he +sees he has nothing but ill usage and neglect to expect from us."[159] + +Thus ended this negotiation, the main conditions of which were, provided +Lord Mar kept himself free from any plots against the Government, an +offer of the family estate to his son; and, in the interim, till an act +of Parliament could be obtained to that effect, a pension of two +thousand pounds sterling, over and above one thousand five hundred +pounds paid of jointure to his wife and daughter.[160] + +It was the fortune of Lord Mar on this, as on many other occasions, to +reap the ignominy of having accepted this pension, without ever +receiving the profits of his debasement. + +During the absence of Lord Mar at Geneva, his Countess, who remained in +Rome, received the following letters from the Chevalier and his +Princess, Maria Clementina: these epistles show how desirous the +Chevalier still was to retain Lord Mar in his interests.[161] + + "Montefiascony, Sept. 9, 1719. + + "The Duke of Mar's late misfortunes and my own situation for some + months past, hath occasioned my being much in the dark as to his + present circumstances, which touche me too nearly not to desire you + will inform me particularly of them. The last letter I had from him + was in the begining of May, from Genua, in which he mentioned to me + his ill state of health, and something of your comeing to meet him + at Bourbon waters; but the season for them now advanceing, or rather + passeing, I reckon that whether he had gone thither or not, he will + soon be here on ye receipt of the note I sent you t'other day for + him, and by consequence that what measures he may have taken with + you about your meeting him will be altered on sight of that. I + thought it necessary to inform you of these particulars to prevent + any thoughts you might have of a journey so expensive and now + useless: for as to his liberty, I make no doubt but that it will + immediately follow the certainty of my return to this country. I + should think it not prudent to write any politicks to him now, not + knowing what fate my letters might meet with; but there is no secret + in your sayeing all that is kind from me to him. If you cannot + exagerate as to my impatience to see him, after all our mutual + misfortunes and adventures, and I am sure he will be glad to know + and see me more happy in a wife than I can be otherwayes, in most + respects. + + "I hope soon to have the satisfaction of seeing you at Rome, when I + believe I shall soon convince you that if you and your lord have in + the world many false friends, I am and ever shall be a true one to + you both. + + JAMES R." + + +LETTER FROM THE PRINCESS CLEMENTINA TO THE COUNTESS OF MAR. + + "Montefiasconi, 23rd. Sept. + + [162]"Je vien de recevoire, votre chere letre par Mr. Clepen, et vous + sui bien oblige, de l'attention que vous ave eu, de mervoyer dutee, + lequell ne sauroit que etre bon venant de vous; vous me marquez + avoire de la peine a ecrire le fransoi, mai votre esprit vous, + laprendera bientot. Le Roi me charge de vous faire, se compliment et + soy et aussi persuadez, de l'estime que j'auray toujour pour votre + merite. + + "CLEMENTINE R. + + "J'ambrase de tous mon coeure la charman petite, J'espere dan peu de + le pouvoire faire personnellement, et a vous de meme. Nous nous + porton tres bien; l'aire d'icy est foie bonne." + +A subsequent letter is addressed "A ma cousine La Duchesse de Mar"--and +subscribed "votre affectionee cousine, Clementine;" yet notwithstanding +these professions of confidence and affection, the seeds of distrust +were, it seems, soon sown between James and the Earl and Countess of +Mar. At first the suggestions to their disadvantage were repelled, +"There has been enough pains," writes James, "taken from Rome within +these few days to do you ill offices with me, but I can assure you with +truth they have made no impression upon me, nor will they produce any +other effect than to make me, if possible, kinder to you. But when I see +you I shall say more on this head, for 'tis fitt you should know your +false from your true friends; _and among the last you shall ever find +me_.[163] + + "JAMES R." + +An order, dated the ninth of October, 1719, that all such boxes "as are +in the Duchesse of Mar's custody should be first naled by her, and then +delivered with their keyes to Sir William Ellis," written in the +Chevalier's own hand, shews either that Lady Mar was on the eve of her +departure from Italy, or that a breach of confidence had taken +place.[164] + +Lord Mar, with impaired health, and writhing under the rejection of his +offers, returned to Italy. There, had he adhered to a resolution which +he had formed, of not interfering in public affairs, he might still have +closed his days in tranquillity. + +Notwithstanding the apparent continuance of the Chevalier's regard, he +never forgot the treaty between Lord Stair and the Earl of Mar. The +whole of this intrigue, discreditable as it was, has been reprobated by +all who have touched upon this portion of Lord Mar's history. His +accepting the loan of a thousand pounds from Stair, an old friend, for +the purpose of ensuring Lady Mar's journey, has been censured, I think, +with too great severity. But, although it be desirable to set to rights +matters of fact, yet, it is always unsatisfactory to begin the defence +of a bad cause. There is no evidence to show that Lord Mar ever received +a pension: he was not thought worth conciliating; but that circumstance, +in this case, and after a display of his willingness to receive all that +could be granted, assists very little in his vindication, and rather +adds to the degradation of one whom no party could trust. + +Soon after Lord Mar's return to Rome, the seeds of disunion between +James and his young and high-spirited wife began to disturb the minds of +all who were really well wishers to the Stuarts. + +Maria Clementina, reported by Horace Walpole to have been "lively, +insinuating, agreeable, and enterprising," had encountered, soon after +her marriage with James, the too frequent fate of many who were +sacrificed to royal marriages. She had quickly perceived that her +influence was inferior to that of the Prince's favourites: she was +shortly made aware of his infidelities: she became jealous, without +affection; and her disappointment in her consort was that of a proud, +resentful woman, to whom submission to circumstances was a lesson too +galling to be learned. + +The Prince, after the fashion of his forefathers, was governed by +favourites: like Charles the First, he had his Buckingham and his +Strafford; and his miniature Court was rent with factions. But the +Chevalier had neither the purity of Charles the First, nor the charm of +character which gilded over the vices of Charles the Second. His +household was an epitome of the worst passions; and his melancholy +aspect, his want of dignity and spirit, his bigotry and even his +unpopular virtue of economy, cast a gloom over that turbulent region. It +was bitterly, but perhaps truly said of him, "that he had all the +superstition of a capuchin, but none of the religion of a Prince."[165] +Like most of his immediate family, his character deteriorated as he grew +older. He did not rise under the pressure of adversity; and his timid, +irresolute nature was crushed by the effects of his cruel situation. + +Colonel John Hay, of Cromlix, the brother of the Earl of Mar's first +wife, and of George, seventh Earl of Kinnoul, succeeded in obtaining +mastery over his subdued nature. The lady of Colonel Hay, Margery, the +third daughter of Viscount Stormont, was said, also, to have possessed +her own share of influence over the mind of the Chevalier. Of the real +existence of any criminal attachment between the Prince and Mrs. Hay, +there is, however, considerable doubt; and it has been generally +regarded as one of those amours raised for a purpose, during the +continuance of a fierce contention for power. + +Clementina had also her favourites; and a certain Mrs. Sheldon, who had +had the charge of Prince Charles Edward, had acquired her confidence. +This choice was peculiarly infelicitous. + +Mrs. Sheldon was reported to be about as unworthy a favourite as the +unhappy Princess could have selected. According to Colonel Hay, she was +the mistress of General Dillon, one of the most ardent adherents of the +Stuarts, and the spy of the Earl of Mar.[166] For four or five years, +nevertheless, after Prince Charles's birth, she continued to be his +governess, and to sway the feelings of his mother, in the same manner as +confidants and dependants usually direct the angry passions of their +mistresses into the most dangerous channels. + +During the height of Colonel Hay's favour, the confidence of the +Chevalier in Lord Mar visibly declined, as appears in the following +letter to one of his adherents in Scotland. + +"I have always been unwilling to mention Marr, but I find myself +indispensably engaged at present to let my Scots friends know that I +have withdrawn my confidence entirely from him, as I shall be obliged to +doe from all who may be any ways influenced by him. This conduct is +founded on the most urgent, strongest, and most urging necessity, in +which my regard to my faithfull subjects and servants have the greatest +share. + +"What is here said of Marr, is not with a view of its being made +publick, there being no occasion for that, since, many years ago, he put +himself under such engagements, that he could not serve me in a publick +capacity, neither has he been publickly employed by me." + +To this it was answered, by the confidential friend to whom the remarks +were addressed, "It is some time agoe since your friends here had doubts +of the Earl of Marr; and thence it was that I was directed to mention +him in the manner I did in my last two letters, it being matter of no +small moment to us to know in whom wee might confide thorowly, and of +whom beware,--especially when a person of his figure was the +object."[167] + +Affairs were in this state; the Chevalier distrustful of Lord Mar, and +devoted to his rival, Colonel Hay; the Princess heading an opposite +faction, nominally commanded by Mrs. Sheldon, but secretly instigated by +Lord Mar; when, in 1722, the conspiracy of Atterbury was discovered by +the British Government. + +The Earl of Mar was at that time in Paris, and Lord Carteret who was at +the head of affairs in England, remembering the Earl's former +negotiations with Lord Stair, dispatched a gentleman to Mar, with +instructions to sound that nobleman as to his knowledge of the plot. +Lord Mar happening to be in Colonel Dillon's company when the messenger +reached Paris, and soon divining after one interview the nature of the +embassy, it was agreed between him and Dillon that they would do James's +cause a service by leading the British Government off the right scent. +They therefore drew up, in conjunction, an answer to Lord Carteret. What +was the nature of that reply,[168] does not appear; but its result was +such as to cast upon Lord Mar a degree of odium far greater than that +which he had incurred in Lord Stair's business. He was accused by +Atterbury with having, on that occasion, written such a letter as had +been the cause of his banishment; with having betrayed the secrets of +the Chevalier St. George to the British Government; and of several other +charges of "base and treacherous practises, discovered by the Bishop of +Rochester, that the like had scarce been heard of, and seem'd to be what +no man, endued with common sense, or the least drop of noble blood, +could perpetrate; and that the King's friends were at a loss in not +knowing what credit to give to such reports, tho' they apprehended the +worst, from the directions he had lately given of having no +correspondence with Mar or his adherents, from whom he had withdrawn all +confidence." + +Shortly after this declaration the Chevalier declared Colonel Hay to be +his Secretary, and created the favourite Earl of Inverness; between whom +and the Earl of Mar an antipathy, which had now become open hostility, +prevailed. "The Duke of Mar," wrote the Earl of Inverness to Lockhart, +"has declared himself my mortal enemy, only because I spoke truth to +him, and could not, in my conscience, enter into his measures nor +approve his conduct, tho' I always shunned saying any thing to his +disadvantage, but to the King alone, from whom I thought I was obliged +to conceal nothing."[169] + +With respect to the treachery towards Atterbury, the justification of +Lord Mar rests upon the testimony of Colonel Dillon, and other persons +who saw the Earl's letter to Carteret. It is also certain that James +accorded his approval to Mar's conduct in that affair. No positive +intention of mischief can be made out against Mar; but his habit of +rarely acting a straightforward part, his insatiable love of +interference, and his mistaking cunning for policy, brought upon him the +mournful indignation of the exiled Atterbury, and fixed upon him a grave +imputation which it were almost impossible to wipe away. + +Another charge brought by Atterbury against Lord Mar, was his advising +James to barter his pretensions to the Crown for a pension. But this +accusation is refuted by the two letters, of which vouchers are given in +the Lockhart Papers, on which the allegation is founded. These letters +were written from Geneva to the Prince and to Colonel Dillon.[170] + +Lastly, Lord Mar stood charged with a scheme, discovered to Atterbury +by Lord Inverness, for the restoration of the Stuarts, which, under +pretence of replacing them on the throne, would for ever have rendered +that restoration impracticable. From this allegation Lord Mar justified +himself by referring to the scheme itself, which he was declared to have +laid before the Regent of France with the intent to ruin James. Of this +scheme, the two main features were, first to re-establish the ancient +independence of Scotland and Ireland: secondly, that a certain number of +French troops should remain in England, and that five thousand Scots, +and as many Irish troops, should be sent to France and kept in pay by +the French King, for a certain number of years. There is certainly a +great deal of Mar's double policy, his being all things to all men, in +such a scheme. He declared, however, and proved that he acquainted James +with his plan in confidence, and that Colonel Hay sent a copy of it to +the Bishop of Rochester. Little as one can approve of Mar's conduct, it +is manifest that, by a deeply-laid intrigue, it was resolved for ever to +uproot him from the confidence of James. + +But the public career of Lord Mar had now drawn to its ignoble close. +That he had his partisans, who repelled the charges against him by +counter allegations, Lord Inverness soon found; and he began to think +that "the less noise that was made about Mar," the better.[171] + +During the year 1725, James further evinced his distrust of Lord Mar, by +dismissing Mr. Sheldon, his supposed spy, and placing Mr. James Murray, +a Protestant, as preceptor to the young Prince. + +The retirement of the Princess Clementina into a convent, followed this +last step. The correspondence of the royal couple, their recriminations, +furnished, for some months, conversation for the continental courts, and +even for St. James's, until the dismissal of Colonel Hay and his wife +appeased the resolute daughter of the Sobieski, and produced an apparent +reconciliation. + +From the close of this altercation, and after the disgrace of Colonel +Hay, the name of Lord Mar occurs no more in the history of the period. +He resided at Paris until 1729, when, falling into ill health, he +repaired to Aix la Chapelle, where he died in May 1732. + +His wife survived him twenty-nine years, only to be the victim of mental +disease, and, as it has been said, of cruelty and neglect. She became +insane, and was placed under the charge of her sister, Lady Mary W. +Montague, who, it has been reported, from avarice, stinted her +unfortunate sister of even the common necessaries of life, and +appropriated the allowance to herself. But this statement has been +disproved.[172] + +The latter years of Lord Mar were passed neither in idleness, nor wholly +in the intrigues of the Court at Albano. His amusement was to draw plans +and designs for the improvement of Scotland, which he had loved "not +wisely," but to which his warmest affections are said to have ever +recurred. In 1728 he composed a paper, in which he suggested building +bridges on the north and south sides of the city of Edinburgh: he +planned, also, the formation of a navigable canal between the Forth and +the Clyde. His beloved Alloa was sold by the Commissioners of the +forfeited estates to his brother, Lord Grange, who, in 1739, conveyed it +to Lord Erskine, his nephew. Lord Mar's children were enriched by the +gratitude of Gibbs, the architect, who bequeathed to the offspring of +his early patron the greatest part of his fortune. + +The Earl of Mar was succeeded by his son, Thomas Lord Erskine, who was +deprived of the famed title of Mar by his father's attainder. Lord +Erskine was appointed by Government, Commissary of Stores at Gibraltar. +His marriage with Lady Charlotte Hope being without issue, the title was +restored to the descendant of Lord Grange, and consequently to the +children of the unfortunate Lady Grange, whose sufferings, from the +effects of party spirit, seem to belong more properly to the page of +romance, than to the graver details of history. + +The conduct of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, has afforded a subject of +comment to two men of very different character, John Lockhart of +Carnwath, and the Master of Sinclair. Neither of the portraits drawn by +these master-hands are favourable; and they were, in both instances, +written under the influence of strong, yet transient impressions of +disappointment and suspicion. The mind naturally seeks for some safer +steersman to guide opinion than the intemperate though honest Jacobite, +Lockhart, or the sarcastic and slippery friend, Sinclair. The worst +peculiarity in the career of Mar was, that no one trusted him; towards +the latter portion of his life he had even lost the power of deceiving: +it had become impossible to him to act without mingling the poison of +deception with intentions which might have been honest, and even +benevolent. The habits of a long life of intrigue had warped his very +nature. When we behold him fleeing from the coasts of Scotland, leaving +behind him the trusting hearts that would have bled for him, we fancy +that no moral degradation can be more complete. We view him soliciting +to be a pensioner of England, and we acknowledge that it was even +possible to sink still more deeply into infamy. + +With principles of action utterly unsound, it is surprising how much +influence Lord Mar acquired over all with whom he came into collision. +He was sanguine in disposition, and, if we may judge by his letters, +buoyant in his spirits; his disposition was conciliatory, his manners +were apparently confiding. At the bottom of that gay courtesy there +doubtless was a heart warped by policy, but not inherently unkind. He +attached to him the lowly. Lockhart speaks of the love of two of his +kinsmen to him:--his tenantry, during his exile, contributed to supply +his wants, by a subscription. These are the few redeeming +characteristics of one made up of inconsistencies. He conferred, it must +be allowed, but little credit on a party which could number among its +adherents the brave Earl Marischal, the benevolent and honourable +Derwentwater, and the disinterested Nithisdale. When we contrast the +petty and selfish policy of the Earl of Mar with the integrity and +fidelity of those who fought in the same cause, and over whom he was +commander, his character sinks low in the estimate, and acts like a foil +to the purity and brightness of his fellow sufferers in the strife. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] See Wood's Peerage of Scotland. + +[8] Histories of Noble British Families by Henry Drummond, Esq. Preface +to Part I. + +[9] Robertson's History of Scotland, ii. 32. + +[10] Wood's Peerage. The year of his birth is not stated. + +[11] Cunningham's History of Great Britain, i. 326. + +[12] Dalrymple's Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 100. + +[13] Chambers's Biography, art. Erskine. + +[14] See Dr. Coxe's MSS. in the British Museum, vol. iii. + +[15] Dalrymple's Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 98. + +[16] Lockhart's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 114. + +[17] Lockhart, vol. i. p. 45. + +[18] Granger, vol. ii. p. 31. Somerville's Queen Anne, p. 184. + +[19] Of Alloa the following account is given. "Alloa House, situated in +the immediate neighbourhood of the town, in the midst of a fine park, +the seat of the Earl of Mar, and the subject of a fine Scottish song, is +a place worthy of visit. The principal part of the building was +destroyed some years ago by fire, and with it the only certain original +portrait of Queen Mary existing in the kingdom. The original tower, a +building of the thirteenth century, the walls of which are eleven feet +thick, and ninety feet high, alone remains. In it James the Sixth and +his eldest son, Henry, were successively educated under the care of the +Mar family. The cradle of the former, and his little nursery-chair, +besides Prince Henry's golfs, were preserved in the tower till a recent +period, when they fell into the possession of Lady Frances Erskine, +daughter of the late venerable Earl of Mar, who, we understand, now +preserves them, with the care and veneration due to such valuable +heirlooms, in her house in Edinburgh. The country in every direction +round Alloa is extremely level and beautiful, interspersed with numerous +fine seats, and abounding in delightful little old-established +bower-like villages. Among the latter we would particularize one called +the Bridge of Allan as everything which a village ought to be--soft, +sunny, and warm--a confusion of straw-roofed cottages, and rich massy +trees; possessed of a bridge and a mill, together with kail-yards, +bee-skeps, colleys, callants, old inns with entertainment for man and +horse, carts with their poles pointing up to the sky, venerable dames in +drugget knitting their stockings in the sun, and young ones in gingham +and dimity tripping along with milk-pails on their heads. + +"Besides all these characteristics as a village, the Bridge of Allan +boasts of a row of neat little villas for the temporary accommodation of +a number of fashionables who flock to it in the summer, on account of a +neighbouring mineral well."--_Chambers's Picture of Scotland._ + +[20] Wood's Peerage. + +[21] Somerville's Queen Anne, p. 167. + +[22] Somerville, p. 177. Memoirs of Scotland, London, 1714. Defoe's +History of the Union, p. 64. + +[23] Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 114. + +[24] Lockhart. + +[25] Lockhart, p. 116. + +[26] Daniel De Foe on the Union, p. 64. + +[27] De Foe, p. 322. + +[28] Lockhart. Letter to one English Lord concerning the Treaty, 1702, +vol. i. p. 272. + +[29] Memoirs, p. 74. De Foe, p. 321. + +[30] Memoirs, p. 74. De Foe, p. 371. + +[31] Introduction to De Foe's History of the Union, p. 16. + +[32] Memoirs of Scotland, p. 31. + +[33] Mackay. + +[34] Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 54. + +[35] Memoirs of North Britain, p. 113. + +[36] Wood's Peerage, vol. i. pp. 714, 717; also Mackay's Memoirs, p. +178. + +[37] Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 115. + +[38] Wood's Peerage, art. Erskine of Mar. + +[39] Memoirs of Scotland, p. 224. + +[40] Memoirs of Scotland, p. 340. + +[41] Cunningham's Hist. Great Britain, p. 257. + +[42] Ibid. p. 61. + +[43] Swift's Works, edited by Sir W. Scott, pp. 14, 72. + +[44] The motto on Queen Anne's coronation medal. + +[45] Cunningham, p. 71. + +[46] Memoirs of Scotland. Cunningham, p. 157. + +[47] Swift's Letters, vol. ii. p. 488; also p. 487, note by Sir W. +Scott. + +[48] Wood's Peerage. Swift's Letters, p. 475. See note. + +[49] Mackay's Characters, p. 94. + +[50] Swift added, in his own hand, to this eulogium, this remark: "He +was little better than a conceited talker in company." + +[51] The following letter shows that the Duke anticipated the result of +the duel. + + London, Nov. 14, 1712. + + My dear Son, + + I have been doing all I could to recover your mother's right to her + estate, which I hope shall be yours. I command you to be dutiful + towards her, as I hope she will be just and kind to you; and I + recommend it particularly to you, if ever you enjoy the estate of + Hamilton, and what may, I hope, justly belong to you, (considering + how long I have lived with a small competence, which has made me run + in debt,) I hope God will put it into your head to do justice to my + honour, and pay my just debts. There will be enough to satisfy all, + and give your brothers and sisters such provisions as the state of + your condition and their quality in Scotland will admit of. + + I pray God preserve you, and the family in your person. My humble + duty to my mother, and my blessing to your sisters. If it please God + I live, you shall find me share with you what I do possess, and ever + prove your affectionate and kind father, whilst + + HAMILTON. + + I again upon my blessing charge you, that you let the world see you + do your part in satisfying my just debts. + + Addressed thus: "To my dear Son the Marquis of Chilsdale." + + _Memoirs of the Life and Family of James Duke of Hamilton._ + +[52] The Lady Elizabeth Gerrard, the sister of Lady Mohun, and Duchess +of Hamilton, is said to have been "a lady of great wit and beauty, and +all the fine accomplishments that adorn her sex." Through her the great +estates in Lancashire and Staffordshire came into the family of +Hamilton. + +[53] Wood's Peerage; also "Life of the Duke of Hamilton," a scarce +tract, p. 102. + +[54] Coxe MSS. 9128. Plut. cxxxviii. H. British Museum. + +[55] Ibid. See a Letter in French, dated April 5, 1714, p. 1. + +[56] Coxe MSS. + +[57] Lord Mahon's Hist. England, vol. i. p. 139. See also a scarce +little book to be met with in the Advocate's Library in Edinburgh +(Atterbury's Correspondence, with marginal notes by Lord Hailes): "By +what accident these Letters have been preserved," says the noble Editor, +"I know not: by what means they are now brought to light, I am not at +liberty to explain." + +[58] See the Letter before quoted. + +[59] Cunningham, vol. ii. p. 440. + +[60] Lockhart of Carnwath, vol. i. p. 446; also "Notices of Lady +Grange," by Dr. Mackay. + +[61] See "Notices of Lady Grange," by K. Mackay, M.D., 3rd edition. +Glasgow, 1819. + +[62] Cunningham, vol. ii. p. 441. + +[63] Lord Mahon, vol. i. p. 152. + +[64] "A Collection of Original Letters relating to the Rebellion of +1715." Edinburgh, 1730. + +[65] Introductory Anecdotes to Lord Wharncliffe's Edition of Lady M. +Wortley's Letters, p. 26. + +[66] Reay, p. 135. + +[67] Reay, p. 152. + +[68] Reay, p. 171. + +[69] This commission was long doubted, and was even denied by the +Chevalier. It is, nevertheless, signed by his Secretary, and is among +the valuable papers which, belonging to Mr. Gibson Craig of Edinburgh, +have been liberally placed at the service of the author. + +[70] Caledonian Mercury, 1722. + +[71] Lord Mahon, p. 147. + +[72] Lord Mahon; from the Master of Sinclair's MS. + +[73] Burke's Peerage. + +[74] Buchan's History of the Keith Family. + +[75] Buchan's History of the Keith Family; also Scottish Peerage. + +[76] See Patten's List of Chieftains. + +[77] Secret History of Colonel Hooke's Negotiations, pp. 26, 110. + +[78] Patten, p. 232. + +[79] Buchan's History of the Keith Family, p. 153. + +[80] Colonel Hooke's Negotiations. + +[81] See "Genealogie of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Drummond, by +the First Viscount Strathallan," Appendix. For this curious and +elaborate work I am indebted to the Rev. Arthur Drummond. + +[82] MS. Account of Several Clans, by Mrs. Grant, of Laggan. + +[83] Brown's Highlands, vol. i. p. 131. + +[84] The Rev. Robert Patten, from whose animated narrative many other +writers have implicitly copied, was a man of indifferent character, who +accompanied Mr. Forster, in the insurrection in Northumberland, as his +chaplain. He afterwards turned king's evidence, and appeared against +those whom he had served. For this act of treachery his pension was +raised (as I find by the Caledonian Mercury for 1722) from 50_l._ to +80_l._ a-year. He dedicates his History of the Rebellion to Generals +Carpenter and Wills. + +[85] Patten, p. 151. + +[86] Mar Papers. + +[87] Reay, p. 191. + +[88] Reay, p. 191. + +[89] It seems to have been the custom of that period to write in the +third person when in memoirs and statements. Lord Lovat's manifesto is +in the same style. + +[90] Patten, p. 257. + +[91] A copy from the original, for which I am indebted to Mr. Gibson +Craig, is given for the confirmation of Lord Mar's assertion:-- + + "James the Eighth, by the grace of God King of Scotland, England, + France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to our right trusty + and well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor, John Earl of Mar, &c. We + reposing especial trust & confidence in your loyalty, courage, + experience, and good conduct, doe by these * * constitute and + appoint you to be our General and Commander in Cheif of all our + forces, both by sea and land, in our antient kingdom of Scotland. + Whereupon you are to take upon you the said command of General and + Commander in Cheif, and the better to support you in the said + authority, our will and pleasure is, that you act in consert with + and by our * * * * We doe likeways hereby empower you to grant + commissions in our name to all officers, both by sea and land, to + place and displace the same as you shall think fitt and necessary + for our service, to assemble our said forces, raise the militia, + issue out orders for all suspected persons, and seizing of all forts + and castles, and putting garrisons into them, and to take up in any + part of our dominions, what money, horses, arms, and ammunition and + provisions you shall think necessary for arming, mounting, and + subsisting the said forces under your command, and to give recepts + for the same, which we hereby promise to pay. By this our + Commission, we likeways here empower you to make warr upon our + enemies, and upon all such as shall adhere to the present government + and usurper of our dominions. Leaving entirely to your prudence and + conduct to begin the necessary acts of hostility when and where you + think most advantageous conducing to our restoration; and we doe + hereby command all, and require all officers and souldiers, both by + sea and land, and all our subjects, to acknowledge and obey you as + our General and Commander as Cheif of our army; and you to obey such + furder orders and directions as you shall from time to time receive + from us. In pursuance of the great power and trust we have reposed + in you. + + "Given at our Court at Bar le duc, the seventh day of September, + 1715, and in the fourteenth year of our reign. + + "By His Majestie's command, + Sic Subscribitur, + THOMAS HIGGINS." + + +[92] Patten, p. 256. + +[93] Note in Reay. From the _Weekly Journal_, Feb. 4th, 1715-16. + +[94] Reay, p. 193. + +[95] Brown's Highlands, vol. i. p. 129. + +[96] Mar Papers. In these there is a copy of this Manifesto; but since +it has been printed in Reay's History of the Rebellion, and others, I do +not think it necessary to insert it here. + +[97] The Chevalier's agent there. + +[98] The orthography of this letter is copied from the original, with +the exception of the abbreviations usual at that period. + +[99] Erskine. + +[100] Reay, p. 221. + +[101] Mar Papers. + +[102] Mar Papers, communicated by Mr. Gibson Craig. + +[103] Reay, pp. 236, 237. + +[104] The Earl of Mar's Journal, as printed at Paris. At the end of +Patten's History of the Rebellion, and addressed by Lord Mar to Colonel +Balfour, p. 259. + +[105] Reay, p. 197. + +[106] Earl of Mar's Journal. + +[107] Earl of Mar's Journal. + +[108] Reay, p. 308. + +[109] Brown's Highlands. + +[110] Mar Papers. + +[111] Reay, p. 309. + +[112] From the MS. letter in the possession of Archibald Macdonald, Esq. + +[113] The agent of the Jacobites in Edinburgh. + +[114] Mar Papers, in the possession of Gibson Craig, Esq. + +[115] King. + +[116] Duke of Ormond. + +[117] Paris. + +[118] Lady Nairn. + +[119] The Chevalier. + +[120] The Dutch auxiliaries, to the amount of 6000, demanded by the +English government, as accorded by treaty, arrived, to the number of +3000, in the Thames, on the 16th of November, expressly to assist in +suppressing the rebellion, and proceeded to Scotland on the 25th. They +were afterwards followed by 3000 more, who, being obliged to put in at +Harwich, marched on by land. Reay, p. 327. + +[121] The King. + +[122] Lord Grange. + +[123] The following note is annexed to this letter. It is in the +hand-writing of Bishop Keith:--"Son of Sir Wm. Douglass, colonel of a +regiment, and who had come over with the Prince of Orange to England, +and was made Knight and Colonel by the said Prince, as says my Lady +Bruce. The story Wm. Erskine, brother to the Earl of Buchan, told me, as +the King and he were travelling through France at this period, they saw +the Chevalier's picture set up in some of the post-houses, and they were +told this was done by the desire of the English Ambassador, who had +promised a reward to those who should stop and apprehend the person whom +the picture resembled." + +[124] A concealment in the House of Kineil, near Borrostowness. + +[125] The younger brother of the Marquis of Tullibardine, but assuming +the forfeited title as head of the house. + +[126] Henry Straiton. + +[127] I have had the advantage of seeing an original crayon portrait of +the Chevalier, in the possession of Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq., of +Edinburgh; also, a miniature painted at Rome, belonging to Mr. Sharpe. +In the miniature the eyes are darker, and have more animation than in +the crayon drawing. The portrait lately placed at Hampton Court gives a +much more pleasing impression of James Stuart than either of these +likenesses: the countenance is animated and benevolent. + +[128] "A True Account of the Proceedings at Perth," by a Rebel, supposed +to be the Master of Sinclair. + +[129] That portion of the letter only which refers to the Chevalier +appears to have been printed. I have given the entire letter from which +the account was taken. A portion of this letter is published in Brown's +History of the Highlands, vol. iv. p. 332. + +[130] Reay, p. 352. + +[131] MS. Letter in the possession of Alexander Macdonald, Esq., of the +Register Office, Edinburgh. + +[132] Mar Papers. + +[133] Thomas Bruce, afterwards Earl of Kincardine. + +[134] The loss of the ship from France. + +[135] An allusion to the Marquis of Huntley and Lord Seaforth. + +[136] Mar Papers. + +[137] Reay, p. 364. + +[138] Flying Post, or the Post Master, for January 28 and 31, 1716. + +[139] Evening Post, Feb. 2, 1716. + +[140] Auchterarder. + +[141] Reay, p. 364. + +[142] Mar Correspondence. + +[143] Probably Wigton. + +[144] Brown's Highlands, vol. iv. p. 337. + +[145] Patten, p. 248. + +[146] Reay, p. 367. + +[147] Lord Mar's Journal. + +[148] A copy is given of the Prince's letter in Dr. Brown's work on the +Highlands, vol. iv. p. 340. It is a sort of expostulation with the Duke, +but mildly and sensibly expressed. "I fear," he said, alluding to the +British people, "they will find yet more than I the smart of preferring +a foreign yoke to the obedience they owe me." + +[149] Bolingbroke's Letter to Sir William Wyndham. + +[150] Letter to Sir Wm. Wyndham, p. 139. + +[151] Lockhart, vol. ii. p. 17. + +[152] Ibid. + +[153] Lockhart, vol. ii. p. 64. + +[154] Coxe's Papers in the British Museum, MS. 9129. Plut. cxxxviii. II. + +[155] I find that the biographers of Lord Mar, in the short lives given +of him, (see Chambers's Scottish Biography, Georgian Era, &c.) have +overlooked this correspondence. The letter from Sir Luke Schwaub, in +French, with a translation, and the answer of Lord Carteret, in the Coxe +Papers, although not exactly relevant to my subject, are interesting. "A +thousands thanks," writes the generous Lord Carteret, in reply to +Schwaub, "for your private letter, which affords me the means of +obviating any calumny against the memory of a person who will always be +dear to me." [That is, Lord Sunderland.] "I have shown it to the King, +who is entirely satisfied with it." The anxiety on the part of +Government to secure the papers of Lord Sunderland, was extreme, and +affords a collateral proof of this connivance. The mysterious documents +were seized by order of the King, and inspected by Lord Townshend, and +not a trace of the correspondence was left when the papers were restored +to the family. The seizure occasioned a suit between the executors of +the Earl of Sunderland and the two Secretaries of State.--_Coxe MSS._ + +[156] Hardwicke Papers, vol. ii. p. 252. + +[157] Hardwicke Papers, vol. ii. p. 565. + +[158] Hardwicke Papers, p. 586. + +[159] Hardwicke Papers, vol. ii. p. 600. + +[160] Chambers, art. _Erskine_. + +[161] From original letters, for which I am indebted to Alexander +Macdonald, Esq., of the Register Office, Edinburgh. + +[162] The spelling is preserved as in the original. + +[163] These words were written in the Chevalier's own hand. + +[164] Letters in the possession of A. Macdonald, Esq. + +[165] Bolingbroke. + +[166] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 221. + +[167] Lockhart Papers. + +[168] See various papers in the State Paper Office. Collections for +1722. + +[169] Lockhart, vol. ii. p. 149. + +[170] Id. p. 183. + +[171] Lockhart, vol. ii. p. 198. + +[172] Mr. C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe was good enough to inform me that he had +seen some letters on this subject, which exculpated Lady Mary W. +Montague. The correspondence was destroyed, but it conveyed to the mind +of that accomplished and erudite gentleman, who saw it, the impression +that the charge against Lady Mary Wortley was groundless. + + + + +JAMES, EARL OF DERWENTWATER. + + +In the vale of Hexham, on the summit of a steep hill, clothed with wood, +and washed at its base by a rivulet, called the Devil's Water, stand the +ruins of Dilstone Castle. A bridge of a single arch forms the approach +to the castle or mansion; the stream, then mingling its rapid waters +with those of the Tyne, rushes over rocks into a deep dell embowered +with trees, above a hundred feet in height, and casting a deep gloom +over the sounding waters beneath their branches. + +Through the arch of the bridge, a mill, an object ever associated with +peace and plenty, is seen; and, beyond it, the eye rests upon the bare, +dilapidated walls of the castle. Its halls, its stairs, its painted +chambers, may still be traced; its broken towers command a view of +romantic beauty; but all around it is desolate and ruined, like the once +proud and honoured family who dwelt beneath its roof. + +This was once the favourite abode of the Ratcliffes, or Radcliffes, +supposed to be a branch of the Radcliffes in Lancashire,[173] from whom +were, it is said, descended the Earls of Sussex,[174] who became the +owners of Dilstone in the days of Queen Elizabeth. + +During several generations after the Conquest, a family of the name of +Devilstone was in possession of Dilstone, until the time of Henry the +Third. The estates then passed to many different owners; the Tynedales, +the Crafters, the Claxtons, were successively the masters of the castle; +and it was not, according to some accounts,[175] until the tenth year of +Queen Elizabeth's reign, that it first owned for its lord one of that +unfortunate race to whom it finally belonged, until escheated to the +Crown. But certain historians have asserted that, so early as the reign +of Henry the Sixth, Dilstone was the seat of Sir Nicholas +Radcliffe.[176] At this period, too, other estates were added to those +already enjoyed by the Radcliffes. Sir Nicholas married the heiress of +Sir John De Derwentwater, to whom had belonged, for several centuries, +the manors of Castlerigg and Keswick, and who, since the time of Edward +the First, had enjoyed great consideration in the county of Cumberland. +This alliance with the Derwentwater family, although it brought to the +Radcliffe the possession of a territory, which, for its beauty and +value, monarchs might envy, did not for many years, entice them to a +removal to the mansion of Castlerigg. That old dwelling-place, a gloomy +fortress, among "storm-shaken mountains and howling wildernesses," was +far less commodious than the castle at Dilstone, then in great fame from +the flourishing monastery which reared its head in the Vale of Hexham. +Castlerigg, being, eventually, abandoned by the Radcliffes, went utterly +to decay; the materials of the old manor-house are supposed to have been +employed in forming a new residence on Lord's Island, in Keswick Lake; +and the estate was divided into tenancies, which, in process of time, +were infranchised. The ancient demesne of the De Derwentwaters has now +passed into the hands of the Trustees of Greenwich Hospital, and the +oaks of the park which skirts the lake have of late years supplied much +valuable timber. + +The family of Radcliffe continued, during several centuries after the +intermarriage with the De Derwentwaters, to increase in wealth and +importance. It was not, however, ennobled until the reign of James the +Second, in 1688, when, in consequence of the eldest son of Sir Francis +Radcliffe having married during his father's life time the Lady Mary +Tudor, a natural daughter of Charles the Second, by Mistress Mary Davis, +Sir Francis was created Earl of Derwentwater, Baron Dilstone, and +Viscount Langley.[177] "This alliance to the royal blood," says the +biographer of Charles Radcliffe, "gave them a title to match with the +noblest families in the kingdom, and was likewise the occasion of that +strict attachment which the several branches of the Derwentwater family +have inviolably preserved for the line of Stuarts ever since."[178] +There was also another reason for this act of royal favour on the one +hand, and for this devotion on the other: Sir George Radcliffe, we find +by the Macpherson papers, was Governor of James the Second when he was +Duke of York, and during the troubles of the Great Rebellion; and, under +his care, the young prince remained some time in the city of +Oxford.[179] + +Whatsoever may be thought of the effect of this connection with royalty, +in ennobling an ancient and loyal race, the marriage produced a lasting +influence on the fortunes of the family. That they were proud of the +alliance appears from the circumstance that the children of that +marriage used to wear the prince's feather, that plume which has, since +the days of Edward the Black Prince, distinguished the heir apparent to +royalty. But the consanguinity in blood to the Stuarts produced another, +and a far more serious result. The sons of the Lady Mary Tudor and of +Francis, second Earl of Derwentwater, were educated, like brothers, with +the son of the abdicated monarch. James Radcliffe, who was born about +the year 1692, and who afterwards became Earl of Derwentwater, passed +his childhood at St. Germains with his royal namesake, James Stuart. The +brother of the Earl, Charles, was also brought up in France; both of +these youths, whose fate was afterwards so tragical, were reared in the +faith of the Church of Rome, and under the tuition of the Roman Catholic +clergy. They thus grew up, without perhaps hearing, certainly without +entertaining, a doubt of those rights which they died to assert. "The +late Earl of Derwentwater," writes the biographer of Charles Radclyffe, +"and his brother Charles were so strongly attached to the Pretender's +party, that their advice or consent was not so much as asked in those +consultations that were held among the disaffected previous to the +Rebellion; neither did the party think it necessary, because they were +always sure of them whenever they should come to action." + +In 1705, Francis, Earl of Derwentwater, died; and during a season of +domestic tranquillity, whilst as yet the Jacobites were full of hopes +that the succession would be restored to the Stuart line, his son James +succeeded to the Earldom, and to the vast estates which had accumulated +to give dignity and influence to rank. Besides the castle of Dilstone +and Castlerigg, which Leland, who visited Cumberland in 1539, describes +as still being the "head place of the Radcliffes," many other valuable +properties, had been gradually added to the patrimonial possessions. + +It was the disposition of Lord Derwentwater to employ the advantages of +wealth and birth to the benefit of others. He returned to England, +English in heart, and became the true model of an English nobleman. "He +was a man," said a contemporary writer, "formed by nature to be beloved; +for he was of so universal a beneficence, that he seemed to live for +others."[180] Residing among his own people, among them he spent his +estate, and passed his days in deeds of kindness, and in acts of +charity, which regarding no differences of faith as obstacles to the +course of that heavenly virtue, were extended alike by this unfortunate +nobleman to Protestant and to Roman Catholic. In his days, Dilstone was +the scene of an open-hearted hospitality, "which," observes the renegade +Jacobite who has chronicled the events of the period, "few in that +country do, and none can, come up to." That castle-hall, now ruined and +for ever deserted, was thronged by the distressed, who, whether the poor +denizens of the place or the wanderer by the way side, found there +relief, and went away consoled. The owner of the castle gave bread to +thousands, who long remembered his virtues, and mourned his fate. He +conciliated the good will of his equals, and disarmed the animosity of +those who differed from him in opinion. Beloved, trusted, almost +reverenced in the prime of youth, James Earl of Derwentwater held, at +the period of the first Rebellion, the enviable position of one whose +station was remembered only in conjunction with the higher dignity of +virtue. To the solid qualities of integrity, he added a sweetness and +courtesy of manner which must have lent to even homely features their +usual charm.[181] Blessing and blest, he thus dwelt amid the romantic +scenery of the Vale of Hexham. + +Lord Derwentwater married Anna Maria, one of the five daughters of Sir +John Webb, Baronet of Odstock in Wiltshire. An ancestor of Sir John Webb +had first acquired the title in the reign of Charles the First for "his +family having both shed their blood in the King's cause, and +contributed, as far as they were able, with their purses, in his +defence," as is expressed in their patent.[182] + +During the reign of Queen Anne, Lord Derwentwater took no part in the +various intrigues which were carried on by the Jacobite party. He lived +peaceably at Dilstone, where his name was long honoured after the +tragical events which hurried him into an early grave had occurred. But +this tranquil demeanour does not argue, as it has been supposed, that +the early playmate of James had become indifferent to the cause of the +Stuarts. The friends of the exiled family founded their hopes of its +restoration on the well-known partiality of Queen Anne for her brother, +and on the circumstance of her having seen the last of her children +consigned to the tomb. There seems no reason to doubt but that, had Anne +lived longer, she would have taken measures, in unison with the wishes +of the bulk of the nobility, and in conjunction with her confidential +ministers, to have placed the Chevalier St. George the next in +succession. In this hope, the wishes of the most respectable portion of +the Jacobite nobility were tranquillized.[183] + +The sudden decease of Queen Anne disconcerted the hopes of those who had +been thus waiting for the course of events; and the immediate change of +ministry depriving those who were favourable to the house of Stuart of +power, the succession of George the First was secured, under the aspect, +for a few weeks, of the most perfect national repose. It has been well +explained, that, unless some circumstances connected with the birth and +education of the Chevalier had favoured the interests of Hanover, a very +different result would have appeared. The notion so diligently spread +abroad, of a supposititious birth--the foreign education of the young +Prince--above all, the pains which had been taken to inculcate in his +heart a devotion to the faith of both his parents, were considerations +which strongly favoured the accession of the Elector of Hanover.[184] + +A year passed away, and that tranquillity was succeeded by an +ill-concerted, immature enterprise, headed by a man of every talent +except the right sort; and chilled, rather than aided, by the presence +of that melancholy exile who presented himself for the first and last +time, to sadden by the gloom of his aspect, and the inertness of his +measures, the hearts that yearned to welcome him back to Britain. + +It was towards the latter end of August, in 1715, in the shire of Perth, +that the people first began to assemble themselves in a body, until they +marched to a small market town, named Kirk Michael, where the Chevalier +was first proclaimed, and his standard set up.[185] Meantime several +noblemen and gentlemen, both in England and in Scotland, influenced by +the Earl of Mar, began to collect their servants and dependants from +different places, and under various pretexts, for their proceedings. +There were also measures concerted in London by the Chevalier's friends; +and among the more active of the partisans, was a certain Captain Robert +Talbot, an Irish officer, who, upon being acquainted with the projected +insurrection, took shipping and sailed for Newcastle-upon-Tyne. By this +agent, the resolutions which had been adopted by the Jacobites in London +were conveyed to their friends in the north of England. This was part of +the scheme of the Jacobites; London was the centre of all their +conferences, and from the metropolis intelligence was secretly conveyed +in various directions: measures were concerted; the parties who were to +engage were furnished with means to act, and brought together; letters +were carried by private hands to various confederates, and debates and +correspondence were carried on some months before the Rebellion actually +broke out. + +The plot was managed with care and address. The common conveyance of +letters was dangerous, and the office of delivering them was undertaken +by gentlemen of Jacobite principles, who rode from place to place as +travellers, pretending merely that they were viewing the country, and +making inquiries to gratify curiosity: these travellers were all Irish +and Papists. + +Another class of agents, consisting of Mr. Clifton, a brother of Sir +Gervase Clifton, and of Mr. Beaumont, both gentlemen of Nottinghamshire, +and attended by Mr. Buxton, a clergyman of Derbyshire, rode like +gentlemen, with servants, but were armed with swords and pistols. These +emissaries also continued moving from place to place, and kept up a +constant intercourse between the disaffected parties, until all things +were ready for action. + +Under these circumstances, Government took a decided step, which, as it +turned out, brought the whole concerted plot into action sooner than the +confederates had originally intended. Means were taken for the +apprehension of several suspected Jacobites. Towards the end of +September, Lord Derwentwater, among others, received notice that there +was a warrant issued by the Secretary of State to apprehend him, and +that messengers were actually arrived at Durham in order to seize his +person.[186] + +On receiving this information, Lord Derwentwater, who had at that time +taken no ostensible part in the consultations of the Jacobites, and who, +as it was thought by many who knew him intimately, was undecided whether +to join the insurgents or not, adopted the line of conduct most suitable +to innocence. He repaired to the house of a neighbouring justice of the +peace, whose name has not been given at length and boldly placed himself +in his hands. He demanded what were the grounds of his accusation. +Unhappily the magistrate's loyalty was not unimpeachable. Had this +gentleman been zealously affected to the Government, or had he been a +true friend to Lord Derwentwater, he would either have persuaded that +nobleman to surrender to the messengers of Government, or he would have +detained him, and thus prevented the rash outbreak which afterwards +ensued. Such is the opinion of one who knew all the parties concerned in +the insurrection well. Such is the statement of Mr. Robert Patten, +himself a Jacobite, and chaplain to Mr. Forster. He afterwards turned +King's evidence, and received for that treachery, or, as he is pleased +to call it, penitence, a suitable remuneration.[187] + +Lord Derwentwater unfortunately adopted a course which could but have +one termination. He concealed himself from those who were employed to +apprehend him. Clear from any direct imputation, had he then given +himself up, he would have been released; and he might have been deterred +from a participation in the disastrous scenes which ensued. He had now +two children, a son and a daughter. He had many valuable considerations +to forfeit for the one abstract principle of indefeasible right to the +throne. Few men had more to venture. Many of the Jacobites went into the +field with tarnished characters, and with ruined fortunes: they might +gain,--they could not lose by the perilous undertaking. Amid the bands +of high-born and highly principled men who co-operated in both the +Rebellions, adventurers would appear, whose previous lives shed +dishonour upon any cause; but the irreproachable, the prosperous, the +beloved, could desire little more for themselves than what they already +possessed: they ventured their rich and glorious barks upon the +current; and let those who sully every motive with suspicion, say that +there was no virtue, no patriotism, in the Jacobite party. + +By his own descendant, Lord Derwentwater is believed to have hesitated +upon the verge of his fate, but to have been urged into it by his +brother Charles. Young and ardent, courageous even to rashness, the +first to offer himself where an enterprise was the most hazardous, +seeming to set no value upon his life where glory was to be obtained, +the darling of his party, and, to sum up the whole, only twenty-two +years of age, Mr. Radcliffe rashly drew his brother into a confederacy, +so agreeable to his own ambitious and fearless spirit. But there was +another individual on whom the responsibility of that luckless movement +in the North must chiefly rest. This was Mr. Thomas Forster the younger, +of Etherston in the county of Northumberland, and member for the county. +During the first thirty years of his life, this gentleman had scarcely +been known beyond the precincts of his paternal estate. He became a +member of Parliament, and was drawn into the vortex of party without +talents to adorn or judgment to guide his conduct. Although a +Protestant, Mr. Forster soon made his house the place of rendezvous for +all the non-jurors and disaffected people of the county in which he +lived; and he became involved in the dangers of their schemes, almost +before he was aware of the perils which he was about to encounter. The +party of the Jacobites was composed of very dissimilar materials. Whilst +some adopted its projects to retrieve character, or to attain, as they +vainly hoped, fortune, whilst others were actuated by genuine motives, +there were many who mingled in the mazes of the intricate politics of +that day from vanity, and the love of being at the head of faction: such +was Forster; and his career was unsatisfactory and inglorious as his +character was weak. + +A warrant for Mr. Forster's apprehension having been sent forth, he was, +like Lord Derwentwater, obliged to fly from place to place, until he +arrived at the house of Mr. Fenwick, at Bywell. Lord Derwentwater, +meantime, had been secreted under the roof of a man named Lambert, in a +cottage, where he had remained in safety. His horses had been seized by +one of the neighbouring magistrates, and had been detained in custody +for several weeks, pursuant to an order in council; yet, when he had +need of them they were returned. "I afterwards asked that lord," Mr. +Patten relates, "how he came so quietly by his horses from the justice's +possession, whom the believing neighbourhood esteemed a most rigid Whig. +I was answered thus, by that lord's repeating a saying of Oliver +Cromwell's, 'that he could gain his ends with an ass-load of gold,' and +left me to make the application."[188] + +Mr. Fenwick, of Bywell, was a secret, though not an avowed Jacobite; and +it was soon agreed that at his house should be collected all those who +were favourable to the cause. A meeting of the party was accordingly +held: it was decided that finding there was now no longer any safety in +shifting from place to place, and that since, in a few days they might +all be hurried up to London, and secured in prisons, where they might be +separately examined, and induced to betray each other;--it was now time +to appear boldly in arms, and to show the loyalty of the confederates to +King James. + +In pursuance of this resolution, the place and hour of meeting were +appointed the very next morning; the sixth of October was named, and all +were to assemble at Greenrig. Here those who rode from Bywell were met +by Mr. Forster, with a party of twenty gentlemen. The meeting might have +recalled the days of the Cavaliers: the winding of the river Tyne in the +valley; the rural village of Bywell; on the rising ground to the right a +ruin, once the fortress of the vale, and held in former times by the +Baliols, presented a scene of tranquil beauty, which some who met that +day were destined never to look upon again. + +The low situation of Greenrig was deemed inconvenient for the purpose of +the insurgents, and the party ascended a hill called the Waterfalls, +from which they could see the distant country. This spot is thus +described: "As you look upon Bywell from the most pleasing point of +view, the landskip lies in the following order:--from the road near the +front of the river, the ruined piers of a bridge become the front +objects; behind which, in a regular cascade, the whole river falls over +a wear, extended from bank to bank, in height above eight feet +perpendicular; a mill on the right hand, a salmon lock on the left: the +tower and the two churches stretch along the banks of the upper basin of +the river, with a fine curvature; the solemn ruins of the ancient castle +of the Baliols lift their towers above the trees on the right, and make +an agreeable contrast with the adjoining mansion-house. The whole +background appears covered with wood."[189] + +On this height Mr. Forster and his party paused; but they had not been +long there before they saw the Earl of Derwentwater, who came that +morning from Dilstone, advancing. He was attended by several friends and +by all his servants, some mounted on his coach-horses, and all well +armed. As they marched through Corbridge, this gallant troop drew their +swords. They were reinforced by several other gentlemen at the house of +Mr. Errington, where they stopped; and they then advanced to the spot +where their friends awaited their approach. They now mustered sixty +horse, mostly composed of gentlemen and their attendants. After a short +council it was decided that they should proceed towards the river +Coquet, to Plainfield: here they were joined by several stragglers: they +marched that evening to Rothbury a small market-town, where they +remained all night, and continued their march on the following morning, +the seventh of October, to Warkworth Castle. + +In thus assembling his friends and his tenantry, Lord Derwentwater was +not blameless of undue influence and oppression. The instances, indeed, +of threats and absolute compulsion being used to augment the forces of +the Jacobites, and to draw unwilling dependants into participation, are +very numerous; they may be collected from various petitions, borne out +by evidence, among the State Papers for 1715 and 1716. It is true that +such excuses were certain to be alleged by many persons unjustly; but, +where the charges were substantiated, we must with pain confess that the +virtues of the Earl of Derwentwater, as well as those of other +Jacobites, are sullied by a violent exercise of power over their +tenantry. One man, named George Gibson, afterwards, in memorialising +Lord Townshend from Newgate, affirms that upon his refusal to carry a +message from Lord Derwentwater to Mr. Forster, two days before the +insurrection, and returning to his own house instead, he was one night +dragged out of bed by seven or eight men, and hurried off to serve in +the said insurrection without a single servant of his own attending him. +It was proved also, by King's evidence, that the unfortunate man did all +in his power to escape from Kelso, and really made the attempt; but it +was defeated, for he was ever an object of suspicion to the Earl of +Derwentwater and Mr. Forster, whose watchfulness kept him among the +rebel troops.[190] Party may do much to blunt the feelings; yet there +was too much of what was good in the character of Lord Derwentwater for +him, in the solitude of his own prison, not to remember in after days +the heavy responsibilities which even by one act of this nature he had +incurred, in compelling a man to act against his will and conscience. + +Warkworth was probably chosen as a resting-place for the insurgents, on +account of its strength. Situated only three-quarters of a mile from the +sea, on the river Coquet, over which is thrown a bridge, guarded by a +lofty tower, the Castle of Warkworth, which guards the town, commands a +view both varied with objects of interest and importance. + +From a lofty turret of the castle a great extent of land and ocean is to +be seen. The great Tower of the Percys, from which this turret rises, is +decorated with the lion of Brabant, and is seated on the brink of a +cliff above the town. From this lofty structure the eye, stretching +along the coast, may discern the castles of Dunstanbrough and +Bamborough: the Fern Islands, dotted upon the face of the waters, the +Port of Alemouth, and, at a little distance, the mouth of the river +Coquet, with its island and ruined monastery. To the north, a richly +cultivated country extends as far as Alnwick; to the south lies a plain, +interspersed with villages and woods; the shore, to which it inclines, +is indented with many ports and creeks; the smoke rising from many +scattered hamlets, and the spires of churches enliven the smiling +prospect. + +In this secure station the rebels remained for two days; and here Mr. +Forster assumed the rank of General of the Forces in the North, a title +which had been bestowed on him by the Earl of Mar. On the day after his +arrival at Warkworth, Mr. Forster sent Mr. Buxton, who was chaplain to +the troops to desire Mr. Ton, the parish clergyman, to pray for the +Chevalier as King; and, in the Litany, for Mary, the Queen Mother, and +to omit the petition for King George, the Prince and Princess of Wales, +&c. Mr. Ton declining to make this alteration, Mr. Buxton took +possession of the reading-desk, and performed the service, whilst the +deposed clergyman took flight, and, hastening to Newcastle, gave notice +there of what had occurred. This was the first place where the Chevalier +was prayed for in England; and Mr. Buxton's sermon, observes our +historian, "gave mighty encouragement to his hearers, being full of +exhortations, flourishing arguments, and cunning insinuations to be +hearty in the cause." These incentives were aided by a "comely +personage," and considerable eloquence and erudition. + +On the following day, after proclaiming James King of England with all +due formality and with the sound of trumpet, Mr. Forster attending the +ceremony in disguise, the troops marched to Morpeth, their numbers +increasing as they went. At Felton Bridge, they were joined by seventy +horse, composed of gentlemen from the borders; and by the time they +reached Morpeth, their number had augmented to three hundred: these were +all horse-soldiers: Mr. Forster refused the foot as auxiliaries, +otherwise the increase would have been considerable. The reason assigned +for this rejection was the impossibility of supplying the men with arms; +but the fairest assurances were given to the friends of the cause that +arms and ammunition would soon be procured, and regiments listed +forthwith. + +The spirits of the Jacobite army were now high; their hopes were raised +by the daily increase of their party. Newcastle was their next object, +and thither they prepared to march, having first proclaimed the +Chevalier,--Mr. Buxton taking upon himself the office of herald. +Newcastle was, however, on her defence: the city gates were closed +against the troops, and they turned towards Hexham, and thence marched +to a moor near Dilstone Castle, and here they halted for some days. This +was a feint, as they intended, it is thought, to have surprised the town +of Newcastle. But the news they received from that place were far from +encouraging. The gentry in the neighbourhood had rallied for its +defence; and Lord Scarborough, the lord-lieutenant of the county, had +entered the town with a body of men. Still there was a powerful High +Church party, who, as the Jacobites hoped, would declare for the +Chevalier. It was from Newcastle that Lord Derwentwater had been +apprised, in the first instance, that there were messengers sent to +apprehend him. The insurgents therefore, continued near Hexham, where +they seized on all the horses and arms they could, read prayers in the +churches for King James, and proclaimed him in the market-place. + +The Earl of Derwentwater had appointed his brother to the command of his +troop, whilst Captain Shaftoe was under Mr. Radcliffe. This, in some +respects, was an unfortunate step: the young and brave commander had +never even seen an army before: he was inexperienced, and ignorant of +all military discipline: what he wanted in knowledge, he is said, +however, to have made up for by the influence he acquired over his men, +and by the power he had of inciting them to great exploits.[191] + +Whilst the rebel forces lay at Hexham, they received the intelligence +that Lord Kenmure, the Earls of Nithisdale, of Carnwath, and Wintoun, +had risen in Nithisdale, and had marched thence to England to join the +troops in Northumberland, and had even advanced as far as Rothbury. On +the nineteenth of October, Mr. Forster joined the Scottish army at +Rothbury, and afterwards marched with an increasing force to Kelso. Here +prayers were read in the great kirk by Mr. Buxton; "and I," relates Mr. +Patten, "preached on these words, Deut. xxi. 17,--the latter part of the +verse: 'The right of the first-born is his.'" The service of the Church +of England was then read for the first time on that side of the +Tweed.[192] + +William Gordon, Viscount Kenmure, had the command of the Jacobite army +until they had crossed the Tweed. Like the Earl of Derwentwater, this +unfortunate nobleman is declared to have shewn reluctance to take up +arms. On having been solicited by the Earl of Mar to command the forces, +and assured that he would join him, he at first refused the offer, but +had finally acceded, and had set up the standard of the Chevalier at +Moffat, in Annandale. The standard was made, for this occasion, by Lady +Kenmure, the sister of Robert, sixth Earl of Carnwath. It was very +handsome; one side being blue, with the arms of Scotland wrought in +gold; on the other side a thistle,--the words so often uttered during +the Rebellion, and re-echoed in many a Scottish heart, "No Union," were +wrought underneath the thistle. Above it were the words NEMO ME IMPUNE +LACESSIT; white pendants were attached to the standard, on which were +inscribed--"For our Wronged King and Oppressed Country!" "For our Lives +and Liberties!" + +But the nobleman who had taken this prominent part in the Rebellion of +1715, although possessed of extraordinary knowledge in politics and +civil affairs, was an utter stranger to all military business. His mild +temper and his unoffending character inspired compassion for his +subsequent fate, but unfitted him for the office of command: his +gentler qualities were united, nevertheless, to a resolute and lofty +mind. The fate of this nobleman, like that of his most distinguished +friends, was a brief tragedy. + +Lord Kenmure had a troop of gentlemen with him, the command of which he +gave to the Hon. Bazil Hamilton of Beldoun, and a nephew of the Duke of +Hamilton. + +Among other characters who were conspicuous on this occasion, was the +celebrated Brigadier Mackintosh. The sixth regiment, named after the +Brigadier as chief of the clan, was commanded by a kinsman. The +Brigadier had served in Germany, and had there gained his military rank. +Descended from the ancient house of Fife, the chieftain had increased +his influence by marrying, while a minor, the heiress of Clanchattan, in +right of whom he became chieftain of that clan, comprising many others. +His motto, "Touch not the cat without a glove," and the coat-of-arms +supported by two wild cats, with a cat for the crest, were not +inappropriate. No suspicion had been entertained of Mackintosh's +adherence to the Chevalier, with whom he became acquainted abroad, until +he actually joined the party. + +The Earl of Carnwath, Lord Nairn, Lord Charles Murray, and the Earl of +Wintoun, commanded the other Scottish regiments, which were generally +better armed than those of the English. The Earl of Derwentwater, and +the Lords Widdrington had the two principal English regiments, of which +there were four.[193] + +On the twenty-fifth of October, the united army of Scots and English +left Kelso, and marched to Jedburgh. On their march, some of the Scots, +taking umbrage, left the army under the guidance of the Earl of Wintoun; +and although that nobleman afterwards returned with his troop, above +four hundred Highlanders deserted, and returned to their country. + +During the progress of the insurgent forces, there is little reason to +conclude that Lord Derwentwater took a very active or important part in +the various consultations which were held, always with great disunion, +and with a melancholy want of judgment, between the General, Mr. +Forster, and his military council. The amiable nobleman appears to have +assigned to his less discreet brother the entire guidance of his troop. +"His temper and disposition," as he expresses it in his defence, +"disposed him to peace. He was totally inexperienced in martial affairs; +that he entered upon the undertaking without any previous concert with +its chief promoters,--without any preparation of men, horses, and arms, +or other warlike accoutrements," was at once an instance of his +imprudence and a mitigation of his error.[194] There was, indeed, no +doubt but that Lord Derwentwater might have brought many hundreds of his +followers to the field, even from one portion of his estate only; for he +possessed the extensive lead mines on Alstone Moor, where a large body +of men were daily employed, and received from him their sole means of +support.[195] + +But whether or not this unfortunate nobleman failed in energy or in +zeal; whether he entered with his whole heart into the cause of James +Stuart; or whether, with the conscientious scruples of a gentle nature, +he shrank from involving in the risk of this insurrection the majority +of his humble dependants, he acted throughout the whole of this brief +campaign with the consideration for others so characteristic of his +mind. He truly affirmed on his trial, that no one could charge him with +any cruel, severe, or harsh action during his continuance in arms: and +his conduct in the last extremity corresponded to his previous +forbearance. Such dispositions appear to have been cherished, indeed, by +the rest of the Jacobite party. The merciful temper of the Chevalier, +and his known aversion to destructive measures, may have had its +influence over those who asserted his claims. There was something like +the spirit of the cavalier of the Great Rebellion in Mr. Forster's reply +to some of his officers, who wished to put down or burn a Presbyterian +meetinghouse at Penrith: "It is by clemency, and not by cruelty, that we +are to prevail."[196] + +After the insurgent troops had marched from place to place for some +time, it was decided that the English regiments should recross the +border; and after many disputes and much loss of time, they resolved on +a march into Lancashire, a country abounding at that time in Roman +Catholic gentry, and strongly Jacobite.[197] This decision, like most of +the other military movements of the unfortunate Jacobites, was the work +of a strong party in the camp, and was founded upon the alleged +authority of private letters, which gave the assurance of a general +insurrection taking place on the appearance of the insurgent force. The +unlucky change of plans superseded a meditated attack upon the town of +Dumfries. "Nothing," observes Mr. Patten, "could be a greater token of a +complete infatuation,--that Heaven confounded all their devices, and +that their destruction was to be of their own working, than their +omitting such an opportunity." After a rapid march from Langholm in the +west of Scotland, across the borders, and through Penrith, Appleby, and +Kendal, to Kirby Lonsdale, the combined force entered the county of +Lancaster; and having entered Lancaster without opposition, they +resolved to proceed to Preston. It is now that the last disastrous +events of Lord Derwentwater's brief career brought to light his +excellent qualities, his pure and amiable motives of action. It is not +possible to read the account of the battle of Preston, in which he was +engaged, without a deep regret for the personal misfortunes of one so +young, so well intentioned, and so esteemed, as this ill-fated nobleman. + +The forces of the Jacobites amounted, after being joined by a party of +volunteers under the Lords Rothes and Torpichen, and since their +separation from the Highlanders, to about two thousand men. The foot was +commanded by Brigadier Mackintosh; and six hundred Northumbrian and +Dumfriesshire horsemen, by Lord Kenmure and Mr. Forster.[198] + +On the ninth instant the march to Preston was commenced; the cavalry +troops reached that town on the same evening; but the day proving rainy, +and the roads heavy, the foot regiments were left at a small market-town +called Garstang, half-way between Manchester and Preston. Two troops of +Stanhope's dragoons, formerly quartered at Preston, having retired as +the rebels approached, the spirits of the Jacobite officers and the +ardour of their men were greatly encouraged. On the following day, +Thursday the tenth of November, the Chevalier was proclaimed at Preston, +and here the rebels were joined by many country gentlemen, their tenants +and servants: this was the first accession to the party since their +entrance into Lancashire. The new allies were chiefly Roman Catholics, a +circumstance which aroused the instinctive dread of the Scottish +volunteers to persons of that persuasion. The High Church party hung +back from joining the cause. The Roman Catholics began, according to +the historian of the Rebellion of 1715, "to show their blind side," +being never right hearty for their cause until they are "mellow," as +they call it "over a bottle or two."[199] + +The town of Preston seated on the river Ribble, was a place from which +an enemy might, in the year 1715, have been easily repulsed. About a +mile and a half from the town, a bridge over the river offered an +admirable stand for a besieged garrison; it might have been so easily +barricadoed, that it would have been impracticable to pass that way if +the commonest precautions had been adopted. The river in this part was +not fordable for a considerable distance on either side of the bridge, +and it could have been easily rendered impassable. From the Ribble +bridge to the town, the road ran between two steep banks; and this way, +or lane, was then so narrow, that in several places two men could not +ride abreast. It was here that Oliver Cromwell had met with a famous +resistance from the King's forces in 1648, large mill-stones having been +rolled down upon him from the rising grounds, so that the republican +general was in considerable danger, and he only escaped with life by +making his horse plunge into a quicksand. + +This lane formed a curious natural outwork; and might easily have been +barricadoed, but the deficiencies of Mr. Forster's generalship were +fatal to so simple and obvious a plan of defence. He confined his +exertions to the town, barricadoed the streets, and posted men in the +bye-lanes and houses. The Jacobite troops formed four main barriers: one +in the churchyard, commanded by Brigadier Mackintosh. This barrier was +to be supported by four noblemen, who, at the head of the volunteer +horse, (as in many instances in the army of Charles the First,) composed +of gentlemen solely, was planted in the churchyard of Old St. Wilfred, +as the parish-church of Preston was then called: their leaders were the +Earl of Derwentwater, Lord Kenmure, the Earl of Nithisdale, and the Earl +of Wintoun,--a truehearted band as ever braved the terrors of an +encounter with their countrymen. At a little distance from the +churchyard and at the extremity of a lane leading into the fields, Lord +Charles Murray defended another post. The third was at a windmill, and +that Colonel Mackintosh was appointed to command. The fourth was in the +town. + +Lord Derwentwater and his brothers were the objects, even before the +action began, of universal approbation. Whatever may have been the real +or supposed reluctance of the former to engage in the cause, it vanished +as he came into action. There he stood, having stripped off his clothes +to his waistcoat, encouraging the men, giving them money to induce them +to cast up the trenches, and animating them to a vigorous defence. His +brother addressed the soldiers also, and displayed all the ardour of his +fearless spirit. "No man of distinction," wrote a Scottish prisoner in +the Marshalsea to his friend in the North, "behaved himself better than +the Earl of Derwentwater. He kept himself most with the Scots, +abundantly exposing himself."[200] But all this was in vain, if we dare +to call any manifestations of heroic devotion in vain. + +With singular incapacity, Mr. Forster had failed in procuring the +necessary intelligence of the movements of the enemy. He had been +assured by the Lancashire gentlemen, that General Wills, who headed the +King's forces, could not come within forty miles of Preston without +their knowledge. On Saturday, the twelfth of November, after he had +ordered the forces to march toward Manchester, the intelligence reached +him that General Wills had advanced as far as Wigan to attack the +rebels. Even at this crisis affairs might have been retrieved: a body of +the Jacobites was, indeed, sent forward to defend the Ribble bridge, +whilst Mr. Forster went on with a party of horse to reconnoitre. He soon +saw the enemy's dragoons; but instead of disputing the bridge, or +allowing Colonel Farquharson, belonging to Mackintosh's battalion, to +keep the pass, he ordered a retreat to the town. Then all was confusion, +slaughter, disgrace. General Wills advanced; he remembered the disaster +of Oliver Cromwell; he looked carefully around him, and caused the +hedges and fields to be viewed; but no enemy appeared to dispute his +progress. The dragoons advanced towards the town; at first, their +General conjectured that it must have been abandoned. When he +discovered his mistake, he ordered his troops to pass through a gate +which leads into the fields at the back of the town, and immediately +disposed his forces so as to prevent either a sally or a retreat. + +The insurgents, meantime, were prepared to receive him. The ancient +church of St. Wilfred, which has since 1814 been replaced by a modern +structure, and endowed with another name, that of St. John, must have +been shaken to its foundations with the explosion of the cannon, as it +was discharged beneath its ancient walls. The besieged formed four main +barriers; one a little below the church, commanded by Brigadier +Mackintosh: the Earl of Derwentwater and his gallant volunteers were +commanded to support that barrier in particular, and here the first +attack was made; but it met with so fierce a reception, and such a fire +upon the assailants, that the dragoons were obliged to retreat to the +entrance of the town. Of this repulse Lord Derwentwater and his youthful +brother gained the chief credit. The scene that followed is a detail of +fruitless gallantry, and of an agonised but ill-concerted resistance. +The fatality which attended the Stuart cause, and which rendered the +bloodshed of its gallant champions unavailing to promote it, was here +conspicuous. That fatality was doubtless resolvable into a want of +common sense, in entrusting the command of the forces into incompetent +hands. All night, indeed, the Jacobite forces met their opponents with +a determined resistance, that made up, in some measure, for inequality +of numbers: the besieged were in many instances sheltered from the +enemy's shot, and they had also the advantage on their side of cannon, +with which General Wills was not supplied. In the course of that night +of horrors, whilst the brave were carried away, mangled or dying, Lord +Charles Murray, who was attacked late in the evening, wanted a +reinforcement of men. He sent Mr. Patten to the Earl of Derwentwater to +ask for aid; it was granted; Mr. Patten passing in safety on account of +his black coat, upon which neither party would fire, conducted a troop +of fifty volunteers to Lord Charles, who maintained his post, and +obliged the enemy to retire with loss. Had it not been for another of +Mr. Forster's fatal blunders, the insurgents would still have remained +in possession of the town of Preston, which has always, from its +commanding situation, been deemed, in all the civil commotions of the +kingdom, as a military post of great importance. + +All Saturday night, the platoons of the King's forces were incessantly +playing upon the insurgents from two principal houses which the +besiegers had taken, but few persons of importance were killed. Several +houses were set on fire by both parties, but the wind was still, +otherwise the inhabitants and the Jacobite troops must have perished in +the flames. Towards morning the information arrived in the town through +some of the King's soldiers who had been made prisoners, that General +Carpenter, with three regiments of dragoons was marching towards +Preston, and that he had arrived at Clithero. This intelligence spread +great consternation among the Jacobites; and a capitulation began to be +mentioned among them; yet it is probable they would still have held out, +had not one of the avenues into Preston, by an inexcusable oversight of +the Jacobite General, been left unguarded. + +It was discovered by some of the King's men that the street leading to +Wigan had not been barricadoed. This weak point was thereupon attacked +by Lord Forrester, at the head of that brave and old regiment, called +Preston's regiment. The assailants marched into a straight passage +behind the houses: then Lord Forrester came into the open street, and +faced Mackintosh's barrier; there were many shots fired at him, and he +was wounded; yet he went back, and lead his men fearlessly into the +street, where many of that regiment fell a sacrifice to this dauntless +assault. It prevailed; and from that time the fate of the heroes of the +churchyard of Preston, of Derwentwater and his noble comrades was +determined. But, during that appalling conflict, whilst the blood of the +valiant was tinging the streets of Preston, where was the General, who +should have shared the dangers with his officers? "I had almost forgot +to tell you," writes the plain-spoken Scottish soldier above referred +to, "that in the hottest time of our little action, which was about +eleven on Saturday night, Lord Charles Murray's men falling short of +ammunition, Robertson of Guy, and another gentleman, were sent to the +General, Mr. Forster, for a recruit. When they got access, they found +him lying in his naked bed, with a sack-posset, and some confections by +him; which I humbly judge was not a very becoming posture at that time +for a General. He took all along particular care of himself."[201] + +Towards morning Mr. Forster in conjunction with Lord Widdrington and +Colonel Oxburgh, proposed a capitulation. It was considered, that by +submission, terms of mercy might be procured by the insurgent troops. +Those who thus argued had had no experience of the temper of those to +whom they trusted, or they would have willingly died sword in hand +rather than have confided in such slender hopes of clemency. The Earl of +Derwentwater was among those who counselled the surrender. From his +general character, the reasons which he assigned afterwards in his +defence, for such advice, have ever been credited. When the fury of the +action was over, the amiable nobleman perceived that it was his duty to +coincide in a step by which the lives of his countrymen might be spared: +he trusted to the mediation of Colonel Oxburgh, who offered to go to the +King's forces, and to request a cessation of arms; and who also +promised, by his personal influence, to obtain fair terms of +capitulation. As a guarantee for the suspension of hostilities, Lord +Derwentwater volunteered to become one of the hostages until the +morning, should General Wills require it. It appears that his offer was +accepted, and that while the Earl was in the camp of General Wills, he +received assurances of King George's being a prince of known +clemency,--a virtue which was said to form a distinguishing mark in his +character.[202] But Mr. Radcliffe, young and ardent, opposed the +capitulation with the vehemence natural to his character. During the +whole of the action, he had been in the midst of the fire, and had +displayed the utmost intrepidity; and now he declared, that "he would +rather die with his sword in his hand, like a man of honour, than be +dragged like a felon to the gallows, there to be hanged like a dog." He +was, of course, obliged to submit to the majority.[203] The common +soldiers joined in his declamations. "Never," writes the Scottish +soldier, "was a handful of men more ready to fight than those at +Preston." It was with difficulty that the gallant Highlanders could be +restrained from sallying forth, with their claymores, at all hazards, +upon the enemy. They chafed under the disappointment and humiliation of +that day; but all was to little purpose. Perhaps no power of words could +express the bitter feelings of that hour better than the homely phrases +of an eye-witness of the scene. + +"On Sunday, to our surprise, about three in the afternoon," writes the +Highlander from his prison, "we saw a drum of the enemy beating a +chamade in the street. In an instant we were all called from our posts +to the Market-place: the horsemen were ordered to mount. This made us +believe the parley had been proposed by General Wills, and that we were +to break out and attack them sword in hand,--at least, break through +them at that end of the town; but we soon found it was proposed by Mr. +Forster, and that there was a cessation till nine next morning, and a +capitulation to be made. This was very choaking to us all, but there was +no helping of it; for no sooner had we left our posts, than they made +themselves master of them, and of our cannon."[204] + +Whilst the chamade was beating, Colonel Cotton, sent by General Wills, +rode up the street, and alighted at the sign of the Mitre: the firing +meantime had not ceased from several of the houses: the common soldiers +were ignorant of the real state of the case, and believed that General +Wills had sent to offer honourable terms, not knowing that the offer of +a capitulation had proceeded from their own party. + +Still there were obstacles to the capitulation raised by the Scottish +party, who were represented by Brigadier Mackintosh. "He could not," he +replied, when urged for his consent, "answer for the Scotch, for they +were people of desperate fortunes, and he had been a soldier himself, +and knew what it was to be a prisoner at discretion." When this demur +was stated to General Wills, "Go back to your people again," was his +answer to those who stated it: "I will attack the town, and I will not +spare a man of you." At the subsequent trial of the rebels General Wills +was able, with truth, to deny the charge of having given his unhappy +prisoners any hopes, to induce them to sign the capitulation. "All the +terms he offered them," such was his assertion, "was, that he would save +their lives from the soldiers till further orders, if they surrendered +at discretion: (the meaning of which was, that by the rules of war it +was in his power to cut them all to pieces, but he would give them their +lives till further orders;) and if they did not comply, he would renew +the attack, and not spare a man."[205] + +No sooner had the news of the capitulation been bruited about the +streets, than it was received with a sorrow and indignation almost past +description. Had the unlucky and pusillanimous Mr. Forster appeared at +that moment, he "would certainly," as Mr. Patten relates, "have been cut +to pieces." Even in his chamber, the General was attacked by his own +Secretary, Mr. Murray, and a pistol which was aimed at him only averted +by Mr. Patten's hand. The truth is, even Forster's fidelity has been +doubted; and subsequently, the mild treatment which he received during +his imprisonment, and his escape from prison, have been construed, with +what justice it is difficult to say, into a confirmation of this charge. + +On the morning after the surrender, the rebels were all made prisoners +and disarmed, soon after daybreak. That day, so fatal to the Jacobites +of 1715, witnessed also the battle of Sherriff Muir under Lord Mar, and +the retaking of the town of Inverness by Lovat. It must have aggravated +the regrets of those who then laid down their arms, to see the +townspeople of Preston plundered, in despite of every hope to the +contrary, by the King's forces, as they dislodged the dejected Jacobites +from their quarters. But these irregularities were soon checked. + +At last the sound of trumpets and the beating of drums were heard: the +two Generals were entering the town in form. They rode into the +Market-place, around which the Highlanders were drawn up with their +arms. The lords and gentlemen among the rebels were first secured, and +placed severally under guard in separate rooms at the inn. Then the poor +Highlanders laid down their arms where they stood, and were marched off +to the church, under a sufficient guard. Here the thrifty Scots amused +themselves by making garments of the linings of the pews, which they +ripped off from the seats. + +Seven noblemen, besides one thousand four hundred and ninety others, +including gentlemen and officers, were taken at Preston.[206] Generally +speaking, they were treated well by the military: "The dragoons were +civil to us," writes the Highlander, "their officers choosing rather to +want beds themselves than we should."[207] At Wigan the prisoners were +allowed to commune together, under the inspection of sentinels; and a +warm altercation occurred between Lord Widdrington and Brigadier +Mackintosh, in the presence of Lord Derwentwater, who took little notice +of the Brigadier, but turning to another gentleman, said: "You see what +we have brought ourselves to by giving credit to our highborn Tories--to +such men as Fenwick, Tate, Green, and Allgood. If you outlive +misfortune, and return to live in the North, I desire you never to be +seen in converse with such rogues in disguise, who promised to join us, +and animated us to rise with them." The gentleman promised that he would +observe his Lordship's counsels. "Ah!" said Lord Derwentwater, "I know +you to be of an easy temper."[208] + +The prisoners were now carried on towards London by easy marches, Mr. +Patten accompanying his patron, Mr. Forster. As they went, the undaunted +Highlanders called out to the country people who came to gaze at them, +"Where are all your high-church Tories? If they would not fight with us, +let them come and rescue us." This indiscretion redoubled the vigilance +of the watch put upon the rebels. From Daventry to London, Mr. Forster +and Mr. Patten were greeted by the common people with encomiums upon a +warming-pan, in allusion to the supposed birth of the Pretender. When +the prisoners arrived at Barnet, messengers came to meet them, and to +pinion their arms with cords,--"More for distinction," adds the +subservient Mr. Patten, "than for any pain that attended." Yet the +indignity must have been cruelly galling to the highborn and gallant men +who were thus mercilessly paraded to their doom amid the cries of the +populace. + +At Highgate a strong detachment of horse-soldiers and dragoons received +the prisoners from Lumley's Horse, which had hitherto guarded them; and +now they were separated into pairs, a foot-soldier holding the bridle of +each horse; and in this manner the Jacobite peers, Lord Derwentwater +among the rest, were conducted to London through "a hedge of a mob," as +the Highland soldier declares, hired, as he hints, at Lord Pelham's +charge, to muster that day. Cries of "Long live King George!" and "Down +with the Pretender!" greeted the ear as they passed on to their several +destinations. A Quaker, fixing his eyes on Mr. Patten, and seeing his +black dress, remarked, "Friend, thou hast been the trumpeter of +rebellion to those men,--thou must answer for them." The moralizer was +touched by a grenadier with the butt end of his musket, so that the +"spirit fell into the ditch." But the Quaker was not rebuffed. "Friend," +he said to the soldier, "thou art, I fear, no true friend to King +George." + +Even at the last, Mr. Forster had hopes, it is said, of being released +by a Tory mob. The Jacobite noblemen had been, indeed, all along misled, +or ignorant of the real inclinations of the mass of the people. The +dread of what they term "popery" is a deep and engrossing passion in +the hearts of the lower and even of the middle classes, and it formed an +effectual barrier against the restoration of the Stuarts. The cause of +those unfortunate Princes was never, in this country, as it was in +Scotland, the cause of the people. The personal attachment of the +Highlanders to the ancient race of Stuart, and their devotion to their +clan, superseded their religious scruples;[209] but that was not the +case in the South. + +The Earl of Derwentwater and his brother were consigned to different +prisons,--the former to the Tower, the latter to Newgate; a very strict +guard was set upon the Earl, and no one was allowed to see him or speak +to him.[210] + +On the seventh of January, 1716, the case of the seven rebel lords[211] +was brought before the House of Commons; and Mr. Lechmere moved that +they should not be left to the ordinary method of prosecutions, but +should be proceeded against by way of impeachment.[212] In a long and, +as far as the report enables a reader to judge, able speech, he referred +to the declaration of the Pretender, given under his sign manual and +privy seal at Commercy, on the twenty-fifth of October, 1715. "This +paper," Mr. Lechmere observed, "which he held in his hand, was +sufficient to fire the thoughts of every gentleman there; and the House +could do no more than to resent this so far as to make themselves the +prosecutors of those who avowed the cause of the Pretender, and set +themselves at the head of armies, in the heart of his Majesty's +dominions." In conclusion, "he impeached James, Earl of Derwentwater, of +high treason, which impeachment he undertook to make good." + +Six other members then severally impeached the other six Jacobite lords; +and an impeachment was carried up to the Bar of the House of Lords, with +an assurance "that articles to make good the charge against the Earl of +Derwentwater and the other noblemen would shortly be exhibited." + +A committee of the House of Commons, with Mr. Lechmere as their +chairman, was therefore formed; and the articles were framed, and read +before the Bar of the House of Lords. On the tenth of January the +Jacobite lords were summoned to hear the articles of impeachment: a few +days were allowed to them to prepare their replies. On the following +Saturday, the Earl of Derwentwater was brought by the Gentleman Usher of +the Black Rod before the Bar, where he knelt, until told by the Lord +Chancellor to rise. He then delivered his answer. + +Those who, in perusing the annals of these times, look for strength of +character in the state prisoners who were now brought before the +tribunal of the House of Lords, or for consistency in those principles +which had led them into the field, will be painfully disappointed. In +two instances alone was there displayed an undaunted demeanour, and a +resolute adherence to the cause which they had avowed; and these were +shewn in the subsequent rebellion, by the brave and admirable Lord +Balmerino, and by the unfortunate Charles Radcliffe. + +The Earl of Derwentwater expressed, in his reply, the "deepest concern +and affliction to a charge of so high and heinous a nature as that +brought against him." He acknowledged with sorrow that he had been in +arms, and did march through and invade several parts of the kingdom; and +that he was thereby guilty of the offence whereof he was charged in the +articles. "But," he continued, "if any one offence of that kind was ever +attended with circumstances which might move compassion, the said Earl +hopes he may be entitled to it." He then referred to his peaceable +disposition, and pleaded his youth and inexperience; the absence of all +malice, of all concerted conspiracy; his having made no warlike +preparations. He pleaded also, that he could not be justly reproached +with any cruel or harsh conduct while he bore arms: he specified his +advice to those with him to submit at Preston, and to trust to the +King's mercy. He adduced his anxiety to save the lives of his Majesty's +subjects by avoiding further bloodshed, and brought in proof a letter +which he had written to those of his own party, conjuring them to +capitulate. Under such circumstances, the Earl implored the mediation +both of their Lordships and of the Commons for mercy on his behalf, +"which will lay him," so he declared in conclusion, "under the highest +obligations of duty and affection to his Majesty, and perpetual +gratitude to both Houses." + +The answer not appearing to the Lords to be sufficiently "express and +clear," the Earl was then asked by the Chancellor, whether he meant to +plead guilty to the articles of the impeachment. The Earl replied that +he did, and that he submitted to the King's mercy. His answer and plea +were entered accordingly, and the Earl then withdrew.[213] + +On Thursday, February the ninth, the Lords came from their own House +into the hall erected in Westminster Hall, to pass sentence upon James, +Earl of Derwentwater, and upon the five other noblemen who had pleaded +guilty with him; the Earl of Wintoun, who had pleaded not guilty, being +reserved for trial. + +The Lord High Steward who presided on this occasion was William Earl +Cowper, Lord Chancellor, who, for the time of trial, was called "your +Grace," and had the privilege of walking uncovered, his train borne, +except whilst the commission was read by the Clerk of the Crown. + +The usual proclamation rang through the Court, and the Sergeant-at-Arms, +saying "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!" enforced silence. Then another proclamation +was made, commanding the Lieutenant of the Tower to bring forth his +prisoners to the Bar, and accordingly the six rebel lords were brought +to the Bar by the Deputy-Governor of the Tower, having the axe carried +before them by the Gentleman Jailer, who stood with it on the left hand +of the prisoners, with the edge turned from him. The prisoners after +kneeling before the Bar, bowed to his Grace the High Steward, and also +to the Peers, whose sad privilege it is to try those of the same rank in +the scale of society as themselves, and often, from extensive +intermarriages, connected by ties of blood. The articles of impeachment +against James Earl of Derwentwater were read, and the prisoner's reply. + +He was then asked if he pleaded guilty to the high treason in the said +articles of impeachment. His Lordship replied, "I do." He was ordered to +withdraw; but was called before the Bar the same day to receive +judgment. Upon being asked by the Lord High Steward "Why judgment should +not be passed upon him according to law?" the Earl repeated a few +circumstances mentioned in his answer to the articles. His voice was +scarcely articulate as he proceeded to say, "But the terrors of your +Lordship's just sentence, which at once deprive me of my life and +estate, and complete the misfortunes of my wife and innocent children, +are so heavy upon my mind, I am scarcely able to allege what may +extenuate my offence, if any thing may do it." He then again besought of +their Lordships the mediation in his behalf. + +After the Lords Widdrington, Kenmure, Nithisdale, and Carnwath had been +severally addressed, and had replied to the Court, proclamation for +silence was again made, and judgment was given. It was prefaced by a +long and elaborate address; which, however elegant, however +explanatory, however just, it may be considered, was strongly tinctured +by the adulatory spirit of the day, and was calculated to wound and to +harden the offending prisoners, rather than to unfold with dignity the +reasons for condemnation. In conclusion, since nothing could, in the +narrowing view of party, be too dictatorial for the unfortunate +Jacobites, they were exhorted not to rely any longer on the usual +directors of their consciences, but to be assisted by some of the pious +and learned divines of the Church of England. This was addressed to men +who were, with two exceptions, of the Church of Rome, and whose chief +reliance must naturally be upon those of their own persuasion. + +The terrible sentence of the law was then recorded. It was that usually +given against the meanest offenders in like kind, the most ignominious +and painful parts being remitted by the grace of the Crown to persons of +quality. Judgment was, however, pronounced, according to the usual form +for high treason.[214] + +The prisoners were then reconducted to the Tower; the Lord High Steward, +standing up uncovered, broke the staff of office, and declared the +present commission to be ended. The Peers returned to the House of +Lords. + +Little is known of the dreary and solemn hours which intervened between +the judgment and the execution of the sentence. But one brief +expression, in an old newspaper, relative to the young and unhappy Earl +of Derwentwater, speaks volumes: "The Earl of Derwentwater is so +desponding, that two warders are obliged to sit up with him during the +night."[215] He was visited in his prison by Thomas Townshend, Viscount +Sydney, then Under Secretary of State for George the First;[216] one of +the most amiable men, as well as refined and elegant scholars of the +day, and a nobleman whose sensibility and delicacy of feeling, which +prevented his taking a share in the more active parts of public +business, must have caused an interview with the Earl of Derwentwater to +have been deeply touching. The Duke of Roxburgh also visited the +condemned nobleman; but no record is left of these communications. The +Duke was at that time Keeper of the Privy Seal for Scotland, and +Lord-Lieutenant of the counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk. He had recently +distinguished himself at Sherriff Muir: he was at this time a young man +of twenty-five years of age, and one whom all parties have commended. +"Learned, without pedantry, he was, perhaps," says Lockhart of Carnwath, +"the best accomplished young man of Europe." To these acquirements were +added a singular charm of manner.[217] One can hardly suppose the visits +of two such men not to have had their source from some motive of +kindness. + +To the credit of the House of Lords, an address was voted to the King, +petitioning that his Majesty would reprieve such of the rebel lords as +deserved his mercy. The royal answer was couched in these terms: that +"the King on this, and all occasions, would do what he thought +consistent with the dignity of the Crown and the safety of his +people."[218] It was unfortunate that, both at this time and in the +Rebellion of 1745, there was no Queen Consort. A woman's heart would, +one may trust, have pleaded for the young, gallant, and beloved +Derwentwater. The English Court was, at that time, insulted by the +audacious intrigues of foreign mistresses. These women had no interest +in the King's real fame, nor in the national credit. Such was the case +in the first Rebellion.[219] In 1745 Queen Caroline, the wife of George +the Second, was dead. + +Accompanied by two courageous ladies, the young Countess of Derwentwater +threw herself at the feet of the King, and implored mercy on her +husband.[220] In the House of Commons, the First Lord of the Treasury +declared, that he had been offered a bribe of sixty thousand pounds to +save Lord Derwentwater. Sir Richard Steele spoke loudly in favour of the +condemned lords, but the declaration of Walpole suppressed all hopes of +mercy. "He was moved with indignation," he said, "to see that there +should be such unworthy members of this great body as to open their +mouths, without blushing, in favour of rebels and parricides." He +adjourned the House until the first of March, it being understood that +the peers would be executed in the mean time. It is some consolation to +reflect that the Minister had, on this occasion, only a majority of +seven. + +At this juncture, when all hope seemed lost, Mary, Dowager Countess of +Derwentwater, proffered the following petition in behalf of her sons. +One can hardly suppose how it could have been disregarded; but the +Monarch had few sympathies with his people of England. + + "The humble Petition of Mary Countess of Derwentwater, 1716, to the + King's most excellent Majesty, sheweth, + + "That the Earl of Derwentwater and Charles Radcliffe (your + petitioner's two and only sons) having been unfortunately engaged + and surprised into a horrid and open Rebellion against your most + sacred Majesty, have surrendered themselves at Preston, and + submitted to your Majesty's great clemency and mercy. + + "Their crimes are so enormous, that your petitioner can scarce hope + for a pardon; yet the greatness of their offence doth not make your + petitioner lay aside all hopes of mercy, when your petitioner and + they, who are both very young, throw themselves, absolute and + entirely, at your Majesty's feet for it; and as they have a just + abhorrence and a sincere and true repentance for what is past, so + they will give undoubted security and proof of their most dutiful + behaviour to your Majesty's Government for the future. + + "Wherefore your petitioner most humbly prays that your Majesty will, + out of your royal clemency and boundless mercy and compassion, spare + the lives of your petitioner's sons, and grant them your most + gracious pardon. + + "And your petitioner shall ever, as in duty bound, &c."[221] + +The petition was unavailing, and the unfortunate young nobleman prepared +to meet his doom. + +On the twenty-fourth of February, at ten o'clock, the Earl of +Derwentwater, with Lord Kenmure, was carried in a hackney-coach from the +Tower to the Transport Office in Tower Hill, where there was a room +prepared for their reception, hung with black, and a passage or gallery +railed in, which led to the place of execution. The scaffold was +surrounded with the Guards. Lord Derwentwater suffered first. He was +observed to turn very pale as he proceeded through the gallery and +ascended the steps; but there was a modest composure observable in his +demeanour. He held a book in his hand, from which he read prayers for +some time; then, requesting leave of the Sheriffs to read a paper to the +people, he went to the rails of the scaffold, and there delivered the +following touching and beautiful address, which, how different soever +may be the sentiments and opinions with which it is perused, can hardly +fail to impress the reader as coming from a conscientious mind:-- + + "Being in a few minutes to appear before the Tribunal of God, where, + though most unworthy, I hope for mercy, which I have not found from + men now in power, I have endeavoured to make my peace with His + Divine Majesty, by most humbly begging pardon for all the sins of my + life; and I doubt not of a merciful forgiveness, through the merits + of the passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ; for which end I earnestly + desire the prayers of all good Christians. + + "After this, I am to ask pardon of those whom I might have + scandalized by pleading guilty at my trial. Such as were permitted + to come to me, told me that, having been undeniably in arms, + pleading guilty was but the consequence of having submitted to + mercy, and many arguments were used to prove there was nothing of + moment in so doing,--among others, the universal practice of signing + leases, whereof the preambles ran in the name of the persons in + possession. + + "But I am sensible that in this I have made bold with my loyalty, + having never owned any other but King James the Third for my lawful + King: him I had an inclination to serve from my infancy, and was + moved thereto by a natural love I had to his person, knowing him to + be capable of making his people happy; and though he had been born + of a different religion to mine, I should have done for him all + that lay in my power, as my ancestors have done for his + predecessors, being thereto bound by the laws of God and man. + + "Wherefore, if in this affair I have acted rashly, it ought not to + affect the innocent; I intended to wrong nobody, but to serve my + King and my country, and that without self-interest,--hoping, by the + example I gave, to have induced others to their duty; and God, who + sees the secrets of my heart, knows I speak the truth. Some means + have been proposed to me for saving my life, which I looked upon as + inconsistent with honour and innocence, and therefore I rejected + them; for, with God's assistance, I shall prefer any death to the + doing a base unworthy action. I only wish now, that the laying down + my life might contribute to the service of my King and country, and + the re-establishment of the ancient and fundamental constitution of + these kingdoms; without which, no lasting peace or true happiness + can attend them. Then I should, indeed, part with my life even with + pleasure; as it is, I can only pray, that these blessings may be + bestowed upon my dear country; and since I can do no more, I beseech + God to accept of my life as a small sacrifice to it. + + "I die a Roman Catholic: I am in perfect charity with all the world + (I thank God for it), even with those of the present Government, who + are most instrumental in my death. I freely forgive all such as + ungenerously reported false things of me; and hope to be forgiven + the trespasses of my youth by the Father of Mercies, into whose + hands I commend my soul. + + J. DERWENTWATER." + + P.S. "If that Prince who now governs had given me my life, I should + have thought myself obliged never more to have taken up arms against + him." + +After delivering this address, the unfortunate nobleman thus spoke to +the executioner: "You will find something for you in my pocket [this was +two half-guineas], and I have given that gentleman [pointing to a person +who held his hat and wig] somewhat more for you. Let me lie down once, +to see how the block fits me." This he did. Then, kneeling down again, +and uttering a short prayer with the executioner, he arose, and +undressed himself for execution, the headsman assisting him. After +which, the Earl desired the executioner to take notice, that "when he +heard the words 'sweet Jesus!' then he should do his office so soon as +he pleased." After which, his Lordship laid himself down on the block, +and said, "I forgive my enemies, and hope that God will forgive me;" and +then, turning his head up towards the executioner, he exclaimed, "After +the third time I cry '_sweet Jesus!_' strike then, and do what is most +convenient to you." + +A solemn and appalling scene then ensued. The voice of Lord Derwentwater +was heard to exclaim, and the watchful ear of the executioner caught +these words: "_Sweet Jesus_, receive my spirit; _sweet Jesus_, be +merciful unto me; _sweet Jesus_"--he seemed to be going on, when the +sentence was broken and the voice for ever hushed, the executioner +severing his Lordship's head from his body, which he did at one stroke. +Then the executioner took up the head, and at the several quarters of +the scaffold elevated it with both his hands, crying with a loud voice, +"Behold the head of a traitor! God save King George!" When he had done +so, the friends of the Earl not being provided with hearse or coffin, +Sir John Fryer, the Sheriff, ordered the body to be wrapped in black +baize, to be conveyed to a hackney coach, and delivered to his friends, +one of whom had wrapped up his head in a handkerchief.[222] + +On the day of the execution, Mary, Countess of Derwentwater, accompanied +by another female, dressed herself as a fishwoman, and in a cart drove +under Temple Bar, having previously bribed some people to throw the head +of her lord into her lap, as she passed under the pinnacle on which it +was placed.[223] + +Various accounts have been given of the interment of the Earl of +Derwentwater. He is generally believed to have been buried in the church +of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, near the altar. But a popular tradition has +found credence, that he was buried at Dilstone. This has arisen from +the Jacobite ditty, called "Derwentwater's Good Night," or has probably +given origin to that lay, in which the Earl is made to say:-- + + "Albeit that here in London town + It is my fate to die, + O carry me to Northumberland, + In my father's grave to lie: + There chaunt my solemn requiem, + In Hexham's holy towers, + And let six maids of fair Tynedale, + Scatter my grave with flowers."[224] + +This is said to have been his last request, but to have been refused, +for fear of any popular tumult in the North. Either a pretended burial +in the church of St. Giles took place, or the Earl's body was removed, +"for it was certainly," says Mr. Hogg, "carried secretly to Dilstone, +where it was deposited by the side of the Earl's father, in his chapel." +"A little porch before the farm-house of Whitesmocks," adds the same +authority, "is pointed out as the exact spot where the Earl's remains +rested, avoiding Durham." The coffin is said to have been opened during +the present century, and the body of the Earl recognized, both by his +appearance of youth, his features, and the suture round his neck. It is +seldom satisfactory to state what has no other source than common +report. In the North, the aurora borealis is still said to be called +"Lord Derwentwater's lights," because, on the night of his execution, it +appeared remarkably vivid. It is, any rate, pleasant to reflect, that +one who "gave bread to thousands" is remembered by this beautiful +appearance in the county which he loved, and where his virtues are +remembered and his errors forgotten. + +His fate was hard. Let us not, contrary to nature, call up motives of +state policy to vindicate the death of this brave and honourable man. +The Earl of Derwentwater was one upon whom clemency might safely have +been shown. Generous, liberal, sincere, a prince might have relied upon +his assurance that, had mercy been shown to him, it would never have +been repaid by treachery. His youth and inexperience,--his wife, his +children,--should not have been forgotten: nor should it have been +forgotten, that the principles of loyalty for which his life was +forfeited, have dictated some of the most important services which have +been rendered to the state, and have secured the existence of an +hereditary government. + +Of what the Earl of Derwentwater might have become, in character, in +intellect, his early fate has prevented our judging. In person he was +noble and elegant; his portraits do not give the impression of that +beauty of feature which has been ascribed to him. In character he was +irreproachable. He was, in one sense, one of those noblemen of whom it +were well for this country to have more: he lived among those from whom +he drew his fortunes--their benefactor and their friend. + +The widowed Countess of Derwentwater died at Brussels in August, +1723.[225] The descendants of the Earl are now extinct, a son and +daughter who survived him having both died. His Lordship's brother +married a Scottish peeress, and is the ancestor of the present Earl of +Newburgh, the rightful representative of the Earl of Derwentwater. + +"The domains of the Derwentwater family in Cumberland are," says Lord +Mahon, "among the very few forfeitures of the Jacobites which have never +been restored by the clemency of the House of Hanover." In 1788, a clear +rent of two thousand five hundred pounds was, however, granted out of +these estates to the Newburgh family. "They were first," says the same +authority, "settled on Greenwich Hospital, but have since been sold to +Mr. Marshall, of Leeds." + +The deeds of the Derwentwater estates were preserved in the following +manner: "On the night when Preston surrendered, Lord Derwentwater found +means," as Mr. Hogg relates, "to send messengers to Capheaton, to +prevent the family there from appearing in arms. By his orders, the +family papers were removed to Capheaton, and they were laid between two +walls and a chimney. A slater employed about the house discovered +several chests with the Derwentwater arms engraved on the lids. Being a +rigid Presbyterian, he informed old Sir Ambrose Middleton, of Belsay, +who being Deputy-Lieutenant for the Duke of Somerset, searched Capheaton +for arms, and under that pretence broke open the walls, and found the +deeds, from the concealment of which Greenwich Hospital had been put to +some difficulties." + +Such was the fate of the last memorial of the unfortunate Earl of +Derwentwater. It is impossible to help regretting that a name once so +honoured should have become extinct; and there appears to be an +unaccountable injustice in that oblivion, whilst most of the Scottish +forfeited titles have been restored. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[173] I write it Radcliffe, because the most careful historians and +genealogists have given the preference to that mode of spelling the +name. + +[174] The fact has been rather surmised than proved. + +[175] Hutchinson's View of Northumberland, vol. i. p. 171. + +[176] Lysons' Magna Britannia, vol. ii. p. 85. + +[177] Burke's Extinct Peerage, art. _Radcliffe_; also Wood's Peerage, +309. It has been erroneously stated, that Francis Radclyffe himself, who +married Mary Tudor, was first ennobled. It was his father, Sir Francis +Radclyffe. + +[178] Life of Charles Radcliffe. "By a gentleman of the family, to +prevent the public being imposed upon by any erroneous or partial +accounts to the prejudice of this unfortunate gentleman." London, 1746. + +[179] Macpherson Papers, vol. ii. + +[180] Patten's Hist. Rebellion, p. 47. + +[181] In personal appearance the Earl is declared to have been +distinguished for grace and comeliness. Neither the prints of this +nobleman, nor an original picture in the possession of the Earl of +Newburgh, at Hassop in Derbyshire, give the impression that the Earl was +handsome. Yet he obtained the appellation of "handsome Derwentwater." + +[182] Kimber's Baronetage, vol. i. p. 517. + +[183] Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. + +[184] Id. Annals of George I. + +[185] Patten, p. 3. + +[186] The following is a copy of the warrant, and affords a specimen, +which may be novel to some readers, of the form in which such affairs +are couched. The original is still preserved by the present Earl of +Newburgh, the descendant of Charles Radcliffe. I am indebted to the +courtesy of the Earl of Newburgh for permission to copy this document, +and also for several particulars concerning the family of Radcliffe, +which I have interwoven with this biography:-- + + "_James Stanhope, Esq., one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy + Council, and Principal Secretary of State._ + + "These are in his Majesty's name, to authorise and require you, + taking a constable to your assistance, forthwith to make strict and + diligent search in such places as you shall have notice, for the + Right Honourable James, Earl of Derwentwater; and him having found, + you are to seize and apprehend for suspicion of Treason, and to + bring him, together with his papers, before me to be examined + concerning the Premisses, and to be further dealt with according to + law: for the due execution whereof, all Mayors, Sheriffs, Justices + of the Peace, Constables, and all his Majesty's officers, Civil and + Military, and loving subjects whom it may concern, are to be aiding + and assisting to you as there shall be occasion. And for so doing, + this shall be your warrant. + + "Given at Whitehall the two-and-twentieth day of September, 1715. + + "JAMES STANHOPE." + + "To Richard Shorman, John Hutching, and John + Turner, three of his Majesty's Messengers + in Ordinary." + +[187] His pension was raised for his services from fifty to eighty +pounds per annum.--See Caledonian Mercury, 1722. + +[188] Patten, p. 19. + +[189] Hutchinson's History of Northumberland, vol. i. p. 131. + +[190] State Papers. Domestic, No. 4, 1716. + +[191] Life of Charles Radcliffe, p. 15. + +[192] Patten, p. 31. + +[193] Patten. Smollett. + +[194] Parliamentary History, 2 Geo. I. vol. vii. p. 269. + +[195] Patten, p. 47. + +[196] Id. p. 65. + +[197] An instance of this spirit is related by Lord Sunderland in the +case of a Mr. Crisp, a Lancashire gentleman, who acted with such zeal +for the Government during the Rebellion, that he was never able to live +in his native country afterwards.--Lord Mahon's History of England since +the Peace of Utrecht, vol. i. p. 253. + +[198] Lord Mahon, vol. i. p. 248. + +[199] Patten, p. 79. + +[200] Letter from a Scots Prisoner.--See Weekly Journal, or British +Gazette, for 1716. + +[201] Weekly Journal, p. 354. + +[202] Parliamentary History, p. 269. + +[203] Life of Charles Radcliffe, p. 23. + +[204] Patten. + +[205] Patten, p. 96. + +[206] Patten, p. 103. + +[207] Weekly Journal. + +[208] Patten. + +[209] Patten. + +[210] Caledonian Mercury for 1716. + +[211] Earls of Derwentwater, Nithisdale, Carnwath, and Wintoun; Viscount +Kenmure, and Lords Widdrington and Nairn. + +[212] State Trials, vol. xv. p. 762. + +[213] Parliamentary History, vol. vii. p. 269. + +[214] State Trials. + +[215] Caledonian Mercury for 1716. + +[216] Beatson's Political Index. + +[217] Douglas's Peerage of Scotland. + +[218] State Trials, vol. xv. p. 802. + +[219] Lord Mahon's History, vol. i. p. 291. + +[220] Id. + +[221] State Papers, 1716, No. 4; now, for the first time, printed. + +[222] Or rather, a piece of red cloth, which is still preserved at +Hassop, the seat of the Earl of Newburgh, the marks of blood being still +visible. + +[223] From a tradition current in the descendants of this family. + +[224] Hogg's Jacobite Relics, vol. i. p. 31. + +[225] See Caledonian Mercury, 1723. + + + + +THE MASTER OF SINCLAIR. + + +John Sinclair, called, in compliance with the custom of Scotland in +regard to the eldest sons of Barons, the Master of Sinclair, was +descended from the ancient family of Saint Clare, in France, on whom +lands were bestowed by Alexander the Third of Scotland. In early times, +the titles of Earls of Orkney and Caithness had been given to the first +settlers of the Saint Clares; and the possession of the islands of +Orkney and Shetland had been added to certain royal donations, by a +marriage with an heiress of the sirname of Speire. One of the Sinclairs +had even borne the dignity of Prince of Orkney; but this distinction was +lost by an improvident member of the house of Sinclair, called William +the Waster; and the prosperity of his descendants was due only to the +favour of James the Sixth, who created Henry Sinclair, of Dysart in +Fife, a Baron. + +The family continued in honour and estimation, until the subject of this +memoir, John, brought upon it disgrace, and incurred to himself lasting +self-reproach. + +The Master of Sinclair was the eldest son of Henry, seventh Lord +Sinclair, and the representative, therefore, of an honourable family. +But it was his fate to forfeit his birthright, not so much by his +adherence to an ill-fated cause, as by the violence and brutality of his +own temper and conduct. + +He was, at an early age, engaged in the military profession, and bore +the commission of Captain-Lieutenant in Preston's regiment under the +great Marlborough. At the battle of Wynendale, fought on the +twenty-eighth of September, 1708, the events which stamped the future +character of the Master of Sinclair's destiny occurred. + +Two brothers of the name of Schaw, Scotchmen, of an ancient race, and +ancestors, collaterally, of the present family of Shaw-Stewart of +Renfrew, had commissions also in Preston's regiment. These unfortunate +young men were of the chief family of the Schaws, or Sauchie, who had +flourished since the reign of Robert the Second. + +By that singular coincidence which sometimes occurs, and which seems to +stamp certain races with misfortune, the Schaws had already been nearly +exterminated in feudal times by the violence of a neighbouring clan, the +Montgomeries of Skellmorlie; and had been preserved from total +destruction by what seemed to human comprehension to be the merest +chance. By one of the Montgomeries, the Tower of Greenock was invaded +and taken, and the Laird of Schaw and four or five of his sons were put +to death. One child, then in his cradle, alone escaped, and grew up to +manhood, with the resolution to avenge his father and his brothers +rankling at his heart. Accordingly, he collected his friends and +dependants, and invested, during a period of repose and security, the +house of his enemy. Montgomery, finding his castle attacked, stood forth +on the battlements, and, after demanding a parley with the besieger, +"Are you not," he cried out, "an ungrateful man to come hither with bow +and brand to take the life of the man who made you young laird and auld +laird in the same day?" Young Schaw, struck by the argument, drew off +his forces, and left the castle of Skellmorlie standing, and its inmates +uninjured. + +The family of Schaw were zealous Whigs, the father of the two young +officers in Preston's regiment having raised a regiment at the time of +the Revolution, without any other expense to the Government than that of +sergeants and drummers. + +The eldest brother, Sir John Schaw, had been an active promoter of the +Union; and, upon a threatened invasion of the French, and a consequent +alarm of the Jacobites, Sir John had offered to join the army with five +or six hundred of his followers. This decided political bias may, +perhaps, in some measure, account for the disposition to affront on the +side of Sinclair, and the quickness to resent on the other hand, which +was shown between the parties. + +During the battle of Wynendale, in the midst of the fire, it appeared, +in evidence afterwards taken, that Ensign Hugh Schaw, the first of the +victims to the Master of Sinclair's wrath, was heard to call out to the +Master "to stand upright;" it was afterwards publicly stated by Ensign +Hugh Schaw, that he had done so upon seeing Sinclair bow himself down to +the ground for a considerable time. This alleged act of cowardice on the +part of Sinclair appears, however, not to have really taken place; but +it was made the groundwork of a calumnious imputation. It must, however, +be acknowledged, that there was nothing in the subsequent conduct of the +Master of Sinclair, as far as the battle of Sherriff Muir was concerned, +to raise his character as a man of personal bravery. + +Upon hearing of this injurious report, Sinclair sent a challenge to +Ensign Schaw. It was dispatched through the medium of a brother officer, +to whom the Ensign replied, at first, that he had just heard of his +brother George's being wounded before Lisle, and that it was of far +greater importance that he should go to him than accept the Master of +Sinclair's challenge; besides, the young man added, that since his last +misfortune, probably a fatal duel, he had pledged himself neither to +receive nor to give a challenge. Should a rencontre happen, he would +defend himself as he could; that, after all, he had said nothing but +what he could prove. Upon these words being repeated to the Master of +Sinclair, he fell into a violent passion, and swore that he would not +give Schaw fair play; that his honour was concerned. The second whom he +had employed then threatened to take the challenge to Colonel Preston; +upon which the Master told him "he was a rascal if he did it." + +On the following day, the Master met Ensign Schaw, and taking a stick +from underneath his coat, struck the Ensign two blows over the head with +it. They both drew, and fought with such fury that the Master's sword +was broken, and that of the Ensign bent; upon which Sinclair retired +behind a sentinel, desiring him "to keep off the Ensign, as his sword +was broken." Schaw then said, "You know I am more of a gentleman than to +pursue you when your sword is broken." But the young soldier Schaw had +at this time received a mortal wound, of which he died; but not until +after the verdict of the court-martial ultimately held on Sinclair. + +In the course of three days a second fatal rencontre succeeded this +deadly contest; and another brother, Captain Alexander Schaw, fell a +victim to the vindictive and brutal notions at that period considered in +the army to constitute a code of honour. + +Captain Schaw was naturally indignant at the death of his brother; he +expressed his anger openly, and said, that the Master of Sinclair had +"paper in his breast," against which his brother's sword was bent; and +that he had received the fatal wound after his sword had thus become +useless. The Master of Sinclair having heard of these assertions, +resolved to avenge himself for these imputations cast upon him. On the +thirteenth of September, as Captain Schaw was riding at the head of +Major How's regiment, the sound of his own name, repeated twice, +announced the approach of the hated Sinclair. Captain Schaw turned, and +inquired of the Master what he wanted. Sinclair replied, by asking him +to go to the front, as he wanted to speak to him; to which Captain Schaw +rejoined, that he might speak to him there. "Yes," returned Sinclair, +"but if I fire at you here, I may shoot some other body." Captain Schaw +answered, that he might fire at him if he pleased, he bore him no +ill-will. "If you will not go to the front," returned Sinclair, "beg my +pardon." This was refused, some words of further aggravation ensued; +then the Master of Sinclair drew his pistol and fired at Schaw. The +Captain was also preparing to fire; his hand was in the act of drawing +his pistol when it was for ever checked, whether employed for good or +evil; the aim of Sinclair was certain, and Schaw fell dead from his +horse. Sinclair, without waiting to inquire how far mortal might be the +wound he had inflicted, rode away. + +Thus perished two young officers, described by their brother, Sir John +Schaw, as "very gallant gentlemen." To complete the tragedy, a third, +wounded at Lisle, was brought to the camp at Wynendale, and expired in +the same room with his brother, Ensign Schaw, partly of his wounds, +partly of grief for his brother's death; so that the offender, as the +surviving brother remarked, "was not wholly innocent even of his blood:" +yet both these rencontres, to adopt the mild term employed by Sir Walter +Scott, were viewed in a very lenient manner by the officers of the +court-martial which afterwards sat upon the case, and even by +Marlborough himself. The Master of Sinclair speaks of them in his +narrative in terms which imply that one, whose hands were so deeply dyed +in crime, regarded himself as an injured man; there can scarcely be a +better exemplification of the deceitfulness of the heart than such a +representation. + +On the seventeenth of October, 1708, a court-martial upon the Master of +Sinclair was held at Ronsales by the command of the Duke of Marlborough. +Upon the first charge, that of challenging Ensign Hugh Schaw (in breach +of the twenty-eighth article of war), Sinclair was acquitted, the court +being of opinion that the challenge was not proved. + +Of the second accusation, that of killing Captain Alexander Schaw, the +Master of Sinclair was found guilty, and sentenced to suffer death. He +was, however, recommended to the mercy of the Duke of Marlborough, in +consideration of the provocation which he had received,--the prisoner +having declared that, not only on that occasion, but upon several, and +in different regiments, Captain Schaw had defamed him; that he was +forced to do what he did, and that he had done it with reluctance. + +The case was, however, afterwards referred to the Attorney General and +the Solicitor General, who gave it their opinion that Sinclair was +guilty of murder; for had the trial taken place in England before a +common jury, the judge must have directed the jury to find him guilty of +murder, no provocation whatever being sufficient to excuse malice, or to +make the offence of killing less than murder, when it is committed with +premeditation. How far the provocation was to be considered as a ground +of mercy, these legal functionaries declined to judge. + +Upon the publication of this sentence, Sir John Schaw addressed a +petition to Queen Anne, praying for justice on the murderer of his +brothers, and appealing to his Sovereign against the extraordinary +recommendation of the court to mercy. He also wrote urgent letters to +the Earl of Stair and the Duke of Argyle, praying for their intercession +with the Duke of Marlborough that the murderer of his brothers might be +punished. He next wrote to the Duke of Marlborough himself. The +following letters show the earnestness of the pleader, and prove the +caution and subtlety of the General. Some deep political motive lay +beneath the mercy shown to Sinclair, otherwise it seems impossible to +account for the conduct of so great a disciplinarian as Marlborough in +this affair. + + +SIR JOHN SCHAW TO THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. + + "May it pleas your Grace, + + "Amongst the misfortunes that attend the murthers of my two + brothers, I thinck it's one to be constrain'd to appear importunate + with your Grace. The case, by the depositions of the witnesses, + being in the opinion of the learn'd lawyers of the most atrocius + nature, and not pardonable by the law of the country whereof we are + subjects, and such as indispensable requires my utmost applications + for redress, I cannot forbear the repeating of my submissive prayers + to your Grace for speedy justice. The blood of my brothers, the tyes + of nature, and the sentiments of friendship, would render the least + negligence on my part inexcusable with the world and with my own + conscience. + + "I should deliver my petition personally, rather than venture to + give your Grace the trouble of letters, were I not sufficiently + assured of your Grace's justice, and at the same time willing to + gratifie my wellwisshers desires in staying here. Hoping your Grace + wil, with a condescending compassion to my present circumstances, + favourably admit the bearer, Capt. James Stuart, in Coll. M'Carty's + regiment, who is my faithfull friend and near relation, to deliver + this letter, and represent my case, that the whole matter may be + sett in a true light for a finall decision, in the meantime, I + remain, with a profound respect, my Lord, Your Grace's most humble, + etc." + + "To the Duke of Marlborough, London, the 29th November, 1708." + + +THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH TO SIR JOHN SCHAW.[226] + + "Sir, + + "Captain Stewart has delivered me your letter of the twenty-first of + November; I had before, from the Secretary at Warr, the opinion of + the Attorney and Sollicitor General upon the proceedings of the + court-martiall, with the copie of the petition you had presented to + the Queen, but no positive directions from hir Majesty, which I + should have been very glad to have received, being without it under + very great uneasiness, as Captain Steward will tell you; however, + you may be sure I shall have all the regard you can desire for your + just resentment against Mr. Sinclair, being truly, Sir, + + "Your most humble servant, + (_Sic subscribitur_) + "MARLBOROUGH." + + "Copie letter Duke of Marlborrough to Sir + John Schaw, dated at the Camp at + Melle, the 16th December, 1708." + +After this correspondence, the unhappy brother of the two young officers +had every reason to conclude that the delinquent would very soon be +brought to justice. He wrote to Mr. Cardonnel, secretary to the Duke of +Marlborough, in grateful terms for the kind intercession employed for +him. What was afterwards his astonishment to find that Sinclair was +allowed to serve in the British army in the sieges of Lisle and Ghent, +and eventually received in the Prussian service! The evident favour of +the Duke is fully shown in the following passage from the Master of +Sinclair's narrative: + +"I was obliged to quit [the army] for two misfortunes which happened in +a very short time, one after the other, notwithstanding of the +court-marshall's recommending me to the General, his Grace the Duke of +Marlborough's mercy, which was always looked on as equal to a pardon, +and which I can aver was never refused to any one but myself. Nor was +his allowing me to serve at the sieges of Lisle and Ghent precedented on +my giving my word of honour to return to arrest after these sieges were +over, which I did and continued (prisoner) till his Grace the Duke of +Marlborough sent his repeated orders to make my escape, which I +disobeyed twice; but at last being encouraged by his promise to +recommend me to any prince that I pleased, for these were his words, I +went off, and procured his recommendation to the King of Prussia, from +whose service, which I may say is of the strictest, I came back to serve +in the Low Countries, where I continued until the end of the war, at +which time her Majesty Queen Anne having, as it is said, turned Tory, +vouchsafed me her pardon." + +These marks of indulgence to Sinclair fell heavily upon the heart of him +who still mourned two promising brothers, sent to an untimely grave by +brutal revenge. The following letter from Sir John Schaw is beautifully +and touchingly expressed.[227] What effect it produced upon the great +but not faultless man to whom it was addressed, can only be known by the +impunity with which Sinclair, his hands being imbued in the blood of his +countrymen, continued in the Prussian army, and afterwards returned to +Scotland. + + "It is with very great regrate that I give your Grace any further + trouble on account of the melancholy story of my two brothers, who + had the misfortune to be murthered in the space of three dayes by + Lieutenant Sinclair, then in the regiment of Prestoun, in the year + 1708. Your Grace was at the paines to be informed of the whole case, + and the murtherer, being a man of quality, had many to intercede for + him; your justice did overcome all other considerations and indeed + nothing could be more worthie of the great character your Grace has, + and the glorious name you must leave to posterity, than the + punishment of so cruel and bloodie a fact; but the criminal escaped, + and the sentence of death pronounced by the court-martial, and + confirmed by your Grace, was not executed; and I, having done all I + could to bring the murtherer of my unfortunate brothers to condign + punishment, was satisfied to pursue him no further, tho' the + atrocity of the crime committed against the law of nations would + have affoarded me ground to have prosecuted him in any country where + he could have been found. But to my surprize and sorrow, I have of + late been informed that Lieutenant Sinclair has added to the + repeated murthers the impudence of returning, an officer in a + Prussian regiment, to the army, where he was condemn'd, as it were + to affront justice, and glory in what he has done. I am wel + persuaded, that if his guilt had been known to the King of Prussia + or his Generals, his Majesty would not have suffered so odious ane + offender to be entertained in his service. Nor can the Generals or + Ministers of Prussia have anything to plead, why a sentence + pronounced by a British court-martial against one of hir Majesty's + subjects, and confirmed by your excellency her Generall should not + now be executed. I am confident your Grace will not sufferr publick + justice to be insulted in that affair, and I doe in the most humble + and earnest manner begg that your Grace would cause apprehend the + murtherer, that justice may be done upon him for his barbarous and + bloodie crimes. I had about two years ago four brothers, of whom I + may without vanity say, they were very gallant gentlemen; two were + murthered by Lieutenant Sinclair; the third died in the roome with + one of these, partly of his wounds received before Lille, and + pairtly out of griefe for his brothers' misfortunes, so that the + offender is not innocent even of his blood; the fourth was killed at + the battle of Mons. The blood of these that were barbarously slain, + call for vengeance; the law of God and nature requires it. They had, + and I in their name have a claime, in a particular manner, to your + Grace's justice, they having been all four under your Grace's + command; forgive it to my natural affection, if I use arguments with + your Grace to do an act of justice when the whole world, and I in + particular, have such proofs of the greatness of your minde and + virtue, I shall only add my most sincere and humble acknowledgement + of your Grace's justice and dispatch in the melancholie affair, of + which I shall ever retain the most gratefull sense; and remain under + the strictest tyes of dutie, with the most profound respect, my + Lord, your Grace's most humble, most obedient, obliged, and faithful + servant," &c. + +With this letter, and some memorials of Sir John Schaw's public service, +end all known appeals for justice on the murderer. But conscience +avenged the crime. Many years afterwards, when living in opulence upon +his patrimonial estate at Dysart in Fife, the Master received from an +humble individual a bitter, though involuntary reproach. When preparing +to cross the Frith, he stopped at an inn in order to engage a running +footman to attend him. Detested by his neighbours, and ever in dread of +the Schaws, Sinclair preserved a sort of incognito. A youth was +presented for his approval. The Master inquired of the young candidate +what proof he could give of his activity, on which this remarkable reply +was given: "Sir, I ran beside the Master of Sinclair's horse when he +rode post from the English camp to escape the death for which he was +condemned for the murder of the two brothers." "The Master," adds Sir +Walter Scott, "much shocked, was nearly taken ill on the spot."[228] + +During the insurrection of 1715, the Master of Sinclair took at first an +active part, and became the commander of a company of Jacobite gentlemen +of Fife. He joined the Earl of Mar at Perth,[229] and was employed in an +expedition which gained some credit to the Jacobites. Some arms having +been brought out of Edinburgh for the use of the Earl of Sutherland, and +being put on board a ship at Leith, the Earl of Mar resolved to +intercept these supplies. The wind being contrary, the master of the +vessel thus loaded had dropped into Brunt Island, and had gone into the +town on that island to see his family. A party of four hundred horse and +as many foot was meantime detached on the second of October, 1715, and +arrived at the island about midnight. They pressed all the boats in the +harbour, and boarded the vessel, carrying off three hundred and six +complete stand of arms, together with a considerable number which they +found in the town. This expedition was skilfully contrived and managed, +the horse surrounding the town whilst the foot ransacked it; and the +invasion was made so silently that the Duke of Argyle gained no tidings +of it.[230] + +After this exploit the Master of Sinclair returned to the camp at Perth, +there to promote, if not actually to originate, divisions which were +fatal to the cause which he had espoused. Lord Mar, in his letters, +charges him, indeed, distinctly with being the very source of the +dissensions which soon sprang up among the Jacobite chiefs.[231] The +temper of Sinclair could ill brook submission to the Earl of Mar, whom, +as a General, he soon ceased to respect; and for whose difficult +situation he had no relenting feelings. "The Master," writes Sir Walter +Scott, "who was a man of strong sense, acute observation, and some +military experience, besides being of a haughty and passionate temper, +averse to deference and subordination, soon placed himself in opposition +to the general, whom he seems to have at once detested and +despised."[232] + +The unfortunate result of the siege of Preston, soon brought to light +the discontents which the Master had nourished among the followers of +Mar. Parties had, indeed, for some time agitated the camp. When the +disasters in England gave them a fresh impulse, and Lord Mar feelingly, +and perhaps not too severely, described the influence of Sinclair when +he bitterly describes him as "a devil in the camp, known in his true +colours when calamity had befallen those with whom he was in +conjunction." It was henceforth in vain that Mar, to use his own +expression, "endeavoured to keep people from breaking among themselves +until the long-expected arrival of the Chevalier should, it was hoped, +check the growing jealousies in the camp;" a party arose, headed by Lord +Huntley, Lord Seaforth, and the Master of Sinclair, who soon obtained +the name of the Grumbler's Club, and who rendered themselves odious to +the sincere and zealous Jacobites. + +Lord Huntley appears from Lord Mar's representations, "to have been +completely under the influence of the Master." "Lord Huntley," writes +Lord Mar, "is still very much out of humour, and nothing can make him +yet believe that the King is coming. He intends to go north, under the +pretext of reducing Lord Sutherland, and his leaving us at this time, I +think, might have very bad effects, which makes me do all I can to keep +him. The Master of Sinclair is a very bad instrument about him, and has +been most to blame for all the differences amongst us. I am plagued out +of my life with them, but must do the best I can."[233] + +Lord Huntley, however, continued to manifest the greatest disgust and +suspicion of Lord Mar, often refusing to see him, and, though still +lingering at Perth, threatening continually to leave the camp and go +northward. + +Lord Sinclair, meantime, having heard of these factions, and being +sincerely affected to the cause of the Stuarts, wrote to his son "a +sharp letter about his behaviour," and a visit of explanation from the +Master instantly followed. During his absence there was a revulsion of +feeling among the Grumblers, and some contrition was expressed by them +for the part that they had acted; but the fiend returned, and the +malcontents quietly relapsed.[234] + +The news of James's certain arrival silenced, for a time, all +complaints; but again they revived. Lord Mar seems to have had some +misgiving of this, when he wrote, "Those that made a pretext of the +King's not being landed, are now left inexcusable, and if those kind of +folks now sit still and look any more on, they ought to be worse treated +than our worse enemies." Yet it appears by a subsequent letter, that the +grievances of which the General complained so bitterly, were not cured +even by the presence of the Chevalier; that those who had made a +pretext of his absence to complain and despond, desponded still, and +that, in fact, the malady was so deep-seated as to be incurable. + +It may be urged, in vindication of the Master, who obviously aggravated +the spirit of the Grumblers, that the event proved that his +apprehensions were well founded. It was, indeed, natural for an +experienced officer who had served under Marlborough, to view with +dissatisfaction and suspicion the feeble and tardy movements of Lord +Mar. Yet a hearty well-wisher to any cause would have abstained from +infusing distrust into those counsels which, whether wise or foolish, +were destined to guide the adherents of the party. A man of honour will +enter, heart and soul, into what he undertakes, or not enter at all. The +conduct of Sinclair was that of a mean, morose spirit; and it is but +fair to conclude that his motives for adopting the name of Jacobite were +either those of personal advancement, or arose out of an enforced +compliance with the wishes of his father. + +Whilst Sinclair was thus undermining the welfare of the party to which +he nominally belonged, his determined enemy, Sir John Schaw, after +assisting the Duke of Argyle in defending Inverness against the +insurgent troops, was marching with Lord Isla to rejoin the Duke of +Argyle in his march towards Perth. It so happened that Lord Isla and his +friends reached Sherriff Muir at the very moment when the Government +troops and the Jacobites were about to join in battle. "Sir John," says +Sir Walter Scott, "though he had no command, engaged as a volunteer; and +we may suppose his zeal for King George was heightened by the +recollection that the slayer of his brothers fought under the opposite +banners." He behaved himself with distinguished courage, receiving a +wound on his arm, and another in his side.[235] He was, at this time, +the only surviving brother out of four, his brother Thomas having been +slain at the siege of Mons a year after the death of the others. A month +before Sir John Schaw had joined the Duke, Lady Schaw, the daughter of +Sir Hugh Dalrymple, and a woman of singular energy and spirit, assembled +the Greenock companies in arms, and telling them that the Protestant +religion, with their laws, liberties, and lives, and all that was dear +to them as men and Christians, were in hazard by that unnatural +rebellion, exhorted them to conduct themselves suitably to the occasion. + +The conduct of Sinclair at the battle of Sherriff Muir was not +inconsistent with his former life. He remained, in that engagement, +stationary, with the Marquis of Huntley, at the head of the cavalry of +Fife and Aberdeen; hence the lines in the old song on Sherriff Muir. + + "Huntly and Sinclair + They baith play'd the Tinkler, + With consciences black as a craw, man." + + + + +Upon the return of the Jacobite army to Perth, where they waited, as +Scott remarks in a tone of mournful reprobation of Mar, "until their own +forces should disperse, those of their enemy advance, and the wintry +storm so far subside as to permit the Duke of Argyle to advance against +them," Sinclair was the chief promoter of a scheme formed by the +Grumblers for a timely submission to Government. Instigated by their +wishes, an attempt was made by Lord Mar to procure, through the Duke of +Argyle's mediation, some terms with Government; but it failed, and those +who had embarked in the cause were obliged to provide, as they best +might, individually for their safety. The whole tenour of Sinclair's +conduct was such as to draw down upon him the severest invectives of his +party. In one of the poems of the day he is thus described: + + "The master with the bully's face, + And with the coward heart, + Who never fail'd, to his disgrace, + To act a coward's part, + Did join Dunbogue, the greatest rogue, + In all the shire of Fife, + Who was the first the cause to leave, + By counsel from his wife." + +The Master quitted the insurgent party at Perth, and joined the Marquis +of Huntley at Strathbogie; thence he proceeded as a fugitive through +Caithness and Orkney, with a few friends, who, like himself, were +hopeless of pardon. After wandering in these remote districts for some +time, the Master and his friends seized upon a small vessel and fled to +the Continent. The Marquis of Huntley, more fortunate than his +political ally, obtained his full pardon in consideration of his having +left the rebels in time.[236] + +The Master of Sinclair married, afterwards, the widowed Countess of +Southesk, whom he probably met when on the Continent, since it appears +that the Countess, for some time subsequent to the death of her husband, +lived at Brussels. In referring to this union, it may not be improper to +give some account of the family into connection with which it brought +the Master of Sinclair. + +James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk, the first husband of the lady whom the +Master of Sinclair married, was descended from David Carnegie, an +eminent lawyer, who in 1616 was raised to the dignity of Lord Carnegie +of Kinnaird, and in 1623 was created, by Charles the First, Earl of +Southesk. Like most of those families who had been elevated by the +Stuarts to the peerage, the house of Carnegie retained a strong sense of +their duty of allegiance to the Crown; and the first Earl of Southesk +suffered for his principles by imprisonment and the extortion of a fine +of three thousand pounds from his estates in the time of Cromwell. + +James, the fifth Earl of Southesk, although nearly allied by his +mother's side to the Maitlands, Earls of Lauderdale, had retained as +great an affection for the Stuarts as his ancestors had manifested. Of +the personal qualities of this nobleman little is generally known, +except that he has been designated, "Brave, generous Southesk!"--of his +fate, and of the subsequent fortunes of his family, still less is to be +ascertained. Some few particulars which are to be derived from the State +Papers are discreditable to the memory of this nobleman. Like several +other Jacobite noblemen who have been mentioned elsewhere, Lord Southesk +did not hesitate to summon his tenants to follow him to the field in the +most peremptory terms. His commands fell heavily, in one instance, upon +a poor man who lived on the Earl's estate, and bore also the name of +James Carnegie. This unlucky man was a natural son of Charles, the late +Earl of Southesk, and was therefore a brother of the present Earl James. +Like all dependants in those days, he seems to have entertained a deep +sense of his obligation to serve and to obey the head of the family; and +his obedience was probably ensured by the tie of blood, however +unacknowledged as constituting a claim between him and the Earl of +Southesk. James Carnegie exercised the profession of a surgeon in the +neighbourhood of Kinnaird, then the territory of Lord Southesk, and was +employed by the Earl, who appears to have entertained considerable +opinion of his skill. When the Insurrection of 1715 broke out, it would +have been consistent with the character of a "brave and generous man" to +have left this humble practitioner free to follow his own wishes, and +not to have embroiled him in the dangers of that disastrous undertaking. +A further claim upon the Earl's forbearance was the personal defect of +the poor surgeon, who was lame, and short in stature. He was +nevertheless ordered to meet Lord Southesk, at a certain place of +rendezvous, on a certain day. A compliance was expected as a matter of +course, for James Carnegie was a yearly pensioner of his noble and +powerful brother, and refusal was ruin.[237] Nevertheless, the surgeon +ventured on this occasion to judge for himself. He had, it appears, from +his subsequent declaration, been ever well affected to the reigning +Government and attached to the Revolution interest and, by his +disapprobation of the Insurrection of 1715, had given umbrage to his +nearest relations. Upon the command of Lord Southesk being issued to +follow him to the camp at Perth, Carnegie would have fled and hidden +himself but for the illness of his wife; he afterwards took refuge in +the house of Lord Northesk, but his seclusion was of no avail. The +following letter from Lord Southesk, the original of which is in the +State Paper Office, affords a curious insight into the despotism +exercised by the little kings of the Highlands over their subjects:-- + + "James,-- + + "After what I both wrote and spoke to you, I did not think you would + have made any furder difficultys of going to Perth with me. I know + very well your wife's circumstances are to be pityd; however, since + you have a pension from me, and served me since you have had any + business, there is nobody of your employment in this country that I + can put any confidence in, whatever may happen to me. Therefore I + desire you may make no furder excuses; and if you can't be ready to + wait upon me from Kinnaird upon Monday, I desire you may follow me + upon Teusday; if you do not, you will for ever disoblige + + "SOUTHESQUE." + + "Kinnaird, Sept. 17, 1715." + + "I desire you may come and speak with me this night, or to-morrow, + at furdest." + +"The Case of James Carnegie," also in the State Paper Office, furnishes +a supplement to this peremptory summons. + +"The Case of James Carnegie showeth, that though he lived in a country +and amongst men the most notoriously disaffected of any in Scotland, he +had, ever since his appearance in the world, espoused the Revolution +interest, and given proofs of his affection to it, as would appear more +fully in a declaration from the Presbytery of Brichen, in whose bounds +he resided, and from another from Mr. John Anderson, his parish +minister. That upon the first suspision of the treasonable designs of +the rebells, Mr. James Carnegy would have set off and gone south, had +not his wife's dangerous state (thought to be dying) obliged him to +remain. That after the rebellion broke out, he firmly withstood all +solicitations to join it, his neighbours and friends there threatening +to burn house and land. He being disappointed of going south, attempted +to retire to Ethie, Lord Northesk's house in Forfarshire. He could not +remain concealed, the rebells being possessed of all the passes in the +country. Finding himself blocked up amongst his enemies, to avoid the +execution of the threatenings against him, he was induced, to his shame +and regret, to go to Perth, but permitted none of his dependants or +tennents to accompany him, and went with no arms but what gentlemen were +in the habit of wearing. In order to give no support to those traiterous +designs, he feigned illness at Coupar of Angus, but they forced him to +go." + +The issue of this affair was mournful. At the battle of Sherriff Muir +where the Earl of Southesk appeared with three hundred men, the +unfortunate nobleman was supposed to be slain. His faithful, though +reluctant attendant, James Carnegie, was taken prisoner as he was +looking over the field of battle in order to find the body of his lord. +He was carried into prison at Carlisle, whence considerable exertions +were made for his release, not only by his own representations, but by +the mediation of Sir James Stewart, the governor of the castle. What was +the result, whether the blameless victim of the will of others was +released, or whether he sank among the many who could not sustain the +hardships of their fate, does not appear.[238] + +The Earl of Southesk, although it was reported he had been killed, +rallied his men, and retreated with the Marquis of Tullibardine, the +Earl Marischal and several heads of clans to the mountains, to shelter +themselves from the pursuit of the Government troops. Some of these +chieftains afterwards made their escape to Skye, Lewis, and other of the +north-western islands, till ships came to their relief and carried them +abroad.[239] What was the fate of the Earl of Southesk afterwards is not +known: neither what became of his descendant.[240] He had married the +Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Galloway, and by her, +according to some accounts, he had two sons; according to a contemporary +Scottish peerage, he had one child only. His widow also went on the +Continent, and the mention of her name by her brother, the Earl of +Galloway, in a letter written at Clery in France,[241] without that of +her husband, in May 1730, appears to indicate that she was then a widow, +and not married again.[242] + +How long Lady Southesk lived, the wife of the Master of Sinclair, is +dubious. He survived her, and married afterwards, Emilia the daughter of +Lord George Murray, brother of the Duke of Atholl. This intimate +connection with one of the principal leaders of the Rebellion of 1745, +did not, however, induce the Master to enter a second time into a course +towards which he had, perhaps in truth, no sincere good will. + +Upon his flight to the Continent, the Master of Sinclair was outlawed, +and attainted in blood for his share in the Insurrection of 1715. His +father being still alive, and not having taken an active part, his +estates escaped forfeiture, and Lord Sinclair endeavoured so to dispose +of them as to prevent their becoming the property of the Crown. It was +necessary, on this account, that Lord Sinclair should disinherit his +eldest son; and "as it would," says Sir Walter Scott, "have been highly +impolitic to have alleged his forfeiture for treason as a cause of the +deed, the slaughter of the Schaws was given as a reason for his +exheredation." The following is a clause of the deed by which the end +was to be accomplished: + +"This new diposition of the family estate is explained and qualified by +the second deed, being a back bond running in the names of the said +James and William Sinclairs, which set forth that their father had been +induced to grant a disposition of his estate in their favour, and to +pass over their elder brother, to prevent all inconvenience and hazard +whatsoever which the rents of the said Lord Sinclair, his heritable +estate, or his moveables, might be liable to, if they were settled in +the said Master's person, '_on accompt of the said Master of Sinclair +his present circumstances, by means of an unfortunate quarrel that some +years ago fell out between the said Master and two sons of the deceased +Sir John Schaw of Greenock_; therefore," the deed proceeds to state, "it +was reasonable that they, James and William Sinclair, should grant a +back bond of settlement, binding themselves to manage the property, when +they should respectively succeed to it by advice of friends, overseers, +and managers,--viz. Sir John Erskine of Alva, Bart., Sir William Baird +of New Baith, Bart., Mr. John Paterson, eldest lawful son to the +deceased Archbishop of Glasgow, their brother-in-law--Sir John Cockburn +of that Ilk, Bart., and Mr. Mathew Sinclair of Hermiston, their uncles. +The said James and William Sinclair, as they should respectively succeed +to the estate, were obliged to make certain necessary expenditure to the +family for behoof of the Master; and the said James and William Sinclair +became also bound, in case the Master, their brother, should become free +of his present inconveniences, or should have a family of lawful +children, then, and in that case to convey the estate to the said +Master, or to his said children, at the sight of his trustees."[243] + +In the year 1726, the Master of Sinclair received pardon, as far as his +life was concerned, but the forfeiture of his estates was not taken off, +nor certain other incapacities reversed. He then returned to the family +estate of Dysart in Fife, of which he was, by his father's disposition +of affairs, the actual proprietor; and although the rents of the +property were levied in his brother's name, they were applied and +received by the Master. General James Sinclair, the second brother of +the Master, was then the nominal owner only of the estates. But although +thus returning to his patrimonial inheritance, the Master never +recovered the good will of his former friends, nor the blessings of +security, and of a calm and honoured old age. He seldom visited +Edinburgh, living in seclusion and never going from home without being +well guarded and attended for fear of the Jacobites, or of his enemies +the Schaws. Under these circumstances it seems to have been a relief to +his bitter and mortified spirit to have vented itself, in like manner +with Lord Lovat, in composing memoirs of his own life. "These memoirs," +says Sir Walter Scott, who long had a copy of them in his possession, +"are written[244] with talent, and peculiar satirical energy: so much +so indeed, that they have been hitherto deemed unfit for publication. +The circumstances attending the slaughter of the Schaws argue a fierce +and vindictive temper, and the frame of mind which Sinclair displays as +an author exhibits the same character. They are, however, very curious, +and it is to be hoped will one day be made public, as a valuable +addition to the catalogue of royal and noble authors. It is singular +that the author seems to have written himself into a tolerably good +style, for the language of the Memoirs, which at first is scarcely +grammatical, becomes as he advances disengaged, correct, and +spirited."[245] + +On the whole, it must be acknowledged that qualities more repulsive and +a career more culpable, have darkened no narrative connected with the +Jacobites so unpleasantly as the biography of the Master of Sinclair. A +disgrace to every party, he appears to have joined the adherents of the +Stuarts, only in order to disturb their councils, and to vilify their +memory with personal invective. He has extorted no compassion for the +errors and crimes of his earlier years by the courage and magnanimity of +a later period: his character stands forth, unredeemed by a single trait +of heroism, in all the darkness of violence and revenge. + +The Barony of Sinclair, lost to the family in consequence of the +attainder of the Master of Sinclair, was not assumed either by him, +after his pardon in 1726, nor by his brother General James Sinclair. At +the death of General Sinclair in 1762, the title reverted to Charles +Sinclair, Esq., of Herdmanstown, a cousin, and after him to his son +Andrew, who also allowed his claim to the Barony to lie dormant. It was, +however, revived at his death in 1776, by his only son Charles, who is +the present Lord Sinclair.[246] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[226] See Proceedings of the Court Martial held upon John, Master of +Sinclair, with Correspondence, p. 27. 1828. Printed by Ballantyne and +Company. Presented to the Roxburgh Club by Sir Walter Scott. + +[227] It is printed in the interesting little collection before referred +to, p. 35. + +[228] Life of the Master of Sinclair, p. ix. + +[229] His name is not among those who were assembled on the +hunting-field of Braemar. + +[230] Reay, p. 234. + +[231] See Lord Mar's Life and Letters. + +[232] Life of the Master of Sinclair, page v. + +[233] See Lord Mar's Life, from the Mar Papers. + +[234] Mar Papers. + +[235] Reay's History of the Rebellion, p. 218. + +[236] Reay, p. 387. + +[237] See the certificate of the Justices of Forfar, in the State Paper +Office, respecting the case of James Carnegie. Dated, Montrose, the +first of October, 1716. + +[238] See Papers in the State Paper Office for 1715 and 1716. + +[239] Reay, p. 372. + +[240] The title has remained in abeyance ever since. A mystery hangs +over the fate of this family. + +[241] See Letter. + +[242] The letter from Lord Garlies, in which Lady Southesk is mentioned, +is to be seen in the Murray MS. in the Advocate's Library at Edinburgh. +It is addressed to the eccentric and imprudent Sir Alexander Murray of +Stanhope. These papers were found on a floor of a room in Herriot's +Hospital, and were rescued from destruction by Dr. Irvine of the +Advocate's Library. After some remarks of no moment, Lord Garlies, +afterwards the Earl of Galloway, observes-- + + "But now I hope that yours and all honest men's misfortunes are to + have a turn, and since my cheif has had the good fortune to gett a + young prince, I pray God his and all honest men's misfortunes may be + at an end; and I hope before my young cheif dies, he shall have the + name of Charles the Third. I beg of you to let me hear from you, and + when I may expect to have the happinesse of seeing you in this + countrey, which is what I both long mightily for, and expect as soon + as you can conveniently. Besides, it will be a mighty obligation + added to the many you have already done me, who am, dear Sandy, + + "yours entirely whylst + "GARLIES." + + "May 12, 1730." + + "Sister Southesque and my spouse make their compliments to you." + +[243] Life of Master of Sinclair, page viii. + +[244] The manuscript from which the life of the Master of Sinclair was +taken, was found by Sir Walter Scott among the papers of his mother, who +was distantly related to the family of Greenock. The proceedings of the +court-martial were attested by the subscription of John Cunningham, +probably a clerk of the court. + +[245] The MS. Memoirs of the Master of Sinclair are at present in the +possession of the Countess of Rosslyn. + +[246] Burke's Peerage. + + + + +CAMERON OF LOCHIEL.[247] + + +The clan Cameron, from whom were descended the chieftains who took an +active part in the Jacobite cause, had its seat in Lochaber, of which +one of their ancestors had originally received a grant from Robert +Bruce. They sprang, according to some accounts, from the same source as +that of the clan Chattan: they became, nevertheless, in the course of +the fourteenth century, an independent state. In a manuscript history of +the clan Cameron, they have been traced so far back as to the year 404; +and their origin in Scotland ascribed to the arrival of a younger son of +the royal family of Denmark, their progenitors acquiring the name of +Cameron from his crooked nose. + +The clan consisted of three septs; but the family of Lochiel were +acknowledged as the chief, and, according to the singular system of +clanship, the Camerons freely gave up their wills to that of their +head. The history of this family, whilst it shows by what decision of +character and intrepidity of conduct this superiority was maintained, +presents little else than a tissue of successive feuds between the clan +and its neighbours, until, during the seventeenth century, the events of +history brought forth qualities of still greater importance to +distinguish the house of Lochiel. From henceforth the disputes with the +clan Chattan, and the long-standing feuds with the Mackintoshes, merged +into obscurity compared with the more stirring interests into which the +chieftains were now, fatally for their prosperity, intermingled. + +The celebrated Sir Ewan Dhu of Lochiel, one of the finest specimens of +the Highland chieftains on record, had passed a long life in the service +of the Stuart family, for whom, even as a boy, he had manifested a sort +of intuitive affection. This cherished sentiment had repelled the +efforts of his kinsman, the Marquis of Argyle, to mould his youthful +mind to the precepts of the Puritans and Covenanters. Sir Ewan Dhu +combined a commanding personal appearance with a suitable majesty of +deportment, and with a shrewd, dauntless, honourable, generous mind. His +very sirname had an influence upon the good will of his superstitious +and devoted followers. It denoted that he was dark, both in hair and +complexion; and so many brave achievements had been performed by +chieftains of the clan Cameron, who were of this complexion, that it had +been foretold by gifted seers, that never should a fair Lochiel prove +fortunate. Endowed with this singular hold upon the confidence of his +people, Ewan Dhu eclipsed all his predecessors in the virtues of his +heart and the strength of his understanding. His vigilance, his energy, +and firmness were the qualities which had distinguished him as a +military leader when, in the close of his days, the hopes and designs of +the modern Jacobites began to engage the attention of the Highland +chiefs. + +The career of Ewan Dhu Cameron had been one of singular prosperity. At +the age of eighteen, he had broken loose from the trammels of Argyle's +control, and joined the standard of the Marquis of Montrose. He had +contrived to keep his estate clear, even after the event of that +unsuccessful cause, from Cromwell's troops. He next repaired to the +royal standard raised in the Highlands by the Earl of Glencairne, and +won the applause of Charles the Second, then in exile at Chantilly, for +his courage and success. The middle period of his life was consumed in +efforts, not only to abet the cause of Charles the Second, but to +restore peace to his impoverished and harassed country. Yet he long +resisted persuasions to submit and swear allegiance to Cromwell, and at +length boldly avowed, that rather than take the oath for an usurper, he +would live as an outlaw. His generous and humane conduct to the English +prisoners whom he had captured during the various skirmishes had, +however, procured him friends in the English army. "No oath," wrote +General Monk, "shall be required of Lochiel to Cromwell, but his word to +live in peace." His word was given, and, until after the restoration, +Lochiel and his followers, bearing their arms as before, remained in +repose. + +At Killicrankie, however, the warrior appeared again on the field, +fighting, under the unfortunate Viscount Dundee, for James the Second. +As the battle began, the enemy in General Mackay's regiment raised a +shout. "Gentlemen," cried the shrewd Lochiel, addressing the +Highlanders, "the day is our own. I am the oldest commander in the army, +and I have always observed that so dull and heavy a noise as that which +you have heard is an evil omen." The words ran throughout the +Highlanders; elated by the prediction, they rushed on the foe, fighting +like furies, and in half an hour the battle was ended. + +Although Sir Ewan Dhu was thus engaged on the side of James, his second +son was a captain in the Scottish fusileers, and served under Mackay in +the ranks of Government. As General Mackay observed the Highland army +drawn up on the face of a hill, west of the Pass, he turned to young +Cameron and said, "There is your father and his wild savages; how would +you like to be with him?" "It signifies little," replied the Cameron, +"what I would like; but I would have you be prepared, or perhaps my +father and his wild savages may be nearer to you before night than you +may dream of." Upon the death of Dundee, Sir Ewan Dhu, disgusted by the +deficiencies of the commander who succeeded him, retired to Lochaber, +and left the command of his clansmen to his eldest son, John Cameron, +who, with his son Donald, form the subjects of this memoir. + +Sir Ewan Dhu lived until the year 1719, enjoying the security which his +exploits had procured for him; and maintaining, by his own dignified +deportment, the credit of a family long upheld by a previous succession +of able and honourable chieftains. The state and liberality of the +Camerons were not supported, nevertheless, by a lavish expenditure; +their means were limited: "Yet," says Mrs. Grant of Laggan in her MS. +account of the clan, "perhaps even our own frugal country did not afford +an instance of a family, who lived in so respectable a manner, and +showed such liberal and dignified hospitality upon so small an income," +as that of Lochiel. + +The part which Sir Ewan Dhu had taken in the action at Killicrankie +would, it was naturally supposed, draw down upon him the vengeance of +those who visited with massacre the neighbouring valley of Glencoe. The +forbearance of Government can only be accounted for by the supposition +that King William, with his usual penetration, decreed it safer to +conciliate, than to attempt to crush a clan which was connected by +marriage with the most powerful of the Highland chieftains. + +No arts could, however, win the allegiance of the Camerons from those +whom they considered as their rightful sovereigns. Towards the end of +William's reign, the young chieftain John was sent privately to France, +where his early notions of loyalty were confirmed, and his attachment +to the court of James enhanced, by the influence of the Duke of Berwick, +who formed with him a sincere and durable friendship. + +The character of the chieftain was softened in the young Lochiel. He was +intelligent, frank, and conciliating in his manners, and had associated +more generally with the world than was usually the case with the +chieftains of those days. Among the circles with whom the young Lochiel +mingled, Barclay Urie, the well known apologist of the Quakers, was also +accustomed to appear. An attachment was thenceforth formed between John +Cameron and the daughter of Barclay, and a matrimonial alliance was soon +afterwards decided upon between the daughter of that gentleman and the +young chieftain. + +The choice was considered a singular one on the part of the young man. +It was the customary plan to intermarry with some of the neighbouring +clans; nor was it permitted for the chieftain to make a choice without +having first ascertained how far the clan were agreeable to his wishes. +This usage proceeded, in part, from the notion of consanguinity between +every member of a clan, even of the lowest degree, to his chieftain, and +the affability and courtesy with which the head was in the habit of +treating those over whom he ruled. The clans were even known to carry +their interference with the affairs of their chief so far as to +disapprove of the choice of their abodes, or to select a site for a new +residence.[248] + +The sway which Sir Ewan Dhu had acquired over his followers was such +that he dispensed with the ordinary practice, and, without the consent +of the clans, agreed to receive the young Quakeress as his daughter. The +marriage was completed, and eventually received the full approbation of +the whole clan Cameron. + +Meantime, great efforts had been made on the part of the English +Government to detach Sir Ewan Dhu from his faith to James the Second. +But the monarch who could attempt so hopeless a task as the endeavour to +cause a Highlander to break his oath of fidelity, very faintly +comprehended the national character, then existing in all its strength +and all its weakness,--in its horror of petty crimes and its +co-operation of great outrages,--in its small meannesses and lofty +generous traits,--in its abhorrence of a broken vow or of treachery to a +leader. The temptation offered was indeed considerable. Sir Ewan Dhu was +to have a pension of three hundred a-year, to be perpetuated to his son, +whom the Government were particularly anxious to entice back to +Scotland. The old chieftain was also to be appointed Governor of Fort +William.[249] But the emissaries of William the Third could not have +chosen a worse period than that in which to treat with the brave and +wary Cameron. The massacre of Glencoe was fresh in the remembrance of +the people, and the stratagem, the fiendish snares which had been +prepared to betray the unsuspecting Macdonalds to their destruction, +were also recalled with the deep curses of a wronged and slaughtered +people. The game of cards, the night before the massacre, between the +villain Campbell, and the two sons of Glencoe,--the proffered and +accepted hospitality of the chieftain, whose hand was grasped in seeming +friendliness by the man who had resolved to exterminate him and his +family, were cherished recollections--cherished by the determined spirit +of hate and revenge which contemplated future retribution. + +Sir Ewan Dhu therefore rejected these dazzling offers; he neither +recalled his son from France, nor accepted the command offered to him, +but busied himself in schemes which eventually swayed the destinies of +the Camerons. + +Not many miles from Achnacarry, the seat of Lochiel, rose, on the border +of Loch Oich, the castle of Alaster Dhu, or Dusk Alexander, of +Glengarry. The territories of this chieftain were contiguous to those of +Lochiel; and his character, which was of acknowledged valour, wisdom, +and magnanimity, formed a still stronger bond of union than their +relative position. Glengarry was the head of a very powerful clan, +called Macdonnells, in contradistinction to the Macdonalds of the Isles, +whose claim to superiority they always resisted; declaring, by the voice +of their bards and family historians, that the house of Antrim, from +whom the Macdonalds of the Isles were descended, owed its origin to the +Macdonnells of Glengarry. + +The clan Glengarry was now at its height of power under the heroic +Alaster Dhu, its chieftain, whose immediate predecessor had risen to be +a Lord of Session, at a time when that office brought no little power +and influence to its possessors: he had gained both wealth and credit in +his high seat; and, upon retiring, had visited Italy, had brought back a +taste for architecture to his native country, and the castle of +Invergarrie, part of the walls of which remain undemolished, rose as a +memento of his architectural taste. + +The Lord of Session had cherished sentiments of loyalty for the exiled +family; these were transmitted to Alaster Dhu. The gallant Lochiel and +the chief of Glengarry were therefore disposed to smother in their +feelings of loyalty the feuds which too often raged between clans nearly +approximate. They therefore formed a compact to promote, in every way, +the interest of the royal exiles; and in this vain attempt at +restoration which ensued, the fate of their clansmen was sealed.[250] +That of the Camerons is yet to be told; a slight digression respecting +their gallant allies may here be excused. + +When the feudal system which subsisted between the Highland chieftains +and their clansmen was dissolved, it became the plan of many of the +landholders to rid themselves of their poor tenantry, and to substitute +in their place labourers and farmers from the south of Scotland. The +helpless population of the glens and hill-sides were thus sent to +wander, poor and ignorant of anything but their own homes, and speaking +no language but their mother tongue, and wholly unskilled in any +practical wisdom. Some emigrated, but many were pressed into service on +board the emigrant ships, although the commanders of those vessels could +not, in some instances, prevail upon themselves to tear the Highlanders +away from their wives and families. + +To remedy this melancholy state of affairs, and to employ the banished +mountaineers, it was proposed about the year 1794, to embody some of the +sufferers, the Macdonnells of Glengarry in particular, into a Catholic +corps, under their young chieftain, Alexander Macdonnell, and employ +them in the service of the English Government. This scheme, after many +difficulties, was accomplished. At first, it worked well for the relief +of the destitute clan; but, in 1802, in spite of their acknowledged good +conduct, the Glengarry regiment was disbanded. + +The friend of the unfortunate, who had originally proposed the +consolidation of the corps, was Dr. Macdonald, who had been afterwards +appointed chaplain to the regiment. He now projected another scheme for +the maintenance of the clan Glengarry; and, after some opposition, his +plan was effected. It was to convey the whole of the Macdonnells, with +their wives and families, to a district in Upper Canada, where the clan, +at this moment, is permanently established. The place in which they live +bears the name of their native glen, and the farms they possess are +called by the loved appellations of their former tenements: and, when +the American war tried the fidelity of the emigrants, the clan gave a +proof of their loyalty by enrolling themselves into a corps, under the +old name of the Glengarry Fencibles.[251] + +In the battle of Killicrankie, Glengarry had led his forces to fight for +James the Second; and after that engagement, in which Glengarry had had +a brother killed, he had become very obnoxious to the Government, and +had found it necessary to retire for some time, whilst his more favoured +friend Lochiel tranquilly occupied his own house of Achnacarrie, a place +wholly undefended. The retreat in which Glengarry hid himself was a +small wooded island in Lochacaig; and in this seclusion a manoeuvre +was planned, highly characteristic of the subtlety, and yet daring of +the Highland chieftains who were engaged in it. It shows, also, the +state of the national feeling towards the English Government, at a time +when comparative quiet appeared to be established in the Highlands. + +Attached to certain regiments which were then lying at Fort William, +there were a number of young volunteers, men of good family, who had a +soldier's pay, if they wished it, and were considered as pupils in the +art of war, "at liberty to retire if they chose, and eligible, being +often persons of family, to fill the vacancies which war or disease +occasioned among the subalterns."[252] This regiment was now about to +occupy the garrisons, and on their way to the Tyendrum or Black Mount, +the officers engaged in conversation, little dreading an assault in a +country inhabited only by a few herdsmen, and considered by them as +wholly subdued. But they were deceived in their sense of safety. Among +the heath and bushes in a narrow pass, circumscribed, on the one side, +by a steep mountain, and on the other by a small lake, which skirted the +path, for road there was not, lay in ambush two hundred well-armed and +light-footed Highlanders. The youths, or volunteers, were in the rear of +the regiment; as they marched fearlessly through the deep solitude of +this wild district, the Highlanders sprang forwards from their +ambuscade; and before the young soldiers could recover their surprise or +have recourse to their arms, eight or ten young men of family were +seized on and hurried away. With these were mingled others, among these +volunteers of less importance, who were carried away in the confusion by +mistake. A few shots were fired by the soldiery, but without any effect, +for the Highlanders had disappeared. This sudden attack excited the +utmost consternation among the officers of the regiment, nor could they +discover the object of this aggression; nor did they know either how to +pursue the assailants, or in what terms to report to Government so +ignominious a loss. They marched, therefore, silently to Dumbarton +without attempting to pursue an enemy whose aim it might be to lure +them into some fastness, there to encounter a foe too powerful, from the +nature of the country, to be resisted. On arriving at Dumbarton the +mystery was explained. There the commander of the corps found a letter, +stating that "certain chiefs of clans had no objection to King William's +ruling in England, considering that nation as at liberty to choose its +own rulers; but that they never could, consistently with what they had +sworn on their arms, take an oath to any other sovereign while the +family of St. Germains remained in existence. They were," the writers +continued, "unwilling either to perjure themselves, or to hold their +lands in daily fear, and subject to the petty instruments of power. They +were willing to live peaceably under the present rule, but were resolved +neither to violate the dictates of conscience, nor to have their +possessions disturbed. In the meantime, to prevent encroachments upon +their lands, and to prevent the necessity of rushing into hostilities +with the Government, they had taken hostages to ensure their safety, and +with these they would never part until Sir Ewan Dhu and Alaster Dhu had +obtained assurances that they should never be disturbed for their +principles whilst they lived peaceably on their estates." + +This declaration was accompanied by a powerful remonstrance upon the +folly and danger of exasperating clans powerful from their union, and +from the inaccessibility of the country which they inhabited. The +tenderness of conscience, the fidelity to an exiled monarch, were made, +the writers urged, a plea for every species of oppression and petty +tyranny. The late massacre of Glencoe justified, they said, the measures +of precaution they were taking; and, finally they threatened, should +their petition be refused to take refuge in France, carrying with them +their young hostages, there to proclaim the impolicy and injustice of +the English Government. This address was dispatched, not to the Privy +Council, but to the relations and friends of the young prisoners, who +were interested in procuring a favourable reception for its negotiation; +and the chiefs who subscribed to this address reasonably expected that +the fear of their power, exaggerated in the sister kingdom, where a +total ignorance of the manners and character of the Scottish +mountaineers existed, would prevail to lend force to their arguments. +This negotiation was never made public; it proved, however, effectual, +as far as the comfort of some of the parties engaged in it were +concerned. + +By the influence of the rising party, who, espousing the interests of +the Princess Anne, were gaining ground in the country during the decline +of William, Sir Ewan Dhu and Glengarry, who were jointly considered as +the promoters of this affair, remained unpunished for a manoeuvre on +which public opinion in England was not inclined to pass a very severe +judgment, after the recent massacre of Glencoe.[253] Some secret +negotiations placed everything on a secure footing; and, during the +reign of Queen Anne; the two chieftains lived in tranquillity, their +mutual regard continuing undiminished during their lives, and becoming +the subject, after their deaths, of the lays composed in their honour by +their native bards. + +During his latter days, Sir Ewan Dhu had the consolation of seeing his +son happy in the choice of a wife. Beautiful and good, the young +Quakeress soon established herself in the good opinions of all those who +were acquainted with her; and there seems every reason to conclude that +she inherited the virtues, without the peculiarities of her father, +Robert Barclay of Urey. That eminent man was descended from a Norman +family which traced its ancestry to Thomas de Berkley, whose descendants +established themselves in Scotland. By his mother's side, Barclay was +allied to the house of Huntley; and by his connection with the heiress +of the mother's family, a considerable estate in Aberdeenshire was added +to the honours of antiquity. Unhappily for the lovers of the old Norman +appellations, the name of de Berkley was changed, in the fifteenth +century, into that of Barclay. One of Robert Barclay's sons, who became +a mercer in Cheapside, had the rare fortune of entertaining three +successive monarchs when they visited the City on the Lord Mayor's +Day,--George the First, George the Second, and George the Third; whose +heart, as it is well known, was touched by the beauty of one of the fair +descendants of Robert Barclay. + +Previously to the marriage between Lochiel and the young Quakeress, the +family into which he entered had been impoverished, and the estate of +Mathers, from which the Barclays derived their name, sold to defray +debt. + +The career of Robert Barclay was singular. He was first converted to +Popery during his residence in Paris, when he was fifteen; and he +changed that faith for the simple persuasion of the Quakers when he had +attained his nineteenth year. He adopted the tenets of the Friends at a +period when it required much courage to adhere to a sect who were +vilified and ridiculed, not only in England but in Scotland. It was to +refute these attacks against the Quakers that Barclay wrote the book +entitled, "Truth cleared of Calumnies." His ability and sincerity have +never been doubted; but some distrust of his reason may be forgiven, +when we find the Quaker, a grave and happily married man, walking +through the streets of Aberdeen, clothed in sackcloth and ashes, under +the notion that he was commanded by the Lord to call the people unto +repentance; he appealed to witnesses to prove the "agony of his spirit," +and how he "had besought the Lord with tears, that this cup might pass +away from him." + +This singular act of humiliation was contrasted by frequent visits to +the Court of Charles the Second, and to Elizabeth of Bohemia. To the +house of Stuart, Barclay was ever fondly attached. His father had +suffered in the civil wars; and the doctrines of non-resistance and +passive obedience, avowed by the Quakers, were favourable to the Stuart +dynasty. The last visit which Barclay paid to London was rendered +memorable by the abdication of James the Second. As he was standing +beside that monarch, near a window, the King looked out, and remarked +that "the wind was fair for the Prince of Orange to come over." "It is +hard," replied Barclay, "that no expedient can be found to satisfy the +people." James answered, that "he would do anything becoming a +gentleman, except parting with liberty of conscience, which he would +never do while he lived." Barclay only survived that eventful period two +years. His children, singular as it may seem, were all living fifty +years after their father's death. + +To the daughter of this inflexible and courageous man was Cameron of +Lochiel united. During the first years of their marriage, even before +the death of Sir Ewan Dhu, they lived peacefully in the home of their +ancestors; and whilst Anne reigned, that happy tranquillity was +undisturbed. The name of Anne was long cherished in the Highlands on +account of the rare intervals of peace and plenty which her rule, and as +it was thought, her pious prayers, afforded to a ravaged and oppressed +country. Seven years' famine, during the reign of William, were charged +upon the monarch's head: plenteous crops and peaceful abundance were +ascribed to the merits of Queen Anne.[254] Meantime, the gentle and +happy Lady of Lochiel won all hearts: she was distinguished, as +tradition reports, for prudence, activity and affability. "One great +defect," adds Mrs. Grant, "she had, however, which was more felt as such +in the Highlands than it would have been in any other place. She did +not, as a certain resolute countrywoman of hers was advised to do, +'bring forth men-children only;' on the contrary, daughters in +succession, a thing scarce pardonable in one who was looked up to and +valued in a great measure as being the supposed mother of a future +chief. In old times women could only exist while they were defended by +the warriour and supported by the hunter. When this dire necessity in +some measure ceas'd, the mode of thinking to which it gave rise +continued. And after the period of youth and beauty were past, woman was +only consider'd as having given birth to man. John Locheil's mind was +above this illiberal prejudice: he loudly welcomed his daughters and +caress'd their mother on their appearrance as much as if every one of +them had been a young hero in embryo. His friends and neighbours us'd on +these occassions to ask in a sneering manner, "What has the lady got?" +To which he invariably answered, "A lady indeed:" this answer had a more +pointed significance there than with us. For in the Highlands no one is +call'd a lady but a person named to the proprietors of an estate. All +others, however rich or high-born, are only _gentlewomen_. How the +prediction intentionally included in the chief's answer was fulfill'd, +will hereafter appear. + +"Besides the family title, every Highland chieftain has a patronymic +deriv'd from the most eminent of their ancestors, probably the founder +of the family, and certainly the first who confer'd distinction on it. +Thus Argyle is the son of Colin, Breadalbane the son of Archibald, &c.; +and the chief of the Camerons was always stil'd son of Donald Dhu, Black +Donald, whatever his name or complexion may be, as well as the +appellation deriv'd from it, because it would appear hereditary in the +family, and at length it became a tradition or prophesy among the clan +that a fair Lochiel should never prosper." + +At length, after the birth of twelve daughters, a son and heir made his +appearance. But the satisfaction of the clans was dashed by hearing that +the ill-starred little laird was fair, like his sisters. The prophecy +that a fair Lochiel should never prosper, was recalled with dismay; and, +unhappily, the fears of superstition were too mournfully realized by +fact. The young Cameron was named Donald: his birth was followed by the +appearance of two other boys,--Archibald, afterwards the ill-fated Dr. +Cameron, and John, who was called Fassefern, from an estate. "The proud +prediction of their father," continues Mrs. Grant, "was soon amply +fulfilled with regard to the daughters of this extraordinary family." +"Their history," she adds, "unites the extravagance of romance with the +sober reality of truth." + +The twelve daughters of Lochiel were admirably educated, and the fame of +their modest virtues soon extended through the Highlands. The great +point in matrimonial alliances in those rude regions was to obtain a +wife well born, and well allied; and little fortune was ever expected +with the daughter of a chief. Ancestry was the great point with a +Highlander, for he believed that defects of mind, as well as of person, +were hereditary. All, therefore, sought the daughters of Lochiel, as +coming of an untainted race. The elder ones were married early, and +seemed, as Mrs. Grant expresses it, by the solicitude to obtain them, as +ever to increase, like the Sibyl's leaves, in value, as they lessened in +number. Of the daughters, one, the youngest and the fairest, was +actually married to Cameron of Glendinning, in the twelfth year of her +age. She became a widow, and afterwards married Maclean of Kingasleet, +so that she was successively the wife of two heads of houses. Another, +Jean Cameron, who was the least comely of her family, but possessed of a +commanding figure and powerful understanding, was married to Clunie, the +Chief of the Clan Macpherson. She is said to have been celebrated in the +pathetic poem, entitled "Lochaber no More," the poet, who laments his +departure from Lochaber, and his farewell to his Jean, having been an +officer in one of the regiments stationed at Fort William. + +By the marriage of his twelve daughters with the heads of houses, the +political importance of Lochiel was considerably enhanced, and a +confederacy, containing many noted families who were bound together by +opinion and kindred, formed a strong opposition to the reigning +Government. The sons-in-law of Lochiel were the following chiefs: +Cameron of Dungallan, Barclay of Urie, Grant of Glenmoriston, Macpherson +of Clunie, Campbell of Barcaldine, Campbell of Auchalader, Campbell of +Auchlyne, Maclean of Lochbuy, Macgregor of Bohowdie, Wright of Loss, +Maclean of Ardgour, and Cameron of Glendinning. All the daughters became +the mothers of families; "and these numerous descendants, still," +observes Mrs. Grant, "cherish the bonds of affinity, now so widely +diffused, and still boast their descent from these female +worthies."[255] + +Among most of the influential chieftains who espoused the daughters of +Lochiel, was the celebrated Macpherson of Clunie, who afterwards took a +very important part in the Rebellions of 1715 and 1745. The career of +Clunie affords a melancholy, but rare, instance of indecision, if not of +double dealing, in the Jacobites. Before the battle of Culloden, anxious +to retrieve his affairs and to ensure his safety, he took the oaths to +the English Government, and was appointed to a company in Lord Loudon's +Highlanders. His clan, nevertheless, were eager to join Charles Edward, +and urged him to lead them to his standard. Clunie hesitated between +the obligation to his oath, and his secret devotion to the Stuarts. His +defection irritated the British Government: he became one of those whose +life was forfeited to the laws. After the battle of Culloden he secreted +himself, and lived for nine years in a cave, at a short distance from +the site of his own house, which had been burned by the King's troops. +The cave was in front of a woody precipice, the trees, &c., completely +concealing the entrance. It was dug out by his own people, who worked at +night, or when time had slackened the rigour of the search. Upwards of +one hundred persons knew of this retreat, and one thousand pounds were +offered as a reward to any who would discover it. Eighty men were +stationed there to intimidate the tenantry into a disclosure, but it was +all in vain; none could be found so base as to betray their chief.[256] + +For two years Sir Hector Monro in vain remained in Badenoch, for the +purpose of discovering Clunie's retreat. The Macphersons remained true +to their chieftain. At times he emerged from his dark recess, to mingle +for awhile in the hours of night with his friends, when he was protected +by the vigilance and affection of his clansmen, unwearied in their work +of duty. At last, broken-spirited, and despairing of that mercy which +was accorded by the English Government to so few of the insurgents, +Clunie escaped to France, and there died, ten years after the fatal +events of 1745.[257] The estate of this unfortunate chieftain was +restored to his family, who claim to be the ancient representatives of +the clan Chattan; with what justice it would be dangerous to declare, +since no risk could be more rashly encountered than that which is +incurred in discussing Highland prerogative. + +Surrounded by his powerful relatives and fair daughters, Lochiel hailed +with no very sanguine spirit the coming troubles which quickly followed +the accession of the house of Hanover. Already was the Jacobite +association busily at work in the south of Scotland; and it was +impossible, from the temper of the populace in both nations, not to +augur, in a short time, some serious popular outbreak. In the minds of +the Highland chieftains a hatred of English dominion, and a desire of +independence, constituted even a more potent source of adherence of the +Stuarts than any personal feeling towards that line. Most of these +chiefs languished to see a king of their own nation reign over them. To +such a ruler they would, as they considered, be viewed not as a +secondary object. Their interests had been neglected in the Treaty of +Darien,--a settlement which had inspired the landholders of the Low +Country with aversion to William. + +Expectations had also been raised, tending to the belief that Anne, +secretly well affected to her brother, had made such provisions in her +will as would ensure the descent of the Crown in the direct line; and +nothing could exceed the disgust and amazement of the Highlanders when +they beheld a foreigner seated on a throne, from which, they well knew, +it would be impossible to dispossess him. "To restore," as Mrs. Grant +observes, "their ancient race of monarchs to the separate Crown of +Scotland, was their fondest wish. This visionary project was never +adopted by the Jacobites at large, who were too well informed to suppose +it either practicable or eligible. But it serv'd as an engine to excite +the zeal of bards and sennachies, who were still numerous in the +Highlands, and in whose poetry strong traces of this airy project may +still be found." + +Soon after the accession of George the First, certain of the Highland +chieftains dispatched a letter to the Earl of Mar, desiring that +nobleman to assure the Government of their loyalty and submission. Among +the names subscribed are those of Lochiel, of his friend Glengarry, and +of Clunie. The address is said to have been a stratagem of Mar's to gain +time, and to give him an opportunity of ripening his schemes.[258] But +it appears more probable that there was, at first, a spirit of +moderation and a desire for peace in the chieftains, until they were +afterwards stimulated by the intrigues of the disappointed and baffled +Earl of Mar. Lochiel, as well as many others, had little to gain, but +much to lose, in any change of dynasty or convulsion in the state. +Prosperous, beloved, secure, his fidelity to that which he believed to +be the right cause was honourable to the highest degree to his +character. That he was not sanguine in his hopes, is more than probable. +Before he went to the battle of Sherriff Muir, he arranged his affairs +so as to be prepared for the worst result that might befal his family. +The frequent occurrence of feuds and civil wars in Scotland had taught +the higher classes the use of stratagem and manoeuvre in these +domestic disturbances. It was not unusual for a son and a father often +to affect to take opposite sides, in order that the estate, happen what +might, should be preserved to the family; and this was considered as +consulting the general good of the clan. Lochiel, although he did not +pursue this plan, yet left his affairs so arranged that, in the most +fatal results of the Rebellion of 1715, his estate might be protected. +His sons-in-law, powerful and devoted to the same cause, were well +qualified to aid and to protect those members of the family who were +entrusted to their friendly guidance. John Cameron was still styled +"Cameron the younger, of Lochiel," for the renowned Sir Ewan Dhu was +living when Mar summoned the chieftains to the hunting-field of Braemar. +The aged chieftain had, at this time, attained his eighty-seventh year; +it had been his glory, in early life, to defend a pass near Braemar +against Cromwell's troops, until the royal army had retired; and, in +fact, to be the instrument of saving Glencairn's troops, keeping himself +clear of those cabals which at that time fatally harassed the +disorganized Royalists. It was now his fate to send forth, under the +guidance of his son, his gallant Camerons, to the number of eight +hundred, to espouse the cause of the Stuarts.[259] No jealousies +disturbed the confidence reposed on the one side, nor alienated +affection on the other. The affection of the Highlanders for their +children was one of the softened features in the national character. It +was usually repaid with a decree of reverence, of filial piety, which, +however other qualities may have declined and died away in the Highland +character, have remained, like verdant plants amid autumnal decay. The +appalling spectacle of a parent forsaken, or even neglected, by a child, +is a sight never known in the Highlands: nor is the sense of duty +lessened by absence from the mountains where first the sentiment was +felt. The Highland soldier, far from his country, is accompanied by this +holy love, this inexhaustible stimulus to exertion, which induces him to +save with what may be unjustly called a niggard hand his earnings, to +support, in their old age, those who have given him birth. "I have +been," says General Stewart, "a frequent witness of these offerings of +filial bounty, and the channel through which they were communicated; and +I have generally found that a threat of informing their parents of +misconduct, has operated as a sufficient check on young soldiers, who +always received the intimation with a sort of horror."[260] + +Blessed, doubtless, with the approval of his father, Sir Ewan Dhu, +Lochiel quitted his home. He left a wife whom he loved, a parent whom +he reverenced, and whose span of life could not be long extended; he +left a numerous and prosperous family, upon a sense of duty, a principle +of loyalty, an adherence, so fixed and so sure among the Highlanders, to +his engagements. The name of Cameron does not appear among the +chieftains who were assembled at Braemar; but it appears probable that +he attended the Earl of Mar's summons, since he was cited, by the +authority of an act passed on the thirtieth of August, to appear at +Edinburgh, as well as a number of other disaffected chieftains and +noblemen, to give bail for his allegiance to the Government. The summons +was not answered by a single individual, and the preparations for the +fatal insurrection continued in unabated activity. + +The details of the hopeless struggle contain no especial mention of John +Cameron of Lochiel; but, from manuscript sources, we learn that, after +the battle of Sherriff Muir, he continued with the Jacobite army, +conducted by General Gordon, to whom James Stuart had entrusted the +command of that remnant of his gallant and deserted adherents. The +Jacobite army having marched to Aberdeen, were there informed by General +Gordon of the flight of the Chevalier, of that of Lord Mar, and of the +other principal leaders. A letter was then read to them from James, +declaring that the disappointments which he had met with, especially +from abroad, had obliged him to leave the country. He thanked his +subjects for their services, and desired them to advise with General +Gordon, and to consult their own safety, either by keeping in a body, +or separating, and encouraged them to hear from him again in a very +short time. A singular scene ensued. General Gordon and the chief +officers of the army, are said to have pretended surprise at this +disclosure, although they were previously in the secret; but the +indignation of the soldiers was extreme. + +"We are basely betrayed," they cried out; "we are all undone; we have +neither King nor General left!" + +Shortly after this crisis, the Jacobite army dispersed; two hundred of +them, amongst whom were many chieftains, went towards Peterhead, +intending to embark, in vessels which they knew were waiting for them, +for France; but the main body of the army marched westward, to +Strathspey and Strath-dore to the Hills of Badenoch, where they +separated. The foot-soldiers dispersed into the mountains, near Lochy, +and the horse went to Lochaber, agreeing to reassemble, such was their +undaunted fidelity and courage, on receiving notice from the +Chevalier.[261] But such a summons never came, to arouse those brave men +from the repose of their glens and fortresses. + +Lochiel had entrusted the guidance of his clan to his son, afterwards +well known by the name of "gentle Lochiel," and the faithful promoter of +Charles Edward's ill-starred enterprise. Persuaded that the safety and +honour of his house were safe in the hands of this promising young man, +who had been purposely kept in ignorance of the projected rising, and +had taken no part in it, Lochiel resolved to consult his own safety, and +to follow his royal master to France. After wandering for some time near +Braemar, and in Badenoch, he escaped by means of one of the French +frigates which were cruising near the coast of Scotland.[262] + +In 1719 Sir Ewan Dhu expired, having witnessed the rise and fall of that +attempt to restore the Stuarts, which was only succeeded by a more +desperate and melancholy undertaking. He lived to see his son an exile, +but he had the consolation of reflecting that the honour of his clan, +the great desideratum with a chieftain, was yet unstained either by +cowardice or disloyalty. + +The Camerons do not appear to have had any participation in the abortive +attempt in 1718 to revive the Stuart claim. Considered by the English +Government as a proscribed rebel, and deemed of too much importance to +be forgiven, Lochiel passed henceforth most of his days in the +melancholy court of St. Germains, where he soon perceived how little +faith there was to be placed in the energy and determination of James +Stuart. At times his weary exile was relieved by secret visits to his +own home at Achnacarry, where he found his son, dutiful and amiable, +holding his possessions as in trust for his father. Lochiel was enabled +by the power and alliance of his sons-in-law to remain in safety, as +long as he pleased, during these visits; yet he professed to renounce +Scotland until a change of Government should facilitate his return as a +chieftain to his clansmen. In every district he found kindred ready to +protect him, and he derived much importance from the influence he +possessed through his children. His sons-in-law were mostly the heads of +clans, and they all looked up to Lochiel with affectionate reverence. +Had Lochiel been a remorseless partisan of James, instead of a true +lover of his country, he might easily have stimulated his kindred, and +set into motion the whole of that powerful connection of which he was +the centre. But he perceived too plainly the risk of such a proceeding, +and wisely declined involving the peaceful and the prosperous in the +dangers of another contest. His moderate sentiments were confirmed by +the early wisdom of his son,--one of those bright patterns of human +excellence, gifted with every charm which attends a noble and gallant +chieftain. + +During the early part of the Rebellion of 1745, John of Lochiel remained +in France; but, when the battles of Falkirk and of Preston Pans raised +the hopes of his party, he came over to Scotland, and landed on the +coasts of Lochaber, a short time before the fatal blow to the Stuart +cause was given at Culloden. After taking a last look at his house, and +visiting, with what feelings can well be conceived, the scenes of his +childhood, the haunts of his ancestry,--the house of Achnacarry, which +was soon, as he well might conjecture, to be the object of vengeance to +a foe more ruthless and brutal than ever party spirit had infuriated in +this country before,--Lochiel, embarking in the vessel which had brought +him to Scotland, elate with hope, returned to France. His exile was +cheered by the friendship of the Duke of Berwick, but his heart seems +ever to have been in Scotland. A few years afterwards he came over again +privately to Edinburgh, and there his eventful life was closed.[263] His +estates were included, after the year 1745, in the numerous forfeitures +which followed the Rebellion; but they were eventually restored, and +they have remained in possession of the family. Intrepid and amiable as +John of Lochiel appears to have been, and perilous as was his career, +his character bears no comparison in interest with that of one who was +one of the brightest ornaments of his party--his gallant unfortunate +son. + +Donald Cameron of Lochiel, had long exercised the authority of a +chieftain, before the Rebellion of 1745 entailed upon him a +participation in occupations still more arduous. He had, in short, +arrived at middle age when he was called upon to support the claims of +Charles Edward. + +To the virtues and intentions of this chieftain, even his enemies have +borne tribute. He was accomplished, refined, and courteous; yet brave, +firm, and daring. The warlike tribes around him, unaccustomed to such a +combination of qualities, idolized the gallant and the good Lochiel. His +father, reposing on his honour and prudence, relied with security upon +his son's management of the family estates, and this confidence was +never disturbed by presumption on the one hand, nor by suspicion on the +other. + +Donald Cameron had imbibed the principles of his father; and there is +little doubt but that, during the furtive visits of John Lochiel to +Scotland, a tacit understanding had been formed between them to support +the "good old cause," as they termed it, whenever circumstances should +permit. But Donald Cameron, although "he loved his King well, loved his +country better;" nor could he be persuaded to endanger the peace of that +country by a rash enterprise, which could never, as he justly thought, +prosper without foreign aid, and the hearty co-operation of the English +Jacobites. His own clansmen were, he well knew, prepared for the +contest, come when it might; for the conversation of the small gentry +and of the retainers consisted, to borrow a description from a +contemporary writer, entirely of disquisitions upon "martiall +atchievements, deer huntings, and even valuing themselves upon their +wicked expeditions and incursions upon their innocent low-country +neighbours. They have gott," adds the same author,[264] "a notion and +inviollable maxim handed down to them from their forefathers, that they, +being the only ancient Scotsmen, that whole nation belongs to them in +property, and look on all the low-country-men as a mixture of Danes, +Saxons, Normans, and English, who have by violence robbed them of the +best part of their country, while they themselves are penned up in the +most mountainous and barren parts thereof to starve; therefore think it +no injustice to commit dayly depredations upon them, making thereby +conscience to interrupt their illegal possession (as they call it) in +case it should prescribe into a right."[265] + +It would not have been difficult to have blown such combustible +materials into a flame; but Donald Cameron adopted a different policy, +and endeavoured to allay the angry passions of the tribe over which he +ruled: nevertheless, his own conduct was perfectly consistent with his +principles; and such was the notion entertained of his integrity and +moderation, that though he never took the oaths to the reigning family, +he was indulged in that tenderness of conscience and permitted to remain +in peace, even though residing in the immediate neighbourhood of a great +military station.[266] + +Donald Cameron had indeed a more valuable stake in the country than +houses or lands. He was married in the year 1723 to the daughter of Sir +James Campbell of Auchinbreck, a lady of whom it is high praise to say, +that she was worthy of being the companion of such a man. + +Thus situated, the nominal holder of an estate which, though long +maintained in the family, is said never to have exceeded in value five +hundred pounds a-year, and less prejudiced against the English and the +ruling powers than his predecessors, Donald Cameron felt, it is +asserted, little desire to promote a second invasion of the country by +the Chevalier. The slightest intimation of his father's wish to revive +that cause would have been sufficient to set the whole family +confederacy into motion; but the wisdom of the younger Lochiel had been +ripened by the cautious and critical part which he had had to perform in +life; and that prudent disposition, enforced by his father's +circumspection, prevented any precipitate measures. + +Of the favour and confidence of the Chevalier, Donald Cameron was well +assured. In 1729, the following letter was addressed to him, under the +name of Mr. Johnstone, by James.[267] + + "I am glad of this occasion to let you know how well plessed I am to + hear of the care you take to follow your father's and uncle's + example in their loyalty to me; and I doubt not of your endeavours + to maintain the true spirit in the clan. Allan is now with me, and + I am always glad to have some of my brave Highlanders about me, whom + I value as they deserve. You will deliver the enclosed to its + address, and doubt not of my particular regard for you, which I am + persuaded you will always deserve. + + (Signed) "JAMES R." + + "April 11, 1727." + +In addition to these instructions, Donald Cameron received a letter from +his uncle, Allan Cameron, (in 1729,) who attended the Chevalier during +his residence at Albano; from which it appears that a full commission +had been sent to Lochiel to treat with "such of the King's friends in +Scotland," as he thought were safe to be trusted concerning his affairs. +It was also intimated that James had conceived a high opinion of the +good sense and prudence of Lochiel, from his letters; and encouragement +was given to any future exertions. The uncle then instructed his nephew +how to answer the King's letter in the following explicit manner. These +directions are tolerably minute:[268] + + "I think it proper you should write to the King by the first post + after you receive his letter. I need not advise you what to say in + answer to such a gracious letter from your King, only let it not be + very long. Declare your duty and readiness to execute his Majesty's + commands on all occasions, and your sense of the honour he has been + pleased to do you in giving you such a commission. I am not to chuse + words for you, because I am sure you can express yourself in a + dutiful and discreet manner without any help. You are to write, Sir, + on a large margin, and to end, Your most faithful and obedient + subject and servant; and to address to the King and no more; which + inclose to me sealed. I pray send me a copy of it on a paper + inclosed, with any other thing that you do not think fit or needful + the King should see in your letter to me, because I will shew your + answer to this, wherein you may say that you will be mindful of all + I wrote to you, and what else you think fit." + +To these instructions assurances were added, that the elder Lochiel, who +had, it seems, been in necessitous circumstances after his attainder, +and during his exile, should be relieved at the Chevalier's expense; "so +that," adds the uncle, "your mind may be pretty easy upon that point." +Donald had, it appears, expressed some discontent at the comparative +comfort in which some of the exiled Jacobites lived, and the poverty of +his father's circumstances, which he had observed when in Paris a few +years previous to this correspondence. Allan Cameron further advised his +nephew to keep on good terms with Glengarry and all other neighbours; to +let "byganes, be byganes," as long as such neighbours continue firm to +the "King's interests;" to avoid private animosities, and yet to keep a +watch over their fidelity to the cause. "As to Lovat," adds the uncle, +"be on your guard, but not so as to lose him; on the contrary, you may +say that the King trusts a great deal to the resolution he has taken to +serve him, and expects he will continue in that resolution. But, dear +nephew, you know very well that he must give true and real proof of his +sincerity by performance, before he can be entirely reckoned on, after +the part he has acted. This I say to yourself, and therefore you must +deal with him very dexterously; and I must leave it to your own judgment +what lengths to go with him, since you know he has always been a man +whose chief view was his own interest. It is true, he wishes our family +well; and I doubt not he would wish the King restored, which is his +interest, if he has the grace to have a hand in it, after what he has +done. So, upon the whole, I know not what advice to give you, as to +letting him know that the King wrote you such a letter as you have; but +in general, you are to make the best of him you can, but still be on +your guard; for it is not good to put too much in his power before the +time of executing a good design. The King knows very well how useful he +can be if sincere, which I have represented as fully as was necessary. + +"This letter is of such bulk, that I have inclosed the King's letter +under cover with another letter addressed for your father, as I will not +take leave of you till next post. I add only, that I am entirely yours, + + (Signed) "A. CAMERON." + + * * * * * + +Eight years afterwards (in 1736), when inquiries were made by the +Chevalier concerning the temper of the people, and the state of the +clans, it was stated that the most leading men among the clans were +Cameron of Lochiel and Sir Alexander Macdonald. The Cameronians were, it +was stated, well armed, and regularly regimented among themselves, but +"so giddy and inconstant" that they could not be depended on; only that +they were strongly enraged against the Government. "The leading men +among the loyalists were reported much diminished; nor was it easy, from +the necessity of concealing their sentiments, since the last rising, to +make any estimate of the amount of those who would enter into any second +scheme."[269] Considering Cameron of Lochiel as thus empowered to give +information of the first movements of James, the Jacobites in the +Highlands were in continual communication with Cameron; yet, perhaps +considering that those who engaged in the last insurrection, being +nearly superannuated, would rather wish well to the cause than engage +again, he still kept the fervent spirits of that political party whom he +thus regarded in an equable state,--ready to act, yet willing to wait +for a favourable occasion. In 1740 Donald Cameron signed, nevertheless, +the association of seven carried by Drummond of Bochaldy to Rome; but +when the Court of France, after the disaster at Dunkirk, withdrew its +aid, he was one of those who sent over Murray to dissuade Charles from +coming to Scotland, unless accompanied by a body of foreign troops:--so +true were his professions of fidelity, and so finely was that fidelity +tempered with prudence. Holding these opinions, which were amply +verified by the result of the Rebellion of 1745, when Donald Cameron +received a letter from Prince Charles, written at Borodale, and desiring +to see him immediately, it was in sorrow and perplexity that he received +the summons. He sent his brother, the unfortunate Dr. Archibald Cameron, +to urge the Prince to return, and to assure him that he should not join +in the undertaking. But the Prince persisted in the resolution he had +formed of persevering in his attempt, and gave to Dr. Cameron the same +reply that he had already given to others, and then, addressing himself +to Macdonald of Scothouse, who had gone to the coast to pay his respects +to the Prince, he asked him if he could go to Lochiel and endeavour to +persuade him to do his duty. Young Scothouse replied, he would comply +with the Prince's wishes, and immediately set out for Achnacarry. Such a +message from such a quarter could not be resisted, and Lochiel prepared +to accompany young Scothouse to Borodale. Lochiel's reluctance to assent +was not, however, overcome: his mind misgave him. He knew well the state +of his country, and he took this first step with an ominous foreboding +of the issue. He left his home, determined not to take arms. On his way +to Borodale he called at the house of his brother, John Cameron of +Fassefern, who came out and inquired what had brought him from home at +that early hour? Lochiel replied that the Prince had arrived from +France, and had sent to see him. Fassefern inquired what troops the +Prince had brought? what money? what arms? Lochiel answered that the +Prince had brought neither money, nor arms, nor troops, and that he was +therefore resolved not to be concerned in any attempt, and to dissuade +Charles from an insurrection. Fassefern approved of his brother's +decision, but recommended him not to proceed to Borodale, but to +communicate his resolution by letter. "No," rejoined Lochiel; "it is my +duty to go to the Prince, and unfold to him my reasons, which admit of +no reply." "Brother," returned Fassefern, "I know you better than you +know yourself; if the Prince once sets his eyes upon you, he will make +you do whatever he pleases."[270] + +Lochiel, nevertheless, proceeded to Borodale. + +The gallant chief found the Prince surrounded by those who, like +himself, had consented, unwillingly, to join in the ill-starred +enterprise. The personal courage of Charles Edward has been doubted; but +his determination and fearlessness at this critical moment, afford an +ample contradiction of the charge. Whilst on board the ship which +brought him to Scotland, it was represented to him that he must keep +himself very retired, as the garrison at Inverlochie was not far off, +and as the Campbells in the neighbourhood would be ready to take him. "I +have no fear about that at all," was his reply. "If I could get six +stout trusty fellows to join me," he said, on another occasion, "I would +rather skulk about the mountains of Scotland than return to +France."[271] + +The Prince was in this temper of mind when Lochiel reached him. Upon his +arrival at Borodale, the Prince and he immediately retired to a long and +private conference. + +The conversation began, upon the part of Charles, by complaints of the +treatment which he had received from the Ministers of France, "who had +long," he said, "amused him with vain hopes, and deceived him with +promises:" "their coldness in his cause," he added, "but ill agreed with +the confidence which he had in his own claims, and with the enthusiasm +which the loyalty of his father's brave and faithful subjects had +inspired in him." Lochiel acknowledged the engagements of the chiefs, +but remarked that they were not binding, since his Highness had come +without the stipulated aid; and, therefore, since there was not the +least prospect of success, he advised the Prince to return to France, +and reserve himself and his faithful friends to some more favourable +opportunity.[272] + +This counsel was extremely distasteful to Charles Edward; already had +the young and gallant Prince declared to one of the Macdonalds, who had +urged the same opinion, that he did not choose to owe the restoration +of his father's throne to foreigners, but to his own friends, to whom he +was now come to put it in their power to have the glory of that +event.[273] He therefore refused to follow Lochiel's advice, asserting +that there could not be a more favourable moment than the present, when +all the British troops were abroad, and kept at bay by Marshal Saxe. In +Scotland, he added, there were only a few regiments, newly raised, and +unused to service. These could never stand before the brave Highlanders; +and the first advantage gained would encourage his father's friends to +declare themselves, and would ensure foreign aid. He only wanted "the +Highlanders to begin the war." + +"Lochiel," to use the words of Mr. Home, "still resisted, entreating +Charles to be more temperate, and consent to remain concealed where he +was, till he (Lochiel) and his other friends should meet together and +concert what was best to be done." Charles, whose mind was wound up to +the utmost pitch of impatience, paid no regard to this proposal, but +answered, that he was determined to put all to the hazard. "In a few +days," said he, "with the few friends that I have, I will erect the +royal standard, and proclaim to the people of Britain that Charles +Stuart is come over to claim the crown of his ancestors, to win it, or +to perish in the attempt: Lochiel," continued he, "who my father has +often told me was our firmest friend, may stay at home, and learn from +the newspapers the fate of his Prince; and so shall every man over whom +nature or fortune hath given me any power." Such was the singular +conversation on the result of which depended peace or war; for it is a +point agreed among the Highlanders, that if Lochiel had persisted in his +refusal to take arms, the other chiefs would not have joined the +standard without him, and the spark of rebellion must have instantly +expired.[274] + +To the details of this interview are added others, which somewhat +reflect upon the disinterestedness of Lochiel. They rest, however, upon +hearsay evidence; and, since conversations repeated rarely bear exactly +their original signification, some caution must be given before they are +credited: yet, even if true, one can scarcely condemn a man who is +forced into an enterprise from which he shrinks, screening himself from +all the consequences of defeat, and striving to preserve an inheritance +which he might justly regard as a trust, rather than a property. It must +also be remembered that Donald Cameron was at this time only nominally +the proprietor of the patrimonial estates. The following is the extract +from Bishop Forbes's diary, from which the information is supplied:-- + + "Leith, Thursday, April 9, 1752. + + "Alexander Macdonnell, the younger, of Glengary, did me the honour + to dine with me. In the course of conversation, I told young + Glengary, that I had oftener than once, heard the Viscountess + Dowager of Strathallan tell, that Lochiel, junior, had refused to + raise a man, or to make any appearance, till the Prince should give + him security for the full value of his estate, in the event of the + attempt proving abortive. To this young Glengary answered, that it + was fact, and that the Prince himself (after returning from France) + had frankly told him as much, assigning this as the weighty reason + why he (the Prince) had shown so much zeal in providing young + Lochiel (preferably to all others) in a regiment. 'For,' said the + Prince, 'I must do the best I can, in my present circumstances, to + keep my word to Lochiel.' Young Glengary told me, moreover, that + Lochiel, junior, (the above bargain with the Prince + notwithstanding,) insisted upon another condition before he would + join in the attempt, which was, that Glengary, senior, should give + it under his hand to raise his clan and join the Prince. Accordingly + Glengary, senior, when applied to upon the subject, did actually + give it under his hand, that his clan should rise under his own + second son as colonel, and Mac Donell, of Lochgary, as + lieutenant-colonel. Then, indeed, young Lochiel was gratified in all + his demands, and did instantly raise his clan. + + "Glengary, junior, likewise assured me that Cluny Mac Pherson, + junior, made the same agreement with the Prince, before he would + join the attempt with his followers, as young Lochiel had done, + viz. to have security from the Prince for the full value of his + estate, lest the expedition should prove unsuccessful; which the + Prince accordingly consented unto, and gave security to said Cluny + Mac Pherson, junior, for the full value of his estate. Young + Glengary declared that he had this from the young Cluny Mac + Pherson's own mouth, as a weighty reason why he, Cluny, would not + part with the money which the Prince had committed to his care and + keeping." + +Lochiel, after these arrangements with the Prince, returned to +Achnacarry, in order to prepare for the undertaking. A deep sadness +pervaded his deportment when he began thus to fulfil his promise to the +Prince; but having once embarked in the enterprise, he exerted himself +with as much zeal and perseverance as if he had engaged in it with the +full approbation of his judgment. We cannot wonder at his dejection, for +his assent was the assent of all the clans. It was a point agreed among +the Highlanders, that had Lochiel not proceeded to take arms, the other +chiefs would not have joined the standard without him; and the "spark of +rebellion," thus writes Mr. Home, "must instantly have expired." "Upon +this," says an eye-witness of the Rebellion, "depended the whole +undertaking; for had Lochiel stood out, the Prince must either have +returned to France on board the same frigate that brought him to +Scotland, or remained privately in the Highlands, waiting for a landing +of foreign troops. The event has shown that he would have waited for a +long time."[275] + +From henceforth the career of Lochiel was one of activity and of +exertions which it must have been almost melancholy to witness in one +whose heart was sorrowing and foreboding. He arranged his papers and +affairs as a man does before setting out on a journey from which he was +not to return,[276] and he summoned his followers to give aid to a cause +which as Mrs. Grant remarks, "a vain waste of blood adorned without +strengthening."[277] He sent messengers throughout Lochaber and the +adjacent countries in which the Camerons lived, requiring his chieftains +to prepare and to accompany their chief to Glenfinnin. Before, however, +the day appointed had arrived, a party of the Camerons and the +Macdonalds of Keppoch had begun the war by attacking Captain John Scott, +at High Bridge, eight miles from Fort William. The chief glory of this +short but important action is due to Macdonald of Keppoch; the affair +was over when Lochiel with a troop of Camerons arrived, took charge of +the prisoners, and carried them to his house at Achnacarry. + +On the nineteenth of August (old style), Lochiel, followed by seven +hundred men, marched to Glenfinnin, where Charles was anxiously awaiting +his approach. When the Prince landed from one of the lakes in the glen, +Lochiel was not to be seen; and the adventurer, entering one of the +hovels, waited there two hours, until the sound of the bagpipes +announced the approach of the Camerons. These brave men who were thus +marching to their destiny advanced in two lines of three men deep, +whilst between the lines were the prisoners taken at High Bridge, +unarmed, trophies of the first victory of the Jacobites. The Camerons +were reputed to be as active and strong and as well skilled in the use +of arms as any of the clans of Scotland, and as little addicted to +pilfering as any Highlanders at that time could be; for Lochiel had +taken infinite pains to make them honest, and had administered justice +among them with no little severity. "He thought," says a writer of the +time, "his authority sufficient to keep his clan in subjection, and +never troubled his head whether they obeyed him out of love or from +fear."[278] Lochiel had not been able to prevail upon any of his +brothers-in-law to accompany him, although they wished well to the +undertaking, and, in some instances, afterwards joined it. One member of +his family made, however, a conspicuous figure in the vale of +Glenfinnin. + +This was the celebrated Jenny Cameron, daughter of Cameron of +Glendessery, and a kinswoman of Lochiel. She is reported to have been a +widow, and upwards of forty, according to one account,--to another, of +fifty years of age. Her father, whose estate did not exceed in value one +hundred and fifty pounds a year, had endeavoured to improve it by +dealing in cattle, a business frequently followed even by men of good +family in the Highlands. He had been some time dead, and the estate had +devolved upon his grandson, a youth of weak intellect, to whom Miss +Cameron acted as curatrix or guardian. The young man, although then of +age, left all matters of business entirely to his aunt; and she came, +therefore, to the standard of Prince Charles, as the representative of +her nephew. + +Her appearance, if we are to accredit contemporary statements, must have +been extremely singular. Having collected a troop of two hundred and +fifty men, she marched at the head of it to the camp at Glenfinnin. She +was dressed in a sea-green riding-habit, with a scarlet lappet, laced +with gold; her hair was tied behind in loose curls, and surmounted with +a velvet cap, and a scarlet feather. She rode a bay gelding, with green +furniture, richly trimmed with gold; in her hand she carried a naked +sword instead of a riding-whip. Her countenance is described as being +agreeable, and her figure handsome;[279] her eyes were fine, and her +hair as black as jet. In conversation she was full of intelligence and +vivacity.[280] The Prince, it is said, rode out of the lines to receive +her, and to welcome the addition to his army, and conducted her to a +tent with much ceremony. It was reported that Mrs. Cameron continued in +the camp as the commander of her troop, and accompanied the Prince into +England. But this account is contradicted by Bishop Forbes. "She was so +far," he says, "from accompanying the Prince's army, that she went off +with the rest of the spectators as soon as the army marched; neither did +she ever follow the camp, nor was ever with the Prince but in +public,[281] when he had his Court in Edinburgh."[282] + +The Prince remained at Glenfinnin two days, and was observed to be in +high spirits. Here he was presented by Major Macdonell with the first +good horse that he had mounted in Scotland. Charles Edward then marched +his little army to Lochiel, which is about five miles from Glenfinnin, +resting first at Fassefern, the seat of Lochiel's brother, and then +proceeded to a village called Moidh, belonging to Lochiel. + +From this time the fate of Lochiel was inevitably bound up with that of +the Prince. At the siege of Edinburgh he distinguished himself at the +head of his Camerons in the following manner:--When the deputies who +were appointed by the town council to request a further delay from +Charles set out in a hackney coach for Gray's Mill to prevail upon Lord +George Murray to second their application, as the Netherbow Port was +opened to let out their coach, the Camerons, headed by Lochiel, rushed +in and took possession of the city. The brave chief afterwards obtained +from Prince Charles the guard of the city, as he was more acquainted +with Edinburgh than the rest of the Highland chiefs; and his discipline +was so exact that the city guns, persons, and effects were as secure +under his care as in the time of peace. There was indeed some pilfering +in the country, but not more than was to be expected in the +neighbourhood of an army of undisciplined Highlanders. + +Lochiel remained in Edinburgh while the Prince continued there, and +witnessed the brief splendour of the young Chevalier's Court: it is thus +described by an eye-witness:[283]--"The Prince's Court at Holyrood soon +became very brilliant. There were every day, from morning till night, a +vast affluence of well-dressed people. Besides the gentlemen that had +joined or come upon business, or to pay their court, there were a great +number of ladies and gentlemen that came either out of affection or +curiosity, besides the desire of seeing the Prince. There had not been a +Court in Scotland for a long time, and people came from all quarters to +see so many novelties. One would have thought the King was already +restored, and in peaceable possession of all the dominions of his +ancestors, and that the Prince had only made a trip to Scotland to show +himself to the people and receive their homage. Such was the splendour +of the Court, and such the satisfaction that appeared in everybody's +countenance." + +At the battle of Falkirk, Lochiel was slightly wounded, as well as his +brother Archibald.[284] Throughout that engagement, as well as during +the whole of the unhappy contest of 1745-6, Lochiel distinguished +himself by his clemency, gallantry, and good faith. An incident which +happened after the battle of Falkirk, shows the respect paid to the head +of the clan. + +While Charles Edward was standing at an open window at his house in +Falkirk, reading a list of prisoners just presented by Lord Kilmarnock, +a soldier in the uniform of one of King George's regiments made his +appearance in the street below. He was armed with a musket and bayonet, +and wore a black cockade in his hat, as it appeared, by way of defiance. +Upon perceiving this, Charles directed the attention of Lord Kilmarnock, +who was standing near him, to the soldier. Lord Kilmarnock ran down +stairs immediately, went up to the soldier, struck the hat off his head, +and set his foot on the black cockade. At that instant a Highlander came +running across the street, and laid hands on Lord Kilmarnock, and pushed +him back. Lord Kilmarnock pulled out a pistol and presented it at the +Highlander's head: the Highlander drew out his dirk and pointed it at +Lord Kilmarnock's heart. After remaining in this position a few seconds +they were separated: the man with the dirk took up the hat and put it on +the head of the soldier, who was marched off in triumph by the +Highlanders. + +This little scene was explained to some of the bystanders thus: The man +in the King's uniform was a Cameron, who, after the defeat of the +Government army, had joined his clan. He was received with joy by the +Camerons, who permitted him to wear his uniform until others could be +procured. The Highlander who pointed the dirk at Lord Kilmarnock's +breast, was the soldier's brother; the crowd who surrounded him were his +kinsmen of the clan. No one, it was their opinion, "could take that +cockade out of the soldier's cap, except Lochiel himself."[285] Lochiel +accompanied the Prince in his disastrous expedition to Derby. + +At the end of February 1746, he was sent with General Stapleton to +besiege Fort William. He left that enterprise when summoned by Charles +Edward to assemble around his standard on the field of Culloden. On the +eventful fourteenth of April, the day before the battle, Lochiel joined +the Prince's army: that night, the Highlanders, who never pitched a +tent, lay among the furze and trees of Culloden Wood, whilst their young +leader slept beneath the roof of Culloden House. + +The following extract from the Duke of Cumberland's orderly-book shows +how closely that able general and detestable individual had studied the +habits of those whom it was his lot to conquer; and mark also his +contempt for the "Lowlanders and arrant scum" who sometimes made up the +lines behind the Highlanders.[286] + + "Edinburgh, 12 Jan. 1745-6. Sunday Parole, Derby. + + "Field-officer for the day: to-morrow Major Willson. The manner of + the Highlander's way of fighting, which there is nothing so easy to + resist, if officers and men are not prepossessed with the lyes and + accounts which are told of them. They commonly form their front rank + of what they call their best men, or true Highlanders, the number of + which being allways but few, when they form in battallions they + commonly form four deep, and these Highlanders form the front of the + four, the rest being Lowlanders and arrant scum; when these + battallions come within a large musket-shott, or three-score yards, + this front rank gives their fire and immediately throw down their + firelocks and come down in a cluster with their swords and targets, + making a noise and endeavouring to pearce the body, or battallions + before them. Becoming twelve or fourteen deep by the time they come + up to the people, they attack. The sure way to demolish them is at + three deep to fire by ranks diagonally to the centre where they + come, the rear rank first, and even that rank not to fire till they + are within ten or twelve paces; but if the fire is given at a + distance you probably will be broke, for you never get time to load + a second cartridge; and if you give way, you may give your foot for + dead, for they being without a firelock, or any load, no man with + his arms, accoutrements, &c. can escape them, and they give no + quarters; but if you will but observe the above directions, the are + the most despicable enemy that are." + +On the following day when the army, being drawn up on Drumossie Moor, +waited in vain till mid-day for the approach of the enemy, Charles +addressed his generals and chiefs, and proposed to attack the Duke of +Cumberland's camp at Nairn that evening. + +His proposal was, unfortunately for his brave followers, not seconded by +the powerful voice of Lord George Murray. Lochiel, who was not a man +given to much elocution, recommended delay, and urged that the army +would be at least fifteen hundred stronger on the following day. The +return of the army to Culloden, fatigued and famished, between five and +six o'clock on the following morning, was the result of that ill-advised +attempt. At eight o'clock the alarm was given at Culloden House by one +of the clan Cameron, that the Duke's army was in full march towards +them. + +When the army was formed into two lines, Lochiel's regiment was placed +on the left, next to the Athole Brigade. The Camerons, with the +Maclaclans and Macleans, the Mackintoshes, the Stuarts, attacked sword +in hand. Most of the chiefs who commanded these five regiments were +killed, and Cameron of Lochiel, advancing at the head of his regiment, +was so near Burrel's regiment[287] that he had fired his pistol, and was +drawing his sword when he fell wounded with grape-shot in both ankles. +His two brothers, afterwards more unfortunate even than himself, were on +each side of him; they raised him up, and bore him off the field in +their arms. The Camerons, at the field of Culloden, sustained the +greatness of their fame; nor have the imputations which were cast upon +other clans, perhaps had a just foundation of truth. No reliance can be +placed upon the opinions of the English press at the time.[288] + +The blood of Cameron of Lochiel was sought, as Mrs. Grant expresses it, +with the "most venomous perseverance." His own country, to which he was +at first removed, affording him no shelter,[289] he sheltered himself in +the Braes of Bannoch. He suffered long from his wounds, until in June, +his friend Clunie Macpherson brought from Edinburgh a physician, Sir +Stewart Threipland, who gave him the benefit of his aid. Meantime the +spirit of Lochiel remained undaunted; and he who had entered into the +insurrection unwillingly, was almost the last to give up the cause. A +resolution was taken on the eighth of May by the chieftains to raise +each a body of men, for the service of the Prince; and the rendezvous +was appointed at Achnacarry on the fifteenth instant. We find a letter +addressed by Lochiel on May the twenty-fifth to the chiefs, accounting +for his not having met them according to promise, by the risk of a +surprise, and recommending them to keep quiet until a promised succour +from France. The letter speaks the language of hope; but whether that +was the real feeling of the writer, or only intended to keep up +exertion, cannot be ascertained. In the postscript Lochiel states his +regret that many had given up their arms without his knowledge. "I +cannot," he adds, "take upon me to direct in this particular, but to +give my opinion, and let every one judge for himself." + +During May, Lochiel continued at Loch Arkeg, preparing for a summer +campaign, and corresponding with Clunie Macpherson and with the +treacherous Murray of Broughton on the subject. He was, at this time, in +want of food and money. "I have scarcely a sufficiency of meal," he +writes, "to serve myself and the gentlemen who are with me for four +days, and can get none to purchase in this country."[290] After the +breaking up of the scheme of fresh cooperations in May, and when +Lochaber was occupied by the Government troops, Lochiel became anxious +to retire to Badenoch. This district is one of the wildest parts of the +Highlands; though destitute of wood, it afforded shelter in its rocky +dens and in the sides of its rugged hills. Not only did Lochiel desire +repose and safety, but he longed to be beyond the reach of those +heartrending accounts which were ever brought to him of the sufferings +of his people, and of the dwellers in Lochaber. The severities and +cruelties of the military, licensed by the Duke of Cumberland to every +atrocity, to use the simple language of Mr. Forbes, "bore very hard upon +him." One day[291] when accounts were brought to Lochiel, in Badenoch, +that the poor people in Lochaber had been so pillaged and harassed that +they had really no necessaries to keep in their lives, Lochiel took out +his purse and gave all the money he could well spare to be distributed +among such in Lochaber. "And," said a friend who was with him, "I +remember nothing better than that Sir Stewart Threipland at that time +took out his purse and gave five guineas, expressing himself in these +words: "I am sure that I have not so much for myself; but then, if I be +spared I know where to get more, whereas these poor people know not +where to get the smallest assistance!"" + +Meantime the news reached Lochiel of the total destruction of his house +at Achnacarrie. Previously to the demolition of the house, the family +had buried or concealed many things in the earth. The English soldiers, +encamping round the smoking ruins, are said, on tradition, to have +actually boiled their kettles at the foot of each of a fine avenue of +plane-trees. The avenue remains, and fissures can still be traced +running up the stem of each tree. Not a memorial of the House of +Achnacarrie remained. For this, and other acts of wanton barbarity, the +pretext was that the Camerons, as well as other tribes, had promised to +surrender arms at a certain time, but had broken their word. "His Royal +Highness, the Duke of Cumberland," to borrow from a contemporary writer, +"began with the rebels in a gentle, paternal way, with soft admonitions, +with a promise of protection to all the common people that would bring +in their arms, and submit to mercy." Since, however, some equivocated, +and others broke their word, the Duke was obliged to lay "the rod on +more heavy." Fire and sword were therefore carried through the country +of the Camerons; the cattle were driven away; even the cotter's hut +escaped not: the homes of the poor were laid in ashes: their sheep and +pigs slaughtered: and the wretched inmates of the huts, flying to the +mountains, were found there, some expiring, some actually dead of +hunger. The houses of the clergy were crowded with the homeless and +starving: whole districts were depopulated: the Sabbath was outraged by +acts of destruction, which wounded, in the nicest point, the feelings +of the religious mountaineer; and the goods of the rebels were publicly +auctioned, without any warrant of a civil court. During all these +proceedings, the "jovial Duke," as he was called, was making merry at +Fort Augustus in a manner which, if possible, casts more odium on his +memory even than his atrocious and unpunished cruelties.[292] + +Achnacarrie was razed to the ground. A modern structure, suitable in +splendour to the truly noble family who possess it, has arisen in its +place; but no erection can restore the house of Sir Ewan Dhu, and the +home of his "gentle" grandson, Donald Cameron. As the plunderers +ransacked the house, they found a picture of Lochiel, and one which was +accounted a good likeness. This was given to the soldiers, who were +dispatched over Corryarie in search of the wounded and unfortunate +original. On the top of that mountain the military encountered +Macpherson of Urie, who, being of a fair and pleasing aspect, was +mistaken by them for Lochiel. + +"Urie," writes Mrs. Grant, who had the story from himself, "was a +Jacobite, and had been _out_, as the phrase was then. The soldiers +seized him, and assured him he was a d----d rebel, and that his title +was Lochiel. He, in turn, assured them that he was neither d----d, nor a +rebel, nor by any means Lochiel. When he understood, however, that they +were in search of Lochiel, and going in the very direction where he lay +concealed, he gave them reason finally to suppose he was the person they +sought. They returned to Fort Augustus where the Duke of Cumberland then +lay, in great triumph with their prisoners; Urie, as he expected, from +the indulgence of some who were about the Duke, was very soon set at +liberty." + +This temporary captivity of Urie had, however, the effect of allowing +Lochiel time to contrive means of escape from the country. There was +one, however, dear to him as his own life, whose continuance in Scotland +ensured that of Lochiel. This was Prince Charles, who evinced for +Lochiel a regard, and displayed a degree of confidence in his fidelity, +which were amply merited by the tried affection of the chieftain. For +nearly three months Lochiel remained ignorant of the fate of Charles, +until the joyful tidings were brought of his being safe at Loch-Arkeg. +Lochiel was at Ben Aulder, a hill of great circumference in Badenoch, +when he received this intelligence from one of his tenants named +Macpherson, who was sent by Cameron of Clunes to find out Lochiel and +Clunie, and to inform them that their young master was safe. + +Upon the return of Macpherson to Cameron of Clunes, the Prince, being +informed where Lochiel was, sent Lochgarry and Dr. Archibald Cameron +with a message to them. Since it was impossible that Lochiel could go to +the Prince on account of his wounds, it was agreed between Lochiel and +these friends, that Charles should take refuge near Achnacarrie, as the +safest place for him to pass some time; and Dr. Cameron and Lochgarry +returned to Charles to impart the details of this arrangement. The +attachment of Charles to Lochiel was shown in a very forcible manner: +when he was informed that the chief was safe and recovering, he +expressed the greatest satisfaction, and fervently returned thanks to +God. The ejaculation of praise and thanksgiving was reiterated three or +four times. + +Charles now crossed Loch Arkeg, and took up his abode in a fir-wood on +the west side of the lake, to await the arrival of Clunie, who had +promised to meet him there. The impatience of the Prince to behold his +friends Clunie and Lochiel was so great, that he set out for Badenoch +before Clunie could arrive. + +Lochiel had, during the months of June and July, remained on Ben Aulder, +under which name is comprehended a great chase belonging to Clunie. His +dwelling was a miserable shieling at Mellamir, which contained him and +his friend Macpherson of Breackachie, also his principal servant, Allan +Cameron, and two servants of Clunie. Here Clunie and Lochiel, who were +cousins-german, were chiefly supplied with provisions by Macpherson of +Breackachie, who was married to a sister of Clunie. The secret of their +retreat was known to many persons; but the fidelity of the Highlanders +was such, that though the Earl of Loudon had a military post not many +miles from Ben Aulder, he had not the slightest knowledge of the place +of Lochiel's concealment. The same high principle which guarded Prince +Charles in his wanderings, and resisted the temptation of a large +reward, protected Lochiel in his retirement. + +In this retreat he was found by the Prince, who had missed Clunie, and +had gradually made his way through Badenoch to the Braes of Bannoch, +accompanied by five persons. When Lochiel from his hut beheld a party +approaching, all armed, he concluded that a troop of militia were coming +to seize him. Lame as he was, it was in vain to think of retreating: he +held a short conference with his friends, and then resolved to receive +the supposed assailants with a general discharge of fire-arms. He had +twelve firelocks and some small pistols in the botine or hut; these were +all made ready, the pieces levelled, and planted; and Lochiel and his +friends trusted to getting the better of the searchers, whose number did +not exceed their own. Thus Charles Edward, after the unparalleled +dangers of his recent wanderings, ran a risk of being killed by one of +his most devoted adherents! "But," observes Clunie, in relating this +circumstance, "the auspicious hand of God, and his providence, so +apparent at all times in the preservation of his Royal Highness, +prevented those within from firing at the Prince and his four +attendants, for they came at last so near that they were known by those +within."[293] + +It was, indeed, no difficult matter to discern in the person of Charles +Edward the handsome and princely youth who had presided over the Court +at Holyrood. He had discarded the old black kilt, philibeg, and +waistcoat which he had worn at Loch Arkeg, for a coarse, brown, short +coat: a new article of dress, such as a pair of shoes and a new shirt, +had lately replenished his wardrobe. He had a long red beard, and wore a +pistol and dirk by his side, carrying always a gun in his hand. Yet "the +young Italian," as the Whigs delighted to call him, had braved the +rigours of his fate, and thriven beneath the severities of the Scottish +climate. His spirits were good; his frame, originally slender, had +become robust: he had fared in the rudest manner, and had acquired the +faculty of sleeping soundly, even with the dread of a surprise ever +before him. + +Lochiel, on the other hand, was lame, and had suffered long from his +close quarters, and from anxiety and sorrow. Tradition has brought down +to us the accounts of the chief's personal beauty. Though fair, he was +not effeminate; his countenance was regular and expressive. But those +attributes which completed the romance of Lochiel's character must have +been almost obliterated during these months of trial, infirm health, and +uncured wounds. His spirit was not yet subdued. Eventually that noble +heart was broken by all that it had endured, but, at that epoch of his +eventful life, it still throbbed with hope. + +When Lochiel perceived that it was Charles Edward who approached, he +made the best of his way, though lame, to receive his Prince. "The joy +at this meeting," writes Clunie, "is much easier to be conceived than +described." Lochiel attempted to kneel. "Oh no, my dear Lochiel!" cried +the Prince; "we do not know who may be looking from the top of yonder +hills; and if they see any such motions, they will conclude that I am +here." Lochiel then shewed him into his habitation, and gave him the +best welcome that he could: the Prince, followed by his retinue, among +whom were the two outlaws, or "broken men," who had succoured him, and +whom he had retained in his service, entered the hut.[294] A repast, +almost amounting to a feast in the eyes of these fugitives, was prepared +for them, having been brought by young Breackachie. It consisted of a +plentiful supply of mutton; an anker of whiskey, containing twenty +Scots' pints; some good beef sausages, made the year before; with plenty +of butter and cheese, besides a well-cured ham. The Prince pledged his +friends in a hearty dram, and frequently (perhaps, as the event showed, +too frequently) called for the same inspiring toast again. When some +minced collops were dressed with butter, in a large saucepan always +carried about with them, by Clunie and Lochiel, Charles Edward, +partaking heartily of that incomparable dish, exclaimed, "Now, +gentlemen, I live like a prince." "Have you," he said to Lochiel, +"always lived so well here?" "Yes, sir," replied the chief; "for three +months, since I have been here with my cousin Clunie, he has provided me +so well, that I have had plenty of such as you see. I thank Heaven your +Highness has been spared to take a part!" + +On the arrival of Clunie two days afterwards, the royal fugitive and his +friend Lochiel removed from Mellamur, and went two miles further into +Ben Aulder, until they reached a shiel called Uiskchiboa, where the hut +was peculiarly wretched and smoky; "yet his Royal Highness," as Clunie +related, "put up with everything." Here they remained for two or three +nights, and then went to a habitation still two miles further into Ben +Aulder, for no less remote retreat was thought secure. This retreat was +prepared by Clunie, and obtained the name of the Cage. "It was," as he +himself relates, "a great curiosity, and can scarcely be described to +perfection." It is best to give the account of the edifice which he had +himself constructed, in Macpherson's own words. "It was situated in the +face of a very rough, high, and rocky mountain, called Lettemilichk, +still a part of Ben Aulder, full of great stones and crevices, and some +scattered wood interspersed. The habitation called the Cage, in the face +of that mountain, was within a small but thick wood. There were first +some rows of trees laid down, in order to level a floor for the +habitation; and, as the place was steep, this raised the lower side to +an equal height with the other; and these trees, in the way of joists +or planks, were levelled with earth or gravel. There were betwixt the +trees, growing naturally on their own roots, some stakes fixed in the +earth, which, with the trees, were interwoven with ropes, made of heath +or birch-twigs, up to the top of the Cage, it being of a round or rather +oval shape, and the whole thatched and covered over with bog. This whole +fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree, which reclined from the one +end, all along the roof to the other, and which gave it the name of the +Cage; and by chance there happened to be two stones, at a small distance +from one another, in the side next the precipice, resembling the pillars +of a chimney, where the fire was placed. The smoke had its vent out +here, all along the face of the rock, which was so much of the same +colour that one could discover no difference in the clearest day. The +Cage was no larger than to contain six or seven persons, four of whom +were frequently employed playing at cards, one idle looking on, one +baking, and another fixing bread and cooking."[295] + +Charles and Lochiel remained six or seven days in this seclusion, which +was one of several to which Clunie was in the habit of retiring, never +even informing his wife or his most attached friends whither he was +going. But the deliverance of the Prince and Lochiel was now at hand. +Several small vessels had arrived from France, and touched on the west +coast, expressly to carry away the Prince, but not being able to find +him out, they had returned. By the fidelity of the Highlanders and the +connection between every member of the different clans, the Prince had +been able to keep up a continual communication with persons on the +coast, without discovery. This was managed by some of his adherents +skulking near the shore; and though they knew not where Charles was, yet +they conveyed the intelligence to others, who imparted it to persons in +the interior, who again told it to those who were acquainted with the +obscure place of his retreat. At last two French vessels, l'Heureux and +la Princesse de Conti, departed under the command of Colonel Warren, +from St. Malo, and arrived at Lochnarmagh early in September. This event +was communicated to Cameron of Clunes, who, on the other hand, learned +where the Prince was from a poor woman. A messenger was immediately +dispatched to the Cage, and he reached that place on the thirteenth of +September. Charles Edward and Lochiel now prepared to bid Scotland a +final adieu. Notices were sent round by the Prince to different friends +who might choose to avail themselves of this opportunity of escape; and +it was intimated to them that they might join him if they were inclined. + +The place of embarkation was Borodale, whence Charles had first summoned +Lochiel to support his cause. The party travelled only by night, and +were six days on their road. They were joined by Glengary, John Roy +Stewart, Dr. Cameron, and a number of other adherents. On the twentieth +of September they left Lochnarmagh, and had a fair passage to the coast +of France. The Prince had intended to sail direct for Nantes, but he +altered his course in order to escape Admiral Lestoch's squadron; and +after being chased by two men-of-war, he landed at Morlaix, in Lower +Bretagne, in a thick fog, on the twenty-ninth of September. + +Lochiel was accompanied in his flight to France by his wife, the +faithful and affectionate associate of his exile. His eldest son was +left in the charge of his brother Cameron, of Fassefern. In Paris +Lochiel found his father, who was then eighty years of age; and to this +aged chief the Prince paid the well-merited compliment of placing him in +the same carriage with himself and Lord Lewis Gordon, when he first went +to the Court of Louis the Fifteenth in state. The Prince was followed on +that occasion by a number of his friends, both in coaches and on +horseback. Lord Ogilvy, Lord Elcho, and the Prince's secretary Kelly, +preceded the royal carriage: the younger Lochiel and several gentlemen +followed on horseback. Amid this noble train of brave men, the Prince +appeared pre-eminent in the splendour of his dress. A coat of +rose-coloured velvet, lined with silver tissue, presented a singular +contrast to the brown short coat in which some of his adherents had +formerly seen him. His waistcoat was of gold brocade with a spangled +fringe, set out in scollops, and the white cockade in his hat was +studded with diamonds. The order of St. Andrew and the George on his +breast were adorned with the same jewels: "he glittered," as an +eye-witness observed, "all over like the star which they tell you +appeared at his nativity." But all this display, and the feigned +kindness of his reception, were but the prelude to a heartless +abandonment of his cause on the part of Louis the Fifteenth. + +Lochiel was, eventually, provided for by the French Monarch. He was made +Colonel of a French regiment, and having a peculiar faculty of attaching +others to him, he soon became beloved by those under his command. The +Prince showed him affectionate respect; and, blessed in the society of +his wife, and in a daughter whom he called Donalda, Lochiel might have +passed the rest of his days in tranquil submission to the course of +events: but his heart yearned for Scotland; he could not give up the +hopes of another expedition, which he desired to undertake with any +force that could be collected. Cherishing this scheme, the coldness of +the Court of France, and the rashness of the Prince, gave great sorrow +to his harassed mind. Soon after his arrival in Paris he opened a +correspondence with the Chevalier St. George, and represented to him +that the misfortunes which had befallen the cause were not +irretrievable, and that if ten regiments only could be landed in +Scotland before the depopulating system adopted by the English +Government had taken effect, an insurrection might again be raised with +good grounds for the hope of success. + +Still hoping thus to return to his country, and again to take arms in +her service, as he deemed it, it was long before Lochiel consented to +accept the command of the French regiment, "intending still," as he +said, "to share the fate of his people." "I told his Royal Highness," he +wrote to the Chevalier St. George, "that Lord Ogilvy or others might +incline to make a figure in France, but my ambition was to save the +crown and serve my country, or perish with it. His Royal Highness said, +he was doing all he could, but persisted in his resolution to procure me +a regiment. If it is obtained, I shall accept it out of respect to the +Prince; but I hope your Majesty will approve of the resolution I have +taken to share in the fate of the people I have undone, and, if they +must be sacrificed, to fall along with them. This is the only way I can +free myself from the reproach of their blood, and show the disinterested +zeal with which I have lived, and shall dye. + +"Your Majesty's most humble, most obedient, and most faithful +servant."[296] + +When Prince Charles, disheartened at the growing indifference of the +French Court to his interests, contemplated leaving Paris, Lochiel +objected to a proposal which seemed to imply an abandonment of the +cause which he had pledged himself to support. His representations to +the Prince were ineffectual, for a stronger influence had arisen to +baffle the endeavours of Charles's friends; and he was under the sway of +one who was, not inaptly, termed "his Delilah." He left Paris and +arrived at Avignon, to which place Lochiel addressed to him a letter +full of the most cogent reasons why he should not leave Paris. From his +arguments it appears that the English Jacobites had expressed their +willingness to rise, had the Prince either supplied them with arms or +brought them troops to support them. + +"For Heaven's sake, sir," wrote Lochiel,[297] "be pleased to consider +these circumstances with the attention that their importance deserves; +and that your honour, your essential interest, the preservation of the +royal cause, and the bleeding state of your suffering friends, require +of you. Let me beg of your Royal Highness, in the most humble and +earnest manner, to reflect that your reputation must suffer in the +opinion of all mankind, if there should be room to suppose that you had +slighted or neglected any possible means of retrieving your affairs." + +These remonstrances were at last so far effectual, that Charles returned +to Paris, and was only again removed from that capital by force. + +The spirit of Lochiel was meantime broken by the mournful tidings which +reached him of the death of friends on the scaffold, the cruelties +enacted in Scotland, and, more than all, of the Act which took effect +in August 1747, disarming the Highlanders and restraining the use of the +Highland garb. By this statute it was made penal to wear the national +costume: a first offence was punished with six months' imprisonment; a +second, with transportation for seven years. Such were the efforts made +to break the union of a fiery but faithful people, and such the attempt +to produce a complete revolution in the national habits! + +Many were the projects which amused the exiled Jacobites into hopes that +ended in bitter disappointment, and many the fleeting visions of a +restoration of the Stuarts. During one of these brief chimeras, Lochiel +and Clunie visited Charles at a retreat on the Upper Rhine, whither he +had retired after the perfidious imprisonment at the Castle of +Vincennes. They found the Prince sunk in the lassitude which succeeds a +long course of exciting events, and of smothered but not subdued misery. +The visit yielded to neither party satisfaction. Charles was deaf to the +remonstrances of Lochiel, and Lochiel beheld his Prince wholly devoted +to Miss Walkinshaw and her daughter, afterwards Countess of Albany, and +completely under the influence of his mistress, who was regarded by +Lochiel and Clunie as a spy of Hanover. + +Lochiel left the Prince, and they never met again. The health of the +chief began to decline; his malady was a mental one, and admitted of no +cure but a return to those vassals who had been so faithful and so much +attached to him, and to friends with whose misfortunes he seems to have +blamed himself. Of the affection of the clansmen he received frequent +proofs. "The estates of Lochiel," says Mrs. Grant, "were forfeited like +others, and paid a moderate rate to the Crown, such as they had formerly +given to their chief. The domain formerly occupied by the Laird was +taken on his behoof by his brother. The tenants brought each a horse, +cow, colt, or heifer, as a free-will offering, till this ample +grazing-farm was as well stocked as formerly. Not content with this, +they sent a yearly tribute of affection to their beloved chief, +independent of the rents they paid to the commissioners for the +forfeited estates. Lochiel's lady and her daughters once or twice made a +sorrowful pilgrimage among their friends and tenants. These last +received them with a tenderness and respect which seemed augmented by +the adversity into which they were plunged." + +At last the suffering spirit was released. Lochiel is conjectured to +have died about the year 1760, and is generally thought to have sunk +under the pressure of hopeless sorrow, or, to use the words of one who +spoke from tradition, "of a broken heart." His daughter Donalda, who was +about fourteen at the time of his death, had attached herself so fondly +to her father, that after his decease she pined away, and never +recovered. She died soon after her father, and the mother did not long +survive her daughter. Never, perhaps, did a brave and unfortunate man +sink to rest more honoured by society at large, more admired and +respected by his friends, more revered by his vassals, than the gentle +Lochiel. The beauty of his character showed itself also in the close +ties of domestic life: and in some of these, more particularly as a +brother, his warm and constant affections were destined to be severely +wounded. He felt deeply the banishment of his brother Cameron of +Fassefern; and still more severely the cruel fate of another brother, +Dr. Archibald Cameron. The fate of that young man, who attended Charles +Edward in most of his wanderings, presents, indeed, one of the saddest +episodes of this melancholy period. Dr. Cameron, after sharing the +dangers which the Prince ran, and following him to France, returned to +Scotland in 1749. Charles Edward had left a large sum of money in the +charge of Macpherson of Clunie, upon leaving Scotland; and Dr. Cameron +was privy to the concealment of the money. He visited Clunie, and +obtained from him six thousand louis-d'ors, for which, however, Clunie +took Dr. Cameron's receipt. In 1753, Dr. Cameron made another visit, +which is conjectured to have had a similar object. The money was +concealed near Loch Arkeg, to the amount of twenty-two thousand +louis-d'ors. Some degree of obscurity rests upon this transaction, which +undoubtedly throws a degree of discredit on the memory of Dr. Cameron. +Among the Stuart papers there is a letter from Mr. Ludovick Cameron to +Prince Charles, alluding to the "misfortune" of his nephew, Dr. Cameron, +in taking away a good round sum of his Highness's money, and clearing +himself from the imputation. This proves that there was no commission, +as it has been suggested,[298] to Dr. Cameron, but that the transaction +was regarded in a disgraceful light, even by the relative of the +unfortunate young man. + +A severe retribution awaited the offender, who intended, it is said, to +enter into a mercantile concern at Glasgow with the money thus procured. +He was taken prisoner in the house of Stewart of Glenbuckie, by a party +of soldiers from the garrison at Inversnaid. He was carried to London, +arraigned upon the Act of Attainder in 1745, in which his name was +included, and sentenced to the death of a traitor. His wife, who then +resided at Lisle, hurried to London to proffer fruitless petitions for +mercy. Whatever may have been Dr. Cameron's errors, his death was worthy +of the name he bore, and he sustained his fate with calmness and +resignation. Seven children were left to deplore his loss. The Chevalier +St. George, kindly passing over his fault, wrote of him in these terms. +"I am a stranger to the motives which carried poor Archibald Cameron +into Scotland; but whatever they may have been, his fate gives me the +more concern, as I own I could not bring myself to believe that the +English Government would carry their rigour so far." The French +Government settled a pension of one thousand five hundred livres upon +Mrs. Cameron, and an annual allowance of two hundred livres to each of +her sons, who were in their service. The unfortunate Dr. Cameron was +buried in the Savoy in London. The family of the man who betrayed him is +said, in the Highlands, to have been visited with a severe retribution, +having, ever since, had one of its members an idiot. Such is the notion +of retributive justice in the Highlands. + +The death of this brother, and still more the stain upon the honour of +Dr. Cameron, must have added greatly to the burden of sorrow which fell +so heavily upon Lochiel. His son was, however, spared for some years, +and was cherished by the Scots as the representative of their ancient +chiefs. He was, it is true, what they called a "landless laird," yet the +clansmen paid him all the honours due to the eldest son of Lochiel. He +received a good education, and was prevented by his friends from taking +any part in the various schemes set on foot at certain intervals for the +return of Charles. He married at an early age. Government was at that +time engaged in levying men for the American war, and found it +convenient to use the influence of the clans for that purpose; Lochiel +was offered a company in General Fraser's regiment, the seventy-first, +provided he could raise it among his clan. Poor and broken as they were, +the clansmen, true to their bond of fidelity, mustered around their +landless laird; and Lochiel marched at the head of his company to +Glasgow, in order to embark for America. + +It happened that whilst here, he was taken ill of the measles, a +disorder which prevented his marching. It was therefore arranged that +the first lieutenant should take his place. When, on the point of +marching to Greenock in order to embark, the clansmen discovered this, +they laid down their arms, declaring that they had not engaged with King +George, but with Lochiel; and they refused to move. The chief hearing of +this dilemma, ill as he was, arose, dressed himself, and went down to +his people. He harangued them, and represented that unless they went on +board, their conduct would be imputed to disaffection, and might injure, +if not ruin his interests. The men immediately took up their arms, +huzzaed their chief, and began to march. The result is melancholy. +Enfeebled by this effort, Lochiel again took to his bed; the day on +which he had made this fatal exertion was a raw November morning. He +never recovered from that exposure, but died in a few days afterwards. + +Most of the company of Camerons perished in the contest which ensued. +Thrice during the American war was General Fraser's regiment +renewed.[299] Such was the devotion of this gallant race of men to their +chief; and such were the services which those whose fathers had fought +at Culloden, devoted to the cause of the English Monarch. + +Late in the eighteenth century, the estates of Lochiel were restored to +the grandson of Lochiel; and the descendants of that race, in which so +much honour, such disinterested exertion, such kindness and heroism +existed, are again the Lords of Achnacarry. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[247] I am indebted to a MS. account of Cameron of Lochiel for the most +interesting facts in the following memoir. It was communicated to me by +R. Chambers, Esq., and was written by Mrs. Grant of Laggan. In her +letters unpublished, she declares the source of her information to have +been some papers in the possession of a Scotch clergyman, "which," says +Mrs. Grant, "it appears he did not give to John Home, who would scarcely +have asked the favour, keeping very shy of his old brethren." + +[248] Brown's History of the Highlands, part ii. p. 141. + +[249] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[250] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[251] Brown's Highlands. + +[252] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[253] "The credit of this feat," writes Mrs. Grant, "rests merely on the +country tradition: and the silence concerning it, in the publications +and records of those times, is accounted for, first, by the shame which +the commanders of the party felt at being thus surprised and outwitted +by an inferior number of those whom they had been accustomed to style +barbarians and to treat as such."--_MS._ + +[254] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[255] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[256] Sketches of the Highlands, vol. i. pp. 60, 61. + +[257] Brown's Highlands. + +[258] Reay, p. 88. + +[259] See Culloden Papers. + +[260] Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 86. + +[261] Reay, p. 271. + +[262] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[263] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[264] Conjectured to be Lord Lovat. + +[265] Appendix to the Memoirs of Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel, p. 177. + +[266] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[267] Appendix to Home's History of the Rebellion, No. II. + +[268] See Appendix, No. II. + +[269] Home. Appendix. From the papers of Cameron of Fassefern, Lochiel's +nephew. + +[270] In the year 1781, Fassefern repeated this conversation to Mr. +Home. History of the Rebellion, p. 7. + +[271] Forbes, p. 19. + +[272] Home, p. 5. + +[273] Forbes, p. 19. + +[274] Home, p. 6. + +[275] Maxwell of Kirkconnel's Narrative, p. 23. + +[276] The beautiful poem of Campbell, entitled "Lochiel," is founded on +this circumstance. + +[277] Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[278] Life of Jenny Cameron. London. Printed for C. Whitefield, in White +Friars, 1746. + +[279] Life of Jenny Cameron. + +[280] Forbes, p. 23. + +[281] The poem entitled "Jeanie Cameron's Lament," is, with other +inedited Jacobite songs, likely soon to be given to the world, arranged +to true Scottish airs, and published in parts. These songs are collected +by a member of one of the most ancient Jacobite families. The +accomplished young lady who has engaged in this undertaking is Miss +Charlotte Maxwell, the sister of Sir William Maxwell, Bart., of +Menteith, Wigtonshire, and a descendant of the Earl of Nithisdale. The +ballad of Sherriff Muir, is among the first of the interesting +collection. + +[282] Forbes, p. 23. + +[283] Maxwell of Kirkconnel, p. 45. + +[284] Maxwell, p. 105. + +[285] Home, p. 164. + +[286] Dated, Edinburgh, 12th Jan. 1745-6. This extract, for which I am +indebted to Mr. Macdonald, who possesses the orderly-book, was +considered an extremely curious passage by Sir Walter Scott. + +[287] Burrell's regiment was so broken, that not two men were left +standing. Home, Appendix. + +[288] In a letter among the papers of Mr. Murray of Abercairney, the +imputations upon the Highlanders are strongly and ably refuted. For +obvious reasons I have not given the extract, nor gone more closely into +a subject which belongs to the province of history. + +[289] See Mrs. Grant's MS. + +[290] Home, Appendix, p. 373. + +[291] See note 2 in Chambers's History of the Rebellion, p. 121. + +[292] See History of the Rebellion, taken from the Scots' Magazine, p. +353. + +[293] Cluny Macpherson's Narrative. Home, Appendix, p. 365. + +[294] Of one of these there is an interesting anecdote in the Tales of a +Grandfather, vol. iii. p. 295, note. + +[295] Home's History of the Rebellion, Appendix, p. 146. + +[296] Brown's History of the Highlands, Part II. App. CVII. from the +Stuart Papers. + +[297] Brown's History of the Highlands. No. LXX. + +[298] Chambers, p. 145. + +[299] Mrs. Grant's MS. + + +END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + + +LONDON: + +Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY, WILSON, AND FLEY, + +Bangor House, Shoe Lane. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: The following errors in the original have been +corrected. + +Page 24 - missing quote mark added: in Scots' affairs."[B] + +Page 36 - missing quote mark added: Scottish nobility." + +Page 47 - from Paris to Boisleduc changed to from Paris to Barleduc + +Page 54 - missing quote mark added: faithfully serving King George." + +Page 66 - few duties changed to feu duties + +Page 88 - disastrous contest changed to diastrous contest + +Page 94 - missing footnote marker added: Earl conceived.[101] + +Page 101 - extra comma removed from after harbour, which succeeded + +Page 111 - extra quote mark removed from before MAR. + +Page 126 - Footnote marker with no associated footnote after pardoned in +1726. + +Page 158 - at Fetterosso changed to at Fetteresso + +Page 163 - missing quotation mark added after Ave Marias: + +Page 183 - Porbably (in footnote) changed to Probably + +Page 258 - missing quotation mark added before we saw a drum + +Page 266 - against him." missing closing quote after him added + +Page 300 - missing quotation mark added after black as a craw, man. + +Page 309 - extra quotation mark removed from after their uncles. + +Page 310 - missing quotation mark added after his possession, + +Page 369 - missing quotation mark added after the smallest assistance!" + +Page 383 - In this rereat changed to In this retreat + +Page 387 - from the imputation. extra quotation mark removed from after +imputation + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and +1745., by Mrs. Thomson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF THE JACOBITES *** + +***** This file should be named 20946.txt or 20946.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/9/4/20946/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner, Ted Garvin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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