The Scottish Highlands, Highland Clans and Highland Regiments, Volume 1 (of 2)
Author: Unknown
Date: 2019-05-17T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Great Britain. Army; Highlands (Scotland) -- History; Clans -- Scotland -- Highlands -- History; Scottish Gaelic philology

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Title: The Scottish Highlands, Highland Clans and Highland Regiments, Volume 1 (of 2)

Editor: Sir John Scott Keltie

Contributor: Thomas Maclauchlan

John Wilson

Release date: May 17, 2019 [eBook #59468]

Language: English

Credits: E-text prepared by Brian Coe, John Campbell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS, HIGHLAND CLANS AND HIGHLAND REGIMENTS, VOLUME 1 (OF 2) ***

E-text prepared by Brian Coe, John Campbell,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)
from page images generously made available by
Internet Archive
(https://archive.org)

Note:

This volume originally was printed as four separate books (see transcriber's note below).
Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive.
Book 1, pages 1-208: https://archive.org/details/historyofscottis001kelt
Book 2, pages 209-416: https://archive.org/details/historyofscottis002kelt
Book 3, pages 417-608: https://archive.org/details/historyofscottis003kelt
Book 4, pages 609-776: https://archive.org/details/historyofscottis004kelt

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

This is Volume I of a two-volume set. The second volume can be found at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59469 .

This 1875 edition originally was published in eight separate books as a subscription publication. The Preface, Title pages, Tables of Contents and Lists of Illustrations (the Front Matter) were published in the final eighth book, and referenced books 1-4 as Volume I, and books 5-8 as Volume II. This etext follows the same two-volume structure. The relevant Front Matter has been moved to the front of each volume, and some illustrations have been moved to where the two Lists of Illustrations indicate they should be. No text was added or changed when the books were seamlessly joined to make Volume I and Volume II.

The Index, at the end of Volume II in the original books, has been copied and placed at the end of this first volume as well.

When reading this book on the web, the Index and the List of Illustrations have active links to pages in both volumes. When reading on a handheld device only the internal links within this volume are active.

Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of each chapter.

Some tables in the original book had } or { bracketing in some cells. These brackets are not helpful in the etext tables and in most cases have been removed to improve readability and save table space.

Many minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.

SUPPLIED TO SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.

PROSPECTUS.

A HISTORY OF

THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS,

HIGHLAND CLANS, AND HIGHLAND REGIMENTS;

ON THE BASIS OF BROWNE’S “HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS AND CLANS,” BUT ENTIRELY

RE-MODELLED AND TO A LARGE EXTENT RE-WRITTEN.

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE GAELIC LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

WRITTEN FOR THE WORK,

BY THE REV. THOMAS MACLAUCHLAN, LL.D., F.S.A.S.,

One of the Editors of the “Dean of Lismore’s Book,” Author of
“The Early Scottish Church,” &c.;

AND AN ESSAY ON HIGHLAND SCENERY,

BY THE LATE PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON.

EDITED BY JOHN S. KELTIE, F.S.A.S.

During the last thirty years, the patriotic labours of the various Scottish book-clubs,—The Abbotsford, The Bannatyne, The Iona, The Maitland, The Spalding Clubs—the works of the various eminent Scottish antiquaries and historians, not to mention many valuable papers and pamphlets, have not only subjected everything connected with the history of the Highlands to an unsparing and searching criticism, but have also brought to light many new facts, and opened up formerly unthought-of tracks of inquiry. Such a flood of light has thus been thrown on all matters connected with the Highlands, that the publishers feel Browne’s History of the Highlands and Clans,—the work on which this publication is to a certain extent based,—has fallen behind the age, and that, to keep pace with the advanced state of historical research, a NEW WORK IS DEMANDED. Therefore, in preparing the work now presented to the public, it has been found necessary to make such extensive alterations and additions, that the publishers feel justified in calling it a NEW WORK.

The work is divided into three sections:—

I. The General History of the Highlands, including Religion, Literature, and Antiquities.

II. The History of the Highland Clans.

III. The History of the Highland Regiments.

Part I.—The General History of the Highlands.

The whole of this part has been THOROUGHLY REVISED, RE-MODELLED, and to a great extent RE-WRITTEN. All the introductory chapters relating to the Primitive History of the Highlands, are NEW, and in them are treated the much controverted questions as to the Picts and Scots, their RACE and LANGUAGE—the EARLY RACES OF KINGS, all points connected with the early SOCIAL and POLITICAL CONDITION of the Highlanders, their ORIGINAL RELIGION and the SPREAD OF Christianity. The most RECENT INVESTIGATIONS bearing on the Antiquities of the Highlands, the Ancient Manners and Customs of their people, their PECULIAR DRESS, their SOCIAL and POLITICAL RELATIONS, their SUPERSTITIONS, and other interesting antiquarian matters, have been taken advantage of.

As to the rest of this portion of the work, while whatever had no connection with Highland history has been expunged, much new matter has been added in order to make the general narrative COMPLETE and AUTHENTIC. When, at a later period of their history, the Highlanders become a potent element in the settlement of many great disputes, it has been sought to make the reader understand clearly the part they thus took in the stirring and momentous transactions of the times. As examples of these we need only mention here the CIVIL WARS in which Montrose so often led on the Highland army to victory: the Revolution disputes, culminating in Killiecrankie: the unfortunate insurrections of ’15 and ’45, which, but for the romantic enthusiasm of the Highlanders, would never have been even commenced.

In writing these chapters ample use has been made of the various club-publications above referred to, the latest of which, The Book of Deer, issued by the Spalding Club, edited by Dr. Stuart, has proved of great service in throwing light on the EARLY SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONDITION of the Highlands, as well as on the STATE and CONSTITUTION of the early Scottish Church. Among modern Scottish historians and antiquarians whose labours have been taken advantage of in this part of the work, we may mention the names of George Chalmers, W. F. Skene, Joseph Robertson, Daniel Wilson, Mr. Gregory, John Hill Burton, E. W. Robertson, James Logan, Cosmo Innes, George Grub, Dr. Maclauchlan, and Colonel Forbes-Leslie: this last gentleman has been kind enough to place at our disposal some of the cuts which adorn his valuable work, The Early Races of Scotland. Besides these, books and documents, ancient and modern, too numerous to detail here, have been consulted.

To the Gaelic Language and Literature, which, in the old work, possibly from lack of material, were treated in rather a summary manner, a prominent place has been given. Since the publication of The Dean of Lismore’s Book, and other works on this interesting subject, there can be no complaint of lack of material; and so much importance do the publishers attach to the literature of the Highlands, that they have entered into an arrangement with the Rev. Thomas Maclauchlan, LL.D., F.S.A.S.—one of the editors of The Dean of Lismore’s Book, and one of the most eminent living Gaelic scholars—to write an entirely new account of this subject, into which will be introduced copious examples of genuine old Gaelic Poetry.

In the course of the work will be given the late Professor Wilson’s celebrated Essay on Highland Scenery, of which the copyright belongs to the publishers.

Part II.—The History of the Highland Clans.

In any history of the Highlands, an account of the Clans ought to occupy a place of the first importance, and in the present work, the GREATER PART OF THE SECOND VOLUME is devoted to this part of the subject. Every point of interest connected with this peculiar social system has been noticed:—the ORIGIN OF THE CLAN-SYSTEM, the relation of the chief to the general body of the clan, the various CLAN-DIGNITIES and OFFICES and the duties which belonged to each, the PECULIAR CUSTOMS to which the system gave rise, the difference between CLANSHIP and the FEUDAL SYSTEM, and the influence it had on the progress of the Highlands and on the rest of Scotland. In short, no pains have been spared to enable the reader to form a clear idea of all the ‘outs and ins’ of this primitive system of social government.

After this introductory matter, a DETAILED ACCOUNT is given of EACH SEPARATE CLAN which has any claim to be considered Highland. The origin of each Clan, as far as possible, has been traced back to its FOUNDER, and its claim to be considered purely Gaelic discussed; its history is traced through all its branches and offshoots down to the present day; the part it took in the various clan strifes, in the disputes between the Highlands and Lowlands, and in the general wars of Scotland, is set forth. Every link in the genealogical chain has been carefully traced, and those chiefs and other members of a clan who took a more prominent part in the affairs of the time, have their lives given in considerable detail. Appended to the account of each clan are its ARMORIAL BEARINGS, a description of its CLAN-TARTAN, the name of its BADGE, its peculiar war-cry or SLOGAN, its estimated STRENGTH, and its PRINCIPAL SEAT. In addition to the authorities above referred to, the works of Smibert, Logan, Stewart, and others, as well as the separate histories of those clans that are fortunate enough to have such, this division of the work is greatly indebted to the original researches of the late Mr. Anderson, author of the Scottish Nation, whose examination of many ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS and FAMILY RECORDS brought to light many facts connected with the history of the Highland clans, never before made public.

Part III.—History of the Highland Regiments.

The HISTORY OF THESE REGIMENTS is to a great extent the history of Britain’s battles for more than a century past; and the great military glory which our country has acquired, has been owing, in no small degree, to their UNSURPASSED BRAVERY, PERFECT DISCIPLINE, and HIGH MORALE. In the part of the work devoted to this subject, it has been sought faithfully to record not only the noble services rendered to its country in past times by each regiment in every engagement in which it took part, but also the brave deeds performed by many individual Highland soldiers.

With regard to the later history of the Highland regiments, it has been sought to render this complete and perfectly reliable by applying, for direct information, to the Colonel of each existing regiment; and in every case the publishers have met with the greatest courtesy and willingness to lend all assistance. In addition to this, of course, every accessible published work on the subject has been consulted, including the host of books called forth by the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny.

From the above statements it will be seen that in no other single publication is it possible to obtain SUCH VARIED and VALUABLE INFORMATION on ALL POINTS OF INTEREST connected with the Scottish Highlands—their History, their Antiquities, their Clans, their Literature, their Military Annals. No pains have been spared to make the work ACCURATE, EXHAUSTIVE, INTERESTING, and CONSISTENT with the MOST RECENT INVESTIGATIONS.

Illustrations.

Besides clan-tartans, the work will be richly embellished with autographs, seals, armorial bearings, objects of antiquarian interest, and many views and portraits on wood and steel, all taken from original or other authentic sources, and executed in the first style of art.

The publishers have spared no pains to obtain original and genuine portraits, and to have them faithfully and beautifully reproduced; and they owe their sincere thanks to those noblemen and gentlemen connected with the Highlands who have allowed them access to their valuable family collections, in order to obtain copies of such original portraits as were required for the work. Many of these portraits have never before been engraved. The publishers would especially mention here the valuable miniature portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in Highland costume, which has been in possession of the Lochiel family for generations, and which has been kindly placed at their disposal by the present representative of the family, Donald Cameron, Esq., M.P. for Inverness-shire. It has the merit of being a faithful likeness, and will be engraved by Holl of London.

Many of the views, illustrative both of the events narrated in the history and of the rich and romantic Highland scenery, are from photographs and drawings taken specially for the work. Others, consisting chiefly of views of towns and fortresses taken at or near the time of the events they are intended to illustrate, are copied from the rare and valuable work of John Slezer, entitled Theatrum Scotiæ, published at the end of the 17th century. The facts that Slezer was a military engineer, and that he was appointed by government to survey the chief towns and strongholds of Scotland, are sufficient guarantees of the faithfulness of these views.

CONDITIONS.

This work will be published in Twenty-five parts, price Two Shillings each, size super-imperial 8vo. It will also be issued in Eight Divisions, rich cloth, price 7s. 6d. each. It will form, when completed, Two handsome Volumes, with Thirty specimens of authentic Clan-Tartans, beautifully executed in colour, and Twenty other page plates, including Map of Clan Territories, besides about Two Hundred illustrative wood engravings.

A. FULLARTON & Co.,

STEAD’S PLACE, LEITH WALK, EDINBURGH; AND 18 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON.

PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART.

COPIED BY PERMISSION FROM THE MINIATURE IN POSSESSION OF DONALD CAMERON, ESQR. OF LOCHIEL.

A
HISTORY
OF THE
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

HIGHLAND CLANS
AND
HIGHLAND REGIMENTS

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
THE GAELIC LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND MUSIC
By the Rev. THOMAS MACLAUCHLAN, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot.

AND AN ESSAY ON HIGHLAND SCENERY
By the late Professor JOHN WILSON

EDITED BY
JOHN S. KELTIE, F.S.A. Scot.

Illustrated

WITH A SERIES OF PORTRAITS, VIEWS, MAPS, ETC., ENGRAVED ON STEEL,
CLAN TARTANS, AND UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED WOODCUTS,
INCLUDING ARMORIAL BEARINGS

VOL. I.

A. FULLARTON & CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
1875

PREFACE.

No apology is deemed necessary for bringing this History of the Scottish Highlands before the public. A work under a similar title was brought out by the present publishers upwards of thirty years ago, under the care of Dr. James Browne, and met with a sale so extensive and sustained as to prove that it supplied a real want.

Since the publication of Browne’s History, which it is only the simple truth to say had no rival, research has brought to light so much that is new connected both with the general history of the Highlands and the history of the various clans, and so many new laurels have been added to those already won by the Highland regiments during the past century, and the early part of the present, that the publishers believed the time had come for the preparation and issue of a new work.

In preparing it, the editor has done all in his power to make it complete and accurate. The object of Dr. Browne’s work was to present in one book all that is interesting and valuable concerning the Highlands and Highlanders, a great deal of information on this subject having lain scattered in various quarters inaccessible to the general public. In the preparation of the present work this object has been kept steadily in view; and it may be said of it, with even more force than of Browne’s, that it is a collectanea of information concerning the Scottish Highlands of an extent and kind to be met with in no other single publication.

The general plan of Dr. Browne’s work has been adhered to. In the First Part, that dealing with the General History of the Highlands, which, from the nature of the case, is more a chronicle of clan battles than a homogeneous history, it has been found possible, as might have been expected, to retain much of Browne’s text. This, however, has been subjected to a careful revision and comparison with the original authorities, as well as with the many new ones that have been brought to light during the past thirty years. Moreover, many portions throughout this section have been rewritten, and considerable additions made. One of the largest and most important of these is the continuation of the General History from 1745 down to the present day. The editor felt that, so far as the social history of the Highlands is concerned, the period embraced in the past hundred years was of even more importance than any previous time; he has therefore attempted to do what, so far as he knows, has not been done before, to present a sketch of the progress of the Highlands during that period. For this purpose he has had to consult a multitude of sources, and weigh many conflicting statements, his aim being simply to discover and tell the truth. Such matters have been gone into as Depopulation, Emigration, Agriculture, Large and Small Farms, Sheep and Deer, Fishing, Manufactures, Education, &c. It is hoped, therefore, that the First Part of the work will be found to contain a complete account of the Highlands, historical, antiquarian, and social.

An original and important feature of this part of the work is a history of the Gaelic Language and Literature, by the well known Celtic scholar, the Rev. T. Maclauchlan, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot.

In the Second Part, relating to the History of the Highland Clans, it will be found that, in the case of every clan, modifications and additions have been made. In some instances the histories have been entirely rewritten, and several border clans have been included that were not noticed in Browne’s work. The history of each clan, has, as far as possible, been traced from its founder through all the branches and offshoots down to the present day; the part it took in the various clan strifes, in the disputes between the Highlands and Lowlands, and in the general wars of Scotland, being set forth. In the case of most of the clans, gentlemen who have made a special study of particular clan histories have kindly revised the proofs.

The Third Part, the History of the Highland Regiments, occupies a prominent place in the present work. Of these regiments one-half have had their complete history published now for the first time, and in the case of the others so many changes and additions have been made, that this part of the work may be considered as entirely new. The history of each of the nine regiments which now rank as Highland has been gone into from its embodiment, and the trustworthiness of this unique body of military history may be inferred from the fact, that, in the case of every regiment, it is founded upon the original Regimental Record, supplemented in many instances by the diaries and recollections of officers; and in two cases, at least, as will be seen, by materials collected by officers who have made a special study of their regimental histories. The general reader will find this part of the work of very great interest.

With regard to the Illustrations, the publishers feel justified in alluding to them with considerable pride. No attempt has been made to make the present work a mere picture-book; it will be invariably found that the numerous plates, woodcuts, and clan-tartans either add interest to the text, or throw light upon it. Every effort has been made to secure authentic portraits and original views, and to have every illustration executed in a thoroughly artistic style; and it is hoped that, in these respects, the exertions of the editor and publishers have been crowned with success. The specimens of clan-tartans represent in every case those recognised by the heads of the various clans. The illustrations, therefore, will be found both historically and artistically valuable.

Throughout this work the editor has endeavoured to acknowledge the authorities which he has in any way made use of. Were he to mention the names of the numerous individuals to whom he has been indebted for assistance during its preparation, it would add very considerably to the length of this preface; in his own name and that of the publishers, he expresses sincere gratitude to all who have in any way lent a helping hand. Special thanks, however, are due to the Duke of Athole for assistance in various ways, and particularly for permission to engrave the portrait of Lord George Murray; to Lady Elizabeth Pringle for the portrait of the first Earl of Breadalbane, and to Mrs. Campbell of Monzie for that of the “Gentle Lochiel,”—all published in this work for the first time. As mentioned in the text, the beautiful miniature of “Prince Charlie” is copied from the original in possession of Donald Cameron, Esq. of Lochiel, who has also lent assistance in other ways. The originals of other valuable illustrations, as will be seen, have been kindly placed at the publishers’ service by the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Strathmore, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, The Mackintosh, The Chisholm, Duncan Forbes, Esq. of Culloden, David Laing, Esq., LL.D., James Drummond, Esq., R.S.A., and many others.

The editor has in the proper place in the text referred to the assistance given him in connection with the important history of “Clan Chattan” by Alexander Mackintosh Shaw, Esq., whose own history of the clan is nearly completed; the narrative in the present work owes its value almost entirely to his kindness. For assistance in the history of this clan the editor was also indebted to the late Rev. W. G. Shaw of Forfar.

To the Colonels-commanding of all the Highland regiments special thanks are due for hearty co-operation in procuring material for the Third Part of the work. Many other officers have, with the greatest readiness, either volunteered assistance or given it when asked. In this connection special mention must be made of Lieutenant-Colonels Wheatley, Clephane, and Sprot, Captain Colin Mackenzie, and Captain Thackeray.

The large and increasing demand for this work during its publication, and the extremely favourable notices of the press, afford good grounds for believing that it will be found to fulfil the purpose for which it has been compiled. May it ever meet with a kindly welcome from all who are in any way interested in the romantic Highlands of Scotland.

JOHN S. KELTIE.

London, February 1875.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

| | Page
Remarks on the Scenery of the Highlands. By Professor Wilson, | xiii
Part First.—GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS, | 1
Chapter

I.

B.C. 55.–A.D. 446.—Highlands defined—Ancient Scotland—Transactions of the Romans in the North of Scotland—Roman Remains—Roads—Camps,

1

II.

B.C. 55.–A.D. 446.—Early Inhabitants—Roman Writers—Aristotle—Tacitus—Internal History of the Highlands during the Time of the Romans,

16

III.

A.D. 446–843.—Early History—Settlement of the Scots in Scotland—Conversion of Picts—Druidism—St Columba—Iona—Spread of Christianity,

32

IV.

A.D. 843–1107.—Norse Invasions—Danes—Effect of Norwegian Conquest—Influx of Anglo–Saxons—Table of Scottish Kings, A.D. 843 to 1097,

48

V.

A.D. 1107–1411.—Insurrections—Intestine Feuds—Expedition of Haco—Battle of Largs—Robert Bruce—Lord of the Isles invades Scotland—Battle of Harlaw,

59

VI.

A.D. 1424–1512.—Policy of James I. to the Highland Chiefs—Disturbances in Sutherland and Caithness—Wise Policy of James IV.—Battle of Flodden,

71

VII.

A.D. 1516–1588.—Doings in Sutherland—Dissensions among the Clan Chattan—The “Field of Shirts”—The Queen–Regent visits the Highlands—Queen Mary’s Expedition against Huntly—Unruly State of North, &c.,

80

VIII. | A.D. 1588–1601.—Strife between Earls of Caithness and Sutherland—Clan Feuds, | 102
IX. | A.D. 1602–1613.—Feud between the Colquhouns and Macgregors—Lawless Proceedings in Sutherland—Other Clan Feuds, | 113
X. | A.D. 1613–1623.—Clan Feuds—Reduction and Pacification of Caithness, | 128
XI. | A.D. 1624–1636.—Insurrections—Disputes—Feuds—First Marquis of Huntly, | 148

XII.

A.D. 1636–1644.—Charles I. attempts to introduce Episcopacy into Scotland—Doings in the North—Earl of Montrose—Covenanters—Battle of Tippermuir,

165

XIII.

A.D. 1644 (September)–1645 (February).—Montrose crosses the Tay, and his movements in the North, till Battle of Inverlochy,

186

XIV.

A.D. 1645 (February–September).—Montrose’s movements in the North—at Inverness, Elgin, Banff, Aberdeen, Stonehaven, Perth, Dundee, &c.—Montrose enters Glasgow—Submission of Edinburgh—Battle of Philiphaugh,

200

XV.

A.D. 1645–1649.—Huntly refuses to join Montrose—Executions by the Covenanters—Meeting of the Covenanting Parliament—Montrose disbands his Army—Proceedings of General Leslie—Leslie in the Western Isles—Cromwell arrives in Edinburgh—Execution of Charles I.,

234

XVI.

A.D. 1649–1650.—Negotiations with Charles II.—Proceedings of Montrose—Pluscardine’s Insurrection—Montrose defeated at Carbisdale—Captured, and sent to Edinburgh—Trial and Execution,

260

XVII.

A.D. 1650–1660.—Charles II. in Scotland—Cromwell invades Scotland—Battle of Dunbar—Flight of the King—Insurrections in the Highlands—Proceedings of Cromwell—Battle of Worcester—Operations of Monk in Scotland—Cameron of Lochiel—State of the Country—Restoration of Charles II,

278

XVIII. | Character of Ancient Highlanders, Manners, Customs, &c. Appendix to Chapter XVIII.—Highland Dress and Arms, | 298

XIX.

A.D. 1660–1689.—Execution of the Marquis of Argyll—Argyll and Monmouth’s Invasion—Execution of Earl of Argyll—Designs of the Prince of Orange—Proceedings of King James—State of feeling in Scotland—Viscount Dundee,

331

XX.

A.D. 1689 (March–July).—General Hugh Mackay—Details of Dundee’s Insurrection till his Death at Killiecrankie—His Character,

350

XXI.

A.D. 1689–1691.—General Mackay’s movements—Colonel Cannon—The Cameronians at Dunkeld—Erection of Fort–William—Cessation of Hostilities,

378

XXII.

A.D. 1691–1702.—Negotiations with the Highland Chiefs—Massacre of Glencoe—Master of Stair—King William III.—Subsequent enquiry—State of Highlands during William’s reign—Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat,

394

XXIII.

A.D. 1695–1714.—The Darien Bubble—Death of James II.—Death of King William—The Union—Proceedings of the Jacobites—Death of Queen Anne,

407

XXIV.

A.D. 1714–1715.—Proceedings of the Whigs—The Chevalier de St George—Arrival of George I. in England—Jacobite Intrigues—The Earl of Mar,

420

XXV.

A.D. 1715.—Measures of the Government—Attempt to surprise Edinburgh Castle—Duke of Argyll appointed to the command of the Government forces—Proceedings of Mar—Rebels march into England—Battle of Preston,

431

XXVI. | A.D. 1715–1716.—Earl of Mar—Battle of Sheriffmuir—Dispersion of the Insurgents, | 456

XXVII.

A.D. 1716–1737.—Trial and Execution of Rebels—Proceedings of General Cadogan in the Highlands—Act of Grace—Disarming of the Highlanders—New Jacobite Conspiracy—Bolingbroke—The Disarming Act—Disgrace of the Earl of Mar—The Chevalier’s Domestic affairs—Death of George I.,

476

XXVIII.

A.D. 1739–1745.—Foreign Intrigues—Edinburgh Association—Jacobite Intrigues—Prince Charles Edward resolves to invade Scotland,

502

XXIX. | A.D. 1745.—Prince Charles’ landing—He raises his standard—Manifesto, | 511

XXX.

A.D. 1745.—Conduct of the Government—Sir John Cope—Prince Charles at Perth—The Prince marches South—Alarm in Edinburgh—Municipal Intrigues,

527

XXXI.

A.D. 1745.—Highlanders Capture Edinburgh—Prince Charles at Holyrood—The Chevalier de St George proclaimed—Battle of Prestonpans,

540

XXXII. | A.D. 1745.—Prince Charles’ proceedings at Edinburgh—Resolves to invade England, | 566

XXXIII.

A.D. 1745.—Plan of the march of the Rebels into England—Composition of the Highland Army—March of Prince Charles into England—Proceedings there—Consternation at London—Retreat into Scotland,

584

XXXIV.

A.D. 1745–1746.—Highland Army returns to Scotland—Proceedings of the Jacobites in the North—Proceedings till Battle of Falkirk,

611

XXXV.

A.D. 1746.—Duke of Cumberland sent to Scotland—Highland Army’s Retreat to the North—Expedition of Lord George Murray into Athole,

630

XXXVI.

A.D. 1746.—Duke of Cumberland marches North—Battle of Culloden—Apprehension of Lord Lovat and others—Suppression of the Rebellion,

648

XXXVII. | A.D. 1746.—Prince Charles’ Wanderings and Narrow Escapes—Arrives in France, | 683
XXXVIII. | A.D. 1746–1747.—Trial of Prisoners—Execution of Lords Kilmarnock, Cromarty, Balmerino, and Lovat—Act of Indemnity, | 722

XXXIX.

A.D. 1747–1748.—Prince Charles’ arrival in Paris—His Treatment of Lord George Murray—His Advisers, Difficulties, and Plans,

738

XL.

A.D. 1748–Present Time.—Charles visits London—Arrest and Execution of Dr Cameron—Death of the Chevalier—Marriage of Charles—His death—Death of Cardinal York—Descendants of the Stewarts,

753

XLI.

Proceedings which followed Culloden—Influence of Clan feeling—Disarming Act—The Old Jacobites—Queen Victoria—Jacobitism at the Present Day,

762

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOLUME I.

Subject. | Painted by | Engraved by | Page
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, | From Lochiel’s Original Miniature, | W. Holl, | To face title.
The Great Marquis of Montrose, | From a Rare Contemporary Print, | W. Holl, | 271
View of Killiecrankie, | D. O. Hill, | W. Forrest, | 369
Armour Worn by Viscount Dundee at Killiecrankie, | Original Drawing, | J. R. Collie, | 376
View of the Battlefield of Sheriffmuir, | J. C. Brown, | John Smith, | 464
James Stuart, “The Chevalier,” | From an Original Painting, | W. Holl, | 469
John Erskine, 11th Earl of Mar, | Sir G. Kneller, | S. Freeman, | 498
View of Loch Shiel, with Monument on the spot where Prince Charles Edward first raised his Standard, 19th August 1745, | John Fleming, | W. Forrest, | 523
William, Duke of Cumberland, | Sir Joshua Reynolds, | J. Le Conte, | 631
View of Balmoral, | Sam Bough, | W. Forrest, | 775

TARTANS.
Macintyre, | | | | 58 | Sutherland, | see page | 272 | Vol. II., | 266
Macneill, | see page | 162 | Vol. II., | 74 | Cameron of Lochiel, | ” | 217 | ” | 296
Ross, | ” | 235 | ” | 78 | Macpherson (full dress), | ” | 210 | ” | 380
Maclean, | ” | 223 | ” | 99 | Robertson, | ” | 169 | ” | 411
Macleod,    } | ” | 191 | ” | 112 | Macfarlane, | ” | 173 | ” | 527
Mackenzie, } | Fraser, | ” | 302 | ” | 606
Stuart, | ” | 297 | ” | 186 | Mackinnon, | ” | 256 | ” | 702
Munro, | ” | 232 | ” | 258 | Chisholm, | ” | 307 | ” | 713

WOODCUTS IN THE LETTERPRESS.
1. | Representation of an ancient Caledonian on Sculptured Stone in the Church of Meigle, | 4
2. | Representation of an ancient Caledonian on Sculptured Stone found at St Andrews, | 4
3. | Ancient British War-chariot, | 6
4. | Map and Profile of Antonine’s Wall, | 10
5. | Sculptured Stone, with inscription, from Antonine’s Wall, | 11
6. | Sketch Plan of the Roman Camp at Ardoch in 1755, | 15
7. | Stonehenge, | 36
8. | Circle of Callernish in Lewis, | 37
9. | Ruins of Ancient Monastery, Iona, | 38
10. | Seal of King Edgar (1097–1107), | 56
11. | Alexander III., | 62
12. | Effigy of the “Wolf of Badenoch” in Dunkeld Cathedral, | 68
13. | James I. (of Scotland), | 73
14. | Old Castle of Dunrobin, as in 1712, | 83
15. | Castle Duart, | 98
16. | Dornoch, showing the Cathedral, &c., | 117
17. | Stornoway Castle, | 120
18. | Castles Sinclair and Girnigo, | 125
19. | Dunyveg Castle, Islay, | 130
20. | Frendraught House, | 156
21. | First Marquis of Huntly, | 163
22. | First Marchioness of Huntly, | 163
23. | First Marquis of Argyll, | 178
24. | Inverlochy Castle, | 199
25. | Dunnottar Castle in the 17th Century, | 205
26. | Perth in the 17th Century, | 220
27. | Old Aberdeen in the 17th Century, | 246
28. | Second Marquis of Huntly, | 254
29. | General David Leslie, | 264
30. | Castle of Ardvraick, | 269
31. | William, Ninth Earl of Glencairn, | 292
32. | Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, | 296
33. | The Scottish “Maiden,” devised by Regent Morton, | 333
34. | Ninth Earl of Argyle, | 339
35. | John Graham, Viscount Dundee, | 351
36. | General Hugh Mackay of Scourie, | 361
37. | Pass of Killiecrankie in the 18th Century, | 375
38. | Dunkeld in the 17th Century, | 384
39. | First Earl of Breadalbane, | 394
40. | View of Glencoe, | 400
41. | Edinburgh Castle in 1715, | 432
42. | Inverness in the 17th Century, | 456
43. | Dunblane about 1715, | 460
44. | Second Duke of Argyll, | 472
45. | Fort Augustus, | 485
46. | Lieutenant General Wade, | 491
47. | Donald Cameron of Lochiel, “The Gentle Chief,” 1745, | 519
48. | Autograph of Sir John Cope, | 531
49. | Holyrood House in 1745, | 550
50. | Plan of the Battle of Prestonpans, 21st Sept. 1745, | 561
51. | Colonel James Gardiner, | 563
52. | Colonel Gardiner’s House, near Prestonpans, | 566
53. | The Duke of Perth, | 586
54. | Carlisle in 1745, | 604
55. | Stirling about A.D. 1700, | 616
56. | Plan of the Battle of Falkirk, 17th January 1746, | 624
57. | Lady Anne Mackintosh, 1745, | 637
58. | Blair Castle, as it stood in 1745–6 before being dismantled, | 643
59. | Old Culloden House as in 1746, | 657
60. | Plan of the Battle of Culloden, 16th April 1746, | 661
61. | Lord George Murray, | 672
62. | Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President, | 679
63. | Flora Macdonald (with her autograph), 1747, | 690
64. | Loch Arkaig, with view of Achnacarry, the seat of Cameron of Lochiel, | 709
65. | Dr. Archibald Cameron, 1745, | 718
66. | Simon, Lord Lovat, 1747, | 734
67. | A Representation of the Execution of Lord Lovat, | 737
68. | Henry, Cardinal Duke of York, | 745
69, | } Medal, Prince Charles and his Wife Louisa, | 753
70.
71. | Prince Charles Edward Stuart as in 1776, | 758
72, | } Medal of Henry, Cardinal Duke of York, | 760
73.

REMARKS

ON THE

SCENERY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

BY

PROFESSOR WILSON.

In no other country does Nature exhibit herself in more various forms of beauty and sublimity than in the north of England and the Highlands of Scotland. This is acknowledged by all who, having studied their character, and become familiar with the feelings it inspires, have compared the effects produced on their minds by our own mountainous regions, with what they have experienced among the scenery of the Alps. There, indeed, all objects are on so vast a scale, that we are for a while astonished as we gaze on the gigantic; and all other emotions are sunk in an overwhelming sense of awe that prostrates the imagination. But on recovering from its subjection to the prodigious, that faculty everywhere recognises in those mighty mountains of dark forests, glittering glaciers, and regions of eternal snow—infinite all—the power and dominion of the sublime. True that all these are but materials for the mind to work on, and that to its creative energy Nature owes much of that grandeur which seems to be inherent in her own forms; yet surely she in herself is great, and there is a regality belonging of divine right to such a monarch as Mont Blanc.

Those are the very regions of sublimity, and if brought into immediate comparison with them in their immense magnitude, the most magnificent scenery of our own country would no doubt seem to lose its character of greatness. But such is not the process of the imagination in her intercourse with Nature. To her, sufficient for the day is the good thereof; and on each new glorious sight being shown to her eyes, she employs her God-given power to magnify or irradiate what she beholds, without diminishing or obscuring what she remembers. Thus, to her all things in nature hold their own due place, and retain for ever their own due impressions, aggrandized and beautified by mutual reaction in those visionary worlds, which by a thought she can create, and which, as they arise, are all shadowy representations of realities—new compositions in which the image of the earth we tread is reflected fairer or greater than any realities, but not therefore less, but more true to the spirit of nature. It is thus that poets and painters at once obey and control their own inspirations. They visit all the regions of the earth, but to love, admire, and adore; and the greatest of them all, native to our soil, from their travel or sojourn in foreign lands, have always brought home a clearer insight into the character of the scenery of their own, a profounder affection for it all, and a higher power of imaging its attributes in colours or in words. In our poetry, more than in any other, Nature sees herself reflected in a magic mirror; and though many a various show passes processionally along its lustre, displaying the scenery of “lands and seas, whatever clime the sun’s bright circle warms,” among them all there are none more delightful or elevating to behold than those which genius, inspired by love, has framed of the imagery, which, in all her pomp and prodigality, Heaven has been pleased to shower, through all seasons, on our own beautiful island. It is not for us to say whether our native painters, or the “old masters,” have shown the greatest genius in landscape; but if the palm must be yielded to them whose works have been consecrated by a reverence, as often, perhaps, superstitious as religious, we do not fear to say, that their superiority is not to be attributed in any degree to the scenery on which they exercised the art its beauty had inspired. Whatever may be the associations connected with the subjects of their landscapes—and we know not why they should be higher or holier than those belonging to innumerable places in our own land—assuredly in themselves they are not more interesting or impressive; nay, though none who have shared with us the spirit of the few imperfect sentences we have now written, will for a moment suppose us capable of instituting an invidious comparison between our own scenery and that of any other country, why should we hesitate to assert that our own storm-loving Northern Isle is equally rich in all kinds of beauty as the Sunny South, and richer far in all kinds of grandeur, whether we regard the forms or colouring of nature—earth, sea, or air—

“Or all the dread magnificence of heaven.”

What other region in all the world like that of the Lakes in the north of England! And yet how the true lover of nature, while he carries along with him its delightful character in his heart, and can so revive any spot of especial beauty in his imagination, as that it shall seem in an instant to be again before his very eyes, can deliver himself up, after the lapse of a day, to the genius of some savage scene in the Highlands of Scotland, rent and riven by the fury of some wild sea-loch! Not that the regions do not resemble one another, but surely the prevailing spirit of the one—not so of the other—is a spirit of joy and of peace. Her mountains, invested, though they often be, in gloom—and we have been more than once benighted during day, as a thunder-cloud thickened the shadows that for ever sleep in the deepest dungeons of Helvellyn—are yet—so it seems to us—such mountains as in nature ought to belong to “merry England.” They boldly meet the storms, and seen in storms you might think they loved the trouble; but pitch your tent among them, and you will feel that theirs is a grandeur that is congenial with the sunshine, and that their spirit fully rejoices in the brightness of light. In clear weather, verdant from base to summit, how majestic their repose! And as mists slowly withdraw themselves in thickening folds up along their sides, the revelation made is still of more and more of the beautiful—arable fields below, then coppice woods studded with standard trees—enclosed pastures above and among the woods—broad breasts of close-nibbled herbage here and there adorned by rich dyed rocks, that do not break the expanse—till the whole veil has disappeared; and, lo! the long lofty range, with its wavy line, rising and sinking so softly in the blue serenity, perhaps, of an almost cloudless sky. Yet though we have thus characterised the mountains by what we have always felt to be the pervading spirit of the region, chasms and ravines, and cliffs and precipices, are there; in some places you see such assemblages as inspire the fear that quakes at the heart, when suddenly struck in the solitude with a sense of the sublime; and though we have called the mountains green—and during Spring and Summer, in spite of frost or drought, they are green as emerald—yet in Autumn they are many-coloured, and are girdled with a glow of variegated light, that at sunset sometimes seems like fire kindled in the woods.

The larger Vales are all serene and cheerful; and among the sylvan knolls with which their wide levels, highly cultivated, are interspersed, cottages, single or in groups, are frequent, of an architecture always admirably suited to the scenery, because in a style suggested not by taste or fancy, which so often disfigure nature to produce the picturesque, but resorted to for sake of the uses and conveniences of in-door life, to weather-fend it in storms, and in calm to give it the enjoyment of sunshine. Many of these dwellings are not what are properly called cottages, but statesmen’s houses, of ample front, with their many roofs, over-shadowed by a stately grove, and inhabited by the same race for many generations. All alike have their suitable gardens, and the porches of the poorest are often clustered with roses; for everywhere among these hills, even in minds the most rude and uncultivated, there is a natural love of flowers. The villages, though somewhat too much modernised in those days of improvement—and indeed not a few of them with hardly any remains now of their original architecture—nothing old about them but the church tower, perhaps the parsonage—are nevertheless generally of a pleasing character, and accordant, if not with the great features of nature, which are unchanged and unchangeable, with the increased cultivation of the country, and the many villas and ornamented cottages that have risen and are rising by every lake and river side. Rivers indeed, properly so called, there are none among these mountains; but every vale, great and small, has at all times its pure and undefiled stream or rivulet; every hill has its hundreds of evanescent rills, almost every one its own perennial torrent flowing from spring, marsh, or tarn; and the whole region is often alive with waterfalls, of many of which, in its exquisite loveliness, the scenery is fit for fairy festivals—and of many, in its horrid gloom, for gatherings of gnomes revisiting “the glimpses of the moon” from their subterraneous prisons. One lake there is, which has been called “wooded Winandermere, the river lake;” and there is another—Ulswater—which you might imagine to be a river too, and to have come flowing from afar; the one excelling in isles, and bays, and promontories, serene and gentle all, and perfectly beautiful; the other, matchless in its majesty of cliff and mountain, and in its old forests, among whose hoary gloom is for ever breaking out the green light of young generations, and perpetual renovation triumphing over perpetual decay. Of the other lakes—not river-like—the character may be imagined even from that we have faintly described of the mountains; almost every vale has its lake, or a series of lakes; and though some of them have at times a stern aspect, and have scenes to show almost of desolation, descending sheer to the water’s edge, or overhanging the depth that looks profounder in the gloom, yet even these, to eyes and hearts familiar with their spirit, wear a sweet smile which seldom passes away. Witness Wastwater, with its huge single mountains, and hugest of all the mountains of England, Scawfell, with its terrific precipices—which, in the accidents of storm, gloom, or mist, has seemed, to the lonely passer-by, savage in the extreme—a howling or dreary wilderness—but in its enduring character, is surrounded with all quiet pastoral imagery, the deep glen in which it is embedded being, in good truth, the abode of Sabbath peace. That hugest mountain is indeed the centre from which all the vales irregularly diverge; the whole circumjacent region may be traversed in a week; and though no other district of equal extent contains such variety of the sublime and beautiful, yet the beautiful is so prevalent that we feel its presence, even in places where it is overpowered; and on leaving “The Lakes,” our imagination is haunted and possessed with images, not of dread, but of delight.

We have sometimes been asked, whether the north of England or the Highlands of Scotland should be visited first; but, simple as the question seems, it is really one which it is impossible to answer, though we suspect it would equally puzzle Scotchman or Englishman to give a sufficient reason for his wishing to see any part of any other country, before he had seen what was best worth seeing in his own. His own country ought to be, and generally is, dearest to every man. There, if nothing forbid, he should not only begin his study of nature, but continue his education in her school, wherever it may happen to be situated, till he has taken his first degree. We believe that the love of nature is strong in the hearts of the inhabitants of our island. And how wide and profound may that knowledge of nature be, which the loving heart has acquired, without having studied her anywhere but within the Four Seas! The impulses that make us desire to widen the circle of our observation, are all impulses of delight and love; and it would be strange indeed, did they not move us, first of all, towards whatever is most beautiful belonging to our own land. Were it otherwise, it would seem as if the heart were faithless to the home affections, out of which, in their strength, spring all others that are good; and it is essential, we do not doubt, to the full growth of the love of country, that we should all have our earliest imaginative delights associated with our native soil. Such associations will for ever keep it loveliest to our eyes; nor is it possible that we can ever as perfectly understand the character of any other; but we can afterwards transfer and transfuse our feelings in imagination kindled by our own will; and the beauty, born before our eyes, among the banks and braes of our childhood, and then believed to be but there, and nothing like it anywhere else in all the world, becomes a golden light, “whose home is everywhere,” which if we do not darken it, will shine unshadowed in the dreariest places, till “the desert blossom like the rose.”

For our own parts, before we beheld one of “the beautiful fields of England,” we had walked all Scotland thorough, and had seen many a secret place, which now, in the confusion of our crowded memory, seem often to shift their uncertain ground; but still, wherever they glimmeringly re-appear, invested with the same heavenly light in which long ago they took possession of our soul. And now that we are almost as familiar with the fair sister-land, and love her almost as well as Scotland’s self, not all the charms in which she is arrayed—and they are at once graceful and glorious—have ever for a day withdrawn our deeper dreams from the regions where,

“In life’s morning march when our spirit was young,”

unaccompanied but by our own shadow in the wilderness, we first heard the belling of the red deer and the eagle’s cry.

In those days there was some difficulty, if not a little danger, in getting in among some of the noblest regions of our Alps. They could not be traversed without strong personal exertion; and a solitary pedestrian excursion through the Grampians was seldom achieved without a few incidents that might almost have been called adventures. It is very different now; yet the Genius Loci, though tamed, is not subdued; and they who would become acquainted with the heart of the Highlands, will have need of some endurance still, and must care nothing about the condition of earth or sky. Formerly, it was not possible to survey more than a district or division in a single season, except to those unenviable persons who had no other pursuit but that of amusement, and waged a weary war with time. The industrious dwellers in cities, who sought these solitudes for a while to relieve their hearts from worldly anxieties, and gratify that love of nature which is inextinguishable in every bosom that in youth has beat with its noble inspirations, were contented with a week or two of such intercommunion with the spirit of the mountains, and thus continued to extend their acquaintance with the glorious wildernesses, visit after visit, for years. Now the whole Highlands, western and northern, may be commanded in a month. Not that any one who knows what they are will imagine that they can be exhausted in a lifetime. The man does not live who knows all worth knowing there; and were they who made the trigonometrical survey to be questioned on their experiences, they would be found ignorant of thousands of sights, any one of which would be worth a journey for its own sake. But now steam has bridged the Great Glen, and connected the two seas. Salt water lochs the most remote and inaccessible, it has brought within reach of a summer day’s voyage. In a week a joyous company can gather all the mainland shores, leaving not one magnificent bay uncircled; and, having rounded St Kilda and

“the Hebride Isles,

Placed far amid the melancholy main,”

and heard the pealing anthem of waves in the cave-cathedral of Staffa, may bless the bells of St Mungo’s tolling on the first Sabbath. Thousands and tens of thousands, who but for those smoking sea-horses, had never been beyond view of the city spires, have seen sights which, though passing by almost like dreams, are not like dreams forgotten, but revive of themselves in memory and imagination; and, when the heart is weary with the work of the hand, quicken its pulses with a sudden pleasure that is felt like a renovation of youth.

All through the interior, too, how many hundreds of miles of roads now intersect regions not long ago deemed impracticable!—firm on the fen, in safety flung across the chasm—and winding smoothly amidst shatterings of rocks, round the huge mountain bases, and down the glens once felt as if interminable, now travelled almost with the speed of the raven’s wing!

In the Highlands now, there is no terra incognita. But there are many places yet well worth seeing, which it is not easy for all men to find, and to which every man must be his own guide. It is somewhat of a selfish feeling, indeed, but the pride is not a mean one, with which the solitary pedestrian sits down to contemplate some strange, or wild, or savage scene, or some view of surpassing sweetness and serenity, so far removed from the track of men, that he can well believe for a time that his eyes have been the first to behold it, and that for them alone it has now become a visible revelation. The memory of such places is sometimes kept as a secret which we would not communicate but to a congenial friend. They are hallowed by those mysterious “thoughts that, like phantoms, trackless come and go;” no words can tell another how to find his way thither; and were we ourselves to seek to return, we should have to trust to some consciousness mysterious as the instinct of a bird that carries it through the blind night to the place of its desire.

It is well to have in our mind the conception of a route; but without being utterly departed from—nay, without ceasing to control us within certain bounds—it admits of almost any degrees of deviation. We have known persons apparently travelling for pleasure who were afraid to turn a few miles to the right or the left, for fear of subjecting themselves to the reproach of their own conscience for infirmity of purpose. They had “chalked out a route,” and acted as if they had sworn a solemn oath to follow it. This is to be a slave among the boundless dominions of nature, where all are free. As the wind bloweth wherever it listeth, so move the moods of men’s minds, when there is nought to shackle them, and when the burden of their cares has been dropt, that for a while they may walk on air, and feel that they too have wings.

“A voice calls on me from the mountain depths,

And it must be obeyed.”

The voice was our own—and yet though but a whisper from the heart, it seemed to come from the front of yon distant precipice—sweet and wild as an echo.

On rising at dawn in the shieling, why think, much less determine, where at night we are to lay down our head? Let this be our thought:

“Among the hills a hundred homes have I:

My table in the wilderness is spread:

In these lone spots one honest smile can buy

Plain fare, warm welcome, and a rushy bed.”

If we obey any powers external to our own minds, let them be the powers of Nature—the rains, the winds, the atmosphere, sun, moon and stars. We must keep a look out—

“To see the deep, fermenting tempest brewed,

In the grim evening sky;”

that next day we may cross the red rivers by bridges, not by fords; and if they roll along unbridged, that we may set our face to the mountain, and wind our way round his shoulder by sheep-tracks, unwet with the heather, till we behold some great strath, which we had not visited but for that storm, with its dark blue river streaked with golden light,—for its source is in a loch among the Eastern Range; and there, during the silent hours, heather, bracken, and greensward rejoiced in the trembling dews.

There is no such climate for all kinds of beauty and grandeur as the climate of the Highlands. Here and there you meet with an old shepherd or herdsman, who has beguiled himself into a belief, in spite of many a night’s unforeseen imprisonment in the mists, that he can presage its changes from fair to foul, and can tell the hour when the long-threatening thunder will begin to mutter. The weather-wise have often perished in their plaids. Yet among a thousand uncertain symptoms, there are a few certain, which the ranger will do well to study, and he will often exult on the mountain to feel that “knowledge is power.” Many a glorious hour has been won from the tempest by him before whose instructed eye—beyond the gloom that wide around blackened all the purple heather—“far off its coming shone.” Leagues of continuous magnificence have gradually unveiled themselves on either side to him, as he has slowly paced, midway between, along the banks of the River of Waterfalls; having been assured by the light struggling through the mist, that it would not be long till there was a break-up of all that ghastly dreariment, and that the sun would call on him to come forth from his cave of shelter, and behold in all its pride the Glen affronting the Sea.

Some Tourists—as they call themselves—are provided with map and compass; and we hope they find them of avail in extremities, though we fear few such understand their use. No map can tell—except very vaguely—how the aspect of the localities, looked at on its lines, is likely to be affected by sunrise, meridian, or sunset. Yet, true it is, that every region has its own happy hours, which the fortunate often find unawares, and know them at once to be so the moment they lift up their eyes. At such times, while “our hearts rejoice in Nature’s joy,” we feel the presence of a spirit that brings out the essential character of the place, be it of beauty or of grandeur. Harmonious as music is then the composition of colours and of forms. It becomes a perfect picture in memory, more and more idealised by imagination, every moment the veil is withdrawn before it; its aërial lineaments never fade; yet they too, though their being be but in the soul, are mellowed by the touch of time—and every glimpse of such a vision, the longer we live, and the more we suffer, seems suffused with a mournful light, as if seen through tears.

It would serve no good purpose, supposing we had the power, to analyse the composition of that scenery, which in the aggregate so moves even the most sluggish faculties, as to make “the dullest wight a poet.” It rises before the mind in imagination, as it does before the eyes in nature; and we can no more speak of it than look at it, but as a whole. We can indeed fix our mental or our visual gaze on scene after scene to the exclusion of all beside, and picture it even in words that shall be more than shadows. But how shall any succession of such pictures, however clear and complete, give an idea of that picture which comprehends them all, and infinite as are its manifestations, nevertheless is imbued with one spirit?

Try to forget that in the Highlands there are any Lochs. Then the sole power is that of the Mountains. We speak of a sea of mountains; but that image has never more than momentary possession of us, because, but for a moment, in nature it has no truth. Tumultuary movements envelope them; but they themselves are for ever steadfast and for ever still. Their power is that of an enduring calm no storms can disturb—and is often felt to be more majestical, the more furious are the storms. As the tempest-driven clouds are franticly hurrying to and fro, how serene the summits in the sky! Or if they be hidden, how peaceful the glimpses of some great mountain’s breast! They disregard the hurricane that goes crashing through their old woods; the cloud-thunder disturbs not them any more than that of their own cataracts, and the lightnings play for their pastime. All minds under any excitation more or less personify mountains. When much moved, that natural process affects all our feelings, as the language of passion awakened by such objects vividly declares; and then we do assuredly conceive of mountains as indued with life—however dim and vague the conception may be—and feel their character in their very names. Utterly strip our ideas of them of all that is attached to them as impersonations, and their power is gone. But while we are creatures of imagination as well as of reason, will those monarchs remain invested with the purple and seated on thrones.

In such imaginative moods as these must every one be, far more frequently than he is conscious of, and in far higher degrees, who, with a cultivated mind and a heart open to the influences of nature, finds himself, it matters not whether for the first or the hundredth time, in the Highlands. We fancy the Neophyte wandering, all by himself, on the “longest day;” rejoicing to think that the light will not fail him, when at last the sun must go down, for that a starry gloaming will continue its gentle reign till morn. He thinks but of what he sees, and that is—the mountains. All memories of any other world but that which encloses him with its still sublimities, are not excluded merely, but obliterated: his whole being is there! And now he stands on table-land, and with his eyes sweeps the horizon, bewildered for a while, for it seems chaos all. But soon the mighty masses begin arranging themselves into order; the confusion insensibly subsides as he comprehends more and more of their magnificent combinations; he discovers centres round which are associated altitudes towering afar off; and finally, he feels, and blesses himself on his felicity, that his good genius has placed him on the very centre of those wondrous assemblages altogether, from which alone he could command an empire of realities, more glorious far than was ever empire of dreams.

It is a cloudy, but not a stormy day; the clouds occupy but portions of the sky,—and are they all in slow motion together, or are they all at rest? Huge shadows stalking along the earth, tell that there are changes going on in heaven; but to the upward gaze, all seems hanging there in the same repose; and with the same soft illumination the sun to continue shining, a concentration rather than an orb of light. All above is beautiful, and the clouds themselves are like celestial mountains; but the eye forsakes them, though it sees them still, and more quietly now it moves along the pageantry below that endures for ever—till chained on a sudden by that range of cliffs. ’Tis along them that the giant shadows are stalking—but now they have passed by—and the long line of precipice seems to come forward in the light. To look down from the brink might be terrible—to look up from the base would be sublime—but fronting the eye thus, horrid though it be, the sight is most beautiful;—for weather-stains, and mosses, and lichens, and flowering-plants—conspicuous most the broom and the heather—and shrubs that, among their leaves of light, have no need of flowers—and hollies, and birks, and hazels, and many a slender tree besides with pensile tresses, besprinkle all the cliffs, that in no gloom could ever lose their lustre; but now the day though not bright is fair, and brings out the whole beauty of the precipice—call it the hanging garden of the wilderness.

The Highlands have been said to be a gloomy region, and worse gloom than theirs might well be borne, if not unfrequently illumined with such sights as these; but that is not the character of the mountains, though the purple light in which, for usual, they are so richly steeped, is often for a season tamed, or for a short while extinguished, while a strange night-like day lets fall over them all a something like a shroud. Such days we have seen—but now in fancy we are with the pilgrim, and see preparation making for a sunset. It is drawing towards evening, and the clouds that have all this time been moving, though we knew it not, have assuredly settled now, and taken up their rest. The sun has gone down, and all that unspeakable glory has left the sky. Evening has come and gone without our knowing that she had been here; but there is no gloom on any place in the whole of this vast wilderness, and the mountains, as they wax dimmer and dimmer, look as if they were surrendering themselves to a repose like sleep. Day had no voice here audible to human ear—but night is murmuring—and gentle though the murmur be, it filleth the great void, and we imagine that ever and anon it awakens echoes. And now it is darker than we thought, for lo! one soft-burning star! And we see that there are many stars; but not theirs the light that begins again to reveal object after object as gradually as they had disappeared; the moon is about to rise—is rising—has arisen—has taken her place high in heaven; and as the glorious world again expands around us, faintly tinged, clearly illumined, softly shadowed, and deeply begloomed, we say within our hearts,

“How beautiful is night!”

There are many such table-lands as the one we have now been imagining, and it requires but a slight acquaintance with the country to conjecture rightly where they lie. Independently of the panoramas they display, they are in themselves always impressive; perhaps a bare level that shows but bleached bent, and scatterings of stones, with here and there an unaccountable rock; or hundreds of fairy greensward knolls, fringed with tiny forests of fern that have almost displaced the heather; or a wild withered moor or moss intersected with pits dug not by men’s hands; and, strange to see! a huge log lying half exposed, and as if blackened by fire. High as such places are, on one of them a young gorcock was stricken down by a hawk close to our feet. Indeed, hawks seem to haunt such places, and we have rarely crossed one of them, without either seeing the creature’s stealthy flight, or hearing, whether he be alarmed or preying, his ever-angry cry.

From a few such stations, you get an insight into the configuration of the whole Western Highlands. By the dip of the mountains, you discover at a glance all the openings in the panorama around you into other regions. Follow your fancies fearlessly wherever they may lead; and if the blue aërial haze that hangs over a pass winding eastward, tempt you from your line of march due north, forthwith descend in that direction, and haply an omen will confirm you—an eagle rising on the left, and sailing away before you into that very spot of sky.

No man, however well read, should travel by book. In books you find descriptions, and often good ones, of the most celebrated scenes, but seldom a word about the vast tracts between; and it would seem as if many Tourists had used their eyes only in those places where they had been told by common fame there was something greatly to admire. Travel in the faith, that go where you will, the cravings of your heart will be satisfied, and you will find it so, if you be a true lover of nature. You hope to be inspired by her spirit, that you may read aright her works. But such inspiration comes not from one object or another, however great or fair, but from the whole “mighty world of eye and ear,” and it must be supported continuously, or it perishes. You may see a thousand sights never before seen by human eye, at every step you take, wherever be your path; for no steps but yours have ever walked along that same level; and moreover, never on the same spot twice rested the same lights or shadows. Then there may be something in the air, and more in your own heart, that invests every ordinary object with extraordinary beauty; old images affect you with a new delight; a grandeur grows upon your eyes in the undulations of the simplest hills; and you feel there is sublimity in the common skies. It is thus that all the stores of imagery are insensibly gathered, with which the minds of men are filled, who from youth have communed with Nature. And it is thus that all those feelings have flowed into their hearts by which that imagery is sanctified; and these are the poets.

It is in this way that we all become familiar with the Mountains. Far more than we were aware of have we trusted to the strong spirit of delight within us, to prompt and to guide. And in such a country as the Highlands, thus led, we cannot err. Therefore, if your desire be for the summits, set your face thitherwards, and wind a way of your own, still ascending and ascending, along some vast brow, that seems almost a whole day’s journey, and where it is lost from your sight, not to end, but to go sweeping round, with undiminished grandeur, into another region. You are not yet half-way up the mountain, but you care not for the summit now; for you find yourself among a number of green knolls—all of them sprinkled, and some of them crowned, with trees—as large almost as our lowland hills—surrounded close to the brink with the purple heather—and without impairing the majesty of the immense expanse, embuing it with pastoral and sylvan beauty;—and there, lying in a small forest glade of the lady-fern, ambitious no longer of a throne on Benlomond or Bennevis, you dream away the still hours till sunset, yet then have no reason to weep that you have lost a day.

But the best way to view the mountains is to trace the Glens. To find out the glens you must often scale the shoulders of mountains; and in such journeys of discovery, you have for ever going on before your eyes glorious transfigurations. Sometimes for a whole day one mighty mass lowers before you unchanged; look at it after the interval of hours, and still the giant is one and the same. It rules the region, subjecting all other altitudes to its sway, though many of them range away to a great distance; and at sunset retains its supremacy, blazing almost like a volcano with fiery clouds. Your line of journey lies, perhaps, some two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and seldom dips down to one thousand; and these are the heights from which all above and all below you look most magnificent, for both regions have their full power over you—the unscaleable cliffs, the unfathomable abysses—and you know not which is the more sublime. The sublimity indeed is one. It is then that you may do well to ascend to the very mountain top. For it may happen to be one of those heavenly days indeed, when the whole Highlands seem to be reposing in the cloudless sky.

But we were about to speak of the Glens. And some of them are best entered by such descents as these—perhaps at their very head—where all at once you are in another world, how still, how gloomy, how profound! An hour ago and the eye of the eagle had not wider command of earth, sea, and sky than yours—almost blinded now by the superincumbent precipices that imprison you, and seem to shut you out from life.

“Such the grim desolation, where Ben-Hun

And Craig-na-Torr, by earthquake shatterings

Disjoined with horrid chasms prerupt, enclose

What superstition calls the Glen of Ghosts.”

Or you may enter some great glen from the foot, where it widens into vale, or strath—and there are many such—and some into which you can sail up an arm of the sea. For a while it partakes of the cultivated beauty of the lowlands, and glen and vale seem almost one and the same; but gradually it undergoes a strange wild change of character, and in a few miles that similitude is lost. There is little or no arable ground here; but the pasture is rich on the unenclosed plain—and here and there are enclosures near the few houses or huts standing, some of them in the middle of the glen, quite exposed, on eminences above reach of the floods—some more happily placed on the edge of the coppices, that sprinkle the steep sides of the hills, yet barely mountains. But mountains they soon become; and leaving behind you those few barren habitations, you see before you a wide black moor. Beautiful hitherto had been the river, for a river you had inclined to think it, long after it had narrowed into a stream, with many a waterfall, and in one chasm a cataract. But the torrent now has a wild mountain-cry, and though there is still beauty on its banks, they are bare of all trees, now swelling into multitudes of low green knolls among the heather, now composed but of heather and rocks. Through the very middle of the black moor it flows, yet are its waters clear, for all is not moss, and it seems to wind its way where there is nothing to pollute its purity, or tame its lustre. ’Tis a solitary scene, but still sweet; the mountains are of great magnitude, but they are not precipitous; vast herds of cattle are browsing there, on heights from which fire has cleared the heather, and wide ranges of greensward upon the lofty gloom seem to lie in perpetual light.

The moor is crossed, and you prepare to scale the mountain in front, for you imagine the torrent by your side flows from a tarn in yonder cove, and forms that series of waterfalls. You have been all along well pleased with the glen, and here at the head, though there is a want of cliffs of the highest class, you feel nevertheless that it has a character of grandeur. Looking westward, you are astounded to see them ranging away on either side of another reach of the glen, terrific in their height, but in their formation beautiful, for like the walls of some vast temple they stand, roofed with sky. Yet are they but as a portal or gateway of the glen. For entering in with awe, that deepens as you advance almost into dread, you behold beyond mountains that carry their cliffs up into the clouds, seamed with chasms, and hollowed out into coves, where night dwells visibly by the side of day; and still the glen seems winding on beneath a purple light, that almost looks like gloom; such vast forms and such prodigious colours, and such utter stillness, become oppressive to your very life, and you wish that some human being were by, to relieve by his mere presence the insupportable weight of such a solitude.

But we should never have done were we to attempt to sketch, however slightly, the character of all the different kinds of glens. Some are sublime in their prodigious depth and vast extent, and would be felt to be so, even were the mountains that enclose them of no great majesty; but these are all of the highest order, and sometimes are seen from below to the very cairns on their summits. Now we walk along a reach, between astonishing ranges of cliffs, among large heaps of rocks—not a tree—scarcely a shrub—no herbage—the very heather blasted—all lifelessness and desolation. The glen gradually grows less and less horrid, and though its sides are seamed with clefts and chasms, in the gloom there are places for the sunshine, and there is felt to be even beauty in the repose. Descends suddenly on either side a steep slope of hanging wood, and we find ourselves among verdant mounds, and knolls, and waterfalls. We come then into what seems of old to have been a forest. Here and there a stately pine survives, but the rest are all skeletons; and now the glen widens, and widens, yet ceases not to be profound, for several high mountains enclose a plain on which armies might encamp, and castellated clouds hang round the heights of the glorious amphitheatre, while the sky-roof is clear, and, as if in its centre, the refulgent sun. ’Tis the plain called “The Meeting of the Glens.” From the east and the west, the north and the south, they come like rivers into the sea.

Other glens there are as long, but not so profound, nor so grandly composed; yet they too conduct us nobly in among the mountains, and up their sides, and on even to their very summits. Such are the glens of Athole, in the neighbourhood of Ben-y-gloe. From them the heather is not wholly banished, and the fire has left a green light without quenching the purple colour native to the hills. We think that we almost remember the time when those glens were in many places sprinkled with huts, and all animated with human life. Now they are solitary; and you may walk from sunrise till sunset without seeing a single soul. For a hundred thousand acres have there been changed into a forest, for sake of the pastime, indeed, which was dear of old to chieftains and kings. Vast herds of red deer are there, for they herd in thousands; yet may you wander for days over the boundless waste, nor once be startled by one stag bounding by. Yet may a herd, a thousand strong, be drawn up, as in battle array, on the cliffs above your head. For they will long stand motionless, at gaze, when danger is in the wind; and then their antlers to unpractised eyes seem but boughs grotesque, or are invisible; and when all at once, with one accord, at signal from the stag, whom they obey, they wheel off towards the corries, you think it but thunder, and look up to the clouds. Fortunate if you see such a sight once in your life. Once only have we seen it; and it was, of a sudden, all by ourselves,

“Ere yet the hunter’s startling horn was heard

Upon the golden hills.”

Almost within rifle-shot, the herd occupied a position, high up indeed, but below several ridges of rocks, running parallel for a long distance, with slopes between of sward and heather. Standing still, they seemed to extend about a quarter of a mile; and, as with a loud clattering of hoofs and antlers they took more open order, the line at least doubled its length, and the whole mountain side seemed alive. They might not be going at full speed, but the pace was equal to that of any charge of cavalry; and once and again the flight passed before us, till it overcame the ridges, and then deploying round the shoulder of the mountain, disappeared, without dust or noise, into the blue light of another glen.

We question if there be in the Highlands any one glen comparable with Borrowdale in Cumberland. But there are several that approach it, in that combination of beauty and grandeur, which perhaps no other scene equals in all the world. The “Gorge” of that Dale exhibits the finest imaginable assemblage of rocks and rocky hills, all wildly wooded; beyond them, yet before we have entered into the Dale, the Pass widens, with noble cliffs on one side, and on the other a sylvan stream, not without its abysses; and we see before us some lovely hills, on which—

“The smiling power of cultivation lies,”

yet leaves, with lines defined by the steeps that defy the ploughshare, copses and groves; and thus we are brought into the Dale itself, and soon have a vision of the whole—green and golden fields—for though most are in pasture, almost all seem arable—sprinkled with fine single trees, and lying in flats and levels, or swelling into mounds and knolls, and all diversified with every kind of woods; single cottages, with their out-buildings, standing everywhere they should stand, and coloured like the rocks from which in some lights they are hardly to be distinguished—strong-roofed and undilapidated, though many of them very old; villages, apart from one another a mile—and there are three—yet on their sites, distant and different in much though they be, all associated together by the same spirit of beauty that pervades all the Dale. Half way up, and in some places more, the enclosing hills and even mountains are sylvan indeed, and though there be a few inoffensive aliens, they are all adorned with their native trees. The mountains are not so high as in our Highlands, but they are very majestic; and the passes over into Langdale, and Wastdalehead, and Buttermere, are magnificent, and show precipices in which the Golden Eagle himself might rejoice.

No—there is no glen in all the Highlands comparable with Borrowdale. Yet we know of some that are felt to be kindred places, and their beauty, though less, almost as much affects us, because though contending, as it were, with the darker spirit of the mountain, it is not overcome, but prevails; and their beauty will increase with years. For while the rocks continue to frown aloft for ever, and the cliffs to range along the corries, unbroken by trees, which there the tempests will not suffer to rise, the woods and groves below, preserved from the axe, for sake of their needful shelter, shall become statelier till the birch equal the pine; reclaimed from the waste, shall many a fresh field recline among the heather, tempering the gloom; and houses arise where now there are but huts, and every house have its garden:—such changes are now going on, and we have been glad to observe their progress, even though sometimes they had removed, or were removing, objects dear from old associations, and which, had it been possible, but it was not, we should have loved to see preserved.

And one word on those sweet pastoral seclusions into which one often drops unexpectedly, it may be at the close of day, and finds a night’s lodging in the lonely hut. Yet they lie, sometimes, embosomed, in their own green hills, among the most rugged mountains, and even among the wildest moors. They have no features by which you can describe them: it is their serenity that charms you, and their cheerful peace; perhaps it is wrong to call them glens, and they are but dells. Yet one thinks of a dell as deep, however small it may be; but these are not deep, for the hills slope down gently upon them, and leave room perhaps between for a little shallow loch. Often they have not any visible water at all, only a few springs and rivulets, and you wonder to see them so very green; there is no herbage like theirs; and to such spots of old, and sometimes yet, the kine are led in summer, and there the lonely family live in their shieling till the harvest moon.

We have all along used the same word, and called the places we have spoken of—glens. A fine observer—the editor of Gilpin’s Forest Scenery—has said: “The gradation from extreme width downwards should be thus arranged—strath, vale, dale, valley, glen, dell, ravine, chasm. In the strath, vale, and dale, we may expect to find the large, majestic, gently flowing river, or even the deeper or smaller lake. In the glen, if the river be large, it flows more rapidly, and with greater variety. In the dell, the stream is smaller. In the ravine, we find the mountain torrent and the waterfall. In the chasm, we find the roaring cataract, or the rill, bursting from its haunted fountain. The chasm discharges its small tribute into the ravine, while the ravine is tributary to the dell, and thence to the glen; and the glen to the dale.”

These distinctions are admirably expressed, and perfectly true to nature; yet we doubt if it would be possible to preserve them in describing a country, and assuredly they are very often indeed confused by common use in the naming of places. We have said nothing about straths—nor shall we try to describe one—but suggest to your own imagination as specimens, Strath-Spey, Strath-Tay, Strath-Earn. The dominion claimed by each of those rivers, within the mountain ranges that environ their courses, is a strath; and three noble straths they are, from source to sea.

And now we are brought to speak of the Highland rivers, streams, and torrents; but we shall let them rush or flow, murmur or thunder, in your own ears, for you cannot fail to imagine what the waters must be in a land of such glens, and such mountains. The chief rivers possess all the attributes essential to greatness—width—depth—clearness—rapidity—in one word, power. And some of them have long courses—rising in the central heights, and winding round many a huge projection, against which in flood we have seen them dashing like the sea. Highland droughts are not of long duration; the supplies are seldom withheld at once by all the tributaries; and one wild night among the mountains converts a calm into a commotion—the many-murmuring voice into one roar. In flood they are terrible to look at; and every whirlpool seems a place of torment. Winds can make a mighty noise in swinging woods, but there is something to our ears more appalling in that of the fall of waters. Let them be united—and add thunder from the clouds—and we have heard in the Highlands all three in one—and the auditor need not care that he has never stood by Niagara. But when “though not o’er-flowing full,” a Highland river is in perfection; far better do we love to see and hear him rejoicing than raging; his attributes appear more his own in calm and majestic manifestations, and as he glides or rolls on, without any disturbance, we behold in him an image at once of power and peace.

Of rivers—comparatively speaking, of the second and third order—the Highlands are full—and on some of them the sylvan scenery is beyond compare. No need there to go hunting the waterfalls. Hundreds of them—some tiny indeed, but others tall—are for ever dinning in the woods; yet, at a distance from the cataract, how sweet and quiet is the sound! It hinders you not from listening to the cushat’s voice; clear amidst the mellow murmur comes the bleating from the mountain; and all other sound ceases, as you hearken in the sky to the hark of the eagle—rare indeed anywhere, but sometimes to be heard as you thread the “glimmer or the gloom” of the umbrage overhanging the Garry or the Tummel—for he used to build in the cliffs of Ben-Brackie, and if he has shifted his eyrie, a few minutes’ waftage will bear him to Cairn-Gower.

In speaking of the glens, we but alluded to the rivers or streams, and some of them, indeed, even the great ones, have but rivulets; while in the greatest, the waters often flow on without a single tree, shadowed but by rocks and clouds. Wade them, and you find they are larger than they seem to be; for looked at along the bottom of those profound hollows, they are but mere slips of sinuous light in the sunshine, and in the gloom you see them not at all. We do not remember any very impressive glen, without a stream, that would not suffer some diminution of its power by our fancying it to have one; we may not be aware, at the time, that the conformation of the glen prevents its having any waterflow, if but we feel its character aright, that want is among the causes of our feeling; just as there are some scenes of which the beauty would not be so touching were there a single tree.

Thousands and tens of thousands there are of nameless perennial torrents, and “in number without number numberless” those that seldom live a week—perhaps not a day. Up among the loftiest regions you hear nothing, even when they are all aflow; yet, there is music in the sight, and the thought of the “general dance and minstrelsy” enlivens the air, where no insect hums. As on your descent you come within hearing of the “liquid lapses,” your heart leaps within you, so merrily do they sing; the first torrent-rill you meet with you take for your guide, and it leads you perhaps into some fairy dell, where it wantons awhile in waterfalls, and then, gliding along a little dale of its own with “banks of green bracken,” finishes its short course in a stream—one of many that meet and mingle before the current takes the name of river, which in a mile or less becomes a small woodland lake. There are many such of rememberable beauty; living lakes indeed, for they are but pausings of expanded rivers, which again soon pursue their way, and the water-lilies have ever a gentle motion there as if touched by a tide.

It used, not very long ago, to be pretty generally believed by our southern brethren, that there were few trees in the Lowlands of Scotland, and none at all in the Highlands. They had an obscure notion that trees either could not or would not grow in such a soil and climate—cold and bleak enough at times and places, heaven knows—yet not altogether unproductive of diverse stately plants. They know better now; nor were we ever angry with their ignorance, which was nothing more than what was to be expected in persons living perpetually at home so far remote. They rejoice now to visit, and sojourn, and travel here among us, foreigners and a foreign land no more; and we rejoice to see and receive them not as strangers, but friends, and are proud to know they are well pleased to behold our habitation. They do us and our country justice now, and we have sometimes thought even more than justice; for they are lost in admiration of our cities—above all, of Edinburgh—and speak with such raptures of our scenery, that they would appear to prefer it even to their own. They are charmed with our bare green hills, with our shaggy brown mountains they are astonished, our lochs are their delight, our woods their wonder, and they hold up their hands and clap them at our cliffs. This is generous, for we are not blind to the fact of England being the most beautiful land on all the earth. What are our woods to hers! To hers, what are our single trees! We have no such glorious standards to show as her indomitable and everlasting oaks. She is all over sylvan—Scotland but here and there; look on England from any point in any place, and you see she is rich, from almost any point in any place in Scotland, and you feel that comparatively she is poor. Yet our Lowlands have long been beautifying themselves into a resemblance of hers; as for our Highlands, though many changes have been going on there too, and most we believe for good, they are in their great features, and in their spirit unalterable by art, stamped and inspired by enduring Nature.

We have spoken, slightly, of the sylvan scenery of the Highlands. In Perthshire, especially, it is of rare and extraordinary beauty, and we are always glad to hear of Englishmen travelling up the Tay and the Earn. We desire that eyes familiar with all that is umbrageous should receive their first impressions of our Scottish trees at Duneira and Dunkeld. Nor will those impressions be weakened as they proceed towards Blair Athole. In that famous Pass they will feel the power possessed by the sweet wild monotony of the universal birch woods—broken but by grey crags in every shape—grotesque, fantastical, majestic, magnificent, and sublime—on the many-ridged mountains, that are loth to lose the green light of their beloved forests, retain it as long as they can, and on the masses of living lustre seem to look down with pride from their skies.

An English forest, meaning thereby any one wide continuous scene of all kinds of old English trees, with glades of pasture, and it may be of heath between, with dells dipping down into the gloom, and hillocks undulating in the light—ravines and chasms too, rills, and rivulets, and a haunted stream, and not without some melancholy old ruins, and here and there a cheerful cottage that feels not the touch of time—such a forest there is not, and hardly can be imagined to be in Scotland. But in the Highlands, there once were, and are still, other forests of quite a different character, and of equal grandeur. In his Forest Scenery, Gilpin shows that he understood it well; all the knowledge, which as a stranger, almost of necessity he wanted, Lauder has supplied in his annotations; and the book should now be in the hands of every one who cares about the woods. “The English forest,” says Gilpin, “is commonly composed of woodland views, interspersed with extensive heaths and lawns. Its trees are oak and beech, whose lively green corresponds better than the gloomy pine with the nature of the scene, which seldom assumes the dignity of a mountain one, but generally exhibits a cheerful landscape. It aspires, indeed, to grandeur; but its grandeur does not depend, like that of the Scottish forest, on the sublimity of the objects, but on the vastness of the whole—the extent of its woods and the wildness of its plains. In its inhabitants also the English forest differs from the Scottish; instead of the stag and the roebuck, it is frequented by cattle and fallow-deer, and exchanges the scream of the eagle and the falcon for the crowing of pheasants and the melody of the nightingale. The Scottish forest, no doubt, is the sublimer scene, and speaks to the imagination in a loftier language than the English forest can reach. The latter, indeed, often rouses the imagination, but seldom in so great a degree, being generally content with captivating the eye. The scenery, too, of the Scottish forest is better calculated to last through ages than that of the English. The woods of both are almost destroyed. But while the English forest hath lost all its beauty with its oaks, and becomes only a desolate waste, the rocks and the mountains, the lakes and the torrents, of the Scottish forest make it still an interesting scene.”

The tree of the Highlands is the pine. There are Scotch firs, indeed, well worth looking at, in the Lowlands, and in England; but to learn their true character you must see them in the glen, among rocks, by the river side, and on the mountain. “We, for our parts,” says Lauder, very finely, “confess that when we have seen it towering in full majesty in the midst of some appropriate Highland scene, and sending its limbs abroad with all unrestrained freedom of a hardy mountaineer, as if it claimed dominion over the savage region round it, we have looked upon it as a very sublime object. People who have not seen it in native climate and soil, and who judge of it from the wretched abortions which are swaddled and suffocated in English plantations, among dark, heavy, and eternally wet clays, may well be called a wretched tree; but when its foot is among its own Highland heather, and when it stands freely in its native knoll of dry gravel, or thinly-covered rock, over which its roots wander afar in the wildest reticulation, whilst its tall, furrowed, and often gracefully-sweeping red and grey trunk, of enormous circumference, rears aloft its high umbrageous canopy, then would the greatest sceptic on this point be compelled to prostrate his mind before it with a veneration which perhaps was never before excited in him by any other tree.” The colour of the pine has been objected to as murky, and murky it often is, or seems to be; and so then is the colour of the heather, and of the river, and of the loch, and of the sky itself thunder-laden, and murkiest of all are the clouds. But a stream of sunshine is let loose, and the gloom is confounded with glory; over all that night-like reign the jocund day goes dancing, and the forest revels in green or in golden light. Thousands and tens of thousands of trees are there; and as you gaze upon the whole mighty array, you fear lest it might break the spell, to fix your gaze on any one single tree. But there are trees there that will force you to look on themselves alone, and they grow before your eyes into the kings of the forest. Straight stand their stems in the sunshine, and you feel that as straight have they stood in the storm. As yet you look not up, for your heart is awed, and you see but the stately columns reddening away into the gloom. But all the while you feel the power of the umbrage aloft, and when thitherwards you lift your eyes, what a roof to such a cathedral! A cone drops at your feet—nor other sound nor other stir—but afar off you think you hear a cataract. Inaudible your footsteps on the soft yellow floor, composed of the autumnal sheddings of countless years. Then it is true that you can indeed hear the beating of your own heart; you fear, but know not what you fear; and being the only living creature there, you are impressed with a thought of death. But soon to that severe silence you are more than reconciled; the solitude, without ceasing to be sublime, is felt to be solemn and not awful, and ere long, utter as it is, serene. Seen from afar, the forest was one black mass; but as you advance, it opens up into spacious glades, beautiful as gardens, with appropriate trees of gentler tribes, and ground-flowering in the sun. But there is no murmur of bee—no song of bird. In the air a thin whisper of insects—intermittent—and wafted quite away by a breath. For we are now in the very centre of the forest, and even the cushat haunts not here. Hither the red deer may come—but not now—for at this season they love the hill. To such places the stricken stag might steal to lie down and die.

And thus for hours may you be lost in the forest, nor all the while have wasted one thought on the outer world, till with no other warning but an uncertain glimmer and a strange noise, you all at once issue forth into the open day, and are standing on the brink of a precipice above a flood. It comes tumbling down with a succession of falls, in a mile-long course, right opposite your stance—rocks, cliffs, and trees, all the way up on either side, majestically retiring back to afford ample channel, and showing an unobstructed vista, closed up by the purple mountain, that seems to send forth the river from a cavern in its breast. ’Tis the Glen of Pines. Nor ash nor oak is suffered to intrude on their dominion. Since the earthquake first shattered it out, this great chasm, with all its chasms, has been held by one race of trees. No other seed could there spring to life; for from the rocks has all soil, ages ago, been washed and swept by the tempests. But there they stand with glossy boles, spreading arms, and glittering crest; and those two by themselves on the summit, known all over Badenoch as “the Giants”—“their statures reach the sky.”

We have been indulging in a dream of old. Before our day the immemorial gloom of Glenmore had perished, and it ceased to be a forest. But there bordered on it another region of night or twilight, and in its vast depths we first felt the sublimity of lonesome fear. Rothiemurchus! The very word blackens before our eyes with necromantic characters—again we plunge into its gulphs desirous of what we dread—again “in pleasure high and turbulent,” we climb the cliffs of Cairngorm.

Would you wish to know what is now the look of Glenmore? One now dead and gone—a man of wayward temper, but of genius—shall tell you—and think not the picture exaggerated—for you would not, if you were there. “It is the wreck of the ancient forest which arrests all the attention, and which renders Glenmore a melancholy—more than a melancholy—a terrific spectacle. Trees of enormous height, which have escaped alike the axe and the tempest, are still standing, stripped by the winds even of the bark, and like gigantic skeletons, throwing far and wide their white and bleached bones to the storms and rains of heaven; while others, broken by the violence of the gales, lift up their split and fractured trunks in a thousand shapes of resistance and of destruction, or still display some knotted and tortuous branches, stretched out, in sturdy and fantastic forms of defiance, to the whirlwind and the winter. Noble trunks also, which had long resisted, but resisted in vain, strew the ground; some lying on the declivity where they have fallen, others still adhering to the precipice where they were rooted, many upturned, with their twisted and entangled roots high in air; while not a few astonish us by the space which they cover, and by dimensions which we could not otherwise have estimated. It is one wide image of death, as if the angel of destruction had passed over the valley. The sight, even of a felled tree, is painful: still more is that of the fallen forest, with all its green branches on the ground, withering, silent, and at rest, where once they glittered in the dew and the sun, and trembled in the breeze. Yet this is but an image of vegetable death. It is familiar, and the impression passes away. It is the naked skeleton bleaching in the winds, the gigantic bones of the forest still erect, the speaking records of former life and of strength still unsubdued, vigorous even in death, which renders Glenmore one enormous charnel house.”

What happened of old to the aboriginal forests of Scotland, that long before these later destructions they had almost all perished, leaving to bear witness what they were, such survivors? They were chiefly destroyed by fire. What power could extinguish chance-kindled conflagrations when sailing before the wind? And no doubt fire was set to clear the country at once of Scotch firs, wolves, wild boars, and outlaws. Tradition yet tells of such burnings; and, if we mistake not, the pines found in the Scottish mosses, the logs and the stocks, all show that they were destroyed by Vulcan, though Neptune buried them in the quagmires. Storms no doubt often levelled them by thousands; but had millions so fallen they had never been missed, and one element only—which has been often fearfully commissioned—could achieve the work. In our own day the axe has indeed done wonders—and sixteen square miles of the forest of Rothiemurchus “went to the ground.” John of Ghent, Gilpin tells us, to avenge an inroad, set twenty-four thousand axes at work in the Caledonian Forest.

Yet Scotland has perhaps sufficient forest at this day. For more has been planted than cut down; Glenmore will soon be populous as ever with self-sown pines, and Rothiemurchus may revive; the shades are yet deeper of Loch Arkaig, Glengarry, Glenmoriston, Strathglass, Glen Strathfarrar, and Loch-Shiel; deeper still on the Findhorn—and deepest of all on the Dee rejoicing in the magnificent pine woods of Invercauld and Braemar.

We feel that we have spoken feebly of our Highland forests. Some perhaps, who have never been off the high roads, may accuse us of exaggeration too; but they contain wondrous beauties of which we have said not a word; and no imagination can conceive what they may be in another hundred years. But, apparently far apart from the forests, though still belonging to them—for they hold in fancy by the tenure of the olden time—how many woods, and groves, and sprinklings of fair trees, rise up during a day’s journey, in almost every region of the North! And among them all, it may be, scarcely a pine. For the oak, and the ash, and the elm, are also all native trees; nowhere else does the rowan flush with more dazzling lustre; in spring, the alder with its vivid green stands well beside the birk—the yew was not neglected of yore, though the bow of the Celt was weak to that of the Saxon; and the holly, in winter emulating the brightness of the pine, flourished, and still flourishes on many a mountain side. There is sufficient sylvan scenery for beauty in a land of mountains. More may be needed for shelter—but let the young plants and seedlings have time to grow—and as for the old trees, may they live for ever. Too many millions of larches are perhaps growing now behind the Tay and the Tilt; yet why should the hills of Perthshire be thought to be disfigured by what ennobles the Alps and the Apennines?

Hitherto we have hardly said a word about Lochs, and have been doing our best to forget them, while imagining scenes that were chiefly characterised by other great features of Highland Landscape. A country thus constituted, and with such an aspect, even if we could suppose it without lochs, would still be a glorious region; but its lochs are indeed its greatest glory; by them its glens, its mountains and its woods are all illumined, and its rivers made to sing aloud for joy. In the pure element, overflowing so many spacious vales and glens profound, the great and stern objects of nature look even more sublime or more beautiful, in their reflected shadows, which appear in that stillness to belong rather to heaven than earth. Or the evanescence of all that imagery at a breath may touch us with the thought that all it represents, steadfast as seems its endurance, will as utterly pass away. Such visions, when gazed on in that wondrous depth and purity they are sometimes seen to assume, on a still summer day, always inspire some such faint feeling as this; and we sigh to think how transitory must be all things, when the setting sun is seen to sink beneath the mountain, and all its golden pomp at the same instant to evanish from the lake.

The first that takes possession of the imagination, dreaming of the Highlands as the region of lochs, is the Queen of them all, Loch Lomond. Wordsworth has said, that “in Scotland, the proportion of diffused water is often too great, as at the Lake of Geneva, for instance, and in most of the Scottish lakes. No doubt it sounds magnificent, and flatters the imagination, to hear at a distance of masses of water so many leagues in length and miles in width; and such ample room may be delightful to the fresh-water sailor, scudding with a lively breeze amid the rapidly shifting scenery. But who ever travelled along the banks of Loch Lomond, variegated as the lower part is by islands, without feeling that a speedier termination of the long vista of blank water would be acceptable, and without wishing for an interposition of green meadows, trees, and cottages, and a sparkling stream to run by his side. In fact, a notion of grandeur as connected with magnitude has seduced persons of taste into a general mistake upon this subject. It is much more desirable for the purposes of pleasure, that lakes should be numerous and small or middle-sized than large, not only for communication by walks and rides, but for variety and for recurrence of similar appearances. To illustrate this by one instance: how pleasing is it to have a ready and frequent opportunity of watching, at the outlet of a lake, the stream, pushing its way among the rocks, in lively contrast with the stillness from which it has escaped; and how amusing to compare its noisy and turbulent motions with the gentle playfulness of the breezes that may be starting up, or wandering here and there over the faintly-rippled surface of the broad water! I may add, as a general remark, that in lakes of great width, the shores cannot be distinctly seen at the same time; and therefore contribute little to mutual illustration and ornament; and if the opposite shores are out of sight of each other, like those of the American and Asiatic lakes, then unfortunately the traveller is reminded of a nobler object; he has the blankness of a sea prospect without the grandeur and accompanying sense of power.”

We shall not be suspected of an inclination to dissent, on light grounds, from any sentiments of Wordsworth. But finely felt and expressed as all this is, we do not hesitate to say that it is not applicable to Loch Lomond. Far be it from us to criticise this passage sentence by sentence; for we have quoted it not in a captious, but in a reverent spirit, as we have ever done with the works of this illustrious man. He has studied nature more widely and profoundly than we have; but it is out of our power to look on Loch Lomond without a feeling of perfection. The “diffusion of water” is indeed great; but in what a world it floats! At first sight of it, how our soul expands! The sudden revelation of such majestic beauty, wide as it is and extending afar, inspires us with a power of comprehending it all. Sea-like, indeed, it is—a Mediterranean Sea—enclosed with lofty hills and as lofty mountains—and these, indeed, are the Fortunate Isles! We shall not dwell on the feeling which all must have experienced on the first sight of such a vision—the feeling of a lovely and a mighty calm; it is manifest that the spacious “diffusion of water” more than conspires with the other components of such a scene to produce the feeling; that to it belongs the spell that makes our spirit serene, still, and bright as its own. Nor when such feeling ceases so entirely to possess, and so deeply to affect us, does the softened and subdued charm of the scene before us depend less on the expanse of the “diffusion of water.” The islands, that before had lain we knew not how—or we had only felt that they were all most lovely—begin to show themselves in the order of their relation to one another and to the shores. The eye rests on the largest, and with them the lesser combine; or we look at one or two of the least, away by themselves, or remote from all a tufted rock; and many as they are, they break not the breadth of the liquid plain, for it is ample as the sky. They show its amplitude; as masses and sprinklings of clouds, and single clouds, show the amplitude of the cerulean vault. And then the long promontories—stretching out from opposite mainlands, and enclosing bays that in themselves are lakes—they too magnify the empire of water; for long as they are, they seem so only as our eye attends them with their cliffs and woods from the retiring shores, and far distant are their shadows from the central light. Then what shores! On one side, where the lake is widest, low-lying they seem and therefore lovelier—undulating with fields and groves, where many a pleasant dwelling is embowered, into lines of hills that gradually soften away into another land. On the other side, sloping back, or overhanging, mounts beautiful in their barrenness, for they are green as emerald; others, scarcely more beautiful, studded with fair trees—some altogether woods. They soon form into mountains—and the mountains become more and more majestical, yet beauty never deserts them, and her spirit continues to tame that of the frowning cliffs. Far off as they are, Benlomond and Benvoirlich are seen to be giants; magnificent is their retinue, but the two are supreme, each in his own dominion; and clear as the day is here, they are diademed with clouds.

It cannot be that the “proportion of diffused water is here too great;” and is it then true that no one “ever travelled along the banks of Loch Lomond, variegated as the lower part is by islands, without feeling that a speedier termination to the long vista of blank water would be acceptable, and without wishing for an interposition of green meadows, trees and cottages, and a sparkling stream to run by his side?” We have travelled along them in all weathers, and never felt such a wish. For there they all are—all but the “sparkling stream to run by our side,” and we see not how that well could be in nature. “Streams that sparkle as they run,” cross our path on their own; and brighter never issued from the woods. Along the margin of the water, as far as Luss—ay, and much farther—the variations of the foreground are incessant; “had it no other beauties,” it has been truly said, “but those of its shores, it would still be an object of prime attraction; whether from the bright green meadows sprinkled with luxuriant ash-trees, that sometimes skirt its margin, or its white pebbled shores on which its gentle billows murmur, like a miniature ocean, or its bold rocky promontories rising from the dark water rich in wild-flowers and ferns, and tangled with wild roses and honey-suckles, or its retired bays where the waves dash, reflecting, like a mirror, the trees which hang over them, an inverted landscape.” The islands are for ever arranging themselves into new forms, every one more and more beautiful; at least so they seem to be, perpetually occurring, yet always unexpected, and there is a pleasure even in such a series of slight surprises that enhances the delight of admiration. And alongside, or behind us, all the while, are the sylvan mountains, “laden with beauty;” and ever and anon open glens widen down upon us from chasms; or forest glades lead our hearts away into the inner gloom—perhaps our feet; and there, in a field that looks not as if it had been cleared by his own hands, but left clear by nature, a woodsman’s hut.

Half-way between Luss and Tarbet the water narrows, but it is still wide; the new road, we believe, winds round the point of Firkin, the old road boldly scaled the height, as all old roads loved to do; ascend it, and bid the many-isled vision, in all its greatest glory, farewell. Thence upwards prevails the spirit of the mountains. The lake is felt to belong to them—to be subjected to their will—and that is capricious; for sometimes they suddenly blacken it when at its brightest, and sometimes when its gloom is like that of the grave, as if at their bidding, all is light. We cannot help attributing the “skiey influences” which occasion such wonderful effects on the water, to prodigious mountains; for we cannot look on them without feeling that they reign over the solitude they compose; the lights and shadows flung by the sun and the clouds imagination assuredly regards as put forth by the vast objects which they colour; and we are inclined to think some such belief is essential in the profound awe, often amounting to dread, with which we are inspired by the presences of mere material forms. But be this as it may, the upper portion of Loch Lomond is felt by all to be most sublime. Near the head, all the manifold impressions of the beautiful which for hours our mind had been receiving, begin to fade; if some gloomy change has taken place in the air, there is a total obliteration, and the mighty scene before us is felt to possess not the hour merely, but the day. Yet should sunshine come, and abide a while, beauty will glimpse upon us even here, for green pastures will smile vividly, high up among the rocks; the sylvan spirit is serene the moment it is touched with light, and here there is not only many a fair tree by the water-side, but yon old oak wood will look joyful on the mountain, and the gloom become glimmer in the profound abyss.

Wordsworth says, that “it must be more desirable, for the purposes of pleasure, that lakes should be numerous, and small or middle-sized, than large, not only for communication by walks and rides, but for variety, and for recurrence of similar appearances.” The Highlands have them of all sizes—and that surely is best. But here is one which, it has been truly said, is not only “incomparable in its beauty as in its dimensions, exceeding all others in variety as it does in extent and splendour, but unites in itself every style of scenery which is found in the other lakes of the Highlands.” He who has studied, and understood, and felt all Loch Lomond, will be prepared at once to enjoy any other fine lake he looks on; nor will he admire nor love it the less, though its chief character should consist in what forms but one part of that of the Wonder in which all kinds of beauty and sublimity are combined.

We feel that it would be idle, and worse than idle, to describe any number of the Highland lochs, for so many of the finest have been seen by so many eyes, that few persons probably will ever read these pages to whom such descriptions would be, at the best, more than shadowings of scenery that their own imaginations can more vividly recreate.

We may be allowed, however, to say, that there cannot be a greater mistake than to think, as many we believe do who have only heard of the Highland lochs, that, with the exception of those famous for their beauty as well as their grandeur, beauty is not only not the quality by which they are distinguished, but that it is rarely found in them at all. There are few, possessing any very marked character, in which beauty is not either an ingredient or an accompaniment; and there are many “beautiful exceedingly” which, lying out of the way even of somewhat adventurous travellers, or very remote, are known, if even by that, only by name. It does not, indeed, require much, in some situations, to give a very touching beauty to water. A few trees, a few knolls, a few tufted rocks, will do it, where all around and above is stern or sterile; and how strong may be the gentle charm, if the torrent that feeds the little loch chance to flow into it from a lucid pool formed by a waterfall, and to flow out of it in a rivulet that enlivens the dark heather with a vale of verdure over which a stag might bound—and more especially if there be two or three huts in which it is perceived there is human life! We believe we slightly touched before on such scenes; but any little repetition will be excused for the sake of a very picturesque passage, which we have much pleasure in quoting from the very valuable Guide to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, by the brothers Anderson. We well remember walking into the scene here so well painted, many long years ago, and have indeed, somewhere or other, described it. The Fall of Foyers is the most magnificent cataract, out of all sight and hearing, in Britain. The din is quite loud enough in ordinary weather—and it is only in ordinary weather that you can approach the place, from which you have a full view of all its grandeur. When the Fall is in flood—to say nothing of being drenched to the skin—you are so blinded by the sharp spray smoke, and so deafened by the dashing and clashing, and tumbling and rumbling thunder, that your condition is far from enviable, as you cling, “lonely lover of nature,” to a shelf by no means eminent for safety, above the horrid gulf. Nor in former times was there any likelihood of your being comforted by the accommodations of the General’s Hut. In ordinary Highland weather—meaning thereby weather neither very wet nor very dry—it is worth walking a thousand miles for one hour to behold the Fall of Foyers. The spacious cavity is enclosed by “complicated cliffs and perpendicular precipices” of immense height; and though for a while it wears to the eye a savage aspect, yet beauty fears not to dwell even there, and the horror is softened by what appears to be masses of tall shrubs, or single shrubs almost like trees. And they are trees, which on the level plain would look even stately; but as they ascend ledge above ledge the walls of that awful chasm, it takes the eye time to see them as they really are, while on our first discernment of their character, serenely standing among the tumult, they are felt on such sites to be sublime.

“Between the Falls and the Strath of Stratherrik,” says the book we were about to quote, “a space of three or four miles, the river Foyers flows through a series of low rocky hills clothed with birch. They present various quiet glades and open spaces, where little patches of cultivated ground are encircled by wooded hillocks, whose surface is pleasingly diversified by nodding trees, bare rocks, empurpled heath, and bracken bearing herbage.” It was the excessive loveliness of some of the scenery there that suggested to us the thought of going to look what kind of a stream the Foyers was above the Fall. We went, and in the quiet of a summer evening, found it

“Was even the gentlest of all gentle things.”

But here is the promised description of it:—“Before pursuing our way westward, we would wish to direct the traveller’s attention to a sequestered spot of peculiar beauty on the river Foyers. This is a secluded vale, called Killean, which, besides its natural attractions, and these are many, is distinguished as one of the few places where the old practice of resorting to the ‘shieling’ for summer grazing of cattle is still observed. It is encompassed on all sides by steep mountains; but at the north end there is a small lake, about a mile and a half in length, and from one-third to half a mile in breadth. The remainder of the bottom of the glen is a perfectly level tract, of the same width with the lake, and about two miles and a half in length, covered with the richest herbage, and traversed by a small meandering river flowing through it into the lake. The surface of this flat is bedecked with the little huts or bothies, which afford temporary accommodation to the herdsmen and others in charge of the cattle. This portion of the glen is bordered on the west by continuous hills rising abruptly in a uniformly steep acclivity, and passing above into a perpendicular range of precipices, the whole covered with a scanty verdure sprouted with heath. At the bend of the lake near its middle, where it inclines from a northernly course towards the west, a magnificent rounded precipice, which, like the continuous ranges, may be about 1200 feet in height, rises immediately out of the water; and a few narrow and inclined verdant stripes alone preserve it from exhibiting a perfectly mural character. To this noble rock succeeds, along the rest of the lake, a beautiful, lofty, and nearly vertical hill-side, clothed with birch, intermingled with hanging mossy banks, shaded over with the deeper tinted bracken. The eastern side of the plain, and the adjoining portion of the lake, are lined by mountains corresponding in height with those opposed to them; but their lower extremities are, to a considerable extent, strewed with broken fragments of rock, to which succeeds an uninterrupted zone of birch and alder, which is again overtopped in its turn by naked cliffs. An elevated terrace occupies the remainder of this side of the lake; above the wooded face of which is seen a sloping expanse of mingled heath and herbage. About half a mile from the south end, Mr. Fraser of Lovat, the proprietor, has erected a shooting lodge; viewed from which, or from either end, or from the top of the platform on the north-east side of the lake, fancy could scarcely picture a more attractive and fairy landscape than is unfolded by this sequestered vale, to which Dr. Johnson’s description of the ‘Happy Valley’ not inaptly applies. The milch cows, to the number of several hundreds, are generally kept here from the beginning of June to the middle of August, when they are replaced by the yeld cattle. The river sweeps to the northward from Loch Killean through richly birch-clad hills, which rise in swelling slopes from its banks. A large tarn which immediately joins it from the east is crossed at its mouth by a rustic bridge, from which a single footpath conducts across the brow of the hill to Whitebridge, a small public-house or inn, four miles distant.”

There is a loch of a very different character from Killean, almost as little known (a view of it is given at page 708), equal to anything in the Highlands, only two miles distant from Loch Lochy, in the great glen—Loch Arkaig. We first visited it many years since, having been induced to do so by a passage in John Stoddard’s Remarks on the Local Scenery and Manners of Scotland; and it was then a very noble oak and pine forest loch. The axe went to work and kept steadily at it; and a great change was wrought; but it is still a grand scene, with a larger infusion of beauty than it possessed of old. The scenery of the valley separating it from Loch Lochy is very similar to that of the Trossachs; through it there are two approaches to the loch, and the Mile-Dubh, or the dark mile, according to our feeling, is more impressive than any part of the approach to Loch Katrine. The woods and rocks are very solemn, and yet very sweet; for though many old pines, and oaks and ashes are there, and the wall of rocks is immense, young trees prevail now on many places, as well along the heights as among the knolls and hillocks below, where alders and hawthorns are thick; almost everywhere the young are intermingled with the old, and look cheerful under their protection, without danger of being chilled by their shade. The loch, more or less sylvan from end to end, shows on its nearer shores some magnificent remains of the ancient forest, and makes a noble sweep like some great river. There may be more, but we remember but one island—not large, but wooded as it should be—the burying-place of the family of Lochiel. What rest! It is a long journey from Loch Lochy to Kinloch Arkaig—and by the silent waters we walked or sat all a summer’s day. There was nothing like a road that we observed, but the shores are easily travelled, and there it is you may be almost sure of seeing some red deer. They are no better worth looking at from a window than Fallow—no offence to Fallow, who are fine creatures; indeed, we had rather not see them so at all; but on the shores or steeps of Loch Arkaig, with hardly a human habitation within many, many miles, and these few rather known than seen to be there, the huts of Highlanders contented to cultivate here and there some spot that seems cultivatable, but probably is found not to be so after some laborious years—there they are at home; and you, if young, looking on them feel at home too, and go bounding, like one of themselves, over what, did you choose, were an evitable steep. Roe, too, frequent the copses, but to be seen they must be started; grouse spring up before you oftener than you might expect in a deer forest; but, to be sure, it is a rough and shaggy one, though lovelier lines of verdure never lay in the sunshine than we think we see now lying for miles along the margin of that loch. The numerous mountains towards the head of the loch are very lofty, and glens diverge in grand style into opposite and distant regions. Glen Dessary, with its beautiful pastures, opens on the Loch, and leads to Loch Nevish on the coast of Knoidart—Glen Pæan to Oban-a-Cave on Loch Morer, Glen Canagorie into Glenfinnan and Loch Shiel; and Glen Kingie to Glengarry and Loch Quoich. There is a choice! We chose Glen Kingie, and after a long climb found a torrent that took us down to Glengarry before sunset. It is a loch little known, and in grandeur not equal to Loch Arkaig; but at the close of such a day’s journey, the mind, elevated by the long contemplation of the great objects of nature, cannot fail to feel aright, whatever it may be, the spirit of the scene, that seems to usher in the grateful hour of rest. It is surpassing fair—and having lain all night long on its gentle banks, sleeping or waking we know not, we have never remembered it since but as the Land of Dreams.

Which is the dreariest, most desolate and dismal of the Highland lochs? We should say Loch Ericht. It lies in a prodigious wilderness with which perhaps no man alive is conversant, and in which you may travel for days without seeing even any symptoms of human life. We speak of the regions comprehended between the Forest of Athole, and Bennevis, the Moor of Rannoch, and Glen Spean. There are many Lochs—and Loch Ericht is their grisly Queen. Herdsmen, shepherds, hunters, fowlers, anglers, traverse its borders, but few have been far in the interior, and we never knew anybody who had crossed it from south to north, from east to west. We have ourselves seen more of it, perhaps than any other Lowlander; and had traversed many of its vast glens and moors before we found our way to the southern solitude of Loch Ericht. We came into the western gloom of Ben Alder from Loch Ouchan, and up and down for hours dismal but not dangerous precipices that opened out into what might almost be called passes—but we have frequently to go back for they were blind—contrived to clamber to the edge of one of the mountains that rose from the water a few miles down the Loch. All was vast, shapeless, savage, black, and wrathfully grim; for it was one of those days that keep frowning and lowering, yet will not thunder; such as one conceives of on the eve of an earthquake. At first the sight was dreadful, but there was no reason for dread; imagination remains not longer than she chooses the slave of her own eyes, and we soon began to enjoy the gloom, and to feel how congenial it was in nature with the character of all those lifeless cliffs. Silence and darkness suit well together in solitude at noonday; and settled on huge objects make them sublime. And they were huge; all ranged together, and stretching away to a great distance, with the pitchy water, still as if frozen, covering their feet.

Loch Ericht is many miles long—nearly twenty; but there is a loch among the Grampians not more than two miles round—if so much, which is sublimer far—Loch Aven. You come upon the sight of it at once, a short way down from the summit of Cairngorm, and then it is some two thousand feet below you, itself being as many above the level of the sea. But to come upon it so as to feel best its transcendent grandeur, you should approach it up Glenaven—and from as far down as Inch-Rouran, which is about half-way between Loch Aven and Tomantoul. Between Inch-Rouran and Tomantoul the glen is wild, but it is inhabited; above that house there is but one other—and for about a dozen miles—we have heard it called far more—there is utter solitude. But never was there a solitude at once so wild—so solemn—so serene—so sweet! The glen is narrow; but on one side there are openings into several wider glens, that show you mighty coves as you pass on; on the other side the mountains are without a break, and the only variation with them is from smooth to shaggy, from dark to bright; but their prevailing character is that of pastoral or of forest peace. The mountains that show the coves belong to the bases of Ben-Aven and Ben-y-buird. The heads of those giants are not seen—but it sublimes the long glen to know that it belongs to their dominion, and that it is leading us on to an elevation that erelong will be on a level with the roots of their topmost cliffs. The Aven is so clear—on account of the nature of its channel—that you see the fishes hanging in every pool; and ’tis not possible to imagine how beautiful in such transparencies are the reflections of its green ferny banks. For miles they are composed of knolls, seldom interspersed with rocks, and there cease to be any trees. But ever and anon, we walk for a while on a level floor, and the voice of the stream is mute. Hitherto sheep have been noticed on the hill, but not many, and red and black cattle grazing on the lower pastures; but they disappear, and we find ourselves all at once in a desert. So it is felt to be, coming so suddenly with its black heather on that greenest grass; but ’tis such a desert as the red-deer love. We are now high up on the breast of the mountain, which appears to be Cairngorm; but such heights are deceptive, and it is not till we again see the bed of the Aven that we are assured we are still in the glen. Prodigious precipices, belonging to several different mountains, for between mass and mass there is blue sky, suddenly arise, forming themselves more and more regularly into circular order, as we near; and now we have sight of the whole magnificence; yet vast as it is, we know not yet how vast; it grows as we gaze, till in a while we feel that sublimer it may not be; and then so quiet in all its terrific grandeur we feel too that it is beautiful, and think of the Maker.

This is Loch Aven. How different the whole regions round from that enclosing Loch Ericht! There, vast wildernesses of more than melancholy moors—huge hollows hating their own gloom that keep them herbless—disconsolate glens left far away by themselves, without any sign of life—cliffs that frown back the sunshine—and mountains, as if they were all dead, insensible to the heavens. Is this all mere imagination—or the truth? We deceive ourselves in what we call a desert. For we have so associated our own being with the appearances of outward things, that we attribute to them, with an uninquiring faith, the very feelings and the very thoughts, of which we have chosen to make them emblems. But here the sources of the Dee seem to lie in a region as happy as it is high; for the bases of the mountains are all such as the soul has chosen to make sublime—the colouring of the mountains all such as the soul has chosen to make beautiful; and the whole region, thus imbued with a power to inspire elevation and delight, is felt to be indeed one of the very noblest in nature.

We have now nearly reached the limits assigned to our Remarks on the Character of the Scenery of the Highlands; and we feel that the sketches we have drawn of its component qualities—occasionally filled up with some details—must be very imperfect indeed, without comprehending some parts of the coast, and some of the sea-arms that stretch into the interior. But even had our limits allowed, we do not think we could have ventured on such an attempt; for though we have sailed along most of the western shores, and through some of its sounds, and into many of its bays, and up not a few of its reaches, yet they contain such an endless variety of all the fairest and greatest objects of nature, that we feel it would be far beyond our powers to give anything like an adequate idea of the beauty and the grandeur that for ever kept unfolding themselves around our summer voyagings in calm or storm. Who can say that he knows a thousandth part of the wonders of “the marine” between the Mull of Cantire and Cape Wrath? He may have gathered many an extensive shore—threaded many a mazy multitude of isles—sailed up many a spacious bay—and cast anchor at the head of many a haven land-locked so as no more to seem to belong to the sea—yet other voyagers shall speak to him of innumerable sights which he has never witnessed; and they who are most conversant with those coasts, best know how much they have left and must leave for ever unexplored.

Look now only at the Linnhe Loch—how it gladdens Argyle! Without it and the sound of Mull how sad would be the shadows of Morven! Eclipsed the splendours of Lorn! Ascend one of the heights of Appin, and as the waves roll in light, you will feel how the mountains are beautified by the sea. There is a majestic rolling onwards there that belongs to no land-loch—only to the world of waves. There is no nobler image of ordered power than the tide, whether in flow or in ebb; and on all now it is felt to be beneficent, coming and going daily, to enrich and adorn. Or in fancy will you embark, and let the “Amethyst” bound away “at her own sweet will,” accordant with yours, till she reach the distant and long-desired loch.

“Loch-Sunart! who, when tides and tempests roar,

Comes in among these mountains from the main,

’Twixt wooded Ardnamurchan’s rocky cape

And Ardmore’s shingly beach of hissing spray;

And, while his thunders bid the sound of Mull

Be dumb, sweeps onwards past a hundred bays

Hill-sheltered from the wrath that foams along

The mad mid-channel,—All as quiet they

As little separate worlds of summer dreams,—

And by storm-loving birds attended up

The mountain-hollow, white in their career

As are the breaking billows, spurns the Isles

Of craggy Carnich, and Green Oronsay

Drench’d in that sea-born shower o’er tree-tops driven

And ivied stones of what was once a tower

Now hardly known from rocks—and gathering might

In the long reach between Dungallan caves

And point of Arderinis ever fair

With her Elysian groves, bursts through that strait

Into another ampler inland sea;

Till lo! subdued by some sweet influence,—

And potent is she though so meek the Eve,—

Down sinketh wearied the old Ocean

Insensibly into a solemn calm,—

And all along that ancient burial-ground,

(Its kirk is gone,) that seemeth now to lend

Its own eternal quiet to the waves,

Restless no more, into a perfect peace

Lulling and lull’d at last, while drop the airs

Away as they were dead, the first risen star

Beholds that lovely Archipelago,

All shadow’d there as in a spiritual world,

Where time’s mutations shall come never more!”

These lines describe but one of innumerable lochs that owe their greatest charm to the sea. It is indeed one of those on which nature has lavished all her infinite varieties of loveliness; but Loch Leven is scarcely less fair, and perhaps grander; and there is matchless magnificence about Loch Etive. All round about Ballachulish and Invercoe the scenery of Loch Leven is the sweetest ever seen overshadowed by such mountains; the deeper their gloom, the brighter its lustre; in all weathers it wears a cheerful smile; and often while up among the rocks the tall trees are tossing in the storm, the heart of the woods beneath is calm, and the vivid fields they shelter look as if they still enjoyed the sun. Nor closes the beauty there, but even animates the entrance into that dreadful glen—Glencoe. All the way up its river, Loch Leven would be fair, were it only for her hanging woods. But though the glen narrows, it still continues broad, and there are green plains between her waters and the mountains, on which stately trees stand single, and there is ample room for groves. The returning tide tells us, should we forget it, that this is no inland loch, for it hurries away back to the sea, not turbulent, but fast as a river in flood. The river Leven is one of the finest in the Highlands, and there is no other such series of waterfalls, all seen at once, one above the other, along an immense vista; and all the way up to the farthest there are noble assemblages of rocks—nowhere any want of wood—and in places, trees that seem to have belonged to some old forest. Beyond, the opening in the sky seems to lead into another region, and it does so; for we have gone that way, past some small lochs, across a wide wilderness, with mountains on all sides, and descended on Loch Treag,

“A loch whom there are none to praise

And very few to love,”

but overflowing in our memory with all pleasantest images of pastoral contentment and peace.

Loch Etive, between the ferries of Connel and Bunawe, has been seen by almost all who have visited the Highlands but very imperfectly; to know what it is you must row or sail up it, for the banks on both sides are often richly wooded, assume many fine forms, and are frequently well embayed, while the expanse of water is sufficiently wide to allow you from its centre to command a view of many of the distant heights. But above Bunawe it is not like the same loch. For a couple of miles it is not wide, and it is so darkened by enormous shadows that it looks even less like a strait than a gulf—huge overhanging rocks on both sides ascending high, and yet felt to belong but to the bases of mountains that sloping far back have their summits among clouds of their own in another region of the sky. Yet are they not all horrid; for nowhere else is there such lofty heather—it seems a wild sort of brushwood; tall trees flourish, single or in groves, chiefly birches, with now and then an oak—and they are in their youth or their prime—and even the prodigious trunks, some of which have been dead for centuries, are not all dead, but shoot from their knotted rhind symptoms of life inextinguishable by time and tempest. Out of this gulf we emerge into the Upper Loch, and its amplitude sustains the majesty of the mountains, all of the highest order, and seen from their feet to their crests. Cruachan wears the crown, and reigns over them all—king at once of Loch Etive and of Loch Awe. But Buachaille Etive, though afar off, is still a giant, and in some lights comes forwards, bringing with him the Black Mount and its dependents, so that they all seem to belong to this most magnificent of all Highland lochs. “I know not,” says Macculloch, “that Loch Etive could bear an ornament without an infringement on that aspect of solitary vastness which it presents throughout. Nor is there one. The rocks and bays on the shore, which might elsewhere attract attention, are here swallowed up in the enormous dimensions of the surrounding mountains, and the wide and ample expanse of the lake. A solitary house, here fearfully solitary, situated far up in Glen Etive, is only visible when at the upper extremity; and if there be a tree, as there are in a few places on the shore, it is unseen; extinguished as if it were a humble mountain flower, by the universal magnitude around.” This is finely felt and expressed; but even on the shores of Loch Etive there is much of the beautiful; Ardmatty smiles with its meadows, and woods, and bay, and sylvan stream; other sunny nooks repose among the grey granite masses; the colouring of the banks and braes is often bright; several houses or huts become visible no long way up the glen; and though that long hollow—half a day’s journey—till you reach the wild road between Inveruran and King’s House—lies in gloom, yet the hillsides are cheerful, and you delight in the greensward, wide and rock-broken, should you ascend the passes that lead into Glencreran or Glencoe. But to feel the full power of Glen Etive you must walk up it till it ceases to be a glen. When in the middle of the moor, you see far off a solitary dwelling indeed—perhaps the loneliest house in all the Highlands—and the solitude is made profounder, as you pass by, by the voice of a cataract, hidden in an awful chasm, bridged by two or three stems of trees, along which the red-deer might fear to venture—but we have seen them and the deer-hounds glide over it, followed by other fearless feet, when far and wide the Forest of Dalness was echoing to the hunter’s horn.

We have now brought our Remarks on the Scenery of the Highlands to a close, and would fain have said a few words on the character and life of the people; but are precluded from even touching on that most interesting subject. It is impossible that the minds of travellers through those wonderful regions can be so occupied with the contemplation of mere inanimate nature, as not to give many a thought to their inhabitants, now and in the olden time. Indeed, without such thoughts, they would often seem to be but blank and barren wildernesses in which the heart would languish, and imagination itself recoil; but they cannot long be so looked at, for houseless as are many extensive tracts, and at times felt to be too dreary even for moods that for a while enjoyed the absence of all that might tell of human life, yet symptoms and traces of human life are noticeable to the instructed eye almost every where, and in them often lies the spell that charms us, even while we think that we are wholly delivered up to the influence of “dead insensate things.” None will visit the Highlands without having some knowledge of their history; and the changes that have long been taking place in the condition of the people will be affectingly recognised wherever they go, in spite even of what might have appeared the insuperable barriers of nature.

PART FIRST.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

B.C. 55—A.D. 446.

Highlands defined—Ancient Scotland—Roman Transactions—Agricola—Caledonians—Contest at Loch Ore—Galgacus—Mons Grampius—Battle—Agricola superseded—Lollius Urbicus—Antonine’s Wall—Ulpius Marcellus—Severus—Constantius Chlorus—Picts—Scots—Attacots—Attack Roman Provinces—Romans abandon Britain—Influence of Romans—Roman Remains—Roads—Camps—Ardoch.

As it is generally acknowledged that the physical character of a country influences in a great degree the moral and physical character of its inhabitants, and thus to a certain extent determines their history, it may not be deemed out of place to define here the application of the term Highlands, so far as Scotland is concerned, and briefly to describe the general physical aspect of that part of our native land. If it hold good at all that there subsists a relation between a people and the country which they have inhabited for centuries, the following history will show that this is peculiarly the case with the Scottish Highlanders.

Most of those who have thought of the matter at all, have doubtless formed to themselves a general notion of the northern half of Scotland as a

“Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,

Land of the mountain and the flood,”

and of its inhabitants as a brawny, rugged, indomitable, impulsive race, steadfast in their friendship and loyalty, and relentless but generous in their enmity. Although the popular and poetic notion of the country is on the whole correct, and although the above epithets may express the main features of the character of the people, still it requires a close acquaintance with this interesting race, both historically and by personal intercourse, to form an adequate notion of their character in all its aspects.

To speak roughly, nearly the whole of the country north of a line connecting the heads of the estuaries of the Clyde, Forth, and Tay, may be included under the designation of the Highlands, and, in fact, popularly is so. Indeed, at the time at which the northern half of Scotland—the ancient and proper Caledonia—emerges from its pristine gloom, and for the first time glimmers in the light of history, the line indicated by the forts of Agricola, and afterwards by the wall of Antonine, marked the southern boundary of the region which was then, and for centuries afterwards, regarded by the Romans, and also, probably, by the southern Britons, as occupying the same position in relation to the rest of the country as the Highlands proper did at a subsequent period. In course of time the events which fall to be recorded in the following pages gradually altered this easily perceived boundary, so that for centuries before the present day, a much more intricate but still distinct line has marked the limits of what is now strictly and correctly regarded as the Highlands of Scotland.

The definition of this territory which best suits the purposes of history, and in all respects most nearly accords with those of political and social geography, is one which makes it commensurate with the country or locations of the ancient Highland clans. This definition assigns to the Highlands all the continental territory north of the Moray frith, and all the territory, both insular and continental, westward of an easily traceable line from that frith to the frith of Clyde. The line commences at the mouth of the river Nairn: thence, with the exception of a slight north-eastward or outward curve, the central point of which is on the river Spey, it runs due south-east till it strikes the river Dee at Tullach, nearly on the third degree of longitude west of Greenwich; it then runs generally south till it falls upon Westwater, or the southern large head-water of the North Esk; thence, over a long stretch, it runs almost due south-west, and with scarcely a deviation, till it falls upon the Clyde at Ardmore in the parish of Cardross; and now onward to the Atlantic ocean, it moves along the frith of Clyde, keeping near to the continent, and excluding none of the Clyde islands except the comparatively unimportant Cumbraes. All the Scottish territory west and north-west of this line is properly the Highlands. Yet both for the convenience of topographical description, and because, altogether down to the middle of the 13th century, and partially down to the middle of the 16th, the Highlands and the Western Islands were politically and historically distinct regions, the latter are usually viewed apart under the name of the Hebrides. The mainland Highlands, or the Highlands after the Hebrides are deducted, extend in extreme length from Duncansby Head, or John o’ Groat’s on the north, to the Mull of Kintyre on the south, about 250 miles; but over a distance of 90 miles at the northern end, they have an average breadth of only about 45 miles,—over a distance of 50 or 55 miles at the southern end, they consist mainly of the Clyde islands, and the very narrow peninsula of Kintyre,—and even at their broadest part, from the eastern base of the Grampians to Ardnamurchan Point on the west, they do not extend to more than 120 miles. The district comprehends the whole of the counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, Inverness, and Argyle, large parts of Nairn, Perth, Dumbarton, and Bute, and considerable portions of Elgin, Banff, Aberdeen, Forfar, and Stirling. Considerable parts of this district, however, such as Caithness-shire, the island of Bute, and some large tracts of moor or valley or flanking plain, do not exhibit the physical features which are strictly Highland.

A district so extensive can be but faintly pictured in a general and rapid description. Mountains, chiefly covered with heath or ling, but occasionally, on the one hand, displaying sides and summits of naked rock, and on the other, exhibiting a dress of verdure, everywhere rise, at short intervals, in chains, ridges, groups, and even solitary heights. Their forms are of every variety, from the precipitous and pinnacled acclivity, to the broad-based and round-backed ascent; but, in general, are sharp in outline, and wild or savagely grand in feature. Both elongated ridges, and chains or series of short parallel ridges, have a prevailing direction from north-east to south-west, and send up summits from 1,000 to upwards of 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. Glens, valleys, and expanses of lowland stretch in all directions among the mountains, and abound in voluminous streams, and large elongated lakes of picturesque appearance,—nearly all the inland lakes extending in stripes either north-eastward and south-westward, or eastward and westward. Along the whole west coast, at remarkably brief intervals, arms of the sea, long, narrow, and sometimes exceedingly rugged in outline, run north-eastward or south-eastward into the interior, and assist the inland fresh water lakes in cleaving it into sections. The rivers of the region are chiefly impetuous torrents, careering for a while along mountain-gorges, and afterwards either expanding themselves into beautiful lakes and flowing athwart delightful meadows, or ploughing long narrow valleys, green and ornate with grasses, trefoils, daisies, ranunculi, and a profuse variety of other herbage and flowers. Native woods, principally of pine and birch, and occasionally clumps and expanses of plantation, climb the acclivities of the gentler heights, or crowd down upon the valley, and embosom the inland lakes. On the east side, along the coast to the Moray frith, and towards the frontier in the counties of Nairn, Elgin, and Perth, gentle slopes and broad belts of lowland, fertile in soil and favourable in position, are carpeted with agricultural luxuriance, and thickly dotted with human dwellings, and successfully vie with the south of Scotland in towns and population, and in the pursuit and display of wealth. But almost everywhere else, except in the fairyland of Loch Fyne, and the southern shore of Loch Etive, the Highlands are sequestered,—sinless of a town,—a semi-wilderness, where a square mile is a more convenient unit of measurement than an acre.

A district characterized by such features as we have named necessarily exhibits, within very circumscribed limits, varieties of scenery of the most opposite descriptions; enabling the admirer of nature to pass abruptly from dwelling on the loveliness of an extensive marine or champaign landscape into the deep solitude of an ancient forest, or the dark craggy fastnesses of an alpine ravine; or from lingering amid the quiet grassy meadows of a pastoral strath or valley, watered by its softly-flowing stream, to the open heathy mountain-side, whence ‘alps o’er alps arise,’ whose summits are often shrouded with mists and almost perennial snows, and their overhanging precipices furrowed by foaming cataracts. Lakes and long arms of the sea, either fringed with woods or surrounded with rocky barren shores, now studded with islands, and anon extending their silvery arms into distant receding mountains, are met in every district; while the extreme steepness, ruggedness, and sterility of many of the mountain-chains impart to them as imposing and magnificent characters as are to be seen in the much higher and more inaccessible elevations of Switzerland. No wonder, then, that this ‘land of mountain and of flood’ should have given birth to the song of the bard, and afforded material for the theme of the sage, in all ages; and that its inhabitants should be tinctured with deep romantic feelings, at once tender, melancholy, and wild; and that the recollection of their own picturesque native dwellings should haunt them to their latest hours. Neither, amid such profusion and diversity of all that is beautiful and sublime in nature, can the unqualified admiration of strangers, from every part of Europe, of the scenery of the Highlands fail of being easily accounted for; nor can any hesitate in recommending them to visit the more remote or unknown solitudes.[1]

Such are the main features of the Highlands of Scotland at the present day, and, to a considerable extent, the description might have applied to the country at the time of the Roman invasion. Still, in the graphic words of Stuart,[2] “To form an idea of the general aspect of Scotland, as it was some eighteen hundred years ago, we must, in imagination, restore to its now varied surface the almost unbroken gloom of the primeval forest; her waving mantle of sombre hue, within which the genius loci may be supposed to have brooded over the seclusion and the poverty of ‘ancient Caledon.’ In a bird’s-eye view, if such a thought may be indulged, the greatest part of the country presented, in all probability, the appearance of one continuous wood; a mass of cheerless verdure resting on hill and dale—the sameness of its dark extent broken only where some lake or green-clad morass met the view, or where the higher mountains lifted their summits above the line of vegetation. In some districts, considerable tracks of open moorland might, doubtless, be seen clad in the indigenous heather of the North; while, in others, occasional spots of pasture-land would here and there appear;—but, on the whole, these must have formed a striking contrast to the wide expanse of the prevailing forest.”

As the present work is concerned only with the Highlands of Scotland, it would of course be out of place to give any minute account of the transactions of the Romans in the other parts of the island. Suffice it to say that from the time, B.C. 55, when Julius Cæsar first landed on the coast of South Britain, until A.D. 78, when, under the Emperor Vespasian, Cnæus Julius Agricola assumed the command in Great Britain, the greater part of midland and south England had been brought under the sway of the Romans. This able commander set himself with vigour and earnestness to confirm the conquests which had been already made, to reduce the rest of the country to subjection, to conciliate the Britons by mild measures, and to attach them to the Roman power by introducing among them Roman manners, literature, luxuries, and dress.

Agricola was appointed to the command in Britain in the year 78 A.D., but appears not to have entered Scotland till his third campaign in the year 80. He employed himself in the years 80, 81, and 82, in subduing the country south of the friths of Forth and Clyde,—the Bodotria and Glotta of Tacitus,—erecting, in 81, a series of forts between these two estuaries. Having accomplished this, Agricola made preparations for his next campaign, which he was to open beyond the friths in the summer of 83, he in the meantime having heard that the Caledonians—as Tacitus calls the people north of the Forth—had formed a confederacy to resist the invader.

Fig. 1. Sculptured Stone in the Church of Meigle.

Fig. 2. From a Sculptured Stone found at St. Andrews.

These Caledonians appear to have been divided into a number of tribes or clans, having little or no political connection, and almost constantly at war among themselves. It was only when a foreign foe threatened their much-prized freedom that a sense of danger forced them to unite for a time under the command of a military leader. Some writers, on the authority of Ptolemy of Alexandria, but chiefly on that of the pseudo-Richard of Cirencester,[3] give a list of the various tribes which, during the Roman period, inhabited North Britain, and define the locality which each occupied with as much exactness as they might do a modern English county. “There was one thing,” says Tacitus, “which gave us an advantage over these powerful nations, that they never consulted together for the advantage of the whole. It was rare that even two or three of them united against the common enemy.” Their whole means of subsistence consisted in the milk and flesh of their flocks and the produce of the chase. They lived in a state almost approaching to nudity; but whether from necessity or from choice cannot be satisfactorily determined. Dio represents the Caledonians as being naked, but Herodian speaks of them as wearing a partial covering. They appear, at all events, if the stone dug up at Blackness in the year 1868 (see p. 11), be taken as an authority, to have gone naked into battle. Their towns, which were few, consisted of huts covered with turf or skins, and for better security they were erected in the centre of some wood or morass. “What the Britons call a town,” says Cæsar, “is a tract of woody country surrounded by a vallum and ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle against the incursions of an enemy; for, when they have enclosed a very large circuit with felled trees, they build within it houses for themselves, and hovels for their cattle.”[4] Notwithstanding, perhaps owing to the scantiness of their covering, which left their bodies exposed to the rigour of a cold and variable climate, the Caledonians were a remarkably hardy race, capable of enduring fatigue, cold, and hunger to an extent which their descendants of the present day could not encounter without risk of life. They were decidedly a warlike people, and are said, like the heroes of more ancient times, to have been addicted to robbery. The weapons of their warfare consisted of small spears, long broadswords, and hand daggers; and they defended their bodies in combat by a small target or shield,—all much of the same form and construction as those afterwards used by their posterity in more modern times. It would appear from the stone above referred to that the shields of the Caledonians were oblong, with a boss in the centre, and their swords short and pointed,—not long and blunt, as represented by Tacitus. The use of cavalry appears not to have been so well understood among the Caledonians as among the more southern tribes; but in battle they often made use of cars, or chariots, which were drawn by small, swift, and spirited horses; and it is conjectured that, like those used by the southern Britons, they had iron scythes projecting from the axle. It is impossible to say what form of government obtained among these warlike tribes. When history is silent, historians should either maintain a cautious reserve or be sparing in their conjectures; but analogy may supply materials for well-grounded speculations, and it may therefore be asserted, without any great stretch of imagination, that, like most of the other uncivilized tribes we read of in history, the Northern Britons or Caledonians were under the government of a leader or chief to whom they yielded a certain degree of obedience. Dio, indeed, insinuates that the governments of these tribes were democratic; but he should have been aware that it is only when bodies of men assume, in an advanced state of civilization, a compact and united form that democracy can prevail; and the state of barbarism in which he says the inhabitants of North Britain existed at the period in question seems to exclude such a supposition. We have no certain information from any contemporary, and conjecture is therefore groundless. Later fable-loving historians and chroniclers, indeed, give lists of Kings of Scotland—or, rather, of Pictland—extending back for centuries before the Christian era, but these by general consent are now banished to the realm of myths. It is probable, as we have already said, that the Caledonians were divided into a number of independent tribes, and that each tribe was presided over by a chief, but how he obtained his supremacy it is impossible to say. We have one instance, at least, of a number of tribes uniting under one leader, viz., at the battle of Mons Grampius, when the Caledonians were commanded by a chief or leader called by Tacitus, Galgacus, “inter plures duces virtute et genere præstans.”[5] “The earliest bond of union may probably be traced to the time when they united under one common leader to resist or assail the Roman legionaries; and out of the Dux or Toshach elected for the occasion, like Galgacus, and exercising a paramount though temporary authority, arose the Ardrigh or supreme king, after some popular or ambitious chieftain had prolonged his power by successful wars, or procured his election to this prominent station for life.”[6]

Whatever may have been the relation of the members of the different tribes, and the relation of the tribes to each other, it is certain, from the general tone of the works of Tacitus and other Roman historians in which those early inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands are mentioned, that they offered a far more formidable resistance to the Roman arms than had hitherto been done by any other of the British tribes.

In personal stature, the natives of Caledonia, like those of other parts of Britain, appear to have excelled their Roman invaders, and from Tacitus we learn that those with whom his father-in-law came into contact were distinguished by ruddy locks and lusty limbs. It is also certain that for the sake of ornament, or for the purpose of making their appearance more terrible in war, they resorted to the barbarous practice of tattooing their bodies. Indeed it may be taken as a proof of their never having to any great extent come under the power and influence of Rome and Roman customs, that they retained this practice for long after the other Britons had abandoned it, and on this account, in all probability, afterwards acquired the name of Picts.

British War-Chariot.

The people whom Agricola encountered in Scotland cannot have been otherwise than tolerable proficients in the common branches of art; how else can we suppose them to have been supplied with all that matériel of war with which they are said to have appeared before him? Indolent and uninformed as were the bulk of the people, they must have had among them artificers both in wood and in iron, not unskilled in their respective trades—able to construct the body of a car—to provide for it axles of great strength—above all, able to construct the wheels and arm them with those sharp-edged instruments that were destined to cut down whatever opposed their course.[7]

Agricola, in the summer of 83, after having obtained information as to the nature of the country and the aspect of its inhabitants from exploring parties and prisoners, transported his army across the Frith of Forth to the shores of Fife by means of his fleet, and marched along the coast eastwards, keeping the fleet in sight. It cannot with certainty be ascertained at what part of the Forth this transportation of the forces took place, although some bold antiquarians assert that it must have been not far from Queensferry. The fleet, Tacitus tells us,[8] now acting, for the first time, in concert with the land-forces, proceeded in sight of the army, forming a magnificent spectacle, and adding terror to the war. It frequently happened that in the same camp were seen the infantry and cavalry intermixed with the marines, all indulging their joy, full of their adventures, and magnifying the history of their exploits; the soldier describing, in the usual style of military ostentation, the forests which he had passed, the mountains which he climbed, and the barbarians whom he put to the rout; while the sailor had his storms and tempests, the wonders of the deep, and the spirit with which he conquered winds and waves.

The offensive operations of the sixth campaign were commenced by the Caledonian Britons, who, from the higher country, made a furious attack upon the trans-Forthan fortifications, which so alarmed some of Agricola’s officers, who were afraid of being cut off from a retreat, that they advised their general to recross the Forth without delay; but Agricola resisted this advice, and made preparations for the attack which he expected would soon be made upon his army. As Agricola had received information that the enemy intended to fall upon him from various quarters, he divided his army into three bodies and continued his march. Some antiquarians have attempted to trace the route taken by each division, founding their elaborate theories on the very slender remains of what they suppose to have been Roman fortifications and encampments. As it would serve no good purpose to encumber our pages with these antiquarian conjectures, detailed accounts of which will be found in Chalmers, Stuart, Roy, and others, we shall only say that, with considerable plausibility, it is supposed that the Ninth Legion encamped on the north side of Loch Ore, about two miles south of Loch Leven in Kinross-shire. Another legion, it is said, encamped near Dunearn Hill, about a mile distant from Burntisland, near which hill are still to be seen remains of a strength called Agricola’s camp. At all events the divisions do not seem to have been very far apart, as will be seen from the following episode.

The enemy having watched the proceedings of the Roman army made the necessary preparations for attack, and during the night made a furious assault on the Ninth Legion at Loch Ore. They had acted with such caution that they were actually at the very camp before Agricola was aware of their movements; but with great presence of mind he despatched a body of his lightest troops to turn their flank and attack the assailants in the rear. After an obstinate engagement, maintained with varied success in the very gates of the camp, the Britons were at length repulsed by the superior skill of the Roman veterans. This battle was so far decisive, that Agricola did not find much difficulty afterwards in subduing the surrounding country, and, having finished his campaign, he passed the winter of 83 in Fife; being supplied with provisions from his fleet in the Forth, and keeping up a constant correspondence with his garrisons on the southern side.

By this victory, according to Tacitus, so complete and glorious, the Roman army was inspired with confidence to such a degree, that they now pronounced themselves invincible, and desired to penetrate to the extremity of the island.

The Caledonians now began to perceive the danger of their situation from the proximity of such a powerful enemy, and a sense of this danger impelled them to lay aside the feuds and jealousies which had divided and distracted their tribes, to consult together for their mutual safety and protection, and to combine their scattered strength into a united and energetic mass. The proud spirit of independence which had hitherto kept the Caledonian tribes apart, now made them coalesce in support of their liberties, which were threatened with utter annihilation. In this eventful crisis, they looked around them for a leader or chief under whom they might fight the battle of freedom, and save their country from the dangers which threatened it. A chief, named Galgacus by Tacitus, was pitched upon to act as generalissimo of the Caledonian army; and, from the praises bestowed upon him by that historian, this warrior appears to have well merited the distinction thus bestowed. Preparatory to the struggle they were about to engage in, they sent their wives and children into places of safety, and, in solemn assemblies in which public sacrifices were offered up, ratified the confederacy into which they had entered against their common enemy.

Having strengthened his army with some British auxiliaries from the south, Agricola marched through Fife in the summer of 84, making for a spot called by Tacitus Mons Grampius; sending at the same time his fleet round the eastern coast, to support him in his operations, and to distract the attention of the Caledonians. Various conjectures have been broached as to the exact line of Agricola’s march and the exact position of the Mons Grampius. The most plausible of these is that of General Roy,[9] who supposes that the march of Agricola was regulated by the course of the Devon; that he turned to the right from Glendevon through the opening of the Ochil hills, along the course of the rivulet which runs along Gleneagles; leaving the braes of Ogilvie on his left, and passing between Blackford and Auchterarder towards the Grampian hills, which he saw at a distance before him as he debouched from the Ochils. By an easy march he reached the moor of Ardoch, from which he descried the Caledonian army, to the number of 30,000 men, encamped on the declivity of the hill which begins to rise from the north-western border of the moor of Ardoch. Agricola took his station at the great camp which adjoins the fort of Ardoch on the northward. If the Roman camp at Ardoch does mark the spot where the disastrous engagement about to be noticed took place between these brave and determined Caledonians and the invincible Roman legions, it is highly probable that Agricola drew out his army on the neighbouring moor, having a large ditch or trench of considerable length in front, the Caledonian host under Galgacus being already disposed in battle array on the heights beyond. The Roman army is supposed to have numbered about 20,000 or 30,000, the auxiliary infantry, in number about 8,000,[10] occupying the centre, the wings consisting of 3,000 horse. The legions were stationed in the rear, at the head of the entrenchments, as a body of reserve to support the ranks, if necessary, but otherwise to remain inactive, that a victory, obtained without the effusion of Roman blood, might be of higher value. Previous to the commencement of this interesting light, according to “the fashion of historical literature at that time,” a speech is put into the mouth of each general by the historian Tacitus. “How much more valuable would it have been to us had Tacitus deigned to tell us something about the tongue in which the leader of the barbarians spoke, or even his name, and the name of the place where he fought, as the natives uttered it! Yet, for the great interests of its day, the speech of Galgacus was far removed from a mere feat of idle pedantry. It was a noble rebuke on the empire and the Roman people, who, false to the high destiny assigned to them by Virgil, of protecting the oppressed and striking down the oppressors, had become the common scourge of all mankind. The profligate ambition, the perfidy, the absorbing pride, the egotism, and the cruelty of the dominant people—how could all be so aptly set forth as in the words of a barbarian chief, ruling over the free people who were to be the next victims.”[11]

The narrative of the battle we give mainly in the words of the Roman commander’s son-in-law, Tacitus, who no doubt had the story from Agricola’s own mouth.[12] The battle began, and at first was maintained at a distance. The Britons wanted neither skill nor resolution. With their long swords, and targets of small dimension, they had the address to elude the missive weapons of the Romans, and at the same time to discharge a thick volley of their own. To bring the conflict to a speedy decision, Agricola ordered three Batavian and two Tungrian cohorts to charge the enemy sword in hand. To this mode of attack those troops had been long accustomed, but to the Britons it was every way disadvantageous. Their small targets afforded no protection, and their unwieldy swords, not sharpened to a point, could do but little execution in a close engagement. The Batavians rushed to the attack with impetuous fury; they redoubled their blows, and with the bosses of their shields bruised the enemy in the face, and, having overpowered all resistance on the plain, began to force their way up the ascent of the hill in regular order of battle. Incited by their example, the other cohorts advanced with a spirit of emulation, and cut their way with terrible slaughter. Eager in pursuit of victory, they pressed forward with determined fury, leaving behind them numbers wounded, but not slain, and others not so much as hurt.

The Roman cavalry, in the mean time, was forced to give ground. The Caledonians, in their armed chariots, rushed at full speed into the thick of the battle, where the infantry were engaged. Their first impression struck a general terror, but their career was soon checked by the inequalities of the ground, and the close embodied ranks of the Romans. Nothing could less resemble an engagement of the cavalry. Pent up in narrow places, the barbarians crowded upon each other, and were driven or dragged along by their own horses. A scene of confusion followed. Chariots without a guide, and horses without a rider, broke from the ranks in wild disorder, and flying every way, as fear and consternation urged, they overwhelmed their own files, and trampled down all who came in their way.

Meanwhile the Britons, who had hitherto kept their post on the hills, looking down with contempt on the scanty numbers of the Roman army, began to quit their station. Descending slowly, they hoped, by wheeling round the field of battle, to attack the victors in the rear. To counteract their design, Agricola ordered four squadrons of horse, which he had kept as a body of reserve, to advance to the charge. The Britons poured down with impetuosity, and retired with equal precipitation. At the same time, the cavalry, by the directions of the general, wheeled round from the wings, and fell with great slaughter on the rear of the enemy, who now perceived that their own stratagem was turned against themselves.

The field presented a dreadful spectacle of carnage and destruction. The Britons fled; the Romans pursued; they wounded, gashed, and mangled the runaways; they seized their prisoners, and, to be ready for others, butchered them on the spot. Despair and horror appeared in various shapes; in one part of the field the Caledonians, sword in hand, fled in crowds from a handful of Romans; in other places, without a weapon left, they faced every danger, and rushed on certain death. Swords and bucklers, mangled limbs and dead bodies, covered the plain. The field was red with blood. The vanquished Britons had their moments of returning courage, and gave proofs of virtue and of brave despair. They fled to the woods, and, rallying their scattered numbers, surrounded such of the Romans as pursued with too much eagerness.

Night coming on, the Romans, weary of slaughter, desisted from the pursuit. Ten thousand of the Caledonians fell in this engagement: on the part of the Romans, the number of slain did not exceed three hundred and forty.

The Roman army, elate with success, and enriched with plunder, passed the night in exultation. The Britons, on the other hand, wandered about, uncertain which way to turn, helpless and disconsolate. The mingled cries of men and women filled the air with lamentations. Some assisted to carry off the wounded; others called for the assistance of such as escaped unhurt; numbers abandoned their habitations, or, in their frenzy, set them on fire. They fled to obscure retreats, and, in the moment of choice, deserted them; they held consultations, and, having inflamed their hopes, changed their minds in despair; they beheld the pledges of tender affection, and burst into tears; they viewed them again, and grew fierce with resentment. It is a fact well authenticated, that some laid violent hands upon their wives and children, determined with savage compassion to end their misery.

After obtaining hostages from the Horestians, who in all probability inhabited what is now the county of Fife, Agricola garrisoned the stations on the isthmus and elsewhere, recrossed the Forth, and took up his winter-quarters in the north of England, about the Tyne and Solway. In the meantime he gave orders to the fleet, then lying probably in the Frith of Forth or Tay, to proceed on a voyage of discovery to the northward. The enterprise appears to have been successfully accomplished by the Roman navy, which proceeded coastwise as far as the Orkneys, whence it sailed by the Western Islands and the British Channel ad Portum Trutulensem, Richborough in Kent, returning to the point from which it started. This is the first voyage on record that determined Britain to be an island.

The Emperor Domitian now resolved to supersede Agricola in his command in North Britain; and he was accordingly recalled in the year 85, under the pretence of promoting him to the government of Syria, but in reality out of envy on account of the glory which he had obtained by the success of his arms. He died on the 23d of August, 93, some say, from poison, while others attribute his death to the effects of chagrin at the unfeeling treatment of Domitian. His countrymen lamented his death, and Tacitus, his son-in-law, preserved the memory of his actions and his worth in the history of his life.

During the remainder of Domitian’s reign, and that of Hadrian his successor, North Britain appears to have enjoyed tranquillity; an inference which may be fairly drawn from the silence of the Roman historians. Yet as Hadrian in the year 121 built a wall between the Solway and the Tyne, some writers have supposed that the Romans had been driven by the Caledonians out of North Britain, in the reign of that Emperor. But if such was the case, how did Lollius Urbicus, the Roman general, about nineteen years after Hadrian’s wall was erected, penetrate without opposition to Agricola’s forts between the Clyde and the Forth? May we not rather suppose that the wall of Hadrian was built for the purpose of preventing incursions into the south by the tribes which inhabited the country between that wall and the Friths? But, be this as it may, little is known of the history of North Britain from the time of Agricola’s recall till the year 138, when Antoninus Pius assumed the imperial purple. That good and sagacious emperor was distinguished by the care which he took in selecting the fittest officers for the government of the Roman provinces; and his choice, for that of Britain, fell on Lollius Urbicus.

The positive information concerning the transactions of this general in North Britain is as meagre as could possibly be, the only clearly ascertained fact in connection with his command being that he built a wall between the Forth and Clyde, very nearly on a line with the forts established by Agricola. “The meagreness of all ancient record,” says Burton,[13] “of the achievements of Lollius Urbicus is worthy of emphatic mention and recollection, because his name has got into the ordinary abridged histories which speak of it, and of ‘his campaign in the north’ as well-known events, of which people naturally expect fuller information elsewhere. The usual sources for reference regarding him will however be found utterly dumb.” The story commonly given is that he proceeded north as far as the Moray Frith, throwing the extensive country between Forth and Clyde and the Moray Frith into the form of a regular Roman province, which, on the worthless authority of the pseudo-Richard, was named Vespasiana. All this may have been the case, and the remains[14] of Roman stations found throughout the wide tract just mentioned give some plausibility to the conjecture; but there is only the most slender grounds for connecting them with any northern expedition of Lollius Urbicus. At all events we may very safely conclude, from the general tone of the records which remain of his and of subsequent expeditions, as well as from the fact that they found it necessary to divide the Lowlands from the Highlands by a fortified wall, that the Romans considered the Caledonians of their time very troublesome, and found it exceedingly difficult if not impossible to bring them under their otherwise universal yoke.

Map and Profile of Antonine’s Wall.

It may not be out of place to give here some account of the wall of Antonine. The wall or rampart extended from Carriden on the Forth, two miles west from Blackness, and about the same distance east from Bo’ness, to West Kilpatrick on the Clyde. The date, which may be depended on, assigned to the building of the wall is between 138 and 140 A.D. Taking the length of this wall from Kilpatrick on the Clyde to Caeridden or Carriden on the Forth, its extent would be 39,726 Roman paces, which exactly agrees with the modern measurement of 36 English miles and 620 yards. This rampart, which was of earth, and rested on a stone foundation, was upwards of twenty feet high and four and twenty feet thick. Along the whole extent of the wall there was a vast ditch or prætentura on the outward or north side, which was generally twenty feet deep and forty feet wide, and which, there is reason to believe, might be filled with water when occasion required.[15] This ditch and rampart were strengthened at both ends, and throughout its whole extent, by about twenty forts, three being at each extremity, and the remainder placed between at the distance of about two English miles from one another; and it is highly probable that these stations were designedly placed on the previous fortifications of Agricola. The following, going from east to west, are the names and sites of some of the stations which have been identified:—Rough Castle, Castlecary, Westerwood, Bunhill, Auchindinny, Kirkintilloch, Bemulie, East Kilpatrick, Castlehill, Duntocher, West Kilpatrick. It will be seen that to a certain extent they are on the line of the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, and throughout nearly its whole length that of the Forth and Clyde canal. Its necessary appendage, a military road, ran behind the rampart from end to end, for the use of the troops and for keeping up the usual communication between the stations or forts. From inscriptions on some of the foundation stones, which have been dug up, it appears that the Second legion, with detachments from the sixth and twentieth legions and some auxiliaries, executed these vast military works, equally creditable to their skill and perseverance. Dunglas near the western extremity, and Blackness near the eastern extremity of the rampart, afforded the Romans commodious harbours for their shipping, as also did Cramond, about five miles west from Edinburgh. This wall is called in the popular language of the country Grime’s or Graham’s Dyke.[16] In 1868 a large oblong slab, in first-rate preservation, was dug up at Bo’ness, in the parish of Kinneil (Bede’s Peanfahel, “the head of the wall”), containing an inscription as distinct as it was on the day when it came from a Roman chisel. We give here a cut of this remarkable stone, which is now in the Scottish Antiquarian Museum.

Stone from Antonine’s Wall. (Copied and engraved specially for the present work.)

We have no distinct mention of the Caledonians again until the reign of Commodus, when, about the year 183, these troublesome barbarians appear to have broken through the northern wall, slain the general in command of the Roman forces, and pillaged the lowland country beyond. They were, however, driven back by Ulpius Marcellus, who succeeded by prudent management in maintaining peace for a number of years. In the beginning of the reign of Severus, however, the Caledonians again broke out, but were kept in check by Virius Lupus, who appears to have bribed rather than beaten the barbarians into conformity.

The irrepressible Highlanders again broke out about the year 207, and this time the Emperor Severus himself, notwithstanding his bad health and old age, came from Rome to Britain, determined apparently to “stamp out” the rebellion. On hearing of his arrival the tribes sent deputies to him to negotiate for peace, but the emperor, who was of a warlike disposition, and fond of military glory, declined to entertain any proposals.

After making the necessary preparations, Severus began his march to the north in the year 208. He traversed the whole of North Britain, from the wall of Antoninus to the very extremity of the island, with an immense army. The Caledonians avoided coming to a general engagement with him, but kept up an incessant and harassing warfare on all sides. He, however, brought them to sue for peace; but the honours of this campaign were dearly earned, for fifty thousand of the Romans fell a prey to the attacks of the Caledonians, to fatigue, and to the severity of the climate. The Caledonians soon disregarded the treaty which they had entered into with Severus, which conduct so irritated him that he gave orders to renew the war, and to spare neither age nor sex; but his son, Caracalla, to whom the execution of these orders was intrusted, was more intent in plotting against his father and brother than in executing the revengeful mandate of the dying emperor, whose demise took place at York on the 4th February, 211, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and in the third year of his administration in Britain.

It is in connection with this invasion that we first hear of the Meats or Mæatæ, who are mentioned by Dion Cassius, or rather his epitomiser Xiphiline, and who are supposed by some to have inhabited the country between the two walls, while others think it more likely that they were a part of the Caledonians, and inhabited the district between the Grampians and the wall of Antonine. We shall not, however, enter into this question here, but endeavour, as briefly as possible, to record all that is known of the remaining transactions of the Romans in the north of Scotland, reserving other matters for the next chapter.

It was not consistent with the policy by which Caracalla was actuated, to continue a war with the Caledonians; for the scene of his ambition lay in Rome, to which he made hasty preparations to depart on the death of his father. He therefore entered into a treaty with the Caledonians by which he gave up the territories surrendered by them to his father, and abandoned the forts erected by him in their fastnesses. The whole country north of the wall of Antonine appears in fact to have been given up to the undisputed possession of the Caledonians, and we hear of no more incursions by them till the reign of the emperor Constantius Chlorus, who came to Britain in the year 306, to repel the Caledonians and other Picts.[17] Their incursions were repelled by the Roman legions under Constantius, and they remained quiet till about the year 345, when they again entered the territories of the provincial Britons; but they were compelled, it is said, again to retreat by Constans, son of Constantine the Great.

Although these successive inroads had been always repelled by the superior power and discipline of the Romans, the Caledonians of the fourth century no longer regarded them in the formidable light in which they had been viewed by their ancestors, and their genius for war improving every time they came in hostile contact with their enemies, they meditated the design of expelling the intruders altogether from the soil of North Britain. The wars which the Romans had to sustain against the Persians in the East, and against the Germans on the frontiers of Gaul, favoured the plan of the Caledonians; and having formed a treaty with the Scots, whose name is mentioned for the first time in history in this connection by Ammianus Marcellinus, they, in conjunction with their new allies, about the year 360 invaded the Roman territories and committed many depredations. Julian, who commanded the Roman army on the Rhine, despatched Lupicinus, an able military commander, to defend the province against the Scots and Picts, but he was recalled before he had done much to repel them.

The Picts—who on this occasion are mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus[18] as being divided into two nations, the Dicaledones and Vecturiones—and Scots, being joined by the Attacots, “a warlike race of men,” and the Saxons, numbers of whom appear at this early period to have settled in Britain, made another attack on the Roman provinces in the year 364, on the accession of Valentinian. These appear to have made their way as far south as London, and it required all the valour and skill of Theodosius the Elder, father of the emperor of that name, who was sent to Britain in the year 367, to repel this aggression, and to repair the great ravages committed by the barbarians. The next outbreak occurred about the year 398, when the Picts and Scots again broke loose and ravaged the provinces, being repelled by a legion sent over by the great Stilicho, in answer to the petition of the helpless provincials for assistance.

In the beginning of the fifth century the enervated Romanized Britons again appear to have been subjected to the tender mercies of their wicked northern neighbours; and in reply to their cry for help, Honorius, in 416, sent over to their relief a single legion, which drove back the intruders. The Romans, as is well known, engrossed by overwhelming troubles nearer home, finally abandoned Britain about the year 446, advising the inhabitants, who were suffering from the ravages of the Picts and Scots, to protect themselves by retiring behind and keeping in repair the wall of Severus.

Such is a brief account of the transactions of the Romans in Britain so far as these were connected with the Highlands of Scotland. That energetic and insatiable people doubtless left their mark on the country and its inhabitants south of the Forth and Clyde, as the many Roman remains which exist there at the present day testify. The British provincials, indeed, appear in the end to have been utterly enervated, and, in the worst sense, Romanized, so that they became an easy prey to their Saxon helpers. It is quite evident, however, that the inhabitants of Caledonia proper, the district beyond the wall of Antonine, were to a very slight extent, if at all, influenced by the Roman invasion. Whether it was from the nature of the people, or from the nature of the country which they inhabited, or from both combined, they appear to have been equally impervious to Roman force and Roman culture. The best services that their enemies rendered to the Caledonians or Picts were that they forced them to unite against the common foe thus contributing towards the foundation of a future kingdom; and that they gave them a training in arms such as the Caledonians could never have obtained, had they not been brought into collision with the best-trained soldiers of the world in their time.

We have in what precedes mainly followed only one thread in the very intricate web formed by the early history of the Highlands, which, to a certain extent at this period, is the history of Scotland; but, as will have been seen, there are various other threads which join in from time to time, and which, after giving a short account of the traces of the Roman invasion still existing in the Highlands, we shall endeavour to catch up and follow out as far as possible.

It is not necessary in a history of the Highlands of Scotland, as we have defined that term, that much space should be given to an account of Roman remains; for, as we have already said, these Italian invaders appear never to have obtained anything like a firm footing in that rugged district, or made any definite or characteristic impression on its inhabitants. “The vestiges whence it is inferred that the Empire for a time had so far established itself in Scotland as to bring the natives over to the habits of peaceful citizens, belong almost exclusively to the country south of Antonine’s wall, between the Forth and Clyde. Coins and weapons have been found farther north, but scarcely any vestige of regular settlement. None of the pieces of Roman sculpture found in Scotland belong to the districts north of the wall. It is almost more significant still, that of the very considerable number of Scottish Roman inscriptions in the various collections, only one was found north of the wall, and that in the strongly-fortified station of Ardoch, where it commemorated that it was dedicated to the memory of a certain Ammonius Damionis.[19] On the other hand, it is in that unsubdued district that the memorials of Roman conquest chiefly abound.”[20]

The whole of Britain was intersected by Roman ways, and as, wherever a Roman army went, it was preceded by pioneers who cleared and made a durable road to facilitate its march, there can be no doubt that the north of Scotland was to a considerable extent intersected by highways during the invasion of Agricola, Lollius Urbicus, and Severus. One road at least can be traced as far north as Aberdeenshire, and is popularly known in some districts as the Lang Causeway. This road appears to have issued from the wall of Antonine, passed through Camelon, the Roman port on the Carron, and pushing straight forward, according to the Roman custom, across the Carron, it pursued its course in a general north-east direction through Stirling, Perth, by Ardoch, through Forfar and Kincardine, to about Stonehaven.

It would appear that there are traces of Roman roads even farther north. Between the rivers Don and Urie in Aberdeenshire, on the eastern side of Bennachee, there exists an ancient road known in the country by the name of the Maiden Causeway, a name by which some of the Roman roads in the north of England are distinguished. This proceeds from Bennachee whereon there is said to have been a hill-fort, more than the distance of a mile into the woods of Pitodrie, when it disappears: it is paved with stones, and is about fourteen feet wide. Still farther north, from Forres to the ford of Cromdale on the Spey, there has been long known a road of very ancient construction, pointing to Cromdale, where the Romans may have forded the Spey. Various traces of very ancient roads are still to be seen by Corgarf and through Braemar: the tradition of the people in Strathdee and Braemar, supports the idea that there are remains of Roman roads which traverse the country between the Don and the Dee. Certain it is, that there are obvious traces of ancient roads which cross the wild districts between Strathdon and Strathdee, though it is impossible to ascertain when or by whom these ancient roads were constructed, in such directions, throughout such a country.

Along these roads there were without doubt many camps and stations, as it is well known that the Romans never halted even for a single night, without entrenching themselves behind secure fortifications. There are many remains of what are supposed to have been Roman camps still pointed out in various places north of the line occupied by Antonine’s wall. These are well known even to the peasantry, and are generally treated with respect. The line of these camps reaches as far as the counties of Aberdeen and Inverness, the most important of them, however, being found in Strathallan, Strathearn, and Strathmore. Besides the most important of these camps, that at Ardoch, traces of many others have been found. There was one on the river Earn, about six miles east of Ardoch, which would command the middle part of Strathearn lying between the Ochil hills on the south and the river Almond on the north. Another important station is supposed to have been established near Callander, where, on a tongue of land formed by the junction of the rivers Strathgartney and Strathyre, the two sources of the Teith, are seen the embankments referred to by Scott[21] as

“The mouldering lines

Where Rome, the empress of the world,

Of yore her eagle wings unfurled.”[22]

Another camp is placed at Dalgenross, near the confluence of the Ruchel and the Earn, which, with Bochastle, would command the western district of Strathearn. Another important station was the East Findoch, at the south side of the Almond; it guarded the only practicable passage through the mountains northward, to an extent of thirty miles from east to west. The Roman camp here was placed on a high ground, defended by water on two sides, and by a morass with a steep bank on the other two sides. It was about one hundred and eighty paces long, and eighty broad, and was surrounded by a strong earthen wall nearly twelve feet thick, part of which still remains. The trenches are still entire, and in some places six feet deep.

On the eastern side of Strathearn, and between it and the Forth, are the remains of Roman posts; and at Ardargie a Roman camp was established with the design, it is supposed, of guarding the passage through the Ochil hills, by the valley of May water. Another camp at Gleneagles secured the passage of the same hills through Glendevon. With the design of guarding the narrow, but useful passage from the middle Highlands, westward through Glenlyon to Argyle, the Romans fixed a post at Fortingal, about sixteen miles north-west from the station at East-Findoch.

A different line of posts became necessary to secure Angus and the Mearns. At Coupar Angus, on the east side of the Isla, about seven miles east from Inchtuthel, stood a Roman camp, of a square form, of twenty acres within the ramparts. This camp commanded the passage down Strathmore, between the Siedlaw hills on the south-east, and the Isla on the north-west. On Campmoor, little more than a mile south from Coupar Angus, appear the remains of another Roman fort. The great camp of Battledyke stood about eighteen miles north-east from Coupar Angus, being obviously placed there to guard the passage from the Highlands through Glen Esk and Glen Prosen. About eleven and a-half miles north-east of the camp at Battledykes was another Roman camp, the remains of which may still be traced near the mansion-house of Keithock. This camp is known by the name of Wardikes. The country below the Siedlaw hills, on the north side of the estuary of Tay, was guarded by a Roman camp near Invergowrie, which had a communication on the north-east with the camp at Harefaulds. This camp, which was about two hundred yards square, and fortified with a high rampart and a spacious ditch, stood about two miles west from Dundee.

Roman Camp at Ardoch as it appeared in 1755.
(Stuart’s Caledonia Romana.)

Traces of a number of others have been found, but we need not go farther into detail. This account of the Roman transactions in Scotland would, however, be incomplete without a more particular notice of the well-known camp at Ardoch. Ardoch village, in Perthshire, lies on the east side of Knaigwater, ten miles north from Stirling, and is about two miles from the Greenloaning station of the Caledonian railway, the site of the camp being a little distance to the north-west of the village. As this station guarded the principal inlet into the interior of Caledonia, the Romans were particularly anxious to fortify so advantageous a position. “The situation of it,” says the writer of the Old Statistical Account of Muthill, “gave it many advantages; being on the north-west side of a deep moss that runs a long way eastward. On the west side, it is partly defended by the steep bank of the water of Knaik; which bank rises perpendicularly between forty and fifty feet. The north and east sides were most exposed; and there we find very particular care was taken to secure them. The ground on the east is pretty regular, and descends by a gentle slope from the lines of fortification, which, on that side, consists of five rows of ditches, perfectly entire, and running parallel to one another. These altogether are about fifty-five yards in breadth. On the north side, there is an equal number of lines and ditches, but twenty yards broader than the former. On the west, besides the steep precipices above mentioned, it was defended by at least two ditches. One is still visible; the others have probably been filled up, in making the great military road from Stirling to the north. The side of the camp, lying to the southward, exhibits to the antiquary a less pleasing prospect. Here the peasant’s rugged hand has laid in ruins a great part of the lines; so that it may be with propriety said, in the words of a Latin poet, ‘Jam seges est, ubi Troja fuit.’ The area of the camp is an oblong of 140 yards, by 125 within the lines. The general’s quarter rises above the level of the camp, but is not in the centre. It is a regular square, each side being exactly twenty yards. At present it exhibits evident marks of having been enclosed with a stone wall, and contains the foundation of a house, ten yards by seven.” There are two other encampments adjoining, having a communication with one another, and containing about 130 acres of ground. A subterranean passage is said to have extended from the prætorium under the bed of the Knaik. Not far north of this station, on the way to Crieff, may be traced three temporary Roman camps of different sizes. Portions of the ramparts of these camps still exist. A mile west of Ardoch, an immense cairn lately existed, 182 feet long, 45 broad at the base, and 30 feet in sloping height. A human skeleton, 7 feet long, in a stone coffin, was found in it.[23]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] We are indebted for great part of this description to Fullarton’s Gazetteer of Scotland.

[2] Caledonia Romana, p. 11.

[3] The De Situ Britanniæ “professed to be a manuscript of the fourteenth century, written by a monk named Richard of Cirencester, made up by him from certain fragments left by a Roman General. The person who stepped forth as the lucky discoverer of so precious a relic was Charles Julius Bertram, English Professor in the Royal Marine Academy at Copenhagen. His revelation was accepted without hesitation, and revolutionized the existing notions about the geography of Roman Britain. After all, the hoax was not absolutely useless; it stimulated inquiry, and, in itself, what it professed to lay down on authority, were the guesses and theories of a learned and acute man.”—Burton’s History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 13.

[4] De Bello Gallico, ii. 17.

[5] Tacitus, Agricola, xxix.

[6] E. W. Robertson’s Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 31.

[7] Stuart’s Caledonia Romana, pp. 35, 36.

[8] Agricola xxv.

[9] Military Antiquities.

[10] Tac. Agricola xxxv.

[11] Burton’s Hist. of Scotland, vol. i. p. 9.

[12] Tac. Agricola xxxvi, &c. We adopt Murphy’s translation in the main, here and elsewhere.

[13] Scotland, vol. i. p. 29.

[14] Wilson says that beyond the Forth and Clyde nearly the sole traces of the presence of the Romans are a few earthworks, with one or two exceptions, of doubtful import, and some chance discoveries of pottery and coins, mostly ascribable, it may be presumed, to the fruitless northern expedition of Agricola, after the victory of Mons Grampius, or to the still more ineffectual one of his successor, Severus.—Prehistoric Annals, p. 365.

[15] On the estate of Callender, to the east of Falkirk, distinct remains of this trench are still to be seen, in good preservation, measuring a few hundred yards in length and about 12 feet in depth.

[16] There are several other earthworks in England, according to Chalmers (Caledonia) and Taylor (Words and Places), which go under the appellation of Grime’s Dyke or Grime’s Ditch. Grime in Cornish is said to signify strong; in Gaelic, war, battle.

[17] The first writer who mentions the Picts is Eumenius, the orator, who was a Professor at Autun, and who, in a panegyric pronounced by him in the year 297, mentions the Picts along with the Irish, and again, in 308, in a panegyric pronounced by him on Constans, speaks of the Caledonians and other Picts. This is one of the passages mainly relied on by those who consider the Caledonians and Picts to have been the same people.

[18] Am. Mar., xxvii., 8.

[19] Wilson’s Prehist. Annals.

[20] Burton’s Scotland, vol. i. p. 74.

[21] Lady of the Lake.

[22] According to Burton, however, these are by some geologists set down as a geological phenomenon.—Hist. of Scot. i. 75.

[23] For more minute descriptions of this camp, as well as for further details concerning the Roman transactions in Scotland, consult Roy’s Military Antiquities, Gough’s Camden (under Strathearn), Stuart’s Caledonia Romana, Burton’s History of Scotland.

CHAPTER II.

Early Inhabitants—Roman Writers—Aristotle—Tacitus—Dion Cassius—Caledonians and Mæatæ—Eumenius—Picts—Dicaledones and Vecturiones—Claudian—Inferences—Ecclesiastical Chroniclers—Their value—Gildas—Adamnan—Northern and Southern Picts—Columba’s “Interpreter”—Bede’s Account of Picts—Pictish Language—Peanfahel—Northern and Southern Picts—Welsh Triads—Irish Annals—Evidence from Language—Cymric and Gaelic Theories—Inver and Aber—Innes’s Theory—Conclusion.

The preceding chapter has been occupied almost entirely with an account of the transactions of the Romans in the north of Scotland, and it is now our duty to go back and narrate what is known of the internal history of the Highlands during the time of the Romans. In doing so we are brought face to face with certain much agitated questions which have for centuries engaged the attention of antiquaries, and in the discussion of which many bulky tomes have been written and incredible acrimony displayed. To enter with anything like minuteness into this discussion would occupy more space than can be devoted to the entire history, and, moreover, would be out of place in a popular work like the present, and distasteful to most of its readers. The following are some of the much-discussed questions referred to:—Who were the original inhabitants of Caledonia? To what race did they belong—were they Gothic or Celtic? and if Celtic, were they Cymric or Gaelic? When did they enter Scotland, and whence did they come—from the opposite continent, or from the south of Britain? Was the whole of Scotland, in the time of Agricola, occupied by one people, or by a mixed race, or by various races? Were the Picts and Caledonians the same people? What is the meaning and origin of Pict, and was Caledonia a native appellation? What were the localities of the Northern and Southern Picts? Who were the Scots? What was the nature of the union of the Scots and Picts under Kenneth Macalpin?

The notices of the early inhabitants of the Highlands in the contemporary Roman historians are so few, the information given so meagre and indefinite, and the ecclesiastical historians of a later time are so full of miracle, myth, and hearsay, and so little to be depended on, that it appears to us almost impossible, with the materials at present within the historian’s reach, to arrive at anything like a satisfactory answer to the above questions. The impression left after reading much that has been written on various sides, is one of dissatisfaction and bewilderment,—dissatisfaction with the far-fetched and irrelevant arguments frequently adduced, and the unreliable authorities quoted, and bewilderment amid the dust-cloud of words with which any one who enters this debatable land is sure to be enveloped. “It is scarcely necessary to observe, that there are few points of ethnology on which historians and antiquaries have been more at variance with each other, than respecting the real race of those inhabitants of a portion of Caledonia popularly known by the designation of Picts. The difficulty arising from this discrepancy of opinion is increased by the scanty and unsatisfactory nature of the materials now available to those who wish to form an independent judgment. No connected specimen of the Pictish language has been preserved; nor has any ancient author who knew them from personal observation, stated in direct terms that they approximated to one adjoining tribe more than another. They are indeed associated with the Scots or Irish as joint plunderers of the colonial Britons; and the expression of Gildas that they differed in some degree from the Scots in their customs, might seem to imply that they did bear an analogy to that nation in certain respects. Of course, where there is such a lack of direct evidence, there is more scope for conjecture; and the Picts are pronounced by different investigators of their history to have been Germans, Scandinavians, Welsh, Gael, or something distinct from all the four. The advocates of the German hypothesis rest chiefly on Tacitus’s description of their physical conformation. Dr. Jamieson, assuming that the present Lowland Scotch dialect was derived from them, sets them down as Scandinavians; Bishop Lloyd and Camden conceive them to have been of Celtic race, probably related to the Britons; Chalmers, the author of ‘Caledonia,’ regards them as nothing more than a tribe of Cambrians or Welsh; while Skene, one of the latest authors on the subject, thinks he has proved that they were the ancestors of the present race of Scottish Highlanders.”[24]

The earliest known name applied to Britain is found in a treatise on the World ascribed to Aristotle, in which the larger island is called Albinn, and Ireland referred to as Ierne; and it is worthy of notice that at the present day the former is the name applied to Scotland by the Highlanders, who call themselves the Gael Albinnich. The first author, however, who gives us any information about the early inhabitants of the north part of Scotland is Tacitus, who, in his Life of Agricola, devotes a few lines, in a parenthetical way, to characterising each of the great divisions of the people who, in the time of that general, inhabited Britain. Tacitus tells us that in his time the inhabitants of Britain differed in the habit and make of their bodies, and from the ruddy locks and large limbs of the Caledonians he inferred that they were of German origin.[25] This glimpse is clear enough, but tantalizing in its meagreness and generality. What does Tacitus mean by German—does he use it in the same sense as we do at the present day? Does he mean by Caledonia the whole of the country north of the Forth and Clyde, or does it apply only to that district—Fife, Forfar, the east of Perth, &c.—with the inhabitants of which his father-in-law came in contact? We find Ptolemy the geographer, who flourished about the middle of the 2d century A.D., mentioning the Caledonians as one of the many tribes which in his time inhabited the north of Scotland. The term Caledonians is supposed by some authorities to have been derived from a native word signifying “men of the woods,” or the inhabitants of the woody country; this, however, is mere conjecture.

The next writer who gives any definite information as to the inhabitants of Caledonia is Dion Cassius, who flourished in the early part of the 3d century, and who wrote a history of Rome which has come down to us in a very imperfect state. Of the latter part, containing an account of Britain, we possess only an epitome made by Xiphilinus, an ecclesiastic of the 11th century, and which of course is very meagre in its details. The following are the particulars given by this writer concerning the early inhabitants of north Britain. “Of the Britons the two most ample nations are the Caledonians and the Mæatæ; for the names of the rest refer for the most part to these. The Mæatæ inhabit very near the wall[26] which divides the island into two parts; the Caledonians are after these. Each of them inhabit mountains, very rugged and wanting water, and also desert fields, full of marshes: they have neither castles nor cities, nor dwell in any: they live on milk and by hunting, and maintain themselves by the fruits of the trees: for fishes, of which there is a very great and numberless quantity, they never taste: they dwell naked in tents and without shoes: they use wives in common, and whatever is born to them they bring up. In the popular state they are governed, as for the most part: they rob on the highway most willingly: they war in chariots: horses they have, small and fleet; their infantry, also, are as well most swift at running, as most brave in pitched battle. Their arms are a shield and a short spear, in the upper part whereof is an apple of brass, that, while it is shaken, it may terrify the enemies with the sound: they have likewise daggers. They are able to bear hunger, cold, and all afflictions; for they merge themselves in marshes, and there remain many days, having only their head out of water: and in woods are nourished by the bark and roots of trees. But a certain kind of food they prepare for all occasions, of which if they take as much as ‘the size’ of a single bean, they are in nowise ever wont to hunger or thirst.”[27]

From this we learn that in the 3d century there were two divisions of the inhabitants of the Highlands, known to the Romans as the Caledonians and Mæats or Mæatæ, the latter very probably inhabiting the southern part of that territory, next to the wall of Antonine, and the former the district to the north of this. As to whether these were Latinized forms of native names, or names imposed by the Romans themselves, we have no means of judging. The best writers on this subject think that the Caledonians and Mæats were two divisions of the same people, both living to the north of the Forth and Clyde, although Innes,[28] and one or two minor writers, are of opinion that the Mæats were provincial Britons who inhabited the country between the wall of Hadrian and that of Antonine, known as the province of Valentia. However, with Skene,[29] Mr. Joseph Robertson, and other able authorities, we are inclined to think that the evidence is in favour of their being the inhabitants of the southern portion of Caledonia proper.

Herodian,[30] who wrote about A.D. 240, tells us that the Caledonians were in the habit of marking or painting their bodies with figures of animals, and that they wore no clothes in order that these figures might be preserved and exhibited.

The next reference made by a Roman writer to the inhabitants of Caledonia we find in a panegyric pronounced in his presence on the Emperor Constantius Chlorus, by Eumenius, a professor of rhetoric at Augustodunum (Autun) in Gaul, in the year 296 or 297, who speaks of the Britons, in the time of Cæsar, having been attacked by the half-naked Picts and Irish. To what people the orator meant to apply the term Picts, around which there has clustered so much acrimonious disputation, we learn from another oration pronounced by him on the same emperor, before his son Constantine, in the year 309, in which, recording the actions of Constantius, he speaks of the woods and marshes of the Caledonians and other Picts.

After this no further mention is made of the Caledonians by any Roman writer, but towards the end of the 4th century Ammianus Marcellinus, in his account of the Roman transactions in Britain, speaks of the Picts in conjunction with the Saxons, Scots, and Attacots harassing the provincial Britons about the year 364. Further on he informs us that at this time the Picts were divided into two tribes or nations, the Dicaledones and Vecturiones, remarking, at the same time, that “the Attacots were a warlike race of men, and the Scots a people much given to wandering, and in the habit of ravaging or laying waste the districts into which they came.”[31]

Claudian the poet, writing, about 397, in praise of Honorius, mentions, among other actions of Theodosius, the grandfather of that emperor, his having subdued the Picts, who were fitly so named,[32] and makes various other references to this people and the Scots, which show that these two in combination were troubling the Roman provincials not a little.[33]

Such are most of the scanty details given by the only contemporary historians who take any notice of the inhabitants of North Britain; and the unprejudiced reader will see that the foundation thus afforded upon which to construct any elaborate theory is so narrow that every such theory must resemble a pyramid standing on its apex, liable at the slightest touch to topple over and be shattered to pieces. It appears to us that all the conclusions which it is safe to draw from the few facts stated by the contemporary Roman historians are, that at the commencement of the Christian era Caledonia proper, or the Highlands, was inhabited by a people or peoples apparently considerable in number, and who in all probability had been settled there for a considerable time, part of whom at least were known to the Romans by the name of Caledonians. That these Caledonians, those of them at any rate with whom Agricola came in contact in the first century, were red or fair haired and large limbed, from which Tacitus inferred that they were of German extraction. In the beginning of the third century there were at least two divisions of the inhabitants of Caledonia,—the Caledonians and Mæats,—the former inhabiting the country to the north of the Grampians, and the latter, in all probability, that to the south and south-east of these mountains. They appear to have been in many respects in a condition little removed from that of savages, although they must have made wonderful attainments in the manufacture of implements of war.

In the latter part of the third century we found the Highlanders spoken of under a new name, Picti, which the Roman historians at least, undoubtedly understood to be the Latin word meaning ‘painted,’[34] and which all the best modern writers believe to have been imposed by the Romans themselves, from the fact that the indomitable Caledonians had retained the custom of self-painting after all the Romanized Britons had given it up. There is the strongest probability that the Caledonians spoken of as Picts by Eumenius were the same as the Caledonians of Tacitus, or that the Caledonians and Picts were the same people under different names. The immediate cause for this change of name we have no means of ascertaining. It is in every way improbable that the Picts were a new people, who had come in upon the Caledonians, and supplanted them some time after Agricola’s invasion. The Romans were constantly coming into contact with the Caledonians from the time of Agricola till they abandoned Britain entirely, and had such a supplantation taken place, it certainly could not have been done quietly, and without the cognizance of the Romans. But we find no mention in any contemporary historian of any such commotion, and we know that the inhabitants of the Highlands never ceased to harass the British provincials, showing that they were not much taken up with any internal disturbance. Indeed, writers who adopt the most diverse opinions on other points in connection with the Pictish question are all agreed as to this, that the Caledonians and Picts were the same people.[35]

We learn further from our authorities, that towards the end of the fourth century the inhabitants of Caledonia were known to the Romans under the names of Dicaledones and Vecturiones, it being conjectured that these correspond to the Caledonians and Mæats of Dio, and the Northern and Southern Picts of a later period. The connection of the latter part of the word Di-caledones with Caledonii is evident, although the significance of the first syllable is doubtful,—some authorities conjecturing that it is the Gaelic word du, meaning “genuine.” It appears at all events to be established that during the early history of the Highlands, whatever other divisions may have existed among the inhabitants, those dwelling to the north and those dwelling to the south of the Grampians were two separate confederacies, and were known by distinct names.

Another not unimportant fact to be learned from the Roman historians in relation to the Picts or Caledonians is, that about the middle of the 4th century they were assisted by the Attacots, Saxons, and Scots. As to who the Attacots were it is now impossible to conjecture with anything like certainty, there being no sufficient reason for believing that they were allied to the Irish Scots. It is well enough known who the Saxons were, but how they came at this early period to be acting in concert with the Picts it is difficult to say. It is possible that numbers of them may have effected a settlement, even at this early period, in North Britain, although it is more likely that they were roving adventurers, who had left their homes, from choice or on compulsion, to try their fortune in Britain. They were probably the first droppings of the abundant shower that overwhelmed South Britain a century later. The Romans at this period had an officer with the title of “Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam;” and Claudian, in his praises of Stilicho, introduces Britain, saying—

“Illius effectum curis, ne bella timerem

Scotica, ne Pictum tremerem, ne littore toto

Prospicerem dubiis venturum Saxona ventis.”

It is interesting to notice that this[36] is the first mention made of the Scots in connection with what is now Scotland; but whether there were settlements of them at this time among the Picts, or whether they had come over from Ireland for the purpose of assisting the latter to harass the Romans, it is difficult to say. Probably, as was the case with the Saxons, these were the harbingers of the great migration that reached its culmination about a century and a half later. They appear, from what Ammianus says, to have been at this time a set of destructive vagabonds. We shall have more to say about them further on.

From the general tone of these contemporary Roman historians we learn that, whether Celtic or Gothic, these Picts or Caledonians were a hardy, indomitable, determined race, with a strong love of liberty and of the country in which they dwelt, and a resolution never to be subject to the greedy Roman. Comparatively few and barbarous as they were, they caused the Romans far more trouble than all the rest of Britain together; to conquer the latter and Romanize it appears to have been comparatively smooth work, but the Italians acknowledged the Highlanders invincible by building walls and other fortifications, and maintaining extra garrisons to protect the provincials from their fierce and wasting inroads. Whether the present Highlanders are the descendants of these or not, they certainly possess many of their qualities.

It will have been seen that the Roman historians give us almost no clue to what we now deem of most interest and importance, the place of the early inhabitants among the families of men, the time and manner of their arrival, the language they spoke, and their internal history generally. Of course the records of contemporaries stand in the first place of importance as evidences, and although we have other sources, historical, linguistic, and antiquarian, which shed a little light upon the subject, these, for various reasons, must be used with great caution. The only statement approaching to anything like a hint as to the origin of the Caledonians is that of Tacitus, referring to their ruddy locks and large limbs as an evidence of their German origin. There is no reason to doubt that those with whom Agricola came in contact were of this make and complexion, which, at the present day, are generally held to be indicative of a Teutonic origin; whereas the true Celt is popularly believed to be of a small make and dark complexion.[37] It may have been, that in Agricola’s time the part of the country into which he penetrated was occupied by considerable numbers of Teutons, who had effected a settlement either by force, or by favour of the prior inhabitants. The statement of Tacitus, however, those who uphold the Celtic theory endeavour to explain away.

We may safely say then, that with regard to all the most important points that have excited the curiosity of modern enquirers, the only contemporary historians to whom we can appeal, leave us almost entirely in the dark.

The writers, next in order of importance to whom an appeal is made as witnesses in this perplexing case, are the ecclesiastical chroniclers, the chief of whom are Gildas, Adamnan, Bede, Nennius. “Much of the error into which former writers have been led, has arisen from an improper use of these authors; they should be consulted exclusively as contemporary historians—whatever they assert as existing or occurring in their own time, or shortly before it, we may receive as true; but when we consider the perverted learning of that period, and the little information which they appear to have possessed of the traditions of the people around them, we ought to reject their fables or fanciful origins as altogether undeserving of credit.”[38] Though this dictum may perhaps be too sweeping, still any one who examines the authors referred to for himself, must admit that it is in the main just. It is well known that these writers exercise little or no discrimination in the composition of their narratives, that tradition, miracle, and observed fact are placed side by side, as all equally worthy of belief. Even Bede, the most reliable and cautious of these early chroniclers, lived as long after some of the events of which he professes to give an account, as we of the present day do after the time of the Crusades; almost his sole authority being tradition or hearsay. Moreover, the knowledge which these writers had of the distinction between the various races of mankind was so very hazy, the terms they use are to us so comparatively unintelligible, and the information they do contain on the points in dispute so brief, vague, and parenthetical, that their value as authorities is reduced almost to a minimum.

Whoever was the author of the work De Excidio Britanniæ, one of the latest and most acute writers[39] on ethnology has shown that he is almost totally unworthy of credit, the sources of his information being exceedingly suspicious, and his statements proved to be false by comparison with trustworthy contemporary Roman historians. There is every reason to believe that the so-called Gildas—for by Mr. Wright[40] he has been reduced to a nominis umbra—lived and wrote about the middle of the 6th century A.D., so that, had he used ordinary diligence and discrimination, he might have been of considerable assistance in enabling us to solve the perplexing mystery of the Pictish question. But indeed we have no right to look for much history in the work of Gildas, as it professes to be merely a complaint “on the general destruction of every thing that is good, and the general growth of evil throughout the land;” it is his purpose, he says, “to relate the deeds of an indolent and slothful race, rather than the exploits of those who have been valiant in the field.”[41] So far as the origin and early history of the Picts is concerned, Gildas is of almost no value whatever, the only time he mentions the Picts being incidentally to notice an invasion they had made into the Roman provinces.[42] If we can trust him, the Picts and their allies, the Scots, must have been very fierce enemies to deal with. They went about, he tells us, almost entirely destitute of clothes, having their faces covered with bushy hair, and were in the habit of dragging the poor enervated Britons from the top of their protecting wall with hooked weapons, slaughtering them without mercy. Some writers infer from this narrative that, during the Roman occupation, no permanent settlement of Scots had been effected in present Scotland, but that the Scots who assisted the Picts came over from their native Scotland (Ireland) for that purpose; he tells us that the Scots came from the north-west, and the Picts from the north.[43] “North-west” here, however, would apply quite as well to Argyle as to Ireland.

The writer next in chronological order from whom we derive any information of consequence concerning the Picts is Adamnan, a member of the early Irish Church, who was born in the county of Donegal about the year 625, elected abbot of Iona in 679, and who died in the year 704. Adamnan wrote a life of his great predecessor St. Columba, in which is contained much information concerning that great missionary’s labours among the Northern Picts; and although he narrates many stories which are palpably incredible, still the book contains much which may with confidence be accepted as fact. In connection with the questions under consideration, we learn that, in the time of Columba and Adamnan, there were—as formerly, in the time of the Roman writers—two divisions of the Picts, known in the 7th century and afterwards as the Northern and Southern Picts. Adamnan informs us that Columba’s mission was to the Northern Picts alone,—the southern division having been converted by St. Ninian in the 5th century. There has been much disputation as to the precise district inhabited by each of these two divisions of the Picts,—some maintaining that the southern division occupied the country to the south of the Forth and Clyde, while the Northern Picts occupied the whole district to the north of these estuaries. The best authorities, however, are of opinion that both divisions dwelt to the north of Antonine’s wall, and were divided from each other by the Grampians.

What more immediately concerns our present purpose is a passage in Adamnan’s work in which he speaks of Columba preaching to the Picts through an interpreter. Now Columba was an Irish Scot, whose native tongue was Gaelic, and it is from this argued that the Picts to whom he preached must have spoken a different language, or at least dialect, and belonged to a different race or tribe from the saint himself. Mr. Skene,[44] who ably advocates the Gaelic origin of the Picts, perceiving this difficulty, endeavours to explain away the force of the passage by making it mean that Columba “interpreted or explained the word of God, that is, the Bible, which, being written in Latin, would doubtless require to be interpreted to them.” The passage as quoted by Skene is, “Verbo Dei per interpretorem recepto.” Garnett, however, one of the most competent and candid writers on this question in its philological aspect, and who maintains, with the greatest clearness and ability, the Cymric origin of the Picts, looks at the passage in a different light. The entire passage, he says,[45] as it stands in Colganus, is as follows:—“Alio in tempore quo sanctus Columba in Pictorum provincia per aliquot demorabatur dies, quidam cum tota plebeius familia, verbum vitæ per interpretorem, Sancto prædicante viro, audiens credidit, credensque baptizatus est.”[46] “Here it will be observed,” continues Garnett, “Adamnan does not say, ‘verbum Dei,’ which might have been construed to mean the Scripture, but ‘verbum vitæ, Sancto prædicante viro,’ which can hardly mean anything but ‘the word of life, as it was preached by the Saint.’” Certainly, we think, the unprejudiced reader must admit that, so far as this point is concerned, Mr. Garnett has the best of it. Although at that time the Gaelic and Cymric dialects may have had much more in common than they have at the present day, nevertheless it appears to be beyond a doubt that the difference between the two was so great that a Gael would be unintelligible to a speaker of Cymric.[47]

The next and most important authority of this class on this quæstio vexata is the Venerable Bede, who, considering the age in which he lived, exercised so much caution and discrimination, that he deserves to be listened to with respect. Bede was born about 673. He was educated in the Monastery of Wearmouth, whence he removed to Jarrow, where he was ordained deacon in his nineteenth year, and priest in his thirtieth, and where he spent the rest of his days, dying in 735. He wrote many works, but the most important is the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, the materials for which he obtained chiefly from native chronicles and biographies, records and public documents, and oral and written communications from contemporaries.

We shall transcribe most of the passage in which Bede speaks of the ancient inhabitants of Britain; so that our readers may be able to judge for themselves of the nature and value of the testimony borne by this venerable author. It must, however, be kept in mind that Bede does not pretend to give any but the ecclesiastical history of the English nation, everything else being subsidiary to this.

“This island at present, following the number of the books in which the Divine law was written, contains five nations, the English, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins, each in its own peculiar dialect cultivating the sublime study of Divine truth. The Latin tongue is, by the study of the Scriptures, become common to all the rest. At first this island had no other inhabitants but the Britons, from whom it derived its name, and who coming over into Britain, as is reported, from Armorica, possessed themselves of the southern parts thereof. When they, beginning at the south, had made themselves master of the greatest part of the island, it happened, that the nation of the Picts coming into the ocean from Scythia, as is reported, in a few tall ships, were driven by the winds beyond the shores of Britain and arrived off Ireland, on the northern coasts, where, finding the nation of the Scots, they requested to be allowed to settle among them, but could not succeed in obtaining their request. The Scots answered, that the island could not contain them both; but ‘we can give you good advice,’ said they, ‘what to do; we know there is another island, not far from ours, to the eastward, which we often see at a distance, when the days are clear. If you will repair thither, you may be able to obtain settlements; or if they should oppose you, you may make use of us as auxiliaries.’ The Picts accordingly sailing over into Britain, began to inhabit the northern parts thereof, for the Britons were possessed of the southern. Now the Picts having no wives, and asking them of the Scots, they would not consent to grant them upon any other terms, than that when any difficulty should arise, they should rather choose themselves a king from the female royal race than from the male; which custom, as is well known, has been observed among the Picts to this day. In process of time, Britain, besides the Britons and the Picts, received a third nation, the Scots, who, departing out of Ireland under their leader Reuda, either by fair means, or by force of arms, secured to themselves those settlements among the Picts which they still possess. From the name of their commander, they are to this day called Dalreudins; for in their language Dal signifies a part.... It is properly the country of the Scots, who, migrating from thence, as has been said, added a third nation in Britain to the Britons and the Picts. There is a very large gulf of the sea, which formerly divided the nation of the Picts from the Britons; which gulf runs from the west very far into the land, where, to this day, stands the strong city of the Britons, called Alcluith. The Scots arriving on the north side of this bay, settled themselves there.”[48]

Here then Bede informs us that in his time the common report was that the Picts came into Scotland from Scythia, which, like the Germania of Tacitus, may be taken to mean the northern countries of Europe generally. This is substantially the same statement as that of the author of the Historia Britonum, commonly called Nennius, who lived in the 9th century, and who informs us that the Picts coming to Scotland about 300 B.C., occupied the Orkney Islands, whence issuing, they laid waste many regions, and seized those on the left-hand side, i.e. the north of Britain, where they still remained in the writer’s time, keeping possession of a third part of Britain.[49]

Supposing that Bede’s report was quite in accordance with truth, still it gives us but small help in coming to a conclusion as to the place of these Picts among the families of men. It is certain that by far the greater part of Europe had at one time a Celtic population who preceded, but ultimately gave way to another wave of emigrants from the east. Now, if we knew the date at which this so-called migration of the Picts took place it might be of considerable assistance to us; but as we cannot now find out whether these emigrants proceeded from a Celtic or a Teutonic stock, the statement of Bede, even if reliable, helps us not at all towards a solution of the question as to the race of the Picts. Innes[50] remarks very justly on this point—“Now, supposing that there were any good ground for the opinion of these two writers, which they themselves give only as a conjecture or hearsay, and that we had any certainty of the Caledonians, or Picts, having had their origin from the more northern parts of the European continent, it were an useless, as well as an endless discussion, to examine in particular from which of all the northern nations of the continent the first colony came to Caledonia; because that these nations of the north were almost in perpetual motion, and changing habitations, as Strabo remarks; and he assigns for it two reasons: the one, because of the barrenness of the soil, they tilled not the ground, and built habitations only for a day; the other, because being often overpowered by their neighbours, they were forced to remove. Another reason why it is impossible to know from which of those nations the northern parts of Britain, (supposing they came from thence) were at first peopled, is because we have but very lame accounts of these northern nations from the Greek or Roman writers, (from whom alone we can look for any thing certain in those early times) especially of those of Scandia, to the north of the Baltic sea, as the same Strabo observes. Besides, it appears that Caledonia was peopled long before the inhabitants of these northern parts of the continent were mentioned, or even known by the most ancient writers we have; and perhaps before the first nations mentioned by them were settled in those parts.”

There is, however, another statement made by Bede in the passage quoted, upon which, as it refers to his own time, much more reliance can be placed; it is, that in his time Britain contained five nations, each having its own peculiar dialect, viz., the English, Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins. We know that the English spoke in the main Saxon; the Britons, i.e., the inhabitants of Wales, Cumbria, &c., Welsh; the Scots, Gaelic; the Latins, we suppose, being the Romanized Britons and ecclesiastics. What language then did the Picts speak? As we know that Bede never travelled, he must have got his information from an informant or by hearsay, which circumstance rather detracts from its value. But supposing we take the passage literally as it stands, we learn that in Bede’s time there were five distinct peoples or nations, whose names he gives, sharing among them the island. He does not say there were five distinct tongues, which would have been quite a different statement; he speaks of them not so much in respect of their language as in respect of their being the separate items which composed the inhabitants of Britain. In his time they were all quite distinct, in a measure independent of and at enmity with each other. He does not classify them in respect of the race to which they belonged, but with reference to the particular districts which they inhabited, and perhaps with regard to the time and means of their conversion to Christianity, each having been converted at a different time and by a different saint. The substance then of what he says appears to be, that there were in his time five distinct tribes or congregations of people in Britain, each converted to Christianity, and each having the gospel preached in its own tongue. Supposing that the Picts and Scots, or Picts and Britons, or Picts and English did speak exactly the same tongue, it is not at all likely that Bede, in the present case, would have classed them together as both being one nation. Moreover, suppose we allow that Bede did mean that each of these nations spoke a language quite distinct from all the others, then his statement cuts equally at the Gothic and Celtic theory. The conclusion we are forced to is, that from this passage nothing can be gained to help us out of our difficulty.

There is a statement at the end of the passage quoted to which we would draw the reader’s attention, as being Bede’s way, and no doubt the universal way in his time, of accounting for a peculiar law which appears to have regulated the succession to the Pictish throne, and which ultimately, according to some, was the means of placing on that throne a Scottish monarch; thus accounting to some extent for the sudden disappearance and apparent destruction of the Pictish people and language.

We shall here refer to one other passage in the same historian, which has perhaps given rise to greater and more acrimonious contention than any other point in connection with this wordy discussion. The only word that has come down to us, which, with the exception of the names of the Pictish kings, we can be sure is a remnant of the Pictish language, is the name said by Bede to have been given to the eastern termination of the wall of Antonine. Bede,[51] in speaking of the turf wall built by the Britons of Valentia in the beginning of the 5th century, says, “it begins at about two miles distance from the monastery of Abercorn on the west, at a place called in the Pictish language Peanfahel, but in the English tongue Penneltum.” This statement of Bede’s is straightforward and clear enough, and has never been disputed by any writer on any one of the three sides of the question. Nevertheless it has been used by the advocates respectively of the Gothic, Gaelic, and Cymric origin of the Picts, as an undoubted proof of the correctness of each of these theories. Pinkerton, whose dishonesty and acrimoniousness are well known, and must detract considerably from the force of his arguments, claims it as being entirely Gothic or Teutonic. “The Pictish word,” he says,[52] “is broad Gothic; Paena ‘to extend,’ Ihre; and Vahel, a broad sound of veal, the Gothic for ‘wall,’ or of the Latin vallum, contracted val; hence it means ‘the extent or end of the wall.’” This statement of Pinkerton’s may be dismissed as too far-fetched and awkward to merit much consideration, and we may safely regard the word as capable of satisfactory explanation only in Celtic. Innes, who upholds the British, i.e. the Cymric, origin of the Picts, says,[53] “we nowhere find a clearer proof of the Pictish language being the same as the British [Welsh], than in Bede, where he tells us that Penuahel in Pictish signifies the head of the wall, which is just the signification that the same two words Pen and Uahel have in the British.” In this opinion Chalmers and other advocates of the Cymric theory coincide. Mr. Garnett, who essentially agrees with Innes and Chalmers as to the Cymric origin of the Picts, lays little stress upon this word as furnishing an argument in support of his theory. “Almost the only Pictish word given us by an ancient writer is the well-known Pen val (or as it appears in the oldest MSS. of Bede (Peann fahel)), the name given by the Picts to the Wall’s End, or eastern termination of the Vallum of Antoninus. It is scarcely necessary to say the first part of the word is decidedly Cymric; pen, head, being contrary to all Gaelic analogy. The latter half might be plausibly claimed as the Gaelic fal; gwall being the more common termination in Welsh for a wall or rampart. Fal, however, does occur in Welsh in the sense of inclosure, a signification not very remote.”[54]

The two most recent and able supporters[55] of the Gaelic theory are of much the same mind as Garnett, and appear to regard this tantalizing word as affording no support to either side. Burton[56] cannot admit that anything has been made out of this leading to a historical conclusion.

We may safely conclude, then, that this so called Pictish word, or, indeed, any information which we find in Bede, affords us no key to the perplexing question of the origin and race of the Picts.

We learn, however, one fact from Bede[57] which is so far satisfactory, viz., that in his time there were two divisions of the Picts, known as the Northern and Southern Picts, which were separated from each other by steep and rugged mountains. On reading the passage in Bede, one very naturally supposes that the steep and rugged mountains must be the Grampians, to which the expression applies more aptly than to any other mountain-chain in Scotland. Even this, however, has been made matter of dispute, it being contended by some that the locality of the Southern Picts was in the south-west and south of Scotland, where some writers set up a powerful Pictish kingdom. Mr. Grub,[58] however, has clearly shown that the locality of the Southern Picts was to the north of the Forth and Clyde, and to the south of the Grampians. “The mistake formerly so common in regard to the country of the Southern Picts converted by St. Ninian, was in part owing to the situation of Candida Casa. It was supposed that his see must have been in the country of those whom he converted.” He clearly proves that it was not so in reality, and that there was nothing so unusual in the situation as to justify the conclusion which was drawn from it. “It was, no doubt, the case that the teachers by whom the chief Celtic and Teutonic nations were converted generally fixed their seat among those whom they instructed in the faith. But there was no necessity for this, especially when the residence of the teacher was in the neighbourhood of his converts. St. Columba was primate of all the churches of the Northern Picts, but he did not permanently reside among that nation. St. Ninian had ready access to his Pictish converts, and could govern them as easily from his White Church on the Solway, as Columba could instruct and rule the Northern Picts from his monastery in Iona.”[59]

Other authorities appealed to by the upholders of each of the Celtic theories are the Welsh traditions, the Irish Annals, the Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, and various legendary documents of more or less value and authenticity. As these are of no greater authority than the writers with whom we have been dealing, and as the partisans of each theory claim the various passages as either confirming, or, at any rate, not contradicting their views, we shall not further trouble the reader with specimens of the manner in which they are dealt with. There is one passage, however, in the Welsh Triads, which the advocates of the Gaelic hypothesis claim as strongly confirmatory of their theory. After referring to the coming in of the Cymry, the Britons, etc., the Triads[60] go on to say, “Three tribes came, under protection, into the Island of Britain, and by the consent and permission of the nation of the Cymry, without weapon, without assault. The first was the tribe of the Caledonians in the north. The second was the Gwyddelian Race, which are now in Alban (Scotland). The third were the men of Galedin, who came into the Isle of Wight. Three usurping tribes came into the Island of Britain and never departed out of it. The first were the Coranied, who came from the land of Pwyl. The second were the Gwyddelian Ffichti, who came into Alban over the sea of Llychlyn (Denmark). The third were the Saxons.” “The Triads,” says Skene[61] in connection with this, “appear distinctly to have been written previous to the Scottish conquest in the ninth century, and they mention among the three usurping tribes of Britain the ‘Gwyddyl Ffichti,’ and add immediately afterwards, ‘and these Gwyddyl Ffichti are in Alban, along the shore of the sea of Llychlyn.’ In another place, among the treacherous tribes of Britain, the same Triads mention the ‘Gwyddyl coch o’r Werddon a ddaethant in Alban,’ that is ‘the Red Gwyddyl from Ireland, who came into Alban,’ plainly alluding to the Dalriads, who were an Irish colony, and who have been acknowledged by all to have been a Gaelic race. It will be observed from these passages that the Welsh Triads, certainly the oldest and most unexceptionable authority on the subject, apply the same term of Gwyddyl to the Picts and to the Dalriads, and consequently they must have been of the same race, and the Picts a Gaelic people. Farther, the Welsh word ‘Gwyddyl,’ by which they distinguish that race, has been declared by all the best authorities to be exactly synonymous with the word Gael, the name by which the Highlanders have at all times been distinguished, and the Welsh words ‘Gwyddyl Ffichti’ cannot be interpreted to mean any thing else than ‘The Gaelic Picts,’ or ‘Pictish Gael.’”

The following is the substance of the information given by the Irish writers as to the origin, race, and early history of the Picts. The greater part of it is, of course, mere tradition, accumulating as it grew older, and heightened by the imagination of the writers themselves.[62] The Picts were called by the Irish writers Cruithnidh, which O’Brien considers to be the same as Britneigh, or Britons; but according to others the name was derived from Cruthen, who founded the kingdom of the Picts in North Britain, in the first century; others derive the name from Cruit, a harp, hence Cruitneach, the Irish for Pict, also signifies a harper, as they are said to have been celebrated harpers. The ancient Britons are mentioned by Cæsar, and other Roman writers, to have painted their bodies of a blue colour, with the juice of a plant called woad, hence the painted Britons were called by the Romans Picti. The Picts or Cruthneans, according to the Psalter of Cashel, and other ancient annals, came from Thrace, in the reign of the Milesian monarch Heremon, nearly a thousand years before the Christian era, and landed at Inver Slainge, now the Bay of Wexford, under two chief commanders named Gud and Cathluan, but not being permitted to settle in Ireland, they sailed to Albain, or that part of North Britain, now Scotland, their chiefs having been kindly supplied with wives of Irish birth. The Cruthneans became possessed of North Britain, and founded there the kingdom of the Picts. A colony of the Cruthneans, or Picts, from North Britain, settled in Ulster in early times, and are often mentioned from the first to the ninth century; they resided chiefly in Dalaradia and Tir Eogain, or parts of Down, Antrim, and Derry, and became mixed by intermarriages with the old Irish of the Irian race, and were ruled over by their own princes and chiefs; and some of those Picts, also settled in Connaught, in the county of Roscommon. According to the Irish writers, the Picts, in their first progress to Ireland from Thrace, settled a colony in Gaul, and the tribes called Pictones and Pictavi, in that country, were descended from them, and they gave name to Pictavia, or the city of Poictiers, and the province of Poitou; and from these Picts were descended the Vendeans of France. The Caledonians, or first inhabitants of Scotland, are considered to have been the same as the Picts, and mixed with Cimbrians or Britons, and some of the Milesian Scots from Ireland.

The advocates of the various theories, apparently aware of how little can be made of the meagre and suspicious information afforded by these early histories and chronicles, have latterly made language the principal battle-ground on which to fight out this endless and profitless strife. Most of them take for granted that if the language spoken by any people can be found out, a sure indication is afforded of the race to which that people belonged; and that the topography of a country must necessarily have been imposed by the earliest inhabitants of whom we have record; and that, if so, the limits of their territory must have been co-extensive with the limits of such topography. This, however, is going too far. All the length to which we are permitted in fairness to go, when we find in any district or country an abundance of names of natural objects, as rivers and mountains, which can with certainty be traced to any particular language, is, that at one time or other, a race of people speaking this language must have passed over and dwelt for some time in that particular district or country. We find Celtic names of rivers and mountains scattered all over Europe, in the midst of peoples who are admitted on all hands to have little or none of the Celtic element in them.[63] So that an unprejudiced judge must admit that the fact of Cymric and Gaelic words being found in certain districts of the north of Scotland argues only that at one time people speaking these dialects must have dwelt in these districts. It affords no proof by itself that the people whom we first meet with in these districts are the people who spoke these dialects, and who imposed these names; nor indeed, if we could be sure that the people whom we first meet with as inhabitants also spoke the dialect to which such names belong, does it prove that they were the imposers of these names, that the dialect was their native and original tongue, and that they had not acquired it either as conquerors or conquered. Nor can it be adduced as a proof of sameness of race, that the present inhabitants of any particular district speak the same language as those who inhabited that district 1800 years ago or less. “He who trusts to language, and especially to written language, alone, as an index to race, must be prepared to maintain that the Gallic nation emigrated from the seven hills of Rome, and that the Franks came with them; that the Romans extirpated the Celts and Iberians of Spain, and that the Goths and Moors spoke nearly the same language as the Romans; that the Negroes of the United States and Jamaica were exported from England when in their infancy. So would Philology, if left to herself, interpret phenomena, of which we know, from other sources of information, that the causes are totally different.”[64] “The clearest proof that a mountain or river has a Celtic name, only shows that at some time or other Celts had been there; it does not tell us when they were there. Names, as the experience of the world amply shows, live after the people who bestowed them have long disappeared, and that through successive races of occupants.”[65]

The materials which have been wrought up into a linguistic argument by the upholders of each of the three Pictish theories, Gothic, Gaelic, and Cymric, are chiefly a list of Pictish kings which, we believe, may be depended on as authentic, and the topography of the country to the east and south-east of the Grampians, together with the single so-called Pictish word Peanfahel, which we have already considered. The theorists differ as much in their interpretation of the significance of what remains of the Pictish language, as we have seen they do in their interpretation of any references to the subject in dispute in ancient chronicles. The names of the kings, and the names of places have been traced by the disputants to Gothic, Gaelic and Cymric roots. As an amusing specimen of the ingenuity displayed in this hunt after roots, we give below a small table from Burton, comparing the different etymologies of names of kings given by Pinkerton, Chalmers, and Jamieson.[66]

It is, however, generally admitted at the present day, that so far as language is concerned, the Gothic theory has not the remotest chance; that names of places and of kings are most satisfactorily and straightforwardly explained by Cymric roots. As the Gothic or Teutonic theory cannot stand the test of modern criticism, we shall content ourselves with giving specimens of the manner in which the linguistic, or, more strictly, topographical argument is used by the advocates of the Cymric and Gaelic hypotheses respectively.

The Cymric argument is clearly, ably, and succinctly stated by Mr. Garnett in his essay on “The Relation of the Pict and Gael;” he, however, it must be remembered, looked at the whole question mainly in its philological aspect. In stating the argument we shall use chiefly his own words.[67] “That the Picts were actually Celts, and not of Teutonic race, is proved to a demonstration by the names of their kings; of whom a list, undoubtedly genuine from the fifth century downwards, was published by Innes, from a manuscript in the Colbertine library. Some of those appellations are, as far as we know at present, confined to the Pictish sovereigns; but others are well-known Welsh and Gaelic names. They differ, however, slightly in their forms, from their Cymric equivalents; and more decidedly so from the Gaelic ones; and, as far as they go, lead to the supposition that those who bore them spoke a language bearing a remote analogy to the Irish with its cognates, but a pretty close one to the Welsh.

“In the list furnished by Innes the names Maelcon, Elpin, Taran (i.e. thunder), Uven (Owen), Bargoit, are those of personages well known in British history or tradition. Wrgust, which appears as Fergus in the Irish annals, is the Welsh Gwrgust. Talorg, Talorgan, evidently contain the British word Tal, forehead, a common element in proper names; ex. gr. Talhaiarn, Iron Forehead; Taliesin, splendid forehead, &c. Taleurgain would signify in Welsh golden or splendid front. Three kings are represented as sons of Wid, in the Irish annals of Foit or Foith. In Welsh orthography it would be Gwydd, wild; a common name in Brittany at the present day, under the form of Gwez. The names Drust, Drostan, Wrad, Necton (in Bede Naitan), closely resemble the Welsh Trwst, Trwstan, Gwriad, Nwython. It will be sufficient to compare the entire list with the Irish or Highland genealogies, to be convinced that there must have been a material distinction between the two branches. Most of the Pictish names are totally unknown in Irish or Highland history, and the few that are equivalent, such as Angus and Fergus, generally differ in form. The Irish annalists have rather obscured the matter, by transforming those names according to their national system of orthography; but it is remarkable that a list in the ‘Book of Ballymote,’ partly given by Lynch in his ‘Cambrensis Eversus,’ agrees closely with Innes, even preserving the initial w or u where the Gaelic would require f. The philological inferences to be deduced from this document may be thus briefly summed up:—1. The names of the Pictish kings are not Gaelic, the majority of them being totally unknown both in the Irish and Highland dialects, while the few which have Gaelic equivalents decidedly differ from them in form. Cineod (Kenneth) and Domhnall or Donnel, appear to be the only exceptions. 2. Some of them cannot be identified as Welsh; but the greater number are either identical with or resemble known Cymric names; or approach more nearly to Welsh in structure and orthography than to any other known language. 3. There appears nevertheless to have been a distinction, amounting, at all events, to a difference in dialect. The Pictish names beginning with w would in Welsh have gw, as Gwrgust for Wrgust, and so of the rest. There may have been other differences sufficient to justify Bede’s statement that the Pictish language was distinct from the British, which it might very well be without any impeachment of its claim to be reckoned as closely cognate.”

We have already referred to the use made of the Pictish word Peannfahel, preserved by Bede, and to the phrase in Adamnan concerning Columba’s preaching by means of an interpreter. It is contended by the upholders of the Cymric theory that the ancient topographical appellations of the Pictish territory can in general only be explained by the Cymric dialects, one strong point being the number of local names beginning with the Welsh prefix aber, which, according to Chalmers, was in several instances subsequently changed by the Gael into inver. Skene,[68] who felt the force of this argument, tried to get rid of it by contending that aber is essentially a Gaelic word, being compounded of ath, ford, and bior, water. Garnett thinks this explanation utterly gratuitous, and observes that the term may be much more satisfactorily accounted for by a different process. “There are,” he observes,[69] “three words in Welsh denoting a meeting of waters—aber, cynver, and ynver,—respectively compounded of the particles a, denoting juxtaposition, cyn (Lat. con), and yn, with the root ber, flowing, preserved in the Breton verb beri, to flow, and all virtually equivalent to our word confluence. Inver is the only term known in any Gaelic dialect, either as an appellative or in proper names; and not a single local appellation with the prefix aber occurs either in Ireland or the Hebrides, or on the west coast of Scotland. Indeed, the fact that inver was substituted for it after the Gaelic occupation of the Pictish territories, is decisive evidence on the point; for, if aber was a term familiar to the Gael, why should they change it?”

“In Scotland,” says Isaac Taylor,[70] who upholds the Cymric hypothesis, “the invers and abers are distributed in a curious and instructive manner. If we draw a line across the map from a point a little south of Inverary, to one a little north of Aberdeen, we shall find that (with very few exceptions) the invers lie to the north west of the line, and the abers to the south-east of it. This line nearly coincides with the present southern limit of the Gaelic tongue, and probably also with the ancient division between the Picts and Scots. Hence we may conclude that the Picts, a people belonging to the Cymric branch of the Celtic stock, and whose language has now ceased to be anywhere vernacular, occupied the central and eastern districts of Scotland, as far as the Grampians; while the Gadhelic Scots have retained their language, and have given their name to the whole country. The local names prove, moreover, that in Scotland the Cymry did not encroach on the Gael, but the Gael on the Cymry. The intrusive names are invers, which invaded the land of the abers. Thus on the shore of the Frith of Forth we find a few invers among the abers. The Welsh word uchel, high, may also be adduced to prove the Cymric affinities of the Picts. This word does not exist in either the Erse or the Gaelic languages, and yet it appears in the name of the Ochil Hills, in Perthshire. Again, the Erse bally, a town, occurs in 2,000 names in Ireland; and, on the other hand, is entirely absent in Wales and Brittany. In Scotland this most characteristic test-word is found frequently in the inver district, while it never appears among the abers. The evidence of these names makes it impossible to deny that the Celts of the Scottish Lowlands must have belonged to the Cymric branch of the Celtic stock.”

We infer from what Mr. Taylor says, that he is of opinion that at one time the language of the whole of the north of Scotland was Cymric, but that the district in which the Scots obtained a settlement afterwards underwent a change of topography. But it is admitted on all hands that the Scottish Dalriada comprehended no more than the modern Argyllshire, extending no farther north than Loch Leven and Loch Linnhe; and that the Irish Scots had little influence on the people or their language to the north-west of the Grampians. Indeed, Skene[71] maintains that this district, in which he places the Northern Picts, was never subjected to the Scots, and that it was only the Southern Picts who latterly came under their sway. Yet we find that the abers here are few and far between, or, indeed, any indications of Cymric possession such as we find in the southern district. Is it possible that the Northern and Southern Picts were representatives of the two great divisions of the Celts,—the former claiming a Gaelic origin, and the latter a Cymric? Perhaps after all the Welsh Triads may in course of time be of some help in the solution of this dark problem, as, according to them, there was more than one Celtic settlement in Scotland before the migration of the Scots. The passages above quoted are, to all appearance, much more favourable to the Gaelic than to the Cymric hypothesis, and have been made much of by Skene and other supporters of that side of the question.

The Cymric origin of the Picts, besides Garnett and Taylor, is supported by such names as Innes, Chalmers, Ritson, Whittaker, Grub, and others.

Pinkerton, it is well known, is the great and unscrupulous upholder of the Gothic origin of the Picts; while the Gaelic theory has for its supporters such writers, of undoubted ability and acuteness, as Skene, E. W. Robertson, Forbes-Leslie, &c. Burton[72] is of opinion that the Highlanders of the present day are the true representatives of the Dalriadic Scots of the West.

We shall, as we have done in the case of the other side, allow the upholders of the Gaelic hypothesis to state for themselves the Gaelic topographical argument. We shall use the words of Colonel Forbes-Leslie, who, in his invaluable work on the “Early Races of Scotland,”[73] says, “The Celtic words Inver and Aber have nearly the same meaning; and the relative position in which they occur in names of places has been employed as if it were a sufficient argument for defining the presence or preponderance of the British or Gaelic Celts in certain districts. In this way Aber, prefixed to names of places, has been urged as adequate proof that the Picts of Caledonia were Celts of the British branch. The value of these and some other words requires examination. Inver is to be found in names of places in Wales. It may possibly be a British word. It certainly is a Gaelic one. Aber, although undoubtedly British, is also Gaelic—compounded of the two words Ath and Bior—and signifying the same as Inver, viz., the confluence of two streams, or the entrance to a river. If the word Aber had been unknown to the Gaelic scholars of modern days, its former existence in that language might have been presumed from the ancient names of places in the districts of Caledonia, where it occurs most frequently, being generally Gaelic and not British.

“Beyond the limits of Caledonia on the south of the Forth and Clyde, but within the boundary of modern Scotland, the word Inver, generally pronounced Inner, is of common occurrence, and bears witness to a Gaelic nomenclature. Thus, Inner or Inverkip, in the county of Renfrew; Innerwell, in the county of Wigton; Innerwick, in the county of Haddington; Innerleithen, in the county of Peebles; Inverleith and Inveresk, in the county of Edinburgh, derive their names from their situation in regard to the rivers Kip, Leithen, Esk, &c. &c.

“From the Moray Frith to the Forth, in the eastern counties of Caledonia, the prefix Inver or Aber is used indiscriminately in contiguous places. At the confluence of lesser streams with the river Dee, in Aberdeenshire, we find Inverey, Abergeldie, Invercauld, Invercanny, Aberdeen. Yet in those counties—viz., Aberdeen, Kincardine, Forfar, Perth, and Fife, in which were situated the capitals, and which were the richest provinces of the southern Picts—the number of names of places beginning with Inver is three times as numerous as those commencing with Aber; there being, in a list taken from land-registers, which do not go farther back than the middle of the sixteenth century, seventy-eight with Inver to twenty-four with Aber. It may, however, be admitted that, although Aber is Gaelic, its use is far more general by Celts of the British tribes; and that the predominance of Inver in the districts north of the Spey, and the intermixture of places the names of which commence with Inver or Aber, not unfrequently used in records of nearly the same date for the same place in the country lying between the Moray and the Solway Friths, is, to a certain extent, evidence of a British element of population extending into Caledonia. The Britons, in earlier times, may have been pressing on to the north by gradual intrusion, and were probably afterwards increased by bodies of exiles escaping from the severity of Roman bondage and the punishment of unsuccessful revolt.

“That names of places containing the words Bal, from Bail, a place or residence, and Ard, a height or rising ground, are so common in Ireland, and comparatively rare, so it is alleged, in Caledonia, has also been used as an argument to prove that the language of the Picts and other Caledonians of the southern and eastern districts was British, not Gaelic. But the foundation of the argument has been assumed, and is easily disproved. It is true that of large towns and places that appear in gazeteers, names commencing with Bal and Ard are not numerous. But in fact such names are extremely common. In the lowlands of Aberdeenshire—that is, in the portion of one county, and in the part of Caledonia farthest removed from the settlements of the intrusive Gaels, viz., the Scots from Ireland—registers of land show upwards of fifty places the names of which commence with Bal, and forty which commence with Ard. In the Pictish territory, from the Moray Frith to the Forth, I soon collected upwards of four hundred names of places beginning with Bal, and upwards of one hundred with Ard; and the number might easily be doubled.”

Mr. E. W. Robertson, one of the latest and ablest upholders of this theory, thinks[74] there is scarcely sufficient evidence to justify any very decided conclusion as to the pre-existence of a Cymric population; and that, whilst it would be unquestionably erroneous to ascribe a Cymric origin to the Picts, the existence of a Celtic element akin to the Cymri, amongst the population of Alban before the arrival of the Gwyddel Ffichti, must remain to a certain extent an open question.

Of all a priori theories that have hitherto been advanced as to how Scotland was likely to have been at first peopled, that of Father Innes, the first writer who investigated the subject thoroughly and critically, appears to us to be the most plausible and natural, although even it is beset with many difficulties. It appears to him more natural and probable that the Caledonian Britons, or Picts, were of the same origin as the Britons of the south; that as these came in originally from the nearest coast of Gaul, as they multiplied in the island, they advanced to the north and settled there, carrying with them the customs and language of the South Britons.[75]

We have thus endeavoured to lay before the reader, as fully as space permits, and as clearly and unprejudicedly as possible, the materials at present existing by means of which to form an opinion on the Pictish question, and the arguments pro and con, mainly in their own words, urged by the partisans of the different theories. It appears to us that the data within reach are far too scanty to justify any one in coming to a settled conclusion, and that we must wait for more light before we can be justified in finally making up our minds on this perplexing subject.[76]

At the present day we find that nearly the whole of the territory said to have been originally occupied by the Picts, is inhabited, and has been for centuries, by a population which in appearance is far more Teutonic than Celtic, and which undoubtedly speaks a broad Teutonic dialect.[77] And even in the district where the Gaelic language has been triumphant for ages, it is acknowledged even by the most devoted partisans of the Gaelic theory, that among the population there is a very considerable intermixture of the Teutonic element. Burton thinks, from a general view of the whole question, that the proportion of the Teutonic race that came into the use of the Gaelic, was much greater than the proportion of the Gaelic that came into the use of the Teutonic or Saxon, and that this may account for the contrasts of physical appearance to be seen in the Highlands.

We certainly have not exhausted the statement of the question, have not stated fully and completely all the points in dispute; nor do we pretend to have given with fulness all the arguments pro and con on the various sides. We have, however, given as much as will enable any ordinary reader to form for himself a fair idea of the present state of the Pictish question, and indicated the sources whence more information may be derived, should any one wish to pursue the subject farther. In the words of the latest and greatest Scottish historian “this brief survey of the great Pictish controversy leaves nothing but a melancholy record of wasted labour and defeated ambition. It has been more fruitless than a polemical or a political dispute, for these leave behind them, either for good or evil, their marks upon the conduct and character of the populations among whom they have raged; while here a vast outlay of learning, ingenuity, enthusiasm, and, it must be added, temper, have left no visible monument but a pile of forbidding volumes, in which should any one who has not studied the matter fundamentally expect to find instructive information, he will assuredly be led into a tangled maze of unintelligible pedantry, from which he will come forth with no impression but a nightmare feeling of hopeless struggle with difficulties.”[78]

FOOTNOTES:

[24] Garnett’s Philological Essays, p. 196.

[25] Agricola xi.

[26] The wall of Antonine.

[27] Dio L. 76, c. 12, as quoted in Ritson’s Annals, p. 11.

[28] Critical Essay, ch. ii.

[29] Highlanders.

[30] Book iii.

[31] “Scotti per diversa vagantes, multa populabantur.” Am. Mar. xxvii. 8.

[32]

“—— Nec falso nomine Pictos

Edomuit.”

[33]

“Venit et extremis legio prætenta Britannis

Quæ Scoto dat fræna truci, ferroque notatas

Perlegit exangues Scoto moriente figuras.”—

De bello Getico, v. 416.

Thus rendered by Ritson:—

The legion came, o’er distant Britains placed,

Which bridles the fierce Scot, and bloodless figures

With iron marked, views in the dying Pict.

[34] The name given by the Irish Annalists to the Picts is Cruithne, said by some to mean “variegated.”

[35] The only important exception is Ritson, whose arguments, like those of his opponent Pinkerton, consist mostly of virulent language and vehement assertion.

[36] In Amm. Mar.

[37] It is a curious fact that these latter are, among the peasantry of Scotland, the distinctive characteristics of the Picts or Pechts, who, however, it is not unlikely, may be popularly confounded with the Brownies, especially as, in Perthshire at any rate, they are said always to have done their work while others were asleep.

[38] Skene’s Highlanders, vol. i. p. 2.

[39] L. O. Pike, The English and their Origin, ch. i.

[40] Biographia Britannica Literaria, vol. i.

[41] Gildas, 1.

[42] Id., 19.

[43] Gildas, 14.

[44] Highlanders, vol. i. p. 72.

[45] Garnett’s Philological Essays, p. 199.

[46] Adam. ap. Colganum, 1. ii. c. 32.

[47] On the subject in question the recently published Book of Deer cannot be said to afford us any information. It gives a short account of the landing of Columba and a companion at Aberdour in the north of Aberdeenshire, and the founding of a monastery at Deer. But although the entries are in Gaelic, they do not tell us what language Columba spoke, nor whether ‘Bede the Pict,’ the mormaer of Buchan, understood him without an interpreter. The name of the saint—Drostan—whom Columba left behind him to prosecute the work, is Pictish, at any rate not Irish, so that nothing can be inferred from this. Since much of the first part of this book was written, Mr. Skene has advanced the theory, founded partly on four new Pictish words he has managed to discover, that the language of the Picts was neither pure Gaelic nor Cymric, ‘but a sort of low Gaelic dialect partaking largely of Welsh forms.’ This theory is not new, but was distinctly put forth by Dr. Maclauchlan some years ago in his able and learned work, The Early Scottish Church, p. 29: if true, it would certainly satisfy a great many of the demands which any hypothesis on the subject must do.

[48] Bede’s Eccles. Hist., Book 1. c. i.

[49] Nennius 12, Vatican MS.

[50] Critical Essay on Scotland, vol. i. p. 68.

[51] Book i., c. 12.

[52] Inquiry into the Hist. of Scot., vol. i. p. 357, ed. 1814.

[53] Crit. Essay, vol. i. p. 75.

[54] Garnett’s Phil. Essays, p. 198.

[55] Robertson’s Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 380. Forbes-Leslie’s Early Races of Scotland, vol. i. p 35.

[56] Hist. of Scot., vol. i. p. 187.

[57] Book iii. ch. 4.

[58] Eccl. Hist. of Scot., vol. i. p. 15, &c.

[59] Eccl. Hist. of Scot., vol. i. p. 17.

[60] Davies’ Celtic Researches, p. 155.

[61] Highlanders of Scotland, vol. i. p. 69.

[62] We are indebted for most of the following account to Connellan’s Annals of the Four Masters, p. 367 (note).

[63] See Taylor’s Words and Places, ch. ix.

[64] Pike’s English and their Origin, ch. ii., which contains some shrewd and valuable remarks on the subject of language.

[65] Burton, vol. i. p. 192.

[66]

| Chalmers for Celtic, | Pinkerton for Gothic, | Jamieson, “Teutonic Etymons.”

Drust

Probably the British name Trwst, which signifies din.

Drust, a common Pikish name, is also Persian, and signifies sincerus.... The Persians were the old Sythæ or Goths, from whom the rest sprung.

Su. Goth. troest, dristig. Germ., dreist. Alem. gidrost, daring.

Brudi or Bridei | Brudw, which is pronounced Bridw or Bradw, is in the British treacherous. | Brudi is the real Gothic name; Bout is the wounded (Bott ictus Wachter). | Island., Briddi eminebat. vercl: breida, to extend; and Sueo-Goth, e, law; 2. one who extends the law, who publishes it.

For other instances see Burton’s Scotland, i. p. 196.

[67] Garnett’s Phil. Essays, pp. 197, 198.

[68] Highlanders.

[69] Phil. Essays, p. 200.

[70] Words and Places, p. 246.

[71] Highlanders.

[72] Scotland, vol i. p. 207.

[73] Vol. i. p. 26.

[74] Vol. ii. p. 377.

[75] Essay on Scotland, vol. i. p. 70.

[76] We have already (p. 22) referred to the Gaelo-Cymric theory broached by Dr. Maclauchlan in his Early Scottish Church, and recently adopted by Dr. Skene. Speaking of the distribution of the topographical nomenclature in the Highlands, Dr. Maclauchlan says it indicates one of two things; “either that the one race overpowered the other in the east, and superinduced a new nomenclature over the old throughout the country,—that we have in fact two successive strata of Celtic names, the Gaelic underlying the British, which is by no means impossible; or, what is more likely, that the Pictish people were a people lying midway between the Gael and the Cymri—more Gaelic than the Cymri, and more Cymric than the Gael. This is precisely the character of the old Pictish topography; it is a mixture of Gaelic and Cymric; and if the language of the people was like their topography, it too was a language neither Gaelic nor Cymric, but occupying a middle space between them, indicating the identity of the races at some distant period, although they afterwards became rivals for the possession of the land.” This we think on the whole the most satisfactory theory yet propounded.

[77] We would infer from the recently published Book of Deer, that down at least to the time of David II., the inhabitants were still a Gaelic speaking population; all the entries in that book as to land are in that language.

[78] Burton, vol. i. p. 200.

CHAPTER III.

A.D. 446–843.

Early History—Scottish Settlement—Origin of Scots—Dalriada—Conversion of Picts—Druidism—St. Columba—Iona—Spread of Christianity—Brude and his Successors—Dun-Nechtan—Pictish Wars—Ungus—Contests—Norsemen—Union of Picts and Scots—Scoto-Irish or Dalriads—Lorn, Fergus, Angus and their Successors—Aidan—Contest at Degsastan—Donal Breac—Wars with Irish and Picts—Conal II. and Successors—Ferchar Fada—Selvach and Duncha Beg—Eocha III. unites Dalriada—Muredach—Contests with Picts—Aodh-fin—Eocha IV. or Achaius—Alpin—Kenneth—Union of Picts and Scots—Dalriadic Government—Tanist—Brehon—Laws—Fosterage—Lists of Kings.

As we have already said, the materials for the internal history of the Highlands during the Roman occupation are of the scantiest, nearly all that can be recorded being the struggles of the northern tribes with the Roman invaders, and the incursions of the former and their allies into the territories of the Romanized Britons. Doubtless many events as worthy of record as these, an account of which has been preserved, were during this period being transacted in the northern part of Scotland, and we have seen that many additions, from various quarters, must have been made to the population. However, there are no records extant which enable us to form any distinct notion of the nature of these events, and history cannot be manufactured.

After the departure of the Romans, the provincial Britons of the south of Scotland were completely at the mercy of the Picts as well as the Saxons, who had been invited over by the South Britons to assist them against the northern barbarians. These Saxons, we know, very soon entered into alliance with those whom they came to repel, and between them the Britons south of the friths were eventually driven into the West, where for centuries they appear to have maintained an independent kingdom under the name of Strathclyde, until ultimately they were incorporated with the Scots.[79]

Although both the external and internal history of the Highlands during this period is much better known than in the case of the Roman period, still the materials are exceedingly scanty. Scottish historians, from Fordun and Boece downwards, made it their business to fill up from their own imaginations what is wanting, so that, until the simple-minded but acute Innes put it in its true light, the early history of Scotland was a mass of fable.

Undoubtedly the two most momentous events of this period are the firm settlement in Argyle of a colony of Scots from Ireland and some of the neighbouring isles in 503,[80] and the conversion of the Northern Picts to Christianity by Columba about 563.

At the time of the Roman abandonment of Britain the Picts were under the sway of a king or chieftain named Drust, son of Erp, concerning whom the only record remaining is, that he lived a hundred years and fought a hundred battles. In fact, little is known with certainty of the Pictish history for upwards of one hundred years after the departure of the Romans, although some ancient chronicles afford us lists of Pictish kings or princes, a chronological table of whom, from Drust downwards, will be found at the end of this chapter. The Pictish chronicle contains the names of thirty-six others who are said to have reigned before Drust, but these are generally regarded as almost entirely spurious.

Before proceeding farther with the Pictish history, it may be proper to give a brief account of the settlement of the Irish Scots or Dalriads, as they are frequently called, in the Pictish territory.

The time of the settlement of the Scots in present Scotland was for long a subject of disputation, the early Scottish historians, from a false and unscrupulous patriotism, having pushed it back for many centuries before its actual occurrence. This dispute is now, however, fairly set at rest, there being no foundation for believing that the Scots found their way from Ireland to Scotland earlier than a century or two before the birth of Christ. As we have already seen, we find the first mention of the Scots in Ammianus Marcellinus about the year 360 A.D.; and their name occurs in the same connection frequently afterwards, during the Roman occupation of Scotland. Burton[81] is of opinion that the migration did not take place at any particular time or under any particular leader, but that it was gradual, that the Scots “oozed” out of Ireland upon the western coast of Scotland.

It belongs to the history of Ireland to trace the origin and fix the race of the Scots, to settle the time of their coming into Ireland, and discover whence they came. Some suppose that they migrated originally from Britain to Ireland, while Innes and others bring them either from Scandinavia or Spain, and connect them with the Scyths, asserting that Scot is a mere corruption of Scyth, and dating the settlement at about the commencement of the Christian era. The Irish traditions connect them with a certain Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, and date their coming to Ireland upwards of 1,000 years B.C. E. W. Robertson[82] and others consider them to have been Irish Picts or Cruithne.

Wherever the Scots came from and to whatever race they belong, whether Teutonic or Celtic, they certainly appear not to have been the first settlers in Ireland, and at the time at which they first appear in authentic history occupied a district in Ireland corresponding to Connaught, Leinster, and part of Munster. They were also one of the most powerful of the Irish tribes, seeing that for many centuries Ireland was, after them, called Scotia or Scotland. It is usually said that a particular corner in the north-east of Ireland, about 30 miles in extent, corresponding to the modern county of Antrim, was the kingdom of the particular band of Scots who migrated to Scotland; and that it received its name, Dal-Riada (‘the portion of Riada’), from Carbre-Riada, a leader of the Scots who conquered this particular part, previously inhabited by Cruithne or Irish Picts. Robertson,[83] however, considers all this fable and the kingdom of Dalriada as mythical, Tighernach and the early Irish annalists never applying the name to any other locality than British Dalriada. At all events, this particular district was spoken of by the later chroniclers under the name of Dalriada, there being thus a Dalriada both in Scotland and Ireland.[84] At the time of the migration of the Scots from Ireland to Scotland, they were to all intents and purposes a Celtic race, speaking Trish Gaelic, and had already been converted to Christianity.

The account of the Scottish migration usually given is, that in the year 503 A.D.,[85] a new colony of Dalriads or Dalriadic Scots, under the leadership of Fergus son of Erc, a descendant of Carbre-Riada, along with his brothers Lorn and Angus, left Ireland and settled on the western coast of Argyle and the adjacent islands. “The territories which constituted the petty kingdoms of Dalriada can be pretty well defined. They were bounded on the south by the Frith of Clyde, and they were separated on the east from the Pictish kingdom by the ridge of the great mountain chain called Drumalban. They consisted of four tribes,—the genus or Cinel Lorn, descended from Lorn, the elder of the three brothers; the Cinel Gabran and Cinel Comgall, descended from two sons of Domangart, son of Fergus, the second of the brothers; and the Cinel Angus, descended from the third brother, Angus. The Cinel Comgall inhabited the district formerly called Comgall, now corrupted into Cowall. The Cinel Gabran inhabited what was called the Airgiallas, or the district of Argyle proper, and Kintyre. The Cinel Angus inhabited the islands of Islay and Jura, and the Cinel Lorn, the district of Lorn. Beyond this, on the north, the districts between Lorn and the promontory of Ardnamurchan, i.e., the island of Mull, the district of Morven, Ardgower, and probably part of Lochaber, seem to have formed a sort of debatable ground, the population of which was Pictish, while the Scots had settlements among them. In the centre of the possessions of the Cinel Gabran, at the head of the well-sheltered loch of Crinan, lies the great Moss of Crinan, with the river Add flowing through it. In the centre of the moss, and on the side of the river, rises an isolated rocky hill called Dunadd, the top of which is strongly fortified. This was the capital of Dalriada, and many a stone obelisk in the moss around it bears silent testimony to the contests of which it was the centre. The picturesque position of Dunolly Castle, on a rock at the entrance of the equally sheltered bay of Oban, afforded another fortified summit, which was the chief stronghold of the tribe of Lorn. Of Dunstaffnage, as a royal seat, history knows nothing.”[86]

It would appear that Lorn and Fergus at first reigned jointly, the latter becoming sole monarch on the decease of the former. The succession appears not to have been confined to any particular line, and a disputed succession not unfrequently involved the Scots in civil war.

There is no portion of history so obscure or so perplexing as that of the Scoto-Irish kings, and their tribes, from their first settlement, in the year 503, to their accession to the Pictish throne in 843. Unfortunately no contemporaneous written records appear ever to have existed of that dark period of our annals, and the efforts which the Scotch and Irish antiquaries have made to extricate the truth from the mass of contradictions in which it lies buried, have rather been displays of national prejudice than calm researches by reasonable inquirers. The annals, however, of Tigernach, and of Ulster, along with the brief chronicles and historical documents first brought to light by the industrious Innes, in his Critical Essay, have thrown some glimpses of light on a subject which had long remained in almost total darkness.[87]

The next authentic event of importance that falls to be recorded in connection with the history of the Highlands, is the conversion of the Northern Picts to Christianity, about the year 563. The Southern Picts, i.e. those living to the south and east of the Grampians, were converted by St. Ninian (360–432) about the beginning of the 5th century; but the Northern Picts, until the date above-mentioned, continued Pagans. That there were no Christians among them till that time appears very improbable, considering their close neighbourhood and constant intercourse with the Southern Picts and the Scots of Dalriada; but there can be no doubt that the court and the great bulk of the people adhered to their ancient superstitions.

The religion of the Picts before their conversion is supposed by the majority of writers on this subject to have been that which prevailed in the rest of Britain and in Celtic Gaul, Druidism. The incredulous Burton, however, if we may judge from his History of Scotland,[88] as well as from an article of his in the Edinburgh Review, seems to believe that the whole system of Druidism has been elaborated by the imaginations of modern historians. That the Picts previous to their conversion had a religion, and a religion with what may be called priests and religious services, cannot be doubted, if we may trust Tacitus and Adamnan, the biographer of Columba; the former of whom tells us that, previous to the battle of the Grampians, the union of the various tribes was ratified by solemn rites and sacrifices, and the latter, that Columba’s efforts at conversion were strenuously opposed by the diabolical arts and incantations of the Magi. It appears from Adamnan that fountains were particularly objects of veneration; the superstitious awe with which many fountains and wells are regarded at the present day, being doubtless a remnant of the ancient Pictish religion. Trees, rivers, and lakes, as well as the heavenly bodies, appear also to have been objects of religious regard, and not a few of the customs which exist in Scotland at the present day have been inherited from our Pictish ancestors. Such are many of the rites performed on Hallowe’en, Beltane, Midsummer, &c., and many every-day superstitions still prevalent in the country districts of Scotland.

“Druidism is said to have acknowledged a Supreme Being, whose name was synonymous with the Eastern Baal, and if so, was visibly represented by the sun; and such remnants of the ancient worship as are still traceable in the language of the people, would indicate its having been a species of sun-worship. To this day the four leading points of the compass bear, in the terms which designate them among the Gael, marks of this. The east is ear, like the Latin oriens, from the Gaelic eiridh, ‘to rise;’ the west is iar, ‘after,’ used also as a preposition; the south is deas, and the north tuath; and it is in the use of these terms that the reverence for the solar luminary chiefly appears. Deas, ‘the south,’ is in all circumstances right; it is the right hand, which is easily intelligible, from the relation of that hand to the south when the face looks eastward; and it is expressive of whatever is otherwise right. Deas also means complete, trim, ready; whatever is deas, or southerly, is just as it should be. Tuath, ‘north,’ is the very opposite. Tuathaisd is a ‘stupid fellow;’ Tuathail is ‘wrong’ in every sense: south and north, then, as expressed in the words deiseal and tuathail, are, in the Gaelic language, the representatives of right and wrong. Thus everything that is to move prosperously among many of the Celts, must move sunwise: a boat going to sea must turn sunwise; a man or woman immediately after marriage, must make a turn sunwise. There are relics of fire-worship too; certain days are named from fire-lighting; Beallteine, or ‘the first day of summer,’ and saimhtheine, ‘the first day of winter,’—the former supposed to mean the fire of Baal or Bel, the latter closing the saimhré, or summer period of the year, and bringing in the geamhré, or winter period, are sufficient evidence of this. There are places in Scotland where within the memory of living men the teine eigin, or ‘forced fire,’ was lighted once every year by the rubbing of two pieces of wood together, while every fire in the neighbourhood was extinguished in order that they might be lighted anew from this sacred source.”[89]

Stonehenge.—Copied by permission from Col. Forbes-Leslie’s Early Races of Scotland.

Many of the antiquities which are scattered over the north of Scotland, such as stone circles, monoliths, sculptured stones, rocking stones, &c., are very generally supposed to have been connected with religion. From the resemblance of the circles especially, to those which exist in South Britain and in France, it has been supposed that one religion prevailed over these countries. As Druidism is so commonly believed to have prevailed among the Picts as well as among the other inhabitants of Britain, we shall here give a very brief account of that system, chiefly as we find it given in Cæsar.[90] The following is the account given by Cæsar of the character and functions of the Druids:—“They attend to divine worship, perform public and private sacrifices, and expound matters of religion. A great number of youths are gathered round them for the sake of education, and they enjoy the highest honour in that nation; for nearly all public and private quarrels come under their jurisdiction; and when any crime has been committed, when a murder has been perpetrated, when a controversy arises about a legacy, or about landmarks, they are the judges too. They fix rewards and punishments; and should any one, whether a private individual or a public man, disobey their decrees, then they exclude him from the sacrifices. All these Druids have one chief, who enjoys the highest authority amongst them. When he dies, he is succeeded by the member of the order who is most prominent amongst the others, if there be any such single individual; if, however, there are several men equally distinguished, the successor is elected by the Druids. Sometimes they even go to war about this supremacy.

“The Druids take no part in warfare; nor do they pay taxes like the rest of the people; they are exempt from military service, and from all public burdens. Attracted by such rewards, many come to be instructed by their own choice, while others are sent by their parents. They are reported to learn in the school a great number of verses, so that some remain there twenty years. They think it an unhallowed thing to commit their lore to writing, though in the other public and private affairs of life they frequently make use of the Greek alphabet.... Beyond all things, they are desirous to inspire a belief that men’s souls do not perish, but transmigrate after death from one individual to another; and besides, they hold discourses about the stars, about the size of the world and of various countries, about the nature of things, and about the power and might of the immortal gods.”

Among the objects of druidical veneration the oak is said to have been particularly distinguished; for the Druids imagined that there was a supernatural virtue in the wood, in the leaves, in the fruit, and above all in the mistletoe. Hence the oak woods were the first places of their devotion; and the offices of their religion were there performed without any covering but the broad canopy of heaven. The part appropriated for worship was inclosed in a circle, within which was placed a pillar of stone set up under an oak, and sacrifices were offered thereon. The pillars which mark the sites of these places of worship are still to be seen; and so great is the superstitious veneration paid by the country people to these sacred stones, as they are considered, that few persons have ventured to remove them.

Circle of Callernish in Lewis.—Copied by permission from Col. Forbes-Leslie’s Early Races of Scotland.

Besides the immunities before-mentioned enjoyed by the Druids, they also possessed both civil and criminal jurisdiction, they decided all controversies among states as well as among private persons; and whoever refused to submit to their awards was exposed to the most severe penalties. The sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him; he was debarred all intercourse with his fellow-citizens; his company was universally shunned as profane and dangerous; he was refused the protection of law; and death itself became an acceptable relief from the misery and infamy to which he was exposed.

St. Columba was born in the county of Donegal, in Ireland, in the year 521, and was connected both on his father’s and mother’s side with the Irish royal family. He was carefully educated for the priesthood, and, after having finished his ecclesiastical studies, founded monasteries in various parts of Ireland. The year of his departure from Ireland is, on good authority, ascertained to have been 563, and it is generally said that he fled to save his life, which was in jeopardy on account of a feud in which his relations were involved. Mr. Grub[91] believes that “the love of God and of his brethren was to him a sufficient motive for entering on the great work to which he was called. His immediate objects were the instruction of the subjects of Conal, king of the British Scots, and the conversion of their neighbours the heathen Picts of the North.” In the year 563, when Columba was 42 years of age, he arrived among his kindred on the shores of Argyle, and immediately set himself to fix on a suitable site for a monastery which he meant to erect, from which were to issue forth the apostolic missionaries destined to assist him in the work of conversion, and in which also the youth set apart for the office of the holy ministry were to be educated. St. Columba espied a solitary isle lying apart from the rest of the Hebridean group, near the south-west angle of Mull, then known by the simple name I, whose etymology is doubtful, afterwards changed by Bede into Hy, latinized by the monks into Iova or Iona, and again honoured with the name of I-columb-cil, the island of St. Columba of the church. This island, Conal, who was then king of the Christian Scots of Argyle, presented to Columba, in order that he might erect thereon a monastery for the residence of himself and his disciples. No better station could have been selected than this islet during such barbarous times.

Ruins on Iona.

In pursuance of his plan, St. Columba settled with twelve disciples in Hy. “They now,” says Bede, “neither sought, nor loved, anything of this world,”—true traits in the missionary character. For two years did they labour with their own hands erecting huts and building a church of logs and reeds. “The monastery of Iona, like those previously founded by Columba in Ireland, was not a retreat for solitaries whose chief object was to work out their own salvation; it was a great school of Christian education, and was specially designed to prepare and send forth a body of clergy trained to the task of preaching the Gospel among the heathen.”[92] Having established his missionary institution, and having occupied himself for some time in the instruction of his countrymen the Scots of Argyle, the pious Columba set out on his apostolic tour among the Picts, probably in the year 565. At this time Bridei or Brude, whose reign extended from 536 to 586, the son of Mailcon, a powerful and influential prince, reigned over the Northern Picts, and appears also to have had dominion over those of the south. Judging well that if he could succeed in converting Brude, who, when Columba visited him was staying at one of his residences on the banks of the Ness, the arduous task he had undertaken of bringing over the whole nation to the worship of the true God would be more easily accomplished, he first began with the king, and by great patience and perseverance succeeded in converting him.

The first Gaelic entry in the Book of Deer lets us see the great missionary on one of his tours, and describes the founding of an important mission-station which became the centre of instruction for all the surrounding country. The following is the translation given of the Gaelic original:—“Columcille, and Drostán son of Cosgrach, his pupil, came from Hí, as God had shown to them, unto Abbordoboir, and Bede the Pict was mormaer of Buchan before them, and it was he that gave them that town in freedom for ever from mormaer and toisech. They came after that to the other town, and it was pleasing to Columcille because it was full of God’s grace, and he asked of the mormaer, to wit Bede, that he should give it to him; and he did not give it, and a son of his took an illness after [or in consequence of] refusing the clerics, and he was nearly dead [lit. he was dead but if it were a little]. After this the mormaer went to entreat the clerics that they should make prayer for the son, that health should come to him; and he gave in offering to them from Cloch in tiprat to Cloch pette meic Garnait. They made the prayer, and health came to him. After that Columcille gave to Drostán that town, and blessed it, and left as (his) word, ‘Whosoever should come against it, let him not be many-yeared [or] victorious.’ Drostán’s tears came on parting from Columcille. Said Columcille, ‘Let Déar be its name henceforward.’”

The Abbordoboir here spoken of is Aberdour on the north coast of Aberdeenshire, and Dear probably occupied the site of what is now Old Deer, about twelve miles inland from Aberdour. There is every reason for believing in the substantial truth of the narrative. The two saints, probably from the banks of the Ness, came to Aberdour and “tarried there for a time and founded a monastery on the land which had been granted them. In later times the parish church of Aberdour was dedicated to St. Drostan.” One would almost be inclined to suppose, from the manner in which the missionaries were apparently received, that Christianity had been heard of there before; possibly Bede the Pictish mormaer had been converted at the court of King Brude, and had invited Columba to pay him a visit in Buchan and plant the gospel among the inhabitants. Possibly St. Ninian, the apostle of the southern Picts, may, during his mission among them, have penetrated as far north as Buchan. On the side of the choir of the old parish church of Turriff, a few miles west of Deer, was found painted the figure of St. Ninian, which was probably as old as the 16th century. At all events, Columba and his companion appear to have been made most welcome in Buchan, and were afforded every facility for prosecuting their sacred work. The above record doubtless gives us a fair notion of Columba’s mode of procedure in prosecuting his self-imposed task of converting the inhabitants of Alba. As was the case in Buchan, he appears to have gone from district to district along with his missionary companions, seen the work of conversion fairly begun, planted a monastery in a suitable place, and left one or more of his disciples as resident missionaries to pursue the work of conversion and keep Christianity alive in the district.[93]

Columba soon had the happiness of seeing the blessings of Christianity diffusing themselves among a people who had hitherto sat in the darkness of paganism. Attended by his disciples he traversed the whole of the Pictish territories, spreading everywhere the light of faith by instructing the people in the truths of the Gospel. To keep up a succession of the teachers of religion, he established, as we have seen, monasteries in every district, and from these issued, for many ages, men of apostolic earnestness, who watered and tended the good seed planted by Columba, and carried it to the remotest parts of the north of Scotland and its islands, so that, in a generation or two after Columba, Christianity became the universal religion. These monasteries or cells were long subject to the Abbey of Iona, and the system of church government which proceeded from that centre was in many respects peculiar, and has given rise to much controversy between presbyterians and episcopalians.

St. Columba died on the 9th of June, 597, after a glorious and well-spent life, thirty-four years of which he had devoted to the instruction of the nation he had converted. His influence was very great with the neighbouring princes, and they often applied to him for advice, and submitted to him their differences, which he frequently settled by his authority. His memory was long held in reverence by the Scots and Caledonians.

Conal, the fifth king of the Scots in Argyle, the kinsman of St. Columba, and under whose auspices he entered on the work of conversion, and to whom it is said he was indebted for Hy, died in 571. His successor Aidan went over to Iona in 574, and was there ordained and inaugurated by the Abbot according to the ceremonial of the liber vitreus, the cover of which is supposed to have been encrusted with crystal.

To return to the history of the Picts, we have already observed that little is known of Pictish history for more than a hundred years after the Roman abdication; and even up to the union of the Picts and Scots, the materials for the history of both are about as scarce as they could possibly be, consisting mostly of meagre chronicles containing the names of kings, the dates of their accession and death, and occasionally the names of battles and of the contending nations. Scotland during this period appears to have been the scene of unceasing war between the Scots, Picts, Britons of Strathclyde, English, and Danes, the two first being continually at strife not only with each other but among themselves. We shall endeavour to give, as clearly and as faithfully as possible, the main reliable facts in the history of the Scots and Picts until the union of these two nations.

The reign of Brude was distinguished by many warlike exploits, but above all, as we have seen, by his conversion and that of his people to Christianity, which indeed formed his greatest glory. His chief contests were with the Scoto-Irish or Dalriads, whom he defeated in 557, and slew Gauran their king. Brude died in 586, and for several ages his successors carried on a petty system of warfare, partly foreign and partly domestic. Passing over a domestic conflict, at Lindores in 621, under Kenneth, son of Luthrin, we must notice the important battle of Dun-Nechtan, fought in 685, between the Picts under Brude, the son of Bili,[94] and the Saxons, under the Northumbrian Egfrid. The Saxon king, it is said, greedy of conquest, attacked the Picts without provocation, and against the advice of his court. Crossing the Forth from Lothian, he entered Strathearn and penetrated through the defiles of the Pictish kingdom, leaving fire and desolation in his train. His career was stopt at Dun-Nechtan, the hill of Nechtan, a hill in the parish of Dunnichen, about the centre of Forfarshire; and by a neighbouring lake, long known by the name of Nechtan’s mere, a short distance east from the town of Forfar, did Egfrid and his Saxons fall before Brude and his exasperated Picts. This was a sad blow to the Northumbrian power; yet the Northumbrians, in 699, under Berht, an able leader, again ventured to try their strength with the Picts, when they were once more defeated by Brude, the son of Dereli, who had recently mounted the Pictish throne.

The wars between the Picts and Northumbrians were succeeded by various contests for power among the Pictish princes, which gave rise to a civil war. Ungus, honoured by the Irish Annalists with the title of great, and Elpin, at the head of their respective partisans, tried their strength at Monacrib, supposed by some to be Moncrieff in Strathearn, in the year 727, when the latter was defeated; and the conflict was renewed at Duncrei (Crieff), when victory declared a second time against Elpin, who was obliged to flee from the hostility of Ungus. Nechtan next tried his strength with Ungus, in 728, at a place called Monacurna by the Annalists—possibly Moncur in the Carse of Gowrie—but he was defeated, and many of his followers perished. Talorgan, the son of Congus, was defeated by Brude, the son of Ungus, in 730, and in the same year the Picts appear to have entered into a treaty of peace with the English nation.

The victorious Ungus commenced hostilities against the Dalriads, or Scoto-Irish, in the year 736, and appears to have got the better of the latter. The Scots were again worsted in another battle in 740 by Ungus, who in the same year repulsed an attack of the Northumbrians under Eadbert. In the year 750 he defeated the Britons of the Cumbrian kingdom in the battle of Cato or Cath-O, in which his brother Talorgan was killed. Ungus, who appears to have been a powerful and able monarch, but whom Bede[95] characterizes as having conducted himself “with bloody wickedness, a tyrant and an executioner,” died about 760. A doubtful victory was gained by Ciniod, or Kenneth, the Pictish king, over Aodh-fin, the Scottish king, in 767. Constantine, having overcome Conall, the son of Tarla, in 789, succeeded him in the throne.[96]

Up to this period the Norsemen from Scandinavia, or the Vikingr, i.e. men of the voes or bays, as they were termed, had confined their ravages to the Baltic; but, in the year 787 they for the first time appeared on the east coast of England. Some years afterwards they found their way to the Caledonian shores, and in 795 made their first attack on Iona, which frequently afterwards, along with the rest of the Hebrides, suffered grievously from their ravages. In 839 the Vikingr entered the Pictish territories. A murderous conflict ensued between them and the Picts under Uen their king, in which both he and his only brother Bran, as well as many of the Pictish chiefs, fell. This event, no doubt, hastened the downfall of the Pictish monarchy; and as the Picts were unable to resist the arms of Kenneth, the Scottish king, he carried into execution, in the year 843, a project he had long entertained, of uniting the Scots and Picts, and placing both crowns on his head. That anything like a total extermination of the Picts took place is now generally discredited, although doubtless there was great slaughter both of princes and people. Skene[97] asserts indeed that it was only the Southern Picts who became subject to Kenneth, the Northern Picts remaining for long afterwards independent of, but sometimes in alliance with, the Scots. This is substantially the opinion of Mr. E. W. Robertson,[98] who says, “the modern shires of Perth, Fife, Stirling, and Dumbarton, with the greater part of the county of Argyle, may be said to have formed the actual Scottish kingdom to which Kenneth succeeded.” The Picts were recognised as a distinct people even in the tenth century, but before the twelfth they lost their characteristic nominal distinction by being amalgamated with the Scots, their conquerors.

The Scoto-Irish after their arrival in Argyle did not long continue under the separate authority of the three brothers, Lorn, Fergus, and Angus. They were said to have been very far advanced in life before leaving Ireland, and the Irish chroniclers assert that St. Patrick gave them his benediction before his death, in the year 493. The statement as to their advanced age derives some support from their speedy demise after they had laid the foundations of their settlements, and of a new dynasty of kings destined to rule over the kingdom of Scotland. Angus was the first who died, leaving a son, Muredach, who succeeded him in the small government of Ila. After the death of Lorn the eldest brother, Fergus, the last survivor, became sole monarch of the Scoto-Irish; but he did not long enjoy the sovereignty, for he died in 506.

Fergus was succeeded by his son Domangart, or Dongardus, who died in 511, after a short but troubled reign of about five years. His two sons Comgal and Gabhran or Gauran, successively enjoyed his authority. Comgal had a peaceful reign of four and twenty years, during which he extended his settlements. He left a son named Conal, but Gauran his brother, notwithstanding, ascended the throne in the year 535 without opposition. Gauran reigned two and twenty years, and, as we have already observed, was slain in a battle with the Picts under Bridei their king.

Conal, the son of Comgal, then succeeded in 557, and closed a reign of fourteen years in 571. It was during his reign that Columba’s mission to the Picts took place. A civil war ensued between Aodhan or Aidan, the son of Gauran, and Duncha or Duncan, the son of Conal, for the vacant crown, the claim to which was decided on the bloody field of Loro or Loco in Kintyre in 575, where Duncha was slain. Aidan, the son of Gauran, had been formally inaugurated by St. Columba in Iona, in 574. In the time of Aidan there were frequent wars between the Dalriads and the English Saxons. Many battles were fought in which the Scots were generally defeated, the principal being that of Degsastan or Dalston near Carlisle, in 603, in which nearly the whole of the Scottish army was defeated. The wars with the Saxons weakened the power of the Dalriads very considerably, and it was not till after a long period of time that they again ventured to meet the Saxons in the field.

During a short season of repose, Aidan, attended by St. Columba, went to the celebrated council of Drum-keat in Ulster, in the year 590. In this council he claimed the principality of Dalriada, the land of his fathers, and obtained an exemption from doing homage to the kings of Ireland, which his ancestors, it would appear, had been accustomed to pay. Aidan died in 605 or 608, at the advanced age of eighty, and was buried In the church of Kil-keran, the ruins of which are still to be seen in the midst of Campbelton.

Aidan was succeeded in the throne by his son Eocha-bui, or the “yellow,” who reigned sixteen years. He carried on war with the Cruithne of Ulster. After him came his brother Kenneth-Cear, or the “left-handed,” who was followed by Ferchar, son of Eogan, of the race of Lorn.

Donal, surnamed breac or freckled, the son of Eocha’-bui, of the race of Gauran, succeeded Ferchar about 637. He was a warlike prince and had distinguished himself in the wars against the Cruithne of Ireland. Congal-Claon, the son of Scanlan, the king of the Cruithne in Ulster, having slain Suibne-Mean, a powerful king of Ireland, was attacked by Domnal II., supreme king of Ireland, who succeeded Suibne, and was defeated in the battle of Duncetheren, in 629. Congal sought refuge in Cantyre, and having persuaded Donal-breac, the kinsman of Domnal, to join him in a war against the latter, they invaded Ireland with a heterogeneous mass of Scoto-Irish, Picts, Britons, and Saxons, commanded by Donal and his brothers. Cealach, the son of Maelcomh, the nephew of the reigning king, and as tanist or heir-apparent, the leader of his army, attacked Donal-breac in the plain of Magh Rath or Moyra in Down, in 637, and completely defeated him after an obstinate and bloody engagement. Congal, the murderer of his sovereign, met his merited fate, and Donal-breac was obliged to secure his own and his army’s safety by a speedy return to Cantyre. St. Columba had always endeavoured to preserve an amicable understanding between the Cruithne of Ulster and the Scoto-Irish, and his injunctions were, that they should live in constant peace; but Donal disregarded the wise advice of the saint, and paid dearly for so doing. He was not more successful in an enterprise against the Picts, having been defeated by them in the battle of Glinne Mairison, Glenmairison, or Glenmoreson, probably in West Lothian,[99] during the year 638. He ended his days at Straith-cairmaic or Strathcarron, possibly in the neighbourhood of Falkirk, by the sword of Hoan or Owen, one of the reguli of Strathcluyd, in the year 642. His son Cathasuidh fell by the same hand in 649.

Conal II., the grandson of Conal I., who was also of the Fergusian race of Congal, next ruled over the tribes of Cantyre and Argyle; but Dungal, of the race of Lorn, having obtained the government of the tribe of Lorn, questioned the right of Conal. He did not, however, carry his pretensions far, for Conal died, in undisturbed possession of his dominions, in 652, after a reign of ten years. To Donal-duin, or the brown, son of Conal, who reigned thirteen years, succeeded Maolduin, his brother, in 665. The family feuds which had long existed between the Fergusian races of Comgal and Tauran, existed in their bitterest state during the reign of Maolduin. Domangart, the son of Donal-breac, was murdered in 672, and Conal, the son of Maolduin, was assassinated in 675.

Ferchar-fada, or the tall, apparently of the race of Lorn, and either the son or grandson of Ferchar, who died in 637, seized the reins of government upon the death of Maolduin. On the death of Ferchar, in 702, the sceptre passed again to the Fergusian race in the person of Eocha’-rineval, remarkable for his Roman nose, the son of Domangart. The reign of this prince was short and unfortunate. His sceptre was seized by Ainbhcealach, the son of Ferchar-fada, who succeeded Eocha’ in 705. He was of an excellent disposition, but after reigning one year, was dethroned by his brother, Selvach, and obliged, in 706, to take refuge in Ireland. Selvach attacked the Britons of Strathcluyd, and gained two successive victories over them, the one at Longecoleth in 710, and the other at the rock of Mionuirc in 716. At the end of twelve years, Ainbhcealach returned from Ireland, to regain a sceptre which his brother had by his cruelties shown himself unworthy to wield, but he perished in the battle of Finglein, perhaps Glen Fyne at the head of Loch Fyne, in 719. Selvach met a more formidable rival in Duncha-beg, who was descended from Fergus, by the line of Congal; he assumed the government of Cantyre and Argail, and confined Selvach to his family settlement of Lorn. These two princes appear to have been fairly matched in disposition and valour, and both exerted themselves for the destruction of one another, thus bringing many miseries upon their tribes. In an attempt which they made to invade the territories of each other in 719 by means of currachs, a naval combat ensued off Airdeanesbi, (probably Ardaness on the coast of Argyle,) in which Selvach was overcome by Duncha; but Selvach was not subdued. The death of Duncha in 721 put an end to his designs; but Eocha’ III., the son of Eocha’-rineval, the successor of Duncha, being as bent on the overthrow of Selvach as his predecessor, continued the war. The rival chiefs met at Irroisfoichne in 727, where a battle was fought, which produced nothing but irritation and distress. This lamentable state of things was put an end to by the death of Selvach in 729. This event enabled Eocha to assume the government of Lorn, and thus the Dalriadan kingdom which had been alternately ruled by chiefs of the houses of Fergus and Lorn became again united under Eocha. He died in 733, after a reign of thirteen years, during nine of which he ruled over Cantyre and Argyle, and four over all the Dalriadic tribes.

Eocha was succeeded in the kingdom by Muredach, the son of Ainbhceallach, of the race of Lorn. His reign was short and unfortunate. In revenge for an act of perfidy committed by Dungal, the son of Selvach, who had carried off Forai or Torai, the daughter of Brude, and the niece of Ungus, the great Pictish king, the latter, in the year 736, led his army from Strathearn, through the passes of the mountains into Lorn, which he wasted with fire and sword. He seized Dunad, in Mid-Lorn, and burned Creic, another fortress in the Ross of Mull, taking Dungal and Feradach, the two sons of Selvach, prisoners. Muredach went in pursuit of his enemy, and having overtaken him at Knock Cairpre, at Calatros, on the shores of the Linne,[100] a battle ensued, in which the Scots were repulsed with great slaughter. Talorgan, the brother of Ungus, commanded the Picts on this occasion, and pursued the flying Scots. In this pursuit Muredach is supposed to have perished, after a reign of three years.

Eogban or Ewan, the son of Muredach, took up the fallen succession in 736, and died in 739, in which year the Dalriadic sceptre was assumed by Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha’ III., and grandson of Eocha’-rineval, descended from the Fergusian race of Gauran. In 740 he measured his strength with the celebrated Ungus; but victory declared for neither, and during the remainder of Ungus’ reign, he did not attempt to renew hostilities. After the death of Ungus, in 761, Aodh-fin declared war against the Picts, whose territories he entered from Upper Lorn, penetrating through the passes of Glenorchy and Breadalbane. In 767 he reached Forteviot, the Pictish capital in Strathearn, where he fought a doubtful battle with Ciniod the Pictish king. Aodh-fin died in 769, after a splendid reign of thirty years.[101]

Fergus II., son of Aodh-fin, succeeded to the sceptre on the demise of his father, and died after an unimportant reign of three years. Selvach II., the son of Eogan, assumed the government in 772. His reign, which lasted twenty-four years, presents nothing very remarkable in history.

A new sovereign of a different lineage, now mounted the throne of the Scots in 796, in the person of Eocha or Auchy, the son of Aodh-fin of the Gauran race. Eocha’ IV. is known also by the latinized appellation of Achaius. The story of the alliance between Achaius and Charlemagne has been shown to be a fable; although it is by no means improbable that he entered into an important treaty with the Picts, by marrying Urgusia, the daughter of Urguis, an alliance which, it is said, enabled his grandson Kenneth afterwards to claim and acquire the Pictish sceptre, in right of Urgusia his grandmother. Eocha died in 826, after a happy and prosperous reign of thirty years. He was succeeded by Dungal, the son of Selvach II., of the race of Lorn, being the last of that powerful family who swayed the Dalriadic sceptre. After a feeble but stormy reign of seven years, he died in 833.

Alpin, the last of the Scoto-Irish kings, and the son of Eocha IV. and of Urgusia, now mounted the throne. He was killed in 836, near the site of Laicht castle, on the ridge which separates Kyle from Galloway. The fiction that Alpin fell in a battle with the Picts, when asserting his right to the Pictish throne, has long been exploded.

In 836 Kenneth, the son of Alpin, succeeded his father. He was a prince of a warlike disposition, and of great vigour of mind and body. He avenged the death of his father by frequent inroads among the people dwelling to the south of the Clyde; but the great glory of his reign consists in his achievements against the Picts, which secured for him and his posterity the Pictish sceptre. The Pictish power had, previous to the period of Kenneth’s accession, been greatly enfeebled by the inroads of the Danish Vikingr; but it was not till after the death of Uven, the Pictish king, in 839, after a distracted reign of three years, that Kenneth made any serious attempt to seize the Pictish diadem. On the accession of Wred, Kenneth, in accordance with the principle of succession said by Bede to have prevailed among the Picts, claimed the Pictish throne in right of Urgusia, his grandmother; Wred died in 842, and after an arduous struggle, Kenneth wrested the sceptre from Bred, his successor, in 843, after he had reigned over the Scots seven years.

Burton[102] thinks there can be no doubt that the two countries were prepared for a fusion whenever a proper opportunity offered, but that this was on account of a matrimonial alliance between the two royal houses cannot with certainty be ascertained.[103] As we have said already, it is extremely improbable that Kenneth gained his supremacy by extermination. The Picts certainly appear to have suffered severe defeat, but the likelihood is that after Kenneth succeeded to the throne, a gradual fusion of the two people took place, so that in course of time they became essentially one, speaking one language, obeying the same laws, and following the same manners and customs. If we knew for certain to what race the Picts belonged, and what language they spoke, it might help us not a little to understand the nature and extent of the amalgamation; but as we know so little about these, and as the chroniclers, in speaking of this event, are so enigmatical and meagre, we are left almost entirely to conjecture. We are certain, at any rate, that from some cause or other, the kings of the Dalriadic Scots, about the middle of the 9th century, obtained supremacy over at least the Southern Picts, who from that time forward ceased to be a separate nation.[104]

The history of the Scoto-Irish kings affords few materials either amusing or instructive; but it was impossible, from the connexion between that history and the events that will follow in detail, to pass it over in silence. The Scoto-Irish tribes appear to have adopted much the same form of government as existed in Ireland at the time of their departure from that kingdom; the sovereignty of which, though nominally under one head, was in reality a pentarchy, which allowed four provincial kings to dispute the monarchy of the fifth. This system was the prolific source of anarchy, assassinations, and civil wars. The Dalriads were constantly kept in a state of intestine commotion and mutual hostility by the pretensions of their rival chiefs, or princes of the three races, who contended with the common sovereign for pre-eminence or exemption. The dlighe-tanaiste, or law of tanistry, which appears to have been generally followed as in Ireland, as well in the succession of kings as in that of chieftains, rather increased than mitigated these disorders; for the claim to rule not being regulated by any fixed law of hereditary succession, but depending upon the capricious will of the tribe, rivals were not found wanting to dispute the rights so conferred. There was always, both in Ireland and in Argyle, an heir presumptive to the Crown chosen, under the name of tanist, who commanded the army during the life of the reigning sovereign, and who succeeded to him after his demise. Budgets, and committees of supply, and taxes, were wholly unknown in those times among the Scots, and the monarch was obliged to support his dignity by voluntary contributions of clothes, cattle, furniture, and other necessaries.

There is reason to believe that tradition supplied the place of written records for many ages after the extinction of the Druidical superstition. Hence among the Scots, traditionary usages and local customs long supplied the place of positive or written laws. It is a mistake to suppose, as some writers have done, that the law consisted in the mere will of the Brehon or judge. The office of Breitheamhuin or Brehon was hereditary, and it is quite natural to infer, that under such a system of jurisprudence, the dictum of the judge might not always comport with what was understood to be the common law or practice; but from thence, to argue that the will of the judge was to be regarded as the law itself, is absurd, and contrary to every idea of justice. As the principle of the rude jurisprudence of the Celtic tribes had for its object the reparation, rather than the prevention of crimes, almost every crime, even of the blackest kind, was commuted by a mulct or payment. Tacitus observes in allusion to this practice, that it was “a temper wholesome to the commonwealth, that homicide and lighter transgressions were settled by the payment of horses or cattle, part to the king or community, part to him or his friends who had been wronged.” The law of Scotland long recognised this system of compensation. The fine was termed, under the Brehon law, eric, which not only signifies a reparation, but also a fine, a ransom, a forfeit. Among the Albanian Scots it was called cro, a term preserved in the Regiam Majestatem, which has a whole chapter showing “the cro of ilk man, how mikil it is.”[105] This law of reparation, according to O’Connor, was first promulgated in Ireland, in the year 164.[106] According to the Regiam Majestatem, the cro of a villain was sixteen cows; of an earl’s son or thane, one hundred; of an earl, one hundred and forty; and that of the king of Scots, one thousand cows, or three thousand oras, that is to say, three oras for every cow.

Besides a share of the fines imposed, the Brehon or judge obtained a piece of arable land for his support. When he administered justice, he used to sit sometimes on the top of a hillock or heap of stones, sometimes on turf, and sometimes even on the middle of a bridge, surrounded by the suitors, who, of course, pleaded their own cause. We have already seen that, under the system of the Druids, the offices of religion, the instruction of youth, and the administration of the laws, were conducted in the open air; and hence the prevalence of the practice alluded to. But this practice was not peculiar to the Druids; for all nations, in the early stages of society, have followed a similar custom. The Tings of the Scandinavians, which consisted of circular enclosures of stone, without any covering, and within which both the judicial and legislative powers were exercised, afford a striking instance of this. According to Pliny,[107] even the Roman Senate first met in the open air, and the sittings of the Court of the Areopagus, at Athens, were so held. The present custom of holding courts of justice in halls is not of very remote antiquity in Scotland, and among the Scoto-Irish, the baron bailie long continued to dispense justice to the baron’s vassals from a moothill or eminence, which was generally on the bank of a river, and near to a religious edifice.

Of the various customs and peculiarities which distinguished the ancient Irish, as well as the Scoto-Irish, none has given rise to greater speculation than that of fosterage; which consisted in the mutual exchange, by different families, of their children for the purpose of being nursed and bred. Even the son of the chief was so entrusted during pupilarity with an inferior member of the clan. An adequate reward was either given or accepted in every case, and the lower orders, to whom the trust was committed, regarded it as an honour rather than a service. “Five hundred kyne and better,” says Campion, “were sometimes given by the Irish to procure the nursing of a great man’s child.” A firm and indissoluble attachment always took place among foster-brothers, and it continues in consequence to be a saying among Highlanders, that “affectionate to a man is a friend, but a foster-brother is as the life-blood of his heart.” Camden observes, that no love in the world is comparable by many degrees to that of foster-brethren in Ireland.[108] The close connexion which the practice of fosterage created between families, while it frequently prevented civil feuds, often led to them. But the strong attachment thus created was not confined to foster-brothers, it also extended to their parents. Spenser relates of the foster-mother to Murrough O’Brien, that, at his execution, she sucked the blood from his head, and bathed her face and breast with it, saying that it was too precious to fall to the earth.

It is unnecessary, at this stage of our labours, to enter upon the subject of clanship; we mean to reserve our observations thereon till we come to the history of the clans, when we shall also notice some peculiarities or traits of the Highlanders not hitherto mentioned. We shall conclude this chapter by giving lists of the Pictish and Scoto-Irish Kings, which are generally regarded as authentic. A great many other names are given by the ancient chroniclers previous to the points at which the following lists commence, but as these are considered as totally untrustworthy, we shall omit them.

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PICTISH KINGS, CHIEFLY ACCORDING TO THE PICTISH CHRONICLE.

Series. | NAMES AND FILIATIONS. | Date of Accession. | Duration of Reigns. | Date of Death.
1 | Drust, the son of Erp, | | | 451
2 | Talorc, the son of Aniel, | 451 | 4 years. | 455
3 | Necton Morbet, the son of Erp, | 455 | 25 | 480
4 | Drest Gurthinmoch, | 480 | 30 | 510
5 | Galanau Etelich, or Galanan Erelech, | 510 | 12 | 522
6 | Dadrest, | 522 | 1 | 523
7 | Drest, the son of Girom, | 523 | 1 | 524
| Drest, the son of Wdrest, with the former, | 524 | 5 | 529
| Drest, the son of Girom, alone, | 529 | 5 | 534
8 | Gartnach, the son of Girom, | 534 | 7 | 541
9 | Gealtraim, or Cailtraim, the son of Girom, | 541 | 1 | 542
10 | Talorg, the son of Muircholaich, | 542 | 11 | 553
11 | Drest, the son of Munait, | 553 | 1 | 554
12 | Galam, with Aleph, | 554 | 1 | 555
| Galam, with Bridei, | 555 | 1 | 556
13 | Bridei, the son of Mailcon, | 556 | 30 | 586
14 | Gartnaich, the son of Domelch, or Donald, | 586 | 11 | 597
15 | Nectu, or Nechtan, the nephew of Verb, | 597 | 20 | 617
16 | Cineoch, or Kenneth, the son of Luthrin, | 617 | 19 | 636
17 | Garnard, the son of Wid, | 636 | 4 | 640
18 | Bridei, the son of Wid, | 640 | 5 | 645
19 | Talorc, their brother, | 645 | 12 | 657
20 | Tallorcan, the son of Enfret, | 657 | 4 | 661
21 | Gartnait, the son of Donnel, | 661 | 6½ | 667
22 | Drest, his brother, | 667 | 7 | 674
23 | Bridei, the son of Bili, | 674 | 21 | 695
24 | Taran, the son of Entifidich, | 695 | 4 | 699
25 | Bridei, the son of Dereli, | 699 | 11 | 710
26 | Nechton, the son of Dereli, | 710 | 15 | 725
27 | Drest, and Elpin, | 725 | 5 | 730
28 | Ungus, or Onnust, the son of Urguist, | 730 | 31 | 761
29 | Bridei, the son of Wirguist, | 761 | 2 | 763
30 | Cinioch, or Kenneth, the son of Wredech, | 763 | 12 | 775
31 | Elpin, the son of Wroid, | 775 | 3½ | 779
32 | Drest, the son of Talorgan, | 779 | 5 | 784
33 | Talorgan, the son of Ungus or Angus, | 784 | 2½ | 786
34 | Canaul, the son of Tarla, | 786 | 5 | 791
35 | Constantine, the son of Urguist, | 791 | 30 | 821
36 | Ungus, the son of Urguist, | 821 | 12 | 833
37 | Drest, the son of Constantine, and Talorgan, the son of Wthoil, | 833 | 3 | 836
38 | Uuen, or Uven, the son of Ungus, | 836 | 3 | 839
39 | Wrad, the son of Bargoit, | 839 | 3 | 842
40 | Bred, or Briudi, | 842 | 1 | 843

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTO-IRISH KINGS, FROM THE YEAR 503 TO 843.

Series. | NAMES AND FILIATIONS. | Date of Accession. | Duration of Reigns. | Date of Death.
| | A. D. | Years. | A. D.
1 | Fergus, the son of Erc, | 503 | 3 | 506
2 | Domangart, the son of Fergus, | 506 | 5 | 511
3 | Comgal, the son of Domangart, | 511 | 24 | 535
4 | Gavran, the son of Domangart, | 535 | 22 | 557
5 | Conal, the son of Comgal, | 557 | 14 | 571
6 | Aidan, the son of Gavran, | 571 | 34 | 605
7 | Eoacha’-Bui, the son of Aidan, | 605 | 16 | 621
8 | Kenneth-Cear, the son of Eoacha’-Bui, | 621 | ¼ | 621
9 | Ferchar, the son of Eogan, the first of the race of Lorn, | 621 | 16 | 637
10 | Donal-Breac, the son of Eoacha’-Bui, | 637 | 5 | 642
11 | Conal II., the grandson of Conal I. | 642 | 10 | 652
12 | Dungal reigned some years with Conal, | ... | ... | ...
13 | Donal-Duin, the son of Conal, | 652 | 13 | 665
14 | Maol-Duin, the son of Conal, | 665 | 16 | 681
15 | Ferchar-Fada, the grandson of Ferchar I., | 681 | 21 | 702
16 | Eoacha’-Rinevel, the son of Domangart, and the grandson of Donal-breac, | 702 | 3 | 705
17 | Ainbhcealach, the son of Ferchar-fada, | 705 | 1 | 706
18 | Selvach, the son of Ferchar-fada, reigned over Lorn from 706 to 729, | ... | ... | ...
19 | Duncha Beg reigned over Cantyre and Argaill till 720, | 706 | 27 | 733
20 | Eocha’ III., the son of Eoacha’-rinevel, over Cantyre and Argaill, from 720 to 729; and also over Lorn from 729 to 733, | ... | ... | ...
21 | Muredach, the son of Ainbhcealach, | 733 | 3 | 736
22 | Eogan, the son of Muredach, | 736 | 3 | 739
23 | Aodh-Fin, the son of Eoacha’ III., | 739 | 30 | 769
24 | Fergus, the son of Aodh-fin, | 769 | 3 | 772
25 | Selvach II., the son of Eogan, | 772 | 24 | 796
26 | Eoacha’-Annuine IV., the son of Aodh-fin, | 796 | 30 | 826
27 | Dungal, the son of Selvach II., | 826 | 7 | 833
28 | Alpin, the son of Eoacha’-Annuine IV., | 833 | 3 | 836
29 | Kenneth, the son of Alpin, | 836 | 7 | 843

It is right to mention that the Albanic Duan omits the names between Ainbhcealach and Dungal (17–27), most of which, however, are contained in the St. Andrews’ list.

FOOTNOTES:

[79] See Innes’s Essay, vol. i.

[80] This is the date commonly given, although Mr. E. W. Robertson makes it 502 on the authority of Tighernach, while O’Donovan (Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 160) makes it 506.

[81] Vol. i. p. 212.

[82] Early Kings, vol. i. p. 5.

[83] Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 305.

[84] At this time, and up at least to the 11th century, present Scotland was known as Albania, Alban, or Alba, the term Scotland or Scotia being generally applied to Ireland, unless where there is some qualifying term, as Nova. Burton thinks it not safe to consider that the word Scot must mean a native of present Scotland, when the period dealt with is earlier than the middle of the 12th century.

[85] Skene in his Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. cx., makes the date to be about 495 or 498.

[86] Skene’s Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. cxiii.

[87] More recently the invaluable labours of E. W. Robertson, Burton, Forbes-Leslie, Joseph Robertson, Grub, Skene, and Maclauchlan, have been the means of putting the history of this period on its proper footing.

[88] Vol. i. ch. vi.

[89] Dr. Maclauchlan’s Early Scottish Church, pp. 32, 33.

[90] Druid is said to be derived from a word meaning ‘oak,’ common to many of the Indo-European tongues.

[91] Eccles. Hist., vol. i. p. 49.

[92] Grub’s Ecc. Hist., vol. i. p. 51.

[93] Book of Deer, Preface. Further details concerning the early Scottish church will be given at the end of this volume.

[94] There is some confusion here; Dr. Maclauchlan places this conflict in the reign of Brude son of Derile, who, according to our list, did not succeed till 699.

[95] Book V. c. 24.

[96] See the Ulster Annals, where an account is given of all these conflicts.

[97] Highlanders, vol. i. p. 65.

[98] Early Kings, vol. i. p. 39.

[99] Skene’s Chron. of Picts and Scots, p. cxv.

[100] Dr. Reeves supposes this to be Culross in Perthshire.—Maclauchlan.

[101] Dr. Skene, in his preface to the Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, endeavours to prove, by very plausible reasoning, and by comparison of various lists of kings, that for a century previous to the accession of Kenneth to the Pictish throne, Dalriada was under subjection to the Anglian monarchy, and was ruled by Pictish sovereigns. In an able paper, however, read recently by Dr. Archibald Smith before the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, he shows that Argyleshire was invaded but not subdued by Ungus, king of the Picts, in 736 and 741. Dr. Smith supported his conclusion by reference to passages in the annals of Tigernach, of Ulster, and the Albanic Duan, which seemed to him to give an intelligible and continuous account of regal succession in Dalriada, but afforded no countenance to the theory of Pinkerton of the entire conquest of the Scots in Britain by Ungus, nor to the conclusion Dr. Skene has come to, viz., the complete supremacy of the Picts in the Scottish Dalriada, and the extinction of Dalriada as a Scottish nation from the year 741 to the era of a new Scottish kingdom founded by Kenneth Macalpin in the year 843. On the contrary, he was convinced that Aodh-fionn was the restorer of its full liberty to the crushed section of Lorn, and that he was, at the close of his career, the independent ruler of Dalriada as a Scottish nation.

[102] Scotland, vol. i. p. 329.

[103] See Skene’s preface to Chronicle of Picts and Scots, p. xcviii. et seq., for some curious and ingenious speculation on this point.

[104] We shall take the liberty of quoting here an extract from an able and ingenious paper read by Dr. Skene before the Soc. of Ant., in June 1861, and quoted in Dr. Gordon’s Scotichronicon, p. 83. It will help, we think, to throw a little light on this dark subject, and assist the reader somewhat to understand the nature and extent of the so-called Scottish conquest. “The next legend which bears upon the history of St. Andrews is that of St. Adrian, at 4th March. The best edition of this legend is in the Aberdeen Breviary, and it is as follows:—Adrian was a native of Hungary, and after preaching there for some time, was seized with a desire to preach to other people; and having gathered together a company, he set out ‘ad orientales Scotiæ partes que tunc a Pictis occupabantur,’ i.e., ‘to the eastern parts of Scotland, which were then occupied by the Picts,’—and landed there with 6,606 confessors, clergy, and people, among whom were Glodianus, Gayus, Minanus, Scobrandus, and others, chief priests. These men, with their bishop, Adrian, ‘deleto regno Pictorum,’ i.e., ‘the Pictish kingdom being destroyed,’—did many signs, but afterwards desired to have a residence on the Isle of May. The Danes, who then devastated the whole of Britain, came to the Island, and there slew them. Their martyrdom is said to have taken place in the year 875. It will be observed that they are here said to have settled in the east part of Scotland, opposite the Isle of May, that is in Fife, while the Picts still occupied it; that the Pictish kingdom is then said to have been destroyed; and that their martyrdom took place in 875, thirty years after the Scottish conquest under Kenneth M’Alpin. Their arrival was therefore almost coincident with the Scottish conquest; and the large number said to have come, not the modest twenty-one who arrived with Regulus, but 6,606 confessors, clergy, and people, shows that the traditionary history was really one of an invasion, and leads to the suspicion at once that it was in reality a part of the Scottish occupation of the Pictish kingdom. This suspicion is much strengthened by two corroborative circumstances: 1st, the year 875, when they are said to have been slain by the Danes, falls in the reign of Constantine, the son of Kenneth Macalpin, in his fourteenth year, and in this year the Pictish chronicle records a battle between the Danes and the Scots, and adds, that after it, ‘occasi sunt Scotti in Coachcochlum,’ which seems to refer to this very slaughter. 2d. Hector Boëce preserves a different tradition regarding their origin. He says—‘Non desunt qui scribant sanctissimos Christi martyros Hungaros fuisse. Alii ex Scotis Anglisque gregarie collectos’—i.e., ‘Some write that the most holy martyrs of Christ were Hungarians. Others (say) that they were collected from the Scots and English.’ There was therefore a tradition that the clergy slain were not Hungarians, but a body composed of Scotti and Angli. But Hadrian was a bishop; he landed in the east of Fife, within the parochia of S. Regulus, and he is placed at the head of some of the lists of bishops of St. Andrews as first bishop. It was therefore the Church of St. Andrews that then consisted of clergy collected from among the Scotti and the Angli. The Angli probably represented the Church of Acca, and the Scotti those brought in by Adrian. The real signification of this occupation of St. Andrews by Scottish clergy will be apparent when we recollect that the Columban clergy, who had formerly possessed the chief ecclesiastical seats among the Picts, had been expelled in 717, and Anglic clergy introduced—the cause of quarrel being the difference of their usages. Now, the Pictish chronicle states as the main cause of the overthrow of the Pictish kingdom, a century and a half later, this very cause. It says—‘Deus enim eos pro merito suæ malitiæ alienos ac otiosos hæreditate dignatus est facere, quia illi non solum Deum, missam, ac præceptum spreverunt sed et in jure æqualitatis aliis aequi pariter noluerunt.’ I.e., ‘For God, on account of their wickedness, deemed them worthy to be made hereditary strangers and idlers; because they contemned not only God, the mass, and the precept (of the Church), but besides refused to be regarded as on the same equality with others.’ They were overthrown, not only because they despised ‘Deum missam et præceptum,’ but because they would not tolerate the other party. And this great grievance was removed, when St. Andrews appears at the head of the Scottish Church in a solemn Concordat with the king Constantine, when, as the Pictish Chronicle tells us, ‘Constantinus Rex et Cellachus Episcopus leges disciplinasque fidei atque jura ecclesiarum evangeliorum que pariter cum Scottis devoverunt custodiri.’ I.e., ‘King Constantine and Bishop Kellach vowed to preserve the laws and discipline of the faith and the rights of the churches and gospels, equally with the Scots.’ Observe the parallel language of the two passages. In the one, the ‘Picti in jure æqualitatis aliis,’ that is, the Scottish clergy, ‘aequi pariter noluerunt,’ and in the other the King and the Bishop of St. Andrews ‘vowed to preserve the laws and discipline of the faith,’ ‘pariter cum Scottis,’ the thing the Picts would not do. It seems plain, therefore, that the ecclesiastical element entered largely into the Scottish conquest; and a main cause and feature of it was a determination on the part of the Scottish clergy to recover the benefices they had been deprived of. The exact coincidence of this great clerical invasion of the parochia of St. Andrews by ecclesiastics, said by one tradition to have been Scots, and the subsequent position of St. Andrews as the head of the Scottish Church, points strongly to this as the true historic basis of the legend of S. Adrian.”

[105] Lib. ix. c. xxiv.

[106] O’Connor’s Dissert.

[107] Lib. viii. c. 45.

[108] Holland’s Camden, Ireland, p. 116.

CHAPTER IV.

A.D. 843–1107.

The Norse Invasions—Kenneth—Constantine—Aodh—Grig and Eocha—Donald IV.—Constantine III.—Danes—Battle of Brunanburg—Malcolm I.—Indulph—Duff—Culen—Kenneth III.—Battle of Luncarty—Malcolm II.—Danes—Duncan—Thorfinn, Jarl of Orkney—Macbeth—Battle with Siward—Lulach—Malcolm III. (Ceanmore)—Queen Margaret—Effect of Norwegian Conquest—Donal-bane—Edgar—Norsemen—Influx of Anglo-Saxons—Isolation of Highlands—Table of Kings.

For about two centuries after the union of the two kingdoms, the principal facts to be recorded are the extension of the Scottish dominion southwards beyond the Forth and Clyde, towards the present border, and northwards beyond Inverness, and the fierce contests that took place with the “hardy Norsemen” of Scandinavia and Denmark, who during this period continued not only to pour down upon the coasts and islands of Scotland, but to sway the destinies of the whole of Europe. During this time the history of the Highlands is still to a great extent the history of Scotland, and it was not till about the 12th century that the Highlanders became, strictly speaking, a peculiar people, confined to the territory whose boundaries were indicated in the first chapter, having for their neighbours on the east and south a population of undoubtedly Teutonic origin. The Norse invasions not only kept Scotland in continual commotion at the time, but must have exercised an important influence on its whole history, and contributed a new and vigorous element to its population. These Vikingr, about the end of the 9th century, became so powerful as to be able to establish a separate and independent kingdom in Orkney and the Western Islands, which proved formidable not only to the king of Scotland, but also to the powerful king of Norway. “It is difficult to give them distinctness without risk of error, and it is even hard to decide how far the mark left by these visitors is, on the one hand, the brand of the devastating conqueror; or, on the other hand, the planting among the people then inhabiting Scotland of a high-conditioned race—a race uniting freedom and honesty in spirit with a strong and healthy physical organization. It was in the north that the inroad preserved its most distinctive character, probably from its weight, as most completely overwhelming the original population, whatever they might be; and though, in the histories, the king of Scots appears to rule the northern end of Britain, the territory beyond Inverness and Fort-William had aggregated in some way round a local magnate, who afterwards appears as a Maormor. He was not a viceroy of the king of Norway: and if he was in any way at the order of the King of Scotland, he was not an obedient subordinate.”[109]

Up to the time of Macbeda or Macbeth, the principle of hereditary succession to the throne, from father to son, appears not to have been recognised; the only principle, except force, which seems to have been acted upon being that of collateral succession, brother succeeding to brother, and nephew to uncle. After the time of Macbeth, however, the hereditary principle appears to have come into full force, to have been recognised as that by which alone succession to the throne was to be regulated.

The consolidation of the Scottish and Pictish power under one supreme chief, enabled these nations not only to repel foreign aggression, but afterwards to enlarge their territories beyond the Forth, which had hitherto formed, for many ages, the Pictish boundary on the south.

Although the power of the tribes to the north of the Forth was greatly augmented by the union which had taken place, yet all the genius and warlike energy of Kenneth were necessary to protect him and his people from insult. Ragnor Lodbrog (i.e., Ragnor of the Shaggy Bones,) with his fierce Danes infested the country round the Tay on the one side, and the Strathclyde Britons on the other, wasted the adjoining territories, and burnt Dunblane. Yet Kenneth overcame these embarrassments, and made frequent incursions into the Saxon territories in Lothian, and caused his foes to tremble. After a brilliant and successful reign, Kenneth died at Forteviot, the Pictish capital, 7 miles S.W. of Perth, on the 6th of February, 859, after a reign of twenty-three years. Kenneth, it is said, removed the famous stone which now sustains the coronation chair at Westminster Abbey, from the ancient seat of the Scottish monarchy in Argyle, to Scone. Kenneth (but according to some Constantine, the Pictish king, in 820), built a church at Dunkeld, to which, in 850, he removed the relics of St. Columba from Iona, which at this time was frequently subjected to the ravages of the Norsemen. He is celebrated also as a legislator, but no authentic traces of his laws now appear, the Macalpine laws attributed to the son of Alpin being clearly apocryphal.

The sceptre was assumed by Donald III., son of Alpin. He died in the year 863, after a short reign of four years. It is said he restored the laws of Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha III. They were probably similar to the ancient Brehon laws of Ireland.

Constantine, the son of Kenneth, succeeded his uncle Donald, and soon found himself involved in a dreadful conflict with the Danish pirates. Having, after a contest which lasted half a century, established themselves in Ireland, and obtained secure possession of Dublin, the Vikingr directed their views towards the western coasts of Scotland, which they laid waste. These ravages were afterwards extended to the whole of the eastern coast, and particularly to the shores of the Frith of Forth; but although the invaders were often repulsed, they never ceased to renew their attacks. In the year 881, Constantine, in repelling an attack of the pirates, was slain at a place called Merdo-fatha, or Werdo, probably the present Perth, according to Maclauchlan.

Aodh or Hugh, the fair-haired, succeeded his brother Constantine. His reign was unfortunate, short, and troublesome. Grig, who was Maormor, or chief, of the country between the Dee and the Spey, having become a competitor for the crown, Aodh endeavoured to put him down, but did not succeed; and having been wounded in a battle fought at Strathallan, (or possibly Strathdon,) he was carried to Inverurie, where he died, after lingering two months, having held the sceptre only one year.

Grig now assumed the crown, and, either to secure his possession, or from some other motive, he associated with him in the government Eocha, son of Ku, the British king of Strathclyde, and the grandson, by a daughter, of Kenneth Macalpin. After a reign of eleven years, both Eocha and Grig were forced to abdicate, and gave way to Donald IV., who succeeded them in 893.

During his reign the kingdom was infested by the piratical incursions of the Danes. Although they were defeated by Donald in a bloody action at Collin, said to be on the Tay, near Scone, they returned under Ivar O’Ivar, from Ireland, in the year 904, but were gallantly repulsed, and their leader killed in a threatened attack on Forteviot, by Donald, who unfortunately also perished, after a reign of eleven years. In his reign the kings of present Scotland are no longer called reges Pictorum by the Irish Annalists, but Ri Alban, or kings of Alban; and in the Pictish Chronicle Pictavia gives place to Albania.

Constantine III., the son of Aodh, a prince of a warlike and enterprising character, next followed. He had to sustain, during an unusually long reign, the repeated attacks of the Danes. In one invasion they plundered Dunkeld, and in 908, they attempted to obtain the grand object of their designs, the possession of Forteviot in Strathearn, the Pictish capital; but in this design they were again defeated, and forced to abandon the country. The Danes remained quiet for a few years, but in 918 their fleet entered the Clyde, from Ireland, under the command of Reginald, where they were attacked by the Scots in conjunction with the Northern Saxons, whom the ties of common safety had now united for mutual defence. Reginald is said to have drawn up his Danes in four divisions; the first headed by Godfrey O’Ivar; the second by Earls; the third by Chieftains; and the fourth by Reginald himself, as a reserve. The Scots, with Constantine at their head, made a furious attack on the first three divisions, which they forced to retire. Reginald’s reserve not being available to turn the scale of victory against the Scots, the Danes retreated during the night, and embarked on board their fleet.

After this defeat of the Danes, Constantine enjoyed many years’ repose. A long grudge had existed between him and Æthelstane, son of Edward, the elder, which at last came to an open rupture. Having formed an alliance with several princes, and particularly with Anlof, king of Dublin as well as of Northumberland, and son-in-law of Constantine, the latter collected a large fleet in the year 937, with which he entered the Humber. The hope of plunder had attracted many of the Vikingr to Constantine’s standard, and the sceptre of Æthelstane seemed now to tremble in his hand. But that monarch was fully prepared for the dangers with which he was threatened, and resolved to meet his enemies in battle. After a long, bloody, and obstinate contest at Brunanburg, near the southern shore of the Humber, victory declared for Æthelstane. Prodigies of valour were displayed on both sides, especially by Turketel, the Chancellor of England; by Anlof, and by the son of Constantine, who lost his life. The confederates, after sustaining a heavy loss, sought for safety in their ships. This, and after misfortunes, possibly disgusted Constantine with the vanities of this world, for, in the fortieth year of his reign, he put into practice a resolution which he had formed of resigning his crown and embracing a monastic life. He became Abbot of the Monastery of St. Andrews in 943, and thus ended a long and chequered, but vigorous, and, on the whole, successful reign in a cloister, like Charles V. Towards the end of this reign the term Scotland was applied to this kingdom by the Saxons, a term which before had been given by them to Ireland. Constantine died in 952.

Malcolm I., the son of Donald IV., obtained the abdicated throne. He was a prince of great abilities and prudence, and Edmund of England courted his alliance by ceding Cumbria, then consisting of Cumberland and part of Westmoreland, to him, in the year 945, on condition that he would defend that northern county, and become the ally of Edmund. Edred, the brother and successor of Edmund, accordingly applied for, and obtained the aid of Malcolm against Anlaf, king of Northumberland, whose country, according to the barbarous practice of the times, he wasted, and carried off the people with their cattle. Malcolm, after putting down an insurrection of the Moray-men under Cellach, their Maormor, or chief, whom he slew, was sometime thereafter slain, as is supposed, at Ulurn or Auldearn in Moray, by one of these men, in revenge for the death of his chief.

Indulph, the son of Constantine III., succeeded the murdered monarch in the year 953. He sustained many severe conflicts with the Danes, and ultimately lost his life in 961, after a reign of eight years, in a successful action with these pirates, on the moor which lies to the westward of Cullen.

Duff, the son of Malcolm I., now mounted the throne; but Culen, the son of Indulf, laid claim to the sceptre which his father had wielded. The parties met at Drum Crup (probably Crieff), and, after a doubtful struggle, in which Doncha, the Abbot of Dunkeld, and Dubdou, the Maormor of Athole, the partisans of Culen, lost their lives, victory declared for Duff. But this triumph was of short duration, for Duff was afterwards obliged to retreat from Forteviot into the north, and was assassinated at Forres in the year 965, after a brief and unhappy reign of four years and a half.

Culen, the son of Indulf, succeeded, as a matter of course, to the crown of Duff, which he stained by his vices. He and his brother Eocha were slain in Lothian, in an action with the Britons of Strathclyde in 970, after an inglorious reign of four years and a half. During his reign Edinburgh was captured from the English, this being the first known step in the progress of the gradual extension of the Scottish kingdom between the Forth and the Tweed.[110]

Kenneth III., son of Malcolm I., and brother of Duff, succeeded Culen the same year. He waged a successful war against the Britons of Strathclyde, and annexed their territories to his kingdom. During his reign the Danes meditated an attack upon Forteviot, or Dunkeld, for the purposes of plunder, and, with this view, they sailed up the Tay with a numerous fleet. Kenneth does not appear to have been fully prepared, being probably not aware of the intentions of the enemy; but collecting as many of his chiefs and their followers as the spur of the occasion would allow, he met the Danes at Luncarty, in the vicinity of Perth. Malcolm, the Tanist, prince of Cumberland, it is said, commanded the right wing of the Scottish army; Duncan, the Maormor of Athole, had the charge of the left: and Kenneth, the king, commanded the centre. The Danes with their battle-axes made dreadful havoc, and compelled the Scottish army to give way; but the latter was rallied by the famous Hay, the traditional ancestor of the Kinnoul family, and finally repulsed the Danes, who, as usual, fled to their ships. Burton thinks the battle of Luncarty “a recent invention.”

The defeat of the Danes enabled Kenneth to turn his attention to the domestic concerns of his kingdom. He appears to have directed his thoughts to bring about a complete change in the mode of succession to the crown, in order to perpetuate in and confine the crown to his own descendants. This alteration could not be well accomplished as long as Malcolm, the son of Duff, the Tanist of the kingdom, and prince of Cumberland, stood in the way; and, accordingly, it has been said that Kenneth was the cause of the untimely death of prince Malcolm, who is stated to have been poisoned. It is said that Kenneth got an act passed, that in future the son, or nearest male heir, of the king, should always succeed to the throne; and that in case that son or heir were not of age at the time of the king’s demise, that a person of rank should be chosen Regent of the kingdom, until the minor attained his fourteenth year, when he should assume the reins of government; but whether such a law was really passed on the moot-hill of Scone or not, of which we have no evidence, certain it is that two other princes succeeded to the crown before Malcolm the son of Kenneth. Kenneth, after a reign of twenty-four years, was, it is said, in 994 assassinated at Fettercairn by Finella,[111] the wife of the Maormor of the Mearns, and the daughter of Cunechat, the Maormor of Angus, in revenge for having put her only son to death. It has been thought that till this time the Maormorship of Angus was in some measure independent of the Scottish crown, never having thoroughly yielded to its supremacy, that the death of the young chief took place in course of an effort on the part of Kenneth for its reduction, and that Kenneth himself was on a visit to the quarter at the time of his death, for exacting the usual royal privileges of cain and cuairt, or a certain tax and certain provision for the king and his followers when on a journey, due by the chiefs or landholders of the kingdom.[112]

Constantine IV., son of Culen, succeeded; but his right was disputed by Kenneth, the Grim, i.e. strong, son of Duff. The dispute was decided at Rathveramon, i.e. the castle at the mouth of the Almond, near Perth, where Constantine lost his life in the year 995.

Kenneth IV., the son of Duff, now obtained the sceptre which he had coveted; but he was disturbed in the possession thereof by Malcolm, the son of Kenneth III., heir presumptive to the crown. Malcolm took the field in 1003, and decided his claim to the crown in a bloody battle at Monivaird, in Strathearn, in which Kenneth, after a noble resistance, received a mortal wound.

Malcolm II. now ascended the vacant throne, but was not destined to enjoy repose. At the very beginning of his reign he was defeated at Durham by the army of the Earl of Northumberland, under his son Uchtred, who ordered a selection of good-looking Scotch heads to be stuck on the walls of Durham.

The Danes, who had now obtained a firm footing in England, directed their attention in an especial manner to Scotland, which they were in hopes of subduing. Sigurd, the Earl of Orkney, carried on a harassing and predatory warfare on the shores of the Moray Frith, which he continued even after a matrimonial alliance he formed with Malcolm, by marrying his daughter; but this was no singular trait in the character of a Vikingr, who plundered friends and foes with equal pleasure. The scene of Sigurd’s operations was chosen by his brother northmen for making a descent, which they effected near Speymouth. They carried fire and sword through Moray, and laid siege to the fortress of Nairn, one of the strongest in the north. The Danes were forced to raise the siege for a time, by Malcolm, who encamped his army in a plain near Kilflos or Kinloss. In this position he was attacked by the invaders, and, after a severe action, was forced to retreat, after being seriously wounded.

Malcolm, in 1010, marched north with his army, and encamped at Mortlach. The Danes advanced to meet the Scots, and a dreadful and fierce conflict ensued, the result of which was long dubious. At length the northmen gave way and victory declared for Malcolm. Had the Danes succeeded they would in all probability have obtained as permanent a footing in North Britain as they did in England; but the Scottish kings were determined, at all hazards, never to suffer them to pollute the soil of Scotland by allowing them even the smallest settlement in their dominions. In gratitude to God for his victory, Malcolm endowed a religious house at Mortlach, with its church erected near the scene of action. Maclauchlan, however, maintains that this church was planted by Malcolm Ceanmore.

Many other conflicts are narrated with minute detail by the later chroniclers as having taken place between Malcolm and the Danes, but it is very doubtful how far these are worthy of credit. That Malcolm had enough to do to prevent the Danes from overrunning Scotland and subduing the inhabitants can readily be believed; but as we have few authentic particulars concerning the conflicts which took place, it would serve no purpose to give the imaginary details invented by comparatively recent historians.

Some time after this Malcolm was engaged in a war with the Northumbrians, and, having led his army, in 1018, to Carham, near Werk, on the southern bank of the Tweed, where he was met by Uchtred, the Earl of Northumberland, a desperate battle took place, which was contested with great valour on both sides.[113] The success was doubtful on either side, though Uchtred claimed a victory; but he did not long enjoy the fruits of it, as he was soon thereafter assassinated when on his road to pay obeisance to the great Canute. Endulf, the brother and successor of Uchtred, justly dreading the power of the Scots, was induced to cede Lothian to Malcolm for ever, who, on this occasion, gave oblations to the churches and gifts to the clergy, and they in return transmitted his name to posterity. He was designed, par excellence, by the Latin chroniclers, rex victoriosissimus; by St. Berchan, the Forranach or destroyer.

The last struggle with which Malcolm was threatened, was with the celebrated Canute, who, for some cause or other not properly explained, entered Scotland in the year 1031; but these powerful parties appear not to have come to action. Canute’s expedition appears, from what followed, to have been fitted out to compel Malcolm to do homage for Cumberland, for it is certain that Malcolm engaged to fulfil the conditions on which his predecessors had held that country, and that Canute thereafter returned to England.

But the reign of Malcolm was not only distinguished by foreign wars, but by civil contests between rival chiefs. Finlegh, the Maormor of Ross, and the father of Macbeth, was assassinated in 1020, and about twelve years thereafter, Maolbride, the Maormor of Moray, grandfather of Lulach, was, in revenge for Finlegh’s murder, burnt within his castle, with fifty of his men.

At length, after a splendid reign of thirty years, Malcolm slept with his fathers, and his body was transferred to Iona, and interred with due solemnity among the remains of his predecessors. By some authorities he is said to have been assassinated at Glammis.

Malcolm was undoubtedly a prince of great acquirements. He made many changes and some improvements in the internal policy of his kingdom, and in him religion always found a guardian and protector. But although Malcolm is justly entitled to this praise, he by no means came up to the standard of perfection assigned him by fiction. In his reign Scotland appears to have reached its present boundary on the south, the Tweed, and Strathclyde was incorporated with the rest of the kingdom. Malcolm was the first who was called Rex Scotiæ, and might justly claim to be so designated, seeing that he was the first to hold sway over nearly the whole of present Scotland,—the only portions where his authority appears to have been seriously disputed being those in which the Danes had established themselves.

Duncan, son of Bethoc or Beatrice, daughter of Malcolm II., succeeded his grandfather in the year 1033. “In the extreme north, dominions more extensive than any Jarl of the Orkneys had hitherto acquired, were united under the rule of Thorfinn, Sigurd’s son, whose character and appearance have been thus described:—‘He was stout and strong, but very ugly, severe and cruel, but a very clever man.’ The extensive districts then dependant upon the Moray Maormors were in the possession of the celebrated Macbeth.”[114] Duncan, in 1033, desiring to extend his dominions southwards, attacked Durham, but was forced to retire with considerable loss. His principal struggles, however, were with his powerful kinsman, Thorfinn, whose success was so great that he extended his conquests as far as the Tay. “His men spread over the whole conquered country,” says the Orkneyinga Saga,[115] “and burnt every hamlet and farm, so that not a cot remained. Every man that they found they slew; but the old men and women fled to the deserts and woods, and filled the country with lamentation. Some were driven before the Norwegians and made slaves. After this Earl Thorfinn returned to his ships, subjugating the country everywhere in his progress.” Duncan’s last battle, in which he was defeated, was in the neighbourhood of Burghead, near the Moray Frith; and shortly after this, on the 14th August, 1040, he was assassinated in Bothgowanan,—which, in Gaelic, is said to mean “the smith’s hut,”—by his kinsman the Maormor Macbeda or Macbeth. Duncan had reigned only five years when he was assassinated by Macbeth, leaving two infant sons, Malcolm and Donal, by a sister of Siward, the Earl of Northumberland. The former fled to Cumberland, and the latter took refuge in the Hebrides, on the death of their father.

Macbeth, “snorting with the indigested fumes of the blood of his sovereign,” immediately seized the gory sceptre. As several fictions have been propagated concerning the history and genealogy of Macbeth, we may mention that, according to the most authentic authorities, he was by birth Thane of Ross, and by his marriage with the Lady Gruoch,—who had a claim to the throne, as granddaughter of Kenneth,—became also Thane of Moray, during the minority of Lulach, the infant son of that lady, by her former marriage with Gilcomgain, the Maormor or Thane of Moray. Lady Gruoch was the daughter of Boedhe, son of Kenneth IV.; and thus Macbeth united in his own person many powerful interests which enabled him to take quiet possession of the throne of the murdered sovereign. He, of course, found no difficulty in getting himself inaugurated at Scone, under the protection of the clans of Moray and Ross, and the aid of those who favoured the pretensions of the descendants of Kenneth IV.

Various attempts were made on the part of the partisans of Malcolm, son of Duncan, to dispossess Macbeth of the throne. The most formidable was that of Siward, the powerful Earl of Northumberland, and the relation of Malcolm, who, at the instigation or command of Edward the Confessor, led a numerous army into Scotland in the year 1054. They marched as far north as Dunsinnan, where they were met by Macbeth, who commanded his troops in person. A furious battle ensued, but Macbeth fled from the field after many displays of courage. The Scots lost 3,000 men, and the Saxons 1,500, including Osbert, the son of Siward. Macbeth retired to his fastnesses in the north, and Siward returned to Northumberland; but Malcolm continued the war till the death of Macbeth, who was slain by Macduff, Thane of Fife, in revenge for the cruelties he had inflicted on his family, at Lumphanan, in Aberdeenshire, in the year 1056, although, according to Skene (Chronicles), it was in August, 1057.

Macbeth was unquestionably a man of great vigour, and well fitted to govern in the age in which he lived; and had it not been for the indelible character bestowed upon him by Shakespere (who probably followed the chronicle of Holinshed), his character might have stood well with posterity. “The deeds which raised Macbeth and his wife to power were not in appearance much worse than others of their day done for similar ends. However he may have gained his power, he exercised it with good repute, according to the reports nearest to his time.”[116] Macbeth, “in a manner sacred to splendid infamy,” is the first king of Scotland whose name appears in the ecclesiastical records as a benefactor of the church, and, it would appear, the first who offered his services to the Bishop of Rome. According to the records of St. Andrews, he made a gift of certain lands to the monastery of Lochleven, and certainly sent money to the poor of Rome, if, indeed, he did not himself make a pilgrimage to the holy city.

After the reign of Macbeth, the former irregular and confusing mode of succession ceased, and the hereditary principle was adopted and acted upon.

Lulach, the great-grandson of Kenneth IV., being supported by the powerful influence of his own family, and that of the deceased monarch, ascended the throne at the age of twenty-five or twenty-six; but his reign lasted only a few months, he having fallen in battle at Essie, in Strathbogie, in defending his crown against Malcolm. The body of Lulach was interred along with that of Macbeth, in Iona, the common sepulchre, for many centuries, of the Scottish kings.

Malcolm III., better known in history by the name of Malcolm Ceanmore, or great head, vindicated his claim to the vacant throne, and was crowned at Scone, 25th April, 1057. His first care was to recompense those who had assisted him in obtaining the sovereignty, and it is said that he created new titles of honour, by substituting earls for thanes; but this has been disputed, and there are really no data from which a certain conclusion can be drawn.

In the year 1059 Malcolm paid a visit to Edward the Confessor, during whose reign he lived on amicable terms with the English; but after the death of that monarch he made a hostile incursion into Northumberland, and wasted the country. He even violated the peace of St. Cuthbert in Holy Island.

William, Duke of Normandy, having overcome Harold in the battle of Hastings, on the 14th October, 1066, Edgar Ætheling saw no hopes of obtaining the crown, and left England along with his mother and sisters, and sought refuge in Scotland. Malcolm, on hearing of the distress of the illustrious strangers, left his royal palace at Dunfermline to meet them, and invited them to Dunfermline, where they were hospitably entertained. Margaret, one of Edgar’s sisters, was a princess of great virtues and accomplishments; and she at once won the heart of Malcolm.

The offer of his hand was accepted, and their nuptials were celebrated with great solemnity and splendour. This queen was a blessing to the king and to the nation, and appears to have well merited the appellation of Saint. There are few females in history who can be compared with Queen Margaret.

It is quite unnecessary, and apart from the object of the present work, to enter into any details of the wars between Malcolm and William the Conqueror, and William Rufus. Suffice it to say that both Malcolm and his eldest son Edward were slain in a battle on the Alne, on the 13th November, 1093, after a reign of thirty-six years. Queen Margaret, who was on her death-bed when this catastrophe occurred, died shortly after she received the intelligence with great composure and resignation to the will of God. Malcolm had six sons, viz., Edward, who was killed along with his father, Edmund, Edgar, Ethelred, Alexander, and David, and two daughters, Maud, who was married to Henry I. of England, and Mary, who married Eustache, Count of Boulogne. Of the sons, Edgar, Alexander, and David, successively came to the crown.

Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, died in 1064, and his extensive possessions in Scotland did not revert to his descendants, but to the native chiefs, who had had the original right to possess them. These chiefs appear to have been independent of the Scottish sovereign, and to have caused him no small amount of trouble. A considerable part of Malcolm’s reign was spent in endeavouring to bring them into subjection, and before his death he had the satisfaction of seeing the whole of Scotland, with perhaps the exception of Orkney, acknowledging him as sole monarch. The Norwegian conquest appears to have effected a most important change in the character of the population and language of the eastern lowlands of the north of Scotland. The original population must in some way have given way to a Norwegian one, and, whatever may have been the original language, we find after this one of a decidedly Teutonic character prevailing in this district, probably introduced along with the Norse population. “In the more mountainous and Highland districts, however, we are warranted in concluding that the effect must have been very different, and that the possession of the country by the Norwegians for thirty years could have exercised as little permanent influence on the population itself, as we are assured by the Saga it did upon the race of their chiefs.

“Previously to this conquest the northern Gaelic race possessed the whole of the north of Scotland, from the western to the eastern sea, and the general change produced by the conquest must have been, that the Gael were for the first time confined within those limits which they have never since exceeded, and that the eastern districts became inhabited by that Gothic race, who have also ever since possessed them.”[117]

On the demise of Malcolm, Donal-bane his brother assumed the government; but Duncan, the son of Malcolm, who had lived many years in England, and held a high military rank under William Rufus, invaded Scotland with a large army of English and Normans, and forced Donal to retire for safety to the Hebrides. Duncan, whom some writers suppose to have been a bastard, and others a legitimate son of Malcolm by a former wife, enjoyed the crown only six months, having been assassinated by Maolpeder, the Maormor of the Mearns, at Menteith, at the instigation, it is believed, of Donal. Duncan left, by his wife Ethreda, daughter of Gospatrick, a son, William, sometimes surnamed Fitz-Duncan.

Donal-bane again seized the sceptre, but he survived Duncan only two years. Edgar Ætheling having assembled an army in England, entered Scotland, and made Donal prisoner in an action which took place in September 1097. He was imprisoned by orders of Edgar, and died at Roscobie in Forfarshire, after having been deprived of his eyesight, according to the usual practice of the age. The series of the pure Scoto-Irish kings may be said to have ended with Donal-bane.

Seal of Edgar.

The reign of Edgar, who appears to have been of a gentle and peaceful disposition, is almost devoid of incident, the principal events being the marriage of his sister Matilda to the English Henry, and the wasting and conquest of the Western Islands by Magnus Olaveson and his Norwegians. This last event had but little effect on Scotland proper, as these Islands at that time can hardly be said to have belonged to it. These Norsemen appear to have settled among and mixed with the native inhabitants, and thus to have formed a population, spoken of by the Irish Annalists under the name of Gallgael, “a horde of pirates, plundering on their own account, and under their own leaders, when they were not following the banner of any of the greater sea-kings, whose fleets were powerful enough to sweep the western seas, and exact tribute from the lesser island chieftains.”[118] Edgar died in 1107, and was succeeded by his brother Alexander, whom he enjoined to bestow upon his younger brother David the district of Cumbria.

We have now arrived at an era in our history, when the line of demarcation between the inhabitants of the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland begins to appear, and when, by the influx of a Gothic race into the former, the language of that part of North Britain is completely revolutionized, when a new dynasty or race of sovereigns ascends the throne, and when a great change takes places in the laws and constitution of the kingdom.

Although the Anglo-Saxon colonization of the Lowlands of Scotland does not come exactly within the design of the present work; yet, as forming an important feature in the history of the Lowlands of Scotland, as contradistinguished from the Highlands, a slight notice of it may not be uninteresting.

Shortly after the Roman abdication of North Britain in the year 446, which was soon succeeded by the final departure of the Romans from the British shores, the Saxons, a people of Gothic origin, established themselves upon the Tweed, and afterwards extended their settlements to the Frith of Forth, and to the banks of the Solway and the Clyde. About the beginning of the sixth century the Dalriads, as we have seen, landed in Kintyre and Argyle from the opposite coast of Ireland; and colonized these districts, whence, in the course of little more than two centuries, they overspread the Highlands and western islands, which their descendants have ever since continued to possess. Towards the end of the eighth century, a fresh colony of Scots from Ireland settled in Galloway among the Britons and Saxons, and having overspread the whole of that country, were afterwards joined by detachments of the Scots of Kintyre and Argyle, in connection with whom they peopled that peninsula. Besides these three races, who made permanent settlements in Scotland, the Scandinavians colonized the Orkney and Shetland islands, and also established themselves on the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland, and in the eastern part of the country north of the Frith of Tay.

But notwithstanding these early settlements of the Gothic race, the era of the Saxon colonization of the Lowlands of Scotland is, with more propriety, placed in the reign of Malcolm Ceanmore, who, by his marriage with a Saxon princess, and the protection he gave to the Anglo-Saxon fugitives who sought an asylum in his dominions from the persecutions of William the Conqueror and his Normans, laid the foundations of those great changes which took place in the reigns of his successors. Malcolm, in his warlike incursions into Northumberland and Durham, carried off immense numbers of young men and women, who were to be seen in the reign of David I. in almost every village and house in Scotland. The Gaelic population were quite averse to the settlement of these strangers among them, and it is said that the extravagant mode of living introduced by the Saxon followers of Queen Margaret, was one of the reasons which led to their expulsion from Scotland, in the reign of Donal-bane, who rendered himself popular with his people by this unfriendly act.

This expulsion was, however, soon rendered nugatory, for on the accession of Edgar, the first sovereign of the Scoto-Saxon dynasty, many distinguished Saxon families with their followers settled in Scotland, to the heads of which families the king made grants of land of considerable extent. Few of these foreigners appear to have come into Scotland during the reign of Alexander I., the brother and successor of Edgar; but vast numbers of Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Normans, and Flemings, established themselves in Scotland in the reign of David I. That prince had received his education at the court of Henry I., and had married Maud or Matilda, the only child of Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon, by Judith, niece to William the Conqueror on the mother’s side. This lady had many vassals, and when David came to the throne, in the year 1124, he was followed by a thousand Anglo-Normans, to whom he distributed lands, on which they and their followers settled. Many of the illustrious families in Scotland originated from this source.

Malcolm Ceanmore had, before his accession to the throne, resided for some time in England as a fugitive, under the protection of Edward the Confessor, where he acquired a knowledge of the Saxon language; which language, after his marriage with the princess Margaret, became that of the Scottish court. This circumstance made that language fashionable among the Scottish nobility, in consequence of which and of the Anglo-Saxon colonization under David I., the Gaelic language was altogether superseded in the Lowlands of Scotland in little more than two centuries after the death of Malcolm. A topographical line of demarcation was then fixed as the boundary between the two languages, which has ever since been kept up, and presents one of the most singular phenomena ever observed in the history of philology.

The change of the seat of government by Kenneth, on ascending the Pictish throne, to Abernethy, also followed by the removal of the marble chair, the emblem of sovereignty, from Dunstaffnage to Scone, appears to have occasioned no detriment to the Gaelic population of the Highlands; but when Malcolm Ceanmore transferred his court, about the year 1066, to Dunfermline,—which also became, in place of Iona, the sepulchre of the Scottish kings,—the rays of royal bounty, which had hitherto diffused their protecting and benign influence over the inhabitants of the Highlands, were withdrawn, and left them a prey to anarchy and poverty. “The people,” says General David Stewart, “now beyond the reach of the laws, became turbulent and fierce, revenging in person those wrongs for which the administrators of the laws were too distant and too feeble to afford redress. Thence arose the institution of chiefs, who naturally became the judges and arbiters in the quarrels of their clansmen and followers, and who were surrounded by men devoted to the defence of their rights, their property, and their power; and accordingly the chiefs established within their own territories a jurisdiction almost wholly independent of their liege lord.”

The connection which Malcolm and his successors maintained with England, estranged still farther the Highlanders from the dominion of the sovereign and the laws; and their history, after the population of the Lowlands had merged into and adopted the language of the Anglo-Saxons, presents, with the exception of the wars between rival clans which will be noticed afterwards, nothing remarkable till their first appearance on the military theatre of our national history in the campaigns of Montrose, Dundee, and others.

On the accession of Alexander I., then, Scotland was divided between the Celt and the Saxon, or more strictly speaking, Teuton, pretty much as it is at the present day, the Gaelic population having become gradually confined very nearly to the limits indicated in the first chapter. They never appear, at least until quite recently, to have taken kindly to Teutonic customs and the Teutonic tongue, and resented much the defection of their king in court, in submitting to Saxon innovations. Previous to this the history of the Highlands has been, to a very great extent, the history of Scotland, and even for a considerable time after this, Scotia was applied strictly to the country north of the Forth and Clyde, the district south of that being known by various other names. During and after Edgar’s time, the whole of the country north of the Tweed became more and more a counterpart of England, with its thanes, its earls, and its sheriffs; and even the Highland maormors assumed the title of earl, in deference to the new customs. The Highlanders, however, it is well known, for centuries warred against these Saxon innovations, becoming more and more a peculiar people, being, up till the end of the last century, a perpetual thorn in the flesh of their Saxon rulers and their Saxon fellow-subjects. They have a history of their own, which we deem worthy of narration.[119]

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTTISH KINGS, FROM 843 TO 1097, ADJUSTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES.

NAMES OF THE KINGS. | Date of Accession. | Duration of Reign. | Death.
| A. D. | Years. | A. D.
Kenneth Macalpine over the Scots and Picts, | 843 | 16 | 859
Donal Macalpin, | 859 | 4 | 863
Constantine II., son of Kenneth, | 863 | 18 | 881
Aodh, or Hugh, the son of Kenneth, | 881 | 1 | 882
Eocha, or Achy, or Grig, jointly, | 882 | 11 | 893
Donal IV., the son of Constantine, | 893 | 11 | 904
Constantine III., the son of Aodh, | 904 | 40 | 944[120]
Malcolm I., son of Donal IV., | 944 | 9 | 953
Indulf, the son of Constantine III., | 953 | 8 | 961
Duf, the son of Malcolm I., | 961 | 4½ | 965
Culen, the son of Indulf, | 965 | 4½ | 970
Kenneth III., son of Malcolm I., | 970 | 24 | 994
Constantine IV., son of Culen, | 994 | 1½ | 995
Kenneth IV., son of Duf, | 995 | 8 | 1003
Malcolm II., son of Kenneth III., | 1003 | 30 | 1033
Duncan, grandson of Malcolm II., | 1033 | 6 | 1039
Macbeth, son of Finlegh, | 1039 | 17 | 1056
Lulach, son of Gruoch and Gilcomgain, | 1056 | ½ | 1057
Malcolm III., Ceanmore, son of Duncan, | 1057 | 36⅔ | 1093
Donald Bane, son of Duncan, | 1093 | ½ | 1094
Duncan II., son of Malcolm III., | 1094 | ½ | 1094
Donald Bane again, | 1094 | 3 | 1097
Edgar, son of Malcolm III., | 1097 | 9 | 1106

MACINTYRE.

FOOTNOTES:

[109] Burton’s Scotland, vol. i. p. 354.

[110] Robertson’s Early Kings, vol. i. p. 76.

[111] According to Skene, Finella is a corruption of Finuele or Finole Cunchar, Earl of Angus.—Skene’s Annals of the Picts and Scots, p. cxliv.

[112] Maclauchlan’s Early Scottish Church, p. 306. Robertson’s Scot. under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 88.

[113] The last we hear of any king or ruler of Strathclyde was one that fought on Malcolm’s side in this battle; and presently afterwards the attenuated state is found, without any conflict, absorbed in the Scots king’s dominions.—Burton, vol. i. p. 367.

[114] Robertson’s Early Kings, vol. i. p. 113.

[115] As quoted by Skene, Highlanders, vol. i. p. 112.

[116] Burton’s Scotland, vol. i. p. 372.

[117] Skene’s Highlanders, vol. i. p. 123.

[118] Early Kings, vol. i. p. 160.

[119] Since the above was written, the Book of Deer has been published; what further information is to be gained from it will be found at the end of this volume.

[120] Abdicated; died 952.

CHAPTER V.

A.D. 1107–1411.

KINGS OF SCOTLAND DURING THE PERIOD:—

Alexander I., 1107–1124. | Robert Bruce, 1306–1329.
David I., 1124–1153. | David II., 1329–1332.
Malcolm IV., 1153–1165. | Edward Baliol, 1332–1341.
William the Lion, 1165–1214. | David II. restored, 1341–1370.

Alexander II., 1214–1249.

Robert II. (Stewart),
1370–1390.

Alexander III., 1249–1285.
Regency, 1286–1290. | Robert III. 1390–1406.
Interregnum, 1290–1292. | James I., 1406–1436.
John Baliol, 1292–1306.

Alexander I.—David I.—Insurrections in Highlands—Somerled—Moraymen and Malcolm IV.—William The Lion—Disturbances in the Highlands—Ross-shire—Orkney—Alexander II.—Argyle—Caithness—Alexander III.—Disturbances in Ross—Expedition of Haco—Battle of Largs—Robert Bruce—Expedition into Lorn—Subdues Western Isles—Isles revolt under David II. and again submit—Contest between the Monroes and Clan Chattan—The Clan Chattan and the Camerons—Battle on North Inch—Wolf of Badenoch—His son Alexander Stewart—Disturbances in Sutherland—Lord of the Isles invades Scotland—Battle of Harlaw.

The reign of Alexander I. was disturbed, about the year 1116, by an attempt made by the men of Moray and Merne to surprise the king while enjoying himself at his favourite residence at Invergowrie, on the north bank of the Tay, not far from its mouth. The king, however, showed himself more than a match for his enemies, as he not only defeated their immediate purpose, but, pursuing them with his army across the Moray Frith, chastised them so effectually as to keep them quiet for the remainder of his reign, which ended by his death, in April, 1124. In 1130, six years after the accession of King David I. to the Scottish throne, while he was in England, the Moraymen again rose against the semi-Saxon king, but were defeated at Strickathrow, in Forfarshire, by Edward the Constable, son of Siward Beorn, Angus the Earl of Moray being left among the dead, Malcolm his brother escaping to carry on the conflict. In 1134 David himself took the field against these Highlanders, and, with the assistance of the barons of Northumberland, headed by Walter L’Espec, completely subdued the Moraymen, confiscated the whole district, and bestowed it upon knights in whose fidelity he could place confidence, some of these being Normans.

This was manifestly, according to Dr. Maclauchlan, the period of the dispersion of the ancient Moravienses. Never till then was the power of the Moray chiefs thoroughly broken, and only then were the inhabitants proscribed, and many of them expelled. The Murrays, afterwards so powerful, found their way to the south, carrying with them the name of their ancient country, and some of the present tribes of Sutherland, as well as of Inverness-shire, who, there is reason to believe, belonged to the Scoto-Pictish inhabitants of Moray, removed their dwellings to those portions of the country which they have occupied ever since. The race of Mac Heth may appear among the Mac Heths or Mac Aoidhs, the Mackays of Sutherland, nor is this rendered less probable by the Morganaich or sons of Morgan, the ancient name of the Mackays, appearing in the Book of Deer as owning possessions and power in Buchan in the 10th or 11th century.[121]

The next enterprise of any note was undertaken by Somerled, thane of Argyle and the Isles, against the authority of Malcolm IV., who, after various conflicts, was repulsed, though not subdued, by Gilchrist, Earl of Angus. A peace, concluded with this powerful chieftain in 1153, was considered of such importance as to form an epoch in the dating of Scottish charters. A still more formidable insurrection broke out among the Moraymen, under Gildominick, on account of an attempt, on the part of the Government, to intrude the Anglo-Norman jurisdiction, introduced into the Lowlands, upon their Celtic customs, and the settling of Anglo-Belgic colonists among them. These insurgents laid waste the neighbouring counties; and so regardless were they of the royal authority, that they actually hanged the heralds who were sent to summon them to lay down their arms. Malcolm despatched the gallant Earl Gilchrist with an army to subdue them, but he was defeated, and forced to re-cross the Grampians.

This defeat aroused Malcolm, who was naturally of an indolent disposition. About the year 1160 he marched north with a powerful army, and found the enemy on the moor of Urquhart, near the Spey, ready to give him battle. After passing the Spey, the noblemen in the king’s army reconnoitred the enemy; but they found them so well prepared for action, and so flushed with their late success, that they considered the issue of a battle rather doubtful. On this account, the commanders advised the king to enter into a negotiation with the rebels, and to promise, that in the event of a submission their lives would be spared. The offer was accepted, and the king kept his word. According to Fordun,[122] the king, by the advice of his nobles, ordained that every family in Moray which had been engaged in the rebellion should, within a limited time, remove out of Moray to other parts of the kingdom, where lands would be assigned to them, and that their places should be supplied with people from other parts of the kingdom. For the performance of this order, they gave hostages, it is said,[123] and at the time appointed transplanted themselves, some into the northern, but the greater number into the southern counties. Chalmers considers this removal of the Moray men as “an egregious improbability,” because “the dispossessing of a whole people is so difficult an operation, that the recital of it cannot be believed without strong evidence;”[124] it is very probable that only the ringleaders and their families were transported. The older historians say that the Moraymen were almost totally cut off in an obstinate battle, and strangers brought into their place.[125]

About this time Somerled, the ambitious and powerful lord of the Isles, made another and a last attempt upon the king’s authority, Having collected a large force, chiefly in Ireland, he landed, in 1164, near Renfrew; but he was defeated by the brave inhabitants and the king’s troops in a decisive battle, in which he and his son Gillecolum were slain.

The reign of William the Lion, who succeeded his brother in 1165, was marked by many disturbances in the Highlands. The Gaelic population could not endure the new settlers whom the Saxon colonization had introduced among them, and every opportunity was taken to vex and annoy them. An open insurrection broke out in Ross-shire, headed by Donald Bane, known also as MacWilliam, which obliged William, in the year 1181, to march into the north, where he built the two castles of Eddirton and Dunscath to keep the people in check. He restored quiet for a few years; but, in 1187, Donald Bane again renewed his pretensions to the crown, and raised the standard of revolt in the north. He took possession of Ross, and wasted Moray. William lost no time in leading an army against him. While the king lay at Inverness with his army, a party of 3,000 faithful men, under the command of Roland, the brave lord of Galloway, and future Constable of Scotland, fell in with Donald Bane and his army upon the Mamgarvy moor, on the borders of Moray. A conflict ensued in which Donald and five hundred of his followers were killed. Roland carried the head of Donald to William, “as a savage sign of returning quiet.” After this comparative quietness prevailed in the north till the year 1196, when Harold, the powerful Earl of Orkney and Caithness, disturbed its peace. William dispersed the insurgents at once; but they again appeared the following year near Inverness, under the command of Torphin, the son of Harold. The rebels were again overpowered. The king seized Harold, and obliged him to deliver up his son, Torphin, as an hostage. Harold was allowed to retain the northern part of Caithness, but the king gave the southern part of it, called Sutherland, to Hugh Freskin, the progenitor of the Earls of Sutherland. Harold died in 1206; but as he had often rebelled, his son suffered a cruel and lingering death in the castle of Roxburgh, where he had been confined.

During the year 1211 a new insurrection broke out in Ross, headed by Guthred or Godfrey, the son of Donald Bane or MacWilliam, as he was called. Great depredations were committed by the insurgents, who were chiefly freebooters from Ireland, the Hebrides, and Lochaber. For a long time they baffled the king’s troops; and although the king built two forts to keep them in check, and took many prisoners, they maintained for a considerable period a desultory and predatory warfare. Guthred even forced one of the garrisons to capitulate, and burnt the castle; but being betrayed by his followers into the hands of William Comyn, Earl of Buchan, the Justiciary of Scotland, he was executed in the year 1212.

Shortly after the accession of Alexander II. in 1214, the peace of the north was attempted to be disturbed by Donald MacWilliam, who made an inroad from Ireland into Moray; but he was repulsed by the tribes of that country, led by M’Intagart, the Earl of Ross. In 1222, notwithstanding the formidable obstacles which presented themselves from the nature of the country, Alexander carried an army into Argyle, for the purpose of enforcing the homage of the western chiefs. His presence so alarmed the men of Argyle, that they immediately made their submission. Several of the chiefs fled for safety, and to punish them, the king distributed their lands among his officers and their followers. After this invasion Argyle was brought under the direct jurisdiction of the Scottish king, although the descendants of the race of Somerled, Lord of the Isles, still continued to be the chief magnates.

During the same year a tumult took place in Caithness, on account of the severity with which the tithes were exacted by Adam, the bishop, who, with his adviser, Serlo, was murdered by the bonders. The king, who was at the time at Jedburgh, hearing of this murder, immediately hastened to the north with a military force, and inflicted the punishment of death upon the principal actors in this tragedy, who amounted, it is said, to four hundred persons; and that their race might become extinct, their children were emasculated, a practice very common in these barbarous times. The Earl of Caithness, who was supposed to have been privy to the murder, was deprived of half of his estate, which was afterwards restored to him on payment of a heavy fine. The Earl is said to have been murdered by his own servants in the year 1231, and in order to prevent discovery, they laid his body into his bed and set fire to the house.

In 1228 the country of Moray became the theatre of a new insurrection, headed by a Ross-shire freebooter, named Gillespoc M’Scolane. He committed great devastations by burning some wooden castles in Moray, and spoiling the crown lands. He even attacked and set fire to Inverness. A large army of horse and foot, under the command of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, Justiciary of Scotland, was, in 1229, sent against this daring rebel, who was captured, with his two sons, and their heads sent to the king.

The lords of Argyle usually paid homage to the king of Norway for some of the Hebrides which belonged to that monarch, but Ewen, on succeeding his father Duncan of Argyle in 1248, refused his homage to the Scottish king, who wished to possess the whole of the Western Isles. Though Ewen was perfectly loyal, and indeed was one of the most honourable men of his time, Alexander marched an army against him to enforce obedience, but his Majesty died on his journey in Kerrera, a small island near the coast of Argyle opposite Oban, on July 8, 1249, in the fifty-first year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign.

According to the custom of the times, his son, Alexander III., then a boy only in his eighth year, was seated on the royal chair, or sacred stone of Scone, which was placed before the cross that stood within the burying-ground. Immediately before his inauguration, the bishop of St. Andrews girded him with the sword of state, and explained to him, first in Latin and afterwards in Norman French, the nature of the compact he and his subjects were about to enter into. The crown, after the king had been seated, was placed on his head, and the sceptre put into his hand. He was then covered with the royal mantle, and received the homage of the nobles on their knees, who, in token of submission, threw their robes beneath his feet. On this occasion, agreeably to ancient practice, a Gaelic sennachy, or bard, clothed in a red mantle, and venerable for his great age and hoary locks, approached the king, and in a bended and reverential attitude, recited, from memory, in his native language, the genealogy of all the Scottish kings, deducing the descent of the youthful monarch from Gathetus, the fabulous founder of the nation.[126] The reign of this prince was distinguished by the entire subjugation of the western islands to the power of the Scottish crown. The Scandinavian settlers were allowed to leave the islands, if inclined, and such of them as remained were bound to observe the Scottish laws.

Alexander III.—From Pinkerton’s Scottish Gallery.

Shortly after the accession of Alexander III., an insurrection broke out against the Earl of Ross, of some of the people of that province. The Earl apprehended their leader or captain, whom he imprisoned at Dingwall. In revenge, the Highlanders seized upon the Earl’s second son at Balnagown, took him prisoner, and detained him as a hostage till their captain should be released. The Monroes and the Dingwalls immediately took up arms, and having pursued the insurgents, overtook them at a place called Bealligh-ne-Broig, between Ferrandonald and Loch Broom, where a bloody conflict ensued. “The Clan Iver, Clan-Talvich, and Clan-Laiwe,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “wer almost uterlie extinguished and slain.” The Monroes and Dingwalls lost a great many men. Dingwall of Kildun, and seven score of the surname of Dingwall, were killed. No less than eleven Monroes of the house of Foulis, who were to succeed one after another, fell, so that the succession of Foulis opened to an infant then lying in his cradle. The Earl’s son was rescued, and to requite the service performed, he made various grants of lands to the Monroes and Dingwalls.[127]

In 1263, Haco, the aged king of Norway, sailed with a large and powerful fleet, determined to enforce acknowledgment of his claims as superior of the Western Islands on their chiefs, as well as upon the king of Scotland. Sailing southwards among the islands, one chief after another acknowledged his supremacy, and helped to swell his force, the only honourable exception being the stanch Ewen of Argyle. Meantime Haco brought his fleet to anchor in the Frith of Clyde, between Arran and the Ayrshire coast, his men committing ravages on the neighbouring country, as, indeed, they appear to have done during the whole of his progress. Negotiations entered into between Haco and Alexander III. came to nothing, and as winter was approaching, and his fleet had suffered much from several severe storms which caught it, the former was fain to make his way homewards. A number of his men, however, contrived to effect a landing near Largs, where they were met by a miscellaneous Scottish host, consisting of cavalry and country people, and finally completely routed. The date of this skirmish, which is known as the battle of Largs, is October 2d, 1263. Haco died in the end of the same year in Orkney, and in 1266 Magnus IV., his successor, ceded the whole of the Scottish Islands held by Norway, except Orkney and Shetland, the Scottish king paying a small annual rent. Those of the islesmen who had proved unfaithful to the Scottish king were most severely and cruelly punished.

No event of any importance appears to have occurred in the Highlands till the time of King Robert Bruce, who was attacked, after his defeat at Methven, by Macdougall of Lorn, and defeated in Strathfillan. But Bruce was determined that Macdougall should not long enjoy his petty triumph. Having been joined by his able partisan, Sir James Douglas, he entered the territory of Lorn. On arriving at the narrow pass of Ben Cruachan, beween Loch Awe and Loch Etive, Bruce was informed that Macdougall had laid an ambuscade for him. Bruce divided his army into two parts. One of these divisions, consisting entirely of archers who were lightly armed, was placed under the command of Douglas, who was directed to make a circuit round the mountain, and to attack the Highlanders in the rear. As soon as Douglas had gained possession of the ground above the Highlanders, Bruce entered the pass, and, as soon as he had advanced into its narrow gorge, he was attacked by the men of Lorn, who, from the surrounding heights, hurled down stones upon him accompanied with loud shouts. They then commenced a closer attack, but, being instantly assailed in the rear by Douglas’s division, and assaulted by the king with great fury in front, they were thrown into complete disorder, and defeated with great slaughter. Macdougall, who was, during the action, on board a small vessel in Loch Etive, waiting the result, took refuge in his castle of Dunstaffnage. After ravaging the territory of Lorn, and giving it up to indiscriminate plunder, Bruce laid siege to the castle, which, after a slight resistance, was surrendered by the lord of Lorn, who swore homage to the king; but John, the son of the chief, refused to submit, and took refuge in England.

During the civil wars among the competitors for the Scottish crown, and those under Wallace and Bruce for the independence of Scotland, the Highlanders scarcely ever appear as participators in those stirring scenes which developed the resources, and called forth the chivalry of Scotland; but we are not to infer from the silence of history that they were less alive than their southern countrymen to the honour and glory of their country, or that they did not contribute to secure its independence. General Stewart says that eighteen Highland chiefs[128] fought under Robert Bruce at Bannockburn; and as these chiefs would be accompanied by their vassals, it is fair to suppose that Highland prowess lent its powerful aid to obtain that memorable victory which secured Scotland from the dominion of a foreign yoke.

After Robert Bruce had asserted the independence of his country by the decisive battle of Bannockburn, the whole kingdom, with the exception of some of the western islands, under John of Argyle, the ally of England, submitted to his authority. He, therefore, undertook an expedition against those isles, in which he was accompanied by Walter, the hereditary high-steward of Scotland, his son-in-law, who, by his marriage with Marjory, King Robert’s daughter, laid the foundation of the Stewart dynasty. To avoid the necessity of doubling the Mull of Kintyre, which was a dangerous attempt for the small vessels then in use, Robert sailed up Loch-Fyne to Tarbert with his fleet, which he dragged across the narrow isthmus between the lochs of East and West Tarbert, by means of a slide of smooth planks of trees laid parallel to each other. It had long been a superstitious belief amongst the inhabitants of the Western Islands, that they should never be subdued till their invaders sailed across this neck of land, and it is said that Robert was thereby partly induced to follow the course he did to impress upon the minds of the islanders a conviction that the time of their subjugation had arrived. The islanders were quickly subdued, and John of Lorn, who, for his services to Edward of England, had been invested with the title of Admiral of the Western fleet of England, was captured and imprisoned first in Dumbarton castle, and afterwards in the castle of Loch Leven, where he died.

The feeble and effeminate reign of David II. was disturbed by another revolt by the Lord of the Isles, who was backed in his attempt to throw off his dependence by a great number of the Highland chiefs. David, with “an unwonted energy of character, commanded the attendance of the steward, with the prelates and barons of the realm, and surrounded by this formidable body of vassals and retainers, proceeded against the rebels in person. The expedition was completely successful. The rebel prince, John of the Isles, with a numerous train of those wild Highland chieftains who followed his banner, and had supported him in his attempt to throw off his dependence, met the king at Inverness, and submitted to his authority. He engaged in the most solemn manner, for himself and his vassals, that they should yield themselves faithful and obedient subjects to David, their liege lord; and not only give due and prompt obedience to the ministers and officers of the king in suit and service, as well as in the payment of taxes and public burdens, but that they would coerce and put down all others, of whatever rank or degree, who dared to raise themselves in opposition to the royal authority, and would compel them either to submit, or would pursue and banish them from their territories: for the fulfilment of which obligation the Lord of the Isles not only gave his own oath, under the penalty of forfeiting his whole principality if it was broken, but offered the high-steward, his father-in-law, as his security, and delivered his lawful son, Donald, his grandson, Angus, and his natural son, also named Donald, as hostages for the strict performance of the articles of the treaty.”[129] The deed by which John of the Isles bound himself to the performance of these stipulations is dated 15th November, 1369.[130]

To enable him the better to succeed in reducing the inhabitants of the Highlands and islands to the obedience of the laws, it is stated by an old historian,[131] that David used artifice by dividing the chiefs, and promising high rewards to those who should slay or capture their brother chiefs. The writer says that this diabolical plan, by implanting the seeds of disunion and war amongst the chiefs, succeeded; and that they gradually destroyed one another, a statement, to say the least of it, highly improbable. Certain it is, however, that it was in this reign that the practice of paying manrent began, when the powerful wished for followers, and the weak wanted protection, a circumstance which shows that the government was too weak to afford protection to the oppressed, or to quell the disputes of rival clans.

In the year 1333,[132] John Monroe, the tutor of Foulis, in travelling homeward, on his journey from Edinburgh to Ross, stopped on a meadow in Stratherdale that he and his servants might get some repose. While they were asleep, the owner of the meadow cut off the tails of their horses. Being resolved to wipe off this insult, he immediately, on his return home to Ross, summoned his whole kinsmen and followers, and, after informing them how he had been used, craved their aid to revenge the injury. The clan, of course, complied; and, having selected 350 of the best and ablest men among them, he returned to Stratherdale, which he wasted and spoiled; killed some of the inhabitants, and carried off their cattle. In passing by the isle of Moy, on his return home, Macintosh, the chief of the clan Chattan, being urged by some person who bore Monroe a grudge, sent a message to him demanding a share of the spoil. This was customary among the Highlanders when a party drove cattle which had been so taken through a gentleman’s land, and the part so exacted was called a Staoig Rathaid, or Staoig Creich, that is, a Road Collop. Monroe, not being disposed to quarrel, offered Macintosh a reasonable share, but this he was advised not to accept, and demanded the half of the booty. Monroe refused to comply with such an unreasonable demand, and proceeded on his journey. Macintosh, determined to enforce compliance, immediately collected his clansmen, and went in pursuit of Monroe, whom he overtook at Clach-na-Haire, near Inverness. As soon as Monroe saw Macintosh approaching, he sent home five of his men to Ferrindonald with the cattle, and prepared for action. But Macintosh paid dearly for his rapacity and rashness, for he and the greater part of his men were killed in the conflict. Several of the Monroes also were slain, and John Monroe himself was left for dead in the field of battle, and might have died if the predecessor of Lord Lovat had not carried him to his house in the neighbourhood, where he was cured of his wounds. One of his hands was so mutilated, that he lost the use of it the remainder of his life, on which account he was afterwards called John Bac-laimh, or Ciotach.[133]

Besides the feuds of the clans in the reign of David II., the Highlands appear to have been disturbed by a formidable insurrection against the government, for, in a parliament which was held at Scone, in the year 1366, a resolution was entered into to seize the rebels in Argyle, Athole, Badenoch, Lochaber, and Ross, and all others who had risen up against the royal authority, and to compel them to submit to the laws. The chief leaders in this commotion (of which the bare mention in the parliamentary record is the only account which has reached us,) were the Earl of Ross, Hugh de Ross, John of the Isles, John of Lorn, and John de Haye, who were all summoned to attend the parliament and give in their submission, but they all refused to do so in the most decided manner; and as the government was too weak to compel them, they were suffered to remain independent.

In the year 1386, a feud having taken place between the clan Chattan and the Camerons, a battle took place in which a great number of the clan Chattan were killed, and the Camerons were nearly cut off to a man. The occasion of the quarrel was as follows. The lands of Macintosh[134] in Lochaber, were possessed by the Camerons, who were so tardy in the payment of their rents that Macintosh was frequently obliged to levy them by force by carrying off his tenants’ cattle. The Camerons were so irritated at having their cattle poinded and taken away, that they resolved to make reprisals, preparatory to which they marched into Badenoch to the number of about 400 men, under the command of Charles Macgilony. As soon as Macintosh became acquainted with this movement he called his clan and friends, the Macphersons and Davidsons, together. His force was superior to that of the Camerons, but a dispute arose among the chiefs which almost proved fatal to them. To Macintosh, as captain of the clan Chattan, the command of the centre of the army was assigned with the consent of all parties; but a difference took place between Cluny and Invernahavon, each claiming the command of the right wing. Cluny demanded it as the chief of the ancient clan Chattan, of which the Davidsons of Invernahavon were only a branch; but Invernahavon contended that to him, as the oldest branch, the command of the right wing belonged, according to the custom of the clans. The Camerons came up during this quarrel about precedency, on which Macintosh, as umpire, decided against the claim of Cluny. This was a most imprudent award, as the Macphersons exceeded both the Macintoshes and Davidsons in numbers, and they were, besides, in the country of the Macphersons. These last were so offended at the decision of Macintosh that they withdrew from the field, and became, for a time, spectators of the action. The battle soon commenced, and was fought with great obstinacy. Many of the Macintoshes, and almost all the Davidsons, were cut off by the superior number of the Camerons. The Macphersons seeing their friends and neighbours almost overpowered, could no longer restrain themselves, and friendship got the better of their wounded pride. They, therefore, at this perilous crisis, rushed in upon the Camerons, who, from exhaustion and the loss they had sustained, were easily defeated. The few that escaped, with their leader, were pursued from Invernahavon, the place of battle, three miles above Ruthven, to Badenoch. Charles Macgilony was killed on a hill in Glenbenchir, which was long called Torr-Thearlaich, i.e., Charles’-hill.[136]

In the opinion of Shaw this quarrel about precedency was the origin of the celebrated judicial conflict, which took place on the North Inch of Perth, before Robert III., his queen, Annabella Drummond, and the Scottish nobility, and some foreigners of distinction, in the year 1396, and of which a variety of accounts have been given by our ancient historians. The parties to this combat were the Macphersons, properly the clan Chattan, and the Davidsons of Invernahavon, called in the Gaelic Clann-Dhaibhidh. The Davidsons were not, as some writers have supposed, a separate clan, but a branch of the clan Chattan. These rival tribes had for a long period kept up a deadly enmity with one another, which was difficult to be restrained; but after the award by Macintosh against the Macphersons, that enmity broke out into open strife, and for ten years the Macphersons and the Davidsons carried on a war of extermination, and kept the country in an uproar.

To put an end to these disorders, it is said that Robert III. sent Dunbar, Earl of Moray, and Lindsay of Glenesk, afterwards Earl of Crawford, two of the leading men of the kingdom, to endeavour to effect an amicable arrangement between the contending parties; but having failed in their attempt, they proposed that the differences should be decided in open combat before the king. Tytler[137] is of opinion that, the notions of the Norman knights having by this time become familiar to the fierce mountaineers, they adopted the singular idea of deciding their quarrel by a combat of 30 against 30. Burton, however, with his usual sagacity, remarks that, “for a whole race to submit to the ordeal of battle would imply the very highest devotion to those rules of chivalry which were an extravagant fashion in all the countries under the Norman influence, but were utterly unknown to the Highlanders, who submitted when they must submit, and retaliated when they could. That such an adjustment could be effected among them is about as incredible as a story about a parliamentary debate in Persia, or a jury trial in Timbuctoo.”[138] The beautiful and perfectly level meadow on the banks of the Tay at Perth, known as the North Inch, was fixed on, and the Monday before Michaelmas was the day appointed for the combat. According to Sir Robert Gordon, who is followed by Sir Robert Douglas and Mr. Mackintosh, it was agreed that no weapon but the broad sword was to be employed, but Wyntoun, who lived about the time, adds bows, battle-axes, and daggers.

“All thai entrit in Barreris,

With Bow and Axe, Knyf and Swerd,

To deal amang them thair last Werd.”

The numbers on each side have been variously reported. By mistaking the word triceni, used by Boece and Buchanan, for treceni, some writers have multiplied them to 300. Bower, the continuator of Fordun and Wyntoun, however, mentions expressly 60 in all, or 30 on either side.

On the appointed day the combatants made their appearance on the North Inch of Perth, to decide, in presence of the king, his queen, and a large concourse of the nobility, their respective claims to superiority. Barriers had been erected on the ground to prevent the spectators from encroaching, and the king and his party took their stations upon a platform from which they could easily view the combat. At length the warriors, armed with sword and target, bows and arrows, short knives and battle-axes, advanced within the barriers, and eyed one another with looks of deadly revenge. When about to engage, a circumstance occurred which postponed the battle, and had well-nigh prevented it altogether. According to some accounts, one of the Macphersons fell sick; but Bower says, that when the troops had been marshalled, one of the Macphersons, panic-struck, slipped through the crowd, plunged into the Tay and swam across, and, though pursued by thousands, effected his escape. Sir Robert Gordon merely observes, that, “at their entrie into the feild, the clan Chattan lacked one of their number, who wes privilie stolne away, not willing to be pertaker of so deir a bargane.” A man being now wanting on one side, a pause ensued, and a proposal was made that one of the Davidsons should retire, that the number on both sides might be equal, but they refused. As the combat could not proceed from this inequality of numbers, the king was about to break up the assembly, when a diminutive and crooked, but fierce man, named Henry Wynd, a burgher of Perth, better known to readers of Scott as Hal o’ the Wynd, and an armourer by trade, sprung within the barriers, and, as related by Bower, thus addressed the assembly: “Here am I. Will any one fee me to engage with these hirelings in this stage play? For half a mark will I try the game, provided, if I escape alive, I have my board of one of you so long as I live. Greater love, as it is said, hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What, then, shall be my reward, who stake my life for the foes of the commonwealth and realm?” This demand of Gow Crom, “Crooked Smith,” as Henry was familiarly styled, adds Bower, was granted by the king and nobles. A murderous conflict now began. The armourer, bending his bow, and sending the first arrow among the opposite party, killed one of them. After showers of arrows had been discharged on both sides, the combatants, with fury in their looks, and revenge in their hearts, rushed upon one another, and a terrific scene ensued, which appalled the heart of many a valorous knight who witnessed the bloody tragedy. The violent thrusts of the daggers, and the tremendous gashes inflicted by the two-handed swords and battle-axes, hastened the work of butchery and death. “Heads were cloven asunder, limbs were lopped from the trunk. The meadow was soon flooded with blood, and covered with dead and wounded men.”[139]

After the crooked armourer had killed his man, as already related from Bower, it is said that he either sat down or drew aside, which being observed by the leader of Cluny’s band, he asked his reason for thus stopping; on which Wynd said, “Because I have fulfilled my bargain, and earned my wages.”—“The man,” exclaimed the other, “who keeps no reckoning of his good deeds, without reckoning shall be repaid,” an observation which tempted the armourer to earn, in the multiplied deaths of his opponents, a sum exceeding by as many times the original stipulation. This speech of the leader has been formed into the Gaelic adage,

“Am fear nach cunntadh rium

Cha chunntainn ris,”

which Macintosh thus renders,

“The man that reckons not with me

I will not reckon with him.”

Victory at last declared for the Macphersons, but not until 29 of the Davidsons had fallen prostrate in the arms of death. Nineteen of Cluny’s men also bit the dust, and the remaining 11, with the exception of Henry Wynd, who by his excellence as a swordsman had mainly contributed to gain the day, were all grievously wounded. The survivor of the clan Davidson escaped unhurt. Mackintosh following Buchanan, relates that this man, after all his companions had fallen, threw himself into the Tay, and making the opposite bank, escaped; but this is most likely a new version of Bower’s account of the affrighted champion before the commencement of the action.

The leader of the clan Kay or Davidsons is called by Bower Schea-beg, and by Wyntoun, Scha-Ferquharis son, Boece calls him Strat-berge. Who Christi-Mac-Iain, or Christi-Jonson was genealogically, we are not informed; but one thing is pretty clear, that he, not Schea-beg, or Shaw Oig,—for these are obviously one and the same,—commanded the clan Chattan, or “Clann-a-Chait.”[140] Both the principals seem to have been absent, or spectators merely of the battle; and as few of the leading men of the clan, it is believed, were parties in the combat, the savage policy of the government, which, it is said, had taken this method to rid itself of the chief men of the clan, by making them destroy one another, was completely defeated. This affair seems to have produced a good effect, as the Highlanders remained quiet for a considerable time thereafter.

Effigy of “the Wolf of Badenoch”
in Dunkeld Cathedral.

The disorders in the Highlands occasioned by the feuds of the clans were, about the period in question, greatly augmented by Alexander of Badenoch, fourth son of Robert II., whom he had constituted Lieutenant or governor from the limits of Moray to the Pentland Frith. This person, from the ferocity of his disposition, obtained the appropriate appellation of “the Wolf of Badenoch.” Avaricious as well as cruel, the Wolf seized upon the lands of Alexander Barr, bishop of Moray, and as he persisted in keeping violent possession of them, he was excommunicated. The sentence of excommunication not only proved unavailing, but tended to exasperate the Lord of Badenoch to such a degree of fury that, in the month of May, 1390, he descended from his heights and burnt the town of Forres, with the choir of the church and the manse of the archdeacon. And in June following, he burnt the town of Elgin, the church of Saint Giles, the hospital of Maison-Dieu, and the cathedral, with eighteen houses of the canons and chaplains in the college of Elgin. He also plundered these churches of their sacred utensils and vestments, which he carried off. For this horrible sacrilege the Lord of Badenoch was prosecuted, and obliged to make due reparation. Upon making his submission he was absolved by Walter Trail, bishop of St. Andrews, in the church of the Black Friars, in Perth. He was first received at the door, and afterwards before the high altar, in presence of the king (Robert III. his brother,) and many of the nobility, on condition that he should make full satisfaction to the bishop of Moray, and obtain absolution from the pope.[141]

The Lord of Badenoch had a natural son, named Alexander Stewart, afterwards Earl of Mar, who inherited the vices of his father. Bent upon spoliation and bloodshed, and resolved to imitate his father’s barbarous exploits, he collected, in 1392, a vast number of caterans, armed only with the sword and target, and with these he descended from the range of hills which divides the county of Aberdeen and Forfar, devastated the country, and murdered the inhabitants indiscriminately. A force was instantly collected by Sir Walter Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir Patrick Gray, and Sir David Lindsay of Glenesk, to oppose him, and although inferior in numbers, they attacked Stewart and his party of freebooters at Gasklune, near the water of Ila. A desperate conflict took place, which was of short duration. The caterans fought with determined bravery, and soon overpowered their assailants. The sheriff, his brother, Wat of Lichtoune, Young of Ouchterlony, the lairds of Cairncross, Forfar, and Guthry, and 60 of their followers, were slain. Sir Patrick Gray and Sir David Lindsay were severely wounded, and escaped with difficulty. Winton has preserved an anecdote illustrative of the fierceness of the Highlanders. Lindsay had run one of them, a strong and brawny man, through the body with a spear, and brought him to the earth; but although in the agonies of death, he writhed himself up, and with the spear sticking in his body, struck Lindsay a desperate blow with his sword, which cut him through the stirrup and boot into the bone, on which he instantly fell and expired.[142]

Nicolas, Earl of Sutherland, had a feud with Y-Mackay of Far, in Strathnaver, chief of the Clan-wig-worgm, and his son Donald Mackay, in which many lives were lost, and great depredations committed on both sides. In order to put an end to this difference, the Earl proposed a meeting of the parties at Dingwall, to be held in presence of the Lord of the Isles, his father-in-law, and some of the neighbouring gentry, the friends of the two families. The meeting having been agreed to, the parties met at the appointed time, in the year 1395, and took up their residence in the castle of Dingwall in apartments allotted for them. A discussion then took place between the Earl and Mackay, regarding the points in controversy, in which high and reproachful words were exchanged, which so incensed the Earl, that he killed Mackay and his son with his own hands. Having with some difficulty effected his escape from the followers and servants of the Mackays, he immediately returned home and prepared for defence, but the Mackays were too weak to take revenge. The matter was in some degree reconciled between Robert, the successor of Nicolas, and Angus Mackay, the eldest son of Donald.[143]

Some years after this event a serious conflict took place between the inhabitants of Sutherland and Strathnaver, and Malcolm Macleod of the Lewis, which arose out of the following circumstances. Angus Mackay above mentioned, had married a sister of Malcolm Macleod, by whom he had two sons, Angus Dow, and Roriegald. On the death of Angus, Houcheon Dow Mackay, a younger brother, became tutor to his nephews, and entered upon the management of their lands. Malcolm Macleod, understanding that his sister, the widow of Angus, was ill treated by Houcheon Dow, went on a visit to her, accompanied by a number of the choicest men of his country, with the determination of vindicating her cause either by entreaty or by force. He appears not to have succeeded in his object, for he returned homeward greatly discontented, and in revenge laid waste Strathnaver and a great part of the Breachat in Sutherland, and carried off booty along with him. As soon as Houcheon Dow and his brother Neill Mackay learnt this intelligence, they acquainted Robert, Earl of Sutherland, between whom and Angus Mackay a reconciliation had been effected, who immediately despatched Alexander Ne-Shrem-Gorme (Alexander Murray of Cubin,) with a number of stout and resolute men, to assist the Mackays. They followed Macleod with great haste, and overtook him at Tittim-Turwigh, upon the marches between Ross and Sutherland. The pursuing party at first attempted to recover the goods and cattle which had been carried off, but this being opposed by Macleod and his men, a desperate conflict ensued, in which great valour was displayed on both sides. It “was long, furious, cruel, and doubtful,” says Sir Robert Gordon, and was “rather desperate than resolute.” At last the Lewismen, with their commander, Malcolm Macleod, nick-named Gilealm Beg M’Bowen, were slain, and the goods and cattle were recovered. One man alone of Macleod’s party, who was sorely wounded, escaped to bring home the sorrowful news to the Lewis, which he had scarcely delivered when he expired.[144]

These feuds were followed by a formidable insurrection, or more correctly, invasion, in 1411, by Donald, Lord of the Isles, of such a serious nature as to threaten a dismemberment of the kingdom of Scotland. The male succession to the earldom of Ross having become extinct, the honours of the peerage devolved upon a female, Euphemia Ross, wife of Sir Walter Lesley. Of this marriage there were two children, Alexander, afterwards Earl of Ross, and Margaret, afterwards married to the Lord of the Isles. Earl Alexander married a daughter of the Duke of Albany. Euphemia, Countess of Ross, was the only issue of this marriage, but becoming a nun she resigned the earldom of Ross in favour of her uncle John Stewart, Earl of Buchan. The Lord of the Isles conceiving that the countess, by renouncing the world, had forfeited her title and estate, and, moreover, that she had no right to dispose thereof, claimed both in right of Margaret his wife. The Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, at whose instigation the countess had made the renunciation, of course refused to sustain the claim of the prince of the islands. The Lord of the Isles having formed an alliance with England, whence he was to be supplied with a fleet far superior to the Scottish, at the head of an army of 10,000 men, fully equipped and armed after the fashion of the islands with bows and arrows, pole-axes, knives, and swords, in 1411 burst like a torrent upon the earldom, and carried everything before him. He, however, received a temporary check at Dingwall, where he was attacked with great impetuosity by Angus Dubh Mackay of Farr, or Black Angus, as he was called; but Angus was taken prisoner, and his brother Roderic Gald and many of his men were killed.

Flushed with the progress he had made, Donald now resolved to carry into execution a threat he had often made to burn the town of Aberdeen. For this purpose he ordered his army to assemble at Inverness, and summoned all the men capable of bearing arms in the Boyne and the Enzie, to join his standard on his way south. This order being complied with, the Lord of the Isles marched through Moray without opposition. He committed great excesses in Strathbogie and in the district of Garioch, which belonged to the Earl of Mar. The inhabitants of Aberdeen were in dreadful alarm at the near approach of this marauder and his fierce hordes; but their fears were allayed by the speedy appearance of a well-equipped army, commanded by the Earl of Mar, who bore a high military character, assisted by many brave knights and gentlemen in Angus and the Mearns. Among these were Sir Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir James Scrymgeour, constable of Dundee and hereditary standard-bearer of Scotland, Sir William de Abernethy of Salton, nephew to the Duke of Albany, Sir Robert Maule of Panmure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, and Sir Robert Melville. The Earl was also joined by Sir Robert Davidson, the Provost of Aberdeen, and a party of the burgesses.

Advancing from Aberdeen, Mar marched by Inverury, and descried the Highlanders stationed at the village of Harlaw, on the water of Ury, near its junction with the Don. Mar soon saw that he had to contend with tremendous odds; but although his forces were, it is said, only a tenth of those opposed to him, he resolved, from the confidence he had in his steel-clad knights, to risk a battle. Having placed a small but select body of knights and men-at-arms in front, under the command of the constable of Dundee and the sheriff of Angus, the Earl drew up the main strength of his army in the rear, including the Murrays, the Straitons, the Maules, the Irvings, the Lesleys, the Lovels, the Stirlings, headed by their respective chiefs. The Earl then placed himself at the head of this body. At the head of the Islesmen and Highlanders was the Lord of the Isles, subordinate to whom were Macintosh and Maclean and other Highland chiefs, all bearing the most deadly hatred to their Saxon foes, and panting for revenge.

On a signal being given, the Highlanders and Islesmen, setting up those terrific shouts and yells which they were accustomed to raise on entering into battle, rushed forward upon their opponents; but they were received with great firmness and bravery by the knights, who, with their spears levelled, and battle-axes raised, cut down many of their impetuous but badly armed adversaries. After the Lowlanders had recovered themselves from the shock which the furious onset of the Highlanders had produced, Sir James Scrymgeour, at the head of the knights and bannerets who fought under him, cut his way through the thick columns of the Islesmen, carrying death everywhere around him; but the slaughter of hundreds by this brave party did not intimidate the Highlanders, who kept pouring in by thousands to supply the place of those who had fallen. Surrounded on all sides, no alternative remained for Sir James and his valorous companions but victory or death, and the latter was their lot. The constable of Dundee was amongst the first who suffered, and his fall so encouraged the Highlanders, that seizing and stabbing the horses, they thus unhorsed their riders, whom they despatched with their daggers. In the meantime the Earl of Mar, who had penetrated with his main army into the very heart of the enemy, kept up the unequal contest with great bravery, and, although he lost during the action almost the whole of his army, he continued the fatal struggle with a handful of men till nightfall. The disastrous result of this battle was one of the greatest misfortunes which had ever happened to the numerous respectable families in Angus and the Mearns. Many of these families lost not only their head, but every male in the house. Lesley of Balquhain is said to have fallen with six of his sons. Besides Sir James Scrymgeour, Sir Alexander Ogilvy the sheriff of Angus, with his eldest son George Ogilvy, Sir Thomas Murray, Sir Robert Maule of Panmure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, Sir William Abernethy of Salton, Sir Alexander Straiton of Lauriston, James Lovel, and Alexander Stirling, and Sir Robert Davidson, Provost of Aberdeen, with 500 men-at-arms, including the principal gentry of Buchan, and the greater part of the burgesses of Aberdeen who followed their Provost, were among the slain. The Highlanders left 900 men dead on the field of battle, including the chiefs Maclean and Mackintosh. This memorable battle was fought on the eve of the feast of St. James the Apostle, July 25th, 1411. It was the final contest for supremacy between the Celt and the Teuton, and appears to have made at the time an inconceivably deep impression on the national mind. For more than a hundred years, it is said, the battle of Harlaw continued to be fought over again by schoolboys in their play. “It fixed itself in the music and the poetry of Scotland; a march, called the ‘Battle of Harlaw,’ continued to be a popular air down to the time of Drummond of Hawthornden, and a spirited ballad, on the same event, is still repeated in our age, describing the meeting of the armies, and the deaths of the chiefs, in no ignoble strain.”[145]

Mar and the few brave companions in arms who survived the battle, passed the night on the field; when morning dawned, they found that the Lord of the Isles had retreated during the night, by Inverury and the hill of Benochy. To pursue him was impossible, and he was therefore allowed to retire without molestation, and to recruit his exhausted strength.[146]

As soon as the news of the disaster at Harlaw reached the ears of the Duke of Albany, then regent of Scotland, he set about collecting an army, with which he marched in person to the north in autumn, with a determination to bring the Lord of the Isles to obedience. Having taken possession of the castle of Dingwall, he appointed a governor, and from thence proceeded to recover the whole of Ross. Donald retreated before him, and took up his winter-quarters in the islands. Hostilities were renewed next summer, but the contest was not long or doubtful—notwithstanding some little advantages obtained by the King of the Isles—for he was compelled to give up his claim to the earldom of Ross, to become a vassal to the Scottish crown, and to deliver hostages to secure his future good behaviour. A treaty to this effect was entered into at Pilgilbe or Polgillip, the modern Loch-Gilp, in Argyle.

FOOTNOTES:

[121] Maclauchlan’s Early Scottish Church, pp. 346–7.

[122] Book viii. ch. 6.

[123] Shaw’s Hist. of Moray, new ed., pp. 259–60.

[124] Caledonia, vol. i. p. 627.

[125] “Whilst the lowlands and the coast of Moray, which had already been partitioned out among the followers of David, would have presented comparatively few obstacles to such a project, it is hardly possible to conceive how it could ever have been successfully put into execution amidst the wild and inaccessible mountains of the interior. It appears, therefore, most reasonable to conclude, that Malcolm only carried out the policy pursued by his grandfather ever since the first forfeiture of the earldom; and that any changes that may have been brought about in the population of this part of Scotland—and which scarcely extended below the class of the lesser Duchasach, or small proprietors—are not to be attributed to one sweeping and compulsatory measure, but to the grants of David and his successors; which must have had the effect of either reducing the earlier proprietary to a dependant position, or of driving into the remoter Highlands all who were inclined to contest the authority of the sovereign, or to dispute the validity of the royal ordinances which reduced them to the condition of subordinates.”—Robertson’s Early Kings, vol. i. p. 361.

[126] Almost the same ceremonial of inauguration was observed at the coronation of Macdonald, king of the Isles. Martin says, that “there was a big stone of seven feet square, in which there was a deep impression made to receive the feet of Mack-Donald, for he was crowned king of the Isles standing in this stone; and swore that he would continue his vassals in the possession of their lands, and do exact justice to all his subjects; and then his father’s sword was put into his hands. The bishop of Argyle and seven priests anointed him king, in presence of all the heads of the tribes in the isles and continent, and were his vassals; at which time the orator rehearsed a catalogue of his ancestors.”—Western Islands, p. 241.

[127] Sir R. Gordon’s History of the Earldom of Sutherland, p. 36.

[128] The chiefs at Bannockburn were Mackay, Mackintosh, Macpherson, Cameron, Sinclair, Campbell, Menzies, Maclean, Sutherland, Robertson, Grant, Fraser, Macfarlane, Ross, Macgregor, Munro, Mackenzie, and Macquarrie. After the lapse of five hundred years since the battle of Bannockburn was fought, it is truly astonishing to find such a number of direct descendants who are now in existence, and still possessed of their paternal estates.

[129] Tytler’s Hist. of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 185. Robertson’s Parliamentary Records, p. 115.

[130] Vide the Deed printed in the Appendix to Tytler’s History, vol. ii.

[131] Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 380.

[132] This is the date assigned by Sir Robert Gordon, but Shaw makes it more than a century later, viz., in 1454.

[133] Sir R. Gordon, p. 47.—Shaw, p. 264.

[134] According to that eminent antiquary, the Rev. Donald Macintosh, non-juring episcopal clergyman, in his historical illustrations of his Collections of Gaelic Proverbs, published in 1785, the ancestor of Macintosh became head of the clan Chattan in this way. During these contests for the Scottish crown, which succeeded the death of King Alexander III., and favoured the pretensions of the King of the Isles, the latter styling himself “King,” had, in 1291, sent his nephew Angus Macintosh of Macintosh to Dougall Dall (Blind) MacGillichattan, chief of the clan Chattan, or Macphersons, to acquaint him that “the king” was to pay him a visit. Macpherson, or MacGillichattan, as he was named, in honour of the founder of the family Gillichattan[135] Mor, having an only child, a daughter, who, he dreaded, might attract an inconvenient degree of royal notice, offered her in marriage to Macintosh along with his lands, and the station of the chief of the clan Chattan. Macintosh accepted the offer, and was received as chief of the lady’s clan.

[135] “A votary or servant of St. Kattan,” a most popular Scottish saint, we have thus Gillichallum, meaning a “votary of Columba,” and of which another form is Malcolm or Molcalm, the prefix Mol being corrupted into Mal, signifying the same as Gilly. Thus Gilly-Dhia is the etymon of Culdee, signifying “servant of God,”—Gilli-christ means “servant of Christ.”

[136] Shaw’s History of Moray, pp. 260, 261.

[137] Vol. iii. pp 76, 77.

[138] Vol. iii. p. 72.

[139] Tales of a Grandfather, vol. ii.

[140] For a more thorough discussion of this fight, see the account of the Clan Mackintosh in Vol. II.

[141] Shaw’s Moray, pp. 314–15.—Winton, vol. ii. p. 363.—Keith’s Catalogue, p. 83.

[142] Winton, vol. ii. p. 369.

[143] Sir Robert Gordon’s History, p. 60.

[144] Sir Robert Gordon, pp. 61, 62.

[145] Tytler, vol. iii. p. 177. The ballad of the Battle concludes thus:—

There was not, sin’ King Kenneth’s days,

Sic strange intestine cruel strife

In Scotlande seen, as ilk man says,

Where monie likelie lost their life;

Whilk made divorce tween man and wife,

And monie children fatherless,

Whilk in this realm has been full rife;

Lord help these lands! our wrangs redress!

In July, on Saint James his evin,

That four-and-twenty dismal day,

Twelve hundred, ten score, and eleven

Of years sin’ Christ, the soothe to say;

Men will remember, as they may,

When thus the veritie they knaw;

And monie a ane will mourne for aye

The brim battle of the Harlaw.

[146] “So ended one of Scotland’s most memorable battles. The contest between the Lowlanders and Donald’s host was a contest between foes, of whom their contemporaries would have said that their ever being in harmony with each other, or having a feeling of common interests and common nationality, was not within the range of rational expectations.... It will be difficult to make those not familiar with the tone of feeling in Lowland Scotland at that time believe that the defeat of Donald of the Isles was felt as a more memorable deliverance even than that of Bannockburn.”—Burton, vol. iii. pp. 101, 102.

CHAPTER VI.

A.D. 1424–1512.

KINGS OF SCOTLAND:—

James I., 1406–1436. | James III., 1460–1488.
James II., 1436–1460. | James IV., 1488–1513.

James I.—State of Country—Policy of the King to the Highland Chiefs—Lord of the Isles—Disturbances in Sutherland—Barbarity of a Robber—James’s Highland Expedition—Disturbances in Caithness—Insurrection in the West under Donald Balloch—Lord of the Isles invades Sutherland—Allan of Lorn—Machinations of Edward IV. with Island Chiefs—Rebellion of Earl of Ross—Lord of the Isles submits—Disturbances in Ross and Sutherland—Wise Policy of James IV.—Visits Highlands—Feuds in Sutherland—Highlanders at Flodden.

On the return of James I., in 1424, from his captivity in England, he found Scotland, and particularly the Highlands, in a state of the most fearful insubordination. Rapine, robbery, and an utter contempt of the laws prevailed to an alarming extent, which required all the energy of a wise and prudent prince, like James, to repress. When these excesses were first reported to James, by one of his nobles, on entering the kingdom, he thus expressed himself:—“Let God but grant me life, and there shall not be a spot in my dominions where the key shall not keep the castle, and the furze-bush the cow, though I myself should lead the life of a dog to accomplish it.”[147] “At this period, the condition of the Highlands, so far as is discoverable from the few authentic documents which have reached our times, appears to have been in the highest degree rude and uncivilized. There existed a singular combination of Celtic and of feudal manners. Powerful chiefs, of Norman name and Norman blood, had penetrated into the remotest districts, and ruled over multitudes of vassals and serfs, whose strange and uncouth appellatives proclaim their difference of race in the most convincing manner.[148] The tenure of lands by charter and seisin, the feudal services due by the vassal to his lord, the bands of friendship or of manrent which indissolubly united certain chiefs and nobles to each other, the baronial courts, and the complicated official pomp of feudal life, were all to be found in full strength and operation in the northern counties; but the dependence of the barons, who had taken up their residence in these wild districts, upon the king, and their allegiance and subordination to the laws, were less intimate and influential than in the Lowland divisions of the country; and as they experienced less protection, we have already seen, that in great public emergencies, when the captivity of the sovereign, or the payment of his ransom, called for the imposition of a tax upon property throughout the kingdom, these great northern chiefs thought themselves at liberty to resist the collection within their mountainous principalities.

“Besides such Scoto-Norman barons, however, there were to be found in the Highlands and Isles, those fierce aboriginal chiefs, who hated the Saxon and the Norman race, and offered a mortal opposition to the settlement of all intruders within a country which they considered their own. They exercised the same authority over the various clans or septs of which they were the chosen heads or leaders, which the baron possessed over his vassals and military followers; and the dreadful disputes and collisions which perpetually occurred between these distinct ranks of potentates, were accompanied by spoliations, ravages, imprisonments, and murders, which had at last become so frequent and so far extended, that the whole country beyond the Grampian range was likely to be cut off, by these abuses, from all regular communication with the more pacific parts of the kingdom.”[149]

Having, by a firm and salutary, but perhaps severe, course of policy, restored the empire of the laws in the Lowlands, and obtained the enactment of new statutes for the future welfare and prosperity of the kingdom, James next turned his attention to his Highland dominions, which, as we have seen, were in a deplorable state of insubordination, that made both property and life insecure. The king determined to visit in person the disturbed districts, and by punishing the refractory chiefs, put an end to those tumults and enormities which had, during his minority, triumphed over the laws. James, in the year 1427, arrived at Inverness, attended by his parliament, and immediately summoned the principal chiefs there to appear before him. From whatever motives—whether from hopes of effecting a reconciliation by a ready compliance with the mandate of the king, or from a dread, in case of refusal, of the fate of the powerful barons of the south who had fallen victims to James’s severity—the order of the king was obeyed, and the chiefs repaired to Inverness. No sooner, however, had they entered the hall where the parliament was sitting, than they were by order of the king arrested, ironed, and imprisoned in different apartments, and debarred all communication with each other, or with their followers. It has been supposed that these chiefs may have been entrapped by some fair promises on the part of James, and the joy which, according to Fordun, he manifested at seeing these turbulent and haughty spirits caught in the toils which he had prepared for them, favours this conjecture. The number of chiefs seized on this occasion is stated to have amounted to about forty; but the names of the principal ones only have been preserved. These were Alaster or Alexander Macdonald, Lord of the Isles; Angus Dubh Mackay, with his four sons, who could bring into the field 4,000 fighting men; Kenneth More and his son-in-law, Angus of Moray, and Macmathan, who could muster 2,000 men; Alexander Macreiny of Garmoran and John Macarthur, each of whom could bring into the field 1,000 followers. Besides these were John Ross, James Campbell, and William Lesley. The Countess of Ross, the mother of Alexander, the Lord of the Isles, and heiress of Sir Walter Lesley, was also apprehended and imprisoned at the same time.[150]

James I.

The king now determined to inflict summary vengeance upon his captives. Those who were most conspicuous for their crimes were immediately executed; among whom were James Campbell, who was tried, convicted, and hanged for the murder of John of the Isles; and Alexander Macreiny and John Macarthur, who were beheaded. Alexander of the Isles and Angus Dubh, after a short confinement, were both pardoned; but the latter was obliged to deliver up, as a hostage for his good behaviour, his son Neill, who was confined on the Bass rock, and, from that circumstance, was afterwards named Neill-Wasse-Mackay.[151] Besides these, many others who were kept in prison in different parts of the kingdom, were afterwards condemned and executed.

The royal clemency, which had been extended so graciously to the Lord of the Isles, met with an ungrateful return; for shortly after the king had returned to his lowland dominions, Alexander collected a force of ten thousand men in Ross and the Isles, and with this formidable body laid waste the country; plundered and devastated the crown lands, against which his vengeance was chiefly directed, and razed the royal burgh of Inverness to the ground. On hearing of these distressing events, James, with a rapidity rarely equalled, collected a force, the extent of which has not been ascertained, and marched with great speed into Lochaber, where he found the enemy, who, from the celerity of his movements, was taken almost by surprise. Alexander prepared for battle; but, before its commencement, he had the misfortune to witness the desertion of the clan Chattan, and the clan Cameron, who, to a man, went over to the royal standard. The king, thereupon, attacked Alexander’s army, which he completely routed, and the latter sought safety in flight.

Reduced to the utmost distress, and seeing the impossibility of evading the active vigilance of his pursuers, who hunted him from place to place, this haughty lord, who considered himself on a par with kings, resolved to throw himself entirely on the mercy of the king, by an act of the most abject submission. Having arrived in Edinburgh, to which he had travelled in the most private manner, the humbled chief suddenly presented himself before the king, on Easter-Sunday, in the church of Holyrood, when he and his queen, surrounded by the nobles of the court, were employed in their devotions before the high altar. The extraordinary appearance of the fallen prince denoted the inward workings of his troubled mind. Without bonnet, arms, or ornament of any kind, his legs and arms quite bare, his body covered with only a plaid, and holding a naked sword in his hand by the point, he fell down on his knees before the king, imploring mercy and forgiveness, and, in token of his unreserved submission, offered the hilt of his sword to his majesty. At the solicitation of the queen and nobles, James spared his life, but committed him immediately to Tantallan castle, under the charge of William Earl of Angus, his nephew. This took place in the year 1429. The Countess of Ross was kept in close confinement in the ancient monastery of Inchcolm, on the small island of that name, in the Frith of Forth.[152] The king, however, relented, and released the Lord of the Isles and his mother, after about a year’s imprisonment.

About this period happened another of those bloody frays, which destroyed the internal peace of the Highlands, and brought ruin and desolation upon many families. Thomas Macneill, son of Neill Mackay, who was engaged in the battle of Tuttum Turwigh, possessed the lands of Creigh, Spaniziedaill, and Palrossie, in Sutherland. Having conceived some displeasure at Mowat, the laird of Freshwick, the latter, with his party, in order to avoid his vengeance, took refuge in the chapel of St. Duffus, near the town of Tain, as a sanctuary. Thither they were followed by Thomas, who not only slew Mowat and his people, but also burnt the chapel to the ground. This outrage upon religion and humanity exasperated the king, who immediately ordered a proclamation to be issued, denouncing Thomas Macneill as a rebel, and promising his lands and possessions as a reward to any one that would kill or apprehend him. Angus Murray, son of Alexander Murray of Cubin, immediately set about the apprehension of Thomas Macneill. To accomplish his purpose, he held a secret conference with Morgan and Neill Macneill, the brothers of Thomas, at which he offered, provided they would assist him in apprehending their brother, his two daughters in marriage, and promised to aid them in getting peaceable possession of such lands in Strathnaver as they claimed. This, he showed them, might be easily accomplished, with little or no resistance, as Neill Mackay, son of Angus Dubh, from whom the chief opposition might have been expected, was then a prisoner in the Bass, and Angus Dubh, the father, was unable, from age and infirmity, to defend his pretensions. Angus Murray also promised to request the assistance of the Earl of Sutherland. As these two brothers pretended a right to the possessions of Angus Dubh in Strathnaver, they were easily allured by these promises; they immediately apprehended their brother Thomas at Spaniziedaill in Sutherland, and delivered him up to Murray, by whom he was presented to the king. Macneill was immediately executed at Inverness, and Angus Murray obtained, in terms of the royal proclamation, a grant of the lands of Palrossie and Spaniziedaill from the king. The lands of Creigh fell into the hands of the Lord of the Isles, as superior, by the death and felony of Macneill.[153]

MACNEILL.

In pursuance of his promise, Murray gave his daughters in marriage respectively to Neill and Morgan Macneill, and with the consent and approbation of Robert Earl of Sutherland, he invaded Strathnaver with a party of Sutherland men, to take possession of the lands of Angus Dubh Mackay. Angus immediately collected his men, and gave the command of them to John Aberigh, his natural son, as he was unable to lead them in person. Both parties met about two miles from Toung, at a place called Drum-ne-Coub; but, before they came to blows, Angus Dubh Mackay sent a message to Neill and Morgan, his cousins-german, offering to surrender them all his lands and possessions in Strathnaver, if they would allow him to retain Keantayle. This fair offer was, however, rejected, and an appeal was therefore immediately made to arms. A desperate conflict then took place, in which many were killed on both sides; among whom were Angus Murray and his two sons-in-law, Neill and Morgan Macneill. John Aberigh, though he gained the victory, was severely wounded, and lost one of his arms. After the battle Angus Dubh Mackay was carried, at his own request, to the field, to search for the bodies of his slain cousins, but he was killed by an arrow from a Sutherland man who lay concealed in a bush hard by.

James I. made many salutary regulations for putting an end to the disorders consequent upon the lawless state of the Highlands, and the oppressed looked up to him for protection. The following remarkable case will give some idea of the extraordinary barbarity in which the spoliators indulged:—A notorious thief, named Donald Ross, who had made himself rich with plunder, carried off two cows from a poor woman. This woman having expressed a determination not to wear shoes again till she had made a complaint to the king in person, the robber exclaimed, “It is false: I’ll have you shod before you reach the court;” and thereupon, with a brutality scarcely paralleled, the cruel monster took two horse shoes, and fixed them on her feet with nails driven into the flesh. The victim of this savage act, as soon as she was able to travel, went to the king and related to him the whole circumstances of her case, which so exasperated him, that he immediately sent a warrant to the sheriff of the county, where Ross resided, for his immediate apprehension; which being effected, he and a number of his associates were sent under an escort to Perth, where the court was then held. Ross was tried and condemned, he and his friends being treated in the same manner as he had treated the poor woman; and before his execution a linen shirt, on which was painted a representation of his crime, was thrown over him, in which dress he was paraded through the streets of the town, afterwards dragged at a horse’s tail, and hanged on a gallows.[154]

The commotions in Strathnaver, and other parts of the Highlands, induced the king to make another expedition into that part of his dominions; previous to which he summoned a Parliament at Perth, which was held on the 15th of October, 1431, in which a land-tax, or “zelde,” was laid upon the whole lands of the kingdom, to defray the expenses of the undertaking. No contemporary record of this expedition exists; but it is said that the king proceeded to Dunstaffnage castle, to punish those chiefs who had joined in Donald Balloch’s insurrection; that, on his arrival there, numbers of these came to him and made their submission, throwing the whole odium of the rebellion upon the leader, whose authority, they alleged, they were afraid to resist; and that, by their means, three hundred thieves were apprehended and put to death.

For several years after this expedition the Highlands appear to have been tranquil; but, on the liberation of Neill Mackay from his confinement on the Bass, in the year 1437, fresh disturbances began. This restless chief had scarcely been released, when he entered Caithness, and spoiled the country. He was met at a place called Sandsett; but the people who came to oppose his progress were defeated, and many of them were slain. This conflict was called Ruaig Hanset; that is, the flight, or chase at Sandsett.

About the same time a quarrel took place between the Keiths and some others of the inhabitants of Caithness. As the Keiths could not depend upon their own forces, they sought the aid of Angus Mackay, son of Neill last mentioned, who had recently died. Angus agreed to join the Keiths; and accordingly, accompanied by his brother, John Roy, and a chieftain named Iain-Mor-Mac-Iain-Riabhaich, with a company of men, he went into Caithness, and, joining the Keiths, invaded that part of Caithness hostile to the Keiths. The people of Caithness lost not a moment in assembling together, and met the Strathnaver men and the Keiths at a place called Blare-Tannie. Here a sanguinary contest took place; but victory declared for the Keiths, whose success, it is said, was chiefly owing to the prowess of Iain-Mor-Mac-Iain-Riabhaich, whose name was, in consequence, long famous in that and the adjoining country.[155]

After the defeat of James, Earl of Douglas, who had renounced his allegiance to James II., at Arkinholme, in 1454, he retired into Argyleshire, where he was received by the Earl of Ross, with whom, and the Lord of the Isles, he entered into an alliance. The ocean prince, having a powerful fleet of 500 galleys at his command, immediately assembled his vassals, to the amount of 5,000 fighting men, and, having embarked them in his navy, gave the command of the whole to Donald Balloch, Lord of Isla, his near kinsman, a chief who, besides his possessions in Scotland, had great power in the north of Ireland. This potent chief, whose hereditary antipathy to the Scottish throne was as keen as that of his relation, entered cheerfully into the views of Douglas. With the force under his command he desolated the western coast of Scotland from Innerkip to Bute, the Cumbrays and the Island of Arran; yet formidable as he was both in men and ships, the loss was not so considerable as might have been expected, from the prudent precautions taken by the king to repel the invaders. The summary of the damage sustained is thus related in a contemporary chronicle:—“There was slain of good men fifteen; of women, two or three; of children, three or four. The plunder included five or six hundred horse, ten thousand oxen and kine, and more than a thousand sheep and goats. At the same time, they burnt down several mansions in Innerkip around the church; harried all Arran; stormed and levelled with the ground the castle of Brodick; and wasted, with fire and sword, the islands of the Cumbrays. They also levied tribute upon Bute; carrying away a hundred bolls of malt, a hundred marts, and a hundred marks of silver.”[156]

While Donald Balloch was engaged in this expedition, the Lord of the Isles, with his kinsmen and followers to the number of five or six hundred, made an incursion into Sutherland, and encamped before the castle of Skibo. What his object was has not been ascertained; but, as a measure of precaution, the Earl of Sutherland sent Neill Murray, son of Angus Murray, who was slain at Drum-na-Coub, to watch his motions. The Lord of the Isles immediately began to commit depredations, whereupon he was attacked by Murray, and compelled to retreat into Ross with the loss of one of his captains, named Donald Dubh-na-Soirn, and fifty of his men. Exasperated at this defeat, Macdonald sent another party of his islanders, along with a company of men from Ross, to Strathfleet in Sutherland to lay waste the country, and thus wipe off the disgrace of his late defeat. On hearing of this fresh invasion, the Earl of Sutherland despatched his brother Robert with a sufficient force to attack the Clandonald. They met on the sands of Strathfleet, and, after a fierce and bloody struggle, the islanders and their allies were overthrown with great slaughter. Many perished in the course of their flight. This was the last hostile irruption of the Clandonald into Sutherland, as all the disputes between the Lord of the Isles and the Sutherland family were afterwards accommodated by a matrimonial alliance.

The vigorous administration of James II., which checked and controlled the haughty and turbulent spirit of his nobles, was also felt in the Highlands, where his power, if not always acknowledged, was nevertheless dreaded; but upon the death of that wise prince in 1460, and the accession of his infant son to the crown, the princes of the north again abandoned themselves to their lawless courses. The first who showed the example was Allan of Lorn of the Wood, as he was called, a nephew of Donald Balloch by his sister. Coveting the estate of his elder brother, Ker of Lorn, Allan imprisoned him in a dungeon in the island of Kerrera, with the view of starving him to death that he might the more easily acquire the unjust possession he desired; but Ker was liberated, and his property restored to him by the Earl of Argyle, to whom he was nearly related, and who suddenly attacked Allan with a fleet of galleys, defeated him, burnt his fleet, and slew the greater part of his men. This act, so justifiable in itself, roused the revengeful passions of the island chiefs, who issued from their ocean retreats and committed the most dreadful excesses.[157]

After the decisive battle of Touton, Henry VI. and his Queen retired to Scotland to watch the first favourable opportunity of seizing the sceptre from the house of York. Edward IV., anticipating the danger that might arise to his crown by an alliance between his rival, the exiled monarch, and the king of Scotland, determined to counteract the effects of such a connection by a stroke of policy. Aware of the disaffected disposition of some of the Scottish nobles, and northern and island chiefs, he immediately entered into a negotiation with John, Earl of Ross, and Donald Balloch, to detach them from their allegiance. On the 19th of October, 1461, the Earl of Ross, Donald Balloch, and his son John de Isle, held a council of their vassals and dependants at Astornish, at which it was agreed to send ambassadors to England to treat with Edward. On the arrival of these ambassadors a negotiation was entered into between them and the Earl of Douglas, and John Douglas of Balveny, his brother, both of whom had been obliged to leave Scotland for their treasons in the previous reign. These two brothers, who were animated by a spirit of hatred and revenge against the family of their late sovereign James II., warmly entered into the views of Edward, whose subjects they had become; and they concluded a treaty with the northern ambassadors which assumed as its basis nothing less than the entire conquest of Scotland. Among other conditions, it was stipulated that, upon payment of a specified sum of money to himself, his son, and ally, the Lord of the Isles should become for ever the vassal of England, and should assist Edward and his successors in the wars in Ireland and elsewhere. And, in the event of the entire subjugation of Scotland by the Earls of Ross and Douglas, the whole of the kingdom on the north of the Frith of Forth was to be divided equally between these Earls and Donald Balloch, and the estates which formerly belonged to Douglas between the Frith of Forth and the borders were to be restored to him. This singular treaty is dated London, 18th February, 1462.[158]

Pending this negotiation, the Earl of Angus, at that time one of the most powerful of the Scottish nobles, having, by the promise of an English dukedom from the exiled Henry, engaged to assist in restoring him to his crown and dominions, the Earl of Ross, before the plan had been organized, in order to counteract the attempt, broke out into open rebellion, which was characterized by all those circumstances of barbarous cruelty which distinguished the inroads of the princes of the islands. He first seized the castle of Inverness at the head of a small party, being admitted unawares by the governor, who did not suspect his hostile intentions. He then collected a considerable army, and proclaimed himself king of the Hebrides. With his army he entered the country of Athole, denounced the authority of the king, and commanded all taxes to be paid to him; and, after committing the most dreadful excesses, he stormed the castle of Blair, dragged the Earl and Countess of Athole from the chapel of St. Bridget, and carried them off to Isla as prisoners. It is related that the Earl of Ross thrice attempted to set fire to the holy pile, but in vain. He lost many of his war-galleys, in a storm of thunder and lightning, in which the rich booty he had taken was consigned to the deep. Preparations were immediately made by the regents of the kingdom for punishing this rebellious chief; but these became unnecessary, for, touched with remorse, he collected the remains of his plunder, and stripped to his shirt and drawers, and barefooted, he, along with his principal followers, in the same forlorn and dejected condition, went to the chapel of St. Bridget which they had lately desecrated, and there performed a penance before the altar. The Earl and Countess of Athole were thereupon voluntarily released from confinement, and the Earl of Ross was afterwards assassinated in the castle of Inverness, by an Irish harper who bore him a grudge.[159]

Although at this period an account of Orkney and Shetland does not properly belong to a history of the Highlands, as these islands had for long been the property of the king of Norway, and had a population almost purely Teutonic, with a language, manners, and customs widely differing from those of the Highlanders proper; still it will not be out of place to mention here, that these islands were finally made over to Scotland in 1469, as security for the dowry of Margaret of Norway, the wife of James III.

The successor of the Lord of the Isles—who was generally more like an independent sovereign than a subject of the Scottish king—not being disposed to tender the allegiance which his father had violated, the king, in the month of May, 1476, assembled a large army on the north of the Forth, and a fleet on the west coast, for the purpose of making a simultaneous attack upon him by sea and land. Seeing no hopes of making effectual resistance against such a powerful force as that sent against him, he tendered his submission to the king on certain conditions, and resigned the earldom of Ross, and the lands of Kintyre and Knapdale, into his majesty’s hands. By this act he was restored to the king’s favour, who forgave him all his offences, and “infeft him of new” in the lordship of the Isles and the other lands which he did not renounce. The Earl of Athole, who commanded the royal army, was rewarded for this service by a grant of the lands and forest of Cluny.[160]

After the Lord of the Isles had thus resigned the earldom of Ross into the king’s hands, that province was perpetually molested by incursions from the islanders, who now considered it a fit theatre for the exercise of their predatory exploits. Gillespie, cousin of the Lord of the Isles, at the head of a large body of the islanders, invaded the higher part of Ross and committed great devastation. The inhabitants, or as many as the shortness of the time would permit, amongst whom the Clankenzie were chiefly distinguished, speedily assembled, and met the islanders on the banks of the Connan, where a sharp conflict took place. The Clankenzie fought with great valour, and pressed the enemy so hard that Gillespie Macdonald was overthrown, and the greater part of his men were slain or drowned in the river, about two miles from Braile, thence called Blar-na-Pairc. The predecessor of the Laird of Brodie, who happened to be with the chief of the Mackenzies at the time, fought with great courage.

For a considerable time the district of Sutherland had remained tranquil, but on the 11th of July, 1487, it again became the scene of a bloody encounter between the Mackays and the Rosses. To revenge the death of a relation, or to wipe away the stigma of a defeat, were considered sacred and paramount duties by the Highlanders; and if, from the weakness of the clan, the minority of the chief, or any other cause, the day of deadly reckoning was delayed, the feeling which prompted revenge was never dormant, and the earliest opportunity was embraced of vindicating the honour of the clan. Angus Mackay, son of the famous Neill of the Bass, having been killed at Tarbert by a Ross, his son, John Riabhaich Mackay, applied to John Earl of Sutherland, on whom he depended, to assist him in revenging his father’s death. The Earl promised his aid, and accordingly sent his uncle, Robert Sutherland, with a company of chosen men, to assist John Mackay. With this force, and such men as John Mackay and his relation Uilleam-Dubh-Mac-Iain-Abaraich, son of John Aberigh who fought at Drum-na-Coub, could collect, they invaded Strath-oy-kell, carrying fire and sword in their course, and laying waste many lands belonging to the Rosses. As soon as the Laird of Balnagown, the chief of the Rosses, heard of this attack, he collected all his forces, and attacked Robert Sutherland and John Riabhaich Mackay, at a place called Aldv-charrish. A long and obstinate battle took place; but the death of Balnagown and seventeen of the principal landed gentlemen of Ross decided the combat, for the people of Ross, being deprived of their leader, were thrown into confusion, and utterly put to flight, with great slaughter.

ROSS.

The fruit of this victory was a large quantity of booty, which the victors divided the same day; but the avarice of the men of Assynt, induced them to instigate John Mackay to resolve to commit one of the most perfidious and diabolical acts ever perpetrated by men who had fought on the same side. The design of the Assynt men was, to cut off Robert Sutherland and his whole party, and possess themselves of their share of the spoil, before the Earl of Sutherland could learn the result of the battle, that he might be led to suppose that his uncle and his men had all fallen in the action with the Rosses. When this plan was divulged to Uilleam-Dubh-Mac-Iain-Abaraich, he was horrified at it, and immediately sent notice to Robert Sutherland of it, that he might be upon his guard. Robert assembled his men upon receipt of this extraordinary intelligence, told them of the base intentions of John Mackay, and put them in order, to be prepared for the threatened attack; but on John Riabhaich Mackay perceiving that Robert and his party were prepared to meet him, he slunk off, and went home to Strathnaver.[161]

The lawless state of society in the Highlands, which followed as a consequence from the removal of the seat of government to the Lowlands, though it often engaged the attention of the Scottish sovereigns, never had proper remedies applied to mend it. At one time the aid of force was called in, and when that was found ineffectual, the vicious principle of dividing the chiefs, that they might the more effectually weaken and destroy one another, was adopted. Both plans, as might be supposed, proved abortive. If the government had, by conciliatory measures, and by a profusion of favours, suitable to the spirit of the times, secured the attachment of the heads of the clans, the supremacy of the laws might have been vindicated, and the sovereign might have calculated upon the support of powerful and trustworthy auxiliaries in his domestic struggles against the encroachments of the nobles. Such ideas appear never to have once entered the minds of the kings, but it was reserved for James IV., who succeeded to the throne in 1488, to make the experiment. “To attach to his interest the principal chiefs of these provinces, to overawe and subdue the petty princes who affected independence, to carry into their territories, hitherto too exclusively governed by their own capricious or tyrannical institutions, the same system of a severe, but regular and rapid, administration of civil and criminal justice, which had been established in his Lowland dominions, was the laudable object of the king; and for this purpose he succeeded, with that energy and activity which remarkably distinguished him, in opening up an intercourse with many of the leading men in the northern counties. With the captain of the Clanchattan, Duncan Mackintosh; with Ewan, the son of Alan, captain of the Clancameron; with Campbell of Glenurqhay; the Macgilleouns of Duart and Lochbuy; Mackane of Ardnamurchan; the lairds of Mackenzie and Grant; and the Earl of Huntley, a baron of the most extensive power in those northern districts—he appears to have been in habits of constant and regular communication—rewarding them by presents, in the shape either of money or of grants of land, and securing their services in reducing to obedience such of their fellow chieftains as proved contumacious, or actually rose in rebellion.”[162]

But James carried his views further. Rightly judging how much the personal presence of the sovereign would be valued by his distant subjects, and the good effects which would result therefrom, he resolved to visit different parts of his northern dominions. Accordingly, in the year 1490, accompanied by his court, he rode twice from Perth across the chain of mountains which extends across the country from the border of the Mearns to the head of Loch Rannoch, which chain is known by the name of the “Mount.” Again, in 1493, he twice visited the Highlands, and went as far as Dunstaffnage and Mengarry, in Ardnamurchan. In the following year he visited the isles no less than three times. His first voyage to the islands, which took place in April and May, was conducted with great state. He was attended by a vast suite, many of whom fitted out vessels at their own expense. The grandeur which surrounded the king impressed the islanders with a high idea of his wealth and power; and his condescension and familiarity with all classes of his subjects, acquired for him a popularity which added strength to his throne. During these marine excursions the youthful monarch indulged his passion for sailing and hunting, and thereby relieved the tediousness of business by the recreation of agreeable and innocent pleasures.

The only opposition which James met with during these excursions was from the restless Lord of the Isles, who had the temerity to put the king at defiance, notwithstanding the repeated and signal marks of the royal favour he had experienced. But James was not to be trifled with, for he summoned the island prince to stand his trial for “treason in Kintyre;” and in a parliament held in Edinburgh shortly after the king’s return from the north, “Sir John of the Isles,” as he is named in the treasurer’s accounts, was stripped of his power, and his possessions were forfeited to the crown.

One of those personal petty feuds which were so prevalent in the Highlands, occurred about this time. Alexander Sutherland of Dilred, being unable or unwilling to repay a sum of money he had borrowed from Sir James Dunbar of Cumnock, the latter took legal measures to secure his debt by appraising part of Dilred’s lands. This proceeding vexed the laird of Dilred exceedingly, and he took an umbrage at the Dunbars, who had recently settled in Sutherland, “grudgeing, as it were,” says Sir R. Gordon, “that a stranger should brawe (brave) him at his owne doors.” Happening to meet Alexander Dunbar, brother of Sir James, who had lately married Lady Margaret Baillie, Countess Dowager of Sutherland, high words passed between them, a combat ensued, and, after a long contest, Alexander Dunbar was killed. Sir James Dunbar thereupon went to Edinburgh, and laid the matter before King James IV., who was so exasperated at the conduct of Alexander Sutherland, that he immediately proclaimed him a rebel, sent messengers everywhere in search of him, and promised his lands to any person that would apprehend him. After some search he was apprehended with ten of his followers by his uncle, Y-Roy-Mackay, brother of John Reawigh Mackay already mentioned, who sent him to the king. Dilred was tried, condemned, and executed, and his lands declared forfeited. For this service, Y-Roy-Mackay obtained from the king a grant of the lands of Armdall, Far, Golspietour, Kinnald, Kilcolmkill, and Dilred, which formerly belonged to Alexander Sutherland, as was noted in Mackay’s infeftment, dated in 1449.[163] “Avarice,” says Sir R. Gordon, “is a strange vyce, which respects neither blood nor freindship. This is the first infeftment that any of the familie of Macky had from the king, so far as I can perceave by the records of this kingdom; and they wer untill this tyme possessors onlie of ther lands in Strathnaver, not careing much for any charters or infeftments, as most pairts of the Highlanders have alwise done.”

The grant of the king as to the lands over which Sir James Dunbar’s security extended, was called in question by Sir James, who obtained a decree before the lords of council and session, in February, 1512, setting aside the right of Y-Roy-Mackay, and ordaining the Earl of Sutherland, as superior of the lands, to receive Sir James Dunbar as his vassal.

A lamentable instance of the ferocity of these times is afforded in the case of one of the Earls of Sutherland, who upon some provocation slew two of his nephews. This earl, who was named John, had a natural brother, Thomas Moir, who had two sons, Robert Sutherland and the Keith, so called on account of his being brought up by a person of that name. The young men had often annoyed the Earl, and on one occasion they entered his castle of Dunrobin to brave him to his face, an act which so provoked the Earl, that he instantly killed Robert in the house. The Keith, after receiving several wounds, made his escape, but he was overtaken and slain at the Clayside, near Dunrobin, which from that circumstance was afterwards called Ailein-Cheith, or the bush of the Keith.

In 1513 a troop of Highlanders helped to swell the Scotch army on the ever-memorable and disastrous field of Flodden, but from their peculiar mode of fighting, so different from that of the Lowlanders, appear to have been more a hindrance than a help.

FOOTNOTES:

[147] Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 511.

[148] MS. Adv. Lib. Coll. Diplom. a Macfarlane, vol. i. p. 245.—MS. Cart. Moray, 263.

[149] Tytler, vol. iii. pp. 250, 251.

[150] Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. pp. 1283–4.

[151] Sir R. Gordon, p. 64.

[152] Fordun, vol. iv. p. 1286.

[153] Sir Robert Gordon, pp. 64, 65.

[154] Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 510.

[155] Sir R. Gordon, p. 69.

[156] Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 55.

[157] Auchinleck Chronicle, pp. 58, 59.

[158] Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. ii. p. 407.

[159] Ferrerius, p. 383.—Lesley de Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 300.

[160] Lesley’s Hist., p. 41.—Sir R. Gordon, p. 77.

[161] Sir R. Gordon, pp. 78, 79.

[162] Tytler, vol. iv. pp. 367, 368.

[163] Sir R. Gordon, p. 80.

CHAPTER VII.

A.D. 1516–1588.

KINGS OF SCOTLAND:—

James V., 1513–1542. | Mary, 1542–1567.
James VI., 1567–1603.

Doings in Sutherland—Battle of Torran-Dubh—Feud between the Keiths and the clan Gun—John Mackay and Murray of Aberscors—Alexander Sutherland, the bastard, claims the Earldom—Contests between John Mackay and the Master of Sutherland—Earls of Caithness and Sutherland—Dissensions among the clan Chattan—Hector Macintosh elected Captain—His doings—Disturbances in Sutherland—Feuds between the Clanranald and Lord Lovat—The ‘Field of Shirts’—Earl of Huntly’s Expedition—Commotions in Sutherland—Earl of Huntly and the Clanranald—The Queen Regent visits the Highlands—Commotions in Sutherland—Queen Mary’s Expedition against Huntly—Earl and Countess of Sutherland poisoned—Earl of Caithness’ treatment of the young Earl of Sutherland—Quarrel between the Monroes and clan Kenzie—Doings of the Earl of Caithness—Unruly state of the North—The clan Chattan—Reconciliation of the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness—The Earl of Sutherland and the clan Gun—Disastrous Feud between the Macdonalds and Macleans—Disputes between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness—Reconciliation between Mackay and the Earl of Sutherland.

In the year 1516, Adam Earl of Sutherland, in anticipation of threatened dangers in the north, entered into bonds of friendship and alliance with the Earl of Caithness for mutual protection and support. The better to secure the goodwill and assistance of the Earl of Caithness, Earl Adam made a grant of some lands upon the east side of the water of Ully; but the Earl of Caithness, although he kept possession of the lands, joined the foes of his ally and friend. The Earl of Sutherland, however, would have found a more trustworthy supporter in the person of Y-Roy-Mackay, who had come under a written obligation to serve him the same year; but Mackay died, and a contest immediately ensued in Strathnaver, between John and Donald Mackay his bastard sons, and Neill-Naverigh Mackay, brother of Y-Roy, to obtain possession of his lands. John took possession of all the lands belonging to his father in Strathnaver; but his uncle Neill laid claim to them, and applied to the Earl of Caithness for assistance to recover them. The Earl, after many entreaties, put a force under the command of Neill and his two sons, with which they entered Strathnaver, and obtaining an accession of strength in that country, they dispossessed John Mackay, who immediately went to the clan Chattan and clan Kenzie, to crave their aid and support, leaving his brother Donald Mackay to defend himself in Strathnaver as he best could. Donald not having a sufficient force to meet his uncle and cousins in open combat, had recourse to a stratagem which succeeded entirely to his mind. With his little band he, under cloud of night, surprised his opponents at Delreavigh in Strathnaver, and slew both his cousins and the greater part of their men, and thus utterly destroyed the issue of Neill. John Mackay, on hearing of this, immediately joined his brother, and drove out of Strathnaver all persons who had favoured the pretensions of his uncle Neill-Naverigh. This unfortunate old man, after being abandoned by the Earl of Caithness, threw himself upon the generosity of his nephews, requesting that they would merely allow him a small maintenance to keep him from poverty during the remainder of his life; but these unnatural relatives, regardless of mercy and the ties of blood, ordered Neill to be beheaded in their presence by the hands of Claff-na-Gep, his own foster brother.[164]

In the year 1517, advantage was taken by John Mackay of the absence of the Earl of Sutherland, who had gone to Edinburgh to transact some business connected with his estates, to invade the province of Sutherland, and to burn and spoil every thing which came in his way. He was assisted in this lawless enterprise by two races of people dwelling in Sutherland, called the Siol-Phaill, and the Siol-Thomais, and by Neil-Mac-Iain-Mac-Angus of Assynt, and his brother John Mor-Mac-Iain, with some of their countrymen. As soon as the Countess of Sutherland, who had remained at home, heard of this invasion, she prevailed upon Alexander Sutherland, her bastard brother, to oppose Mackay. Assisted chiefly by John Murray of Aberscors, and Uilleam Mac-Sheumais-Mhic-Chruner, chief of the clan Gun in Sutherland, Alexander convened hastily the inhabitants of the country and went in search of the enemy. He met John Mackay and his brother Donald, at a place called Torran-Dubh or Cnocan-Dubh, near Rogart in Strathfleet. Mackay’s force was prodigious, for he had assembled not only the whole strength of Strathnaver, Durines, Edderachillis, and Assynt, with the Siol-Phaill and Siol-Thomais; but also all the disorderly and idle men of the whole diocese of Caithness, with all such as he could entice to join him from the west and north-west isles, to accompany him in his expedition, buoyed up with the hopes of plunder. But the people of Sutherland were nowise dismayed at the appearance of this formidable host, and made preparations for an attack. A desperate struggle commenced, and after a long contest, Mackay’s vanguard was driven back upon the position occupied by himself. Mackay having rallied the retreating party, selected a number of the best and ablest men he could find, and having placed the remainder of his army under the command of his brother Donald, to act as a reserve in case of necessity, he made a furious attack upon the Sutherland men, who received the enemy with great coolness and intrepidity. The chiefs on both sides encouraged their men to fight for the honour of their clans, and in consequence the fight was severe and bloody; but in the end the Sutherland men, after great slaughter, and after prodigies of valour had been displayed by both parties, obtained the victory. Mackay’s party was almost entirely cut off, and Mackay himself escaped with difficulty. The victors next turned their attention to the reserve under the command of Donald Mackay; but Donald dreading the fate of his brother, fled along with his party, which immediately dispersed. They were, however, closely pursued by John Murray and Uilleam Mac-Sheumais, till the darkness of the night prevented the pursuit. In this battle, two hundred of the Strathnaver men, thirty-two of the Siol-Phaill, and fifteen of the Siol-Thomais, besides many of the Assynt men, and their commander, Niall-Mac-Iain-Mac-Aonghais, a valiant chieftain, were slain. John Mor-Mac-Iain, the brother of this chief, escaped with his life after receiving many wounds. Of the Sutherland men, thirty-eight only were slain. Sir Robert Gordon says that this “was the greatest conflict that hitherto hes been fought in between the inhabitants of these cuntreyes, or within the diocy of Catteynes, to our knowlege.”[165]

Shortly after the battle of Torran-Dubh, Uilleam Mac-Sheumais, called Cattigh, chief of the clan Gun, killed George Keith of Aikregell with his son and twelve of their followers, at Drummoy, in Sutherland, as they were travelling from Inverugie to Caithness. This act was committed by Mac-Sheumais to revenge the slaughter of his grandfather (the Cruner,) who had been slain by the Keiths, under the following circumstances. A long feud had existed between the Keiths and the clan Gun, to reconcile which, a meeting was appointed at the chapel of St. Tayr in Caithness, near Girnigoe, of twelve horsemen on each side. The Cruner, then chief of the clan Gun, with some of his sons and his principal kinsmen, to the number of twelve in all, came to the chapel at the appointed time. As soon as they arrived, they entered the chapel and prostrated themselves in prayer before the altar. While employed in this devotional act, the laird of Inverugie and Aikregell arrived with twelve horses, and two men on each horse. After dismounting, the whole of this party rushed into the chapel armed, and attacked the Cruner and his party unawares. The Clan Gun, however, defended themselves with great intrepidity, and although the whole twelve were slain, many of the Keiths were also killed. For nearly two centuries the blood of the slain was to be seen on the walls of the chapel, which it had stained. James Gun, one of the sons of the Cruner, being absent, immediately on hearing of his father’s death, retired with his family into Sutherland, where he settled, and where his son William Mac-Sheumais, or Mac-James otherwise William Cattigh, was born.

As John Mackay imputed his defeat at Torran-Dubh mainly to John Murray of Aberscors, he resolved to take the first convenient opportunity of revenging himself, and wiping off the disgrace of his discomfiture. He, therefore, not being in a condition himself to undertake an expedition, employed two brothers, William and Donald, his kinsmen, chieftains of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, with a company of men, to attack Murray. The latter having mustered his forces, the parties met at a place called Loch-Salchie, not far from the Torran-Dubh, where a sharp skirmish took place, in which Murray proved victorious. The two Strathnaver chieftains and the greater part of their men were slain, and the remainder were put to flight. The principal person who fell on Murray’s side was his brother John-Roy, whose loss he deeply deplored.

Exasperated at this second disaster, John Mackay sent John Croy and Donald, two of his nephews, sons of Angus Mackay, who was killed at Morinsh in Ross, at the head of a number of chosen men, to plunder and burn the town of Pitfour, in Strathfleet, which belonged to John Murray; but they were equally unsuccessful, for John Croy Mackay and some of his men were slain by the Murrays, and Donald was taken prisoner. In consequence of these repeated reverses, John Mackay submitted himself to the Earl of Sutherland on his return from Edinburgh, and granted him his bond of service, in the year 1518. But, notwithstanding this submission, Mackay afterwards tampered with Alexander Sutherland, the bastard, and having gained his favour by giving his sister to Sutherland in marriage, he prevailed upon him to rise against the Earl of Sutherland. All these commotions in the north happened during the minority of King James V., when, as Sir R. Gordon says, “everie man thought to escape unpunished, and cheiflie these who were remotest from the seat of justice.”[166]

This Alexander Sutherland was son of John, the third of that name, Earl of Sutherland, and as he pretended that the Earl and his mother had entered into a contract of marriage, he laid claim, on the death of the Earl, to the title and estates, as a legitimate descendant of Earl John, his father. By the entreaties of Adam Gordon, Lord of Aboyne, who had married Lady Elizabeth, the sister and sole heiress of Earl John, Alexander Sutherland judicially renounced his claim in presence of the sheriff of Inverness, on the 25th of July, 1509. He now repented of what he had done, and, being instigated by the Earl of Caithness and John Mackay, mortal foes to the house of Sutherland, he renewed his pretensions. Earl Adam, perceiving that he might incur some danger in making an appeal to arms, particularly as the clans and tribes of the country, with many of whom Alexander had become very popular, were broken into factions and much divided on the question betwixt the two, endeavoured to win him over by offering him many favourable conditions, again to renounce his claims, but in vain. He maintained the legitimacy of his descent, and alleged that the renunciation he had granted at Inverness had been obtained from him contrary to his inclination, and against the advice of his best friends.

Old Dunrobin Castle.

Having collected a considerable force, he, in absence of the earl, who was in Strathbogie, attacked Dunrobin castle, the chief strength of the earl, which he took. In this siege he was chiefly supported by Alexander Terrell of the Doill, who, in consequence of taking arms against the earl, his superior, lost all his lands, and was afterwards apprehended and executed. As soon as the earl heard of the insurrection, he despatched Alexander Lesley of Kinninuvy, with a body of men, into Sutherland to assist John Murray of Aberscors, who was already at the head of a force to support the earl. They immediately besieged Dunrobin, which surrendered. Alexander had retired to Strathnaver, but he again returned into Sutherland with a fresh body of men, and laid waste the country. After putting to death several of his own kinsmen who had joined the earl, he descended farther into the country, towards the parishes of Loth and Clyne. Meeting with little or no opposition, the bastard grew careless, and being observed wandering along the Sutherland coast, flushed with success and regardless of danger, the earl formed the design of cutting him entirely off. With this view, he directed Alexander Lesley of Kinninuvy, John Murray, and John Scorrigh-Mac-Finlay, one of the Siol-Thomais, to hover on Sutherland’s outskirts, and to keep skirmishing with him till he, the earl, should collect a sufficient force with which to attack him. Having collected a considerable body of resolute men, the earl attacked the bastard at a place called Ald-Quhillin, by East Clentredaill, near the sea side. A warm contest ensued, in which Alexander Sutherland was taken prisoner, and the most of his men were slain, including John Bane, one of his principal supporters, who fell by the hands of John Scorrigh-Mac-Finlay. After the battle Sutherland was immediately beheaded by Alexander Lesley on the spot, and his head sent to Dunrobin on a spear, which was placed upon the top of the great tower, “which shews us” (as Sir Robert Gordon, following the superstition of his times, curiously observes), “that whatsoever by fate is allotted, though sometymes forshewed, can never be avoyded. For the witches had told Alexander the bastard that his head should be the highest that ever wes of the Southerlands; which he did foolishlye interpret that some day he should be Earl of Southerland, and in honor above all his predicessors. Thus the divell and his ministers, the witches, deceaving still such as trust in them, will either find or frame predictions for everie action or event, which doeth ever fall out contrarie to ther expectations; a kynd of people to all men unfaithfull, to hopers deceatful, and in all cuntries allwise forbidden, allwise reteaned and manteaned.”[167]

The Earl of Sutherland being now far advanced in life, retired for the most part to Strathbogy and Aboyne, to spend the remainder of his days amongst his friends, and intrusted the charge of the country to Alexander Gordon, his eldest son, a young man of great intrepidity and talent. The restless chief John Mackay, still smarting under his misfortunes, and thirsting for revenge, thought the present a favourable opportunity for retrieving his losses. With a considerable force, therefore, he invaded Sutherland, and entered the parish of Creigh, which he intended to ravage, but the Master of Sutherland hastened thither, attacked Mackay, and forced him to retreat into Strathnaver with some loss. Mackay then assembled a large body of his countrymen and invaded the Breachat. He was again defeated by Alexander Gordon at the Grinds after a keen skirmish. Hitherto Mackay had been allowed to hold the lands of Grinds, and some other possessions in the west part of Sutherland, but the Master of Sutherland now dispossessed him of all these as a punishment for his recent conduct. Still dreading a renewal of Mackay’s visits, the Master of Sutherland resolved to retaliate, by invading Strathnaver in return, and thereby showing Mackay what he might in future expect if he persevered in continuing his visits to Sutherland. Accordingly, he collected a body of stout and resolute men, and entered Strathnaver, which he pillaged and burnt, and, having collected a large quantity of booty, returned into Sutherland. In entering Strathnaver, the Master of Sutherland had taken the road to Strathully, passing through Mackay’s bounds in the hope of falling in with and apprehending him, but Mackay was absent on a creach excursion into Sutherland. In returning, however, through the Diric Moor and the Breachat, Alexander Gordon received intelligence that Mackay with a company of men was in the town of Lairg, with a quantity of cattle he had collected in Sutherland, on his way home to Strathnaver. He lost no time in attacking Mackay, and such was the celerity of his motions, that his attack was as sudden as unexpected. Mackay made the best resistance he could, but was put to the rout, and many of his men were killed. He himself made his escape with great difficulty, and saved his life by swimming to the island of Eilean-Minric, near Lairg, where he lay concealed during the rest of the day. All the cattle which Mackay had carried away were rescued and carried back into Sutherland. The following day Mackay left the island, returned home to his country, and again submitted himself to the Master and his father, the Earl, to whom he a second time gave his bond of service and manrent in the year 1522.[168]

As the Earl of Caithness had always taken a side against the Sutherland family in these different quarrels, the Earl of Sutherland brought an action before the Lords of Council and Session against the Earl of Caithness, to recover back from him the lands of Strathully, on the ground, that the Earl of Caithness had not fulfilled the condition on which the lands were granted to him, viz., to assist the Earl of Sutherland against his enemies. There were other minor points of dispute between the earls, to get all which determined they both repaired to Edinburgh. Instead, however, of abiding the issue of a trial at law before the judges, both parties, by the advice of mutual friends, referred the decision of all the points in dispute on either side to Gavin Dunbar,[169] bishop of Aberdeen, who pronounced his award at Edinburgh, on the 11th March, 1524, his judgment appearing to have satisfied both parties, as the earls lived in peace with one another ever after.

The year 1526 was signalized by a great dissension among the clan Chattan. The chief and head of that clan was Lauchlan Macintosh of Dunnachtan, “a verrie honest and wyse gentleman,” says Bishop Lesley, “an barroun of gude rent, quha keipit hes hole ken, friendes and tennentis in honest and guid rewll;”[170] and according to Sir Robert Gordon, “a man of great possessions, and of such excellencies of witt and judgement, that with great commendation he did conteyn all his followers within the limits of ther dueties.”[171] The strictness with which this worthy chief curbed the lawless and turbulent dispositions of his clan raised up many enemies, who, as Bishop Lesley says, were “impacient of vertuous living.” At the head of this restless party was James Malcolmeson, a near kinsman of the chief, who, instigated by his worthless companions, and the temptation of ruling the clan, murdered the good chief. Afraid to face the well-disposed part of the clan, to whom the chief was beloved, Malcolmeson, along with his followers, took refuge in the island in the loch of Rothiemurchus; but the enraged clan followed them to their hiding places and despatched them.

As the son of the deceased chief was of tender age, and unable to govern the clan, with common consent they made choice of Hector Macintosh, a bastard brother of the late chief, to act as captain till his nephew should arrive at manhood. In the meantime the Earl of Moray, who was uncle to young Macintosh, the former chief having been married to the earl’s sister, took away his nephew and placed him under the care of his friends for the benefit of his education, and to bring him up virtuously. Hector Macintosh was greatly incensed at the removal of the child, and used every effort to get possession of him; but meeting with a refusal he became outrageous, and laid so many plans for accomplishing his object, that his intentions became suspected, as it was thought he could not wish so ardently for the custody of the child without some bad design. Baffled in every attempt, Hector, assisted by his brother William, collected a body of followers, and invaded the Earl of Moray’s lands. They overthrew the fort of Dykes, and besieged the castle of Tarnoway, the country surrounding which they plundered, burnt the houses of the inhabitants, and slew a number of men, women, and children. Raising the siege of Tarnoway, Hector and his men then entered the country of the Ogilvies and laid siege to the castle of Pettens, which belonged to the Laird of Durnens, one of the families of the Ogilvies, and which, after some resistance, surrendered. No less than twenty-four gentlemen of the name of Ogilvie were massacred on this occasion. After this event the Macintoshes and the party of banditti they had collected, roamed over the whole of the adjoining country, carrying terror and dismay into every bosom, and plundering, burning, and destroying everything within their reach. To repress disorders which called so loudly for redress, King James V., by the advice of his council, granted a commission to the Earl of Moray to take measures accordingly. Having a considerable force put under his command, the earl went in pursuit of Macintosh and his party, and having surprised them, he took upwards of 300 of them[172] and hanged them, along with William Macintosh, the brother of Hector. A singular instance of the fidelity of the Highlanders to their chiefs is afforded in the present case, where, out of such a vast number as suffered, not one would reveal the secret of Hector Macintosh’s retreat, although promised their lives for the discovery. “Ther faith wes so true to ther captane, that they culd not be persuaded, either by fair meanes, or by any terror of death, to break the same or to betray their master.”[173]

Seeing no hopes of escaping the royal vengeance but by a ready submission, Hector Macintosh, by advice of Alexander Dunbar, Dean of Moray, tendered his obedience to the king, which was accepted, and he was received into the royal favour. He did not, however, long survive, for he was assassinated in St. Andrews by one James Spence, who was in consequence beheaded. After the death of Hector, the clan Chattan remained tranquil during the remaining years of the minority of the young chief, who, according to Bishop Lesley, “wes sua well brocht up by the meenes of the Erle of Murray and the Laird of Phindlater in vertue, honestie, and civile policye, that after he had received the governement of his cuntrey, he was a mirrour of vertue to all the hieland captanis in Scotland.”[174] But the young chieftain’s “honestie and civile policye” not suiting the ideas of those who had concurred in the murder of his father, a conspiracy was formed against him by some of his nearest kinsmen to deprive him of his life, which unfortunately took effect.

The Highlands now enjoyed repose for some years. John Mackay died in 1529, and was succeeded by his brother Donald, who remained quiet during the life of Adam Earl of Sutherland, to whom his brother had twice granted his bond of service. But, upon the death of that nobleman, he began to molest the inhabitants of Sutherland. In 1542 he attacked the village of Knockartol, which he burnt; and at the same time he plundered Strathbroray. To oppose his farther progress, Sir Hugh Kennedy collected as many of the inhabitants of Sutherland as the shortness of the time would permit, and, being accompanied by Gilbert Gordon of Gartay, John Murray of Aberscors, his son Hutcheon Murray, and Mac-Mhic-Sheumais of Killiernan, he attacked Mackay quite unawares near Alt-Na-Beth. Notwithstanding this unexpected attack, Mackay’s men met their assailants with great firmness, but the Strathnaver men were ultimately obliged to retreat with the loss of their booty and a great number of slain, amongst whom was John Mackean-Mac-Angus, chief of Sliochd-Mhic-Iain-Mhic-Hutcheon, in Edderachillis. Though closely pressed by Gilbert Gordon and Hutcheon Murray, Donald Mackay made good his retreat into Strathnaver.

By no means disheartened at his defeat, and anxious to blot out the stain which it had thrown upon him, he soon returned into Sutherland with a fresh force, and encamped near Skibo. Hutcheon Murray collected some Sutherland men, and with them he attacked Mackay, and kept him in check till an additional force which he expected should arrive. As soon as Mackay saw this new body of men approaching, with which he was quite unable to contend, he retreated suddenly into his own country, leaving several of his men dead on the field. This affair was called the skirmish of Loch-Buy. This mode of annoyance, which continued for some time, was put an end to by the apprehension of Donald Mackay, who, being brought before the Earls of Huntly and Sutherland, was, by their command, committed a close prisoner to the castle of Foulis, where he remained a considerable time in captivity. At last, by means of Donald Mac-Iain-Mhoir, a Strathnaver man, he effected his escape, and, returning home, reconciled himself with the Earl of Sutherland, to whom he gave his bond of service and manrent, on the 8th of April, 1549.

During the reign of James V. some respect was paid in the Highlands to the laws; but the divisions which fell out amongst the nobility, the unquiet state of the nation during the minority of the infant queen, and the wars with England, relaxed the springs of government, and the consequence was that the usual scenes of turbulence and oppression soon displayed themselves in the Highlands, accompanied with all those circumstances of ferocity which rendered them so revolting to humanity. The Clanranald was particularly active in these lawless proceedings. This clan bore great enmity to Hugh, Lord Lovat; and because Ranald, son of Donald Glass of Moidart, was sister’s son of Lovat, they conceived a prejudice against him, dispossessed him of his lands, and put John Macranald, his cousin, in possession of the estate. Lovat took up the cause of his nephew, and restored him to the possession of his property; but the restless clan dispossessed Ranald again, and laid waste part of Lovat’s lands in Glenelg. These disorders did not escape the notice of the Earl of Arran, the governor of the kingdom, who, by advice of his council, granted a special commission to the Earl of Huntly, making him lieutenant-general of all the Highlands, and of Orkney and Zetland. He also appointed the Earl of Argyle lieutenant of Argyle and the Isles. The Earl of Huntly lost no time in raising a large army in the north, with which he marched, in May, 1544, attended by the Macintoshes, Grants, and Frasers, against the clan Cameron and the clan Ranald, and the people of Moydart and Knoydart, whose principal captains were Ewen Allenson, Ronald M’Coneilglas, and John Moydart. These had wasted and plundered the whole country of Urquhart and Glenmorriston, belonging to the Laird of Grant, and the country of Abertarf, Strathglass, and others, the property of Lord Lovat. They had also taken absolute possession of these different territories as their own properties, which they intended to possess and enjoy in all time coming. But, by the mediation of the Earl of Argyle, they immediately dislodged themselves upon the Earl of Huntly’s appearance, and retired to their own territories in the west.

In returning to his own country, Lovat was accompanied by the Grants and Macintoshes as far as Gloy, afterwards called the Nine-Mile-Water, and they even offered to escort him home in case of danger; but, having no apprehensions, he declined, and they returned home by Badenoch. This was a fatal error on the part of Lovat, for, as soon as he arrived at Letterfinlay, he was informed that the Clanranald were at hand, in full march, to intercept him. To secure an important pass, he despatched Iain-Cleireach, one of his principal officers, with 50 men; but, from some cause or other, Iain-Cleireach did not accomplish his object; and, as soon as Lovat came to the north end of Loch Lochy, he perceived the Clanranald descending the hill from the west, to the number of about 500, divided into seven companies. Lovat was thus placed in a position in which he could neither refuse nor avoid battle. The day (3d July) being extremely hot, Lovat’s men, who amounted to about 300, stript to the shirts, from which circumstance the battle was called Blar-Nan-Leine, i.e., the Field of Shirts. A sort of skirmish at first took place, first with bows and arrows, which lasted a considerable time, until both sides had expended their shafts. The combatants then drew their swords, and rushed in true Highland fashion on each other, with fierce and deadly intent. The slaughter was tremendous, and few escaped on either side. Lord Lovat, with 300 of the surname of Fraser, and other followers, were left dead on the field. Lovat’s eldest son, a youth of great accomplishments, who had received his education in France, whence he had lately arrived, was mortally wounded, and taken prisoner. He died within three days. Great as was the loss on the side of the Frasers, that on the opposite side was comparatively still greater. According to a tradition handed down, only four of the Frasers and ten of the Clanranald remained alive. The darkness of the night alone put an end to the combat. This was an unfortunate blow to the clan Fraser, which, tradition says, would have been almost entirely annihilated but for the happy circumstance that the wives of eighty of the Frasers who were slain were pregnant at the time, and were each of them afterwards delivered of a male child.[175]

As soon as intelligence of this disaster was brought to the Earl of Huntly, he again returned with an army, entered Lochaber, which he laid waste, and apprehended many of the leading men of the hostile tribes, whom he put to death.

The great power conferred on the Earl of Huntly, as lieutenant-general in the north of Scotland, and the promptitude and severity with which he put down the insurrections of some of the chiefs alluded to, raised up many enemies against him. As he in company with the Earl of Sutherland was about to proceed to France for the purpose of conveying the queen regent to that country, in the year 1550, a conspiracy was formed against him, at the head of which was Macintosh, chief of the clan Chattan. This conspiracy being discovered to the earl, he ordered Macintosh to be immediately apprehended and brought to Strathbogie, where he was beheaded in the month of August of that year. His lands were also forfeited at the same time. This summary proceeding excited the sympathy and roused the indignation of the friends of the deceased chief, particularly of the Earl of Cassilis. A commotion was about to ensue, but matters were adjusted for a time, by the prudence of the queen regent, who recalled the act of forfeiture and restored Macintosh’s heir to all his father’s lands. But the clan Chattan were determined to avail themselves of the first favourable opportunity of being revenged upon the earl, which they, therefore, anxiously looked for. As Lauchlan Macintosh, a near kinsman of the chief, was suspected of having betrayed his chief to the earl, the clan entered his castle of Pettie by stealth, slew him, and banished all his dependants from the country of the clan.

About the same time the province of Sutherland again became the scene of some commotions. The earl having occasion to leave home, intrusted the government of the country to Alexander Gordon, his brother, who ruled it with great justice and severity; but the people, disliking the restraints put upon them by Alexander, created a tumult, and placed John Sutherland, son of Alexander Sutherland, the bastard, at their head. Seizing the favourable opportunity, as it appeared to them, when Alexander Gordon was attending divine service in the church at Golspikirktoun, they proceeded to attack him, but receiving notice of their intentions, he collected the little company he had about him, and went out of church resolutely to meet them. Alarmed at seeing him and his party approach, the people immediately dispersed and returned every man to his own house. But William Murray, son of Caen Murray, one of the family of Pulrossie, indignant at the affront offered to Alexander Gordon, shortly afterwards killed John Sutherland upon the Nether Green of Dunrobin, in revenge for which murder William Murray was himself thereafter slain by the Laird of Clyne.

The Mackays also took advantage of the Earl of Sutherland’s absence, to plunder and lay waste the country. Y-Mackay, son of Donald, assembled the Strathnaver men and entered Sutherland, but Alexander Gordon forced him back into Strathnaver, and not content with acting on the defensive, he entered Mackay’s country, which he wasted, and carried off a large booty in goods and cattle, in the year 1551. Mackay, in his turn, retaliated, and this system of mutual aggression and spoliation continued for several years.[176]

During the absence of the Earl of Huntly in France, John of Moydart, chief of the Clanranald, returned from the isles and recommenced his usual course of rapine. The queen regent, on her return from France, being invested with full authority, sent the Earl of Huntly on an expedition to the north, for the purpose of apprehending Clanranald and putting an end to his outrages. The earl having mustered a considerable force, chiefly Highlanders of the clan Chattan, passed into Moydart and Knoydart, but his operations were paralyzed by disputes in his camp. The chief and his men having abandoned their own country, the earl proposed to pursue them in their retreats among the fastnesses of the Highlands; but his principal officers, who were chiefly from the Lowlands, unaccustomed to such a mode of warfare in such a country, demurred; and as the earl was afraid to entrust himself with the clan Chattan, who owed him a deep grudge on account of the execution of their last chief, he abandoned the enterprise and returned to the low country. Sir Robert Gordon says that the failure of the expedition was owing to a tumult raised in the earl’s camp by the clan Chattan, who returned home; but we are rather disposed to consider Bishop Lesley’s account, which we have followed, as the more correct.[177]

The failure of this expedition gave great offence to the queen, who, instigated it is supposed by Huntly’s enemies, attributed it to negligence on his part. The consequence was, that the earl was committed a prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh in the month of October, where he remained till the month of March following. He was compelled to renounce the earldom of Moray and the lordship of Abernethy, with his tacks and possessions in Orkney and Zetland, and the tacks of the lands of the earldom of Mar and of the lordship of Strathdie, of which he was bailie and steward, and he was moreover condemned to a banishment of five years in France. But as he was about to leave the kingdom, the queen, taking a more favourable view of his conduct, recalled the sentence of banishment, and restored him to the office of chancellor, of which he had been deprived; and to make this act of leniency somewhat palatable to the earl’s enemies, the queen exacted a heavy pecuniary fine from the earl.

The great disorders which prevailed in the Highlands at this time, induced the queen-regent to undertake a journey thither in order to punish these breaches of the law, and to repress existing tumults. She accordingly arrived at Inverness in the month of July, 1555, where she was met by John, Earl of Sutherland, and George, Earl of Caithness. Although the latter nobleman was requested to bring his countrymen along with him to the court, he neglected or declined to do so, and he was therefore committed to prison at Inverness, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, successively, and he was not restored to liberty till he paid a considerable sum of money. Y-Mackay of Far was also summoned to appear before the queen at Inverness, to answer for his spoliations committed in the country of Sutherland during the absence of Earl John in France; but he refused to appear. Whereupon the queen granted a commission to the Earl of Sutherland, to bring Mackay to justice. The earl accordingly entered Strathnaver with a great force, sacking and spoiling every thing in his way, and possessing himself of all the principal positions to prevent Mackay’s escape. Mackay, however, avoided the earl, and as he declined to fight, the earl laid siege to the castle of Borwe, the principal strength in Strathnaver, scarcely two miles distant from Far, which he took after a short siege, and hanged Ruaridh-Mac-Iain-Mhoir, the commander. This fort the earl completely demolished.

While the Earl of Sutherland was engaged in the siege, Mackay entered Sutherland secretly, and burnt the church of Loth. He thereafter went to the village of Knockartol, where he met Mackenzie and his countrymen in Strathbroray. A slight skirmish took place between them; but Mackay and his men fled after he had lost Angus-Mackeanvoir, one of his commanders, and several of his followers. Mackenzie was thereupon appointed by the earl to protect Sutherland from the incursions of Mackay during his stay in Strathnaver. Having been defeated again by Mackenzie, and seeing no chance of escape, Mackay surrendered himself, and was carried south, and committed a prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh, in which he remained a considerable time. During the queen’s stay in the north many notorious delinquents were brought to trial, condemned and executed.

During Mackay’s detention in Edinburgh, John Mor-Mackay, who took charge of his kinsman’s estate, seizing the opportunity of the Earl of Sutherland’s absence in the south of Scotland, entered Sutherland at the head of a determined body of Strathnaver men, and spoiled and wasted the east corner of that province, and burnt the chapel of St. Ninian. Mac-Mhic-Sheumais, chief of the Clan-Gun, the Laird of Clyne, the Terrell of the Doill, and James Mac-William, having collected a body of Sutherland men, pursued the Strathnaver men, whom they overtook at the foot of the hill called Ben-Moir, in Berridell. Here they laid an ambush for them, and having, by favour of a fog, passed their sentinels, they unexpectedly surprised Mackay’s men, and attacked them with great fury. The Strathnaver men made an obstinate resistance, but were at length overpowered. Many of them were killed, and others drowned in the water of Garwary. Mackay himself escaped with great difficulty. This was one of the severest defeats the Strathnaver men ever experienced, except at the battle of Knoken-dow-Reywird.

On the release of Mackay from his confinement in the castle of Edinburgh, he was employed in the wars upon the borders, against the English, in which he acquitted himself courageously; and on his return to Strathnaver he submitted himself to the Earl of Sutherland, with whom he lived in peace during the remainder of the earl’s life. But Mackay incurred the just displeasure of the tribe of Slaight-ean-Voir by the committal of two crimes of the deepest dye. Having imbibed a violent affection for the wife of Tormaid-Mac-Iain-Mhoir, the chieftain of that tribe, he, in order to accomplish his object, slew the chief, after which he violated his wife, by whom he had a son called Donald Balloch Mackay. The insulted clan flew to arms; but they were defeated at Durines, by the murderer and adulterer, after a sharp skirmish. Three of the principal men of the tribe who had given themselves up, trusting to Mackay’s clemency, were beheaded.[178]

In the early part of the reign of the unfortunate Queen Mary, during the period of the Reformation in Scotland, the house of Huntly had acquired such an influence in the north and north-east of Scotland, the old Maormorate of Moray, as to be looked upon with suspicion by the government of the day. Moreover the Lords of the Congregation regarded the earl with no friendly feeling as the great leader of the Roman Catholic party in the country, and it was therefore resolved that Mary should make a royal progress northwards, apparently for the purpose of seeing what was the real state of matters, and, if possible, try to overawe the earl, and remind him that he was only a subject. The queen, who, although Huntly was the Catholic leader, appears to have entered into the expedition heartily; and her bastard brother, the Earl of Murray, proceeded, in 1562, northwards, backed by a small army, and on finding the earl fractious, laid siege to the castle of Inverness, which was taken, and the governor hanged. The queen’s army and the followers of Huntly met at the hill of Corrichie, about sixteen miles west of Aberdeen, when the latter were defeated, the earl himself being found among the slain. It was on this occasion that Mary is said to have wished herself a man to be able to ride forth “in jack and knap-skull.” This expedition was the means of effectually breaking the influence of this powerful northern family.

George, Earl of Caithness, who had long borne a mortal hatred to John, Earl of Sutherland, now projected a scheme for cutting him off, as well as his countess, who was big with child, and their only son, Alexander Gordon; the earl and countess were accordingly both poisoned at Helmsdale, while at supper, by Isobel Sinclair, wife of Gilbert Gordon of Gartay, and sister of William Sinclair of Dumbaith, instigated, it is said, by the earl; but their son, Alexander, made a very narrow escape, not having returned in time from a hunting excursion to join his father and mother at supper. On Alexander’s return the earl had become fully aware of the danger of his situation, and he was thus prevented by his father from participating in any part of the supper which remained, and after taking an affectionate and parting farewell, and recommending him to the protection of God and of his dearest friends, he sent him to Dunrobin the same night without his supper. The earl and his lady were carried next morning to Dunrobin, where they died within five days thereafter, in the month of July, 1567, and were buried in the cathedral church at Dornoch. Pretending to cover himself from the imputation of being concerned in this murder, the Earl of Caithness punished some of the earl’s most faithful servants under the colour of avenging his death; but the deceased earl’s friends being determined to obtain justice, apprehended Isobel Sinclair, and sent her to Edinburgh to stand her trial, where, after being tried and condemned, she died on the day appointed for her execution. During all the time of her illness she vented the most dreadful imprecations upon her cousin, the earl, who had induced her to commit the horrid act. Had this woman succeeded in cutting off the earl’s son, her own eldest son, John Gordon, but for the extraordinary circumstances of his death, to be noticed, would have succeeded to the earldom, as he was the next male heir. This youth happening to be in the house when his mother had prepared the poison, became extremely thirsty, and called for a drink. One of his mother’s servants, not aware of the preparation, presented to the youth a portion of the liquid into which the poison had been infused, which he drank. This occasioned his death within two days, a circumstance which, together with the appearances of the body after death, gave a clue to the discovery of his mother’s guilt.[179]

Taking advantage of the calamity which had befallen the house of Sutherland, and the minority of the young earl, now only fifteen years of age, Y-Mackay of Far, who had formed an alliance with the Earl of Caithness, in 1567 invaded the country of Sutherland, wasted the barony of Skibo, entered the town of Dornoch, and, upon the pretence of a quarrel with the Murrays, by whom it was chiefly inhabited, set fire to it, in which outrage he was assisted by the Laird of Duffus. These measures were only preliminary to a design which the Earl of Caithness had formed to get the Earl of Sutherland into his hands, but he had the cunning to conceal his intentions in the meantime, and to instigate Mackay to act as he wished, without appearing to be in any way concerned.

In pursuance of his design upon Alexander, the young Earl of Sutherland, the Earl of Caithness prevailed upon Robert Stuart, bishop of Caithness, to write a letter to the governor of the castle of Skibo, in which the Earl of Sutherland resided, to deliver up the castle to him; a request with which the governor complied. Having taken possession of the castle, the earl carried off the young man into Caithness, and although only fifteen years of age, he got him married to Lady Barbara Sinclair, his daughter, then aged thirty-two years. Y-Mackay was the paramour of this lady, and for continuing the connexion with him she was afterwards divorced by her husband.

The Earl of Caithness having succeeded in his wishes in obtaining possession of the Earl of Sutherland, entered the earl’s country, and took possession of Dunrobin castle, in which he fixed his residence. He also brought the Earl of Sutherland along with him, but he treated him meanly, and he burnt all the papers belonging to the house of Sutherland he could lay his hands on. Cruel and avaricious, he, under the pretence of vindicating the law, for imaginary crimes expelled many of the ancient families in Sutherland from the country, put many of the inhabitants to death, disabled those he banished, in their persons, by new and unheard-of modes of torture, and stripped them of all their wealth. To be suspected of favouring the house of Sutherland, and to be wealthy, were deemed capital crimes by this oppressor.

As the Earl of Sutherland did not live on friendly terms with his wife on account of her licentious connexion with Mackay, and as there appeared no chance of any issue, the Earl of Caithness formed the base design of cutting off the Earl of Sutherland, and marrying William Sinclair, his second son, to Lady Margaret Gordon, the eldest sister of the Earl of Sutherland, whom he had also gotten into his hands, with the view of making William earl of Sutherland. The better to conceal his intentions the Earl of Caithness made a journey south to Edinburgh, and gave the necessary instructions to those in his confidence to despatch the Earl of Sutherland; but some of his trusty friends having received private intelligence of the designs of the Earl of Caithness from some persons who were privy thereto, they instantly set about measures for defeating them by getting possession of the Earl of Sutherland’s person. Accordingly, under cloud of night, they came quietly to the burn of Golspie, in the vicinity of Dunrobin, where, concealing themselves to prevent discovery, they sent Alexander Gordon of Sidderay to the castle, disguised as a pedlar, for the purpose of warning the Earl of Sutherland of the danger of his situation, and devising means of escape. Being made acquainted with the design upon his life, and the plans of his friends for rescuing him, the earl, early the following morning, proposed to the residents in the castle, under whose charge he was, to accompany him on a small excursion in the neighbourhood. This proposal seemed so reasonable in itself, that, although he was perpetually watched by the Earl of Caithness’ servants, and his liberty greatly restrained, they at once agreed; and, going out, the earl being aware of the ambush laid by his friends, led his keepers directly into the snare before they were aware of danger. The earl’s friends thereupon rushed from their hiding-place, and seizing him, conveyed him safely out of the country of Sutherland to Strathbogie. This took place in 1569. As soon as the Earl of Caithness’s retainers heard of the escape of Earl Alexander, they collected a party of men favourable to their interests, and went in hot pursuit of him as far as Port-ne-Coulter; but they found that the earl and his friends had just crossed the ferry.[180]

Shortly after this affair a quarrel ensued between the Monroes and the clan Kenzie, two very powerful Ross-shire clans. Lesley, the celebrated bishop of Ross, had made over to his cousin, the Laird of Balquhain, the right and title of the castle of the Canonry of Ross, together with the castle lands. Notwithstanding this grant, the Regent Murray had given the custody of this castle to Andrew Monroe of Milntown; and to make Lesley bear with the loss, the Regent promised him some of the lands of the Barony of Fintry in Buchan, but on condition that he should cede to Monroe the castle and castle lands of the Canonry; but the untimely and unexpected death of the Regent interrupted this arrangement, and Andrew Monroe did not, of course, obtain the title to the castle and castle lands as he expected. Yet Monroe had the address to obtain permission from the Earl of Lennox during his regency, and afterwards from the Earl of Mar, his successor in that office, to get possession of the castle. The clan Kenzie grudging to see Monroe in possession, and being desirous to get hold of the castle themselves, purchased Lesley’s right, and, by virtue thereof, demanded delivery of the castle. Monroe refused to accede to this demand, on which the clan laid siege to the castle; but Monroe defended it for three years at the expense of many lives on both sides. It was then delivered up to the clan Kenzie under the act of pacification.[181]

No attempt was made by the Earl of Sutherland, during his minority, to recover his possessions from the Earl of Caithness. In the meantime the latter, disappointed and enraged at the escape of his destined prey, vexed and annoyed still farther the partisans of the Sutherland family. In particular, he directed his vengeance against the Murrays, and made William Sutherland of Evelick, brother to the Laird of Duffus, apprehend John Croy-Murray, under the pretence of bringing him to justice. This proceeding roused the indignation of Hugh Murray of Aberscors, who assembled his friends, and made several incursions upon the lands of Evelick, Pronsies, and Riercher. They also laid waste several villages belonging to the Laird of Duffus, from which they carried off some booty, and apprehending a gentleman of the Sutherlands, they detained him as an hostage for the safety of John Croy-Murray. Upon this the Laird of Duffus collected all his kinsmen and friends, together with the Siol-Phaill at Skibo, and proceeded to the town of Dornoch, with the intention of burning it. But the inhabitants, aided by the Murrays, went out to meet the enemy, whom they courageously attacked and overthrew, and pursued to the gates of Skibo. Besides killing several of Duffus’ men they made some prisoners, whom they exchanged for John Croy-Murray. This affair was called the skirmish of Torran-Roy.

The Laird of Duffus, who was father-in-law to the Earl of Caithness, and supported him in all his plans, immediately sent notice of this disaster to the earl, who without delay sent his eldest son, John, Master of Caithness, with a large party of countrymen and friends, including Y-Mackay and his countrymen, to attack the Murrays in Dornoch. They besieged the town and castle, which were both manfully defended by the Murrays and their friends; but the Master of Caithness, favoured by the darkness of the night, set fire to the cathedral, the steeple of which, however, was preserved. After the town had been reduced, the Master of Caithness attacked the castle and the steeple of the church, into which a body of men had thrown themselves, both of which held out for the space of a week, and would probably have resisted much longer, but for the interference of mutual friends of the parties, by whose mediation the Murrays surrendered the castle and the steeple of the church; and, as hostages for the due performance of other conditions, they delivered up Thomas Murray, son of Houcheon Murray of Aberscors, Houcheon Murray, son of Alexander Mac-Sir-Angus, and John Murray, son of Thomas Murray, the brother of John Murray of Aberscors. But the Earl of Caithness refused to ratify the treaty which his son had entered into with the Murrays, and afterwards basely beheaded the three hostages. These occurrences took place in the year 1570.[182]

The Murrays and the other friends of the Sutherland family, no longer able to protect themselves from the vengeance of the Earl of Caithness, dispersed themselves into different countries, there to wait for more favourable times, when they might return to their native soil without danger. The Murrays went to Strathbogie, where Earl Alexander then resided. Hugh Gordon of Drummoy retired to Orkney, where he married a lady named Ursla Tulloch; but he frequently visited his friends in Sutherland, in spite of many snares laid for him by the Earl of Caithness, while secretly going and returning through Caithness. Hugh Gordon’s brothers took refuge with the Murrays at Strathbogie. John Gray of Skibo and his son Gilbert retired to St. Andrews, where their friend Robert, bishop of Caithness, then resided, and Mac-Mhic-Sheumais of Strathully went to Glengarry.

As the alliance of such a powerful and war-like chief as Mackay would have been of great importance to the Sutherland interest, an attempt was made to detach him from the Earl of Caithness. The plan appears to have originated with Hugh Murray of Aberscors, who made repeated visits to Strathbogie, to consult with the Earl of Sutherland and his friends on this subject, and afterwards went into Strathnaver and held a conference with Mackay, whom he prevailed upon to accompany him to Strathbogie. Mackay then entered into an engagement with the Earl of Huntly and the Earl of Sutherland, to assist the latter against the Earl of Caithness, in consideration of which, and on payment of £300 Scots, he obtained from the Earl of Huntly the heritable right and title of the lands of Strathnaver; but Mackay, influenced by Barbara Sinclair, the wife of the Earl of Sutherland, with whom he now publicly cohabited, broke his engagement, and continued to oppress the earl’s followers and dependents.

From some circumstances which have not transpired, the Earl of Caithness became suspicious of his son John, the Master of Caithness, as having, in connection with Mackay, a design upon his life. To put an end to the earl’s suspicion, Mackay advised John to go to Girnigo (Castle Sinclair), and to submit himself to his father’s pleasure, a request with which the Master complied; but, after arriving at Girnigo, he was, while conversing with his father, arrested by a party of armed men, who, upon a secret signal being given by the earl, had rushed in at the chamber door. He was instantly fettered and thrust into prison within the castle, where, after a miserable captivity of seven years, he died, a prey to famine and vermin.

Mackay, who had accompanied the Master to Girnigo, and who in all probability would have shared the same fate, escaped and returned home to Strathnaver, where he died, within four months thereafter, of grief and remorse for the many bad actions of his life. During the minority of his son Houcheon, John Mor-Mackay, the cousin, and John Beg-Mackay, the bastard son of Y-Mackay, took charge of the estate; but John Mor-Mackay was speedily removed from his charge by the Earl of Caithness, who, considering him as a favourer of the Earl of Sutherland, caused him to be apprehended and carried into Caithness, where he was detained in prison till his death. During this time John Robson, the chief of the clan Gun in Caithness and Strathnaver, became a dependent on the Earl of Sutherland, and acted as his factor in collecting the rents and duties of the bishop’s lands within Caithness which belonged to the earl. This connexion was exceedingly disagreeable to the Earl of Caithness, who in consequence took a grudge at John Robson, and, to gratify his spleen, he instigated Houcheon Mackay to lay waste the lands of the clan Gun, in the Brea-Moir, in Caithness, without the knowledge of John Beg-Mackay, his brother. As the clan Gun had always been friendly to the family of Mackay, John Beg-Mackay was greatly exasperated at the conduct of the earl in enticing the young chief to commit such an outrage; but he had it not in his power to make any reparation to the injured clan. John Robson, the chief, however, assisted by Alexander Earl of Sutherland, invaded Strathnaver and made ample retaliation. Meeting the Strathnaver men at a place called Creach-Drumi-Doun, he attacked and defeated them, killing several of them, and chiefly those who had accompanied Houcheon Mackay in his expedition to the Brea-Moir. He then carried off a large quantity of booty, which he divided among the clan Gun of Strathully, who had suffered by Houcheon Mackay’s invasion.[183]

The Earl of Caithness, having resolved to avenge himself on John Beg-Mackay for the displeasure shown by him at the conduct of Houcheon Mackay, and also on the clan Gun, prevailed upon Neill-Mac-Iain-Mac-William, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, and James Mac-Rory, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Mhoir, to attack them. Accordingly, in the month of September, 1579, these two chiefs, with their followers, entered Balnekill in Durines during the night-time, and slew John Beg-Mackay and William Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, the brother of John Robson, and some of their people. The friends of the deceased were not in a condition to retaliate, but they kept up the spirit of revenge so customary in those times, and only waited a favourable opportunity to gratify it. This did not occur till several years thereafter. In the year 1587, James Mac-Rory, “a fyne gentleman and a good commander,” according to Sir Robert Gordon, was assassinated by Donald Balloch-Mackay, the brother of John Beg-Mackay; and two years thereafter John Mackay, the son of John Beg, attacked Neill Mac-Iain-Mac-William, whom he wounded severely, and cut off some of his followers. “This Neill,” says Sir R. Gordon, “heir mentioned, wes a good captain, bold, craftie, of a verie good witt, and quick resolution.”

After the death of John Beg-Mackay, and William Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, a most deadly and inveterate feud followed, between the clan Gun and the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, but no recital of the details has been handed down to us. “The long, the many, the horrible encounters,” observes Sir R. Gordon “which happened between these two trybes, with the bloodshed, and infinit spoills committed in every pairt of the diocy of Catteynes by them and their associats, are of so disordered and troublesome memorie, that, what with their asperous names, together with the confusion of place, tymes, and persons, would yet be (no doubt) a warr to the reader to overlook them; and therefor, to favor myne oune paines, and his who should get little profite or delight thereby, I doe pass them over.”[184]

The clan Chattan, about this time, must have been harassing the surrounding districts to a terrible extent, and causing the government considerable trouble, as in 1583 we find a mandate addressed by King James “to our shirreffs of Kincardin, Abirdene, Banf, Elgen, Fores, Narne, and Invernyss; and to our derrest bruthir, James, Erle of Murray, our lieutenant generale in the north partis of our realme, and to our louittis consingis [ ... ] Erle of Suthirland; John Erle of Cathnes,” &c., &c., commanding them that inasmuch as John M’Kinlay, Thomas Mackinlay, Donald Glass, &c., “throcht assistance and fortifying of all the kin of Clanquhattane duelland within Baienach, Petty, Brauchly, Strathnarne, and other parts thereabout, committs daily fire-raising, slaughter, murder, heirschippis, and wasting of the cuntre,” to the harm of the true lieges, these sheriffs and others shall fall upon the “said Clanquhattane, and invade them to their utter destruction by slaughter, burning, drowning, and other ways; and leave na creature living of that clan, except priests, women, and bairns.” The “women and bairns” they were ordered to take to “some parts of the sea nearest land, quhair ships salbe forsene on our expenses, to sail with them furth of our realme, and land with them in Jesland, Zesland, or Norway; because it were inhumanity to put hands in the blood of women and bairns.” Had this mandate for “stamping out” this troublesome clan been carried out it would certainly have been an effectual cure for many of the disturbances in the Highlands; but we cannot find any record as to what practical result followed the issue of this cruel decree.[185]

In the year 1585 a quarrel took place between Neill Houcheonson, and Donald Neilson, the Laird of Assynt, who had married Houcheon Mackay’s sister. The cause of Donald Neilson was espoused by Houcheon Mackay, and the clan Gun, who came with an army out of Caithness and Strathnaver, to besiege Neill Houcheonson in the isle of Assynt. Neill, who was commander of Assynt, and a follower of the Earl of Sutherland, sent immediate notice to the earl of Mackay’s movements, on receiving which the earl, assembling a body of men, despatched them to Assynt to raise the siege; but Mackay did not wait for their coming, and retreated into Strathnaver. As the Earl of Caithness had sent some of his people to assist Mackay, who was the Earl of Sutherland’s vassal, the latter resolved to punish both, and accordingly made preparations for entering Strathnaver and Caithness with an army. But some mutual friends of the parties interfered to prevent the effusion of blood, by prevailing on the two earls to meet at Elgin, in the presence of the Earl of Huntly and other friends, and get their differences adjusted. A meeting was accordingly held, at which the earls were reconciled. The whole blame of the troubles and commotions which had recently disturbed the peace of Sutherland and Caithness, was thrown upon the clan Gun, who were alleged to have been the chief instigators, and as their restless disposition might give rise to new disorders, it was agreed, at said meeting, to cut them off, and particularly that part of the tribe which dwelt in Caithness, which was chiefly dreaded, for which purpose the Earl of Caithness bound himself to deliver up to the Earl of Sutherland, certain individuals of the clan living in Caithness. To enable him to implement his engagement a resolution was entered into to send two companies of men against those of the clan Gun who dwelt in Caithness and Strathnaver, and to surround them in such a way as to prevent escape. The Earl of Caithness, notwithstanding, sent private notice to the clan of the preparations making against them by Angus Sutherland of Mellary, in Berriedale; but the clan were distrustful of the earl, as they had already received secret intelligence that he had assembled his people together for the purpose of attacking them.

As soon as the Earl of Sutherland could get his men collected he proceeded to march to the territories of the clan Gun; but meeting by chance, on his way, with a party of Strathnaver men, under the command of William Mackay, brother of Houcheon Mackay, carrying off the cattle of James Mac-Rory, a vassal of his own, from Coireceann Loch in the Diri-Meanigh, he rescued and brought back his vassal’s cattle. After this the earl’s party pursued William Mackay and the Strathnaver men during the whole day, and killed one of the principal men of the clan Gun in Strathnaver, called Angus-Roy, with several others of Mackay’s company. This affair was called Latha-Tom-Fraoich, that is, the day of the heather bush. At the end of the pursuit, and towards evening, the pursued party found themselves on the borders of Caithness, where they found the clan Gun assembled in consequence of the rising of the Caithness people who had taken away their cattle.

This accidental meeting of the Strathnaver men and the clan Gun was the means, probably, of saving both from destruction. They immediately entered into an alliance to stand by one another, and to live or die together. Next morning they found themselves placed between two powerful bodies of their enemies. On the one side was the Earl of Sutherland’s party at no great distance, reposing themselves from the fatigues of the preceding day, and on the other were seen advancing the Caithness men, conducted by Henry Sinclair, brother to the laird of Dun, and cousin to the Earl of Caithness. A council of war was immediately held to consult how to act in this emergency, when it was resolved to attack the Caithness men first, as they were far inferior in numbers, which was done by the clan Gun and their allies, who had the advantage of the hill, with great resolution. The former foolishly expended their arrows while at a distance from their opponents; but the clan Gun having husbanded their shot till they came in close contact with the enemy, did great execution. The Caithness men were completely over-thrown, after leaving 140 of their party, with their captain, Henry Sinclair, dead on the field of battle. Had not the darkness of the night favoured their flight, they would have all been destroyed. Henry Sinclair was Mackay’s uncle, and not being aware that he had been in the engagement till he recognised his body among the slain, Mackay felt extremely grieved at the unexpected death of his relative. This skirmish took place at Aldgown, in the year 1586. The Sutherland men having lost sight of Mackay and his party among the hills, immediately before the conflict, returned into their own country with the booty they had recovered, and were not aware of the defeat of the Caithness men till some time after that event.

The Earl of Caithness afterwards confessed that he had no intention of attacking the clan Gun at the time in question; but that his policy was to have allowed them to be closely pressed and pursued by the Sutherland men, and then to have relieved them from the imminent danger they would thereby be placed in, so that they might consider that it was to him they owed their safety, and thus lay them under fresh obligations to him. But the deceitful part he acted proved very disastrous to his people, and the result so exasperated him against the clan Gun, that he hanged John Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, chieftain of the clan Gun, in Caithness, whom he had kept captive for some time.

The result of all these proceedings was another meeting between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness at the hill of Bingrime in Sutherland, which was brought about by the mediation of Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun, who was sent into the north by his nephew, the Earl of Huntly, for that purpose. Here again a new confederacy was formed against the clan Gun in Caithness, who were now maintained and harboured by Mackay. The Earl of Sutherland, on account of the recent defeat of the Caithness men, undertook to attack the clan first. He accordingly directed two bodies to march with all haste against the clan, one of which was commanded by James Mac-Rory and Neill Mac-Iain-Mac-William, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, who were now under the protection of the Earl of Sutherland; and the other by William Sutherland Johnson, George Gordon in Marle, and William Murray in Kinnald, brother of Hugh Murray of Aberscors. Houcheon Mackay, seeing no hopes of maintaining the clan Gun any longer without danger to himself, discharged them from his country, whereupon they made preparations for seeking an asylum in the western isles. But, on their journey thither, they were met near Loch Broom, at a place called Leckmelme, by James Mac-Rory and Neill Mac-Iain-Mac-William, where, after a sharp skirmish, they were overthrown, and the greater part of them killed. Their commander, George Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, brother of John Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, who was hanged by the Earl of Caithness, was severely wounded, and was taken prisoner after an unsuccessful attempt to escape by swimming across a loch close by. After being carried to Dunrobin castle, and presented to the Earl of Sutherland, George Gun was sent by him to the Earl of Caithness, who, though extremely grieved at the misfortune which had happened to the clan Gun, dissembled his vexation, and received the prisoner as if he approved of the Earl of Sutherland’s proceedings against him and his unfortunate people. After a short confinement, George Gun was released from his captivity by the Earl of Caithness, at the entreaty of the Earl of Sutherland, not from any favour to the prisoner himself, or to the earl, whom the Earl of Caithness hated mortally, but with the design of making Gun an instrument of annoyance to some of the Earl of Sutherland’s neighbours. But the Earl of Caithness was disappointed in his object, for George Gun, after his enlargement from prison, always remained faithful to the Earl of Sutherland.[186]

About this time a violent feud arose in the western isles between Angus Macdonald of Kintyre, and Sir Lauchlan Maclean of Duart, in Mull, whose sister Angus had married, which ended in the almost total destruction of the clan Donald and clan Lean. The circumstances which led to this unfortunate dissension were these:—

Donald Gorm Macdonald of Slate, when going on a visit from Slate to his cousin, Angus Macdonald of Kintyre, was forced by contrary winds to land with his party in the island of Jura, which belonged partly to Sir Lauchlan Maclean, and partly to Angus Macdonald. The part of the island where Macdonald of Slate landed belonged to Sir Lauchlan Maclean. No sooner had Macdonald and his company landed, than, by an unlucky coincidence, Macdonald Tearreagh and Houcheon Macgillespic, two of the clan Donald who had lately quarrelled with Donald Gorm, arrived at the same time with a party of men; and, understanding that Donald Gorm was in the island, they secretly took away, by night, a number of cattle belonging to the clan Lean, and immediately put to sea. Their object in doing so was to make the clan Lean believe that Donald Gorm and his party had carried off the cattle, in the hope that the Macleans would attack Donald Gorm, and they were not disappointed. As soon as the lifting of the cattle had been discovered, Sir Lauchlan Maclean assembled his whole forces, and, under the impression that Donald Gorm and his party had committed the spoliation, he attacked them suddenly and unawares, during the night, at a place in the island called Inverchuockwrick, and slew about sixty of the clan Donald. Donald Gorm, having previously gone on board his vessel to pass the night, fortunately escaped.

When Angus Macdonald heard of this “untoward event,” he visited Donald Gorm in Skye for the purpose of consulting with him on the means of obtaining reparation for the loss of his men. On his return homeward to Kintyre, he landed in the Isle of Mull, and, contrary to the advice of Coll Mac-James and Reginald Mac-James, his two brothers, and of Reginald Mac-Coll, his cousin, who wished him to send a messenger to announce the result of his meeting with Donald Gorm, went to the castle of Duart, the principal residence of Sir Lauchlan Maclean in Mull. His two brothers refused to accompany him, and they acted rightly; for, the day after Angus arrived at Duart, he and all his party were perfidiously arrested by Sir Lauchlan Maclean. Reginald Mac-Coll, the cousin of Angus, alone escaped. The Rhinns of Islay at this time belonged to the clan Donald, but they had given the possession of them to the clan Lean for personal services. Sir Lauchlan, thinking the present a favourable opportunity for acquiring an absolute right to this property, offered to release Angus Macdonald, provided he would renounce his right and title to the Rhinns; and, in case of refusal, he threatened to make him end his days in captivity. Angus, being thus in some degree compelled, agreed to the proposed terms, but, before obtaining his liberty, he was forced to give James Macdonald, his eldest son, and Reginald Mac-James, his brother, as hostages, until the deed of conveyance should be delivered to Sir Lauchlan.

It was not, however, the intention of Angus Macdonald to implement this engagement, if he could accomplish the liberation of his son and brother. His cousin had suffered a grievous injury at the hands of Sir Lauchlan Maclean without any just cause of offence, and he himself had, when on a friendly mission, been detained most unjustly as a prisoner, and compelled to promise to surrender into Sir Lauchlan’s hands, by a regular deed, a part of his property. Under these circumstances, his resolution to break the unfair engagement he had come under is not to be wondered at. To accomplish his object he had recourse to a stratagem in which he succeeded, as will be shown in the sequel.

After Maclean had obtained delivery of the two hostages, he made a voyage to Islay to get the engagement completed. He left behind, in the castle of Duart, Reginald Mac-James, one of the hostages, whom he put in fetters, and took the other to accompany him on his voyage. Having arrived in the isle of Islay, he encamped at Eilean-Gorm, a ruinous castle upon the Rhinns of Islay which castle had been lately in the possession of the clan Lean. Angus Macdonald was residing at the time at the house of Mulindry or Mullindhrea, a comfortable and well-furnished residence belonging to him on the island, and to which he invited Sir Lauchlan, under the pretence of affording him better accommodation, and providing him with better provisions than he could obtain in his camp; but Sir Lauchlan, having his suspicions, declined to accept the invitation. “There wes,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “so little trust on either syd, that they did not now meit in friendship or amitie, bot vpon ther owne guard, or rather by messingers, one from another. And true it is (sayeth John Colwin, in his manuscript) that the islanders are, of nature, verie suspicious; full of invention against ther nighbours, by whatsoever way they may get them destroyed. Besyds this, they are bent and eager in taking revenge, that neither have they regaird to persone, tyme, aige, nor cause; and ar generallie so addicted that way (as lykwise are the most pairt of all Highlanders), that therein they surpasse all other people whatsoever.”

Castle Duart.

Sir Lauchlan, however, was thrown off his guard by fair promises, and agreed to pay Macdonald a visit, and accordingly proceeded to Mulindry, accompanied by James Macdonald, his own nephew, and the son of Angus, and 86 of his kinsmen and servants. Maclean and his party, on their arrival, were received by Macdonald with much apparent kindness, and were sumptuously entertained dining the whole day. In the meantime, Macdonald sent notice to all his friends and well-wishers in the island, to come to his house at nine o’clock at night, his design being to seize Maclean and his party. At the usual hour for going to repose, Maclean and his people were lodged in a long-house, which stood by itself, at some distance from the other houses. During the whole day Maclean had always kept James Macdonald, the hostage, within his reach, as a sort of protection to him in case of an attack, and at going to bed he took him along with him. About an hour after Maclean and his people had retired, Angus assembled his men to the number of 300 or 400, and made them surround the house in which Maclean and his company lay. Then, going himself to the door, he called upon Maclean, and told him that he had come to give him his reposing drink, which he had forgotten to offer him before going to bed. Maclean answered that he did not wish to drink at that time; but Macdonald insisted that he should rise and receive the drink, it being, he said, his will that he should do so. The peremptory tone of Macdonald made Maclean at once apprehensive of the danger of his situation, and immediately getting up and placing the boy between his shoulders, prepared to preserve his life as long as he could with the boy, or to sell it as dearly as possible. As soon as the door was forced open, James Macdonald, seeing his father with a naked sword in his hand and a number of his men armed in the same manner, cried aloud for mercy to Maclean, his uncle, which being granted, Sir Lauchlan was immediately removed to a secret chamber, where he remained till next morning. After Maclean had surrendered, Angus Macdonald announced to those within the house, that if they would come without their lives would be spared; but he excepted Macdonald Terreagh and another individual whom he named. The whole, with the exception of these two, having complied, the house was immediately set on fire, and consumed along with Macdonald Terreagh and his companion. The former was one of the clan Donald of the Western Islands, and not only had assisted the clan Lean against his own tribe, but was also the originator, as we have seen, of all these disturbances; and the latter was a near kinsman to Maclean, one of the oldest of the clan, and celebrated for his wisdom and prowess. This affair took place in the month of July, 1586.

MACLEAN.

When the intelligence of the seizure of Sir Lauchlan Maclean reached the Isle of Mull, Allan Maclean, who was the nearest kinsman to Maclean, whose children were then very young, bethought himself of an expedient to obtain the possessions of Sir Lauchlan. In conjunction with his friends, Allan caused a false report to be spread in the island of Islay, that the friends of Maclean had killed Reginald Mac-James, the remaining hostage at Duart in Mull, by means of which he hoped that Angus Macdonald would be moved to kill Sir Lauchlan, and thereby enable him (Allan) to supply his place. But although this device did not succeed, it proved very disastrous to Sir Lauchlan’s friends and followers, who were beheaded in pairs by Coll Mac-James, the brother of Angus Macdonald.

The friends of Sir Lauchlan seeing no hopes of his release, applied to the Earl of Argyle to assist them in a contemplated attempt to rescue him out of the hands of Angus Macdonald; but the earl, perceiving the utter hopelessness of such an attempt with such forces as he and they could command, advised them to complain to King James VI. against Angus Macdonald, for the seizure and detention of their chief. The king immediately directed that Macdonald should be summoned by a herald-at-arms to deliver up Sir Lauchlan into the hands of the Earl of Argyle; but the herald was interrupted in the performance of his duty, not being able to procure shipping for Islay, and was obliged to return home. The Earl of Argyle had then recourse to negotiation with Macdonald, and, after considerable trouble, he prevailed on him to release Sir Lauchlan on certain strict conditions, but not until Reginald Mac-James, the brother of Angus, had been delivered up, and the earl, for performance of the conditions agreed upon, had given his own son, and the son of Macleod of Harris, as hostages. But Maclean, quite regardless of the safety of the hostages, and in open violation of the engagements he had come under, on hearing that Angus Macdonald had gone on a visit to the clan Donald of the glens in Ireland, invaded Isla, which he laid waste, and pursued those who had assisted in his capture.

On his return from Ireland, Angus Macdonald made great preparations for inflicting a just chastisement upon Maclean. Collecting a large body of men, and much shipping, he invaded Mull and Tiree, carrying havoc and destruction along with him, and destroying every human being and every domestic animal, of whatever kind. While Macdonald was committing these ravages in Mull and Tiree, Maclean, instead of opposing him, invaded Kintyre, where he took ample retaliation by wasting and burning a great part of that country. In this manner did these hostile clans continue, for a considerable period, mutually to vex and destroy one another, till they were almost exterminated, root and branch.

In order to strengthen his own power and to weaken that of his antagonist, Sir Lauchlan Maclean attempted to detach John Mac-Iain, of Ardnamurchan, from Angus Macdonald and his party. Mac-Iain had formerly been an unsuccessful suitor for the hand of Maclean’s mother, and Sir Hector now gave him an invitation to visit him in Mull, promising, at the same time, to give him his mother in marriage. Mac-Iain accepted the invitation, and on his arrival in Mull, Maclean prevailed on his mother to marry Mac-Iain, and the nuptials were accordingly celebrated at Torloisk in Mull. No persuasion, however, could induce Mac-Iain to join against his own tribe, towards which, notwithstanding his matrimonial alliance, he entertained the strongest affection. Chagrined at the unexpected refusal of Mac-Iain, Sir Lauchlan resolved to punish his refractory guest by one of those gross infringements of the laws of hospitality which so often marked the hostility of rival clans. During the dead hour of the night he caused the door of Mac-Iain’s bedchamber to be forced open, dragged him from his bed, and from the arms of his wife, and put him in close confinement, after killing eighteen of his followers. After suffering a year’s captivity, he was released and exchanged for Maclean’s son, and the other hostages in Macdonald’s possession.

The dissensions between these two tribes having attracted the attention of government, the rival chiefs were induced, partly by command of the king, and partly by persuasions and fair promises, to come to Edinburgh in the year 1592, for the purpose of having their differences reconciled. On their arrival they were committed prisoners to the castle of Edinburgh, but were soon released and allowed to return home on payment of a small pecuniary fine, “and a shamfull remission,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “granted to either of them.”[187]

In the year 1587, the flames of discord, which had lain dormant for a short time, burst forth between the rival houses of Sutherland and Caithness. In the year 1583, Alexander, Earl of Sutherland, obtained from the Earl of Huntly a grant of the superiority of Strathnaver, and of the heritable sheriffship of Sutherland and Strathnaver, which last was granted in lieu of the lordship of Aboyne. This grant was confirmed by his Majesty in a charter under the great seal, by which Sutherland and Strathnaver were disjoined and dismembered from the sheriffdom of Inverness. As the strength and influence of the Earl of Sutherland were greatly increased by the power and authority with which the superiority of Strathnaver invested him, the Earl of Caithness used the most urgent entreaties with the Earl of Huntly, who was his brother-in-law, to recall the gift of the superiority which he had granted to the Earl of Sutherland, and confer the same on him. The Earl of Huntly gave no decided answer to this application, although he seemed rather to listen with a favourable ear to his brother-in-law’s request. The Earl of Sutherland having been made aware of his rival’s pretensions, and of the reception which he had met with from the Earl of Huntly, immediately notified to Huntly that he would never restore the superiority either to him or to the Earl of Caithness, as the bargain he had made with him had been long finally concluded. The Earl of Huntly was much offended at this notice, but he and the Earl of Sutherland were soon reconciled through the mediation of Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun.

Disappointed in his views of obtaining the superiority in question, the Earl of Caithness seized the first opportunity, which presented itself, of quarrelling with the Earl of Sutherland, and he now thought that a suitable occasion had occurred. George Gordon, a bastard son of Gilbert Gordon of Gartay, having offered many indignities to the Earl of Caithness, the Earl, instead of complaining to the Earl of Sutherland, in whose service this George Gordon was, craved satisfaction and redress from the Earl of Huntly. Huntly very properly desired the Earl of Caithness to lay his complaint before the Earl of Sutherland; but this he declined to do, disdaining to seek redress from Earl Alexander. Encouraged, probably, by the refusal of the Earl of Huntly to interfere, and the stubbornness of the Earl of Caithness to ask redress from his master, George Gordon, who resided in the town of Marle in Strathully, on the borders of Caithness, not satisfied with the indignities which he had formerly shown to the Earl of Caithness, cut off the tails of the earl’s horses as they were passing the river of Helmsdale under the care of his servants, on their journey from Caithness to Edinburgh, and in derision desired the earl’s servants to show him what he had done.

This George Gordon, it would appear, led a very irregular and wicked course of life, and shortly after the occurrence we have just related, a circumstance happened which induced the Earl of Caithness to take redress at his own hands. George Gordon had incurred the displeasure of the Earl of Sutherland by an unlawful connexion with his wife’s sister, and as he had no hopes of regaining the earl’s favour but by renouncing this impure intercourse, he sent Patrick Gordon, his brother, to the Earl of Caithness to endeavour to effect a reconciliation with him, as he could no longer rely upon the protection of his master, the Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of Caithness, who felt an inward satisfaction at hearing of the displeasure of the Earl of Sutherland with George Gordon, dissembled his feelings, and pretended to listen with great favour to the request of Patrick Gordon, in order to throw George Gordon off his guard, while he was in reality meditating his destruction. The ruse succeeded so effectually, that although Gordon received timeous notice, from some friends, of the intentions of the earl to attack him, he reposed in false security upon the promises held out to him, and made no provision for his personal safety. But he was soon undeceived by the appearance of the earl and a body of men, who, in February, 1587, entering Marle under the silence of the night, surrounded his house and required him to surrender, which he refused to do. Having cut his way through his enemies and thrown himself into the river of Helmsdale, which he attempted to swim across, he was slain by a shower of arrows.

The Earl of Sutherland, though he disliked the conduct of George Gordon, was highly incensed at his death, and made great preparations to punish the Earl of Caithness for his attack upon Gordon. The Earl of Caithness in his turn assembled his whole forces, and, being joined by Mackay and the Strathnaver men, together with John, the Master of Orkney, and the Earl of Carrick, brother of Patrick, Earl of Orkney, and some of his countrymen, marched to Helmsdale to meet the Earl of Sutherland. As soon as the latter heard of the advance of the Earl of Caithness, he also proceeded towards Helmsdale, accompanied by Mackintosh, Roderick Mackenzie of Redcastle, Hector Monroe of Contaligh, and Neill Houcheonson, with the men of Assynt. On his arrival at the river of Helmsdale, the Earl of Sutherland found the enemy encamped on the opposite side. Neither party seemed inclined to come to a general engagement, but contented themselves with daily skirmishes, annoying each other with guns and arrows from the opposite banks of the river. The Sutherland men, who were very expert archers, annoyed the Caithness men so much, as to force them to break up their camp on the river side and to remove among the rocks above the village of Easter Helmsdale. Mackay and his countrymen were encamped on the river of Marle, and in order to detach him from the Earl of Caithness, Macintosh crossed that river and had a private conference with him. After reminding him of the friendship which had so long subsisted between his ancestors and the Sutherland family, Macintosh endeavoured to impress upon his mind the danger he incurred by taking up arms against his own superior the Earl of Sutherland, and entreated him, for his own sake, to join the earl; but Mackay remained inflexible.

By the mediation of mutual friends, the two earls agreed to a temporary truce on the 9th of March, 1587, and thus the effusion of human blood was stopped for a short time. As Mackay was the vassal of the Earl of Sutherland, the latter refused to comprehend him in the truce, and insisted upon an unconditional submission, but Mackay obstinately refused to do so, and returned home to his own country, highly chagrined that the Earl of Caithness, for whom he had put his life and estate in jeopardy, should have acceded to the Earl of Sutherland’s request to exclude him from the benefit of the truce. Before the two earls separated they came to a mutual understanding to reduce Mackay to obedience; and that he might not suspect their design, they agreed to meet at Edinburgh for the purpose of concerting the necessary measures together. Accordingly, they held a meeting at the appointed place in the year 1588, and came to the resolution to attack Mackay; and to prevent Mackay from receiving any intelligence of their design, both parties swore to keep the same secret; but the Earl of Caithness, regardless of his oath, immediately sent notice to Mackay of the intended attack, for the purpose of enabling him to meet it. Instead, however, of following the Earl of Caithness’s advice, Mackay, justly dreading his hollow friendship, made haste, by the advice of Macintosh and the Laird of Foulis, to reconcile himself to the Earl of Sutherland, his superior, by an immediate submission. For this purpose he and the earl first met at Inverness, and after conferring together they made another appointment to meet at Elgin, where a perfect and final reconciliation took place in the month of November, 1588.

FOOTNOTES:

[164] Sir Robert Gordon, p. 90.

[165] Sir R. Gordon, p. 92.

[166] Sir R. Gordon, p. 93.

[167] Sir R. Gordon, pp. 96, 97.

[168] Sir R. Gordon, p. 97.

[169] It was this excellent Bishop who built, at his own expense, the beautiful bridge of seven arches on the Dee, near Aberdeen. The Episcopal arms cut on some of the stones are almost as entire as when chiselled by the hands of the sculptor.

[170] Hist. of Scotland, p. 137.

[171] P. 99.

[172] This is the number given by Bishop Lesley, whose account must be preferred to that of Sir R. Gordon, who states it at upwards of 200, as the Bishop lived about a century before Sir Robert.

[173] Sir R. Gordon, p. 100.

[174] Hist., p. 138.

[175] Lesley, p. 184.—Sir R. Gordon, pp. 109, 110.—Shaw’s Moray, pp. 265, 266.

[176] Sir R. Gordon, p. 133.

[177] Lesley, p. 251.

[178] Sir R. Gordon, p. 136.

[179] Sir R. Gordon, p. 147.

[180] Sir R. Gordon, p. 154.

[181] Sir R. Gordon, p. 155.

[182] Sir R. Gordon, p. 156.

[183] Sir R. Gordon, p. 173.

[184] History, p. 174.

[185] See Spalding Club Miscellany, vol. ii. p. 83.

[186] Sir R. Gordon, p. 185.

[187] History, p. 192.

CHAPTER VIII.

A.D. 1588–1601.

KING OF SCOTLAND:—James VI., 1567–1603.

Continued strife between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness—Short Reconciliation—Strife renewed—Fresh Reconciliation—Quarrel between Clan Gun and other tribes—The Earl of Huntly, the Clan Chattan, and others—Death of the “Bonny” Earl of Murray—Consequent excitement—Strife between Huntly and the Clan Chattan—Huntly attainted and treated as a rebel—Argyle sent against him—Battle of Glenlivet—Journey of James VI. to the North—Tumults in Ross—Feud between the Macleans and Macdonalds—Defeat of the Macleans—Dispute between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness—Feud between Macdonald of Slate and Macleod of Harris—Reconciliation.

The truce between the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland having now expired, the latter, accompanied by Mackay, Macintosh, the Laird of Foulis, the Laird of Assynt, and Gille-Calum, Laird of Rasay, entered Caithness with all his forces in the beginning of 1588. In taking this step he was warranted by a commission which he had obtained at court, through the influence of Chancellor Maitland, against the Earl of Caithness for killing George Gordon. The people of Caithness, alarmed at the great force of the earl, fled in all directions on his approach, and he never halted till he reached the strong fort of Girnigo, where he pitched his camp for twelve days. He then penetrated as far as Duncansby, killing several of the country people on his route, and collecting an immense quantity of cattle and goods, so large, indeed, as to exceed all that had been seen together in that country for many years. This invasion had such an effect upon the people of Caithness, that every race, clan, tribe, and family there, vied with one another in offering pledges to the Earl of Sutherland to keep the peace in all time coming. The town of Wick was also pillaged and burnt, but the church was preserved. In the church was found the heart of the Earl of Caithness’s father in a case of lead, which was opened by John Mac-Gille-Calum of Rasay, and the ashes of the heart were thrown by him to the winds.

During the time when these depredations were being committed, the Earl of Caithness shut himself up in the castle of Girnigo; but on learning the disasters which had befallen his country, he desired a cessation of hostilities and a conference with the Earl of Sutherland. As the castle of Girnigo was strongly fortified, and as the Earl of Caithness had made preparations for enduring a long siege, the Earl of Sutherland complied with his request. Both earls ultimately agreed to refer all their differences and disputes to the arbitration of friends, and the Earl of Huntly was chosen by mutual consent to act as umpire or oversman, in the event of a difference of opinion. A second truce was in this way entered into until the decision of the arbiters, when all differences were to cease.[188]

Notwithstanding this engagement, however, the Earl of Caithness soon gave fresh provocation, for before the truce had expired he sent a party of his men to Diri-Chatt in Sutherland, under the command of Kenneth Buy, and his brother Farquhar Buy, chieftains of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair in Caithness, and chief advisers of the Earl of Caithness in his bad actions, and his instruments in oppressing the poor people of Caithness. The Earl of Sutherland lost no time in revenging himself for the depredations committed. At Whitsunday, in the year 1589, he sent 300 men into Caithness, with Alexander Gordon of Kilcalmekill at their head. They penetrated as far as Girnigo, laying the country waste everywhere around them, and striking terror into the hearts of the inhabitants, many of whom, including some of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair, they killed. After spending their fury the party returned to Sutherland with a large booty, and without the loss of a single man.

To retaliate upon the Earl of Sutherland for this inroad, James Sinclair of Markle, brother of the Earl of Caithness, collected an army of 3,000 men, with which he marched into Strathully, in the month of June, 1589. As the Earl of Sutherland had been apprehensive of an attack, he had placed a range of sentinels along the borders of Sutherland, to give notice of the approach of the enemy. Of these, four were stationed in the village of Liribell, which the Caithness men entered in the middle of the day unknown to the sentinels, who, instead of keeping an outlook, were at the time carelessly enjoying themselves within the watch-house. On perceiving the Caithness men about entering the house, they shut themselves up within it; but the house being set on fire, three of them perished, and the fourth, rushing through the flames, escaped with great difficulty, and announced to his countrymen the arrival of the enemy. From Strathully, Sinclair passed forward with his army to a place called Crissalligh, on the height of Strathbroray, and began to drive away some cattle towards Caithness. As the Earl of Sutherland had not yet had sufficient time to collect a sufficient force to oppose Sinclair, he sent in the meantime Houcheon Mackay, who happened to be at Dunrobin with 500 or 600 men, to keep Sinclair in check until a greater force should be assembled. With this body, which was hastily drawn together on the spur of the occasion, Mackay advanced with amazing celerity, and such was the rapidity of his movements, that he most unexpectedly came up with Sinclair not far from Crissalligh, when his army was ranging about without order or military discipline. On coming up, Mackay found John Gordon of Kilcalmekill at the head of a small party skirmishing with the Caithness men, a circumstance which made him instantly resolve, though so far inferior in numbers, to attack Sinclair. Crossing therefore the water, which was between him and the enemy, Mackay and his men rushed upon the army of Sinclair, which they defeated after a long and warm contest. The Caithness men retreated with the loss of their booty and part of their baggage, and were closely pursued by a body of men commanded by John Murray, nick-named the merchant, to a distance of 16 miles.[189]

This defeat, however, did not satisfy the Earl of Sutherland, who, having now assembled an army, entered Caithness with the intention of laying it waste. The earl advanced as far as Corrichoigh, and the Earl of Caithness convened his forces at Spittle, where he lay waiting the arrival of his enemy. The Earl of Huntly, having been made acquainted with the warlike preparations of the two hostile earls, sent, without delay, his uncle, Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun, to mediate between them, and he luckily arrived at the Earl of Sutherland’s head-quarters, at the very instant his army was on its march to meet the Earl of Caithness. By the friendly interference of Sir Patrick, the parties were prevailed upon to desist from their hostile intentions, and to agree to hold an amicable meeting at Elgin, in presence of the Earl of Huntly, to whom they also agreed to refer all their differences. A meeting accordingly took place in the month of November, 1589, at which all disputes were settled, and in order that the reconciliation might be lasting, and that no recourse might again be had to arms, the two earls subscribed a deed, by which they appointed Huntly and his successors hereditary judges, and arbitrators of all disputes or differences, that might thenceforth arise between these two houses.

This reconciliation, however, as it did not obliterate the rancour which existed between the people of these different districts, was but of short duration. The frequent depredations committed by the vassals and retainers of the earls upon the property of one another, led to an exchange of letters and messages between them about the means to be used for repressing these disorders. During this correspondence the Earl of Sutherland became unwell, and, being confined to his bed, the Earl of Caithness, in October, 1590, wrote him a kind letter, which he had scarcely despatched when he most unaccountably entered Sutherland with a hostile force; but he only remained one night in that country, in consequence of receiving intelligence of a meditated attack upon his camp by John Gordon of Kilcalmekill, and Neill Mac-Iain-MacWilliam. A considerable number of the Sutherland men having collected together, they resolved to pursue the Caithness men, who had carried off a large quantity of cattle; but, on coming nearly up with them, an unfortunate difference arose between the Murrays and the Gordons, each contending for the command of the vanguard. The Murrays rested their claim upon their former good services to the house of Sutherland; but the Gordons refusing to admit it, all the Murrays, with the exception of William Murray, brother of the Laird of Palrossie, and John Murray, the merchant, withdrew, and took a station on a hill hard by to witness the combat. This unexpected event seemed to paralyze the Gordons at first; but seeing the Caithness men driving the cattle away before them, and thinking that if they did not attack them they would be accused of cowardice, Patrick Gordon of Gartay, John Gordon of Embo, and John Gordon of Kilcalmekill, after some consultation, resolved to attack the retiring foe without loss of time, and without waiting for the coming up of the Strathnaver men, who were hourly expected. This was a bold and desperate attempt, as the Gordons were only as one to twelve in point of numbers, but they could not brook the idea of being branded as cowards. With such numerical inferiority, and with the sun and wind in their faces to boot, the Sutherland men advanced upon and resolutely attacked the Caithness men near Clyne. In the van of the Caithness army were placed about 1,500 archers, a considerable number of whom were from the Western Isles, under the command of Donald Balloch Mackay of Scourie, who poured a thick shower of arrows upon the men of Sutherland as they advanced, the latter, in return, giving their opponents a similar reception. The combat raged with great fury for a considerable time between these two parties: thrice were the Caithness archers driven back upon their rear, which was in consequence thrown into great disorder, and thrice did they return to the conflict, cheered on and encouraged by their leader; but, though superior in numbers, they could not withstand the firmness and intrepidity of the Sutherland men, who forced them to retire from the field of battle on the approach of night, and to abandon the cattle which had been carried off. The loss in killed and wounded was about equal on both sides; but, with the exception of Nicolas Sutherland, brother of the Laird of Forse, and Angus Mac-Angus-Termat, both belonging to the Caithness party, and John Murray, the merchant, on the Sutherland side, there were no principal persons killed.

Vain as the efforts of the common friends of the rival earls had hitherto been to reconcile them effectually, the Earl of Huntly and others once more attempted an arrangement, and having prevailed upon the parties to meet at Strathbogie, a final agreement was entered into in the month of March, 1591, by which they agreed to bury all bygone differences in oblivion, and to live on terms of amity in all time thereafter.

This fresh reconciliation of the two earls was the means of restoring quiet in their districts for a considerable time, which was partially interrupted in the year 1594, by a quarrel between the clan Gun and some of the other petty tribes. Donald Mac-William-Mac-Henric, Alister Mac-Iain-Mac-Rorie, and others of the clan Gun entered Caithness and attacked Farquhar Buy, one of the captains of the tribe of Siol-Mhic-Imheair, and William Sutherland, alias William Abaraich, the chief favourite of the Earl of Caithness, and the principal plotter against the life of George Gordon, whose death has been already noticed. After a warm skirmish, Farquhar Buy, and William Abaraich, and some of their followers, were slain. To revenge this outrage, the Earl of Caithness sent the same year his brother, James Sinclair of Murkle, with a party of men, against the clan Gun in Strathie, in Strathnaver, who killed seven of that tribe. George Mac-Iain-Mac-Rob, the chief, and Donald Mac-William-Mac-Henric narrowly escaped with their lives.

For the sake of continuity, we have deferred noticing those transactions in the north in which George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, was more immediately concerned, and which led to several bloody conflicts.

The earl, who was a favourite at court, and personally liked by James VI., finding himself in danger from the prevailing faction, retired to his possessions in the north, for the purpose of improving his estates and enjoying domestic quiet. One of his first measures was to erect a castle at Ruthven, in Badenoch, in the neighbourhood of his hunting forests. This gave great offence to Macintosh, the chief of the clan Chattan, and his people, as they considered that the object of its erection was to overawe the clan. Being the earl’s vassals and tenants, they were bound to certain services, among which the furnishing of materials for the building formed a chief part; but, instead of assisting the earl’s people, they at first indirectly and in an underhand manner endeavoured to prevent the workmen from going on with their operations, and afterwards positively refused to furnish the necessaries required for the building. This act of disobedience was the cause of much trouble, which was increased by a quarrel in the year 1590, between the Gordons and the Grants, the occasion of which was as follows. John Grant, the tutor of Ballendalloch, having withheld the rents due to the widow, and endeavoured otherwise to injure her, James Gordon, her nephew, eldest son of Alexander Gordon of Lismore, along with some of his friends, went to Ballendalloch to obtain justice for her. On their arrival, differences were accommodated so far that the tutor paid up all arrears due to the lady, except a trifle, which he insisted, on some ground or other, on retaining. This led to some altercation, in which the servants of both parties took a share, and latterly came to blows; but they were separated, and James Gordon returned home. Judging from what had taken place, that his aunt’s interests would in future be better attended to if under the protection of a husband, he persuaded the brother of Sir Thomas Gordon of Cluny to marry her, which he did. This act so incensed the tutor of Ballendalloch, that he at once showed his displeasure by killing, at the instigation of the laird of Grant, one of John Gordon’s servants. For this the tutor, and such of the Grants as should harbour or assist him, were declared outlaws and rebels, and a commission was granted to the Earl of Huntly to apprehend and bring them to justice, in virtue of which, he besieged the house of Ballendalloch, and took it by force, on the 2d November, 1590; but the tutor effected his escape. Sir John Campbell of Cadell, a despicable tool of the Chancellor Maitland, who had plotted the destruction of the earl and the laird of Grant, now joined in the conspiracy against him, and stirred up the clan Chattan, and Macintosh their chief, to aid the Grants. They also persuaded the Earls of Athol and Murray to assist them against the Earl of Huntly.

As soon as Huntly ascertained that the Grants and clan Chattan, who were his own vassals, had put themselves under the command of these earls, he assembled his followers, and, entering Badenoch, summoned his vassals to appear before him, and deliver up the tutor and his abettors, but none of them came. He then proclaimed and denounced them rebels, and obtained a royal commission to invade and apprehend them. To consult on the best means of defending themselves, the Earls of Murray and Athole, the Dunbars, the clan Chattan, the Grants, and the laird of Cadell, and others of their party met at Forres. In the midst of their deliberations Huntly, who had received early intelligence of the meeting, and had, in consequence, assembled his forces, unexpectedly made his appearance in the neighbourhood of Forres. This sudden advance of Huntly struck terror into the minds of the persons assembled, and the meeting instantly broke up in great confusion. The whole party, with the exception of the Earl of Murray, left the town in great haste, and fled to Tarnoway; the Earl of Huntly, not aware that Murray had remained behind, marching directly to Tarnoway in pursuit of the fugitives. On arriving within sight of the castle into which the flying party had thrown themselves, the earl sent John Gordon, brother of Sir Thomas Gordon of Cluny, with a small body of men to reconnoitre; but approaching too near without due caution, he was shot by one of the Earl of Murray’s servants. As Huntly found the castle well fortified, and as the rebels evacuated it and fled to the mountains, leaving a sufficient force to protect it, he disbanded his men on November 24, 1590, and returned home, whence he proceeded to Edinburgh.

Shortly after his arrival the Earl of Bothwell, who had a design upon the life of Chancellor Maitland, made an attack upon the palace of Holyrood-house under cloud of night, with the view of seizing Maitland; but, having failed in his object, he was forced to flee to the north to avoid the vengeance of the king. The Earl of Huntly, who had been lately reconciled to Maitland, and the Duke of Lennox, were sent in pursuit of Bothwell, but he escaped. Understanding afterwards that he was harboured by the Earl of Murray at Donnibristle, the chancellor, having procured a commission against him from the king in favour of Huntly, again sent him, accompanied by forty gentlemen, to attack the Earl of Murray. When the party had arrived near Donnibristle, the Earl of Huntly sent Captain John Gordon, of Buckie, brother of Gordon of Gight, with a summons to the Earl of Murray, requiring him to surrender himself prisoner; but instead of complying, one of the earl’s servants levelled a piece at the bearer of the despatch, and wounded him mortally. Huntly, therefore, after giving orders to take the Earl of Murray alive if possible, forcibly entered the house; but Sir Thomas Gordon, recollecting the fate of his brother at Tarnoway, and Gordon of Gight, who saw his brother lying mortally wounded before his eyes, entirely disregarded the injunction; and following the earl, who had fled among the rocks on the adjoining sea-shore, slew him. It was this Earl of Murray who was known as the “bonny” earl, and, according to some historians, had impressed the heart of Anne of Denmark, and excited the jealousy of her royal spouse. This at least was the popular notion of his time:—

“He was a braw gallant,

And he played at the gluve;

And the bonny Earl of Murray,

Oh! he was the queen’s love.”

According to one account the house was set on fire, and Murray was discovered, when endeavouring to escape, by a spark which fell on his helmet, and slain by Gordon of Buckie, saying to the latter, who had wounded him in the face, “You have spilt a better face than your awin.”

The Earl of Huntly immediately despatched John Gordon of Buckie to Edinburgh, to lay a statement of the affair before the king and the chancellor. The death of the Earl of Murray would have passed quietly over, as an event of ordinary occurrence in those troublesome times; but, as he was one of the heads of the Protestant party, the Presbyterian ministers gave the matter a religious turn by denouncing the Catholic Earl of Huntly as a murderer, who wished to advance the interests of his church by imbruing his hands in the blood of his Protestant countrymen. The effect of the ministers’ denunciations was a tumult among the people in Edinburgh and other parts of the kingdom, which obliged the king to cancel the commission he had granted to the Earl of Huntly. The spirit of discontent became so violent that Captain John Gordon, who had been left at Inverkeithing for the recovery of his wounds, but who had been afterwards taken prisoner by the Earl of Murray’s friends and carried to Edinburgh, was tried before a jury, and, contrary to law and justice, condemned and executed for having assisted the Earl of Huntly acting under a royal commission. The recklessness and severity of this act were still more atrocious, as Captain Gordon’s wounds were incurable, and he was fast hastening to his grave. John Gordon of Buckie, who was master of the king’s household, was obliged to flee from Edinburgh, and made a narrow escape with his life.

As for the Earl of Huntly, he was summoned, at the instance of the Lord of St. Colme, brother of the deceased Earl of Murray, to stand trial. He accordingly appeared at Edinburgh, and offered to abide the result of a trial by his peers, and in the meantime was committed a prisoner to the castle of Blackness on the 12th of March, 1591, till the peers should assemble to try him. On giving sufficient surety, however, that he would appear and stand trial on receiving six days’ notice to that effect, he was released by the king on the 20th day of the same month.

The clan Chattan, who had never submitted without reluctance to the Earl of Huntly, considered the present aspect of affairs as peculiarly favourable to the design they entertained of shaking off the yoke altogether, and being countenanced and assisted by the Grants, and other friends of the Earl of Murray, made no secret of their intentions. At first the earl sent Allan Macdonald-Dubh, the chief of the clan Cameron, with his tribe, to attack the clan Chattan in Badenoch, and to keep them in due order and subjection. The Camerons, though warmly opposed, succeeded in defeating the clan Chattan, who lost 50 of their men after a sharp skirmish. The earl next despatched Macronald, with some of the Lochaber men, against the Grants in Strathspey, whom he attacked, killed 18 of them, and laid waste the lands of Ballendalloch. After the clan Chattan had recovered from their defeat, they invaded Strathdee and Glenmuck in November 1592. To punish this aggression, the Earl of Huntly collected his forces and entered Pettie, then in possession of the clan Chattan as a fief from the Earls of Murray, and laid waste all the lands of the clan Chattan there, killed many of them, and carried off a large quantity of cattle, which he divided among his army. But in returning from Pettie after disbanding his army, he received the unwelcome intelligence that William Macintosh, son of Lauchlan Macintosh, the chief, with 800 of the clan Chattan, had invaded the lands of Auchindun and Cabberogh. The earl, after desiring the small party which remained with him to follow him as speedily as possible, immediately set off at full speed, accompanied by Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun and 36 horsemen, in quest of Macintosh and his party. Overtaking them before they had left the bounds of Cabberogh, upon the top of a hill called Stapliegate, he attacked them with his small party, and, after a warm skirmish, defeated them, killing about 60 of their men, and wounding William Macintosh and others.

The Earl of Huntly, after thus subduing his enemies in the north, now found himself placed under ban by the government on account of an alleged conspiracy between him and the Earls of Angus and Errol and the crown of Spain, to overturn the State and the Church. The king and his councillors seemed to be satisfied of the innocence of the earls; but the ministers, who considered the reformed religion in Scotland in danger while these Catholic peers were protected and favoured, importuned his majesty to punish them. The king, yielding to necessity and to the intrigues of Queen Elizabeth, forfeited their titles, intending to restore them when a proper opportunity occurred; and, to silence the clamours of the ministers, convoked a parliament, which was held in the end of May, 1594. As few of the peers attended, the ministers, having the commissioners of the burghs on their side, carried everything their own way, and the consequence was, that the three earls were attainted without trial, and their arms were torn in presence of the parliament, according to the custom in such cases.

Having so far succeeded, the ministers, instigated by the Queen of England, now entreated the king to send the Earl of Argyle, a youth of nineteen years of age, in the pay of Queen Elizabeth, with an army against the Catholic earls. The king, still yielding to necessity, complied, and Argyle, having collected a force of about 12,000 men, entered Badenoch and laid siege to the castle of Ruthven, on the 27th of September, 1594. He was accompanied in this expedition by the Earl of Athole, Sir Lauchlan Maclean with some of his islanders, the chief of the Macintoshes, the Laird of Grant, the clan Gregor, Macneil of Barra, with all their friends and dependents, together with the whole of the Campbells, and a variety of others animated by a thirst for plunder or malice towards the Gordons. The castle of Ruthven was so well defended by the clan Pherson, who were the Earl of Huntly’s vassals, that Argyle was obliged to give up the siege. He then marched through Strathspey, and encamped at Drummin, upon the river Avon, on the 2d of October, whence he issued orders to Lord Forbes, the Frasers, the Dunbars, the clan Kenzie, the Irvings, the Ogilvies, the Leslies, and other tribes and clans in the north, to join his standard with all convenient speed.

The earls, against whom this expedition was directed, were by no means dismayed. They knew that although the king was constrained by popular clamour to levy war upon them, he was in secret friendly to them; and they were, moreover, aware that the army of Argyle, who was a youth of no military experience, was a raw and undisciplined militia, and composed, in a great measure, of Catholics, who could not be expected to feel very warmly for the Protestant interest, to support which the expedition was professedly undertaken. The seeds of disaffection, besides, had been already sown in Argyle’s camp by the corruption of the Grants and Campbell of Lochnell.

On hearing of Argyle’s approach, the Earl of Errol immediately collected a select body of about 100 horsemen, being gentlemen, on whose courage and fidelity he could rely, and with these he joined the Earl of Huntly at Strathbogie. The forces of Huntly, after this junction, amounted, it is said, to nearly 1,500 men, almost altogether horsemen, and with this body he advanced to Carnborrow, where the two earls and their chief followers made a solemn vow to conquer or die. Marching from thence, Huntly’s army arrived at Auchindun on the same day that Argyle’s army reached Drummin. At Auchindun, Huntly received intelligence that Argyle was on the eve of descending from the mountains to the lowlands, which induced him, on the following day, to send Captain Thomas Carr and a party of horsemen to reconnoitre the enemy, while he himself advanced with his main army. The reconnoitring party soon fell in, accidentally, with Argyle’s scouts, whom they chased, and some of whom they killed. This occurrence, which was looked upon as a prognostic of victory, so encouraged Huntly and his men, that he resolved to attack the army of Argyle before he should be joined by Lord Forbes, and the forces which were waiting for his appearance in the lowlands. Argyle had now passed Glenlivet, and had reached the banks of a small brook named Altchonlachan.

On the other hand, the Earl of Argyle had no idea that the Earls of Huntly and Errol would attack him with such an inferior force; and he was, therefore, astonished at seeing them approach so near him as they did. Apprehensive that his numerical superiority in foot would be counterbalanced by Huntly’s cavalry, he held a council of war, which advised Argyle to wait till the king, who had promised to appear with a force, should arrive, or, at all events, till he should be joined by the Frasers and Mackenzies from the north, and the Irvings, Forbeses, and Leslies from the lowlands with their horse. This opinion, which was considered judicious by the most experienced of Argyle’s army, was however disregarded by him, and he determined to wait the attack of the enemy; and to encourage his men he pointed out to them the small number of those they had to combat with, and the spoils they might expect after victory. He disposed his army on the declivity of a hill, betwixt Glenlivet and Glenrinnes, in two parallel divisions. The right wing, consisting of the Macleans and Macintoshes, was commanded by Sir Lauchlan Maclean and Macintosh—the left, composed of the Grants, Macneills, and Macgregors, by Grant of Gartinbeg; and the centre, consisting of the Campbells, &c., was commanded by Campbell of Auchinbreck. This vanguard consisted of 4,000 men, one-half of whom carried muskets. The rear of the army, consisting of about 6,000 men, was commanded by Argyle himself. The Earl of Huntly’s vanguard was composed of 300 gentlemen, led by the Earl of Errol, Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun, the laird of Gight, the laird of Bonnitoun, and Captain, afterwards Sir Thomas Carr. The earl himself followed with the remainder of his forces, having the laird of Cluny upon his right hand and the laird of Abergeldy upon his left. Three pieces of field ordnance under the direction of Captain Andrew Gray, afterwards colonel of the English and Scots who served in Bohemia, were placed in front of the vanguard. Before advancing, the Earl of Huntly harangued his little army to encourage them to fight manfully; he told them that they had no alternative before them but victory or death—that they were now to combat, not for their own lives only, but also for the very existence of their families, which would be utterly extinguished if they fell a prey to their enemies.

The position which Argyle occupied on the declivity of the hill gave him a decided advantage over his assailants, who, from the nature of their force, were greatly hampered by the mossy nature of the ground at the foot of the hill, interspersed by pits from which turf had been dug. But, notwithstanding these obstacles, Huntly advanced up the hill with a slow and steady pace. It had been arranged between him and Campbell of Lochnell, who had promised to go over to Huntly as soon as the battle had commenced, that, before charging Argyle with his cavalry, Huntly should fire his artillery at the yellow standard. Campbell bore a mortal enmity at Argyle, as he had murdered his brother, Campbell of Calder, in 1592; and as he was Argyle’s nearest heir, he probably had directed the firing at the yellow standard in the hope of cutting off the earl. Unfortunately for himself, however, Campbell was shot dead at the first fire of the cannon, and upon his fall all his men fled from the field. Macneill of Barra was also slain at the same time.

The Highlanders, who had never before seen field pieces, were thrown into disorder by the cannonade, which being perceived by Huntly, he charged the enemy, and rushing in among them with his horsemen, increased the confusion. The Earl of Errol was directed to attack the right wing of Argyle’s army, commanded by Maclean, but as it occupied a very steep part of the hill, and as Errol was greatly annoyed by thick volleys of shot from above, he was compelled to make a detour, leaving the enemy on his left. But Gordon of Auchindun, disdaining such a prudent course, galloped up the hill with a party of his own followers, and charged Maclean with great impetuosity; but Auchindun’s rashness cost him his life. The fall of Auchindun so exasperated his followers that they set no bounds to their fury; but Maclean received their repeated assaults with firmness, and manœuvred his troops so well as to succeed in cutting off the Earl of Errol, and placing him between his own body and that of Argyle, by whose joint forces he was completely surrounded. At this important crisis, when no hopes of retreat remained, and when Errol and his men were in danger of being cut to pieces, the Earl of Huntly, very fortunately, came up to his assistance and relieved him from his embarrassment. The battle was now renewed and continued for two hours, during which both parties fought with great bravery, “the one,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “for glorie, the other for necessitie.” In the heat of the action the Earl of Huntly had a horse shot under him, and was in imminent danger of his life; but another horse was immediately procured for him. After a hard contest the main body of Argyle’s army began to give way, and retreated towards the rivulet of Altchonlachan; but Maclean still kept the field, and continued to support the falling fortune of the day. At length, finding the contest hopeless, and after losing many of his men, he retired in good order with the small company that still remained about him. Huntly pursued the retiring foe beyond the water of Altchonlachan, when he was prevented from following them farther by the steepness of the hills, so unfavourable to the operations of cavalry. The success of Huntly was mainly owing to the treachery of Lochnell, and of John Grant of Gartinbeg, one of Huntly’s vassals, who, in terms of a concerted plan, retreated with his men as soon as the action began, by which act the centre and the left wing of Argyle’s army were completely broken. On the side of Argyle 500 men were killed besides Macneill of Barra, and Lochnell and Auchinbreck, the two cousins of Argyle. The Earl of Huntly’s loss was comparatively trifling. About 14 gentlemen were slain, including Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun, and the Laird of Gight; and the Earl of Errol and a considerable number of persons were wounded. At the conclusion of the battle the conquerors returned thanks to God on the field for the victory they had achieved. This battle is called by some writers the battle of Glenlivet, and by others the battle of Altchonlachan. Among the trophies found on the field was the ensign belonging to the Earl of Argyle, which was carried with other spoils to Strathbogie, and placed upon the top of the great tower. So certain had Argyle been of success in his enterprise, that he had made out a paper apportioning the lands of the Gordons, the Hays, and all who were suspected to favour them, among the chief officers of his army. This document was found among the baggage which he left behind him on the field of battle.[190]

Although Argyle certainly calculated upon being joined by the king, it seems doubtful if James ever entertained such an intention, for he stopped at Dundee, from which he did not stir till he heard of the result of the battle of Glenlivet. Instigated by the ministers and other enemies of the Earl of Huntly, who became now more exasperated than ever at the unexpected failure of Argyle’s expedition, the king proceeded north to Strathbogie, and in his route he permitted, most unwillingly, the house of Craig in Angus, belonging to Sir John Ogilvie, son of Lord Ogilvie, that of Bagaes in Angus, the property of Sir Walter Lindsay, the house of Culsalmond in Garioch, appertaining to the Laird of Newton-Gordon, the house of Slaines in Buchan, belonging to the Earl of Errol, and the castle of Strathbogie, to be razed to the ground, under the pretext that priests and Jesuits had been harboured in them. In the meantime the Earl of Huntly and his friends retired into Sutherland, where they remained six weeks with Earl Alexander; and on the king’s departure to Strathbogie, Huntly returned, leaving his eldest son George, Lord Gordon, in Sutherland with his aunt, till the return of more peaceable times.

The king left the Duke of Lennox to act as his lieutenant in the north, with whom the two earls held a meeting at Aberdeen, and as their temporary absence from the kingdom might allay the spirit of violence and discontent, which was particularly annoying to his majesty, they agreed to leave the kingdom during the king’s pleasure. After spending sixteen months in travelling through Germany and Flanders, Huntly was recalled, and on his return he, as well as the Earls of Angus and Errol, were restored to their former honours and estates by the parliament, held at Edinburgh in November 1597, and in testimony of his regard for Huntly, the king, two years thereafter, created him a marquis. This signal mark of the royal favour had such an influence upon the clan Chattan, the clan Kenzie, the Grants, Forbeses, Leslies, and other hostile clans and tribes, that they at once submitted themselves to the marquis.

The warlike operations in the north seem, for a time, to have drawn off the attention of the clans from their own feuds; but in the year 1597 a tumult occurred at Loggiewreid in Ross, which had almost put that province and the adjoining country into a flame. The quarrel began between John Mac-Gille-Calum, brother of Gille-Calum, Laird of Rasay, and Alexander Bane, brother of Duncan Bane of Tulloch, in Ross. The Monroes took the side of the Banes, and the Mackenzies aided John Mac-Gille-Calum. In this tumult John Mac-Gille-Calum and John Mac-Murthow-Mac-William, a gentleman of the clan Kenzie, and three persons of that surname, were killed on the one side, and on the other were slain John Monroe of Culcraigie, his brother Houcheon Monroe, and John Monroe Robertson. This occurrence renewed the ancient animosity between the clan Kenzie and the Monroes, and both parties began to assemble their friends for the purpose of attacking one another; but their differences were in some measure happily reconciled by the mediation of common friends.

In the following year the ambition and avarice of Sir Lauchlan Maclean, of whom notice has been already taken, brought him to an untimely end, having been slain in Islay by Sir James Macdonald, his nephew, eldest son of Angus Macdonald of Kintyre. Sir Lauchlan had long had an eye upon the possessions of the clan Ronald in Islay; but having failed in extorting a conveyance thereof from Angus Macdonald in the way before alluded to, he endeavoured, by his credit at court and by bribery or other means, to obtain a grant of these lands from the crown in 1595. At this period Angus Macdonald had become infirm from age, and his son, Sir James Macdonald, was too young to make any effectual resistance to the newly acquired claims of his covetous uncle. After obtaining the gift, Sir Lauchlan collected his people and friends, and invaded Islay, for the purpose of taking possession of the lands which belonged to the clan Donald. Sir James Macdonald, on hearing of his uncle’s landing, collected his friends, and landed in Islay to dispossess Sir Lauchlan of the property. To prevent the effusion of blood, some common friends of the parties interposed, and endeavoured to bring about an adjustment of their differences. They prevailed upon Sir James to agree to resign the half of the island to his uncle during the life of the latter, provided he would acknowledge that he held the same for personal service to the clan Donald in the same manner as Maclean’s progenitors had always held the Rhinns of Islay; and he moreover offered to submit the question to any impartial friends Maclean might choose, under this reasonable condition, that in case they should not agree, his Majesty should decide. But Maclean, contrary to the advice of his best friends, would listen to no proposals short of an absolute surrender of the whole of the island. Sir James therefore resolved to vindicate his right by an appeal to arms, though his force was far inferior to that of Sir Lauchlan. A desperate struggle took place, in which great valour was displayed on both sides. Sir Lauchlan was killed fighting at the head of his men, who were at length compelled to retreat to their boats and vessels. Besides their chief, the Macleans left 80 of their principal men and 200 common soldiers dead on the field of battle. Lauchlan Barroch-Maclean, son of Sir Lauchlan, was dangerously wounded, but escaped. Sir James Macdonald was also so severely wounded that he never fully recovered from his wounds. About 30 of the clan Donald were killed and about 60 wounded. Sir Lauchlan, according to Sir Robert Gordon, had consulted a witch before he undertook this journey into Islay, who advised him, in the first place, not to land upon the island on a Thursday; secondly, that he should not drink of the water of a well near Groynard; and lastly, she told him that one Maclean should be slain at Groynard. “The first he transgressed unwillingly,” says Sir Robert, “being driven into the island of Ila by a tempest upon a Thursday; the second he transgressed negligentlie, haveing drank of that water befor he wes awair; and so he wes killed ther at Groinard, as wes foretold him, bot doubtfullie. Thus endeth all these that doe trust in such kynd of responces, or doe hunt after them!”[191]

On hearing of Maclean’s death and the defeat of his men, the king became so highly incensed against the clan Donald that, finding he had a right to dispose of their possessions both in Kintyre and Islay, he made a grant of them to the Earl of Argyle and the Campbells. This gave rise to a number of bloody conflicts between the Campbells and the clan Donald in the years 1614, -15, and -16, which ended in the ruin of the latter.

The rival houses of Sutherland and Caithness had now lived on friendly terms for some years. After spending about eighteen months at court, and attending a convention of the estates at Edinburgh in July, 1598, John, sixth Earl of Sutherland, went to the Continent, where he remained till the month of September, 1600. The Earl of Caithness, deeming the absence of the Earl of Sutherland a fit opportunity for carrying into effect some designs against him, caused William Mackay to obtain leave from his brother Houcheon Mackay to hunt in the policy of Durines belonging to the Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of Caithness thereupon assembled all his vassals and dependents, and, under the pretence of hunting, made demonstrations for entering Sutherland or Strathnaver. As soon as Mackay was informed of his intentions, he sent a message to the Earl of Caithness, intimating to him that he would not permit him to enter either of these countries, or to cross the marches. The Earl of Caithness returned a haughty answer; but he did not carry his threat of invasion into execution on account of the arrival of the Earl of Sutherland from the Continent. As the Earl of Caithness still continued to threaten an invasion, the Earl of Sutherland collected his forces, in the month of July 1601, to oppose him. Mackay, with his countrymen, soon joined the Earl of Sutherland at Lagan-Gaincamhd in Dirichat, where he was soon also joined by the Monroes under Robert Monroe of Contaligh, and the laird of Assynt with his countrymen.

While the Earl of Sutherland’s force was thus assembling, the Earl of Caithness advanced towards Sutherland with his army. The two armies encamped at the distance of about three miles asunder, near the hill of Bengrime. In expectation of a battle on the morning after their encampment, the Sutherland men took up a position in a plain which lay between the two armies, called Leathad Reidh, than which a more convenient station could not have been selected. But the commodiousness of the plain was not the only reason for making the selection. There had been long a prophetic tradition in these countries that a battle was to be fought on this ground between the inhabitants of Sutherland, assisted by the Strathnaver men, and the men of Caithness; that although the Sutherland men were to be victorious their loss would be great, and that the loss of the Strathnaver men should even be greater, but that the Caithness men should be so completely overthrown that they should not be able, for a considerable length of time, to recover the blow which they were to receive. This superstitious idea made such an impression upon the minds of the men of Sutherland that it was with great difficulty they could be restrained from immediately attacking their enemies.

The Earl of Caithness, daunted by this circumstance, and being diffident of the fidelity of some of his people, whom he had used with great cruelty, sent messengers to the Earl of Sutherland expressing his regret at what had happened, stating that he was provoked to his present measures by the insolence of Mackay, who had repeatedly dared him to the attack, and that, if the Earl of Sutherland would pass over the affair, he would permit him and his army to advance twice as far into Caithness as he had marched into Sutherland. The Earl of Sutherland, on receipt of this offer, called a council of his friends to deliberate upon it. Mackay and some others advised the earl to decline the proposal, and attack the Earl of Caithness; while others of the earl’s advisers thought it neither fit nor reasonable to risk so many lives when such ample satisfaction was offered. A sort of middle course was, therefore, adopted by giving the Earl of Caithness an opportunity to escape if he inclined. The messengers were accordingly sent back with this answer, that if the Earl of Caithness and his army would remain where they lay till sunrise next morning they might be assured of an attack.

When this answer was delivered in the Earl of Caithness’ camp, his men got so alarmed that the earl, with great difficulty, prevented them from running away immediately. He remained on the field all night watching them in person, encouraging them to remain, and making great promises to them if they stood firm. But his entreaties were quite unavailing, for as soon as the morning dawned, on perceiving the approach of the Earl of Sutherland’s army, they fled from the field in the utmost confusion, jostling and overthrowing one another in their flight, and leaving their whole baggage behind them. The Earl of Sutherland resolved to pursue the flying enemy; but, before proceeding on the pursuit, his army collected a quantity of stones which they accumulated into a heap to commemorate the flight of the Caithness men, which heap was called Carn-Teiche, that is, the Flight Cairn.

Not wishing to encounter the Earl of Sutherland under the adverse circumstances which had occurred, the Earl of Caithness, after entering his own territories, sent a message to his pursuer to the effect that having complied with his request in withdrawing his army, he hoped hostile proceedings would cease, and that if the Earl of Sutherland should advance with his army into Caithness, Earl George would not hinder him; but he suggested to him the propriety of appointing some gentlemen on both sides to see the respective armies dissolved. The Earl of Sutherland acceded to this proposal, and sent George Gray of Cuttle, eldest son of Gilbert Gray of Sordell, with a company of resolute men into Caithness to see the army of the Earl of Caithness broken up. The Earl of Caithness, in his turn, despatched Alexander Bane, chief of the Caithness Banes, who witnessed the dismissal of the Earl of Sutherland’s army.[192]

About the period in question, great commotions took place in the north-west isles, in consequence of a quarrel between Donald Gorm Macdonald of Slate, and Sir Roderick Macleod of Harris, arising out of the following circumstances. Donald Gorm Macdonald, who had married the sister of Sir Roderick, instigated by jealousy, had conceived displeasure at her and put her away. Having complained to her brother of the treatment thus received, Sir Roderick sent a message to Macdonald requiring him to take back his wife. Instead of complying with this request, Macdonald brought an action of divorce against her, and having obtained decree therein, married the sister of Kenneth Mackenzie, lord of Kintail. Sir Roderick, who considered himself disgraced and his family dishonoured by such proceedings, assembled all his countrymen and his tribe, the Siol-Thormaid, without delay, and invaded with fire and sword the lands of Macdonald in the isle of Skye, to which he laid claim as his own. Macdonald retaliated by landing in Harris with his forces, which he laid waste, and after killing some of the inhabitants retired with a large booty in cattle. To make amends for this loss, Sir Roderick invaded Uist, which belonged to Macdonald, and despatched his cousin, Donald Glas Macleod, with 40 men, into the interior, to lay the island waste, and to carry off a quantity of goods and cattle, which the inhabitants had placed within the precincts of the church of Killtrynard as a sanctuary. This exploit turned out to be very serious, as Donald Macleod and his party were most unexpectedly attacked in the act of carrying off their prey, by John Mac-Iain-Mhic-Sheumais, a kinsman of Macdonald, at the head of a body of 12 men who had remained in the island, by whom Donald Macleod and the greater part of his men were cut to pieces, and the booty rescued. Sir Roderick, thinking that the force which had attacked his cousin was much greater than it was, retired from the island, intending to return on a future day with a greater force to revenge his loss.

MACLEOD AND MACKENZIE, 71ST AND 78TH.

This odious system of warfare continued till the hostile parties had almost exterminated one another; and to such extremities were they reduced by the ruin and desolation which followed, that they were compelled to eat horses, dogs, cats, and other animals, to preserve a miserable existence. To put an end, if possible, at once to this destructive contest, Macdonald collected all his remaining forces, with the determination of striking a decisive blow at his opponent; and accordingly, in the year 1601, he entered Sir Roderick’s territories with the design of bringing him to battle. Sir Roderick was then in Argyle, soliciting aid and advice from the Earl of Argyle against the clan Donald; but on hearing of the approach of Macdonald, Alexander Macleod, brother of Sir Roderick, resolved to try the result of a battle. Assembling, therefore, all the inhabitants of his brother’s lands, together with the whole tribe of the Siol-Thormaid, and some of the Siol-Thorquill, he encamped close by the hill of Benquhillin, in Skye, resolved to give battle to the clan Donald next morning. Accordingly, on the arrival of morning, an obstinate and deadly fight took place, which lasted the whole day, each side contending with the utmost valour for victory; but at length the clan Donald overthrew their opponents. Alexander Macleod was wounded and taken prisoner, along with Neill-Mac-Alastair-Ruaidh, and 30 others of the choicest men of the Siol-Thormaid. Iain-Mac-Thormaid and Thormaid-Mac-Thormaid, two near kinsmen of Sir Roderick, and several others, were slain.

After this affair, a reconciliation took place between Macdonald and Sir Roderick, at the solicitation of old Angus Macdonald of Kintyre, the laird of Coll, and other friends, when Macdonald delivered up to Sir Roderick the prisoners he had taken at Benquhillin; but although these parties never again showed any open hostility, they brought several actions at law against each other, the one claiming from the other certain parts of his possessions.

FOOTNOTES:

[188] Sir R. Gordon, p. 157.

[189] Sir R. Gordon, p. 199.

[190] Sir R. Gordon, pp. 226, 227, 228, 229.—Shaw’s Moray, pp. 266, 267, 268.

[191] History, p. 238.

[192] Sir Robert Gordon, p. 243.

CHAPTER IX.

A.D. 1602–1613.

KING OF SCOTLAND:— | KING OF GREAT BRITAIN:—
James VI., 1567–1603. | James I., 1603–1625.

Feud between the Colquhouns and Macgregors—Macgregors outlawed—Execution of their Chief—Quarrel between the clan Kenzie and Glengarry—Alister Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir beheaded—Lawless proceedings in Sutherland—Deadly quarrel in Dornoch—Meeting between the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland—Feud between the Murrays and some of the Siol-Thomais—Dissension in Moray among the Dunbars—Quarrel between the Earl of Caithness and the chief of the Mackays—Commotions in Lewis among the Macleods—Invasion of Lewis by Fife adventurers—Compelled to abandon it—Lord Kintail obtains possession of Lewis—Expulsion of Neill Macleod—Quarrel between the Laird of Rasay and Mackenzie of Gairloch—Disturbances in Caithness—Tumults in Caithness on the apprehension of Arthur Smith, a false coiner—Earl of Caithness prosecutes Donald Mackay and others—Dissensions among the clan Cameron.

In the early part of the year 1602 the west of Scotland was thrown into a state of great disorder, in consequence of the renewal of some old quarrels between Colquhoun of Luss, the chief of that surname, and Alexander Macgregor, chief of the clan Gregor. To put an end to these dissensions, Alexander Macgregor left Rannoch, accompanied by about 200 of his kinsmen and friends, entered Lennox, and took up his quarters on the confines of Luss’s territory, where he expected, by the mediation of his friends, to bring matters to an amicable adjustment. As the laird of Luss was suspicious of Macgregor’s real intentions, he assembled all his vassals, with the Buchanans and others, to the number of 300 horse and 500 foot, designing, if the result of the meeting should not turn out according to his expectations and wishes, to cut off Macgregor and his party. But Macgregor, anticipating Colquhon’s intention, was upon his guard, and, by his precautions, defeated the design upon him. A conference was held for the purpose of terminating all differences, but the meeting broke up without any adjustment: Macgregor then proceeded homewards. The laird of Luss, in pursuance of his plan, immediately followed Macgregor with great haste through Glenfreon, in the expectation of coming upon him unawares, and defeating him; but Macgregor, who was on the alert, observed, in due time, the approach of his pursuers, and made his preparations accordingly. He divided his company into two parts, the largest of which he kept under his own command, and placed the other part under the command of John Macgregor, his brother, whom he despatched by a circuitous route, for the purpose of attacking Luss’s party in the rear, when they should least expect to be assailed. This stratagem succeeded, and the result was, that after a keen contest, Luss’s party was completely overthrown, with the loss of 200 men, besides several gentlemen and burgesses of the town of Dumbarton. It is remarkable that of the Macgregors, John, the brother of Alexander, and another person, were the only killed, though some of the party were wounded.

The laird of Luss and his friends sent early notice of their disaster to the king, and by misrepresenting the whole affair to him, and exhibiting to his majesty eleven score bloody shirts, belonging to those of their party who were slain, the king grew exceedingly incensed at the clan Gregor, who had no person about the king to plead their cause, proclaimed them rebels, and interdicted all the lieges from harbouring or having any communication with them. The Earl of Argyle, with the Campbells, was afterwards sent against the proscribed clan, and hunted them through the country. About 60 of the clan made a brave stand at Bentoik against a party of 200 chosen men belonging to the clan Cameron, clan Nab, and clan Ronald, under the command of Robert Campbell, son of the laird of Glenorchy, when Duncan Aberigh, one of the chieftains of the clan Gregor, and his son Duncan, and seven gentlemen of Campbell’s party were killed. But although they made a brave resistance, and killed many of their pursuers, the Macgregors, after many skirmishes and great losses, were at last overcome. Commissions were thereafter sent through the kingdom, for fining those who had harboured any of the clan, and for punishing all persons who had kept up any communication with them, and the fines so levied were given by the king to the Earl of Argyle, as a recompense for his services against the unfortunate Macgregors.

Alexander Macgregor, the chief, after suffering many vicissitudes of fortune, at last surrendered himself to the Earl of Argyle, on condition that he should grant him a safe conduct into England to King James, that he might lay before his majesty a true state of the whole affair from the commencement, and crave the royal mercy; and as a security for his return to Scotland, he delivered up to Argyle thirty of his choicest men as hostages. But no sooner had Macgregor arrived at Berwick on his way to London, than he was basely arrested, brought back by the earl to Edinburgh, and, by his influence, executed along with the thirty hostages. Argyle hoped, by these means, ultimately to annihilate the whole clan; but in this cruel design he was quite disappointed, for the clan speedily increased, and became almost as powerful as before.[193]

While the Highland borders were thus disturbed by the warfare between the Macgregors and the Colquhouns, a commotion happened in the interior of the Highlands, in consequence of a quarrel between the clan Kenzie and the laird of Glengarry, who, according to Sir Robert Gordon, was “unexpert and unskilfull in the lawes of the realme.” From his want of knowledge of the law, the clan Kenzie are said by the same writer to have “easalie intrapped him within the compas thereof,” certainly by no means a difficult matter in those lawless times; they then procured a warrant for citing him to appear before the justiciary court at Edinburgh, which they took good care should not be served upon him personally. Either not knowing of these legal proceedings, or neglecting the summons, Glengarry did not appear at Edinburgh on the day appointed, but went about revenging the slaughter of two of his kinsmen, whom the clan Kenzie had killed after the summons for Glengarry’s appearance had been issued. The consequence was that Glengarry and some of his followers were outlawed. Through the interest of the Earl of Dunfermline, lord chancellor of Scotland, Kenneth Mackenzie, afterwards created Lord Kintail, obtained a commission against Glengarry and his people, which occasioned great trouble and much slaughter. Being assisted by many followers from the neighbouring country, Mackenzie, by virtue of his commission, invaded Glengarry’s territories, which he mercilessly wasted and destroyed with fire and sword. On his return, Mackenzie besieged the castle of Strome, which ultimately surrendered to him. To assist Mackenzie in this expedition, the Earl of Sutherland, in token of the ancient friendship which had subsisted between his family and the Mackenzies, sent 240 well equipped and able men, under the command of John Gordon of Embo. Mackenzie again returned into Glengarry, where he had a skirmish with a party commanded by Glengarry’s eldest son, in which the latter and 60 of his followers were slain. The Mackenzies also suffered some loss on this occasion. At last, after much trouble and bloodshed on both sides, an agreement was entered into, by which Glengarry renounced in favour of Kenneth Mackenzie, the castle of Strome and the adjacent lands.[194]

In the year 1605, the peace of the northern Highlands was somewhat disturbed by one of those atrocious occurrences so common at that time. The chief of the Mackays had a servant named Alastair-Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir. This man having some business to transact in Caithness, went there without the least apprehension of danger, as the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness had settled all their differences. No sooner, however, did the latter hear of Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir’s arrival in Caithness, than he sent Henry Sinclair, his bastard brother, with a party of men to kill him. Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir, being a bold and resolute man, was not openly attacked by Sinclair; but on entering the house where the former had taken up his residence, Sinclair and his party pretended that they had come on a friendly visit to him to enjoy themselves in his company. Not suspecting their hostile intentions, Alister invited them to sit down and drink with him; but scarcely had they taken their seats when they seized Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir, and carried him off prisoner to the Earl of Caithness, who caused him to be beheaded in his own presence, the following day. The fidelity of this unfortunate man to Mackay, his master, during the disputes between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness, was the cause for which he suffered. Mackay, resolved upon getting the earl punished, entered a legal prosecution against him at Edinburgh, but by the mediation of the Marquis of Huntly the suit was quashed.[195]

In July, 1605, a murder was committed in Strathnaver, by Robert Gray of Hopsdale or Ospisdell, the victim being Angus Mac-Kenneth-Mac-Alister, one of the Siol-Mhurchaidh-Rhiabhaich. The circumstances leading to this will illustrate the utterly lawless and insecure state of the Highlands at this time. John Gray of Skibo held the lands of Ardinsh under John, the fifth of that name, Earl of Sutherland, as superior, which lands the grandfather of Angus Mac-Kenneth had in possession from John Mackay, son of Y-Roy-Mackay, who, before the time of this Earl John, possessed some lands in Breachat. When John Gray obtained the grant of Ardinsh from John the fifth, he allowed Kenneth Mac-Alister, the father of Angus Mac-Kenneth, to retain possession thereof, which he continued to do till about the year 1573. About this period a variance arose between John Gray and Hugh Murray of Aberscors, in consequence of some law-suits which they carried on against one another; but they were reconciled by Alexander, Earl of Sutherland, who became bound to pay a sum of money to John Gray, for Hugh Murray, who was in the meantime to get possession of the lands of Ardinsh in security. As John Gray still retained the property and kept Kenneth Mac-Alister in the possession thereof at the old rent, the Murrays took umbrage at him, and prevailed upon the Earl of Sutherland to grant a conveyance of the wadset or mortgage over Ardinsh in favour of Angus Murray, formerly bailie of Dornoch. In the meantime, Kenneth Mac-Alister died, leaving his son, Angus Mac-Kenneth, in possession. Angus Murray having acquired the mortgage, now endeavoured to raise the rent of Ardinsh, but Angus Mac-Kenneth refusing to pay more than his father had paid, was dispossessed, and the lands were let to William Mac-Iain-Mac-Kenneth, cousin of Angus Mac-Kenneth. This proceeding so exasperated Angus that he murdered his cousin William Mac-Kenneth, his wife, and two sons, under cloud of night, and so determined was he that no other person should possess the lands but himself, that he killed no less than nine other persons, who had successively endeavoured to occupy them. No others being disposed to occupy Ardinsh at the risk of their lives, and Angus Murray getting wearied of his possession, resigned his right to Gilbert Gray of Skibo, on the death of John Gray, his father. Gilbert thereafter conveyed the property to Robert Gray of Ospisdell, his second son; but Robert, being disinclined to allow Angus Mac-Kenneth, who had again obtained possession, to continue tenant, he dispossessed him, and let the land to one Finlay Logan, but this new tenant was murdered by Mac-Kenneth in the year 1604. Mac-Kenneth then fled into Strathnaver with a party composed of persons of desperate and reckless passions like himself, with the intention of annoying Robert Gray by their incursions. Gray having ascertained that they were in the parish of Creigh, he immediately attacked them and killed Murdo Mac-Kenneth, the brother of Angus, who made a narrow escape, and again retired into Strathnaver. Angus again returned into Sutherland in May 1605, and, in the absence of Robert Gray, burnt his stable, with some of his cattle, at Ospisdell. Gray then obtained a warrant against Mac-Kenneth, and having procured the assistance of a body of men from John Earl of Sutherland, entered Strathnaver and attacked Mac-Kenneth at the Cruffs of Hoip, and slew him.[196]

The Earl of Caithness, disliking the unquiet state in which he had for some time been forced to remain, made another attempt, in the month of July, 1607, to hunt in Bengrime, without asking permission from the Earl of Sutherland; but he was prevented from accomplishing his purpose by the sudden appearance in Strathully of the latter, attended by his friend Mackay, and a considerable body of their countrymen. Almost the whole of the inhabitants of Dornoch turned out on this occasion, and went to Strathully. During their absence a quarrel ensued in the town between one John Macphaill and three brothers of the name of Pope, in which one of the latter was killed; the circumstances leading to and attending which quarrel were these:—In the year 1585, William Pope, a native of Ross, settled in Sutherland, and being a man of good education, was appointed schoolmaster in Dornoch, and afterwards became its resident minister. He also received another clerical appointment in Caithness, by means of which, and of his other living, he became, in course of time, wealthy. This good success induced two younger brothers, Charles and Thomas, to leave their native country and settle in Sutherland. Thomas was soon made chancellor of Caithness and minister of Rogart. Charles became a notary public and a messenger-at-arms; and having, by his good conduct and agreeable conversation, ingratiated himself with the Earl of Sutherland, was appointed to the office of sheriff-clerk of Sutherland. The brothers soon acquired considerable wealth, which they laid out in the purchase of houses in the town of Dornoch, where they chiefly resided. Many of the inhabitants of the town envied their acquisitions, and took every occasion to insult them as intruders, who had a design, as they supposed, to drive the ancient inhabitants of the place from their possessions. On the occasion in question William and Thomas Pope, along with other ministers, had held a meeting at Dornoch on church affairs, on dissolving which they went to breakfast at an inn. While at breakfast, John Macphaill entered the house, and demanded some liquor from the mistress of the inn, but she refused to give him any, as she knew him to be a troublesome and quarrelsome person. Macphaill, irritated at the refusal, spoke harshly to the woman, and the ministers having made some excuse for her, Macphaill vented his abuse upon them. Being threatened by Thomas Pope, for his insolence, he pushed an arrow with a barbed head, which he held in his hand, into one of Pope’s arms. The parties then separated, but the two Popes being observed walking in the churchyard in the evening, with their swords girt about them, by Macphaill, who looked upon their so arming themselves as a threat, he immediately made the circumstance known to Houcheon Macphaill, his nephew, and one William Murray, all of whom entered the churchyard and assailed the two brothers with the most vituperative abuse. Charles Pope, learning the danger his brothers were in, immediately hastened to the spot, where he found the two parties engaged. Charles attacked Murray, whom he wounded in the face, whereupon Murray instantly killed him. William and Thomas were grievously wounded by Macphaill and his nephew, and left for dead, but they ultimately recovered. Macphaill and his nephew fled to Holland, where they ended their days. After this occurrence, the surviving brothers left Sutherland and went back into their own country. It is only by recording such comparatively unimportant incidents as this, apparently somewhat beneath the dignity of history, that a knowledge of the real state of the Highlands at this time can be conveyed.

Dornoch, showing the Cathedral and the remaining tower of the old Castle.

By the mediation of the Marquis of Huntly, the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland again met at Elgin with their mutual friends, and once more adjusted their differences. On this occasion the Earl of Sutherland was accompanied by large parties of the Gordons, the Frasers, the Dunbars, the clan Kenzie, the Monroes, the clan Chattan, and other friends, which so displeased the Earl of Caithness, who was grieved to see his rival so honourably attended, that he could never afterwards be induced to meet again with the Earl of Sutherland or any of his family.

During the year 1608 a quarrel occurred in Sutherland between Iver Mac-Donald-Mac-Alister, one of the Siol-Thomais, and Alexander Murray in Auchindough. Iver and his eldest son, John, meeting one day with Alexander Murray and his son, Thomas, an altercation took place on some questions in dispute. From words they proceeded to blows, and the result was that John, the son of Iver, and Alexander Murray were killed. Iver then fled into Strathnaver, whither he was followed by Thomas Murray, accompanied by a party of 24 men, to revenge the death of his father. Iver, however, avoided them, and having assembled some friends, he attacked Murray unawares, at the hill of Binchlibrig, and compelled him to flee, after taking five of his men prisoners, whom he released after a captivity of five days. As the chief of the Mackays protected Iver, George Murray of Pulrossie took up the quarrel, and annoyed Iver and his party; but the matter was compromised by Mackay, who paid a sum of money to Pulrossie and Thomas Murray, as a reparation for divers losses they had sustained at Iver’s hands during his outlawry. This compromise was the more readily entered into by Pulrossie, as the Earl of Sutherland was rather favourable to Iver, and was by no means displeased at him for the injuries he did to Pulrossie, who had not acted dutifully towards him. Besides having lost his own son in the quarrel, who was killed by Thomas Murray, Iver was unjustly dealt with in being made the sole object of persecution.[197]

A civil dissension occurred about this time in Moray among the Dunbars, which nearly proved fatal to that family. To understand the origin of this dispute it is necessary to state the circumstances which led to it, and to go back to the period when Patrick Dunbar, sheriff of Moray, and tutor and uncle of Alexander Dunbar of Westfield, was killed, along with the Earl of Murray, at Donnibristle. Alexander did not enjoy his inheritance long, having died at Dunkeld, shortly after the death of his uncle, under circumstances which led to a suspicion that he had been poisoned. As he died without leaving any issue, he was succeeded by Alexander Dunbar, son of the above-mentioned Patrick, by a sister of Robert Dunbar of Burgy. This Alexander was a young man of great promise, and was directed in all his proceedings by his uncle Robert Dunbar of Burgy. Patrick Dunbar of Blery and Kilbuyack and his family, imagining that Robert Dunbar, to whom they bore a grudge, was giving advice to his nephew to their prejudice, conceived a deadly enmity at both, and seized every occasion to annoy the sheriff of Moray and his uncle. An accidental meeting having taken place between Robert Dunbar, brother of Alexander, and William Dunbar, son of Blery, high words were exchanged, and a scuffle ensued, in which William Dunbar received considerable injury in his person. Patrick Dunbar and his sons were so incensed at this occurrence that they took up arms and attacked their chief, Alexander Dunbar, sheriff of Moray, in the town of Forres, where he was shot dead by Robert Dunbar, son of Blery. John Dunbar, sheriff of Moray, who succeeded his brother Alexander, and his brother, Robert Dunbar of Burgy, endeavoured to bring the murderers of his brother to justice; but they failed in consequence of Alexander Dunbar being, at the time of his death, a rebel to the king, having been denounced at the horn for a civil cause. By negotiation, however, this deadly feud was stayed, and a sort of reconciliation effected by the friendly mediation of the Earl of Dunfermline, then Lord Chancellor of Scotland.[198]

In the year 1610 the Earl of Caithness and Houcheon Mackay, chief of the Mackays, had a difference in consequence of the protection given by the latter to a gentleman named John Sutherland, the son of Mackay’s sister. Sutherland lived in Berridale, under the Earl of Caithness, but he was so molested by the earl that he lost all patience, and went about avenging the injuries he had sustained. The earl, therefore, cited him to appear at Edinburgh to answer to certain charges made against him; but not obeying the summons, he was denounced and proclaimed a rebel to the king. Reduced, in consequence, to great extremities, and seeing no remedy by which he could retrieve himself, he became an outlaw, wasted and destroyed the earl’s country, and carried off herds of cattle, which he transported into Strathnaver, the country of his kinsman. The earl thereupon sent a party of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair to attack him, and, after a long search, they found him encamped near the water of Shin in Sutherland. He, however, was aware of their approach before they perceived him, and, taking advantage of this circumstance, attacked them in the act of crossing the water. They were in consequence defeated, leaving several of their party dead on the field.

This disaster exasperated the earl, who resolved to prosecute Mackay and his son, Donald Mackay, for giving succour and protection within their country to John Sutherland, an outlaw. Accordingly, he served both of them with a notice to appear before the Privy Council to answer to the charges he had preferred against them. Mackay at once obeyed the summons, and went to Edinburgh, where he met Sir Robert Gordon, who had come from England for the express purpose of assisting Mackay on the present occasion. The earl, who had grown tired of the troubles which John Sutherland had occasioned in his country, was induced, by the entreaties of friends, to settle matters on the following conditions:—That he should forgive John Sutherland all past injuries, and restore him to his former possessions; that John Sutherland and his brother Donald should be delivered, the one after the other, into the hands of the earl, to be kept prisoners for a certain time; and that Donald Mac-Thomais-Mhoir, one of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, and a follower of John Sutherland in his depredations, should be also delivered up to the earl to be dealt with as to him should seem meet; all of which stipulations were complied with. The earl hanged Donald Mac-Thomais as soon as he was delivered up. John Sutherland was kept a prisoner at Girnigo about twelve months, during which time Donald Mackay made several visits to Earl George for the purpose of getting him released, in which he at last succeeded, besides procuring a discharge to Donald Sutherland, who, in his turn, should have surrendered himself as prisoner on the release of his brother John, but upon the condition that he and his father, Houcheon Mackay, should pass the next following Christmas with the earl at Girnigo. Mackay and his brother William, accordingly, spent their Christmas at Girnigo, but Donald Mackay was prevented by business from attending. The design of the Earl of Caithness in thus favouring Mackay, was to separate him from the interests of the Earl of Sutherland, but he was unsuccessful.

Some years before the events we have just related, a commotion took place in Lewis, occasioned by the pretensions of Torquill Connaldagh of the Cogigh to the possessions of Roderick Macleod of Lewis, his reputed father. Roderick had first married Barbara Stuart, daughter of Lord Methven, by whom he had a son named Torquill-Ire, who, on arriving at manhood, gave proofs of a warlike disposition. Upon the death of Barbara Stuart, Macleod married a daughter of Mackenzie, lord of Kintail, whom he afterwards divorced for adultery with the Breve of Lewis, a sort of judge among the islanders, to whose authority they submitted themselves. Macleod next married a daughter of Maclean, by whom he had two sons, Torquill Dubh and Tormaid.

In sailing from Lewis to Skye, Torquill-Ire, eldest son of Macleod, and 200 men, perished in a great tempest. Torquill Connaldagh, above mentioned, was the fruit of the adulterous connexion between Macleod’s second wife and the Breve, at least Macleod would never acknowledge him as his son. This Torquill being now of age, and having married a sister of Glengarry, took up arms against Macleod, his reputed father, to vindicate his supposed rights as Macleod’s son, being assisted by Tormaid, Ougigh, and Murthow, three of the bastard sons of Macleod. The old man was apprehended and detained four years in captivity, when he was released on condition that he should acknowledge Torquill Connaldagh as his lawful son. Tormaid Ougigh having been slain by Donald Macleod, his brother, another natural son of old Macleod, Torquill Connaldagh, assisted by Murthow Macleod, his reputed bastard brother, took Donald prisoner and carried him to Cogigh, but he escaped and fled to his father in Lewis, who was highly offended at Torquill for seizing his son Donald. Macleod then caused Donald to apprehend Murthow, and having delivered him to his father, he was imprisoned in the castle of Stornoway. As soon as Torquill heard of this occurrence, he went to Stornoway and attacked the fort, which he took, after a short siege, and released Murthow. He then apprehended Roderick Macleod, killed a number of his men, and carried off all the charters and other title-deeds of Lewis, which he gave in custody to the Mackenzies. Torquill had a son named John Macleod, who was in the service of the Marquis of Huntly; he now sent for him, and on his arrival committed to him the charge of the castle of Stornoway in which old Macleod was imprisoned. John Macleod being now master of Lewis, and acknowledged superior thereof, proceeded to expel Rorie-Og and Donald, two of Roderick Macleod’s bastard sons, from the island; but Rorie-Og attacked him in Stornoway, and after killing him, released Roderick Macleod, his father, who possessed the island in peace during the remainder of his life. Torquill Connaldagh, by the assistance of the clan Kenzie, got Donald Macleod into his possession, and executed him at Dingwall.

Stornoway Castle.—From a photograph taken specially for this work.

Upon the death of Roderick Macleod, his son Torquill Dubh succeeded him in Lewis. Taking a grudge at Rorie-Og, his brother, he apprehended him, and sent him to Maclean to be detained in prison; but he escaped out of Maclean’s hands, and afterwards perished in a snow-storm. As Torquill Dubh excluded Torquill Connaldagh from the succession of Lewis, as a bastard, the clan Kenzie formed a design to purchase and conquer Lewis, which they calculated on accomplishing on account of the simplicity of Torquill Connaldagh, who had now no friend to advise with, and from the dissensions which unfortunately existed among the race of the Siol-Torquill. This scheme, moreover, received the aid of a matrimonial alliance between Torquill Connaldagh and the clan, by a marriage between his eldest daughter and Roderick Mackenzie, the lord of Kintail’s brother. The clan did not avow their design openly, but they advanced their enterprise under the pretence of assisting Torquill Connaldagh, who was a descendant of the Kintail family, and they ultimately succeeded in destroying the family of Macleod of Lewis, together with his tribe, the Siol-Torquill, and by the ruin of that family and some neighbouring clans, this ambitious clan made themselves complete masters of Lewis and other places. As Torquill Dubh was the chief obstacle in their way, they formed a conspiracy against his life, which, by the assistance of the Breve, they were enabled to carry out successfully. The Breve, by stratagem, managed to obtain possession of Torquill Dubh and some of his friends, and deliver them to the lord of Kintail, who ordered them to be beheaded, which they accordingly were in July, 1597.

Some gentlemen belonging to Fife, hearing of these disturbances in Lewis, obtained from the king, in 1598, a gift of the island, their professed object being to civilize the inhabitants, their real design, however, being, by means of a colony, to supplant the inhabitants, and drive them from the island. A body of soldiers and artificers of all sorts were sent, with every thing necessary for a plantation, into Lewis, where, on their arrival, they began to erect houses in a convenient situation, and soon completed a small but neat town, in which they took up their quarters. The new settlers were, however, much annoyed in their operations by Neill and Murthow Macleod, the only sons of Roderick Macleod who remained in the island. The speculation proved ruinous to many of the adventurers, who, in consequence of the disasters they met with, lost their estates, and were in the end obliged to quit the island.

In the meantime, Neill Macleod quarrelled with his brother Murthow, for harbouring and maintaining the Breve and such of his tribe as were still alive, who had been the chief instruments in the murder of Torquill Dubh. Neill thereupon apprehended his brother, and some of the clan Mhic-Ghille-Mhoir, all of whom he killed, reserving his brother only alive. When the Fife speculators were informed that Neill had taken Murthow, his brother, prisoner, they sent him a message offering to give him a share of the island, and to assist him in revenging the death of Torquill Dubh, provided he would deliver Murthow into their hands. Neill agreed to this proposal, and having gone thereafter to Edinburgh, he received a pardon from the king for all his past offences.

These proceedings frustrated for a time the designs of the Mackenzies upon the island, and the lord of Kintail almost despaired of obtaining possession by any means. As the new settlers now stood in his way, he resolved to desist from persecuting the Siol-Torquill, and to cross the former in their undertakings, by all the means in his power. He had for some time kept Tormaid Macleod, the lawful brother of Torquill Dubh, a prisoner; but he now released him, thinking that upon his appearance in the Lewis all the islanders would rise in his favour; and he was not deceived in his expectations, for, as Sir Robert Gordon observes, “all these islanders, (and lykwayes the Hielanders,) are, by nature, most bent and prone to adventure themselves, their lyffs, and all they have, for their masters and lords, yea beyond all other people.”[199] In the meantime Murthow Macleod was carried to St. Andrews, and there executed. Having at his execution revealed the designs of the lord of Kintail, the latter was committed, by order of the king, to the castle of Edinburgh, from which, however, he contrived to escape without trial, by means, as is supposed, of the then Lord-Chancellor of Scotland.

On receiving pardon Neill Macleod returned into Lewis with the Fife adventurers; but he had not been long in the island when he quarrelled with them on account of an injury he had received from Sir James Spence of Wormistoun. He therefore abandoned them, and watched a favourable opportunity for attacking them. They then attempted to apprehend him by a stratagem, but only succeeded in bringing disaster upon themselves. Upon hearing of this, the lord of Kintail thought the time was now suitable for him to stir, and accordingly he sent Tormaid Macleod into Lewis, as he had intended, promising him all the assistance in his power if he would attack the Fife settlers.

As soon as Tormaid arrived in the island, his brother Neill and all the natives assembled and acknowledged him as their lord and master. He immediately attacked the camp of the adventurers, which he forced, burnt the fort, killed the greater part of their men, took the commanders prisoners, whom he released, after a captivity of eight months, on their solemn promise not to return again to the island, and on their giving a pledge that they should obtain a pardon from the king for Tormaid and his followers for all past offences. After Tormaid had thus obtained possession of the island, John Mac-Donald-Mac-Houcheon apprehended Torquill Connaldagh, and carried him into Lewis to his brother, Tormaid Macleod. Tormaid inflicted no punishment upon Connaldagh, but merely required from him delivery of the title-deeds of Lewis, and the other papers which he had carried off when he apprehended his father Roderick Macleod. Connaldagh informed him that he had it not in his power to give them up, as he had delivered them to the clan Kenzie, in whose possession they still were. Knowing this to be the fact, Tormaid released Torquill Connaldagh, and allowed him to leave the island, contrary to the advice of all his followers and friends, who were for inflicting the punishment of death upon Torquill, as he had been the occasion of all the miseries and troubles which had befallen them.

The Breve of Lewis soon met with a just punishment for the crime he had committed in betraying and murdering his master, Torquill Dubh Macleod. The Breve and some of his relations had taken refuge in the country of Assynt. John Mac-Donald-Mac-Houcheon, accompanied by four persons, having accidentally entered the house where the Breve and six of his kindred lodged, found themselves unexpectedly in the same room with them. Being of opposite factions, a fight immediately ensued, in the course of which the Breve and his party fled out of the house, but were pursued by John and his men, and the Breve and five of his friends killed.

Although the Fife settlers had engaged not to return again into Lewis, they nevertheless made preparations for invading it, having obtained the king’s commission against Tormaid Macleod and his tribe, the Siol-Torquill. They were aided in this expedition by forces from all the neighbouring counties, and particularly by the Earl of Sutherland, who sent a party of men under the command of William Mac-Mhic-Sheumais, chief of the clan Gun in Sutherland, to assist in subduing Tormaid Macleod. As soon as they had effected a landing in the island with all their forces, they sent a message to Macleod, acquainting him that if he would surrender himself to them, in name of the king, they would transport him safely to London, where his majesty then was; and that, upon his arrival there, they would not only obtain his pardon, but also allow him to deal with the king in behalf of his friends, and for the means of supporting himself. Macleod, afraid to risk his fortune against the numerous forces brought against him, agreed to the terms proposed, contrary to the advice of his brother Neill, who refused to yield. Tormaid was thereupon sent to London, where he took care to give the king full information concerning all the circumstances of his case; he showed his majesty that Lewis was his just inheritance, and that his majesty had been deceived by the Fife adventurers in making him believe that the island was at his disposal, which act of deception had occasioned much trouble and a great loss of blood. He concluded by imploring his majesty to do him justice by restoring him to his rights. Understanding that Macleod’s representations were favourably received by his majesty, the adventurers used all their influence at court to thwart him; and as some of them were the king’s own domestic servants, they at last succeeded so far as to get him to be sent home to Scotland a prisoner in 1605. He remained a captive at Edinburgh till the month of March, 1615, when the king granted him permission to pass into Holland, to Maurice, Prince of Orange, where he ended his days. The settlers soon grew wearied of their new possession, and as all of them had declined in their circumstances in this luckless speculation, and as they were continually annoyed by Neill Macleod, they finally abandoned the island, and returned to Fife to bewail their loss.

Lord Kintail, now no longer disguising his intentions, obtained, through means of the Lord Chancellor, a gift of Lewis, under the great seal, for his own use, in virtue of the old right which Torquill Connaldagh had long before resigned in his favour. Some of the adventurers having complained to the king of this proceeding, his majesty became highly displeased at Kintail, and made him resign his right into his majesty’s hands by means of Lord Balmerino, then Secretary of Scotland, and Lord President of the session; which right his majesty now (1608) vested in the persons of Lord Balmerino, Sir George Hay, afterwards Chancellor of Scotland, and Sir James Spence of Wormistoun. Balmerino, on being convicted of high treason in 1609, lost his share, but Hay and Spence undertook the colonization of Lewis, and accordingly made great preparations for accomplishing their purpose. Being assisted by most of the neighbouring countries, they invaded Lewis for the double object of planting a colony, and of subduing and apprehending Neill Macleod, who now alone defended the island.

On this occasion Lord Kintail played a double part, for while he sent Roderick Mackenzie, his brother, with a party of men openly to assist the new colonists who acted under the king’s commission,—promising them at the same time his friendship, and sending them a vessel from Ross with a supply of provisions,—he privately sent notice to Neill Macleod to intercept the vessel on her way; so that the settlers, being disappointed in the provisions to which they trusted, might abandon the island for want. The case turned out exactly as Lord Kintail anticipated, as Sir George Hay and Sir James Spence abandoned the island, leaving a party of men behind to keep the fort, and disbanded their forces, returning into Fife, intending to have sent a fresh supply of men, with provisions, into the island. But Neill Macleod having, with the assistance of his nephew, Malcolm Macleod, son of Roderick Og, burnt the fort, and apprehended the men who were left behind in the island, whom he sent safely home, the Fife gentlemen abandoned every idea of again taking possession of the island, and sold their right to Lord Kintail. He likewise obtained from the king a grant of the share of the island forfeited by Balmerino, and thus at length acquired what he had so long and anxiously desired.[200]

Lord Kintail lost no time in taking possession of the island,—and all the inhabitants, shortly after his landing, with the exception of Neill Macleod and a few others, submitted to him. Neill, along with his nephews, Malcolm, William, and Roderick, the three sons of Roderick Og, the four sons of Torquill Blair, and thirty others, retired to an impregnable rock in the sea called Berrissay, on the west of Lewis, into which Neill had been accustomed, for some years, to send provisions and other necessary articles to serve him in case of necessity. Neill lived on this rock for three years, Lord Kintail in the meantime dying in 1611. As Macleod could not be attacked in his impregnable position, and as his proximity was a source of annoyance, the clan Kenzie fell on the following expedient to get quit of him. They gathered together the wives and children of those that were in Berrissay, and also all persons in the island related to them by consanguinity or affinity, and having placed them on a rock in the sea, so near Berrissay that they could be heard and seen by Neill and his party, the clan Kenzie vowed that they would suffer the sea to overwhelm them, on the return of the flood-tide, if Neill did not instantly surrender the fort. This appalling spectacle had such an effect upon Macleod and his companions, that they immediately yielded up the rock and left Lewis.

Neill Macleod then retired into Harris, where he remained concealed for a time; but not being able to avoid discovery any longer, he gave himself up to Sir Roderick Macleod of Harris, and entreated him to carry him into England to the king, a request with which Sir Roderick promised to comply. In proceeding on his journey, however, along with Macleod, he was charged at Glasgow, under pain of treason, to deliver up Neill to the privy council. Sir Roderick obeyed the charge, and Neill, with his eldest son Donald, were presented to the privy council at Edinburgh, where Neill was executed in April 1613. His son Donald was banished from the kingdom of Scotland, and immediately went to England, where he remained three years with Sir Robert Gordon, tutor of Sutherland, and from England he afterwards went to Holland, where he died.

After the death of Neill Macleod, Roderick and William, the sons of Roderick Og, were apprehended by Roderick Mackenzie, tutor of Kintail, and executed. Malcolm Macleod, his third son, who was kept a prisoner by Roderick Mackenzie, escaped, and having associated himself with the clan Donald in Islay and Kintyre during their quarrel with the Campbells in 1615–16, he annoyed the clan Kenzie with frequent incursions. Malcolm, thereafter, went to Flanders and Spain, where he remained with Sir James Macdonald. Before going to Spain, he returned from Flanders into Lewis in 1616, where he killed two gentlemen of the clan Kenzie. He returned from Spain in 1620, and the last that is heard of him is in 1626, when commissions of fire and sword were granted to Lord Kintail against “Malcolm Macquari Macleod.”[201]

From the occurrences in Lewis, we now direct the attention of our readers to some proceedings in the isle of Rasay, which ended in bloodshed. The quarrel lay between Gille-Chalum, laird of the island, and Murdo Mackenzie of Gairloch, and the occasion was as follows. The lands of Gairloch originally belonged to the clan Mhic-Ghille-Chalum, the predecessors of the laird of Rasay; and when the Mackenzies began to prosper and to rise, one of them obtained the third part of these lands in mortgage or wadset from the clan Mhic-Ghille-Chalum. In process of time the clan Kenzie, by some means or other, unknown to the proprietor of Gairloch, obtained a right to the whole of these lands, but they did not claim possession of the whole till the death of Torquill Dubh Macleod of Lewis, whom the laird of Rasay and his tribe followed as their superior. But upon the death of Torquill Dubh, the laird of Gairloch took possession of the whole of the lands of Gairloch in virtue of his pretended right, and chased the clan Mhic-Ghille-Chalum from the lands with fire and sword. The clan retaliated in their turn by invading the laird of Gairloch, plundering his lands and committing slaughters. In a skirmish which took place in the year 1610, in which lives were lost on both sides, the laird of Gairloch apprehended John Mac-Alain-Mac-Rory, one of the principal men of the clan; but being desirous to get hold also of John Holmoch-Mac-Rory, another of the chiefs, he sent his son Murdo the following year along with Alexander Bane, the son and heir of Bane of Tulloch in Ross, and some others, to search for and pursue John Holmoch; and as he understood that John Holmoch was in Skye, he hired a ship to carry his son and party thither; but instead of going to Skye, they unfortunately, from some unknown cause, landed in Rasay.

On their arrival in Rasay in August 1611, Gille-Chalum, laird of Rasay, with some of his followers, went on board, and unexpectedly found Murdo Mackenzie in the vessel. After consulting with his men, he resolved to take Mackenzie prisoner, in security for his cousin, John Mac-Alain-Mac-Rory, whom the laird of Gairloch detained in captivity. The party then attempted to seize Mackenzie, but he and his party resisting, a keen conflict took place on board, which continued a considerable time. At last, Murdo Mackenzie, Alexander Bane, and the whole of their party, with the exception of three, were slain. These three fought manfully, killing the laird of Rasay and the whole men who accompanied him on board, and wounding several persons that remained in the two boats. Finding themselves seriously wounded, they took advantage of a favourable wind, and sailed away from the island, but expired on the voyage homewards. From this time the Mackenzies appear to have uninterruptedly held possession of Gairloch.[202]

About the time this occurrence took place, the peace of the north was almost again disturbed in consequence of the conduct of William Mac-Angus-Roy, one of the clan Gun, who, though born in Strathnaver, had become a servant to the Earl of Caithness. This man had done many injuries to the people of Caithness by command of the earl; and the mere displeasure of Earl George at any of his people, was considered by William Mac-Angus as sufficient authority for him to steal and take away their goods and cattle. William got so accustomed to this kind of service, that he began also to steal the cattle and horses of the earl, his master, and, after collecting a large booty in this way, he took his leave. The earl was extremely enraged at his quondam servant for so acting; but, as William Mac-Angus was in possession of a warrant in writing under the earl’s own hand, authorizing him to act as he had done towards the people of Caithness, the earl was afraid to adopt any proceedings against him, or against those who protected and harboured him, before the Privy Council, lest he might produce the warrant which he held from the earl. The confidence which the earl had reposed in him served, however, still more to excite the earl’s indignation.

As William Mac-Angus continued his depredations in other quarters, he was apprehended in the town of Tain, on a charge of cattle-stealing; but he was released by the Monroes, who gave security to the magistrates of the town for his appearance when required, upon due notice being given that he was wanted for trial. On attempting to escape he was re-delivered to the provost and bailies of Tain, by whom he was given up to the Earl of Caithness, who put him in fetters, and imprisoned him within Castle Sinclair (1612). He soon again contrived to escape, and fled into Strathnaver, the Earl of Caithness sending his son, William, Lord Berridale, in pursuit of him. Missing the fugitive, he, in revenge, apprehended a servant of Mackay, called Angus Henriach, without any authority from his majesty, and carried him to Castle Sinclair, where he was put into fetters and closely imprisoned on the pretence that he had assisted William Mac-Angus in effecting his escape. When this occurrence took place, Donald Mackay, son of Houcheon Mackay, the chief, was at Dunrobin castle, and he, on hearing of the apprehension and imprisonment of his father’s servant, could scarcely be made to believe the fact on account of the friendship which had been contracted between his father and the earl the preceding Christmas. But being made sensible thereof, and of the cruel usage which the servant had received, he prevailed on his father to summon the earl and his son to answer to the charge of having apprehended and imprisoned Angus Henriach, a free subject of the king, without a commission. The earl was also charged to present his prisoner before the privy council at Edinburgh in the month of June next following, which he accordingly did; and Angus being tried before the lords and declared innocent, was delivered over to Sir Robert Gordon, who then acted for Mackay.[203]

Castles Sinclair and Girnigo.—From a photograph taken specially for this work.

During the same year (1612) another event occurred in the north, which created considerable uproar and discord in the northern Highlands. A person of the name of Arthur Smith, who resided in Banff, had counterfeited the coin of the realm, in consequence of which he, and a man who had assisted him, fled from Banff into Sutherland, where being apprehended in the year 1599, they were sent by the Countess of Sutherland to the king, who ordered them to be imprisoned in Edinburgh for trial. They were both accordingly tried and condemned, and having confessed to crimes even of a deeper dye, Smith’s accomplice was burnt at the place of execution. Smith himself was reserved for farther trial. By devising a lock of rare and curious workmanship, which took the fancy of the king, he ultimately obtained his release and entered into the service of the Earl of Caithness. His workshop was under the rock of Castle Sinclair, in a quiet retired place called the Gote, and to which there was a secret passage from the earl’s bedchamber. No person was admitted to Smith’s workshop but the earl; and the circumstance of his being often heard working during the night, raised suspicions that some secret work was going on which could not bear the light of day. The mystery was at last disclosed by an inundation of counterfeit coin in Caithness, Orkney, Sutherland, and Ross, which was first detected by Sir Robert Gordon, brother to the Earl of Sutherland, when in Scotland, in the year 1611, and he, on his return to England, made the king acquainted therewith. A commission was granted to Sir Robert to apprehend Smith, and bring him to Edinburgh, but he was so much occupied with other concerns that he intrusted the commission to Donald Mackay, his nephew, and to John Gordon, younger of Embo, whose name was jointly inserted in the commission along with that of Sir Robert. Accordingly, Mackay and Gordon, accompanied by Adam Gordon Georgeson John, Gordon in Broray, and some other Sutherland men, went, in May, 1612, to Strathnaver, and assembling some of the inhabitants, they marched into Caithness next morning, and entered the town of Thurso, where Smith then resided.

After remaining about three hours in the town, the party went to Smith’s house and apprehended him. On searching his house they found a quantity of spurious gold and silver coin. Donald Mackay caused Smith to be put on horseback, and then rode off with him out of the town. To prevent any tumult among the inhabitants, Gordon remained behind with some of his men to show them, if necessary, his Majesty’s commission for apprehending Smith. Scarcely, however, had Mackay left the town, when the town-bell was rung and all the inhabitants assembled. There were present in Thurso at the time, John Sinclair of Stirkage, son of the Earl of Caithness’s brother, James Sinclair, brother of the laird of Dun, James Sinclair of Dyrren, and other friends, on a visit to Lady Berridale. When information was brought them of the apprehension of Smith, Sinclair of Stirkage, transported with rage, swore that he would not allow any man, no matter whose commission he held, to carry away his uncle’s servant in his uncle’s absence. A furious onset was made upon Gordon, but his men withstood it bravely, and after a warm contest, the inhabitants were defeated with some loss, and obliged to retire to the centre of the town. Donald Mackay hearing of the tumult, returned to the town to aid Gordon, but the affair was over before he arrived, Sinclair of Stirkage having been killed. To prevent the possibility of the escape or rescue of Smith, he was killed by the Strathnaver men as soon as they heard of the tumult in the town.

The Earl of Caithness resolved to prosecute Donald Mackay, John Gordon, younger of Embo, with their followers, for the slaughter of Sinclair of Stirkage, and the mutilation of James Sinclair, brother of the laird of Dun, and summoned them, accordingly, to appear at Edinburgh. On the other hand, Sir Robert Gordon and Donald Mackay prosecuted the Earl of Caithness and his son, Lord Berridale, with several other of their countrymen, for resisting the king’s commission, attacking the commissioners, and apprehending Angus Henriach, without a commission, which was declared treason by the laws. The Earl of Caithness endeavoured to make the Privy Council believe that the affair at Thurso arose out of a premeditated design against him, and that Sir Robert Gordon’s intention in obtaining a commission against Arthur Smith was, under the cloak of its authority, to find means to slay him and his brethren; and that, in pursuance of his plan, Sir Robert had, a little before the skirmish in Thurso, caused the earl to be denounced and proclaimed as a rebel to the king, and had lain in wait to kill him; Sir Robert, however, showed the utter groundlessness of these charges to the Lords of the Council.

On the day appointed for appearance, the parties met at Edinburgh, attended by their respective friends. The Earl of Caithness and his son, Lord Berridale, were accompanied by the Lord Gray, the laird of Roslin, the laird of Cowdenknowes, a son of the sister of the Earl of Caithness, and the lairds of Murkle and Greenland, brothers of the earl, along with a large retinue of subordinate attendants. Sir Robert Gordon and Donald Mackay were attended by the Earl of Winton and his brother, the Earl of Eglinton, with all their followers, the Earl of Linlithgow, with the Livingstones, Lord Elphinston, with his friends, Lord Forbes, with his friends, the Drummonds, Sir John Stuart, captain of Dumbarton, and bastard son of the Duke of Lennox; Lord Balfour, the laird of Lairg Mackay in Galloway; the laird of Foulis, with the Monroes, the laird of Duffus, some of the Gordons, as Sir Alexander Gordon, brother of the Earl of Sutherland, Cluny, Lesmoir, Buckie, Knokespock, with other gentlemen of respectability. The absence of the Earl of Sutherland and Houcheon Mackay mortified the Earl of Caithness, who could not conceal his displeasure at being so much overmatched in the respectability and number of attendants by seconds and children, as he was pleased to call his adversaries.

According to the usual practice on such occasions, the parties were accompanied by their respective friends, from their lodgings, to the house where the council was sitting; but few were admitted within. The council spent three days in hearing the parties and deliberating upon the matters brought before them, but they came to no conclusion, and adjourned their proceedings till the king’s pleasure should be known. In the meantime the parties, at the entreaty of the Lords of the Council, entered into recognizances to keep the peace, in time coming, towards each other, which extended not only to their kinsmen, but also to their friends and dependants.

The king, after fully considering the state of affairs between the rival parties, and judging that if the law were allowed to take its course the peace of the northern countries might be disturbed by the earls and their numerous followers, proposed to the Lords of the Privy Council to endeavour to prevail upon them to submit their differences to the arbitration of mutual friends. Accordingly, after a good deal of entreaty and reasoning, the parties were persuaded to agree to the proposed measure. A deed of submission was then subscribed by the Earl of Caithness and William, Lord Berridale, on the one part, and by Sir Robert Gordon and Donald Mackay on the other part, taking burden on them for the Earl of Sutherland and Mackay. The arbiters appointed by Sir Robert Gordon were the Earl of Kinghorn, the Master of Elphinston, the Earl of Haddington, afterwards Lord Privy Seal of Scotland, and Sir Alexander Drummond of Meidhop. The Archbishop of Glasgow, Sir John Preston, Lord President of the Council, Lord Blantyre, and Sir William Oliphant, Lord Advocate, were named by the Earl of Caithness. The Earl of Dunfermline, Lord-Chancellor of Scotland, was chosen oversman and umpire by both parties. As the arbiters had then no time to hear the parties, or to enter upon the consideration of the matters submitted to them, they appointed them to return to Edinburgh in the month of May, 1613.

At the appointed time, the Earl of Caithness and his brother, Sir John Sinclair of Greenland, came to Edinburgh, Sir Robert Gordon arriving at the same time from England. The arbiters, however, who were all members of the Privy Council, being much occupied with state affairs, did not go into the matter, but made the parties subscribe a new deed of submission, under which they gave authority to the Marquis of Huntly, by whose friendly offices the differences between the two houses had formerly been so often adjusted, to act in the matter by endeavouring to bring about a fresh reconciliation. As the marquis was the cousin-german of the Earl of Sutherland, and brother-in-law of the Earl of Caithness, who had married his sister, the council thought him the most likely person to be intrusted with such an important negotiation. The marquis, however, finding the parties obstinate, and determined not to yield a single point of their respective claims and pretensions, declined to act farther in the matter, and remitted the whole affair back to the Privy Council.

During the year 1613 the peace of Lochaber was disturbed by dissensions among the clan Cameron. The Earl of Argyle, reviving an old claim acquired in the reign of James V., by Colin, the third earl, endeavoured to obtain possession of the lands of Lochiel, mainly to weaken the influence of his rival the Marquis of Huntly, to whose party the clan Cameron were attached. Legal proceedings were instituted by the earl against Allan Cameron of Lochiel, who, hastening to Edinburgh, was there advised by Argyle to submit the matter to arbiters. The decision was in favour of the earl, from whom Lochiel consented to hold his lands as a vassal. This, of course, highly incensed the Marquis of Huntly, who resolved to endeavour to effect the ruin of his quondam vassal by fomenting dissensions among the clan Cameron, inducing the Camerons of Erracht, Kinlochiel, and Glennevis to become his immediate vassals in those lands which Lochiel had hitherto held from the family of Huntly. Lochiel, failing to induce his kinsmen to renew their allegiance to him, again went to Edinburgh to consult his lawyers as to the course which he ought to pursue. While there, he heard of a conspiracy by the opposite faction against his life, which induced him to hasten home, sending word privately to his friends—the Camerons of Callart, Strone, Letterfinlay, and others—to meet him on the day appointed for the assembling of his opponents, near the spot where the latter were to meet.

On arriving at the appointed rendezvous, Lochiel placed in ambush all his followers but six, with whom he advanced towards his enemies, informing them that he wished to have a conference with them. The hostile faction, thinking this a favourable opportunity for accomplishing their design, pursued the chief, who, when he had led them fairly into the midst of his ambushed followers, gave the signal for their slaughter. Twenty of their principal men were killed, and eight taken prisoners, Lochiel allowing the rest to escape. Lochiel and his followers were by the Privy Council outlawed, and a commission of fire and sword granted to the Marquis of Huntly and the Gordons, for their pursuit and apprehension. The division of the clan Cameron which supported Lochiel continued for several years in a state of outlawry, but, through the influence of the Earl of Argyle, appears not to have suffered extremely.[204]

FOOTNOTES:

[193] Sir R. Gordon, p. 247.

[194] Sir R. Gordon, p. 248.

[195] Sir R. Gordon, p. 253.

[196] Sir R. Gordon, p. 254.

[197] Sir R. Gordon, p. 259.

[198] Sir R. Gordon, p. 261.

[199] History, p. 271.

[200] Gordon, p. 274; Gregory’s Western Highlands, p. 334.

[201] Gregory, p. 337.

[202] Sir Robert Gordon, p. 278.

[203] Sir R. Gordon, p. 281.

[204] Gregory’s Western Highlands, p. 342.

CHAPTER X.

A.D. 1613–1623.

KING OF GREAT BRITAIN:—James I., 1603–1625.

Continued animosity between the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland—The latter imprisoned as a suspected Catholic—Formidable Rebellion in the South Hebrides—Suppressed by the Earl of Argyle—Fresh intrigues of the Earl of Caithness—His oppressions—Burning of the corn at Sanset—Legal proceedings against the Guns—Agreement between the Earl of Caithness, Sir Robert Gordon, and Lord Forbes—Lord Berridale imprisoned—Conditions of release—Put in possession of the family Estates—Alliance between the Earl of Caithness and Sir Donald Mackay—Sir Robert Gordon protects the clan Gun—Mackay’s attempts against the Clan—Mackay and Sir Robert Gordon reconciled—Quarrel between the Earl of Enzie and the clan Chattan—Slaughter of Thomas Lindsay—Hostile preparations against the Earl of Caithness—Expedition into Caithness—Flight of the Earl—Reduction and pacification of Caithness.

As the Privy Council showed no inclination to decide the questions submitted to them by the Earl of Caithness and his adversaries, the earl sent his brother, Sir John Sinclair of Greenland, to Edinburgh, to complain of the delay which had taken place, and desired him to throw out hints, that if the earl did not obtain satisfaction for his supposed injuries, he would take redress at his own hands. The earl thought that he would succeed, by such a threat, in moving the council to decide in his favour, for he was well aware that he was unable to carry it into execution. To give some appearance of an intention to enforce it, he, in the month of October, 1613, while the Earl of Sutherland, his brothers and nephews, were absent from the country, made a demonstration of invading Sutherland or Strathnaver, by collecting his forces at a particular point, and bringing thither some pieces of ordnance from Castle Sinclair. The Earl of Sutherland, having arrived in Sutherland while the Earl of Caithness was thus employed, immediately assembled some of his countrymen, and, along with his brother Sir Alexander, went to the marches between Sutherland and Caithness, near the height of Strathully, where they waited the approach of the Earl of Caithness. Here they were joined by Mackay, who had given notice of the Earl of Caithness’s movements to the lairds of Foulis, Balnagown, and Assynt, the sheriff of Cromarty, and the tutor of Kintail, all of whom prepared themselves to assist the Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of Caithness, however, by advice of his brother, Sir John Sinclair, returned home and disbanded his force.

To prevent the Earl of Caithness from attempting any farther interference with the Privy Council, either in the way of intrigue or intimidation, Sir Robert Gordon obtained a remission and pardon from the king, in the month of December, 1613, to his nephew, Donald Mackay, John Gordon, younger of Embo, John Gordon in Broray, Adam Gordon Georgeson, and their accomplices, for the slaughter of John Sinclair of Stirkage at Thurso. However, Sir Gideon Murray, Deputy Treasurer for Scotland, contrived to prevent the pardon passing through the seals till the beginning of the year 1616.

The Earl of Caithness, being thus baffled in his designs against the Earl of Sutherland and his friends, fell upon a device which never failed to succeed in times of religious intolerance and persecution. Unfortunately for mankind and for the interests of Christianity, the principles of religious toleration, involving the inalienable right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience, have been till of late but little understood, and at the period in question, and for upwards of one hundred and sixty years thereafter, the statute book of Scotland was disgraced by penal enactments against the Catholics, almost unparalleled for their sanguinary atrocity. By an act of the first parliament of James VI., any Catholic who assisted at the offices of his religion was, “for the first fault,” that is, for following the dictates of his conscience, to suffer confiscation of all his goods, movable and immovable, personal and real; for the second, banishment; and death for the third fault! But the law was not confined to overt acts only—the mere suspicion of being a Catholic placed the suspected person out of the pale and protection of the law; for if, on being warned by the bishops and ministers, he did not recant and give confession of his faith according to the approved form, he was excommunicated, and declared infamous and incapable to sit or stand in judgment, pursue or bear office.[205]

Under this last-mentioned law the Earl of Caithness now sought to gratify his vengeance against the Earl of Sutherland. Having represented to the Archbishop of St. Andrews and the clergy of Scotland that the Earl of Sutherland was at heart a Catholic, he prevailed upon the bishops—with little difficulty, it is supposed—to acquaint the king thereof. His majesty thereupon issued a warrant against the Earl of Sutherland, who was in consequence apprehended and imprisoned at St. Andrews. The earl applied to the bishops for a month’s delay, till the 15th February, 1614, promising that before that time he would either give the church satisfaction or surrender himself; but his application was refused by the high commission of Scotland. Sir Alexander Gordon, the brother of the earl, being then in Edinburgh, immediately gave notice to his brother, Sir Robert Gordon, who was at the time in London, of the proceedings against their brother, the earl. Sir Robert having applied to his majesty for the release of the earl for a time, that he might make up his mind on the subject of religion, and look after his affairs in the north, his majesty granted a warrant for his liberation till the month of August following. On the expiration of the time, he returned to his confinement at St. Andrews, from which he was removed, on his own application, to the abbey of Holyrood house, where he remained till the month of March, 1615, when he obtained leave to go home, “having,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “in some measure satisfied the church concerning his religion.”

The Earl of Caithness, thus again defeated in his views, tried, as a dernier ressort, to disjoin the families of Sutherland and Mackay. Sometimes he attempted to prevail upon the Marquis of Huntly to persuade the Earl of Sutherland and his brothers to come to an arrangement altogether independent of Mackay; and at other times he endeavoured to persuade Mackay, by holding out certain inducements to him, to compromise their differences without including the Earl of Sutherland in the arrangement; but he completely failed in these attempts.[206]

In 1614–15 a formidable rebellion broke out in the South Hebrides, arising from the efforts made by the clan Donald of Islay to retain that island in their possession. The castle of Dunyveg in Islay, which, for three years previous to 1614, had been in possession of the Bishop of the Isles, having been taken by Angus Oig, younger brother of Sir James Macdonald of Islay, from Ranald Oig, who had surprised it, the former refused to restore it to the bishop. The Privy Council took the matter in hand, and, having accepted from John Campbell of Calder an offer of a feu-duty or perpetual rent for Islay, they prevailed on him to accept a commission against Angus Oig and his followers. The clan Donald, who viewed with suspicion the growing power of the Campbells, looked upon this project with much dislike, and treated certain hostages left by the bishop with great severity. Even the bishop remonstrated against making “the name of Campbell greater in the Isles than they are already,” thinking it neither good nor profitable to his majesty, “to root out one pestiferous clan, and plant in another little better.” The remonstrance of the bishop and an offer made to put matters right by Sir James Macdonald, who was then imprisoned in Edinburgh castle, were alike unheeded, and Campbell of Calder received his commission of Lieutenandry against Angus Oig Macdonald, Coll Mac-Gillespic, and the other rebels of Islay. A free pardon was offered to all who were not concerned in the taking of the castle, and a remission to Angus Oig, provided he gave up the castle, the hostages, and two associates of his own rank.

While Campbell was collecting his forces, and certain auxiliary troops from Ireland were preparing to embark, the chancellor of Scotland, the Earl of Dunfermline, by means of a Ross-shire man, named George Graham of Eryne, prevailed on Angus Oig to release the bishop’s hostages, and deliver up to Graham the castle, in behalf of the chancellor. Graham re-delivered the castle to Angus, to be held by him as the regular constable, until he should receive further order from the chancellor, and at the same time assured Angus of the chancellor’s countenance and protection, enjoining him to resist all efforts on the part of Campbell or his friends to eject him. These injunctions Graham’s dupes too readily followed. “There can be no doubt whatever that the chancellor was the author of this notable plan to procure the liberation of the hostages, and at the same time to deprive the clan Donald of the benefit of the pardon promised to them on this account. There are grounds for a suspicion that the chancellor himself desired to obtain Islay; although it is probable that he wished to avoid the odium attendant on the more violent measures required to render such an acquisition available. He, therefore, contrived so as to leave the punishment of the clan Donald to the Campbells, who were already sufficiently obnoxious to the western clans, whilst he himself had the credit of procuring the liberation of the hostages.”

Dunyveg Castle, Islay.—From a drawing taken expressly for this work.

Campbell of Calder and Sir Oliver Lambert, commander of the Irish forces, did not effect a junction till the 5th of January, 1615, and on the 6th, Campbell landed on Islay with 200 men, his force being augmented next day by 140 more. Several of the rebels, alarmed, deserted Angus, and were pardoned on condition of helping the besiegers. Ronald Mac-James, uncle of Angus Oig, surrendered a fort on the island of Lochgorme which he commanded, on the 21st, and along with his son received a conditional assurance of his majesty’s favour. Operations were commenced against Dunyveg on February 1st, and shortly after Angus had an interview with the lieutenant, during which the latter showed that Angus had been deceived by Graham, upon which he promised to surrender. On returning to the castle, however, he refused to implement his promise, being instigated to hold out apparently by Coll Mac-Gillespic. After being again battered for some time, Angus and some of his followers at last surrendered unconditionally, Coll Mac-Gillespic contriving to make his escape. Campbell took possession of the castle on the 3d February, dispersed the forces of the rebels, and put to death a number of those who had deserted the siege; Angus himself was reserved for examination by the Privy Council. In the course of the examination it came out clearly that the Earl of Argyle was the original promoter of the seizure of the castle, his purpose apparently being to ruin the clan Donald by urging them to rebellion; but this charge, as well as that against the Earl of Dunfermline, appears to have been smothered.

During the early part of the year 1615, Coll Mac-Gillespic and others of the clan Donald who had escaped, infested the western coasts, and committed many acts of piracy, being joined about the month of May by Sir James Macdonald, who had escaped from Edinburgh castle, where he had been lying for a long time under sentence of death. Sir James and his followers, now numbering several hundreds, after laying in a good supply of provisions, sailed towards Islay. The Privy Council were not slow in taking steps to repress the rebellion, although various circumstances occurred to thwart their intentions. Calder engaged to keep the castle of Dunyveg against the rebels, and instructions were given to the various western gentlemen friendly to the government to defend the western coasts and islands. Large rewards were offered for the principal rebels. All the forces were enjoined to be at their appointed stations by the 6th of July, furnished with forty days’ provisions, and with a sufficient number of boats, to enable them to act by sea, if necessary.

Sir James Macdonald, about the end of June, landing on Islay, managed by stratagem to obtain possession of Dunyveg Castle, himself and his followers appearing to have conducted themselves with great moderation. Dividing his force, which numbered about 400, into two bodies, with one of which he himself intended to proceed to Jura, the other, under Coll Mac-Gillespic, was destined for Kintyre, for the purpose of encouraging the ancient followers of his family to assist him. In the beginning of July, Angus Oig and a number of his followers were tried and condemned, and executed immediately after.

Various disheartening reports were now circulated as to the disaffection of Donald Gorme of Sleat, captain of the clan Ranald, Ruari Macleod of Harris, and others; and that Hector Maclean of Dowart, if not actually engaged in the rebellion, had announced, that if he was desired to proceed against the clan Donald, he would not be very earnest in the service. The militia of Ayr, Renfrew, Dumbarton, Bute, and Inverness were called out, and a commission was granted to the Marquis of Hamilton to keep the clan Donald out of Arran.

The Privy Council had some time before this urged the king to send down the Earl of Argyle from England—to which he had fled from his numerous creditors—to act as lieutenant in suppressing the insurrection. After many delays, Argyle, to whom full powers had been given to act as lieutenant, at length mustered his forces at Duntroon on Loch Crinan early in September. He issued a proclamation of pardon to all rebels who were willing to submit, and by means of spies examined Macdonald’s camp, which had been pitched on the west coast of Kintyre, the number of the rebels being ascertained to be about 1,000 men. Argyle set himself so promptly and vigorously to crush the rebels, that Sir James Macdonald, who had been followed to Islay by the former, finding it impossible either to resist the Lieutenant’s forces, or to escape with his galleys to the north isles, desired from the earl a truce of four days, promising at the end of that time to surrender. Argyle would not accede to this request except on condition of Sir James giving up the two forts which he held; this Sir James urged Coll Mac-Gillespic to do, but he refused, although he sent secretly to Argyle a message that he was willing to comply with the earl’s request. Argyle immediately sent a force against Sir James to surprise him, who, being warned of this by the natives, managed to make his escape to an island called Inchdaholl, on the coast of Ireland, and never again returned to the Hebrides. Next day, Mac-Gillespic surrendered the two forts and his prisoners, upon assurance of his own life and the lives of a few of his followers, at the same time treacherously apprehending and delivering to Argyle, Macfie of Colonsay, one of the principal rebel leaders, and eighteen others. This conduct soon had many imitators, including Macfie himself.

Having delivered the forts in Islay to Campbell of Calder, and having executed a number of the leading rebels, Argyle proceeded to Kintyre, and crushed out all remaining seeds of insurrection there. Many of the principal rebels, notwithstanding a diligent search, effected their escape, many of them to Ireland, Sir James Macdonald being sent to Spain by some Jesuits in Galway. The escape of so many of the principal rebels seems to have given the Council great dissatisfaction. Argyle carried on operations till the middle of December 1615, refusing to dismiss the hired soldiers in the beginning of November, as he was ordered by the Council to do. He was compelled to disburse the pay, amounting to upwards of £7,000, for the extra month and a half out of his own pocket.

“Thus,” to use the words of our authority for the above details,[207] “terminated the last struggle of the once powerful clan Donald of Islay and Kintyre, to retain, from the grasp of the Campbells, these ancient possessions of their tribe.”

Ever since the death of John Sinclair at Thurso, the Earl of Caithness used every means in his power to induce such of his countrymen as were daring enough, to show their prowess and dexterity, by making incursions into Sutherland or Strathnaver, for the purpose of annoying the vassals and dependants of the Earl of Sutherland and his ally, Mackay. Amongst others he often communicated on this subject with William Kennethson, whose father, Kenneth Buidhe, had always been the principal instrument in the hands of Earl George in oppressing the people of his own country. For the furtherance of his plans he at last prevailed upon William, who already stood rebel to the king in a criminal cause, to go into voluntary banishment into Strathnaver, and put himself under the protection of Mackay, to whom he was to pretend that he had left Caithness to avoid any solicitations from the Earl of Caithness to injure the inhabitants of Strathnaver. To cover their designs they caused a report to be spread that William Mac-Kenneth was to leave Caithness because he would not obey the orders of the earl to execute some designs against Sir Robert Gordon, the tutor of Sutherland, and Mackay, and when this false rumour had been sufficiently spread, Mac-Kenneth, and his brother John, and their dependants, fled into Strathnaver and solicited the favour and protection of Mackay. The latter received them kindly; but as William and his party had been long addicted to robbery and theft, he strongly advised them to abstain from such practices in all time coming; and that they might not afterwards plead necessity as an excuse for continuing their depredations, he allotted them some lands to dwell on. After staying a month or two in Strathnaver, during which time they stole some cattle and horses out of Caithness, William received a private visit by night from Kenneth Buidhe, his father, who had been sent by the Earl of Caithness for the purpose of executing a contemplated depredation in Sutherland. Mackay was then in Sutherland on a visit to his uncle, Sir Robert Gordon, which being known to William Mac-Kenneth, he resolved to enter Sutherland with his party, and carry off into Caithness all the booty they could collect. Being observed in the glen of Loth by some of the clan Gun, collecting cattle and horses, they were immediately apprehended, with the exception of Iain-Garbh-Mac-Chonald-Mac-Mhurchidh-Mhoir, who, being a very resolute man, refused to surrender, and was in consequence killed. The prisoners were delivered to Sir Robert Gordon at Dornoch, who committed William and his brother John to the castle of Dornoch for trial. In the meantime two of the principal men of Mac-Kenneth’s party were tried, convicted, and executed, and the remainder were allowed to return home on giving surety to keep the peace. This occurrence took place in the month of January 1616.

The Earl of Caithness now finished his restless career of iniquity by the perpetration of a crime which, though trivial in its consequences, was of so highly a penal nature in itself as to bring his own life into jeopardy. As the circumstances which led to the burning of the corn of William Innes, a servant of Lord Forbes at Sanset in Caithness, and the discovery of the Earl of Caithness as instigator, are somewhat curious, it is thought that a recital of them may not be here out of place.

Among other persons who had suffered at the hands of the earl was his own kinsman, William Sinclair of Dumbaith. After annoying him in a variety of ways, the earl instigated his bastard brother, Henry Sinclair, and Kenneth Buidhe, to destroy and lay waste part of Dumbaith’s lands, who, unable to resist, and being in dread of personal risk, locked himself up in his house at Dunray, which they besieged. William Sinclair immediately applied to John, Earl of Sutherland, for assistance, who sent his friend Mackay with a party to rescue Sinclair from his perilous situation. Mackay succeeded, and carried Sinclair along with him into Sutherland, where he remained for a time, but he afterwards went to reside in Moray, where he died. Although thus cruelly persecuted and forced to become an exile from his country by the Earl of Caithness, no entreaties could induce him to apply for redress, choosing rather to suffer himself than to see his relative punished. William Sinclair was succeeded by his grandson, George Sinclair, who married a sister of Lord Forbes. By the persuasion of his wife, who was a mere tool in the hands of the Earl of Caithness, George Sinclair was induced to execute a deed of entail, by which, failing of heirs male of his own body, he left the whole of his lands to the earl. When the earl had obtained this deed he began to devise means to make away with Sinclair, and actually persuaded Sinclair’s wife to assist him in this nefarious design. Having obtained notice of this conspiracy against his life, Sinclair left Caithness and took up his residence with his brother-in-law, Lord Forbes, who received him with great kindness and hospitality, and reprobated very strongly the wicked conduct of his sister. Sinclair now recalled the entail in favour of the Earl of Caithness, and made a new deed by which he conveyed his whole estate to Lord Forbes. George Sinclair died soon after the execution of the deed, and having left no issue, Lord Forbes took possession of his lands of Dunray and Dumbaith.

Disappointed in his plans to acquire Sinclair’s property, the Earl of Caithness seized every opportunity of annoying Lord Forbes in his possessions, by oppressing his tenants and servants, in every possible way, under the pretence of discharging his duty as sheriff, to which office he had been appointed by the Earl of Huntly, on occasion of his marriage with Huntly’s sister. Complaints were made from time to time against the earl, on account of these proceedings, to the Privy Council of Scotland, which, in some measure, afforded redress; but to protect his tenants more effectually, Lord Forbes took up a temporary residence in Caithness, relying upon the aid of the house of Sutherland in case of need.

As the Earl of Caithness was aware that any direct attack on Lord Forbes would be properly resented, and as any enterprise undertaken by his own people would be laid to his charge, however cautious he might be in dealing with them, he fixed on the clan Gun as the fittest instruments for effecting his designs against Lord Forbes. Besides being the most resolute men in Caithness, always ready to undertake any desperate action, they depended more upon the Earl of Sutherland and Mackay, from whom they held some lands, than upon the Earl of Caithness; a circumstance which the latter supposed, should the contemplated outrages of the clan Gun ever become matter of inquiry, might throw the suspicion upon the two former as the silent instigators. Accordingly, the earl opened a negotiation with John Gun, chief of the clan Gun in Caithness, and with his brother, Alexander Gun, whose father he had hanged in the year 1586. In consequence of an invitation, the two brothers, along with Alexander Gun, their cousin-german, repaired to Castle Sinclair, where they met the earl. The earl did not at first divulge his plans to all the party; but taking Alexander Gun, the cousin, aside, he pointed out to him the injury he alleged he had sustained, in consequence of Lord Forbes having obtained a footing in Caithness,—that he could no longer submit to the indignity shown him by a stranger,—that he had made choice of him (Gun) to undertake a piece of service for him, on performing which, he would reward him most amply; and to secure compliance, the earl desired him to remember the many favours he had already received from him, and how well he had treated him, promising, at the same time, to show him even greater kindness in time coming. Alexander thereupon promised to serve the earl, though at the hazard of his life; but upon being interrogated by the earl whether he would undertake to burn the corn of Sanset, belonging to William Innes, a servant of Lord Forbes, Gun, who had never imagined that he was to be employed in such an ignoble affair, expressed the greatest astonishment at the proposal, and refused, in the most peremptory and indignant manner, to undertake its execution; yet, to satisfy the earl, he told him that he would, at his command, undertake to assassinate William Innes,—an action which he considered less criminal and dishonourable, and more becoming a gentleman, than burning a quantity of corn! Finding him obdurate, the earl enjoined him to secrecy.

The earl next applied to the two brothers, John and Alexander, with whom he did not find it so difficult to treat. They at first hesitated with some firmness in undertaking the business on which the earl was so intent; and they pleaded an excuse, by saying, that as justice was then more strictly executed in Scotland than formerly, they could not expect to escape, as they had no place of safety to retreat to after the crime was committed; as a proof of which they instanced the cases of the clan Donald and the clan Gregor, two races of people much more powerful than the clan Gun, who had been brought to the brink of ruin, and almost annihilated, under the authority of the laws. The earl replied, that as soon as they should perform the service for him he would send them to the western isles, to some of his acquaintances and friends, with whom they might remain till Lord Forbes and he were reconciled, when he would obtain their pardon; that in the meantime he would profess, in public, to be their enemy, but that he would be their friend secretly, and permit them to frequent Caithness without danger. Alexander Gun, overcome at last by the entreaties of the earl, reluctantly consented to his request, and going into Sanset, in the dead of night, with two accomplices, set fire to all the corn stacks which were in the barn-yard, belonging to William Innes, and which were in consequence consumed. This affair occurred in the month of November, 1615. The Earl of Caithness immediately spread a report through the whole country that Mackay’s tenants had committed this outrage, but the deception was of short duration.

It may be here noticed that John, sixth Earl of Sutherland, died in September, 1615, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John, a boy six years old, to whom Sir Robert Gordon, his uncle, was appointed tutor.

Sir Robert Gordon, having arrived in the north of Scotland, from England, in the month of December following, resolved to probe the matter to the bottom, not merely on account of his nephew, Mackay, whose men were suspected, but to satisfy Lord Forbes, who was now on friendly terms with the house of Sutherland; but the discovery of the perpetrators soon became an easy task, in consequence of a quarrel among the clan Gun themselves, the members of which upbraided one another as the authors of the fire-raising. Alexander Gun, the cousin of Alexander Gun, the real criminal, thereupon fled from Caithness, and sent some of his friends to Sir Robert Gordon and Donald Mackay with these proposals:—that if they would receive him into favour, and secure him from danger, he would confess the whole circumstances, and reveal the authors of the conflagration, and that he would declare the whole before the Privy Council if required. On receiving this proposal, Sir Robert Gordon appointed Alexander Gun to meet him privately at Helmsdale, in the house of Sir Alexander Gordon, brother of Sir Robert. A meeting was accordingly held at the place appointed, at which Sir Robert and his friends agreed to do everything in their power to preserve Gun’s life; and Mackay promised, moreover, to give him a possession in Strathie, where his father had formerly lived.

When the Earl of Caithness heard of Alexander Gun’s flight into Sutherland he became greatly alarmed lest Alexander should reveal the affair of Sanset; and anticipating such a result, the earl gave out everywhere that Sir Robert Gordon, Mackay, and Sir Alexander Gordon, had hired some of the clan Gun to accuse him of having burnt William Innes’s corn. But this artifice was of no avail, for as soon as Lord Forbes received notice from Sir Robert Gordon of the circumstances related by Alexander Gun, he immediately cited John Gun and his brother Alexander, and their accomplices, to appear for trial at Edinburgh, on the 2d April, 1616, to answer to the charge of burning the corn at Sanset; and he also summoned the Earl of Caithness, as sheriff of that county, to deliver them up for trial. John Gun, thinking that the best course he could pursue under present circumstances was to follow the example of his cousin, Alexander, sent a message to Sir Alexander Gordon, desiring an interview with him, which being granted, they met at Navidale. John Gun then offered to reveal everything he knew concerning the fire, on condition that his life should be spared; but Sir Alexander observed that he could come under no engagement, as he was uncertain how the king and the council might view such a proceeding; but he promised, that as John had not been an actor in the business, but a witness only to the arrangement between his brother and the Earl of Caithness, he would do what he could to save him, if he went to Edinburgh in compliance with the summons.

In this state of matters, the Earl of Caithness wrote to the Marquis of Huntly, accusing Sir Robert Gordon and Mackay of a design to bring him within the reach of the law of treason, and to injure the honour of his house by slandering him with the burning of the corn at Sanset. The other party told the marquis that they could not refuse to assist Lord Forbes in finding out the persons who had burned the corn at Sanset, but that they had never imagined that the earl would have acted so base a part as to become an accomplice in such a criminal act; and farther, that as Mackay’s men were challenged with the deed, they certainly were entitled at least to clear Mackay’s people from the charge by endeavouring to find out the malefactors,—in all which they considered they had done the earl no wrong. The Marquis of Huntly did not fail to write the Earl of Caithness the answer he had received from Sir Robert Gordon and Mackay, which grieved him exceedingly, as he was too well aware of the consequences which would follow if the prosecution of the Guns was persevered in.

At the time appointed for the trial of the Guns, Sir Robert Gordon, Mackay, and Lord Forbes, with all his friends, went to Edinburgh, and upon their arrival they entreated the council to prevent a remission in favour of the Earl of Caithness from passing the signet until the affair in hand was tried; a request with which the council complied. The Earl of Caithness did not appear; but he sent his son, Lord Berridale, to Edinburgh, along with John Gun and all those persons who had been summoned by Lord Forbes, with the exception of Alexander Gun and his two accomplices. He alleged as his reason for not sending them that they were not his men, being Mackay’s own tenants, and dwelling in Dilred, the property of Mackay, which was held by him off the Earl of Sutherland, who, he alleged, was bound to present the three persons alluded to. But the lords of the council would not admit of this excuse, and again required Lord Berridale and his father to present the three culprits before the court on the 10th June following, because, although they had possessions in Dilred, they had also lands from the Earl of Caithness on which they usually resided. Besides, the deed was committed in Caithness, of which the earl was sheriff, on which account also he was bound to apprehend them. Lord Berridale, whose character was quite the reverse of that of his father, apprehensive of the consequences of a trial, now offered satisfaction in his father’s name to Lord Forbes if he would stop the prosecution; but his lordship refused to do anything without the previous advice and consent of Sir Robert Gordon and Mackay, who, upon being consulted, caused articles of agreement to be drawn up, which were presented to Lord Berridale by neutral persons for his acceptance. He, however, considering the conditions sought to be imposed upon his father too hard, rejected them.

In consequence of the refusal of Lord Berridale to accede to the terms proposed, John Gun was apprehended by one of the magistrates of Edinburgh, on the application of Lord Forbes, and committed a prisoner to the jail of that city. Gun thereupon requested to see Sir Robert Gordon and Mackay, whom he entreated to use their influence to procure him his liberty, promising to declare everything he knew of the business for which he was prosecuted before the lords of the council. Sir Robert Gordon and Mackay then deliberated with Lord Forbes and Lord Elphinston on the subject, and they all four promised faithfully to Gun to do everything in their power to save him, and that they would thenceforth maintain and defend him and his cousin, Alexander Gun, against the Earl of Caithness or any person, as long as they had reason and equity on their side; besides which, Mackay promised him a liferent lease of the lands in Strathie to compensate for his possessions in Caithness, of which he would, of course, be deprived by the earl for revealing the latter’s connexion with the fire-raising at Sanset. John Gun was accordingly examined the following day by the lords of the council, when he confessed that the Earl of Caithness made his brother, Alexander Gun, burn the corn of Sanset, and that the affair had been proposed and discussed in his presence. Alexander Gun, the cousin, was examined also at the same time, and stated the same circumstances precisely as John Gun had done. After examination, John and Alexander were again committed to prison.

As neither the Earl of Caithness nor his son, Lord Berridale, complied with the commands of the council to deliver up Alexander Gun and his accomplices in the month of June, they were both outlawed and denounced rebels; and were summoned and charged by Lord Forbes to appear personally at Edinburgh in the month of July immediately following, to answer to the charge of causing the corn of Sanset to be burnt. This fixed determination on the part of Lord Forbes to bring the earl and his son to trial had the effect of altering their tone, and they now earnestly entreated him and Mackay to agree to a reconciliation on any terms; but they declined to enter into any arrangement until they had consulted Sir Robert Gordon. After obtaining Sir Robert’s consent, and a written statement of the conditions which he required from the Earl of Caithness in behalf of his nephew, the Earl of Sutherland, the parties entered into a final agreement in the month of July, 1616. The principal heads of the contract, which was afterwards recorded in the books of council and session, were as follows:—That all civil actions between the parties should be settled by the mediation of common friends,—that the Earl of Caithness and his son should pay to Lord Forbes and Mackay the sum of 20,000 merks Scots money,—that all quarrels and criminal actions should be mutually forgiven, and particularly, that the Earl of Caithness and all his friends should forgive and remit the slaughter at Thurso—that the Earl of Caithness and his son should renounce for themselves and their heirs all jurisdiction, criminal or civil, within Sutherland or Strathnaver, and any other jurisdiction which they should thereafter happen to acquire over any lands lying within the diocese of Caithness then pertaining, or which should afterwards belong, to the Earl of Sutherland, or his heirs,—that the Earl of Caithness should deliver Alexander Gun and his accomplices to Lord Forbes,—that the earl, his son, and their heirs, should never thenceforth contend with the Earl of Sutherland for precedency in parliament or priority of place,—that the Earl of Caithness and his son, their friends and tenants, should keep the peace in time coming, under the penalty of great sums of money, and should never molest nor trouble the tenants of the Earl of Sutherland and Lord Forbes,—that the Earl of Caithness, his son, or their friends, should not receive nor harbour any fugitives from Sutherland or Strathnaver,—and that there should be good friendship and amity kept amongst them in all time to come.

In consequence of this agreement, the two sons of Kenneth Buy, William and John before-mentioned, were delivered to Lord Berridale, who gave security for their keeping the peace; and John Gun and Alexander his cousin were released, and delivered to Lord Forbes and Mackay, who gave surety to the lords of the council to present them for trial whenever required; and as the Earl of Caithness had deprived them of their possessions in Caithness on account of the discovery they had made, Mackay, who had lately been knighted by the king, gave them lands in Strathnaver as he had promised. Matters being thus settled, Lord Berridale presented himself before the court at Edinburgh to abide his trial; but no person of course appearing against him, the trial was postponed. The Earl of Caithness, however, failing to appear, the diet against him was continued till the 28th of August following.

Although the king was well pleased, on account of the peace which such an adjustment would produce in his northern dominions, with the agreement which had been entered into, and the proceedings which followed thereon, all of which were made known to him by the Privy Council; yet, as the passing over such a flagrant act as wilful fire-raising, without punishment, might prove pernicious, he wrote a letter to the Privy Council of Scotland, commanding them to prosecute, with all severity, those who were guilty of, or accessory to, the crime. Lord Berridale was thereupon apprehended on suspicion, and committed a prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh; and his father, perceiving the determination of the king to prosecute the authors of the fire, again declined to appear for trial on the appointed day, on which account he was again outlawed, and declared a rebel as the guilty author.

In this extremity Lord Berridale had recourse to Sir Robert Gordon, then resident at court, for his aid. He wrote him a letter, entreating him that, as all controversies were now settled, he would, in place of an enemy become a faithful friend,—that for his own part, he, Lord Berridale, had been always innocent of the jars and dissensions which had happened between the two families,—that he was also innocent of the crime of which he was charged,—and that he wished his majesty to be informed by Sir Robert of these circumstances, hoping that he would order him to be released from confinement. Sir Robert answered, that he had long desired a perfect agreement between the houses of Sutherland and Caithness, which he would endeavour to maintain during his administration in Sutherland,—that he would intercede with the king in behalf of his lordship to the utmost of his power,—that all disputes being now at an end, he would be his faithful friend,—that he had a very different opinion of his disposition from that he entertained of his father, the earl; and he concluded by entreating him to be careful to preserve the friendship which had been now commenced between them.

As the king understood that Lord Berridale was supposed to be innocent of the crime with which he and his father stood charged, and as he could not, without a verdict against Berridale, proceed against the family of Caithness by forfeiture, in consequence of his lordship having been infeft many years before in his father’s estate, his majesty, on the earnest entreaty of the then bishop of Ross, Sir Robert Gordon, and Sir James Spence of Wormistoun, was pleased to remit and forgive the crime on the following conditions:—1st. That the Earl of Caithness and his son should give satisfaction to their creditors, who were constantly annoying his majesty with clamours against the earl, and craving justice at his hands. 2d. That the Earl of Caithness, with consent of Lord Berridale, should freely renounce and resign perpetually, into the hands of his majesty, the heritable sheriffship and justiciary of Caithness. 3d. That the Earl of Caithness should deliver the three criminals who had burnt the corn, that public justice might be satisfied upon them, as a terror and example to others. 4th. That the Earl of Caithness, with consent of Lord Berridale, should give and resign in perpetuum to the bishop of Caithness, the house of Strabister, with as many of the feu lands of that bishopric as should amount to the yearly value of two thousand merks Scots money, for the purpose of augmenting the income of the bishop, which was at that time small in consequence of the greater part of his lands being in the hands of the earl. Commissioners were sent down from London to Caithness in October 1616, to see that these conditions were complied with. The second and last conditions were immediately implemented; and as the earl and his son promised to give satisfaction to their creditors, and to do everything in their power to apprehend the burners of the corn, the latter was released from the castle of Edinburgh, and directions were given for drawing up a remission and pardon to the Earl of Caithness. Lord Berridale, however, had scarcely been released from the castle, when he was again imprisoned within the jail of Edinburgh, at the instance of Sir James Home of Cowdenknowes, his cousin german, who had become surety for him and his father to their creditors for large sums of money. The earl himself narrowly escaped the fate of his son and retired to Caithness, but his creditors had sufficient interest to prevent his remission from passing till they should be satisfied. With consent of the creditors the council of Scotland gave him a personal protection, from time to time, to enable him to come to Edinburgh for the purpose of settling with them, but he made no arrangement, and returned privately into Caithness before the expiration of the supersedere which had been granted him, leaving his son to suffer all the miseries of a prison. After enduring a captivity of five years, Lord Berridale was released from prison by the good offices of the Earl of Enzie, and put, for behoof of himself, and his own and his father’s creditors, in possession of the family estates from which his father was driven by Sir Robert Gordon acting under a royal warrant, a just punishment for the many enormities of a long and misspent life.[208]

Desperate as the fortunes of the Earl of Caithness were even previous to the disposal of his estates, he most unexpectedly found an ally in Sir Donald Mackay, who had taken offence at Sir Robert Gordon, and who, being a man of quick resolution and of an inconstant disposition, determined to forsake the house of Sutherland, and to ingratiate himself with the Earl of Caithness. He alleged various causes of discontent as a reason for his conduct, one of the chief being connected with pecuniary considerations; for having, as he alleged, burdened his estates with debts incurred for some years past in following the house of Sutherland, he thought that, in time coming, he might, by procuring the favour of the Earl of Caithness, turn the same to his own advantage and that of his countrymen. Moreover, as he had been induced to his own prejudice to grant certain life-rent tacks of the lands of Strathie and Dilred to John and Alexander Gun, and others of the clan Gun for revealing the affair of Sanset, he thought that by joining the Earl of Caithness, these might be destroyed, by which means he would get back his lands which he meant to convey to his brother, John Mackay, as a portion; and he, moreover, expected that the earl would give him and his countrymen some possessions in Caithness. But the chief ground of discontent on the part of Sir Donald Mackay was an action brought against him and Lord Forbes before the court of session, to recover a contract entered into between the last Earl of Sutherland and Mackay, in the year 1613, relative to their marches and other matters of controversy, which being considered by Mackay as prejudicial to him, he had endeavoured to get destroyed through the agency of some persons about Lord Forbes, into whose keeping the deed had been intrusted.

After brooding over these subjects of discontent for some years, Mackay, in the year 1618, suddenly resolved to break with the house of Sutherland, and to form an alliance with the Earl of Caithness, who had long borne a mortal enmity at that family. Accordingly, Mackay sent John Sutherland, his cousin-german, into Caithness to request a private conference with the earl in any part of Caithness he might appoint. This offer was too tempting to be rejected by the earl, who expected, by a reconciliation with Sir Donald Mackay, to turn the same to his own personal gratification and advantage. In the first place, he hoped to revenge himself upon the clan Gun, who were his principal enemies, and upon Sir Donald himself, by detaching him from his superior, the Earl of Sutherland, and from the friendship of his uncles, who had always supported him in all his difficulties. In the second place, he expected that, by alienating Mackay from the duty and affection he owed the house of Sutherland, that he would weaken his power and influence. And lastly, he trusted that Mackay would not only be prevailed upon to discharge his own part, but would also persuade Lord Forbes to discharge his share of the sum of 20,000 merks Scots, which he and his son, Lord Berridale, had become bound to pay them, on account of the burning at Sanset.

The Earl of Caithness having at once agreed to Mackay’s proposal, a meeting was held by appointment in the neighbourhood of Dunray, in the parish of Reay, in Caithness. The parties met in the night-time, accompanied each by three men only. After much discussion, and various conferences, which were continued for two or three days, they resolved to destroy the clan Gun, and particularly John Gun, and Alexander his cousin. To please the earl, Mackay undertook to despatch these last, as they were obnoxious to him, on account of the part they had taken against him, in revealing the burning at Sanset. They persuaded themselves that the house of Sutherland would defend the clan, as they were bound to do by their promise, and that that house would be thus drawn into some snare. To confirm their friendship, the earl and Mackay arranged that John Mackay, the only brother of Sir Donald, should marry a niece of the earl, a daughter of James Sinclair of Murkle, who was a mortal enemy of all the clan Gun. Having thus planned the line of conduct they were to follow, they parted, after swearing to continue in perpetual friendship.

Notwithstanding the private way in which the meeting was held, accounts of it immediately spread through the kingdom; and every person wondered at the motives which could induce Sir Donald Mackay to take such a step so unadvisedly, without the knowledge of his uncles, Sir Robert and Sir Alexander Gordon, or of Lord Forbes. The clan Gun receiving secret intelligence of the design upon them, from different friendly quarters, retired into Sutherland. The clan were astonished at Mackay’s conduct, as he had promised, at Edinburgh, in presence of Lords Forbes and Elphingston and Sir Robert Gordon, in the year 1616, to be a perpetual friend to them, and chiefly to John Gun and to his cousin Alexander.

After Mackay returned from Caithness, he sent his cousin-german, Angus Mackay of Bighouse, to Sutherland, to acquaint his uncles, who had received notice of the meeting, that his object in meeting the Earl of Caithness was for his own personal benefit, and that nothing had been done to their prejudice. Angus Mackay met Sir Robert Gordon at Dunrobin, to whom he delivered his kinsman’s message, which, he said, he hoped Sir Robert would take in good part, adding that Sir Donald would show, in presence of both his uncles, that the clan Gun had failed in duty and fidelity to him and the house of Sutherland, since they had revealed the burning; and therefore, that if his uncles would not forsake John Gun, and some others of the clan, he would adhere to them no longer. Sir Robert Gordon returned a verbal answer by Angus Mackay, that when Sir Donald came in person to Dunrobin to clear himself, as in duty he was bound to do, he would then accept of his excuse, and not till then. And he at the same time wrote a letter to Sir Donald, to the effect that for his own (Sir Robert’s) part, he did not much regard Mackay’s secret journey to Caithness, and his reconciliation with Earl George, without his knowledge or the advice of Lord Forbes; and that, however unfavourable the world might construe it, he would endeavour to colour it in the best way he could, for Mackay’s own credit. He desired Mackay to consider that a man’s reputation was exceedingly tender, and that if it were once blemished, though wrongfully, there would still some blot remain, because the greater part of the world would always incline to speak the worst; that whatever had been arranged in that journey, between him and the Earl of Caithness, beneficial to Mackay and not prejudicial to the house of Sutherland, he should be always ready to assist him therein, although concluded without his consent. As to the clan Gun, he could not with honesty or credit abandon them, and particularly John and his cousin Alexander, until tried and found guilty, as he had promised faithfully to be their friend, for revealing the affair of Sanset; that he had made them this promise at the earnest desire and entreaty of Sir Donald himself; that the house of Sutherland did always esteem their truth and constancy to be their greatest jewel; and seeing that he and his brother, Sir Alexander, were almost the only branches of it then of age or man’s estate, they would endeavour to prove true and constant wheresoever they did possess friendship; and that neither the house of Sutherland, nor any greater house whereof they had the honour to be descended, should have the least occasion to be ashamed of them in that respect; that if Sir Donald had quarrelled or challenged the clan Gun, before going into Caithness and his arrangement with Earl George, the clan might have been suspected; but he saw no reason to forsake them until they were found guilty of some great offence.

Sir Robert Gordon, therefore, acting as tutor for his nephew, took the clan Gun under his immediate protection, with the exception of Alexander Gun, the burner of the corn, and his accomplices. John Gun thereupon demanded a trial before his friends, that they might hear what Sir Donald had to lay to his charge. John and his kinsmen were acquitted, and declared innocent of any offence, either against the house of Sutherland or Mackay, since the fact of the burning.

Sir Donald Mackay, dissatisfied with this result, went to Edinburgh for the purpose of obtaining a commission against the clan Gun from the council, for old crimes committed by them before his majesty had left Scotland for England; but he was successfully opposed in this by Sir Robert Gordon, who wrote a letter to the Lord-Chancellor and to the Earl of Melrose, afterwards Earl of Haddington and Lord Privy Seal, showing that the object of Sir Donald, in asking such a commission, was to break the king’s peace, and to breed fresh troubles in Caithness. Disappointed in this attempt, Sir Donald returned home to Strathnaver, and, in the month of April, 1618, he went to Braill, in Caithness, where he met the earl, with whom he continued three nights. On this occasion they agreed to despatch Alexander Gun, the burner of the corn, lest Lord Forbes should request the earl to deliver him up; and they hoped that, in consequence of such an occurrence, the tribe might be ensnared. Before parting, the earl delivered to Mackay some old writs of certain lands in Strathnaver and other places within the diocese of Caithness, which belonged to Sir Donald’s predecessors; by means of which the earl thought he would put Sir Donald by the ears with his uncles, expecting him to bring an action against the Earl of Sutherland, for the warrandice of Strathnaver, and thus free himself from the superiority of the Earl of Sutherland.

Shortly after this meeting was held, Sir Donald entered Sutherland privately, for the purpose of capturing John Gun; but, after lurking two nights in Golspie, watching Gun, without effect, he was discovered by Adam Gordon of Kilcalmkill, a trusty dependant of the house of Sutherland, and thereupon returned to his country. In the meantime the Earl of Caithness, who sought every opportunity to quarrel with the house of Sutherland, endeavoured to pick a quarrel with Sir Alexander Gordon about some sheilings which he alleged the latter’s servants had erected beyond the marches between Torrish, in Strathully, and the lands of Berridale. The dispute, however, came to nothing.

When Sir Robert Gordon heard of these occurrences in the north, he returned home from Edinburgh, where he had been for some time; and, on his return, he visited the Marquis of Huntly at Strathbogie, who advised him to be on his guard, as he had received notice from the Earl of Caithness that Sir Donald meant to create some disturbances in Sutherland. The object the earl had in view, in acquainting the marquis with Mackay’s intentions, was to screen himself from any imputation of being concerned in Mackay’s plans, although he favoured them in secret. As soon as Sir Robert Gordon was informed of Mackay’s intentions he hastened to Sutherland; but before his arrival there, Sir Donald had entered Strathully with a body of men, in quest of Alexander Gun, the burner, against whom he had obtained letters of caption. He expected that if he could find Gun in Strathully, where the clan of that name chiefly dwelt, they, and particularly John Gun, would protect Alexander, and that in consequence he would ensnare John Gun and his tribe, and bring them within the reach of the law, for having resisted the king’s authority; but Mackay was disappointed in his expectations, for Alexander Gun escaped, and none of the clan Gun made the least movement, not knowing how Sir Robert Gordon was affected towards Alexander Gun. In entering Strathully, without acquainting his uncles of his intention, Sir Donald had acted improperly, and contrary to his duty, as the vassal of the house of Sutherland: but, not satisfied with this trespass, he went to Badinloch, and there apprehended William M’Corkill, one of the clan Gun, and carried him along with him towards Strathnaver, on the ground that he had favoured the escape of Alexander Gun; but M’Corkill escaped while his keepers were asleep, and went to Dunrobin, where he met Sir Alexander Gordon, to whom he related the circumstance.

Hearing that Sir Robert Gordon was upon his journey to Sutherland, Mackay left Badinloch in haste, and went privately to the parish of Culmaly, taking up his residence in Golspietour with John Gordon, younger of Embo, till he should learn in what manner Sir Robert would act towards him. Mackay, perceiving that his presence in Golspietour was likely to lead to a tumult among the people, sent his men home to Strathnaver, and went himself the following day, taking only one man along with him, to Dunrobin castle, where he met Sir Robert Gordon, who received him kindly according to his usual manner; and after Sir Robert had opened his mind very freely to him on the bad course he was pursuing, he began to talk to him about a reconciliation with John Gun; but Sir Donald would not hear of any accommodation, and after staying a few days at Dunrobin, returned home to his own country.

Sir Donald Mackay, perceiving the danger in which he had placed himself, and seeing that he could put no reliance on the hollow and inconstant friendship of the Earl of Caithness, became desirous of a reconciliation with his uncles, and with this view he offered to refer all matters in dispute to the arbitrament of friends, and to make such satisfaction for his offences as they might enjoin. As Sir Robert Gordon still had a kindly feeling towards Mackay, and as the state in which the affairs of the house of Sutherland stood during the minority of his nephew, the earl, could not conveniently admit of following out hostile measures against Mackay, Sir Robert embraced his offer. The parties, therefore, met at Tain, and matters being discussed in presence of Sir Alexander Gordon of Navidale, George Monroe of Milntoun, and John Monroe of Leamlair, they adjudged that Sir Donald should send Angus Mackay of Bighouse, and three gentlemen of the Slaight-ean-Aberigh, to Dunrobin, there to remain prisoners during Sir Robert’s pleasure, as a punishment for apprehending William M’Corkill at Badinloch. After settling some other matters of little moment, the parties agreed to hold another meeting for adjusting all remaining questions, at Elgin, in the month of June of the following year, 1619. Sir Donald wished to include Gordon of Embo and others of his friends in Sutherland in this arrangement; but as they were vassals of the house of Sutherland, Sir Robert would not allow Mackay to treat for them.

In the month of November, 1618, a disturbance took place in consequence of a quarrel between George, Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzie, and Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, chief of the clan Chattan, which arose out of the following circumstances:—When the earl went into Lochaber, in the year 1613, in pursuit of the clan Cameron, he requested Macintosh to accompany him, both on account of his being the vassal of the Marquis of Huntly, the earl’s father, and also on account of the ancient enmity which had always existed between the clan Chattan and clan Cameron, in consequence of the latter keeping forcible possession of certain lands belonging to the former in Lochaber. To induce Macintosh to join him, the earl promised to dispossess the clan Cameron of the lands belonging to Macintosh, and to restore him to the possession of them; but, by advice of the laird of Grant, his father-in-law, who was an enemy of the house of Huntly, he declined to accompany the earl in his expedition. The earl was greatly displeased at Macintosh’s refusal, which afterwards led to some disputes between them. A few years after the date of this expedition—in which the earl subdued the clan Cameron, and took their chief prisoner, whom he imprisoned at Inverness in the year 1614—Macintosh obtained a commission against Macronald, younger of Moidart, and his brother, Donald Glass, for laying waste his lands in Lochaber; and, having collected all his friends, he entered Lochaber for the purpose of apprehending them, but, being unsuccessful in his attempt, he returned home. As Macintosh conceived that he had a right to the services of all his clan, some of whom were tenants and dependants of the Marquis of Huntly, he ordered these to follow him, and compelled such of them as were refractory to accompany him into Lochaber. This proceeding gave offence to the Earl of Enzie, who summoned Macintosh before the lords of the Privy Council for having, as he asserted, exceeded his commission. He, moreover, got Macintosh’s commission recalled, and obtained a new commission in his own favour from the lords of the council, under which he invaded Lochaber, and expelled Macronald and his brother Donald from that country.

As Macintosh held certain lands from the earl and his father for services to be done, which the earl alleged had not been performed by Macintosh agreeably to the tenor of his titles, the earl brought an action against Macintosh in the year 1618 for evicting these lands, on the ground of his not having implemented the conditions on which he held them. And, as the earl had a right to the tithes of Culloden, which belonged to Macintosh, he served him, at the same time, with an inhibition, prohibiting him to dispose of these tithes. As the time for tithing drew near, Macintosh, by advice of the clan Kenzie and the Grants, circulated a report that he intended to oppose the earl in any attempt he might make to take possession of the tithes of Culloden in kind, because such a practice had never before been in use, and that he would try the issue of an action of spuilzie, if brought against him. Although the earl was much incensed at such a threat on the part of his own vassal, yet, being a privy counsellor, and desirous of showing a good example in keeping the peace, he abstained from enforcing his right; but, having formerly obtained a decree against Macintosh for the value of the tithes of the preceding years, he sent two messengers-at-arms to poind and distrain the corns upon the ground under that warrant. The messengers were, however, resisted by Macintosh’s servants, and forced to desist from the execution of their duty. The earl, in consequence, pursued Macintosh and his servants before the Privy Council, and got them denounced and proclaimed rebels to the king. He, thereupon, collected a number of his particular friends with the design of carrying his decree into execution, by distraining the crop at Culloden and carrying it to Inverness. Macintosh prepared himself to resist, by fortifying the house of Culloden and laying in a large quantity of ammunition; and having collected all the corn within shot of the castle and committed the charge of it to his two uncles, Duncan and Lauchlan, he waited for the approach of the earl. As the earl was fully aware of Macintosh’s preparations, and that the clan Chattan, the Grants, and the clan Kenzie, had promised to assist Macintosh in opposing the execution of his warrant, he wrote to Sir Robert Gordon, tutor of Sutherland, to meet him at Culloden on the 5th of November, 1618, being the day fixed by him for enforcing his decree. On receipt of this letter, Sir Robert Gordon left Sutherland for Bog-a-Gight, where the Marquis of Huntly and his son then were, and on his way paid a visit to Macintosh with the view of bringing about a compromise; but Macintosh, who was a young man of a headstrong disposition, refused to listen to any proposals, and rode post-haste to Edinburgh, from which he went privately into England.

In the meantime, the Earl of Enzie having collected his friends, to the number of 1,100 horsemen well appointed and armed, and 600 Highlanders on foot, came to Inverness with this force on the day appointed, and, after consulting his principal officers, marched forwards towards Culloden. When he arrived within view of the castle, the earl sent Sir Robert Gordon to Duncan Macintosh, who, with his brother, commanded the house, to inform him that, in consequence of his nephew’s extraordinary boasting, he had come thither to put his majesty’s laws in execution, and to carry off the corn which of right belonged to him. To this message Duncan replied, that he did not mean to prevent the earl from taking away what belonged to him, but that, in case of attack, he would defend the castle which had been committed to his charge. Sir Robert, on his return, begged the earl to send Lord Lovat, who had some influence with Duncan Macintosh, to endeavour to prevail on him to surrender the castle. At the desire of the earl, Lord Lovat accordingly went to the house of Culloden, accompanied by Sir Robert Gordon and George Monroe of Milntoun, and, after some entreaty, Macintosh agreed to surrender at discretion; a party thereupon took possession of the house, and sent the keys to the earl. He was, however, so well pleased with the conduct of Macintosh, that he sent back the keys to him, and as neither the clan Chattan, the Grants, nor the clan Kenzie, appeared to oppose him, he disbanded his party and returned home to Bog-a-Gight. He did not even carry off the corn, but gave it to Macintosh’s grandmother, who enjoyed the life-rent of the lands of Culloden as her jointure.

As the Earl of Enzie had other claims against Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, he cited him before the lords of council and session, but failing to appear, he was again denounced rebel, and outlawed for his disobedience. Sir Lauchlan, who was then in England at court, informed the king of the earl’s proceedings, which he described as harsh and illegal, and, to counteract the effect which such a statement might have upon the mind of his majesty, the earl posted to London and laid before him a true statement of matters. The consequence was, that Sir Lauchlan was sent home to Scotland and committed to the castle of Edinburgh, until he should give the earl full satisfaction. This step appears to have brought him to reason, and induced him to apply, through the mediation of some friends, for a reconciliation with the earl, which took place accordingly, at Edinburgh, in the year 1619. Sir Lauchlan, however, became bound to pay a large sum of money to the earl, part of which the latter afterwards remitted. The laird of Grant, by whose advice Macintosh had acted in opposing the earl, also submitted to the latter; but the reconciliation was more nominal than real, for the earl was afterwards obliged to protect the chief of the clan Cameron against them, and this circumstance gave rise to many dissensions between them and the earl, which ended only with the lives of Macintosh and the laird of Grant, who both died in the year 1622, when the ward of part of Macintosh’s lands fell to the earl, as his superior, during the minority of his son. The Earl of Seaforth and his clan, who had also favoured the designs of Macintosh, were in like manner reconciled, at the same time, to the Earl of Enzie, at Aberdeen, through the mediation of the Earl of Dunfermline, the Chancellor of Scotland, whose daughter the Earl of Seaforth had married.[209]

In no part of the Highlands did the spirit of faction operate so powerfully, or reign with greater virulence, than in Sutherland and Caithness and the adjacent country. The jealousies and strifes which existed for such a length of time between the two great rival families of Sutherland and Caithness, and the warfare which these occasioned, sowed the seeds of a deep-rooted hostility, which extended its baneful influence among all their followers, dependants, and friends, and retarded their advancement. The most trivial offences were often magnified into the greatest crimes, and bodies of men, animated by the deadliest hatred, were instantly congregated to avenge imaginary wrongs. It would be almost an endless task to relate the many disputes and differences which occurred during the seventeenth century in these distracted districts; but as a short account of the principal events is necessary in a work of this nature, we again proceed agreeably to our plan.

The resignation which the Earl of Caithness was compelled to make of part of the feu lands of the bishopric of Caithness, into the hands of the bishop, as before related, was a measure which preyed upon his mind, naturally restless and vindictive, and in consequence he continually annoyed the bishop’s servants and tenants. His hatred was more especially directed against Robert Monroe of Aldie, commissary of Caithness, who always acted as chamberlain to the bishop, and factor in the diocese, whom he took every opportunity to molest. The earl had a domestic servant, James Sinclair of Dyren, who had possessed part of the lands which he had been compelled to resign, and which were now tenanted by Thomas Lindsay, brother-uterine of Robert Monroe, the commissary. This James Sinclair, at the instigation of the earl, quarrelled with Thomas Lindsay, who was passing at the time near the earl’s house in Thurso, and, after changing some hard words, Sinclair inflicted a deadly wound upon him, of which he shortly thereafter died. Sinclair immediately fled to Edinburgh, and thence to London, to meet Sir Andrew Sinclair, who was transacting some business for the king of Denmark there, that he might intercede with the king for a pardon; but his majesty refused to grant it, and Sinclair, for better security, went to Denmark along with Sir Andrew.

As Robert Monroe did not consider his person safe in Caithness under such circumstances, he retired into Sutherland for a time. He then pursued James Sinclair and his master, the Earl of Caithness, for the slaughter of his brother, Thomas Lindsay; but, not appearing for trial on the day appointed, they were both outlawed, and denounced rebels. Hearing that Sinclair was in London, Monroe hastened thither, and in his own name and that of the bishop of Caithness, laid a complaint before his majesty against the earl and his servant. His majesty thereupon wrote to the Lords of the Privy Council of Scotland, desiring them to adopt the most speedy and rigorous measures to suppress the oppressions of the earl, that his subjects in the north who were well affected might live in safety and peace; and to enable them the more effectually to punish the earl, his majesty ordered them to keep back the remission that had been granted for the affair at Sanset, which had not yet been delivered to him. His majesty also directed the Privy Council, with all secrecy and speed, to give a commission to Sir Robert Gordon to apprehend the earl, or force him to leave the kingdom, and to take possession of all his castles for his majesty’s behoof; that he should also compel the landed proprietors of Caithness to find surety, not only for keeping the king’s peace in time coming, but also for their personal appearance at Edinburgh twice every year, as the West Islanders were bound to do, to answer to such complaints as might be made against them. The letter containing these instructions is dated from Windsor, 25th May, 1621.

The Privy Council, on receipt of this letter, communicated the same to Sir Robert Gordon, who was then in Edinburgh; but he excused himself from accepting the commission offered him, lest his acceptance might be construed as proceeding from spleen and malice against the Earl of Caithness. This answer, however, did not satisfy the Privy Council, which insisted that he should accept the commission; he eventually did so, but on condition that the council should furnish him with shipping and the munitions of war, and all other necessaries to force the earl to yield, in case he should fortify either Castle Sinclair or Ackergill, and withstand a siege.

While the Privy Council were deliberating on this matter, Sir Robert Gordon took occasion to speak to Lord Berridale, who was still a prisoner for debt in the jail of Edinburgh, respecting the contemplated measures against the earl, his father. As Sir Robert was still very unwilling to enter upon such an enterprise, he advised his lordship to undertake the business, by engaging in which he might not only get himself relieved of the claims against him, save his country from the dangers which threatened it, but also keep possession of his castles; and that as his father had treated him in the most unnatural manner, by suffering him to remain so long in prison without taking any steps to obtain his liberation, he would be justified, in the eyes of the world, in accepting the offer now made. Being encouraged by Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzie, to whom Sir Robert Gordon’s proposal had been communicated, to embrace the offer, Lord Berridale offered to undertake the service without any charge to his majesty, and that he would, before being liberated, give security to his creditors, either to return to prison after he had executed the commission, or satisfy them for their claims against him. The Privy Council embraced at once Lord Berridale’s proposal, but, although the Earl of Enzie offered himself as surety for his lordship’s return to prison after the service was over, the creditors refused to consent to his liberation, and thus the matter dropped. Sir Robert Gordon was again urged by the council to accept the commission, and to make the matter more palatable to him, they granted the commission to him and the Earl of Enzie jointly, both of whom accepted it. As the council, however, had no command from the king to supply the commissioners with shipping and warlike stores, they delayed proceedings till they should receive instructions from his majesty touching that point.

When the Earl of Caithness was informed of the proceedings contemplated against him, and that Sir Robert Gordon had been employed by a commission from his majesty to act in the matter, he wrote to the Lords of the Privy Council, asserting that he was innocent of the death of Thomas Lindsay; that his reason for not appearing at Edinburgh to abide his trial for that crime, was not that he had been in any shape privy to the slaughter, but for fear of his creditors, who, he was afraid, would apprehend and imprison him; and promising, that if his majesty would grant him a protection and safe-conduct, he would find security to abide trial for the slaughter of Thomas Lindsay. On receipt of this letter, the lords of the council promised him a protection, and in the month of August, his brother, James Sinclair of Murkle, and Sir John Sinclair of Greenland, became sureties for his appearance at Edinburgh, at the time prescribed for his appearance to stand trial. Thus the execution of the commission was in the meantime delayed.

Notwithstanding the refusal of Lord Berridale’s creditors to consent to his liberation, Lord Gordon afterwards did all in his power to accomplish it, and ultimately succeeded in obtaining this consent, by giving his own personal security either to satisfy the creditors, or deliver up Lord Berridale into their hands. His lordship was accordingly released from prison, and returned to Caithness in the year 1621, after a confinement of five years. As his final enlargement from jail depended upon his obtaining the means of paying his creditors, and as his father, the earl, staid at home consuming the rents of his estates, in rioting and licentiousness, without paying any part either of the principal or interest of his debts, and without feeling the least uneasiness at his son’s confinement, Lord Berridale, immediately on his return, assisted by his friends, attempted to apprehend his father, so as to get the family estates into his own possession; but without success.

In the meantime the earl’s creditors, wearied out with the delay which had taken place in liquidating their debts, grew exceedingly clamorous, and some of them took a journey to Caithness in the month of April, 1622, to endeavour to effect a settlement with the earl personally. All, however, that they obtained were fair words, and a promise from the earl that he would speedily follow them to Edinburgh, and satisfy them of all demands; but he failed to perform his promise. About this time, a sort of reconciliation appears to have taken place between the earl and his son, Lord Berridale; but it was of short duration. On this new disagreement breaking out, the earl lost the favour and friendship not only of his brothers, James and Sir John, but also that of his best friends in Caithness. Lord Berridale, thereupon, left Caithness and took up his residence with Lord Gordon, who wrote to his friends at Court to obtain a new commission against the earl. As the king was daily troubled with complaints against the earl by his creditors, he readily consented to such a request, and he accordingly wrote a letter to the Lords of the Privy Council of Scotland, in the month of December 1622, desiring them to issue a commission to Lord Gordon to proceed against the earl. The execution of the commission was, however, postponed in consequence of a message to Lord Gordon to attend the Court and proceed to France on some affairs of state, where he accordingly went in the year 1623. On the departure of his lordship, the earl made an application to the Lords of the Council for a new protection, promising to appear at Edinburgh on the 10th of August of this year, and to satisfy his creditors. This turned out to be a mere pretence to obtain delay, for although the council granted the protection, as required, upon the most urgent solicitations, the earl failed to appear on the day appointed. This breach of his engagement incensed his majesty and the council the more against him, and made them more determined than ever to reduce him to obedience. He was again denounced and proclaimed rebel, and a new commission was granted to Sir Robert Gordon to proceed against him and his abettors with fire and sword. In this commission there were conjoined with Sir Robert, his brother, Sir Alexander Gordon, Sir Donald Mackay, his nephew, and James Sinclair of Murkle, but on this condition, that Sir Robert should act as chief commissioner, and that nothing should be done by the other commissioners in the service they were employed in, without his advice and consent.

The Earl of Caithness seeing now no longer any chance of evading the authority of the laws, prepared to meet the gathering storm by fortifying his castles and strongholds. Proclamations were issued interdicting all persons from having any communication with the earl, and letters of concurrence were given to Sir Robert in name of his majesty, charging and commanding the inhabitants of Ross, Sutherland, Strathnaver, Caithness, and Orkney, to assist him in the execution of his majesty’s commission; a ship well furnished with munitions of war, was sent to the coast of Caithness to prevent the earl’s escape by sea, and to furnish Sir Robert with ordnance for battering the earl’s castles in case he should withstand a siege.

Sir Robert Gordon having arrived in Sutherland in the month of August, 1623, was immediately joined by Lord Berridale for the purpose of consulting on the plan of operations to be adopted; but, before fixing on any particular plan, it was concerted that Lord Berridale should first proceed to Caithness to learn what resolution his father had come to, and to ascertain how the inhabitants of that country stood affected towards the earl. He was also to notify to Sir Robert the arrival of the ship of war on the coast. A day was, at the same time, fixed for the inhabitants of the adjoining districts to meet Sir Robert Gordon in Strathully, upon the borders between Sutherland and Caithness. Lord Berridale was not long in Caithness when he sent notice to Sir Robert acquainting him that his father, the earl, had resolved to stand out to the last extremity, and that he had fortified the strong castle of Ackergill, which he had supplied with men, ammunition, and provisions, and upon holding out which he placed his last and only hope. He advised Sir Robert to bring with him into Caithness as many men as he could muster, as many of the inhabitants stood still well affected to the earl.

The Earl of Caithness, in the meantime, justly apprehensive of the consequences which might ensue if unsuccessful in his opposition, despatched a messenger to Sir Robert Gordon, proposing that some gentlemen should be authorized to negotiate between them, for the purpose of bringing matters to an amicable accommodation. Sir Robert, who perceived the drift of this message, which was solely to obtain delay, returned for answer that he was exceedingly sorry that the earl bad refused the benefit of his last protection for clearing away the imputations laid to his charge; and that he clearly perceived that the earl’s object in proposing a negotiation was solely to waste time, and to weary out the commissioners and army by delays, which he, for his own part, would not submit to, because the harvest was nearly at hand, and the king’s ship could not be detained upon the coast idle. Unless, therefore, the earl at once submitted himself unconditionally to the king’s mercy, Sir Robert threatened to proceed against him and his supporters immediately. The earl had been hitherto so successful in his different schemes to avoid the ends of justice that such an answer was by no means expected, and the firmness displayed in it served greatly to shake his courage.

Upon receipt of the intelligence from Lord Berridale, Sir Robert Gordon made preparations for entering Caithness without delay; and, as a precautionary measure, he took pledges from such of the tribes and families in Caithness as he suspected were favourable to the earl. Before all his forces had time to assemble, Sir Robert received notice that the war ship had arrived upon the Caithness coast, and that the earl was meditating an escape beyond the seas. Unwilling to withdraw men from the adjoining provinces during the harvest season, and considering the Sutherland forces quite sufficient for his purpose, he sent couriers into Ross, Strathnaver, Assynt, and Orkney, desiring the people who had been engaged to accompany the expedition to remain at home till farther notice; and, having assembled all the inhabitants of Sutherland, he picked out the most active and resolute men among them, whom he caused to be well supplied with war-like weapons, and other necessaries, for the expedition. Having thus equipped his army, Sir Robert, accompanied by his brother, Sir Alexander Gordon, and the principal gentlemen of Sutherland, marched, on the 3d of September, 1623, from Dunrobin to Killiernan in Strathully, the place of rendezvous previously appointed. Here Sir Robert divided his forces into companies, over each of which he placed a commander. The following morning he passed the river Helmsdale, and arranged his army in the following order:—Half-a-mile in advance of the main body he placed a company of the clan Gun, whose duty it was to search the fields as they advanced for the purpose of discovering any ambuscades which might be laid in their way, and to clear away any obstruction to the regular advance of the main body. The right wing of the army was led by John Murray of Aberscors, Hugh Gordon of Ballellon, and Adam Gordon of Kilcalmkill. The left wing was commanded by John Gordon, younger of Embo, Robert Gray of Ospisdale, and Alexander Sutherland of Kilphidder. And Sir Robert Gordon himself, his brother Sir Alexander, the laird of Pulrossie, and William Mac-Mhic-Sheumais of Killiernan, led the centre. The two wings were always kept a short distance in advance of the centre, from which they were to receive support when required. In this manner the army advanced towards Berridale, and they observed the same order of marching during all the time they remained in Caithness.

As soon as Lord Berridale heard of Sir Robert Gordon’s advance, he and James Sinclair of Murkle, one of the commissioners, and some other gentlemen, went forward in haste to meet him. The parties accordingly met among the mountains above Cayen, about three miles from Berridale. Sir Robert continued his march till he arrived at Brea-Na-Henglish in Berridale, where at night he encamped. Here they were informed that the ship of war, after casting anchor before Castle Sinclair, had gone from thence to Scrabster road, and that the Earl of Caithness had abandoned the country, and sailed by night into one of the Orkney Islands, with the intention of going thence into Norway or Denmark. From Brea-Na-Henglish the army advanced to Lathron, where they encamped. Here James Sinclair of Murkle, sheriff of Caithness, Sir William Sinclair of May, the laird of Ratter, the laird of Forse, and several other gentlemen of Caithness, waited upon Sir Robert Gordon and tendered their submission and obedience to his majesty, offering, at the same time, every assistance they could afford in forwarding the objects of the expedition. Sir Robert received them kindly, and promised to acquaint his majesty with their submission; but he distrusted some of them, and he gave orders that none of the Caithness people should be allowed to enter his camp after sunset. At Lathron, Sir Robert was joined by about 300 of the Caithness men, consisting of the Cadels and others who had favoured Lord Berridale. These men were commanded by James Sinclair, fiar of Murkle, and were kept always a mile or two in advance of the army till they reached Castle Sinclair.

No sooner did Sir Robert arrive before Castle Sinclair, which was a very strong place, and the principal residence of the Earl of Caithness, than it surrendered, the keys being delivered up to him as representing his majesty. The army encamped before the castle two nights, during which time the officers took up their quarters within the castle, which was guarded by Sutherland men.

From Castle Sinclair Sir Robert marched to the castle of Ackergill, another strong place, which also surrendered on the first summons, and the keys of which were delivered in like manner to him. The army next marched in battle array to the castle of Kease, the last residence of the earl, which was also given up without resistance. The Countess of Caithness had previously removed to another residence not far distant, where she was visited by Sir Robert Gordon, who was her cousin-german. The countess entreated him, with great earnestness, to get her husband again restored to favour, seeing he had made no resistance to him. Sir Robert promised to do what he could if the earl would follow his advice; but he did not expect that matters could be accommodated so speedily as she expected, from the peculiar situation in which the earl then stood.

From Kease Sir Robert Gordon returned with his army to Castle Sinclair, where, according to the directions he had received from the Privy Council, he delivered the keys of all these castles and forts to Lord Berridale, to be kept by him for his majesty’s use, for which he should be answerable to the lords of the council until the farther pleasure of his majesty should be known.

The army then returned to Wick in the same marching order which had been observed since its first entry into Caithness, at which place the commissioners consulted together, and framed a set of instructions to Lord Berridale for governing Caithness peaceably in time coming, conformably to the laws of the kingdom, and for preventing the Earl of Caithness from again disturbing the country, should he venture to return after the departure of the army. At Wick Sir Robert Gordon was joined by Sir Donald Mackay, who had collected together the choicest men of Strathnaver; but, as the object of the expedition had been accomplished, Sir Donald, after receiving Sir Robert’s thanks, returned to Strathnaver. Sir Robert having brought this expedition to a successful termination, led back his men into Sutherland, and, after a stay of three months, went to England, carrying with him a letter from the Privy Council of Scotland to the king, giving an account of the expedition, and of its happy results.[210]

FOOTNOTES:

[205] Act James VI., Parl. 3, Cap. 45.

[206] Sir R. Gordon, p. 299.

[207] Gregory’s Western Highlands, p. 349, et seq.

[208] Sir R. Gordon, p. 329, et seq.

[209] Sir Robert Gordon, p. 356, et seq.

[210] Sir Robert Gordon, p. 366, et seq.

CHAPTER XI.

A.D. 1624–1636.

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS:—
James VI., 1603–1625.   Charles I., 1625–1649.

Insurrection of the clan Chattan against the Earl of Murray—Dispute between the laird of Duffus and Gordon, younger of Embo—Sir Donald Mackay’s machinations—Feud among the Grants—Dispute between the lairds of Frendraught and Rothiemay—Quarrel between Frendraught and the laird of Pitcaple—Calamitous and fatal fire at Frendraught House—Inquiry as to the cause of the fire—Escape of James Grant—Apprehension of Grant of Ballindalloch—And of Thomas Grant—Dispute between the Earl of Sutherland and Lord Lorn—Depredations committed upon Frendraught—Marquis of Huntly accused therewith—The Marquis and Letterfourie committed—Liberated—Death and character of the Marquis.

The troubles in Sutherland and Caithness had been scarcely allayed, when a formidable insurrection broke out on the part of the clan Chattan against the Earl of Murray, which occasioned considerable uproar and confusion in the Highlands. The clan Chattan had for a very long period been the faithful friends and followers of the Earls of Murray, who, on that account, had allotted them many valuable lands in recompense for their services in Pettie and Strathearn. The clan had, in particular, been very active in revenging upon the Marquis of Huntly the death of James, Earl of Murray, who was killed at Donnibristle; but his son and successor being reconciled to the family of Huntly, and needing no longer, as he thought, the aid of the clan, dispossessed them of the lands which his predecessors had bestowed upon them. This harsh proceeding occasioned great irritation, and, upon the death of Sir Lauchlan their chief, who died a short time before Whitsunday, 1624, they resolved either to recover the possessions of which they had been deprived, or to lay them waste. While Sir Lauchlan lived, the clan were awed by his authority and prevented from such an attempt, but no such impediment now standing in their way, and as their chief, who was a mere child, could run no risk by the enterprise, they considered the present a favourable opportunity for carrying their plan into execution.

Accordingly, a gathering of the clan, to the number of about 200 gentlemen and 300 servants, took place about Whitsunday, 1624. This party was commanded by three uncles of the late chief.[211] “They keeped the feilds,” says Spalding, “in their Highland weid upon foot with swords, bowes, arrowes, targets, hagbuttis, pistollis, and other Highland armour; and first began to rob and spoulzie the earle’s tennents, who laboured their possessions, of their haill goods, geir, insight, plenishing, horse, nolt, sheep, corns, and cattell, and left them nothing that they could gett within their bounds; syne fell in sorning throw out Murray, Strathawick, Urquhart, Ross, Sutherland, Brae of Marr, and diverse other parts, takeing their meat and food per force wher they could not gett it willingly, frae freinds alseweill as frae their faes; yet still keeped themselves from shedeing of innocent blood. Thus they lived as outlawes, oppressing the countrie, (besydes the casting of the earle’s lands waist), and openly avowed they had tane this course to gett thir own possessions again, or then hold the country walking.”

When this rising took place, the Earl of Murray obtained from Monteith and Balquhidder about 300 armed men, and placing himself at their head he marched through Moray to Inverness. The earl took up his residence in the castle with the Earl of Enzie, his brother-in-law, eldest son of the Marquis of Huntly, and after the party had passed one night at Inverness, he despatched them in quest of the clan Chattan, but whether from fear of meeting them, or because they could not find them, certain it is that the Monteith and Balquhidder men returned without effecting anything, after putting the earl to great expense. The earl, therefore, sent them back to their respective countries, and went himself to Elgin, where he raised another body of men to suppress the clan Chattan, who were equally unsuccessful in finding the latter out.

These ineffectual attempts against the clan served to make them more bold and daring in their outrages; and as the earl now saw that no force which he could himself bring into the field was sufficient to overawe these marauders, King James, at his earnest solicitation, granted him a commission, appointing him his lieutenant in the Highlands, and giving him authority to proceed capitally against the offenders. On his return the earl proclaimed the commission he had obtained from his majesty, and issued letters of intercommuning against the clan Chattan, prohibiting all persons from harbouring, supplying, or entertaining them, in any manner of way, under certain severe pains and penalties. Although the Marquis of Huntly was the earl’s father-in-law, he felt somewhat indignant at the appointment, as he conceived that he or his son had the best title to be appointed to the lieutenancy of the north; but he concealed his displeasure.

After the Earl of Murray had issued the notices, prohibiting all persons from communicating with, or assisting the clan Chattan, their kindred and friends, who had privately promised them aid, before they broke out, began to grow cold, and declined to assist them, as they were apprehensive of losing their estates, many of them being wealthy. The earl perceiving this, opened a communication with some of the principal persons of the clan, to induce them to submit to his authority, who, seeing no hopes of making any longer an effectual resistance, readily acquiesced, and, by the intercession of friends, made their peace with the earl, on condition that they should inform him of the names of such persons as had given them protection, after the publication of his letters of interdiction. Having thus quelled this formidable insurrection without bloodshed, the earl, by virtue of his commission, held justice courts at Elgin, where “some slight louns, followers of the clan Chattan,” were tried and executed, but all the principals concerned were pardoned.

As the account which Spalding gives of the appearance of the accused, and of the base conduct of the principal men of the clan Chattan, in informing against their friends and benefactors, is both curious and graphic, it is here inserted: “Then presently was brought in befor the barr; and in the honest men’s faces, the clan Chattan who had gotten supply, verified what they had gotten, and the honest men confounded and dasht, knew not what to answer, was forced to come in the earle’s will, whilk was not for their weill: others compeared and willingly confessed, trusting to gett more favour at the earle’s hands, but they came little speid: and lastly, some stood out and denyed all, who was reserved to the triall of an assyse. The principall malefactors stood up in judgment, and declared what they had gotten, whether meat, money, cloathing, gun, ball, powder, lead, sword, dirk, and the like commodities, and alse instructed the assyse in ilk particular, what they had gotten frae the persons pannalled; an uncouth form of probation, wher the principall malefactor proves against the receiptor for his own pardon, and honest men, perhaps neither of the clan Chattan’s kyne nor blood, punished for their good will, ignorant of the laws, and rather receipting them more for their evil nor their good. Nevertheless thir innocent men, under collour of justice, part and part as they came in, were soundly fyned in great soumes as their estates might bear, and some above their estate was fyned, and every one warded within the tolbuith of Elgine, while the least myte was payed of such as was persued in anno 1624.”[212]

Some idea of the unequal administration of the laws at this time may be formed, when it is considered that the enormous fines imposed in the present instance, went into the pockets of the chief judge, the Earl of Murray himself, as similar mulcts had previously gone into those of the Earl of Argyle, in his crusade against the unfortunate clan Gregor! This legal robbery, however, does not appear to have enriched the houses of Argyle and Murray, for Sir Robert Gordon observes, that “these fynes did not much advantage either of these two earles.” The Earl of Murray, no doubt, thinking such a mode of raising money an easy and profitable speculation, afterwards obtained an enlargement of his commission from Charles I., not only against the clan Chattan, but also against all other offenders within several adjacent shires; but the commission was afterwards annulled by his majesty, not so much on account of the abuses and injustice which might have been perpetrated under it, but because, as Sir Robert Gordon observes, “it grieved divers of his majesty’s best affected subjects, and chieflie the Marquis of Huntlie, unto whose predicessors onlie the office of livetennendrie in the north of Scotland had bein granted by former kings, for these many ages.”

There seems reason, however, for supposing that the recall of the commission was hastened by complaints to the king, on the part of the oppressed; for the earl had no sooner obtained its renewal, than he held a court against the burgh of Inverness, John Grant of Glenmoriston, and others who had refused to acknowledge their connexion with the clan Chattan, or to pay him the heavy fines which he had imposed upon them. The town of Inverness endeavoured to get quit of the earl’s extortions, on the ground that the inhabitants were innocent of the crimes laid to their charge; but the earl frustrated their application to the Privy Council. The provost, Duncan Forbes,[213] was then sent to the king, and Grant of Glenmoriston took a journey to London, at the same time, on his own account; but their endeavours proved ineffectual, and they had no alternative but to submit to the earl’s exactions.[214]

The quarrel between the laird of Duffus and John Gordon, younger of Embo, which had lain dormant for some time, burst forth again, in the year 1625, and proved nearly fatal to both parties. Gordon had long watched an opportunity to revenge the wrong which he conceived had been done him by the laird of Duffus and his brother, James, but he could never fall in with either of them, as they remained in Moray, and, when they appeared in Sutherland, they were always accompanied by some friends, so that Gordon was prevented from attacking them. Frequent disappointments in this way only whetted his appetite for revenge; and meeting, when on horseback, one day, between Sidderay and Skibo, with John Sutherland of Clyne, third brother of the laird of Duffus, who was also on horseback, he determined to make the laird of Clyne suffer for the delinquencies of his elder brother. Raising, therefore, a cudgel which he held in his hand, he inflicted several blows upon John Sutherland, who, as soon as he recovered himself from the surprise and confusion into which such an unexpected attack had thrown him, drew his sword. Gordon, in his turn, unsheathed his, and a warm combat ensued, between the parties and two friends who accompanied them. After they had fought a while, Gordon wounded Sutherland in the head and in one of his hands, and otherwise injured him, but he spared his life, although completely in his power.

Duffus immediately cited John Gordon to appear before the Privy Council, to answer for this breach of the peace, and, at the same time, summoned before the council some of the Earl of Sutherland’s friends and dependants, for an alleged conspiracy against himself and his friends. Duffus, with his two brothers and Gordon, came to Edinburgh on the day appointed, and, the parties being heard, Gordon was declared guilty of a riot, and was thereupon committed to prison. This result gave great satisfaction to Duffus and his brothers, who now calculated on nothing less than the utter ruin of Gordon; as they had, by means of Sir Donald Mackay, obtained a Strathnaver man, named William Mack-Allen (one of the Siol-Thomais), who had been a servant of Gordon’s, to become a witness against him, and to prove every thing that Duffus was pleased to allege against Gordon.

In this state of matters, Sir Robert Gordon returned from London to Edinburgh, where he found Duffus in high spirits, exulting at his success, and young Embo in prison. Sir Robert applied to Duffus, hoping to bring about a reconciliation by the intervention of friends, but Duffus refused to hear of any arrangement; and the more reasonable the conditions were, which Sir Robert proposed, the more unreasonable and obstinate did he become; his object being to get the lords to award him great sums of money at the expense of Gordon, in satisfaction for the wrong done his brother. Sir Robert, however, finally succeeded, by the assistance of the Earl of Enzie, who was then at Edinburgh, in getting the prosecution against the Earl of Sutherland’s friends quashed, in obtaining the liberation of John Gordon, and in getting his fine mitigated to one hundred pounds Scots, payable to the king only; reserving, however, civil action to John Sutherland of Clyne against Gordon, before the Lords of Session.[215]

Sir Donald Mackay, always restless, and desirous of gratifying his enmity at the house of Sutherland, endeavoured to embroil it with the laird of Duffus in the following way. Having formed a resolution to leave the kingdom, Sir Donald applied for, and obtained, a license from the king to raise a regiment in the north, to assist Count Mansfield in his campaign in Germany. He, accordingly, collected, in a few months, about 3,000 men from different parts of Scotland, the greater part of whom he embarked at Cromarty in the month of October 1626; but, on account of bad health, he was obliged to delay his own departure till the following year, when he joined the king of Sweden with his regiment, in consequence of a peace having been concluded between the King of Denmark and the Emperor of Germany.[216] Among others whom Mackay had engaged to accompany him to Germany, was a person named Angus Roy Gun, against whom, a short time previous to his enlistment, Mackay and his brother, John Mackay of Dirlet, had obtained a commission from the lords of the Privy Council for the purpose of apprehending him and bringing him before the council for some supposed crimes. Mackay could have easily apprehended Angus Roy Gun on different occasions, but having become one of his regiment, he allowed the commission, as far as he was concerned, to remain a dead letter.

Sometime after his enlistment, Angus Roy Gun made a journey into Sutherland, a circumstance which afforded Mackay an opportunity of putting into execution the scheme he had formed, and which showed that he was no mean adept in the arts of cunning and dissimulation. His plan was this:—He wrote, in the first place, private letters to the laird of Duffus, and to his brother, John Sutherland of Clyne, to apprehend Angus Roy Gun under the commission he had obtained; and at the same time, sent the commission itself to the laird of Duffus as his authority for so doing. He next wrote a letter to Alexander Gordon, the Earl of Sutherland’s uncle, who, in the absence of his brother, Sir Robert, governed Sutherland, entreating him, as Angus Roy Gun was then in Sutherland, to send him to him to Cromarty, as he was his hired soldier. Ignorant of Mackay’s design, and desirous of serving him, Sir Alexander sent two of his men to bring Gun to Sir Alexander; but on their return they were met by John Sutherland of Clyne and a party of sixteen men, who seized Gun; and to prevent a rescue, the laird of Duffus sent his brother, James Sutherland, Alexander Murray, heir-apparent of Aberscors, and William Neill-son, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, with 300 men to protect his brother John. At the same time, as he anticipated an attack from Sir Alexander Gordon, he sent messengers to his supporters in Ross, Strathnaver, Caithness, and other places for assistance.

When Sir Alexander Gordon heard of the assembling of such a body of the Earl of Sutherland’s vassals without his knowledge, he made inquiry to ascertain the cause; and being informed of Gun’s capture, he collected 18 men who were near at hand, and hastened with them from Dunrobin towards Clyne. On arriving at the bridge of Broray, he found James Sutherland, with his brother John, and their whole party drawn up in battle array at the east end of the bridge. He, thereupon, sent a person to the Sutherlands to know the cause of such an assemblage, and the reason why they had taken Gun from his servants. As the Sutherlands refused to exhibit their authority, Sir Alexander made demonstrations for passing the bridge, but he was met by a shower of shot and arrows which wounded two of his men. After exchanging shots for some time, Sir Alexander was joined by a considerable body of his countrymen, by whose aid, notwithstanding the resistance he met with, he was enabled to cross the bridge. The Sutherlands were forced to retreat, and as they saw no chance of opposing, with success, the power of the house of Sutherland, they, after some hours’ consultation, delivered up Angus Roy Gun to Sir Alexander Sutherland, who sent him immediately to Mackay, then at Cromarty.

As such an example of insubordination among the Earl of Sutherland’s vassals might, if overlooked, lead others to follow a similar course, Sir Alexander caused the laird of Duffus and his brother of Clyne, with their accomplices, to be cited to appear at Edinburgh on the 16th of November following, to answer before the Privy Council for their misdemeanours. The laird of Duffus, however, died in the month of October, but the laird of Clyne appeared at Edinburgh at the time appointed, and produced before the Privy Council the letter he had received from Mackay, as his authority for acting as he had done. Sir Alexander Gordon also produced the letter sent to him by Sir Donald, who was thereby convicted of having been the intentional originator of the difference; but as the lords of council thought that the laird of Clyne had exceeded the bounds of his commission, he was imprisoned in the jail of Edinburgh, wherein he was ordered to remain until he should give satisfaction to the other party, and present some of his men who had failed to appear though summoned. By the mediation, however, of James Sutherland, tutor of Duffus, a reconciliation was effected between Sir Robert and Sir Alexander Gordon, and the laird of Clyne, who was, in consequence, soon thereafter liberated from prison.[217]

The year 1628 was marked by the breaking out of an old and deadly feud among the Grants, which had been transmitted from father to son for several generations, in consequence of the murder of John Grant of Ballindalloch, about the middle of the sixteenth century, by John Roy Grant of Carron, the natural son of John Grant of Glenmoriston, at the instigation of the laird of Grant, the chief of the tribe, who had conceived a grudge against his kinsman. Some years before the period first mentioned, James Grant, one of the Carron family, happening to be at a fair in the town of Elgin, observed one of the Grants of the Ballindalloch family eagerly pursuing his (James’s) brother, Thomas Grant, whom he knocked down in the street and wounded openly before his eyes. The assailant was in his turn attacked by James Grant, who killed him upon the spot and immediately decamped. Ballindalloch then cited James Grant to stand trial for the slaughter of his kinsman, but, as he did not appear on the day appointed, he was outlawed. The laird of Grant made many attempts to reconcile the parties, but in vain, as Ballindalloch was obstinate and would listen to no proposals. Nothing less than the blood of James Grant would satisfy Ballindalloch.

This resolution on the part of Ballindalloch almost drove James Grant to despair, and seeing his life every moment in jeopardy, and deprived of any hope of effecting a compromise, he put himself at the head of a party of brigands, whom he collected from all parts of the Highlands. These freebooters made no distinction between friends and foes, but attacked all persons of whatever description, and wasted and despoiled their property. James Grant of Dalnebo, one of the family of Ballindalloch, fell a victim to their fury, and many of the kinsmen of that family suffered greatly from the depredations committed by Grant and his associates. The Earl of Murray, under the renewed and extended commission which he had obtained from King Charles, made various attempts to put an end to these lawless proceedings, but to no purpose; the failure of these attempts serving only to harden James Grant and his party, who continued their depredations. As John Grant of Carron, nephew of James Grant, was supposed to maintain and assist his uncle secretly, a suspicion for which there seems to have been no foundation, John Grant of Ballindalloch sought for an opportunity of revenging himself upon Carron, who was a promising young man. Carron having one day left his house, along with one Alexander Grant and seven or eight other persons, to cut down some timber in the woods of Abernethy, Ballindalloch thought the occasion favourable for putting his design into execution. Having collected and armed sixteen of his friends, he went to the forest where Carron was, and under the pretence of searching for James Grant and some of his associates, against whom he had a commission, attacked Carron, who fought manfully in defence of his life, but being overpowered, was killed by Ballindalloch. Before Carron fell, however, he and Alexander Grant had slain several of Ballindalloch’s friends, among whom were Thomas Grant of Davey, and Lauchlan Macintosh of Rockinoyr. Alexander Grant afterwards annoyed Ballindalloch, killing several of his men, and assisted James Grant to lay waste Ballindalloch’s lands. “Give me leave heir,” says Sir R. Gordon, “to remark the providence and secrait judgement of the Almightie God, who now hath mett Carron with the same measure that his forefather, John Roy Grant of Carron, did serve the ancestor of Ballendallogh; for upon the same day of the moneth that John Roy Grant did kill the great-grandfather of Ballendallogh (being the eleventh day of September), the verie same day of this month wes Carron slain by this John Grant of Ballendallogh many yeirs thereafter. And, besides, as that John Roy Grant of Carron was left-handed, so is this John Grant of Ballendallogh left-handed also; and moreover, it is to be observed that Ballendallogh, at the killing of this Carron, had upon him the same coat-of-armour, or maillie-coat, which John Roy Grant had upon him at the slaughter of the great-grandfather of this Ballendallogh, which maillie-coat Ballendallogh had, a little before this tyme, taken from James Grant, in a skirmish, that passed betwixt them. Thus wee doe sie that the judgements of God are inscrutable, and that, in his own tyme, he punisheth blood by blood.”[218]

The Earl of Murray, when he heard of this occurrence, instead of taking measures against Ballindalloch for his outrage against the laws, which he was fully entitled to do by virtue of the commission he held, took part with Ballindalloch against the friends of Carron. He not only represented Ballindalloch’s case favourably at court, but also obtained an indemnity for him for some years, that he might not be molested. The countenance thus given by his majesty’s lieutenant to the murderer of their kinsmen, exasperated James and Alexander Grant in the highest degree against Ballindalloch and his supporters, whom they continually annoyed with their incursions, laying waste their lands and possessions, and cutting off their people. To such an extent was this system of lawless warfare carried, that Ballindalloch was forced to flee from the north of Scotland, and live for the most part in Edinburgh, to avoid the dangers with which he was surrounded. But James Grant’s desperate career was checked by a party of the clan Chattan, who unexpectedly attacked him at Auchnachyle, in Strathdoun, under cloud of night, in the latter end of December, 1630, when he was taken prisoner after receiving eleven wounds, and after four of his party were killed. He was sent by his captors to Edinburgh for trial before the lords of the council, and was imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh, from which he escaped in the manner to be afterwards noticed.

About the time that James Grant was desolating the district of the Highlands, to which his operations were confined, another part of the country was convulsed by a dispute, ending tragically, which occurred between James Crichton of Frendret, or Frendraught, and William Gordon of Rothiemay, whose lands lay adjacent to each other. Part of Gordon’s lands which marched with those of Crichton were purchased by the latter; but a dispute having occurred about the right to the salmon fishings belonging to these lands, an irreconcilable difference arose between them, which no mediation of friends could reconcile, although the matter in dispute was of little moment. The parties having had recourse to the law to settle their respective claims, Crichton prevailed, and succeeded in getting Gordon denounced rebel. He had previously treated Rothiemay very harshly, who, stung by the severity of his opponent, and by the victory he had obtained over him, would listen to no proposals of peace, nor follow the advice of his best friends. Determined to set the law at defiance, he collected a number of loose and disorderly characters, and annoyed Frendraught, who, in consequence, applied for and obtained a commission from the Privy Council for apprehending Rothiemay and his associates. In the execution of this task he was assisted by Sir George Ogilvy of Banff, George Gordon, brother-german of Sir James Gordon of Lesmoir, and the uncle of Frendraught, James Leslie, second son of Leslie of Pitcaple, John Meldrum of Reidhill, and others. Accompanied by these gentlemen, Crichton left his house of Frendraught on the 1st of January, 1630, for the house of Rothiemay, with a resolution either to apprehend Gordon, his antagonist, or to set him at defiance by affronting him. He was incited the more to follow this course, as young Rothiemay, at the head of a party, had come a short time before to the very doors of Frendraught, and had braved him to his face. When Rothiemay heard of the advance of Frendraught, he left his house, accompanied by his eldest son, John Gordon, and about eight men on horseback armed with guns and lances, and a party of men on foot with muskets, and crossing the river Deveron, went forward to meet Frendraught and his party. A sharp conflict immediately took place, in which Rothiemay’s horse was killed under him; but he fought manfully for some time on foot, until the whole of his party, with the exception of his son, were forced to retire. The son, notwithstanding, continued to support his father against fearful odds, but was at last obliged to save himself by flight, leaving his father lying on the field covered with wounds, and supposed to be dead. He, however, was found still alive after the conflict was over, and being carried home to his house, died within three days thereafter. George Gordon, brother of Gordon of Lesmoir, received a shot in the thigh, and died in consequence ten days after the skirmish. These were the only deaths which occurred, although several of the combatants on both sides were wounded. John Meldrum, who fought on Frendraught’s side, was the only person severely wounded.

The Marquis of Huntly was highly displeased at Frendraught for having, in such a trifling matter, proceeded to extremities against his kinsman, a chief baron of his surname, whose life had been thus sacrificed in a petty quarrel. The displeasure of the marquis was still farther heightened, when he was informed that Frendraught had joined the Earl of Murray, and had claimed his protection and assistance; but the marquis was obliged to repress his indignation. John Gordon of Rothiemay, eldest son of the deceased laird, resolved to avenge the death of his father, and having collected a party of men, he associated himself with James Grant and other freebooters, for the purpose of laying waste Frendraught’s lands, and oppressing him in every possible way. Frendraught, who was in the south of Scotland when this combination against him was formed, no sooner heard of it than he posted to England, and, having laid a statement of the case before the king, his majesty remitted the matter to the Privy Council of Scotland, desiring them to use their best endeavours for settling the peace of the northern parts of the kingdom. A commission was thereupon granted by the lords of the council to Frendraught and others, for the purpose of apprehending John Gordon and his associates; but, as the commissioners were not able to execute the task imposed upon them, the lords of the council sent Sir Robert Gordon, tutor of Sutherland, who had just returned from England, and Sir William Seaton of Killesmuir, to the north, with a new commission against the rebels. As it seemed to be entirely out of the power of the Earl of Murray to quell the disturbances in the north, the two commissioners received particular instructions to attempt, with the aid of the Marquis of Huntly, to get matters settled amicably, and the opposing parties reconciled. The lords of the council, at the same time, wrote a letter to the Marquis of Huntly to the same effect. Sir Robert Gordon and Sir William Seaton accordingly left Edinburgh, on their way north, in the beginning of May, 1630. The latter stopped at Aberdeen for the purpose of consulting with some gentlemen of that county, as to the best mode of proceeding against the rebels; and the former went to Strathbogie to advise with the Marquis of Huntly.

On Sir Robert’s arrival at Strathbogie, he found that the marquis had gone to Aberdeen to attend the funeral of the laird of Drum. By a singular coincidence, James Grant and Alexander Grant descended the very day of Sir Robert’s arrival from the mountains, at the head of a party of 200 Highlanders, well armed, with a resolution to burn and lay waste Frendraught’s lands. As soon as Sir Robert became aware of this circumstance, he went in great haste to Rothiemay house, where he found John Gordon and his associates in arms, ready to set out to join the Grants. By persuasion and entreaties Sir Robert, assisted by his nephew the Earl of Sutherland, and his brother, Sir Alexander Gordon, who were then at Frendraught on a visit to the lady of that place, who was a sister of the earl, prevailed not only upon John Gordon and his friends to desist, but also upon James Grant and his companions-in-arms, to disperse.

On the return of the Marquis of Huntly to Strathbogie, Rothiemay and Frendraught were both induced to meet them in presence of the marquis, Sir Robert Gordon, and Sir William Seaton, who, after much entreaty, prevailed upon them to reconcile their differences, and submit all matters in dispute to their arbitrament. A decree-arbitral was accordingly pronounced, by which the arbiters adjudged that the laird of Rothiemay and the children of George Gordon should mutually remit their father’s slaughter, and, in satisfaction thereof, they decerned that the laird of Frendraught should pay a certain sum of money to the laird of Rothiemay, for relief of the debts which he had contracted during the disturbances between the two families,[219] and that he should pay some money to the children of George Gordon. Frendraught fulfilled these conditions most willingly, and the parties shook hands together in the orchard of Strathbogie, in token of a hearty and sincere reconciliation.[220]

The laird of Frendraught had scarcely been reconciled to Rothiemay, when he got into another dispute with the laird of Pitcaple, the occasion of which was as follows:—John Meldrum of Reidhill had assisted Frendraught in his quarrel with old Rothiemay, and had received a wound in the skirmish in which the latter lost his life, for which injury Frendraught had allowed him some compensation; but, conceiving that his services had not been fairly requited, he began to abuse Frendraught, and threatened to compel him to give him a greater recompense than he had yet received. As Frendraught refused to comply with his demands, Meldrum entered the park of Frendraught privately in the night-time, and carried away two horses belonging to his pretended debtor. Frendraught thereupon prosecuted Meldrum for theft, but he declined to appear in court, and was consequently declared rebel. Frendraught then obtained a commission from the Privy Council to apprehend Meldrum, who took refuge with John Leslie of Pitcaple, whose sister he had married. Under the commission which he had procured, Frendraught went in quest of Meldrum, on the 27th of September, 1630. He proceeded to Pitcaple’s lands, on which he knew Meldrum then lived, where he met James Leslie, second son of the laird of Pitcaple, who had been with him at the skirmish of Rothiemay. Leslie then began to expostulate with him in behalf of Meldrum, his brother-in-law, who, on account of the aid he had given him in his dispute with Rothiemay, took Leslie’s remonstrances in good part; but Robert Crichton of Conland,[221] a kinsman of Frendraught, grew so warm at Leslie’s freedom that from high words they proceeded to blows. Conland, then, drawing a pistol from his belt, wounded Leslie in the arm, who was thereupon carried home, apparently in a dying state.

This affair was the signal for a confederacy among the Leslies, the greater part of whom took up arms against Frendraught, who, a few days after the occurrence, viz., on the 5th of October, first went to the Marquis of Huntly, and afterwards to the Earl of Murray, to express the regret he felt at what had taken place, and to beg their kindly interference to bring matters to an amicable accommodation. The Earl of Murray, for some reason or other, declined to interfere; but the marquis undertook to mediate between the parties. Accordingly, he sent for the laird of Pitcaple to come to the Bog of Gight to confer with him; but, before setting out, he mounted and equipped about 30 horsemen, in consequence of information he had received that Frendraught was at the Bog. At the meeting with the marquis, Pitcaple complained heavily of the injury his son had sustained, and avowed, rather rashly, that he would revenge himself before he returned home, and that, at all events, he would listen to no proposals for a reconciliation till it should be ascertained whether his son would survive the wound he had received. The marquis insisted that Frendraught had done him no wrong, and endeavoured to dissuade him from putting his threat into execution; but Pitcaple was so displeased at the marquis for thus expressing himself, that he suddenly mounted his horse and set off, leaving Frendraught behind him. The marquis, afraid of the consequences, detained Frendraught two days with him in the Bog of Gight, and, hearing that the Leslies had assembled, and lay in wait for Frendraught watching his return home, the marquis sent his son, John, Viscount of Aboyne, and the laird of Rothiemay along with him, to protect and defend him if necessary. They arrived at Frendraught without interruption, and being solicited to remain all night, they yielded, and, after partaking of a hearty supper, went to bed in the apartments provided for them.

Frendraught House, with the ruins of the old Castle in front.—From a photograph taken for this work.

The sleeping apartment of the viscount was in the old tower of Frendraught, leading off from the hall. Immediately below this apartment was a vault, in the bottom of which was a round hole of considerable depth. Robert Gordon, a servant of the viscount, and his page, English Will, as he was called, also slept in the same chamber. The laird of Rothiemay, with some servants, were put into an upper chamber immediately above that in which the viscount slept; and in another apartment, directly over the latter, were laid George Chalmer of Noth, Captain Rollock, one of Frendraught’s party, and George Gordon, another of the viscount’s servants. About midnight the whole of the tower almost instantaneously took fire, and so suddenly and furiously did the flames consume the edifice, that the viscount, the laird of Rothiemay, English Will, Colonel Ivat, one of Aboyne’s friends, and two other persons, perished in the flames. Robert Gordon, called Sutherland Gordon, from having been born in that county, who lay in the viscount’s chamber, escaped from the flames, as did George Chalmer and Captain Rollock, who were in the third floor; and it is said that Lord Aboyne might have saved himself also, had he not, instead of going out of doors, which he refused to do, run suddenly up stairs to Rothiemay’s chamber for the purpose of awakening him. While so engaged, the stair-case and ceiling of Rothiemay’s apartment hastily took fire, and, being prevented from descending by the flames, which filled the stair-case, they ran from window to window of the apartment piteously and unavailingly exclaiming for help.

The news of this calamitous event spread speedily throughout the kingdom, and the fate of the unfortunate sufferers was deeply deplored. Many conjectures were formed as to the cause of the conflagration. Some persons laid the blame on Frendraught without the least reason; for, besides the improbability of the thing, Frendraught himself was a considerable loser, having lost not only a large quantity of silver plate and coin, but also the title deeds of his property and other necessary papers, which were all consumed. The greater number, however, suspected the Leslies and their adherents, who were then so enraged at Frendraught that they threatened to burn the house of Frendraught, and had even entered into a negotiation to that effect with James Grant the rebel, who was Pitcaple’s cousin-german, for his assistance.[222]

The Marquis of Huntly, who suspected Frendraught to be the author of the fire, afterwards went to Edinburgh and laid a statement of the case before the Privy Council, who, thereupon, issued a commission to the bishops of Aberdeen and Moray, Lord Ogilvie, Lord Carnegie, and Colonel Bruce, to investigate the circumstances which led to the catastrophe. The commissioners accordingly went to Frendraught on April 13th, 1631, where they were met by Lords Gordon, Ogilvie, and Deskford, and several barons and gentlemen, along with whom they examined the burnt tower and vaults below, with the adjoining premises, to ascertain, if possible, how the fire had originated. After a minute inspection, they came to the deliberate opinion, which they communicated in writing to the council, that the fire could not have been accidental, and that it must have been occasioned either by some means from without, or raised intentionally within the vaults or chambers of the tower.[223]

The matter, however, was not allowed to rest here, but underwent thorough investigation by the Privy Council in Edinburgh, the result being that John Meldrum, above mentioned, was brought to trial and condemned to death by the Justiciary Court, in August, 1633, as having been the perpetrator of the fiendish deed. We give below an extract from the “dittay” or indictment against Meldrum, showing the manner in which it was thought he accomplished his devilish task.[224] The catastrophe roused such intense and wide-spread excitement among all classes of people at the time, that the grief and horror which was felt found an outlet in verse.[225]

During James Grant’s confinement within the castle of Edinburgh, the north was comparatively quiet. On the night of the 15th October, 1632, he, however, effected his escape from the castle by descending on the west side by means of ropes furnished to him by his wife or son, and fled to Ireland. Proclamations were immediately posted throughout the whole kingdom, offering large sums for his apprehension, either dead or alive, but to no purpose. His wife was taken into custody by order of the Marquis of Huntly, but after undergoing an examination, in which she admitted nothing which could in the least degree criminate her, she was set at liberty.[226]

James Grant did not remain long in Ireland, but returned again to the north, where he concealed himself for some time, only occasionally skulking here and there in such a private manner, that his enemies were not aware of his presence. By degrees he grew bolder, and at last appeared openly in Strathdoun and on Speyside. His wife, who was far advanced in pregnancy, had taken a small house in Carron, belonging to the heirs of her husband’s nephew, in which she meant to reside till her accouchement, and in which she was occasionally visited by her husband. Ballindalloch hearing of this, hired a person named Patrick Macgregor, an outlaw, to apprehend James Grant. This employment was considered by Macgregor and his party a piece of acceptable service, as they expected, in the event of Grant’s apprehension, to obtain pardon for their offences from the lords of the council. Macgregor, therefore, at the head of a party of men, lay in wait for James Grant near Carron, and, on observing him enter his wife’s house at night, along with his bastard son and another man, they immediately surrounded the house and attempted to force an entry. Grant perceiving his danger, acted with great coolness and determination. Having fastened the door as firmly as he could, he and his two companions went to two windows, from which they discharged a volley of arrows upon their assailants, who all shrunk back, and none would venture near the door except Macgregor himself, who came boldly forward and endeavoured to force it; but he paid dearly for his rashness, for Grant, immediately laying hold of a musket, shot him through both his thighs, when he instantly fell to the ground, and soon after expired. In the confusion which this occurrence occasioned among Macgregor’s party, Grant and his two associates escaped.

Shortly after this event, on the night of Sunday, December 7th, 1634, James Grant apprehended his cousin, John Grant of Ballindalloch, by stratagem. After remaining a few days at Culquholy, Ballindalloch was blindfolded and taken to Thomas Grant’s house at Dandeis, about three miles from Elgin, on the high road between that town and the Spey. James Grant ordered him to be watched strictly, whether sleeping or waking, by two strong men on each side of him. Ballindalloch complained of foul play, but James Grant excused himself for acting as he had done for two reasons; 1st, Because Ballindalloch had failed to perform a promise he had made to obtain a remission for him before the preceding Lammas; and, 2dly, That he had entered into a treaty with the clan Gregor to deprive him of his life.

Ballindalloch was kept in durance vile for twenty days in a kiln near Thomas Grant’s house, suffering the greatest privations, without fire, light, or bed-clothes, in the dead of winter, and without knowing where he was. He was closely watched night and day by Leonard Leslie, son-in-law of Robert Grant, brother of James Grant, and a strong athletic man, named M’Grimmon, who would not allow him to leave the kiln for a moment even to perform the necessities of nature. On Christmas, James Grant and his party having gone on some excursion, leaving Leslie and M’Grimmon behind them, Ballindalloch, worn out by fatigue, and almost perishing from cold and hunger, addressed Leslie in a low tone of voice, lamenting his miserable situation, and imploring him to aid him in effecting his escape, and promising, in the event of success, to reward him handsomely. Leslie, tempted by the offer, acceded to Ballindalloch’s request, and made him acquainted with the place of his confinement. It was then arranged that Ballindalloch, under the pretence of stretching his arms, should disengage the arm which Leslie held, and that, having so disentangled that arm, he should, by another attempt, get his other arm out of M’Grimmon’s grasp. The morning of Sunday, the 28th of December, was fixed upon for putting the stratagem into execution. The plan succeeded, and as soon as Ballindalloch found his arms at liberty, he suddenly sprung to his feet and made for the door of the kiln. Leslie immediately followed him, pretending to catch him, and as M’Grimmon was hard upon his heels, Leslie purposely stumbled in his way and brought M’Grimmon down to the ground. This stratagem enabled Ballindalloch to get a-head of his pursuers, and although M’Grimmon sounded the alarm, and the pursuit was continued by Robert Grant and a party of James Grant’s followers, Ballindalloch succeeded in reaching the village of Urquhart in safety, accompanied by Leonard Leslie.

Sometime after his escape, Ballindalloch applied for and obtained a warrant for the apprehension of Thomas Grant, and others, for harbouring James Grant. Thomas Grant, and some of his accomplices, were accordingly seized and sent to Edinburgh, where they were tried and convicted. Grant was hanged, and others were banished from Scotland for life.

After Ballindalloch’s escape, James Grant kept remarkably quiet, as many persons lay in wait for him; but hearing that Thomas Grant, brother of Patrick Grant of Colquhoche, and a friend of Ballindalloch, had received a sum of money from the Earl of Moray, as an encouragement to seek out and slay James Grant, the latter resolved to murder Thomas Grant, and thus relieve himself of one enemy at least. He therefore went to Thomas’s house, but not finding him at home, he killed sixteen of his cattle; and afterwards learning that Thomas Grant was sleeping at the house of a friend hard by, he entered that house and found Thomas Grant and a bastard brother of his, both in bed. Having forced them out of bed, he took them outside of the house and put them immediately to death. A few days after the commission of this crime, Grant and four of his associates went to the lands of Strathbogie, and entered the house of the common executioner, craving some food, without being aware of the profession of the host whose hospitality they solicited. The executioner, disliking the appearance of Grant and his companions, went to James Gordon, the bailie of Strathbogie, and informed him that there were some suspicious looking persons in his house. Judging that these could be none other but Grant and his comrades, Gordon immediately collected some well-armed horsemen and foot, and surrounded the house in which Grant was; but he successfully resisted all their attempts to enter the house, and killed two servants of the Marquis of Huntly. After keeping them at bay for a considerable time, Grant and his brother, Robert, effected their escape from the house, but a bastard son of James Grant, John Forbes, an intimate associate, and another person, were taken prisoners, and carried to Edinburgh, where they were executed, along with a notorious thief, named Gille-Roy-Mac-Gregor. This occurrence took place in the year 1636. The laird of Grant had, during the previous year, been ordered by the council to apprehend James Grant, or to make him leave the kingdom; and they had obliged him to find caution and surety, in terms of the general bond[227] appointed by law to be taken from all the heads of clans, and from all governors of provinces in the kingdom, but chiefly in the west and north of Scotland; but the laird could neither perform the one nor the other.[228]

By the judicious management of the affairs of the house of Sutherland by Sir Robert Gordon, his nephew, the earl, on reaching his majority in 1630 and entering upon the management of his own affairs, found the hostility of the enemy of his family either neutralised or rendered no longer dangerous; but, in the year 1633 he found himself involved in a quarrel with Lord Lorn, eldest son of the Earl of Argyle, who had managed the affairs of his family during his father’s banishment from Scotland. This dispute arose out of the following circumstances.

In consequence of a quarrel between Lord Berridale, who now acted as sole administrator of his father’s estates, and William Mac-Iver, chieftain of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair, in Caithness, the former removed the latter from the lands and possessions he held of him in Caithness. Mac-Iver thereupon retired into Argyle, and assuming the surname of Campbell, as being originally an Argyle man, sought the favour and protection of Lord Lorn. The latter endeavoured, by writing to the Earl of Sutherland, Berridale himself, and others, to bring about a reconciliation between Mac-Iver and Berridale, but to no purpose. Seeing no hopes of an accommodation, Mac-Iver collected a party of rebels and outlaws, to the number of about 20, and made an incursion into Caithness, where, during the space of four or five years, he did great injury, carrying off considerable spoil, which he conveyed through the heights of Strathnaver and Sutherland.

To put an end to Mac-Iver’s depredations, Lord Berridale at first brought a legal prosecution against him, and having got him denounced rebel, sent out parties of his countrymen to ensnare him; but he escaped for a long time, and always retired in safety with his booty, either into the isles or into Argyle. Lord Lorn, however, publicly disowned Mac-Iver’s proceedings. In his incursions, Mac-Iver was powerfully assisted by an islander of the name of Gille-Calum-Mac-Shomhairle, who had married his daughter, and who was well acquainted with all the passes leading into Caithness.

At last Mac-Iver and his son were apprehended by Lord Berridale, and hanged, and the race of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair was almost extinguished; but Gille-Calum-Mac-Shomhairle having associated with himself several of the men of the Isles and Argyle, and some outlaws of the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, who were dependants of Lord Lorn, continued his incursions into Caithness. Having divided his company into two parties, one of which, headed by Gille-Calum himself, went to the higher parts of Ross and Sutherland, there to remain till joined by their companions. The other party went through the lowlands of Ross, under the pretence of going to the Lammas fair, then held at Tain, and thence proceeded to Sutherland to meet the rest of their associates, under the pretence of visiting certain kinsmen they said they had in Strathully and Strathnaver. This last-mentioned body consisted of 16 or 20 persons, most of whom were of the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn. They were under the command of one Ewen Aird; and as they passed the town of Tain, on their way to Sutherland, they stole some horses, which they sold in Sutherland, without being in the least suspected of the theft.

The owners of the stolen horses soon came into Sutherland in quest of them, and claimed them from the persons to whom they had been sold. The Earl of Sutherland, on proof being given of the property, restored the horses to the true owners, and sent some men in quest of Ewen Aird, who was still in Strathully. Ewen was apprehended and brought to Dunrobin. The Earl of Sutherland ordained him to repay the monies which Ewen and his companions had received for the horses, the only punishment he said he would inflict on them, because they were strangers. Ewen assented to the earl’s request, and remained as a hostage at Dunrobin until his companions should send money to relieve him; but as soon as his associates heard of his detention, they, instead of sending money for his release, fled to Gille-Calum-Mac-Shomhairle and his party, leaving their captain a prisoner at Dunrobin. In their retreat they destroyed some houses in the high parts of Sutherland, and on entering Ross they laid waste some lands belonging to Hutcheon Ross of Auchincloigh. These outrages occasioned an immediate assemblage of the inhabitants of that part of the country, who pursued the marauders and took them prisoners. On the prisoners being sent to the Earl of Sutherland, he assembled the principal gentlemen of Ross and Sutherland at Dornoch, where Ewen Aird and his accomplices were tried before a jury, convicted, and executed at Dornoch, with the exception of two young boys, who were dismissed.

The Privy Council not only approved of what the Earl of Sutherland had done, but also sent a commission to him, the Earl of Seaforth, Hutcheon Ross, and some other gentlemen in Ross and Sutherland, against the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, in case they should again make any incursion into Ross and Sutherland.

Lord Lorn being at this time justiciary of the Isles, had obtained an act of the Privy Council in his favour, by which it was decreed that any malefactor, being an islander, upon being apprehended in any part of the kingdom, should be sent to Lord Lorn, or to his deputies, to be judged; and that to this effect he should have deputies in every part of the kingdom. As soon as his lordship heard of the trial and execution of the men at Dornoch, who were of the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, his dependants and followers, he took the matter highly amiss, and repaired to Edinburgh, where he made a complaint to the lords of the council against the Earl of Sutherland, for having, as he maintained, apprehended the king’s free subjects without a commission, and for causing them to be executed, although they had not been apprehended within his own jurisdiction. The lords of the council having heard this complaint, Lord Lorn obtained letters to charge the Earl of Sutherland and Hutcheon Ross to answer to the complaint at Edinburgh before the lords of the Privy Council, and, moreover, obtained a suspension of the earl’s commission against the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, on becoming bound, in the meantime, as surety for their obedience to the laws.

Sir Robert Gordon happening to arrive at Edinburgh from England, shortly after Lord Lorn’s visit to Edinburgh, in the year 1634, learned the object of his mission, and the success which had attended it. He, therefore, being an eye-witness of every thing which had taken place at Dornoch respecting the trial, condemnation, and execution of Lord Lorn’s dependents, informed the lords of the council of all the proceedings, which proceeding on his part had the effect of preventing Lord Lorn from going on with his prosecution against the Earl of Sutherland. He, however, proceeded to summon Hutcheon Ross; but the earl, Sir Robert Gordon, Lord Reay, and all the gentlemen who were present at the trial at Dornoch, signed and sent a letter to the lords of the council, giving a detail of the whole circumstances of the case, and along with this letter he sent a copy of the proceedings, attested by the sheriff clerk of Sutherland, to be laid before the council on the day appointed for Ross’s appearance. After the matter had been fully debated in council, the conduct of the Earl of Sutherland and Hutcheon Ross was approved of, and the commission to the earl of Sutherland again renewed, and Lord Lorn was taken bound, that, in time coming, the counties of Sutherland and Ross should be kept harmless from the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn. The council, moreover, decided, that, as the Earl of Sutherland had the rights of regality and sheriffship within himself, and as he was appointed to administer justice within his own bounds, therefore he was not obliged to send criminals, though islanders, to Lord Lorn or to his deputies. This decision had the effect of relieving Sutherland and Ross from farther incursions on the part of Lord Lorn’s followers.[229]

The disaster at Frendraught had made an impression upon the mind of the Marquis of Huntly, which nothing could efface, and he could never be persuaded that the fire had not originated with the proprietor of the mansion himself. He made many unsuccessful attempts to discover the incendiaries, and on the arrival of King Charles at Edinburgh, in the year 1633, the marquis made preparations for paying a personal visit to the king, for the purpose of imploring him to order an investigation into all the circumstances attending the fire, so as to lead to a discovery of the criminals. Falling sick, however, on his journey, and unable to proceed to Edinburgh, he sent forward his marchioness, who was accompanied by Lady Aboyne and other females of rank, all clothed in deep mourning, to lay a statement of the case before his majesty, and to solicit the royal interference. The king received the marchioness and her attendants most graciously, comforted them as far as words could, and promised to see justice done.

After the king’s departure from Scotland, the marchioness and Lady Aboyne, both of whom still remained in Edinburgh, determining to see his majesty’s promise implemented, prevailed upon the Privy Council to bring John Meldrum of Reidhill to trial, the result being as recorded above. A domestic servant of Frendraught named Tosh, who was suspected of having been concerned in the fire, was afterwards put to the torture, for the purpose of extorting a confession of guilt from him; but he confessed nothing, and was therefore liberated from prison.

The condemnation and execution of Meldrum, in place of abating, appear to have increased the odium of Frendraught’s enemies. The Highlanders of his neighbourhood, as well as the Gordons, considering his property to be fair game, made frequent incursions upon his lands, and carried off cattle and goods. In 1633 and 1634 Adam Gordon of Strathdoun, with a few of his friends and some outlaws, made incursions upon Frendraught’s lands, wasted them, and endeavoured to carry off a quantity of goods and cattle. Frendraught, however, heading some of his tenants, pursued them, secured the booty, and captured some of the party, whom he hanged.

On another occasion, about 600 Highlanders, belonging to the clan Gregor, clan Cameron, and other tribes, appeared near Frendraught, and openly declared that they had come to join Adam Gordon of Park, John Gordon of Invermarkie, and the other friends of the late Gordon of Rothiemay, for the purpose of revenging his death. When Frendraught heard of the irruption of this body, he immediately collected about 200 foot, and 140 horsemen, and went in quest of these intruders; but being scattered through the country, they could make no resistance, and every man provided for his own safety by flight.

To put an end to these annoyances, Frendraught got these marauders declared outlaws, and the lords of the Privy Council wrote to the Marquis of Huntly, desiring him to repress the disorders of those of his surname, and failing his doing so, that they would consider him the author of them. The marquis returned an answer to this communication, stating, that as the aggressors were neither his tenants nor servants, he could in no shape be answerable for them,—that he had neither countenanced nor incited them, and that he had no warrant to pursue or prosecute them.

First Marquis and Marchioness of Huntly. Copied by permission of His Grace the Duke of Richmond, from the Originals at Gordon Castle.

The refusal of the marquis to obey the orders of the Privy Council, emboldened the denounced party to renew their acts of spoliation and robbery. They no longer confined their depredations to Frendraught and his tenants, but extended them to the property of the ministers who lived upon Frendraught’s lands. In this course of life, they were joined by some of the young men of the principal families of the Gordons in Strathbogie, to the number of 40 horsemen, and 60 foot, and to encourage them in their designs against Frendraught, the lady of Rothiemay gave them the castle of Rothiemay, which they fortified, and from which they made daily sallies upon Frendraught’s possessions; burned his corn, laid waste his lands, and killed some of his people. Frendraught opposed them for some time; but being satisfied that such proceedings taking place almost under the very eyes of the Marquis of Huntly, must necessarily be done with his concurrence he went to Edinburgh, and entered a complaint against the marquis to the Privy Council. During Frendraught’s absence, his tenants were expelled by the Gordons from their possessions, without opposition.[230]

When the king heard of these lawless proceedings, and of the refusal of the marquis to interfere, he ordered the lords of the Privy Council to adopt measures for suppressing them; preparatory to which they cited the marquis, in the beginning of the following year, to appear before them to answer for these oppressions. He accordingly went to Edinburgh in the month of February, 1635, where he was commanded to remain till the matter should be investigated. The heads of the families whose sons had joined the outlaws also appeared, and, after examination, Letterfourie, Park, Tilliangus, Terrisoule, Invermarkie, Tulloch, Ardlogy, and several other persons of the surname of Gordon, were committed to prison, until their sons, who had engaged in the combination against Frendraught, should be presented before the council. The prisoners, who denied being accessory thereto, then petitioned to be set at liberty, a request which was complied with on condition that they should either produce the rebels, as the pillagers were called, or make them leave the kingdom. The marquis, although nothing could be proved against him, was obliged to find caution that all persons of the surname of Gordon within his bounds should keep the peace; and that he should be answerable in all time coming for any damage which should befall the laird of Frendraught, or his lands, by whatever violent means; and also that he should present the rebels at Edinburgh, that justice might be satisfied, or make them leave the kingdom.

The Marquis of Huntly, thereupon, returned to the north, and the rebels hearing of the obligation he had come under, immediately dispersed themselves. The greater part of them fled into Flanders, and about twelve of them were apprehended by the marquis, and sent by him to Edinburgh. John Gordon, who lived at Woodhead of Rothiemay, and another, were executed. Of the remaining two, James Gordon, son of George Gordon in Auchterless, and William Ross, son of John Ross of Ballivet, the former was acquitted by the jury, and the latter was imprisoned in the jail of Edinburgh for future trial, having been a ringleader of the party. In apprehending these twelve persons, James Gordon, son of Adam Gordon of Strathdoun, was killed, and to show the Privy Council how diligent the marquis had been in fulfilling his obligation, his head was sent to Edinburgh along with the prisoners.

The activity with which the marquis pursued the oppressors of Frendraught, brought him afterwards into some trouble. Adam Gordon, one of the principal ringleaders of the confederacy, and second son of Sir Adam Gordon of the Park, thinking it “hard to be baneishit out of his native country, resoluit to cum home” and throw himself on the king’s mercy. For this purpose he made a private communication to the Archbishop of St. Andrews, then chancellor of Scotland, in which he offered to submit himself to the king’s pleasure, promising, that if his majesty would grant him a pardon, he would reveal the author of the rebellion. The archbishop, eager, it would appear, to fulfil the ends of justice, readily entered into Gordon’s views, and sent a special messenger to London to the king, who at once granted Adam a pardon. On receiving the pardon, Gordon accused the Marquis of Huntly as the author of the conspiracy against Frendraught, and with having instigated him and his associates to commit all the depredations which had taken place. The king, thereupon, sent a commission to Scotland, appointing a select number of the lords of the Privy Council to examine into the affair.

As Adam Gordon had charged James Gordon of Letterfourie, with having employed him and his associates, in name of the marquis, against the laird of Frendraught, Letterfourie was cited to appear at Edinburgh for trial. On being confronted with Adam Gordon, he denied everything laid to his charge, but, notwithstanding this denial, he was committed a prisoner to the jail of Edinburgh. The marquis himself, who had also appeared at Edinburgh on the appointed day, January 15th, 1636, was likewise confronted with Adam Gordon before the committee of the Privy Council; but although he denied Adam’s accusation, and “cleared himself with great dexteritie, beyond admiration,” as Gordon of Sallagh observes, he was, “upon presumption,” committed a close prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh.

When his majesty was made acquainted with these circumstances by the commissioners, and that there was no proof to establish the charge against the marquis, both the marquis and Gordon of Letterfourie were released by his command, on giving security for indemnifying the laird of Frendraught for any damage he might sustain in time coming, from the Gordons and their accomplices. Having so far succeeded in annoying the marquis, Adam Gordon, after collecting a body of men, by leave of the Privy Council, went along with them to Germany, where he became a captain in the regiment of Colonel George Leslie. To terminate the unhappy differences between the marquis and Frendraught, the king enjoined Sir Robert Gordon, who was related to both,—the marquis being his cousin-german, and chief of that family, and Frendraught the husband of his niece,—to endeavour to bring about a reconciliation between them. Sir Robert, accordingly, on his return to Scotland, prevailed upon the parties to enter into a submission, by which they agreed to refer all questions and differences between them to the arbitrament of friends; but before the submission was brought to a final conclusion, the marquis expired at Dundee on the 13th June, (15th according to Gordon), 1636, at the age of seventy-four, while returning to the north from Edinburgh. He was interred in the family vault at Elgin, on the thirtieth day of August following, “having,” says Spalding, “above his chist a rich mort-cloath of black velvet, wherein was wrought two whyte crosses. He had torchlights in great number carried be freinds and gentlemen; the marques’ son, called Adam, was at his head, the earle of Murray on the right spaik, the earle of Seaforth on the left spaik, the earle of Sutherland on the third spaik, and Sir Robert Gordon on the fourth spaik. Besyds thir nobles, many barrons and gentlemen was there, haveing above three hundred lighted torches at the lifting. He is carried to the east port, doun the wynd to the south kirk stile of the colledge kirk, in at the south kirk door, and buried in his own isle with much murning and lamentation. The like forme of burriall, with torch light, was not sein heir thir many dayes befor.”[231]

The marquis was a remarkable man for the age in which he lived, and there are no characters in that eventful period of Scottish history so well entitled to veneration and esteem. A lover of justice, he never attempted to aggrandize his vast possessions at the expense of his less powerful neighbours; a kind and humane superior and landlord, he exercised a lenient sway over his numerous vassals and tenants, who repaid his kindness by sincere attachment to his person and family. Endowed with great strength of mind, invincible courage, and consummate prudence, he surmounted the numerous difficulties with which he was surrounded, and lived to see the many factions which had conspired against him discomfited and dissolved. While his constant and undeviating attachment to the religion of his forefathers, raised up many enemies against him among the professors of the reformed doctrines, by whose cabals he was at one time obliged to leave the kingdom, his great power and influence were assailed by another formidable class of opponents among the turbulent nobility, who were grieved to see a man who had not imitated their venality and rapacity, not only retain his predominance in the north, but also receive especial marks of his sovereign’s regard. But skilful and intriguing as they were in all the dark and sinister ways of an age distinguished for its base and wicked practices, their machinations were frustrated by the discernment and honesty of George Gordon, the first Marquis of Huntly.

FOOTNOTES:

[211] Spalding says that the party were commanded by Lauchlan Macintosh, alias Lauchlan Og, uncle of the young chief, and Lauchlan Macintosh or Lauchlan Angus-son, eldest son of Angus Macintosh, alias Angus William, son of Auld Tirlie.—Memorialls of the Trubles in Scotland and in England, A.D. 1624–1645.

[212] Memorials, vol. i. p. 8.

[213] Founder of the house of Culloden, and great-grandfather of the celebrated Lord President Forbes.

[214] Vide the petition of Provost Forbes to the king, “in the name of the inhabitants” of Inverness; printed among the Culloden Papers, No. 5, p. 4.

[215] Sir R. Gordon, p. 397, et seq.

[216] A considerable number of gentlemen, chiefly from Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, joined Mackay, some of whom rose to high rank in the army of Gustavus Adolphus. Among these were Robert Monroe of Foulis, and his brother, Hector; Thomas Mackenzie, brother of the Earl of Seaforth; John Monroe of Obisdell, and his brother Robert; John Monroe of Assynt, and others of that surname; Hugh Ross of Priesthill; David Ross and Nicolas Ross, sons of Alexander Ross of Invercharron; Hugh Gordon, son of Adam Gordon of Culkour; John Gordon, son of John Gordon of Garty; Adam Gordon and John Gordon, sons of Adam Gordon George-son; Ive Mackay, William, son of Donald Mackay of Scourie; William Gun, son of John Gun Rob-son; John Sinclair, bastard son of the earl of Caithness; Francis Sinclair, son of James Sinclair of Murkle; John Innes, son of William Innes of Sanset; John Gun, son of William Gun in Golspie-Kirktown; and George Gun, son of Alexander Gun Rob-son.

[217] Sir R. Gordon, p. 401, et seq.

[218] History, p. 416.

[219] Spalding says that Frendraught was “ordained to pay to the lady, relict of Rothiemay, and the bairns, fiftie thousand merks, in composition of the slaughter.”

[220] Sir R. Gordon, p. 416, et seq. Spalding, p. 14.

[221] Sir R. Gordon (p. 419) spells this Couland and Coudland.

[222] Sir R. Gordon, p. 241.—Spalding, p. 13, et seq.

[223] Spalding, p. 24.

[224] “Johne Meldrum haifing convocat to himselff certane brokin men, all fugitiues and rebellis, his complices and associattis, upone the aucht day of October, the yeir of God jai vic and threttie yeiris under silence and clud of nicht, betwix twelff hours at nycht and twa eftir mydnycht, come to the place of Frendraucht, and supponeing and certanely persuading himselff that the said James Creichtoun of Frendraucht wes lying within the tour of Frendraucht, quhilk was the only strenth and strongest pairt of the said place, the said Johne Meldrum, with his saidis complices, in maist tresonabill and feirfull maner, haifing brocht with thame ane hudge quantitie of powder, pik, brumstone, flax, and uther combustabill matter provydit be thame for the purpois, pat and convoyit the samyn in and throw the slittis and stones of the volt of the said grit tour of Frendraucht, weill knawin and foirseine be the said Johne Meldrum, quha with his complices at that instant tyme fyret the samyn pik, powder, brumstone, flax, and uther combustable matter above writtin, at dyuerse places of the said volt; quhilk being sua fyret and kindlet, did violentlie flie to ane hoill in the heid of the said volt and tak vent thairat, the whilk hoill of the said volt and vent thairof being perfytlie knawin to the said John Meldrum, be reasone he had remained in houshald with the said laird of Frendraucht, as his douiefull servand, within the said hous and place of Frendraucht for ane lang tyme of befoir, and knew and was previe to all the secreitis of the said house. And the said volt being sua fyret, the haill tour and houssis quhairof immediately thaireftir, being foure hous hight, in les space than ane hour tuik fyre in the deid hour of the night, and was in maist tresonabill, horrible, and lamentable maner brunt, blawin up, and consumet.”—Spalding’s Memorialls, Appendix, vol. i. p. 390.

[225] A ballad is still sung in the district around Frendraught, which, says Motherwell, “has a high degree of poetic merit, and probably was written at the time by an eye-witness of the event which it records.” We give a few verses from the version in Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, as quoted in the Appendix to Spalding, vol. i. p. 409.

“The eighteenth of October,

A dismal tale to hear,

How good Lord John and Rothiemay

Was both burnt in the fire.

They had not long cast off their cloaths,

And were but now asleep—

When the weary smoke began to rise,

Likewise the scorching heat.

‘O waken, waken, Rothiemay,

O waken, brother dear,

And turn you to our Saviour,

There is strong treason here.’

He did him to the wire-window

As fast as he could gang—

Says—‘Wae to the hands put in the stancheons,

For out we’ll never win.’

Cried—‘Mercy, mercy, Lady Frendraught,

Will ye not sink with sin?

For first your husband killed my father,

And now you burn his son.’

O then out spoke her, Lady Frendraught,

And loudly did she cry—

‘It were great pity for good Lord John,

But none for Rothiemay.

But the keys are casten in the deep draw well,

Ye cannot get away.’

While he stood in this dreadful plight,

Most piteous to be seen,

There called out his servant Gordon,

As he had frantic been.

‘O loup, O loup, my dear master,

O loup and come to me;

I’ll catch you in my arms two,

One foot I will not flee.’

‘But I cannot loup, I cannot come,

I cannot win to thee;

My head’s fast in the wire-window,

My feet burning from me.

‘Take here the rings from my white fingers,

That are so long and small,

And give them to my Lady fair,

Where she sits in her hall.

‘So I cannot loup, I cannot come,

I cannot loup to thee—

My earthly part is all consumed,

My spirit but speaks to thee.’

Wringing her hands, tearing her hair,

His Lady she was seen,

And thus addressed his servant Gordon,

Where he stood on the green.

‘O wae be to you, George Gordon,

An ill death may you die,

So safe and sound as you stand there,

And my Lord bereaved from me.’

‘I bade him loup, I bade him come,

I bade him loup to me,

I’d catch him in my arms two,

A foot I should not flee.’

And aft she cried, ‘Ohon! alas, alas,

A sair heart’s ill to win;

I wan a sair heart when I married him,

And the day it’s well return’d again.’”

[226] Spalding, vol. i. p. 29.

[227] The “Common Band” or “General Band,” was the name given in popular speech to an Act of the Scottish Parliament of the year 1587, which was passed with the view of maintaining good order, both on the Borders and in the Highlands and Isles. The plan on which this Act chiefly proceeded was, “To make it imperative on all landlords, bailies, and chiefs of clans, to find sureties to a large amount, proportioned to their wealth and the number of their vassals or clansmen, for the peaceable and orderly behaviour of those under them. It was provided, that, if a superior, after having found the required sureties, should fail to make immediate reparation of any injuries committed by persons for whom he was bound to answer, the injured party might proceed at law against the sureties for the amount of the damage sustained. Besides being compelled, in such cases, to reimburse his sureties, the superior was to incur a heavy fine to the Crown. This important statute likewise contained many useful provisions for facilitating the administration of justice in these rude districts.”—Spalding’s Memorialls, vol. i. p. 3, (note). Gregory’s Western Highlands, p. 237.

[228] Continuation of the History of the Earls of Sutherland, by Gilbert Gordon of Sallagh, annexed to Sir R. Gordon’s work, p. 460. Spalding, p. 63.

[229] Gordon of Sallagh’s Continuation, p. 464, et seq.

[230] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 475. Spalding, vol. i. p. 47, et seq.

[231] Spalding, vol. i. p. 50, et seq. Gordon’s Continuation, p. 476, et seq.

CHAPTER XII.

A.D. 1636—(September) 1644.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—Charles I., 1625–1649.

Charles I. attempts to introduce Episcopacy into Scotland—Meets with opposition—Preparations for war—Doings in the North—Earl of Montrose—Montrose at Aberdeen—Arrests the Marquis of Huntly—Covenanters of the North meet at Turriff—The “Trott of Turray”—Movements of the Gordons—Viscount Aboyne lands at Aberdeen—“Raid of Stonehaven”—Battle at the Bridge of Dee—Pacification of Berwick—War again—Earl of Argyle endeavours to secure the West Highlands—Harsh proceedings against the Earl of Airly—Montrose goes over to the king—Marquis of Huntly rises in the North—Montrose enters Scotland in disguise—Landing of Irish forces in the West Highlands—Meeting of Montrose and Alexander Macdonald—Athole-men join Montrose—Montrose advances into Strathearn—Battle of Tippermuir.

Hitherto the history of the Highlands has been confined chiefly to the feuds and conflicts of the clans, the details of which, though interesting to their descendants, cannot be supposed to afford the same gratification to readers at large. We now enter upon a more important era, when the Highlanders begin to play a much more prominent part in the theatre of our national history, and to give a foretaste of that military prowess for which they afterwards became so highly distinguished.

In entering upon the details of the military achievements of the Highlanders during the period of the civil wars, it is quite unnecessary and foreign to our purpose to trouble the reader with a history of the rash, unconstitutional, and ill-fated attempt of Charles I. to introduce Episcopacy into Scotland; nor, for the same reason, is it requisite to detail minutely the proceedings of the authors of the Covenant. Suffice it to say, that in consequence of the inflexible determination of Charles to force English Episcopacy upon the people of Scotland, the great majority of the nation declared their determination “by the great name of the Lord their God,” to defend their religion against what they considered to be errors and corruptions. Notwithstanding, however, the most positive demonstrations on the part of the people to resist, Charles, acting by the advice of a privy council of Scotsmen established in England, exclusively devoted to the affairs of Scotland, and instigated by Archbishop Laud, resolved to suppress the Covenant by open force. In order to gain time for the necessary preparations, he sent the Marquis of Hamilton, as his commissioner, to Scotland, who was instructed to promise “that the practice of the liturgy and the canons should never be pressed in any other than a fair and legal way, and that the high commission should be so rectified as never to impugn the laws, or to be a just grievance to loyal subjects,” and that the king would pardon those who had lately taken an illegal covenant, on their immediately renouncing it, and giving up the bond to the commissioners.

When the Covenanters heard of Hamilton’s approach, they appointed a national fast to be held, to beg the blessing of God upon the kirk, and on the 10th of June, 1638, the marquis was received at Leith, and proceeded to the capital through an assemblage of about 60,000 Covenanters, and 500 ministers. The spirit and temper of such a vast assemblage overawed the marquis, and he therefore concealed his instructions. After making two successive journeys to London to communicate the alarming state of affairs, and to receive fresh instructions, he, on his second return, issued a proclamation, discharging “the service book, the book of canons, and the high commission court, dispensing with the five articles of Perth, dispensing the entrants into the ministry from taking the oath of supremacy and of canonical obedience, commanding all persons to lay aside the new Covenant, and take that which had been published by the king’s father in 1589, and summoning a free assembly of the kirk to meet in the month of November, and a parliament in the month of May, the following year.” Matters had, however, proceeded too far for submission to the conditions of the proclamation, and the covenanting leaders answered it by a formal protest, in which they gave sixteen reasons, showing that to comply with the demands of the king would be to betray the cause of God, and to act against the dictates of conscience.

In consequence of the opposition made to the proclamation, it was generally expected that the king would have recalled the order for the meeting of the assembly at Glasgow; but no prohibition having been issued, that assembly, which consisted, besides the clergy, of one lay-elder and four lay-assessors from every presbytery, met at the time appointed, viz., in the month of November, 1638. After the assembly had spent a week in violent debates, the commissioner, in terms of his instructions, declared it dissolved; but, encouraged by the accession of the Earl of Argyle, who placed himself at the head of the Covenanters, the members declined to disperse at the mere mandate of the sovereign, and passed a resolution that, in spiritual matters, the kirk was independent of the civil power, and that the dissolution by the commissioner was illegal and void. After spending three weeks in revising the ecclesiastical regulations introduced into Scotland since the accession of James to the crown of England, the assembly condemned the liturgy, ordinal, book of canons, and court of high commission, and, assuming all the powers of legislation, abolished episcopacy, and excommunicated the bishops themselves, and the ministers who supported them. Charles declared their proceedings null; but the people received them with great joy, and testified their approbation by a national thanksgiving.

Both parties had for some time been preparing for war, and they now hastened on their plans. In consequence of an order from the supreme committee of the Covenanters in Edinburgh, every man capable of bearing arms was called out and trained. Experienced Scottish officers, who had spent the greater part of their lives in military service in Sweden and Germany, returned to Scotland to place themselves at the head of their countrymen, and the Scottish merchants in Holland supplied them with arms and ammunition. The king advanced as far as York with an army, the Scottish bishops making him believe that the news of his approach would induce the Covenanters to submit themselves to his pleasure; but he was disappointed,—for instead of submitting themselves, they were the first to commence hostilities. About the 19th of March, 1639, General Leslie, the covenanting general, with a few men, surprised, and without difficulty, occupied the castle of Edinburgh, and about the same time the Earl of Traquair surrendered Dalkeith house. Dumbarton castle, like that of Edinburgh, was taken by stratagem, the governor, named Stewart, being intercepted on a Sunday as he returned from church, and made to change clothes with another gentleman and give the pass-word, by which means the Covenanters easily obtained possession. The king, on arriving at Durham, despatched the Marquis of Hamilton with a fleet of forty ships, having on board 6,000 troops, to the Frith of Forth; but as both sides of the Frith were well fortified at different points, and covered with troops, he was unable to effect a landing.[232]

In the meantime, the Marquis of Huntly raised the royal standard in the north, and as the Earl of Sutherland, accompanied by Lord Reay, John, Master of Berridale and others, had been very busy in Inverness and Elgin, persuading the inhabitants to subscribe the Covenant, the marquis wrote him confidentially, blaming him for his past conduct, and advising him to declare for the king; but the earl informed him in reply, that it was against the bishops and their innovations, and not against the king, that he had so acted. The earl then, in his turn, advised the marquis to join the Covenanters, by doing which he said he would not only confer honour on himself, but much good on his native country; that in any private question in which Huntly was personally interested he would assist, but that in the present affair he would not aid him. The earl thereupon joined the Earl of Seaforth, the Master of Berridale, Lord Lovat, Lord Reay, the laird of Balnagown, the Rosses, the Monroes, the laird of Grant, Macintosh, the laird of Innes, the sheriff of Moray, the baron of Kilravock, the laird of Altire, the tutor of Duffus, and the other Covenanters on the north of the river Spey.

The Marquis of Huntly assembled his forces first at Turriff, and afterwards at Kintore, whence he marched upon Aberdeen, which he took possession of in name of the king. The marquis being informed shortly after his arrival in Aberdeen, that a meeting of Covenanters, who resided within his district, was to be held at Turriff on the 14th of February, resolved to disperse them. He therefore wrote letters to his chief dependents, requiring them to meet him at Turriff the same day, and bring with them no arms but swords and “schottis” or pistols. One of these letters fell into the hands of the Earl of Montrose, one of the chief covenanting lords, who determined at all hazards to protect the meeting of his friends, the Covenanters. In pursuance of this resolution, he collected, with great alacrity, some of his best friends in Angus, and with his own and their dependents, to the number of about 800 men, he crossed the range of hills called the Grangebean, between Angus and Aberdeenshire, and took possession of Turriff on the morning of the 14th of February. When Huntly’s party arrived during the course of the day, they were surprised at seeing the little churchyard of the village filled with armed men; and they were still more surprised to observe them levelling their hagbuts at them across the walls of the churchyard. Not knowing how to act in the absence of the marquis, they retired to a place called the Broad Ford of Towie, about two miles south from the village, when they were soon joined by Huntly and his suite. After some consultation, the marquis, after parading his men in order of battle along the north-west side of the village, in sight of Montrose, dispersed his party, which amounted to 2,000 men, without offering to attack Montrose, on the pretence that his commission of lieutenancy only authorised him to act on the defensive.[233]

James Graham, Earl, and afterwards first Marquis of Montrose, who played so prominent a part in the history of the troublous times on which we are entering, was descended from a family which can be traced back to the beginning of the 12th century. His ancestor, the Earl of Montrose, fell at Flodden, and his grandfather became viceroy of Scotland after James VI. ascended the throne of England. He himself was born in 1612, his mother being Lady Margaret Ruthven, eldest daughter of William, first Earl of Gowrie. He succeeded to the estates and title in 1626, on the death of his father, and three years after, married Magdalene Carnegie, daughter of Lord Carnegie of Kinnaird. He pursued his studies at St. Andrews University and Kinnaird Castle till he was about twenty years of age, when he went to the Continent and studied at the academies of France and Italy, returning an accomplished gentleman and a soldier. On his return he was, for some reason, coldly received by Charles I., and it is supposed by some that it was mainly out of chagrin on this account that he joined the Covenanters. Whatever may have been his motive for joining them, he was certainly an important and powerful accession to their ranks, although, as will be seen, his adherence to them was but of short duration.

Montrose is thus portrayed by his contemporary, Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, author of Britane’s Distemper. “It cannot be denied but he was ane accomplished gentleman of many excellent partes; a bodie not tall, but comely and well compossed in all his liniamentes; his complexion meerly whitee, with flaxin haire; of a stayed, graue, and solide looke, and yet his eyes sparkling and full of lyfe; of speach slowe, but wittie and full of sence; a presence graitfull, courtly, and so winneing vpon the beholder, as it seemed to claime reuerence without seweing for it; for he was so affable, so courteous, so benign, as seemed verely to scorne ostentation and the keeping of state, and therefor he quicklie made a conquesse of the heartes of all his followers, so as whan he list he could haue lead them in a chaine to haue followed him with chearefullnes in all his interpryses; and I am certanely perswaded, that this his gratious, humane, and courteous fredome of behauiour, being certanely acceptable befor God as well as men, was it that wanne him so much renovne, and inabled him cheifly, in the loue of his followers, to goe through so great interprysses, wheirin his equall had failled, altho they exceeded him farre in power, nor can any other reason be giuen for it, but only this that followeth. He did not seeme to affect state, nor to claime reuerence, nor to keepe a distance with gentlemen that ware not his domestickes; but rather in a noble yet courteouse way he seemed to slight those vanisheing smockes of greatnes, affecting rather the reall possession of mens heartes then the frothie and outward showe of reuerence; and therefor was all reuerence thrust vpon him, because all did loue him, therfor all did honour him and reuerence him, yea, haueing once acquired there heartes, they ware readie not only to honour him, but to quarrell with any that would not honour him, and would not spare there fortounes, nor there derrest blood about there heartes, to the end he might be honoured, because they saue that he tooke the right course to obtaine honour. He had fund furth the right way to be reuerenced, and thereby was approued that propheticke maxime which hath never failed, nor neuer shall faille, being pronounced by the Fontaine of treuth (He that exalteth himselfe shall be humbled); for his winneing behauiour and courteous caryage got him more respect then those to whom they ware bound both by the law of nature and by good reason to hawe giuen it to. Nor could any other reason be giuen for it, but only there to much keepeing of distance, and caryeing themselfes in a more statlye and reserued way, without putteing a difference betuixt a free borne gentleman and a seruille or base mynded slaue.

“This much I thought good by the way to signifie; for the best and most waliant generall that euer lead ane armie if he mistake the disposition of the nation whom he commandes, and will not descend a litle till he meete with the genious of his shouldiours, on whose followeing his grandour and the success of his interpryses chiefely dependeth, stryueing through a high soireing and ower winneing ambition to drawe them to his byas with awe and not with lowe, that leader, I say, shall neuer prewaill against his enemies with ane armie of the Scotes nation.”

Montrose had, about this time, received a commission from the Tables—as the boards of representatives, chosen respectively by the nobility, county gentry, clergy, and inhabitants of the burghs, were called—to raise a body of troops for the service of the Covenanters, and he now proceeded to embody them with extraordinary promptitude. Within one month, he collected a force of about 3,000 horse and foot, from the counties of Fife, Forfar, and Perth, and put them into a complete state of military discipline. Being joined by the forces under General Leslie, he marched upon Aberdeen, which he entered, without opposition, on the 30th of March, the Marquis of Huntly having abandoned the town on his approach. Some idea of the well-appointed state of this army may be formed from the curious description of Spalding, who says, that “upon the morne, being Saturday, they came in order of battell, weill armed, both on horse and foot, ilk horseman having five shot at the least, with ane carabine in his hand, two pistols by his sydes, and other two at his saddell toir; the pikemen in their ranks, with pike and sword; the musketiers in their ranks, with musket, musket-staffe, bandelier, sword, powder, ball, and match; ilk company, both on horse and foot, had their captains, lieutenants, ensignes, serjeants, and other officers and commanders, all for the most part in buff coats, and in goodly order. They had five colours or ensignes, whereof the Earl of Montrose had one, haveing this motto: ‘For Religion, the Covenant, and the Countrie;’ the Earle of Marischall had one, the Earle of Kinghorne had one, and the town of Dundie had two. They had trumpeters to ilk company of horsemen, and drummers to ilk company of footmen; they had their meat, drink, and other provision, bag and baggage, carryed with them, all done be advyse of his excellence Felt Marschall Leslie, whose councell Generall Montrose followed in this busieness. Now, in seemly order and good array, this army came forward, and entered the burgh of Aberdein, about ten hours in the morning, at the Over Kirkgate Port, syne came doun throw the Broadgate, throw the Castlegate, out at the Justice Port to the Queen’s Links directly. Here it is to be notted that few or none of this hail army wanted ane blew ribbin hung about his craig, doun under his left arme, which they called the Covenanters’ Ribbin. But the Lord Gordon, and some other of the marquess’ bairnes and familie, had ane ribbin when he was dwelling in the toun, of ane reid flesh cullor, which they wore in their hatts, and called it The Royall Ribbin, as a signe of their love and loyalltie to the king. In despyte and derision thereof this blew ribbin was worne, and called the Covenanters’ Ribbin, be the hail souldiers of the army, and would not hear of the royall ribbin; such was their pryde and malice.”[234]

At Aberdeen Montrose was joined the same day by Lord Fraser, the Master of Forbes, the laird of Dalgettie, the tutor of Pitsligo, the Earl Marshal’s men in Buchan, with several other gentlemen and their tenants, dependants, and servants, to the number of 2,000, an addition which augmented Montrose’s army to 9,000 men. Leaving the Earl of Kinghorn with 1,500 men to keep possession of Aberdeen, Montrose marched the same day towards Kintore, where he encamped that night. Halting all Sunday, he proceeded on the Monday to Inverury, where he again pitched his camp. The Marquis of Huntly grew alarmed at this sudden and unexpected movement, and thought it now time to treat with such a formidable foe for his personal safety. He, therefore, despatched Robert Gordon of Straloch and Doctor Gordon, an Aberdeen physician, to Montrose’s camp, to request an interview. The marquis proposed to meet him on a moor near Blackhall, about two miles from the camp, with 11 attendants each, with no arms but a single sword at their side. After consulting with Field Marshal Leslie and the other officers, Montrose agreed to meet the marquis, on Thursday the 4th of April, at the place mentioned. The parties accordingly met. Among the eleven who attended the marquis were his son James, Lord Aboyne, and the Lord Oliphant. Lords Elcho and Cowper were of the party who attended Montrose. After the usual salutation they both alighted and entered into conversation; but, coming to no understanding, they adjourned the conference till the following morning, when the marquis signed a paper obliging himself to maintain the king’s authority, “the liberty of church and state, religion and laws.” He promised at the same time to do his best to make his friends, tenants, and servants subscribe the Covenant.[235] The marquis, after this arrangement, went to Strathbogie, and Montrose returned with his army to Aberdeen, the following day.

The marquis had not been many days at Strathbogie, when he received a notice from Montrose to repair to Aberdeen with his two sons, Lord Gordon and Viscount Aboyne, for the ostensible purpose of assisting the committee in their deliberations as to the settlement of the disturbances in the north.[236] On Huntly receiving an assurance from Montrose and the other covenanting leaders that no attempt should be made to detain himself and his sons as prisoners, he complied with Montrose’s invitation, and repairing to Aberdeen, he took up his quarters in the laird of Pitfoddel’s house.

The arrest of the marquis, which followed, has been attributed, not without reason, to the intrigues of the Frasers and the Forbeses, who bore a mortal antipathy to the house of Huntly, and who were desirous to see the “Cock of the North,” as the powerful head of that house was popularly called, humbled.[237] But, be these conjectures as they may, on the morning after the marquis’s arrival at Aberdeen, viz., on the 11th April, a council of the principal officers of Montrose’s army was held, at which it was determined to arrest the marquis and Lord Gordon, his eldest son, and carry them to Edinburgh. It was not, however, judged advisable to act upon this resolution immediately, and to do away with any appearance of treachery, Montrose and his friends invited the marquis and his two sons to supper the following evening. During the entertainment the most friendly civilities were passed on both sides, and, after the party had become somewhat merry, Montrose and his friends hinted to the marquis the expediency, in the present posture of affairs, of resigning his commission of lieutenancy. They also proposed that he should write a letter to the king along with the resignation of his commission, in favour of the Covenanters, as good and loyal subjects; and that he should despatch the laird of Cluny, the following morning, with the letter and resignation. The marquis, seeing that his commission was altogether unavailable, immediately wrote out, in presence of the meeting, a resignation of it, and a letter of recommendation as proposed, and, in their presence, delivered the same to the laird of Cluny, who was to set off the following morning with them to the king. It would appear that Montrose was not sincere in making this demand upon the marquis, and that his object was, by calculating on a refusal, to make that the ground for arresting him; for the marquis had scarcely returned to his lodgings to pass the night, when an armed guard was placed round the house, to prevent him from returning home, as he intended to do, the following morning.

When the marquis rose, next morning, he was surprised at receiving a message from the covenanting general, desiring his attendance at the house of the Earl Marshal; and he was still farther surprised, when, on going out, along with his two sons, to the appointed place of meeting, he found his lodging beset with sentinels. The marquis was received by Montrose with the usual morning salutation, after which, he proceeded to demand from him a contribution for liquidating a loan of 200,000 merks, which the Covenanters had borrowed from Sir William Dick, a rich merchant of Edinburgh. To this unexpected demand the marquis replied, that he was not obliged to pay any part thereof, not having been concerned in the borrowing, and of course, declined to comply. Montrose then requested him to take steps to apprehend James Grant and John Dugar, and their accomplices, who had given considerable annoyance to the Covenanters in the Highlands. Huntly objected, that, having now no commission, he could not act, and that, although he had, James Grant had already obtained a remission from the king; and as for John Dugar, he would concur, if required, with the other neighbouring proprietors in an attempt to apprehend him. The earl, finally, as the Covenant, he said, admitted of no standing hatred or feud, required the marquis to reconcile himself to Crichton, the laird of Frendraught, but this the marquis positively refused to do. Finding, as he no doubt expected, the marquis quite resolute in his determination to resist these demands, the earl suddenly changed his tone, and thus addressed the marquis, apparently in the most friendly terms, “My lord, seeing we are all now friends, will you go south to Edinburgh with us?” Huntly answered that he would not—that he was not prepared for such a journey, and that he was just going to set off for Strathbogie. “Your lordship,” rejoined Montrose, “will do well to go with us.” The marquis now perceiving Montrose’s design, accosted him thus, “My lord, I came here to this town upon assurance that I should come and go at my own pleasure, without molestation or inquietude; and now I see why my lodging was guarded, and that ye mean to take me to Edinburgh, whether I will or not. This conduct, on your part, seems to me to be neither fair nor honourable.” He added, “My lord, give me back the bond which I gave you at Inverury, and you shall have an answer.” Montrose thereupon delivered the bond to the marquis. Huntly then inquired at the earl, “Whether he would take him to the south as a captive, or willingly of his own mind?” “Make your choice,” said Montrose. “Then,” observed the marquis, “I will not go as a captive, but as a volunteer.” The marquis thereupon immediately returned to his lodging, and despatched a messenger after the laird of Cluny, to stop him on his journey.[238]

It was the intention of Montrose to take both the marquis and his sons to Edinburgh, but Viscount Aboyne, at the desire of some of his friends, was released, and allowed to return to Strathbogie. On arriving at Edinburgh, the marquis and his son, Lord Gordon, were committed close prisoners to the castle of Edinburgh, and the Tables “appointed five guardians to attend upon him and his son night and day, upon his own expenses, that none should come in nor out but by their sight.”[239] On being solicited to sign the Covenant, Huntly issued a manifesto characterized by magnanimity and the most steadfast loyalty, concluding with the following words:—“For my oune part, I am in your power; and resolved not to leave that foul title of traitor as ane inheritance upon my posteritye. Yow may tacke my heade from my shoulders, but not my heart from my soveraigne.”[240]

Some time after the departure of Montrose’s army to the south, the Covenanters of the north appointed a committee meeting to be held at Turriff, upon Wednesday, 24th April, consisting of the Earls Marshal and Seaforth, Lord Fraser, the Master of Forbes, and some of their kindred and friends. All persons within the diocese, who had not subscribed the Covenant, were required to attend this meeting for the purpose of signing it, and failing compliance, their property was to be given up to indiscriminate plunder. As neither Lord Aboyne, the laird of Banff, nor any of their friends and kinsmen, had subscribed the Covenant, nor meant to do so, they resolved to protect themselves from the threatened attack. A preliminary meeting of the heads of the northern Covenanters was held on the 22d of April, at Monymusk, where they learned of the rising of Lord Aboyne and his friends. This intelligence induced them to postpone the meeting at Turriff till the 26th of April, by which day they expected to be joined by several gentlemen from Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Moray, and other quarters. At another meeting, however, on the 24th of April, they postponed the proposed meeting at Turriff, sine die, and adjourned to Aberdeen; but as no notice had been sent of the postponement to the different covenanting districts in the north, about 1,500 men assembled at the place of meeting on the 26th of April, and were quite astonished to find that the chiefs were absent. Upon an explanation taking place, the meeting was adjourned till the 20th of May.

Lord Aboyne had not been idle during this interval, having collected about 2,000 horse and foot from the Highlands and Lowlands, with which force he had narrowly watched the movements of the Covenanters. Hearing, however, of the adjournment of the Turriff meeting, his lordship, at the entreaty of his friends, broke up his army, and went by sea to England to meet the king, to inform him of the precarious state of affairs in the north. Many of his followers, such as the lairds of Gight, Haddo, Udney, Newton, Pitmedden, Foveran, Tippertie, Harthill, and others, who had subscribed the Covenant, regretted his departure; but as they had gone too far to recede, they resolved to continue their forces in the field, and held a meeting on the 7th of May at Auchterless, to concert a plan of operations.

A body of the Covenanters, to the number of about 2,000, having assembled at Turriff as early as the 13th of May, the Gordons resolved instantly to attack them, before they should be joined by other forces, which were expected to arrive before the 20th. Taking along with them four brass field-pieces from Strathbogie, the Gordons, to the number of about 800 horse and foot, commenced their march on the 13th of May, at ten o’clock at night, and reached Turriff next morning by day-break, by a road unknown to the sentinels of the covenanting army. As soon as they approached the town, the commander of the Gordons ordered the trumpets to be sounded and the drums to be beat, the noise of which was the first indication the Covenanters had of their arrival. Being thus surprised, the latter had no time to make any preparations for defending themselves. They made, indeed, a short resistance, but were soon dispersed by the fire from the field-pieces, leaving behind them the lairds of Echt and Skene, and a few others, who were taken prisoners. The loss on either side, in killed and wounded, was very trifling. This skirmish is called by the writers of the period, “the Trott of Turray.”[241]

The successful issue of this trifling affair had a powerful effect on the minds of the victors, who forthwith marched on Aberdeen, which they entered on the 15th of May. They expelled the Covenanters from the town, and were there joined by a body of men from the Braes of Mar under the command of Donald Farquharson of Tulliegarmouth, and the laird of Abergeldie, and by another party headed by James Grant, so long an outlaw, to the number of about 500 men. These men quartered themselves very freely upon the inhabitants, particularly on those who had declared for the Covenant, and they plundered many gentlemen’s houses in the neighbourhood. The house of Durris, belonging to John Forbes of Leslie, a great Covenanter, received a visit from them. “There was,” says Spalding, “little plenishing left unconveyed away before their comeing. They gott good bear and ale, broke up girnells, and buke bannocks at good fyres, and drank merrily upon the laird’s best drink: syne carried away with them alse meikle victual as they could beir, which they could not gett eaten and destroyed; and syne removed from that to Echt, Skene, Monymusk, and other houses pertaining to the name of Forbes, all great Covenanters.”[242]

Two days after their arrival at Aberdeen, the Gordons sent to Dunnottar, for the purpose of ascertaining the sentiments of the Earl Marshal, in relation to their proceedings, and whether they might reckon on his friendship. The earl, however, intimated that he could say nothing in relation to the affair, and that he would require eight days to advise with his friends. This answer was considered quite unsatisfactory, and the chiefs of the army were at a loss how to act. Robert Gordon of Straloch, and James Burnet of Craigmylle, a brother of the laird of Leys, proposed to enter into a negotiation with the Earl Marshal, but Sir George Ogilvie of Banff would not listen to such a proceeding, and, addressing Straloch, he said, “Go, if you will go; but pr’ythee, let it be as quarter-master, to inform the earl that we are coming.” Straloch, however, went not in the character of a quarter-master, but as a mediator in behalf of his chief. The earl said he had no intention to take up arms, without an order from the Tables; that, if the Gordons would disperse, he would give them early notice to re-assemble, if necessary, for their own defence, but that if they should attack him, he would certainly defend himself.

The army was accordingly disbanded on the 21st of May, and the barons went to Aberdeen, there to spend a few days. The depredations of the Highlanders, who had come down to the lowlands in quest of plunder, upon the properties of the Covenanters, were thereafter carried on to such an extent, that the latter complained to the Earl Marshal, who immediately assembled a body of men out of Angus and the Mearns, with which he entered Aberdeen on the 23d of May, causing the barons to make a precipitate retreat. Two days thereafter the earl was joined by Montrose, at the head of 4,000 men, an addition which, with other accessions, made the whole force assembled at Aberdeen exceed 6,000.

Meanwhile a large body of northern Covenanters, under the command of the Earl of Seaforth, was approaching from the districts beyond the Spey; but the Gordons having crossed the Spey for the purpose of opposing their advance, an agreement was entered into between both parties that, on the Gordons retiring across the Spey, Seaforth and his men should also retire homewards.

After spending five days in Aberdeen, Montrose marched his army to Udney, thence to Kellie, the seat of the laird of Haddo, and afterwards to Gight, the residence of Sir Robert Gordon, to which he laid siege. But intelligence of the arrival of Viscount Aboyne in the bay of Aberdeen, deranged his plans. Being quite uncertain of Aboyne’s strength, and fearing that his retreat might be cut off, Montrose quickly raised the siege and returned to Aberdeen. Although Lord Aboyne still remained on board his vessel, and could easily have been prevented from landing, Montrose most unaccountably abandoned the town, and retired into the Mearns.

Viscount Aboyne had been most graciously received by the king, and had ingratiated himself so much with the monarch, as to obtain the commission of lieutenancy which his father held. The king appears to have entertained good hopes from his endeavours to support the royal cause in the north of Scotland, and before taking leave he gave the viscount a letter addressed to the Marquis of Hamilton, requesting him to afford his lordship all the assistance in his power. From whatever cause, all the aid afforded by the Marquis was limited to a few officers and four field-pieces: “The king,” says Gordon of Sallagh, “coming to Berwick, and business growing to a height, the armies of England and Scotland lying near one another, his majesty sent the Viscount of Aboyne and Colonel Gun (who was then returned out of Germany) to the Marquis of Hamilton, to receive some forces from him, and with these forces to go to Aberdeen, to possess and recover that town. The Marquis of Hamilton, lying at anchor in Forth, gave them no supply of men, but sent them five ships to Aberdeen, and the marquis himself retired with his fleet and men to the Holy Island, hard by Berwick, to reinforce the king’s army there against the Scots at Dunslaw.”[243] On his voyage to Aberdeen, Aboyne’s ships fell in with two vessels, one of which contained the lairds of Banff, Foveran, Newton, Crummie, and others, who had fled on the approach of Montrose to Gight; and the other had on board some citizens of Aberdeen, and several ministers who had refused to sign the Covenant, all of whom the viscount persuaded to return home along with him.

On the 6th of June, Lord Aboyne, accompanied by the Earls of Glencairn and Tullibardine, the lairds of Drum, Banff, Fedderet, Foveran, and Newton, and their followers, with Colonel Gun and several English officers, landed in Aberdeen without opposition. Immediately on coming ashore, Aboyne issued a proclamation which was read at the cross of Aberdeen, prohibiting all his majesty’s loyal subjects from paying any rents, duties, or other debts to the Covenanters, and requiring them to pay one-half of such sums to the king, and to retain the other for themselves. Those persons who had been forced to subscribe the Covenant against their will, were, on repentance, to be forgiven, and every person was required to take an oath of allegiance to his majesty.

This bold step inspired the royalists with confidence, and in a short space of time a considerable force rallied round the royal standard. Lewis Gordon, third son of the Marquis of Huntly, a youth of extraordinary courage, on hearing of his brother’s arrival, collected his father’s friends and tenants, to the number of about 1,000 horse and foot, and with these he entered Aberdeen on the 7th of June. These were succeeded by 100 horse, sent in by the laird of Drum, and by considerable forces led by James Grant and Donald Farquharson. Many of the Covenanters also joined the viscount, so that his force ultimately amounted to several thousand men. Spalding[244] gives a sad, though somewhat ludicrous account of the way in which Farquharson’s “hieland men” conducted themselves while in Aberdeen. He says, “Thir saulless lounis plunderit meit, drink, and scheip quhair ever they cam. Thay oppressit the Oldtoun, and brocht in out of the countrie honest menis scheip, and sold at the cross of Old Abirdein to sic as wold by, ane scheip upone foot for ane groat. The poor men that aucht thame follouit in and coft bak thair awin scheip agane, sic as wes left unslayne for thair meit.”

On the 10th of June the viscount left Aberdeen, and advanced upon Kintore with an army of about 2,000 horse and foot, to which he received daily accessions. The inhabitants of the latter place were compelled by him to subscribe the oath of allegiance, and notwithstanding their compliance, “the troops,” says Spalding, “plundered meat and drink, and made good fires: and, where they wanted peats, broke down beds and boards in honest men’s houses to be fires, and fed their horses with corn and straw that day and night.”[245] Next morning the army made a raid upon Hall Forrest, a seat of the Earl Marshal, and the house of Muchells, belonging to Lord Fraser; but Aboyne, hearing of a rising in the south, returned to Aberdeen.

As delay would be dangerous to his cause in the present conjuncture, he crossed the Dee on the 14th of June, his army amounting altogether probably to about 3,000 horse and foot,[246] with the intention of occupying Stonehaven, and of issuing afresh the king’s proclamation at the market cross of that burgh. He proceeded as far as Muchollis, or Muchalls, the seat of Sir Thomas Burnet of Leyes, a Covenanter, where he encamped that night. On hearing of his approach, the Earl Marshal and Montrose posted themselves, with 1,200 men, and some pieces of ordnance which they had drawn from Dunnottar castle, on the direct road which Aboyne had to pass, and waited his approach.

Although Aboyne was quite aware of the position of the Earl Marshal, instead of endeavouring to outflank him by making a detour to the right, he, by Colonel Gun’s advice, crossed the Meagre hill next morning, directly in the face of his opponent, who lay with his forces at the bottom of the hill. As Aboyne descended the hill, the Earl Marshal opened a heavy fire upon him, which threw his men into complete disorder. The Highlanders, unaccustomed to the fire of cannon, were the first to retreat, and in a short time the whole army gave way. Aboyne thereupon returned to Aberdeen with some horsemen, leaving the rest of the army to follow; but the Highlanders took a homeward course, carrying along with them a large quantity of booty, which they gathered on their retreat. The disastrous issue of “the Raid of Stonehaven,” as this affair has been called, has been attributed, with considerable plausibility, to treachery on the part of Colonel Gun, to whom, on account of his great experience, Aboyne had intrusted the command of the army.[247]

On his arrival at Aberdeen, Aboyne held a council of war, at which it was determined to send some persons into the Mearns to collect the scattered remains of his army, for, with the exception of about 180 horsemen and a few foot soldiers, the whole of the fine army which he had led from Aberdeen had disappeared; but although the army again mustered at Leggetsden to the number of 4,000, they were prevented from recrossing the Dee and joining his lordship by the Marshal and Montrose, who advanced towards the bridge of Dee with all their forces. Aboyne, hearing of their approach, resolved to dispute with them the passage of the Dee, and, as a precautionary measure, blocked up the entrance to the bridge of Dee from the south by a thick wall of turf, beside which he placed 100 musketeers upon the bridge, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Johnstone, to annoy the assailants from the small turrets on its sides. The viscount was warmly seconded in his views by the citizens of Aberdeen, whose dread of another hostile visit from the Covenanters induced them to afford him every assistance in their power, and it is recorded that the women and children even occupied themselves in carrying provisions to the army during the contest.

The army of Montrose consisted of about 2,000 foot and 300 horse, and a large train of artillery. The forces which Lord Aboyne had collected on the spur of the occasion were not numerous, but he was superior in cavalry. His ordnance consisted only of four pieces of brass cannon. Montrose arrived at the bridge of Dee on the 18th of June, and, without a moment’s delay, commenced a furious cannonade upon the works which had been thrown up at the south end, and which he kept up during the whole day without producing any material effect. Lieutenant-colonel Johnstone defended the bridge with determined bravery, and his musketeers kept up a galling and well-directed fire upon their assailants. Both parties reposed during the short twilight, and as soon as morning dawned Montrose renewed his attack upon the bridge, with an ardour which seemed to have received a fresh impulse from the unavailing efforts of the preceding day; but all his attempts were vain. Seeing no hopes of carrying the bridge in the teeth of the force opposed to him, he had recourse to a stratagem, by which he succeeded in withdrawing a part of Aboyne’s forces from the defence of the bridge. That force had, indeed, been considerably impaired before the renewal of the attack, in consequence of a party of 50 musketeers having gone to Aberdeen to escort thither the body of a citizen named John Forbes, who had been killed the preceding day; to which circumstance Spalding attributes the loss of the bridge; but whether the absence of this party had such an effect upon the fortune of the day is by no means clear. The covenanting general, after battering unsuccessfully the defences of the bridge, ordered a party of horsemen to proceed up the river some distance, and to make a demonstration as if they intended to cross. Aboyne was completely deceived by this manœuvre, and sent the whole of his horsemen from the bridge to dispute the passage of the river with those of Montrose, leaving Lieutenant-colonel Johnstone and his 50 musketeers alone to protect the bridge. Montrose having thus drawn his opponent into the snare set for him, immediately sent back the greater part of his horse, under the command of Captain Middleton, with instructions to renew the attack upon the bridge with redoubled energy. This officer lost no time in obeying these orders, and Lieutenant-colonel Johnstone having been wounded in the outset by a stone torn from the bridge by a shot, was forced to abandon its defence, and he and his party retired precipitately to Aberdeen.

When Aboyne saw the colours of the Covenanters flying on the bridge of Dee, he fled with great haste towards Strathbogie, after releasing the lairds of Purie Ogilvy and Purie Fodderinghame, whom he had taken prisoners, and carried with him from Aberdeen. The loss on either side during the conflict on the bridge was trifling. The only person of note who fell on Aboyne’s side was Seaton of Pitmedden, a brave cavalier, who was killed by a cannon shot while riding along the river side with Lord Aboyne. On that of the Covenanters was slain another valiant gentleman, a brother of Ramsay of Balmain. About 14 persons of inferior note were killed on each side, including some burgesses of Aberdeen, and several were wounded.

Montrose, reaching the north bank of the Dee, proceeded immediately to Aberdeen, which he entered without opposition. So exasperated were Montrose’s followers at the repeated instances of devotedness shown by the inhabitants to the royal cause, that they proposed to raze the town and set it on fire; but they were hindered from carrying their design into execution by the firmness of Montrose. The Covenanters, however, treated the inhabitants very harshly, and imprisoned many who were suspected of having been concerned in opposing their passage across the Dee; but an end was put to these proceedings in consequence of intelligence being brought on the following day (June 20th) of the treaty of pacification which had been entered into between the king and his subjects at Berwick, upon the 18th of that month. On receipt of this news, Montrose sent a despatch to the Earl of Seaforth, who was stationed with his army on the Spey, intimating the pacification, and desiring him to disband his army, with which order he instantly complied.

The articles of pacification were preceded by a declaration on the part of the king, in which he stated, that although he could not condescend to ratify and approve of the acts of the Glasgow General Assembly, yet, notwithstanding the many disorders which had of late been committed, he not only confirmed and made good whatsoever his commissioner had granted and promised, but he also declared that all matters ecclesiastical should be determined by the assemblies of the kirk, and matters civil by the parliament and other inferior judicatories established by law. To settle, therefore, “the general distractions” of the kingdom, his majesty ordered that a free general assembly should be held at Edinburgh on the 6th August following, at which he declared his intention, “God willing, to be personally present;” and he moreover ordered a parliament to meet at Edinburgh on the 20th of the same month, for ratifying the proceedings of the general assembly, and settling such other matters as might conduce to the peace and good of the kingdom of Scotland. By the articles of pacification, it was, inter alia, provided that the forces in Scotland should be disbanded within forty-eight hours after the publication of the declaration, and that all the royal castles, forts, and warlike stores of every description, should be delivered up to his majesty after the said publication, as soon as he should send to receive them. Under the seventh and last article of the treaty, the Marquis of Huntly and his son, Lord Gordon, and some others who had been detained prisoners in the castle of Edinburgh by the Covenanters, were set at liberty.

It has been generally supposed that neither party had any sincere intention to observe the conditions of the treaty. Certain it is, that the ink with which it was written was scarcely dry before its violation was contemplated. On the one hand, the king, before removing his army from the neighbourhood of Berwick, required the heads of the Covenanters to attend him there, obviously with the object of gaining them over to his side; but, with the exception of three commoners and three lords, Montrose, Loudon, and Lothian, they refused to obey. It was at this conference that Charles, who apparently had great persuasive powers, made a convert of Montrose, who from that time determined to desert his associates in arms, and to place himself under the royal standard. The immediate strengthening of the forts of Berwick and Carlisle, and the provisioning of the castle of Edinburgh, were probably the suggestions of Montrose, who would, of course, be intrusted with the secret of his majesty’s designs. The Covenanters, on the other hand, although making a show of disbanding their army at Dunse, in reality kept a considerable force on foot, which they quartered in different parts of the country, to be in readiness for the field on a short notice. The suspicious conduct of the king certainly justified this precaution.

The general assembly met on the day fixed upon, but, instead of attending in person as he proposed, Charles appointed the Earl of Traquair to act as his commissioner. After abolishing the articles of Perth, the book of canons, the liturgy, the high commission and episcopacy, and ratifying the late Covenant, the assembly was dissolved on the 30th of August, and another general assembly was appointed to be held at Aberdeen on the 28th of July of the following year, 1640. The parliament met next day, viz., on the last day of August, and as there were no bishops to represent the third estate, fourteen minor barons were elected in their stead. His majesty’s commissioner protested against the vote and against farther proceedings till the king’s mind should be known, and the commissioner immediately sent off a letter apprising him of the occurrence. Without waiting for the king’s answer, the parliament was proceeding with a variety of bills for securing the liberty of the subject and restraining the royal prerogative, when it was unexpectedly and suddenly prorogued, by an order from the king, till the 2d of June in the following year.

If Charles had not already made up his mind for war with his Scottish subjects, the conduct of the parliament which he had just prorogued determined him again to have recourse to arms in vindication of his prerogative. He endeavoured, at first, to enlist the sympathies of the bulk of the English nation in his cause, but without effect; and his repeated appeals to his English people, setting forth the rectitude of his intentions and the justice of his cause, being answered by men who questioned the one and denied the other, rather injured than served him. The people of England were not then in a mood to embark in a crusade against the civil and religious liberties of the north; and they had too much experience of the arbitrary spirit of the king to imagine that their own liberties would be better secured by extinguishing the flame which burned in the breasts of the sturdy and enthusiastic Covenanters.

But notwithstanding the many discouraging circumstances which surrounded him, Charles displayed a firmness of resolution to coerce the rebellious Scots by every means within his reach. The spring and part of the summer of 1640 were spent by both parties in military preparations. Field-Marshal Sir Alexander Leslie of Balgony, an old and experienced officer who had been in foreign service, was appointed generalissimo of the Scots army by the war committee. When mustered by the general at Choicelee, it amounted to about 22,000 foot and 2,500 horse. A council of war was held at Dunse at which it was determined to invade England. Montrose, to whose command a division of the army, consisting of 2,000 foot and 500 horse, was intrusted, was absent when this meeting was held; but, although his sentiments had, by this time, undergone a complete change, seeing on his return no chance of preventing the resolution of the council, he dissembled his feelings and openly approved of the plan. There seems to be no doubt that in following this course he intended, on the first favourable opportunity, to declare for the king, and carry off such part of the army as should be inclined to follow him, which he reckoned at a third of the whole.[248]

The Earl of Argyle was commissioned by the Committee of Estates to secure the west and central Highlands. This, the eighth Earl and first Marquis of Argyle, had succeeded to the title only in 1638, although he had enjoyed the estates for many years before that, as his father had been living in Spain, an outlaw. He was born in 1598, and strictly educated in the protestant faith as established in Scotland at the Reformation. In 1626 he was made a privy councillor, and in 1634 appointed one of the extraordinary lords of session. In 1638, at the General Assembly of Glasgow, he openly went over to the side of the Covenanters, and from that time was recognised as their political head. Argyle, in executing the task intrusted to him by the committee, appears to have been actuated more by feelings of private revenge than by an honest desire to carry out the spirit of his commission. The ostensible reason for his undertaking this charge was his thorough acquaintance with the Highlands and the Highlanders, and his ability to command the services of a large following of his own. “But the cheefe cause,” according to Gordon of Rothiemay,[249] “though least mentioned, was Argylle, his spleene that he carryed upon the accompt of former disobleedgments betwixt his family and some of the Highland clans: therefore he was glade now to gett so faire a colour of revenge upon the publicke score, which he did not lett slippe. Another reasone he had besyde; it was his designe to swallow upp Badzenoch and Lochaber, and some landes belonging to the Mackdonalds, a numerous trybe, but haters of, and aeqwally hated by Argylle.” He had some hold on these two districts, as, in 1639, he had become security for some of Huntly’s debts to the latter’s creditors. Argyle managed to seduce from their allegiance to Huntly the clan Cameron in Lochaber, who bore a strong resentment against their proper chief on account of some supposed injury done to the clan by the former marquis. Although they had little relish for the Covenant, still to gratify their revenge, they joined themselves to Argyle. A tribe of the Macdonalds who inhabited Lochaber, the Macranalds of Keppoch, who remained faithful to Huntly, met with very different treatment at the hands of Argyle, who devastated their district and burnt down their chief’s dwelling at Keppoch.

During this same summer (July 1640), Argyle, who had raised an army of about 5,000 men, made a devastating raid into the district of Forfarshire belonging to the Earl of Airly. He made first for Airly castle, about five miles north of Meigle, which, in the absence of the earl in England, was held by his son Lord Ogilvie, who had recently maintained it against Montrose. When Argyle came up, Ogilvie saw that resistance was hopeless, and abandoned the castle to the tender mercy of the enemy. Argyle without scruple razed the place to the ground, and is said to have shown himself so “extremely earnest” in the work of demolition “that he was seen taking a hammer in his hande and knocking down the hewed work of the doors and windows till he did sweat for heat at his work.”[250] Argyle’s men carried off all they could from the house and the surrounding district, and rendered useless what they were compelled to leave behind.

From Airly, Argyle proceeded to a seat belonging to Lord Ogilvie, Forthar in Glenisla, the “bonnie house o’ Airly,” of the well-known song. Here he behaved in a manner for which it would be difficult for his warmest supporters to find the shadow of an excuse, even taking into consideration the roughness of the times. The place is said by Gordon to have been “no strength,” so that there is still less excuse for his conduct. He treated Forthar in the same way that he did Airly, and although Lady Ogilvie, who at the time was close on her confinement, asked Argyle to stay proceedings until she gave birth to her infant, he without scruple expelled her from the house, and proceeded with his work of destruction. Not only so, however, but “the Lady Drum, Dame Marian Douglas, who lived at that time in Kelly, hearing tell what extremity her grandchild, the Lady Ogilvy, was reduced to, did send a commission to Argyle, to whom the said Lady Drum was a kinswoman, requesting that, with his license, she might admit into her own house, her grandchild, the Lady Ogilvy, who at that time was near her delivery; but Argyle would give no license. This occasioned the Lady Drum for to fetch the Lady Ogilvie to her house of Kelly, and for to keep her there upon all hazard that might follow.”

At the same time Argyle “was not forgetful to remember old quarrels to Sir John Ogilvie of Craigie.” He sent a sergeant to Ogilvie’s house to warn him to leave it, but the sergeant thought Argyle must have made some mistake, as he found it no more than a simple unfortified country house, occupied only by a sick gentlewoman and some servants. The sergeant returned and told this to Argyle, who waxed wroth and told him it was his duty simply to obey orders, commanding him at the same time to return and “deface and spoil the house.” After the sergeant had received his orders, Argyle was observed to turn round and repeat to himself the Latin political maxim Abscindantur qui nos perturbant, “a maxime which many thought that he practised accurately, which he did upon the account of the proverb consequential thereunto, and which is the reason of the former, which Argyle was remarked likewise to have often in his mouth as a choice aphorism, and well observed by statesmen, Quod mortui non mordent.”

First Marquis of Argyle.

Argyle next proceeded against the Earl of Athole, who, with about 1,200 followers, was lying in Breadalbane, ready to meet him. Argyle, whose army was about five times the size of Athole’s, instead of giving fight, managed by stratagem to capture Athole and some of his friends, whom he sent to the Committee of Estates at Edinburgh.

Argyle, after having thus gratified his private revenge and made a show of quieting the Highlands, returned to the lowlands.[251]

On the 20th of August General Leslie crossed the Tweed with his army, the van of which was led by Montrose on foot. This task, though performed with readiness and with every appearance of good will, was not voluntarily undertaken, but had been devolved upon Montrose by lot; none of the principal officers daring to take the lead of their own accord in such a dangerous enterprise. There can be no doubt that Montrose was insincere in his professions, and that those who suspected him were right in thinking that in his heart he was turned Royalist,[252] a supposition which his correspondence with the king and his subsequent conduct fully justify.

Although the proper time had not arrived for throwing off the mask, Montrose immediately on his return to Scotland, after the close of this campaign, began to concert measures for counteracting the designs of the Covenanters; but his plans were embarrassed by some of his associates disclosing to the Covenanters the existence of an association which Montrose had formed at Cumbernauld for supporting the royal authority. A great outcry was raised against Montrose in consequence, but his influence was so great that the heads of the Covenanters were afraid to show any severity towards him. On subsequently discovering, however, that the king had written him letters which were intercepted and forcibly taken from the messenger, a servant of the Earl of Traquair, they apprehended him, along with Lord Napier of Merchiston, and Sir George Stirling of Keith, his relatives and intimate friends, and imprisoned them in the castle of Edinburgh. On the meeting of the parliament at Edinburgh in July, 1641, which was attended by the king in person, Montrose demanded to be tried before them, but his application was rejected by the Covenanters, who obtained an order from the parliament prohibiting him from going into the king’s presence. After the king had returned to England, Montrose and his fellow-prisoners were liberated, and he, thereupon, went to his own castle, where he remained for some time, ruminating on the course he should pursue for the relief of the king. The king, while in Scotland at this time, conferred honours upon several of the covenanting leaders, apparently for the purpose of conciliation, Argyle being raised to the dignity of a marquis.

Although Charles complied with the demands of his Scottish subjects, and heaped many favours and distinctions upon the heads of the leading Covenanters, they were by no means satisfied, and entered fully into the hostile views of their brethren in the south, with whom they made common cause. Having resolved to send an army into England to join the forces of the parliament, which had come to an open rupture with the sovereign, they attempted to gain over Montrose to their side by offering him the post of lieutenant-general of their army, and promising to accede to any demands he might make; but he rejected all their offers; and, as an important crisis was at hand, he hastened to England in the early part of the year 1643, in company with Lord Ogilvie, to lay the state of affairs before the king, and to offer him his advice and service in such an emergency. Charles, however, either from a want of confidence in the judgment of Montrose, who, to the rashness and impetuosity of youth, added, as he was led to believe, a desire of gratifying his personal feelings and vanity, or overcome by the calculating but fatal policy of the Marquis of Hamilton, who deprecated a fresh war between the king and his Scottish subjects, declined to follow the advice of Montrose, who had offered to raise an army immediately in Scotland to support him.

A convention of estates called by the Covenanters, without any authority from the king, met at Edinburgh on the 22d of June, 1643, and he soon perceived from the character and proceedings of this assembly, the great majority of which were Covenanters, the mistake he had committed in rejecting the advice of Montrose, and he now resolved, thenceforth, to be guided in his plans for subduing Scotland by the opinion of that nobleman. Accordingly, at a meeting held at Oxford, between the king and Montrose, in the month of December, 1643, when the Scots army was about entering England, it was agreed that the Earl of Antrim, an Irish nobleman of great power and influence, who then lived at Oxford, should be sent to Ireland to raise auxiliaries with whom he should make a descent on the west parts of Scotland in the month of April following;—that the Marquis of Newcastle, who commanded the royal forces in the north of England, should furnish Montrose with a party of horse, with which he should enter the south of Scotland,—that an application should be made to the King of Denmark for some troops of German horse; and that a quantity of arms should be transported into Scotland from abroad.[253]

Instructions having been given to the Earl of Antrim to raise the Irish levy, and Sir James Cochran having been despatched to the continent as ambassador for the king, to procure foreign aid, Montrose left Oxford on his way to Scotland, taking York and Durham in his route. Near the latter city he had an interview with the Marquis of Newcastle for the purpose of obtaining a sufficient party of horse to escort him into Scotland, but all he could procure was about 100 horse, badly appointed, with two small brass field pieces.[254] The Marquis sent orders to the king’s officers, and to the captains of the militia in Cumberland and Westmoreland, to afford Montrose such assistance as they could, and he was in consequence joined on his way to Carlisle by 800 foot and three troops of horse, of Cumberland and Northumberland militia. With this small force, and about 200 horse, consisting of noblemen and gentlemen who had served as officers in Germany, France, or England, Montrose entered Scotland on the 13th of April, 1644. He had not, however, proceeded far, when a revolt broke out among the English soldiers, who immediately returned to England. In spite of this discouragement, Montrose proceeded on with his small party of horse towards Dumfries, which surrendered to him without opposition. After waiting there a few days, in expectation of hearing some tidings respecting the Earl of Antrim’s movements, without receiving any, he retired to Carlisle, to avoid being surprised by the Covenanters, large bodies of whom were hovering about in all directions.

To aid the views of Montrose, the king had appointed the Marquis of Huntly, on whose fidelity he could rely, his lieutenant-general in the north of Scotland. He, on hearing of the capture of Dumfries by Montrose, immediately collected a considerable body of horse and foot, consisting of Highlanders and lowlanders, at Kincardine-O’Neil, with the intention of crossing the Cairn-a-Mount; but being disappointed in not being joined by some forces from Perthshire, Angus, and the Mearns, which he expected, he altered his steps, and proceeded towards Aberdeen, which he took. Thence he despatched parties of his troops through the counties of Aberdeen and Banff, which brought in quantities of horses and arms for the use of his army. One party, consisting of 120 horse and 300 foot, commanded by the young laird of Drum and his brother, young Gicht, Colonel Nathaniel Gordon and Colonel Donald Farquharson and others, proceeded to the town of Montrose, which they took, killed one of the bailies, made the provost prisoner, and threw some cannon into the sea as they could not carry them away. But, on hearing that the Earl of Kinghorn was advancing upon them with the forces of Angus, they made a speedy retreat, leaving thirty of their foot behind them prisoners. To protect themselves against the army of the Marquis of Huntly, the inhabitants of Moray, on the north of the Spey, raised a regiment of foot and three companies of horse, which were quartered in the town of Elgin.

When the convention heard of Huntly’s movements, they appointed the Marquis of Argyle to raise an army to quell this insurrection. He, accordingly, assembled at Perth a force of 5,000 foot and 800 horse out of Fife, Angus, Mearns, Argyle, and Perthshire, with which he advanced on Aberdeen. Huntly, hearing of his approach, fled from Aberdeen and retired to the town of Banff, where, on the day of his arrival, he disbanded his army. The marquis himself thereafter retired to Strathnaver, and took up his residence with the master of Reay. Argyle, after taking possession of Aberdeen, proceeded northward and took the castles of Gicht and Kellie, made the lairds of Gicht and Haddo prisoners and sent them to Edinburgh, the latter being, along with one Captain Logan, afterwards beheaded.[255]

We now return to Montrose, who, after an ineffectual attempt to obtain an accession of force from the army of Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, determined on again entering Scotland with his little band. But being desirous to learn the exact situation of affairs there, before putting this resolution into effect, he sent Lord Ogilvie and Sir William Rollock into Scotland, in disguise, for that purpose. They returned in about fourteen days, and brought a spiritless and melancholy account of the state of matters in the north, where they found all the passes, towns, and forts, in possession of the Covenanters, and where no man dared to speak in favour of the king. This intelligence was received with dismay by Montrose’s followers, who now began to think of the best means of securing their own safety. In this unpleasant conjuncture of affairs, Montrose called them together to consult on the line of conduct they should pursue. Some advised him to return to Oxford and inform his majesty of the hopeless state of his affairs in Scotland, while others gave an opinion that he should resign his commission, and go abroad till a more favourable opportunity occurred of serving the king; but the chivalrous and undaunted spirit of Montrose disdained to follow either of these courses, and he resolved upon the desperate expedient of venturing into the very heart of Scotland, with only one or two companions, in the hope of being able to rally round his person a force sufficient to support the declining interests of his sovereign.

Having communicated this intention privately to Lord Ogilvie, he put under his charge the few gentlemen who had remained faithful to him, that he might conduct them to the king; and having accompanied them to a distance, he withdrew from them clandestinely, leaving his servants, horses, and baggage behind him, and returned to Carlisle. Having prepared himself for his journey, he selected Sir William Rollock, a gentleman of tried honour, and one Sibbald, to accompany him. Disguised as a groom, and riding upon a lean, worn-out horse, and leading another in his hand, Montrose passed for Sibbald’s servant, in which condition and capacity he proceeded to the borders. The party had not proceeded far when an occurrence took place, which considerably disconcerted them. Meeting with a Scottish soldier, who had served under the Marquis of Newcastle in England, he, after passing Rollock and Sibbald, went up to the marquis, and accosted him by his name. Montrose told him that he was quite mistaken; but the soldier being positive, and judging that the marquis was concerned in some important affair, replied, with a countenance which betokened a kind heart, “Do not I know my lord Marquis of Montrose well enough? But go your way, and God be with you.”[256] When Montrose saw that he could not preserve an incognito from the penetrating eye of the soldier, he gave him some money and dismissed him.

This occurrence excited alarm in the mind of Montrose, and made him accelerate his journey. Within four days he arrived at the house of Tullibelton, among the hills near the Tay, which belonged to Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie, his cousin, and a royalist. No situation was better fitted for concocting his plans, and for communicating with those clans and the gentry of the adjoining lowlands who stood well affected to the king. It formed, in fact, a centre, or point d’appui to the royalists of the Highlands and the adjoining lowlands, from which a pretty regular communication could be kept up, without any of those dangers which would have arisen in the lowlands.

For some days Montrose did not venture to appear among the people in the neighbourhood, nor did he consider himself safe even in Tullibelton house, but passed the night in an obscure cottage, and in the day-time wandered alone among the neighbouring mountains, ruminating over the strange peculiarity of his situation, and waiting the return of his fellow-travellers, whom he had despatched to collect intelligence on the state of the kingdom. These messengers came back to him after some days’ absence, bringing with them the most cheerless accounts of the situation of the country, and of the persecutions which the royalists suffered at the hands of the Covenanters. Among other distressing pieces of intelligence, they communicated to Montrose the premature and unsuccessful attempt of the Marquis of Huntly in favour of the royal cause, and of his retreat to Strathnaver to avoid the fury of his enemies. These accounts greatly affected Montrose, who was grieved to find that the Gordons, who were stern royalists, should be exposed, by the abandonment of their chief, to the revenge of their enemies; but he consoled himself with the reflection, that as soon as he should be enabled to unfurl the royal standard, the tide of fortune would turn.

While cogitating on the course he should pursue in this conjuncture, a report reached him from some shepherds on the hills that a body of Irish troops had landed in the West, and was advancing through the Highlands. Montrose at once concluded that these were the auxiliaries whom the Earl of Antrim had undertaken to send him four months before, and such they proved to be. This force, which amounted to 1,500 men, was under the command of Alexander Macdonald, son of Coll Mac-Gillespic Macdonald of Iona, who had been greatly persecuted by the family of Argyle. Macdonald had arrived early in July, 1644, among the Hebrides, and had landed and taken the castles of Meigray and Kinloch Alan. He had then disembarked his forces in Knoydart, where he expected to be joined by the Marquis of Huntly and the Earl of Seaforth. As he advanced into the interior, he despatched the fiery cross for the purpose of summoning the clans to his standard; but, although the cross was carried through a large extent of country, even to Aberdeen, he was joined at first only by the clan Donald, under the captain of clan Ranald, and the laird of Glengary. The Marquis of Argyle collected an army to oppose the progress of Macdonald, and, to cut off his retreat to Ireland, he sent some ships of war to Loch Eishord, where Macdonald’s fleet lay, which captured or destroyed them. This loss, while it frustrated an intention Macdonald entertained of returning to Ireland, in consequence of the disappointment he had met with in not being joined by the clans, stimulated him to farther exertions in continuing his march, in the hope of meeting Montrose.

As Macdonald was perfectly ignorant of Montrose’s movements, and thought it likely that he might be still at Carlisle, waiting till he should hear of Macdonald’s arrival, he sent letters to him by the hands of a confidential friend, who resided in the neighbourhood of Inchbrakie’s house. This gentleman, who knew nothing of Montrose’s return to Scotland, having luckily communicated to Mr. Graham the secret of being intrusted with letters to his kinsman, Montrose, Graham offered to see them safely delivered to Montrose, though he should ride to Carlisle himself. The gentleman in question then delivered the letters to Graham, and Montrose having received them, wrote an answer as if from Carlisle, in which he requested Macdonald to keep up his spirits, that he would soon be joined by a seasonable reinforcement and a general at their head, and he ordered him with all expedition to march down into Athole. In fixing on Athole as the place of his rendezvous, Montrose is said to have been actuated by an implicit reliance on the fidelity and loyalty of the Athole-men, and by a high opinion of their courage. They lay, besides, under many obligations to himself, and he calculated that he had only to appear among them to command their services in the cause of their sovereign.

When Macdonald received these instructions, he marched towards Athole; but in passing through Badenoch he was threatened with an attack by the Earls of Sutherland and Seaforth, at the head of some of their people, and by the Frasers, Grants, Rosses, and Monroes, and other inhabitants of Moray, who had assembled at the top of Strathspey; but Macdonald very cautiously avoided them, and hastened into Athole. On arriving in Athole, Macdonald was coldly received by the people of that as well as the surrounding country, who doubted whether he had any authority from the king; and besides, they hesitated to place themselves under the command of a person of neither noble nor ancient lineage, and whom they considered an upstart. This indecision might have proved fatal to Macdonald, who was closely pressed in his rear by the army of Argyle, had not these untoward deliberations been instantly put an end to by the arrival of Montrose at Blair, where Macdonald had fixed his head-quarters. Montrose had travelled seventy miles on foot, in a Highland dress, accompanied by Patrick Graham, his cousin, as his guide.[257] His appearance was hailed by his countrymen with every demonstration of joy, and they immediately made him a spontaneous offer of their services.

Accordingly, on the following day, the Athole-men, to the number of about 800, consisting chiefly of the Stewarts and Robertsons, put themselves under arms and flocked to the standard of Montrose. Thus, in little more than twenty-four hours, Montrose saw himself at the head of a force of upwards of 2,000 men, animated by an enthusiastic attachment to his person and to the cause which he had espoused. The extraordinary contrast between his present commanding position, and the situation in which he was placed a few days before, as a forlorn wanderer among the mountains, produced a powerful effect upon the daring and chivalrous spirit of Montrose, who looked forward to the success of his enterprise with the eagerness of a man who considered the destinies of his sovereign as altogether depending upon his individual exertions. Impressed with the necessity of acting with promptitude, he did not hesitate long as to the course he should pursue. He might have immediately gone in quest of Argyle, who had followed the army of Macdonald, with slow and cautious steps, and by one of those sudden movements which no man knew better how to execute with advantage, surprised and defeated his adversary; but such a plan did not accord with the designs of Montrose, who resolved to open the campaign at once in the lowlands, and thus give confidence to the friends and supporters of the king.

The general opinion which the Lowlanders of this period entertained regarding their upland neighbours was not very respectful. A covenanting wit, in a poem which he wrote against the bishops only a few years before, says of one whose extraction was from the other side of the Grampians,

“A bishop and a Highlandman, how can’st thou honest be?”

as if these two qualifications were of themselves sufficient, without any known vice, to put a man completely beyond the pale of virtue. It seems, indeed, to have been a general belief at the time that this primitive and sequestered people, as they were avowedly out of the saving circle of the Covenant, were also out of the limits of both law and religion, and therefore hopelessly and utterly given up to all sorts of wickedness. Not only were murder and robbery among the list of offences which they were accused of daily committing, but there even seems to have been a popular idea that sorcery was a prevailing crime amongst them. They were also charged with a general inclination to popery, an offence which, from the alarms and superstitions of the time, had now come, in general phraseology, to signify a condensation of all others. Along with this horrible notion of the mountaineers, there was not associated the slightest idea of their ardent and chivalrous character; nor was there any general sensation of terror for the power which they undoubtedly possessed of annoying the peaceful inhabitants, and thwarting the policy of the Low country, no considerable body of Highlanders having been there seen in arms for several generations.

In pursuance of his determination, Montrose put his small army in motion the same day towards Strathearn, in passing through which he expected to be joined by some of the inhabitants of that and the adjoining country. At the same time he sent forward a messenger with a friendly notice to the Menzieses of his intention to pass through their country, but instead of taking this in good part they maltreated the messenger and harassed the rear of his army. This unprovoked attack so exasperated Montrose, that he ordered his men, when passing by Weem castle, which belonged to the clan Menzies, to plunder and lay waste their lands, and to burn their houses, an order which was literally obeyed. He expected that this example of summary vengeance would serve as a useful lesson to deter others, who might be disposed to imitate the conduct of the Menzieses, from following a similar course. Notwithstanding the time spent in making these reprisals, Montrose passed the Tay with a part of his forces the same evening, and the remainder followed very early the next morning. He had, at the special request of the Athole-men themselves, placed them under the command of his kinsman, Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie, and he now sent him forward with a select party to reconnoitre. Inchbrakie soon returned with information that he had observed a party of armed men stationed upon the hill of Buchanty. On inquiry, Montrose ascertained that this body was commanded by Lord Kilpont, eldest son of the Earl of Menteith, and by Sir John Drummond, son of the Earl of Perth, both of whom were his relations. The force in question, which consisted of about 500 men, was on its way to Perth to join the other covenanting troops who were stationed there. Montrose immediately marched up to this body, with the intention, if he could not prevail on them to join him, of attacking them, but before he had approached sufficiently near, Lord Kilpont, who had ascertained that Montrose commanded, sent some of his principal officers to him to ascertain what his object was in thus advancing. Montrose having explained his views and stated that he acted by the king’s authority, and having entreated them to return to their allegiance, they and the whole of their party immediately joined him. This new accession augmented Montrose’s army to about 3,000 men.

Montrose now learned from his new allies that the Covenanters had assembled their forces in great numbers at Perth, and that they lay there waiting for his approach. The covenanting army, in fact, was more than double that of Montrose, amounting to about 6,000 foot and 700 horse, to which were attached four pieces of artillery. Montrose, on the other hand, had not a single horseman, and but three horses, two of which were for his own use, and the other for that of Sir William Rollock, and besides he had no artillery. Yet with such a decided disparity, Montrose resolved to march directly to Perth and attack the enemy. He appears to have been influenced in this resolution by the consideration of the proximity of Argyle with his army, and the danger in which he would be placed by being hemmed in by two hostile armies: he could expect to avoid such an embarrassment only by risking an immediate engagement.

As the day was too far advanced to proceed to Perth, Montrose ordered his men to bivouac during the night about three miles from Buchanty, and began his march by dawn of day. As soon as Lord Elcho, the commander of the covenanting army, heard of Montrose’s approach, he left Perth and drew up his army on Tippermuir, a plain of some extent between four and five miles west from the town. Reserving to himself the command of the right wing, he committed the charge of the left to Sir James Scott, an able and skilful officer, who had served with great honour in the Venetian army; and to the Earl of Tullibardine he intrusted the command of the centre. The horse were divided and placed on each wing with the view of surrounding the army of Montrose, should he venture to attack them in their position. As soon as Montrose perceived the enemy thus drawn up in battle array, he made the necessary dispositions for attacking them. To counteract as much as possible the danger arising to such a small body of men, unprotected by cavalry, from the extended line of the Covenanters, Montrose endeavoured to make his line as extensive as possible with safety, by limiting his files to three men deep. As the Irish had neither swords nor pikes to oppose the cavalry, they were stationed in the centre of the line, and the Highlanders, who were provided with swords and Lochaber axes, were placed on the wings, as better fitted to resist the attacks of the cavalry. Some of the Highlanders were, however, quite destitute of arms of every description, and it is related on the authority of an eye-witness that Montrose, seeing their helpless condition, thus quaintly addressed them:—“It is true you have no arms; your enemies, however, have plenty. My advice, therefore, is, that as there happens to be a great abundance of stones upon this moor, every man should provide himself, in the first place, with as stout a stone as he can well manage, rush up to the first Covenanter he meets, beat out his brains, take his sword, and then, I believe, he will be at no loss how to proceed.”[258] This advice, as will be seen, was really acted upon. As Montrose was almost destitute of powder, he ordered the Irish forces to husband their fire till they should come close to the enemy, and after a simultaneous discharge from the three ranks, (the front rank kneeling,) to assail the enemy thereafter as they best could. To oppose the left wing of the Covenanters, commanded by Sir James Scott, Montrose took upon himself the command of his own right, placing Lord Kilpont at the head of the left, and Macdonald, his major-general, over the centre.

During the progress of these arrangements, Montrose despatched an accomplished young nobleman, named Drummond, eldest son of Lord Maderty, with a message to the chiefs of the Covenanters’ army, entreating them to lay down their arms and return to their duty and obedience to their sovereign. Instead, however, of returning any answer to this message, they seized the messenger, and sent him to Perth under an escort, with an intimation that, on obtaining a victory over his master, they would execute him. Indeed, the probability of a defeat seems never for a moment to have entered into the imaginations of the Covenanters, and they had been assured by Frederick Carmichael, a minister who had preached to them the same day, being Sunday, 1st September, “that if ever God spoke truth out of his mouth, he promised them, in the name of God, a certain victory that day.”[259]

There being no hopes, therefore, of an accommodation, both armies, after advancing towards each other, remained motionless for a short time, as if unwilling to begin the attack; but this state of matters was speedily put an end to by the advance of a select skirmishing party under the command of Lord Drummond, sent out from the main body of the covenanting army, for the double purpose of distracting the attention of Montrose, and inducing his troops to leave their ranks, and thus create confusion among them; but Montrose kept his men in check, and contented himself with sending out a few of his men to oppose them. Lord Drummond, whom Baillie appears to have suspected of treachery, and his party were routed at the first onset, and fled back upon the main body in great disorder. This trivial affair decided the fate of the day, for the Covenanters, many of whom were undisciplined, seeing the unexpected defeat of Lord Drummond’s party, became quite dispirited, and began to show symptoms which indicated a disposition for immediate flight. The confusion into which the main body had been thrown by the retreat of the advanced party, and the indecision which seemed now to prevail in the Covenanters’ army in consequence of that reverse, were observed by the watchful eye of Montrose, who saw that the favourable moment for striking a decisive blow had arrived. He therefore gave orders to his men to advance, who, immediately setting up a loud shout, rushed forward at a quick pace towards the enemy. They were met by a random discharge from some cannon which the Covenanters had placed in front of their army, but which did little or no execution. When sufficiently near, Montrose’s musketeers halted, and, as ordered, poured a volley into the main rank of the Covenanters, which immediately gave way. The cavalry of the Covenanters, thereupon, issued from their stations and attacked the royalists, who, in their turn, defended themselves with singular intrepidity. While the armed Highlanders made ample use of their Lochaber axes and swords, the Irish steadily opposed the attacks of the horse with the butt ends of their muskets; but the most effective annoyance which the cavalry met with appears to have proceeded from the unarmed Highlanders, who having supplied themselves with a quantity of stones, as suggested by Montrose, discharged them with well-directed aim at the horses and their riders. The result was, that after a short struggle, the cavalry were obliged to make a precipitate retreat. While this contest was going on, another part of Montrose’s army was engaged with the right wing of the covenanting army, under Sir James Scott, but although this body made a longer and more determined resistance, and galled the party opposed to them by an incessant fire of musketry, they were at last overpowered by the Athole-men, who rushed upon them with their broad-swords, and cut down and wounded a considerable number. The rout of the Covenanters now became general. The horsemen saved themselves by the fleetness of their horses; but during the pursuit, which was kept up to a distance of six or seven miles, many hundreds of foot were killed, and a considerable number made prisoners,[260] some of whom afterwards served in Montrose’s army. The loss on the side of Montrose appears to have been very trifling. By this victory, and the subsequent capture of Perth, which he entered the same day, Montrose was enabled to equip his army with all those warlike necessaries of which it had been so remarkably destitute in the morning, and of which the Covenanters left him an abundant supply.[261]

FOOTNOTES:

[232] Gordon’s Scots Affairs, vol. ii. p. 209.

[233] Spalding, vol. i. p. 137.

[234] Troubles, vol. i. pp. 107, 108.

[235] Spalding, vol. i. pp. 157, 160.

[236] Gordon of Rothiemay, vol. ii. p. 235.

[237] Id., vol. ii. p. 235.

[238] Spalding, vol. i. p. 168.

[239] Ibid. p. 177.

[240] Gordon of Rothiemay, ii. 240. Spalding, i. 179.

[241] Turray is the old name of Turriff.—Gordon of Rothiemay, vol. ii. p. 254. Gordon of Sallagh, p. 401.

[242] Spalding, vol. i. p. 188.

[243] Continuation, p. 402.

[244] Spalding, vol. i. p. 205.

[245] Troubles, vol. i. p. 206.

[246] Spalding, vol. i. p. 207.—Gordon of Rothiemay, vol. ii. p. 268.—Gordon of Ruthven, in his abridgment of Britane’s Distemper (Spald. Club ed.), p. 206, makes the number 5,000.

[247] Spalding, vol. i. p. 208. Gordon of Rothiemay, vol. ii. p. 272. Britane’s Distemper, p. 24.

[248] Wishart’s Memoirs, Edin. 1819, p. 24.

[249] Scots Affairs, iii. 163.

[250] Gordon of Rothiemay, iii. 165.

[251] See Gordon of Rothiemay, iii. 163 et seq. Spalding, i. 290.

[252] Guthrie’s Memoirs, p. 70.

[253] Wishart.

[254] The Duchess of Newcastle says, in the memoirs of her husband, that the number was 200.

[255] Gordon of Sallagh, p. 519.

[256] Wishart, p. 64.

[257] Wishart, p. 69.

[258] Gentleman’s Mag., vol. xvi. p. 153.

[259] Wishart, p. 77.

[260] There is a great discrepancy between contemporary writers as to the number killed. Wishart states it at 2,000; Spalding, at 1,300, and 800 prisoners; though he says that some reckoned the number at 1,500 killed. Gordon of Sallagh mentions only 300. Gordon of Ruthven, in Britane’s Distemper, gives the number at 2,000 killed and 1,000 prisoners. Baillie says (vol. ii. p. 233, ed. 1841) that no quarter was given, and not a prisoner was taken.

[261] Britane’s Distemper, p. 73.

CHAPTER XIII.

A.D. 1644 (September)-1645 (February).

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—Charles I., 1625–1649.

Montrose crosses the Tay to Collace—Marches through Angus and Mearns—Battle of Aberdeen—Supineness of the Gordons—Movements of Argyle—Montrose retreats through Badenoch—Second march of Montrose to the north—Battle of Fyvie—Montrose retreats to Strathbogie—Secession from his camp—Montrose enters and wastes Breadalbane and Argyle—Marches to Lochness—Argyle enters Lochaber—Battle of Inverlochy.

Montrose now entertained confident expectations that many of the royalists of the surrounding country who had hitherto kept aloof would join him; but after remaining three days at Perth, to give them an opportunity of rallying round his standard, he had the mortification to find that, with the exception of Lords Dupplin and Spynie, and a few gentlemen from the Carse of Gowrie, who came to him, his anticipations were not to be realized. The spirits of the royalists had been too much subdued by the severities of the Covenanters for them all at once to risk their lives and fortunes on the issue of what they had long considered a hopeless cause; and although Montrose had succeeded in dispersing one army with a greatly inferior force, yet it was well known that that army was composed of raw and undisciplined men, and that the Covenanters had still large bodies of well-trained troops in the field.

Thus disappointed in his hopes, and understanding that the Marquis of Argyle was fast approaching with a large army, Montrose crossed the Tay on the 4th of September, directing his course towards Coupar-Angus, and encamped at night in the open fields near Collace. His object in proceeding northward was to endeavour to raise some of the loyal clans, and thus to put himself in a sufficiently strong condition to meet Argyle. Montrose had given orders to the army to march early next morning, but by break of day, and before the drums had beat, he was alarmed by an uproar in the camp. Perceiving his men running to their arms in a state of fury and rage, Montrose, apprehensive that the Highlanders and Irish had quarrelled, immediately rushed in among the thickest of the crowd to pacify them, but to his great grief and dismay, he ascertained that the confusion had arisen from the assassination of his valued friend Lord Kilpont. He had fallen a victim to the blind fury of James Stewart of Ardvoirlich, with whom he had slept the same night, and who had long enjoyed his confidence and friendship. According to Wishart, wishing to ingratiate himself with the Covenanters, he formed a design to assassinate Montrose or his major-general, Macdonald; and endeavoured to entice Kilpont to concur in his wicked project. He, therefore, on the night in question, slept with his lordship, and having prevailed upon him to rise and take a walk in the fields before daylight, on the pretence of refreshing themselves, he there disclosed his horrid purpose, and entreated his lordship to concur therein. Lord Kilpont rejected the base proposal with horror and indignation, which so alarmed Stewart that, afraid lest his lordship might discover the matter, he suddenly drew his dirk and mortally wounded Kilpont. Stewart, thereupon, fled, and thereafter joined the Marquis of Argyle, who gave him a commission in his army.[262]

STUART.

Montrose now marched upon Dundee, which refused to surrender. Not wishing to waste his time upon the hazardous issue of a siege with a hostile army in his rear, Montrose proceeded through Angus and the Mearns, and in the course of his route was joined by the Earl of Airly, his two sons, Sir Thomas and Sir David Ogilvie, and a considerable number of their friends and vassals, and some gentlemen from the Mearns and Aberdeenshire. This was a seasonable addition to Montrose’s force, which had been greatly weakened by the absence of some of the Highlanders who had gone home to deposit their spoils, and by the departure of Lord Kilpont’s retainers, who had gone to Monteith with his corpse.

After the battle of Tippermuir, Lord Elcho had retired, with his regiment and some fugitives, to Aberdeen, where he found Lord Burleigh and other commissioners from the convention of estates. As soon as they heard of the approach of Montrose, Burleigh, who acted as chief commissioner, immediately assembled the Forbeses, the Frasers, and the other friends of the covenanting interest, and did everything in his power to gain over to his side as many persons as he could from those districts where Montrose expected assistance. In this way Burleigh increased his force to 2,500 foot and 500 horse, but some of these, consisting of Gordons, and others who were obliged to take up arms, could not be relied upon.

When Montrose heard of these preparations, he resolved, notwithstanding the disparity of force, his own army now amounting only to 1,500 foot and 44 horse, to hasten his march and attack them before Argyle should come up. On arriving near the bridge of Dee, he found it strongly fortified and guarded by a considerable force. He did not attempt to force a passage, but, directing his course to the west, along the river, crossed it at a ford at the Mills of Drum, and encamped at Crathas that night (Wednesday, 11th September). The Covenanters, the same day, drew up their army at the Two Mile Cross, a short distance from Aberdeen, where they remained till Thursday night, when they retired into the town. On the same night, Montrose marched down Dee-side, and took possession of the ground which the Covenanters had just left.[263]

On the following morning, viz., Friday, 13th September, about eleven o’clock, the Covenanters marched out of Aberdeen to meet Montrose, who, on their approach, despatched a drummer to beat a parley, and sent a commissioner along with him bearing a letter to the provost and bailies of Aberdeen, commanding and charging them to surrender the town, promising that no more harm should be done to it; “otherwise, if they would disobey, that then he desired them to remove old aged men, women, and children out of the way, and to stand to their own peril.” Immediately on receipt of this letter, the provost called a meeting of the council, which was attended by Lord Burleigh, and, after a short consultation, an answer was sent along with the commissioner declining to surrender the town. On their return the drummer was killed by the Covenanters, at a place called Justice Mills; which violation of the law of nations so exasperated Montrose, that he gave orders to his men not to spare any of the enemy who might fall into their hands. His anger at this occurrence is strongly depicted by Spalding, who says, that “he grew mad, and became furious and impatient.”

As soon as Montrose received notice of the refusal of the magistrates to surrender the town, he made the necessary dispositions for attacking the enemy. From his paucity of cavalry, he was obliged to extend his line, as he had done at Tippermuir, to prevent the enemy from surrounding or outflanking him with their horse, and on each of his wings he posted his small body of horsemen along with select parties of musketeers and archers. To James Hay and Sir Nathaniel Gordon he gave the command of the right wing, committing the charge of the left to Sir William Rollock, all men of tried bravery and experience.

The Covenanters began the battle by a cannonade from their field-pieces, and, from their commanding position, gave considerable annoyance to the royal forces, who were very deficient in artillery. After the firing had been kept up for some time, Lord Lewis Gordon, third son of the Marquis of Huntly, a young man of a very ardent disposition, and of a violent and changeable temper, who commanded the left wing of the Covenanters, having obtained possession of some level ground where his horse could act, made a demonstration to attack Montrose’s right wing; which being observed by Montrose, he immediately ordered Sir William Rollock, with his party of horse, from the left wing to the assistance of the right. These united wings, which consisted of only 44 horse, not only repulsed the attack of a body of 300, but threw them into complete disorder, and forced them to retreat upon the main body, leaving many dead and wounded on the field. Montrose restrained these brave cavaliers from pursuing the body they had routed, anticipating that their services might be soon required at the other wing; and he was not mistaken, for no sooner did the covenanting general perceive the retreat of Lord Lewis Gordon than he ordered an attack to be made upon the left wing of Montrose’s army; but Montrose, with a celerity almost unexampled, moved his whole cavalry from the right to the left wing, which, falling upon the flank of their assailants sword in hand, forced them to fly, with great slaughter. In this affair Montrose’s horse took Forbes of Craigievar and Forbes of Boyndlie prisoners.

The unsuccessful attacks on the wings of Montrose’s army had in no shape affected the future fortune of the day, as both armies kept their ground, and were equally animated with hopes of ultimate success. Vexed, but by no means intimidated by their second defeat, the gentlemen who composed Burleigh’s horse consulted together as to the best mode of renewing the attack; and, being of opinion that the success of Montrose’s cavalry was owing chiefly to the expert musketeers, with whom they were interlined, they resolved to imitate the same plan, by mixing among them a select body of foot, and renewing the charge a third time, with redoubled energy. But this scheme, which might have proved fatal to Montrose, if tried, was frustrated by a resolution he came to, of making an instant and simultaneous attack upon the enemy. Perceiving their horse still in great confusion, and a considerable way apart from their main body, he determined upon attacking them with his foot before they should get time to rally; and galloping up to his men, who had been greatly galled by the enemies’ cannon, he told them that there was no good to be expected by the two armies keeping at such a distance—that in this way there was no means of distinguishing the strong from the weak, nor the coward from the brave man, but that if they would once make a home charge upon these timorous and effeminate striplings, as he called Burleigh’s horse, they would never stand their attack. “Come on, then,” said he, “my brave fellow-soldiers, fall down upon them with your swords and muskets, drive them before you, and make them suffer the punishment due to their perfidy and rebellion.”[264] These words were no sooner uttered, than Montrose’s men rushed forward at a quick pace and fell upon the enemy, sword in hand. The Covenanters were paralyzed by the suddenness and impetuosity of the attack, and, turning their backs, fled in the utmost trepidation and confusion, towards Aberdeen. The slaughter was tremendous, as the victors spared no man. The road leading from the field of battle to Aberdeen was strewed with the dead and the dying; the streets of Aberdeen were covered with the bodies, and stained with the blood of its inhabitants. “The lieutenant followed the chase into Aberdeen, his men hewing and cutting down all manner of men they could overtake, within the town, upon the streets, or in the houses, and round about the town, as our men were fleeing, with broad swords, but (i.e. without) mercy or remeid. Their cruel Irish, seeing a man well clad, would first tyr (strip) him, and save his clothes unspoiled, syne kill the man.”[265] In fine, according to this writer, who was an eye-witness, the town of Aberdeen, which, but a few years before, had suffered for its loyalty, was now, by the same general who had then oppressed it, delivered up by him to be indiscriminately plundered by his Irish forces, for having espoused the same cause which he himself had supported. For four days did these men indulge in the most dreadful excesses, “and nothing,” continues Spalding, was “heard but pitiful howling, crying, weeping, mourning, through all the streets.” Yet Guthry says that Montrose “shewed great mercy, both pardoning the people and protecting their goods.”[266]

It is singular, that although the battle continued for four hours without any determinate result, Montrose lost very few men, a circumstance the more extraordinary as the cannon of the Covenanters were placed upon advantageous ground, whilst those of Montrose were rendered quite ineffective by being situated in a position from which they could not be brought to bear upon the enemy. An anecdote, characteristic of the bravery of the Irish, and of their coolness in enduring the privations of war, has been preserved. During the cannonade on the side of the Covenanters, an Irishman had his leg shot away by a cannon ball, but which kept still attached to the stump by means of a small bit of skin, or flesh. His comrades-in-arms being affected with his disaster, this brave man, without betraying any symptoms of pain, thus cheerfully addressed them:—“This, my companions, is the fate of war, and what none of us ought to grudge: go on, and behave as becomes you; and, as for me, I am certain my lord, the marquis, will make me a trooper, as I am now disabled for the foot service.” Then, taking a knife from his pocket, he deliberately opened it, and cut asunder the skin which retained the leg, without betraying the least emotion, and delivered it to one of his companions for interment. As soon as this courageous man was able to mount a horse, his wish to become a trooper was complied with, in which capacity he afterwards distinguished himself.[267]

Hoping that the news of the victory he had obtained would create a strong feeling in his favour among the Gordons, some of whom had actually fought against him, under the command of Lord Lewis Gordon, Montrose sent a part of his army towards Kintore and Inverury, the following day, to encourage the people of the surrounding country to declare for him; but he was sadly disappointed in his expectations. The fact is, that ever since the appointment of Montrose as lieutenant-general of the kingdom,—an appointment which trenched upon the authority of the Marquis of Huntly as lieutenant of the north,—the latter had become quite lukewarm in the cause of his sovereign; and, although he was aware of the intentions of his son, Lord Lewis, to join the Covenanters, he quietly allowed him to do so without remonstrance. But, besides being thus, in some measure, superseded by Montrose, the marquis was actuated by personal hostility to him on account of the treatment he had formerly received from him; and it appears to have been partly to gratify his spleen that he remained a passive observer of a struggle which involved the very existence of the monarchy itself. Whatever may have been Huntly’s reasons for not supporting Montrose, his apathy and indifference had a deadening influence upon his numerous retainers, who had no idea of taking the field but at the command of their chief.

As Montrose saw no possibility of opposing the powerful and well-appointed army of Argyle, which was advancing upon him with slow and cautious steps, disappointed as he had been of the aid which he had calculated upon, he resolved to march into the Highlands, and there collect such of the clans as were favourably disposed to the royal cause. Leaving Aberdeen, therefore, on the 16th of September, with the remainder of his forces, he joined the camp at Kintore, whence he despatched Sir William Rollock to Oxford to inform the king of the events of the campaign, and of his present situation, and to solicit him to send supplies.

We must now advert to the progress of Argyle’s army, the slow movements of which form an unfavourable contrast with the rapid marches of Montrose’s army. On the 4th of September, four days after the battle of Tippermuir, Argyle, who had been pursuing the Irish forces under Macdonald, had arrived with his Highlanders at Stirling, where, on the following day, he was joined by the Earl of Lothian and his regiment, which had shortly before been brought over from Ireland. After raising some men in Stirlingshire, he marched to Perth upon the 10th, where he was joined by some Fife men, and Lord Bargenny’s and Sir Frederick Hamilton’s regiments of horse, which had been recalled from Newcastle for that purpose. With this increased force, which now consisted of about 3,000 foot and two regular cavalry regiments, besides ten troops of horse, Argyle left Perth on the 14th of September for the north, and in his route was joined by the Earl Marshal, Lords Gordon, Fraser, and Crichton, and other Covenanters. He arrived at Aberdeen upon the 19th of September, where he issued a proclamation, declaring the Marquis of Montrose and his followers traitors to religion and to their king and country, and offering a reward of 20,000 pounds Scots, to any person who should bring in Montrose dead or alive.[268] Spalding laments with great pathos and feeling the severe hardships to which the citizens of Aberdeen had been subjected by these frequent visitations of hostile armies, and alluding to the present occupancy of the town by Argyle, he observes that “this multitude of people lived upon free quarters, a new grief to both towns, whereof there was quartered on poor old Aberdeen Argyle’s own three regiments. The soldiers had their baggage carried, and craved nothing but house-room and fire. But ilk captain, with twelve gentlemen, had free quarters, (so long as the town had meat and drink,) for two ordinaries, but the third ordinary they furnished themselves out of their own baggage and provisions, having store of meal, molt and sheep, carried with them. But, the first night, they drank out all the stale ale in Aberdeen, and lived upon wort thereafter.”[269]

Argyle was now within half a day’s march of Montrose, but, strange to tell, he made no preparations to follow him, and spent two or three days in Aberdeen doing absolutely nothing. After spending this time in inglorious supineness, Argyle put his army in motion in the direction of Kintore. Montrose, on hearing of his approach, concealed his cannon in a bog, and leaving behind him some of his heavy baggage, made towards the Spey with the intention of crossing it. On arriving at the river, he encamped near the old castle of Rothiemurchus; but finding that the boats used in passing the river had been removed to the north side of the river, and that a large armed force from the country on the north of the Spey had assembled on the opposite bank to oppose his passage, Montrose marched his army into the forest of Abernethy. Argyle only proceeded at first as far as Strathbogie; but instead of pursuing Montrose, he allowed his troops to waste their time in plundering the properties and laying waste the lands of the Gordons in Strathbogie and the Enzie, under the very eyes of Lord Gordon and Lord Lewis Gordon, neither of whom appears to have endeavoured to avert such a calamity. Spalding says that it was “a wonderful unnaturalitie in the Lord Gordon to suffer his father’s lands and friends in his own sight to be thus wreckt and destroyed in his father’s absence;” but Lord Gordon likely had it not in his power to stay these proceedings, which, if not done at the instigation, may have received the approbation of his violent and headstrong younger brother, who had joined the Covenanters’ standard. On the 27th of September, Argyle mustered his forces at the Bog of Gicht, when they were found to amount to about 4,000 men; but although the army of Montrose did not amount to much more than a third of that number, and was within twenty miles’ distance, he did not venture to attack him. After remaining a few days in Abernethy forest, Montrose passed through the forest of Rothiemurchus, and following the course of the Spey, marched through Badenoch to Athole, which he reached on 1st October.

When Argyle heard of the departure of Montrose from the forest of Abernethy, he made a feint of following him. He accordingly set his army in motion along Spey-side, and crossing the river himself with a few horse, marched up some distance along the north bank, and recrossed, when he ordered his troops to halt. He then proceeded to Forres to attend a committee meeting of Covenanters to concert a plan of operations in the north, at which the Earl of Sutherland, Lord Lovat, the sheriff of Moray, the lairds of Balnagown, Innes and Pluscardine, and many others were present. From Forres Argyle went to Inverness, and after giving some instructions to Sir Mungo Campbell of Lawers, and the laird of Buchanan, the commanders of the regiments stationed there, he returned to his army, which he marched through Badenoch in pursuit of Montrose. From Athole Montrose sent Macdonald with a party of 500 men to the Western Highlands, to invite the laird of Maclean, the captain of clan Ranald, and others to join him. Marching down to Dunkeld, Montrose himself proceeded rapidly through Angus towards Brechin and Montrose.[270]

Although some delay had been occasioned in Montrose’s movements by his illness for a few days in Badenoch, this was fully compensated for by the tardy motions of Argyle, who, on entering Badenoch, found that his vigilant antagonist was several days’ march a-head of him. This intelligence, however, did not induce him in the least to accelerate his march. Hearing, when passing through Badenoch, that Montrose had been joined by some of the inhabitants of that country, Argyle, according to Spalding, “left nothing of that country undestroyed, no not one four footed beast;” and Athole shared a similar fate.

At the time Montrose entered Angus, a committee of the estates, consisting of the Earl Marshal and other barons, was sitting in Aberdeen, who, on hearing of his approach, issued on the 10th of October a printed order, to which the Earl Marshal’s name was attached, ordaining, under pain of being severely fined, all persons, of whatever age, sex, or condition, having horses of the value of forty pounds Scots or upwards, to send them to the bridge of Dee, which was appointed as the place of rendezvous, on the 14th of October, by ten o’clock, A.M., with riders fully equipped and armed. With the exception of Lord Gordon, who brought three troops of horse, and Captain Alexander Keith, brother of the Earl Marshal, who appeared with one troop at the appointed place, no attention was paid to the order of the committee by the people, who had not yet recovered from their fears, and their recent sufferings were still too fresh in their minds to induce them again to expose themselves to the vengeance of Montrose and his Irish troops.

After refreshing his army for a few days in Angus, Montrose prepared to cross the Grampians, and march to Strathbogie to make another attempt to raise the Gordons; but, before setting out on his march, he released Forbes of Craigievar and Forbes of Boyndlie, on their parole, upon condition that Craigievar should procure the liberation of the young laird of Drum and his brother from the jail of Edinburgh, failing which, Craigievar and Boyndlie were both to deliver themselves up to him as prisoners before the 1st of November. This act of generosity on the part of Montrose was greatly admired, more particularly as Craigievar was one of the heads of the Covenanters, and had great influence among them. In pursuance of his design, Montrose marched through the Mearns, and upon Thursday, the 17th of October, crossed the Dee at the Mills of Drum, with his whole army. In his progress north, contrary to his former forbearing policy, he laid waste the lands of some of the leading Covenanters, burnt their houses, and plundered their effects. He arrived at Strathbogie on the 19th of October, where he remained till the 27th, without being able to induce any considerable number of the Gordons to join him. It was not from want of inclination that they refused to do so, but they were unwilling to incur the displeasure of their chief, who they knew was personally opposed to Montrose, and who felt indignant at seeing a man who had formerly espoused the cause of the Covenanters preferred before him. Had Montrose been accompanied by any of the Marquis of Huntly’s sons, they might have had influence enough to have induced some of the Gordons to declare for him; but the situation of the marquis’s three sons was at this time very peculiar. The eldest son, Lord Gordon, a young man “of singular worth and accomplishments,” was with Argyle, his uncle by the mother’s side; the Earl of Aboyne, the second son, was shut up in the castle of Carlisle, then in a state of siege; and Lord Lewis Gordon, the third son, had, as we have seen, joined the Covenanters, and fought in their ranks.

In this situation of matters, Montrose left Strathbogie on the day last mentioned, and took up a position in the forest of Fyvie, where he despatched some of his troops, who took possession of the castles of Fyvie and Tollie Barclay, in which he found a good supply of provisions, which was of great service to his army. During his stay at Strathbogie, Montrose kept a strict outlook for the enemy, and scarcely passed a night without scouring the neighbouring country to the distance of several miles with parties of light foot, who attacked straggling parties of the Covenanters, and brought in prisoners from time to time, without sustaining any loss. These petty enterprises, while they alarmed their enemies, gave an extraordinary degree of confidence to Montrose’s men, who were ready to undertake any service, however difficult or dangerous, if he only commanded them to perform it.

When Montrose crossed the Dee, Argyle was several days’ march behind him. The latter, however, reached Aberdeen on the 24th of October, and proceeded the following morning towards Kintore, which he reached the same night. Next morning he marched forward to Inverury, where he halted at night. Here he was joined by the Earl of Lothian’s regiment, which increased his force to about 2,500 foot, and 1,200 horse. In his progress through the counties of Angus, Kincardine, Aberdeen, and Banff, he received no accession of strength, from the dread which the name and actions of Montrose had infused into the minds of the inhabitants of these counties.

The sudden movements of Argyle from Aberdeen to Kintore, and from Kintore to Inverury, form a remarkable contrast with the slowness of his former motions. He had followed Montrose through a long and circuitous route, the greater part of which still bore recent traces of his footsteps, and instead of showing any disposition to overtake his flying foe, seemed rather inclined to keep that respectful distance from him so congenial to the mind of one who, “willing to wound,” is “yet still afraid to strike.” But although this questionable policy of Argyle was by no means calculated to raise his military fame, it had the effect of throwing Montrose, in the present case, off his guard, and had well-nigh proved fatal to him. The rapid march of Argyle on Kintore and Inverury, in fact, was effected without Montrose’s knowledge, for the spies he had employed concealed the matter from him, and while he imagined that Argyle was still on the other side of the Grampians, he suddenly appeared within a very few miles of Montrose’s camp, on the 28th of October.

The unexpected arrival of Argyle’s army did not disconcert Montrose. His foot, which amounted to 1,500 men, were little more than the half of those under Argyle, while he had only about 50 horse to oppose 1,200. Yet, with this immense disparity, he resolved to await the attack of the enemy, judging it inexpedient, from the want of cavalry, to become the assailant by descending into the plain where Argyle’s army was encamped. On a rugged eminence behind the castle of Fyvie, on the uneven sides of which several ditches had been cut and dikes built to serve as farm fences, Montrose drew up his little but intrepid host; but before he had marked out the positions to be occupied by his divisions, he had the misfortune to witness the desertion of a small body of the Gordons, who had joined him at Strathbogie. They, however, did not join Argyle, but contented themselves with withdrawing altogether from the scene of the ensuing action. It is probable that they came to the determination of retiring, not from cowardice, but from disinclination to appear in the field against Lord Lewis Gordon, who held a high command in Argyle’s army. The secession of the Gordons, though in reality a circumstance of trifling importance in itself, (for had they remained, they would have fought unwillingly, and consequently might not have had sufficient resolution to maintain the position which would have been assigned them,) had a disheartening influence upon the spirits of Montrose’s men, and accordingly they found themselves unable to resist the first shock of Argyle’s numerous forces, who, charging them with great impetuosity, drove them up the eminence, of a considerable part of which Argyle’s army got possession. In this critical conjuncture, when terror and despair seemed about to obtain the mastery over hearts to which fear had hitherto been a stranger, Montrose displayed a coolness and presence of mind equal to the dangers which surrounded him. Animating them by his presence, and by the example which he showed in risking his person in the hottest of the fight, he roused their courage by putting them further in mind of the victories they had achieved, and how greatly superior they were in bravery to the enemy opposed to them. After this emphatic appeal to their feelings, Montrose turned to Colonel O’Kean, a young Irish gentleman, highly respected by the former for his bravery, and desired him, with an air of the most perfect sang froid, to go down with such men as were readiest, and to drive these fellows (meaning Argyle’s men), out of the ditches, that they might be no more troubled with them. O’Kean quickly obeyed the mandate, and though the party in the ditches was greatly superior to the body he led, and was, moreover, supported by some horse, he drove them away, and captured several bags of powder which they left behind them in their hurry to escape. This was a valuable acquisition, as Montrose’s men had spent already almost the whole of their ammunition.

While O’Kean was executing this brilliant affair, Montrose observed five troops of horse, under the Earl of Lothian, preparing to attack his 50 horse, who were posted a little way up the eminence, with a small wood in their rear. He, therefore, without a moment’s delay, ordered a party of musketeers to their aid, who, having interlined themselves with the 50 horse, kept up such a galling fire upon Lothian’s troopers, that before they had advanced half way across a field which lay between them and Montrose’s horse, they were obliged to wheel about and gallop off.

Montrose’s men became so elated with their success that they could scarcely be restrained from leaving their ground and making a general attack upon the whole of Argyle’s army; but although Montrose did not approve of this design, he disguised his opinion, and seemed rather to concur in the views of his men, telling them, however, to be so far mindful of their duty as to wait till he should see the fit moment for ordering the attack. Argyle remained till the evening without attempting anything farther, and then retired to a distance of about three miles across the Spey; his men passed the night under arms. The only person of note killed in these skirmishes was Captain Keith, brother of the Earl Marshal.

Next day Argyle resolved to attack Montrose, with the view of driving him from his position. He was induced to come to this determination from a report, too well founded, which had reached him, that Montrose’s army was almost destitute of ammunition;—indeed, he had compelled the inhabitants of all the surrounding districts to deliver up every article of pewter in their possession for the purpose of being converted into ammunition; but this precarious supply appears soon to have been exhausted.[271] On arriving at the bottom of the hill, he changed his resolution, not judging it safe, from the experience of the preceding day, to hazard an attack. Montrose, on the other hand, agreeably to his original plan, kept his ground, as he did not deem it advisable to expose his men to the enemy’s cavalry by descending from the eminence. With the exception of some trifling skirmishes between the advanced posts, the main body of both armies remained quiescent during the whole day. Argyle again retired in the evening to the ground he had occupied the preceding night, whence he returned the following day, part of which was spent in the same manner as the former; but long before the day had expired he led off his army, “upon fair day light,” says Spalding, “to a considerable distance, leaving Montrose to effect his escape unmolested.”

Montrose, thus left to follow any course he pleased, marched off after nightfall towards Strathbogie, plundering Turriff and Rothiemay house in his route. He selected Strathbogie as the place of his retreat on account of the ruggedness of the country and of the numerous dikes with which it was intersected, which would prevent the operations of Argyle’s cavalry, and where he intended to remain till joined by Macdonald, whom he daily expected from the Highlands with a reinforcement. When Argyle heard of Montrose’s departure on the following morning, being the last day of October, he forthwith proceeded after him with his army, thinking to bring him to action in the open country, and encamped at Tullochbeg on the 2d of November, where he drew out his army in battle array. He endeavoured to bring Montrose to a general engagement, and, in order to draw him from a favourable position he was preparing to occupy, Argyle sent out a skirmishing party of his Highlanders; but they were soon repulsed, and Montrose took possession of the ground he had selected.

Baffled in all his attempts to overcome Montrose by force of arms, Argyle, whose talents were more fitted for the intrigues of the cabinet than the tactics of the field, had now recourse to negotiation, with the view of effecting the ruin of his antagonist. For this purpose he proposed a cessation of arms, and that he and Montrose should hold a conference, previous to which arrangements should be entered into for their mutual security. Montrose knew Argyle too well to place any reliance upon his word, and as he had no doubt that Argyle would take advantage, during the proposed cessation, to tamper with his men and endeavour to withdraw them from their allegiance, he called a council of war, and proposed to retire without delay to the Highlands. The council at once approved of this suggestion, whereupon Montrose resolved to march next night as far as Badenoch; and that his army might be able to accomplish such a long journey within the time fixed, he immediately sent off all his heavy baggage under a guard, and ordered his men to keep themselves prepared as if to fight a battle the next day.[272] Scarcely, however, had the carriages and heavy baggage been despatched, when an event took place which greatly disconcerted Montrose. This was nothing less than the desertion of his friend Colonel Sibbald and some of his officers, who went over to the enemy. They were accompanied by Sir William Forbes of Craigievar, who, having been unable to fulfil the condition on which he was to obtain his ultimate liberation, had returned two or three days before to Montrose’s camp. This distressing occurrence induced Montrose to postpone his march for a time, as he was quite certain that the deserters would communicate his plans to Argyle. Ordering, therefore, back the baggage he had sent off, he resumed his former position, in which he remained four days, as if he there intended to take up his winter quarters.

In the meantime Montrose had the mortification to witness the defection of almost the whole of his officers, who were very numerous, for, with the exception of the Irish and Highlanders, they outnumbered the privates from the Lowlands. The bad example which had been set by Sibbald, the intimate friend of Montrose, and the insidious promises of preferment held out to them by Argyle, induced some, whose loyalty was questionable, to adopt this course; but the idea of the privations to which they would be exposed in traversing, during winter, among frost and snow, the dreary and dangerous regions of the Highlands, shook the constancy of others, who, in different circumstances, would have willingly exposed their lives for their sovereign. Bad health, inability to undergo the fatigue of long and constant marches—these and other excuses were made to Montrose as the reasons for craving a discharge from a service which had now become more hazardous than ever. Montrose made no remonstrance, but with looks of high disdain which betrayed the inward workings of a proud and unsubdued mind, indignant at being thus abandoned at such a dangerous crisis, readily complied with the request of every man who asked permission to retire. The Earl of Airly, now sixty years of age and in precarious health, and his two sons, Sir Thomas and Sir David Ogilvie, out of all the Lowlanders, alone remained faithful to Montrose, and could, on no account, be prevailed upon to abandon him. Among others who left Montrose on this occasion, was Sir Nathaniel Gordon, who, it is said, went over to Argyle’s camp in consequence of a concerted plan between him and Montrose, for the purpose of detaching Lewis Gordon from the cause of the Covenanters, a conjecture which seems to have originated in the subsequent conduct of Sir Nathaniel and Lord Lewis, who joined Montrose the following year.

Montrose, now abandoned by all his Lowland friends, prepared for his march, preparatory to which he sent off his baggage as formerly; and after lighting some fires for the purpose of deceiving the enemy, took his departure on the evening of the 6th of November, and arrived about break of day at Balveny. After remaining a few days there to refresh his men, he proceeded through Badenoch, and descended by rapid marches into Athole, where he was joined by Macdonald and John Muidartach, the captain of the Clanranald, the latter of whom brought 500 of his men along with him. He was also reinforced by some small parties from the neighbouring Highlands, whom Macdonald had induced to follow him.

In the meantime Argyle, after giving orders to his Highlanders to return home, went himself to Edinburgh, where he “got but small thanks for his service against Montrose.”[273] Although the Committee of Estates, out of deference, approved of his conduct, which some of his flatterers considered deserving of praise because he “had shed no blood;”[274] yet the majority had formed a very different estimate of his character, during a campaign which had been fruitful neither of glory nor victory. Confident of success, the heads of the Covenanters looked upon the first efforts of Montrose in the light of a desperate and forlorn attempt, rashly and inconsiderately undertaken, and which they expected would be speedily put down; but the results of the battles of Tippermuir, Aberdeen, and Fyvie, gave a new direction to their thoughts, and the royalists, hitherto contemned, began now to be dreaded and respected. In allusion to the present “posture of affairs,” it is observed by Guthry, that “many who had formerly been violent, began to talk moderately of business, and what was most taken notice of, was the lukewarmness of many amongst the ministry, who now in their preaching had begun to abate much of their former zeal.”[275] The early success of Montrose had indeed caused some misgivings in the minds of the Covenanters; but as they all hoped that Argyle would change the tide of war, they showed no disposition to relax in their severities towards those who were suspected of favouring the cause of the king. The signal failure, however, of Argyle’s expedition, and his return to the capital, quite changed, as we have seen, the aspect of affairs, and many of those who had been most sanguine in their calculations regarding the result of the struggle, began now to waver and to doubt.

While Argyle was passing his time in Edinburgh, Montrose was meditating a terrible blow at Argyle himself to revenge the cruelties he had exercised upon the royalists, and to give confidence to the clans in Argyle’s neighbourhood. These had been hitherto prevented from joining Montrose’s standard from a dread of Argyle, who having always a body of 5,000 or 6,000 Highlanders at command, had kept them in such complete subjection that they dared not, without the risk of absolute ruin, espouse the cause of their sovereign. The idea of curbing the power of a haughty and domineering chief whose word was a law to the inhabitants of an extensive district, ready to obey his cruel mandates at all times, and the spirit of revenge, the predominating characteristic of the clans, smoothed the difficulties which presented themselves in invading a country made almost inaccessible by nature, and rendered still more unapproachable by the severities of winter. The determination of Montrose having thus met with a willing response in the breasts of his men, he lost no time in putting them in motion. Dividing his army into two parts, he himself marched with the main body, consisting of the Irish and the Athole-men, to Loch Tay, whence he proceeded through Breadalbane. The other body, composed of the clan Donald and other Highlanders, he despatched by a different route, with instructions to meet him at an assigned spot on the borders of Argyle. The country through which both divisions passed, being chiefly in possession of Argyle’s kinsmen or dependants, was laid waste, particularly the lands of Campbell of Glenorchy.

When Argyle heard of the ravages committed by Montrose’s army on the lands of his kinsmen, he hastened home from Edinburgh to his castle at Inverary, and gave orders for the assembling of his clan, either to repel any attack that might be made on his own country, or to protect his friends from future aggression. It is by no means certain that he anticipated an invasion from Montrose, particularly at such a season of the year, and he seemed to imagine himself so secure from attack, owing to the intricacy of the passes leading into Argyle, that although a mere handful of men could have effectually opposed an army much larger than that of Montrose, he took no precautions to guard them. So important indeed did he himself consider these passes to be, that he had frequently declared that he would rather forfeit a hundred thousand crowns, than that an enemy should know the passes by which an armed force could penetrate into Argyle.[276]

While thus reposing in fancied security in his impregnable stronghold, and issuing his mandates for levying his forces, some shepherds arrived in great terror from the hills, and brought him the alarming intelligence that the enemy, whom he had imagined were about a hundred miles distant, were within two miles of his own dwelling. Terrified at the unexpected appearance of Montrose, whose vengeance he justly dreaded, he had barely self-possession left to concert measures for his own personal safety, by taking refuge on board a fishing boat in Loch Fyne, in which he sought his way to the Lowlands, leaving his people and country exposed to the merciless will of an enemy thirsting for revenge. The inhabitants of Argyle being thus abandoned by their chief, made no attempt to oppose Montrose, who, the more effectually to carry his plan for pillaging and ravaging the country into execution, divided his army into three parties, under the respective orders of the captain of clan Ranald, Macdonald, and himself. For upwards of six weeks, viz., from the 13th of December, 1644, till nearly the end of January following, these different bodies traversed the whole country without molestation, burning, wasting, and destroying every thing which came within their reach. Nor were the people themselves spared, for although it is mentioned by one writer that Montrose “shed no blood in regard that all the people (following their lord’s laudable example) delivered themselves by flight also,”[277] it is evident from several contemporary authors that the slaughter must have been immense.[278] In fact, before the end of January, the face of a single male inhabitant was not to be seen throughout the whole extent of Argyle and Lorn, the whole population having been either driven out of these districts, or taken refuge in dens and caves known only to themselves.

Having thus retaliated upon Argyle and his people in a tenfold degree the miseries which he had occasioned in Lochaber and the adjoining countries, Montrose left Argyle and Lorn, passing through Glencoe and Lochaber on his way to Lochness. On his march eastwards he was joined by the laird of Abergeldie, the Farquharsons of the Braes of Mar, and by a party of the Gordons. The object of Montrose, by this movement, was to seize Inverness, which was then protected by only two regiments, in the expectation that its capture would operate as a stimulus to the northern clans, who had not yet declared themselves. This resolution was by no means altered on reaching the head of Lochness, where he learned that the Earl of Seaforth was advancing to meet him with an army of 5,000 horse and foot, which he resolved to encounter, it being composed, with the exception of two regular regiments, of raw and undisciplined levies.

While proceeding, however, through Abertarf, a person arrived in great haste at Kilcummin, the present fort Augustus, who brought him the surprising intelligence that Argyle had entered Lochaber with an army of 3,000 men; that he was burning and laying waste the country, and that his head-quarters were at the old castle of Inverlochy. After Argyle had effected his escape from Inverary, he had gone to Dumbarton, where he remained till Montrose’s departure from his territory. While there, a body of covenanting troops who had served in England, arrived under the command of Major-general Baillie, for the purpose of assisting Argyle in expelling Montrose from his bounds; but on learning that Montrose had left Argyle, and was marching through Glencoe and Lochaber, General Baillie determined to lead his army in an easterly direction through the Lowlands, with the intention of intercepting Montrose, should he attempt a descent. At the same time it was arranged between Baillie and Argyle that the latter, who had now recovered from his panic in consequence of Montrose’s departure, should return to Argyle and collect his men from their hiding-places and retreats. As it was not improbable, however, that Montrose might renew his visit, the Committee of Estates allowed Baillie to place 1,100 of his soldiers at the disposal of Argyle, who, as soon as he was able to muster his men, was to follow Montrose’s rear, yet so as to avoid an engagement, till Baillie, who, on hearing of Argyle’s advance into Lochaber, was to march suddenly across the Grampians, should attack Montrose in front. To assist him in levying and organizing his clan, Argyle called over Campbell of Auchinbreck, his kinsman, from Ireland, who had considerable reputation as a military commander. In terms of his instructions, therefore, Argyle had entered Lochaber, and had advanced as far as Inverlochy, when, as we have seen, the news of his arrival was brought to Montrose.

Montrose was at first almost disinclined, from the well-known reputation of Argyle, to credit this intelligence, but being fully assured of its correctness from the apparent sincerity of his informer, he lost not a moment in making up his mind as to the course he should pursue. He might have instantly marched back upon Argyle by the route he had just followed; but as the latter would thus get due notice of his approach, and prepare himself for the threatened danger, Montrose resolved upon a different plan. The design he conceived could only have originated in the mind of such a bold and enterprising commander as Montrose, before whose daring genius difficulties hitherto deemed insurmountable at once disappeared. The idea of carrying an army over dangerous and precipitous mountains, whose wild and frowning aspect seemed to forbid the approach of human footsteps, and in the middle of winter, too, when the formidable perils of the journey were greatly increased by the snow, however chimerical it might have seemed to other men, appeared quite practicable to Montrose, whose sanguine anticipations of the advantages to be derived from such an extraordinary exploit, more than counterbalanced, in his mind, the risks to be encountered.

The distance between the place where Montrose received the news of Argyle’s arrival and Inverlochy is about thirty miles; but this distance was considerably increased by the devious track which Montrose followed. Marching along the small river Tarf in a southerly direction, he crossed the hills of Lairie Thierard, passed through Glenroy, and after traversing the range of mountains between the Glen and Ben Nevis, he arrived in Glennevis before Argyle had the least notice of his approach. Before setting out on his march, Montrose had taken the wise precaution of placing guards upon the common road leading to Inverlochy, to prevent intelligence of his movements being carried to Argyle, and he had killed such of Argyle’s scouts as he had fallen in with in the course of his march. This fatiguing and unexampled journey had been performed in little more than a night and a day, and when, in the course of the evening, Montrose’s men arrived in Glennevis, they found themselves so weary and exhausted that they could not venture to attack the enemy. They therefore lay under arms all night, and refreshed themselves as they best could till next morning. As the night was uncommonly clear, it being moonlight, the advanced posts of both armies kept up a small fire of musketry, which led to no result.

In the meantime Argyle, after committing his army to the charge of his cousin, Campbell of Auchinbreck, with his customary prudence, went, during the night, on board a boat in the loch, excusing himself for this apparent pusillanimous act by alleging his incapacity to enter the field of battle in consequence of some contusions he had received by a fall two or three weeks before; but his enemies averred that cowardice was the real motive which induced him to take refuge in his galley, from which he witnessed the defeat and destruction of his army. This somewhat suspicious action of Argyle—and it was not the only time he provided for his personal safety in a similar manner—is accounted for in the following (? ironical) way by the author of Britane’s Distemper (p. 100):—

“In this confusion, the commanders of there armie lightes wpon this resolution, not to hazart the marquisse owne persone; for it seems not possible that Ardgylle himselfe, being a nobleman of such eminent qualitie, a man of so deepe and profund judgement, one that knew so weell what belongeth to the office of a generall, that any basse motion of feare, I say, could make him so wnsensible of the poynt of honour as is generally reported. Nether will I, for my owne pairt, belieue it; but I am confident that those barrones of his kinred, wha ware captanes and commanderes of the armie, feareing the euent of this battelle, for diuers reasones; and one was, that Allan M’Collduie, ane old fox, and who was thought to be a seer, had told them that there should be a battell lost there by them that came first to seike battell; this was one cause of there importunitie with him that he should not come to battell that day; for they sawe that of necessitie they most feght, and would not hazart there cheife persone, urgeing him by force to reteire to his galay, which lay hard by, and committe the tryall of the day to them; he, it is to be thought, with great difficultie yeelding to there request, leaues his cusine, the laird of Auchinbreike, a most walorous and braue gentleman, to the generall commande of the armie, and takes with himselfe only sir James Rollocke, his brother in lawe, sir Jhone Wachope of Nithrie, Mr. Mungo Law, a preacher. It is reported those two last was send from Edinburgh with him to beare witnesse of the expulsion of those rebelles, for so they ware still pleased to terme the Royalistes.”

It would appear that it was not until the morning of the battle that Argyle’s men were aware that it was the army of Montrose that was so near them, as they considered it quite impossible that he should have been able to bring his forces across the mountains; they imagined that the body before them consisted of some of the inhabitants of the country, who had collected to defend their properties. But they were undeceived when, in the dawn of the morning, the warlike sound of Montrose’s trumpets, resounding through the glen where they lay, and reverberating from the adjoining hills, broke upon their ears. This served as the signal to both armies to prepare for battle. Montrose drew out his army in an extended line. The right wing consisted of a regiment of Irish, under the command of Macdonald, his major-general; the centre was composed of the Athole-men, the Stuarts of Appin, the Macdonalds of Glencoe, and other Highlanders, severally under the command of Clanranald, M’Lean, and Glengary; and the left wing consisted of some Irish, at the head of whom was the brave Colonel O’Kean. A body of Irish was placed behind the main body as a reserve, under the command of Colonel James M’Donald, alias O’Neill. The general of Argyle’s army formed it in a similar manner. The Lowland forces were equally divided, and formed the wings, between which the Highlanders were placed. Upon a rising ground, behind this line, General Campbell drew up a reserve of Highlanders, and placed a field-piece. Within the house of Inverlochy, which was only about a pistol-shot from the place where the army was formed, he planted a body of 40 or 50 men to protect the place, and to annoy Montrose’s men with discharges of musketry.[279] The account given by Gordon of Sallagh, that Argyle had transported the half of his army over the water at Inverlochy, under the command of Auchinbreck, and that Montrose defeated this division, while Argyle was prevented from relieving it with the other division, from the intervening of “an arm of the sea, that was interjected betwixt them and him,”[280] is probably erroneous, for the circumstance is not mentioned by any other writer of the period, and it is well known, that Argyle abandoned his army, and witnessed its destruction from his galley,—circumstances which Gordon altogether overlooks.

It was at sunrise, on Sunday, the 2d of February, 1645, that Montrose, after having formed his army in battle array, gave orders to his men to advance upon the enemy. The left wing of Montrose’s army, under the command of O’Kean, was the first to commence the attack, by charging the enemy’s right. This was immediately followed by a furious assault upon the centre and left wing of Argyle’s army, by Montrose’s right wing and centre. Argyle’s right wing not being able to resist the attack of Montrose’s left, turned about and fled, which circumstance had such a discouraging effect on the remainder of Argyle’s troops, that after discharging their muskets, the whole of them, including the reserve, took to their heels. The rout now became general. An attempt was made by a body of about 200 of the fugitives, to throw themselves into the castle of Inverlochy, but a party of Montrose’s horse prevented them. Some of the flying enemy directed their course along the side of Loch-Eil, but all these were either killed or drowned in the pursuit. The greater part, however, fled towards the hills in the direction of Argyle, and were pursued by Montrose’s men, to the distance of about eight miles. As no resistance was made by the defeated party in their flight, the carnage was very great, being reckoned at 1,500 men. Many more would have been cut off had it not been for the humanity of Montrose, who did every thing in his power to save the unresisting enemy from the fury of his men, who were not disposed to give quarter to the unfortunate Campbells. Having taken the castle, Montrose not only treated the officers, who were from the Lowlands, with kindness, but gave them their liberty on parole.

Inverlochy Castle.—From M’Culloch’s celebrated picture in the Edinburgh National Gallery.

Among the principal persons who fell on Argyle’s side, were the commander, Campbell of Auchinbreck, Campbell of Lochnell, the eldest son of Lochnell, and his brother, Colin; M’Dougall of Rara and his eldest son; Major Menzies, brother to the laird, (or Prior as he was called) of Achattens Parbreck; and the provost of the church of Kilmun. The loss on the side of Montrose was extremely trifling. The number of wounded is indeed not stated, but he had only three privates killed. He sustained, however, a severe loss in Sir Thomas Ogilvie, son of the Earl of Airly, who died a few days after the battle, of a wound he received in the thigh. Montrose regretted the death of this steadfast friend and worthy man, with feelings of real sorrow, and caused his body to be interred in Athole with due solemnity.[281] Montrose immediately after the battle sent a messenger to the king with a letter, giving an account of it, at the conclusion of which he exultingly says to Charles, “Give me leave, after I have reduced this country, and conquered from Dan to Beersheba, to say to your Majesty, as David’s general to his master, Come thou thyself, lest this country be called by my name.” When the king received this letter, the royal and parliamentary commissioners were sitting at Uxbridge negotiating the terms of a peace; but Charles, induced by the letter, imprudently broke off the negotiation, a circumstance which led to his ruin.

FOOTNOTES:

[262] Wishart, p. 84.—Stewart’s descendant, the late Robert Stewart of Ardvoirlich, gives an account of the above incident, founded on a “constant tradition in the family,” tending to show that his ancestor was not so much a man of base and treacherous character, as of “violent passions and singular temper.” James Stewart, it is said, was so irritated at the Irish, for committing some excesses on lands belonging to him, that he challenged their commander, Macdonald, to single combat. By advice of Kilpont, Montrose arrested both, and brought about a seeming conciliation. When encamped at Collace, Montrose gave an entertainment to his officers, on returning from which Ardvoirlich, “heated with drink, began to blame Kilpont for the part he had taken in preventing his obtaining redress, and reflecting against Montrose for not allowing him what he considered proper reparation. Kilpont, of course, defended the conduct of himself and his relative, Montrose, till their argument came to high words, and finally, from the state they were both in, by an easy transition, to blows, when Ardvoirlich, with his dirk, struck Kilpont dead on the spot.” He fled, leaving his eldest son, Henry, mortally wounded at Tippermuir, on his death-bed.—Introd. to Legend of Montrose.

[263] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 405.

[264] Wishart, p. 89.

[265] Spalding, vol. ii. 407.

[266] Memoirs, p. 131.

[267] Wishart, p. 91.

[268] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 414.

[269] Idem.

[270] Guthry, p. 231.

[271] Wishart, p. 100.

[272] Wishart, p. 102.

[273] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 287.

[274] Guthry, p. 134.

[275] Memoirs, pp. 134–5.

[276] Wishart, p. 107.

[277] Guthry, p. 136.

[278] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 442; Wishart, p. 108—Red Book of Clanranald.

[279] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 444.

[280] Continuation, p. 522.

[281] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 445.—Wishart, p. 111, et seq.—Guthry, p. 140.

CHAPTER XIV.

A.D. February—September, 1645.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—Charles I., 1625–1649.

Montrose marches to Inverness and Elgin, wasting the lands of the Covenanters—Enters and plunders Banff—Deputation from Aberdeen—Death of Donald Farquharson—Montrose imposes a tax of £10,000 on Aberdeen—Enters and burns Stonehaven—Defeats Hurry’s horse at Fettercairn—Marches to Brechin and Dunkeld—Storms and captures Dundee—Montrose’s retreat from Dundee—Movements of General Baillie—Battle of Auldearn—Montrose’s after-movements—Battle of Alford—General Baillie and the Committee of Estates retreat to Stirling—Montrose marches to Aberdeen—Montrose marches south—Is joined by more Highlanders—Threatens Perth—Retreats to Dunkeld—Again moves south—Baillie joined by the men of Fife—Montrose at Alloa—Maclean burns Castle Campbell—Montrose goes towards Stirling—Differences among the Covenanters—Battle of Kilsyth—Montrose enters Glasgow—Submission of the nobility and the western counties—Submission of Edinburgh—Montrose appointed Lieutenant-governor of Scotland—Desertion of Highlanders—Battle of Philiphaugh.

When the disastrous news of the battle of Inverlochy reached Edinburgh, the Estates were thrown into a state of great alarm. They had, no doubt, begun to fear, before that event, and, of course, to respect the prowess of Montrose, but they never could have been made to believe that, within the space of a few days, a well-appointed army, composed in part of veteran troops, would have been utterly defeated by a force so vastly inferior in point of numbers, and beset with difficulties and dangers to which the army of Argyle was not exposed. Nor were the fears of the Estates much allayed by the appearance of Argyle, who arrived at Edinburgh to give them an account of the affair, “having his left arm tied up in a scarf, as if he had been at bones-breaking.”[282] It is true that Lord Balmerino made a speech before the assembly of the Estates, in which he affirmed, that the great loss reported to be sustained at Inverlochy “was but the invention of the malignants, who spake as they wished,” and that “upon his honour, not more than thirty of Argyle’s men had been killed;”[283] but as the disaster was well known, this device only misled the weak and ignorant. Had Montrose at this juncture descended into the Lowlands, it is not improbable that his presence might have given a favourable turn to the state of matters in the south, where the king’s affairs were in the most precarious situation; but such a design does not seem to have accorded with his views of prolonging the contest in the Highlands, which were more suitable than the Lowlands to his plan of operations, and to the nature of his forces.

Accordingly, after allowing his men to refresh themselves a few days at Inverlochy, Montrose returned across the mountains of Lochaber into Badenoch, “with displayed banner.” Marching down the south side of the Spey, he crossed that river at Balchastel, and entered Moray without opposition. He proceeded by rapid strides towards the town of Inverness, which he intended to take possession of; but, on arriving in the neighbourhood, he found it garrisoned by the laird of Lawers’ and Buchanan’s regiments. As he did not wish to consume his time in a siege, he immediately altered his course and marched in the direction of Elgin, issuing, as he went along, a proclamation in the king’s name, calling upon all males, from 16 to 60 years of age, to join him immediately, armed as they best could, on foot or on horse, and that under pain of fire and sword, as rebels to the king. In consequence of this threat Montrose was joined by some of the Moray-men, including the laird of Grant and 200 of his followers; and, to show an example of severity, he plundered the houses and laid waste the estates of many of the principal gentlemen of the district, carrying off, at the same time, a large quantity of cattle and effects, and destroying the boats and nets which they fell in with on the Spey.[284]

Whilst Montrose was thus laying waste part of Moray, a committee of the Estates, consisting of the Earl of Seaforth, the laird of Innes, Sir Robert Gordon, the laird of Pluscardine, and others, was sitting at Elgin; these, on hearing of his proceedings, prohibited the holding of the fair which was kept there annually on Fasten’s eve, and to which many merchants and others in the north resorted, lest the property brought there for sale might fall a prey to Montrose’s army. They, at the same time, sent Sir Robert Gordon, Mackenzie of Pluscardine, and Innes of Luthers, to treat with Montrose, in name of the gentry of Moray, most of whom were then assembled in Elgin; but he refused to enter into any negotiation, offering, at the same time, to accept of the services of such as would join him and obey him as the king’s lieutenant.[285] Before this answer had been communicated to the gentry at Elgin, they had all fled from the town in consequence of hearing that Montrose was advancing upon them with rapidity. The laird of Innes, along with some of his friends, retired to the castle of Spynie, possessed by his eldest son, which was well fortified and provided with every necessary for undergoing a siege. The laird of Duffus went into Sutherland. As soon as the inhabitants of the town saw the committee preparing to leave it, most of them also resolved to depart, which they did, carrying along with them their principal effects. Some went to Inverness, and others into Ross, but the greater part went to the castle of Spynie, where they sought and obtained refuge.

Apprehensive that Montrose might follow up the dreadful example he had shown, by burning the town, a proposal was made to, and accepted by him, to pay four thousand merks to save the town from destruction; but, on entering it, which he did on the 19th of February, his men, and particularly the laird of Grant’s party, were so disappointed in their hopes of plunder, in consequence of the inhabitants having carried away the best of their effects, that they destroyed every article of furniture which was left.

Montrose was joined, on his arrival at Elgin, by Lord Gordon, the eldest son of the Marquis of Huntly, with some of his friends and vassals. This young nobleman had been long kept in a state of durance by Argyle, his uncle, contrary to his own wishes, and now, when an opportunity had for the first time occurred, he showed the bent of his inclination by declaring for the king.

On taking possession of Elgin, Montrose gave orders to bring all the ferry-boats on the Spey to the north side of the river, and he stationed sentinels at all the fords up and down, to watch any movements which might be made by the enemies’ forces in the south.

Montrose, thereupon, held a council of war, at which it was determined to cross the Spey, march into the counties of Banff and Aberdeen, by the aid of Lord Gordon, raise the friends and retainers of the Marquis of Huntly, and thence proceed into the Mearns, where another accession of forces was expected. Accordingly, Montrose left Elgin on the 4th of March with the main body of his army, towards the Bog of Gicht, accompanied by the Earl of Seaforth, Sir Robert Gordon, the lairds of Grant, Pluscardine, Findrassie, and several other gentlemen who “had come in to him” at Elgin. To punish the Earl of Findlater, who had refused to join him, Montrose sent the Farquharsons of Braemar before him, across the Spey, who plundered, without mercy, the town of Cullen, belonging to the earl.

After crossing the Spey, Montrose, either apprehensive that depredations would be committed upon the properties of his Moray friends who accompanied him, by the two regiments which garrisoned Inverness, and the Covenanters of that district, or having received notice to that effect, he allowed the Earl of Seaforth, the laird of Grant, and the other Moray gentlemen, to return home to defend their estates; but before allowing them to depart, he made them take a solemn oath of allegiance to the king, and promise that they should never henceforth take up arms against his majesty or his loyal subjects. At the same time, he made them come under an engagement to join him with all their forces as soon as they could do so. The Earl of Seaforth, however, disregarded his oath, and again joined the ranks of the Covenanters. In a letter which he wrote to the committee of Estates at Aberdeen, he stated that he had yielded to Montrose through fear only, and he avowed that he would abide by “the good cause to his death.”[286]

On Montrose’s arrival at Strathbogie, or Gordon castle, Lord Graham, his eldest son, a most promising youth of sixteen, became unwell, and died after a few days’ illness. The loss of a son who had followed him in his campaigns, and shared with him the dangers of the field, was a subject of deep regret to Montrose. While Montrose was occupied at the death-bed of his son, Lord Gordon was busily employed among the Gordons, out of whom he speedily raised a force of about 500 foot, and 160 horse.

With this accession to his forces, Montrose left Strathbogie and marched towards Banff, on his route to the south. In passing by the house of Cullen, in Boyne, the seat of the Earl of Findlater, who had fled to Edinburgh, and left the charge of the house to the countess, a party of Montrose’s men entered the house, which they plundered of all its valuable contents. They then proceeded to set the house on fire, but the countess entreated Montrose to order his men to desist, and promised that if her husband did not come to Montrose and give him satisfaction within fifteen days, she would pay him 20,000 merks, of which sum she instantly paid down 5,000. Montrose complied with her request, and also spared the lands, although the earl was “a great Covenanter.” Montrose’s men next laid waste the lands in the Boyne, burnt the houses, and plundered the minister of the place of all his goods and effects, including his books. The laird of Boyne shut himself up in his stronghold, the Crag, where he was out of danger; but he had the misfortune to see his lands laid waste and destroyed. Montrose then went to Banff, which he gave up to indiscriminate plunder. His troops did not leave a vestige of moveable property in the town, and they even stripped to the skin every man they met with in the streets. They also burned two or three houses of little value, but not a drop of blood was shed.

From Banff Montrose proceeded to Turriff, where a deputation from the town council of Aberdeen waited upon him, to represent the many miseries which the loyal city had suffered from its frequent occupation by hostile armies since the first outbreaking of the unfortunate troubles which molested the kingdom. They further represented, that such was the terror of the inhabitants at the idea of another visit from his Irish troops, that all the men and women, on hearing of his approach, had made preparations for abandoning the town, and that they would certainly leave it if they did not get an assurance from the marquis of safety and protection. Montrose heard the commissioners patiently, expressed his regret at the calamities which had befallen their town, and bade them not be afraid, as he would take care that none of his foot, or Irish, soldiers should come within eight miles of Aberdeen; and that if he himself should enter the town, he would support himself at his own expense. The commissioners returned to Aberdeen, and related the successful issue of their journey, to the great joy of all the inhabitants.[287]

Whilst Montrose lay at Turriff, Sir Nathaniel Gordon, with some troopers, went to Aberdeen, which he entered on Sunday, the 9th of March, on which day there had been “no sermon in either of the Aberdeens,” as the ministers had fled the town. The keys of the churches, gates, and jail were delivered to him by the magistrates. The following morning Sir Nathaniel was joined by 100 Irish dragoons. After releasing some prisoners, he went to Torry, and took, after a slight resistance, 1,800 muskets, pikes, and other arms, which had been left in charge of a troop of horse. Besides receiving orders to watch the town, Sir Nathaniel was instructed to send out scouts as far as Cowie to watch the enemy, who were daily expected from the south. When reconnoitring, a skirmish took place at the bridge of Dee, in which Captain Keith’s troop was routed. Finding the country quite clear, and no appearance of the covenanting forces, Gordon returned back to the army, which had advanced to Frendraught. No attempt was made upon the house of Frendraught, which was kept by the young viscount in absence of his father, who was then at Muchallis with his godson, Lord Fraser; but Montrose destroyed 60 ploughs of land belonging to Frendraught within the parishes of Forgue, Inverkeithnie, and Drumblade, and the house of the minister of Forgue, with all the other houses, and buildings, and their contents. Nothing, in fact, was spared. All the cattle, horses, sheep, and other domestic animals, were carried off, and the whole of Frendraught’s lands were left a dreary and uninhabitable waste.

From Pennyburn, Montrose despatched, on the 10th of March, a letter to the authorities of Aberdeen, commanding them to issue an order that all men, of whatever description, between the age of sixteen and sixty, should meet him equipped in their best arms, and such of them as had horses, mounted on the best of them, on the 15th of March, at his camp at Inverury, under the pain of fire and sword. In consequence of this mandate he was joined by a considerable number of horse and foot. On the 12th of March, Montrose arrived at Kintore, and took up his own quarters in the house of John Cheyne, the minister of the place, whence he issued an order commanding each parish within the presbytery of Aberdeen, (with the exception of the town of Aberdeen,) to send to him two commissioners, who were required to bring along with them a complete roll of the whole heritors, feuars, and liferenters of each parish. His object, in requiring such a list, was to ascertain the number of men capable of serving, and also the names of those who should refuse to join him. Commissioners were accordingly sent from the parishes, and the consequence was, that Montrose was joined daily by many men who would not otherwise have assisted him, but who were now alarmed for the safety of their properties. While at Kintore, an occurrence took place which vexed Montrose exceedingly.

To reconnoitre and watch the motions of the enemy, Montrose had, on the 12th of March, sent Sir Nathaniel Gordon, along with Donald Farquharson, Captain Mortimer, and other well-mounted cavaliers, to the number of about 80, to Aberdeen. This party, perceiving no enemy in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, utterly neglected to place any sentinels at the gates of the town, and spent their time at their lodgings in entertainments and amusements. This careless conduct did not pass unobserved by some of the Covenanters in the town, who, it is said, sent notice thereof to Major-general Hurry, the second in command under General Baillie, who was then lying at the North Water Bridge with Lord Balcarras’s and other foot regiments. On receiving this intelligence, Hurry put himself at the head of 160 horse and foot, taken from the regular regiments, and some troopers and musketeers, and rode off to Aberdeen in great haste, where he arrived on the 15th of March, at 8 o’clock in the evening. Having posted sentinels at the gates to prevent any of Montrose’s party from escaping, he entered the town at an hour when they were all carelessly enjoying themselves in their lodgings, quite unapprehensive of such a visit. The noise in the streets, occasioned by the tramping of the horses, was the first indication they had of the presence of the enemy, but it was then too late for them to defend themselves. Donald Farquharson was killed in the street, opposite the guard-house; “a brave gentleman,” says Spalding, “and one of the noblest captains amongst all the Highlanders of Scotland, and the king’s man for life and death.” The enemy stripped him of a rich dress he had put on the same day, and left his body lying naked in the street. A few other gentlemen were killed, and some taken prisoners, but the greater part escaped. Hurry left the town next day, and, on his return to Baillie’s camp, entered the town of Montrose, and carried off Lord Graham, Montrose’s second son, a boy of fourteen years of age, then at school, who, along with his teacher, was sent to Edinburgh, and committed to the castle.

The gentlemen who had escaped from Aberdeen returned to Montrose, who was greatly offended at them for their carelessness. The magistrates of Aberdeen, alarmed lest Montrose should inflict summary vengeance upon the town, as being implicated in the attack upon the cavaliers, sent two commissioners to Kintore to assure him that they were in no way concerned in that affair. Although he heard them with great patience, he gave them no satisfaction as to his intentions, and they returned to Aberdeen without being able to obtain any promise from him to spare the town. Montrose contented himself with making the merchants furnish him with cloth, and gold and silver-lace, to the amount of £10,000 Scots, for the use of his army, which he held the magistrates bound to pay, by a tax upon the inhabitants. “Thus,” says Spalding, “cross upon cross upon Aberdeen.”

When Sir Nathaniel Gordon and the remainder of his party returned to Kintore, Montrose despatched, on the same day (March 16th), a body of 1,000 horse and foot, the latter consisting of Irish, to Aberdeen, under the command of Macdonald, his major-general. Many of the inhabitants, alarmed at the approach of this party, and still having the fear of the Irish before their eyes, were preparing to leave the town; but Macdonald relieved their apprehensions by assuring them that the Irish, who amounted to 700, should not enter the town; he accordingly stationed them at the Bridge of Dee and the Two Mile Cross, he and his troopers alone entering the town. With the exception of the houses of one or two “remarkable Covenanters,” which were plundered, Macdonald showed the utmost respect for private property, a circumstance which obtained for him the esteem of the inhabitants, who had seldom experienced such kind treatment before.

Having discharged the last duties to the brave Farquharson and his companions, Macdonald left Aberdeen, on March 18th, to join Montrose at Durris; but he had not proceeded far when complaints were brought to him that some of his Irish troops, who had lagged behind, had entered the town, and were plundering it. Macdonald, therefore, returned immediately to the town, and drove, says Spalding, “all these rascals with sore skins out of the town before him.”[288]

Before leaving Kintore, the Earl of Airly was attacked by a fever, in consequence of which, Montrose sent him to Lethintie, the residence of the earl’s son-in-law, under a guard of 300 men; but he was afterwards removed to Strathbogie for greater security. On arriving, March 17th, at Durris, in Kincardineshire, where he was joined by Macdonald, Montrose burnt the house and offices to the ground, set fire to the grain, and swept away all the cattle, horses, and sheep. He also wasted such of the lands of Fintry as belonged to Forbes of Craigievar, to punish him for the breach of his parole; treating in the same way the house and grain belonging to Abercrombie, the minister of Fintry, who was “a main Covenanter.” On the 19th, Montrose entered Stonehaven, and took up his residence in the house of James Clerk, the provost of the town. Here learning that the Covenanters in the north were troubling Lord Gordon’s lands, he despatched 500 of Gordon’s foot to defend Strathbogie and his other possessions; but he still retained Lord Gordon himself with his troopers.

On the day after his arrival at Stonehaven, Montrose wrote a letter to the Earl Marshal, who, along with sixteen ministers, and some other persons of distinction, had shut himself up in his castle of Dunottar. The bearer of the letter was not, however, suffered to enter within the gate, and was sent back, at the instigation probably of the earl’s lady and the ministers who were with him, without an answer. Montrose then endeavoured, by means of George Keith, the Earl Marshal’s brother, to persuade the latter to declare for the king, but he refused, in consequence of which Montrose resolved to inflict summary vengeance upon him, by burning and laying waste his lands and those of his retainers in the neighbourhood. Acting upon this determination, he, on the 21st of March, set fire to the houses adjoining the castle of Dunottar, and burnt the grain which was stacked in the barn-yards. Even the house of the minister did not escape. He next set fire to the town of Stonehaven, sparing only the house of the provost, in which he resided; plundered a ship which lay in the harbour, and then set her on fire, along with all the fishing boats. The lands and houses of Cowie shared the same hard fate. Whilst the work of destruction was going on, it is said that the inhabitants appeared before the castle of Dunottar, and, setting up cries of pity, implored the earl to save them from ruin, but they received no answer to their supplications, and the earl witnessed from his stronghold the total destruction of the properties of his tenants and dependents without making any effort to stop it. After he had effected the destruction of the barony of Dunottar, Montrose set fire to the lands of Fetteresso, one-fourth part of which was burnt up, together with the whole corn in the yards. A beautiful deer park was also burnt, and its alarmed inmates were all taken and killed, as well as all the cattle in the barony. Montrose next proceeded to Drumlaithie and Urie, belonging to John Forbes of Leslie, a leading Covenanter, where he committed similar depredations.

Dunottar Castle in the 17th century.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ (1693).

Montrose, on the following day, advanced to Fettercairn, where he quartered his foot soldiers, sending out quarter-masters through the country, and about the town of Montrose, to provide quarters for some troopers; but, as these troopers were proceeding on their journey, they were alarmed by the sudden appearance of some of Major-general Hurry’s troops, who had concealed themselves within the plantation of Halkerton. These, suddenly issuing from the wood, set up a loud shout, on hearing which the troopers immediately turned to the right about and went back to the camp. This party turned out to be a body of 600 horse, under the command of Hurry himself, who had left the head-quarters of General Baillie, at Brechin, for the purpose of reconnoitring Montrose’s movements. In order to deceive Hurry, who kept advancing with his 600 horse, Montrose placed his horse, which amounted only to 200, and which he took care to line with some expert musqueteers, in a prominent situation, and concealed his foot in an adjoining valley. This ruse had the desired effect, for Hurry imagining that there were no other forces at hand, immediately attacked the small body of horse opposed to him; but he was soon undeceived by the sudden appearance of the foot, and forced to retreat with precipitation. Though his men were greatly alarmed, Hurry, who was a brave officer, having placed himself in the rear, managed to retreat across the North Esk with very little loss.

After this affair Montrose allowed his men to refresh themselves for a few days, and, on the 25th of March, put his army in motion in the direction of Brechin. On hearing of his approach, the inhabitants of the town concealed their effects in the castle, and in the steeples of churches, and fled. Montrose’s troops, although they found out the secreted goods, were so enraged at the conduct of the inhabitants that they plundered the town, and burnt about sixty houses.

From Brechin, Montrose proceeded through Angus, with the intention either of fighting Baillie, or of marching onwards to the south. His whole force, at this time, did not exceed 3,000 men, and, on reaching Kirriemuir, his cavalry was greatly diminished by his having been obliged to send away about 160 horsemen to Strathbogie, under Lord Gordon and his brother Lewis, to defend their father’s possessions against the Covenanters. Montrose proceeded with his army along the foot of the Grampians, in the direction of Dunkeld, where he intended to cross the Tay in the sight of General Baillie, who commanded an army greatly superior in numbers; but, although Montrose frequently offered him battle, Baillie, contrary, it is said, to the advice of Hurry, as often declined it. On arriving at the water of Isla, the two armies, separated by that stream, remained motionless for several days, as if undetermined how to act. At length Montrose sent a trumpeter to Baillie offering him battle; and as the water could not be safely passed by his army if opposed, Montrose proposed to allow Baillie to pass it unmolested, on condition that he would give him his word of honour that he would fight without delay; but Baillie answered that he would attend to his own business himself, and that he would fight when he himself thought proper. The conduct of Baillie throughout seems altogether extraordinary, but it is alleged that he had no power to act for himself, being subject to the directions of a council of war, composed of the Earls of Crawford and Cassilis, Lords Balmerino, Kirkcudbright, and others.[289]

As Montrose could not attempt to cross the water of Isla without cavalry, in opposition to a force so greatly superior, he led his army off in the direction of the Grampians, and marched upon Dunkeld, of which he took possession. Baillie being fully aware of his intention to cross the Tay, immediately withdrew to Perth for the purpose of opposing Montrose’s passage; but, if Montrose really entertained such an intention after he had sent away the Gordon troopers, he abandoned it after reaching Dunkeld, and resolved to retrace his steps northwards. Being anxious, however, to signalize himself by some important achievement before he returned to the north, and to give confidence to the royalists, he determined to surprise Dundee, a town which had rendered itself particularly obnoxious to him for the resistance made by the inhabitants after the battle of Tippermuir. Having sent off the weaker part of his troops, and those who were lightly armed, with his heavy baggage, along the bottom of the hills with instructions to meet him at Brechin, Montrose himself, at the head of about 150 horse, and 600 expert musketeers,[290] left Dunkeld on April 3d about mid-night, and marched with such extraordinary expedition that he arrived at Dundee Law at 10 o’clock in the morning, where he encamped. Montrose then sent a trumpeter into the town with a summons requiring a surrender, promising that, in the event of compliance, he would protect the lives and properties of the inhabitants, but threatening, in case of refusal, to set fire to the town and put the inhabitants to the sword. Instead of returning an answer to this demand, the town’s people put the messenger into prison. This insult was keenly felt by Montrose, who immediately gave orders to his troops to storm the town in three different places at once, and to fulfil the threat which he had held out in case of resistance. The inhabitants, in the mean time, made such preparations for defence as the shortness of the time allowed, but, although they fought bravely, they could not resist the impetuosity of Montrose’s troops, who, impelled by a spirit of revenge, and a thirst for plunder, which Dundee, then one of the largest and most opulent towns in Scotland, offered them considerable opportunities of gratifying, forced the inhabitants from the stations they occupied, and turned the cannon which they had planted in the streets against themselves. The contest, however, continued in various quarters of the town for several hours, during which the town was set on fire in different places. The whole of that quarter of the town called the Bonnet Hill fell a prey to the flames, and the entire town would have certainly shared the same fate had not Montrose’s men chiefly occupied themselves in plundering the houses and filling themselves with the contents of the wine cellars. The sack of the town continued till the evening, and the inhabitants were subjected to every excess which an infuriated and victorious soldiery, maddened by intoxication, could inflict.

This melancholy state of things was, however, fortunately put an end to by intelligence having been brought to Montrose, who had viewed the storming of the town from the neighbouring height of Dundee Law, that General Baillie was marching in great haste down the Carse of Gowrie, towards Dundee, with 3,000 foot and 800 horse. On receiving this news from his scouts, Montrose gave immediate orders to his troops to evacuate Dundee, but so intent were they upon their booty, that it was with the utmost difficulty they could be prevailed upon to leave the town, and, before the last of them could be induced to retire, some of the enemy’s troops were within gun-shot of them. The sudden appearance of Baillie’s army was quite unlooked-for, as Montrose had been made to believe, from the reports of his scouts, that it had crossed the Tay, and was proceeding to the Forth, when, in fact, only a very small part, which had been mistaken by the scouts for the entire army of Baillie, had passed.

In this critical conjuncture, Montrose held a council of war, to consult how to act under the perilous circumstances in which he was now placed. The council was divided between two opinions. Some of them advised Montrose to consult his personal safety, by riding off to the north with his horse, leaving the foot to their fate, as they considered it utterly impossible for him to carry them off in their present state, fatigued, and worn out as they were by a march of 24 miles during the preceding night, and rendered almost incapable of resisting the enemy, from the debauch they had indulged in during the day. Besides, they would require to march 20 or even 30 miles, before they could reckon themselves secure from the attacks of their pursuers, a journey which it was deemed impossible to perform, without being previously allowed some hours repose. In this way, and in no other, urged the advocates of this view, might he expect to retrieve matters, as he could, by his presence among his friends in the north, raise new forces; but that, if he himself was cut off, the king’s affairs would be utterly ruined. The other part of the council gave quite an opposite opinion, by declaring that, as the cause for which they had fought so gloriously was now irretrievably lost, they should remain in their position, and await the issue of an attack, judging it more honourable to die fighting in defence of their king, than to seek safety in an ignominious flight, which would be rendered still more disgraceful by abandoning their unfortunate fellow-warriors to the mercy of a revengeful foe.

Montrose, however, disapproved of both these plans. He considered the first as unbecoming the generosity of men who had fought so often side by side; and the second he thought extremely rash and imprudent. He, therefore, resolved to steer a middle course, and, refusing to abandon his brave companions in arms in the hour of danger, gave orders for an immediate retreat, in the direction of Arbroath. This, however, was a mere manœuvre to deceive the enemy, as Montrose intended, after nightfall, to march towards the Grampians. In order to make his retreat more secure, Montrose despatched 400 of his foot, and gave them orders to march as quickly as possible, without breaking their ranks. These were followed by 200 of his most expert musketeers, and Montrose himself closed the rear with his horse in open rank, so as to admit the musketeers to interline them, in case of an attack. It was about six o’clock in the evening when Montrose began his retreat, at which hour the last of Baillie’s foot had reached Dundee.

Scarcely had Montrose begun to move, when intelligence was received by Baillie, from some prisoners he had taken, of Montrose’s intentions, which was now confirmed by ocular proof. A proposal, it is said, was then made by Hurry, to follow Montrose with the whole army, and attack him, but Baillie rejected it; and the better, as he thought, to secure Montrose, and prevent his escape, he divided his army into two parts, one of which he sent off in the direction of the Grampians, to prevent Montrose from entering the Highlands; and the other followed directly in the rear of Montrose. He thus expected to be able to cut off Montrose entirely, and to encourage his men to the pursuit, he offered a reward of 20,000 crowns to any one who should bring him Montrose’s head. Baillie’s cavalry soon came up with Montrose’s rear, but they were so well received by the musketeers, who brought down some of them, that they became very cautious in their approaches. The darkness of the night soon put an end to the pursuit, and Montrose continued unmolested his march to Arbroath, in the neighbourhood of which he arrived about midnight. His troops had now marched upwards of 40 miles, 17 of which they had performed in a few hours, in the face of a large army, and had passed two nights and a day without sleep; but as their safety might be endangered by allowing them to repose till daylight, Montrose entreated them to proceed on their march. Though almost exhausted with incessant fatigue, and over-powered with drowsiness, they readily obeyed the order of their general, and, after a short halt, proceeded on their route in a northwesterly direction. They arrived at the South Esk early in the morning, which they crossed, at sunrise, near Carriston Castle.

Montrose now sent notice to the party which he had despatched from Dunkeld to Brechin, with his baggage, to join him, but they had, on hearing of his retreat, already taken refuge among the neighbouring hills. Baillie, who had passed the night at Forfar, now considered that he had Montrose completely in his power; but, to his utter amazement, not a trace of Montrose was to be seen next morning. Little did he imagine that Montrose had passed close by him during the night, and eluded his grasp. Chagrined at this unexpected disappointment, Baillie, without waiting for his foot, galloped off at full speed to overtake Montrose, and, with such celerity did he travel, that he was close upon Montrose before the latter received notice of his approach. The whole of Montrose’s men, with the exception of a few sentinels, were now stretched upon the ground, in a state of profound repose, and, so firmly did sleep hold their exhausted frames in its grasp, that it was with the utmost difficulty that they could be aroused from their slumbers, or made sensible of their danger. The sentinels, it is said, had even to prick some of them with their swords, before they could be awakened,[291] and when at length the sleepers were aroused they effected a retreat, after some skirmishing, to the foot of the Grampians, about three miles distant from their camp, and retired, thereafter, through Glenesk into the interior without further molestation.

This memorable retreat is certainly one of the most extraordinary events which occurred during the whole of Montrose’s campaigns. It is not surprising, that some of the most experienced officers in Britain, and in France and Germany, considered it the most splendid of all Montrose’s achievements.[292]

Being now secure from all danger in the fastnesses of the Grampians, Montrose allowed his men to refresh themselves for some days. Whilst enjoying this necessary relaxation from the fatigues of the field, intelligence was brought to Montrose that a division of the covenanting army, under Hurry, was in full march on Aberdeen, with an intention of proceeding into Moray. Judging that an attack upon the possessions of the Gordons would be one of Hurry’s objects, Montrose despatched Lord Gordon with his horse to the north, for the purpose of assisting his friends in case of attack.

It was not in the nature of Montrose to remain inactive for any length of time, and an occurrence, of which he had received notice, had lately taken place, which determined him to return a second time to Dunkeld. This was the escape of Viscount Aboyne, and some other noblemen and gentlemen, from Carlisle, who, he was informed, were on their way north to join him. Apprehensive that they might be interrupted by Baillie’s troops, he resolved to make a diversion in their favour, and, by drawing off the attention of Baillie, enable them the more effectually to elude observation. Leaving, therefore, Macdonald, with about 200 men, to beat up the enemy in the neighbourhood of Coupar-Angus, Montrose proceeded, with the remainder of his forces, consisting only of 500 foot and 50 horse, to Dunkeld, whence he marched to Crieff, which is about 17 miles west from Perth. It was not until he had arrived at the latter town that Baillie, who, after his pursuit of Montrose, had returned to Perth with his army, heard of this movement. As Baillie was sufficiently aware of the weakness of Montrose’s force, and as he was sure that, with such a great disparity, Montrose would not risk a general engagement, he endeavoured to surprise him, in the hope either of cutting him off entirely, or crippling him so effectually as to prevent him from again taking the field. He therefore left Perth during the night of the 7th of April, with his whole army, consisting of 2,000 foot and 500 horse, with the intention of falling upon Montrose by break of day, before he should be aware of his presence; but Montrose’s experience had taught him the necessity of being always upon his guard when so near an enemy’s camp, and, accordingly, he had drawn up his army, in anticipation of Baillie’s advance, in such order as would enable him either to give battle or retreat.

As soon as he heard of Baillie’s approach, Montrose advanced with his horse to reconnoitre, and having ascertained the enemy’s strength and numbers, which were too formidable to be encountered with his little band, brave as they were, he gave immediate orders to his foot to retreat with speed up Strathearn, and to retire into the adjoining passes. To prevent them from being harassed in their retreat by the enemy’s cavalry, Montrose covered their rear with his small body of horse, sustaining a very severe attack, which he warmly repulsed. After a march of about eight miles, Montrose’s troops arrived at the pass of Strathearn, of which they took immediate possession, and Baillie, thinking it useless to follow them into their retreat, discontinued the pursuit, and retired with his army towards Perth. Montrose passed the night on the banks of Loch Earn, and marched next morning through Balquidder, where he was joined, at the ford of Cardross, by the Viscount Aboyne, the Master of Napier, Hay of Dalgetty, and Stirling of Keir, who, along with the Earl of Nithsdale, Lord Herries, and others, had escaped from Carlisle, as before stated.

No sooner had Baillie returned from the pursuit of Montrose than intelligence was brought him that Macdonald, with the 200 men which Montrose had left with him, had burnt the town of Coupar-Angus,—that he had wasted the lands of Lord Balmerino,—killed Patrick Lindsay, the minister of Coupar,—and finally, after routing some troopers of Lord Balcarras, and carrying off their horses and arms, had fled to the hills. This occurrence, withdrawing the attention of Baillie from Montrose’s future movements, enabled the latter to proceed to the north without opposition.

Montrose had advanced as far as Loch Katrine, when a messenger brought him intelligence that General Hurry was in the Enzie with a considerable force, that he had been joined by some of the Moray-men, and, after plundering and laying waste the country, was preparing to attack Lord Gordon, who had not a sufficient force to oppose him. On receiving this information, Montrose resolved to proceed immediately to the north to save the Gordons from the destruction which appeared to hang over them, hoping that, with such accessions of force as he might obtain in his march, united with that under Lord Gordon, he would succeed in defeating Hurry before Baillie should be aware of his movements.

He, therefore, returned through Balquidder, marched, with rapid strides, along the side of Loch Tay, through Athole and Angus, and, crossing the Grampian hills, proceeded down the Strath of Glenmuck. In his march, Montrose was joined by the Athole-men and the other Highlanders who had obtained, or rather taken leave of absence after the battle of Inverlochy, and also by Macdonald and his party. On arriving in the neighbourhood of Auchindoun, he was met by Lord Gordon, at the head of 1,000 foot and 200 horse. Montrose crossed the Dee on the 1st of May, at the mill of Crathie—having provided himself with ammunition from a ship in Aberdeen harbour—continued his march towards the Spey, and before Hurry was even aware that the enemy had crossed the Grampians, he found them within six miles of his camp. The sudden appearance of Montrose with such a superior force—for Hurry had only at this time about 1,000 foot and 200 horse—greatly alarmed him, and raising his camp, he crossed the Spey in great haste, with the intention of marching to Inverness, where he would be joined by the troops of the garrison, and receive large reinforcements from the neighbouring counties. Montrose immediately pursued him, and followed close upon his heels to the distance of 14 miles beyond Forres, when, favoured by the darkness of the night, Hurry effected his escape, with little loss, and arrived at Inverness.

The panic into which Hurry had been thrown soon gave way to a very different feeling, as he found the Earls of Seaforth and Sutherland with their retainers, and the clan Fraser, and others from Moray and Caithness, all assembled at Inverness, as he had directed. This accession of force increased his army to 3,500 foot and 400 horse. He therefore resolved to act on the offensive, by giving battle to Montrose immediately.

Montrose had taken up a position at the village of Auldearn, about three miles south-east from Nairn, on the morning after the pursuit. In the course of the day, Hurry advanced with all his forces, including the garrison of Inverness, towards Nairn; and, on approaching Auldearn, formed his army in order of battle. Montrose’s force, which had been greatly weakened by the return of the Athole-men and other Highlanders to defend their country from the depredations of Baillie’s army, now consisted of only 1,500 foot and 250 horse. It was not, therefore, without great reluctance, that he resolved to risk a battle with an enemy more than double in point of numbers, and composed in great part of veteran troops; but, pressed as he was by Hurry, and in danger of being attacked in his rear by Baillie, who was advancing by forced marches to the north, he had no alternative but to hazard a general engagement. He therefore instantly looked about him for an advantageous position.

The village of Auldearn stands upon a height, behind which, or on the east, is a valley, overlooked by a ridge of little eminences, running in a northerly direction, and which almost conceals the valley from view. In this hollow Montrose arranged his forces in order of battle. Having formed them into two divisions, he posted the right wing on the north of the village, at a place where there was a considerable number of dikes and ditches. This body, which consisted of 400 men, chiefly Irish, was placed under the command of Macdonald. On taking their stations, Montrose gave them strict injunctions not to leave their position on any account, as they were effectually protected by the walls around them, not only from the attacks of cavalry, but of foot, and could, without much danger to themselves, keep up a galling and destructive fire upon their assailants. In order to attract the best troops of the enemy to this difficult spot where they could not act, and to make them believe that Montrose commanded this wing, he gave the royal standard to Macdonald, intending, when they should get entangled among the bushes and dikes, with which the ground to the right was covered, to attack them himself with his left wing; and to enable him to do so the more effectually, he placed the whole of his horse and the remainder of the foot on the left wing to the south of the village. The former he committed to the charge of Lord Gordon, reserving the command of the latter to himself. After placing a few chosen foot with some cannon in front of the village, under cover of some dikes, Montrose firmly awaited the attack of the enemy.

Hurry divided his foot and his horse each into two divisions. On the right wing of the main body of the foot, which was commanded by Campbell of Lawers, Hurry placed the regular cavalry which he had brought from the south, and on the left the horse of Moray and the north, under the charge of Captain Drummond. The other division of foot was placed behind as a reserve, and commanded by Hurry himself.

When Hurry observed the singular position which Montrose had taken up, he was utterly at a loss to guess his designs, and though it appeared to him, skilful as he was in the art of war, a most extraordinary and novel sight, yet, from the well known character of Montrose, he was satisfied that Montrose’s arrangements were the result of a deep laid scheme. But what especially excited the surprise of Hurry, was the appearance of the large yellow banner or royal standard in the midst of a small body of foot stationed among hedges and dikes and stones, almost isolated from the horse and the main body of the foot. To attack this party, at the head of which he naturally supposed Montrose was, was his first object. This was precisely what Montrose had wished; his snare proved successful. With the design of overwhelming at once the right wing, Hurry despatched towards it the best of his horse and all his veteran troops, who made a furious attack upon Macdonald’s party, the latter defending themselves bravely behind the dikes and bushes. The contest continued for some time on the right with varied success, and Hurry, who had plenty of men to spare, relieved those who were engaged by fresh troops. Montrose, who kept a steady eye upon the motions of the enemy, and watched a favourable opportunity for making a grand attack upon them with the left wing, was just preparing to carry his design into execution, when a confidential person suddenly rode up to him and whispered in his ear that the right wing had been put to flight.

This intelligence was not, however, quite correct. It seems that Macdonald who, says Wishart, “was a brave enough man, but rather a better soldier than a general, extremely violent, and daring even to rashness,” had been so provoked with the taunts and insults of the enemy, that in spite of the express orders he had received from Montrose on no account to leave his position, he had unwisely advanced beyond it to attack the enemy, and though he had been several times repulsed he returned to the charge. But he was at last borne down by the great numerical superiority of the enemy’s horse and foot, consisting of veteran troops, and forced to retire in great disorder into an adjoining enclosure. Nothing, however, could exceed the admirable manner in which he managed this retreat, and the courage he displayed while leading off his men. Defending his body with a large target, he resisted, single-handed, the assaults of the enemy, and was the last man to leave the field. So closely indeed was he pressed by Hurry’s spearmen, that some of them actually came so near him as to fix their spears in his target, which he cut off by threes or fours at a time with his broadsword.[293]

It was during this retreat that Montrose received the intelligence of the flight of the right wing; but he preserved his usual presence of mind, and to encourage his men, who might get alarmed at hearing such news, he thus addressed Lord Gordon, loud enough to be heard by his troops, “What are we doing, my Lord? Our friend Macdonald has routed the enemy on the right and is carrying all before him. Shall we look on and let him carry off the whole honour of the day?” A crisis had arrived, and not a moment was to be lost. Scarcely, therefore, were the words out of Montrose’s mouth, when he ordered his men to charge the enemy. When his men were advancing to the charge, Captain or Major Drummond, who commanded Hurry’s horse, made an awkward movement by wheeling about his men, and his horse coming in contact with the foot, broke their ranks and occasioned considerable confusion. Lord Gordon seeing this, immediately rushed in upon Drummond’s horse with his party and put them to flight. Montrose followed hard with the foot, and attacked the main body of Hurry’s army, which he routed after a powerful resistance. The veterans in Hurry’s army, who had served in Ireland, fought manfully, and chose rather to be cut down standing in their ranks than retreat; but the new levies from Moray, Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, fled in great consternation. They were pursued for several miles, and might have been all killed or captured if Lord Aboyne had not, by an unnecessary display of ensigns and standards, which he had taken from the enemy, attracted the notice of the pursuers, who halted for some time under the impression that a fresh party of the enemy was coming up to attack them. In this way Hurry and some of his troops, who were the last to leave the field of battle, as well as the other fugitives, escaped from the impending danger, and arrived at Inverness the following morning. As the loss of this battle was mainly owing to Captain Drummond, he was tried by a court-martial at Inverness, and condemned to be shot, a sentence which was carried into immediate execution. He was accused of having betrayed the army, and it is said that he admitted that after the battle had commenced he had spoken with the enemy.[294]

The number of killed on both sides has been variously stated. That on the side of the Covenanters has been reckoned by one writer at 1,000,[295] by another[296] at 2,000, and by a third at 3,000 men.[297] Montrose, on the other hand, is said by the first of these authors to have lost about 200 men, while the second says that he had only “some twenty-four gentlemen hurt, and some few Irish killed,” and Wishart informs us that Montrose only missed one private man on the left, and that the right wing, commanded by Macdonald, “lost only fourteen private men.” The clans who had joined Hurry suffered considerably, particularly the Frasers, who, besides unmarried men, are said to have left dead on the field no less than 87 married men. Among the principal covenanting officers who were slain were Colonel Campbell of Lawers, Sir John and Sir Gideon Murray, and Colonel James Campbell, with several other officers of inferior note. The laird of Lawers’s brother, Archibald Campbell, and a few other officers, were taken prisoners. Captain Macdonald and William Macpherson of Invereschie were the only persons of any note killed on Montrose’s side. Montrose took several prisoners, whom, with the wounded, he treated with great kindness. Such of the former as expressed their sorrow for having joined the ranks of the Covenanters he released—others who were disposed to join him he received into his army, but such as remained obstinate he imprisoned. Besides taking 16 standards from the enemy, Montrose got possession of the whole of their baggage, provisions, and ammunition, and a considerable quantity of money and valuable effects. The battle of Auldearn was fought on the 4th of May, according to Wishart,[298] and on the 9th according to others,[299] in the year 1645.

The immense disproportion between the numbers of the slain on the side of the Covenanters and that of the prisoners taken by Montrose evidently shows that very little quarter had been given, the cause of which is said to have been the murder of James Gordon, younger of Rhiny, who was killed by a party from the garrison of Spynie, and by some of the inhabitants of Elgin, at Struders, near Forres, where he had been left in consequence of a severe wound he had received in a skirmish during Hurry’s first retreat to Inverness.[300] But Montrose revenged himself still farther by advancing to Elgin and burning the houses of all those who had been concerned in the murder, at the same time sending out a party[301] to treat in a similar way the town of Garmouth, belonging to the laird of Innes.

While these proceedings were going on, Montrose sent his whole baggage, booty, and warlike stores across the Spey, which he himself crossed upon the 14th of May, proceeding to Birkenbog, the seat of “a great Covenanter,” where he took up his head quarters. He quartered his men in the neighbourhood, and, during a short stay at Birkenbog, he sent out different parties of his troops to scour the country, and take vengeance on the Covenanters.

When General Baillie first heard of the defeat of his colleague, Hurry, at Auldearn, he was lying at Cromar, with his army. He had, in the beginning of May, after Montrose’s departure to the north, entered Athole, which he had wasted with fire and sword, and had made an attempt upon the strong castle of Blair, in which many of the prisoners taken at the battle of Inverlochy were confined; but, not succeeding in his enterprise, he had, after collecting an immense booty, marched through Athole, and, passing by Kirriemuir and Fettercairn, encamped on the Birse on the 10th of May. His force at this time amounted to about 2,000 foot and 120 troopers. On the following day he had marched to Cromar, where he encamped between the Kirks of Coull and Tarlan till he should be joined by Lord Balcarras’s horse regiment. In a short time he was joined, not only by Balcarras’s regiment, but by two foot regiments. The ministers endeavoured to induce the country people also to join Baillie, by “thundering out of pulpits,” but “they lay still,” says Spalding, “and would not follow him.”[302]

As soon as Baillie heard of the defeat of Hurry, he raised his camp at Cromar, upon the 19th of May, and hastened north. He arrived at the wood of Cochlarachie, within two miles of Strathbogie, before Montrose was aware of his approach. Here he was joined by Hurry, who, with some horse from Inverness, had passed themselves off as belonging to Lord Gordon’s party, and had thus been permitted to go through Montrose’s lines without opposition.

It was on the 19th of May, when lying at Birkenbog, that Montrose received the intelligence of Baillie’s arrival in the neighbourhood of Strathbogie. Although Montrose’s men had not yet wholly recovered from the fatigues of their late extraordinary march and subsequent labours, and although their numbers had been reduced since the battle of Auldearn, by the departure of some of the Highlanders with the booty they had acquired, they felt no disinclination to engage the enemy, but, on the contrary, were desirous of coming to immediate action. But Montrose, although he had the utmost confidence in the often tried courage of his troops, judged it more expedient to avoid an engagement at present, and to retire, in the meantime, into his fastnesses to recruit his exhausted strength, than risk another battle with a fresh force, greatly superior to his own. In order to deceive the enemy as to his intentions, he advanced, the same day, upon Strathbogie, and, within view of their camp, began to make intrenchments, and raise fortifications, as if preparing to defend himself. But as soon as the darkness of the night prevented Baillie from discovering his motions, Montrose marched rapidly up the south side of the Spey with his foot, leaving his horse behind him, with instructions to follow him as soon as daylight began to appear.

Baillie had passed the night in the confident expectation of a battle next day, but was surprised to learn the following morning that not a vestige of Montrose’s army was to be seen. Montrose had taken the route to Balveny, which having been ascertained by Baillie, he immediately prepared to follow. He, accordingly, crossed the Spey, and after a rapid march, almost overtook the retiring foe in Glenlivet; but Montrose, having outdistanced his pursuers by several miles before night came on, got the start of them so completely, that they were quite at a loss next morning to ascertain the route he had taken, and could only guess at it by observing the traces of his footsteps on the grass and the heather over which he had passed. Following, therefore, the course thus pointed out, Baillie came again in sight of Montrose; but he found that he had taken up a position, which, whilst it almost defied approach from its rocky and woody situation, commanded the entrance into Badenoch, from which country Montrose could, without molestation, draw supplies of both men and provisions. To attack Montrose in his stronghold was out of the question; but, in the hope of withdrawing him from it, Baillie encamped his army hard by. Montrose lay quite secure in his well-chosen position, from which he sent out parties who, skirmishing by day, and beating up the quarters of the enemy during the night, so harassed and frightened them, that they were obliged to retreat to Inverness, after a stay of a few days, a measure which was rendered still more necessary from the want of provisions and of provender for the horses. Leaving Inverness, Baillie crossed the Spey, and proceeded to Aberdeenshire, arriving on the 3d of June at Newton, in the Garioch, “where he encamped, destroying the country, and cutting the green growing crops to the very clod.”[303]

Having got quit of the presence of Baillie’s army, Montrose resolved to make a descent into Angus, and attack the Earl of Crawford, who lay at the castle of Newtyle with an army of reserve to support Baillie, and to prevent Montrose from crossing the Forth, and carrying the war into the south. This nobleman, who stood next to Argyle, as head of the Covenanters, had often complained to the Estates against Argyle, whose rival he was, for his inactivity and pusillanimity; and having insinuated that he would have acted a very different part had the command of such an army as Argyle had, been intrusted to him, he had the address to obtain the command of the army now under him, which had been newly raised; but the earl was without military experience, and quite unfit to cope with Montrose.

Proceeding through Badenoch, Montrose crossed the Grampians, and arrived by rapid marches on the banks of the river Airly, within seven miles of Crawford’s camp, but was prevented from giving battle by the desertion of the Gordons and their friends, who almost all returned to their country.

He now formed the resolution to attack Baillie himself, but before he could venture on such a bold step, he saw that there was an absolute necessity of making some additions to his force. With this view he sent Sir Nathaniel Gordon, an influential cavalier, into the north before him, to raise the Gordons and the other royalists; and, on his march north through Glenshee and the Braes of Mar, Montrose despatched Macdonald into the remoter Highlands with a party to bring him, as speedily as possible, all the forces he could. Judging that the influence and authority of Lord Gordon might greatly assist Sir Nathaniel, he sent him after him, and Montrose himself encamped in the country of Cromar, waiting for the expected reinforcements.

In the meantime, Baillie lay in camp on Dee-side, in the lower part of Mar, where he was joined by Crawford; but he showed no disposition to attack Montrose, who, from the inferiority, in point of number, of his forces, retired to the old castle of Kargarf. Crawford did not, however, remain long with Baillie; but, exchanging a thousand of his raw recruits for a similar number of Baillie’s veterans, he returned with these, and the remainder of his army, through the Mearns into Angus, as if he intended some mighty exploit; he, thereafter, entered Athole, and in imitation of Argyle, plundered and burnt the country.

Raising his camp, Baillie marched towards Strathbogie to lay siege to the Marquis of Huntly’s castle, the Bog of Gight, now Gordon castle; but although Montrose had not yet received any reinforcements, he resolved to follow Baillie and prevent him from putting his design into execution. But Montrose had marched scarcely three miles when he was observed by Baillie’s scouts, and at the same time ascertained that Baillie had taken up a strong position on a rising ground above Keith, about two miles off. Next morning Montrose, not considering it advisable to attack Baillie in the strong position he occupied, sent a trumpeter to him offering to engage him on open ground, but Baillie answered the hostile message by saying, that he would not receive orders for fighting from his enemy.[304]

In this situation of matters, Montrose had recourse to stratagem to draw Baillie from his stronghold. By retiring across the river Don, the covenanting general was led to believe that Montrose intended to march to the south, and he was, therefore, advised by a committee of the Estates which always accompanied him, and in whose hands he appears to have been a mere passive instrument, to pursue Montrose. As soon as Montrose’s scouts brought intelligence that Baillie was advancing, he set off by break of day to the village of Alford on the river Don, where he intended to await the enemy. When Baillie was informed of this movement, he imagined that Montrose was in full retreat before him, a supposition which encouraged him so to hasten his march, that he came up with Montrose at noon at the distance of a few miles from Alford. Montrose, thereupon, drew up his army in order of battle on an advantageous rising ground and waited for the enemy; but instead of attacking him, Baillie made a detour to the left with the intention of getting into Montrose’s rear and cutting off his retreat. Montrose then continued his march to Alford, where he passed the night.

On the following morning, the 2d of July, the two armies were only the distance of about four miles from each other. Montrose drew up his troops on a little hill behind the village of Alford. In his rear was a marsh full of ditches and pits, which would protect him from the inroads of Baillie’s cavalry should they attempt to assail in that quarter, and in his front stood a steep hill, which prevented the enemy from observing his motions. He gave the command of the right wing to Lord Gordon and Sir Nathaniel; the left he committed to Viscount Aboyne and Sir William Rollock; and the main body was put under the charge of Angus Macvichalaster, chief of the Macdonells of Glengarry, Drummond younger of Balloch, and Quarter-master George Graham, a skilful officer. To Napier his nephew, Montrose intrusted a body of reserve, which was concealed behind the hill.

Scarcely had Montrose completed his arrangements, when he received intelligence that the enemy had crossed the Don, and was moving in the direction of Alford. This was a fatal step on the part of Baillie, who, it is said, was forced into battle by the rashness of Lord Balcarras, “one of the bravest men of the kingdom,”[305] who unnecessarily placed himself and his regiment in a position of such danger that they could not be rescued without exposing the whole of the covenanting army.[306]

When Baillie arrived in the valley adjoining the hill on which Montrose had taken up his position, both armies remained motionless for some time, viewing each other, as if unwilling to begin the combat. Owing to the commanding position which Montrose occupied, the Covenanters could not expect to gain any advantage by attacking him even with superior forces; but now, for the first time, the number of the respective armies was about equal, and Montrose had this advantage over his adversary, that while Baillie’s army consisted in part of the raw and undisciplined levies which the Earl of Crawford had exchanged for some of his veteran troops, the greater part of Montrose’s men had been long accustomed to service. These circumstances determined Baillie not to attempt the ascent of the hill, but to remain in the valley, where, in the event of a descent by Montrose, his superiority in cavalry would give him the advantage.

This state of inaction was, however, soon put an end to by Lord Gordon, who observing a party of Baillie’s troops driving away before them a large quantity of cattle which they had collected in Strathbogie and the Enzie, and being desirous of recovering the property of his countrymen, selected a body of horse, with which he attempted a rescue. The assailed party was protected by some dykes and enclosures, from behind which they fired a volley upon the Gordons, which did considerable execution amongst them. Such a cool and determined reception, attended with a result so disastrous and unexpected, might have been attended by dangerous consequences, had not Montrose, on observing the party of Lord Gordon giving indications as if undetermined how to act, resolved immediately to commence a general attack upon the enemy with his whole army. But as Baillie’s foot had intrenched themselves amongst the dykes and fences which covered the ground at the bottom of the hill, and could not be attacked in that position with success, Montrose immediately ordered the horse, who were engaged with the enemy, to retreat to their former position, in the expectation that Baillie’s troops would leave their ground and follow them. And in this hope he was not disappointed, for the Covenanters thinking that this movement of the horse was merely the prelude to a retreat, advanced from their secure position, and followed the supposed fugitives with their whole horse and foot in regular order.

Both armies now came to close quarters, and fought face to face and man to man with great obstinacy for some time, without either party receding from the ground they occupied. At length Sir Nathaniel Gordon, growing impatient at such a protracted resistance, resolved to cut his way through the enemy’s left wing, consisting of Lord Balcarras’s regiment of horse; and calling to the light musketeers who lined his horse, he ordered them to throw aside their muskets, which were now unnecessary, and to attack the enemy’s horse with their drawn swords. This order was immediately obeyed, and in a short time they cut a passage through the ranks of the enemy, whom they hewed down with great slaughter. When the horse which composed Baillie’s right wing, and which had been kept in check by Lord Aboyne, perceived that their left had given way, they also retreated.[307] An attempt was made by the covenanting general to rally his left wing by bringing up the right, after it had retired, to its support, but they were so alarmed at the spectacle or mêlée which they had just witnessed on the left, where their comrades had been cut down by the broad swords of Montrose’s musketeers, that they could not be induced to take the place of their retiring friends.

Thus abandoned by the horse, Baillie’s foot were attacked on all sides by Montrose’s forces. They fought with uncommon bravery, and although they were cut down in great numbers, the survivors exhibited a perseverance and determination to resist to the last extremity. An accident now occurred, which, whilst it threw a melancholy gloom over the fortunes of the day, and the spirits of Montrose’s men served to hasten the work of carnage and death. This was the fall of Lord Gordon, who having incautiously rushed in amongst the thickest of the enemy, was unfortunately shot dead, it is said,[308] when in the act of pulling Baillie, the covenanting general, from his horse, having, it is said, in a moment of exultation, promised to his men, to drag Baillie out of the ranks and present him before them. The Gordons, on perceiving their young chief fall, set no bounds to their fury, and falling upon the enemy with renewed vigour, hewed them down without mercy; yet these brave men still showed no disposition to flee, and it was not until the appearance of the reserve under the Master of Napier, which had hitherto been kept out of view of the enemy at the back of the hill, that their courage began to fail them. When this body began to descend the hill, accompanied by what appeared to them a fresh reinforcement of cavalry, but which consisted merely of the camp or livery boys, who had mounted the sumpter-horses to make a display for the purpose of alarming the enemy, the entire remaining body of the covenanting foot fled with precipitation. A hot pursuit took place, and so great was the slaughter that very few of them escaped. The covenanting general and his principal officers were saved by the fleetness of their horses, and the Marquis of Argyle, who had accompanied Baillie as a member of the committee, and who was closely pursued by Glengarry and some of his Highlanders, made a narrow escape by repeatedly changing horses.

Thus ended one of the best contested battles which Montrose had yet fought, yet strange as the fact may appear, his loss was, as usual, extremely trifling, Lord Gordon being the only person of importance slain. A considerable number of Montrose’s men, however, were wounded, particularly the Gordons, who, for a long time, sustained the attacks of Balcarras’s horse, amongst whom were Sir Nathaniel, and Gordon, younger of Gicht.[309] The loss on the side of the Covenanters was immense; by far the greater part of their foot, and a considerable number of their cavalry having been slain. Some prisoners were taken from them, but their number was small, owing to their obstinacy in refusing quarter. These were sent to Strathbogie under an escort.

The brilliant victory was, however, clouded by the death of Lord Gordon, “a very hopeful young gentleman, able of mind and body, about the age of twenty-eight years.”[310] Wishart gives an affecting description of the feelings of Montrose’s army when this amiable young nobleman was killed. “There was,” he says, “a general lamentation for the loss of the Lord Gordon, whose death seemed to eclipse all the glory of the victory. As the report spread among the soldiers, every one appeared to be struck dumb with the melancholy news, and a universal silence prevailed for some time through the army. However, their grief soon burst through all restraint, venting itself in the voice of lamentation and sorrow. When the first transports were over, the soldiers exclaimed against heaven and earth for bereaving the king, the kingdom, and themselves, of such an excellent young nobleman; and, unmindful of the victory or of the plunder, they thronged about the body of their dead captain, some weeping over his wounds and kissing his lifeless limbs; while others praised his comely appearance even in death, and extolled his noble mind, which was enriched with every valuable qualification that could adorn his high birth or ample fortune: they even cursed the victory bought at so dear a rate. Nothing could have supported the army under this immense sorrow but the presence of Montrose, whose safety gave them joy, and not a little revived their drooping spirits. In the meantime he could not command his grief, but mourned bitterly over the melancholy fate of his only and dearest friend, grievously complaining, that one who was the honour of his nation, the ornament of the Scots nobility, and the boldest asserter of the royal authority in the north, had fallen in the flower of his youth.”[311]

The victories of Montrose in Scotland were more than counterbalanced by those of the parliamentary forces in England. Under different circumstances, the success at Alford might have been attended with consequences the most important to the royal cause; but the defeat of the king on the 14th of June, at Naseby, had raised the hopes of the Covenanters, and prepared their minds to receive the tidings of Baillie’s defeat with coolness and moderation.

Upon the day on which the battle of Alford was fought, the parliament had adjourned to Stirling from Edinburgh, on account of a destructive pestilence which had reached the capital from Newcastle, by way of Kelso. Thither General Baillie, Lord Balcarras, and the committee of Estates, which had accompanied the covenanting army, repaired, to lay a statement of the late disaster before the parliament, and to receive instructions as to their future conduct. With the exception of Baillie, they were well received. Balcarras, who had particularly distinguished himself in the battle at the head of his horse, received a vote of thanks, and a similar acknowledgment was, after some hesitation, awarded to Baillie, notwithstanding some attempts made to prejudice the parliament against him. But the fact was, they could not dispense in the present emergency with an officer of the military talents of Baillie, who, instead of shrinking from responsibility for the loss of the battle of Alford, offered to stand trial before a court martial, and to justify his conduct on that occasion. To have withheld, therefore, the usual token of approbation from him, while bestowing it upon an inferior officer, would have been to fix a stigma upon him which he was not disposed to brook consistently with the retention of the command of the army; and as the parliament resolved to renew his commission, by appointing him to the command of the army then being concentrated at Perth, they afterwards professed their unqualified satisfaction with him.

After the battle of Alford the army of Montrose was considerably diminished, in consequence of the Highlanders, according to custom, taking leave of absence, and returning home with the spoil they had taken from the enemy. This singular, though ordinary practice, contributed more to paralyze the exertions of Montrose, and to prevent him from following up his successes, than any event which occurred in the whole course of his campaigns, and it may appear strange that Montrose did not attempt to put an end to it; but the tenure by which he held the services of these hardy mountaineers being that they should be allowed their wonted privileges, any attempt to deviate from their established customs would have been an immediate signal for desertion.

As it would have been imprudent in Montrose, with forces thus impaired, to have followed the fugitives, who would receive fresh succours from the south, he, after allowing his men some time to refresh themselves, marched to Aberdeen, where he celebrated the funeral obsequies of his valued friend, Lord Gordon, with becoming dignity.

The district of Buchan in Aberdeenshire, which, from its outlying situation, had hitherto escaped assessment for the supply of the hostile armies, was at this time subjected to the surveillance of Montrose, who despatched a party from Aberdeen into that country to collect all the horses they could find for the use of his army, and also to obtain recruits. About the same time the Marquis of Huntly, who had been living in Strathnaver for some time, having heard of the death of his eldest son, Lord Gordon, meditated a return to his own country, intending to throw the influence of his name and authority into the royal scale. But as he might be exposed to danger in passing through countries which were hostile to the royal cause, it was arranged between Montrose and Viscount Aboyne, who had just been created an earl, that the latter should proceed to Strathnaver, with a force of 2,000 men to escort his father south. This expedition was, however, abandoned, in consequence of intelligence having been brought to Montrose that the Covenanters were assembling in great strength at Perth.

The parliament which, as we have seen, had left Edinburgh, and gone to Stirling on account of the pestilence, had been obliged, in consequence of its appearance in Stirling, to adjourn to Perth, where it was to meet on the 24th of July; but before leaving Stirling, they ordered a levy of 10,000 foot to be raised in the counties to the south of the Tay; and to insure due obedience to this mandate, all noblemen, gentlemen, and heritors, were required to attend at Perth on or before that day, well mounted, and to bring with them such forces as they could raise, under a heavy penalty.[312]

On leaving Aberdeen, Montrose took up his quarters at Crabston, situated a few miles from Aberdeen, between the rivers Don and Dee, where he remained for some time in the expectation of being joined by reinforcements from the Highlands under Major-general Macdonald, who had been absent about two months from the army in quest of recruits. As, however, these expected succours did not arrive within the time expected, Montrose, impatient of delay, crossed the Dee, and marching over the Grampians, descended into the Mearns, and pitched his camp at Fordoun in Kincardineshire.

Proceeding on his march through Angus and Blairgowrie to Dunkeld, Montrose had the good fortune to be successively joined by his cousin, Patrick Graham of Inchbrakie, at the head of the brave Athole Highlanders, and by Macdonald, his major-general, who brought with him the chief of the Macleans, and about 700 of that clan, all animated by a strong feeling of animosity against Argyle and his partisans. He was also joined by John Muidartach, the celebrated captain of the Clanranald, at the head of 500 of his men; by the Macgregors and Macnabs, headed by their respective chieftains; by the Clandonald, under the command of the uncles of Glengarry and other officers, Glengarry himself, “who,” says Bishop Wishart, “deserves a singular commendation for his bravery and steady loyalty to the king, and his peculiar attachment to Montrose,”[313] having never left Montrose since he joined him at the time of his expedition into Argyle. Besides all these, the Stewarts of Appin, some of the Farquharsons of Braemar, and small parties of inferior clans from Badenoch, rallied round the standard of Montrose.

Having obtained these reinforcements, Montrose now formed the design of marching upon Perth, and breaking up the parliament which had there assembled, and thereafter of proceeding to the south, and dissipating the levies which were being raised beyond the Tay. But the want of cavalry, in which he was constantly deficient, formed a bar to this plan, and Montrose was, therefore, obliged to defer his project till he should be joined by the Earls of Aboyne and Airly, whom he expected soon with a considerable body of horse. In the meantime, Montrose crossed the Tay at Dunkeld, and encamped at Amulree. The covenanting army, with the exception of the garrison of Perth, was then lying on the south side of the Earn, and a body of 400 horse was posted near the town, for the protection of the Estates or parliament.

This movement, on the part of Montrose, created some alarm in the minds of the Covenanters, which was greatly increased by a report from their horse, stationed in the neighbourhood of the town, who, seeing some of his scouts approach it, had fancied that he was going to storm it. While this panic was at its height, Montrose, who had no intention of attacking the town, raised his camp, and took up a position in the wood of Methven, about five miles from Perth. During this movement, the town was thrown into a state of the greatest consternation, from an apprehension that Montrose was about to attack it, and the nobility and the other members of the parliament were earnestly solicited to secure their safety by a speedy flight, but the Estates remained firm, and could not be persuaded to abandon their posts. In order, if possible, still farther to increase the panic in the town, Montrose advanced almost to the very gates of Perth with his horse the following day, which, although not exceeding 100, were made to appear formidable by the addition of the baggage-horses, on which some musketeers were mounted. This act of bold defiance magnified the fears of those who were in the town, and made them imagine that Montrose was well provided in cavalry. The covenanting troops, therefore, were afraid to venture beyond the gates; and Montrose having thus easily accomplished his object, was encouraged, still farther, to cross the Earn at Dupplin, when he openly reconnoitred the enemy’s army on the south of that river, and surveyed the Strath with great deliberation and coolness, without interruption.

Both armies remained in their positions for several days without attempting any thing, each waiting for reinforcements. During all this time, the enemy had been deceived respecting the strength of Montrose’s horse, but having learned his weakness in that respect, and the deception which he had practised so successfully upon them, and being joined by three regiments from Fife, they resolved to offer him battle. Montrose, however, from his great inferiority of numbers, particularly in horse, was not in a condition to accept the challenge, and wisely declined it. Accordingly, when he saw the enemy advancing towards him, he prepared to retreat among the neighbouring mountains; but to deceive the enemy, and to enable him to carry off his baggage, he drew out his army as if he intended to fight, placing his horse in front, and securing the passes into the mountains with guards. While making these dispositions, he sent off his baggage towards the hills under an escort; and when he thought the baggage out of danger, gave orders to his army to march off in close rank; and to cover its retreat and protect it from the cavalry of the enemy, he placed his horse, lined as usual with the best musketeers, in the rear.

As soon as Baillie, the covenanting general, perceived that Montrose was in full retreat, he despatched General Hurry with the cavalry in pursuit of him; but from a most unaccountable delay on Hurry’s part in crossing the Pow—so slow, indeed, had his movements been, that Baillie’s foot overtook him at the fords of the Almond—Montrose had almost reached the passes of the mountains before he was overtaken. Chagrined at his easy escape, and determined to perform some striking exploit before Montrose should retire into his fastnesses, a body of 300 of the best mounted covenanting cavalry set off at full gallop after him, and attacked him with great fury, using at the same time the most insulting and abusive language. To put an end to this annoyance, Montrose selected twenty expert Highlanders, and requested them to bring down some of the assailants. Accordingly these marksmen advanced in a crouching attitude, concealing their guns, and having approached within musket-shot, took deliberate aim, and soon brought down the more advanced of the party. This unexpected disaster made the assailants more cautious in their advances, and caused them to resolve upon an immediate retreat; but the marksmen were so elated with their success that they actually pursued them down into the plain, “and resolutely attacked the whole party, who, putting spurs to their horses, fled with the utmost precipitation, like so many deer before the hunters.”[314] In this retreat Montrose did not lose a single man.

After giving over this fruitless pursuit, the enemy returned to Montrose’s camp at Methven, where, according to Wishart, they committed a most barbarous act in revenge of their late affront, by butchering some of the wives of the Highlanders and Irish who had been left behind. Montrose took up his quarters at Little Dunkeld, both because he was there perfectly secure from the attacks of the enemy’s cavalry, and because it was a convenient station to wait for the reinforcements of horse which he daily expected from the north under the Earls of Airly and Aboyne. Although both armies lay close together for several days, nothing was attempted on either side. The covenanting general had become quite disgusted with the service in consequence of the jealousies and suspicions which it was too evident the committee entertained of him. His disgust was increased by the sudden return to their country of the Fife men, who preferred their domestic comforts to the vicissitudes of war, but who unfortunately were, as we shall soon see, to be sacrificed at its shrine.

At length the Earl of Aboyne, accompanied by Sir Nathaniel Gordon, arrived at Little Dunkeld, but with a force much inferior in numbers to what was expected. They only brought 200 horse and 120 musketeers, which last were mounted upon carriage horses. The smallness of their number was compensated, however, in a great measure by their steadiness and bravery. The Earl of Airly and his son, Sir David Ogilvie, joined Montrose at the same time, along with a troop of 80 horse, consisting chiefly of gentlemen of the name of Ogilvie, among whom was Alexander Ogilvie, son of Sir John Ogilvie of Innerquharity, a young man who had already distinguished himself in the field.

Perth in the 17th century.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ (1693).

Never, at any former period of his eventful career, did the probabilities of ultimate success on the side of Montrose appear greater than now. His army, ardent and devoted to the royal cause, now amounted to nearly 5,000 foot and about 500 horse, the greater part of which consisted of brave and experienced warriors whom he had often led to victory. A considerable portion of his army was composed of some of the most valiant of the Highland clans, led by their respective chiefs, among whom stood conspicuous the renowned captain of clan Ranald, in himself a host. The clans were animated by a feeling of the most unbounded attachment to what they considered the cause of their chiefs, and by a deadly spirit of revenge for the cruelties which the Covenanters under Argyle had exercised in the Highlands. The Macleans and the Athole Highlanders in particular, longed for an opportunity of retaliating upon the covenanting partisans of Argyle the injuries which they had repeatedly received at his hands, and thereby wiping out the stain which, as they conceived, had been cast upon them. But fortunate as Montrose now was in having such an army at his disposal, the chances in his favour were greatly enhanced by the circumstance, that whereas in his former campaigns he had to watch the movements of different armies, and to fight them in detail, he was now enabled, from having annihilated or dispersed the whole armies formerly opposed to him, to concentrate his strength and to direct all his energies to one point. The only bar which now stood in the way of the entire subjugation of Scotland to the authority of the king, was the army of Baillie, and the defeat or destruction of this body now became the immediate object of Montrose. His resolution to attack the enemy was hastened by the receipt of information that the Fife regiments had left Baillie’s camp and returned home, and that the general himself was so dissatisfied with the conduct of the covenanting committee, who thwarted all his plans and usurped his authority, that he was about to resign the command of the army.

Montrose, therefore, without loss of time, raised his camp, and descending into the Lowlands, arrived at Logie Almond, where he halted his foot. Thence he went out with his cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy, and came in full view of them before sunset. They made no attempt to molest him, and testified their dread of this unexpected visit by retiring within their lines. Early next morning Montrose again rode out to make his observations, but was surprised to learn that the enemy had abandoned their camp at Methven during the night, and had retired across the Earn, and taken up a position at Kilgraston, near Bridge-of-Earn. Montrose immediately put his army in motion towards the Earn, which he crossed by the bridge of Nether Gask, about eight miles above Kilgraston. He then proceeded forward as far as the Kirk of Dron, by which movement he for the first time succeeded in throwing open to the operations of his army the whole of the country south of the Tay, from which the enemy had hitherto carefully excluded him. The enemy, alarmed at Montrose’s approach, made every preparation for defending themselves by strengthening the position in which they were intrenched, and which, from the narrowness of the passes and the nature of the ground, was well adapted for sustaining an attack.

Montrose was most anxious to bring the enemy to an engagement before they should be joined by a large levy then raising in Fife; but they were too advantageously posted to be attacked with much certainty of success. As he could not by any means induce them to leave their ground, he marched to Kinross for the double purpose of putting an end to the Fife levies and of withdrawing the enemy from their position, so as to afford him an opportunity of attacking them under more favourable circumstances. This movement had the effect of drawing Baillie from his stronghold, who cautiously followed Montrose at a respectful distance. In the course of his march, Baillie was again joined by the three Fife regiments. On arriving at Kinross in the evening, Montrose learned from an advanced party he had sent out to collect information through the country, under the command of Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, and Sir William Rollock, that the people of Fife were in arms, a piece of intelligence which made him resolve immediately to retrace his steps, judging it imprudent to risk a battle in such a hostile district. Although the men of Fife were stern Covenanters, and were ready to fight for the Covenant on their own soil, yet living for the most part in towns, and following out the sober pursuits of a quiet and domestic life, they had no relish for war, and disliked the service of the camp. Hence the speedy return of the Fife regiments from the camp at Methven, to their own country, and hence another reason which induced Montrose to leave their unfriendly soil, viz., that they would probably again abandon Baillie, should he attempt to follow Montrose in his progress west.

Accordingly, after remaining a night at Kinross, Montrose, the following morning, marched towards Alloa, in the neighbourhood of which he arrived in the evening, and passed the night in the wood of Tullybody. The Irish plundered the town of Alloa, and the adjoining lordship, which belonged to the Earl of Mar; but notwithstanding this unprovoked outrage, the earl and Lord Erskine gave Montrose, the Earl of Airly, and the principal officers of the army, an elegant entertainment in the castle of Alloa. Montrose, however, did not delay the march of his army while partaking of the hospitality of the Earl of Mar, but immediately despatched Macdonald west to Stirling with the foot, retaining only the horse to serve him as a body-guard. In this route the Macleans laid waste the parishes of Muckhart and Dollar, of which the Marquis of Argyle was the superior, and burnt Castle Campbell, the principal residence of the Argyle family in the lowlands, in requital of similar acts done by the marquis and his followers in the country of the Macleans.[315]

As the pestilence was still raging in the town of Stirling, Montrose avoided it altogether, lest his army might catch the infection. He halted within three miles of the town, where his army passed the night, and being apprised next morning, by one of Baillie’s scouts who had been taken prisoner, that Baillie was close at hand with the whole of his army, Montrose marched quickly up to the fords of Frew, about eight miles above Stirling bridge, and there crossed the Forth. Pursuing his march the following morning in the direction of Glasgow, he made a short halt about six miles from Stirling, to ascertain the enemy’s movements, and being informed that Baillie had not yet crossed the Forth, he marched to Kilsyth, where he encamped. During the day, Baillie passed the Forth by Stirling bridge, and marching forwards, came within view of Montrose’s army, and encamped that evening within three miles of Kilsyth.[316]

The covenanting army had, in its progress westward, followed exactly the tract of Montrose through the vale of the Devon. The Marquis of Argyle availing himself of this circumstance, caused the house of Menstrie, the seat of the Earl of Stirling, the king’s secretary, and that of Airthrie, belonging to Sir John Graham of Braco, to be burnt. He, moreover, sent an insolent message to the Earl of Mar, notifying to him, that, on the return of the army from the pursuit of Montrose, he, the earl, might calculate on having his castle also burnt, for the hospitality he had shown Montrose.[317]

The conjecture of Montrose, that the Fife regiments would not cross the Forth, was not altogether without foundation. In fact, when they arrived near Stirling, they positively refused to advance further, and excused themselves by alleging, that they were raised on the express condition that they should not be called upon to serve out of their own shire, and that, having already advanced beyond its limits, they would on no account cross the Forth. But their obstinacy was overcome by the all-powerful influence of the ministers, who, in addition to the usual scriptural appeals, “told them jolly tales that Lanark, Glencairn, and Eglinton, were lifting an army to join them, and therefore entreated that they would, for only one day more, go out,” until that army approached, when they should be discharged.[318]

While the Fife regiments were thus persuaded to expose themselves to the unforeseen destruction which unfortunately awaited them, an incident occurred on the opposite bank of the Forth, which betokened ill for the future prospects of the covenanting army. This will be best explained by stating the matter in General Baillie’s own words. “A little above the park (the king’s park at Stirling), I halted until the Fife regiments were brought up, hearing that the rebels were marching towards Kilsyth. After the upcoming of these regiments, the Marquis of Argyle, Earl of Crawford, and Lord Burleigh, and, if I mistake not, the Earl of Tulliebardine, the Lords Elcho and Balcarras, with some others, came up. My lord marquis asked me what next was to be done. I answered, the direction should come from his lordship and those of the committee. My lord demanded what reason was for this? I answered, I found myself so slighted in every thing belonging to a commander-in-chief, that, for the short time I was to stay with them, I would absolutely submit to their direction and follow it. The marquis desired me to explain myself, which I did in these particulars, sufficiently known to my lord marquis and the other lords and gentlemen then present. I told his lordship, (1.) Prisoners of all sorts were exchanged without my knowledge; the traffickers therein received passes from others, and, sometimes passing within two miles of me, did neither acquaint me with their business, nor, at their return, where, or in what posture they had left the enemy: (2.) While I was present, others did sometimes undertake the command of the army: (3.) Without either my order or knowledge, fire was raised, and that destroyed which might have been a recompense to some good deserver, for which I would not be answerable to the public. All which things considered, I should in any thing freely give my own opinion, but follow the judgment of the committee, and the rather because that was the last day of my undertaking.”[319] It is here necessary to state, by way of explanation, that Baillie had, in consequence of the previous conduct of the committee, resigned his commission, and had only been induced, at the earnest solicitation of the parliament, to continue his services for a definite period, which, it appears, was just on the point of expiring.

The differences between Baillie and the committee being patched up, the covenanting army proceeded on the 14th of August in the direction of Denny, and having crossed the Carron at Hollandbush, encamped, as we have stated, about 3 miles from Kilsyth.

Before the arrival of Baillie, Montrose had received information which made him resolve to hazard a battle immediately. The intelligence he had obtained was to the effect, that the Earls of Cassilis, Eglinton, and Glencairn, and other heads of the Covenanters, were actively engaged in levying forces in the west of Scotland, and that the Earl of Lanark had already raised a body of 1,000 foot and 500 horse in Clydesdale, among the vassals and dependents of the Hamilton family, and that this force was within 12 miles of Kilsyth.

Having taken his resolution, Montrose made the necessary arrangements for receiving the enemy, by placing his men in the best position which the nature of the ground afforded. In front of his position were several cottages and gardens, of which he took possession. Baillie, seeing the advantageous position chosen by Montrose, would have willingly delayed battle till either the expected reinforcements from the west should arrive, or till Montrose should be induced to become the assailant; but his plans were over-ruled by Argyle and the other members of the committee, who insisted that he should immediately attack Montrose. Accordingly, early in the morning he put his army in motion from Hollandbush, and advanced near Auchinclogh, about two miles to the east of Kilsyth, where he halted. As the ground between him and Montrose was full of quagmires, which effectually prevented Montrose from attacking him in front, he proposed to take up a defensive position without advancing farther, and await an attack. But here again the committee interposed, and when he was in the very act of arranging the stations of his army, they advised him to take a position on a hill on his right, which they considered more suitable. It was in vain that Baillie remonstrated against what he justly considered an imprudent advice—the committee were inexorable in their resolution, and Baillie had no alternative but to obey. In justice, however, to Lord Balcarras, it must be mentioned that he disapproved of the views of the committee.

When Montrose saw the covenanting army approach from Hollandbush, he was exceedingly delighted, as, from the excellent state of his army, the courageous bearing of his men, and the advantage of his position, he calculated upon obtaining a decisive victory, which might enable him to advance into England and retrieve the affairs of his sovereign in that kingdom. But while Montrose was thus joyfully anticipating a victory which, he flattered himself, would be crowned with results the most favourable to the royal cause, an incident occurred which might have proved fatal to his hopes, had he not, with that wonderful self-possession and consummate prudence for which he was so distinguished, turned that very incident to his own advantage. Among the covenanting cavalry was a regiment of cuirassiers, the appearance of whose armour, glittering in the sun, struck such terror into Montrose’s horse, that they hesitated about engaging with such formidable antagonists, and, while riding along the line to encourage his men and give the necessary directions, Montrose heard his cavalry muttering among themselves and complaining that they were now for the first time to fight with men clad in iron, whose bodies would be quite impenetrable to their swords. When the terror of a foe has once taken hold of the mind, it can only be sufficiently eradicated by supplanting it with a feeling of contempt for the object of its dread, and no man was better fitted by nature than Montrose for inspiring such a feeling into the minds of his troops. Accordingly, scarcely had the murmurings of his cavalry broken upon his ears, when he rode up to the head of his cavalry, and (pointing to the cuirassiers) thus addressed his men:—“Gentlemen, these are the same men you beat at Alford, that ran away from you at Auldearn, Tippermuir, &c.; they are such cowardly rascals that their officers could not bring them to look you in the face till they had clad them in armour; to show our contempt of them we’ll fight them in our shirts.”[320] No sooner had these words been uttered, when, to add to the impression they could not fail to produce, Montrose threw off his coat and waistcoat, and, drawing his sword with the air of a hero, stood before his men, at once an object of their wonder and a model for their imitation. The effect was instantaneous. The example thus set by Montrose was immediately followed by the whole army, every man stripping himself to his shirt, and the cavalry, partaking in the general enthusiasm, assured themselves of victory. As the day was uncommonly hot and oppressive, the troops found great relief by disburdening themselves of their clothes, and the infantry were, in consequence, enabled to display greater agility in combat. The extraordinary appearance of Montrose’s men after they had parted with their clothes, excited the astonishment of the Covenanters, and as they could only attribute such a singular preparation for battle to a fixed determination on the part of the royalists to conquer or to die, fearful doubts arose in their minds as to the probable result of the contest in which they were just about to engage.

In moving to take up the new position which had been assigned to it by the committee, the utmost disorder prevailed among the covenanting army, which the general was unable to correct. Indeed, so unruly had the troops become, that some regiments, instead of taking the stations assigned to them by the commander, took up, at the suggestion of Argyle, quite different ground, while others, in utter disregard of Baillie’s instructions, actually selected positions for themselves. Thus, at the moment the battle was about to begin, Baillie found all his plans completely overruled, and as he now saw how utterly impossible it would be for him to carry any of his contemplated arrangements into effect, he was necessitated to engage Montrose under the most unfavourable circumstances.

The covenanting general, however, might have so accommodated himself in the unexpected dilemma in which he had been placed as to have prevented the disastrous result which followed, had not his horse regiments, from an impression that Montrose had begun a retreat, rashly commenced the action before all the infantry had come up, by attempting to carry the cottages and gardens in which the advanced guard of Montrose was placed. Although they made a violent charge, they were as warmly received by Montrose’s musketeers, who, being protected by the dikes and enclosures, kept up such a galling fire upon their assailants as to oblige them to retreat with precipitation and some loss.

A body of about 1,000 Highlanders, who were posted next to Montrose’s advanced guard, became so suddenly elated with this success that, without waiting for orders from Montrose, they immediately ran up that part of the hill where the main body of the covenanting army was posted. Montrose was highly displeased with the Highlanders for this rash act, which seemed to threaten them with instant destruction; but there was no time for remonstrance, and as he saw an absolute necessity for supporting this intrepid body, he stifled his displeasure, and began to consider how he could most effectually afford support. Owing to the tardy advance of the enemy’s rear, it was some little time before the covenanting army attacked this resolute body. At length three troops of horse and a body of about 2,000 foot were seen advancing against them, and in a short time both parties closed upon each other. The Highlanders, as usual, displayed great intrepidity, and firmly maintained their ground; but as it was evident that they could not long withstand the overwhelming force opposed to them, the Earl of Aboyne, who, with a select body of horsemen, had been placed by Montrose at some distance from the main army, taking with him 12 horsemen, rode forward to see if he could render any assistance. Seeing the critical position in which the rash Highlanders were placed, he sent back for the cavalry to advance immediately, at the same time bravely shouting to the few followers that were with him, “Let us go, Monsieurs, and assist these our distressed friends, in so great hazard through the foolish rashness of their commander. We shall, God willing, bring them off, at least in some good order, so as they shall neither be all lost, nor endanger the army by their sudden flight, whereto they may be forced.”[321] He thereupon charged the enemy’s lancers, who, seeing him make such a furious onset, retired to the left, thus putting the foot between themselves and Aboyne. The latter, without halting, charged forward upon the foot, until, when within pistol-shot, he perceived them preparing to receive him upon their pikes. He then nimbly turned a little to the left, and charged with such impetuosity and suddenness a regiment of musketeers, that although they received him with three volleys from the three first ranks, he broke right through them, till he came out to where his distressed friends were environed with horse and foot, and so sorely straightened as to be crying out for quarter. His presence caused them to rally, and they took heart as he cried with a lusty voice, “Courage, my hearts, follow me, and let them have one sound charge.” “And this he gives with such brave and invincible resolution, as he breaks, disperses, and discourages both foot and horse, who seek no more to pursue, but strive to retire in order, to the which their commanders often invite them, but in vain.” They got into complete disorder, and began to run for their lives. What had been begun by Aboyne, was completed by the Earl of Airly, who, at the urgent request of Montrose, now came up at the head of the Ogilvies to the assistance of the Highlanders. Montrose had made several ineffectual attempts to induce different parties of his army to volunteer in defence of the brave men who were struggling for their existence within view of their companions in arms, and, as a dernier ressort, appealed to his tried friend the Earl of Airly, in behalf of the rash men who had thus exposed themselves to imminent danger. This appeal to the chivalrous feelings of the venerable earl met with a ready and willing response from him, and after stating his readiness to undertake the duty assigned him, he immediately put himself at the head of a troop of his own horse, commanded by Colonel John Ogilvie of Baldavie, who had distinguished himself in the Swedish service, and rode off with great speed towards the enemy. He instantly ordered his squadron to charge the enemy’s horse, who were so closely pressed that they got entangled among the covenanting foot, whom they put into disorder.

As soon as Baillie perceived that his horse were falling back, he endeavoured to bring up his reserve to support them; but this body, which consisted chiefly of the Fife militia, became so alarmed at the retreat of the horse, that they immediately abandoned their ranks and fled. On the other hand, the rest of Montrose’s men, encouraged by the success of the Ogilvies, could no longer restrain themselves, and rushing forward upon the enemy with a loud shout, completed the disorder. The wild appearance of the royalists, added to the dreadful yells which they set up, created such a panic among the astonished Covenanters, that, in an instant, and as if by a simultaneous impulse, every man threw away his arms, and endeavoured to secure his personal safety by flight. In the general rout which ensued, the covenanting horse, in their anxiety to escape, galloped through the flying foot, and trampled many of their companions in arms almost to death.

In the pursuit which followed, Montrose’s men cut down the defenceless Covenanters without mercy, and so great was the carnage, that, out of a body of upwards of 6,000 foot, probably not more than 100 escaped with their lives. The royalists were so intent upon hewing down the unfortunate foot, that a considerable part of the cavalry effected their escape. Some of them, however, in the hurry of their flight, having run unawares into a large morass, called Dolater bog, now forming a part of the bed of the Forth and Clyde canal, there perished, and, many years afterwards, the bodies of men and horses were dug up from the bog, without any marks of decomposition; and there is a tradition still current, that one man was found upon horseback, fully attired in his military costume, in the very posture in which he had sunk.[322] Very few prisoners were taken, and with the exception of Sir William Murray of Blebo, James Arnot, brother to Lord Burleigh, and Colonels Dyce and Wallace, and a few other gentlemen, who received quarter, and, after being well treated by Montrose, were afterwards released upon parole, all the officers of the covenanting army escaped. Some of them fled to Stirling, and took temporary refuge in the castle; others galloped down to the south shore of the Frith of Forth. Among the latter, Argyle was the most conspicuous, who, according to Bishop Guthry, “never looked over his shoulder until, after 20 miles’ riding, he reached the South Queensferry, where he possessed himself of a boat again.”[323] Wishart sarcastically observes, that this was the third time that Argyle had “saved himself by means of a boat; and, even then, he did not reckon himself secure till they had weighed anchor and carried the vessel out to sea.”[324]

The whole of the baggage, arms, and stores, belonging to the covenanting army were captured by the royalists. The loss on the side of Montrose was, as usual, extremely trifling, amounting, it is said, only to six or eight men, three of whom were Ogilvies, who fell in the charge which decided the fortune of the day.

The news of this disastrous and melancholy defeat, speedily spread throughout the kingdom and filled it with mourning. The plague, which had devastated some of the most populous of the covenanting districts, was still carrying on its depopulating career, and the spirits of the people, already broken and subdued under that scourge, were reduced to a state almost bordering on despair, when they received the afflicting intelligence of the utter annihilation of an army on which their only hopes were placed. No alternative, therefore, now remained for them but unconditional submission to the conqueror, and accordingly, deputies were sent to him from different parts of the kingdom, to assure him of the return of the people to their allegiance to the king, to proffer their obedience to Montrose as his lieutenant, and to offer him assistance in support of the royal cause. The nobility and other persons of note who had hitherto kept aloof, or whose loyalty had been questionable, also crowded to the royal standard to congratulate Montrose upon the favourable aspect of affairs and to offer their services.

While at Kilsyth, two commissioners, Sir Robert Douglas and Mr. Archibald Fleming, commissary, arrived at Montrose’s camp on the part of the inhabitants of Glasgow, to obtain favour and forgiveness, by congratulating him upon his success, and inviting him to visit their city. Montrose received these commissioners and the other numerous deputations and individuals who afterwards waited on him, not merely with courtesy but with kindness, and promised to bury all past occurrences in perfect oblivion, but on the condition that they should return to their allegiance and conduct themselves in future as loyal subjects. “The whole country now,” says Wishart, “resounded Montrose’s praise. His unparalleled magnanimity and bravery, his happiness in devising his plan of operations, and his quickness in executing them, his unshaken resolution and intrepidity, even in the greatest dangers, and his patience in bearing the severest hardships and fatigues; his faithfulness and strict observance of his promises to such as submitted, and his clemency towards his prisoners; in short, that heroic virtue which displayed itself in all his actions, was extolled to the skies, and filled the mouths of all ranks of men, and several poems and panegyrics were wrote upon this occasion.”[325] It is believed, however, that there was little sincerity in these professions.

This submission of the people was accelerated by the dispersion of the Covenant nobility, an event that put a temporary end to the government which they had established. Argyle, Crawford, Lanark, and others, sought protection in Berwick, and Glencairn, and Cassilis took refuge in Ireland.

Montrose might now have marched directly upon, and seized the capital, where many of his friends were confined as prisoners; but he considered it of more importance to march to the west and disperse some levies which were there raising. Accordingly, after refreshing his troops two days at Kilsyth, he dispatched a strong body under the command of Macdonald, his major-general, into Ayrshire to suppress a rising under the Earls of Cassilis and Glencairn; and with the remainder of his army he proceeded towards Glasgow, which he entered amidst the general acclamations of the citizens. Here Montrose immediately commenced an inquiry into the conduct of the leading Covenanters of the city, some of whom he put to death as a terror to others. Montrose remained only a day in Glasgow, and encamped the following day on Bothwell moor, about twelve miles from the city. His object in doing so, was to put an end to some excesses on the part of his Irish and Highland troops, whom, from the precarious tenure of their services, and his inability to pay them, he could not venture to control by the severities of martial law.[326] And as he was apprehensive that some of his men might lurk behind, or visit the city for the purpose of plunder, he allowed the inhabitants to form a guard among themselves to protect it. The citizens, in gratitude for the favour and clemency thus shown them, presented Montrose with the sum of 10,000 merks.

In the meantime, Major-general Macdonald arrived in Ayrshire, where he was received with open arms. The levies, which had been raised in the west quietly dispersed; and, as above mentioned, the Earls of Cassilis and Glencairn fled to Ireland. The Countess of Loudon, whose husband had acted a conspicuous part against the king, received Macdonald with great kindness at Loudon castle, embracing him in her arms, and entertaining him with great splendour and hospitality; she even sent a servant to Montrose to offer her respects to him.[327]

During Montrose’s stay at Bothwell, where he remained till the 4th of September, he was waited upon by many of the nobility in person, to congratulate him upon his recent victory, and to tender their services. Others sent similar communications by their friends. The Marquis of Douglas, the Earls of Linlithgow and Annandale, Lords Seton, Drummond, Fleming, Maderty, Carnegie and Johnston, were among the first who came forward. Deputations also arrived from the counties of Linlithgow, Lanark, Renfrew, and Ayr, and also from the towns of Greenock, Ayr, and Irvine, to implore forgiveness for past offences, and to give pledges for their future loyalty. Montrose received them all very graciously, and relying upon their assurances, granted them an amnesty.

Montrose expected that the city of Edinburgh, which had been the focus of rebellion, would have followed the example of Glasgow and the other towns; but whether from obstinacy or from the dread of a refusal of pardon, the authorities did not send commissioners to Montrose, and it was not until a body of the royalist horse appeared within four miles of the city, that they resolved to proffer their submission, and to throw themselves on the mercy of the conqueror.

After the battle of Kilsyth, Montrose dispatched his nephew, Archibald, Master of Napier, and Nathaniel Gordon, with a select body of horse, to summon Edinburgh to surrender, to secure its obedience and fidelity, and to set at liberty the royalist prisoners, many of whom were confined in the Tolbooth. Should the city refuse to submit, it was to be subjected to fire and sword. On his way to Edinburgh, Napier set at liberty his father and wife, Stirling of Keir, his brother-in-law, and sisters, from the prison of Linlithgow. When four miles from Edinburgh they came to a halt, and waited to see how the citizens would conduct themselves. The inhabitants, so far from having any intention of resisting the royal army, were in a state of consternation and despair lest their submission should not be accepted by Montrose, “accusing themselves as sacrilegious, perjured and ungrateful traitors, unworthy of that clemency and forgiveness for which they so ardently prayed.” In the most grovelling and humble manner they besought the prisoners, whom not long before they had treated with harshness and contempt, to intercede with Montrose on their behalf, promising to submit to any conditions.

The citizens, having chosen deputies, selected from the prisoners two of the most eminent and stanch royalists, Ludovic Earl of Crawford and James Lord Ogilvie, the Earl of Airly’s son, to wait upon Montrose and introduce the deputation, implore his pardon, and tender the city’s humble submission. These two noblemen and the deputies having joined Napier, the latter returned directly to his uncle Montrose, who was unfeignedly delighted at the sight of his dear friends Crawford and Ogilvie.

The city delegates, on being admitted to audience, “made a free surrender to him of the town, and humbly deprecated his vengeance and implored his pardon and forgiveness, promising, in name of the whole inhabitants, an inviolable fidelity and obedience for the future, and committing themselves and all their concerns to his patronage and protection, which they humbly entreated he would grant them. They promised also, immediately to release all the prisoners in their custody, and desired him to assure himself that any thing else he should desire of them should be instantly complied with. The town, they said, had been almost depopulated by a dreadful plague, so that no supplies of men could be expected from it; but they were ready to contribute all they could to defray the expense of what troops he might raise in other places. Above all, they most earnestly implored him to intercede for them with their most gracious and merciful king, to obtain his pity and pardon, and that he would not condemn the whole city for the crime of rebellion, in which they had been involved by the craft and example of a few seditious men, armed with power and authority. Montrose gave them reason to hope for the royal forgiveness; and the only conditions he required of them, were, sacredly to observe their loyalty and allegiance to his majesty for the future; to renounce all correspondence with the rebels, whether within or without the kingdom: the castle of Edinburgh, which he well knew was then in their power, he required they should surrender to the king’s officers; and that, as soon as the delegates returned to the city, all the prisoners should be immediately set at liberty, and sent to his camp.”[328]

Although the commissioners agreed to these conditions, and promised to perform them, the only one they ever fulfilled was that which stipulated the release of the prisoners, who were immediately on the return of the commissioners sent to Montrose’s camp. Indeed, it was scarcely to be expected, from the character of the times, that the citizens of Edinburgh, who had all along been warm partisans of the covenanting interest, would show a readiness to comply with stipulations which had been extorted from their commissioners under the circumstances we have mentioned.

While at Bothwell, Montrose received various communications from the king, who was then at Oxford. The most important of these were two commissions under the great seal, one appointing Montrose Captain-general and Lieutenant-governor of Scotland, and conferring on him full powers to raise forces, punish state offenders, and make knights, &c.; and the other authorising him to summon a parliament to meet at Glasgow, to settle the affairs of the kingdom. The bearer of these important documents was Sir Robert Spottiswood, formerly president of the Court of Session, and who now acted as secretary of state for Scotland. As a person so well known as Sir Robert could not travel by any of the ordinary roads without risk of apprehension, he took a circuitous route from Oxford, passing through Wales, and thence crossing over to the Isle of Man, took shipping and landed in the West Highlands. From Lochaber he proceeded down into Athole, whence he was conducted by a party of Athole-men to Montrose, at Bothwell Moor.

The instructions brought by Sir Robert Spottiswood, regarding the holding of a parliament and the matters connected therewith, were in the meantime superseded by orders from the king of a later date, brought by a more direct route. By these he was directed to march immediately to the borders, where he would, it was said, be joined by the Earls of Roxburgh, Traquair, and Home, and the other royalist nobility of the southern counties, at the head of their numerous vassals and tenants, as well as by a body of horse which his majesty would send from England; that, with these united forces, he should watch the motions of General David Leslie, who was advancing to the north with a body of 6,000 cavalry. In fact, Leslie, who had acquired great celebrity by his conduct in the battle of Marston Moor, had reached Berwick in the beginning of September, having been called thither on his road to Hereford by the covenanting nobility, who had taken refuge there after the battle of Kilsyth.

Montrose reviewed his army on the 3d of September, on which occasion Sir Robert Spottiswood delivered to him the commission appointing him his majesty’s Lieutenant-governor for Scotland and General of all his majesty’s forces.[329] After this and the other commission had been read, Montrose addressed his army in a short and feeling speech, in the course of which he took occasion to praise their bravery and loyalty, and expressed great affection for them. In conclusion, addressing Macdonald, his major-general, he bestowed upon him the tribute of his praise, and, by virtue of the power with which he had been invested, conferred upon him the honour of knighthood, in presence of the whole army. Little did Montrose imagine, that the man whose services he was now so justly rewarding had resolved immediately to abandon him, and, under the pretence of revenging some injuries which his friends had sustained at the hands of Argyle four years before, to quit for ever the service of his royal master.

Montrose’s ranks had, before the review alluded to, been thinned by private desertions among the Highlanders, who carried off with them all the booty they had been able to collect; but as soon as Montrose announced his intention, in terms of the instructions he had received from the king, to march south, the Highlanders in a body demanded liberty to return home for a short time to repair their houses, which had been reduced to ruins by the enemy, and to provide a stock of provisions for their wives and families during the ensuing winter. To induce Montrose to comply the more readily with their request, they promised to return to his camp within forty days, and to bring some of their friends along with them. As Montrose saw that the Highlanders were determined to depart, and that consequently any attempt to retain them would be unavailing, he dissembled the displeasure he felt, and after thanking them in the king’s name for their services, and entreating them to return to him as soon as possible, he granted them leave of absence with apparent goodwill. But when Sir Alaster Macdonald also announced his intention to return to the Highlands, Montrose could not conceal his chagrin, and strongly remonstrated against such a step. “Montrose,” says Guthry, “dealt most seriously with him to have staid until they had been absolute conquerors, promising then to go thither himself, and be concurring with him in punishing them, (Argyle and his party,) as they deserved; and withal told him that his separating at this time must be the occasion of ruin to them both. But all was to no purpose; he would needs be gone, and for a reason enlarged himself in reckoning up the Marquis of Argyle’s cruelties against his friends, who, as he said, did four years ago draw his father and brother to Inverary upon trust, and then made them prisoners; and since, (his friends having retired to the isles of Jura and Rachlin for shelter,) sent Ardkinlass and the captain of Skipness to the said isles to murder them, which, (said he,) they did without mercy, sparing neither women nor children. With such discourses he justified his departure, and would not be hindered.” Macdonald accordingly, after returning thanks to Montrose in a formal oration for the favours he had received, and pledging himself for the early return of the Highlanders, departed for the Highlands on the day of the review, accompanied by about 3,000 Highlanders, the elite of Montrose’s army, and by 120 of the best of the Irish troops, whom he had selected as a body guard.

The desertion of such a large body of men, consisting of the flower of his army, was a subject of the deepest concern to Montrose, whose sole reliance for support against the powerful force of Leslie, now depended upon the precarious succours he might obtain on his march to the south. Under such circumstances a commander more prudent than Montrose would have hesitated about the course to be pursued, and would probably have either remained for some time in his position, till the levies raising in the south should assemble, or retreat across the Forth, and there awaited reinforcements from the north; but the ardent and chivalrous feelings of Montrose so blinded him, as to make him altogether disregard prudential considerations, and the splendour of his victories had dazzled his imagination so much, as to induce him to believe that he had only to engage the enemy to defeat him.

Accordingly, on the day following the departure of the Highlanders, viz., the 4th of September, Montrose began his march to the south; but he had not proceeded far, when he had the mortification to find himself also abandoned by the Earl of Aboyne, who not only carried off the whole of his own men, but induced the other horsemen of the north, who were not of his party, to accompany him. Sir Nathaniel Gordon appears to have been the only individual of the name of Gordon who remained behind. The cause of such a hasty proceeding on the part of the Earl of Aboyne, is not very evident; but it seems probable, that his lordship had taken some offence at Montrose, who, according to a partisan of the Gordon family, arrogated to himself all the honour of the victories which the earl had greatly contributed to obtain.[330]

The army of Montrose was now reduced to a mere handful of men, consisting only of about 200 gentlemen who had joined him at Bothwell, and 700 foot, chiefly Irish.[331] Yet he resolved to proceed on his march, and reached Cranstoun-Kirk in Mid-Lothian, on Saturday the 6th of September, where he received intelligence that General David Leslie had arrived at Berwick with a great body of cavalry. He encamped at Cranstoun-Kirk with the intention of remaining there over the Sunday, and hearing Dr. Wishart preach; but having, the following morning, been put in possession of a correspondence between Leslie and the heads of the Covenanters, at Berwick, which developed their plans, he quickly raised his camp, without waiting for sermon, and advanced into the district of the Gala. A more imprudent step than this cannot be well conceived, as Montrose threw his little band into the jaws of Leslie’s army, which was lying ready to pounce upon him. In his march along Gala-water, he was joined by the Marquis of Douglas and Lord Ogilvie at the head of a small party, the remains of a larger body which had been diminished by desertion. Montrose was waited upon at Galashiels by the Earl of Traquair, who professed the most fervent attachment to the king, and promised to obtain information for him respecting Leslie’s movements; and in proof of his sincerity, sent his son Lord Linton with a troop of well-mounted horse, who joined him the following day.

From Galashiels Montrose marched to Kelso, where he expected to be joined by the Earls of Home and Roxburgh, and their vassals; but on his arrival there, he was surprised to find that these two noblemen had taken no measures to raise the levies they had promised. He, therefore, resolved to pay them a visit, to compel them to fulfil their engagements; but anticipating such a step, they had allowed themselves to be made voluntary prisoners by a party of Leslie’s horse and carried to Berwick. Roxburgh, whom Wishart calls “a cunning old fox,” was the contriver of this artful scheme, which, while it secured him and his colleague Home the favour of the Covenanters, was intended to induce the king to believe that they were suffering for their loyalty.

This act of perfidy opened the eyes of Montrose to the danger of his situation, and made him instantly resolve to retrace his steps, so as to prevent his retreat to the north being cut off by David Leslie, who had by this time crossed the Tweed. He, therefore, marched from Kelso westward to Jedburgh, and from thence to Selkirk, where he arrived on the 12th of September, and encamped that night in a wood, called Hareheadwood, in the neighbourhood of the town at the head of a long and level piece of ground called Philiphaugh, on the north bank of the Ettrick. Montrose himself, with his horse, took up his quarters in the town.

The position thus selected by Montrose was well calculated to prevent his being taken by surprise, as Leslie, from the direction in which he had necessarily to advance, could only approach it by coming up the open vale of Philiphaugh; but unfortunately, Montrose did not, on this occasion, take those extraordinary precautions which he had been accustomed to do. It had always been his practice hitherto, to superintend in person the setting of the night watches, and to give instructions himself to the sentinels, and to the scouts he sent out, to watch the motions of the enemy; but having important letters to write to the king, which he was desirous of sending off before the break of day by a trusty messenger, he intrusted these details to his cavalry officers, whom he exhorted to great vigilance, and to take care that the scouts kept a sharp outlook for the enemy. Montrose had the utmost confidence in the wisdom and integrity of his officers, whose long experience in military affairs he had many times witnessed; and as there seemed to be no immediate danger, he thought that, for one night at least, he could safely leave the direction of affairs to such men.

While occupied during the night preparing his dispatches for the king, Montrose received several loose reports, from time to time, respecting the alleged movements of the enemy, of which he sent due notice to his officers, but he was as often assured, both by the reports of his officers and of the scouts, that not a vestige of an enemy was to be seen. Thus the night passed without any apparent foundation for the supposition that the enemy was at hand, and to make assurance doubly sure, some of the fleetest of the cavalry were sent out at break of day to reconnoitre. On their return, they stated that they had examined with care all the roads and passes for ten miles round, and solemnly averred, that there was not the least appearance of an enemy within the range they had just scoured. Yet singular as the fact may appear, Leslie was lying at that very time at Melrose, with 4,000 horse, within six miles of Montrose’s camp.

It appears that on the day of Montrose’s march from Jedburgh, General Leslie, who had a few days before crossed the Tweed at Berwick, held a council of war on Gladsmuir in East Lothian, at which it was determined that he should proceed towards Stirling to cut off Montrose’s retreat to the Highlands, whither it was supposed that he meant instantly to retire, for the purpose of obtaining reinforcements. But the council had scarcely risen, when letters were brought to Leslie, acquainting him with the low and impaired state of Montrose’s forces, and his design of marching into Dumfries-shire to procure an accession of strength. On receiving this intelligence, Leslie abandoned his plan of marching northward, and ordering his army to turn to the left, he immediately marched to the south, and entering the vale of Gala, proceeded to Melrose, where he took up his quarters for the night, intending to attack Montrose’s little band next morning, in the hope of annihilating it altogether. Both Wishart and Guthry suspect that the Earl of Traquair was the informant, and they rest their conjecture upon the circumstance of his having withdrawn during the night, (without acquainting Montrose,) the troop of horse under his son, Lord Linton; but this is not sufficient, of itself, to warrant us in charging him with such an act.

But the most extraordinary and unaccountable circumstance which preceded the battle of Philiphaugh, was, that although Leslie was within six miles of Montrose’s camp, neither the scouts nor the cavalry, who are stated to have scoured the country for four miles beyond the place where Leslie lay, could discover, as they reported, any traces of him. Did the scouts deceive Montrose, or did they not proceed in the direction of Leslie’s camp, or did they confine their perambulations within a more limited range? These are questions which it is impossible to answer with any degree of certainty. But what is to be said of the cavalry who having made their observations at day-break, and confessedly several miles beyond the enemy’s camp, returned as luckless as the midnight scouts? The only plausible answer that can be given to this question is, either that they had not visited the neighbourhood of Melrose, or that a thick mist which prevailed on the morning of the 13th of September, had concealed the enemy from their view. However, be this as it may, certain it is that owing to the thickness of the fog, Leslie was enabled to advance, unobserved, till he came within half a mile of Montrose’s head quarters. On the alarm occasioned by this sudden and unexpected appearance of the enemy, Montrose instantly sprung upon the first horse that came to hand, and galloped off to his camp. On his arrival, he fortunately found that all his men, though the hour was very early, had risen, but considerable disorder prevailed in the camp in consequence of preparations they were making for an immediate march into Dumfries-shire in terms of instructions they had received the previous evening. The cavalry, however, were quite dismounted, some of the officers were absent, and their horses were scattered through the adjoining fields taking their morning repast. Short as the time was for putting his small band in a defensive position, Montrose acted with his accustomed presence of mind, and before the enemy commenced his attack, he had succeeded in drawing up his men in order of battle, in the position which they had occupied the preceding night. Nothing but self-preservation, on which the cause of the king, his master, was chiefly dependant, could have justified Montrose in attempting to resist the powerful force now about to assail him. With about 1,000 foot and 500 horse, the greater part of which was composed of raw and undisciplined levies hastily brought into the field, and lukewarm in the cause, he had to resist the attack of a body of about 6,000 veteran troops, chiefly English cavalry, who had distinguished themselves at the battle of Marston Moor, and who, though they could make no addition to their laurels by defeating such a handful of men, may be supposed to have been especially desirous of annihilating the remains of an army which had been so long formidable and victorious.

The covenanting general began the battle by charging Montrose’s right wing, consisting of horse, with the great body of his cavalry; but so firmly was the charge received by the brave cavaliers with Montrose at their head, that the assailants were forced to retire with loss. A second charge met a similar fate. Thus foiled in their attempts on the right, they next attacked Montrose’s left wing, consisting of foot, which, after a gallant resistance, retired a little up the face of the hill, where it was posted, to avoid the attacks of the cavalry. While this struggle was going on on the left, a body of 2,000 covenanting foot which had made a circuitous route, appeared in the rear of the right wing, which they attacked. The right wing not being able to resist this force, and apprehensive that a new attack would be made upon them by the enemy’s cavalry, and that they would thus be surrounded and perhaps cut to pieces, fled from the field. The foot who had taken up a position on the side of the hill, being thus abandoned to their fate, surrendered themselves as prisoners of war after a slight resistance; but horrible to tell, they were afterwards shot by orders of the covenanting general, at the instigation, it is said, of some presbyterian ministers, who declared that no faith should be kept with such persons.

Montrose was still on the field with about 30 brave cavaliers, and witnessed the rout of one part of his army and the surrender of another, with the most poignant feelings of regret. He might have instantly retreated with safety, but he could not brook the idea of running away, and, therefore, resolved not to abandon the post of honour, but to fight to the last extremity, and to sell his life as dearly as possible. It was not long before he and his noble band were nearly surrounded by the enemy, who kept pressing so hard upon him, and in such numbers, as almost to preclude the possibility of escape. Yet they did not venture to attack Montrose and his brave associates in a body, but in detached parties, every one of which was successively repulsed with loss. As the enemy grew tired of attacking him, and seemed to be more intent upon plundering his baggage than capturing his person, Montrose saw that the danger was not so great as he supposed, and therefore he began to reflect upon the folly of sacrificing his life so long as a ray of hope remained. He had lost a battle, no doubt; but in this there was no dishonour when the disparity of his force with that of the enemy was considered. Besides, he had lost few of his men, and the Highlanders, on whom he chiefly relied, were still entire, and were ready to take the field as soon as he appeared again among them. And as to the effect which such a defeat might be supposed to have upon the adherents of the king, who were still numerous and powerful, it could be easily removed as soon as they saw him again at the head of a fresh force. That he could only expect to retrieve the present state of affairs by escaping from the present danger and raising new troops; but that if he rashly sacrificed his life the king’s affairs might be irretrievably ruined. These reflections being seconded by the Marquis of Douglas and a few trusty friends, who implored him not to throw away a life so valuable to the king and to the country, Montrose resolved to consult his safety by an immediate flight. Putting himself, therefore, at the head of his troop, he cut his way through the enemy, without the loss of a single man. They were pursued by a party of horse, some of whom they killed, and actually carried off one Bruce, a captain of horse, and two standard-bearers, with their ensigns, as prisoners. Montrose went in the direction of Peebles, which he entered about sunset, and here he was joined by various straggling parties of his men who had escaped.

Montrose lost in this engagement very few of his horse, but a considerable part of his foot was destroyed. He carried off, as we have seen, two of the enemy’s standards, and fortunately preserved his own, two in number, from the enemy. That belonging to his infantry was saved by an Irish soldier of great bravery, who, on seeing the battle lost, and the enemy in possession of the field, tore it from the pole, and, wrapping it round his body, which was without any other covering, nobly cut his way through the enemy sword in hand. He overtook Montrose at Peebles, and delivered the standard into his hands the same night. Montrose rewarded him for his bravery by appointing him one of his life-guard, and by committing the standard to his future charge. The other was preserved and delivered to Montrose by the Honourable William Hay, brother to the Earl of Kinnoul, a youth of a martial and enterprising spirit.

Montrose passed the night at Peebles, where he was joined by most of his horse and part of his infantry; but some of his officers who had mistaken their way, or fled in a different direction, were seized by the country people and delivered over to Leslie. Among these were the Earl of Hartfell, Lords Drummond and Ogilvie, Sir Robert Spottiswood, Sir Alexander Leslie of Auchintoul, Sir William Rollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, the Honourable William Murray, brother to the Earl of Tulliebardine, Alexander Ogilvie of Inverquharity, Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, and Mr. Andrew Guthry, son of the bishop of Murray.[332] Montrose left Peebles early the following morning, and, crossing the Clyde at a ford shown him by Sir John Dalziel, where he was, to his great joy, joined by the Earls of Crawford and Airly, and other noblemen who had effected their escape by a different route, he proceeded rapidly to the north, and entered Athole, after dispatching the Marquis of Douglas and the Earl of Airly into Angus, and Lord Erskine into Mar, to raise forces. Montrose then sent letters to Sir Alexander Macdonald and the Earl of Aboyne, requesting them to join him without delay, and to bring with them all the forces they could muster, to enable him to enter on a new campaign.

As soon as the members of the Committee of Estates, who had taken refuge in Berwick, heard of Montrose’s defeat at Philiphaugh, they joined Leslie’s army, which they accompanied to Edinburgh, and there concocted those measures of revenge against the unhappy royalists who had fallen into their hands, which they afterwards carried into execution. The first who suffered were Colonel O’Kean, to whose distinguished bravery at the battle of Fyvie we have already alluded, and Major Lauchlan, another brave officer. Both these were hanged, without trial, upon the Castle-hill at Edinburgh. Perhaps the circumstance of being Irishmen appeared a sufficient reason in the eyes of their enemies for dispatching them so summarily; but they were, nevertheless, the subjects of the king, and as fully entitled to all the privileges of war as the other prisoners. This hatred of the Irish by the Covenanters was not confined to the cases of these individuals. Having in their march westward to Glasgow fallen in, near Linlithgow, with a body of helpless Irish women and children, who, in consequence of the loss of their husbands and fathers at the battle of Philiphaugh, were now seeking their way home to their own country, they were all seized by orders of the heads of the Covenanters, and thrown headlong by the brutal soldiers over the bridge of Avon into the river below. Some of these unfortunate beings, who had sufficient strength left to reach the banks of the river, were not allowed to save themselves from drowning, but after being beaten on the head and stunned by blows from the butt ends of muskets and by clubs, were pushed back into the stream, where they all perished.[333] According to Gordon of Ruthven, many of the women who were with child were ripped up and cut to pieces, “with such savage and inhuman cruelty, as neither Turk nor Scythian was ever heard to have done the like.”[334]

The covenanting army continued its march to Glasgow, where a convention of the Estates was held, to determine upon farther measures. To testify their gratitude to Leslie, they granted him a present of 50,000 merks and a gold chain, and they also voted the sum of 25,000 merks to Middleton, the second in command.[335]

FOOTNOTES:

[282] Guthry, p. 141.

[283] Idem.

[284] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 447.

[285] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 522.

[286] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 301.

[287] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 452.

[288] Vol. ii. p. 457.

[289] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 462.

[290] Montrose Redivivus, p. 61.

[291] Montrose Redivivus, p. 65.

[292] Wishart, p. 127.

[293] Wishart, p. 136.

[294] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 525.

[295] Idem.

[296] Spalding.

[297] Wishart.

[298] Montrose Redivivus, p. 73.

[299] Spalding, vol. ii., p. 473. Britane’s Distemper, p. 127.

[300] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 525.

[301] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 474.

[302] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 476.

[303] Spalding, vol. ii. p. 479.

[304] Wishart, p. 145.

[305] Britane’s Distemper, p. 129.

[306] Wishart, p. 147.

[307] Wishart, p. 149.

[308] This incident is extremely doubtful; it appears to be mentioned only in the Red Book of Clanranald, while no mention is made of it in Gordon of Sallagh, Wishart, or Gordon of Ruthven.

[309] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 526.

[310] Idem.

[311] Memoirs, p. 132.

[312] Guthrie’s Memoirs, p. 150.

[313] Memoirs, p. 155.

[314] Wishart’s Memoirs, p. 159.

[315] Guthry’s Memoirs, p. 151.

[316] Wishart, p. 156.

[317] Guthry, p. 153.

[318] Idem.

[319] General Baillie’s Narrative, Baillie’s Letters, vol. ii. pp. 270, 271.

[320] Carte, vol. iv. p. 538. The author of Britane’s Distemper (p. 139) says that Montrose ordered every man to put a white shirt above his clothes. It is, however, highly probable that the narrative in the text is substantially true. Wishart (Montrose Redivivus, p. 96,) says they were ordered to throw off their doublets and “affront the enemy all in white, being naked unto the waist all but their shirts.”

[321] Britane’s Distemper, p. 140.

[322] Nimmo’s General History of Stirlingshire, p. 396.

[323] Memoirs, p. 154.

[324] Memoirs, p. 171.

[325] Memoirs, p. 174.

[326] Burnet’s Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, p. 276.

[327] Guthry’s Memoirs, p. 155.

[328] Wishart.

[329] Idem.

[330] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 528.

[331] Guthry’s Memoirs, p. 159.

[332] Guthry’s Memoirs, p. 161.

[333] Sir George Mackenzie’s Vind., vol. ii. p. 348. Gordon’s History of the Family of Gordon, vol. ii. pp. 490, 491.

[334] Britane’s Distemper, p. 160.

[335] Guthry, p. 169.

CHAPTER XV.

A.D. 1645–1649.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—Charles I., 1625–1649.

Huntly refuses to join Montrose—Aboyne joins and shortly deserts him—Executions by the Covenanters—Montrose has an interview with Huntly—Defeat of the Campbells at Callander—Meeting of the covenanting Parliament—Trials and Executions—Movements of Montrose and Huntly—General Middleton’s movements—The King escapes to the Scots army—Orders Montrose to disband his army—Montrose corresponds with the King—Interview with Middleton—Disbands his army—Embarks for the Continent—The Scotch and the King—Proceedings of General Leslie—Defeats Sir Alexander Macdonald—Surrender of Dunaverty Castle—Leslie in the Western Isles—Apprehension of Huntly—Risings in Scotland in behalf of the King—Movements of royalists under Hamilton—Rising in the West—Enter Edinburgh—Capture of Stirling and flight of Argyle—Cromwell arrives in Edinburgh—Trial and Execution of the King—Also of Hamilton and Huntly.

Montrose appeared among his Athole friends at a time the most unfavourable for obtaining their aid. Many of them were engaged in the occupation of the harvest, securing, for the support of themselves and their families, the scanty and precarious crops which were then upon the ground, and which, if neglected to be cut down in due time, might be destroyed by unfavourable weather. It was, besides, little more than a month since they had left him at Bothwell, for the purpose partly of repairing the damages which had been committed by Argyle’s men upon their houses, and the interval which had since elapsed had not been sufficient for accomplishing their object. Yet, notwithstanding these drawbacks, Montrose succeeded in inducing about 400 of the men of Athole to join him immediately, and to follow him to the north in quest of additional reinforcements; and he obtained a promise that, on his return, the whole of the Athole Highlanders would join him in a body.

While in Athole, Montrose received promises both from Lord Aboyne and Sir Alexander Macdonald, that they would speedily join him with considerable reinforcements; but, growing impatient at Aboyne’s delay, he resolved to proceed north himself to ascertain in person the cause of it, and to urge that nobleman to fulfil his promise. Crossing, therefore, the Grampians, he marched with great haste through Aberdeenshire, and had an interview with Lord Aboyne, whom he expected to rouse from his apathy. Montrose, however, soon perceived, that whatever Lord Aboyne’s own intentions were, he was thwarted by his father, the Marquis of Huntly, who, on hearing of Montrose’s success at Kilsyth, had left his retreat in Strathnaver, where he had passed a year and a half in absolute supineness, and returned to his own country. The marquis appears to have been filled with envy towards Montrose, and although, being a royalist in his heart, he did not care to expose the crown and monarchy to danger to gratify his spleen and vanity, yet he could not endure to see a man whom he looked upon as his inferior in rank, monopolize the whole power and authority in Scotland.

“He was,” says Bishop Wishart, “a man equally unfortunate and inconsiderate; and, however much he would seem, or was really attached to the king, yet he often betrayed that interest through a pride and unaccountable envy he had conceived against Montrose, whose glory and renown he endeavoured rather to extenuate than make the object of his emulation. He durst not venture to depreciate Montrose’s actions before his own people, who had been eye-witnesses of them, and were well acquainted with his abilities, lest it might be construed into a sign of disaffection to the king himself. However, he gave out that he would take the charge of commanding them himself during the remainder of the war; and in that view he headed all his own vassals, and advised his neighbours, not without threats if they acted otherwise, to enlist under no other authority than his own. They remonstrated against being asked to disobey the commands of Montrose, who was appointed by the king his deputy-governor and captain-general of all the forces within the kingdom. Huntly replied, that he himself should in no way be wanting in his duty to the king; but, in the meantime, it tended no less to their honour than his own that it should appear to the king and the whole kingdom how much they contributed to the maintenance of the war; and this, he said, could never be done, unless they composed a separate army by themselves. He spoke in very magnificent terms of his own power, and endeavoured as much as possible to extenuate that of Montrose. He extolled immoderately the glory and achievements of his ancestors, the Gordons; a race, worthy indeed of all due commendation, whose power had for many ages been formidable, and an overmatch for their neighbours; and was so even at this day. It was therefore, he said, extremely unjust to ascribe unto another, meaning Montrose, the glory and renown acquired by their courage, and at the expense of their blood. But, for the future, he would take care that neither the king should be disappointed of the help of the Gordons, nor should they be robbed of the praise due to their merit.”

Notwithstanding Huntly’s reasoning, some of his clan perceived the great danger to which the king’s affairs would be exposed by such conduct, and they did everything in their power to induce him to alter his resolution. It was, however, in vain that they represented to him the danger and impropriety of dividing the friends of the king at such a crisis, when union and harmony were so essentially necessary for accomplishing the objects they had in view, and when, by allowing petty jealousies to interfere and distract their councils, they might ruin the royal cause in Scotland. Huntly lent a deaf ear to all their entreaties, and instead of adopting the advice of his friends to support Montrose, by ordering his vassals to join him, he opposed him almost in everything he proposed by underhand means, although affecting a seeming compliance with his wishes. Seeing all their efforts fruitless, those friends who had advised Huntly to join Montrose declared that they would range themselves under Montrose’s banner, as the king’s lieutenant, regardless of consequences, and they kept their word.

The author of the history of the family of Gordon, and Gordon of Ruthven, author of Britane’s Distemper, endeavour to defend Huntly from these charges made against him by Wishart. They assert that Wishart has given only one side of the case, and that Huntly acted as he did from a genuine desire to serve the highest interests of the king, and through no envy towards Montrose. They lament that any misunderstanding should ever have arisen between these two eminent royalists, as it undoubtedly tended materially to prejudice the cause of the king. No doubt Huntly sincerely wished to serve the royal cause: but we are afraid that jealousy towards Montrose helped considerably to obscure his mental vision and prejudice his judgment.[336]

Among other reasons which induced Montrose to take the speedy step he did of marching north himself, was a report which had reached him that the king was to send from England a large body of horse to support him, and he was most anxious to collect such forces as he could to enable him to be in a condition to advance to the south, and unite with this body. In fact, the king had given orders to Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale to proceed to Scotland with a body of 1,500 horse; but they were, unfortunately, completely defeated, even before Montrose’s departure to the north, by Colonel Copley at Sherburn, with the loss of all their baggage. Digby and Langdale, accompanied by the Earls of Carnwath and Nithsdale, fled to Skipton, and afterwards to Dumfries, whence they took ship to the Isle of Man.

Notwithstanding the evasions of the Marquis of Huntly, Montrose succeeded in inducing the Earl of Aboyne to join him at Drumminor, the seat of Lord Forbes, with a force of 1,500 foot and 300 horse, all of whom appeared to be actuated by the best spirit. To remove every unfavourable impression from the mind of Montrose, Aboyne assured him with great frankness, that he and his men were ready to follow him wherever he should be pleased to lead them; that they would obey his orders; and that his brother, Lord Lewis, would also speedily join him, as he soon did, with an additional force.

On receiving this reinforcement, Montrose turned his face to the south, and marched towards Mar, where he was to be joined by forces which Lord Erskine had raised there; but he had not proceeded far, when Lord Lewis Gordon, under some pretence or other, returned home with a considerable party of horse, promising to return to the army the following day. The desertion of Lord Lewis had a most pernicious influence upon the remainder of Aboyne’s men, who, before the army had reached Alford, were greatly diminished by desertion. As the remainder showed great unwillingness to march forward, and as the desertions continued, Aboyne requested leave of absence, alleging as his reason, that his father had expressly commanded him to return to defend his possessions against a party of the enemy who were in Lower Mar, and who were threatening an attack. The demand of Aboyne excited the astonishment of Montrose, who remonstrated with him, and gave many reasons to induce him to remain. He showed that Aboyne’s apprehensions of danger were groundless, as, with the exception of a few troops of the enemy’s horse quartered in Aberdeen, there were no other forces in the north which could disturb his father’s possessions, and that these horse were too weak to attempt any thing—that by marching south, the seat of war would be transferred from the north country, and that, in this way, the Marquis of Huntly would be relieved altogether of the presence of the enemy—that it would be impossible to join the royalist forces, which were on their way from England, without crossing the Forth, and that it was only by adopting the latter step that they could ever expect to rescue their brave friends from the fangs of the Covenanters, and save their lives.

Aboyne did not attempt to answer these reasons, which were urged with Montrose’s peculiar energy, but he requested him to send some persons who had influence with his father to acquaint him with them. Donald, Lord Reay, at whose house Huntly had lived during his exile in Strathnaver, and Alexander Irvine, younger of Drum, Huntly’s son-in-law, both of whom had been indebted to Montrose for their liberty, were accordingly sent by him to the Marquis of Huntly, as the most likely persons he could select to induce Huntly to allow Aboyne to remain with the army. But all their arguments and entreaties were to no purpose. Lord Reay was so heartily ashamed at the failure of his mission, that he declined to return to Montrose; and Irvine, who brought some evasive letters from Huntly, frankly declared to Montrose, that he could obtain no satisfactory explanation from his father-in-law of his real intentions, farther, than that he remained fixed in his resolution that Aboyne should return home immediately. After declaring that he parted from Montrose with reluctance, and promising to join him within a fortnight with a force even larger than that which he had lately brought, Aboyne left the army and returned to his father.

Montrose then continued his march through Braemar and Glenshee into Athole, where he obtained an accession of force. He next proceeded to Strathearn, where he was met by two messengers,—Captain Thomas Ogilvie, younger of Pourie, and Captain Robert Nisbet,—who arrived by different routes, with orders from the king, desiring Montrose to join Lord George Digby, near the English border, as soon as possible. On receiving these commands, Montrose immediately sent the messengers north to the Marquis of Huntly, to acquaint him with the king’s wishes, in the expectation that the use of his majesty’s name would at once induce him to send Aboyne south with reinforcements.

While Montrose lay in Strathearn waiting for reinforcements, intelligence was brought to him that the Covenanters were about to imbrue their hands in the blood of his friends who had been taken prisoners after the battle of Philiphaugh. The committee of Estates, which had accompanied the covenanting army to Glasgow, had now determined upon this bold and illegal step, for which hitherto, with the recent exceptions of O’Kean and Laughlane, no example had been set by either of the belligerent parties in Scotland since the commencement of the war. They had wisely abstained from staining the scaffolds with blood, but from different motives. Montrose, in general, refrained from inflicting capital punishment, and, as we have seen, often released his prisoners on parole. The heads of the Covenanters had been deterred by fear alone from carrying their bloody purposes into execution; but considering that they had now nothing to fear, they soon appeared in their true colours.

Besides the committee of the Estates, a committee of the kirk held sittings in Glasgow at the same time, which sittings were afterwards transferred to Perth, where, after deposing some ministers who were considered disaffected to the Covenant, because they had not “mourned” for Montrose’s victory at Kilsyth, they “concerned” themselves, as Guthry observes, about “the disposition of men’s heads.” Accordingly, thinking the committee of Estates remiss in condemning and executing the prisoners, they appointed Mr. William Bennet, who acted as Moderator in the absence of Mr. Robert Douglas, and two others of their number, to wait upon the committee of Estates, and remonstrate with them for their supineness. Guthry relates, that the deputation reported on their return, in his own hearing, that some of the lords of the committee slighted the desire of the committee of the kirk, and that they were likely to have obtained nothing had not the Earl of Tulliebardine made a seasonable speech to the effect, “that because he had a brother among those men, it might be that their lordships so valued his concurrence with them in the good cause, that for respect of him they were the more loth to resolve upon the question. But that, as for himself, since that young man had joined with that wicked crew, he did not esteem him his brother, and therefore declared that he would take it for no favour if upon that account any indulgence was granted him.”[337],[338] This fratricidal speech made those members of the committee, who had disliked the shedding of blood, hang down their heads, according to Bennet’s report, and the committee, thereupon, resolved that 10 of the prisoners should be executed, viz., the Earl of Hartfell, Lord Ogilvie, Sir Robert Spottiswood, the Honourable William Murray, brother to the Earl of Tulliebardine, Alexander Ogilvie of Inverquharity, Sir William Rollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, Adjutant Stewart, and Captain Andrew Guthry.

Apprehensive, however, that Montrose might still be in a condition to avenge the blood of his friends, the committee did not venture to carry their sentence into immediate execution upon any of them; but hearing of the division between Montrose and Huntly, and the desertion of the Gordons, they thought they might now safely venture to immolate a few victims at the shrine of the Covenant. Accordingly three of the prisoners were ordered for execution, viz., Sir William Rollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, chief of that name, and Alexander Ogilvie, younger of Inverquharity, a youth not quite 18 years of age, who had already given proofs of ability. This excellent young man was sacrificed to gratify the malignant animosity of Argyle at the Ogilvies. Sir William was executed at the market cross of Glasgow, on the 28th of October, and Sir Philip and Ogilvie suffered at the same place on the following day. Wishart relates a circumstance connected with Sir William Rollock’s condemnation, which exhibits a singular instance of the ferocity and fanaticism of the times. He says, that the chief crime laid to Sir William’s charge was, that he had not perpetrated a deed of the most villanous and atrocious nature. Having been sent by Montrose, after the battle of Aberdeen, with some despatches to the king, he was apprehended by the enemy, and would undoubtedly have been immediately executed, but for Argyle, who used all his endeavours to engage him to assassinate Montrose, and who at length, by threatening him with immediate death, and promising him, in case of compliance, very high rewards, prevailed on him to undertake that barbarous office, for which, however, he secretly entertained the utmost abhorrence. Having thereby obtained his life and liberty, he returned straight to Montrose and disclosed the whole matter to him, entreating him, at the same time, to look more carefully to his own safety; as it could not be supposed that he, Sir William, was the only person who had been practised upon in this shameful manner or that others would equally detest the deed, but that some persons would undoubtedly be found who, allured with the bait, would use their utmost industry and pains to obtain the promised reward.[339] Another instance of fanaticism is related by Guthry, of David Dickson the “bloody preacher,” who, on witnessing the execution of Nisbet and Ogilvie, was heard to utter the barbarous expression—“The work goes bonnyly on,” an expression which afterwards became proverbial.

About the time this tragedy was performing, Montrose crossed the Forth and entered Lennox with a force of 300 horse and 1,200 foot, and took up his quarters on the lands of Sir John Buchanan, an ardent Covenanter, whence he sent out his cavalry every day, who hovered about Glasgow, and plundered the neighbouring country without opposition, although the Covenanters had a force of about 3,000 cavalry in Glasgow and the neighbourhood. When Montrose heard of the execution of his friends, his heart was filled with the most poignant grief, and he longed for a suitable opportunity to avenge their deaths, but he was too weak to venture upon an immediate attack. He sent repeated messengers from his present head-quarters to Sir Alexander Macdonald to join him; but after hovering several weeks about Glasgow, like a hawk ready to pounce upon its quarry, he had the mortification to find, that Macdonald had no intention of ever again returning to him, and that his expectations of being joined by the Earl of Aboyne were to be equally disappointed.

Under these untoward circumstances, therefore, and as the winter, which turned out unusually severe, was far advanced, Montrose resolved to retire into the north where he could remain undisturbed. With this view he began his march from the Lennox on the 19th of November, and crossing the hills of Monteith, which were covered with snow to a considerable depth, he entered Strathearn, and crossing the Tay, marched into Athole. Here Montrose received the melancholy news of the death of his brother-in-law, Archibald Lord Napier of Merchiston, whom he had left behind him in Athole on account of indisposition; a man, says Bishop Wishart, “not less noble in his personal accomplishments than in his birth and descent; a man of the greatest uprightness and integrity, and of a most happy genius, being, as to his skill in the sciences, equal to his father and grandfather, who were famous all the world over for their knowledge in philosophy and mathematics, and in the doctrine of civil prudence far beyond them.” Montrose had been accustomed from his earliest years to look up to this gifted nobleman with feelings of reverential and filial awe, nor were these feelings impaired as he advanced in life. He was interred in the Kirk of Blair with becoming solemnity by Montrose.

When Montrose arrived in Athole, he there found Captain Ogilvie and Captain Nisbet, who had just returned from the north to give an account of their embassy to the Marquis of Huntly. They reported that they found him quite inflexible in his determination not to send assistance to Montrose, that he had spoken disdainfully to them, and even questioned the authenticity of the message which they brought from the king. It was truly grievous for Montrose to see the cause for which he had fought so long, and for which he had encountered so many personal risks, thus endangered by the apparently wilful and fatal obstinacy of an individual who had abandoned his country and his friends in the most trying circumstances, and skulked in Strathnaver, without showing any inclination to support the tottering throne of his sovereign. But Montrose did not yet despair of bringing the marquis to a due sense of his duty; and as he considered that it was more expedient, in the present conjuncture, to endeavour to soothe the wounded pride of the marquis than to use the language of menace, he sent Sir John Dalziel to Huntly with a message of peace and reconciliation; intending, if necessary, as soon as circumstances permitted, to follow him, and enforce by his personal presence, at a friendly conference, which Sir John was requested to ask from the marquis, the absolute necessity of such a reconciliation.

As Dalziel was quite unsuccessful in his mission, and could not prevail upon Huntly to agree to a conference with Montrose, the latter hastened to put into effect his intention of paying a personal visit to Huntly, “that nothing might be unattempted to bring him to a right way of thinking,” and “by heaping favours and benefits upon him, force him even against his will, to a reconciliation, and to co-operate with him in promoting the king’s affairs.”[340] Montrose accordingly left Athole with his army in the month of December, and marching into Angus, crossed the Grampians, then covered with frost and snow, by rapid marches, and arrived in Strathbogie, before Huntly was aware of his movements. To avoid Montrose, Huntly immediately shut himself up in his castle of Bog of Gicht, on the Spey, but Montrose having left his head-quarters with a troop of horse, unexpectedly surprised him very early in the morning before he had time to secrete himself. Instead of reproaching Huntly with his past conduct, Montrose spoke to him in the most affable manner, and apparently succeeded in removing his dissatisfaction so far, that a plan for conducting the future operations of the army was agreed upon between them. The reduction of the garrison of Inverness, which, though strong and well fortified, was but scantily stored with provisions, and an attempt to induce the Earl of Seaforth to join them, were the leading parts of this plan. Accordingly, while Montrose was to march through Strathspey, on his way to Inverness, it was agreed that Huntly should also advance upon it by a different road along the sea-coast of Morayshire, and thereby hem in the garrison on both sides.

In prosecution of this design, Montrose proceeded through Strathspey, and sat down before Inverness, waiting for the arrival of Huntly. When marching through Strathspey, Montrose received intelligence that Athole was threatened with a visit from the Campbells—a circumstance which induced him to despatch Graham of Inchbrakie and John Drummond, younger of Balloch, to that country, for the purpose of embodying the Athole Highlanders, who had remained at home, in defence of their country. The inhabitants of Argyle, on hearing of Sir Alexander Macdonald’s arrival in their country, after the battle of Kilsyth, had fled to avoid his vengeance, and concealed themselves in caverns or in the clefts of the rocks; but being compelled by the calls of hunger to abandon their retreats, they had been collected together by Campbell of Ardkinlass to the number of about 1,200, and had attacked the Macgregors and Macnabs for favouring Montrose. Being joined by the Stuarts of Balquidder, the Menzieses, and other partisans of Argyle, to the number of about 300, they meditated an invasion of Athole, and had advanced as far as Strathample, with the intention of carrying their design into execution, when intelligence was brought to Inchbrakie of their approach. Inchbrakie and Balloch had by this time collected a body of 700 able-bodied men, and, with this force, they immediately proceeded to meet the Campbells. These had laid siege to Castle Ample; but, on being apprised of the advance of the Athole-men, they retired to Monteith, whither they were hotly pursued by the Athole-men, who overtook them at Callander, near the village of Monteith. After crossing the river Teith, they halted and prepared for battle, having previously stationed a large party of musketeers to guard the ford.

Having ascertained the strength and position of the Campbells, Inchbrakie ordered 100 of his men to advance to the ford, as if with the intention of crossing it, in order to draw the attention of the Campbells to this single point, while, with the remainder of his men, he hastened to cross the river by another ford, higher up, and nearer the village. This movement was immediately perceived by the Argyle-men, who, alarmed at such a bold step, and probably thinking that the Athole-men were more numerous than they really were, abandoned their position, and fled with precipitation towards Stirling. As soon as the Athole party, stationed at the lower ford, saw the opposite bank deserted, they immediately crossed the river and attacked the rear of the retiring Campbells. They were soon joined in the pursuit by the party which had crossed the higher ford; but, as the Athole-men had performed a tedious march of ten miles that morning, they were unable to continue the pursuit far. About 80 of the Campbells were killed in the pursuit. They loitered about Stirling for some time in a very pitiful state, till visited by their chief, on his way to Ireland, who, not knowing how to dispose of them, led them into Renfrewshire, under the impression that as the inhabitants of that district were friendly to the Covenant, they would be well received; but the people of Renfrewshire, instead of showing sympathy for these unfortunate wanderers, threatened to take arms and cut them down, unless they departed immediately. The marquis, thereupon, sent them into Lennox, and quartered them upon the lands of Lord Napier and other “malignants,” as the royalists were called.[341]

The support of General Leslie’s army being heavily felt by the people, complaints were made to the Committee of Estates for retaining such a large body of men in Scotland, without any necessity, and whose habits and mode of living were so different from those of the inhabitants of North Britain. The Committee sent Leslie back to England, retaining only a small brigade under General Middleton, to watch the motions of Montrose.

The Covenanters, emboldened by recent events, had summoned a parliament to meet at St. Andrews, which accordingly assembled on the 26th of November, 1645; and, that the ministers might not be behind their lay brethren in zeal for the blood of the “malignants,” the general assembly of the church also met at the same time and place. It is truly humiliating to find men, no doubt sincerely believing they were serving the cause of religion, demanding the lives of their countrymen as a sacrifice which they considered would be well-pleasing to God; yet, whilst every unprejudiced mind must condemn the fanaticism of the Covenanters, it must be remembered that the unconstitutional attempts of the king to force Episcopacy upon them—a system which they detested,—the severe losses which they had sustained from the arms of Montrose, and the dread of being subjected to the yoke of prelacy, and punished for their resistance, had aroused them to a state of frenzy, over which reason and religion could have little control.

As a preparative for the bloody scenes about to be enacted, Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston, on the day the parliament met, addressed the house in a long harangue, in which he entreated them to “unity amongst themselves, to lay all private respects and interests aside, and to do justice on delinquents and malignants; showing that their dallying formerly had provoked God’s two great servants against them—the sword and plague of pestilence—which had ploughed up the land with deep furrows: he showed that the massacre of Kilsyth was never to be forgotten, and that God, who was the just Judge of the world, would not but judge righteously, and keep in remembrance that sea of innocent blood which lay before his throne, crying for vengeance on these bloodthirsty rebels, the butchers of so many innocent souls. He showed, likewise, that the times required a more narrow and sharp looking into than formerly, in respect that the house of parliament was become at this present like to Noah’s ark, which had in it both foul and clean creatures, and therefore he besought the Estates there now convened by God’s especial permission and appointment, before that they went about the constitution of that high court of parliament, that they would make a serious search and inquiry after such as were ears and eyes to the enemies of the commonwealth, and did sit there as if there was nothing to say to them; and, therefore, he humbly desired that the house might be adjourned till to-morrow at two o’clock in the afternoon, and that the several Estates might consider what corrupted members were amongst them, who had complied with the public enemy of the state, either by themselves or by their agents or friends.”[342]

On the 4th of December, a petition was presented to the parliament from the prisoners confined in the castle of St. Andrews, praying to be tried either by their peers, the justice-general, or before the whole parliament, and not by a committee, as proposed; and they very properly objected to Sir Archibald Johnston’s sitting as a judge, he having already prejudged their case; but the house, “in one voice,” most iniquitously rejected the petition, reserving, however, to the prisoners still to object to Sir Archibald before the committee, “if they had not any personal exception against his person.”[343]

As the ministers considered the parliament tardy in their proceedings against the royalists, the commissioners of the general assembly presented, on the 5th of December, a remonstrance, praying them “for justice upon delinquents and malignants who had shed the blood of their brethren,” and on the same day, four petitions and remonstrances to the same effect were presented to the parliament, from the provincial assemblies and from Fife, Dumfries, Merse, Teviotdale, and Galloway, by a body of about 200 persons. The parliament, says Balfour, by their president, answered, that they had taken their “modest petitions and seasonable remonstrances very kindly, and rendered them hearty thanks, and wished them to be confident that, with all alacrity and diligence, they would go about and proceed in answering the expectations of all their reasonable desires, as they might themselves perceive in their procedure hitherto; and, withal, he entreated them, in the name of the house, that they would be earnest with God to implore and beg his blessing to assist and encourage them to the performance of what they demanded.”[344]

Notwithstanding the entreaties of the ministers to proceed with the condemnation of the prisoners, the parliament postponed proceedings till the 17th of January, 1646; but, as a peace-offering, they ordered, in the mean time, some Irish prisoners, composed partly of those who had been taken at Philiphaugh, and who had escaped assassination, and partly of stragglers who had been picked up after that battle, and who were confined in various prisons throughout the kingdom, especially in those of Selkirk, Jedburgh, Glasgow, Dumbarton, and Perth, to be executed without trial, “conform to the treaty betwixt both kingdoms.”[345] A more illegal act it is scarcely possible to conceive, but in these times even the forms of justice were set aside.

The Committee of Estates, when sitting in Glasgow, had condemned the Earl of Hartfell and Lord Ogilvie to death, along with Sir William Rollock, Sir Philip Nisbet, and Alexander Ogilvie; but, for some reason or other, their execution was deferred. So that, with the exception of Adjutant Stuart, who escaped while under the charge of General Middleton, there remained only four persons of any note for condemnation, viz., Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, Sir Robert Spottiswood, the Honourable William Murray, and Captain Guthry. It appears from the parliamentary register of Sir James Balfour, that these four prisoners pleaded exemption from trial, or rather from condemnation, on the ground of “quarters;” but after three hours’ debate, on the 10th of January, the parliament overruled this defence; and the committee having, of course, found them all “guilty of high treason against the states of the kingdom,” they fixed the 16th of that month for taking into consideration the punishment to be inflicted upon them.

The first case taken up on the appointed day, was that of Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, who, after a debate of three hours’ duration, was sentenced to be beheaded at the cross of St. Andrews, on Tuesday, the 20th of January, at twelve o’clock, noon, and his lands and goods were declared forfeited to the public. The lord chancellor declined voting. Similar sentences were pronounced upon the Honourable William Murray and Captain Guthry, by a majority of votes, a few of the members having voted that they should be imprisoned during life. Mr. Murray’s brother, the Earl of Tulliebardine, absented himself. These three fell under an act passed the preceding year, declaring that all persons who, after having subscribed the Covenant, should withdraw from it, should be held as guilty of high treason. But the case of Sir Robert Spottiswood, who had not subscribed the Covenant, not falling within the scope of this ex-post-facto law, the committee had stated in a special report the grounds on which they found Sir Robert guilty of high treason, namely, 1st, that he had advised, docketed, signed, carried, and delivered to Montrose the commission appointing him “lieutenant-governor and captain-general” of all his majesty’s forces in Scotland; and 2dly, that he had been taken in arms against the country at Philiphaugh. After a lengthened debate, the parliament decided that both these charges were capital offences, and accordingly Sir Robert was condemned by a large majority to lose his head.[346]

It was the intention of the parliament to have ordered the Earl of Hartfell and Lord Ogilvie to be executed along with the other prisoners; but on the evening of the 19th of January Lord Ogilvie effected his escape in the following way. Pretending sickness he applied for, and obtained, though with considerable difficulty, liberty to his mother, wife, and sister, to visit and attend him in prison. On entering his chamber the sentinels retired out of respect to the ladies; and, as soon as the door was shut, his lordship jumped out of bed, and attired himself in his sister’s clothes, who, on undressing, took the place of her brother in bed, and put on his night-cap. After spending some time together to prevent suspicion, the two other ladies and his lordship, after opening the door ajar so as to be seen by the guards, pretended to take a most affectionate and painful leave of the unfortunate bed-ridden prisoner, and drawing the door after them, passed the sentinels without interruption. This happened about eight o’clock in the evening; and as horses had been prepared for his lordship and two companions who were waiting to escort him, he immediately mounted, and was out of all danger before next morning, when the deception was discovered. The escape of Lord Ogilvie highly incensed Argyle, who hated the Ogilvies, and who, it is said, longed for the death of his lordship. He could not conceal the chagrin he felt on the occasion, and even had the audacity to propose that the three ladies should be immediately punished; but the Hamiltons and Lord Lindsay, who, on account of their relationship to Lord Ogilvie, were suspected of being privy to his escape, protected them from his vengeance. The escape of Lord Ogilvie was a fortunate occurrence for the Earl of Hartfell, for whose life it is alleged the Hamiltons thirsted in their turn; and to disappoint whom Argyle insisted that the earl’s life should be spared, a concession which he obtained.[347]

Of the four prisoners, Colonel Nathaniel Gordon, “a man,” says Wishart, “of excellent endowments both of body and mind,” was the first that suffered. He had been long under the ban of the church for adultery; but on signing a paper, declaratory of his repentance, he was absolved from the sentence of excommunication. He died expressing great sorrow for the vices and follies of his youth; but vindicated himself for the part he had taken in the troubles of his country, professed the most unshaken loyalty to his king, and declared that if there were any thing in the instrument he had signed which might be construed as dishonourable to the king, or repugnant to his authority, he completely disowned it.

Colonel Gordon was followed to the scaffold by Sir Robert Spottiswood, a man of spotless integrity, and one of the most profound scholars of the age. He was the eldest son of Archbishop Spottiswood, and had, by his rare endowments and great merit, been noticed with distinction by King James and his successor Charles. James conferred on him the order of knighthood, and made him a privy councillor, and Charles promoted him to the high situation of lord president of the court of session; and, upon the desertion of the Earl of Lanark to the Covenanters, the king appointed him principal secretary of state for Scotland instead of that nobleman. This appointment drew down upon him the hatred of the leading Covenanters, but still there were some among them who continued to respect him on account of his worth and shining talents; and when the vote was taken in parliament whether he should suffer, the Earls of Eglintoun, Cassilis, Dunfermline, and Carnwath, voted that his life should be spared; and the lord chancellor and the Earl of Lanark, by leave of the house, declined voting. “Though many liked not his party, they liked his person, which made him many friends even among the Covenanters, insomuch, that after his sentence was read, some of the nobility spoke in his behalf, and entreated the house to consider the quality and parts of that excellent gentleman and most just judge, whom they had condemned, and begged earnestly his life might be spared. But an eminent knowledge and esteem, which, in other cases, might be a motive to save a criminal, was here only the cause of taking an innocent man’s life—so dangerous is it, in a corrupt age, to be eminently constant and virtuous. The gentlemen who spoke were told that the authority of the established government was not secure while Sir Robert’s life was spared. Whereupon the noblemen who presided at the meeting of the estates at Glasgow, and in the parliament at St. Andrews, openly declared, when they signed the respective sentences, that they did sign as preses, and in obedience to the command of the estates, but not as to their particular judgment.”[348]

After he had mounted the scaffold, still reeking with the blood of Colonel Gordon, Sir Robert surveyed the terrific scene around him with singular composure, which, added to his naturally grave and dignified appearance, filled the breasts of the spectators with a feeling of compassion. Sir Robert had intended to have addressed the people, and had prepared a written speech for the occasion; but on turning round to address the spectators, he was prevented from proceeding by the provost of St. Andrews, formerly a servant of Sir Robert’s father, who had been instigated to impose silence upon him by Robert Blair, one of those ministers who, to the scandal of religion, had dishonoured their profession by calling out for the blood of their countrymen. Blair’s motive in occasioning this interruption is said to have arisen from a dread he entertained that Sir Robert would expose the designs of the Covenanters, and impress the bystanders with an unfavourable opinion of their proceedings. Sir Robert bore the interruption with the most unruffled composure, and, as he saw no chance of succeeding, he threw the manuscript of his speech amongst the crowd, and applied himself to his private devotions. But here again he was annoyed by the officious impertinence of Blair, who rudely asked him whether he (Blair) and the people should pray for the salvation of his soul? To this question Sir Robert answered, that he indeed desired the prayers of the people; but knowing the bloodthirsty character of the man he was addressing, who had come to tease him in his last moments, he told him that he “would have no concern with his prayers, which he believed were impious, and an abomination unto God; adding, that of all the plagues with which the offended majesty of God had scourged the nation, this was certainly by far the greatest, greater than even the sword, fire, or pestilence; that for the sins of the people God had sent a lying spirit into the mouths of the prophets.”[349] This answer raised the fury of Blair, who assailed Sir Robert with the most acrimonious imputations, and reviled the memory of his father by the most infamous charges; but Sir Robert was too deeply absorbed in meditation to regard such obloquy. Having finished his devotions, this great and good man, after uttering these words, “Merciful Jesus! gather my soul unto thy saints and martyrs who have run before me in this race,” laid his neck upon the fatal block, and in an instant his head was severed from his body.

After Sir Robert Spottiswood’s execution, Captain Guthry, son of the ex-bishop of Moray, was next led to the scaffold. The fierce and unfeeling Blair, who had already officiously witnessed, with the most morbid complacency, the successive executions of Colonel Gordon and Sir Robert, not satisfied with reviling the latter gentleman in his last moments, and lacerating his feelings by heaping every sort of obloquy upon the memory of his father, vented the dregs of his impotent rage upon the unfortunate victim now before him; but Guthry bore all this man’s reproaches with becoming dignity, and declared that he considered it an honour to die in defence of the just cause of his sovereign. He met his death with the fortitude of a hero and the firmness of a Christian.

In consequence of an application to the parliament by the Earl of Tulliebardine, the execution of his brother, William Murray, was delayed till the 23d of January. The case of this unfortunate young man excited a strong feeling of regret among the Covenanters themselves, and some writers have not scrupled to blame the earl as the cause of his death, that he might succeed to his patrimony. Some countenance is afforded to this conjecture from the circumstance that the earl not only made no exertions to save his brother from condemnation, but that he even absented himself from parliament the day that his brother’s case came to be discussed, when, by his presence or his vote, he might have saved his brother’s life. Nor is this supposition, it is contended, in any shape weakened by the attempt he afterwards made to get off his brother; for he must have known that the parliament had gone too far to retract, and could not, without laying itself open to the charge of the grossest partiality, reprieve Mr. Murray, and allow their sentence to be carried into execution against the other prisoners. If true, however, that the earl delivered the speech imputed to him by Bennet, there can be no doubt of his being a participator in the death of his brother, but, it would be hard to condemn him on such questionable authority. To whatever cause it was owing, Mr. Murray was not, during his last moments, subjected to the annoyances of Blair, nor was he prevented from delivering the following speech to the persons assembled to witness his execution. He spoke in a loud tone of voice as follows: “I hope, my countrymen, you will reckon that the house of Tulliebardine, and the whole family of Murray, have this day acquired a new and no small addition of honour; that a young man, descended of that ancient race, has, though innocent, and in the flower of his age, with the greatest readiness and cheerfulness, delivered up his life for his king, the father of his country, and the most munificent patron and benefactor of that family from which he is sprung. Let not my honoured mother, my dearest sisters, my kindred or my friends, lament the shortness of my life, seeing that it is abundantly recompensed by the honour of my death. Pray for my soul, and God be with you.”[350]

Many prisoners, but of less note, still remained to be disposed of; but the parliament, either averse to shed more blood, or from other considerations, took no steps against them. The committee of the kirk, however, being actuated by other motives, pressed the parliament to dispose of some more of the “malignants;” but the bloody zeal of these clerical enthusiasts was checked by the better sense of the parliament; and in order to get rid of their importunities for blood, a suggestion was made to them by the leading men in parliament to lay before them an “overture,” proposing some more lenient mode of punishment. The “godly” brotherhood soon met, but a considerable difference of opinion prevailing as to the nature of the punishment to be submitted to parliament in the proposed overture, the moderator asked David Dickson what he thought best to be done with the prisoners, who answered “in his homely way of speaking, ‘shame them and herry (plunder) them.’” This proposal, being adopted, was made the subject of an overture, which was accordingly presented to parliament; and to meet the views of the ministers, a remit was made to a large committee, which was appointed to meet at Linlithgow, on the 25th of February, to fix the amount of the fines to be imposed upon the different delinquents.

While the proceedings before detailed were going on at St. Andrews, Montrose was ineffectually endeavouring to reduce the garrison of Inverness, the acquisition of which would have been of some importance to him. Had the Marquis of Huntly kept his promise, and joined Montrose, its capture might have been effected; but that nobleman never made his appearance, and as Inverness was thus left open on the side which it was intended he should block up, the enemy were enabled to supply themselves with provisions and warlike stores, of which they stood in great need. Huntly, however, afterwards crossed the Spey, and entered Moray with a considerable force; but instead of joining Montrose, who repeatedly sent for him, he wasted his time in fruitless enterprises, besieging and taking a few castles of no importance.

As Huntly probably did not think that the capture of a few obscure castles was sufficient to establish his pretensions as Montrose’s rival, he resolved to seize Aberdeen, and had advanced on his way as far as Kintore, where he was met by Ludovick Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, who had retired from the Mearns, where he had been stationed with Montrose’s horse, on hearing of the approach of the parliamentary army under the command of General Middleton towards Aberdeen. This intelligence was quite sufficient to induce the marquis to desist from his enterprise. Lindsay then marched into Buchan, and burnt the town of Fraserburgh. He, thereafter, went to Banff, but was compelled to retire hastily into Moray with some loss in February 1646, by a division of Middleton’s army under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Montgomery and Major David Barclay.[351]

About this time intelligence was brought to Montrose that General Middleton had arrived at Aberdeen with a force of 600 horse and 800 foot. He now renewed his entreaties to Huntly to join him immediately, that they might either reduce Inverness or march jointly upon Aberdeen and attack Middleton; Huntly, however, refused to accede to Montrose’s request. This refusal exasperated Montrose to such a degree that he resolved to have recourse to force to compel compliance, as he could no longer endure to see the authority of the sovereign, whose deputy he was, thus trampled upon and despised. As he had already brought over to his side the Earl of Seaforth, who had induced the heads of some of the principal clans to form a confederation for obtaining a national peace, he was fully in a condition to have reduced Huntly to obedience. Montrose having got a new commission, sent a copy of it to Huntly, and, as governor and general of the royal forces, charged him to come without delay, with his whole force to Inverness, and there receive further orders. Huntly appears to have made preparations for complying with this order, but Middleton’s sudden advance on Inverness induced him to alter his purpose.[352]

Wishart relates rather an incredible story respecting an alleged piece of treachery on the part of Lord Lewis Gordon on this occasion. He states that, as Montrose had no reliance on Huntly, and as he began now to think it high time to look more carefully to his own safety, lest Huntly’s malice might at last carry him the length even to betray him, he sent three troops of horse to the fords of the Spey to watch the motions of the enemy, with orders, if they approached, to send him immediate intimation of their movements. This body, it is said, occupied the most convenient stations, and watched with very great diligence for some time, till Lord Lewis, who then kept the castle of Rothes, having contrived his scheme of villany, assured the officers who commanded the horse, that the enemy was very far distant, and had no intention to pass the river; he, therefore, advised them to cease watching, and having invited them to the castle where they were sumptuously entertained by him, plied with wine and spirits, and detained till such time as Lord Middleton had crossed the Spey with a large army of horse and foot, and penetrated far into Moray, he dismissed his guests with these jeering remarks—“Go, return to your general Montrose, who will now have better work than he had at Selkirk.” Gordon of Ruthven, however, contradicts this very improbable story, and attributes Middleton’s unmolested crossing of the Spey to the negligence of the troops who guarded the passage; asserting that Lord Lewis knew nothing of it till Mortimer, one of the captains in command of the troops, appeared at Rothes to tell him that Middleton was on the other side of the Spey on his way to Inverness. Moreover such a statement carries its own condemnation upon the face of it, for even supposing that Montrose’s officers had acted the stupid part imputed to them, they would certainly not have forgotten their duty so far as to order their men to abandon their posts.

It was in the month of May, 1646, that General Middleton left Aberdeen at the head of his army, on his way to Inverness. He left behind him in Aberdeen a regiment of horse, and another of foot, for the protection of the town, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Montgomery. Middleton made a rapid march, and arrived in the neighbourhood of Inverness on the 9th of May, driving before him the few troops of horse which Montrose had stationed on the Spey to watch his motions. On being warned of Middleton’s approach, Montrose drew his troops together, and took up a position at some distance from the town; but having ascertained that Middleton was strong in cavalry, he hastily crossed the river Ness. Middleton, thereupon, despatched two regiments of cavalry after him, who attacked his rear, cut off some of his men, and captured two pieces of cannon and part of his baggage. Montrose continued his retreat by Beauly into Ross-shire, whither he was pursued by Middleton, who, however, suffered some loss in the pursuit. As Montrose’s forces were far inferior, in point of numbers, to those of Middleton, he avoided coming to an engagement, and as Seaforth’s men, who had joined Montrose at Inverness, under their chief, began to desert him in great numbers, and as he could not depend on the population by which he was surrounded, Montrose turned to the right, and passing by Lochness, marched through Strathglass and Stratherrick to the banks of the Spey. Middleton did not follow Montrose, but went and laid siege to the castle of the Earl of Seaforth in the canonry of Ross, which he took after a siege of four days. He behaved towards the Countess of Seaforth, who was within the castle, with great politeness, and restored it to her after taking away the ammunition which it contained.

The absence of Middleton from Aberdeen afforded Huntly an opportunity of accomplishing the design which he formerly entertained, till prevented by the approach of Middleton from the south, of taking Aberdeen, and accordingly he ordered his men to march from Deeside to Inverury, where he appointed a general rendezvous to be held on the 10th of May. Colonel Montgomery being aware of his motions, beat up his quarters the same night at Kintore with a party of horse, and killed some of his men. But Montgomery was repulsed by Lord Lewis Gordon, with some loss, and forced to retire to Aberdeen. The marquis appeared at the gates of Aberdeen at 12 o’clock on the following day, with a force of 1,500 Highland foot and 600 horse, and stormed it in three different places. The garrison defended themselves with courage, and twice repulsed the assailants, in which contest a part of the town was set on fire; but a fresh reinforcement having entered the town, under Lord Aboyne, the attack was renewed, and Montgomery and his horse were forced to retire down to the edge of the river Dee, which they crossed by swimming. The covenanting foot, after taking refuge in the tolbooth and in the houses of the Earl Marischal and Menzies of Pitfoddles, craved quarter and surrendered at discretion. Although, the city of Aberdeen had done nothing to incur Huntly’s displeasure, he allowed his Highlanders to pillage it. About twenty officers were taken prisoners, among whom were Colonels Hurry, Barclay, and David Leighton; besides Sir William Forbes of Craigievar, and other country gentlemen, particularly of the name of Forbes; but they were all released next day on their parole of honour not to serve against the king in future. There were killed on the side of the Covenanters, Colonel William Forbes, Captain Lockhart, son of Sir James Lockhart of Lee, and three captains of foot, besides a number of privates; but Huntly lost only about twenty men.

Old Aberdeen in the 17th century.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ (1693).

As Huntly’s force was considerably reduced by the return of the Highlanders, who had accompanied him, to their own houses, with the booty which they had collected in Aberdeen, and, as he was apprehensive of the immediate return of Middleton from the north, he remained but a short time in Aberdeen. Marching up the north bank of the Dee, he encamped in Cromar; but the sudden appearance of Middleton, who, on hearing of Huntly’s advance on Aberdeen, had retraced his steps and re-crossed the Spey, made him retire into Mar. Middleton, after pursuing him for a short distance, returned to Aberdeen, which he found had suffered severely from Huntly’s visit.

After an ineffectual attempt by Montrose to obtain an interview with Huntly at the bog of Gight, whither he had gone after Middleton’s return to Aberdeen, Montrose resolved to make a tour through the Highlands, in the hope that he would be able, by his personal presence, and by promising suitable rewards, to induce the clans to rise in defence of their sovereign; but with the determination, in case of refusal, to enforce obedience to his commands. This resolution was not taken by Montrose, without the concurrence of some of his best friends, who promised to aid him by every means in their power, in carrying it into effect. In pursuance of his design, Montrose was just about setting out on his proposed journey, when, on the last day of May, a messenger arrived with a letter from the king, requesting him to disband his forces, and to retire, himself, to France, where he would receive “further directions.” After the disastrous battle of Naseby, which was fought on the 14th of June, 1644, between the English royalists and the parliamentary forces, the campaign in England, on the part of the king, “presented little more than the last and feeble struggles of an expiring party.”[353] The king had been enabled, in consequence of the recall of the horse, which had reached Nottingham, on their way to Hereford, under General David Leslie, after the battle of Kilsyth, to drive the parliamentary infantry back from the siege of Hereford; but the surrender of Bristol to the forces of the parliament, on the 10th of September, and the defeat of the royalists at Chester, on the 23d of the same month, completed the ruin of the king’s affairs. Having shut himself up in Oxford, for the last time, in November following, Charles, after the discovery of the secret treaty with the Catholics of Ireland, which had been entered into by the Earl of Glamorgan, endeavoured to negotiate with the English parliament in the expectation that if he could gain either the presbyterians or independents over to his side, by fair promises, he would be enabled to get the upper hand of both.[354] That negotiation, however, not succeeding, another was set on foot, through the medium of Montrevil, the French envoy, with the Scots army before Newark, the leaders of which offered an asylum to the king on certain conditions. At length Charles, undetermined as to the course he should pursue, on hearing of the approach of the parliamentary army, under Fairfax, left Oxford at midnight, on the 27th of April, 1646, in the disguise of a servant, accompanied by Mr. Ashburnham and Dr. Hudson, a clergyman, and, after traversing the neighbouring country, arrived at Southwell on the 5th of May, where he was introduced by Montrevil to the Earl of Leven, the commander of the Scots army, and the officers of his staff. The arrival of the king seemed to surprise the officers very much, although it is generally supposed that they had been made previously aware of his intentions by Hudson, who had preceded him, and they treated him with becoming respect, the commander tendering his bare sword upon his knee;[355] but when Charles, who had retained Leven’s sword, indicated his intention to take the command of the army, by giving orders to the guard, that crafty veteran unhesitatingly thus addressed him:—“I am the older soldier, Sire, your majesty had better leave that office to me.”[356] The king was, in fact, now a prisoner. As soon as the intelligence reached the capital, that the king had retired to the Scots camp, the two parliamentary factions united in accusing the Scots of perfidy, and sent a body of 5,000 horse to watch their motions; but the Scots being desirous to avoid hostilities, raised their camp before Newark, and hastily retired to Newcastle, carrying the king along with them.

On arriving at Newcastle, the king was waited upon by the Earls of Lanark and Callander, and Lord Balmerino, who paid their respects to him. As Callander was understood to be favourably inclined to the king, Lanark and Balmerino were desirous to get rid of him, and accordingly they prevailed upon his majesty to send Callander back to Edinburgh with a letter, which they had induced his majesty to write to the Committee of Estates, expressive of his desire to comply with the wishes of the Scots parliament, and containing instructions to them to order Montrose, Huntly, and Sir Alexander Macdonald to disband their forces. And it was also at the desire of these two noblemen that the king wrote the letter to Montrose already referred to.

After Montrose had read this letter he was filled with deep amazement and concern. All those visionary schemes for accomplishing the great object of his ambition, which a few minutes before had floated in his vivid imagination, were now dispelled. He was now placed in one of the most painful and difficult situations it is possible to conceive. He had no doubt that the letter had been extorted from the king, yet he considered that it would neither be prudent nor safe for him to risk the responsibility of disobeying the king’s orders. Besides, were he to attempt to act contrary to these instructions, he might thereby compromise the safety of the king, as his enemies would find it no difficult affair to convince the army that Montrose was acting according to private instructions from the king himself. On the other hand, by instantly disbanding his army, Montrose considered that he would leave the royalists, and all those friends who had shared his dangers, to the mercy of their enemies. In this dilemma, he determined to convene a general meeting of all the principal royalists, to consult as to how he should act—a resolution which showed his good sense, and kind and just feeling towards those who had been induced by his means to risk their lives and fortunes in the cause of the king. Notwithstanding the many slights which had been put upon him by the Marquis of Huntly, Montrose, anxious to preserve a good understanding with him, sent Sir John Hurry and Sir John Innes to Huntly, to invite him to attend the proposed meeting, and that there might be no appearance of dictation on the part of Montrose, the time and place of meeting was left to Huntly’s own choice. But this nobleman answered that he himself had received orders similar to those sent to Montrose, which he was resolved to obey immediately, and, therefore, he declined to attend any meeting on the subject.

In this situation of matters, Montrose considered that his best and wisest course would be to keep his army together till he should receive another communication from the king, in answer to a letter which he sent by a messenger of his own, in which he begged his majesty to acquaint him with the real situation of matters, whether he considered his person safe in the hands of the Covenanters, and if he could be of any farther service to him. Montrose begged also to be informed by the king, if he persevered in his resolution to disband an army which had fought so bravely in his defence, and that at a time when his enemies, in both kingdoms, were still under arms; and if so, he wished to be instructed by his majesty as to the course he should pursue, for the protection and security of the lives and fortunes of those brave men, who had encountered so many dangers, and had spent their blood in his defence, as he could not endure the idea of leaving such loyal subjects to the mercy of their enemies.[357] The king returned an answer[358] to this letter, by the former messenger, Ker, in which he assured him that he no less esteemed his willingness to lay down arms at his command, “for a gallant and real expression” of his zeal and affection to his service than any of his former actions; but he hoped that Montrose had not such a mean opinion of him, that for any particular or worldly respects he would suffer him (Montrose) to be ruined,—that his only reason for sending Montrose out of the country was that he might return with greater glory, and, in the meantime, to have as honourable an employment as he (the king) could confer upon him,—that Ker would tell him the care he had of all Montrose’s friends, and his own, to whom, although he could not promise such conditions as he would have wished, yet they would be such, all things considered, as were most fit for them to accept. “Wherefore,” continues his majesty, “I renew my former directions, of laying down arms, unto you, desiring you to let Huntly, Crawford, Airly, Seaforth, and Ogilvy, know, that want of time hath made me now omit to reiterate my former commands unto you, intending that this shall serve for all; assuring them, and all the rest of my friends, that, whensoever God shall enable me, they shall reap the fruits of their loyalty and affection to my service.”

These ‘conditions,’ which consisted of several articles, and in the drawing up of which the king probably had no concern, were far from satisfactory to Montrose, who refused to accede to them. He even refused to treat with the Covenanters, and sent back the messenger to the king to notify to him, that as he had acted under his majesty’s commission, he would admit of no conditions for laying down his arms, or disbanding his army, which did not come directly from the king himself; but that if his majesty imposed conditions upon him, he would accept of them with the most implicit submission. The king, who had no alternative but to adopt these conditions as his own, put his name to them and sent back the messenger with them, with fresh instructions to Montrose to disband his army forthwith under the pain of high treason. Besides Ker, the king despatched another trusty messenger to Montrose with a private letter[359] urging him to accept of the conditions offered, as in the event of his refusal to break up his army, his majesty might be placed “in a very sad condition,” such as he would rather leave Montrose to guess at than seek himself to express. From this expression, it would appear that Charles already began to entertain some apprehensions about his personal safety. These commands of the king were too peremptory to be any longer withstood, and as Montrose had been informed that several of the leading royalists, particularly the Marquis of Huntly, Lord Aboyne, and the Earl of Seaforth, were negotiating with the Estates in their own behalf, and that Huntly and Aboyne had even offered to compel Montrose to lay down his arms in compliance with the orders of the king, he immediately resolved to disband his army.

As Middleton had been intrusted by the Committee of Estates with ample powers to negotiate with the royalists, and to see the conditions offered to Montrose implemented by him in case of acceptance, a cessation of arms was agreed upon between Montrose and Middleton; and in order to discuss the conditions, a conference was held between them on the 22d day of July, on a meadow, near the river Isla, in Angus, where they “conferred for the space of two hours, there being none near them but one man for each of them to hold his horse.”[360] The conditions agreed upon were these, that with the exception of Montrose himself, the Earl of Crawford, Sir Alexander Macdonald, and Sir John Hurry, all those who had taken up arms against the Covenanters would be pardoned on making their submission, and that Montrose, Crawford, Hurry, and Graham of Gorthy, should transport themselves beyond seas, before the last day of August, in a ship to be provided by the Estates. This arrangement was ratified by the committee of Estates, but the committee of the kirk exclaimed against it, and petitioned the Committee of Estates not to sanction it.

Preparatory to disbanding his army, Montrose appointed it to rendezvous at Rattray, in the neighbourhood of Coupar-Angus, at which place, on the 30th of July, he discharged his men, after addressing them with feeling and animation. After giving them due praise for their faithful services and good behaviour, he told them his orders, and bade them farewell, an event no less sorrowful to the whole army than to himself; and, notwithstanding that he used his utmost endeavours to raise their drooping spirits, and encourage them with the flattering prospect of a speedy and desirable peace, and assured them that he contributed to the king’s safety and interest by his present ready submission, no less than he had formerly done by his military attempts; yet they concluded, that a period was that day put to the king’s authority, which would expire with the dissolution of their army, for disbanding which, they were all convinced the orders had been extorted from the king, or granted by him on purpose to evite a greater and more immediate evil. And, upon whatever favourable conditions their own safety might be provided for, yet they lamented their fate, and would much rather have undergone the greatest fatigue and hardships than be obliged to remain inactive and idle spectators of the miseries and calamities befalling their dearest sovereign. Neither were their generous souls a little concerned for the unworthy and disgraceful opinion which foreign nations and after ages could not fail to conceive of the Scots, as universally dipt in rebellion, and guilty of defection from the best of kings. Their sorrow was likewise considerably augmented by the thoughts of being separated from their brave and successful general, who was now obliged to enter into a kind of banishment, to the irreparable loss of the king, the country, themselves, and all good men, at a time when they never had greater occasion for his services: And falling down upon their knees, with tears in their eyes, they obtested him, that seeing the king’s safety and interest required his immediate departure from the kingdom, he would take them along with him to whatever corner of the world he would retire, professing their readiness to live, to fight, nay, if it so please God, even to die under his command. And not a few of them had privately determined, though at the evident risk of their lives and fortunes, to follow him without his knowledge, and even against his inclination, and to offer him their service in a foreign land, which they could not any longer afford him in their own distressed native country.[361]

Such is the account of the affecting farewell between Montrose and the few remaining brave and adventurous men who had shared with him all the dangers and vicissitudes of the battle-field, as related by a warm partisan of fallen royalty; yet there is no reason for supposing that he has given an exaggerated view of the feelings of the warlike and devoted band at parting, under existing circumstances, with their beloved commander who had so often led them to victory, and whose banishment from his native country they regarded as the death-blow to their hopes.

Upon the dissolution of Montrose’s army, the Scots officers and soldiers retired to their homes, and the Irish troops marched westward into Argyle, whence they embarked for their own country, being accompanied thither by the Earl of Crawford, who from thence went to Spain. Montrose, along with the few friends who were to follow him abroad, took up his abode at his seat of Old Montrose, there to wait the arrival of the vessel destined to convey them to the continent. The day fixed for Montrose’s departure was the 1st of September, and he waited with impatience for the arrival of the expected vessel; but as the month of August was fast expiring without such vessel making its appearance, or any apparent preparation for the voyage, Montrose’s friends applied to the committee of the Estates for a prorogation of the day stipulated for his departure, but they could obtain no satisfactory answer.

At length, on the last day of August, a vessel for the reception of the marquis entered the harbour of Montrose, in which he proposed immediately to embark, but he was told by the shipmaster, “a violent and rigid Covenanter,” that he meant to careen his vessel before going to sea, an operation which would occupy a few days. In the course of conversation, the shipmaster bluntly stated to his intended passengers, that he had received express instructions to land them at certain ports. The behaviour of the captain, joined to the information he had communicated, and the fact that several English ships of war had been seen for several days off the coast, as if watching his embarkation and departure, created a strong suspicion in Montrose’s mind that a plan had been laid for capturing him, and induced him to consult his own safety and that of his friends, by seeking another way of leaving the kingdom. The anxiety of Montrose and his followers was speedily relieved by the arrival of intelligence, that a small vessel belonging to Bergen, in Norway, had been found in the neighbouring harbour of Stonehaven; and that the master had engaged, on being promised a handsome freight, to be in readiness, on an appointed day, to sail with such passengers as should appear.

Accordingly, after sending off Sir John Hurry, John Drummond of Balloch, Graham of Gorthy, Dr. Wishart, and a few other friends by land to Stonehaven, on the 3d of September 1646, he himself left the harbour of Montrose in a small boat, disguised as the servant of James Wood, a clergyman, who accompanied him; and the same evening went safely on board the vessel, into which his friends had embarked, and setting sail with a fair wind, arrived in a few days at Bergen, in Norway, where he received a friendly welcome from Thomas Gray, a Scotsman, the governor of the castle of Bergen.[362]

It is beyond the province of this history to give a detailed account of the transactions which took place between the Scotch and English concerning the disbanding of the Scottish army and the delivery of the king to the English parliament. Although the Scotch are certainly not free from blame for having betrayed their king, after he had cast himself upon their loyalty and mercy, still it must be remembered, in extenuation, that the king was merely playing a game, that his giving himself up to the Scotch army was his last desperate move, and that he would not have had the least scruple in outwitting, deceiving, and even destroying his protectors. In September, 1646, an agreement was come to between the Scotch commissioners and the English parliament, that the army should be disbanded, on the latter paying £400,000 as payment in full of the arrears of pay due to the army for its services. There was no mention then made of the delivery of the king, and a candid examination of the evidence on both sides proves that the one transaction was quite independent of the other. “That fanaticism and self-interest had steeled the breasts of the Covenanters against the more generous impulses of loyalty and compassion, may, indeed, be granted; but more than this cannot be legitimately inferred from any proof furnished by history.”[363]

While the negotiations for the delivery of the king were pending, Charles, who seems to have been fully aware of them, meditated the design of escaping from the Scots army, and putting himself at the head of such forces as the Marquis of Huntly could raise in the north. In pursuance of this design, his majesty, about the middle of December, sent Robert Leslie, brother of General David Leslie, with letters and a private commission to Huntly, by which he was informed of his majesty’s intentions, and Huntly was, therefore, desired to levy what forces he could, and have them in readiness to take the field on his arrival in the north. On receipt of his majesty’s commands, Huntly began to raise forces, and having collected them at Banff, fortified the town, and there awaited the king’s arrival.[364] But the king was prevented from putting his plan into execution by a premature discovery, and was thenceforth much more strictly guarded.

After the delivery of the king to the English, on the 28th of January, 1647, the Scots army returned to Scotland. It was thereupon remodelled and reduced, by order of the parliament, to 6,000 foot, and 1,200 horse; a force which was considered sufficient not only to keep the royalists in awe, but also to reduce the Marquis of Huntly and Sir Alexander Macdonald, who were still at the head of some men. The dispersion, therefore, of the forces under these two commanders became the immediate object of the parliament. An attempt had been made in the month of January, by a division of the covenanting army stationed in Aberdeenshire, under the command of Major Bickerton, to surprise the Marquis of Huntly at Banff, but it had been obliged to retire with loss; and Huntly continued to remain in his position till the month of April, when, on the approach of General David Leslie with a considerable force, he fled with a few friends to the mountains of Lochaber for shelter. Leslie thereupon reduced the castles belonging to the marquis. He first took that of Strathbogie, and sent the commander thereof, the laird of Newton-Gordon, to Edinburgh; then the castle of Lesmore; and lastly, the Bog of Gicht, or Gordon castle, the commander of which, James Gordon of Letterfurie, and his brother, Thomas Gordon of Clastirim, and other gentlemen of the name of Gordon, were sent to Edinburgh as prisoners. Leslie next took the isle of Lochtanner, in Aboyne, which had been fortified by Huntly.[365] Quarter was given to the men who garrisoned those different strengths, with the exception of the Irish and deserters, who were hanged immediately on their capture.[366]

Having taken these different places, Leslie, in quest of the marquis, next marched into Badenoch, where he captured the castle of Ruthven. Thence he proceeded into Lochaber, and took the fortress of Inverlochy. Huntly disbanded his forces in Badenoch, reserving only a few as a body-guard for himself and his son; “showing them that he was resolved to live an outlaw till provident heaven should be pleased to change the king’s fortune, upon whose commandments his life and fortune should always depend.”[367] The covenanting general, thereupon, marched to the south with a part of his forces, leaving the remainder in the north, under the command of Middleton, and encamped in Strathallan, he himself taking up his head-quarters in Dunblane. Here he remained till the middle of May, when he was joined by the Marquis of Argyle, and ordered to advance into that nobleman’s country to drive out Sir Alexander Macdonald. Accordingly, he set out on the 17th of May, and arrived at Inverary on the 21st. Sir Alexander Macdonald was at this time in Kintyre, with a force of about 1,400 foot and two troops of horse, which would have been fully sufficient to check Leslie, but he seems not to have been aware of the advance of the latter, and had taken no precautions to guard the passes leading into the peninsula, which might have been successfully defended by a handful of men against a considerable force. Having secured these difficult passes, Leslie advanced into Kintyre, and after skirmishing the whole of the 25th of May with Macdonald, forced him to retire. After throwing 300 men into a fortress on the top of the hill of Dunaverty, and in which “there was not a drop of water but what fell from the clouds,”[368] Macdonald, on the following day, embarked his troops in boats provided for the occasion, and passed over into Islay.

Leslie, thereupon, laid siege to the castle of Dunaverty, which was well defended; but the assailants having carried a trench at the bottom of the hill which gave the garrison the command of water, and in the storming of which the besieged lost 40 men, the latter craved a parley, in consequence of which Sir James Turner, Leslie’s adjutant-general, was sent to confer with the garrison on the terms of surrender. Leslie would not grant “any other conditions than that they should yield on discretion or mercy. And it seemed strange to me,” continues Sir James Turner, “to hear the lieutenant-general’s nice distinction, that they should yield themselves to the kingdom’s mercy, and not to his. At length they did so, and after they had come out of the castle, they were put to the sword, every mother’s son, except one young man, Maccoul, whose life I begged to be sent to France, with 100 fellows which we had smoked out of a cave, as they do foxes, who were given to Captain Campbell, the chancellor’s brother.”[369] This atrocious act was perpetrated at the instigation of John Nave or Neaves, “a bloody preacher,”[370] but, according to Wodrow, an “excellent man,” who would not be satisfied with less than the blood of the prisoners. As the account given by Sir James Turner, an eye-witness of this infamous transaction, is curious, no apology is necessary for inserting it. “Here it will be fit to make a stop, till this cruel action be canvassed. First, the lieutenant-general was two days irresolute what to do. The Marquis of Argyle was accused at his arraignment of this murder, and I was examined as a witness. I declared, which was true, that I never heard him advise the lieutenant-general to it. What he did in private I know not. Secondly, Argyle was but a colonel then, and he had no power to do it of himself. Thirdly, though he had advised him to it, it was no capital crime; for counsel is no command. Fourthly, I have several times spoke to the lieutenant-general to save these men’s lives, and he always assented to it, and I know of himself he was unwilling to shed their blood. Fifthly, Mr. John Nave (who was appointed by the commission of the kirk to wait on him as his chaplain) never ceased to tempt him to that bloodshed, yea, and threatened him with the curses befell Saul for sparing the Amalekites, for with them his theology taught him to compare the Dunaverty men. And I verily believe that this prevailed most with David Leslie, who looked upon Nave as the representative of the kirk of Scotland.” The fact of Sir James and David Leslie’s repugnance to shed the blood of those defenceless men is fully corroborated by Bishop Guthry, on the authority of many persons who were present, who says that while the butchery was going on, and while Leslie, Argyle, and Neaves were walking over the ancles in blood, Leslie turned out and thus addressed the latter:—“Now, Mr. John, have you not once got your fill of blood?” The sufferers on this occasion were partly Irish, and partly belonging to the clan Dougal or Coull, to the castle of whose chief, in Lorne, Colonel Robert Montgomerie now laid siege, while Leslie himself, with a part of his forces, left Kintyre for Islay in pursuit of Macdonald.

On landing in Islay, Leslie found that Macdonald had fled to Ireland, and had left Colkittoch, his father, in the castle of Dunniveg, with a force of 200 men to defend the island against the superior power of Leslie. The result turned out as might have been anticipated. Although the garrison made a brave resistance, yet, being wholly without water, they found themselves unable to resist, and offered to capitulate on certain conditions. These were, that the officers should be entitled to go where they pleased, and that the privates should be sent to France. These conditions were agreed to, and were punctually fulfilled. Old Colkittoch had, however, the misfortune not to be included in this capitulation, for, before the castle had surrendered, “the old man, Coll,” says Sir James Turner, “coming foolishly out of the house, where he was governor, on some parole or other,[371] to speak with his old friend, the captain of Dunstaffnage castle, was surprised, and made prisoner, not without some stain to the lieutenant-general’s honour. He was afterwards hanged by a jury of Argyle’s sheriff-depute, one George Campbell, from whose sentence few are said to have escaped that kind of death.”

Leaving Islay, Leslie “boated over to Jura, a horrible isle,” says Sir James Turner, “and a habitation fit for deer and wild beasts; and so from isle to isle,” continues he, “till he came to Mull, which is one of the best of the Hebrides. Here Maclaine saved his lands, with the loss of his reputation, if he ever had any. He gave up his strong castles to Leslie, gave his eldest son for hostage of his fidelity, and, which was unchristian baseness in the lowest degree, he delivered up fourteen prettie Irishmen, who had been all along faithful to him, to the lieutenant-general, who immediately caused hang them all. It was not well done to demand them from Maclaine, but inexcusablie ill done in him to betray them. Here I cannot forget one Donald Campbell, fleshed in blood from his very infancie, who with all imaginable violence pressed that the whole clan Maclaine should be put to the edge of the sword; nor could he be commanded to forbear his bloody suit by the lieutenant-general and two major-generals; and with some difficulty was he commanded silence by his chief, the Marquis of Argyle. For my part, I said nothing, for indeed I did not care though he had prevailed in his suit, the delivery of the Irish had so irritated me against that whole clan and name.”

While Leslie was thus subduing the Hebrides, Middleton was occupied in pursuing the Marquis of Huntly through Glenmoriston, Badenoch, and other places. Huntly was at length captured by Lieutenant-Colonel Menzies, in Strathdon, in December, 1647. Having received intelligence of the place of the marquis’s retreat, Menzies came to Dalnabo with a select body of horse, consisting of three troops, about midnight, and immediately entered the house just as Huntly was going to bed. The marquis was attended by only ten gentlemen and servants, as a sort of body-guard, who notwithstanding the great disparity of numbers, made a brave attempt to protect the marquis, in which six of them were killed and the rest mortally wounded, among whom was John Grant, the landlord. On hearing that the marquis had been taken prisoner, the whole of his vassals in the neighbourhood, to the number of between 400 and 500, with Grant of Carron at their head, flew to arms to rescue him. Lieutenant-Colonel Menzies thereupon carried the marquis to the castle of Blairfindie, in Glenlivet, about four miles from Dalnabo, where the latter received a notice from Grant and his party by the wife of Gordon of Munmore, that they had solemnly sworn either to rescue him or die to a man, and they requested him to give them such orders to carry their plan into effect as he might judge proper. But the marquis dissuaded his people from the intended attempt, and returned for answer that, now almost worn out with grief and fatigue, he could no longer live in hills and dens; and hoped that his enemies would not drive things to the worst; but, if such was the will of heaven, he could not outlive the sad fate he foresaw his royal master was likely to undergo; and be the event as it would, he doubted not but the just providence of God would restore the royal family, and his own along with it.[372]

Besides the gentlemen and servants about Huntly’s person, there were some Irish who were quartered in the offices about Dalnabo. These were carried prisoners by Menzies to Strathbogie, where Middleton then was, who ordered them all to be shot. In consequence of an order from the committee of Estates at Edinburgh, Menzies carried the marquis under a strong guard of horse to Leith, where, after being kept two days, he was delivered up to the magistrates, and incarcerated in the jail of the city. The committee had previously debated the question whether the marquis should be immediately executed or reprieved till the meeting of parliament, but although the Argyle faction, notwithstanding the Marquis of Argyle withdrew before the vote was taken, and the committee of the church did every thing in their power to procure the immediate execution of the marquis, his life was spared till the meeting of the parliament by a majority of one vote.[373] The Earl of Aboyne and Lord Lewis Gordon had the good fortune to escape to the continent. The first went to France, where he shortly thereafter died—the second took refuge in Holland. A reward of £1,000 sterling had been promised to any person who should apprehend Huntly, which sum was duly paid to Menzies by the Committee of Estates.[374]

Second Marquis of Huntly.—From a rare print in the
collection of W. F. Watson, Esq., Edinburgh.

There appears to be no doubt that Argyle was highly gratified at the capture of Huntly. It is related by Spalding, that taking advantage of Huntly’s situation, Argyle bought up all the comprisings on his lands, and that he caused summon at the market-cross of Aberdeen by sound of trumpet, all Huntly’s wadsetters and creditors to appear at Edinburgh in the month of March following Huntly’s imprisonment, calling on them to produce their securities before the lords of session, with certification that if they did not appear, their securities were to be declared null and void. Some of Huntly’s creditors sold their claims to Argyle, and having thus bought up all the rights he could obtain upon Huntly’s estate at a small or nominal value, under the pretence that he was acting for the benefit of his nephew, Lord Gordon, he granted bonds for the amount which, according to Spalding, he never paid. In this way did Argyle possess himself of the marquis’s estates, which he continued to enjoy upwards of twelve years; viz., from 1648, till the restoration of Charles II. in 1660.

When the king, who was then a prisoner in Carisbrook castle, heard of the capture of Huntly, he wrote a letter to the Earl of Lanark, then in London, earnestly urging him to do all in his power in behalf of the Marquis. The earl, however, either from unwillingness or inability, appears to have paid no attention to this letter.

Shortly before the capture of the Marquis of Huntly, John Gordon of Innermarkie, Gordon, younger of Newton-Gordon, and the laird of Harthill, three of his chief friends, had been taken prisoners by Major-General Middleton, and sent to Edinburgh, where they were imprisoned. The two latter were condemned to die by the Committee of Estates, and although their friends procured a remission of the sentence from the king, they were, notwithstanding, both beheaded at the market-cross of Edinburgh.

While the hopes of the royalists, both in England and Scotland, seemed to be almost extinguished, a ray of light, about this time, darted through the dark gloom of the political horizon, which they fondly imagined was the harbinger of a new and, for them, a better order of things; but all their expectations were destined to end in bitter disappointment. The Duke of Hamilton, who had lately formed an association to release the king from his captivity, which went under the name of the “Engagement,” prevailed upon the parliament, which met in March, 1648, to appoint a committee of danger, and to consent to a levy of 40,000 men. The bulk of the English population, with the exception of the army, had grown quite dissatisfied with the state of matters. Their eyes were now directed towards Scotland, and the news of the Scots’ levy made them indulge a hope that they would soon be enabled, by the aid of the Scots auxiliaries, to throw off the military yoke, and restore the king on conditions favourable to liberty. But Hamilton, being thwarted by Argyle and his party, had it not in his power to take advantage of the favourable disposition of the English people, and instead of raising 40,000 men, he found, to his great mortification, that, at the utmost, he could, after upwards of three months’ labour, only bring about 15,000 men into the field, and that not until several insurrections in England, in favour of the king, had been suppressed.

It was the misfortune of Hamilton that with every disposition to serve the cause of his royal master, he had neither the capacity to conceive, nor the resolution to adopt bold and decisive measures equal to the emergency of the times. Like the king, he attempted to act the part of the cunning politician, but was wholly unfitted for the performance of such a character. Had he had the address to separate old Leslie and his nephew from the party of Argyle, by placing the direction of military affairs in their hands, he might have succeeded in raising a force sufficient to cope with the parliamentary army of England; but he had the weakness, after both these generals had joined the kirk in its remonstrance to the parliament that nothing should be done without the consent of the committee of the general assembly, to get himself appointed commander-in-chief of the army, a measure which could not fail to disgust these hardy veterans. He failed in an attempt to conciliate the Marquis of Argyle, who did all in his power to thwart Hamilton’s designs. Argyle went to Fife and induced the gentry of that county not only to oppose the levies, but to hold themselves in readiness to rise on the other side when called upon. He was not so successful in Stirlingshire, none of the gentlemen of that county concurring in his views except the laird of Buchanan, Sir William Bruce of Stenhouse, and a few persons of inferior note; but in Dumbartonshire he succeeded to the utmost of his wishes. After attending a meeting with the Lord Chancellor, (Loudon,) the Earls of Cassilis and Eglinton, and David Dick and other ministers, at Eglinton’s house, on the 29th of May, Argyle went home to raise his own people.

Several instances of opposition to the levy took place; but the most formidable one, and the only one worthy of notice, was in Ayrshire, where a body of armed insurgents, to the number of 800 horse and 1,200 foot according to one writer,[375] and 500 horse and 2,000 foot according to another,[376] headed by several ministers, assembled at Mauchline; but they were defeated and dispersed, on the 10th of June, by Middleton, who had been appointed lieutenant-general of horse, with the loss of 80 men.

There are no data by which to ascertain the number of men raised in the Highlands for Hamilton’s army; but it must necessarily have been very inconsiderable. Not a single man was of course raised in Argyleshire, and scarcely any in the adjoining part of Inverness-shire, to which the influence or power of Argyle extended. The Earl of Sutherland, who had been appointed a colonel of foot in his own division, declined the office, and Lord Reay was so disgusted with “Duke Hamilton’s failure,” that he took shipping at Thurso in the month of July, and went to Norway,[377] where he was appointed governor of Bergen, and received the colonelcy of a regiment from the King of Denmark, whom he had formerly served. The only individual who could have benefitted the royal-cause in the north was the Marquis of Huntly, but by a strange fatality the Duke of Hamilton, who could have easily procured an order from the parliament for his liberation from prison, allowed him to continue there, and merely contented himself with obtaining a warrant for changing the marquis’s place of confinement from the jail to the castle of Edinburgh.

In consequence of the many difficulties which occurred in collecting his troops, and providing the necessary matériel for the use of the army, the duke was not able to begin his march till the 8th of July, on which day he put his army in motion towards the borders. His force, which amounted to about 10,000 foot and 4,000 horse, was composed of raw and undisciplined levies, and he had not a single field-piece. He entered England by the western border, where he was met by Sir Marmaduke Langdale and a body of 4,000 brave cavaliers, all devotedly attached to the king. At this time Lambert, the parliamentary general, had invested Carlisle, and Hamilton was induced by the English royalists, contrary to his own views, to march upon Carlisle, and force Lambert to raise the siege. That general, who had received orders from Cromwell not to engage the Scots till he should join him, accordingly retired, and Carlisle was delivered up next day to Hamilton by the English royalists, who also put him in possession of Berwick.

It is unnecessary to enter into details concerning this mismanaged and unfortunate expedition, the result of which is well known to every reader of English history. Sir Marmaduke Langdale was defeated by Cromwell at Preston on the 17th of August, and on entering the town after the defeat, was mortified to find that his Scotch allies had abandoned it. Langdale having now no alternative but flight, disbanded his infantry, and along with his cavalry and Hamilton, who, refusing to follow the example of his army, had remained in the town, swam across the Ribble.

The Scotch army retired during the night towards Wigan, where it was joined by the duke next morning, but so reduced in spirits and weakened by desertion as to be quite unable to make any resistance to the victorious troops of Cromwell, who pressed hard upon them. The foot, under the command of Baillie, continued to retreat during the day, but were overtaken at Warrington, and, being unable either to proceed or to resist, surrendered. The number which capitulated amounted to about 3,000. Upwards of 6,000 had previously been captured by the country people, and the few who had the good fortune to escape joined Munro and returned to Scotland. These prisoners were sold as slaves, and sent to the plantations.

The duke, abandoning Baillie to his fate, carried off the whole cavalry; but he had not proceeded far when his rear was attacked by the parliamentary army. Middleton made a gallant defence, and was taken prisoner; but the duke escaped, and fled to Uttoxeter, followed by his horse, where he surrendered himself to General Lambert and Lord Grey of Groby, who sent him prisoner to Windsor. The Earl of Callander, having effected his escape, went over to Holland, disgusted at the conduct of the duke.

As soon as the news of the defeat of Hamilton reached Scotland, the Covenanters of the west began to bestir themselves, and a party of them, under the command of Robert Montgomery, son of the Earl of Eglinton, attacked a troop of Lanark’s horse, quartered in Ayrshire, killed some and routed the rest. The Committee of Estates, apprehensive that the spirit of insurrection would speedily spread, immediately ordered out all the fencible men in the kingdom to put down the rising in the west. A difference, however, arose in the committee in the choice of a commander. The Earl of Lanark and the Earl Marischal were proposed by their respective friends. Lanark’s chief opponent was the Earl of Roxburgh, who, (says Wishart,) “in a grave and modest speech, earnestly entreated him, for the sake of their dear sovereign and their distressed country, not to insist in demanding that dignity, which was extremely unseasonable and ill-judged at that time.”[378] Roxburgh’s remonstrance had no effect upon Lanark, who, on a vote being taken, was found to have the majority, and so anxious was he to obtain the command of the army that he actually voted for himself.[379] He had even the indiscretion to declare, that he would not permit any other person to command in his brother’s absence. This rash and imprudent behaviour on the part of Lanark so exasperated Roxburgh and his friends, who justly dreaded the utter ruin of the king’s affairs, that they henceforth withdrew altogether from public affairs.

As soon as Lanark had been appointed to the command of the new levy, he set about raising it with great expedition. For this purpose he sent circulars, plausibly written, to every part of Scotland, calling upon all classes to join him without delay. These circulars had the desired effect. The people beyond the Forth, and even the men of Fife, showed a disposition to obey the call. The Earl of Seaforth raised 4,000 men in the Western Islands and in Ross-shire, whom he brought south, and the Earl of Morton also brought into Lothian 1,200 men from the Orkneys. In short, with the exception of Argyle, there were few places in Scotland from which considerable bodies of men might not have been expected.

Before the defeat of Hamilton’s army, Lanark had raised three regiments of horse, which were now under his command. These, with the accessions of force which were daily arriving from different parts of the kingdom, were quite sufficient to have put down the insurrection in the west; but instead of marching thither, Lanark, to the surprise of every person, proceeded through East Lothian towards the eastern borders to meet Sir George Munro, who was retiring upon Berwick before the army of Cromwell. The people of the west being thus relieved from the apprehensions of a visit, assembled in great numbers, and taking advantage of Lanark’s absence, a body of them, to the number of no less than 6,000 men, headed by the chancellor, the Earl of Eglinton, and some ministers, advanced upon the capital, which they entered without opposition, the magistrates and ministers of the city welcoming their approach by going out to meet them. Bishop Wishart describes this body as “a confused rabble, composed of farmers, cow-herds, shepherds, coblers, and such like mob, without arms, and without courage,” and says, that when they arrived in Edinburgh, “they were provided with arms, which, as they were unaccustomed to, were rather a burden and incumbrance than of any use,”—that “they were mounted upon horses, or jades rather, which had been long used to the drudgery of labour, equipped with pack saddles and halters, in place of saddles and bridles.”[380] This tumultuary body, however, was soon put into proper order by the Earl of Leven, who was invested with the chief command, and by David Leslie, as his lieutenant-general, and presented a rather formidable appearance, for on Lanark’s return from the south, he did not venture to engage it, though his force amounted to 4,000 or 5,000 horse and as many foot, many of whom were veterans who had served in Ireland under Munro.

In thus declining to attack Leslie, Lanark acted contrary to the advice of Munro and his other officers. According to Dr. Wishart, Lanark’s advanced guard, on arriving at Musselburgh, fell in with some of Leslie’s outposts, who defended the bridge over the Esk, and Lanark’s advanced guard, though inferior in number, immediately put them in great disorder, and killed some of them without sustaining any loss. This success was reported to Lanark, and it was represented to him, that by following it up immediately, while the enemy continued in the state of alarm into which this affair of outposts had thrown them, he might, perhaps, obtain a bloodless victory, and secure possession of the city of Edinburgh and the town of Leith, with all the warlike stores, before sunset.

Leading his army along the base of the Pentland hills, Lanark proceeded to Linlithgow, which he entered on the evening of the 11th of September, where he almost surprised the Earl of Cassilis, who, at the head of 800 horse from Carrick and Galloway, had taken up his quarters there for the night; but a notice having been sent to him of the Earl of Lanark’s approach by some friend, he fled precipitately to Queensferry, leaving the supper which was cooking for him and his men on the fire, which repast was greedily devoured by Lanark’s troops.

Ever since Lanark’s march to the borders to meet Munro, the Marquis of Argyle had been busily employed in raising men in his own territory to assist the insurgents, but it had been so much depopulated by the ravages of Montrose and Macdonald, that he could scarcely muster 300 men. With these and 400 more which he had collected in the Lennox and in the western part of Stirlingshire, he advanced to Stirling, entering it upon the 12th of September at eleven o’clock forenoon. After assigning to the troops their different posts in the town, and making arrangements with the magistrates for their support, Argyle went to dine with the Earl of Mar at his residence in the town. But while the dinner was serving up, Argyle, to his infinite alarm, heard that a part of Lanark’s forces had entered Stirling. This was the advanced guard, commanded by Sir George Munro, who, on hearing that Argyle was in possession of the town when only within two miles of it, had, unknown to Lanark, who was behind with the main body of the army, pushed forward and entered the town before Argyle’s men were aware of his approach. Argyle, as formerly, having a great regard for his personal safety, immediately mounted his horse, galloped across Stirling bridge, and never looked behind till he reached North Queensferry, where he instantly crossed the Frith in a small boat and proceeded to Edinburgh. Nearly 200 of Argyle’s men were either killed or drowned, and the remainder were taken prisoners.

A negotiation for peace immediately ensued between the two parties, and on the 15th of September a treaty was entered into by which the Hamilton party agreed to refer all civil matters in dispute to a Parliament, to be held before the 10th of January, and all ecclesiastical affairs to an assembly of the kirk. It was also stipulated that both armies should be disbanded before the 29th of September, or at farthest on the 5th of October, that the adherents of the king should not be disturbed, and that all the prisoners taken in Scotland should be released. Munro perceiving that the king’s affairs would be irretrievably ruined by this compromise, objected to the treaty, and would have stood out had he been backed by the other officers; but very few seconding his views, he addressed the troops, who had accompanied him from Ireland, in St Ninian’s church, and offered to lead back to Ireland such as were inclined to serve under their old commander, Major-General Robert Munro; but having received intelligence at Glasgow that that general had been taken prisoner and sent to London, he disbanded the troops who had followed him thither, and retired to Holland.

According to the treaty the two armies were disbanded on the appointed day, and the “Whigamores,” as the insurgents from the west were called, immediately returned home to cut down their corn, which was ready for the sickle. Argyle’s men, who had been taken prisoners at Stirling, were set at liberty, and conducted home to their own country by one of Argyle’s officers.

MUNRO.

The Marquis of Argyle, Loudon the chancellor, the Earls of Cassilis and Eglinton, and others, now met at Edinburgh, and formed themselves into a body under the title of the Committee of Estates, and having arranged matters for the better securing their own influence, they summoned a parliament to meet on the 4th of January. In the meantime, Oliver Cromwell, who, after the pursuit of Munro, had laid siege to Berwick, was waited upon by Argyle, Lord Elcho, and Sir Charles Erskine, to compliment him upon his success at Preston, and after making Ludovick Leslie deliver up Berwick to him, they invited him and Lambert to Edinburgh. Cromwell took up his residence in the House of Lady Home in the Canongate, where he received frequent visits from Argyle, Loudon, the Earl of Lothian, Lords Arbuthnot, Elcho, and Burleigh, and the most noted of the ministers. It is said, that during these conferences, Cromwell communicated to his visitors his intentions with respect to the king, and obtained their consent.[381]

In the meantime the Independents were doing their utmost to induce the English parliament to bring the king to trial for high treason. They, having in the meantime been disappointed in their views by the presbyterians, prevailed upon Fairfax to order Hammond, the governor of the Isle of Wight, to attend him at Windsor, and to send Colonel Eure with orders to seize the king at Newport, where he was conferring with the commissioners, and imprison him again in Carisbrook castle; but Hammond having declined to allow Eure to interfere without an order from the parliament, Eure left the island without attempting to fulfil his instructions. Hammond, however, afterwards left the island with the commissioners, and committed Charles to the custody of one Major Rolfe, a person who, only six months before, had been charged with a design on the life of the king, and who had escaped trial because only one witness had attested the fact before the grand jury.

The king seemed to be fully aware of the danger of his present situation, and on the morning of the 28th of November, when the commissioners left the island, he gave vent to his feelings in a strain of the most pathetic emotions, which drew tears from his attendants; “My lords,” said he to the commissioners, “I believe we shall scarce ever see each other again, but God’s will be done! I have made my peace with him, and shall undergo without fear whatever he may suffer men to do to me. My lords, you cannot but know, that in my fall and ruin you see your own, and that also near you. I pray God send you better friends than I have found. I am fully informed of the carriage of those who plot against me and mine; but nothing affects me so much as the feeling I have of the sufferings of my subjects, and the mischief that hangs over my three kingdoms, drawn upon them by those who, upon pretences of good, violently pursue their own interests and ends.”[382] As soon as the commissioners and Hammond had quitted the island, Fairfax sent a troop of horse and a company of foot, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Cobbett, to seize the king, who received notice of the approach of this body and of its object next morning from a person in disguise; but although advised by the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Lindsay, and Colonel Coke to make his escape, which he could easily have accomplished, he declined to do so, because he considered himself bound in honour to remain twenty days after the treaty. The consequence was, that Charles was taken prisoner by Cobbett, and carried to Hurst castle.

The rest of this painful tragedy is well known. After the purified house of commons had passed a vote declaring that it was high treason in the king of England, for the time being, to levy war against the parliament and kingdom of England, his majesty was brought to trial before a tribunal erected pro re nata by the house called the high court of justice, which adjudged him “as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of the nation, to be put to death by the severing of his head from his body,” a sentence which was carried into execution, in front of Whitehall, on the 30th of January 1649. The unfortunate monarch conducted himself throughout the whole of these melancholy proceedings with becoming dignity, and braved the terrors of death with fortitude and resignation.

The Duke of Hamilton, who, by his incapacity, had ruined the king’s affairs when on the point of being retrieved, was not destined long to survive his royal master. In violation of the articles of his capitulation, he was brought to trial, and although he pleaded that he acted under the orders of the Scottish parliament, and was not amenable to an English tribunal, he was, under the pretence that he was Earl of Cambridge in England, sentenced to be beheaded. He suffered on the 9th of March.

The Marquis of Huntly had languished in prison since December 1647, and during the life of the king the Scottish parliament had not ventured to bring him to the block; but both the king and Hamilton, his favourite, being now put out of the way, they felt themselves no longer under restraint, and accordingly the parliament, on the 16th of March, ordained the marquis to be beheaded, at the market-cross of Edinburgh, on the 22d of that month. As he lay under sentence of ecclesiastical excommunication, one of the “bloody ministers,” says the author of the History of the family of Gordon, “asked him, when brought upon the scaffold, if he desired to be absolved from the sentence;” to which the marquis replied, “that as he was not accustomed to give ear to false prophets, he did not wish to be troubled by him.” And thereupon turning “towards the people, he told them that he was going to die for having employed some years of his life in the service of the king his master; that he was sorry he was not the first of his majesty’s subjects who had suffered for his cause, so glorious in itself that it sweetened to him all the bitterness of death.” He then declared that he had charity to forgive those who had voted for his death, although he could not admit that he had done any thing contrary to the laws. After throwing off his doublet, he offered up a prayer, and then embracing some friends around him, he submitted his neck, without any symptoms of emotion, to the fatal instrument.

FOOTNOTES:

[336] History of the Family of Gordon, vol. ii. p. 495. Britane’s Distemper, p. 166.

[337] Memoirs, p. 164.

[338] This report fortunately appears to be belied by the following entries in Balfour’s Annals, 17th and 19th January, 1646. “The earl of Tulliebardine humbly petitions the House that they would be pleased to pardon his brother, William Murray’s life, in respect he averred on his honour, that he was not compos mentis, as also within age.” “The earl of Tulliebardine again this day gave in a humble petition to the House for prolonging the execution of that sentence pronounced against his brother.” Vol. iii. pp. 362, 363.

[339] Wishart p. 223.

[340] Wishart, p. 227.

[341] Guthry, p. 172.

[342] Balfour, vol. iii. pp. 311, 312.

[343] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 323.

[344] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 325.

[345] Ibid. p. 341.

[346] Balfour, vol. iii. pp. 356–61.

[347] Wishart, p. 238; Guthry, p. 168.

[348] Life prefixed to Sir Robert’s work, entitled Practicks, folio, printed in 1706.

[349] Wishart, p. 242.

[350] Guthry, p. 245.

[351] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 531.

[352] Britane’s Distemper, p. 182.

[353] Lingard, vol. vi. p. 539, 4to.

[354] Lingard, vol. vi. p. 543.

[355] Kirkton.

[356] Rushworth, vi.

[357] Wishart, p. 262.

[358] June 15, 1646.

[359] July 16, 1646.

[360] Guthry, p. 179.

[361] Wishart, pp. 264–5.

[362] Wishart.

[363] Lingard, vol. vi.

[364] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 536.

[365] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 537.

[366] Guthry.

[367] Britane’s Distemper, p. 200.

[368] Turner’s Memoirs.

[369] Turner’s Memoirs.

[370] Guthry.

[371] Spalding says that Col Kittoch came out of the castle to treat for a surrender on an assurance of personal safety.

[372] Gordon’s History of the Family of Gordon, vol. ii. p. 546.

[373] Guthry, p. 207.

[374] See the Act of Sederunt of the committee in the appendix to Gordon’s History of the family of Gordon, vol. ii. p. 537.

[375] Baillie.

[376] Guthry.

[377] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 541.

[378] Memoirs, p. 311.

[379] Guthry, p. 327.

[380] Memoirs, p. 316.

[381] Guthry.

[382] Appendix to Evelyn’s Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 128, 390. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 234.

CHAPTER XVI.

A.D. 1649–1650.

Commonwealth, 1649–1660; including Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, 1653–1658.

Negotiations with Charles II.—Proceedings of Montrose—Pluscardine’s Insurrection—Landing of Kinnoul and Montrose in Orkney—Montrose’s Declaration—Montrose advances southwards—Is defeated at Carbisdale—Montrose captured and sent to Edinburgh—His reception there—Trial and Execution.

While the dominant party in England were contemplating the erection of a commonwealth upon the ruins of the monarchy they had just overthrown, the faction in Scotland, with Argyle at its head, which had usurped the reins of government in that country, in obedience to the known wish of the nation, resolved to recognise the principle of legitimacy by acknowledging the Prince of Wales as successor to the crown of Scotland. No sooner, therefore, had the intelligence of the execution of the king reached Edinburgh, than the usual preparations were made for proclaiming Charles II., a ceremony which was performed at the market-cross of Edinburgh, on the 5th of February, with the usual formalities.

This proceeding was contrary to the policy of Argyle, whose intentions were in exact accordance with those of the English Independents; but, as the melancholy fate of the king had excited a feeling of indignation in the Scottish nation, he was afraid to imitate the example of his English friends, and dissembling his views, adopted other measures without changing his object. At the instigation of Argyle it was agreed in parliament to propose certain conditions to the prince as the terms on which alone he should be entitled to sway the sceptre of his father. These were, in substance, 1st, that he should sign the Covenants, and endeavour to establish them by his authority in all his dominions; 2d, that he should ratify and confirm all the acts of the Estates, approving of the two Covenants, the directory, confession of faith, and the catechism, that he should renounce episcopacy and adopt the presbyterian form of worship; 3d, that in all civil matters he should submit to the parliament, and in things ecclesiastical to the authority of the general assembly; and, lastly, that he should remove from his person and court the Marquis of Montrose, “a person excommunicated by the church, and forfaulted by the parliament of Scotland, being a man most justly, if ever any, cast out of the church of God.”

These conditions, so flattering to popular prejudice and the prevailing ideas of the times, appear to have been proposed only because Argyle thought they would be rejected by the youthful monarch, surrounded as he then was by counsellors to whom these terms would be particularly obnoxious. To carry these propositions to Charles II., then at the Hague, seven commissioners from the parliament and kirk were appointed, who set sail from Kirkcaldy roads on the 17th of March,[383] arriving at the Hague on the 26th. His court, which at first consisted of the few persons whom his father had placed about him, had been lately increased by the arrival of the Earl of Lanark, now become, by the death of his brother, Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of Lauderdale and Callander, the heads of the Engagers; and by the subsequent addition of Montrose, Kinnoul, and Seaforth. The following graphic sketch is given by Dr. Wishart of the appearance and reception of the commissioners:—“When these commissioners, or deputies from the Estates were admitted to their first audience of the king, their solemn gait, their grave dress, and dejected countenances, had all the appearance imaginable of humility; and many who were not acquainted with the temper and practices of the men, from thence concluded that they were about to implore of his majesty a general oblivion and pardon for what was past, and to promise a perfect obedience and submission in time coming; and that they were ready to yield every thing that was just and reasonable, and would be sincere in all their proposals of peace and accommodation. They acted in a double capacity, and had instructions both from the Estates and from the commission of the kirk, in both of which the Earl of Cassilis was the chief person, not only in what they were charged with from the Estates, as being a nobleman, but also from the commission of the kirk, of which he was a ruling elder. Their address to the king was introduced with abundance of deep sighs and heavy groans, as if they had been labouring, as Virgil says of the Sibyl, to shake the ponderous load from off their breasts, after which they at last exhibited their papers, containing the ordinances of the Estates, and acts of the commission of the kirk, and pretended that the terms demanded in them were moderate, just, and reasonable, and absolutely necessary for settling the present confusions, and restoring the king; with which, if he complied, he would be immediately settled upon his father’s throne by the unanimous consent of the people.”[384]

The king, after vainly endeavouring to induce the commissioners to modify the conditions to which his acceptance was required, and to declare publicly their opinions of the murder of his father, to which they had made no allusion, declined to agree to the terms proposed. He at the same time stated, that as he had been already proclaimed king of Scotland by the Committee of Estates, it was their duty to obey him, and that he should expect the Committee of Estates, the assembly of the kirk, and the nation at large, to perform their duty to him, humbly obeying, maintaining, and defending him as their lawful sovereign.[385] The commissioners having got their answer on the 19th of May, returned to Scotland, and Charles went to St. Germain in France, to visit Queen Henrietta Maria, his mother, before going to Ireland, whither he had been invited by the Marquis of Ormond to join the royalist army.

During the captivity of Charles I., Montrose used every exertion at the court of France to raise money and men to enable him to make a descent upon the coast of England or Scotland, to rescue his sovereign from confinement; but his endeavours proving ineffectual, he entered into the service of the Emperor of Germany, who honoured him with especial marks of his esteem. He had been lately residing at Brussels engaged in the affairs of the emperor, where he received letters from the Prince of Wales, then at the Hague, requiring his attendance to consult on the state of his father’s affairs; but before he set out for the Hague, he received the news of the death of Charles I. He was so overwhelmed with grief at this intelligence, that according to Bishop Wishart, who was an eye-witness, he fainted and fell down in the midst of his attendants, and appeared for some time as if quite dead. When he had sufficiently recovered to give full vent to his feelings, he expressed a desire to die with his sovereign, as he could no longer enjoy, as he said, a life which had now become a grievous and heavy burden. But on Wishart remonstrating with him upon the impropriety of entertaining such a sentiment, and informing him that he should be rather more desirous of life that he might avenge the death of his royal master, and place his son and lawful successor upon the throne of his ancestors, Montrose replied with composure, that in that view he should be satisfied to live; “but,” continued he, “I swear before God, angels, and men, that I will dedicate the remainder of my life to the avenging the death of the royal martyr, and re-establishing his son upon his father’s throne.”

On arriving at the Hague, Montrose was received by Charles II. with marked distinction. After some consultation, a descent upon Scotland was resolved upon, and Montrose, thereupon, received a commission, appointing him Lieutenant-governor of Scotland, and commander-in-chief of all the forces there both by sea and land. The king also appointed him his ambassador to the emperor, the princes of Germany, the King of Denmark, and other friendly sovereigns, to solicit supplies of money and warlike stores, to enable him to commence the war. Thus, before the commissioners had arrived, the king had made up his mind as to the course he should pursue, and being backed by the opinion of a man of such an ardent temperament as Montrose, the result of the communing between the king and the commissioners was as might have been expected.

Connected probably with Montrose’s plan of a descent, a rising took place in the north under Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine, brother of the Earl of Seaforth, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, Colonel John Munro of Lumlair, and Colonel Hugh Fraser, who, at the head of a number of their friends and followers, entered the town of Inverness, on the 22d of February, expelled the troops from the garrison, and demolished and razed the walls and fortifications of the town. The pretext put forward by Mackenzie and his friends was, that the parliament had sent private commissioners to apprehend them; but the fact appears to be, that this insurrection had taken place at the instigation of the king, between whom and Pluscardine a correspondence had been previously opened.[386] General David Leslie was sent to the north with a force to suppress the insurgents, who, on his approach, fled to the mountains of Ross; but he was soon obliged to retrace his steps, in consequence of a rising in Athole under the direction of Lord Ogilvie, General Middleton, and others, in favour of the king. Leslie had previously made terms with Urquhart, Munro, and Fraser, but as Mackenzie would not listen to any accommodation, he left behind him a garrison in the castle of Chanonry, and also three troops of horse in Moray under the charge of Colonel Gilbert Ker, and Lieutenant-colonels Hacket and Strachan, to watch Pluscardine’s motions. But this force was quite insufficient to resist Pluscardine, who, on the departure of Leslie, descended from the mountains and attacked the castle of Chanonry, which he re-took. He was thereupon joined by his nephew, Lord Reay, at the head of 300 well-armed able-bodied men, which increased his force to between 800 and 900.

Having suppressed the rising in Athole, Leslie was again sent north by the parliament, accompanied by the Earl of Sutherland; but he had not proceeded far, when he ascertained that Mackenzie had been induced by Lord Ogilvie and General Middleton, who had lately joined him, to advance southward into Badenoch, with the view of raising the people in that and the neighbouring districts, and that they had been there joined by the young Marquis of Huntly, formerly Lord Lewis Gordon, and had taken the castle of Ruthven. Leslie thereupon divided his army, with one part of which he himself entered Badenoch, while he despatched the Earl of Sutherland to the north to collect forces in Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, with another part, consisting of five troops of horse, under the command of Ker, Hacket, and Strachan. To hinder the royalists from retiring into Athole, Leslie marched southward towards Glenesk, by which movement he compelled them to leave Badenoch and to march down Spey-side towards Balveny. On arriving at Balveny, they resolved to enter into a negotiation with Leslie, and accordingly Pluscardine and Middleton left Balveny with a troop of horse to meet Leslie, leaving Huntly, Reay, and Ogilvie, in charge of the forces, the former of whom sent his brother Lord Charles Gordon to the Enzie, to raise some horse.

While waiting for the return of Pluscardine and Middleton, the party at Balveny had not the slightest idea that they might be taken by surprise; but on the 8th of May at day-break, they were most unexpectedly attacked by the horse which had been sent north with the Earl of Sutherland, and which, returning from Ross, had speedily crossed the Spey. Seizing the royalist sentinels, they surprised Lord Reay at the castle of Balveny, where he and about 900 foot were taken prisoners and about 80 killed. Huntly and Ogilvie, who had their quarters at the church of Mortlach, about a mile from Balveny castle, escaped. Colonel Ker at once dismissed all the prisoners to their own homes on giving their oaths not to take up arms against the parliament in time coming. He sent Lord Reay along with some of his kinsmen and friends and Mackenzie of Redcastle and other prisoners of his surname to Edinburgh; all of whom were imprisoned. Huntly, Ogilvie, Pluscardine, and Middleton, on giving security to keep the peace, were forgiven by Leslie and returned to their homes. Colonel Ker afterwards returned to Ross, took Redcastle, which he demolished, and hanged the persons who had defended it. Thus ended this premature insurrection which, had it been delayed till the arrival of Montrose, might have been attended with a very different result.[387]

The projected descent by Montrose upon Scotland, was considered by many persons as a desperate measure, which none but those quite reckless of consequences would attempt; but there were others, chiefly among the ultra-royalists, who viewed the affair in a different light, and who, although they considered the enterprise as one not without considerable risk, anticipated its success. Such, at least, were the sentiments of some of the king’s friends before the insurrection under Mackenzie of Pluscardine had been crushed; but it is very probable that these were greatly altered after its suppression. The failure of Pluscardine’s ill-timed attempt was indeed considered by Montrose as a great misfortune, but a misfortune far from irreparable, and as he had invitations from the royalist nobility of Scotland, requesting him to enter upon his enterprise, and promising him every assistance in their power, and as he was assured that the great body of the Scottish nation was ready to second his views, he entered upon the task assigned him by his royal master, with an alacrity and willingness which indicated a confidence on his part of ultimate success.

In terms of the powers he had received from the king, Montrose visited the north of Europe, and obtained promises of assistance of men, money, and ammunition, from some of the northern princes; but few of them fulfilled their engagements in consequence of the intrigues of the king’s enemies with the courtiers, who thwarted with all their influence the measures of Montrose. By the most indefatigable industry and perseverance, however, he collected a force of 1,200 men at Gottenburg, about 800 of whom had been raised in Holstein and Hamburg, and having received from the Queen of Sweden 1,500 complete stands of arms, for arming such persons as might join his standard on landing in Scotland, he resolved, without loss of time, to send off this armament to the Orkneys, where, in consequence of a previous arrangement with the Earl of Morton, who was favourable to the king, it was agreed that a descent should be made. Accordingly, the first division of the expedition, which consisted of three parts, was despatched early in September; but it never reached its destination, the vessels having foundered at sea in a storm. The second division was more fortunate, and arrived at Kirkwall, about the end of the month. It consisted of 200 common soldiers and 80 officers, under the command of the Earl of Kinnoul, who on landing was joined by his uncle the Earl of Morton and by many of the Orkney gentlemen. Kinnoul immediately laid siege to the castle of Birsay, which was soon surrendered to him; and he proceeded to raise levies among the Orcadians, but was checked in his progress in consequence of a difference with Morton, who claimed the privilege, as superior of Orkney, of commanding his own vassals, a claim which Kinnoul would not allow. Morton felt the repulse keenly, and died soon thereafter of a broken heart, as is believed. His nephew, perhaps hurt at the treatment he had given his uncle, speedily followed him to the grave.

General David Leslie.

The news of Kinnoul’s landing reached Edinburgh about the 14th of October, when General David Leslie was despatched to the north with seven or eight troops of horse to watch him if he attempted to cross the Pentland Frith; but seeing no appearance of an enemy, and hearing of intended commotions among the royalists in Angus and the Mearns, he returned to the south after an absence of fifteen days,[388] having previously placed strong garrisons in some of the northern strengths.[389]

Montrose himself, with the remainder of the expedition, still tarried at Gottenburg, in the expectation of obtaining additional reinforcements or of procuring supplies of arms and money. It appears from a letter[390] which he addressed to the Earl of Seaforth, of the date of 15th December, that he intended to sail for Scotland the following day; but owing to various causes he did not leave Gottenburg till about the end of February 1650. He landed in Orkney in the beginning of March, with a force of 500 men, accompanied by Lord Frendraught, Major General Hurry, and other gentlemen who had attached themselves to his service and fortunes.

To prepare the minds of the people of Scotland for the enterprise he was about to undertake, Montrose, about the close of the year, had circulated a “Declaration” in Scotland, as “Lieutenant-governor and Captain-general for his Majesty of the Kingdom of Scotland,” in which, after detailing the proceedings of those whom he termed “an horrid and infamous faction of rebels within the kingdom of Scotland,” towards his late majesty, he declared that his present majesty was not only willing to pardon every one, with the exception of those who upon clear evidence should be found guilty “of that most damnable fact of murder of his father,” provided that immediately or upon the first convenient occasion, they abandoned the rebels and joined him, and therefore, he expected all persons who had “any duty left them to God, their king, country, friends, homes, wives, children, or would change now at last the tyranny, violence, and oppression of those rebels, with the mild and innocent government of their just prince, or revenge the horrid and execrable murdering of their sacred king, redeem their nation from infamy, restore the present and oblige the ages to come, would join themselves with him in the service he was about to engage.”

This declaration which, by order of the Committee of Estates, was publicly burnt at the market cross of Edinburgh, by the hands of the common hangman, was answered on the 2d of January, by a “declaration and warning of the commission of the General Assembly,” addressed to “all the members of the kirk and kingdom,” which was followed on the 24th of the same month, by another “declaration” from the Committee of Estates of the parliament of Scotland, in vindication of their proceedings from “the aspersions of a scandalous pamphlet, published by that excommunicate traitor, James Graham, under the title of a ‘Declaration of James, Marquis of Montrose.’” The last of these documents vindicates at great length, and apparently with great success, those whom Montrose had designated the “infamous faction of rebels,” not because the committee thought “it worth the while to answer the slanders and groundless reproaches of that viperous brood of Satan, James Graham, whom the Estates of parliament had long since declared traitor, the church delivered into the hands of the devil, and the nation doth generally detest and abhor;” but because “their silence might be subject to misconstruction, and some of the weaker sort might be inveigled by the bold assertions and railing accusations of this impudent braggard, presenting himself to the view of the world clothed with his majesty’s authority, as lieutenant-governor and captain-general of this kingdom.” These declarations of the kirk and Estates, backed as they were by fulminations from all the pulpits of the kingdom against Montrose, made a deep impression on men’s minds, highly unfavourable to him; and as the Committee of Estates discharged all persons from aiding or assisting him under the pain of high treason, and as every action and word of those considered friendly to him were strictly watched, they did not attempt, and had they attempted, would have found it impossible, to make any preparations to receive him on his arrival.

Such was the situation of matters when Montrose landed in Orkney, where, in consequence of the death of Morton and Kinnoul, little progress had been made in raising troops. He remained several weeks in Orkney, without exciting much notice, and having collected about 800 of the natives, which, with the addition of the 200 troops carried over by Kinnoul, made his whole force amount to about 1,500 men, he crossed the Pentland Frith in a number of boats collected among the islands, and landed without opposition at the northern extremity of Caithness, in the immediate vicinity of John o’Groat’s house. On landing, he displayed three banners, one of which was made of black taffeta, in the centre of which was exhibited a representation of the bleeding head of the late king, as struck off from the body, surrounded by two inscriptions, “Judge and avenge my cause, O Lord,” and “Deo et victricibus armis.” Another standard had this motto, “Quos pietas virtus et honor fecit amicus.” These two banners were those of the king. The third, which was Montrose’s own, bore the words, “Nil medium,” a motto strongly significant of the uncompromising character of the man.[391] Montrose immediately compelled the inhabitants of Caithness to swear obedience to him as the king’s lieutenant-governor. All the ministers, with the exception of one named William Smith, took the oath, and to punish Smith for his disobedience, he was sent in irons on board a vessel.[392] A number of the inhabitants, however, alarmed at the arrival of foreign troops, with whose presence they considered carnage and murder to be associated, were seized with a panic and fled, nor did some of them stop till they reached Edinburgh, where they carried the alarming intelligence of Montrose’s advance to the parliament which was then sitting.

As soon as the Earl of Sutherland heard of Montrose’s arrival in Caithness, he assembled all his countrymen to oppose his advance into Sutherland. He sent, at the same time, for two troops of horse stationed in Ross, to assist him, but their officers being in Edinburgh, they refused to obey, as they had received no orders. Being apprized of the earl’s movements, and anticipating that he might secure the important pass of the Ord, and thus prevent him from entering Sutherland, Montrose despatched a body of 500 men to the south, who obtained possession of the pass. The next step Montrose took, was against the castle of Dunbeath, belonging to Sir John Sinclair, who, on Montrose’s arrival, had fled and left the place in charge of his lady. The castle was strong and well supplied with provisions, and the possession of it was considered very important by Montrose, in case he should be obliged to retreat into Orkney. The castle, which was defended by Sir John’s lady and a few servants, surrendered to General Hurry, after a short resistance, on condition that persons and property should be respected. Hurry put a strong garrison in the castle, under the command of Major Whiteford.

Having secured this important strength, Montrose marched into Sutherland, leaving Henry Graham, his natural brother, behind him with a party to raise men for the service. While in Caithness, the only persons that proffered their services to Montrose, were Hucheon Mackay of Skoury, Hugh Mackay of Dirlet, and Alexander Sinclair of Brims, whom he despatched to Strathnaver, to collect forces, but they appear to have neglected the matter. On the approach of Montrose, the Earl of Sutherland, not conceiving himself in a condition to resist, retired with his men, and putting strong garrisons into Dunrobin, Skelbo, Skibo, and Dornoch, and sending off a party with cattle and effects to the hills to be out of the reach of the enemy, he went himself into Ross with 300 of his men. Montrose continued to advance, and encamped the first night at Garty and Helmsdale, the second at Kintredwell, and the third night at Rhives. In passing by Dunrobin, a part of his men went between the castle and the sea, some of whom were killed, and others taken prisoners, in a sortie from the garrison. On the following day, Montrose demanded the prisoners from William Gordon the commander of Dunrobin, but his request was refused. Montrose encamped at Rian in Strathfleet the fourth night, at Gruidy on the fifth, and at Strathoikel on the sixth. He then marched to Carbisdale, on the borders of Ross-shire, where he halted a few days in expectation of being joined by the Mackenzies. While reposing here in fancied security and calculating on complete success, he sent a notification to the Earl of Sutherland to the effect, that though he had spared his lands for the present, yet the time was at hand when he would make his own neighbours undo him. Little did Montrose then imagine that his own fate was so near at hand.

As soon as intelligence of Montrose’s descent was received in Edinburgh, the most active preparations were made to send north troops to meet him. David Leslie, the commander-in-chief, appointed Brechin as the place of rendezvous for the troops; but as a considerable time would necessarily elapse before they could be all collected, and as apprehensions were entertained that Montrose might speedily penetrate into the heart of the Highlands, where he could not fail to find auxiliaries, Lieutenant-Colonel Strachan, an officer who had been particularly active in suppressing Pluscardine’s insurrection, was despatched, in the meantime, to the north with a few troops of horse, for the purpose of keeping Montrose in check, and enabling the Earl of Sutherland, and the other presbyterian leaders in the north to raise their levies. These troops, which were those of Ker, Hacket, Montgomery, and Strachan, and an Irish troop commanded by one Collace, were joined by a body of about 500 foot under the Earl of Sutherland, Ross of Balnagown, and Munro of Lumlair, all of whom were assembled at Tain when Montrose encamped at Strathoikel. This movement brought the hostile parties within twenty miles of each other, but Montrose was not aware that his enemy was so near at hand. Strachan, who had early intelligence brought him of Montrose’s advance, immediately called a council of war to deliberate, at which it was resolved that the Earl of Sutherland should, by a circuitous movement, throw himself into Montrose’s rear, in order to prevent a junction between him and Henry Graham, and such of the Strathnaver and Caithness men as should attempt to join him. It was resolved that, at the same time, Strachan with his five troops of horse, and the Munroes, and Rosses, under Balnagown, and Lumlair, should march directly forward and attack Montrose in the level country before he should, as was contemplated, retire to the hills on the approach of Leslie, who was hastening rapidly north with a force of 4,000 horse and foot, at the rate of thirty miles a-day.

SUTHERLAND OR 93D.

It was Saturday the 27th of April, when Strachan’s officers were deliberating whether they should move immediately forward or wait till Monday, “and so decline the hazard of engaging upon the Lord’s day,”[393] when notice being brought that Montrose had advanced from Strathoikel to Carbisdale, a movement which brought him six miles nearer to them, they made arrangements for attacking him without delay. Strachan advanced without observation as far as Fearn, within a mile and a half or two miles of Montrose, where he concealed his men on a moor covered with broom, whence he sent out a party of scouts under Captain Andrew Munro, son of Munro of Lumlair, to reconnoitre Montrose. Munro soon returned and reported that Montrose had sent out a body of 40 horse to ascertain their movements. In order to deceive this body, Strachan ordered one troop of horse out of the broom, which being the only force observed by Montrose’s scouts, they returned and reported to Montrose what they had seen. This intelligence threw Montrose completely off his guard, who, conceiving that the whole strength of the enemy consisted of a single troop of horse, made no preparations for defending himself.

In the meantime, Strachan formed his men into four divisions. The first, which consisted of about 100 horsemen, he commanded himself; the second, amounting to upwards of 80, was given in charge to Hacket; and the third, also horse, to the number of about 40, was led by Captain Hutcheson. The fourth division, which was composed of a body of musketeers belonging to Lawer’s regiment, was commanded by one Quarter-master Shaw.[394]

The deception which had been so well practised upon Montrose by Strachan, in concealing the real amount of his force, might not have been attended with any serious effect to Montrose, but for another stratagem which Strachan had in reserve, and which proved Montrose’s ruin. Strachan’s scheme was first to advance with his own division to make it appear as if his whole strength consisted of only 100 horse, and while Montrose was impressed with this false idea, to bring up the other three divisions in rapid succession, and thus create a panic among Montrose’s men as if a large army were about to attack them. This contrivance was crowned with the most complete success. Montrose little suspecting the trick, was thrown quite off his guard, and alarmed at the sudden appearance of successive bodies of cavalry, he immediately gave orders for a retreat to a wood and craggy hill at a short distance in his rear; but before Montrose’s men could reach their intended place of retreat, they were overtaken when almost breathless, by Strachan’s troopers, who charged them violently. The foreign troops received the charge with firmness, and, after discharging a volley upon the horse, flew into the wood; but most of the Orcadians threw down their arms in terror and begged for quarter. The Munroes and Rosses followed the Danish troops into the wood and killed many of them. 200 of the fugitives in attempting to cross the adjoining river were drowned.

Montrose for some time made an unavailing effort to rally some of his men, and fought with his accustomed bravery; but having his horse shot under him, and seeing it utterly impossible longer to resist the enemy, he mounted the horse of Lord Frendraught, which that young and generous nobleman proffered him, and galloped off the field; and as soon as he got out of the reach of the enemy, he dismounted, and throwing away his cloak, which was decorated with the star of the garter, and his sword, sought his safety on foot.

The slaughter of Montrose’s men continued about two hours, or until sunset, during which time ten of his best officers and 386 common soldiers were killed. The most conspicuous among the former for bravery was Menzies younger of Pitfoddles, the bearer of the black standard, who repeatedly refused to receive quarter. Upwards of 400 prisoners were taken, including 31 officers, among whom were Sir John Hurry and Lord Frendraught, the latter of whom was severely wounded. Among the prisoners taken were two ministers. This victory was achieved almost without bloodshed on the part of the victors, who had only two men wounded, and one trooper drowned. After the slaughter, the conquerors returned thanks to God on the open field for the victory they had obtained, and returned to Tain, carrying the prisoners along with them.[395] For several days the people of Ross and Sutherland continued to pursue some unfortunate stragglers, whom they despatched. The result was most calamitous to Orkney, as appears from a petition and memorandum by the gentlemen of Orkney to Lord Morton in 1662, in which it is stated, that there was scarcely a gentleman’s house in that country “but lost either a son or a brother.”[396]

Montrose, accompanied by the Earl of Kinnoul, who had lately succeeded to the title on the death of his brother, and six or seven companions, having, as before stated, dismounted from his horse and thrown away his cloak and sword, and having, by the advice of his friends, to avoid detection, exchanged his clothes for the more homely attire of a common Highlander, wandered all night and the two following days among bleak and solitary regions, without knowing where to proceed, and ready to perish under the accumulated distresses of hunger, fatigue, and anxiety of mind. The Earl of Kinnoul, unable, from exhaustion, to follow Montrose any farther, was left among the mountains, where it is supposed he perished. When upon the point of starvation, Montrose was fortunate to light upon a small cottage, where he obtained a supply of milk and bread,[397] on receiving which he continued his lonely and dangerous course among the mountains of Sutherland, at the risk of being seized every hour, and dragged as a felon before the very man whom, only a few days before, he had threatened with his vengeance.

In the meantime, active search was made after Montrose. As it was conjectured that he might attempt to reach Caithness, where his natural brother, Henry Graham, still remained with some troops in possession of the castle of Dunbeath, and as it appeared probable, from the direction Montrose was supposed to have taken, that he meant to go through Assynt, Captain Andrew Munro sent instructions to Neil Macleod, the laird of Assynt, his brother-in-law, to apprehend every stranger that might enter his bounds, in the hope of catching Montrose, for whose apprehension a splendid reward was offered. In consequence of these instructions, Macleod sent out various parties in quest of Montrose, but they could not fall in with him. “At last,” says Bishop Wishart, “the laird of Assynt being abroad in arms with some of his tenants in search of him, lighted on him in a place where he had continued three or four days without meat or drink, and only one man in his company.” The bishop then states, that “Assynt had formerly been one of Montrose’s own followers; who immediately knowing him, and believing to find friendship at his hands, willingly discovered himself; but Assynt not daring to conceal him, and being greedy of the reward which was promised to the person who should apprehend him by the Council of the Estates, immediately seized and disarmed him.”[398] This account differs a little from that of the author of the continuation of Sir Robert Gordon’s history, who, however, it must be remembered, represents the Earl of Sutherland and his friends in as favourable a light as possible. Gordon says, that it was one of Macleod’s parties that apprehended Montrose, and is altogether silent as to Assynt’s having been his follower; but both writers inform us that Montrose offered Macleod a large sum of money for his liberty, which he refused to grant. Macleod kept Montrose and his companion, Major Sinclair, an Orkney gentleman, prisoners in the castle of Ardvraick, his principal residence. By order of Leslie, Montrose was thence removed to Skibo castle, where he was kept two nights, thereafter to the castle of Braan, and thence again to Edinburgh.

In his progress to the capital, Montrose had to endure all those indignities which vulgar minds, instigated by malevolence and fanaticism, could suggest; but he bore every insult with perfect composure. At a short interview which he had with two of his children at the house of the Earl of South Esk, his father-in-law, on his way to Edinburgh, he exhibited the same composure, for “neither at meeting nor parting could any change of his former countenance be discerned, or the least expression heard which was not suitable to the greatness of his spirit, and the fame of his former actions. His behaviour was, during the whole journey, such as became a great man; his countenance was serene and cheerful, as one who was superior to all those reproaches which they had prepared the people to pour out upon him in all the places through which he was to pass.”[399]

Castle of Ardvraick.

At Dundee, which had particularly suffered from his army, a very different feeling was shown by the inhabitants, who displayed a generosity of feeling and a sympathy for fallen greatness, which did them immortal honour. Instead of insulting the fallen hero in his distress, they commiserated his misfortunes, and prevailed upon his guards to permit him to exchange the rustic and mean apparel in which he had been apprehended, and which, to excite the derision of the mob, they had compelled him to wear, for a more becoming dress which had been provided for him by the people of Dundee. The sensibilities of the inhabitants had probably been awakened by a bold and ineffectual attempt to rescue Montrose, made by the lady of the laird of Grange, at whose house, in the neighbourhood of Dundee, he had passed the previous night. The author of the Memoirs of the Somervilles gives the following characteristic account of this affair:—

“It was at this ladye’s house that that party of the Covenanters their standing armie, that gairded in the Marques of Montrose, efter his forces was beat and himself betrayed in the north, lodged him, whom this excellent lady designed to sett at libertie, by procureing his escape from her house; in order to this, soe soon as ther quarters was settled, and that she had observed the way and manner of the placeing of the guairds, and what officers commanded them, she not only ordered her butlers to let the souldiers want for noe drink, but she herself, out of respect and kyndnesse, as she pretended, plyed hard the officers and souldiers of the main-guaird, (which was keeped in her owne hall) with the strongest ale and acquavite, that before midnight, all of them, (being for the most part Highlandmen of Lawer’s regiment) became starke drunke. If her stewarts and other servants had obeyed her directions in giving out what drinke the out-gairds should have called for, undoubtedly the business had been effectuat; but unhappily, when the marques had passed the first and second centinells that was sleeping upon their musquets, and likewayes through the main-gaird, that was lying in the hall lyke swyne on a midding, he was challenged a little without the outmost guaird by a wretched trouper of Strachan’s troupe, that had been present at his taking. This fellow was none of the guaird that night, but being quartered hard by, was come rammelling in for his bellieful of drinke, when he made this unluckie discovery, which being done, the marques was presently seized upon, and with much rudenesse (being in the ladye’s cloaths which he had put on for a disguize) turned back to his prisone chamber. The lady, her old husband, with the wholl servants of the house, were made prisoners for that night, and the morrow efter, when they came to be challenged before these that had the command of this party, and some members of that wretched Committee of Estates, that satt allways at Edinbrough (for mischief to the royall interest,) which they had sent for the more security, to be still with this party, fearing the great friends and weill-wishers this noble heroe had upon the way he was to come, should either by force or stratageme, be taken from them. The ladie, as she had been the only contryver of Montrose’s escape, soe did she avow the same before them all; testifying she was heartily sorry it had not taken effect according to her wished desyre. This confidence of hers, as it bred some admiratione in her accusors, soe it freed her husband and the servants from being farder challenged; only they took security of the laird for his ladye’s appearing before the Committie of Estates when called, which she never was. Ther worships gott something else to thinke upon, then to conveen soe excellent a lady before them upon such ane account, as tended greatly to her honour and ther oune shame.”

The parliament, which had been adjourned till the 15th of May, met on the appointed day, and named a committee to devise the mode of his reception into the capital and the manner of his death. In terms of the committee’s report an act was passed on the 17th of May, ordaining “James Graham” to be conveyed bareheaded from the Water Gate (the eastern extremity of the city) on a cart, to which he was to be tied with a rope, and drawn by the hangman in his livery, with his hat on, to the jail of Edinburgh, and thence to be brought to the parliament house, and there on his knees to receive sentence of death. It was resolved that he should be hanged on a gibbet at the cross of Edinburgh, with the book which contained the history of his wars and the declaration which he had issued, tied to his neck, and after hanging for the space of three hours, that his body should be cut down by the hangman, his head severed from his body, fixed on an iron spike, and placed on the pinnacle on the west end of the prison; that his hands and legs should also be cut off, the former to be placed over the gates of Perth and Stirling, and the latter over those of Aberdeen and Glasgow; that if at his death he showed any signs of repentance, and should in consequence be relieved from the sentence of excommunication which the kirk had pronounced against him, that the trunk of his body should be interred by “pioneers” in the Gray Friars’ churchyard; but otherwise, that it should be buried by the hangman’s assistants, under the scaffold on the Boroughmuir, the usual place of execution.[400]

The minds of the populace had, at this time, been wrought up to the highest pitch of hatred at Montrose by the ministers, who, during a fast which had lately been held in thanksgiving for his apprehension, had launched the most dreadful and bloody invectives against him, and to this circumstance perhaps is to be attributed the ignominious plan devised for his reception.

On the day following the passing of the act, Montrose was brought up from Leith, mounted on an outworn horse, to the Water Gate, along with 23 of his officers, his fellow-prisoners, where he was met about four o’clock, P.M., by the magistrates of the city in their robes, followed by the “town guard,” and the common executioner. Having been delivered by his guards to the civic authorities, whose duty it now was to take charge of his person, Montrose was, for the first time, made acquainted with the fate which awaited him, by one of the magistrates putting a copy of the sentence into his hands. He perused the paper with composure, and after he had read it he informed the magistrates that he was ready to submit to his fate, and only regretted, “that through him the king’s majesty, whose person he represented, should be so much dishonoured.”[401]

Montrose (his signature)
THE GREAT MARQUIS OF MONTROSE.
From a rare contemporary print in possession of W. F. Watson Esqr. Edinr.

Before mounting the vehicle brought for his reception, Montrose was ordered by the hangman to uncover his head; but as the mandate was not immediately attended to, that abhorred instrument of the law enforced his command with his own hands. He thereupon made Montrose go into the cart, and placing him on a high chair fixed upon a small platform raised at the end of the cart, he pinioned his arms close to his sides by means of cords, which being passed across his breast, and fastened behind the vehicle, kept him so firmly fixed as to render his body immoveable. The other prisoners, who were tied together in pairs, having been marshalled in front of the cart in walking order and uncovered, the hangman, clothed in his official attire, mounted one of the horses[402] attached to the cart, and the procession thereupon moved off at a slow pace up the Canongate, in presence of thousands of spectators, who lined the long street, and filled the windows of the adjoining houses. Among the crowd which thronged the street to view the mournful spectacle was a great number of the inferior classes of the community, chiefly females, who had come with the determined intention of venting abuse upon the fallen hero, and pelting him, as he proceeded along the street, with dirt, stones, and other missiles, incited thereto by the harangues of the ministers on occasion of the late fast; but they were so overawed by the dignity of his demeanour, and the undaunted courage of soul which he displayed, that their feelings were at once overcome, and instead of covering him with reproaches, they dissolved into tears of pity at the sight of fallen greatness, and invoked the blessings of heaven upon the head of the illustrious captive. A result so totally unlooked-for, could not be but exceedingly displeasing to the enemies of Montrose, and particularly to the ministers, who, on the following day (Sunday), denounced the conduct of the people from the pulpits of the city, and threatened them with the wrath of heaven.

But displeasing as the humane reception of Montrose was to the clergy, it must have been much more mortifying to Argyle, his mortal enemy, who, contrary to modern notions of decency and good feeling, surrounded by his family and the marriage party of his newly-wedded son, Lord Lorn, appeared publicly on a balcony in front of the Earl of Moray’s house[403] in the Canongate, from which he beheld undaunted the great Montrose, powerless now to do him personal harm. To add to the insult, either accidentally or on purpose, the vehicle which carried Montrose was stopped for some time beneath the place where Argyle and his party stood, so that they were able to take a leisurely view of the object of their hate and fear, and it would appear that they took advantage of their fallen foe’s position to indulge in unseemly demonstrations of triumph and insult. For the sake of humanity and the honour of tender-hearted woman, we would fain disbelieve the statement that the Marchioness of Argyle had the effrontery to vent her hatred toward the fallen enemy of her house by spitting upon him. Whatever were the inward workings of Montrose’s soul, he betrayed no symptoms of inquietude, but preserved, during this trying scene, a dignified demeanour which is said to have considerably discomposed his triumphant rival and his friends.

Although the distance from the Water Gate to the prison was only about half a mile, yet so slow had the procession moved, that it was almost seven o’clock in the evening before it reached the prison. When released from the cart Montrose gave the hangman some money for his services in having driven so well his “triumphal chariot,”[404] as he jocularly termed the cart. On being lodged in jail, he was immediately visited by a small committee appointed by the parliament, which had held an extraordinary meeting at six o’clock in the evening. Balfour says, that the object of the committee, which consisted of three members and two ministers, was to ask “James Grahame if he had any thing to say, and to show him that he was to repair to the house to receive his sentence.” The house remained sitting till the return of the deputation, who reported that Montrose had refused to answer any of the questions put to him till he was informed upon what terms they stood with the king, and whether they had concluded any agreement with him. In consequence of this information, the parliament delayed passing sentence till Monday the 20th of May; and, in the meantime, appointed seven of their members to wait upon the marquis and examine him on some points respecting “Duke Hamilton and others;” and to induce him to answer, the deputation was instructed to inform him, that an agreement had been concluded between the commissioners on the part of the estates and his majesty, who was coming to Scotland.[405] Montrose, however, excused himself from annoyance by stating, that as his journey had been long, and as “the ceremony and compliment they had paid him that day had been somewhat wearisome and tedious,” he required repose;[406] in consequence of which the deputation left him.

Montrose meant to have spent the whole of the following day, being Sunday, in devotional exercises suitable to his trying situation; but he was denied this consolation by the incessant intrusions of the ministers and members of parliament, who annoyed him by asking a variety of ensnaring questions, which he having refused to answer, they gave vent to the foulest reproaches against him. These insults, however, had no effect on him, nor did he show the least symptoms of impatience, but carried himself throughout with a firmness which no menaces could shake. When he broke silence at last, he said that “they were much mistaken if they imagined that they had affronted him by carrying him in a vile cart the day before; for he esteemed it the most honourable and cheerful journey he had ever performed in his life; his most merciful God and Redeemer having all the while manifested his presence to him in a most comfortable and inexpressible manner, and supplied him by his divine grace, with resolution and constancy to overlook the reproaches of men, and to behold him alone for whose cause he suffered.”[407]

Agreeably to the order of parliament, Montrose was brought up by the magistrates of Edinburgh on Monday at ten o’clock forenoon to receive sentence. As if to give dignity and importance to the cause for which he was about to suffer, and to show how indifferent he was to his own fate, Montrose appeared at the bar of the parliament in a superb dress which he had provided for the purpose, after his arrival in Edinburgh. His small clothes consisted of a rich suit of black silk, covered with costly silver lace, over which he wore a scarlet rochet which reached to his knee, and which was trimmed with silver galloons, and lined with crimson taffeta. He also wore silk stockings of a carnation colour, with garters, roses and corresponding ornaments, and a beaver hat having a very rich silver band.[408]

Having ascended “the place of delinquents,” a platform on which criminals received sentence, Montrose surveyed the scene before him with his wonted composure, and though his countenance was rather pale, and exhibited other symptoms of care, his firmness never for a moment forsook him. Twice indeed was he observed to heave a sigh and to roll his eyes along the house,[409] during the virulent invectives which the lord-chancellor (Loudon) poured out upon him, but these emotions were only the indications of the warmth of his feelings while suffering under reproaches which he could not resent.

The lord-chancellor, in rising to address Montrose, entered into a long detail of his “rebellions,” as he designated the warlike actions of Montrose, who, he said, had invaded his native country with hostile arms, and had called in Irish rebels and foreigners to his assistance. He then reproached Montrose with having broken not only the national covenant, which he had bound himself to support, but also the solemn league and covenant, to which the whole nation had sworn; and he concluded by informing Montrose, that for the many murders, treasons, and impieties of which he had been guilty, God had now brought him to suffer condign punishment. After the chancellor had concluded his harangue, Montrose requested permission to say a few words in his own vindication, which being granted, though not without some difficulty, he proceeded to vindicate his conduct, showing that it was the result of sincere patriotism and devoted loyalty.

“He had,” he said, “not spilt any blood, not even that of his most inveterate enemies, but in the field of battle; and that even in the greatest heat of action he had preserved the lives of many thousands; and that as he had first taken up arms at the command of the king, he had laid them down upon his orders, without any regard to his own interest, and had retired beyond the seas.

“With regard to his late invasion, he said, he had undertaken it at the command and by the express orders of the present king, (to whom they all owed duty and allegiance, and for whose long and happy reign he offered his sincere and earnest prayers,) in order to accelerate the treaty which was then begun betwixt him and them—that it was his intention, as soon as the treaty had been concluded, to lay down arms and retire at the call of his majesty; and such being his authority and determination, he might justly affirm, that no subject ever acted upon more honourable grounds, nor by a more lawful power and authority than he had done in the late expedition.

“In conclusion, he called upon the assemblage to lay aside all prejudice, private animosity, and desire of revenge, and to consider him, in relation to the justice of his cause, as a man and a Christian, and an obedient subject, in relation to the commands of his sovereign, which he had faithfully executed. He then put them in mind of the great obligations which many of them were under to him, for having preserved their lives and fortunes at a time when he had the power and authority, had he inclined, of destroying both, and entreated them not to judge him rashly, but according to the laws of God, the laws of nature and nations, and particularly by the laws of the land—that if they should refuse to do so, he would appeal to the just Judge of the world, who would at last judge them all, and pronounce a righteous sentence.”[410]

This speech was delivered without affectation or embarrassment, and with such firmness and clearness of intonation, that, according to a cavalier historian, many persons present were afterwards heard to declare, that he looked and spoke as he had been accustomed when at the head of his army.[411] The chancellor replied to Montrose, in a strain of the most furious invective, “punctually proving him,” says Balfour, “by his acts of hostility, to be a person most infamous, perjured, treacherous, and of all that this land ever brought forth, the most creuell and inhumane butcher and murtherer of his natione, a sworne enimy to the Covenant and peace of his countrey, and one quhosse boundlesse pryde and ambition had lost the father, and by his wicked counsells done quhat in him lay to distroy the sone lykwayes.”[412]

Montrose attempted to address the court a second time, but was rudely interrupted by the chancellor, who ordered him to keep silence, and to kneel down and receive his sentence. The prisoner at once obeyed, but remarked, that on falling on his knees, he meant only to honour the king his master, and not the parliament. While Sir Archibald Johnston, the clerk-register, was reading the sentence, Montrose kept his countenance erect and displayed his usual firmness. “He behaved all this time in the house with a great deal of courage and modesty, unmoved and undaunted.”[413] The execution was fixed for three o’clock the following day.

The feelings of humanity and the voice of religion, now demanded that the unfortunate prisoner should be allowed to spend the short time he had to live, in those solemn preparations for death, enjoined by religion, in privacy and without molestation; but it was his fate to be in the hands of men in whose breasts such feelings were stifled, and whose religion was deeply imbued with a stern and gloomy fanaticism, to which charity was an entire stranger. However, it would be unfair and uncharitable to look upon the conduct of these men as if they had been surrounded with all the advantages of the present enlightened age. We ought to bear in mind their recent escape from the most intolerant of all religions, of whose persecuting principles they had not yet got rid; the hard treatment to which they had been subjected by the late king and his father; and the fact that they really believed they were doing their duty to God and serving the best interests of true religion. It is indeed difficult to be charitable to the uncharitable, tolerant to persecutors.

No sooner had Montrose returned to prison, than he was again assailed by the ministers, who endeavoured to induce him to submit to the kirk, no doubt considering the conversion of such an extraordinary malignant as Montrose, as a theological achievement of the first importance. To subdue his obstinacy, they magnified the power of the keys, which they said had been committed to them, and informed him that unless he reconciled himself to the kirk and obtained a release from the sentence of excommunication which had been pronounced against him, he would be eternally damned. But Montrose, regardless of their threats and denunciations, remained inflexible. Besides the ministers, he was frequently waited upon by the magistrates of the city, with whom he entered into conversation. He told them that he was much indebted to the parliament for the great honour they had decreed him,—that he was prouder to have his head fixed upon the top of the prison, than if they had decreed a golden statue to be erected to him in the market-place, or ordered his portrait to be placed in the king’s bed-chamber,—that so far from grieving for the mutilation which his body was about to undergo, he was happy that the parliament had taken such an effectual method of preserving the memory of his loyalty, by transmitting such proofs of them to the four principal cities of the kingdom, and he only wished that he had flesh enough to have sent a piece to every city in Christendom, as a testimony of his unshaken love and fidelity to his king and country.[414] But annoying as the visits of the ministers and magistrates undoubtedly were, Montrose was still farther doomed to undergo the humiliation of being placed under the more immediate charge of Major Weir, who afterwards obtained an infamous notoriety in the annals of criminal jurisprudence. This incestuous wretch, who laid claim to superior godliness, and who pretended to be gifted with the spirit of prayer, of which he gave proofs by many extemporary effusions, gave Montrose great uneasiness by smoking tobacco, to the smell of which he had, like Charles I., a particular aversion.

During the night, when free from the intrusion of the ministers, Montrose occupied himself in devotional exercises, and even found leisure to gratify his poetic taste, by composing the following lines which he wrote upon the window of the chamber in which he was confined.

“Let them bestow on every airth a limb,

Then open all my veins, that I may swim

To thee, my Maker, in that crimson lake,

Then place my parboiled head upon a stake;

Scatter my ashes, strow them in the air.

Lord, since thou knowest where all these atoms are,

I’m hopeful thou’lt recover once my dust,

And confident thou’lt raise me with the just.”

On the morning of the 21st of May, 1650, the city of Edinburgh was put into a state of commotion by the noise of drums and trumpets, which was heard in every quarter of the city. The sound attracted the notice of Montrose, who inquired at the captain of the guard the cause of it. The officer told him that the parliament, dreading that an attempt might be made by the mob, under the influence of the malignants, to rescue him, had given orders to call out the soldiers and citizens to arms. “Do I,” said the marquis, “who was such a terror to these good men when alive, continue still so formidable to them, now that I am about to die? But let them look to themselves; for even after I am dead, I will be continually present to their wicked consciences, and become more formidable to them than while I was alive.”

After partaking of a hearty breakfast, Montrose entered upon the business of the toilet, to which he paid particular attention. While in the act of combing his hair, he was visited by Sir Archibald Johnston, the clerk-register, one of his most inveterate foes, who made some remarks on the impropriety, as he thought, of a person in the dreadful situation of the marquis, occupying some of the precious moments he had yet to live in frivolous attentions to his person. The marquis, who knew well the character of this morose man, thus addressed him with a smile of contempt, “While my head is my own, I will dress and adorn it; but to-morrow, when it becomes yours, you may treat it as you please.”

About an hour before the time fixed for his execution, Montrose was waited upon by the magistrates of the city, who saw him conveyed to the scaffold on the same vehicle on which he had been carried into the city. In addition to the dress which he wore on that occasion, he was now habited in a superb scarlet cloak, ornamented with gold and silver lace, which his friends had provided him with. Long before his removal from prison, an immense assemblage of persons had congregated around the place of execution in the High-street, all of whom were deeply affected on Montrose’s appearance. As he proceeded along, he had, says Wishart, “such a grand air, and so much beauty, majesty, and gravity appeared in his countenance, as shocked the whole city at the cruelty that was designed him; and extorted even from his enemies this unwilling confession, that he was a man of the most lofty and elevated soul, and of the most unshaken constancy and resolution that the age had produced.”

It had always been the uniform practice in Scotland to permit all persons about to suffer the last penalty of the law to address the assembled spectators, and on mounting the scaffold Montrose was proceeding to avail himself of this privilege; but the magistrates, who probably had received their instructions from the parliament, refused to allow him to harangue the multitude. His friends, however, anticipating this, had hired a young man, skilled in stenography, who, having stationed himself near the scaffold, was enabled to take down the substance of some observations which Montrose was permitted to make in answer to questions put by some persons who surrounded him.

He began by remarking that he would consider it extremely hard indeed if the mode of his death should be esteemed any reflection upon him, or prove offensive to any good Christian, seeing that such occurrences often happened to the good at the hands of the wicked, and often to the wicked at the hands of the good—and that just men sometimes perish in their righteousness, while wicked men prosper in their villanies. That he, therefore, expected that those who knew him well would not esteem him the less for his present sufferings, especially as many greater and more deserving men than he had undergone the same untimely and disgraceful fate. Yet, that he could not but acknowledge that all the judgments of God were just, and that the punishment he was about to suffer was very deservedly inflicted upon him for the many private sins he had committed, and he therefore willingly submitted to it;—that he freely pardoned his enemies, whom he reckoned but the instruments of the Divine will, and prayed to God to forgive them, although they had oppressed the poor, and perverted judgment and justice.

That he had done nothing contrary to the laws of the kingdom, and that he had undertaken nothing but in obedience to the just commands of his sovereign, when reduced to the greatest difficulties by his rebellious subjects, who had risen up in arms against him—that his principal study had always been to fear God and honour the king, in a manner agreeable to the law of God, the laws of nature, and those of his own country; and that, in neither of these respects, had he transgressed against men, but against God alone, with whom he expected to find abundant mercy, and in the confidence of which, he was ready to approach the eternal throne without terror—that he could not pretend to foretell what might happen, or to pry into the secrets of Divine Providence; but he prayed to God that the indignities and cruelties which he was that day to suffer might not be a prelude of still greater miseries which would befall his afflicted country, which was fast hastening to ruin.

That with regard to the grievous censure of the church, which he was sorry some good people thought it a crime in him to die under, he observed, that he did not incur it from any fault of his own, but in the performance of his duty to his lawful prince, for the security of religion, and the preservation of his sacred person and royal authority—that the sentence of excommunication, so rashly laid upon him by the clergy, gave him much concern, and that he earnestly desired to be released from it, so far as that could be done, agreeably to the laws of God, and without hurting his conscience or allegiance, which, if they refused, he appealed to God, the righteous judge of the world, who, ere long, was to be his impartial judge and gracious redeemer.

In answer to the reproaches of some persons who had endeavoured to destroy the marquis’s character and reputation by spreading a report that he had laid the whole blame of what he had done upon the king and his royal father, he observed that such a thought had never once entered into his breast—that the late king had lived a saint and died a martyr, and he prayed to God, that as his own fate was not unlike his, so his death might be attended with the same degree of piety and resignation; for if he could wish his soul in another man’s stead, or to be conjoined with it in the same condition after this life, it would be his alone.

He then requested that the people would judge charitably of him and his actions, without prejudice and without passion. He desired the prayers of all good men for his soul; for his part, he said he prayed earnestly for them all; and with the greatest seriousness, submission and humility, deprecated the vengeance of Almighty God, which had been so long awakened, and which was still impending over his afflicted country—that his enemies were at liberty to exult and triumph over the perishing remains of his body, but the utmost indignities they could inflict should never prevail on him, now at his death, to swerve from that duty and reverence to God, and obedience and respect to the king, which he had manifested all his life long. “I can say no more,” concluded the marquis, “but remit myself to your charity, and I desire your prayers. You that are scandalized at me, give me your charity; I shall pray for you all. I leave my soul to God, my service to my prince, my goodwill to my friends, and my name in charity to you all. I might say more, but I have exonered my conscience; the rest I leave to God’s mercy.”[415]

A party of ministers who occupied the lower end of the scaffold now attempted, partly by persuasion and partly by threats, to induce Montrose to yield to the kirk by acknowledging his own criminality; but he denied that he had acted contrary to religion and the laws of the land, and, of course, refused to accept of a reconciliation upon such terms. Finding him inflexible, they refused to pray for him as he desired, observing, that no prayers could be of any avail to a man who was an outcast from the church of God. Being desired to pray by himself apart, he told them that if they would not permit the people to join with him, his prayers alone and separately before so large an assembly would perhaps be offensive both to them and him—that he had already poured out his soul before God, who knew his heart, and to whom he had committed his spirit. He then shut his eyes, and holding his hat before his face with his left hand, he raised his right in the attitude of prayer, in which posture he continued about a quarter of an hour in silent and fervent prayer.

As the fatal hour was fast approaching when this unfortunate nobleman was to bid a last adieu to sublunary things, he desired the executioner to hasten his preparations. This gloomy functionary, accordingly, brought the book of Montrose’s wars, and his late declaration, which, by the sentence, were ordered to be tied round his neck with a cord. Montrose himself assisted in carrying this part of his sentence into execution, and while the operation was performing, good-humouredly remarked, that he considered himself as much honoured then by having such tokens of his loyalty attached to his person as he had been when his majesty had invested him with the order of the garter.[416]

Hitherto, Montrose had remained uncovered; but, before ascending the ladder that conducted to the top of the gibbet, which rose to the height of thirty feet from the centre of the scaffold, he requested permission to put on his hat. This request was, however, refused. He then asked leave to keep on his cloak; but this favour was also denied him. Irritated, probably at these refusals, he appears for a moment to have lost his usual equanimity of temper, and when orders were given to pinion his arms, he told the magistrates that if they could invent any further marks of ignominy, he was ready to endure them all for the sake of the cause for which he suffered.

On arriving at the top of the ladder, which he ascended with astonishing firmness, Montrose asked the executioner how long his body was to be suspended to the gibbet. “Three hours,” was the answer. He then presented the executioner with three or four pieces of gold, told him he freely forgave him for the part he acted, and instructed him to throw him off as soon as he observed him uplifting his hands. The executioner watched the fatal signal, and on the noble victim raising his hands, obeyed the mandate, and, it is said, burst into tears. A feeling of horror seized the assembled multitude, who expressed their disapprobation by a general groan. Among the spectators were many persons who had indulged during the day in bitter invectives against Montrose, but whose feelings were so overpowered by the sad spectacle of his death that they could not refrain from tears.[417] Even the relentless Argyle, who had good feeling enough to absent himself from the execution, is said to have shed tears on hearing of Montrose’s death, but if a cavalier writer is to be believed, his son, Lord Lorne, disgraced himself by the most unfeeling barbarity.[418]

Thus died, at the early age of thirty-eight, James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, who had acquired during a short career of military glory greater reputation than perhaps ever fell to the lot of any commander within the same compass of time. That partisans may have exaggerated his actions, and extolled his character too highly, may be fairly admitted; but it cannot be denied that Montrose was really a great commander, and that there were noble and generous traits about him which indicated a high and cultivated mind, in many respects far superior to the age in which he lived. But however much the military exploits of Montrose may be admired, it must never be forgotten that his sword was drawn against his own countrymen in their struggles against arbitrary power, and that although there was much to condemn in the conduct of the Covenanters, subsequent events, in the reign of the second Charles and James, showed that they were not mistaken in the dread which they entertained of the extinction of their religious liberties, had Charles I. succeeded in his designs.

Among Montrose’s officers five of the most distinguished were selected for execution, all of whom perished under ‘the Maiden,’ a species of guillotine, introduced into Scotland by the Regent Morton, to which he himself became the first victim. The officers who suffered were Sir John Hurry,[419] Captain Spottiswood, younger of Dairsie, Sir Francis Hay of Dalgetty, Colonel William Sibbald, and Captain Charteris, a cadet of the ancient family of Amisfield. All these met death with extraordinary fortitude. Sir Francis Hay, who was a Catholic, “and therefore,” as a cavalier historian quaintly observes, “not coming within the compass of the ministers’ prayers,”[420] displayed in particular an intrepidity worthy of his name and family.[421] After a witty metaphorical allusion to “the Maiden,” he kissed the fatal instrument, and kneeling down, laid his head upon the block. Colonel Sibbald exhibited a surprising gaiety, and, “with an undaunted behaviour, marched up to the block, as if he had been to act the part of a gallant in a play.”[422] An instance of the unfeeling levity with which such melancholy scenes were witnessed, even by those who considered themselves the ministers of the gospel, occurred on the present as on former occasions. Captain Spottiswood, grandson of the archbishop of that name, having on his knees said the following prayer:—“O Lord, who hath been graciously pleased to bring me through the wilderness of this world, I trust at this time you will waft me over this sea of blood to my heavenly Canaan;” was rebuked by a minister who was near him in the following words:—“Take tent (heed), take tent, sir, that you drown not by the gate!” (way). Spottiswood replied with great modesty that “he hoped he was no Egyptian,” an answer which forced the base intruder to retire among the crowd to conceal his shame.

The execution of Captain Charteris (the last who suffered) was a source of melancholy regret to his friends, and of triumph to the ministers. He was a man of determined mind; but his health being much impaired by wounds which he had received, he had not firmness to resist the importunities of his friends, who, as a means of saving his life, as they thought, prevailed upon him to agree to make a public declaration of his errors. This unhappy man, accordingly, when on the scaffold, read a long speech, which had been prepared for him by the ministers, penned in a peculiarly mournful strain, in which he lamented his apostacy from the Covenant, and acknowledged “other things which he had vented to them (the ministers) in auricular confession.”[423] Yet, notwithstanding the expectations which he and his friends were led to entertain that his life would be spared, he had no sooner finished his speech than he was despatched.

FOOTNOTES:

[383] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 393.

[384] Memoirs, p. 351.

[385] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 405.

[386] See Appendix to Wishart’s Memoirs, p. 440.

[387] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 547, et seq.

[388] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 432.

[389] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 551.

[390] Appendix to Wishart’s Memoirs, p. 441.

[391] Balfour, vol. iii. p. 440.

[392] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 552.

[393] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 9.

[394] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 9.

[395] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 555.

[396] Vide the document in the Appendix to Peterkin’s Notes on Orkney and Zetland, pp. 106, 107.

[397] Gordon’s Continuation, p. 555.

[398] Memoirs, p. 377.

[399] Memoirs, p. 380.

[400] Balfour, vol. iv. pp. 12, 13.

[401] Wishart, p. 385.

[402] According to Montrose Redivivus, p. 181, the cart was drawn by four horses.

[403] Now the Free Church Normal School.

[404] Wishart, p. 386.

[405] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 14.

[406] Wishart, p. 386.

[407] Wishart, p. 387.

[408] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 16, note to Kirkton’s Church History, p. 124. Relation of the execution of James Graham, London, 1650.

[409] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 16.

[410] Wishart, p. 391.

[411] Monteith’s Hist. of the Troubles, &c., p. 514.

[412] Annals, vol. iv. p. 15.

[413] Idem, p. 16.

[414] Wishart, p. 393.

[415] Wishart, p. 399. Balfour, vol. iv. p. 22.

[416] Wishart, p. 400.

[417] Montrose Redivivus.

[418] “’Tis said that Argyle’s expressions had something of grief in them, and did likewise weep at the rehearsal of his death, (for he was not present at the execution). Howsoever, they were by many called crocodiles’ tears, how worthily I leave to others’ judgment. But I am sure there did in his son, Lord Lorne, appear no such sign, who neither had so much tenderness of heart as to be sorry, nor so much paternal wit as to dissemble, who, entertaining his new bride (the Earl of Moray’s daughter) with this spectacle, mocked and laughed in the midst of that weeping assembly; and, staying afterwards to see him hewn in pieces, triumphed at every stroke which was bestowed upon his mangled body.” Montrose Redivivus, edition of 1652. Note to Wishart’s Memoirs, p. 401.

The dismembered portions of Montrose’s body were disposed of in terms of the sentence. Lady Napier, the wife of Montrose’s esteemed friend and relation, being desirous of procuring his heart, employed some adventurous persons to obtain it for her. They accomplished this object on the second day after the execution, and were handsomely rewarded by her ladyship. The heart was embalmed by a surgeon, and after being enshrined in a rich gold urn, was sent by her to the eldest son of the marquis, then in Flanders. The family of Napier possess a portrait of Lady Napier, in which there is a representation of the urn.—Kirkton’s History of the Church of Scotland, note, p. 125; edited by the late C. K. Sharpe, Esq.

After the restoration, the trunk was disinterred, and the other remains collected, and on 11th May, 1661, were deposited with great solemnity by order of Charles II., in the family aisle in St. Giles’ church. The remains of Sir Francis Hay of Dalgetty were honoured with a similar mark of respect on the same day. For an account of the ceremonial, see Nos. 27 and 28 of the Appendix to Wishart’s Memoirs.

[419] Hurry was at first condemned by the parliament to perpetual banishment, “but the commission of the kirk voted he should die, and thereupon sent ther moderator, with other two of their number, to the parliament house, who very saucilly, in face of that great and honourable court, (if it had not been then a body without a head) told the president and chancellor that the parliament had granted life to a man whom the law had appointed for death, being a man of blood, (citing these words of our blessed Saviour to Peter,—‘All they that take the sword shall perish by the sword;’) whereas, it was very weill knoune, all the blood that that unfortunate gentleman had shed in Scotland was in ther quarrell and defence, being but then engaged in his master’s service, when he was taken prisoner, and executed at the kirk’s instigatione.

“The parliament was sae farre from rebuking ther bold intruders, or resenting those acts of the commission of the kirk, now quyte besyde ther master’s commissione, as they will have it understood, and ther owne solemne professione not to meddle in secular affairs, that they rescinded their former act, and passed a sentence of death upon him, hereby imitating ther dear brethren, the parliament of England, in the caice of the Hothams.”—Memoirs of the Somerville Family.

[420] Wishart, p. 412.

[421] “His constancy at death show well he repented nothing he did, in order to his allegiance and Majesty’s service, to the great shame of those who threatened him with their apocryphal excommunications, to which he gave no more place than our Saviour to the devil’s temptations.”—Relation of the True Funerals of the Great Lord Marquesse of Montrose.

[422] Wishart.

[423] Wishart, p. 413.—The practice of auricular confession seems to have existed to a considerable extent among the Covenanters. It is singular that had it not been for the evidence of the minister of Ormiston, to whom the noted Major Weir had communicated his secrets in auricular confession, he would not have been convicted.—See Arnot’s Criminal Trials.

CHAPTER XVII.

A.D. 1650–1660.

Commonwealth, 1649–1660.

Arrival of Charles II.—Cromwell invades Scotland—Attacks the Scotch army near Edinburgh—His further movements—The Dunfermline Declaration—Retreat of Cromwell—Battle of Dunbar—Declaration and Warning of the kirk—Flight of the king from Perth—Insurrections in the Highlands—Proceedings of Cromwell—Conduct of the western army—Cromwell marches north—Enters Perth—Scotch army invades England—Battle of Worcester—Operations of Monk in Scotland—Administration of affairs committed to him—Earl of Glencairn’s insurrection in the Highlands—Chiefs of the insurrection submit to Monk—Cameron of Lochiel—State of the country—Restoration of Charles II.

Having arranged with the commissioners the conditions on which he was to ascend the Scottish throne, Charles, with about 500 attendants, left Holland on the 2d of June, in some vessels furnished him by the Prince of Orange, and after a boisterous voyage of three weeks, during which he was daily in danger of being captured by English cruizers, arrived in the Moray frith, and disembarked at Garmouth, a small village at the mouth of the Spey, on the 23d of that month. Before landing, however, Charles readily gave his signature to the Covenant, which subsequent events showed he had no intention of observing longer than suited his purpose.

The news of the king’s arrival reached Edinburgh on the 26th of June. The guns of the castle were fired in honour of the event, and the inhabitants manifested their joy by bonfires and other demonstrations of popular feeling. The same enthusiasm spread quickly throughout the kingdom, and his majesty was welcomed with warm congratulations as he proceeded on his journey towards Falkland, which had been fixed upon by parliament as the place of his residence. The pleasure he received from these professions of loyalty was, however, not without alloy, as he was obliged, at the request of the parliament, to dismiss from his presence some of his best friends, both Scotch and English, particularly the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Lauderdale, and other “engagers,” who, by an act passed on the 4th of June against “classed delinquents,” were debarred from returning to the kingdom, or remaining therein, “without the express warrant of the Estates of parliament.”[424] Of the English exiles the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Wilmot, and seven gentlemen of the household were allowed to remain with him.[425] In fact, with these exceptions, every person even suspected of being a “malignant,” was carefully excluded from the court, and his majesty was thus surrounded by the heads of the Covenanters and the clergy. These last scarcely ever left his person, watched his words and motions, and inflicted upon him long harangues, in which he was often reminded of the misfortunes of his family.

The rulers of the English commonwealth, aware of the negotiations which had been going on between the young king and the Scots commissioners in Holland, became apprehensive of their own stability, should a union take place between the Covenanters and the English Presbyterians, to support the cause of the king, and they therefore resolved to invade Scotland, and by reducing it to their authority extinguish for ever the hopes of the king and his party. Fairfax was appointed commander-in-chief, and Cromwell lieutenant-general of the army destined for this purpose; but as Fairfax considered the invasion of Scotland as a violation of the solemn league and covenant which he had sworn to observe, he refused, notwithstanding the most urgent entreaties, to accept the command, which in consequence devolved upon Cromwell.

The preparations making in England for the invasion of Scotland were met with corresponding activity in Scotland, the parliament of which ordered an army of 30,000 men to be immediately raised to maintain the independence of the country. The nominal command of this army was given to the Earl of Leven, who had become old and infirm; but David Leslie his relative, was in reality the commander. The levies went on with considerable rapidity, but before they were assembled Cromwell crossed the Tweed on the 22d of July at the head of 16,000 well appointed and highly disciplined troops. On his march from Berwick to Musselburgh a scene of desolation was presented to the eyes of Cromwell, far surpassing anything he had ever before witnessed. With the exception of a few old women and children, not a human being was to be seen, and the whole country appeared as one great waste over which the hand of the ruthless destroyer had exercised its ravages. To understand the cause of this it is necessary to mention, that, with the view of depriving the enemy of provisions, instructions had been issued to lay waste the country between Berwick and the capital, to remove or destroy the cattle and provisions, and that the inhabitants should retire to other parts of the kingdom under the severest penalties. To induce them to comply with this ferocious command, appalling statements of the cruelties of Cromwell in Ireland were industriously circulated among the people; that he had given orders to put all the males between 16 and 60 to death, to cut of the right hands of all the boys between 6 and 16, and to bore with red-hot irons the breasts of all females of age for bearing children.[426] Fortunately for his army Cromwell had provided a fleet in case of exigency, which kept up with him in his march along the coast, and supplied him with provisions.

The English general continued his course along the coast till he arrived at Musselburgh, where he established his head-quarters. Here he learnt that the Scots army, consisting of upwards of 30,000 men, had taken up a strong position between Edinburgh and Leith, and had made a deep entrenchment in front of their lines, along which they had erected several batteries. Cromwell reconnoitered this position, and tried all his art to induce the Scots to come to a general engagement; but as Leslie’s plan was to act on the defensive, and thus force Cromwell either to attack him at a considerable disadvantage, or to retreat back into England after his supply of provisions should be exhausted, he kept his army within their entrenchments.

As Cromwell perceived that he would be soon reduced to the alternative of attacking the Scots in their position, or of retracing his steps through the ruined track over which his army had lately passed, he resolved upon an assault, and fixed Monday the 29th of July for advancing on the enemy. By a singular coincidence, the king, at the instigation of the Earl of Eglinton, but contrary to the wish of his council and the commanders, visited the army that very day. His presence was hailed with shouts of enthusiasm by the soldiers, who indulged in copious libations to the health of their sovereign. The soldiers in consequence neglected their duty, and great confusion prevailed in the camp;[427] but on the approach of Cromwell sufficient order was restored, and they patiently waited his attack. Having selected the centre of the enemy’s position, near a spot called the Quarry Holes, about half-way between Edinburgh and Leith, as appearing to him the most favourable point for commencing the operations of the day, Cromwell led forward his army to the assault; but after a desperate struggle he was repulsed with the loss of a considerable number of men and horses.[428] Cromwell renewed the attack on the 31st, and would probably have carried Leslie’s position but for a destructive fire from some batteries near Leith. Cromwell retired to Musselburgh in the evening, where he was unexpectedly attacked by a body of 2,000 horse and 500 foot, commanded by Major-General Montgomery, son of the Earl of Eglinton, and Colonel Strachan, which had been despatched at an early part of the day by a circuitous route to the right, for the purpose of falling on Cromwell’s rear. If Balfour is to be credited, this party beat Cromwell “soundlie,” and would have defeated his whole army if they had had an additional force of 1,000 men; but an English writer informs us, that the Scots suffered severely.[429] According to the first-mentioned author the English had 5 colonels and 500 men killed, while the latter states the loss of the Scots to have been about 100 men, and a large number of prisoners. On the following day, Cromwell, probably finding that he had enough of mouths to consume his provisions, without the aid of prisoners, offered to exchange all those he had taken the preceding day, and sent the wounded Scots back to their camp.

These encounters, notwithstanding the expectations of the ministers, and the vaunts of the parliamentary committee of their pretended successes, inspired some of Leslie’s officers with a salutary dread of the prowess of Cromwell’s veterans. An amusing instance of this feeling is related by Balfour in the case of the earl of W. (he suppresses the name) who “being commandit the nixt day (the day after the last mentioned skirmish) in the morning, to marche out one a partey, saw he could not goe one upone service untill he had his brackefaste. The brackefaste was delayed above four hours in getting until the L. General being privily advertissed by a secrett frind, that my Lord was peaceably myndit that morning, sent him expresse orders not to marche, to save his reputation. One this, the gallants of the army raissed a proverbe, ‘That they wold not goe out one a partey until they gate ther brackefaste.’”[430]

For several days Cromwell remained inactive in his camp, during which the parliamentary committee subjected the Scots army to a purging operation, which impaired its efficiency, and, perhaps, contributed chiefly to its ruin. As the Solemn League and Covenant was considered by the Covenanters a sacred pledge to God, which no true Christian could refuse to take, they looked upon those who declined to subscribe it as the enemies of religion, with whom it would be criminal in the eye of Heaven to associate. Before the purgation commenced, the king received a hint, equivalent to a command, from the heads of the Covenanters to retire to Dunfermline, an order which he obeyed “sore against his own mind,”[431] by taking his departure on Friday the 2d of August, after spending the short space of two hours at a banquet, which had been provided for him by the city of Edinburgh. No sooner had the king departed than the purging process was commenced, and on the 2d, 3d, and 5th of August, during which the committee held their sittings, no less than 80 officers, all men of unquestionable loyalty, besides a considerable number of common soldiers, were expelled from the army.[432]

Cromwell retired with his army to Dunbar on the 5th of August. Here he found the few inhabitants who had remained in the town in a state of starvation. Touched with commiseration, he generously distributed among them, on his supplies being landed, a considerable quantity of wheat and pease.[433]

While the ministers were thanking God “for sending the sectarian army (for so they designated the Independents) back the way they came, and flinging such a terror into their hearts, as made them fly when none pursued,”[434] Cromwell suddenly re-appeared at Musselburgh, and thus put an end to their thanksgivings.

Seeing no hopes of the Scots army leaving its entrenchments, and afraid that farther delay might be injurious to him, Cromwell made a movement on the 13th of August to the west, as far as the village of Colinton, three miles south-west from Edinburgh, where he posted the main body of his army. The Scottish general thinking that Cromwell had an intention of attacking him in his rear, raised his camp and marched towards Corstorphine, about two miles north from Colinton, where he drew out his army. Both armies surveyed each other for several days, but neither attempted to bring the other to action. As he could not, from the nature of the ground which lay between the two armies, attack his opponents with any probability of success, Cromwell again returned to Musselburgh with his army on a Sunday, that he might not be harassed in his march by the Covenanters, who never fought but on the defensive on that day.

Although the king before his landing had subscribed the Solemn League and Covenant, and although they had purged the army to their heart’s content, still Argyle and his party were not satisfied, and they, therefore, required his majesty to subscribe a declaration “for the satisfaction of all honest men.” On the 16th of August, after some hesitation and with slight modification of the terms, Charles was induced to sign a most humiliating declaration, which reflected upon the conduct of his father, lamented the “idolatry” of his mother, pledged him to renounce the friendship of all who were unfriendly to the Covenant, establish Presbyterianism in England, in short, made him a mere tool in the hands of the extreme Covenanters.

Although every sober and judicious person must have perceived that there was little probability that such a declaration would be regarded by the young monarch when released from his trammels, yet so greatly important was his majesty’s subscription to the instrument considered by the Covenanters, that they hailed it with the most lively emotions of joy and gratitude; and the ministers who, only two days before, had denounced the king from the pulpits as the root of malignancy, and a hypocrite, who had shown, by his refusal to sign the declaration, that he had no intention to keep the Covenant, were the first to set the example. The army, excited by the harangues of the ministers during a fast, which they proclaimed to appease the anger of heaven for the sins of the king and his father, longed to meet the enemy, and it required all the influence and authority of General Leslie to restrain them from leaving their lines and rushing upon the “sectaries;” but, unfortunately for the Covenanters, their wish was soon to be gratified.

It does not appear that the chiefs of the Covenanters were actuated by the same enthusiasm as the ministers and the common soldiers, or that the generals of the army were very sanguine of success. They were too well aware of the composition of Cromwell’s veteran host, to suppose that their raw and undisciplined levies, though numerically superior, could meet the enemy in the open field; and hence they deemed it a wise course of policy to act on the defensive, and to harass them by a desultory warfare as occasion offered. This system had been so successful as to embarrass Cromwell greatly, and to leave him no alternative but a retreat into England—a course which he was obliged to adopt more speedily, perhaps, than he would otherwise have done, in consequence of extensive sickness in his army. No indications of any movement had appeared up to the 29th of August, as on that day the Committee of Estates adjourned the meeting of parliament, which was to have then assembled, till the 10th of September, “in respecte that Oliver Cromwell and his armey of sectaries and blasphemers have invadit this kingdome, and are now laying within the bosome thereof.”[435]

On the 30th of August, however, Cromwell collected his army at Musselburgh, and having put all his sick on board his fleet, which lay in the adjoining bay, he gave orders to his army to march next morning to Haddington, and thence to Dunbar. He made an attempt to obtain the consent of the Committee of Estates to retire without molestation, promising never again to interfere in the affairs of Scotland; but they refused to agree to his proposal, as they considered that they would be able to cut off his retreat and compel him to surrender at discretion.

Next morning Cromwell’s army was in full retreat towards Haddington. The Scots army followed in close pursuit, but with the exception of some slight skirmishing between the advanced guard of the Scots and Cromwell’s rear, nothing important took place. Cromwell halted during the night at Haddington, and offered battle next day; but as the Scots declined, he continued his retreat to Dunbar, which he reached in the evening. With the intention of cutting off his retreat, Leslie drew off his army to the south towards the heights of Lammermuir, and took up a position on Doon hill. Having at the same time secured an important pass called the Peaths, through which Cromwell had necessarily to pass on his way to Berwick, the situation of the latter became extremely critical, as he had no chance of escape but by cutting his way through the Scots army, which had now completely obstructed his line of retreat. Cromwell perceived the danger of his situation, but he was too much of an enthusiast to give way to despair; he deliberately, and within view of the enemy, shipped off the remainder of his sick at Dunbar, on the 2d of September, intending, should Providence not directly interpose in his behalf, to put his foot also on board, and at the head of his cavalry to cut his way through the Scots army.[436] But as, in an affair of such importance, nothing could be done without prayer, he directed his men to “seek the Lord for a way of deliverance and salvation.”[437] A part of the day was accordingly spent in prayer, and at the conclusion, Cromwell declared, that while he prayed he felt an enlargement of heart and a buoyancy of spirit which assured him that God had hearkened to their prayers.[438]

While Cromwell and his men were employed in their devotional exercises, a council of war was held by the Scottish commander to deliberate upon the course to be pursued in the present crisis. As Leslie considered himself perfectly secure in his position, which could not be assailed by the enemy without evident risk of a defeat, and as he was apprehensive of a most formidable and desperate resistance should he venture to attack the brave and enthusiastic Independents, who were drawn out within two miles of his camp; he gave as his opinion that the Scottish army should not only remain in its position, but that Cromwell should be allowed to retire into England on certain easy conditions. The officers of the army concurred in the views of the general, but this opinion was overruled by the Committees of the Estates and kirk, who, anxious to secure their prey, lest by any possibility it might escape, insisted that the army should descend from the heights and attack the “army of sectaries and blasphemers,” which they fully expected the Lord would deliver into their hands.

In pursuance of the orders of the Committees to attack Cromwell early the following morning, Leslie drew down his men on the evening of the 2d of September from the heights which they occupied to the level ground below, that he might be ready to commence the attack before the enemy should be fully on their guard. But nothing could escape the penetrating eye of Cromwell, who, though pondering with solicitude upon the difficulties of his situation, was not inattentive to the enemy, whose motions he personally watched with the utmost vigilance and assiduity. He was about retiring for the night, when looking through his glass for the last time that evening, he perceived, to his infinite joy, the Scottish army in motion down the hill. The object of this movement at once occurred to him, and in a rapture of enthusiasm he exclaimed, “They are coming down;—the Lord hath delivered them into our hands.” A strong spirit of religious enthusiasm had in fact seized both armies, and each considered itself the peculiar favourite of heaven.

Unfortunately for the Scots their movements were considerably impeded by the state of the weather, which, during the night, became very rainy and tempestuous. Confident in their numbers, they seem to have disregarded the ordinary rules of military prudence, and such was the slowness of their movements, that they found themselves unexpectedly attacked at the dawn of day before the last of their forces had left the hill where they had been stationed. Cromwell had, during the night, advanced his army to the edge of a deep ravine which had separated the advanced posts of both parties, along which his troops reposed waiting in deep silence the order for attack. As soon as Cromwell was enabled by the approach of day to obtain a partial view of the position selected by the Scots, he perceived that the Scottish general had posted a large body of cavalry on his right wing near to a pass on the road from Dunbar to Berwick, with the evident intention of preventing the English from effecting an escape. To this point, therefore, Cromwell directed his attack with the main body of his horse, and some regiments of foot, with which he endeavoured to obtain possession of the pass; but they were charged by the Scottish lancers, who, aided by some artillery, drove them down the hill. Cromwell, thereupon, brought up a reserve of horse and foot and renewed the attack, but was again repulsed. He still persevered, however, and the cavalry were again giving way, when just as the sun was emerging from the ocean, and beginning, through the mist of the morning, to dart its rays upon the armour of the embattled hosts, he exclaimed with impassioned fervour,—“Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered.” In a moment Cromwell’s own regiment of foot, to whom his exclamation had been more particularly addressed, advanced with their pikes levelled, the cavalry rallied, and the Scottish horse, as if seized with a panic, turned their backs and fled, producing the utmost confusion among the foot, who were posted in their rear.

As soon as the Scots perceived the defeat and flight of their cavalry, they were seized with a feeling of consternation, and throwing away their arms, sought their safety in flight. They were closely pursued by Cromwell’s dragoons, who followed them to the distance of many miles in the direction of Edinburgh, and cut them down without mercy. Out of a force of 27,000 men, who, a few hours before, had assured themselves of victory, not more than 14,000 escaped. 3,000 of the Scots lay lifeless on the fertile plains of East Lothian, and about 10,000 were taken prisoners, of whom not less than 5,000 were wounded.[439] All the ammunition, artillery, and baggage of the Scots army fell into the hands of the conquerors. The loss on the side of Cromwell was trifling, not amounting to more than 30 men killed. The battle of Dunbar took place on the 3d of September, 1650, and was long familiarly known among the Scots by the name of “the Tyesday’s chase.”

Cromwell spent the following day at Dunbar writing despatches to the parliament. He ordered all the wounded to be taken particular care of, and after their wounds were dressed they were released on their parole. The remainder of the prisoners were sent to England, where about 2,000 of them died of a pestilential disease, and the rest were sent as slaves to the English plantations in the West Indies. Cromwell, of course, now abandoned his intention of returning to England. In furtherance of his design to subject Scotland to his authority, he marched to Edinburgh, which he entered without opposition.

In the meantime, the Scottish horse and the few foot which had escaped from the slaughter of Dunbar were collected together at Stirling. Here the Commissioners of the General Assembly held a meeting on the 12th of September, at which they drew up a “declaration and warning to all the congregations of the kirk of Scotland,” exhorting the people to bear the recent disaster with becoming fortitude, and to humble themselves before God that he might turn away his anger from them; at the same time ordaining a “soleme publicke humiliatione upone the defait of the armey,” to be kept throughout the kingdom.

It is probable that this “declaration and warning” had little effect upon the minds of the people, whose enthusiasm had been somewhat cooled by Cromwell’s success, and although they did not, perhaps, like their unfortunate countrymen, who were taken captives on the 3d of September and sent into England, curse the king and clergy for insnaring them in misery, as Whitelock observes, they could not but look upon the perpetual meddling of the ministers with the affairs of the State, as the real source of all the calamities which had recently befallen the country. As to the king he had become so thoroughly disgusted with the conduct of the Argyle faction, whose sole object seemed to be to use him as a tool for their own purposes, that he regarded the recent defeat of the Covenanters in the light of a triumph to his cause, which, by destroying the power of Argyle, would pave the way for the due exercise of the royal authority.

The king now entertained the idea of forming a party for himself among the numerous royalists in the Highlands, for which purpose he opened up a correspondence with Huntly, Moray, and Athole, and other chiefs; but before matters were fully concocted, the negotiation was disclosed to Argyle, who took immediate means to defeat it. Accordingly, on the 27th of September, the Committee of Estates ordered the whole cavaliers who still remained about the king’s person, with the exception of three, one of whom was Buckingham, to quit the court within 24 hours, and the kingdom in 20 days.

As Charles was to be thus summarily deprived of the society and advice of his friends, he took the resolution of leaving Perth, and retiring to the Highlands among his friends. Accordingly, under the pretence of hawking, he left Perth about half-past one o’clock in the afternoon of the 4th of October, accompanied by five of his livery servants, and rode at full gallop, until he arrived at Dudhope near Dundee, which he did in an hour and a half. He then proceeded to Auchter-house along with Viscount Dudhope, whence he was conveyed by the Earl of Buchan and the Viscount to Cortuquhuy, the seat of the Earl of Airly. After partaking of some refreshment he proceeded the same night up the glen, under the protection of 60 or 80 Highlanders, to a poor cottage, 42 miles from Perth, belonging to the laird of Clova. Fatigued by such a long journey, he threw himself down on an old mattress, but he had not enjoyed many hours repose when the house was entered, a little before break of day, by Lieutenant-Colonel Nairne, and Colonel Baynton, an Englishman, who had been sent by Colonel Montgomery in quest of him. Shortly after Montgomery himself appeared, accompanied by the laird of Scotscraig, who had given him information of the place of his Majesty’s retreat, and Sir Alexander Hope bearing one of the king’s hawks. This party advised the king to get on horseback, offered to attend him, and promised to live and die with him if necessary.

Perceiving their intention to carry him back to Perth, the king told Montgomery that he had left Perth in consequence of information he had received from Dr. Fraser, his physician, that it was the intention of the Committee of Estates to have delivered him up to the English, and to hang all his servants: Montgomery assured his Majesty that the statement was false, and that no person but a traitor could have invented it. While this altercation was going on, Dudhope and the Highlanders who attended the king strongly advised him to retire instantly to the mountains, and they gave him to understand that a force of 2,000 horse and 5,000 foot was waiting for him within the distance of five or six miles ready to execute his orders; but before his Majesty had come to any resolution as to the course he should adopt, two regiments of covenanting horse appeared, on observing which, says Balfour, “Buchan, Dudhope and ther begerly guard begane to shecke ther eares, and speake more calmley, and in a lower strain.” The king thereupon gave his consent to return to Perth, whither he was accordingly conducted by Montgomery at the head of his horse.[440]

This attempt of the king to escape (familiarly known by the name of “the Start”) produced a salutary effect upon the Committee of Estates, and they now began to treat him with more respect, admitting him to their deliberations, and even suspending the act they had issued ordering the English cavaliers to leave the kingdom.

As a considerable part of the Highlands was now up in arms to support the king, the committee induced him to write letters to the chief leaders of the insurrection desiring them to lay down their arms, which correspondence led to a protracted negotiation. An act of indemnity was passed on the 12th of October, in favour of the people of Athole, who had taken up arms; but as it was couched in language which they disliked, and contained conditions of which they disapproved, the Earl of Athole and his people presented a petition to his majesty and the committee, craving some alteration in the terms.

In order to enforce the orders of the king to the northern royalists, to lay down their arms, Sir John Brown’s regiment was despatched to the north; but they were surprised during the night of the 21st of October, and defeated by a party under Sir David Ogilvie, brother to Lord Ogilvie. On receiving this intelligence, General Leslie hastened to Perth from Stirling, and crossed the Tay on the 24th, with a force of 3,000 cavalry, with which he was ordered to proceed to Dundee and scour Angus. At this time General Middleton was lying at Forfar, and he, on hearing of Leslie’s advance, sent him a letter, inclosing a copy of a “bond and oath of engagement” which had been entered into by Huntly, Athole, Seaforth, Middleton, and other individuals, by which they had pledged themselves to join firmly and faithfully together, and neither for fear, threatening, allurement, nor advantage, to relinquish the cause of religion, of the king and of the kingdom, nor to lay down their arms without a general consent; and as the best undertakings often did not escape censure and malice, they promised and swore, for the satisfaction of all reasonable persons, that they would maintain the true religion, as then established in Scotland, the National Covenant, and the Solemn League and Covenant; and defend the person of the king, his prerogative, greatness, and authority, and the privileges of parliament, and the freedom of the subject. Middleton stated that Leslie would perceive from the terms of the document inclosed, that the only aim of himself and friends was to unite Scotsmen in defence of their common rights, and that the grounds on which they had entered into the association were precisely the same as those professed by Leslie himself. As the independence of Scotland was at stake, and as Scotsmen should unite for the preservation of their liberties, he proposed to join Leslie, and to put himself under his command, and he expressed a hope that Leslie would not shed the blood of his countrymen, or force them to the unhappy necessity of shedding the blood of their brethren in self-defence.[441] The negotiation thus begun was finally concluded on the 4th of November at Strathbogie, agreeably to a treaty between Leslie and the chief royalists, by which the latter accepted an indemnity and laid down their arms.

Cromwell did not follow up his success as might have been expected, but contented himself with laying siege to the castle of Edinburgh, and pushing forward his advanced posts as far as Linlithgow.

Among the leading Covenanters both in parliament and the church, there were some whose political ideas were pretty similar to those of Cromwell, respecting monarchical government, and who had not only approved of the execution of the late king, but were desirous of excluding his son from the crown of Scotland. This party, though a minority, made up for its numerical inferiority, by the talents, fanaticism, and restless activity of its partisans; but formidable as their opposition in parliament was, they found themselves unable effectually to resist the general wish of the nation in favour of the king, and yielded to the force of circumstances. By excluding, however, the royalists from the camp, and keeping the king in a state of subjection to their authority, they had succeeded in usurping the government, and had the disaster of Dunbar not occurred, might have been enabled to carry their designs against the monarchy into effect; but notwithstanding this catastrophe, they were not discouraged, and as soon as they had recovered from the temporary state of alarm into which the success of Cromwell had thrown them, they began to concert measures, in accordance with a plan they now contemplated, for making themselves altogether independent of parliament. For this purpose, under the pretence of opposing the common enemy, they solicited and obtained permission from the Committee of Estates to raise forces in the counties of Dumfries, Galloway, Wigton, Ayr, and Renfrew, the inhabitants of which were imbued with a sterner spirit of fanaticism, and therefore more ready to support their plans than those of any other parts of Scotland. By bringing in the exhortations of Gillespie and others of the more rigid among the ministers to their aid, they succeeded in a short time in raising a body of nearly 5,000 horse, over which Strachan, Kerr, and two other colonels, all mere tools of the party, were placed.

As soon as the leaders of this faction, of whom Johnston of Warriston, the clerk-register, was chief, had collected these levies, they began to develop the plan they had formed of withdrawing themselves from the control of the Committee of Estates by raising a variety of objections against the line of conduct pursued by the Committee, and, till these were removed, they refused to unite “the western army,” as this new force was called, with the army under Leslie. Cromwell, aware of this division in the Scottish army, endeavoured to widen the breach by opening a correspondence with Strachan, who had fought under him at Preston, the consequence being that Strachan soon went over to the English army with a body of troopers. Leslie complained to the Estates of the refusal of the western forces to join him, and solicited to be recalled from his charge; but they declined to receive his resignation, and sent a deputation, consisting of Argyle, Cassilis, and other members to the western army, “to solicit unity for the good of the kingdom.”[442] So unsuccessful, however, was the deputation in bringing about this desired “unity,” that, on the 17th October, an elaborate paper, titled, “the humble Remonstrance of the Gentlemen-Commanders, and Ministers attending the forces in the west,” addressed to the Committee of Estates, was drawn up and presented by Sir George Maxwell to them at Stirling, on the 22d. The compilers of this document proposed to remove from the presence of the king, the judicatories and the armies, the “malignants,” whom many of the committee were accused of having received “into intimate friendship,” admitting them to their councils, and bringing in some of them to the parliament and committees, and about the king, thereby affording “many pregnant presumptions,” of a design on the part of some of the Committee of Estates, “to set up and employ the malignant party,” or, at least, giving “evidences of a strong inclination to intrust them again in the managing of the work of God.”[443] The Committee of Estates paid no regard to this remonstrance, a circumstance which gave such umbrage to Warriston and the leaders of the western army, that they drew up another, couched in still stronger language, on the 30th of October, at Dumfries, whither they had retired with the army on a movement made by Cromwell to the west. In this fresh remonstrance the faction declared that as it was now manifest that the king was opposed to the work of God and the Covenants, and cleaving to the enemies of both, they would not regard him or his interest in their quarrel with the invaders; that he ought not to be intrusted in Scotland with the exercise of his power till he gave proofs of a real change in his conduct; and that an effectual course ought to be taken for preventing, in time coming, “his conjunction with the malignant party,” and for investigating into the cause of his late flight; and that the malignants should be rendered incapable in future of hurting the work and people of God.[444]

A petition having been presented to the Committee of Estates on the 9th of November, requiring a satisfactory answer to the first remonstrance, a joint declaration was issued by the king and the committee on the 25th, declaring “the said paper, as it related to the parliament and civil judicatories, to be scandalous and injurious to his majesty’s person, and prejudicial to his authority.” The commission of the General Assembly having been required to give their opinion upon the remonstrance, in so far as it related to religion and church judicatories, acknowledged that, although it contained “many sad truths,” nevertheless, the commission declared itself dissatisfied with the remonstrance, which it considered apt to breed division in kirk and kingdom.[445] This declaration of the commission was not only approved of by the General Assembly, but what was of equal importance, that venerable body passed a resolution declaring that in such a perilous crisis all Scotsmen might be employed to defend their country. An exception of persons “excommunicated, forfeited, notoriously profane, or flagitious, and professed enemies and opposers of the Covenant and cause of God,”[446] was no doubt made, but this exemption did not exclude all the “malignants.” A breach was now made in the unity of the Scottish church, and the nation was split into two parties—a division which paved the way for the subjugation of Scotland by Cromwell. The party which adhered to the king was distinguished by the name of Resolutioners, and the other was denominated Protesters, a distinction which was kept up for several years.

Nothing could be more gratifying to Cromwell than to see the Scots thus divided among themselves, and keeping up two distinct armies in the field, mutually opposed to each other. He had by negotiation and intrigue contributed to increase the irritation between the two parties, and had even succeeded in sowing the seeds of dissension among the leaders of the western army itself. Strachan, his old friend, had resigned the command which had been conferred on Kerr, who was by no means hearty in the cause. In this situation of matters Cromwell resolved, in the meantime, to confine his attention to the operations of the western army, with the intention, if he succeeded in defeating it, of marching north with the whole of his forces, and attacking the royal army. As the castle of Edinburgh was still in the hands of the Covenanters, Cromwell could only spare a force of about 7,000 horse, which he accordingly sent west about the end of November, under Lambert, to watch Kerr’s motions. Intelligence of this movement was received by the parliament then sitting at Perth, on the 30th of November, in consequence of which Colonel Robert Montgomery was despatched with three regiments to support the western army, the command of which he was requested by the parliament to take; and, to enforce this order, the committee on military affairs was directed to send a deputation to the western forces to intimate to them the command of the parliament. Before the arrival however, of Montgomery, Kerr was defeated on the 1st of December, in an attack he made on Lambert at Hamilton, in which he himself was taken prisoner, and the whole of his forces dispersed.[447] This victory gave Cromwell quiet possession of the whole of Scotland, south of the Clyde and the Forth, with the exception of Stirling, and a small tract around it; and as the castle of Edinburgh surrendered on the 24th of December, Stirling castle was the only fortress of any note, south of the Forth, which remained in the possession of the royalists at the close of the year.

A considerable time, however, elapsed before Cromwell found himself in a condition to commence his intended campaign beyond the Forth. His inactivity is to be ascribed partly to an ague with which he was seized in February, 1651, and which had impaired his health so much that in May he obtained permission to return to England to recruit his debilitated constitution; but a sudden and favourable change having taken place in the state of his health, he gladly remained with the army, which he put in motion towards Stirling on the 3d of July.

The Scottish parliament was fully aware of the impending danger, and made the necessary preparations to meet it, but the Engagers and the party of Argyle did not always draw together; yet the king had the address, by his accommodating and insinuating behaviour, to smooth down many differences, and thus prepared the way for that ascendency which his friends, the Hamiltons, afterwards obtained. The coronation of the king took place at Scone, on the 1st of January, 1651, in pursuance of an order of the parliament. His conduct on that occasion added greatly to his growing popularity. The first trial of strength, to borrow a modern parliamentary phrase, which took place in the parliament, was on the 23d of December, 1650, on the nomination of colonels to the different horse and foot regiments then in the course of being raised. A list of them had been submitted to the house on the 20th, which contained about an equal number of royalists and Covenanters. This gave rise to a long debate, but the list was finally approved of.

Among the colonels of foot, were the Earls of Athole and Tulliebardine, and the Master of Gray for Perth; the lairds of Maclean and Ardkinlass for Argyle and Bute; the laird of Grant and the sheriff of Moray for Nairne, Elgin, and “Grant’s Lands;” the lairds of Pluscardine, Balnagowan, the master of Lovat, and the laird of Lumlair, for Inverness and Ross; Lord Sutherland and Henry Mackay of Skowrie, for Sutherland and Strathnaver; the master of Caithness for Caithness; and Duncan Macpherson for Badenoch. The clans in the Highlands and the Isles were to be commanded respectively by Macdonald, the tutor of Macleod, Clanranald, the tutor of Keppoch, the laird of Lochaber, the tutor of Maclean, Lochiel, Macneil of Barra, Lauchlane Mackintosh, and the laird of Jura.[448]

Argyle and his party made several attempts, afterwards, to check the rising influence of the Hamiltons, by opposing the different plans submitted to the parliament for rendering the army more efficient, but they were outvoted. The finishing blow was given to their hopes by the appointment of the king to the chief command of the army, and by the repeal of the “act of classes,” which excluded the royalists from having any share in the administration of the affairs of the kingdom, and from serving their country.

In expectation of Cromwell’s advance, the Scots had raised, during the spring, strong fortifications along the fords of the river Forth, to obstruct his passage, and had entrenched themselves at the Torwood, having the town of Stirling at their back, in which position Cromwell found them when he advanced west in July. As he considered it dangerous to attempt to carry such a strong position in the face of an army of about 20,000 men, (for such it is said was the number of the Scots), he endeavoured, by marches and countermarches, to draw them out; but although they followed his motions, they took care not to commit themselves, by going too far from their lines of defence. Seeing no chance of bringing them to a general engagement, Cromwell adopted the bold plan of crossing the Frith of Forth at Queensferry, and of throwing himself into the rear of the Scottish army. While therefore, he continued, by his motions along the Scottish lines, to draw off the attention of the Scottish commanders from his plan, he, on the 20th of July, sent over Lambert, with a large division of his army in a number of boats which had been provided for the occasion. He landed without opposition, and proceeded immediately to fortify himself on the hill between the North Ferry and Inverkeithing. General Holburn was immediately despatched with a large force to keep Lambert in check, and though the Scots fought with great bravery, they were defeated. A body of Highlanders particularly distinguished themselves. The loss of the Scots was considerable; and among the slain were the young chief of Maclean and about 100 of his friends and followers. This victory opened a free passage to Cromwell to the north of Scotland. He immediately, therefore, crossed the Forth with the remainder of his army, and proceeded to Perth, of which he took possession on the 2d of August.

While the Scottish leaders were puzzled how to extricate themselves from the dilemma into which they had been thrown by the singular change which had lately taken place in the relative position of the two armies, the king alone seemed free from embarrassment, and at once proposed to his generals, that, instead of following Cromwell, or waiting till he should attack them, they should immediately invade England, where he expected to be joined by numerous royalists, who only required his presence among them at the head of such an army, to declare themselves. Under existing circumstances, the plan, though at once bold and decisive, was certainly judicious, and, therefore, it is not surprising that it should have received the approbation of the chiefs of the army. Having obtained their concurrence, the king immediately issued a proclamation on the 30th of July, to the army, announcing his intention of marching for England the following day, accompanied by such of his subjects as were willing to give proofs of their loyalty by sharing his fortunes. This appeal was not made in vain, and Charles found himself next morning in full march on the road to Carlisle, at the head of 11,000, or, as some accounts state, of 14,000 men. Argyle, as was to be expected, excused himself from accompanying the army, and obtained permission to retire to his castle.[449]

Although Cromwell was within almost a day’s march of the Scottish army, yet, so sudden and unexpected had been its departure, and so secretly had the whole affair been managed, that it was not until the 4th of August that he received the extraordinary intelligence of its departure for England. Cromwell was now as much embarrassed as the Scottish commander had lately been, for he had not the most distant idea, when he threw himself so abruptly into their rear, that they would adopt the bold resolution of marching into England. As soon, however, as he had recovered from the surprise into which such an alarming event had thrown him, he despatched letters to the parliament, assuring them of his intention to follow the Scottish army without delay, and exhorting them not to be discouraged, but to rely on his activity. He also sent Lambert with a force of 3,000 cavalry to harass the rear of the Scottish army, and forwarded orders to Harrison, who was then at Newcastle, to press upon their flank with a similar number; and, in a few days, he himself crossed the Forth with an army of 10,000 men, and proceeded along the eastern coast, in the direction of York, leaving Monk behind him with a force of 5,000 horse and foot to complete the reduction of Scotland.

The Scottish army reached Worcester on the 22d, and on being mustered the king found that he had at his command only 14,000 men, 2,000 of whom were Englishmen. To attack this force, large bodies of parliamentary troops were concentrated at Worcester, and on the 28th of August, when Cromwell arrived to take the command, the army of the republic amounted to upwards of 30,000 men, who hailed the presence of their commander with rapture. The two armies met on the 3d of September, the anniversary of the battle of Dunbar, and the disastrous result is well known, it being out of place here to enter into details. The king himself, at the head of the Highlanders, fought with great bravery: his example animated the troops, and had he been supported by Leslie’s cavalry, as was expected, the issue of the struggle might have been different. As it was, the royal army was completely defeated, and the king had to provide for his personal safety by flight.

This battle, which Cromwell admits “was as stiff a contest for four or five hours as ever he had seen,” was very disastrous to the royalists, 3,000 of whom were killed on the spot, and a considerably larger number taken prisoners, and even the greater part of the cavalry, who escaped from the city, were afterwards taken by detachments of the enemy. The Duke of Hamilton was mortally wounded in the field of battle; the Earls of Derby, Lauderdale, Rothes, Cleveland and Kelly, Lords Sinclair, Kenmure and Grandison, and Generals Leslie, Middleton, Massey and Montgomery, were made prisoners after the battle. When the king considered himself free from immediate danger, he separated, during the darkness of the night, from the body of cavalry which surrounded him, and with a party of 60 horse proceeded to Whiteladies, a house belonging to one Giffard a recusant and royalist, at which he arrived at an early hour in the morning, after a ride of 25 miles. After a series of extraordinary adventures and of the most singular hair-breadth escapes, he landed in safety at Fecamp in Normandy, on the 17th of October.

While Cromwell was following the king through England, Monk proceeded to complete the subjugation of Scotland. He first laid siege to Stirling castle, into which he threw shells from batteries he had raised, the explosion of which so alarmed the Highlanders who composed the garrison, that they forced the governor to surrender. All the records of the kingdom, the royal robes, and part of the regalia, which had been locked up in the castle as a place of perfect security, fell into the hands of the captors, and were sent by Monk to England. He next proceeded to Dundee, which was strongly fortified and well garrisoned, and contained within it an immense quantity of costly furniture and plate, besides a large sum of money, all of which had been lodged in the town for safety. Monk, hearing that the Committees of the Estates and of the kirk were sitting at Alyth in Angus, sent a company of horse, who surprised the whole party and made them prisoners.

When the necessary preparations for an assault had been completed, Monk sent a summons to Lumsden, the governor of Dundee, to surrender, but he rejected it with disdain. The obstinacy of Lumsden exasperated Monk, who ordered his troops to storm the town, and to put the garrison and all the inhabitants, without regard to age or sex, to the sword. The town was accordingly carried by assault on the 1st of September, and was followed by all the horrors which an infuriated soldiery could inflict upon a defenceless population. The townsmen gave no aid to the garrison, and when the republican troops entered the town, they found the greater part of them lying drunk in the streets. The carnage was stayed, but not until 800 males, including the greater part of the garrison, and about 200 women and children, were killed. Among the slain, was Lumsden the governor, who, although he had quarter given him by Captain Kelly, was nevertheless shot dead by Major Butler as Kelly was conducting him along the street to Monk. Besides the immense booty which was in the town, about 60 ships which were in the harbour of Dundee with their cargoes, fell into the hands of the English.[450]

The capture of Dundee was immediately followed by the voluntary surrender of St. Andrews, Montrose and Aberdeen. Some of the Committee of Estates who had been absent from Alyth, held a meeting at Inverury, to deliberate on the state of matters, at which the Marquis of Huntly presided, and at which a motion was made, to invest him with full authority to act in the absence of the king, but the meeting broke up on hearing of Monk’s approach. The committee retired across the Spey, but Huntly went to Strathdon along with his forces. Monk did not proceed farther north than Aberdeen at this time.

The Marquis of Argyle, who had given great offence to Cromwell, by his double dealing, seeing now no chance of opposing successfully the republican arms, made an attempt at negotiation, and sent a letter by a trumpeter to Monk, proposing a meeting at some convenient place, “as a means to stop the shedding of more Christian blood.” The only answer which Monk gave to the messenger, who arrived at Dundee on the 19th of October, was, that he could not treat without orders from the parliament of England. This refusal on the part of Monk to negotiate, was a sore disappointment to Argyle, as it disappointed the hopes he entertained of getting the English government to acknowledge a debt which he claimed from them.[451]

Monk now turned his whole attention to the state of matters in the North, where some forces were still on foot, under the command of the Marquis of Huntly and Lord Balcarras. With the former he concluded an agreement on the 21st of November, under which Huntly consented to disband his men; and on the 3d of December, a similar treaty was entered into between Balcarras and Colonels Overton and Lilburn. Shortly after the English army crossed the Spey and entered Inverness, where they planted a garrison; so that before the end of the year, the whole of the Lowlands and a part of the Highlands had submitted to the arms of the republic.[452] To complete the destruction of the independence of Scotland, a destruction accomplished less by the power of her enemy than by the perversity of her sons, and to reduce it to a province of England, the English army was augmented to 20,000 men, and citadels erected in several towns, and a long chain of military stations drawn across the country to curb the inhabitants. All the crown lands were declared public property by the English parliament, and the estates of all persons who had joined in the English invasions, under the king and the Duke of Hamilton, were confiscated by the same authority. A proclamation was issued, abolishing all authority not derived from the English parliament: all persons holding public appointments, whose fidelity to the new order of things was suspected, were dismissed, and their places supplied by others of more subservient principles; the supreme courts of justice were abolished, and English judges appointed to discharge the judicial functions, aided by a few natives.[453]

As several bodies of Highlanders still remained under arms in the interior of the Highlands, Monk directed three distinct parties to cross the mountains, simultaneously, in the summer of 1652. While Colonel Lilburn advanced from Inverness towards Lochaber on one side, General Dean led his troops from Perth in the same direction on the other, and Colonel Overton landed in Kintyre with a force from Ayr. But they were all obliged speedily to retrace their steps, amid the jeers and laughter of the Highlanders.[454]

The administration of the affairs of Scotland was committed to Monk, than whom a more prudent person, and one better calculated to disarm the indignant feelings of the Scots at their national degradation, could not have been selected. But as it was evident that order could not be restored, or obedience enforced, as long as the clergy were allowed to continue their impertinent meddling in state affairs, he prohibited the meetings of the General Assembly, and, in one instance, dispersed that body by a military force. In doing so, it was afterwards admitted by some of the clergy themselves, that he had acted wisely, as the shutting up of the assembly tended greatly to allay those fierce contentions between the protesters and resolutioners, which, for several years, distracted the nation, and made them attend more to the spiritual concerns of their flocks.[455] The spirit of dissension was not, however, confined to the clergy, but extended its withering influence to many of the laity, who, to gratify their revenge, accused one another of the most atrocious crimes before the newly constituted tribunal. The English judges were called to decide upon numerous acts alleged to have been committed twenty or thirty years before, of which no proofs were offered, but extorted confessions in the kirk, and no less than sixty persons were brought before them accused of witchcraft, who had been tortured into an admission of its practices. All these cases were dismissed, and the new judges administered the laws throughout with an equity and moderation which was almost unknown before in Scotland, and which formed a singular contrast with the disregard of justice, and the extreme violence which had of late disgraced the Scottish tribunals.

William, Ninth Earl of Glencairn.

With a short interruption, occasioned by an insurrection, under the Earl of Glencairn, in the Highlands, Scotland now enjoyed tranquillity till the restoration of Charles II., and comparative prosperity and happiness, a compensation in some degree for the loss of her liberties. The interruption alluded to took place in the year 1653, on the departure of Monk from Scotland to take the command of the English fleet.

In the month of August, 1653, a meeting was held at Lochearn, which was attended by Glencairn, the Earl of Athole, Lord Lorn, eldest son of the Marquis of Argyle, Glengarry, Lochiel, Graham of Duchray, Donald Macgregor tutor of Macgregor, Farquharson of Inverey, Robertson of Strowan, Macnaughton of Macnaughton, and Colonel Blackadder of Tullyallan. At this meeting, which continued several days, it was ultimately agreed that the persons present should assemble their vassals and dependents with as little delay as possible, and place themselves under the command of Glencairn, who was to wait in the neighbourhood of Lochearn till the different parties should collect and bring together their respective forces. Six weeks were, however, allowed to expire before any assemblage took place, during all which time Glencairn roamed through the neighbouring mountains, attended only by one companion and three servants. The first who made his appearance was Graham of Duchray, at the head of 40 men. He was followed, in two or three days, by the tutor of Macgregor, and 80 of that clan. With this force he went to Duchray house, in Stirlingshire, near Loch Ard, where he was joined by Lord Kenmure, and about 40 horsemen, and by Colonel Blackadder, with 30 more from Fife. The Laird of Macnaughton also arrived with 12 horse, and a party of between 60 and 80 lowlanders, under the command of Captain Hamilton, brother to the laird of Milntown. The earl’s force thus amounted to nearly 300 men.

On hearing of the assemblage of this body, Colonel Kidd, the governor of Stirling castle, at the head of the greater part of a regiment of foot, and a troop of horse, marched towards Aberfoyle, which was within three miles of Glencairn’s camp; but having received notice of his approach, the earl took care to secure the adjoining pass. He posted his foot to the best advantage on both sides, and he drew up the horse under Lord Kenmure in the centre. Although Kidd must have perceived the great risk he would run in attempting to carry the pass, he nevertheless made the attempt, but his advance was driven back at the first charge by the lowlanders and Duchray’s men, with whom they first came in contact, with the loss of about 60 men. The whole of Kidd’s party, thereupon, turned their backs and fled. They were hotly pursued by Glencairn’s horse and foot, who killed about 80 of them.

The news of Kidd’s defeat, trifling as it was, raised the hopes of the royalists, and small parties of Highlanders flocked daily to Glencairn’s standard. Leaving Aberfoyle, he marched to Lochearn, and thence to Loch Rannoch, where he was met by several of the clans. Glengarry brought 300, Lochiel 400, and Macgregor about 200 men. The Earl of Athole appeared at the head of 100 horse, and brought also a regiment of foot, consisting of about 1,200 men, commanded by Andrew Drummond, brother to Sir James Drummond of Mechaney, as his lieutenant-colonel. Sir Arthur Forbes and some officers, with about 80 horsemen, also joined the royal army.

Having despatched some officers to the lowlands, with instructions to raise forces, Glencairn marched north to join Farquharson of Inverey, who was raising a regiment in Cromar. In the course of his march, several gentlemen of the adjoining country joined him. Morgan, the English general, who was lying at the time in Aberdeen, being apprised of Farquharson’s movements, collected a force of 2,000 foot and 1,000 horse, with which he advanced, by forced marches, towards Cromar, and a brisk attack upon the outposts of Glencairn’s army was the first intelligence they received of Morgan’s approach. In the situation in which Glencairn thus found himself unexpectedly placed, he had no remedy but an immediate retreat through a long and narrow glen leading to the forest of Abernethy, which he was enabled to reach chiefly by the bravery of Graham of Duchray, who, at the head of a resolute party of 40 men, kept in check a body of the enemy who had entered the glen before the royalists, and prevented them from securing the passes. Morgan pursued the fugitives through the glen very closely, and did not desist till prevented by the darkness of the night. He thereafter returned to Aberdeen.

Glencairn passed about five weeks in Cromar and Badenoch, waiting for additional reinforcements; and as Lord Lorn had not yet joined him, he despatched Lord Kenmure with 100 horse into Argyleshire to urge him to hurry forward the levies in that quarter. Lorn soon arrived in Badenoch with 1,000 foot and about 50 horse; but he had not remained above a fortnight in the field when, on some pretence or other, he (January 1st, 1654) clandestinely left the army, and carried off his men along with him, taking the direction of Ruthven castle, which was then garrisoned by English troops. Glencairn was greatly exasperated at Lorn’s defection, and sent a party of horse, under the command of Glengarry and Lochiel, with instructions either to bring him and his men back to the army, or, in case of refusal, to attack them. Glengarry followed the Campbells so hard that he came up with them within half a mile of the castle. Lord Lorn escaped, and was followed by his horse, of whom about 20 were brought back by a party sent in pursuit by Glengarry; the foot halted on a hill, and offered to return to the camp. Glengarry, who had had a great antipathy to the whole race of the Campbells ever since Montrose’s wars, would, contrary to his instructions, have attacked them; but Glencairn fortunately arrived in time to prevent bloodshed, and having ordered Graham of Duchray to acquaint them that he could not receive any proposals from them with arms in their hands, they delivered them up. Glencairn, along with some officers, then rode up to them, and having addressed them on the impropriety of their conduct, they all declared their willingness to serve the king and to obey him as their commander, a declaration which both officers and men confirmed with an oath. Their arms were then restored to them, but they all deserted within a fortnight.[456]

About this time Glencairn was joined by a small party of English royalists, under Colonel Wogan, an enterprising officer, who had landed at Dover, and having raised a body of volunteers in London, traversed England under the banners of the commonwealth, and entered Scotland by Carlisle.

Notwithstanding the desertion of the Campbells, Glencairn’s army was so increased by daily accessions of force that he considered himself in a condition to cope with the enemy, and, by the advice of his officers, resolved to descend into Aberdeenshire, and beat up the quarters of the English. Another reason which urged him to leave the Highlands was a scarcity of provisions in the districts which had been occupied by his army, and which could no longer afford to support such a large body of men. Descending by Balveny, he took up his quarters at Whitelums, near the castle of Kildrummie, belonging to the Earl of Mar, then garrisoned by the English. After lying about a fortnight at Whitelums unmolested, Glencairn raised his camp, and marching into Morayshire, took possession of Elgin, where he established his head quarters. Here he was joined by the Marquis of Montrose, Lord Forrester, and some country gentlemen.

After spending a month at Elgin, where, according to Graham of Duchray’s narrative, the army had “very good quarters, and where they made themselves merry,” the earl received letters from General Middleton, who had some time before made his escape from the tower of London, where he had been imprisoned after the battle of Worcester, announcing his arrival in Sutherland, with a commission from the king, appointing him generalissimo of all the royal forces in Scotland. Some dissensions had existed among the royalists respecting the chief command of the army, which had been finally conceded to Glencairn; but neither he nor the nobility who were with him, were prepared to expect that the king would have appointed, to such an important charge, a man so much their inferior in station as Middleton. The intelligence was accordingly received with discontent; but, as the king’s commission could not, without serious injury to the royal cause, be disputed, in the present juncture they stifled their displeasure, and Glencairn, in terms of the instructions he had received from Middleton to march north, put his army in motion. Morgan, the English commander, having drawn together a body of troops, followed Glencairn, between whose rear and Morgan’s advanced guard many warm skirmishes took place.

Glencairn and his men crossed the river Ness, eight miles above Inverness. The earl having placed guards along the northern bank of the river to watch the approach of the enemy, hastened to Dornoch to meet Middleton. In a few days a grand muster of the army took place, when it was found to amount to 3,500 foot, and 1,500 horse. Glencairn then resigned the command to Middleton, in presence of the army, and, riding along the lines, acquainted the troops that he was no longer their general, and expressed a hope that they would find themselves happy in serving under such a commander as Middleton. The troops expressed great dissatisfaction at this announcement by their looks, and some, “both officers and soldiers, shed tears, and vowed that they would serve with their old general in any corner of the world.”[457]

After the review, the earl gave a sumptuous entertainment to Middleton and the principal officers of the army, at which an occurrence took place which soured the temper of the officers, and sowed the seeds of new divisions in the camp. On the cloth being removed, Glencairn proposed the health of the commander-in-chief, whom he thus addressed:—“My lord general, you see what a gallant army these worthy gentlemen here present and I have gathered together, at a time when it could hardly be expected that any number durst meet together: these men have come out to serve his majesty, at the hazard of their lives and all that is dear to them: I hope, therefore, you will give them all the encouragement to do their duty that lies in your power.” Scarcely had these words been uttered when Sir George Munro, who had come over with Middleton from France to act as his lieutenant-general, started up from his seat, and addressing himself to the earl, swore by G— that the men he had that day seen were nothing but a number of thieves and robbers, and that ere long he would bring a very different set of men into the field. These imprudent observations called up Glengarry, but he was restrained by Glencairn, who said that he was more concerned in the affront put upon the army by Munro than he was, and, turning to Munro, he thus addressed him:—“You, Sir, are a base liar; for they are neither thieves nor robbers, but brave gentlemen and good soldiers.” A meeting took place in consequence early next morning between Glencairn and Munro, about two miles to the south of Dornoch, when the latter was severely wounded. The parties then returned to head-quarters, when Glencairn was put under arrest in his chamber, by orders of Middleton, and his sword taken from him.

The partiality thus shown to Munro, who was the aggressor, and who had sent the challenge to Glencairn, was exceedingly mortifying to the earl, which being followed by another affair which soon took place, and in which the same partiality was displayed, made him resolve to retire from the army. The occurrence was this:—A dispute having taken place on the merits of the recent quarrel between a Captain Livingston, a friend of Munro, and a gentleman of the name of Lindsay, who had accompanied Lord Napier from the continent, in which Livingston maintained that Munro had acted properly, and the contrary insisted upon by Lindsay; mutual challenges were given, and the parties met on the links of Dornoch to decide the dispute by the sword. Lindsay, being a superior swordsman, run Livingston through the heart at the first thrust, and he expired immediately. Lindsay was immediately apprehended, and although Glencairn, backed by other officers, used every exertion to save him, he was brought to trial before a court-martial, by order of Middleton, and condemned to be shot at the cross of Dornoch, a sentence which was carried into execution the same day.

These unfortunate disputes divided the officers of the army into two parties, and afforded but a sorry prognostic of the prospects of the royalists. Glencairn, no longer able to curb his displeasure, slipped off about a fortnight after Lindsay’s death, with his own troop of horse, and a few gentlemen volunteers—100 horse in all—and took the direction of Assynt. The laird of Assynt, who had betrayed Montrose, on the arrival of Glencairn’s party on his lands, offered to assist him to secure the passes, so as to prevent him from being overtaken that night, of which offer Glencairn, though distrustful of Macleod, agreed to accept. Middleton indeed sent a party in pursuit, but they did not come up with Glencairn, who reached Kintail the following day, where he was well received by the Earl of Seaforth’s people. He remained there a few days, and afterwards traversed the Highlands till he arrived at Killin, at the head of Loch Tay, where he was successively joined by Sir George Maxwell, the Earl of Selkirk, and Lord Forrester, each of whom brought a small party of horse along with him, by which additions his force was increased to 400 horsemen. The earl now appears, for the first time, to have seen the impropriety of his conduct in withdrawing from the army; but as he could not endure the idea of returning himself, he endeavoured to make some reparation by sending this body north to join Middleton, and sought a retreat with the laird of Luss at his castle of Rosedoe, when he despatched some officers to raise men in the lowlands for the king’s service.

In the meantime Monk had returned to Scotland, and had brought along with him a strong reinforcement of troops from England, with which he joined Morgan in the north, and marched directly into the Highlands in search of Middleton. It was the intention of the latter to have remained for some time in the Highlands, to have collected all the forces he possibly could, to make occasional descents upon the lowlands, and by marches and countermarches to have distracted the enemy; but the advance of Monk into the very bosom of the Highlands, with a large army, frustrated his design. Middleton soon found himself sorely pressed by his able adversary, who brought forward his army in separate divisions, yet not so isolated as not to be able to support each other in case of attack. In an attempt to elude his pursuers, Middleton was surprised in a defile near Lochgarry, by one of these divisions under the command of Morgan. His men were either slain or dispersed, and he himself escaped with difficulty. The chiefs of the insurrection immediately made their peace with Monk, who treated them with great lenity.[458]

There was one chief, however, whom Monk could neither bribe, cajole, nor threaten into submission; this was the brave and intractable Sir Ewen or Evan Cameron of Lochiel in the north-west of Argyleshire, now about 25 years of age. Having been left an orphan, he was brought up till his 18th year under the care of the Marquis of Argyle, who, endeavouring to instil into him the unsavoury principles of the Covenanters, put him to school at Inverary under the guardianship of a gentleman of his own principles. “But young Lochiel preferred the sports of the field to the labours of the school,” and Argyle finding him totally intractable and utterly disgusted with covenanting principles, allowed him to return to Lochaber, to head his clan in the 18th year of his age. In 1651, Charles II. having written to Lochiel inviting him and his clan to take arms and come to the aid of his country and his sovereign, he, early in spring 1652, was the first to join Glencairn’s expedition.

Monk left no method untried to induce Lochiel to submit, but, in spite of his friends’ entreaties, he refused to lay down his arms. Monk, finding all his attempts useless, resolved to plant a garrison at Inverlochy, (now Fort William,) in order to keep the country in awe and the chief at home. Lochiel resolved that Monk should find it no easy matter to accomplish his task, and took up his station at Achdalew, 3 miles west of Inverlochy, on the north side of Loch Eil. He kept spies in and around the garrison, who informed him of all that was going on. Lochiel, having been informed that the governor was about to despatch 300 of his men, in two vessels, westward, to cut down wood and carry off cattle, resolved that they “should pay well for every tree and every hide.” He had at the time only 38 men beside him, the rest having been sent off to secure their cattle and other goods. In spite of the disparity of numbers, he resolved to watch and attack the governor’s men at a favourable opportunity.

“The Camerons being some more than 30 in number, armed partly with musquets, and partly with bows, kept up their pieces and arrows till their very muzzles and points almost touched their enemies’ breasts, when the very first fire took down above 30. They then laid on with their swords, and laid about with incredible fury. The English defended themselves with their musquets and bayonets with great bravery, but to little purpose. The skirmish continued long and obstinate: at last the English gave way, and retreated towards the ship, with their faces to the enemy, fighting with astonishing resolution. But Lochiel, to prevent their flight, commanded two or three of his men to run before, and from behind a bush to make a noise, as if there was another party of Highlanders to intercept their retreat. This took so effectually, that they stopped, and animated by rage, madness, and despair, they renewed the skirmish with greater fury than ever, and wanted nothing but proper arms to make Lochiel repent of his stratagem. They were at last, however, forced to give way, and betake themselves to their heels; the Camerons pursued them chin deep in the sea; 138 were counted dead of the English, and of the Camerons only 5 were killed.

Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel.—From a rare print in the
collection of W. F. Watson, Esq., Edinburgh.

“In this engagement, Lochiel himself had several wonderful escapes. In the retreat of the English, one of the strongest and bravest of the officers retired behind a bush, when he observed Lochiel pursuing, and seeing him unaccompanied with any, he leaped out, and thought him his prey. They met one another with equal fury. The combat was long, and doubtful. The English gentleman had by far the advantage in strength and size; but Lochiel exceeding him in nimbleness and agility, in the end tript the sword out of his hand: upon which, his antagonist flew upon him with amazing rapidity; they closed, and wrestled till both fell to the ground in each other’s arms. The English officer got above Lochiel, and pressed him hard; but stretching forth his neck by attempting to disengage himself, Lochiel, who by this time had his hands at liberty, with his left hand seized him by the collar, and jumping at his extended throat, he bit it with his teeth quite through, and kept such a hold of his grip, that he brought away his mouth full; this, he said, was the sweetest bite he ever had in his life time. Immediately afterwards, when continuing the pursuit after that encounter was over, he found his men chin deep in the sea; he quickly followed them, and observing a fellow on deck aiming his piece at him, plunged into the sea, and escaped, but so narrowly that the hair on the back part of his head was cut, and a little of the skin ruffled. In a little while a similar attempt was made to shoot him: his foster-brother threw himself before him, and received the shot in his mouth and breast, preferring his chief’s life to his own.”[459]

CAMERON OF LOCHIEL.

After Lochiel had joined General Middleton, he heard that the governor of Inverlochy, taking advantage of his absence, was cutting down the woods and collecting all the provisions he could lay hold of. Middleton allowed him to return to Lochaber, but with only 150 men. He soon found that the information was quite correct, and in order to obtain revenge, on the day after his arrival, he posted his men in different parts of a wood, about a mile from the garrison, to which the soldiers resorted every day, to cut down and bring in wood. Lochiel soon observed upwards of 400 approaching the wood, and at the most favourable moment gave his men the signal of attack. A terrible slaughter ensued among the governor’s men; 100 fell on the spot, and the pursuit was carried on to the very walls of the garrison. The officers were the only persons who resisted, and not one of them escaped.

Lochiel, in this manner, continued for a long time to harass the garrison, frequently cutting off small detachments, partly by stratagem and partly by force, until the garrison became so wary that they ultimately gave him few opportunities of pouncing upon them. Even after Middleton and the other chiefs had capitulated and come to terms, Lochiel refused to give in. At last, however, after long cajoling, the obstinate chief was induced to come to terms, the Marquis of Argyle becoming his surety. He was asked simply to give his word of honour to live in peace, on which condition, he and his clan were allowed to keep their arms as before the war broke out. Reparation was to be made to Lochiel and his tenants, for whatever losses they had sustained from the garrison, and an indemnity was granted for all past offences. In fact, the treaty was a very liberal bribe to Lochiel to be quiet. All that was demanded of Lochiel was, that he and his clan should lay down their arms in the name of Charles II., before the governor of Inverlochy, and take them up in the name of the Commonwealth, no mention being made of the Protector; promising at the same time to do his best to make his clan behave themselves.[460]

It would be out of place in a History of the Highlands to enter into a detailed account of the general history of Scotland during the Commonwealth, and of the various intrigues for the restoration of Charles II. There appears to have been no events of any importance during this period in the Highlands, which at that time were so remote and inaccessible as to be almost beyond the influence of the many wise measures introduced by Cromwell for the government of Scotland, as well as the by no means beneficial strictness of the presbyterian clergy. Baillie[461] thus sadly describes the state of some of the noble families of Scotland about this time: “The country lies very quiet; it is exceeding poor; trade is nought; the English has all the moneys. Our noble families are almost gone: Lennox has little in Scotland unsold; Hamilton’s estate, except Arran and the Baronrie of Hamilton, is sold; Argyle can pay little annual rent for seven or eight hundred thousand merks; and he is no more drowned in debt than public hatred, almost of all, both Scottish and English; the Gordons are gone; the Douglasses little better; Eglintoun and Glencairn on the brink of breaking; many of our chief families estates are cracking; nor is there any appearance of any human relief for the time. What is become of the king and his family we do not know.” Nicoll[462] writes in the same strain: “The condition of this nation of Scotland yet remains sad, by reason of poverty and heavy burdens.” “At the same time,” says Dr. Chambers,[463] “that so great poverty prevailed, there was such a protection to life and property as had never before been known. It was not we believe without cause, that the famous Colonel Desborough, in a speech in the House of Commons (March 17th, 1659), made it a boast for his party, that a man may ride over all Scotland, with a switch in his hand and a hundred pounds in his pocket, which he could not have done these five hundred years.” In some of the letters sent home by the English soldiery, we get a slight glimpse into the condition of the Highlands at this time, which shows that the people generally had made but little advance in civilization. Their houses, we are told, were built of earth and turf, and were so low that the horsemen sometimes rode over them; the people generally, both men and women, wore plaids about their middles; they were “simple and ignorant in the things of God,” and some of them as brutish as heathens; nevertheless “some did hear the English preachers with great attention and groaning.”[464]

By the tact and management of General Monk, who gradually detached himself from the cause of the parliament, and espoused that of the exiled king, and a few other royalists, the Long Parliament, now reduced to a “Rump,” after having sat nineteen years and a half, dissolved itself by its own act, on the 16th of March, 1660. A new parliament, in which the cavaliers and moderate presbyterians had the majority, met on the 25th of April, and carried out the wishes of the nation, by inviting his majesty to come and take possession of his inheritance. The king was not long in obeying the invitation. He was received at Dover by Monk, at the head of the nobility, whence he proceeded to London, which he entered on the 29th of May, 1660, amidst the acclamations of the citizens.

FOOTNOTES:

[424] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 42.

[425] Idem, p. 77.

[426] Whitelock, p. 465.

[427] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 86.

[428] Idem, p. 88.

[429] Whitelock.

[430] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 87.

[431] Balfour.

[432] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 89.

[433] Whitelock.

[434] Idem, p. 483.

[435] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 96.

[436] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 97.

[437] Cromwelliana, p. 89.

[438] Burnet’s Own Times, vol. i. p. 54.

[439] Whitelock, p. 471.

[440] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 115.

[441] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 129.

[442] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 123.

[443] Idem, p. 152.

[444] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 136.

[445] Idem, p. 175.

[446] Woodrow, Introduction, iii.

[447] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 193–195.

[448] Balfour, vol. iv. pp. 210–212.

[449] Leicester’s Journal, p. 110. Whitelock, p. 501. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 397.

[450] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 315. Echard, p. 698.

[451] Heath, pp. 304, 308, 310, 313. Whitelock, pp. 514, 534, 543.

[452] Balfour, vol. iv. p. 345. Gordon’s Continuation, p. 561.

[453] Whitelock, pp. 528, 542. Leicester’s Journal, p. 129. Journals, Nov. 19.

[454] Alluding to Lilburn’s expedition, Balfour says, “The Frassers came in to them, and condiscendit to pay them cesse; bot Glengarey stood out, and in effecte the heighlandmen fooled them home againe to the lowlandes; some with faire wordes; others stoode to ther defence; and the Inglishe finding nothing amongest them save hunger and strokes, were glad, (ther bisquet and cheesse being all spent, and ther clothes worne, with ther horsses out-tyred,) to returne, cursing the heighlandes, to ther winter quarters.” He says that General Dean “lost some few men and horsses in viewing of the heighlanders.” But Overton encountered the greatest danger; for, says the same writer, “If my Lord Marquesse of Argyle had not protected him, he and all that wes with him had gottin ther throttes cutte. So, weill laughin at by the heighlanders, he wes forced to returne with penurey aneuche, werey glade all of them that ther lives were saved.”—Vol. iv. pp. 349–50.

[455] “And I verily believe there were more souls converted to Christ in that short period of time, than in any season since the Reformation, though of treeple its duration. Nor was there ever greater purity and plenty of the means of grace than was in their time. Ministers were painful, people were diligent; and if a man hade seen one of their solemn communions, where many congregations mett in great multitudes, some dozen of Ministers used to preach, and the people continued, as it were, in a sort of trance, (so serious were they in spiritual exercises,) for three days at least, he would have thought it a solemnity unknown to the rest of the world.”—Kirkton.

“It is not to be forgotten, that from the year 1652 to the year 1660, there was great good done by the preaching of the Gospell in the west of Scotland, more than was observed to have been for twenty or thirty years before; a great many brought in to Christ Jesus by a saving work of conversion, which occasioned through ministers preaching nothing all that tyme but the gospell, and had left off to preach up parliaments, armies, leagues, resolutions, and remonstrances, which was much in use before, from the year 1638 till that time 52, which occasioned a great number of hypocrytes in the church, who, out of hope of preferment, honour, riches, and worldly credit, took on the forme of godliness, but wanted the power of it.”—Law’s Memorials.

[456] Graham of Deuchrie’s Account of Glencairn’s Expedition.

[457] Graham.

[458] Duchray’s Narrative.

[459] Pennant’s Tour in Scotland, vol. i. pp. 353–355.

[460] Pennant’s Tour in Scotland, vol. i. Appendix.

[461] Letters and Journals, vol. iii. p. 387.

[462] Quoted in Chambers’s Domestic Annals, vol. ii. p. 248.

[463] Dom. Annals, vol. ii. p. 249.

[464] Idem, vol. ii. p. 218. Whitelocke’s Memorials.

CHAPTER XVIII.[465]

Highland Manners, Customs, &c.—Character of ancient Highlanders—Highland Dress—Superstitions—Kelpies—Urisks—Daoine Shith—Practices in the Western Islands—Deis-iuil—Second-sight—Weddings—Social duties—Courage—Love of Country—Bards—Highlanders’ feeling with regard to death—Hospitality—Clans—Creachs—Cearnachs or Catherans—Chiefs—Relation of the Clans to their Chiefs—Appendix on Highland Dress.

We shall take advantage of the breathing-space afforded us here, before entering upon the stirring events of the next century, in which the Highlanders played a most important part, to notice such objects connected with the ancient state of the Highlands, and the character and condition of the inhabitants in former times, as may be considered interesting either in a local or national point of view. It will be seen that our observations do not apply to the Highlanders of the present day, as these have lost many of the peculiarities of manners, speech, dress, &c., which characterized their ancestors. The Highlands have undergone considerable change during the last century and a half, and the alteration, in a social point of view, has been on the whole for the better. The Highlands now are generally as accessible as the lowlands; the manners, speech, and occupations of the inhabitants are becoming more and more assimilated to those of their lowland neighbours, and to all appearance, in a very short time, there will remain little or nothing to distinguish the Scottish Celt from the Saxon. Although this change has by no means been altogether to the advantage of the Highlander,—although many of the vices as well as the virtues of civilization have been forced upon him, still, for the sake of the community at large, the change cannot be regretted, and it is only to be desired that the lowlanders in turn may be brought to admire and imitate the noble virtues of their northern neighbours, their courage, fidelity, reverence, self-respect, and love of independence.

The early history of the Highlanders presents us with a bold and hardy race of men, filled with a romantic attachment to their native mountains and glens, cherishing an exalted spirit of independence, and firmly bound together in septs or clans by the ties of kindred. Having little intercourse with the rest of the world, and pent up for many centuries within the Grampian range, the Highlanders acquired a peculiar character, and retained or adopted habits and manners differing widely from those of their lowland neighbours. “The ideas and employments, which their seclusion from the world rendered habitual,—the familiar contemplation of the most sublime objects of nature,—the habit of concentrating their affections within the narrow precincts of their own glens, or the limited circle of their own kinsmen,—and the necessity of union and self-dependence in all difficulties and dangers, combined to form a peculiar and original character. A certain romantic sentiment, the offspring of deep and cherished feeling, strong attachment to their country and kindred, and a consequent disdain of submission to strangers, formed the character of independence; while an habitual contempt of danger was nourished by their solitary musings, of which the honour of their clan, and a long descent from brave and warlike ancestors, formed the frequent theme. Thus, their exercises, their amusements, their modes of subsistence, their motives of action, their prejudices and their superstitions, became characteristic, permanent, and peculiar.

“Firmness and decision, fertility in resources, ardour in friendship, and a generous enthusiasm, were the result of such a situation, such modes of life, and such habits of thought. Feeling themselves separated by Nature from the rest of mankind, and distinguished by their language, their habits, their manners, and their dress, they considered themselves the original possessors of the country, and regarded the Saxons of the Lowlands as strangers and intruders.”[466]

Like their Celtic ancestors, the Highlanders were tall, robust, and well formed. Early marriages were unknown among them, and it was rare for a female who was of a puny stature and delicate constitution to be honoured with a husband. The following observations of Martin on the inhabitants of some of the western islands may be generally applied to the Highlanders:—“They are not obliged to art in forming their bodies, for Nature never fails to act her part bountifully to them; perhaps there is no part of the habitable globe where so few bodily imperfections are to be seen, nor any children that go more early. I have observed several of them walk alone before they were ten months old: they are bathed all over every morning and evening, some in cold, some in warm water; but the latter is most commonly used, and they wear nothing strait about them. The mother generally suckles the child, failing of which, a nurse is provided, for they seldom bring up any by hand: they give new born infants fresh butter to take away the meconium, and this they do for several days; they taste neither sugar, nor cinnamon, nor have they any daily allowance of sack bestowed on them, as the custom is elsewhere, nor is the nurse allowed to taste ale. The generality wear neither shoes nor stockings before they are seven, eight, or ten years old; and many among them wear no night-caps before they are sixteen years old, and upwards; some use none all their life-time, and these are not so liable to headaches as others who keep their heads warm.”[467]

As a proof of the indifference of the Highlanders to cold, reference has been made to their often sleeping in the open air during the severity of winter. Burt, who resided among them and wrote in the year 1725, relates that he has seen the places which they occupied, and which were known by being free from the snow that deeply covered the ground, except where the heat of their bodies had melted it. The same writer represents a chief as giving offence to his clan by his degeneracy in forming the snow into a pillow before he lay down. “The Highlanders were so accustomed to sleep in the open air, that the want of shelter was of little consequence to them. It was usual before they lay down to dip their plaids in water, by which the cloth was less pervious to the wind, and the heat of their bodies produced a warmth, which the woollen, if dry, could not afford. An old man informed me, that a favourite place of repose was under a cover of thick overhanging heath. The Highlanders, in 1745, could scarcely be prevailed on to use tents. It is not long since those who frequented Lawrence fair, St. Sair’s, and other markets in the Garioch of Aberdeenshire, gave up the practice of sleeping in the open fields. The horses being on these occasions left to shift for themselves, the inhabitants no longer have their crop spoiled, by their ‘upthrough neighbours,’ with whom they had often bloody contentions, in consequence of these unceremonious visits.”[468]

As to the antiquity of the picturesque Highland costume, there has been considerable discussion. Till of late years the general opinion was that the plaid, philibeg, and bonnet, formed the ancient garb of the Highlanders, but some writers have maintained that the philibeg is of modern invention, and that the truis, which consisted of breeches and stockings in one piece, and made to fit close to the limbs, was the old costume. That the truis is very ancient in the Highlands is probable, but it was chiefly confined to the higher classes, who always used it when travelling on horseback. At p. 4 of this volume, fig. 2 shows a very early form of Highland costume; and although rude, it bears a strong resemblance to the more modern belted plaid. In an appendix to this chapter will be found a collection of extracts from various writers, reaching back to a very early period, and containing allusions to the peculiar form and pattern of the Highland dress, proving that, in its simple form, it lays claim to considerable antiquity. For these extracts we are indebted to the admirable publication of the Iona club, entitled Collectanea de rebus Albanicis.

The following is a description of the various parts of the Highland costume:—The Breacan-feile, literally, the variegated or chequered covering, is the original garb of the Highlanders, and forms the chief part of the costume; but it is now almost laid aside in its simple form. It consisted of a plain piece of tartan from four to six yards in length, and two yards broad. The plaid was adjusted with much nicety, and made to surround the waist in great plaits or folds, and was firmly bound round the loins with a leathern belt in such a manner that the lower side fell down to the middle of the knee joint, and then, while there were the foldings behind, the cloth was double before. The upper part was then fastened on the left shoulder with a large brooch or pin, so as to display to the most advantage the tastefulness of the arrangement, the two ends being sometimes suffered to hang down; but that on the right side, which was necessarily the longest, was more usually tucked under the belt. In battle, in travelling, and on other occasions, this added much to the commodiousness and grace of the costume. By this arrangement, the right arm of the wearer was left uncovered and at full liberty; but in wet or very cold weather the plaid was thrown loose, by which both body and shoulders were covered. To give free exercise for both arms in case of need, the plaid was fastened across the breast by a large silver bodkin, or circular brooch, often enriched with precious stones, or imitations of them, having mottos engraved, consisting of allegorical and figurative sentences.[469] Macculloch, we think, in his jaunty off-hand way, has very happily conjectured what is likely to have been the origin of this part of Highland dress. “It does not seem very difficult,” he says,[470] “to trace the origin of the belted plaid; the true and characteristic dress from which the other modifications have been derived. It is precisely, as has been often said, the expedient of a savage, unable or unwilling to convert the web of cloth which he had procured, into a more convenient shape. Rolling one extremity round his body, the remainder was thrown over his shoulder, to be used as occasion should require, in covering the rest of his person.” It indeed appears to be a well authenticated fact that the kilt or philibeg, as distinct from the belted plaid, is a comparatively modern article of dress in the Highlands, having been the invention of an Englishman who, while superintending some works in Lochaber about 1728, induced his workmen to separate that part of the ancient garment which came over the shoulder, and which encumbered their movements, from the part which surrounded the loins, retaining only the latter.

As the breacan was without pockets, a purse, called sporan by the Highlanders, was fastened or tied in front, and was made of goats’ or badgers’ skin, sometimes of leather, and was neither so large nor so gaudy as that now in use. People of rank or condition ornamented their purses sometimes with a silver mouthpiece, and fixed the tassels and other appendages with silver fastenings; but in general the mouthpieces were of brass, and the cords employed were of leather neatly interwoven. The sporan was divided into several compartments. One of these was used for holding a watch, another money, &c. The Highlanders even carried their shot in the sporan occasionally, but for this purpose they commonly carried a wallet at the right side, in which they also stowed when travelling, a quantity of meal and other provisions. This military knapsack was called dorlach by the Highlanders.

The use of stockings and shoes is comparatively of recent date among the Highlanders. Originally they encased their feet in a piece of untanned hide, cut to the shape and size of the foot, and drawn close together with leather thongs, a practice which is observed even at the present day by the descendants of the Scandinavian settlers in the Shetland islands, where they are called rivelins; but this mode of covering the feet was far from being general, as the greater part of the population went barefooted. Such was the state of the Highlanders who fought at Killiecrankie; and Burt, who wrote in the early part of the 18th century, says that he visited a well-educated and polite Laird, in the north, who wore neither shoes nor stockings, nor had any covering for his feet. A modern writer observes, that when the Highland regiments were embodied during the French and American wars, hundreds of the men were brought down without either stockings or shoes.

The stockings, which were originally of the same pattern with the plaid, were not knitted, but were cut out of the web, as is still done in the case of those worn by the common soldiers in the Highland regiments; but a great variety of fancy patterns are now in use. The garters were of rich colours, and broad, and were wrought in a small loom, which is now almost laid aside. Their texture was very close, which prevented them from wrinkling, and displayed the pattern to its full extent. On the occasion of an anniversary cavalcade, on Michaelmas day, by the inhabitants of the island of North Uist, when persons of all ranks and of both sexes appeared on horseback, the women, in return for presents of knives and purses given them by the men, presented the latter “with a pair of fine garters of divers colours.”[471]

The bonnet, of which there were various patterns, completed the national garb, and those who could afford had also, as essential accompaniments, a dirk, with a knife and fork stuck in the side of the sheath, and sometimes a spoon, together with a pair of steel pistols.

The garb, however, differed materially in quality and in ornamental display, according to the rank or ability of the wearer. The short coat and waistcoat worn by the wealthy, were adorned with silver buttons, tassels, embroidery, or lace, according to the taste of the wearer or fashion of the times, and even “among the better and more provident of the lower ranks,” as General Stewart remarks, silver buttons were frequently found, which had come down to them as an inheritance of long descent. The same author observes, that the reason for wearing these buttons, which were of a large size and of solid silver, was, that their value might defray the expense of a decent funeral in the event of the wearer falling in battle, or dying in a strange country and at a distance from his friends. The officers of Mackay’s and Munroe’s Highland regiments, who served under Gustavus Adolphus in the wars of 1626 and 1638, in addition to rich buttons, wore a gold chain round the neck, to secure the owner, in case of being wounded or taken prisoner, good treatment, or as payment for future ransom.[472]

Although shoe buckles now form a part of the Highland costume, they were unknown in the Highlands 150 years ago. The ancient Highlanders did not wear neckcloths. Their shirts were of woollen cloth, and as linen was long expensive, a considerable time elapsed before linen shirts came into general use. We have heard an old and intelligent Highlander remark, that rheumatism was almost, if not wholly, unknown in the Highlands until the introduction of linen shirts.

It is observed by General Stewart, that “among the circumstances which influenced the military character of the Highlanders, their peculiar garb was conspicuous, which, by its freedom and lightness, enabled them to use their limbs, and to handle their arms with ease and celerity, and to move with great speed when employed with either cavalry or light infantry. In the wars of Gustavus Adolphus, in the civil wars of Charles I., and on various other occasions, they were often mixed with the cavalry, affording to detached squadrons the incalculable advantage of support from infantry, even in their most rapid movements.” “I observed,” says the author of ‘Memoirs of a Cavalier,’ speaking of the Scots army in 1640, “I observed that these parties had always some foot with them, and yet if the horses galloped or pushed on ever so forward, the foot were as forward as they, which was an extraordinary advantage. These were those they call Highlanders; they would run on foot with all their arms, and all their accoutrements, and kept very good order too, and kept pace with the horses, let them go at what rate they would.”

The dress of the women seems to require some little notice. Till marriage, or till they arrived at a certain age, they went with the head bare, the hair being tied with bandages or some slight ornament, after which they wore a head-dress, called the curch, made of linen, which was tied under the chin; but when a young woman lost her virtue and character she was obliged to wear a cap, and never afterwards to appear bare-headed. Martin’s observations on the dress of the females of the western islands may be taken as giving a pretty correct idea of that worn by those of the Highlands. “The women wore sleeves of scarlet cloth, closed at the end as men’s vests, with gold lace round them, having plate buttons set with fine stones. The head-dress was a fine kerchief of linen, strait about the head. The plaid was tied before on the breast, with a buckle of silver or brass, according to the quality of the person. I have seen some of the former of one hundred merks value; the whole curiously engraved with various animals. There was a lesser buckle which was worn in the middle of the larger. It had in the centre a large piece of crystal, or some finer stone, of a lesser size.” The plaid, which, with the exception of a few stripes of red, black, or blue, was white, reached from the neck almost to the feet; it was plaited, and was tied round the waist by a belt of leather, studded with small pieces of silver.

The antiquity of the tartan has been called in question by several writers, who have maintained that it is of modern invention; but they have given no proofs in support of their assertion. In the appendix to this chapter it will be seen that, as far back as the years 1538 and 1597, mention is made of this species of cloth; and in the account of charge and discharge of John, Bishop of Glasgow, Treasurer to King James III. in 1471, the following entries occur:—

“An elne and ane halve of blue tartane
to lyne his gowne of cloth of gold,

£1 10  6

“Four elne and ane halve of tartane for a
sparwurt abun his credill, price
ane elne, 10s.,

2  5  0

“Halve ane elne of duble tartane to lyne
collars to her lady the Quene, price
8 shillings.”

It is not at all improbable that Joseph’s well-known “coat of many colours” may have been somewhat of the same nature as tartan; and the writer of the article Tartan in Chambers’s Encyclopædia says, “this is probably the oldest pattern ever woven; at all events the so-called shepherd’s plaid of Scotland is known to have a very remote antiquity amongst the eastern nations of the world.” It has been proved by Logan, from Diodorus, Pliny, and other ancient writers, that variegated cloth was in common use for purposes of dress among the continental Celts.

When the great improvements in the process of dyeing by means of chemistry are considered, it will appear surprising, that without any knowledge of this art, and without the substances now employed, the Highlanders should have been able, from the scanty materials which their country afforded, to produce the beautiful and lasting colours which distinguish the old Highland tartan, some specimens of which are understood still to exist, and which retain much of their original brilliancy of colouring. “In dyeing and arranging the various colours of their tartans, they displayed no small art and taste, preserving at the same time the distinctive patterns (or sets, as they were called) of the different clans, tribes, families, and districts. Thus, a Macdonald, a Campbell, a Mackenzie, &c., was known by his plaid; and, in like manner, the Athole, Glenorchy, and other colours of different districts, were easily distinguishable. Besides those general divisions, industrious housewives had patterns, distinguished by the set, superior quality, and fineness of cloth, or brightness and variety of the colours. In those times, when mutual attachment and confidence subsisted between the proprietors and occupiers of land in the Highlands, the removal of tenants, except in remarkable cases, rarely occurred; and, consequently, it was easy to preserve and perpetuate any particular set or pattern, even among the lower orders.”[473]

The Highlanders, in common with most other nations, were much addicted to superstition. The peculiar aspect of their country, in which nature appears in its wildest and most romantic features, exhibiting at a glance sharp and rugged mountains, with dreary wastes—wide-stretched lakes, and rapid torrents, over which the thunders and lightnings, and tempests, and rains, of heaven, exhaust their terrific rage, wrought upon the creative powers of the imagination, and from these appearances, the Highlanders “were naturally led to ascribe every disaster to the influence of superior powers, in whose character the predominating feature necessarily was malignity towards the human race.”[474]

The most dangerous and most malignant creature was the kelpie, or water-horse, which was supposed to allure women and children to his subaqueous haunts, and there devour them. Sometimes he would swell the lake or torrent beyond its usual limits, and overwhelm the unguarded traveller in the flood. The shepherd, as he sat upon the brow of a rock in a summer’s evening, often fancied he saw this animal dashing along the surface of the lake, or browsing on the pasture-ground upon its verge.

The urisks, who were supposed to be of a condition somewhat intermediate between that of mortal men and spirits, “were a sort of lubbary supernaturals, who, like the brownies of England, could be gained over by kind attentions to perform the drudgery of the farm; and it was believed that many families in the Highlands had one of the order attached to it.”[475] The urisks were supposed to live dispersed over the Highlands, each having his own wild recess; but they were said to hold stated assemblies in the celebrated cave called Coire-nan-Uriskin, situated near the base of Ben-Venue, in Aberfoyle, on its northern shoulder. It overhangs Loch Katrine “in solemn grandeur,” and is beautifully and faithfully described by Sir Walter Scott.[476]

The urisks, though generally inclined to mischief, were supposed to relax in their propensity, if kindly treated by the families which they haunted. They were even serviceable in some instances, and in this point of view were often considered an acquisition. Each family regularly set down a bowl of cream for its urisk, and even clothes were sometimes added. The urisk resented any omission or want of attention on the part of the family; and tradition says, that the urisk of Glaschoil, a small farm about a mile to the west of Ben-Venue, having been disappointed one night of his bowl of cream, after performing the task allotted him, took his departure about day-break, uttering a horrible shriek, and never again returned.

The Daoine Shith, or Shi’ (men of peace), or as they are sometimes called, Daoine matha (good men), come next to be noticed. Dr. Graham considers the part of the popular superstitions of the Highlands which relates to these imaginary persons, and which is to this day retained, as he observes, in some degree of purity, as “the most beautiful and perfect branch of Highland mythology.”

Although it has been generally supposed that the mythology of the Daoine Shi’ is the same as that respecting the fairies of England, as portrayed by Shakspeare, in the Midsummer Night’s Dream, and perhaps, too, of the Orientals, they differ essentially in many important points.

The Daoine Shi’, or men of peace, who are the fairies of the Highlanders, “though not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a peevish repining race of beings, who, possessing themselves but a scanty portion of happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more complete and substantial enjoyments. They are supposed to enjoy, in their subterraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness, a tinsel grandeur, which, however, they would willingly exchange for the more solid joys of mortals.”[477] Green was the colour of the dress which these men of peace always wore, and they were supposed to take offence when any of the mortal race presumed to wear their favourite colour. The Highlanders ascribe the disastrous result of the battle of Killiecrankie to the circumstance of Viscount Dundee having been dressed in green on that ill-fated day. This colour is even yet considered ominous to those of his name who assume it.

The abodes of the Daoine Shi’ are supposed to be below grassy eminences or knolls, where, during the night, they celebrate their festivities by the light of the moon, and dance to notes of the softest music.[478] Tradition reports that they have often allured some of the human race into their subterraneous retreats, consisting of gorgeous apartments, and that they have been regaled with the most sumptuous banquets and delicious wines. Their females far exceed the daughters of men in beauty. If any mortal shall be tempted to partake of their repast, or join in their pleasures, he at once forfeits the society of his fellow-men, and is bound down irrevocably to the condition of a Shi’ich, or man of peace.

“A woman,” says a Highland tradition, “was conveyed, in days of yore, into the secret recesses of the men of peace. There she was recognised by one who had formerly been an ordinary mortal, but who had, by some fatality, become associated with the Shi’ichs. This acquaintance, still retaining some portion of human benevolence, warned her of her danger, and counselled her, as she valued her liberty, to abstain from eating or drinking with them for a certain space of time. She complied with the counsel of her friend; and when the period assigned was elapsed, she found herself again upon earth, restored to the society of mortals. It is added, that when she had examined the viands which had been presented to her, and which had appeared so tempting to the eye, they were found, now that the enchantment had been removed, to consist only of the refuse of the earth.”

Some mortals, however, who had been so unhappy as to fall into the snares of the Shi’ichs, are generally believed to have obtained a release from Fairyland, and to have been restored to the society of their friends. Ethert Brand, according to the legend, was released by the intrepidity of his sister, as related by Sir Walter Scott in the fourth Canto of the Lady of the Lake:—

“She crossed him thrice that lady bold:

He rose beneath her hand,

The fairest knight on Scottish mould,

Her brother, Ethert Brand!”

A recent tradition gives a similar story, except in its unfortunate catastrophe, and is thus related by Dr. Patrick Graham in his “Sketches of Perthshire.”

The Rev. Robert Kirk, the first translator of the Psalms into Gaelic verse, had formerly been minister at Balquidder, and died minister of Aberfoyle, in 1688, at the early age of 42. His gravestone, which may be seen near the east end of the church of Aberfoyle, bears the inscription which is given underneath.[479] He was walking, it is said, one evening in his night-gown, upon the little eminence to the west of the present manse, which is still reckoned a Dun-shi’. He fell down dead, as was believed; but this was not his fate:—

“It was between the night and day,

When the fairy king has power,

That he sunk down (but not) in sinful fray,

And, ’twixt life and death, was snatched away,

To the joyless Elfin bower.”

Mr. Kirk was the near relation of Mr. Grahame of Duchray. Shortly after his funeral, he appeared in the dress in which he had sunk down, to a mutual relation of his own and of Duchray. “Go,” said he to him, “to my cousin Duchray, and tell him that I am not dead; I fell down in a swoon, and was carried into Fairy-land, where I now am. Tell him, that when he and my friends are assembled at the baptism of my child—for he had left his wife pregnant—I will appear in the room, and that if he throws the knife which he holds in his hand over my head, I will be released, and restored to human society.” The man, it seems, neglected for some time, to deliver the message. Mr. Kirk appeared to him a second time, threatening to haunt him night and day till he executed his commission, which at length he did. The day of the baptism arrived. They were seated at table. Mr. Kirk entered, but the laird of Duchray, by some unaccountable fatality, neglected to perform the prescribed ceremony. Mr. Kirk retired by another door, and was seen no more. It is firmly believed that he is, at this day, in Fairy-land.

Another legend in a similar strain is also given as communicated by a very intelligent young lady:—

“A young man roaming one day through the forest, observed a number of persons, all dressed in green, issuing from one of those round eminences which are commonly accounted fairy hills. Each of them, in succession, called upon a person by name, to fetch his horse. A caparisoned steed instantly appeared; they all mounted, and sallied forth into the regions of the air. The young man, like Ali Baba in the Arabian Nights, ventured to pronounce the same name, and called for his horse. The steed immediately appeared; he mounted, and was soon joined to the fairy choir. He remained with them for a year, going about with them to fairs and weddings, and feasting, though unseen by mortal eyes, on the victuals that were exhibited on those occasions. They had, one day, gone to a wedding, where the cheer was abundant. During the feast the bridegroom sneezed. The young man, according to the usual custom, said, ‘God bless you.’ The fairies were offended at the pronunciation of the sacred name, and assured him, that if he dared to repeat it they would punish him. The bridegroom sneezed a second time. He repeated his blessing; they threatened more than tremendous vengeance. He sneezed a third time; he blessed him as before. The fairies were enraged; they tumbled him from a precipice, but he found himself unhurt, and was restored to the society of mortals.”

The Shi’ichs, or men of peace, are supposed to have a design against new-born children, and women in childbed, whom, it is still universally believed, they sometimes carry off into their secret recesses. To prevent this abduction, women in childbed are closely watched, and are not left alone, even for a single moment, till the child is baptized, when the Shi’ichs are supposed to have no more power over them.[480]

The following tradition will illustrate this branch of the popular superstition respecting the Shi’ichs: A woman whose new-born child had been conveyed by them into their secret abodes, was also carried thither herself, to remain, however, only until she should suckle her infant. She one day, during this period, observed the Shi’ichs busily employed in mixing various ingredients in a boiling cauldron; and as soon as the composition was prepared, she remarked that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the remainder aside for future use. In a moment when they were all absent, she also attempted to anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had time to apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine Shi’ returned. But with that eye, she was henceforth enabled to see every thing as it really passed in their secret abodes; she saw every object, not as she had hitherto done, in deceptive splendour and elegance, but in its genuine colours and form. The gaudy ornaments of the apartment were reduced to the naked walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon after, having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her own home. Still, however, she retained the faculty of seeing with her medicated eye, every thing that was done, any where in her presence, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe the Shi’ich, or man of peace, in whose possession she had left her child, though to every other eye invisible. Prompted by maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began to inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished at thus being recognised by one of mortal race, sternly demanded how she had been enabled to discover him. Awed by the terrible frown of his countenance, she acknowledged what she had done. He spat into her eye, and extinguished it for ever.

The Shi’ichs, it is still believed, have a great propensity for attending funerals and weddings, and other public entertainments, and even fairs. They have an object in this; for it is believed that, though invisible to mortal eyes, they are busily employed in carrying away the substantial articles and provisions which are exhibited, in place of which they substitute shadowy forms, having the appearance of the things so purloined. And so strong was the belief in this mythology, even till a recent period, that some persons are old enough to remember, that some individuals would not eat any thing presented on the occasions alluded to, because they believed it to be unsubstantial and hurtful.

As the Shi’ichs are supposed to be present on all occasions, though invisible, the Highlanders, whenever they allude to them, do so in terms of respect. This is, however, done as seldom as possible; and when the Shi’ichs are casually mentioned, the Highlanders add some propitiatory expression of praise to avert their displeasure, which they greatly dread. This reserve and dread on the part of the Highlanders, is said to arise from the peevish envy and jealousy which the Shi’ichs are believed to entertain towards the human race. Although believed to be always present, watching the doings of mortals, the Shi’ichs are supposed to be more particular in their attendance on Friday, on which day they are believed to possess very extensive influence. They are believed to be especially jealous of what may be said concerning them; and if they are at all spoken of on that day, which is never done without great reluctance, the Highlanders uniformly style them the Daoine matha, or good men.

According to the traditionary legends of the Highlanders, the Shi’ichs are believed to be of both sexes; and it is the general opinion among the Highlanders that men have sometimes cohabited with females of the Shi’ich race, who are in consequence called Leannan Shi’. These mistresses are believed to be very kind to their mortal paramours, by revealing to them the knowledge of many things both present and future, which were concealed from the rest of mankind. The knowledge of the medicinal virtues of many herbs, it is related, has been obtained in this way from the Leannan Shi’. The Daoine Shi’ of the other sex are said, in their turn, to have sometimes held intercourse with mistresses of mortal race.

This popular superstition relating to the Daoine Shi’, is supposed, with good reason, to have taken its rise in the times of the Druids, or rather to have been invented by them after the overthrow of their hierarchy, for the purpose of preserving the existence of their order, after they had retreated for safety to caves and the deep recesses of the forest. This idea receives some corroboration from the Gaelic term, Druidheachd, which the Highlanders apply to the deceptive power by which the men of peace are believed to impose upon the senses of mankind, “founded, probably, on the opinion entertained of old, concerning the magical powers of the Druids. Deeply versed, according to Cæsar’s information, as the Druids were, in the higher departments of philosophy, and probably acquainted with electricity, and various branches of chemistry, they might find it easy to excite the belief of their supernatural powers, in the minds of the uninitiated vulgar.”[481] The influence of this powerful order upon the popular belief was felt long after the supposed era of its extinction; for it was not until Christianity was introduced into the Highlands, that the total suppression of the Druids took place. Adamnan mentions in his life of St. Columba, the mocidruidi, (or sons of Druids,) as existing in Scotland in the time of Columba; and he informs us, “that the saint was interrupted at the castle of the king (of the Picts), in the discharge of his religious offices, by certain magi;” a term, by the bye, applied by Pliny to the order of the Druids. The following passage from an ancient Gaelic MS.[482] in the possession of the Highland Society of Scotland, supposed to be of the 12th or 13th century, is conjectured to refer to the incident noticed by Adamnan. “After this, St. Columba went upon a time to the king of the Picts, namely, Bruidhi, son of Milchu, and the gate of the castle was shut against him; but the iron locks of the town opened instantly, through the prayers of Columb Cille. Then came the son of the king, to wit, Maelchu, and his Druid, to argue keenly against Columb Cille, in support of paganism.”

Martin relates, that the natives of South-Uist believed that a valley called Glenslyte, situated between two mountains on the east side of the island, was haunted by spirits, whom they called the Great Men, and that if any man or woman entered the valley without first making an entire resignation of themselves to the conduct of the great men, they would infallibly grow mad. The words by which they gave themselves up to the guidance of these men are comprehended in three sentences, wherein the glen is twice named. This author remonstrated with the inhabitants upon this “piece of silly credulity,” but they answered that there had been recently an instance of a woman who went into the glen without resigning herself to the guidance of the great men, “and immediately after she became mad; which confirmed them in their unreasonable fancy.” He also observes, that the people who resided in the glen in summer, said, they sometimes heard a loud noise in the air like men speaking.[483]

The same writer mentions a universal custom among the inhabitants of the Western Islands, of pouring a cow’s milk upon a little hill, or big stone, where a spirit they called Brownie, was believed to lodge, which spirit always appeared in the shape of a tall man, with very long brown hair. On inquiring “from several well-meaning women, who, until of late, had practised it,” they told Martin that it had been transmitted to them by their ancestors, who believed it was attended with good fortune, but the most credulous of the vulgar had then laid it aside.

It was also customary among the “over-curious,” in the Western Islands, to consult an invisible oracle, concerning the fate of families, battles, &c. This was done three different ways; the first was by a company of men, one of whom being chosen by lot, was afterwards carried to a river, the boundary between two villages: four of the company seized on him, and having shut his eyes, they took him by the legs and arms, and then tossing him to and fro, struck his posteriors with force against the bank. One of them then cried out, What is it you have got here? Another answered, A log of birch wood. The other cried again, Let his invisible friends appear from all quarters, and let them relieve him, by giving an answer to our present demands; and in a few minutes after, a number of little creatures came from the sea, who answered the question, and disappeared suddenly. The man was then set at liberty, and they all returned home to take their measures according to the prediction of their false prophets. This was always practised at night.

The second way of consulting the oracle was by a party of men, who first retired to solitary places, remote from any house, and then singling out one of their number, wrapt him in a large cow’s hide, which they folded about him, covering all but his head, in which posture they left him all night until his invisible friends relieved him by giving a proper answer to the question put; which answer he received, as he fancied, from several persons he found about him all that time. His companions returned to him at break of day when he communicated his news to them, which it is said “often proved fatal to those concerned in such unlawful inquiries.”[484]

The third way of consulting the oracle, and which consultation was to serve as a confirmation of the second, was this: The same company who put the man into the hide, took a live cat and put him on a spit. One of the company was employed to turn the spit, and when in the act of turning, one of his companions would ask him, what are you doing? He answered, I roast this cat, until his friends answer the question, the same as that proposed to the man inclosed in the hide. Afterwards a very large cat was said to come, attended by a number of lesser cats, desiring to relieve the cat turned upon the spit, and answered the question. And if the answer turned out to be the same that was given to the man in the hide, then it was taken as a confirmation of the other, which in this case was believed infallible.[485]

A singular practice called Deis-iuil existed in the Western Islands, so called from a man going round carrying fire in his right hand, which in the Gaelic is called Deas. In the island of Lewis this fiery circuit was made about the houses, corn, cattle, &c., of each particular family, to protect them from the power of evil spirits. The fire was also carried round about women before they were churched after child-bearing, and about children till they were baptized. This ceremony was performed in the morning and at night, and was practised by some of the old midwives in Martin’s time. Some of them told him that ‘the fire-round was an effectual means of preserving both the mother and the infant from the power of evil spirits, who are ready at such times to do mischief, and sometimes carry away the infant; and when they get them once in their possession, return them poor meagre skeletons; and these infants are said to have voracious appetites, constantly craving for meat. In this case it was usual with those who believed that their children were thus taken away, to dig a grave in the fields upon quarter-day, and there to lay the fairy skeleton till next morning; at which time the parents went to the place, where they doubted not to find their own child instead of this skeleton. Some of the poorer sort of people in these islands long retained a custom of performing rounds sun-wise, about the persons of their benefactors three times, when they blessed them, and wished good success to all their enterprises. Some were very careful, when they set out to sea, that the boat should be first rowed about sun-wise; and if this was neglected, they were afraid their voyage would prove unfortunate.’

A prevailing superstition also existed in the Western Islands, and among the inhabitants of the neighbouring coast, that women, by a certain charm or by some secret influence, could withdraw and appropriate to their own use the increase of their neighbour’s cow’s milk. It was believed, however, that the milk so charmed did not produce the ordinary quantity of butter usually churned from other milk, and that the curds made of such milk were so tough that they could not be made so firm as other cheese, and that it was also much lighter in weight. It was also believed that the butter produced from the charmed milk could be discovered from that yielded from the charmer’s own milk, by a difference in the colour, the former being of a paler hue than the latter. The woman in whose possession butter so distinguished was found, was considered to be guilty. To bring back the increase of milk, it was usual to take a little of the rennet from all the suspected persons, and put it into an egg shell full of milk, and when the rennet taken from the charmer was mingled with it, it was said presently to curdle, but not before. Some women put the root of groundsel among their cream as an amulet against such charms.

In retaliation for washing dishes, wherein milk was kept, in streams or rivulets in which trouts were, it was believed that they prevented or took away an increase of milk, and the damage thus occasioned could only be repaired by taking a live trout and pouring milk into its mouth. If the milk curdled immediately, this was a sure sign of its being taken away by trouts; if not, the inhabitants ascribed the evil to some other cause. Some women, it was affirmed, had the art to take away the milk of nurses.

A similar superstition existed as to malt, the virtues of which were said to be sometimes imperceptibly filched, by some charm, before being used, so that the drink made of this malt had neither strength nor good taste, while, on the contrary, the supposed charmer had very good ale all the time. The following curious story is told by Martin in relation to this subject. “A gentleman of my acquaintance, for the space of a year, could not have a drop of good ale in his house; and having complained of it to all that conversed with him, he was at last advised to get some yeast from every alehouse in the parish; and having got a little from one particular man, he put it among his wort, which became as good ale as could be drank, and so defeated the charm. After which, the gentleman on whose land this man lived, banished him thirty-six miles from thence.”[486]

A singular mode of divination was sometimes practised by the Highlanders with bones. Having picked the flesh clean off a shoulder-blade of mutton, which was supposed to lose its virtue if touched by iron, they turned towards the east, and with looks steadily fixed on the transparent bone they pretended to foretell deaths, burials, &c.

The phases or changes of the moon were closely observed, and it was only at particular periods of her revolution that they would cut turf or fuel, fell wood, or cut thatch for houses, or go upon any important expedition. They expected better crops of grain by sowing their seed in the moon’s increase. “The moon,” as Dr. Johnson observes, “has great influence in vulgar philosophy,” and in his memory it was a precept annually given in one of the English almanacs, “To kill hogs when the moon was increasing, and the bacon would prove the better in boiling.”

The aid of superstition was sometimes resorted to for curing diseases. For hectic and consumptive complaints, the Highlanders used to pare the nails of the fingers and toes of the patient,—put these parings into a bag made from a piece of his clothes,—and after waving their hand with the bag thrice round his head, and crying, Deis-iuil, they buried it in some unknown place. Pliny, in his natural history, says that this practice existed among the Magi of his time.

To remove any contagious disease from cattle, they used to extinguish the fires in the surrounding villages, after which they forced fire with a wheel, or by rubbing one piece of dry wood upon another, with which they burned juniper in the stalls of the cattle that the smoke might purify the air about them. When this was performed, the fires in the houses were rekindled from the forced fire. Shaw relates in his history of Moray, that he personally witnessed both the last-mentioned practices.

Akin to some of the superstitions we have noticed, but differing from them in many essential respects, is the belief—for superstition it cannot well be called—in the Second Sight, by which, as Dr. Johnson observes, “seems to be meant a mode of seeing, super-added to that which nature generally bestows,”[487] and consists of “an impression made either by the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon the mind, by which things distant or future are perceived, and seen as if they were present.”[488] This “deceptive faculty” is in Gaelic called Taibhse, i.e. a spectre, or a vision, and is neither voluntary nor constant, but consists “in seeing an otherwise invisible object, without any previous means used by the person that sees it for that end; the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seer, that they neither see nor think of any thing else, except the vision, as long as it continues: and then they appear pensive or jovial, according to the object which was represented to them.”[489]

It has been observed by lookers-on, that those persons who saw, or were supposed to see, a vision, always kept their eye-lids erect, and that they continued to stare until the object vanished. Martin affirms that he and other persons that were with them, observed this more than once, and he mentions an instance of a man in Skye, the inner part of whose eye-lids was turned so far upwards during a vision, that after the object disappeared he found it necessary to draw them down with his fingers, and would sometimes employ others to draw them down, which he indeed, Martin says, “found from experience to be the easier way.”

The visions are said to have taken place either in the morning, at noon, in the evening, or at night. If an object was seen early in the morning, its accomplishment would take place in a few hours thereafter. If at noon, that very day. If in the evening, perhaps that night; if after the candles were lighted, the accomplishment would take place by weeks, months, and sometimes years, according to the time of night the vision was seen.

As the appearances which are said to have been observed in visions and their prognostics may prove curious to the general reader, a few of them shall be here stated, as noted by Martin.

When a shroud was perceived about one, it was a sure prognostic of death. The time was judged according to the height of it about the person. If not seen above the middle, death was not to be expected for the space of a year, and perhaps some months longer; and as it was frequently seen to ascend higher towards the head, death was concluded to be at hand within a few days, if not hours.

If a woman was seen standing at a man’s left hand, it was a presage that she would be his wife, whether they were married to others, or unmarried at the time of the apparition.

If two or three women were seen at once standing near a man’s left hand, she that was next to him would undoubtedly be his wife first, and so on, whether all three, or the man, were single or married at the time of the vision or not.

It was usual for the Seers to see any man that was shortly to arrive at the house. If unknown to the Seer he would give such a description of the person he saw as to make him to be at once recognised upon his arrival. On the other hand, if the Seer knew the person he saw in the vision, he would tell his name, and know by the expression of his countenance whether he came in a good or bad humour.

The Seers often saw houses, gardens, and trees, in places where there were none, but in the course of time these places became covered with them.

To see a spark of fire fall upon one’s arm or breast, was a forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those persons. To see a seat empty when one was sitting on it, was a presage of that person’s immediate death.

There are now few persons, if any, who pretend to this faculty, and the belief in it is almost generally exploded. Yet it cannot be denied that apparent proofs of its existence have been adduced which have staggered minds not prone to superstition. When the connexion between cause and effect can be recognised, things which would otherwise have appeared wonderful and almost incredible, are viewed as ordinary occurrences. The impossibility of accounting for such an extraordinary phenomenon as the alleged faculty, on philosophical principles, or from the laws of nature, must ever leave the matter suspended between rational doubt and confirmed scepticism. The strong-minded but superstitious Dr. Johnson appears, from the following passage, to have been inclined to believe in the genuineness of the faculty. “Strong reasons for incredulity,” says Dr. Johnson, “will readily occur. This faculty of seeing things out of sight is local, and commonly useless. It is a breach of the common order of things, without any visible reason or perceptible benefit. It is ascribed only to a people very little enlightened; and among them, for the most part, to the mean and ignorant. To the confidence of these objections it may be replied, that by presuming to determine what is fit, and what is beneficial, they presuppose more knowledge of the universal system than man has attained; and therefore depend upon principles too complicated and extensive for our comprehension; and that there can be no security in the consequence, when the premises are not understood: that the Second Sight is only wonderful because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it involves no more difficulty than dreams, or perhaps than the regular exercises of the cogitative faculty; that a general opinion of communicative impulses, or visionary representations, has prevailed in all ages and all nations; that particular instances have been given, with such evidence as neither Bacon, nor Bayle, has been able to resist; that sudden impressions, which the event has verified, have been felt by more than own or publish them; that the Second Sight of the Hebrides implies only the local frequency of a power which is no where totally unknown; and that where we are unable to decide by antecedent reason, we must be content to yield to the force of testimony.”[490]

Among the various modes of social intercourse which gladdened the minds and dissipated the few worldly cares of the Highlanders, weddings bore a distinguished part, and they were longed for with a peculiar earnestness. Young and old, from the boy and girl of the age of ten to the hoary-headed sire and aged matron, attended them. The marriage invitations were given by the bride and bridegroom, in person, for some weeks previous, and included the friends of the betrothed parties living at the distance of many miles.

When the bride and bridegroom had completed their rounds, the custom was for the matrons of the invited families to return the visit within a few days, carrying along with them large presents of hams, beef, cheese, butter, malt, spirits, and such other articles as they inclined or thought necessary for the approaching feast. To such an extent was this practice carried in some instances in the quantity presented, that, along with what the guests paid (as they commonly did) for their entertainment at the marriage, and the gifts presented on the day after the marriage, the young couple obtained a pretty fair competence, which warded off the shafts of poverty, and even made them comfortable in after-life.

The joyous wedding-morning was ushered in by the notes of the bagpipe. A party of pipers, followed by the bridegroom and some of his friends, commenced at an early hour a round of morning calls to remind the guests of their engagements. These hastened to join the party, and before the circuit, which sometimes occupied several hours, had ended, some hundreds, perhaps, had joined the wedding standard before they reached the bridegroom’s house. The bride made a similar round among her friends. Separate dinners were provided; the bridegroom giving a dinner to his friends, and the bride to hers. The marriage ceremony was seldom performed till after dinner. The clergyman sometimes attended, but the parties preferred waiting on him, as the appearance of a large procession to his house gave additional importance and eclat to the ceremony of the day, which was further heightened by a constant firing by the young men, who supplied themselves with guns and pistols, and which firing was responded to by every hamlet as the party passed along; “so that, with streamers flying, pipers playing, the constant firing from all sides, and the shouts of the young men, the whole had the appearance of a military army passing, with all the noise of warfare, through a hostile country.”

On the wedding-day, the bride and bridegroom avoided each other till they met before the clergyman. Many ceremonies were performed during the celebration of the marriage rites. These ceremonies were of an amusing and innocent description, and added much to the cheerfulness and happiness of the young people. One of these ceremonies consisted in untying all the bindings and strings about the person of the bridegroom, to denote, that nothing was to be bound on the marriage day but the one indissoluble knot which death only can dissolve. The bride was exempted from this operation from a delicacy of feeling towards her sex, and from a supposition that she was so pure that infidelity on her part could not be contemplated.

To discontinue practices in themselves innocent, and which contribute to the social happiness of mankind, must ever be regretted, and it is not therefore to be wondered at, that a generous and open-hearted Highlander, like General Stewart, should have expressed his regret at the partial disuse of these ceremonies, or that he should have preferred a Highland wedding, where he had himself “been so happy, and seen so many blithe countenances, and eyes sparkling with delight, to such weddings as that of the Laird of Drum, ancestor of the Lord Sommerville, when he married a daughter of Sir James Bannatyne of Corehouse.”[491]

The festivities of the wedding-day were generally prolonged to a late hour, and during the whole day the fiddlers and pipers never ceased except at short intervals, to make sweet music. The fiddlers performed in the house, the pipers in the field;[492] so that the company alternately enjoyed the pleasure of dancing within and without the house, as they felt inclined, provided the weather permitted.

No people were more attached to the fulfilment of all the domestic duties, and the sacred obligation of the marriage vow, than the Highlanders. A violation thereof was of course of unfrequent occurrence, and among the common people a separation was almost unknown. Rarely, indeed, did a husband attempt to get rid of his wife, however disagreeable she might be. He would have considered his children dishonoured, if he had driven their mother from the protection of his roof. The punishment inflicted by the ecclesiastical authority for an infringement of the marriage vow was, that “the guilty person, whether male or female, was made to stand in a barrel of cold water at the church door, after which, the delinquent, clad in a wet canvas shirt, was made to stand before the congregation, and at close of service the minister explained the nature of the offence.”[493] Illicit intercourse before marriage between the sexes was also of rare occurrence, and met with condign punishment in the public infamy which attended such breaches against chastity.

This was the more remarkable, as early marriages were discouraged, and the younger sons were not allowed to marry until they obtained sufficient means to keep a house and to rent a small farm, or were otherwise enabled to support a family.

The attachment of the Highlanders to their offspring, and the veneration and filial piety which a reciprocal feeling produced on the part of their children, were leading characteristics in the Highland character, and much as these mountaineers have degenerated in some of the other virtues, these affections still remain almost unimpaired. Children seldom desert their parents in their old age, and when forced to earn a subsistence from home, they always consider themselves bound to share with their parents whatever they can save from their wages. But the parents are never left alone, as one of the family, by turns, remains at home for the purpose of taking care of them in terms of an arrangement. “The sense of duty is not extinguished by absence from the mountains. It accompanies the Highland soldier amid the dissipations of a mode of life to which he has not been accustomed. It prompts him to save a portion of his pay, to enable him to assist his parents, and also to work when he has an opportunity, that he may increase their allowance, at once preserving himself from idle habits, and contributing to the comfort and happiness of those who gave him birth. I have been 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. They knew that the report would not only grieve their relations, but act as a sentence of banishment against themselves, as they could not return home with a bad or blemished character. Generals M’Kenzie, Fraser, and M’Kenzie of Suddie, who successively commanded the 78th Highlanders, seldom had occasion to resort to any other punishment than threats of this kind, for several years after the embodying of that regiment.”[494]

Nor were the Highlanders less alive to the principles of honesty and fair dealing, in their transactions with one another. Disgrace was the usual consequence of insolvency, which was considered ex facie criminal. Bankrupts were compelled to undergo a singular punishment. They “were forced to surrender their all, and were clad in a party-coloured clouted garment, with the hose of different sets, and had their hips dashed against a stone, in presence of the people, by four men, each taking a hold of an arm or a leg. This punishment was called Toncruaidh.”[495]

Such was the confidence in their honour and integrity, that in the ordinary transactions of the people, a mere verbal obligation without the intervention of any writing, was held quite sufficient, although contracted in the most private manner,[496] and there were few instances where the obligation was either unfulfilled or denied. Their mode of concluding or confirming their money agreements or other transactions, was by the contracting parties going out into the open air, and with eyes erect, taking Heaven to witness their engagements, after which, each party put a mark on some remarkable stone or other natural object, which their ancestors had been accustomed to notice.

Accustomed, as the Highlanders were, to interminable feuds arising out of the pretensions of rival clans, the native courage which they had inherited from their Celtic progenitors was preserved unimpaired. Instances of cowardice were, therefore, of rare occurrence, and whoever exhibited symptoms of fear before a foe, was considered infamous and put under the ban of his party. The following anecdote, as related by Mrs. Grant, shows, strongly, the detestation which the Highlanders entertained towards those who had disgraced themselves and their clan by an act of poltroonery: “There was a clan, I must not say what clan it is, who had been for ages governed by a series of chiefs, singularly estimable, and highly beloved, and who, in one instance, provoked their leader to the extreme of indignation. I should observe, that the transgression was partial, the culprits being the inhabitants of one single parish. These, in a hasty skirmish with a neighbouring clan, thinking discretion the best part of valour, sought safety in retreat. A cruel chief would have inflicted the worst of punishments—banishment from the bounds of his clan,—which, indeed, fell little short of the curse of Kehama. This good laird, however, set bounds to his wrath, yet made their punishment severe and exemplary. He appeared himself with all the population of the three adjacent parishes, at the parish church of the offenders, where they were all by order convened. After divine service, they were marched three times round the church, in presence of their offended leader and his assembled clan. Each individual, on coming out of the church door, was obliged to draw out his tongue with his fingers, and then cry audibly, ‘Shud bleider heich,’ (i.e.) ‘This is the poltroon,’ and to repeat it at every corner of the church. After this procession of ignominy, no other punishment was inflicted, except that of being left to guard the district when the rest were called out to battle.... It is credibly asserted, that no enemy has seen the back of any of that name (Grant) ever since. And it is certain, that, to this day, it is not safe for any person of another name to mention the circumstance in presence of one of the affronted clan.”[497]

The Highlanders, like the inhabitants of other romantic and mountainous regions, always retain an enthusiastic attachment to their country, which neither distance of place nor length of time can efface. This strong feeling has, we think, been attributed erroneously to the powerful and lasting effect which the external objects of nature, seen in their wildest and most fantastic forms and features, are calculated to impress upon the imagination.

No doubt the remembrance of these objects might contribute to endear the scenes of youth to the patriotic Highlander when far removed from his native glens; but it was the recollection of home,—sweet home!—of the domestic circle, and of the many pleasing associations which arise from the contemplation of the days of other years, when mirth and innocence held mutual dalliance, that chiefly impelled him to sigh for the land of his fathers. Mankind have naturally an affection for the country of their birth, and this affection is felt more or less according to the degree of social or commercial intercourse which exists among nations. Confined, like the Swiss, for many ages within their natural boundaries, and having little or no intercourse with the rest of the world, the Highlanders formed those strong local attachments for which they were long remarkably distinguished; but which are now being gradually obliterated by the mighty changes rapidly taking place in the state of society.

Firmly attached as they were to their country, the Highlanders had also a singular predilection for the place of their birth. An amusing instance of this local attachment is mentioned by General Stewart. A tenant of his father’s, at the foot of the mountain Shichallion, having removed and followed his son to a farm which the latter had taken at some distance lower down the country, the old man was missing for a considerable time one morning, and on being asked on his return where he had been, replied, “As I was sitting by the side of the river, a thought came across me, that, perhaps, some of the waters from Shichallion, and the sweet fountains that watered the farm of my forefathers, might now be passing by me, and that if I bathed they might touch my skin. I immediately stripped, and, from the pleasure I felt in being surrounded by the pure waters of Leidna-breilag (the name of the farm) I could not tear myself away sooner.” But this fondness of the Highlander was not confined to the desire of living upon the beloved spot—it extended even to the grave. The idea of dying at a distance from home and among strangers could not be endured, and the aged Highlander, when absent from his native place, felt discomposed lest death should overtake him before his return. To be consigned to the grave among strangers, without the attendance and sympathy of friends, and at a distance from their family, was considered a heavy calamity; and even to this day, people make the greatest exertions to carry home the bodies of such relations as happen to die far from the ground hallowed by the ashes of their forefathers.[498] This trait was exemplified in the case of a woman aged ninety-one, who a few years ago went to Perth from her house in Strathbrane in perfect health, and in the possession of all her faculties. A few days after her arrival in Perth, where she had gone to visit a daughter, she had a slight attack of fever. One evening a considerable quantity of snow had fallen, and she expressed great anxiety, particularly when told that a heavier fall was expected. Next morning her bed was found empty, and no trace of her could be discovered, till the second day, when she sent word that she had slipt out of the house at midnight, set off on foot through the snow, and never stopped till she reached home, a distance of twenty miles. When questioned some time afterwards why she went away so abruptly, she answered, “If my sickness had increased, and if I had died, they could not have sent my remains home through the deep snows. If I had told my daughter, perhaps she would have locked the door upon me, and God forbid that my bones should be at such a distance from home, and be buried among Gall-na-machair, The strangers of the plain.”[499]

Among the causes which contributed to sustain the warlike character of the Highlanders, the exertions of the bards in stimulating them to deeds of valour in the field of battle, must not be overlooked. One of the most important duties of the bard consisted in attending the clans to the field, and exhorting them before battle to emulate the glories of their ancestors, and to die if necessary in defence of their country. The appeals of the bards, which were delivered and enforced with great vehemence and earnestness, never failed to arouse the feelings; and when amid the din of battle the voices of the bards could no longer be heard, the pipers succeeded them, and cheered on their respective parties with their warlike and inspiring strains. After the termination of the battle, the bard celebrated the praises of the brave warriors who had fallen in battle, and related the heroic actions of the survivors to excite them to similar exertions on future occasions. To impress still more deeply upon the minds of the survivors the honour and heroism of their fallen friends, the piper was employed to perform plaintive dirges for the slain.

From the associations raised in the mind by the great respect thus paid to the dead, and the honours which awaited the survivors who distinguished themselves in the field of battle, by their actions being celebrated by the bards, and transmitted to posterity, originated that magnanimous contempt of death for which the Highlanders are noted. While among some people the idea of death is avoided with studious alarm, the Highlander will speak of it with an easy and unconcerned familiarity, as an event of ordinary occurrence, but in a way “equally remote from dastardly affectation, or fool-hardy presumption, and proportioned solely to the inevitable certainty of the event itself.”[500]

To be interred decently, and in a becoming manner, is a material consideration in the mind of a Highlander, and care is generally taken, even by the poorest, long before the approach of death, to provide sufficient articles to insure a respectable interment. To wish one another an honourable death, crioch onarach, is considered friendly by the Highlanders, and even children will sometimes express the same sentiment towards their parents. “A man well known to the writer of these pages was remarkable for his filial affection, even among the sons and daughters of the mountains, so distinguished for that branch of piety. His mother being a widow, and having a numerous family, who had married very early, he continued to live single, that he might the more sedulously attend to her comfort, and watch over her declining years with the tenderest care. On her birth-day, he always collected his brothers and sisters, and all their families, to a sort of kindly feast, and, in conclusion, gave a toast, not easily translated from the emphatic language, without circumlocution,—An easy and decorous departure to my mother, comes nearest to it. This toast, which would shake the nerves of fashionable delicacy, was received with great applause, the old woman remarking, that God had been always good to her, and she hoped she would die as decently as she had lived, for it is thought of the utmost consequence to die decently. The ritual of decorous departure, and of behaviour to be observed by the friends of the dying on that solemn occasion, being fully established, nothing is more common than to take a solemn leave of old people, as if they were going on a journey, and pretty much in the same terms. People frequently send conditional messages to the departed. If you are permitted, tell my dear brother, that I have merely endured the world since he left it, and that I have been very kind to every creature he used to cherish, for his sake. I have, indeed, heard a person of a very enlightened mind, seriously give a message to an aged person, to deliver to a child he had lost not long before, which she as seriously promised to deliver, with the wonted salvo, if she was permitted.”[501]

In no country was “the savage virtue of hospitality” carried to a greater extent than in the Highlands, and never did stranger receive a heartier welcome than was given to the guest who entered a Highland mansion or cottage. This hospitality was sometimes carried rather too far, particularly in the island of Barra, where, according to Martin, the custom was, that, when strangers from the northern islands went there, “the natives, immediately after their landing, obliged them to eat, even though they should have liberally eat and drank but an hour before their landing there.” This meat they called Bieyta’v, i.e. Ocean meat. Sir Robert Gordon informs us that it was a custom among the western islanders, that when one was invited to another’s house, they never separated till the whole provision was finished; and that, when it was done, they went to the next house, and so on from one house to another until they made a complete round, from neighbour to neighbour, always carrying the head of the family in which they had been last entertained to the next house along with them.[502]

The removal of the court by Malcolm Canmore to the Lowlands was an event which was followed by results very disastrous to the future prosperity of the Highlands. The inhabitants soon sunk into a state of poverty, and, as by the transference of the seat of government the administration of the laws became either inoperative or was feebly enforced, the people gave themselves up to violence and turbulence, and revenged in person those injuries which the laws could no longer redress. Released from the salutary control of monarchical government, the Highlanders soon saw the necessity of substituting some other system in its place, to protect themselves against the aggressions to which they were exposed. From this state of things originated the great power of the Chiefs, who attained their ascendancy over the different little communities into which the population of the Highlands was naturally divided, on account of their superior property, courage, or talent. The powers of the chiefs were very great. They acted as judges or arbiters in the quarrels of their clansmen and followers, and as they were backed by resolute supporters of their rights, their property, and their power, they established within their own territories a jurisdiction almost independent of the kingly authority.

From this division of the people into clans and tribes under separate chiefs, arose many of those institutions, feelings, and usages which characterised the Highlanders. “The nature of the country, and the motives which induced the Celts to make it their refuge, almost necessarily prescribed the form of their institutions. Unequal to contend with the overwhelming numbers, who drove them from the plains, and, anxious to preserve their independence, and their blood uncontaminated by a mixture with strangers, they defended themselves in those strongholds which are, in every country, the sanctuaries of national liberty, and the refuge of those who resist the oppressions and the dominion of a more powerful neighbour. Thus, in the absence of their monarchs, and defended by their barrier of rocks, they did not always submit to the authority of a distant government, which could neither enforce obedience nor afford protection.”[503]

The various little societies into which the Highland population was, by the nature of the country, divided, having no desire to change their residence or to keep up a communication with one another, and having all their wants, which were few, supplied within themselves, became individually isolated. Every district became an independent state, and thus the Highland population, though possessing a community of customs and the same characteristics, was divided or broken into separate masses, and placed under different jurisdictions. A patriarchal[504] system of government, “a sort of hereditary monarchy founded on custom, and allowed by general consent, rather than regulated by laws,” was thus established over each community or clan in the persons of the chiefs.

As a consequence of the separation which was preserved by the different clans, matrimonial alliances were rarely made with strangers, and hence the members of the clan were generally related to one another by the ties of consanguinity or affinity. While this double connexion tended to preserve harmony and good will among the members of the same clan, it also tended, on the other hand, to excite a bitter spirit of animosity between rival clans, whenever an affront or injury was offered by one clan to another, or by individuals of different clans.

Although the chief had great power with his clan in the different relations of landlord, leader, and judge, his authority was far from absolute, as he was obliged to consult the leading men of the clan in matters of importance—in things regarding the clan or particular families, in removing differences, punishing or redressing injuries, preventing lawsuits, supporting declining families, and declaring war against, or adjusting terms of peace with other clans.

As the system of clanship was calculated to cherish a warlike spirit, the young chiefs and heads of families were regarded or despised according to their military or peaceable disposition. If they revenged a quarrel with another clan by killing some of the enemy, or carrying off their cattle and laying their lands waste, they were highly esteemed, and great expectations were formed of their future prowess and exploits. But if they failed in their attempts, they were not respected; and if they appeared disinclined to engage in hostile rencontres, they were despised.[505]

The military ranks of the clans were fixed and perpetual. The chief was, of course, the principal commander. The oldest cadet commanded the right wing, and the youngest the rear. Every head of a distinct family was captain of his own tribe. An ensign or standard-bearer was attached to each clan, who generally inherited his office, which had been usually conferred on an ancestor who had distinguished himself. A small salary was attached to this office.

Each clan had a stated place of rendezvous, where they met at the call of their chief. When an emergency arose for an immediate meeting from the incursions of a hostile clan, the cross or tarie, or fiery-cross, was immediately despatched through the territories of the clan. This signal consisted of two pieces of wood placed in the form of a cross. One of the ends of the horizontal piece was either burnt or burning, and a piece of linen or white cloth stained with blood was suspended from the other end. Two men, each with a cross in his hand, were despatched by the chief in different directions, who kept running with great speed, shouting the war-cry of the tribe, and naming the place of rendezvous, if different from the usual place of meeting. The cross was delivered from hand to hand, and as each fresh bearer ran at full speed, the clan assembled with great celerity. General Stewart says, that one of the latest instances of the fiery-cross being used, was in 1745 by Lord Breadalbane, when it went round Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, in three hours, to raise his people and prevent their joining the rebels, but with less effect than in 1715 when it went the same round, and when 500 men assembled in a few hours, under the command of the Laird of Glenlyon, to join the Earl of Mar.

Every clan had its own war-cry, (called in Scottish slogan,) to which every clansman answered. It served as a watch-word in cases of sudden alarm, in the confusion of combat, or in the darkness of the night. The clans were also distinguished by a particular badge, or by the peculiar arrangements or sets of the different colours of the tartan, which will be fully noticed when we come to treat of the history of the clans.

When a clan went upon any expedition they were much influenced by omens. If they met an armed man they believed that good was portended. If they observed a deer, fox, hare, or any other 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.

The Cuid-Oidhche, or night’s provision, was paid by many tenants to the chief; and in hunting or going on an expedition, the tenant who lived near the hill was bound to furnish the master and his followers a night’s entertainment, with brawn for his dogs.

There are no sufficient data to enable us to estimate correctly the number of fighting men which the clans could bring at any time into the field; but a general idea may be formed of their strength in 1745, from the following statement of the respective forces of the clans as taken from the memorial supposed to be drawn up by the Lord President Forbes of Culloden, for the information of government. It is to be observed, however, that besides the clans here mentioned, there were many independent gentlemen, as General Stewart observes, who had many followers, but being what were called broken names, or small tribes, are omitted.

Argyle, | 3000
Breadalbane, | 1000
Lochnell and other chieftains of the Campbells, | 1000
Macleans, | 500
Maclauchlans, | 200
Stewart of Appin, | 300
Macdougals, | 200
Stewart of Grandtully, | 300
Clan Gregor, | 700
Duke of Athol, | 3000
Farquarsons, | 500
Duke of Gordon, | 300
Grant of Grant, | 850
Mackintosh, | 800
Macphersons, | 400
Frasers, | 900
Grant of Glenmorriston, | 150
Chisholms, | 200
Duke of Perth, | 300
Seaforth, | 1000
Cromarty, Scatwell, Gairloch, and other chieftains of the Mackenzies, | 1500
Laird of Menzies, | 300
Munros, | 300
Rosses, | 500
Sutherland, | 2000
Mackays, | 800
Sinclairs, | 1100
Macdonald of Slate, | 700
Macdonald of Clanronald, | 700
Macdonell of Glengary, | 500
Macdonell of Keppoch, | 300
Macdonald of Glencoe, | 130
Robertsons, | 200
Camerons, | 800
M’Kinnon, | 200
Macleod, | 700
The Duke of Montrose, Earls of Bute and Moray, Macfarlanes, M’Neils of Barra, M’Nabs, M’Naughtons, Lamonts, &c. &c. | 5600
| ——–
| 31,930

There is nothing 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. The authority which a chief exercised among his clan was truly paternal, and he might, with great justice, have been called the father of his people. We cannot account for that warm attachment and the incorruptible and unshaken fidelity which the clans uniformly displayed towards their chiefs, on any other ground, than the kind and conciliatory system which they must have adopted towards their people; for, much as the feelings of the latter might have been awakened, by the songs and traditions of the bards, to a respect for the successors of the heroes whose praises they heard celebrated, a sense of wrongs committed, or of oppressions exercised, would have obliterated every feeling of attachment in the minds of the sufferers, and caused them to attempt to get rid of a tyrant who had rendered himself obnoxious by his tyranny.

The division of the people into small tribes, and the establishment of patriarchal government, were attended with many important consequences affecting the character of the Highlanders. This creation of an imperium in imperio was an anomaly, but it was, nevertheless, rendered necessary from the state of society in the Highlands shortly after the transference of the seat of government from the mountains. The authority of the king, though weak and inefficient, continued, however, to be recognised, nominally at least, except indeed when he interfered in the disputes between the clans. On such occasions his authority was utterly disregarded. “His mandates could neither stop the depredations of one clan against another, nor allay their mutual hostilities. Delinquents could not, with impunity, be pursued into the bosom of a clan which protected them, nor could his judges administer the laws in opposition to their interests or their will. Sometimes he strengthened his arm by fomenting animosities among them, and by entering occasionally into the interest of one, in order to weaken another. Many instances of this species of policy occur in Scottish history, which, for a long period, was unhappily a mere record of internal violence.”[506]

The general laws being thus superseded by the internal feuds of the clans, and the authority of the sovereign being insufficient to repress these disorders, a perpetual system of warfare, aggression, depredation, and contention existed among them, which, during the continuance of clanship, banished peace from the Highlands. The little sovereignties of the clans “touched at so many points, yet were so independent of one another; they approached so nearly, in many respects, yet were, in others, so distant; there were so many opportunities of encroachment, on the one hand, and so little of a disposition to submit to it, on the other; and the quarrel of one individual of the tribe so naturally involved the rest, that there was scarcely ever a profound peace, or perfect cordiality between them. Among their chiefs the most deadly feuds frequently arose from opposing interests, or from wounded pride. These feuds were warmly espoused by the whole clan, and were often transmitted, with aggravated animosity, from generation to generation.”[507]

The disputes between opposing clans were frequently made matters of negotiation, and their differences were often adjusted by treaties. Opposing clans, as a means of strengthening themselves against the attacks of their rivals, or of maintaining the balance of power, also entered into coalitions with friendly neighbours. These bands of amity or manrent, as they were called, were of the nature of treaties of offensive and defensive alliance, by which the contracting parties bound themselves to assist each other; and it is remarkable that the duty of allegiance to the king was always acknowledged in these treaties,—“always excepting my duty to our lord the king, and to our kindred and friends,” was a clause which was uniformly inserted in them. In the same manner, when men who were not chiefs of clans, but of subordinate tribes, thus bound themselves, their fidelity to their chiefs was always excepted. The smaller clans who were unable to defend themselves, and such clans or families who had lost their chiefs, were included in these friendly treaties.[508] Under these treaties the smaller clans identified themselves with the greater clans; they engaged in the quarrels, followed the fortunes, and fought under the greater chiefs; but their ranks, as General Stewart observes, were separately marshalled, and led by their own subordinate chieftains and lairds, who owned submission only when necessary, for the success of combined operations. Several instances of this union will be found in the history of the clans.

As the system of clanship, by ignoring the authority of the sovereign and of the laws, prevented the clans from ever coming to any general terms of accommodation for settling their differences, their feuds were interminable, and the Highlands were, therefore, for ages, the theatre of a constant petty warfare destructive of the social virtues. “The spirit of opposition and rivalry between the clans perpetuated a system of hostility, encouraged the cultivation of the military at the expense of the social virtues, and perverted their ideas of both law and morality. Revenge was accounted a duty, the destruction of a neighbour a meritorious exploit, and rapine an honourable occupation. Their love of distinction, and their conscious reliance on their courage, when under the direction of these perverted notions, only tended to make their feuds more implacable, their condition more agitated, and their depredations more rapacious and desolating. Superstition added its influence in exasperating animosities, by teaching the clansmen, that, to revenge the death of a relation or friend, was a sacrifice agreeable to their shades: thus engaging on the side of the most implacable hatred, and the darkest vengeance, the most amiable and domestic of all our feelings,—reverence for the memory of the dead, and affection for the virtues of the living.”[509]

As the causes out of which feuds originated were innumerable, so many of them were trivial and unimportant, but as submission to the most trifling insult was considered disgraceful, and might, if overlooked, lead to fresh aggression, the clan was immediately summoned, and the cry for revenge met with a ready response in every breast. The most glaring insult that could be offered to a clan, was to speak disrespectfully of its chief,[510] an offence which was considered as a personal affront by all his followers, and was resented accordingly.

It often happened that the insulted clan was unable to take the field to repel aggression or to vindicate its honour; but the injury was never forgotten, and the memory of it was treasured up till a fitting opportunity for taking revenge should arrive. The want of strength was sometimes supplied by cunning, and the blackest and deadliest intentions of hatred and revenge were sought to be perpetrated under the mask of conciliation and friendship. This was the natural result of the inefficiency of the laws which could afford no redress for wrongs, and which, therefore, left every individual to vindicate his rights with his own hand. The feeling of revenge, when directed against rival tribes, was cherished and honoured, and to such an extent was it carried, that there are well authenticated instances where one of the adverse parties has been exterminated in the bloody and ferocious conflicts which the feuds occasioned.

As the wealth of the Highlanders consisted chiefly in flocks and herds, “the usual mode of commencing attacks, or of making reprisals, was by an incursion to carry off the cattle of the hostile clan. A predatory expedition was the general declaration of enmity, and a command given by the chief to clear the pastures of the enemy, constituted the usual letters of marque.”[511] These Creachs, as such depredations were termed, were carried on with systematic order, and were considered as perfectly justifiable. If lives were lost in these forays, revenge full and ample was taken, but in general personal hostilities were avoided in these incursions either against the Lowlanders or rival tribes. These predatory expeditions were more frequently directed against the Lowlanders, whom the Highlanders considered as aliens, and whose cattle they, therefore, considered as fair spoil at all times. The forays were generally executed with great secrecy, and the cattle were often lifted and secured for a considerable time before they were missed. To trace the cattle which had been thus carried off, the owners endeavoured to discover their foot-marks in the grass, or by the yielding of the heath over which they had passed; and so acute had habit rendered their sight, that they frequently succeeded, in this manner, in discovering their property. The man on whose property the tract of the cattle was lost was held liable if he did not succeed in following out the trace or discovering the cattle; and if he did not make restitution, or offer to compensate the loss, an immediate quarrel was the consequence. A reward, called Tasgal money, was sometimes offered for the recovery of stolen cattle; but as this was considered in the light of a bribe, it was generally discouraged. The Camerons and some other clans, it is said, bound themselves by oath never to accept such a reward, and to put to death all who should receive it.

Besides those who took part in the Creachs there was another and a peculiar class called Cearnachs, a term of similar import with the Catherans of the Lowlands, the Kernes of the English, and the Catervæ of the Romans. The Cearnachs were originally a select body of men employed in difficult and dangerous enterprises where more than ordinary honour was to be acquired; but, in process of time, they were employed in the degrading and dishonourable task of levying contributions on their Lowland neighbours, or in forcing them to pay tribute or black mail for protection. Young men of the second order of gentry who were desirous of entering the military profession, frequently joined in these exploits, as they were considered well fitted for accustoming those who engaged in them to the fatigues and exercises incident to a military life. The celebrated Robert Macgregor Campbell, or Rob Roy,[512] was the most noted of these freebooters.

The cearnachs were principally the borderers living close to and within the Grampian range, but cearnachs from the more northerly parts of the Highlands also paid frequent visits to the Lowlands, and carried off large quantities of booty. The border cearnachs judging such irruptions as an invasion of their rights, frequently attacked the northern cearnachs on their return homewards; and if they succeeded in capturing the spoil, they either appropriated it to their own use or restored it to the owners.

It might be supposed that the system of spoliation we have described, would have led these freebooters occasionally to steal from one another. Such, however, was not the case; for they observed the strictest honesty in this respect. No precautions were taken—because unnecessary—to protect property; and the usual securities of locks, bolts, and bars, were never used, nor even thought of. Instances of theft from dwelling-houses were very rare; and, with the exception of one case which happened so late as the year 1770, highway robbery was totally unknown. Yet, notwithstanding the laudable regard thus shown by the freebooters to the property of their own society, they attached no ideas of moral turpitude to the acts of spoliation we have alluded to. Donald Cameron, or Donald Bane Leane, an active leader of a party of banditti who had associated together after the troubles of 1745, tried at Perth for cattle-stealing, and executed at Kinloch Rannoch, in 1752, expressed surprise and indignation at his hard fate, as he considered it, as he had never committed murder nor robbery, or taken any thing but cattle off the grass of those with whom he had quarrelled. The practice of “lifting of cattle” seems to have been viewed as a very venial offence, even by persons holding very different views of morality from the actors, in proof of which, General Stewart refers to a letter of Field-Marshal Wade to Mr. Forbes of Culloden, then Lord Advocate, dated October, 1729, describing an entertainment given him on a visit to a party of cearnachs. “The Knight and I,” says the Marshal, “travelled in my carriage with great ease and pleasure to the feast of oxen which the highwaymen had prepared for us, opposite Lochgarry, where we found four oxen roasting at the same time, in great order and solemnity. We dined in a tent pitched for that purpose. The beef was excellent; and we had plenty of bumpers, not forgetting your Lordship’s and Culloden’s health; and, after three hours’ stay, took leave of our benefactors, the highwaymen,[513] and arrived at the hut at Dalnachardoch, before it was dark.”[514]

Amid the violence and turbulence which existed in the Highlands, no appeal for redress of wrongs committed, or injuries sustained, could be effectually made to the legal tribunals of the country; but to prevent the utter anarchy which would have ensued from such a state of society, voluntary and associated tribunals, composed of the principal men of the tribes, were appointed. A composition in cattle being the mode of compensating injuries, these tribunals generally determined the amount of the compensation according to the nature of the injury, and the wealth and rank of the parties. These compensations were called Erig.

Besides these tribunals, every chief held a court, in which he decided all disputes occurring among his clansmen. He generally resided among them. “His castle was the court where rewards were distributed, and the most enviable distinctions conferred. All disputes were settled by his decision, and the prosperity or poverty of his tenants depended on his proper or improper treatment of them. These tenants followed his standard in war—attended him in his hunting excursions—supplied his table with the produce of their farms—and assembled to reap his corn, and to prepare and bring home his fuel. They looked up to him as their adviser and protector. The cadets of his family, respected in proportion to the proximity of the relation in which they stood to him, became a species of sub-chiefs, scattered over different parts of his domains, holding their lands and properties of him, with a sort of subordinate jurisdiction over a portion of his people, and were ever ready to afford him their counsel or assistance in all emergencies.

“Great part of the rent of land was paid in kind, and generally consumed where it was produced. One chief was distinguished from another, not by any additional splendour of dress or equipage, but by being followed by more dependants, and by entertaining a greater number of guests. What his retainers gave from their individual property was spent amongst them in the kindest and most liberal manner. At the castle every individual was made welcome, and was treated according to his station, with a degree of courtesy and regard to his feelings unknown in any other country.[515] This condescension, while it raised the clansman in his own estimation, and drew closer the ties between him and his superior, seldom tempted him to use any improper familiarities. He believed himself well born, and was taught to respect himself in the respect which he showed to his chief; and thus, instead of complaining of the difference of station and fortune, or considering a ready obedience to his chieftain’s call as a slavish oppression, he felt convinced that he was supporting his own honour in showing his gratitude and duty to the generous head of his family. ‘Hence, the Highlanders, whom more savage nations called savage, carried in the outward expression of their manners the politeness of courts without their vices, and in their bosoms the high point of honour without its follies.’”[516]

It cannot, however, be denied, that the authority of the chief was naturally arbitrary, and was sometimes exercised unduly and with great severity; as a proof of which, there is said to exist among the papers of the Perth family, an application to Lord Drummond from the town of Perth, dated in 1707, requesting an occasional use of his lordship’s executioner, who was considered an expert operator, a request with which his lordship complied, reserving, however, to himself the power of recalling the executioner when he had occasion for his services. Another curious illustration of this exercise of power is given by General Stewart. Sometime before the year 1745, Lord President Forbes dined at Blair castle with the Duke of Athole, on his way from Edinburgh to his seat at Culloden. A petition was delivered to his Grace in the course of the evening, on reading which, he thus addressed the President: “My lord, here is a petition from a poor man, whom Commissary Bisset, my baron bailie (an officer to whom the chief occasionally delegated his authority), has condemned to be hanged; and as he is a clever fellow, and is strongly recommended to mercy, I am much inclined to pardon him.” “But your Grace knows,” said the President, “that, after condemnation, no man can pardon but his Majesty.” “As to that,” replied the Duke, “since I have the power of punishing, it is but right that I should have the power to pardon.” Then, calling upon a servant who was in waiting, his Grace said, “Go, send an express to Logierait, and order Donald Stewart, presently under sentence, to be instantly set at liberty.”[517]

The authority which the generality of the chiefs exercised, was acquired from ancient usage and the weakness of the government; but the lords of regality, and the great barons and chiefs, had jurisdiction conferred on them by the Crown, both in civil and criminal cases, which they sometimes exercised in person and sometimes by deputy. The persons to whom they delegated this authority were called bailies. In civil matters the baron or chief could judge in questions of debt within his barony, as well as in most of those cases known by the technical term of possessory actions. And though it has always been an established rule of law, that no person can be judge in his own cause, a baron might judge in all actions between himself and his vassals and tenants, necessary for making his rents and feu-duties effectual. Thus, he could ascertain the price of corn due by a tenant, and pronounce sentence against him for arrears of rent; but in all cases where the chief was a party, he could not judge in person. The criminal jurisdiction of a baron, according to the laws ascribed to Malcolm Mackenneth, extended to all crimes except treason, and the four pleas of the Crown, viz., robbery, murder, rape, and fire-raising. Freemen could be tried by none but their peers. Whenever the baron held a court, his vassals were bound to attend and afford such assistance as might be required. On these occasions many useful regulations for the good of the community were often made, and supplies were sometimes voluntarily granted to the chief to support his dignity. The bounty of the vassals was especially and liberally bestowed on the marriage of the chief, and in the portioning of his daughters and younger sons. These donations consisted of cattle, which constituted the principal riches of the country in those patriarchal days. In this way the younger sons of the chief were frequently provided for on their settlement in life.

The reciprocal ties which connected the chief and his clan were almost indissoluble. In return for the kindness and paternal care bestowed by the former on the latter, they yielded a ready submission to his authority, and evinced a rare fidelity to his person, which no adversity could shake. Innumerable instances of this devoted attachment might be given, but two will suffice. In the battle of Inverkeithing, between the royalists and the troops of Oliver Cromwell, 500 of the followers of the Laird of Maclean were left dead on the field. Sir Hector Maclean being hard pressed by the enemy in the heat of the action, was successively covered from their attacks by seven brothers, all of whom sacrificed their lives in his defence; and as one fell another came up in succession to cover him, crying, “Another for Hector.” This phrase, says General Stewart, has continued ever since a proverb or watchword, when a man encounters any sudden danger that requires instant succour. The other instance is that of a servant of the late James Menzies of Culdares, who had been engaged in the rebellion of 1715. Mr. Menzies was taken at Preston in Lancashire, was carried to London, where he was tried and condemned, but afterwards reprieved. This act prevented him from turning out in 1745: but to show his good wishes towards Prince Charles, he sent him a handsome charger as a present, when advancing through England. The servant who led and delivered the horse was taken prisoner and carried to Carlisle, where he was tried and condemned. Every attempt was made, by threats of immediate execution, in case of refusal, and promises of pardon, on giving information, to extort a discovery from him of the person who sent the horse, but in vain. He knew, he said, what would be the consequence of a disclosure, and that his own life was nothing in comparison with that which it would endanger. Being hard pressed at the place of execution to inform on his master, he asked those about him if they were really serious in supposing that he was such a villain as to betray his master. He said, that if he did what they desired, and forgot his master and his trust, he needed not return to his country, for Glenlyon would be no home or country for him, as he would be despised and hunted out of the glen. This trusty servant’s name was John Macnaughton, a native of Glenlyon in Perthshire.[518]

The obedience and attachment of the Highlanders to their chiefs, and the readiness they displayed, on all occasions, to adopt, when called upon, the quarrels of their superiors, did not, however, make them forget their own independence. When a chief was unfit for his situation, or had degraded his name and family, the clan proceeded to depose him, and set up the next in succession, if deserving, to whom they transferred their allegiance, as happened to two chiefs of the families of Macdonald of Clanronald and Macdonell of Keppoch. The head of the family of Stewart of Garth, who, on account of his ferocious disposition, was nick-named the “Fierce Wolf,” was, about the year 1520, not only deposed, but confined for life in a cell in the castle of Garth, which was, therefore, long regarded by the people with a kind of superstitious terror. The clans even sometimes interfered with the choice of the chiefs in changing their places of abode, or in selecting a site for a new residence. The Earl of Seaforth was prevented by his clan (the M’Kenzies) from demolishing Brahan castle, the principal seat of the family. In the same way the Laird of Glenorchy, ancestor of the Marquis of Breadalbane, having some time previous to the year 1570, laid the foundation of a castle which he intended to build on a hill on the side of Lochtay, was compelled, or induced, by his people, to change his plan and build the castle of Balloch or Taymouth.

From what has been stated, it will be perceived that the influence of a chief with his clan depended much on his personal qualities, of which kindness and a condescension, which admitted of an easy familiarity, were necessary traits. Captain Burt, the author of ‘Letters from the North,’ thus alludes to the familiarity which existed between a chief and his clan, and the affability and courtesy with which they were accustomed to be treated: “And as the meanest among them pretended to be his relations by consanguinity, they insisted on the privilege of taking him by the hand whenever they met him. Concerning this last, I once saw a number of very discontented countenances when a certain lord, one of the chiefs, endeavoured to evade this ceremony. It was in the presence of an English gentleman, of high station, from whom he would willingly have concealed the knowledge of such seeming familiarity with slaves of wretched appearance; and thinking it, I suppose, a kind of contradiction to what he had often boasted at other times, viz., his despotic power in his clan.”

From the feeling of self-respect which the urbanity and condescension of the chiefs naturally created in the minds of the people, arose that honourable principle of fidelity to superiors and to their trust, which we have already noticed, “and which,” says General Stewart, “was so generally and so forcibly imbibed, that the man who betrayed his trust was considered unworthy of the name which he bore, or of the kindred to which he belonged.”

From this principle flowed a marked detestation of treachery, a vice of very rare occurrence among the Highlanders; and so tenacious were they on that point, that the slightest suspicion of infidelity on the part of an individual estranged him from the society of his clan, who shunned him as a person with whom it was dangerous any longer to associate. The case of John Du Cameron, better known, from his large size, by the name of Sergeant Mor,[519] affords an example of this. This man had been a sergeant in the French service, and returned to Scotland in the year 1745, when he engaged in the rebellion. Having no fixed abode, and dreading the consequences of having served in the French army, and of being afterwards engaged in the rebellion, he formed a party of freebooters, and took up his residence among the mountains on the borders of the counties of Perth, Inverness, and Argyle, where he carried on a system of spoliation by carrying off the cattle of those he called his enemies, if they did not purchase his forbearance by the payment of black mail. Cameron had long been in the habit of sleeping in a barn on the farm of Dunan in Rannoch; but having been betrayed by some person, he was apprehended one night when asleep in the barn, in the year 1753, by a party of Lieutenant (after Sir Hector) Munro’s detachment. He was carried to Perth, and there tried before the court of justiciary for the murder alluded to in the note, and various acts of theft and cattle-stealing. Being found guilty, he was executed at Perth in 1753. It was generally believed in the country that Cameron had been betrayed by the man in whose barn he had taken shelter, and the circumstance of his renting a farm from government, on the forfeited estate of Strowan, on advantageous terms, strengthened the suspicion; but beyond this there was nothing to confirm the imputation. Yet this man was ever after heartily despised, and having by various misfortunes lost all his property, which obliged him to leave the country in great poverty, the people firmly believed that his misfortunes were a just judgment upon him for violating the trust reposed in him by an unsuspecting and unfortunate person.

Such were some of the leading characteristics of this remarkable race of people, who preserved many of their national peculiarities till a comparatively recent period. These, whoever, are now fast disappearing before the march of modern improvement and civilization; and we are sorry to add that the vices which seem almost inseparable from this new state of society have found their way into some parts of the Highlands, and supplanted, to a certain extent, many of those shining virtues which were once the glory of the Gael.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XVIII.,

Containing notices by contemporary writers, from the 11th century downwards, of the dress and arms of the Highlanders; extracted from the Iona Club publication, Collectanea de rebus Albanicis.

Magnus Berfaet’s Saga.

A.D. 1093. It is said when King Magnus returned from his expedition in the west, that he adopted the costume in use in the western lands, and likewise many of his followers; that they went about barelegged having short tunics (W. kyrtles), and also upper garments; and so many men called him Barelegged or Barefoot.

Andrew Wyntoun (1420), referring to the combat on N. Inch, says,

At Sanct Johnstone beside the Freris,

All thai entrit in Barreris

Wyth Bow and Ax, Knyf and Swerd,

To deil amang them their last werd.

John Major (1512).

From the middle of their thigh to the foot they have no covering for the leg, clothing themselves with a mantle instead of an upper garment, and a shirt dyed with saffron. They always carry a bow and arrows, a very broad sword with a small halbert, a large dagger, sharpened on one side only, but very sharp, under the belt. In time of war they cover their whole body with a shirt of mail of iron rings, and fight in that. The common people of the Highland Scots rush into battle, having their body clothed with a linen garment manifoldly sewed and painted or daubed with pitch, with a covering of deerskin.

In another place he speaks much to the same purport.

In the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, in August 1538, we find the following entries regarding a Highland dress made for King James V., on the occasion of that monarch making a hunting excursion into the Highlands:—

Item in the first for ii elnis ane quarter elne of variant cullorit velvet to be the Kingis Grace are schort Heland coit price of the elne vilib summa

xiiilib xs.

Item for iii elnis quarter elne of grene taffatys to lyne the said coit with, price of the elne xs summa | xxxiis vid.
Item for iii elnis of Heland tartane to be hoiss to the Kingis Grace, price of the elne iiiis iiiid summa | xiiis.
Item for xv elnis of holland claith to be syde Heland sarkis to the Kingis Grace, price of the elne viiis summa | vilib.
Item for sewing and making of the said sarkis | ixs.
Item for twa unce of silk to sew thame | xs.
Item for iiii elnis of rubanis to the handis of thame | iis.

Letter written by John Elder, a Highland priest, to Henry VIII. (1543).

Moreover, wherefor they call us in Scotland Reddshankes, and in your Graces dominion of England, roghe footide Scottis, Pleas it your Maiestie to understande, that we of all people can tollerat, suffir, and away best with colde, for boithe somer and wyntir (excepte when the froest is most vehemonte), goynge alwaies bair leggide and bair footide, our delite and pleasure is not onely in huntynge of redd deir, wolfes, foxes, and graies, whereof we abounde, and have greate plentie, but also in rynninge, leapinge, swymmynge, shootynge, and thrawinge of dartis: therfor, in so moche as we use and delite so to go alwaies, the tendir delicatt gentillmen of Scotland call us Reddshankes. And agayne in wynter, whene the froest is mooste vehement (as I have saide) which we can not suffir bair footide, so weill as snow, whiche can never hurt us whene it cummes to our girdills, we go a huntynge, and after that we have slayne redd deir, we flaye of the skyne, bey and bey, and settinge of our bair foote on the insyde therof, for neide of cunnyge shoemakers, by your Graces pardon, we play the sutters; compasinge and mesuringe so moche thereof, as shall retche up to our anclers, pryckynge the upper part therof also with holis, that the water may repas when it entres, and stretchide up with a stronge thwange of the same, meitand above our said ancklers, so, and please your noble Grace, we make our shoois: Therfor, we usinge such maner of shoois, the roghe hairie syde outwart, in your Graces dominion of England, we be callit roghe footide Scottis; which maner of schoois (and pleas your Highnes) in Latyne be called perones, whereof the poet Virgill makis mencioun, sayinge, That the olde auncient Latyns in tyme of warrs uside suche maner of schoos. And althoughe a great sorte of us Reddshankes go after this maner in our countrethe, yeit never the les, and pleas your Grace, when we come to the courte (the Kinges Grace our great master being alyve) waitinge on our Lordes and maisters, who also, for velvettis and silkis, be right well araide, we have as good garmentis as some of our fellowis whiche gyve attendaunce in the court every day.

John de Beaugué, a Frenchman, who wrote a history of the campaigns in Scotland in 1549, printed in Paris in 1556, states that, at the siege of Haddington, in 1549, “they (the Scottish army) were followed by the Highlanders, and these last go almost naked; they have painted waistcoats, and a sort of woollen covering, variously coloured.”

Lindsay of Pitscottie (wrote about 1573):—

The other pairts [of Scotland] northerne are full of mountaines, and very rud and homlie kynd of people doeth inhabite, which is called the Reidschankis or Wyld Scottis. They be clothed with ane mantle, with ane schirt saffroned after the Irisch manner, going bair-legged to the knee. Thair weapones ar bowis and dartes, with ane verie broad sword and ane dagger scharp onlie at the on edge.

John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, who published his work De origine, moribus et rebus gestis Scotorum at Rome in 1578, thus describes the arms and dress of the old Scots, which were still in his time used by the Highlanders and Islanders:—

In battle and hostile encounter their missile weapons were a lance and arrows. They used also a two-edged sword which, with the foot soldiers was pretty long, and short for the horse; both had it broad, and with an edge so exceeding sharp that at one blow it would easily cut a man in two. For defence, they used a coat of mail, woven of iron rings, which they wore over a leather jerkin, stout and of handsome appearance, which we call an aeton. Their whole armour was light, that they might the more easily slip from their enemies’ hands if they chanced to fall into such a strait. Their clothing was made for use (being chiefly suited to war), and not for ornament. All, both nobles and common people, wore mantles of one sort (except that the nobles preferred those of several colours). These were long and flowing, but capable of being neatly gathered up at pleasure into folds. I am inclined to believe that they were the same as those to which the ancients gave the name of brachal. Wrapped up in these for their only covering they would sleep comfortably. They had also shaggy rugs, such as the Irish use at the present day, some fitted for a journey, others to be placed on a bed. The rest of their garments consisted of a short woollen jacket with the sleeves open below for the convenience of throwing their darts, and a covering for the thighs of the simplest kind, more for decency than for show or a defence against cold. They made also of linen, very large shirts, with numerous folds and wide sleeves, which flowed abroad loosely to their knees. These, the rich coloured with saffron, and others smeared with some grease to preserve them longer clean among the toils and exercises of a camp, which they held it of the highest consequence to practise continually. In the manufacture of these, ornament and a certain attention to taste were not altogether neglected, and they joined the different parts of their shirts very neatly with silk threads, chiefly of a green or red colour.

Their women’s attire was very becoming. Over a gown reaching to the ancles, and generally embroidered, they wore large mantles of the kind already described, and woven of different colours. Their chief ornaments were the bracelets and necklaces with which they decorated their arms and necks.

George Buchanan (pub. 1582, thus translated by Monypenny 1612).

They delight in marled clothes, specially that have long stripes of sundry colours; they love chiefly purple and blew. Their predecessors used short mantles or plaids of divers colours sundry waies devided; and amongst some, the same custome is observed to this day; but for the most part now they are browne, more nere to the colour of the hadder; to the effect when they lie amongst the hadder the bright colour of their plaids shall not bewray them; with the which, rather coloured than clad, they suffer the most cruel tempests that blow in the open field in such sort, that under a wrythe of snow they slepe sound.... Their armour wherewith they cover their bodies in time of werre, is an iron bonnet and an habbergion side (long) almost even to their heeles. Their weapones against their enemies are bowes and arrowes. The arrows are for the most part hooked, with a bauble on either side, which once entered within the body cannot be drawn forth againe, unlesse the wounde be made wider. Some of them fight with broad swords and axes.

Nicolay d’Arfeville, Cosmographer to King of France, pub. 1583, a vol. on Scotland, speaks thus:—

They [wild Scots] weir like the Irish, a long large and full shirt, coloured with saffron, and over this a garment hanging to the knee, of thick wool, after the manner of a cassock. They go with bare heads, and allow the hair to grow very long, and they wear neither stockings nor shoes, except some who have buskins made in a very old fashion, which come as high as their knees. Their arms are the bow and arrow, and some darts, which they throw with great dexterity, and a large sword, with a single-edged dagger. They are very swift of foot, and there is no horse so swift as to outstrip them, as I have seen proved several times, both in England and Scotland.

In 1594, when Red Hugh O’Donnell, Lord of Tirconall in Ulster, was in rebellion against Queen Elizabeth, he was assisted for some time by a body of auxiliaries from the Hebrides. These warriors are described in the following terms in the Life of Hugh O’Donnell, originally written in Irish by Peregrine O’Clery, and since translated by the late Edward O’Reilly, Esq.

The outward clothing they (the auxiliaries from the isles) wore, was a mottled garment with numerous colours hanging in folds to the calf of the leg, with a girdle round the loins over the garment. Some of them with horn-hafted swords, large and military, over their shoulders. A man when he had to strike with them, was obliged to apply both his hands to the haft.

John Taylor, the Water Poet, made an excursion to Scotland in 1618, of which he published an amusing account under the title of The Pennylesse Pilgrimage. He describes the dress of the Highlanders in the following account he gives of his visit to Braemar for the purpose of paying his respects to the Earl of Mar and Sir W. Moray of Abercairney.

Thus, with extreme travell, ascending and descending, mounting and alighting, I came at night to the place where I would be, in the Brae of Marr, which is a large county all composed of such mountaines, that Shooters hill, Gads hill, Highgate hill, Hampstead hill, Birdlip hill, or Malvernes hills, are but mole-hills in comparison, or like a liver, or a gizzard under a capon’s wing, in respect to the altitude of their tops, or perpendicularite of their bottomes. There I saw mount Benawne with a furrd’d mist upon his snowy head instead of a night-cap; for you must understand, that the oldest man alive never saw but the snow was on the top of divers of those hills, (both in summer as well as in winter). There did I find the truely noble and Right Honourable Lords John Erskine, Earle of Marr, James Stuart, Earle of Murray, George Gordon, Earle of Engye, sonne and heire to the Marquise of Huntley, James Erskin, Earle of Bughan, and John, Lord Erskin, sonne and heire to the Earle of Marr, and their Countesses, with my much honoured, and my best assured and approved friend, Sir William Murray, Knight, of Abercarny, and hundred of others, knights, esquires, and their followers; all and every man in generall, in one habit, as if Licurgus had been there, and made lawes of equality. For once in the yeere, which is the whole moneth of August, and sometimes part of September, many of the nobility and gentry of the kingdome (for their pleasure) doe come into these Highland countries to hunt, where they doe conforme themselves to the habite of the Highland men, who, for the moste part, speake nothing but Irish; and in former time were those people which were called the Red-shanks. Their habite is shooes with but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short hose) made of a warme stuff of divers colours, which they call tartane. As for breeches, many of them, nor their forefathers, ever wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuffe that their hose is of, their garters being bands or wreathes of hay or straw, with a plaed about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours, much finer and lighter stuffe than their hose, with blue flat caps on their heads, a handkerchiefe knit with two knots about their necke; and thus are they attyred. Now, their weapons are long bowes and forked arrowes, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets, durks, and Loquhabor-axes. With these armes I found many of them armed for the hunting. As for their attire, any man of what degree soever that comes amongst them, must not disdaine to weare it; for if they doe, then they will disdaine to hunt, or willingly to bring in their dogges; but if men be kind unto them, and be in their habit, then are they conquered with kindnesse, and the sport will be plentifull. This was the reason that I found so many noblemen and gentlemen in those shapes. But to proceed to the hunting.

My good Lord of Marr having put me into that shape, I rode with him from his house, where I saw the ruines of an old castle, called the castle of Kindroghit. It was built by king Malcolm Canmore (for a hunting house), who raigned in Scotland when Edward the Confessor, Harold, and Norman William raigned in England; I speak of it, because it was the last house that I saw in those parts; for I was the space of twelve dayes after, before I saw either house, corne-field, or habitation for any creature, but deere, wild horses, wolves, and such like creatures, which made me doubt that I should never have seene a house againe.

Defoe, in his Memoirs of a Cavalier, written about 1721, and obviously composed from authentic materials, thus describes the Highland part of the Scottish army which invaded England in 1639, at the commencement of the great civil war. The Cavalier having paid a visit to the Scottish camp to satisfy his curiosity, thus proceeds:—

I confess the soldiers made a very uncouth figure, especially the Highlanders: the oddness and barbarity of their garb and arms seemed to have something in it remarkable. They were generally tall swinging fellows; their swords were extravagantly and I think insignificantly broad, and they carried great wooden targets, large enough to cover the upper part of their bodies. Their dress was as antique as the rest; a cap on their heads, called by them a bonnet, long hanging sleeves behind, and their doublet, breeches, and stockings, of a stuff they called plaid, stripped across red and yellow, with short cloaks of the same.

William Cleland, Lieutenant-Colonel to the Earl of Angus’s regiment, who was killed whilst gallantly defending his post at Dunkeld, against a party of Highlanders, soon after the Revolution, wrote a satirical poem upon the expedition of the Highland host in 1678, from which the following extract is taken:—

Their head, their neck, their legs, their thighs

Are influenced by the skies,

Without a clout to interrupt them

They need not strip them when they whip them;

Nor loose their doublet when they’re hanged.

But those who were their chief Commanders,

As such who bore the pirnie standards,

Who led the van, and drove the rear,

Were right well mounted of their gear;

With brogues, trues, and pirnie plaides,

With good blew bonnets on their heads,

Which on the one side had a flipe

Adorn’d with a tobacco pipe,

With durk, and snap work, and snuff mill,

A bagg which they with onions fill,

And, as their strik observers say,

A tupe horn fill’d with usquebay;

A slasht out coat beneath her plaids,

A targe of timber, nails and hides;

With a long two-handed sword,

As good’s the country can affoord.

they’re smear’d with tar,

Which doth defend them heel and neck,

Just as it doth their sheep protect.

William Sacheverell, governor of the Isle of Man, made an excursion in 1688 through the Isle of Mull, and thence to Icolmkill. An account of this he published in 1702, in which he describes from observation, the dress, armour, and appearance of the Highlanders.

During my stay, I generally observed the men to be large-bodied, stout, subtle, active, patient of cold and hunger. There appeared in all their actions a certain generous air of freedom, and contempt of those trifles, luxury and ambition, which we so servilely creep after. They bound their appetites by their necessities, and their happiness consists, not in having much, but in coveting little. The women seem to have the same sentiments with the men; though their habits were mean, and they had not our sort of breeding, yet in many of them there was a natural beauty and a graceful modesty, which never fails of attracting. The usual outward habit of both sexes is the pladd; the women’s much finer, the colours more lively, and the squares larger than the men’s, and put me in mind of the ancient Picts. This serves them for a veil, and covers both head and body. The men wear theirs after another manner, especially when designed for ornament: it is loose and flowing, like the mantles our painters give their heroes. Their thighs are bare, with brawny muscles. Nature has drawn all her strokes bold and masterly; what is covered is only adapted to necessity—a thin brogue on the foot, a short buskin of various colours on the leg, tied above the calf with a striped pair of garters. What should be concealed is hid with a large shot-pouch, on each side of which hangs a pistol and a dagger, as if they found it necessary to keep those parts well guarded. A round target on their backs, a blue bonnet on their heads, in one hand a broadsword, and a musquet in the other. Perhaps no nation goes better armed; and I assure you they will handle them with bravery and dexterity, especially the sword and target, as our veteran regiments found to their cost at Killiecrankie.

The following minute description of Highland dress is contained in Martin’s Western Isles of Scotland:—

The first habit wore by persons of distinction in the islands, was the leni-croich, from the Irish word leni, which signifies a shirt, and croch, saffron, because their shirt was died with that herb: the ordinary number of ells used to make this robe was twenty-four; it was the upper garb, reaching below the knees, and was tied with a belt round the middle; but the islanders have laid it aside about a hundred years ago.

They now generally use coat, wastcoat, and breeches, as elsewhere, and on their heads wear bonnets made of thick cloth, some blew, some black, and some gray.

Many of the people wear trowis. Some have them very fine woven like stockings of those made of cloath; some are coloured and others striped; the latter are as well shap’d as the former, lying close to the body from the middle downwards, and tied round with a belt above the haunches. There is a square piece of cloth which hangs down before. The measure for shaping the trowis is a stick of wood whose length is a cubit, and that divided into the length of a finger, and half a finger; so that it requires more skill to make it, than the ordinary habit.

The shooes anciently wore, was a piece of the hide of a deer, cow, or horse, with the hair on, being tied behind and before with a point of leather. The generality now wear shooes having one thin sole only, and shaped after the right and left foot; so that what is for one foot, will not serve the other.

But persons of distinction wear the garb in fashion in the south of Scotland.

The plad wore only by the men, is made of fine wool, the thread as fine as can be made of that kind; it consists of divers colours, and there is a great deal of ingenuity requir’d in sorting the colours, so as to be agreeable to the nicest fancy. For this reason the women are at great pains, first to give an exact pattern of the plade upon a piece of wood, having the number of every thread of the stripe on it. The length of it is commonly seven double ells; the one end hangs by the middle over the left arm, the other going round the body, hangs by the end over the left arm also. The right hand above it is to be at liberty to do any thing upon occasion. Every isle differs from each other in their fancy of making plaids, as to the stripes in breadth and colours. This humour is as different thro’ the main land of the Highlands, insofar that they who have seen those places, is able at the first view of a man’s plaid, to guess the place of his residence.

When they travel on foot, the plaid is tied on the breast with a bodkin of bone or wood, (just as the spina wore by the Germans, according to the description of C. Tacitus;) the plaid is tied round the middle with a leather belt; it is pleated from the belt to the knee very nicely; this dress for footmen is found much easier and lighter than breeches, or trowis.

The ancient dress wore by the women, and which is yet wore by some of the vulgar, called arisad, is a white plade, having a few small stripes of black, blew, and red; it reached from the neck to the heels, and was tied before on the breast with a buckle of silver, or brass, according to the quality of the person. I have seen some of the former of an hundred marks value; it was broad as any ordinary pewter plate, the whole curiously engraven with various animals, &c. There was a lesser buckle which was wore in the middle of the larger, and above two ounces weight; it had in the center a large piece of chrystal, or some finer stone, and this was set all round with several finer stones of a lesser size.

The plad being pleated all round, was tied with a belt below the breast; the belt was of leather, and several pieces of silver intermix’d with the leather like a chain. The lower end of the belt has a piece of plate about eight inches long, and three in breadth, curiously engraven; the end of which was adorned with fine stones, or pieces of red corral. They wore sleeves of scarlet cloth, clos’d at the end as mens vests, with gold lace round ’em, having plate buttons set with fine stones. The head dress was a fine kerchief of linen strait about the head, hanging down the back taper-wise; a large lock of hair hangs down their cheeks above their breast, the lower end tied with a knot of ribbands.

The ancient way of fighting was by set battles, and for arms some had broad two handed swords, and head-pieces, and others bows and arrows. When all their arrows were spent, they attack’d one another with sword in hand. Since the invention of guns, they aere very early accustomed to use them, and carry their pieces with them wherever they go: they likewise learn to handle the broad sword, and target. The chief of each tribe advances with his followers within shot of the enemy, having first laid aside their upper garments; and after one general discharge, they attack them with sword in hand, having their target on their left hand, (as they did at Kelicranky) which soon brings the matter to an issue, and verifies the observation made of ’em by our historians,

Aut mors cito, aut victoria læta.

The following is taken from Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland, written by Captain Burt, an English officer of Engineers, engaged under Marshal Wade on the military roads through the Highlands, begun in the year 1726:—

The Highland dress consists of a bonnet made of thrum without a brim, a short coat, a waistcoat, longer by five or six inches, short stockings, and brogues, or pumps without heels. By the way, they cut holes in their brogues, though new made, to let out the water, when they have far to go and rivers to pass: this they do to preserve their feet from galling.

Few besides gentlemen wear the trowze,—that is, the breeches and stockings all of one piece, and drawn on together; over this habit they wear a plaid, which is usually three yards long and two breadths wide, and the whole garb is made of chequered tartan, or plaiding: this, with the sword and pistol, is called a full dress, and, to a well-proportioned man, with any tolerable air, it makes an agreeable figure; but this you have seen in London, and it is chiefly their mode of dressing when they are in the Lowlands, or when they make a neighbouring visit, or go anywhere on horseback; but when those among them who travel on foot, and have not attendants to carry them over the waters, they vary it into the quelt, which is a manner I am about to describe.

The common habit of the ordinary Highlanders is far from being acceptable to the eye: with them a small part of the plaid, which is not so large as the former, is set in folds and girt round the waist, to make of it a short petticoat that reaches half way down the thigh, and the rest is brought over the shoulders, and then fastened before, below the neck, often with a fork, and sometimes with a bodkin or sharpened piece of stick, so that they make pretty nearly the appearance of the poor women in London when they bring their gowns over their heads to shelter them from the rain. In this way of wearing the plaid, they have sometimes nothing else to cover them, and are often barefoot; but some I have seen shod with a kind of pumps, made out of a raw cowhide, with the hair turned outward, which being ill made, the wearer’s foot looked something like those of a rough-footed hen or pigeon: these are called quarrants, and are not only offensive to the sight, but intolerable to the smell of those who are near them. The stocking rises no higher than the thick of the calf, and from the middle of the thigh to the middle of the leg is a naked space, which, being exposed to all weathers, becomes tanned and freckled. This dress is called the quelt; and, for the most part, they wear the petticoat so very short, that in a windy day, going up a hill, or stooping, the indecency of it is plainly discovered.

I have observed before that the plaid serves the ordinary people for a cloak by day and bedding at night: by the latter it imbibes so much perspiration, that no one day can free it from the filthy smell; and even some of better than ordinary appearance, when the plaid falls from the shoulder, or otherwise requires to be re-adjusted, while you are talking with them, toss it over again, as some people do the knots of their wigs, which conveys the offence in whiffs that are intolerable;—of this they seem not to be sensible, for it is often done only to give themselves airs.

The plaid is the undress of the ladies; and to a genteel woman, who adjusts it with a good air, is a becoming veil. But as I am pretty sure you never saw one of them in England, I shall employ a few words to describe it to you. It is made of silk or fine worsted, chequered with various lively colours, two breadths wide, and three yards in length; it is brought over the head, and may hide or discover the face according to the wearer’s fancy or occasion: it reaches to the waist behind; one corner falls as low as the ankle on one side; and the other part, in folds, hangs down from the opposite arm.

The ordinary girls wear nothing upon their heads until they are married or have a child, except sometimes a fillet of red or blue coarse cloth, of which they are very proud; but often their hair hangs down over the forehead like that of a wild colt. If they wear stockings, which is very rare, they lay them in plaits one above another, from the ancle up to the calf, to make their legs appear as near as they can in the form of a cylinder; but I think I have seen something like this among the poor German refugee women and the Moorish men in London.

Mr. Gough, in his additions to Camden’s Britannia, gives the following accurate description of the Highland dress and armour, as they were to be found in the district of Breadalbane previous to the proscription of the dress:—

The dress of the men is the brechan or plaid, 12 or 13 yards of narrow stuff wrapped round the middle, and reaching to the knees, often girt round the waist, and in cold weather covering the whole body, even on the open hills, all night, and fastened on the shoulders with a brooch; short stockings tied below the knee; truish, a genteeler kind of breeches, and stockings of one piece; cueranen, a laced shoe of skin, with the hairy side out, rather disused; kilt or fillibeg, g. d. little plaid, or short petticoat, reaching to the knees, substituted of late to the longer end of the plaid; and lastly, the pouch of badger or other skins, with tassels hanging before them.

The women’s dress is the kerch, or white linen pinned round behind like a hood, and over the foreheads of married women, whereas maidens wear only a snood or ribbon round their heads; the tanac or plaid fastened over their shoulders, and drawn over their heads in bad weather; a plaited long stocking, called ossan, is their high dress.

The following detail of the complete equipment of a Highland chief was communicated by a Highland gentleman to Charles Grant, Vicomte de Vaux, by whom it was printed in his Mémoires de la Maison de Grant, in 1796:—

No. | 1. | A full-trimmed bonnet.
| 2. | A tartan jacket, vest, kilt, and cross-belt.
| 3. | A tartan belted plaid.
| 4. | ——— pair of hose, made up [of cloth].
| 5. | A tartan pair of stockings, ditto, with yellow garters.
| 6. | Two pair of brogs.
| 7. | A silver-mounted purse and belt.
| 8. | A target with spear.
| 9. | A broadsword.
| 10. | A pair of pistols and bullet-mould.
| 11. | A dirk, knife, fork, and belt.

FOOTNOTES:

[465] For much of the matter in this chapter we must confess ourselves indebted to General Stewart’s admirable and interesting Sketches of the Highlanders, a well-stored repository of information on all points connected with the ancient manners and customs of the Highlands.

[466] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. pp. 7, 8.

[467] Martin’s Western Islands, 2d edit. pp. 194, 195.

[468] Logan, vol. i. pp. 404, 405.

[469] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 74.

[470] Highlands, vol. i. p. 180.

[471] Martin’s Western Islands, 2d edit. p. 80.

[472] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 78.

[473] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 76.

[474] Graham’s Sketches of Perthshire.

[475] Idem.

[476]

“It was a wild and strange retreat,

As e’er was trod by outlaw’s feet.

The dell, upon the mountain’s crest,

Yawned like a gash on warrior’s breast;

Its trench had staid full many a rock,

Hurl’d by primeval earthquake shock

From Ben-Venue’s grey summit wild,

And here, in random ruin piled,

They frowned incumbent o’er the spot,

And formed the rugged sylvan grot.

The oak and birch, with mingled shade,

At noontide there a twilight made,

Unless where short and sudden shone

From straggling beam on cliff or stone,

With such a glimpse as prophet’s eye

Gains on thy depth, Futurity.

No murmur wak’d the solemn still,

Save tinkling of a fountain rill;

But when the wind chafed with the lake,

A sullen sound would upward break,

With dashing hollow voice, that spoke

The incessant war of wave and rock.

Suspended cliffs, with hideous sway,

Seem’d nodding o’er the cavern grey.

Grey Superstition’s whisper dread,

Debarred the spot to vulgar tread;

For there, she said, did fays resort,

And satyrs hold their sylvan court,

By moon-light tread their mystic maze,

And blast the rash beholder’s gaze.”

Lady of the Lake, c. iii. s. 26.

[477] Graham’s Sketches.

[478] The belief in Fairies is a popular superstition among the Shetlanders. The margin of a small lake called the Sandy Loch, about two miles from Lerwick, is celebrated for having been their favourite resort. It is said that they often walk in procession along the sides of the loch in different costumes. Some of the natives used frequently, when passing by a knoll, to stop and listen to the music of the fairies, and when the music ceased, they would hear the rattling of the pewter plates which were to be used at supper. The fairies sometimes visit the Shetland barns, from which they are usually ejected by means of a flail, which the proprietor wields with great agility, thumping and thrashing in every direction.

[479] Robertus Kirk, A. M., Linguæ Hibernii(c)æ lumen, Obiit, &c.

[480] The Fairies of Shetland appear to be bolder than the Shi’ichs of the Highlands, for they are believed to carry off young children even after baptism, taking care, however, to substitute a cabbage stock, or something else in lieu, which is made to assume the appearance of the abstracted child. The unhappy mother must take as much care of this phantom as she did of her child, and on no account destroy it, otherwise, it is believed, the fairies will not restore her child to her. “This is not my bairn,” said a mother to a neighbour who was condoling with her on the wasted appearance of her infant, then sitting on her knee,—“this is not my bairn—may the d—l rest where my bairn now is!”

[481] Graham’s Sketches.

[482] MS. No. IV. noticed in the Appendix to the Report on the Poems of Ossian, p. 310.

[483] Western Islands, 2d ed. p. 86.

[484] Martin, 2d ed. p. 112.

[485] Martin, 2d ed. p. 112.

[486] Western Islands, p. 122.

[487] Journey to the Hebrides, p. 166.

[488] Id.

[489] Martin, p. 300.

[490] Journey to the Western Islands, pp. 167, 168.

[491] “On that occasion, sanctified by the puritanical cant of the times, there was one marquis, three earls, two lords, sixteen barons, and eight ministers present at the solemnity, but not one musician; they liked yet better the bleating of the calves of Dan and Bethel—the ministers’ long-winded, and sometimes nonsensical graces, little to purpose—than all musical instruments of the sanctuaries, at so solemn an occasion, which, if it be lawful at all to have them, certainly it ought to be upon a wedding-day, for divertisement to the guests, that innocent recreation of music and dancing being much more warrantable and far better exercise than drinking and smoking tobacco, wherein the holy brethren of the Presbyterian (persuasion) for the most part employed themselves, without any formal health, or remembrance of their friends, a nod with the head, or a sign with the turning up of the white of the eye, served for the ceremony.”—Stewart’s Sketches—Memoirs of the Sommerville Family.

[492] “Playing the bagpipes within doors,” says General Stewart, “is a Lowland and English custom. In the Highlands the piper is always in the open air; and when people wish to dance to his music, it is on the green, if the weather permits; nothing but necessity makes them attempt a pipe-dance in the house. The bagpipe was a field instrument intended to call the clans to arms, and animate them in battle, and was no more intended for a house than a round of six-pounders. A broadside from a first-rate, or a round from a battery, has a sublime and impressive effect at a proper distance. In the same manner, the sound of bagpipes, softened by distance, had an indescribable effect on the mind and actions of the Highlanders. But as few would choose to be under the muzzle of the guns of a battery, so I have seldom seen a Highlander, whose ears were not grated when close to pipes, however much his breast might be warmed, and his feelings roused, by the sounds to which he had been accustomed in his youth, when proceeding from the proper distance.”—Sketches, App. xxiii.

[493] Dr. M’Queen’s Dissertation.

[494] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 86.

[495] Stewart’s Sketches.

[496] Two remarkable instances of the regard paid by the Highlanders to their engagements, are given by General Stewart. “A gentleman of the name of Stewart, agreed to lend a considerable sum of money to a neighbour. When they had met, and the money was already counted down upon the table, the borrower offered a receipt. As soon as the lender (grandfather of the late Mr. Stewart of Ballachulish) heard this, he immediately collected the money, saying, that a man who could not trust his own word, without a bond, should not be trusted by him, and should have none of his money, which he put up in his purse and returned home.” An inhabitant of the same district kept a retail shop for nearly fifty years, and supplied the whole district, then full of people, with all their little merchandise. He neither gave nor asked any receipts. At Martinmas of each year he collected the amount of his sales, which were always paid to a day. In one of his annual rounds, a customer happened to be from home; consequently, he returned unpaid, but before he was out of bed the following morning, he was awakened by a call from his customer, who came to pay his account. After the business was settled, his neighbour said, “You are now paid; I would not for my best cow that I should sleep while you wanted your money after your term of payment, and that I should be the last in the country in your debt.” Such examples of stern honesty are now, alas! of rare occurrence. Many of the virtues which adorned the Highland character have disappeared in the vortex of modern improvement, by which the country has been completely revolutionized.

[497] On the Superstitions of the Highlanders.

[498] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 82.

[499] Id.

[500] Stewart’s Sketches.

[501] Mrs. Grant’s Superstitions of the Highlanders.

[502] Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland, p. 189.

[503] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 22.

[504] The power of the chiefs over their clans was, from political motives, often supported by the government, to counteract the great influence of the feudal system which enabled the nobles frequently to set the authority of the state at defiance. Although the Duke of Gordon was the feudal superior of the lands held by the Camerons, M’Phersons, M’Donells of Keppoch and others, he had no influence over those clans who always obeyed the orders of Lochiel, Clunie, Keppoch, &c.

[505] Martin observes that in the Western Islands, “every heir, or young chieftain of a tribe, was obliged in honour to give a public specimen of his valour before he was owned and declared governor or leader of his people, who obeyed and followed him upon all occasions. This chieftain was usually attended with a retinue of young men of quality, who had not beforehand given any proof of their valour, and were ambitious of such an opportunity to signalize themselves. It was usual for the captain to lead them, to make a desperate incursion upon some neighbour or other that they were in feud with, and they were obliged to bring, by open force, the cattle they found on the lands they attacked, or to die in the attempt. After the performance of this achievement, the young chieftain was ever after reputed valiant, and worthy of government, and such as were of his retinue acquired the like reputation. This custom being reciprocally used among them, was not reputed robbery, for the damage which one tribe sustained by this essay of the chieftain of another, was repaired when their chieftain came in his turn to make his specimen; but I have not heard an instance of this practice for these sixty years past.”—Western Islands, 2d edit. pp. 101, 102.

[506] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 30.

[507] Idem, vol. i. pp. 30, 31.

[508] General Stewart says that the families of the name of Stewart, whose estates lay in the district of Athole, and whose chief, by birth, was at a distance, ranged themselves under the family of Athole, though they were themselves sufficiently numerous to raise 1000 fighting men.

[509] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. pp. 33, 34.

[510] “When a quarrel begins in words between two Highlanders of different clans, it is esteemed the very height of malice and rancour, and the greatest of all provocations, to reproach one another with the vices or personal defects of their chiefs, or that of the particular branch whence they sprung”—Burt’s Letters.

[511] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 35.

[512] For an account of this notorious individual, see the history of the clan Macgregor in the second part of this work.

[513] General Stewart observes, that the Marshal had not at this period been long enough in the Highlands to distinguish a cearnach, or “lifter of cattle,” from a highwayman. “No such character as the latter then existed in the country; and it may be presumed he did not consider these men in the light which the word would indicate,—for certainly the Commander-in-chief would neither have associated with men whom he supposed to be really highwaymen, nor partaken of their hospitality.”

[514] Culloden Papers.

[515] This was noticed by Dr. Johnson. He thus describes a meeting between the young laird of Coll and some of his “subjects:”—“Wherever we roved, we were pleased to see the reverence with which his subjects regarded him. He did not endeavour to dazzle them by any magnificence of dress,—his only distinction was a feather in his bonnet; but as soon as he appeared, they forsook their work and clustered about him: he took them by the hand, and they seemed mutually delighted. He has the proper disposition of a chieftain, and seems desirous to continue the customs of his house. The bagpiper played regularly when dinner was served, whose person and dress made a good appearance; and he brought no disgrace upon the family of Rankin, which has long supplied the lairds of Coll with hereditary music.”—Journey to the Western Islands.

[516] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 46, &c.—Dalrymple’s Memoirs.

[517] Stewart, vol. i. p. 50.

[518] A picture of the horse was in the possession of the late General Stewart of Garth, being a legacy bequeathed to him by the daughter of Mr. Menzies. “A brother of Macnaughton,” says the General, “lived for many years on the estate of Garth, and died in 1790. He always went about armed, at least so far armed, that when debarred wearing a sword or dirk, he slung a large long knife in his belt. He was one of the last I recollect of the ancient race, and gave a very favourable impression of their general manner and appearance. He was a smith by trade, and although of the lowest order of the people, he walked about with an air and manner that might have become a field-marshal. He spoke with great force and fluency of language, and, although most respectful to those to whom he thought respect was due, he had an appearance of independence and ease, that strangers, ignorant of the language and character of the people, might have supposed to proceed from impudence. As he always carried arms when legally permitted, so he showed on one occasion that he knew how to handle them. When the Black Watch was quartered on the banks of the rivers Tay and Lyon, in 1741, an affray arose between a few of the soldiers and some of the people at a fair at Kenmore. Some of the Breadalbane men took the part of the soldiers, and, as many were armed, swords were quickly drawn, and one of the former killed, when their opponents, with whom was Macnaughton, and a smith, (to whom he was then an apprentice,) retreated and fled to the ferry-boat across the Tay. There was no bridge, and the ferryman, on seeing the fray, chained his boat. Macnaughton was the first at the river side, and leaping into the boat, followed by his master, the smith, with a stroke of his broadsword cut the chain, and crossing the river, fixed the boat on the opposite side, and thus prevented an immediate pursuit. Indeed no farther steps were taken. The Earl of Breadalbane, who was then at Taymouth, was immediately sent for. On inquiry, he found that the whole had originated from an accidental reflection thrown out by a soldier of one of the Argyle companies against the Atholemen, then supposed to be Jacobites, and that it was difficult to ascertain who gave the fatal blow. The man who was killed was an old warrior of nearly eighty years of age. He had been with Lord Breadalbane’s men, under Campbell of Glenlyon, at the battle of Sheriffmuir; and, as his side lost their cause, he swore never to shave again. He kept his word, and as his beard grew till it reached his girdle, he got the name of Padric-na-Phaisaig, ‘Peter with the Beard.’”

[519] The following amusing anecdote of this man is related by General Stewart:—“On one occasion he met with an officer of the garrison of Fort-William on the mountains of Lochaber. The officer told him that he suspected he had lost his way, and, having a large sum of money for the garrison, was afraid of meeting the sergeant Mor; he therefore requested that the stranger would accompany him on his road. The other agreed; and, while they walked on, they talked much of the sergeant and his feats, the officer using much freedom with his name, calling him robber, murderer.—‘Stop there,’ interrupted his companion, ‘he does indeed take the cattle of the whigs and you Sassanachs, but neither he nor his cearnachs ever shed innocent blood; except once,’ added he, ‘that I was unfortunate at Braemar, when a man was killed, but I immediately ordered the creach (the spoil) to be abandoned, and left to the owners, retreating as fast as we could after such a misfortune!’ ‘You,’ says the officer, ‘what had you to do with the affair?’ ‘I am John Du Cameron,—I am the sergeant Mor; there is the road to Inverlochay,—you cannot now mistake it. You and your money are safe. Tell your governor to send a more wary messenger for his gold. Tell him also, that, although an outlaw, and forced to live on the public, I am a soldier as well as himself, and would despise taking his gold from a defenceless man who confided in me.’ The officer lost no time in reaching the garrison, and never forgot the adventure, which he frequently related.”

CHAPTER XIX.

A.D. 1660–1689.

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS:—

Charles II., 1660–1685. James II., (VII. of Scotland,) 1685–1688.

Trial and Execution of the Marquis of Argyle—His character—Feud between the Earl of Argyle and the Macleans—The “Highland Host”—The Test—Trial and Condemnation of the Earl of Argyle—Argyle escapes—Argyle and Monmouth’s invasion—Execution of Argyle—Unconstitutional proceedings of the King—Designs of the Prince of Orange—Proceedings of King James—Landing of the Prince of Orange—State of feeling in Scotland—Flight of the King—The Duke of Gordon—Convention of Estates—Duke of Gordon holds Edinburgh Castle—Viscount Dundee.

The news of the king’s arrival was received in Scotland with a burst of enthusiasm not quite in accordance with the national character;[520] but the idea that the nation was about to regain its liberties made Scotsmen forget their wonted propriety. Preparatory to the assembling of the Scottish parliament, which was summoned to meet at Edinburgh on the 1st of January, 1661, Middleton, who had lately been created an earl, was appointed his majesty’s commissioner; the Earl of Glencairn, chancellor; the Earl of Lauderdale, secretary of state; the Earl of Rothes, president of the council; and the Earl of Crawford, lord-treasurer.

It would be quite apart from the object of this work to detail the many unconstitutional acts passed by this “terrible parliament,” as it is well named by Kirkton; but the trial of the Marquis of Argyle must not be overlooked. That nobleman had, on the restoration of the king, gone to London to congratulate his majesty on his return; but on his arrival he was immediately seized and committed to the Tower. He petitioned the king for a personal interview, which was refused, and, to get rid of his importunities, his majesty directed that he should be sent back to Scotland for trial. Being brought to trial, he applied for delay, till some witnesses at a distance should be examined on commission; but this also was refused. He thereupon claimed the benefit of the amnesty which the king had granted at Stirling. This plea was sustained by desire of the king; but as there were other charges against him, arising out of transactions subsequent to the year 1651, to which year only the amnesty extended, the trial was proceeded in. These charges were, that he had aided the English in destroying the liberties of Scotland—that he had accepted a grant of £12,000 from Cromwell—that he had repeatedly used defamatory and traitorous language in speaking of the royal family—and, lastly, that he had voted for a bill abjuring the right of the royal family to the crowns of the three kingdoms, which had been passed in the parliament of Richard Cromwell, in which he sat. Argyle denied that he had ever given any countenance or assistance to the English in their invasion of Scotland; but he admitted the grant from Cromwell, which he stated was given, not in lieu of services, but as a compensation for losses sustained by him. He, moreover, denied that he had ever used the words attributed to him respecting the royal family; and with regard to the charge of sitting in Richard Cromwell’s parliament, he stated that he had taken his seat to protect his country from oppression, and to be ready, should occasion offer, to support by his vote the restoration of the king. This defence staggered the parliament, and judgment was postponed. In the meantime Glencairn and Rothes hastened to London, to lay the matter before the king, and to urge the necessity of Argyle’s condemnation. Unfortunately for that nobleman, they had recovered some letters which he had written to Monk and other English officers, in which were found some expressions very hostile to the king; but as these letters have not been preserved, their precise contents are not known. Argyle was again brought before parliament, and the letters read in his presence. He had no explanation to give, and his friends, vexed and dismayed, retired from the house and left him to his fate. He was accordingly sentenced to death on the 25th of May, 1661, and, that he might not have an opportunity of appealing to the clemency of the king, he was ordered to be beheaded within forty-eight hours. He prepared for death with a fortitude not expected from the timidity of his nature; wrote a long letter to the king, vindicating his memory, and imploring protection for his poor wife and family; on the day of his execution, dined at noon with his friends with great cheerfulness, and was accompanied by several of the nobility to the scaffold, where he behaved with singular constancy and courage. After dinner he retired a short time for private prayer, and, on returning, told his friends that “the Lord had sealed his charter, and said to him, ‘Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven.’” When brought to the scaffold he addressed the people, protested his innocence, declared his adherence to the Covenant, reproved “the abounding wickedness of the land, and vindicated himself from the charge of being accessory to the death of Charles I.” With the greatest fortitude he laid his head upon the block, which was immediately severed from his body by the maiden. This event took place upon Monday, the 27th of May, 1661, the marquis being then 65 years of age. By a singular destiny, the head of Argyle was fixed on the same spike which had borne that of his great rival Montrose.[521]

Argyle was held in high estimation by his party, and, by whatever motives he may have been actuated, it cannot but be admitted, that to his exertions Scotland is chiefly indebted for the successful stand which was made against the unconstitutional attempts of the elder Charles upon the civil and religious liberties of his Scottish subjects. He appears to have been naturally averse to physical pain, deficient in personal courage, the possession of which, in the times in which Argyle lived, “covered a multitude of sins,” and the want of which was esteemed by some unpardonable. We believe that it is chiefly on this account that his character is represented by his enemies and the opponents of his principles in such an unfavourable light, contrasting as it does so strikingly with that of his great opponent, the brave and chivalrous Montrose. That he was an unprincipled hypocrite, we think it would be difficult to prove; genuine hypocrisy, in a man of his ability, would have probably gained for its possessor a happier fate. That he was wary, cunning, reticent, and ambitious, there cannot be any doubt;—such qualities are almost indispensable to the politician, and were more than ordinarily necessary in those times, especially, considering the men Argyle had to deal with. We believe that he was actuated all along by deep but narrow and gloomy religious principle, that he had the welfare of his country sincerely at heart, and that he took the means he thought best calculated to maintain freedom, and, what he thought, true religion in the land. As he himself said in a letter to the Earl of Strafford,[522] he thought “his duty to the king would be best shown by maintaining the constitution of his country in church and state.” On the whole, he appears to have been a well-meaning, wrong-headed, narrow-minded, clever politician. Mr. Grainger, in his Biographical History of England, justly observes, “The Marquis of Argyle was in the cabinet what his enemy, the Marquis of Montrose, was in the field, the first character of his age for political courage and conduct.” Had he been tried by impartial judges, the circumstances of the times would have been considered as affording some extenuation for his conduct; but it was his misfortune to be tried by men who were his enemies, and who did not scruple to violate all the forms of justice to bring him to the block, in the hope of obtaining his vast possessions.

The Scottish “Maiden.”—Now in the Edinburgh
Antiquarian Museum.[523]

The execution of Argyle was not in accordance with the views of the king, who, to show his disapprobation of the death of the marquis, received Lord Lorn, his eldest son, with favour at court; from which circumstance the enemies of the house of Argyle anticipated that they would be disappointed in their expectations of sharing among them the confiscated estates of the marquis. To impair, therefore, these estates was their next object. Argyle had obtained from the Scottish parliament a grant of the confiscated estate of the Marquis of Huntly, his brother-in-law, on the ground that he was a considerable creditor, but as Huntly was indebted to other persons to the extent of 400,000 merks, the estate was burdened to that amount on passing into Argyle’s possession. Middleton and his colleagues immediately passed an act, restoring Huntly’s estate free of incumbrance, leaving to Huntly’s creditors recourse upon the estates of Argyle for payment of their debts. Young Argyle was exasperated at this proceeding, and in a letter to Lord Duffus, his brother-in-law, expressed himself in very unguarded terms respecting the parliament. This letter was intercepted by Middleton, and on it the parliament grounded a charge of verbal sedition, or leasing-making, as the crime is known in the statutory law of Scotland, an offence which was then capital. Upon this vague charge the young nobleman was brought to trial before the parliament, and condemned to death. The enemies of the house of Argyle now supposed that the estates of the family were again within their grasp; but the king, at the intercession of Lauderdale, the rival of Middleton, pardoned Lorn, released him from prison after about a year’s confinement, restored to him the family estates, and allowed him to retain the title of Earl.[524]

After the suppression of Glencairn’s short-lived insurrection, the Highlands appear to have enjoyed repose till the year 1674, when an outbreak took place which threatened to involve the greater part of that country in the horrors of feudal war, the occasion of which was as follows. The Marquis of Argyle had purchased up some debts due by the laird of Maclean, for which his son, the earl, applied for payment; but the laird being unwilling or unable to pay, the earl apprised his lands, and followed out other legal proceedings, to make the claim effectual against Maclean’s estates. In the meantime the latter died, leaving a son under the guardianship of his brother, to whom, on Maclean’s death, the earl renewed his application for payment. The tutor of Maclean stated his readiness to settle, either by appropriating as much of the rents of his ward’s lands in Mull and Tirey as would be sufficient to pay the interest of the debt, or by selling or conveying to him in security as much of the property as would be sufficient to pay off the debt itself; but he required, before entering into this arrangement, that the earl would restrict his claim to what was justly due. The earl professed his readiness to comply with the tutor’s offer; but the latter contrived to evade the matter for a considerable time, and at length showed a disposition to resist the earl’s demand by force.

The earl, therefore, resolved to enforce compliance, and armed with a decree of the Court of Session, and supported by a body of 2,000 of his tenants and vassals, he crossed into Mull, in which, he landed at three different places without opposition, although the Macleans had 700 or 800 men in the island. The Macleans had sent their cattle into Mull for safety, a considerable number of which were killed or houghed by Lord Neill, brother to the earl, at the head of a party of the Campbells. The islanders at once submitted, and the earl having obtained possession of the castle of Duart, and placed a garrison therein, left the island. Although the Macleans had promised to pay their rents to the earl, they refused when applied to the following year, a refusal which induced him to prepare for a second invasion of Mull. In September, 1675, he had collected a force of about 1,500 men, including 100 of the king’s troops from Glasgow, under the command of Captain Crichton, and a similar number of militia-men, under Andrew M’Farlane, the laird of M’Farlane, the use of which corps had been granted to the earl on application to the Council. The Macleans, aware of their danger, had strengthened themselves by an alliance with Lord Macdonald and other chieftains, who sent a force of about 1,000 men to their aid; but Argyle’s forces never reached the island, his ships having been driven back damaged and dismantled by a dreadful hurricane, which lasted two days.[525]

This misfortune, and intelligence which the earl received from the commander of Duart castle that the Macleans were in great force in the island, made him postpone his enterprise. With the exception of 500 men whom he retained for the protection of his coasts, and about 300 or 400 to protect his lands against the incursions of the Macleans, he dismissed his forces, after giving them instructions to re-assemble on the 18th of October, unless countermanded before that time. The earl then went to Edinburgh to crave additional aid from the government; but receiving no encouragement, he posted to London, where he expected, with the help of his friend the Duke of Lauderdale, to obtain assistance. Lord Macdonald and the other friends of the Macleans, hearing of Argyle’s departure, immediately followed him to London, and laid a statement of the dispute before the king, who, in February, 1676, remitted the matter to three lords of the Privy Council of Scotland for judgment. The earl returned to Edinburgh in June following. A meeting of the parties took place before the lords to whom the matter had been referred, but they came to no decision, and the subsequent fate of Argyle put an end to these differences, although it appears that he was allowed to take possession of the island of Mull without resistance in the year 1680.[526]

Except upon one occasion, now to be noticed, the Highlanders took no share in any of the public transactions in Scotland during the reigns of Charles the Second and his brother James. Isolated from the Lowlands by a mountain barrier which prevented almost any intercourse between them and their southern neighbours, they happily kept free from the contagion of that religious fanaticism which spread over the Lowlands of Scotland, in consequence of the unconstitutional attempts of the government to force episcopacy upon the people. Had the Highlanders been imbued with the same spirit which actuated the Scottish whigs, the government might have found it a difficult task to have suppressed them; but they did not concern themselves with these theological disputes, and they did not hesitate when their chiefs, at the call of the government, required their services to march to the Lowlands to suppress the disturbances in the western counties. Accordingly, an army of about 8,000 men, known in Scottish history by the name of the “Highland Host,” descended from the mountains under the command of their respective chiefs, and encamped at Stirling on the 24th of June, 1678, whence they spread themselves over Clydesdale, Renfrew, Cunningham, Kyle, and Carrick, and overawed the whigs so effectually, that they did not attempt to oppose the government during the stay of these hardy mountaineers among them. According to Wodrow and Kirkton, the Highlanders were guilty of great oppression and cruelty, but they kept their hands free from blood, as it has been correctly stated that not one whig lost his life during the invasion of these Highland crusaders.[527] After remaining about eight months in the Lowlands, the Highlanders were sent home, the government having no further occasion for their services, but before their departure they took care to carry along with them a large quantity of plunder they had collected during their stay.[528]

After the departure of the Highlanders, the Covenanters again appeared upon the stage, and proceeded so far as even to murder some soldiers who had been quartered on some landlords who had refused to pay cess. The assassination of Archbishop Sharp, and the insurrection of the Covenanters under a preacher named Hamilton, followed by the defeat of the celebrated Graham of Claverhouse at Drumclog on the 1st of June, 1679, alarmed the government; but the defeat of the Covenanters by the king’s forces at Bothwell bridge, on the 22d of June, quieted their apprehensions. Fresh measures of severity were adopted against the unfortunate whigs, who, driven to despair, again flew to arms, encouraged by the exhortations of the celebrated Richard Cameron,—from whom the religious sect known by the name of Cameronians takes its name,—and Donald Cargill, another enthusiast; but they were defeated in an action at Airs-moss in Kyle, in which Cameron, their ecclesiastical head, was killed.

To check the diffusion of anti-monarchical principles, which were spreading fast throughout the kingdom under the auspices of the disciples of Cameron, the government, on the meeting of the Scottish parliament on the 28th of July, 1681, devised a test, which they required to be taken by all persons possessed of any civil, military, or ecclesiastical office. The parties taking this test were made to declare their adhesion to the true Protestant religion, as contained in the original confession of faith, ratified by parliament in the year 1560, to recognise the supremacy of the king over all persons civil and ecclesiastical, and to acknowledge that there “lay no obligation from the national covenant, or the solemn league and covenant, or any other manner of way whatsoever, to endeavour any alteration in the government in church or state, as it was then established by the laws of the kingdom.”[529]

The terms of this test were far from satisfactory to some even of the best friends of the government, as it was full of contradictions and absurdities, and it was not until the Privy Council issued an explanatory declaration that they could be prevailed upon to take it. The Dukes of Hamilton and Monmouth, however, rather than take the test, resigned their offices. Among others who had distinguished themselves in opposing the passing of the test, was the Earl of Argyle, who supported an amendment proposed by Lord Belhaven, for setting aside a clause excepting the Duke of York, brother to the king, and the other princes of the blood, from its operation. The conduct of Argyle gave great offence to the duke, who sat as commissioner in the parliament, and encouraged his enemies to set about accomplishing his ruin. The Earl of Errol brought in a bill reviving some old claims upon his estates, and the king’s advocate endeavoured to deprive him of his hereditary offices; but the Duke of York interposed, and prevented the adoption of these intended measures. To gratify his enemies, however, and to show the displeasure of the court at his recent opposition, Argyle was deprived of his seat in the Court of Session. But this did not sufficiently appease their resentment, and, anxious for an opportunity of gratifying their malice, they hoped that he would refuse to take the test. Accordingly, he was required to subscribe it: he hesitated, and craved time to deliberate. Aware of the plot which had been long hatching against him, and as he saw that if he refused he would be deprived of his important hereditary jurisdictions, he resolved to take the test, with a declaratory explanation, which, it is understood, received the approbation of the Duke of York, to whom the earl had submitted it. The earl then subscribed the test in presence of the council, and added the following explanation:—“I have considered the test, and am very desirous of giving obedience as far as I can. I am confident that the parliament never intended to impose contradictory oaths: Therefore I think no man can explain it but for himself. Accordingly, I take it so far as it is consistent with itself and the Protestant religion. And I do declare, that I mean not to bind myself, in my station, in a lawful way, from wishing and endeavouring any alteration which I think to the advantage of Church or State, and not repugnant to the Protestant religion and my loyalty. And this I understand as a part of my oath.” This declaration did not please the council, but as the Duke appeared to be satisfied, the matter was passed over, and Argyle kept his seat at the council board.

Although the Duke of York had been heard to declare that no honest man could take the test,—a declaration which fully justified the course Argyle had pursued,—yet the enemies of that nobleman wrought so far upon the mind of his royal highness as to induce him to think that Argyle’s declaration was a highly criminal act. The earl, therefore, was required to take the test a second time, without explanation; and having refused, he was committed a prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh, and on the slight foundation of a declaration which had been sanctioned by the next heir to the crown, was raised a hideous superstructure of high treason, leasing-making, and perjury.

Argyle was brought to trial on Monday, the 12th of December, 1681, before the High Court of Justiciary. The Earl of Queensberry, the justice-general, and four other judges, sat upon the bench, and fifteen noblemen acted as jurors. The absurdity of the charges, and the iniquity of the attempt to deprive a nobleman, who had, even in the worst times, shown an attachment to the royal family, of his fortune, his honours, and his life, were ably exposed by the counsel for the earl; but so lost was a majority of the judges to every sense of justice, that, regardless of the infamy which would for ever attach to them, they found the libel relevant; and on the following day the assize or jury, of which the Marquis of Montrose, cousin-german to Argyle, was chancellor, found him guilty. Intelligence of Argyle’s condemnation was immediately sent to the king, but the messenger was anticipated in his arrival by an express from the earl himself to the king, who, although he gave orders that sentence should be passed against Argyle, sent positive injunctions to delay the execution till his pleasure should be known. Argyle, however, did not wish to trust to the royal clemency, and as he understood preparations were making for his execution, he made his escape from the castle of Edinburgh, disguised as a page carrying the train of Lady Sophia Lindsay, his step-daughter, daughter of Lord Balcarres, whose widow Argyle married.[530] He went to London, where he lay some time in concealment, whence he went over to Holland. On the day of his escape, being the 21st of December, he was proclaimed a fugitive at the market cross of Edinburgh, and, on the 24th, the Court of Justiciary passed sentence of death against him, ordered his arms to be reversed and torn at the market cross of Edinburgh, and declared his titles and estates forfeited.

In exculpation of their infamous proceedings, the persecutors of Argyle pretended that their only object in resorting to such unjustifiable measures, was to force him to surrender his extensive hereditary jurisdictions, which, they considered, gave him too great authority in the Highlands, and the exercise of which in his family, might obstruct the ends of justice; and that they had no designs either upon his life or fortune. But this is an excuse which cannot be admitted, for they had influence enough with the Crown to have deprived Argyle of these hereditary jurisdictions, without having recourse to measures so glaringly subversive of justice.

The only advantage taken by the king of Argyle’s forfeiture was the retention of the heritable jurisdictions, which were parcelled out among the friends of the court during pleasure. Lord Lorn, the earl’s son, had the forfeited estates restored to him, after provision had been made for satisfying the demands of his father’s creditors.

During the latter years of Charles II., a number of persons from England and Scotland had taken refuge in Holland, to escape state prosecutions with which they were threatened. Among the Scottish exiles, besides Argyle, were Sir James Dalrymple, afterwards Earl of Stair, the celebrated Fletcher of Salton, and Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth,—all of whom, as martyrs of liberty, longed for an opportunity of vindicating its cause in the face of their country. The accession of James II, in 1685, to the crown of his brother, seemed an event favourable to their plans, and at a meeting which some of the exiled leaders held at Rotterdam, they resolved to raise the standard of revolt in England and Scotland, and invited the Duke of Monmouth, also an exile, and the Earl of Argyle, to join them.[531] Monmouth, who was then living in retirement at Brussels, spending his time in illicit amours, accepted the invitation, and having repaired to Rotterdam, offered either to attempt a descent on England, at the head of the English exiles, or to go to Scotland as a volunteer, under Argyle.[532] The latter, who had never ceased since his flight to keep up a correspondence with his friends in Scotland, had already been making preparations, and by means of a large sum of money he had received from a rich widow of Amsterdam, had there purchased a ship and arms, and ammunition. He now also repaired to Rotterdam, where it was finally arranged that two expeditions should be fitted out,—one for England, under Monmouth, and the other for Scotland, under the command of Argyle, who was appointed by the council at Rotterdam captain-general of the army, “with as full power as was usually given to generals by the free states in Europe.”[533]

On the 2d of May, 1685, the expedition under Argyle, which consisted of three ships and about 300 men, left the shores of Holland, and reached Cairston in the Orkneys on the 6th, after a pleasant voyage. The seizure, by the natives, of Spence, the earl’s secretary, and of Blackadder, his surgeon, both of whom had incautiously ventured on shore, afforded the government the necessary information as to the strength and destination of the expedition. A proclamation had been issued, on the 28th of April, for putting the kingdom in a posture of defence, hostages had been taken from the vassals of Argyle as sureties for their fidelity, and all persons whose loyalty was suspected were either imprisoned or had to find security for their fidelity to the government; but as soon as the council at Edinburgh received the intelligence of Argyle’s having reached the Orkneys, they despatched troops to the west, and ordered several frigates to cruise among the Western Isles. After taking four Orcadians as hostages for the lives of his secretary and surgeon, Argyle left the Orkneys on the 7th of May, and arrived at Tobermory in the isle of Mull on the 11th, whence he sailed to the mainland, and landed in Kintyre. Here he published a declaration which had been drawn up in Holland by Sir James Stuart, afterwards king’s advocate, full of invective against the government, and attributing all the grievances under which the country had laboured in the preceding reign to a conspiracy between popery and tyranny, which had, he observed, been evidently disclosed by the cutting off of the late king and the ascension of the Duke of York to the throne. It declared that the object of the invaders was to restore the true Protestant religion, and that as the Duke of York was, from his religion, as they supposed, incapable of giving security on that head, they declared that they would never enter into any treaty with him. The earl issued, a few days thereafter, a second declaration, from Tarbet, reciting his own wrongs, and calling upon his former vassals to join his standard. Messengers were despatched in all directions, bearing aloft the fiery cross, and in a short time about 800 of his clan, headed by Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchinbreck, rallied around their chief. Other reinforcements arrived, which increased his army to 2,500 men; a force wholly insufficient to meet a body of about 7,000 militia and a considerable number of regular troops already assembled in the west to oppose his advance.

Although Argyle’s obvious plan was at once to have dashed into the western Lowlands, where the spirit of disaffection was deeply prevalent, and where a great accession of force might have been expected, he, contrary to the advice of some of his officers, remained in Argyle a considerable time in expectation of hearing of Monmouth’s landing, and spent the precious moments in chasing out of his territories a few stragglers who infested his borders. Amid the dissensions which naturally arose from this difference of opinion, the royalists were hemming Argyle in on all sides. Whilst the Duke of Gordon was advancing upon his rear with the northern forces, and the Earl of Dumbarton with the regular troops pressing him in front, the Marquis of Athole and Lord Charles Murray, at the head of 1,500 men, kept hanging on his right wing, and a fleet watched his ships to prevent his escape by sea. In this conjuncture Argyle yielded to the opinion of his officers, and, leaving his stores in the castle of Allangreg, in charge of a garrison of 150 men, he began his march, on the 10th of June, to the Lowlands, and gave orders that his vessels should follow close along the coast. The commander of the castle, on the approach of the king’s ships under Sir Thomas Hamilton, abandoned it five days thereafter, without firing a single shot, and the warlike stores which it contained, consisting of 5,000 stand of arms and 300 barrels of powder, besides a standard bearing the inscription “Against Popery, Prelacy, and Erastianism,” fell a prey to the royalists. The vessels also belonging to Argyle were taken at the same time.[534]

On the 16th of June Argyle crossed the Leven near Dumbarton, but finding it impracticable, from the numerous forces opposed to him, and which met him at every point, to proceed on his intended route to Glasgow by the ordinary road, he betook himself to the hills, in the expectation of eluding his foes during the darkness of the night; but this desperate expedient did not succeed, and next morning Argyle found his force diminished by desertion to 500 men. Thus abandoned by the greater part of his men, he, in his turn, deserted those who remained with him, and endeavoured to secure his own safety. Disguised in a common dress he wandered for some time in the company of Major Fullarton in the vicinity of Dumbarton, and on the opposite side of the Clyde, but was at last taken prisoner by a few militiamen in attempting to reach his own country.[535] About 100 of the volunteers from Holland crossed the Clyde in boats, but being attacked by the royalists were dispersed. Thus ended this ill concerted and unfortunate expedition.[536]

Argyle was carried to Glasgow, and thence to Edinburgh, where he underwent the same ignominious and brutal treatment which the brave Montrose had suffered on being brought to the capital after his capture. As the judgment which had been pronounced against Argyle, after his escape from the castle of Edinburgh, was still in force, no trial was considered necessary. He was beheaded accordingly on the 26th of June, evincing in his last moments the fortitude of a Roman, and the faith of a martyr. “When this nobleman’s death,” observes Sir Walter Scott, “is considered as the consequence of a sentence passed against him for presuming to comment upon and explain an oath which was self-contradictory, it can only be termed a judicial murder.” His two sons, Lord Lorn and Lord Neill Campbell, were banished. Monmouth, who did not land in England till the 11th of June, was equally unfortunate, and suffered the death of a traitor on Tower Hill on the 15th of July.

Ninth Earl of Argyle.

The ill-fated result of Argyle’s expedition, and the suppression of Monmouth’s rebellion, enabled James to turn the whole of his attention to the accomplishment of an object more valuable, in his opinion, than the crown itself—the restoration of the Catholic religion. In furtherance of this design, the king adopted a series of the most unconstitutional and impolitic measures, which destroyed the popularity he had acquired on his accession, and finally ended in his expulsion from the throne.

It was not, however, till the Scottish parliament, which met on the 28th of April, 1686, and on the obsequiousness of which the king had placed great reliance, had refused to repeal the test, that he resolved upon those desperate measures which proved so fatal to him. This parliament was prorogued by order of the king on the 15th of June, and in a few months thereafter, he addressed a succession of letters to the council,—from which he had previously removed some individuals who were opposed to his plans,—in which he stated, that in requiring the parliament to repeal the penal statutes, he merely meant to give them an opportunity of evincing their loyalty, as he considered that he had sufficient power, by virtue of his prerogative, to suspend or dispense with those laws; a most erroneous and dangerous doctrine certainly, but which could never be said to have been exploded till the era of the revolution. In these letters the king ordered the council to allow the Catholics to exercise their worship freely in private, to extend the protection of government to his Protestant as well as Catholic subjects, to receive the conformist clergy in general to livings in the church, and to admit certain individuals whom he named to offices in the state without requiring any of them to take the test.[537]

But these letters, though disapproved of in part by the council, were merely preparatory to much more important steps, viz., the issuing of two successive proclamations by the king on the 12th of February and the 5th of July in the following year, granting full and free toleration to Presbyterians, Catholics, and Quakers, with liberty to exercise their worship in houses and chapels. He also suspended the severe penal statutes against the Catholics, which had been passed during the minority of his grandfather; but he declared his resolution to preserve inviolate the rights and privileges of the then established (Episcopal) church of Scotland, and to protect the holders of church property in their possessions.

By the Presbyterians who had for so many years writhed under the lash of persecution, these proclamations were received with great satisfaction; and at a meeting which was held at Edinburgh of the Presbyterian ministers, who had assembled from all parts of the country to consider the matter, a great majority not only accepted the boon with cheerfulness, but voted a loyal address to his majesty, thanking him for the indulgence he had granted them. Some there were, however, of the more rigorous kind, who denounced any communication with the king, whom they declared “an apostate, bigoted, excommunicated papist, under the malediction of the Mediator; yea, heir to the imprecation of his grandfather,” and who found warm abettors in the clergy of the Episcopal church in Scotland, who displayed their anger even in their discourses from the pulpit.[538]

Although the Presbyterians reaped great advantages from the toleration which the king had granted, by being allowed the free and undisturbed exercise of their worship, and by being, many of them, admitted into offices of the state, yet they perceived that a much greater proportion of Catholics was admitted to similar employments. Thus they began to grow suspicious of the king’s intentions, and, instead of continuing their gratitude, they openly declared that they did not any longer consider themselves under any obligation to his majesty, as the toleration had been granted for the purpose of introducing Catholics into places of trust, and of dividing Protestants among themselves. These apprehensions were encouraged by the Episcopal party, who, alarmed at the violent proceedings of the king against the English universities, and the bishops who had refused to read his proclamation for liberty of conscience in the churches, endeavoured to instil the same dread of popery and arbitrary power into the minds of their Presbyterian countrymen which they themselves entertained. By these and similar means discontent spread rapidly among the people of Scotland, who considered their civil and religious liberties in imminent danger, and were, therefore, ready to join in any measure which might be proposed for their protection.

William, Prince of Orange, who had married the Princess Mary, the eldest daughter of James, next in succession to the Crown, watched the progress of this struggle between arbitrary power and popular rights with extreme anxiety. He had incurred the displeasure of his father-in-law, while Duke of York, by joining the party whose object it was to exclude James from the throne, by the reception which he gave the Duke of Monmouth in Holland, and by his connivance, apparent at least, at the attempts of the latter and the Earl of Argyle. But, upon the defeat of Monmouth, William, by offering his congratulations on that event, reinstated himself in the good graces of his father-in-law. As James, however, could not reconcile the protection which the prince afforded to the numerous exiles from England and Scotland who had taken refuge in Holland, with the prince’s professions of friendship, he demanded their removal; but this was refused, through the influence of the prince with the States, and though, upon a hint being given that a war might ensue in consequence of this refusal, they were removed from the Hague, yet they still continued to reside in other parts of Holland, and kept up a regular communication with the Prince. Another demand made by the king to dismiss the officers of the British regiments serving in Holland, whose fidelity was suspected, met with the same evasive compliance; for although William displaced those officers, he refused commissions to all persons whom he suspected of attachment to the king or the Catholic faith. The wise policy of this proceeding was exemplified in the subsequent conduct of the regiments which declared themselves in favour of the prince’s pretensions.[539]

Early in the year 1687, William perceived that matters were approaching to a crisis in England, but he did not think that the time had then arrived for putting his intended design of invasion into execution. To sound the dispositions of the people, he sent over in February, that year, Dyckvelt, an acute statesman, who kept up a secret communication with those who favoured the designs of his master. Dyckvelt soon returned to Holland, with letters from several of the nobility addressed to the prince, all couched in favourable terms, which encouraged him to send Zuleistein, another agent, into England to assure his friends there that if James attempted, with the aid “of a packed parliament,” to repeal the penal laws and the test act, he would oppose him with an armed force.[540]

Although the king was aware of the prince’s intrigues, he could never be persuaded that the latter had any intention to dispossess him of his crown, and continued to pursue the desperate course he had resolved upon, with a pertinacity and zeal which blinded him to the dangers which surrounded him. The preparations of the prince for a descent on England went on in the meantime with activity; but a temporary damp was cast on his hopes by reports of the pregnancy of the queen, an event which, if a son was the result, might prevent the accession of his wife, the Princess Mary. On the 10th of June, 1688, the queen gave birth to a prince, afterwards known as the Pretender.

It was not till the month of September, when James was on the verge of the precipice, that he saw the danger of his situation. He now began, when too late, to attempt to repair the errors of his reign, by a variety of popular concessions; but although these were granted with apparent cheerfulness, and accepted with indications of thankfulness, it was evident that they were forced from the king by the necessity of his situation, and might be withdrawn when that necessity ceased to exist, an idea which appears to have prevailed among the people.

Being now convinced that the Prince of Orange contemplated an invasion of England, James began to make the necessary preparations for defence. In September, 1688, he sent down an express to Scotland to the members of the Privy Council, acquainting them with the prince’s preparations, and requiring them to place that part of his dominions on the war establishment. The militia was accordingly embodied, the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, &c. provisioned, and orders were sent to the chiefs of the Highland clans to be ready to assemble their men on a short notice. Many persons at first discredited the report of an invasion from Holland, and considered that it was a mere device of the king either to raise money or to collect an army for some sinister purpose; but their suspicions were allayed by intelligence being brought by some seamen from Holland of the warlike preparations which were making in the Dutch ports. The jealousies which were entertained of the king’s intentions were dissipated by the dread of a foreign invasion, and addresses were sent in to the Privy Council from the different towns, and from the country gentlemen, with offers of service.[541]

Whilst the Privy Council were engaged in fulfilling the king’s instructions, they received an order from his majesty to concentrate the regular army, and despatch it without delay into England. This force, which did not exceed 3,000 men, was in a state of excellent discipline, and was so advantageously posted throughout the kingdom that any insurrection which might break out could be easily suppressed. As the Prince of Orange had many adherents in Scotland, and as the spirit of disaffection to the existing government in the western counties, though subdued, had not been extinguished, the Privy Council considered that to send the army out of the kingdom under such circumstances would be a most imprudent step; and they, therefore, sent an express to the king, representing the danger of such a movement, of which the disaffected would not fail to avail themselves, should an opportunity occur. They proposed that the army should remain as it was then stationed, and that, in lieu thereof, a body of militia and a detachment of Highlanders, amounting together to 13,000 men, should be despatched to the borders, or marched into the north of England, to watch the movements of the king’s enemies in that quarter, and to suppress any risings which they might attempt in favour of the prince. But, although the Council were unanimous in giving this advice, the king disregarded it altogether, reiterated the order he had formerly given, and intimated, that if any of them were afraid to remain in Scotland, they might accompany the army into England.

Accordingly, the Scottish army began its march early in October, in two divisions. The first, consisting of the foot, at the head of which was General Douglas, brother of the Duke of Queensberry, who had the chief command of the army, took the road to Chester; and the second, consisting of the horse, under the direction of Graham of Claverhouse, as major-general, marched by York. These detachments, on their arrival at London, joined the English army under the command of the Earl of Feversham, about the end of October.

To supply the absence of the regular troops, and to prevent the disaffected from making the capital the focus of insurrection, a large body of militia, under the command of Sir George Munro, was quartered in Edinburgh and the suburbs; but no sooner had the army passed the borders, than crowds from all parts of the kingdom congregated, as if by mutual consent, in the metropolis, where they held private meetings, which were attended by the Earls of Glencairn, Crawford, Dundonald, and others. The objects of these meetings were made known to the council by spies, who were employed to attend them; and although they were clearly treasonable, the council had not the courage to arrest a single individual. Among other things, the leaders of these meetings resolved to intercept all correspondence between the king and the council, a task which Sir James Montgomery undertook to see accomplished, and which he did so effectually that very few despatches reached their destination.[542]

For several weeks the Privy Council, owing to this interruption, was kept in a state of painful uncertainty as to the state of the king’s affairs in England; but at last an express arrived from the Earl of Melfort, announcing the important intelligence that the Prince of Orange had landed in England with a considerable force, and that his majesty had gone to meet him at the head of his army.

The landing of the prince, which was effected without opposition on the 5th of November 1688, at Torbay in Devonshire, excited the greatest alarm in the mind of the king, who had entertained hopes that a well appointed fleet of thirty-seven men-of-war, and seventeen fire-ships which had been stationed off the Gun-fleet under the Earl of Dartmouth, an old and experienced commander, would have intercepted the prince in his voyage. Unfortunately, however, for the king, the cruisers which the admiral had sent out to watch the approach of the enemy had been driven back by the violence of the wind, and when the fleet of the prince passed the Downs towards its destined place of disembarkation, the royal fleet was riding at anchor abreast of the Long-sand, several miles to leeward, with the yards and topmasts struck; and as twenty-four hours elapsed before it could be got ready to commence the pursuit, the commander, on the representation of his officers, desisted from the attempt.

As soon as the king had recovered from the panic into which the news of the prince’s arrival had thrown him, he ordered twenty battalions of infantry and thirty squadrons of cavalry to march towards Salisbury and Marlborough, leaving six squadrons and six battalions behind to preserve tranquillity in the capital.[543] The prince, who had been led to expect that he would be received with open arms by all classes on his arrival, met at first with a very cold reception, and he felt so disappointed that he even threatened to re-embark his army. Had James therefore adopted the advice given him by the King of France, to push forward his troops immediately in person and attack the invader before the spirit of disaffection should spread, he might, perhaps, by one stroke, have for ever annihilated the hopes of his son-in-law and preserved his crown; but James thought and acted differently, and he soon had cause to repent bitterly of the course he pursued. Owing to the open defection of some of his officers and the secret machinations of others, the king soon found, that with the exception perhaps of the Scottish regiments, he could no longer rely upon the fidelity of his army. On the 20th of November he arrived at Salisbury, and reviewed a division of the army stationed there; and intended to inspect the following day, another division which lay at Warminster; but being informed that General Kirk, its commander, Lord Churchill and others, had entered into a conspiracy to seize him and carry him a prisoner to the enemy’s camp, he summoned a council of war, at which these officers were present, and without making them aware that he was in the knowledge of such a plot, proposed a retreat beyond the Thames. This proposition met with keen opposition from Churchill, but was supported by the Earl of Feversham, his brother the Count de Roye, and the Earl of Dumbarton, who commanded one of the Scottish foot regiments. The proposal having been adopted, Churchill and some other officers went over to the prince during the night.[544]

The army accordingly retired behind the Thames, and the king, without leaving any particular instructions to his officers, proceeded to London, to attend a council of peers which he had summoned to meet him at Whitehall. The departure of the king was a subject of deep regret to his real friends in the army, and particularly to the Earl of Dumbarton, and Lord Dundee, who had offered to engage the enemy with the Scots troops alone. This offer his majesty thought proper to decline, and in a conference which Dundee and the Earl of Balcarras afterwards had with him in London, when he had made up his mind to retire to France, he gave them to understand that he meant to intrust the latter with the administration of his civil affairs in Scotland, and to appoint the former the generalissimo of his forces.

In the Scottish Privy Council there were several persons who were inimical to the king, and who only waited for a favourable opportunity of offering their allegiance and services to the Prince of Orange. These were the Marquis of Athole, the Viscount Tarbet, and Sir John Dalrymple, the Lord-president of the Court of Session. The two latter, in conjunction with Balcarras, had been appointed by the council to proceed to England, to obtain personally from the king the necessary instructions how to act on the landing of the prince; but on some slight pretext they declined the journey, and Balcarras, a nobleman of undoubted loyalty, was obliged to go alone, and had the meeting with his majesty to which allusion has been made. These counsellors were duly apprised of the advance of the prince, the defection of some of the king’s officers, and of his return to London; but as the result of the struggle seemed still to be dubious, they abstained from openly declaring themselves. In order, however, to get rid of the chancellor, the Earl of Perth, and get the government into their own hands, as preliminary to their designs, Viscount Tarbet proposed that, with the exception of four companies of foot and two troops of horse to collect the revenue, the remainder of the troops should be disbanded, as he considered it quite unnecessary to keep up such a force in time of peace, the Prince of Orange having stated in a declaration which he had issued, that that was one of the grievances complained of by the nation. The chancellor, not foreseeing the consequences, assented to the proposal, and he had the mortification, after the order for dismissal had been given, to receive an intimation from the Marquis of Athole and his party, who waited personally upon him at his lodgings, that as they considered it dangerous to act with him and other Catholic counsellors who were incapacitated by law, they meant to take the government into their own hands in behalf of the king, and they demanded that he and his party should retire from the administration of affairs. The Duke of Gordon and the other Catholic members of the council, on hearing of this proceeding, assembled in the chancellor’s house to consult with him as to the nature of the answer which should be given to this extraordinary demand. As they saw resistance hopeless, they advised the chancellor to submit, and, probably to avoid personal danger, he retired immediately to the country.

The Marquis of Athole called a meeting of the council, and proposed an address of congratulation to the Prince of Orange, strongly expressive of gratitude to him for his generous undertaking to relieve them from popery and arbitrary power, and offering a tender of their services; but this address was warmly opposed by the two archbishops, Sir John Dalrymple, Sir George Mackenzie and others, and was finally negatived. They even opposed the voting of any address under existing circumstances, but the marquis and his party succeeded in carrying a short address, drawn up in general terms. Lord Glammis was sent up with it, but it was so different from what the Prince expected, that it met with a very cold reception.

The fate of the unfortunate monarch had by this time been decided. Before his return to London a great defection had taken place among the officers of the army, and he had at last the mortification to see himself deserted by his son-in-law, Prince George of Denmark, and by his daughter the Princess Anne, the wife of the Prince. “God help me! my very children have forsaken me;” such was the exclamation uttered by the unhappy monarch, his countenance suffused with tears, when he received the afflicting intelligence of the flight of Anne from Whitehall. When the king saw he could no longer resist the torrent of popular indignation, and that an imperious necessity required that he should leave the kingdom, his first solicitude was to provide for the safety of the queen and his son, whom he managed to get safely conveyed to France.

The resolution of the king to quit the kingdom was hastened after a fruitless attempt at negotiation with the Prince of Orange, by the appearance of an infamous proclamation against Catholics, issued under the signature of the prince, and which, though afterwards disowned by him, was, at the time, believed to be genuine. Having, therefore, made up his mind to follow the queen without delay, the king wrote a letter to the Earl of Feversham, the commander of the forces, intimating his intention, and after thanking him and the army for their loyalty, he informed them that he did not wish them any longer to run the risk of resisting “a foreign army and a poisoned nation.” Shortly after midnight, having disguised himself as a country gentleman, he left the palace, and descending by the back stairs, entered into a hackney coach, which conveyed him to the horse-ferry, whence he crossed the river, into which the king threw the great seal. Having arrived at Emley ferry near Feversham by ten o’clock, he embarked on board the custom-house hoy, but before she could be got ready for sea the king was apprehended, and placed under a strong guard.

When the king’s arrest was first reported in London, the intelligence was not believed; but all uncertainty on the subject was removed by a communication from James himself in the shape of a letter, but without any address, which was put into the hands of Lord Mulgrave by a stranger at the door of the council chamber at Whitehall. A body of about thirty peers and bishops had, on the flight of the king, formed themselves into a council, and had assumed the reins of government, and many of these, on this letter being read, were desirous of taking no notice of it, lest they might, by so doing, displease the prince. Lord Halifax, the chairman, who favoured the prince’s designs, attempted to quash the matter, by adjourning the meeting, but Mulgrave prevailed on the members of the council to remain, and obtained an order to despatch the Earl of Feversham with 200 of the life-guards to protect the person of the king.

On the arrival of Feversham the king resolved to remain in the kingdom, and to return to London, a resolution which he adopted at the urgent entreaty of Lord Winchelsea, whom, on his apprehension, he had appointed lord-lieutenant of Kent. James was not without hopes that the prince would still come to terms, and to ascertain his sentiments he sent Feversham to Windsor to invite the prince to a personal conference in the capital, and to inform him that St. James’s palace would be ready for his reception. The arrival of the earl with such a proposal was exceedingly annoying to William and his adherents, the former of whom, on the supposition that the king had taken a final adieu of the kingdom, had begun to act the part of the sovereign, while the latter were already intriguing for the great offices of the state. Instead of returning an answer to the king’s message, William, on the pretence that Feversham had disbanded the army without orders, and had come to Windsor without a passport, ordered him to be arrested, and committed a prisoner to the round tower, an order which was promptly obeyed.

At Rochester, whence he had despatched Feversham, the king was met by his guards, and thence proceeded to London, which he entered on the 16th of December amidst the acclamations of the citizens, and the ringing of bells, and other popular manifestations of joy, a remarkable proof of the instability and inconstancy of feeling which actuate masses of people under excitement.

As James conceived that the only chance he now had of securing the confidence of his subjects and preserving his crown, consisted in giving some signal proof of his sincerity to act constitutionally, he made the humiliating offer to Lewis and Stamps, two of the city aldermen, to deliver himself up into their hands on receiving an assurance that the civil authorities would guarantee his personal safety, and to remain in custody till parliament should pass such measures as might be considered necessary for securing the religion and liberties of the nation. But Sir Robert Clayton dissuaded the common council from entering into any engagement which the city might possibly be unable to fulfil, and thus a negotiation was dropt, which, if successful, might have placed William in a situation of great embarrassment.[545]

But although James did not succeed in his offer to the city, his return to Whitehall had changed the aspect of affairs, and had placed William in a dilemma from which he could only extricate himself by withdrawing altogether his pretensions to the crown, or by driving his uncle out of it by force. William considered that the most safe and prudent course he could pursue would be to force James to leave the kingdom; but in such a manner as to induce the belief that he did so freely and of his own accord. Accordingly, to excite the king’s alarms, a body of Dutch guards, by order of the prince, marched into Westminster, and, after taking possession of the palace of St. James’s, marched with their matches lighted to Whitehall, of which they also demanded possession. As resistance, owing to the great disparity of numbers, was considered by the king to be unavailing, he, contrary to the opinion of Lord Craven, the commander of his guards, who, though eighty years of age, offered to oppose the invaders, ordered the guards to resign their posts, of which the Dutch took possession. This event took place late on the evening of the 16th of December.[546]

The king now received orders from William to quit Whitehall by ten o’clock next morning, as the latter meant to enter London about noon, and that he should retire to Ham, a house in Surrey belonging to the dowager duchess of Lauderdale, which had been provided for his reception. The king objected to Ham as a residence being uncomfortable, but stated his willingness to return to Rochester. Permission being granted by the prince, James left Whitehall about twelve o’clock noon, after taking an affectionate adieu of his friends, many of whom burst into tears. He embarked on board the royal barge, attended by Viscount Dundee and other noblemen, and descended the river, surrounded by several boats filled with Dutch guards, in presence of an immense concourse of spectators, many of whom witnessed with sorrow the humiliating spectacle.[547]

The king arrived at Rochester the following day from Gravesend, where he had passed the previous night. Having remained four days at Rochester, he, accompanied by two captains in the navy, his natural son the Duke of Berwick, and a domestic, went on board the Eagle fireship, being unable to reach, on account of the unfavourable state of the weather, a fishing smack which had been hired for his reception. On the following morning he went on board the smack, and after a boisterous voyage of two days, arrived at Ambleteuse, in France, on the 25th of December, and joined his wife and child, at the castle of St. Germain’s, on the 28th. Thus ingloriously and sadly ended the reign of the last of the unfortunate and seemingly infatuated royal race of Stuarts.

Considering the crisis at which matters had arrived, the course which the king pursued, of withdrawing from the kingdom, was evidently the most prudent which could be adopted. All his trusty adherents in England were without power or influence, and in Scotland the Duke of Gordon was the only nobleman who openly stood out for the interests of his sovereign. He had been created a duke by Charles II. James had appointed him governor of the castle of Edinburgh, and he had been thereafter made a privy-counsellor and one of the lords of the treasury. Though a firm and conscientious Catholic, he was always opposed to the violent measures of the court, as he was afraid that however well meant, they would turn out ruinous to the king; not indeed that he did not wish to see the professors of the same faith with himself enjoy the same civil privileges as were enjoyed by his Protestant countrymen, but because he was opposed to the exercise of the dispensing power at a time when the least favour shown to the professors of the proscribed faith was denounced as an attempt to introduce popery. The king, influenced by some of his flatterers, received the duke coldly on his appearance at court in March, 1688, and curtailed some of his rights and privileges over the lands of some of his vassals in Badenoch. Even his fidelity appeared to be questioned, by various acts of interference with the affairs of the castle, of which he disapproved. He resented these indignities by tendering his resignation of the various appointments he held from the crown, and demanded permission from the king to retire beyond seas for a time; but James put a negative upon both proposals, and the duke returned to his post at Edinburgh.[548]

Notwithstanding the bad treatment he had received, the duke, true to his trust, determined to preserve the castle of Edinburgh for the king, although the Prince of Orange should obtain possession of every other fortress in the kingdom. He requested the privy council to lay in a quantity of provisions and ammunition, but this demand was but partially attended to, for though the garrison consisted only of 120 men, there was not a sufficiency of materials for a three months’ siege. The duke shut himself up in the castle, and invited the Earl of Perth, the chancellor, to join him; but the earl declined the offer, and, in attempting to make his escape to the continent, was seized near the Bass, in the Frith of Forth, by some seamen from Kirkcaldy, under a warrant from the magistrates of that burgh, and committed to Stirling castle, where he remained a close prisoner for nearly four years.[549] A few days after the duke had retired to the castle, an attempt was made by some of the prince’s adherents to corrupt the fidelity of the garrison, by circulating a false report that the duke meant to make the whole garrison, who were chiefly Protestants, swear to maintain the Catholic religion. A mutiny was on the eve of breaking out, but it was detected by the vigilance of some officers. The duke, thereupon, drew out the garrison, assured them that the report in question was wholly unfounded, and informed them that all he required of them was to take the oath of allegiance to the king, which was immediately done by the greater part of the garrison. Those who refused were at once dismissed. To supply the deficiency thus made, the duke sent notice to Francis Gordon of Midstrath to bring up from the north 45 of the best and most resolute men he could find on his lands; but, on their arrival at Leith, a hue and cry was raised that the duke was bringing down Papists and Highlanders to overawe the Protestants. To calm the minds of the people, the duke ordered these men to return home.[550]

As soon as the news of the arrival of the Prince of Orange in London, and the departure of the king, was received in Edinburgh, an immense concourse of persons, “of all sorts, degrees, and persuasions,” who “could (says Balcarras) scrape so much together” to defray their expenses, went up to London, influenced by motives of interest or patriotism. The Prince of Orange took the wise expedient of obtaining all the legal sanction which, before the assembling of a parliament, could be given to his assumption of the administration of affairs in England; obtaining the concurrence of many of the spiritual and temporal peers, and of a meeting composed of some members who had sat in the House of Commons during the reign of Charles II., as also of the Lord-Mayor of London, and 50 of the common council. He now adopted the same expedient as to Scotland, and taking advantage of the great influx into the capital of noblemen and gentlemen from that country, he convened them together. A meeting was accordingly held at Whitehall, at which 30 noblemen and 80 gentlemen attended. The Duke of Hamilton, who aimed at the chief direction of affairs in Scotland, was chosen president. At this meeting a motion was made by the duke that a convention of the estates should be called as early as possible, and that an address should be presented to the prince to take upon him the direction of affairs in Scotland in the meantime; but this motion was unexpectedly opposed by the Earl of Arran, the duke’s eldest son, who proposed that the king should be invited back on condition that he should call a free parliament for securing the civil and religious liberties of Scotland. This proposition threw the assembly into confusion, and a short adjournment took place, but on resuming their seats, the earl’s motion was warmly opposed by Sir Patrick Hume, and as none of the members offered to second it, the motion was consequently lost, and the duke’s being put to the vote, was carried.

A convention of the estates, called by circular letters from the prince, was accordingly appointed to be held at Edinburgh, on the 14th of March, 1689, and the supporters of the prince, as well as the adherents of the king, prepared to depart home to attend the ensuing election. But the prince managed to detain them till he should be declared king, that as many as might feel inclined might seal their new-born loyalty by kissing his hand; but William had to experience the mortification of a refusal even from some of those whom he had ranked amongst his warmest friends. The Earl of Balcarras and Viscount Dundee, the former of whom had, as before mentioned, been invested by the king with the civil, the latter with the military administration of affairs in Scotland, were the first of either party who arrived in Scotland, but not until the end of February, when the elections were about to commence. On their arrival at Edinburgh they found the Duke of Gordon, who had hitherto refused to deliver up the castle, though tempted by the most alluring offers from the prince, about to capitulate, but they dissuaded him from this step, on the ground that the king’s cause was not hopeless, and that the retention of such an important fortress was of the utmost importance.

The elections commenced. The inhabitants of the southern and western counties (for every Protestant, without distinction, was allowed to vote), alarmed for the extinction of their religious liberties, and excited by the recollection of the wrongs they and their forefathers had suffered, gave their suffrages to the popular candidate, and the adherents of the king soon perceived that the chances were against him. Yet, when the convention met, a respectable minority seemed, notwithstanding, to be in favour of the king, but they had neither the courage nor address to oppose the popular current. To overawe, as is supposed, the friends of the king, or to prevent the convention from being overawed by the troops in the castle, the Duke of Hamilton and his friends, a few days before the meeting of the convention, introduced a considerable number of armed men into Edinburgh, some of whom were concealed in cellars and houses, ready to act as occasion might require. The first trial of strength between the two parties took place on the election of a president. To the Duke of Hamilton the adherents of the king opposed the Marquis of Athole, who, in consequence of being slighted by the prince, had promised his support to the royal party; but the duke was elected by a considerable majority. This vote sealed the fate of the Tory party, and many who had hitherto wavered in their allegiance now openly abandoned the cause of James. The consequence was, that within a few days, the number of the adherents of the king was greatly reduced.

The first act of the convention was to send the Earls of Tweeddale and Leven, with an order to the Duke of Gordon to deliver up the castle within twenty-four hours. The duke, overcome by the smooth and insinuating behaviour of Tweeddale, reluctantly yielded, and promised to surrender the castle next morning at ten o’clock. When this answer was brought to the convention, Balcarras and Dundee were alarmed, and immediately despatched a confidential servant to the duke reminding him of his promise to hold out, and imploring him not to give way. The duke wavered, but on obtaining a writing which he required under the hands of these noblemen that the retention of the castle was absolutely necessary for the success of the king’s affairs, and being visited the following morning by Lord Dundee, who impressed on him the importance of holding out, he resolved to break with the convention. To prepare matters in the north he despatched thither the Earl of Dunfermline, his brother-in-law, to whom he granted a written commission, authorising him to raise his friends and vassals in support of the king.[551]

In consequence of the refusal of the duke to deliver up the castle, he was, by order of the convention, summoned by the heralds at the gate of the castle to surrender, and a proclamation was read at the same time prohibiting all persons from having any communication with him, and promising a reward of six months’ pay to the Protestants in the garrison who should seize him and deliver him and the castle up to the convention. The duke addressed the heralds from within the gate, and told them, that he kept the castle by commission from their common master, and would defend it to the last extremity; and after handing them some guineas, which he requested they would spend in drinking the king’s health, and the healths of all his loyal subjects, he facetiously advised them not to proclaim men traitors with the king’s coats on their backs till they had turned them. Upon the departure of the heralds, the duke drew out the garrison and gave them their option, either to remain in the castle and share with him the dangers that awaited them, or to depart. Upwards of a third of the garrison took advantage of the permission to depart, and left the castle on that and the following day.[552]

As the king’s friends saw that any efforts they could make in the convention would be quite unavailing, they agreed at a private meeting which they held on the 17th of March, to repair to Stirling and there hold a convention by themselves. This resolution was adopted agreeably to the wish of the king himself, who had sent a written authority, dated from Ireland, empowering the Archbishop of St. Andrews, the Earl of Balcarras, and Viscount Dundee, to call a meeting of the estates at Stirling. Balcarras and Dundee received an assurance from the Marquis of Athole, who, ever since the cold reception he had met with from William, had been wonderfully loyal, that he would accompany them, and a similar promise was obtained from the Earl of Mar, governor of Stirling castle. Athole, however, began to waver, a circumstance which deferred the departure of the king’s friends.

Here it may not be improper to notice a circumstance which probably had its weight in the deliberations preceding the departure of Dundee. On the morning of 16th March, just as Lord Dundee was on the point of going to the convention, he was waited upon by James Binnie, a dyer, who informed him that he had overheard a conversation the day before among some persons of their intention of murdering him and Sir George Mackenzie, and Binnie offered, if a warrant were granted him, to apprehend them. Dundee immediately went to the convention and applied for protection, but they refused to act in the matter, and passed to the order of the day. Whether this affair was the device of the Whig party, as has been supposed, to get quit of two individuals particularly obnoxious to them, there are no means of ascertaining; but when the circumstances of the times, and the opinions then held by many of the people are considered, the design of assassinating them is far from improbable.[553]

But be this as it may, Dundee resolved to remain as short as possible in a place where he might be every moment exposed to the dagger of the assassin; and, accordingly, he and his friends fixed on Monday the 18th of March for their departure for Stirling. With the exception of Dundee, they all assembled at the appointed place of rendezvous in the city at the hour which had been fixed; but as the Marquis of Athole, who had promised to accompany them and to protect them on their arrival at Stirling with a body of his vassals, wished them to postpone their departure till the following day; they consented to remain, and were in the act of dispersing and proceeding to the convention when Dundee made his appearance. Such an unexpected resolution greatly surprised him, but he told Balcarras, that whatever were the views of his friends, he would not remain another day in Edinburgh. Balcarras remonstrated with him, and represented, that his departure would give the alarm to their enemies, who would not fail to take advantage of the discovery; but he replied, that as he had a select body of between forty and fifty troopers ready mounted and prepared to start, he would not remain any longer within the city, but would clear the walls with his party and wait without for such friends as might choose to join him. Dundee accordingly left the city at the head of his troopers, to go, as he is said to have emphatically replied to a friend who put the question to him, wherever the spirit of Montrose should direct. After passing the Nether Bow port, he turned to the left down Leith Wynd, and after clearing the suburbs of the Calton, he faced to the west, and proceeded along the line of road known at the time by the name of the Lang-gate, and which now forms the splendid terrace of Princes’ street. On arriving opposite the castle, Dundee ordered his men to halt, and alighting from his horse, he clambered up the steep precipice on the west side of that fortress, and from the bottom of the wall held a conference with the Duke of Gordon, who stood in an adjoining postern gate immediately above. No account has been preserved of the nature of the conversation which passed between these two devoted adherents of the king, but it is understood that the viscount entreated the duke to hold out the castle as long as he could, and that he would endeavour to raise the siege as soon as he had collected sufficient forces.[554]

The convention despatched a Major Bunting with a party of horse in pursuit, but although he overtook Dundee, he had not the courage to attack him, alarmed by a threat with which, it is said, Dundee menaced him, that he would send him (Bunting) back to the convention, in a pair of blankets, did he dare to molest him.[555] Dundee crossed Stirling bridge the second day of his departure, and proceeded to his residence of Dudhope, near Dundee, to ruminate over the events which had just passed, and to concoct his plans, under the new and extraordinary circumstances in which he was placed, for the restoration of James.

FOOTNOTES:

[520] “I believe there was never accident in the world altered the disposition of a people more than that (the king’s return) did the Scottish nation. Sober men observed, it not only inebriat but really intoxicate, and made people not only drunk but frantick; men did not think they could handsomely express their joy except they turned brutes for debauch, rebels, and pugeants; yea, many a sober man was tempted to exceed, lest he should be condemned as unnatural, disloyal, and unsensible. Most of the nobility, and many of the gentry, and hungry old souldiers, flew to London, just as the vulture does to the carcase. And though many of them were bare enough, they made no bones to give 15 of the 100 of exchange.”—Kirkton, p. 65.

[521] State Trials, vol. v., 1369–1508.—Kirkton, 100–4.

[522] Strafford’s Letters, vol. ii. pp. 187–290.

[523] This is the veritable instrument devised by the Regent Morton, and by which were beheaded the Marquis and Earl of Argyle, “and many more of the noblest blood of Scotland.”

[524] Kirkton, pp. 143, 166.

[525] “A rumour went that there was a witch-wife named Muddock who had promised to the M’Lains, that, so long as she lived, the Earle of Argile should not enter Mull; and indeed many of the people imputed the rise of that great storme under her paction with the devil, how true I cannot assert.”—Law’s Memorials, p. 83.

[526] Note to Kirkton by Sharpe, p. 391.

[527] Law’s Memorials, pp. 80, 1, 2, 3, 94, 159.

[528] “But when this goodly army retreated homeward, you would have thought by their baggage they had been at the sack of a besieged city; and, therefore, when they passed Stirling bridge every man drew his sword to show the world they hade returned conquerors from their enemies’ land; but they might as well have showen the pots, pans, girdles, shoes taken off country men’s feet, and other bodily and household furniture with which they were burdened; and among all, none purchast so well as the two earles Airly and Strathmore, chiefly the last, who sent home the money, not in purses, but in bags and great quantities.”—Kirkton, pp. 390–1.

[529] Scots Acts, 1681, c. vi.

[530] “He was lying a prisoner in Edinburgh castle in daily expectation of the order arriving for his execution, when woman’s wit intervened to save him, and he owed his life to the affection of his favourite step-daughter, the sprightly Lady Sophia, who, about eight o’clock in the evening of Tuesday, the 20th of December, 1681, effected his escape in the following manner, as related to Lady Anne Lindsay, by her father, Earl James, Lady Sophia’s nephew:—‘Having obtained permission to pay him a visit of one half-hour, she contrived to bring as her page a tall, awkward, country clown, with a fair wig procured for the occasion, who had apparently been engaged in a fray, having his head tied up. On entering she made them immediately change clothes; they did so, and, on the expiration of the half-hour, she, in a flood of tears, bade farewell to her supposed father, and walked out of the prison with the most perfect dignity, and with a slow pace. The sentinel at the drawbridge, a sly Highlander, eyed her father hard, but her presence of mind did not desert her, she twitched her train of embroidery, carried in those days by the page, out of his hand, and, dropping it in the mud, “Varlet,” cried she, in a fury, dashing it across his face, “take that—and that too,” adding a box on the ear, “for knowing no better how to carry your lady’s garment.” Her ill-treatment of him, and the dirt with which she had besmeared his face, so confounded the sentinel, that he let them pass the drawbridge unquestioned.’ Having passed through all the guards, attended by a gentleman from the castle, Lady Sophia entered her carriage, which was in waiting for her; ‘the Earl,’ says a contemporary annalist, ‘steps up on the hinder part of her coach as her lackey, and, coming forgainst the weighhouse, slips off and shifts for himself.’”—Lives of the Lindsays, vol. ii. p. 147.

[531] Hume’s Narrative, pp. 5–9.

[532] Hume’s Nar., p. 15. Wellwood App., p. 323.

[533] Hume’s Nar., pp. 9, 12–14, 15–18.

[534] Hume’s Narrative, pp. 46–56. Gazette, 2044.

[535] He was attacked by two troopers who were ignorant of his quality, till the exclamation “Unfortunate Argyle,” uttered as he fell, betrayed him. “The clan of the Riddells,” says Dr. Burns, editor of Wodrow, “have taken the honour, or the disgrace of having furnished one of these two militiamen. A person of this name from Lochwinnoch, within forty years ago, had gone to the Balloch fair, near Dumbarton, in the capacity of a horse-dealer. The Campbells from Argyleshire heard his hated name, which called up to their imaginations one of the principal murderers of their chief, and they were preparing themselves for a feudal clan battle, when the companions of the Lowlander interposed and prevented bloodshed by a cunning device or ruse de guerre, transforming his name from Riddell to Ridet.”—“The spot where Argyle was taken [commonly said to have been near Inchinnan in Renfrewshire] is marked out by a stone, which passes among the country-people by the name of ‘Argyle’s Stone.’” Hist. &c., tom. iv. p. 297.

[536] Hume’s Narrative, pp. 56–67. Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 533–537. Gazette, 2045.

[537] Fountainhall, p. 1177.

[538] Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 624, App. 187, 192, 194, 195. Fountainhall, State Trials, vol. x. p. 785, vol. xi. p. 1179. Balcarras’s Account, p. 3.

[539] D’Avaux.

[540] Dalrymple, pp. 200–210.

[541] Balcarras, p. 9.

[542] Idem, p. 19.

[543] Barillon.

[544] James’ Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 222. &c. Burnet, vol. iii. p. 316.

[545] James (Memoirs), vol. ii. p. 271.—Great Britain’s Just Complaint, p. 8.

[546] “A day or two after his return, Earl Colin (of Balcarras) and his friend Dundee waited on his Majesty. Colin had been in town but three or four days, which he had employed in endeavours to unite his Majesty’s friends in his interest. ‘He was received affectionately,’ says his son, ‘but observed that there were none with the king but some of the gentlemen of his bed-chamber.’ L—— came in, one of the generals of his army disbanded about a fortnight before. He informed the king that most of his generals and colonels of his guards had assembled that morning upon observing the universal joy of the city upon his return; that the result of their meeting was to appoint him to tell his Majesty that still much was in their power to serve and defend him; that most part of the army disbanded was either in London or near it; and that, if he would order them to beat their drums, they were confident twenty thousand men could be got together before the end of next day.—‘My lord,’ says the king, ‘I know you to be my friend, sincere and honourable; the men who sent you are not so, and I expect nothing from them.’—He then said it was a fine day—he would take a walk. None attended him but Colin and Lord Dundee. When he was in the Mall, he stopped and looked at them, and asked how they came to be with him, when all the world had forsaken him and gone to the Prince of Orange? Colin said their fidelity to so good a master would ever be the same; they had nothing to do with the Prince of Orange,—Lord Dundee made the strongest professions of duty;—‘Will you two, as gentlemen, say you have still attachment to me?’—‘Sir, we do.’—‘Will you give me your hands upon it, as men of honour?’ they did so,—‘Well, I see you are the men I always took you to be; you shall know all my intentions. I can no longer remain here but as a cypher, or be a prisoner to the Prince of Orange, and you know there is but a small distance between the prisons and the graves of kings; therefore I go for France immediately; when there, you shall have my instructions,—you, Lord Balcarres, shall have a commission to manage my civil affairs, and you, Lord Dundee, to command my troops in Scotland.’”—Lives of the Lindsays, vol. ii. pp. 161, 162.

[547] James, vol. ii. pp. 265–267.

[548] Gordon’s Hist. of the Family of Gordon, vol. ii. pp. 585, 586.

[549] Balcarras, p. 29.

[550] Gordon’s Hist. of the Family of Gordon, vol. ii. pp. 587, 588.

[551] Balcarras, pp. 41–2. Gordon’s Hist. of the Family of Gordon, p. 592.

[552] Gordon’s Hist. of the Family of Gordon, pp. 593–4.

[553] Balcarras, p. 24.—Minutes of Convention, 16th March.

[554] It is to this interview that Sir Walter Scott alludes in his well-known and stirring ballad of “Bonnie Dundee.”

—“The Gordon has asked of him whither he goes?

‘Wherever shall guide me the soul of Montrose!

Your grace in short space shall have tidings of me,

Or that low lies the bonnet of Bonnie Dundee!

‘There’s lands beyond Pentland, and hills beyond Forth,

If there’s lords in the South-land, there’s chiefs in the North,

And wild dunnie-wassels three thousand times three,

Will cry hoigh! for the bonnet of Bonnie Dundee?

‘Away to the hills, to the woods, to the rocks—

Ere I own an usurper I’ll couch with the fox;

So, tremble, false Whigs, though triumphant ye be,

For ye’ve not seen the last of my bonnet or me!’

He waved his proud arm and the trumpets were blown,

The kettle-drums clashed, and the horsemen rode on,

Till by Ravelston craigs and on Clermiston-lea

Died away the wild war-note of Bonnie Dundee.

—‘Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,

Come saddle my horses and call up my men,

Fling all your gates open and let me go free,

For it’s up with the bonnets of Bonnie Dundee!’”

[555] Life of Dundee.

CHAPTER XX.

March to July, 1689.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—William III., 1688–1703.

Viscount Dundee—Proceedings of the convention—General Hugh Mackay—Attempt to apprehend Dundee, who retires to the north—Mackay follows Dundee—Dundee joined by Keppoch—Movements of the two commanders—Movements of Colonel Ramsay—Disaffection among Mackay’s troops—Ruthven Castle surrenders to Dundee—Mackay retreats down Strathspey—Followed by Dundee—Retreat of Dundee, who disbands his forces—Mackay returns to Edinburgh—Probabilities of success—Dundee solicits aid from Ireland—Preparations of Mackay—Lord Murray and the Athole-men—Departure of Mackay to Perth—Dundee marches into Athole—Battle of Killiecrankie—Death and character of Dundee.

Before giving the details of Dundee’s insurrection, the following short sketch will not be out of place. John Graham, Viscount Dundee, descended from the royal line of the Stuarts by the marriage of William, Lord Graham of Kincardine, his ancestor, with the Princess Mary, second daughter of King Robert III., was the eldest son of Sir William Graham of Claverhouse in Angus or Forfarshire, and was born in 1643. Besides a royal descent, Viscount Dundee also claimed to be descended, through the family of Morphy in Mearns, from the illustrious house of Montrose, and was also allied to the noble family of Northesk by his mother, Lady Jean Carnegy, who was fourth daughter of the first earl. Young Graham entered the university of St. Andrews in the year 1660, where, according to his partial biographer, he made “very considerable progress” in “Humanity and Mathematics.” He was chiefly remarkable for his enthusiastic predilection for Highland poetry and the established order of things. He left the university in 1670 and went to France, where he entered as a volunteer. He afterwards transferred his services to Holland, and received the commission of a cornet in one of the Prince of Orange’s troops of guards. He distinguished himself at the battle of Seneffe, in 1674, by saving the life of the prince, who had been dismounted, and carrying him off upon his own horse. Having been refused the command of one of the Scottish regiments in the employment of the States, he left the Dutch service and returned to Scotland in the year 1677, and was appointed by Charles II. captain of one of the regiments then raising in Scotland for the suppression of the Whigs, in which service he acquired from the unfortunate Covenanters, on account of his severities, the unenviable appellation of “the bloody Clavers.” The confidence which Charles had bestowed on Captain Graham was continued by his successor James, who, after promoting him successively to the ranks of brigadier and major-general, raised him to the peerage under the title of Viscount Dundee, on the 12th of November 1688, seven days after the invasion of the Prince of Orange.

John Graham, Viscount Dundee.
From Original Painting in possession
of the Earl of Strathmore.

The idea of setting up a counter convention at Stirling, was immediately abandoned on the departure of Dundee from the capital. The Marquis of Athole, whom the adherents of the king had chosen for their leader, showed no disposition to follow Dundee, and the Earl of Mar, who to save his loyalty made a feint to escape by the only guarded way, was apprehended, not unwillingly, as is supposed, by the sentinels, and brought back, but was released on giving his parole that he would not leave the city without the permission of the convention. The ambiguous conduct of these two noblemen tended to cool the ardour of the few remaining adherents of the king, some of whom resolved to support the new order of things, whilst others, less pliant, absented themselves wholly from the convention. That assembly, after approving of the conduct of the English convention, in requesting the Prince of Orange (now declared King of England) to take upon him the administration of the affairs of that kingdom, acknowledged their obligations to him as the assertor of their liberties, and also entreated him to assume the management of the affairs of Scotland.

Popular as the steps were which the convention were about to take for settling the government of the nation, with the great body of the people, they were not insensible to the probability of a formidable opposition being raised to their plans by a determined band of royalists in the north, who, headed by such a warlike and experienced commander as Dundee, might involve the whole kingdom in a civil war. To prepare, therefore, against such an emergency, the convention before proceeding to the important business for which it had assembled issued a proclamation, requiring all persons from sixteen to sixty, and capable of bearing arms, to put themselves in readiness to take the field when called upon; they deprived all militia officers suspected of attachment to the king of their commissions, and filled up the vacancies thus occasioned by others on whom they could rely. Sir Patrick Hume, who lay under an attainder for the part he took in Argyle’s rebellion, was appointed to the command of the horse militia, and the Earl of Leven was nominated to the command of a body of 800 men, raised for a guard to the city of Edinburgh.

Backed by these, and by about 1100 men of the Scotch brigade from Holland, which arrived at Leith from England, on the 25th of March, under General Mackay, as major-general of all the forces in Scotland,[556] and by a force of 200 dragoons which were also sent from England; the leaders of the convention proposed that a committee of eight lords, eight knights, and eight burgesses, should be appointed to prepare and report upon a plan of settling the government.

The throne having been declared vacant, the convention, on the motion of the Duke of Hamilton, appointed the committee to draw up an act for settling the crown of Scotland upon William and Mary, and they were also instructed to prepare an instrument or declaration for preventing a recurrence of the grievances, of which the nation complained. The Earl of Argyle on the part of the lords, Sir James Montgomery for the knights, and Sir John Dalrymple for the burghs, were thereupon despatched to London to offer the crown to William and Mary, on the conditions stipulated by the convention. The commissioners were introduced to their majesties at Whitehall, on the 11th of May, and were of course well received, but on the coronation oath being presented to them by the Earl of Argyle, William, who was rather disposed to support episcopacy in Scotland, demurred to take it, as it appeared by a clause which it contained, importing that their majesties should root out heresy, and all enemies to the true worship of God, to lay him under an obligation to become a persecutor. This difficulty, which it is evident was well founded, was however got over by the commissioners declaring that such was not the meaning or import of the oath.

The convention having thus completed the object for which it was assembled, adjourned to the 21st of May, not however till it had passed an act at utter variance with those principles of constitutional liberty, which it professed to establish. By this act the Duke of Hamilton was vested with full power and authority to imprison any person he might suspect of disaffection to the new government, a violent and arbitrary measure certainly, which nothing but the extraordinary circumstances of the times could justify. The Earl of Balcarras and Viscount Dundee were marked out as the first victims of this unconstitutional law. The latter had been already proclaimed an outlaw and a rebel by the convention, for absenting himself from its meetings, but he had hitherto made no movement, in consequence of instructions from the king, desiring him not to take the field till a force of 5,000 foot, and 300 horse, which he promised to send him from Ireland, should land in Scotland.

These instructions having come to the knowledge of Hamilton, hastened his determination to arrest Balcarras and Dundee. Balcarras was seized at his country seat, carried to Edinburgh, and imprisoned in the common jail, from which he was afterwards transferred to the castle after its surrender; but Dundee, who had received notice of the approach of the party, retired from his house at Dudhope and took refuge in the mountains.

The favourable reception which James had met with in Ireland, and the discovery which the adherents of William in Scotland had made of his intention to land an army in Scotland, joined to the fact that the great body of the Highlanders, and almost the whole of the episcopal party in the north, were hostile to the recent change in the government, could not fail to excite alarm in the minds of the partizans of the new dynasty. The brilliant achievements of Montrose had shown how inadequate the peaceful inhabitants of the south, though impelled by the spirit of religious fanaticism, were to contend with the brave and hardy mountaineers of the north; and as Dundee, as they were aware, was desirous of emulating his great predecessor, and was engaged in an active correspondence with the Highland chiefs, they must necessarily have looked forward to a long and bloody, and perhaps a doubtful contest.

As Dundee possessed the confidence of the Highland clans,[557] and as he looked chiefly to them for support in his attempt to restore the exiled monarch, Viscount Tarbat, one of the ablest politicians of the period, proposed a plan for detaching the chiefs from the cause of James, some of whom he averred were not so inimical to William nor so attached to James, as was supposed; but who, jealous of the power of Argyle, were justly apprehensive that if, as appearances indicated, that nobleman acquired an ascendency in the national councils, he would make use of his power to oppress them, and would obtain a revocation of the grants of certain lands which belonged to his family, and which had been forfeited in the reign of Charles II. Besides these reasons, there was another which was supposed to influence others in their determination to restore the fallen dynasty, and thereby crush the rising power of Argyle, viz. that they were greatly in arrears to him as their superior. Tarbat, therefore, suggested to General Mackay, that an attempt should be made, in the first place to obtain the submission of these last by making them an offer to discharge Argyle’s claims against their lands, which he computed would amount to £5,000 sterling, and that a separate offer should be made to the chief of the Macleans to make good a transaction which had been in part entered upon between him and the late earl for adjusting their differences. This plan was approved of by the English government, but the affair is said to have been marred by the appointment of Campbell of Cawdor as negotiator, who was personally obnoxious to the chiefs. Mackay attempted to open a correspondence with Cameron of Lochiel on the subject, but could obtain no answer, and Macdonell of Glengary, to whom he also made a communication, heartily despising the bribe, advised the general, in return, to imitate the conduct of General Monk, by restoring James.[558]

Dundee crossed the Dee, and entered the Duke of Gordon’s country, the inhabitants of which were friendly to the cause of James, and where he was joined by about 50 horse under the Earl of Dunfermline, who, as has been stated, was sent north by the Duke of Gordon to raise his vassals in support of his royal master. Whilst Dundee was occupied in raising forces in this district, Mackay was despatched from Edinburgh with a considerable body of troops in pursuit. Mackay appointed the town of Dundee as the rendezvous for his troops, being the best station he could select for keeping the adjoining country, which was disaffected to the new government, in awe, and whence he could send parties to the north to watch the motions of Dundee. On arriving at Dundee, Mackay, leaving a part of his troops there under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Livingston, proceeded north with a body of about 500 men, consisting chiefly of dragoons, in quest of the viscount. At Brechin he received intelligence that Dundee, ignorant of course of Mackay’s movements, was on his return to his seat of Glenogilvie in the braes of Angus, that he had already passed the Cairn-a-mount, and that he was expected to pass the night at Fettercairn, only a few miles north from Brechin. The viscount, however, having been apprized of Mackay’s movements, recrossed the Dee.

As soon as Mackay was informed of this retrograde movement, he resolved to pursue Dundee, and, if possible, to overtake him before he should have time to collect any considerable body of forces. With a small but select body of horse and foot, therefore, he crossed the Dee at Kincardine, in the expectation of being joined in the course of his march by some country gentlemen who had given him assurances of support before leaving Edinburgh. In this expectation, however, he was sadly disappointed, for, with the exception of the Master of Forbes, who met him after he had crossed the Dee, with a party of 40 gentlemen of his name on horseback and a body of between 500 and 600 men on foot, chiefly raw peasantry, not one of them showed any inclination to join him. The fact was, that, with few exceptions, the people residing to the north of the Tay, were either indifferent to the course of events, or were opposed upon principle to any change in the hereditary succession to the crown, which many of them considered an infraction of the Divine law, and which they believed no misconduct on the part of the king could justify. No man knew these things better than Dundee, who calculated that by means of this feeling he would soon be able to arouse the war-like north against the more peaceful south. But valuable as such a body of auxiliaries as that brought by the Master of Forbes may be supposed to have been under these circumstances, Mackay, who had been accustomed to the finest troops in Europe, considered that they would be of no service to him, as, according to his own account, they were “ill armed,” and appeared “little like the work” for which they were intended. He therefore declined the services of the Forbeses in the meantime, and after thanking the master for having brought them together, he ordered him to dismiss them to their homes, with instructions that they should re-assemble whenever a necessity occurred for defending their own country against the inroads of Dundee.

Having received intelligence of Dundee’s route through Strathdon towards Strathbogie, Mackay continued his march in that direction through Aberdeenshire and Moray. On arriving at Strathbogie, he was informed that Dundee had crossed the Spey with about 150 horse without opposition, although Mackay had given particular instruction to the laird of Grant, while in Edinburgh, to occupy all the fords of that river. Mackay also learned, on the following day, by a letter sent to him by the magistrates of Elgin, which had been addressed to them by Dundee, that the viscount was at Inverness, that he had been there joined by Macdonald of Keppoch at the head of 1,000 Highlanders, and that he intended to make Elgin his head-quarters preparatory to an attack upon Mackay. The accession of the Macdonalds was of immense importance to Dundee, and was as seasonable as unexpected. A deadly feud had for some time existed between Macdonald and Mackintosh, arising out of certain claims by the former upon the lands of the latter; and to such a pitch of armed violence did Keppoch carry his pretensions, that James II. felt himself called upon to interfere, by issuing a commission of fire and sword against him as a rebel. Keppoch, taking advantage of the unsettled state of the government, renewed his claims against Mackintosh; and having defeated the Mackintoshes in battle, he had advanced to Inverness, the inhabitants of which had supported the Mackintoshes against him, and was threatening to wreak his vengeance upon them if they did not purchase forbearance by paying him a large pecuniary fine. It was at this critical moment that Dundee arrived, who, anxious at once to secure the aid of Keppoch and the friendship of the citizens of Inverness, who had only a few days before proclaimed the Prince of Orange, interposed between them and their exasperated foe, and satisfied the latter’s supposed claims by collecting the amount of his demands by subscription among the inhabitants.[559]

The news of the junction of the Keppoch Highlanders with Dundee, and of their intention to march to the south, was exceedingly disconcerting to Mackay, who had advanced into a hostile country with a handful of troops quite incapable of resisting the powerful force now opposed to them. The obvious and apparently most prudential course which presented itself, was, on the approach of the enemy, to make a sure and as slow a retreat as possible, and to bring up the forces which he had left behind him; but Mackay, rightly judging that a retreat, besides giving Dundee the command of a large tract of country favourable to his views, might create an impression that his adversary was much stronger than he really was, resolved not only to stand firm, but even to cross the Spey, and take possession of Elgin before Dundee should arrive there. Accordingly, after despatching a courier to bring up his reserves from Brechin without delay, he crossed the Spey and advanced upon Elgin, with his dragoons at a hard trot, followed by 200 veteran foot, who were so desirous of coming to action that they kept up with the horse the whole way from the river to the town. From Elgin, Mackay despatched messengers to some of the principal Whig proprietors in Moray, Ross, and Sutherland, desiring them to prepare themselves for joining him as soon as they should receive his orders.

Mackay lay a few days at Elgin in expectation of Dundee’s advance; but as the latter did not appear, Mackay, who had just received a reinforcement of horse from Brechin, left Elgin and took the road to Inverness. When he reached Forres, he ascertained that Dundee had left Inverness, and had crossed the heights of Badenoch on his way to Athole. It is said that Dundee intended to have advanced upon Elgin, and to have engaged Mackay, but he was counteracted in his design by the refusal of a party of Camerons, who were under Keppoch, to march without the consent of their chief, their real motive apparently being that they were desirous of securing what booty they had taken. Mackay continued his march to Inverness, where he was joined by 500 of the Mackays, Grants, and Rosses. From Inverness, he despatched couriers to the adherents of the new government in the north to join him; and at the same time sent an express to Colonel Balfour at Edinburgh, to despatch Colonel Ramsay north with a select body of 600 men to be drawn from the Dutch regiments. To effect as speedy a junction with him as possible, Mackay directed that Ramsay should march through Athole and Badenoch. These transactions, Burton[560] thinks happened probably about the beginning of May.

Dundee, on the other hand, was no less busy in his preparations for the ensuing campaign. He never ceased to carry on an active correspondence with many of the Highland chieftains whose confidence he possessed; and on his march through Badenoch he received the most gratifying assurances of support from the gentlemen of that country, with the exception of Mackintosh, who had taken offence at Dundee. Having fixed upon Lochaber as the most central and convenient district for mustering his forces, Dundee appointed the friends of King James to assemble there on the 18th of May, and in the meantime he descended into Athole, with a body of 150 horse, where he met with a cordial reception from Stewart of Ballechan, factor or steward to the Marquis of Athole, and from the other vassals of the marquis. Whether Stewart and the other gentlemen of the district, in taking this decided part, acted from a private understanding with their chief, who still remained at Edinburgh, where he had given in an equivocal adherence to the government, or whether they were yet ignorant of the course he meant to follow, are questions which, for want of information, do not admit of solution. The omission on the part of the marquis to send instructions to Stewart to raise a body of 400 Athole Highlanders, to oppose the passage of Dundee through his bounds to the south, should he attempt it, to which effect he had pledged himself to Mackay, before the latter left Edinburgh for the north, raises a suspicion that the gentlemen of Athole acted agreeably to the understood wishes of their chief.[561]

Being informed that the lairds of Blair and Pollock were lying in Perth with a troop of horse, which they had raised for the service of the government, Dundee determined to surprise them, and accordingly left Athole, and proceeded with celerity during the night towards Perth, which he entered unawares early next morning, and seized both these gentlemen and two other officers in their beds, carrying them off prisoners. He also took away 30 horses, and a sum of 9,000 merks of the public revenue which he found in the office of the collector. Leaving Perth, Dundee ranged through Angus, augmenting his cavalry, and after an ineffectual attempt to surprise Lord Rollo, who was raising a troop of horse, he appeared before the town of Dundee, then guarded by two troops of Livingston’s dragoons. Their commander, unwilling to encounter Dundee, shut himself up in the town, and the viscount, after spending two nights at Dudhope, his country seat, returned to the Highlands, to meet his friends at the appointed place of rendezvous.

During all this time, Mackay remained at Inverness, waiting for the arrival of Ramsay’s detachment from the south, which he had long and anxiously looked for. In conformity with Mackay’s orders, Colonel Balfour immediately put the troops under Colonel Ramsay in readiness to march, but just as they were about to pass across the Frith of Forth, from Leith to Burntisland, an alarm was created by the appearance of a large number of vessels at the mouth of the Frith, which were at once supposed to be a French fleet with troops on board for the purpose of making a descent upon the coast in support of Dundee. As the seizure of the capital, it was naturally supposed, would be the first object of the invaders, the embarkation of Ramsay’s detachment, which in such an event would be necessary for its defence, was countermanded; but in two or three days the fears of the government were dispelled, by having ascertained that the fleet in question consisted of a number of Dutch herring vessels which were proceeding on their annual voyage to the fishing stations on the northern coast. This delay occasioned great embarrassment to the operations of Mackay, and almost proved fatal to him, as Dundee was thereby enabled to throw himself with a large force between Mackay’s and Ramsay’s corps, and to threaten both with annihilation.

In terms of his instructions, Ramsay, after reaching Perth, proceeded through Athole, on his way to Inverness. Though the Athole-men, many of whom he found armed, offered no opposition to his march, yet as every thing around him assumed a warlike appearance, and as reports were continually brought to him that Dundee had placed himself between him and Mackay, with a very large force, he grew alarmed, and so strong had his fears become when within a dozen of miles of Ruthven in Badenoch, that he resolved to return to Perth. He had previously despatched a letter to Mackay, informing him of his advance, and appointing a meeting at Ruthven on a given day, but he neglected to send another express acquainting Mackay of his design to return to Perth. The retreat of Ramsay was disorderly, and some of his men deserted. The Athole-men, who kept hovering about him, were desirous of attacking him, but they were prevented, though with difficulty, by the gentlemen of the district. Mackay having received Ramsay’s despatch, was so anxious to form a speedy junction with the latter’s detachment, that he left Inverness the following (Sunday) morning, taking with him only two days’ provisions. When about half-way between Inverness and Ruthven, he received an express from the governor of the castle, informing him of Ramsay’s retreat, and that Dundee acting on information contained in an intercepted despatch of Mackay’s, had entered Badenoch on Sunday morning, (the morning of Mackay’s march from Inverness,) with an immense force, and was within a few miles of the castle.

The first person who had met Dundee in Lochaber on the appointed day was Glengary, who had with him a body of between 200 and 300 men. He was followed by Macdonald of Morer, at the head of nearly 200 of Clan Ranald’s men, and by Appin and Glencoe, with about the same number. Dundee had been subsequently joined by Lochiel (now 60 years of age), who had 600 men under him, and by Keppoch, at the head of 200; but Sir Alexander Maclean, who had promised also to attend, failed to appear.

The intelligence communicated by the commander of Ruthven castle was exceedingly perplexing to Mackay, who must have felt keenly the disappointment of Ramsay’s flight. He saw himself with a handful of men surrounded by a warlike and hostile population, and within a short march of a powerful force, which he could not singly resist—with few friends on whom he could place much reliance. He had, in the unfortunate situation in which he was placed, only a choice of evils before him. To have proceeded on his march with the view of cutting his way through the enemy, would have been, even if practicable, an imprudent and very dangerous step, and to have taken up a position in a district where he would have been exposed to be surrounded and cut off from his resources, would have been equally rash. He had, therefore, no alternative which he could prudently adopt, but either to fall back upon Inverness, or retire down the vale of the Spey. He preferred the latter course; for, although such a movement would leave Inverness quite exposed to Dundee’s army, that disadvantage would be more than counterbalanced by the protection which would be thereby afforded to the laird of Grant’s lands, near the borders of which Dundee was now hovering, and by the obstruction which the interposition of Mackay’s troops would present to any attempt on the part of Dundee to recruit his army in the Duke of Gordon’s country. Besides, by making Strathspey the scene of his operations, Mackay expected to be able to keep up a communication with the south through Angus and Aberdeenshire, and the adjoining parts of Moray, which he could not maintain if he returned to Inverness.

Accordingly, after despatching an express to Inverness, apprising the garrison of his intentions, and promising assistance, should Dundee venture to attack the town, Mackay began a rapid march towards Strathspey, which he continued during the night, and did not halt till he had descended a considerable way down that vale. Dundee, who had closely pursued him, afraid of exposing his men to the attacks of Mackay’s cavalry, did not follow him after he had gained the flatter part of the Strath, but kept aloof at the distance of some miles in a more elevated position where he encamped. Notwithstanding his inferiority in point of numbers, the revolutionary general determined to endeavour to allure Dundee from his stronghold by offering him battle, and having refreshed his men, wearied by a long march of twenty-four hours, he advanced next morning to within a mile of Dundee’s camp, and, after reconnoitring the position of the enemy, made preparations for receiving them; but Dundee, secure from danger, by the nature of the ground he occupied, showed no disposition to engage. It is probable that, in acting thus passively, he was influenced by the conduct of the Highlanders, who were averse to engage with cavalry, and some of whom (the Camerons, according to Mackay,) fled to the neighbouring hills on Mackay’s approach. Seeing no hope of drawing the viscount out of his trenches, Mackay returned in the evening to his camp, which he removed the following day to Colmnakill, about six miles lower down the Spey, where he considered himself more secure from any sudden surprise or attack, and where he was speedily joined by two troops of Livingston’s dragoons from Dundee. The ground occupied by Mackay was a spacious plain, bounded on the south by the Spey, which effectually protected his rear, whilst his front was covered by a wood and some marshes which skirted the plain on the north. The right of Mackay’s position was protected by a small river with a rough and stony bottom. The general himself took up his quarters at Belcastle, a summer-house in the neighbourhood belonging to the laird of Grant, whence he despatched ten or twelve of Grant’s tenants, selected by Grant himself as the most intelligent and trustworthy, to watch and bring him notice of Dundee’s motions. These scouts kept up a constant communication with Mackay, who received a report from one or other of them almost every alternate hour. In the meantime, he kept his whole army under arms, and to prevent surprise, small parties of horse and dragoons patrolled the neighbouring woods, and some foot were stationed along the banks of the little river on the right. But these precautions would probably have been unavailing, if the government general had not timeously been made acquainted with the fact, that there were enemies in his camp who were watching an opportunity to betray him.

For some time, a report had been current that Livingston’s regiment of dragoons was disaffected to the government; but as Mackay could not trace the rumour to any authentic source, he disbelieved it, and to mark his confidence in its fidelity, he had ordered the two troops which were stationed at Dundee to join him in the north. But two days after two deserters from Dundee’s camp informed Mackay that, with few exceptions, all the dragoon officers had entered into a conspiracy to betray him. They said that they had heard Dundee frequently assure the chiefs of the clans that he could depend upon the dragoons, and heard him inform the chiefs, that till he saw a favourable opportunity for requiring the services of the dragoons, he would allow them to remain in the enemy’s camp, where they might be useful to him. The deserters likewise informed Mackay that they had not left Dundee’s camp altogether of their own accord, but partly at the instigation of the lairds of Blair and Pollock, who had been carried about by Dundee as prisoners ever since their capture at Perth, and who were anxious to prevent Mackay from engaging, under these circumstances, with such a small party of troops as he then had.

This information, though calculated to shake the general’s confidence in the fidelity of these dragoons, was too vague and unsatisfactory to be relied upon. Mackay appears at first to have had some doubts of the truth of the statement; but his unwillingness to believe the accusation gave place to an opposite impression when, after ordering the deserters to be confined in Belcastle, and threatening them with exemplary punishment should it turn out that they were spies sent by Dundee, they expressed themselves quite satisfied to abide the result of any investigation he might institute.

Mackay, though now satisfied that there were traitors in his camp, took no steps to secure them, but continued to remain in his position waiting for the arrival of Barclay’s dragoons and Leslie’s foot from Forfar and Couper Angus. Mackay might have retreated down the river, but he was advised to remain at Colmnakill by Sir Thomas Livingston and the laird of Grant; because by retaining his ground, his expected succours would be every day drawing nearer to him, and every day thus spent would be lost to Dundee, who was prevented, by his presence, from communicating with those places in the low country from which he expected reinforcements, particularly in horse, of which he stood in most need. Besides, by retiring, Mackay considered that he might probably be forced to recross the Grampians before the two regiments could join him, in which case he would leave the whole of the north exposed to Dundee, who would probably avail himself of the opportunity to raise a force too formidable to be encountered.

In the meantime, Dundee sent a detachment of his army to lay siege to the old castle of Ruthven, in which Mackay, on his arrival at Inverness, had placed a garrison of about 60 of Grant’s Highlanders, under the command of John Forbes, brother to Culloden. The garrison being in want of provisions, capitulated on the condition that their lives should be spared, and that they should be allowed to return to their homes on their parole. While conducted through Dundee’s camp, Forbes observed all the horses saddled, and his army preparing as if for an immediate march. In proceeding towards Colmnakill, he met, at the distance of about a mile from Dundee’s lines, two men on horseback, one in a red, the other in a blue uniform. The latter immediately challenged him with the usual parole, “Qui vive?” on which Forbes returning the “Vive le Roi Guilleaume,” as indicative of his loyalty to the existing government, the man in red informed him that they had been despatched from Mackay’s camp to obtain intelligence of the enemy. Captain Forbes then cautioned the men of the risk they would run if they proceeded farther, but regardless of his advice, they rode forward in the direction of Dundee’s camp. Forbes having mentioned this occurrence to Mackay the same day, the latter immediately suspected that the officers of dragoons were in communication with Dundee, as he had given no such order as the man clothed in red had pretended. He, thereupon, desired inquiry to be made if any dragoons had been sent out, and by whom; and as blue was the uniform of Livingston’s men, he desired them to be instantly mustered to ascertain if any were absent; but the general had scarcely issued these instructions, when some of his scouts brought him intelligence that Dundee’s army was moving down the Strath towards Colmnakill. This movement, combined with the information which had been communicated to him by Forbes, left no doubt of the treachery of the dragoons.

Under these circumstances, Mackay had no alternative but an immediate retreat. Calling, therefore, his commanding officers together, he ordered them to put their men under arms, and to form them upon the plain in marching order. He next addressed himself to the laird of Grant, and after expressing his regret at the step he was about to take, by which Grant’s lands would be left for a short time exposed to the ravages of Dundee’s army, he requested him to order his tenants to drive their cattle down the country out of the reach of the enemy, who would probably overlook them in their anxiety to follow him in his retreat. Grant listened to this advice with becoming attention, but to show how little he regarded his own personal interest, as opposed to what he conceived his duty to his country, he observed, that though he might lose every thing by Dundee’s invasion of his country, he would not take one step prejudicial to the government.

In fixing the order of his retreat, Mackay adopted the plan he had been accustomed to follow, that he might not excite the jealousy of the dragoons, or make them suspect that he was distrustful of them. Accordingly, as was his usual practice, he divided the dragoons into two bodies, one of which, consisting of Major and Captain Balfour’s companies, he placed in the rear, and the other four companies commanded by the disaffected officers he placed in the front, that he might overawe them by his own presence. Immediately before the two troops of dragoons which formed the rear-guard, Mackay placed 200 foot, chiefly grenadiers of the three Scoto-Dutch regiments, and next to them the English horse, then scarcely 70 men strong, and between those horse and the four companies of dragoons which were led by Sir Thomas Livingston, he posted 200 of Lord Reay’s and Balnagowan’s Highlanders, having previously dismissed Grant’s men, whom he had informed their chief he would leave behind to protect their own country from Dundee’s stragglers.

There were three ways by which Mackay could retreat,—either towards Inverness, or through Strathdown and Glenlivet, a movement which would bring him near his expected reinforcements, or down Strathspey. Of these routes Mackay would have preferred the southern; but as the population of Strathdown and Glenlivet was Catholic, and of course hostile to him, and as the ground in those districts was unfavourable to the operations of cavalry in case of attack, he resolved to march down Strathspey. But as he was desirous to conceal his route from Dundee, he did not begin his march till nightfall, at which time Dundee was within three miles of his camp. In his course down Speyside he passed by the house of Grant of Ballindalloch, who was serving under Dundee, and arrived early the following morning at Balveny, where he halted to refresh his men and procure a supply of provisions. There he met Sir George Gordon of Edinglassie, from whom he obtained some men to act as intelligencers. Some of these he despatched back in the direction he had come, to ascertain if Dundee still remained in the Strath; but apprehensive that Dundee would take a southerly course, by crossing the Strath, with the view of throwing himself between Mackay and his reinforcements, he sent off others in that direction. These scouts soon returned with intelligence that Dundee was still in Strathspey. This information was satisfactory to Mackay, and relieved him from a state of the most painful anxiety; but he was still greatly perplexed by the want of provisions, which, though hourly expected, had not yet arrived.

Desirous, however, to wait for supplies as long as consistent with safety, he again despatched some of Gordon’s men in the direction he supposed Dundee would take, and at the same time sent a sergeant with a party of 12 dragoons back by the course he had marched, to bring him notice of Dundee’s motions. Mackay waited with the greatest impatience till about five o’clock in the evening for the return of the dragoons, without any signs of their appearance, a circumstance which alarmed him so much, that although a quantity of provisions and oats had just reached his camp, he would not allow time for baking bread or feeding the horses, but gave orders for an immediate march. Accordingly, the whole party moved off in the same order as before, and passed a small river about a mile above the place where they had been encamped; but they had scarcely advanced half a mile when Sir Thomas Livingston, who happened to be a little behind, observed the enemy on the other side of the river they had just passed, marching towards the ford by which Mackay’s men had crossed. On being informed of this, Mackay, after ordering Lieutenant-colonel Livingston, who was at the head of the vanguard, to continue at a pretty quick pace; galloped to the rear, and having despatched Sir Thomas Livingston to the front to lead the party, with instructions to keep up a constant pace, but without wearying the troops, he posted himself upon a rising ground with about 50 or 60 horse and dragoons in view of Dundee’s army, where he was joined by the Master of Forbes with about 50 horse.

When Dundee observed the party of dragoons drawn up on the hillock he immediately halted, drew in his stragglers, and marshalled his men into battalions, keeping up the usual distinction of the clans. In the meantime Mackay sent off his nephew, Major Mackay, to a hill which lay about a quarter of a mile to his left, from which he could obtain a nearer and more correct view of Dundee’s force and his motions. The viscount’s horse immediately passed the river, and drew up along the bank to protect the passage of the foot, who in their turn also formed till the baggage was brought over. It was now after sunset, but the viscount continued to advance. Mackay, who was nearly two miles behind his rear; thereupon began to ride off with his party, but he had not proceeded far when a cry of “halt!” met his ears. On turning round he observed galloping after him, Major Mackay, who, having observed a party of horse which he supposed to belong to Dundee, moving along the face of a hill to the General’s left, and which from the twilight appeared more numerous than it really was, had hastened to acquaint the General of the circumstance. It turned out, however, that this party which had occasioned such alarm was no other than the sergeant with the 12 dragoons of Livingston’s regiment which had been sent out by Mackay in the morning to reconnoitre. It was afterwards ascertained that this sergeant was concerned in the plot, and that he was the same individual in blue, whom Captain Forbes had met with within a mile of Dundee’s camp. This man pretended, however, that he had run great danger of capture; and that he had taken such a round-about way merely to avoid the enemy, though he and his party had been with Dundee the whole day, and had conducted him over the ground which Mackay had passed on the preceding day. The government forces continued their march all night till they crossed the river of Bogie, where, from pure exhaustion, they halted at four o’clock in the morning. The General then ordered the provisions which had reached the camp previous to his retreat, to be distributed among his troops, and desired the horsemen to lead their horses into an adjoining corn-field and feed them. When the men were refreshing themselves Mackay received the agreeable intelligence that Barclay and Leslie’s regiments would join him that day, but “to play sure game,” as he himself says, after allowing his men two hours’ rest, he marched three miles further down towards his succours, and took up a position at the foot of Suy-hill upon the common road from the south to the north, by which he expected the two regiments would march.

General Hugh Mackay of Scourie.

Having sent a pressing order to Barclay and Leslie to hasten their march, Mackay had the satisfaction of being joined by the former at twelve o’clock noon, and by the latter at six o’clock in the evening, after a long and fatiguing march. Resolved that no time should be lost in turning the chase upon Dundee before he should be aware of these reinforcements, Mackay put his army in marching order, and advanced towards him after ten o’clock at night. But his designs were made known to Dundee by two dragoons who had been despatched by their officers. These men, on the departure of Dundee, were discovered in a wood, and the general being satisfied that the sergeant before mentioned had had a conference with Dundee, and the two dragoons having confessed nearly as much themselves, he immediately put Lieutenant-colonel Livingston and the other suspected officers under arrest. He thereupon continued his march, and arrived at Balveny that night; and on the following day reached Colmnakill, which he had left only five days before. Here having received notice that a party of Dundee’s men was on the other side of the adjoining river, he sent orders to Sir Thomas Livingston to cross with 200 dragoons and drive them away; but Sir Thomas having been previously informed that the laird of Grant was sorely pressed by the retiring forces of Dundee, had anticipated the general’s orders, and had advanced two miles beyond the river with a greater force, in pursuit of a body of Highlanders. These were, according to Balcarras, Sir John Maclean’s men, who were on their way to join Dundee, and who, alarmed at the appearance of such a large number of dragoons, threw away their plaids and betook themselves to an adjoining hill, where they formed. They are stated by the last-mentioned author to have amounted only to 200 men, but Mackay, in his memoirs,[562] states the number at 500. Mackay observes, that but for the indiscretion of Livingston’s adjutant, who by riding a quarter of a mile in advance, gave the Highlanders timeous notice of the approach of the dragoons, not one of them would have escaped, but being thereby enabled to gain the top of the hill before the dragoons came up with them, they sustained a loss of only 80 or 100 men. In this skirmish, a captain of Barclay’s regiment and six dragoons were killed, and some wounded.

Having been joined by Ramsay’s detachment, which during the occupancy of Strathspey by the hostile armies, had, unknown to Mackay, penetrated through Athole and Badenoch and reached Inverness, Mackay continued to pursue Dundee into Badenoch; but as the latter retired into Lochaber, Mackay gave over the pursuit on learning that Dundee had dismissed the greater part of his forces. Mackay, thereupon, marched to Inverness with Livingston’s dragoons, Leslie’s foot, and a party of Leven’s and Hastings’ regiments, and 200 Highlanders, and sent Barclay’s regiment to Strathbogie, and the three Dutch regiments to Elgin. From Inverness, Mackay despatched an express to the Duke of Hamilton, urging upon him the necessity of placing “a formidable garrison” at Inverlochy, and small ones in other places in the north, without which he considered that it would be utterly impossible to subdue the Highlanders, who, on the approach of an army, for which a fortnight’s subsistence could not be found in their mountainous regions, could easily retire to difficult passes and other places inaccessible to regular troops. He, therefore, requested that his grace and the parliament would consider the matter before the season was farther spent, and provide the necessary means for carrying such a design into effect against his arrival in the south, whither he intended to proceed in a few days.

On his way to the south, Mackay despatched 50 horse, as many of Barclay’s dragoons, and 60 foot, to take possession of the house of Braemar, into which he intended to place a garrison to keep the Braemar men in check, and to cover the county of Aberdeen; and he ordered the captain of dragoons, after putting 20 of his men into the house, to march forward, without halting, before break of day, to the house of Inverey, about three miles farther off, for the purpose of seizing Inverey and some other gentlemen who had lately been with Dundee. But, fortunately for Inverey and his guests, the officer trifled off his time in Braemar house, refreshing his horses, till the dawn of the morning, and the approach of him and his party being perceived, Inverey and his friends escaped in their shirts to a neighbouring wood. Disappointed of their prey, the party retired to the house of Braemar, where, after setting their horses loose to graze, they laid themselves down to repose; but they were soon wakened from their slumbers by some firing from a party on a rock above, which had so alarmed the horses that they were found galloping to and fro in the adjoining fields. As soon as the dragoons had caught their horses, which they had some difficulty in doing, they galloped down the country. The party on the rock was headed by Inverey, who had collected a number of his tenantry for the purpose of expelling the dragoons from his bounds, and who, on their retreat, set fire to Braemar house, which was consumed.

The party of foot, which, having charge of a convoy of provisions and ammunition for the intended garrison, had not yet arrived, on hearing of the retreat of the dragoons, shut themselves up in a gentleman’s house, to secure themselves from attack, and the commanding officer sent an express after Mackay, who was then on his way to the south, acquainting him with the failure of the enterprise. On receiving this intelligence, Mackay, although he had not a day’s bread on hand, and was in great haste to reach Edinburgh, “to put life in the design of Inverlochy,” turned off his course and crossed the hills towards Braemar, with his foot, after giving directions to Barclay’s dragoons to march up Deeside. Finding Braemar house destroyed, and the vaults of it incapable of holding a garrison, Mackay, after burning Inverey’s house and laying waste all his lands, descended the river to Abergeldie, where he left a detachment of 72 men as a check upon the Farquharsons. And having placed the other troops which he had brought from the north in quarters farther down the Dee, he posted off to Edinburgh, where he arrived in the beginning of July, about a fortnight after the surrender of the castle of Edinburgh, which capitulated on the 14th of June, after a siege of three months.

On his arrival at Edinburgh, Mackay was exceedingly mortified to find that no steps whatever had been taken by the government for putting his design into execution, of erecting a fort at Inverlochy. As the season was now too far advanced to collect materials for such an erection, he proposed that a body of 1,500 pioneers should be levied in the northern counties, each of whom should be obliged to carry a spade, shovel, or pickaxe, along with him, and that a month’s provisions of meal, with horses to carry it, should be furnished, along with a force of 400 men. But this plan, the general himself confesses, “considering the inability, ignorance, and little forwardness of the government to furnish the necessary ingredients for the advance of their service, was built upon a sandy foundation, and much like the building of castles in the air.”[563] As an instance of the slowness and irresolution of government, Mackay mentions, that after his return from the north, they took three weeks to deliberate upon the mode of conveying a fortnight’s provisions for 400 men; by which delay he says he lost the opportunity of preventing Dundee from occupying Athole, Badenoch, and other parts of the southern Highlands.

The return of Mackay to the capital, after a fruitless and exceedingly harassing series of marches and countermarches, seems to have abated the ardour of some of the supporters of the government, who, disappointed in their expectations, and displeased at the preference shown by the court to others they considered less deserving than themselves, had become either indifferent about the result of the struggle, or secretly wished for a restoration. That such an event might occur was indeed far from improbable. James was already in possession, with the exception of two cities, of all Ireland, and William was by no means popular in England. To give, therefore, a decided and favourable turn to James’s affairs in Scotland, nothing was wanting but to aid Dundee immediately with a few thousand men from Ireland; but although the necessity of such a step was urged by Dundee in his communications with the exiled monarch, the latter did not, unfortunately for himself, consider the matter in the same light. The expectation of such a reinforcement, which they confidently looked for, had, however, its due effect upon the minds of the Highlanders, who gladly endured during the recent campaign all those painful privations which necessarily attend an army scantily provided with the means of subsistence. No man was better fitted by nature than Dundee for command under such difficulties, and at the head of such troops. Whilst by his openness, frankness, and disinterestedness he acquired an ascendency over the minds of the chiefs, he was equally successful by attending personally to their wants, by mixing frequently among them, and by sharing their privations and fatigues, in securing the obedience of the clans. But valuable and important as the services were of such a bold and devoted band, it was evident that without a sudden and powerful diversion from Ireland, or a considerable rising in the lowlands, it would be impossible for Dundee, from the paucity of his forces, and the want of cavalry, to carry the war into the south with any possible chance of success.

As the Irish reinforcements were daily expected, Dundee enjoined the chiefs of the clans, who, with their men, had taken a temporary leave of absence on the departure of Mackay, to rejoin him as soon as possible, and from his head-quarters at Moy, in Lochaber, he sent expresses to the other chiefs who had not yet joined him to hasten to the approaching muster.[564]

About the same time he despatched a letter to the Earl of Melfort, in which, after adverting to various circumstances, he advises him to send over from Ireland a body of 5,000 or 6,000 men to Inverlochy, which he considered the safest landing-place that could be selected as being “far from the enemy,” and whence an easy entrance could be obtained for an army into Moray, Angus, or Perthshire. On the return of the transports from Inverlochy, Dundee advised Melfort to send over as many foot as he conveniently could to the point of Cantyre, on hearing of whose landing he would advance as far as the neck of Tarbert to meet them, and that on the junction taking place, Dundee would march “to raise the country,” and afterwards proceed to the passes of the Forth to meet the king, who, it was supposed, would follow the expedition. To deceive Mackay and the Scottish council, and to induce them to withdraw their forces from the north, and thus leave him at greater liberty to organize it, Dundee industriously circulated a report that the forces from Ireland would land altogether in some quarter south of the Clyde. To give an appearance of certainty to the rumour, he wrote a letter to Lady Errol, a warm supporter of James’s interest, acquainting her of the expected landing in the west, and to prevent suspicion of any ruse being intended, he inclosed some proclamations, which, it is presumed, he intended to issue when the Irish arrived. As wished and anticipated, this despatch was intercepted and sent to Edinburgh. The device appears to have in part succeeded, as Dundee informs Melfort, that the government forces were afterwards withdrawn from Cantyre.[579]

Whilst Dundee was thus maturing his plans, preparatory to another campaign, Mackay was urging the privy council to supply him with a sufficient force, for carrying into effect his favourite plan of erecting a strong fortification at Inverlochy. This leads to the supposition that “the General,” a term by which Mackay distinguishes himself in his memoirs, had not taken the bait which had been prepared for him by his artful rival, for it is improbable, had Mackay believed the story invented by Dundee, that he would have insisted on carrying such a large force as 4,000 men, the number he required, into Lochaber, so very remote from the scene of the threatened invasion.

Having collected his forces, Mackay made the necessary preparations for his departure, but he was detained nearly a fortnight in Edinburgh, beyond the time he had fixed for his march, by the delays of the government, in furnishing meal for his troops, and horses for transporting it. In the meantime he was informed by Lord Murray, eldest son of the Marquis of Athole, that Stewart of Ballochin, his father’s chamberlain, and other gentlemen of the county of Angus, had taken possession of the castle of Blair Athole, belonging to the Marquis, and were fortifying it for behoof of King James. Lord Murray offered to go immediately to Athole, and do everything in his power to obtain possession of the castle of Blair, before Dundee should arrive. As Lord Murray’s wife was known to be very zealous for the presbyterian interest, and as his lordship and the Marquis his father, who was secretly hostile to the government, were at variance, Mackay gave a ready assent to the proposal, and pressed his lordship eagerly to depart for Athole without loss of time, informing him that all he required from him, was to prevent the Athole-men from joining Dundee.[584]

Lord Murray accordingly proceeded to Athole, where he arrived about the beginning of July, and lost no time in summoning his father’s vassals to meet him. About 1,200 of them assembled, but no entreaties could induce them to declare in favour of the government, nor could a distinct pledge be obtained from them to observe a neutrality during the impending contest. His lordship was equally unsuccessful in an application which he made to Stewart of Ballochin, for delivery of Blair castle; Stewart telling him that he held the castle for behoof of King James, by order of his lieutenant-general. The failure of Lord Murray’s mission could certainly occasion no disappointment, as it was not to be imagined that a body of men who had all along been distinguished for their attachment to the exiled family, were, at the call of a young man, who by marriage, and the disagreement with his father, may be supposed to have made himself obnoxious to the men of Athole, all at once to abandon long-cherished ideas and to arm in support of a cause in which they felt no interest.

About the period of Lord Murray’s arrival in Athole, intelligence was brought to Dundee that a body of 500 Irish troops, under an officer of the name of Cannon, had reached Mull. The viscount immediately proceeded to Inverlochy to give orders respecting their landing, but, although they all reached the mainland in perfect safety, the ships which carried their provisions being unnecessarily detained at Mull, were all captured by some English frigates which were cruizing amongst the western islands. The loss of their stores was a serious evil; and it embittered the disappointment felt by Dundee and the chiefs, to find that instead of an efficient force of 5,000 or 6,000 men, as they had been led to expect, not more than a tenth part had been sent, and even this paltry force was neither properly disciplined, nor sufficiently armed; so that, according to Balcarras, their arrival did “more harm than good.” Such also was the opinion of Mackay at the time, as expressed in a letter to Lord Melville.[585]

Having given the necessary orders for bringing up the Irish troops, Dundee returned to Strowan, where he had fixed his head quarters. Here he received a letter which had arrived during his absence at Inverlochy, from Lord Strathnaver, eldest son of the Earl of Sutherland, couched in very friendly terms, and advising him to follow the example of the Duke of Gordon, as the course he was following, if persisted in, would lead inevitably to his ruin. But Dundee was not the man who would allow his personal interest to interfere with the allegiance which he considered he owed to his exiled sovereign, and while in his answer he expressed a deep sense of the obligation he lay under to his lordship for his advice and offers of service, which he imputed to his lordship’s “sincere goodness and concern” for him and his family, he assured him that he (Dundee) had no less concern for him, and that he had been even thinking of making a proposal to him, but delayed doing so till his lordship should see things in a clearer point of view.

At Strowan, Dundee was made acquainted by Stewart of Ballochin, with Lord Murray’s proceedings, and with a demand made by his lordship for possession of Blair castle, a demand to which Ballochin had given the most decided refusal. The possession of this place was of vast importance to Dundee, as it commanded the entrance into the southern Highlands, and lay in the line of Mackay’s intended route to Inverlochy. To reward his fidelity, and to counteract Lord Murray’s influence in Athole, Dundee sent a commission to Ballochin, appointing him colonel of the Athole-men. The appointment, however, would probably have been conferred on Lord Murray, to whom Dundee had, on the 19th of July, two days before the date of Ballochin’s commission, despatched a letter, stating the happiness which he felt on hearing that his lordship had appointed a rendezvous of the Athole-men at Blair, and expressing a hope that he would join the viscount with his men; but, instead of answering this letter, his lordship sent it to Lord Melville, the secretary of state for Scotland. Such also was the fate of other letters, which Dundee sent to Lord Murray. Along with the last, which was written on the 25th of July, Dundee despatched Major Graham and Captain Ramsay for the purpose of obtaining a personal interview with Lord Murray; but he declined to see them, or to give any answer to Dundee’s communication. It appears that up to this time the Athole-men, who had, at the call of the son of their chief, assembled to the number of about 1,200, were ignorant of Lord Murray’s intentions; but when he refused to receive Dundee’s officers, they at once began to suspect his designs, and demanded with one voice an immediate explanation, intimating at the same time, that if he would join Dundee they would follow him to a man; but if on the contrary he refused, they would all leave him. His lordship remonstrated with them, and even threatened them with his vengeance if they abandoned him; but regardless of his threats, they left him to join Dundee, having previously filled their bonnets with water from the rivulet of Banovy, in the neighbourhood of Blair castle, and pledged themselves to King James by drinking his health.[586]

In the meantime the government general was busily engaged at Edinburgh, making the necessary preparations for his march. He appointed his troops to rendezvous at Perth, and after completing his arrangements at Edinburgh, he went to Stirling to inspect the castle, so as to make himself acquainted with its means of defence. In a letter[587] dated 24th July, written to Lord Melville on his arrival at Stirling, Mackay alludes to the distracted state of the government in Scotland, and the difficulty he would experience in executing the commission which the king had given him, to keep the kingdom peaceable, in consequence of the divisions which existed even between the adherents of the government. The removal from office of Stair the president of the court of session, and his son, who had rendered themselves obnoxious to the ultra whig party, by their attempts to stretch the royal prerogative too far, appears to have been considered by that party of more importance than keeping Dundee in check. So high did the spirit of party run, that the Earl of Annandale and Lord Ross, who had just been appointed colonels of two newly raised regiments of horse, refused to accompany their regiments, and offered to resign their commissions rather than quit the parliament. This state of matters was highly favourable to James’s interests in Scotland, and if Melfort had followed Dundee’s advice, by sending over a large force from Ireland, the cause of his royal master might have triumphed, but with that fatality which attended the unfortunate monarch in all his undertakings, he allowed to slip away the golden opportunity which was here offered him, of recovering his crown.

From Stirling Mackay proceeded to Perth, after ordering the troops of horse and dragoons of the expedition to follow him. On arriving at Perth, a letter was shown him from Lord Murray, from which he learned, that Dundee, who had been solicited by Stewart of Ballochin to hasten into Athole, was already marching through Badenoch, and so anxious was he to anticipate Mackay’s arrival in Athole, that he had left behind him several chiefs and their men, whose junction he daily expected. Lord Murray added, that if Mackay did not hasten his march so as to reach Athole before Dundee, he would not undertake to prevent his men from joining the viscount. As Mackay informs us, that before leaving Edinburgh he had begun “already to have very ill thoughts of the expedition in gross,” and as on reaching Stirling, the idea that he would be straitened for provisions haunted his mind, this information was assuredly by no means calculated to relieve these fearful apprehensions. He had gone too far, however, to retrace his steps with honour, and although four troops of dragoons and two of horse had not yet joined him, he resolved, for reasons that to him, in the position in which he was then placed, seemed most forcible, to proceed immediately on his march to Athole.

The last and perhaps most important reason given by himself for this step, is that, as the possession, by Mackay, of the castle of Blair, was in his opinion the only means of keeping in awe the Athole-men, (who, from their numbers and strict attachment to the house of Stewart, were more to be dreaded than any other body of Highlanders,) and preventing them from joining Dundee, he had no alternative but to allow Dundee to roam uncontrolled through the disaffected district of Athole, gathering strength at every step, or to attempt to gain the important fortress of Blair.

Such were the grounds, as stated by Mackay in his own exculpation, which made him resolve upon marching into Athole, and which, he observes, “more capable commanders might readily be deceived in.” Those who make the unfortunate result of this movement the rule of their judgment, will be apt to condemn Mackay’s conduct on this occasion as rash and injudicious, but when his own reasons are duly weighed, it is difficult to see how he could have acted otherwise than he did. There can be no doubt, that had he been as successful at Killiecrankie as he was unfortunate, he would have been applauded for the exercise of a sound discretion, and regarded as a tactician of the highest order.

On the 26th of July, Mackay left Perth at the head of an army of 4,500 men. Of this force, notwithstanding that the four troops of dragoons and two of horse already alluded to, had not yet arrived, a fair proportion consisted of cavalry. At night Mackay encamped opposite to Dunkeld, and here, at midnight, he received an express from Lord Murray announcing the alarming intelligence, that Dundee had entered Athole, in consequence of which event he informed him that he had retreated from before the castle of Blair, which he had for some time partially blockaded; and that although he had left the narrow and difficult pass of Killiecrankie between him and Dundee, he had posted a guard at the further extremity to secure a free passage to Mackay’s troops through the pass which he supposed Dundee had already reached. Mackay seems to have doubted the latter part of this statement, and his suspicions were in some degree confirmed by the fact, that Lieutenant-colonel Lauder, whom he despatched with a party immediately on receipt of Murray’s letter, to secure the entrance into the pass from the vale of Blair, did not see a single man on his arrival there.

Discouraging as this intelligence was, Mackay still determined to persevere in his march, and having despatched orders to Perth to hasten the arrival of the six troops of cavalry he had left behind, he put his army in motion next morning, July 27th, at day-break, and proceeded in the direction of the pass, the entrance to which he reached at ten o’clock in the morning. Here he halted, and allowed his men two hours to rest and refresh themselves before they entered upon the bold and hazardous enterprise of plunging themselves into a frightful chasm, out of which they might possibly never return. To support Lauder in case of attack, the general, on halting, despatched through the pass a body of 200 men under the command of the Lieutenant-colonel of the Earl of Leven’s regiment, whom he instructed to send him any intelligence he could obtain of Dundee’s motions. A short way below the pass Mackay fell in with Lord Murray, who informed him, that with the exception of 200 or 300 men, who still remained with him, the whole had gone to the hills to secure their cattle, an answer which Mackay, with the open and unsuspecting generosity of a soldier, considered satisfactory, and made him, as he observes, “not so apt to judge so ill of Murray as others did.”

Having received a notice from Lauder that the pass was clear, and that there was no appearance of Dundee, Mackay put his army again in motion, and entered the fatal pass. Hastings’s regiment (now the 13th), and Annandale’s horse were placed behind to protect the baggage, from an apprehension that Dundee’s Highlanders might make a detour round the hill to attack it, or that the country people might attempt to plunder it if not so guarded. The idea that no opposition would be offered to their passage through this terrific defile, which seemed to forbid approach, and to warn the unhappy soldier of the dangers which awaited him should he precipitate himself into its recesses, may have afforded some consolation to the feelings of Mackay’s troops as they entered this den of desolation; but when they found themselves fairly within its gorge, their imaginations must have been appalled as they gazed, at every successive step, on the wild and terrific objects which encompassed them on every side. They however proceeded, at the command of their general, on their devious course, and finally cleared it, with the loss of only a single horseman, who, according to an Athole tradition, was shot by an intrepid adventurer, named Ian Ban Beg MacRan, who had posted himself on a hill, from which he fired across the rivulet of the Garry and brought down his victim. A well, called in Gaelic, Fuaran u trupar,—Anglicé, the “Horseman’s well,”—is shown as the place where the horseman fell.

As soon as the five battalions and the troop of horse which preceded the baggage had debouched from the further extremity of the pass, they halted, by command of the general, upon a corn field, along the side of the river to await the arrival of the baggage, and of Hastings’s regiment and the other troop of horse. Mackay then ordered Lieutenant-colonel Lauder to advance with his 200 fusileers and a troop of horse in the direction he supposed Dundee might be expected to appear. Lauder had not advanced far when he discovered some parties of Dundee’s forces between him and Blair. Being immediately apprised of this by Lauder, Mackay, after giving orders to Colonel Balfour to supply the troops with ammunition, and to put them under arms without delay, galloped off to the ground, from which Lauder had espied the enemy, to observe their motions before making choice of the field of battle. On arriving at the advanced post, Mackay observed several small parties of troops, scarcely a mile distant, marching slowly along the foot of a hill in the direction of Blair, and advancing towards him. Mackay, thereupon, sent orders to Balfour to advance immediately up to him with the foot. But these orders were no sooner despatched than he observed some bodies of Dundee’s forces marching down a high hill within a quarter of a mile from the place where he stood, in consequence of which movement, he immediately galloped back to his men to countermand the order he had just issued, and to put his army in order of battle.[588]

Dundee, who had been duly advertised of Mackay’s motions, had descended from the higher district of Badenoch into Athole on the previous day, with a force of about 2,500 men, of whom about one-fifth part consisted of the Irish, which had lately landed at Inverlochy under Brigadier Cannon. Some of the clans which were expected had not yet joined, as the day appointed for the general rendezvous had not then arrived; but as Dundee considered it of paramount importance to prevent Mackay from establishing himself in Athole, he did not hesitate to meet the latter, whose force numbered about 4,000.[589]

On his arrival at the castle of Blair, intelligence was brought Dundee that Mackay had reached the pass of Killiecrankie, which he was preparing to enter. Dundee, against the advice of most of his officers, resolved to allow Mackay to enter the pass undisputed. He appealed to the feelings of the Highlanders, whose ancestors, he said, acting upon their national maxim never to attack a foe who could not defend himself on equal terms, would have disdained to adopt the course proposed, (and in saying so he did not, he observed, mean to insinuate that the persons he addressed had degenerated from the honour and courage of their ancestors). One principal reason stated by Dundee for allowing Mackay to advance through the Pass unmolested, was the great advantage they would gain by engaging him on open ground before he should be joined by his English dragoons, who, from their being so formidable to the Highlanders, would, if allowed by him to come up, more than compensate for any accession of force which Dundee might receive.[590] Another reason not less important was, that in the event of Mackay sustaining a defeat, his army would probably be ruined, as he could not retreat back through the Pass without the risk of evident destruction, whereas should the Highlanders suffer a defeat, they could easily retreat to the mountains. He added, that in anticipation of Mackay’s defeat, he had already given orders to his friends in the neighbourhood, to cut off the few remaining stragglers that might attempt to escape.[591]

KILLIECRANKIE.
A. Fullarton & Co. London & Edinburgh.

The forces which had been descried by Lauder, appear to have been a body of 400 men under the command of Sir John Maclean, whom Dundee, on learning that the advanced guard of Mackay’s army, after traversing the pass, had taken up a position near its northern extremity, had despatched from Blair castle to keep them in check. But his scouts having shortly thereafter brought him notice that the whole of Mackay’s army was preparing to enter the pass, he resolved to make a detour with the main body of his army round the hill on which the castle of Lude stands, in the vicinity of the pass, and fall upon Mackay as soon as he should clear that defile. Having made himself acquainted, by inquiries among the most intelligent of the country people, with the localities in the immediate neighbourhood of the pass, and of the suitableness of the ground for the operations of such a force as his, he advanced at double-quick time from Blair along the present line of road, and on arriving at the river Tilt, turned off to the left round the back of the hill, and crossed that river near its confluence with the rivulet of Ald-Chluan. This movement will account for the sudden and unexpected appearance of Dundee on the face of the high hill on Mackay’s right.

Immediately above the ground on which Mackay had halted his troops is an eminence, the access to which is steep and difficult, and covered with trees and shrubs. Alarmed lest Dundee should obtain possession of this eminence—which being within a carabine shot from the place on which Mackay stood, would give him such a command of the ground as would enable him, by means of his fire, to force Mackay to cross the river in confusion—he, immediately on his return from the position occupied by his advanced guard, “made every battalion form by a Quart de Conversion to the right upon the ground where they stood,”[592] and then made them march each in succession before him up the hill till they reached the eminence, of which they took possession. Within a musket shot of this ground is another eminence immediately above the house of Urrard, which Dundee had reached before Mackay had completed his ascent, and on which he halted.

At this conjuncture, neither Hastings’s regiment nor Annandale’s troop of horse had yet come out of the pass, but Mackay, nevertheless, at once proceeded to arrange his men in fighting order on a plain between the edge of the eminence and the foot or commencement of the ascent to Dundee’s position, which, from its extent, enabled him to form his men in one line along the eminence. In making his dispositions, Mackay divided every battalion into two parts, and as he meant to fight three deep, he left a small distance between each of these sub-battalions. In the centre of his line, however, he left a greater interval of space, behind which he placed the two troops of horse, with the design, when the Highlanders, after the fire of the line had been spent, should approach, to draw them off by this larger interval, and flank the Highlanders on either side, as occasion should offer. Mackay assigns as his reason for placing his cavalry in his rear till the fire should be exhausted on both sides, a dread he entertained of exposing them to Dundee’s horse, with whom it could not be supposed that these newly-raised levies could cope. Hastings’s regiment, which arrived after Mackay had taken up his ground, was placed on the right; and, for greater security, there was added to it a detachment of firelocks from each battalion. On the extreme left on a hillock covered with trees, Lieutenant-colonel Lauder was posted, with his party of 200 men, composed of the elite of the army. Mackay having been recognised by Dundee’s men busily employed riding along his line, from battalion to battalion, giving orders, was selected by some of them for a little ball practice; but although “their popping shot,” which wounded some of his men, fell around him wherever he moved, he escaped unhurt.

After his line had been fully formed, Mackay rode along the front, from the left wing, which he committed to the charge of Brigadier Balfour, to the right, and having ascertained that every thing was in readiness to receive the enemy, he addressed the battalions nearest him in a short speech. He requested them to reflect that their own personal safety was involved in the issue of that day’s contest; and assured them that if they maintained their ground, and kept firmly and closely united together, their assailants would quickly flee before them for refuge to the hills—that the reason for which the Highlanders stript themselves almost naked before battle was rather to enable them to escape, than from any hopes they entertained of pursuing their foes. Should, however, his men unfortunately give way before the rabble of Highlanders whom they saw marshalled on the adjoining heights—an event which he by no means expected—there was an absolute certainty, as these naked mountaineers were more nimble-footed than they were, and as all the Athole-men were in arms, ready to take advantage of their defeat, that few or none of them would escape with their lives. In conclusion, he warned them that the only way to avoid ruin was to stand firm to their posts, and, like brave men, to fight to the last in defence of their religion and liberties, against the invaders of both, to secure which, and not the desire of a crown, was the sole reason which had induced his majesty to send them on the present service.

Whilst Mackay was thus occupied on the lower platform, his gallant rival was equally busy flying about on the eminence above, ranging his men in battle array. He was particularly distinguished amongst his officers by a favourite dun-coloured horse which he rode, and by his plated armour, which glittered in the sun-beams. Dundee, who had arrived upon the higher platform about the same time that Mackay had gained the ground he now occupied, ranged his men in one line in the following order:—On the right, he placed Sir John Maclean, with his regiment divided into two battalions. On the left, he posted the regiment of Sir Donald Macdonald, commanded by the young chief and Sir George Barclay, and a battalion under Sir Alexander Maclean. In the centre were placed four battalions, consisting of the Camerons, the Macdonells of Glengary and Clanranald, and the Irish regiment, with a troop of horse under the command of Sir William Wallace, who had early that morning produced a commission, to the great displeasure of the Earl of Dunfermline and other officers, appointing him colonel of a horse regiment which the earl commanded.[593] It may be observed, that neither Mackay nor Dundee placed any body of reserve behind their lines.

The great extent of Mackay’s line, which reached considerably beyond Dundee’s wings,[594] compelled the latter, to prevent the danger of being outflanked, to enlarge the intervals between his battalions. A general movement from right to left accordingly took place along Dundee’s line. Before Dundee’s left halted, Mackay, imagining that the object of the movement in that quarter was to get between him and the pass, for the purpose of cutting off all communication between him and Perth, made his line make a corresponding movement to his right, but on observing that Dundee’s left wing halted, Mackay brought his line to a stand. These different movements necessarily occupied a considerable time, and both armies being now finally arranged, they gazed upon each other with great composure for the space of two whole hours.

During this interval of care and anxious suspense, the feelings of both parties—their hopes or their fears—would probably be tinctured by a deeper hue of confidence or despondency as they reflected on the events of former days. Though more than forty years had elapsed since the brilliant achievements of Montrose, the Highlanders,[595] naturally brave, had lost none of their military ardour, and the descendants of the heroes of Tippermuir, Aldearn, and Kilsyth, who now stood in battle array on the upper plain, whence, with a scowl of scorn and defiance, they looked down upon the Sassenachs below, calling to mind the recital of the heroic deeds of their fathers, to which they had listened with wonder and enthusiasm in their childhood, would burn for the moment when, at the command of their chief, they should measure their broad swords with the bayonets of their Lowland foes. On the other hand, Mackay’s men had no such recollections to inspire confidence or to cheer them in their perilous enterprise, and when they beheld the Highland host ready at a moment’s notice to burst like a mountain torrent upon their devoted heads, and called to mind the tales they had heard of the warlike prowess of the Highlanders, they could not but recoil at the idea of encountering, in deadly strife, such determined antagonists. There were, it is true, many men in Mackay’s army to whom the dangers of the battle field were familiar, and in whose minds such reflections would doubtless find no place, but the great majority of his troops consisted of newly raised levies, who had never before seen the face of an enemy.

Mackay himself, though an old and experienced officer, and a brave man, was not without his misgivings; and as the evening advanced without any movement on the part of Dundee to commence the action, his uneasiness increased. Nor were his apprehensions likely to be allayed by the reply made by the second son of Lochiel, who held a commission in his own regiment of Scots fusileers, in answer to a question put to him by Mackay. “Here is your father with his wild savages,” said Mackay to the young man, on seeing the standard of the Camerons, putting on at the same moment an air of confidence, “how would you like to be with him?” “It signifies little,” answered the son of the chief, “what I would like, but I recommend to you to be prepared; or perhaps my father and his wild savages may be nearer to you before night than you would like.”[596] The apparent irresolution of the Highlanders to begin the battle was considered by Mackay as intentional, and he supposed that their design was to wait till nightfall, when, by descending suddenly from their position, and setting up a loud shout, according to their usual custom, they expected to frighten his men, unaccustomed to an enemy, and put them in disorder. As Mackay could not, without the utmost danger, advance up the hill and commence the action, and as the risk was equally great should he attempt to retreat down the hill and cross the river, he resolved, at all hazards, to remain in his position, “though with impatience,” as he observes, till Dundee should either attack him or retire, which he had better opportunities of doing than Mackay had. To provoke the Highlanders, and to induce them to engage, he ordered three small leather field pieces to be discharged, but they proved of little use, and the carriages being much too high, broke after the third firing.

Towards the close of the evening, some of Dundee’s sharpshooters, who had kept up, during the day, an occasional fire in the direction in which they observed Mackay moving, by which they had wounded some of his men, as already stated, took possession of some houses upon the ascent which lay between the two armies, for the purpose of directing their aim with surer effect. But they were immediately dislodged by a party of musketeers despatched by Mackay’s brother, who commanded the general’s regiment, and chased back to their main body with some loss. This skirmish Mackay supposed would soon draw on a general engagement, and his expectations were speedily realized.

It was within half an hour of sunset, and the moment was at hand, when, at the word of command, the Highlanders and their allies were to march down the hill, and with sword in hand, fall upon the trembling and devoted host below, whom, like the eagle viewing his destined prey from his lofty eyry, they had so long surveyed. Having determined, as much to please his men as to gratify his own inclination, to lead the charge in person, at the head of the horse, Dundee exchanged his red coat, which he had worn during the day, and by which he had been recognised by Mackay’s troops, for another of darker colour, to conceal his rank, and thereby avoid the risk of being singled out by the enemy. Dundee, after the manner of the ancient Greek and Roman generals, is said to have harangued his men in the following enthusiastic strain:—[597]

“You are come hither to fight, and that in the best of causes; for it is the battle of your king, your religion, and your country, against the foulest usurpation and rebellion. And having therefore so good a cause in your hands, I doubt not but it will inspire you with an equal courage to maintain it; for there is no proportion betwixt loyalty and treason, nor should there be any betwixt the valour of good subjects and traitors. Remember that to-day begins the fate of your king, your religion, and your country. Behave yourselves, therefore, like true Scotsmen, and let us by this action redeem the credit of this nation, that is laid low by the treacheries and cowardice of some of our countrymen, in making which request, I ask nothing of you that I am not now ready to do myself. And if any of us shall fall upon this occasion, we shall have the honour of dying on our duty, and as becomes true men of valour and conscience; and such of us as shall live and win the battle, shall have the reward of a gracious king and the praise of all good men. In God’s name, then, let us go on, and let this be your word—King James and the church of Scotland, which God long preserve!”[598]

A pause now ensued, and a death-like silence prevailed along the line, when, on a sudden, it appeared in motion, marching slowly down the hill. The Highlanders, who stript themselves to their shirts and doublets, advanced, according to their usual practice, with their bodies bent forward, so as to present as small a surface as possible to the fire of the enemy, the upper part of their bodies being covered by their targets.

To discourage the Highlanders in their advance by keeping up a continual fire, Mackay had given instructions to his officers commanding battalions, to commence firing by platoons, at the distance of a hundred paces. This order was not attended to, as Balfour’s regiment, and the half of Ramsay’s, did not fire a single shot, and the other half fired very little. The Highlanders, however, met with a very brisk fire from Mackay’s right, and particularly from his own battalion, in which no less than 16 gentlemen of the Macdonells of Glengarry fell; but, undismayed by danger, they kept steadily advancing in the face of the enemy’s fire, of which they received three rounds. Having now come close up to the enemy, they halted for a moment, and having levelled and discharged their pistols, which did little execution, they set up a loud shout and rushed sword in hand upon the enemy, before the latter had time to screw on their bayonets to the end of their muskets. The shock was too impetuous to be long resisted by men who, according to their own general, “behaved, with the exception of Hastings’s and Leven’s regiment, like the vilest cowards in nature.” But even had these men been more stout-hearted, their courage would not have availed them, as their arms were insufficient to parry off the tremendous strokes of the axes, and the broad and double-edged swords of the Highlanders, who, with a single blow, either felled their opponents to the earth or struck off a member from their bodies, and at once disabled them. While the work of death was thus going on towards the right, Dundee, at the head of the horse, made a furious charge on Mackay’s own battalion, and broke through it, on which the English horse which were stationed behind, fled without firing a single shot. Dundee, thereupon, rode off to attack the enemy’s cannon, but the officer (Sir William Wallace) who had that morning produced his commission as colonel of the horse, appears to have misunderstood Dundee, who, on arriving near the enemy’s cannon, found himself alone. He, therefore, gave the horse a signal to advance quickly, on which the Earl of Dunfermline, who then served only as a volunteer, overlooking the affront which had been put upon him, rode out of the ranks, followed by 16 gentlemen, attacked the party who guarded the cannon, and captured them.

As soon as Mackay perceived that Dundee’s grand point of attack was near the centre of his line, he immediately resolved to attack the Highlanders in flank with the two troops of horse which he had placed in the rear of his line, for which purpose he ordered Lord Belhaven to proceed round the left wing with his own troop, and attack them on their right flank; he ordered at the same time the other troop to proceed in the contrary direction, and assail them on their left. Mackay himself led round Belhaven’s troop, but it was scarcely in front of the line when it got into disorder, and instead of obeying the orders to wheel for the flank of the enemy, after some confused firing it turned upon the right wing of Lord Kenmure’s battalion, which it threw into disorder, and which thereupon began to give way.

At this critical moment Mackay, who was instantly surrounded by a crowd of Highlanders, anxious to disentangle his cavalry, so as to get them formed, called aloud to them to follow him, and putting spurs to his horse galloped through the enemy, but with the exception of one servant whose horse was shot under him, not a single horseman attempted to follow their general. When he had gone sufficiently far to be out of the reach of immediate danger, he turned round to observe the state of matters, and to his infinite surprise he found that both armies had disappeared. To use his own expression, “in the twinkling of an eye, in a manner,” his own men as well as the enemy were out of sight, having gone down pell-mell to the river where his baggage stood. The flight of his men must have been rapid indeed, for although the left wing, which had never been attacked, had begun to flee before he rode off, the right wing and centre still kept their ground.

Mackay now stood in one of the most extraordinary predicaments in which the commander of an army was ever placed. His whole men had, as if by some supernatural cause, disappeared almost in an instant of time, and he found himself standing a solitary being on the mountain side, not knowing what to do, or whither to direct his course. Whether had they had the courage to follow him, the timid troop would have turned the tide of victory in his favour, may indeed be well doubted; but it is obvious that he adopted the only alternative which could render success probable. Judging from the ease with which he galloped through the Highlanders, who made way for him, he thinks that if he had had but 50 resolute horse such as Colchester’s, he “had certainly,” as he says, “by all human appearance recovered all,” for although his whole line had begun to give way when he ordered the horse to follow him, the right of the enemy had not then moved from their ground.[599] While ruminating upon the “sad spectacle” which he now beheld, his mind preyed upon by the most gloomy reflections, he fortunately espied to the right, “a small heap of red coats,” which he immediately galloped for, and found it to consist of a part of the Earl of Leven’s regiment, mixed with a few stragglers from other regiments who had escaped from the swords of the Highlanders. The Earl himself, his Lieutenant-colonel, the Major, and most of the other officers of the regiment, were with this body. Mackay perceived a part of Hastings’s regiment marching up to the ground it had occupied at the commencement of the action. Having rode up to this party, he was informed by the Colonel that he had left his ground in pursuit of the enemy, a detachment of which had attempted to outflank him, but having wheeled to the right upon them with his pikes, they abandoned the idea of attacking him, and repaired to their main body, which they observed among the baggage at the river-side.

The plunder which the baggage offered was too tempting a lure for the Highlanders, whose destructive progress it at once arrested. It was in fact solely to this thirst for spoil that Mackay and the few of his men who escaped owed their safety, for had the Highlanders continued the pursuit, it is very probable that not a single individual of Mackay’s army would have been left alive to relate their sad disaster.[600]

As soon as Mackay had got up Hastings’s battalion and joined it to that of Leven’s, he despatched his nephew, Captain Mackay,—who, though he had received eight broad-sword wounds on his body, was still able to ride his horse,—in quest of such of his officers as might be within his reach, about the bottom of the hill, with orders to collect as many of their men as they could, and join the general.

This mission was totally unsuccessful, for although he had fallen in with several officers, few of them took any notice of him; and all who had survived the battle were now scattered far beyond Mackay’s reach. While receiving this afflicting intelligence, Mackay descried in the twilight, a large body of men, who appeared to form themselves along the edge of a wood on Balfour’s left, where Lieutenant-colonel Lauder had been posted with 200 men. As he was not yet aware of the fate of Lauder’s corps, which was among the first that fled, he supposed that the body he had observed might either be that party or another body of his men who had retired to the wood on the descent of the Highlanders, and he therefore rode off to reconnoitre them, after directing his officers to endeavour to put their men in a condition to fire one discharge, at least, if attacked. Mackay approached the party sufficiently near to discover that they were Dundee’s men, and having turned his horse’s head he walked slowly back, that he might not excite the apprehensions of the Highlanders. The ground on which Mackay stood with the wreck of his army, amounting to scarcely 400 men, was the farthest removed of any other part of the position he had selected in the morning, from the point to which he was necessarily obliged to direct his retreat, and over the intervening space he could not but expect to fall in with parties of the Highlanders, who would fall upon him, and kill or disperse his tired followers. But he extricated himself from the difficulties which beset him, with considerable adroitness. He advised them on no account to show any inclination to run, as it could not add to their personal safety, but, on the contrary, might endanger it the more, as the Highlanders, observing their terror, would certainly break in among them, and pursue them with the greater avidity. When about to retire down the hill the party was joined by Lord Belhaven, and a few other horsemen, who proved very serviceable as scouts during the retreat. Mackay then led his men slowly down the hill, and evaded the enemy so completely that he did not meet with the least interruption in his march. He retired across the Garry without molestation, and made a short halt to ascertain whether he was pursued. Seeing no disposition on the part of the Highlanders to follow him, he began to think of the best way of retiring out of Athole. All his officers advised him to return to Perth through the pass of Killiecrankie, but he saw proper to reject this advice, and resolved to march several miles up Athole and cross over the hills to Stirling.

Giving orders, therefore, to his men to march, he proceeded to the west along the bank of the river, and had the satisfaction, when about two miles from the field of battle, to come up with a party of about 150 fugitives almost without arms, under the command of Colonel Ramsay, who was quite at a loss what direction to take. Mackay then continued his march along the edge of a rivulet which falls into the Garry, till he came to some little houses. Here he obtained from one of the inhabitants, information as to the route he meant to follow, and having made himself acquainted, as far as he could, by an examination of his map, with the situation of the country through which he had to pass, he crossed the stream and proceeded across the hills towards Weem castle, the seat of the chief of the clan Menzies, whose son had been in the action with a company of 100 Highlanders he had raised for the service of the government. After a most fatiguing journey, he reached the castle before morning. Here he obtained some sleep and refreshment, of which he stood greatly in need, having since his departure from Dunkeld, on the morning preceding, marched about 40 miles.

Pass of Killiecrankie in last century. From an old crayon drawing.

The news of Mackay’s defeat had preceded his retreat; and on his march during the following day, he found the country through which he passed in an uproar, and every person arming in favour of King James. The people of Strathtay alarmed at the approach of Mackay’s men, whom they took to be Highlanders, and considering their houses and cattle in danger, set up a dreadful shout, which so frightened Mackay’s men that they began to flee back to the hills under an apprehension that the Highlanders were at hand. Mackay and some of his officers on horseback, by presenting their pistols and threatening the fugitives, succeeded in rallying them, but owing to the thickness of the morning more than 100 escaped, all of whom were killed, stripped, or taken prisoners by the country people. Mackay continued his march with very little halting all that day, being Sunday the 28th, and arrived late at night at Drummond castle, in which he had a garrison. Next day he reached Stirling with about 400 men.

On the morning after the battle—for night had thrown its curtain over the horrors of the scene, before the extent of the carnage could be ascertained—the field of battle and the ground between it and the river, extending as far as the pass, presented an appalling spectacle in the vast numbers of the dead which strewed the field, whose mutilated bodies attested the savage and unrelenting ferocity with which Mackay’s men had been hewn down by the Highlanders. Here might be seen a skull which had been struck off above the ears by a stroke from a broad-sword—there a head lying near the trunk from which it had been severed—here an arm or a limb—there a corpse laid open from the head to the brisket; while interspersed among these lifeless trunks, dejectaque membra, were to be seen broken pikes, small swords and muskets, which had been snapt asunder by the athletic blows of the Lochaber axe and broad-sword.[601]

If the importance of a victory is to be reckoned by the comparative numbers of the slain, and the brilliant achievements of the victors, the battle of Killiecrankie may well stand high in the list of military exploits. Considering the shortness of the combat, the loss on the part of Mackay was prodigious. Not less than 2,000 of his men were either killed or captured. Among the slain were Lieutenant-colonel Mackay, brother of the General, Brigadier Balfour, and several other officers. Highland tradition reports that Balfour was cut down by the Reverend Robert Stewart, a Catholic clergyman, nephew to Stewart of Ballochin, for having contemptuously refused to receive quarter when offered him by the priest. The same tradition relates that Stewart, who was a powerful muscular man, followed the enemy in their flight down to the river, and towards the pass, wielding a tremendous broad-sword, with which he cut down numbers of the fugitives, and so much did he exert himself in the use of his fatal weapon, that, at the conclusion of the carnage, his hand had swollen to such an extent, that it could only be extricated from the basket-hilt of his sword, by cutting away the net-work.

But as the importance of a victory, however splendid in itself, or distinguished by acts of individual prowess, can only be appreciated by its results, the battle of Killiecrankie, instead of being advantageous to the cause of King James, was, by the death of the brave Dundee, the precursor of its ruin. After he had charged at the head of his horse, and driven the enemy from their cannon, he was about to proceed up the hill to bring down Sir Donald Macdonald’s regiment, which appeared rather tardy in its motions, when he received a musket shot in his side, through an opening of his armour, the ball probably passing out in front through the centre of his breastplate (See Plate of Dundee’s Armour).[602] He attempted to ride a little, but was unable, and fell from his horse mortally wounded, and almost immediately expired.[603] The loss on the side of Dundee was never properly ascertained, but is supposed to have been about 900.

ARMOUR WORN BY VISCOUNT DUNDEE AT KILLIECRANKIE

1. Breast Plate, in possession of his Grace the Duke of Athole. See Page 376. Vol I.

2. Remains of Helmet in possession of J P McInroy Esq. of Lude, taken out of Dundee’s grave in the church of Blair Athole in 1794.

3. Sword in possession of A Æ. Mackintosh Esq. of Mackintosh, given to Lachlan 21st Laird of Mackintosh by Dundee’s Relations.—The hilt is silver and bears the Graham Arms—The date on the blade is A.D. 1504.

4. Pistol, in possession of Miss Stirling Graham of Duntrune—representative of the Claverhouse family.—In the plate both sides of the Pistol are shown; the stock is of iron and is richly inlaid with silver.

Among the slain, Alister Dhu (black Alexander) the chief of Glengarry, who, at the head of his battalion, mowed down two men at every stroke, with his ponderous two-handed sword, had to lament the loss of a brother, several other relatives, and still nearer and dearer to him, of his son, Donald, surnamed Gorm, from the blueness of his eyes. This youth, who had exhibited early proofs of bravery worthy of his name, and the race whence he sprung, killed, it is said, 18 of the enemy with his own hand. No less than five cousins of Sir Donald Macdonald of the isles fell, together with the tutor of Macdonald of Largo and his sons. Colonel Gilbert Ramsay, and the brave laird of Pitcur, “who, like a moving castle in the shape of men, threw fire and sword on all sides,”[604] were also numbered with the dead on this eventful day.[605]

In the Viscount Dundee, King James lost the only man in Scotland possessed of all the qualifications necessary for conducting to a successful issue the great and important charge which had been committed to him by his sovereign. Educated in the strictest principles of toryism, he could never divest his mind of the abstract ideas of passive obedience and hereditary right, and to him, therefore, any attempt to resist the authority of the sovereign, no matter how far that authority was abused, appeared highly treasonable. Though a sincere Protestant Episcopalian, the heresy of the successor of Charles II. as the religion of James must have appeared to him, in no respect altered his ideas of implicit fidelity to the sovereign, nor did his views undergo any change when the arbitrary and unconstitutional proceedings of James seemed to the leading men of the nation to have solved the great political problem, when resistance should commence and obedience end.[606] In his eye, therefore, the revolution which drove the unfortunate James from his throne, was a great national sin, which could only be atoned for by restoring to him his crown, an object, in the accomplishment of which, he conceived all good men were bound to lend a helping hand. These ideas ingrafted upon a temperament peculiarly sanguine, made him an enthusiast in favour of hereditary right, and his appointment by the fallen monarch as the chosen one by whose instrumentality his restoration was to be effected, imparted a charm to his enthusiasm which dispelled every difficulty that appeared to obstruct the grand object of his ambition and his hopes. With an inflexibility of purpose, which no temptation could overcome, he steadily pursued the course which the duty he conceived he owed to his sovereign and the natural inclination of his own mind directed him to follow. But Dundee had not merely the will, but, what was of no less importance, the ability, had he lived, to have executed the commission intrusted to him, one of his highest qualifications for such a purpose—considering the fickle and unruly bands he had to command—being that he stood unrivalled among his contemporaries in the art of gaining the affections of his troops, and communicating to them a full measure of the spirit which animated himself. His death, therefore, was a fatal blow to James’s prospects, and with him the cause of the Stuarts may be said to have perished. Dundee and his friend Pitcur were interred in the church of Blair-Athole. “Never vaulted roof or marble monument covered the last abode of a more restless and ambitious heart than that which has slept in this quiet spot amidst peasant dust.”[607]

FOOTNOTES:

[556] General Hugh Mackay, third son of Colonel Hugh Mackay of Scowry, was born about 1640. Soon after the Restoration in 1660, he obtained an ensign’s commission in the Royal Scots, now the Scots Greys, and accompanied it to France on that corps being lent by Charles II. to the French king. In 1669 he entered the Venetian service, in which he distinguished himself. Leaving the service of that republic, he again went to France, where he obtained a captaincy in Douglas’s regiment. After serving under Marshal Turenne, in the campaign in the Netherlands, in 1672, Captain Mackay offered his services to the Prince of Orange, who gave him the commission of Major in one of the Scotch regiments, then serving in Holland. After reaching the rank of Colonel in the Dutch service, Mackay was invited to England by James II., from whom, on the 4th of June, 1685, he received the appointment of major-general, or commander in chief, of the forces in Scotland; and was admitted a member of the Scottish Privy Council, by virtue of a warrant from the king, dated the 18th of the same month. But disliking the arbitrary proceedings of James, or preferring the service of his son-in-law, Mackay resigned his commission in 1686, and returned to Holland. The prince raised him to the rank of Major-general, and gave him the command of the British regiments, with which he invaded England. By a warrant signed by William and Mary, dated from Kensington, 4th January, 1689, Mackay was appointed “Major-general of all forces whatever, within our ancient kingdom of Scotland.” Mackay was raised to the rank of Lieutenant-general in 1690, and was killed at the battle of Steinkirk, 3d August, 1692.

[557] “To the regular trained officers, such an army as he commanded was as unstable and capricious as a giddy mob. If he did not study the peculiarities of the race, and of each individual clan, some untoward accident was ever occurring to vex his disciplinarian spirit, and make him suspect that the cause was ruined; and if he did not at once recognise and yield to the peculiarities as they occurred, a trifle might readily sacrifice the army or the cause,—for the Highland soldier’s immediate cause was his leader or his clan. The succession to the crown of Britain, or the preservation of the constitution were distant and secondary objects, to be sacrificed without hesitation to any question of precedence or etiquette.”—Burton’s Scotland from the Revolution, vol. i. pp. 101–103.—“If anything good was brought him (Dundee) to eat, he sent it to a faint or sick soldier. If a soldier was weary, he offered to carry his arms. He kept those who were with him from sinking under their fatigues, not so much by exhortation, as by preventing them from attending to their sufferings. For this reason he walked on foot with the men; now by the side of one clan, and anon by that of another. He amused them with jokes. He flattered them with his knowledge of their genealogies. He animated them by a recital of the deeds of their ancestors, and of the verses of their bards. It was one of his maxims, that no general should fight with an irregular army, unless he was acquainted with every man he commanded. Yet, with these habits of familiarity, the severity of his discipline was dreadful. The only punishment he inflicted was death. ‘All other punishments,’ he said, ‘disgraced a gentleman, and all who were with him were of that rank; but that death was a relief from the consciousness of crime.’ It is reported of him, that, having seen a youth fly in his first action, he pretended he had sent him to the rear on a message. The youth fled a second time. He brought him to the front of the army, and saying, ‘That a gentleman’s son ought not to fall by the hands of a common executioner,’ shot him with his own pistol.”—Dalrymple’s Memoirs, part ii. p. 47.

[558] Mackay’s Memoirs.

[559] Memoirs of Dundee.—Burton’s Scotland from the Revolution, vol. i. p. 112.

[560] Scotland from Revolution, vol. i. p. 114.

[561] “Lord Athole, Lord Tarbet, and Lord Breadalbane, men of great power in the North, were prevailed upon to give him no disturbance: The two first because they thought themselves neglected by the new government; the last to make himself necessary to it.”—Dalrymple’s Memoirs, Part ii. p. 45.

[562] P. 38, of Bannatyne club edition.

[563] Memoirs, p. 46.

[564] The following letter to Macleod of Macleod shows Dundee’s notion of his prospects at this time:—

“For the Laird of Macleod.[565]

“Moy, Jun 23, 1689.

“Sir,—Glengaire gave me ane account of the substance of a letter he receaved from yow: I shall only tell yow, that if you heasten not to land your men, I am of opinion yow will have litle occasion to do the king great service; for if he land in the west of Scotland, yow will come too late, as I believe yow will thinck yourself by the news I have to tell yow. The Prince of Orange hath wreaten to the Scots councell not to fatig his troops any more by following us in the hills, but to draw them together in a body to the west; and, accordingly, severall of the forces that were in Pearthshire and Angus, are drawn to Edinr., and some of Mackay’s regments are marcht that way from him.... Some of the French fleet hath been seen amongst the islands, and hath taken the two Glasgow frigats. The king, being thus master by sea and land, hath nothing to do but bring over his army, which many people fancy is landed alraidy in the west. He will have little to oppose him there, and will probably march towards England; so that we who are in the graitest readiness will have ado to join him. I have received by Mr. Hay a commission of lieutenant-general, which miscairied by Breidy. I have also receaved a double of a letter miscairied by Breidy to me, and a new letter, dated the 18th of May; both which are so kind, that I am asham’d to tell. He counts for great services, which I am conscious to myself that I have hardly done my deutie. He promises not only to me, but to all that will join, such marks of favor, as after ages shall see what honour and advantage there is, in being loyall. He sayes, in express terms, that his favours shall vy with our loyalty. He hath, by the same letters, given full power of councell to such councellors here, as shall be joined in the king’s service, and given us power, with the rest of his freends, to meet in a convention, by his authority, to counteract the mock convention at Edinr., whom he hath declaired traitours, and comanded all his loyall subjects to make warr against them; in obedience to which, I have called all the clannes. Captain of Glenrannald[566] is near us these severall days; the laird of Baro[567] is there with his men. I am persuaded Sir Donald[568] is there by this. M’Clean[569] lands in Morven to-morrow certainly. Apen,[570] Glenco,[571] Lochell,[572] Glengaire,[573] Keppoch,[574] are all raidy. Sir Alexander[575] and Largo[576] have been here with there men all this while with me, so that I hope we will go out of Lochaber about thre thousand. Yow may judge what we will gett in Strathharig, Badenock, Athol, Marr, and the duke of Gordon’s lands, besides the loyall shires of Bamf, Aberdeen, Merns, Angus, Perth, and Stirling. I hope we will be masters of the north, as the king’s army will be of the south. I had almost forgot to tell you of my Lord Broadalban,[577] who I suppose will now come to the feelds. Dumbeth, with two hundred hors and eight hundred foot, are said to be endeavouring to join us. My L. Seaforth[578] will be in a few dayes from Irland to rais his men for the king’s service. Now, I have layd the whole business before yow, yow will easily know what is fitt for yow to do. All I shall say further is, to repeat and renew the desyre of my former letter, and assure yow that I am,

“Sir

“Your most humble servant,

“Dundie.

“Yow will receave the king’s letter to yow.”

[565] The original of this letter, which is addressed to John Macleod of Macleod, is in possession of the present Laird of Macleod, his descendant.

[566] Allan Macdonald, captain of Clanranald, then under age. Ronald Macdonald of Benbecula, his tutor, attended him.

[567] R. Macneil of Barra.

[568] Sir Donald Macdonald of Slate.

[569] Sir John Maclean of Dowart and Morven.

[570] Stewart of Appin.

[571] Alexander Macdonald, or MacIan of Glencoe.

[572] Sir Ewen Cameron of Locheil.

[573] Alexander Macdonell, younger of Glengary.

[574] Dundee “used to call him Coll of the Cowes, because he found them out when they were driven to the hills out of the way.”—Deposition of Lieutenant Colt in appendix to acts of parliament, 1690.

[575] Sir Alexander Maclean of Otter.

[576] Alexander Macdonald of Largo.

[577] John, first Earl of Breadalbane.

[578] Kenneth, fourth Earl of Seaforth.

[579]

“For the Earl of Melfort.[580]

“Moy in Lochaber, June 27, 1689.

After exculpating himself from a charge made against him by the Earl, of his name having been ‘made use of for carrying on designs against the Earl,’ Dundee thus proceeds:—

“When we first came out I had but fifty pounds of powder; more I could not get, all the great towns and seaports were in rebellion, and had seized the powder, and would sell none. But I had one advantage, the Highlanders will not fire above once, and then take to the broadsword.... The advocate[581] is gone to England, a very honest man, firm beyond belief; and Athol is gone too, who did not know what to do. Earl Hume, who is very frank, is taken prisoner to Edinburgh, but he will be let out on security. Earl Breadalbin keeps close in a strong house; he has and pretends the gout. Earl Errol stays at home; so does Aberdeen. Earl Marshall is at Edinburgh, but does not meddle. Earl Lauderdale is right, and at home. The Bishops, I know not where they are. They are now the kirk invisible. I will be forced to open the letter, and send copies attested to them, and keep the original, till I can find out our primate. The poor ministers are sorely oppressed over all. They generally stand right. Duke Queensberry was present at the cross, when their new mock King was proclaimed, and I hear, voted for him, though not for the throne vacant. His brother the Lieutenant General, some say is made an Earl. He has come down to Edinburgh, and is gone up again. He is the old man, and has abused me strangely, for he swore to me to make amends. Tarbat is a great villain. Besides what he has done at Edinburgh, he has endeavoured to seduce Lochiel, by offers of money, which is under his hand. He is now gone up to secure his faction, which is melting, the two Dalrymples and others against Skelmarly,[582] Polwart, Cardross, Ross, and others now joined with that worthy prince, Duke Hamilton. M. Douglas is now a great knave, as well as beast; as is Glencairne, Morton, and Eglinton, and even Cassillis is gone astray, misled by Gibby.[583] Panmure keeps right, and at home, so does Strathmore, Southesk, and Kinnaird. Old Airly is at Edinburgh under caution, so is Balcarras and Dunmore. Stormont is declared fugitive for not appearing. All these will break out, and many more, when the King lands, or any from him. Most of the gentry on this side the Forth, and many on the other, will do so too. But they suffer mightily in the mean time; and will be forced to submit, if there be not relief sent very soon. The Duke of Gordon, they say, wanted nothing for holding out but hopes of relief. Earl of Dunfermling stays constantly with me, and so does Lord Dunkell, Pitcur, and many other gentlemen, who really deserve well, for they suffer great hardships. When the troops land there must be blank commissions sent for horse and foot, for them and others that will join.”

[580] This letter was printed by Macpherson from the Nairne papers.

[581] Sir George Mackenzie.

[582] Sir James Montgomery.

[583] Dr. Gilbert Burnet, the historian.

[584] Mackay’s Memoirs.

[585] No. 14 of Appendix to Mackay’s Memoirs, p. 245.

[586] Balcarras, p. 68. Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 62.

[587] No. 15 of Appendix to Mackay’s Memoirs, p. 246.

[588] Mackay’s Memoirs, p. 51.

[589] “Mackay’s force was certainly not double that of his adversary; but had it borne a far greater proportion, the trained warriors and command of the ground, when in the hands of one well fitted to use them, were advantages outweighing a large numerical preponderance.”—Burton’s Scotland from Revolution, vol. i. p. 131.

[590] Balcarras, p. 69.

[591] Dalrymple’s Memoirs, part ii. p. 56.

[592] Memoirs, p. 51.

[593] Macpherson’s Original Papers, vol. i. p. 369.

[594] Mackay’s army is said to have outwinged Dundee’s by nearly a quarter of a mile, which obliged the latter to leave large intervals between each clan. On this account there was a deficiency of troops in Dundee’s centre.—Memoir of Dundee in Miscellanea Scotica, vol. iii.

[595] “The night before the battle, Dundee having reflected that the Highlanders had not been tried in general actions since the battle of Philiphaugh, which had been fought 40 years before, and being desirous to put their courage to the test, gave an alarm, and caused a false attack to be made upon his own camp. In an instant he found every man at his post and firm in it. The event of the stratagem removed the diffidence of the general, and confirmed the confidence of the soldiers.”—Dalrymple’s Memoirs, part ii. p. 57.

[596] Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 63.

[597] Among the papers of the exiled prince’s secretary is a very well composed document, called “Lord Dundee’s speech to his troops before the battle of Killiecrankie,” which he certainly never delivered, for the excellent reason that not a tenth of his audience could have understood a word of it, and he was not a man tempted either by capacity or inclination to the useless composition of flowing sentences. Burton’s Scotland from Revolution, vol. i. p. 132. Burton, however, thinks we may readily believe General Mackay’s statement as to the few homely sentences which he says he dropped to his men.

[598] Macpherson’s Original Papers, vol i. p 371.

[599] Memoirs, p. 57.

[600] In a conversation respecting the battle between General Wade and an old Highlander, who had fought at Killiecrankie, the latter is reported to have spoken lightly of Mackay as a commander, calling him a great fool, because he did not put his baggage in front of his army at Killiecrankie. Wade dissented, of course, but the old man insisted that the baggage should have been placed before the line, in which case Mackay, he observed, would have gained the battle, as the Highlanders would have first attacked the baggage, and would have thus fallen an easy prey to Mackay’s army.

[601] In allusion to this battle, the author of the memoirs of Viscount Dundee, (in His. Scot., vol. iii.,) says, “Then the Highlanders fired, threw down their fusils, rushed in upon the enemy with sword, target, and pistol, who did not maintain their ground two minutes after the Highlanders were amongst them; and I dare be bold to say, that were scarce ever such strokes given in Europe as were given that day by the Highlanders. Many of General Mackay’s officers and soldiers were cut down through the skull and neck to the very breast; others had skulls cut off above their ears like night-caps; some soldiers had both their bodies and cross-belts cut through at one blow; pikes and small swords were cut like willows; and whoever doubts of this, may consult the witnesses of the tragedy.”

[602] Balcarras.

[603] The authenticity of the letter alleged to have been written by Dundee after he received his wound, may well be doubted. 1st. No contemporary writer mentions its existence. 2d. It is probable that Dundee died as stated in the text. King James says, that “when crossing over the plaine to give some orders on the left where the enemy made the most opposition, he was most unfortunately killed by a random shot.” Clarke’s James II., vol. ii. p. 352. See the authorities referred to by Mr. Smythe of Methven, in a note on the letter in the Bannatyne collection of Dundee’s letters. These are supported by the following note, written on a copy of Balcarras’s Memoirs, in the Library of Christ Church, Oxford, upon the passage relative to a bundle of papers found lying near Dundee on the field.

“N.B.—I spoke with some that were at that fight, and saw the Viscount of Dundee’s corpse naked upon the ground, and was of the number that wrapt it in a pladd, and brought it off the field to the Blair of Athole; they said they saw no papers, nor was there any such rumour among them.” ...

His Grace the Duke of Athole has kindly sent us the following note on this matter. “Lord Dundee is reported to have been watering his horse at a spring within gunshot of Urrard House, and at the same time lifted his left arm to point or give some directions. At this instant he was shot out of a window through the chinks of his armour, i.e. between back- and breast-plates, which must have gaped open. The left side of the breastplate, inside, is stained apparently with blood, and the ball must have passed out from back to front through the hole in the centre (See Plate). An old woman who died near here (Blair) within the memory of persons still living, used to relate how her grandfather was skulking on the hill above and saw Lord Dundee fall; and his brother, who was the hostler at the inn at Blair, saw him carried in there, and said that Lord Dundee died in the middle room, upstairs, of the inn. I think I have seen it stated elsewhere that he was taken to the Castle, but I should be inclined to believe the country tradition.”

The alleged letter from Dundee to the King is as follows:—

“Sir,
It hath pleased God to give your forces a great victory over the rebels, in which three-fourths of them are fallen under the weight of our swords. I might say much of the action, if I had not the honour to command it; but of 5,000 men, which was the best computation I could make of the rebels, it is certain there have not escaped 1,200. We have not lost full out 900. This absolute victory made us masters of the field and enemy’s baggage, which I gave to the soldiers; who, to do them all right, both officers and common men. Highlands, Lowlands, and Irish, behaved themselves with equal gallantry to what I ever saw in the hottest battles fought abroad by disciplined armies; and this M’Kay’s old soldiers felt on this occasion. I cannot now, Sir, be more particular; but take leave to assure your majesty the kingdom is generally disposed to your service, and impatiently wait for your coming; and this success will bring in the rest of the nobility and gentry, having had all their assurance for it, except the notorious rebels. Therefore, Sir, for God’s sake, assist us, though it be with such another detachment as you sent us before, especially of horse and dragoons; and you will crown our beginning with a complete success, and yourself with an entire possession of your ancient hereditary kingdom of Scotland. My wounds forbid me to enlarge to your Majesty at this time, though they tell me they are not mortal. However, I beseech your Majesty to believe, whether I live or die,

I am entirely yours,

DUNDEE.”

“The letter is so happily expressed as to be a forgery on its face; for it is not to be imagined that he who vainly struggled after grammar with all his senses with him, would command it when mortally wounded, and utterly unfit for that species of command with which he was familiar.”—Burton, vol. i. p. 134.

[604] Memoirs of Dundee.

[605] “In this battle Lochiel was attended by the son of his foster-brother. This faithful adherent followed him like his shadow, ready to assist him with his sword, or cover him from the shot of the enemy. Soon after the battle began, the chief missed his friend from his side, and turning round to look what had become of him, saw him lying on his back, with his breast pierced by an arrow. He had hardly breath before he expired to tell Lochiel, that, seeing an enemy, a Highlander in General Mackay’s army, aiming at him with a bow and arrow from the rear, he sprung behind him, and thus sheltered him from instant death. This is a species of duty not often practised, perhaps, by an aide-de-camp of the present day.”—Stewart’s Sketches.

[606] “He became a fanatic of the order he found himself in,—the order of the cavalier who is devoted to his monarch and his monarch’s allies, aristocratic and hierarchical. His fanaticism was that of the gentleman. It is not common, perhaps, to associate the reproachful term, ‘fanatic,’ with a word so expressive of estimable social qualities as this word ‘gentleman;’ but as there is no hesitation in applying it to religious opinions carried to excess, surely there can be no desecration in applying it to social qualities when they become offensively prurient.”—Burton’s Scotland from Revolution, vol. i. p. 99.

[607] Burton, vol. i. p. 134.

CHAPTER XXI.

A.D. 1689–1691.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—William III., 1688–1703.

Mackay’s movements—Advances to Perth—Colonel Cannon marches north and is joined by several clans—Followed by Mackay—Cannon returns south—The Cameronians at Dunkeld—Movements of Mackay—Major-General Buchan arrives from Ireland and marches north—Skirmish at Cromdale—Mackay marches to Inverlochy—Erection of Fort-William—Movements of Buchan and Cannon—Mackay marches to the north—Earl of Seaforth imprisoned—Cessation of hostilities—Departure of Dundee’s officers for France.

The news of Mackay’s defeat reached Edinburgh on Sunday the 28th of July, the day after the battle, and threw the partizans of the government, who were there assembled, into the greatest consternation. In the absence of official details, the most gloomy accounts were given by a few terrified stragglers who arrived in the capital, and who gave out that, with the exception of themselves, the whole of Mackay’s army had been destroyed. In the state of disorder and confusion which prevailed, the Duke of Hamilton, the Commissioner to the revolution parliament, summoned a meeting of the privy council, at which orders were issued to raise all the fencible men in the west, and to concentrate all the forces in the south at Stirling, to which point it was supposed Dundee (of whose death they were not aware) would be rapidly hastening; and on the supposition that Mackay was either killed or made prisoner, Sir John Lanier was ordered west to take the command.

During two entire days the ferment continued in the capital, and every hour added to the fears of those who had most to dread from a counter-revolution. At length, when the minds of men were wrought up to the highest pitch of terror and dismay, intelligence was received of the death of Dundee, and shortly thereafter a despatch from General Mackay, giving an account of the battle, and of his safe retreat to Stirling. An event so unlooked for and so important as the death of the only man in whom the hopes of King James rested, and from the decision of whose character the supporters of the revolution settlement anticipated the most fearful consequences, was hailed by the Duke of Hamilton and his friends with transports of joy. They had indeed good reason to rejoice, for although the battle had been disastrous to their forces, the loss which King James had sustained in the person of Dundee was irreparable.

On arriving at Stirling, Mackay met Sir John Lanier, who communicated to him the orders that had been issued by the government on receiving the news of his defeat. So decisive had the battle of Killiecrankie appeared to them that they had given up all idea of maintaining a position on the north of the Forth, all the country beyond which they meant to abandon to the victorious arms of Dundee, and to confine their operations to a defence of the fords of the Forth, and the pass and bridge of Stirling. In pursuance of this design orders had been sent to Barclay’s regiment, which was quartered in the county of Aberdeen, to retire upon Dundee, and Lanier had despatched an express to his own regiment, which lay partly at Alnwick and partly at Morpeth, to hasten down to Scotland. This plan, however, was disapproved of by Mackay, and he, therefore, as he says, “resolved to alter these measures, knowing how hard a pull we would have, if he left the north, which are absolutely the best men of that kingdom for the war, to the discretion of the enemy, where he would not only get great numbers to join him, but also take possession of towns and seize upon the public revenues, whereby they could form a fashion of government, and so have more plausible ways, not only to maintain but also to engross their party, than ever they have had.”[608]

For these reasons Mackay determined to take the field again without delay, and to give, as he observes, “some eclat to the service, and hinder the disaffected of the shires of Perth and Angus to rise in arms against the government,” he resolved to march direct to Perth with the forces which were at hand, and place a garrison there. Fortunately some of the troops which the privy council had ordered to rendezvous at Stirling were already there, and others were at hand. Preparatory to his march he sent Sir John Lanier to Edinburgh to hasten the advance of his own regiment, consisting of nine troops of horse, and also of Hayford’s dragoons, consisting of eight troops, and ordered eight troops of horse, and four of dragoons, both of which had been newly levied, and Lord Colchester’s regiment of horse, not above 500 men in all, to join him at Stirling on the morning of Wednesday, the 31st of July. Many thousands of men in the western counties were now assembling of their own accord in consequence of Mackay’s defeat; but disliking such auxiliaries, “whose pretensions,” he says, “appeared already exorbitant enough,” and who, if employed, might think that the government could not be maintained without their assistance, he intimated that he would not require their services, and ordered them to return to their homes.

The horse and dragoons having come to Stirling as directed, with these he departed for Perth at two o’clock in the afternoon, giving orders to a newly-raised battalion of foot, consisting of Mar and Bargeny’s regiments, to follow him. On his way he could obtain no intelligence respecting the motions of the enemy, as he found the houses mostly deserted by their inhabitants, who had taken up arms and had gone to join the standard of King James. On approaching the river Earn, however, Mackay’s scouts, who, to prevent notice of his approach, kept only a musket-shot in advance, were saluted with a loud “qui vive” by two horsemen. The scouts, four in number, answered this challenge by a discharge from their carabines, which brought down the two horsemen, one of whom was shot dead. The other was mortally wounded, and though he spoke a few words, was not able to answer some questions put to him for eliciting information. As Mackay conjectured from this occurrence, that the main body of the enemy was not far off, he altered his line of march, and crossing a pretty steep hill to the north, reached the field of Tippermuir, a few miles west from Perth.

Having been informed at Tippermuir, that the enemy lay encamped at Dunkeld, and that a party of their horse and foot was in Perth for the purpose of carrying off some meal which had been sent thither by the council for the use of Mackay’s army, the general drew off his men to the left to throw himself between Dunkeld and Perth, and thereby cut off the party. He himself marched down upon Perth, but on coming within sight of the town was disappointed to observe that about 30 of the enemy’s horse had already crossed the Tay, and were beyond his reach. He proceeded on his march, and when within half a mile of the town observed the foot party, which consisted of about 300 Athole-men, approaching. The Highlanders, who had not the most distant idea that there was a single enemy nearer than Stirling, were almost petrified with horror when they beheld such a large body of cavalry ready to pounce upon them, and for a time they stood quite motionless not knowing what to do. Apprehensive that they might attempt to escape by a ford near the place where they stood, Mackay despatched four troops of dragoons at full gallop to prevent their passage. The Athole-men seeing that their retreat would be cut off, threw themselves into the Tay, whither they were followed by the horse and dragoons, who cut them down in the water without mercy. About 120 of the Athole-men were killed and 30 made prisoners. In this affair Mackay lost only one man, who had imprudently pursued to a distance a small party of the Highlanders.[609]

This disastrous skirmish, whilst it raised the expectations of the revolutionists, threw a damp over King James’s supporters, and augured ill for the success of Colonel Cannon, who had assumed the command of James’s army on the death of Dundee. This officer, though a faithful adherent of his royal master, was altogether unfit for the command of such an army. He seems to have possessed none of Dundee’s genius, and his regular military experience rendered him totally unfit to deal with such an irregular and capricious race as were the Highlanders, with whose habits, feelings, and dispositions, he was totally unacquainted. Had Dundee lived he would probably have carried his victorious army across the Forth, seized upon the capital and dispersed the government; but his successor did not know how to take advantage of the victory which had been obtained, and instead of marching instantly south, he merely advanced to Dunkeld, about 16 miles from the field of the recent battle, where he remained encamped for several days, when the party he had sent to Perth was attacked and almost destroyed by the dogged and steady Mackay.

At Dunkeld, Cannon was joined by the Stewarts of Appin, the Macgregors and the Athole-men under Lord James Murray, of which circumstance Mackay was informed soon after his arrival at Perth. In the meantime he took care to secure the town against attack by erecting pallisades, and sent out patrols during the night to bring notice of the enemy should they approach the town. Cannon, however, made no attempt to disturb Mackay, and after passing several days at Dunkeld in inactivity, he raised his camp and proceeded northwards along the skirts of the Grampians with a force of about 3,000 men. It was the intention of Mackay to have returned to Edinburgh to consult with the privy council as to the best means of speedily settling the peace of the kingdom, and to leave Mar and Bargeny’s regiments and six troops of cavalry in garrison at Perth; but on hearing of Cannon’s movement to the north he abandoned his intention, and after despatching orders to Sir John Lanier to proceed to Perth with all possible haste along with the horse and dragoons which were expected from England, he crossed the Tay with his whole cavalry force, consisting of nearly 1,500 men, leaving two battalions of foot behind, and advanced towards Coupar-Angus. At Coupar he received intelligence from some prisoners who had been taken at Killiecrankie, and who had escaped on the march north, that Cannon had marched as far as Glen Isla, about eight miles from Forfar, where he had encamped. Mackay in consequence continued his march to Forfar, where he learned that Cannon had made another movement to Clova.

After passing two nights at Forfar, he received notice that Cannon had crossed the mountains and entered Braemar. As Mackay considered that these movements of Cannon were intended by him as a ruse to draw him north, and that when Cannon had accomplished his object he meant immediately to recross the mountains and enter Angus, where he expected some reinforcements to join him, Mackay sent orders to Lanier to advance to Forfar, to serve as a check upon Cannon should he again enter Angus, and proceeded himself to Aberdeen, which he reached the second day, to the great joy, he says, of most of the inhabitants, who were in dread of a visit from the Highlanders that very night.[610]

MACPHERSON, FULL DRESS.

On arriving at the Braes of Mar, Cannon was joined by the Farquharsons, the Frasers, the Gordons of Strathdown and Glenlivet, and by 200 of the Macphersons. Keppoch and young Lochiel also met him.[611] At Aberdeen, Mackay received an express from the Master of Forbes, informing him that Cannon had taken up a very strong position upon his father’s lands, having the Highlands at his back and a wood to cover him in front; the position being so well chosen that he could keep up a free communication with his friends in the lower parts of the shires of Aberdeen and Banff. Judging that Cannon’s object in selecting such a position was to strengthen himself in horse from the adjoining low country, of which species of force he stood in most need, Mackay, with the view of obstructing his levies, ordered Sir Thomas Livingston to leave the command of the forces at Inverness with Sir James Leslie, and to repair immediately to Strathbogie with his regiment of dragoons, with instructions, should the enemy appear in that quarter, to march farther to the left across the low country, and to send him despatches from time to time, announcing the state of matters. At the same time he ordered Sir John Lanier to send Hayford’s regiment of dragoons to Aberdeen to strengthen him.

After remaining a day at Aberdeen, Mackay marched up Dee-side to beat up Cannon’s quarters, but learning on his march that the Highlanders had left Lord Forbes’s lands and had gone north in the direction of the Duke of Gordon’s territory, he drew off his men next morning at break of day towards Strathbogie, for the purpose of covering Livingston’s march. Mackay having nothing but cavalry, got the start of Cannon, and reached Strathbogie before Cannon arrived at the castle of Auchindoun, where he intended to fix his head quarters. At Auchindoun, Cannon was informed that Mackay was already at the castle of Strathbogie, a distance of about six miles. He, thereupon, called a council of war to discuss the expediency of giving battle to Mackay. A preliminary question was agitated by the Highland chiefs as to the right of the Lowland officers to sit in the council, the former contending that as none of these officers had any troops under their immediate command, and were wholly unacquainted with the discipline of the Highlanders and their mode of fighting, they had no right to deliberate on the subject, and were unable to form a correct judgment on the question they were called upon to discuss. The decision of this point lay with Cannon, who, by the advice of the Earl of Dunfermline, decided the question against the Highlanders. A judgment more unfortunate to the cause of King James could not have been pronounced, as it gave rise to jealousies and strifes among the officers, and when the question whether a battle should be hazarded was put to the vote, the clans who were for fighting Mackay immediately, found themselves in a minority. This was followed by a resolution to return to Athole. As matters stood, the chances of victory on either side may be considered to have been pretty fairly balanced, but subsequent events showed that Cannon in the present instance omitted the best opportunity he was ever destined to have of gaining a victory which might have decided the fate of Scotland.

Although Mackay’s men were almost worn out with extreme fatigue, being kept under arms every night for a considerable time, and only allowed an occasional repose by turns during the day-time, the general resolved to follow Cannon with all possible despatch.

The cause of Cannon’s movement was owing to the following circumstances. The privy council wishing to obtain possession of the castles of Blair and Finlarig, had sent a letter to Mackay at Strathbogie with instructions to proceed to these places before the rainy season should set in, for the purpose of reducing and putting garrisons into them. Mackay, in answer, stated his inability to undertake such a service in the face of the formidable force which lay so near him, and that he did not conceive there was any necessity for being in such a hurry, as, from the proximity of these castles to the low country, he could make himself master of them at any time if sufficiently strong. But he observed, that if the council was bent upon the undertaking, they might direct Sir John Lanier to order some foot and Barclay’s regiment to join him from Forfar, and with these and three battalions of the Dutch regiments, then at Perth, and which had not been at the battle of Killiecrankie, execute that piece of service. Upon receiving Mackay’s answer, the council ordered the Earl of Angus’s regiment, known by the name of the Cameronian regiment—a band of stern, fearless, religious enthusiasts from the west—to advance to Dunkeld, with the view, it is supposed, of supporting Lanier. Mackay was quite averse to the employment of these men, and disapproved of the plan of posting them so near the Highlands, the effect of which, he observed, would be, that they would be instantly attacked, “because the enemy had not such prejudice at any of the forces as at this regiment, whom they called the Cameronian regiment, whose oppression against all such as were not of their own sentiments, made them generally hated and feared in the northern counties.”[612] Accordingly, no sooner had they encamped at Dunkeld, than some of King James’s friends in Athole resolved to put them off, and a notice was sent to Cannon to return south with that view, in consequence of which, he raised his camp and proceeded suddenly towards the Dee, as already mentioned.

Mackay followed him, and on arriving at Aberdeen, warned Sir John Lanier of the advance of Cannon, and to prevent the Highlanders from making any inroads, he sent out small parties of his men to scour the neighbouring country. When Lanier was informed of Cannon’s approach, he left Forfar, where he was posted with his own and Barclay’s regiment, for Brechin, near to which town the enemy had advanced. Some skirmishing took place between the advanced posts, with loss on both sides. The Highlanders, thereupon, retired to the hills, and Lanier, who was ignorant of the object of Cannon’s march, returned to Forfar. Here he received orders from the privy council to march to the castles of Blair and Finlarig, in consequence of which he proceeded to Coupar-Angus the following day, where intelligence was brought him from Colonel Ramsay, that the Highlanders were marching upon Dunkeld. He was informed at the same time that the Cameronian regiment, which was disadvantageously posted, would assuredly be defeated, if not immediately supported. Instead of sending any instructions to Ramsay, who required his advice, Lanier delayed forwarding an answer till he should arrive at Perth the following day, “in which interim,” says Mackay, “if the providence of God had not blinded Cannon, and disheartened his Highlanders from continuing their attack, the regiment had certainly been lost, for they had two full days’ time to carry them, and all their defence was but low gardens, in most places not above four feet high.”[613]

On Sunday morning, the 18th of August, the Cameronians, in expectation of an attack, began to entrench themselves within some inclosures about the Marquis of Athole’s house at Dunkeld. The country people, in parties of ten and twenty, appeared during the morning on the neighbouring hills, and about four in the afternoon a body of about 300 men drew up on a hill to the north of Dunkeld, whence they despatched a messenger, who carried a halbert surmounted by a white cloth as a flag of truce, with a letter without any subscription, addressed to Lieutenant-colonel Cleland, the commanding officer, of the following tenor:—“We the gentlemen assembled being informed that ye intend to burn the town, desire to know whether ye come for peace or war, and do certify you, that if ye burn any one house, we will destroy you.” To which communication Lieutenant-colonel Cleland replied as follows:—“We are faithful subjects to King William and Queen Mary, and enemies to their enemies; and if you, who send these threats, shall make any hostile appearance, we will burn all that belongs to you, and otherwise chastise you as you deserve.”

On the first alarm of the Highlanders’ approach to Dunkeld, Colonel Ramsay sent up some troops of horse and dragoons under Lord Cardross to assist the Cameronians in case of attack. This party arrived at Dunkeld on Tuesday morning, but the Highlanders not being yet sufficiently numerous, showed no disposition to attack the Cameronians that day. At night, Cleland received intelligence that the fiery cross had been sent round, and that a considerable gathering had taken place, and next morning the Highlanders began to appear in large parties among the hills, between whom and some detached parties of horse and foot which Cleland sent out to scour the country, some brisk skirmishing took place during the day. The Highlanders having retired, Cleland’s forces returned to Dunkeld in the evening, where Lord Cardross received an order from Colonel Ramsay to return instantly to Perth, from an absurd apprehension that the cavalry could be of little use in defending the position occupied by the Cameronian regiment. When Cleland, who appears to have been a determined, sensible, clear-headed enthusiast of about 30 years of age, was informed of this extraordinary mandate, he remonstrated with Cardross in the strongest manner against complying with it, as the safety of his regiment might be involved in the result; but his lordship pleaded his instructions, which gave him no discretionary power, and he departed for Perth the same evening, leaving the Cameronians to the tender mercies of their bitterest enemies, the Highlanders. Cleland’s obvious course was to have followed the cavalry, but though the danger was imminent, he disdained to abandon the post which had been assigned him, and easily prevailed upon the Cameronians to remain and meet the enemy at all hazards. Burton[614] truly says that it is difficult to imagine a position more dangerous for a Lowland force than the little village of Dunkeld, being deep sunk among hills commanding it, and cutting off retreat, while a rapid river forms the diameter of their semicircle.

The parties which had appeared during the day consisted entirely of Athole-men, whose numbers probably did not exceed 500 or 600; but in the evening they were joined by the whole of Cannon’s force, amounting to nearly 4,000. To the great surprise and dismay of the Cameronians, this formidable body appeared at six o’clock next morning, Wednesday the 21st of August, on the hills about Dunkeld formed in order of battle. The situation of the Cameronians was now critical in the extreme. They had no alternative but to fight or surrender, for retreat was not in their power. A capitulation would have been the obvious course, but the great abhorrence in which the Cameronians were held by the Highlanders, gave faint hopes of obtaining the usual terms of civilized warfare from the inveterate host which hung over them on the surrounding heights. They, therefore, adopted the desperate resolution of defending themselves to the last extremity, and they hoped, that by posting themselves advantageously behind the walls and enclosures adjoining the village and Dunkeld-house, they would be able to keep the Highlanders in check till some relief might arrive.

The Cameronian commander accordingly made the necessary preparations for defence. He first posted parties of his men in the cathedral and steeple, and in Dunkeld-house. The remainder of his men he disposed behind the walls of the adjoining gardens and parks, and along some ditches which he caused to be thrown up to extend his line of defence. All these arrangements were completed before 7 o’clock in the morning, about which time the Highlanders appeared moving down the hills towards Dunkeld. Desirous to gain possession of the town, to dislodge the Cameronians, or to draw off their attention from the points where he meant to direct his main attack, Cannon despatched a small train of artillery down a little hill near the town, accompanied by 100 men clad in armour, who were followed by a party of Highlanders on foot. To prevent the Cameronians from escaping by the ford across the Tay, he sent two troops of horse round the town, who took up a position betwixt the ford and the church, while two other troops were placed at the opposite end of the town. When the party arrived at the bottom of the hill, they were opposed by a small body of men whom Cleland had posted behind a stone wall, but after some smart firing, this body was obliged to give way and to retire to Dunkeld-house. Another party of the Cameronians, which had been posted at the other end of the town, was obliged also to retire. Having forced the outposts, the whole body of the Highlanders rushed furiously into the town, which they entered at four different points at once. The Cameronians, however, firmly maintained their ground within the enclosures, from which they kept up a galling and destructive fire upon the Highlanders, who in vain attempted to dislodge them. Finding their broad-swords of little avail against the pikes and halberts of an enemy protected by stone walls, the Highlanders retired to the houses, and some to the heights near the town, from which they kept up a sharp though ineffectual fire upon the Cameronians, who returned it with much better effect. The Cameronians, however, soon sustained a heavy loss in the death of Cleland, their brave commander, who, in the act of exhorting his men to stand firm to their posts, was, within an hour after the engagement commenced, mortally wounded by two bullets, one of which pierced his liver, the other entering his head at the same instant Aware of his fate, he attempted to gain Dunkeld-house, lest his men, seeing him expire, might become dispirited; but he was unable to reach the threshold, and expired in their presence.

Dunkeld in the 17th century.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ.

During three hours an incessant firing was kept up on both sides, which might have continued for several hours longer without producing any definite result, unless, indeed, the ammunition of either party had become exhausted. Probably from the dread of such a contingency, which would have been fatal to the Cameronians, Captain Munro, to whom, on the death of Cleland, the command had fallen, resolved to attempt to dislodge the Highlanders from the houses by setting the town on fire. He accordingly sent into the town several small parties of pikemen with burning faggots upon the points of their pikes to set fire to the houses in which the Highlanders were posted. This order was executed with such promptitude, that in a short time the whole town was in a conflagration. The scene which the town now presented was one of the most heart-rending description. The din of war was indeed no longer heard, but a more terrific sound had succeeded, from the wild shrieks of despair which issued from the dense mass of smoke and flame which enveloped the unfortunate sufferers. To add to the calamity, the pikemen had coolly locked the doors of such of the houses as had keys standing in them, and the unhappy intruders being thus cut off from escape, perished in the flames. No less than 16 Highlanders were, in consequence, burnt to death in one house. With the exception of three houses, possessed by the Cameronians, the whole of the town was consumed.

The Highlanders finding their ammunition all spent,[615] and seeing that they could no longer maintain their position among the ruins of the town, began to retire to the hills about eleven o’clock, after having sustained a loss of about 300 men. The Cameronians, whose loss was trifling, on seeing the Highlanders depart, set up a loud shout, threw up their caps, beat their drums, and waved their colours in token of triumph, demonstrations which must have been exceedingly galling to the feelings of the Highlanders, who only four hours before had assured themselves of an easy conquest. It is stated in the Cameronian account of the battle, that an attempt was made by Cannon to induce the Highlanders to renew the attack, but they declined, for this reason, that although still ready to fight with men, they would not again encounter devils.[616] To show their gratitude to God for “so miraculous a victory,” the Cameronians spent a considerable part of the afternoon in singing psalms of praise and thanksgiving.

The Highlanders were greatly discouraged by the repulse which they sustained at Dunkeld, and they attributed the misfortune to the incapacity of Cannon, in whom they consequently lost all confidence. Perceiving that they could no longer keep the field with any probability of success under such a commander, they retired to Blair, and after entering into a bond of association to support the cause of King James, and for mutual protection, they departed for their homes, leaving Cannon and his Irish troops and the few lowland gentlemen to shift for themselves. Cannon went to Mull, and resided with the chief of Maclean.[617]

In the meantime Mackay left Aberdeen for the purpose of joining Lanier, leaving behind him Sir Thomas Livingston, with his regiment and nine troops of cavalry, to keep the adjoining northern counties in awe. At Brechin he learnt that Lanier had received an order from the privy council to march into Athole, in consequence of which information he joined him at Perth on the 26th of August. He thereafter left Perth, with the greater part of the forces which he found there assembled, and took the route to Blair. It was clearly the interest of James’s party to have burned the castle of Blair, so as to prevent Mackay from placing a garrison in it to overawe the neighbouring country; but if such was the intention of the Highlanders, they were deterred from putting it in execution by a message from Mackay, who threatened, in the event of the castle being burnt, to raze every house in Athole to the ground, and to burn and destroy all the corn in that district. Mackay remained ten days at the castle of Blair, during which time many of the Athole people took advantage of an indemnity which he offered them, and delivered up their arms. Having placed a garrison of 500 men in the castle, and given orders to raise a pallisade and breast-work round it, he was forced to return to Perth in consequence of continual rains, which made him also forego a resolution he had entertained of marching to the head of Loch Tay, and placing a garrison in the castle of Finlarig, belonging to the Earl of Breadalbane, who, according to him, was “one of the chiefest and cunningest fomenters of the trouble of that kingdom (Scotland), not for love of King James, but to make himself necessary to the government.”[618] The subsequent conduct of this nobleman fully corroborated this opinion. After the rains had subsided, a detachment of 200 men under Lord Cardross, took possession of Finlarig castle, notwithstanding that the proprietor had, shortly before, taken the oaths to the government, and found bail for his allegiance.

While the death of Dundee seemed to give stability to the government in Scotland on the one hand, its safety appeared to be endangered on the other, by the jealousies and dissensions which agitated the parliament. Among the persons who had been instrumental in bringing about the revolution, there were some extreme Presbyterians, who, seeing that their expectations were not to be realized, and that all the offices of trust were monopolized by a few favourites about court, became factious and impatient, and were ready to seize the first opportunity that offered of overturning the government. Sir James Montgomery was at the head of this disaffected party, which, during the ensuing winter, held several private meetings. The result was, that a most extraordinary and unnatural coalition took place between the Jacobites and the discontented Presbyterians for the restoration of King James. By uniting their votes in parliament they expected to embarrass the government, and make it odious to the people, and thereby pave the way for the return of the exiled monarch; but their designs were disconcerted by a discovery of the plot.

Mackay had now grown heartily tired of the service, and as his plans for the subjugation of the Highlands had been treated with indifference or neglect by the government, he became desirous to resign his commission, and retire to Holland, his adopted country, there to spend the remainder of his days in peace. There was certainly nothing in the situation of his native country at the period in question to induce him to remain. An unpaid, disorderly, and mutinous army; an oppressed people, a discontented nobility, a divided parliament and council; “church divided into two more irreconcileable factions, though both calling themselves Protestants, than Rome and Geneva,” matters deemed of so little importance by the first reformers as scarcely to be mentioned in their writings, preferred by the “religious zealots” of those days to the well-being of the whole Protestant church, the Episcopal ministers who had been ejected preaching “King James more than Christ, as they had been accustomed to take passive obedience more than the gospel for their text:”—these considerations all tended to disgust a man of a moderate and conciliating disposition like Mackay, and made him “look upon Scotsmen of those times in general, as void of zeal for their religion and natural affection, seeing all men hunt after their particular advantages, and none minding sincerely and self-deniedly the common good, which gave him a real distaste of the country and service; resolving from that time forward to disengage himself out of it as soon as possible he could get it done, and that the service could allow of.”[619] Mackay, however, failed in obtaining even a temporary leave of absence during the winter, by the intrigues of Lord Melville and Viscount Tarbet, who, as he says, suspecting an interview with William, who was then in Holland, to be the object of his proposed visit thither, were afraid that he would induce William to adopt a system different from that hitherto followed in the management of Scottish affairs.

Mackay finding that he would not succeed in his application for leave of absence, began to apply himself with great perseverance to accomplish his long-desired project of erecting a fort at Inverlochy, capable of containing 1,000 or 1,200 men, to keep the western Highlanders in check. In a communication which he made to King William on the subject, he requested to be supplied with three frigates of about 30 guns each, 10 or 12 ships of burden, and 3 or 4 dozen of large boats, 3,000 muskets, 400 chevaux de frise, and 2,000 spades, shovels, and pickaxes, with money sufficient to purchase two months’ provisions for 3,000 or 4,000 men. On receiving these supplies he proposed to march with this force through Argyle about the end of March, as far as Dunstaffnage, where he meant to embark his men in the ships, and thence proceed to Inverlochy, and land them under the protection of the guns of the ships of war. No notice, however, was taken of this proposal either by William or his ministers, notwithstanding that its importance was urged in repeated letters from Mackay, who, in consequence, grew quite impatient, and threatened to throw up his commission. At length the privy council having, at his request, written a letter to the king on the subject, he ordered the frigates to be sent down, with some arms and ammunition, and implements for commencing the work; but the required supply of money was not forthcoming, without which the expedition could not be undertaken. Anxious, however, to get the fort erected with as little delay as possible, Mackay offered to the privy council to proceed to Inverlochy with a select detachment of 600 men, provided they would give him provisions for three months; but although a sum of five or six hundred pounds would have almost sufficed for this purpose, the council pleaded the impossibility of raising the money.[620] In this emergency he applied to the city of Glasgow, the magistrates of which undertook to hire vessels for transporting the detachment, and to furnish him with the necessary provisions, and such articles as he might require for completing the fort, in addition to those sent down from England.[621] Major Ferguson, who was appointed to command this expedition, repaired to Glasgow; but he was detained there about five weeks waiting for the provisions. The news, however, of such an armament being in preparation, and a report purposely circulated by Mackay, that it was much larger than it actually was, having reached the Highlands, had the effect of preventing many of the Islanders and the inhabitants of the adjoining mainland from joining Major-general Buchan, who took the field in April 1690.

Before the arrival of this officer, the Highlanders had resolved to place themselves under the command of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, having, in consequence of their defeat at Dunkeld, lost confidence in Cannon as a commander. After that disaster, Lochiel and the other Jacobite chiefs had represented to James the precarious state of his affairs in Scotland, and the necessity there was for sending them aid; but James was too much occupied with preparations for resisting a threatened invasion of Ireland, by his son-in-law, to attend much to his Scottish concerns. He, however, sent over a vessel with some clothes, arms, ammunition, and provisions, and a few Irish officers, among whom was Major-general Buchan, with a commission, as commander-in-chief of all the Jacobite forces in Scotland.

On Buchan’s arrival, a meeting of the chiefs and principal officers was held at Keppoch, to deliberate upon the course they ought to pursue. As no reinforcement had arrived from Ireland, and as the plot between the Jacobites and the disappointed chiefs of the Presbyterians, which had raised the expectations of King James’s partizans, had been discovered, the meeting was divided in opinion, upon the expediency of renewing hostilities. Some, thinking the cause quite desperate, proposed to submit to the government, which they knew was quite disposed to grant them the most favourable terms; but this proposition was warmly resisted by Lochiel, who had great influence with his fellow chiefs. He stated that he had adhered to the cause of Charles II. at a time when it was more desperate than that of his royal brother now was, who was still at the head of an army in Ireland, and who had many friends in Britain, ready to declare themselves, when a fit opportunity offered; that under these circumstances, he considered they would disgrace themselves, if they abandoned the cause they had pledged themselves to defend, and that for his own part he would neither listen to terms from the government, nor lay down his arms, without an express order from King James himself. In consequence of this declaration, the meeting unanimously resolved to continue the war; but as the labours of the spring season were not over, they postponed the muster of the clans, till those should be completed; and in the mean time directed Major-general Buchan, to employ the interval in beating up the enemy’s quarters, along the borders of the lowlands, for which purpose a detachment of 1,200 foot was to be placed at his disposal.[622]

When Mackay heard that Buchan had taken the field, he ordered Sir Thomas Livingston,—whom he had despatched north from Aberdeen to Inverness, with his regiment, in the month of January, to watch the motions of the Highlanders,—to keep a sharp outlook after Buchan, who, it was supposed, would probably make a descent upon the lowlands of Moray or Banff. Sir Thomas had at this time, besides his own regiment of dragoons, three regiments of foot, and some troops of horse, under his command, posted in and about the town of Inverness. Hearing that Buchan was marching through Lochaber and Badenoch, Livingston made two successive marches up the country, in the direction Buchan was said to be advancing, but on both occasions, from the great difficulty he experienced in obtaining provender for his horses, and provisions for his troops, he was obliged to return to Inverness without seeing Buchan, or hearing anything concerning him. Having ascertained that the feeling of hostility towards the government was rapidly extending, and that it had even reached the clans, who had hitherto, in appearance at least, shown themselves favourably inclined to the revolution, Livingston, thereupon, despatched a letter to Mackay, acquainting him of the circumstance, and stating that if Buchan was not speedily opposed, he was afraid that by far the greater part of the northern counties would join him. That he might obtain early intelligence of Buchan’s motions, and avoid the difficulties he had experienced in his former marches for want of provisions, Livingston took up a position eight miles from Inverness, with a select body of 1,200 men, consisting of his own regiment, which amounted to 300 men, 400 of Leslie’s regiment, a company of 100 of Lord Reay’s Highlanders, 300 of Grant’s Highlanders, and two troops of horse.[623]

On receiving Livingston’s despatch, Mackay sent orders to the different detachments which lay at Stirling, Glasgow, Dundee, and other places, amounting together to 3,000 men, to assemble without delay at Perth, that they might be in readiness, should a general rising in favour of King James take place in the north, to support Livingston, and to serve as a check upon the southern Highlands. He, at the same time, directed Lieutenant-colonel Buchan, brother of King James’s general, who commanded the forces in the city and county of Aberdeen, consisting of a battalion of Ramsay’s regiment, the Cameronian regiment, and five troops of horse and dragoons, to march upon any point Livingston should direct.[624]

In the mean time Major-general Buchan was advancing through Badenoch with the design of marching down Speyside into the Duke of Gordon’s country, where he expected to be joined by some of the vassals of that nobleman. At Culnakill he held a council of war to determine whether to take up a position in that neighbourhood, where they would be secure from the attacks of Livingston’s cavalry, or proceed farther down the Spey. As Buchan’s force did not exceed 800 men, and as they were aware that a large force of horse and foot lay at Inverness, the Highland officers were unanimously of opinion that they should not advance beyond Culnakill, but should march the following day to Glenlochy, and encamp among the adjoining woods. Buchan, who appears to have been as incapable of conducting a Highland force, and as ignorant of the mode of warfare pursued by the Highlanders as Cannon, his predecessor, now second in command, rejecting the Highland officers’ advice, on the following day marched down the Spey as far as Cromdale, where he encamped on the last day of April.[625]

Livingston was, at this time, lying within eight miles of Strathspey, on the grounds of the laird of Grant, where he received notice the same day from a captain in Grant’s regiment, who, with a company of men, held possession for the government of Balloch, now Grant castle, in the vicinity of Cromdale, that Buchan was marching down Strathspey. Desirous of attacking him before he should have an opportunity of being joined by the country people, Livingston marched off towards the Spey, in the afternoon, and continued his march till he arrived within two miles of Balloch castle. As it was already dark, and the night far advanced, and as a difficult pass lay between him and the castle, Livingston proposed to encamp during the night; but not finding a convenient place, he, by the persuasion of one of his officers who was acquainted with the pass, and who undertook to conduct him safely through it, renewed his march, and arrived at the top of the hill above the castle at two o’clock in the morning. Buchan’s men were then reposing in fancied security near Lethindie, on the adjoining plain of Cromdale, and the fires of their camp, which were pointed out by the captain of the castle to Livingston, showed him that he was much nearer the enemy than he had any idea of. Mackay says, that had Livingston been aware that the Highlanders were encamped so near the pass, he would not have ventured through it during the night, having little confidence in the country people; nor would the enemy, had they suspected Livingston’s march, left their former station and encamped upon an open plain, a considerable distance from any secure position, “just as if they had been led thither by the hand as an ox to the slaughter.”[626]

As several gentlemen of the adjoining country had sought an asylum in the castle on hearing of Buchan’s advance, the commander, in order to prevent any knowledge of Livingston’s approach being communicated to the Highlanders, had taken the precaution to shut the gates of the castle, and to prohibit all egress; so that the Highlanders were as ignorant of Livingston’s arrival as he had previously been of their encampment at Cromdale. Such being the case, the commander of the castle advised him to attack the Highlanders without delay, and he himself offered to conduct the troops into the plain. This proposition having been acceded to, the troops were allowed half an hour to refresh themselves, after which they marched down through the valley of Auchinarrow to the river. Finding a ford below Dellachaple, guarded by 100 Highlanders, Livingston left a detachment of foot and a few dragoons to amuse them, while, with his main body, led by some gentlemen of the name of Grant on horseback, he marched to another ford through a covered way, a mile farther down the river, which he crossed at the head of three troops of dragoons, and a troop of horse, a company of his Highlanders forming the advanced guard. After he reached the opposite bank of the Spey, he perceived the Highlanders, who had received notice of his approach from their advanced guards at the upper ford, in great confusion, and in motion towards the hills. He thereupon sent orders to a part of his regiment, and another troop of horse to cross the river and join him; but, without waiting for them, he galloped off at full speed towards the hills, so as to get between the fugitives—the greater part of whom were almost naked—and the hills, and intercept them in their retreat. The cavalry were accompanied by the company of Highlanders which had crossed the river, and who are said to have outrun their mounted companions, a circumstance which induced the flying Highlanders, on arriving at the foot of the hill of Cromdale, to make a stand; but, on the approach of Livingston and the remainder of his dragoons and horse, they again took to their heels. They turned, however, frequently round upon their pursuers, and defended themselves with their swords and targets with great bravery. A thick fog, which, coming down the side of the mountain, enveloped the fugitives, compelled Livingston to discontinue the pursuit, and even to beat a retreat. According to Mackay, the Highlanders had 400 men killed and taken prisoners, while Livingston did not lose a single man, and only 7 or 8 horses; but Balcarras states his loss at about 100 killed, and several prisoners; and the author of the “Memoirs of Dundee” says, that many of Livingston’s dragoons fell.[627] A party of the Camerons and Macleans, who had in the flight separated from their companions in arms, crossed the Spey the following day, but, being pursued by some of Livingston’s men, were overtaken and dispersed on the moor of Granish near Aviemore, where some of them were killed. The rest took shelter in Craigelachie, and, being joined by Keppoch and his Highlanders, made an attempt to seize the castle of Lochinclan in Rothiemurchus, but were repulsed with loss by the proprietor and his tenants.[628]

The news of the disaster at Cromdale was received with feelings of dismay by the partisans of King James at Edinburgh, who began to regret that they had not embraced an offer which had been made by King William for a cessation of arms. On the other hand, the friends of the government were elated with Livingston’s success, and hastened the long delayed expedition to Inverlochy, under Major Ferguson, which accordingly set sail from Greenock on the 15th of May. Having obtained the consent of King William to march into Lochaber, Mackay made preparations for the expedition; and, although the Earl of Melville, the commissioner to the Scottish parliament, gave him notice of some dangerous plots against the government both in England and Scotland, which might require the presence of a large force in the lowlands to check, yet, as he considered the subjugation of the Highlands of primary importance, he resolved to proceed on his expedition; and, accordingly, on the 18th of June, marched from Perth at the head of about 3,000 horse and foot. As his route to Inverlochy would bring him within a short day’s march of the enemy, and as he was desirous—agreeably, as he says, to a military maxim, “without necessity, to put nothing to an apparent hazard when the success is of great importance,”—to avoid an engagement in a country full of defiles and difficult passes till he should join the forces in the north under Sir Thomas Livingston, he resolved to march towards Strathspey, and thence through Badenoch into Lochaber. To conceal from the enemy his design of marching north, after entering Athole, he made a movement as if he intended to enter Badenoch by the nearest route, and then turning suddenly to the right, took the road to Strathspey. Having joined Livingston in Strathspey on the 26th of June, the united forces, after a day’s rest, marched towards Badenoch.

The Highlanders who, after their dispersion at Cromdale, had returned to their homes, had re-assembled on hearing of Mackay’s approach; but, from the fewness of their numbers, they made no attempt to obstruct his passage through Badenoch. Being informed that they had taken possession of a strait and difficult pass through which they expected him to march, he, on the 1st of July,—the very day on which the celebrated battle of the Boyne was fought,—made a feint with four troops of horse and dragoons as if he intended to pass that way, for the purpose of deceiving the enemy; after which he suddenly changed his march to the left. After traversing mountains and bogs, he entered Lochaber by Glenspean the same night, and arrived at Inverlochy on the 3d of the month.[629]

The site of the old fort, which had been erected by Oliver Cromwell, did not please Mackay, as it was commanded by a neighbouring hill; but, as a more eligible one could not be found, he commenced the work on the 5th of the month, and, in eleven days the wall was raised to its full intended height of twenty feet from the bottom of the fosse, and pallisaded round with a chemin couvert and glacis. Having finished the fort, which was named Fort-William, in honour of the king, he was about proceeding to send a detachment into Mull to reduce that island, but received despatches from the privy council announcing the defeat of the English and Dutch fleets, and requiring his return to the South as soon as possible, with as many of his forces as could be spared, in consequence of an expected invasion from France. He therefore marched from Inverlochy for the South on the 18th, leaving behind him 1,000 men in garrison in the new fort. He arrived in Badenoch on the 20th by easy marches, and leaving his army in camp the whole of the 21st to rest themselves, he went with a party of 150 horse and dragoons to inspect Ruthven castle which the Jacobite forces had burnt the preceding year. Here he left the company of Lord Reay’s Highlanders with instructions to the commander to raise a breastwork round an old square wall, within which the garrison might remain secure against surprise or attack. He then descended into Athole, and arrived at Perth on the 26th of July, being little more than five weeks since he set out on his long projected expedition.

During his absence Major-general Buchan and Colonel Cannon, each at the head of a select body of cavalier horse, had been scouring the low country. The latter, in particular, with 200 horse, had attacked Lord Cardross’s dragoons who were stationed in Menteith, and had pursued them down as far as the park of Stirling. On his arrival at Perth, Mackay being informed of the proceedings of Cannon’s party, sent orders to the troops at Stirling to march out in quest of them, while he himself, after receiving a supply of biscuit from Dundee, resolved to march from Perth with a detachment for the purpose of intercepting them; but Cannon had passed through the heights of Athole towards Braemar before the troops at Stirling left that town. Mackay followed after them for two days with a force of 1,000 men, but was unable to overtake them. Being unprovided for a longer march, he returned on the third day to Stirling, whence he despatched three troops of Cardross’s dragoons, and one of horse, to support the Master of Forbes who was guarding Aberdeenshire.

Buchan and Cannon having united their forces, and being joined by Farquharson of Inverey, at the head of 500 or 600 of the Braemar Highlanders, descended into the adjoining low parts of Aberdeenshire, Mearns, and Banff, to unite themselves to some of the country Jacobite gentlemen, leaving behind them a body of 160 men, to block up Abergeldie, in which Mackay still kept a garrison. They were at first opposed on their descent into the low country, by the Master of Forbes, and Colonel Jackson, with eight troops of cavalry, which was fully more than sufficient to have repulsed in a level country, any body the Highlanders could then bring into the field. Buchan, however, having purposely magnified the appearance of his forces, by ranging his foot over a large extent of ground, and interspersing his baggage and baggage horses among them, inspired the Master of Forbes and Jackson with such dread, that they considered it prudent to retire before a foe apparently so formidable in appearance, and their fears increasing after they had begun their retreat, they set off towards Aberdeen at full gallop, and never looked behind, till they had entered the town, after a race of upwards of 20 miles.[630] Buchan, who had no immediate design upon Aberdeen, followed the alarmed cavalry, and such was the effect of the retreat upon some of the neighbouring noblemen and gentlemen, that they joined Buchan in the pursuit. The inhabitants were thrown into a state of the greatest alarm at this occurrence, and the necessary means of defence were adopted, but Buchan made no attempt to enter the town.

When Mackay received intelligence of this “disorder,” as he terms the flight of Forbes and Jackson, he instantly despatched Colonel Cunningham with 300 men, and two troops of cavalry, to the north to join Jackson; but Cunningham was unable to effect a junction, as Cannon lay encamped between him and Jackson. As the fears of a French invasion had subsided, Mackay, on hearing of Cunningham’s failure, marched north himself in such haste that he carried neither baggage nor provisions along with him; but on his way north, he learned that Buchan had left the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, and was marching southward. On hearing of Mackay’s advance, Buchan drew off his men to the right, and crossed the hills. On arriving at the Dee, he left Cunningham with a detachment at the castle of Aboyne, and proceeded with his own division to raise the siege of Abergeldie. In the course of this march, a party of 60 dragoons, under Major Mackay, fell in among the hills, with a body of 200 Highlanders, under Inverey, all of whom were either killed or made prisoners. The chief himself made a very narrow escape, having been trampled under the horses’ feet, and left for dead on the field. Mackay also laid waste the fertile country about Abergeldie, to the extent of twelve miles round, and burnt from 1,200 to 1,400 houses, by way of reprisal, for having blocked up the garrison.[631]

Having united all his forces in the north, with the exception of those which lay at Inverness, Mackay marched as far north as Strathdon, where he was told that the greater part of the north was hostile to the government, and was ready to rise in arms, which information made him at once resolve to proceed north with all possible haste in order to get Buchan’s force dispersed, before any general rising should take place. Leaving therefore his foot behind, he proceeded north with his cavalry in great haste, and in the course of his march was informed that Buchan was not only on his way north, but that he expected to be joined by several thousand Highlanders. He, therefore, continued his march with great celerity, allowing his men no more time than was absolutely necessary for refreshing their horses, and arrived within four hours’ march of the enemy, before they received any notice of his approach. Buchan had reached Inverness, and was only waiting for the Earl of Seaforth’s and other Highlanders, whom he expected to join him in attacking the town; but on hearing of Mackay’s advance, he crossed the river Ness, and retired along the north side of the Loch.

The Earl of Seaforth, afraid of the consequences which might result to him personally, for the part he had acted, sent his mother, the Countess Dowager of Seaforth, and Mackenzie of Coul, to Mackay, to inform him that he would accede to such conditions as might be agreed upon between them and Mackay. An agreement was accordingly entered into, by which it was stipulated, that the earl should deliver himself into Mackay’s hands, to be kept as a prisoner at Inverness, till the privy council should decide as to his future disposal; and to conceal this arrangement from the Jacobite party, it was farther agreed that the earl should allow himself to be seized as if by surprise, by a party of horse under Major Mackay, at one of his seats during the night. The earl, however, disappointed the party sent out to apprehend him, in excuse for which, both he and his mother, in letters to Mackay, pleaded the state of his health, which they alleged would suffer from imprisonment. The earl cannot certainly be blamed for having demurred placing himself at the unconditional disposal of such a body as the privy council of Scotland, some of whom would not have hesitated to sacrifice him, if by doing so they could have obtained a share of his estates.

Mackay was so irritated at the deception which had been practised upon him, that he resolved to treat the earl’s vassals “with all the rigour of military execution.” Having, however, a warm feeling for the earl’s friends, on account of their being “all Protestants, and none of the most dangerous enemies,” as he says, and being more desirous to obtain possession of the earl’s person than to ruin his friends, he caused information of his intentions upon the earl’s lands to be sent to Seaforth’s camp, by some of his own party, as if from a feeling of friendship to him. Contrary to Mackay’s anticipations, Seaforth surrendered himself, and was committed prisoner to the castle of Inverness.[632] About this time the Earl of Argyle—who had fled to Holland in 1685, on his father’s execution, but returned with the Prince of Orange, and was reinstated by the Convention in his father’s estates and title—with a force of 1,900 foot, and 60 dragoons, invaded Mull, the inhabitants of which took the oaths of allegiance to the government, and delivered up their arms. He was, however, from the state of the weather, obliged to leave the island, before effecting the reduction of Duart castle, and left 300 men behind him to keep it in check. Maclean himself, with a few of his friends, took refuge on Carnburrow, an inaccessible rock near Mull.

King James’s affairs had now become utterly desperate in Scotland, and his defeat at the battle of the Boyne, on the 1st of July, 1690, almost annihilated his hopes in Ireland. Unable to collect any considerable body of men together, Buchan, after wandering through Lochaber, dismissed the few that still remained with him, and along with Sir George Barclay, Lieutenant-colonel Graham, and other officers, took up his abode with Macdonell of Glengary, Cannon and his officers retiring to the isles, under the protection of Sir Donald Macdonald. In their retreats, these officers who had displayed the most heroic attachment to the cause of the unfortunate king, under the most trying circumstances, still continued to cherish some distant hopes of his restoration, and were prepared to enter upon any service, however hazardous, which might lead to such a consummation.

At length, seeing no chance of making a successful effort in favour of James, they, in connexion with the chiefs, sent over the Earl of Dunfermline to France in the spring of 1691, to represent to him the state of matters, and to receive his commands. Having received instructions from his majesty to enter into a negotiation with the government, a meeting of the principal officers and the Jacobite chiefs was held at Achallader in Glenorchy on the 30th of June, which was attended by the Earl of Breadalbane on the part of the government, at which a cessation of hostilities was agreed upon till the 1st of October. To get the chiefs to submit to the government, money and other inducements were held out to them by Breadalbane, at whose disposal a sum of about £15,000 or £20,000 had been placed by King William. They, however, declined to come to any definite arrangement at this time, and requested liberty to send Sir George Barclay and Major Menzies to France, to obtain the sanction of King James, to enter into a treaty with the government, a request which was reluctantly granted. After learning from these officers the miseries to which the clans were reduced, and the utter hopelessness of attempting another campaign under existing circumstances, James allowed them to make the best terms they could with the government. Accordingly, and in terms of a proclamation issued by the government on the 27th of August, 1691, promising an indemnity to all persons who had been in arms, and who should take an oath of allegiance to the government before the 1st of January 1692; all the chiefs, with one unfortunate exception, which will be afterwards noticed, gave in their adherence, and took the oath within the prescribed time. Buchan and Cannon with their officers, in terms of an agreement with the government, were transported to France, to which country they had asked and obtained permission from their royal master to retire, as they could no longer be serviceable to him in their native land.

We are sorry that it is beyond the province of the present work, even did space permit, to give a detailed account of the heroic and almost quixotically chivalrous conduct of Dundee’s officers, after their emigration to France. In order that they might not be a burden on their royal master King James, they entered the French service, forming themselves into a company of “private sentinels” or common soldiers, four of their number being appointed officers, whose conduct gives “no opportunity of speaking well of them.”[633] They numbered only about 150, and so effectively performed their duty in the service of France, that, unsuited as they were for the hard life of common soldiers, and cheated by their heartless officers of the few comforts provided for them, in a very short time “the earth closed over the last remains of the gentlemen-adventurers who followed the banner of Dundee.”[634] They bore all their hardships with cheerfulness and even gaiety, winning the tears and love of the women wherever they passed, and the respect of their French comrades. The following incident must suffice as an example of their fearless hardihood.

“The Germans had made a lodgement in an island in the Rhine (near Strasburg). The French, from an opinion that the river was impassable without boats, had ordered a number for the passage. Among other troops intended for the service, this company was ordered to keep a station opposite to the island until the boats should arrive; but finding, upon examination, the ford, though difficult, not impassable, they, according to the custom of the Highlanders in wading through rivers, joining their hands together, and entering the river in a line with its current, the strongest men in the upper part, and the weaker in the under, so that those who were highest up the stream broke all its force, and tying their arms and clothes on their shoulders, passed to the island in sight of both armies on the opposite bank, and drove ten times their number from the lodgement. The French cried out in admiration, ‘A gentleman, in whatever station, is still a gentleman.’ ‘Le gentilhomme est toujours gentilhomme.’ The place is called l’Isle d’Ecosse to this day.”[635]

FOOTNOTES:

[608] Memoirs, p. 62.

[609] Mackay, pp. 63, 64.

[610] Memoirs, p. 66.

[611] Memoirs of Dundee.

[612] Memoirs, p. 69.

[613] Idem.

[614] Scotland, vol. i. p. 141.

[615] Balcarras.

[616] Life and Diary of Colonel Blackader.

[617]

“We, Lord James Murray, Patrick Stewart of Ballechan, Sir John M’Lean, Sir Donald M’Donald, Sir Ewen Cameron, Glengarie, Benbecula, Sir Alexander M’Lean, Appin, Enveray, Keppoch, Glencoe, Strowan, Calochele, Lieut.-Col. M’Gregor, Bara, Large, M’Naughten, do hereby bind and oblige ourselves, for his Majesty’s service and our own safeties, to meet at _____________ the __________ day of September next, and bring along with us _______ fencible men. That is to say, Lord James Murray and Ballechan _______, Sir John M’Lean 200, Sir Donald M’Donald 200, Sir Ewen Cameron 200, Glengarie 200, Benbecula 200, Sir Alexander M’Lean 100, Appin 100, Enveray 100, Keppoch 100, Lieut.-Col. M’Gregor 100, Calochele 50, Strowan 60, Bara 50, Glencoe 50, M’Naughten 50, Large 50; but in case any of the rebels shall assault or attack any of the above-named persons betwixt the date hereof and the said day of rendezvous, we do all solemnly promise to assist one another to the utmost of our power, as witness these presents, signed by us at the castle of Blair, the 24th of August, 1689 years.—Al. Robertson, D. M’Neil, Alex. M’Donald, Do. M’Gregor, Alex. M’Donell, D. M’Donald, D. M’D. of Benbecula, Al. M’Donald, Tho. Farqrson, Jo. M’Leane, E. Cameron of Lochiel, Al. Stuart.”—Records of Parliament.

Seven days before the date of this bond, these associates, and other friends, sent the following characteristic letter to Mackay, in answer to a friendly invitation from him to lay down their arms:—

“Birse, 17th August, 1689.

“Sir,
“We received your letter from Strathbogy, and we saw that you wrote to Brigadier Cannan from St Johnstoun, to which we gave a civil return, for by telling that you support yourselves by fictions and stories (a thing known all the world over), is no railing. The Christian means (as you say in your last) you make use of to advance the good cause by, is evident to all the world, and the argument you use to move us to address your government, is consequential to the whole; for instead of telling us what good Christians, men of honour, good subjects, and good neighbours, ought to do, you tell us in both your letters, that his Majesty has hot wars in Ireland, and cannot in haste come to us, which, though it were as true as we know it is not, is only an argument from safety and interest. And that you may know the sentiments of men of honour, we declare to you and all the world, we scorn your usurper, and the indemnities of his government; and to save you farther trouble by your frequent invitations, we assure you that we are satisfied our king will take his own time and way to manage his dominions and punish his rebels; and although he should send no assistance to us at all, we will die with our swords in our hands before we fail in our loyalty and sworn allegiance to our sovereign. Judge, then, what effect Duke Hamilton’s letter has upon us; but you have got an honourable father for this story from Ireland, and although we can better tell you how matters go in Ireland, and that we pity those on whom such stories have influence, yet we have no orders to offer conditions to any rebels; we allow them and his grace to believe on and take your measures by your success, till his Majesty’s farther orders. Sir, We thank you for the good meaning of your invitation, (though we are confident you had no hope of success.) And we will shortly endeavour to give you a requital—and those of us who live in islands have already seen and defied the Prince of Orange his frigates. We are, Sir, your affectionate and humble servants. Jo. MacLeane, E. Cameron of Lochiel, C. M’Kenzie, D. Mackdonald, John Grant of Balnadaloch, Pa. Steuart, J. M’Nachtane, Alexr. M’Donald, A. M’Nachtan, Jo. Cameron, Tho. Farqrson, H. M’Lean of Lochbuye, Alexr. M’Donell, D. M’D. of Benbecula, B. MacNeill of Bara, D. M’Neill, Ra. M’Donald, J. M’Donald, Alexr. Maclaine. We have returned your letter from Duke Hamilton, because you have more use for it than we.”—Parliamentary Records.

[618] Memoirs, p. 72.

[619] Memoirs, p. 77.

[620] Mackay’s Memoirs, p. 85.

[621] Idem, page 86.

[622] Balcarras.

[623] Mackay’s Memoirs, p. 93. Mackay’s account says, “six companies of Grant’s regiment, making about 800 men,”—an evident error.

[624] Mackay’s Memoirs, p. 94.

[625] Memoirs of Dundee.

[626] Memoirs, p. 95.

[627] Shaw (History of Moray) says that above 100 of Buchan’s men were killed, and about 60 made prisoners, who were found in the castle of Lethindie and the mill; and he adds, as a thing deserving of remark, that “Colonel Macdonald of Keppoch, who was ever keen for plunder, had never once fought for his king, would not encamp with the other rebels, but with his men quartered at Garvlin, half-a-mile distant, and thereby escaped without loss.”

[628] Shaw’s Moray.

[629] Memoirs, p. 98.

[630] “His mastership (of Forbes) understanding the word of command, wheel, better than advance, turned the battle into a race, and won; for he was first at Aberdeen, and alarmed the town with a frightful outcry, The enemy, the enemy’s coming.”—Memoirs of Dundee.

[631] Mackay’s Memoirs, p. 101.

[632] “I believe it shall fare so with the Earl of Seaforth, that is, that he shall haply, (perhaps) submit, when his countrey is ruined, and spoyled, which is the character of a true Scotsman, wyse behinde the hand!”—Letter to the Privy Council, 1st Sept. 1690. Appendix to Memoirs, No. 73. Mackay was directed by the privy council, by warrant, dated 7th Oct. 1690, “to transport the person of Colin, Earl of Seaforth, with safety from Inverness to Edinburgh, in such way and manner, as he should think fit.” In consequence of this removal, he was entered a prisoner within the castle of Edinburgh, on 6th Nov. following, whence he was liberated on 7th Jan. 1692, on finding caution to appear when called upon. He was bound not to go ten miles beyond Edinburgh. He was again imprisoned, but made his escape, and was apprehended at Pencaitland, on 7th May 1692, and again kept in close confinement, within the castle of Edinburgh. He was afterwards liberated, on giving security for his peaceable behaviour.—Records of the Privy Council.

[633] For details, see An Account of Dundee’s officers after they went to France in Miscellanea Scotica.

[634] Burton’s Scotland from Revolution, vol. i. p. 153.

[635] Dalrymple’s Memoirs, vol. i. part ii. p. 61.

CHAPTER XXII.

A.D. 1691–1702.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—William III., 1688–1703.

Negotiations with the Highland chiefs—Massacre of Glencoe—Master of Stair—King William—Subsequent enquiry—State of Highlands during William’s reign—Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat.

During 1690 and 1691 the Jacobites caused the government much trouble and anxiety by their ceaseless plotting to get up an insurrection, in which they were to be assisted by supplies from France. Many men, professedly loyal to King William, gave, from various motives, their secret countenance to these attempts; and the Highlanders especially proved a galling and distracting thorn in the side of the government. As early as 1690, Lord Tarbet, (subsequently Earl of Cromarty,) proposed a scheme for the quieting of the Highlands, which Lord Breadalbane offered to carry into execution; but it was at the time abandoned. In 1691, however, negotiations were again renewed, and, as has been seen, Breadalbane was intrusted with a sum of money to distribute among the chiefs, or rather to buy up the claims which Argyle and other superiors had over their feudal vassals, and which was the real cause of the strife and dissatisfaction existing in the Highlands. The Secretary of State, Sir John Dalrymple, known as the Master of Stair, son of the Earl of Stair, appears latterly to have been at the bottom of the scheme, and was certainly most anxious that it should be successfully and speedily carried out, having at first apparently no thought of resorting to measures of cruel severity.

First Earl of Breadalbane.
From Original Painting in possession of
Lady Elizabeth Pringle.

Not much appears to have resulted from the meeting which Breadalbane had with the chiefs at Achallader; indeed, he showed very little of an earnest desire for conciliation, as his threatening conduct induced Alexander Macdonald, or MacIan, of Glencoe, to leave the meeting abruptly for his own safety. Between Breadalbane, who was a Campbell, and Macdonald much bad blood appears to have existed; indeed, nothing but the bitterest hatred was cherished by the whole tribe of the Macdonalds to the Campbells, as the latter had from time to time, oftener by foul than by fair means, ousted the former from their once extensive possessions. The Macdonalds of Glencoe especially, still considered the lands and property of the Campbells as their own, and without hesitation supplied their wants out of the numerous herds of the latter. It was some recent raid of this sort which roused the wrath of Breadalbane; and on poor Macdonald’s head lighted all the blame and the punishment of the ineffectual negotiation. What became of the money has never been clearly ascertained; but much can be inferred from Breadalbane’s answer when asked afterwards by Lord Nottingham to account for it, “The money is spent, the Highlands are quiet, and this is the only way of accounting among friends.”

Like many of his contemporaries, Breadalbane attached himself openly to King William’s government only because it was for the time the winning side; while at the same time he professed secretly to be attached to the interest of the exiled King James. He told the Highland chiefs that in urging them to enter into terms with the government, he had their own interests and those of King James at heart; for there being then “no other appearance of relief, he thought they could not do better than sue for a cessation, which would be a breathing to them, and give them time to represent their circumstances to King James.”[636] A contemporary characterises him as being “cunning as a fox; wise as a serpent; but as slippery as an eel. No government can trust him but where his own private interest is in view.”[637]

As the chiefs did not seem in any hurry to come to terms, a proclamation was issued, in August 1691, requiring them to take the oath of allegiance before the 1st of January 1692, threatening all those who did not comply with “letters of fire and sword.” This had the proper effect, as, one by one, the chiefs swore fealty to the government, Macdonald of Glencoe, from pride or some other reason, being the last to comply with the terms of the proclamation. The difficulty in getting the chiefs to come to terms, and thus allowing the government to pursue its other schemes without anxiety, seems at last to have irritated Sir John Dalrymple so much against them, that latterly he eagerly desired that some, and especially the various tribes of Macdonalds, might hold out beyond the time, in order that an example might be made of them by putting into execution the penalty attached to the non-fulfilment of the terms of the proclamation. In a letter to Breadalbane of Dec. 2d, he thinks “the clan Donald must be rooted out and Lochiel,” and is doubtful whether the money “had been better employed to settle the Highlands, or to ravage them.” In another written on the following day he mentions with approval Breadalbane’s “mauling scheme,” artfully rousing the latter’s indignation by speaking of the chiefs’ ungratefulness to him, using at the same time the significant phrase delenda est Carthago. He and Breadalbane seemed however likely to be cheated of their vengeance, for even the obstinate and hated Mac Ian himself, after holding out to the very last day, hastened to fulfil the requirements of the proclamation, and thus place himself beyond the power of the strong arm of the law.

On the 31st of December, 1691, Glencoe made his way to Fort-William, and presented himself to Colonel Hill the governor, asking him to administer the required oath of allegiance. The Colonel, however, declined to act, on the ground, that according to the proclamation, the civil magistrate alone could administer them. Glencoe remonstrated with Hill on account of the exigency of the case, as there was not any magistrate whom he could reach before the expiration of that day, but Hill persisted in asserting that it was out of his power to act in the matter. He, however advised Glencoe to proceed instantly to Inverary, giving him at the same time a letter to Sir Colin Campbell of Ardkinglass, sheriff of Argyleshire, begging him to receive Glencoe as “a lost sheep,” and to administer to him the necessary oaths. Hill also gave Glencoe a letter of protection, and an assurance that no proceedings should be instituted against him under the proclamation, till he should have an opportunity of laying his case before the king or the privy council.

Glencoe left Fort-William immediately, and so great was his anxiety to reach Inverary with as little delay as possible, that although his way lay through mountains almost impassable, and although the country was deeply covered with snow, he proceeded on his journey without even stopping to see his family, though he passed within half a mile of his own house. On arriving at Inverary, Sir Colin Campbell was absent, and he had to wait three days till his return, Sir Colin having been prevented from reaching Inverary sooner, on account of the badness of the weather. As the time allowed by the proclamation for taking the oaths had expired, Sir Colin declined at first to swear Glencoe, alleging that it would be of no use to take the oaths; but Glencoe having first importuned him with tears to receive from him the oath of allegiance, and having thereafter threatened to protest against the sheriff should he refuse to act, Sir Colin yielded, and administered the oaths to Glencoe and his attendants on the 6th of January. Glencoe, thereupon, returned home in perfect reliance that having done his utmost to comply with the injunction of the government, he was free from danger.

Shortly after this, Campbell transmitted to Colin Campbell, sheriff-clerk of Argyle, who was then in Edinburgh, the certificate of Glencoe’s oath on the same paper with other certificates, sending at the same time the letter which he had received from Hill. Campbell showed this paper with Hill’s letter to several privy councillors, among whom was the Earl of Stair, all of whom were of opinion that the certificate could not be received without a warrant from the king. Instead, however, of laying the matter before the privy council, or informing Glencoe of the rejection of the certificate, that he might petition the king, Campbell gave in the paper to the clerks of the council with Glencoe’s certificate “delete and obliterate.”

Whether this was done at the instigation of Secretary Dalrymple, it is impossible to say; but it is not improbable that this man—who, a few weeks before, had exulted[638] that as the winter was the only season in which the Highlanders could not escape, they could easily be destroyed “in the cold long nights”—was not an indifferent spectator to Campbell’s proceedings. In fact, it appears that the secretary contemplated the total extirpation of the clans, for, in a letter to Sir Thomas Livingston, commander of the forces in Scotland, dated January 7th, he says, “You know in general that these troops posted at Inverness and Inverlochie, will be ordered to take in the house of Innergarie, and to destroy entirely the country of Lochaber, Lochiel’s lands, Keppoch’s, Glengarie’s, and Glencoe,” and he adds, “I assure you your power shall be full enough, and I hope the soldiers will not trouble the government with prisoners.” The Macdonalds were chiefly marked out by him for destruction, and after saying, in a letter of the 9th, that he could have wished that they “had not divided” on the question of taking the oath of indemnity, he expresses his regret to find that Keppoch and Glencoe were safe. When he heard two days after from Argyle, that Glencoe had not managed to take the oaths within the time prescribed, he expressed a joy which might be called fiendish, and set himself busily to take proper advantage of the opportunity.[639] Delenda est Carthago.

That no time might be lost in enforcing the penalties in the proclamation, now that the time allowed for taking the oath of allegiance had expired, instructions of rather an equivocal nature, signed and countersigned by the king on the 11th of January, were sent down by young Stair to Sir Thomas Livingston, enclosed in a letter from the secretary of same date. By the instructions, Livingston was ordered “to march the troops against the rebels who had not taken the benefit of the indemnity, and to destroy them by fire and sword;” but lest such a course might render them desperate, he was allowed to “give terms and quarters, but in this manner only, that chieftains and heritors, or leaders, be prisoners of war, their lives only safe, and all other things in mercy, they taking the oath of allegiance, and the community taking the oath of allegiance, and rendering their arms, and submitting to the government, are to have quarters, and indemnity for their lives and fortunes, and to be protected from the soldiers.” As a hint to Livingston how to act under the discretionary power with which these instructions vested him, Dalrymple says in his letter containing them, “I have no great kindness to Keppoch nor Glencoe, and it is well that people are in mercy, and then just now my Lord Argyle tells me that Glencoe hath not taken the oath, at which I rejoice. It is a great work of charity to be exact in rooting out that damnable sect, the worst of the Highlands.”

The purport of this letter could not be misunderstood; but lest Livingston might not feel disposed to imbrue his hands in the blood of Glencoe and his people, additional instructions bearing the date (in Stair’s handwriting) of January 16th, and also signed and countersigned by King William, were despatched to Livingston by the Master of Stair, ordering him to extirpate the whole clan. In the letter containing these instructions, Dalrymple informs Livingston that “the king does not at all incline to receive any after the diet but in mercy,” but he artfully adds, “but for a just example of vengeance, I entreat the thieving tribe of Glencoe may be rooted out to purpose.” Lest, however, Livingston might hesitate, a duplicate of these additional instructions[640] was sent at the same time by Secretary Dalrymple to Colonel Hill, the governor of Fort-William, with a letter of an import similar to that sent to Livingston. From the following extract it would appear that not only the Earl of Breadalbane, but also the Earl of Argyle, was privy to this infamous transaction. “The Earls of Argyle and Breadalbane have promised that they (the Macdonalds of Glencoe) shall have no retreat in their bounds, the passes to Rannoch would be secured, and the hazard certified to the laird of Weems to reset them; in that case Argyle’s detachment with a party that may be posted in Island Stalker must cut them off.”

Preparatory to putting the butchering warrant in execution, a party of Argyle’s regiment, to the number of 120 men, under the command of Captain Campbell of Glenlyon, was ordered to proceed to Glencoe, and take up their quarters there, about the end of January or beginning of February. On approaching the Glen, they were met by John Macdonald, the elder son of the chief, at the head of about 20 men, who demanded from Campbell the reason of his coming into a peaceful country with a military force; Glenlyon and two subalterns who were with him explained that they came as friends, and that their sole object was to obtain suitable quarters, where they could conveniently collect the arrears of cess and hearth-money,—a new tax laid on by the Scottish parliament in 1690,—in proof of which, Lieutenant Lindsay produced the instructions of Colonel Hill to that effect. They thereupon received a hearty welcome, and were hospitably entertained by Glencoe and his people till the fatal morning of the massacre. Indeed, so familiar was Glenlyon, that scarcely a day passed that he did not visit the house of Alexander Macdonald, the younger son of the chief, who was married to Glenlyon’s niece, the sister of Rob Roy, and take his “morning drink,” agreeably to the most approved practice of Highland hospitality.

If Secretary Dalrymple imagined that Livingston was disinclined to follow his instructions he was mistaken, for immediately on receipt of them he wrote Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, who had been fixed upon by the secretary to be the executioner, expressing his satisfaction that Glencoe had not taken the oath within the period prescribed, and urging him, if he wished to approve himself to the government, to execute his commission with the utmost rigour, and “not to trouble the government with prisoners.” In the meantime, the Master of Stair was taking every precaution that the deed should be done suddenly and effectively, and accordingly, on the 13th of January he wrote two letters, one to Livingston, and the other to Hill, urging them on. Addressing the former, he says, “I am glad Glencoe did not come in within the time prefixed; I hope what is done there may be in earnest, since the rest are not in a condition to draw together help. I think to harry (plunder) their cattle and burn their houses is but to render them desperate lawless men to rob their neighbours, but I believe you will be satisfied, it were a great advantage to the nation that thieving tribe were rooted out and cut off; it must be quietly done, otherwise they will make shift for both their men and their cattle.” And in his letter to Hill he says, “Pray, when the thing concerning Glencoe is resolved, let it be secret and sudden, otherwise the men will shift you, and better not meddle with them than not to do it to purpose, to cut off that nest of robbers who have fallen in the mercy of the law, now when there is force and opportunity, whereby the king’s justice will be as conspicuous and useful as his clemency to others. I apprehend the storm is so great that for some time you can do little, but so soon as possible I know you will be at work, for these false people will do nothing, but as they see you in a condition to do with them.”

In pursuance of these fresh instructions from the secretary, Hill, on the 12th of February, sent orders to Hamilton, forthwith to execute the fatal commission. Accordingly, on the same day, Hamilton directed Major Robert Duncanson of Argyle’s regiment to proceed immediately with a detachment of that regiment to Glencoe, so as to reach the post which had been assigned him by five o’clock the following morning, at which hour Hamilton promised to reach another post with a party of Hill’s regiment. Whether Duncanson, who appears to have been a Campbell,[641] was averse to take an active personal part in the bloody tragedy about to be enacted, is a question that cannot now be solved; but it may have been from some repugnance to act in person that immediately on receipt of Hamilton’s order, he despatched another order from himself to Captain Campbell of Glenlyon, then living in Glencoe, with instructions to fall upon the Macdonalds precisely at five o’clock the following morning, and put all to the sword under seventy years of age.[642]

Glenlyon appears to have been a man equal to any kind of loathsome work, especially against a Macdonald; one who

“Could smile, and murder while he smiled.”

With this sanguinary order in his pocket, and with his mind made up unhesitatingly and rigorously to execute it, he did not hesitate to spend the eve of the massacre playing at cards with John and Alexander Macdonald, the sons of the chief, to wish them good night at parting, and to accept an invitation from Glencoe himself to dine with him the following day. Little suspecting the intended butchery, Glencoe and his sons retired to rest at their usual hour; but early in the morning, while the preparations for the intended massacre were going on, John Macdonald, the elder son of the chief, hearing the sound of voices about his house, grew alarmed, and jumping out of bed threw on his clothes and went to Inverriggen, where Glenlyon was quartered, to ascertain the cause of the unusual bustle which had interrupted his nocturnal slumbers. To his great surprise he found the soldiers all in motion, as if preparing for some enterprise, which induced him to inquire at Captain Campbell the object of these extraordinary preparations at such an early hour. The anxiety with which young Macdonald pressed his question, indicating a secret distrust on his part, Campbell endeavoured by professions of friendship to lull his suspicions, and pretended that his sole design was to march against some of Glengarry’s men. As John Macdonald, the younger son of Glencoe, was married to Glenlyon’s niece, that crafty knave referred to his connexion with the family of Glencoe, and put it to the young man, whether, if he intended any thing hostile to the clan, he would not have provided for the safety of his niece and her husband. Macdonald, apparently satisfied with this explanation, returned home and retired again to rest, but he had not been long in bed when his servant, who, apprehensive of the real intentions of Glenlyon and his party, had prevented Macdonald from sleeping, informed him of the approach of a party of men towards the house. Jumping immediately out of bed he ran to the door, and perceiving a body of about 20 soldiers with muskets and fixed bayonets coming in the direction of his house, he fled to a hill in the neighbourhood, where he was joined by his brother Alexander, who had escaped from the scene of carnage, after being wakened from sleep by his servant.

The massacre commenced about five o’clock in the morning at three different places at once. Glenlyon, with a barbarity which fortunately for society has few parallels, undertook to butcher his own hospitable landlord and the other inhabitants of Inverriggen, where he and a party of his men were quartered, and despatched Lieutenant Lindsay with another party of soldiers to Glencoe’s house to cut off the unsuspecting chief. Under the pretence of a friendly visit, he and his party obtained admission into the house. Glencoe was in bed, and while in the act of rising to receive his cruel visitors, was basely shot at by two of the soldiers, and fell lifeless into the arms of his wife. The lady in the extremity of her anguish leaped out of bed and put on her clothes, but the ruffians stripped her naked, pulled the rings off her fingers with their teeth, and treated her so cruelly that she died the following day. The party also killed two men whom they found in the house, and wounded a third named Duncan Don, who came occasionally to Glencoe with letters from Braemar.

While the butchery was going on in Glencoe’s house, Glenlyon was busily doing his bloody work at Inverriggen, where his own host was shot by his order. Here the party seized nine men, whom they first bound hand and foot, after which they shot them one by one. Glenlyon was desirous of saving the life of a young man about twenty years of age, but one Captain Drummond shot him dead. The same officer, impelled by a thirst for blood, ran his dagger through the body of a boy who had grasped Campbell by the legs and was supplicating for mercy.

Glencoe.

A third party under the command of one Sergeant Barker, which was quartered in the village of Auchnaion, fired upon a body of nine men whom they observed in a house in the village sitting before a fire. Among these was the laird of Auchintriaten, who was killed on the spot, along with four more of the party. This gentleman had at the time a protection in his pocket from Colonel Hill, which he had received three months before. The remainder of the party in the house, two or three of whom were wounded, escaped by the back of the house, with the exception of a brother of Auchintriaten, who having been seized by Barker, requested him as a favour not to despatch him in the house but to kill him without. The sergeant consented, on account of having shared his generous hospitality; but when brought out he threw his plaid, which he had kept loose, over the faces of the soldiers who were appointed to shoot him, and thus escaped.

Besides the slaughter at these three places, there were some persons dragged from their beds and murdered in other parts of the Glen, among whom was an old man of eighty years of age; in all, 38 persons were slaughtered. The whole male population under 70 years of age, amounting to 200, would in all likelihood have been cut off, if, fortunately for them, a party of 400 men under Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, who was principally charged with the execution of the sanguinary warrant, had not been prevented by the severity of the weather from reaching the Glen till eleven o’clock, six hours after the slaughter, by which time the whole surviving male inhabitants, warned of their danger and of the fate of their chief and other sufferers, had fled to the hills. Ignorant of this latter circumstance, Hamilton, on arriving at the pass, appointed several parties to proceed to different parts of the Glen, with orders to take no prisoners, but to kill all the men that came in their way. They had not, however, proceeded far when they fell in with Major Duncanson’s party, by whom they were informed of the events of the morning, and who told them that as the survivors had escaped to the hills, they had nothing to do but to burn the houses, and carry off the cattle. They accordingly set fire to the houses, and having collected the cattle and effects in the Glen, carried them to Inverlochy, where they were divided among the officers of the garrison. That Hamilton would have executed his commission to the very letter, is evident from the fact, that an old man, above seventy, the only remaining male inhabitant of the desolate vale they fell in with, was put to death by his orders.

After the destruction of the houses, a heart-rending scene ensued. Ejected from their dwellings by the devouring element, aged matrons, women with child, and mothers, with infants at their breasts and followed by children on foot, clinging to them with all the solicitude and anxiety of helplessness, were to be seen wending their way, almost in a state of nudity, towards the mountains in quest of some friendly hovel, beneath whose roof they might seek shelter from the pitiless tempest and deplore their unhappy fate. But as there were no houses within the distance of several miles, and as these could only be reached by crossing mountains deeply covered with snow, a great number of these unhappy beings, overcome by fatigue, cold, and hunger, dropt down and perished miserably among the snow.

While this brutal massacre struck terror into the hearts of the Jacobite chiefs, and thus so far served the immediate object of the government, it was highly prejudicial to King William. In every quarter, even at court, the account of the massacre was received at first with incredulity, and then with horror and indignation; and the Jacobite party did not fail to turn the affair to good account against the government, by exaggerating, both at home and abroad, the barbarous details. The odium of the nation rose to such a pitch, that had the exiled monarch appeared at the head of a few thousand men, he would, probably, have succeeded in regaining his crown. The ministry, and even King William, grew alarmed, and to pacify the people he dismissed the Master of Stair from his councils, and appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the affair.

As for the Master of Stair, at whose door the chief blame of the infamous transaction was laid by the commission of inquiry, and who is popularly considered to have been a heartless and bloodthirsty wretch, he could not understand the indignant astonishment expressed on all hands at what he considered a most patriotic, beneficial, and in every respect highly commendable proceeding. He considered that he had done his ungrateful country excellent service in doing a little to root out a band of pestilential banditti, whom he regarded in as bad a light as the Italian government of the present day does the unscrupulous robbers who infest the country, or as the American government did the bloodthirsty Indians who harassed the frontiers. Letters of “fire and sword” against the Highlanders were as common, in the days of the Stewarts, as warrants for the apprehension of house-breakers or forgers are at the present day. They were looked upon as semi-civilized aborigines, characterised by such names as “rebellious and barbarous thieves, limmers, sorners,” &c.; and the killing of a Highlandman was thought no more of than the killing of a “nigger” was in the slave-states of America. In various acts of the privy council of Scotland, the clan Gregor is denounced in the above terms, and was visited with all the terrors of “fire and sword.” “Their habitations were destroyed. They were hunted down like wild beasts. Their very name was proscribed.”[643] We have already referred to, in its proper place, a mandate from King James V. in 1583, against the clan Chattan, in which he charges his lieges to invade the clan “to their utter destruction by slaughter, burning, drowning, and otherways; and leave no creature living of that clan, except priests, women, and bairns.” Even Captain Burt, in the beginning of the next century, writes of the Highlanders as if they were an interesting race of semi-barbarians, many of whom would cut a man’s throat for the mere sake of keeping their hands in practice.[644] In a letter of the 5th March, 1692, after referring to the universal talk in London about the transaction, Dalrymple says, “All I regret is, that any of the sort got away; and there is a necessity to prosecute them to the utmost.” Again, writing to Colonel Hill in April of the same year, he tells him that “as for the people of Glencoe, when you do your duty in a thing so necessary to rid the country of thieving, you need not trouble yourself to take the pains to vindicate yourself. When you do right, you need fear nobody. All that can be said is, that, in the execution, it was neither so full nor so fair as might have been.” Indeed we think that any one who examines into the matter with unbiassed and cool mind, which is difficult, cannot fail to conclude that neither private spite nor heartless bloodthirstiness actuated him in bringing about the transaction; but that he sincerely thought he was doing his country a service in taking the only effectual means of putting down a public pest and a hindrance to progress.

Had the clan been proceeded against in open and legitimate warfare, resulting in its utter extinction, the affair might have occupied no more than a short paragraph in this and other histories. There can be no doubt that what gives the deed its nefarious stamp, is the fiendishly deliberate and deceitful way in which it was accomplished, in violation of laws of hospitality which are respected even by cut-throat Arabs. And after all it was a blunder.

As to whether King William knew the full significance of the order which he signed, and what was the extent of his knowledge of the circumstances, are points which can never be ascertained. It is mere meaningless declamation to talk of it as a foul and indelible blot on his character and reign. “The best that can be done for the cause of truth, is to give the facts abundantly and accurately. The character of the revolution king is one of the questions which political passion and partizanship have not yet let go, so that reason may take it up. And with those who believe that, by his very act of heading the revolution which drove forth the Stewarts, he was the man to order and urge on the murder of an interesting and loyal clan, it would be quite useless to discuss the question on the ground of rational probabilities.”[645]

Though the nation had long desired an inquiry into this barbarous affair, it was not until the 29th of April, 1695, upwards of three years after the massacre, that a commission was granted. A commission had indeed been issued in 1693 appointing the Duke of Hamilton and others to examine into the affair, but this was never acted upon. The Marquis of Tweeddale, lord high chancellor of Scotland, and the other commissioners now appointed, accordingly entered upon the inquiry, and, after examining witnesses and documents, drew up a report and transmitted it to his majesty. The commissioners appear to have executed their task, on the whole, with great fairness, although they put the very best construction on William’s orders, and threw the whole blame of the massacre upon Secretary Dalrymple.

The report of the commissioners was laid before the parliament of Scotland on the 24th of June, which decided that the execution of the Glencoe-men was a murder, resolved nemine contradicente, that the instructions contained in the warrant of the 16th January, 1692, did not authorise the massacre. After various sittings on the subject, “the committee for the security of the kingdom” was appointed to draw up an address to the king on the subject of the massacre, which being submitted to parliament on the 10th of July, was voted and approved of.

No active measures in the way of punishing either principals or subordinates, however, were taken in consequence of the findings of the commission and the recommendations of parliament, except that Breadalbane, who they found had laid himself open to a charge of high treason, was imprisoned for a few days in Edinburgh castle. A curious and interesting incident came out during the sitting of the commission, tending to show that Breadalbane was conscious of a very large share of guilt, and was fully aware of the heinous and nefarious character of the bloody transaction. Some days after the slaughter, a person sent by Breadalbane’s steward waited upon Glencoe’s sons, and told them that if they would declare that his lordship had no concern in the slaughter, they might be assured that the earl would procure their “remission and restitution.”

As the surviving Macdonalds, who on their humble petition and promise of good behaviour were allowed to return to the glen, had been reduced to great poverty and distress by the destruction of their property, and as they had conducted themselves with great moderation under their misfortunes, the estates solicited his majesty to order reparation to be made to them for the losses they had sustained in their properties. Whether the “royal charity and compassion” invoked by the estates in behalf of these unfortunate people were ever exercised does not appear; but it is highly probable, that this part of the address was as little heeded as the rest.[646] In fact, the whole matter was hushed up, and it now lives in the page of history as a sad and somewhat inexplicable blunder, which has rendered the memories of those who contrived it and those who executed it, for ever infamous.[647]

These measures of the government, conciliatory and threatening, seem to have had the effect for the time of suppressing open hostility at least among the Highlanders; but from the nature of that people, and the method in which government treated them, we can readily believe that their obedience was none of the heartiest, and that they would be glad any moment to join in an attempt to oust King William and restore King James. During the whole of William’s reign his peace of mind was being continually disturbed by rumours and discoveries of plots, and by threats of a hostile descent on this country from France. In all these the Highland chiefs had their fair share, and were ready to receive with open arms any hostile expedition which might be fortunate enough to effect a landing on their coasts.

The stirring events of the last fifty years, in which the Highlanders played a conspicuous part, appear to have been the means of drawing their attention somewhat away from their hereditary clan-quarrels, and thus rendering their destructive internal strifes less frequent. But now that there was no external outlet for their belligerent propensities, they appear again to have resumed their old clan feuds. “To be at peace, unless they were disarmed and overawed, was not in their nature; and neither the law nor the military power of the nation was then on a scale sufficient to have accomplished these ends. We even find those chiefs who had ingratiated themselves with the government, obtaining, though not so readily as formerly, the writs known by the savage name of ‘letters of fire and sword’ against their enemies. These were licenses for civil war, giving the sanction of government aid and encouragement to one side in the conflict. They authorised the favoured clan to burn, waste, and slay, far and wide, within the territory of their enemies, setting forth—such were the words of style used by the clerks of the privy council who prepared these terrible documents—‘that whatever slaughter, mutilation, blood, fire-raising, or other violence’ may be done by the persons holding the letters, shall be held ‘laudable, good, and warrantable service to his majesty and his government.’ There is little doubt that the readiness with which these warrants were issued in earlier times, arose from the view that it was a good thing to encourage the Highlanders in slaying each other, and doubtless, even for a few years after such an event as Glencoe, such a feeling would linger in the usual official quarters. Though it was professed that no one could obtain letters of fire and sword but a litigant who could not enforce his just claims, it would be generally a vain task to examine the relative merits of the two sides, expecting to find one of them in the right. Any mitigation which the horrors of such a system may have received in later times, would be from the garrison of Fort-William being associated in arms with the holders of the letters.”[648]

The materials for the internal history of the Highlands at this period are scanty; doubtless there were many petty strifes carried on between hostile clans, and many cattle-lifting raids made by the Highland borderers upon their lowland neighbours, but no records of these appear to have been kept.

Shortly after the Glencoe massacre, a scheme appears to have been proposed to the king by Breadalbane[649] for utilizing the Highlanders “in case of any insurrection at home, or invasion from abroad.” The gist of it was that the Highland chiefs should be ordered to raise a body of 4,000 men, who would be so disciplined that they would be ready to be called out when required, and who were to be commanded by “some principal man in the Highlands,” who would have the pay of a general officer. This “principal man,” Breadalbane doubtless meant to be himself, as he suggests that the second in command should be Lochiel, who he said was ambitious to serve his majesty, and was a Protestant. Forty subordinate officers were to be appointed, Breadalbane wisely suggesting that these should be of Highland extraction, and that the soldiers themselves should be allowed to use their own apparel, their own arms, and to be disciplined after their own fashion. As will be afterwards seen, government appears to have acted on this or some similar proposal, and organized a few independent Highland companies. We give below the number of men which, according to Breadalbane’s estimate, each of the chiefs to which the proposal referred could raise. It is probably considerably below the number of men capable of bearing arms, who were at the command of the various chiefs named.[650]

It is about this time that the famous Robert Macgregor, better known as Rob Roy, first emerges into notice. The details of his life will be found in the account of the Clan Macgregor, in Part Second of this work.

During this reign, and shortly after the hushing-up of the Glencoe affair, there came into prominence another character, destined to play a far more important part in the history of the Highlands and of the country generally, than Rob Roy, whom he resembled in the unscrupulous means he took to attain his ends, but whose rude but genuine sense of honour and sincerity he appears to have been entirely devoid of. This was the notorious Simon Fraser, so well known afterwards as Lord Lovat. He was born, according to some authorities, in the year 1670, but according to himself in 1676, and was the second son of Thomas Fraser, styled of Beaufort, near Inverness, fourth son of Hugh, ninth Lord Lovat. Simon’s mother was dame Sybilla Macleod, daughter of the chief of the Macleods. He was educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, where he is said highly to have distinguished himself, and to have taken the degree of Master of Arts.[651] “One can easily believe that Simon, with his brain ever at work, and his ambition ever on the stretch, would let no one outstrip him.... His subsequent full and free use of the French indicates an aptitude for languages seldom equalled, and his tone of writing and speaking was that of a scholar, always when he thought fit that it should be so.”[652] In 1695, he was induced to leave the university, just as he was about to enter upon the study of law, and accept a company in a regiment raised for the service of King William, by Lord Murray, son of the Marquis of Athole, whose daughter was married to the then Lord Lovat, Simon’s cousin. Simon, who pretended the most inviolable loyalty to the exiled King James, gives as his excuse for accepting this commission, that it was only that “he might have a regiment well trained and accoutred to join King James in a descent he had promised to make in the ensuing summer.” While in Lord Murray’s regiment, he, in 1696, entered into a plan for surprising Edinburgh castle, and holding it in the interest of James, but this was stifled by the decisive victory at La Hogue.

In 1696, Simon accompanied his cousin Lord Lovat, who appears to have been of a “contracted understanding,” and Lord Murray, to London, and while there, endeavoured to worm himself into the colonelcy of his regiment, but was checkmated by Murray, whom, with the house of Athole, he thenceforth regarded as his enemy.

Lord Lovat died in September 1696, immediately after his return from London, on which Thomas of Beaufort assumed the family title, and Simon that of Master of Lovat. To render his claims indisputable, Simon paid his addresses to the daughter of the late lord, who had assumed the title of baroness of Lovat, and having prevailed on her to consent to elope with him, would have carried his design of marrying her into execution, had not their mutual confident, Fraser of Tenechiel, after conducting the young lady forth one night in such precipitate haste that she is said to have walked barefooted, failed in his trust, and restored her to her mother. The heiress was then removed out of the reach of Simon’s artifices by her uncle, the Marquis of Athole, to his stronghold at Dunkeld. Here it was determined that to put an end to dispute, she should be married to the son of Lord Saltoun, the head of a branch of the Fraser family in Aberdeenshire. As Simon saw in this match the ruin of all his hopes, he determined at all hazards to prevent it. As Saltoun and Lord Mungo Murray were returning, October, 1697, from Castle Dounie, the residence of the late lord’s widow, they were met at the wood of Bunchrew, near Inverness, by Simon and his followers, and immediately disarmed and carried to Fanellan, a house of Lord Lovat’s, before the windows of which a threatening gallows was erected. They were detained here about a week, when, on a report that Lord Murray and the red coats were coming against him, Captain Fraser sent the fiery cross and coronach through the country of his clan, and immediately had at his command a body of 500 armed men. With this small army, Fraser, accompanied by his prisoners, proceeded to Castle Dounie, of which they took possession, sentinels being placed in all the rooms, particularly Lady Lovat’s. The prisoners, after being detained for some time in the Island of Angus in the Beauly river, were dismissed.

Burton[653] very justly remarks, that the whole of these wild acts were evidently the result of a series of impulses. What followed appears to have been equally unpremeditated and the result of pure impulse. Simon determined to atone to himself for the loss of the daughter by forcibly wedding the mother, whom he himself describes as a widow “old enough to be his mother, dwarfish in her person, and deformed in her shape.”[654] For this purpose her three waiting maids were carried by force out of the room, and about two in the morning one of them was brought back and found her lady “sitting on the floor, her hair dishevelled, her head reclining backwards on the bed, Donald Beaton pulling off the lady’s shoes, and the Captain holding burning feathers and aqua-vitae to her nose, her ladyship being in a swoon.” A mock marriage was performed between Simon and Lady Lovat, by a wretched minister of the name of Munro, and the lady’s clothes having been violently pulled off her, her stays being cut off with a dirk, she was tossed into the bed, to have the marriage consummated with violence. Notwithstanding that the bagpipes were kept playing in the next room, the poor lady’s cries were heard outside the house.[655] In the morning the lady was found to be so stupified with the brutal treatment she had received that she could not recognise her dearest friends.

These violent proceedings caused much consternation in the country, and the Athole family immediately set about to obtain redress, or rather revenge. Letters of fire and sword and of intercommuning were passed against the whole of the Frasers, and the Marquis of Tulliebardine organised a force to carry these threats into execution. “On the whole, the force brought against him cannot have been very large; but in Simon’s own history of his conflicts and escapes, the whole affair assumes the aspect of a very considerable campaign, in which his enemies, spoken of as ‘the several regiments of cavalry, infantry, and dragoons,’ are always defeated and baffled in an unaccountable manner by some handful of Frasers.”[656] There does not appear to have been any downright skirmish, the only approach to such a thing being a meeting that took place at Stratherrick between the Frasers and the Athole-men under the two Lords Murray, in which the latter threw themselves on the mercy of Simon, who made them, after the manner of the ancient Romans, pass through the yoke, and at the same time swear by a fearful oath never again to enter the Lovat territories.

In June, 1698, proceedings were commenced in the court of justiciary against Fraser and his accomplices, and in September they were condemned, in their absence, to be executed as traitors.

In 1699, died old Fraser of Beaufort, at the house of his brother-in-law Macleod of Dunvegan Castle in Skye, and his son thenceforth assumed the title of Lord Lovat. He appears for some time to have led a wandering life, subsisting on pillage and the occasional contributions of the attached mountaineers.[657] Tired of this kind of life, he, at the recommendation of Argyle, who had endeavoured to secure favour for him at head-quarters, sued for a pardon, which King William granted for all his proceedings except the rape. He was willing to stand trial on this last head, and for this purpose appeared in Edinburgh with a small army of 100 followers as witnesses; but as the majority of the judges were prejudiced against him, he found it prudent again to take refuge in his mountains. He was outlawed, and finding his enemies too powerful for him, he fled to France in 1702, and offered his services to King James.

These details show, that amid the growing civilization and rapid progress of the country generally, the Highlanders were yet as barbarous and lawless as ever; the clans still cherishing the same devotion to their chiefs, and the same readiness, in defiance of law, to enter into an exterminating mutual strife. The government appears to have given up in despair all hopes of making the Highlanders amenable to the ordinary law of the country, or of rooting out from among them those ancient customs so inconsistent with the spirit of the British constitution. All it apparently aimed at was to confine the lawless and belligerent propensities of these troublesome Celts to their own country, and prevent them from taking a form that would be injurious to the civilized Lowlanders and the interests of the existing government generally. “From old experience in dealing with the Highlanders, government had learned a policy which suited temporary purposes at all events, however little it tended to the general pacification and civilisation of the people. This was, not to trust entirely to a Lowland government force, but to arm one clan against another. It seemed a crafty device for the extermination of these troublesome tribes, and a real practical adaptation of Swift’s paradoxical project for abolishing pauperism, by making the poor feed upon each other. But practised as it had been for centuries, down from the celebrated battle of the antagonist clans on the Inch of Perth, yet it never seemed to weaken the strength or abate the ferocity of these warlike vagrants, but rather seemed to nourish their thirst of blood, to make arms and warfare more familiar and indispensable, and to add every year to the terrors of this formidable people, who, in the very bosom of fast civilizing Europe, were as little under the control of enlightened social institutions, and as completely savage in their habits, as the Bosgesman of the East, or the Black-foot Indian of the West.”[658]

FOOTNOTES:

[636] Carstares’ Papers, p. 138.

[637] Memoirs of Mackay’s Secret Services, p. 199. Quoted by Burton.

[638] Letters to Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, &c. 1st and 3d Dec. 1691.

[639] Burton’s Scotland, 1689–1748, vol. i. p. 160.

[640] These instructions are as follow:

William R.

16th January, 1692.

1. The copy of the paper given by Macdonald of Aughtera to you has been shown us. We did formerly grant passes to Buchan and Cannon, and we do authorize and allow you to grant passes to them, and ten servants to each of them, to come freely and safely to Leith; from that to be transported to the Netherlands before the 15th of March next, to go from thence where they please, without any stop or trouble.

2. We doe allow you to receive the submissions of Glengarry and those with him upon their taking the oath of allegiance and delivering up the house of Invergarry; to be safe as to their lives, but as to their estates to depend upon our mercy.

3. In case you find that the house of Invergarry cannot probably be taken in this season of the year, with the artillery and provision you can bring there; in that case we leave it to your discretion to give Glengarry the assurance of entire indemnity for life and fortune, upon delivering of the house and arms, and taking the oath of allegiance. In this you are to act as you find the circumstances of the affair do require; but it were much better that those who have not taken the benefit of our indemnity, in the terms within the diet prefixt by our proclamation, should be obliged to render upon mercy. The taking the oath of allegiance is indispensable, others having already taken it.

4. If M’Ean of Glencoe and that tribe can be well separated from the rest, it will be a proper vindication of the public justice to extirpate that set of thieves. The double of these instructions is only communicated to Sir Thomas Livingston.

W. Rex

[641] See note at p. 165, vol. i. of Burton’s Scotland, 1689–1748.

[642] Colonel Hill’s Order to Lieut.-Col. James Hamilton.

“Fort William, 12th Feb., 1692.

“Sir,

“You are, with 400 of my regiment, and the 400 of my Lord Argyle’s regiment under the command of Major Duncanson, to march straight to Glenco, and there put in due execution the orders you have received from the commander-in-chief. Given under my hand at Fort William, the 12th February 1692.

“J. Hill.”

“To Lieut.-Col. James Hamilton.”

Order from Lieut.-Col. Hamilton, to Major Robert Duncanson.

“Ballechylls, 12th Feb., 1692.

“Sir,

“Persuant to the commander-in-chief and my colonel’s order to me for putting in execution the King’s commands against those rebels of Glenco, wherein you with the party of the Earl of Argyle’s regiment under your command, are to be concerned; you are therefore forthwith to order your affair so, as that the several posts already assigned you be by you and your several detachments faln in activeness precisely by five of the clock to-morrow morning, being Saturday; at which time I will endeavour the same with those appointed from this regiment from the other places. It will be most necessary you secure well those avenues on the south side, that the old fox, nor none of his cubbs get away. The orders are, that none be spared of the sword, nor the government troubled with prisoners; which is all until I see you from,

“Sir,
“Your most humble Servant,
“James Hamiltoune.”

“Please to order a guard to secure the ferry, and boats there; and the boats must be all on this side the ferry after your men are over.

“For their Majesty’s service.

“To Major Robert Duncanson of the
Earl of Argyle’s Regt.”

Order from Major Duncanson to Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon.

“12th Feb., 1692.

“Sir,

“You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebells the Macdonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old fox and his sons do not escape your hands; you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape. This you are to put in execution at five of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I will strive to be at you with a stronger party. If I do not come to you at five, you are not to tarry for me but to fall on. This is by the king’s speciall commands, for the good and safety of the countrey, that these miscreants be cut off, root and branch. See that this be put in execution without fear or favour, or you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to king or government, nor as man fit to carry commission in the king’s service. Expecting you will not fail in the fulfilling hereof, as you love yourself, I subscribe this with my hand at Ballychylls, the 12th February, 1692.

“Robert Duncanson.”

[643] Maitland Club, vol. containing Papers on the Condition of the Highlands, 1686–1696. Preface.

[644] Letters from a Gentleman in the North.

[645] Burton’s Scotland, 1689–1748, vol. i. p. 174.

[646] The following extraordinary anecdote is given by General Stewart (Sketches, vol. i.) in reference to the punishment which, in the opinion of the Highlanders, awaits the descendants of the oppressor. “The belief that punishment of the cruelty, oppression, or misconduct of an individual, descended as a curse on his children to the third and fourth generation, was not confined to the common people. All ranks were influenced by it, believing that if the curse did not fall upon the first, or second generation, it would inevitably descend upon the succeeding. The late Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon retained this belief through a course of thirty years’ intercourse with the world, as an officer of the 42d regiment, and of marines. He was grandson of the laird of Glenlyon, who commanded the military at the massacre of Glencoe; and who lived in the laird of Glencoe’s house, where he and his men were hospitably received as friends, and entertained a fortnight before the execution of his orders. He was playing at cards with the family when the first shot was fired, and the murderous scene commenced. Colonel Campbell was an additional captain in the 42d regiment in 1748, and was put on half pay. He then entered the marines, and in 1762 was major, with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, and commanded 800 of his corps at the Havannah. In 1771, he was ordered to superintend the execution of the sentence of a court-martial on a soldier of marines, condemned to be shot. A reprieve was sent, but the whole ceremony of the execution was to proceed until the criminal was upon his knees, with a cap over his eyes, prepared to receive the volley. It was then he was to be informed of his pardon. No person was to be told previously, and Colonel Campbell was directed not to inform even the firing party, who were warned that the signal to fire would be the waving of a white handkerchief by the commanding officer. When all was prepared, and the clergyman had left the prisoner on his knees, in momentary expectation of his fate, and the firing party were looking with intense attention for the signal, Colonel Campbell put his hand into his pocket for the reprieve, and in pulling out the packet the white handkerchief accompanied it, and catching the eyes of the party, they fired, and the unfortunate prisoner was shot dead.

“The paper dropped through Colonel Campbell’s fingers, and clapping his hand to his forehead, he exclaimed, ‘The curse of God and of Glencoe is here, I am an unfortunate ruined man.’ He desired the soldiers to be sent to the barracks, instantly quitted the parade, and soon afterwards retired from the service. This retirement was not the result of any reflection or reprimand on account of this unfortunate affair, as it was known to be entirely accidental. The impression on his mind, however, was never effaced. Nor is the massacre and the judgment which the people believe has fallen on the descendants of the principal actors in this tragedy, effaced from their recollection. They carefully note, that while the family of the unfortunate gentleman who suffered is still entire, and his estate preserved in direct male succession to his posterity, this is not the case with the family, posterity, and estates, of those who were the principals, promoters, and actors in this black affair.”

[647] Report of Commission on Glencoe: Carstare’s State Papers: Gallienus Redivivus: Dalrymple’s Memoirs and Appendix: Papers on the Condition of the Highlands in Maitland Club.

[648] Burton’s Scotland, 1689–1748, vol. i., pp. 175, 176.

[649] Dalrymple’s Appendix, vol. ii., part ii. p. 217.

[650] List of chieftains to which the proposals relate:—

| Men.
The Earl of Seaforth, | 200
The Viscount of Tarbat, | 50
The Lord Lovat, | 150
The Earl of Sutherland, | 100
The Lord Reay, | 50
The Laird of Ballingoun, | 100
The Laird of Fouls, | 50
The Laird of Straglasse, | 20
The Laird of Glenmoriston, | 30
The Laird of M’Intosh, | 100
M’Pherson of Clunie,
The Laird of Kilravock, | 150
The Land of Grant, | 200
The Laird of Balindaloch, | 20
The Duke of Gordon, | 300
The Earl of Mar, | 200
The Marquis of Atholl, | 300
The Laird of Ashintullie, | 30
The Laird of Weem, | 50
The Laird of Garntully, | 50
The Laird of Strowan, | 20
The Earl of Perth, | 150
The Earl of Murray, | 100
The Earl of Monteath, | 100
The Marquis of Montrose, | 150
The Laird of Luss, | 50
The Laird of Macfarlane, | 30
The Earl of Argyle, | 500
The Earl of Breadalbane, | 250
The Laird of Calder, | 100
The Laird of M’Lean, | 100
The Laird of Lochiel, | 150
The Captain of Clanronald, | 100
Sir Donald M’Donald, of Sleat, | 100
The Laird of M’Leod, | 100
The Laird of Glengary, | 100
The Laird of M’Finzone, | 30
M’Donald of Keppoch, | 50
The Laird of Appin, | 50
The Tutor of Appin, | 30
The Laird of Lochbuy, | 30

[651] Anderson’s History of the Frazers, p. 128

[652] Burton’s Lord Lovat, p. 9.

[653] Lovat, p. 27.

[654] Memoirs, p. 62.

[655] Pitcairn’s Trials, p. 89. Anderson’s Fraser Family, p. 121.

[656] Burton’s Lovat, p. 38.

[657] Anderson, 130.

[658] Burton’s Life of Lord Lovat, p. 36.

CHAPTER XXIII.

A.D. 1695–1714.

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS:—William III., 1688–1703.—Anne, 1703–1714.

The Darien Scheme—Hopes of the Jacobites—Death of James II.—Death of King William—Accession of the Princess Anne—The Scottish Parliament—Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat—Meeting of Scottish Parliament—Union with England—Ferment in Scotland against it—Hooke’s Negotiation—Preparations in France to invade Scotland—Unsuccessful result of the expedition—State of Scotland—Proceedings of the Jacobites—Death of Queen Anne.

In the meantime, December 28, 1694, had died Queen Mary, to the great grief of her husband and the sincere regret of the nation generally.

We are not required to enter here into a history of the Darien scheme, which originated in 1695, and was so mismanaged as to involve in ruin thousands of families formerly in comparative opulence. It appears to have had little influence on the Highlands, for although a few natives took part in the expedition out of dissatisfaction with William’s government, the great mass of the Highlanders were too far behind the age to resort to such a roundabout means of aggrandizing a fortune.

The attitude assumed by King William and the government to the Darien expedition exasperated the Scottish nation so much that there seemed to be some danger of a counter-revolution. To the bitterness of disappointment succeeded an implacable hostility to the king, who was denounced, in pamphlets of the most violent and inflammatory tendency, as a hypocrite, and as the deceiver of those who had shed their best blood in his cause, and as the author of all the misfortunes which had befallen Scotland. One of these pamphlets was voted by the House of Commons a false, scandalous, and seditious libel, and ordered to be burned by the common executioner, and an address was voted to his majesty to issue a proclamation for apprehending the author, printer, and publisher of the obnoxious publication. The king was so chagrined at the conduct of the Scotch that he refused to see Lord Basil Hamilton, who had an address to present to his majesty from the company, praying for his interference on behalf of their servants who were kept in captivity by the Spaniards.

In direct contradiction to the House of Lords, the Scottish parliament voted that the colony of Darien was a lawful and rightful settlement which they would support; a resolution which induced the Duke of Queensberry, the commissioner, to prorogue the session. But this step only tended to increase the discontents of the nation; and, to show the king that the people would be no longer trifled with, an address to his majesty, containing a detail of national grievances, and representing the necessity of calling an immediate meeting of parliament, was drawn up and signed by a considerable number of the members; and a deputation, with Lord Ross at its head, was appointed to present the address to the king. His majesty, however, evaded the address, by informing the deputation that they would be made acquainted in Scotland with his intentions; and, as if to show his displeasure, he ordered the parliament to be adjourned by proclamation.

The Scottish nation was now fully ripe for a rebellion, but neither James nor his advisers had the capacity to avail themselves of passing events, to snatch the tottering crown from the head of the illustrious foreigner, who was destined to be the happy instrument of placing the liberties of the nation upon a more sure and permanent footing than they had hitherto been. The hopes of the Jacobites were, however, greatly raised by the jarrings between the king and his Scottish subjects, and an event occurred, about this time, which tended still farther to strengthen them. This was the death of the young Duke of Gloucester, the only surviving child of the Princess Anne, on the 29th of July, 1700, in the eleventh year of his age. As the Jacobites considered that the duke was the chief obstacle in the way of the accession of the Prince of Wales to the crown, they could not conceal their pleasure at an occurrence which seemed to pave the way for the restoration of the exiled family, and they privately despatched a trusty adherent to France to assure King James that they would settle the succession upon the Prince of Wales. Such a proposition had indeed been made by William himself at an interview he had with Louis XIV. in 1697, when a prospect opened of James being elected king of Poland on the death of John Sobieski; but this proposal was rejected by James, who told the king of France, that though he could bear with patience the usurpation of his nephew and son-in-law, he would not allow his own son to commit such an act of injustice; that by permitting his son to reign while he (James) was alive, he would, in fact, be held as having renounced his crown, and that the Prince of Wales would also be held as having resigned his own right, if he accepted the crown as successor to the Prince of Orange. As James had now given up all idea of a crown, and was wholly engrossed with the more important concerns of a future life, it is probable that he received the proposal of his friends in a very different spirit from that he evinced when made by William.

The designs of the Jacobites, however, were frustrated by the intrigues of the Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, grand-daughter of King James I., who had for several years contemplated the plan of getting the succession to the English crown settled upon herself and her heirs. An act was accordingly passed by the English parliament in June, 1701, at the desire of the king, whom the princess had prevailed upon to espouse her cause, declaring her to be the next in succession to the crown of England, after his majesty and the Princess Anne, in default of issue of their bodies respectively, and that after the decease of William and Anne respectively without issue, the crown and government of England should remain and continue to the Princess Sophia and the heirs of her body, being Protestants. This act, which, by one swoop, cut off the whole Catholic descendants of James I., of whom there were fifty-three alive, all nearer heirs to the crown than the princess, gave great offence to all the Catholic princes concerned in the succession.

The act of settlement in favour of the Princess Sophia and her heirs, was a death-blow to the Jacobite interest, but still the hopes of the party were not extinguished. As James had given up all idea of dispossessing William, and even discountenanced any attempt to disturb the peace of the kingdom during his own life-time, the partisans of his family had given up every expectation of his restoration. But the death of King James, which took place at St. Germains on the 16th of September, 1701, and the recognition of his son by Louis XIV. as king, were events which opened up brighter prospects than they had yet enjoyed. The unfortunate monarch had, for several years, taken farewell of worldly objects, and had turned his whole attention to the concerns of eternity, dying ardently attached to the creed which, from principle, he had embraced. Of the arbitrary and unconstitutional conduct of James, at the period preceding the revolution, it is impossible for any lover of genuine liberty to speak without feelings of indignation; but it must not be forgotten that in his time the prerogatives of the crown were not clearly defined, and that he was misled by evil counsellors, who advised him to violate the existing constitution.

Nothing but the prospect of an immediate war with England could, it is believed, have induced Louis to recognise, as he did, the Prince of Wales as king of England, Ireland, and Scotland. William remonstrated against this act of the French king, as a violation of the treaty of Ryswick, and appealed to the King of Sweden, as the guarantee for its observance; but Louis was inflexible, and maintained in the face of all Europe, that he was not debarred by the treaty from acknowledging the title of the Prince of Wales, to which he had right by birth. He admitted that by the fourth article of the treaty he was bound not to disturb William in the possession of his dominions, and he declared his intention to adhere to that stipulation; but this explanation was considered quite unsatisfactory by William, who recalled his ambassador from Paris. The conduct of the French king excited general indignation in England, and addresses were sent up from all parts of the kingdom, expressive of attachment to the government. The English parliament passed two separate acts of attainder against the pretended Prince of Wales, as the son of James was termed, and the queen, his mother, who acted as regent. Great preparations were made for entering into a war with France, and William had concerted with his allies the plan of a campaign, but he did not live to see the gigantic schemes which he had devised for humbling the pride of France put into execution. He expired at Kensington on the 8th of March, 1702, in consequence of a fall from his horse about a fortnight before, which fractured his collar-bone. He had reigned thirteen years, and was in the fifty-second year of his age.

The accession of the Princess Anne gave satisfaction to all parties, particularly to the Jacobites, who imagined, that as she had no heirs of her own body, she would be induced to concur with them in getting the succession act repealed, so as to make way for her brother, the Prince of Wales. At first the queen seemed disposed to throw herself into the hands of the Tory faction, at the head of which was the Earl of Rochester, first cousin to the queen, who was averse to a war with France; but the Earl, (afterwards the celebrated Duke) of Marlborough, his rival, succeeded, through the intrigues of his countess, in altering the mind of her majesty, and war was accordingly declared against France on the 4th of May.

The Scottish parliament, to which the Duke of Queensberry was appointed commissioner, met on the 9th of June; but before his commission was read, the Duke of Hamilton objected to the legality of the meeting, the parliament having been virtually dissolved, as he maintained, by not having met within the statutory period; and having taken a formal protest against its proceedings, he withdrew from the house, followed by seventy-nine members of the first rank in the kingdom, amidst the acclamations of the people. The seceding members, thereupon, sent up Lord Blantyre to London with an address to the queen, but she refused to see him. This refusal highly displeased the people, whose resentment was still farther increased by a prosecution raised by the lord advocate against the faculty of advocates, for having, by a vote, approved of the secession and address. Several acts were passed by the parliament, one of the most important of which was that authorizing the queen to name commissioners for negotiating a treaty of union with England. An attempt was made by the Earl of Marchmont, the lord-chancellor, (better known as Sir Patrick Home of Polwarth) without any instructions from his colleagues, and even contrary to the advice of the commissioner, to alter the succession, by bringing in a bill similar to that which had passed in England for abjuring the Prince of Wales, and settling the succession on the Princess Sophia and her heirs; but as the ministry had no instructions from the queen, the bill was not supported. It is not improbable that Marchmont intended, by the introduction of this measure, to sound the disposition of the queen in regard of her brother.

The queen, by virtue of the powers conferred on her by the parliaments of England and Scotland, named commissioners to treat about a union, who met at the Cockpit, near Whitehall, on the 22d of October; but after some of the preliminaries had been adjusted, the conference broke off, in consequence of the Scottish commissioners insisting that all the rights and privileges of the Darien company should be preserved and maintained.

A partial change in the Scottish ministry having taken place, the queen resolved upon calling a new parliament, in the spring of 1703, previous to which she issued an act of indemnity in favour of every person who had taken any part against the government since the revolution, and allowed such of them as were abroad to return home. Under the protection of this amnesty many of the Jacobites returned to Scotland, and took the oaths to the government, in the hope of forwarding the interest of the Prince of Wales. At this time Scotland was divided into three parties. The first consisted of the revolutionists, who were headed by the Duke of Argyle. The second of what was called the country party, who were opposed to the union, and who insisted on indemnification for the losses sustained in the Darien speculation, and satisfaction for the massacre of Glencoe and other grievances suffered in the late reign. The Duke of Hamilton and the Marquis of Tweeddale took the direction of this party. The last, called Mitchell’s club, from the house they met in, was composed entirely of the Jacobites or Cavaliers. These were headed by the Earl of Home.[659] The two latter parties, by coalescing at the elections, might have returned a majority favourable to their views; but the Earl of Seafield, who had succeeded the Earl of Marchmont as chancellor, had the address to separate the Jacobites from the country party, and, by making them believe that he was their friend, prevailed upon them to throw their interest at the elections into the scale of the government. The parliament, however, which met on the 6th of May, was not so pliable to ministerial dictation as might have been expected, for although the royal assent was refused to what was called the act of security for limiting the power of the crown, “this session of parliament,” to use the words of Lockhart, “did more for redressing the grievances and restoring the liberties of the nation than all the parliaments since the year 1660.”[660] It was in this parliament that the celebrated patriot, Fletcher of Saltoun, first distinguished himself. The Earl of Marchmont again brought in his bill for settling the crown of Scotland upon the house of Hanover; but such was the indignation with which it was received by the house, that some of the members proposed that the bill should be burnt, while others moved that the proposer of the measure should be committed to the castle of Edinburgh. On a division the bill was thrown out by a very large majority.

After the prorogation of the parliament, the courtiers and the heads of the cavaliers repaired to London to pay court to the queen, who received them kindly, and conferred marks of her favour upon some of them. The Marquis of Athole, in particular, who aspired to be leader of the Jacobites, was made a duke, and invested with the dignity of a knight of the order of the Thistle, which she had just revived to enable her to extend the royal favour. Her policy seems to have been to gain over all parties to her interest; but she was soon made to believe that a conspiracy existed against her among the cavaliers to supersede her, and to place her brother upon the throne. The moving spirit in this plot, known as the Scotch Plot, was the now notorious Lovat.

ROBERTSON.

“An indemnity having been granted to those who had left the country with the exiled court, on condition of their returning within a time limited, and taking the oaths, it was observed with alarm, that many persons were taking advantage of this opportunity to return, who were among the most formidable of the Jacobite leaders, and who could not be supposed to be sincerely disposed to support the Protestant line of succession. Among these ominous apparitions were Lovat himself, the two Murrays, Sir John Maclean, Robertson of Struan the poet chieftain,—‘a little black man, about thirty years old,’ as he was described by those who kept their eyes on him; and David Lindsay, secretary to the Pretender’s prime minister, Middleton. The fiery Lord Belhaven had just paid a visit to France. He was an opponent of English ascendency, and a cadet of the house of Hamilton; and his mission could, of course, have no other object but to offer the allegiance of that house to the young prince. Political intriguers, such as the renowned Ferguson, looked busy and mysterious. Mrs. Fox, whose name was connected with the plot for which Sir John Fenwick suffered, had ventured over to Britain, under a feigned name; and sundry young men of good birth, whose avowed mission to France had been to study medicine, had, either in vanity or carelessness, allowed it to transpire that they had been at the court of St. Germains, and had seen those royal personages who created so dangerous an interest throughout the country. The general movement of these parties was northwards, and was accompanied by incidents such as those which happened to Lovat. Captain Hamilton, an officer stationed at Inverness, wrote to Brigadier-general Maitland, governor of Fortwilliam, on the 23d of July, that a great hunting match had been planned for the 2d of the month, at which many of the Highland chiefs were to assemble their vassals.

“‘The Duke of Hamilton is to be there, the Marquis of Athol: and our neighbour the Laird of Grant, who has ordered 600 of his men in arms, in good order, with tartane coats, all of one colour and fashion. This is his order to his people in Strathspey. If it be a match of hunting only, I know not, but I think it my duty to acquaint you, whatever may fall out of any such body of men in arms, particularly in our northern parts.’

“It will be remembered that this was exactly the form in which the Earl of Mar raised the standard of rebellion at Braemar, in 1715; and we appear to owe the suggestion to the inventive genius of Lovat. At the same time, the British ambassador at the Hague received some mysterious intimations about large sums forwarded in gold, through a Dutch commercial house, to persons of importance in Scotland.”[661]

Lovat had the address before leaving France, by imposing upon Louis, to whom he was introduced by the pope’s nuncio, to obtain from the widow of King James, acting as regent for her son, a commission of Major-general, with power to raise and command forces in his behalf. As the court of St. Germains had some suspicion of Fraser’s integrity, Captain John Murray, brother of Mr. Murray of Abercairney, and Captain James Murray, brother of Sir David Murray of Stanhope, were sent over to Scotland, under the protection of Queen Anne’s indemnity, as a check upon him, and to sound the dispositions of the people.

On arriving in Scotland, he set off for the Highlands, introduced himself into the society of the adherents of the exiled family, and, by producing his commission of major-general, induced some of them to give him assurances that they would rise in arms when required, though they regretted that such a character should have been intrusted with so important a command. Others, however, apprehensive of his real designs, refused to hold any intercourse with him on the subject of his mission.

On Lovat’s return to Edinburgh, late in September, he contrived to obtain an interview with the Duke of Queensberry, High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland, and revealed to him the whole affair, drawing considerably on his own fertile fancy for startling facts. He also produced a letter, purporting to be from the ex-queen, signed with the initial M., addressed to the Duke of Athole. Its words were, “You may be sure that when my concerns require the help of my friends, you are one of the first I have in my view. I am satisfied you will not be wanting for any thing that may be in your power according to your promise, and you may be assured of all such returns as you can expect from me and mine. The bearer, who is known to you, will tell you more of my friendship to you, and how I rely on yours for me, and those I am concerned for.” Queensberry was delighted with this apparent discovery, and immediately sent the letter unopened to the queen. Lovat, however, by his plotting had made the country too hot to hold him, and a day or two after his letter had been sent to the queen, letters of fire and sword were issued against him, so that he now set himself to get safely back to France. He managed to obtain from Queensberry a pass to London, to which place the duke himself was bound, and after a few more secret interviews in London, with another pass which he contrived to obtain, he safely quitted England about the middle of October.[662]

When this so-called conspiracy became publicly known it excited considerable sensation, and the House of Lords immediately resolved that a committee should be appointed to inquire into the matter; but the queen, who was already well acquainted with the circumstances, sent them a message, intimating, that as the affair was already under investigation, she was desirous that the house should not interfere, and she promised in a short time to inform them of the result. Accordingly, on the 17th of December, she went to the House of Peers, and made a speech to both houses, informing them that she had complete evidence of evil practices and designs against her government, carried on by the emissaries of France in Scotland. The peers, however, proceeded in the inquiry, and after considerable investigation they agreed to the following resolution, “that there had been a dangerous conspiracy in Scotland toward the invading that kingdom with a French power, in order to subvert her majesty’s government, and the bringing in the pretended Prince of Wales; that it was their opinion nothing had given so much encouragement to these designs as the succession of the crown of Scotland not being declared in favour of the Princess Sophia and her heirs; that the queen should be addressed to use such methods as she thought convenient, for having the succession of the crown of that kingdom settled after that manner; and that being once done, then they would do all in their power to promote an entire union of the two kingdoms.” Mr. Lockhart asserts that the lords thus interfered at the instance of the Duke of Queensberry, as he knew that the Whigs would bring him off, and although they were so clear as to the existence of a plot, he maintains that “it was all trick and villany.” Meanwhile Fraser, for his imposition upon the French king, was committed a prisoner to the Bastile, in which he remained several years.[663]

It was discovered that the address on the letter from the ex-queen was forged by Lovat himself, she having addressed it to no one, although it is supposed to have been meant for the Duke of Gordon. Lovat had also to implicate the Duke of Hamilton, and as he regarded both these noblemen as “impostors” and enemies of the exiled family, he considered that his conduct, in thus attempting to ruin them, “far from being a real crime, ought to be regarded as a good and essential service to the king (James III.), and the sincere, political, and ingenious fruit of his zeal, for his project, and the interests of his sovereign.”[664] Such is a specimen of the morality of this extraordinary personage, who, in his correspondence with the revolution party, always pretended to be a friend to the revolution settlement.

According to Lockhart, the Duke of Queensberry was at the bottom of this sham plot, but he appears really to have been entirely innocent, and to have acted all along for what he thought the best interests of the government. “He was, to use a common but clear expression, made a fool of.”[665] Although he had managed to clear himself of all blame, still as the affair had rendered him very unpopular in Scotland, he was dismissed from his situation as one of the Scottish secretaries of state, and the Marquis of Tweeddale was appointed to succeed him as lord high-commissioner to the Scottish parliament, which met on the 6th of July, 1704.[666]

From the temper displayed in the Scottish parliament, it was obvious that without entering into a treaty with Scotland, it would be utterly impossible for the English ministry to carry the question of the succession in Scotland. To accomplish this the English parliament authorised the queen to nominate commissioners to treat with commissioners from Scotland; but the conduct of the parliament was by no means calculated to allay the jealousy entertained by the Scotch, of the interference of England in imposing a foreign sovereign upon them. Instead of simply empowering the queen to appoint commissioners, the English parliament, instigated by the Scottish ministry, directed the Scottish parliament in the choice of its commissioners, and they even prohibited their own commissioners to meet and treat with those of Scotland unless the parliament of Scotland allowed the queen to name these commissioners herself. Moreover all Scotsmen not settled in England, or in its service, were declared aliens, until the succession to the crown of Scotland should be settled on the Princess Sophia and her Protestant heirs. Several prohibitory clauses against the trade of Scotland were also inserted in the act, which were to take effect about eight months thereafter if the Scottish parliament did not, before the appointed time, yield to the instructions of that of England.

To strengthen the government party the Scottish ministry was changed, and the Duke of Queensberry was recalled to office, being appointed to the privy seal. The Cavaliers, thus deprived of the aid of the duke and his friends, applied to the Marquis of Tweeddale—who, with his displaced friends, had formed a party called the squadrone volante, or “flying squadron”—to unite with them against the court; but he declined the proposal, as being inconsistent with the object for which it was said to be formed, namely, to keep the contending parties in parliament in check, and to vote only for such measures, by whatever party introduced, which should appear most beneficial to the country.

Notwithstanding the exertions of the court party, the Scottish ministry soon found themselves in a minority in the parliament, which was opened on the 28th of June, 1705, by the Duke of Argyle as commissioner. The motion of Sir James Falconer, which had hitherto remained a dead letter, was again renewed; but although the ministry was supported by the “squadron” in opposition to the motion, the Cavaliers carried it by a great majority. The Dukes of Hamilton and Athole were now desirous of pushing on the inquiry into the alleged plot, but by advice of the Cavaliers, who insisted that such a proceeding would be a violation of the agreement entered into between them and the Duke of Queensberry’s friends, they desisted for a time. But the duke having prevailed upon such of his friends as had voted with the Cavaliers in the beginning of the session, to join the court party, the subject was introduced before the house in the shape of a motion, to know what answer the queen had sent to an address which had been voted to her in the preceding session, to send down to Scotland against the next session such persons as had been examined respecting the plot, and the papers connected therewith. The Dukes of Hamilton and Athole vindicated themselves against the charge of being accessory to Fraser’s proceedings, and the latter particularly, in a long speech, reprobated the conduct of the Duke of Queensberry, whom he openly accused of a design to ruin him. Neither the duke nor his friends made any answer to the charge, and Athole and Hamilton conceiving that they had cleared themselves sufficiently, allowed the subject to drop. The most important business of the session was the measure of the proposed union with England, an act for effecting which was passed, though not without considerable opposition.

Before the state of the vote upon this measure was announced, the Duke of Athole, “in regard that by an English act of parliament made in the last sessions thereof, entituled an act for the effectual securing England from the dangers that may arise from several acts passed lately in Scotland, the subjects of this kingdom were adjudged aliens, born out of the allegiance of the queen, as queen of England, after the 25th of December 1705,” protested that, for saving the honour and interest of her majesty as queen of Scotland, and maintaining and preserving the undoubted rights and privileges of her subjects, no act for a treaty with England ought to pass without a clause being added thereto, prohibiting and discharging the commissioners that might be appointed for carrying on the treaty from departing from Scotland until the English parliament should repeal and rescind the obnoxious act alluded to. To this protest twenty-four peers, thirty-seven barons, and eighteen of the burgh representatives adhered. When the state of the vote was announced, the Duke of Hamilton, to the surprise of the cavaliers and the country party, moved that the nomination of the commissioners should be left wholly to the queen. From twelve to fifteen members immediately exclaimed that the duke had deserted and basely betrayed his friends, and ran out of the house in rage and despair. A warm debate then ensued, in which Hamilton was roughly handled, and the inconsistency of his conduct exposed; but he persisted in his motion, which was carried by a majority of eight votes. Had the other members remained he would have found himself in a minority. The Duke of Athole protested a second time for the reasons contained in his first protest, and twenty-one peers, thirty-three barons, and eighteen burgh representatives adhered to his second protest. The protesters consisted of most of the cavaliers and the country party, and the whole of the “Squadron.” The protesters, however, were not discouraged, and they succeeded so far as to obtain an order of the house prohibiting the Scottish commissioners from treating until the clause in the English act, declaring the subjects of Scotland aliens, should be repealed, a resolution which had the desired effect, the English parliament rescinding the clause before the time fixed for its operation arrived.[667]

In terms of the powers vested in her by the parliaments of England and Scotland, the queen nominated commissioners, who met in the council chamber of the Cockpit, near Whitehall, on the 16th of April, 1706. During their sittings they were twice visited by the queen, who urged them to complete with as little delay as possible, a treaty which, she anticipated, would be advantageous to both kingdoms. By the second article of the treaty, it was declared that the succession to the monarchy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, in default of issue of the queen, should remain and continue to the Princess Sophia and her heirs, being Protestants.

When the terms of the treaty became publicly known in Scotland, a shout of indignation was set up in every part of the kingdom, at a measure which, it was supposed, would destroy the independence of the nation; and when the Scottish parliament met for the purpose of ratifying the treaty, considerable rioting took place in different parts of the country, and large bodies of armed men threatened to march upon the capital, and disperse the assembly. Numerous addresses were sent to the parliament from every part of the kingdom against the Union, and considerable opposition was made by the Dukes of Hamilton and Athole, Lord Belhaven, Fletcher of Saltoun, and others, but the court party, having obtained the support of the “Squadron,” carried the measure by a great majority. The treaty was, however, after strenuous opposition, ratified by the Scotch as well as the English parliament, and ultimately completed on May 1st, 1707.

As the restoration of the son of James II. now appeared to the Scottish nation necessary to preserve its independence, various combinations were entered into among the people to effect it. The inhabitants of the western shires, chiefly Cameronians, formerly the most determined supporters of the Protestant government, all at once became the most zealous partisans of the exiled family, whose Catholicity they showed themselves disposed altogether to overlook. Preparatory to more active measures for accomplishing their object, the ringleaders among them held several meetings, divided themselves into regiments, chose their officers, provided themselves with horses and arms, and, notwithstanding the religious asperity which had long existed between them and the inhabitants of the northern shires, offered to unite with them in any measure which might be devised for accomplishing the restoration of the young prince, who had now assumed the title of the Chevalier de St. George.[668] The court of St. Germains, fully aware of the strong national feeling which existed in favour of the prince, sent, in concert with the French king, one Hooke into Scotland to obtain intelligence, and to treat with the people for his restoration. This gentleman had been one of the Duke of Monmouth’s chaplains when he invaded England; but after the execution of that unfortunate nobleman, Hooke went to France, where he became a Catholic, and entered into the French service, in which he rose to the rank of Colonel. He had been in Scotland in 1705 on a mission to the heads of the Jacobite chiefs and the country party; but though a man of sense, he conducted himself with such indiscretion, that he could only obtain general promises, from the parties he consulted, of their readiness to advance the prince’s interest. The cavaliers, however, sent Captain Henry Straton, a gentleman in whom they placed great confidence, to France, in July the following year, to ascertain the extent of the aid they might expect from Louis.

Hooke, on this occasion, landed in the north of Scotland, about the end of February or beginning of March, 1707, and took up a temporary abode in Slains Castle, the seat of the Earl of Errol, high-constable of Scotland, where he was waited upon by the countess-dowager, the mother of the earl, her son being then absent from home. Instead of consulting, as he should have done, the principal chiefs upon the subject of his mission, Hooke at first confined himself to interviews with some gentlemen in the counties of Perth and Angus, by whom he was received with great favour and hospitality, and looked upon as a person of no ordinary importance. The attention thus paid him, flattered his vanity, in return for which he made them his confidents, and proceeded, in concert with them, to deliberate upon the mode of accomplishing a restoration. This party, however, had not the wisdom to conceal the negotiation with Hooke, whose presence in the country became consequently generally known. The result was, that the Duke of Hamilton and others, conceiving themselves slighted, and alarmed at the imprudence of Hooke’s friends, declined to correspond with him, and entered into direct communication with the court of St. Germains itself.

As the French king was desirous of ascertaining the exact situation of the affairs in Scotland, M. de Chamillard, his minister of war, had furnished Hooke with a paper of instructions, in the shape of questions, to which he was desired to obtain distinct answers, to enable his majesty to judge of the extent of the assistance required from him, and the probability of success. In answer to these questions, a memorial, addressed to the king of France, was drawn up, and signed by several noblemen and gentlemen, in which they stated that the greater part of the Scottish nation had always been disposed for the service of “its lawful king” ever since the revolution; but that this disposition had now become universal, and that the shires of the west, which used to be the most disaffected, were now zealous to serve him. That to reap the benefit of so favourable a disposition, and of so happy a conjuncture, the presence of the king (the Chevalier) would be absolutely necessary, the people being unwilling to take arms without being sure of having him at their head—that the whole nation would rise upon his arrival—that he would become master of Scotland without opposition, and that the existing government would be entirely abolished—that of the numbers that they would raise, the memorialists would immediately despatch 25,000 foot, and 5,000 horse and dragoons into England, while the other peers and chiefs would assemble all their men in their respective counties, and that the general rendezvous of the troops on the north of the river Tay should be at Perth, those of the western counties at Stirling, and those of the south and east at Dumfries and Dunse. As to the subsistence of the troops, they informed his majesty that they would require nothing from him, as the harvests of two years were to be found in the granaries, and that so great was its abundance, that a crown would purchase as much flour as would maintain a man two months—that there was also great plenty of meat, beer and brandy in the kingdom, and cloth, linen, shoes and bonnets, sufficient to clothe a considerable number of troops. The principal articles they stood in most need of were arms and money. Of the former, the memorialists begged his majesty to send them as many as would equip 25,000 foot, and 5,000 horse or dragoons, together with a proportionate quantity of ammunition, and also some pieces of artillery, bombs, &c. Of money, of which the country had been almost drained by the Darien speculation, by five years of famine, and by the constant residence of the nobility at London, they required a remittance of 100,000 pistoles, to enable them to march into England, and also a regular monthly subsidy during the war. In addition to these demands, they required that the Chevalier should be accompanied to Scotland by a body of 8,000 troops, to protect his person against any sudden attempt by the government forces. The memorialists concluded, by assuring his most Christian Majesty of their resolution to bind themselves by the strictest and most sacred ties, to assist one another in what they deemed a common cause, to forget all family differences, and to concur sincerely, and with all their hearts, “without jealousy or distrust, like men of honour in so just and glorious an enterprise.”[669]

Having finished his negotiation, Hooke returned to France in the month of May, after assuring his friends that “the Pretender” would land in Scotland about August following. On arriving at the court of St. Germains, Hooke gave the most flattering account of his reception, and of the zeal of the people in behalf of the Chevalier, and accused the Duke of Hamilton and the other persons who had refused openly to commit themselves, of luke-warmness in the cause. The armament, promised by the king of France, should have been ready in August; but the court of Versailles contrived to put it off, from time to time, under various pretences. The fact appears to be, that Louis was indifferent about the matter, and, although he pretended that his object was to place the Chevalier upon the throne of his ancestors, his real object was to create a diversion in his own favour by embroiling Great Britain in a civil war. His reverses at Ramillies and Turin had induced him to send Hooke into Scotland to obtain information, but, having afterwards defeated the allies at Almanza, he was in hopes that he would be able to retrieve his affairs without the aid of the intended descent on Scotland.

To hasten the enterprise, the cavaliers sent the Honourable Charles Fleming, brother of the Earl of Wigton, over to France with letters to his most Christian Majesty and the Chevalier, in consequence of which, preparations for the expedition were commenced at Dunkirk, where a squadron was collected under the command of the Chevalier de Forbin. When the news of these preparations reached England, the greatest exertions were made to meet the threatened danger. Both houses of parliament joined in an address to the queen, in which they pledged themselves to defend her with their lives and fortunes against the “pretended Prince of Wales,” and all her other enemies. They suspended the habeas corpus act, and passed a bill enacting, that all persons should take the oath of abjuration under the pain of being held as convicted recusants. They also passed another bill, releasing the Scottish clans from all vassalage to those chiefs who should appear in arms against her majesty; and “the Pretender” and his adherents were declared traitors and rebels. A large fleet was equipped and assembled at Deal with extraordinary promptitude, and despatched towards Dunkirk under the command of Sir John Leake, Sir George Byng, and Lord Dursley, and transports were engaged to bring over ten British battalions from Ostend. When this fleet, which the French had supposed to be destined for Lisbon, appeared off Mardyke, they were greatly surprised; and the embarkation of their troops, which had commenced, was immediately countermanded. The French admiral represented to his court the danger of proceeding with the expedition; but he received positive orders to finish the embarkation, and to sail with the first favourable wind. The Chevalier de St. George, at taking farewell, was presented by Louis with a sword studded with costly diamonds, and sumptuous services of gold and silver plate, rich dresses, and other necessaries becoming his high station.

While the embarkation was going on, Mr. Fleming and a gentleman of the name of Arnott were separately despatched for Scotland from Dunkirk, on the evening of the 6th of March, 1708, in two frigates, with instructions from the Chevalier to the Jacobite chiefs. Fleming arrived on the northern coast on the 13th, and, when about two leagues off the land, entered a fishing boat which landed him at Slains castle, where he met the Earl of Errol, who received the intelligence of the expedition with great pleasure. On perusing the Chevalier’s instructions, he immediately despatched a messenger to Mr. Malcolm of Grange, in Fife, with orders to have a boat and pilots in readiness at the mouth of the Frith of Forth to go on board the first vessel that should give the signal agreed on.

In the mean time, the British fleet having been forced, by stress of weather, off their station on the 14th of March, the expedition sailed on the 17th from the road of Dunkirk; but it was detained in Newport-pits in consequence of a change in the wind, till the 19th, when it again set sail with a fair breeze for Scotland. The expedition consisted of seven men-of-war, two of which were fitted up as transports, and twenty-one frigates, having on board 5,100 troops, under the command of Monsieur le Comte de Gassé, who, on the last-mentioned day, received from the French king the patent of a Marshal of France, and assumed the name of Mantignon. While at Newport, three of the frigates, which had received some damage, returned to Dunkirk; but, at a council of war, held in the apartment of the Chevalier, it was resolved, at his desire, to proceed without them, although these vessels had 800 troops on board, and a considerable quantity of arms and provisions. At the same council it was also determined to sail directly to the Frith of Forth, and to disembark the troops at Burnt-island, whence it was proposed to send a detachment to take possession of Stirling.[670]

The French fleet having been observed in Newport-pits from the steeples of Ostend, a vessel was immediately despatched thence by Major-general Cadogan to inform Sir George Byng of their having left Dunkirk: Sir George went immediately in quest of the enemy. The French fleet, favoured by a strong and fair wind, reached the Frith on the evening of the 23d, without seeing any of the English squadron, and anchored off Crail, the commander intending to proceed up the Frith the following morning; but he had been anticipated by the Proteus, one of the three vessels which had returned to Dunkirk, and which, being a superior sailer, had reached the Frith before him, and had given notice of the approach of the French fleet to the friends of the Chevalier, who lived on the coast, by firing five guns, the concerted signal by which the friends of the prince along that coast were to be apprized of his arrival. Malcolm of Grange, who had been for some days anxiously looking out for the fleet, went immediately on board this vessel with a pilot.

The resolution of M. de Forbin to proceed up the Frith next morning, was, however, put an end to, by the appearance, at day-break, of the English fleet, consisting of 28 sail, standing in for the Frith. Alarmed for the safety of his ships, the French commander immediately cut his cables, and by favour of a strong land breeze which fortunately sprung up, stood out to sea under full sail, having previously given orders to the different ships, in case of separation, to rendezvous at Cromarty or Inverness. The French vessels being lighter and cleaner, outstripped the English in sailing, and all of them escaped, with the exception of the Salisbury, a ship formerly captured from the English, which was taken. On board of this vessel were Lord Griffin, the Earl of Middleton’s two sons, M. La Vie, a Major-general, Colonel Francis Wauchope, some other officers, and between 300 and 400 soldiers. On the following day, the French commander finding himself out of sight of the enemy, and all his vessels together, with the exception of the Salisbury, consulted with the Marshal de Mantignon, on the expediency of landing at some place in the north of Scotland, and proposed Inverness. The Chevalier, who was so desirous of landing, that he had, though in vain, entreated M. de Forbin, the preceding day, to put him ashore, though his domestics alone should accompany him, received this proposal with great satisfaction. The fleet accordingly, aided by a favourable wind, steered to the north during the whole of the 25th; but at ten o’clock at night, the wind suddenly changed to the north, and blew directly in their teeth with considerable violence. As the storm continued the whole of the following day, and as M. de Forbin was afraid that the fleet would be dispersed, and might, when separated, fall into the hands of the enemy, a council was held, at which it was unanimously resolved, with the entire concurrence of the Chevalier, to return to Dunkirk, where the expedition arrived on the 7th of April.

Such was the result of an enterprise, which, but for the merest accidental circumstance, might have been crowned with the most complete success; for had the expedition arrived only a few hours earlier in the Frith of Forth, the whole troops, arms and ammunition, would have been landed without opposition. Such were the dispositions of the people of Scotland in favour of “the Pretender,” and so disaffected had they become towards the government, that a universal rising would undoubtedly have taken place in his support had he set his foot in Scotland. No effectual resistance could have been offered to him by the regular troops, which did not exceed 2,500 men; and as little reliance could be placed in them, from their participating generally in the national feeling, the Earl of Leven, the commander-in-chief, had determined to retire to Carlisle or Berwick, with such forces as would accompany him.[671] The news of the sailing of the expedition created a panic in England, was followed by a run upon the bank, which would have been obliged to suspend its payments had not the most extraordinary exertions been made to support its credit.

The principal friends of the Chevalier de St. George, and every person of any distinction in Scotland, suspected of favouring his pretensions, were, upon the failure of the expedition, immediately seized and committed to the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and the common jails, whence many of them were transmitted to England, and imprisoned in the Tower of London, or in Newgate. Among those who were carried to London, was the Duke of Hamilton, who, taking advantage of a quarrel between the Lord-treasurer Godolphin and the Whigs, obtained, by offering his support to the latter in the election of the Scottish representative peers, not only his own liberation, but also that of all the other prisoners, with the exception of Stirling of Kier. Seaton of Touch, Stirling of Carden, and other gentlemen of Stirlingshire, who, on receiving intelligence that the Chevalier had landed, had mounted their horses and advanced in a body towards Edinburgh, to support him. These last were brought to trial for high treason, as having appeared in arms against the government; but as no proof was brought against them, they were acquitted.[672] The fact is, that the queen’s advisers, fully aware of the great danger which the government had escaped, and the risks to which it was still exposed, were disposed to act a very lenient part, and were afraid, under existing circumstances, to commit themselves by sacrificing any of the disaffected to a doubtful, and, as it must have appeared to them, a precarious expediency.

For a time, the idea of a restoration seems to have been abandoned; but the systematic attacks made by the High Church party in England, upon the principles of the revolution, and the popular excitement raised against the Whig ministry in consequence of Dr. Sacheverel’s trial, raised anew the expectations of the Jacobites, which were still farther elevated by the expulsion of the Whigs from office in 1710, by the intrigues of the Tories. Although the queen on opening the new parliament, which met on the 25th of November, declared to both houses that she would employ such persons only as were warmly attached to the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover; yet it was generally understood that she was inclined to favour the pretensions of her brother, the Chevalier de St. George. As his religion was, in fact, the only bar in the way of his succession, she endeavoured, but without success, to induce him to abandon it. “You see,” she observed to the Duke of Buckingham, when speaking of her brother, “he does not take the least step to oblige me. I have no reason to think he values me or my kingdom, therefore I shall give it to the Elector of Hanover.” On another occasion, when warmly pressed by the duke, she replied, “What would you have me to do? You know, as the law stands, a Papist cannot inherit the crown, and, therefore, any will I may make will be to no purpose; the law gives all to Hanover; and therefore I had better do that with a good grace which I cannot help. He may thank himself for it. He knows I always loved him better than the Elector.”[673] The Tories were by no means averse to her majesty’s views of a successor, but afraid of a reaction in public opinion in favour of the Whigs, who were endeavouring to excite the fears of the nation by raising a no-popery cry, they not only carefully abstained from any act which might be considered as favouring the claims of “the Pretender;” but even appeared as if hostile to them. Indeed, so desirous were some of the Tory members of the House of Commons to settle the crown upon his head, that they required a mere profession of Protestantism from him, till he should be firmly seated on the throne, after which he might, they said, again resume the exercise and profession of his religion. But the prince refused to comply.

In Scotland, however, little reserve was shown, a remarkable instance of which occurred in the Faculty of Advocates, which body accepted from the Duchess of Gordon a silver medal, having on one side an impression of the head of the Chevalier de St. George, and on the reverse a representation of the British islands, with the motto, “Reddite.” At the presentation of this treasonable device, a motion thanking her grace for her gift was carried, after a warm debate, by a majority of sixty-three voices against twelve. Dundas of Arniston, to whom the task of conveying the vote was intrusted, thanked her grace for having presented the Faculty with a medal of their sovereign, and stated a hope that she would very soon be enabled to present them with a second medal struck upon the restoration of the king and royal family, and the finishing of usurpation, rebellion, and whiggery. This proceeding created an extraordinary sensation, and Sir David Dalrymple, the Lord Advocate, was directed by the ministry to inquire into the matter. The Faculty grew alarmed, disclaimed the conduct of Dundas and of Horne, another member with whom they alleged the transaction originated, and by a solemn resolution declared their attachment to the queen and the Protestant succession. To satisfy, in some measure, the court of Hanover, the resident of which at the British court had presented a memorial to the queen desiring that Dundas and his party might be prosecuted, the Lord Advocate was dismissed from office, because he had been remiss in bringing the delinquents to justice; but no instructions were given to his successor to prosecute them.

The remaining years of Queen Anne’s reign were chiefly occupied with party struggles, which embittered her existence and impaired her constitution. The Tories disunited among themselves, split latterly into two factions, which were respectively headed by Harley, Earl of Oxford, and Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. The Whigs, on the other hand, united, active and vigorous, pressed hard upon them, and employed every art to inflame the people against the authors of their disgrace. Popery and the Pretender were the never-ceasing topics with which they endeavoured to enlist the feelings of the nation in their favour, and the Duke of Argyle, in a warm debate which took place in the House of Peers on a question proposed by the Earl of Wharton, “Whether the Protestant succession was in danger under the present administration?” offered to prove that the lord-treasurer had remitted a sum of money annually to the Highland Jacobite chiefs. Oxford did not deny the charge, but defended himself by saying, that he had only adopted the policy of King William, who had granted yearly pensions to the heads of the clans, the better to secure their obedience to the government. The fate of the Tory ministry was at length sealed by the removal of Oxford and the death of the queen, who survived that event only a few days. Fatigued by a long attendance at a cabinet council held immediately after the dismissal of the lord-treasurer, she was thrown into a lethargic disorder, which terminated her existence on the morning of the 1st of August, 1714, in the fiftieth year of her age, and in the thirteenth of her reign. With the exception of her dereliction of duty towards her father, which, from the circumstances in which she was placed, may admit of considerable palliation, she left behind her an unblemished reputation; and though not possessed of much genius or vigour of mind, she wielded the sceptre with greater skill than is usually to be found in sovereigns, who, like her, have allowed themselves to be controlled by favourites.

FOOTNOTES:

[659] Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 58.

[660] Idem, vol. i. p. 71.

[661] Burton’s Life of Lovat, pp. 76, 77.

[662] Macpherson’s Papers. Burton’s Lovat.

[663] Lockhart, vol. i. pp. 78–83.

[664] Memoirs of the Life of Simon, Lord Lovat. Written by himself, p. 179.

[665] Burton’s Lovat, p. 90.

[666] Lockhart, vol. i. p. 98.

[667] Lockhart, vol. i. pp. 131, 132, 133, 137, 140.

[668] Lockhart, vol. i. p. 196.

[669] Secret History of Colonel Hooke’s Negotiation in Scotland in 1707.—Edin. 1760. Pp. 69–75.

[670] M. D’Andrezel’s Account in Hooke, p. 139.

[671] Alluding to the appearance of the French fleet in the Frith, Lockhart says, “It is impossible to describe the different appearance of people’s sentiments; all this day (23d March) generally speaking, in every person’s face was to be observed an air of jollity and satisfaction, excepting the general (Leven), those concerned in the government, and such as were deeply dipt in the revolution. These indeed were in the greatest terror and confusion. And it was no great wonder that the Earl of Leven did afterwards, in one of his letters to the secretaries of state, complain that the Jacobites were so uppish he durst hardly look them in the face as they walked in the streets of Edinburgh; for uppish they were indeed, expecting soon to have an occasion of repaying him and his fellow-rebels in the same coin he and they had treated them for these twenty years past. But next day advice was sent from Sir George Byng, that he had come up with and was then in pursuit of the French fleet, and then it was that every body was in the greatest pain and anxiety imaginable; some fearing it would, and others that it would not, determine as it did. In this perplexity were people when, on the next day, being Sunday, a great number of tall ships were seen sailing up the Frith. This put our general in such a terror and confusion as can scarcely be well expressed: he drew up his army in battle array on the sands of Leith, as if he’d oppose a landing, and in this posture did he remain for several hours, when at last his fears, which truly had almost distracted him, vanished by the landing of a boat, which acquainted him that it was the English fleet returning from chasing the French. For Sir George Byng, after a day’s pursuit, finding the French out-sailed him, tackt about for the Frith, which was the place he designed chiefly to guard; besides, he had sailed so unprovided that most of his ships wanted water and provisions. Here he lay several weeks, and for the most part the wind was easterly, so that he could not well have sailed down the Frith, and the French might, and every body believed would, have landed in the north, or sailed round and landed in the west; but instead of that they went sneakingly home, without doing any good, but on the contrary much harm, to the king, his country, and themselves.”—Vol. i. pp. 243, 244.

[672] Lockhart.

[673] Stuart Papers, July, 1712. vol. ii. p. 327.

CHAPTER XXIV.

A.D. 1714–1715.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George I., 1714–1727.

Proceedings of the Whigs—Declaration of the Chevalier de St. George—Arrival of George I. in England—Conduct of the Earl of Mar—Government measures—Intrigues of the Jacobites—The Earl of Mar—Leaves England for Scotland—The “Hunting match”—The Chevalier de St. George proclaimed by Mar, who raises the standard of revolt in Braemar—Death of Louis XIV.—Manifesto issued by the Jacobites.

The dismissal of the Earl of Oxford from the office of lord-high-treasurer was gratifying to the Jacobites, whose expectations he had disappointed, and they naturally waited with anxiety for the appointment of his successor, whom they confidently imagined would be Bolingbroke, his rival, who was supposed, on juster grounds, to favour their views, and to whom they had transferred their confidence. But all their hopes were disappointed by the promotion of the Duke of Shrewsbury to the treasury, a nobleman distinguished for modesty and disinterestedness, and a devoted attachment to his country.

To counteract still farther the schemes of Bolingbroke, all the members of the privy council in London, or the neighbourhood, had been invited, on the proposal of Somerset and Argyle, to attend the council without distinction of party, in consequence of which Lord Somers, and many other Whig noblemen, repaired to Kensington. The presence of such a number of the Whigs completely overawed the Tories, who, confused, distracted, and disunited, were either unable or afraid to oppose the measures proposed by the former for effectually securing the Protestant succession, and gave a tacit acquiescence to them. Every precaution, in short, had been taken to prevent any movement of the Jacobite party in favour of the Chevalier, and an express was sent to the Elector of Hanover, informing him that the physicians despaired of the queen’s life, and desiring him to repair to England with all convenient speed.

As soon as the death of the queen was announced, the lords of the privy council met, and drew up and issued a proclamation the same day, declaring that by the death of Queen Anne, the imperial crowns of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, had “solely and rightfully come to the High and Mighty Prince George, Elector of Brunswick, Lunenburg,” in consequence of which, the prince was immediately proclaimed in London, by the heralds at arms, with the usual solemnities, and on Thursday the 5th of August, the same ceremony was repeated at the market cross of Edinburgh, by the deputy-lord-lyon, king at arms, in presence of the magistrates and town council of the city, the judges of the supreme courts, a considerable number of the nobility, and a large assemblage of the inhabitants. The Jacobites preserved a prudent silence on this occasion, but the supporters of the government at Edinburgh took care, notwithstanding, to provide against any contingency. They, accordingly, cut off a part of the wooden bridge before the castle gate, and drew up the remaining part to cover the gate itself. They also threw up an intrenchment between the gate and the castle wall, on which they posted a party of soldiers. In addition to these precautions, Major-general Wightman, the commander of the forces, ordered the different detachments quartered at Dundee, and other places, to join his camp in the vicinity of Edinburgh, with which order they immediately complied.[674]

Pursuant to an act of the late reign, the parliament met on the day the queen died. The first four days were occupied in swearing in the members, and on the 5th of August, the parliament was opened by the Lord Chancellor, in name of the lords justices, on whom the interim administration of the government had devolved by an act of the 4th and 5th of Queen Anne. Both houses thereafter voted loyal addresses to his majesty, in which, after congratulating him upon his accession to the throne, they expressed their anxiety for his safe and speedy arrival in Great Britain. To these addresses his majesty returned most gracious answers, which were reported to both houses on the 25th of August, on which day the parliament was prorogued till the 23d of September.

When the Chevalier de St. George heard of the death of his sister, Queen Anne, he set off from his residence in Lorraine, to Paris, to crave the aid of the King of France, in vindication of his hereditary rights; but Louis declined to interfere, on the ground that he had, by the treaty of Utrecht, acknowledged the Protestant succession. Disappointed in his application, he retired first to Luneville, and afterwards to Plombieres, whence, on the 29th of August, he issued a declaration as King James III., asserting his indefeasible right to the crowns of Great Britain and Ireland, and solemnly protesting against every act that had been already done, or that should thereafter be done to the prejudice of his hereditary rights. He says, that although he had been obliged by the treaty to remove from France, that he had still continued to have his kingdoms and his people in view, and that he had never ceased to hope, that God would in time open his people’s eyes, and convince them not only of the notorious injustice done to the crown and him, but of the dangerous consequences thereof for themselves; and that as he could not see, without grief and sorrow, their blood and treasure lavished in the late war, in opposition to his rights, so he could not now with less sorrow, see them exposed to be subjected to an arbitrary power, and become a prey to foreigners—that the settlement of the succession upon one who was so far removed from the regular line, was opposed to the maxims of the English constitution—that the Elector of Brunswick was, besides, a foreigner, a powerful prince, and absolute in his own country—that he was ignorant of the laws, manners, customs, and language, and supported by a good many of his own people—that there had been many thousands of aliens domiciled in England, for the last thirty years, who would be ready to stand by him upon all occasions—that the subversion of such a sacred and fundamental principle as hereditary right, would lead to endless wars and divisions, and that as there were many other princes, who had better pretensions to the crown than the Elector of Brunswick, the nation could never enjoy any lasting peace or happiness, till the succession was again settled “in the rightful line.”[675]

Meanwhile, certain movements in Scotland, among the friends of the Chevalier, indicated to the government that an insurrection was intended. Bodies of armed men were seen marching towards the Highlands, and a party of Highlanders appeared in arms near Inverlochy, which was, however, soon dispersed by a detachment from the garrison. In this situation of matters, the lords justices sent down to Scotland a considerable number of half-pay officers, chiefly of the Scots regiments, to officer the militia of the country, under the direction of Major-general Whitham, then commander-in-chief in Scotland. These prompt measures taken by the government, alarmed the Jacobites, who, after several consultations, retired to their homes. The Duke of Gordon was, by order of the justices, confined in the city of Edinburgh, and the Marquis of Huntly, and Lord Drummond, in their respective residences of Brahan, and castle Drummond. The last, on hearing that an order for his seizure had arrived, fled to the Highlands, but offered bail for his good behaviour. At the same time, Captain Campbell, of Glendaruel, who had obtained a commission from the late Tory administration, to raise an independent company in the Highlands, was apprehended at Inverlochy, and carried prisoner to the capital, and Sir Donald M’Donald of Slait, was also seized and committed to the castle of Edinburgh.[676] As the lords justices had received information that the Chevalier intended to land in the kingdom, they, on the 15th of September, issued a proclamation, in terms of an act passed in the last session of parliament, offering a reward of £100,000 sterling for his apprehension, should he land or attempt to land in Great Britain.[677]

King George, after vesting the government of his German dominions in a council, embarked for England on the 16th of September, and landed at Greenwich on the 18th, where he was received by the Duke of Northumberland, captain of the life-guards, and by the lords justices, and a large number of the nobility and other persons of distinction. Among those who presented themselves on this occasion was the Earl of Mar, one of the secretaries of state, but the king had been so prepossessed against this nobleman, and indeed against all the heads of the Tory party, that he did not vouchsafe even to notice him. The earl suspecting that means had been used to prejudice his majesty against him, had, in order to take off any unfavourable impression which these might have produced upon the king’s mind, written a letter to George when in Holland on his way to England, congratulating him upon his accession to the throne, stating the services which he had rendered to the government, and assuring his majesty that he should find him as faithful and dutiful a subject and servant as ever any of his family, which had been always loyal, had been to the crown, or as he had been to his late mistress, the queen. With the same view, it is supposed, or to throw the government off its guard, Mar caused a letter to be addressed to him by some of the heads and branches of the Jacobite clans expressive of their loyalty to King George, and declaring, that as they had been always ready to follow his lordship’s directions in serving Queen Anne, they were equally ready to concur with him in faithfully serving his majesty.[678] But the prejudices of the king against Mar were too deeply rooted to be overcome, and within eight days after the king’s arrival in England, Mar was dismissed from office, and the Duke of Montrose appointed in his stead. It was very natural for the king to prefer the Whig party, by whose influence he had been raised to the throne; but unfortunately for the nation, he carried this predilection too far. A wise and prudent prince would have endeavoured to conciliate the adverse faction by acts of kindness, but George turned his back upon the entire body of the Tories, and threw himself completely into the arms of the Whigs, who alone shared in the royal favour, and who used every art to confirm their own interest, and extend their connexions. The consequence was, that a spirit of the most violent discontent was excited throughout the whole kingdom, and the populace, led on by the Tories or Jacobites, raised tumults in different parts of the kingdom. The Chevalier de St. George availing himself of this excitement, transmitted by the French mail copies of the manifesto, or declaration, which he had issued from Plombieres to the chief nobility, particularly the Dukes of Shrewsbury, Marlborough, and Argyle, who delivered them to the secretaries of state. The king, imagining that the Duke of Lorraine was privy to the preparation and transmission of the manifesto, refused an audience to the Marquis de Lamberti, minister from the duke; but although the duke, on being informed by his minister of the circumstance, denied most pointedly that he was accessory to the affair, and declared that the Chevalier took up his residence in Lorraine by the directions of the king of France, the king persisted in refusing an audience to De Lamberti till his master should remove the Chevalier from his dominions.

The parliament having been dissolved, the king, in the month of January, 1715, issued an extraordinary proclamation, calling a new parliament. In this proclamation he complained of the evil designs of the disaffected, and of the misrepresentation of his principles and conduct which had been industriously circulated throughout the kingdom, expressing his hopes that his loving subjects would send up to parliament the fittest persons to redress the present disorders, and to provide for the peace and happiness of the kingdoms. In order to secure the interest of those in civil and military employments in the elections, a proclamation was issued on the same day, continuing all persons who had been duly invested in their offices, civil or military, before the demise of the queen, and who had not been since removed therefrom, for the space of six months from the date of the proclamation, unless his majesty should see cause to remove them sooner. A warmly contested election followed in England, but although the Tories made every exertion, and set up the usual shout of the church in danger, a cry which was responded to by the populace in many places, a majority of Whigs was returned. The Whigs were still more successful in Scotland, where a majority of the sixteen peers, and forty out of forty-five members returned to the commons, were in the interest of the government. The principal struggle in Scotland was in Inverness-shire, between M’Kenzie of Preston-hall, who was supported by Glengarry and the other Jacobite chiefs, and Forbes of Culloden, brother of the celebrated President Forbes, who carried the election by the interest of Brigadier-general Grant, and the friends of Lord Lovat.

The new parliament assembled on the 19th of March at Westminster, and was for some time chiefly occupied in investigating the conduct of the late ministers, against some of whom measures of extreme rigour were resolved upon. But these proceedings were interrupted by the necessity of devising means for the suppression of a growing spirit of discontent and disaffection, which seemed to gain ground daily in England, of which an insurrection in Scotland, and an invasion from abroad, seemed about to ensue as inevitable results. To put an end to future rioting, a bill was passed, by which it was declared, that if any persons, to the number of twelve, riotously, tumultuously, and unlawfully assembled, should continue together for an hour after having been required to disperse by a justice of peace or other officer, by proclamation publicly read,—and of which a form was given in the act, they should be guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy. When the king attended in the House of Lords on the 13th of July, to give his assent to this and other bills, he informed both houses that a rebellion had actually begun at home, and that an invasion was threatened from abroad, and he, therefore, solicited the commons to enable him to provide for the defence of the kingdom. The preparations of the Chevalier de St. George for a descent upon Great Britain were indeed already far advanced. Elated by the intelligence which had been sent him from England by the Tories, of the disaffection of the people to the government, and by the promises of support which he had received from them, should he land in Great Britain, the prince had applied a second time for succour to Louis, who, notwithstanding the treaty of Utrecht, supplied him privately with money, and allowed a ship to be fitted out for him, at his own expense, in the port of Havre. The cause of the Chevalier had now been openly espoused by the Duke of Ormond and Lord Bolingbroke, both of whom having retired to France, had been attainted by the British parliament without a hearing, and were busily employed corresponding with the Tories of England. These intrigues and preparations were early discovered by the Earl of Stair, the British ambassador at Paris, and communicated by him to the ministry. Proceeding upon this information, the parliament suspended the Habeas Corpus act, and renewed the offer of one hundred thousand pounds to any person or persons who should seize the Pretender, dead or alive. Great naval and military preparations were made, and the trained bands were kept in readiness to suppress tumults.

As early as May, a report was current among the Jacobites of Scotland of the Chevalier’s design to make a descent, in consequence of which they began to bestir themselves, by providing arms, horses, &c. Lockhart of Carnwath, a very warm partisan of the Chevalier, while “solacing” himself, as he says, with the expectation of hearing “great and good news,” had his house surrounded by a strong detachment of Lord Shannon’s regiment of foot, which carried him prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh, by virtue of a warrant “under the Elector of Hanover’s own hand.” The apprehension of Lockhart served as a signal to the other Jacobites in Scotland, against whom warrants were issued, all of whom escaped, with the exception of the Earls of Home and Wigton, who were taken up, and also committed prisoners to the castle.[680]

Of John Erskine, the 11th Earl of Mar, the chief leader in the ensuing insurrection, it may be proper to say a few words. Following the footsteps of his father, who joined the revolution party, merely because he considered it his interest so to do, the young earl, on entering into public life, attached himself to the party then in power, at the head of which was the Duke of Queensberry, the leader of the Scottish Whigs. He took the oaths and his seat in parliament in September, 1696, was sworn in a privy councillor the following year, and was afterwards appointed to the command of a regiment of foot, and invested with the order of the Thistle. In 1704, when the Whigs were superseded by the country party, the earl, pursuant to the line of conduct he intended to follow, of making his politics subservient to his interest, immediately paid court to the new administration, by placing himself at the head of such of the Duke of Queensberry’s friends as opposed the Marquis of Tweeddale and his party. In this situation he showed so much dexterity, and managed his opposition with so much art and address, that he was considered by the Tories as a man of probity, and well inclined to the exiled family. Afterwards, when the Whig party came again into power, he gave them his support, and became very zealous in promoting all the measures of the court, particularly the treaty of union, for which he presented the draught of an act in parliament, in 1705. To reward his exertions, he was, after the prorogation of the parliament, appointed secretary of state for Scotland, instead of the Marquis of Annandale, who was displaced, because he was suspected of holding a correspondence with the “Squadron,” who were inclined to support the succession to the crown without, rather than with the proposed union. His lordship was chosen one of the sixteen representative peers in 1707, and re-elected at the general election the following year, and in 1710 and 1713. By the share he had taken in bringing about the union, Mar had rendered himself very unpopular in Scotland; but he endeavoured to regain the favour of his countrymen, by attending a deputation of Scottish members, consisting of the Duke of Argyle, himself, Cockburn younger of Ormiston, and Lockhart of Carnwath, who waited on Queen Anne in 1712, to inform her of their resolution to move for a repeal of the union with England. When the Earl of Findlater brought forward a motion for repeal in the House of Lords, Mar spoke strongly in favour of it, and pressed the dissolution of the union as the only means to preserve the peace of the island.[681] He was made a privy-councillor in 1708, and on the death of the Duke of Queensberry in 1713, the earl was again appointed secretary of state for Scotland, and thus, for the second time, enlisted himself under the banners of Toryism; but an end was put to his political tergiversation by his abrupt and unceremonious dismissal from office by George I., and he vowed revenge.

Though not possessed of shining talents, he made ample amends for their deficiencies by artifice and an insinuating and courteous deportment, and managed his designs with such prudence and circumspection as to render it extremely difficult to ascertain his object when he desired concealment; by which conduct “he showed himself,” in the opinion of a contemporary, “to be a man of good sense, but bad morals.”[682] The versatility of his politics was perhaps owing rather to the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed than to any innate viciousness of disposition. He was a Jacobite from principle, but as the fortunes of his house had been greatly impaired in the civil war by its attachment to the Stuarts, and as, upon his entrance into public life, he found the cause of the exiled family at a low ebb, he sought to retrieve the losses which his ancestors had sustained; while, at the same time, he gratified his ambition, by aspiring to power, which he could only hope to acquire by attaching himself to the existing government. The loss of a place of £5,000 a-year, without any chance of ever again enjoying the sweets of office, was gall and wormwood to such a man. This disappointment, and the studied insult he had received from the king, operating upon a selfish and ambitious spirit, drove him into open rebellion, with no other view than the gratification of his revenge. But whatever were his qualifications in the cabinet, he was without military experience, and consequently unfit to command an army, as the result showed.

On the eve of Mar’s departure from England to place himself at the head of the intended insurrection in Scotland, he resolved to show himself at court; and, accordingly, he appeared in the presence of King George on the 1st of August, with all the complaisance of a courtier, and with that affability of demeanour for which he was so distinguished. What his motives were for thus needlessly laying himself open to the charge of studied duplicity by confronting a sovereign whose throne he was about to attempt to overturn, it is difficult to conjecture. Was it to solace his offended pride, or to show the world the hardihood of his determination to unfurl the standard of revolt, that he had the cool daring, in presence of the nobles of the land, to look in the face the man against whom he had inwardly vowed to wage war? Or was his object, in thus appearing as if no treasonable design could be in his contemplation, intended as a feint to deceive the court and lull suspicion, so as to enable him the more effectually to conceal the preparations he had made for his intended departure? All of these questions might be fairly answered in the affirmative, as being in perfect conformity with the earl’s character.

Having disguised himself by changing his usual dress, he embarked at Gravesend on the 2d of August, 1715, on board a vessel bound for Newcastle, accompanied by Major-general Hamilton and Colonel Hay, and attended by two servants. On arriving at Newcastle he and his party went on board another vessel bound for the Frith of Forth, the property of one Spence, and were landed at Elie, a small port on the Fife coast, near the mouth of the Frith. During the great civil war, and for many years thereafter, a landing in Fife in support of the Stuarts would have been a dangerous attempt, but the opinions of many of the Fife people had, of late, undergone a complete revolution; and, at the time in question, Fife had, as the Jacobites would have said, many “honest” men, or in other words, persons who were warmly attached to the interests of the exiled family. From Elie, Mar proceeded to Crail, where he was met by Sir Alexander Erskine, the Lord Lyon, and other friends of the Jacobite interest, who accompanied him to the house of “the Honest Laird,” a name by which John Bethune of Balfour, a stanch Jacobite, was commonly known. After remaining a few days in Fife, Mar paid a visit to his brother-in-law, the Earl of Kinnoul, at his seat of Dupplin in the county of Perth, whence he departed on Thursday the 18th of August, and crossed the Tay about two miles below Perth, with 40 horse, on his way to his seat of Kildrummy, in the Braes of Mar. On the following day he despatched letters to the principal Jacobites, inviting them to attend a grand hunting-match at Braemar, on the 27th of August. As the government was on the alert, and watched very narrowly any unusual assemblages, the Jacobites had frequently before had recourse to this and similar expedients to enable them to concert their measures without exciting the suspicion of the government.[683]

That the earl had matured his plans before coming to Scotland, and that the Jacobites were let into the secret of his designs, is evident from the fact that, as early as the 6th of August, those in Edinburgh and the neighbourhood were aware of his intention to come down to Scotland. On the following morning the Honourable John Dalzel, a captain on half pay, sent in a resignation of his commission, that he might join with greater freedom the standard of the earl.

Under pretence of attending the hunting-match, a considerable number of noblemen and gentlemen arrived at Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire, about the time appointed. Among these were the Marquis of Huntly, eldest son of the Duke of Gordon; the Marquis of Tullibardine, eldest son of the Duke of Athole; the Earls of Nithsdale, Marischal, Traquair, Errol, Southesk, Carnwath, Seaforth, Linlithgow, and others; the Viscounts Kilsyth, Kenmure, Kingston, and Stormont; Lords Rollo, Duffus, Drummond, Strathallan, Ogilvie, and Nairne; and about twenty-six gentlemen of influence in the Highlands, among whom were Generals Hamilton and Gordon, Glengary, Campbell of Glendaruel, and the lairds of Auchterhouse and Auldbar.[684]

After the meeting had assembled, the earl proceeded to address his friends in a regular and well-ordered speech. He began by expressing his sorrow for having been instrumental in forwarding the union of the two kingdoms. He informed them that his eyes were now opened, and that he clearly perceived the error he had committed; that he would therefore do every thing in his power to make his countrymen again a free people, and restore to them their ancient liberties which had been surrendered into the hands of the English by the accursed treaty of union. That this treaty, which had already done so much injury to Scotland, was calculated to inflict additional grievances upon it, and that such were the designs of the English appeared evident by the measures which had been daily pursued ever since the Elector of Hanover had ascended the throne. That this prince regarded neither the welfare of his people, nor their religion; but had committed the charge of both entirely to a set of men who, while they stuck to the Protestant succession, made such alterations in church and state as they thought fit. That they had already begun to encroach upon the liberties of both, on which account he had resolved to vindicate their rights by placing the lawful sovereign, James VIII., who had promised to hear their grievances and redress their wrongs, upon the throne of his ancestors. He then informed them of his determination to take up arms in behalf of his lawful king: that he would summon all the fencible men among his own tenantry, and with them hazard his life in the cause; and he exhorted all those assembled to follow his example. To encourage them to do so, he assured them that there would be a general rising in England in support of the cause; that they would receive powerful assistance from France, whither the Duke of Ormond and Lord Bolingbroke had gone to induce Louis XIV. to aid and assist them with men and money; and that the Duke of Berwick would certainly land in the West of England with a large force. That there were thousands of persons throughout the kingdom who had solemnly pledged themselves to him, and to one another, to join him in deposing King George, and establishing James VIII. on the throne. He then informed them that he had received letters (which he exhibited) under the hand of James himself, from Lorraine, promising to come over to Scotland and place his person under the protection of the valour and fidelity of his Scottish subjects; and that, in the meantime, ships, provided with arms, ammunition, and other military stores, would be sent over from France as soon as a landing port should be fixed upon. He thereupon produced, or stated that he had in his possession, a commission from James, appointing him his Lieutenant-general, and commander of all the Jacobite forces in Scotland, and informed the meeting that he was furnished with money, and that an arrangement had been made by which he would be enabled to pay regularly the troops that should be raised, so that no gentleman who might join his standard, with his followers, would be put to any expense, and the country would be quite relieved from the burden of supporting the war. After the earl had finished his harangue, the meeting unanimously resolved to take up arms in support of the Chevalier; and after taking an oath of fidelity to the earl as the representative of James VIII. and to each other, the persons present took leave of him, and promised to return immediately to their estates and raise their men, and to hold themselves in readiness to join the earl on the first summons. To enlist the feelings of the people in favour of the prince, copies of his manifesto, of which each individual who attended the meeting obtained a supply from the earl, were industriously circulated throughout the country, and dropt in the streets of the different towns in Scotland during night.

The government was not inattentive to the proceedings of the Jacobites, and measures were adopted immediately by the Lord Advocate for securing the chiefs. Under the authority of an act passed on the 30th of August, a large number of noblemen and gentlemen, of whom a great proportion belonged to the Highlands, were summoned by him to appear at Edinburgh within certain specified periods, under the pain of a year’s imprisonment and other penalties, to give bail for their allegiance to the government. Among them was Rob Roy. The time allowed for the appearance of such as resided to the south of the river Tay, was seven days, to those on the north, fifteen, and to such as might be out of Scotland, sixty days after the day of citation. Very few of them however appeared, and the remainder, almost without exception, rushed at once into the insurrection.

The confederated chiefs had scarcely all of them reached their respective homes, when they were again summoned by Mar to meet him at Aboyne, on the 3d of September, to concert measures for appearing immediately in arms. Some of those who resided only a short distance from the appointed rendezvous, attended, and having received instructions to assemble their men, and to join him without delay, at Kirkmichael, a village in Braemar, they returned to their estates, and sent round the fiery cross to summon their followers to the field. With 60 followers only, Mar proclaimed the Chevalier at Castletown in Braemar, after which he proceeded to Kirkmichael, where on the 6th of September he raised his standard, which was consecrated by prayer, in presence, according to some accounts, of a force of 2,000 men, mostly consisting of horse.[685] When the standard was in the course of being erected, the ball on the top of the pole fell off, an incident which was regarded by the superstitious Highlanders as a bad omen, and which threw a damp over the proceedings of the day.

On the following day, Mar intimated by a circular letter to the gentlemen of Perthshire, his appointment to the chief command of all King James’s forces in Scotland, and he required them to hold themselves in readiness to join him with their vassals when called upon. He also directed them to secure the arms of such persons as were hostile to the cause of King James, and desired they would prevent their men from plundering, or living at free quarters, upon his Majesty’s subjects. “The King,” he observes, “makes no doubt of your zeal for his service, especially at this juncture when his cause is so deeply concerned, and the relieving of our native country from oppression and a foreign yoke, too heavy for us and our posterity to bear, and when now is the time to endeavour the restoring, not only our rightful and native king, but also our country to its ancient, free, and independent constitution under him, whose ancestors have reigned over us for so many generations.”

Two days thereafter the earl published a high-flown declaration, in which he summons, “in his Majesty’s name and authority,” and “by the King’s special order to me thereunto,” all faithful and loving subjects to raise their fencible men with their best arms, and to join him at the Inver of Mar on the following Monday, “in order to proceed in our march to attend the king’s standard with his other forces. The king intending that his forces shall be paid from the time of their first setting out, he expects, as he positively orders, that they behave themselves civilly, and commit no plundering or other disorders, upon the highest penalties, and his displeasure, which is expected you’l see observed.”

As a contrast to this high-flown and liberty-sounding document, the following singular letter, written by the earl to his baillie in the lordship of Kildrummy, on the evening of the day on which the above declaration was issued, is curious. It exhibits, in a remarkable point of view, the despotic power which, even down to such a modern period, a feudal or rather a Highland chief considered himself entitled to exercise with impunity over his vassals. Had such an order been issued by a baron, who had scarcely ever gone beyond the boundaries of his own demesnes, it might have been passed over without remark, as in perfect keeping with the ideas of a feudal despot; but to see the refined courtier threatening his own vassals and tenants with destruction, and even extermination, merely because they hesitated to take up arms in opposition to the government under which they lived, and under which the earl himself had served, is indeed very extraordinary:—

“Invercauld, Sept. 9, at night, 1715.

“Jocke,—Ye was in the right not to come with the hundred men ye sent up to-night, when I expected four times the number. It is a pretty thing, when all the Highlands of Scotland are now rising upon their king and country’s account, as I have accounts from them since they were with me, and the gentlemen of our neighbouring lowlands expecting us down to join them, that my men should be only refractory. Is not this the thing we are now about, which they have been wishing these twenty-six years? And now, when it is come, and the king and country’s cause is at stake, will they for ever sit still and see all perish? I have used gentle means too long, and so I shall be forced to put other orders I have in execution. I have sent you enclosed an order for the lordship of Kildrummy, which you are immediately to intimate to all my vassals: if they give ready obedience, it will make some amends, and if not ye may tell them from me, that it will not be in my power to save them (were I willing) from being treated as enemies, by those who are ready soon to join me; and they may depend on it, that I will be the first to propose, and order their being so. Particularly, let my own tenants in Kildrummy know, that if they come not forth with their best arms, that I will send a party immediately to burn what they shall miss taking from them. And they may believe this not only a threat, but, by all that’s sacred, I’ll put it in execution, let my loss be what it will, that it may be an example to others. You are to tell the gentlemen that I’ll expect them in their best accoutrements, on horseback, and no excuse to be accepted of. Go about this with all diligence, and come yourself and let me know your having done so. All this is not only as ye will be answerable to me, but to your king and country.

“Your assured friend and servant,
“MAR.”

“To John Forbes of Inverau,
Bailie of Kildrummy.”

While the Jacobite chiefs were collecting their forces, an event occurred which ought to have induced them to abandon, at least for a time, an enterprise signalized by such an untoward beginning. This was the death of Louis XIV., who expired on the 1st of September, after a short illness. An occurrence more unfortunate to the cause of the Chevalier could scarcely have happened at such a conjuncture, as it tended to damp the spirits of his partisans, who looked upon Louis as the main prop of the cause. On receipt of this intelligence, the chiefs held a meeting to consult upon the course they ought to pursue under this new aspect of matters. Some of the more moderate were for returning home, and remaining quiet till the arrival of the Chevalier, should he receive any encouragement from the new government of France to proceed on his intended voyage; but the majority argued that they had already gone too far to recede with safety, and that as a general insurrection would take place in England in favour of the Chevalier, they should take the field forthwith. An immediate appeal to arms having been resolved upon, messengers were despatched to France to urge the Chevalier to hasten his departure, and the following notable manifesto, which had been privately printed at Edinburgh by Freebairn, one of the king’s printers, was issued at the same time:—

“Manifesto by the Noblemen, Gentlemen, and others, who dutifully appear at this time in asserting the undoubted rights of their lawful sovereign, James the Eighth, by the grace of God, king of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c.; and for relieving this, his ancient kingdom, from the oppressions and grievances it lies under.

“His majesty’s right of blood to the crowns of these realms is undoubted, and has never been disputed or arraigned by the least circumstance or lawful authority. By the laws of God, by the ancient constitutions, and by the positive unrepealed laws of the land, we are bound to pay his majesty the duty of loyal subjects. Nothing can absolve us from this our duty of subjection and obedience. The laws of God require our allegiance to our rightful king—the laws of the land secure our religion and other interests; and his majesty giving up himself to the support of his Protestant subjects, puts the means of securing to us our concerns, religious and civil, in our own hands. Our fundamental constitution has been entirely altered and sunk amidst the various shocks of unstable faction, while, in searching out new expedients pretended for our security, it has produced nothing but daily disappointments, and has brought us and our posterity under a precarious dependence upon foreign councils and interests, and the power of foreign troops. The late unhappy union which was brought about by the mistaken notions of some, and the ruinous and selfish designs of others, has proved so far from lessening and healing the differences betwixt his majesty’s subjects of Scotland and England, that it has widened and increased them. And it appears by experience so inconsistent with the rights, privileges, and interests of us, and our good neighbours and fellow-subjects of England, that the continuance of it must inevitably ruin us, and hurt them; nor can any way be found out to relieve us, and restore our ancient and independent constitution, but by the restoring our rightful and natural king, who has the only undoubted right to reign over us. Neither can we hope that the party who chiefly contributed to bring us into bondage, will at any time endeavour to work our relief, since it is known how strenuously they opposed, in two late instances, the efforts that were made by all Scotsmen by themselves, and supported by the best and wisest of the English, towards so desirable an end, as they will not adventure openly to disown the dissolution of the union to be. Our substance has been wasted in the late ruinous wars, and we see an unavoidable prospect of having wars continued on us and our posterity so long as the possession of the crown is not in the right line. The hereditary rights of the subjects, though confirmed by conventions and parliaments, are now treated as of no value or force, and past services to the crown and royal family are now looked upon as grounds of suspicion. A packed up assembly, who call themselves a British parliament, have, so far as in them lies, inhumanely murdered their own and our sovereign, by promising a good sum of money as the reward of so execrable a crime. They have proscribed, by unaccountable and groundless impeachments and attainders, the worthy patriots of England, for their honourable and successful endeavours to restore trade, plenty, and peace to these nations.

“They have broken in upon the sacred laws of both countries by which the liberty of our persons was secured, and they have empowered a foreign prince, (who, notwithstanding his expectations of the crown for fifteen years, is still unacquainted with our manners, customs, and language,) to make an absolute conquest (if not timely prevented) of the three kingdoms, by investing himself with an unlimited power, not only of raising unnecessary forces at home, but also of calling in foreign troops, ready to promote his uncontrollable designs. Nor can we be ever hopeful of its being otherwise, in the way it is at present, for some generations to come. And the sad consequences of these unexampled proceedings have really been so fatal to great numbers of our kinsmen, friends, and fellow-subjects of both kingdoms, that they have been constrained to abandon their country, houses, wives and children, to give themselves up prisoners, and perhaps victims, to be sacrificed to the pleasure of foreigners, and a few hot-headed men of a restless faction, whom they employ. Our troops abroad, notwithstanding their long and remarkable good services, have been treated, since the peace, with neglect and contempt, and particularly in Holland; and it is not now the officers’ long service, merit, and blood they have lost, but money and favour by which they can obtain justice in their preferments. So that it is evident the safety of his majesty’s person, and independency of his kingdoms, call loudly for immediate relief and defence.

“The consideration of these unhappy circumstances, with the due regard we have to common justice, the peace and quiet of us and our posterity, and our duty to his majesty, and his commands, are the powerful motives which have engaged us in our present undertaking, which we are firmly and heartily resolved to push to the utmost, and stand by one another to the last extremity, as the only solid and effectual means for putting an end to so dreadful a prospect, as by our present situation we have before our eyes, and with faithful hearts true to our rightful king, our country, and our neighbours, we earnestly beseech and expect, as his majesty commands, the assistance of all our true fellow-subjects to second our attempt; declaring hereby our sincere intentions that we will promote and concur in all lawful means for settling a lasting peace to these lands, under the auspicious government of our native-born rightful sovereign, the direction of our own domestic councils, and the protection of our native forces and troops. That we will in the same manner concur and endeavour to have our laws, liberties, and properties, secured by the parliaments of both kingdoms; that by the wisdom of such parliaments we will endeavour to have such laws enacted as shall give absolute security to us, and future ages, for the Protestant religion, against all efforts of arbitrary power, popery, and all its other enemies.

“Nor have we any reason to be distrustful of the goodness of God, the truth and purity of our holy religion, or the known excellency of his majesty’s judgment, as not to hope, that in due time, good examples and conversation with our learned divines, will remove those prejudices, which we know his education in a Popish country has not riveted in his royal discerning mind; and we are sure, as justice is a virtue in all religions and professions, so the doing of it to him will not lessen his good opinion of ours. That as the king is willing to give his royal indemnity for all that is past, so he will cheerfully concur in passing general acts of oblivion, that our fellow-subjects, who have been misled, may have a fair opportunity of living with us in the same friendly manner that we design to live with them. That we will use our endeavours for redressing the bad usage of our troops abroad, and bringing the troops at home on the same footing and establishment of pay, as those of England. That we will sincerely and heartily go into such measures as shall maintain effectually, and establish, a right, firm, and lasting union betwixt his majesty’s ancient kingdom of Scotland, and our good neighbours and fellow-subjects of the kingdom of England.

“The peace of these nations being thus settled and we freed from foreign dangers, we will use our endeavours to have the army reduced to the usual number of guards and garrisons; and will concur in such laws and methods, as shall relieve us of the heavy taxes and debts now lying upon us, and at the same time, will support the public credit in all its parts. And we hereby faithfully promise and engage that every officer who joins with us in our king and country’s cause shall not only enjoy the same post he now does, but shall be advanced and preferred according to his rank and station and the number of men he brings off with him to us. And each foot soldier so joining us shall have twenty shillings sterling, and each trooper or dragoon, who brings horse and accoutrements along with him, £12 sterling gratuity, besides their pay; and in general we shall concur with all our fellow subjects in such measures as shall make us flourish at home, and be formidable abroad, under our rightful sovereign, and the peaceable harmony of our ancient fundamental constitution, undisturbed by a pretender’s interests and councils from abroad, or a restless faction at home. In so honourable, so good, and just a cause, we do not doubt of the assistance, direction, and blessing of Almighty God, who has so often succoured the royal family of Stuarts, and our country from sinking under oppression.”

A document better calculated to arouse the national feeling could not have been penned. Every topic which could excite a spirit of disaffection against the government then existing is artfully introduced, and enforced with an energy of diction and an apparent strength of reasoning admirably fitted for exciting the spirit of a people living, as they imagined, in a state of national degradation. But this manifesto which, a few years before, would have set the whole of Scotland in a flame, produced little or no effect in those quarters where alone it was necessary to make such an appeal.

FOOTNOTES:

[674] Rae’s History of the late Rebellion. Dumfries, 1718, p. 63.

[675] Culloden Papers, pp. 30, 31.

[676] Rae, p. 77.

[677] Gazette, 25th September, 1714.

[678] This document, which was signed by the chief of Maclean, Macdonell of Glengarry, Cameron of Lochiel, Macdonell of Keppoch, Sir Donald Macdonald, Mackintosh of Mackintosh, Mackenzie of Fraserdale, M’Leod of Contulick, Grant of Glenmoriston, Chisholm of Comer, and M’Pherson of Cluny, is as follows:—

“My Lord,

“So soon as we heard of the afflicting news of the death of her late majesty, Queen Anne, it did exceedingly comfort us, that, after so good and great a queen, who had the hearts and consulted the true happiness of all her people, we were to be governed by his sacred majesty, King George, a prince so brightly adorned with all royal virtues, that Britain, under his royal administration, shall still be flourishing at home, and able to hold the balance in the affairs of Europe.[679] Allow us, my Lord, to please ourselves with this agreeable persuasion, that his majesty’s royal and kindly influence shall reach to us, who are the most remote, as well as to others of his subjects in this island. We are not ignorant that there are some people forward to misrepresent us, from particular private views of their own, and who, to reach their own ends against us, on all occasions, endeavour to make us, in the Highlands of Scotland, pass for disaffected persons.

“Your lordship 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 impressions which malicious and ill-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 the clans, who, by distance of place, could not be present at the signing of this letter, of our loyalty to his sacred majesty, King George. And we do hereby declare to your lordship, that as we were always ready to follow your directions in serving Queen Anne, so we will now be equally forward to concur with your lordship in faithfully serving King George. And we entreat your lordship would advise as how we may best offer our duty to his majesty upon his coming over to Britain; and on all occasions we will beg to receive your counsel and direction how we may be most useful to his royal government.

“We are, with all truth and respect,” &c.

[679] There is little difficulty in perceiving, by comparing this letter with that written by Mar to the king, that it is the production of Mar himself, though said to be drawn up by his brother, Lord Grange. “The balance in the affairs of Europe,” an expression since changed into that of the “balance of power,” is a phrase which could have occurred only to a secretary of state. What calamities have been inflicted upon Europe since the sway of the Grand Monarque in attempts to adjust “this balance,” and yet the scales vibrate as much as ever!

[680] Lockhart Papers, vol. i. pp. 485–6.

[681] Lockhart, vol. i. p. 436.

[682] Idem.

[683] Rae, 188. Annals of King George, year the second, London, 1717, p. 25.

[684] Rae, p. 189. Annals of King George, pp. 15, 16.

[685] Annals of 2d Year of George I., p. 28.

CHAPTER XXV.

A.D. 1715.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George I., 1714–1727.

Measures of the government—Attempt to surprise Edinburgh Castle—Duke of Argyle appointed to the command of the government forces—Expedition of General Gordon into Argyle—Proceedings of the Earl of Mar—Insurrection in England—Affair at Keith—Rising in the south of Scotland—Expedition of Brigadier Mackintosh—Marches to Edinburgh and occupies Leith—Duke of Argyle marches to Leith—Retreat of Mackintosh—Joins the forces under Forster—Disputes among the insurgents and secession of 500 Highlanders—Rebels march into England—Battle of Preston.

While the Earl of Mar was thus busily engaged exciting a rebellion in the north, the government was no less active in making preparations to meet it. Apprehensive of a general rising in England, particularly in the west, where a spirit of disaffection had often displayed itself, and to which the insurrection in Scotland was, it was believed, intended as a diversion; the government, instead of despatching troops to Scotland, posted the whole disposable force in the disaffected districts, at convenient distances, by which disposition, considerable bodies could be assembled together to assist each other in case of need. The wisdom of this plan soon became apparent, as there can be no doubt, that had an army been sent into Scotland to suppress the rebellion in the north, an insurrection would have broken out in England, which might have been fatal to the government.[686]

To strengthen, however, the military force in Scotland, the regiments of Forfar, Orrery, and Hill, were recalled from Ireland. These arrived at Edinburgh about the 24th of August, and were soon thereafter despatched along with other troops to the west, under Major-general Wightman, for the purpose of securing the fords of the Forth, and the pass of Stirling. These troops being upon the reduced establishment, did not exceed 1,600 men, a force inadequate for the protection of such an important post. Orders were, therefore, sent to the Earl of Stair’s regiment of dragoons and two foot regiments, which lay in the north of England, to march to the camp in the park of Stirling with all expedition, and at the same time, Evans’s regiment of dragoons, and Clyton’s and Wightman’s regiments of foot were recalled from Ireland.[687]

During the time the camp was forming at Stirling, the friends of the Chevalier at Edinburgh formed the daring project of seizing the castle of Edinburgh, the possession of which would have been of vast importance to the Jacobite cause. Lord Drummond, a Catholic, was at the head of this party, which consisted of about 90 gentlemen selected for the purpose, about one half of whom were Highlanders. In the event of success, each of the adventurers was to receive £100 sterling and a commission in the army. To facilitate their design, they employed one Arthur, who had formerly been an ensign in the Scotch guards, to corrupt some of the soldiers in the garrison, and who by money and promises of preferment induced a sergeant, a corporal, and two sentinels to enter into the views of the conspirators. These engaged to attend at a certain place upon the wall, on the north, near the Sally-port, in order to assist the conspirators in their ascent. The latter had prepared a scaling ladder made of ropes, capable of holding several men abreast, and had so contrived it, that it could be drawn up through means of pulleys, by a small rope which the soldiers were to fasten behind the wall. Having completed their arrangements, they fixed on the 9th of September for the attempt, being the day after the last detachment of the government troops quartered in camp in St. Anne’s Yards, near Edinburgh, had set off for Stirling. But the projectors of this well-concerted enterprise were doomed to lament its failure when almost on the eve of completion.

Edinburgh Castle in 1715, from the North-East. From an old print.

Arthur, the officer who had bribed the soldiers, having engaged his brother, a physician in Edinburgh, in the Jacobite interest, let him into the secret of the design upon the castle. Dr. Arthur, who appears to have been a man of a timorous disposition, grew alarmed at this intelligence, and so deep had been the impression made upon his mind while contemplating the probable consequences of such a step, that on the day before the attempt his spirits became so depressed as to attract the notice of his wife, who importuned him to inform her of the cause. He complied, and his wife, without acquainting him, sent an anonymous letter to Sir Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, Lord-Justice-Clerk, acquainting him with the conspiracy. Cockburn received this letter at ten o’clock at night, and sent it off with a letter from himself to Lieutenant-colonel Stuart, the deputy-governor of the castle, who received the communication shortly before eleven. Stuart lost no time in ordering the officers to double their guards and make diligent rounds; but probably supposing that no attempt would be made that night he went to bed after issuing these instructions. In the meantime, the conspirators had assembled at a tavern preparatory to their attempt, but unfortunately for its success they lingered over their cups far beyond the time they had fixed upon for putting their project into execution. In fact, they did not assemble at the bottom of the wall till after the deputy-governor had issued his orders; but ignorant of what had passed within the castle, they proceeded to tie the rope, which had been let down by the soldiers, to the ladder. Unhappily for the whole party, the hour for changing the sentinels had arrived, and while the traitorous soldiers were in the act of drawing up the ladder, one Lieutenant Lindsay, at the head of a party of fresh sentinels, came upon them on his way to the sally-port. The soldiers, alarmed at the approach of Lindsay’s party, immediately slipt the rope, one of them at the same time discharging his piece at the assailants to divert suspicion from himself. The noise which this occurrence produced told the conspirators that they were discovered, on which they dispersed. A party of the town-guard which the Lord Provost, at the request of the Lord-Justice-Clerk, had sent to patrol about the castle, attracted by the firing, immediately rushed from the West-Port, and repaired to the spot, but all the conspirators, with the exception of four whom they secured, had escaped. These were one Captain Maclean, an officer who had fought under Dundee at Killiecrankie, whom they found lying on the ground much injured by a fall from the ladder or from a precipice; Alexander Ramsay and George Boswell, writers in Edinburgh; and one Lesly, who had been in the service of the same Duchess of Gordon who had distinguished herself in the affair of the medal. This party picked up the ladder and a quantity of muskets and carbines which the conspirators had thrown away in their flight.[688]

Such was the result of an enterprise which had been matured with great judgment, and which would probably have succeeded, but for the trifling circumstance above mentioned. The capture of such an important fortress as the castle of Edinburgh, at such a time, would have been of vast importance to the Jacobites, inasmuch as it would not only have afforded them an abundant supply of military stores, with which it was then well provided, and put them in possession of a considerable sum of money, but would also have served as a rallying point to the disaffected living to the south of the Forth, who only waited a favourable opportunity to declare themselves. Besides giving them the command of the city, the possession of the castle by a Jacobite force would have compelled the commander of the government forces to withdraw the greater part of his troops from Stirling, and leave that highly important post exposed to the northern insurgents. Had the attempt succeeded, Lord Drummond, the contriver of the design, was to have been made governor of the castle, and notice of its capture was to have been announced to some of the Jacobite partisans on the opposite coast of Fife, by firing three cannon-shots from its battlements. On hearing the report of the guns, these men were instantly to have communicated the intelligence to the Earl of Mar, who was to hasten south with all his forces.[689]

As the appointment of a person of rank, influence, and talent, to the command of the army, destined to oppose the Earl of Mar, was of great importance, the Duke of Argyle, who had served with distinction abroad, and who had formerly acted as commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland, was pitched upon as generalissimo of the army encamped at Stirling. Having received instructions from his majesty on the 8th of September, he departed for Scotland the following day, accompanied by some of the Scottish nobility, and other persons of distinction, and arrived at Edinburgh on the 14th. About the same time, the Earl of Sutherland, who had offered his services to raise the clans in the northern Highlands, in support of the government, was sent down from London to Leith in a ship of war, with orders to obtain a supply of arms and ammunition from the governor of the castle of Edinburgh. He arrived on the 21st of September, and after giving instructions for the shipment of these supplies, departed for the north.

When the Duke of Argyle reached Edinburgh, he found that Mar had made considerable progress in the insurrection, and that the regular forces at Stirling were far inferior in point of numbers to those of the Jacobite commander. He, therefore, on the day he arrived in the capital, addressed a letter to the magistrates of Glasgow, (who, on the first appearance of the insurrection, had offered, in a letter to Lord Townshend, one of the secretaries of state, to raise 600 men in support of the government, at the expense of the city,) requesting them to send forthwith 500 or 600 men to Stirling, under the command of such officers as they should think fit to appoint, to join the forces stationed there. In compliance with this demand, there were despatched to Stirling, on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of September, three battalions, amounting to between 600 and 700 men, under the nominal command of the Lord Provost, who deputed the active part of his duties to Colonel Blackadder. On the arrival of the first battalion, the duke addressed a second letter from Stirling to the magistrates of Glasgow, thanking them for their promptitude, and requesting them to send intimation, with the greatest despatch, to all the friends of the government in the west, to assemble all the fencible forces at Glasgow, and to hold them in readiness to march when required. In connexion with these instructions, the duke, at the same time, wrote letters of a similar import to the magistrates of all the well affected burghs, and to private individuals who were known to be favourably disposed. The most active measures were accordingly adopted in the south and west by the friends of the government, and in a short time a sufficient force was raised to keep the disaffected in these districts in check.[690]

Meanwhile the Earl of Mar and his friends were no less active in preparing for the campaign. Pursuant to an arrangement with the Jacobite chiefs, General Gordon, an officer of great bravery and experience, was despatched into the Highlands to raise the north-western clans, with instructions either to join Mar with such forces as he could collect at the fords of the Forth, or to march upon Glasgow by Dumbarton. Having collected a body of between 4,000 and 5,000 men, chiefly Macdonalds, Macleans, and Camerons, Gordon attempted to surprise Fort-William, and succeeded so far as to carry by surprise some of the outworks, sword in hand, in which were a lieutenant, sergeant, and 25 men; but as the garrison made a determined resistance, he withdrew his men, and marched towards Inverary. This route, it is said, was taken at the suggestion of Campbell of Glendaruel, who, at the first meeting of the Jacobites, had assured Mar and his friends that if the more northern clans would take Argyleshire in their way to the south, their numbers would be greatly increased by the Macleans, Macdonalds, Macdougalls, Macneills, and the other Macs of that county, together with a great number of Campbells, of the family and followers of the Earl of Breadalbane, Sir James Campbell of Auchinbreck, and Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell; all of whom, he said, would join in the insurrection, when they saw the other clans in that country at hand to protect them against those in the interest of the Duke of Argyle.[691]

When the Earl of Islay, brother to the Duke of Argyle, heard of General Gordon’s movements, he assembled about 2,500 men to prevent a rising of the clans in Argyle, and of the disaffected branches of the name of Campbell. On arriving before Inverary, General Gordon found the place protected by entrenchments which the earl had thrown up. He did not venture on an attack, but contented himself with encamping at the north-east side of the town, at nearly the distance of a mile, where he continued some days without any hostile attempt being made on either side. It was evidently contrary to Gordon’s plan to hazard an action, his sole design in entering Argyleshire being to give an opportunity to the Jacobite population of that district to join his standard, which the keeping of such a large body of men locked up in Inverary would greatly assist.

During the continuance before Inverary of the “Black Camp,” as General Gordon’s party was denominated by the Campbells, the Earl of Islay and his men were kept in a state of continual alarm from the most trifling causes. On one occasion an amusing incident occurred, which excited the fears of the Campbells, and showed how greatly they dreaded an attack. Some time before this occurrence, a small body of horse from Kintyre had joined the earl: the men were quartered in the town, but the horses were put out to graze on the east side of the small river that runs past Inverary. The horses disliking their quarters, took their departure one night in search of better pasture. They sought their way along the shore for the purpose of crossing the river at the lower end of the town. The trampling of their hoofs on the gravel being heard at some distance by the garrison, the earl’s men were thrown into the utmost consternation, as they had no doubt that the enemy was advancing to attack them. As the horses were at full gallop, and advancing nearer every moment, the noise increasing as they approached, nothing but terror was to be seen in every face. With trembling hands they seized their arms and put themselves in a defensive posture to repel the attack, but they were fortunately soon relieved from the panic they had been thrown into by some of the horses which had passed the river approaching without riders; so that “at last,” says the narrator of this anecdote, “the whole was found only to be a plot among the Kintyre horse to desert not to the enemy, but to their own country; for ’tis to be supposed the horses, as well as their owners, were of very loyal principles.”[692]

Shortly after this event, another occurrence took place, which terminated not quite so ridiculously as the other. One night the sergeant on duty, when going his rounds at the quarter of the town opposite to the place where the clans lay, happened to make some mistake in the watchword. The sentinel on duty supposing the sergeant and his party to be enemies, discharged his piece at them. The earl, alarmed at the firing, immediately ordered the drums to beat to arms, and in a short time the whole of his men were assembled on the castle-green, where they were drawn up in battalions in regular order by torch or candle light, the night being extremely dark. As soon as they were marshalled, the earl gave them orders to fire in platoons towards the quarter whence they supposed the enemy was approaching, and, accordingly, they opened a brisk fire, which was kept up for a considerable time, by which several of their own sentinels in returning from their posts were wounded. Whilst the Campbells were thus employed upon the castle-green, several gentlemen, some say general officers, who liked to fight “under covert,” retired to the square tower or castle of Inverary, from the windows of which they issued their orders. When the earl found that he had no enemy to contend with, he ordered his men to cease firing, and to continue all night under arms. This humorous incident, however, was attended with good consequences to the terrified Campbells, as it had the effect of relieving them from the presence of the enemy. General Gordon, who had not the most distant intention of entering the town, on hearing the close and regular firing from the garrison, concluded that some forces had entered the town, to celebrate whose arrival the firing had taken place, and alarmed for his own safety, sounded a retreat towards Perthshire before day-light.[693]

No sooner, however, had the clans left Inverary, than a detachment of the Earl of Breadalbane’s men, to the number of about 500, entered the county under the command of Campbell of Glenlyon. To expel them, the Earl of Islay sent a select body of about 700 men, in the direction of Lorn, under the command of Colonel Campbell of Fanab, an old and experienced officer, who came up with Glenlyon’s detachment at Glenscheluch, a small village at the end of the lake called Lochnell, in the mid division of Lorn, about 20 miles distant from Inverary. Both sides immediately prepared for battle, and to lighten themselves as much as possible, the men threw off their plaids and other incumbrances. Whilst both parties were standing gazing on each other with fury in their looks, waiting for the signal to commence battle, a parley was proposed, in consequence of which, a conference was held by the commanders half-way between the lines. The result was, that the Breadalbane-men, to spare the effusion of the Campbell blood, agreed to lay down their arms on condition of being allowed to march out of the country without disturbance. These terms being communicated to both detachments, were approved of by a loud shout of joy, and hostages were immediately exchanged on both sides for the due performance of the articles. The Earl of Islay, on coming up with the remainder of his forces, was dissatisfied with the terms of the capitulation, as he considered that he had it in his power to cut off Glenlyon’s party; but he was persuaded to accede to the articles, which were accordingly honourably observed on both sides.[694]

In the meantime, the Earl of Mar had collected a considerable force, with which he marched, about the middle of September, to Moulinearn, a small village in Athole, where he proclaimed the Chevalier. On entering Athole, he was joined by 500 Athole-men, under the Marquis of Tullibardine, and by the party of the Earl of Breadalbane’s men, under Campbell of Glenlyon and Campbell of Glendaruel. He was afterwards joined by the old earl himself, who, although he had, the day preceding his arrival, procured an affidavit from a physician in Perth, and the minister of the parish of Kenmore, of which he was patron, certifying his total inability, from age, and a complication of diseases, to comply with a mandate of the government requiring him to attend at Edinburgh; yet, nevertheless, found himself able enough to take the field in support of the Chevalier.[695] Having received intelligence that the Earl of Rothes, and some of the gentlemen of Fife, were advancing with 500 of the militia of that county to seize Perth, he sent Colonel John Hay, brother to the Earl of Kinnoul, with a detachment of 200 horse, to take possession of that town; he accordingly entered it on the 14th of September, without opposition, and there proclaimed the Chevalier. The provost made indeed a demonstration of opposition by collecting between 300 and 400 men in the market place; but Colonel Hay having been joined by a party of 150 men which had been sent into the town a few days before by the Duke of Athole, the provost dismissed his men. When the Earl of Rothes, who was advancing upon Perth with a body of 500 men, heard of its capture, he retired to Leslie, and sent notice of the event to the Duke of Argyle. The possession of Perth was of importance to Mar in a double point of view, as it not only gave him the command of the whole of Fife, in addition to the country north of the Tay, but also inspired his friends with confidence.[696] Accordingly, the Chevalier was proclaimed at Aberdeen by the Earl Marischal; at Castle Gordon, by the Marquis of Huntly; at Brechin, by the Earl of Panmure; at Montrose, by the Earl of Southesk; and at Dundee, by Graham of Claverhouse, who was afterwards created Viscount Dundee, by the Chevalier.

As Mar had no intention of descending into the Lowlands himself without a considerable force, he remained several days at Moulinearn waiting for the clans who had promised to join him, and in the meantime directed Colonel Hay, whom, on the 18th of September, he appointed governor of Perth, to retain possession of that town at all hazards. He also directed him to tender to the inhabitants the oath of allegiance to the Chevalier, and to expel from the town all persons who refused to take the oath. After this purgation had been effected, Governor Hay was ordered to appoint a free election of magistrates by poll, to open all letters passing through the post-office, and to appoint a new post-master in whom he could have confidence. To support Hay in case of an attack, Mar sent down a party of Robertsons, on the 22d, under the command of Alexander Robertson of Strowan, their chief, known as the elector of Strowan.

At this time, Mar’s forces did not probably exceed 3,000 men, but their number having been increased to upwards of 5,000 within a few days thereafter, he marched down upon Perth, which he entered on the 28th of September, on which day the Honourable James Murray, second son of the Viscount Stormont, arrived at Perth with letters from the Chevalier to the earl, giving him assurances of speedy and powerful succour, and promises from the Chevalier, as was reported, of appearing personally in Scotland in a short time. This gentleman had gone over to France in the month of April preceding, to meet the Chevalier, who had appointed him principal secretary for Scotland, and had lately landed at Dover, whence he had travelled incognito overland to Edinburgh, where, although well known, he escaped detection. After spending a few days in Edinburgh, during which time he attended, it is said, several private meetings of the friends of the Chevalier, he crossed the Frith in an open boat at Newhaven, and landed at Burntisland, whence he proceeded to Perth.[697]

The first operations of the insurgents were marked by vigour and intrepidity. The seizure of Perth, though by no means a brilliant affair, was almost as important as a victory would have been at such a crisis, and another dashing exploit which a party of the earl’s army performed a few days after his arrival at Perth, was calculated to make an impression equally favourable to the Jacobite cause. Before the Earl of Sutherland took his departure from Leith for Dunrobin castle, to raise a force in the north, he arranged with the government for a supply of arms, ammunition and military stores, which was to be furnished by the governor of Edinburgh castle, and sent down to the north with as little delay as possible. Accordingly, about the end of September, a vessel belonging to Burntisland was freighted for that purpose, on board of which were put about 400 stands of arms, and a considerable quantity of ammunition and military stores. The vessel anchored in Leith roads, but was prevented from passing down the Frith by a strong north-easterly wind, which, continuing to blow very hard, induced the captain for security’s sake to weigh anchor and stand over to Burntisland roads, on the opposite coast of Fife, under the protection of the weather shore. The captain went on shore at Burntisland, to visit his wife and family who resided in the town, and the destination of the vessel, and the nature of her cargo being made known to some persons in the Jacobite interest, information thereof was immediately communicated by them to the Earl of Mar, who at once resolved to send a detachment to Burntisland to seize the vessel. Accordingly, he despatched on the evening of the 2d of October, a party of 400 horse, and 500 foot, from Perth to Burntisland, with instructions so to order their march as not to enter the latter place till about midnight. To draw off the attention of the Duke of Argyle from this expedition, Mar made a movement as if he intended to march with all his forces upon Alva, in the neighbourhood of Stirling, in consequence of which Argyle, who had received intelligence of Mar’s supposed design, kept his men under arms the whole day in expectation of an attack. Meanwhile, the party having reached their destination, the foot entered Burntisland unperceived, and while the horse surrounded the town to prevent any person from carrying the intelligence of their arrival out of it, the foot seized all the boats in the harbour and along the shore, to cut off all communication by sea. About 120 men were, thereupon, sent off in some boats to board the ship, which they secured without opposition. They at first attempted to bring the vessel into the harbour, but were prevented by the state of the tide. They, however, lost no time in discharging her cargo, and having pressed a number of carts and horses from the neighbourhood into their service, the detachment set off undisturbed for Perth with their booty, where they arrived without molestation. Besides the arms and other warlike materials which they found in the vessel, the detachment carried off 100 stands of arms from the town, and between 30 and 40 more which they found in another ship. Emboldened by the success of this enterprise, parties of the insurgents spread themselves over Fife, took possession of all the towns on the north of the Frith of Forth, from Burntisland to Fifeness, and prohibited all communication between them and the opposite coast. The Earl of Rothes, who was quartered at Leslie, was now obliged, for fear of being cut off, to retire to Stirling under the protection of a detachment of horse and foot, which had been sent from Stirling to support him, under the command of the Earl of Forfar, and Colonel Ker.[698]

Mar had not yet been joined by any of the northern clans, nor by those under General Gordon; but on the 5th of October, about 500 of the Mackintoshes arrived under the command of the Laird of Borlum, better known by the name of Brigadier Mackintosh, an old and experienced soldier, who, as uncle of the chief, had placed himself at the head of that clan in consequence of his nephew’s minority. This clan had formerly sided with the revolution party; but, influenced by Borlum, who was a zealous Jacobite, they were among the first to espouse the cause of the Chevalier, and had seized upon Inverness before some of the other clans had taken the field. On the following day the earl was also joined by the Marquis of Huntly at the head of 500 horse and 2,000 foot, chiefly Gordons; and on the 10th by the Earl Marischal with 300 horse, among whom were many gentlemen, and 500 foot. These different accessions increased Mar’s army to upwards of 8,000 men.

Mar ought now to have instantly opened the campaign by advancing upon Stirling, and attacking the Duke of Argyle, whose forces did not, at this time, amount to 2,000 men. In his rear he had nothing to dread, as the Earl of Seaforth, who was advancing to join him with a body of 3,000 foot and 600 horse, had left a division of 2,000 of his men behind him to keep the Earl of Sutherland, and the other friends of the government in the northern Highlands, in check. As the whole of the towns on the eastern coast from Burntisland to Inverness were in possession of his detachments, and as there was not a single hostile party along the whole of that extensive stretch, no obstacle could have occurred, had he marched south, to prevent him from obtaining a regular supply of provisions for his army and such warlike stores as might reach any of these ports from France. One French vessel had already safely landed a supply of arms and ammunition in a northern port, and another during Mar’s stay at Perth boldly sailed up the Frith of Forth, in presence of some English ships of war, and entered the harbour of Burntisland with a fresh supply. But though personally brave, Mar was deficient in military genius, and was altogether devoid of that promptitude of action by which Montrose and Dundee were distinguished. Instead, therefore, of attempting at once to strike a decisive blow at Argyle, the insurgent general lingered at Perth upwards of a month. This error, however, might have been repaired had he not committed a more fatal one by detaching a considerable part of his army, including the Macintoshes, who were the best armed of his forces, at the solicitation of a few English Jacobites, who, having taken up arms in the north of England, craved his support.

About the period of Mar’s departure for Scotland, the government had obtained information of a dangerous conspiracy in England in favour of the Chevalier, in consequence of which the titular Duke of Powis was committed to the Tower, and Lords Lansdowne and Dupplin were arrested, as implicated in the conspiracy, and a warrant was issued for the apprehension of the Earl of Jersey. At the same time, a message from the king was sent to the house of commons, informing them that his majesty had given orders for the apprehension of Sir William Wyndham, Mr. Thomas Forster, junior, member for the county of Northumberland, and other members of the lower house, as being engaged in a design to support an invasion of the kingdom. Sir William Wyndham was accordingly apprehended, and committed to the Tower, but Mr. Forster having been apprised of the arrival of a messenger at Durham with the warrant for his apprehension, avoided him, and joined the Earl of Derwentwater, a young Catholic nobleman, against whom a similar warrant had been issued. Tired of shifting from place to place, they convened a meeting of their friends in Northumberland to consult as to the course they should pursue; it was resolved immediately to take up arms in support of the Chevalier. In pursuance of a resolution entered into, about 60 horsemen, mostly gentlemen, and some attendants, met on Thursday the 6th of October, at a place called Greenrig, whence, after some consultation, they marched to Plainfield, a place on the river Coquet, where they were joined by a few adherents. From Plainfield they departed for Rothbury, a small market town, where they took up their quarters for the night.

Next morning, their numbers still increasing, they advanced to Warkworth, where they were joined by Lord Widdrington, with 30 horse. Mr. Forster was now appointed to the command of this force, not on account of his military abilities, for he had none, but because he was a Protestant, and therefore less objectionable to the high-church party than the Earl of Derwentwater, who, in the absence of a regularly bred commander, should, on account of his rank, have been named to the chief command. On Sunday morning, Mr. Forster sent Mr. Buxton, a clergyman of Derbyshire, who acted as chaplain to the insurgent party, to the parson of Warkworth, with orders to pray for the Chevalier by name as king, and to introduce into the Litany the name of Mary, the queen-mother, and all the dutiful branches of the royal family, and omit the names of King George, and the prince and princess. The minister of the parish wisely declined to obey these orders, and for his own safety retired to Newcastle. The parishioners, however, were not deprived of divine service, as Mr. Buxton, on the refusal of the parson to officiate as directed, entered the church, and performed in his stead with considerable effect.[699]

On Monday the 10th of October, Mr. Forster was joined by 40 horse from the Scottish border, on which day he openly proclaimed the Chevalier. This small party remained at Warkworth till the 14th, when they proceeded to Alnwick, where they were joined by many of their friends, and thence marched to Morpeth. At Felton bridge they were reinforced by another party of Scottish horse to the number of 70, chiefly gentlemen from the border, so that on entering Morpeth their force amounted to 300 horse. In the course of his march Forster had numerous offers of service from the country people, which, however, he was obliged to decline from the want of arms; but he promised to avail himself of them as soon as he had provided himself with arms and ammunition, which he expected to find in Newcastle, whither he intended to proceed.

In connection with these movements, Launcelot Errington, a Newcastle shipmaster, undertook to surprise Holy Island, which was guarded by a few soldiers, exchanged weekly from the garrison of Berwick. In a military point of view, the possession of such an insignificant post was of little importance, but it was considered by the Jacobites as useful for making signals to such French vessels as might appear off the Northumberland coast with supplies for the insurgents. Errington, it appears, was known to the garrison, as he had been in the habit of visiting the island on business; and having arrived off the island on the 10th of October, he was allowed to enter the port, no suspicions being entertained of his design. Pursuant to the plan he had formed for surprising the castle, he invited the greater part of the garrison to visit his vessel, and having got them on board, he and the party which accompanied him left the vessel, and took possession of the castle without opposition. Errington endeavoured to apprise his friends at Warkworth of his success by signals, but these were not observed, and the place was retaken the following day by a detachment of 30 men from the garrison of Berwick, and a party of 50 of the inhabitants of the town, who, crossing the sands at low water, entered the island, and carried the fort sword in hand. Errington, in attempting to escape, received a shot in the thigh, and being captured, was carried prisoner to Berwick; whence he had the good fortune to make his escape in disguise.[700]

The possession of Newcastle, where the Jacobite interest was very powerful, was the first object of the Northumberland insurgents; but they were frustrated in their design by the vigilance of the magistrates. Having first secured all suspected persons, the magistrates walled up all the gates with stone and lime, except the Brampton gate, on which they placed two pieces of cannon. An association of the well-affected inhabitants was formed for the defence of the town, and the churchmen and dissenters, laying aside their antipathies for a time, enrolled themselves as volunteers. 700 of these were immediately armed by the magistrates. The keelmen also, who were chiefly dissenters, offered to furnish a similar number of men to defend that town; but their services were not required, as two successive reinforcements of regular troops from Yorkshire arrived on the 9th and 12th of October. When the insurgents received intelligence of the state of affairs at Newcastle, they retired to Hexham, having a few days before sent an express to the Earl of Mar for a reinforcement of foot.

The news of the rising under Mr. Forster having been communicated to the Marquis of Tweeddale, Lord Lieutenant of Haddingtonshire, his lordship called a meeting of his deputy lieutenants at Haddington early in October, and at the same time issued instructions to them to put the laws in execution against “papists” and other suspected persons, by binding them over to keep the peace, and by seizing their arms and horses in terms of a late act of parliament. In pursuance of this order, Mr. Hepburn of Humbie, and Dr. Sinclair of Hermandston, two of the deputy lieutenants, resolved to go the morning after the instructions were issued, to the house of Mr. Hepburn of Keith, a zealous Jacobite, against whom they appear to have entertained hostile feelings. Dr. Sinclair accordingly appeared next morning with a party of armed men at the place where Hepburn of Humbie had agreed to meet him; but as the latter did not appear at the appointed hour, the doctor proceeded towards Keith with his attendants. On their way to Keith, Hepburn enjoined his party, in case of resistance, not to fire till they should be first fired at by Mr. Hepburn of Keith or his party; and on arriving near the house he reiterated these instructions. When the arrival of Sinclair and his party was announced to Mr. Hepburn of Keith, the latter at once suspecting the cause, immediately demanded inspection of the doctor’s orders. Sinclair, thereupon, sent forward a servant with the Marquis of Tweeddale’s commission, who, finding the gates shut, offered to show the commission to Hepburn at the dining-room window. On being informed of the nature of the commission, Hepburn signified the utmost contempt at it, and furiously exclaiming “God damn the doctor and the marquis both,” disappeared. The servant thinking that Mr. Hepburn had retired for a time to consult with his friends before inspecting the commission, remained before the inner gate waiting for his return. But instead of coming back to receive the commission, Hepburn and his friends immediately mounted their horses and sallied out, Hepburn discharging a pistol at the servant, which wounded him in two places. Old Keith then rode up to the doctor, who was standing near the outer gate, and after firing another pistol at him, attacked him sword in hand and wounded him in the head. Sinclair’s party, in terms of their instructions, immediately returned the fire, and Mr. Hepburn’s younger son was unfortunately killed on the spot. Hepburn and his party, disconcerted by this event, instantly galloped off towards the Borders and joined the Jacobite standard. The death of young Hepburn, who was the first person that fell in the insurrection of 1715, highly incensed the Jacobites, who longed for an opportunity, which was soon afforded them, of punishing its author, Dr. Sinclair.[701]

Whilst Mr. Forster was thus employed in Northumberland, the Earl of Kenmure, who had received a commission from the Earl of Mar to raise the Jacobites in the south of Scotland, was assembling his friends on the Scottish border. Early in October he had held private meetings with some of them, at which it had been resolved to make an attempt upon Dumfries, expecting to surprise it before the friends of the government there should be aware of their design; but the magistrates got timely warning. Lord Kenmure first appeared in arms, at the head of 150 horse, on the 11th of October at Moffat, where he proclaimed the Chevalier, on the evening of which day he was joined by the Earl of Wintoun and 14 attendants. Next day he proceeded to Lochmaben, where he also proclaimed “the Pretender.” Alarmed at his approach, the magistrates of Dumfries ordered the drums to beat to arms, and for several days the town exhibited a scene of activity and military bustle perfectly ludicrous, when the trifling force with which it was threatened is considered. Kenmure advanced within two miles of the town, but being informed of the preparations which had been made to receive him, he returned to Lochmaben. He thereupon marched to Ecclefechan, where he was joined by Sir Patrick Maxwell of Springkell, with 14 horsemen, and thence to Langholm, and afterwards to Hawick, where he proclaimed the Chevalier. On the 17th of October, Kenmure marched to Jedburgh, with the intention of proceeding to Kelso, and there also proclaimed the prince; but learning that Kelso was protected by a party under the command of Sir William Bennet of Grubbet, he crossed the Border with the design of forming a junction with Forster.[702]

We must now direct attention to the measures taken by the Earl of Mar in compliance with the request of Mr. Forster and his friends to send them a body of foot. As Mar had not resolution to attempt the passage of the Forth, which, with the forces under his command, he could have easily effected, he had no other way of reinforcing the English Jacobites, than by attempting to transport a part of his army across the Frith. As there were several English men-of-war in the Frith, the idea of sending a body of 2,000 men across such an extensive arm of the sea appeared chimerical; yet, nevertheless, Mar resolved upon this bold and hazardous attempt.

To command this adventurous expedition, the Jacobite general pitched upon Old Borlum, as Brigadier Mackintosh was familiarly called, who readily undertook, with the assistance of the Earl of Panmure, and other able officers, to perform a task which few men, even of experience, would have undertaken without a grudge. For this hazardous service, a picked body of 2,500 men was selected, consisting of the whole of the Mackintoshes, and the greater part of Mar’s own regiment, and of the regiments of the Earl of Strathmore, Lord Nairne, Lord Charles Murray, and Drummond of Logie-Drummond. To escape the men-of-war, which were stationed between Leith and Burntisland, it was arranged that the expedition should embark at Crail, Pittenweem, and Elie, three small towns near the mouth of the Frith, whither the troops were to proceed with the utmost secrecy and expedition by the most unfrequented ways through the interior of Fife. At the same time, to amuse the ships of war, it was concerted that another small and select body should openly march across the country to Burntisland, seize upon the boats in the harbour, and make preparations as if they intended to cross the Frith. With remarkable foresight, Mar gave orders that the expedition should embark with the flowing of the tide, that in case of detection, the ships of war should be obstructed by it in their pursuit down the Frith.

Accordingly, on the 9th or 10th of October, both detachments left Perth escorted by a body of horse under the command of Sir John Erskine of Alva, the Master of Sinclair, and Sir James Sharp, grandson of Archbishop Sharp of St. Andrews; and whilst the main body proceeded in a south-easterly direction, through the district of Fife bordering upon the Tay, so as to pass unobserved by the men-of-war, the other division marched directly across the country to Burntisland, where they made a feint as if preparing to embark in presence of the ships of war which then lay at anchor in Leith Roads. When the commanders of these vessels observed the motions of the insurgents, they manned their boats and despatched them across to attack them should they venture out to sea, and slipping their cables they stood over with their vessels to the Fife shore to support their boats. As the boats and ships approached, the insurgents, who had already partly embarked, returned on shore; and those on land proceeded to erect a battery, as if for the purpose of covering the embarkation. An interchange of shots then took place without damage on either side, till night put an end to hostilities. In the meantime, Brigadier Mackintosh had arrived at the different stations fixed for his embarkation, at the distance of nearly 20 miles from the ships of war, and was actively engaged in shipping his men in boats which had been previously secured for their reception by his friends in these quarters. The first division crossed the same night, being Wednesday the 12th of October, and the second followed next morning. When almost half across the channel, which, between the place of embarkation and the opposite coast, is about 16 or 17 miles broad, the fleet of boats was descried from the topmasts of the men-of-war, and the commanders then perceived, for the first time, the deception which had been so successfully practised upon them by the detachment at Burntisland. Unfortunately, at the time they made this discovery, both wind and tide were against them; but they sent out their boats fully manned, which succeeded in capturing only two boats with 40 men, who were carried into Leith, and committed to jail. As soon as the tide changed, the men-of-war proceeded down the Frith, in pursuit, but they came too late, and the whole of the boats, with the exception of eight, (which being far behind, took refuge in the Isle of May, to avoid capture,) reached the opposite coast in perfect safety, and disembarked their men at Gullane, North Berwick, Aberlady, and places adjacent. The number carried over amounted to about 1,600. Those who were driven into the Isle of May, amounting to 200, after remaining therein a day or two, regained the Fife coast, and returned to the camp at Perth.[703]

The news of Mackintosh’s landing occasioned a dreadful consternation at Edinburgh, where the friends of the government, astonished at the boldness of the enterprise, and the extraordinary success which had attended it, at once conjectured that the brigadier would march directly upon the capital, where he had many friends, and from which he was only 16 miles distant. As the city was at this time wholly unprovided with the means of defence, Campbell, the provost, a warm partisan of the government, adopted the most active measures for putting it in a defensive state. The well affected among the citizens formed themselves into a body for its defence, under the name of the Associate Volunteers, and these, with the city guards and trained bands, had different posts assigned them, which they guarded with great care and vigilance. Even the ministers of the city, to show an example to the lay citizens, joined the ranks of the armed volunteers. The provost, at the same time, sent an express to the Duke of Argyle, requesting him to send, without delay, a detachment of regular troops to support the citizens.

After the brigadier had mustered his men, he marched to Haddington, in which he took up his quarters for the night to refresh his troops, and wait for the remainder of his detachment, which he expected would follow. According to Mackintosh’s instructions, he should have marched directly for England, to join the insurgents in Northumberland, but having received intelligence of the consternation which prevailed at Edinburgh, and urged, it is believed, by pressing solicitations from some of the Jacobite inhabitants to advance upon the capital, as well as lured by the eclat which its capture would confer upon his arms, and the obvious advantages which would thence ensue, he marched rapidly towards Edinburgh the following morning. He arrived in the evening of the same day, Friday 14th October, at Jock’s Lodge, about a mile from the city, where, being informed of the measures which had been taken to defend it, and that the Duke of Argyle was hourly expected from Stirling with a reinforcement, he immediately halted, and called a council of war. After a short consultation, they resolved, in the meantime, to take possession of Leith. Mackintosh, accordingly, turning off his men to the right, marched into the town without opposition. He immediately released from jail the 40 men who had been taken prisoners by the boats of the men-of-war, and seized a considerable quantity of brandy and provisions, which he found in the custom-house. He then took possession of and quartered his men in the citadel which had been built by Oliver Cromwell. This fort, which was of a square form, with four demi-bastions, and surrounded by a large dry ditch, was now in a very dismantled state, though all the outworks, with the exception of the gates, were entire. Within the walls were several houses, built for the convenience of sea-bathing, and which served the new occupants in lieu of barracks. To supply the want of gates, Mackintosh formed barricades of beams, planks, and of carts filled with earth, stone, and other materials, and seizing six or eight pieces of cannon which he found in some vessels in the harbour, he planted two of them at the north end of the drawbridge, and the remainder upon the ramparts of the citadel. Within a few hours, therefore, after he had entered Leith, Mackintosh was fully prepared to withstand a siege, should the Duke of Argyle venture to attack him.

Whilst Mackintosh was in full march upon the capital from the east, the Duke of Argyle was advancing upon it with greater rapidity from the west, at the head of 400 dragoons and 200 foot, mounted, for the sake of greater expedition, upon farm-horses. He entered the city by the west port about ten o’clock at night, and was joined by the horse militia of Lothian and the Merse with a good many volunteers, both horse and foot, who, with the Marquis of Tweeddale, Lord Belhaven, and others, had retired into Edinburgh on the approach of the insurgents. These, with the addition of the city guard and volunteers, increased his force to nearly 1,200 men. With this body the duke marched down towards Leith next morning, Saturday, 15th October; but before he reached the town many of the “brave gentlemen volunteers,”[704] whose enthusiasm had cooled while contemplating the probable consequences of encountering in deadly strife the determined band to which they were to be opposed, slunk out of the ranks and retired to their homes. On arriving near the citadel, Argyle posted the dragoons and foot on opposite sides, and along with Generals Evans and Wightman, proceeded to reconnoitre the fort on the sea side. Thereafter he sent in a summons to the citadel requiring the rebels to surrender under the pain of high treason, and declaring that if they obliged him to employ cannon to force them, and killed any of his men in resisting him, he would give them no quarter. To this message the laird of Kynnachin, a gentleman of Athole, returned this resolute answer, that as to surrendering they did not understand the word, which could therefore only excite laughter—that if his grace thought he was able to make an assault, he might try, but he would find that they were fully prepared to meet it; and as to quarter they were resolved, in case of attack, neither to take nor to give any.

This answer was followed by a discharge from the cannon on the ramparts, which made Argyle soon perceive the mistake he had committed in advancing without cannon. Had his force been equal and even numerically superior to that of Mackintosh, he could not have ventured without almost certain destruction, to have carried the citadel sword in hand, as he found that before his men could reach the foot of the wall or the barricaded positions, they would probably have been exposed to five rounds from the besieged, which, at a moderate computation, would have cut off one half of his men. His cavalry, besides, on account of the nature of the ground, could have been of little use in an assault; and as, under such circumstances, an attack was considered impracticable, the duke retired to Edinburgh in the evening to make the necessary preparations for a siege. While deliberating on the expediency of making an attack, some of the volunteers were very zealous for it, but on being informed that it belonged to them as volunteers to lead the way, they heartily approved of the duke’s proposal to defer the attempt till a more seasonable opportunity.[705]

Had the Earl of Mar been apprised in due time of Mackintosh’s advance upon Edinburgh, and of the Duke of Argyle’s departure from Stirling, he would probably have marched towards the latter place, and might have crossed the Forth above the bridge of Stirling, without any very serious opposition from the small force stationed in the neighbourhood; but he received the intelligence of the brigadier’s movement too late to make it available, had he been inclined; moreover it appears that he had resolved not to cross the Forth till joined by General Gordon’s detachment.[706]

On returning to Edinburgh the Duke of Argyle gave orders for the removal of some pieces of cannon from the castle to Leith, with the intention of making an assault upon the citadel the following morning with the whole of his force, including the dragoons, which he had resolved to dismount for the occasion. But he was saved the necessity of such a hazardous attempt, the insurgents evacuating the place the same night. Old Borlum, seeing no chance of obtaining possession of Edinburgh, and considering that the occupation of the citadel, even if tenable, was not of sufficient importance to employ such a large body of men in its defence, had resolved, shortly after the departure of the duke, to abandon the place, and to retrace his steps without delay, and with all the secrecy in his power. Two hours before his departure, he sent a boat across the Frith with despatches to the Earl of Mar, giving him a detail of his proceedings since his landing, and informing him of his intention to retire. To deceive the men-of-war which lay at anchor in the Roads, he caused a shot to be fired after the boat, which had the desired effect of making the officers in command of the ships think the boat had some friends of the government on board, and thus allowing her to pursue her course without obstruction.

At nine o’clock at night, every thing being in readiness, Mackintosh, favoured by the darkness of the night and low water, left the citadel secretly, and pursuing his course along the beach, crossed, without observation, the small rivulet which runs through the harbour at low water, and which was then about knee deep, and passing the point of the pier, pursued his route south-eastward along the sands of Leith. At his departure, Mackintosh was obliged to leave about 40 men behind him, who having made too free with the brandy which had been found in the custom-house, were not in a condition to march. These, with some stragglers who lagged behind, were afterwards taken prisoners by a detachment of Argyle’s forces, which also captured some baggage and ammunition.

The Highlanders continued their march during the night, and arrived at two o’clock on the morning of Sunday, the 16th of October, at Seaton House, the seat of the Earl of Wintoun, who had already joined the Viscount Kenmure. Here, during the day, they were joined by a small party of their friends, who had crossed the Frith some time after the body which marched to Leith had landed, and who, from having disembarked farther to the eastward, had not been able to reach their companions before their departure for the capital. As soon as the Duke of Argyle heard of Mackintosh’s retreat, and that he had taken up a position in Seaton House, which was encompassed by a very strong and high stone wall, he resolved to follow and besiege him in his new quarters. But the duke was prevented from carrying this design into execution by receiving intelligence that Mar was advancing upon Stirling with the intention of crossing the Forth.

Being apprised by the receipt of Mackintosh’s despatch from Leith, of the Brigadier’s design to march to the south, Mar had resolved, with the view principally of facilitating his retreat from Leith, to make a movement upon Stirling, and thereby induce the Duke of Argyle to return to the camp in the Park with the troops which he had carried to Edinburgh. Mar, accordingly, left Perth on Monday the 17th of October, and General Witham, the commander of the royalist forces at Stirling in Argyle’s absence, having on the previous day received notice of Mar’s intention, immediately sent an express to the duke, begging him to return to Stirling immediately, and bring back the forces he had taken with him to Edinburgh. The express reached Edinburgh at an early hour on Monday morning, and the duke immediately left Edinburgh for Stirling, leaving behind him only 100 dragoons and 150 foot under General Wightman. On arriving at Stirling that night he was informed that Mar was to be at Dunblane next morning with his whole army, amounting to nearly 10,000 men.[707]

The arrival of his Grace was most opportune, for Mar had in fact advanced the same evening, with all his horse, to Dunblane, little more than six miles from Stirling, and his foot were only a short way off from the latter place. Whether Mar would have really attempted the passage of the Forth but for the intelligence he received next morning, is very problematical; but having been informed early on Tuesday of the duke’s return, and of the arrival of Evans’s regiment of dragoons from Ireland, he resolved to return to Perth. In a letter which he wrote to Mr. Forster from Perth on the 21st of October, after alluding to the information he had received, he gives as an additional reason for this determination, that he had left Perth before provisions could be got ready for his army, and that he found all the country about Stirling, where he meant to pass the Forth, so entirely exhausted by the enemy that he could find nothing to subsist upon. Besides, from a letter he had received from General Gordon, he found the latter could not possibly join him that week, and he could not think of passing the Forth, under the circumstances detailed, till joined by him. Under these difficulties, and having accomplished one of the objects of his march, by withdrawing the Duke of Argyle from the pursuit of his friends in Lothian, he had thought fit, he observes, to march back from Dunblane to Auchterarder, and thence back to Perth, there to wait for Gordon and the Earl of Seaforth.

Mackintosh, in expectation probably of an answer to his despatch from Leith, appeared to be in no hurry to leave Seaton House, where his men fared sumptuously upon the best which the neighbourhood could afford. As all communication was cut off between him and the capital by the 100 dragoons which Argyle had left behind, and a party of 300 gentlemen-volunteers under the command of the Earl of Rothes, who patrolled in the neighbourhood of Seaton House, Mackintosh was in complete ignorance of Argyle’s departure from the capital, and of Mar’s march. This was fortunate, as it seems probable that had the Brigadier been aware of these circumstances, he would have again advanced upon the capital, and might have captured it. During the three days that Mackintosh lay in Seaton House, no attempt was, of course, made to dislodge him from his position, but he was subjected to some petty annoyances by the volunteers and dragoons, between whom and the Highlanders some occasional shots were interchanged without damage on either side. Having deviated from the line of instructions, Mackintosh appears to have been anxious, before proceeding south, to receive from Mar such new or additional directions as a change of circumstances might require. Mar lost no time in replying to Borlum’s communication, and on Tuesday the 18th of October, Borlum received a despatch desiring him to march immediately towards England, and form a junction near the borders with the English Jacobite forces under Mr. Forster, and those of the south of Scotland under Lord Kenmure. On the same day, Mackintosh received a despatch from Mr. Forster, requesting him to meet him without delay at Kelso or Coldstream.[708]

To give effect to these instructions, Mackintosh left Seaton House next morning, and proceeded across the country towards Longformacus, which he reached that night. Doctor Sinclair, the proprietor of Hermandston House, had incurred the Brigadier’s displeasure by his treatment of the laird of Keith, to revenge which he threatened to burn Sinclair’s mansion in passing it on his way south, but he was persuaded not to carry his threat into execution. He, however, ordered his soldiers to plunder the house, a mandate which they obeyed with the utmost alacrity. When Major-general Wightman heard of Mackintosh’s departure, he marched from Edinburgh with some dragoons, militia and volunteers, and took possession of Seaton House. After demolishing the wall which surrounded it, he returned to Edinburgh in the evening, carrying along with him some Highlanders who had lagged behind or deserted from Mackintosh on his march.[709]

Mackintosh took up his quarters at Longformacus during the night, and continued his march next morning to Dunse, where he arrived during the day and proclaimed the Chevalier. Here Mackintosh halted two days, and on the morning of Saturday the 22d of October, set out on his march to Kelso, the appointed place of rendezvous, whither the Northumbrian forces under Forster were marching the same day. Sir William Bennet of Grubbet and his friends hearing of the approach of these two bodies, left the town the preceding night, and, after dismissing their followers, retired to Edinburgh. The united forces of Forster and Kenmure entered Kelso about one o’clock on Saturday. The Highlanders had not then arrived, but hearing that they were not far off, the Scottish cavalry, to mark their respect for the bravery the Highlanders had shown in crossing the Frith, marched out as far as Ednam bridge to meet them, and accompanied them into the town about three o’clock in the afternoon, amidst the martial sounds of bagpipes. The forces under Mackintosh now amounted to 1,400 foot and 600 horse; but a third of the latter consisted of menial servants.

The following day, being Sunday, was entirely devoted by the Jacobites to religious duties. Patten, the historian of the insurrection, an episcopal minister and one of their chaplains, in terms of instructions from Lord Kenmure, who had the command of the troops while in Scotland, preached in the morning in the great church of Kelso, formerly the abbey of David I., to a mixed congregation of Catholics, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, from Deuteronomy xxi. 17. “The right of the first-born is his.”[710] The prayers on this occasion were read by Mr. Buxton, formerly alluded to. In the afternoon Mr. William Irvine, an old Scottish Episcopalian minister, chaplain to the Earl of Carnwath, read prayers, and delivered a sermon full of exhortations to his hearers to be zealous and steady in the cause of the Chevalier. This discourse, he afterwards told his colleague, Mr. Patten, he had formerly preached in the Highlands about twenty-six years before, in presence of Lord Viscount Dundee and his army.

Next morning the Highlanders were drawn up in the church-yard, and thence marched to the market-cross with colours flying, drums beating, and bagpipes playing, when the Chevalier was proclaimed by Seaton of Barnes, who claimed the vacant title of Earl of Dunfermline. After finishing the proclamation, he read the manifesto quoted in the conclusion of last chapter, at the end of which the people with loud acclamations shouted, “No union! no malt-tax! no salt-tax!”[711]

The insurgents remained three days in Kelso, chiefly occupied in searching for arms and plundering the houses of some of the loyalists in the neighbourhood. They took possession of some pieces of cannon which had been brought by Sir William Bennet from Hume castle for the defence of the town, and which had formerly been employed to protect that ancient stronghold against the attacks of the English. They also seized some broadswords which they found in the church, and a small quantity of gunpowder. Whilst at Kelso, Mackintosh seized the public revenue, as was his uniform custom in every town through which he passed.

During their stay at Kelso, the insurgents seem to have come to no determination as to future operations; but the arrival of General Carpenter with three regiments of dragoons, and a regiment of foot, at Wooler, forced them to resolve upon something decisive. Lord Kenmure, thereupon, called a council of war to deliberate upon the course to be pursued. According to the opinions of the principal officers, there were three ways of proceeding. The first, which was strongly urged by the Earl of Wintoun, was to march into the west of Scotland, to reduce Dumfries and Glasgow, and thereafter to form a junction with the western clans, under General Gordon, to open a communication with the Earl of Mar, and threaten the Duke of Argyle’s rear. The second was to give battle immediately to General Carpenter, who had scarcely 1,000 men under him, the greater part of whom consisted of newly-raised levies, who had never seen any service. This plan was supported by Mackintosh, who was so intent upon it, that, sticking his pike in the ground, he declared that he would not stir, but would wait for General Carpenter, and fight him, as he was sure there would be no difficulty in beating him. The last plan, which was that of the Northumberland gentlemen, was to march directly through Cumberland and Westmoreland into Lancashire, where the Jacobite interest was very powerful, and where they expected to be joined by great numbers of the people. Old Borlum was strongly opposed to this view, and pointed out the risk which they would run, if met by an opposing force, which they might calculate upon, while General Carpenter was left in their rear. He contended, that if they succeeded in defeating Carpenter, they would soon be able to fight any other troops,—that if Carpenter should beat them, they had already advanced far enough, and that they would be better able, in the event of a reverse, to shift for themselves in Scotland than in England.[712]

Either of the two first-mentioned plans was far preferable to the last, even had the troops been disposed to adopt it; but the aversion of the Highlanders to a campaign in England was almost insuperable; and nothing could mark more strongly the fatuity of the Northumberland Jacobites, than to insist, under these circumstances, upon marching into England. But they pertinaciously adhered to their opinion, and, by doing so, may be truly said to have ruined the cause which they had combined to support. As the comparatively small body of troops under Argyle was the only force in Scotland from which the insurgents had any thing to dread, their whole attention should have been directed in the first place to that body, which could not have withstood the combined attacks of the forces which the rebels had in the field, amounting to about 16,000 men. The Duke of Argyle must have been compelled, had the three divisions of the insurgent army made a simultaneous movement upon Stirling, to have hazarded a battle, and the result would very probably have been disastrous to his arms. Had such an event occurred, the insurgents would have immediately become masters of the whole of Scotland, and would soon have been in a condition to have carried the war into England with every hope of success.

Amidst the confusion and perplexity occasioned by these differences of opinion, a sort of medium course was in the mean time resolved upon, till the chiefs of the army should reconcile their divisions. The plan agreed upon was, that they should, to avoid an immediate encounter with General Carpenter, decamp from Kelso, and proceed along the border in a south-westerly direction towards Jedburgh: accordingly, on Thursday the 27th of October, the insurgents proceeded on their march. The disagreement which had taken place had cooled their military fervour, and a feeling of dread, at the idea of being attacked by Carpenter’s force, soon began to display itself. Twice, on the march to Jedburgh, were they thrown into a state of alarm, approaching to terror,[713] by mistaking a party of their own men for the troops of General Carpenter.

Instead of advancing upon Jedburgh, as they supposed Carpenter would have done, the insurgents ascertained that he had taken a different direction in entering Scotland, and that from their relative positions, they were considerably in advance of him in the proposed route into England. The English officers thereupon again urged their views in council, and insisted upon them with such earnestness, that Old Borlum was induced, though with great reluctance, and not till after very high words had been exchanged, to yield. Preparatory to crossing the Borders, they despatched one Captain Hunter (who, from following the profession of a horse-stealer on the Borders, was well acquainted with the neighbouring country,) across the hills, to provide quarters for the army in North Tynedale; but he had not proceeded far, when an order was sent after him countermanding his march, in consequence of a mutiny among the Highlanders, who refused to march into England. The English horse, after expostulating with them, threatened to surround and compel them to march; but Mackintosh informed them that he would not allow his men to be so treated, and the Highlanders themselves despising the threat, gave them to understand that they would resist the attempt.[714]

The determination, on the part of the Highlanders, not to march into England, staggered the English gentlemen; but as they saw no hopes of inducing their northern allies to enter into their views, they consented to waive their resolution in the meantime, and by mutual consent the army left Jedburgh on the 29th of October for Hawick, about ten miles to the south-west. While on the march to Hawick, a fresh mutiny broke out among the Highlanders, who, suspecting that the march to England was still resolved upon, separated themselves from the rest of the army, and going up to the top of a rising ground on Hawick moor, grounded their arms, declaring, at the same time, that although they were determined not to march into England, they were ready to fight the enemy on Scottish ground. Should the chiefs of the army decline to lead them against Carpenter’s forces, they proposed, agreeably to the Earl of Wintoun’s advice, either to march through the west of Scotland and join the clans under General Gordon, by crossing the Forth above Stirling, or to co-operate with the Earl of Mar, by falling upon the Duke of Argyle’s rear, while Mar himself should assail him in front. But the English officers would listen to none of these propositions, and again threatened to surround them with the horse and force them to march. The Highlanders, exasperated at this menace, cocked their pistols, and told their imprudent colleagues that if they were to be made a sacrifice, they would prefer being destroyed in their own country. By the interposition of the Earl of Wintoun a reconciliation was effected, and the insurgents resumed their march to Hawick, on the understanding that the Highlanders should not be again required to march into England.[715]

The insurgents passed the night at Hawick, during which the courage of the Highlanders was put to the test, by the appearance of a party of horse, which was observed by their advanced posts patrolling in front. On the alarm being given, the Highlanders immediately flew to arms, and forming themselves in very good order by moonlight, waited with firmness the expected attack; but the affair turned out a false alarm, purposely got up, it is believed, by the English commanders, to try how the Highlanders would conduct themselves, should an enemy appear.[716] Next morning, being Sunday, the 30th of October, the rebels marched from Hawick to Langholm, about which time General Carpenter entered Jedburgh. They arrived at Langholm in the evening, and with the view, it is supposed, of attacking Dumfries, they sent forward to Ecclefechan, during the night, a detachment of 400 horse, under the Earl of Carnwath, for the purpose of blocking up Dumfries till the foot should come up. This detachment arrived at Ecclefechan before day-light, and, after a short halt, proceeded in the direction of Dumfries; but they had not advanced far, when they were met by an express from some of their friends at Dumfries, informing them that great preparations had been made for the defence of the town. The Earl of Carnwath immediately forwarded the express to Langholm, and, in the meantime, halted his men on Blacket ridge, a moor in the neighbourhood of Ecclefechan, till further orders. The express was met by the main body of the army about two miles west from Langholm, on its march to Dumfries.

The intelligence thus conveyed, immediately created another schism in the army. The English, who had been prevailed upon, from the advantages held out to the Jacobite cause by the capture of such an important post as Dumfries, to accede to the proposal for attacking it, now resumed their original intention of marching into England. The Highlanders, on the other hand, insisted upon marching instantly upon Dumfries, which they alleged might be easily taken, as there were no regular forces in it. It was in vain that the advocates of this plan urged upon the English the advantages to be derived from the possession of a place so convenient as Dumfries was, for receiving succours from France and Ireland, and for keeping up a communication with England and their friends in the west of Scotland. It was to no purpose they were assured, that there were a great many arms and a good supply of powder in the town, which they might secure, and that the Duke of Argyle, whom they appeared to dread, was in no condition to injure them, as he had scarcely 2,000 men under him, and was in daily expectation of being attacked by the Earl of Mar, whose forces were then thrice as numerous;—these and similar arguments were entirely thrown away upon men who had already determined at all hazards to adhere to their resolution of carrying the war into England. To induce the Scottish commanders to concur in their views, they pretended that they had received letters from their friends in Lancashire inviting them thither, and assuring them that on their arrival a general insurrection would take place, and that they would be immediately joined by 20,000 men, and would have money and provisions in abundance. The advantages of a speedy march into England being urged with extreme earnestness by the English officers, all their Scottish associates, with the exception of the Earl of Wintoun, at last consented to try the chances of war on the soil of England. Even Old Borlum, (who, at the time the parties were discussing the point in dispute, was busily engaged at a distance from the place where the main body had halted, restraining a party of the Highlanders from deserting,) yielded to the entreaties of the English officers, and exerted all his influence to induce his men to follow his example. By the aid of great promises and money, the greater part of the Highlanders was prevailed upon to follow the fortunes of their commander, but about 500 of them marched off in a body to the north. Before they reached Clydesdale, however, they were almost all made prisoners by the country people, and lodged in jail. The Earl of Wintoun, who was quite opposed to the measure resolved upon, also went off with his adherents, but being overtaken by a messenger who was despatched after him to remonstrate with him for abandoning his friends, he consented to return, and immediately rejoined the army. When overtaken, he drew up his horse, and, after a momentary pause, as if reflecting on the judgment which posterity would form of his conduct, observed with chivalrous feeling, that history should not have to relate of him that he deserted King James’s interest or his country’s good, but with a deep presentiment of the danger of the course his associates were about to pursue, he added, “You,” addressing the messenger, “or any man shall have liberty to cut these (laying hold of his own ears as he spoke) out of my head, if we do not all repent it.”

The insurgents, after spiking two pieces of cannon which they had brought from Kelso, immediately proceeded on their march for England, and entered Longtown in Cumberland the same night, where they were joined by the detachment which had been sent to Ecclefechan the previous night. On the following day, November 1st, they marched to Brampton, a small market town in Cumberland, where they proclaimed the Chevalier, and levied the excise duties on malt and ale. Mr. Forster now opened a commission which he had lately received from the Earl of Mar, appointing him general of the Jacobite forces in England. As the men were greatly fatigued by forced marches, having marched about 100 miles in five successive days, they took up their quarters at Brampton for the night to refresh themselves. When General Carpenter heard that the insurgents had entered England, he left Jedburgh, and recrossing the hills into Northumberland, threw himself between them and Newcastle, the seizure of which, he erroneously supposed, was the object of their movement.

Next day the insurgents marched towards Penrith, on approaching which they received intelligence that the posse comitatus of Cumberland, amounting to nearly 14,000 men, headed by the sheriff of the county, and attended by Lord Lonsdale and the Bishop of Carlisle, had assembled near Penrith on the line of their march to oppose their advance. Mr., now General Forster, sent forward a party to reconnoitre, but he experienced no trouble from this immense rustic force, which broke up and dispersed in the utmost confusion on hearing of the approach of the reconnoitring party. Patten, the historian of the rebellion, who had formerly been curate of Penrith, attempted, at the head of a party of horse, to intercept his superior, the Bishop of Carlisle, but his lordship escaped. The insurgents captured some horses and a large quantity of arms, and also took several prisoners, who being soon released, expressed their gratitude by shouting, “God save King James and prosper his merciful army.”[717] To impress the inhabitants of Penrith with a favourable idea of their strength and discipline, the insurgents halted upon a moor in the neighbourhood, where they formed themselves in order of battle, and thereafter entered the town in regular marching order. The principal inhabitants, from an apprehension of being plundered, showed great attention to them, in return for which, and the comfortable entertainment which they received, they abstained from doing any act which could give offence. They however raised, according to custom, the excise and other public duties.

Next day the insurgents marched to Appleby, where, as at Penrith, they proclaimed the Chevalier and seized the public revenue. After halting two days at this town, they resumed their march on the 5th of November, and arrived at Kendal, where they took up their quarters for the night. Next morning, being Sunday, they, after a short march, reached Kirkby-Lonsdale, where, after proclaiming the Chevalier, they went to the church in the afternoon, where, in absence of the parson, who had absconded, Mr. Patten read prayers. This author relates a singular instance of Jacobite zeal on the part of a gentleman of the name of Guin, or Gwyn, who entered the churches which lay in the route of the army, and scratching out the name of King George from the prayer books, substituted that of the Chevalier in its stead, in a manner so closely resembling the print that the alteration could scarcely be perceived.

The insurgents had now marched through two populous counties, but they had obtained the accession of only two gentlemen to their ranks. They would probably have received some additions in Cumberland and Westmoreland, had not precautions been taken by the sheriffs of these counties beforehand to secure the principal Catholics and lodge them in the castle of Carlisle. Despairing of obtaining any considerable accession of force, 17 gentlemen of Teviotdale had left the army at Appleby, and the Highlanders, who had borne the fatigues of the march with great fortitude, now began to manifest signs of impatience at the disappointment they felt in not being joined by large bodies of men as they were led to expect. Their prospects, however, began to brighten by the arrival of some Lancashire Catholic gentlemen and their servants at Kirkby-Lonsdale, and by the receipt of intelligence the following day, when on their march to Lancaster, that the Jacobites of Lancashire were ready to join them, and that the Chevalier had been proclaimed at Manchester.[718]

The insurgents entered Lancaster without opposition, and instantly marching to the market-place, proclaimed the Chevalier by sound of trumpet, the whole body being drawn up round the cross. After remaining two days at Lancaster, where the Highlanders regaled themselves with claret and brandy found in the custom-house, they took the road to Preston on Wednesday the 9th of November, with the intention of possessing themselves of Warrington bridge and securing Manchester, as preliminary to a descent upon Liverpool. The horse reached Preston at night, two troops of Stanhope’s dragoons and part of a militia regiment under Sir Henry Houghton, which were quartered in the town, retiring to Wigan on their approach; but owing to the badness of the road from a heavy rain which had fallen during the day, the foot did not arrive till the following day, when the Chevalier was proclaimed at the cross with the usual formalities. On the march from Lancaster to Preston, and after their arrival there, the insurgents were joined by different parties of gentlemen, chiefly Catholics, with their tenants and servants, to the number of about 1,500 in all, by which additions Forster’s army was increased to nearly 4,000 men.

Forster, who had kept a strict watch upon Carpenter, and of whose movements he received regular accounts daily, was, however, utterly ignorant of the proceedings of a more formidable antagonist, who, he was made to understand by his Lancashire friends, was at too great a distance to prove dangerous. This was General Wills, who had the command in Cheshire, and who was now busily employed in concentrating his forces for the purpose of attacking the rebels. Unfortunately for them, the government had been induced, by the tumults and violences of the high-church party in the west of England during the preceding year, to quarter bodies of troops in the disaffected districts, which being disposed at Shrewsbury, Chester, Birmingham, Stafford, Wolverhampton, Manchester, and other adjacent places, could be easily assembled together on a short notice. On information being communicated to the government of the invasion of England, General Wills had been directed to collect all the forces he could, and to march upon Warrington bridge and Preston, to prevent the advance of the insurgents upon Manchester.

General Wills had, accordingly, made great exertions to fulfil, without delay, the instructions he had received, and hearing that General Carpenter was at Durham, had sent an express to him to march westward; but he was unable to save Preston. When the insurgents entered this town, Wills was at Manchester, waiting for the arrival of two regiments of foot and a regiment of dragoons, which were within a few days’ march of him; but alarmed lest by delaying his march the rebels might make themselves masters of Warrington bridge and Manchester, by the possession of which they would increase their force and secure many other advantages, he resolved instantly to march upon Preston with such troops as he had. He left Manchester, accordingly, on Friday the 11th of November, for Wigan, with four regiments of dragoons, one of horse, and Preston’s regiment of foot, formerly known as the Cameronian regiment. He arrived at Wigan in the evening, where he met Stanhope’s dragoons and Houghton’s militia, who had retired from Preston on the evening of the 9th. In the meantime, the inhabitants of Liverpool anticipating a visit from the insurgents, were actively employed in preparations for its defence. Within three days they threw up a breastwork round that part of the town approachable from the land side, on which they mounted 70 pieces of cannon, and, to prevent the ships in the harbour from falling into the hands of the enemy, they anchored them in the offing.

It was the intention of Forster to have left Preston on the morning of Saturday the 12th; but the unexpected arrival of Wills at Wigan, of which he received intelligence on the preceding night, made him alter his design. Forster had been so elated by the addition which his forces had received at Preston, that he affected to believe that Wills would never venture to face him; but old Mackintosh advised him not to be too confident, as they might soon find it necessary to defend themselves. Observing from a window where they stood, a party of the new recruits passing by, the veteran warrior thus contemptuously addressed the inexperienced general, “Look ye there, Forster, are yon fellows the men ye intend to fight Wills with. Good faith, Sir, an’ ye had ten thousand of them, I’d fight them all with a thousand of his dragoons.” In fact, a more uncouth and unsoldier-like body had never before appeared in the field, than these Lancashire rustics; some with rusty swords without muskets, others with muskets without swords, some with fowling-pieces, others with pitchforks, while others were wholly unprovided with weapons of any sort.[719] Forster now altered his tone; and if the report of a writer, who says he was an eye-witness, be true, the news of Wills’s advance quite unnerved him. Undetermined how to act, he sent the letter conveying the intelligence to Lord Kenmure, and retired to rest. His lordship, with a few of his officers, repaired to Forster’s lodgings to consult him, and, to their surprise, found him in bed, though the night was not far advanced. The council, after some deliberation, resolved to send out a party of horse towards Wigan, to watch the motions of the enemy, to secure the pass into the town by Ribble bridge, and to prepare the army for battle.[720]

About day-break of the 12th, General Wills commenced his march from Wigan, and as soon as it was known that he was advancing upon Preston, a select body of 100 well-armed Highlanders, under the command of Farquharson of Invercauld, was posted at Ribble bridge, and Forster himself at the head of a party of horse, crossed the bridge, and advanced to reconnoitre.

The approach to Ribble bridge, which is about half a mile from Preston, is by a deep path between two high banks, and so narrow in some places that scarcely two men can ride abreast. Here it was that Cromwell, in an action with the royalists, was nearly killed by a large fragment of a rock thrown from above, and only escaped by forcing his horse into a quicksand. The possession, therefore, of this pass, was of the utmost importance to the insurgents, as Wills was not in a condition to have forced it, being wholly unprovided with cannon. Nor could he have been more successful in any attempt to pass the river, which was fordable only at a considerable distance above and below the bridge, and might have been rendered impassable in different ways. But the Jacobite general was grossly ignorant of every thing appertaining to the art of war, and in an evil hour ordered the party at the bridge to abandon it, and retire into the town.

General Wills arrived opposite Ribble bridge about one o’clock in the afternoon, and was surprised to find it undefended. Suspecting an ambuscade, he advanced through the way leading to the bridge with great caution, and having cleared the bridge, marched towards the town. He, at first, supposed that the insurgents had abandoned the town with the intention of returning to Scotland; but he soon ascertained that they still maintained their ground, and were resolved to meet him. Halting, therefore, his men upon a small rising ground near the town, he rode forward with a strong party of horse to take a survey of the position of the insurgents.

During the morning they had been busily employed in raising barricades in the principal streets, and making other preparations for a vigorous defence. The Earl of Derwentwater displayed extraordinary activity and zeal on this occasion. He distributed money among the troops, exhorted them to stand firm to their posts, and set them an example by throwing off his coat, and assisting them in raising intrenchments. There were four main barriers erected across the leading streets near the centre of the town, at each of which, with one exception, were planted two pieces of cannon, which had been carried by the insurgents from Lancaster, and beyond these barriers, towards the extremities of the town, others were raised of an inferior description. Behind the barricades bodies of men were posted, as well as in the houses outside the barricades, particularly in those which commanded the entrances into the principal streets. Certainly after the abandonment of Ribble bridge, a more judicious plan of defence could not have been devised by the ablest tactician for meeting the coming exigency; but unfortunately for the insurgents, the future conduct of their leaders did not correspond with these skilful dispositions.

One of the main barriers was a little below the church, and was commanded by Brigadier Mackintosh, the task of supporting whom was devolved upon the gentlemen volunteers, who were drawn up in the churchyard under the command of Viscount Kenmure and the Earls of Derwentwater, Nithsdale, and Wintoun. A body of Highlanders, under Lord Charles Murray, third son of the Duke of Athole, was posted at another barrier at the end of a lane leading to the fields. Colonel Mackintosh, at the head of the Mackintoshes, was posted at a third barricade called the Windmill barrier, from its adjoining such a structure on the road to Lancaster. At the remaining barrier, which was in the street leading to the Liverpool road, were placed some of the gentlemen volunteers, and a part of the Earl of Strathmore’s regiment under the command of Major Miller and Mr. Douglas.

When the government general had made himself acquainted with the plan of defence adopted by the insurgents, he returned to his main body, and made preparations for an immediate attack. As he had not sufficient forces to make a simultaneous assault upon all the barriers, he resolved to confine himself at first to two only, those commanded by Old Borlum and Colonel Mackintosh, in the streets leading to Wigan and Lancaster respectively, at both ends of the town. For this purpose he divided his troops into three bodies;—the first consisted of Preston’s regiment of foot, and 250 dismounted dragoons taken in equal proportions from the five dragoon regiments. This division was commanded by Brigadier Honeywood, and was supported by his own regiment of dragoons. The second body consisted of the regiments of Wynn and Dormer, and a squadron of Stanhope’s regiment, all of which were dismounted;—the last division, consisting of Pitt’s horse and the remainder of Stanhope’s regiment, was kept as a reserve for supporting the other divisions as occasion should require, and to prevent the insurgents from escaping over the Ribble.

The action was begun by the division of Honeywood, which, after driving a party of the insurgents from a small barricade at the extremity of one of the leading streets, entered the town, and attacked the barrier near the church, defended by Brigadier Mackintosh; but Honeywood’s men were unable to make any impression, and after sustaining a galling and destructive fire from the barrier and from the houses on both sides of the street, they were forced to retreat from the street with considerable loss. Some of the officers of Preston’s regiment being informed whilst engaged in the street, that the street leading to Wigan was not barricaded, and that the houses on that side were not possessed by the insurgents, Lord Forrester, the lieutenant-colonel, resolved, after Honeywood’s division had failed to establish itself in the neighbourhood of the church, to attempt an entrance in that direction. He accordingly drew off his men by a narrow back passage or lane which led into the street in the direction of Wigan, and ordering them to halt till he should personally survey the position of the insurgents, this intrepid officer deliberately rode into the street with his drawn sword in his hand, and amidst a shower of bullets, coolly examined the barrier, and returned to his troops. He then sallied into the street at the head of his men, and whilst with one party he attacked the barrier, another under his direction crossed the street, and took possession of a very high house belonging to Sir Henry Houghton, which overlooked the whole town. In this enterprise many of the assailants fell by the fire of the insurgents who were posted in the adjoining houses. At the same time, Forrester’s men possessed themselves of another house opposite, which was unoccupied by the insurgents. The possession of these houses was of immense advantage to the government troops, as it was from the firing kept up from them that the insurgents chiefly suffered. A party of 50 Highlanders, under Captain Innes, had been posted in Houghton’s house, and another body in the opposite one; but Brigadier Mackintosh had unfortunately withdrawn both parties, contrary to their own wishes, to less important stations.

Forrester’s men maintained the struggle with great bravery, but were unsuccessful in every attempt to force the barrier. As the insurgents, from their position in the houses and behind the barricade, were enabled to take deliberate aim, many of their shots took deadly effect, and the gallant Lord Forrester received several wounds; but although Preston’s foot kept up a smart fire, they did little execution among the insurgents, who were protected by the barricade and the houses. Captain Peter Farquharson was the only Jacobite officer who fell in this attack. He received a shot in the leg, and being taken to the White Bull inn, where the wounded were carried, he called for a glass of brandy, and thus addressed his comrades:—“Come lads, here is our master’s health; though I can do no more, I wish you good success.” Amputation being deemed necessary, this brave man expired, almost immediately, from the unskilfulness of the operator.

Whilst this struggle was going on near the church, a contest equally warm was raging in another quarter of the town between Dormer’s division and the party under Lord Charles Murray. In approaching the barrier commanded by this young nobleman, Dormer’s men were exposed to a well-directed and murderous fire from the houses, yet, though newly-raised troops, they stood firm, and reached the barricade, from which, however, they were vigorously repulsed. Lord Charles Murray conducted himself with great bravery in repelling this attack, and anticipating a second attempt upon the barrier, he obtained a reinforcement of 50 gentlemen volunteers from the churchyard. Dormer’s troops returned to the assault, but although they displayed great courage and resolution, they were again beaten back with loss. An attack made on the Windmill barricade, which was defended by Colonel Mackintosh, was equally unsuccessful.

Thus repulsed in all their attacks, and as in their approaches to the barriers the government troops had been incessantly exposed to a regular and well-directed fire from the houses, General Wills issued orders to set the houses at both ends of the town on fire, for the purpose of dislodging the insurgents from such annoying positions, and cooping them up in the centre of the town. Many houses and barns were in consequence consumed, including almost the entire range of houses as far as Lord Charles Murray’s barrier. As the assailants advanced under cover of the smoke of the conflagration, many of the insurgents, in attempting to escape from the flames, were cut down on the spot. The rebels in their turn attempted to dislodge the government troops from the houses of which they had obtained possession, by setting them on fire. Fortunately there was no wind at the time, otherwise the whole town would have been reduced to ashes.

Night came on, yet an irregular platooning was, notwithstanding, kept up till next day by both parties. To distinguish the houses possessed by the government forces, General Wills ordered them to be illuminated, a circumstance which gave the besieged a decided advantage, as the light from the windows enabled them to direct their fire with better effect. Wills soon perceived the error he had committed, and sent persons round to order the lights to be extinguished, which order being promulgated aloud in the streets, was so strangely misunderstood by those within, that, to the amusement of both parties, they set up additional lights. During the night a considerable number of the insurgents left the town.

Before day-break, General Wills visited the different posts, and gave directions for opening a communication between both divisions of the army to support each other, should necessity require. During the morning, which was that of Sunday the 13th of November, he was occupied in making arrangements for renewing the attack. Meantime General Carpenter arrived about ten o’clock with Churchill’s and Molesworth’s dragoons, accompanied by the Earl of Carlisle, Lord Lumley, and others. This event was as exhilarating to the royalists as it was disheartening to the besieged, who, notwithstanding the defection of their more timorous associates during the preceding night, were, before the accession of Carpenter, fully a match for their assailants. Wills, after explaining to Carpenter the state of matters, and the dispositions he had made, offered to resign the command to him, as his superior officer; but being satisfied with Wills’s conduct, Carpenter declined to accept it, remarking, that as he had begun the affair so well, he ought to have the glory of finishing it. On examining matters himself, however, Carpenter found that the town was not sufficiently invested, particularly at the end of Fishergate street, which led to a meadow by which the insurgents could easily have escaped. He therefore posted Pitt’s horse along the meadow, and lest the whole body of the besieged should attempt to force a retreat that way, he caused a communication to be opened through the enclosures on that side, that the other divisions of the army might the more readily hasten thither to intercept them.

Thus invested on all sides, and pent up within a narrow compass by the gradual encroachments of the royalists, the Jacobite general grew alarmed, and began to think of a surrender. The Highlanders were fully aware of their critical situation, but the idea of surrendering had never once entered their minds, and they had been restrained only by the most urgent entreaties from sallying out upon the royalists, and cutting their way through their ranks, or dying, as they remarked, like men of honour, with their swords in their hands. Neither Forster nor any other officer durst therefore, venture to make such a proposal to them, and Patten asserts, that had they known that Colonel Oxburgh had been sent on the mission he undertook, he would have never seen Tyburn, but would have been shot by common consent before he had passed the barrier. This gentleman, who had great influence over Forster (and who, in the opinion of the last-named author, was better calculated, from the strictness with which he performed his religious duties, to be a priest than a field officer), in conjunction with Lord Widdrington and others, prevailed upon him to make an offer of capitulation, thinking that they would obtain favourable terms from the government general. This resolution was adopted without the knowledge of the rest of the officers, and Oxburgh, who had volunteered to negotiate, went off about two o’clock in the afternoon to Wills’s head-quarters. To prevent suspicion of his real errand, the soldiers were informed that General Wills had sent to offer them honourable terms, if they would lay down their arms.

The reception of Oxburgh by General Wills was very different from what he and his friends had anticipated. Wills, in fact, absolutely refused to hear of any terms, and upon Oxburgh making an offer that the insurgents should lay down their arms, provided he would recommend them to the mercy of the king, he informed him that he would not treat with rebels, who had killed several of his Majesty’s subjects, and who consequently must expect to undergo the same fate. The colonel, thereupon, with great earnestness, begged the general, as an officer and a man of honour, to show mercy to people who were willing to submit. The royalist commander, somewhat softened, replied, that all he would promise was, that if the insurgents would lay down their arms and surrender themselves prisoners at discretion, he would prevent the soldiers from cutting them to pieces till further orders; and that he would allow them an hour for the consideration of his offer. The result of this interview was immediately reported by Oxburgh to his friends, but nothing had transpired to throw any light upon their deliberations. Before the hour had elapsed, Mr. Dalzell, brother of the Earl of Carnwath, appeared at Wills’s head quarters, and requested to know what terms he would grant separately to the Scots; Wills answered that he would not treat with rebels, nor grant any other terms than those already offered.

To bring matters to an immediate issue, General Wills sent Colonel Cotton into the town about three o’clock in the afternoon, to require an immediate answer to Wills’s proposal. He was told, however, that differences existed between the English and Scottish officers upon the subject, but they requested that the general would allow them till seven o’clock next morning to settle their differences, and to consult upon the best method of delivering themselves up. This proposal being reported to Wills, he agreed to grant the Jacobite commanders the time required, provided they would bind themselves to throw up no new entrenchments in the streets, nor allow any of their men to escape; for the performance of which stipulations he required the delivery of approved hostages.—Cotton having returned to the town, the Earl of Derwentwater and Brigadier Mackintosh were pitched upon as hostages for the observance of these stipulations, and sent to the royalist head-quarters.

As soon as the Highlanders perceived that a capitulation was resolved upon, their fury knew no bounds. They declared that sooner than surrender, they would die fighting, and that when they could no longer defend their posts, they would attempt to cut their way through their assailants, and make a retreat. During the night they paraded the streets, threatening destruction to every person who should even allude to a surrender. During these disturbances, several persons were killed, and many wounded, and Mr. Forster, who was openly denounced as the originator of the capitulation, would certainly have been cut to pieces by the infuriated soldiers, had he appeared in the streets. He made a narrow escape even in his own chamber, a gentleman of the name of Murray having fired a pistol at him, the ball from which would have taken effect had not Mr. Patten, the Jacobite chaplain, struck up the pistol with his hand, and thus diverted the course of the bullet.

At seven o’clock next morning, Forster notified to General Wills that the insurgents were willing to surrender at discretion as he had required. Old Borlum being present when this message was delivered, observed that he would not be answerable for the Scots surrendering without terms, as they were people of desperate fortunes; and that he who had been a soldier himself, knew what it was to be a prisoner at discretion. “Go back to your people again,” answered Wills, “and I will attack the town, and the consequence will be I will not spare one man of you.” After this challenge, Mackintosh could not with a good grace remain, and returned to his friends; but he came back immediately, and informed Wills that Lord Kenmure and the rest of the Scots noblemen would surrender on the same conditions as the English.

Colonel Cotton was thereupon despatched with a detachment of 200 men to take possession of the town, and the rest of the government forces thereafter entered it in two grand divisions, amid the sound of trumpets and beating of drums, and met in the market-place, where the Highlanders were drawn up under arms ready to surrender. The number of prisoners taken on this occasion was 1,468, of whom about 463 were English, including 75 noblemen and gentlemen; of the Scots 143 were noblemen and gentlemen. The noblemen and gentlemen were placed under guards in the inns of the town, and the privates were confined in the church. On the part of the insurgents there were only 17 killed and 25 wounded in the different attacks, but the loss on the part of the royalists was very considerable, amounting, it is believed, to five times the number of the former. From the small number of prisoners taken, it would appear that few of the country people who had joined the insurgents when they entered Lancashire, had remained in Preston. They probably left the town during the nights of Saturday and Sunday.[721]

FOOTNOTES:

[686] Annals of 2d year of George I., p. 30.

[687] Idem, pp. 36–7.

[688] Patten, pp. 159, 160. Annals of George I., pp. 39, 40. Rae, pp. 199, 200.

[689] Annals of Second Year of George I., p. 40.—Patten, p. 160.

[690] Rae.

[691] Rae, p. 223.—Life of John, Duke of Argyle. London, 1745, pp. 178, 179.

[692] Life of John Duke of Argyle, p. 180.

[693] Idem, p. 181.

[694] Life of the Duke of Argyle, p. 184.

[695] Collection of original Letters and Authentic Papers relating to the Rebellion, 1715, p. 20.

[696] Annals of 2d year of George I., p. 41. Patten, p. 5–155–220.

[697] Annals of 2d year of George I., p. 42.

[698] Annals of George I., pp. 43, 44. Patten, p. 156. Rae, p. 234.

[699] “Buxton’s sermon gave mighty encouragement to the hearers, being full of exhortations, flourishing arguments, and cunning insinuations, to be hearty and zealous in the cause; for he was a man of a very comely personage, and could humour his discourse to induce his hearers to believe what he preached, having very good natural parts, and being pretty well read.”—Patten, p. 29.

[700] Patten, pp. 31, 32.—Annals of George I., pp. 74, 75.—Rae, pp. 241, 242.

[701] Rae, pp. 243–245.

[702] Rae. Faithful Register of the late Rebellion. London, 1718.

[703] Annals of George I., pp. 89–91. Patten, pp. 8, 9.

[704] Rae.

[705] Rae, p. 263.

[706] Letter to Mr. Forster, 21st October, 1715.

[707] Annals of George I., p. 98. Patten, p. 18. Rae, p. 265.

[708] Patten, p. 20.

[709] Patten, p. 20. Annals of George I., p. 101.

[710] “All the lords that were Protestants, with a vast multitude of people, attended: It was very agreeable to see how decently and reverently the very common Highlanders behaved, and answered the responses according to the Rubrick, to the shame of many that pretend to more polite breeding.”—Patten, p. 40.

[711] Patten, p. 49.

[712] Annals of 2d year of George I., p. 123. Patten, pp. 53, 64, 65.

[713] Rae.

[714] Annals of 2d year of George I., p. 128.

[715] Patten, pp. 67, 68. Rae, pp. 271, 272.

[716] Patten, p. 69.

[717] Letter about the Occurrences on the way to, and at Preston. By an Eye Witness, p. 4.

[718] Patten, p. 89.

[719] Annals of 2d Year of George I., p. 136.

[720] Letter, &c., by an eye-witness, p. 6.

[721] Patten, p. 97, et seq. Annals of 2d year of George I., p. 125, et seq. Faithful Register of the late Rebellion, pp. 162, 163, 164.

CHAPTER XXVI.

A.D. 1715–1716.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George I., 1714–1727.

Re-capture of Inverness by the Royalists—Preparations for opening the campaign—Mar’s departure from Perth—Junction of the western clans—Advance of Argyle towards Dunblane—Preparations for battle—Battle of Sheriffmuir—Mar returns to Perth and Argyle to Stirling—Arrival of the Chevalier—Goes to Perth—Preparations of Argyle—Jacobites retreat from Perth—Departure of the Chevalier for France—Dispersion of the insurgents.

Having, for the sake of continuity, brought the narrative of the English branch of the insurrection to a close, in the preceding chapter, we now proceed to detail the operations of the royalist and Jacobite armies under Argyle and Mar respectively, and the other transactions in the north which preceded its total suppression.

Before, however, entering upon an account of the doings of the main body of the rebels in Scotland, we must notice briefly the re-capture by the royalists of Inverness, partly through the instrumentality of our old friend Simon Fraser, afterwards Lord Lovat. Finding it impossible to gain the confidence of the court of St. Germains, Simon, on the breaking out of the rebellion, resolved to seek the favour of King George by using his power as head of his clan on behalf of the royalists. The clan had sent over some of their number to France to bring Simon home, in order that he might tell them what side he desired them to espouse; these had got the length of Dumfries on the day in which that town was thrown into a state of consternation by the Lord Justice-Clerk’s letter, announcing its proposed capture by the rebels. Simon was received there with much suspicion, and he and his followers placed under guard, notwithstanding the pass he had managed to obtain from Lord Townshend. This he obtained on volunteering to accompany the Earl of Sutherland to the north, and induce the clan Fraser to abandon the Jacobites and join the royalists. Although the estates and honours were in possession of the daughter of the late Lord Lovat, and although her husband, Mackenzie of Fraserdale, had joined the rebels with a number of the clan, still, according to Highland custom, Simon was the real head of the clan, and as such his influence was paramount.[722]

Inverness at the end of the 17th century.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ.

On arriving in the north “he found three hundred men, who had refused to follow the Jacobite banner of his rival, ready at his call. Placing himself at their head, like a sovereign with an army, he sent notice to the disaffected clansmen who had followed the legal owner of the estates, to return immediately to their duty to their true chief, threatening them with ejection from their holdings, and military execution against their families and possessions, if they failed. As men exorcised by a command which it would be wicked and futile to resist, the Frasers left Mar’s camp, just before the momentous battle of Sheriffmuir, and joined their brethren. Lovat found Duncan Forbes, afterwards the great and good Lord-President, defending the old fortalice of Culloden, while his father-in-law, Hugh Rose, held his neighbouring tower of Kilravock against repeated attacks, and with a well-ordered force of 200 men, made his mansion do the proper service of a fort in protecting the surrounding country. Their efforts were important from their position. Northward of Loch Ness, and the chain of minor lakes, the power of the Earl of Sutherland, on the government side, balanced that of Seaforth, Glengarry, and the other Jacobite leaders; and in their absence at Mar’s camp, was superior. Thus the fortified houses near Inverness, had all the importance of border fortresses; and the reduction of Inverness, for the Hanover interest, would relieve their owners of their perilous position, by giving their friends the command of the pass between the North Highlands and the rest of Scotland. The small body under Rose and Forbes, with Lovat’s, and a party of the Grants, amounted in all to about 1,300 men—a considerable force in that war of small armies. They laid plans for systematically investing Inverness; but before it was necessary to operate on them, the garrison silently evacuated the place, dropping down the river in boats on the night of the 13th of November, and sailing for the northern coast of the Moray Frith. This affair seems to have cost no other casualty than the death of a brother of Rose of Kilravock, in a premature and rash attack. Thus the government had the command of the eastern pass between the North Highlands and the low country, leaving passable only such routes, beyond the western extremity of Loch Ness, as were not liable to be interrupted by the garrison at Fortwilliam.”[723]

When the Jacobite general took the field he was so unprovided with money, that after Colonel Hay entered Perth he could spare him only fifty guineas for the use of his detachment, and so exhausted had his little treasury become shortly after he took up his quarters there, that he was reduced to the necessity of laying the surrounding country, and the shires of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan under contribution. By an order dated from the camp at Perth on the 4th October, he required every man of substance attending the standard of the Chevalier, to raise amongst his tenants and possessors, the sum of twenty shillings on every hundred pounds Scots of valued rent, and such landed proprietors as did not immediately or before the 12th of October, attend his standard, were mulcted in double that amount. This order appears to have had little effect, as it was renewed on the 21st of October, when it was rigorously enforced, and the penalty of military execution threatened against those who should refuse to implement it.

To compel compliance, parties of horse and foot were despatched through the adjoining country. One of these, consisting of 200 foot and 100 horse, being sent towards the town of Dunfermline, information of their march was brought to the Duke of Argyle on Sunday, the 23d of October. His grace immediately despatched Colonel Cathcart with a detachment of dragoons to intercept them, who, receiving intelligence that the insurgents had passed Castle Campbell, and had taken up their quarters for the night in a village on the road to Dunfermline, continued his march during the whole night, and coming upon the village unperceived at five o’clock in the morning, surprised the party, some of whom were killed and others taken while in bed. Among these were eleven gentlemen, including Gordon of Craig, Gordon younger of Aberlour, and Mr. Murray brother to the laird of Abercairney.[724]

After this affair, and for want of more stirring excitements, a sort of paper war was carried on between the two generals, which, if attended with little practical effect on either side, served at least to keep up in a more marked manner the distinction between the adherents of the government and the partizans of the Jacobite interest. When informed of the Earl of Mar’s order for an assessment, the Duke of Argyle issued a counter one, on the 25th of October, prohibiting and discharging all persons from giving or furnishing the insurgents with money or provisions, under the pains of high treason, and for greater publicity he directed the same to be intimated at each parish church door after divine service, and before the dismissal of the congregation. This mandate was followed two days thereafter by another from the duke, requiring all well-affected noblemen, gentlemen, justices of the peace, magistrates, and ministers, “to persuade and encourage all able-bodied and well-affected men,” in their respective parishes, in town and country, to enlist in the regular army, and promising a bounty of forty shillings sterling, and a discharge from the service, if required, at the end of three months after the suppression of the insurrection. This order was answered by a proclamation from the Earl of Mar, dated November 1st, prohibiting and discharging all persons whatever, under the highest penalties, from giving obedience to it; and whereas he had promised his protection, as he observes, to all ministers who behaved themselves dutifully, and did not acknowledge “the Elector of Brunswick as king, by praying for him as such in their churches and congregations;” yet as several of them continued the practice, and might thus “involve and mislead innocent and ignorant people into traitorous and seditious practices,” he expressly prohibited “all ministers, as well in churches as in meeting-houses, to acknowledge the Elector of Brunswick as king, and that upon their highest peril.” And he ordered all officers, civil and military, to shut up the church doors of such ministers as should act in contempt of the order, to apprehend their persons and bring them prisoners to his camp. Many ministers, to avoid compliance with this order, absented themselves from their charges, but others who ventured openly to brave it, were apprehended and treated with severity. Mar, however, found a more pliant body in the non-jurant episcopal clergy, some of whom attached themselves to his camp, and harangued his troops from time to time on the duties they owed to their lawful sovereign, “King James VIII.”

Although the earl seems to have calculated greatly upon the assistance of France, yet his stay at Perth appears to have been prolonged rather by the tardiness of the Earl of Seaforth, in reaching the insurgent camp, than by any intention of waiting for supplies from France, or the expected invasion of England by the Duke of Ormond; for no sooner did Seaforth arrive with the northern clans, about the beginning of November, than Mar began to concert measures with his officers for opening the campaign. The march of the Earl of Seaforth had been retarded by the Earl of Sutherland, at the head of a considerable number of his own men, and of the Mackays, Rosses, Munroes, and others; but having compelled them to disperse, he proceeded on his march with about 3,000 foot and 800 horse, leaving a sufficient force behind to protect his own country, and keep the royalist clans in check.

Hitherto the Jacobite commander, from the procrastinating system he had pursued, and from jealousies which had arisen in his camp among his officers, had experienced considerable difficulty in keeping his forces together. Of all men, the Highlanders were the most unlikely to relish the inactive duties of a camp, and as the duration of their services lay entirely with themselves, it was evident that the longer Mar delayed bringing them into action, the risk of their abandoning him was proportionably increased. It was not therefore without reason that one of the leaders remarked that he was afraid the Highlanders would desert their colours in three cases:— 1. If they were long without being brought to action, they would tire and go home; 2. If they fought and were victorious, they would plunder and go home; 3. If they fought and were beaten, they would run away and go home.

To counteract the injurious effect which a state of inaction might produce upon the minds of his men, Mar buoyed up their hopes by issuing from time to time, by means of a printing press brought from Aberdeen, and superintended by Freebairn of Edinburgh, a variety of fabricated accounts, highly favourable to their cause, respecting the progress of the rebellion in the south, and the great exertions making by the Chevalier’s friends in France, all which accounts were swallowed with the utmost credulity by his unsuspecting adherents.

About the time the Earl of Seaforth arrived at Perth, General Gordon had advanced as far as Castle Drummond with the western clans on his way to Perth; and as Mar had now resolved to attempt the passage of the Forth, he despatched an express to Gordon, to join him on his march. At a council of war, which was held on the 9th of November, the Jacobite chiefs came to the determination of leaving Perth the following day for Dunblane. On obtaining possession of this town, Mar’s design was to detach three different bodies, of 1,000 men each, to Stirling bridge, and the two adjacent fords above, for the purpose of amusing Argyle, while he himself with the main body of his army, consisting of nearly 8,000 men, should attempt to cross the river at a ford a little way above those selected for the intended ruse. In the event of success, the three detached bodies were to be directed to form a junction and follow the main body without delay, but in case the Duke of Argyle abandoned Stirling to oppose the passage of the main body, they were to enter the town and fall upon his rear.

Accordingly, on the morning of Thursday, the 10th of November, Mar departed from Perth, leaving a garrison behind under Colonel Balfour, besides a scattered force of about 3,000 men quartered in different parts of Fife. The earl not calculating upon a return to Perth, took all his baggage along with him, and provisions sufficient to support his army for twelve days. The insurgents took up their quarters for the night at Auchterarder, and on the following day were joined by the western clans under General Gordon. The army rested the whole of the 11th. On the morning of the 12th, Mar ordered General Gordon to march forward with 3,000 men of the clans, and eight squadrons of horse under Brigadier Ogilvie and the Master of Sinclair, and take possession of Dunblane. After ordering the rest of the army to parade on the moor of Tullibardine, he departed for Drummond castle to hold an interview with the Earl of Breadalbane, having previously directed General Hamilton to follow Gordon with the main body.

As early as the morning of Thursday the 10th[725] of November, the Duke of Argyle had received intelligence from some of his spies at Perth, of Mar’s intended march, and of his plan for effecting the passage of the Forth. Fortunately for Argyle, his little army had been lately almost doubled by reinforcements from Ireland, and it now amounted to 2,300 foot, and 1,200 cavalry, all in the best order and condition; but though formidable from its composition when united, it was too weak to divide into detachments for resisting at different points the passage of an army thrice as numerous, in an attempt to cross the Forth. As Argyle, therefore, saw he could no longer retain his position on the banks of the river, which, from its now beginning to freeze, would soon be rendered more passable than before, he determined to cross and offer the insurgents battle before they should reach its northern bank. Though he exposed himself by this bold step to the disadvantage of fighting with a river in his rear, he considered that the risk would be sufficiently counterbalanced by the advantage which his cavalry would have by engaging the enemy on level ground.

Having called in several small detachments which were quartered at Glasgow, Kilsyth, and Falkirk, Argyle crossed Stirling bridge on the morning of the 12th of November, for Dunblane, much about the same time that Mar’s forces had begun to advance upon that town in an opposite direction from Auchterarder. In a short time after their setting out, Argyle’s advanced guard took possession of Dunblane, of which circumstance General Gordon was apprised on his march. Having halted his division, Gordon sent an express, announcing the intelligence to General Hamilton, who despatched it to the Earl of Mar, and in a short time he forwarded a second express confirming the previous news, and adding that the enemy were in great force. Hamilton, upon receipt of this last despatch, halted his men on the ground adjoining the Roman camp at Ardoch, about five miles from Dunblane, till he should receive instructions from the earl. Mar soon thereafter returned from Drummond castle, and being desirous of obtaining additional intelligence from the general in advance, ordered Hamilton to remain in his position, and to hold his men in readiness to march on a moment’s notice. This order had, however, been scarcely issued, when a fresh despatch arrived from General Gordon, announcing that the Duke of Argyle was in Dunblane with his whole army. Mar thereupon desired Gordon to remain where he was till the main body of the army should come up, and having ordered three guns to be fired, the signal agreed upon to be given Hamilton for putting his men in marching order, the latter immediately formed his division and put it in motion. After a junction between the two divisions of the army had been formed, the insurgents marched to the bridge of Kinbuck, about four miles from Dunblane, where they passed the frosty night under arms without covering or tent. The Duke of Argyle, who had the most exact intelligence brought to him of the motions of the insurgents, left Dunblane and formed his army in order of battle in the evening, on a rising ground above the house of Kippenross, about two miles north-east of the town. His army was drawn up in one extended line. In the centre were eight battalions of foot under the command of Major-General Wightman. The right wing consisted of five squadrons of dragoons, under Lieutenant-General Evans, and a similar number, at the head of whom was Lieutenant-General Witham, composed the left wing. After thus drawing up his men, his grace issued orders that no tent should be pitched during the night either by officer or private soldier; that all the officers without distinction should remain at their posts; and that the troops should rest on their arms in the exact order in which they had been formed. The severest penalties were threatened against those who should infringe these orders. Though the night was extremely cold, the troops lay down upon the bare ground, and snatched a few hours’ repose. The duke himself retired to a sheep-cot at the foot of a hill on the right of the army, where he passed the night sitting on a bundle of straw.

Dunblane, about the time of the Rebellion.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ.

Although the two armies had bivouacked during the night within three miles of each other, and were only separated by the Sheriffmuir, an elevated and uneven waste, skirted on the west by the high road from Stirling to Perth, near the river Allan, yet so ignorant was Mar of the movements of Argyle, that so far from supposing him to be within such a short distance of his camp, he imagined that he still remained at Dunblane; and it was not until he observed a reconnoitring party of Argyle’s cavalry on the adjoining heights of the Sheriffmuir next morning, that he became aware of his immediate proximity. This party was headed by the duke himself, who had aroused his army by break of day, and who, after issuing instructions to his men to prepare for battle, had ascended at an early hour the hill where his advanced guard was posted, to survey the position of the insurgents.

The Earl of Mar had also put his men under arms shortly after break of day, and when Argyle’s party of observation was first noticed, Mar was busily engaged ranging his men in marching order, preparatory to advancing upon Dunblane. Conceiving that Argyle meant to offer him battle immediately, he instantly assembled all the chiefs, and after addressing them in an eloquent speech, in which he painted in glowing colours the wrongs of their prince and their country, and congratulated them that the day had at length arrived when they could revenge their injuries in open battle, he desired to know if they were willing to engage. The Marquis of Huntly alone raised some objections, and some few were heard in an under-tone to advise a return to Perth till the spring; but the voices of Huntly and his supporters were drowned by loud shouts of “fight, fight!” from the rest, who at once galloped off to their different posts.[726]

The Earl of Mar, thereupon, resumed the marshalling of his army, which formed into two lines with a rapidity and decision that would have done honour to veteran troops; but by accident, three squadrons of horse posted on the left, misled by a cry from the Highlanders, of “horse to the right,” left their position and took ground on the right, an unfortunate mistake for the insurgents, as it contributed to the defeat of their left wing. The centre of the first line was composed of ten battalions of foot, consisting of about 4,000 men under the command of the captain of Clanranald, Glengary, Sir John Maclean, the laird of Glenbucket, Brigadier Ogilvie, and the two brothers of Sir Donald Macdonald of Sleat. General Gordon, who had long served in the army of the Czar of Muscovy, was at the head of these battalions. On the right of this line were placed two of the Marquis of Huntly’s squadrons of horse, and another called the Stirling squadron, which carried the Chevalier’s standard. This squadron, which consisted wholly of gentlemen, also bore the title of “the Restoration regiment of horse.” The Perthshire squadron formed the left wing. The centre of the second line consisted of eight battalions of foot, viz., three of the Earl of Seaforth’s foot, two of the Marquis of Huntly’s, the Earl of Panmure’s battalion, and those of the Marquis of Tullibardine, of Drummond, commanded by the Viscount of Strathallan, and of Logie-Almond, and Robertson of Strowan. On the right of this second line were posted two squadrons of horse under the Earl Marischal. The Angus squadron was on the left. The whole of the force thus formed for action may be estimated at 8,000, besides which there was a corps de reserve of 400 horse posted considerably in the rear.

While this formation was going on, the Duke of Argyle observed for several hours with great attention the various evolutions of the insurgents; but from the nature of the ground[727] occupied by them he could not obtain a full view of their line which extended through a hollow way, the view of which was obstructed by the brow of a hill occupied by a party of Mar’s troops. From Mar’s advanced guards looking towards Dunblane, the duke conjectured that the insurgents intended to march in that direction; but he was undeceived in this idea by a movement on the part of a mass of the insurgents towards his right, as if they intended to cross the moor and fall upon the flank of his army. As a large morass lay in the way of the insurgents, Argyle, in advancing from Dunblane, had conceived himself free from danger on that side; but it had now been rendered quite passable for foot as well as horse by a keen frost during the preceding night. As soon as Argyle saw this large body advance up the face of the moor, which, from the right wing of the insurgents being concealed from his view by a rising ground, he supposed was the main body of Mar’s army, he requested the advice of the officers who surrounded him as to how he should act. It was the general opinion, an opinion in which the duke himself concurred, that there would be less risk in engaging the insurgents on the high grounds than in waiting for them in the position occupied by the duke’s army; but although most of the officers thought that there would not be sufficient time to bring forward the troops and to change the order of battle, a change which was absolutely necessary, the duke resolved to draw out his troops upon the moor.

Having come to this determination, the duke returned quickly to the army, and ordered the drums to beat the General. This order was given about eleven o’clock; but although the drums instantly beat to arms, an hour elapsed before the troops were ready to march. The new order of battle was as follows. The duke’s first line consisted of six battalions of foot, all old troops, amounting scarcely to 1,800 men. On the right were posted three squadrons of dragoons, being the best in the army, namely, Evans’s, the Scots Greys, and the Earl of Stair’s. On the left there were placed three squadrons of dragoons, namely, Carpenter’s, Ker’s, and a squadron of Stair’s. The second line was composed of only two battalions of foot, with a squadron of dragoons on each wing. The right wing of the army was commanded by the duke himself, the centre by General Wightman, and the left by General Witham. Behind Evans’s dragoons, on the right wing, a body of about sixty horse, noblemen and gentlemen volunteers, took up a station.

The body which Argyle had observed coming up the face of the moor, was a squadron of the Earl Marischal’s horse and Sir Donald Macdonald’s battalion, under their respective commanders. These had been despatched by the Earl of Mar, to drive away the reconnoitring party under the Duke of Argyle from the height; but on its disappearing, they returned and reported the circumstance to the earl. On receiving this intelligence, Mar gave orders to his troops to march up the hill in four columns. The whole army was accordingly put in motion, but they had not proceeded far when the Earl Marischal, who was in advance, observed Argyle forming his lines on the southern summit of the hill, at a short distance from him. He notified the circumstance to Mar, who instantly gave orders to his men to quicken their pace up the hill. In the hurry of their ascent, the second line pressed so closely upon the first as to occasion some confusion on the left when again getting into line, and it was in consequence of this disorder that the squadrons of horse forsook their position on the left, and took ground on the right.

Before the insurgents reached the summit of the moor, Argyle’s right wing was fully formed, but the greater part of his centre and left, who were moving up the ascent by a gradual progression from right to left, had not yet reached their ground. Argyle’s right now found itself within pistol-shot of Mar’s left, but from the greater extent of Mar’s line, it considerably outflanked Argyle’s left.

As soon as the Earl of Mar perceived that Argyle’s line was only partially formed, he resolved instantly to attack him before he should be able to complete his arrangements; and having sent orders to his right and left to fall simultaneously upon the enemy, Mar placed himself at the head of the clans, and being apprised by a firing on his left that the action had commenced, he pulled off his hat, which he waved, and with a huzza led forward his men upon the half-formed battalions which composed the left wing of the enemy. Arrived within pistol-shot, the Highlanders, according to custom, poured in a volley upon the English infantry. The fire was instantly returned, and, to the dismay of the Highlanders, Alan Muidartach, the captain of Clanranald, was mortally wounded. He was instantly carried off the field, and, as his men clustered around him, he encouraged them to stand firm to their posts, and expressed a hope that the result of the struggle in which they were engaged would be favourable to the cause of his sovereign. The loss of a chief, who, from the stately magnificence with which he upheld his rank, and the urbanity of his disposition, had acquired an ascendency over the minds of his people, could not fail to depress their spirits, and make them almost overlook the danger of their situation. While absorbed in grief, they were in a moment roused from their dejection by Glengary, who, observing their conduct at this juncture, sprung forward, and throwing his bonnet into the air, cried aloud, in the expressive language of his country, “Revenge! Revenge! Revenge to-day, and mourning to-morrow!” No sooner had this brave chieftain pronounced these words, than the Highlanders rushed forward, sword in hand, with the utmost fury, upon the royalist battalions. The government troops attempted to stem the impetuosity of the attack, by opposing the Highlanders with fixed bayonets, but the latter pushed them aside with their targets, and rushing in with their broad-swords among the enemy, spread death and terror around them. The three battalions on Argyle’s left, which had never been properly formed, unable to rally, instantly gave way, and falling back upon some squadrons of horse in their rear, created such confusion, that within seven or eight minutes after the assault, the form of a battalion or squadron was no longer discernible. A complete rout ensued; and there seems no doubt that the whole of Argyle’s left would have been completely destroyed, had not General Witham, at the head of the squadrons which were upon the left of the battalions, checked the advance of Mar’s horse by a charge, in which he succeeded in capturing a standard. Afraid of being outflanked by Argyle’s left wing, which extended far beyond his position, and being ignorant of what was passing on the right wing of the royalists, the view of which was concealed by the unevenness of the ground, Witham retired in the direction of Dunblane. The Earl of Mar pursued the disordered mass to the distance of only half a mile, and having ordered his foot to halt till he should put them in order, resolved to follow the enemy and complete the victory; but receiving intelligence that his left wing and second line had given way, and that his artillery had been taken, he retraced his steps, and took up a position on the top of the stony hill of Kippendavie, till he should receive further information respecting the fate of his left wing.

This wing, which was the first to begin the attack, opened a fire upon Argyle’s right wing when almost within pistol shot. The Highlanders thereafter steadily advanced, and pouring a second volley among the enemy, with a precision and effect not to be surpassed by the best disciplined troops, rushed up, sword in hand, to the very muzzles of their muskets. Though the fire was destructive, and made Evans’s dragoons reel for a time, the English troops maintained their ground, and the foot kept up a platooning, which checked the fury of their assailants. The struggle continued for some time without any decided advantage on either side; but as Argyle began to perceive that he could make no impression in front upon the numerous masses of the insurgents, and that he might be out-flanked by them, he resolved to attack them on their flank with part of his cavalry, while his foot should gall them with their fire in front. He therefore ordered Colonel Cathcart to move along the morass to the right with a strong body of cavalry, and to fall upon the flank of Mar’s left wing, a movement which he executed with great skill. Cathcart, after receiving a fire from the insurgent horse, immediately charged them, but they sustained the assault with great firmness. Borne down by the superior weight of the English dragoons, whose horses were much larger than those of the insurgents, the Scottish horse, after nearly half-an-hour’s contest, were compelled to give way. The foot of Argyle’s right having made a simultaneous attack upon Mar’s first line of foot, the latter also were forced to fall back, and Mar’s horse and foot coming into contact with his second line, they mixed indiscriminately, and a general rout in consequence ensued.

After receding a short distance, the insurgent horse, which consisted principally of the Jacobite gentry of Perthshire and Angus, attempted to rally, and even to charge Argyle’s cavalry in their turn, but they were again forced to retire by the pressure of the English dragoons, who kept advancing in regular order upon the receding masses of the insurgents. Determined, however, not to yield one inch of ground without the utmost necessity, the cavalier horse made repeated efforts to drive the enemy back, and, in the course of their retreat, made ten or twelve attempts at different places to rally and charge the advancing foe; but unable to resist the overwhelming pressure of the English cavalry, they were, after three hours’ hard fighting, driven across the river Allan by Argyle’s dragoons. Some idea may be formed of the obstinacy of the contest, when it is considered that the distance from the field of battle to the river is scarcely three miles. To the gallant stand made by the horse may be ascribed the safety of the foot, who would have been probably all cut to pieces by the dragoons, if the attention of the latter had not been chiefly occupied by the horse. The foot, however, suffered considerably in the retreat, notwithstanding the humanity of the Duke of Argyle, who endeavoured to restrain the carnage. Besides offering quarter to such of the Jacobite gentlemen as were personally known to him, he displayed his anxiety for the preservation of his countrymen so far, that on observing a party of his dragoons cutting down a body of foot, into which they had thrown themselves, he exclaimed with a feeling of deep emotion, “Oh, spare the poor Blue-bonnets!”

As Mar’s right wing had been concealed from the view of Argyle, the latter conceived that the numerous body he was driving before him formed the entire insurgent army. He, therefore, resolved to continue the pursuit till dark, and to support him, he ordered General Wightman, who commanded his foot upon the right, to follow him with his battalions as quickly as possible. Wightman accordingly proceeded to follow the duke with a force of rather more than three regiments; but he had not marched far, when he heard a firing on his left, to ascertain the cause of which, he sent his aide-de-camp in the direction whence the firing proceeded. This officer returned in a short time, and reported that the half of Argyle’s foot, and the squadrons on the left, had all been cut off by the right of the insurgents, which was superior in point of numbers to Argyle’s left. Wightman thereupon slackened his pace, and despatched a messenger to inform the duke of the fate of his left wing. Afraid of being attacked in his rear by Mar’s right wing, he kept his men in perfect order, but no demonstration was made to follow him. When informed of the defeat of his left wing, Argyle gave over the pursuit, and joining Wightman with five squadrons of dragoons, put his men in order of battle and marched boldly to the bottom of the hill, on the top of which the enemy, amounting to 4,000 men, were advantageously posted. Argyle had now scarcely 1,000 men under him, and as these were already greatly exhausted, he judged it expedient to act on the defensive; but the insurgents showed no disposition to engage, and both parties, as if by mutual consent, retired from their positions in different directions. The duke filed off his men to the right, in marching order, towards Dunblane; but as he still dreaded an attack, he formed his men several times on the march, wherever he found the ground convenient, and waited the approach of the enemy. Mar drew off his men toward Ardoch, where he passed the night, and Argyle’s troops lay under arms during the night in the neighbourhood of Dunblane.

BATTLE-FIELD OF SHERIFFMUIR
A. Fullarton & Co. London & Edinburgh.

As might have been expected, on an occasion of such dubious success on either side, both parties claimed a victory, but impartiality will confer the palm on neither.[728] Argyle, it is true, visited the field of battle the following morning, which Mar might also have done had he been inclined, and this circumstance, therefore, can afford no argument in support of his pretensions. Neither can the capture of standards and colours by Argyle be considered as a proof of success, for although he took fourteen colours and standards, including the royal standard called “the Restoration,” besides six pieces of cannon and other trophies, Mar, according to the official Jacobite account, captured four stands of colours, several drums, and about 1,400 or 1,500 stands of arms. Accounts the most contradictory have been given by both parties of the losses sustained by them. According to the rolls of Argyle’s muster-master general, his loss amounted to 290 men killed, 187 wounded, and 133 prisoners, making a grand total of 610, while the Jacobite account makes the loss in killed and wounded on the side of Argyle amount to between 700 and 800. On the other hand, the Jacobites state their loss in killed at only 60, and that very few of their men were wounded, while the royalists say that they lost, in killed and wounded, about 800 men.[730] Supposing the royalist statement correct, the comparative loss of the insurgents scarcely exceeded one-third of that sustained by the government forces.

Several officers were killed on the royalist side. Among the wounded was the Earl of Forfar, a brave officer who commanded Morison’s regiment. He received a shot in the knee, and sixteen other wounds, of which he died at Stirling about three weeks after the battle. Several persons of distinction were killed on the side of the insurgents, among whom were the Earl of Strathmore, and the Captain of Clanranald. A considerable number of gentlemen were taken prisoners by Argyle, but many of them escaped, and he was able to carry only 82 of them to Stirling. Of this number were Lord Strathallan, Thomas Drummond his brother, Walkinshaw of Barrowfield, Drummond of Logie-Drummond, and Murray of Auchtertyre.

On whichsoever side success lay, the battle, in its consequences, was most important in many respects to the government, as it was immediately followed by the desertion of a considerable number of the clans. With the exception of the Macdonalds, who particularly distinguished themselves on the right, and the Perthshire and Angus horse who withstood the repeated shocks of Argyle’s cavalry, the remainder of the insurgent army made little resistance. The Macphersons and the Macgregors, (the latter commanded by Rob Roy,[731] the chief’s uncle), did not join in the contest at all, but looked on as if unconcerned about the result. Some of the clans, disgusted at the pusillanimity or indifference exhibited by their associates, and others dispirited by the firmness displayed by the government forces, returned to their homes, thus verifying the observation made by a Jacobite in reference to the clans, that whether victorious or beaten, they would run away and go home. The defection of these clans was a severe blow to Mar, and made him abandon the idea of crossing the Forth. He, therefore, returned to Perth with the remains of his army, and to encourage the friends of the Jacobite interest, circulated the most favourable accounts of his alleged success at Sheriffmuir, and of the state of the Chevalier’s affairs, although he himself began to consider them desperate.[732] The Duke of Argyle, on the other hand, retired to his head-quarters at Stirling, intending to resume offensive operations as soon as some expected reinforcements should arrive.

The attempt of Mar to disguise the real state of matters was too gross to deceive his adherents, and there were not a few who already began to entertain thoughts of making their own terms with the government: but the Highland chiefs and the principal officers remained firm, and urged Mar to risk another battle even with his reduced forces. The earl, however, though personally brave, was not the man to comply with an advice so opposed to the rule he had laid down for himself, never to engage without a very superior force on his side. But had he been of a different opinion, the receipt of the news of the re-capture of Inverness would probably have precluded him from moving a second time upon Stirling.

It has been remarked as a singular circumstance in this history of Mar’s insurrection, that the three important events which decided its fate should have occurred in regular daily succession. Inverness was captured on the 13th of November,[733] and on the same day Mackintosh’s forces, cooped up in Preston, had to maintain a precarious struggle against the attacks of Wells’s army. Next day witnessed the battle of Sheriffmuir, and at the very time the insurgents in Preston were offering terms of surrender, the right wings of Argyle’s and Mar’s armies were pursuing, with all the confidence of victory, the wings to which they were respectively opposed. And lastly, while on the 14th the insurgents in England were capitulating at Preston, the two rival armies in the north were retiring to their head-quarters, each of them claiming a victory.

The arrival of the Chevalier had been long anxiously looked for by his friends in Scotland. He was now about to gratify their desire of beholding his person; but James had already missed the golden opportunity, which presented itself at an early stage of the insurrection, of recovering his father’s crown. Had he, on arriving at St. Malo, whither he proceeded from Lorraine at the breaking out of the insurrection, instantly taken shipping, he would not only have complied with the declared wishes of his adherents, but would have evinced at once a determination to maintain his claim. Instead of embarking, however, immediately, as he should have done, he spent so much time in the shipment of supplies, which he was desirous should precede his departure, that he was at last altogether prevented from sailing by some men-of-war, which appeared off the harbour of St. Malo, and which had been sent by the British government to intercept him. That he might not disappoint the expectations of his partisans, he resolved to go to Dunkirk in quest of shipping, and having traversed the country in disguise, he embarked at that port, about the middle of December, on board a small French vessel of eight guns, which had formerly been a privateer. He was attended by five persons only, who, to prevent suspicion, were disguised as French officers. Among these were the Marquis of Tynemouth, son of the Duke of Berwick, and Lieutenant Allan Cameron, a son of Lochiel.

Regardless of the evident risk which he ran, by attempting a descent upon the eastern coast of Scotland, he sailed from Dunkirk in the small vessel in which he had embarked, after leaving instructions to despatch after him two other vessels that lay in the harbour with his domestics, and some stores for the use of his army. It was the Chevalier’s intention to have landed in the vicinity of the Frith of Tay, and accordingly, after steering in a northerly direction, he stood across for the coast of Angus, which was descried after a voyage of five days; but observing, at some distance, a sail, which he judged to be unfriendly, he altered his course to northward with the design of landing at Peterhead, of which the Earl Marischal was the feudal superior. The vessel which carried the Chevalier came, however, sufficiently near to land to intimate by signals to the friends of the prince in the neighbourhood that he was on board, which intelligence was immediately conveyed to the camp at Perth, where it was received with a feeling of intense delight.

The Chevalier arrived off Peterhead, on the 22d of December, seven days from the date of his departure from Dunkirk, and immediately landed with his small retinue of five persons, all disguised as seamen. After despatching the vessel to France with the news of his arrival, he and his companions took up their abode in the town for the night. He passed the next night at Newburgh, a seat of the Earl Marischal, having previously sent Lieutenant Cameron to Perth with the intelligence of his landing. The Chevalier continued his journey towards Perth, and on the 24th passed incognito through Aberdeen, and arrived at Fetteresso, the principal seat of the Earl Marischal, where he remained several days. As soon as Lieutenant Cameron reached Perth, the Earl of Mar, the Earl Marischal, General Hamilton, and about thirty other gentlemen, mounted their horses, and set off to meet the Chevalier. This cavalcade arrived at Fetteresso on the 27th, and the persons composing it were introduced to “the king,” and had the honour of kissing his hand. After the breaking up of the court, the Chevalier was proclaimed at the gates of the house, and printed copies of the declaration which he had issued in Lorraine were immediately dispersed.[734]

The Chevalier intended to have proceeded next day on his journey to Perth, but he was detained at Fetteresso till the 2d of January, by two successive fits of ague, which, however, did not prevent him from receiving addresses from the “Episcopal clergy of the diocese of Aberdeen,” and from the magistrates, town council, and Jacobite inhabitants of the town.

While at Fetteresso the Chevalier exercised some of the functions of royalty, by conferring titles of dignity on some of his adherents. He raised the Earl of Mar to a dukedom; and, according to report, conferred the honour of knighthood upon Bannerman, the Jacobite provost of Aberdeen, who presented the address from that city. Having recovered from his attack, the Chevalier left Fetteresso on the 2d of January, and went to Brechin, where he passed the night. Next day he moved forward to Kinnaird, and on the 4th reached Glammis Castle, the principal seat of the Earl of Strathmore. At Glammis Mar drew up a letter, in which he gave a very flattering account of the Chevalier. As the object of this letter was to impress the people with a favourable opinion of the Chevalier, Mar ordered it to be printed and circulated as widely as possible. The letter is written with address, and may still be perused with interest:

“Glames, 5 Jan. 1716.

“I met the king at Fetteresso on Tuesday se’enight, where we staid till Friday; from thence we came to Brechin, then to Kinnaird, and yesterday here. The king designed to have gone to Dundee to-day, but there is such a fall of snow that he is forced to put it off till 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 this season, else he had not been so long by the way. People, everywhere, 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 really the first gentleman I ever knew: He has a very good presence, and resembles King Charles a great deal. His presence, however, is not the best of him. He has fine parts, and despatches all his business himself with the greatest exactness. I never saw any body write so finely. He is affable to a great degree, without losing that majesty he ought to have, and has the sweetest temper in the world. In a word, he is every way fitted to make us a happy people, were his subjects worthy of him. To have him peaceably settled on his throne, is what these kingdoms do not deserve; but he deserves it so much that I hope there is a good fate attending him. I am sure there is nothing wanting to make the rest of his subjects as fond of him as we are, but their knowing him as we do; and it will be odd if his presence among us, after his running so many hazards to compass it, do not turn the hearts, even of the most obstinate. It is not fit to tell all the particulars, but I assure you he has left nothing undone, that well could be, to gain every body; and I hope God will touch their hearts.

“I have reason to hope we shall very quickly see a new face of affairs abroad in the king’s favour, which is all I dare commit to paper.

“Mar.”

On the morning of the 6th of January the Chevalier left Glammis for Dundee, which town he entered about eleven o’clock a.m. on horseback, amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants, the Earl of Mar riding on his right hand, and the Earl Marischal on his left, and followed by a train of nearly 300 adherents on horseback. To gratify the people who flocked round him eager to behold him and to kiss his hand, he, at the request of his friends, remained about an hour on horseback at the cross of the burgh, after which he rode out to the house of Stewart of Grandtully in the neighbourhood, where he dined and passed the night. 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 thence to Fingask, the seat of Sir David Threipland, where he spent the night. Next day, being Sunday, he took up his abode in the royal palace of Scone, where he intended to stay till the ceremony of his coronation should be performed.

JAMES STUART.
THE CHEVALIER DE ST. GEORGE.
A. Fullarton & Co. London & Edinburgh.

On Monday the Chevalier made his public entry into Perth. He met, however, with a cold reception, and he himself felt evidently disappointed at the appearance of the camp. He had heard much of the Highland chiefs and the clans, and being desirous to see “those little kings (the chiefs,) with their armies,” a select body of Highlanders exhibited before him. Their appearance gave him great satisfaction, but when he ascertained the paucity of the number in the camp, he could not repress the chagrin and disappointment he felt. On the other hand, the friends of the Chevalier were equally disappointed. Neither his appearance nor demeanour on the present occasion tended in any shape to justify the exaggerated encomiums of Mar, and his lugubrious deportment while at Perth tended more to alienate the affections of his adherents, and depress their spirits, than even the disappointment of supplies from France. The following is an account, doubtfully attributed to the Master of Sinclair, of the appearance of the Chevalier on his arrival at Perth, his behaviour while there, and their consequent effects upon his followers.

“His person was tall and thin, seeming to incline to be lean rather than to fill as he grows in years. His countenance was pale, but perhaps looked more so than usual, by reason he had three fits of ague which took him two days after his coming on shore. Yet he seems to be sanguine in his constitution, and there is something of a vivacity in his eye that perhaps would have been more visible if he had not been under dejected circumstances, and surrounded with discouragement, which it must be acknowledged were sufficient to alter the complexion even of his soul as well as of his body. His speech was grave, and not very clearly expressive of his thoughts, nor over much to the purpose; but 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 VII. must excuse me for saying, that it seems to say they either never saw this person, or never saw King James VII.; 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 amongst us soldiers, or to see us handle our arms or 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 5,000 men of good troops, and never himself come among us, we had done other things than we have now 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 upon 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.”[735]

The Chevalier returned to Scone in the evening, and notwithstanding the ominous symptoms of the day, proceeded to form a council preparatory to exercising the functions of royalty. From Scone he soon issued no less than six proclamations; one for a general thanksgiving for his safe arrival; another enjoining the ministers to pray for him in the churches; a third, establishing the currency of foreign coin; a fourth, ordering a meeting of the convention of estates; a fifth, commanding all fencible men from sixteen to sixty to repair to his standard; and a sixth, fixing the 23d of January for his coronation at Scone. These assumptions of sovereign authority were, however, of a very evanescent character, as they had scarcely been issued when the Chevalier and his principal friends resolved to abandon the contest as hopeless. Indeed, from the reduced state of the army, and its deficiency in arms and ammunition, a determination had been come to by his party, a month before he landed, to retire from Perth as soon as Argyle should march against it; but being ignorant of that resolution, and believing that the insurgents intended to defend Perth, Argyle delayed his advance till he should be joined by large reinforcements from England and Holland.

Though continued in the command of the army, Argyle, for some reason or other, was not a favourite at court. Of his fidelity there could be no suspicion, and his conduct had lately shown that he wanted neither zeal nor ability to perform the task which had been assigned him. It has been conjectured that the leniency which he was disposed to show towards his unfortunate countrymen was the cause of that hidden displeasure which ended in the dismissal of himself and of his brother, the Earl of Islay, from all their employments. The rejection of an application which he made to the government for extended powers to treat with the insurgents after the battle of Sheriffmuir, goes far to support the supposition. But whatever were his views, he appeared to be in no hurry to pursue the insurgents, probably from an idea that they would disperse of their own accord. By the arrival of a body of 6,000 Dutch auxiliaries, and other reinforcements from England, Argyle found himself, early in January, at the head of upwards of 10,000 men, besides a large train of artillery. Desirous of expelling the insurgents from Fife before advancing north, a detachment of Dutch and Scotch troops crossed the Frith of Forth by the duke’s orders, and under cover of some men-of-war, landed at Burntisland, of which they took possession. On receiving this intelligence the insurgents immediately abandoned all the towns on the north side of the Frith, a circumstance which was attended with serious consequences to their friends at Perth, who were in consequence entirely cut off from their supplies of coals, at an unusually inclement season.

About the end of January, Argyle was in full condition to march north, but the snow, which had fallen to a great depth, appeared to him to offer a formidable obstruction to the march of an army unaccustomed to a winter’s campaign; and which, from the insurgents having burnt and destroyed the villages on the road, would have to bivouac two or three nights in the open air, exposed to all the rigours of a northern winter. For these reasons Argyle urged, at a council of war, which was held at Stirling, a postponement of the march; but General Cadogan,[736] who had been sent down to Scotland to hasten the duke’s motions, insisting upon an immediate advance, and having openly accused Argyle of a want of zeal, his Grace made preparations for marching, and to facilitate the transport of his cannon and waggons, issued orders for assembling some thousands of the country people to clear away the snow.

Although the Jacobite leaders had come to the resolution of abandoning Perth as soon as the Duke of Argyle should advance upon it, they nevertheless gave indications as if they really meant to hold out. Pursuant to an order of a council, which was held on the 16th of January, the most strenuous exertions were made to fortify the town, and both officers and men vied with one another in hastening the completion of the works. What the motives of the leaders may have been in thus practising a deception upon the army it is impossible to conceive; perhaps the distant hope of being joined by the more remote clans, the chance of some fortunate, though unlooked for, occurrence in the chapter of accidents, or an idea that their men could not be otherwise kept together, may have been the inducing causes of these defensive preparations; but whatever their motives were, the apparent determination shown by the leading men to meet the enemy, had the most beneficial effect upon the army, which evinced a strong desire to engage. In this wish they thought they were to be gratified sooner than they expected, by the arrival of some country people at Perth who brought intelligence that Argyle was advancing with all his cavalry, and 4,000 foot mounted on horses. This news was, however, premature, and had originated in the appearance of a reconnoitring party of 200 dragoons, which Argyle had sent forward on the road to Perth, on the 21st of January, and which the fears of the people had magnified into an army.

All doubts, however, were removed in a few days, by the receipt of authentic intelligence at Perth, that Argyle having completed his arrangements, was to leave Stirling for Perth on the 29th of January, with his whole army. The councillors of the Chevalier were dismayed at this intelligence, but it had quite an opposite effect upon the mass of the army. Nothing was to be heard in the Jacobite camp but the voice of joy and rejoicing, and congratulations, on the expected happy result of an encounter with the enemy, were exchanged on all sides—between the officers and gentlemen volunteers, and the common soldiers and clansmen. While the former were pledging each other in their cups and drinking to “the good day,” so near at hand, as they thought, which was to crown the Chevalier’s arms with victory, the latter, amid the din of the warlike bagpipe, were to be seen giving each other a cordial shake of the hand as if fully assured of success.

Whilst these congratulatory exhibitions were going on, the councillors of the Chevalier were deliberating upon the course they should pursue; but although they sat during the whole night they could come to no decided resolution. When the irresolution of the council became generally known, the men could not restrain their indignation, and a general opinion began to prevail among them that they had been betrayed. Impressed with this feeling, they became mutinous, and carried their insubordination so far as to insult the officers, whom they supposed had betrayed them, in the streets, and to load them with reproachful epithets. The gentlemen volunteers also participated in the same sentiments; and one of them from the higher parts of Aberdeenshire was heard to declare before a group of malcontents assembled in the streets, that the clans should take the person of the Chevalier out of the hands of the weak councillors who surrounded him, adding that he would find 10,000 gentlemen in Scotland who would hazard their lives for him, if he was equally ready as a prince to risk his own life in vindicating his right to the crown. A friend of the Earl of Mar, after remonstrating with this party, asked what they wished their officers to do.—“Do,” replied a Highlander, “what did you call 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 stroke for their lives? Let us die like men and not like dogs.”[737]

Amid the confusion and perplexity occasioned by such a state of things, Mar convened another meeting of the council on the evening of the 29th, at which a resolution to retreat was entered into chiefly at Mar’s suggestion. His reasons for advising an abandonment of the enterprise for the present, were, 1st, the failure of the Duke of Ormond’s attempt to invade England; 2dly, the great accession of force which Argyle had received from abroad; and, lastly, the reduced state of the Jacobite forces, which did not exceed 4,000 men, and of whom only about 2,500 were properly armed.[738] Besides these there were, according to the Master of Sinclair, other reasons of a private nature which influenced Mar to give the advice he did, the chief of which, says the above-named authority, was that the Earl of Seaforth, the Marquis of Huntly, and other Jacobites who were in treaty with the government, had basely resolved to deliver up the Chevalier to the Duke of Argyle, that they might procure better terms for themselves than they could otherwise expect. This odious charge, which is not corroborated by any other writer, must be looked upon as highly improbable.

Before communicating to the army the resolution to retreat, a general meeting of all the officers was held at Scone on the following day, when they were informed of the determination of the previous evening, and of the reasons which had led to it. It was then secretly resolved that the Chevalier and his principal officers should take shipping at Montrose for France, and that the army should be disbanded as soon as it reached the Highlands, or as soon as circumstances permitted; but to save appearances with the men, it was given out, that as Perth was untenable, it became necessary to retire to a stronger position, where they could not only defend themselves, but keep up a more secure and direct communication with their friends in the north. At this time there were three ships lying in the Tay off Dundee, which had lately arrived with supplies from France; and to secure these for the conveyance of the Chevalier and his followers, a French officer and clergyman were despatched to Dundee with orders to send them down the coast to Montrose, there to wait his arrival.[739]

On the return of the officers to the camp, they promulgated the order to retreat to their men, and, as might have been anticipated, it was received with scorn and contempt. Among the Jacobite inhabitants of the town who had shown themselves very zealous in the cause of the Chevalier, the intelligence caused nothing but dismay, as from the prominent and decided part they had taken, they had incurred the penalties of treason against the government. The morning of the 31st of January was fixed upon for the retreat, but a body of about 800 Highlanders, disliking the aspect of affairs, and displeased with the conduct of the principal officers, quitted Perth the preceding night for the Highlands by way of Dunkeld. Preparatory to his departure, the Chevalier went from Scone to Perth in the evening, and took up his residence in the house of Hay the provost, a stanch Jacobite, where he supped and passed the night. At ten o’clock next morning the rebels began their march across the Tay, which was covered with ice of extraordinary thickness. About noon the whole army had passed, and was on the march to Dundee along the Carse of Gowrie.

Meanwhile, the Duke of Argyle was advancing upon Perth as fast as the nature of the difficulties he had to contend with would admit of. He had left Stirling on the 29th of January, and marched to Dunblane. Next day he advanced as far as Auchterarder, which had been entirely burnt by the rebels. Here they passed the night upon the snow without “any other covering than the fine canopy of heaven.”[740] On the following day a detachment of 200 dragoons and 400 foot, which had been sent forward to protect the country people who were engaged in clearing away the snow, took possession of the castle of Tullibardine, the garrison of which had capitulated. The Duke of Argyle had resolved to take up his quarters for the night in this fortress; but receiving intelligence that the rebels had retired from Perth that morning, he ordered a party of 400 dragoons and 1,000 foot to hasten forward to take possession of that town. The duke, at the head of the dragoons, arrived at Perth about two o’clock in the morning of the 1st of February; but the foot, who were greatly fatigued, did not come up till ten o’clock. The remainder of the duke’s army reached Perth that evening.

The distance from Stirling to Perth is only 34 miles, yet such was the obstruction that Argyle’s army met with from the snow, that their march occupied three entire days. The difficulties of the march and the privations which his men had suffered by resting two nights on the snow, exposed to all the severities of the weather, had so exhausted his men, that it was not till the day after his arrival at Perth that the duke could muster a force sufficiently strong to pursue the enemy.

On the 2d of February Argyle left Perth at the head of six squadrons of dragoons, three battalions of foot, and 800 Highlanders. He stopped at Errol that night, and entered Dundee next day. Having learned that the Chevalier had left Dundee the preceding day on his way to Montrose, the duke sent forward a detachment towards Arbroath, and being joined by the remainder of his army on the 4th of February, he despatched on the same day three battalions of foot, 500 of his own Highlanders, and 50 dragoons, towards Arbroath, and another detachment of 300 foot, and 50 dragoons, in the direction of Brechin; but their march was retarded for some time by the snow. On the 5th the duke followed with the remainder of the army; and while he himself, at the head of the cavalry, took the high road to Brechin, General Cadogan with the infantry marched in the direction of Arbroath.

Second Duke of Argyle.

During the retreat to Montrose, suspicions began to be entertained in the Chevalier’s army, that it was his intention to embark for France, notwithstanding the assurances of the principal officers to the contrary. The unusual route along the sea-coast gave credence to the rumour; but when they approached Montrose, and saw some French vessels lying at anchor off the shore, their suspicions were confirmed, and the men began to manifest symptoms of discontent. The insurgent army arrived at Montrose on the 3d of February, where it was intended they should pass the night; but the Chevalier’s advisers, alarmed at the murmurings of the troops, ordered them to march the same night towards Aberdeen, where it was given out they meant to make a stand till succours should arrive from abroad. This assurance had the desired effect upon the troops, who accordingly began their march in the expectation that the Chevalier would follow them. To prevent suspicion, his horses were ordered to be brought before the door of the house where he lodged at the hour appointed for the march, and his guards were ordered to mount, and to hold themselves in readiness to accompany him.

Meanwhile the Chevalier was busily employed in making the necessary preparations for his approaching departure. To relieve his memory from the imputation of having voluntarily abandoned the brave men who had taken up arms in his cause, it is due to him to state that he had been all along opposed to such a step, and it was not until he had been repeatedly and earnestly urged by his friends that he could be prevailed upon to give his consent to retire beyond seas. He said he was ready to suffer every hardship, and expose himself to every danger, rather than abandon those who had risked their all in his service; but being assured by his friends, that the course they advised might be ultimately beneficial to both, he reluctantly yielded to their entreaties. His principal motive for acceding to their wishes was the consideration that, if relieved from his presence, the government might be disposed to give better terms to his followers than they would be otherwise disposed to grant.[741]

Before his departure he ordered a commission to be drawn up, by which he appointed General Gordon commander-in-chief, with all necessary powers, and particularly with authority to treat with the enemy. He wrote, at the same time, a paper containing his reasons for leaving the kingdom, and along with which he delivered to the general all the money in his possession, (excepting a small sum which he reserved for defraying the expenses of himself and suite,) with instructions, after paying the army, to apply the residue in indemnifying the inhabitants of the villages[742] which had been burned, for the losses sustained by them. At the same time the Chevalier put the following letter to the Duke of Argyle, which he dictated to a secretary, into the hands of General Gordon, respecting the appropriation of the money so left. It is an interesting document, and exhibits the humanity of the prince in a favourable point of view:—

“For the Duke of Argyle.

“Montrose, 4th February, 1716.

“It was the view of delivering this my ancient kingdom from the hardship it lay under, and restoring it to its former happiness and independency, that brought me into this country; and all hopes of effectuating that at this time being taken from me, I have been reduced much against my inclination, but by a cruel necessity, to leave the kingdom with as many of my faithful subjects as were desirous to follow me, or I able to carry with me, that so at least I might secure them from the utter destruction that threatens them, since that was the only way left me to show them the regard I had for, and the sense I had of their unparalleled loyalty.

“Among the manifold mortifications I have had in this unfortunate expedition, that of being forced to burn several villages, &c., as the only expedient left me for the publick security, was not the smallest. It was indeed forced upon me by the violence with which my rebellious subjects acted against me, and what they, as the first authors of it, must be answerable for, not I: however, as I cannot think of leaving this country without making some provision to repair that loss, I have, therefore, consigned to the magistrates of —— the sum of ——, desiring and requiring of you, if not as an obedient subject, at least as a lover of your country, to take care that it be employed to the designed use, that I may at least have the satisfaction of having been the destruction and ruin of none, at a time I came to free all. Whether you have yet received my letter,[743] or what effect it hath had upon you, I am as yet ignorant of; but what will become of these unhappy nations is but too plaine. I have neglected nothing to render them a free and prosperous people; and I fear they will find yet more than I the smart of preferring a foreign yoak to that obedience they owe me; and what must those who have so obstinately resisted both my right and my clemency have to answer for? But however things turn, or Providence is pleased to dispose of me, I shall never abandon my just right, nor the pursuits of it, but with my life; and beseech God so to turn at last the hearts of my subjects, as that they may enjoy peace and happiness by submitting to what their interest and duty equally require of them. As for your own particular, you might, if you had pleased, joined interest and greatness in your own person; but, though you have refused to do that, I must earnestly request of you to do at least all in your power to save your country from utter ruin, and to be just at least to them, since you are it not to me.

“[744]I thought to write this in my own hand, but had not time.

“James R.”

This letter was accompanied by a note of the following letter to General Gordon, written in the Chevalier’s own hand:—

“General Gordon is hereby empowered, as soon as he has no other further occasion for the money left in his hands for the subsistence of the troops, to forward, if he thinks fitt, the enclosed letter to the duke of Argil, and to fill up the blanks of my letter with the name of the town where he shall leave the money, and the summ he shall leave.

“James R.”

It was not until the eve of his departure, that James thought of selecting the persons he wished to accompany him in his flight, but the near approach of the enemy, of whose motions he had just received intelligence, and the murmurings and jealousies of his troops compelling him to hasten his departure, he was narrowed in his choice, as some of the friends, whose presence he desired, were at some distance from Montrose. The first individual he pitched upon was Mar; but the earl begged that he might be left behind with the army. The Chevalier, however, insisted that he should go; and on representing to him that reasons almost equally strong existed for Mar’s departure as for his own, that his friends would make better terms with the government without him than with him, and that his services could be of no use in Scotland under existing circumstances, he gave his consent.

Matters being adjusted, the Chevalier left his lodgings privately about nine o’clock on the evening of the 4th of February, accompanied only by one of his domestics, and having met Mar at his lodgings, they both proceeded by a private way to the beach, where a boat was lying in readiness to receive them, which carried them on board a small French vessel that lay at a little distance from the shore. The boat was immediately sent back, and returned in about a quarter of an hour with the Earl of Melfort, Lord Drummond, and the remainder of the Chevalier’s suite. Being favoured with a fresh breeze from the west-south-west, the vessel stood directly out to sea, and after a voyage of five days, arrived in safety at Waldam, near Gravelines in French Flanders.

The insurgents, under General Gordon, marched to Aberdeen, which they entered on the morning of the 6th of February. Here he communicated to his men the paper of instructions he had received from the Chevalier, which, he informed them, he had been ordered not to open till their arrival at Aberdeen. In this writing the prince complained of the disappointments he had met with, particularly from abroad, and informed the army of the necessity he was under, for his own preservation, to leave the country. He thanked them for having entered so cheerfully into his service, and imputed the failure of the enterprise to the apathy of others, who had not seconded their efforts as they had promised to do. He advised them to consult their own safety by keeping together in a body under General Gordon till he should order them to disperse, and concluded by encouraging them to hope for better times. After reading this document, the General notified to his men that their pay would cease after that day.

General Cadogan arrived at Montrose on the afternoon of the 5th of February with three regiments of foot, and 600 of Argyle’s Highlanders, and the duke reached Brechin with the dragoons the same night. The whole royalist forces continued their march the following day towards Aberdeen, but they could not overtake the insurgents, who were nearly two days’ march in advance. The latter left Aberdeen on the 7th, and the Duke of Argyle entered it the following day at the head of 400 dragoons. The main body of the insurgents, chiefly foot, marched in the direction of Old Meldrum, but a party of about 200 horse, among whom were many officers and gentlemen-volunteers, took the route to Peterhead, where some vessels were lying to carry them to France. The Duke of Argyle, without waiting for the coming up of the rest of his army, immediately sent 200 dragoons, and a party of foot under Major-General Evans, to cut off the retreat of the latter, but he did not overtake them. Upwards of 100 of the gentlemen composing this party escaped to France.

Meanwhile the insurgents continued their march westwards into Moray, and after marching through Strathspey, retired into Badenoch, where they quietly dispersed. During their retreat, however, many, whose houses lay contiguous to their route, gradually withdrew from the ranks, so that before their arrival in Badenoch a considerable reduction had taken place in their numbers. Though closely pursued by Argyle’s troops, the insurgents did not lose 100 men during the whole retreat, so well and orderly was it conducted by the Jacobite commander.

After the dispersion of the insurgents, about 160 officers and gentlemen-volunteers who had followed the army into the Highlands, hearing that two French frigates, destined to receive on board such of the adherents of the Chevalier as might be inclined to retire abroad, had arrived off the Orkney coast, sallied from the hills on horseback, and crossing the low country of Moray embarked in boats at Burgh-head, and landed in Caithness. From Caithness they proceeded to the Orkney islands, where they had the good fortune to reach the French ships, which carried them to Gottenburg. Among this party were Lord Duffus, who, being a seaman, entered into the naval service of the King of Sweden, Sir George Sinclair, Sir David Threipland of Fingask, and General Eckline. Most of these refugees entered into the Swedish army then about to invade Norway.

Thus ended an enterprise badly contrived, and conducted throughout with little judgment or energy. Yet notwithstanding the disadvantages under which it was attempted, it might have succeeded, if the efforts of the Scottish Jacobites had been seconded by the Jacobites of England; but the latter, though decidedly hostile to the House of Brunswick, were not inclined to risk their lives and fortunes in a doubtful contest, in support of the pretensions of a prince known to them only by name, and to whose religion many of them felt a deep-rooted repugnance.

FOOTNOTES:

[722] Burton’s Scotland (1689–1748), vol. ii. p. 151.

[723] Burton’s Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 188, 189.

[724] Rae, p. 294. Life of Argyle, p. 187.

[725] It must be remembered that these dates are according to the Old Style of reckoning, and that to make them accord with the New Style, eleven days must be added: thus, the 10th of November O. S. is the same as the 21st N. S.

[726] MS. referred to in Lord John Russell’s History of Europe, p. 345. Jacobite Official Account of the battle, printed at Perth, 1715.

[727] “The muir is a hill, but a very gentle one; and it has the peculiarity of being a regular curve, presenting in all parts a segment of a sphere, or rather an oblate spheroid. There are no rapid declivities and no plains. Hence, in every part of the hill, there is a close sky line, caused by the immediate curve, and where there is so much of the curve, as will reach a perpendicular of some eight feet between two bodies of men, they cannot see each other.”—Burton’s Scotland (1689–1748), vol. ii. p. 193.

[728]

“There’s some say that we wan, and some say that they wan,

And some say that nane wan at a’ man;

But one thing I’m sure, that at Sherramuir

A battle there was that I saw, man.

And we ran, and they ran, and they ran, and we ran,

But Florence[729] ran fastest of a’ man.”

The Battle of Sheriffmuir in Hogg’s Jacobite Relics.

[729] Marquis of Huntly’s horse.

[730] Colonel Harrison’s account.

[731]

“Rob Roy there stood watch on a hill, for to catch

The booty, for ought that I saw, man;

For he ne’er advanc’d from the place he was stanc’d,

Till no more was to do there at a’ man.”

Battle of Sheriffmuir.

“A short time previous to the Earl of Mar’s rising, their (the Macgregors’) depredations in the Lennox, and on the lower banks of Lochlomond, had been carried to such an extremity, that the military force of the west country was raised against them, and all the warriors of the clan seem to have been driven from their country, and to have retreated to the north, even as far as the mountains of Loch-Arkaig and Glengarry. Accordingly we find Rob Roy there in September and October 1715.

“From thence he came down with the rest of the clans, and joined general Gordon in Strathfillan. He was with the clans before Inverary, and was active in making some reprisals both by carrying off cattle on the banks of Loch-Fyne, and capturing ships that lay at anchor in the loch.

“He marched with the clans to Ardoch, and was present at the battle of Sheriffmuir, but kept a shy distance, thereby weakening that wing of the army to which the Macgregors were placed as a corps-de-reserve, on what principle it is not easy to determine, if it was not, as the bard suggests, to watch who gained the day, and then assist them in disposing of the booty.

“Before the friends of the Stuarts, however, could be properly brought to a head, Rob performed a very signal service to many of them by an act worthy of his character, and exactly in his own way. At the great hunting of Brae Mar, it has been mentioned what a number of noblemen and chiefs signed the bond of faith and mutual support. By the negligence of a chieftain to whose charge this important and dangerous document was committed, it fell into the hands of Captain Campbell, then at Fort William; and when it became known that a man of such determined Whig principles held this bond, those who signed it were seriously alarmed, and various plans were suggested for recovering it. Rob Roy Macgregor, who was at this clan meeting, had also affixed his name; but on his own account he was indifferent, as he regarded neither king nor government. He was, however, urged by several chiefs, particularly his patron, to exert himself, and if possible to recover the bond. With this view he went to Fort William in disguise, not with his usual number of attendants, and getting access to Captain Campbell, who was a near relation of his own, he discovered that, out of revenge for the contemptuous manner in which the chieftains now treated the captain, he had put the bond into the possession of the governor of the garrison, who was resolved to forward it to the privy council; and Rob, learning by accident the day on which it was to be sent, took his leave, and went home. The despatch which contained the bond was made up by Governor Hill, and sent from Fort William, escorted by an ensign’s command, which in those countries always accompanied the messages of government. On the third day’s march, Rob and 50 of his men met this party in Glendochart, and ordering them to halt, demanded their despatches. The officer refused; but Rob told him, that he would either have their lives and the despatches together, or the despatches alone. The ferocious looks and appearance of Rob and his men bespoke no irresolution. The packet was given up; and Rob, having taken out the bond he wanted, begged the officer would excuse the delay he had occasioned, and wishing him a good journey, left the military to proceed unmolested. By this manœuvre many chieftains kept on their heads, and the forfeiture of many estates was prevented.

“The following notices are from Mr. Moir’s MSS.

“One of the causes of the repulse of part of Mar’s forces was the part which Rob Roy acted; this Rob Roy, or Red Robert, was uncle to the laird of Macgregor, and commanded that clan in his nephew’s absence; but on the day of battle he kept his men together at some distance, without allowing them to engage, though they showed all the willingness imaginable; and waited only an opportunity to plunder, which was it seems the chief design of his coming there. This clan are a hardy rough people, but noted for pilfering, as they lie upon the border of the Highlands, and this Rob Roy had exercised their talents that way, pretty much in a kind of thieving war he carried on against the Duke of Montrose, who had cheated him of a small feudal estate.

“The conduct of this gentleman (who was wont, as occasion served, to assume the name of Campbell, his own being prohibited by act of parliament) was the more surprising, as he had ever been remarked for courage and activity. When desired by one of his own officers to go and assist his friends, he remarked, ‘If they cannot do it without me, they cannot do it with me.’ It is more than probable, however, that his interference would have decided the day in favour of his own party. He continued in arms for some years, and committed great depredations in the shires of Dumbarton and Lennox, particularly on the Duke of Montrose’s lands, defeating several detachments sent to reduce him.”—Jacobite Relics, vol. ii. pp. 248–251.

[732] Journal of Mar’s proceedings, printed at Paris.

[733] “The coincidence in time, of this achievement, with the reduction of Preston, and the battle of Sheriffmuir, is remarkable, and was much dwelt on at the time. But perhaps the day of the capture of Inverness not being exactly known—though it was certainly about the middle of November—it is not unlikely that the coincidence may have created a tendency to assign it to the 13th.”—Burton’s Scotland (1689–1747), vol. ii. p. 189 (note).

[734] Annals of 2d year of George I., p. 189.

[735] A true account of the proceedings at Perth, by a Rebel.

[736] This officer appears to have been very suspicious of Argyle’s motives, and did not hesitate to communicate his opinion to his superiors. In a letter to the Duke of Marlborough, he says: “Argyle grows so intolerably uneasy, that it is almost impossible to live with him any longer; he is enraged at the success of the expedition, though he and his creatures attribute to themselves the honour of it. When I brought him the news of the rebels having ran from Perth, he seemed thunderstruck; and was so visibly concerned, that even the foreign officers that were in the room took notice of it.... Since the rebels quitting Perth, he (Argyle) has sent 500 or 600 of his Argyleshire men, who go before the army a day’s march, to take possession of the towns the enemy have abandoned, and to plunder and destroy the country, which enrages our soldiers, who are forbid under pain of death to take the value of a farthing, though out of the rebels’ houses. Not one of these Argyle-men appeared whilst the rebels were in Perth, and when they might have been of some use.”—Cox’s Marlborough, vol. iii. p. 612.

[737] True Account of the Proceedings at Perth, by a Rebel.

[738] Mar’s Journal.

[739] True Account of the Proceedings at Perth.

[740] Annals of George I., vol. ii. p. 222.

[741] Mar’s Journal.

[742] Dunning, Auchterarder, Blackford, Crieff, Muthil.

[743] It is presumed this is the letter alluded to in a conversation between Lockhart of Carnwath and Captain Dougall Campbell, who is represented by him as “a person of great worth and loyalty, and a bosome friend of Argyle’s.” “Being with me (says Lockhart) at my country house, he (Campbell) asked me if I heard Argyle blam’d for having received and given no answer to a letter writt to him by the king whilst he was at Perth. I told him I had, but could not agree with those who censured him, for I had such an abhorrence of breach of trust, that had I been the duke’s adviser, it should have been to doe as he did; for tho there was nothing I so much desired as to see him engaged in the king’s cause, I wisht it done in a way consistent with his honour. Captain Campbell smiled and told me, he was to acquaint me of a secret which he must previously have my solemn word I would communicate to none, which he had given when it was revealed to him, having however obtained liberty afterwards to speak of it to me. After giving him the assurance he demanded, he told me that the letter was not delivered to the duke, for in his late Highland progress, he saw it and another to Lord Isla in the hands of the person to whose care they were committed, (but who that person was he would not tell me), who receiving them unseal’d, did not, after perusal, think it for the king’s service to deliver them, that to the duke being writt in a style by no means to be approved of; ‘and, indeed,’ added Campbell, ‘when I read them, I was entirely of the same mind, and could not but think that Mar or some other person, with a view of rather widening than healing the breaches, had prevail’d with the king to write after that manner.’ The letter to Isla was writt as to a man of business, insisting on the unhappy state of Scotland, and that nothing but a dissolution of the union by the king’s restoration, could prevent the utter ruin of that country. That to the duke did invite him to return to his loyalty and duty, threatening him, if he neglected, with revenge and the utter extirpation of his family, for what he and his predecessors had done in this and the last century. I doe not pretend to narrate the precise words of this letter, nor did Campbell mention them as such to me; however, I have narrated what he said was the aim and purport of the letter.”—Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 14, 15.

[744] What follows is in the Chevalier’s own handwriting. The original document is in the Fingask family; of course, it had never been delivered to the duke.

CHAPTER XXVII.

A.D. 1716–1737.

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS:—George I., 1714–1727.—George II., 1727–1760.

Trial and execution of the prisoners taken in the rebellion—Bills of attainder against the Earl of Mar and others—Proceedings of General Cadogan in the Highlands—Trials of the prisoners in Scotland—Act of grace—Removal of the Chevalier from France—Duke of Argyle dismissed from office—Continental affairs—Confederacy to restore the Chevalier—Threatened Spanish invasion—Disarming of the Highlanders—Means taken to prevent further disturbances by building forts, making roads, &c.—Aversion of the Highlanders to these innovations—The Chevalier appoints trustees to manage his affairs in Scotland—Discovery of a new Jacobite conspiracy—Habeas-corpus act suspended—Bolingbroke—Meeting of Highland chiefs at Paris—The disarming act—Disgrace of the Earl of Mar—His ambiguous conduct—Atterbury’s charges against him—The Chevalier’s domestic affairs—Death of George I.—Views of the Chevalier—Prospects of the Jacobites.

After the flight and dispersion of the insurgents, the Duke of Argyle returned to Edinburgh about the end of February, where he was magnificently entertained by the magistrates of the city, whence he set off for London on the 1st of March. He had left instructions with General Cadogan to keep up a communication with the Whig leaders in the north, and to distribute the troops in quarters contiguous to the adjoining Highlands, that they might be the more readily assembled to repress any fresh insurrection which might break out. To keep some of the disaffected districts in check, parties of Highlanders were placed by Lord Lovat and Brigadier Grant, in Brahan castle, and in Erchles and Borlum; the former the seat of the Chisholm, the latter that of Brigadier Mackintosh.

The fate of the prisoners taken at Preston remains now to be told. The first who were tried were Lord Charles Murray, Captain Dalziel, brother to the earl of Carnwath, Major Nairne, Captain Philip Lockhart, brother to Lockhart of Carnwath, Captain Shaftoe, and Ensign Nairne. These six were tried before a court-martial at Preston, and all, with the exception of Captain Dalziel, having been proved to have been officers in the service of government, were condemned to be shot. Lord Charles Murray received a pardon through the interest of his friends. The remainder suffered on the 2d of December.

The English parliament met on the 9th of January, 1716. The commons agreed, on the motion of Mr. Lechmere, to impeach Lords Derwentwater, Nithsdale, Wintoun, Carnwath, and Kenmure, of high treason. The articles of impeachment were carried up to the lords the same night, and on the next day these peers were brought to the bar of the house of lords to hear the articles of impeachment read. They were brought back from the Tower on the 19th, when they all pled guilty to the charge of high treason, except the Earl of Wintoun, who petitioned for a longer time to give in his answers. The rest received sentence of death on the 9th of February, in Westminster-hall. The Countess of Nithsdale and Lady Nairne surprised the king as he was passing through his apartments at St. James’s, and throwing themselves at his feet implored his mercy in behalf of their husbands; but he turned away from them with contemptuous indifference. The Countess of Derwentwater was equally unsuccessful, though introduced by the Dukes of Richmond and St. Albans into the king’s bed-chamber, and accompanied by the Duchesses of Cleveland and Bolton.

This refusal on the part of the king raised up a number of advocates in both houses of parliament, in behalf of the unfortunate noblemen. Availing themselves of this feeling, the ladies of the condemned lords, accompanied by about twenty others of equal rank, waited in the lobby of the house of peers, and at the door of the house of commons, and solicited the intercession of both houses. Next day they petitioned the houses. The commons rejected the application, and to get quit of further importunity adjourned for six or seven days, by a small majority; but the result was different in the house of lords. Petitions, craving the intercession of that house, were presented from the condemned peers, which being read, after considerable opposition, a motion was made to address his majesty to grant them a reprieve. This occasioned a warm debate; but before the vote was taken, an amendment was proposed to the effect, that his majesty should reprieve such of the peers as should seem to deserve his mercy. It was contended by the supporters of the original address, that the effect of this amendment would be to destroy the nature of the address, as from the nature of the sentence which had been passed, none of the condemned peers could deserve mercy; but the amendment was substituted, and on the vote being taken, whether the address should be presented, it was carried present, by a majority of five votes. It is said that on one of the peers afterwards observing to the mover of the amendment, that it looked as if its object was to defeat the vote, and make it of no use to the persons for whose benefit it was intended, the proposer observed, that such was his intention in moving it.[745]

The king was evidently chagrined at the conduct of the house, and when the address was presented, he informed the deputation, that on this as on all other occasions, he would do what he thought most consistent with the dignity of the crown, and the safety of his people. The Earl of Nottingham, president of the council, who had supported the petitions of the condemned lords, together with Lord Aylesford, his brother, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Finch, his son, one of the lords of the treasury, and Lord Guernsey, master of the jewel office, were all removed from office; and to show the determination of the king, orders were issued on the same day the address was delivered, for executing the Earls of Derwentwater and Nithsdale, and Viscount Kenmure the following day. The other three peers were reprieved to the 7th of March. The Earl of Nithsdale, by the assistance of his heroic wife, made his escape the night before the execution, dressed in female attire. When the king heard of his escape next morning, he observed, that “it was the best thing a man in his condition could have done.”[746]

On the morning of the 24th of February the Earl of Derwentwater and Viscount Kenmure were beheaded on Tower-hill. On ascending the scaffold, Derwentwater knelt down, and having spent some time in prayer, he got up, and drawing a paper out of his pocket, read a short address. He hoped for forgiveness through the passion and death of his Saviour; apologised to those who might have been scandalized at his pleading guilty at his trial, excusing himself for doing so on the ground that he was made to believe that it was only a consequence of having submitted to mercy, acknowledged as his only right and lawful sovereign, King James III., and earnestly hoped for his speedy restoration; and died, as he had lived, a Roman Catholic. He displayed the utmost coolness and perfect self-possession.

As soon as the remains of the Earl of Derwentwater were removed, Viscount Kenmure was brought up to the scaffold. Like Derwentwater, he expressed his regret for pleading guilty to the charge of high treason, and prayed for “King James.” After praying a short time with uplifted hands, he advanced to the fatal block, and laying down his head, the executioner struck it off at two blows.

The Earl of Wintoun, on various frivolous pretences, got his trial postponed till the 15th of March, when he was brought finally up, and, after a trial which occupied two days, was found guilty, and received sentence of death; but his lordship afterwards made his escape from the Tower and fled to France.

On the 7th of April a commission for trying the other rebels met in the court of Common Pleas, Westminster, when bills of high treason were found against Mr. Forster, Brigadier Mackintosh, Colonel Oxburgh, Mr. Menzies of Culdares, and seven of their associates, and on the 10th bills were found against eleven more. Forster escaped from Newgate, and so well had his friends concerted matters, that he reached Calais in less than 24 hours. The trials of Brigadier Mackintosh and others were fixed for the 4th of May, but about eleven o’clock the preceding night, the brigadier and fifteen other prisoners broke out of Newgate, after knocking down the keepers and disarming the sentinels. Eight were retaken, but Mackintosh and seven others escaped. The trials of the prisoners who remained proceeded: many of them were found guilty; and five, among whom were Colonel Oxburgh and Mr. Paul, a non-jurant clergyman of the Church of England, were executed at Tyburn. Twenty-two prisoners were executed in Lancashire. The remainder of the prisoners taken at Preston, amounting to upwards of 700, submitted to the king’s mercy, and having prayed for transportation, were sold as slaves to some West India merchants; a cruel proceeding, when it is considered that the greater part of these men were Highlanders, who had joined in the insurrection in obedience to the commands of their chiefs.[747]

The severities exercised by the government, and the courage and fortitude displayed by the unfortunate sufferers, wrought an extraordinary change in the dispositions of the people, who began to manifest great dissatisfaction at proceedings so revolting to humanity. Though the rebellion was extinguished, the spirit which had animated it still remained, being increased rather than diminished by the proceedings of the government; and the Tories longed for an opportunity of availing themselves of the universal dissatisfaction to secure a majority favourable to their views at the next general election. The Whigs, afraid of the result of an early election as destructive to themselves as a party and to the liberties of the country, had recourse to a bold measure, which nothing but the most urgent necessity could justify. This was no other than a plan to repeal the triennial act, and to prolong the duration of parliament. It is said that at first they intended to suspend the triennial act for one election only, but thinking that a temporary measure would appear a greater violation of constitutional law than a permanent one, they resolved to extend the duration of parliament to seven years. A bill was accordingly brought into the house of lords on the 10th of April by the Duke of Devonshire, which, notwithstanding much opposition, passed both houses, receiving the royal assent on the 7th of May. On the same day an act of attainder against the Earls Marischal, Seaforth, Southesk, Panmure, and others, also received his majesty’s sanction. An act of attainder against the Earl of Mar, the Marquis of Tullibardine, the Earl of Linlithgow, Lord Drummond, and other leaders of the insurrection, had received the royal assent on the 17th of February preceding. Besides these bills, three others were passed, one attainting Mr. Forster and Brigadier Mackintosh; another for more effectually securing the peace of the Highlands; a third appointing commissioners to inquire into the estates of those persons who had been attainted or convicted.

While the parliament was thus engaged in devising measures for maintaining the public tranquillity, General Cadogan was employed in dispersing some hostile bands of the clans which still continued to assemble with their chiefs in the remoter parts of the Highlands. Hearing that the Earl of Seaforth had retired into the island of Lewis, where he had collected a considerable body of his men under the command of Brigadier Campbell of Ormundel, an officer who had just arrived from Muscovy, where he had served in the army of the Czar, he sent a detachment into the island under the command of Colonel Cholmondely to reduce it. The earl, on the appearance of this force, crossed into Ross-shire, whence he escaped to France; and Campbell being abandoned by his men after he had formed them in order of battle, was taken prisoner while standing in a charging posture. Another detachment under Colonel Clayton, was sent into the isle of Skye, where Sir Donald Macdonald was at the head of about 1,000 men; but the chief made no resistance, and having no assurance of protection from the government in case of a surrender, retired into one of the Uists, where he remained till he obtained a ship which carried him to France. About this time three ships arrived among the western islands from France with military supplies for the use of the insurgents, but they came too late to be of any service. Two of them, after taking 70 gentlemen on board, immediately returned to France, and the third, which carried fifty chests of small arms, and one hundred and fifty barrels of gunpowder, and other military stores, was captured while at anchor near Uist by an English ship of war.

In consequence of instructions from government, General Cadogan issued an order, which was intimated at the different parish churches in the north, requiring the rebels to surrender themselves and to deliver up their arms, assuring them, that such as complied should have liberty granted to return home in safety, but threatening to punish rigorously those who refused to comply. This order was generally obeyed by the common people in the Lowlands, who had been engaged in the insurrection; but few of the Highlanders seemed to regard it. To enforce compliance, Cadogan despatched different detachments through the Highlands, and took up his quarters at Blair Athole, where he could more easily communicate with the disaffected districts. He next removed to Ruthven in Badenoch, and afterwards proceeded to Inverness, where he received Glengary’s submission. Lochiel, Keppoch, and Clanranald, had resolved to oppose by force the delivery of their arms; but on hearing that Clayton, who had returned from Skye, had resolved to march from Fortwilliam to Lochiel’s house to disarm the Camerons, these chiefs retired, and their men delivered up their arms without resistance. Having succeeded in disarming the Highlands, the general left Inverness on the 27th of April, leaving General Sabine in command, and proceeded to London. The rebellion being now considered completely extinguished, the Dutch auxiliaries were withdrawn from Scotland, and in a short time thereafter were embarked for Holland.

To try the prisoners confined in the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, Blackness, and other places in Scotland, a commission of Oyer and Terminer was appointed to sit at Carlisle in December, 1716. There were nearly seventy arraigned. Of twenty-nine who were brought to trial, twenty-five pled guilty. Brigadier Campbell of Ormundel, Tulloch of Tannachie, Stewart of Foss, and Stewart of Glenbuckie, entered a plea of not guilty. The two last having satisfied the solicitor-general of their innocence, he allowed a writ of noli prosequi to be entered in their behalf, and Campbell having escaped from the castle of Carlisle, Tulloch alone stood his trial, but he was acquitted. Sentence of death was passed upon the twenty-five who had admitted their guilt, and thirty-six were discharged for want of evidence; but the sentence of death was never put into execution. It was wise in the government to pacify the national disaffection by showing mercy.

Following up the same humane view, an act of grace was passed in 1717 by the king and both houses of parliament, granting a free and general pardon to all persons who had committed any treasonable offences, before the 6th of May of that year, with the exception of those who, having committed such offences, had gone beyond the seas, and who, before the said day, had returned into Great Britain or Ireland without his majesty’s license, or who should on or after the said day return into either of the kingdoms without such license. All persons of the name and clan of Macgregor were also excepted, as well as all such persons as should, on the 5th of May, 1717, remain attainted for high treason. But all such persons so attainted, unless specially named, and who had not escaped out of prison, were freely pardoned and discharged. Under this act the Earl of Carnwath, and Lords Widdrington and Nairne, were delivered from the Tower: seventeen persons confined in Newgate, the prisoners still remaining in the castles of Lancaster and Carlisle, and those in the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and other places in Scotland, including Lords Strathallan and Rollo, were likewise released.

While the Chevalier was preparing to embark for Scotland, the Earl of Stair, (the ambassador at the court of France,) had used every effort to prevent him. Duclos and others say that Stair not only applied to the Duke of Orleans, the regent, to have the Chevalier arrested, but that finding the regent insincere in his promises of compliance, he sent persons to assassinate the Chevalier on the road when crossing France to embark for Scotland. That Stair made such an application, and that he employed spies to watch the progress of the prince, are circumstances highly probable; but both Marshal Berwick and the Earl of Mar discredited the last part of the story, as they considered Stair incapable of ordering an action so atrocious as the assassination of the prince.[748]

On the return of the Chevalier, Stair, afraid that he and his partisans in France would intrigue with the court, presented a memorial to the regent in name of his Britannic majesty, in which, after notifying the flight of the Chevalier, and the dispersion of his forces, he requested the regent to compel the prince to quit France. He next insisted that such of the rebels as had retired to France should be ordered forthwith to depart from that country. The removal of the Jacobite exiles from the French court was all that the earl could at that time obtain from the regent. By an agreement, however, which was shortly thereafter entered into between France and England, mutually guaranteeing the succession to the crown of France, and the Hanover succession according to the provisions of the treaty of Utrecht, it was stipulated that the Pretender should be sent beyond the Alps, and should never be allowed to return again to France or Lorraine on any pretence whatever, and that none of the rebellious subjects of Great Britain should be allowed to reside in France.

After the suppression of the insurrection, the leading supporters of government in Scotland repaired to London to congratulate George I. on the success of his arms, and to obtain the rewards they expected. The Duke of Argyle, to whose exertions chiefly the king was indebted for his peaceable accession to the throne, and the extinction of the rebellion, was already so overloaded with favours that he could scarcely expect any addition to be made to them, and would probably have been contented with those he had obtained. The “squadron” party, however, which had been long endeavouring to ruin him, now made every exertion to get him disgraced; and being assisted by the Marlborough faction, and a party which espoused the interests of Cadogan, they succeeded with the king, who dismissed the duke and his brother, the Earl of Islay, from all their employments, which were conferred on others. General Carpenter, to whom the success at Preston was entirely ascribed, succeeded Argyle in the chief command of the forces in North Britain; and the Duke of Montrose was appointed Lord-Register of Scotland in the room of the Earl of Islay.

The aspect of affairs in the north of Europe requiring the king’s presence in his German dominions, an act was passed repealing the clause in the act for the further limitation of the crown, which restricted the sovereign from leaving his British dominions. He closed the session on the 26th of June, and embarked at Gravesend on the 7th of July for Holland, where he arrived on the 9th. He proceeded to Loo incognito, and thence set out for Pyrmont.

For reasons which need not be stated here, Alberoni, the Spanish prime minister, was eager that Great Britain should enter upon an alliance with his country, and in his appeal to George I. he was backed by the English minister at Madrid. George thus found himself placed in a singular but fortunate situation. Equally courted by France and Spain, he had only to choose between them, and to form that connexion which might be most conducive to uphold the Protestant succession and to maintain the peace of Europe, with which the internal peace of Great Britain and the safety of the reigning family were intimately connected. The alliance with France being considered as more likely to secure these advantages than a connexion with Spain, the English minister at Madrid was instructed by the cabinet at home to decline the offers of Spain. “His majesty,” said secretary Stanhope, in his letter to the minister, “is perfectly disposed to enter into a new treaty with the Catholic king, to renew and confirm the past; but the actual situation of affairs does not permit him to form other engagements, which, far from contributing to preserve the neutrality of Italy, would give rise to jealousies tending to disturb it.”[749]

This was followed by the agreement with France, to which allusion has been made, and in January, 1717, a triple alliance was entered into between England, France, and Holland, by which the contracting parties mutually guaranteed to one another the possession of all places respectively held by them. The treaty also contained a guaranty of the Protestant succession on the throne of England, as well as that of the Duke of Orleans to the crown of France.

Baffled in all his attempts to draw England into an alliance against the Emperor of Austria, Alberoni looked to the north, where he hoped to find allies in the persons of the King of Sweden and the Czar of Muscovy. Both Peter the Great and Charles XII. were highly incensed against the Elector of Hanover, the former for resisting the attempts of Russia to obtain a footing in the empire, the latter for having joined the confederacy formed against him during his captivity, and for having accepted from the King of Denmark the duchies of Bremen and Verden, Swedish possessions, which had been conquered by Denmark during the absence of Charles. Charles, to revenge himself, formed the design of restoring the Stuarts, and by his instructions, Goertz, his minister in England, began to cabal with the English Jacobites, to whom, in name of his master, he promised to grant assistance in any efforts they might make to rid themselves of the elector. It was whispered among the Scottish Jacobites, that “the king,” as they termed the Chevalier, had some hopes of prevailing on Charles to espouse his cause, but the first notice on which they could place any reliance was a letter from the Earl of Mar to one Captain Straiton, which he directed to be communicated to the Bishop of Edinburgh, Lord Balmerino, and Mr. Lockhart of Carnwath, and in which he suggested, that as there was a great scarcity in Sweden, the friends of the Chevalier should purchase and send 5,000 or 6,000 bolls of meal to that country. Their poverty, however, and the impracticability of collecting and sending such a large quantity of food out of the kingdom, without exciting the suspicions of the government, prevented the plan from being carried into execution.[750] Shortly thereafter, Straiton received another letter from Mar, in which, after stating that there was a design to attempt the restoration of the prince by the aid of a certain foreign sovereign, and that it would look strange if his friends at home did not put themselves in a condition to assist him, he suggested, that as the want of money had been hitherto a great impediment in the way of the Chevalier’s success, the persons to whom this and his first letter were to be communicated, should persuade their friends to have in readiness such money as they could procure, to be employed when the proper opportunity offered. Mr. Lockhart, who received a letter from the Chevalier at the same time, undertook the task of acquainting the Chevalier’s friends in Scotland with Mar’s wish, and obtained assurances from several persons of rank that they would attend to the prince’s request. Lord Eglinton in particular made an offer of 3,000 guineas.

The intrigues of Goertz, the Swedish minister, being discovered by the government, he was arrested and his papers seized at the desire of King George. This extraordinary proceeding, against which the foreign ministers resident at the British court remonstrated, roused the indignation of Charles to the highest pitch, and being now more determined than ever to carry his project into effect, he, at the instigation of Alberoni, reconciled himself to the Czar, who, in resentment of an offer made by King George to Charles to join against Russia, if the latter would ratify the cession of Bremen and Verden, agreed to unite his forces with those of Sweden and Spain for placing the Pretender on the throne of England. To strengthen the interest of the Chevalier in the north, Alberoni sent the Duke of Ormond into Russia to negotiate a marriage between the son of the Chevalier, and Anne the daughter of Peter, but this project did not take effect. The Chevalier himself, in the meantime, contracted a marriage with the Princess Clementina Sobieski, but she was arrested at Inspruck by order of the imperial government, when on her journey to meet her betrothed husband, and sent to a convent.

King George returned to England towards the end of January, 1717. The parliament met on the 20th of February, when he informed them of the projected invasion, and mentioned that he had given orders for laying copies of papers connected therewith before them. From these documents it appeared, that the plan of invasion was ripe for execution, but that it was not intended to attempt it till the Dutch auxiliaries should be sent back to Holland.

In consequence of the conduct of his Swedish majesty, parliament passed a bill prohibiting all intercourse with Sweden, and a fleet was despatched to the Baltic under the command of Sir George Byng, to observe the motions of the Swedes; but the death of Charles XII. dissolved the confederacy between Sweden and Russia.

War was declared against Spain in December 1718; but a respectable minority in parliament, and the nation at large, were opposed to it, as hurtful to the commercial interests of Great Britain. France also followed the same course.

The war with Spain revived the hopes of the Jacobites, and the Duke of Ormond repaired to Madrid, where he held conferences with Alberoni, and concerted an invasion of Great Britain. The Dutch, alarmed at Ormond’s appearance at Madrid, remonstrated with Alberoni, as they had guaranteed the Protestant succession, which might be endangered if an insurrection in favour of the Chevalier de St. George was encouraged by Spain; but the cardinal assured them that the duke had no other design in coming into Spain but to consult his personal safety. Meanwhile, under the pretence of sending reinforcements into Sicily, preparations were made at Cadiz and in the ports of Galicia for the projected invasion, and the Chevalier himself proceeded to Madrid, where he was cordially received and treated as King of Great Britain. On the 10th of March, 1719, a fleet, consisting of ten men-of-war and twenty-one transports, having on board 5,000 men, a great quantity of ammunition, and 30,000 muskets, sailed from Cadiz, with instructions to join the rest of the expedition at Corunna, and to make a descent at once upon England and Ireland. The Duke of Ormond was appointed commander of the fleet, with the title of Captain-general of his most Catholic Majesty; and he was provided with declarations in the name of the king, stating, that for many good reasons he had sent forces into England and Scotland to act as auxiliaries to King James.

To defeat this attempt the allied cabinets adopted the necessary measures. His Britannic majesty having communicated to both houses of parliament the advices he had received respecting the projected invasion, they gave him every assurance of support, and requested him to augment his forces by sea and land. He offered a reward of £10,000 to any one who should apprehend the Duke of Ormond. Troops were ordered to assemble in the north and west of England, and a strong squadron, under Admiral Norris, was equipped and sent out to sea to meet the Spanish fleet. The Dutch furnished 2,000 men, and six battalions of Imperialists were sent from the Austrian Netherlands; and the Duke of Orleans ordered ships to be prepared at Brest to join the English fleet, and made an offer of twenty battalions for the service of King George.

The expedition under Ormond, with the exception of two frigates, never reached its destination, having been dispersed and disabled, off Cape Finisterre, by a violent storm which lasted twelve days. These two ships reached the coast of Scotland, having on board the Earls Marischal and Seaforth, the Marquis of Tullibardine, some field officers, 300 Spaniards, and arms for 2,000 men. The expedition entered Loch Alsh about the middle of May, and the small force landed in the western Highlands, when it was joined by some Highlanders, chiefly Seaforth’s men. The other Jacobite clans, with the disappointment they formerly experienced from France still fresh in their recollection, resolved not to move till the whole forces under Ormond should arrive. A difference arose between the Earl Marischal and the Marquis of Tullibardine about the command, but this dispute was put an end to by the advance of General Wightman from Inverness, with a body of regular troops. The Highlanders and their allies had taken possession of the pass at Glenshiel; but on the approach of the government forces they retired to the pass at Strachell, which they resolved to defend. General Wightman attacked and drove them, after a smart action of three hours’ duration, and after sustaining some loss, from one eminence to another, when night put an end to the combat. The Highlanders seeing no chance of making a successful resistance, dispersed, during the night, among the mountains, and the Spaniards, on the following day, surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Marischal, Seaforth, and Tullibardine, with the other officers, retired to the Western Isles, and managed to escape to the continent.[751]

After government had succeeded in putting an end to the rebellion, it felt the necessity of doing something, not only to allay the consequent disorders in the Highlands, but also to render the Highlanders less capable in future of entering into rebellion, and make them more accessible to the strong arm of the law. The estates of most of the chiefs and proprietors who had been engaged were forfeited, although practically in some cases it was found difficult to carry the forfeiture into effect; as in the case of the Earl of Seaforth, one of whose retainers seized the office of receiver, and transmitted the rents to the exiled earl.

Lord Lovat, who, on account of his loyal conduct, had risen high in the royal favour, drew up, in 1721, a memorial to George I. concerning the state of the Highlands, characterised by great insight into the source of the existing evils, and recommending to government the adoption of measures calculated to remedy these.

From this memorial we learn that King William, possibly in accordance with the recommendation of Breadalbane, formerly referred to, had organized a few independent Highland companies, which appear to have been of some service in repressing the disorders so prevalent in the north.[752] “The independent companies, raised by King William not long after the revolution, reduced the Highlanders to better order than at any time they had been in since the restoration. They were composed of the natives of the country, inured to the fatigue of travelling the mountains, lying on the hills, wore the same habit, and spoke the same language; but for want of being put under proper regulations, corruptions were introduced, and some, who commanded them, instead of bringing criminals to justice, (as I am informed) often compounded for the theft, and, for a sum of money set them at liberty. They are said also to have defrauded the government by keeping not above half their numbers in constant pay, which (as I humbly conceive) might be the reason your majesty caused them to be disbanded.”[753]

These companies being broken up in 1717, according to Lovat and Wade, robberies went on “without any manner of fear or restraint, and have ever since continued to infest the country in a public and open manner.”[754]

Wade entered upon his investigation in 1724, and his report shows he was competent to undertake such a task. He computed that of the 22,000 Highlandmen able to bear arms, 10,000 were “vassals to superiors,” well affected to government, and the remainder had been engaged in rebellions, and were ready, when called upon by their chiefs, “to create new troubles.” One of the greatest grievances was the robberies referred to by Lovat, accompanied with the levying of black mail. According to the general, “the clans, in the Highlands, the most addicted to rapine and plunder, are the Camerons, on the west of the shire of Inverness; the Mackenzies and others, in the shire of Ross, who were vassals to the late Earl of Seaforth; the M’Donalds of Keppoch; the Broadalbin men and the M’Gregors, on the borders of Argileshire. They go out in parties from ten to thirty men, traverse large tracks of mountains, till they arrive at the low lands, where they design to commit their depredations, which they choose to do in places distant from the glens which they inhabit. They drive the stolen cattle in the night time, and in the day remain on the tops of the mountains or in the woods, (with which the Highlands abound), and take the first occasion to sell them at the fairs or markets that are annually held in many parts of the country.

“Those who are robbed of their cattle (or persons employed by them), follow them by the tract, and often recover them from the robbers, by compounding for a certain sum of money agreed on; but if the pursuers are in numbers superiour to the thieves, and happen to seize any of them, they are seldom or never prosecuted, the poorer sort being unable to support the charges of a prosecution. They are likewise under the apprehension of becoming the object of their revenge, by having their houses and stacks burnt, their cattle stolen, or hocked, and their lives at the mercy of the tribe or clan to whom the banditti belongs. The richer sort, to keep, as they call it, good neighbourhood, generally compound with the chieftain of the tribe or clan for double restitution, which he willingly pays to save one of his clan from prosecution; and this is repaid him by a contribution from the thieves of his clan, who never refuse the payment of their proportion to save one of their own fraternity. This composition is seldom paid in money, but in cattle stolen from the opposite side of the country, to make reparation to the person injured.”[755]

To remedy these evils, an act for the disarming of the Highlanders was passed in the year 1716, but it was so badly put into force that the most disaffected clans remained better armed than ever. By the act, the collectors of taxes were empowered to pay for the arms delivered up; but none were given in except such as were broken and unfit for use, which were valued at a price far beyond what they were worth. Not only so, but a brisk trade appears to have been carried on with Holland and other countries in broken and useless arms, which were imported and delivered up to the commissioners at exorbitant prices. Wade also found in the possession of the Highlanders a great number of arms which they had obtained from the Spaniards engaged in the affair at Glen Shiel. Altogether he computed that the Highlanders hostile to his majesty were in possession of about five or six thousand arms of various kinds. Wade further reports that to keep the Highlanders in awe, “four barracks had been built in different parts of the Highlands, and parties of regular troops, under the command of Highland officers, with a company of 30, established to conduct them through the mountains, was thought an effectual scheme, as well to prevent the rising of the Highlanders disaffected to your majesty’s government, as to hinder depredations on your faithful subjects. It is to be wished that, during the reign of your majesty and your successors, no insurrection may ever happen to experience whether the barracks will effectually answer the end proposed; yet I am humbly of opinion, that if the number of troops they are built to contain were constantly quartered in them (whereas there is now in some but 30 men, and proper provisions laid in for their support during the winter season), they might be of some use to prevent the insurrections of the Highlanders, though, as I humbly conceive (having seen them all), that two of the four are not built in as proper situations as they might have been. As to the Highland parties, I have already presumed to represent to your majesty the little use they were of in hindering depredations, and the great sufferings of the soldiers employed in that service, upon which your majesty was graciously pleased to countermand them.

“I must farther beg leave to report to your majesty, that another great cause of disorders in the Highlands is the want of proper persons to execute the several offices of civil magistrates, especially in the shires of Inverness, Ross, and some other parts of the Highlands.

“The party quarrels and violent animosities among the gentlemen equally well affected to your majesty’s government, I humbly conceive to be one great cause of this defect. Those here in arms for your majesty, who raised a spirit in the shire of Inverness, and recovered the town of that name from the rebels (their main body being then at Perth), complain that the persons employed as magistrates over them have little interest in the country, and that three of the deputy sheriffs in those parts were persons actually in arms against your majesty at the time of the rebellion, which (as I am credibly informed) is true. They likewise complain that many are left out of the commissions of lord lieutenants, deputy lieutenants, sheriffs, &c., and I take the liberty to observe, that the want of acting justices of the peace is a great encouragement to the disorders so frequently committed in that part of the country, there being but one now residing as an acting justice for the space of above an hundred miles in compass.”[756]

He also complained that the regular troops laboured under great disadvantages in endeavouring to penetrate in the Highland fastnesses from the want of roads and bridges.

Fort Augustus.

As a remedy for these evils he proposed “that companies of such Highlanders as are well affected to his majesty’s government be established under proper regulations, and commanded by officers speaking the language of the country, subject to martial law, and under the inspection and orders of the governors of Fort-William, Inverness, and the officer commanding his majesty’s forces in those parts;”[757] that a redoubt or barrack be erected at Inverness, and an addition be made to the one already established at Killyhuimen (Fort Augustus), at the south end of Loch Ness, and that a small vessel, with oars and sails, be built on the loch, capable of holding from sixty to eighty soldiers, which would be a means of keeping up communication between Inverness and Fort Augustus, and of sending parties to the county bordering on the lake. Further, that the different garrisons and castles in North Britain, especially the castle of Edinburgh, be put in such condition as to guard against surprise, and that a regiment of dragoons be quartered in the district between Perth and Inverness. As to the civil government of the country, Wade recommended that proper persons be nominated for sheriffs and deputy sheriffs in the Highland counties, and that justices of the peace and constables, with small salaries, be established in proper places, and that quarter sessions be regularly held at Killyhuimen, Ruthven in Badenoch, Fort William, and if necessary, at Bernera, near the coast of the Isle of Skye.

By an act passed in 1725, Wade was empowered to proceed to the Highlands and summon the clans to deliver up their arms, and to carry most of his other recommendations into effect. After quelling the malt-tax riots in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Wade set out for the Highlands, and arrived in Inverness on the 10th of August 1725, and immediately proceeded to business. As his report contains much interesting and valuable information on the state of the Highlands at this time, we shall give here a large extract from it.

“The laird of the M’Kenzies, and other chiefs of the clans and tribes, tenants to the late Earl of Seaforth, came to me in a body, to the number of about fifty, and assured me that both they and their followers were ready to pay a dutiful obedience to your majesty’s commands, by a peaceable surrender of their arms; that if your majesty would be graciously pleased to procure them an indemnity for the rents that had been misapplied for the time past, they would for the future become faithful subjects to your majesty, and pay them to your majesty’s receiver for the use of the public. I assured them of your majesty’s gracious intentions towards them, and that they might rely on your majesty’s bounty and clemency, provided they would merit it by their future good conduct and peaceable behaviour; that I had your majesty’s commands to send the first summons to the country they inhabited; which would soon give them an opportunity of showing the sincerity of their promises, and of having the merit to set example to the rest of the Highlands, who in their turns were to be summoned to deliver up their arms, pursuant to the disarming act; that they might choose the place they themselves thought most convenient to surrender their arms; and that I would answer, that neither their persons nor their property should be molested by your majesty’s troops.—They desired they might be permitted to deliver up their arms at the castle of Brahan, the principal seat of their late superior, who, they said, had promoted and encouraged them to this their submission; but begged that none of the Highland companies might be present; for, as they had always been reputed the bravest, as well as the most numerous of the northern clans, they thought it more consistent with their honour to resign their arms to your majesty’s veteran troops;—to which I readily consented.

“Summonses were accordingly sent to the several clans and tribes, the inhabitants of 18 parishes, who were vassals or tenants of the late Earl of Seaforth, to bring or send in all their arms and warlike weapons to the castle of Brahan, on or before the 28th of August.

“On the 25th of August I went to the castle of Brahan, with a detachment of 200 of the regular troops, and was met there by the chiefs of the several clans and tribes, who assured me they had used their utmost diligence in collecting all the arms they were possessed of, which should be brought thither on the Saturday following, pursuant to the summons they had received; and telling me they were apprehensive of insults or depredations from the neighbouring clans of the Camerons, and others who still continued in possession of their arms. Parties of the Highland companies were ordered to guard the passes leading to their country; which parties continued there for their protection, till the clans in that neighbourhood were summoned, and had surrendered their arms.

“On the day appointed, the several clans and tribes assembled in the adjacent villages, and marched in good order through the great avenue that leads to the castle; and one after another laid down their arms in the court-yard, in great quiet and decency, amounting to 784 of the several species mentioned in the act of parliament.

“The solemnity with which this was performed, had undoubtedly a great influence over the rest of the Highland clans; and disposed them to pay that obedience to your majesty’s commands, by a peaceable surrender of their arms, which they had never done to any of your royal predecessors, or in compliance with any law either before or since the Union.

“The next summons were sent to the clans and countries in the neighbourhood of Killyhuimen and Fort William. The arms of the several clans of the M’Donalds of Glengary, M’Leods of Glenelg, Chisholms of Strathglass, and Grants of Glenmoriston, were surrendered to me at the barrack of Killyhuimen, the 15th of September; and those of the M’Donalds of Keppoch, Moidart, Aresaig, and Glencoe; as also the Camerons, and Stewarts of Appin, were delivered to the governor of Fort William. The M’Intoshes were summoned, and brought in their arms to Inverness; and the followers of the Duke of Gordon, with the clan of M’Phersons, to the barrack of Ruthven in Badenoch.

“The inhabitants of the isles of Skye and Mull were also summoned; the M’Donalds, M’Kinnons, and M’Leods delivered their arms at the barrack of Bernera; and those of the Isle of Mull, to the officer commanding at Castle Duart, both on the 1st day of October.

“The regiments remained till that time encamped at Inverness; and this service was performed by sending detachments from the camp to the several parts of the Highlands appointed for the surrender of arms. Ammunition bread was regularly delivered to the soldiers, and biscuits to the detachments that were sent into the mountains. The camp was plentifully supplied with provisions, and an hospital in the town provided for the sick men. This contributed to preserve the soldiers in health; so that notwithstanding the excessive bad weather and continued rains that fell during the campaign, there died of the three regiments no more than ten soldiers:—but the weather growing cold, and the snow falling in the mountains, obliged me to break up the camp, and send the troops into winter quarters.

“The new-raised companies of Highlanders were for some time encamped with the regular troops, performing the duty of the camp with the rest of the soldiers. They mounted guard, went out upon parties, had the articles of war read and explained to them, and were regularly paid with the rest of the troops. When they had made some progress in their exercise and discipline, they were sent to their respective stations with proper orders; as well to prevent the Highlanders from returning to the use of arms, as to hinder their committing depredations on the low country.

“The Lord Lovat’s company was posted to guard all the passes in the mountains, from the Isle of Skye eastward, as far as Inverness; the company of Colonel Grant in the several passes from Inverness southward to Dunkeld; Sir Duncan Campbell’s company, from Dunkeld westward, as far as the country of Lorn. The three companies commanded by lieutenants were posted, the first at Fort William; the second at Killyhuimen; and the third at Ruthven in Badenoch; and may in a short time be assembled in a body, to march to any part of the Highlands as occasion may require.

“The clans of the northern Highlands having peaceably surrendered their arms, pursuant to the several summonses sent them in your majesty’s name, and consequently exposed to the inroads of their neighbours, to prevent this inconvenience, (though the season of the year was far advanced) I thought it both just and necessary to proceed to disarm the southern clans, who had also joined in the rebellion, and thereby to finish the campaign by summoning all the clans and countries who had taken up arms against your majesty in the year 1715.

“Summonses were accordingly sent to the inhabitants of the Brea of Mar, Perth, Athol, Braidalbin, Menteth, and those parts of the shire of Stirling and Dumbarton included in the disarming act. Parties of the regular troops were ordered to march from the nearest garrisons to several places appointed for the surrender of their arms, and circular letters were sent to the principal gentlemen in those parts, exciting them to follow the example of the northern Highlands. The clans of these countries brought in their arms on the days and at the places appointed by their respective summonses, but not in so great a quantity as the northern clans had done. The gentlemen assured me they had given strict orders to their tenants to bring in all the arms they had in their possession; but that many of them, knowing they were not to be paid for them, as stipulated by the former act, several had been carried to the forges, and turned into working tools and other peaceable instruments; there being no prohibition by the act of parliament to hinder them from disposing of them in any manner they thought most to their advantage, provided they had no arms in their possession, after the day mentioned in the summons; and if the informations I have received are true, the same thing has been practised, more or less, by all the clans that have been summoned pursuant to the present act of parliament, which makes no allowance for arms delivered up, in order to prevent the notorious frauds and abuses committed by those who had the execution of the former act, whereby your majesty paid near £13,000 for broken and useless arms, that were hardly worth the expense of carriage.

“The number of arms collected this year in the Highlands, of the several species mentioned in the disarming act, amount in the whole to 2,685. The greatest part of them are deposited in the Castle of Edinburgh, and the rest at Fort William, and the barrack of Bernera. At the time they were brought in by the clans, there was a mixture of good and bad; but the damage they received in the carriage, and growing rusty by being exposed to rain, they are of little more worth than the value of the iron.

“In the execution of the power given me by your majesty, to grant licences to such persons whose business or occupation required the use of arms for their safety and defence, I have given out in the whole 230 licences to the foresters, drovers, and dealers in cattle, and other merchandise, belonging to the several clans who have surrendered their arms, which are to remain in force for two years, provided they behave themselves during that time as faithful subjects to your majesty, and peaceably towards their neighbours. The names of the persons empowered to wear arms by these licences are entered in a book, as also the names of the gentlemen by whom they were recommended, and who have promised to be answerable for their good behaviour.

“The several summonses for the surrender of arms have been affixed to the doors of 129 parish churches, on the market crosses of the county towns; and copies of the same regularly entered in the sheriff’s books in the method prescribed by the disarming act, by which these Highlanders who shall presume to wear arms without a legal qualification, are subject to the penalties of that law which has already had so good an effect, that, instead of guns, swords, durks, and pistols, they now travel to their churches, markets, and fairs with only a staff in their hands. Since the Highland companies have been posted at their respective stations, several of the most notorious thieves have been seized on and committed to prison, some of which are now under prosecution, but others, either by the corruption or negligence of the jailers, have been set at liberty, or suffered to make their escape.

“The imposition commonly called black-meal is now no longer paid by the inhabitants bordering on the Highlands; and robberies and depredations, formerly complained of, are less frequently attempted than has been known for many years past, there having been but one single instance where cattle have been stolen, without being recovered and returned to their proper owners.

“At my first coming to the Highlands, I caused an exact survey to be taken of the lakes, and that part of the country lying between Inverness and Fort William, which extends from the east to the west sea, in order to render the communication more practicable; and materials were provided for the vessel which, by your majesty’s commands, was to be built on the Lake Ness; which is now finished and launched into the lake. It is made in the form of a gally, either for rowing or sailing; is capable of carrying a party of 50 or 60 soldiers to any part of the country bordering on the said lake; and will be of great use for transporting provisions and ammunition from Inverness to the barrack of Killyhuimen, where four companies of foot have been quartered since the beginning of last October.

“I presume also to acquaint your majesty, that parties of regular troops have been constantly employed in making the roads of communication between Killyhuimen and Fort William, who have already made so good a progress in that work, that I hope, before the end of next summer, they will be rendered both practicable and convenient for the march of your majesty’s forces between those garrisons, and facilitate their assembling in one body, if occasion should require.

“The fortifications and additional barracks, which, by your majesty’s commands were to be erected at Inverness and Killyhuimen, are the only part of your majesty’s instructions which I have not been able to put in execution. There were no persons in that part of the Highlands of sufficient credit or knowledge to contract for a work of so extensive a nature. The stone must be cut out of the quarries; nor could the timber be provided sooner than by sending to Norway to purchase it; and, although the materials had been ready and at hand, the excessive rains, that fell during the whole summer season, must have rendered it impossible to have carried on the work. I have, however, contracted for the necessary repairs of the old castle at Inverness, which I am promised will be finished before next winter.

“I humbly beg leave to observe to your majesty, that nothing has contributed more to the success of my endeavours in disarming the Highlanders, and reducing the vassals of the late Earl of Seafield to your obedience, than the power your majesty was pleased to grant me of receiving the submissions of persons attainted of high treason. They were dispersed in different parts of the Highlands, without the least apprehension of being betrayed or molested by their countrymen, and, for their safety and protection, must have contributed all they were able to encourage the use of arms, and to infect the minds of those people on whose protection they depended. In this situation, they were proper instruments, and always ready to be employed in promoting the interest of the Pretender, or any other foreign power they thought capable of contributing to a change in that government to which they had forfeited their lives, and from whom they expected no favour. The greatest part of them were drawn into the rebellion at the instigation of their superiors, and, in my humble opinion, have continued their disaffection, rather from despair than any real dislike to your majesty’s government; for it was no sooner known that your majesty had empowered me to receive the submissions of those who repented of their crimes, and were willing and desirous for the future to live peaceably under your mild and moderate government, but applications were made to me from several of them to intercede with your majesty on their behalf, declaring their readiness to abandon the Pretender’s party, and to pay a dutiful obedience to your majesty; to which I answered, that I should be ready to intercede in their favour, when I was farther convinced of the sincerity of their promises; that it would soon come to their turn to be summoned to bring in their arms; and, when they had paid that first mark of their obedience, by peaceably surrendering them, I should thereby be better justified in receiving their submissions, and in recommending them to your majesty’s mercy and clemency.

“As soon as their respective clans had delivered up their arms, several of these attainted persons came to me at different times and places to render their submissions to your majesty. They laid down their swords on the ground, expressed their sorrow and concern for having made use of them in opposition to your majesty; and promised a peaceful and dutiful obedience for the remaining part of their lives. They afterwards sent me their several letters of submission, copies of which I transmitted to your majesty’s principal secretary of state.

“I made use of the proper arguments to convince them of their past folly and rashness, and gave them hopes of obtaining pardon from your majesty’s gracious and merciful disposition; but, being a stranger both to their persons and character, I required they would procure gentlemen of unquestioned zeal to your majesty’s government, who would write to me in their favour, and in some measure be answerable for their future conduct—which was accordingly done.

“When the news came that your majesty was graciously pleased to accept their submission, and had given the proper orders for preparing their pardons, it was received with great joy and satisfaction throughout the Highlands, which occasioned the Jacobites at Edinburgh to say, (by way of reproach,) that I had not only defrauded the Highlanders of their arms, but had also debauched them from their loyalty and allegiance.”[758]

Barracks were built at Inverness, a fort erected at Fort-Augustus, and at various places over the country small towers or forts, each capable of containing a small number of soldiers.

Wade at the same time received letters of submission from a considerable number of chiefs and other troublesome Highlanders who were lying under the taint of high treason. These were expressed in terms of excessive humility and contrition, and were full of the strongest promises of future good behaviour. Wade seems, as Burton[759] remarks, “to have known so little of the people as to believe in their sincerity. Yet the contemporary correspondence of the Jacobites indicates, what subsequent events confirmed, that the Highlanders, with the inscrutable diplomatic cunning peculiar to their race, had overreached the military negotiator, and committed a quantity of effective arms to places of concealment.”[760]

One of the greatest services rendered by Wade to the government, and that for which he is chiefly known to posterity, was the construction of roads through the Highlands, in order to facilitate the march of troops, and open up a communication between the various garrisons. Previous to this the only substitutes for roads existing in the Highlands were the rude tracts, sometimes scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding waste, made by many generations of Highlanders and their cattle over mountains, through bogs, across rapid rivers, skirting giddy precipices, and perfectly bewildering and fraught with danger to any but natives. Captain Burt, one of the engineers engaged in Wade’s expedition, gives in his Letters many graphic descriptions of the difficulties and dangers attendant on travelling in the Highlands before the making of these new roads. “The old ways,” he says, “(for roads I shall not call them,) consisted chiefly of stony moors, bogs, rugged, rapid fords, declivities of hills, entangling woods, and giddy precipices.”[761] As a specimen of what the traveller might expect in his progress among the mountains, we give the following incident which occurred to Burt in one of his own journeys.[762] “There was nothing remarkable afterwards, till I came near the top of the hill; where there was a seeming plain, of about 150 yards, between me and the summit.

“No sooner was I upon the edge of it, but my guide desired me to alight; and then I perceived it was a bog, or peat-moss, as they call it.

“I had experience enough of these deceitful surfaces to order that the horses should be led in separate parts, lest, if one broke the turf, the other, treading in his steps, might sink.

“The horse I used to ride having little weight but his own, went on pretty successfully; only now and then breaking the surface a little; but the other, that carried my portmanteau, and being not quite so nimble, was much in danger, till near the further end, and there he sank. But it luckily happened to be in a part where his long legs went to the bottom, which is generally hard gravel, or rock; but he was in almost up to the back.

“By this time my own (for distinction) was quite free of the bog, and being frighted, stood very tamely by himself; which he would not have done at another time. In the mean while we were forced to wait at a distance, while the other was flouncing and throwing the dirt about him; for there was no means of coming near him to ease him of the heavy burden he had upon his loins, by which he was sometimes in danger to be turned upon his back, when he rose to break the bog before him. But, in about a quarter of an hour, he got out, bedaubed with the slough, shaking with fear, and his head and neck all over in a foam.

“As for myself, I was harassed on this slough, by winding about from place to place, to find such tufts as were within my stride or leap, in my heavy boots with high heels; which, by my spring, when the little hillocks were too far asunder, broke the turf, and then I threw myself down toward the next protuberance; but to my guide it seemed nothing; he was light of body, shod with flat brogues, wide in the soles, and accustomed to a particular step, suited to the occasion.

“This hill was about three quarters of a mile over, and had but a short descent on the further side, rough, indeed, but not remarkable in this country. I had now five computed miles to go before I came to my first asylum,—that is, five Scots miles, which, as in the north of England, are longer than yours as three is to two; and, if the difficulty of the way were to be taken into account, it might well be called fifteen. This, except about three quarters of a mile of heathy ground, pretty free from stones and rocks, consisted of stony moors, almost impracticable for a horse with his rider, and likewise of rocky way, where we were obliged to dismount, and sometimes climb, and otherwhile slide down. But what vexed me most of all, they called it a road; and yet I must confess it was preferable to a boggy way. The great difficulty was to wind about with the horses, and find such places as they could possibly be got over.”

Wade went vigorously to work in the construction of his roads, selecting from the regular troops and Highland companies 500 men, who were put on extra pay while at the work of road-making. Notwithstanding the many difficulties to be encountered, the inexperience of the workmen, and the inferior tools then at their command for such a purpose, the undertaking was satisfactorily accomplished in about ten years. A Scottish gentleman, who visited the Highlands in 1737, found the roads completed, and was surprised by the improvements which he found to have arisen from them, amongst which he gratefully notes the existence of civilized places for the entertainment of travellers. Formerly the only apologies for hostelries in the Highlands were wretched huts, often with only one apartment, swarming with lively insects, the atmosphere solid with smoke, and the fragile walls pierced here and there with holes large enough to admit a man’s head. Now, however, these were replaced by small but substantial inns built of stone, located at distances of about ten miles from each other along the new roads. The standard breadth of the roads was sixteen feet, although where possible they were made wider, and were carried on in straight lines, unless where this was impracticable.

Wade’s main road, commencing at Perth, went by Dunkeld and Blair-Athole to Dalnacardoch, where it was joined by another from Stirling by Crieff, through Glenalmond, to Aberfeldy, where it crossed the Tay, on what was then considered a magnificent bridge of five arches. From Dalnacardoch the road goes on to Dalwhinny, where it again branches into two, one branch proceeding towards the north-west through Garva Moor, and over the Corryarrick mountain to Fort-Augustus, the other striking almost due north to Ruthven in Badenoch, and thence by Delmagary to Inverness. Another road, along the shores of Lochs Ness and Lochy, joined the latter place with the strongholds of Fort-Augustus and Fort-William. One of the most difficult parts of the undertaking was the crossing of the lofty Corryarrick, the road having to be carried up the south side of the mountain by a series of about fifteen zigzags. The entire length of road constructed measured about 250 miles.

Lieutenant General Wade, Commander-in-Chief of all
His Majesty’s Forces in Scotland. (From an old
engraving in the possession of D. Laing, Esq.)

Although these roads were doubtless of considerable advantage in a military point of view, they appear to have been of very little use in developing the commercial resources of the country. “They were indeed truly military roads—laid down by a practical soldier, and destined for warlike purposes—with scarcely any view towards the ends for which free and peaceful citizens open up a system of internal transit.”[763] They appear to have been regarded with suspicion and dislike by all classes of the Highlanders. The chiefs, according to Burt,[764] complained that in time of peace they opened up their country to strangers, who would be likely to weaken the attachment of their vassals, and that in time of war they laid their fastnesses open to the enemy. The bridges, especially, they said would render the people effeminate, and less fit to ford the rivers in other places where there were no such means of crossing. The middle class again objected to them because, their horses being unshod,—and necessarily so on account of the places where they had to find pasture—the gravel would soon whet away their hoofs, and thus render them unserviceable. “The lowest class, who, many of them, at some times cannot compass a pair of shoes for themselves, allege that the gravel is intolerable to their naked feet; and the complaint has extended to their thin brogues.” For these reasons, allied no doubt to obstinacy and hatred of innovation and government interference, many of the Highlanders, despising the new roads, continued to walk in the wretched ways of their fathers.

Although the Chevalier still had many adherents in the south of Scotland, yet, as they were narrowly watched by the government, it was considered inexpedient and unsafe to correspond with them on the subject of the Spanish expedition. In the state of uncertainty in which they were thus kept, they wisely abstained from committing themselves, and when Marischal landed they were quite unprepared to render him any assistance, and unanimously resolved not to move in any shape till a rising should take place in England in favour of the Chevalier.

As many inconveniences had arisen from a want of co-operation among the friends of the Chevalier in the south of Scotland, Mr. Lockhart, in concert with the Bishop of Edinburgh, proposed to James that the Earls of Eglinton and Wigton, Lord Balmerino, the Bishop of Edinburgh, (the head of the nonjuring clergy,) Mr. Paterson of Preston-hall, and Captain Straiton, should be appointed commissioners or trustees for transacting his affairs in Scotland. This proposal on the whole was well received by the Chevalier, who, however, probably influenced by the jealous schemers who surrounded him, did not sanction the formation of a regularly organized authoritative commission. Writing to Lockhart in February, 1721, he says, “to appoint a certain number of persons for this effect by commission, is by no means, at this time, advisable, because of the inconveniences it might draw, sooner or later, upon the persons concern’d; since it could not but be expected that the present government would, at long run, be inform’d of such a paper which, by its nature, must be known to a great number of people; besides, that many who might be most fit to discharge such a trust might, with reason, not be fond of having their names exposed in such a matter; while, on the other hand, numbers might be disobliged for not having a share where it is not possible all can be concerned; but I think all these inconveniences may be obviated, the intent of the proposal comply’d with, and equal advantages drawn from it if the persons named below, or some of them, would meet and consult together for the intents above-mention’d. The persons you propose I entirely approve, to wit, the Earls of Eglinton and Wigton, Lord Balmerino, the Bishop of Edinburgh, Mr. Paterson and Captain Straiton, to whom I would have added Mr. Harry Maul, Sir John Erskine, Lord Dun, Pourie and Glengary.”[765]

Mr. Lockhart acquainted the different persons, therein named, of its contents, and all of them undertook to execute the trust reposed in them; but as they judged it advisable to conceal the powers they had received from their friends, they requested Mr. Lockhart, when their advice was wanted, to communicate with them individually, and having collected their sentiments, to give the necessary instructions with due caution.

In June 1721, a treaty of peace was signed at Madrid between Great Britain and Spain, and at the same time a defensive alliance was entered into between Great Britain, France, and Spain. As the two last were the only powers from whom the “Pretender” could expect any effectual aid in support of his pretensions, his long-wished-for restoration seemed now to be hopeless, and King George secure, as he imagined, from foreign invasion and domestic plots, made preparations for visiting his German dominions, and actually appointed a regency to act in his absence. But early in the year 1722, a discovery was made, on information received by the king from the regent of France, that the Jacobites were busy in a new conspiracy against the government. It appeared that the Chevalier de St. George, who was at Rome, was to sail from Porto-Longone for Spain, under the protection of three Spanish men-of-war, and there to wait the resolutions of his friends.[766] In following the clue given by the Duke of Orleans, it was ascertained that all the letters, in relation to the conspiracy, were carried to Mr. George Kelly, an Irish clergyman, who despatched them to their different destinations. The insurrection was to have taken place during the king’s absence in Hanover; but his majesty having deferred his journey in consequence of the discovery of the plot, the conspirators resolved to postpone their attempt till the dissolution of parliament.

The conspirators, finding they were watched by government, became extremely cautious, and the ministers, desirous of getting hold of the treasonable correspondence, ordered Kelly, the principal agent, to be arrested. He was accordingly apprehended, but not until he had, by keeping his assailants at bay with his sword, succeeded in burning the greater part of his papers. Although the papers which were seized from Kelly, and others which had been intercepted by government, bore evident marks of a conspiracy, yet it became very difficult, from the fictitious names used in them, to trace out the guilty persons. “We are in trace of several things very material,” observes Robert Walpole in a letter to his brother, in reference to this discovery, “but we fox-hunters know that we do not always find every fox that we cross upon.” Among other persons who were arrested on suspicion, were the Duke of Norfolk, Lords North and Grey, Strafford, and Orrery, Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, and Sir Harry Goring.

To check the threatened insurrection, a camp was immediately formed in Hyde-park, and all military officers were ordered to repair to their respective regiments. Lieutenant-general Macartney was despatched to Ireland to bring over some troops from that kingdom, and the states of Holland were requested to have their auxiliary troops in readiness for embarkation. These preparations, and the many rumours which prevailed respecting the extent of the conspiracy, affected public credit, and a run took place upon the bank, but the panic soon subsided, and public confidence was restored.

Of all the persons seized of any note, the Bishop of Rochester was the only individual against whom a charge could plausibly be maintained. He was equally noted for his high literary attainments and a warm attachment to the exploded dogma of passive obedience. He had written Sacheverel’s defence con amore, and he had carried his partisanship for the house of Stuart so far, that, according to Lord Harcourt, he offered, upon the death of Queen Anne, to proclaim the Chevalier de St. George at Charing-cross in his lawn sleeves, and when his proposal was declined, he is said to have exclaimed, “Never was a better cause lost for want of spirit.”

After an examination before the privy-council, the bishop was committed to the Tower on a charge of high treason. The committal of the bishop was highly resented by the clergy, who considered it an outrage upon the Church of England and the Episcopal order, and they gave full vent to their feelings by offering up public prayers for his health in all the churches and chapels of London and Westminster.

The new parliament met in the month of October, and the first thing the king did was to announce, by a speech from the throne, the nature of the conspiracy. A bill for suspending the habeas corpus act for a whole year was immediately brought into the house of lords, but as the period of suspension was double of any suspension hitherto known, it met with some opposition. In the commons, however, the opposition was so violent, that Mr. Robert Walpole found himself necessitated to invent a story of a design to seize the bank and the exchequer, and to proclaim the “Pretender” on the royal exchange. This ridiculous tale, uttered with the greatest confidence, alarmed the commons, and they passed the bill.

As the Catholics were supposed to be chiefly concerned in the conspiracy, a bill was introduced into the house of commons for raising £100,000 upon the real and personal estates of all “papists,” or persons educated in the Catholic religion, towards defraying the expenses incurred by the late rebellion and disorders. This bill being justly regarded as a species of persecution, was warmly opposed by some members, but it was sent up to the house of lords along with another bill, obliging all persons, being “papists,” in Scotland, and all persons in Great Britain refusing or neglecting to take the oaths appointed for the king’s person and government, to register their names and real estates. As might have been anticipated, both bills were passed without amendments, and received the royal assent.

Atterbury was brought up for trial on the 9th of May, 1723, and sentenced to banishment under pain of death if he should ever return. He quitted the kingdom in June, and after a short stay at Brussels, finally settled in Paris. It is said that when crossing over to Calais he met Lord Bolingbroke, then on his way to England, whom he thus addressed with a smile, “My lord, you and I are exchanged!”

The return of this extraordinary person to England gave rise to much speculation, and many conjectures were hazarded as to the reasons which had induced Walpole to promote the return of a man whose impeachment he had himself moved; but the mystery has been cleared up by papers which have since met the public eye. From these it appears that several years before his appearance in England, Bolingbroke had completely broken with the Stuarts in consequence of his deprivation of the seals. It seems that the Earl of Mar and the duke had a violent difference with regard to the conduct of the expedition in 1715; and Mar, to revenge himself upon his rival, prevailed upon the Duke of Ormond to report in presence of the Chevalier de St. George certain abusive expressions which Bolingbroke, when in a state of intoxication, had uttered in disparagement of his master. The Chevalier, highly exasperated at Bolingbroke, sent for the seals, at which his lordship was so incensed that when the queen mother attempted to reconcile them, Bolingbroke said that he wished his arm might rot off if ever he drew his sword or employed his pen in the service of the Stuarts. He, thereupon, proffered his services to King George, and offered to do any thing but betray the secrets of his friends. This offer was followed by the celebrated letter to Sir William Wyndham, in which he dissuaded the Tories from placing any reliance on the Pretender, and exposed the exiled family to ridicule and contempt; but his overtures were rejected by the government, and when an act of indemnity was hinted at, Walpole expressed in the strongest terms his indignation at the very idea of such a measure. Bolingbroke, however, persevered; and Walpole having been softened by the entreaties of the Duchess of Kendal, one of the mistresses of the king, to whom Bolingbroke made a present of £11,000, he procured a pardon. In April, 1725, a bill was brought into the house of lords for restoring to Bolingbroke his family estate, which, after some opposition, passed both houses.

Upon the passing of the disarming act, some of the Highland chiefs held a meeting at Paris, at which they resolved to apply to the Chevalier de St. George, to know whether, in his opinion, they should submit to the new law. James returned an answer under cover to the restless Atterbury, in which he advised the chiefs rather to submit than run the risk of ruining their followers; but the bishop thought proper to keep up the letter, and having sent off an express to Rome, James was induced to write another letter altogether different from the first, requiring them to resist, by force, the intended attempt of the government to disarm the Highlanders. Meanwhile, the chiefs were apprised of James’s original sentiments by a correspondent at Rome, and of the letter which had been sent to Atterbury’s care. Unaware of this circumstance, the bishop, on receipt of the second letter, convened the chiefs, and communicated to them its contents; but these being so completely at variance with the information of their correspondent, they insisted upon seeing the first letter, but Atterbury refused in the most positive terms to exhibit it, and insisted upon compliance with the injunctions contained in the second letter. They, thereupon, desired to know what support they were to receive in men, money, and arms; but the bishop told them, that unless they resolved to go to Scotland and take up arms, he would give them no further information than this, that they would be assisted by a certain foreign power, whose name he was not at liberty to mention.[767] The chiefs, dissatisfied with the conduct of the bishop, refused to pledge themselves as required, and retired.

The great preparations made to carry the disarming act into effect, indicated a dread, on the part of the government, that the Highlanders would not deliver up their arms without a struggle. The Chevalier de St. George, deceived as it would appear by the representations of Atterbury, resolved to support the Highlanders, to the effect at least of enabling them to obtain favourable terms from the government. “I find,” says James, in a letter[768] to Mr. Lockhart, “they (the Highlanders) are of opinion that nothing less than utter ruin is designed for them, and those on this side are persuaded that the English government will meet with the greatest difficulties in executing their projects, and that the clans will unanimously agree to oppose them to the last, and if thereby circumstances will allow them to do nothing for my service, that they will still, by a capitulation, be able to procure better terms to themselves than they can propose by leaving themselves at the government’s mercy, and delivering up their arms; and, if so, I am resolved, and I think I owe it to them, to do all in my power to support them, and the distance I am at has obliged me to give my orders accordingly; and nothing in my power shall be wanting to enable them to keep their ground against the government, at least till they can procure good terms for themselves, though, at the same time, I must inform you that the opposition they propose to make may prove of the greatest advantage to my interest, considering the hopes I have of foreign assistance, which, perhaps, you may hear of even before you receive this letter. I should not have ventured to call the Highlanders together, without a certainty of their being supported, but the great probability there is of it makes me not at all sorry they should take the resolution of defending themselves, and not delivering up their arms, which would have rendered them, in a great measure, useless to their countrie; and as the designs of the government are represented to me, the laying down of their arms is only to be the forerunner of other methods, that are to be taken to extirpate their race for ever. They are certainly in the right to make the government buy their slavery at as dear a rate as they can. The distance I am at (Rome), and the imperfect accounts I have had of this law, (for disarming the Highlanders,) have been very unlucky; however, the orders I have sent to France I hope will not come too late, and I can answer for the diligence in the execution of them, which is all I can say to you at present from hence.”

A few days after the receipt of this letter, Mr. Lockhart went to Edinburgh, where he found the Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Kincardine, two of James’s “trustees,” to whom he showed the letter, and requested their opinion as to the proposed attempt to resist the contemplated measures of the government. These noblemen considered that the attempt would be rash as well as fatal,—that the idea of obtaining better terms by a temporary resistance, was vain, unless the Highlanders succeed in defeating the government; but that if they failed, the utter extirpation of their race would certainly follow;—that the Highlanders being a body of men of such high value, as well in relation to the interests of the exiled family, as to those of the kingdom, it was by no means reasonable to hazard them upon an uncertainty, for though they should give up their arms, it would be easier to provide them afterwards with others, when their services were required, than to repair the loss of their persons;—that with regard to foreign assistance, as such undertakings were liable to many accidents, and as the best formed designs often turned out abortive, it was by no means advisable to hazard the Highlanders, who were hated by the government, upon the expectancy of such aid; and that if such foreign powers as could, and were willing to assist, would inquire into the true state of affairs in Scotland, they would find that wherever a feasible attempt should be made by them to restore the exiled family, the Scots would be ready to declare themselves.

This opinion was communicated by Mr. Lockhart to James,[769] and he informed him at the same time that a person of distinction, who had been sent by the Highland Jacobite chiefs to obtain intelligence and advice, had arrived in Edinburgh incognito, and had informed Kincardine that the Highlanders had resolved to make a show of submission, by giving up part of their arms under the pretence of delivering up the whole, while their intention was to retain and conceal the best and greater part of them. Kincardine, without giving any opinion on the subject, recommended to the gentleman in question, as foreign assistance might be speedily expected, the expediency of putting off the delivery as long as possible, and that as four or five weeks would be consumed before the forms required by the act could be complied with, they should retain their arms till the expiration of that period.

The advice given by Hamilton and Eglinton coincided with the view which James, upon being made acquainted with the resolution of the chief at Paris, had adopted; and in a letter written to Mr. Lockhart by Colonel Hay, whom he had appointed his secretary of state, and raised to the peerage under the title of Earl of Inverness, he signified his approbation of the advice given by his friends, which he said was entirely agreeable to his own sentiments from the beginning. He stated, moreover, that the orders he had given to assist the Highlanders were only conditional, and in the event only that they themselves should have resolved to oppose the government, and that if the Bishop of Rochester had pressed any of the chiefs at Paris to go to arms, it was more with a view to discover a correspondence which he suspected one of them had carried on independent of the others, than with any real design to induce them to order their followers to make opposition, as that was to have depended as much upon the chiefs at home as upon those abroad.[770]

When James ascertained that the Highlanders were resolved to submit, he withdrew the orders he had given for assisting them, and despatched a trusty messenger to the Highlands to acquaint them of his readiness to support them when a proper occasion offered, and to collect information as to the state of the country. Allan Cameron, the messenger in question, arrived in the Highlands in August, and visited the heads of the clans in the interest of James, to whom he delivered the message with which he had been intrusted. It is said that General Wade was aware of his arrival, but it does not appear that any measures were taken to apprehend him. After four months’ residence in the Highlands, Cameron ventured on a journey to Edinburgh, where, in the beginning of the year 1726, he held frequent conferences with the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Kincardine, and Lockhart of Carnwath, on the subject of his mission and the state of affairs, but nothing of importance was resolved upon at these meetings, and Cameron departed for the continent early in February.

About this time an event occurred, which, while it tended to create factions amongst the adherents of James, made many of them keep either altogether aloof from any direct management in his affairs, or abstain from entering into any plan of co-operation for his restoration. This was the dismissal of Mar from his post as minister of James at Paris, on the suspicion that he had betrayed the secrets of his master to the British government. From his situation he was intimately acquainted with all the Chevalier’s affairs, and knew the name of every person of any note in the three kingdoms who had taken an interest in the restoration of the exiled family, with many of whom he himself had corresponded. The removal, therefore, of such a person from the Jacobite councils could not fail to excite uneasy apprehensions in the minds of those who had intrusted him with their confidence, and to make them extremely cautious in again committing themselves by any act, which, if discovered, would place them in jeopardy. To this feeling may be ascribed the great reserve which for several years subsequent to this occurrence the Jacobites observed in their foreign relations, and the want of unity of action which formed so remarkable a characteristic in their subsequent proceedings. As this affair forms an important link in the historical chain which connects the events of the year 1715 with those of 1745, a short account of it is necessary.

During a temporary confinement at Geneva, Mar had obtained a sum of money, whether solicited or not does not appear, from the Earl of Stair, the British ambassador at Paris, without the knowledge of James. In a narrative afterwards drawn up by Mar in his own justification, he states, that being in great straits he received this money as a loan from the earl, who was his old friend; but Colonel Hay, in a letter to Mr. Lockhart of the 8th of September, 1725, states that Mar had no occasion for such a loan, as “the king” remitted him considerable supplies to Geneva, where his expense would be trifling, as he was entertained by the town.[771] This matter might have been overlooked, but he, soon thereafter, accepted a pension of £2,000 from the government, over and above the sum of £1,500 which his countess and daughter actually then received by way of jointure and aliment out of the produce of his estate. Mar states that before he agreed to receive this pension he took the advice of General Dillon, a zealous supporter of the interests of the Stuarts, whom he had been accustomed to consult in all matters of importance, and that the general advised him to accept of the offer, as by refusing it the government might stop his lady’s jointure, and that his estate would be sold and lost for ever to his family; and that as he had been released from his confinement at Geneva on condition that he should not act or take any part against the government of Great Britain during his abode in France, and should return when required to Geneva, that government might insist on his being sent back to Geneva, whence he had been allowed to go to the waters of Bourbon for his health. Mar communicated the proposal also to James, who at once sanctioned his acceptance of the pension, and assured him that his sentiments in regard to him remained unaltered. Notwithstanding this assurance, however, there is every reason to believe that James, not without good grounds, had begun to suspect his fidelity; and as he could clearly perceive that Mar had already taken his resolution to close with the government, he might consider it his wisest policy to conceal his displeasure, and not to break at once with a man who had so much in his power to injure him and his friends.

Having thus succeeded in their advances to Mar, the government, on receiving information of the conspiracy in which Atterbury was concerned, sent a gentleman to Paris in May, 1722, with a letter to Mar from Lord Carteret. This gentleman received instructions to sound Mar as to his knowledge of the intended plot. On arriving at Paris, the messenger, (who, it is understood, was Colonel Churchill,) sent a letter to Mar requesting a private interview. Dillon was present when this letter was delivered, and on reading it, Mar says he showed it to Dillon, upon which it was arranged that Mar should instantly call upon the person who had written the letter, and that Dillon should remain in the house till Mar’s return, when the object and nature of the interview would be communicated to him. On Mar’s return he and Dillon consulted together, and they both thought that the incident was a lucky one, as it afforded Mar an opportunity of doing James’s affairs a good service by leading the government off the true scent, and thereby prevent further inquiries. They thereupon drew up a letter with that view, to be sent by Mar in answer to Carteret’s communication, which being approved of by another person in the confidence of the Chevalier, was sent by Mar to the bearer of Carteret’s letter. Mar immediately sent an account of the affair to James and the Duke of Ormond, and shortly received a letter from the former, dated 8th June, 1722, in which he expressed himself entirely satisfied with the course pursued by Mar on the occasion. To justify himself still farther, Mar states, that among the vouchers of his exculpation, there was the copy of another letter from James, written by him to one of his agents at Paris, wherein he justifies and approves of Mar’s conduct, and expresses his regret for the aspersions which had been cast upon the earl about the plot.

Though James thus continued to profess his usual confidence in Mar’s integrity, he had, ever since he became acquainted with his pecuniary obligations to Stair, resolved to withdraw that confidence from him by degrees, and in such a manner as might not be prejudicial to the adherents of the exiled family in Great Britain. But Mar, who, as James observed,[772] had put himself under such engagements that he could not any longer serve him in a public manner, and who, from the nature of these engagements, should have declined all knowledge of James’s secrets, continued to meddle with his affairs as formerly, by taking the direction and management of those intrusted to Dillon, the confidential agent of James and the English Jacobites. In this way was Mar enabled for several years, when distrusted by James, to compel him in a manner to keep on good terms with him. From the natural timidity of James, and his anxiety to avoid an open breach with Mar, it is difficult to say how long matters might have remained in this awkward state, had not the attention of the Scottish Jacobites been drawn to Mar’s pension by the report of the parliamentary committee concerning the conspiracy; and the representations of the Bishop of Rochester respecting Mar’s conduct, shortly after his arrival in France, brought matters to a crisis. In the letter last referred to, James thus intimates to Mr. Lockhart the final dismissal of Mar. “I have been always unwilling to mention Mar, 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 do from all who may be any ways influenced by him. This conduct is founded on the strongest and most urgent necessity in which my regard to my faithful subjects and servants have the greatest share. What is here said of Mar is not with a view of its being made public, there being no occasion for that, since, many years ago, he put himself under such engagements that he could not serve me in a public manner, neither has he been publicly employ’d by me.”

The charges made by Atterbury against Mar were, 1mo, That about the time he, the bishop, was sent prisoner to the Tower, Mar had written him a letter which was the cause of his banishment. 2do, That he had betrayed the secrets of the Chevalier de St. George to the British government, and had entered into a correspondence with them. 3tio, That he had advised the Chevalier to resign his right to the crown for a pension; and lastly, that without consulting James, he drew up and presented a memorial to the Duke of Orleans, containing a plan, which, under the pretence of restoring him, would, if acted upon, have rendered his restoration for ever impracticable.

To understand the nature of the last charge against Mar, that he laid the scheme before the Regent of France with a design to ruin James, Mar refers to the plan itself for his justification. The expulsion of the Stuarts from the British throne had been always looked upon by the French court as an event which, by dividing the nation into rival factions, would enable France to humble and weaken an ancient and formidable rival. To encourage the Jacobites and Tories in their opposition to the new dynasty, and to embroil the nation in a civil war, the French ministry repeatedly promised to aid them in any attempts they might make to overturn the government; but true to the line of policy they had laid down for themselves, of allowing the opposing parties in the state to weaken each other’s strength in their contest for ascendency, they sided with the weaker party only to prolong the struggle, in the hope that, by thus keeping alive the spirit of discontent, France might be enabled to extend her power, and carry into effect her designs of conquest.

JOHN ERSKINE, EARL OF MARR.

To remove the objections which such a policy opposed to the restoration of James, Mar proposed that, upon such event taking place, Scotland and Ireland should be restored to their ancient state of independence, and protected in their trade, and thereby enabled, as they would be inclined, to support “the king in such a manner as he’d be under no necessity of entering into measures contrary to his inclinations to gratify the caprices, and allay the factions of his English subjects.”[773] He also proposed that a certain number of French forces should remain in Britain after James was restored, till he had modelled and established the government on this footing, and that 5,000 Scots and as many Irish troops should be lent to the French king, to be kept by him in pay for a certain number of years. Mar was fully aware that such a scheme would be highly unpopular in England, on which account he says, that although he had long ago formed it, he took no steps therein during the life of Cardinal Dubois, whom he knew to be particularly attached to the existing government of Britain; but that obstacle being removed, he laid it before the regent of France, who, he says, he had reason to believe, received it with approbation, as he sealed it up, and addressed it to the Duke of Bourbon, and recommended it to his care. To excuse himself for laying the scheme before the Duke of Orleans without the Chevalier’s knowledge, he states that he did so to prevent James, in case of the scheme being discovered, being blamed by those who, for particular reasons, would be displeased at it; but that immediately after the delivery he acquainted James thereof, and sent him a copy of it, and at the same time represented to him the absolute necessity of keeping it secret. Notwithstanding this injunction, Colonel Hay sent a copy of it to the Bishop of Rochester, and Mar attributes the bad feeling which Atterbury afterwards displayed towards him, to the proposal he made for restoring Scotland to her independence.

The memorial was presented by Mar to the Duke of Orleans in September, 1723; but so little secrecy was observed, that, in the month of January following, a statement appeared in the public newspapers, that a certain peer, then in Paris, had laid a plan before the regent for restoring the exiled family. Though the British government must have been aware, or at all events must have suspected, after such a notification, that Mar was the author of the scheme, his pension was still continued, and they even favoured him still more by allowing the family estate, which was exposed to sale, to fall again into the hands of the family on favourable terms.

On reviewing the whole circumstances of Mar’s conduct, evolved by Atterbury’s charges, it must be admitted that his justification is far from being complete. From the position in which he placed himself as a debtor of Stair, and a pensioner of the British government, he could no longer be trusted with safety by his Jacobite colleagues, and as he had come under an obligation, as a condition of his pension, not to act in behalf of the Stuarts, he was bound in honour to have abstained from all farther interference in their affairs; but for reasons only known to himself, he continued to act as if no alteration of his relations with the exiled family had taken place since he was first intrusted by them. Selfish in his disposition, and regardless whether the Chevalier de St. George, or the Elector of Hanover wore the crown, provided his ambition was gratified, it is probable, that, without harbouring any intention to betray, he wished to preserve an appearance of promoting the interests of the Stuarts, in order that the compact which he had entered into with the British government, might, in the event of a restoration of that family, form no bar to his advancement under a new order of things; but whatever were his views or motives, his design, if he entertained any such as has been supposed, was frustrated by his disgrace in 1725.

The breach with Mar was looked upon by some of the Jacobites as a rash act on the part of the Chevalier, and they considered that he had been sacrificed to gratify Colonel Hay, between whom and Mar an irreconcilable difference had for some time existed. This opinion had a pernicious influence upon the councils of the Chevalier, and to the rupture with Mar may be attributed the denouement of an unhappy difference between James and his consort, which, for a time, fixed the attention of all the European courts.

In the year 1720 the Chevalier de St. George had espoused the Princess Clementina, granddaughter of John Sobieski, king of Poland, who had born him two sons, viz. Charles Edward, celebrated for his exploits in 1745, and Henry Benedict, afterwards known as Cardinal York.[774] Prince Charles was placed under the tuition of one Mrs. Sheldon, who, it is said, obtained a complete ascendency over the Princess Clementina. As alleged by the partisans of Colonel Hay, she was entirely devoted to Mar, and served him as a spy in the family. To counteract the rising influence of Hay, she is represented to have incited the princess against him to such a degree, as to render the whole household a scene of constant disturbance. But whatever may have been the conduct of Mrs. Sheldon, there is good reason for believing that the cause of irritation proceeded entirely from the behaviour of Hay and his lady, who appear not to have treated the princess with the respect due to her rank, and who, from the sway they appear to have had over the mind of her husband, indulged in liberties which did not become them.

To relieve herself from the indignities which she alleged she suffered, the princess resolved to retire into a convent, of which resolution the Chevalier first received notice from a confidante of the princess, who also informed him that nothing but the dismissal of Colonel Hay from his service would induce her to alter her resolution. The princess afterwards personally notified her determination to her husband, who remonstrated with her upon the impropriety of a step which would prejudice them in the eyes of their friends, and make their enemies triumph; but she remained inflexible.

Finding the Chevalier fully determined to retain Colonel Hay in his service, the princess made preparations for carrying her resolution into effect; and, accordingly, on the morning of Thursday, the 15th of November, 1725, under the pretence of taking an airing in her carriage, she drove off to the convent of St. Cecilia, at Rome, into which she retired, without taking any notice of a long letter, by way of remonstrance, which her husband had written her on the 11th.[775]

The Chevalier was anxious that his friends should form a favourable opinion of the course he had adopted in resisting the demand of his wife; and, accordingly, on the morning after her departure, he assembled all his household, and explained to them fully the different steps he had taken to prevent the extraordinary proceeding of the princess. He also entered into a justification of his own conduct, and concluded by assuring them that it should be his principal care to educate his two sons in such a manner as might contribute one day to the happiness of the people he expected to govern. With the same view, he immediately despatched copies of the memoir, and of the two letters he had written to the princess, to Mr. Lockhart, to be shown to his friends in Scotland; but as the memoir and letters had been made public, copies of them were publicly hawked through the streets of London and Edinburgh, with a scurrilous introduction, several weeks before Mr. Lockhart received his communication. This was done apparently with the approbation of the government, as the magistrates of Edinburgh compelled the porters of the city to cry the papers through the streets.[776] At first, the Jacobites imagined that these documents were forgeries got up by the government, to make the Jacobite cause contemptible in the eyes of the people; but they were soon undeceived, and great was their consternation when they found that the papers in question were genuine.

The court of Rome seemed to approve of the Chevalier’s conduct in refusing to remove Hay; but when it was understood that the removal of Murray, the young princes’ governor, was considered by their mother even of more importance than the dismissal of Hay, the pope sent a message to James, intimating that if Murray were removed and Mrs. Sheldon restored to favour, a reconciliation might be effected with the princess,—that, however, he would not insist on Mrs. Sheldon being taken back, but that he could not approve of nor consent to Murray being about the prince. The Chevalier did not relish such interference, and returned for answer, that he had no occasion for the pope’s advice, and that he did not consider his consent necessary in an affair which related to the private concerns of his family. As James was the pensioner of his holiness, the answer may be considered rather uncourteous, but the Chevalier looked upon such meddling as an insult which his dignity could not brook. The pope, however, renewed his application to bring about a reconciliation, and with such earnestness, that James became so uneasy as to express a wish to retire from his dominions.[777] By the efforts, however, it is believed, of the princess’s friends, aided by the repeated remonstrances of a respectable portion of the Jacobites, the Chevalier at length reluctantly dismissed Hay from his service. According to Mr. Lockhart, Hay and his wife had obtained such a complete ascendency over the Chevalier, that they had the direction of all matters, whether public or domestic, and taking advantage of the confidence which he reposed in them, they instilled into his mind unfavourable impressions of his best friends. By insinuating that the princess, and every person that did not truckle to them, were factious, and that their complaints against the colonel and his lady proceeded from a feeling of disrespect to himself, his temper became by degrees soured towards his wife. To escape from the insolence of these favourites, the princess, as has been seen, embraced, for a time, a conventual life; and while some of the Chevalier’s adherents, who had lost their estates in his service, left his court in disgust, others were ordered away. It was currently reported at the time that Mrs. Hay was the king’s mistress, and that jealousy on the part of the Princess Clementina was the cause of the rupture; the princess herself in her letters distinctly speaks of Mrs. Hay as “the king’s mistress,” although persons who had ample opportunities of observation could observe no impropriety. The pertinacity with which James clung to his unworthy favourites tended greatly to injure his affairs.[778]

The death of George I., which took place on Sunday, the 11th June, 1727, while on his journey to Hanover, raised anew the hopes of the Chevalier. He was at Bologna when this intelligence reached him, and so anxious was he to be nearer England to watch the progress of events, and to be ready to avail himself of the services of his friends in Britain to effect his restoration, that he left Bologna privately for Lorraine, the day after the news was brought him, although the princess, who had just left the convent, by the advice of her friends, was at the time on her way from Rome to Bologna to join him. The journey of the princess being publicly known, the Chevalier availed himself of the circumstance to conceal his real design, by giving out that he had left Bologna to meet her. On arriving at Nancy, the Chevalier despatched couriers to Vienna, Madrid, and Paris, announcing the object of his journey, and at the same time sent a messenger with a letter to Mr. Lockhart, who, in consequence of a warrant being issued by the British government for his apprehension, had a few months before taken refuge on the continent, and was then residing at Liege. Although he expected no assistance from any foreign power, still, he says, “the present conjuncture appears so favourable in all its circumstances that had I only consulted my own inclinations, I should certainly out of hand have crossed the seas, and seen at any rate what I could do for my own and my subjects’ delivery; but as on this occasion I act for them as well as myself, and cannot hope without their concurrence to succeed in what I may undertake in our mutual behalf, I find myself under the necessity of making no further steps without their advice.

“’Tis true the disadvantages I lie under are great and many; I have but a small stock of money, scarce sufficient to transport what few arms I have and what officers I may get to follow me on this occasion. I’m sensible that it is next to impossible that a concert should be established amongst my friends at home, such as would be sufficient for a rising in arms in my favour before my arrival, and by what is said before, the little hopes of foreign assistance will be sufficiently seen; but with all this, many arguments may be brought to authorise an undertaking which at first sight might appear rash.... All put together it must be concluded that if the present conjuncture is slip’d, it cannot be expected that we ever can have so favorable a one for acting by ourselves, and that we run the risk of allowing the general affairs of Europe to be less favorable to us than they are at present; so that whatever is not absolutely desperate ought certainly to be undertaken, and the sooner the better.

“I desire therefore you may think seriously on this matter, and let me have your opinion as soon as possible, and if my going into England be not adviseable, whether my going to the Highlands of Scotland might not be found proper.” To this letter is appended the following postscript in James’s own handwriting. “The contents of this will show you the confidence I have in you, and I expect you will let me know by the bearer, (Allan Cameron,) your advice and opinion, particularly on this important occasion.”[779]

From Cameron Mr. Lockhart was surprised to learn that the Chevalier, notwithstanding his certainty that he could look for no foreign aid, and that his friends, both in Scotland and England, had made no preparations to receive him, was not only inclined, but seemed even resolved, to repair to the Highlands of Scotland, and there raise the standard of insurrection, and that Colonel Hay, whom he had so lately discarded, was one of his counsellors on the occasion. As Cameron, who had visited the Highlands some time before, and was well aware of the almost insuperable difficulties which opposed themselves to the contemplated step, seemed to approve of the Chevalier’s design, Mr. Lockhart expressed his wonder that one who knew the state of the Highlands so well, and the determination generally of the Highlanders not to take the field again till they saw England actually engaged, could advise his master to risk his person, and expose the country and his friends to certain destruction. He observed, that there were indeed some persons who would venture their all in any attempt headed by the Chevalier in person, but as matters then stood, the number of such persons would be few, and that the great majority of those that might be expected to join him would consist of idle persons, actuated solely by the hopes of plunder, who would abandon him eventually to the mercy of the government troops that would be poured into the Highlands, and that, under the pretence of punishing the few who had taken up arms, they would ravage the country and cut off the inhabitants, for doing which the government only wanted such a handle.

In accordance with these sentiments, Mr. Lockhart represented in his answer to the Chevalier’s letter, that the design he contemplated was one of the greatest importance, and though it was very proper for him to put himself in a condition to avail himself of any favourable circumstances that might occur, yet that appearances did not warrant such expectations,—that the people of England seemed to have forgot all the grievances under which they had laboured during the late reign, in hope of a better order of things, and that until they found themselves disappointed, he could expect nothing from them,—that with regard to such of the people of Scotland as were favourably disposed, they could not possibly do any thing without being previously provided with many material things they stood in need of, and that before these could be supplied, many difficulties had to be surmounted and much time would be lost, during which preparations would be made on all hands to crush them,—that although it would be of advantage to strike a blow before the government had time to strengthen itself at home and abroad, yet the attempt was not advisable without necessary precautions and provisions to insure its success, as without these such an attempt would be desperate, and might ruin the cause for ever,—that no man living would be happier than he (Mr. Lockhart) to see the dawning of a fair day, but when every point of the compass was black and cloudy, he could not but dread very bad weather, and such as could give no encouragement to a traveller to proceed on his voyage, and might prove the utter ruin of himself and attendants.[780] This judicious advice was not thrown away upon the Chevalier, who at once laid aside his design of going to Scotland, and retired to Avignon, where he proposed to reside under the protection of the pope; but his stay at Avignon was short, being obliged to leave that place in consequence, it is believed, of the representations of the French government to the court of Rome. He returned to Italy.

FOOTNOTES:

[745] Annals of the 2d year of George I., p. 248.

[746] State Trials, vol. xv.

[747] “It is painful to see on the lists, the many Highland names followed with the word ‘labourer,’ indicating that they belonged to the humblest class. Too implicit obedience had been the weakness, instead of rebellion being the crime, of these men; and in many instances they had been forced into the service for which they were punished, as absolutely as the French conscript or the British pressed seaman.”—Burton’s Scotland (1689–1747), vol. ii. p. 211.

[748] Mem. de Berwick, tome ii.

[749] Mr. Stanhope to Mr. Doddington, March 13th, 1716.

[750] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 7.

[751] Lockhart, vol. ii. p. 19.

[752] See for the information in these paragraphs the appendices to Jamieson’s edition of Burt’s Letters.

[753] Burt’s Letters, vol. ii. pp. 277, 278.

[754] Lovat himself commanded one of these companies, and appears to have felt pretty sore at the loss of it.

[755] Burt’s Letters, vol. ii. pp. 273, 274.

[756] Idem, pp. 278, 279.

[757] “The companies were six in number: three distinguished by the name of large companies, consisted of 100 men each; and three smaller companies, of 70 men each. The former were commanded by captains, and the latter by captain-lieutenants, each commanding officer being, as the name implies, independent of the others. To each company, great and small, was attached the same number of subalterns, viz. two lieutenants and one ensign.”

[758] Burt’s Letters, vol. ii. pp. 303–314.

[759] Scotland (1689–1747), vol. ii. p. 247.

[760] Among Wade’s correspondents were Robert Stewart of Appin, Alexander Macdonald of Glencoe, Grant, Laird of Glenmorison, the Laird of Mackinnon, Robert Campbell, alias Macgregor (the notorious Rob Roy), Lord Ogilvy. “No doubt,” writes Lockhart to the Pretender, “the government will be at pains to magnify and spread abroad their success in disarming the Highlanders, but depend on’t, it’s all a jest; for few or no swords or pistols are or will be surrendered, and only such of their fire-arms as are of no value.”—Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 195.

[761] Letter xxvi., p. 191, vol. ii.

[762] Letter xvi.

[763] Burton (1689–1747), vol. ii. p. 256.

[764] Letters, vol. ii. p. 220.

[765] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 29.

[766] Robert Walpole to his brother Horace, May 1722. Coxe.

[767] Abstract of a letter from one of the Highland chiefs at Paris to Mr. John Macleod, advocate, dated the end of June, 1725. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 192–3.

[768] Dated 23d June, 1725. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 169.

[769] Letter from Mr. Lockhart to the Chevalier, 25th July, 1725. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 186.

[770] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 218.

[771] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 177–206.

[772] Letter to Mr. Lockhart, 31st August, 1724. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 131.

[773] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 183.

[774] The Prince was born on 31st December 1720,—the Cardinal on 6th March, 1725.

[775] This letter, and a previous one, dated 9th November, are published among the Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 246.

[776] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 242–261, 360.

[777] Letters from the Chevalier to Mr. Lockhart, 3d Dec. 1725, and 19th Jan. 1726, vol. ii. pp. 253–256.

[778] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 339.

[779] Idem, p. 356.

[780] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 360.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A.D. 1739–1745.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Foreign intrigues—Edinburgh Association—Maria Theresa—Jacobite intrigues—Drummond of Bochaldy at Edinburgh, and Murray of Broughton at Paris—Plan of a French invasion—Prince Charles Edward, the Chevalier’s son, arrives at Paris—Preparations for invasion—Embarkation and failure of the expedition—Murray of Broughton proceeds to Paris—Interview with the Prince, who resolves to proceed to Scotland.

War having been declared against Spain in the year 1739, the Chevalier de St. George despatched Lord Marischal to Madrid to induce the court of Spain to adopt measures for his restoration. But however willing Spain might be to assist him, he was desirous that no attempt should be made without the concurrence of France.[781] About the same time, that is, in the beginning of the year 1740, some of the more zealous and leading Jacobites, in anticipation of a war with France, held a meeting at Edinburgh, and formed themselves into an association, by which they engaged themselves to take arms and venture their lives and fortunes to restore the family of Stuart, provided the King of France would send over a body of troops to their assistance. The association, like that which brought over King William to England, consisted of seven persons, viz., Lord Lovat, James Drummond, commonly called Duke of Perth, the Earl of Traquair, Sir James Campbell of Auchinbreck, Cameron of Lochiel, John Stuart, brother to Lord Traquair, and Lord John Drummond, uncle to the Duke of Perth.[782] The conspirators despatched Drummond of Bochaldy, or Balhady, (nephew to Lochiel,) to Rome with the bond of association, and a list of those chiefs and chieftains who were considered by the associates to be favourable to the cause. Drummond was instructed to deliver these papers into the hands of the Chevalier de St. George, and to entreat him to procure assistance from France in furtherance of their design. The project was well received by James, who, after perusing the papers, forwarded them immediately by the same messenger to Cardinal Fleury at Paris, with a request that the court of France would grant the required assistance. But the cardinal, with that caution which distinguished him, would come under no engagement, but contented himself at first by a general assurance of conditional support.

The negotiation was, however, persevered in, but the death of the Emperor Charles VI., which happened on the 20th of October, drew off the cardinal’s attention to matters which appeared to him of greater importance. The emperor was succeeded in his hereditary dominions by his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, married to the Grand-duke of Tuscany, formerly Duke of Lorraine. Though this princess succeeded under the title of the pragmatic sanction, which had been guaranteed by England, France, Spain, Prussia, Russia, Holland, and the whole of the Germanic body, with the exception of the elector-palatine, and the electors of Bavaria and Saxony, a powerful confederacy was formed against her by almost all these powers, to strip her of her dominions.

Alarmed at the formidable confederacy formed against her, the Queen of Hungary applied to Great Britain for succour; but Sir Robert Walpole evaded the demand, and recommended an immediate peace with Prussia. The parliament, as well as the nation, however, had different views; and as the minister saw that he would be compelled to fulfil his engagements to the house of Austria, parliament was called upon to support the Queen of Hungary, and maintain the liberties of Europe. The commons cheerfully voted a sum of £300,000 to enable George II. to fulfil his engagements, which sum was remitted to the Queen of Hungary, and the contingent of 12,000 Danish and Hessian troops, which Great Britain had engaged to furnish, was got in readiness.

While the flames of war were thus spreading over Europe, the situation of the British ministry was every day becoming more critical from the clamours of the Tories and the discontented Whigs. Walpole had triumphed in both houses on motions for an address to the king to dismiss him from his presence and councils; but his triumph was short, and the approach of an election redoubled the efforts of his enemies. Though the Jacobites required no incentive to induce them to assist in displacing a minister who had been the chief obstacle to the restoration of the exiled family; yet to make perfectly sure of their aid, Lord Chesterfield went to France, and by means of the Duke of Ormond, obtained, it is said, a circular letter from the Chevalier de St. George to his friends, urging them to do every thing in their power to ruin Walpole. To encourage the popular clamour against the minister, reports, the most absurd and incredible respecting him, were circulated among the people and believed; and while the general discontent was at its height, the election commenced. The contests between the two parties were extremely violent; but the country party, backed by the adherents of the Prince of Wales, who had formed a party against the minister, prevailed. So powerful was the influence of the Duke of Argyle, who had lately joined the opposition, that out of the forty-five members returned for Scotland, the friends of the ministry could not secure above six. The new parliament met on the 4th of December, 1741; and Walpole, no longer able to contend with the forces arrayed against him, retired from office within a few weeks thereafter.

Encouraged by appearances, and imagining that some of the old discontented Whigs who deprecated the system which had been pursued since the accession of the house of Hanover, of maintaining the foreign dominions of the sovereign at the expense, as they thought, of the honour and interests of the nation, Drummond of Bochaldy proposed to the Chevalier to visit England, and make overtures in his name to the “old Whigs.”[783] This plan was highly approved of by James, who wrote him a letter in his own hand, which was intended to be exhibited to such persons as might seem inclined to favour his restoration. This letter was inclosed in a private letter containing instructions for the regulation of his conduct in the proposed negotiation, which it was intended should be kept an entire secret from the Jacobites, both in England and Scotland. Erskine of Grange, who enjoyed the confidence of some of the discontented Whigs, and who privately favoured the designs of the exiled family, was pitched upon as a fit person to make advances to the old Whigs.[784]

In pursuance of his instructions, Drummond departed for England about the beginning of the year 1742, but it does not appear that at this time he entered upon the subject of his mission. He came privately to Edinburgh in the month of February, and there met some of the persons who had entered into the association, and several others, who, in conjunction with the original conspirators, had formed themselves into a society, denominated by them “the Concert of Gentlemen for managing the King’s affairs in Scotland.” To these, among whom was Murray of Broughton, Drummond represented that, on his return from Rome, he had been extremely well received by Cardinal Fleury, to whom he had delivered the papers which he had carried from Edinburgh,—that the cardinal expressed great satisfaction with the contents of these papers, had the Pretender’s interest so much at heart, and was so sanguine of his success, that provided he had sufficient assurances from the friends of the exiled family in England, that they would assist in the restoration of the Stuarts, he would send over an army of from 13,000 to 15,000 men, the number required. One division of this force, consisting of 1,500 men, was to be landed on the east coast of Scotland, at or near Inverness; another of a similar amount in the west Highlands of Scotland; and the main body, which was to consist of 10,000 or 12,000 men, was to be landed as near London as possible. He added, that, provided assistance could be obtained in England, the projected invasion might be put in execution the following autumn. Before leaving Edinburgh, Drummond had an interview with Cameron of Lochiel, who came to town at his desire, and to whom he communicated the result of his mission to Rome and Paris.[785]

After a short stay at Edinburgh, Drummond returned to Paris, where, according to his own account, as communicated in letters to Lord Traquair and Lochiel, he had an audience of the cardinal, to whom he represented matters in such a favourable light that he promised to carry his design of invasion into effect in a very short time. The French minister, however, though he appears to have seriously contemplated such a step, was not yet in a condition to come to an open rupture with England; and to postpone the enterprise, he proposed to Drummond that an application should be made to Sweden for a body of troops to invade Scotland, and that a person from Scotland, along with another person from France whom the cardinal would appoint, should be sent thither to urge the application at the Swedish court. The cardinal gave as his reason for thus deviating from his original plan, that the Swedes being Protestants, would be more agreeable to the people of Scotland than French or Irish troops. In accordance with this proposal, Lord Traquair suggested that Murray of Broughton should be sent to Sweden on the proposed mission, but he declined.[786]

From the turn which the affair of the invasion had now taken, and the time when it was expected to take place being allowed to elapse without any preparations on the part of France, a suspicion began to be entertained by the members of the Concert, that the cardinal never had any intention to invade Scotland, and that the whole was a scheme of Drummond’s to keep alive the spirit of party in Scotland, and to make himself pass for useful in the eyes of his employers. To ascertain the real state of the case, Murray of Broughton, at the suggestion of Lord Traquair, was sent to Paris in the month of January, 1743. He took London on his way, but before he reached the capital, he heard of the death of Cardinal Fleury. After staying a short time in London, Murray went privately to Paris, where he met Drummond and Sempil, who managed the Chevalier’s affairs in France. They stated to him, that in all probability the scheme of invasion would have been carried into effect, had not the army of Marshal Maillebois been sent towards Hanover instead of the coast of Flanders, as at first intended; and that from the interest taken by the cardinal in the affairs of the Stuarts, he had put all the papers relating to them into the hands of Monsieur Amelot, the secretary for foreign affairs.[787]

At an audience which Murray afterwards had with Monsieur Amelot at Versailles, the foreign secretary told him that, on being made acquainted by Sempil with the cause of Murray’s journey, he had informed the King of France of it, and that his majesty had authorised him to assure Mr. Murray that he had the interest of the Stuart family as much at heart as any of the gentlemen who had signed the memorial of association, and that as soon as he had an opportunity he would put the scheme into execution.[788]

Shortly after this interview, Murray left Paris for London, accompanied by Drummond, who came over to obtain the assurances required by the French court from the English Tories and Jacobites. After remaining a few days in London, Murray returned to Edinburgh, to report to his friends the result of his mission. Drummond stopped at London, where he met Mr. Erskine of Grange,[789] but although overtures were then, it is believed, made to Lord Barrymore, Sir John Hynde Cotton, and Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, they declined to give any assurance or promise of support in writing. By desire of Drummond, Lord Traquair met him in London shortly after his arrival to assist him in his negotiations.[790]

At first view it may appear singular, and the circumstances must convey a very sorry idea of the councils of the Chevalier de St. George, that a person of so little weight and influence as Drummond, who was utterly unknown to the English Tories and Jacobites, should have been sent on such an important mission; but when it is considered that some of the leading Jacobites were proscribed and in exile, and that those at home were strictly watched by the government, and were therefore afraid to commit themselves by any overt act, it cannot excite surprise that the Chevalier availed himself of the services of one whom he considered “an honest and sensible man.”[791] Drummond was, however, considered, even by his original employers, as a person unfit to execute the trust reposed in him, and Lord John Drummond, one of the seven who had signed the association, was quite indignant when he found him engaged in the mission to England.[792] Nor was Sempil, between whom and Drummond a close intimacy subsisted, more acceptable to the Scottish Jacobites, some of whom he offended by his forwardness.[793]

During the earlier part of the year 1743, the French ministry were too much occupied with the war in Germany to pay much attention to the affairs of the Stuarts; but towards the close of that year they began to meditate an invasion of Great Britain. The British parliament met in the beginning of December, when a motion was made in the house of peers by the Earl of Sandwich, for an address to the crown to discontinue the Hanoverian troops in British pay, in order to remove the national discontent, which was represented to be so violent, that nothing but their dismission could appease it. The motion was negatived, but renewed in another shape on the army estimates being brought forward, when it shared the same fate. The attention of the French ministry being drawn to these and similar discussions, and to the general dissatisfaction which seemed to pervade the people of Great Britain, by the agents and partizans of the exiled family, backed by the influence of Cardinal Tencin, entered upon the project of an invasion in good earnest. The cardinal, who now had great influence in the councils of France, had, while a resident at Rome, been particularly noticed by the Chevalier de St. George, by whose influence he had been raised to the cardinalate, and he was moved as much by gratitude to his patron as by ambition to bring about the restoration of the Stuarts. The court of Versailles, indeed, required little inducement to engage in an enterprise which, whether it succeeded or not, would at all events operate as a diversion in favour of France in her contest with the house of Austria, whose chief support was Great Britain; but it is not improbable that they at this time contemplated a more serious attempt. In intimating, however, his resolution to undertake the expedition, the King of France notified to the Chevalier de St. George that it was to be kept a profound secret, and that neither the Duke of Ormond nor Lord Marischal should be told, till the enterprise was ready to be put into execution.

The command of the troops designed for this expedition, amounting to 15,000 men, was given to the celebrated Marshal Saxe; and the naval part, consisting of thirteen ships of the line, besides transports, collected at Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne, was intrusted to Monsieur de Roquefeuille, an officer of considerable experience and capacity. This force was destined for the coast of Kent, and a smaller force was to be landed in Scotland under the command of Lord Marischal.

While the preparations for the expedition were going on, Cardinal Tencin kept up an active correspondence with the Chevalier de St. George. As James felt rather disinclined to accompany the expedition himself, he proposed that his eldest son, Charles, then in his twenty-third year, should go in his stead; but as it was doubtful whether the prince would arrive in time to join the expedition, the Chevalier sent an express to the Duke of Ormond requesting him to accompany the expedition, and to act as regent, by virtue of a commission of regency formerly granted him, until the prince should arrive. On arriving in England, the duke was directed to advise with the principal friends of the family, among whom he particularly enumerated the Duke of Beaufort, the Earls of Barrymore, Westmoreland, and Orrery, Lord Cobham, and Sirs Watkin Williams Wynne, John Hynde Cotton, and Robert Abdy. Having obtained the consent of the French court to this arrangement, the cardinal, upon the completion of the preparations for the expedition, despatched a messenger to Rome to request the attendance of the young prince at Paris. Accordingly, on the morning of the 9th of January, 1744, Prince Charles, accompanied by his brother Henry and two or three attendants, left Rome before break of day, but they had not proceeded far when they parted, the prince on his route to France and the duke to Cisterna.[794] The former was disguised as a Spanish courier, and took only one servant along with him on his journey. To account for the departure of the two brothers, it was given out at Rome that they had gone to a boar hunt, and so well was the secret of the prince’s real destination kept, that nearly a fortnight elapsed before it was discovered.[795]

Provided with passports furnished by Cardinal Aquaviva, the prince travelled through Tuscany and arrived at Genoa. From Genoa he proceeded to Savona, where he embarked in a felucca, and passing by Monaco arrived at Antibes. From the latter place he proceeded to Paris, where he met Marshal Saxe and other officers belonging to the expedition, and after a private audience of the French king, he set out incognito for the coast of Picardy. The route by Genoa and Antibes was selected as the safest, and, from the season of the year, the most expeditious; but so unfavourable was the weather, that the prince had to stop some days at different places, and when he reached Antibes he was recognised, and information of his arrival there and of his departure for Paris was sent to the British government by persons in its interest. Hitherto the British ministry do not appear to have had any suspicion that the armaments at Brest, Boulogne, and other French ports, were destined for the shores of Britain, but the appearance of the eldest son of the Chevalier de St. George in France opened their eyes to the dangers which now menaced them. At this time the military force in England did not exceed 6,000 men, so that if the threatened invasion had taken place, the result might have been disastrous to the reigning family.[796]

Meanwhile, the French fleet, consisting of 15 ships of the line and 5 frigates, under M. de Roquefeuille, sailed from Brest, and for several days displayed itself in the channel. Knowing the object for which these ships had put to sea, the government was greatly alarmed, and not without cause; for, besides the paucity of troops in the island, they had only six ships of the line at home ready for sea, the grand fleet being then in the Mediterranean. The activity and preparations of the government corresponded with the magnitude of the danger with which it was threatened. Orders were instantly sent to fit out and man all the ships of war in the different ports of the channel. These orders were so promptly obeyed, that in a few days an English fleet of three ships of 100 guns, four of 90, six of 70, and six of 50, was collected at Spithead under the command of Sir John Norris.[797] Several regiments were immediately marched to the southern coast of England; all governors and commanders were ordered to repair forthwith to their respective posts; the forts at the mouth of the Thames and Medway were put in a posture of defence; and the militia of Kent were directed to assemble to defend the coast in case of an invasion. On the 15th of February, the arrival of Prince Charles in France, the preparations along the French coast, and the appearance of the French fleet in the English channel, were announced to parliament in a message from the king. Both houses joined in an address, in which they declared their indignation at the design formed in favour of “a popish pretender,” and assured his majesty they would take measures to frustrate so desperate and insolent an attempt. The city of London, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge,[798] the principal towns in Great Britain, almost all the corporations and communities of the kingdom, the clergy of the establishment, the dissenting ministers, and the Quakers, or Society of Friends, presented similar addresses. A demand was made from the States-general of the 6,000 auxiliaries which by treaty they had engaged to furnish on such occasions; and this force was immediately granted. Forgetful of the wrongs which he had suffered at the hands of the government, the Earl of Stair tendered his services, and was reappointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Great Britain. Several noblemen of the first rank followed his example, among whom was the Duke of Montague, who was permitted to raise a regiment of horse. Orders were sent to bring over the 6,000 British troops from Flanders; and both houses of parliament, in a second address, exhorted the king to augment his forces by sea and land, in such manner as he should think necessary at this dangerous juncture of affairs. The habeas corpus act was suspended for six months; several suspected persons were taken into custody; the usual proclamation was issued for putting the laws in execution against the unfortunate Catholics and nonjurors, who were ordered to retire ten miles from London; and every other precaution, deemed necessary for the preservation of the public tranquillity, was adopted.[799]

Meanwhile the preparations for invasion were proceeding rapidly at Boulogne and Dunkirk, under the eye of Prince Charles. Roquefeuille had in his excursion in the channel come in sight of Spithead; and, as he could perceive no ships there, he imagined that the English ships had retired within their harbours. Judging the opportunity favourable, he detached M. de Barriel with five ships of war to hasten the embarkation at Dunkirk, and to order the transports thereupon to put to sea. Roquefeuille then sailed up the channel with the remainder of his fleet as far as Dungeness, a promontory on the coast of Kent, off which he anchored to await the arrival of the transports. Having received intelligence of Roquefeuille’s arrival from an English frigate which came into the Downs, Sir John Norris left Spithead with the British fleet, and doubling the South Foreland from the Downs, on the 23d of February discovered the French fleet at anchor. Though the wind was against him, Sir John endeavoured, by availing himself of the tide, to come up and engage the French squadron; but the tide failing, he was obliged to anchor when about two leagues from the enemy. He intended to attack them next morning, but M. de Roquefeuille, not judging it advisable to risk an engagement, weighed anchor after sunset, and favoured by a hard gale of wind from the north-east which blew during the night, ran down the channel and got into Brest harbour. So violent was the gale, that all the English fleet (two ships only excepted,) parted with their cables and were driven out to sea, and before they could have returned to their station, the transports, under convoy of the five ships of war despatched by Roquefeuille, might have disembarked the army under Marshal Saxe had the storm not reached the French coast; but the tempest, which merely forced the English ships to quit their moorings, was destructive to the expedition, and utterly disconcerted the design of invading England.

On the very day on which the two fleets discovered each other, Marshal Saxe, accompanied by Charles Edward, arrived at Dunkirk, and proceeded to get his troops embarked as fast as possible; 7,000 men were actually shipped, and proceeded to sea that day with a fair wind, but in the evening the wind changed to the east, and blew a hurricane. The embarkation ceased, several of the transports which had put to sea were wrecked, many soldiers and seamen perished, and a considerable quantity of warlike stores was lost. The remainder of the transports were damaged to such an extent that they could not be speedily repaired.

Such was the result of an expedition planned with great judgment and conducted with such secrecy as to have escaped the vigilance of the government till on the very eve of its being carried into execution. After the discomfiture it had met with from the elements, and the formidable attitude which England, aroused to a sense of the imminent danger she was in, had now assumed, the French court must have instantly abandoned, as it is believed it did abandon, any idea of renewing the enterprise; but Charles Edward, sanguine of success, and in no shape discouraged by the catastrophe which had happened, daily importuned Marshal Saxe to re-embark his troops and proceed to England; but the marshal excused himself, by urging the necessity of fresh instructions from court and the previous repair of the damaged transports.[800] The French ministry, however, finally resolved to postpone the expedition.

Although war may be said to have virtually commenced between Great Britain and France by the battle of Dettingen, which was fought between the allies and the French in the month of June, 1743, no formal declaration of war was issued by either power till the month of March following, after the expedition against England had been given up.

After the failure and abandonment of the enterprise, Prince Charles retired to Gravelines, where he lived several months in private, under the assumed name of the Chevalier Douglas. Ever since his arrival in France he had been forced by the French court to preserve an incognito, which, though highly approved of by Drummond and Sempil, his father’s agents, was productive of great uneasiness to the Chevalier de St. George, who could not understand the reason for affecting to conceal a fact which was notorious to all the world.[801]

The preparations for invasion had raised, not without foundation, great hopes of a restoration in the minds of the Scottish Jacobites; but when they ascertained that the expedition was relinquished, they felt all that bitterness of disappointment which the miscarriage of any cherished scheme is sure to engender. They did not however despair of effecting their object ultimately, and, in the meantime, the leading members of the Concert despatched a messenger to the prince to assure him of their attachment to his cause, and inform him of the state of the country and the dispositions of the people.[802] About the same time Murray of Broughton went to Paris, by advice of the Earl of Traquair, to ascertain the exact situation of affairs. Here he was introduced to the prince by Drummond and Sempil. At a private interview which he had with Charles the following day, Murray stated, that from the absurd and contradictory nature of the communications made by the prince’s agent at Paris, they had, as it appeared to him, a design to impose upon him with the intention of serving themselves. Charles alluded to the association which had been formed at Edinburgh, said that he did not doubt that the King of France intended to invade Britain in the ensuing spring,—that he was already preparing for it, and intended to execute it as soon as the campaign in Flanders was over; but that whether the King of France undertook the expedition or not, he himself was determined to go to Scotland. Murray, thereupon, endeavoured to show him that such an attempt would be desperate, as he could not at the utmost expect to be joined by more than 4,000 or 5,000 men; but notwithstanding Murray’s representations, Charles repeated his determination of going to Scotland. Murray says that he was so much against the undertaking, that he spoke to Sir Thomas Sheridan—an Irish gentleman who enjoyed the prince’s confidence—to endeavour to persuade him against it, and that Sir Thomas told him, on his arrival in Scotland, that he had done so, but to no purpose. On returning to Scotland Murray reported to the members of the association all that had passed at the conference with the prince; and all of them, except the Duke of Perth, declared themselves opposed to the prince’s resolution of coming to Scotland without troops.[803] Murray then wrote a letter to Charles, stating the opinion of his friends, and representing the ruinous consequences which might ensue from such a rash undertaking. This letter was committed to the care of a gentleman who went to London in the month of January, 1745; but he neglected to forward it, and it was returned to Murray in the month of April. Murray made several attempts afterwards to forward the letter to France, and at last succeeded; but it never came to the hands of the prince, who departed for Scotland before the letter reached its destination.

During the spring of 1745, the agents of the Chevalier de St. George renewed their solicitations at the French court for another expedition; but Louis and his ministers were too much occupied with preparations for the campaign in Flanders to pay much attention to such applications. They however continued to amuse the Jacobite negotiators with assurances of conditional support; but James began to perceive that little or no reliance could be placed upon such promises. To relieve himself from the ennui occasioned by the failure of the expedition, and the state of seclusion in which he was kept by the French government, and to obtain some knowledge of military tactics, Charles applied for permission to make a campaign with the French army in Flanders; but although he was warmly backed in his application by his father, Louis refused to accede to his wish. Though frustrated in his expectations of any immediate aid from France, and denied the trifling gratification of making a campaign, Charles manifested little of the restlessness and hauteur which he afterwards displayed on his return from Scotland. Though he had much reason, as he observed, “to be out of humour,” he resolved, notwithstanding, to bear with patience the disappointments which he had experienced.[804]

To ease his mind from the anxieties which pressed upon it, the Duke of Fitzjames and other friends of his family, invited the prince to pass the spring at their country-seats in the neighbourhood of Paris, where, amid the society of his friends and rural recreations, he seemed, for a time, to forget the object for which he had come to France.

FOOTNOTES:

[781] Letters to the Duke of Ormond and Lord Marischal, 27th January, 1740, among the Stuart Papers. Alluding to his expectations of assistance from France, the Chevalier, in a letter (of which a copy is also in the same collection,) written to Marischal on the 11th January, 1740, while the latter was on his way to Madrid, says, “I am betwixt hopes and fears, though I think there is more room for the first than the last, as you will have perceived by what Lord Sempil (so an active agent of James was called,) has I suppose writ to you. I conclude I shall sometime next month see clearer into these great affairs.”

[782] Trial of Lord Lovat, p. 21. Home’s Rebellion, p. 24.

[783] This scheme was first broached by Drummond to Sempil, another active agent of the Chevalier, and communicated by him to James, who signified his approbation of it in a letter to Sempil, dated Nov. 22, 1741. “I approve very much in general of our making application to the old Whigs, and take it as a new and great mark of Balhaldy’s zeal. The offer he makes of being instrumental in that measure, I perused with satisfaction. What you write on the subject, I shall consider seriously on it betwixt this and next week; I shall by next post send you a packet for Balhaldy, with all that may appear proper and necessary for me on that particular.”—Stuart Papers.

[784] There is, among the Stuart Papers, a copy of a letter from the Chevalier de St. George to Mr. Erskine, 13th March, 1740, thanking him for the zeal he had shown in his cause.

[785] Lord Lovat’s Trial, p. 75.

[786] Lord Lovat’s Trial, p. 76.

[787] Idem.

[788] Idem.

[789] The Chevalier alludes to this meeting in a letter to Sempil, 9th April, 1743; and in another of 16th May following, he mentions a long paper which Mr. Erskine had sent him on the state of affairs.—Stuart Papers.

[790] Letter from the Chevalier to Sempil, 24th May, 1743.—Stuart Papers.

[791] Letter to Sempil, 16th March, 1740,—Stuart Papers. Drummond was not the only person employed by the Chevalier about this time to visit his friends in England. A Colonel Bret, and afterwards a Colonel Cecil, with both of whom James corresponded, made frequent journeys to England. The Duchess of Buckingham made many unsolicited trips to Paris to hasten Cardinal Fleury’s motions, but James was by no means satisfied with her officiousness. In writing to her on 20th July, 1741, he cautions her as follows:—“I must seriously recommend to you not to importune the old gentleman too much. When you have given him what lights and information have come to your knowledge, all the good is done, for in the present situation one would think he should want no spur to befriend us, and in all events he will go on in his own way, while teazing him can serve for nothing but to make him peevish and out of humour.” The duchess must have been possessed of some important papers, as James, in a letter to Sempil, (2d May, 1743,) written shortly after her death, expresses his concern lest her papers should fall into the hands of the government.—Stuart Papers.

[792] Letter from Lord John to Secretary Edgar among the Stuart Papers, Feb. 25th, 1743.

[793] Letter from Lord Marischal to Lord John Drummond.—Stuart Papers, Feb. 12th, 1743.

[794] “My children,” says James in a letter to Sempil, 9th January, 1744, “parted both this morning from hence before day, the duke for Cisterna and the prince for his long journey. We have been at so much pains and contrivance to cover it, that I hope the secret will be kept for some days, perhaps for several.”—Stuart Papers.

[795] Alluding to the discovery, James says, (letter to Sempil, 23d January, 1744,) that it made “a great noise, as you may believe, here,” viz. at Rome.—Stuart Papers.

[796] About this time, if we may believe the accounts of the Stuart party, the spirit of Jacobitism was widely diffused in Scotland. “The violentest Whigs,” says Mr. John Stuart in a letter to Secretary Edgar from Boulogne, in February, 1744, “are become the most zealous Jacobites. My friend says that the last night of the year with us (that is to say, the prince’s birth-night,) was celebrated there (in Scotland) as publicly as we could do it here,—that he was himself in a numerous company of people of fashion, amongst whom were several officers of the army,—that the health of the day, the merry meeting, and a whole train of such, were drunk publicly,—that about the third hour, when the third bottle had banished all reserve, servants were turned out and the doors lockt, one of the company made a speech, and filled a bumper to the restoration, and damnation to every one that would not help; the whole stood to their feet, drunk the (some words are here torn away in the original,) and their hands to their swords: the officers pulled the cockades out of their hats, trampled them under feet, and then tossed them into the fire; then called for music, and serenaded the ladies with loyal tunes, songs,” &c.—Stuart Papers.

[797] Memoirs of Europe, vol. ii. p. 197.

[798] The Chevalier de St. George drew up an address to both universities. It bears the same date (23d December, 1743,) as the two declarations published in 1745. This address was not published.—Stuart Papers.

[799] Smollett’s History of England, vol. iii. book ii. chap. 5.

[800] The Marshal, in answer to a querulous note sent by the prince on 11th of March, says in his answer on the 13th, “Vous ne pouvez, Monseigneur, accuser que les vents et la fortune des contretemps qui nous arrivent.” But he promises after the ships were refitted to proceed with the expedition.—Stuart Papers.

[801] James, however, at first approved of the incognito. Writing to Sempil, on 10th March, 1744, he observes, “The prince will have been tired with his confinement; but, as matters stand, the French court was much in the right to keep him private, tho’ that will not, it is true, hinder the Elector of Hanover from taking the alarm, and his measures against the invasion.” His views were different when writing Drummond on 12th June. After complaining of the disagreeable way in which the prince had been employed on his first arrival at Gravelines, (of which no particulars are given,) he continues, “I shall not be easy till I know the prince is out of his strange and long confinement and incognito, which must be so uneasy to him, and, I think, does little honor to the King of France, while it must carry something very odd with it in the eye of the public. But there were, to be sure, reasons for it which the public never knew, but I hope I shall at last.”—Stuart Papers.

[802] The arrival of this messenger, whose name was Blair, was announced by Drummond of Bochaldy to the prince’s father, in a letter, dated 30th July, 1744:—“Yesterday night there arrived here, (at Dunkirk,) a gentleman from Scotland sent by the Duke of Perth, Lord Traquair, and young Lochiel, to inform the prince of the state and disposition of that country, and the hazard the clans run by Lord John Drummond attempting to raise a regiment in your majesty’s name, which he gloriously averred to every particular, was by his majesty’s command and order; but the dangerous effect of this was prevented by the gentlemen of the Concert, their prudence and influence in allowing nobody of any distinction to give either countenance or credit to it except his brother, who, it seems, they could not hinder from going such lengths as brought troops about him, and forced him to abscond, till such time as the government came to understand that the view was absolutely private in Lord John, and that the using your majesty’s name was an imposition for private ends, which the clans had disappointed as much as they could. It would appear exaggeration to repeat to your majesty the accounts this gentleman brings of the real spirit and forwardness every man showed on hearing that the prince was coming to them, and what an universal melancholy succeeded that flow of spirits on being made certain of a disappointment.”—Stuart Papers.

It appears from the Chevalier’s answer (28th August, 1744), to the above-mentioned letter, that Lord John Drummond was authorised to raise the regiment:—“I remarked what you said last post in relation to Lord John: he had my approbation for endeavouring to raise a Scots regiment in the French service; and as I think that in general the more troops there be of my subjects in that service, the better. I must recommend to you not to take any steps to obstruct the raising of the said regiment.”—Stuart Papers.

[803] The prince’s design was rumoured at Paris, and communicated by Sempil to the Chevalier, who, in his answer, dated 23d February, 1745, remarks as follows:—“I am noways surprised that some French people should have a notion of the prince’s going to Scotland without troops, tho’ nobody surely can enter into such an idea except out of ignorance, and from not knowing the true state of things. But I am always alarmed at it, because I think it impossible that the King of France should approve of such a project, and that it is well known how much I should myself be averse to it. However, it will be always well that you use your best endeavours to refute so dangerous a scheme, and that nobody can do more solidly and effectually than yourself, from the lights and knowledge you have of the affairs of Britain; and I own, till I see the contrary, I shall, as long as the war lasts, always hope that the French will take at last some generous resolution in our favour.”—Stuart Papers.

[804] Stuart Papers, February and March, 1745.

CHAPTER XXIX.

A.D. 1745.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Preparations—Departure of the expedition—Incidents of the voyage—The Prince lands in Eriska—Has interviews with Macdonald of Boisdale and young Clanranald—Kinlochmoidart, Dr. Cameron, and others, visit the Prince—Charles lands at Borodale—Cameron, younger, of Lochiel—His interview with the Prince—Charles arrives at Kinlochmoidart—Commencement of hostilities—Charles raises his standard at Glenfinnan—Manifesto—The Chevalier’s ignorance of the expedition.

From mere auxiliaries in the war of the Austrian succession, Great Britain and France at last entered the field as principals; and in the spring of 1745, both parties were prepared to decide their respective differences by force of arms. The Jacobites, who looked upon war as the harbinger to a speedy realisation of their wishes and their hopes, awaited the result with anxiety; though, from the policy of France, it was not difficult to perceive that the issue, whether favourable or unfavourable to France, would in reality neither advance nor retard the long looked for restoration. France, if defeated in the field, almost on her own frontiers, would require all her forces to protect herself; and could not, therefore, be expected to make a diversion on the shores of Britain. And, on the other hand, if successful in the campaign about to open in Flanders, she was likely to accomplish the objects for which the war had been undertaken, without continuing an expensive and dubious struggle in support of the Stuarts.

Charles Edward Stuart, the aspirant to the British throne, seems to have viewed matters much in the same light on receiving intelligence of the victory obtained by the French over the allies at Fontenoy.[805] In writing to one of his father’s agents at Paris,[806] who had sent him information of the battle, Charles observes that it was not easy to form an opinion as to whether the result would “prove good or bad” for his affairs. He had, however, taken his resolution to go to Scotland, though unaccompanied even by a single company of soldiers; and the event which had just occurred made him determine to put that resolution into immediate execution. At Fontenoy, the British troops maintained by their bravery the national reputation, but they were obliged to yield to numbers; yet, to use the words of a French historian, “they left the field of battle without tumult, without confusion, and were defeated with honour.”[807] The flower of the British army was, however, destroyed; and as Great Britain had been almost drained of troops, Charles considered the conjuncture as favourable, and made such preparations for his departure as the shortness of the time would allow.

The French government was apprised of Charles’s intentions, and though the French ministers were not disposed openly to sanction an enterprise which they were not at the time in a condition to support, they secretly favoured a design, which, whatever might be its result, would operate as a diversion in favour of France. Accordingly, Lord Clare, (afterwards Marshal Thomond,) then a lieutenant-general in the French service, was authorised to open a negotiation with two merchants of Irish extraction, named Ruttledge and Walsh, who had made some money by trading to the West Indies. They had, since the war, been concerned in privateering; and with the view of extending their operations, had lately obtained from the French government a grant of the Elizabeth, an old man-of-war of sixty-six guns, and they had purchased a small frigate of sixteen guns named the Doutelle, both of which ships were in the course of being fitted out for a cruise in the north seas. Lord Clare having introduced Charles to Ruttledge and Walsh, explained the prince’s design, and proposed that they should lend him their ships. This proposal was at once acceded to by the owners, who also offered to supply the prince with money and such arms as they could procure, in fulfilment of which offer they afterwards placed in his hands the sum of £3,800.[808]

While the preparations for the expedition were going on, Charles resided at Navarre, a seat of the Duke of Bouillon, and occupied himself in hunting, fishing, and shooting. A few persons only in his own confidence were aware of his intentions; and so desirous was he of concealing his movements from his father’s agents at Paris, that he gave out, shortly before his departure, that he intended to visit the monastery of La Trappe, in the vicinity of Rouen, and would return to Paris in a few days.[809] The prince ordered the few followers who were to accompany him to assemble at Nantes, near the mouth of the Loire; and the better to conceal their design, they arrived there singly, took up their residence in different parts of the town, and when they met on the streets did not seem to recognise one another.[810]

When informed that every thing was in readiness for his departure, Charles went to Nantes in disguise, and having descended the Loire in a fishing boat on the 20th of June, (O. S.) 1745, embarked on the 21st on board the Doutelle at St. Nazaire, whence he proceeded on the following day to Belleisle, where he was joined on the 4th of July by the Elizabeth, which had on board 100 marines raised by Lord Clare, about 2,000 muskets, and 500 or 600 French broad-swords. The persons who accompanied Charles were the Marquis of Tullibardine,[811] elder brother of James, Duke of Athole; Sir Thomas Sheridan, who had been tutor to Charles; Sir John Macdonald, an officer in the Spanish service; Francis Strickland, an English gentleman; George Kelly, a clergyman; Æneas or Angus Macdonald, a banker in Paris, brother to Kinlochmoidart; and O’Sullivan, an officer in the service of France. These were afterwards designated the “Seven Men of Moidart.” There were also some persons of inferior note, among whom were one Buchanan, who had been employed as a messenger to Rome by Cardinal Tencin, and Duncan Cameron, formerly a servant of old Lochiel at Boulogne, who was hired for the expedition, for the purpose, as he informs us, of descrying the “Long Isle.”[812]

The expedition sailed from Belleisle on the 5th of July with a fair wind, which continued favourable till the 8th, when a dead calm ensued. On the following day, when in the latitude of 47° 57´ north, and thirty-nine leagues west from the meridian of the Lizard, a sail was descried to windward, which proved to be the Lion, a British man-of-war of sixty guns, commanded by Captain Brett. When the Lion hove in sight, the prince, for better accommodation, was preparing to go on board the Elizabeth; but luckily for him he laid aside his design on the appearance of the man-of-war. While the Lion was bearing down on the French ships, M. D’Oe, or D’Eau, the captain of the Elizabeth, went on board the Doutelle, where a council of war was immediately held, at which it was determined, if possible, to avoid an action; but if an action became inevitable, that the Elizabeth should receive the first broadside, and should thereupon endeavour to board her adversary. While this conference lasted, both ships kept running before the wind; but the Lion being a fast sailing vessel soon neared the Elizabeth, and, when within nearly a mile of her, hove to for the purpose of reconnoitring the French ships and preparing for action. Judging an action now unavoidable, Captain D’Oe proposed to Walsh, one of the proprietors of the two vessels, and who acted as commander of the Doutelle, that while the Elizabeth and Lion were engaged, the Doutelle should assist the Elizabeth by playing upon the Lion at a distance; but Walsh declined to interfere in any shape. The Captain of the Elizabeth thereupon drew his sword, and taking leave, went back to his ship, with his drawn sword in his hand, to prepare for action.[813]

Captain D’Oe had scarcely reached the Elizabeth when the Lion bore down upon her. Contrary to the plan laid down on board the Doutelle, the Elizabeth gave the first broadside, which was instantly returned by the Lion; and before the Elizabeth could get her other side to bear upon her opponent, the latter tacked about and poured in another broadside into the Elizabeth, which raked her fore and aft, and killed a great number of her men. Notwithstanding this untoward beginning, the Elizabeth maintained the fight for nearly five hours, when night coming on, and both vessels being complete wrecks, they parted as if by mutual consent. The prince, in the Doutelle, viewed the battle with great anxiety, and, it is said, importuned the captain to assist the Elizabeth, but Walsh positively refused to engage, and intimated to the prince, that if he continued his solicitations, he would order him down to the cabin.[814]

After the action was over, Captain Walsh bore up to the Elizabeth to ascertain the state of matters, and was informed by a lieutenant of the severe loss she had sustained in officers and men, and the crippled state she was in. He, however, offered to pursue the voyage if supplied with a main-mast and some rigging, but Walsh had no spare materials; and after intimating that he would endeavour to finish the voyage himself, and advising the commander of the Elizabeth to return to France, both ships parted, the Elizabeth on her way back to France, and the Doutelle on her voyage to the Western Highlands.[815]

On the 11th of July a sail was discovered, which gave chase to the Doutelle; but being a swift-sailing vessel she outran her pursuer. She encountered a rough sea and tempestuous weather on the 15th and 16th, after which the weather became fine till the midnight of the 20th, when a violent storm arose. She stood out the gale, however, and on the 22d came within sight of land, which was discovered to be the southern extremity of Long Island, a name by which, from their appearing at a distance, and in a particular direction, to form one island, the islands of Lewis, the Uists, Barra, and others, are distinguished. On approaching the land, a large ship, which appeared to be an English man-of-war, was descried between the Doutelle and the island. On perceiving this vessel, Walsh changed the course of the Doutelle, and stretching along the east side of Barra, reached the strait between South Uist and Eriska, the largest of a cluster of little rocky islands that lie off South Uist. When near the land, Duncan Cameron, before mentioned, was sent on shore in the long-boat to bring off a proper pilot, and having accidentally met the piper of Macneil of Barra, with whom Cameron was acquainted, he took him on board. In the strait alluded to, the Doutelle cast anchor on the 23d of July, having been eighteen days at sea.[816]

Accompanied by his attendants, the prince immediately landed in Eriska, and was conducted to the house of Angus Macdonald, the tacksman, or principal tenant thereof and of the small islands adjoining. To anticipate that prying curiosity and speculation which the inhabitants of the western isles always display on the arrival of strangers, the prince’s companions represented him as a young Irish priest, a species of visitor by no means uncommon in these islands, whither priests from the opposite coast of Ireland had been long accustomed to resort, for the purpose of giving the islanders that religious instruction and consolation of which, by the change in the national religion, they had been almost debarred from receiving from the hands of native priests. From the tacksman of Eriska, the party learned, that Macdonald, chief of Clanranald, and Macdonald of Boisdale, his brother, were upon the island of South Uist, and that young Clanranald, the son of the chief, was at Moidart upon the mainland. As Boisdale was understood to have great influence with his brother, a messenger was immediately despatched to South Uist, requesting his attendance on board the Doutelle.

Charles and his companions passed the night in the house of the tacksman, but the accommodation was very indifferent. They had not a sufficient supply of beds, but the prince, regardless of his own ease, declined to occupy one.[817] Next morning they returned to the ship. Boisdale soon thereafter made his appearance. As his brother, Clanranald, was unfit, from age and bad health, to be of any essential service, Charles was anxious to secure the assistance of Boisdale, by whose means he expected that the clan would be induced to rise in his support. Boisdale had, however, already made up his mind upon the subject, and the result of the interview was extremely discouraging to Charles. At first, the prince proposed that Boisdale should accompany him to the mainland, and endeavour to engage his nephew to take up arms; but Boisdale decidedly declined the proposal, and even declared that he would do every thing in his power to prevent his brother and nephew from engaging in an enterprise which he considered desperate. Baffled in his first attempt, Charles next proposed to despatch Boisdale with a message to Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat and the Laird of Macleod, who had extensive possessions in the island of Skye, requesting their assistance; but Boisdale informed the prince that such a mission would be useless, as he had seen Sir Alexander Macdonald and Macleod very lately,—that they had stated to him the probability that the prince would arrive, but that if he came without a body of regular troops, they were determined not to join him, and were of opinion that no other person would. Boisdale added, that he was instructed by these gentlemen to mention their resolution to the prince in case he should meet him on his arrival, and to advise him, should he come unprovided with troops, to return directly to France.

Charles was sadly perplexed at Boisdale’s obduracy, but he endeavoured to soften him by representing his affairs in the most favourable light; but the Highlander was inflexible. Whilst this prolonged altercation was going on, two vessels appeared making for the strait in which the Doutelle lay, a circumstance which induced her commander to weigh anchor and stand in for the mainland. Boisdale, still pressed by the prince, remained on board till the ship had advanced several miles in her course, when he entered his boat, and left Charles to ruminate over his disappointment. The Doutelle continued her course during the night, and next morning cast anchor in the bay of Lochnanuagh, which partly divides the countries of Moidart and Arisaig.[818] On approaching the strait, the Marquis of Tullibardine, when about to retire below to dinner, observed an eagle hovering over the frigate, which he looked upon as a happy augury, but afraid of being taxed by his companions with superstition, he at first took no notice of the circumstance. On coming upon deck after dinner, he saw the eagle still hovering above the vessel and following her in her course. No longer able to restrain himself, he directed the attention of Charles and his suite to the royal bird, and thereafter turning to the prince, thus addressed him: “Sir, I hope this is an excellent omen, and promises good things to us. The king of birds is come to welcome your royal highness upon your arrival in Scotland.”

Though foiled in his attempt upon Boisdale, the young adventurer resolved to repeat the same experiment upon his nephew, and accordingly he immediately sent a boat on shore with a letter to young Clanranald; Æneas Macdonald also went on shore to bring off Kinlochmoidart, his brother. Kinlochmoidart came on board immediately, and after a short interview with the prince, was despatched with letters to Lochiel, the Duke of Perth, Murray of Broughton and others.

Next day young Clanranald, accompanied by his kinsmen, Alexander Macdonald of Glenalladale, Æneas Macdonald of Dalily and a Highland officer (author of a journal and memoirs of the expedition),[819] came to Forsy, a small village opposite to the Doutelle’s anchorage ground. They called for the ship’s boat, and were immediately carried on board. The feelings of the party on getting upon deck are thus described by the writer alluded to. “Our hearts were overjoyed to find ourselves so near our long-wished-for prince; we found a large tent erected with poles on the ship’s deck, covered and well furnished with variety of wines and spirits. As we entered this pavilion we were most cheerfully welcom’d by the Duke of Athole, to whom some of us had been known in the year 1715. While the duke was talking with us, Clanranald was a-missing, and had, as we understood, been called into the prince’s cabin, nor did we look for the honour of seeing His R. H. at least for that night.”[820]

Of the conversation which took place between the prince and young Clanranald during the three hours they were closeted together, no account was ever given; but it is probable that if the latter stated any objections against the enterprise, they had been overcome before he rejoined his companions, as no allusion is made by the writer just quoted, to any unwillingness on the part of the young chieftain to join the prince. Maxwell of Kirkconnel, who mentions the refusal of Boisdale, says, that young Clanranald frankly offered his services to the prince,[821] a statement which, from the ardent and romantic attachment for the Stuarts with which that young chieftain was inspired, seems to approximate nearer the truth than that of Home, who classes Kinlochmoidart and young Clanranald together, as joining in a positive refusal to take up arms.

According to Home, young Clanranald and Kinlochmoidart came on board together, and were addressed, with great emotion, by Charles, who had been almost reduced to despair by his interview with Boisdale. After using all the arguments he could for taking up arms, he conjured them to assist their countryman, their prince, in his utmost need. Though well inclined and warmly attached to the cause, the gentlemen in question are said to have positively refused, and to have told the prince, one after another, that to take up arms in their present unprepared state, without concert or support, would bring down certain destruction on their own heads. Charles persisted, argued, and implored, but without effect. During this conversation the parties walked backwards and forwards upon the deck, and were closely eyed by a Highlander who stood near them armed at all points, as was then the fashion of the country. He was a younger brother of Kinlochmoidart, and had come off to the ship to inquire for news, not knowing who was on board. When he gathered from their discourse that the stranger was Prince Charles, and heard his chief and his brother refuse to take up arms in his behalf, his colour went and came, his eyes sparkled, he shifted his place and grasped his sword. Charles observing his demeanour, stopped short, and turning towards him, put this interrogatory, “Will not you assist me?” “I will! I will!” exclaimed Ranald; “though no other man in the Highlands should draw a sword, I am ready to die for you.” Charles, delighted with the young man’s answer, evinced his gratitude by a profusion of thanks and acknowledgments, extolled his champion to the skies, and said he only wished that all the Highlanders were like him. Stung with the prince’s observation, which could be regarded only as a reproach, and smitten by the example set by the heroic youth, the two Macdonalds instantly declared that they would unsheath their swords in support of the claims of the house of Stuart, and would use their utmost endeavours to rouse their countrymen to arms.[822]

After the interview with the prince, Clanranald returned to his friends, who had, during the conference, been regaling themselves in the pavilion. In about half-an-hour thereafter, the prince entered the tent and took his seat without appearing to notice any of the company. His appearance, and the scene which followed, are thus described by an eyewitness. “There entered the tent a tall youth of a most agreeable aspect, in a plain black coat with a plain shirt, not very clean, and a cambrick stock fixed with a plain silver buckle, a fair round wig out of the buckle, a plain hat with a canvas string having one end fixed to one of his coat buttons; he had black stockings, and brass buckles in his shoes. At his first appearance I found my heart swell to my very throat. We were immediately told by one Obrian, a churchman, that this youth was also an English clergyman, who had long been possessed with a desire to see and converse with Highlanders.

“When this youth entered, Obrian forbid any of those who were sitting to rise; he saluted none of us, and we only made a low bow at a distance. I chanced to be one of those who were standing when he came in, and he took his seat near me, but immediately started up again and caused me to sit down by him upon a chest. I at this time taking him only to be a passenger or some clergyman, presumed to speak to him with too much familiarity, yet still retained some suspicion he might be one of more note than he was said to be. He asked me if I was not cold in that habit, (viz. the Highland garb,) I answered I was so habituated to it, that I should rather be so (feel cold) if I was to change my dress for any other. At this he laughed heartily, and next inquired how I lay with it at night, which I explained to him. He said that by wrapping myself so close in my plaid I would be unprepared for any sudden defence in the case of a surprise. I answered that in such times of danger, or during the war, we had a different method of using the plaid, that with one spring I could start to my feet with drawn sword and cocked pistol in my hand, without being the least encumbered with my bed-clothes. Several such questions he put to me; then rising quickly from his seat he calls for a dram, when the same person whispered me a second time to pledge the stranger but not to drink to him, by which seasonable hint I was confirmed in my suspicion who he was. Having taken a glass of wine in his hand, he drank to us all round, and soon after left us.”[823]

Having thus secured the support of young Clanranald, Charles selected him to execute the commission which his uncle, Boisdale, had refused to undertake. Accordingly, on the 22d of July the young chieftain, attended by Allan Macdonald, a younger brother of Kinlochmoidart, was despatched with letters from the prince, to Sir Alexander Macdonald and the laird of Macleod, to solicit the aid of their services. These powerful chieftains, who could raise nearly 2,000 men between them, had promised to join the prince if he brought a foreign force along with him, but when they found that he had come without troops, they considered themselves released from their engagements, and refused to join in an enterprise which they considered desperate.[824]

During young Clanranald’s absence, Donald Macdonald of Scothouse, Dr. Archibald Cameron on the part of his brother Donald Cameron, younger of Lochiel, and Hugh Macdonald, brother of the laird of Morar, came on board the Doutelle. The latter, on his way home from Edinburgh, had met Kinlochmoidart crossing the water of Lochy, and had been informed by him of the arrival of the prince.[825] In expectation of seeing the prince, he went to Kinlochmoidart’s house, where he found Æneas Macdonald, brother of Kinlochmoidart, who told him that he might see the prince the following day if he pleased, but cautioned him not to accost him as such, as the prince passed for a French abbé with the crew of the vessel, who were ignorant of his rank. Next day the two Macdonalds went on board; and Charles, being informed of the name and character of his visitor, invited him down to the cabin. In a conversation which ensued, Hugh Macdonald expressed his fears as to the result of the expedition if persevered in, and hinted that, as he had brought no forces along with him, the most eligible course the prince could pursue, was to return to France, and wait a more favourable opportunity. Charles remarked that he did not wish to be indebted for the restoration of his father to foreigners, but to his own friends; that he had now put it in their power to have the glory of doing so, and that as to returning to France without making an attempt, foreigners should never have to say that he had thrown himself upon his friends, that they had turned their backs upon him, and that he had been forced to retire for shelter to foreign lands. He concluded by observing, that if he could get only six stout trusty fellows to join him, he would choose rather to skulk with them among the mountains of Scotland than return to France. Dr. Cameron also urged Charles to return, and told him that Lochiel had made up his mind not to join; but Charles returned the same answer he had given to Hugh Macdonald. On the return from Skye of young Clanranald and Allan Macdonald, who brought back an absolute refusal from Sir Alexander Macdonald and the laird of Macleod, the whole party on board, including even Sir Thomas Sheridan, by whose advice the prince generally acted, importuned him to desist, chiefly on the ground that the refusal of two such influential and powerful chieftains would prevent others, who were well disposed to the cause, from joining; but Charles was immoveable, and though without a single supporter, persisted in his resolution.[826]

Charles remained on board the Doutelle till the 25th of July, the interval between which day and that of his arrival in Lochnanuagh, was spent in despatching letters and receiving communications from his friends, and in consultations with his companions and the adherents who visited him, as to the means to be adopted for raising the clans that were favourably disposed. During the same interval, all the arms, ammunition, and stores were landed; and every thing being in readiness for his reception on shore, Charles, accompanied by his suite, landed at Borodale, a farm belonging to Clanranald, and took up his abode in the house of Angus Macdonald, the tenant of the farm, who received him and his companions with a hearty welcome. By orders of young Clanranald, Macdonald of Glenalladale and another gentleman of the clan, had collected about 100 of their men to serve as a body-guard to the prince, all of whom were hospitably entertained at Borodale.

No situation could have been any where selected more suitable for the circumstances and designs of Charles than the abode he had chosen. Besides being one of the most remote and inaccessible places in the western Highlands of Scotland, it was surrounded on all sides by the territories of the most devoted adherents of the house of Stuart, by the descendants of the heroes of Kilsyth and Killiecrankie, in whose breasts the spirit of revenge had taken deep root, for the cruelties which had followed the short-lived insurrection of 1715, and the affronts to which they had been subjected under the disarming act. These mountaineers had long sighed for an opportunity of retaliation, and they were soon to imagine that the time for vengeance had arrived.

As soon as the landing of Charles was known, the whole neighbourhood was in motion, and repaired, “without distinction of age or sex,”[827] to the house of Borodale, to see a man with whose success they considered the glory and happiness of their country to be inseparably associated. To gratify his warm-hearted and generous visitors, and to attain a full view of the assembled group, Charles seated himself in a conspicuous part of the room where a repast had been laid out for him and his friends. Here, amid the congregated spectators who feasted their eyes with the sight of the lineal descendant of a race of kings, endeared to them by many sorrowful recollections, the prince partook of the fare provided by his kind host, with a cheerfulness which banished all reflection of the past or care for the future. At the conclusion of the repast, Charles drank the grace-drink in English, which, of course, was understood only by a few of the persons present. The guest, to whom we are indebted for this account, says, that when his turn came to propose a toast, wishing to distinguish himself, he gave “the king’s health” in Gaelic in an audible voice,—“Deoch slaint an Righ.” When the prince was informed that his father’s health had been drunk, he requested the gentleman who had proposed it to pronounce the words again in Gaelic, that he might repeat them himself. This being done, Charles repeated the words, and understanding that the proposer was skilful in Gaelic, the prince intimated to him that he would henceforth take instructions from him in that language. The same individual, afterwards, by desire, gave also the healths of the prince, and his brother “the duke,” in Gaelic.[828] Such condescension and familiarity on the part of Charles were highly gratifying to the feelings of all present, and were better calculated to secure the affections of the unsophisticated people, into whose arms he had thrown himself, than all the pomp and circumstance of regal splendour.

Though the extreme rashness of young Clanranald and his friends, in thus exposing themselves to almost inevitable destruction, be quite inexcusable on the score of sober reason, yet it is impossible not to admire the daring intrepidity of the men, who, at the call of a friendless and unprotected youth, could commit themselves in a struggle with the government even before they had ascertained that a single clan, except their own, would join. Their devotedness to the cause of the Stuarts did not blind them, however, to the dangers to which they were about to expose themselves by declaring for the prince; but having now thrown away the scabbard, they resolved to cling to the cause which a feeling of fidelity prompted them to espouse, reckless of the consequences. “All may judge (says a gentleman of the clan), how hazardous an enterprise we were now engaged in, being for some time quite alone; but we resolved, notwithstanding, to follow our prince, and risk our fate with his.”[829]

Charles, before landing, had despatched messengers to several of the chiefs who were favourably disposed. From Borodale he again sent off fresh messengers to all the chiefs from whom he expected assistance, requiring their attendance. Some of his friends, aware of his arrival, had, it is said, already held a meeting to consult as to the course they should pursue; at which Macdonald of Keppoch had given his opinion, that as the prince had risked his person, and generously thrown himself into the hands of his friends, they were bound, in duty at least, to raise men instantly for the protection of his person, whatever might be the consequences;[830] but it does not appear that any such resolution was at that time adopted.

The person pitched upon to visit Lochiel on this occasion, was Macdonald, younger of Scothouse, who succeeded in inducing that chief to visit the prince at Borodale, but he went with a determination not to take up arms. On his way to Borodale he called at the house of his brother, John Cameron of Fassefern, who, on being told the object of his journey, advised Lochiel not to proceed, as he was afraid that the prince would prevail upon him to forego his resolution.[831] Lochiel, firm in his determination, as he imagined, told his brother that his reasons for declining to join the prince were too strong to be overcome, and pursued his journey.

Donald Cameron of Lochiel, on whose final determination the question of a civil war was now to depend, (for it seems to be universally admitted, that if Lochiel had declined to take up arms the other chiefs would have also refused,) though called young Lochiel by the Highlanders, from his father being still alive, was rather advanced in life. His father, for the share he had taken in the insurrection of 1715, was attainted and in exile. In consequence of the attainder, young Lochiel had succeeded to the family estates upon the death of his grandfather, Sir Ewen Cameron, in 1719. Sir Ewen, the reader knows, had served with distinction under Montrose and Dundee, and his son and grandson had inherited from the old warrior a devoted attachment to the house of Stuart, which no change of circumstances had been ever able to eradicate. The Chevalier de St. George, sensible of the inflexible integrity of the young chief, and of the great influence which he enjoyed among his countrymen on account of the uprightness of his character, and as being at the head of one of the most powerful of the clans, had invested him with full powers to negotiate with his friends in Scotland, on the subject of his restoration.[832] Knowing the confidence which was so deservedly reposed in him, he was consulted on all occasions by the Jacobites in the Highlands, and, as has been elsewhere observed, was one of the seven who, in the year 1740, signed the bond of association to restore the Chevalier. Upon the failure of the expedition of 1743, young Lochiel had urged the prince to continue his exertions to get another fitted out; but he was averse to any attempts being made without foreign assistance, and cautioned the prince accordingly.[833]

Among the chiefs who were summoned to Borodale, Lochiel was the first to appear, and he immediately had a private interview with the prince. Charles told him that he meant to be quite candid, and to conceal nothing; he reprobated in severe terms the conduct of the French ministry, who, he averred, had long amused him with fair promises, and had at last deceived him. He admitted that he had but a small quantity of arms, and very little money; that he had left France without concerting anything, or even taking leave of the French court,—that he had, however, before leaving, written to the French king and his ministers soliciting succours, which he was persuaded they would send as soon as they saw that he really had a party in Scotland,—that he had appointed Earl Marischal his agent at the court of France,—and that he depended much upon the zeal and abilities of that nobleman, who would himself superintend the embarkation of the succours he was soliciting.

Donald Cameron of Lochiel.—From the
original painting in possession
of Mrs. Cameron-Campbell of Monzie.

While Lochiel admitted the engagements which he and other chiefs had come under to support the cause, he observed that they were binding only in the event of the stipulated aid being furnished; and as his royal highness had come over without such support, they were released from the engagements they had contracted. He therefore reiterated his resolution not to join in the present hopeless attempt, and advised his royal highness to return to France and await a more favourable opportunity. Charles, on the other hand, maintained, that an opportunity more favourable than the present might never occur again,—that, with the exception of a very few newly raised regiments, all the British troops were occupied abroad. He represented, that the regular troops now in the kingdom were insufficient to withstand the body of Highlanders his friends could bring into the field; and he stated his belief, that if in the outset he obtained an advantage over the government forces, the country in general would declare in his favour, and his friends abroad would at once aid him,—that every thing, in fact, now depended upon the Highlanders,—and that to accomplish the restoration of his father, it was only necessary that they should instantly declare themselves and begin the war.

These arguments, which, as the result showed, were more plausible than solid, had no effect upon Lochiel, who continued to resist all the entreaties of Charles to induce him to alter his resolution. Finding the prince utterly averse to the proposal made to him to return to France, Lochiel entreated him to be more moderate in his views. He then suggested, that Charles should send his attendants back to France; that he himself should remain concealed in the country; that a report should be circulated that he also had returned to France, and that the court of France should be made acquainted with the state of matters, and informed that his friends would be ready to take up arms upon the first notice of a landing, but that nothing could be done without foreign support. Charles, however, rejected this proposal also, and told Lochiel, that the court of France would never be convinced that he had a considerable party in Scotland, till there was an actual insurrection, without which he was afraid they would not venture their troops.

As a last shift, Lochiel suggested, that Charles should remain at Borodale till he and other friends should hold a meeting, and concert what was best to be done. With an impatience which spurned delay, Charles would not even listen to the proposal, and declared his firm determination to take the field, however small the number of his attendants might be. “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, whom my father has often told me, was our firmest friend, may stay at home, and from the newspapers, learn the fate of his prince.” This appeal was irresistible. “No!” exclaimed Lochiel, “I’ll share the fate of my prince; and so shall every man over whom nature or fortune has given me any power.”[834]

Having extorted an acquiescence from Lochiel, who, impelled by a mistaken but chivalrous sense of honour, thus yielded to the prince’s entreaties in spite of his own better judgment, Charles resolved to raise his standard at Glenfinnan on the 19th of August. Accordingly, he despatched letters from Borodale on the 6th, to the various chiefs who were favourably disposed, informing them of his intention, and requiring the presence of them and their followers at Glenfinnan on the day appointed, or as soon thereafter as possible. Lochiel, at the same time, returned to his own house, whence he despatched messengers to the leading gentlemen of his clan to raise their men, and to hold themselves in readiness to march with him to Glenfinnan.

After sending off his messengers, Charles left Borodale for the house of Kinlochmoidart, about seven miles from Borodale, whither he and his suite had been invited by the proprietor to spend a few days, while the preparations for the appointed meeting were going on. Charles and his party went by sea, and their baggage and some artillery were forwarded by the same conveyance; but the body-guard, which had been provided by Clanranald, proceeded by land along the heads of two intervening bays. While at the hospitable mansion of his friend, Charles expressed his sense of the services of Kinlochmoidart in the warmest terms, offered him a colonel’s commission in a regiment of dragoons, and promised him a peerage.[835]

During Charles’s stay at Kinlochmoidart, the arming of the Highlanders went on with extraordinary alacrity; and several days before the prince’s departure for Glenfinnan, detached parties of armed Highlanders were to be seen perambulating the country in different directions. Though three weeks had elapsed since the arrival of the prince, and although Kinlochmoidart was only about thirty miles from Fort William, yet so effectually had his arrival been concealed from the officers of the government in the Highlands, that it was not until they received intelligence of these movements, that they began even to suspect his arrival. Alarmed by reports which reached him for the safety of Fort William, around which Lochiel and Keppoch were assembling their men, the governor of Fort Augustus despatched, on the 16th of August, two companies of the second battalion of the Scots Royals, under the command of Captain (afterwards General) Scott, to reinforce that garrison; but they did not reach their destination, having been taken prisoners by a party of Lochiel’s and Keppoch’s men. As this occurrence may be regarded as the commencement of hostilities, and as it is strongly characteristic of the ardour with which the Highlanders took the field at the command of their chiefs, the details of it may not here be considered as out of place.

At the period in question, as well as at the time of the previous insurrection of 1715, the country between Fort William and Inverness was inhabited altogether by disaffected clans; mainly to overawe whom, the chain of forts, namely, Fort William, Fort Augustus, and Fort George, which reach across the Highlands from the east to the west sea, was placed. In the centre of these, or almost equidistant between Fort William and Fort George, stands Fort Augustus, the distance between which and Fort William is twenty-eight miles. To keep up a regular communication between the garrisons of the two last mentioned forts, a road, as we have seen, was made by order of the government along the sides of the mountains which skirt the narrow lakes, which now form part of the bed of the Caledonian canal. It was along this road that the detachment in question marched. That they might reach Fort William the same day—there being no place on the road where so many men could have taken up their quarters during night—they left Fort Augustus early in the morning of the 16th of August, and met with no interruption till they arrived at High Bridge, within eight miles of Fort William. This bridge, which consists of one arch of great height, is built across the river Spean,—a mountain torrent confined between high and steep banks. On approaching the bridge the ears of the party were saluted by the sound of a bagpipe,—a circumstance which could excite little surprise in the Highlands; but when they observed a body of Highlanders on the other side of the bridge with swords and firelocks in their hands, the party became alarmed.

The Highlanders who had posted themselves at the bridge, were of Keppoch’s clan, and were under the command of Macdonald of Tierndriech; and though they did not consist of more than eleven or twelve persons, yet by leaping and skipping about, moving from place to place, and extending their plaids between one another to give themselves a formidable appearance, they impressed Captain Scott with an idea that they were a pretty numerous body. He therefore halted his men, and sent forward a sergeant with his own servant towards the bridge to reconnoitre; but when they came near the bridge they were seized and carried across by two nimble Highlanders, who unexpectedly darted upon them. Seeing the fate of his messengers, knowing that he was in a disaffected district, and ignorant of the strength of the Highlanders, Captain Scott deemed it more advisable to retreat than risk an encounter. He, therefore, ordered his men to face about, and return by the road they had come. Tierndriech had for some time observed the march of these troops, and had sent expresses to Lochiel and Keppoch, whose houses were within three or four miles of High Bridge, announcing their advance, and demanding assistance. Expecting immediate aid, and not wishing to display his weakness, which, from the openness of the ground near the bridge, would have been easily discernible, he did not follow Scott immediately, but kept at a distance till the troops had passed the west end of Loch Lochy, and were upon the narrow road between the lake and the mountain. The Highlanders thereupon made their appearance, and ascending the craggy eminences which overhang the road, and, sheltering themselves among the rocks and trees, began to fire down upon the retreating party, who, in place of returning the fire, accelerated their pace.

Before this fire had been opened, bands of Highlanders were proceeding in the direction of the bridge to assist in the attack. Upon hearing the report of the fire-arms, these hastened to the place whence the firing proceeded, and in a short time a considerable body joined the party under Tierndriech. Captain Scott continued his march rapidly along the loch, and when he reached the east end, he observed some Highlanders on a hill at the west end of Loch Oich, where they had assembled apparently for the purpose of intercepting him on his retreat. Disliking the appearance of this body, which stood in the direct way of his retreat, Scott resolved to throw himself for protection into Invergary castle, the seat of Macdonell of Glengarry, and accordingly crossed the isthmus between the two lakes. This movement, however, only rendered his situation more embarrassing, as he had not marched far when he perceived another body of Highlanders, the Macdonells of Glengarry, coming down the opposite hill to attack him. In this dilemma he formed his men into a hollow square, and proceeded on his march. Meanwhile, Tierndriech having been reinforced by a party of Keppoch’s men, headed by the chief, hastened the pursuit, and soon came up with the fugitives. To spare the effusion of blood, Keppoch advanced alone to Scott’s party, required them to surrender, and offered them quarters; but assured them, that, in case of resistance, they would be cut to pieces. Fatigued with a long march, and surrounded on all sides by increasing bodies of Highlanders, Captain Scott, who had been wounded, and had had two of his men killed, accepted the terms offered, and surrendered. This affair was scarcely over, when Lochiel arrived on the spot with a party of Camerons, and took charge of the prisoners, whom he carried to his own house at Achnacarie. The result of this singular rencounter, in which the Highlanders did not lose a single man, was hailed by them as the harbinger of certain success, and they required no farther inducement to prosecute the war thus auspiciously begun, as they imagined.[836]

Charles, to whom it may be supposed intelligence of this affair was instantly sent, left Kinlochmoidart on the 18th of August, on which day he went by water to the seat of Alexander Macdonald of Glenalladale, on the side of Loch Shiel, where he was joined by Gordon of Glenbucket, who brought with him Captain Sweetenham, an English officer of Guise’s regiment, who had been taken prisoner by a party of Keppoch’s men while on his way to Fort William to inspect that fortress. The prince passed the night at Glenalladale, and with his attendants, who amounted to about 25 persons, proceeded about six o’clock next morning, in three boats, to Glenfinnan, and landed within a few hours at the east end of Loch Shiel, where the little river Finnan falls into the lake.

LOCH SHIEL
WITH MONUMENT ON SPOT WHERE PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD
FIRST RAISED HIS STANDARD 18TH. AUGT. 1746.
A. Fullarton & Co. London & Edinburgh.

Glenfinnan, the place appointed for the rendezvous, is a narrow vale bounded on both sides by high and rocky mountains, between which the river Finnan runs. This glen forms the inlet from Moidart into Lochaber, and at its gorge is about fifteen miles west from Fort William. On landing, the prince was received by the laird of Morar at the head of 150 men, with whom he marched to Glenfinnan, where he arrived about eleven o’clock. Charles, of course, expected to find a large “gathering of the clans” in the vale awaiting his approach; but, to his great surprise, not a human being was to be seen throughout the whole extent of the lonely glen, except the solitary inhabitants of the few huts which formed the hamlet. Chagrined and disappointed, Charles entered one of these hovels to ruminate over the supposed causes which might have retarded the assembling of his friends. After waiting about two hours in anxious suspense, he was relieved from his solicitude by the distant sound of a bagpipe, which broke upon his ear, and by its gradual increase, it soon became evident that a party was coming in the direction of the glen. While all eyes were turned towards the point whence the sound proceeded, a dark mass was seen overtopping the hill and descending its side. This was the clan Cameron, amounting to between 700 and 800 men, with Lochiel, their chief, at their head. They advanced in two columns, of three men deep each, with the prisoners who were taken in the late scuffle between the lines.

If in the state of suspense in which he was kept after entering Glenfinnan, the spirits of Charles suffered a temporary depression, they soon recovered their wonted buoyancy when he beheld the gallant band which now stood before him. Without waiting, therefore, for the other clans who were expected to join, the prince at once resolved to raise his standard, and to declare open war against “the Elector of Hanover,” as George II. was called, “and his adherents.” The Marquis of Tullibardine, to whom, from his rank, was allotted the honour of unfurling the standard, took his station on a small knoll in the centre of the vale,[837] where, supported by two men, he displayed the banner, and proclaimed the Chevalier de St. George as king before the assembled host, who rent the air with their acclamations. The flag used upon this occasion was of silk, of a white, blue, and red texture, but without any motto. After proclamation, a commission from the Chevalier de St. George, appointing his son Prince Charles regent of these kingdoms, was read by the Marquis of Tullibardine.

The reading of this commission was succeeded by the following manifesto:—

“James VIII. by the Grace of God, King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all our loving subjects, of what degree or quality soever, greeting.

“Having always borne the most constant affection to our ancient kingdom of Scotland, from whence we derive our royal origin, and where our progenitors have swayed the sceptre with glory through a longer succession of kings than any monarchy upon earth can at this day boast of; we cannot but behold with the deepest concern the miseries they suffer under a foreign usurpation, and the intolerable burdens daily added to their yoke, which become yet more sensible to us when we consider the constant zeal and affection the generality of our subjects of that our ancient kingdom have expressed for us on all occasions, and particularly when we had the satisfaction of being ourselves amongst them.

“We see a nation always famous for valour, and highly esteemed by the greatest of foreign potentates, reduced to the condition of a province, under the specious pretence of an union with a more powerful neighbour. In consequence of this pretended union, grievous and unprecedented taxes have been laid on, and levied with severity in spite of all the representations that could be made to the contrary; and these have not failed to produce that poverty and decay of trade which were easily foreseen to be the necessary consequences of such oppressive measures.

“To prevent the just resentment which could not but arise from such usage, our faithful Highlanders, a people always trained up and inured to arms, have been deprived of them; forts and citadels have been built and garrisoned where no foreign invasion could be apprehended, and a military government has been effectually introduced, as into a conquered country. It is easy to foresee what must be the consequences of such violent and unprecedented proceedings, if a timely remedy be not put to them; neither is it less manifest that such a remedy can ever be obtained but by our restoration to the throne of our ancestors, into whose royal heart such destructive maxims could never find admittance.

“We think it needless to call to mind how solicitous we have ever been, and how often we have ventured our royal person, to compass this great end; which the Divine Providence seems now to have furnished us with the means of doing effectually by enabling our good subjects in England to shake off the yoke, under which they have likewise felt their share of the common calamities. Our former experience leaves us no room to doubt of the cheerful and hearty concurrence of our Scots subjects on this occasion, towards the perfecting the great and glorious work; but that none may be deterred by the memory of past miscarriages from returning to their duty, and being restored to the happiness they formerly enjoyed, we in this public manner think fit to make known our gracious intentions towards all our people.

“We do therefore, by this our royal declaration, absolutely and effectually pardon and remit all treasons, and other crimes hitherto committed against our royal father, or ourselves. From the benefit of which pardon we except none, but such as shall, after the publication hereof, wilfully and maliciously oppose us, or those who shall appear or endeavour to appear in arms for our service.

“We farther declare that we will with all convenient speed call a free parliament; that by the advice and assistance of such an assembly, we may be enabled to repair the breaches caused by so long an usurpation, to redress all grievances, and to free our people from the unsupportable burden of the malt-tax, and all other hardships and impositions which have been the consequences of the pretended union; that so the nation may be restored to that honour, liberty, and independency, which it formerly enjoyed.

“We likewise promise upon our royal word to protect, secure, and maintain all our Protestant subjects in the free exercise of their religion, and in the full enjoyment of all their rights, privileges, and immunities, and in the secure possession of all churches, universities, colleges, and schools, conform to the laws of the land.

“All this we shall be ready to confirm in our first parliament; in which we promise to pass any act or acts that shall be judged necessary to secure each private person in the full possession of his liberty and property, to advance trade, to relieve the poor, and establish the general welfare and tranquillity of the nation. In all such matters we are fully resolved to act always by the advice of our parliaments, and to value none of our titles so much as that of common father of our people, which we shall ever show ourselves to be by our constant endeavours to promote the quiet and happiness of all our subjects. And we shall be particularly solicitous to settle, encourage, and maintain the fishery and linen manufactures of the nation, which we are sensible may be of such advantage to it, and which we hope are works reserved for us to accomplish.

“As for those who shall appear more signally zealous for the recovery of our just rights and the prosperity of their country, we shall take effectual care to reward them according to their respective degrees and merits. And we particularly promise, as aforesaid, our full, free, and general pardon to all officers, soldiers, and sailors, now engaged in the service of the usurper, whether of the sea or land, provided that upon the publication hereof, and before they engage in any fight or battle against our forces, they quit the said unjust and unwarrantable service, and return to their duty, in which case we shall pay them all the arrears that shall be at that time due to them from the usurper; we shall grant to the officers the same commissions they shall then bear, if not higher; and to all soldiers and sailors a gratification of a whole year’s pay for their forwardness in promoting our service.

“We farther promise and declare, that the vassals of such as shall without regard to our present declaration, obstinately persist in their rebellion, and thereby forfeit all pretensions to our royal clemency, shall be delivered from all servitude they were formerly bound to, and shall have grants and charters of their lands to be held immediately of the crown, provided they, upon the publication of this our royal declaration, declare openly for us, and join heartily in the cause of their country.

“And having thus declared our gracious intentions to our loving subjects, we do hereby require and command them to be assisting to us in the recovery of our rights, and of their own liberties; and that all our subjects, from the age of sixteen to sixty, do, upon the setting up of our royal standard, immediately repair to it, or join themselves to such as shall first appear for us in their respective shires; and also to seize the horses and arms of all suspected persons, and all ammunition, forage, and whatever else may be necessary for the use of our forces.

“We also strictly command all receivers, collectors, or other persons who may be seized of any sum or sums of money levied in the name or for the use of the usurper, to retain such sum or sums of money in their own hands, till they can pay them to some person of distinction appearing publicly for us, and demanding the same for our use and service; whose receipt or receipts shall be a sufficient discharge for all such collectors, receivers, or other persons, their heirs, &c.

“Lastly, we do hereby require all sheriffs of shires, stewards of stewartries, and their respective deputies, magistrates of royal boroughs, and bailies of regalities, and all others to whom it may belong, to publish this our declaration, at the market crosses of their respective towns and boroughs, and there to proclaim us under the penalty of being proceeded against according to law, for their neglect of so necessary and important a duty.”

After this manifesto had been read, the Marquis of Tullibardine returned to the prince’s quarters with the standard under an escort of 50 Camerons. In about an hour after the conclusion of this ceremony, Macdonald of Keppoch joined the prince with 300 of his men; and in the evening some gentlemen of the name of Macleod, displeased with the conduct of their chief, arrived at Glenfinnan, proffered their services to the prince, and offered to return to Skye, and raise all the men they could in support of his cause. On arriving at Glenfinnan, Macdonald of Tierndriech presented the prince with an excellent horse which he had taken from Captain Scott. The animated appearance of the glen, which now resounded with the martial strains of the pibroch, contrasted strongly with the solitary gloom which pervaded when the prince entered it. Instead of the small party which joined him in the morning, Charles found himself within a few hours at the head of a body of about 1,200 brave and resolute men, warmly attached to his person and cause, at least those of them who were chiefs, and ready and willing to hazard their lives in his service. Charles was exceedingly delighted at the appearance of his little army, and it has been observed that at no other time did he look more cheerful or display a greater buoyancy of spirits.[838]

Of the many singular circumstances attending this extraordinary insurrection, the utter ignorance in which the personage in whose name it was undertaken was kept, is not the least. Charles had indeed written his father on the eve of his departure from France, acquainting him with the resolution he had taken, but before his letter reached Rome, the prince was actually at the head of his army. The object of Charles in concealing his design from the Chevalier is obvious. He was aware that his father would have opposed such a rash attempt, and might probably have applied to the court of France to prevent his departure; and having taken his resolution, he was determined not to put it in jeopardy by too timely an announcement of his intentions. Whatever opinion may now be formed of the prudence of an undertaking, which, had it succeeded, would have been considered as one of the boldest strokes of political wisdom, there can be but one sentiment as to the conduct of the prince, in thus withholding from his parent all knowledge of the design he had formed for accomplishing the object of his daring ambition. Though under the corrupt influence of a few interested persons, whom he kept about his person,[839] he still retained a sufficient portion of filial respect to prevent him from violating the declared injunctions of his father; and as no opposition short of actual violence could have induced him to forego his resolution of going to Scotland, he avoided the disagreeable alternative of disregarding the commands which his father would have laid upon him by taking the course he did.

When the Chevalier de St. George received the prince’s letter, which informed him that he was to proceed instantly to Scotland, he was greatly surprised and agitated;[840] but as the step had been taken, he became reconciled to it, and even could not help applauding the courage of the prince in entering upon the enterprise. Writing to the Duke of Ormond, on the 11th of August, the Chevalier says, “I have now by me your letters of the 14th July, and of the 27th, which last came by the courier, which brought me an account of the resolution the prince had taken, and executed without consulting me, for he was very sure I would not have approved it, tho’ I cannot but say, that the courage and sentiments he shows on this occasion, will always do him honor.”[841] Again in writing to his agent, Sempil, on the same day, he observes, “What takes me up wholly at present, is the resolution the prince has taken and executed, without my knowledge.... The question now is to look forward, and not to blame what is past. It is true, I never should have advised the prince to have taken such a step, but since it is taken it must be supported, and whatever be the event, it will certainly turn much to the prince’s personal honor, nay, even something may be said to justify what he has done. The usage he met with in France, and the dread of a peace, were no doubt strong motives to push him on a rash undertaking, than to sit still; and who knows but what has happened, may, in some measure, force the court of France out of shame to support him, while otherwise perhaps they had continued to neglect him, and then have abandoned him at last.... The prince’s example will, I hope, animate our friends in England; he has ventured generously for them, and if they abandon him, they themselves, and indeed our country, will be ruined.”

It had always been the opinion of the Chevalier—an opinion which experience has shown was well founded—that no attempt on Scotland could possibly succeed, unless accompanied by a simultaneous landing in England; and he now saw the necessity of enforcing this consideration more strongly than ever upon the court of France. In the letter which Charles had sent him, he desired his father to write to the King of France and Cardinal Tencin, entreating them for support. The Chevalier, however, did not confine himself to the king and to the cardinal, but addressed himself also to the Maréchal de Noailles, and the whole of the French ministers. Alluding to the necessity of supporting the prince by a descent on England, the Chevalier says in the letter to Ormond, from which a quotation has already been made; “Enfin, since the step is taken, it is certainly incumbent on all of us to do our best to support it, and I am very sure nothing will be wanting on your side for that effect. My darkness, my anxiety, and the multiplicity of my reflections on this occasion, are so great that I shall not pretend to enlarge on this subject at present. In the mean time, I now write to Lord Marischal by the way of Paris, and write also directly to the King of France, and all the ministers, for without a landing in England is soon made, humanly speaking, it will be impossible for the prince to succeed.” He repeats almost the same observations in his letter to Sempil, also referred to: “I know not particularly the grounds he (the prince) goes upon, but I am afraid there is little room to hope he will succeed, except he be vigorously supported by the court of France; and, therefore, we must all of us in our different spheres leave nothing undone for that effect. I now write myself to the King of France and all the ministers, and we must be all of us more than ever solely and wholly intent on the great object.”

But the Chevalier, in his anxiety to procure early succours for the prince, did not confine himself to words. To pay off the debts which Charles had contracted before his departure, he immediately remitted a sum of 200,000 francs to O’Bryan, his chief agent at Paris, and placed another sum of 50,000 francs in the hands of Waters, junior, his banker in Paris, at the disposal of O’Bryan, to meet instant contingencies.[842] He afterwards remitted to Waters, through Belloni, his banker at Rome, 80,000 Roman crowns, and promised another remittance of 28,000 in a few weeks, which, he said, would exhaust his treasury.

MACFARLANE.

In his letter to the King of France, the Chevalier informed him that he had learned with great astonishment the departure of the prince for Scotland; that knowing well he would never have approved of such a step, he had taken his resolution and put it into effect without consulting him; but that being done, he was obliged in sincerity to confess that he could not but admire the conduct of the prince in entering upon the enterprise, which, he was certain, would make a great and favourable impression upon the minds of his adherents. He stated, however, his conviction, that without the aid of a foreign force it was utterly impossible for the prince to succeed, and he entreated his majesty to furnish the necessary assistance. He reminded him that the prince had been invited by him into France, and although a year and a half had since elapsed, that he certainly had not forgot the object which brought his son thither; and that a crisis had now arrived, when the smallest delay on the part of his majesty might be attended with danger to the success of the brave attempt which the prince had made, and that he might now, at little risk and at a small expense, finish the work which the prince was about to commence. As to himself personally, the Chevalier informed Louis that he had formerly intimated to him that he intended to resign his rights to the prince; and that his intentions were still the same, with this difference, however, that while he formerly considered that such a step would be advantageous for his family, it had now become indispensably necessary for his own honour, on account of his infirmities, as he considered that he should act rashly, and be guilty of bad faith towards his subjects, if he pretended to take upon himself the cares of government, when he was incapable of any fatigue either of body or of mind, and consequently unable to discharge the duties of a sovereign.

FOOTNOTES:

[805] This battle was fought on the 11th May, 1745.

[806] Letter to Colonel O’Bryan, 16th June, 1745, in Stuart Papers.

[807] Lettres et Mémoires du Maréchal de Saxe, Paris, 1794.

[808] Home’s Rebellion, p. 36.

[809] Letter to Colonel O’Bryan, 20th June, 1745, Appendix, No. II. See also Sempil’s letter to the Chevalier, Appendix, No. III.

[810] Forbes Papers, or Jacobite Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745, edited by Dr. R. Chambers, p. 2.

[811] He was styled Duke of Athole by the Jacobites, from being the eldest son of the preceding duke. The marquis had been attainted for the share he took in the insurrection of 1715; and the title and estates were, in consequence of his attainder, now enjoyed by his immediate younger brother.

[812] Forbes Papers, note, p. 1.

[813] Kirkconnel MS.

[814] Kirkconnel MS. Forbes Papers, p. 7.

[815] Forbes Papers, p. 8.

[816] Kirkconnel MS. Forbes Papers, p. 9.

[817] Charles is said to have taken particular care of Sir Thomas Sheridan on this occasion. He “went to examine his bed, and to see that the sheets were well aired. The landlord observing him to search the bed so narrowly, and at the same time hearing him declare he would sit up all night, called out to him, and said, that it was so good a bed, and the sheets were so good, that a prince needed not be ashamed to lie on them. The prince not being accustomed to such fires in the middle of the room, and there being no other chimney than a hole in the roof, was almost choked, and was obliged to go often to the door for fresh air. This at last made the landlord, Angus Macdonald, call out, ‘What a plague is the matter with that fellow, that he can neither sit nor stand still, and neither keep within nor without doors?’”—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 11.

[818] Home’s Rebellion (edition of 1802), p. 29.

[819] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 479.

[820] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 479.

[821] Kirkconnel MS.

[822] Home’s Rebellion, p. 29.

[823] Journal and Memoirs. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 480–1.

[824] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.—“There are not wanting in Scotland many men to follow such examples: but Lochiel’s feeling was that of far the greater number. The Scots have often been reproached with a spirit of sordid gain. The truth is merely—and should it not be matter of praise?—that by their intelligence, their industry, their superior education, they will always, in whatever country, be singled out for employment, and rise high in the social scale. But when a contest lies between selfish security or advancement on one side, and generous impulse or deep-rooted conviction on the other; when danger and conscience beckon onward, and prudence alone calls back; let all history declare whether in any age or in any cause, as followers of Knox or of Montrose, as Cameronians or as Jacobites, the men—ay, and the women—of Scotland, have quailed from any degree of sacrifice or suffering! The very fact that Charles came helpless, obtained him the help of many. Moreover, Charles was now in the very centre of those tribes, which, ever since they were trained by Montrose, had continued firm and devoted adherents of the House of Stuart.”—Mahon’s England, vol. iii. p. 314.

[825] The following is part of a dialogue which took place between them. “Said Kinlochmoidart, ‘You’ll see the prince this night at my house.’ ‘What number of men has he brought along with him?’ ‘Only seven,’ said Kinlochmoidart. ‘What stock of money and arms has he brought with him then?’ said Mr. Hugh. ‘A very small stock of either,’ said Kinlochmoidart. ‘What generals or officers fit for commanding are with him?’ said Mr. Hugh. ‘None at all,’ replied Kinlochmoidart. Mr. Hugh said he did not like the expedition at all, and was afraid of the consequences. ‘I cannot help it,’ said Kinlochmoidart, ‘if the matter go wrong, then I’ll certainly be hanged, for I am engaged already.’”—Jacobite Memoirs, note, p. 18.

[826] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 481. Note to Jacobite Memoirs, p. 18.

[827] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 482.

[828] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 483.

[829] Idem.

[830] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 17.

[831] Home’s Rebellion, p. 42.

[832] A tribute to the memory of Lochiel, who died in 1748, appeared in the Scots Magazine of that year, part of which we quote:—

Mistaken as he was, the man was just,

Firm to his word, and faithful to his trust:

He bade not others go, himself to stay,

As is the pretty, prudent, modern way;

But, like a warrior, bravely drew his sword,

And rear’d his target for his native lord.

Humane he was, protected countries tell;

So rude an host was never rul’d so well.

Fatal to him, and to the cause he lov’d,

Was the rash tumult which his folly mov’d;

Compell’d, by hard necessity to bear,

In Gallia’s bands, a mercenary spear!

But heav’n in pity to his honest heart,

Resolv’d to snatch him from so poor a part

The mighty mandate unto death was given,

And good Lochiel is now a Whig in heaven.

[833] Letter from Lochiel under the signature of “Dan,” Feb. 22d, 1745, in Stuart Papers.

[834] Home, p. 43.

[835] As an inducement to favour his restoration, the Chevalier de St. George promised to ennoble a considerable number of his friends. Patents of nobility were accordingly made out and signed in favour of all the Jacobite chiefs and other leading supporters of the cause. See letter from the Chevalier to the prince, 7th Nov., 1747, in Stuart Papers.

[836] Home, p. 46.—Kirkconnel MS.—Tour in the Highlands. Lond., 1819.

[837] A monument was erected by the late Alexander M’Donald of Glenalladale, on the spot where the standard was unfurled; it bears the following inscription in Latin, Gaelic, and English:—“On this spot, where Prince Charles Edward first raised his standard, on the 19th day of August, 1745; when he made the daring and romantic attempt to recover a throne lost by the imprudence of his ancestors; this column is erected by Alexander M’Donald, Esq. of Glenalladale, to commemorate the generous zeal, the undaunted bravery, and the inviolable fidelity of his forefathers, and the rest of those who fought and bled in that arduous and unfortunate enterprise.”

[838] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 24.

[839] See extract Letter from the Chevalier to O’Bryan, 16 August, 1745, in Stuart Papers.

[840] Writing to O’Bryan, he says, (11 August, 1745,) “Je vous avoue que ma surprise et mon agitation étoient grandes en apprennant cette nouvelle.”—Stuart Papers.

[841] Stuart Papers.

[842] “J’ai, (says the Chevalier to O’Bryan, 16th Aug. 1745,) envoyé la semaine passée 200,000 francs à Paris pour payer ce que le Prince avait emprunté avant que de partir, et j’espère en cas de besoin pouvoir lever quelque argent sur quelques petits fonds qui me restent icy, et sur les pierreries du Prince même, mais tout cela n’ira pas fort loin, et a moins que la France ne la secours largement, je ne sçai ce que arrivera.”—Stuart Papers.

CHAPTER XXX.

A.D. 1745.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Conduct of the Government—Intelligence of the Prince’s arrival reaches Edinburgh—Contradictory reports—Preparations of Sir John Cope—Marches to the North—Resolves to march to Inverness—Prince Charles issues a proclamation—Leaves Glenfinnan and crosses Corriearrick—Flight of Cope to Inverness—The Prince marches South—Arrives at Perth—Joined by Lord George Murray and others—Preparations made by the Prince—Alarm in Edinburgh—Association of Volunteers formed—Municipal intrigues.

No event was less expected on the part of the government than the landing of Charles Edward. A flying report had, indeed, been spread in the Highlands in the beginning of summer, that the prince was to come over in the course of that season; but no person, not in the secret of his design, could have imagined that Charles had any intention to risk his person without being accompanied by a sufficient body of troops, and no disposition appeared on the part of France to assist him.

The report alluded to was first communicated in a letter from “a gentleman of consideration in the Highlands” to Lord President Forbes, who, on the 2d of July, showed it to Sir John Cope, the commander-in-chief in Scotland. Little credit was, however, attached to the report, either by the writer of the letter or by the president. Cope, though equally incredulous, considered it his duty to communicate the report to the Marquis of Tweeddale, the secretary of state for Scotland; and to provide against any contingency that might occur, he proposed that the forts of Scotland should be well provided, and that arms should be transmitted for the use of the well-affected clans. In an answer which the marquis wrote upon the 9th, he ordered Cope to keep a strict watch upon the north, but informed him, that, as the measures he proposed were considered by the lords of the regency acting in behalf of the king during his majesty’s absence in Hanover, as likely to create alarm, they had declined to enter into them.[843]

But the lords of the regency were soon aroused from their supineness by advices from abroad that the French court was meditating an invasion of Great Britain, and that the eldest son of the Pretender had left Nantes in a French man-of-war, and, according to some accounts, was actually landed in Scotland. On the 30th of July, the Marquis of Tweeddale wrote to Sir John Cope, communicating to him the news which had just been received, and despatched letters of the same date to Lord Milton, the Justice Clerk,[844] and to the Lord Advocate, with similar intelligence, and enjoining them to keep a strict look out,—to concert what was proper to be done in the event of a landing,—to give the necessary orders for making the strictest inquiry into the truth of the intelligence,—and to transmit to the marquis, from time to time, such information as they were able to collect. The Lords Justices, however, without waiting for a return to these letters, issued, on the 6th of August, a proclamation, commanding all his majesty’s officers, civil and military, and all other loving subjects of his majesty, to use their utmost endeavours to seize and secure the son of the Pretender, promising at the same time a reward of £30,000 to any one who should seize Prince Charles, and “bring him to justice.”

The express sent by the Marquis of Tweeddale reached Edinburgh on the 3d of August, but the advices which had been received in London had preceded it. The Lord President, in a letter written the day before to Mr. Pelham,[845] mentions the alarm which, in a state of profound tranquillity, these advices had created. The report, however, of the prince’s intended visit was discredited by the President, who considered the “young gentleman’s game” to be then “very desperate” in Scotland, the President believing that there was not “the least apparatus for his reception, even amongst the few Highlanders who were expected to be in his interest.” As, however, where there was so much at stake, the President wisely judged that no report respecting the prince’s movements, however improbable, was to be disregarded, he resolved to make his accustomed journey to the north a little earlier than usual, to the end that, though, as he himself observes, his “fighting days” were over, he might give countenance to the friends of government, and prevent the seduction of the unwary, should the report turn out well-founded. On the 8th of August, Forbes wrote the Marquis of Tweeddale, stating that the Lord Advocate and Sir John Cope had informed him of the advices which had been received from abroad, but expressing his disbelief of the report, which he considered “highly improbable.” “I consider the report as improbable,” he observes, “because I am confident that young man cannot with reason expect to be joined by any considerable force in the Highlands. Some loose lawless men of desperate fortunes may indeed resort to him; but I am persuaded that none of the Highland gentlemen, who have ought to lose, will, after the experience with which the year 1715 furnished them, think proper to risque their fortunes on an attempt which to them must appear desperate; especially as so many considerable families amongst themselves have lately uttered their sentiments; unless the undertaking is supported by an arm’d power from abroad, or seconded by an invasion on some other part of his majesty’s dominions.”[846] To provide against any emergency which might arise in the north, his lordship proposed first, that a sufficient number of arms should be lodged in the forts in the Highlands, with directions by whom, and to whom they might be delivered out,—a proposal the same in substance as that made by Sir John Cope; and secondly, that money or credit should be lodged in the hands of confidential persons in the north, for the use of the public service. This last-mentioned measure he considered the more necessary, as it could not be expected, as he observed, that private individuals would come forward with money, when they recollected that several gentlemen, who, in the year 1715, had advanced large sums out of their pockets for the public service, had not even been repaid, far less rewarded by the government.

The Lord President, though a man of sound judgment, and gifted with a considerable portion of political foresight, was in this instance deceived in his speculations; and Lord Tweeddale, perhaps misled by the President, on whose personal knowledge of the state of the Highlands he placed great reliance, adopted the same views. In an answer to the President’s letter, which the marquis wrote on the 17th of August, he thus expresses himself: “I own I have never been alarmed with the reports of the Pretender’s son’s landing in Scotland. I consider it as a rash and desperate attempt, that can have no other consequence than the ruin of those concerned in it.”[847]

On the same day, however, on which the President’s letter to Lord Tweeddale was written, all doubts of the arrival and landing of the prince were removed at Edinburgh. An express came from Lord Milton, the Justice Clerk, then at Roseneath, to Sir John Cope, with a letter dated the 5th, which he had received from Mr. Campbell of Stonefield, sheriff of Argyle, in which was contained a copy of a letter received by the latter from Mr. Campbell of Aird, factor to the Duke of Argyle in Mull and Morvern, announcing the landing of the prince in Arisaig, and stating that some of the Macdonalds were already up in arms, and that other Highlanders were preparing to follow their example. This news was confirmed next day, by another express from the laird of Macleod to the Lord President, dated the 3d of August.[848]

This intelligence, which at first was withheld from the public, was shortly followed by the arrival of the Gazette, containing the proclamation for the apprehension of the prince. Nothing was now talked of at Edinburgh but the threatened invasion. In the state of ignorance in which the public was still kept, the most contradictory reports were circulated. A rumour of the departure of Charles from France had indeed been inserted in the Edinburgh Courant a few days before, and the same paper had also, on the back of this report, stated, upon the alleged information of a foreign journal, that the prince had actually landed in the Highlands, and was to be supported by 30,000 men and 10 ships of war; but neither of these statements appears to have excited any sensation, being generally discredited.[849] Now, however, every person firmly believed that the prince had arrived. One day it was confidently asserted that he had landed in the western Highlands with 10,000 French troops. Next day it was affirmed with equal confidence that he had landed without troops; but that wherever he came the Highlanders to a man had joined him. On the other hand, the Jacobites, who were in the secret of the arrival, anxious to conceal the fact till Charles should be ready to take the field, industriously circulated a report that he was still in France, and had not the least intention of coming over. To divert the public attention, they had recourse to the weapons of ridicule. In their conversation they represented the preparations of the commander-in-chief in a ludicrous light; and to make him contemptible in the eyes of the public, sent him anonymous letters containing most absurd articles of intelligence, which they afterwards circulated with scurrilous comments.[850]

In the present crisis Sir John Cope acted with more wisdom than has been usually ascribed to him, and certainly with more energy than his superiors. Not wishing, however, to trust entirely to his own judgment, he consulted Lord President Forbes, and the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General, the law-officers of the crown, upon the course to be adopted under existing circumstances. No man was better acquainted with every thing appertaining to the Highlands than Forbes; and in fixing upon him as an adviser, Cope showed a laudable desire to avail himself of the best advice and information within his reach. At the period now in question, the insurrection was in a merely inceptive state; and, according to the opinions of those best qualified to judge, there was little probability that it would assume a formidable character. At all events, sound policy dictated that the threatened insurrection should be checked in its bud, and as its progress could only be stopped by the presence of a body of troops, Cope proposed, and his proposal received the approbation of the three public functionaries before named, to march to the Highlands with such troops as he could collect. The number of regular troops in Scotland did not, it is true, amount to 3,000 men, and some of them were newly raised; but there can be little doubt that, by a timely and judicious disposition of about two-thirds of this force in the disaffected districts, the embers of rebellion might have been extinguished. The unfortunate result of Cope’s expedition detracts in no respect from the design he thus formed, though the propriety of his subsequent measures may well indeed be questioned.

Having formed his resolution, the commander-in-chief sent expresses to the Secretary of State for Scotland on the 9th and 10th of August, announcing his intention of marching to the Highlands. In pursuance of this resolution he ordered a camp to be formed at Stirling, and required all the officers who were absent from their regiments, to repair to their respective posts. About the same time he directed the Lord President to take the command of the companies raised in the north for Lord Loudon’s Highland regiment, and notified the appointment to the officers of the regiment commanding in that quarter. As there was no bread in the country through which he intended to march, he bought up all the biscuit which the bakers of Edinburgh and Leith had on hand, and set all the bakers there, as well as those of Perth and Stirling, to work night and day to prepare a quantity of bread sufficient to support his army for twenty-one days.[851]

On receipt of Cope’s letters, the Marquis of Tweeddale laid them before the Lords of the Treasury, who approved of the conduct of the commander-in-chief, and particularly of his resolution to march into the Highlands with such troops as he could assemble. The secretary notified the approbation of their lordships in a letter to Cope; and so satisfied were they with his plan, that when they understood that the march had been delayed only for a day or two, they sent down an express to him, with positive orders to begin his march to the north instantly. Their lordships seem not to have been aware of the causes which retarded his march, not the least of which was the want of money, a credit for which did not arrive till the 17th of August. The order to march reached Edinburgh on the 19th of August, on which day Cope, accompanied by the Earl of Loudon and several officers, set off for Stirling, where he arrived in the evening. Thus, by a singular coincidence, Charles and his opponent placed themselves at the head of their respective armies on the same day.

The force which Cope found upon his arrival at Stirling consisted of twenty-five companies of foot, amounting altogether to 1,400 men, and some of Gardiner’s dragoons. Leaving the dragoons, which could be of no use in a campaign among the mountains, behind him, Cope began his march towards the north on the 20th, carrying along with him four small field-pieces, as many cohorns, and 1,000 stand of spare arms for the use of such of the well-affected Highlanders as might join him. He carried also with him a considerable number of black cattle for the use of the army. Only a part, however, of the bread which had been ordered had arrived; but so anxious was Cope to obey his instructions, that he began his march with the limited supply he had received, after giving orders to forward the remainder as soon as it should arrive at Stirling.

Cope halted on the 21st at Crieff. He was here visited by the Duke of Athole, and his younger brother, Lord George Murray, the latter of whom, doubtless, little imagined he was to act the conspicuous part he afterwards did, as commander of the prince’s army. The duke attended in consequence of a notice which Cope had sent to him and the other leading adherents of the government, through, or in the neighbourhood of whose territories he meant to pass, requiring them to raise their men; but neither the duke nor the other chiefs who had been applied to seem to have been disposed to obey the call. Lord Glenorchy, who arrived shortly after the duke and his brother, excused himself on the ground that he had not had sufficient time. As Cope had calculated upon the junction of a considerable body of Highlanders on his route, he was exceedingly disappointed that his expectations were not likely to be realized, and would have instantly retraced his steps had the orders of government allowed him a discretionary power; but his instructions were too peremptory to admit of a return to Stirling. Seeing, therefore, no use for the large quantity of spare arms, he sent 700 of them back to Stirling castle. This was a judicious step, as from the want of carriages he could not have got them transported to Inverness.[852]

On the 22d the army advanced to Amulree, where it stopped for a supply of bread. Next day it proceeded to Tay bridge, on the 24th to Trinifuir, reaching Dalnacardoch on the 25th of August. Here Cope was met by Captain Sweetenham,—the officer who had been taken prisoner when on his way to Fort William from Ruthven, and who had been released on his parole. This officer informed Sir John that he was carried to Glenfinnan, where he saw the rebels erect their standard, and that when he left them on the 21st they amounted to 1,400 men,—that on the road to Dalwhinnie he had met several parties of Highlanders hastening to join them,—and that on arriving at Dalwhinnie he had been informed that they were 3,000 strong, and were in full march towards Corriearrick, where they intended to meet him and give him battle. Notwithstanding this alarming intelligence, Cope proceeded on his march, and arrived at Dalwhinnie next day. Here he received a letter from Lord President Forbes, written at his seat of Culloden near Inverness, corroborating the intelligence received from Sweetenham of the advance of the rebels, and of their intention to meet him upon Corriearrick.

Corriearrick, of which the royal army had now come within sight, and over which it was Cope’s intention to march into Lochaber, is, as we have already seen, a lofty mountain of immense extent, occupying no less than nine miles out of the eighteen that form the last day’s march from Garviemore to Fort Augustus. It is extremely steep on the south side, and appears at a distance to rise almost as perpendicularly as a wall. Wade, we have seen, carried his road up this steep ascent by a series of many traverses, the descent on the north side being accomplished in much the same manner. As there are several gullies and brooks on the south side, bridges have been thrown across, over which the road is carried. These tortuosities, rendered absolutely necessary from the nature of the ground, almost quadruple the real distance, which, from base to base, does not exceed five miles. As the mountain was peculiarly fitted for the operations of Highlanders, it is evident that in attempting to cross Corriearrick, Cope, if attacked, would labour under every disadvantage; for while his men could not leave the road in pursuit of their assailants, the latter could keep a running fire from numerous positions, from which it would be impossible to dislodge them. Cope was warned by the President of the dangers he would run, and his fears were not a little increased by a report that, on arriving at the bridge of Snugborough, a dangerous pass on the north side of the mountain, he was to be opposed by a body of Highlanders; and that, while this party kept him employed, he was to be attacked in his rear by another body, which was to be sent round the west end of the hill.[853]

Autograph of Sir John Cope, from an Original Manuscript in the possession of W. F. Watson, Esq.

Alarmed at the intelligence he had received,—distracted by a variety of reports as to the strength of the enemy, and disgusted with the apathy of those on whose support he had relied, Cope called a council of war at Dalwhinnie, on the morning of the 27th of August, to which he summoned every field officer, and the commanders of the different corps of his little army. He would have acted more judiciously had he convened a council at Dalnacardoch, when he first received intelligence of the advance of the Highlanders. At this meeting, Cope laid before his officers the orders he had received from the secretary of state to march to the north, which were too positive to be departed from without the most urgent necessity. After some deliberation, the council were unanimously of opinion, that the general’s original design of marching to Fort Augustus over Corriearrick, was, under existing circumstances, quite impracticable. Having abandoned the design of crossing Corriearrick, the council next considered what other course should be adopted. The wisest course certainly, if practicable, would have been to march back to Stirling, and guard the passes of the Forth; but against this proposal it was urged, that the rebels, by marching down the side of Loch Rannoch, would be able to reach Stirling before the king’s troops, and that, by breaking down the bridges, they would intercept them in their retreat. As it was impossible to remain at Dalwhinnie, no other course therefore remained, in the opinion of the council, but to march to Inverness. This opinion, which was reduced to writing, and signed by all the members of the council, was delivered to Sir John Cope, who, acquiescing in its propriety, immediately issued an order to march. We must now advert to the proceedings of the prince and his friends.

Charles remained only one night at Glenfinnan. On the 20th of August he marched to the head of Loch Lochy, where he encamped. At this place, a copy of the proclamation for his apprehension was brought him, which exasperated the Highlanders to such a degree that they insisted on a counter one being issued, offering a reward for the apprehension of “the Elector of Hanover.” Charles remonstrated against such a step, but he was forced to yield, and accordingly put forth the following answer:[854]

“Charles, Prince of Wales, &c., Regent of the Kingdoms of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging:

“Whereas we have seen a certain scandalous and malicious paper published in the style and form of a proclamation, bearing date the 6th instant, wherein, under pretence of bringing to justice, like our royal ancestor King Charles the I. of blessed memory, there is a reward of thirty thousand pounds sterling promised to those who shall deliver us into the hands of our enemies, we could not but be moved with a just indignation at so insolent an attempt. And though, from our nature and principles, we abhor and detest a practice so unusual among Christian princes, we cannot but, out of a just regard to the dignity of our person, promise the like reward of thirty thousand pounds sterling to him, or those, who shall seize and secure till our farther orders, the person of the Elector of Hanover, whether landed or attempting to land in any part of his majesty’s dominions. Should any fatal accident happen from hence, let the blame be entirely at the door of those who first set the infamous example.” This proclamation, which was dated from the “camp at Kinlocheill,” was countersigned by Murray of Broughton, who had lately joined the prince, and had been appointed his secretary.

On the 23d, the prince advanced to Fassefern, the seat of Lochiel’s brother, where he passed the night. While at Fassefern, intelligence was received by the prince of the march of Sir John Cope from Stirling. Having previously sent off his baggage under an escort of 200 Camerons towards Moy, in Lochaber, Charles put his army in motion on the 24th, and arrived at Moy on the following day. On the 26th, the prince crossed the water of Lochy with his army, and proceeded to the castle of Invergary, in which he took up his quarters for the night. During the night, he received an express from Gordon of Glenbucket, acquainting him, that Sir John Cope was considerably advanced in his march to the north, and that he intended to cross Corriearrick. About the same time, he was visited by Fraser of Gortuleg, who came to him in name of Lord Lovat, to assure him of his lordship’s services. Fraser advised him to march north, and raise the Frasers of Stratherrick, and assured him that Sir Alexander Macdonald, the laird of Macleod, and many of the Mackenzies, Grants, and Mackintoshes, would join him; but the proposal was opposed by the Marquis of Tullibardine and secretary Murray, the latter of whom considered the early possession of Edinburgh, where he alleged there were many persons ready to join the ranks of the insurgents, of more importance than any advantages that might be derived by remaining in the Highlands.[855]

This opinion was adopted by Charles, who next morning proceeded to Abertarf in Glengarry. He was joined at Low Bridge by 260 of the Stewarts of Appin, under the command of Stewart of Ardshiel, and at Aberchallader, near the foot of Corriearrick, by 600 of the Macdonells of Glengarry, under the command of Macdonell of Lochgarry; and by a party of the Grants of Glenmoriston. With these accessions the force under Charles amounted to nearly 2,000 men. Charles now held a council of war to deliberate upon the course he should pursue,—whether to advance and give battle to Cope, or postpone an engagement till he should receive additional strength. It was clearly the interest of Charles to meet his adversary with as little delay as possible, and as his forces already outnumbered those opposed to him, he could not doubt but that the result of an engagement would be favourable to his arms. The council, every member of which was animated with an ardent desire to engage Cope, at once resolved to meet him. This resolution corresponded with the inclinations of the clans, all of whom, to use the expression of Fraser of Gortuleg on the occasion, were “in top spirits,”[856] and making sure of victory.

The determination of the council, and the valorous enthusiasm of the clans, acting upon the ardent mind of the prince, created an excitement, to which even he, with all his dreams of glory and ambition, had before been a stranger. The generous and devoted people into whose hands he had committed the destinies of his house, struck with admiration by the condescension, and that easy yet dignified familiarity which never fails to secure attachment, were ready to encounter any danger for his sake. No man knew better than Charles how to improve the advantages he had thus obtained over the minds and affections of these hardy mountaineers. Becoming, as it were, one of themselves, he entered into their views,—showed an anxiety to learn their language, which he daily practised,—and finally resolved to adopt their dress. This line of policy endeared him to the Highlanders, and to it may be ascribed the veneration in which his memory is still held by their descendants, at the distance of more than a century. Having in this way inspired his faithful Highlanders with a portion of his own natural ardour, they in their turn, by the enthusiasm they displayed, raised his expectations of success to the highest possible pitch. A remarkable instance of this was exhibited before commencing the march next morning, when, after putting on his Highland dress, he solemnly declared, when in the act of tying the latchets of his shoes, that he would not unloose them till he came up with Cope’s army.[857]

Desirous of getting possession of the defiles of Corriearrick before Cope should ascend that mountain, Charles began his march from Aberchallader at four o’clock of the morning of the 27th August. His army soon reached the top of the hill, and was beginning to descend on the south side, when intelligence was brought the prince, that Cope had given up his intention of crossing Corriearrick and was in full march for Inverness. Cope had put his army in motion the same morning towards Garviemore; but when his van reached Blarigg Beg, about seven miles and a half from Dalwhinnie, he ordered his troops to halt, to face about, and, in conformity with the opinion of his council, to take the road to Inverness by Ruthven. To deceive Charles, Cope had left behind, on the road to Fort Augustus, part of his baggage, some companies of foot, and his camp colours. The news of Cope’s flight (for it was nothing else) was received by the Highland army with a rapturous shout, which was responded to by the prince, who, taking a glass of brandy, said, with a jeering smile, “Here’s a health to Mr. Cope; he is my friend, and if all the usurper’s generals follow his example, I shall soon be at St. James’s.” Every man, by the prince’s orders, drank this toast in a glass of usquebaugh.[858] The Highlanders immediately put themselves in motion, and marched down the traverses on the south side of the mountain with great celerity, as if in full pursuit of a flying enemy, on whose destruction they were wholly bent.

The Highland army continued the same rapid pace till it reached Garviemore, where it halted. A council of war was then held, at which various proposals were made for pursuing and intercepting the enemy; but none of them were agreed to. The council finally resolved to abandon the pursuit of Cope,—to march to the south, and endeavour to seize Edinburgh; the possession of which was considered, particularly by secretary Murray, as of the highest importance. This determination was by no means relished by the clans, who were eager for pursuing Cope, whose army they expected to have annihilated; but their chiefs having concurred in the resolution, they reluctantly acquiesced. A party of 600 Highlanders, however, volunteered to follow Cope under cloud of night; and undertook to give a good account of his army, but the prince dissuaded them from the enterprise.[859]

From Garviemore, Charles despatched Macdonald of Lochgary with a party of 200 men, to seize the small fort of Ruthven, in which there was a garrison of regular troops; but the vigilance of the commander rendered the attempt abortive, and the Highlanders were repulsed with a trifling loss. A party of Camerons, commanded by Dr. Cameron, was sent to the house of Macpherson of Cluny, the chief of the Macphersons, who commanded a company in the service of government, to apprehend him, and succeeded.[860]

On the 29th of August, the Highland army was again put in motion, and advanced towards Dalnacardoch. At Dalwhinnie, they were rejoined by Dr. Cameron and his party, bringing along with them Macpherson of Cluny, who, after a short interview with the prince, promised to raise his clan for his service. On giving this assurance he was released, and went home to collect his men. Next day, Charles marched to the castle of Blair, which had been abandoned by the Duke of Athole on his approach. The Marquis of Tullibardine took possession of the castle as his own property, and immediately assumed the character of host, by inviting Charles and the Highland chiefs to supper.[861] To make his guests as comfortable as possible, the marquis had written a letter from Dalnacardoch, to Mrs. Robertson of Lude, a daughter of Lord Nairne, desiring her to repair to the castle, to get it put in proper order, and to remain there to do the honours of the house on the prince’s arrival.[862]

At Blair, Charles was joined by Lord Nairne, and several other Perthshire gentlemen; but the greater part of the resident gentry had fled on hearing of the entrance of the Highland army into Athole. Charles reviewed his army the morning after his arrival at the castle, when he found that a considerable number of his men were wanting. Some officers were immediately sent to bring them up, and the only reason they assigned for loitering behind, was that they had been denied the gratification of pursuing Cope.

From Blair, Charles sent forward Lord Nairne, and Lochiel, with 400 men, to take possession of Dunkeld, which they entered on the morning of the 3d of September. In this town they proclaimed the Chevalier. After remaining two days at the castle of Blair, Charles repaired on the 2d of September to the house of Lude, where he spent the night,[863] and next day went to Dunkeld, whence he proceeded to Lord Nairne’s house, on the road to Perth. While at dinner, the conversation turning upon the character of the enterprise, and the peculiarity of the prince’s situation, some of the company took occasion to express their sympathy for the prince’s father, on account of the state of anxiety he would be in, from the consideration of those dangers and difficulties the prince would have to encounter. But Charles, without meaning to depreciate his father’s cares, observed that he did not pity him half so much as his brother; “for,” said he, “the king has been inured to disappointments and distresses, and has learnt to bear up easily under the misfortunes of life; but poor Harry! his young and tender years make him much to be pitied, for few brothers love as we do.”[864]

Charles spent the night at Nairne-house, and proceeded next day to Perth, which had been taken possession of by a party of Camerons the preceding evening. Attired in a superb dress of tartan, trimmed with gold, and mounted on Captain Scott’s charger, Charles entered the “fair city,” attended by several gentlemen on horseback. They immediately repaired to the cross, and proclaimed the Chevalier; after which ceremony Charles was conducted, amid the acclamations of the people, to the house of Viscount Stormont, which had been provided for his residence while in Perth. The magistrates and some of the principal inhabitants, following the example set by many of the landed proprietors of the county, abandoned the city on the appearance of the Highlanders, and fled to Edinburgh. An advanced party under Macdonald of Keppoch, had been sent forward to seize Dundee; but being informed by some of the inhabitants, who met him on the road, that his force was too small for the purpose, Keppoch applied for a reinforcement; which was accordingly sent off from Perth, about midnight, under Clanranald. These detachments entered Dundee at day-break, and captured two vessels with arms and ammunition on board, which were sent up the Tay for the use of the royal army.

At Perth, Charles was joined by the Duke of Perth, Lord Ogilvie and Strathallan, Robertson of Strowan, Oliphant of Gask, and several other gentlemen; but the chief personage who rallied under Charles’s standard at Perth, and was indeed among the first to appear there, was Lord George Murray,[865] immediate younger brother to the Duke of Athole. He was conducted by his eldest brother, the Marquis of Tullibardine, into the presence of the prince. Lord George had taken a share in the insurrection of 1715, and was one of the few persons who joined the Spanish forces, which were defeated at Glenshiel in 1719. He afterwards went abroad, and served several years as an officer in the King of Sardinia’s army; but having obtained a pardon, he returned from exile, and was presented to George I. by his brother the Duke of Athole. Lord George was tall in person, and though now past the meridian of life, retained all the qualities of a robust and vigorous constitution. Besides a natural genius for military operations, in which he had had considerable experience, Lord George was fertile in resources, indefatigable in application, and brave even to a fault. With sword in hand he was always the first to rush forward upon the enemy in the day of battle, often saying to his men, “I do not ask you, my lads, to go before, but to follow me.” The accession therefore of such a man, at such a crisis, was of the highest importance to the Jacobite cause. Charles, when at Glenfinnan, had conferred the post of quarter-master-general of the army on O’Sullivan. Aware of the brilliant qualifications of Lord George, the prince, almost immediately on his arrival at Perth, appointed him lieutenant-general, to the great satisfaction of the clans, to whom he was favourably known.

Lord George appointed the Chevalier Johnstone,[866] who had also joined the prince at Perth, his aide-de-camp, and immediately entered on his duties with alacrity. Though the Highlanders acted in complete subordination to their chiefs when in the field of battle, they had so little idea of military discipline, that they would absent themselves without permission, and roam about the country. This happened more particularly on marches, when there was a scarcity of food, on which occasions they would spread themselves over the whole country, in straggling parties, in quest of provisions. The inconveniences and loss of time, and the great abuses to which such a practice led, had been strongly felt in the former insurrection, and had been witnessed by Lord George himself. To prevent a recurrence of such evils during the present contest, the first thing Lord George did, was to advise the prince to appoint proper persons to fill the commissariat department, by whose exertions an adequate supply of food might be provided for the use of the army, without which, he said, it would be impossible to keep the Highlanders together for any length of time. That no delay might take place in waiting for provisions, in forced marches, or in detached enterprises, which required despatch, he caused a considerable number of small knapsacks to be made, sufficient to contain a peck of meal each, which the men could carry on their backs without any inconvenience. A thousand of these knapsacks were sent to Crieff, for the use of the Athole men, who were to march south in that direction.[867]

The march of Charles into Athole had been so rapid and unexpected, that his friends in that district had had no time to gather any considerable force to join him on his route to Perth. He was, therefore, under the necessity of remaining a few days at Perth, to give his adherents time to raise their men. In mustering their tenants and vassals, some of them are said to have met with considerable difficulties from the unwillingness of their people to take up arms, and the Duke of Perth has been charged with the crime of shooting one or two of his tenants, who were refractory, but the charge does not appear sufficiently supported.[868]

Another reason for Charles’s stay in Perth was the want of money. His treasury had been completely drained by his liberal advances for the support of his army; and of the few thousand pounds which he brought with him from France, he had only one guinea remaining when he entered Perth. Taking the solitary coin from his pocket, he showed it to Kelly, one of the gentlemen who came over with him, and told him that it was all the money that now remained; but he added with an air of confidence, that the army had received a fortnight’s pay in advance, and that before the expiration of another fortnight he would receive a fresh supply.[869] In order to meet pecuniary demands, Charles had despatched a circular from Kinlochiel on the 22d of August to his friends in different parts of Scotland, soliciting an immediate supply; but up to the time of his arrival at Perth no money appears to have reached him.[870] Shortly thereafter, however, his expectations began to be realized by some private pecuniary contributions sent by persons well affected to his cause, but who were afraid of openly declaring themselves.[871] But Charles did not trust to such uncertain supplies to recruit his exhausted treasury. Besides compelling the city of Perth to contribute £500, he appointed persons in Perth, Dundee, and other towns in the counties of Perth and Angus, to collect the public money, by means of which, and the contributions of his friends, his coffers were speedily replenished.

During his stay at Perth, Charles devoted almost all his time to the disciplining and training of his men, in writing despatches, and in a variety of military details to which he had hitherto been unaccustomed. Though fond of amusement, he never allowed it to occupy much of his time; and if he accepted a convivial invitation, it was more from a wish not to disoblige than from a desire to join in the festivities of his friends. Amid the occupations of the camp he did not, however, neglect the outward observances of religion. For the first time, it is believed, of his life, he attended the Protestant service at Perth, on Sunday the 8th of September, rather, it may be conjectured, to please his Protestant friends, than from any predilection for a form of worship to which he was an entire stranger. The text appropriately chosen on this occasion by the preacher, a Mr. Armstrong, was from Isaiah xiv., verses 1, 2, “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.”[872] The non-juring Jacobite discourse delivered on the occasion in question, would certainly form an extraordinary contrast with the democratic harangues to which Charles’s great-grandfather, Charles I., and his grand uncle, Charles II., were accustomed to listen from the mouths of the stern Covenanters.

While Charles was thus employed at Perth, Sir John Cope was marching from Inverness to Aberdeen. After leaving the direct road to Fort Augustus, Cope had proceeded by forced marches to Inverness, where he arrived on the 29th of August. Here he met the Lord President, who communicated to him a letter he had received on his arrival in the north, from Sir Alexander Macdonald, informing him of the names of the chiefs who had joined Charles, and requesting directions how to act in the event of the insurgent chiefs being forced to retire to the islands. After consulting with the President, Cope resolved to march back his army to Stirling, provided he could obtain a reinforcement of Highlanders from the Whig clans in the neighbourhood of Inverness. An application was accordingly made to the chiefs; but as it turned out ineffectual, Cope determined to march to Aberdeen and embark his troops for the Frith of Forth. The feelings of alarm and anxiety with which he was agitated on this occasion, are thus described by himself in a letter which he wrote from Inverness, on the 31st of August, to Lord Milton the Justice Clerk:—“I, from the beginning, thought this affair might become serious; and sorry I am that I was not mistaken: indeed, my lord, it is serious. I know your activity and ability in business,—the whole is at stake,—exert your authority,—lengths must be gone,—and rules and common course of business must yield to the necessity of the times, or it may soon be too late. So much fatigue of body and mind I never knew of before; but my health continues good, and my spirits do not flag. Much depends upon the next step we take. In this country the rebels will not let us get at them unless we had some Highlanders with us; and, as yet, not one single man has joined us, though I have lugged along with us 300 stand of arms. No man could have believed that not one man would take arms in our favour, or show countenance to us; but so it is.”[873]

It is rather singular, that on the same day on which the above-mentioned letter was written, the adherents of government at Edinburgh, who had hitherto derided the attempt of the prince, should have been at last aroused to a full sense of the danger they were in. Lulled by a false security, they had never, for a moment, doubted that Cope would be successful on his expedition in the north; but certain intelligence, brought to them by James Drummond or Macgregor, son of the celebrated Rob Roy, who arrived at Edinburgh on the 26th, began to open their eyes. With the object of throwing the government party in the capital off their guard, this man was despatched from the Jacobite camp in Lochaber to Edinburgh, with the necessary instructions. Enjoying in some degree the confidence of the whig party, he was the better fitted to impose upon them by his misrepresentations. When introduced to the public functionaries on his arrival, he stated that the Highland army was not 1,500 strong,—that it was chiefly composed of old men and boys, who were badly armed, and that from what he saw and knew of them he was sure they would fly before Cope’s army. Though unsuccessful, as will be seen, in this branch of his mission, he succeeded in another which he had volunteered to perform, by getting one Drummond, a Jacobite printer, to print the prince’s proclamations and manifestoes, which he took care to distribute throughout the city among the friends of the cause. When apprised of the fact of the publication, the magistrates, without suspecting Macgregor as the importer of these treasonable documents, issued a proclamation, offering a large reward for the discovery of the printer.

Edinburgh, at the period in question, and for many years afterwards, was confined within narrow limits. It had never been properly fortified; and its castle, which majestically overtops the city, and forms the western boundary of that division now called the “Old town,” could afford it little security. On the south and on the east, the ancient city was bounded by a wall varying from ten to twenty feet high. On the north side, a lake, easily fordable, called the North Loch, now drained and converted into beautiful gardens, was its only defence. In several places the old wall had been built upon, so that dwelling houses formed part of the wall, but these erections were overlooked by rows of higher houses without the city. There were no cannon mounted upon the wall, but in some places it was strengthened by bastions and embrasures. The standing force of the city consisted of two bodies, called the Town Guard and the Trained Bands, neither of which now exist. The first, which, at the time we are now treating of, amounted to 126 men, acted in lieu of a police; and though pretty well versed in the manual and platoon exercise, were, from their being generally old men, unfit for military duty. The Trained Bands, or Burgher Guard, which was composed of citizens, and in former times amounted to a considerable number of men, did not at the period in question exceed 1,000. Anciently, the tallest men were armed with pikes, and those of a lower stature with firelocks, and both were provided with defensive armour. The captain of each company, eight in number, instructed his men one day in every week in the exercise of arms;[874] but the pikes and armour were afterwards laid aside, and since the Revolution the Trained Bands had appeared in arms only once in the year, to celebrate the king’s birth-day, on which occasion they were furnished with arms for the service of the day from a magazine belonging to the city.

As it was obvious that, under these circumstances, no effectual resistance could be made to the entrance of an army into the city, the provost and magistrates held a meeting on the 27th of August, at which some of the principal citizens attended, to devise means of defence. At this meeting it was resolved to repair the walls and to raise a regiment of 1,000 men, to be paid by a voluntary contribution of the inhabitants. A standing committee was, at the same time, appointed to carry this resolution into effect, and to advise with the Lord-Justice-Clerk and other judges then in town, and the crown lawyers, as to such other steps as might be considered necessary in the present crisis. To obtain the requisite permission to embody the proposed regiment, an application was sent to London by the Lord Advocate; and leave to that effect was granted on the 4th of September.[875]

Up to the 31st of August, no certain intelligence had been received at Edinburgh of the movements of the Highlanders; but in the evening of that day the inhabitants were thrown into a state of great alarm by receiving intelligence of the march of the Highland army into Athole, and of the ominous departure of Cope for Inverness. Instantly the drum beat to arms, and the town-council having met, they ordained that the keys of the city should be lodged with the captain of the city guard, and ordered sentries to be placed at each of the gates, and the city guard to be augmented. As an additional security, Hamilton’s dragoons, then quartered in the vicinity of the city, were kept under arms that night. The repairs of the city walls were commenced; orders were issued to place cannon on them, and to throw up a ditch on the north side of the castle, and arms were sent from the city magazine to Leith to arm its inhabitants. These preparations, and the hurry and bustle with which it may be supposed they were attended, may appear ludicrous when contrasted with the result; but the public functionaries were bound to put the city in as defensible a state as their means would admit of, and without the least possible delay.

It would have been perhaps fortunate for the honour of the city, if on the present occasion the civic authorities had been allowed, in conjunction with the committee which had been named, to follow out such measures as they might have deemed necessary for defending the city; but, unluckily, there existed a party consisting of ex-magistrates and councillors, who, by the course they adopted, brought dissension among the citizens. This party, at the head of which was ex-provost Drummond, “a zealous loyalist, and one of the most valuable municipal chiefs whom Edinburgh has possessed,”[876] had been succeeded in the town-council by Stewart, the then provost, and his friends, who, for five years, had kept possession of the municipal government, to the entire exclusion of Drummond and his party. Desirous of regaining their lost power, they availed themselves of the present opportunity, the elections being at hand, to instil distrust of the existing magistracy into the minds of the electors, by representing the members of the town-council as Jacobitically inclined, and as indifferent to the preservation of the city from the rebels. And indeed it appears that Stewart showed himself incapable of performing effectually the responsible duties of his office at this important juncture.[877] The opposition party, partly, no doubt, to ingratiate themselves still farther with the electors, the majority of whom were whigs, and warmly attached to the government, really showed greater zeal in organising measures for the defence of the city. They presented, on the 6th of September, a petition to the provost, signed by about 100 citizens, praying that they, the subscribers, might be authorised to form themselves into an association for the defence of the city,—that they might be allowed to name their own officers,—and that an application should be made by the provost to General Guest, for a supply of arms from the castle for their use.[878]

This petition was laid before an extraordinary meeting of the council next day, and the law officers of the crown having given their opinion that the council could legally authorise an arming of the inhabitants for the contemplated purpose, they acceded to its prayer, with the exception of that part which craved that the volunteers should have the nomination of their own officers, a privilege which the provost reserved to himself, in virtue of his office of chief magistrate. To ascertain the names of the citizens who were willing to serve as volunteers, a paper was lodged, on the 9th of September, in the Old-church aisle, and all loyal persons were invited by handbills to subscribe: 418 persons joined this association, and were supplied with arms from the castle. Simultaneously with the formation of the association, the magistrates exerted themselves to raise the regiment they had petitioned for, the warrant for which was received by the provost on the 8th of September; but their efforts were ineffectual, not being able, after a week’s recruiting, to raise 200 men. This paltry force, however, was named the Edinburgh regiment, to distinguish it from the volunteer association.

Hitherto the repairs of the city walls had been steadily progressing, and, to the great scandal of the more religious part of the inhabitants, no cessation took place even upon the Sunday; but although the persons employed upon the walls might plead necessity in justification of their work on the day of rest, they seem to have overlooked that necessity on the 10th of September, the day when the city elections commenced. So great was the anxiety of all classes to ascertain the names of the craftsmen sent up by the different incorporations to the council to represent them, that a total suspension of every business took place, and the magistrates, who felt little difficulty in procuring men to work upon the Sunday, now saw the works almost entirely deserted by the artificers employed upon them.

A few days after receipt of the intelligence of the march of the Highlanders into the low country, Captain Rogers, an aide-de-camp of Sir John Cope, arrived at Edinburgh from Inverness, with instructions to General Guest to send down a number of transports to Aberdeen to carry his men to the southern shores of the Frith of Forth. These vessels sailed from Leith roads on the 10th, under convoy of a ship of war, and their return was expected with the greatest anxiety by the inhabitants of Edinburgh, who were continually looking up to the weather-cocks to ascertain the direction of the wind.

The volunteers being officered and organised, were regularly drilled twice every day. Cannon were brought up from Leith and mounted on the walls, and the defensive works were proceeded with under the superintendence of Maclaurin, the celebrated mathematician, who had furnished the designs.

FOOTNOTES:

[843] Cope’s Trial, p 105. Home, p. 51.

[844] Appendix to Home’s works, No. V.

[845] Culloden Papers, p. 203.

[846] Idem, p. 204.

[847] Idem, p. 203.

[848] Culloden Papers, p. 203.

[849] Chambers’s Rebellion, p. 46.

[850] Home, p. 54.

[851] Cope’s Trial.

[852] Idem.

[853] Cope’s Trial, p. 24. Chambers’s Rebellion, p. 50.

[854] The prince thus relates the circumstances attending this affair in a letter to his father, dated from Perth, 10th September, 1745. “There is one thing, and but one, in which I had any difference with my faithful Highlanders. It was about the price upon my kinsman’s head, which, knowing your Majesty’s generous humanity, I am sure, will shock you, as it did me, when I was shown the proclamation, setting a price upon my head. I smiled, and treated it with the disdain I thought it deserved; upon which they flew into a violent rage, and insisted upon my doing the same by him. As this flowed solely from the poor men’s love and concern for me, I did not know how to be angry with them for it, and tried to bring them to temper by representing that it was a mean barbarous principle among princes, and must dishonour them in the eyes of all men of honour; that I did not see how my cousin’s having set me the example, would justify me in imitating that which I blame so much in him. But nothing I could say would pacify them. Some went even so far as to say,—‘Shall we venture our lives for a man who seems so indifferent of his own?’ Thus have I been drawn in to do a thing for which I condemn myself.”—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 32.

[855] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 442–484.

[856] Culloden Papers, p. 216.

[857] Culloden Papers, p. 216.

[858] Henderson’s History of the Rebellion, p. 34.

[859] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 25.

[860] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 443–485.

[861] Henderson’s History of the Rebellion, p. 36.

[862] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 26.

[863] At Lude Charles “was very cheerful, and took his share in several dances, such as minuets, Highland reels, &c. The first reel the prince called for was ‘This is no mine ain house,’ &c., and a strathspey minuet.”—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 26.

[864] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 468.

[865] See portrait at p. 672.

[866] The author of the Memoirs of the Rebellion in 1745–6. He was descended, it is believed, from an ancient and powerful family, the Johnstones of Wamphray. When the news of the prince’s landing was confirmed at Edinburgh, where he lived with his father, Johnstone repaired to Duncrub, the seat of Lord Rollo, whose son was married to Johnstone’s sister; and on the 6th of September, went from Duncrub to Perth, accompanied by two of Lord Rollo’s daughters, who presented him to their relations the Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray.—Quarterly Review, No. lxxi. p. 211. Memoirs, 2d edit. p. 16.

[867] Lord George Murray’s Narrative. Jacobite Memoirs, p. 29. Some idea may be formed of the lieutenant-general’s activity, from the following extract from a letter written on 7th September, by him to his brother the marquis, who was then busily employed raising the men on his brother’s estates. “I hope the meal was with you this day—35 bolls—for it was at Inwar last night: It shall be my study to have more meal with you on Monday night, for you must distribute a peck a man: and, cost what it will, there must be pocks, (small sacks,) made to each man, to contain a peck or two for the men, to have always with them. Buy linen, harn, or any thing; for these pocks are of absolute necessity, nothing can be done without them.... You may please tell your own people, that there is a project to get arms for them.”—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 31.

[868] “In the interior of the Highlands absolute submission seems to have been easily exacted; but in the outskirts, where, perhaps, there was a slight mingling of Lowland population, and where the people were not too blind to see that their leaders alone had an interest in the rising, considerable opposition was offered to the commands of the chief. This was conspicuously visible in the Athole territory. The chivalrous Tullibardine was much provoked by the obstinacy of the retainers of his house in the valleys round Dunkeld. They had to be repeatedly threatened with coercive measures, and appear to have been literally forced into the service by press-gangs from the other clans. He had been absent from the country during the whole interval between the rebellions, and his brother, who adopted the interest of the government, enjoyed his estate. He could not see that this affected his divine right as chief any more than it affected that of his royal master; but the clan appear to have imperfectly participated in such a principle, and to have abandoned, as he expressed it, the virtues of their ancestors.”—Burton’s Scotland after Revolution, vol. ii. p. 414.

[869] Kirkconnel MS.

[870] Lord Elcho afterwards lent the prince 1,500 guineas. A curious correspondence on the subject of repayment will be found in the Stuart Papers.

[871] Kirkconnel MS.

[872] Caledonian Mercury, as referred to by Dr. Chambers.

[873] Home, p. 318.

[874] Maitland’s History of Edinburgh, p. 285. Home, p. 67.

[875] Home, p. 67.

[876] Burton.

[877] Burton, vol. ii. p. 451.

[878] Home, p. 69.

CHAPTER XXXI.

A.D. 1745.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Charles leaves Perth and proceeds southwards—Crosses the Forth—Proceeds towards Edinburgh—Great confusion in Edinburgh—The Edinburgh volunteers—Gardiner’s and Hamilton’s dragoons—Meeting of inhabitants—Message from Prince Charles at Corstorphine—Deputations to the Prince—Cope arrives off Dunbar—Capture of Edinburgh by the Highlanders—Arrival of Charles at Holyrood—The Chevalier de St. George proclaimed—Cope marches from Dunbar towards Haddington and Preston—The Prince leaves Edinburgh and marches towards Preston—Battle of Preston.

As early as the 7th of September, Charles had received notice of Cope’s intention to embark at Aberdeen; and, that he might not be anticipated by Cope in his design of seizing the capital, he began to make arrangements for leaving Perth for the south. Before the 11th his force was considerably augmented by tributary accessions from the uplands of Perthshire, and, as his coffers had been pretty well replenished, he resolved to take his departure that day. With this view, Lord George Murray sent an express to his brother, the Marquis of Tullibardine, on the 7th, requesting him to march with such forces as he had collected, on the morning of Tuesday the 10th, so as to reach Crieff next day, that he might be able to form a junction with the main army at Dunblane or Doune the following day.[879]

Charles, accordingly, left Perth on Wednesday the 11th of September on his route to the south. The van of the army, or rather a few of each of the clans, reached Dunblane that night, in the neighbourhood of which they encamped. The greater part of the men lagged behind, and did not get up till next day, when they appeared to be greatly fatigued. As this result was imputed to the good quarters they had enjoyed for the last eight days at Perth, and the want of exercise, it was resolved that henceforth the army should encamp in the open air, and be kept constantly in motion. On his march to Dunblane, the prince was joined by Macdonald of Glencoe,[880] with 60 of his men, and by James Drummond or Macgregor of Glengyle at the head of 255 Macgregors, the retainers of Macgregor of Glencairnaig.[881]

Having been obliged to halt a whole day for the remainder of his army, Charles remained in his camp till the 13th, on which day he crossed the Forth at the fords of Frew, almost in the face of Gardiner’s dragoons, who retired towards Stirling on the approach of the Highland army, without attempting to dispute its passage. While passing by Doune, Charles received particular marks of attention from some of the ladies of Menteith, who had assembled in the house of Mr. Edmondstone of Cambuswallace, in the neighbourhood of Doune to see him as he passed. A collation had been provided for him, in the expectation that he would have entered the house; but he courteously excused himself, and stopping before the house, without alighting from his horse, drank a glass of wine to the healths of his fair observers. The daughters of Mr. Edmondstone, who served the prince on this occasion, respectfully solicited the honour of kissing his hand—a favour which he readily granted; but he was asked to grant a higher favour by Miss Robina Edmondstone, cousin to the daughters of the host. The favour sought was the liberty “to pree his royal highness’s mou.” Charles not being sufficiently acquainted with broad Scotch, was at a loss to comprehend the nature of the request; but on its being explained to him, he instantly caught her in his arms, and instead of allowing her to perform the operation, he himself kissed her from ear to ear, to the great amusement of the spectators, and the envy of the bold recipient’s cousins.[882]

The passage of the Forth had always been considered one of the most daring and decisive steps which a Highland army could take. In their own country the Highlanders possessed many natural advantages over an invading foe, which gave them almost an absolute assurance of success in any contest even with forces greatly superior in numbers; and, in the adjoining Lowlands, they could, if worsted, easily retreat to their fastnesses; but their situation was very different on the south of the Forth, where they were more particularly exposed to be attacked by cavalry,—a species of force which they greatly dreaded, and from which they could, if routed, scarcely expect to escape. It is said, but not upon sufficient authority, that some of Charles’s officers at first demurred to the propriety of exposing the army to the dangers of a Lowland campaign in the south, but that he would listen to no arguments against the grand design he had formed of seizing the capital. To cheer his men in the hazardous enterprise, the dangers of which now, for the first time, began to develop themselves, the prince is reported, on arriving on the bank of the river, to have brandished his sword in the air, and pointing to the other side, to have rushed into the water, and darting across, to have taken his station on the opposite bank, on which he stood till all the detachments had crossed, and congratulated each successive detachment as it arrived.[883] In crossing the Forth, the prince may be said to have passed the Rubicon: he had not only committed himself in a struggle with a powerful government, but he had, with intrepid daring, and with a handful of men, entered a country whence retreat was almost impossible.

After passing the Forth, Charles, accompanied by a party of his officers, proceeded to Leckie House, the seat of Mr. Moir, a Jacobite gentleman, where he dined; but the proprietor was absent, having been seized by a party of dragoons, and carried off to Stirling castle the preceding night, in consequence of information having been received at the castle that he was preparing to receive and entertain the prince at his house. The army passed the night on the moor of Sauchie, a few miles south from the ford.[884] The prince himself slept in Bannockburn House, belonging to Sir Hugh Paterson, a zealous Jacobite. During this day’s march great abuses were committed by the men in taking and shooting sheep, which the Duke of Perth and others did every thing in their power to prevent. Lochiel was so enraged at the conduct of his men, that he is said to have shot one of them himself, as an example to deter the rest.[885]

Next day Charles put his army in motion towards Falkirk. In passing by Stirling, a few shots were fired at them from the castle, but without damage. Lord George Murray sent a message to the magistrates of the town, requiring a supply of provisions; on receiving which they immediately opened the gates, and having given notice of the demand to the inhabitants, the dealers in provisions went out and met the Highland army near Bannockburn, and sold a considerable quantity of commodities to the men. The army, after receiving this supply, resumed its march, and finally halted on a field a little to the eastward of Falkirk. Charles took up his abode in Callender House, where he was entertained with the greatest hospitality by the Earl of Kilmarnock, who gave him assurances of devoted attachment to his cause. By the earl, Charles was informed that Gardiner’s dragoons, who, on his approach to Falkirk, had retired in the direction of Linlithgow, were resolved to dispute the passage of Linlithgow bridge with him, and that they had encamped that night in its neighbourhood.[887]

On receiving this intelligence, Charles immediately held a council of war, at which it was resolved to attack the dragoons during the night. For this purpose a detachment of 1,000 well-armed men was despatched at one o’clock in the morning under the command of Lord George Murray. They marched with the utmost order, regularity, and quietness; but they were disappointed in their object, as the dragoons had retired during the night to Kirkliston, eight miles west from Edinburgh. The detachment entered Linlithgow before break of day, where they were joined by the prince and the rest of the army about ten o’clock that morning.[888] The day was Sunday; but the prince does not appear to have gratified the burghers by going to church as he had done the citizens of Perth the preceding Sunday. He, however, partook of a repast which some of the Jacobite inhabitants had prepared for him. The provost preserved a neutrality by absenting himself from town; but his wife and daughters are said to have paid their respects to the prince by waiting upon him at the cross, attired in tartan gowns, and wearing white cockades, and doing themselves the honour of kissing his hand.

Advancing from Linlithgow about four o’clock in the afternoon, the Highland army encamped on a rising ground, nearly four miles east from Linlithgow, near the twelfth milestone from Edinburgh, where they passed the night. The prince slept in a house in the neighbourhood. Next morning, Monday the 16th, Charles renewed his march eastwards, and reached Corstorphine, the dragoons all the while retiring before him as he approached.

Charles was now within three miles of Edinburgh, and could not proceed farther in a direct line, without exposing his army to the fire of the castle guns. To avoid them, he led it off in a southerly direction, towards Slateford,—a small village about the distance of a mile from Corstorphine. The prince fixed his head quarters at Gray’s mills, between two and three miles from the city, and his troops bivouacked during the night of the 16th, in an adjoining field called Gray’s Park.

When intelligence of the prince’s departure from Perth reached Edinburgh, the anxiety for the arrival of Cope increased every hour. The Jacobites, of whom there was a respectable party in the city, on the other hand, longed for the arrival of Charles. No certain information of the movements of the Highland army reached Edinburgh till the morning of Sunday the 15th, when a messenger brought intelligence that the insurgents were in full march upon the capital, and that their van had already reached Kirkliston. The last part of this information was, however, incorrect.

At the time the messenger arrived, all the armed volunteers, in terms of an order given the preceding evening, were assembled in the college yards. About ten o’clock, Drummond, the ex-provost, who was captain of a company, which, from its being partly composed of students belonging to the university, was called the college company, made his appearance. After consultation with his brother-officers, he informed the company of the advance of the Highland army,—that it had been proposed to General Guest to make a stand with the two dragoon regiments, and fight the insurgents on their way to the city; but that the general did not think the measure advisable, as there was not a body of foot to act with the dragoons to draw off the fire of the enemy,—that he (Drummond), knowing that he could answer for 250 volunteers, if Provost Stewart would allow 50 of the town-guard to go along with them, had asked the general if that number would be sufficient; and that Guest had given him an answer in the affirmative. “Now, gentlemen,” said the ex-provost, “you have heard the general’s opinion, judge for yourselves. If you are willing to risk your lives for the defence of the capital of Scotland and the honour of your country, I am ready to lead you to the field.” The volunteers to whom Drummond seemed particularly to address himself, threw up their hats in the air, at the conclusion of this address, and began a huzza, in which the rest of the company joined.[889]

Having obtained the consent of his own company to march, he went to the other companies in succession; but instead of advising them to follow the example which his own men had set, he told them that though his men were, all of them, going out to conquer or die with him, yet that such a resolution was only proper for young unmarried men, who were at liberty to dispose of their own lives. Accordingly very few of the volunteers in the other companies would give their consent; but Drummond’s company becoming clamorous, the others seemed to yield, and Drummond despatched a messenger to the castle to inform General Guest that the volunteers were ready to march out with the dragoons and engage the rebels. At the request of the general, Provost Stewart ordered a detachment of the town guard and the Edinburgh regiment to accompany the volunteers. General Guest, on being informed of this, directed Hamilton’s dragoons, who were encamped on Leith links, to march through the city, and join Gardiner’s regiment at Corstorphine.[890]

For the first time since they had been embodied, the volunteers now loaded their pieces. In terms of an order which had been issued the preceding day, the fire-bell was rung as a signal of approaching danger, and the volunteers, who had assembled in the college-yards, instantly repaired in a body to the Lawnmarket, the appointed place of rendezvous. Most of the city ministers had enrolled themselves as volunteers, but they were absent on the present occasion, being engaged celebrating divine service in their respective churches. Semper parati being the motto they had adopted in their new vocation, they had gone to church equipped à la militaire, and when the alarm-bell sounded, were preaching with their swords by their sides. In an instant the churches were deserted by the worshippers, and a universal panic seized all classes on learning the intelligence. The Lawnmarket, where the volunteers had drawn up waiting for the arrival of Hamilton’s dragoons, was soon crowded with inhabitants: many of them, the wives, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends of the devoted volunteers who clustered around them, and implored them, by ties the most sacred, to desist from the dangerous enterprise they were about to engage in. The attention of the people was diverted for a time by the appearance of Hamilton’s dragoons who rode up the street. They were received with huzzas by the volunteers, and the dragoons in passing huzzaed in return, and with a gasconading air clashed their swords against each other as they went along. The alarm among the relatives and friends of the volunteers was increased, and nothing was to be heard but the cries and lamentations of unhappy females. These doughty champions, who never had any serious intention of exposing their persons to the blows of the Highland broad-sword, moved in appearance by the tears, the entreaties, and embraces of their female friends, seemed rather inclined to allow the dragoons to shift for themselves; but neither the expostulations of the men, (for the male relations of the volunteers were equally solicitous with the females in dissuading the volunteers from marching,) nor the tears of the women, had any effect upon the volunteers of Drummond’s company, who had agreed to march.

An order being given to march, Drummond placed himself at the head of the volunteers of his company, and marched them up the Lawnmarket and down the West Bow to the Grassmarket: they were followed by an immense crowd of people lamenting their unhappy fate. Only 42 privates of Drummond’s company followed him, but he certainly expected some accessions from the other companies. Not a single individual, however, belonging to them, accompanied him. Finding himself and his little party alone, Drummond halted his men near the West Port, and sent a lieutenant, named Lindsay, back to the Lawnmarket to ascertain the reason why the volunteers, who were expected to follow, had not joined their associates. Lindsay, on his return to the Lawnmarket, found the volunteers, who still remained in the street, in great confusion. Several of the officers told Lindsay that they themselves were willing to follow Drummond and his party, but that very few of their men would consent to march out. On the other hand, many of the privates complained that they could not get one officer to lead them. After some altercation, Lindsay, with the assistance of Captain Sir George Preston, and some other officers, succeeded in collecting 141, who professed a willingness to march with the dragoons, out of about 350 volunteers who had remained behind; Lindsay led off these to the Grassmarket, where they joined Drummond’s party; but if we are to believe a pamphleteer of the day, even this small force was diminished by the way. The descent of The Bow presenting localities and facilities equally convenient for desertion, the volunteers are said to have availed themselves of these on their march. The author alluded to facetiously compared this falling off “to the course of the Rhine, which rolling pompously its waves through fertile fields, instead of augmenting in its course, is continually drawn off by a thousand canals, and at last becomes a small rivulet, which loses itself in the sands before it reaches the ocean.”[891] The foot now assembled, comprehending the town guard and the Edinburgh regiment, which numbered only 189, amounted, exclusive of officers, to 363 men.[892]

Alarmed at the departure of the volunteers, Dr. Wishart, principal of the university of Edinburgh, with others of the city clergy, proceeded to the Grassmarket, and with great earnestness addressed the volunteers, and conjured them by every thing they held most sacred and dear, to reserve themselves for the defence of the city by remaining within the walls. Principal Wishart addressed himself particularly to the young men of Drummond’s company, some few of whom affected to contemn his advice; but it was perfectly evident that there was scarcely an individual present, who did not in his heart desire to follow the advice of the ministers. The volunteers, however, had offered to serve without the walls, and they could not withdraw with honour. Drummond, on the departure of the clergy, and after a short consultation with his officers, sent a lieutenant with a message to the provost, to the effect, that the volunteers had resolved not to march out of town without his express permission, and that they would wait for his answer. In all this we have no reason to doubt the sincerity and courage of Drummond, but to the great satisfaction of his men, who were at first ignorant of the nature of the message, an answer was returned by Provost Stewart, stating that he was much opposed to the proposal of marching out of town, and was glad to find that the volunteers had resolved to remain within the walls. No sooner was this answer received, than Drummond returned with his men to the college-yards, where they were dismissed for a time. The town guard, and the men of the Edinburgh regiment, however, although shamefully deserted by their companions in arms, marched out of the city on receiving an order to that effect from the provost, and joined the dragoons at Corstorphine, about four miles west from Edinburgh, where the regiments of Hamilton and Gardiner formed a junction.[893]

Seeing no appearance of the enemy, Colonel Gardiner retired at sunset with the two regiments of dragoons, to a field between Edinburgh and Leith, to pass the night, leaving a party of his men behind him to watch the motions of the Highlanders; and the foot returned at the same time to the city. To guard the city during the night, 600 or 700 men, consisting of the trained bands, the volunteers, and some auxiliaries from the towns of Musselburgh and Dalkeith, were stationed along the walls and at the different gates; but the night passed off quietly. The same night, Brigadier General Fowkes arrived from London. Early next morning, he received an order from General Guest, to take the command of the dragoons, and to march to a field a little to the east of Coltbridge, about two miles west from the city, where he was joined in the course of the forenoon by the town guard, and the Edinburgh regiment.

For the first time during their march, the Highlanders descried some dragoons as they approached Corstorphine, on the morning of the 16th of September. This was the party which Colonel Gardiner had left at Corstorphine the preceding evening. To reconnoitre the dragoons, a few young well-armed Highlanders were sent forward on horseback, and ordered to go as near as possible to ascertain their number. These young men rode close up to the dragoons, and by way of frolic or defiance, for they could have no intention of attacking the dragoons, fired their pistols at them. To the utter astonishment of the Highlanders, the dragoons, instead of returning the fire, became panic-struck, and instantly wheeling about, galloped off towards the main body. Participating in the fears of his advanced guard, General Fowkes immediately ordered a retreat, and between three and four o’clock in the afternoon, the inhabitants of Edinburgh beheld the singular spectacle of two regiments of dragoons flying along the “Long Dykes,” now the site of Princes Street, when no one pursued. The faint-hearted dragoons stopped a short time at Leith, and afterwards proceeded to Musselburgh. The foot returned to the city.

Several hours before the retreat of the dragoons, a gentleman of the city had brought in a message from the prince, requiring a surrender, and threatening, in case of resistance, to subject the city to all the rigours of military usage; but no regard was paid to the message, and although the messenger had the imprudence (for which he was sent to prison by the provost,) to communicate the message to the inhabitants, they manifested no great symptoms of alarm, relying, probably, on the resistance of the dragoons. After these had fled, however, the people became exceedingly clamorous, and crowds of the inhabitants ran about the streets crying, that since the dragoons had fled, it was madness to think of resistance. The provost, on returning from the West Port, where he had been giving orders after the retreat of the dragoons, was met by some of the inhabitants, who implored him not to persist in defending the town, for if he did, they would all be murdered. He reproved them for their impatience, and proceeded to the Goldsmiths’ Hall, where he met the magistrates and town council and a considerable number of the inhabitants, who had there assembled. After some consultation, a deputation was sent to the law-officers of the crown, requiring their attendance and advice; but it was ascertained that these functionaries had left the town. The captains of the trained bands and volunteers were next sent for, and called upon for their opinion as to defending the city, but they were at a loss how to advise. The meeting was divided upon the question whether the town should be defended or not, and in the course of the debate much acrimony was displayed by the speakers on both sides. The hall being too small to contain the crowd which collected, the meeting adjourned to the New church aisle, which was immediately filled with people, the great majority of whom called out for a surrender, as they considered it impossible to defend the town. Some persons attempted to support the contrary view, but they were forced to desist by the noise and clamour of the majority.

While matters were in this train, a letter was handed in from the door addressed to the lord provost, magistrates, and town council of Edinburgh. The letter was put into the hands of Orrock, the deacon of the shoemakers, who, on opening it, informed the meeting that it was subscribed “Charles, P. R.” On hearing this announcement, the provost stopped Deacon Orrock, who was about to read the letter, said he would not be a witness to the reading of such a communication, and rising from his seat, left the place, accompanied by the greater part of the council and a considerable number of the inhabitants. The provost, however, returned to the council-chamber with his friends, and sent for the city assessors to give their opinion as to whether the letter should be read or not. One of these lawyers appeared, but afraid to commit himself, stated that the matter was too grave for him to give an opinion upon. The provost still demurred, but the assembly getting impatient to know the contents of the letter, his lordship tacitly consented to its being read. It was as follows:

“From our Camp, 16th September, 1745.

“Being now in a condition to make our way into the capital of his majesty’s ancient kingdom of Scotland, we hereby summon you to receive us, as you are in duty bound to do; and in order to it, we hereby require you, upon receipt of this, to summon the town-council and take proper measures for securing the peace and quiet of the city, which we are very desirous to protect. But if you suffer any of the usurper’s troops to enter the town, or any of the cannon, arms, or ammunition in it, (whether belonging to the public or private persons,) to be carried off, we shall take it as a breach of your duty, and a heinous offence against the king and us, and shall resent it accordingly. We promise to preserve all the rights and liberties of the city, and the particular property of every one of his majesty’s subjects. But if any opposition be made to us, we cannot answer for the consequences, being firmly resolved at any rate to enter the city; and in that case, if any of the inhabitants are found in arms against us, they must not expect to be treated as prisoners of war.”

After this letter was read, the clamour for surrender became more loud and general than ever, and, agreeably to the wish of the meeting, a deputation, consisting of four members of the council, was appointed to wait upon the prince immediately, and to request that he would grant the citizens time to deliberate on the contents of his letter.

While the meeting was debating the question as to the reading of Charles’s letter, an incident occurred, which, it is believed, gave the finishing stroke to the mock heroism of the volunteers. After the retreat of the dragoons, the volunteers had assembled, on the ringing of the fire-bell, at their respective posts, to be in readiness to obey any instructions which might be sent to them. Four companies, out of the six, were drawn up in the Lawnmarket between four and five o’clock in the afternoon, but before they had sufficient time to recover from the agitation into which they had been thrown by the call to arms, a well-dressed person, unknown to those assembled, entered the Lawnmarket from the West-Bow, in great haste, mounted upon a grey horse, and galloping along the lines of the volunteers, intimated, in a voice sufficiently high to be heard by the astonished volunteers, that he had seen the Highland army, and that it amounted to 16,000 men! This “lying messenger did not stop to be questioned, and disappeared in a moment.”[894] Captain Drummond, soon after this occurrence, arrived upon the spot, and, after consulting with his brother officers, marched up the four companies to the castle, where they delivered up their arms. In a short time the other companies also went up and surrendered their arms, and were followed by the other bodies of militia that had received arms from the castle magazine.

About eight o’clock at night, the four deputies left the city to wait upon the prince at Gray’s Mill; but they had scarcely cleared the walls, when intelligence was received by the lord provost and magistrates, (who still remained assembled in the council-chamber,) that the transports with General Cope’s army on board had arrived off Dunbar, about 27 miles east from Edinburgh, and that as the wind was unfavourable for bringing them up the Frith, Cope intended to land his troops at Dunbar and march to the relief of the city. As this intelligence altered the aspect of affairs, messengers were immediately despatched to bring back the deputies before they should reach their destination, but they did not overtake them. The deputies returned to the city about ten o’clock, and brought along with them a letter of the following tenor, signed by Secretary Murray:—

“His royal highness the prince regent thinks his manifesto, and the king his father’s declaration, already published, a sufficient capitulation for all his majesty’s subjects to accept with joy. His present demands are, to be received into the city as the son and representative of the king his father, and obeyed as such when there. His royal highness supposes, that since the receipt of his letter to the provost no arms or ammunition have been suffered to be carried off or concealed, and will expect a particular account of all things of that nature. Lastly, he expects a positive answer before two o’clock in the morning, otherwise he will think himself obliged to take measures conform.”

This letter gave rise to a lengthened discussion in the town-council, which ended in a resolution to send out a second deputation to the prince, and, under the pretence of consulting the citizens, to solicit a few hours’ delay. The deputies accordingly set out in a coach to the prince’s head-quarters at two o’clock in the morning, and had an interview with Lord George Murray, whom they prevailed upon to second their application for delay. His lordship went into the prince’s apartment, and one of the deputies overheard him endeavouring to persuade Charles to agree to the request made by them, but the prince refused. Lord George having reported the failure of his attempt to the deputies, was induced by them to return and make another trial, but he was again unsuccessful. Charles then requested that the deputies should be ordered away, and being offended at Lord George Murray’s entreaties, desired Lord Elcho, the son of the Earl of Wemyss, who had just joined him, to intimate the order to them, which he accordingly did.[895]

Apprehensive of the speedy arrival of Cope, Charles resolved not to lose a moment in obtaining possession of the capital. He saw that no effectual resistance could be made by the inhabitants in case of an assault; but as opposition might exasperate the Highlanders, and make them regardless of the lives of the citizens, he proposed to his officers that an attempt should be made to carry the city by surprise, which, if successful, would save it from the horrors which usually befall a city taken by storm. The plan of a surprise having been resolved upon, a select detachment of about 900 men, under Lochiel, Keppoch, Ardshiel, and O’Sullivan, was sent under cloud of night towards the city. They marched with great secrecy across the Borough moor, and reached the south-eastern extremity of the city, where they halted. A party of 24 men was thereupon despatched with directions to post themselves on each side of the Netherbow Port, the eastern or lower gate of the city, and another party of 60 men was directed to follow them half-way up St. Mary’s Wynd, to be ready to support them, while a third body, still farther removed, and finally the remainder of the detachment, were to come up in succession to the support of the rest. In the event of these dispositions succeeding without observation from the sentinels on the walls, it had been arranged that a Highlander in a lowland garb should knock at the wicket and demand entrance as a servant of an officer of dragoons, who had been sent by his master to bring him something he had forgot in the city; and that if the wicket was opened, the party stationed on each side of the gate should immediately rush in, seize the guard, and make themselves masters of the gate. The different parties having taken the stations assigned them without being perceived by the guards, the disguised Highlander knocked at the gate and stated his pretended errand; but the guard refused to open the gate, and the sentinels on the walls threatened to fire upon the applicant if he did not instantly retire. The commanders were puzzled by this unexpected refusal, and were at a loss how to act. It was now near five o’clock, and the morning was about to dawn. The alternative of an assault seemed inevitable, but fortunately for the city, the Highlanders were destined to obtain by accident what they could not effect by stratagem.[896]

While the party at the gate was about to retire to the main body in consequence of the disappointment they had met with, their attention was attracted by the rattling of a carriage, which, from the increasing sound, appeared to be coming down the High-street towards the Netherbow Port. It was, in fact, the hackney coach which had been hired by the deputies, which was now on its way back to the Canongate, where most of the proprietors of hackney coaches at that time lived. The Highlanders stationed at the gate stood prepared to enter, and as soon as it was opened to let out the coach, the whole party, headed by Captain Evan Macgregor, a younger son of Macgregor of Glencairnaig, rushed in, made themselves masters of the gate, and disarmed the guard in an instant. In a short time the whole of the Highlanders followed, with drawn swords and targets, and setting up one of those hideous and terrific yells with which they salute an enemy they are about to encounter, marched quickly up the street in perfect order, in expectation of meeting the foe;[897] but to the surprise, no less than the pleasure, of the Highlanders, not a single armed man was to be seen in the street. With the exception of a few half-awakened spectators, who, roused from their slumbers by the shouts of the Highlanders, had jumped out of bed, and were to be seen peeping out at the windows in their sleeping habiliments, all the rest of the inhabitants were sunk in profound repose.

Having secured the guard-house and disarmed the guards who were within, the Highlanders took possession of the different gates of the city and of the stations upon the walls. They made the guards prisoners, and replaced them with some of their own men, with as much quietness as if they had been merely changing their own guard.[898] The Highlanders conducted themselves on this occasion with the greatest order and regularity, no violence being offered to any of the inhabitants, and the utmost respect being paid to private property.

Anxious about the result, Charles had slept only two hours, and that without taking off his clothes. At an early hour he received intelligence of the capture of the city, and immediately prepared to march towards it with the rest of the army. To avoid the castle guns, the prince took a circuitous direction to the south of the city, till he reached the Braid burn, when, turning towards the city, he marched as far as the Buck Stone,[899] a mass of granite on the side of the turnpike road, near Morningside. On reaching this stone, he drew off his army by a solitary cross road, leading to the ground now occupied by Causewayside and Newington. Arrived near Priestfield, he entered the king’s park by a breach, which had been made in the wall, and proceeded to the Hunter’s bog, a deep valley between Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags, where his army was completely sheltered from the guns of the castle.[900]

Charles was now within the royal domains, and little more than a quarter of a mile from the royal palace of Holyrood, where his grandfather, James II., when Duke of York, had, about 60 years before, exercised the functions of royalty, as the representative of his brother Charles II. Sanguine as he was, he could scarcely have imagined that within the space of one short month, from the time he had raised his standard in the distant vale of the Finnan, he was to obtain possession of the capital of Scotland, and take up his residence in the ancient abode of his royal ancestors. Exulting as he must have done, at the near prospect which such fortuitous events seemed to afford him of realizing his most ardent expectations, his feelings received a new impulse, when, on coming within sight of the palace, he beheld the park crowded with people, who had assembled to welcome his arrival. Attended by the Duke of Perth and Lord Elcho, and followed by a train of gentlemen, Charles rode down the Hunter’s bog, on his way to the palace. On reaching the eminence below St. Anthony’s well, he alighted from his horse for the purpose of descending on foot into the park below. On dismounting he was surrounded by many persons who knelt down and kissed his hand. He made suitable acknowledgments for these marks of attachment, and after surveying for a short time the palace and the assembled multitude which covered the intervening grounds, he descended into the park below amid the shouts of the spectators, whose congratulations he received with the greatest affability. On reaching the foot-path in the park, which, from its having been much frequented by the Duke of York, afterwards James II., when he resided at Holyrood, obtained the name of the Duke’s walk, Charles stopped for a few minutes to exhibit himself to the people.[901]

In person Charles appeared to great advantage. His figure and presence are described by Mr. Home, an eye-witness, as not ill-suited to his lofty pretensions. He was in the bloom of youth, tall[902] and handsome, and of a fair and ruddy complexion. His face, which in its contour exhibited a perfect oval, was remarkable for the regularity of its features. His forehead was full and high, and characteristic of his family. His eyes, which were large, and of a light blue colour, were shaded by beautifully arched eye-brows, and his nose, which was finely formed, approached nearer to the Roman than the Grecian model. A pointed chin, and a mouth rather small, gave him, however, rather an effeminate appearance; but on the whole, his exterior was extremely prepossessing, and his deportment was so graceful and winning, that few persons could resist his attractions. The dress which he wore on the present occasion was also calculated to set off the graces of his person to the greatest advantage in the eyes of the vulgar. He wore a light-coloured peruke, with his hair combed over the front. This was surmounted by a blue velvet bonnet, encircled with a band of gold lace, and ornamented at top with a Jacobite badge, a white satin cockade. He wore a tartan short coat, and on his breast the star of the order of St. Andrew. Instead of a plaid, which would have covered the star, he wore a blue sash wrought with gold. His small clothes were of red velvet. To complete his costume, he wore a pair of military boots, and a silver-hilted broadsword.[903]

Charles remained some time in the park among the people, but as he could not be sufficiently seen by all, he mounted his horse, a fine bay gelding which the Duke of Perth had presented to him, and rode off slowly towards the palace. Every person was in admiration at the splendid appearance he made on horseback, and a simultaneous huzza arose from the vast crowd which followed the prince in triumph to Holyrood House. Overjoyed at the noble appearance of the prince, the Jacobites set no bounds to their praises of the royal youth. They compared him to King Robert Bruce, whom, they said, he resembled in his figure as they hoped he would in his fortune.[904] The Whigs, on the other hand, regarded him differently; and though they durst not avow their opinions to the full extent, and were forced to admit that Charles was a goodly person, yet they observed that even in that triumphant hour when about to enter the palace of his fathers, the air of his countenance was languid and melancholy,—that he looked like a gentleman and a man of fashion, but not like a hero or a conqueror. Their conclusion was, that the enterprise he had undertaken was above the pitch of his mind, and that his heart was not great enough for the sphere in which he moved.[905]

Holyrood House in 1745. From an old print.

On arriving in front of the palace Charles alighted from his horse, and entering the gate proceeded along the piazza within the quadrangle, towards the Duke of Hamilton’s apartments.[906] When the prince was about to enter the porch, the door of which stood open to receive him, a gentleman stepped out of the crowd, drew his sword, and raising it aloft, walked up stairs before Charles. The person who took this singular mode of joining the prince, was James Hepburn of Keith, a gentleman of East Lothian. When a very young man he had been engaged in the rebellion of 1715, not from any devoted attachment to the house of Stuart, (for he disclaimed the hereditary indefeasible right of kings, and condemned the government of James II.,) but because he considered the union, which he regarded as the result of the revolution, as injurious and humiliating to Scotland, and believed that the only way to obtain a repeal of that measure, was to restore the Stuarts. In speaking of the union, he said that it had made a Scottish gentleman of small fortune nobody, and that rather than submit to it, he would die a thousand deaths. For thirty years he had kept himself in readiness to take up arms to assert, as he thought, the independence of his country, when an opportunity should occur. Honoured and beloved by both Jacobites and Whigs, the accession to the Jacobite cause of this accomplished gentleman, whom Mr. Home describes as a model of ancient simplicity, manliness, and honour, was hailed by the former with delight, and deeply regretted by the latter, who lamented that a man whom they so highly revered, should sacrifice himself to the visionary idea of a repeal of the union between England and Scotland.[907]

On his way to the palace Charles had been cheered by the acclamations of the people; and on his entering that memorable seat of his ancestors, these acclamations were redoubled by the crowd which filled the area in front. On reaching the suite of apartments destined for his reception, he exhibited himself again to the people from one of the windows with his bonnet in his hand, and was greeted with loud huzzas by the multitude assembled in the courtyard below. He replied to these congratulations by repeated bows and smiles.

To complete the business of this eventful day, the proclamation at the cross of the Chevalier de St. George as James III., alone remained. The Highlanders who entered the city in the morning, desirous of obtaining the services of the heralds and the pursuivants, to perform what appeared to them an indispensable ceremony, had secured the persons of these functionaries. Surrounded by a body of armed men, the heralds and pursuivants, several of whom had probably been similarly employed on the accession of “the Elector of Hanover,” proceeded to the cross, a little before one o’clock afternoon, clothed in their robes of office, and proclaimed King James, amid the general acclamations of the people. The windows of the adjoining houses were filled with ladies, who testified the intensity of their feelings by straining their voices to the utmost pitch, and with outstretched arms waving white handkerchiefs in honour of the handsome young adventurer. Few gentlemen were, however, to be seen in the streets or at the windows, and even among the common people, there were not a few who preserved a stubborn silence.[908] The effect of the ceremony was greatly heightened by the appearance of Mrs. Murray of Broughton, a lady of great beauty, who, to show her devoted attachment to the cause of the Stuarts, decorated with a profusion of white ribbons, sat on horseback near the cross with a drawn sword in her hand, during all the time the ceremony lasted.[909]

While the heralds were proclaiming King James at the market-cross of Edinburgh, Sir John Cope, who, as has been stated, arrived in the mouth of the Frith of Forth on the 16th, was landing his troops at Dunbar. The two regiments of dragoons had continued their inglorious flight during the night, and had reached that town, on the morning of the 17th, “in a condition,” to use the soft expression of Mr. Home, “not very respectable.” On arriving at Musselburgh, they had halted for a short time, and afterwards went to a field between Preston Grange and Dolphinston, where they dismounted for the purpose of passing the night; but between ten and eleven o’clock they were aroused by the cries of a dragoon who had fallen into an old coal-pit full of water. Conceiving that the Highlanders were at hand, they instantly mounted their horses and fled towards Dunbar with such precipitation and alarm, that they dropped their arms by the way. Next morning the road to Dunbar was found strewed with the swords, pistols, and firelocks, which had fallen from the nervous hands of these cowards. Colonel Gardiner, who had slept during the night in his own house at Preston, near the field where the dragoons were to bivouack, was surprised, when he rose in the morning, to find that his men were all gone. All that he could learn was that they had taken the road to Dunbar. He followed them with a heavy heart, which certainly did not lighten when he saw the proofs they had left behind them of their pusillanimity. These arms were collected and conveyed in covered carts to Dunbar, where they were again put into the hands of the craven dragoons.[910]

The landing of Cope’s troops was finished on Wednesday, the 17th of September; but the disembarkation of the artillery and stores was not completed till the 18th. On the last-mentioned day, Mr. Home, the author of the history of this Rebellion, arrived at Dunbar, and was introduced to Sir John, as a “volunteer from Edinburgh,” desirous of communicating to him such information as he had personally collected respecting the Highland army. He told the general, that being curious to see the Highland army and its leader, and to ascertain the number of the Highlanders, he had remained in Edinburgh after they had taken possession thereof,—that for the last-mentioned purpose, he had visited the different parts they occupied in the city, and had succeeded in making a pretty exact enumeration,—that with the same view he had perambulated the Hunter’s bog, where the main body was encamped,—and as he found the Highlanders sitting in ranks upon the ground taking a meal, that he was enabled to calculate their numbers with great certainty. He stated, from the observations he had been thus enabled to make, that the whole Highlanders within and without the city did not amount to 2,000 men; but that he had been told that several bodies of men from the north were on their march, and were expected very soon to join the main body at Edinburgh. In answer to a question put by Cope, as to the appearance and equipment of the Highlanders, Home stated that most of them seemed to be strong, active, and hardy men, though many of them were of a very ordinary size: and if clothed like Lowlanders, would, in his opinion, appear inferior to the king’s troops; but the Highland garb favoured them much, as it showed their naked limbs, which were strong and muscular; and their stern countenances and bushy uncombed hair gave them a fierce, barbarous, and imposing aspect. With regard to their arms, Mr. Home said that they had no artillery of any sort but one small unmounted iron cannon, lying upon a cart, drawn by a little Highland pony,—that about 1,400 or 1,500 of them were armed with firelocks and broadswords,—that their firelocks were of all sorts and sizes, consisting of muskets, fusees, and fowling pieces,—that some of the rest had firelocks without swords, while others had swords without firelocks,—that many of their swords were not Highland broadswords but French,—that one or two companies, amounting to about 100 men, were armed, each of them with the shaft of a pitch-fork, with the blade of a scythe fastened to it, resembling in some degree the Lochaber axe. Mr. Home, however, added, that all the Highlanders would soon be provided with firelocks, as the arms belonging to the train bands of the city had fallen into their hands.[911]

At Dunbar, General Cope was joined by some judges and lawyers, who had fled from Edinburgh on the approach of the Highlanders. They did not, however, enter the camp as fighting men, but with the intention of continuing with the king’s army, as anxious and interested spectators of the approaching conflict. Cope found a more efficient supporter in the person of the Earl of Home, then an officer in the guards, who considered it his duty to offer his services on the present occasion. Unlike his ancestors, who could have raised in their own territories a force almost equal to that now opposed to Sir John Cope, this peer was attended by one or two servants only, a circumstance which gave occasion to many persons to mark the great change in the feudal system which had taken place in Scotland, in little more than a century.

Desirous of engaging the Highland army before the arrival of its expected reinforcements, General Cope left Dunbar on the 19th of September, in the direction of Edinburgh. The cavalry, infantry, cannon, and baggage-carts, which extended several miles along the road, gave a formidable appearance to this little army, and attracted the notice of the country people, who, having been long unaccustomed to war and arms, flocked from all quarters to see an army on the eve of battle; and with infinite concern and anxiety for the result beheld the uncommon spectacle. The army halted on a field to the west of the town of Haddington, sixteen miles east from Edinburgh. As it was supposed that the Highlanders might march in the night time, and by their rapid movements surprise the army, a proposal was made in the evening, to the general, to employ some of the young men who followed the camp, to ride betwixt Haddington and Duddingston, during the night, so as to prevent surprise. This proposal was approved of by Cope, and sixteen young men, most of whom had been volunteers at Edinburgh, offered their services. These were divided into two parties of eight men each; one of which, subdivided into four parties of two men each, set out at nine o’clock at night, by four different roads that led to Duddingston. These parties returned to the camp at midnight, and made a report to the officer commanding the piquet, that they had not met with any appearance of the enemy. The other party then went off, subdivided as before, by the different routes, and rode about till day-break, when six of them returned and made a similar report, but the remaining two who had taken the coast road to Musselburgh, did not make their appearance at the camp, having been made prisoners by an attorney’s apprentice, who conducted them to the rebel camp at Duddingston! The extraordinary capture of these doughty patroles, one of whom was Francis Garden, afterwards better known as a lord of session, by the title of Lord Gardenstone, and the other Mr. Robert Cunningham, known afterwards as General Cunningham, is thus humorously detailed by a writer in the Quarterly Review:—

“The general sent two of the volunteers who chanced to be mounted, and knew the country, to observe the coast road, especially towards Musselburgh. They rode on their exploratory expedition, and coming to that village, which is about six miles from Edinburgh, avoided the bridge to escape detection, and crossed the Esk, it being then low water, at a place nigh its junction with the sea. Unluckily there was at the opposite side a snug thatched tavern, kept by a cleanly old woman called Luckie F——, who was eminent for the excellence of her oysters and sherry. The patroles were both bon-vivants; one of them whom we remember in the situation of a senator, as it is called, of the college of justice, was unusually so, and a gay witty agreeable companion besides. Luckie’s sign and the heap of shells deposited near her door, proved as great a temptation to this vigilant forlorn-hope, as the wine-house to the abbess of Andonillet’s muleteer. They had scarcely got settled at some right Pandores, with a bottle of sherry as an accompaniment, when, as some Jacobite devil would have it, an unlucky north-country lad, a writer’s (i.e. attorney’s) apprentice, who had given his indentures the slip, and taken the white-cockade, chanced to pass by on his errand to join Prince Charlie. He saw the two volunteers through the window, knew them, and guessed their business; he saw the tide would make it impossible for them to return along the sands as they had come. He therefore placed himself in ambush upon the steep, narrow, impracticable bridge, which was then, and for many years afterwards, the only place of crossing the Esk, ‘and how he contrived it,’ our narrator used to proceed, ‘I never could learn, but the courage and assurance of the province from which he came are proverbial. In short, the Norland whipper-snapper surrounded and made prisoners of my two poor friends, before they could draw a trigger.’”[912]

Cope resumed his march on the morning of the 20th of September, following the course of the post road to Edinburgh, till he came near Haddington, when he led off his army along another road, nearer the coast, by St. Germains and Seaton. His object in leaving the post road was to avoid some defiles and inclosures which would have hindered, in case of attack, the operations of his cavalry. In its march the army was followed by a number of spectators, all anxious to witness the expected combat; but they were assured by the officers that as the army was now rendered complete by the junction of the horse and foot, the Highlanders would not venture to engage. As some persons who ventured to express a different opinion were looked upon with jealousy, it is not improbable that the officers who thus expressed themselves did not speak their real sentiments.

On leaving the post road the general sent forward the Earl of Loudon his adjutant-general, with Lord Home and the quarter-master-general, to select ground near Musselburgh, on which to encamp the army during the night; but this party had not proceeded far when they observed some straggling parties of Highlanders advancing. The Earl of Loudon immediately rode back at a good pace, and gave Sir John the information just as the van of the royal army was entering the plain betwixt Seaton and Preston, known by the name of Gladsmuir. Judging the ground before him a very eligible spot for meeting the Highlanders, the general continued his march along the high road to Preston, and halted his army on the moor, where he formed his troops in order of battle, with his front to the west. His right extended towards the sea in the direction of Port Seaton, and his left towards the village of Preston. These dispositions had scarcely been made when the whole of the Highland army appeared.

The disembarkation of the royal army, and the advance of Cope towards Edinburgh, were known to Charles in the course of Thursday the 19th. Judging it of importance that no time should be lost in meeting Cope and bringing him to action, Charles had left Holyrood house on the evening of that day, and had proceeded to Duddingston, near which place his army was encamped. Having assembled a council of war, he proposed to march next morning and give battle to Sir John Cope. The members of the council having signified their acquiescence, the prince then asked the Highland chiefs how they thought their men would conduct themselves on meeting a commander who had at last mustered courage to meet them. As Macdonald of Keppoch had served in the French army, and was considered, on that account, to be a fit judge of what the Highlanders could do against regular troops, he was desired by the other chiefs to give his opinion. Keppoch observed that as the country had been long at peace, few or none of the private men had ever seen a battle, and that it was not therefore very easy to form an opinion as to how they would behave; but that he would venture to assure his royal highness that the gentlemen of the army would be in the midst of the enemy, and that as the clans loved both the cause and their chiefs, they would certainly share the danger with their leaders. Charles thereupon declared that he would lead on the Highlanders himself, and charge at their head; but the chiefs checked his impetuosity by pointing out the ruin that would befall them if he perished in the field, though his army should be successful. They declared that, should he persist in his resolution, they would return home and make the best terms they could for themselves. This remonstrance had the desired effect upon the young Chevalier, who agreed to take a post of less danger.[913]

According to the calculation of Home, which has been alluded to, the Highland army, at the date of the capture of Edinburgh, did not exceed 2,000 men; but it was increased by about 400 more, by a party of 150 Maclauchlans who joined it on the 18th, and by an accession of 250 Athole-men on the following day. This force was further augmented by the Grants of Glenmoriston, who joined the army at Duddingston on the morning of Friday the 20th. In pursuance of the resolution of the council, the prince put himself at the head of his army on that morning, and presenting his sword, exclaimed, “My friends, I have flung away the scabbard!”[914] This was answered by a loud huzza, on which the army marched forward in one column of three files or ranks towards Musselburgh. Passing the Esk by the bridge of Musselburgh, the army proceeded along the post road towards Pinkie. On arriving opposite the south side of Pinkie gardens, Lord George Murray, who led the van, received information that Sir John Cope was at or near Preston, and that his intention probably was to gain the high grounds of Fawside near Carberry. As there was no time to deliberate or wait for orders, and as Lord George, who was very well acquainted with these grounds, considered the occupation of them by the Highlanders as of great importance; he struck off to the right at Edgebuckling Brae, and passing through the fields by the west side of Wallyford, gained the eminence in less than half an hour, where he waited for the rear.[915]

From Fawside hill the prince descried the army of Cope drawn up in the manner before described, but its position being different from that anticipated, Charles drew off his army towards the left, and descending the hill in the direction of Tranent, entered again upon the post road at some distance to the west of the village, along which he continued his march. On approaching Tranent the Highlanders were received by the king’s troops with a vehement shout of defiance, which the Highlanders answered in a similar strain. About two o’clock in the afternoon the Highland army halted on an eminence called Birsley Brae, about half a mile to the west of Tranent, and formed in order of battle about a mile from the royal forces.

In the expectation that the Highlanders were advancing by the usual route through Musselburgh, Cope had taken up the position we have described with his front to the west; but as soon as he observed the Highlanders on the heights upon his left he changed his front to the south. This change of position, while it secured Cope better from attack, was not so well calculated for safety as the first position was in the event of a defeat. On his right was the east wall of a park, belonging to Erskine of Grange, which extended a considerable way from north to south, and still farther to the right was the village of Preston. The village of Seaton was on his left, and the village of Cockenzie and the sea in his rear. Almost immediately in front was a deep ditch filled with water, and a strong and thick hedge. Farther removed from the front, and between the two armies was a morass, the ends of which had been drained, and were intersected by numerous cuts. And on the more firm ground at the ends were several small inclosures, with hedges, dry stone walls, and willow trees.

As the Highlanders were in excellent spirits, and eager to close immediately with the enemy, Charles felt very desirous to comply with their wishes; but he soon ascertained, by examining some people of the neighbourhood, that the passage across the morass, from the nature of the ground, would be extremely dangerous if not altogether impracticable. Not wishing, however, in a matter of such importance to trust altogether to the opinion of the country people, Lord George Murray ordered Colonel Ker of Gradon, an officer of some military experience, to examine the ground, and to report. Mounted upon a little white pony he descended alone into the plain below, and with the greatest coolness and deliberation surveyed the morass on all sides. As he went along the morass several shots were fired at him, by some of Cope’s men, from the sides of the ditches; but he paid so little regard to these annoyances that, on coming to a dry stone wall which stood in his way, he dismounted, and making a gap in it led his horse through. After finishing this perilous duty he returned to the army, and reported to the lieutenant-general that he considered it impracticable to pass the morass and attack the enemy in front, without risking the whole army, and that it was impossible for the men to pass the ditches in a line.[916]

While his lieutenant-general was, in consequence of this information, planning a different mode of attack, the prince himself was moving with a great part of his army towards Dolphinstone on Cope’s right. Halting opposite Preston tower he seemed to threaten that flank of the English general, who, thereupon, returned to his original position with his front to Preston, and his right towards the sea. As Lord George Murray considered that the only practicable mode of attacking Cope was by advancing from the east, he led off part of the army about sunset through the village of Tranent, and sent notice to the prince to follow him with the remainder as quickly as possible. When passing through the village Lord George was joined by fifty of the Camerons, who had been posted by O’Sullivan in the churchyard at the foot of Tranent. This party being within half cannon shot of Cope’s artillery, had been exposed during the afternoon to a fire from their cannon, and one or two of the Camerons had been wounded. To frighten the Highlanders, who, they imagined, had never seen cannon before, Cope’s men huzzaed at every discharge; but the Camerons remained in their position, till, on the representation of Lochiel, who went and viewed the ground, and found his men unnecessarily exposed, they were ordered to retire in the direction of Tranent. O’Sullivan, who was in the rear when this order was given, came up on the junction of the party, and asking Lord George the meaning of the movement he was making, was told by him, that as it was not possible to attack the enemy with any chance of success on the west side of the village, he had resolved to assail them from the east, and that he would satisfy the prince that his plan was quite practicable,—that for this purpose he had ordered the army to march to the east side of the village, where there were good dry fields covered with stubble, on which the men could bivouack during the night,—and that with regard to the withdrawal of the party which O’Sullivan had posted in the churchyard, they could be of no service there, and were unnecessarily exposed. On being informed of the movement made by Lord George Murray, Charles proceeded to follow him, but it was dark before the rear had passed the village. To watch Cope’s motions on the west, Charles left behind the Athole brigade, consisting of 500 men under Lord Nairne, which he posted near Preston above Colonel Gardiner’s parks.[917]

After the Highland army had halted on the fields to the east of Tranent, a council of war was held, at which Lord George Murray proposed to attack the enemy at break of day. He assured the members of the council that the plan was not only practicable, but that it would in all probability be attended with success,—that he knew the ground himself, and that he had just seen one or two gentlemen who were also well acquainted with every part of it. He added, that there was indeed a small defile at the east end of the ditches, but if once passed there would be no farther hinderance, and though, from being obliged to march in a column, they would necessarily consume a considerable time on their march, yet when the whole line had passed the defile they would have nothing to do but face to the left, form in a moment, and commence the attack. Charles was highly pleased with the proposal of the lieutenant-general; which having received the unanimous approbation of the council, a few piquets were, by order of Lord George, placed around the bivouack, and the Highlanders, after having supped, wrapped themselves up in their plaids, and lay down upon the ground to repose for the night. Charles, taking a sheaf of pease for a pillow, stretched himself upon the stubble, surrounded by his principal officers, all of whom followed his example. Before the army went to rest, notice was sent to Lord Nairne to leave his post with the Athole brigade at two o’clock in the morning as quietly as possible. To conceal their position from the English general, no fires or lights were allowed, and orders were issued and scrupulously obeyed, that strict silence should be kept, and that no man should stir from his place till directed.[918]

When Cope observed Charles returning towards Tranent, he resumed his former position with his front to the west and his right to the sea. He now began to perceive that his situation was not so favourable as he had imagined, and that while the insurgents could move about at discretion, select their ground, and choose their time and mode of attack, he was cramped in his own movements, and could act only on the defensive. The spectators, who felt an interest in the fate of his army, and who had calculated upon certain success to Cope’s arms during the day, now, that night was at hand, began to forebode the most gloomy results. Instead of a bold and decided movement on the part of Cope to meet the enemy, they observed that he had spent the day in doing absolutely nothing,—that he was in fact hemmed in by the Highlanders, and forced at pleasure to change his position at every movement they were pleased to make. They dreaded that an army which was obliged to act thus upon the defensive, and which would, therefore, be obliged to pass the ensuing night under arms, could not successfully resist an attack next morning from men, who, sheltered from the cold by their plaids, could enjoy the sweets of repose and rise fresh and vigorous for battle.[919]

To secure his army from surprise during the night, Cope placed advanced piquets of horse and foot along the side of the morass, extending nearly as far east as the village of Seaton. He, at the same time, sent his baggage and military chest down to Cockenzie under a guard of 40 men of the line and all the Highlanders of the army, consisting of four companies, viz., two of newly raised men belonging to Loudon’s regiments, and two additional companies of Lord John Murray’s regiment, which had been diminished by desertion to fifteen men each.[920] Although the weather had been very fine, and the days were still warm, yet the nights were now getting cold and occasionally frosty. As the night in question, that of Friday the 20th of September, was very cold, Cope ordered fires to be kindled along the front of his line, to keep his men warm. During the night he amused himself by firing off, at random, some cohorns,[921] probably to alarm the Highlanders or disturb their slumbers, but these hardy mountaineers, if perchance they awoke for a time, disregarded these empty bravadoes, and fell back again into the arms of sleep.

In point of numbers the army of Cope was rather inferior to that of Charles; but many of the Highlanders were badly armed, and some of them were without arms. The royal forces amounted altogether to about 2,300 men; but the number in the field was diminished to 2,100 by the separation of the baggage-guard which was sent to Cockenzie. The order of battle formed by Cope along the north side of the morass was as follows:—He drew up his foot in one line, in the centre of which were eight companies of Lascelles’s regiment, and two of Guise’s. On the right were five companies of Lee’s regiment, and on the left the regiment of Murray, with a number of recruits for different regiments at home and abroad. Two squadrons of Gardiner’s dragoons formed the right wing, and a similar number of Hamilton’s composed the left. The remaining squadron of each regiment was placed in the rear of its companions as a reserve. On the left of the army, near the waggon-road from Tranent to Cockenzie, were placed the artillery, consisting of six or seven pieces of cannon and four cohorns, under the orders of Lieutenant-colonel Whiteford, and guarded by a company of Lee’s regiment, commanded by Captain Cochrane. Besides the regular troops there were some volunteers, consisting principally of small parties of the neighbouring tenantry, headed by their respective landlords. Some Seceders, actuated by religious zeal, had also placed themselves under the royal standard.[922]

Pursuant to the orders he had received, Lord Nairne left the position he had occupied during the night at the appointed hour, and rejoined the main body about three o’clock in the morning. Instead of continuing the order of march of the preceding night, it had been determined by the council of war to reverse it. The charge of this movement was intrusted to Colonel Ker, who had signalized himself by the calm intrepidity with which he had surveyed the marsh on the preceding day. To carry this plan into effect, Ker went to the head of the column, and passing along the line, desired the men to observe a profound silence, and not to stir a step till he should return to them. On reaching the rear he ordered it to march from the left, and to pass close in front of the column, and returning along the line, he continued to repeat the order till the whole army was in motion. This evolution was accomplished without the least confusion, and before four o’clock in the morning the whole army was in full march.[923]

The Duke of Perth, who was to command the right wing, was at the head of the inverted column. He was attended by Hepburn of Keith, and Mr. Robert Anderson, son of Anderson of Whitbrough, who, from his intimate knowledge of the morass, was sent forward to lead the way. A little in advance of the van was a select party of 60 men doubly armed, under the command of Macdonald of Glenalladale, major of the regiment of Clanranald, whose appointed duty it was to seize the enemy’s baggage. The army proceeded in an easterly direction till near the farm of Ringanhead, when, turning to the left, they marched in a northerly direction through a small valley which intersects the farm. During the march the utmost silence was observed by the men, not even a whisper being heard; and lest the trampling of horses might discover their advance, the few that were in the army were left behind. The ford or path across the morass was so narrow that the column, which marched three men abreast, had scarcely sufficient standing room, and the ground along it was so soft that many of the men were almost at every step up to the knees in mud. The path in question, which was about two hundred paces to the west of the stone-bridge afterwards built across Seaton mill-dam, led to a small wooden bridge which had been thrown over the large ditch that ran through the morass from east to west. This bridge, and the continuation of the path on the north of it, were a little to the east of Cope’s left. From ignorance of the existence of this bridge, from oversight, or from a supposition that the marsh was not passable in that quarter, Cope had placed no guards in that direction, and the consequence was, that the Highland army, whose march across could have been effectually stopped by a handful of men, passed the bridge and cleared the marsh without interruption.[924]

The army was divided into two columns or lines, with an interval between them. After the first line had got out of the marsh, Lord George Murray sent the Chevalier Johnstone, one of his aides-de-camp, to hasten the march of the second, which was conducted by the prince in person, and to see that it passed without noise or confusion. At the remote end of the marsh there was a deep ditch, three or four feet broad, over which the men had to leap. In jumping across this ditch, Charles fell upon his knees on the other side, and was immediately raised by the Chevalier Johnstone, who says, that Charles looked as if he considered the accident a bad omen.[925]

Hitherto the darkness had concealed the march of the Highlanders; but the morning was now about to dawn, and at the time the order to halt was given, some of Cope’s piquets, stationed on his left, for the first time heard the tramp of the Highlanders. The Highlanders then heard distinctly these advanced guards repeatedly call out, “Who is there?” No answer having been returned, the piquets immediately gave the alarm, and the cry of “cannons, cannons; get ready the cannons, cannoneers,” resounded on Cope’s left wing.[926]

Charles proceeded instantly to give directions for attacking Cope before he should have time to change his position by opposing his front to that of the Highland army. It was not in compliance with any rule in military science, that the order of march of the Highland army had been reversed; but in accordance with an established punctilio among the clans, which, for upwards of seven centuries, had assigned the right wing, regarded as the post of honour, to the Macdonalds. As arranged at the council of war on the preceding evening, the army was drawn up in two lines. The first consisted of the regiments of Clanranald, Keppoch, Glengary, and Glencoe,[927] under their respective chiefs. These regiments formed the right wing, which was commanded by the Duke of Perth. The Duke of Perth’s men and the Macgregors composed the centre; while the left wing, commanded by Lord George Murray, was formed of the Camerons under Lochiel, their chief, and the Stewarts of Appin commanded by Stewart of Ardshiel. The second line, which was to serve as a reserve, consisted of the Athole-men, the Robertsons of Strowan, and the Maclauchlans. This body was placed under the command of Lord Nairne.

As soon as Cope received intelligence of the advance of the Highlanders, he gave orders to change his front to the east. Some confusion took place in carrying these orders into execution, from the advanced guards belonging to the foot not being able to find out the regiments to which they belonged, and who, in consequence, stationed themselves on the right of Lee’s five companies, and thereby prevented the two squadrons of Gardiner’s dragoons, which had been posted on the right of the line, from forming properly. For want of room the squadron under Colonel Gardiner drew up behind that commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Whitney. In all other respects the disposition of each regiment was the same; but the artillery, which before the change had been on the left, and close to that wing, was now on the right somewhat farther from the line, and in front of Whitney’s squadron.[928]

There was now no longer any impediment to prevent the armies from coming into collision; and if Cope had had the choice he could not have selected ground more favourable for the operations of cavalry than that which lay between the two armies. It was a level field of considerable extent without bush or tree, and had just been cleared of its crop of grain. But unfortunately for the English general, the celerity with which the Highlanders commenced the attack prevented him from availing himself of this local advantage.

After both lines of the Highland army had formed, Charles addressed his army in these words:—“Follow me, gentlemen; and by the assistance of God I will, this day, make you a free and happy people.”[929] He then went up to the right wing and spent a little time in earnest conversation with the Duke of Perth and Clanranald, and, having given his last instructions to them, returned to the station which, in compliance with the wish of his council, he had taken between the lines, where, surrounded by his guard, he waited the signal to advance. If, as alleged by Chevalier Johnstone, Charles exhibited symptoms of alarm when he fell on crossing the ditch, he now certainly showed that fear had no longer a place in his mind. The coolness and self-possession which he displayed when giving his orders would have done honour to the most experienced general; but these qualities are to be still more valued in a young man playing the important and dangerous game that Charles had undertaken. The officer to whose tuition Charles had been indebted for the little knowledge he had acquired of Gaelic, mentions an occurrence indicative of the prince’s firmness on this occasion. In returning from the right wing to his guard after giving his orders to the Duke of Perth and Clanranald, he saw the officer alluded to passing near him, and with a smile, said to him in Gaelic,—“Gres-ort, gres-ort!” that is, “Make haste, make haste!”[930]

By the time the arrangements for commencing the attack were completed, the morning had fully dawned, and the beams of the rising sun were beginning to illuminate the horizon; but the mist which still hovered over the corn fields prevented the two armies from seeing each other. Every thing being now in readiness for advancing, the Highlanders took off their bonnets, and, placing themselves in an attitude of devotion, with upraised eyes uttered a short prayer.[931] As the Highlanders had advanced considerably beyond the main ditch, Lord George Murray was apprehensive that Cope might turn the left flank, and to guard against such a contingency, he desired Lochiel, who was on the extreme left, to order his men in advancing to incline to the left.[932]

Lord George Murray now ordered the left wing to advance, and sent an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Perth to request him to put the right in motion. The Highlanders moved with such rapidity that their ranks broke; to recover which, they halted once or twice before closing with the enemy. When Cope, at daybreak, observed the first line of the Highland army formed in order of battle, at the distance of two hundred paces from his position, he mistook it for bushes; but before it had advanced half way, the rays of the rising sun bursting through the retiring mist showed the armies to each other. The army of Cope at this time made a formidable appearance; and some of Charles’s officers were heard afterwards to declare, that when they first saw it, and compared the gallant appearance of the horse and foot, with their well-polished arms glittering in the sunbeams, with their own line broken into irregular clusters, they expected that the Highland army would be instantly defeated, and swept from the field.[933]

The Highlanders continued to advance in profound silence. As the right wing marched straight forward without attending to the oblique movement of the Camerons to the left, a gap took place in the centre of the line. An attempt was made to fill it up with the second line, which was about fifty paces behind the first, but before this could be accomplished, the left wing, being the first to move, had advanced beyond the right of the line, and was now engaged with the enemy. By inclining to the left, the Camerons gained half the ground originally between them and the main ditch; but this movement brought them up directly opposite to Cope’s cannon. On approaching the cannon the Highlanders fired a few shots at the artillery guard, which alarmed an old gunner, who had charge of the cannon, and his assistants to such a degree that they fled, carrying the powder flasks along with them. To check the advance of the Highlanders, Colonel Whiteford fired off five of the field pieces with his own hand; but though their left seemed to recoil, they instantly resumed the rapid pace they had set out with. The artillery guard next fired a volley with as little effect. Observing the squadron of dragoons under Lieutenant-Colonel Whitney advancing to charge them, the Camerons set up a loud shout, rushed past the cannon, and after discharging a few shots at the dragoons, which killed several men, and wounded the lieutenant-colonel, flew upon them sword in hand. When assailed, the squadron was reeling to and fro from the fire; and the Highlanders following an order they had received, to strike at the noses of the horses without minding the riders, completed the disorder. In a moment the dragoons wheeled about, rode over the artillery guard, and fled followed by the guard. The Highlanders continuing to push forward without stopping to take prisoners, Colonel Gardiner was ordered to advance with his squadron, and charge the enemy. He accordingly went forward, encouraging his men to stand firm; but this squadron, before it had advanced many paces, experienced such a reception, that it followed the example which the other had just set.[934]

Plan of the Battle of Prestonpans.

After the flight of the dragoons, the Highlanders advanced upon the infantry, who opened a fire from right to left, which went down the line as far as Murray’s regiment. They received this volley with a loud huzza, and throwing away their muskets, drew their swords and rushed upon the foot before the latter had time to reload their pieces. Confounded by the flight of the dragoons, and the furious onset of the Highlanders, the astonished infantry threw down their arms and took to their heels. Hamilton’s dragoons, who were stationed on Cope’s left, displayed even greater pusillanimity than their companions; for no sooner did they observe the squadrons on the right give way, than they turned their backs and fled without firing a single shot, or drawing a sword.[935] Murray’s regiment being thus left alone on the field, fired upon the Macdonalds who were advancing, and also fled. Thus, within a very few minutes after the action had commenced, the whole army of Cope was put to flight. With the exception of their fire, not the slightest resistance was made by horse or foot, and not a single bayonet was stained with blood. Such were the impetuosity and rapidity with which the first line of the Highlanders broke through Cope’s ranks, that they left numbers of his men in their rear who attempted to rally behind them; but on seeing the second line coming up they endeavoured to make their escape.[936] Though the second line was not more than fifty paces behind the first, and was always running as fast as it could to overtake the first line, and near enough never to lose sight of it, yet such was the rapidity with which the battle was gained, that, according to the Chevalier Johnstone,[937] who stood by the side of the prince in the second line, he could see no other enemy on the field of battle than those who were lying on the ground killed and wounded.

Unfortunately for the royal infantry, the walls of the inclosures about the village of Preston, which formed their great security on their right, now that these were in their rear, operated as a barrier to their flight. Having disencumbered themselves of their arms to facilitate their escape, they had deprived themselves of their only means of defence, and driven as they were upon the walls of the inclosures, they would have all perished under the swords of the Highlanders, had not Charles and his officers strenuously exerted themselves to preserve the lives of their discomfited foes. The impetuosity of the attack, however, and the sudden flight of the royal army, allowed little leisure for the exercise of humanity, and before the carnage ceased several hundreds had fallen under the claymores of the Highlanders, and the ruthless scythes of the Macgregors. Armed with these deadly weapons, which were sharpened and fixed to poles from seven to eight feet long, to supply the place of other arms, this party mowed down the affrighted enemy, cut off the legs of the horses, and severed, it is said, the bodies of their riders in twain. Captain James Drummond, alias Macgregor, son of the celebrated Rob Roy, who commanded this company, fell at the commencement of the action. When advancing to the charge he received five wounds. Two bullets went through his body, and laid him prostrate on the ground. That his men might not be discouraged by his fall, this intrepid officer resting his head upon his hand, called out to them, “My lads, I am not dead!—by God, I shall see if any of you does not do his duty!” This singular address had the desired effect, and the Macgregors instantly fell on the flank of the English infantry, which, being left uncovered and exposed by the flight of the cavalry, immediately gave way.[938]

Of the infantry of the royal army, only about 170 escaped.[939] From a report made by their own sergeants and corporals, by order of Lord George Murray, between 1,600 and 1,700 prisoners, foot and cavalry, fell into the hands of the Highlanders, including about 70 officers. In this number were comprehended the baggage-guard, stationed at Cockenzie, which amounted to 300 men, who, on learning the fate of the main body and the loss of their cannon, surrendered to the Camerons.[940] The cannon and all the baggage of the royal army, together with the military chest, containing £4,000, fell into the hands of the victors. The greater part of the dragoons escaped by the two roads at the extremities of the park wall, one of which passed by Colonel Gardiner’s house in the rear on their right, and the other on their left, to the north of Preston-house. In retiring towards these outlets, the dragoons, at the entreaties of their officers, halted once or twice, and faced about to meet the enemy; but as soon as the Highlanders came up and fired at them, they wheeled about and fled. Cope, who was by no means deficient in personal courage, assisted by the Earls of Home and Loudon, collected about 450 of the panic-struck dragoons on the west side of the village of Preston, and attempted to lead them back to the charge; but no entreaties could induce these cowards to advance, and the whistling of a few bullets discharged by some Highlanders near the village, so alarmed them, that they instantly scampered off in a southerly direction, screening their heads behind their horses’ necks to avoid the bullets of the Highlanders. The general had no alternative but to gallop off with his men.[941] He reached Coldstream, a town about forty miles from the field of battle, that night; and entered Berwick next day.

Colonel James Gardiner, aged 40.
From the painting by Van Deest (1727).

Among six of Cope’s officers who were killed, was Colonel Gardiner, a veteran soldier who had served under the Duke of Marlborough, and whose character combined a strong religious feeling with the most undaunted courage. He had been decidedly opposed to the defensive system of Cope on the preceding evening, and had counselled the general not to lose a moment in attacking the Highlanders; but his advice was disregarded. Anticipating the fate which awaited him, he spent the greater part of the night in devotion, and resolved at all hazards to perform his duty. He was wounded at the first onset at the head of his dragoons; but disdaining to follow them in their retreat, he joined a small body of foot, which attempted to rally near the wall of his own garden, and while fighting at their head was cut down by the murderous scythe of a Macgregor, within a few yards of his own house. He was carried by a friend to the manse of Tranent in an almost lifeless state, where he expired within a few hours, and was interred in the north-west corner of the church of Tranent.[942] Captain Brymer of Lee’s regiment, who appears to have participated in Gardiner’s opinion as to attacking the Highlanders, met a similar fate. Having been at the battle of Sheriffmuir, he was satisfied of the capability of the Highlanders to contend with regular troops, and dreaded the result of an encounter if assailed by the Highlanders. When encamped at Haddington, his brother officers were in high spirits, and making light of the enemy; but Brymer viewed matters in a very different light. While reading one night in his tent he was accosted by Mr. Congalton of Congalton, his brother-in-law, who, observing him look pensive and grave, when all the other officers appeared so cheerful, inquired the reason. Brymer answered that the Highlanders were not to be despised, and that he was afraid his brother officers would soon find that they had mistaken the character of the Highlanders, who would, to a certainty, attack the royal army, with a boldness which those only who had witnessed their prowess could have any idea of. These gloomy forebodings were not the result of an innate cowardice—for this officer was, as he showed, a brave man—but from a well-founded conviction that Cope’s men could not stand the onset of such a body of Highlanders as Charles had assembled. Brymer was killed, with his face to the enemy, disdaining to turn his back when that part of the line where he was stationed was broken in upon by the Highlanders.[943]

The loss on the side of the Highlanders was trifling. Four officers,[944] and between 30 and 40 privates, were killed; and 5 or 6 officers, and between 70 and 80 privates, wounded.[945]

After the termination of the fight, the field of battle presented an appalling spectacle, rarely exhibited in the most bloody conflicts. As almost all the slain were cut down by the broadsword and the scythe, the ground was strewed with legs, arms, hands, noses, and mutilated bodies, while, from the deep gashes inflicted by these dreadful weapons, the field was literally soaked with gore. An instance of the almost resistless power of the broadsword occurred when a Highland gentleman, who led a division, broke through Mackay’s regiment: a grenadier, having attempted to parry off with his hand a blow made at him by the gentleman alluded to, had his hand lopped off and his skull cut above an inch deep. He expired on the spot.[946]

It was a most fortunate circumstance that the Highlanders, having no revengeful feeling to gratify on the present occasion, were easily induced to listen to the dictates of humanity. After the fury of their onset was abated, they not only readily gave, but even offered quarter; and when the action was over, appear to have displayed an unwonted sympathy for the wounded. A Highland officer thus exultingly notices the conduct of his companions in arms. “Now, whatever notions or sentiments the low country people may entertain of our Highlanders, this day there were many proofs to a diligent spectator, amidst all the bloodshed, (which at the first shock was unavoidable,) of their humanity and mercy; for I can, with the strictest truth and sincerity, declare, that I often heard our people call out to the soldiers if they wanted quarter; and we, the officers, exerted our utmost pains to protect the soldiers from their first fury, when either through their stubbornness or want of language they did not cry for quarters, and I observed some of our private men run to Port Seton for ale and other liquors to support the wounded. And as one proof for all, to my own particular observation, I saw a Highlander supporting a poor wounded soldier and carry him on his back into his house, and left him a sixpence at parting.”[947]

In their attentions to the wounded, the Highlanders had a good example in Charles himself, who not only issued orders for taking care of the wounded, but also remained on the field of battle till mid-day to see that his orders were fulfilled. Finding the few surgeons he had carried along with him inadequate to meet the demands of the wounded, he despatched one of his officers to Edinburgh to bring out all the surgeons, who accordingly instantly repaired to the field of battle. As the Highlanders felt an aversion to bury the dead, and as the country people could not be prevailed upon to assist in the care of the wounded,[948] Charles experienced great obstacles in carrying through his humane intentions. Writing to his father, on the evening of the battle, he thus alludes to them: “Tis hard my victory should put me under new difficulties which I did not feel before, and yet this is the case. I am charged both with the care of my friends and enemies. Those who should bury the dead are run away, as if it were no business of theirs. My Highlanders think it beneath them to do it, and the country people are fled away. However, I am determined to try if I can get people for money to undertake it, for I cannot bear the thought of suffering Englishmen to rot above the ground. I am in great difficulties how I shall dispose of my wounded prisoners. If I make a hospital of the church, it will be lookt upon as a great profanation, and of having violated my manifesto, in which I promised to violate no man’s property. If the magistrates would act, they would help me out of this difficulty. Come what will, I am resolved not to let the poor wounded men lye in the streets, and if I can do no better, I will make a hospital of the palace and leave it to them.”[949]

When congratulating themselves on the victory they had obtained, the Highlanders related to each other what they had done or seen. Instances were given of individual prowess which might appear incredible, were it not well-known that when fear seizes an army all confidence in themselves or their numbers is completely destroyed. On this occasion “the panic-terror of the English surpassed all imagination. They threw down their arms that they might run with more speed, thus depriving themselves by their fears of the only means of arresting the vengeance of the Highlanders. Of so many, in a condition from their numbers to preserve order in their retreat, not one thought of defending himself. Terror had taken entire possession of their minds.”[950] Of the cases mentioned, one was that of a young Highlander about fourteen years of age, scarcely formed, who was presented to the prince as a prodigy, having, it was said, killed fourteen of the enemy. Charles asking him if this was true, he replied, “I do not know if I killed them, but I brought fourteen soldiers to the ground with my sword.” Another instance was that of a Highlander, who brought ten soldiers, whom he had made prisoners, to the prince, driving them before him like a flock of sheep. With unexampled rashness, he had pursued a party of Cope’s men to some distance from the field of battle, along a road between two inclosures, and striking down the hindermost man of the party with a blow of his sword, called aloud at the same time, “Down with your arms.” The soldiers, terror-struck, complied with the order without looking behind them; and the Highlander, with a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other, made them do as he pleased. Yet, as the Chevalier Johnstone observes, these were “the same English soldiers who had distinguished themselves at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and who might justly he ranked amongst the bravest troops of Europe.”[951]

After doing every thing in his power for the relief of the wounded of both armies, and giving directions for the disposal of his prisoners, Charles partook of a small repast upon the field of battle, and thereafter proceeded to Pinkie House, a seat of the Marquis of Tweeddale, where he passed the night.

FOOTNOTES:

[879] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 31.

[880] Sixty of these Macdonalds had previously joined at Perth.

[881] The Gartmore MS. quoted in the appendix to Burt’s Letters makes the number only forty; but Home gives it as above.

[882] Nimmo’s History of Stirlingshire, edited by the Rev. Macgregor Stirling, p. 564.

[883] Dougal Graham’s Metrical History, p. 15.

[884] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 487.

[885] Dougal Graham, in his Metrical History of the insurrection, as quoted by Chambers, thus alludes to the conduct of the Highlanders on the present occasion:—

“Here for a space they took a rest,

And had refreshment of the best

The country round them could afford,

Though many found but empty board,

As sheep and cattle were drove away,

Yet hungry men sought for their prey;

Took milk and butter, kirn and cheese,

On all kinds of eatables they seize;

And he who could not get a share,

Sprang to the hills like dogs for hare:

There shot the sheep and made them fall.

Whirled off the skin, and that was all;

Struck up fire and boiled the flesh,

With salt and pepper did not fash:[886]

This did enrage the Cameron’s chief,

To see his men so play the thief;

And finding one into the act,

He fired and shot him through the back;

Then to the rest himself addressed,

‘This is your lot I do protest,—

Whoe’er amongst you wrongs a man;

Pay what you get, I tell you plain;

For yet we know not friend or foe,

Nor how all things may chance to go.’”

[886] Anglicé,—trouble themselves.

[887] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 445.—Forbes Papers, p. 35.

[888] Idem.

[889] Home, p. 79.—Mr. Home says that several of these volunteers, of which he was one, were not inhabitants of the city, and were ignorant of the municipal cabals,—that they had little deference for the opinion either of Guest or Drummond; but being satisfied that the walls were untenable, and dreading the consequences to the city if taken by storm, they considered the proposal of marching out with the dragoons preferable to keeping within the walls, as, with their assistance, the dragoons might be able to break the force of the Highland army, and leave to the Highlanders, if victorious, a bloody and fatal victory.

[890] Home, p. 80.

[891] “A True Account of the Behaviour and Conduct of Archibald Stewart, Esq., late Lord Provost of Edinburgh, in a letter to a friend. London, 1748.” This pamphlet has been ascribed by a writer in the Quarterly Review, (No. 71, p. 172,) supposed to be Sir Walter Scott, to the pen of Hume the Historian.

[892] Home, p. 83.

[893] Home, p. 84.

[894] Home, p. 91.

[895] Provost Stewart’s Trial, p. 171.

[896] Home, p. 96.

[897] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 488.

[898] Home, p. 96.

[899] James IV. is said to have planted the lion standard of Scotland on this stone, as a signal for mustering his army, before its fatal march to Flodden.

[900] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 446.

[901] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 489. Kirkconnel MS.

[902] Dr. Carlyle, who almost rubbed shoulders with him twice, describes the prince thus:—“He was a good-looking man of about 5 feet 10 inches; his hair was dark-red and his eyes black. His features were regular, his visage long, much sunburnt and freckled, and his countenance thoughtful and melancholy.”—Autobiography, p. 153.

[903] Dr. Chambers’s Rebellion, p. 87.

[904] Home, p. 100.

[905] Idem.

[906] It has been stated on the questionable authority of a local tradition, that when Charles arrived in front of the palace, a large bullet was fired from the castle, with such direction and force as to make it descend upon the palace,—that it struck a part of the front wall of James the Fifth’s tower, near the window which lights a small turret-chamber connected with Queen Mary’s state apartments; and that it fell into the court-yard, carrying along with it a quantity of rubbish which it had knocked out of the wall. If such a remarkable incident had occurred, it could scarcely have been overlooked by Mr. Home, who was near the spot at the time; and the fact that it is not alluded to in the pages of the Caledonian Mercury, the organ of the Jacobite party, seems conclusive that no such occurrence took place.

[907] Home, p. 101.

[908] Home, p. 102.

[909] Boyse, p. 77, referred to by Chambers.

[910] Home, p. 102. The author of the pamphlet on the conduct of Provost Stewart, already quoted, gives a somewhat different account of the flight of the dragoons, but with circumstances equally ludicrous:—“Before the rebels,” he observes, “came within sight of our king’s forces, before they came within three miles distance of them, orders were issued to the dragoons to wheel, which they immediately did with the greatest order and regularity imaginable. As it is known that nothing is more beautiful than the evolutions and movements of cavalry, the spectators stood in expectation of what fine manœuvre they might terminate in: when new orders were immediately issued to retreat, they immediately obeyed, and began to march in the usual pace of cavalry. Orders were repeated every furlong to quicken their pace, and both precept and example concurring, they quickened it so well, that, before they reached Edinburgh, they quickened to a very smart gallop. They passed in inexpressible hurry and confusion through the narrow lanes at Barefoot’s Parks, in the sight of all the north part of the town (Edinburgh,) to the infinite joy of the disaffected, and equal grief and consternation of all the other inhabitants. They rushed like a torrent down to Leith, where they endeavoured to draw breath; but some unlucky boy, (I suppose a Jacobite in his heart,) calling to them that the Highlanders were approaching, they immediately took to their heels again, and galloped to Prestonpans, about six miles farther. There, in a literal sense, timor addidit alas,—their fear added wings, I mean to the rebels. For otherwise they could not possibly have imagined that these formidable enemies could be within several miles of them. But at Prestonpans the same alarm was repeated. The Philistines be upon thee Sampson! They galloped to North Berwick, and being now about twenty miles to the other side of Edinburgh, they thought they might safely dismount from their horses and look out for victuals. Accordingly, like the ancient Grecian heroes, each began to kill and dress his provisions: egit amor dapis atque pugnæ; they were actuated by the desire of supper and of battle. The sheep and turkies of North Berwick paid for this warlike disposition. But behold the uncertainty of human happiness! When the mutton was just ready to be put upon the table, they heard, or thought they heard, the same cry of the Highlanders. Their fear proved stronger than their hunger; they again got on horseback, but were informed time enough of the falseness of the alarm, to prevent the spoiling of their meal. By such rudiments as these, the dragoons were so thoroughly initiated in the art of running, till at last they became so perfect at their lesson, that at the battle of Preston they could practise it of themselves, though even there the same good example was not wanting. I have seen an Italian opera called Cesaro in Egitto, or Cæsar in Egypt, where, in the first scene, Cæsar is introduced in a great hurry, giving orders to his soldiers, fugge, fugge, a’elo scampo,—fly, fly, to your heels! This is a proof that the commander at the Coltbridge is not the first hero that gave such orders to his troops.”

[911] Home, p. 103.

[912] Quarterly Review, vol. xxxvi. p. 177.

[913] Home, p. 108.

[914] Account of the battle of Prestonpans, published in the Caledonian Mercury of 23d September, 1745.

[915] Lord George Murray’s Narrative, Jacobite Memoirs, p. 36.—Home, 109.

[916] Home, 111.—Lord George Murray’s Narrative in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 37.

[917] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 38.

[918] Idem, p. 38.—Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 449. The accounts given by Home and the Chevalier Johnstone differ in some respects from that of Lord George Murray. Home says, that Mr. Robert Anderson (son of Anderson of Whitbrough in East Lothian, who had been engaged in the rebellion of 1715) had confirmed Ker of Gradon’s account of the ground after his survey, on being consulted by Lord George Murray,—that he was present at the council of war, but did not give any opinion; but that after Charles and his officers had separated, Anderson told Hepburn of Keith that he knew the ground perfectly, and was certain there was a better way to come at the king’s army than that which the council had resolved to follow,—that he would undertake to show them a place where they might easily pass the morass without being seen by the enemy, and without being exposed to their fire,—that Hepburn listened attentively to this information, and expressed his opinion of it in such terms that Anderson desired he would carry him to Lord George Murray,—that Hepburn advised him to go himself to Lord George, who knew him, and would like better to receive information from him alone than when introduced by another person,—that when Anderson came to Lord George Murray he found him asleep in a field of cut pease with several of the chiefs near him,—that on awakening his Lordship, he repeated what he had said to Mr. Hepburn, and offered to lead the men through the morass,—that Lord George considering this information important, awoke Charles, who was lying near him with a sheaf of pease for his pillow, and who, pleased with Anderson’s information, ordered Lochiel and the other chiefs to be called, all of whom approved of the plan of attack. The Chevalier Johnstone says that the officers of the army were perplexed how to act, from the apparent impossibility of making a successful attack, but that Anderson came to the prince in the evening very a propos, and relieved them from their embarrassment by informing them that there was a place in the marsh which could be crossed with safety, and that upon examining it Anderson’s information was found to be correct. Lord George’s own account appears, however, to give the real res gestæ. From it he appears to have communicated with Anderson and Hepburn before the council of war had assembled. As his Lordship says that “at midnight the principal officers were called again,” it is probable he alludes to the scene described by Home, when the prince himself and the chiefs were awakened by Anderson; but as Anderson was present in the council, and as Lord George says, that, after this midnight call “all was ordered as was at first proposed,” it is very likely that Anderson was anxious to afford some additional information which he had formerly omitted to give.

[919] Home, p. 112.

[920] A party of 200 Munroes followed Cope to Aberdeen, but refused to embark as harvest-time was at hand.

[921] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 489.

[922] Home, p. 113.

[923] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 39.—Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 449.—Home, p. 89.

[924] Idem.

[925] Memoirs, 3d edition, p. 35.

[926] Lockhart, vol. ii. p. 491.

[927] Home puts the Macdonalds of Glencoe on the left of the second line; but the author of the Journal and Memoirs, (Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 491,) an officer in the Highland army who was in the battle, says that the Macdonalds of Glencoe were on the right of the first line. The official account published in the Caledonian Mercury by Charles, also places the Glencoe men in the same situation.

[928] Home, p. 117.

[929] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 490.

[930] Idem, p. 401.

[931] Caledonian Mercury of 23d Sept. 1745.

[932] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 40.

[933] Home, p. 118.

[934] Home, p. 119. Jacobite Memoirs, p. 40. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 490. Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 35.

[935] Old General Wightman, who commanded the centre of the royalist army at the battle of Sheriffmuir, was present at this battle as a spectator. Mounted on his “old cropt galloway,” he posted himself by break of day about a musket shot in the rear of Hamilton’s dragoons, and had not taken his ground above three minutes when “the scuffle” began. He says it lasted about four minutes. After “all was in route,” Wightman remained in his station, “calm and fearless,” according to his own account, till he saw all the dragoons out of the field, and the foot surrounded on all sides. Ex-provost Drummond, “who (says Wightman) would needs fight among the dragoons,” was also present, mounted on an old dragoon horse, which one Mathie had purchased for £4, and had used as a cart horse. Not being able to reach Gardiner’s dragoons before the battle began, Drummond joined the squadrons under Hamilton; but “to his great luck,” and to the “great comfort,” of his friend Wightman, he was swept away out of the field by the cowardly dragoons, and accompanied Cope to Berwick.—Culloden Papers, p. 224.

[936] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 40.

[937] Memoirs, p. 37.

[938] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 36.—In the account of the battle published by the Highland army, Captain Macgregor is stated to have been mortally wounded; but he lived several years thereafter, and retired to France in 1753. On his arrival he addressed the following letter to Edgar, secretary to the Chevalier de St. George. The original is thus quoted in Edgar’s hand-writing, “Rob Roy’s son, May 22d, 1753:”—

Boulogne-sur-Mer,
May 22d, 1753.

Sir,—I use the freedom to beg of you to lay before his Majesty my following unhappy case. What I am his Majesty will see by the inclosed certificate, and whatever little my venity might make me imagine I have to his Majesty’s protection, all I expect or desire at present is, that assistance which is absolutely necessary for the support of a man who has always shown the strongest attachment to his Majesty’s person and cause. As long as I could stay in Scotland I never thought to have added to his Majesty a trouble or expense; but upon Dr. Cameron, Lochiel’s brother, being taken up, a strict search was made over all, that I had no way of avoiding being taken but comming to this country, where I am in a situation so uneasy, that I am forced to applay to the generosity of the best of kings. I flater myself that it is in my power to acquaint his Majesty with something of the greatest consequence to his cause and our country. But I think it would be improper, unless I had the honor of being presented to him. The general character you, Sir, have for being ready to serve any body in distress, leaves me no room to doubt of your interesting yourself in my behalf, which I dare say will be of the greatest use to me, and I am sure will be conferring the highest obligation upon, Sir,

Your most obedient and most humble servant,
JAS. DRUMMOND.

May I request the honor of an answer
to the care of Lord Strathallan.

The following is the certificate referred to:—

Boulogne-sur-Mer,
May ye 22d, 1753.

We the underwritten certify that it consists with our knowledge, that James Drummond, son to the late Rob Roy, was imploy’d in the Prince Regent’s affairs by James, Duke of Perth, before his Royal Highness’s arrival in Scotland, and that afterwards he behaved with great bravery in several battles, in which he received many dangerous wounds.

STRATHALLAN.
CHARLES BOYD.
WILLM. DRUMMOND.

To relieve his necessities, James ordered his banker at Paris to pay Macgregor 300 livres, in reference to which Lord Strathallan thus writes to Edgar, from Boulogne-sur-Mer, on 6th Sept., 1753:—“I had the honor of yours some time ago, and deferred writing you until I heard about the 300 livres for Mr. Drummond, (Macgregor); but I have never heard any more of it. I immediately acquainted Mr. D. with the contents of your letter. The attestation I signed was only as to his courage and personal bravery, for as to any thing else, I would be sorry to answer for him, as he has but an indifferent character as to real honesty.”—Stuart Papers.

[939] According to the Chevalier Johnstone, (Memoirs, p. 38,) 1,300 of Cope’s men were killed; but Home states the number as not exceeding 200. He says, however, in a note, that some accounts of the battle written by officers in the rebel army, make the number killed to have been 400 or 500. These last seem to be nearer the truth.

[940] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 41.

[941] Report of Cope’s examination. The story told by the Chevalier Johnstone, of Cope’s having effected his escape through the midst of the Highlanders by mounting a white cockade, seems improbable, as Cope does not appear to have been in a situation to have rendered such a step necessary. If any officer made his escape in the way described, it is likely Colonel Lascelles was the man. He fell into the hands of the Highlanders; but in the hurry they were in, contrived to make his escape eastward, and arrived safe at Berwick. Amid the confusion which prevailed, he might easily have snatched a cockade from a dead or wounded Highlander, or procured one for a sum of money.

[942] Doddridge’s Life of Colonel Gardiner.

[943] Home, p. 121.

[944] These were Captain Robert Stewart of Ardshiel’s battalion; Captain Archibald Macdonald of Keppoch’s; Lieutenant Allan Cameron of Lindevra; and Ensign James Cameron of Lochiel’s regiment.

[945] Account published by the Highland army.—Kirkconnel MS.

[946] Caledonian Mercury, 25th September 1745.

[947] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 491.

[948] Lord George Murray says, that when traversing the field of battle in the afternoon he observed that some of Cope’s men, “who were the worst wounded, had not been carried to houses to be dressed; and though there were several of the country people of that neighbourhood looking at them, I could not prevail with them to carry them to houses, but got some of our people to do it.”—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 42.

[949] All the wounded privates of both armies were carried to the different villages adjoining the field of battle. Those of Cope’s officers who were dangerously wounded were lodged in Colonel Gardiner’s house, where surgeons attended them. In the evening, the remainder, (who had given their parole,) accompanied by Lord George Murray, went to Musselburgh, where a house had been provided for their reception. Some of them walked, but others, who were unable to do so, had horses provided for them by his lordship. The house into which they were put was newly finished, and had neither table, bed, chair, nor grate in it. Lord George caused some new thrashed straw to be purchased for beds, and the officers on their arrival partook of a tolerable meal of cold provisions and some liquor, which his lordship had carried along with him. When about to retire, the officers entreated him not to leave them, as being without a guard, they were afraid that some of the Highlanders, who were in liquor, might come in and insult or plunder them. Lord George consented, and lay on a floor by them all night. Some of the officers, who were valetudinary, slept that night in the house of the minister. Next day, after the departure of the prince for Edinburgh, the officers had quarters provided for them in Pinkie-house. The other prisoners, privates, were quartered in Musselburgh and the gardens of Pinkie for two nights, and were afterwards removed, along with the officers, to Edinburgh. The latter were confined for a few days in Queensberry-house, when they were released on parole, and allowed to reside in the city, on condition that they should hold no communication with the castle. The privates were confined in the church and jail of the Canongate. Such of the wounded as could be removed were put into the Royal Infirmary, where great care was taken of them. One of the officers having broke his parole by going into the castle, the others were sent to Perth. The privates were removed to Logierait in Athole; and the wounded were dismissed as they recovered, on taking an oath that they should not carry arms against the prince before the 1st of January, 1747.—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 42. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 451. Caledonian Mercury.

[950] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 93.

[951] Idem, p. 40.

CHAPTER XXXII.

A.D. 1715.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Charles returns to Holyrood—State of public feeling—Charles resolves to remain at Edinburgh—Measures taken to increase the army—Charles’s proceedings at Edinburgh—Blockade of the Castle—Disorder in the city—Blockade removed—Exertions of Lord President Forbes—Arrival of reinforcements at Edinburgh—Charles issues a second manifesto—Arrival of supplies from France and detachment from the north—Charles resolves to invade England—Preparations—Deportment of Charles at Holyrood—Declaration of the Highland army—Preparations of the government—Riot at Perth on the King’s birth-day.

On the evening of Sunday the 22d of September, the day after the battle of Preston or Gladsmuir, as that affair is named by the Highlanders, Charles returned to Holyrood House, and was received by a large concourse of the inhabitants, who had assembled round the palace, with the loudest acclamations. His return to the capital had been preceded by a large portion of his army, which, it is said, made a considerable display as it marched up the long line of street, leading from the Watergate to the castle, amid the din of a number of bagpipes, and carrying along with it the enemy’s standards, and other trophies of victory which it had taken upon the field.

Colonel Gardiner’s House, near Prestonpans.

Apprehensive that the alarm, which Cope’s disaster would excite in the city, might obstruct the public worship on the Sunday, Charles had sent messengers on the evening of the battle, to the dwelling-houses of the different ministers, desiring them to continue their ministrations as usual; but although the church bells were tolled at the customary hour next morning, and the congregations assembled, one only of the city clergymen appeared, all the rest having retired to the country. The minister who thus distinguished himself among his brethren on this occasion was a Mr. Hog, morning lecturer in the Tron church. The two clergymen of the neighbouring parish of St. Cuthbert’s, Messrs. Macvicar and Pitcairn, also continued to preach as usual, and many inhabitants of the city went to hear them. No way dismayed by the presence of the Highland army, they continued to pray as usual for King George; and Mr. Macvicar even went so far in his prayers, as to express a hope that God would take Charles to himself, and that instead of an earthly crown, he would “give him a crown of glory.” Charles is said to have laughed heartily on being informed of Mr. Macvicar’s concern for his spiritual welfare. To induce the ministers to return to their duty, the prince issued a proclamation on Monday, repeating the assurances he had so often given them, that no interruption should be given to public worship; but that, on the contrary, all concerned should be protected. This intimation, however, had no effect upon the fugitive ministers, who, to the great scandal of their flocks, deserted their charges during the whole time the Highlanders occupied the city.

In the first moments of victory, Charles felt a gleam of joy, which for a time excluded reflection; but when, after retiring from the battle-field, he began to ruminate over the events of the day, and to consider that it was British blood that had been spilt, if we can trust his own words, his spirit sunk within him. “If I had obtained this victory,” says he to his father, in the letter already quoted, “over foreigners, my joy would have been complete; but as it is over Englishmen, it has thrown a damp upon it that I little imagined. The men I have defeated were your majesty’s enemies, it is true, but they might have become your friends and dutiful subjects when they had got their eyes opened to see the true interest of their country, which you mean to save, not to destroy.” For these reasons he was unwilling that the victory should be celebrated by any public manifestation, and on being informed that many of the inhabitants of Edinburgh intended to testify their joy on the occasion by some public act, the prince, in the same proclamation which enjoined the clergymen to return to their charges, prohibited “any outward demonstrations of public joy.”

The news of the prince’s victory was received every where, by the Jacobites, with the most unbounded delight. Unable any longer to conceal their real sentiments, they now publicly avowed them, and like their predecessors, the cavaliers, indulged in deep potations to the health of “the king” and the prince. But this enthusiasm was not confined to the Jacobites alone. Many persons whose political creed was formerly doubtful, now declared unequivocally in favour of the cause of the prince; whilst others, whose sentiments were formerly in favour of the government, openly declared themselves converts to an order of things which they now considered inevitable. In short, throughout the whole of Scotland the tide of public opinion was completely changed in favour of the Stuarts. The fair sex, especially, displayed an ardent attachment to the person and cause of the prince, and contributed not a little to bring about the change in public feeling alluded to. Duncan Forbes has well described this strong revolution in public feeling. “All Jacobites, how prudent soever, became mad; all doubtful people became Jacobites; and all bankrupts became heroes, and talked of nothing but hereditary rights and victory; and what was more grievous to men of gallantry, and if you will believe me, much more mischievous to the public, all the fine ladies, if you will except one or two, became passionately fond of the young Adventurer, and used all their arts and industry for him in the most intemperate manner.”[952]

In England the news of the prince’s victory created a panic, causing a run upon the bank, which would have been fatal to that establishment, had not the principal merchants entered into an association to support public credit by receiving the notes of the bank in payment.[953] Scotchmen were everywhere looked upon with distrust by their southern neighbours, and the most severe reflections were indulged in against the Scottish nation. Sir Andrew Mitchell, writing to President Forbes, notices with deep regret this feeling against his countrymen: “The ruin of my country, and the disgrace and shame to which it is, and will continue to be, exposed, have affected me to that degree, that I am hardly master of myself. Already every man of our country is looked on as a traitor, as one secretly inclined to the Pretender, and waiting but an opportunity to declare. The guilty and the innocent are confounded together, and the crimes of a few imputed to the whole nation.”[954] Again, “I need not describe to you the effects the surrender of Edinburgh, and the progress the rebels made, had upon this country. I wish I could say that they were confined to the lower sort of people; but I must fairly own that their betters were as much touched as they. The reflections were national; and it was too publicly said that all Scotland were Jacobites; the numbers of the rebels and their adherents were magnified for this purpose; and he that in the least diminished them was called a secret Jacobite.”[955]

Elated by the news of the victory of Preston, a party of armed Highlanders entered Aberdeen on the 25th of September, seized the provost, and carrying him to the cross, held their drawn swords over his head, till they proclaimed the Chevalier de St. George. They then requested him to drink the health of “the king,” but having refused to do so, they threw a glass of wine into his breast. Not wishing to have his loyalty put a second time to such a severe test, the provost left the city, not thinking himself safe, as he observes, “in the way of those who had used him in so unreasonable and odd a manner.”[956]

With the exception of the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and a few insignificant forts, the whole of Scotland may be said to have been now in possession of the victor. Having no longer an enemy to combat in North Britain, Charles turned his eyes to England; but against the design which he appears to have contemplated, of an immediate march into that kingdom, several very serious objections occurred. If the prince could have calculated on a general rising in England in his favour, his advance into that kingdom with a victorious army, before the government recovered from the consternation into which it had been thrown by the recent victory, would have been a wise course of policy; but it would have been extremely rash, without an absolute assurance of extensive support from the friends of the cause in England, to have entered that kingdom with the small army which fought at Gladsmuir, and which, instead of increasing, was daily diminishing, by the return of some of the Highlanders to their homes, according to custom, with the spoils they had collected. There were indeed, among the more enthusiastic of the prince’s advisers, some who advocated an immediate incursion into England; but by far the greater part thought the army too small for such an undertaking. These urged that although the success which had attended their arms would certainly engage a number of friends, who either had not hitherto had an opportunity of joining, or had delayed doing so, because they saw little or no appearance of success, yet it was prudent to wait for such aid,—that French succours might now be depended upon, since the prince had given convincing proofs of his having a party in Scotland,—that, at any rate, it was better to remain some little time at Edinburgh, till they saw what prospects there were of success, and that in the mean time the army would be getting stronger by reinforcements which were expected from the north, and would be better modelled and accoutred. The latter opinion prevailed, and Charles resolved to make some stay in Edinburgh.[957]

Alluding to this resolution, Mr. Maxwell observes, “Those who judge of things only by the event, will condemn this measure, and decide positively that if the prince had marched on from the field of battle, he would have carried all before him. As the prince’s affairs were ruined in the end, it is natural to wish he had done any thing else than what he did. Things could hardly have turned out worse, and there was a possibility of succeeding. But to judge fairly of the matter, we must have no regard to what happened, but consider what was the most likely to happen. The prince had but 3,000 men at the battle, where he had 100 at least killed and wounded. He might reckon upon losing some hundreds more, who would go home with the booty they had got, so that he could not reckon upon more than 2,500 men to follow him into England, where he had no intelligence, nor hopes of being joined, nor resource in case of a misfortune. But what would the world have said of such an attempt had it miscarried!”[958]

According to the Chevalier Johnstone,[959] the prince was advised by his friends, that as the whole of the towns of Scotland had been obliged to recognise him as regent of the kingdom, in the absence of his father, his chief object should be to endeavour by every possible means to secure himself in the government of Scotland; and to defend himself against the English armies, which would be sent against him, without attempting for the present to extend his views to England. There were others who strongly advised Charles to annul the union between Scotland and England, as an act made during the usurpation of Queen Anne, by a cabal of a few Scotch peers, and to summon a Scottish parliament, to meet at Edinburgh, to impose taxes in a legal manner, and obtain supplies for his army. This party assured the prince that these steps would give great pleasure to all Scotland, and that the tendency of them would be to renew the ancient discord between the two countries, and that the war would thereby be made national: they informed him, that, so far from being prepared to run an immense risk, for the sake of acquiring England, they wished for nothing more than to see him seated on the throne of Scotland. As the chief object of his ambition, however, was to obtain the crown of England, he rejected the proposal made to him, to confine his views to Scotland.

As soon as it was determined to remain in Scotland till the army should be reinforced, every measure was adopted that could tend to increase it. Letters were despatched to the Highlands, and other parts of Scotland, containing the news of the victory, and urging immediate aid; and messengers were sent to France to represent the state of the prince’s affairs, and to solicit succours from that court. Officers were appointed to beat up for recruits, and every inducement was held out to the prisoners taken at Preston to join the insurgents. Many of these, accordingly, enlisted in the prince’s army, and were of considerable service in drilling recruits, but before the Highland army left Edinburgh, almost the whole of them had deserted, and joined their former companions at Berwick.[960] The principal person selected by Charles to go to the Highlands, on the present occasion, was Mr. Alexander Macleod, a gentleman of the Scottish bar, who carried along with him a paper of instructions, dated the 24th of September, and signed by secretary Murray.[961] By these instructions, Macleod was directed forthwith to proceed to the Isle of Skye, to assure Sir Alexander Macdonald, and the laird of Macleod, and other gentlemen of their names, that the prince did not impute their not having hitherto joined him, to any failure of loyalty or zeal on their part, for his father’s cause; but to the private manner in which he had arrived in Scotland, which was from a desire to restore his royal father without foreign assistance—that he was ready still to receive them with the same affection he would have welcomed them, had they joined him on his landing,—and that as they well knew the dispositions of the Highlanders, and their inclination to return home after a battle, they would be sensible how necessary it was to recruit the army with a strong body of men from their country. After giving them these assurances, Macleod was directed to require of these chiefs to repair with all possible speed with their men to Edinburgh, where they should be furnished with arms. In case they were found refractory, Macleod was directed to use all proper means with the gentlemen of their different families, to bring them to the field with as many followers as possible,—that to encourage them to take up arms, he was to acquaint them that the prince had received undoubted assurances of support from France and Spain,—that the Earl Marischal was expected to land in Scotland with a body of troops,—that the Duke of Ormond was also expected in England, with the Irish brigade, and a large quantity of arms, ammunition, and money,—and that before passing the Forth, he had received letters from the Spanish ministry, and the Duke of Bouillon, containing positive assurances of aid. In conclusion, Macleod was ordered to assure these gentlemen that the encouragement and favour which would be shown them, if they joined the prince’s standard, would be in proportion to their loyalty and the backwardness of their chiefs. He was likewise directed to send for the chief of Mackinnon, and to tell him that the prince was much surprised that one who had given such solemn assurances, as Mackinnon had done, to join him, with all the men he could collect, should have failed in his promise. As Macleod of Swordland, in Glenelg, who had visited the prince in Glenfinnan, had there engaged to seize the fort of Bernera, and to join Charles with a hundred men, whether his chief joined or not, the messenger was instructed to ask him why he had not fulfilled his engagement. The result of this mission will be subsequently noticed.

Seated in the palace of his ancestors, Charles, as Prince Regent, continued to discharge the functions of royalty, by exercising every act of sovereignty, with this difference only between him and his rival in St. James’s, that while King George could only raise troops and levy money by act of parliament, Charles, by his own authority, not only ordered regiments to be raised for his service, and troops of horse-guards to be levied for the defence of his person, but also imposed taxes at pleasure. To give eclat to his proceedings, and to impress upon the minds of the people, by external acts, the appearances of royalty, he held a levee every morning in Holyrood-house, and appointed a council which met every morning at ten o’clock, after the levee was over. This council comprised the Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray, the lieutenant-generals of the army, O’Sullivan, the quarter-master-general, Lord Pitsligo, Lord Elcho, Sir Thomas Sheridan, Secretary Murray, and all the Highland chiefs.[962]

As nothing could injure his cause more in the eyes of the people than acts of oppression on the part of his troops, one of Charles’s first acts after his return to Edinburgh, was to issue an edict granting protection to the inhabitants of the city and the vicinity, in their persons and properties; but farmers, living within five miles of Edinburgh, were required, before being entitled to the protection, to appear at the secretary’s office, in Holyrood-house, and grant bond that they should be ready, on twelve hours’ notice, to furnish the prince with horses for carrying the baggage of his army to Berwick-upon-Tweed, or a similar distance, according to their plowgates. By another proclamation put forth the same day, viz. the 23d of September, he denounced death or such other punishment as a court-martial should order to be inflicted on any soldier or person connected with his army, who should be guilty of forcibly taking from “the good people of Edinburgh,” or of the country, any of their goods without a fair equivalent to the satisfaction of the parties. These orders were in general scrupulously attended to, though, in some instances, irregularities were committed, under the pretence of searching for arms. The greater part, however, were the acts of persons who, though they wore the white cockade, did not belong to the army.

Besides the clergymen of the city, a considerable number of the volunteers had deserted their homes in dread of punishment for having taken up arms. To induce these, as well as the ministers of the city, to return, Charles issued a proclamation on the 24th of September, granting a full pardon to all or such of them, as should, within twenty days after the publication thereof, present themselves to Secretary Murray, or to any other member of the council, at Holyrood-house, or at such other place as the prince might be at the time. A few volunteers only took advantage of this offer.

When the Highland army first approached the city, the directors of the two banks then existing, had removed all their money and notes to the castle, under the apprehension that the prince would appropriate them to his own use. As great inconvenience was felt in the city by the removal of the banks, Charles issued a proclamation on the 25th of September, in which, after disclaiming any intention to seize the funds belonging to the banks, he invited them to resume their business in the city, pledging himself to protect them. He declared that the money lodged in the banks should be free from any exactions on his part; and that he himself would contribute to the re-establishment of public credit, by receiving and issuing the notes of the banks in payment. The banks, however, declined to avail themselves of the prince’s offer; but when applied to for money in exchange for a large quantity of their notes in possession of the Highland army, the directors answered the demand.

As the wants of his army were many, the next object of the prince’s solicitude was to provide against them. Anxious as he was to conciliate all classes of the people, he had no alternative on the present occasion, but to assess the burghs of Scotland, in sums proportionate to the duties of excise drawn from them. He accordingly sent letters, dated the 30th of September, to all the chief magistrates of the burghs, ordering them, under pain of being considered rebel, to repair, upon receipt, to Holyrood-house, to get the contributions to be paid by their respective burghs ascertained, and for payment of which, he promised to assign the duties of excise. For immediate use, he compelled the city of Edinburgh, on pain of military execution, to furnish his army with 1,000 tents, 2,000 targets, 6,000 pair of shoes, and other articles, to the value of upwards of £15,000, to liquidate which, a tax of 2s. 6d. per pound was laid on the city, and in the Canongate and Leith. From the city of Glasgow he demanded £15,000, a sum which was compromised by a prompt payment of £5,500. The prince, at the same time, despatched letters to the collectors of the land-tax, the collectors and comptrollers of the customs and excise, and to the factors upon the estates forfeited in the former insurrection, requiring all of them, upon receipt, to repair to Holyrood-house with their books, and to pay such balances as might appear upon examination to be in their hands,—the first and last classes, under the pain of rebellion and military execution, and the second class, besides the last-mentioned penalty, under the pain of high-treason. Charles, at the same time, seized all the smuggled goods in the custom-houses of Leith and other sea-ports, which being sold, yielded him £7,000. Besides the exactions from public bodies, he compelled several of the nobility and gentry in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh to supply him with considerable quantities of hay and oats. Parties of Highlanders were sent to the seats of the Dukes of Hamilton and Douglas, and the Earl of Hoptoun, to carry off arms and horses. From the last mentioned noblemen they took nearly 100 horses.[963]

For some days after the Highlanders resumed possession of Edinburgh, a sort of tacit understanding existed between the garrison and them, under which the communication between the castle and the city continued open. A guard of Highlanders was posted at the Weigh-house, an old square building, which stood at the head of West Bow, at the distance of a few hundred yards from the fortress. This guard allowed provisions of every description to pass, particularly for the use of the officers; and matters might have remained for some time in this quiescent state, to the great comfort of the inhabitants, had not the garrison one night, most unaccountably fired off some cannon and small arms in the direction of the West Port. In consequence, it is believed, of this breach of the implied armistice, orders were given to the guards, on the 29th of September, to block up all the avenues leading to the castle, and allow no person to pass. On being made acquainted with this order, General Guest sent a letter, in the evening, addressed to the Lord Provost, intimating, that unless the communication between the castle and the city was renewed, and the blockade removed, he would be obliged to dislodge the Highland guards with his cannon, and bombard the city. Nothing could be more unreasonable and absurd than this threat. Though willing, the citizens had it not in their power, either to keep up the communication with the castle, or to take off the blockade, and though they were as unable to remove the Highlanders from the city “as to remove the city itself out of its seat,”[964] or prevent them from acting as they pleased, yet the citizens would be the only sufferers in the event of a bombardment; for the Highlanders, if the city were destroyed, would only be obliged to change their quarters, and neither the destruction of the one, nor the removal of the other, could be of any service to the castle. These views were represented to the governor by a deputation from the city; but Guest remained inflexible, and pleaded in his justification a peremptory order, which he said he had received from the king himself, and which left him no discretion. At the earnest solicitation of the inhabitants, Guest was prevailed upon to grant a respite for one night. Next morning, six deputies waited on the prince, at the palace, with General Guest’s letter, which was in reality intended for him. After perusing the letter, Charles returned an answer immediately to the deputies in writing, in which he expressed surprise at the barbarity of the orders from the castle, at a time when it was admitted, that the garrison had six weeks provisions on hand,—that, in pleading, as Guest had done, the directions of “the Elector of Hanover,” as an excuse, it was evident, that the Elector did not consider the inhabitants of Edinburgh as his subjects, otherwise he would not have made a demand upon them which they could not fulfil,—and that, should he, the prince, out of compassion to the citizens, comply with the extravagant demand now made, he might as well quit the city at once, and abandon all the advantages he had obtained,—that, if any mischief should befall the city, he would take particular care to indemnify the inhabitants for their loss,—and that, in the meantime, if forced by the threatened barbarity, he would make reprisals upon the estates of the officers in the castle, and also upon all who were “known to be open abettors of the German government.”

This letter was laid before a meeting of the inhabitants, who sent deputies with it to General Guest. After some altercation, he agreed to suspend hostilities till the return of an express from London, on condition that the Highland army should, in the mean time, make no attempt upon the castle. This condition was, however, infringed by the Highlanders, who, on the following day, discharged some musket shots with the intention, it is supposed, of frightening some persons who were carrying up provisions to the castle. General Guest, considering that he was no longer restrained from executing his threat, immediately opened a fire upon the guard stationed at the Weigh-house, by which some houses were damaged and two persons wounded. Charles retaliated by issuing a proclamation next day, in which he prohibited all correspondence with the castle, under pain of death. This proclamation was followed by an order to strengthen the blockade, by posting additional guards at several places about the castle. To revenge this step the garrison fired at every Highlander they could discover from the battlements, and, by this reckless proceeding, killed and wounded several of the inhabitants. A daring exploit was performed at the same time by a soldier, who slipped down from the castle, set fire to a house in Livingston’s yards, where a guard was posted, and after shooting one of the guards dead upon the spot, returned safe to the fortress. Shortly after this occurrence a party sallied out from the castle, killed some of the guards stationed at the same place, took an officer and a few prisoners, and put the rest to flight.

Meanwhile General Guest sent a message to the city, intimating that he meant to demolish the houses where the guards were posted, but that care would be taken to do as little damage as possible to the city. Accordingly, on the 4th of October, about two o’clock in the afternoon, a cannonade was opened from the half-moon battery, near the Castle-gate, which was kept up till the evening. When it grew dark the garrison made a sally, and set fire to a foundry and a house on the Castle-hill which had been deserted. They then dug a trench fourteen feet broad, and sixteen feet deep, across the Castle-hill, about half-way between the gate and the houses on the Castle-hill, and along the parapet made by the earth taken from the trench on the side next the castle, they posted 200 men, who discharged some cartridge shot down the street, killing and wounding some of the inhabitants. The bombardment was resumed next day, with more disastrous effect. No person could with safety appear on the High-street, as the shots from the Castle-hill penetrated as far down as the head of the old Flesh-market close, and shattered several houses. At first, some of the better informed among the citizens were disposed to regard the threat of bombardment as a mere device to induce the prince to discontinue the blockade, as they could not bring themselves to believe that the government could have been guilty of issuing the barbarous order alluded to by the governor of the castle; but the inhabitants in general entertained more correct views, and before the cannonade commenced, the streets were crowded with women and children running towards the gates, in great confusion, while many of the citizens were to be seen carrying their most valuable effects out of the city. During the two days that the cannonade lasted, viz., the 4th and 5th of October, the utmost dismay prevailed among the inhabitants, and multitudes of them left the city, without knowing whither to flee or where to look for shelter.

To put an end to this disastrous state of affairs Charles issued a proclamation on the evening of the 5th of October, removing the blockade. In this document he stated that it was with the greatest regret that he was hourly informed of the many murders which were committed upon the innocent inhabitants of the city, by the inhuman commanders and garrison of the castle, a practice contrary, he observed, to all the laws of war, to the truce granted to the city, and even exceeding the orders which the government, it was alleged, had given upon the occasion,—that he might have, as he had threatened, justly chastised those who had been instrumental in the ruin of the capital, by reprisals upon the estates and fortunes of the supporters of the government; but as he thought it noways derogatory to the glory of a prince, to suspend punishment, or alter a resolution, if, by such a course, he could save the lives of innocent men, he had allowed his humanity to yield to the barbarity of the common enemy. This proclamation was followed by a cessation of the cannonade; but the garrison still continued to fire occasionally at the Highlanders whenever they made their appearance in the neighbourhood of the castle.

The object of Guest, according to Mr. Home, in thus annoying the town, and provoking the Highlanders, was not to secure a supply of provisions, of which he had already an abundance, but to prevent them from marching into England, by keeping them occupied in the siege of the castle. To deceive Charles, he wrote in the beginning of the week following the battle of Preston, several letters to the Duke of Newcastle, one of the secretaries of state, acquainting him that there was but a very small stock of provisions in the castle of Edinburgh,—that he would be obliged to surrender, if not immediately relieved, and recommending that any troops sent to his relief, should be forwarded by sea, to Berwick or Newcastle, for the sake of despatch. These letters, which were intended for the perusal of Charles, were sent so that they might fall into his hands; but lest any of them might find their way to London, Guest sent a letter to the Duke of Newcastle, by a sure conveyance, giving him an account of the real state of the garrison, and informing him of the deception he was endeavouring to practise upon the Highlanders.[965]

Whilst the adherents of Charles in the Highlands and the northern Lowlands were exerting all their energies to collect reinforcements, Lord-president Forbes was using all his influence to prevent the chiefs of doubtful loyalty from committing themselves with the government. To induce them to arm in its support after the success which had attended the prince’s arms, was what he could scarcely have expected; but by persuasion, and by pointing out in forcible terms the ruin which would befall them and their families, should the prince fail in his enterprise, he succeeded in making them at first to waver, and finally to abandon any design they may have entertained, of joining the prince. Among others who appear to have vacillated between two opinions, and in their perplexity to have alternately changed their minds, was Macleod of Macleod. This chief, influenced probably by the solicitations of his clansman, who had been sent to him on the mission before alluded to, attended a meeting of gentlemen of the name of Fraser, convened by Lord Lovat at Beaufort, or Castle Downie, as that seat of the chief of the Frasers was sometimes called, on Friday the 4th of October, and was despatched the following day to Skye, having engaged to join the Frasers with his men at Corriearrick on the 15th;[966] but on advising with his friend Sir Alexander Macdonald, he resolved to stay at home.[967]

In neutralizing the efforts of the disaffected clans, and dissuading others of doubtful loyalty from joining the ranks of the insurgents, President Forbes had difficulties to contend with, which few men could have overcome, but which he finally surmounted by that firmness, zeal, and indomitable perseverance, which distinguished him among all his political contemporaries. At its commencement, Forbes treated the insurrection very lightly. Before his departure for the north, he considered the prospect of affairs very flattering, and that the object of his journey had no appearance of difficulty; but the alteration in public feeling, consequent on the battle of Preston, changed the scene. Instead of finding the ready support he anticipated from the professed adherents of the government, he saw himself, to use his own words, “almost alone, without troops, without arms, without money or credit; provided with no means to prevent extreme folly, except pen and ink, a tongue and some reputation; and, if you will except Macleod, whom I sent for from the Isle of Skye, supported by nobody of common sense or courage.”[968] The successes of the insurgents had, he observes, “blown up the spirit of mutiny to such a pitch, that nothing was heard of but caballing, and gathering together of men in the neighbourhood: every petty head of a tribe, who was in any degree tinged with Jacobitism, or desperate in his circumstances, assembled his kindred, and made use of the most mutinous, to drag the most peaceable out of their beds, and to force others to list by threatening destruction to their cattle and other effects; whilst we were unable to give them any assistance or protection.”[969] Exasperated at the president for the exertions he made to obstruct the designs of the disaffected, a plan was formed for seizing him by some of the Frasers, a party of whom, amounting to about 200 men, accordingly made an attack upon the house of Culloden during the night between the 15th and 16th of October; but the president being upon his guard, they were repulsed.[970] The apprehension of such an important personage would have been of greater service to the Jacobite cause than the gaining of a battle.

Confiding in the loyalty and discretion of President Forbes, the ministry had, at the suggestion of the Earl of Stair, sent down to the president, early in September, twenty commissions, for raising as many independent companies in the Highlands for the service of the government. The names of the officers were left blank in the commissions, that the president might distribute them among such of the well-affected clans as he might think proper. The plan which his lordship laid down for himself, in disposing of these commissions, was to distribute them among the clans who adhered to the government in the former insurrection, without neglecting such other clans, who, though then opposed to the government, had, on the present occasion, shown an unwillingness to join the Jacobite standard. To raise the companies, which were fixed at 100 men each, as quickly as possible, the president resolved to leave the nomination of the officers to the chiefs of the clans, out of whom they were to be raised.[971] He accordingly despatched letters to the Earls of Sutherland and Cromarty, Lords Reay and Fortrose, Sir Alexander Macdonald, the lairds of Macleod and Grant, and other chiefs, requesting each of them to raise a company out of their respective clans, most of whom accordingly proceeded to enrol their men; but from the want of money and arms, only two companies were completed before the end of October, and several months expired before the whole were fully formed and drawn together.[972]

If the majority of the people of Scotland had been favourably disposed to the cause of the Stuarts, they had now an opportunity of displaying their attachment to the representative of their ancient monarchs, by declaring for the prince; but Charles soon found that, with the exception of the Highlands, and a few districts north of the Tay, where catholicity and non-juring episcopacy still retained a footing, the rest of Scotland was not disposed to join a contest for legitimacy, which they might imagine would not, if successful, strengthen the liberties of the nation, and might possibly impair them. The regular line of hereditary succession had been departed from, and it did not seem wise after a trial of fifty-seven years, during which period the political frame and texture of society had undergone a complete revolution, to place the succession on its original footing, by restoring the son of James II. The Jacobites, however, imbued with ideas of indefeasible hereditary right, were deaf to every argument founded on expediency or the will of the nation, and contended that every departure from the direct line of succession was a usurpation, and contrary to the divine law. No sovereign was, therefore, held by them as legitimate, while there existed a nearer heir to the crown in the direct line of succession; but they did not reflect that, upon this principle, there was scarcely a legitimate sovereign in Europe.

Among the Lowland Jacobites who displayed the greatest zeal on the present occasion, was Lord Ogilvy, eldest son of the Earl of Airly, who joined the prince at Edinburgh on the 3d of October with a regiment of 600 men, chiefly from the county of Forfar, where his father’s estates were situated. Most of the officers of the regiment were either of the Airly family, or bore the name of Ogilvy. Lord Ogilvy was followed by old Gordon of Glenbucket, an equally zealous supporter of the Stuarts, who arrived at Edinburgh next day with a body of 400 men, which he had collected in Strathdon, Strathaven, Glenlivet, and Auchindoun. Glenbucket had been a major-general in Mar’s army, in 1715; but he now contented himself with the colonelcy of the regiment he had just raised, of which he made his eldest son lieutenant-colonel, and his younger sons captains, while the other commissions were held by his relations or personal friends. On the 9th of October, Lord Pitsligo also joined the prince. He was accompanied by a considerable number of gentlemen from the counties of Aberdeen and Banff, with their servants, all well armed and mounted. These formed an excellent corps of cavalry. He also brought with him a small body of infantry. Lord Pitsligo, though possessed of a moderate fortune, had great influence with the gentlemen of the counties above named, by whom he was beloved and greatly esteemed, and having great reliance on his judgment and discretion, they did not hesitate, when he declared himself in favour of the prince, to put themselves under his command.

Having been informed that there were many persons, who, from infirmity and other causes, were unable to join him, but were disposed to assist him with money, horses, and arms, the Chevalier issued a proclamation on the 8th of October, calling upon all such persons to send such supplies to his secretary; and as an order had been issued, summoning the parliament to meet on the 17th, he, by another proclamation dated the 9th, prohibited all peers and commoners from paying obedience to any order or resolution that might be published in the name of either house, in case they should meet.

On the 10th of October, Charles issued a second rather spirited manifesto, justifying the step he had taken, proclaiming his father’s gracious intention to redress every grievance, including the repeal of the union, endeavouring to show that the government of the Elector of Hanover was a grievous tyranny supported by foreign mercenaries. It concluded thus:—

“Let him send off his foreign hirelings, and put the whole upon the issue of a battle; I will trust only to the king my father’s subjects, who were, or shall be, engaged in mine and their country’s cause. But notwithstanding all the opposition he can make, I still trust in the justice of my cause, the valour of my troops, and the assistance of the Almighty, to bring my enterprise to a glorious issue.

“It is now time to conclude, and I shall do it with this reflection; civil wars are ever attended with rancour and ill-will, which party-rage never fails to produce in the minds of those whom different interests, principles, or views, set in opposition to one another: I therefore earnestly require it of my friends, to give as little loose as possible to such passions: this will prove the most effectual means to prevent the same in the enemies of our royal cause. And this my declaration will vindicate to all posterity the nobleness of my undertaking, and the generosity of my intentions.”

During Charles’s stay in Edinburgh the magisterial authority was in complete abeyance, and thieves and robbers, no longer restrained by the arm of power, stalked about, in open day, following their vocation. Under pretence of searching for arms, predatory bands, wearing white cockades and the Highland dress, perambulated the country, imposing upon and robbing the people. One of the most noted of these was headed by one James Ratcliffe, the same individual who figures so conspicuously in the Heart of Mid-Lothian, and who, having spent all his life in the commission of acts of robbery, had twice received sentence of death, but had contrived to effect his escape from jail.[973] To suppress these and other acts of violence, Charles issued several edicts, and in one or two instances the last penalty of the law was inflicted by his orders upon the culprits.

Early in October a ship from France arrived at Montrose with some arms and ammunition and a small sum of money. On board this vessel was the Marquis Boyer d’Eguille, who arrived at Holyrood house on the 14th of October. The object of his journey was not exactly known, but his arrival was represented as a matter of great importance, and he was passed off as an ambassador from the French court. This vessel was soon followed by two others in succession, one of which brought, in addition to a supply of arms and money, some Irish officers in the service of France. The other had on board six field-pieces and a company of artillerymen. These succours, though small, were opportune, and were considered as an earnest of more substantial ones, of which d’Eguille gave the prince the strongest assurances. To facilitate and shorten the conveyance of arms and cannon, and of the reinforcements still expected from the north, batteries were raised at Alloa and on the immediately opposite side of the Frith of Forth, across which these were transported without any annoyance, although the Fox, a British man-of-war, was stationed in the Frith.

The army of the prince continued to increase by the arrival of several additional detachments from the north, and before the end of October he found that his forces amounted to nearly 6,000 men; but this number was far below what Charles had expected. He had entertained hopes that by the exertions of Lord Lovat and other chiefs, whom he expected to declare in his favour, about triple that number would have been raised; but a messenger who arrived at Edinburgh from his lordship, brought him intelligence which rendered his expectations less sanguine. Lovat had calculated that he would be able to raise by his own influence a force of 4,000 or 5,000 men for the service of Charles; and, the better to conceal his design, he opened a correspondence with President Forbes, in which, with his characteristic duplicity and cunning, he avowed himself a warm supporter of the government, and succeeded for a considerable time in throwing the president off his guard. By degrees, however, his real intentions began to develop themselves, and after the battle of Preston he resolved to assemble his clan for the purpose of joining the prince. To deceive the government he compelled his son, (afterwards known as General Fraser,) a youth of eighteen who had been pursuing his studies at the university of St. Andrews, to put himself at the head of the clan, and afterwards pretended that his son had, by this proceeding, acted in direct opposition to his orders.[974] The only force raised south of the Tay was a regiment of 450 men which Colonel Roy Stewart formed in Edinburgh during the stay of the Highland army; for, although the prince was joined at Edinburgh by the Earls of Kilmarnock and Kellie, Lord Balmerino, Maxwell of Kirkconnel, and other south-country gentlemen, they did not bring as many men along with them as would have formed the staff of a company.

Having now spent nearly six weeks in Edinburgh, the prince considered that he could no longer delay his intended march into England. By postponing that measure a few days longer he might have still farther increased his force by the return of the men who had gone home after the battle, of whom he had received favourable accounts; by the accession of a body of Gordons which Lord Lewis, brother to the Duke of Gordon, was raising among the followers of the family; and by other small corps from the north. But it was judged that this advantage would be more than counterbalanced by other circumstances attendant upon delay. The long stay of the Highland army in Scotland had enabled the government to concentrate a considerable force in the north of England, already far superior, in point of numbers, to the prince’s troops, and this force was about to receive large additions from the south and from the continent. Nothing but a dread of the Highlanders and ignorance of their real strength kept the English army, already concentrated in the north, from entering Scotland; but terrible as was the impression made upon the minds of the English troops, by the reports which had been carried to England of the prowess of the Highlanders, it was not to be supposed, that, after the arrival of large reinforcements, their commanders would remain inactive. Had the government been aware of the weakness of the prince’s army after the battle of Gladsmuir, it would probably not have delayed a single week in sending an army into Scotland; but the exaggerated reports which had been every where spread, of the great strength of the Highland army, were fully credited. Attempts were made by some friends of the government, as well as by others, to ascertain their numbers; but Charles, by perpetually shifting their cantonments, and dividing them into detached bodies, not only contrived to conceal his weakness, but to impress these prying persons with an idea that he was much stronger than he really was.[975]

Another reason for hastening his march south was the danger that the army might be diminished by desertion if kept in a state of inactivity. Desertions were frequent, and it was thought that nothing but an active life would put an end to a practice imputed to idleness and repose, and which allowed the men time to think on their families, and contemplate the hardships and dangers they were likely to undergo in a foreign land. But the chief motive which urged Charles and his council to put the army in motion was an apprehension that their supplies of money would be soon exhausted, in which event it would be quite impossible to keep the army together for a single day. By adhering to a declaration he had made, that he would not enforce the obnoxious malt tax; the public money, which had been collected, and was still in course of being raised, was far from being adequate to support the army which Charles had collected; and the contributions of his friends, which at first were considerable, were now beginning to fail. The supplies which had lately been received from France were therefore very opportune; but without additional and early pecuniary succours, which, though promised, might not speedily arrive or might miscarry, it was considered that unless the exchequer was replenished in England, the abandonment of the enterprise was inevitable. For these reasons, and as the prince informed his council[976] that he had received the strongest assurances of support from numbers of the English Tories and Jacobites, a unanimous resolution was entered into to march forthwith into England.[977]

Upon this resolution being adopted, the prince despatched a messenger to France with intelligence of his intentions, and to solicit the French court to make a descent on England. As this court had all along given as its reason for not seconding the prince’s designs, by sending an army into England, the doubt which it had of his having a considerable party in that country, the messenger was instructed to represent the situation of the prince’s affairs in the most favourable point of view. This person, by name Alexander Gordon, a Jesuit, left Edinburgh accordingly on the 28th of October. On arriving in France he drew up a most flattering report, which he put into the hands of the prince’s brother, Henry, Duke of York, then at Paris, to be laid before the French king. In this report he stated, that while the prince had about 12,000 men with him in Edinburgh and its vicinity, there were 4,000 more expected to arrive—that he had already upwards of 1,000 cavalry, and that a great number more were on their march to join him,—that almost all these troops were well armed, and were amply provided with every necessary,—and that all the inhabitants of the counties and towns where the prince had appeared, and particularly those of Edinburgh and Glasgow, had furnished the army with clothing, arms, and money, and, in short, with every thing in their power. He stated, that besides the Highland chiefs and the noblemen of different counties, who had declared in favour of the prince before the battle of Preston, a great number of persons of distinction had since joined him at Edinburgh, among whom he particularly enumerated Lord Nithsdale and Kenmure, and Maxwell of Kirkconnel,—that besides these there were many others, who, being unable to give their personal services, had sent the prince horses, arms, and money, and that after the prince’s father had been proclaimed in the capital and the most considerable towns in Scotland, those who had formerly shown themselves least disposed to acknowledge him had displayed the most favourable dispositions towards the prince, being either subdued by the charms of his manners, or gained over by his manifestoes and proclamations. In short, that by the astonishing victory he had achieved, many persons, who would otherwise have still been in connexion with the court of London, had submitted themselves to the prince, who might be said to be now absolute master of Scotland. That with regard to England, the people of that kingdom were ready to receive the prince with open arms as soon as he should appear among them with an army supported by France,—that, independently of the general discontent of the nation with the government, the prince was emboldened to enter England by upwards of a hundred invitations which he had received from the nobility of England, and by large sums of money which he had obtained for the payment of his troops,—that the English government, alarmed at this state of things, had, as was reported, hesitated accepting offers, which some counties had made of raising bodies of militia, for fear that this force would be employed against itself. In fine, that such was the disposition of men’s minds throughout the whole of Great Britain, that the fear of the prince not being supported by foreign aid, of which the court of London was in great dread, alone prevented the people from openly declaring themselves, and that every person was persuaded, that for every thousand of foreign troops which the prince could bring into the field, his army would receive an accession, four times as large, from the English people, who only wanted the presence of a foreign force to encourage them to take up arms against the government.[978]

The last days of October were occupied in making the necessary arrangements for the march of the Highland army; preparatory to which, orders were issued, near the end of that month, to call in the different parties which were posted at Newhaven, Leith, and other places in the vicinity of Edinburgh. The army which, for three weeks after the battle of Preston had lain in camp at Duddingston, had, since the middle of October, been quartered in and around the city; but on the 26th of that month the main body left Edinburgh, and encamped on a field a little to the west of Inveresk church, with a battery of seven or eight pieces of cannon pointing to the south-west.[979] Hitherto Charles, to conceal his weakness, had reviewed his army in detached portions; but he now ordered a general review of his whole force on the 28th of October. The place appointed was Leith links; but being warned by a few bombs which were thrown from the castle as the army was approaching the ground, that he might expect some annoyance, Charles abandoned his intention, and reviewed his army on the sands between Leith and Musselburgh.[980]

Of the deportment of Charles, and the mode in which he spent his time during his abode at Holyrood house, it may now be necessary to say a few words. It has been already stated on the authority of an officer in his army, whose memoirs are quoted by Mr. Home, that before the meeting of his council, Charles held a levee. The same writer adds, that after the rising of the council, which generally sat very long, he dined in public with his principal officers, and that while the army lay at Duddingston he rode out there after dinner, accompanied by his life-guards.[981] The object of these visits was to keep the Highlanders together; and to show them that the change of circumstances had not altered his disposition towards them, he frequently supped and slept in the camp.[982]

Another writer, an eye-witness,[983] says that “the prince’s court at Holyrood soon became very brilliant, and that every day from morning to night there was a vast concourse of well-dressed people. Besides the gentlemen that had joined the prince, there was a great number of ladies and gentlemen who came either from affection or curiosity. People flocked from all quarters to see the novelty of a court which had not been held in Scotland for sixty years, and from its splendour, and the air of satisfaction which appeared in every person’s countenance, 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.” The conduct of Charles corresponded in all respects with the attentions shown him. He professed the warmest attachment to Scotland, and was often heard to say, that should he succeed in his attempt, he would make Scotland his Hanover, and Holyrood house his Herenhausen;[984] an expression by which he not only marked his devotion to the Scotch nation, but conveyed a severe rebuke upon King George, who was justly accused of an undue predilection for his native soil.

To mark his sense of the respect shown him, and to ingratiate himself still more with his new friends, Charles gave a series of balls and entertainments in the palace, which were attended by all the persons of rank and fashion assembled in the capital. On these occasions, the young Chevalier appeared sometimes in an English court-dress with the blue ribbon, star, and other insignia of the order of the garter, and at other times in a Highland dress of fine silk tartan, with crimson velvet breeches, and the cross of St. Andrew.[985] His politeness, affability, and condescension, were the theme of universal conversation. Captivated by the charms of his conversation, the graces of his person, and the unwearied attentions which he bestowed on them, the ladies entered warmly into the prince’s views; and their partizanship became so available to his cause as to attract, as we have seen, the especial attention of President Forbes. Indeed, so strong was the hold which the spirit of Jacobitism had taken of the hearts of the ladies of Edinburgh, that when afterwards overawed by the presence of an English army, they, nevertheless, continued to wear the Jacobite badge, and treated the approaches of the Duke of Cumberland’s officers with supercilious indifference. As Charles was almost wholly destitute of every household requisite, his female friends sent plate, china, linen, and other articles of domestic use to the palace.[986]

At the present stage of this history, it seems proper to record a manifesto which emanated from Charles’s army on the eve of its departure for England, which, as an historical document of considerable interest, shall be given entire. It was titled, “The declaration and admonitory letter of such of the nobility, gentry, and freeborn subjects of his majesty, as, under the auspicious conduct of his royal highness, Charles, prince of Wales, steward of Scotland, &c., have taken up arms in support of the cause of their king and country.” It was addressed “unto those who have not as yet declared their approbation of this enterprise; and to such as have, or may hereafter, appear in arms against it.”

“Countrymen and fellow-subjects,—It is with abundance of regret, and not without indignation, that we daily hear and see this our undertaking, which in glory and disinterestedness may vie with any to be met with, either in ancient or modern history, traduced, misrepresented, and reviled in those fulsome addresses and associations made to and in favours of the Elector of Hanover, by those very bishops of the church of England, who, for so many years, have contributed their utmost endeavours to abet and support every measure the most unpopular, pernicious, and hurtful, that the worst of ministers, be he of what party he would, could ever devise for the undoing of these nations.

“Is it from such patterns of virtue and piety that the nation now must take the alarm? Are we by these old bugbears of popery, slavery, and tyranny, for ever to be hindered from pursuing our only true interest? Or, is the groundless fear of an imaginary evil to prevent our shaking off the heavy yoke we daily feel?

“What further security, in the name of God, can a people desire for the enjoyment of their ecclesiastical rights? Have not both the king and prince regent sworn in the most solemn manner to maintain the protestant religion throughout his majesty’s dominions? Nay, more, have they not promised to pass any laws which shall be thought necessary for the further security of it? Are we not protestants who now address you? And is it not by the strength of a protestant army that he must mount the throne? Can any man, or number of men, persuade you, that we, who are your brethren, born in the same island, and who have the same interest, do not love ourselves, our religion, laws and liberties, as well as you do?

“What further security can the nature of the thing admit of? You have your prince’s promises, and here you have laid before you the sentiments of his army; who, having thankfully accepted of them, are determined and resolved to set their country at liberty, by establishing that glorious plan which has been freely offered to us by the only rightful prince of the British nations; and this must be done before we sheath our swords.

“Our enemies have represented us as men of low birth and of desperate fortunes. We, who are now in arms, are, for the greatest part, of the most ancient families of this island, whose forefathers asserted the liberties of their country, long, long before the names of many of our declaimers were ever heard of. Our blood is good, and that our actions shall make appear. If our fortunes be not great, our virtue has kept them low; and desperate we may be truly called, for we are determined to conquer or die.

“The justice, therefore, of the cause we now appear for, the interest of the nation which we support and pursue, and the glorious character of our royal leader, may each by itself, or all together, abundantly convince the nation, that now at last there appears an happy and unforeseen opportunity of acquiring all those blessings which a distrest nation has been so long wishing for in vain.

“This golden opportunity we have laid hold of; and in justice to ourselves and fellow-subjects, are obliged thus to apprize them of the uprightness of our intentions in carrying into execution a scheme calculated and adapted to those principles of liberty which the true lovers of their country have been polishing and refining for these many years past.

“Perhaps you may find fault that you were not apprized of this undertaking. No more were we. God has conducted, the prince of Wales has executed; and we are thereby in possession of Scotland, and victorious over one of the Elector’s armies, which nothing could have saved from total destruction but the authority and mercy of a young conqueror, possest of all the shining virtues which can adorn a throne, and who may challenge the keenest enemy of his royal family to impute to him a vice which can blacken the character of a prince. Compare his clemency towards all the prisoners and wounded at the battle of Gladsmuir, with the executions, imprisonments, and banishments, exercised by the German family after their success at Preston in the year 1715, and your affections will tell you who is the true father of the people.

“We have hitherto only spoke to your interests: when his royal highness comes himself amongst you, let his appearance, his moderation, his affability, his tenderness and affection for those he can truly call his countrymen, speak to your passions; then you who, at the instigation of your enemies, are now arming for the defence, as you imagine, of your respective communities, will be able to judge from whom you will have the best reason to expect protection. Thus far we can take upon us to promise in his highness’s name, that such as shall make no resistance to our troops, though before our arrival they may have been levying war against us, may nevertheless depend upon the most ample security for their persons and estates, provided, by a timely surrender of their arms, they put in our power to protect them against the fury of the army: and how foolish will it be, after this assurance, for any city, corporation, or county, to attempt to make head against the combined force of a whole nation, collected in a numerous army, and flushed with success? If any misfortune, therefore, ensue from a disregard of this admonition, we of his royal highness’s army declare ourselves free of all blame therein.

“It is time for you now, O countrymen! to lay aside all animosities, all distinctions of families or names, and to confine your thoughts only to the interest of these kingdoms, connecting with them as you go along the sentiments you had a few years ago.

“What transport of joy would the bulk of the British nation have felt upon a certain remarkable and never-to-be-forgotten period in our political history, (that great change of ministry which happened not long ago, when the cries of a distressed people, supported by the interest and influence of powerful, though designing men, accomplished the ruin of a mighty minister,) how great would have been your joy had you then had from the Elector of Hanover such a declaration as that emitted the 10th of this month by his royal highness, the heir and representative of our natural and only rightful sovereign?

“Is it possible to conceive the universal satisfaction which such a declaration would have occasioned, unless we judge of it by our fatal disappointment?—We leave it to yourselves to make the application. As it is not our intention here to set forth the domestic grievances of the nation, nor the scandalous preference showed upon all occasions to a pitiful foreign concern; for as we address ourselves chiefly to the friends of liberty and the constitution, we suppose you all abundantly instructed in them: nor would it serve but to lengthen this letter, to enumerate the many promises in the king’s and prince’s declarations and manifestoes to his subjects upon this occasion; we have abundantly explained our own motives for now appearing in arms, and would willingly use a little serious expostulation with you, gentlemen, who intend to oppose us.

“What then, in the name of God, do you propose to yourselves? Is it also the interest of Great Britain and Ireland? Or, is it the support of the Elector of Hanover’s family in the succession to the crown of these realms? If your armaments proceed from the first of these motives, tell us what a prince can do more to make you a free and a happy people? What security can you have more than his word and his army’s guarantee, until the nation shall have time abundantly to secure themselves by parliament?

“If you be satisfied with the promises made you, and the security of the performance, do you disapprove of this method of bringing about the execution by force of arms? If you do, be so good as suggest another equally efficacious.

“That by parliament, indeed, would have been universally the most acceptable; but we cannot be so infatuated as to remain in eternal bondage, unless a parliament, composed of hirelings, should set us at liberty; nor have we any hopes that the Elector will strip himself of that pecuniary influence by which alone he has carried, over the bellies of the nation, every destructive measure.

“On the other hand, if the dispute is to be whether the Stuart or Hanoverian family shall reign over Great Britain, without reference to the interest of the nation, we need use no other argument than the sword with such as shall oppose us upon these principles.

“To conclude, we desire to lay this important question before you in a new light. Suppose, for it is only a supposition, that this dreadful and unnatural rebellion, as you are taught to call it, should be extinguished and quashed, and every man concerned in it executed on a scaffold; your joy, no doubt, would be very great upon so glorious an event; your addresses would then be turned into thanksgivings,—your parliament would then meet and cloath your beloved sovereign with new powers,—your standing army, which has hitherto been looked upon as the bane of the constitution, would then be consecrated as your deliverers; and the reverend bishops of the church of England would be hailed from the most distant corners of the island by the glorious appellation of patriots and protectors of British liberty. O happy, thrice happy nation, who have such an army and such a bench of bishops ready upon this occasion to rescue them from popery, and slavery, tyranny, and arbitrary power!

“When, indeed, the first transport of your joy would be over,—for you are not to expect that these halcyon days are ever to remain,—you might perhaps find, to your fatal experience, that the constitution of your country was not in the least improved; and upon the return of the unavoidable consequences of those evils all along complained of, and which now you have so fair an opportunity of having redressed, you would at last be sensible that we were those who, in truth, deserved the appellation of deliverers, patriots, and protectors of the British liberty. But this last part of our letter is addressed only to such as we expect to meet with in a field of battle, and we are hopeful that those will prove but an inconsiderable part of the nations of Great Britain and Ireland; and that you, our countrymen and fellow-subjects, upon being advised and informed, as you now have been, of the whole plan of this glorious expedition, will cheerfully join issue with us, and share in the glory of restoring our king and in setting our country free, which, by the strength of our arm, the assistance of our allies, and the blessing of Almighty God, we shortly expect to see accomplished.”

Whilst the prince and his partizans were thus spreading the seeds of insurrection, and endeavouring to improve the advantages they had gained, the ministry of Great Britain, aroused to a just sense of the impending danger, took every possible measure to retard the progress of the insurrection. King George had returned to London on the 31st of August. He met with a cordial reception from the nobility and gentry in the capital, and loyal addresses were voted by all the principal cities, and towns and corporations in the kingdom. A demand was made upon the states-general for the 6,000 men stipulated by treaty, part of whom were landed at Berwick the day after Cope’s defeat. Three battalions of guards, and seven regiments of foot, were ordered home from Flanders, and a cabinet council was held at Kensington on the 13th of September, which directed letters to be sent to the lords-lieutenant and custodes rotulorum of the counties of England and Wales to raise the militia. Marshal Wade was despatched to the north of England to take the command of the forces in that quarter, and two regiments, of 1,000 each, were ordered to be transported from Dublin to Chester. A number of blank commissions were, as has been before stated, sent to the north of Scotland to raise independent companies; the Earl of Loudon was despatched to Inverness to take the command, and two ships of war were sent down with arms to the same place.

As popery had been formerly a serviceable bugbear to alarm the people for their religion and liberties, some of the English bishops issued mandates to their clergy, enjoining them to instil into their people “a just abhorrence of popery” and of arbitrary power, both of which they supposed to be inseparably connected; a proceeding which formed a singular contrast with the conduct of their brethren, the Scottish protestant episcopal clergy, who to a man were zealously desirous of restoring the Stuarts. The clergy attended to the injunctions they had received, and their admonitions were not without effect. Associations were speedily formed in every county, city, and town in England, of any consideration, in defence of the religion and liberties of the nation, and all persons, of whatever rank or degree, seemed equally zealous to protect both.

The parliament met on the 17th of October, and was informed by his majesty that he had been obliged to call them together sooner than he intended, in consequence of an unnatural rebellion which had broken out, and was still continued in Scotland, to suppress and extinguish which rebellion he craved the immediate advice and assistance of the parliament. Both houses voted addresses, in which they gave his majesty the strongest assurances of duty and affection to his person and government, and promised to adopt measures commensurate with the danger. The habeas corpus act was suspended for six months, and several persons were apprehended on suspicion. The Duke of Cumberland, the king’s second son, arrived from the Netherlands shortly after the opening of the session, and on the 25th of October a large detachment of cavalry and infantry arrived in the Thames from Flanders. The train-bands of London were reviewed by his majesty on the 28th; the county regiments were completed; and the persons who had associated themselves in different parts of the kingdom as volunteers, were daily engaged in the exercise of arms. Apprehensive of an invasion from France, the government appointed Admiral Vernon to command a squadron in the Downs, to watch the motions of the enemy by sea. Cruisers were stationed along the French coast, particularly off Dunkirk and Boulogne, which captured several ships destined for Scotland with officers, soldiers, and ammunition for the use of the insurgents.

The birth-day of George II., which fell on the 30th of October, was celebrated throughout the whole of England with extraordinary demonstrations of loyalty. Many extravagant scenes were enacted, which, though they may now appear ludicrous and absurd, were deemed by the actors as deeds of the purest and most exalted patriotism. In Scotland, however, with one remarkable exception, the supporters of government did not venture upon any public display. The exception alluded to was the town of Perth, some of whose inhabitants took possession of the church and steeple about mid-day, and rang the bells. Oliphant of Gask, who had been made deputy-governor of the town by the young Chevalier, and had under him a small party, sent to desire those who rang the bells to desist; but they refused to comply, and continued ringing at intervals until midnight, two hours after the ordinary time. Mr. Oliphant, with his small guard and three or four gentlemen, posted themselves in the council-house, in order to secure about 1,400 small arms, some ammunition, &c., belonging to the Highland army, deposited there and in the adjoining jail. At night seven north-country gentlemen, in the Jacobite interest, came to town with their servants, and immediately joined their friends in the council-house: when it grew dark the mob made bonfires in the streets, and ordered the inhabitants to illuminate their windows, an order which was generally obeyed, and the few that refused had their windows broken. About nine o’clock at night a party sallied from the council-house, and marching up the street to disperse the mob, fired upon and wounded three of them. The mob, exasperated by this attack, rushed in upon the party, and disarmed and wounded some of them. After this rencontre the mob placed guards at all the gates of the town, took possession of the main-guard and rung the fire-bell, by which they drew together about 200 people. They thereupon sent a message to Mr. Oliphant, requiring him to withdraw immediately from the town and yield up the arms, ammunition, &c. Mr. Oliphant having refused, they rang the fire-bell a second time, and hostilities commenced about two o’clock in the morning, and continued about three hours. The people fired at the council-house from the heads of lanes, from behind stairs, and from windows, so that the party within could not look out without the greatest hazard. About five o’clock the mob dispersed. An Irish captain in the French service was killed in the council-house, and three or four of Mr. Oliphant’s party were wounded. Of the mob, which was without a leader, four were wounded. To preserve order, about 60 of Lord Nairne’s men were brought into the town next day, and these were soon thereafter joined by about 130 Highlanders.[987]

FOOTNOTES:

[952] Culloden Papers, p. 250.

[953] Id., p. 227.

[954] Id., p. 426.

[955] Id., p. 253.

[956] Culloden Papers, p. 420.

[957] Kirkconnel MS.

[958] Id.

[959] Memoirs, p. 45.

[960] Home, p. 120.

[961] Appendix to Home’s Rebellion, No. xxviii.

[962] Home, p. 124.

[963] Marchant’s History of the Rebellion, p. 113.—Boyse, p. 91.

[964] Kirkconnel MS.

[965] Home, p. 127.

[966] Home, p. 327.

[967] Lovat’s Trial, p. 138.

[968] Culloden Papers, p. 250.

[969] Culloden Papers, p. 246.

[970] Idem.

[971] Idem, p. 404.

[972] The following is a list of the officers of eighteen of the independent companies, being the whole number raised, with the dates of the delivery of their commissions on the completion of their companies, and of their arrival at Inverness:—

| Captains. | Lieutenants. | Ensigns. | Dates of completing the companies, and of their arrival at Inverness.
1. | George Monro, | Adam Gordon, | Hugh Monro, | 1745, | Oct. | 23d.
2. | Alexander Gun, | John Gordon, | Kenneth Sutherland, | — | — | 25th.
3. | Patrick Grant, | William Grant, | James Grant, | — | Nov. | 3d.
4. | George Mackay, | John Mackay, | James Mackay, | — | — | 4th.
5. | Peter Sutherland, | William Mackay, | John Mackay, | — | — | 8th.
6. | John Macleod, | Alexander Macleod, | John Macaskill, | — | — | 15th.
7. | Normand Macleod of Waterstein, | Donald Macleod, | John Macleod, | — | — | —
8. | Normand Macleod of Bernera, | John Campbell, | John Macleod, | — | — | —
9. | Donald Macdonald, | William Macleod, | Donald Macleod, | — | — | —
10. | William Mackintosh, | Kenneth Mathison, | William Baillie, | — | — | 18th.
11. | Hugh Macleod, | George Monro, | Roderick Macleod, | — | — | 28th.
12. | Alexander Mackenzie, | John Mathison, | Simon Murchison, | — | Dec. | 20th.
13. | Colin Mackenzie of Hilton, | Alexander Campbell, | John Macrae, | — | — | —
14. | James Macdonald, | Allan Macdonald, | James Macdonald, | — | — | 31st.
15. | John Macdonald, | Allan Macdonald, | Donald Macdonald, | — | — | —
16. | Hugh Mackay, | John Mackay, | Angus Mackay, | 1746, | Jan. | 6th.
17. | William Ross, | Charles Ross, | David Ross, | — | — | 8th.
18. | Colin Mackenzie, | Donald Mackaulay, | Kenneth Mackenzie, | — | Feb. | 2d.
| | | | Culloden Papers.

1. The Monros.
2 and 5. The Earl of Sutherland’s men.
3. The Grants.
4 and 16. The Mackays.
6, 7, 8, and 9. The Macleods, under the laird of Macleod.
10. A company raised in the town of Inverness.
11. The Macleods of Assint, raised by Captain Macleod of Geanies.
12 and 13. The Mackenzies of Kintail.
14 and 15. The Macdonalds of Skye.
17. The Rosses.
18. The Mackenzies of Lewis.

[973] Caledonian Mercury, 11th October, 1745.

[974] Culloden Papers, pp. 231–254.

[975] Kirkconnel MS.

[976] Maxwell of Kirkconnel had a very sorry opinion of the capabilities of most of the members of the council. After stating, that by degrees all the colonels of the army were admitted into it, he thus proceeds:—“I must acknowledge that very few of the members of this assembly were either able statesmen or experienced officers; but as those who knew least were generally led by the opinions of those they thought wiser than themselves, and they in their turn had private conferences with the ablest of the prince’s secret friends in Edinburgh, things might have been well enough conducted had there been as much harmony and union as the importance of the affair required; but an ill-timed emulation soon crept in, and bred great dissensions and animosities. The council was insensibly divided into factions, and came to be of little use when measures were approved of or condemned, not for themselves, but for the sake of their author. These dissensions, begun at Edinburgh, continued ever after, and their fatal influence was not always confined to the council: by degrees it reached the army; and though the prince’s orders were ever respected and punctually obeyed by the army, there were, nevertheless, a certain discontent and diffidence which appeared on sundry occasions, especially towards the end, and was very detrimental to his affairs.”—Kirkconnel MS.

[977] Idem.

[978] Vide the report in the Stuart Papers, and a letter of 26th November, 1745, from Gordon to the Chevalier de St. George, inclosing a copy of his report.

[979] Marchant, p. 130.

[980] Boyse, p. 95.

[981] Home, p. 139.

[982] Kirkconnel MS.

[983] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.

[984] Henderson, p. 92.

[985] Boyse, p. 89.

[986] Idem.

[987] Adamson’s Muses Threnodie, Perth ed. of 1774. Appendix, No. 2, p. 165.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

A.D. 1745.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Plan of the march of the rebels into England—Composition of the Highland army—Highland mode of fighting—March of Prince Charles into England—Siege and capture of Carlisle—Dissension in the Prince’s council—Resignation of Lord George Murray—Proceedings of Marshal Wade—The Highland army marches south—Arrives at Manchester—The Manchester regiment—Rebels march to Derby—Consternation at London—Charles’s council resolve to retreat—Charles desires to proceed to London—Overruled—The Chevalier’s agents in France—French expedition under Lord John Drummond—His arrival and proceedings—Retreat of the Highland army to Scotland—Skirmish at Clifton—Recapture of Carlisle.

When Charles’s resolution to march into England was finally agreed to by his officers, the next thing to be determined was the route to be taken. After some deliberation the council advised the Prince to march straight to Berwick, of which town they thought he could easily make himself master, and thence to Newcastle and give battle to Marshal Wade, who had collected a force in the neighbourhood of that town. If victorious, the prince was to march to London by the east coast, so as to favour the disembarkation of any troops that France might send over destined to land on that coast. But this plan, though unanimously approved of, was overturned by Lord George Murray, who was of a very different opinion from the rest of the council. In presence of several of the principal officers of the army he represented the plan of a march along the east coast as an affair of great difficulty, and that its advantages, if it really had any, would be more than compensated by the loss of time it would occasion, which at the present juncture was very precious. He therefore proposed that the army should march into England by the western road, and that to conceal its route it should march in two columns, one by Kelso and the other column by Moffat, so that both columns could easily join near Carlisle, on a day to be appointed. Finding that Lord George’s arguments had prevailed with most of the officers, Charles agreed to his scheme, though he considered the route by Berwick as the better of the two.[988]

Preparatory to their march the insurgents removed their camp to a strong position to the west of Dalkeith, six miles south of Edinburgh, having that town on their left, the South Esk in front, the North Esk in their rear, with an opening on their right towards Polton. From this camp a detachment was sent with three pieces of cannon to secure the pass of the Forth above Stirling, lest Lord Loudon should march south with the independent companies he was forming, and attempt to force the passage.[989]

On the evening of Thursday the 31st of October, Prince Charles finally left Holyrood House accompanied by his life-guards, and several of the clan-regiments, amid the regrets of a vast concourse of spectators, most of whom were never to see him again. He slept that night at Pinkie House, and went next morning to Dalkeith, and took up his quarters in Dalkeith House, the seat of the Duke of Buccleuch. On that day he was joined by the clan Pherson, under the command of their chief, Macpherson of Cluny, by Menzies of Shien and his men, and some small parties of Highlanders, amounting altogether to between 900 and 1,000 men.

At this period the state of the insurgent army was as follows. Of cavalry, the first troop of horse-guards, which was commanded by Lord Elcho, consisted of 62 gentlemen with their servants, under 5 officers. It amounted in all to 120. The second troop, which was commanded by the honourable Arthur Elphinstone, afterwards Lord Balmerino, was not complete, and did not exceed 40 horse. A small squadron, called the horse-grenadiers, was commanded by the Earl of Kilmarnock, with which were incorporated some Perthshire gentlemen, in absence of Lord Strathallan their commander, who had been appointed governor of Perth and commander of the Jacobite forces in Scotland during the stay of the Highland army in England. These last united, amounted to nearly 100. Lord Pitsligo was at the head of the Aberdeen and Banffshire gentlemen, who, with their servants, amounted to about 120; and besides those enumerated, there was a party of between 70 and 80 hussars, under the nominal command of Secretary Murray as colonel, but in reality under the direction of one Baggot, an Irish officer, who had lately arrived from France. The infantry, all of whom wore the Highland garb, consisted of thirteen battalions or regiments, six of which consisted of the clans, properly so called; of these six regiments, three were of the Macdonalds, and the other three were each composed of the Camerons, the Stewarts of Appin, and the Macphersons. Three regiments of Athole men, commonly called the Athole brigade, the regiments of the Duke of Perth, Lord Ogilvy, Glenbucket, and Roy Stewart, made up the thirteen regiments.[990] Of the infantry, which amounted to about 5,000 men, about 4,000 were real Highlanders. Thus the total amount of the army did not exceed 6,000 men.[991]

The clan-regiments, according to custom, were commanded by their respective chiefs; but in some instances, in the absence of the chief, the regiment of the clan was commanded by his son, and failing both, by the nearest kinsman of the chief. In these regiments every company had two captains, two lieutenants, and two ensigns, all of whom were generally related, by ties of blood, to the chief. The pay of a captain in the army was half-a-crown per diem; that of a lieutenant two shillings; and of an ensign one shilling and sixpence. The front rank of each clan-regiment was composed of persons who were considered gentlemen by birth, though without fortune or means. The pay of these was one shilling per diem. The gentlemen in the front rank were better armed than the men in the rear rank. All the former had targets, which many of the latter had not. When fully armed, as was generally the case, every gentleman of the front rank carried a musket and broadsword, with a pair of pistols and a dirk stuck in the belt which surrounded his body. In some rare instances another dagger was stuck within the garter of the right leg, to be used in cases of emergency. A target, formed of wood and leather thickly studded with nails, covered the left arm, and enabled the wearer to parry and protect himself from the shots or blows of an assailant.

Thus armed, the success of a Highland army depended more upon individual bravery than upon combined efforts, and their manner of fighting was, as the Chevalier Johnstone observes, adapted for brave but undisciplined troops. “They advance,” says that writer, “with rapidity, discharge their pieces when within musket length of the enemy, and then, throwing them down, draw their swords, and holding a dirk in their left hand with their target, they dart with fury on the enemy through the smoke of their fire. When within reach of the enemy’s bayonets, bending their left knee, they, by their attitude, cover their bodies with their targets that receive their thrusts of the bayonets, which they contrive to parry, while at the same time they raise their sword-arm, and strike their adversary. Having once got within the bayonets, and into the ranks of the enemy, the soldiers have no longer any means of defending themselves, the fate of the battle is decided in an instant, and the carnage follows; the Highlanders bringing down two men at a time, one with their dirk in the left hand, and another with the sword. The reason assigned by the Highlanders for their custom of throwing their muskets on the ground is not without its force. They say they embarrass them in their operations, even when slung behind them, and on gaining a battle they can pick them up along with the arms of their enemies; but if they should be beaten, they have no occasion for muskets. They themselves proved that bravery may supply the place of discipline at times, as discipline supplies the place of bravery. The attack is so terrible, that the best troops in Europe would with difficulty sustain the first shock of it; and if the swords of the Highlanders once come in contact with them, their defeat is inevitable.”[992]

In entering upon such a desperate enterprise as the invasion of England with the handful of men he had mustered, Charles certainly must have calculated on being supported by a large party in that country. Indeed, his chief reason for urging such a step was the numerous assurances he alleged he had received from his friends in that kingdom, that he would be joined by a very considerable body of the people; but there seems reason to believe, that, in his expectations of support, he was guided almost solely by the reports of his agents, and that he had very little communication with any of the parties on whose support he relied.[993] In a memoir[994] which the prince presented to the King of France on his return from Scotland, he states, that, if after the battle of Preston he had had 3,000 regular troops under his command, in addition to his other forces, he could have penetrated into England, and marched to London, without opposition, as none of the English troops which were on the continent had arrived; but the case was now widely different, and without a general rising, it was next to impossible to succeed in the face of a large regular army, which was assembling at different points, supported by a numerous militia.

Pursuant to the plan of Lord George Murray, the advanced guard of the first division of the army left Dalkeith on the evening of Friday the 1st of November, and took the road to Peebles. The main body, consisting of the Athole brigade, the Duke of Perth’s regiment, the regiments of Lord Ogilvy, Glenbucket, and Roy Stewart, and the greater part of the horse followed next day. The artillery and baggage were sent along with this column. This division was under the command of the Marquis of Tullibardine. The second division, which consisted of the life-guards and the clan regiments, headed by the prince in person, marched from Dalkeith on the 3d of November in the direction of Kelso. The guards formed the van, and the prince marched on foot at the head of the clans with his target over his shoulder. It was supposed that he would have mounted his horse after proceeding a mile or two; but, to the surprise of every person, he marched on foot the whole day, and continued the same practice during the whole of the expedition, wading through mud and snow, and it was with difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to get on horseback, even to cross a river. The example he thus set to his men, joined to the condescension and affability he displayed, endeared him to the army. Charles arrived at Lauder the same night, and took up his residence in Thirlstane castle, the seat of the Earl of Lauderdale.

The Duke of Perth.

After despatching part of his men by a middle course towards Selkirk and Hawick, the prince next day marched to Kelso. As Marshal Wade was supposed to be on his way north from Newcastle, Charles sent his life-guards across the Tweed, not so much for the purpose of reconnoitring, as for amusing the enemy. After advancing several miles on the road to Newcastle, they halted at a village, and made some inquiries as to quarters and accommodation for the army, which they stated was on its march to Newcastle. Charles even sent orders to Wooler, a town on the road to Newcastle, to provide quarters for his army. The design was to keep Wade in suspense, and draw off his attention from the movements of the Highland army upon Carlisle. While at Kelso, Charles sent a party of between 30 and 40 men across the Tweed, to proclaim his father upon English ground. Having performed the ceremony, they returned to Kelso.[995] The prince remained at Kelso till the 6th of November, on the morning of which day he crossed the Tweed. The river was scarcely fordable, but the men were in high spirits, and when up to the middle in the water, they expressed the ardour they felt by setting up a loud shout and discharging their pieces.[996] After crossing the river, the prince turned to the left, and marched towards Jedburgh, where he arrived in a few hours.

As his next route lay through a dreary waste of considerable extent, he halted at Jedburgh for the night, to refresh his men, and departed early next morning. Marching up Rule water, Charles led his men into Liddisdale over the Knot o’ the Gate, and after a fatiguing march of about twenty-five miles, arrived at Haggiehaugh upon Liddel water, where he slept. Charles marched down Liddel water on the following day, being Friday the 8th of November, and entered England in the evening. When crossing the border, the Highlanders drew their swords, and gave a hearty huzza; but a damp came over their spirits, on learning that Lochiel had cut his hand in the act of unsheathing his sword, an occurrence which the Highlanders superstitiously regarded as a bad omen.[997] Charles lay at Reddings in Cumberland that night. The division belonging to the prince’s column, consisting of horse, which had taken the middle route by Hawick and Langholm, reached Longtown the same day.

While the eastern division was thus moving in a circuitous direction to the appointed place of rendezvous near Carlisle, the western column, which started on the road to Peebles, was following a more direct route, by Moffat and down Annandale. This division entered England near Longtown. On the 9th of November, Charles marched with his division to Rowcliff, four miles below Carlisle, where he crossed the river Eden, and quartered his men in the villages on the west side of the city. In the afternoon, Charles was joined by the greater part of the other division, under the Marquis of Tullibardine. This march was judiciously planned, and was executed with such precision, that scarcely two hours elapsed between the arrival of the two main divisions at the appointed place of rendezvous. The march, according to the Chevalier Johnstone, resembled on a small scale that of Marshal Saxe, a few years before, when he advanced to lay siege to Maestricht.

The plan for deceiving Marshal Wade succeeded so well, that that commander, who had now an army of 11,000 men under him, had no idea that the Highland army was marching on Carlisle, and accordingly directed his whole attention to the protection of Newcastle. Such was the secrecy with which the motions of the army were conducted, that, with the exception of Charles and his principal officers, no person knew its real destination.[998] On arriving in the neighbourhood of Carlisle, desertion had diminished the prince’s army by some hundreds.

The city of Carlisle, the capital of Cumberland, had formerly been a place of great strength, and had, during the wars between England and Scotland, been considered one of the keys of England on the side of the latter; but since the union of the crowns, its fortifications had been allowed to fall into decay. It was surrounded by walls flanked with towers, and a fosse or ditch. The city was protected by a castle on the north-west, supposed to be as old as the time of William Rufus, and by a citadel on the south-east, erected in the reign of Henry the Eighth. The castle, on the present occasion, was well furnished with artillery, and was garrisoned by a company of invalids; but, like the city, its fortifications were not in good repair. To aid the inhabitants in defending the city, the whole militia of Cumberland and Westmoreland had been assembled within its walls.

When approaching the city on the 9th, a party of the prince’s horse advanced to Stanwix Bank, a small hill near Carlisle, to reconnoitre; but they were forced to retire by a few shots from the castle. The whole of the army having passed the Eden next day, Charles proceeded to invest the city on all sides. One of his parties, in marching round from the Irish to the English gate, was fired upon both from the castle and the town, but did not sustain any loss. Having completed the investment, the prince, about noon, sent a letter to the mayor of the city, requiring him to open its gates, and allow the army to enter in a peaceable manner; promising, in case of compliance, to protect the city from insult, but threatening an assault in the event of a refusal. The prince stated, that should an assault be made, he might not have it in his power to prevent the dreadful consequences which usually befall a city captured in that way. An answer was required within two hours, but none was given, and a discharge of cannon from the besieged announced their determination to hold out. In consequence of this reception, the trenches were opened at night, under the orders of the Duke of Perth, at the distance of eighty yards from the walls. Mr. Grant, an Irish officer, of Lally’s regiment, who had lately arrived from France, and who was an experienced engineer, ably availing himself of some ditches, approached close to the city without suffering from the fire of the besieged. The artillery consisted of six Swedish field pieces, which had been received from France, and of the pieces which had been taken at Preston.[999]

Having received intelligence that Marshal Wade was advancing from Newcastle to relieve Carlisle, and that he had already arrived at Hexham, Charles resolved to meet him on some of the hilly grounds between Newcastle and Carlisle. Leaving, therefore, a sufficient force to blockade Carlisle, he departed with the remainder of the army on the morning of the 11th, and reached Warwick castle about ten o’clock. He then despatched Colonel Ker with a party of horse, in the direction of Hexham, to reconnoitre, and ordered his men to take up their quarters for the night. Ker having ascertained that the news of Wade’s march was false, returned to Brampton, and made his report. After waiting two days at Brampton without hearing any thing of Wade, a council of war was held, at which several opinions were offered. One opinion, in which Charles concurred, was that the army should advance to Newcastle, and give battle to Wade. Some of the council thought that this would be a dangerous step; for even were they to defeat the marshal, his army might take refuge in Newcastle, which it was vain for them to think of taking, as, besides the strength of the place, the army had lost many men upon its march. Others were for returning to Scotland till joined by a greater body of their friends; but Lord George Murray opposed all these views, and proposed, that while one part of the party should besiege and blockade Carlisle, the other should remain at Brampton. The Duke of Perth seconded this opinion, and offered to undertake the charge of the battery, if Lord George would take the command of the blockade. The council having all agreed to Lord George’s proposal, six of the Lowland regiments were sent to blockade the town, besides the Duke of Perth’s, which was to be employed on the battery.[1000]

Whilst the main body of the army was at Brampton, the party left before the city occupied themselves in cutting down wood in Corby and Warwick parks, with which they made scaling-ladders, fascines, and carriages. On the 13th, about noon, the regiments appointed for the blockade and siege of the city re-appeared before it. Lord George Murray took up his quarters at Harbery, and posted his men in the villages around the city to stop all communication with it. The besieging party broke ground in the evening within musket-shot of the walls, about half-way between the English and Scotch gates.[1001] A constant firing was kept up from the city; but as these operations were carried on under cloud of night, the party in the trenches received no injury. Having completed their battery, the besiegers brought up their whole cannon, consisting of thirteen pieces, to play upon the town. Next morning the fire from the garrison was renewed, but with little effect, and the besiegers, instead of returning the fire, held up their bonnets on the end of their spades in derision.[1002]

Alarmed by the preparations of the Highlanders, and the state of affairs within the city, a meeting of the inhabitants was held, at which it was resolved to surrender the town. For seven days the garrison of the city, kept in constant alarm by the Highlanders, had scarcely enjoyed an hour’s continued repose; and while many of the men had, from illness, absolutely refused to assist any longer in the defence of the city, numbers were hourly leaving it clandestinely by slipping over the walls; so that in several cases the officers of some companies had not more than three or four men left. In this state of matters the only alternative was a surrender; and as a crisis appeared to be at hand, a white flag was exhibited from the walls, and a messenger despatched to the Duke of Perth to request terms. His Grace sent an express to Brampton to know the prince’s pleasure; but his Royal Highness refused to grant any terms to the city unless the castle surrendered at the same time. At the request of the mayor, a cessation of arms was granted till next day; but before the time expired, Colonel Durand, the commander of the castle, agreed to surrender the fortress along with the town. The conditions were, that the liberties and properties of the inhabitants, and all the privileges of the town, should be preserved inviolate;—that both garrisons, on taking an oath not to serve against the house of Stuart for one year, should be allowed to retire,—and that all the arms and ammunition in the castle and the city, and all the horses belonging to the militia, should be delivered up to the prince. This capitulation was signed by the Duke of Perth and Colonel Durand on the night of the 14th.[1003]

Next morning at ten o’clock the Duke of Perth entered the city at the head of his regiment, and was followed by the other regiments at one o’clock in the afternoon. The castle, however, was not given up till next morning. The Duke of Perth shook hands with the men of the garrison, told them they were brave fellows, and offered them a large bounty to enlist in the service of the prince.[1004] The mayor and his attendants went to Brampton, and delivered the keys of the city to the prince.[1005] The duke found 1,000 stand of arms in the castle, besides those of the militia. He also found 200 good horses in the city, and a large quantity of valuable effects in the castle, which had been lodged there by the gentry of the neighbourhood for safety.[1006]

On the day following the surrender, the Chevalier de St. George was proclaimed in the city with the usual formalities; and, to give greater eclat to the ceremony, the mayor and aldermen were compelled to attend with the sword and mace carried before them. Along with the manifestoes formerly noticed, another declaration for England, dated from Rome, 23d December, 1743, was also read, of much the same tenor as the others.

After the Chevalier had been proclaimed, and the different manifestoes read, the corporation went out to meet the prince, who entered the city under a general salute of artillery.[1007]

In many points of view the capture of Carlisle would have been of great importance to the prince, if he had been strong enough to have availed himself of the state of terror which that event, and his subsequent advance into the very heart of England, had thrown the people of that kingdom; but his means were soon found quite inadequate to accomplish his end. Even if his resources had been much greater than ever they were, it seems doubtful whether the jealousies and dissensions, which, at an early period, began to distract his councils, would not have rendered all his exertions, for obtaining the great object of his ambition, unavailable.

The origo mali, the source of the discord, and all the misfortunes, as the Jacobites would say, that flowed from it, are attributed by an individual[1008] who had good opportunities of judging, and whose narrative appears to be impartial, to “the unbounded ambition of Secretary Murray, who from the beginning aimed at nothing less than the whole direction and management of every thing. To this passion he sacrificed what chance there was of a restoration, though that was the foundation on which all his hopes were built. He had an opportunity of securing the prince’s favour long enough before he could be rivalled. He was almost the only personal acquaintance the prince found in Scotland. It was he that had engaged the prince to make this attempt upon so slight a foundation, and the wonderful success that had hitherto attended it was placed to his account. The Duke of Perth, whose character indeed was well known to the prince, judging of Murray’s heart by his own, entertained the highest opinion of his integrity, went readily into all his schemes, and confirmed the prince in the esteem he had already conceived for Murray. After Mr. Kelly was gone, there was only Sir Thomas Sheridan and Mr. Sullivan, of those that had come along with the prince that had any thing to say with him, and these Murray had gained entirely. Lord George Murray was the man the secretary dreaded most as a rival. Lord George’s birth, age, capacity, and experience, would naturally give him great advantage over the secretary; but the secretary had got the start of him, and was determined to stick at nothing to maintain his ground.

“He began by representing Lord George as a traitor to the prince. He assured him that he had joined on purpose to have an opportunity of delivering him up to the government. It was hardly possible to guard against this imposture. The prince had the highest opinion of his secretary’s integrity, and knew little of Lord George Murray, so the calumny had its full effect. Lord George soon came to know the suspicion the prince had of him, and was affected as one may easily enough imagine. To be sure, nothing could be more shocking to a man of honour, and one that was now for the third time venturing his life and fortune for the royal cause. The prince was partly undeceived by Lord George’s gallant behaviour at the battle [of Preston], and had Lord George improved that opportunity he might have perhaps gained the prince’s favour, and got the better of the secretary; but his haughty and overbearing manner prevented a thorough reconciliation, and seconded the malice and malicious insinuations of his rival. Lord George did not altogether neglect making his court. Upon some occasions he was very obsequious and respectful, but had not temper to go through with it. He now and then broke out into such violent sallies, as the prince could not digest, though the situation of his affairs forced him to bear with them.

“The secretary’s station and favour had attached to him such as were confident of success, and had nothing in view but making their fortunes. Nevertheless, Lord George had greater weight and influence in the council, and generally brought the majority over to his opinion, which so irritated the ambitious secretary, that he endeavoured all he could to give the prince a bad impression of the council itself, and engaged to lay it entirely aside. He had like to have prevailed at Carlisle, but the council was soon resumed, and continued ever after to be held upon extraordinary emergencies. It was not in this particular only that Murray’s ambition was detrimental to the prince’s affairs. Though he was more jealous of Lord George Murray than of any body, Lord George was not the only person he dreaded as a rival. There were abundance of gentlemen in the army, in no respect inferior to Mr. Murray, but his early favour gave him an opportunity of excluding most of them from the prince’s presence and acquaintance. All those gentlemen that joined the prince after Murray were made known under the character he thought fit to give of them, and all employments about the prince’s person, and many in the army, were of his nomination. These he filled with such as, he had reason to think, would never thwart his measures, but be content to be his tools and creatures without aspiring higher. Thus some places of the greatest trust and importance were given to little insignificant fellows, while there were abundance of gentlemen of figure and merit, that had no employment at all, and who might have been of great use had they been properly employed.”[1009]

Till the siege of Carlisle, Secretary Murray had been able to disguise his jealousy of Lord George Murray, who, from his high military attainments, had been able hitherto to rule the council; but, on that occasion, the secretary displayed his hostility openly, and Lord George thereupon resigned his command as one of the lieutenant-generals of the army. The circumstances which led to the resignation of Lord George were these. It appears that, before the blockading party left Brampton, he desired Charles to give him some idea of the terms his royal highness would accept of from Carlisle, not with the view of obtaining powers to conclude a capitulation, but merely to enable him to adjust the terms according to the prince’s intentions, and thereby save a great deal of time. Charles not being able to come to any resolution before Lord George’s departure, his lordship begged of him to send his instructions after him, that he might know how to conduct himself in the event of an offer of surrender by the city; but the secretary interposed, and told Lord George plainly, that he considered the terms of capitulation as a matter within his province, and with which Lord George had no right to interfere.[1010] Lord George has not communicated the answer he gave to Murray on this occasion. The part of the army destined for the blockade, though willing to take their turn along with the rest of the army, was averse to bear the whole burden of it. Their commander was aware of this feeling, and, in a letter written to his brother, the Marquis of Tullibardine, from his head-quarters at Harbery, on the 14th of November, proposed a plan which he thought would satisfy both parties. After alluding to the indefatigable exertions of the Duke of Perth, who had himself wrought in the trenches to encourage his men to erect the battery, and the great difficulties he had to encounter from the nature of the ground, Lord George requested the marquis to represent to the prince, that the men engaged on the blockade would not expose themselves either in trenches or in the open air within cannon shot, or even within musket shot of the town, but by turns with the rest of the army; and he proposed that it should be decided by lot who should mount guard the first night, second night, and so on. To carry the views of his men into effect, Lord George proposed the following plan, subject to the approval of a council of war, viz., that 50 men should be draughted out of each of the battalions that remained at Brampton, with proper officers, and at least two majors out of the six battalions; and that these should be sent to Butcherly, within a mile of the battery; and that as 150 men might be a sufficient guard for the battery, the six battalions would in this way furnish two guards, in addition to which, he proposed that two additional guards should he draughted, one from the Athole brigade, and the other from General Gordon’s and Lord Ogilvy’s regiments; and, by the time these four guards had served in rotation, he reckoned that the city would be taken, or the blockade removed. A council of war was held at Brampton upon this proposal, which came to the resolution, that as soon as the whole body forming the blockade had taken their turn as guards, the division of the army at Brampton should occupy its place, and form the blockade, but that no detachments should be sent from the different corps; nor did the council think it fair to order any such, as these corps had had all the fatigue and danger of the blockade of Edinburgh.[1011]

Such were the circumstances which preceded the resignation of Lord George Murray, who, in a letter to Prince Charles dated the 15th of November, threw up his commission, assigning as his reason the little weight which his advice, as a general officer, had with his royal highness. He, however, stated, that as he had ever had a firm attachment to the house of Stuart, “and in particular to the king,” he would serve as a volunteer, and that it was his design to be that night in the trenches. In a letter, which he wrote the same day to the Marquis of Tullibardine, he stated that he was constantly at a loss to know what was going on in the army, and that he was determined never again to act as an officer; but that as a volunteer, he would show that no man wished better to the cause, and that he would do all in his power to advance the service. At the request of the marquis, who informed Lord George that Charles wished to see him, Lord George waited upon the prince, who appears to have received him dryly. On being informed by Lord George, that he had attended in consequence of a message from the prince, Charles denied that he had required his attendance, and told him that he had nothing particular to say to him. His lordship then repeated his offer to serve as a volunteer. Charles told him he might do so, and here the conversation ended. In a conversation which took place afterwards, between Lord George and Sir Thomas Sheridan, the former entered into some details, to show that in his station, as lieutenant-general, he had had no authority, and that others had usurped the office of general, by using the name of the prince. He complained that, while he was employed in the drudgery, every thing of moment was done without his knowledge or advice. He concluded by observing, that he had ventured his all,—life, fortune, and family,—in short, every thing but his honour,—that, as to the last, he had some to lose, but none to gain, in the way things were managed, and that, therefore, he had resolved upon serving in a humble capacity.[1012]

There appears to be no foundation for the statement[1013] that Lord George resigned his commission from a dislike to serve under the Duke of Perth, whom he never mentions but with respect, although he was much inferior to Lord George in ability. He has also been accused of arrogance both to those of his own rank and even to the prince. But as Burton[1014] well remarks, “men of ability like Murray, unless they preserve a rigid restraint, are apt to let the contempt they feel for the silly people they are embarked with become unreasonably apparent, especially when they are interrupted in their plans by those who do not understand them.” The Duke of Perth, who was a Roman Catholic, on its being represented to him that it might injure the prince’s cause to have at the head of the army one of his persuasion, cheerfully resigned his commission. On this, Lord George, with whose valuable services the army could not dispense, was persuaded to assume his command. He thus became virtually general of the army, under the prince; for his brother, Tullibardine, who was in a bad state of health, took nothing upon him.[1015]

Although Marshal Wade must have been duly apprised of the arrival of the Highland army in England, yet it was not until he had received intelligence of their march to Brampton, and of their probable advance upon Newcastle, that he began to move. He set out from Newcastle on the 16th of November, the day after the surrender of Carlisle; but a deep snow, which had just fallen, so retarded his march, that his army did not reach Ovington till eight o’clock that night. Next day he advanced to Hexham, where the first column of his army arrived about four o’clock in the afternoon; but the rear did not get up till near midnight. The army, unable to proceed farther on account of the snow, encamped on a moor near the town, and the men were provided with a sufficient quantity of straw to repose upon by the inhabitants, who kindled large fires all over the ground to protect the troops from the cold, which was unusually severe. At Hexham, Wade was informed of the reduction of Carlisle. He remained there three days in the expectation of a thaw; but the road to Carlisle continuing impassable, he returned to Newcastle, which he reached on the 22d of November.[1016] The conduct of Marshal Wade, in delaying his march from Newcastle, has been justly censured, for there can be no doubt that had he made a movement in advance upon Carlisle about the time the insurgents marched to Brampton, that town would have been saved.

The sudden and unexpected success which had attended Charles’s arms in England, spread a general alarm through all the northern and western parts of that kingdom, and extended even to the capital itself. Such was the alternation of hope and fear in the minds of the people of all classes, that whilst the most trifling article of good news led them to indulge in the most extravagant manifestations of joy, the smallest reverse of fortune plunged them into the most abject distress. Sir Andrew Mitchell, alluding to this circumstance in a letter to President Forbes, says, that if he had not lived long enough in England to know the natural bravery of the people, he should have formed a very false opinion of them from their demeanour at the period in question.[1017]

As soon as the news of the surrender of Carlisle was known in London, the government resolved to assemble an army of 10,000 men in Staffordshire, under Sir John Ligonier, an officer of considerable military experience. For this purpose, Sir John left London on the 21st of November, taking along with him nine old battalions, two regiments of dragoons, and part of his own regiment of horse. In addition to this and the other army under Wade, a third army, to be placed under the immediate command of his majesty, was ordered to be raised, and encamped in the vicinity of London for its protection. The city and castle of Chester were put in a proper state of defence, and the town of Liverpool raised a regiment of 700 men, who were clothed and maintained at the expense of the inhabitants.

When mustered at Carlisle, the prince’s army amounted only to about 4,500 men.[1018] The idea of marching to London and overturning the government with such a force, in the face of three armies and a numerous militia, amounting in all to upwards of 60,000 men, could scarcely have been entertained by any adventurer, however sanguine his hopes may have been; but Charles was so full of his object, that he shut his eyes to the great difficulties of the enterprise, which he imagined would be surmounted by the tried valour of his troops, and the junction of a considerable party in England devoted to his cause.

To determine upon the course to be next pursued, Charles called a council of war a few days after the capture of Carlisle, in which different opinions were maintained. As there was no appearance of either an invasion from France, or an insurrection in England, some of the members proposed returning to Scotland, where a defensive war could be carried on till such time as the prince should be in a condition to resume offensive operations. Others were for remaining at Carlisle, and quartering the army in the neighbourhood till they saw whether there should be any indications of a rising in England. A third party proposed that they should march to Newcastle and engage Wade’s army. A fourth, that the army should continue its route to London by the west or Lancashire road, in support of which opinion they urged, that being now in possession of Carlisle, they had, at the worst, a safe retreat. This last proposal being quite in accordance with the prince’s own sentiments, he declared that his opinion of marching directly to London, in terms of the resolution entered into at Edinburgh, was in no respect altered since he entered England. Lord George Murray, who had hitherto remained silent, was then desired by the prince to give his opinion. His lordship entered at some length into the question; stated the advantages and disadvantages of each of the different opinions; and concluded, by observing, that for himself he could not venture to advise his royal highness to march far into England, without receiving more encouragement from the country than he had hitherto got; but he was persuaded, that if his royal highness was resolved to make a trial of what could be expected, and would march south, his army, though small, would follow him. After Lord George had done speaking, Charles immediately said he would venture the trial. In giving his opinion, Lord George says he spoke with the more caution, in consequence of the recent circumstances which had led to his resignation.[1019]

As a considerable number of men had been collected at Perth since the prince’s departure from Scotland, and more were on their way thither from the north, Charles, before leaving Carlisle for the south, sent Maclauchlan of Maclauchlan to Scotland with an order to Lord Strathallan, to march with all the forces under his command, and join the army in England; but this order was disregarded.

Whilst encamped at Duddingston, the Highlanders preferred sleeping in the open air, and had with difficulty been prevailed upon to use the tents which had been captured at Preston and those provided at Edinburgh. These tents were packed up for the campaign in England: but the party, to whose care they were intrusted, most unaccountably left the whole of them at Lockerby along with other baggage. The whole, consisting of thirty cart-loads, were captured by a party of country people, who carried them to Dumfries. After the surrender of Carlisle, Lochiel went with a party to reclaim the baggage, failing which, he was ordered to exact £2,000 from the town; but before he reached Dumfries he was recalled. The army, therefore, being now without tents, and the season very severe, it was resolved so to arrange the order of march as to get the men accommodated in the towns. For this purpose, it was determined that one part of the army should precede the other by a day’s march, the second division always occupying the quarters vacated by the first; but that, where the country would admit of it, there should be only half-a-day’s march betwixt them.[1020]

In accordance with this plan, the first division, commanded by Lord George Murray, left Carlisle on the 20th of November. It consisted, with the exception of the Duke of Perth’s regiment, which being appointed to guard the thirteen cannon and ammunition, was not included in either division, of the whole of the low country regiments,[1021] six in number, with the life-guards under Lord Elcho, who marched at the head of the division. Each of these regiments led the van in its turn. This division reached Penrith the same day, having performed a march of eighteen miles. The second division, consisting of the clan regiments and the remainder of the cavalry, headed by the prince in person, left Carlisle next day, and arrived at Penrith that night, and entered the quarters occupied by the first division, which marched the same day to Shap, where it passed the night.[1022] In the march of the prince’s division the cavalry always marched at its head, and each of the clan regiments led the van by turns, agreeably to the plan observed by the division under Lord George Murray. A garrison of about 200 men was left in Carlisle under the command of one Hamilton, who had been made deputy-governor under the Duke of Perth, on whom the governorship had been conferred.[1023]

On reaching Penrith, Charles, for the first time, heard of the march of Wade from Newcastle, and of his arrival at Hexham. Resolved to return to Carlisle and give battle to Wade, should he advance upon that city, Charles remained all the next day at Penrith, waiting for further intelligence of the marshal’s movements; but receiving information from Lord Kilmarnock, who still remained with his horse at Brampton, that the English general was on his way back to Newcastle, Charles marched to Kendal on the 23d. The van of the army, which had arrived at Kendal on the previous day, marched on the 23d to Lancaster, where it halted for the night. The prince resumed his march on the 25th, and reached Lancaster, on which day the first division went to Garstang. On the 26th the whole army reached Preston, where it halted till the 27th. Recollecting the fate of the Highland army at Preston in 1715, the Highlanders had become possessed of the idea that they would never get beyond that town; but Lord George Murray, on being informed of it, dispelled this superstitious dread by crossing the bridge over the Ribble, and quartering a considerable number of his men on the other side of that river.[1024]

During his progress to Preston, Charles received no marks of attachment from the inhabitants of the towns and country through which he passed; but at Preston his arrival was hailed with acclamations and the ringing of bells. With the exception, however, of Mr. Townley, a Catholic gentleman who had been in the French service, and two or three other gentlemen, no person of any note joined him. By dint of entreaty a few recruits were indeed raised; but it was not with such levies that Charles could expect to strengthen his army. At Preston Charles held a council of war, at which he repeated the assurances he alleged he had received from his English partisans, and gave fresh hopes of being joined by them on their arrival at Manchester. The Highland chiefs were prevailed upon to continue their march. Lord George Murray proposed to march with his column to Liverpool, and to join the other division at Macclesfield; but this proposal was overruled.[1025]

Accordingly, on the 28th, the Highland army left Preston and marched to Wigan,[1026] where they passed the night. Next day the whole army entered Manchester, amid the acclamations of the inhabitants, who illuminated their houses, and lighted up bonfires in the evening, to express their joy. The same evening one Dickson, a sergeant, enlisted by the Chevalier Johnstone, from the prisoners taken at Preston, presented 180 recruits whom he had raised in the course of the day in Manchester. This young Scotsman, whom the Chevalier represents to have been “as brave and intrepid as a lion,” disappointed at his own ill success in raising recruits at Preston, had requested permission from Johnstone, in whose company he was, to proceed to Manchester—a day’s march before the army—to make sure of some recruits before it should arrive there. The Chevalier reproved him sharply for entertaining so wild and extravagant a project, which would expose him to the danger of being taken and hanged, and ordered him back to his company; but Dickson, reckless of consequences, quitted Preston on the evening of the 28th, with his mistress and a drummer, and travelling all night, entered Manchester next morning, and immediately began to beat up for recruits for “The Yellow Haired Laddie.” Conceiving that the Highland army was at hand, the populace at first did not interrupt him; but when they ascertained that the army would not arrive till the evening, they surrounded him in a tumultuous manner, with the intention of taking him prisoner dead or alive. Dickson presented his blunderbuss, charged with slugs, threatened to blow out the brains of those who first dared to lay hands on himself or the two who accompanied him; and by turning round continually, facing in all directions, and behaving like a lion, he soon enlarged the circle which a crowd of people had formed around him. Having contrived for some time to manœuvre in this way, those of the inhabitants of Manchester, who were attached to the house of Stuart, took arms, and flew to the assistance of Dickson, to rescue him from the fury of the mob; so that he had soon 500 or 600 men to aid him, who dispersed the crowd in a very short time. Dickson now triumphed in his turn; and putting himself at the head of his followers, he proudly paraded undisturbed the whole day with his drummer, enlisting all who offered themselves. That evening, on presenting his recruits, it was found that the whole amount of his expenses did not exceed three guineas. This adventure gave rise to many a joke, at the expense of the town of Manchester, from the singular circumstance of its having been taken by a sergeant, a drummer, and a girl.[1027]

The van of the prince’s army, consisting of 100 horse, entered Manchester on the evening of the 28th of November, and, to magnify their numbers, ordered quarters to be prepared for 10,000 men. Another party of cavalry entered the town at ten o’clock next morning, and about two o’clock in the afternoon, Charles himself, accompanied by the main body, marched in on foot, surrounded by a select body of the clans. He wore on this occasion a light tartan plaid belted with a blue sash, a grey wig, and a blue velvet bonnet with silver lace, having a white rose in the centre of the top, by which latter badge he was distinguished from his general officers, who wore their cockades on one side.[1028] Here, as in all the other towns through which the Highlanders had passed, the Chevalier de St. George was proclaimed. The bells of the town were rung, and in the evening an illumination was made and bonfires lighted, by order of the prince, who also issued a proclamation requiring all persons, who had public money in their hands, to pay it into his treasury. The army halted a day at Manchester and beat up for recruits. They were joined by some young men of the most respectable families in the town, by several substantial tradesmen and farmers, and by upwards of 100 common men. These, with the recruits raised by Dickson, were formed into a corps called the Manchester regiment, the command of which was given to Mr. Townley, on whom the rank of Colonel was conferred. This regiment never exceeded 300 men, and were all the English who ever openly declared for the prince.[1029]

Though Charles’s reception at Manchester had been rather flattering, yet the countenance he received was not such as to encourage him to proceed, and a retreat now began to be talked of. One of Lord George Murray’s friends ventured to hint to him that he thought they had advanced far enough, as neither of the events they had anticipated, of an insurrection in England, or a landing from France, were likely to take place. Lord George, who, it is understood, had always a retreat in view, if not supported by a party in England or by succours from abroad, said that they might make a farther trial by going as far as Derby, but that if they did not receive greater encouragement than they had yet met with, he would propose a retreat to the prince.

Conceiving that it was the intention of Charles to march by Chester into Wales, the bridges over the Mersey, on the road to Chester, had been broken down by order of the authorities; but this precaution was quite unnecessary. After halting a day at Manchester the army proceeded to Macclesfield on the morning of the 1st of December, in two divisions. One took the road to Stockport, and the other that to Knottesford. The bridge near Stockport having been broken down, Charles crossed the river up to his middle in water. At Knottesford the other division crossed the river over temporary bridges, made chiefly out of poplar trees laid length-ways with planks across. The horse and artillery crossed at Chedle-ford. In the evening both divisions joined at Macclesfield, where they passed the night.[1030]

At Macclesfield Charles received intelligence that the army of Ligonier, of which the Duke of Cumberland had taken the chief command, was on its march, and was quartered at Lichfield, Coventry, Stafford, and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The prince resolved to march for Derby. To conceal their intentions from the enemy, Lord George Murray offered to go with a division of the army to Congleton, which lay on the direct road to Lichfield, by which movement he expected that the duke would collect his army in a body at Lichfield, and thereby leave the road to Derby open.[1031] This proposal having been agreed to, Lord George went next day with his division to Congleton, whence he despatched Colonel Ker at night with a party towards Newcastle-under-Lyme, whither the Duke of Kingston had retired with his horse, on the approach of the Highlanders, to get intelligence of the enemy. Ker came to a village within three miles of Newcastle, and had almost surprised a party of dragoons, and succeeded in seizing one Weir, a noted spy, who had been at Edinburgh all the time the prince was there, and who had kept hovering about the army during its march to give intelligence of its motions.[1032] The main body of the royal army, which was posted at Newcastle-under-Lyme, on hearing of the march of the division of the Highland army upon Congleton, retreated towards Lichfield, and other bodies that were beyond Newcastle advanced for the purpose of concentrating near that town, by which movements the design of Lord George Murray was completely answered. Having thus succeeded in deceiving the duke, Lord George Murray, after passing the night at Congleton, went off early next morning with his division, and turning to the left, passed through Leek, and arrived at Ashbourne in the evening. Charles, who had halted a day at Macclesfield, took the road to Derby by Gawsworth, and entered Leek shortly after the other division had left it. He would have remained there till next morning; but as he considered it unsafe to keep his army divided at such a short distance from the royal forces, who might fall upon either division, he set out from Leek about midnight, and joined the other column at Ashbourne early in the morning.[1033] The Duke of Devonshire, who had been posted in the town of Derby, with a body of 700 militia, on hearing of the approach of the Highland army had retired from the town on the preceding evening.[1034]

On the 4th of December Charles put the first division of his army in motion, and at eleven o’clock in the forenoon his van-guard, consisting of thirty horse, entered Derby and ordered quarters for 9,000 men. About three o’clock in the afternoon Lord Elcho arrived with the life-guards and some of the principal officers on horseback. These were followed, in the course of the evening, by the main body, which entered in detached parties to make the army appear as numerous as represented. Charles himself did not arrive till the dusk of the evening; he entered the town on foot, and took up his quarters in a house belonging to the Earl of Exeter. During the day the bells were rung, and bonfires were lighted at night. The magistrates were ordered to attend in the market-place, in their gowns, to hear the usual proclamations read; but having stated that they had sent their gowns out of town, their attendance was dispensed with, and the proclamations were made by the common crier.[1035]

The fate of the empire and his own destiny may be said to have now depended upon the next resolution which Charles was to take. He had, after a most triumphant career, approached within 127 miles of London, and there seemed to be only another step necessary to complete the chivalrous character of his adventure, and to bring his enterprise to a successful termination. This was, to have instantly adopted the bold and decisive measure of marching upon and endeavouring to seize the capital. The possession of the metropolis, where Charles had a considerable party, would have at once paralysed the government; and the English Jacobites, no longer afraid of openly committing themselves, would have rallied round his standard. The consternation which prevailed in London when the news of the arrival of the Highland army at Derby reached that capital, precludes the idea that any effectual resistance would have been offered on the part of the citizens; and it was the general opinion, that if Charles had succeeded in beating the Duke of Cumberland, the army which had assembled on Finchley Common would have dispersed of its own accord.[1036] Alluding, in a number of the True Patriot, to the dismay which pervaded the minds of the citizens of London, Fielding says, that when the Highlanders, by “a most incredible march,” got between the Duke of Cumberland’s army and the metropolis, they struck a terror into it, “scarce to be credited.” The Chevalier Johnstone, who collected information on the spot shortly after the battle of Culloden, says, that when the intelligence of the capture of Derby reached London, many of the inhabitants fled to the country, carrying along with them their most valuable effects, and that all the shops were shut,—that there was a prodigious run upon the bank, which only escaped bankruptcy by a stratagem,—that although payment was not refused, the bank, in fact, retained its specie, by keeping it continually surrounded by agents of its own with notes, who, to gain time, were paid in sixpences; and as a regulation had been made, that the persons who came first should be entitled to priority of payment; and as the agents went out by one door with the specie they had received, and brought it back by another, the bona fide holders of notes could never get near enough to present them;—that King George had ordered his yachts—on board of which he had put all his most precious effects—to remain at the Tower stairs in readiness to sail at a moment’s warning,—and that the Duke of Newcastle, secretary of state for the war department, had shut himself up in his house a whole day,[1037] deliberating with himself upon the part it would be most prudent for him to take, doubtful even whether he should not immediately declare for the prince.[1038]

The only obstacle to Charles’s march upon the capital was the army of the Duke of Cumberland, which was within a day’s march of Derby. From the relative position of the two armies, the Highlanders might, with their accustomed rapidity, have outstripped the duke’s army, and reached the capital at least one day before it; but to Charles it seemed unwise to leave such an army, almost double his own in point of numbers, in his rear, whilst that of Wade’s would advance upon his left flank. Of the result of an encounter with Cumberland, Charles entertained the most sanguine hopes. His army was small, when compared to that of his antagonist; but the paucity of its numbers was fully compensated by the personal bravery of its component parts, and the enthusiastic ardour which pervaded the bosom of every clansman. At no former stage of the campaign were the Highlanders in better spirits than on their arrival at Derby. They are represented by the Chevalier Johnstone as animated to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, breathing nothing but a desire for the combat; and were to be seen during the whole day waiting in crowds before the shops of the cutlers to get their broadswords sharpened, and even quarrelling with one another for priority in whetting those fearful weapons.[1039] It was not without reason, therefore, that Charles calculated upon defeating Cumberland; and although there was a possibility that that bold and daring adventurer or his army, and perhaps both, might perish in the attempt to seize the capital, yet the importance of the juncture, and the probability that such a favourable opportunity of accomplishing his object might never again occur, seem to justify Charles in his design of advancing immediately upon London. However, whatever might have been the result of the advance of the rebel army, other counsels prevailed, and Charles reluctantly yielded to the entreaties of his friends, who advised a retreat.[1040]

On the morning after the arrival of the Highland army at Derby, Charles held a council of war to deliberate upon the course to be pursued. The prince, who never for a moment entertained the least idea of a retreat, and who considered his own personal safety a minor consideration, urged every argument in his power for an immediate advance, with all the vehemence and ardour characteristic of an enterprising and fanatic mind. He said that he did not doubt, that, as his cause was just, it would prevail,—that he could not think of retreating after coming so far,—and that he was hopeful there would be a defection in the enemy’s army, and that some of their troops would join him. Lord George Murray, however, proposed a retreat, and used a variety of arguments, which appeared to him unanswerable, in support of that measure. He represented to his royal highness and the council, that they had advanced into England depending upon French succours, or an insurrection in that kingdom, and that they had been disappointed in both,—that the prince’s army, by itself, was by no means a match for the troops which the government had assembled,—that besides the Duke of Cumberland’s army, which was between 7,000 and 8,000 men strong, and which was expected that night at Stafford, Marshal Wade was coming up by hard marches by the east road with an army of 10,000 men, and that he was already at Ferrybridge, which was within two or three days’ march of the Highland army,—that in addition to these two armies, there was a third at least equal to either of them already forming in the neighbourhood of London, consisting of guards and horse, with troops which the government would bring from the coast, where they were quartered; so that there would be three armies of regular troops, amounting together to about 30,000 men, which would surround the Highland army, which was not above a sixth of that number. That, admitting that the prince should beat Cumberland or Wade, he might, should he lose 1,000 or 1,500 of the best of his men, be undone by such a victory, as the rest would be altogether unfit to engage a fresh army, which he must expect to encounter,—that, on the other hand, should the prince be defeated, it could not be supposed that he or any of his men could escape, as the militia, who had not hitherto appeared much against the Highland army, would, upon its defeat, possess themselves of all the roads, and the enemy’s horse would surround them on all sides,—that as Lord John Drummond had lately landed in Scotland with his own regiment and some Irish troops from France, the prince would have a better chance of success by returning to Scotland,—that the forces under Lord John Drummond and the Highlanders assembled at Perth, would, when united, form an army almost as numerous as that under the prince,—that since the court of France had begun to send troops, it was to be hoped it would send considerable succours, and as the first had landed in Scotland, it was probable the rest would follow the same route,—that if the prince was cut off, all the succours France could send would avail nothing, and “the king’s” affairs would be ruined for ever,—that the prince had no chance of beating in succession the armies opposed to him, unless the English troops should be seized with a panic, and run away at the sight of the Highlanders, a circumstance barely possible, but not to be depended upon,—that the whole world would blame the prince’s counsellors as rash and foolish, for venturing an attempt which could not succeed,—and that the prince’s person, should he escape being killed in battle, would fall into the enemy’s hands. In fine, that nothing short of an absolute certainty of success could justify such a rash undertaking, but that retreat, which was still practicable, and of which Lord George offered to undertake the conduct, would give the prince a much better chance of succeeding than a battle under such circumstances, and would do him as much honour as a victory.[1041]

Charles still persevered in his resolution, and insisted on giving battle next morning to the Duke of Cumberland, and advancing to London; but the chiefs of the clans unanimously supported the views of Lord George Murray, and represented to his royal highness, that although they had no doubt the Highlanders could easily beat the army of the Duke of Cumberland, though greatly superior in point of numbers, yet such a victory could not be obtained without loss; and that an army of 4,500 men opposed to the whole force of England, could not admit of the smallest diminution, especially as they would soon have to fight another battle before entering London with the army on Finchley Common. But supposing that by some extraordinary occurrence they should arrive at the capital without losing a man, what a figure would such a small body of men make amidst its immense population? They added, that the prince ought now to perceive clearly how little he had to expect from his English partisans, since, after traversing all the counties reputed as to have been most attached to his family, not a single person of distinction had declared for him.[1042] With the exception of the Duke of Perth, who, from deference to the prince, concurred in his opinion, all the persons present were for a retreat; the duke himself at last also declaring for that measure.[1043]

Finding his council resolved upon a retreat, Charles proposed marching into Wales instead of returning to Carlisle; but this proposal was also opposed by all present. His royal highness at last reluctantly yielded to the opinion of his council. In conducting the retreat, Lord George Murray offered to remain always in the rear himself, and proposed that each regiment should take it by turns till the army reached Carlisle; and that it should march in such order, that if Lord George was attacked he might be supported as occasion required, and without stopping the army unless assailed by a great body of the enemy. He also stipulated that the cannon and carriages, with the ammunition, should be placed in the van, and that he should not be troubled with the charge of them.[1044]

To prevent any unpleasant feeling on the part of the army on account of the retreat, and to conceal the intelligence of their movements as long as possible from the enemy, the council agreed to keep the resolution to retreat secret; but it was divulged to Sir John Macdonald, an Irish gentleman, and an officer in the French service, who had come over with the prince. In the course of the afternoon, Lord George Murray, Keppoch, and Lochiel, while walking together, were accosted by this gentleman, who had just dined heartily, and made free with his bottle, and were rallied by him a good deal about the retreat. “What!” addressing Keppoch, “a Macdonald turn his back!” and turning to Lochiel, he continued, “For shame! A Cameron run away from the enemy! Go forward, and I’ll lead you.” The two chiefs and Lord George endeavoured to persuade Sir John that he was labouring under a mistake; but he insisted that he was right, as he had received certain information of the retreat.[1045]

Disappointed at the result of the deliberations of the council, Charles was exceedingly dejected. To raise his spirits, or to ingratiate themselves with him, some of the council, and particularly Sir Thomas Sheridan and Secretary Murray, though they had approved highly of the motion to retreat in the council, now very inconsistently blamed it. They were, however, aware that the retreat would, notwithstanding their opposition, be put in execution, and to excuse themselves for agreeing to it, they alleged that they did so, because they knew the army would never fight well when the officers were opposed to its wishes. The prince was easily persuaded that he had consented too readily to a retreat, but he would not retract the consent he had given unless he could bring over those to whom he had given it to his own sentiments, which he hoped he might be able to do. With this view he called another meeting of the council in the evening, and in the meantime sent for the Marquis of Tullibardine, who had been absent from the meeting in the morning, to ask his opinion. The marquis finding the prince bent upon advancing, declared himself against a retreat; but after hearing the arguments of the advocates of that measure at the meeting in the evening, the marquis retracted his opinion, and declared himself fully satisfied of its necessity. Having been informed of the conduct of those who had tampered with the prince, the rest of the officers told him at meeting, that they valued their lives as little as brave men ought to do, and if he was resolved to march forward, they would do their duty to the last; but they requested, for their own satisfaction, that those persons who had advised his royal highness to advance, would give their opinion in writing. This proposal put an end to farther discussion, and Charles, finding the members of council inflexible in their opinion, gave way to the general sentiments.[1046]

Hitherto the French court had not come under any written engagement to support the enterprise of Charles; but after the news of the capture of Edinburgh reached France, a treaty was entered into with the French crown. By this treaty, which was signed at Fontainebleau, on the 24th of October, by the Marquis D’Argenson, on the part of the French king, and by Colonel O’Bryen, on the part of Prince Charles, as regent of Scotland, the French king among other things agreed to furnish the prince with a body of troops to be taken from the Irish regiments in the service of France, along with other troops, to serve under his royal highness, to defend the provinces.

Lord John Drummond, who commanded a regiment in the French service, known by the name of Royal Scots, was appointed to the command of the troops destined for Scotland. Preparations were immediately made to fit out the expedition, and Lord John received written instructions, dated from Fontainebleau, October 28th, and signed by the French king, requiring him to repair immediately to Ostend, to superintend the embarkation of the troops. By these instructions, Lord John was directed to disembark the troops if possible upon the coast between Edinburgh and Berwick, and as soon as he had landed to give notice of his arrival to Prince Charles, and that the succours which he had brought were entirely at the disposal of the orders of the prince, to which Lord John himself was directed to conform, either by joining his army, or acting separately, according to the views of Charles. Lord John was also instructed to notify his arrival to the commander of the Dutch troops lately arrived in England, and to intimate to him to abstain from hostilities, agreeably to the capitulations of Tournay and Dendermonde. He was required to ask a prompt and categorical answer as to how he meant to act without sending to the Hague, as the states-general had declared to the Abbé de la Ville, that they had given positive orders to the commanders of these troops not to infringe the said capitulations; and if, notwithstanding such notification, the Dutch troops should commit acts of hostility against those of the King of France, his lordship was ordered to confine closely such Dutch prisoners he might make, and to listen to no terms which would recognise a violation of the capitulations, or dispense the King of France from enforcing the engagement that had been entered into with the Dutch, as to the exchange of prisoners of war.[1047]

Lord John Drummond accordingly proceeded to the coast, and having completed the embarkation of the troops, he set sail from Dunkirk about the middle of November, carrying along with him his own regiment, a select detachment from each of the six Irish regiments in the service of France, and Fitz-James’s regiment of horse, so called from the Duke of Berwick, natural son of James the Second, who had been their colonel. Along with these troops were embarked a train of artillery and a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition. The forces embarked amounted to about 1,000 men, but they did not all reach their destination, as some of the transports were taken by English cruisers, and others were obliged to return to Dunkirk.

From Montrose, where he arrived about the end of November, Lord John despatched part of his forces to Aberdeen to aid Lord Lewis Gordon, and proceeded with the rest to Perth, where he established his head-quarters. In terms of his instructions, he sent a messenger to England with a letter to Count Nassau, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch auxiliaries, notifying his arrival, and requiring him to observe a neutrality. He also carried letters to the commanders of the royal forces. The bearer of these despatches, having obtained an escort of eight dragoons at Stirling, proceeded to Edinburgh, and having delivered a letter to General Guest, the commander of the castle, went on to Newcastle, and delivered letters to the Count and Marshal Wade. The Marshal, however, refused to receive any message “from a person who was a subject of the king, and in rebellion against his majesty.” At the same time his lordship sent another messenger with a letter to Lord Fortrose, announcing his arrival, and urging him to declare for the prince as the only mode he had of retrieving his character. To induce him to join, Lord John informed his lordship that the prince had entered Wales, where he had about 10,000 friends, and that “his royal highness, the Duke of York,” accompanied by Lord Marischal, would immediately join him at the head of 10,000 men.[1048]

Apprehensive that Lord John would cross the Forth above Stirling, two regiments of foot, and Hamilton’s and Gardiner’s dragoons, which had arrived at Edinburgh from Berwick, on the 14th of November, began their march to Stirling, on the 7th of December, to guard the passages of the Forth, and were joined at Stirling by the Glasgow regiment of 600 men, commanded by the Earl of Home. Lord John Drummond, however, it appears, had no intention of crossing the Forth at this time.

Almost simultaneously with Lord John Drummond’s expedition, the French ministers appear to have contemplated a descent upon England under Lord Marischal, preparatory to which, Prince Henry repaired, by invitation, to Paris. Twelve thousand men were to have been employed upon this expedition; but the retreat of Charles from Derby, and the difficulty of transporting such a large force to England, seem to have prevented its execution.

On arriving at Derby, Charles had sent forward a party on the road to London to take possession of Swarkstone bridge, about six miles from Derby. Orders had been given to break down this bridge, but before these orders could be put in execution, the Highlanders had possessed themselves of it. The Duke of Cumberland, who, before this movement, had left Stafford with the main body of his army for Stone, returned to the former place, on the 4th of December, on learning that the Highland army was at Derby. Apprehending that it was the intention of Charles to march to London, he resolved to retire towards Northampton, in order to intercept him; but finding that the young Chevalier remained at Derby, his royal highness halted, and encamped on Meriden Common in the neighbourhood of Coventry.[1049]

Agreeably to a resolution which had been entered into the previous evening, the Highland army began its retreat early on the morning of the 6th of December, before daybreak. Scarcely any of the officers, with the exception of those of the council, were aware of the resolution, and all the common men were entirely ignorant of the step they were about to take. To have communicated such a resolution to the army all at once, would, in its present disposition, have produced a mutiny. To keep the army in suspense as to its destination, a quantity of powder and ball was distributed among the men, as if they were going into action, and by some it was insinuated that Wade was at hand, and that they were going to fight him; whilst by others it was said that the Duke of Cumberland’s army was the object of their attack.[1050] At the idea of meeting the enemy, the Highlanders displayed the greatest cheerfulness; but as soon as they could discriminate by daylight the objects around them, and could discover by an examination of the road, that they were retracing their steps, nothing was to be heard throughout the whole army, but expressions of rage and lamentation. Had it sustained a defeat, the grief of the army could not have been more acute. Even some of those who were in the secret of the retreat, and thought it the only reasonable scheme that could be adopted, could scarcely be reconciled to it when about to be carried into effect.[1051]

Charles himself partook deeply of the distress of his men. Overcome by the intensity of his feelings, he was unable for a time to proceed with the army, and it was not until his men had been several hours on their march that he left Derby. Forced in spite of himself to give a reluctant assent to a measure, which, whilst it rendered useless all the advantages he had obtained, rendered his chance of gaining the great stake he was contending for extremely problematical; his spirits sunk within him, and an air of melancholy marked his exterior. In marching forwards, he had always been first up in the morning, put his men in motion before break of day, and had generally walked on foot; but in the retreat, his conduct was totally changed. Instead of taking the lead, he allowed the army to start long before he left his quarters, kept the rear always behind waiting for him, and when he came out, mounted his horse, and rode straight forward to his next quarters with the van.[1052]

After the first burst of indignation had in some degree subsided, and when the men began to speculate upon the reasons which could have induced the retreat, a statement was given out that the reinforcements expected from Scotland were on the road, and had already entered England,—that Wade was endeavouring to intercept them,—that the object of the retrograde movement was to effect a junction with them,—and that as soon as these reinforcements had joined the army, the march to London would be resumed. It was hinted that they would probably meet these reinforcements about Preston or Lancaster. The prospect thus held out to them of a speedy advance upon London, tended to allay the passions of the men, but they continued sullen and silent during the whole of the day.[1053]

The army lay the first night at Ashbourne. It reached Leek next day; but that town being too small to accommodate the army, Elcho’s and Pitsligo’s horse, and Ogilvy’s and Roy Stuart’s regiments of foot, went on to Macclesfield, where they passed the night. The remainder of the army came next day to Macclesfield, and the other division, which had passed the night there, went to Stockport. On the 9th both divisions met on the road to Manchester, and entered that town in a body. There had been considerable rioting and confusion in Manchester on the preceding day. Imagining from the retreat that the Highland army had sustained a reverse, a mob had collected, and, being reinforced by great numbers of country people with arms, had insulted the Jacobite inhabitants, and seemed disposed to dispute the entrance of the Highland army into the town; but upon the first appearance of the van, the mob quietly dispersed, and order was restored.[1054] In the retreat some abuses were committed by stragglers, who could not be prevented from going into houses. As Lord George Murray found great difficulty in bringing these up, he found it necessary to appoint an expert officer out of every regiment to assist in collecting the men belonging to their different corps who had kept behind, a plan which he found very useful.[1055]

It was Charles’s intention to have halted a day at Manchester, and he issued orders to that effect; but on Lord George Murray representing to him that delay might be dangerous, the army left that town on the forenoon of the 10th, and reached Wigan that night. Next day the army came to Preston, where it halted the whole of the 12th. From Preston the Duke of Perth was despatched north with 100 horse, to bring up the reinforcements from Perth.[1056]

The prince arrived at Lancaster late in the evening of the 13th. On reaching his quarters, Lord George Murray found that orders had been given out, that the army was to halt there all the next day. On visiting Charles’s quarters next morning, Lord George was told by the prince that he had resolved to fight the enemy, and desired him to go along with O’Sullivan, and reconnoitre the ground in the neighbourhood for the purpose of choosing a field of battle. His lordship, contrary to the expectations of those who had advised Charles to fight, and who supposed that Lord George would have opposed that measure, offered no advice on the subject. He merely proposed that as the ground suitable for regular troops might not answer the Highlanders, some Highland officers should also inspect the ground, and as Lochiel was present, he requested that he would go along with him,—a request with which he at once complied. With an escort of horse and foot, and accompanied by Lochiel and O’Sullivan, Lord George returned back about two miles, where he found a very fine field upon a rising ground sufficiently large for the whole army, and which was so situated, that from whatever quarter the enemy could come, the army would be completely covered till the enemy were close upon them. After surveying these grounds very narrowly, and taking three of the enemy’s rangers prisoners, the reconnoitring party returned to Lancaster. From the prisoners Lord George received information that the corps called the rangers was at Garstang, and that a great body of Wade’s dragoons had entered Preston a few hours after he had left it. His lordship reported to the prince the result of the survey, and told him that if the number of his men was sufficient to meet the enemy, he could not wish a better field of battle for the Highlanders; but Charles informed him that he had altered his mind, and that he meant to proceed on his march next day.[1057]

It is now necessary to notice the movements of the Duke of Cumberland and Marshal Wade. By retaining possession of Swarkstone bridge for some time after his main body left Derby, Charles deceived Cumberland as to his motions, and the Highland army was two days’ march distant from the duke’s army before he was aware of its departure from Derby. As soon, however, as he was apprised of the retreat, the duke put himself at the head of his horse and dragoons, and 1,000 mounted volunteers, furnished by some of the gentlemen of Warwickshire, for the purpose of stopping the Highlanders till the royal army should come up, or, failing in that design, of harassing them in their retreat. He marched by Uttoxeter and Cheadle; but the roads being excessively bad, he did not arrive at Macclesfield till the night of the 10th, on which day the Highland army had reached Wigan. At Macclesfield the duke received intelligence that the Highlanders had left Manchester that day. His royal highness thereupon sent orders to the magistrates of Manchester to seize all stragglers belonging to the Highland army; he directed Bligh’s regiment, then at Chester, to march to Macclesfield, and, at the same time, ordered the Liverpool Blues to return to Warrington, where they had been formerly posted. Early on the 11th, he detached Major Wheatley with the dragoons in pursuit of the Highlanders. Meanwhile Marshal Wade having held a council of war on the 8th, at Ferrybridge, in Yorkshire, had resolved to march by Wakefield and Halifax into Lancashire, in order to intercept the insurgents in their retreat northwards. He accordingly came to Wakefield on the 10th at night, where, learning that the van-guard of the Highland army had reached Wigan, he concluded that he would not be able to overtake it, and therefore resolved to return to his old post at Newcastle by easy marches. He, however, detached General Oglethorpe with the horse to join the duke. This officer crossed Blackstone Edge with such expedition, that he reached Preston on the same day that the Highlanders left it, having marched about 100 miles in three days, over roads at any time unfavourable, but now rendered almost impassable by frost and snow. At Preston, Oglethorpe found the Georgia rangers, and was joined by a detachment of Kingston’s horse, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Mordaunt. Here these united forces halted nearly a whole day, in consequence of an express which the Duke of Cumberland had received from London, announcing that a French expedition from Dunkirk had put to sea, and requiring him to hold himself in readiness to return to the capital. This information was afterwards found to be erroneous; but it was of service to the Highlanders, who, in consequence of the halt of the royal forces, gained a whole day’s march a-head of their pursuers.

Carlisle, from Stanwix Bank—1745.

In his retreat, the chief danger the prince had to apprehend was from the army of Wade, who, by marching straight across the country into Cumberland, might have reached Penrith a day at least before the prince; but by the information he received of the route taken by Wade’s cavalry, he saw that the danger now was that the united cavalry of both armies might fall upon his rear before he could reach Carlisle. He therefore left Lancaster on the 15th; but the rear of his army was scarcely out of the town when some of the enemy’s horse entered it. The town bells were then rung, and the word being given from the rear to the front, that the enemy was approaching, the Highlanders formed in order of battle; but the alarm turning out to be false, the army continued its march to Kendal. The enemy’s horse, however, followed for two or three miles, and appeared frequently in small parties, but attempted nothing. The army entered Kendal that night, where they were met by the Duke of Perth and his party. In his way north, the duke had been attacked in this town by a mob, which he soon dispersed by firing on them; but in the neighbourhood of Penrith he met with a more serious obstruction, having been attacked by a considerable body of militia, both horse and foot, and being vastly outnumbered, was obliged to retreat to Kendal.[1058]

As Lord George Murray considered it impossible to transport the four-wheeled waggons belonging to the army to Shap, he proposed to the prince to substitute two-wheeled carts for them,[1059] and as he was afraid that no provisions could be obtained at Shap, he suggested that the men should be desired to provide themselves with a day’s provision of bread and cheese. Orders were accordingly issued agreeably to these suggestions, but that regarding the waggons seems not to have been attended to; and by some oversight, the order about the provisions was not communicated to many of them till they were on their march next morning. The consequence was, that the men who were unprovided returned to the town, and much confusion would have ensued, had not Lord George Murray sent some detachments of the rear with officers into the town to preserve order, and to see the men return to the army. This omission retarded considerably the march of the army. The difficulties which Lord George Murray had anticipated in transporting the waggons across the hills were realised, and by the time he had marched four miles and got among the hills, he was obliged to halt all night, and take up his quarters at a farm house about a gun-shot off the road. The Glengarry men were in the rear that day, and though reckoned by his lordship not the most patient of mortals, he says he “never was better pleased with men in his life,” having done all that was possible for men to do.[1060]

With the exception of the Glengarry regiment, the army passed the night between the 16th and 17th at Shap.[1061] On the morning of the 17th, Lord George received two messages from Charles, ordering him upon no account to leave the least thing, not so much as a cannon ball behind, as he would rather return himself than that any thing should be left. Though his lordship had undertaken to conduct the retreat on the condition that he should not be troubled with the charge of the baggage, ammunition, &c., he promised to do all in his power to carry every thing along with him. To lighten the ammunition waggons, some of which had broken down, his lordship prevailed upon the men to carry about 200 cannon balls, for which service he gave the bearers sixpence each. With difficulty the rear-guard reached Shap that night at a late hour. Here he found most of the cannon, and some of the ammunition with Colonel Roy Stuart and his battalion.[1062] The same night, the prince with the main body arrived at Penrith. Some parties of militia appeared at intervals; but they kept at a considerable distance, without attempting hostilities.[1063]

Early in the morning of the 18th, the rear-guard left Shap; but as some of the small carriages were continually breaking, its march was much retarded. It had not proceeded far when some parties of English light-horse were observed hovering at some distance on the eminences behind the rear-guard. Lord George Murray notified the circumstance to the prince at Penrith; but as it was supposed that these were militia, the information was treated lightly. No attempt was made to attack the rear-guard, or obstruct its progress, till about mid-day, when a body of between 200 and 300 horse, chiefly Cumberland people, formed in front of the rear-guard, behind an eminence near Clifton Hall, and seemed resolved to make a stand. Lord George Murray was about to ascend this eminence, when the party was observed marching two and two abreast on the top of the hill. They suddenly disappeared to form themselves in order of battle behind the eminence, and made a great noise with trumpets and kettle-drums. At this time two of the companies of Roy Stuart’s regiment, which the Duke of Perth had attached to the artillery, were at the head of the column. The guns and ammunition waggons followed, behind the two other companies of the same regiment. The Glengarry regiment, which marched with Lord George Murray at its head, was in the rear of the column. Believing, from the great number of trumpets and kettle-drums, that the English army was at hand, the rear-guard remained for a short time at the bottom of the hill, as if at a loss how to act in a conjuncture which appeared so desperate. It was the opinion of Colonel Brown, an officer of Lally’s regiment, who was at the head of the column, that they should rush upon the enemy sword in hand, and either open a passage to the army at Penrith, or perish in the attempt. The men of the four companies adopting this opinion, immediately ran up the hill, without informing Lord George Murray of their resolution; and his lordship, on observing this movement, immediately ordered the Glengarry men to proceed across the inclosure, and ascend the hill from another quarter, as they could not conveniently pass the waggons which had almost blocked up the roads. The Glengarry men, throwing off their plaids, reached the summit of the hill almost as soon as the head of the column, on gaining which, both parties were agreeably surprised to find, that the only enemy in view was the light horse they had observed a few minutes before, and who, alarmed at the appearance of the Highlanders, galloped off in disorder. One of the fugitives fell from his horse, and was cut to pieces in an instant by the Highlanders.[1064]

The rear-guard resumed its march, and on reaching the village of Clifton, Lord George Murray sent the artillery and heavy baggage forward to Penrith under a small escort. Being well acquainted with all the inclosures and parks about Lowther Hall, the seat of Lord Lonsdale, about the distance of a mile from Clifton, Lord George Murray, at the head of the Glengary regiment and some horse, examined these parks and inclosures in the hope of falling in with the light horse; but, although he saw several of them, he only succeeded in making two prisoners. By these prisoners Lord George was informed that the duke himself, with a body of 4,000 horse, was about a mile behind him. As Clifton was a very good post, Lord George Murray resolved to remain there; and on his return to the village he sent Colonel Roy Stuart with the two prisoners to Penrith, to inform Charles of the near approach of the duke, and that he would remain at Clifton till further orders. In the event of the prince approving of his intention of making a stand at Preston, his lordship requested that 1,000 men might be sent him from Penrith. On returning to Clifton from Lowther parks, Lord George found the Duke of Perth there; and, besides Colonel Roy Stuart’s men, who amounted to about 200, he also found the Macphersons with their chief, Cluny Macpherson, and the Stewarts of Appin, headed by Stewart of Ardshiel.[1065]

FRASER.

Before the return of Colonel Roy Stuart from Penrith, the enemy appeared in sight, and proceeded to form themselves into two lines upon Clifton moor, about half a mile from the village. The Duke of Perth thereupon rode back to Penrith to bring up the rest of the army to support Lord George, who he supposed would, from the strength of his position, be able to maintain himself till joined by the main body. The duke was accompanied by an English gentleman who had attended Lord George during the retreat, and, knowing the country perfectly well, had offered to lead without discovery the main body a near way by the left, by which movement they would be enabled to fall upon the enemy’s flank. Had Lord George received the reinforcement he required, his design was to have sent half of his men through the inclosures on his right, so as to have flanked the duke’s army on that side, whilst it was attacked on the other by the other half. He expected that if he succeeded in killing but a small number of Cumberland’s horse that the rest would be thrown into disorder, and that as they would be obliged to retreat through a lane nearly a mile long, between Lord Lonsdale’s inclosures, that they would choke up the road, and that many of them would be unable to escape. In absence of this reinforcement, however, the Lieutenant-general was obliged to make the best dispositions he could with the force he had with him, which amounted to about 1,000 men in all, exclusive of Lord Pitsligo’s horse and hussars, who, on the appearance of the enemy, shamefully fled to Penrith.[1066]

The dispositions of Lord George were these. Within the inclosures to the right of the highway he posted the Glengarry men, and within those to their left he placed the Stewarts of Appin and the Macphersons. On the side of the highway, and close to the village of Clifton, he placed Colonel Roy Stuart’s regiment. As some ditches at the foot stretched farther towards the moor on the right than on the left, and as that part was also covered by Lord Lonsdale’s other inclosures, the party on the right could not easily be attacked; and they had this advantage, that they could with their fire flank the enemy when they attacked the left. To induce the enemy to believe that his numbers were much greater than they were, Lord George, after exhibiting the colours he had at different places, caused them to be rolled up, carried to other places, and again unfurled.[1067]

About an hour after the Duke of Cumberland had formed his men, about 500 of his dragoons dismounted and advanced forward to the foot of the moor, in front of a ditch at the bottom of one of three small inclosures between the moor and the places where Roy Stuart’s men were posted at the village. At this time Colonel Stuart returned from Penrith, and, after informing Lord George that the prince had resolved to march immediately to Carlisle, and that he had sent forward his cannon, he stated that it was his royal highness’s desire that he should immediately retreat to Penrith. From the situation in which the Lieutenant-general was now placed, it was impossible to obey this order without great danger. The dismounted horse were already firing upon the Highlanders, who were within musket-shot; and, if retreat was once begun, the men might get into confusion in the dark, and become discouraged. Lord George proposed to attack the dismounted party, and stated his confidence that he would be able by attacking them briskly to dislodge them; Cluny Macpherson and Colonel Stuart concurring in Lord George’s opinion, that the course he proposed was the only prudent one that could be adopted, they agreed not to mention the message from the prince.

In pursuance of this determination, Lord George Murray went to the right where the Glengarry men were posted, and ordered them, as soon as they should observe him advance on the other side, to move also forward and keep up a smart fire till they came to the lowest ditch. He observed that if they succeeded in dislodging the enemy from the hedges and ditches, they could give them a flank fire within pistol-shot; but he gave them particular injunctions not to fire across the highway, nor to follow the enemy up the moor. After speaking with every officer of the Glengarry regiment, his lordship returned to the left, and placed himself at the head of the Macphersons, with Cluny by his side. It was now about an hour after sunset, and the night was somewhat cloudy; but at short intervals the moon, which was in its second quarter, broke through and afforded considerable light. The Highlanders had this advantage, that whilst they could see the disposition of the enemy, their own movements could not be observed. In taking their ground the dismounted dragoons had not only lined the bottom inclosures which ran from east to west, directly opposite the other inclosures in which the Highlanders were posted, but some of them had advanced up along two hedges that lay south and north.

The Highlanders being ready to advance, the Stewarts and Macphersons marched forward at the word of command, as did the Macdonalds on the right. The Highlanders on the right kept firing as they advanced; but the Macphersons, who were on the left, came sooner in contact with the dragoons, and received the whole of their fire. When the balls were whizzing about them, Cluny exclaimed, “What the devil is this?” Lord George told him that they had no remedy but to attack the dragoons, sword in hand, before they had time to charge again. Then drawing his sword, he cried out, “Claymore,” and Cluny doing the same, the Macphersons rushed down to the bottom ditch of the inclosure, and clearing the diagonal hedges as they went, fell sword in hand upon the enemy, of whom a considerable number were killed at the lower ditch. The rest fled across the moor, but received in their flight the fire of the Glengarry regiment. In this skirmish only twelve Highlanders were killed; but the royal forces sustained a loss of about one hundred in killed and wounded, including some officers. The only officer wounded on the side of the Highlanders was Macdonald of Lochgarry, who commanded the Glengarry men. Lord George Murray made several narrow escapes. Old Glenbucket, who, from infirmity, remained at the end of the village on horseback, had lent him his target, and it was fortunate for Lord George that he had done so. By means of this shield, which was convex, and covered with a plate of metal painted, his lordship protected himself from the bullets of the dragoons, which cleared away the paint off the target in several places.[1068] The only prisoner taken on this occasion was a footman of the Duke of Cumberland, who stated that his master would have been killed, if a pistol, with which a Highlander took aim at his head, had not missed fire. This man was sent back to his royal highness by the prince.[1069]

After remaining a short time at Clifton after the skirmish, Lord George went to Penrith, where he found the prince ready to mount for Carlisle. His royal highness was very well pleased with the result of the action. The men who had been engaged halted at Penrith a short time to refresh themselves; and the prince, after sending Clanranald’s and Keppoch’s regiments as far back as Clifton bridge, to induce the inhabitants to believe that he meant to fight the Duke of Cumberland, left Penrith for Carlisle with the main body. Next morning the whole army reached Carlisle, where the prince found letters, though rather of an old date, from Lord John Drummond and Lord Strathallan. Lord John gave him great encouragement from the court of France, and informed his royal highness that it was the desire of the King of France that the prince should proceed with great caution, and if possible avoid a decisive action till he received the succours the king intended to send him, which would be such as to put his success beyond all doubt, and that, in the mean time, he (Lord John) had brought over some troops and a train of artillery, sufficient to reduce all the fortresses in Scotland. Lord Strathallan gave a very favourable account of the state of the army assembled at Perth, which he represented as better than that which the prince had with him. As nothing positive, however, was known at Carlisle of the operation of the Jacobite forces in the north, Charles resolved to continue the retreat into Scotland. Contrary to the opinion of Lord George Murray, who advised him to evacuate Carlisle, Charles resolved to leave a garrison there to facilitate his return into England, of which at the time he had strong hopes when joined by the forces under Lords Strathallan and Drummond.[1070] As Carlisle was not tenable, and as the Highland army could easily have re-entered England independent of any obstruction from any garrison which could be put into it, the conduct of Charles in leaving a portion of his army behind has been justly reprehended; but there is certainly no room for the accusation which has been made against him, of having wilfully sacrificed the unfortunate garrison.[1071] It was not without difficulty that Charles could make up a garrison. The Duke of Perth was unwilling to allow any of his men to remain; and appearing to complain in the presence of the prince that a certain number of the Athole men had not been draughted for that service, Lord George Murray told him, also in the prince’s presence, that if his royal highness would order him, he would stay with the Athole brigade, though he knew what his fate would be.[1072] The number of men left in garrison amounted to about 400. Mr. Hamilton was continued in the command of the castle, and Mr. Townley was made commandant of the town.

The Highland army halted the whole of the 19th in Carlisle, and departed next day for Scotland. The Esk, which forms part of the boundary between England and Scotland on the west, was, from an incessant rain of several days, rendered impassable by the nearest road from Carlisle; but at the distance of about eight miles from Carlisle it was still fordable. The army reached the place, where they intended to cross, about two o’clock in the afternoon. Before crossing the water, the following route was fixed upon by the advice of Lord George Murray, whose opinion had been asked by Charles in presence of some of his officers, viz., that Lord George, with six battalions, should march that night to Ecclefechan, next day to Moffat, and there halt a day; and after making a feint towards the Edinburgh road, as if he intended to march upon the capital, to turn off to Douglas, then to Hamilton and Glasgow,—that the prince should go with the clans and most of the horse that night to Annan, next day to Dumfries, where they should rest a day; then to Drumlanrig, Leadhills, Douglas, and Hamilton, so as to be at Glasgow the day after the arrival in that city of Lord George’s division.[1073]

Though the river was usually shallow at the place fixed upon for passing, it was now swollen, by continued rains, to the depth of four feet. The passage was not without its dangers; but as the river might be rendered impassable by a continuation of the rain during the night, and as it was possible that the Duke of Cumberland might reach the Esk next morning, it was resolved to cross it immediately. After trying the water to ascertain that the ford was good, a body of cavalry formed in the river, a few paces above the ford, to break the force of the stream, and another body was likewise stationed in the river below the ford to pick up such of the infantry as might be carried away by the violence of the current. This arrangement being completed, the infantry entered the river a hundred men abreast, each holding one another by the neck of the coat, by which plan they supported one another against the rapidity of the river, leaving sufficient intervals between their ranks for the passage of the water. Lord George Murray, who was among the first to enter the water in his philibeg, says, that when nearly across, there were about 2,000 men in the water at once. The appearance of the river, in the interval between the cavalry, presented an extraordinary spectacle. As the heads of the Highlanders were generally all that was seen above the water, the space of water occupied in the passage looked like a paved street. Not one man was lost in the transit; but a few girls who had followed their lovers in their adventurous campaign, were swept away by the current. After the army had passed, the pipes began to play; and the Highlanders, happy on setting their feet again on Scottish ground, forgot for a time the disappointment they had suffered at Derby, and testified their joy by dancing reels upon the northern bank of the Esk.[1074]

The expedition into England, though not signalised by any great military achievement, will always hold a distinguished place in the annals of bold and adventurous enterprise. It was planned and carried through in all its details with great judgment; and if circumstances had not delayed its execution, it might have terminated in success. From the consternation into which the English people were thrown by the invasion of the Highland army,[1075] it seems certain, that without the aid of a regular army their militia would scarcely have ventured to oppose the march of the Highlanders to the metropolis; but after the return of the British forces from Flanders, the arrival of the Dutch auxiliaries, and the assembling of the armies under Wade and Ligonier, the attempt appeared to be hopeless. It was not, however, until the retreat from Derby that the government was relieved from its anxiety for the safety of the monarchy.

The Duke of Cumberland halted at Penrith on the 20th of December, and marched next day to Carlisle, which he invested the same day. As he was under the necessity of sending to Whitehaven for heavy cannon, the fire from his batteries did not commence till the morning of the 28th. During the blockade the garrison fired repeatedly upon the besiegers, but with little effect. A fire was kept up by the besiegers from a battery of six eighteen-pounders, during the 28th and 29th. Another battery of three thirteen-pounders was completed on the 30th; but on the first fire from the old battery that day, the besieged hung out a white flag, and offered hostages for a capitulation. The Duke of Cumberland, on observing this signal, sent one of his aides-de-camp with a note, desiring to know its meaning; to which Governor Hamilton answered, that the object was to obtain a cessation for a capitulation, and desiring to know what terms his royal highness would grant to the garrison. The only condition the duke would grant was, that the garrison should not be put to the sword, but be reserved for the king’s pleasure; and Hamilton, seeing the impossibility of holding out, surrendered the same day. The garrison, including officers, consisted of 114 men of the Manchester regiment; of 274 men, also including officers, chiefly of the Scotch low country regiments, and a few Frenchmen and Irishmen. The number of cannon in the castle was sixteen, ten of which had been left by the Highland army on its return to Scotland. Among the prisoners were found twelve deserters from the royal forces, who were immediately hanged. The officers were kept prisoners in the castle, but the privates were confined in the cathedral and town-jail. The whole were afterwards dispersed in several jails through England. The Duke of Cumberland, after putting Bligh’s regiment in garrison at Carlisle, returned to London, in consequence of an order from court.[1076]

FOOTNOTES:

[988] Kirkconnel MS. Lord George Murray’s Narrative, in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 47.

[989] Kirkconnel MS.

[990] Kirkconnel MS.

[991] The Highland army about the middle of November, according to a list then published, was thus composed:—

Regiments. | Colonels. | Men.
Lochiel, | Cameron, younger of Lochiel, | 740
Appin, | Stewart of Ardshiel, | 360
Athole, | Lord George Murray, | 1,000
Clanranald, | Macdonald, yr. of Clanranald | 200
Keppoch, | Macdonald of Keppoch, | 400
Glencoe, | Macdonald of Glencoe, | 200
Ogilvy, | Lord Ogilvy, | 500
Glenbucket, | Gordon of Glenbucket, | 427
Perth, | Duke of Perth (including Pitsligo’s foot), | 750
Robertson, | Robertson of Strowan, | 200
Maclauchlan, | Maclauchlan of Maclauchlan, | 260
Glencairnock, | Macgregor of Glencairnock, | 300
Nairne, | Lord Nairne, | 200
Edinburgh, | John Roy Stewart, | 450
Several small corps, | | 1,000
Horse, | Lord Elcho, Lord Kilmarnock, | 160
Horse, | Lord Pitsligo’s, | 140
| | ——
| | 7,287

The numbers, however, are overrated.

[992] Memoirs, p. 113.

[993] Letters from Moor and Smart, two of the agents of the Chevalier de St. George, will be found among the Stuart Papers. Smart held an appointment in the London post-office, and is often alluded to in the correspondence between Sempil and Drummond of Bochaldy, and the Chevalier, as their “post-office correspondent.” Smart was furnished with a list of the addresses, under which the correspondence between the Chevalier’s agents on the continent, and their friends in England, was carried on, and, as his duty appears to have been to examine all letters passing through the post-office, he passed the letters to such addresses without examination. When he found any letters from abroad, giving information to the government about the Jacobite party, he always burnt them.—Letter from Drummond to the Chevalier de St. George, 19th October, 1745, among the Stuart Papers.

[994] Stuart Papers.

[995] Marchant, p. 161.

[996] Kirkconnel MS.

[997] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 455.

[998] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 56.

[999] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 57.

[1000] Lord George Murray’s Narrative, Jacobite Memoirs, pp. 47, 48.

[1001] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 493.

[1002] Ray, p. 96.

[1003] Kirkconnel MS.

[1004] Marchant, p. 169.

[1005] Boyse, p. 100.

[1006] Marchant, p. 169.

[1007] Ray, p. 99. Boyse, p. 100.

[1008] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.

[1009] Kirkconnel MS.

[1010] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 49.

[1011] Jacobite Memoirs, pp. 49–50.

[1012] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 52.

[1013] Kirkconnel MS.

[1014] Scotland, (1689–1747) vol. ii. p. 476.

[1015] Kirkconnel MS.

[1016] Boyse, p. 101.

[1017] Culloden Papers, p. 255.

[1018] The Chevalier Johnstone says it did not exceed 4,500; and Maxwell of Kirkconnel, that it amounted to 4,400.

[1019] Lord George Murray’s Narrative, Jacobite Memoirs, p. 48. Home’s Rebellion, p. 143.

[1020] Kirkconnel MS.

[1021] So called, to distinguish them from the clan regiments, though the greater part were Highlanders, and wore the Highland garb, which was indeed the dress of the whole army.—Idem.

[1022] Charles, during his stay at Carlisle, lived in the house of a Mr. Hymer, an attorney, to whom he paid twenty guineas, being five guineas per diem, for the use of his house, as noted in the prince’s household book, published in the Jacobite Memoirs. James Gib, his master of household, appears to have grudged Charles’s liberality, as he observes that Hymer furnished nothing, not even coal or candle; and, moreover, that he and his wife had every day two dishes of meat at dinner, and as many at supper, at the cost of the prince. But Charles’s liberality was not confined to landlords, for Gib states, that whenever he happened to pass even a night in a gentleman’s house, his ordinary custom was to give at least five guineas of ‘drink-money’ to the servants.

[1023] Kirkconnel MS. Jacobite Memoirs, p. 49.

[1024] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 457.

[1025] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 52.

[1026] At Wigan, Charles gave “a woman” ten guineas for one night for the use of her house, her husband, “a squire, being from home.”—Household Book.

[1027] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 63. This statement of the Chevalier Johnstone’s is corroborated in the main by a contemporary journal in Marchant, p. 197.

[1028] Boyse, p. 103.

[1029] Kirkconnel MS. Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 66.

[1030] Boyse, p. 104.

[1031] Lord George Murray’s Narrative, in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 53.

[1032] When Weir was taken, Mr. Maxwell says, “he was immediately known to be the same person that had been employed in that business in Flanders, the year before. It was proposed to hang him immediately, in punishment of what he had done, and to prevent the mischief he might do in case the prince did not succeed. But the prince could not be brought to consent. He still insisted that Weir was not, properly speaking, a spy, since he was not found in the army in disguise. I cannot tell whether the prince, on this occasion, was guided by his opinion or by his inclination. I suspect the latter, because it was his constant practice to spare his enemies, when they were in his power. I don’t believe there was one instance to the contrary to be found in his whole expedition.”—Kirkconnel MS.

[1033] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 54.—Kirkconnel MS.

[1034] Boyse, p. 164.

[1035] Marchant, p. 202. Boyse, p. 164.

[1036] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 78.

[1037] Burton discredits these statements, there being, he says, no contemporary evidence in their favour.—Scotland (1689–1747), vol. ii. p. 483.

[1038] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 75.

[1039] Idem, p. 67.

[1040] Burton appears to think that there was little danger of any serious consequences following the possession of London by Charles. “The days were long past,” he says, “when the rising of a body of the English gentry brought a certain force into the field; and a few wealthy peers and squires, with their lacqueys and grooms, would have gone little way to help some five thousand janissaries in keeping down the people of England.”—Scotland (1689–1747), vol. ii. p. 485.

[1041] Lord George Murray’s Narrative. Kirkconnel MS.

[1042] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 71.

[1043] There seems to be an apparent discrepancy between Lord George’s statement, (Jacobite Memoirs, p. 55,) and that of the Chevalier Johnstone, (Memoirs, p. 71,) relative to the conduct of the Duke of Perth: but the account in the text agrees with the account of Charles himself, (in Appendix, No. 33, to Home’s Works,) who says, that with the exception of himself, all the members of the council “were of opinion that the retreat was absolutely necessary.”

[1044] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 56.

[1045] Id. p. 57.

[1046] Idem. Kirkconnel MS.

[1047] See these instructions in the Stuart Papers.

[1048] Home, Appendix, No. 35.

[1049] Boyse, p. 106.

[1050] Kirkconnel MS. Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 78.

[1051] Kirkconnel MS.

[1052] Lord George Murray’s Narrative in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 59.

[1053] Kirkconnel MS.

[1054] Kirkconnel MS.

[1055] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 58.

[1056] Kirkconnel MS.

[1057] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 60. Kirkconnel MS.

[1058] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 460. Kirkconnel MS.

[1059] Maxwell of Kirkconnel gives a different version of this matter from that of Lord George Murray. After stating that his lordship represented to Charles the dangerous situation he might be in if the united armies of Wade and Cumberland overtook him before reaching Carlisle, he says that Lord George “proposed to avoid them by sacrificing the cannon and all the heavy baggage to the safety of the men, which was now at stake. He observed that the country is mountainous betwixt Kendal and Penrith, and the roads, in many places, very difficult for such carriages; but the prince was positive not to leave a single piece of his cannon. He would rather fight both their armies than give such an argument of fear and weakness. He gave peremptory orders that the march should be continued in the same order as hitherto, and not a single carriage to be left at Kendal.”

[1060] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 63.

[1061] In the prince’s Household Book, printed among the Jacobite Memoirs, the following entries occur:—

Dec. 17th, at Shape, Tuesday.
To ale, wine, and other provisions, | £4 | 17
The landlady for the use of her house, | 2 | 2
N.B. The landlady a sad wife for imposing.

[1062] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 65.

[1063] Kirkconnel MS.

[1064] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 87.

[1065] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 66.

[1066] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 68.

[1067] Idem, p. 67.

[1068] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 72.—Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 463.

[1069] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 92.

[1070] Kirkconnel MS.

[1071] Alluding to the retention of Carlisle, Mr. Maxwell observes, “This was perhaps the worst resolution the prince had taken hitherto. I cannot help condemning it, though there were specious pretexts for it. It was, to be sure, much for the prince’s reputation upon leaving England, to keep one of the keys of it, and he was in hopes of returning before it could be taken; but he could not be absolutely sure of that, and the place was not tenable against a few pieces of artillery, of battering cannon, or a few mortars. It’s true he had a good many prisoners in Scotland, and might look upon them as pledges for the lives of those he left in garrison; but that was not enough. He did not know what kind of people he had to deal with, and he ought to be prepared against the worst that could happen. The lives of so many of his friends ought not to have been exposed without an indispensable necessity, which was not the case; for blowing up the castle, and the gates of the town, would have equally given him an entry into England.”

[1072] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 73.

[1073] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 73.

[1074] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 74.—Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 99.

[1075] “The terror of the English,” says the Chevalier Johnstone, Memoirs, p. 101, “was truly inconceivable, and in many cases they seemed quite bereft of their senses. One evening as Mr. Cameron of Lochiel entered the lodgings assigned to him, his landlady, an old woman, threw herself at his feet, and with uplifted hands and tears in her eyes, supplicated him to take her life, but to spare her two little children. He asked her if she was in her senses, and told her to explain herself; when she answered, that every body said the Highlanders ate children, and made them their common food. Mr. Cameron having assured her that they would not injure either her or her little children, or any person whatever, she looked at him for some moments with an air of surprise, and then opened a press, calling out with a loud voice, ‘Come out children; the gentleman will not eat you.’ The children immediately left the press where she had concealed them, and threw themselves at his feet. They affirmed in the newspapers of London that we had dogs in our army trained to fight, and that we were indebted for our victory at Gladsmuir to these dogs, who darted with fury on the English army. They represented the Highlanders as monsters, with claws instead of hands. In a word, they never ceased to circulate, every day, the most extravagant and ridiculous stories with respect to the Highlanders. The English soldiers had indeed reason to look upon us as extraordinary men, from the manner in which we had beaten them with such inferior numbers, and they probably told these idle stories to the country people by way of palliating their own disgrace.” The able editor of Johnstone’s Memoirs relates in a note to the above, that Mr. Halkston of Rathillet, who was in the expedition, stated that the belief was general among the people of England, that the Highlanders ate children:—“While the army lay at Carlisle he was taken ill, and went with a few of his companions to a farmer’s house in the neighbourhood, where he remained several days. Perceiving his landlady to be a young woman, he asked her if she had any children, and where they were. When she found that he was no cannibal, she told him the truth was, that all the children were sent out of the way for fear the Highlanders should devour them.”

A Derby gentleman, who had a party of forty men quartered in his house, in a letter which appeared in all the newspapers of the period, describes most of them as looking “like so many fiends turned out of hell to ravage the kingdom and cut throats; and under their plaids nothing but various sorts of butchering weapons were to be seen.” He complains that they had eaten up “near a side of beef, eight joints of mutton, four cheeses, with abundance of white and brown bread, (particularly white,) three couples of fowls, and would have drams continually, as well as strong-ale, beer, tea, &c.” In the midst of this general devastation our host was convulsed with “unavoidable laughter to see these desperadoes, from officers to the common men, at their several meals, first pull off their bonnets, and then lift up their eyes in a most solemn manner, and mutter something to themselves, by way of saying grace, as if they had been so many pure primitive Christians!!!” This is merely a specimen of the many ridiculous stories with which the English journals of the period were crammed.

[1076] Boyse, p. 129.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

A.D. 1745–46.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

The Highland army returns to Scotland—Arrives at Glasgow—Proceedings of the Jacobites in the North—Arrest and escape of Lord Lovat—Skirmish at Inverury—Alarm at Edinburgh—Arrival of an English army—The Prince at Glasgow—Marches towards Stirling—Investment and surrender of the town—Skirmishing on the Forth—Highland army reinforced—Hawley’s army arrives at Falkirk—Preparations for battle—Battle of Falkirk.

Pursuant to the plan of march fixed upon at crossing the Esk, the Highland army separated, and Lord George Murray, at the head of the low country regiments, proceeded to Ecclefechan, where he arrived on the night of the 20th, and marched next day to Moffat. The prince, at the head of the clans, marched to Annan, where he passed the night of the 20th. The horse of the prince’s division under Lord Elcho were, after a short halt, sent to take possession of Dumfries, which they accomplished early next morning, and the prince, with the clans, came up in the evening. In no town in Scotland had there been greater opposition displayed to the restoration of the house of Stuart than in Dumfries, from the danger to which the inhabitants supposed their religious liberties, as presbyterians, would be exposed under a catholic sovereign. This feeling, which was strongly manifested by them in the insurrection of 1715, had now assumed even a more hostile appearance from the existence of the new body of dissenters called “Seceders,” which had lately left the bosom of the established church of Scotland, and which professed principles thought to be more in accordance with the gospel than those of their parent church. A body of these dissenters had volunteered for the defence of Edinburgh shortly after Charles had landed, and, on his march for England, a party of them had taken up arms, and had captured and carried to Dumfries thirty waggons belonging to the Highland army, which had been left at Lockerby by the escort appointed to protect them. To punish the inhabitants for their hostility, Charles ordered them to pay £2,000 in money, and to contribute 1,000 pairs of shoes. About £1,100 only were raised; and, in security for the remainder, Mr. Crosbie, the provost, and a Mr. Walter Riddel, were carried off as hostages. The prince also levied the excise at Dumfries, and carried off some arms, horses, &c. Some outrages were committed in the town by the Highlanders, who told the inhabitants that they ought to think themselves gently used, and be thankful that their town was not burned to ashes.

After halting a day at Dumfries, the prince proceeded with his division up Nithsdale on the evening of the 23d, and passed the night at Drumlanrig, the seat of the Duke of Queensberry. Next day he entered Clydesdale, and halted at Douglas. The prince slept that night in Douglas castle. He reached Hamilton on the 25th, and took up his residence in the palace of the Duke of Hamilton. Next day the Chevalier occupied himself in hunting, an amusement of which he was uncommonly fond, and to which he had been accustomed from his youth. The division under Lord George Murray, after halting a day at Moffat, where, being Sunday, his men heard sermon in different parts of the town from the episcopal ministers who accompanied them, proceeded by Douglas and Hamilton, and entered Glasgow on Christmas day. On the evening of the 26th the prince also marched into Glasgow on foot at the head of the clans. Here he resolved to halt and refresh his men for a few days after their arduous march, and to provide them with clothing, of which they stood greatly in need. In passing through Douglas and Lesmahago, the Highlanders pillaged and burnt some houses, in revenge for the capture of Macdonald of Kinlochmoidart, who, in his way south from the Highlands, had been seized on Brokencross moor, near Lesmahago, by the country people, headed by a student of divinity named Linning, and carried to Edinburgh castle.[1077]

Before noticing Charles’s proceedings at Glasgow, it is necessary to give a short summary of those of his friends in the north, up to the period of his arrival in that city.

When intelligence of the Chevalier’s march into England, and his unexpected success at Carlisle was received in the north, the zeal of the Jacobites was more and more inflamed. Whilst the Frasers, headed by the Master of Lovat, blockaded Fort Augustus, Lord Lewis Gordon was busily employed in raising men, and levying money by force and threats of military execution, in the shires of Banff and Aberdeen. Of two battalions which his lordship raised, one was placed under the command of Gordon of Abbachie, and the other under Moir of Stonywood. To relieve Fort Augustus, the Earl of Loudon left Inverness on the 3d of December with 600 men of the independent companies, and passing through Stratherrick during a very severe frost, reached Fort Augustus without opposition, and having supplied the garrison with every thing necessary for its defence, returned to Inverness on the 8th, after notifying to the inhabitants of Stratherrick the risk they would incur should they leave their houses and join the insurgents.[1078]

As the future progress of the insurrection in the Highlands depended much upon the Frasers, Lord Loudon, in conjunction with Lord President Forbes, resolved to march to Castle Downie, the seat of Lord Lovat, and to obtain the best satisfaction that could be got for the peaceable behaviour of that powerful clan. For this purpose, two companies of the Mackenzies, which had been posted near Brahan, were called into Inverness on the 9th of December, and after allowing the detachment, which had been at Fort Augustus, one day’s rest, his lordship left Inverness on the 10th, taking along with him that detachment and the two companies, amounting together to 800 men, and proceeded to Castle Downie. The earl prevailed upon Lord Lovat to go with him to Inverness, and to live there under his own eye, until all the arms of which the clan were possessed, (and of which he promised to obtain the delivery,) were brought in. But instead of delivering the arms on the day fixed, being the 14th of December, he made excuses and fresh promises from day to day till the 21st, when Lord Loudon, thinking that he was deceived, placed sentries at the door of the house where Lord Lovat resided, intending to commit him to the castle of Inverness next morning; but his lordship contrived to escape during the night through a back passage, and, being very infirm, was supposed to have been carried off on men’s shoulders.[1079]

Next in importance to the keeping down of the Frasers, was the relief of the shires of Banff and Aberdeen from the sway of Lord Lewis Gordon. To put an end to the recruiting and exactions of this nobleman, the laird of Macleod was sent the same day that Lord Loudon proceeded to the seat of Lord Lovat with a body of 500 men, composed of 400 of his own kindred, and 100 of the Macleods of Assint, towards Elgin, and these were to be followed by as many men as could be spared from Inverness, after adjusting matters with Lord Lovat. Accordingly, on the 13th, 200 men were detached under Captain Munro of Culcairn, to follow Macleod to Elgin and Aberdeen, and these were again to be followed by other small bodies, and by Lord Loudon himself, as soon as matters were finally settled with Lovat. The escape of that wily old chief, however, put an end to this part of the plan, as it was considered dangerous to reduce the force near Inverness any farther, while Lord Lovat was at large.

In the meantime Macleod reached Elgin, where he received intelligence that a party of 200 of the insurgents had taken possession of the boats on the Spey at Fochabers, and that they intended to dispute the passage with him. Macleod advanced to the banks of the Spey on the 15th; but the insurgents, instead of waiting for him, retired on his approach, and he passed the river without molestation. On the 16th and 17th he marched to Cullen and Banff. Meanwhile Munro of Culcairn arrived with his detachment at Keith, where he was joined by Grant of Grant at the head of 500 of his clan, and on the 18th they proceeded, in conjunction, to Strathbogie. Next day it was agreed upon between Macleod and Culcairn, that whilst the former should march next morning from Banff to Old Meldrum, which is twelve miles from Aberdeen, the latter, with Grant and his men, should at the same time proceed to Inverury, which is about the same distance from Aberdeen; but Grant, apprehensive that his own country would be harassed in his absence, returned home.[1080]

When Lord Lewis Gordon heard of the arrival of Macleod at Inverury, he resolved to attack him. With his own regiment, the men whom Lord John Drummond had sent, and a battalion of 300 Farquharsons, commanded by Farquharson of Monaltry, he left Aberdeen on the 23d, and arrived near Inverury with such expedition and secrecy, that he almost surprised Macleod in his quarters. It was late before Lord Lewis reached the place, and Macleod had barely time to put his men under arms, and to seize some advantageous posts in the town. Day-light had disappeared before the action commenced; but the light of the moon enabled the combatants to see one another. Both sides continued to fire for some time; but Lord John Drummond’s soldiers and the Farquharsons having advanced close upon the Macleods, the latter fled, and never halted till they had recrossed the Spey. Very few men were killed on either side; but the victors took forty-one prisoners, among whom were Mr. Gordon, younger of Ardoch; Forbes of Echt; Maitland of Petrichie; and John Chalmers, one of the regents of the university of Aberdeen.[1081]

Shortly after this skirmish, Lord Lewis Gordon marched his men to the general rendezvous at Perth, where, about the time of Prince Charles’s return from England, about 4,000 men were collected. These consisted of the Mackintoshes, the Frasers, the part of the Mackenzies attached to Charles, and the Farquharsons; of recruits sent from the Highlands to the clan regiments that had gone to England; of the forces raised by Lord Lewis Gordon, Sir James Kinloch, and other gentlemen in the low country of the north; and of the troops brought over from France by Lord John Drummond.

While this mixed body lay at Perth, a disagreement occurred between the Highlanders and the other troops, which might have led to serious consequences if the arrival of an order sent by the prince from Dumfries, requiring them to hold themselves in readiness to join him, had not put an end to the dispute. This disagreement was occasioned by the conduct of Lord Strathallan and his council of officers, on receiving the order which Charles had sent from Carlisle by Maclauchlan of Maclauchlan, to march with all their forces, and to follow the army into England. This order, contrary to the opinion of Maclauchlan and all the Highland officers, they had considered it inexpedient to obey. The result was, that the Highland officers caballed together, and resolved to march; but as the Highlanders had no money, as many of those who had come last from the Highlands wanted arms, and as Lord Strathallan was in possession of the money, arms, ammunition, and stores, they could not proceed. In this dilemma they entered into a combination to seize the money and arms, and, persisting in their resolution to march, matters were proceeding to extremities when Rollo of Powhouse arrived at Perth with the order alluded to, which at once put an end to the dispute.[1082]

The inhabitants of Edinburgh, relieved from the presence of the Highland army, had lived for five weeks in a state of comparative security. Public worship had been resumed in several of the city churches on the 3d of November, and in all of them on the 10th. The state officers who had retired to Berwick, did not, however, return till the 13th, when they entered the city with an air of triumph, which accorded ill with their recent conduct as fugitives. On the following day, Lieutenant-general Handasyde arrived, as before stated, at Edinburgh with Price’s and Ligonier’s regiments of foot, and Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s (lately Gardiner’s,) dragoons; and, on the 7th of December, these troops were sent west to Stirling, where, in conjunction with the Glasgow and Paisley militia, amounting to nearly 700 men, commanded by the Earl of Home, they guarded the passes of the Forth. In the mean time, exertions were made to re-embody the Edinburgh regiment; but these do not appear to have been attended with success. With the exception of some young men who formed themselves into a volunteer company, few of the inhabitants were disposed to take up arms, as they were fully sensible, that without a sufficient force of regular troops, no effectual resistance could be opposed to the Highlanders, should they return to the city.

In this situation of matters, the news of the Highlanders having crossed the Esk in their retreat from England, reached Edinburgh, and threw the civil and military authorities into a state of consternation. Ignorant of the route the Highlanders meant to follow, they were extremely perplexed how to act. They naturally apprehended another visit, and their fears seemed to be confirmed by the return to Edinburgh of the regular troops from the west, on the 23d of December, and by the arrival of the Glasgow regiment the next day, all of whom had retreated to Edinburgh on the approach of the Highlanders. A resolution was adopted by the public authorities to put the city in a proper state of defence, and, on the 29th, a paper was read in the city churches, acquainting the inhabitants, that it had been resolved in a council of war to defend the city. Next day a considerable number of men from the parishes in the neighbourhood, who had been provided with arms from the castle, entered the city, and were drawn up in the High Street. The men of each parish marched by themselves, and were attended in most instances by their respective ministers.[1083] These were joined by other small corps, one of the most remarkable of which was a body of Seceders, belonging to the associated congregations of Edinburgh and Dalkeith, carrying a standard with the inscription, “For Religion, Covenants, King, and Kingdoms.”

Had the Highlanders chosen to march upon Edinburgh, the resolution to defend it would not have been carried into effect, as it was the intention of the regular troops to have retired to Berwick on their approach; but, fortunately for the reputation of the new defenders of the capital, an army under Lieutenant-general Hawley was now on its march into Scotland. This gentleman, who had just been appointed commander-in-chief in Scotland, though described by the Duke of Newcastle as “an officer of great ability and experience,”[1084] was in fact a man of very ordinary military attainments, and in no way fitted for the important duty which had been assigned him. His whole genius lay, as Mr. John Forbes of Culloden observed to his father, the president, in the management of a squadron, or in prosecuting with vigour any mortal to the gallows. He had a very sorry opinion of the prowess of the Highlanders, whom he was confident of beating, if his troops were in good condition, without regard to the numbers of their opponents;[1085] but he was destined soon to find out his mistake.

To expedite the march of the English army, the gentlemen and farmers of Teviotdale, the Merse, and the Lothians furnished horses, by means of which the first division of the royal army, consisting of a battalion of the Scots Royals and Battereau’s foot, reached Edinburgh as early as the 2d of January, where they were shortly joined by Fleming’s and Blakeney’s regiments, that of Major-general Huske, by Hawley himself, by the regiments of Wolfe (not, as has been supposed, the immortal general of that name) and Cholmondeley, Howard’s (the old Buffs) and Monro’s, and by Barrel’s and Pulteney’s. At Dunbar, Aberlady, and other places, these troops were entertained by the proprietors in East Lothian, who allowed each soldier a pound of beef, a pound of bread, a glass of spirits, and a bottle of ale.[1086] They were also feasted at Edinburgh at the expense of the city, where they were courteously received by the terrified inhabitants, who furnished them with blankets, and evinced great anxiety to make them comfortable.[1087] The citizens also illuminated their houses; and such as declined had their windows broken by the mob, who also demolished with an unsparing hand all the windows of such houses as were uninhabited. On his arrival in the city, the commander-in-chief justified Mr. Forbes’s opinion by causing one gallows to be erected in the Grassmarket, and another between Leith and Edinburgh, on which it is supposed he meant to hang such unfortunate victims as might fall into his hands.[1088]

To return to Charles. On his arrival at Glasgow, his first care was to provide for the necessities of his men, who were in a most pitiable plight from the want of clothing. He ordered the magistrates to furnish the army with 12,000 shirts, 6,000 cloth coats, 6,000 pairs of stockings, and 6,000 waistcoats. Enraged at the conduct of the citizens for having subscribed to the fund for raising troops against him, the prince sent for Buchanan the provost, and demanded the names of the subscribers, and threatened to hang him in case of refusal; but the provost, undismayed, replied that he would name nobody except himself, that he had subscribed largely, as he thought he was discharging a duty, and that he was not afraid to die in such a cause. The provost had to pay a fine of £500 as the penalty of his refusal.[1089]

The mansion which Charles occupied during his residence in Glasgow belonged to a rich merchant named Glassford. It was the best house in the city, and stood at the western extremity of the Trongate, but has long since disappeared. While in Glasgow he ate twice a-day in public. The table was spread in a small dining-room, at which he sat down without ceremony with a few of his officers in the Highland dress. He was waited upon on these occasions by a few Jacobite ladies. Charles courted popularity, and, to attract attention, dressed more elegantly in Glasgow than at any other place;[1090] but the citizens of Glasgow kept up a reserve, which made Charles remark, with a feeling of mortifying disappointment, that he had never been in a place where he found fewer friends. Though dissatisfied with the people, he seemed, however, greatly to admire the regularity and beauty of the buildings.[1091]

Having refitted his army, Charles, within a few days after his arrival, reviewed it on Glasgow Green, in presence of a large concourse of spectators, and had the satisfaction to find that, with the exception of those he had left at Carlisle, he had not lost more than 40 men during his expedition into England. Hitherto he had carefully concealed his weakness, but now, thinking himself sure of doubling his army in a few days, he was not unwilling to let the world see the handful of men with which he had penetrated into the very heart of England, and returned in the face of two powerful armies almost without loss.[1092]

Abandoning, in the mean time, his project of returning to England, Charles resolved to lay siege to the castles of Stirling and Edinburgh. He depended much for success upon the artillery and engineers brought over by Lord John Drummond, and looked confidently forward for additional succours from France in terms of the repeated assurances he had received. Having determined on beginning with Stirling, he sent orders to Lord Strathallan, Lord John Drummond, Lord Lewis Gordon, and other commanders in the north, to join him forthwith with all their forces. To accelerate a junction with the forces at Perth, the prince marched his army from Glasgow on the 4th of January, 1766, in two divisions; one of which, commanded by the prince, took the road to Kilsyth, where it passed the night. Charles himself took up his quarters in Kilsyth house, then belonging to Mr. Campbell of Shawfield. Mr. Campbell’s steward, it is said, was ordered to provide every thing necessary for the comfort of the prince, under a promise of payment, but was told next morning that the bill should be allowed to his master at accounting for the rents of Kilsyth, which was a forfeited estate. Next day Charles marched towards Stirling, and encamped his division at Denny, Bannockburn, and St. Ninians. He passed the night at Bannockburn-house, the seat of Sir Hugh Paterson, where he was received with Jacobite hospitality. The other division, consisting of six battalions of the clans, under Lord George Murray, spent the first night at Cumbernauld, and the next at Falkirk, where they fixed their quarters.

Stirling, about the beginning of the 18th Century.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ.

Preparatory to the siege of the castle, Charles resolved to reduce the town of Stirling. The inhabitants, encouraged by General Blakeney, the governor of the castle, determined to defend the town; and a body of about 600 volunteers, all inhabitants of the town, was supplied by the governor with arms and ammunition from the castle, and promised every assistance he could afford them. He told them, at the same time, that if they should be overpowered they could make a good retreat, as he would keep an open door for them. Animated by the activity of the magistrates and the clergymen of the town—among whom the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, the father of the Secession,[1093] who commanded two companies of Seceders, was particularly distinguished—the inhabitants proceeded to put the town in a posture of defence.

On the afternoon of Saturday the 4th of January, the Highlanders had nearly surrounded the town; but they did not complete the investment till next day, which was partly occupied in cutting down some trees intended for fascines, on which they meant to construct a battery. About eight o’clock in the evening they sent a drummer to the east gate with a message; but, being fired upon by the sentinels, he threw away his drum and fled. The insurgents fired several shots into the town during the night, which were responded to by the volunteers, who were all under arms, and posted in different parties at the different by-ways and paths into the town, and at such parts of the wall as were deemed insufficient. During the night the utmost alarm prevailed among the inhabitants, and few of them went to bed. Some fled from the town, and others retired into the castle; but the magistrates and the other principal inhabitants remained all night in the council chamber in which they had assembled, to give such direction and assistance as might be necessary, in case an assault should be attempted during the night.[1094]

Next morning the insurgents were discovered erecting a battery within musket-shot of the town, almost opposite to the east gate, in a situation where the cannon of the castle could not be brought to bear upon them. The volunteers kept up a constant fire of musketry upon them; but, in spite of this annoyance, the Highlanders completed the battery before noon. Charles, thereupon, sent a verbal message to the magistrates, requiring them instantly to surrender the town; but, at their solicitation, they obtained till ten o’clock next day to make up their minds. The message was taken into consideration at a public meeting of the inhabitants, and the question of surrender was long and anxiously debated. The majority having come to the resolution that it was impossible to defend the town with the handful of men within, two deputies were sent to Bannockburn, the head-quarters of the Highland army, who offered to surrender on terms; stating that, rather than surrender at discretion, as required, they would defend the town to the last extremity. After a negotiation, which occupied the greater part of Tuesday, the following terms of capitulation were agreed upon: viz., that no demand should be made upon the town revenues,—that the inhabitants should not be molested in their persons or effects,—and that the arms in the town should be returned to the castle. Pending this negotiation, the Highlanders, to terrify the inhabitants into a speedy submission, as is supposed, discharged twenty-seven shots from the battery into the town, which, however, did no other damage than beating down a few chimney tops. After the arms were carried into the castle, the gates were thrown open on Wednesday the 8th, and the Highlanders entered the town about three o’clock in the afternoon.[1095]

Being in want of battering cannon for a siege, Charles had, before his departure from Glasgow, sent orders to Lord John Drummond, to bring up the pieces which he had brought over from France. As General Blakeney had broken down part of Stirling bridge, to prevent the insurgents at Perth from crossing the Forth at Stirling, some of the battering cannon were sent to the Frews, and were transported across that ford by means of floats, while the rest were brought to Alloa as a nearer road for the purpose of being transported across the Frith of Forth. Great difficulty was experienced in getting over these pieces, and as there was but a small guard along with them, they might have fallen into the hands of a party of troops sent up the Frith by Hawley, had not Lord George Murray, on hearing of their embarkation, sent over Lochiel with his regiment, which had lately been augmented by recruits, and was now 700 strong.[1096]

As there were no ships at Alloa, Lord George seized a vessel lying off Airth to transport his cannon across the Frith. This was a fortunate circumstance, as two sloops of war, the Pearl and Vulture, sailed up the Frith next tide from Leith roads to seize all the vessels and boats in the neighbourhood, and otherwise to obstruct the conveyance of the cannon. General Hawley, about the same time, viz., on the 8th of January, sent up some armed boats, and a small vessel with cannon from Leith, manned with 300 men under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Leighton, to destroy all the works the Highlanders had made to cover the passage of their cannon. The sloops of war anchored in Kincardine roads, whence, on the morning of the 8th, two long boats well manned were sent up towards Airth, in conjunction with the other boats and small armed vessel, to burn two vessels lying in the neighbourhood which could not be launched till the spring tides. This service they effected without the loss of a single man, though the boats were fired upon by the Highlanders who were posted in the village. Having been prevented from returning to the station off Kincardine, by the lowness of the tide, the Highlanders opened a battery of three pieces of cannon next morning upon the flotilla, but without doing it any damage. The Highlanders are said to have had two of their cannon dismounted on this occasion by the fire from the sloop, and to have sustained a loss of several men, including their principal engineer.[1097]

Apprehensive that the flotilla would next attempt to set fire to the other vessel, Lord George Murray erected a battery of four guns at Elphinstone Pans to command the river, and to keep off the sloops of war, should they attempt to come up. In addition to the troops stationed at Airth, his lordship sent a reinforcement of between 300 and 400 men from Falkirk, which arrived at Elphinstone and Airth on the 10th. At this time the vessel which had been seized at Airth was lying at Alloa, and had taken two out of seven pieces of cannon, with some ammunition on board. To capture this vessel, a large boat, having 50 soldiers on board, along with the boats belonging to the sloops of war, well manned and armed, were sent up the river during the night of the 10th, with instructions to lie all night a mile above Alloa, in order to intercept the vessel should an attempt be made to carry her up the river during the night. Unfortunately, however, for this design, the boats grounded after passing the town, and the Highlanders who were posted in the town, having, by this accident, come to the knowledge that the enemy was at hand, immediately beat to arms, and commenced a random fire from right to left, which forced the boats to retreat down the river. Next morning, however, the two sloops of war, accompanied by some smaller vessels, went up the river with the tide, and casting anchor opposite to, and within musket-shot of the battery, opened a brisk fire. Three of the smaller vessels anchored in a convenient place to play upon the village of Elphinstone, and two more hovered along as if inclined to land some soldiers, with which they were crowded. The firing was kept up on both sides, for upwards of three hours, without much damage on either side. The cable of one of the sloops of war having been cut asunder by a cannon shot, an accident which forced her from her station, and the two pilots in the other having each lost a leg, the assailants abandoned the enterprise, and fell down the river with the ebb-tide. Being now relieved from the presence of the enemy, Lord George brought over the cannon and stores without further opposition.[1098]

On the 12th of January, two days after he had taken possession of the town, Charles broke ground before Stirling castle, between the church and a large house at the head of the town, called Marr’s work. Here he raised a battery against the castle, upon which he mounted two sixteen-pounders, two pieces of eight, and three of three. The prince thereupon summoned General Blakeney to surrender, but his answer was, that he would defend the place to the last extremity; that as honour had hitherto been his rule through life, he would rather die than stain it by abandoning his post, and that his royal highness would assuredly have a very bad opinion of him, were he to surrender the castle in such a cowardly manner.[1099] To prevent any intelligence of their operations being carried to the enemy, the Highlanders shut the gates of the town, and placed guards at all the outlets. The siege went on very slowly, and Charles soon perceived that he had chosen a bad situation for his battery, which was so exposed to the fire of the castle, that its works were speedily demolished, and the cannon dismounted.

While the siege was going on, the forces in the north under Lord Strathallan and Lord John Drummond began to arrive at Stirling. By these reinforcements the prince’s army was increased to 9,000 men, all in the highest spirits. The Macdonalds, the Camerons, and the Stuarts, were now twice as numerous as they were when the Highland army entered England, and Lord Ogilvy had got a second battalion, under the command of Sir James Kinloch, as lieutenant-colonel, much stronger than the first. The Frasers, the Mackintoshes, and Farquharsons, were reckoned 300 men each, and in addition to these, the Earl of Cromarty, and his son, Lord Macleod, had also brought up their men.[1100]

Conceiving himself in a sufficiently strong condition to give battle to the Highlanders, General Hawley began to put the troops he had assembled at Edinburgh in motion towards the west. His force amounted to upwards of 9,000 men, of whom 1,300 were cavalry, and he might in a few days have increased it considerably by the addition of some regiments which were on their march to join him. He had also reason to expect the immediate arrival in the Frith of Forth of a body of 6,000 Hessians who had embarked at Williamstadt on the 1st of January, by which accession his army would have been almost doubled. Impatient, however, to acquire a renown which had been denied to Cope, his predecessor, of whose capacity he had been heard to speak very contemptuously, Hawley resolved not to wait for his expected reinforcements, but to seize the laurels which were in imagination already within his grasp.

Accordingly, on the morning of the 13th of January, the first division of the royal army, consisting of five regiments of foot, together with the Glasgow regiment of militia, and Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s dragoons, all under the command of Major-general Huske, left Edinburgh and marched westward to Linlithgow. Hearing that preparations had been made at Linlithgow for the reception of these troops, and that provisions and forage had been collected in that town for the use of Hawley’s army, Lord George Murray left Falkirk at four o’clock the same morning for Linlithgow, with five battalions of the clans for the purpose of capturing these stores. He was joined on the road by Lord Elcho’s and Lord Pitsligo’s troops of life-guards, whom he had ordered to meet him. Before sunrise he had completely surrounded the town, and as Lord George had been informed that Huske’s division was to enter the town at night, he called his officers together before marching into town, and having told them the object for which they had come, he desired that they would continue ready to assemble in the street on a moment’s warning, in order to march wherever they might be directed. After taking possession of the town, and apprehending a few militia, Lord George sent forward some patrols on the road to Edinburgh, to reconnoitre while the Highlanders were engaged in seizing the articles prepared for the royal forces; but they had scarcely been an hour in town when these advanced parties discovered a body of dragoons advancing in their direction. Two of the patrols came back at full speed, and having given Lord George notice of their approach, he marched with his men out of the town. The dragoons retired as the Highlanders advanced. Their horse, with 200 of the best foot, followed them about two miles; but the main body returned to Linlithgow, where they dined. With the exception of a few small reconnoitring parties, the advanced body also returned to the town; but in less than an hour one of these parties came in with information that the dragoons were again returning with a large body of horse and foot. Lord George resolved to attack them when the half of them should pass the bridge, half a mile west from the town, and after waiting with his men on the streets till Huske had reached the east end of the town, he retired in the expectation that the royalist general would follow him; but Huske, who marched above the town, though he followed the Highlanders to the bridge, did not pass it. Lord George returned to Falkirk, and by orders of the prince marched next day to Bannockburn.[1101]

On the 14th other three regiments marched from Edinburgh towards Borrowstownness, to support the division under Huske, and these were followed next day by three additional regiments. With these forces Huske marched on the 16th to Falkirk, and encamped to the north-west of the town with his front towards Stirling. In the evening he was joined by the remainder of the army, and the artillery, consisting of ten pieces of cannon. General Hawley himself arrived at Callander House the same evening. Next morning the army was joined by Cobham’s dragoons, who had just arrived from England, and by about 1,000 Argyleshire men, chiefly Campbells, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle. Besides this corps, this whig clan furnished another of 1,000 men, which was posted about Inverary, under Major-general Campbell, the colonel’s father, to guard the passes. Along with the army was a company called the Yorkshire Blues, raised, maintained, and commanded, by a gentleman of the name of Thornton. Several volunteers, among whom were several clergymen, also accompanied the army on this occasion.

Having received intelligence of the advance of the royalists to Falkirk, Charles, on the evening of the 16th, ordered the different detachments of his army to concentrate upon Plean moor, about seven miles from that town, and two miles to the east of Bannockburn, where his head-quarters were. He, however, left several battalions, amounting to about 1,000 men, in Stirling, under the Duke of Perth, to push on the siege of the castle. Nobody supposed that the prince, in issuing this order, had any other object in contemplation than to review his army, and of so little importance was it considered, that although the order was immediately made known on all sides, it was near twelve o’clock next day before the different parts of the army arrived from their quarters.[1102] After the army had been drawn up in line of battle, Charles called a council of war, and for the first time stated his intention of giving immediate battle to Hawley. That general had, it is believed, been informed of the probability of an attack, but he treated the information lightly, and instead of attending to the affairs of his camp, spent the morning at Callander House with the Countess of Kilmarnock, with whom he breakfasted.[1103] The Torwood, once a forest of great extent, celebrated as the chief retreat of the heroic Wallace, but now greatly decayed, lay between the two armies; and through what was once the middle of the forest, the high road from Stirling to Falkirk, by Bannockburn, passes.

From information which Charles had received, he supposed that Hawley would have advanced and offered him battle; but seeing no appearance of him, he put his army in motion about mid-day, towards Falkirk. While the main body of the army marched in two columns along the moor, on the west side of the Torwood, where they could not be seen from Hawley’s camp, a third body of horse and foot, under Lord John Drummond, appeared upon the high road which runs through the centre of the Torwood, and moved about, displaying their colours in view of the enemy, as if they intended to attack Hawley’s camp. The object of this parade was to draw off the attention of the enemy from the main body, which was advancing unperceived towards Falkirk, by a different route. After the two columns had advanced about half a mile, Lord George Murray received an order from the prince to delay passing the water of Carron till night, as he did not think it advisable to cross in the face of the enemy, but his lordship having satisfied his royal highness of the impropriety of the order, he was allowed to proceed. Ignorant of the approach of the main body of the Highlanders, Hawley’s officers thought the demonstration made by the body on the high road unworthy of attention; but they were aroused from their apathy by a countryman, who arrived in the camp with intelligence that the Highlanders were close upon them. Two of the officers immediately ascended a tree, and, by means of a telescope, descried the Highland army marching towards Falkirk, by the south side of the Torwood. This was a little before one o’clock, and the officers having communicated the circumstance to Lieutenant-colonel Howard, their commanding officer, he went to Callander House and informed the general of it. Instead, however, of ordering his men to get under arms, Hawley directed that they should merely put on their accoutrements. This order was obeyed, and the troops sat down to dinner, but before they had finished their repast, they were summoned to arms.

When the Highlanders came in sight of the water of Carron, the town of Falkirk, and the enemy’s camp, also opened upon their view. It was now between one and two o’clock, and some well-mounted scouts, who were on the opposite side of the water, on observing the Highlanders, immediately rode off at full gallop, and reported that the Highland army was about to cross the Carron at Dunnipace. The alarm which this intelligence produced in the royalist camp was very great. Hawley was instantly sent for, and the commanding officers, who were exceedingly perplexed, formed their regiments as quickly as possible upon the ground in front of the camp. The general, instantly mounting his horse, galloped to the camp, and in his haste left his hat behind him.

In taking the circuitous route by the south side of the Torwood, Charles had a double object in view—to conceal his approach from the enemy as long as he could, and to obtain possession of Falkirk moor, about two miles south-west of Hawley’s camp, and which, from the nature of the ground, was considered well fitted for the operations of a Highland army. Suspecting that it was the prince’s design to secure the heights of the moor, Hawley at once determined to prevent him, if possible, and accordingly on his arrival at the camp he ordered the three regiments of dragoons to march towards the moor, and take possession of the high ground between them and the insurgents. He also directed the infantry to follow them with fixed bayonets. This was a rash and inconsiderate step, as Hawley had never examined the ground, which he found, when too late, was by no means a suitable field of battle for his troops. In ordering his army to march up the moor, the English commander is said to have been impressed with the idea that the Highlanders did not mean to attack him, but to give him the slip, and march back to England, and that his object was to intercept them and bring them to action.[1104] This explanation, however, is by no means satisfactory.

After crossing the Carron at Dunnipace Steps, the main body of the Highlanders stretched along the moor in two parallel lines, about two hundred paces asunder. The column next the royal army consisted of the clan regiments which had been in England, and of the recruits which had lately arrived from the Highlands, with the Frasers, and a battalion of the Farquharsons. The other column, which was to the right of the last mentioned, consisted of the Athole brigade, the Maclauchlans, the battalions of Ogilvy and Gordon, and Lord John Drummond’s regiment. After reaching the bottom of the hill, the columns faced to the left, and began to ascend the eminence. Almost simultaneously with this movement, Hawley’s dragoons, proceeding along the eastern wall of Bantaskin inclosures, rapidly ascended the hill also, followed by the foot with fixed bayonets. At this instant, the sky, which till then had been unusually serene, became suddenly overcast, and before the foot had advanced far, a violent storm of wind and rain burst from the south-west, which beat directly in the faces of the soldiers, and retarded their march up the hill. A running contest seemed now to take place between the dragoons and the advanced divisions of the Highland columns, consisting of the Macdonalds and the Athole men, to gain the summit of the ridge of the moor. Both parties reached the top of the hill about the same time, and possessed themselves of two eminences, within musket-shot of each other. To prevent the dragoons gaining the advantage of the ground and the wind, the Macdonalds and Athole men had advanced with such rapidity, that they had left the rear of the columns considerably behind, and on reaching the height of the moor, they halted to give time to the rear to come up.

Meanwhile Lord George Murray, who commanded the right wing, proceeded to make the necessary arrangements for battle. In forming, the two columns merely faced to the left, by which simple movement the eastern column at once became, as originally designed, the front line. When completed, the order of battle of the Highland army was as follows. On the extreme right of the first line, stood the Macdonalds of Keppoch, next to these the Macdonalds of Clanranald, and in succession the regiment of Glengary, a battalion of Farquharsons under Farquharson of Bumarrel,[1105] the Mackenzies, the Mackintoshes, the Macphersons under Cluny their chief, the Frasers under the Master of Lovat, the Stuarts of Appin, and the Camerons, who formed the extreme left of this line. The second line, which chiefly consisted of the low country regiments, was composed of the Athole brigade, which formed the right wing, of Lord Ogilvy’s regiment of two battalions in the centre, and of the regiment of Lord Lewis Gordon, also of two battalions, which formed the left of the line. At the distance of about twenty yards in the rear of the centre of the second line, the prince was stationed with some horse and foot, and was joined before the commencement of the action by Lord John Drummond, with a large body of horse, the Irish piquets and the other troops, with which he had made the feint, as a corps de reserve. Some of the horse guards under Lords Elcho and Balmerino, and also some of the hussars, who were on the right of the prince, were sent farther to the right to protect the flank, but they were prevented from extending farther, by a morass, which covered the right wing, and were obliged to draw up behind the Athole men. At the opposite extremity on the left of the prince, Lord Pitsligo’s and Kilmarnock’s horse were stationed.[1106]

The infantry of the royal army was also formed in two lines, with a body of reserve in the rear; but the disposition of the cavalry, as will be seen, was altogether different from that of the insurgent army. The first line consisted of the regiments of Ligonier, Price, Royal Scots, Pulteney, Cholmondeley, and Wolfe, and the second of those of Battereau, Barrel, Fleming, Munro, and Blakeney. The names of the regiments are here given according to the order they stood, beginning with the right. Behind the right of the second line, Howard’s regiment was stationed as a reserve. The Glasgow regiment, and other Lowland militia, were posted as another body of reserve, near some cottages behind the left of the dragoons; and the Argyleshire men were placed at some distance from the right of the royal army, to watch the motions of the forces under Lord John Drummond, who seemed, before they joined the two columns on the moor, to threaten an attack upon the camp. The left of the dragoons was directly opposite to Keppoch’s regiment, but by keeping large intervals between their squadrons, their right extended as far down as the centre of Lord Lovat’s regiment, which stood the third from the left of the insurgent army. In consequence of this extension of the front line of the royal army, Lochiel’s regiment, which was upon the left extremity of the opposite line, was outflanked by three of the royal regiments. With the exception of one or two regiments in each line, which, by their proximity to the top of the moor, had reached ground somewhat level, the rest of the king’s infantry stood on the declivity of the hill, and so great was the inequality of the ground, that the opposite wings alone of either army were visible to each other. Between the right of the royal army and the left of that of the insurgents, there was a ravine, which, beginning on the declivity of the hill, directly opposite the centre of the Fraser battalion, ran in a northerly direction, and gradually widened and deepened till it reached the plain. The right of the royal army was commanded by Major-general Huske, the centre by Hawley himself, and the left by Brigadier Cholmondeley, but the three regiments of dragoons on the left were under the immediate command of Lieutenant-colonel Ligonier. The colonel’s own dragoon regiment, formerly Gardiner’s, was stationed on the extreme left. Hamilton’s dragoons were posted on the right, and Cobham’s in the centre.

In the action about to commence, the combatants on both sides were deprived of the use of their artillery. The Highlanders, from the rapidity of their march, left their cannon behind them, and those belonging to Hawley’s army, consisting of ten pieces, stuck fast in a swamp at the bottom of the hill. The royal forces were greatly superior to the Highlanders in numbers, but the latter had the advantage of the ground, and having the wind and the rain in their backs, were not annoyed to the same extent as their adversaries, who received the wind and rain directly in their faces.[1107]

The right wing of the Highland army and Hawley’s cavalry had remained upwards of a quarter of an hour within musket-shot of each other, waiting the coming up of the other forces, when General Hawley sent an order to Colonel Ligonier, to attack the Highlanders. At the time this order was despatched, some of his troops destined for the centre of his second line had not reached their posts, but Hawley, impatient of delay, and led astray by a mistaken though prevalent idea, that the Highlanders could not stand the shock of cavalry, resolved to commence the action with the dragoons only. Ligonier, who appears to have entertained more correct notions on this subject than the generalissimo, was surprised at the order; but he proceeded to put it in execution.[1108]

Before advancing, Colonel Ligonier made several motions, with the design of drawing off the fire of the Highlanders, and riding in among them, and breaking their ranks; but they did not fire a shot. Conjecturing that the dragoons were to be supported by a body of infantry in their rear, Lord George Murray, to whom no such description of force was discernible at the time, sent Colonel Roy Stuart and Anderson, the guide at the battle of Preston, forward on horseback to reconnoitre. On receiving their report that they had not observed any foot, Lord George resolved to anticipate his opponent Ligonier, by attacking the dragoons. Accordingly he gave orders to the right wing to advance slowly, and, passing along the line, desired the men to keep their ranks, and not to fire till he gave them orders. Lord George, with his sword in his hand, and his target on his arm, then took his station at the head of the first line, which, with the second, continued to advance in good order. The dragoons, on observing the approach of the Highlanders, also began to move forward, and were instantly at the full trot. They came up in very good order, till within pistol-shot of the first line of the Highlanders, when Lord George Murray presented his piece as the signal to fire. The Highlanders, thereupon, discharged a volley with such precision and effect, that the dragoons were entirely broken, and many of them were killed and wounded. Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s regiments instantly wheeled about, and galloped down the hill, riding over and trampling upon some of their party, and carrying along with them a company of the Glasgow regiment. Cobham’s regiment, which had just returned from foreign service, however, stood its ground for some time, and breaking through the first line of the Highlanders, trampled many of them under foot. A singular combat then ensued. Deprived of the use of their broadswords, some of the Highlanders, who lay stretched on the ground, had recourse to their dirks, which they plunged into the bellies of the horses. Others seized the riders by their clothes, and dragging them from their horses, stabbed them with the same weapon. In this mêlée the chief of Clanranald made a narrow escape, having been trodden down, and before he was able to rise a horse fell dead upon him, the weight of which prevented him from extricating himself without assistance. While in this perilous situation, he saw a dismounted dragoon and a Highlander struggling near him, and for a time the issue seemed doubtful. The anxiety of the chief, whose own preservation seemed to depend on the success of his clansman, was soon relieved, when he saw the Highlander throw his antagonist, and instantly despatch him with his dirk. The Highlander thereupon came up to the prostrate chief, and drew him from under the horse. The dragoons, unable any longer to contend with the Macdonalds, galloped off to the right between the two armies, and received the fire of the remainder of the front line of the Highlanders, as they went along, as far down as Lord Lovat’s regiment.

Afraid that, after the flight of the dragoons, the Highlanders would commence a disorderly pursuit, Lord George Murray ordered the Macdonalds of Keppoch to keep their ranks, and sent a similar order to the two other Macdonald regiments. But notwithstanding this command of the lieutenant-general, and the efforts of the officers, who, with drawn swords and cocked pistols, endeavoured to restrain them from an immediate pursuit, a considerable number of the men of these two regiments, along with all the regiments on their left, as far down as the head of the ravine, rushed down the hill in pursuit of the enemy. They were received with a volley from some of the regiments on the left of the first line of the royal army, and having returned the fire, the Highlanders threw away their muskets, and drawing their swords, rushed in upon the enemy. Unable to resist the impetuosity of the attack, the whole of the royal army, with the exception of Barrel’s regiment, and part of the regiments of Price and Ligonier, gave way. At first the Highlanders supposed that the rout was complete, and General Hawley himself, who was huddled off the field among a confused mass of horse and foot, was of the same opinion; but the Highlanders were undeceived, when coming near the bottom of the hill, they received a fire in flank from these regiments, which threw them into great disorder, and obliged them to retire up the hill. The Camerons and the Stuarts, who were on the opposite side of the ravine, suffered also from the fire of this body, and were likewise obliged to fall back.[1109]

Plan of the Battle of Falkirk.

Meanwhile Lord George Murray, who observed the confusion in Hawley’s army, was moving down the hill with the Athole men in good order, for the purpose of attacking it on its retreat. He had sent orders by Colonel Ker, to the reserve to advance on the left, and having met scattered parties of the Macdonalds returning up the hill, he endeavoured to rally them as he marched down, but without effect. Before reaching the bottom of the hill, Lord George obtained a complete view of the disorder which prevailed in the enemy’s ranks. With the exception of the three regiments of foot, and Cobham’s dragoons, which were marching rapidly towards Falkirk, and covering the rear of the other fugitives, the remainder of the royal army was running off to the right and left, by forties and fifties; but as Lord George had not more than 600 or 700 men with him, and as the rest of the Highland army was scattered over the face of the hill, he resolved to halt at its foot. Here he was joined by the Irish piquets, and by Lord John Drummond, and other officers. Some of the officers advised a retreat towards Dunipace, that the men might obtain shelter during the night from the rain, which was excessive; but his lordship strongly advised that they should endeavour to obtain possession of Falkirk immediately, while the confusion lasted, declaring that he would either lie in the town or in paradise. While this discussion was going on, the prince arrived, and approved highly of the views of his lieutenant-general. Charles was advised, in the meantime, to retire to some house on the face of the hill, till the result of the attempt should be known.

It was now almost dark, and as the fires of Hawley’s camp indicated an apparent intention on his part to retain possession of the town, the officers assembled at the bottom of the hill, considered it unsafe to advance farther, till they had ascertained the state of matters. To procure intelligence, Mr. Drummond, eldest son of Lord Strathallan, and Oliphant, younger of Gask, entered Falkirk, disguised as peasants, and having ascertained that General Hawley, after issuing orders to set fire to his tents, had abandoned the town, and was retreating on Linlithgow, they immediately returned to their friends with the information. The body collected at the foot of the hill now advanced upon Falkirk, in three detachments; one of which, under Lochiel, entered the town at the west end, another under Lord George Murray, at the centre, and the other, under Lord John Drummond, by a lane called the Cow wynd, at the east end. Some stragglers, who had remained behind, were taken prisoners, one of whom fired at Lord John Drummond, when about to seize him, and wounded him slightly in the arm. Information of the occupation of the town, by the Highlanders, was sent to the prince, who immediately repaired thither, and took up his residence in a house which fronts the steeple.

So great was the disorder that existed in the Highland army, occasioned by the rash and impetuous conduct of the Macdonalds, in leaving their ranks, and by the check received from the three regiments, that it was about four hours after the close of the battle, which lasted scarcely twenty minutes, before the greater part of the army had any information of the result. The Highlanders were dispersed in every direction over the hill, and the different clans were mingled together pell-mell. The confusion was greatly increased by the obscurity of the night, and for several hours they wandered over the moor, uncertain whether they were to meet friends or foes. Early in the evening, many of the Highlanders had retired from the field of battle, either thinking it lost, or intending to seek shelter from the weather. During this disorder, the fate of the prince himself was equally unknown. Early in the action, he had sent one of his aides-de-camp with an order; but, on returning with an answer, the prince was no more to be seen. The officer, in searching for him, fell in with the prince’s own life-guards, drawn up in order of battle, near a cottage on the edge of the hill, with their commander, Lord Elcho, at their head; but his lordship could give him no information respecting the prince. Lord Lewis Gordon, and several chiefs of the clans, ignorant even of the fate of their own regiments, met together at the seat of Mr. Primrose, at Dunipace, where they were joined by other officers all equally ignorant of the result of the battle. At length, about eight o’clock in the evening, all doubt was removed from the minds of this party, by the arrival of Macdonald of Lochgarry, who announced that the Highland army had obtained a complete victory,—that the English were flying in disorder towards Edinburgh,—and that the prince was in possession of Falkirk, and in the quarters which had been occupied by General Hawley. He added, that he had been sent to Dunipace, by the prince, with orders to the rest of the army to repair to Falkirk next morning by break of day.[1110]

Partly from the darkness of the evening, and partly from the impossibility of collecting a sufficiently numerous body of the Highlanders together, the prince was unable to continue the pursuit. About 1,500 of them had entered the town, but so intent were they upon securing the spoils of the English camp, that it was with difficulty that sufficient guards could be got for the town, and the prince’s person, during the night. Besides, the Highlanders had been upon their legs for twelve hours, without receiving any refreshment, and were completely drenched to the skin, so that even had pursuit been otherwise practicable, they must have speedily desisted from excessive fatigue, and might probably have suffered from the dragoons which covered the rear of Hawley’s foot.

In addition to seven pieces of cannon which had been abandoned by the captain of the train at the commencement of the action, Hawley left behind him all his baggage, and a large quantity of military stores. Owing to the rain, very few of his tents, to which he had set fire, were consumed. Besides the matériel of the royal army, several standards and stands of colours fell into the hands of the victors. According to the official returns, the loss of the English, in killed, wounded, and missing, was 280, including a considerable number of officers; but these returns are supposed to be greatly underrated.[1111] There were sixteen officers killed on the government side, viz., Colonel Sir Robert Munro of Foulis; Lieutenant-colonel Whitney of Ligonier’s regiment of dragoons; Lieutenant-colonel Biggar of Munro’s regiment; Lieutenant-colonel Powell of Cholmondeley’s regiment; five captains and one lieutenant of Wolfe’s; and four captains and two lieutenants of Blakeney’s regiment. Sir Robert’s regiment, which consisted chiefly of his own clan, had particularly distinguished itself at the battle of Fontenoy; but on the present occasion it partook of the panic which had seized the other regiments on the left, and fled, leaving its colonel alone and unprotected. In this situation Sir Robert was attacked by six men of Lochiel’s regiment, and, for some time gallantly defended himself with his half-pike. He killed two of his assailants, and would probably have despatched more, had not a seventh come up and shot him in the groin with a pistol. On falling, the Highlander struck him two blows across the face with his broadsword, which killed him on the spot. Dr. Munro of Obsdale, his brother, who, from fraternal affection, had attended Sir Robert to the field to afford him any medical assistance he might require, was standing close by his brother when he fell, and shared his fate at the hands of the same Highlander, who, after firing a pistol into his breast, cut him down with his claymore. The bodies of the two brothers having been recognised the next day, were honourably interred in one grave in the churchyard of Falkirk in presence of all the chiefs.[1112]

The loss on the side of the Highlanders amounted only to about 40 men, among whom were two or three captains, and some subaltern officers. They had, however, nearly double that number wounded. Besides Lord John Drummond, young Lochiel and his brother, and Dr. Archibald Cameron, were slightly wounded. Hawley’s army could boast of only one prisoner, who fell into their hands by mere accident. This was Major Macdonald of Keppoch’s regiment, cousin to the chief. Having pursued the flying English farther than any other person, he was in the act of returning to his corps, when in his way he observed, in the dusk of the evening, a body of men at some distance standing in a hollow near the bottom of the hill. Imagining this body to be Lord John Drummond’s regiment and the French piquets, he ran forward towards the party with his sword still drawn, and when near them, cried out with a feeling of strong emotion, “Gentlemen, what are you doing here? Why don’t ye follow after the dogs, and pursue them?” Scarcely, however, had he uttered these words, when he discovered that the body he accosted was an English regiment, (Barrel’s,) and the cry, “Here is a rebel! here is a rebel!” at once met his ears. Escape being impossible, the major, thinking that he would not be discovered by the colour of his white cockade, which was quite dirty with the rain and the smoke of the firing, pretended that he was one of their own Campbells; but General Huske observed that it was easy to discover what the prisoner was by his sword, the blade of which was covered over with blood and hair. Huske gave orders “to shoot the dog instantly,” and a party of musketeers immediately presented their pieces at the major’s breast; but Lord Robert Ker generously interposed, and, beating down the muskets, saved the major’s life. The general having refused to receive the major’s arms, they were accepted by Lord Robert. When pulling his pistol from his belt, previously to surrendering his arms, Huske was alarmed, and exclaimed with an oath, that “the dog” was going to shoot him; but Macdonald indignantly observed, that he was more of a gentleman than to do any such thing, and that he was only pulling off his pistol to deliver it up.[1113] The major was carried to Edinburgh, and committed to the castle next day, and, after a few months’ confinement, tried, convicted, and executed.

The victory would have been complete by the utter annihilation of the English army, had the prince taken the usual precautions to preserve unity of action among the different sections of his undisciplined host. Early in the morning, Lord George Murray had submitted a plan of the battle to his royal highness, and requested that he would name the officers that were to command, and assign them their different stations; but with the exception of Lord George himself, who was appointed to march at the head of the army, and who consequently had the command of the right wing, no other appointment appears to have been made. It seems to have been understood by Charles himself, that Lord John Drummond was to have commanded the left wing; but if such was the case, Lord John could have obtained no distinct notification thereof, as he never appeared in his place. It is maintained by Lord George Murray, that had there been an officer in command on the left, to have brought up two or three battalions from the second line, or from the corps de reserve so as to have extended the first line still farther to the left, and thus to have faced the English regiments which outflanked them, the whole of Hawley’s foot must have been taken or destroyed, and that few even of the horse would have escaped, as the Highlanders would not have given over the chase till they had reached Linlithgow,—and that, in short, had the three regiments which outlined the Highlanders been faced, the battle would not have lasted ten minutes, as these regiments, instead of keeping their ground, pouring in part of their fire on the left flank of the Highlanders, and compelling those who attacked the right and centre of Hawley’s foot sword in hand to retire to their former ground, would have given way with the rest of the main body. In the absence of Lord John Drummond, it was the duty of O’Sullivan, who, as adjutant-general, was chiefly intrusted by the prince with the formation of the left wing, to have brought up men for the purpose of extending the line; but instead of riding along the line as he should have done before the action, none of the officers of the first line of the Highland army saw him till the battle was over.[1114] While Lord John Drummond could not but be sensible of the error which had been committed on the left, he retaliated upon the lieutenant-general, by ascribing the escape of Hawley’s army to the conduct of Lord George himself, who prevented part of the right wing from joining in the charge upon the foot, after the flight of the dragoons.

The English imputed their defeat chiefly to the violence of the storm, which was full in their faces during the action; but this, though certainly a formidable difficulty, was not the only one they had to encounter. To a combination of unfortunate circumstances, and not to any particular incident, is to be ascribed the result which ensued; but mainly to Hawley’s ignorance of the resistance which the Highlanders could oppose to cavalry. He had been major of Evans’s dragoons at the battle of Sheriffmuir, where that regiment and the Scots Greys, led by the Duke of Argyle, after getting over a morass, which the intense frost of the preceding night had rendered passable, attacked the flank of the insurgent army, which conceived itself secure from that quarter, and rode down, and drove off the field several regiments of Highlanders. Imagining from this precedent, that the Highlanders could not withstand the charge of cavalry, he observed one day in a company of officers in Flanders, who were talking of the battle of Preston, that “he knew the Highlanders; they were good militia; but he was certain that they could not stand against a charge of dragoons, who attacked them well.”[1115] Under this impression he began the battle with his dragoons, before his infantry had been fully formed into line; but he soon saw the consequences of his indiscretion.

Though the field of battle is about twenty-six miles distant from Edinburgh, the intelligence of Hawley’s defeat was known there before nine o’clock at night, by the arrival of some spectators who had witnessed the action, and by some of the dragoons who, impelled by fear, did not halt till they reached the capital. The English general passed the evening of the battle at Linlithgow, and marched next morning with the mass of his army to Edinburgh, where he arrived about four o’clock in the afternoon. A prey to disappointment and vexation, the appearance of Hawley on the morning after the battle is said by an observer to have been most wretched, and even worse than that of Cope a few hours after his “scuffle,” when the same person saw him at Fala on his retreat to Berwick.[1116]

Before the return of Hawley’s army, the greatest consternation prevailed among the friends of the government at Edinburgh from the reports of the fugitives, who brought accounts of the total rout and dispersion of the army, exaggerated by the relation of circumstances which had no existence, save in their own terrified imaginations; but the arrival of the greater part of the army served to dissipate their fears in some measure. Since the commencement of the rebellion, however, to its final close, never were the apprehensions of the supporters of the existing government more alarmingly excited than on the present occasion, when they saw the veteran troops, who had fought the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, return from Falkirk discomfited by a body of undisciplined mountaineers whom they had been taught to despise. The Jacobites, on the other hand, exulted at the victory, and gave expression to their feelings by openly deriding the vanquished.[1117]

The prince spent the 18th, the day after the battle, at Falkirk; but, as the rain fell in torrents during the greater part of that day, few of the officers quitted their lodgings. Notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, the slain were interred by order of the prince, and a considerable body of Highlanders marched to Linlithgow, of which they took possession. Charles now took the advice of his friends as to the use he should make of his victory. Some were for following up the blow which had been struck, and driving Hawley out of Scotland. Others were for marching directly to London before the enemy had time to recover from their consternation. They argued that it was not to be supposed that Hawley would again face the prince and his victorious army till he should receive new reinforcements; that even then the troops which had been beaten would communicate terror to the rest; and that the prince’s army, flushed with victory, could never fight with greater advantages on their side. There were others, however, who thought differently, and maintained that the capture of Stirling castle was the chief object at present; that it had never been before heard of that an army employed in a siege, having beaten those that came to raise it, had made any other use of their victory than to take the fortress in the first place; that any other conduct would argue a great deal of levity; and that it was of the utmost importance to obtain possession of the castle, as it opened an easy and safe communication between the prince, (wherever he might happen to be,) and his friends in the north. This last view was supported by M. Mirabelle de Gordon, a French engineer of Scotch extraction, who gave the prince the strongest assurances that the castle would be forced to surrender in a few days, and added, moreover, that if the prince went immediately upon another expedition he would be obliged to sacrifice all his heavy artillery which he could not carry with him into England.[1118] The opinion of an individual, decorated with an order, and who was consequently considered a person of experience and talents, had great weight with the prince, who, accordingly, resolved to reduce the castle of Stirling before commencing any other operations; but Charles discovered, when too late, that Mirabelle’s knowledge as an engineer was extremely limited, and that he had neither judgment to plan nor knowledge to direct the operations of a siege. This person, whose figure was as eccentric as his mind, was called, in derision, Mr. Admirable by the Highlanders.[1119]

During the prince’s short stay at Falkirk, a misunderstanding took place between a party of the Camerons and Lord Kilmarnock, which had nearly proved fatal to that nobleman. As this incident affords a remarkable illustration of clanship, the particulars cannot fail to be interesting. Lord Kilmarnock, having passed the evening of the battle in his house at Callander, came next morning to Falkirk with a party of his men, having in their custody some Edinburgh volunteers, who, having fallen behind Hawley’s army in its march to Linlithgow, had been taken and carried to Callander House. Leaving the prisoners and their guard standing in the street, opposite to the house where the prince lodged, his lordship went up stairs and presented to him a list of the prisoners, among whom was Mr. Home, the author of the Tragedy of Douglas and the History of the Rebellion. Charles opened the window to survey the prisoners, and while engaged in conversation with Lord Kilmarnock about them, as is supposed, with the paper in his hand, a soldier in the uniform of the Scots Royals, carrying a musket and wearing a black cockade, appeared in the street, and approached in the direction of the prince. The volunteers who observed this man coming up the street were extremely surprised, and, thinking that his intention in coming forward was to shoot the prince, expected every moment to see him raise his piece and fire. Observing the volunteers, who were within a few yards of the prince, all looking in one direction, Charles also looked the same way, and seeing the soldier approach appeared amazed, and, calling Lord Kilmarnock, pointed towards the soldier. His lordship instantly descended into the street, and finding the soldier immediately opposite to the window where Charles stood, the earl went up to him, and striking the hat off the soldier’s head, trampled the black cockade under his feet. At that instant a Highlander rushed from the opposite side of the street, and, laying hands on Lord Kilmarnock, pushed him violently back. Kilmarnock immediately pulled out a pistol, and presented it at the Highlander’s head; the Highlander in his turn drew his dirk, and held it close to the earl’s breast. They stood in this position about half a minute, when a crowd of Highlanders rushed in and drove Lord Kilmarnock away. The man with the dirk in his hand then took up the hat, put it on the soldier’s head, and the Highlanders marched off with him in triumph.

This extraordinary scene surprised the prisoners, and they solicited an explanation from a Highland officer who stood near them. The officer told them that the soldier in the royal uniform was a Cameron: “Yesterday,” continued he, “when your army was defeated he joined his clan; the Camerons received him with joy, and told him that he should wear his arms, his clothes, and every thing else, till he was provided with other clothes and other arms. The Highlander who first interposed and drew his dirk on Lord Kilmarnock is the soldier’s brother; the crowd who rushed in are the Camerons, many of them his near relations; and, in my opinion,” continued the officer, “no colonel nor general in the prince’s army can take that cockade out of his hat, except Lochiel himself.”[1120]

An accident occurred about the same time, which had a most prejudicial effect in thinning the ranks of the Highland army. The Highlanders, pleased with the fire-arms they had picked up upon the field of battle, were frequently handling and discharging them. Afraid of accidents, the officers had issued orders prohibiting this abuse, but to no purpose. One of Keppoch’s men had secured a musket which had been twice loaded. Not aware of this circumstance, he fired off the piece, after extracting one of the balls, in the direction of some officers who were standing together on the street of Falkirk. The other ball unfortunately entered the body of Æneas Macdonell, second son of Glengary, who commanded the Glengary regiment. He survived only a short time, and, satisfied of the innocence of the man that shot him, begged with his last breath that he might not suffer. To soothe the Glengary men under their loss, the prince evinced by external acts that he participated in their feelings, and, to show his respect for the memory of this brave and estimable youth, attended his funeral as chief mourner; but nothing the prince was able to do could prevent some of the men, who felt more acutely than others the loss of the representative of their chief, from returning to their homes.

On Sunday the 19th, the prince returned to Bannockburn, leaving Lord George Murray with the clans at Falkirk. At Bannockburn he issued, by means of a printing-press which he had carried with him from Glasgow, an account of the battle of Falkirk, a modest document when compared with that of Hawley, who gravely asserted that had it not been for the rain his army would have continued in his camp, “being masters of the field of battle!”

After the battle of Falkirk, the Duke of Perth again summoned the castle of Stirling to surrender, but the governor returned the same answer he had sent to the first message. The prince therefore resumed the siege on his return to his former head quarters, and fixed his troops in their previous cantonments. An able mathematician, named Grant, who had been employed many years with the celebrated Cassini, in the observatory at Paris, and who had conducted the siege of Carlisle, had at the commencement of the siege communicated to the prince a plan of attack, by opening trenches and establishing batteries in the church-yard. He had assured the prince that this was the only place where they could find a parallel almost on a level with the batteries of the castle; and that if a breach were effected in the half-moon, which defended the entry to the castle, from a battery in the church-yard, the rubbish of the work would fill the ditch, and render an assault practicable through the breach. In consequence, however, of a remonstrance from the inhabitants, who stated that the fire from the castle in the direction of the church-yard would reduce the greater part of the town to ashes, the prince abandoned this plan, and consulted M. Mirabelle, with the view of ascertaining whether there was any other practicable mode of making an attack on the castle with effect. To borrow an expression of the Chevalier Johnstone, in reference to the conduct of Mirabelle on this occasion, that it is always the distinctive mark of ignorance to find nothing difficult, not even the things that are impossible, this eccentric person, without the least hesitation, immediately undertook to open the trenches on the Gowling or Gowan hill, a small eminence to the north of the castle, about forty feet below its level.[1121]

As there were not above fifteen inches depth of earth above the rock, it became necessary to supply the want of earth with bags of wool and earth, an operation which occupied several days. On breaking ground a fire was opened on the trenches from the castle, which was renewed from time to time during the progress of the works, and was answered from the trenches; but the fire from the castle was not sufficiently strong to hinder the operations, which, from the commanding position of the castle guns, could have been easily prevented. The design of General Blakeney in thus allowing the besiegers to raise their works, was, it is understood, to create a belief among them, that the castle would not be tenable against their batteries, and by this impression to induce the Highland army to remain before the fortress till Hawley should be again in sufficiently strong condition to advance from Edinburgh. Having, on the evening of the 28th, completed the battery on the Gowan hill, which consisted of three pieces of cannon, the rebels quickly raised another on a small rocky eminence called the Ladies’ hill, on the south-east of the town. They were both unmasked on the morning of the 29th, and immediately opened with a brisk fire, which shattered two of the embrasures of the castle. As the guns of the batteries were pointed upwards, the balls generally went over the castle, and the few that struck the walls produced little effect; but the case was totally different with the besieged, who, from their elevated situation, from which they could see even the shoe-buckles of the French artillerymen behind the batteries, poured down a destructive fire upon the besiegers from two batteries mounting together thirteen pieces, which dismounted the besiegers’ guns, broke their carriages, and forced them to retire with considerable loss. Thus defeated in their attack, the rebels abandoned the siege after wasting three weeks in a fruitless attempt to obtain possession of a post, which could have been of no essential service to them, and before which they lost some of their best men, chiefly among the French piquets, whom least of all they could spare.

FOOTNOTES:

[1077] Culloden Papers, p. 263.

[1078] Idem, p. 461.

[1079] Culloden Papers, p. 461.

[1080] Culloden Papers, p. 462.

[1081] Kirkconnel MS. Home, 159.

[1082] Home, p. 160.

[1083] Home, p 162.

[1084] Culloden Papers, p. 264.

[1085] Idem, p. 265.

[1086] Scots Magazine, vol. viii. p. 32.

[1087] “The zeal (says General Wightman) which the inhabitants have shown in accommodating the troops, will help to ridd us of the suspicion of Jacobitism; but we have a pack of vermin (Qu. Jacobites?) within our walls, who take unaccountable libertys, of whom I hope we shall be for ever ridd ere long.”—Culloden Papers, p. 470.

[1088] Culloden Papers, p. 270.

[1089] Boyse, p. 131.

[1090] Household Book in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 155.

[1091] Boyse, p. 132.

[1092] Kirkconnel MS.

[1093] Now embodied in the United Presbyterian Church.

[1094] History of Stirling, p. 146.

[1095] History of Stirling, p. 150.

[1096] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 77.

[1097] General Hawley, alluding to this affair, in a letter to the lord-president, 12th Jan. 1745–6, says, “We have had a small brush with them (the Highlanders) yesterday at Airth, up the Forth with 300 men in boats; killed and wounded about fifty, with their chief French engineer; crippled two of their guns, burnt all their boats, and hindered their transporting their great cannon from Alloway for some days.”—Culloden Papers, p. 266.

[1098] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 78. Kirkconnel MS. Scots Magazine, vol. viii.

[1099] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 116.

[1100] Kirkconnel MS.

[1101] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 79. Kirkconnel MS.

[1102] Kirkconnel MS.

[1103] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 120.

[1104] Home, p. 176.

[1105] There was another battalion of the Farquharsons under Farquharson of Monaltry, which, having the charge of the cannon belonging to the insurgent army, was not in the battle.

[1106] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 501. Kirkconnel MS. Home, p. 168. Jacobite Memoirs, p. 85.

[1107] Some accounts make Hawley’s forces of all descriptions at 15,000, being nearly double the number of the Highlanders, who amounted to 8,000; but these statements are exaggerated. Hawley’s army, including the Argyleshire men, did not probably exceed 10,000 men.

[1108] Home, p. 175.

[1109] Lord George Murray’s Narrative in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 85. Kirkconnel MS. Home, p. 171. Culloden Papers, p. 272. Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 122.

[1110] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 127.

[1111] Mr. Home, who was in the engagement, states, that Hawley had about 300 or 400 private men killed. Maxwell of Kirkconnel, who was also present, reckons his loss at between 400 and 500 killed, and some hundreds of prisoners. The Chevalier Johnstone makes, men 600 killed, and 700 prisoners. Such also is the estimate of the author of the Journal and Memoirs printed among the Lockhart Papers.

[1112] Culloden Papers, p. 268.

[1113] Note in the prince’s household book in Jacobite Memoirs, p. 158.

[1114] Jacobite Memoirs, pp. 91, 92, 94.

[1115] Home, p. 177.

[1116] Culloden Papers, p. 267.

[1117] Id., p. 272.

[1118] Kirkconnel MS.

[1119] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 117.

[1120] Home, p. 180.

[1121] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 118.

CHAPTER XXXV.

A.D. 1746.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Duke of Cumberland sent down to Scotland—Marches westward—Siege of Stirling castle raised—Highland army retreats to the north—Council held at Crieff—Duke of Cumberland pursues and arrives at Perth—Arrival of Hessians—Rout of Moy—Capture of the town and castle of Inverness by Charles—Duke of Cumberland arrives at Aberdeen—Highlanders capture Fort Augustus—Expedition against Lord Loudon—Expedition of Lord George Murray into Athole—Duke of Cumberland’s movements—Takes possession of Old Meldrum and Strathbogie—Insurgents retreat across the Spey—Re-capture of the Hazard sloop-of-war—Siege of Fort William by the insurgents—Siege abandoned.

Unwilling any longer to intrust the management of the war to a general who had given such a signal proof of incapacity as Hawley had done, the government, immediately on receipt of his despatches, sent down the Duke of Cumberland to Scotland, to take the command of the army, and to retrieve if possible the lost reputation of the heroes of Dettingen and Fontenoy. The duke was beloved by the army, and enjoyed its confidence, circumstances which rendered him peculiarly fitted to supersede Hawley, who, after his return to Edinburgh, had by his severities become unpopular with the soldiers. Another reason for putting the duke at the head of the army opposed to Prince Charles, was the favourable effect which, it was supposed, the appearance of a prince of the blood would have upon the minds of the people of Scotland, and which, it was expected, would neutralise the influence of his kinsman. But apart from his rank as the son of the king, Prince William had little to recommend him to the especial notice of a nation, rather fastidious in its respect for princes. His conduct while in Scotland showed that humanity, the brightest ornament which can adorn the soldier hero, had no place in the catalogue of his virtues. With a cruelty, partly the result, perhaps, of the military school in which he was trained,[1122] and which fortunately has few parallels among civilised nations, he pursued his unfortunate victims, the misguided but chivalrous adherents of the fallen dynasty, with a relentless perseverance which disgusted even his own partisans.

WILLIAM DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.
A. Fullarton & Co. London & Edinburgh.

Having received his instructions, the duke lost no time in preparing for his journey. He left London on the 25th of January, attended by Lord Cathcart, Lord Bury, Colonels Conway and York his aides-de-camp, and arrived at Holyrood House on the 30th. He was waited upon by the state-officers, the magistrates of the city, the professors of the university, and the clergy, all of whom were graciously received. His royal highness was presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box. In the afternoon he held a sort of drawing-room, which was attended by a considerable number of ladies very richly dressed. The most conspicuous among them was a Miss Ker, who wore a busk, at the top of which was a crown done in bugles, surrounded with this inscription, “Britain’s Hero, William, Duke of Cumberland.” To celebrate his arrival the city was illuminated in the evening, but although the Jacobites, from prudential motives, concurred in this demonstration, their windows were broken by the mob.[1124]

In the course of the day the duke inspected the army. His appearance revived the spirits of the soldiers, who, it is said, desired nothing so much as an opportunity of wiping away the disgrace of their late defeat. Such being the favourable disposition of the troops, it was resolved in a council of war held in the evening to march next morning to the relief of Stirling castle. Accordingly, early in the morning the army, which, by recent reinforcements, had been increased to fourteen battalions of foot, and four regiments of dragoons, besides the Argyleshire men, left Edinburgh in two divisions, preceded by Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s dragoons. One of these divisions, comprising eight battalions, at the head of which the duke was to place himself, proceeded towards Linlithgow, and the other, consisting of six battalions under the command of Brigadier Mordaunt, marched in the direction of Borrowstownness. The duke himself left Holyrood House at nine o’clock in the morning, in presence of a large assemblage of citizens, who, from curiosity, had collected before the palace at an early hour to witness his departure. He entered a splendid coach, which, with twelve beautiful horses, had been presented to him by the Earl of Hopetoun, and was accompanied in his progress through the city by many persons of distinction, and by a crowd of citizens. On reaching Castlebarns, a place about a quarter of a mile from the West-port, by which he left the city, the duke mounted his horse, and taking off his hat thanked the people for their attentions. He told them that he was in great haste to fulfil the object of his mission, and concluded by wishing them farewell. This short address was received with a loud huzza. The duke then took leave of the nobility and gentry who surrounded him, and at parting said, “Shall we not have one song?” He then began to sing an old Scottish song:—

“Will ye play me fair?

Highland laddie, Highland laddie.”

But before he had finished the first stanza he stretched forth his hand, and, putting spurs to his horse, went off at full gallop to join the army.[1125]

The duke took up his quarters for the night at Linlithgow with the eight battalions, and Mordaunt stopped at Borrowstowness with the other division. The dragoons were quartered in the adjacent villages, and the Argyleshire men were posted in front towards the river Avon. Early next morning, the duke received intelligence that the main body of the Highland army, quartered at Falkirk, had retired to the Torwood, where, they gave out, they intended to make a stand. Determined that no time should be lost in following the insurgents, the duke, after reviewing his army in the morning, advanced towards Falkirk. Several parties of the Highlanders, who were seen hovering on the hills between Falkirk and Linlithgow, retired with precipitation on his approach; but some stragglers were brought in by his advanced scouts, who reported that the Highlanders, afraid to risk another battle, on account of the increase of the royal army, and the diminution of their own by desertion, were repassing the Forth in great confusion. Two great explosions, like the blowing up of magazines, which were heard from a distance, seemed to confirm this intelligence. On reaching Falkirk, the duke found that all the wounded soldiers who had been made prisoners in the late action, had been left behind by the insurgents in their retreat. His royal highness halted at Falkirk with the main body of his army, and immediately detached Brigadier Mordaunt with the Argyleshire men and all the dragoons, in pursuit of the Highlanders. The duke passed the night in the house which Charles had occupied on the evening of the late battle, and slept in the same bed on which the prince had reposed. Next morning Prince William marched to Stirling, of which Brigadier Mordaunt had taken possession the previous evening. He complimented General Blakeney on his defence of the castle, and was informed by the latter that, had the siege continued much longer, he (Blakeney) must have surrendered for want of ammunition and provisions.

In his march the duke was accompanied by several officers of the English army, who had been taken prisoners at Preston, and who, under the pretence of being forcibly released by armed parties of country people in Angus and Fife, had broken their parole, and returned to Edinburgh. The Duke of Cumberland, who appears to have thought it by no means dishonourable to break faith with rebels, not only absolved these officers from their parole, but sent circulars to all the other officers, who continued prisoners of war, releasing them from the solemn obligation they had undertaken not to serve against Prince Charles for a certain time, requiring them to join their respective regiments, and threatening with the loss of their commissions such of them as should refuse to return immediately to the service. Only a few officers had the virtuous courage to refuse compliance, declaring their sense of the insult offered to men of an honourable profession, by remarking that the duke was master of their commissions, but not of their probity and honour.[1126]

It was not without considerable reluctance that Charles had been induced to consent to a retreat. So late as the 28th of January, on which day he received information at Bannockburn that the Duke of Cumberland was expected at Edinburgh in a day or two, he had sent Secretary Murray to Falkirk to acquaint Lord George Murray, that it was his intention to advance and attack the Duke of Cumberland, when he should reach Falkirk, and to request his lordship to remain there till the duke came to Linlithgow. Lord George did not express any disapprobation of Charles’s design, but immediately drew up a plan of the battle in contemplation, which he carried to Bannockburn, and showed to Charles. The prince, who was in high spirits, expressed himself much pleased with the plan, which differed in some respects from that he had sketched previous to the late battle; but, to his utter astonishment, he received a packet from Lord George Murray by an aide-de-camp, containing a representation by his lordship and all the chiefs,[1127] who were with him at Falkirk, advising a retreat to the north.

In this paper, after stating that they considered it their duty, “in this critical juncture,” to lay their opinions in the most respectful manner before his royal highness, they proceeded to say, that they were certain that a vast number of his troops had gone home since the battle of Falkirk, and that, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the commanders of the different corps, they found that the evil was hourly increasing, and that they had it not in their power to prevent it,—that as they were afraid Stirling castle could not be taken so soon as was expected, they could, from the inequality of their numbers to that of the enemy, anticipate nothing but utter destruction to the few troops that might remain behind, should the enemy advance before the castle fell into Prince Charles’s hands. For these reasons, they gave it as their opinion, that the only way to extricate his royal highness, and those who remained with him, out of the imminent danger which threatened them, was to retire immediately to the Highlands, where the army could be usefully employed the remainder of the winter in taking the forts in the north,—that they were morally certain they could keep as many men together as would answer that end, and would hinder the enemy from following them to the mountains at that season of the year,—and that, in spring, they had no doubt that an army of 10,000 effective Highlanders could be brought together, who would follow his royal highness wherever he might think proper. Such a plan, they maintained, would certainly disconcert his enemies, and could not but be approved of by his royal highness’s friends both at home and abroad, and that if a landing should happen in the meantime, the Highlanders would immediately rise either to join the invaders, or to make a powerful diversion elsewhere. On considering the hard marches which the army had undergone, the season of the year, and the inclemency of the weather, his royal highness, they said, as well as his allies abroad and his adherents at home, could not fail to approve of the proposal,—that the greatest objection to the retreat was the difficulty of saving the artillery, particularly the heavy cannon; but that it would be better that some of these were thrown into the Forth, than that his royal highness and the flower of his army should be exposed to the risk they inevitably would, should the proposed retreat not be agreed to, and put in execution without loss of time; and that they thought that it would be the greatest imprudence to risk the whole on so unequal a chance, when there were such hopes of succour from abroad, besides the resources his royal highness would have from his adherents at home. In conclusion, they informed the prince that they had just been apprised, that numbers of their people had gone off, and that many were sick, and not in a condition to fight. They added, that nobody was privy to the address but the subscribers; and they assured him that it was with great concern and reluctance they found themselves obliged to declare their sentiments in so dangerous a situation,—a declaration which nothing could have prevailed upon them to make but the unfortunate diminution of the army by desertion.[1128]

According to a statement made by John Hay, who occasionally acted as secretary to the prince, Charles was so transported with rage, after reading this paper, that he struck his head against the wall of the room till he staggered, and exclaimed most violently against Lord George Murray. To dissuade the subscribers from their resolution, Charles sent Sir Thomas Sheridan to Falkirk, who, not succeeding in his mission, returned to Bannockburn, accompanied by Keppoch and several other chiefs. These argued the matter with Charles himself, and ultimately prevailed upon him to consent to a retreat.[1129] This retreat was condemned by some of the prince’s flatterers; but the simple fact, stated by Patullo the muster-master of the prince’s army, that, before the retreat, the army had been diminished by desertion to 5,000 men, fully justifies the advice given by Lord George Murray and the chiefs at Falkirk.[1130] Even Sir Thomas Sheridan, the especial favourite of the prince, admitted the necessity of the retreat, for reasons apart from the reduction of the army.[1131]

In order to make the retreat with as little loss as possible, horses and carriages were ordered in from all quarters, under the pretext of carrying the field artillery and ammunition towards Edinburgh, whither it was given out that the army was to march immediately. The army, however, began to suspect the design, and every person, not in the secret, looked dejected. During the 30th, a great deal of bustle took place in the country in collecting horses and carriages, but with little effect, as the country people, who also began to conjecture that a retreat was intended, were not disposed to attend to the order.[1132] At length the design of these preparations became apparent when, in consequence of a previous arrangement, Lord George Murray left Falkirk with the clans on the evening of the 31st for Bannockburn, leaving behind him Elcho’s, Pitsligo’s, and Kilmarnock’s horse, who were directed to patrol betwixt Falkirk and Linlithgow till ten o’clock that night. Lord George continued at the prince’s quarters till after twelve o’clock at night, when it was agreed that the army should rendezvous at nine o’clock next morning near St. Ninians; and a message was directed to be sent to the Duke of Perth and Lord John Drummond, both of whom were at Stirling, to be ready to march between nine and ten o’clock, but not to evacuate the town without further orders. However, after Lord George had left the prince’s quarters for his own, these orders were countermanded without his knowledge, and orders were sent to Stirling to evacuate it by break of day.[1133]

The appointed rendezvous at St. Ninians never took place, for the private men, imagining when they first heard of the retreat that the danger was much greater and nearer than it really was, had begun at day-break to take the road to the Frews. Before the hour appointed for assembling, many of them had arrived at that ford, so that when Charles left his quarters for St. Ninians, scarcely a vestige of his army was to be seen. Officers were sent after some parties, who were still visible, for the purpose of stopping them, but without effect. The troops in Stirling, in terms of the orders they had received, after spiking their cannon, also marched to the Frews, so that the prince and Lord George Murray found themselves almost deserted. Charles finding it impossible to recall his troops, marched off with some of the chiefs and the few troops that remained with him.[1134]

On the morning of the retreat the church of St. Ninians, in which the insurgents had fifty barrels of gunpowder, blew up with a terrible explosion, which was heard by the Duke of Cumberland’s army at Linlithgow. Whether it happened from accident or design, is a point which cannot be ascertained. If from design, it must have been the act of some unknown individual, as there was no warning given to any person to keep out of the way. That it could not have been perpetrated by any person in the prince’s interest, seems very evident from the fact, that Charles himself was near enough to have suffered injury, and that some of the Highlanders, as well as several of the inhabitants of the village, were killed.[1135] Yet, such was the spirit of misrepresentation which prevailed at the time, that, without the least assignable motive, the odium of the act was thrown upon Charles.

When this explosion took place, Lord George Murray was still at his head quarters. He thought the castle-guns had fired a volley; and on repairing to the town about an hour after the explosion, he was utterly amazed to find that the besiegers had disappeared. He, therefore, sent an aide-de-camp to call off some horse he had posted near Falkirk, and proceeded immediately, with the few troops that remained with him, to the Frews.

The Highland army was quartered that night at Doune, Dunblane, and adjacent villages, and continued to retire next day, the 2d of February, in a very disorderly manner. The prince halted at Crieff, where he reviewed his army, and, according to the statement of one of his officers,[1136] his army was found not to have lost above 1,000 men by desertion. Charles, who had consented to a retreat on the supposition that his army had lost a third of its numbers from this cause, is said to have been deeply affected on this occasion. Lord George Murray’s enemies did not let slip the opportunity of reproaching him, and, indeed, all the chiefs who had signed the representation, with deception; but the author above referred to observes, that their mistake, if there really was a mistake, can be easily accounted for, if people will divest themselves of prejudice, and examine the circumstances impartially. He observes, that, from the battle of Falkirk up to the time of the Duke of Cumberland’s march from Edinburgh, the country being absolutely secure, the Highlanders had indulged their restless disposition by roaming about all the villages in the neighbourhood of their quarters, and that numbers of them were absent several days from their colours—that their principal officers knowing for certain that some had gone home, imagined that such was also the case with all who were not to be found in their respective quarters, but that all the stragglers had got to Crieff and appeared at the review. Without questioning such a respectable authority as Mr. Maxwell, who may be right in the main fact, as to the number of the army at Crieff, it seems more likely that the army had recruited its ranks on the retreat to Crieff, by overtaking the deserters on their homeward route, than that 2,000 or 3,000 men should have been absent on a sojourn in the neighbourhood of their camp.

After the review, the prince held a council of war, to deliberate upon the course to be pursued. At no former meeting did heats and party animosities break out to such an extent as at this council. Lord George Murray complained greatly of the flight, and requested to know the names of the persons who had advised it; but the prince took the whole blame on himself. After a great deal of wrangling and altercation, it was determined that the army should march north to Inverness in two divisions,—that the horse and low-country regiments should proceed along the coast road, and that the prince, at the head of the clans, should take the Highland road.[1137] Lord George, after other officers had refused, agreed to take the command of the coast division, which arrived at Perth late that night. The prince remained at Crieff, and passed the night at Fairnton, a seat of Lord John Drummond, in the neighbourhood. Next day, being the 4th, Charles marched from Crieff to Dunkeld, and thence to Blair Athole, where he remained several days, till he heard of the arrival of the other division at Aberdeen.

It would have been quite impossible, under almost any circumstances, for the Duke of Cumberland’s army to have overtaken the Highlanders; but slow as the movements of such an army necessarily were, it met with an obstruction which retarded its progress nearly three days. This was the impassable state of Stirling bridge, one arch of which had, as formerly mentioned, been broken down by General Blakeney to embarrass the intercourse between the Highland army when in the south, and its auxiliaries in the north. It was not till the morning of the 4th of February that the bridge was repaired, on which day the English army passed over. The advanced guard, consisting of the Argyleshire Highlanders and the dragoons, went on to Crieff, and the foot were quartered in and about Dunblane, where the duke passed the night. Next day he proceeded to Crieff, and on the 6th arrived at Perth, of which his advanced guard had taken possession the previous day.

Lord George Murray marched from Perth for Aberdeen with his division on the 4th. He left behind thirteen pieces of cannon, which were spiked and thrown into the Tay, a great quantity of cannon balls, and fourteen swivel guns, that formerly belonged to the Hazard sloop-of-war, which had been surprised and taken at Montrose by the Highlanders. These pieces were taken out of the river next day by the royal troops.

Having learned at Perth the different routes taken by the Highland army, and that it had gained two or three days’ march in advance, the Duke of Cumberland resolved to halt a few days to refresh his men. From Perth parties were sent out to perambulate the neighbouring country, who plundered the lands and carried off the effects of the prince’s adherents. The Duchess Dowager of Perth and the Viscountess of Strathallan were apprehended, carried to Edinburgh, and committed to the castle.

Shortly after his arrival at Perth, the Duke of Cumberland received an express announcing the arrival in the Frith of Forth of a force of about 5,000 Hessians, under the command of the Prince of Hesse, son-in-law of George II. These auxiliaries had been brought over from the continent to supply the place of the Dutch troops, who had been recalled by the states-general in consequence of the interference of the French government, which considered the treaty entered into between the King of Great Britain and Holland, by which the latter agreed to furnish these troops to suppress the rebellion, as a violation of the capitulations of Tournay and Dendermonde.

The fleet which conveyed the Hessian troops anchored in Leith roads on the 8th of February, having been only four days from Williamstadt. The troops were disembarked at Leith on the 9th and the following day, and were cantoned in and about Edinburgh. On the 15th of February the Duke of Cumberland paid a visit to the Prince of Hesse, his brother-in-law, at Edinburgh. On that evening they held a council of war in Milton-house, the residence of the lord-justice-clerk. In consequence of the sudden and disorderly retreat of the Highlanders, an opinion had begun to prevail among the friends of the government at Edinburgh, that it was the intention of the insurgents to disperse themselves, and that Charles would follow the example set by his father in 1716, by leaving the kingdom. Impressed with this idea, the generals who attended the council gave it as their unanimous opinion that the war was at an end, and that the duke had nothing now to do but to give orders to his officers to march into the Highlands, as soon as the season would permit, and ferret the insurgents out of their strongholds, as it appeared evident to them that they would never risk a battle with an army commanded by the Duke of Cumberland. After the officers had delivered their sentiments, the duke requested Lord Milton to give his opinion, as he knew the Highlands and Highlanders better than any person present. His lordship at first declined doing so, as he was not a military man, but being pressed by the duke, he began by expressing a hope that he might be mistaken in the opinion he was about to give, but he felt himself bound to declare, from all he knew of the Highlands and Highlanders, that the war was not at an end, and that as the king’s troops could not follow the Highlanders among their fastnesses in the winter season, they would, though now divided and scattered, unite again, and venture another battle before giving up the war. Acquiescing in the views of Lord Milton, whose opinion turned out correct, the duke returned to Perth next day to put his army in motion towards the north.[1138]

Meanwhile, the Highland army was proceeding in its march to Inverness. After remaining a few days at Blair-Athole, Charles marched to Ruthven in Badenoch, the barrack of which was taken and blown up by a party under Gordon of Glenbucket, who made the small garrison prisoners. He reached Moy castle, a seat of the laird of Mackintosh, about ten miles from Inverness, on the 16th of February, with an advanced guard of about 50 men. As Charles’s forces were widely scattered, he resolved to halt at Moy till he should concentrate a force sufficient to attack the Earl of Loudon, who was posted at Inverness with 2,000 men.

Hearing of Charles’s arrival at Moy castle, and that he had not above 500 or 600 men with him, Lord Loudon formed a design to seize him during the night while off his guard. The better to conceal his project, his lordship, at three o’clock in the afternoon, completely invested Inverness on all sides, posting guards and a chain of sentinels round the town, with positive orders not to suffer any person to leave it on any pretext whatever. He ordered, at the same time, 1,500 men to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment’s warning; and, having assembled them without noise, he put himself at their head, and instantly set off, planning his march so as he might arrive at the castle of Moy about eleven o’clock at night.[1139]

Notwithstanding the secrecy, however, with which Lord Loudon concocted his scheme, the plan was divulged by the imprudence or perfidy of some persons intrusted with the secret. According to one account (for there are several), the design was communicated to Lady Mackintosh, a zealous Jacobite, by Fraser of Gorthleck, in a letter which he sent to her, and in another letter which she received at the same time from her mother, who, though a whig, felt a repugnance to allow Charles to be made a prisoner in her daughter’s house, in which he had taken up his residence as a guest.[1140] Another account is, that while some English officers were drinking in a tavern in Inverness, waiting the hour of their departure, a girl of thirteen or fourteen years of age, who happened to wait on them, paid great attention to their conversation, and, from certain expressions dropped by them, discovered their design,—that she immediately left the house, escaped from the town, notwithstanding the vigilance of the sentinels, and immediately took the road to Moy, running as fast as she was able, without shoes or stockings, which, to accelerate her progress, she had taken off,—and that on arriving she informed Lady Mackintosh of the design against the prince.[1141] The Jacobite Memoirs, however, have furnished a third version of this affair, which appears to be more correct in the details. It is there stated that Lady Mackintosh’s mother, who lived in Inverness, having received notice of Lord Loudon’s design, despatched a boy, about fifteen years of age, named Lauchlan Mackintosh, to Moy, to apprise the prince thereof,—that the boy, finding he could not pass by Lord Loudon’s men without running the risk of being discovered, concealed himself behind a wall till they had passed, when, taking a different road, he reached Moy and gave the alarm. The prince, who was in bed, was instantly awakened, and, jumping out, put on his clothes, left the house with a guard of about thirty men, and disappeared in a neighbouring wood.[1142]

Lady Anne Mackintosh, 1745.
From original painting in possession
of The Mackintosh.

As soon as Lady Mackintosh was informed of Lord Loudon’s design, she sent five or six of her people, headed by a country blacksmith, named Fraser, to watch the advance of Loudon’s troops. This man, with a boldness almost incredible, formed the extraordinary design of surprising the advancing party, in the expectation that they would fall a prey to a panic. With this view, he posted his men on both sides of the road to Inverness, about three miles from Moy, and enjoined them not to fire till he should give directions, and then not to fire together, but one after the other, in the order he pointed out. After waiting for some time, the party was apprised of the advance of Lord Loudon’s troops by the noise they made in marching. When the head of the detachment, which consisted of 70 men under the laird of Macleod, was within hearing, the blacksmith called out with a loud voice, “Here come the villains who intend to carry off our prince; fire, my lads; do not spare them; give them no quarter.” He thereupon discharged his piece in the direction of the detachment, and his party, after following his example, ran in different directions, calling upon the Macdonalds and Camerons to advance on the right and left, and repeating aloud the names of Lochiel and Keppoch. Impressed with the belief that the whole Highland army was at hand, the advanced guard instantly turned its back, and communicating its fears to the rear, a scene of indescribable confusion ensued. The sauve-qui-peut which burst forth from the discomfited legions of Napoleon on the plains of Waterloo, was not more appalling to the flying French than were the names of the Camerons and Macdonalds to the ears of Lord Loudon’s troops on the present occasion. In the hurry of their flight many were thrown down and trodden upon, and so great was the panic with which the fugitives were seized, that the flight continued till they got near Inverness. The Master of Ross, who accompanied the party, and was one of those who were overwhelmed, observed to Mr. Home, that he had been in many perils, but had never found himself in such a grievous condition as that in which he was at the rout of Moy.[1143] In this affair the laird of Macleod’s piper, reputed the best in Scotland, was shot dead on the spot. On the dispersion of Lord Loudon’s party, Charles returned to the castle.

Having assembled his men next morning, Charles advanced upon Inverness with the intention of attacking Lord Loudon, and taking revenge for the attempt of the preceding night; but his lordship, not feeling inclined to wait for the prince, retired into Ross-shire, by crossing the Moray Frith at the ferry of Kessock. Charles took immediate possession of Inverness, and laid siege to the castle then named Fort George. This structure, which was situated on a hill to the south-west of Cromwell’s fort, had been raised at the Revolution; and had cost the government, since its erection, above £50,000. The castle was fortified in the modern manner, being a regular square with four bastions, and it commanded the town and the bridge over the river Ness.

This fortress had a garrison of eighty regular troops; but, on his departure from Inverness, Lord Loudon threw into it two of the independent companies, one of Grants, and the other of Macleods. The castle on the present occasion mounted sixteen pieces of cannon, and was well provided with ammunition and provisions. The prince summoned the fortress to surrender, but Grant of Rothiemurchus, the governor, refused to comply. Though Charles had left his heavy artillery behind, he found no difficulty in reducing this fort, as the little hill on which it was built was so contiguous to the town that it could be easily approached on that side, without exposure to its fire. It was resolved to undermine the castle and blow it up; but, after a siege of two days, and when the mine had been completed, the garrison surrendered. This event took place on the 20th of February. The prince, however, did not spare the fortress, which he blew up immediately after the surrender; a sergeant in the French artillery, who was charged with the operation, losing his life on the occasion.[1144]

On the same day that Charles arrived at Moy, the division under Lord George Murray had reached Spey side; and the day before Fort George surrendered he had arrived with his men in the neighbourhood of Inverness. In consequence of a great fall of snow, which took place on the day Lord George marched from Aberdeen, his march had been most fatiguing; and the French piquets and Lord John Drummond’s regiment were obliged to halt a day at Kintore and Inverury. After giving the prince an account of his march, Lord George, contemplating the possibility of a retreat to the Highlands, mentioned a plan, devised by him and Lord Pitsligo, to assess the shires of Banff, Moray, and Nairn in 5,000 bolls of meal, for the use of the army; and he proposed that the greater part of it should be sent to the Highlands for subsistence, in case of retreat thither. The prince approved of the plan; but directed that the whole of the meal, when collected, should be brought to Inverness.[1145]

With the exception of two detachments, which took possession of Blair and Castle Menzies, the army of the Duke of Cumberland lay inactive at Perth till the 20th of February, on which day he put his army in motion for the north, in four divisions. He sent notice to the Prince of Hesse to march to Perth, and in his way to leave two battalions at Stirling. At the same time he directed the remains of Ligonier’s and Hamilton’s dragoons to be cantoned at Bannockburn, and St. George’s dragoons to be posted at Bridge of Earn. With the assistance of these cavalry regiments, which were placed under the command of the Earl of Crawford, it was thought that the Prince of Hesse would be able to check the insurgents, and prevent their progress south, should they give the duke the slip. In marching north, the duke’s army took the road along the coast, as Lord George Murray had done. On the 27th of February the army arrived at Aberdeen, where the duke took up his quarters, till the advance of spring should enable him to take the field. A few days before his arrival, a vessel from France had landed at Aberdeen three troops of Fitz-James’s horse, with five officers, and a piquet of Berwick’s regiment. These troops, with a party of men under Moir of Stonywood, left Aberdeen on the duke’s approach.

Compelled by circumstances to abandon, within the short space of three weeks, the whole tract of low country from the Avon to the Don, on which he chiefly relied for the subsistence of his army, followed by a large army with powerful resources in its rear, which it could render speedily available, and narrowly watched by the forces under Lord Loudon, the situation of Charles now became very critical. The fertile province of Moray and part of the adjacent territory had, by the expulsion of Lord Loudon from Inverness, no doubt come into his possession; but he could not expect to maintain his ground in this district for any length of time without a precarious struggle. He had it in his power, whenever he pleased, to retire into the neighbouring Highlands, where his pursuers would scarcely venture to follow him; but, without previously securing a supply of provisions from the Low country, he could not keep his army together in a district where the means of subsistence were extremely scanty. The possibility of such a retreat was contemplated by Lord George Murray; but, from aversion to such a design, or from want of foresight, Charles, as just stated, over-ruled his lordship’s proposal to send a supply of provisions to the Highlands.

Judging from the slowness of the Duke of Cumberland’s motions, that a considerable time would elapse before he would venture to cross the Spey, Charles resolved to employ the interval in carrying through a series of operations which he and his friends projected. The principal of these were the reduction of Fort Augustus and Fort William, and the dispersion of Lord Loudon’s army. To secure subsistence for his army, he cantoned the greater part of the division which had marched by Aberdeen between that town and Inverness; and, as after the retreat from Stirling he had directed any supplies that might be sent him from France to be landed to the north of Aberdeen, he occupied all the little towns along that coast. As this district was generally disaffected to the government, it was an easy matter to guard it with the few troops that were dispersed over it; and no danger was to be apprehended till the English army came up, when the various parties were directed to fall back from post to post as the duke advanced.[1146]

The first enterprise that Charles undertook, after capturing Fort George, was the siege of Fort Augustus. To reduce this fortress, and with the ulterior view of laying siege to Fort William, Brigadier Stapleton was sent into Stratherrick with the French piquets and a detachment of Lord John Drummond’s regiment, and appeared before Fort Augustus about the end of February. Without waiting for his artillery, which consisted of a few pieces found at Fort George, he attacked the old barrack and carried it immediately, the garrison retiring to the fort. Mr. Grant, who had succeeded M. Mirabelle as chief engineer, since the siege of Stirling, opened a trench upon the 3d of March. The garrison held out two days, when, in consequence of the explosion of the powder magazine by the falling of a shell, the fortress surrendered, and the garrison, which consisted of three companies of Guise’s regiment, were made prisoners of war. Leaving Lord Lewis Gordon with a few troops in command of the place, the brigadier marched to Fort William, which he invested on the land side.[1147]

Pursuant to his plan of operations, the prince, in the beginning of March, sent Lord Cromarty with a detachment, consisting of his own regiment, the Mackintoshes, Macgregors, and Barrisdale’s men, to drive the forces under Lord Loudon out of Ross-shire. Finding that his lordship was unable to accomplish the task which had been assigned him, Charles despatched Lord George Murray to his assistance with the Macdonalds of Clanranald and a battalion of Lochiel’s regiment. He reached Dingwall the first night, where he found Lord Cromarty’s detachment; but his lordship had been absent two days at his own house with a strong guard of Mackenzies. Lord George marched next day for Tain, where he understood Lord Loudon was posted; but on the road he learned that his lordship had crossed the Dornoch Frith to Sutherland, and had quartered his troops in the town of Dornoch and the neighbourhood. Not having any boats to carry his men across the frith, his lordship, after consulting his officers, returned to Dingwall, where he quartered his men. The reason of retiring a day’s march farther back was to throw Lord Loudon off his guard, as it was contemplated to bring boats along the coast and attempt the passage. There was nothing to prevent the detachment marching round the head of the frith; but Lord Loudon having a sufficiency of boats, might have eluded his pursuers by recrossing to Tain; and, as Lord George would, by such a course, have been several days’ march from Inverness, the main body of the Highland army would have been in a critical situation, if the Duke of Cumberland’s army had reached the neighbourhood of Inverness, while the corps under Lord George Murray was on the north side of the Frith of Dornoch.[1148] After sending notice to Lord Cromarty of the disposition of his forces, and that the Duke of Perth would take the command, Lord George returned to Inverness the following day, to execute a design he and Macpherson of Cluny had concerted, to surprise the castle of Blair, and to beat up the quarters of the government troops in Athole, who, from information he had received, had committed great excesses in that district.

To carry the enterprise against Lord Loudon into execution, all the fishing boats that could be collected on the coast of Moray were brought to Findhorn. A few gentlemen, to whom the charge of collecting this small flotilla had been intrusted, had conducted the matter with such secrecy and expedition, that no person in the government interest was aware of it; but after the boats were all in readiness, a difficulty presented itself in getting them across the Moray frith without being perceived by the English cruisers that were continually passing along the coast. Moir of Stonywood, however, undertook to convey the boats to Tain, and he accordingly set out one night with this little fleet, and arrived at his destination next morning without being observed by the enemy.[1149] On the flotilla reaching Tain, the Duke of Perth divided his force into two parts; and while, with one of them, he marched about by the head of the frith, he directed the other to cross in the boats. Under cover of a thick fog this division landed without being discovered, and the duke, having united his forces on the north side of the frith, advanced upon Dornoch. When near that town, he came up with a party of 200 men, who were on their march to join Lord Loudon. This party instantly fled; but Major Mackenzie, who commanded it, with four or five officers, and sixty privates, were made prisoners. Among the officers was a son of Mr. Macdonald of Scothouse, who was taken prisoner by his own father.[1150] The main body, under Lord Loudon, abandoned Dornoch in great consternation, and fled north towards Glenmore, pursued by the Jacobite forces. Both parties marched all night; but the fugitives kept ahead of their pursuers. After a chase of about thirty miles, the Duke of Perth discontinued the pursuit, and halted at the head of Loch Shin. While following the enemy during the night, great anxiety prevailed among the Macdonalds in the Duke of Perth’s detachment, lest, in the event of an engagement, they might not be able, notwithstanding their white cockades, to distinguish themselves from the Macdonalds of Skye, who, like the other Macdonalds, wore heather in their bonnets.[1151] Upon reaching the head of Sutherland-shire, Lord Loudon separated his army. Accompanied by the lord-president and the laird of Macleod, he marched to the sea-coast with 800 of the Macdonalds and Macleods, and embarked for the Isle of Skye. Part of his own regiment, with several officers, took refuge in Lord Reay’s country. Finding that Lord Loudon’s troops had dispersed, the Duke of Perth returned to Inverness, leaving Lord Cromarty in Sutherland with a sufficient force to keep Lord Sutherland and Lord Reay’s people in check. The dispersion of Lord Loudon’s army was considered of such importance by Charles, that he immediately despatched an officer to France with the intelligence.[1152] In this expedition, several vessels in the Frith of Dornoch, having some valuable effects on board, fell into the hands of the insurgents.

Before Lord George Murray set out on his expedition into Athole, Macpherson of Cluny had secured the passes between that country and Badenoch, to prevent all communication between these districts. About the middle of March Lord George left Inverness with 400 men of the Athole brigade; and, on entering Badenoch, he was joined by Cluny with 300 Macphersons. On the 16th of March the whole detachment set out from Dalwhinnie in the dusk of the evening, and did not halt till they reached Dalnaspidal, about the middle of Drummochter, where the body was divided into a number of small parties, in each of which the Athole men and the Macphersons were proportionally mixed.

Hitherto, with the exception of Macpherson of Cluny and Lord George, no person in the expedition knew either its destination or object. The time was now come for Lord George to explain his design, which he said was to surprise and attack before day-light, and as nearly as possible at the same time, all the posts in Athole occupied by the royal forces. As an encouragement, he offered a reward of a guinea to every man who should surprise a sentinel at his post. There were about thirty posts in all, including the different houses at which the royal troops were quartered; but the principal posts, more especially selected for attack, were Bun-Rannoch, the house of Keynnachin, the house of Blairfettie, the house of Lude, the house of Faskally, and the inn at Blair, where, as Lord George Murray was informed, several officers of the twenty-first regiment were quartered. After the different parties had discharged their duty by attacking the posts assigned them, they were ordered to meet at the bridge of Bruar, about two miles north from Blair, as the general rendezvous for the detachment.

Having received their instructions, the different parties set out immediately: and so well was the scheme of attack laid, that betwixt three and five o’clock in the morning, the whole posts, though many miles distant from one another, were carried. At Bun-Rannoch, where there was a late-wake held that night, the sentinel was surprised, and the whole of the party, (Argyleshire men,) while engaged in that festivity, were taken prisoners, without a shot being fired on either side. The sentinel at Keynnachin being more upon his guard, discharged his piece and alarmed his friends, who defended themselves for a short time by firing from the windows, till the party broke into the house, and killing one man, made prisoners of the rest. At Blairfettie, where there were fifty Argyleshire men stationed, the sentinel was surprised, and the party, with the proprietor of the mansion at their head, entered the house before the soldiers within knew that they were attacked. They endeavoured to defend themselves, but were obliged to surrender. Lady Blairfettie was in bed at the time, and knew nothing of the affair, till informed by a servant that her husband was below, and wished to see her immediately. On coming down stairs she found the garrison disarmed, the prisoners in the dining-room, and about a dozen of her husband’s tenants and servants standing over them with drawn swords. Blairfettie, thinking that his wife had been harshly treated, desired her to point out any of the prisoners who had used her ill; but she answered that she had no other complaint to make than this, that the prisoners had eaten all her provisions, and that she and her children were starving.[1153] The parties at Faskally, at Lude, and the bridge of Tilt, were also taken; but that in the inn of Blair, after some resistance, escaped to the castle. Three hundred prisoners were taken by Lord George’s parties, without the loss of a single man. While beating up the different posts, a party, by order of Lord George, secured the pass of Killiecrankie.[1154]

Having been apprised, by the arrival of the party from the inn of Blair, of the presence of the enemy, Sir Andrew Agnew, who held the castle of Blair, instantly got his men under arms, and left the castle to ascertain who they were that had attacked his posts. Information of this circumstance was brought about daybreak by an inhabitant of the village to Lord George Murray, who was then at the bridge of Bruar with a party of twenty-five men only and a few elderly gentlemen, waiting for the different parties he had despatched the previous night. This intelligence was of the utmost importance to Lord George and his party, all of whom would otherwise have probably fallen into the hands of the garrison. Lord George immediately consulted the gentlemen around him as to the course they should pursue. Some advised an immediate retreat in the direction of Dalwhinnie, but others were for crossing the nearest hills, and retiring by roads along which it would be difficult for the garrison to follow them. His lordship, however, was opposed to both opinions, as by quitting his post he was afraid that his different parties, as they came to the appointed place of rendezvous, would be surprised, and made prisoners. While pondering how to extricate himself from the dilemma in which he was placed, he espied a long unfinished turf-wall which ran across a field near the bridge. An idea at once occurred to him, that by disposing the few men that were with him behind this wall at a considerable distance from one another, and by displaying the colours of both regiments in front, he might deceive Sir Andrew Agnew’s detachment, by inducing them to believe that they were to be opposed by a large body of men. Having disposed his small party in the way described, Lord George directed the pipers, (for luckily he had with him the whole pipers of his detachment,) to keep their eyes fixed upon the road to Blair, and the moment they saw any military appear in that direction, to strike up at once with all their bagpipes. Just as the sun was rising above the horizon, Sir Andrew Agnew’s men appeared, and their ears were instantly saluted by the noise of the bagpipes, when the pipers commenced playing one of their most noisy pibrochs. The party behind the wall then drew their swords, and, as they had been previously ordered by Lord George, kept brandishing them above their heads. This ruse succeeded completely, and Sir Andrew, alarmed by the noise and the spectacle before him, at which he took only a short glance, ordered his men to the right about, and retired into the castle.[1155]

Blair Castle as it stood in 1745–6 before being dismantled. Copied by permission from an old drawing in possession of His Grace the Duke of Athole.

Being now relieved from all apprehension of attack, Lord George remained at his post till joined by about 300 of his men, when he marched to Blair, and invested the castle. Having no battering-cannon, and only two small field-pieces, which could make no impression on walls that were seven feet thick, he resolved to blockade the castle, which he expected would be forced to surrender in two or three weeks for want of provisions. To cut off the communication between the castle and the neighbouring country, Lord George placed a guard of 300 men at the village of Blair, where he was himself stationed, and another near the Mains, at some stables which had been recently erected. Being joined by 400 or 500 men belonging to the district, who had been formerly in the Highland army, Lord George detached a party to Dunkeld, where they remained till the approach of the Hessians from Perth. This party then retreated to Pitlochrie, two miles below the pass of Killiecrankie, where they remained several days, during which time repeated skirmishes took place between them and the hussars, and some of St. George’s dragoons. During the time the Athole men kept possession of Pitlochrie, Lord George Murray went there generally twice every day to ascertain the state of matters. The Hessians showed no disposition to leave Dunkeld, where they had taken up their quarters, till the 13th of March, on which day a large body of them came up as far as the Haugh of Dalskean, about two miles from Pitlochrie. The dragoons and hussars continuing to advance, the Athole men retired to the foot of the pass of Killiecrankie, where they halted to dispute the passage; but after remaining six hours waiting for the Hessians, they were informed that a great part of them had returned to Dunkeld.[1156]

At this time the garrison of Blair castle was reduced to great distress from the want of provisions, and if the blockade had been continued a few days longer they must have surrendered; but, fortunately for the besieged, Lord George Murray was ordered to return immediately to Inverness, in consequence of the expected advance of the Duke of Cumberland. Accordingly, on the 31st of March, Lord George sent off his two pieces of cannon, that he might not be impeded in his march, and about ten o’clock at night he drew off the party from the pass to Blair, taking his departure for Inverness, at two o’clock next morning. Finding the pass clear, Lord Crawford went through it the same morning, but the Hessians, alarmed at the dreadful aspect which it presented, positively refused to enter the pass. As, from the expresses which Lord George Murray received, he was led to infer that the Duke of Cumberland was about to leave Aberdeen, his lordship made a most rapid march, having performed the journey in seventy hours, four only of which he devoted to sleep. Cluny’s men were left at Ruthven, to guard Badenoch from the incursions of the royal troops in Athole.[1157]

To facilitate his march to the north, and to clear as much of the low country as possible from the presence of the insurgents, the Duke of Cumberland sent several detachments from Aberdeen, to scour the country, and possess themselves of certain posts between the Don and the Spey. One of these detachments, consisting of four battalions of infantry, the Duke of Kingston’s horse, and Cobham’s dragoons, under the command of General Bland, left Aberdeen on the 12th of March, and took possession of Old Meldrum, Inverury, and Old Rayne. Bland was preceded on his march by the Argyleshire men, and 100 of the laird of Grant’s followers under the eldest son of that chief. At this time the insurgent forces on the east of the river Spey, which had been placed under the command of Lord John Drummond, were stationed as follows. Lord Strathallan’s horse, which had been lately separated from Lord Kilmarnock’s, and the hussars, occupied Cullen; part of the battalions of Roy Stewart and Gordon of Avochy, consisting of about 400 men, with 50 horse, were quartered at Strathbogie, and the remainder were cantoned in Fochabers, and the villages along the Spey.[1158]

Having received intelligence of the occupation of Strathbogie by the Highlanders, the Duke of Cumberland sent orders on the 16th, to General Bland to march thither with all the troops under his command, and endeavour to surprise the forces there assembled, and failing in that design, to attack them and drive them across the river. To sustain General Bland, should occasion require, Brigadier Mordaunt marched by break of day next morning to Old Meldrum, with four battalions and four pieces of cannon. About the same time General Bland left Old Meldrum for Strathbogie, and almost succeeded in surprising the insurgents, who were ignorant of his approach till he came near the place. At the time the news of General Bland’s march reached Strathbogie some of the Highlanders were absent, having been sent the preceding night for the purpose of intercepting the young laird of Grant, who was returning to his own country with a commission to raise a regiment out of his clan, and who was to pass within a few miles of Strathbogie. The party, however, did not succeed, as Mr. Grant got the start of them, and took up his quarters for the night in a strong castle belonging to Lord Forbes, which they found it impossible to force without artillery. This party returned to Strathbogie about one o’clock in the afternoon, greatly fatigued from want of rest, and found that intelligence had been received of Bland’s advance. This news was fully confirmed by the arrival of some scouts, who came back at full speed with information that a large body of horse and foot was at hand.[1159]

Alarmed at the unexpected approach of the enemy, the officers at Strathbogie were at first at a loss how to act. There was danger in retreat as well as in attempting to remain. It was impossible that the men, who were in want of sleep and refreshment, could march far without halting; and as they had left several stragglers behind, it appeared certain that, in the event of a retreat, these would be picked up by Bland’s cavalry. On the other hand, from the vast numerical superiority of the English forces, it was dreaded that the small party would not be able to make an effectual resistance, and that in the event of a defeat the whole would easily fall into the enemy’s hands. In this dilemma it was resolved to remain an hour at Strathbogie, to give time to the stragglers to come up, and then to retreat. At this time the van of Bland’s detachment had begun to appear, and before the hour had elapsed the whole was in sight, and the van within a quarter of a mile of the village. The small party of guards then marched out towards the enemy, and while they formed between the village and the bridge of Bogie, as if intending to dispute the passage of the bridge, the foot left the village. After they had cleared the village, and the enemy’s cavalry had begun to file along the bridge, the small body of horse retired after the foot, towards the river Deveron, which they crossed. They thereupon formed again on the other side of the river to stop the enemy’s horse, who had pursued them at full speed from Strathbogie to the river side, but they did not at first attempt the passage, a circumstance which enabled the foot to gain the adjoining hill without molestation, where, from the narrowness of the road and the rockiness of the ground on each side of it, they were perfectly safe from the attacks of cavalry. With the exception of some volunteers among the cavalry, who followed half-way up the hill, and skirmished with a few of the guards who were left behind to observe their motions, the rest of the cavalry gave over the pursuit. The Highlanders, however, did not halt till they reached Fochabers. Next day they crossed the Spey, along with the other troops which had been cantoned on the east side, and took up their quarters in the villages on the opposite side.[1160]

From Strathbogie, General Bland sent forward a detachment of 70 Campbells, and 30 of Kingston’s horse, to occupy Keith, but they were not allowed to hold this post long. Major Glasgow, an Irish officer in the service of France, having offered to the prince to carry it with a detachment of 200 men, he was allowed to attempt the enterprise, and succeeded, the village having been invested on all sides before the enemy was aware of the attempt. On this occasion they became the victims of a little stratagem. After recrossing the Spey, Lord John Drummond sent a body of horse and foot across every morning. The foot remained generally all day at Fochabers, and the horse patrolled on the road between that village and Keith. On the 20th of March, a small party of Bland’s light horse having appeared on the top of the hill that overlooks Fochabers, the party occupying the village, apparently alarmed, left it in a hurry, much earlier than usual, and repassed the river. The design in thus repairing across the river before the usual time, was to throw the party at Keith off their guard, who, fancying themselves secure, took no precautions against surprise. After it had grown quite dark, Glasgow crossed the Spey with his detachment, consisting of 200 foot and 40 horse, and marching direct to Keith, arrived there unperceived about one o’clock in the morning. The Campbells, who were quartered in the church, formed in the church-yard, and a smart fire was kept up for some time between them and their assailants; but upon being promised quarter, if they submitted, they laid down their arms. Of the whole party, including the horse, not above five or six escaped. Captain Campbell who commanded the detachment, a non-commissioned officer, and five privates were killed. Glasgow had twelve of his men killed or wounded.

The advantages obtained by the insurgents in their expeditions into Athole and Sutherland, and by the reduction of Fort Augustus, were in some degree balanced by the loss of the Prince Charles, formerly the Hazard sloop of war, and the capture of some treasure and warlike stores which she had brought from France for the use of Charles’s army; and by the abandonment of the siege of Fort William.

Early in November the Hazard, a vessel mounting sixteen guns and some swivels, with a crew of 80 men, had anchored at Ferriden, opposite Montrose. The object of her commander, in taking this station, was to prevent the insurgents from taking possession of the town. At this time a party of Lord Ogilvy’s men, under the command of Captain David Ferrier, held Brechin, of which Ferrier had been appointed deputy-governor by the prince before his march into England; and to hinder the approach of this party towards Montrose, a fire was kept up at intervals for three days and nights from the Hazard, the only effect of which was to annoy the inhabitants exceedingly. To put an end to such a state of matters, Ferrier formed the design of capturing the vessel by raising a battery at the entrance of the river, and thereby to prevent her getting out to sea. In pursuance of this plan he entered Montrose one night, and possessed himself of the island on the south side of the town, opposite to where the Hazard lay. Next day the Hazard attempted to dislodge the party from the isle by her fire, but without success. In the afternoon of the following day a vessel carrying French colours was observed at sea, standing in towards the river; this turned out to be a transport from France, with a party of Lord John Drummond’s regiment, some Irish piquets, and six pieces of artillery. On observing this vessel, the Hazard fired a gun to leeward as a decoy; but, upon a signal from the party on the island, the commander of the French vessel ran her on shore out of reach of the Hazard’s guns. The crew then landed the six guns, and a fire was opened from them upon the Hazard next morning from both sides of the river, on each of which three of the pieces had been planted. With the exception, however, of having some of her rigging cut, she sustained no damage. Before the arrival of Ferrier’s party, Captain Hill, the commander of the Hazard, had taken four six-pounders, and two four-pounders, belonging to the town, which he had put on board a vessel in the harbour; but, by oversight, he left this vessel at the quay, and the consequence was, that she fell into the hands of the insurgents. This circumstance was fatal to the Hazard; for, finding that the guns lately landed were not sufficient to force the Hazard to surrender, Captain Ferrier carried the four six-pounders to the Dial hill, from which he fired upon her; and her commander, seeing escape hopeless, after hoisting a flag of truce, and making an ineffectual attempt for permission to leave the river, surrendered.[1161]

This vessel, being a first-rate sailer, was a great acquisition to the insurgents, and had made several trips to France. On the present occasion the Prince Charles, as the Hazard was now named by the Highlanders, was returning from France, having on board several officers and some privates, a supply of arms and ammunition, and a quantity of gold coin, amounting to between £12,000 and £13,000 sterling. She was observed, on the 24th of March, off the Banffshire coast, by the Sheerness man-of-war, which immediately gave chase. The Prince Charles taking a north-west course, endeavoured to escape by entering the Pentland frith; but the Sheerness followed her into that dangerous gulf; and after a running fight, in which the Prince Charles is said to have lost 36 men, the latter ran ashore on the sands of Melness, on the west side of Tongue bay, near the house of Lord Reay, on the 25th of March. The officers, soldiers, and crew, immediately landed with the treasure, which was contained in small boxes, and carried it to the house of William Mackay of Melness, where it remained during the night. The dispersion of Lord Loudon’s forces, an event which was considered at the time highly favourable to the interests of Charles in the north, turned out, in the present instance, to be very prejudicial. Part of them, as has been stated, had, upon their dispersion, retired into that wild and barren region called Lord Reay’s country; and when the Prince Charles arrived in Tongue bay, there was a party of these troops quartered in the neighbourhood. On receiving notice of the landing, Lord Reay sent some persons in a boat across the bay, to ascertain the strength of the party that had disembarked; and, on being informed that it was not numerous, it was concerted between him and some of Lord Loudon’s officers, to attack the party next morning with such forces as they could collect. Early next morning the French, conducted by George Mackay, younger of Melness, who had undertaken to lead them to Inverness, left Melness; but they had not proceeded far, when they were attacked, two hours after day-break, by a body of men, consisting of fifty of Lord Reay’s people headed by his lordship’s steward and a similar number of Lord Loudon’s troops. After a short resistance, during which four or six of their men were killed and as many wounded, the whole party, consisting of 20 officers and 120 soldiers and sailors, surrendered.

As Charles’s coffers were almost exhausted at this time, the loss of such a large sum of money pressed with peculiar severity upon the army, which he had, in consequence, great difficulty in keeping together. Though sparing in his troops, the King of France had not been remiss in sending Charles pecuniary supplies, nor had the King of Spain been unmindful of him; but the remittances sent by these sovereigns did not all reach their destination, some of them having been intercepted by British cruisers on their way. Reckoning, however, the sums drawn and received from various sources, Charles must have got no inconsiderable sum; but he appears to have paid little attention to his pecuniary concerns, and a system of peculation is said to have been practised by the persons intrusted with the management, which told heavily upon his means. His principal steward in particular, to whom the administration of the finances was committed, is alleged not to have been scrupulously honest, and he is said to have contrived matters so as to prevent open detection. His underlings did not omit the opportunity which occasion offered, of filling their pockets: a system of imposition was also practised by means of false musters.[1162] Under such circumstances the early exhaustion of Charles’s military chest is not to be wondered at. In this situation, seeing the impossibility of recruiting his finances at Inverness, he had resolved to return to the south country; but other circumstances induced him to forego his intention.

Judging from the unfortunate result of the siege of Stirling castle, neither Lord George Murray nor Brigadier Stapleton had any hopes of reducing Fort William, which, besides being a strong place, was regularly fortified; but, as Lochiel, Keppoch, and other chiefs, whose properties lay in its neighbourhood, were very desirous to obtain possession of a fortress which perpetually annoyed them, and the garrison of which had, during the prince’s expedition into England, made frequent sallies, and burnt the houses of the country people, and carried off their cattle, they did not object to the siege.[1163]

To assist the troops under Stapleton, the Camerons and the Macdonalds of Keppoch were ordered to Fort William. Mr. Grant the engineer proposed to begin the siege by erecting a battery on a small hill, called the Sugar-loaf, which overlooked the fortress about 800 yards off; and as he observed that one of the bastions projected so far that it could not be defended by the fire of the first, he proposed to arrive at it by a trench and blow it up; but, while in the act of reconnoitring, he received a violent contusion from a cannon-ball, which completely disabled him. Brigadier Stapleton, having no other engineer, was obliged to send to Inverness for M. Mirabelle, the singular personage formerly alluded to. Meanwhile, the besieged heightened the parapets of the walls on the side where they dreaded an attack, and raised the two faces of the bastions seven feet high.[1164]

For several days a skirmishing was kept up between the garrison and two sloops of war stationed in the river, on the one side, and the besiegers on the other, with varied success; but the insurgents having completed a battery on the Sugar-loaf on March 20th, opened the siege that evening. On account of its distance from the fortress, and the smallness of the cannon, which consisted of six and four-pounders only, little execution was done. Next day the besiegers erected a new battery at the foot of the Cowhill, within half the distance of the other, which was also opened, but with little better effect. On the 22d, Brigadier Stapleton sent a drummer to Captain Scott, the commanding officer, with a letter, requiring him to surrender, but his answer was, that he would defend the place to the last extremity. The bombardment was thereupon renewed on both sides for some hours, but at last the garrison silenced the besiegers by beating down their principal battery. The besiegers then erected a third battery, and the bombardment continued, with little intermission, till the 31st, when the garrison made a sally, forced one of the batteries erected upon a place called the Craigs, about a hundred yards from the walls, and captured several pieces of cannon and two mortars. Notwithstanding this disaster, they continued to annoy the besieged from five cannon which they had still mounted, but with no other damage to the garrison than the destruction of the roofs of most of the houses. At length, on the 3d of April, Brigadier Stapleton, in consequence of instructions he had received from the prince to join him immediately, raised the siege, and, after spiking his heavy cannon, marched for Inverness with the piquets, taking his field pieces along with him. He left the Highlanders behind, on the understanding that they were to follow him with as little delay as possible. The loss sustained on either side was trifling.[1165]

Abounding as the prince’s enterprise did, in many brilliant points, there is, unquestionably, no part of it more deserving of admiration than that which now presents itself, near the end of his short, but very eventful career. At Gladsmuir and at Falkirk, almost the whole of the prince’s energies were directed to a single point, but at Inverness he projected a number of expeditions, attacks, and sieges, and conducted them with an energy and promptitude which astonished the government. The whole force he was able to collect, after his retreat to the north, did not exceed 8,000 men; and, although there was no certainty that the Duke of Cumberland might not advance immediately from Aberdeen, which is only a hundred miles from Inverness, yet he separated his forces, and, while with one detachment he kept General Bland in check, he, almost at the same time, carried on a series of operations with the isolated parts of his army in the distant territories of Athole, Lochaber, and Sutherland.

FOOTNOTES:

[1122] “But the Duke was no common man. He belonged to an age when high command was in a great measure a royal science, which men of inferior rank had scanty opportunities of studying. He was connected with the cluster of German princes, among whom, after the enticing example of the house of Brandenburg, a knowledge of the art of war was deemed a good speculation as a means of enlarging their dominions in the tangled contests created among the German states by every European war. After Frederick himself, perhaps none of these princes would have been so capable of successful appropriations of territory as the young man whose warlike pursuits were thrown into a different channel by his connection with the British throne. Though the subject of a constitutional government, however, he retained the spirit of the German soldier-prince. Military law was the first of all laws; and to military necessity everything must yield. He followed the course which, perhaps, most men brought up in his school would have followed, if in possession of the same power; but in a constitutional country it had the character of brutal severity, and after having, as he deemed it, done his stern duty, he left behind him an execrating country to find that his little nephews ran away and hid themselves, in terror of his notorious cruelty.”[1123]—Burton’s Scotland, (1689–1748), vol. ii. p. 507.

[1123] “The bravery of the Duke of Cumberland,” says the first historian of our day, “was such as distinguished him even among the princes of his brave house. The indifference with which he rode about amidst musket-balls and cannon-balls, was not the highest proof of his fortitude. Hopeless maladies—horrible surgical operations—far from unmanning him, did not even discompose him. With courage, he had the virtues which are akin to courage. He spoke the truth, was open in enmity and friendship, and upright in all his dealings. But his nature was hard; and what seemed to him justice, was rarely tempered with mercy. He was therefore, during many years, one of the most unpopular men in England. The severity with which he treated the rebels after the battle of Culloden, had gained him the name of ‘the butcher.’ His attempts to introduce into the army of England, then in a most disorderly state, the rigorous discipline of Potsdam, had excited still stronger disgust. Nothing was too bad to be believed of him. Many honest people were so absurd as to fancy that if he were left regent during the minority of his nephews, there would be another smothering in the tower.”—Macaulay’s Essays—Chatham.

[1124] Marchant, p. 328.

[1125] Marchant, p. 329.

[1126] Kirkconnel MS. Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 167. Among the honourable few were Sir Peter Halket, lieutenant-colonel of Lee’s regiment; Mr. Ross, son of Lord Ross; Captain Lucy Scott; Lieutenants Farquharson and Cumming; and Mr. Home has been justly censured for suppressing in his history this fact, and others equally well known to him.

[1127] These were Lochiel, Keppoch, Clanranald, Ardshiel, Lochgary, Scothouse, and the Master of Lovat.

[1128] No. 39 of Appendix to Home.

[1129] No. 40 of Idem.

[1130] No. 30 of Idem.

[1131] Vide Letter from Sir Thomas in Stuart Papers, dated from the Castle of Blair, 8th December, 1746.

[1132] Kirkconnel MS.

[1133] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 100.

[1134] Idem.

[1135] Kirkconnel MS.

[1136] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.

[1137] Kirkconnel MS.

[1138] Home, p. 194.

[1139] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 145.

[1140] Home, p. 197.

[1141] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 145.

[1142] Stewart’s Statement in Jacobite Memoirs. The statement given by Mr. Hume,—that Lady Mackintosh concealed Lord Loudon’s design from the prince, and that he knew nothing of his lordship’s march till next morning, is certainly erroneous. He says that “without saying a word to Charles or any of his company, she (Lady Mackintosh) ordered five or six of her people, well armed, under the conduct of a country smith, to watch the road from Inverness, and give notice if they should perceive any number of men coming towards Moy;” and that “Charles, for whose safety the lady had provided so effectually, knew nothing of Lord Loudon’s march till next morning; for he was up and dressed when the smith and his party came to Moy, and gave an account of their victory.” It is clear, however, that the blacksmith and his party were sent out by Lady Mackintosh before the arrival of the boy, as Gib, the prince’s master of the household, who was sleeping in his clothes in the Castle of Moy when the boy arrived, says expressly that the blacksmith’s adventure “happened much about the time when the boy (Lauchlan Mackintosh) arrived at Moy to give the alarm. It is probable, however, that the blacksmith and his party were sent out by Lady Mackintosh without the prince’s knowledge.”

[1143] Home, p. 198.

[1144] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 149.

[1145] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 104.

[1146] Kirkconnel MS.

[1147] Home, p. 199. Kirkconnel MS.

[1148] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 105.

[1149] Kirkconnel MS.

[1150] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 164. Johnstone gives an affecting account of the paternal anxiety of Scothouse when ordered to set out as one of the detachment to attack Lord Loudon. Not anticipating the landing of the prince in Scotland, he had applied for and obtained a commission for his son in Lord Loudon’s regiment, and his alarm now was lest his son should fall by his own hands.

[1151] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 305.

[1152] Vide Letter from Colonel Warren to the Chevalier de St. George, of 9th May, 1746, in the Stuart Papers.

[1153] Note by the Editor of Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 155.

[1154] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 107.

[1155] Home, p. 205.

[1156] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 109.

[1157] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 110.

[1158] Kirkconnel MS.

[1159] Idem.

[1160] Kirkconnel MS.

[1161] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 112.

[1162] Kirkconnel MS.

[1163] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 106. Kirkconnel MS.

[1164] Idem.

[1165] Scots Magazine. Home, p. 212. Kirkconnel MS.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

A.D. 1746.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Duke of Cumberland marches north—Crosses the Spey—Proceedings of Charles—Duke of Cumberland arrives at Nairn—Prince Charles leaves Inverness and forms his army on Drummossie Moor—Night-march to Nairn—Its failure—Highland army returns to Culloden—Advance of the Duke of Cumberland—Preparations for battle—Battle of Culloden—Proceedings of Cumberland—Tumult in royal army—Barbarities committed by the troops—Skirmish at Golspie—Charles arrives at Glenboisdale—The Chiefs retire to Ruthven—Lord George Murray resigns his command—Letter from Charles—He lands in Benbecula—Proceedings of the Duke—Association of Chiefs—Devastations committed by the royal troops—Apprehension of Lord Lovat and others—Macdonald of Barisdale and Glengarry—Escape of the Duke of Perth and others—Suppression of the rebellion.

Having spent upwards of five weeks at Aberdeen, the Duke of Cumberland began to prepare for his march to the north. As it was his intention to proceed by the coast road, he had ordered a number of victualling ships to rendezvous at Aberdeen; and early in April, these vessels, escorted by several ships of war provided with artillery, ammunition, and other warlike stores, had arrived at their destination, for the purpose of following the army along the coast and affording the necessary supplies. About this time the weather had become favourable, and though still cold, the snow had disappeared, and a dry wind which had prevailed for some days had rendered the river Spey, the passage of which was considered the most formidable obstacle to his march, fordable.[1166]

Accordingly, on the 8th of April the duke left Aberdeen with the last division of his army, consisting of six battalions of foot and a regiment of dragoons. The whole regular force under his command amounted to about 7,200 men, comprehending fifteen regiments of foot, two of dragoons, and Kingston’s horse. Besides these, there were the Argyleshire men and other militia, whose united numbers may be stated at 2,000. At the time of the duke’s departure, six battalions, with Kingston’s horse and Cobham’s dragoons, under Major-general Bland, were stationed at Strathbogie, and three battalions at Old Meldrum, under Brigadier Mordaunt. The duke quartered the first night at Old Meldrum and the next at Banff, where two spies were seized and hanged. One of them was caught while in the act of notching upon a stick the number of the duke’s forces.[1167] On the 11th the duke marched to Cullen, and at Portsoy he was joined by the remainder of his army, which had been stationed at Old Meldrum and Strathbogie. The army being too numerous to obtain quarters in the town, the foot encamped for the night on some ploughed fields in the neighbourhood, and the horse were quartered in Cullen and the adjacent villages. The Earl of Findlater, who, with his countess, had accompanied the army on its march from Aberdeen, on arriving at his seat at Cullen, made a present of two hundred guineas to the troops.

Next day, being Saturday, the 12th of April, the duke put his army again in motion, and, after a short march, halted on the moor of Arrondel, about five or six miles from the river Spey. He then formed his army into three divisions, each about half a mile distant from the other, and in this order they advanced towards the Spey. The left division, which was the largest, crossed the river by a ford near Gormach, the centre by another close by Gordon castle, and the division on the right by a ford near the church of Belly. In their passage, the men were up to their waists in the water, but, with the exception of the loss of one dragoon and four women, who were carried away by the stream, no accident occurred.

The Duke of Perth, who happened at this time to be with the Highland forces appointed to defend the passage of the Spey, not thinking it advisable to dispute the position against such an overwhelming force as that to which he was opposed, retired towards Elgin on the approach of the Duke of Cumberland. The conduct of the Duke of Perth, and of his brother, Lord John Drummond, has been censured for not disputing the passage of the Spey, but without reason. The whole of the Highland forces along the Spey did not exceed 2,500 men, being little more than a fourth of those under the Duke of Cumberland. Notwithstanding this great disparity, the Highlanders, aided by the swollen state of the river, might have effectually opposed the passage of the royal army had it been attempted during the month of March, but a recent drought had greatly reduced the quantity of water in the river, and had rendered it fordable in several places to such an extent, that at two of them a whole battalion might have marched abreast. As some of the fords run in a zig-zag direction, some damage might have been done to the royal army in crossing; but as the Duke of Cumberland had a good train of artillery, he could have easily covered his passage at these places.

The departure of the Duke of Cumberland from Aberdeen was not known at Inverness till the 12th, on the morning of which day intelligence was brought to Charles that he was in full march to the north with his whole army. Shortly after his arrival at Inverness, Charles had formed the design, while the Duke of Cumberland lay at Aberdeen, of giving him the slip, by marching to Perth by the Highland road, so as to induce the duke to return south, and thus leave the northern coast clear for the landing of supplies from France. With this view, he had directed the siege of Fort William to be pushed, and, calculating upon a speedy reduction of that fortress, had sent orders to the Macdonalds, the Camerons, and the Stewarts, who were engaged in the siege, immediately on the capture of the fort to march into Argyleshire, and, after chastising the whigs in that district, and giving an opportunity to their friends there to join them, to proceed to Perth.[1168] Charles, however, for the present, laid aside the intention of marching south, and knowing that the Duke of Cumberland would advance from Aberdeen early in April, he gave orders for concentrating his forces at Inverness, and, as soon as he was informed of the duke’s march, he renewed these orders, by sending expresses every where to bring up his men. Those who had been at the siege of Fort William were already on their march, but Lord Cromarty was at a considerable distance with a large body of men, and could scarcely be expected to arrive in time if the duke was resolved on an immediate action.[1169]

Besides the men who were absent on the expeditions in Lochaber and Sutherland, there were many others who had returned to their homes, either discontented with the situation in which they found themselves after they came to Inverness, or to see their families or friends. Up to the period of their arrival there, they had received their pay punctually, but at Inverness the face of affairs was completely changed in this respect, and instead of money the troops were reduced to a weekly allowance of oatmeal. The men murmured at first at the stoppage of their pay, but their clamours were quieted by their officers, who gave them assurances that a supply of money would soon be received from France. This expectation would have been realised, but for the misfortune which befell the Prince Charles, and in consequence of that event, the soldiers began to murmur afresh, and some of them seeing no pressing occasion for their attendance, and choosing rather to enjoy a frugal repast with their friends at home than serve without pay, left the army. These absentees, however, had no intention of abandoning the service, and were resolved to rejoin their colours as soon as they saw a probability of coming to action. Accordingly, many of those who had returned to their homes set out of their own accord to rejoin the army, on hearing of the Duke of Cumberland’s advance, though few of them arrived in time for the battle.[1170]

Reduced in numbers as the prince’s army was from the causes alluded to, they still burned with impatience to meet the enemy; and when intelligence of the Duke of Cumberland’s march from Aberdeen reached Inverness, it was hailed with joy by the portion there assembled. From the fatigues and labours they had experienced during the campaign, and the numerous inconveniences to which they had been subjected from the want of pay, there was nothing the Highlanders dreaded more than another march to the south; but the near prospect they now had of meeting the English army upon their own soil, and of putting an end to the war by one bold and decisive blow, absorbed for a while all recollection of their past sufferings. By drawing the Duke of Cumberland north to Inverness, it was generally supposed that the prince could meet him on more equal terms than at Aberdeen, as he would have a better and more numerous army at Inverness, than he could have carried south. This unquestionably would have been the case had Charles avoided a battle till he had assembled all his troops, but his confidence on the present occasion got the better of his prudence.

After crossing the Spey, the Duke of Cumberland halted his army on the western bank, and encamped opposite to Fochabers, but the horse afterwards repassed the river and took up their quarters in the town. Here, as at Cullen, every precaution was taken to prevent surprise. Early next morning he raised his camp, and passing through Elgin, encamped on the moor of Alves, nearly midway between Elgin and Forres. The Duke of Perth, who had passed the previous night at Forres, retired to Nairn upon his approach. The Duke of Cumberland renewed his march on the 14th and came to Nairn, where the Duke of Perth remained till he was within a mile of the town, and began his retreat in sight of the English army. In this retreat, Clanranald’s regiment, with the French piquets and Fitz-James’s horse, formed the rear. To harass the rear, and retard the march of the main body till some of his foot should come up, the Duke of Cumberland sent forward his cavalry. Several shots were exchanged between the duke’s cavalry and the French horse, and in expectation of an engagement with the duke’s advanced guard, consisting of 200 cavalry and the Argyleshire men, the Macdonalds of Clanranald, and the Stewarts of Appin, were ordered back to support the French. These regiments accordingly returned and took ground, and Fitz-James’s horse formed on their right and left. The duke’s advanced guard thereupon halted, and formed in order of battle, but as the main body of the English army was in full march the rear recommenced their retreat. The advanced guard continued to pursue the Highlanders several miles beyond Nairn, but finding the chase useless, returned to the main body which was preparing to encamp on a plain to the west of Nairn.[1171]

Neither at the time when Charles received intelligence of the Duke of Cumberland’s march to Aberdeen, nor till the following day (Sunday), when news was brought to him that the English army had actually crossed the Spey, does Charles appear to have had any intention of speedily risking a battle. He probably expected that with the aid of the reinforcements he had sent to support the Duke of Perth, his grace would have been able, for some time at least, to maintain a position on the western bank of the river, and that time would be thus afforded him to collect the scattered portions of his army, before being compelled, by the advance of the Duke of Cumberland, to come to a general engagement. But whatever his intentions were anterior to the receipt of the intelligence of the English army having crossed the Spey, that circumstance alone made him determine to attack the Duke of Cumberland without waiting for the return of his absent detachments.

Accordingly, on the morning of the 14th, Charles ordered the drums to beat, and the pipes to play, as the signal for summoning his men to arms. After those who were in the town had assembled in the streets, the prince mounted his horse, and putting himself at their head, led them out to Culloden, about four miles from Inverness.[1172] Leaving part of his men in the parks around Culloden house, Charles went onward with his first troop of guards and the Mackintosh regiment, and advanced within six miles of Nairn to support the Duke of Perth, but finding him out of danger, he returned to Culloden, where he was joined by the whole of the duke’s forces in the evening. Lochiel also arrived at the same time with his regiment. That night the Highlanders bivouacked among the furze of Culloden wood, and Charles and his principal officers lodged in Culloden house.

Having selected Drummossie moor for a field of battle, Prince Charles marched his army thither early on the morning of the 15th, and drew his men up in order of battle across the moor, which is about half a mile broad. His front looked towards Nairn, and he had the river of that name on his right, and the inclosures of Culloden on his left. This moor, which is a heathy flat of considerable extent about five miles from Inverness and about a mile and a half to the south-east of Culloden house, forms the top of a hill which, rising at Culloden, dies gradually away in the direction of Nairn. The ascent to the moor is steep on both sides, particularly from the shore. In pitching upon this ground, Charles acted on the supposition that the Duke of Cumberland would march along the moor, which was better fitted for the free passage of his army than the common road between Nairn and Inverness, which was narrow and inconvenient.

In expectation that the Duke of Cumberland would advance, Charles sent forward on the road to Nairn some parties of horse to reconnoitre, but they could observe no appearance of any movement among the royal troops. The ground on which the army was now formed had been chosen without consulting Lord George Murray, who, on arriving on the spot, objected to it, on the footing that though interspersed with moss and some hollows, the ground was generally too level, and consequently not well suited for the operation of Highlanders. He therefore proposed to look out for more eligible ground, and at his suggestion Brigadier Stapleton and Colonel Ker were sent about ten o’clock to survey some hilly ground on the south side of the water of Nairn, which appeared to him to be steep and uneven, and of course more advantageous for Highlanders. After an absence of two or three hours, these officers returned and reported that the ground they had been appointed to examine was rugged and boggy, that no cavalry could act upon it, that the ascent on the side next the river was steep, and that there were only two or three places, about three or four miles above, where cavalry could pass; the banks of the river below being inaccessible. On receiving this information, Lord George Murray proposed, in the event of Cumberland’s forces not appearing that day, that the army should cross the water of Nairn, and draw up in line of battle next day, upon the ground which had been surveyed; and that, should the Duke of Cumberland not venture to cross after them and engage them upon the ground in question, they might watch a favourable opportunity of attacking him with advantage. In the event of no such opportunity offering, his lordship said he would recommend that the army should, with the view of drawing the duke after them, retire to the neighbouring mountains, where they might attack him at some pass or strong ground. This proposal met with the general approbation of the commanding officers; but Charles who, two days before (when a suggestion was made to him to retire to a strong position till all his army should assemble), had declared his resolution to attack the Duke of Cumberland even with a thousand men only, declined to accede to it. His grounds were that such a retrograde movement might discourage the men, by impressing them with a belief that there existed a desire on the part of their commanders to shun the English army; that Inverness, which was now in their rear, would be exposed, and that the Duke of Cumberland might march upon that town, and possess himself of the greater part of their baggage and ammunition.[1173]

Concluding from the inactivity of the Duke of Cumberland that he had no intention of marching that day, Charles held a council of war in the afternoon, to deliberate upon the course it might be considered most advisable to pursue in consequence of the duke’s stay at Nairn. According to Charles’s own statement, he had formed the bold and desperate design of surprising the English army in their camp during the night; but, desirous of knowing the views of his officers before divulging his plan, he allowed all the members of the council to speak before him. After hearing the sentiments of the chiefs, and the other commanders who were present, Lord George Murray proposed to attack the Duke of Cumberland during the night, provided it was the general opinion that the attack could be made before one or two o’clock in the morning. Charles, overjoyed at the suggestion of his lieutenant-general, immediately embraced him, said that he approved of it, that in fact he had contemplated the measure himself, but that he did not intend to have disclosed it till all the members of the council had delivered their sentiments.

Had the army been in a condition to sustain the fatigue of a night-march of ten or twelve miles, the plan of a night attack was unquestionably the best that could have been devised under existing circumstances. If surprised in the dark, even supposing the duke to have been on his guard, a night attack appeared to afford the only chance of getting the better of his superiority in numbers and discipline, and of rendering his cavalry and cannon, in which his chief strength lay, utterly useless. But the Highland army, from some unaccountable oversight on the part of the persons who had the charge of the commissariat department, was in a state bordering upon starvation, and consequently not able to perform such a fatiguing march. Although there was a quantity of meal in Inverness and the neighbourhood sufficient for a fortnight’s consumption, no care had been taken to supply the men with an allowance on leaving Inverness, and the consequence was, that during this and the preceding day very few of them had tasted a particle of food. To appease their hunger a single biscuit was distributed to each man, but this pittance only increased the desire for more; and hunger getting the better of patience, some of the men began to leave the ranks in quest of provisions. In spite, however, of the deprivation under which they laboured, the army was never in higher spirits, or more desirous to meet the enemy; and it was not until all hopes of an immediate engagement were abandoned that the men thought of looking out for the means of subsistence.[1174]

The expediency of a night attack was admitted by all the members of the council, but there were a few who thought that it should not be ventured upon until the arrival of the rest of the army, which might be expected in two or three days at farthest. Keppoch with his Highlanders had just come up and joined the army; but the Mackenzies under Lord Cromarty, a body of the Frasers whom the Master of Lovat had collected to complete his second battalion, the Macphersons under Cluny, their chief, the Macgregors under Glengyle, a party headed by Mackinnon, and a body of Glengarry’s men under Barisdale, were still at a distance, though supposed to be all on their march to Inverness. The minority objected that, should they fail in the attempt, and be repulsed, it would be difficult to rally the Highlanders,—that even supposing no spy should give the Duke of Cumberland notice of their approach, he might, if alarmed by any of his patrols, have time to put his army in order in his camp, place his cannon, charged with cartouch-shot, as he pleased, and get all his horse in readiness to pursue the Highlanders if beat off. Besides these objections, they urged the difficulty of making a retreat if many of their men were wounded, from the aversion of the Highlanders to leave their wounded behind them. They, moreover, observed that they had no intelligence of the situation of the duke’s camp; and that even could a safe retreat be made, the fatigue of marching forwards and backwards twenty miles would be too much for men to endure, who would probably have to fight next day.[1175]

All these arguments were however thrown away upon Charles, who, supported by the Duke of Perth, Lord George Murray, Lord John Drummond, Lochiel, and others, showed the utmost impatience for an immediate attack. Those who supported this view were not insensible to the danger which might ensue should the attack miscarry; but, strange to say, they were urged to it from the very cause to which the failure was chiefly owing, the want of provisions. Apprehensive that if the army was kept on the moor all night, many of the men would go away to a considerable distance in search of food, and that it would be very difficult to assemble them speedily in the event of a sudden alarm, they considered an immediate attack, particularly as Charles had resolved to fight without waiting for reinforcements, as a less desperate course than remaining where they were.[1176]

To prevent the Duke of Cumberland from obtaining any knowledge of the advance of the Highlanders from the spies who might be within view of his army, Charles fixed upon eight o’clock for his departure, by which time his motions would be concealed from observation by the obscurity of the evening. Meanwhile the commanding officers repaired to their respective regiments to put their men in readiness; but between six and seven o’clock an incident occurred which almost put an end to the enterprise. This was the departure of a large number of the men, who, ignorant of the intended march, went off towards Inverness and adjacent places to procure provisions and quarters for the night. Officers from the different regiments were immediately despatched on horseback to bring them back, but no persuasion could induce the men to return, who gave as their reason for refusing that they were starving. They told the officers that they might shoot them if they pleased, but that they would not go back till they got some provisions.[1177] By this defection Charles lost about 2,000 men, being about a third of his army.

This occurrence completely changed the aspect of affairs, and every member of the council who had formerly advocated a night attack now warmly opposed it. Charles, bent upon his purpose, resolutely insisted upon the measure, and said that when the march was begun the men who had gone off would return and follow the rest. The confidence which he had in the bravery of his army blinded him to every danger, and he was prompted in his determination to persist in the attempt from an idea that Cumberland’s army having been that day engaged in celebrating the birth-day of their commander, would after their debauch fall an easy prey to the Highlanders.

Finding the prince fully resolved to make the attempt at all hazards, the commanding officers took their stations, waiting the order to march. The watchword was, “King James the VIII.,” and special instructions were issued to the army, that in making the attack the troops should not make use of their fire-arms, but confine themselves to their swords, dirks, and bayonets; and that on entering the Duke of Cumberland’s camp they should cut the tent strings and pull down the poles, and that wherever they observed a swelling or bulge in the fallen covering, they should strike and push vigorously with their swords and dirks.[1178] Before marching, directions were given to several small parties to possess all the roads, in order to prevent any intelligence of their march being carried to the Duke of Cumberland.

In giving his orders to march, Charles embraced Lord George Murray, who immediately went off at the head of the line, about eight o’clock, preceded by two officers, and about thirty men of the Mackintosh regiment, who from their knowledge of the country were to act as guides. Though the whole army marched in one line, there was an interval in the middle as if it consisted of two columns. The Athole men led the van, and next to them were the Camerons, who were followed by the other clans. The low country regiments, the French piquets, and the horse, formed the rear. Lord John Drummond was in the centre, or at the head of the second column; and the Duke of Perth and Charles, who had Fitz-James’s and other horse with him, were towards the rear. Besides the party of Mackintoshes, who served as guides in front, there were others of that clan stationed in the centre and rear, and generally along the line, to prevent any of the men from losing their way in the dark.[1179] The plan of attack, as laid down by Lord George Murray, was as follows:—The army was to have marched in a body till they passed the house of Kilraick or Kilravock, which is about ten miles from Culloden, on the direct road to Nairn. The army was then to have been divided, and while Lord George Murray crossed the river Nairn with the van, making about one-third of the whole, and marched down by the south side of the river, the remainder was to have continued its march along the north side till both divisions came near the duke’s camp. The van was then to have re-crossed the river, and attacked the royal army from the south, while the other part was to have attacked it at the same time from the west.[1180] With the exception of Charles, who promised upon his honour not to divulge it to any person, and Anderson, who acted as guide at the battle of Preston, no person was made privy to the plan, as its success depended upon its secrecy.

In the outset of the march the van proceeded with considerable expedition, but it had gone scarcely half a mile when Lord George Murray received an express ordering him to halt till joined by the rear column, which was a considerable way behind. As a halt in the van always occasions a much longer one in the rear when the march is resumed, Lord George did not halt but slackened his pace to enable the rear to join. This, however, was to no purpose, as the rear still kept behind, and although, in consequence of numerous expresses enjoining him to wait, Lord George marched slower and slower, the rear fell still farther behind, and before he had marched six miles he had received at least fifty expresses ordering him either to halt or to slacken his pace. The chief cause of the stoppage was the badness of the roads.

About one o’clock in the morning, when the van was opposite to the house of Kilravock, Lord John Drummond came up and stated to Lord George Murray that unless he halted or marched much slower the rear would not be able to join. The Duke of Perth having shortly thereafter also come up to the front and given a similar assurance, his lordship halted near a small farm-house called Yellow Knowe, belonging to Rose of Kilravock, nearly four miles from Nairn, and about a mile from the place where it was intended the van should cross the river. In the wood of Kilravock the march of the rear was greatly retarded by a long narrow defile occasioned partly by a stone wall; and so fatigued and faint had the men become, by the badness of the road, and want of food, that many of them, unable to proceed, lay down in the wood. This circumstance was announced to Lord George Murray by several officers who came up from the rear shortly after the van had halted. Nearly all the principal officers, including the Duke of Perth, Lord George Murray, Lord John Drummond, Lochiel, and General O’Sullivan, were now in the van, and having ascertained by their watches, which they looked at in a little house close by, that it was two o’clock in the morning, they at once perceived the impossibility of surprising the English army. The van was still upwards of three, and the rear about four miles from Nairn, and as they had only been able to advance hitherto at a rate little more than a mile in the hour, it was not to be expected that the army in its exhausted state would be able to accomplish the remainder of the distance, within the time prescribed, even at a more accelerated pace. By a quick march the army could not have advanced two miles before day-break; so that the Duke of Cumberland would have had sufficient time to put his army in fighting order before an attack could have been made. These were sufficient reasons of themselves for abandoning the enterprise, but when it is considered that the army had been greatly diminished during the march, and that scarcely one-half of the men that were drawn up the day before on Drummossie moor remained, the propriety of a retreat becomes undoubted.[1181]

Lord George Murray,—who had never contemplated any thing but a surprise, and whose calculation of reaching Nairn by two o’clock in the morning would have been realised had the whole line marched with the same celerity as the first four or five regiments,—would have been perfectly justified in the unexpected situation in which he was placed, in at once ordering a retreat;[1182] but desirous of ascertaining the sentiments of the officers about him, he requested them to state their views of the course they thought it most advisable to adopt. There were several gentlemen present, who, having joined the Athole brigade as volunteers, had marched all night in the front: and as the Duke of Perth, Lord John Drummond, and the other officers, seemed at a loss what to resolve upon, Lord George Murray requested the volunteers to give their free opinion, as they were all equally interested in the consequences. Without hesitation all these gentlemen, eager to come to an engagement, were for marching, but most of the officers, particularly Lochiel and his brother, Dr. Cameron, were of a different opinion, in which they were backed by Lord George Murray, who observed that if they could have made the attack within the time prescribed they would certainly have succeeded, especially if they could have surprised the enemy; but to attack in daylight an army that was nearly double their number, and which would be prepared to receive them, would be considered an act of madness.[1184]

Among the volunteers the most conspicuous was Mr. Hepburn of Keith. While arguing for an attack with Lord George Murray, the beating of a drum was heard in the Duke of Cumberland’s camp. “Don’t you hear,” said Lord George; “the enemy are alarmed; we can’t surprise them.” “I never expected,” said Hepburn, “to find the red coats asleep; but they will be drunk after solemnising the Duke of Cumberland’s birth-day. It is much better to march on and attack them than to retreat, for they will most certainly follow, and oblige us to fight when we shall be in a much worse condition to fight them than we are now.” While this altercation was going on, Mr. John Hay, then acting as interim-secretary to the prince instead of Secretary Murray, who was unwell, came up and informed Lord George that the line had joined. Gathering from the conversation he overheard that a retreat was resolved upon, he began to argue against it, but being unsuccessful he immediately rode back to Charles, who was in the rear of the first column, and told him that unless he came to the front and ordered Lord George to go on nothing would be done. Charles, who was on horseback, rode forward immediately towards the front, to ascertain the cause of the halt, and on his way met the van in full retreat. He was no doubt surprised at this step, and in a temporary fit of irritation, is said to have remarked that Lord George Murray had betrayed him;[1185] but Lord George immediately convinced him “of the unavoidable necessity of retreating.”[1186]

The army marched back in two columns, by a different but more direct route than that by which it had advanced. In returning they had a view of the fires in the Duke of Cumberland’s camp. The greater part of the army arrived at Culloden, whither it had been agreed upon to proceed, about five o’clock in the morning, and the remainder did not remain long behind. The quick return of the army suggests an idea that had it marched in double columns towards Nairn by the shortest route, it might have reached its destination at least an hour sooner than the time contemplated by Lord George Murray, but there was great danger, that, by adopting such a course, the Duke of Cumberland would have obtained notice of the advance of the Highlanders.

On arriving at Culloden, the prince gave orders to bring provisions to the field; but the calls of hunger could not brook delay, and many of the common men as well as officers slipped off to Inverness and the neighbourhood in quest of refreshment. Others, from absolute exhaustion, lay down on the ground, and sought a momentary respite in the arms of sleep. Charles himself, with his principal officers, went to Culloden house, where, sullen, dejected, and silent, they for a time stared at one another with amazement, instead of deliberating upon the course they ought to pursue at this critical juncture. A search was made for food, but with the exception of a little bread and a small quantity of whisky, which was procured for the prince with great difficulty, no refreshment of any kind could be obtained.[1187]

Old Culloden House. From Original Sketch in possession of Duncan Forbes, Esq., of Culloden.

After a short repose the men were aroused from their slumbers by their officers, who informed them that the Duke of Cumberland’s army was approaching. There were others whom hunger had kept awake, and who having seized and killed some cattle and sheep which they found at Culloden, were preparing a repast, but few of them had time to make any thing ready before the alarm was given.[1188] The intelligence of Cumberland’s advance was first brought to Culloden house about eight o’clock by one Cameron, a lieutenant in Lochiel’s regiment, who, having fallen asleep at the place where the halt was made, had been left behind. As Fitz-James’s horse and others had gone to Inverness to refresh, and as those who remained were, from the hard duty they had performed for several days and nights, unfit for patrolling, Charles had no means of ascertaining whether the troops that were approaching were merely an advanced party, or the whole of the English army. That nothing might be left to conjecture at such an important crisis, some officers were instantly despatched to Inverness, to bring back the men whom hunger had driven thither, and the Highlanders at Culloden were got ready as quickly as possible, and marched through the parks of Culloden in battalions, as they happened to be lying, to Drummossie moor, on a part of which, about half a mile to the west of the place where they had been drawn up the day before, the army halted. Lord George Murray now renewed his proposal to pass the water of Nairn, and take up a position on the ground which had been surveyed the previous morning, as being much better fitted for Highlanders than the level on which they stood. An additional reason for passing the Nairn was, that Macpherson of Cluny, who was expected every moment with his clan, was to come on the south side. Charles, however, again rejected this judicious advice, for the reasons he had formerly given.[1189] By retiring beyond Inverness, or among the fastnesses to the south of the water of Nairn, an action might have been easily avoided for several days; and, as the projected night attack had miscarried, it would certainly have been a wise course to have shunned an engagement till the men had recovered their strength and spirits; but Charles, over-sanguine in all his calculations, and swayed by his creatures and sycophants, was deaf to the suggestions of wisdom. It seems strange that a retreat to Inverness was not proposed. By retiring into the town, and occupying the grounds in the neighbourhood, a delay of twenty-four hours might have been obtained, as it is not likely that the Duke of Cumberland would have attempted to force the town, or a strong camp, the same day he marched from Nairn. By postponing the engagement till next day, a very different result might have happened, as the Highlanders, who were in a starving condition, would have had time to procure provisions and recruit from their fatigue; and numbers, who were not able to come up in time to Culloden, would have rejoined the ranks at Inverness.

The Duke of Cumberland had been informed of the night march towards Nairn by some Highland spies whom he had in his pay, and who had mixed with the insurgents as they marched; but the spies were ignorant of the intended surprise, which was kept a profound secret from the Highland army. Judging from the intelligence brought by the last person that arrived in his camp, that the Highlanders were coming directly in his front, the duke considered himself free from surprise, as the Argyleshire men lay on the plain to the west of his camp, while a party of dragoons patrolled all night between Nairn and the sea. He therefore ordered his men to take some rest, but to keep their arms in readiness. He appears not to have anticipated an attack during the night, but to have imagined that Charles merely meant to take ground during the night, and to attack him early next morning. In expectation of a battle, the duke had formed his army by break of day, and, having ascertained that the Highland army had retreated, he began his march towards Inverness about five o’clock.[1190] The English army had, as anticipated, celebrated the birth-day of their commander; but although they were amply supplied with bread, cheese, and brandy, at the duke’s expense, the men had not exceeded the bounds of moderation.[1191]

Before commencing the march, written instructions, which had been communicated to the commanders of the different regiments, were read at the head of every company in the line. These instructions were, that if the persons to whom the charge of the train or baggage horses was entrusted should abscond or leave them, they should be punished with immediate death; and that if any officer or soldier misconducted himself during the engagement, he should be sentenced. The infantry marched in three parallel divisions or columns, of five regiments each, headed by General Huske on the left, Lord Sempill on the right, and General Mordaunt in the centre. The artillery and baggage followed the first column on the right, and the dragoons and horse, led by Generals Hawley and Bland, were on the left, forming a fourth column. Forty of Kingston’s horse and Argyleshire men formed the van.[1192]

The charge of forming the Highland army in line of battle on this important occasion was intrusted to O’Sullivan, who acted in the double capacity of adjutant and quarter-master general. This officer, in the opinion of Lord George Murray, a high authority certainly, was exceedingly unfit for such a task, and committed gross blunders on every occasion of moment. In the present instance, he did not even visit the ground where the army was to be drawn up, and he committed a “fatal error” by omitting to throw down some park walls upon the left of the English army, which were afterwards taken possession of by the Duke of Cumberland, it being found afterwards impossible to break the English lines, from the destructive flank-fire which was opened from these walls upon the right of the Highland army, as it advanced to the attack.[1193] While the Duke of Cumberland was forming his line of battle, Lord George Murray was very desirous to advance and throw down these walls; but as such a movement would have broken the line, the officers about him considered that the attempt would be dangerous, and he therefore did not make it.[1194]

The Highland army was drawn up in three lines. The first, or front line, consisted of the Athole brigade, which had the right, the Camerons, Stewarts of Appin, Frasers, Macintoshes, Maclachlans, Macleans, John Roy Stewart’s regiment, and Farquharsons, united into one regiment; the Macleods, Chisholms, Macdonalds of Clanranald, Keppoch, and Glengarry. The three Macdonald regiments formed the left. Lord George Murray commanded on the right, Lord John Drummond in the centre, and the Duke of Perth on the left, of the first line. There had been, a day or two before, a violent contention among the chiefs about precedency of rank. The Macdonalds claimed the right as their due, in support of which claim they stated, that as a reward for the fidelity of Angus Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, in protecting Robert the Bruce for upwards of nine months in his dominions, that prince, at the battle of Bannockburn, conferred the post of honour, the right, upon the Macdonalds,—that this post had ever since been enjoyed by them, unless when yielded from courtesy upon particular occasions, as was done to the chief of the Macleans at the battle of Harlaw.[1195] Lord George Murray, however, maintained that, under the Marquis of Montrose, the right had been assigned to the Athole men, and he insisted that that post should be now conferred upon them, in the contest with the Duke of Cumberland’s army. In this unseasonable demand, Lord George is said to have been supported by Lochiel and his friends. Charles refused to decide a question with the merits of which he was imperfectly acquainted; but, as it was necessary to adjust the difference immediately, he prevailed upon the commanders of the Macdonald regiments to waive their pretensions in the present instance. The Macdonalds in general were far from being satisfied with the complaisance of their commanders, and, as they had occupied the post of honour at Gladsmuir and Falkirk, they considered their deprivation of it on the present occasion as ominous.[1196] The Duke of Perth, while he stood at the head of the Glengarry regiment, hearing the murmurs of the Macdonalds, said, that if they behaved with their usual valour they would make a right of the left, and that he would change his name to Macdonald; but these proud clansmen leant a deaf ear to him.

The second line of the Highland army consisted of the Gordons under Lord Lewis Gordon, formed in column on the right, the French Royal Scots, the Irish piquets or brigade, Lord Kilmarnock’s foot guards,[1197] Lord John Drummond’s regiment, and Glenbucket’s regiment in column on the left, flanked on the right by Fitz-James’s dragoons, and Lord Elcho’s horse-guards, and on the left by the Perth squadron, under Lords Strathallan and Pitsligo, and the prince’s body-guards under Lord Balmerino. General Stapleton had the command of this line. The third line, or reserve, consisted of the Duke of Perth’s and Lord Ogilvy’s regiments, under the last-mentioned nobleman. The prince himself, surrounded by a troop of Fitz-James’s horse, took his station on a very small eminence behind the centre of the first line, from which he had a complete view of the whole field of battle. The extremities of the front line and the centre were each protected by four pieces of cannon.

The English army continued steadily to advance in the order already described, and, after a march of eight miles, formed in order of battle, in consequence of the advanced guard reporting that they perceived the Highland army at some distance making a motion towards them on the left. Finding, however, that the Highlanders were still at a considerable distance, and that the whole body did not move forward, the Duke of Cumberland resumed his march as before, and continued to advance till within a mile of the position occupied by the Highland army, when he ordered a halt, and, after reconnoitring the position of the Highlanders, again formed his army for battle in three lines, and in the following order.

The first line consisted of six regiments, viz. the Royals, (the 1st,) Cholmondeley’s, (the 34th,) Price’s, (the 14th,) the Scots Fusileers, (the 21st,) Monro’s, (the 37th,) and Barrel’s, (the 4th). The Earl of Albemarle had the command of this line. In the intermediate spaces between each of these regiments were placed two pieces of cannon, making ten in all. The second line consisted of five regiments, viz. those of Pulteney, (the 13th,) Bligh, (the 20th,) Sempil, (the 25th,) Ligonier, (the 48th,) and Wolfe’s, (the 8th,) and was under the command of General Huske. Three pieces of cannon were placed between the exterior regiments of this line and those next them. The third line or corps de reserve, under Brigadier Mordaunt, consisted of four regiments, viz. Battereau’s, (the 62d,) Howard’s, (the 3d,) Fleming’s, (the 36th,) and Blakeney’s, (the 27th,) flanked by Kingston’s dragoons, (the 3d). The order in which the regiments of the different lines are enumerated, is that in which they stood from right to left. The flanks of the front line were protected on the left by Kerr’s dragoons, (the 11th,) consisting of three squadrons, commanded by Lord Ancrum, and on the right by Cobham’s dragoons, (the 10th,) consisting also of three squadrons, under General Bland, with the additional security of a morass, extending towards the sea; but thinking himself quite safe on the right, the duke afterwards ordered these last to the left, to aid in an intended attack upon the right flank of the Highlanders. The Argyle men, with the exception of 140, who were upon the left of the reserve, were left in charge of the baggage.

The dispositions of both armies are considered to have been well arranged; but both were better calculated for defence than for attack. The arrangement of the English army is generally considered to have been superior to that of the Highlanders; as, from the regiments in the second and third lines being placed directly behind the vacant spaces between the regiments in the lines respectively before them, the Duke of Cumberland, in the event of one regiment in the front line being broken, could immediately bring up two to supply its place. But this opinion is questionable, as the Highlanders had a column on the flanks of the second line, which might have been used either for extension or echelon movement towards any point to the centre, to support either the first or second line.

In the dispositions described, and about the distance of a mile from each other, did the two armies stand for some time gazing at one another, each expecting that the other would advance and give battle. Whatever may have been the feelings of Prince Charles on this occasion, those of the Duke of Cumberland appear to have been far from enviable. The thoughts of Preston and Falkirk could not fail to excite in him the most direful apprehensions for the result of a combat affecting the very existence of his father’s crown; and that he placed but a doubtful reliance upon his troops, is evident from a speech which he now made to his army. He said that they were about to fight in defence of their king, their religion, their liberties, and property, and that if they only stood firm he had no doubt he would lead them on to certain victory; but as he would much rather, he said, be at the head of one thousand brave and resolute men than of ten thousand if mixed with cowards, if there were any amongst them, who, through timidity, were diffident of their courage, or others, who, from conscience or inclination, felt a repugnance to perform their duty, he requested them to retire immediately, and he promised them his free pardon for doing so, as by remaining they might dispirit or disorder the other troops, and bring dishonour and disgrace on the army under his command.

Battle of Culloden.

As the Highlanders remained in their position, the Duke of Cumberland again put his army in marching order, and, after it had advanced, with fixed bayonets, within half a mile of the front line of the Highlanders, it again formed as before. In this last movement the English army had to pass a piece of hollow ground, which was so soft and swampy, that the horses which drew the cannon sank; and some of the soldiers, after slinging their firelocks and unyoking the horses, had to drag the cannon across the bog. As by this last movement the army advanced beyond the morass which protected the right flank, the duke immediately ordered up Kingston’s horse from the reserve, and a small squadron of Cobham’s dragoons, which had been patrolling, to cover it; and to extend his line, and prevent his being outflanked on the right, he also at same time ordered up Pulteney’s regiment, (the 13th,) from the second line to the right of the royals and Fleming’s, (the 36th,) Howard’s, (the 3d,) and Battereau’s, (the 62d,) to the right of Bligh’s, (the 20th,) in the second line, leaving Blakeney’s, (the 27th,) as a reserve.

During an interval of about half an hour which elapsed before the action commenced, some manœuvring took place in attempts by both armies to outflank one another. While these manœuvres were making, a heavy shower of sleet came on, which, though discouraging to the duke’s army, from the recollection of the untoward occurrence at Falkirk, was not considered very dangerous, as they had now the wind in their backs. To encourage his men, the Duke of Cumberland rode along the lines addressing himself hurriedly to every regiment as he passed. He exhorted his men to rely chiefly upon their bayonets,[1198] and to allow the Highlanders to mingle with them that they might make them “know the men they had to deal with.” After the changes mentioned had been executed, his royal highness took his station behind the royals, between the first and second line, and almost in front of the left of Howard’s regiment, waiting for the expected attack. Meanwhile, a singular occurrence took place, characteristic of the self-devotion which the Highlanders were ready on all occasions to manifest towards the prince and his cause. Conceiving that by assassinating the Duke of Cumberland he would confer an essential service on the prince, a Highlander resolved, at the certain sacrifice of his own life, to make the attempt. With this intention, he entered the English lines as a deserter, and being granted quarter, was allowed to go through the ranks. He wandered about with apparent indifference, eyeing the different officers as he passed along, and it was not long till an opportunity occurred, as he conceived, for executing his fell purpose. The duke having ordered Lord Bury, one of his aides-de-camp, to reconnoitre, his lordship crossed the path of the Highlander, who, mistaking him, from his dress, for the duke, (the regimentals of both being similar,) instantly seized a musket which lay on the ground, and discharged it at his lordship. He missed his aim, and a soldier, who was standing by, immediately shot him dead upon the spot.[1199]

In expectation of a battle the previous day, Charles had animated his troops by an appeal to their feelings, and on the present occasion he rode from rank to rank encouraging his men, and exhorting them to act as they had done at Prestonpans and at Falkirk.

The advance of Lord Bury, who went forward within a hundred yards of the insurgents to reconnoitre, appears to have been considered by the Highlanders as the proper occasion for beginning the battle. Taking off their bonnets, the Highlanders set up a loud shout, which being answered by the royal troops with a huzza, the Highlanders about one o’clock commenced a cannonade on the right, which was followed by the cannon on the left; but the fire from the latter, owing to the want of cannoneers, was after the first round discontinued. The first volley from the right seemed to create some confusion on the left of the royal army, but so badly were the cannon served and pointed, that though the cannonade was continued upwards of half an hour, only one man in Bligh’s regiment, who had a leg carried off by a cannon-ball, received any injury. After the Highlanders had continued firing for a short time, Colonel Belford, who directed the cannon of the duke’s army, opened a fire from the cannon in the front line, which was at first chiefly aimed at the horse, probably either because they, from their conspicuous situation, were a better mark than the infantry, or because it was supposed that Charles was among them. Such was the accuracy of the aim taken by the royal artillery, that several balls entered the ground among the horses’ legs, and bespattered the prince with the mud which they raised; and one of them struck the horse on which he rode two inches above the knee. The animal became so unmanageable, that Charles was obliged to change him for another.[1200] One of his servants, who stood behind with a led horse in his hand, was killed on the spot. Observing that the wall on the right flank of the Highland army prevented him from attacking it on that point, the duke ordered Colonel Belford to continue the cannonade, with the view of provoking the Highlanders and inducing them to advance to the attack. These, on the other hand, endeavoured to draw the royal army forward by sending down several parties by way of defiance. Some of these approached there several times within a hundred yards of the right of the royal army, firing their pistols and brandishing their swords; but with the exception of the small squadron of horse on the right, which advanced a little, the line remained immoveable.

Meanwhile, Lord George Murray, observing that a squadron of the English dragoons and a party of foot, consisting of two companies of the Argyleshiremen, and one of Lord Loudon’s Highlanders, had detached themselves from the left of the royal army, and were marching down towards the river Nairn, and conceiving that it was their intention to flank the Highlanders, or to come upon their rear when engaged in front, he directed Gordon of Avochy to advance with his battalion, and prevent the foot from entering the inclosure; but before this battalion could reach them, they broke into the inclosure, and throwing down part of the east wall, and afterwards a piece of the west wall in the rear of the second line, made a free passage for the dragoons, who formed in the rear of the prince’s army. Upon this, Lord George ordered the guards and Fitz-James’s horse to form opposite to the dragoons to keep them in check. Each party stood upon the opposite sides of a ravine, the ascent to which was so steep, that neither could venture across in presence of the other with safety. The foot remained within the inclosure, and Avochy’s battalion was ordered to watch their motions.[1201] This movement took place about the time the Highlanders were moving forward to the attack.[1202]

It was now high time for the Highlanders to come to a close engagement. Lord George had sent Colonel Kerr to the prince, to know if he should begin the attack; the prince ordered him to do so,[1203] but his lordship, for some reason or other, delayed advancing. It is probable he expected that the duke would come forward, and that by remaining where he was, and retaining the wall and a small farm house on his right, he would not run the risk of being flanked. Perhaps he waited for the advance of the left wing, which, being not so far forward as the right, was directed to begin the attack, and orders had been sent to the Duke of Perth to that effect; but the left remained motionless. Anxious for the attack, Charles sent an order by an aide-de-camp to Lord George Murray to advance, but his lordship never received it, as the bearer was killed by a cannon-ball while on his way to the right. He sent a message about the same time to Lochiel, desiring him to urge upon Lord George the necessity of an immediate attack.

Galled beyond endurance by the fire of the English, which carried destruction among the clans, the Highlanders became quite clamorous, and called aloud to be led forward without further delay. Unable any longer to restrain their impatience, Lord George had just resolved upon an immediate advance, but before he had time to issue the order along the line, the Mackintoshes, with a heroism worthy of that brave clan, rushed forward enveloped in the smoke of the enemy’s cannon. The fire of the centre field-pieces, and a discharge of musketry from the Scotch Fusileers, forced them to incline a little to the right; but all the regiments to their right, led on by Lord George Murray in person, and the united regiment of the Maclauchlans and Macleans on their left, coming down close after them, the whole moved forward together at a pretty quick pace. When within pistol-shot of the English line, they received a murderous fire, not only in front from some field-pieces, which for the first time were now loaded with grape-shot, but in flank from a side battery supported by the Campbells, and Lord Loudon’s Highlanders. Whole ranks were literally swept away by the terrible fire of the English. Yet, notwithstanding the dreadful carnage in their ranks, the Highlanders continued to advance, and, after giving their fire close to the English line, which, from the density of the smoke, was scarcely perceptible even within pistol-shot, the right wing, consisting of the Athole Highlanders and the Camerons, rushed in sword in hand, and broke through Barrel’s and Monroe’s regiments, which stood on the left of the first line. These regiments bravely defended themselves with their spontoons and bayonets; but such was the impetuosity of the onset, that they would have been entirely cut to pieces had they not been immediately supported by two regiments from the second line, on the approach of which they retired behind the regiments on their right, after sustaining a loss in killed and wounded of upwards of 200 men. After breaking through these two regiments, the Highlanders, passing by the two field-pieces which had annoyed them in front, hurried forward to attack the left of the second line. They were met by a tremendous fire of grape-shot from the three field-pieces on the left of the second line, and by a discharge of musketry from Bligh’s and Sempill’s regiments, which carried havoc through their ranks, and made them at first recoil; but, maddened by despair, and utterly regardless of their lives, they rushed upon an enemy whom they felt but could not see, amid the cloud of smoke in which the assailants were buried. The same kind of charge was made by the Stewarts of Appin, the Frasers, Mackintoshes, and the other centre regiments, upon the regiments in their front, driving them back upon the second line, which they also attempted to break; but finding themselves unable, they gave up the contest, not, however, until numbers had been cut down at the mouths of the cannon. While advancing towards the second line, Lord George Murray, in attempting to dismount from his horse, which had become unmanageable, was thrown; but, recovering himself, he ran to the rear and brought up two or three regiments from the second line to support the first; but, although they gave their fire, nothing could be done,—all was lost. Unable to break the second line, and being greatly cut up by the fire of Wolfe’s regiment, and by Cobham’s and Kerr’s dragoons, who had formed en potence on their right flank, the right wing also gave up the contest, and turning about, cut their way back, sword in hand, through those who had advanced and formed on the ground they had passed over in charging to their front.

In consequence of the unwillingness of the left to advance first as directed, Lord George Murray had sent the order to attack from right to left; but, hurried by the impetuosity of the Mackintoshes, the right and centre did not wait till the order, which required some minutes in the delivery, had been communicated along the line. Thus the right and centre had the start considerably, and quickening their pace as they went along, had closed with the front line of the English army before the left had got half way over the ground that separated the two armies. The difference between the right and centre and the left was rendered still more considerable from the circumstance, as noted by an eye-witness,[1204] that the two armies were not exactly parallel to one another, the right of the prince’s army being nearer the duke’s army than the left. Nothing could be more unfortunate for the prince than this isolated attack, as it was only by a general shock of the whole of the English line that he had any chance of a victory.

The clan regiments on the left of the line, apprehensive that they would be flanked by Pulteney’s regiment and the horse which had been brought up from the corps de reserve, did not advance sword in hand. After receiving the fire of the regiments opposite to them, they answered it by a general discharge, and drew their swords for the attack; but observing that the right and centre had given way, they turned their backs and fled without striking a blow. Stung to the quick by the misconduct of the Macdonalds, the brave Keppoch, seeing himself abandoned by his clan, advanced with his drawn sword in one hand and his pistol in the other; but he had not proceeded far, when he was brought down to the ground by a musket-shot. He was followed by Donald Roy Macdonald, formerly a lieutenant in his own regiment, and now a captain in Clanranald’s, who, on Keppoch’s falling, entreated him not to throw away his life, assuring him that his wound was not mortal, and that he might easily join his regiment in the retreat; but Keppoch refused to listen to the solicitations of his clansman, and, after recommending him to take care of himself, the wounded chief received another shot, and fell to rise no more.[1205]

Fortunately for the Highlanders, the English army did not follow up the advantages it had gained by an immediate pursuit. Kingston’s horse at first followed the Macdonalds, some of whom were almost surrounded by them, but the horse were kept in check by the French piquets, who brought them off. The dragoons on the left of the English line were in like manner kept at bay by Ogilvy’s regiment, which faced about upon them several times. After these ineffectual attempts, the English cavalry on the right and left met in the centre, and the front line having dressed its ranks, orders were issued for the whole to advance in pursuit of the Highlanders.

Charles, who, from the small eminence on which he stood, had observed with the deepest concern the defeat and flight of the clan regiments, was about proceeding forward to rally them, contrary to the earnest entreaties of Sir Thomas Sheridan and others, who assured him that he would not succeed. All their expostulations would, it is said, have been in vain, had not General O’Sullivan laid hold of the bridle of Charles’s horse, and led him off the field. It was, indeed, full time to retire, as the whole army was now in full retreat, and was followed by the whole of Cumberland’s forces. To protect the prince and secure his retreat, most of his horse assembled about his person; but there was little danger, as the victors advanced very leisurely, and confined themselves to cutting down some defenceless stragglers who fell in their way. After leaving the field, Charles put himself at the head of the right wing, which retired in such order that the cavalry sent to pursue could make no impression upon it.

At a short distance from the field of battle, Charles separated his army into two parts. One of these divisions, consisting, with the exception of the Frasers, of the whole of the Highlanders and the low country regiments, crossed the water of Nairn, and proceeded towards Badenoch; and the other, comprising the Frasers, Lord John Drummond’s regiment, and the French piquets, took the road to Inverness. The first division passed within pistol-shot of the body of English cavalry, which, before the action, had formed in the rear of the Highland army, without the least interruption. An English officer, who had the temerity to advance a few paces to seize a Highlander, was instantly cut down by him and killed on the spot. The Highlander, instead of running away, deliberately stooped down, and pulling out a watch from the pocket of his victim, rejoined his companions.[1206] From the plainness of the ground over which it had to pass, the smaller body of the prince’s army was less fortunate, as it suffered considerably from the attacks of the duke’s light horse before it reached Inverness. Numerous small parties, which had detached themselves from the main body, fell under the sabres of the cavalry; and many of the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood, who, from motives of curiosity, had come out to witness the battle, were slaughtered without mercy by the ferocious soldiery, who, from the similarity of their dress, were perhaps unable to discriminate them from Charles’s troops. This indiscriminate massacre continued all the way from the field of battle to a place called Mill-burn, within a mile of Inverness. Not content with the profusion of bloodshed in the heat of action and during the pursuit, the infuriated soldiery, provoked by their disgraces at Preston and Falkirk, traversed the field of battle, and massacred in cold blood the miserable wretches who lay maimed and expiring. Even some officers, whose station in society, apart altogether from the feelings of humanity, to which they were utter strangers, should have made them superior to this vulgar triumph of base and illiberal minds, joined in the work of assassination. To extenuate the atrocities committed in the battle, and the subsequent slaughters, a forged regimental order, bearing to be signed by Lord George Murray, by which the Highlanders were enjoined to refuse quarters to the royal troops, was afterwards published, it is said, under the auspices of the Duke of Cumberland; but the deception was easily seen through. As no such order was alluded to in the official accounts of the battle, and as, at the interview which took place between the Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino, on the morning of their execution, both these noblemen stated their entire ignorance of it, no doubt whatever can exist of the forgery. The conduct of Charles and his followers, who never indulged in any triumph over their vanquished foes, but always treated them with humanity and kindness, high as it is, stands still higher when contrasted with that of the royal troops and their commander.[1207]

From the characteristic bravery of the Highlanders, and their contempt of death, it is not improbable that some of those who perished, as well on the field after the battle as in the flight, did not yield their lives without a desperate struggle; but history has preserved one case of individual prowess in the person of Golice Macbane, which deserves to be recorded in every history relating to the Highlanders. This man, who is represented to have been of the gigantic stature of six feet four inches and a quarter, was beset by a party of dragoons. When assailed, he placed his back against a wall, and though covered with wounds, he defended himself with his target and claymore against the onset of the dragoons, who crowded upon him. Some officers, who observed the unequal conflict, were so struck with the desperate bravery of Macbane, that they gave orders to save him; but the dragoons, exasperated by his resistance, and the dreadful havoc he had made among their companions, thirteen of whom lay dead at his feet, would not desist till they had succeeded in cutting him down.[1208]

According to the official accounts published by the government, the royal army had only 50 men killed, and 259 wounded, including 18 officers, of whom 4 were killed. Lord Robert Kerr, second son of the Marquis of Lothian, and a captain of grenadiers in Barrel’s regiment, was the only person of distinction killed; he fell covered with wounds, at the head of his company, when the Highlanders attacked Barrel’s regiment. The loss on the side of the Highlanders was never ascertained with any degree of precision. The number of the slain is stated, in some publications of the period, to have amounted to upwards of 2,000 men, but these accounts are exaggerated. The loss could not, however, be much short of 1,200 men. The Athole brigade alone lost more than the half of its officers and men, and some of the centre battalions came off with scarcely a third of their men.[1209] The Mackintoshes, who were the first to attack, suffered most. With the exception of three only, all the officers of this brave regiment, including Macgillivray of Drumnaglass, its colonel, the lieutenant-colonel, and major, were killed in the attack. All the other centre regiments also lost several officers. Maclauchlan, colonel of the united regiment of Maclauchlan and Maclean, was killed by a cannon ball in the beginning of the action, and Maclean of Drimmin, who, as lieutenant-colonel, succeeded to the command, met a similar fate from a random shot. He had three sons in the regiment, one of whom fell in the attack, and, when leading off the shattered remains of his forces, he missed the other two, and, in returning to look after them, received the fatal bullet. Charles Fraser, younger of Inverallachie, the lieutenant-colonel of the Fraser regiment, and who, in the absence of the Master of Lovat, commanded it on this occasion, was also killed. When riding over the field after the battle, the Duke of Cumberland observed this brave youth lying wounded. Raising himself upon his elbow, he looked at the duke, who, offended at him, thus addressed one of his officers: “Wolfe, shoot me that Highland scoundrel who thus dares to look on us with so insolent a stare.” Wolfe, horrified at the inhuman order, replied that his commission was at his royal highness’s disposal, but that he would never consent to become an executioner. Other officers refusing to commit this act of butchery, a private soldier, at the command of the duke, shot the hapless youth before his eyes.[1210] The Appin regiment had 17 officers and gentlemen slain, and 10 wounded; and the Athole brigade, which lost fully half its men, had 19 officers killed, and 4 wounded. The fate of the heroic Keppoch has been already mentioned. Among the wounded, the principal was Lochiel, who was shot in both ancles with some grape-shot, at the head of his regiment, after discharging his pistol, and while in the act of drawing his sword. On falling, his two brothers, between whom he was advancing, raised him up, and carried him off the field in their arms. To add to his misfortunes, Charles also lost a considerable number of gentlemen, his most devoted adherents, who had charged on foot in the first rank.

Lord Strathallan was the only person of distinction that fell among the low country regiments. Lord Kilmarnock and Sir John Wedderburn were taken prisoners. The former, in the confusion of the battle, mistook, amidst the smoke, a party of English dragoons for Fitz-James’s horse, and was taken. Having lost his hat, he was led bare-headed to the front line of the English infantry. His son, Lord Boyd, who held a commission in the English army, unable to restrain his feelings, left the ranks, and, going up to his unfortunate parent, took off his own hat, placed it on his father’s head, and returned to his place without uttering a word.

At other times, and under different circumstances, a battle like that of Culloden would have been regarded as an ordinary occurrence, of which, when all matters were duly considered, the victors could have little to boast. The Highland army did not exceed 5,000 fighting men; and when it is considered that the men had been two days without sleep, were exhausted by the march of the preceding night, and had scarcely tasted food for forty-eight hours, the wonder is that they fought so well as they did, against an army almost double in point of numbers, and which laboured under none of the disadvantages to which, in a more especial manner, the overthrow of the Highlanders is to be ascribed.[1211] Nevertheless, as the spirits of the great majority of the nation had been sunk to the lowest state of despondency by the reverses of the royal arms at Preston and Falkirk, this unlooked-for event was hailed as one of the greatest military achievements of ancient or modern times; and the Duke of Cumberland, who had, in consequence, an addition of £25,000 per annum made to his income by parliament, was regarded as the greatest hero of ancient or modern times. In its consequences, as entirely and for ever destructive of the claims of the unfortunate house of Stuart, the battle was perhaps one of the most important ever fought. Though vanquished, the Highlanders retired from the field with honour, and free from that foul reproach which has fixed an indelible stain upon the memories of the victors.

After the carnage of the day had ceased, the brutal soldiery, who, from the fiendish delight which they took in sprinkling one another with the blood of the slain, “looked,” as stated by one of themselves, “like so many butchers rather than an army of Christian soldiers,”[1212] dined upon the field of battle. After his men had finished their repast, the Duke of Cumberland marched forward to take possession of Inverness, and on his way received a letter, which had been addressed to General Bland, signed by six of the French officers in the insurgent army, offering in behalf of themselves and their men to surrender unconditionally to his royal highness. As he was about to enter the town he was met by a drummer, who brought him a message from General Stapleton, offering to surrender and asking quarter. On receiving this communication, the duke ordered Sir Joseph Yorke, one of his officers, to alight from his horse, who with his pencil wrote a note to General Stapleton, assuring him of fair quarter and honourable treatment. The town was then taken possession of by Captain Campbell, of Sempill’s regiment, with his company of grenadiers.

After securing his prisoners in the town, the Duke of Cumberland released the soldiers who had been confined in the church of Inverness by the insurgents, and who, if the government accounts be correct, had suffered great hardships. They had indeed, about a week before the battle of Culloden, been almost stripped of their clothes by an officer of the Highland army, to clothe a new corps he had raised; but a complaint having been brought to Lord George Murray on the subject, he obtained an order from the prince, in consequence of which the clothes were restored.[1213] The duke on the present occasion presented each of these men with a guinea, and gave orders that they should be taken care of.

Besides the military prisoners, several gentlemen supposed to be disaffected to the government were apprehended by the duke’s orders, shut up with the common prisoners, and were for some time denied the use of bedding. Nor did the softer sex, whose Jacobite predilections had pointed them out as objects of displeasure, escape his resentment. Several ladies, among whom were Ladies Ogilvy, Kinloch, and Gordon, were seized and kept in durance in the common guard, and were limited along with the other prisoners to the miserable pittance of half-a-pound of meal per day, with scarcely as much water as was necessary to prepare it for use. As the wounded prisoners were utterly neglected, many who would have recovered, if properly treated, died of their wounds; and so much were the rites of Christian sepulture disregarded by the royal officers, that the bodies of these unfortunate victims were carried naked through the streets by beggars, who were employed to inter them in the churchyard.[1214]

Knowing that there were several deserters from the royal army among the insurgents, the duke ordered a strict inspection to be made of the prisoners in order to find them out. No less than thirty-six were recognised, and being brought to a summary trial, were convicted, and suffered the death of traitors. Among these was one Dunbar, who had been a sergeant in Sowle’s regiment. He had taken a suit of laced clothes from Major Lockhart at the battle of Falkirk, which being found in his possession, he was dressed in them, and hanged, and his body exposed for forty-eight hours on the gibbet.[1215] A young gentleman of the name of Forbes, a relative of Lord Forbes, is also said to have perished on this occasion. He had served as a cadet in an English regiment, but, being from principle attached to the Jacobite interest, had joined the standard of the prince. An incident occurred after the execution of this unfortunate gentleman, which assumed an alarming appearance, and might have led to serious consequences had the war been continued. Before Forbes was cut down from the gibbet, an English officer, with a morbidness of feeling which seems to have seized the officers as well as the common soldiers of the army, plunged his sword into the body of Forbes, exclaiming, at the same time, that “all his countrymen were traitors and rebels like himself.” This exclamation being heard by a Scottish officer who was standing hard by, the offended Scotchman immediately drew his sword, and demanded satisfaction for the insult offered to his country. The Englishman instantly accepted the challenge, and in a short time the combat became general among the officers who happened to be on the spot. The soldiers, seeing their officers engaged, beat to arms of their own accord, and drew up along the streets, the Scotch on one side and the English on the other, and commenced a warm combat with fixed bayonets. Information of this affray having been brought to the Duke of Cumberland, he hastened to the scene of action, and by his persuasions put an end to the combat. He found the Scotch greatly excited by the affront offered them; but he soothed their wounded feelings by complimenting them for their fidelity, their courage, and exemplary conduct.[1216]

Notwithstanding the massacres which were committed immediately after the battle, a considerable number of wounded Highlanders still survived, some of whom had taken refuge in a few cottages adjoining the field of battle, while others lay scattered among the neighbouring inclosures. Many of these men might have recovered if ordinary attention had been paid to them; but the stern duke, considering that those who had risen in rebellion against his father were not entitled to the rights of humanity, entirely neglected them.[1217] But, barbarous as such conduct was, it was only the prelude to enormities of a still more revolting description. At first the victors conceived that they had completed the work of death by killing all the wounded they could discover; but when they were informed that some still survived, they resolved to despatch them. A Mr. Hossack, who had filled the situation of provost of Inverness, and who had, under the direction of President Forbes, performed important services to the government, having gone to pay his respects to the Duke of Cumberland, found Generals Hawley and Huske deliberating on this inhuman design. Observing them intent upon their object, and actually proceeding to make out orders for killing the wounded Highlanders, he ventured to remonstrate against such a barbarous step. “As his majesty’s troops have been happily successful against the rebels, I hope (observed Hossack) your excellencies will be so good as to mingle mercy with judgment.” Hawley, in a rage, cried out, “D—n the puppy! does he pretend to dictate here? Carry him away!” Another officer ordered Hossack to be kicked out, and the order was obeyed with such instantaneous precision, that the ex-provost found himself at the bottom of two flights of steps almost in a twinkling.[1218]

In terms of the cruel instructions alluded to, a party was despatched from Inverness the day after the battle to put to death all the wounded they might find in the inclosure adjoining the field of Culloden. These orders were fulfilled with a punctuality and deliberation that is sickening to read of. Instead of despatching their unfortunate victims on the spot where they found them, the soldiers dragged them from the places where they lay weltering in their gore, and, having ranged them on some spots of rising ground, poured in volleys of musketry upon them. Next day parties were sent to search all the houses in the neighbourhood of the field of battle, with instructions to carry all the wounded Highlanders they could find thither and despatch them. Many were in consequence murdered; and the young laird of Macleod was heard frankly to declare, that on this occasion he himself saw seventy-two persons killed in cold blood. The feelings of humanity were not, however, altogether obliterated in the hearts of some of the officers, who spared a few of the wounded. In one instance the almost incredible cruelty of the soldiery was strikingly exemplified. At a short distance from the field of battle there stood a small hut, used for sheltering sheep and goats in cold and stormy weather, into which some of the wounded had crawled. On discovering them the soldiers immediately secured the door, to prevent egress, and thereupon set fire to the hut in several places, and all the persons within, to the number of between thirty and forty, perished in the flames.[1219]

Another instance of fiendish cruelty occurred the same day. Almost immediately after the battle, nineteen wounded officers of the Highland army, unable to follow their retiring companions, secreted themselves in a small plantation near Culloden house, whence they were afterwards carried to the court-yard of that mansion, where they remained two days in great torture weltering in their blood, and without the least medical aid or attention but such as they received from the president’s steward, who, at the hazard of his own life, alleviated the sufferings of his unhappy countrymen by several acts of kindness. These wretched sufferers were now tied with ropes by the brutal soldiery, thrown into carts, and carried out to a park wall at a short distance from Culloden house. Being dragged out of the carts, they were ranged in order along the wall, and were told by the officer in command of the party to prepare for death. Such of them as retained the use of their limbs fell down upon their knees in prayer; but they had little time allowed them to invoke mercy, for in a minute the soldiers received orders to fire, and, being posted at the distance of only two or three yards from the prisoners, the unfortunate gentlemen were almost all instantly shot dead. That the butchery might be complete, the soldiers were ordered to club their muskets and dash out the brains of such of their miserable victims as exhibited any symptoms of life, an order which, horrible to tell, was actually fulfilled. A gentleman named John Fraser, who had been an officer in the Master of Lovat’s regiment, alone survived. He had received a ball, and being observed to be still in life, was struck on the face by a soldier with the butt end of his musket. Though one of his cheek bones and the upper part of his nose were broken, and one of his eyes dashed out by the blow, he still lived, and the party, thinking they had killed him, left him for dead. He would probably have expired on the spot, had not the attention of Lord Boyd, son of the Earl of Kilmarnock, when riding past, been fortunately attracted by the number of dead bodies he observed lying together. Espying, at a little distance from the heap, a body in motion, his lordship went up, and having ascertained from the mouth of the sufferer who he was, he ordered his servant to carry Mr. Fraser to a cottage, near at hand, which he named, where he lay concealed for three months. He lived several years afterwards, but was a cripple during life.[1220]

By the capture of Inverness, a considerable quantity of ordnance and military stores fell into the hands of the royal army. Including those taken on the field of battle, there were 30 pieces of cannon, 2,320 firelocks, 190 broadswords, a large quantity of musket cartridges, 1,019 cannon balls, a quantity of musket shot, 37 barrels of gunpowder, and 22 ammunition carts, besides tents, cantines, pistols, saddles, &c. To encourage the soldiers to collect the arms which the Highlanders had left on the field, they were allowed half-a-crown for every musket, and a shilling for every broadsword which they brought into the camp at Inverness. For every stand of colours the sum of sixteen guineas was allowed, and no less than fourteen of these were captured or picked up upon the field, all of which were burnt on the 4th of June at the market cross of Edinburgh, by the hands of the common hangman, after being carried in mock procession from the castle by a party of chimney-sweeps.

Two days after the battle the Earl of Cromarty, his son, Lord Macleod, several officers, and 153 private men, were landed at Inverness from the Hound sloop of war, which had conveyed them from Sutherland, where they had been taken prisoners by a party of Lord Sutherland’s people on the preceding day, viz., the 15th of April, under the following circumstances. Having received instructions to rejoin the main body of the Highland army at Inverness, the earl was about proceeding to fulfil them, when a plan was formed by the Mackays and the Earl of Sutherland’s people to cut him off. Uniting their forces, consisting of three independent companies, near Golspie, they resolved to attack the Earl of Cromarty, early in the morning of the 15th of April, in flank and in rear. In pursuance of this resolution, Captain Macallister, who commanded the Earl of Sutherland’s militia, marched with his company towards the water of Golspie, and having in his march received intelligence that Cromarty’s regiment had marched towards the ferry, but that the earl himself with the greater part of his officers was at Dunrobin castle, he sent Ensign John Mackay, with a party of 26 men, to intercept him. The earl left the castle with 14 officers on horseback, and a small party of well-armed foot, to join his men, and would have fallen into an ambuscade which Ensign Mackay had laid for him, had not some of the Mackays begun to fire too soon. Lord Cromarty immediately retraced his steps and took refuge in the castle, from the top of the tower of which he displayed a white flag and rang a bell, as a signal that he was attacked. The earl’s men began immediately to march back to his relief, upon which Mackay and his party retired to the adjacent high grounds. Meanwhile, the two independent companies, which were to attack Cromarty’s men in flank, arrived at the hill of Culmaly, to the north west of Golspie, and observing the insurgents returning from the ferry, and drawing up in order of battle on a rising ground about a mile west from Golspie, they concealed themselves on the top of the hill: Captains Gray and Sutherland, the commanders of the two companies, then descended the hill to reconnoitre. They computed Cromarty’s force to be between 400 and 500 men; and, having resolved to attack them, they returned to their men and gave orders to that effect. To deceive the insurgents as to the extent of their numbers, they marched down the hill in open column, keeping a distance of about twenty paces between each rank; and so well did this ruse succeed, that the insurgents, struck with a panic, fled towards the ferry, and were pursued by the two companies, who, attacking them in flank, killed a considerable number, and took 178 prisoners. The two companies thereupon marched to Dunrobin castle, which they invested. The earl held out the castle till the evening, when, despairing of relief, he requested the commanders of the companies to hold a conference with him in the castle on the subject of a surrender. While engaged in conversation, Ensign Mackay, who had entered the castle along with the two captains, went down stairs, and having informed the earl’s men below that he had surrendered, induced them to deliver up their arms. Having secured their arms, he took the keys from the porter, and, opening the gates, admitted his party. He then went up stairs with them, and, entering the dining-room, seized the earl, Lord Macleod, and the whole officers.[1221]

Whilst the Duke of Cumberland was deliberating upon the course he should adopt for finally suppressing the rebellion, his unfortunate kinsman, disheartened by his recent disaster, was entirely occupied with thoughts of his own personal safety. After leaving the field, Charles, escorted by a large body of horse, crossed the river Nairn at the ford of Falie, about four miles from the field of battle. Having halted a short time on the south side of the Nairn, during which he held a consultation with his friends, Charles dismissed the horse and most of his attendants, with instructions to assemble at Ruthven in Badenoch, where they were directed to wait for further orders. Taking along with him Sir Thomas Sheridan, O’Sullivan, Captain O’Neil, John Hay, and a few other persons, Charles set out for Gortuleg, the residence of Lord Lovat’s steward, where he arrived about sunset. There, for the first and only time, the prince met Lord Lovat, who, on learning the cause of the Prince’s unexpected visit, became, it is said, almost frantic, and, anticipating the fate which awaited him, called out to those around him to chop off his head. In a little time the aged chief regained his self-possession, and entered into conversation with Charles and his followers in relation to their future prospects. As it was not considered safe to pass the night so near the royal troops, Charles and his party, after partaking of some supper, left Gortuleg about ten o’clock for Invergarry, the seat of Macdonell of Glengarry. Before leaving Gortuleg, the prince took the precaution to change his dress.

The prince and his party arrived at the mansion of Invergarry about four o’clock in the morning, where Charles began to experience a foretaste of the hardships he was destined to endure. This ancient castle, ever since its first erection, had never been in such a cheerless condition as that in which Charles now found it. Unprovided with furniture or provisions, and inhabited by a solitary domestic, it seemed to warn the unfortunate fugitives that they were unwelcome within its walls, and that they must speedily look out for a more hospitable place of retreat. Overcome by fatigue, the whole party lay down upon the floor, in their clothes, and fell asleep. After reposing several hours, they rose, but had nothing to eat till Edward Burke, servant to Alexander Macleod, one of the party, observing a net in the water of Garry, pulled it out and caught two salmon, on which they dined.

With the exception of O’Sullivan, O’Neil, and Edward Burke, who, from his knowledge of the country, was selected as the prince’s guide, all the party took leave of Charles at Invergarry. Before leaving the castle, Charles, in order the more effectually to disguise himself, put on Burke’s coat; and at three o’clock in the afternoon, he set out for Loch Arkaig in Lochaber, accompanied by his three attendants, and took up his quarters for the night in the house of Donald Cameron of Glenpean. Charles slept the following night, that of Friday the 18th, at Mewboll, where he and his small party were well entertained. From Mewboll they set out next morning for Glenboisdale. At Loch Morar they waited several hours for a boat to carry them across; but, not finding one, they were obliged, from the road being impracticable for horses, to abandon them and to walk on foot to Glenboisdale, which they reached on Sunday the 20th, after great fatigue, having crossed two lofty ranges of mountains in their route.

Lord George Murray.—From the original
painting by permission of
His Grace the Duke of Athole.

Presuming that Charles still meant to make a stand, Lord George Murray and the other chiefs who remained with the army retired to Ruthven, where, including Cluny’s men whom they met on their retreat, they assembled a force of between 2,000 and 3,000 men. From the want of provisions it was impossible to keep such a body together for any length of time; and a message from Charles, two or three days after the battle, desiring them to disperse, hastened an event which seemed to be inevitable. In thus resigning the contest which by his inconsiderate rashness he had provoked, Charles showed that he was not possessed of that magnanimity which many of his followers ascribed to him. Notwithstanding their recent reverse, there existed no unwillingness on the part of the brave men who had risked their all for him to continue the war. They might not have, it is true, succeeded in vindicating the claim of an ungrateful prince in the field; but, under his leadership, they might have made a gallant stand, and forced the government to grant them favourable terms. In extenuation of the prince’s conduct, on the present occasion, it is but fair to add, that he was under the influence of a set of contemptible advisers, who prejudiced him against his best friends, and instilled into his mind a conviction that he had been betrayed at Culloden. How far the conduct of Lord George Murray, after that event, may have determined Charles to take the course he did, cannot now be ascertained; but if Charles, in the midst of his perplexity immediately after the battle, hesitated as to the course he should pursue, his reception of the following document, under the hand of Lord George Murray, was certainly not calculated to induce him to continue the contest.

“May it please your Royal Highness.

“As no person in these kingdoms ventured more frankly in the cause than myself, and as I had more at stake than almost all the others put together, so, to be sure, I cannot but be very deeply affected with our late loss and present situation; but I declare, that were your royal highness’s person in safety, the loss of the cause, and the misfortunate and unhappy situation of my countrymen, is the only thing that grieves me, for I thank God I have resolution to bear my own family’s ruin without a grudge. Sir, you will, I hope, upon this occasion, pardon me, if I mention a few truths, which all the gentlemen of our army seem convinced of.

“It was highly wrong to have set up the royal standard without having positive assurances from his Most Christian Majesty, that he would assist you with all his force; and as your royal family lost the crown of these realms upon the account of France, the world did and had reason to expect that France would seize the first favourable opportunity to restore your august family.

“I must also acquaint your royal highness, that we were all fully convinced that Mr. O’Sullivan, whom your royal highness trusted with the most essential things with regard to your operations, was exceedingly unfit for it, and committed gross blunders on every occasion of moment. He whose business it was, did not so much as visit the ground where we were to be drawn up in line of battle, and it was a fatal error to allow the enemy these walls upon their left, which made it impossible for us to break them, and they, with their front fire, and flanking us when we went upon the attack, destroyed us without any possibility of our breaking them, and our Athole men have lost a full half of their officers and men. I wish Mr. O’Sullivan had never got any other charge in the army than the care of the baggage, which, I am told, he had been brought up to and understood. I never saw him in time of action, neither at Gladsmuir, Falkirk, nor in the last, and his orders were vastly confused.

“The want of provisions was another misfortune which had the most fatal consequence. Mr. Hay, whom your royal highness trusted with the principal direction of ordering provisions of late, and without whose orders a boll of meal or farthing of money was not to be delivered, has served your royal highness egregiously ill. When I spoke to him, he told me the thing is ordered, it will be got, &c.; but he neglected his duty to such a degree, that our ruin might probably have been prevented had he done his duty. In short, the three last days which were so critical, our army was starved. This was the reason our night march was rendered abortive, when we possibly might have surprised and defeated the enemy at Nairn; but for want of provisions a third of the army scattered to Inverness, &c., and the other who marched had not spirits to make it so quick as was necessary, being really faint for want of provisions.

“The next day, which was the fatal day, if we had got plenty of provisions we might have crossed the water of Nairn, and drawn up so advantageously, that we would have obliged the enemy to come to us, for they were resolved to fight at all hazards at prodigious disadvantage, and probably we would in that case have done by them as they unhappily have done by us. In short, Mr. O’Sullivan and Mr. Hay had rendered themselves odious to all our army, and had disgusted them to such a degree, that they had bred a mutiny in all ranks, that had not the battle come on, they were to have represented their grievances to your royal highness for a remedy. For my own part, I never had any particular discussion with either of them; but I ever thought them uncapable and unfit to serve in the stations they were placed in.

“Your royal highness knows I always told I had no design to continue in the army. I would of late, when I came last from Athole, have resigned my commission; but all my friends told me it might be of prejudice to the cause at such a critical time. I hope your royal highness will now accept of my demission. What commands you have for me in any other situation, please honour me with them.—I am, with great zeal, Sir, your royal highness’s most dutiful and humble servant,

“George Murray.

“Ruthven, 17th April, 1746.

“I have taken the liberty to keep 500 pieces, which shant be disposed upon except you give leave.”[1222]

It would appear from the preceding document that Lord George Murray, who, of all men, was the best judge of the propriety of trying another campaign, did not in the least contemplate that Charles would abandon the enterprise. His own opinion was, that the war should be continued; and when he heard that Charles had resolved to depart for France, he sent Secretary Hay to Glenboisdale with a message to Charles, to dissuade him against such a step; but Charles informed Hay that his resolution was fixed. Lord George maintained that the Highlanders “could have made a summer’s campaign without the risk of any misfortune: they could have marched through the hills to places in Banffshire, Aberdeenshire, the Mearns, Perthshire, Lochaber, and Argyleshire, by ways that regular troops could not have followed; and if they (the regular troops) had ventured among the mountains, it must have been attended with great danger and difficulty: their convoys might have been cut off, and opportunities would have offered to attack them with almost a certainty of success. And though the Highlanders had neither money nor magazines, they would not have starved in that season of the year so long as there were sheep and cattle: they could also have separated themselves in two or three different bodies, got meal for some days’ provision,—met again at a place appointed, and might have fallen upon the enemy when they least expected: they could have marched in three days what would have taken regular troops five: nay, had those taken the high roads as often as they would have been obliged upon account of their carriages, it would have taken them ten or twelve days. In short, they might have been so harassed and fatigued that they must have been in the greatest distress and difficulties, and at length probably been destroyed, at least much might have been expected by gaining of time: perhaps the Highlanders might have been enabled to have made an offensive instead of a defensive war.”[1223]

After receiving Charles’s orders to disperse, the officers at Ruthven, to use an expression of one of themselves,[1224] “took a melancholy leave of each other,” and went off in different directions to secure their personal safety, and the common men proceeded straight to their respective homes.

While Secretary Hay was at Boisdale, Charles drew up a letter to the chiefs, stating the reasons of his departure, which he inclosed in one to Sir Thomas Sheridan,[1225] with instructions to show it to them, but to keep it as long back as he conveniently could. He stated that it was “of the last consequence” to conceal his departure on some pretext or other, which he enjoined him to contrive, and to recommend, particularly to every person to whom he showed the paper, to follow the same course. In using this precaution Charles probably wished to keep the government in ignorance of his design to leave the kingdom. The letter to the chiefs, which, though written on or before the 23d of April, the date of the letter to Sir Thomas Sheridan, is post-dated the 28th, with the view, perhaps, of allowing Sir Thomas to withhold it for a few days, by which time Charles expected that he would be on his way to the Long island, where he expected to find a vessel to carry him to France. The letter to the chiefs runs thus:—

“For the Chiefs,

“When I came into this country, it was my only view to do all in my power for your good and safety. This I will always do as long as life is in me. But alas! I see with grief I can at present do little for you on this side the water, for the only thing that can now be done is to defend yourselves till the French assist you, if not to be able to make better terms. To effectuate this, the only way is to assemble in a body as soon as possible, and then to take measures for the best, which you that know the country are only judges of. This makes me be of little use here; whereas, by my going into France instantly, however dangerous it be, I will certainly engage the French court either to assist us effectually and powerfully, or at least to procure you such terms as you would not obtain otherways. My presence there, I flatter myself, will have more effect to bring this sooner to a determination than any body else, for several reasons; one of which I will mention here; viz. it is thought to be a politick, (policy,) though a false one, of the French court, not to restore our master, but to keep a continual civil war in this country, which renders the English government less powerful, and of consequence themselves more. This is absolutely destroyed by my leaving the country, which nothing else but this will persuade them that this play cannot last, and if not remedied, the Elector will soon be as despotick as the French king, which, I should think, will oblige them to strike the great stroke, which is always in their power, however averse they may have been to it for the time past. Before leaving off, I must recommend to you, that all things should be decided by a council of all your chiefs, or, in any of your absence, the next commander of your several corps with the assistance of the Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray, who, I am persuaded, will stick by you to the very last. My departure should be kept as long private and concealed as possible on one pretext or other which you will fall upon. May the Almighty bless and direct you.”[1226]

At Glenboisdale Charles was joined by Clanranald, Lockhart, younger of Carnwath, Æneas Macdonald, the banker, and several other adherents, who endeavoured to dissuade him from embarking for the isles, where, from the number of cruisers which hovered among the Hebrides, they considered he would run greater risk than if he remained on the mainland. Charles seemed disposed to adopt this advice; but O’Sullivan being averse to it, and having represented the great probability of speedily finding a ship among the isles to convey him to France, and the great danger of staying where he was, the prince adhered to his determination of seeking a temporary refuge in the Long island. With the intention of soliciting the protection of Sir Alexander Macdonald and the laird of Macleod, Charles sent to Kinlochmoidart for one Donald Macleod, a trustworthy person whom he wished to intrust with his despatches. Macleod had been at Inverness shipping a cargo of meal for Skye when Charles entered that town, and had been employed to accompany Æneas Macdonald to the island of Barra, for the purpose of bringing over a sum of about £380, which was lying there. They had reached Kinlochmoidart, on their way back, and were about setting out for Inverness, when Macdonald received a letter from the prince announcing his defeat, and requesting him to repair to Borodale. On receiving this message Macleod immediately set out, and in passing through a forest in the vicinity of Glenboisdale, he observed a solitary wanderer among the trees, who immediately came forward and asked him if he was Donald Macleod of Gualtergill in Skye. Macleod answered that he was, and having recognised the prince in the person of his interrogator, he stated that he was at his service. “Then,” said the prince, “you see, Donald, I am in distress. I therefore throw myself into your bosom; do with me what you like. I hear you are an honest man, and fit to be trusted.” The aged Highlander doubting his capacity to serve him, Charles stated to him the nature of the mission on which he intended to send him. Macleod, startled at the proposal, positively refused to undertake the task; and having remonstrated with Charles upon the impropriety of asking the protection of men who had, contrary to their promise, taken part against him, he abandoned his design.[1227]

During the few days that Charles spent at Glenboisdale, he is said to have wavered in his plans. Though informed of the dispersion of his troops, he had hopes that a good many might still be collected as occasion offered. He is said even to have entertained thoughts of again assembling his scattered forces, and acting on the defensive. He sent a few men, with whom Clanranald had supplied him, on all sides to obtain intelligence, but they learned nothing favourable; and accounts which he received from the Isle of Skye, that Lord Loudon was about to come over immediately to the coast of Arisaig, joined to a report, which, however, turned out to be false, that a detachment of the Duke of Cumberland’s army had already reached Fort Augustus, hastened his departure from the mainland.[1228]

Accordingly, on the evening of the 26th of April, Charles, accompanied by O’Sullivan, O’Neil, Allan Macdonald, a catholic priest of Clanranald’s family, and Edward Burke, embarked in an eight-oared boat at Borodale, in the bay of Lochnanuagh, where a few months before he had landed full of hope and enthusiasm. Besides the persons enumerated, and Donald Macleod who acted as pilot, there were seven boatmen. Charles sat down in the bottom of the boat at the feet of the pilot. Macleod, who observed indications of an approaching storm, had advised Charles to postpone his voyage till next day; but the prince was so intent upon proceeding, that he would not put off his departure. Four pecks of oatmeal were all the provision the whole party carried along with them, and the only cooking utensil was a pot which Macleod had taken care to provide.

Charles soon had occasion to repent of his obstinacy in not listening to the advice of the aged mariner; for before the boat had proceeded far, a storm arose, which is described by Macleod as the most violent he had ever witnessed, though he had been all his life a seafaring man. The danger was greatly increased by the darkness of the night, and to add to the distress of the party, the rain poured down in torrents. Vivid flashes of lightning which threw a momentary gleam over the face of the troubled deep, and the crash of the thunder which rolled over the heads of the affrighted party, increased the horrors of the scene. Unprovided with a compass, they were entirely ignorant of the course they were steering; but they had, from the violence of the tempest, no alternative but to go before the wind, and in the event of escaping the fury of the waves, running the risk of being driven upon Skye, where the prince might fall into the hands of the militia who were in that island. But all their apprehensions of danger on this score were removed, by discovering at day-break that they were on the coast of the Long island. At seven o’clock in the morning they landed with great difficulty at Rossinish, a point of land on the north-east of Benbecula, one of the islands which form the group called the Long island. Having secured their boat, Charles and his party entered an uninhabited hut, in which they kindled a fire to warm themselves and dry their clothes, which were saturated with rain and salt-water. Charles purchased a cow, which was immediately slaughtered; and which, with the small quantity of meal provided by Donald Macleod, served to support the party during the time they remained on the island.[1229]

Meanwhile the Duke of Cumberland was using every effort to capture the persons of the young Chevalier and his principal adherents. For this purpose, several detachments were sent out by the duke from his camp at Inverness in different directions, and as he was desirous that Charles should not fall alive into his hands, his instructions to the commanders of the detachments were to make no prisoners. One of these detachments, under Colonel Cockayne, proceeded to Moy castle, and after shooting some fugitives who had taken refuge in that mansion, and massacring some old men, women and children, returned to Inverness, carrying along with them Lady Mackintosh, who, on her arrival there, was committed to custody by the duke. Another party went to castle Downie, the seat of Lord Lovat, which they burnt to the ground, having previously secured a large quantity of booty, which they carried to Inverness. A body of 600 Grants was sent into the Frasers’ country to reduce and disarm that powerful clan; and the Monroes, Mackays, and Sutherlands, were scattered over the shires of Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, and Caithness, to keep the disaffected in these counties in check. To secure the passages to the isles, Lord Fortrose, son of the Earl of Seaforth, proceeded to raise the Mackenzies, and orders were given along the coast to prevent any suspicious persons from making their escape by sea. Cobham’s and Lord Mack Ker’s dragoons were posted along the east coast, and bodies of militia were stationed at the passes leading into the Highlands to intercept all persons who might attempt to escape to the lowlands. The pass of Stirling was also guarded by a detachment posted at the Fords of the Frew, and the Edinburgh regiment was spread along the south side of the Frith of Forth, to apprehend such of the insurgents as might attempt to cross that arm of the sea. Besides these different detachments, a body of 1,700 militia, under the Earl of Loudon, the laird of Macleod, and Sir Alexander Macdonald, the last of whom had raised his men before the battle of Culloden, and another body of 800 Argyleshire men under General Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle, spread themselves over Lochaber, all eager to secure the person of the prince. In short, no means were neglected to attain this object; and the eager pursuers required no other stimulus to urge them on than the splendid reward of £30,000, which had been offered for the capture of the royal fugitive.

The departure of Charles from Lochnanuagh was not known at Inverness till some days after he had sailed, and the place of his destination become a matter of interesting speculation. No doubt could exist that he designed to seek refuge among the western islands, and as St. Kilda is the most distant and the least frequented of the whole, it was supposed that Charles had repaired thither. Acting on this supposition, General Campbell collected some sloops of war and transports, and having embarked a considerable body of troops, set sail for St. Kilda.[1230] After touching at Barra and some other islands, and searching for the prince, he approached St. Kilda, the inhabitants of which, alarmed at the sight of the fleet, fled and concealed themselves in the cliffs of the rocks. Landing with some of his forces, the general inquired at some of the inhabitants, whom he discovered in their recesses, what had become of the “Pretender;” but these people answered, with great simplicity, that they had never heard of such a person,—that they had indeed been informed that their laird (Macleod) had lately been at war with a woman a great way abroad, and that he had overcome her. This, they added, was all they knew of the affairs of the world. General Campbell, however, not satisfied with this statement, made a search over the island, but not finding any strangers, returned to the main land after visiting South Uist.

Anticipating the utter ruin which awaited them and their followers, if no attempt was made to resist the meditated designs of the Duke of Cumberland, several chiefs and others[1231] held a meeting at Mortlaig on the 8th of May, at which they entered into a bond for their mutual defence, and agreed never to lay down their arms, or make a general peace, without the consent of the whole. They may be supposed to have come to this resolution the more readily, as a sum of 35,000 louis d’ors had been received a few days before by two French frigates which had arrived on the west coast. By the bond of association, the chiefs agreed, and solemnly promised, with the utmost expedition, to raise in behalf of the prince and in defence of their country, as many able-bodied armed men as they could on their respective properties, and they further promised and agreed, that the following clans, viz., Lochiel, Glengarry, Clanranald, Stewarts of Appin, Keppoch, Barisdale, Mackinnons and Macleods, should assemble on Thursday, the 15th of May, at Auchnacarry, in the braes of Lochaber. To facilitate the junction of the different corps with all possible speed, it was agreed that the Frasers of Aird and the other Jacobite clans on the north side of the river Ness, should join the people of Glenmoriston and Glengarry, and that the Frasers of Stratherrick, the Mackintoshes and Macphersons, should assemble and meet at the most convenient place in Badenoch on the same day;—that the Macgregors, and Menzies’ and Glenlyon’s people should march to Rannoch and join the Rannoch and Athole men, and be kept in readiness to receive intelligence and orders to meet the main body in the braes of Mar, or at any other place that might be considered convenient,—that Gordon of Glenbucket and Colonel Roy Stewart should intimate the resolutions of the meeting to Lord Lewis Gordon, Lords Ogilvy and Pitsligo, the Farquharsons, and the other principal gentlemen in the north, who were to be directed to fix a place of rendezvous among themselves, and that Macpherson of Cluny and Colonel Roy Stewart should advertise the principal gentlemen of the Mackintoshes of the resolutions adopted by the meeting. The better to conceal their designs from the Duke of Cumberland, the assembled chiefs agreed not to discover or reveal to any of their men or inferior officers, the agreement they had entered into, nor the day and place of rendezvous, till they had assembled their respective corps. It was finally agreed, that should any one engaged in the association make separate terms for himself, he should be looked upon as a traitor to the prince, and be treated by his associates as an enemy.[1232]

The associated chiefs had been too sanguine in their expectations, not one of them being able, for various reasons, to meet on the day appointed. Clanranald’s people refused to leave their own country, and many of Glengarry’s had delivered up their arms. Lochgarry came with a small party to Invermely on the 20th of May; but, after staying one night, he crossed Loch Arkaig and did not return. Lochiel and Barisdale met at Auchnacarry, the place of rendezvous, on the 21st or 22d of May, but with very few men, and they were almost surprised by a large party of the government forces on the morning of the 23d, who took an officer and two of Lochiel’s men prisoners. The Highlanders immediately dispersed, and Lochiel, seeing no chance of making an effectual stand under existing circumstances, wrote a circular to his brother chiefs, advising them to disperse their people; but, as great expectations were entertained that the French king would send assistance, he requested them to preserve their arms as long as possible.

Conceiving that the only effectual mode of suppressing the rebellion was to march into the Highlands with the whole of his army, the Duke of Cumberland began, about the middle of May, to make preparations for his journey. He had in the beginning of that month issued a proclamation, ordering the insurgent clans to deliver up their arms; but little attention was paid to this mandate, and the continuance of considerable armed parties convinced him that the Highlands could never be reduced without the presence of a considerable army stationed in a central district. Having pitched upon Fort Augustus for his new head-quarters, the duke left Inverness, on the 23d of May, with eleven battalions of foot and Kingston’s horse, and reached Fort Augustus next day. Charles had intended to make this place a rallying point in case of a defeat; but his plan was rejected by the chiefs, and, that it might not be serviceable to the royal troops, the buildings had been blown up. No accommodation being therefore found for the duke’s army, a camp was formed in the neighbourhood, and a turf hut with doors and windows, and covered with green sods and boughs, was erected by Lord Loudon’s Highlanders for the use of his royal highness.[1233]

Resolving to inflict a signal chastisement upon the rebels, the duke sent, from his camp at Fort Augustus, detachments of his troops in all directions, which devastated the country with fire and sword, and committed excesses scarcely paralleled in history, resembling, though perhaps on a minor scale, those committed by the hosts of Hyder Ali, when that merciless destroyer burst into the Carnatic. The seats of Lochiel, Glengarry, Kinlochmoidart, Keppoch, Cluny, Glengyle, and others, were plundered and burnt to the ground, and great numbers of the houses of the common people shared the same fate.[1234] Major Lockhart, whose name, by his cruelties on this occasion, has obtained an infamous notoriety, marched with a detachment into the country of the Macdonalds of Barisdale, and laid waste and destroyed their dwellings. Some of these poor people had obtained protections from Lord Loudon; but the major disregarded them, and told the people who had them, that not even a warrant from heaven should prevent him from executing his orders. Another corps, under Lord George Sackville, ravaged the country about the glens of Moidart, while others carried fire and desolation through other districts. Not contented with destroying the country, these bloodhounds either shot the men upon the mountains, or murdered them in cold blood. The women, after witnessing their husbands, fathers, and brothers murdered before their eyes, were subjected to brutal violence, and then turned out naked, with their children, to starve on the barren heaths. A whole family was inclosed in a barn, and consumed to ashes. So alert were these ministers of vengeance, that in a few days, according to the testimony of a volunteer who served in the expedition, neither house, cottage, man, nor beast, was to be seen within the compass of fifty miles: all was ruin, silence, and desolation. Deprived of their cattle and their small stock of provisions by the rapacious soldiery, the hoary-headed matron and sire, the widowed mother and her helpless offspring, were to be seen dying of hunger, stretched upon the bare ground, and within view of the smoking ruins of their dwellings.

It may seem surprising that the Highlanders did not avenge themselves upon their oppressors, by assassinating such stragglers as fell in their way. It cannot be supposed that men in whose bosoms the spirit of revenge must have taken deep root, would have spared their relentless adversaries from any scruple as to the mode of despatching them; nor can it be imagined that the Highlanders could not have selected fit occasions when they might have inflicted vengeance upon individuals. The reason of their forbearance probably was, that such a system of warfare, if adopted, would lead to acts of retaliation on the part of the military, and thus increase their calamities. Only one instance is known where an injured person attempted to avenge himself. This was the case of a Highlander who had his house burned, his cattle plundered, and his son killed, while defending his family, who were turned out in the snow. Vowing revenge, he watched the officer who was the author of this inhuman outrage, and who, he was informed, was to be distinguished by a cloak of a particular kind. This officer riding one day with Captain George Munro of Culcairn in a shower of rain, lent him his cloak; and while marching in it with a party of men along the side of Loch Arkaig, the captain was shot by the enraged Highlander, who perceived the cloak, but could not distinguish the difference of person. The man escaped, and although he was well known, and might have been afterwards apprehended, he was allowed to pass unpunished.[1235]

Of the immense quantity of cattle carried off by Cumberland’s troops, some idea may be formed from the fact mentioned in a journal of the period,[1236] that there were sometimes 2,000 in one drove. Intelligence of such a vast accumulation of live stock reaching the ears of the graziers of the south, numbers of them went to Fort Augustus well provided with money, which they laid out to great advantage. Some of the people, impelled by starvation, repaired to the camp to solicit from the spoilers some of their flocks, to preserve an existence; but their supplications were unheeded, and they were doomed to behold their cattle sold and driven away, while famine stared them in the face.

Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President.
From Original Painting at Culloden House.

The atrocities committed by the English must have been revolting to the humane mind of Lord President Forbes. On paying his respects to the duke at Inverness, he hinted to his highness that the laws of the country should be observed even by his army; but the duke, who entertained very different ideas, not relishing such an intrusion upon his authority, cut the worthy president short with this exclamation, “The laws of the country, my Lord! I’ll make a brigade give laws, by God!” Judging farther remonstrance to be vain, Forbes dropped the subject, and was compelled to deplore in silence the cruelties which he could not prevent. He might have represented the matter to the government; but he was perhaps unwilling to run the risk of incurring its displeasure, and thereby deprive himself of the chance of being afterwards useful in saving many families from ruin.[1237]

The enormities of the lawless soldiery were not confined to the Highlands, but extended to all the adjoining lowland districts where the spirit of disaffection was known to exist. The houses of the low country Jacobite gentry were plundered and destroyed, and the chapels of the nonjurant episcopal clergy, as well as the more humble and secluded places of worship belonging to the Catholics, were either razed or burnt to the ground. “Rebel-hunting” was the term adopted by the ruffians of the British army to designate their bloody occupation.

To complete the work of extermination, the duke issued a proclamation, denouncing the punishment of death, by hanging, against every person who should harbour the insurgents, and a similar fate was declared to await such as should conceal arms, ammunition, or any other thing belonging to them, or should not immediately deliver up to persons authorized by the duke to receive the same, any property or effects in their possession belonging to the rebels. In compliance with a requisition made by the duke, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, about the end of May, enjoined the ministers of the different parishes to read a proclamation from the pulpits, in which they themselves, and every well affected person, were ordered by his royal highness to use every exertion to discover and seize the unfortunate fugitives; and to facilitate their discovery and apprehension, the clergy were required to furnish lists of the names of all persons in their respective parishes who had had any share in the insurrection. Many clergymen, including those of Edinburgh, with feelings of humanity and independence which did them honour, refused to read this proclamation, or to comply with the order requiring them to give in the names of such of their parishioners as had been engaged in the rebellion. The government, equally intent with its sanguinary general upon the destruction of the unfortunate adherents of the house of Stuart, offered rewards for apprehending such of the fugitives as might land in Ireland, and instructions were sent to the British ministers at foreign courts in alliance with George II., to seize all who might seek refuge in the territories of such powers.

The guilt of all these acts of bloodshed and rapine has been laid to the charge of the Duke of Cumberland, and the single fact that he issued no orders to put an end to the enormities which were daily committed, almost under his own eyes, and with his perfect knowledge, seems of itself sufficient to justify the charge. But when taken in connexion with his sanguinary order not to make prisoners, the proofs of his criminality, or rather unconstitutional severity, are evident. Though the foul stain of wanton cruelty must ever attach to the British army on the present occasion, from the commander down to the private, there were some redeeming exceptions among the officers, who alleviated the sufferings, and, in some instances, saved the lives of the devoted Highlanders. “I think myself,” says Mr. Maxwell, “bound in justice to let the reader know that there were in the duke of Cumberland’s army officers of all ranks, whom neither the prospect of ingratiating themselves and making their fortunes, nor the contagion of bad example were able to corrupt. Some of those that had done the government the most essential services were as conspicuous now for their humanity as formerly for their courage and conduct. It might be indiscreet to be particular at present; but their names, which are written with indelible characters in the hearts of those poor people that owe to them the preservation of their being, will be carefully handed down to posterity. They are already known, and even, in the worst of times, meet with the applause they deserve from all those that have a fellow-feeling for their species.”

With the honourable exceptions here alluded to, neither the duke nor the submissive slaves of his tyrannical will ever appear to have felt the least compunction for the miseries they inflicted upon the unfortunate Highlanders. On the contrary, they seem to have revelled amidst the ruin and desolation which they spread around; and when their occupation of “rebel-hunting” was gone, by the destruction of their victims, they endeavoured to relieve the ennui of repose by ludicrous and indecent diversions. Horse and foot races were instituted by the royal duke, who did not think it beneath his dignity to induce the women of the camp to enter the lists, and to expose themselves in a way at which decency revolts.[1238] This species of amusement produced great insubordination in the army, for the soldiers got very fond of it, and, according to a volunteer, most of them had horses, which they bought and sold with one another at a low price, and on which they rode about, neglecting their duty, and consequently it became necessary to publish an order to part with them, otherwise they were all to be shot. “I saw,” continues the same writer, “a soldier riding on one of these horses, when, being met by a comrade, he asked him, ‘Tom, what hast thou given for the Galloway?’ Tom answered, ‘Half-a-crown.’ To which the other replied, with an oath, ‘He is too dear; I saw a better bought for eighteen-pence.’ Notwithstanding the low price, the vast quantities of cattle, such as oxen, horses, sheep, and goats, taken from the rebels, and bought up by the lump by the jockies and farmers from Yorkshire and the south of Scotland, came to a great deal of money, all which was divided amongst the men that brought them in, who were sent out in parties in search of the Pretender; and they frequently came to rebels’ houses, which they had left, as their owners would not be reduced to obedience. These our soldiers commonly plundered and burnt, so that many of them grew rich by their share of spoil.”

When the zeal and activity of the military in pursuing the leading fugitives on the one hand, and the great care of the government to prevent their escape to the continent on the other, are considered, it is surprising that so many succeeded in their attempts to leave the kingdom. Besides the Earls of Cromarty and Kilmarnock, and Lord Macleod, the only other Jacobite chiefs who fell into the hands of the government were the Marquis of Tullibardine, Lords Balmerino and Lovat, and Secretary Murray. The Marquis being unable, from the bad state of his health, to bear the fatigue of running from covert to covert, surrendered himself, on the 27th of April, to a Dumbartonshire gentleman, who committed him to the castle of Dumbarton; and Lord Balmerino, by the advice of Mr. Grant, younger of Rothiemurchus, most unwisely delivered himself up at Inverness, two days after the battle of Culloden. After having the mortification of witnessing, from the summit of a mountain, the conflagration of his seat of Castle Downie by the king’s troops, Lord Lovat took refuge in the western parts of Inverness-shire, and finally concealed himself in the hollow of a tree which grew on a small island in Loch Morar, where he was apprehended early in June by a party from the Furnace sloop of war. When discovered, he was wrapt up in a blanket; and, though he had between five and six hundred guineas in his pocket, had been obliged to live twelve days in his miserable retreat on oatmeal and water. Being unable, from his great age and infirmity, to ride, he was carried in a litter to the royal camp at Fort Augustus. Secretary Murray contrived to escape from the Highlands, and sought for safety in the house of his brother-in-law, Mr. Hunter of Polmood, in Peebles-shire; but information having been given of his retreat, he was apprehended on the morning of Saturday, the 28th of June, by a party of St. George’s dragoons, carried to Edinburgh, and committed the same evening a prisoner to the castle.

Macdonald of Barisdale and his son were also taken prisoners, but were almost immediately set at liberty. That a man who had taken such an active part in the insurrection as Barisdale did should have been liberated unconditionally is very improbable; and it was generally understood that he had entered into an engagement to apprehend the prince, and deliver him up to the Duke of Cumberland. So strong were the suspicions of Charles and his friends of Barisdale’s treachery, that when Colonel Warren arrived in the West Highlands for the purpose of transporting Charles to France, he actually seized Barisdale and his son, and carried them along with him to that country as prisoners. A list of charges, in the shape of interrogatories, was afterwards drawn up by Charles at Paris, to each of which Barisdale was required to make a direct and particular answer in writing; but the nature of his answers, if he made any, is not known. There may have been no foundation for these grave charges; but well or ill founded, an opinion long prevailed in the Highlands that Barisdale had been unfaithful.

If Glengarry’s apprehension proceeded upon the information of the gentlemen of his own clan, they must have had better grounds for taking the extraordinary step they are alleged to have done than the mere assertion of Barisdale; but the charge against Glengarry seems highly improbable, as it is scarcely credible, if, as stated, they had letters from him in their possession, advising them to take up arms in support of Charles, while he himself kept back, that he would, by such a perfidious act, have put himself in their power. Glengarry, after his apprehension, was sent to London, and, along with the other chief prisoners, was committed to the Tower, where he suffered a long and tedious confinement. Young Glengarry had been taken up some months previously and sent to the Tower, in which he was kept a close prisoner for twenty months.

Notwithstanding the sanguinary ferocity with which Cumberland’s soldiers hunted down the unfortunate fugitives, the lives of a considerable number of those who were taken or surrendered themselves were saved from immediate destruction by the interference of a few humane persons, who did everything in their power to put a stop to the exterminating system of these bloodhounds. Though they thus escaped the merciless sword of the destroyer, they were nevertheless doomed to suffer the most extraordinary privations. After having been cooped up in the loathsome prisons of the north, without any attention to their wants, many of them were afterwards huddled together in the holds of ships, where they were condemned unheeded to pine away, and, amidst a mass of filth and corruption, to inhale the seeds of pestilence and death. Of 157 persons who were immured for eight months in the hold of one transport, only 49 survived the cruel treatment they received.[1239]

Meanwhile several of the chiefs of the insurrection succeeded in effecting their escape to the Continent. The Duke of Perth, Lord John Drummond, Lords Elcho and Nairne, Maxwell of Kirkconnel, and others, embarked at Lochnanuagh, on board one of the French ships which arrived on the western coast about the end of April. The Duke of Perth, who had been long in bad health, died on the voyage. Another party of twelve or thirteen persons, including Lords Pitsligo and Ogilvy, and Hunter of Burnside, after skulking some time in Buchan, got a vessel which conveyed them to Bergen in Norway. The British consul applied to the governor to have them secured, but he disregarded the application, and the party proceeded to Sweden. Stewart of Ardshiel, and General O’Sullivan also succeeded in reaching France. Old Glenbucket, after being hunted from place to place, eluded his pursuers by assuming the garb of a beggar, and allowing his beard to grow. In the month of November he escaped to Norway in a Swedish vessel. Lord George Murray remained in concealment in Scotland till the month of December, when, after paying a private visit to his friends at Edinburgh, he took shipping at Anstruther in the Frith of Forth, and reached Holland in safety.

FOOTNOTES:

[1166] The publication of the Forbes Papers has brought to light the meanness and rapacity of the Duke of Cumberland and General Hawley. The duke lived, all the time he was at Aberdeen, in the house of Mr. Alexander Thomson, advocate, and, although he made use of every kind of provisions he found in the house, and of the coals and candles, he did not pay Mr. Thomson a single farthing, nor did he even thank him. He left, however, six guineas for the servants, a boy and two women, one of whom had washed and dressed his linen. Mrs. Gordon of Hallhead was induced to yield possession of her house in the town to General Hawley, under a promise that the greatest care would be taken of every thing in the house. Having represented that she was unable to furnish linen and other necessaries for Hawley and his suite, Mrs. G. was informed, that as the general would bring every thing with him, she might lock up all she had, and that all that was wanted was the use of two of her maid-servants to do the work of the house. Mrs. G. accordingly secured her effects under lock and key; but Hawley had not been above a day in the house when he sent a messenger to Mrs. G. demanding delivery of all her keys, and threatening, in case of delay, to break open all the locks. Having received the keys, the general sent Major Wolfe, one of his aides-de-camp, to Mrs. G. in the evening, who intimated to her that she was deprived of every thing except the clothes on her back. The poor lady then desired to have her tea, but the major told her that it was very good, and that tea was scarce in the army. She next asked for her chocolate, and the same answer was returned. She expressed a wish to get other things, particularly her china, but the gallant major told her that she had a great deal of it, that it was very pretty, and that the general and his friends were very fond of china themselves; but perhaps she might get back some of it. Mrs. G. petitioned the Duke of Cumberland to order her property to be restored to her. The duke, it is said, promised to grant the prayer of the petition, but no prohibitory order was issued, and General Hawley proceeded to pack up every thing in the least portable, and shipped the best things off to Edinburgh a fortnight before he left Aberdeen. Mrs. Gordon gives a very minute catalogue of the effects carried off, which she values at £600. Among those abstracted were the whole of her husband’s body-clothes, three wigs, “with several shirts and night-gowns of Bob’s,” (Mr. Gordon’s son). He carried off all the china and other crockery ware, and did not leave a single teacup or plate,—all the wine glasses and decanters,—the linens and table napery, and even the kitchen towels. He stript the beds of every thing, and left the bare posts standing. In short, he cleared the house of almost every thing,—of empty bottles, larding pens, iron skewers, flutes, music books, two canes with china heads, wash-balls, &c. &c. Mrs. Gordon insinuates that the Duke of Cumberland participated in the spoil. In a letter written by Thomas Bowdler, Esq. of Ashley, near Bath, brother of Mrs. Gordon, to the Rev. Robert Lyon, who lived in Lady Cotton’s family in London, he observes, that a Mrs. Jackson, who knew Mrs. Gordon’s china well, recognised part of it one day in the window of a china shop in London, and having the curiosity to inquire of the shopkeeper from whom he had bought it, was informed that he had purchased it from a woman of the town, who told him that the Duke of Cumberland had given it to her.

[1167] Ray, p. 313.

[1168] Home, App. No. 41.

[1169] Jacobite Memoirs, p 120.

[1170] Kirkconnel MS.

[1171] Kirkconnel MS. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 507.

[1172] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 518.

[1173] A Particular Account of the Battle of Culloden. In a letter from an officer (Lord George Murray) of the Highland army to his friend in London. London, 1749, p. 4. No. 42 of Appendix to Home. Jacobite Memoirs, p. 121.

[1174] Kirkconnel MS. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 518.

[1175] Particular Account of the Battle of Culloden, p. 6.

[1176] Idem, p. 9.

[1177] Particular Account, p. 10.

[1178] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 508.

[1179] Particular Account, p. 10.

[1180] Appendix to Home, No. 42.

[1181] Home, Appendix, No. 42. True Account, &c. p. 11.

[1182] In the letter which Lord George, under the signature of De Valignie, addressed to his friend Hamilton of Bangour, dated from Emerick, 5th August, 1749, he thus justifies himself for having ordered a retreat without the prince’s orders:—“They say, why return from Kilraick without the Prince’s positive orders? he was general, and without his immediate orders no person should have taken so much upon him. My answer to this is, (waiving what Mr. O’Sullivan said from the Prince,[1183]) that all the officers were unanimous;—that as it could not be done by surprise, and before day-break, as had been proposed and undertaken with no other view, it was impossible to have success; for it was never imagined by any one that it was to be attempted but by a surprise. Whatever may be the rules in a regular army, (and it is not to be supposed I was ignorant of them,) our practice had all along been, at critical junctures, that the commanding officers did every thing to their knowledge for the best. At Gladsmuir (the plan of which attack I had formed,) I was the last that passed the defile of the first line, and the first that attacked; and gained in going on a good part of the ground we had left betwixt us and the main ditch, by the front having, on account of the darkness, marched a little too far. When I came up with the enemy’s cannon, I did not stay to take them, but went on against both foot and dragoons, being very quickly followed by our right. I received no orders (nor did I wait for any, otherwise the opportunity would have been lost,) from the time I passed the defile till the battle was over. At Clifton, where I expected to have been supported by all our army, John Roy Stuart brought me orders from the Prince to retreat, for he had ordered the march for Carlisle, which was begun. The officers who were with me agreed in my opinion, that to retreat when the enemy were within less than musket-shot would be very dangerous, and we would probably be destroyed before we came up with the rest of our army. We had nothing for it but a brisk attack; and therefore, after receiving the enemy’s fire, we went sword in hand and dislodged them; after which we made our retreat in good order. I own I disobeyed orders; but what I did was the only safe and honourable measure I could take, and it succeeded. At the battle of Falkirk I never received an order or message from his Royal Highness after I passed the water at Dunipace till the battle was over. I could say much more on this subject; all I shall now add is, that at the time we returned from Kilravock there was no officer of any distinction with the prince, (except Sir Thomas Sheridan be reckoned one,) they being all in the van. Brigadier Stapleton was indeed in the rear, but he knew nothing of the ground there, and his people were only to have been a corps de reserve, and not in the attack.”

[1183] “Mr. O’Sullivan said, (he had just come up to the front,) he had just then come from the Prince, who was very desirous the attack should be made: but as Lord George Murray led the van, and could judge of the time, he left it to him whether to do it or not.”—Particular Account, p. 12.

[1184] Particular Account, &c. p. 12.

[1185] Mr. John Hay’s account of the Retreat, No. 43 of Appendix to Home’s Rebellion. This statement has been hitherto supposed to rest upon the single authority of Hay; and Mr. Home has been blamed for making it, as it was not confirmed by others. The same statement, however, is also made by Mr. Maxwell of Kirkconnel, a much more respectable authority than Hay. Mr. Home had the Kirkconnel MS. in his possession when writing his history, but seldom refers to it. Mr. Maxwell’s words are: “The prince was incensed beyond expression at a retreat, begun in direct contradiction to his inclination and express orders. In the first moments he was convinced he was betrayed, and expressed himself to that purpose. He was confirmed in this opinion by those who never missed an opportunity of loading Lord George Murray, but when he knew that this step had been taken in concert with Lochiel and others, whom he had never distrusted, he did not know what to think or what to do: thus perplexed he arrived with the army at Culloden.” See also narrative by the Rev. George Innes in Jacobite Memoirs, who says, (p. 289,) that some persons positively said, that when the prince met the Duke of Perth’s regiment returning, he cried out, “I am betrayed; what need I give orders, when my orders are disobeyed.”

[1186] Answer by the Prince to Mr. Home’s query, Home’s Rebellion, No. 44 of the Appendix.

[1187] Kirkconnel MS. Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 519. Particular Account, p. 14.

[1188] Kirkconnel MS.

[1189] Particular Account, p. 14.

[1190] Home, p. 226.

[1191] Boyse, p. 155.

[1192] Boyse, p. 156. English official account of the battle.

[1193] See a curious and interesting letter in the Stuart Papers, from Lord George Murray to the prince, written from Ruthven the day after the battle.

[1194] Particular Account, p. 15.

[1195] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 510.

[1196] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 510.—Kirkconnel MS.

[1197] These guards were originally a body of cavalry, called the horse-grenadiers, but they were dismounted, and their horses were given to the men of Fitz-James’s regiment, who had landed in Scotland without horses.

[1198] “The great object of the duke, before recommencing his march, had been to prepare his men for a firm reception of the Highland charge. He knew that on this all depended, and that the two previous disasters had been caused by the men not being rightly disciplined to receive the novel mode of attack. Some writers on military tactics had, in the meantime, proposed alterations on the complex infantry movements of the day, for the purpose of evading the Highlander’s target, by directing the bayonet against his right breast. The men were trained during the winter, in some measure, to such a change of motion, but it appears to have rather been for the purpose of giving them a confidence that might make them steady, than from any belief in the absolute efficacy of the change.”—Burton’s Scotland from Revolution, vol. ii. p. 519.

[1199] Boyse, p. 159.

[1200] Boswell’s Tour to the Hebrides, p. 228.

[1201] Kirkconnel MS.

[1202] Mr. Home says that about a hundred men were stationed in the inclosure, who were put to the sword by the dragoons when they entered; but he is certainly mistaken. Mr. Maxwell of Kirkconnel, from whom Mr. Home took his description of the battle, does not mention such an occurrence. In the memoir by a Highland officer, (Colonel Ker,) printed among the Lockhart Papers, it is stated, (p. 520,) that to guard against any attempts that might be made to break down the walls of the inclosure, there were two battalions placed facing outward, covering the right of the two lines, to observe the motions of the English; and that “when the attack began, the Campbells threw down a great part of the wall of the inclosure for the dragoons on the duke’s left, to pass to the rear of the prince’s army, which they did without receiving one shot from the two battalions that were placed to observe their motions.”—P. 521.

[1203] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 521.

[1204] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.

[1205] In retiring from the field, Captain Roy Macdonald received a musket bullet, which passed in at the sole of the left foot and came out at the buckle. With difficulty he reached Bun Chraobg, two miles beyond Inverness, where he procured a horse and set off for the Isle of Skye, but his foot had swelled so much that he could not put it in the stirrup.—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 425.

[1206] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 196.

[1207] One of the duke’s sycophants says, that after the fatigue of the battle was over, his royal highness retired to a place near the field to refresh himself; and that, after sitting a short time, he rose and took “a serious walk to view the multitudes that lay dead on the ground. He was followed by some of his attendants, who observed him in deep meditation. He laid his hand upon his breast, and with his eyes lifted up to heaven, was heard to say, Lord, what am I! that I should be spared? when so many brave men lie dead upon the spot!—an expression of such deep humility towards God, and compassion towards his fellow creatures, as is truly worthy a Christian hero!!!”—Marchant, p. 396.

[1208] Cromek’s Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, p. 200.—Henderson’s History, p. 60.

[1209] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 124.

[1210] Chambers’s Rebellion, and authorities referred to there.

[1211] The ground was totally unsuited to Highland tactics. “It is impossible to look on this waste, with the few green patches still marking the graves where the slain were covered up in heaps, without a feeling of compassion for the helplessness of a Highland army in such a place. It is a wide flat muir, with scarcely a curve, where the mountaineers had nothing to aid their peculiar warfare, in high or rugged ground. A better field for steady disciplined troops could not exist. They could see everywhere around, and it was impossible either to surprise them, or subject them, as at Killiecrankie or Falkirk, to a rush from the higher ground.”—Burton after Revolution, vol. ii. p. 518.

[1212] Scots Mag. vol. viii. p. 192.

[1213] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 129.

[1214] Idem, p. 236.

[1215] Boyse, p. 164.

[1216] Johnstone’s Memoirs, p. 203.

[1217] “It is not necessary to believe all the Jacobite stories tending to show a wanton and fiendish indulgence, by the duke and his most distinguished followers, in cruelty and any kind of bloody work for its own sake; nor to admit that he ridiculed President Forbes as the old woman who spoke about humanity and the laws. What he did was, we may be assured from his character, not done in a spirit of wantonness, but after a sense of duty. But that duty led him to severity. He was a soldier according to the German notions of a soldier, and a rebel province was a community to be subjected to martial law. Many of the insurgents, attempting to escape or hide themselves when detected by well-known peculiarities, were put to death by the soldiery, who, even when they made a mistake and slew the wrong man, could not easily be punished. The duke, brought up in the German military school, seems to have been unable to distinguish between a rebellion suppressed in constitutional Britain, where all men are supposed to be innocent but those proved to be guilty,—and a revolted German province, where every accorded grace to the unfortunate people proceeds from the will of the conqueror. Thus there was a propensity to subject all the northern districts to something too closely resembling military law or license.”—Burton’s Scotland after Revolution, v. ii. pp. 522, 523.

[1218] Letter from a gentleman in London to his friend in Bath. Bath, 1751, reprinted in Jacobite Memoirs.

[1219] Idem.

[1220] Letter from a gentleman in London, &c.

[1221] Life of George, Earl of Cromarty: London, 1746. Boyse, p. 155.

[1222] From the Stuart Papers.

[1223] Account of the Battle of Culloden, &c.; Lond. 1749.

[1224] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.

[1225] Stuart Papers.

[1226] From a copy among the Stuart Papers thus quoted on the back in Charles’s own hand:—“The Prince’s Letter to ye Chiefs in parting from Scotland, 1746.”

[1227] Macleod’s Narrative in Jacobite Memoirs.

[1228] Kirkconnel MS.

[1229] Genuine and True Journal of the most miraculous Escape of the young Chevalier, by an Englishman. London, 1749. Macleod’s Narrative.

[1230] Genuine and True Journal, p. 7. Home, p. 245.

[1231] There were twelve or thirteen gentlemen present; among whom were Lochiel, young Clanranald, Barisdale, Dr. Cameron, John Roy Stewart, old Glenbucket, Secretary Murray, and Cameron of Dungallon. Lord Lovat was also present, but by accident.

[1232] Appendix to Home, No. xlvii.

[1233] Boyse, p. 169.

[1234] The booty taken must have been considerable, as in one instance, that of Glengarry House, the party who plundered it, consisting of 200 men, had the following allowances made as their shares, viz., every captain, £11 5s.; each subaltern, £5 18s.; a sergeant, £1 10s.; a corporal, £1; and every common soldier, 15s., clear of all deductions.—Boyse, p. 169.

[1235] “Colonel Grant of Moy, who died in April, 1822, in his 90th year, was walking along the road with a gun on his shoulder when Culcairn was shot. A turn of the road concealed him from the soldiers at the moment, but when he came in sight with his gun, they immediately seized him upon suspicion, and carried him to Fort William. After a short confinement he was released. Colonel Grant entered the 42d as a volunteer or soldier of fortune, and afterwards got a cadetship in India, from which he returned with a handsome fortune nearly fifty years ago.”—Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. note p. 280.

[1236] Scots Magazine, vol. viii. p. 287.

[1237] How far any remonstrance on the part of the president would have been attended to may be judged from the following statement:—“When he visited London in the end of the year, (1746,) for the purpose of settling the accounts he had run with the loyal Highland militia, he, as usual, went to court. The king, whose ear had been offended with repeated accounts of the conduct of the military, thus addressed him:—‘My lord-president, you are the person I most wished to see. Shocking reports have been circulated of the barbarities committed by my army in the north; your lordship is, of all men, the best able to satisfy me.’ ‘I wish to God,’ replied the president, ‘that I could, consistently with truth, assure your majesty that such reports are destitute of foundation.’ The king, as was his custom, turned abruptly away from the president; whose accounts, next day, were passed with difficulty; and, as report says, the balance, which was immense, never fully paid up.”—Antijacobin Review, vol. xiii. Review of Home’s History of the Rebellion.

[1238] A letter from Fort Augustus, dated June 27, 1746, which made the round of the public journals at the time, thus describes these pastimes:—“Last Wednesday the duke gave two prizes to the soldiers to run heats for on bare-backed Galloways taken from the rebels, when eight started for the first, and ten for the second prize. These Galloways are little larger than a good tup, and there was excellent sport. Yesterday his royal highness gave a fine Holland smock to the soldiers’ wives, to be run for on these Galloways, also bare-backed, and riding with their limbs on each side of the horse like men. Eight started, and there were three of the finest heats ever seen. The prize was won, with great difficulty, by one of the Old Buff’s ladies. In the evening, General Hawley and Colonel Howard run a match for twenty guineas on two of the above shelties: which General Hawley won by about four inches.”

[1239] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 300. William Jack, one of the prisoners, in a letter to his friends in Elgin (Memoirs, p. 299), says that the sailors used to amuse themselves by hoisting the prisoners up to the yard-arm and dropping them into the sea, and that they would tie them to the mast and flog them; that for several months they had no bed-clothes, and that they used to dig holes among the ship’s ballast, consisting of black earth and small stones, to keep themselves warm. John Farquharson of Aldlerg, himself a prisoner, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Forbes, published among the Forbes papers, gives an appalling description of the miseries of his fellow prisoners on their voyage from Inverness to London. He says that from hunger, bad usage, and exposure “to all weathers, they were seized with a kind of plague which carried them off by dozens;” and that “a good many of those who would have outlived their sickness, were wantonly murdered by the sailors, by dipping them in the sea in the crisis of their fevers.” After arriving in the Thames, the common prisoners were put into Tilbury Fort, and would have perished for want had not some humane people supported them. The officers were marched rank and file to Southwark jail, amid the hootings of a tumultuous mob, who loaded them with scornful epithets, and assailed them with brickbats, stones, and other missiles.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

A.D. 1746.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Charles leaves Benbecula and lands in the island of Glass—Proceeds to Harris—Iffurt—Glass—Benbecula—Removes to South Uist—Meets Miss Flora Macdonald—Charles proceeds to Skye—Goes to Kingsburgh House—Portree—Proceeds to Raasay—Returns to Skye—Goes to Ellagol—Interview with the Laird of Mackinnon, with whom he proceeds to the Mainland—Arrives in Loch Nevis in Moidart—Arrest of Malcolm Macleod, Macdonald of Kingsburgh, and Flora Macdonald—Pursuit of Charles—Proceeds to Morar—Borodale—Glen Morar—Narrow Escapes—Reaches Glenshiel—Entertained by robbers in a cave—Death of Roderick Mackenzie, who is mistaken for the Prince—Charles arrives in Strathglass—Braes of Glengarry—Cameron of Clunes—Auchnacarry—Narrow Escape of Charles—Benalder—Cage fitted for Charles’s reception—The Prince embarks at Borodale, and arrives safely in France.

The storm which drove Charles with such rapidity upon the distant shores of Benbecula continued for fourteen hours after he had landed. Accommodating himself to the new situation in which he was placed, he manifested no symptoms of dejection at his reverse of fortune, partook cheerfully along with his companions of the homely fare before him, and with an old sail for a bed, reposed upon the floor of his lowly dwelling. In Benbecula the prince was visited by old Clanranald, to whom the island belonged; and having afterwards had an interview in South Uist with Boisdale, Clanranald’s brother, Charles was advised by him to proceed to Stornoway, the principal seaport in the island of Lewis, and there give out that he and his company were the crew of a merchant ship belonging to the Orkneys, which had been wrecked on the isle of Tiree, and under the pretence of returning home, hire a vessel for that purpose, and escape to France.[1240] Accordingly, after passing two days in Benbecula, Charles and his party set sail for Stornoway on the 29th of April; but in consequence of a strong gale of wind from the south-west, they were obliged to put in next morning at the small isle of Scalpa or Glass, near Harris, about half way between Benbecula and Stornoway. They landed about two hours before daybreak, and were conducted by Donald Macleod to the house of Donald Campbell, a farmer, known to Macleod, to whom they were introduced as merchants shipwrecked on their voyage to the Orkneys. The prince and O’Sullivan took the name of Sinclair, and the latter passed off as Charles’ father. The whole party was hospitably entertained by Campbell, who lent Macleod a boat with which he proceeded next day, the 1st of May, to Stornoway to hire a vessel, leaving Charles and his friends behind.

Having succeeded in hiring a small vessel of forty tons, Macleod sent an express to Charles announcing his success, and requesting him to proceed to Stornoway. This message was received on the 3d of May, and the prince left the isle of Glass next day; but the wind proving contrary, he was obliged to land in Loch Seaforth, in the island of Lewis, a considerable distance from Stornoway. Here Allan Macdonald took his leave. Accompanied by O’Sullivan, O’Neil, and his guide, Charles set out on foot for Stornoway, over a wild and trackless waste, in a very dark and rainy night. The guide lost his way, and the party did not reach the neighbourhood of Stornoway till next day at noon. This mistake, on the part of the conductor, was a fortunate circumstance, as the advanced hour of the day prevented Charles from entering the town, where he might have been seized by the inhabitants, who having received information from the Presbyterian minister of South Uist, that the prince had landed in Lewis with 500 men, with a design of burning their town, carrying off their cattle, and forcing a vessel to carry him to France, afterwards rose in arms to oppose him. Charles stopped at the Point of Arynish, about half a mile from Stornoway, and sent in the guide to acquaint Macleod of his arrival, and to bring out some refreshment, as he and his fellow-travellers had been eighteen hours without food. Donald immediately repaired to the spot with some brandy, bread, and cheese, and found Charles and his two companions standing on a moor extremely fatigued and all wet to the skin. Donald then took them to the house of Mrs. Mackenzie of Kildun, at Arynish, where the prince went to bed. Returning to Stornoway, Macleod was quite amazed to find the town in commotion, and above 200 men under arms. Unable to comprehend the meaning of this sudden rising, Donald went directly into the room where the gentlemen who had taken upon them the rank of officers had assembled, and inquired the cause of such a strange proceeding. He was instantly assailed with abuse by every person present: they informed him of the intelligence they had received from Uist of Charles’s landing, and of his alleged intentions, and they accused Macleod as the cause of the calamity with which they were threatened. Unable to deny the fact of Charles’s arrival in Lewis, Macleod at once admitted it, and to allay their fears he informed them, that so far from having a body of 500 men along with him, as represented, he was attended by two companions only; “and yet,” said Donald, with an air of defiance, “let me tell you farther, gentlemen, if Seaforth himself were here, by G— he durst not put a hand to the prince’s breast!”[1241] The gentlemen present then declared that they had no intention to do the prince the least harm, and the only thing they required of him was to leave the island. Donald offered instantly to comply, and requested them to give him a pilot, but they refused; and although he offered the most liberal payment he could not obtain one. Alarmed for the consequences of being privy to the prince’s escape, the master of the vessel which had been hired, either suspecting the object, or let, as is supposed, into the secret by Macleod, refused to implement his bargain.[1242]

Returning to the prince, Macleod informed him of these disagreeable occurrences. A proposal was made to fly to the moors; but Charles, thinking that such a step would encourage his enemies to pursue, he resolved to pass the night at Kildun. Here the party killed a cow, for which the lady refused payment, but being pressed by Macleod she at last took the money. Edward Burke performed the duties of cook; but the prince, on the present occasion, superintended the culinary department, and with his own hands prepared a cake of oatmeal, mixed with the brains of the cow, and baked it upon a stone before the fire. At daybreak next morning the party left the island, carrying along with them a small stock of beef, two pecks of meal, and abundance of brandy and sugar. At this time the prince, O’Sullivan, and O’Neil had only six shirts amongst them, and being often drenched with rain, they were frequently obliged to take off the wet ones before the others were half dry. Conceiving that he would be more secure on the mainland than among the islands, Charles resolved to return thither, and ordered the boatmen to carry him to Bollein in Kintail; but they refused on account of the length of the voyage, which they considered dangerous in an open boat. They, therefore, proceeded southwards along the coast; but they had not proceeded far when they observed two large vessels at a distance sailing northwards, and making towards them. To avoid these ships they put into the small isle called Euirn or Iffurt, near Harris, a little to the northward of the island of Glass. On landing, the prince and his attendants went to the summit of a little hill to observe the ships. Charles thought they were French, but his companions considered them English. He was desirous to ascertain the fact, but the boatmen could not be prevailed upon to go out and reconnoitre them. It is probable that these were the two frigates from Nantz, which arrived in Lochnanuagh the day after Charles’s departure from that place, and having landed the money, arms, and ammunition they had brought over for his service, were returning to France.[1243]

The little island on which Charles now was, was inhabited by a few fishermen, who, imagining the prince’s boat to be a press-boat belonging to one of the ships of war, ran away to conceal themselves, leaving their fish behind. Charles and his party fared upon some of the fish which they found drying upon the beach. Unwilling to deprive the poor fishermen of any part of their hard-earned spoils without an equivalent, the prince was about laying down some money on the place from which the fish were taken; but on one of his followers representing to him that by doing so the fishermen might suppose that some person of note had visited the island, and that such an idea might lead to bad consequences, he desisted. Charles remained in this desolate island four days, during all which time he and his party lay in a wretched hut, resembling a hog-sty, and so wretchedly roofed that they were obliged to spread the boat’s sail over the top of it. They lay upon the bare floor, without any covering, and to prevent surprise, kept watch by turns.

Resolving to return to Glass to pay Donald Campbell a visit, Charles left the little island of Iffurt on the 10th of May, and coursed along the shores of the Long Island till he arrived at the isle of Glass. Understanding that Campbell had absconded, from an apprehension that he would be seized for having entertained the prince,—a rumour to that effect having got abroad,—the prince left Glass the same day. There being no wind, the boatmen were obliged to row all night; but about daybreak, the wind began to rise, and hoisting sail, they scudded along the coast of Harris. Having no fresh water on board, they were forced, from lack of other provisions, to use oatmeal made up with salt water, of which Charles partook heartily. This salt water drammach, as this extraordinary preparation was called, was qualified with a dram of brandy, which the prince distributed from a bottle he held in his hand.

In coursing along Harris, Charles, while crossing the mouth of Finsbay, espied a ship of war, commanded by Captain Ferguson, lying in the bay, at the distance of about two musket shots, which immediately gave them chase. The ship followed them three leagues; but they escaped among the rocks at the point of Roudil in the Harris. They then kept close to the shore, and in passing along the coast of North Uist were observed by another war vessel lying in Lochmaddy, which also gave them chase. Charles reached Benbecula after a very close pursuit, and had scarcely landed when a storm arose, which drove the vessels that pursued him off the coast. After this escape, Charles could not help remarking, that Providence would not permit him to be taken at this time.

It being low water when Charles landed in Benbecula, one of the boatmen went among the rocks in quest of shell-fish, and found a crab, which he held up to the prince with an expression of joy. Taking up a pail which lay in the boat, Charles immediately proceeded to the spot where the boatman stood, and, in conjunction with him, soon filled the pail with crabs. The party then proceeded to a small hut which lay at the distance of two miles. Charles carried the pail, which Macleod insisted on relieving him of; but Charles refused to part with it, observing that he and the rest of the company might carry the baggage. The door of the hovel was so low, that the party could only enter by creeping in on their hands and knees; but to make the entry easier for the prince, Burke dug away part of the ground, and put heather below the prince’s knees. From this homely residence, Charles sent a message to old Clanranald, acquainting him of his return to Benbecula, and of the difficulties with which he was beset. Clanranald repaired without delay to the hut, and promised Charles all the assistance in his power to enable him to leave the kingdom. Lady Clanranald, at the same time, sent Charles half-a-dozen of shirts, some shoes and stockings, a supply of wine and brandy, and other articles, to make his situation as comfortable as circumstances would admit of. After passing several days in this miserable habitation, Charles, by the advice of Clanranald, removed to South Uist, and took up his abode near the hill of Coradale, in the centre of the island, which was considered a more secure place of retreat.

When on the eve of leaving Benbecula, Charles despatched Donald Macleod in Campbell’s boat, which he still retained, to the mainland, with letters to Lochiel and Secretary Murray, desiring to know how affairs stood, and requesting that a supply of cash and brandy might be sent to him. Donald met Lochiel and Murray at the head of Loch Arkaig; but Murray, from whom he was desired to obtain the money, informed him that he had none to spare, having only sixty louis-d’ors, which he meant to keep for his own necessities. Donald received letters from Lochiel and Murray to the prince, and, having found the means, he purchased two ankers of brandy, at a guinea each, for the use of the prince, with which he returned after an absence of eighteen days.[1244]

On his return he found the prince in a more comfortable dwelling than that in which he had left him. He had removed to South Uist on the 16th of May, and lived in the house of one of Clanranald’s tenants, situated upon Coradale. The house not being water-tight, two cow-hides were placed upon four sticks to prevent the rain from falling upon him when asleep. The house in which the prince lodged was called the Forest house of Glencoradale, and though the situation was remote, it was the best that could be devised for securing a retreat either to the hills or to the sea, according to circumstances. There being abundance of game in the island, the prince occupied himself almost daily in his favourite amusements of hunting and shooting. His dexterity in shooting birds upon the wing was particularly remarked. To vary his recreation, he frequently went down to the sea-shore, and going on board a small boat, caught, with hand-lines, some small fishes, called lyths by the inhabitants. Clanranald and his lady did every thing in their power to render his situation agreeable; and Clanranald placed twelve able men at his disposal to serve as guides through the island, and to execute any orders Charles might give them.

While Charles was thus passing his time in South Uist, his situation every day was becoming more and more critical. The Long island, as the principal group of the Hebrides is called, was surrounded on every side by cutters, sloops of war, and frigates. Upwards of fifteen hundred militia and some regular troops were landed in different parts of the island, and a guard was posted at every ferry in the archipelago to prevent any person from getting out of it without a passport. Charles was made aware of his danger; but he declined to leave the Long island till he should receive some farther intelligence, which Clanranald endeavoured to obtain by crossing over to the mainland. At length the peril of Charles became so imminent, that there appeared no possibility of an escape. He had already spent three weeks in South Uist; and though his residence was known to upwards of a hundred persons, all of whom were probably aware of the splendid reward which had been offered for his apprehension, yet such was the fidelity of these poor people, that not one of them betrayed their trust, by giving notice to the emissaries of the government of the place of his concealment. He lived in comparative security in South Uist till about the middle of June, when, in consequence of the presence of a body of militia in the island of Eriska, which lies between Barra and South Uist, he found it absolutely necessary to shift his quarters. He accordingly left South Uist in Campbell’s boat with his four companions, on the 14th of June, and landed in the small isle of Wia or Fovaya, between South Uist and Benbecula, in which he remained four nights; and on the 18th, the prince, O’Neil, and Burke, went to Rossinish, leaving O’Sullivan and Macleod in Wia. Charles passed two nights at Rossinish; but receiving information that some militia were approaching Benbecula, he resolved to return to Coradale. O’Sullivan and Macleod anticipated Charles’s design by bringing the boat to Rossinish during the night, and having set sail, they encountered a violent storm, accompanied with a heavy rain, which forced them to land upon the rock called Achkirside-allich at Uishinish Point, in a cleft of which they took up their quarters. At night, finding their enemies within two miles of them, they sailed again, and arrived safely at a place called Celiestiella, whence they steered towards Loch Boisdale; but, observing a boat in their way, they returned to their former place, where they passed the night. They proceeded to Loch Boisdale next day, where they were informed that Boisdale had been made a prisoner, a circumstance which perplexed Charles exceedingly, as Boisdale, from his perfect knowledge of the different places of concealment in the Long island, was the chief person on whom he relied for directions in his various movements. Charles skulked some days about Loch Boisdale, where he and his attendants received occasional supplies of food from Lady Boisdale.[1245]

During the time the prince remained in Loch Boisdale, he was kept in a perpetual state of alarm by the vessels of war which hovered off the coast of South Uist. At one time no less than fifteen sail were in sight; and two of them having entered the Loch, Charles and his companions abandoned the boat, and fled to the mountains. The vessels having gone out to sea, Charles and his party returned to the boat, in which they had left a small stock of provisions; and having taken out the sails for the purpose of covering them, they lay in the fields two nights on the south side of the Loch. Removing the third night farther up the inlet, they passed two other nights in the same way, suffering all the time the greatest privations. Hitherto the military had not visited South Uist; but information was brought on the last of these days to Charles, that a party, under Captain Caroline Scott, an officer celebrated, along with General Hawley, Major Lockhart, and others, for his cruelties, had just landed at the head of a body of 500 regulars and militia, within a mile and a half of the place where Charles then was. On receiving this alarming intelligence, Charles instantly resolved to separate his party; and leaving O’Sullivan, Macleod, and Burke, with the boatmen, to shift for themselves, he and O’Neil went off to the mountains, carrying only two shirts along with them. The faithful Macleod was so affected at parting that he shed tears.[1246]

Beset with dangers on every hand, Charles and his companion directed their steps towards Benbecula, and, about midnight, came to a hut into which O’Neil entered. Providentially for Charles, O’Neil here found Miss Flora Macdonald, with whom he had got lately acquainted at Ormaclade, the seat of Clanranald, in Benbecula, when on a visit to the chief, whose kinswoman she was. This lady, whose memory will ever be held in esteem by posterity, for her generous and noble disinterestedness in rescuing the prince from the imminent perils which surrounded him, was the daughter of Macdonald of Milton, in the island of South Uist. Her father left her an orphan when only a year old, and her mother had married Macdonald of Armadale, in the isle of Skye, who commanded one of the militia companies raised in that island by Sir Alexander Macdonald, and was now in South Uist at the head of his corps. Miss Macdonald was about twenty-four years of age, of the middle size, and to the attractions of a handsome figure and great vivacity, she added the more estimable mental qualities of good sense, blandness of temper, and humanity. The hut in which O’Neil now met Miss Macdonald belonged to her only brother, Angus Macdonald of Milton, in whose family she then resided.

As O’Neil recollected that Miss Macdonald had expressed, in his presence, an earnest desire to see the prince, and had offered to do any thing in her power to protect him, it occurred to O’Neil that, on the present occasion, she might render an essential service to the prince if, after dressing him in female attire, she would pass him off as her maid-servant, and carry him to Skye. O’Neil at once proposed his plan to the young lady; but she thought it fantastical and dangerous, and at first positively refused to engage in it. As parties of the Macdonald, Macleod, and Campbell militia were roaming over the island of South Uist in quest of Charles, as no person could leave the island without a passport, and as there was a guard posted at every ferry, and the channel between Uist and Skye covered with ships of war, the utter hopelessness of such an attempt appeared evident. Bent, however, upon his plan, O’Neil was resolved to try what effect Charles’s own presence would have upon the young lady in inducing her to yield, and he accordingly introduced her to the prince. Miss Macdonald was so strongly impressed with his critical and forlorn state, that, on seeing Charles, she almost instantly consented to conduct him to Skye. She describes the prince at this time as in a bad state of health; and though of a thin and weak habit of body, and greatly worn out by fatigue, yet exhibiting a cheerfulness, magnanimity, and fortitude, which those only who saw him could have credited.[1247]

Having thus given her consent to O’Neil’s proposal, Miss Macdonald instantly proceeded to Clanranald’s house to procure the necessary requisites for the intended voyage to Skye. In crossing one of the fords on her way to Ormaclade, she and her man-servant, Neil Mac Eachan,[1248] not having passports, were taken prisoners by a party of militia, and, being detained till next morning, were brought before the commanding officer, who luckily turned out to be her own step-father, Captain Hugh Macdonald. Having stated to him her intention of proceeding to Skye to her mother, she, without difficulty or suspicion, procured a passport from her stepfather, for herself, a manservant, and her maid, who, in the passport, was called Betty Burke, (the name the prince was to assume,) and who was recommended by Captain Macdonald to his wife as an excellent spinner of flax, and a faithful servant.[1249] Next day at four o’clock in the afternoon, Charles received a message from Miss Macdonald, who had reached Ormaclade, informing him that “all was well;” on receiving which, he and O’Neil resolved to join her immediately; but, to their great consternation, the messenger informed them that they could not pass either of the fords that separated South Uist from Benbecula as they were both guarded by the military. In their perplexity, an inhabitant offered to convey them in his boat to Benbecula; and they were accordingly landed on a promontory of that island. They dismissed the boat, after having given orders to the boatmen to meet them on the opposite side of the island, and proceeded on their journey; but they had not gone far when they observed that the land on which they stood was surrounded by water. Thinking that the pilot had made a mistake, they hallooed after the boat, but in vain, as it was already far from the shore. As it was high water, Charles and his companion imagined that they could obtain a dry passage on the subsiding of the tide; but they were disappointed. The situation of the prince now appeared dismal. After escaping so many dangers, he had at present no prospect but to starve upon a desert island. Nevertheless, he kept up his spirit; and, after a laborious search, he succeeded in finding a ford, by which he and his companion crossed.[1250] Charles and his companion arrived at Rossinish, the place of rendezvous, about midnight, wet to the skin, and exhausted with hunger and fatigue. Finding that a party of military was stationed at a short distance, they retired to another place, about four miles from Rossinish, whence O’Neil went to Ormaclade to ascertain the reason why Miss Macdonald had not kept her appointment. In explanation, she informed him, that conceiving the prince would be safer in North Uist than in Skye, she had engaged a cousin of her own in North Uist to receive him into his house. This gentleman, however, having afterwards declined to run the risk of harbouring the prince, Miss Macdonald made the necessary preparations for her voyage. Having hired a six-oared boat to carry her to Skye, which she ordered to be in readiness at an appointed place the following day, Miss Macdonald left Ormaclade on the 27th of June, along with Lady Clanranald, a Mrs. Macdonald and Mac Eachan, all of whom were conducted by O’Neil to the place where Charles lay concealed, about eight miles from Ormaclade. On entering the hovel, they found Charles employed in roasting, for dinner, the heart, liver, and kidneys of a sheep upon a wooden spit. The ladies began to compassionate the prince upon his unfortunate situation; but he diverted their attention from this melancholy subject by some facetious observations. He remarked that the wretched to-day may be happy to-morrow, and that all great men would be better by suffering as he was doing. The party dined in the hut, Miss Macdonald sitting on the right, and Lady Clanranald on the left hand of the prince.

After dinner, Charles put on the female attire, which had been provided for him by the ladies. It was coarse and homely, and consisted of a flowered linen gown, a light-coloured quilted petticoat, a white apron, and a mantle of dun camlet made after the Irish fashion, with a hood. Whilst Charles was putting on this extraordinary dress, several jokes were passed on the singularity of the prince’s appearance. The ladies and Neil Mac Eachan returned to Ormaclade, and in the evening again met Charles and his companion on the sea-shore, at a mile’s distance from that house. They sat down to supper on the sea-side; but before they had finished, a messenger arrived with information that General Campbell and Captain Ferguson had arrived at Ormaclade with a large party of soldiers and marines, in quest of Charles. Lady Clanranald went immediately home, and, on reaching her house, was interrogated very strictly by these officers as to the cause of her absence; but she excused herself by saying that she had been visiting a sick child.[1251]

After the departure of Lady Clanranald, Charles and his protectress went down to the beach, where their boat lay afloat, so as to be in readiness to embark in case the military should appear. They kindled a fire upon a rock; but they had scarcely warmed themselves, when they were thrown into a state of alarm by the appearance of four boats full of armed men, apparently making towards the shore. They instantly extinguished their fire, and concealed themselves behind some rocks. Fortunately they were not observed by the boats, which, instead of coming to land, sailed along the shore, within a gun-shot of the spot where Charles lay concealed. Judging it unwise to put to sea during the day, Charles deferred his voyage till the evening, and accordingly embarked, at eight o’clock on the 28th of June, for Skye, accompanied by Miss Macdonald and Neil Mac Eachan. The prince was extremely sorry to part with O’Neil, his only remaining companion, and entreated Miss Macdonald to allow him to accompany them; but, as she had only three passports, she absolutely refused to accede to the request.[1252]

When Charles left the shores of Benbecula the evening was clear and serene, and a gentle and favourable breeze rippled over the bosom of the deep; but as they proceeded to sea the sky began to lower, and they had not rowed above a league when the wind rose, the sea became rough, and a tempest ensued which seemed to threaten them with destruction. Miss Macdonald and the boatmen grew alarmed, but Charles showed the greatest composure, and, to revive their drooping spirits, alternately related some amusing stories and sang several songs, among which was an old spirited air composed on the occasion of the restoration of Charles II. In the passage Miss Macdonald fell asleep, and Charles took every precaution to prevent her being disturbed.

Flora mcdonald (her signature)
From Original Painting by I. Mackluin, 1747.

The wind having shifted several times during the night, the boatmen had not been able to keep a regular course, and when day-light appeared next morning, they found themselves out of sight of land without knowing where they were. Having no compass, they proceeded at random; but they had not sailed far when they perceived some of the headlands of Skye. Favoured by the wind, they soon gained the point of Waternish, on the west of the island. In passing along this point they were fired upon by a party of Macleod militia, who called upon them to land; but they continued their course, and, to prevent suspicion, plied their oars very slowly. Charles told the boatmen “not to fear the villains;” but they assured him that they did not care for themselves: their only fear was for him. “No fear of me!” was Charles’s reply. Encouraged by the undaunted bravery of the prince, the boat’s crew applied themselves with energy to their oars; on observing which the Macleods continued to fire at the boat till it got out of reach of their shot, but did no harm. Whilst the bullets were falling about the boat, Charles, it is said, requested Miss Macdonald to lie down in the bottom of the boat in order to avoid them; but she heroically declined the proposal, and declared that, as she was endeavouring to preserve the life of her prince, she would never degrade herself by attending to the safety of her own person while that of her master was in jeopardy. She even solicited Charles to occupy the place he had assigned for her. The prince, as the danger increased, became more urgent; but no entreaties could prevail upon Miss Macdonald to abandon her intrepid resolution, till Charles offered to lie down also. Both accordingly lay down in the bottom of the boat, till out of reach of the bullets of the militia.

After escaping this danger they entered a small creek, and the party, after taking a short rest, proceeded to Kilbride, and landed near Mugstot or Moydhstat, the seat of Sir Alexander Macdonald, near the northern extremity of Skye. Sir Alexander was at this time with the Duke of Cumberland at Fort Augustus; and, as his lady was known to be a warm friend of the prince, Flora resolved to proceed to Moydhstat and acquaint her of Charles’s arrival. Lady Margaret Macdonald had inherited the spirit of Jacobitism from her father Alexander, Earl of Eglintoun; and, as she knew that her husband was a Jacobite at heart, she was less scrupulous to assist the prince in his necessities. Knowing her good intentions, Charles had, about a week before his arrival in Skye, written her a letter, which was sent inclosed in one from Hugh Macdonald of Balishair, in North Uist, to his brother Donald Roy Macdonald, who was requested to deliver the letter into her ladyship’s own hand. Balishair announced in the letter to his brother, that, as a very strict search was making in the Long island for Charles, he intended to seek refuge upon a small grass island, called Fladdachuan, belonging to Sir Alexander Macdonald, lying to the north of Trotternish, with only one tenant upon it, and requesting him to keep a sharp look-out for the prince, to meet him upon Fladdachuan and provide him with necessaries. He was desired to show the letter to Lady Margaret, and after she had perused it to throw it into the fire; and he also requested that her ladyship should do the same with the letter sent her. The letter was accordingly delivered to Lady Margaret by Donald Roy, who burnt his own, as directed; but, on begging Lady Margaret to put hers into the fire, she rose up, and, kissing the letter, exclaimed, “No! I will not burn it. I will preserve it for the sake of him who wrote it to me. Although King George’s forces should come to the house, I hope I shall find a way to secure the letter.”[1253]

Leaving Charles in the boat, Miss Flora, accompanied by Neil Mac Eachan, set out for Mugstot, to apprise Lady Margaret of her arrival. It was a fortunate circumstance that Charles was left behind, as there was a militia officer of the name of Macleod in the house, who, on Miss Macdonald’s entering the room where he was sitting, questioned her very closely as to her journey; but she answered his interrogatories so readily, and with such apparent candour and simplicity, that he had not the least suspicion that she was any way concerned about the prince. Charles’s arrival was not altogether unexpected, as she had been informed the day before by Mrs. Macdonald, wife of John Macdonald of Kirkebost, in North Uist, who had come from the Long island, of the probability of his appearing speedily in Skye. Lady Margaret, on being informed of the prince’s arrival in her neighbourhood, was greatly alarmed for his safety. Her active benevolence was ever seconded by superior talents; and, on the present occasion, she displayed a presence of mind and readiness of invention, which corresponded with these high qualifications. Mr. Macdonald of Kingsburgh, Sir Alexander’s factor, being then in the house, she resolved to consult him in this emergency. Desirous also to avail herself of the services of Captain Roy Macdonald, who had visited Fladdachuan in quest of the prince, she sent an express to Trotternish, where he then resided, requesting his immediate attendance at Mugstot. Mounting his horse, he repaired to the spot, and found Lady Margaret and Kingsburgh walking together, in serious conversation. On dismounting, Lady Margaret came up to him and exclaimed, “O Donald Roy, we are ruined for ever!” After a long consultation, Lady Margaret proposed that, as the prince could not remain long in Skye without being discovered, he should be conducted to old Raasay, who was himself concealed with some select friends, and that, in the mean time, he should take up his residence in Kingsburgh house.

During the time this consultation lasted, Charles remained upon the shore, at a short distance from the foot of the garden. Kingsburgh proposed to go and acquaint him with their determination; but, lest he might be observed by some of the military about the house, Neil Mac Eachan was sent to inform him that Kingsburgh meant to visit him, and to request that he would retire behind a neighbouring hill to escape observation. Taking with him some wine and provisions, Kingsburgh repaired to the spot where Mac Eachan had left Charles. To his great surprise, however, Charles was not to be seen, and he in vain searched for him in the neighbourhood of the place where he expected to meet him. Despairing of finding the prince, Kingsburgh would have returned to Mugstot; but the bounding of a flock of sheep at a distance, indicating that some person was at hand, Kingsburgh went forward to the place whence the sheep had fled, where he found the prince sitting on the ground. Charles started up when he saw Kingsburgh approaching. He advanced cautiously towards him, holding a large knotted stick in his hand, as if intending to knock down the stranger. “I am Macdonald of Kingsburgh, come to serve your highness,” said the good Highlander, as he approached. “It is well,” answered Charles, who went forward to receive his friend. They then saluted each other, and the prince took some refreshment. Kingsburgh then mentioned Lady Macdonald’s plan, with which Charles having expressed himself satisfied, they both proceeded to Kingsburgh house.

Till the departure of Kingsburgh to meet Charles, the uneasiness of Lady Macdonald was extreme. Flora too, who had remarked her anxiety, had her misgivings lest the prince should be discovered; but with her wonted firmness she kept up the conversation with the commander of the detachment, till dinner was announced, by which time Charles was on his way to Kingsburgh. After dinner, Miss Macdonald rose to depart; but Lady Macdonald, in order to deceive the officer, pressed her to remain, and put her in mind that she had promised on a former occasion to make some stay the first time she should visit Moydhstat. Flora, however, excused herself, on the ground that she was anxious to be with her mother, who, in the absence of her husband, could not but feel uneasy in such troublesome times. With apparent reluctance Lady Margaret at length accepted her apology, under the condition that she should make amends for her sudden departure by making a longer stay at Moydhstat on her next visit.

Miss Macdonald accordingly proceeded on her journey, accompanied by Neil Mac Eachan, and by Mrs. Macdonald, the lady formerly mentioned, who was attended by a male and female servant. The whole party, who were on horseback, soon overtook the prince and Kingsburgh, who had gone so far by the common road. Mrs. Macdonald, who had never seen the prince before, was desirous of obtaining a view of his countenance, and made several attempts to look him in the face, but Charles always turned his head aside to avoid her gaze. Mrs. Macdonald’s maid observing this, and being struck with the uncouth appearance of the prince, remarked to Miss Flora, that she had never before seen such an impudent looking woman as the one with whom Kingsburgh was walking, and stated her impression, that the singular looking stranger was either an Irishwoman, or a man in woman’s clothes. Miss Macdonald informed the girl that she was quite right in her conjecture that the extraordinary looking female was an Irishwoman, for she knew her, having seen her before. The maid then exclaimed, “Bless me, what long strides the jade takes, and how awkwardly she manages her petticoats!” To put an end to the prying curiosity of Mrs. Macdonald’s maid, and to prevent the servants of that lady from observing the route which the prince and Kingsburgh were about to take across the hills, Miss Macdonald called upon the party to ride faster, as they had a long way to travel. They accordingly set off at the trot, and, when the party were out of sight, the two pedestrians, to avoid the militia, who were on all the public roads, went off by an unfrequented path, and arrived at Kingsburgh house about eleven o’clock at night, where they were almost immediately joined by Miss Macdonald and Neil Mac Eachan.

Not expecting her husband home at such a late hour, Mrs. Macdonald had undressed, and was just going into bed, when one of her maid servants entered her bed-room, and informed her that Kingsburgh had arrived, and had brought company with him, and that Miss Flora Macdonald was among the guests. Mrs. Macdonald sent down word to Flora, that being sleepy and undressed she hoped she would excuse her for not coming down stairs, but begged that she would use her freedom, and help herself to anything she might require. Immediately upon the departure of the servant down stairs, a young girl, a daughter of Kingsburgh, entered her mother’s apartment in a great hurry, and, with looks of surprise, informed her, that her father had brought to the house the most “odd muckle ill-shaken-up wife she had ever seen, and taken her into the hall too!” Before Mrs. Macdonald had time to form any conjecture on the subject, Kingsburgh himself entered his wife’s bed-chamber, and desired her to dress herself as fast as she could, and get some supper ready for his guests. Mrs. Macdonald asked the names of her visitors, but Kingsburgh said he had no time for explanation; and after telling her that she would know the whole matter in time, and urging her to make haste, he returned to his friends in the hall.

In compliance with her husband’s desire, Mrs. Macdonald proceeded to dress herself, and sent her daughter down for her keys, which she had left in the hall. The girl went, but she returned almost instantly in a state of alarm, and told her mother that she was afraid to venture into the hall, as the tall woman was walking up and down in it. Mrs. Macdonald then went down herself; but on observing the prince striding through the hall she hesitated to enter, and calling to her husband requested him to go in and bring her the keys. Kingsburgh, however, refused to humour the pusillanimity of his wife, and she was at length obliged to enter.

When Mrs. Macdonald entered the hall, Charles, who, during the altercation between her and her husband, had taken a seat, rose up, and advancing, immediately saluted her agreeably to the Highland practice. Mrs. Macdonald, little expecting the roughness of a male chin under a female attire, began to tremble, and, without saying a word to the silent and mysterious being who stood before her, she hastened out of the hall, and going to her husband importuned him to inform her who the stranger was. She had not the least idea that the person who saluted her was the prince; and, imagining that the stranger was some nobleman or gentleman in disguise, she inquired if he knew what had become of the prince. Smiling at her simplicity, Kingsburgh said to her, “My dear, the person in the hall is the prince himself.” Alarmed at this unexpected announcement, she exclaimed, “The prince! then we are all ruined: we will all be hanged now!” “Hout,” replied Kingsburgh, “we can die but once; and if we are hanged for this we shall die in a good cause, doing only an act of humanity and charity. But go,” continued he, “make haste with supper; bring us eggs, butter, cheese, and whatever else can be got quickly ready.” “Eggs, butter, and cheese!” rejoined Mrs. Macdonald, “what a supper is that for a prince!” “Oh! wife,” replied Kingsburgh, “you know little how this good prince has lived of late; this will be a feast to him. Besides, to make a formal supper would make the servants suspect something; the less ceremony, therefore, the better; make haste, and come to supper yourself.” Mrs. Macdonald, doubtful of her own capabilities to conduct herself properly before royalty, exclaimed, “I come to supper! I know not how to behave before Majesty!” “You must come,” replied Kingsburgh, “the prince will not eat one bit without you; and you will find it no difficult matter to behave before him, so obliging and easy is he in his conversation.”[1254]

At supper Charles placed Miss Flora on his right hand, and Mrs. Macdonald on his left. He always conferred the above mark of distinction on his young protectress, and whenever she came into any room where he was sitting, he always rose up on her entry. Charles made a hearty supper, and drank a bumper of brandy to the health and prosperity of Kingsburgh and his wife. After supper he smoked a pipe, a practice which he was obliged to adopt in his wanderings, to mitigate a toothache with which he was troubled.[1255] Having drunk a few glasses of wine, and finished his pipe, Charles went to bed.

After Charles went to bed, Miss Flora, at the desire of Mrs. Macdonald, gave her a relation of the prince’s adventures, in as far as she had been personally concerned. When she finished her recital, Mrs. Macdonald asked her what had become of the boatmen who brought the prince and her to Skye. Miss Macdonald answered, that they had been sent directly back to South Uist. Mrs. Macdonald observed that it was wrong to have sent the boat back immediately, as in case of capture on their return, the boatmen might disclose the business which brought them to Skye, and the prince’s pursuers might in consequence overtake him before he could leave that island. Mrs. Macdonald was right in her conjecture; for the boatmen were seized on their return to South Uist, and being threatened with torture, and ultimately with death, revealed all they knew, giving even a minute description of the prince’s dress. To lessen the dangers of a discovery of the prince’s route, Flora advised the prince to change his clothes next day, a proposal which met with his cordial approbation, as he found the female attire very cumbrous.

The luxury of a good bed had not been enjoyed by Charles for many weeks. Three, or at most four, hours’ sleep was all he had generally been accustomed to during his wanderings; but, on the present occasion he slept ten hours without interruption, and might have added a few more to the number, had he not been wakened by Kingsburgh, who was prevailed upon by Miss Macdonald, contrary to his own inclination, to rouse the prince. In talking of Charles’s intended departure, Kingsburgh, acting upon Flora’s suggestion, urged upon the prince the propriety of changing his dress, lest the circumstance of his being in female attire might transpire, and Kingsburgh offered him a Highland dress of his own. Charles at once assented to the proposal; but, to prevent suspicion among the servants, and to keep them in ignorance of the nature and description of the new dress in which Charles was to travel, it was arranged that he should leave the house in the same dress he entered it, and, when out of reach of observation, assume that offered to him by his kind entertainer.

Having dressed himself, the ladies went into his chamber to pin his cap, put on his apron, and adjust the other parts of his dress. Before Miss Macdonald put on the cap, Mrs. Macdonald requested her, in Gaelic, to ask Charles for a lock of his hair. Flora declined, desiring her, at the same time, to make the application herself to his Royal Highness. The prince, though unable to comprehend what they were saying, clearly perceived that they were disputing about something, and, desiring to know the subject of altercation, was informed thereof by Mrs. Macdonald. Charles then told her that her request was granted, and laying down his head upon Flora’s lap, he desired her to cut off a lock. She complied, and divided the destined relic between them. Before leaving the house Kingsburgh thought there was an article of dress that Charles might instantly change without much risk. This was his shoes, which were so much worn that his toes protruded through them. He, therefore, presented a new pair of his own to his Royal Highness, and, taking up the out-worn brogues, said to Charles, “I will faithfully keep them till you are safely in St. James’s; I will introduce myself by shaking them at you, to put you in mind of your night’s entertainment and protection under my roof.” The prince, amused with the quaintness of the idea, could not refrain from smiling, and, to humour the joke, enjoined his host to keep his promise. Kingsburgh kept the shoes as long as he lived, and after his death they were purchased by a zealous Jacobite gentleman, who gave twenty guineas for them.[1256]

On being dressed, the prince partook of breakfast, and having taken a kind leave of Mrs. Macdonald, left Kingsburgh house for Portree, where it had been concerted he should embark for the island of Raasay. He was accompanied by Miss Flora and Kingsburgh, who carried under his arm the suit of clothes designed for the prince. When Charles left the house, Mrs. Macdonald went up stairs to the room in which he had slept, and, folding the sheets in which he had lain, put them carefully aside, declaring that henceforth they should never again be washed or used till her death, when they should serve her as a winding sheet; to which use they were accordingly applied, in fulfilment of injunctions she delivered before her death.[1257] After walking a short distance from the house, Charles and Kingsburgh entered a wood, where the prince threw off his female attire, and put on the clothes which his good friend had provided. These consisted of a tartan short coat and waistcoat, with philibeg and short hose, a plaid, and a wig and bonnet. When Charles had shifted, he embraced Kingsburgh, and thanked him for his valuable services, which he assured him he would never forget. Charles, conducted by a guide, then set out on foot across the hills, and Miss Macdonald took another and a shorter way on horseback, to obtain intelligence, and prevent a discovery.

In consequence of the resolution to proceed to Raasay, Donald Roy had been despatched from Mugstot by Kingsburgh the preceding day, in quest of John Macleod, the young laird of Raasay, to ascertain from him the place of his father’s concealment, in order to communicate to the latter Charles’s design of placing himself under his protection. When it is considered, that Macleod, the laird of Raasay, was himself a fugitive for the part he had taken in the insurrection, such a design may appear singular; but the prince had only a choice of difficulties before him, and the little island of Raasay, which was then clear of troops, appeared to offer the securest retreat. Donald Roy met young Raasay at Portree, who informed him that his father was skulking in Knoydart; but offered to send an express for him, being certain his father would run any risk to serve the prince in his distress. Donald Roy then proposed that he should conduct Charles to the mainland, to the place where old Raasay was; but young Raasay said that such a step would be too dangerous at that time, and that it would be better to conceal the prince in the isle of Raasay till his father should be informed of Charles’s intention to put himself under his protection. As they could not trust a Portree crew, the difficulty of transporting the prince to Raasay, without observation, occurred. Dr. Murdoch Macleod, a brother of young Raasay, who had been wounded at the battle of Culloden, being informed of this dilemma, said he would risk his life once more for the prince, and it having occurred to him that there was a little boat upon a fresh water lake in the neighbourhood, the two brothers, with the aid of some women, by extraordinary exertions, brought the boat to sea, over a Highland mile of land, one half of which was bog, and the other a steep precipice. The two brothers, with the assistance of a little boy, rowed the boat, which was very old and leaky, to Raasay.

Malcolm Macleod, young Raasay’s cousin, who will be frequently mentioned in the sequel, was then in the island. He had been a captain in the prince’s service, and was considered by his cousin a proper person to accompany them on their expedition. They accordingly waited on Malcolm, who offered to provide a boat; but he proposed, that as his cousin, young Raasay, had not been engaged in the insurrection, he should not run any risk by holding communication with the prince, more particularly as Charles could be brought over without his assistance. Young Raasay declared his resolution to see the prince, if the result should be the loss both of his estate and his head; and Malcolm, seeing that any farther attempt to dissuade him would be fruitless, exclaimed, “In God’s name then let us proceed.” Malcolm Macleod pitched upon two strong men, named John Mackenzie and Donald Macfriar, to row the boat; but, when they came to the beach, they declined to leave the shore till informed of their destination. They were then sworn to secrecy, and being told the object of their voyage, professed the utmost alacrity to go to sea. The whole party accordingly set off from Raasay on Monday evening, the 30th of June, and landed about half a mile from Portree. By this time Miss Macdonald had arrived at the inn, where Donald Roy was in waiting to receive her and the prince. Leaving young Raasay and his brother in the boat, Malcolm Macleod, accompanied by Macfriar, went towards the inn, and in walking from the shore he observed three persons proceeding in the direction of the inn, who happened to be the prince, Neil Mac Eachan, and a little boy who had served as Charles’s guide from Kingsburgh.

Donald Roy Macdonald had left the inn shortly after Miss Macdonald’s arrival, for the purpose of meeting Charles; but, after remaining out about twenty minutes without seeing him, he returned to the house, afraid lest the rain, which fell in torrents, might fester a wound in his foot which he had received at the battle of Culloden, and which was still open. He had scarcely entered the inn, when Macnab, the landlord, informed him that a boy wanted to see him. The boy, whose name was Macqueen, having informed Donald Roy that a gentleman who was waiting a little above the house wished to speak with him, he went out and met the prince, who caught him in his arms. Donald then conducted him into the inn. Charles was wet to the skin, and the water poured down from his clothes. The first thing he asked for was a dram, on taking which he proceeded to shift himself. He put on a dry shirt; but before he had replaced the other habiliments which he had thrown off, a supply of roasted fish, bread, cheese, and butter was brought into the room, which the prince attacked with such avidity that Donald Roy could not help smiling; and being observed by the prince, he remarked that he believed the prince was following the English fashion. “What fashion do you mean?” said the prince. “Why,” replied Donald Roy, “they say the English, when they are to eat heartily, throw off their clothes.” The prince smiling, said, “They are in the right, lest anything should incommode their hands when they are at work.” Asking for some drink, Charles was told that there were no liquids of any sort in the house but whisky and water, not even milk, of which he had desired a little. The only substitute in the room for a tumbler or jug was a dirty-looking bucket, which the landlord used for throwing the water out of his boat, and the mouth of which was broken and rough from the frequent use to which it had been thus applied. Donald Roy, who had previously quaffed out of the bucket, handed it to Charles, who took it out of his hand, and after looking at it, stared Donald in the face. As the landlord was in the room, Donald was afraid that, from the shyness of Charles to drink out of a dish to which no objection perhaps had ever before been stated, he might think he had a visitor of distinction in his house, and he therefore went up to Charles, and in a gentle whisper desired him to drink out of the obnoxious vessel without ceremony. Charles taking the hint, put the pail to his head, and took a hearty draught of water.[1258]

Malcolm Macleod, on being informed of the prince’s arrival at the inn, had returned to the boat, and with his cousins waited anxiously for the prince. On the landlord of the inn leaving the room, Donald Roy, who had grown impatient to get away, urged the prince to depart; but Charles showed no inclination to leave the inn, and even proposed to remain there all night, as the rain was still heavy. Donald told him that as the house he was in was frequented by all kinds of people, he would incur danger by remaining; for the very appearance of a stranger would excite speculation among the country people, who were always desirous to know who the persons were that came among them. Charles assented to the correctness of Donald’s observations, but called for some tobacco that he might smoke a pipe before his departure. There being no tobacco in the house but roll or pigtail, Charles said it would answer very well; and the landlord, at the request of Donald Roy, brought in a quarter of a pound in the scales in which it had been weighed. The price was fourpence halfpenny, and Charles gave the landlord a sixpence. Donald Roy desired him to bring in the difference. The prince smiled, and on the change being brought he refused to receive it. Donald, however, insisted that he should take the three halfpence, because he considered that in his present situation he might find “bawbees” very useful.[1259]

When about to leave the inn, Charles solicited Donald Roy to accompany him to Raasay, observing that he had always found himself safe in the hands of the Macdonalds, and that as long as he had a Macdonald with him he would still think himself safe. This faithful attendant, whilst he stated his inclination to serve the prince in his distress, represented to him the impossibility of following him from place to place, in consequence of the wound in his left foot, which rendered him incapable of enduring fatigue; and that as he would be obliged from his lameness to travel occasionally on horseback, his presence would only endanger the safety of the prince. He agreed, however, to meet Charles in Raasay in a few days, and stated that, in the mean time, he would remain in Skye, and collect for the future guidance of the prince such information as he could, in relation to the movements and plans of his pursuers.

Before leaving Portree Charles had a most painful task to perform, that of parting with the amiable and high-minded young woman, who, during three eventful days, had with generous sympathy, and at the imminent hazard of her own life, watched over him with the tenderest solicitude and affection, and rescued him from the many perils with which he had been environed. He repaid Miss Flora a small sum of money he had borrowed from her, and, presenting her with his own portrait in miniature, saluted her. He then returned her his sincere thanks for the great assistance she had afforded him, and taking leave, expressed a hope that, notwithstanding the present unfavourable aspect of his affairs, he should yet meet her in St. James’s. He also took farewell of Neil Mac Eachan, who certainly at that time had no expectation that he was to be one of those who were afterwards to accompany the prince to France.

Charles had brought along with him from Kingsburgh, four shirts, a cold fowl, some sugar, and a bottle of brandy. To this small stock he added at Portree a bottle of usquebaugh. He tied this bottle to his belt at one side, and at the other the bottle of brandy, and the shirts and cold fowl which were put up in a handkerchief. Thus provided, Charles left the inn, accompanied by Donald Roy, on the morning of the 1st of July, while it was yet dark. The landlord, surprised perhaps at the early departure of his guests, cast a look after them as they went out at the door, which being observed by Charles’s conductor, he led the prince off in a direction opposite to that they had to go, till out of view of the landlord, and then making a circle they went down towards the shore, and in their way met Malcolm Macleod, who conducted the prince to the boat. He then took leave of Donald Roy, whom he enjoined not to mention the place of his destination to any person, not even to his fair protectress. Donald returned to the inn, and was immediately accosted by his host, who expressed a strong desire to know the name of the gentleman who had left his house. Donald told him, with apparent unconcern, that the stranger who had gone away was Sir John Macdonald, an Irish gentleman, and a brother rebel, who, having got free of his enemies, had been skulking among his friends, the Macdonalds of Skye; and that, tired of remaining in one place, and afraid of being discovered in the island, he had set out for the mainland to seek an asylum among the other Macdonalds. The landlord, whom he enjoined to secrecy, apparently satisfied with this explanation, said that he was strongly impressed with an idea that the gentleman was the prince in disguise, as he observed something about him that looked very noble.[1260]

Portree, a small bay opposite the island of Raasay, from which Charles was about to depart, had derived its name, which signifies the King’s Port, from the circumstance of King James the Fifth having landed there during his excursion amongst the western islands. Charles left this creek after midnight, under the protection of the enthusiastic young laird of Raasay, to whom Malcolm Macleod introduced him when he entered the boat. As the two boatmen had served in the prince’s army, the whole party, with the exception of young Raasay himself, were under the ban of the government, and the young laird, whose only motive in not joining the insurrection was probably a desire to save the estate, now fearlessly put his life and fortune in jeopardy, when the risk was even greater.

Charles slept a little upon the passage, and reached Raasay about day-break, a few hours after his departure from Portree. The party landed at a place called Glam, about the distance of ten miles from that haven. Charles, Malcolm, and Murdoch Macleod took up their abode in a wretched hut which some shepherds had lately erected. They had no bedding of any sort, and were obliged to repose upon some heath. On entering the hut they kindled a fire and partook of some provisions. On this, as on other occasions, Charles, to please the Highlanders, never tasted wheat-bread or brandy while oat-bread and whisky lasted, for, he observed, that these last were his “own country bread and drink.” Young Raasay had nothing to dread from his own people; and, lest the military might revisit the island, he placed the two boatmen upon different eminences to watch their approach. He visited Charles and his friends occasionally, and always carried provisions along with him. Though comparatively secure, Charles was very uneasy in his new retreat; and frequent starts and exclamations in his slumbers indicated the agitated workings of his mind. Malcolm Macleod often overheard him in his sleep muttering imperfect sentences, in Italian, French, and English. One of his expressions in English was, “O God! poor Scotland!”[1261]

During Charles’s stay in Raasay, no person visited the island, but he and his friends were kept in a state of uneasiness by a person who prowled about without any apparent business, and who had come into the island to sell a roll of tobacco. He had arrived about twelve or fourteen days before Charles. Having disposed of his merchandise very speedily, it was expected that he would have departed, but continuing to stroll up and down the island in an idle way, he was suspected to be a spy. Malcolm Macleod happening to see him approaching the hut one day, a council of war was held by Charles and his friends. The three Macleods were for putting the poor tobacco vender to death, and Malcolm Macleod offered to go out immediately and shoot him through the head; but Charles indignantly reprobated the inhuman proposal. “God forbid (said he) that we should take away a man’s life who may be innocent, while we can preserve our own.” John Mackenzie, who sat as sentinel at the door, overhearing the debate, said to himself in Gaelic, “Well, well: he must be shot: you are the king, but we are the parliament, and will do what we choose.” Observing his friends smile, Charles asked what John had said; and being told the man’s observation in English, the prince observed that he was a clever fellow; and, notwithstanding his perilous situation, laughed loud and heartily.[1262] Notwithstanding Charles’s remonstrances, the stranger would have been despatched had he entered the hut, but luckily he walked past without looking into it. It was afterwards ascertained that the stranger himself was a fugitive from the Highland army.[1263] While Charles resided in this hut, he and his companions indulged in a great deal of conversation. Alluding to passing events and his present situation, the prince observed that his life was to be sure a very hard one; but that he would rather live in the way he then did for ten years, than fall into the hands of his enemies, not because he believed they would dare to take away his life publicly, but because he dreaded being poisoned or assassinated. He was very particular in his inquiries at Dr. Macleod about the wound he had received at Culloden, from a ball which entered at one shoulder and went across to the other. He threw out some reflections upon the conduct of some of his officers at Culloden, but confessed that perhaps it was rash in him to do so. Talking of the different Highland corps, the Macleods asked Charles which, in his opinion, were the best soldiers; but he evaded a direct answer, said he did not like comparisons among such corps; and that they were all best.[1264]

Charles resided two days in Raasay, when becoming uneasy, and thinking the island too narrow and confined for the purpose of concealment, he resolved to depart. Understanding that he expected a French ship at Lochbroom, Malcolm Macleod offered to carry him thither, but Charles declined the proposal on account of the danger of the voyage in a small boat. He expressed a wish to go to Trotternish in Skye, but his friends attempted to dissuade him, as they considered him safer in Raasay. Persisting however in going, the whole party, including the two boatmen, left Raasay on the evening of the 2d of July, in the same boat which they had used to carry them into the island. After they had gone a little off the shore the wind began to blow hard, and soon increased to a gale. The sea became so very rough, that the waves broke over the boat and almost filled it with water. All on board begged the prince to return, but he declined, observing, that as Providence had carried him through so many dangers, he did not doubt of the same care now as before. About eleven o’clock at night they landed at a place in Skye, called Nicolson’s rock, near Scorobreck in Trotternish, after a very boisterous voyage of about fifteen miles. There was a large surf on the shore, and there being no convenient landing place, they had to jump out among the water. Charles was the third man who leapt into the sea. Standing in the surf, the whole party, including Charles, laid hold of the boat and drew it up on dry ground.

On this desolate coast, the royal wanderer could find no other resting-place than a cow-house, belonging to Mr. Nicolson of Scorobreck, about two miles from that gentleman’s seat. The party entered this wretched hovel and took a little refreshment of oat cakes, which had mouldered down into very small crumbs, and some cheese. Charles being wet to the skin, Malcolm Macleod advised him to put on a dry shirt. This he declined, and continued to sit in his wet clothes. Overcome with fatigue he fell asleep; but he enjoyed little sound repose. He would frequently start in his sleep, look briskly up, and stare boldly around him, as if about to fight the persons around him. “Oh poor England! poor England!” were the exclamations he would sometimes utter, with a deep sigh, during these disturbed moments.

In all his wanderings it was the constant practice of Charles to conceal his future movements from every person with whose services he was about to dispense, so as to prevent any clue to his discovery. Wishing to get quit of young Raasay and his brother, he despatched the former to look out for Donald Roy, and he desired the latter to go to a place called Cammistinawag, where he would meet him. Murdoch Macleod and the two boatmen then took leave. At parting he presented Murdoch with a case, containing a silver spoon, knife, and fork, which he requested him to keep till they met.

The prince and Malcolm Macleod remained in the hut till seven o’clock in the morning, when Charles, taking the little baggage in his hand, walked out, and desired Malcolm to follow him. Macleod took the bundle out of Charles’s hand, and followed him in silence till out of sight of the cow-house, when Charles taking a direction Malcolm did not like, this faithful adherent went up to him and asked him where he was going, as he was afraid that he might fall into the hands of one of the numerous military parties, who were dispersed over the island. “Why, Macleod, (replied Charles,) I now throw myself entirely into your hands, and leave you to do with me what you please; only I want to go to Strath, Mackinnon’s country. I hope you will accompany me, if you think you can lead me safe enough into Strath.” Malcolm declared that he would go with his royal highness wherever he pleased, and offered to bring him safe into that part of Skye which belonged to the chief of Mackinnon, provided he would consent to go by sea; but Macleod objected to a journey over land which he considered would be attended with dangers from the soldiers. Charles, however, insisted on going by land, and observed that they could now do nothing without danger. The better to prevent a discovery, Charles proposed that he should act the part of Macleod’s servant, and that he should assume the name of Lewis Caw, there being at the time a young surgeon of that name, who had been in the prince’s service, skulking in Skye, where he had some relations. Observing that his scarlet tartan waistcoat with gold twist buttons, was finer than that worn by Macleod, which was of plain ordinary tartan, Charles exchanged it for Macleod’s. Then taking the bag which contained his linen out of Malcolm’s hands, Charles threw it over his shoulder, and set out on his perilous journey, preceded by the faithful Malcolm, who, to complete the deception, had proposed that Charles should keep up his new character of a gilly, or footman, by walking in the rear.

Strath, the country of the Mackinnons, was at a considerable distance, and the route to it which these two travellers took lay through one of the wildest and most mountainous districts of the island. Though a good pedestrian, Malcolm could scarcely keep his distance ahead of Charles, whose locomotive powers were surprising, there being few persons who could match him at walking. Alluding to his celerity of foot, he told Malcolm that provided he got out of musket-shot, he had no dread of a pursuit by English soldiers, but he had not the same confidence if chased by a party of Highland militia. He asked Malcolm what they would do in the event of meeting any person among the mountains, who might attempt to kill or take them. “That depends upon their numbers,” replied Malcolm; “if there should be no more than four of them, I’ll engage to manage two.” “And I,” rejoined Charles, “will engage to manage the other two.” Malcolm, in his turn, asked Charles what they should do if attacked by a party of English soldiers, “Fight, to be sure,” was the reply.

As Malcolm expected that they would fall in with some of the country people before they came to the end of their journey, by whom, from his being well known in the island, he might be recognised, he desired Charles not to evince any anxiety when he (Malcolm) should speak to them, but remove to a short distance and sit down till the conversation ended. They met a few of these people from time to time, on which occasion Charles not only observed the injunction of Malcolm, but superadded the customary menial duty, of touching his bonnet when addressed by his supposed master. With the exception of a bottle of brandy, the two travellers appear to have had no other sustenance during their long and fatiguing journey. When reduced to a single glass, Charles urged Malcolm to take it, lest he should faint with the excessive fatigue. Malcolm refused, and insisted that the prince himself should drink it, but Charles resolutely refused, and compelled Malcolm to drain the bottle. Malcolm then hid the bottle in a thick bush of heath, where he found it about three years thereafter. Honest Macleod long preserved it “as a curious piece,” which he expected would one day make a figure in Westminster.[1265]

When opportunity offered, the prince and Malcolm relieved the tediousness of the journey, by conversing on a variety of topics. The conversation happening to turn upon Lord George Murray, Charles observed that his lordship, whether from ignorance or with a view to betray him, he would not say, misconducted himself in not obeying orders, and that in particular, for two or three days before the battle of Culloden, Lord George scarcely did anything he desired him to do. When Malcolm told him of the many atrocities committed after that battle, he appeared amazed, and said, “Surely that man who calls himself the duke, and pretends to be so great a general, cannot be guilty of such cruelties. I cannot believe it.” Talking of the fatigues he was obliged to undergo, the prince said, “Do you not think, Macleod, that God Almighty has made this person of mine for doing some good yet? When I was in Italy, and dining at the king’s (his father’s) table, very often the sweat would have been coming through my coat with the heat of the climate, and now that I am in a cold country, where the climate is more trying, and exposed to different kinds of fatigues, I really find I agree equally with both. I have had (pointing to his kilt) this philibeg on now for some days, and I find I do as well with it as any of the best breeches I ever put on. I hope in God, Macleod, to walk the streets of London with it yet.”[1266] A man holding such sentiments as these was not likely to be easily discouraged.

When approaching Mackinnon’s bounds, Malcolm stated to the prince his apprehensions, that, disguised as he was, he was afraid he would still be recognised by some of Mackinnon’s people, who had been out in his service. He, therefore, suggested that Charles should disguise himself still further. The prince then proposed to blacken his face with powder; but Macleod objected to this plan, which, he said, would tend rather to discover than to conceal him. “Then,” observed Charles, “I must be put into the greatest dishabille possible;” and pulling off his wig, and putting it into his pocket, took out a dirty white napkin, which Malcolm, at his desire, tied about his head close to his eyebrows. He then put off his bonnet, tore the ruffles from his shirt, and took the buckles out of his shoes, and made Macleod fasten them with strings. Charles now asked his friend if he thought he would still be recognised, and on Malcolm answering that he thought he would, Charles said, “I have so odd a face, that no man that ever saw me once but would know me again.” In Malcolm’s opinion, Charles, though almost a Proteus, could never disguise his majestic mien and carriage; and he declared that there was not a person who knew what the air of a noble or great man was, that would not, upon seeing the prince, however disguised he might be, at once perceive something about him that was not ordinary,—something of the stately and grand.[1267]

They had not gone far after this conversation, when Malcolm Macleod’s opinion was verified, for no sooner had the travellers entered Strath, than Charles was recognised by two men of Mackinnon’s clan, who had been out in the insurrection. They stared at the prince for a little, and on discovering him, lifted up their hands and wept bitterly. Malcolm begged that they would compose themselves, lest by showing so much concern they might discover the prince. After cautioning them not to mention the meeting to any one, he swore them to secrecy upon his naked dirk, and then dismissed them. They kept their word.

Being within two miles of the laird of Mackinnon’s house, Malcolm asked him if he wished to see the old chief; “No,” said Charles, “by no means. I know Mackinnon to be as good and as honest a man as any in the world; but he is not fit for my purpose at present. You must conduct me to some other house, but let it be a gentleman’s house.” They then proceeded, at Malcolm’s suggestion, to a place called Ellagol, or rather Ellighiul, near Kilvory or Kilmaree, where they arrived in the morning after a journey of twenty-four Highland miles, being upwards of thirty English miles. At Ellagol there lived one John Mackinnon, who had served as captain under the laird of Mackinnon, and had married a sister of Malcolm. Being desirous to ascertain the state of matters in the neighbourhood before conducting Charles into the house of his brother-in-law, Malcolm left the prince at a little distance from the house, and went forward to make the necessary inquiries. He found that Mackinnon was from home; and on informing his sister that he had come to stay a short time at Ellagol, if he could do so with safety, she assured him that he would be perfectly safe, as there were no military people about the place, and that he was very welcome. Malcolm then told her that he had nobody along with him but one Lewis Caw, son of Mr. Caw, a surgeon in Crieff, whom, being a fugitive like himself, he had engaged as his servant, but that he had fallen sick. Mrs. Mackinnon felt interested in the stranger, and requested her brother to bring him in.

Charles accordingly entered with the baggage on his back, and, taking off his bonnet, made a low bow, and sat down at a distance from Malcolm. Mrs. Mackinnon looked at the prince, and instantly her sympathy was excited. “Poor man!” she exclaimed, “I pity him. At the same time, my heart warms to a man of his appearance.” Malcolm having told his sister that he was almost famishing with hunger, she set before him a plentiful Highland breakfast. Charles still sitting at a respectful distance, Malcolm invited him, as there were no strangers in the house, to draw near and share with him, there being abundance for both. Charles appeared very backward to obey the summons to eat, and said that though in an humble station, he knew better how to conduct himself than by sitting at the same table with his master; but Malcolm pretended to insist upon compliance, Charles rose from his seat, made a profound bow, and advancing towards the table, sat down, and attacked the viands without farther ceremony.

In the course of their journey, Charles and his companion had fallen into a bog during the night, and as their feet and legs were still dirty, Malcolm desired the servant-maid in Gaelic, as she could not speak English, to bring some water into the room, and as he was much fatigued, to wash them. Whilst in the act of washing Macleod’s feet, he said to the girl, “You see that poor sick man there. I hope you’ll wash his feet too: it will be a great charity; for he has as much need as I have.” “No such thing,” said she, “although I wash the master’s feet, I am not obliged to wash the servant’s. What! he’s but a low country woman’s son. I will not wash his feet indeed.” Malcolm, however, with much entreaty, prevailed upon the girl to wash Charles’s feet and legs; but being rather rough in her treatment, he implored Malcolm to desire her not to rub so hard.[1268]

After this operation the wearied travellers went to bed; and at the desire of Malcolm, Mrs. Mackinnon went out of the house, and sat down upon a neighbouring knoll, where she kept watch, whilst her guests remained in bed. Charles, who had thrown himself upon the bed in his clothes, slept two hours only; but Malcolm slept much longer. When Malcolm awoke, he was surprised to find Charles out of bed dandling Mrs. Mackinnon’s child, singing to it, and appearing as alert as if he had been in bed all night. He expressed a hope that the little boy—Neil Mackinnon—whom he carried in his arms, would be one day a captain in his service.

Informed that his brother-in-law was seen approaching the house, Malcolm went out to meet him. After the usual salutations, Malcolm, pointing to some ships of war that were hovering about the coast, said to Mackinnon, “What if the prince be on board one of them?” “God forbid,” replied Mackinnon, “I would not wish that for anything.” “What,” said Malcolm, “if he were here, John? Do you think he would be safe enough?” “I wish we had him here,” rejoined Mackinnon, “for he would be safe enough.” Macleod, now fully assured that his brother-in-law might be confided in, said, “Well, then, he is now in your house.” Mackinnon, transported with joy, was for running directly in and paying his obeisance to the prince; but Malcolm stopped him for a little, till he should recover from his surprise. “When you go in,” continued Malcolm, “you must not take any notice of him, lest the servants or others observe you. He passes for one Lewis Caw, my servant.” Mackinnon promised to observe faithfully the injunction given him, which he thought he would be able to fulfil; but, as soon as he entered the house, he could not avoid fixing his eyes upon Charles; and unable to repress his feelings at the spectacle he beheld, this generous and faithful Highlander, turning his face aside, burst into tears. To prevent suspicion, Mackinnon, at Malcolm’s desire, left the room to compose himself.

MACKINNON.

Before being introduced to the prince, Mackinnon sent away all his servants from the house on different messages, and, during their absence, a consultation was held as to Charles’s future destination. It was then resolved that he should proceed to the mainland immediately; and John Mackinnon was directed to go and hire a boat, as if for the sole use of his brother-in-law. As the laird of Mackinnon was old and infirm, and could be of little service to Charles in his present situation, Mackinnon was enjoined not to say anything about Charles to his chief, should he fall in with him. Meeting the old chieftain, however, on his way, Mackinnon, unable or unwilling to conceal the fact of the prince’s arrival at Ellagol, disclosed the secret, and mentioned that he was going to hire a boat to carry Charles to the mainland. Gratified with the intelligence, the chief desired his clansman not to give himself any further trouble about a boat, as he would provide a good one himself, and would wait upon the prince immediately. John returned to Ellagol, and having informed Charles of the interview with the laird, the latter said that he was sorry that Mackinnon had divulged the secret; but as there was now no help for it, he would comport himself according to circumstances. In a short time the aged chief appeared, and after doing homage to the royal wanderer, conducted the prince to a neighbouring cave, where he found Lady Mackinnon, who had laid out a refreshment of cold meat and wine, of which the whole party partook.

Before the arrival of the chief, Malcolm Macleod had represented to the prince, that, being within the laird’s bounds, it would be necessary to allow him to direct everything in relation to the voyage, and, to prevent a difference of opinion arising between him and the chief, he suggested the propriety of remaining behind. Charles, extremely unwilling to part with one who had rendered him such important services, insisted upon his going along with him to the mainland; but Malcolm insisting on the other hand that the measure was proper, Charles, with much reluctance, consented to part with the faithful Macleod.

About eight o’clock at night the party left the cave, and proceeded towards the place where the boat lay. In their way they observed two English men-of-war standing in for the island, before the wind, under a press of sail. Malcolm thereupon entreated the prince to defer his voyage till such time, at least, as these vessels should take another course, more particularly as the wind was against him; but Charles disregarded the admonition, and observed, that after so many escapes, he had no apprehensions of being caught at that time; that Providence would still take care of him; and that he had no doubt of obtaining a favourable wind immediately. Recollecting his sham appointment with Murdoch Macleod, for not keeping which Malcolm promised to make his apology, Charles thought the least thing he could do was to notify his departure, which he accordingly did, by writing him a short note, delivering it to Malcolm.[1269] He then desired Malcolm to light his pipe, as he wished to enjoy a smoke with him before parting. Snapping his gun, Malcolm, by means of the flash in the pan, lighted some tow which he held at the mouth of the pipe whilst Charles blew it. As the pipe was extremely short, Charles’s cheek was scorched with the blaze of the tow. At parting, Charles presented him with a silver stock-buckle, and then embracing Malcolm in his arms, saluted him twice, and begging God to bless him, put ten guineas into his hand. Malcolm at first positively refused to accept the money, as he perceived that the prince’s purse was much exhausted; but Charles insisted upon his taking it, and assuring him that he would get enough for all his wants upon the mainland, Malcolm yielded. Having procured a better pipe, Charles presented the one with which he had been smoking to Malcolm, who preserved it with great care.[1270]

Between eight and nine o’clock in the evening of Friday, the 4th of July, the prince departed for the mainland, accompanied by the chief and John Mackinnon. The observation of Charles, that he would obtain a fair wind after putting to sea, had made a deep impression upon the superstitious mind of the generous Malcolm, who accordingly sat down upon the side of a hill to watch the expected change, which, according to him, took place very soon, for the crew had not rowed the boat half a mile from the shore in the direction of the ships, before the wind chopped about, and whilst it favoured the prince, drove the men-of-war out of sight.[1271]

After a rough voyage, the party reached a place called Little Mallag or Malleck, on the south side of Loch Nevis between Morar and Knoydart, distant about thirty miles from the place where they had embarked. At sea they met a boat, containing some armed militia. No attempt was made to board, and a few words were exchanged in passing. Charles’s visit to Skye soon became public, and the fact of his having been harboured and protected by certain persons in that island could not be disguised. Malcolm Macleod’s connexion with the prince being reported, he was apprehended a few days after Charles’s departure for the mainland, put on board a ship, and conveyed to London, where he remained a prisoner till the 1st of July, 1747, when he was discharged without being asked a single question. Kingsburgh also was taken up and conveyed to Fort Augustus, where, after being plundered of his shoe-buckles, garters, watch, and money, he was thrown into a dungeon, and loaded with irons. He was discharged by mistake for another person of the same name, but was brought back, and afterwards conveyed to Edinburgh, and committed to the castle, in which he remained till the 4th of July, in the same year.

Flora Macdonald was also apprehended about the same time by a party of militia, while on her way to the house of Donald Macdonald of Castleton in Skye, who had sent her notice that Macleod of Talisker, an officer of an independent company, had requested him to send for her. She was put on board the Furnace Bomb, and afterwards removed to Commodore Smith’s sloop, and treated with great kindness and attention by him and General Campbell. She was confined a short time in Dunstaffnage castle. After being conveyed from place to place, she was put on board the Royal Sovereign, lying at the Nore, on the 28th of November, and carried up to London on the 6th of December following, where she remained in confinement till July in the following year, when she was discharged, at the especial request—according to the tradition of her family—of Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of George III., without a single question having been put to her. After her liberation, Miss Macdonald was invited to the house of Lady Primrose, a zealous Jacobite lady, where she was visited by a number of distinguished persons, who loaded her with presents. She and Malcolm Macleod returned to Scotland together in a post-chaise provided by Lady Primrose, and, on their way, paid a visit to Dr. Burton at York, who had been previously liberated from jail. This gentleman having asked Malcolm his opinion of the prince, the trusty Highlander replied, that “he was the most cautious man he ever saw, not to be a coward, and the bravest, not to be rash.” Few persons, now-a-days, will be disposed to concur in this eulogium, for though personally brave, Charles was extremely rash and inconsiderate.[1272]

As parties of the military were known to be stationed at a short distance from the place where Charles and his party landed, they were afraid to leave it, and slept three nights in the open air on the banks of Loch Nevis. On the fourth day the old laird and one of the boatmen ventured a little way into the country in quest of a place of concealment; and the prince, along with John Mackinnon and the other three boatmen, proceeded up the loch close to the shore. In turning a point, they unexpectedly came upon a boat tied to a rock, and so near as to touch her with their oars. This boat belonged to a militia party who were seen standing on the shore, and were at once recognised by their badge, which was a red cross on their bonnets. This party immediately hailed the boat, and demanded to know whence they came. The boatmen answered that they were from Sleat. The militiamen then ordered the boat to come ashore; but the boatmen continuing to row, the military jumped into their boat and gave chase. Charles, who lay in the bottom of the boat with John Mackinnon’s plaid spread over him, wished to get up and attempt to escape by jumping ashore, but Mackinnon would not allow him, as he considered the experiment very dangerous. During the pursuit, Charles, who was anxious to know the relative progress of the two boats, kept up a conversation with the trusty Highlander, who assured him from time to time that the pursuers did not gain upon them. Both parties were equal in point of numbers; and as Mackinnon contemplated the possibility of the militiamen overtaking them, he directed the boatmen to keep their muskets close by them, but not to fire till he should give the word of command by firing first. “Be sure, (said John,) to take an aim. Mark well, and there is no fear. We will be able to manage these rogues, if we come to engage them.” Charles, begging that no lives might be sacrificed without an absolute necessity, Mackinnon said he would not fire if it could be avoided; but if compelled to do so in self-defence, their own preservation required that none of the assailants should escape to tell the news of their disaster. Observing a wood at some distance which reached down to the water, Mackinnon directed the boatmen to pull in that direction; and on reaching the shore, the prince, followed by Mackinnon and one of the boatmen, sprang out of the boat, and plunging into the wood, nimbly ascended the hill. The alarm into which they had been thrown gave place to feelings of a very different description, when, on reaching the summit of the hill, they perceived their pursuers returning from their fruitless chase.[1273]

Finding himself much fatigued, Charles slept three hours on this eminence, and returning down the hill, crossed the loch to a small island near the seat of Macdonald of Scothouse. Understanding that old Clanranald was there on a visit, Charles sent Mackinnon to solicit his protection, but the old chief positively refused to receive him. Upon Mackinnon’s return the party repassed the loch, and returned to Mallag, where they rejoined the old laird. After refreshing themselves, they set out for the seat of Macdonald of Morar, about eight miles distant. In crossing the promontory between Loch Nevis and Loch Morar they passed a shieling, or cottage, where they observed some people coming down towards the road. Afraid that he would be known, the prince made John Mackinnon fold his plaid for him, and threw it over his shoulder with his knapsack upon it. To disguise himself still further, he tied a handkerchief about his head. In this attire Charles passed for Mackinnon’s servant. A grandson of Macdonald of Scothouse, who was at the shieling, gave the party a draught of milk. At another shieling they procured another draught; and, as the night was dark and the road bad, they took a guide along with them to conduct them across the ford to Morar’s house. When they came to this ford, an amusing occurrence took place. Mackinnon, desirous to keep Charles dry in crossing, desired the guide to be so good as carry “this poor sick fellow,” (pointing to the prince,) upon his back across the ford, as it was then pretty deep; but the guide indignantly answered, “The deil be on the back he comes, or any fellow of a servant like him; but I’ll take you on my back, Sir, if you please, and carry you safely through the ford.” “No, by no means,” said Mackinnon, “if the lad must wade, I’ll wade along with him, and help him, lest any harm should happen to him;” on saying which, he laid hold of Charles’s arm, and they crossed the ford together. Both Charles and Mackinnon were pleased to find that the guide had no suspicion that the pretended sick person was the prince.

A little before day-break the party arrived at the end of their journey, but were disappointed to find that the mansion, where they expected to meet with a hospitable reception, had been burnt to the ground, and that its proprietor had been obliged to take up his abode in a bothy or hut in the neighbourhood. Morar, who had acted as lieutenant-colonel of Clanranald’s regiment, gave the prince a hearty welcome. Having entertained Charles and his party, he conducted them to a cave for security, and went off in quest of young Clanranald, whom the prince was most anxious to see. After some hours’ absence Morar returned, and, reporting that he could not find Clanranald, Charles told him that as he had failed in meeting with that young chief, he would put himself under Morar’s charge. According to Mackinnon’s statement, Morar declined to take such a responsibility upon him, and even declared that he did not know any person to whose care he could commit Charles’s person. The prince, stung by the altered demeanour of Morar, thus accosted him: “This is very hard. You were very kind yesternight, Morar! and said you could find out a hiding-place, proof against all the search of the enemy’s forces; and now you say you can do nothing at all for me! You can travel to no place but what I will travel to; no eatables or drinkables can you take but what I can take a share along with you, and be well content with them, and even pay handsomely for them. When fortune smiled upon me and I had pay to give, I then found some people ready enough to serve me; but now that fortune frowns on me, and I have no pay to give, they forsake me in my necessity.” The chief of Mackinnon and his clansman were highly indignant at Morar, and insisted that he must have seen young Clanranald, and that he had been advised to his present course, but Morar resolutely denied the charge. Charles in great distress exclaimed, “O God Almighty! look down upon my circumstances, and pity me; for I am in a most melancholy situation. Some of those who joined me at first, and appeared to be fast friends, now turn their backs upon me in my greatest need: and some of those again who refused to join me, and stood at a distance, are now among my best friends; for it is remarkable that those of Sir Alexander Macdonald’s following have been most faithful to me in my distress, and contributed greatly to my preservation.” Then turning round to Mackinnon, he said, “I hope, Mr. Mackinnon, you will not desert me too, and leave me in the lurch; but that you will do all for my preservation you can.” The old laird, thinking that these words were meant for him, said, with tears in his eyes, “I never will leave your royal highness in the day of danger; but will, under God, do all I can for you, and go with you wherever you order me.”—“Oh no!” rejoined Charles, “that is too much for one of your advanced years, Sir; I heartily thank you for your readiness to take care of me, as I am well satisfied of your zeal for me and my cause; but one of your age cannot well hold out with the fatigues and dangers I must undergo. It was to your friend John here, a stout young man, I was addressing myself.”—“Well then,” said John, “with the help of God, I will go through the wide world with your royal highness, if you desire me.”[1274]

Disappointed in his inquiries after Clanranald, and unsuccessful, if John Mackinnon’s statement be correct, in his application to Morar, Charles resolved to go to Borodale, and solicit the assistance of “honest old Æneas Macdonald.” Accordingly, after taking leave of the laird of Mackinnon, Charles set off for Borodale, accompanied by John Mackinnon, under the direction of a boy, a son of Morar, as guide. The party reached Borodale, on the morning of the 10th of July, before day-break. As was the case at Morar, the house of the proprietor had been burnt by a body of troops, under Captain Ferguson, and Borodale was residing in a hut hard by the ruins of his mansion. Borodale was in bed when Charles arrived, and the door was shut. Mackinnon called upon Borodale to rise, who, knowing his voice, got up, and throwing some blankets about him, went to the door. Mackinnon asked him if he had heard any thing of the prince. “No,” replied the old gentleman. “What would you give,” rejoined John, “for a sight of him?” “Time was,” said the warm-hearted Highlander, “that I would have given a hearty bottle to see him safe; but since I see you I expect to hear some news of him.” “Well, then,” replied Mackinnon, “I have brought him here, and will commit him to your charge. I have done my duty, do you yours.” “I am glad of it,” said Borodale, “and shall not fail to take care of him: I shall lodge him so secure that all the forces in Britain shall not find him out.” John Mackinnon then took his leave, and returned to Ellagol; but he had scarcely reached his house when he was apprehended by a party of militia, and along with his chief, who was also captured by another party at Morar, the morning after Charles’s departure, conveyed to London, and kept in confinement till July, 1747.

Borodale conducted his guest to a hut in a neighbouring wood, where he entertained him in the best manner he could for three days, and in the meantime, Charles despatched John Macdonald, junior, one of Borodale’s sons, with a letter to Alexander Macdonald of Glenaladale, who had been in his service as Major of the Clanranald regiment.[1275] Receiving, shortly after this express had been sent, information of the laird of Mackinnon’s capture, and judging that his residence in the wood was not safe, Borodale, accompanied by his son Ronald, who had been a lieutenant in Clanranald’s own company, conducted Charles to an almost inaccessible cave four miles eastward, in which he directed him to remain till Glenaladale should arrive.

Charles’s letter was punctually delivered to Glenaladale, who, two days after it was written, viz. on the 15th of July, met Borodale at an appointed place, and paid a visit to Charles. Next day Borodale received a letter from his son-in-law, Angus Mac Eachan, residing in the glen of Morar, who had served as surgeon to Glengarry’s regiment, informing him that a rumour was beginning to prevail in the country, that the prince was in concealment about Borodale; and representing the danger Charles would be in, by remaining on Borodale’s lands any longer, he offered him a more secure asylum, in a place he had prepared for him. Before accepting this offer, Ronald Macdonald was sent to reconnoitre the place. Next day, John Macdonald was despatched to view the coast, and ascertain the motions of the military; and having brought intelligence that he saw a boat approaching that part of the coast where the grotto was situated, Charles, without waiting for the return of Ronald Macdonald, immediately left the cave, and set off for the glen of Morar, to the place prepared for him. He was accompanied by Glenaladale, Borodale, and John Macdonald junior, son of the latter. They were met, at a place called Corrybeine Cabir, by Borodale’s son-in-law, who informed Charles that Clanranald was waiting a few miles off, to conduct him to a safe place of concealment he had prepared for him. Charles would have proceeded to meet Clanranald, but as the evening was far advanced, and as he was much nearer his intended quarters in Glen Morar than the place where Clanranald was, he proceeded onward, intending to communicate with him next day.

Borodale, who had proceeded to Glen Morar in advance of the party to procure some necessaries, received information, on his arrival there, that some men-of-war with troops on board, under General Campbell, had anchored in Loch Nevis. He thereupon despatched two men to Loch Nevis, by way of Loch Morar, to observe General Campbell’s motions, and having received farther intelligence, that Captain Scott had arrived with a party in the lower part of Arisaig, he returned to Charles, and communicated to him the information he had received. Being assured that Charles was upon one of the promontories betwixt Loch Hourn and Loch Shiel, the English commanders had formed a chain of posts across the heads of these and the intermediate arms of the sea, so as to intercept him should he attempt to escape by land into the interior; and to catch him, should he venture to return to the islands, cruisers and boats were stationed at the mouths of the lochs. The sentinels along this line, which extended to the length of thirty miles, were placed so near one another in the day time, that no person could pass without being seen by them, and at night fires were lighted at every post, and the opposite sentinels passed, and repassed one another, from fire to fire. To cross such a chain during the day was quite impossible, nor did a passage by night appear more practicable.

Finding thus, that Clanranald’s country was wholly surrounded by the government troops, and that he would not be able to join that chief, Charles resolved to leave it immediately. To lessen the risk of discovery, by reducing the number of his companions, he took leave of Borodale and his son-in-law, and attended by Glenaladale, his brother Lieutenant John Macdonald, who had been an officer in the French service, and John Macdonald junior, Borodale’s son, set out in the morning of the 18th of July, and by mid-day reached the summit of a hill called Scoorvuy, at the eastern extremity of Arisaig. Here they rested and took some refreshment, and Glenaladale’s brother was then despatched to Glenfinnan, to obtain intelligence, and to direct two men whom Glenaladale had stationed there, to join the prince about ten o’clock at night, on the top of a hill called Swernink Corrichan, above Loch Arkaig in Lochiel’s country. After Lieutenant John Macdonald’s departure, Charles set out with his two remaining companions, and at two o’clock came to the top of a neighbouring hill, called Fruigh-vein. Observing some cattle in motion, Glenaladale went forward to ascertain the cause, and found that these cattle belonged to some of his own tenants, who were driving them away out of the reach of a body of 600 or 700 troops, who had come to the head of Loch Arkaig, to hem in the prince. As Charles and his friends meant to pass in that direction, they were greatly disconcerted at this intelligence, and resolved to alter their course. Glenaladale sent one of his tenants to Glenfinnan, which was only about a mile off, to recall his brother and the two men; and at the same time he sent another messenger for Donald Cameron of Glenpean, who had removed with his effects to a neighbouring hill, on the approach of the troops, that he might ascertain from him the situation of the troops about Fort Augustus, and to obtain his assistance in conducting the prince through the chain of posts. As they waited the return of the messengers, one of the tenants’ wives, regretting the condition of Glenaladale her landlord, and desirous of giving him some refreshment milked some of her cows, and brought the milk to him. Observing the woman approaching, Charles covered his head with a handkerchief, and passed for one of Glenaladale’s servants, who had got a headach. Though this refreshment, from the excessive heat of the day, was very seasonable, yet they would have gladly dispensed with the obtrusive kindness of the warm-hearted female. That Charles might participate in the present, without observation from the donor, Glenaladale prevailed upon her, though with some difficulty, to retire, and leave her dish behind.

After a short absence the messenger who had been despatched to Glenfinnan returned without finding Glenaladale’s brother, or the two men who had, before his arrival there, departed for the appointed place of rendezvous. He brought the alarming intelligence, that a hundred of the Argyleshire militia had arrived at the foot of the hill on which the prince now stood. Without waiting for the return of the other messenger, the party set out about sunset on their hazardous attempt. They travelled at a pretty quick pace till about eleven o’clock at night; when passing through a hollow way between two hills, they observed a man coming down one of them in their direction. Charles and young Macdonald kept behind, and Glenaladale went forward to ascertain whether this person was friend or foe. Strange to tell, the suspected individual was Donald Cameron of Glenpean, the very person whom, of all others, Glenaladale wished to see. He was immediately conducted to Charles, to whom he communicated such information as he had obtained about the government troops.

Undertaking to guide the prince and his companions past the guards, Cameron conducted them over roads almost impassable in day-light; and after travelling all night, they arrived about four o’clock in the morning of the 19th of July, on the top of a hill in the braes of Loch Arkaig, called Mamnyn-Callum, from which they could perceive the enemy’s camp about a mile distant. Being informed by their guide, that the hill on which they now stood had been searched the previous day, they supposed there would not be a second search for some time, and they therefore resolved to remain on the hill all the day. They lay down to rest, and after sleeping two hours, the whole party, with the exception of Charles, rose to keep watch. About ten o’clock they observed a man at a little distance coming up the hill. As there was a probability that Cameron, being generally acquainted with the inhabitants of that part of the country, might know this person, he was sent forward to speak with him, and was agreeably surprised to find that he was no other than Glenaladale’s brother, who not meeting the prince at the place appointed, had become alarmed for his safety, and was in search of him.

Loch Arkaig.—Achnacarry, seat of Cameron of Lochiel, in middle distance.

The whole party remained on the top of the hill all the day, and about nine o’clock at night set out in a southern direction. About one o’clock in the morning they came to a place called Corrinangaull, on the confines of Knoydart and Loch Arkaig, where Cameron expected to have met some of the Loch Arkaig people, who had fled with their cattle on the approach of the soldiery. Cameron had calculated on getting a supply of provisions from these people, as the prince and his party had only a small quantity of butter and oatmeal, which they could not prepare for want of fire. Perceiving some huts down the face of the hill, Glenaladale’s brother and the guide, at the risk of being observed by some of the sentinels who were going their rounds, ventured down to them, in expectation of meeting some of the country people, and obtaining a supply of provisions; but they found these shielings uninhabited. Judging themselves no longer safe on the top of the hill, the whole party shifted their quarters, and went to a fastness in the brow of a hill at the head of Lochnaigh, about a mile distant from the troops. They lay down in this retreat to take some rest. With the exception of Charles, they all awoke after a short repose; and it was resolved that, dangerous as the experiment might be, Glenaladale’s brother and the guide should again go in quest of provisions, of which they now stood in very great need. Leaving, therefore, Glenaladale, and Borodale’s son to stand sentry over Charles, they set off, while it was yet dark, on their errand. The place which the weary wanderers had chosen for their nocturnal abode commanded a view of the lake, and when the sun rose, Charles and his friends observed the enemy’s camp at the head of Lochnaigh. They would have gladly removed to a greater distance, but they resolved to wait for the return of the foraging party, who arrived about three o’clock in the afternoon, with two small cheeses, which were all the provisions they could procure. They also brought the alarming intelligence, that about a hundred soldiers were marching up the opposite side of the hill to search for some of the country people, who were supposed to have fled thither for shelter.

As it was not improbable that this party would in the course of their examination find out the place where Charles and his friends lay concealed, the most direful apprehensions must have seized the minds of the unhappy fugitives. Seeing no possibility of leaving their retreat without observation, whilst the soldiers were on the hill, they resolved to remain and abide the result. The soldiers made a general and narrow search all around, but fortunately did not come to the place where the wanderers lay. After the search was over the soldiers returned to their camp; and about eight o’clock in the evening Charles and his friends left their place of concealment, and, travelling at a very quick pace till it became dark, ascended a steep hill called Drimachosi, on arriving at the top of which, they observed the fires of a camp directly in their front, which in passing onward they imagined they could scarcely avoid. Determined, however, to make the attempt, whatever might be the consequences, they proceeded forward, and came so near the posts as to hear the soldiers talking together.

In passing over the top of this mountain Charles made a very narrow escape. Down a steep and pathless descent a small stream glided, the waters of which spreading among a mixture of grass and heath, with which the descent was covered, rendered it slippery, and of course very dangerous. When about to descend, Charles’s foot slipped, and he would have undoubtedly fallen headlong down the precipice, and been dashed to pieces, had not Cameron, who preceded him, seized him by one of his arms, and held him fast with one hand, whilst, with the other, he laid hold of the heath to prevent both from tumbling down together. In this situation, Cameron held Charles till Glenaladale came down, who, laying hold of the prince’s other arm, rescued him from his danger. Arriving at the bottom, they crept up the next hill, and, on reaching its summit, perceived the fires of another camp at the foot of the hill, directly in the way they intended to go down.

To pass this post seemed to be an undertaking utterly hopeless, and certain destruction appeared inevitable in the attempt; yet extremely dangerous as it was, the party resolved to make it. Unwilling, however, to expose the prince to such great risk, before putting the practicability of the measure to the test, Cameron, entirely regardless of his own safety, proposed to make the experiment himself before Charles ventured to pass. “If I succeed,” said the generous Highlander, “and return safe, then your royal highness may venture, and I shall conduct you.” At this time Cameron’s nose began to itch,—a circumstance which was regarded by Donald as a dangerous omen. Whilst rubbing his nose, he could not avoid stating his apprehensions to Charles; but these superstitious fears did not divert him from his purpose. Cameron accordingly went forward, and, in a short time, returned to his companions with the agreeable information that he had entirely succeeded. No doubt now existing of the practicability and even the safety of the attempt, the whole party set off about two o’clock in the morning. Turning a little westward, Cameron conducted them to the channel of a small brook, through which they crept on their hands and feet to escape observation; and watching their opportunity when the backs of the sentinels were turned towards one another, quietly passed between them. After they were out of danger from the guards, Charles came up to Glenpean, and jocularly said to him, “Well, Donald, how does your nose do now?” “It is better now,” answered Cameron, “but it still yucks (itches) a little.” “Aye, Donald,” rejoined the prince, as if taking the hint, “have we still more guards to go through?”

Having thus fortunately cleared the line of posts, the party proceeded in their course, and, at about the distance of two miles, came to a place called Corriscorridill, on the Glenelg side of the head of Loch Hourn, where they stopped, and, having chosen a secure place, sat down and took some refreshment. They had no bread; but Charles supplied the deficiency by covering a slice of the dry cheese with oatmeal. He partook of this coarse fare cheerfully, and washed it down with some water from a neighbouring spring. They remained in this retreat till eight o’clock in the evening.

It being now evident that Charles could not remain with any chance of safety in the West Highlands, Glenaladale proposed, that instead of going eastward, as Charles intended, he should proceed north into Ross-shire, and seek an asylum among that part of the Mackenzies who had not joined in the insurrection, and whose territory had not, on that account, been visited by the military. Charles resolved to adopt the advice of his kind friend; and as Cameron was unacquainted with the route, he and Glenaladale left the covert to look out for a guide. Before they had gone far, however, they were astonished to find that they had passed all the day within cannon-shot of two little camps, and they perceived, at the same time, a company of soldiers driving some sheep into a hut, for the purpose, as they supposed, of being slaughtered. Returning to their place of concealment, they apprised Charles of their discovery; and as no time was to be lost in providing for their safety, the whole party immediately set off, and about three o’clock next morning, July the 27th, reached Glenshiel, in the Earl of Seaforth’s country. As their small stock of provisions was exhausted, Glenaladale and Borodale’s son went forward in quest of a supply, and to find out a guide to conduct them to Pollew, where it was reported some French vessels had been. Whilst Glenaladale was conversing with some country people about a guide, a Glengarry man, who had been chased that morning by a party of soldiers from Glengarry, after they had killed his father, came running up. This man, who had served in the prince’s army, was recognised at once by Glenaladale, and as he knew him to be trustworthy, he resolved to keep him in reserve as a guide, in case they should be obliged to change their plan, and to remain about Glengarry. Having procured some provisions, Glenaladale and his companion returned to Charles, and after the whole party had partaken of the food, they retired to the face of an adjacent hill, and lay down to rest in a cave. They slept till between four and five o’clock in the afternoon, when Cameron, who had acted so faithfully, took his leave, as he was unacquainted with that part of the country. After Cameron’s departure, Glenaladale, observing the Glengarry man returning to his own country, stepped out of the cave and prevailed upon him to remain in a by-place for a short time, as he said he had something to communicate to him. Glenaladale, on his return, stated his plan to Charles, which was to keep the Glengarry man without explaining to him any thing, till such time as he could ascertain whether he could depend upon getting a guide to Pollew, failing which he would retain the Glengarry man. Charles approved of what Glenaladale had done. About seven o’clock, Glenaladale repaired to a place where he had appointed a man, who had promised to procure a guide, to meet him, and having found this person, was informed by him that he could not get one, and that the only French vessel that had touched at Pollew had gone away. Glenaladale, therefore, dismissed this person, and returning to Charles, informed him of what had passed. They then gave up the idea of proceeding farther into Ross-shire, and the Glengarry man, having been introduced to the prince, cheerfully undertook to conduct him to Strathglass or Glenmoriston, to either of which districts he intended, according to circumstances, to shape his course.[1276]

Accordingly the whole party, accompanied by their new guide, set out through Glenshiel at a late hour; but they had not proceeded more than half-a-mile, when Glenaladale stopped short, and, clapping his hand upon his side, declared that his purse, containing 40 guineas, which the prince had given him for defraying expenses, was gone. Thinking that he had left it at their last resting place, Glenaladale proposed to go back in quest of it, and desired the prince to remain behind an adjacent hill till he returned; but Charles was averse to the proposal, though the purse contained his whole stock of money. Glenaladale, however, went back along with Borodale’s son, and, on arriving at their last resting place, found the purse, but its contents were gone. Recollecting that a little boy had been at the place with a present of milk from a person whom Glenaladale had visited, he supposed that the boy might have taken away the purse, and he and his companion proceeded to the house of Gilchrist M’Rath, the person alluded to, and found the boy, who, as he had conjectured, had stolen the purse of gold. By means of Gilchrist, the money was restored to Glenaladale, with the exception of a trifle.

The temporary loss of the purse was a very fortunate occurrence for Charles and his friends, as, during Glenaladale’s absence, an officer and two privates passed close by the place where Charles stood, having come by the very road he and his party had intended to proceed. As they went in the direction taken by Glenaladale and his companion, Charles grew very uneasy about his friends, lest they should, on their return, meet with this party; but returning by a different way, they rejoined the prince without interruption. Charles was overjoyed at the return of his friend; and, with reference to his late providential escape, observed, “Glenaladale, my hour, I see, is not come; for I believe I should not be taken though I had a mind to it.” The party now continued their journey. In passing over the field of Glenshiel, the Glengarry man entertained Charles with an account of the action which happened there in 1719. Charles, it is said, could not help admiring the sagacity of his guide, who, though he had not been in the battle, gave as circumstantial and accurate an account of it as if he had been present.[1277]

Travelling all night, Charles and his friends arrived on the side of a hill above Strathchluaine, where, fixing upon a secure place of retreat, they reposed till near three o’clock in the afternoon of the following day, viz., 28th of July. They then continued their journey along the hill-side; but they had not travelled above a mile when they heard the firing of small arms on the hill above them, which they judged to proceed from some of the troops who were engaged in their usual occupation of shooting the people who had fled to the mountains with their cattle and effects. To avoid these bloodhounds the party took a northern route, and ascended a high hill between the Braes of Glenmoriston and Strathglass. They reached the summit of this mountain at a late hour, and sought repose for the night in an open cave, in which they could neither lie nor sleep. They had no fuel, and as they were wet to the skin with a heavy rain which fell during the whole of the day, they passed a most uncomfortable night. Charles felt himself very cold, and he endeavoured to warm himself by smoking a pipe.

CHISHOLM.

Resolving again to go to Pollew, Glenaladale’s brother and the Glengarry man were despatched, about three o’clock in the morning of the 29th, in quest of some trusty persons to conduct the prince thither, and were appointed to meet Charles and the rest of the party on the top of a neighbouring hill. Charles and his friends set off about five o’clock, and, after a walk of two hours, reached the top of the appointed hill, where they met the guide, who stated that he was directed by some proper persons he had found out, to desire Glenaladale to repair to a hill in the Braes of Glenmoriston, called Corambian, where they promised to come at an appointed hour with some victuals. The persons alluded to were a party of seven men, who, having been engaged in the insurrection, had formed themselves into a sort of predatory fraternity; intending, perhaps, to resume their former habits of industry when the persecutions of the government ceased. These had taken up their abode in a romantic cave on the side of Corambian, and seldom removed to any considerable distance from their rocky den, unless compelled by the necessity of providing for their immediate wants.

As directed, Charles and his friends proceeded to Corambian, and when they came near the cave, Glenaladale and the guide went forward, leaving Charles and the other two Macdonalds at a little distance. All the inmates of the den were present except one, and having killed a sheep that day, had just sat down to dinner. Glenaladale said he was glad to see them so well provided, and they invited him to sit down and share with them. He then said he had a friend with him, outside, for whom he must beg the same favour. Being asked by them who the friend was, he answered that it was young Clanranald, his chief. Nobody could be more welcome, they said, than the young chief; and they added, that they were willing to purchase food for him at the point of their swords. Glenaladale then left the cave and brought in Charles, who, being immediately recognised by its residents, had every respect shown him by these men, who fell on their knees before him. It is almost unnecessary to add, that Charles, who had scarcely tasted food for forty-eight hours, made ample amends for his long fast. After dinner, Charles’s entertainers made up a bed for him of ferns and tops of heath, on which he was soon lulled asleep by the gentle murmurs of a purling stream that ran through the grotto close to his bedside.

The dress which Charles wore at this time is thus described by Mr. Home, who obtained his information from Hugh Chisholm, one of the seven persons who were in the cave at the time Charles resided in it.[1278] Upon his head he had a wretched yellow wig and a bonnet, and about his neck a clouted handkerchief. He wore a coat of coarse, dark-coloured cloth, a Stirling tartan vest, much worn, a pretty good belted plaid, tartan hose, and Highland brogues tied with thongs, so much worn that they would scarcely stick upon his feet. His shirt, the only one he had, was of the colour of saffron. The inhabitants of the cave had no change of dress to offer their guest; but an incident occurred which enabled them to supply his wants. Hearing that a detachment of government troops, under Lord George Sackville, was marching from Fort-Augustus to Strathglass, and knowing that they must pass at no great distance from their abode, the robbers resolved to make an attempt upon their baggage. For this purpose they placed themselves between two hills, near the road to Strathglass, where, free from observation, they awaited the detachment. It soon appeared, and after it had passed, the Highlanders fired at some officers’ servants, who were a considerable distance behind, and, rushing down upon them, seized and carried off some portmanteaus, in which they found every thing that Charles stood in need of.

The search for Charles, which had hitherto been pursued with the most persevering assiduity, now began to slacken, in consequence of an occurrence, which, it was supposed, rendered farther search unnecessary. Among other persons who had joined Charles at Edinburgh, there was a young man of respectable family, named Roderick Mackenzie. He had served as one of the prince’s life-guards. Being about the same age as Charles, tall and somewhat slender, like the prince, and with features resembling, in some degree, those of Charles, he might, with ordinary observers, who had not been accustomed to see them together, have passed for the prince. As he could not venture with safety to Edinburgh, where he had two maiden sisters living, he fled to the Highlands after the battle of Culloden, and, while skulking among the hills of Glenmoriston, was surprised by a party of soldiers, about the middle of July. Mackenzie endeavoured to escape; but being overtaken, he turned round upon his pursuers, and, drawing his sword, bravely defended himself. He was shot by one of the soldiers, and as he fell, he exclaimed, “You have killed your prince! you have killed your prince!” and immediately expired. Overjoyed at their supposed good fortune, the soldiers cut off the young man’s head, and hurried to Fort-Augustus with their prize. The Duke of Cumberland, convinced that he had got the head of his relative, had it, it is said, packed up, and ordering a post-chaise, went off to London, carrying the head along with him. Shortly after his arrival, however, the deception, which had been of essential service to Charles, was discovered.[1279]

Being pretty secure in Coiraghoth, as the cave was called, Charles remained three days in this retreat, during which he recruited so well that he considered himself able to encounter any hardships. The whole party then shifted their quarters to another hill, about two miles off, and took up their abode in another cave, on the 2d of August. After staying four days in their new dwelling they were again obliged to shift, in consequence of information they received, that one Campbell, a steward of Lord Seaforth and captain of militia, had pitched his camp at a little distance, to graze a large herd of cattle. Leaving one of their party behind to watch Campbell’s motions, they set off in a northerly direction, and travelled to the heights of Strathglass. Charles was conducted to a sheep-cot, in which a bed was made up for him, consisting of turf, with the grass-side uppermost, and a pillow of the same. He remained in this hovel three days, during which an express was sent to Pollew, to ascertain whether a report which had reached him of some French vessels having been seen off the coast, was correct. On the supposition that the report would turn out to be well founded, the party followed the express, and crossing along the moor, put up at another shieling for the night, and about twelve o’clock, next day, August the 10th, arrived at a place called Glencanna, and passing the day in a neighbouring wood, repaired at night to a village hard by. About two o’clock next morning they scrambled up a hill on the north side of Glencanna, and sending off two of their number to forage for provisions, they waited two days in a neighbouring shieling for the return of their messenger from Pollew. The express arrived, and brought notice that a French ship had been upon the coast, and had landed two gentlemen, who had gone to Lochiel’s country in quest of the prince. In expectation of meeting these gentlemen, Charles resolved to retrace his steps.

Upon the 13th of August they crossed the water of Casina, and passing near the house of young Chisholm, arrived at a place called Fassanacoil in Strathglass, about two o’clock in the morning. They concealed themselves in a thick wood, and some of the party were despatched as scouts to the Braes of Glengarry and Lochaber, to ascertain whether the search for the prince was over, and if the troops had returned to their camp at Fort-Augustus. Having ascertained on the return of their spies that the government troops had returned to their head-quarters, the whole party left the wood, where they had remained three days, and, on the morning of the 17th of August, set out through an unfrequented road, and again reached the Braes of Glenmoriston. Passing the day on the top of a hill, they continued their journey at night; but they had gone scarcely a mile, when they received information that a strong party of military were among the heights of Glengarry in quest of the prince. They, therefore, stopped short in their journey till they should ascertain the motions of the enemy, and passed the remainder of the night in a shieling.

Charles being now extremely desirous of opening a communication with his friends in Lochaber, which was by this time almost free from troops, despatched two messengers on the morning of the 18th of August to Loch Arkaig in quest of Cameron of Clunes, to inform him that Glenaladale wished to meet him at a convenient place. Another of the party was, at the same time, sent to the Braes of Glengarry to ascertain if the troops were still in that quarter. Having ascertained, by the return of this messenger, who came back next day, that the roads were clear, Charles and his party, consisting altogether of ten persons, set out in the afternoon of the 19th, and passing under the favour of a fog through Glenmoriston and Glenlyne, arrived late at night in the Braes of Glengarry. The river Garry was swollen to a great height by the heavy rains which had fallen for some days; but some of the party having ascertained that it was fordable, Charles and his friends waded across with the water up to their middle. After passing the river, they proceeded onward about a mile in a very dark night, and finding no covert, remained on the side of the hill during the night, without shelter, amid a torrent of rain. Next morning they continued their course over hills and moors till they reached a height near a place called Achnasalt, or Achnasual, where the messengers sent to Loch Arkaig had been appointed to meet them. The rain having poured down without intermission all night and during the day, the situation of these forlorn wanderers had become very uncomfortable; and, to add to their distress, their whole stock of provision was exhausted. As none of the messengers had arrived, they were exceedingly perplexed what to do; but they were soon relieved from their anxiety by the appearance of Peter Grant, one of the most active of the seven men, who brought notice from Cameron of Clunes that he could not meet Glenaladale that night, but that he would visit him at the appointed place of rendezvous next morning, and in the meantime directed him to pass the night in a wood about two miles distant. Before setting out for their new quarters, of which they received a favourable report from two of the party, who were sent to examine the place, Glenaladale, with the consent of the prince, sent a messenger to Lochgarry, who lay concealed a few miles off, acquainting him with their arrival at Achnasual, and requesting him to meet them in the wood. After entering the wood, fortune threw a buck in their way, which one of the party immediately shot. Having kindled a fire, they roasted the flesh, and made a hearty meal, but without bread or salt. Lochgarry joined them the same night.

At ten o’clock next morning, August the 15th, Cameron of Clunes came to the wood, and conducted Charles to another forest at the foot of Loch Arkaig, in which he lay all night. With the exception of Hugh Chisholm and Peter Grant, all the Glenmoriston men took their leave. Charles expressed a wish to go to Rannoch, or Badenoch, where Lochiel and Cluny were; but upon Clunes informing him that he could not pass without great danger, as all the ferries were strictly guarded, he gave up his design, and, early next morning, sent a messenger to Lochiel, desiring his attendance. Concluding that Charles was to the north of the lakes, these chiefs had, about this period, sent Dr. Cameron and the Rev. John Cameron by different routes, to obtain information respecting the prince. On arriving within a few miles of the place where Lochiel was, Charles’s messenger met the Doctor and the two French officers who had lately landed. As the messenger was desired to communicate no information about Charles to any person but Lochiel himself, he declined to answer any questions respecting the prince; but having stated that he had business of the utmost importance with Lochiel, the Doctor conducted him to his brother. Lochiel being unable, from the state of his wounds, to travel to a distance, then sent his brother to wait upon the prince, and to make his apology.

Dr. Cameron, accompanied by two servants, arrived at the foot of Loch Arkaig on the 19th of August, and when near the place of Charles’s concealment, he met Cameron of Clunes. At this time Charles and one of Clunes’s sons were sleeping on the mountain, and Peter Grant was keeping watch; but, nodding upon his post, Grant did not observe the approach of the party till they were pretty near. He instantly awaked Charles and his companion. Cameron and Grant proposed that they should flee to the top of the mountain, but Charles thought differently. He said he considered there was more danger in attempting to escape than in remaining where they were; and he proposed that they should take up a position behind some stones, take aim, and fire upon the party when they came nearer. He said that, as Grant and he were good marksmen, they would certainly do some execution, and that he had in reserve a brace of pocket pistols, which, for the first time, he produced. Fortunately, however, before a single shot was fired, the person of Clunes was recognised among the party. The joy of Charles and of young Cameron, at the narrow escape which the friends of the one and the father of the other had made, may be easily conceived. When informed by Dr. Cameron that Lochiel was well, and almost recovered of his wounds, the prince expressed the unbounded satisfaction he felt by fervently returning thanks to God three times. The appearance of Charles at this time was singular, and even terrific. He was bare-footed, and his beard had grown to a great length. He wore a dirty shirt, an old black tartan coat, a plaid, and a philibeg, carried a musket in his hand, and wore a pistol and dirk by his side. Had he not had one of the best and soundest constitutions ever enjoyed by a prince, he must ere this have fallen a victim to the numerous privations he had suffered; but his health remained unimpaired, and his flow of spirits continued. His companions had killed a cow on the present occasion, and when Dr. Cameron arrived a part of it was preparing for dinner. Charles partook heartily of the beef, which was seasoned by a supply of bread from Fort-Augustus, a commodity to which he had been for some time unaccustomed.

Next day the party went to a wood called Torvuilt, opposite to Achnacarry, where they held a council. Charles now proposed to go south, and join Lochiel; but one of the party mentioning that he had seen a paragraph in some newspapers, that had been brought from Fort-Augustus, which stated that he and Lochiel had passed Corryarrick with 30 men, he judged it advisable to defer his journey for a few days, as a search might be made for him about that mountain. In the meantime it was agreed that Dr. Cameron should visit Lochaber to procure intelligence, and that Lochgarry should go to the east end of Loch Lochy, and remain upon the isthmus between the lakes, to watch the motions of the troops. They accordingly left Charles the same day, and Cameron and Clunes, after conducting the prince and his party to another hut in the neighbourhood, also took leave.

Charles remained eight days in the neighbourhood of Achnacarry. Having expressed a strong desire to see the French officers who had landed at Pollew, they were brought to him. These gentlemen had come from Dunkirk in a small vessel, with 60 others, who had formed themselves into a company of volunteers under these two officers. Two of the volunteers landed along with the officers, and were taken prisoners. One of them, named Fitzgerald, a Spanish officer, was hanged at Fort William, on the ground of having been a spy in Flanders, and the other, a M. de Berard, a French officer, was afterwards exchanged upon the cartel. The officers fell in with Mr. Alexander Macleod, one of Charles’s aides-de-camp, to whom they delivered some despatches they had brought over to the French ambassador, and they continued to wander in Seaforth’s country till Lochgarry, hearing that they had letters to the prince, sent a Captain Macraw and his own servant to find them out and bring them to Lochiel, as the prince could not be found. When brought to Lochiel, he suspected them to be government spies. On Charles expressing his wish to see these officers, the Rev. John Cameron, who had lately joined, told him what his brother Lochiel thought of them, and advised him to act with great caution. The prince confessed that it appeared a very suspicious circumstance, that two men, without knowing a word of Gaelic, and being perfect strangers in the country, should have escaped so long if they were not really spies; but as they had told Lochiel that they had never seen the prince, he thought that he might see them safely by a stratagem, without being known to them. He therefore wrote them a letter to this effect:—that, in order to avoid falling into his enemies’ hands, he had been under the necessity of retiring to a distant part of the country, where he had no person with him except one Captain Drummond and a servant, and, as he could not remove from the place of his concealment without danger, he had sent Captain Drummond with the letter; and as he could repose entire confidence in him, he desired them to deliver any message they had to Drummond. This letter the prince proposed to deliver himself, as Captain Drummond, and the officers being sent for, were introduced to him under his assumed name. He delivered them the letter, which they perused, and he then obtained from them all the information they had to communicate, which, as his affairs then stood, was of little importance. They remained with him two days, and put many questions about the prince’s health, his manner of living, &c. Thinking the packet they had delivered to Mr. Macleod might be of use, Charles sent for it; but as the letters were in cipher he could make nothing of them, not having the key.

About this time Charles made a very narrow escape, under the following circumstances. Information having been sent to the camp at Fort-Augustus that Charles or some of his principal adherents were in the neighbourhood of Loch Arkaig, a party was despatched in quest of them. One of Clunes’s sons and Cameron the minister had gone to the strath of Clunes to obtain intelligence, and had entered a hut which Clunes had built for his family after his house had been burnt. They had not, however, been half-an-hour within, when a little girl came running into the house, in great haste, and said that she saw some soldiers approaching. At first they thought that the child was mistaken, as Lochgarry had promised to place a guard between Fort-Augustus and Clunes, to give intelligence of the approach of troops; but going out of the house, they found that the girl was correct in her information. It was then about eight o’clock in the morning, and the prince, with one of Clunes’s sons and Peter Grant, was sleeping in a hut on the face of the hill on the other side of the water of Kaig, about a mile from Clunes’s hut. Whilst old Cameron, therefore, remained to watch the motions of this party, one of his sons and the minister went off to arouse Charles. Crossing the water under cover of the wood, they came within pistol-shot of the soldiers, who proceeded down into the strath. When awaked and informed of his danger, Charles, with great composure, called for his gun, and, looking down the vale, saw a number of soldiers demolishing Clunes’s hut and searching the adjacent woods.[1280] Charles and his attendants immediately resolved to remove to a distance, and to conceal their flight, ascended the hill along the channel of a torrent which the winter rains had worn in the face of the mountain. Clearing this hill without being seen, they proceeded to another mountain, called Mullentagart, of a prodigious height, and very steep and craggy. They remained all day on this hill without a morsel of food. One of Clunes’s sons came to them about twelve o’clock at night with some whisky, bread, and cheese, and told them that his father would meet them at a certain place in the hills, at a considerable distance, with provisions, and the young man returned to let his father know that he might expect them. Charles and his attendants set out for the appointed place at night, and travelled through most dreadful ways, amongst rocks and stumps of trees, which tore their clothes and limbs. Such were the difficulties they encountered, that the guides proposed to halt and rest till the morning, but Charles, though exceedingly exhausted, insisted on going on, that they might not break their appointment with Clunes. Worn out at last with fatigue and want of food, the prince was not able to proceed farther without assistance. Though almost in the same situation themselves, the Highlanders offered him their aid, and two of them laying hold each of an arm, supported him till he arrived at the end of this very laborious journey. They met Clunes and his son, who had already killed a cow and dressed a part of it for their use.

Charles remained in this remote place with his companions till the arrival of Lochgarry and Dr. Cameron. They informed him that they had been with Lochiel and Cluny, and that it had been concerted among them that the prince should come to their asylum for some time; and they added, that Cluny would meet his Royal Highness at Auchnacarry, on a certain day, in order to conduct him to Badenoch. Being also informed by them that the passes were not so strictly guarded as formerly, Charles crossed Loch Arkaig, and took up his abode in a fir wood belonging to Lochiel, on the west side of the lake, to wait the arrival of Cluny. Impatient to see two such tried friends as Lochiel and Cluny, Charles would not wait for Cluny’s coming to Auchnacarry, but set out for Badenoch with such guides as he had. Next day Charles arrived at a place called Corinauir, in Badenoch, where he passed the night. Cluny had passed on to Auchnacarry the same day by another way. Lochiel, who had skulked in his own country about two months, had sought an asylum among the Braes of Rannoch, where he was attended by Sir Stewart Thriepland, an Edinburgh physician, for the cure of the wounds he had received in his ancles. On the 20th of June they fell in with Macpherson of Cluny, who conducted them to a more secure retreat on Benalder, a hill of immense circumference, on his own property, on the borders of Rannoch. Lochiel, who had since that time lived on this mountain with his friend Cluny, was now residing in a small miserable hovel on the side of the hill, at a place called Mellenauir, or Millanuir, attended by Macpherson of Breakachie, Allan Cameron, his principal servant, and two servants of Cluny.

Dr. Archibald Cameron, from rare print in the
Burney Collection in British Museum.

On the morning of the 30th of August, Charles, accompanied by Lochgarry, Dr. Cameron and two servants, set out for Mellenauir. They were all armed, and on approaching the hut they were mistaken by Lochiel for a party of militia, who, he supposed, had been sent out in search of him from a camp a few miles off. From the lameness in his feet, Lochiel was not in a condition to attempt an escape, but there seemed to be little danger, as both parties were equal in point of numbers, and the party in the hut had this advantage, that they could fire their first volley without being observed, and as they had a considerable quantity of fire arms, they could discharge another volley or two before the advancing party could reload their pieces. The danger to which Charles and his friends were now exposed was greater than that which Dr. Cameron and Clunes had run, as, on the present occasion, the party in the hut, resolving to receive their supposed enemies with a general discharge of all the firearms, had actually planted and levelled their pieces; but happily for Charles and his friends, they were recognised just as Lochiel and his attendants were about giving their fire. Upon making this fortunate discovery Lochiel left the hut, and, though very lame, went forward to meet the prince. On coming up to Charles, Lochiel was about to kneel, but Charles prevented him, and clapping him on the shoulder, said, “Oh no, my dear Lochiel, we do not know who may be looking from the top of yonder hills, and if they see any such motions they will immediately conclude that I am here.” Charles always considered Lochiel as one of his best friends, and placed the greatest confidence in him; and the generous chief showed, by his unbounded attachment to the prince, that this confidence was not misplaced. The meeting, therefore, of two such friends, after so many perils and escapes, was extremely joyous.

After they had recovered from the first transports of their joy, Lochiel conducted Charles into the hut, where the latter beheld a sight to which his eyes had not been accustomed for many months. Besides abundance of mutton, the hut contained an anchor of whisky, of twenty Scotch pints, some good dried beef sausages, a large well-cured bacon ham, and plenty of butter and cheese. On entering the prince took a hearty dram, and drank to the health of his friends. Some minced collops were then prepared for him with butter in a large saucepan, which Lochiel and Cluny always carried about with them, being the only fire-vessel they had. The pan was set before Charles with a silver spoon. He took this repast with great gusto, and was so delighted with this little change in his circumstances, that he could not help exclaiming, with a cheerful countenance, “Now, gentlemen, I live like a prince.” After dinner he asked Lochiel if he had always fared so well during his retreat. “Yes, Sir,” answered Lochiel; “for near three months past I have been hereabout with my cousin Cluny; he has provided for me so well that I have had plenty of such as you see, and I thank Heaven your Royal Highness has got through so many dangers to take a part.” Finding, on his arrival at Auchnacarry, that Charles had departed with his friends for Badenoch, Cluny had retraced his steps, and he reached Mellenauir two days after Charles’s arrival there. On entering the hut Cluny would have kneeled before Charles, but the prince prevented him, and giving him a kiss, said, “I am sorry, Cluny, you and your regiment were not at Culloden: I did not hear till very lately that you were so near us that day.”

The day after his return to Mellenauir, Cluny, thinking it time to remove to another retreat, conducted the prince and his attendants to a little shieling called Uiskchibra, about two miles farther into Benalder. This hut was very bad and extremely smoky; but Charles accommodated himself, as he had always done, to circumstances. After passing two nights in this miserable abode, he was conducted to a very extraordinary and romantic habitation, called the Cage, which Cluny had fitted up for Charles’s reception. From the description given by Cluny of this remarkable retreat, it will be seen how well adapted it was for the purpose of concealment.

“It was,” says Donald Macpherson, “situated in the face of a very rough, high, and rocky mountain, called Letternilichk, still a part of Benalder, 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 thick bush of 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 and 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 and 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 fog. 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 out, one baking, and another firing bread and cooking.”[1281]

Charles’s deliverance was now nearer at hand than he or his friends probably expected. Several small vessels had arrived on the west coast, from time to time, to carry him off to France; but the persons in charge of these not being able to find him had returned home. Charles knew this, and now that he was able to keep up a communication with his friends, he took care to provide against a similar recurrence. He was at a considerable distance from the coast, but matters were so concerted that, if a French vessel appeared, he could easily get the intelligence. There were some of his partizans skulking near the west coast, who, though they did not know where he himself was, had instructions to convey the news to others who were concealed in the interior, who would again communicate it to persons in the knowledge of the prince’s place of retreat. For some time Colonel Warren, of Dillon’s regiment, had been exerting himself to induce the French government to fit out an expedition to rescue Charles from his toils. He at last succeeded in procuring two vessels of war, L’Heureux and La Princesse de Conti, with which he departed from St. Malo about the end of August. In the event of his bringing the prince safe away, the Chevalier de St. George had promised to make him a Knight Baronet, a dignity which he afterwards conferred upon him.[1282]

These vessels arrived in Lochnanuagh early in September, and Captain Sheridan, a son of Sir Thomas Sheridan, and a Mr. O’Beirne, a lieutenant in the French service, immediately landed and waited upon Glenaladale, who, they were informed, knew where Charles was. This faithful friend, happy at the prospect of escape which now offered, set off the same night for the place where he expected to find Charles, to communicate to him the agreeable intelligence; but to his great sorrow he found the prince gone, and he could fall in with no person who could give him the least information of his route. Clunes, from whom Glenaladale expected to get tidings of Charles, had, in consequence of the destruction of his hut, gone to another quarter, and was not to be found. Whilst ruminating over his disappointment, a poor woman accidentally came to the place where he was, and he had the good fortune to ascertain from her the place of Clunes’s retreat. Having found him out, he and Clunes instantly despatched a messenger to Charles with the joyful intelligence; and Glenaladale then returned to Lochnanuagh, to notify to Colonel Warren that Charles might be speedily expected in that quarter.

The messenger arrived at Benalder on the 13th of September, on which day Charles left his romantic abode, and, after taking leave of Cluny, set off on his journey for the coast, accompanied by Lochiel and others. He at the same time sent off confidential messengers in different directions, to acquaint such of his friends as he could reach, announcing the arrival of the ships, that they might have an opportunity of joining him if inclined. As Charles and his friends travelled only by night, they did not reach Borodale, the place of embarkation, till the 19th. On the road Charles was joined by Lochgarry, John Roy Stewart, Dr. Cameron, and other gentlemen who intended to accompany him to France. Besides these, many others had left their different hiding places on hearing of the arrival of the French vessels, and had repaired to the coast of Moidart, also waiting for the arrival of him for whose sake they had forfeited their lives, intending to adopt the bitter alternative of bidding an eternal adieu to their native land. The number of persons assembled was about a hundred.

The career of Charles in the hereditary dominions of his ancestors was now ended. Attended by seven persons only, he had, with daring hardihood, landed about fourteen months before on the spot where he was destined to depart as a fugitive, and, with a handful of men, had raised the standard of insurrection and set the whole power of the government at open defiance. The early part of his progress had been brilliant. With a few thousand undisciplined mountaineers, he had overrun land, in the face of three hostile armies, had carried dismay to the capital. The retreat from Derby, the merit of which belongs to Lord George Murray exclusively, quieted for a time the apprehensions of the government; but the defeat at Falkirk again convinced it that the succession settlement was still in danger; and that, perhaps, at no distant day, the young and daring adventurer might place the son of James II. upon the throne from which his father had been expelled. Even after his retreat to Inverness, the supporters of the house of Hanover could have no assurance that the Duke of Cumberland’s army might not share the fate of its predecessors, in which event the new dynasty would probably have ceased to reign; but the triumphs of Charles were at an end, and the fatal field of Culloden, after witnessing the bravery of his troops, became the grave of his hopes. Then commenced that series of extraordinary adventures and wonderful escapes, of which some account has been given, and which could scarcely have been credited had they not been authenticated beyond the possibility of dispute. During the brilliant part of his career Charles had displayed great moderation and forbearance; and though his spirits sank when compelled to retreat, yet in the hour of adversity, when beset with perils and exposed to privations which few princes could have endured, he exhibited uncommon fortitude, strength of mind, and cheerfulness.

In his wanderings Charles laid down a rule to himself, to which he scrupulously adhered, never to intrust any person from whom he was about to depart with the secret of his route, so that, with the exception of the few friends who were about him for the time being, none of those to whom he had been formerly indebted for his preservation knew the place of his retreat. This was a wise precaution, but was attended with this disadvantage, that it prevented him from acquiring early information of the arrival of the French vessels upon the coast. But no means he was able to take for his own security could have saved him, had he not had a guarantee in the incorruptible fidelity of the persons into whose hands he committed himself. At the risk of their own destruction they extended to him the aid of their protection, and relieved his necessities. Many of these persons were of desperate fortunes, and there were others in the lowest ranks of life; yet, among nearly 200 persons to whom Charles must have been known during the five months he wandered as a fugitive, not one ever offered to betray him, though they knew that a price of £30,000 was set upon his head. History nowhere presents such a splendid instance of disinterested attachment to an unfortunate family.

Accompanied by Lochiel, Lochgarry, John Roy Stewart, Dr. Cameron, and a considerable number of other adherents, Charles departed from Lochnanuagh on the 20th of September, and had a favourable passage to the coast of France, where he landed on Monday the 29th of September. He immediately proceeded to Morlaix, whence he despatched Colonel Warren the same day to Paris, to announce his arrival to the French court. He also sent at the same time a letter to his brother Henry, to the same effect, and enclosed a similar one to his father.

FOOTNOTES:

[1240] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p 541.

[1241] Macleod’s Narrative in Jacobite Memoirs.

[1242] Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 541. Kirkconnel MS.

[1243] Kirkconnel MS.

[1244] Macleod’s Narrative.

[1245] Genuine and True Journal, p. 16.

[1246] O’Neil’s, Burke’s, and Macleod’s Narratives, in Jacobite Memoirs. Macleod was taken prisoner a few days afterwards in Benbecula, by Lieutenant Allan Macdonald, of Knock, in Sleat, in the island of Skye. He was put on board the Furnace, and brought down to the cabin before General Campbell, who examined him most minutely. The general asked him if he had been along with the Pretender? “Yes,” said Donald, “I was along with that young gentleman, and I winna deny it.” “Do you know,” said the general, “what money was upon that gentleman’s head?—No less a sum than thirty thousand pounds sterling, which would have made you and your family happy for ever.” “What then?” replied Donald, “what though I had gotten it? I could not have enjoyed it for two days. Conscience would have gotten the better of me; and although I could have gotten all England and Scotland for my pains, I would not have allowed a hair of his body to be touched if I could hinder it, since he threw himself upon my care.” Campbell observed that he could not much blame him. Donald was sent to London, but released on the 10th of June, 1747. When he arrived in Leith from London, on his return to Skye, he had no money to carry him thither; but his wants were supplied by the Rev. Robert (afterwards bishop) Forbes, an episcopal clergyman in Leith, who set a subscription on foot in that town, and in Edinburgh, “to make out,” as the bishop says, “for honest Palinurus, if possible, a pound sterling, for every week he had served the prince in distress; and,” continues the worthy bishop, “I thank God I was so happy as to accomplish my design directly.” In acknowledgment of his fidelity, Donald was presented by Mr. John Walkinshaw of London, with a large silver snuff-box, handsomely chased, and doubly gilt in the inside. Upon the lid of this box there was the representation of an eight-oared boat, with Donald at the helm, and the eight rowers making their way through a very rough and tempestuous sea. The Long island is seen in the distance upon one of the extremities of the lid, and the boat appears to be just steering into Rossinish, the point of Benbecula where Charles landed after leaving Lochnanuagh. On the other end of the lid there was a landscape of the end of the isle of Skye, as it appears opposite to the Long island, on which the sites of Dunvegan and Gualtergill are marked. The clouds were represented as heavy and lowering, and the rain descending; and above the clouds, i.e., near the hinge, the following motto was engraved:—“Olim hæc meminisse juvabit. Aprilis 26to, 1746.” Upon the bottom, and near the edge of the lid, was this inscription,—“Quid Neptune, paras? Fatis agitamur iniquis.” The following words were engraved on the bottom of the box:—“Donald Macleod of Gualtergill, in the isle of Skye, the faithful Palinurus, æt. 68, 1746.” Below which there was a representation of a dove with an olive branch in its bill. Donald never put any snuff into this box, and when asked the cause by Mr. Forbes, he exclaimed, “Sneeshin in that box! Na, the diel a pickle sneeshin shall ever go into it till the King be restored; and then, I trust in God, I’ll go to London, and then I will put sneeshin in the box, and go to the Prince, and say, ‘Sir, will you take a sneeshin out o’ my box?’”—Jacobite Memoirs.

Burke, the other trust-worthy individual, who was a native of North Uist, skulked about the hill of Eval, in his native island, for seven weeks, living part of the time on sea-weed and limpets. He afterwards took refuge in a cave, and, when the troubles had subsided, went to Edinburgh, where, unheeded, he spent the remainder of his days as a sedan-carrier or chairman.

[1247] Flora Macdonald’s Narrative. Home’s Works, vol. iii. App. No. 45.

[1248] Father of the well-known Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum.

[1249] The letter by Armadale to his wife, was as follows:—“I have sent your daughter from this country lest she should be any way frightened with the troops lying here. She has got one Betty Burke, an Irish girl, who, as she tells me, is a good spinster. If her spinning pleases you, you may keep her till she spin all your lint; or, if you have any wool to spin, you may employ her. I have sent Neil Mackechan along with your daughter, and Betty Burke to take care of them.—I am your dutiful husband,

“HUGH MACDONALD.”

“June 22, 1746.”

It has been suspected that Armadale was privy to his step-daughter’s design.

[1250] Kirkconnel MS.

[1251] Soon after this occurrence, Lady Clanranald was taken prisoner, and sent to London. On 1st November, Clanranald, and Boisdale his brother were also apprehended, and shipped for London. They were discharged in the month of June following.

[1252] A few days after parting with Charles, this trusty officer being betrayed by a person in whom he had confided, was taken prisoner. Being brought before Captain Ferguson, and refusing to give any information about the prince, he was stripped, ordered to be put into a rack, and to be whipt. When the last part of this order was about to be executed, he was saved from the intended ignominy by a lieutenant of the Scotch Fusileers, who, drawing his sword, threatened Ferguson with his vengeance if he used an officer in such an infamous manner. O’Neil says that, four days after he was taken, General Campbell sent him word, upon his parole of honour, that if he had any money or effects in the country, and would send them to him, they should be safe; and that as he had always imagined that the word of honour was as sacredly kept in the English army as in others, he went with a detachment for his money and gold watch, which he had hid among the rocks; that he sent to General Campbell by Captain Campbell of Skipness, 450 guineas, his gold watch, broadsword and pistols; but that although he repeatedly applied to him to return him his property, he never obtained it!—O’Neil’s Narrative in Jacobite Memoirs.

[1253] Roy Macdonald’s Narrative among the Forbes Papers.

[1254] Genuine and True Journal, p. 29.

[1255] “Donald Macleod said the prince used to smoke a great deal of tobacco; and as in his wanderings from place to place the pipes behoved to break and turn into short cutties, he used to take quills, and putting one into another, ‘and all,’ said Donald, ‘into the end of the cutty, this served to make it long enough, and the tobacco to smoke cool.’ Donald added, that he never knew, in all his life, any one better at finding out a shift than the prince was, when he happened to be at a pinch, and that the prince would sometimes sing them a song to keep up their hearts.”—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 401.

[1256] Boswell’s Tour.

[1257] When Dr. Johnson visited Kingsburgh, in company with Mr. Boswell, in 1774, he slept in the same bed that Charles had occupied twenty-eight years before. “To see (says Boswell) Dr. Samuel Johnson in that bed, in the isle of Skye, in the house of Miss Flora Macdonald, struck me with such a group of ideas, as it is not easy for words to describe, as they passed through the mind. He smiled and said, ‘I have had no ambitious thoughts in it.’”—Tour to the Hebrides.

[1258] Donald Roy’s Narrative among the Forbes Papers.

[1259] Donald Roy’s Narrative.

[1260] Macleod’s Narrative.

[1261] Boswell’s Tour.

[1262] “John Mackenzie is alive (in 1774); I saw him at Raasay’s house. About eighteen years ago he hurt one of his legs when dancing, and being obliged to have it cut off, he now was going about with a wooden leg. The story of his being a Member of Parliament is not yet forgotten. I took him out a little way from the house, gave him a shilling to drink Raasay’s health, and led him into a detail of the particulars which I have just related. With less foundation, some writers have traced the idea of a Parliament, and of the British Constitution in rude and early times. I was curious to know if he had really heard or understood any thing of that subject, which, had he been a greater man, would probably have been eagerly maintained. ‘Why, John,’ said I, ‘did you think he should be controlled by a Parliament?’ He answered, ‘I thought, Sir, there were many voices against one.’”—Boswell.

[1263] Idem, p. 227. Jacobite Memoirs, p. 270.

[1264] Boswell’s Tour.

[1265] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 478.

[1266] Jacobite Memoirs, pp. 477–8.

[1267] Idem. p. 480.

[1268] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 482. Boswell, in his Tour, gives a different version of this story. “After this (breakfast) there came in an old woman, who, after the mode of ancient hospitality, brought warm water, and washed Malcolm’s feet. He desired her to wash the feet of the poor man who attended him. She at first seemed averse to this from pride, as thinking him beneath her, and in the periphrastic language of the Highlanders and the Irish, said warmly, ‘Though I wash your father’s son’s feet, why should I wash his father’s son’s feet?’ She was, however, persuaded to do it.”

[1269] The following is a copy of the note:—

“Sir,—I thank God I am in good health, and have got off as designed. Remember me to all friends, and thank them for the trouble they have been at.—I am, Sir, your humble servant.

“James Thomson.”

“Ellighiul, July 4th, 1746.”

[1270] This ‘cutty,’ as a small tobacco-pipe, almost worn to the stump, is called in Scotland, was presented by Malcolm, when at London, to Dr. Burton of York, a fellow-prisoner, who got a fine shagreen case made for it.—Jacobite Memoirs, p. 487. Mr. Boswell gives the following sketch of this worthy Highlander in his Tour to the Hebrides: “He was now (1774) sixty-two years of age, hale and well proportioned, with a manly countenance, tanned by the weather, yet having a ruddiness in his cheeks, over a great part of which his rough beard extended. His eye was quick and lively, yet his look was not fierce; but he appeared at once firm and good-humoured. He wore a pair of brogues, tartan hose which came up nearly to his knees, a purple camblet kilt, a black waistcoat, a short green cloth coat bound with gold cord, a yellow bushy wig, a large blue bonnet with a gold thread button. I never saw a figure which gave a more perfect representation of a Highland gentleman. I wished much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite in the true sense of the word.”

[1271] True Journal, p. 47.

[1272] The subsequent history of the estimable Flora Macdonald may be stated in a few words. After her return to Skye, she married, in 1750, young Macdonald of Kingsburgh, whom she accompanied to North Carolina, America, probably in 1774. Young Kingsburgh joined the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment, embodied in 1775, but was taken prisoner in 1776 and committed to Halifax gaol. He afterwards served with the regiment in Canada, holding the rank of captain, and, at the close of the war, returned to Scotland on half-pay. The vessel in which Flora and her husband sailed was attacked by a French privateer, and while Flora, with characteristic spirit, stood on deck, animating the seamen, she was thrown down and had her arm broken. The wanderers, however, arrived in Skye, and never afterwards left it. Flora died on the 4th of March 1790, aged 68, and was interred in the churchyard of Kilmuir, in a spot set apart for the graves of the Kingsburgh family. Kingsburgh died on the 20th September 1795. Flora had seven children—five sons and two daughters; the sons all became officers in the army, and the daughters officers’ wives. Dr. Johnson and Boswell visited Skye in the autumn of 1773, and were entertained at Kingsburgh house by Flora and her husband. Flora, then aged about 51, is described by Johnson as a woman of middle stature, soft features, gentle manners, and elegant presence; and by Boswell as “a little woman, of a genteel appearance, and uncommonly mild and well-bred.”—See Carruthers’ Edition of Boswell’s Tour to the Hebrides, p. 143.

[1273] Jacobite Memoirs, pp. 488–90, 492.

[1274] Jacobite Memoirs, p. 494.

[1275] Author of the Journal and Memoirs, printed among the Lockhart papers, beginning at p. 579.

[1276] Mr. Home mentions an interview with one Macraw in the Braes of Kintail, which is not even alluded to in the narrative of the prince’s escape, drawn up by Glenaladale and others, and printed among the Lockhart Papers. If such an interview took place, its omission can only be fairly accounted for by supposing that the writer of that part of the narrative (Captain Alexander Macdonald, a younger brother of the Laird of Dallely,) was not aware of it. The following is Mr. Home’s account of this affair:—

“After having crossed the line of posts, Glenaladale, thinking the West Highlands a very unsafe place for Charles, resolved to conduct him to the Ross-shire Highlands, amongst those Mackenzies who remained loyal, and therefore were not visited with troops. These Mackenzies, Glenaladale thought, would not betray Charles; and the person whom he had pitched upon to confide in was Sir Alexander Mackenzie of Coul. Charles and his attendants, setting out for Ross-shire on foot, suffered greatly in their journey from want of provisions; and when they came to the Braes of Kintail, inhabited by the Macraws, a barbarous people, among whom there are but few gentlemen, necessity obliged them to call at the house of one Christopher Macraw. Glenaladale, leaving Charles and the French officer at some distance, went to Macraw’s house, and told him that he and two of his friends were like to perish for want of food, and desired him to furnish them with some victuals, for which they would pay. Macraw insisted upon knowing who his two friends were, which Glenaladale seemed unwilling to tell. Macraw still insisted, and Glenaladale told him at last that it was young Clan Ronald and a relation of his. Notwithstanding the consequence of the persons, Macraw, though rich for an ordinary Highlander, made Glenaladale pay very dear for some provisions he gave him. Having received the money, he grew better humoured, and desired Glenaladale and the other two to pass the night in his house, which they did. In the course of the conversation they talked of the times, and Macraw exclaimed against the Highlanders who had taken arms with Charles, and said that they and those who still protected him were fools and madmen; that they ought to deliver themselves and their country from distress by giving him up, and taking the reward which government had offered. That night a Macdonald who had been in the rebel army came to Macraw’s house. At first sight he knew Charles, and took an opportunity of warning Glenaladale to take care that Christopher should not discover the quality of his guest.”

[1277] Kirkconnel MS.

[1278] Chisholm was at Edinburgh many years after the rebellion, and was visited by several persons out of curiosity, some of whom gave him money. In shaking hands with his benefactors he always gave the left hand, and excused himself for offering that hand by stating that as he had shaken hands at parting with the prince, he was resolved never to give his right hand to any man till he saw the prince again.

[1279] Chambers’s Rebellion. Stewart’s Sketches, i. 59.

[1280] The party in question consisted of about two hundred of Lord Loudon’s Highlanders, under Captain Grant of Knockando, Strathspey.

[1281] Appendix to Home’s Works, vol. iii. No. 46. Cluny himself had several places of concealment on his estate. “He lived for nine years chiefly in a cave, at a short distance from his house, which was burnt to the ground by the king’s troops. This cave was in the front of a woody precipice, the trees and shelving rocks completely concealing the entrance. It was dug out by his own people, who worked by night, and conveyed the stones and rubbish into a lake in the neighbourhood, in order that no vestige of their labour might betray the retreat of their master. In this sanctuary he lived secure, occasionally visiting his friends by night, or when time had slackened the rigour of the search. Upwards of one hundred persons knew where he was concealed, and a reward of £1,000 was offered to any one who should give information against him; and as it was known that he was concealed on his estate, eighty men were constantly stationed there, besides the parties occasionally marching into the country to intimidate his tenantry, and induce them to disclose the place of his concealment. But though the soldiers were animated with the hope of the reward, and though a step of promotion to the officer who should apprehend him was superadded, yet so true were his people, so strict to their promise of secrecy, and so dexterous in conveying to him the necessaries he required, in his long confinement, that not a trace of him could be discovered, nor an individual found base enough to give a hint to his detriment. At length, wearied out with this dreary and hopeless state of existence, and taught to despair of pardon, he escaped to France in 1755, and died there the following year.”—Stewart’s Sketches, 3d Edition, vol. i. p. 62.

“The late Sir Hector Munro, then a lieutenant in the 34th regiment, and from his zeal and knowledge of the country and the people, intrusted with the command of a large party, continued two whole years in Badenoch, for the purpose of discovering the chief’s retreat. The unwearied vigilance of the clan could alone have saved him from the diligence of this party. At night Cluny came from his retreat to vary the monotony of his existence, by spending a few of the dark hours convivially with his friends. On one occasion he had been suspected, and got out by a back window just as the military were breaking open the door. At another time, seeing the windows of a house kept close, and several persons going to visit the family after dark, the commander broke in at the window of the suspected chamber, with two loaded pistols, and thus endangered the life of a lady newly delivered of a child, on account of whose confinement these suspicious circumstances had taken place. This shows that there was no want of diligence on the part of the pursuers. Cluny himself became so cautious, while living the life of an outlaw, that on parting with his wife, or his most attached friends, he never told them to which of his concealments he was going, or suffered any one to accompany him,—thus enabling them, when questioned, to answer, that they knew not where he was.”—Idem.

It may be here stated en passant that Cluny did not leave Scotland from his “dreary and hopeless state of existence,” but in compliance with a special request made to him by Prince Charles. See a letter from the prince to Cluny, of 4th Sept., 1754, among the Stuart Papers.

[1282] Vide several letters from Colonel Warren to the Chevalier de St. George and others, among Stuart Papers.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

A.D. 1746–1747.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Commission of Oyer and Terminer—Trial of prisoners—Francis Townley—Jemmy Dawson—Lords Kilmarnock, Cromarty, and Balmerino—Execution of these noblemen—Other executions—Trials at Carlisle and York—Trial and execution of Mr. Ratcliffe—Trial and execution of Lord Lovat—Act of Indemnity passed.

Whilst the issue of the contest remained doubtful, the government took no steps to punish the prisoners who had fallen into their hands at Carlisle; but after the decisive affair of Culloden, when there appeared no chance of the Jacobite party ever having it in their power to retaliate, the government resolved to vindicate the authority of the law by making examples of some of the prisoners.

As it was intended to try the prisoners at different places for the sake of convenience, an act was passed empowering his majesty to try them in any county he might select.

On the 24th and 25th of June bills of indictment were found against 36 of the prisoners taken at Carlisle, and against one David Morgan, a barrister, who had been apprehended in Staffordshire. The court then adjourned till the 3d of July, on which day the prisoners were arraigned. Three only pleaded guilty. The rest applied for a postponement of their trials on the ground that material witnesses for their defence were at a considerable distance. The court in consequence ruled that in cases where witnesses were in England the trial should be put off to the 15th of July, and where they were in Scotland, to the 25th of the same month.

The court accordingly met on the 15th of July, and proceeded with the trial of Francis Townley, Esquire, before a grand jury, at the court-house, Southwark. This unfortunate gentleman had been colonel of the Manchester regiment. He was of a respectable family in Lancashire. Obliged to retire to France in 1728, he had obtained a commission from the King of France, and had served at the siege of Philipsburgh under the Duke of Berwick, who lost his life before the walls of that place. He continued sixteen years in the French service; and after his return to England had received a commission to raise a regiment. A plea was set up by his council, that holding a commission in the French service he was entitled to the benefit of the cartel as well as any other French officer, but this was overruled, and he was found guilty. On the next and two following days eighteen other persons, chiefly officers in the said regiment, were brought to trial. Five were attainted by their own confession of high treason, twelve on a verdict of high treason of levying war against the king, and one was acquitted. These seventeen persons, along with Townley, were all condemned to death, and nine of them, including Townley, were selected for execution on the 30th. The rest were reprieved for three weeks.

Kensington common was the place destined for the execution of these unfortunate men, most of whom met their fate with fortitude and resignation. The execution was accompanied with the disgusting and barbarous details usual at that time in cases of treason.

Two singular and interesting circumstances occurred at this execution. The one was the attendance of a younger brother of Lieutenant Thomas Deacon’s, of the Manchester Regiment, and one of those who had obtained a reprieve. At his own request he was allowed to witness the execution of his brother in a coach under the charge of a guard. The other was one of a very affecting description. Hurried away by the impetuosity of youth, James Dawson, one of the sufferers, the son of a Lancashire gentleman, had abandoned his studies at St. John’s college, Cambridge, and had joined the Jacobite standard. He and a young lady of good family and handsome fortune were warmly attached to each other, and had Dawson been acquitted, or, after condemnation, found mercy, the day of his enlargement was to have been that of their marriage. When all hopes of mercy were extinguished, the young lady resolved to witness the execution of her lover, and so firm was her resolution, that no persuasions of her friends could induce her to abandon her determination. On the morning of the execution she accordingly followed the sledges to the place of execution in a hackney coach, accompanied by a gentleman nearly related to her, and one female friend. She got near enough to see the fire kindled which was to consume that heart she knew was so much devoted to her, and to observe the other appalling preparations without committing any of those extravagances her friends had apprehended. She had even the fortitude to restrain her feelings while the executioner was pulling the cap over the eyes of her lover; but when he was thrown off she in an agony of grief drew back her head into the coach, and, crying out, “My dear, I follow thee, I follow thee;—sweet Jesus, receive both our souls together!” fell upon the neck of her female companion, and instantly expired.[1283]

The principal witness against Townley, Deacon, Dawson, and others, was Samuel Maddock, an ensign in the same regiment, who, to save his own life, turned king’s evidence against his former comrades.[1284]

The individuals next proceeded against were persons of a higher grade. The Marquis of Tullibardine escaped the fate which awaited him, having died of a lingering indisposition in the Tower on the 9th of July; but on the 23d of that month the grand jury of the county of Surrey found bills for high treason against the Earls of Kilmarnock, and Cromarty, and Lord Balmerino. Lord-chancellor Hardwicke was appointed Lord High Steward for the trial of these peers. The indictments being certified, the house of lords fixed the 28th of July for the day of trial. Accordingly, on the day appointed the three lords proceeded from the Tower towards Westminster-hall, where the trial was conducted with great pomp and ceremony.

After the indictments had been read, the Earls of Kilmarnock and Cromarty pleaded “guilty,” and threw themselves entirely upon the king’s mercy. Before pleading to his indictment, Lord Balmerino stated that he was not at Carlisle at the time specified in the indictment, being eleven miles off when that city was taken, and he requested to know from his grace if it would avail him any thing to prove that fact. Lord Hardwicke said that such a circumstance might, or might not, be of use to him; but he informed him that it was contrary to form to permit him to put any questions before pleading to the indictment, by saying whether he was guilty or not guilty. His grace desiring his lordship to plead, the intrepid[1285] Balmerino apparently not understanding the meaning of that legal term, exclaimed, with great animation, “Plead! Why, I am pleading as fast as I can.” The lord-high-steward having explained the import of the phrase, the noble baron answered, “Not guilty.”

The trial then proceeded. Four witnesses were examined. One of them proved that he saw Lord Balmerino ride into Carlisle on a bay horse the day after it was taken by the Highlanders—that he saw him afterwards ride up to the market-place with his sword drawn at the head of his troop of horse, which was the second troop of Charles’s body guards, and was called Elphinstone’s horse. Another witness deponed that he saw his lordship ride into Manchester at the head of his troop, and that he was there when the young Chevalier was proclaimed regent. Two other witnesses proved that his lordship was called colonel of his troop, that he always acted in that station, gave orders on all occasions to his officers, and that he was in great favour with Prince Charles. The evidence on the part of the crown having been finished, the lord-high-steward asked the prisoner if he had any thing to offer in his defence, or meant to call any witnesses. His lordship replied that he had nothing to say, but to make an exception to the indictment which was incorrect in charging him with being at Carlisle at the time it was taken by the Highlanders. The peers then resolved to take the opinion of the judges upon the point, and these were unanimously of opinion, that, as an overt act of treason and other acts of treason had been proved beyond contradiction, there was no occasion to prove explicitly every thing that was laid in the indictment; and that, of course, the prisoner’s objection was not material. The peers then unanimously found Lord Balmerino guilty of high treason, after which, the other two lords were brought to the bar, and were informed by the lord-high-steward, that if either of them had any thing to move in arrest of judgment, they must come prepared on the Wednesday following at eleven o’clock, and state their objections, otherwise sentence of death would be awarded against them. The three lords were then carried back to the Tower in coaches, and the axe, which was in the coach with Lord Balmerino, had its edge pointed towards him.

The court accordingly met again on Wednesday the 30th of July, when the lord-high-steward addressed the prisoners; and beginning with Lord Kilmarnock, asked him if he had any thing to offer why judgment of death should not be passed against him. His lordship stated, that having, from a due sense of his folly, and the heinousness of his crimes, acknowledged his guilt, he meant to offer nothing in extenuation, but to throw himself entirely on the compassion of the court, that it might intercede with his majesty for his royal clemency. He then, in a somewhat humble speech, urged several reasons why he should be treated with clemency, expressing great contrition for having, somewhat against his own inclination, joined in the “unnatural scheme.” He concluded by stating, that if after what he had stated their lordships did not feel themselves called upon to employ their interest with his majesty for his royal clemency, that he would lay down his life with the utmost resignation, and that his last moments should “be employed in fervent prayer for the preservation of the illustrious house of Hanover, and the peace and prosperity of Great Britain.”

The Earl of Cromarty began a most humiliating but pathetic appeal, by declaring that he had been guilty of an offence which merited the highest indignation of his majesty, their lordships, and the public; and that it was from a conviction of his guilt that he had not presumed to trouble their lordships with any defence. “Nothing remains, my lords,” he continued, “but to throw myself, my life, and fortune, upon your lordships’ compassion; but of these, my lords, as to myself is the least part of my sufferings. I have involved an affectionate wife, with an unborn infant, as parties of my guilt, to share its penalties; I have involved my eldest son, whose infancy and regard for his parents hurried him down the stream of rebellion. I have involved also eight innocent children, who must feel their parent’s punishment before they know his guilt. Let them, my lords, be pledges to his majesty; let them be pledges to your lordships; let them be pledges to my country for mercy; let the silent eloquence of their grief and tears; let the powerful language of innocent nature supply my want of eloquence and persuasion; let me enjoy mercy, but no longer than I deserve it; and let me no longer enjoy life than I shall use it to deface the crime I have been guilty of. Whilst I thus intercede to his majesty through the mediation of your lordships for mercy, let my remorse for my guilt as a subject; let the sorrow of my heart as a husband; let the anguish of my mind as a father, speak the rest of my misery. As your lordships are men, feel as men; but may none of you ever suffer the smallest part of my anguish. But if after all, my lords, my safety shall be found inconsistent with that of the public, and nothing but my blood can atone for my unhappy crime; if the sacrifice of my life, my fortune and family, is judged indispensably necessary for stopping the loud demands for public justice; and if the bitter cup is not to pass from me, not mine, but thy will, O God, be done.”

When the lord-high-steward addressed Lord Balmerino, he produced a paper, and desired it might be read. His grace told his lordship that he was at liberty to read it if he pleased; but his lordship replied that his voice was too low, and that he could not read it so distinctly as he could wish. One of the clerks of parliament, by order of the lord-high-steward, then read the paper, which was to this effect:—That although his majesty had been empowered by an act of parliament, made the last session, to appoint the trials for high treason to take place in any county he should appoint; yet, as the alleged act of treason was stated to have been committed at Carlisle, and prior to the passing of the said act, he ought to have been indicted at Carlisle, and not in the county of Surrey, as the act could not have a retrospective effect. His lordship prayed the court to assign him counsel to argue the point. The peers, after consideration, agreed to his petition for counsel, and at his request assigned him Messrs. Wilbraham and Forrester, and adjourned the court to the 1st of August.

The three prisoners were again brought back from the Tower. On that day the lord-high-steward asked Lord Balmerino if he was then ready by his counsel to argue the point, which he proposed to the court on the previous day. His lordship answered, that as his counsel had advised him that there was nothing in the objection sufficient to found an arrest of judgment upon, he begged to withdraw the objection, and craved their lordships’ pardon for giving them so much trouble. The prisoners then all declaring that they submitted themselves to the court, Lord Hardwicke addressed them in a suitable speech, and concluded by pronouncing the following sentence:[1286]—“The judgment of the law is, and this high court doth award, that you, William, Earl of Kilmarnock; George, Earl of Cromarty; and Arthur Lord Balmerino, and every of you, return to the prison of the Tower from whence you came: from thence you must be drawn to the place of execution: when you come there, you must be hanged by the neck, but not till you are dead; for you must be cut down alive; then your bowels must be taken out and burnt before your faces; then your heads must be severed from your bodies; and your bodies must be divided each into four quarters; and these must be at the king’s disposal. And God Almighty be merciful to your souls.” Then the prisoners were removed from the bar, and after taking a cold collation which had been prepared for them, were carried back to the Tower in the same order and form as before.

The Earl of Kilmarnock immediately presented a petition to the king for mercy, and also another, a copy of the first, to the Prince of Wales, praying his royal highness’s intercession with his majesty in his behalf; and a third to the Duke of Cumberland for a similar purpose. In this last mentioned petition he asserted his innocence of charges which had been made against him, of having advised the putting to death of the prisoners taken by the Highland army before the battle of Culloden, and of advising or approving of an alleged order for giving no quarter to his majesty’s troops in that battle. In the petitions to the king and the Prince of Wales, the earl declared that he had surrendered himself at the battle of Culloden, at a time when he could have easily escaped; but he afterwards admitted that the statement was untrue, and that he was induced to make it from a strong desire for life; that he had no intention of surrendering; and that, with the view of facilitating his escape, he had gone towards the body of horse which made him prisoner, thinking that it was Fitz-James’s horse, with the design of mounting behind a dragoon. These petitions were entirely disregarded.

The Earl of Cromarty, with better claims to mercy, also petitioned the king. In support of this application the countess waited upon the lords of the cabinet council, and presented a petition to each of them; and, on the Sunday following the sentence, she went to Kensington-palace in deep mourning, accompanied by Lady Stair, to intercede with his majesty in behalf of her husband. She was a woman of great strength of mind, and though far advanced in pregnancy, had hitherto displayed surprising fortitude; but on the present trying occasion she gave way to grief. She took her station in the entrance through which the king was to pass to chapel, and when he approached she fell upon her knees, seized him by the coat, and presented her supplication, fainted away at his feet. The king immediately raised her up, and taking the petition, gave it in charge of the Duke of Grafton, one of his attendants. He then desired Lady Stair to conduct her to one of the apartments. The Dukes of Hamilton and Montrose, the Earl of Stair and other courtiers, backed these petitions for the royal mercy by a personal application to the king, who granted a pardon to the earl on the 9th of August.

The high-minded Balmerino disdained to compromise his principles by suing for pardon, and when he heard that his fellow-prisoners had applied for mercy, he sarcastically remarked, that as they must have great interest at court, they might have squeezed his name in with their own. From the time of his sentence down to his execution, he showed no symptoms of fear. He never entertained any hopes of pardon, for he said he considered his case desperate, as he had been once pardoned before. When Lady Balmerino expressed her great concern for the approaching fate of her Lord, he said, “Grieve not, my dear Peggy, we must all die once, and this is but a few years very likely before my death must have happened some other way: therefore, wipe away your tears; you may marry again, and get a better husband.” About a week after his sentence a gentleman went to see him, and apologising for intruding upon him when he had such a short time to live, his lordship replied, “Oh! Sir, no intrusion at all: I have done nothing to make my conscience uneasy. I shall die with a true heart, and undaunted; for I think no man fit to live who is not fit to die; nor am I any ways concerned at what I have done.” Being asked a few days before his execution in what manner he would go to the scaffold, he answered, “I will go in the regimentals which I wore when I was first taken, with a woollen shirt next my skin, which will serve me instead of a shroud to be buried in.” Being again asked why he would not have a new suit of black, he replied, “It would be thought very imprudent in a man to repair an old house when the lease of it was near expiring; and the lease of my life expires next Monday.” The king could not but admire the high bearing and manly demeanour of this unfortunate nobleman; and when the friends of the other prisoners were making unceasing applications to him for mercy, he said, “Does nobody intercede for poor Balmerino? He, though a rebel, is at least an honest man.” According to Walpole, Balmerino was “jolly with his pretty Peggy” almost to the very last.

On the 11th of August an order was signed in council for the execution of the Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino, and on the 12th two writs passed the great seal, empowering the constable of the Tower to deliver their bodies to the sheriffs of London, for execution on Monday the 18th. The order for their execution on the 18th of August having been announced to the unfortunate noblemen by Mr. Foster, a dissenting clergyman, Lord Kilmarnock received the intelligence with all the composure of a man resigned to his fate, but at the same time with a deep feeling of concern for his future state. Balmerino, who perhaps had as strong a sense of religion as Kilmarnock, received the news with the utmost unconcern. He and his lady were sitting at dinner when the warrant arrived, and, being informed of it, her ladyship started up from the table and fainted away. His lordship raised her up, and, after she had recovered, he requested her to resume her seat at table and finish her dinner.

On the Saturday preceding the execution, General Williamson, at Kilmarnock’s desire, as is supposed, gave him a minute detail of all the circumstances of solemnity and outward terror which would accompany it.

Balmerino was not actuated with the same feeling of curiosity as Kilmarnock was to know the circumstances which would attend his execution, but awaited his fate with the indifference of a martyr desirous of sealing his faith with his blood. The following letter, written by him on the eve of his execution, to the Chevalier de St. George, strikingly exemplifies the cool intrepidity of the man, and the sterling honesty with which he adhered to his principles:—

“Sir,—You may remember that, in the year 1716, when your Majesty was in Scotland, I left a company of foot, purely with a design to serve your Majesty, and, had I not made my escape then, I should certainly have been shot for a deserter.

“When I was abroad I lived many years at my own charges before I ask’d any thing from you, being unwilling to trouble your Majesty while I had any thing of my own to live upon, and when my father wrote me that he had a remission for me, which was got without my asking or knowledge, I did not accept of it till I first had your Majesty’s permission. Sir, when His Royal Highness the Prince, your son, came to Edinburgh, as it was my bounden and indispensable duty, I joyn’d him, for which I am to-morrow to lose my head on a scaffold, whereat I am so far from being dismayed, that it gives me great satisfaction and peace of mind that I die in so righteous a cause. I hope, Sir, on these considerations, your Majesty will provide for my wife so as she may not want bread, which otherwise she must do, my brother having left more debt on the estate than it was worth, and having nothing in the world to give her. I am, with the most profound respect, Sir, your Majesty’s most faithful and devoted subject and servant,

“Balmerino.”[1287]

“Tower of London, }
17th August, 1746.” }

On Monday, the 18th of August, great preparations were made on Tower-hill for the execution. At ten o’clock the block was fixed on the stage, covered with black cloth, and several sacks of sawdust were provided to be strewed upon the scaffold. Soon after the two coffins were brought and placed upon the scaffold. Upon Kilmarnock’s coffin was a plate with this inscription, “Gulielmus Comes de Kilmarnock, decollatus 18º Augusti, 1746, ætat. suæ 42,” with an earl’s coronet over it, and six coronets over the six handles. The plate on Balmerino’s coffin bore this inscription, “Arthurus Dominus de Balmerino, decollatus 18º Augusti, 1746, ætat. suæ 58,” surmounted by a baron’s coronet, and with six others over the handles.

These preparations were completed about half-past ten, when the sheriffs, accompanied by their officers, went to the Tower, and, knocking at the door, demanded “The bodies of William, Earl of Kilmarnock, and Arthur, Lord Balmerino.” General Williamson thereupon went to inform the prisoners that the sheriffs were in attendance. When told that he was wanted, Lord Kilmarnock, who had just been engaged in prayer with Mr. Foster, betrayed no fear, but said, with great composure, “General, I am ready; I’ll follow you.” On leaving the Tower, Kilmarnock and Balmerino met at the foot of the stair. They embraced each other, and Balmerino said, “I am heartily sorry to have your company in this expedition.” The ill-fated noblemen were then brought to the Tower-gate, and delivered over to the sheriffs. When the prisoners were leaving the Tower, the deputy-lieutenant, according to an ancient usage, cried, “God bless King George!” to which Kilmarnock assented by a bow, but Balmerino emphatically exclaimed, “God bless King James!” The prisoners were then conducted to the house fitted up for their reception, and, being put into separate apartments, their friends were admitted to see them. When the prisoners arrived at the door of the house, some persons among the crowd were heard asking others, “Which is Lord Balmerino?” His lordship, overhearing the question, turned a little about, and, with a smile, said, “I am Balmerino, gentlemen, at your service.”

About eleven o’clock Lord Balmerino sent a message to Lord Kilmarnock requesting an interview, which being consented to, Balmerino was brought into Kilmarnock’s apartment. The following dialogue, as reported by Mr. Foster, then ensued. Balmerino—“My lord, I beg leave to ask your lordship one question.” Kilmarnock—“To any question, my lord, that you shall think proper to ask, I believe I shall see no reason to decline giving an answer.” B. “Why then, my lord, did you ever see or know of any order signed by the prince, to give no quarter at Culloden?” K. “No, my lord.” B. “Nor I neither; and therefore it seems to be an invention to justify their own murders.” K. “No, my lord, I do not think that inference can be drawn from it; because, while I was at Inverness, I was informed by several officers that there was such an order, signed ‘George Murray;’ and that it was in the duke’s custody.” B. “Lord George Murray! Why, then, they should not charge it upon the prince.” After this conversation the prisoners tenderly saluted each other, and Balmerino, after bidding his friend in affliction an eternal and happy adieu, added, with a countenance beaming with benignity, “My dear lord, I wish I could alone pay the reckoning and suffer for us both.”

Lord Kilmarnock appeared to be most anxious to impress upon the minds of those who were with him the sincerity of his repentance for the crime for which he was about to suffer. He declared himself fully satisfied with the legality of King George’s title to the crown, and stated that his attachment to the reigning family, which had suffered a slight interruption, was then as strong as ever. He spent a considerable time in devotion with Mr. Foster, till he got a hint from the sheriffs that the time was far advanced, his rank as an earl giving him a melancholy priority on the scaffold. After Mr. Foster had said a short prayer, his lordship took a tender farewell of the persons who attended him, and, preceded by the sheriffs, left the room followed by his friends. Notwithstanding the great trouble he had taken, in accordance with the wish of Mr. Foster, to familiarise his mind with the outward apparatus of death, he was appalled when he stepped upon the scaffold at beholding the dreadful scene around him, and, turning round about to one of the clergymen, said, “Home, this is terrible!” He was attired in a suit of black clothes, and, though his countenance was composed, he had a melancholy air about him, which indicated great mental suffering. Many of the spectators near the scaffold were so much affected by his appearance that they could not refrain from tears, and even the executioner was so overcome that he was obliged to drink several glasses of spirits to enable him to perform his dreadful duty.

Mr. Foster, who had accompanied his lordship to the scaffold, remained on it a short time in earnest conversation, and having quitted it, the executioner came forward and asked his lordship’s forgiveness in executing the very painful task he had to perform. The unhappy nobleman informed the executioner that he readily forgave him, and presenting him a purse containing five guineas, desired him to have courage. His lordship then took off his upper clothes, turned down the neck of his shirt under his vest, and undoing his long dressed hair from the bag which contained it, tied it round his head in a damask cloth in the form of a cap. He then informed the executioner that he would drop a handkerchief as a signal for the stroke about two minutes after he had laid his head down upon the block. Either to support himself, or as a more convenient posture for devotion, he laid his hands upon the block. On observing this the executioner begged his lordship to let his hands fall down, lest they should be mangled or break the blow. Being told that the neck of his waistcoat was in the way, he rose up, and with the help of Colonel Craufurd, one of his friends, had it taken off. The neck being now made completely bare to the shoulders, the earl again knelt down as before. This occurrence did not in the least discompose him, and Mr. Home’s servant, who held the cloth to receive his head, heard him, after laying down his head the second time, put the executioner in mind that in two minutes he would give the signal. He spent this short time in fervent devotion. Then, fixing his neck upon the block, he gave the fatal signal; his body remained without the least motion till the stroke of the axe, which at the first blow almost severed the head from the body. A small piece of skin which still united them was cut through by another stroke. The head, which was received into a scarlet cloth, was not exposed, in consequence, it is said, of the earl’s own request, but along with the body, was deposited in the coffin, which was delivered to his friends, and placed by them in the hearse. The scaffold was then strewed over with fresh sawdust, and the executioner, who was dressed in white, changed such of his clothes as were stained with blood.

The first act of this bloody tragedy being now over, the under-sheriff went to Balmerino’s apartments to give him notice that his time was come. “I suppose,” said his lordship on seeing this functionary enter, “my Lord Kilmarnock is no more.” Being answered in the affirmative, he asked the under-sheriff how the executioner had performed his duty, and upon receiving the account, he said, “then it was well done, and now, gentlemen, (continued the inflexible Balmerino, turning to his friends,) I will detain you no longer, for I desire not to protract my life.” During the time spent in Kilmarnock’s execution Balmerino had conversed cheerfully with his friends, and twice refreshed himself with a bit of bread and a glass of wine, desiring the company to drink him “a degree to heaven.” Saluting each of his friends in the most affectionate manner, he bade them all adieu, and leaving them bathed in tears, he hastened to the scaffold, which he mounted with a firm step.

The strong feeling of pity with which the spectators had beheld the handsome though emaciated figure of the gentle Kilmarnock gave place to sensations of another kind, when they beheld the bold and strongly-built personage who now stood on the stage before them. Attired in the same regimentals of blue turned up with red which he had worn at the battle of Culloden, and treading the scaffold with a firm step and an undaunted air, he gloried in the cause for which he suffered, and forced the assembled multitude to pay an unwilling tribute of admiration to his greatness of soul. His friends, on beholding the apparatus of death, expressed great concern; but his lordship reproved their anxiety. His lordship walked round the scaffold, and bowed to the people. He then went to the coffin, and reading the inscription, said it was correct. With great composure he examined the block, which he called his “pillow of rest.” He then put on his spectacles, and, pulling a paper from his pocket, read it to the few persons about him, in which he declared his firm attachment to the house of Stuart, and stated that the only fault he had ever committed deserving his present fate, and for which he expressed his sincere regret, was in having served in the armies of the enemies of that house, Queen Anne and George I. He complained that he had not been well used by the lieutenant of the Tower, but that having received the sacrament the day before, and read several of the Psalms of David, he had forgiven him, and said that he now died in charity with all men.

Calling at last for the executioner, that functionary stepped forward to ask his forgiveness, but Balmerino interrupted him, and said, “Friend, you need not ask my forgiveness; the execution of your duty is commendable.” Then, presenting him with three guineas, his lordship added, “Friend, I never had much money; this is all I have, I wish it was more for your sake, and I am sorry I can add nothing else to it but my coat and waistcoat.” These he instantly took off, and laid them down on the coffin. He then put on the flannel waistcoat which he had provided, and a tartan cap on his head, to signify, as he said, that he died a Scotchman; and going to the block, placed his head upon it in order to show the executioner the signal for the blow, which was by dropping his arms. Returning then to his friends, he took an affectionate farewell of them, and, surveying the vast number of spectators, said, “I am afraid there are some who may think my behaviour bold; but,” addressing a gentleman near him, he added, “remember, Sir, what I tell you; it arises from a confidence in God, and a clear conscience.”

Observing at this moment the executioner with the axe in his hand, he went up, and, taking it from him, felt the edge. On returning the fatal instrument, Balmerino showed him where to strike the blow, and encouraged him to do it with resolution, “for in that, friend,” said he, “will consist your mercy.” His lordship, then, with a countenance beaming with joy, knelt down at the block, and extending his arms, said the following prayer:—“O Lord, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, bless the prince and the duke, and receive my soul.” He then instantly dropt his arms. The executioner, taken unawares by the suddenness of the signal, hurriedly raised the axe, and missing his aim, struck the ill-fated lord between the shoulders, a blow which, it has been said, deprived the unfortunate nobleman of sensation; but it has been averred by some of the spectators, that Balmerino turned his head a little round upon the block, gnashed his teeth, and gave the executioner a ghastly stare. Taking immediately a better aim, the executioner gave a second blow, which almost severed the head from the body, and deprived the noble victim of life. The body having fallen from the block, it was instantly replaced, and the executioner, once more raising the fatal weapon, finished his task. The head was received in a piece of red cloth, and deposited along with the body in the coffin, and being put into a hearse, was carried to the chapel of the Tower, and buried with that of Lord Kilmarnock, near the remains of Lord Tullibardine. Mr. Humphreys, curate of the chapel, read the funeral service, and when he came to the words, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” two gentlemen, friends of the deceased, took up the spades and performed the office of the grave-diggers.

For a time the unhappy fate of the two lords almost exclusively engaged the attention of the public; and in private circles, as well as in the periodicals of the day, the conduct and bearing of the unfortunate noblemen were viewed and commented upon according to the partialities and feelings of the parties. By the whigs, and generally by all persons of a real or affected seriousness of mind, Kilmarnock was regarded as a perfect model of the dying Christian, who, though he had been guilty of base ingratitude to the government, and had told a falsehood at his trial, had fully atoned for his offences by his contrition; whilst his companion in suffering was looked upon as an incorrigible rebel, who had braved death with an unbecoming levity. The Jacobites, however, and even some of the friends of the revolution settlement, whilst they could not but admire the calm resignation of Kilmarnock, heartily despised the cringing pusillanimity which he displayed to soften the resentment of the government. Balmerino was viewed by them in a very different light. Whilst the Jacobites looked upon him as an illustrious martyr, who had added a lustre to their cause by his inflexible intrepidity and the open avowal of his sentiments, the other section of his admirers applauded his courage, and paid a just tribute to his honesty. The more dispassionate judgment of posterity has done ample justice to the rectitude and magnanimity of this unfortunate nobleman.

The next victims to the offended laws were Donald Macdonald, of the Keppoch family, who had served as a captain in the regiment of that chief, Walter Ogilvy, a young man of good family in Banffshire, a lieutenant in Lord Lewis Gordon’s regiment, and James Nicolson, who had kept a coffee-house in Leith. These three, with one Alexander Macgrowther, who also held a commission in the Highland army, were taken at Carlisle. When brought to the bar of the court at St. Margaret’s-hill, the three first pleaded guilty, and begged for mercy; but Macgrowther attempted to defend himself on the ground that he was forced into the insurrection by the Duke of Perth against his will, having as a vassal no power to withstand the commands of his superior.[1288] This defence, corresponding in very many cases with reality, and which was also made by many of the Scotch prisoners, was overruled. On the 2d of August these four persons were condemned, and Macgrowther having been afterwards reprieved; the remainder suffered on Kennington-common, on the 22d of the same month. Macdonald and Nicolson were executed in their Highland dress. The same revolting process of disembowelling, &c., practised upon the bodies of Townley and his companions, was gone through; but the spectators were spared the revolting spectacle, which was witnessed on that occasion, of cutting down the prisoners whilst alive.

At Perth, on the 19th of September, Captain Crosby, who had deserted from the British army in Flanders, and come to Scotland with the French troops, was hanged, and two deserters were shot. A singular incident happened on this occasion. To carry the sentence against Crosby into execution on the day appointed, the hangman of Perth was secured in the town prison; but having apparently no certainty that he would perform his painful duty, the hangman of Stirling was sent for by the magistrates, who, upon his appearance, liberated the timorous functionary. The hangman immediately fled the place. Captain Crosby was brought to the place of execution on the appointed day, but before the time for throwing him off arrived, the executioner dropt down dead. After remaining a considerable time at the place of execution the guard was returning with Crosby to the prison, when an infamous criminal, who was a prisoner in the jail, offered to hang the captain for a reward of ten guineas and a free pardon. The authorities having acceded to the demand of this ruffian, Crosby was immediately carried back to the place of execution, and suffered with great fortitude.[1289]

The sittings at St. Margaret’s-hill were resumed on the 23d of August, and were continued from time to time for about two months. Bills were found against thirty-two persons, besides Lord Macleod and Secretary Murray; but these last were not brought to trial. Of the thirty-two tried no less than twenty-two were convicted at different times, all of whom received sentence of death on the 15th of November. Of these, eight of the principal were ordered for execution on the 28th of that month. Among these were Sir John Wedderburn, John Hamilton, Andrew Wood, Alexander Leith, and James Bradshaw. Sir John Wedderburn had acted as receiver in the counties of Perth and Angus of the ale and malt arrears raised by the Highland army; Hamilton had been governor of Carlisle; Wood, a youth of two-and-twenty, had distinguished himself as a volunteer in Roy Stewart’s regiment; Leith had served as a captain in the Duke of Perth’s regiment, and though old and infirm, had been remarkable for zeal and activity; and Bradshaw had shown his devotion to the cause of the Stuarts by giving up a lucrative business as a merchant in Manchester, and expending all his wealth to promote it. He entered the Manchester regiment; but thinking that he could be of more use by marching with the Highland army into Scotland than by remaining at Carlisle, he joined Lord Elcho’s corps, and was taken prisoner after the battle of Culloden.

On the morning of the execution two of the prisoners of the name of Farquharson and Watson obtained a reprieve, as also did one Lindsay, just as he was about to step into the sledge. The effect upon this man’s feelings, when his pardon was announced, was such, that his life appeared for a time in danger. The five prisoners were then drawn to the place of execution in two sledges, where their doom was sealed. Bradshaw read a paper, in which he declared that he had joined “the king’s forces” from a principle of duty only, and that he never had reason since to be convinced that he had been mistaken; but that, on the contrary, every day’s experience had strengthened his opinion that what he had done was right and necessary. He stated that he had had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the most ungenerous enemy he believed ever assumed the name of a soldier,—“the pretended duke of Cumberland, and those under his command,” whose inhumanity, he observed, had exceeded every thing he could have imagined, “in a country where the name of a God is allowed of.” He expressed his firm conviction, that the order attributed to Charles to give no quarter was “a malicious, wicked report, raised by the friends of the usurper” to excuse the cruelties committed by his troops in Scotland. After a high eulogium upon the qualifications of the prince, the paper concluded with a prayer for the preservation of “King James the Third, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York.”

Besides the trials at Southwark, other trials took place at Carlisle and York, chiefly of prisoners taken at Culloden. No less than 382 of these unfortunate beings had been brought to Carlisle; but as the trial of such a great number of persons, with a view to capital punishment, might appear extremely harsh, and would be inconvenient, a proposal was made to the common prisoners, who formed the great mass, that, with certain exceptions, only one in every twenty, chosen by lot, should be tried, and that the remainder should be transported. This proposal was acceded to by a considerable number. By this means the number for trial was reduced to 127, who were immediately separated from the others, and with the exception of two—Sir Archibald Primrose and Captain Hay—thrust into one room in the keep of the castle, where their miseries induced many to hatch futile plots for escape.[1290]

The judges adjourned to the 9th of September; and, in the mean time, they repaired to York, where the grand jury found bills against 75 persons confined there. The judges resumed their sittings at Carlisle for the trial of the prisoners there, on the 9th of September, on which, and the two following days, the prisoners, against whom bills had been found, were arraigned. Bills were found against 15 more on the 12th, making a total of 134. Of these, 11 pled guilty when arraigned; 32 entered the same plea when brought to trial; 48 were found guilty, of whom 11 were recommended to mercy, 36 acquitted, 5 remanded to prison till further evidence should be procured, and 1 obtained delay on an allegation of his being a peer. The judges resumed their sittings at York on the 2d of October, and sat till the 7th. Of the 75 persons indicted, 2 pled guilty when arraigned, 52 when brought to trial, and 16 were found guilty, 4 of whom were recommended to mercy. All these received sentence of death. Five only were acquitted.

Of the 91 prisoners under sentence at Carlisle, 30 were ordered for execution; 9 of whom were accordingly executed at Carlisle on the 18th of October.[1291] Six were executed at Brampton on the 21st of the same month, and 7 suffered at Penrith. Seven out of the 30 were reprieved, and 1 died in prison. All those who were executed underwent the usual process of unbowelling.

Among those who suffered at Carlisle on October 18th, were Major Donald Macdonald of Tynedrish—he who, short-sighted, unwittingly allowed himself to be made prisoner after the battle of Falkirk. He was one of the first to join Prince Charles after his landing, and it is supposed that Sir Walter Scott had him in his mind, when he drew the character of Fergus M’Ivor, in Waverley. Another was the brave and chivalrous laird of Kinloch-Moidart, described as a plain honest man, exceedingly cool-headed, and fitted for either the cabinet or the field, but unable to resist the persuasions of his brother Æneas Macdonald, the Paris banker, who accompanied Charles to Scotland—and the fascination which the prince seems to have exercised on those whom he personally addressed. An acquaintance of Macdonald’s visited him when he was confined a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, and asked him how he came to engage in so desperate an undertaking, which never had a probability of success? “I myself was against it,” he replied; “but, Lord man, what could I do when the young lad came to my house?”[1292]

On the 1st of November 10 of the prisoners condemned at York suffered in that city, and on the 8th of the same month, 11 others suffered the same fate. Another prisoner suffered on the 15th November. The work of death closed at Carlisle on the 15th of December by the immolation of 11 more victims.

Out of the 77 persons who thus suffered, it is remarkable that, with the solitary exception of Lord Kilmarnock, they all maintained, to the very last, the justice of the cause for which they suffered. The more enthusiastic among them even openly declared that they would continue to support the claim of the exiled family to the crown if set at liberty.

Notwithstanding this useless waste of human blood, the government did not consider the work of destruction complete till the lives of two individuals, who lay more especially under its ban, were sacrificed, as the last atonement to public justice. These were Charles Ratcliffe and Lord Lovat. The former was a younger brother of the Earl of Derwentwater, who suffered in 1716, and whose title Mr. Ratcliffe had assumed. He had been engaged in the former insurrection, taken at Preston, and condemned, but made his escape out of Newgate; and after passing some years in France and Italy, married the Countess of Newburgh at Paris. He had visited England privately in 1733, and returned again two years thereafter, when he appeared openly in public. Soliciting his pardon without success, he returned to France, where he remained till November, 1745, when he was made prisoner on board a French vessel, on her way to Scotland with supplies for Prince Charles. He was arraigned at the bar of the court of king’s bench on the 21st of November, 1746, upon his former sentence; but he refused either to plead or to acknowledge the authority of the court, on the ground that he was a subject of France, where he had resided thirty years, and honoured with a commission in the service of his most Christian majesty. Being brought to the bar next day, his former sentence being read over to him, he pleaded that he was not the person therein mentioned; but his identity being clearly established, he was ordered to be executed on the 8th of December. His aunt, Lady Petre, did every thing in her power to save him, or at least to procure a respite till his lady should arrive from Paris, but without success. Some demur seems, however, to have existed, as the preparations for his execution were so long delayed, that the carpenters were obliged to work on the scaffold on Sunday the day before the execution, and all the following night.

The preparations for his execution were somewhat the same as those in the cases of Kilmarnock and Balmerino. He was dressed in a suit of scarlet, faced with black velvet trimmed with gold, a gold-laced waistcoat, and wore a white feather in his hat. When he came upon the scaffold he took a tender farewell of his friends, and after spending about seven minutes in prayer on his knees, he rose, and pulling off his clothes, went forward to the block, on which he placed his head to try how it fitted. He then spoke to the executioner as if giving him directions, and kneeling down again, and fixing his head upon the block, in about two minutes he gave the signal to the executioner, who, as in the case of Balmerino, did not complete his work till he had given the third blow. The head was received in a scarlet cloth. Without the levity of Balmerino, Mr. Ratcliffe displayed the same manly fortitude and contempt of death exhibited by that unfortunate nobleman. He died, as he had lived, a Catholic; and so warmly was he attached to the faith of his ancestors, that when some zealous Protestant objected to him that some of the tenets of his religion were contrary to reason, he is said to have wished, that for every such tenet, the belief of which was required by the church, there were twenty, that he might have a larger field for exercising his faith.[1293] His body was delivered over to his friends, and interred by them, on the 11th of November, at St. Giles’s-in-the-fields, near the remains of his brother.

The last scene of this bloody tragedy ended with the trial and execution of the aged Lord Lovat, who had been confined in the Tower since the 15th of August. He was impeached by the House of Commons on the 11th of December, and was brought to the bar of the House of Peers on the 18th, when the articles of impeachment were read to him.[1294] At his own desire, four gentlemen were assigned him for counsel, and he was appointed to put in answers to the articles of impeachment on or before the 13th of January. The trial, which was appointed to take place on the 23d of February, was postponed to the 5th, and afterwards to the 9th of March, on which day it commenced. The articles of impeachment were in substance, that he had compassed and imagined the death of the king,—that he had corresponded with the Pretender, accepted a commission from him to be a lieutenant-general of his forces, and another to be general of the Highlanders, and that he had accepted a patent from the Pretender creating him Duke of Fraser,—that he had met with armed traitors, and had raised great numbers of armed men for the service of the Pretender and his son, and had traitorously levied a cruel and unnatural war against his majesty,—that he had sent a treasonable letter to the son of the Pretender when in arms within the kingdom,—that he had also sent treasonable letters to other persons, then openly in arms against the king,—that he had assisted the rebels in their traitorous designs, and had sent his eldest son, and many of his name, family, and dependents, to the assistance of the Pretender’s eldest son, and had given them instructions in the prosecution of the rebellion,—and finally, that he had traitorously, both in person and by letters, held correspondence with the eldest son of the Pretender, and with divers persons employed by him, and particularly with Murray of Broughton, the two Lochiels, John Roy Stewart, Dr. Cameron, and others. To all these charges Lord Lovat gave a pointed denial.

Simon, Lord Lovat.—(From Hogarth’s Picture.)

They were, however, fully established by the strongest proofs. The written evidence consisted of papers found in his lordship’s strong box, besides some letters which he had written to Prince Charles, the last of which having come into the hands of Murray of Broughton, in his capacity of secretary to the prince, were basely delivered up by him to save his own worthless life. Lord Lovat exerted all his ingenuity to evade the force of the evidence; but the proofs of his criminality were too clear to admit of any doubt. His lordship objected to the admissibility of Murray as a witness, on the ground that he was attainted by act of parliament made in the previous session, and that he had not surrendered himself in terms of the act. Having stated that he had several objections against the witness, one or two of which he considered essential, a discussion ensued as to whether all these objections should not at once be stated. As giving a fair sample of the manner in which the trial was conducted, the argument on both sides, on the point alluded to, is here given:—

“Mr. Attorney-General.—My lords, I observe that the noble lord at the bar said that he had several objections to the examining this witness, and that one or two of them were essential; but the noble lord has not mentioned more than one. I presume, my lords, it would be proper that he should name all his objections at once, that the managers may have an opportunity of answering them all, and receiving your lordships’ judgment upon the whole; therefore, if he has any other objections to offer, it would be proper he should mention them now to your lordships. Lord Lovat.—My lords, I submit it to your lordships that that is a very odd proposition. I give your lordships an essential one now, and when that is answered I have another. I am not to be directed by those who are my persecutors. Lord-High-Steward.—My Lord Lovat, you are not to be directed by your accusers, but by the lords who are your judges; and the course of proceeding in this and all other courts is, that a person, who objects to any witness, should name all his objections at the same time; and it is the more material in this court, as it tends to prevent the trouble of making several unnecessary adjournments. Lord L.—My lords, as this objection is very essential, I pray that it may be answered before I make another. Lord Talbot.—If this is a material objection to the witness, then there will be no occasion for any other; but if it is an immaterial one, then your lordships may go into any other; but the way proposed by the managers may be very detrimental to the unhappy person at the bar. Lord H. S.—Your lordships hear what is proposed; and the question is, whether the noble lord at the bar shall name all his objections now, or take them up one by one. Sir William Yonge, (one of the managers from the commons.)—My lords, I should hope that, in any course of proceeding, where objections of this kind are made, they should be made all together; for if they are made separate, we must consequently make distinct answers to them all, which may oblige your lordships to adjourn often to the chamber of parliament, which will create a great and unnecessary delay of time: and my lords, there can be no objection to his naming the whole at once, since they will all be distinctly considered by your lordships, and undoubtedly receive distinct answers. I therefore humbly insist, that he may be obliged to name all his objections at once. Mr. Noel, (another manager.)—My lords, what we are now upon is no point of law at all: it is simply, whether the noble lord at the bar as is usual should not name all his objections at once? When he does name them, then to such as are clear points of law he must be heard by his counsel; but at present, my lords, we are upon a question concerning the course of proceeding, whether he shall name them all at once, that they may be taken into consideration at the same time? My lords, one thing struck me in a very extraordinary manner:—It was said by the noble lord at the bar, that he was not to be directed by his persecutors. My lords, we are no persecutors; we persecute no man; we are intrusted by the commons, who carry on this prosecution against the noble lord at the bar for treason, and we prosecute for the preservation of the king’s government and the laws of the land. Lord L.—My lords, I said I was not to be directed by those who accused me. Your lordships cannot expect I can say what I have to offer in an eloquent manner. My lords, should the saving of a little time be a reason for taking away a person’s life? I hope these will not act like the parricides who took off the head of both kingdoms in a day by their prosecution. I am a peer of this land, and I think no excuse of saving time should be allowed as a reason to destroy me. Lord H. S.—My Lord Lovat, the lords will use all the deliberation, and give you all the time that is requisite for your defence; but I must beg your lordship will have so much consideration as to keep your temper, and not suffer yourself to be hurried into passion, for that may greatly prejudice you in making your defence. Your lordship will find the advantage in your defence by keeping your temper. Lord L.—I give your lordship my humble thanks: and since your lordships will not allow me counsel, I have spoke the little nonsense I had to say; but now your lordships shall hear me say nothing out of temper. Lord H. S.—My Lord Lovat, the question now is, whether you shall name all your objections at once? I must acquaint your lordship that that is the rule in the courts below, that if several objections are made to a witness, they are all named at once, in order to prevent unnecessary delays. Lord L.—My lords, to show how much I desire to save time, though, according to the course of nature, my time can be but short, I am so far from desiring to give your lordships trouble, or to prolong time, that I do insist upon this objection to the witness, and rely upon it as the only material objection.”[1295]

The managers having offered to prove, by the record of the court of King’s bench, that Mr. Murray had surrendered himself within the time prescribed, the question whether the record should be received in evidence, was argued at great length by the counsel for Lord Lovat, and the managers on the part of the prosecution. Having decided that the record might be read and given in evidence, Lord Lovat offered to falsify the record, by proving, in opposition to the averment therein contained, that Mr. Murray had not surrendered himself as required by the act of parliament. The court, however, decided that the record of the court of King’s bench, which was, nevertheless, literally untrue, could not be falsified by oral evidence.

Being called upon to make his defence on the sixth day of the trial, Lovat gave in a long paper, in which he commented with great severity upon the witnesses, whose testimony he maintained was not to be credited. He designated Secretary Murray as “the most abandoned of mankind, who, forgetting his allegiance to his king and country, had, according to his own confession, endeavoured to destroy both, like another Catiline, to patch up a broken fortune upon the ruin and distress of his native country. To-day stealing into France to enter into engagements upon the most sacred oath of fidelity; soon after, like a sanguinary monster, putting his hand and seal to a bloody proclamation, full of rewards for the apprehending of the sacred person of his majesty, and lest the cup of his iniquity had not been filled, to sum up all in one, impudently appearing at their lordships’ bar to betray those very secrets which he confessed he had drawn from the person he called his lord, his prince and master, under the strongest confidence.” “Thus far,” he concluded, “I thought it my duty, in vindication of myself, to trouble your lordships, and without further trespassing upon your patience, freely submit my life, my fortune, my honour, and what is dearest of all, my posterity, to your lordships.”[1296]

After the managers for the prosecution had addressed the court, Lord Lovat was withdrawn from the bar. The whole peers present—117 in number—unanimously found his lordship guilty. Lord Lovat was then called back to the bar, and informed by the lord-high-steward of the judgment of the court. Being brought up next day to receive his sentence, he addressed the court in a long speech, in which he gave a rambling recital of his services to the house of Hanover; and after receiving sentence, he implored their lordships and the managers of the commons to recommend him to the mercy of his majesty. Before leaving the bar, he said, “God bless you all, and I bid you an everlasting farewell. We shall not meet all in the same place again. I am sure of that.”

“The public were ravenous with curiosity about the great Leviathan that had been at last so effectually hooked, and it was necessary to fill the ear of London with details of his previous history, as well as anecdotes of his conduct since his capture. Many of them are fabulous, and many not worth preserving, but a few are too characteristic to be passed over. They may be announced by an incident not mentioned in the contemporary accounts, but preserved by tradition. On his return from the House of Lords to the Tower, an old woman not very well favoured, had pressed through the crowd and screamed in at the window of the coach, ‘You’ll get that nasty head of yours chopped off, you ugly old Scotch dog,’ to which he answered, ‘I believe I shall, you ugly old English b——,’ paying her back with the feminine of the masculine epithet she had applied to him. The major of the Tower coming to visit him and ask how he did, he answered, ‘Why, I am about doing pretty well, for I am preparing myself, sir, for a place where hardly any majors, and very few lieutenant-generals go;’ this was a more distinct hint than that given to the House of Lords.”[1297]

On the 2d of April the sheriffs of London and Middlesex received a warrant for his execution, which was appointed to take place on the 9th. His lordship, it is said, petitioned the king that he might be despatched by the maiden, the Scottish instrument of decapitation; but his application was not attended to. His approaching fate did not in the least discompose him, and though in the eightieth year of his age, his spirits never flagged, nor was his natural vivacity in any degree diminished. He said, the day before his execution, that he was never at any time in better spirits; and he told Dr. Clark, his physician, that the Tower was a better recipe for upholding them than the emetics he used to give him.[1298] Though regardless of death, and even occasionally facetious on the circumstances of his coming exit, he was not indifferent to the consolations of religion, and cheerfully availed himself of the spiritual assistance of a Catholic priest. Early on the morning of the execution, 1,200 troops drew up on Tower-hill, and all the preparations were gone through as in the former instances. About an hour before the execution, a serious accident occurred, in consequence of the fall of a large scaffolding with 400 persons, by which eighteen were killed on the spot, and many bruised and crippled. When Lovat heard of it his cool remark was,[1299] “The more mischief the better sport.” When he arrived at the scaffold, Lovat was obliged, from infirmity, to obtain the assistance of two persons in mounting. He displayed, to the very last, his characteristic fortitude, or rather bravado, and, with great coolness, felt the edge of the axe, with the sharpness of which he declared himself satisfied. On looking round and observing the great crowd, he said, “God save us,—why should there be such a bustle about taking off an old gray head that cannot get up three steps without two men to support it.”[1300] He gave the executioner ten guineas, advised him to perform his duty firmly, and take a good aim, and told him that if he mangled his shoulders, he would be displeased with him. In conversation he used frequently to cite passages from the classics; and, on the present occasion, he repeated the celebrated saying of Horace,—“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,” as peculiarly applicable to the cause for which he was about to suffer. After spending some time in devotion, this remarkable man laid his head down upon the block with the utmost composure, and the executioner struck it off at a single blow. His lordship had given directions that his body should be carried to Scotland, and his friends had removed it to an undertaker’s in the Strand preparatory to its being sent down; but, by order of government, it was interred at St. Peter’s in the Tower, in the same grave with Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino.

A Representation of the Execution of Lord Lovat.

A The Scaffold.
B Lord Lovat’s Head on ye Block.
C. Cloth to receive the Head.
D. The Executioner with ye Axe.
E. The Coffin.
F. The House from which he came on the Scaffold.

Phototype fac-simile from a rare contemporary print in the possession
of James Drummond, Esq., R.S.A.

Whilst these executions could not fail to impress the disaffected with a strong idea of the power and inclination of government to uphold and maintain the authority of the law, they were calculated by their number and severity rather to excite a thirst for vengeance, than to inspire that salutary fear which it is the object of punishment to promote. During these executions, a scheme was concocted to arrest the arm of the law by seizing and carrying off the person of the Duke of Cumberland, and retaining him as a hostage for the lives of the prisoners. The originators of this bold design went from London to Paris, and laid their plan before Charles shortly after his arrival from Scotland, and offered to make the attempt; but Charles refused to sanction it, and the scheme was dropped.[1301]

By way of conciliating the offended feelings of the nation, the government got an act of indemnity passed in June, 1747, granting a pardon, with certain exceptions, to all persons who had been engaged in the rebellion; but these exceptions were so numerous as to divest the act of all pretensions to the character of grace or favour. Besides all persons attainted of high treason by act of parliament or judgment, or conviction of high treason by verdict, confession, or otherwise, upwards of eighty persons were specially excepted by name.[1302]

FOOTNOTES:

[1283] Shenstone has commemorated this melancholy event in his plaintive ballad of ‘Jemmy Dawson.’

[1284] Carlisle in ’45, p. 244.

[1285] “He is,” says Walpole, “the most natural, brave old fellow I ever saw: the highest intrepidity, even to indifference. At the bar he behaved like a soldier and a man; in the intervals of form, with carelessness and humour.... At the bar he plays with his fingers upon the axe, while he talks to the gentleman gaoler; and one day, somebody coming up to listen, he took the blade and held it like a fan between their faces. During the trial a little boy was near him, but not tall enough to see; he made room for the child, and placed him near himself.”

[1286] As will be seen, the more barbarous and ignominious part of the sentence was not carried into effect; Kilmarnock and Balmerino were put to death by simple decapitation.

[1287] The original of the above letter, from which this copy was taken, is among the Stuart Papers, and is written in a remarkably bold and steady hand. The Chevalier sent a copy of this letter to Charles on 20th January, 1747. “I send you,” says he, “a copy of poor Lord Balmerino’s letter. I shall inquire about his widow, and send her some relief if she stands in need of it.”—Stuart Papers. James was as good as his word. See Mr. Theodore Hay’s letter to Secretary Edgar, of 10th June, 1747, and Lady Balmerino’s receipt, 18th May following, for £60, in the Stuart Papers. The letter of Lord Balmerino, and the circumstances of his death, are feelingly alluded to in a letter written by Lady Balmerino to the Chevalier, from Edinburgh, on 15th June, 1751:—“Before my dear lord’s execution, he leaving this world, and having no other concern in time but me, wrote a letter to your Majesty, dated 17th August, 1746, recommending me and my destitute condition to your Majesty’s commiseration and bounty. You are well informed of his undaunted courage and behaviour at his death, so that even your Majesty’s enemies and his do unanimously confess that he died like a hero, and asserted and added a lustre which never will be forgot to the undoubted right your Majesty has to your three realms. He had the honour to have been in your Majesty’s domestick service in Italy, and ever preserved, before his last appearance, an inviolable, constant attachment to your royal house and interest, which at last he not only confirmed by his dying words, but sealed it with his blood, than which a greater token and proof it is not of a subject to give of his love and fidelity to his sovereign.”

[1288] “The general plea and defence of the prisoners at Carlisle was that they were forced into the rebellion—i.e., they were put under influences by clanship and such like, morally equivalent to force.”—Carlisle in ’45, p. 257.

[1289] True Copies of the Papers wrote by Arthur Lord Balmerino and others, published in the year 1746.

[1290] Carlisle in ’45, p. 247–50.

[1291] One of them, Cappock, (created Bishop of Carlisle by Charles,) made a long speech in support of the claims of the house of Stuart. He prayed for “King James,” Prince Charles, and the rest of the Stuart family, called King George an usurper, and when found guilty, he thus addressed his fellow-prisoners at the bar:—“Never mind it, my boys; for if our Saviour was here, these fellows would condemn him.” Observing Brand extremely dejected, he said to him, “What the devil are you afraid of? We shan’t be tried by a Cumberland jury in the other world.”—Scots Mag. vol. viii. p. 498.

[1292] Carlisle in ’45, pp. 254 and 266.

[1293] Boyse, p. 176.

[1294] The Laird of Macleod, in a letter to Lord-president Forbes, dated 18th December, 1746, says, “I saw unhappy Lovat to-day. Except for the feebleness of his limbs, his looks are good. He asked me several general questions, and particularly about you;—said he was resigned, and ready to meet his fate, since it was God’s will;—asked after his children, &c.” In another letter to the president, written two days thereafter, he again alludes to his lordship:—“Lovat behaved well at the bar of the house of peers, and they say with spirit. Granville and Bath spoke very strongly with regard to the seizure of his estate and effects; and that matter is ordered to be rectified, except in so far as private creditors come in the way.” Sir Andrew Mitchell, however, who was more of a courtier than Macleod, viewed matters in a different light. In a letter to the president, 26th December, 1746, he remarks, “Your lordship will have heard an account of Lord Lovat’s behaviour; and, therefore, I shall not trouble you with the particulars; only, I must observe, there was neither dignity nor gravity in it: he appeared quite unconcerned; and what he said was ludicrous and buffoonish; but his petition for the restoration of his effects, &c., was bold and well worded; which, however, would have been passed over without notice, had not Lord Granville bounced, and Lord Bath vapoured, and procured an order to be entered in the Journals, and have by that acquired to themselves a sort of popularity, which you know they very much wanted. No Scots nobleman spoke on this occasion; they are prudent and cautious. God bless them!”—Culloden Papers.

[1295] Trial published by order of the House of Peers. London, 1747.

[1296] He made several appeals calculated to move commiseration for his grey hairs. “My lords,” he said, at the commencement, “I have not had the use of my limbs these three years; I cannot see, I cannot hear; and I beg, if your lordships have a mind I should have any chance of my life, that you will allow either my counsel or solicitors to examine my witnesses, and to cross-examine those produced on behalf of the crown, and to take notes.” If he had been tried, on the charges brought against him, in Scotland forty-six years earlier, he would have been allowed this privilege; but the rules of English law confined the assistance of counsel, in cases of treason, to purely legal questions. At the conclusion of the second day he complained of the hardships of the early daily attendance to one of his infirm constitution, and said, “I must therefore beg that your lordships will indulge me with a later hour and some respite; otherwise I shall die at your bar,” but the request seems to have been unheeded. Another appeal of the same description, in which he said, “I fainted away thrice this morning before I came up to your lordships’ bar; but yet was determined to show my respect to your lordships, or die upon the spot,” produced a respite of a day.—Burton’s Life of Lovat, p. 257.

[1297] Burton’s Lovat, pp. 262, 263.

[1298] Culloden Papers, p. 302.

[1299] Burton’s Lovat, p. 265.

[1300] Burton’s Lovat, p. 265.

[1301] Vide Letter in the Stuart Papers from the Rev. Myles Macdonell to the Chevalier de St. George, dated St. Amiens, 4th May, 1747.

[1302] Among these were the Earls of Traquair and Kellie, Robert Maccarty, styling himself Lord Clancarty, Sir James Stewart of Good Trees; Sirs John Douglas, James Harrington, James Campbell, William Dunbar, and Alexander Bannerman; Archibald Stewart, late provost of Edinburgh, Chisholm of Comar, Cameron of Dungallon, Drummond of Bochaldy, Fraser of Foyers, Farquharson of Bulmarrell, Fraser of Avochnacloy, Dow Fraser of Little Garth, Fraser of Browich, Fraser of Gortuleg, Gordon of Abochie, Grant of Glenmoriston, Hunter of Burnside, Hay younger of Rannus, Irvine of Drum, Macdonald of Barisdale, M’Gregor of Glengyle, Macleod of Raasay, Gilbert Menzies, younger of Pitfodels, Moir of Stonywood, Æneas Macdonald, James Macdonald, brother to Kinlochmoidart, Macdonell of Glengarry, Macdonald of Glenco, Robertson of Strowan, Robertson of Faskally, Robertson of Blairfetty, Stuart of Kynnachin, Turner, younger of Turner-hall, &c., &c.

Among those formerly attainted and excepted in the above-mentioned act, were the following, viz., Lords Pitsligo, Elcho, Nairne, and Ogilvy, Lord George Murray, Lord Lewis Gordon, Lord John Drummond, —— Drummond, eldest son of Lord Strathallan, the Master of Lovat, Graham of Duntroon, Sir William Gordon of Park, Gordon of Glenbucket, young Lochiel, Dr. Cameron, Cameron of Tor Castle, young Clanranald, Lochgarry, young Barisdale, Macdonald of Glencoe, Macpherson of Cluny, Maclachlan of Castle Lachlan, Mackinnon of Mackinnon, Stewart of Ardshiel, Lockhart, younger of Carnwath, Oliphant of Gask and his eldest son, Graham of Airth, Roy Stewart, Farquharson of Monalterye, Hay of Restalrig, &c.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

A.D. 1747–1748.

BRITISH SOVEREIGN:—George II., 1727–1760.

Arrival of Prince Charles at Paris—Meeting with his brother—Reception at Fontainebleau—He returns to Paris—Memorialises Louis—Admonished by his father as to his conduct in France—Charles retires to Avignon—Treatment of Lord G. Murray—His journey to Spain—Return to Paris—Prince Henry made Cardinal—Charles’s pecuniary and other difficulties—His advisers—Congress and peace of Aix-la-Chapelle—Charles and his father protest against the treaty—Charles refuses to quit the French territories—His arrest—Conducted out of the French dominions—Arrival at Avignon.

As soon as the French court received intelligence of the return of Charles to France, they gave orders to prepare the castle of St. Antoine for his reception. He was met near Paris on the 15th of October, (N. S.,[1303]) by his brother and a considerable number of the nobility, who conducted him to his appointed residence. The meeting between the two brothers, who had not seen each other for nearly three years, was of a most affecting description, and the persons who were present declared that they had never before witnessed such a moving scene. Charles at first sight did not know Henry, but the latter at once knew the prince, who is described by his brother as not in the least altered in his appearance since he last saw him, only that he had “grown somewhat broader and fatter.”[1304]

Louis with his court was at this time residing at Fontainebleau, and as Charles was impatient to see him, he sent Colonel Warren thither with instructions to Colonel O’Brien, the accredited minister of the Chevalier de St. George at the court of France, to request an audience. Some difficulties were started at first by the French ministers on the subject of this demand, but the king at last consented to see Charles and his brother, but stipulated that they should preserve a sort of incognito.[1305] Louis in fact had become tired of the war, and that he might not widen the breach between him and the court of London by appearing to recognise the pretensions of the exiled family, he had resolved not to receive the sons of the Chevalier at his court as princes of England. James, who was fully aware of this policy of the French court, thus argues the matter with Charles, who naturally felt indignant at the mode of his reception; “I am far from saying but that the king of France might have done a great deal more for you; but after all, we must consider the vast expenses he is at during the war, and the system he has certainly laid down to himself of not treating you and your brother as princes of England, which system I own shocked me at first, and seems preposterous in the present situation of affairs; but when one considers the uncertainty of the events of war, and that if we are not restored before a peace, the king of France cannot but continue to acknowledge the elector of Hanover as king of England, and by consequence treat us no more as princes of England; we cannot but own that it is wise in him, and in a certain sense even kind to us, not to expose himself and us to a possibility and necessity of ceasing to treat us according to our birth, after having once done it.”[1306]

If Louis had been actuated by the motive thus charitably imputed to him, the reasoning of James would have been plausible enough; but Charles, who had both before and during his expedition experienced the hollowness of the French policy, could not fail to perceive that his father had formed an erroneous idea of Louis’s intentions. As by the treaty of Fontainebleau he had been recognised by that monarch as prince regent of Scotland, Charles had good reason to complain of the mode in which he was to be received by his most Christian majesty; but he repressed his feelings of disappointment on the occasion, and yielded to a necessity which it was not in his power to control. He resolved, however, to neutralize the effect which his appearance at court as a private person might have upon the people by getting up a splendid equipage, and proceeding to Fontainebleau in great state.

Accordingly, on the day fixed for his reception at court, Charles left the castle of St. Antoine, accompanied by a number of his friends in coaches and on horseback. The cortege was on the whole very grand; but Charles himself attracted particular attention by the superbness of his dress. His coat was of rose-coloured velvet, embroidered with silver, and lined with silver tissue. His waistcoat was of rich gold brocade, with a spangled fringe set out in scollops. The cockade in his hat and the buckles of his shoes were studded with diamonds. The George at his bosom, and the order of St. Andrew, which he wore at one of the button-holes of his waistcoat, were illustrated with large diamonds. “In fine,” observes an enthusiastic eye-witness, “he glittered all over like the star which they tell you appeared at his nativity.” Louis received Charles with great kindness, and, embracing him, said, “My dearest Prince, I thank Heaven for the very great pleasure it gives me to see you returned in good health after so many fatigues and dangers. You have proved that all the great qualities of the heroes and philosophers are united in you, and I hope that you will one day receive the reward of such extraordinary merit.” The queen, likewise, welcomed him with every demonstration of good-will and affection. He had never been at the court of France before, and every person was extremely desirous of seeing a prince of whom they had heard so much. As Charles retired from the palace, the whole court crowded about him, and complimented him so highly upon the fame of his exploits, that they could scarcely have testified greater joy, or expressed themselves in warmer terms, had the dauphin himself been engaged in the same dangerous expedition, and returned from it in safety.[1307] Charles, it is said, afterwards returned to the palace, and supped with the king, queen, and royal family; and all his attendants were magnificently entertained at several tables, which had been appointed for them according to their rank.

Though the conduct of the French court towards Charles had been deceptive, yet it is understood that Louis was not so bad as his ministers in this respect; and besides, he appears to have entertained a warm regard for Charles personally. It is believed that Louis would have given proofs of his esteem by embarking with spirit in the cause of the exiled family; but he was controlled by his ministers, who certainly never were serious in their professions. Of the sincerity of the queen, however, there cannot be the least doubt. She and Charles’s mother had passed many of their juvenile years together, and had contracted a warm attachment to each other, which had remained unaltered during the life of the latter. In Charles she now beheld the favourite son of her late friend, whom he strongly resembled, and she looked upon him with a maternal tenderness, which was enhanced by the reputation of his exploits, and the knowledge of the sufferings he had endured. Whenever he came to court, she is said to have conversed with him for whole hours together, during which she would make him relate his adventures to herself and her ladies, all of whom were frequently bathed in tears with the affecting recital.

Within a day or two after his arrival at Fontainebleau, Charles wrote to Louis requesting the honour of a private audience on the subject of his affairs, which appears to have been granted, as three days thereafter, namely, on the 25th of October, the prince requested another interview, for the purpose of delivering into the king’s own hands a short memoir in relation to his affairs.[1308] Unable to obtain a satisfactory answer, Charles left Fontainebleau, and took up his residence with his brother at Clichy, in the neighbourhood of Paris. His company was much sought after by the fashionable circles of that gay metropolis, but he kept himself comparatively retired. He appeared at the opera for the first time on the 30th of October, and was received by the audience with clapping of hands, which continued till the commencement of the opera, and was renewed at the conclusion.[1309]

Though surrounded by men of integrity, who had suffered proscription for his sake, Charles does not appear to have consulted any of them in his difficulties, nor to have honoured them with the least share of his confidence. Shortly after his return to France he wrote to his tutor, Sir Thomas Sheridan, who, after escaping to France, had repaired to Rome, requesting him to join him at Paris; and in the meantime he availed himself of the equivocal services of George Kelly. Sir Thomas, however, saw Charles no more, having died soon after the receipt of his pupil’s letter. Charles then adopted Kelly as his confidant, but he appears to have been in every way unworthy of such a mark of distinction.[1310]

Some time after Charles’s return to Paris, Louis removed his court from Fontainebleau to Versailles, where the prince and his brother met with a cordial reception from the royal family and the persons about the court, but Charles could not obtain any distinct pledge of support. This result was anticipated by his father, who had a just perception of the policy of France in his regard. “I am afraid,” says James to the prince, “that you will have little reason to be satisfied with the court of France, and that you will not have less need of courage and fortitude in bearing and suffering in that country than you had in acting in Britain.” Apprehensive of the impetuosity of Charles’s temper, he most earnestly recommended him to conduct himself with patience and prudence, and warned him of the consequences which might ensue by adopting a different course. This admonition, however, was thrown away upon Charles.

Resolved to put the sincerity of the French court to the test, Charles presented a memorial to Louis on the state of his affairs. In this paper he drew the attention of the French king to Scotland, which he represented as on the eve of destruction; and he stated, that as the government appeared resolved to confound the innocent with the guilty, it was reasonable to conclude that the discontent of the nation would be general, and that if he was enabled to enter upon another enterprise the number of his adherents would be tripled. He also stated that he would be deceiving his most Christian majesty were he to say that he could again subdue Scotland after his friends had been destroyed, and that if the opportunity was then lost the king of France might for ever renounce any expected aid to his arms by a revolution in that country,—that he had always had numerous partisans in Scotland, though he had never had a sufficient supply either of money, provisions, or regular troops, and that if he had been well provided with only one of these three helps, he would still have been master of Scotland, and probably also of England,—that if he had had three thousand regular troops he would have penetrated into England immediately after the battle of Preston, and as George II. was then absent from the kingdom, and the English troops in Flanders, he could have marched to London without opposition,—that had he been supplied with provisions he could have pursued General Hawley after the battle of Falkirk, and destroyed all his army, which was the flower of the British troops. Finally, that if he had received two months earlier only the half of the money which his majesty had sent him, he would have fought the Duke of Cumberland on equal terms, and he would certainly have beaten him, since with four thousand men only he had kept victory in suspense, though opposed by an army of twelve thousand. Having thus stated the causes to which the failure of his expedition was owing, Charles proposed that Louis should furnish an army of eighteen or twenty thousand men, which he stated he would employ usefully for their mutual interests, which he considered inseparable.[1311]

Charles appears to have conducted himself, hitherto, with great moderation; but as no notice was taken of his demand for troops, he grew violent and imperious. The French ministry had, by order of Louis, granted a sum of sixty-two thousand nine hundred livres for the relief of such of Charles’s adherents as had arrived in France,[1312] and Louis himself now offered him a pension suitable to his rank; but he refused to accept it. James, who was fully informed of the circumstances of Charles’s behaviour, thus expostulates with him:—“The truth is, I dread your feeling severely one day the consequence of your present conduct towards the court of France; for although, on account of the obligations they owe you, they may, out of a certain prudence and policy dissemble for a time, yet by gaining the ill-will of those ministers, and by carrying things too high, you will sooner or later certainly feel the bad effects of it; whereas, had you received what the king of France lately offered you, it was still putting yourself in the possession of feeling the effects of his generosity, and you would have probably got much more in time in some shape or another.”[1313] Count D’Argenson also was very complaisant to Charles; but James cautioned him not to infer therefrom, that his conduct was approved of by that minister.

Waiting upwards of two months, and receiving no answer to his memorial, Charles addressed a letter to Louis on the 12th of January, in which, after alluding to the favours his majesty had granted to his companions in misfortune, which he regarded as a new proof of his majesty’s generosity towards his family, he stated that his object in coming to the court of France was to propose a plan of an expedition, which would be much more advantageous for both parties than the former;—that this object alone occupied all his thoughts, and that every other step which had been proposed to the king of France to promote his personal interests, had been done without his sanction. He concluded a longish letter, written in his usual loud style, by telling Louis that as he could not appear in the way in which he was persuaded his majesty wished in his own heart to see him, he would retire to some place where his present condition would be of less consequence, and where he would be always ready to concur with the king of France in such steps as might contribute to his glory, and the restoration of his family to their just rights, and he trusted his majesty would approve of his resolution. He added, that if, during his absence, the king of France should find it convenient to think seriously of another expedition, he would immediately return to the court on being informed of his majesty’s wish, and that, in the meantime, he would appoint a person at Paris who had his entire confidence to negotiate in his behalf with the king of France and his ministers.[1314]

As neither Louis nor his ministers had any intention of entering into Charles’s views, they must have been well pleased with his determination to retire from Paris, where his presence had become exceedingly annoying; but some of his adherents regarded such a step with different feelings, as they thought it would be highly injurious to his interests. Among those who took an active part in opposing this resolution, was young Lochiel. No man was more firmly bent upon another attempt than this high-minded chief, and instead of thinking with Charles, that no expedition should be undertaken without a large force, he was for accepting any succours that could be obtained. Some time after his arrival at Paris, he had opened a correspondence with the Chevalier de St. George, in which he represented to him that the misfortunes which had befallen his cause, though great, were not irretrievable, provided timely measures were adopted for checking the depopulating system which the English government seemed to have adopted. He stated that the ruin of the Scottish adherents of the exiled family would dispirit their friends in England so much, that a restoration would become extremely difficult, if not impracticable, and that, at best, it could only be effected by an army superior to all the forces of the government; whereas, if ten regiments only were landed in Scotland before the Highlands were depopulated, not the Highlanders merely, but all other Scotchmen of spirit would unite in their support, and give so much employment to the troops of the government, that the English Jacobites might, with little assistance, be in a condition to shake off the yoke. He, therefore, advised the Chevalier to accept of whatever succours might be offered. Acting upon principles of the purest disinterestedness, Lochiel was opposed to every proposal which might seem to imply an abandonment of the cause which he had espoused, and when informed by Charles that an application had been made to the French court for a regiment to Lord Ogilvy, he told him that he disapproved of it, as such an application might make the court of France regard the affairs of the exiled family to be more desperate than they really were, and might prevent them from granting a body of troops for a new expedition. Charles seemed to concur in this view; but Lord Ogilvy having obtained a regiment, Charles proposed to ask one for Lochiel also. He objected, however, to the application being made, and told his royal highness that Lord Ogilvy, or others, might incline to make a figure in France, but that his ambition was to serve his country, or perish with it. Charles remarked that he was doing every thing in his power to forward his cause, and persisting in his resolution to procure a regiment for his faithful friend, Lochiel consented to accept of it if obtained, from respect to the prince, though he declared his determination to share the fate of the people he had undone, and if they were to be sacrificed to the vengeance of the government, to fall along with them.[1315] Lochiel now endeavoured to persuade Charles to remain at Paris, and represented to him the bad consequences that might ensue to his affairs by retiring; but his resolution was fixed.

Charles had in fact resolved to pay a visit to the king of Spain, and his retirement to Avignon, whither he announced his intention to proceed, was a mere blind to conceal his design from the court of France. The Chevalier, desirous in the present posture of his affairs of paying his court to his Catholic majesty, had been, for some time, applying for permission to send his youngest son to Spain. He announced his intention to Charles, and stated that he considered it would be for his interest, that while one of his sons was in France, the other should be in Spain.[1316]

When James felt so uneasy in reference to Charles’s deportment towards the French ministry, as to write him repeated remonstrances on the subject, it may be supposed that he would have been gratified at his resolution to retire to Avignon, more particularly as the Chevalier’s agents at Paris, who had been discarded by Charles, would have probably regained the little influence they had with the French court; but James was equally disappointed with the prince’s friends at Paris at Charles’s determination. In a letter which he wrote to the prince in answer to one from the latter, dated the 21st of January, stating his intention to retire to Avignon, James stated the great concern which he felt, at a step of which he could not comprehend the meaning, and that nothing, in his opinion, could justify it but a resolution on the part of the king of France not to allow him to remain in that kingdom.

Charles left Paris for Avignon about the end of January, 1747. During his stay at Paris, he had evinced a laudable anxiety to mitigate the sufferings of his companions in misfortune by acts of kindness; but there was one among them who met with neither sympathy nor gratitude at his hands. This was Lord George Murray, who had sacrificed more for him than any other individual then living. Aware of this feeling of Charles towards him, Lord George did not visit Paris on his arrival in Holland in December; but, after some stay, proceeded to Rome to pay his respects to the Chevalier de St. George. Charles, however, appears to have expected him at Paris; and in the event of his arrival there during his absence, he left written instructions with his brother Henry, to do every thing in his power to get him arrested and committed to prison.[1317]

Shortly after Charles’s departure his brother, Henry, received a notification from his father, of his intention to send him to Spain. He immediately sent a copy of the Chevalier’s letter to Charles, and stated his regret at the prospect of being removed to such a distance from his brother; but instead of thanking him for this kind expression of his feelings, Charles returned him a very petulant answer. He informed him that, while in Scotland, he had formed a design of going to the court of Spain himself, and that he had left Paris with that intention,—that having resolved to make the journey, he had not asked leave from his father for fear of being refused,—and that he intended to go and return with all imaginable privacy. He entreated Henry, by all the ties of brotherly affection, and by the regard which he had for his success of the cause, not to start from Paris though he should get leave, until the result of Charles’s journey was known. He requested him to confide the secret of his journey to the king of France upon receipt of his next letter, and to represent to Louis that he had suddenly taken the resolution of making a journey to Spain after his arrival at Avignon. Henry, whose character was extremely mild and conciliating, stated, in reply, that he had communicated “the king’s letter” to him as soon as he had received it, and that his province in that, as in every thing else, was blind obedience; but he observed, that his father could not foresee Charles’s resolution, and that if his going to Spain would change the system Charles seemed to have proposed to himself, he would not make use of any leave he might obtain without receiving farther orders, which, he was convinced, would be to remain at Paris, whenever his father knew of Charles’s determination to proceed to Spain.

Accompanied by Kelly, Dr. Cameron, and two or three domestics, Charles left Avignon early in 1747, and repaired to Madrid; but his reception appears to have been cold and formal, and he did not even see the queen-dowager, whom he was particularly anxious to meet. Alluding to this visit, the Chevalier observes to Charles, “I am much more concerned than surprised you had not a better reception in Spain; but I am in hopes your going thither will be of no ill consequence, provided you manage your matters in a proper manner on your return to Paris.”[1318]

In a memoir which Charles presented to Caravajal on the 6th of March, to sound the intentions of the Spanish court, he requested to be informed, in the event of the king of France agreeing to fit out an expedition in his favour, what aid his Catholic majesty would contribute in its support. He required that 30,000 fusils and 10,000 sabres should be set apart for his use in a convenient place, in order that when occasion required he might obtain them at once in a quiet manner. That two or three small ships should be got ready as soon as possible, and loaded with grain, to be sent to Scotland under the charge of a gentleman he would send along with them. That the king of Spain should give him commissions for three Scotch regiments, which, when completed, should be formed into a brigade.[1319] In answer to these demands, Caravajal stated, that his master could spare no ships of war to assist in the expedition, as he had only seventeen in Europe, that some of these were disabled, and that the rest were employed in the Italian war; that as to arms, orders would be given to manufacture the required number; and that arrangements would be made for carrying his demand for a supply of grain into effect. Finally, that as to the proposal about the regiments, he believed his majesty would give his consent to it.

After remaining four or five days at Madrid, Charles retired to Guadalaxara till he should obtain a definitive answer on the subject of raising the regiments. His Catholic majesty at last consented, but stipulated that none but Scotchmen should be admitted into these regiments, a condition which, under existing circumstances, rendered their formation impracticable.[1320] Finding his journey thus in a manner unavailing, Charles returned to Paris, where he arrived on the 24th of March.

Henry, Cardinal Duke of York.
(From Original Painting in possession of
James Drummond, Esq., R.S.A.)

It is probable that Charles’s return to Paris was hastened by a remonstrance sent to him by Lochiel on the subject of his retirement to Avignon. This zealous chief represented to the prince that peace was the topic of general conversation, and as there existed a universal desire for it in France, there was reason to believe that George II. and his allies would obtain any terms they might ask in relation to Charles. He proposed,[1321] that if Charles could not obtain from France such an embarkation of troops as would enable him to land in England and overturn the government at one blow, he should endeavour to get an embarkation for Scotland, where the disposition of the people was still so favourable, that if he could return to the Highlands with artillery, arms, and ammunition, and only four or five battalions of foot, he believed he would not only relieve his distressed friends, and save the remainder of the country from ruin, but deliver all Scotland from the slavery to which he supposed it would soon be reduced.

Charles accordingly renewed his application to Louis and his ministers, but did not succeed in bringing “these people to reason,” as he himself expresses it, or in other words, prevailing on them to accede to his demand. Baffled again in his attempt to induce the French government to engage actively in his cause, Charles contemplated a matrimonial alliance with the czarina, with the view of engaging her in his interest; but his father, to whom he communicated his design, considered it impracticable, and Charles appears to have immediately dropt it.

Notwithstanding the untoward appearance of his affairs, Charles was by no means discouraged; but the promotion of his brother to the cardinalate, which took place about three months after his return from Spain, damped his spirits. Henry had every reason to be dissatisfied with Charles’s conduct towards himself personally; but he made no complaints, and it was only owing to the peevish way in which Charles alluded to him in his letters to his father that James became apprised of his dislike to his brother.[1322] Being of a pious disposition, Henry became desirous of embracing the ecclesiastical state, and resolved to repair to Italy to consult his father upon the subject. As he knew that Charles would object to his departure from Paris, and might possibly take measures to prevent it, he went off without informing him. Charles complained to his father of Henry’s leaving Paris without acquainting him; but whilst James admitted that it was certainly not according to rule that Henry should have gone away without taking leave of Charles in person, he said he could not blame him for it under existing circumstances.

The first notice which Charles received of the intended promotion of his brother was by a letter from his father, dated from Albano on the 13th of June, 1747.[1323] Charles was both grieved and enraged when he received this intelligence, and shut himself up for several hours to give vent to his sorrow or vexation. Hitherto Charles had drunk the health of his father and brother every day at dinner, but he now discontinued that of Henry, and forbade every person about him ever to mention his name in his presence.[1324] The friends of the family regretted exceedingly this step on the part of Henry, which they considered a very imprudent one, so far as the expected restoration of the Stuarts was concerned, as it narrowed their prospects of success; but neither Henry nor James had any ambition for a crown, and the latter intended, if the succession opened, never to assume the diadem.[1325] Both the pope and James notified to the king of France the design of presenting Henry with a cardinal’s hat, and Louis in return signified his approbation of the step.

Among other subjects of uneasiness which pressed heavily upon Charles at this time, was the state of his pecuniary concerns. He still resolutely refused to receive any pension from the French court, and it was perhaps owing to this refusal that the French ministry showed no disposition to pay the allowances which had been granted to his adherents. To relieve the prince’s immediate necessities, his father had sent him an order on Waters, his banker at Paris, for fifteen thousand livres, significantly observing, however, that as Charles had refused the pension which Louis had offered, the Chevalier presumed that he had some other resource to supply his wants. James, however, had taken care that the obstinacy of his son should not stand in the way of Louis’s bounty, and he accordingly directed O’Brien his agent to draw the pension which Charles had refused, to apply the third part thereof for the use of his son, Henry, whilst in France, and to lay out the other two-thirds in the way he should be afterwards directed.[1326] Mr. John Grahame,[1327] in a letter to the Chevalier de St. George, represents the prince as having no visible means of subsistence, and that he could compare his “situation to nothing better than an immense labyrinth, out of which he had not a bit of thread to conduct him.” Charles was too proud to ask his father for aid; but the latter, on hearing of his difficulties, ordered O’Brien to pay forty thousand livres into O’Sullivan’s hands on his account, out of the sum he had drawn on account of Charles’s pension. The prince, however, consistently declined the money, knowing the source whence it came.

In the circumstances in which he was thus placed by his own obstinacy, Charles, who never displayed much generosity towards those who had offended him, was not in the best possible mood to exercise the virtue of forgiveness. His father had repeatedly written him in relation to his threatened seizure of Lord George Murray, and had strongly inculcated the propriety of forgiving a man who had suffered so much in his cause; but Charles disregarded these paternal admonitions. Lord George was very desirous to effect a reconciliation, by making every reasonable submission that could be required of him, and for this purpose left Rome for Paris, where he arrived on the 10th of July. Charles was then living at St. Ouen, in the neighbourhood of Paris, and Lord George having, the day after his arrival, ascertained the place of his residence, intended to proceed thither early on the 12th, to pay his respects to the prince. His lordship was, however, prevented from carrying his intention into effect, by a message from Charles, who, hearing of his arrival in Paris, sent Mr. Stafford, one of his household, to Lord George, to inform him that it was the prince’s wish that he should not appear at St. Ouen, but that he would do well to leave Paris as soon as he could. Lord George requested Stafford to acquaint the prince that he had come to France with no other design but to pay his respects to him, and that he would punctually obey his orders by leaving France.

Notwithstanding frequent disputes with the French ministers, Charles always endeavoured to keep on good terms with their master; and when he defeated the confederates at Laffeldt, he wrote a letter expressive of the great joy he felt on the occasion. As every victory gained over the allies appeared favourable to his cause, he cannot be well blamed for entertaining such a feeling; but the existence of this document subverts the idea generally entertained, that Charles never expressed any satisfaction at the conquests of the French in Flanders. He was no doubt solicitous that Great Britain should maintain her honour in the field and on the ocean; but his patriotism was not so disinterested as to make him prefer that honour to the crown for which he was contending. It was not until he saw that he could no longer depend upon France for aid that his patriotism was roused.

Much as Charles trusted to his personal powers for negotiation, he soon found that it was no easy matter to bring the ministers of Louis “to reason;” and that, to be successful, it was necessary to obtain the aid of some experienced politician. He accordingly looked about him for one in whom he could repose his confidence, and fixed upon Lord Marischal as the person most likely to answer his wishes. To this nobleman, who was then living at Treviso, Charles despatched a letter in the month of August, in which he stated that his father had left him entire master, to employ such persons as were most agreeable to him, and that he might easily believe his first choice would light upon him. He informed him that his desire was that his lordship should join him with all convenient speed, and that he had too good an opinion of his loyalty and regard for his bleeding country to make him have the least doubt of his compliance, especially since all the causes of discontent which his lordship might heretofore have had, were now quite removed. Highly complimentary as this letter was, Lord Marischal declined the honour intended him. He stated that he had not retired from public life till he saw how useless his services were, and must have been had they been continued; and that the broken state of his health required that he should pass the rest of his days in quiet.[1328]

Disappointed in his advances to Lord Marischal, Charles gave himself up entirely to the direction of George Kelly, his secretary, who, it is alleged, was personally obnoxious to the French court. To counteract the rising power of this new favourite, the pernicious influence of whose counsels some of the adherents of the exiled family were already beginning to feel, Sempil, one of the Chevalier’s agents at Paris, by desire of Lochiel and Drummond of Bochaldy, drew up and forwarded a representation to James in the month of June 1747. The Chevalier, who was not a bad judge of mankind, foreseeing the bad consequences that would follow if Kelly was allowed to guide the councils of the prince, had cautioned Charles against his interference shortly after his return from Scotland; but the prince attributed his father’s dislike to Kelly to the misrepresentations of his enemies. In a letter, alluding to some complaints made by Charles against his brother, James observes, “What you now write to me is manifestly the product of Kelly’s malice ... as long as you are directed or influenced by him, depend upon it nothing will go well with you, and you will never have a moment’s quiet yourself.”[1329]

These admonitions, which were repeated after Drummond’s communication, were, however, thrown away upon Charles, who clung to his secretary with as great pertinacity as ever. This predilection for Kelly, if the statement of Sempil is to be credited, ruined the prince’s negotiations with the French ministry, who, according to him, would have entertained a proposal made by the Marquis de Puyzieux, of embarking a force for Scotland on the dissolution of the British parliament; but the design was given up, because the persons in whom Charles seemed to repose his confidence were obnoxious to the French court, and were considered unworthy of trust.[1330]

Whilst the French government evaded Charles’s demand for a supply of troops, it acceded in other respects to his wishes. A regiment was given to Lochiel,[1331] the arrears of the gratuities granted to the Scotch exiles were paid up, and a fixed allowance of thirty-six thousand livres per annum was granted to them, the appropriation of which was left entirely to the prince. Having thus provided for his friends, the French ministry thought that Charles’s repugnance to a pension might be overcome; and accordingly M. de Lally, who was directed to communicate to him the largess granted to his adherents, was also appointed to sound him on the subject of an allowance to himself. Charles, writing to M. de Puyzieux, observed, that he would accept with pleasure even the smallest favour his majesty was disposed to grant; but he begged that nothing should be given him in name of a pension, and that he should be permitted to deny to his English friends, even face to face, that he was in the receipt of it.[1332] It thus appears that Charles’s objection to a pension did not proceed from any disinclination to receive the money, but from an apprehension that the circumstance of his becoming a pensioner of France would injure him with his English friends. It is not known whether the French government acted upon Charles’s suggestion.

It was the policy of the French court, whilst the war lasted, to keep up appearances with the exiled family, so as to encourage the belief that it really intended to aid in its restoration. This notion was strengthened by the appointment of Lord Ogilvy and Lochiel to the command of regiments; and the fears of an invasion after Charles’s return to France are said to have delayed for a time the embarkation of the British troops for Flanders. This system of intimidation would in all probability have been persevered in had not France become tired of a war which had exhausted her treasury, destroyed her commerce, and almost annihilated her navy. The confederates were equally weary of a war in which they had reaped neither honour nor advantage, and they therefore gladly availed themselves of an offer of pacification made by France. The belligerent powers accordingly agreed to hold a congress, which was opened at Aix-la-Chapelle in March 1748.

Charles now saw that all hope of an immediate restoration was at an end, and must have perceived, from the strong desire which existed in France for peace, and the low state to which that kingdom was reduced by the war, that his interests would form no bar in the way of a general pacification.

The first public step which Charles took to mark his displeasure with the conduct of the French government, in suing for a peace, was of a very decided character. When the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle was about to assemble, he gave instructions to the Sieur Roettier to strike a medal with his head, and the inscription, “Carolus Walliæ Princeps” (Charles Prince of Wales); and on the reverse the figure Britannia and a fleet of war-vessels, with the significant motto, “Amor et Spes Britanniæ” (The Love and Hope of Britain).

When the medal appeared it created a great sensation in France, and many of the French nobility were deeply offended at the device and motto, which they regarded as an insult offered to the nation. The prince of Conti, in particular, who was accounted one of the proudest men in all France, showed his chagrin on the occasion. Meeting Charles one day in the Luxembourg Gardens, Conti observed to Charles, with an air of pleasantry, under which a sneer was observed to lurk, that the device of his medal was not just so applicable as some persons might at first suppose, as the British navy had not shown any particular friendship for him. Charles, who at once perceived the censure, immediately replied, “That is true, Prince! but I am, nevertheless, the friend of the navy against all its enemies; as I shall always look upon the glory of England as my own, and her glory is in her navy.” About the time the medal was struck Charles sat for his portrait to Tocqué, the eminent painter, which was immediately engraved by Wille, the celebrated engraver, with the title “Carolus Walliæ Princeps.”

On the 30th of April, the preliminaries of a general peace were signed by the ministers of Great Britain, France, and the United Provinces, the basis of which was a general restitution of the conquests which had been made during the war. A suspension of arms almost immediately followed the signing of the preliminaries. Charles was not aware that the preliminaries had been signed till some time after the suspension of arms, and he consoled himself with the vain hope that peace was not so near at hand as was generally supposed.[1333]

During the negotiations Charles still went to court, though not so frequently as before, and always endeavoured to avoid any personal interviews with the king; but when informed of the signing of the preliminaries, he gave up his visits entirely. His father, and the adherents of his family, expected that he would no longer remain in a kingdom which was now again to sacrifice the interests of his house; but instead of evincing any disposition to depart, he gave a decided indication of fixing himself in Paris, by hiring a splendid hotel upon the Quai de Theatin for himself and his principal friends, in order, as he said, to be near the opera, play-house, and the other places of public diversion in Paris. To show how little he regarded the proceedings at Aix-la-Chapelle, he appeared much gayer than usual, and when any person alluded, in his presence, to the congress, he seemed not to regard the matter, and waived the subject by singing or introducing some different topic of conversation.

To show, however, that he was not indifferent to his rights, Charles drew up a protest against any stipulation which might be entered into by the contracting parties, contrary to these rights, of which he sent a copy to the king of France, enclosed in a letter from himself. The Chevalier de St George, in ignorance of Charles’s protest, also published one in his own name, agreeably to a practice which he and his father, king James II., had followed, whenever any treaty with Great Britain was entered into.

After the preliminaries were signed, Louis took an early opportunity of intimating to Charles that he had renewed the engagements which he and his grandfather had formerly come under to the British government, in relation to the House of Stuart; but Charles, in his protest, entirely overlooked the stipulation which regarded his intended expulsion from the French territories. Louis probably expected that this hint would have been sufficient to induce Charles to quit France, but, as he indicated no intention to remove, the Marquis de Puyzieux, by desire of the king, sent a requisition in writing, to which he demanded an answer. Charles returned an evasive answer to M. de Puyzieux’s note the same day.

After this answer, matters appear to have remained in statu quo till October, on the 7th of which month the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was finally concluded and signed. By this treaty the contracting parties agreed, without any limitation, to a literal insertion of the fifth article of the quadruple alliance, by which it was stipulated that neither the “Pretender,” nor any of his descendants, should be allowed to reside within the territories belonging to any of the parties to the treaty. Meanwhile Louis was looking out for a suitable asylum for Charles Edward. Knowing that the prince had declared that he would never return to Italy, he directed M. de Courteille, his envoy to the Cantons of Switzerland, to ask a residence for Charles in the city of Fribourg. The regency complied with the request, but Mr. Barnaby, the British minister to the Helvetic body, violently opposed the plan, and presented a remonstrance to the magistracy of Fribourg, couched in such terms as to draw upon him the censure of the regency.

The next person selected by Louis to act as negotiator with Charles was the Cardinal de Tencin, who was supposed to have some influence with him. The cardinal delivered the message with which he had been intrusted in the most delicate manner, and endeavoured to convince Charles, by a variety of arguments, of the regret the king felt at having been obliged to accede to the objectionable articles of the treaty. To reconcile Charles to the measure, the cardinal, it is said, hinted that the treaty might possibly be of short endurance, and that the prince might afterwards return to France with brighter prospects, but the cardinal left Charles without obtaining any satisfaction. Desirous of avoiding extremities, the king waited about two weeks in expectation that Charles would depart; but being informed that he made no preparations for his departure, he sent the Duke de Gesvres, the governor of Paris, with a message similar to that delivered by the cardinal. The duke, however, got as little satisfaction as the cardinal, and on a second interview, the prince absolutely refused to quit the country, and told the duke that there was a treaty prior to that of Aix-la-Chapelle between him and the king, from which he could not depart with honour.

The British ministry had for some time been urging the French court to fulfil that part of the treaty which related to the expulsion of the prince from the French territories; and the hostages[1334] complained that his being permitted to appear at all public places of amusement was as an insult to their sovereign, and an infringement of the treaty. Louis, therefore, sent the Duke de Gesvres a third time to expostulate with Charles on the 6th of November; but Charles again evaded a direct answer to the duke’s demand to quit France. Charles afterwards sent him an explicit answer in writing, in which he stated that it was with much regret he found himself compelled in defence of his own interests to oppose the intentions of the king on this occasion, and that he had already apprised his majesty of his design by a letter which he had written to M. de Puyzieux as far back as the 20th of August. He requested the duke to assure his majesty in the strongest terms that he would retain towards him during his life all the sentiments of respect and attachment which he had formerly expressed.[1335]

Louis was much annoyed at Charles’s obstinacy, as he felt great repugnance to push matters to extremities with a prince who could plead in his own justification a violation of a solemn contract which the king of France had entered into with him three years before. As he had, however, contracted with Charles merely in his character of prince regent, it appears to have occurred to Louis that he would save his honour if he obtained an order from the Chevalier de St George, requiring Charles to leave his dominions before having recourse to physical force. He therefore despatched a courier to Rome with a letter to the Chevalier, giving an account of the prince’s conduct, and requesting James to interpose his parental authority to induce Charles to leave his dominions. That James might be fully assured of the prince’s determination to remain in France contrary to his wishes, Louis also sent him Charles’s letter to the Duke de Gesvres.

The messenger returned to Paris early in December with a letter from James to the king of France, inclosing another to Charles, which, after perusing, he was requested to despatch to the prince. After complaining of Charles’s conduct towards himself, James told him that he saw him on the brink of a precipice, and that he would act the part of an unnatural parent if he did not do everything that depended upon him to save him from falling, and that he therefore found himself obliged to order him as his father and king to conform himself without delay to the wishes of the French king, by leaving his dominions with a good grace.

This letter Louis sent by the Duke de Gesvres to Charles, the duke at the same time carrying a letter from Louis, which is said to have contained a blank order to be filled up by the prince himself for a yearly allowance. Charles told the duke that he wanted no pecuniary favours from his majesty, and that it was not consistent with honour to comply with his demand to leave the French territories. The duke urging Charles to reconsider his resolution, the latter grew impatient, and told him that he would in future decline receiving any communications from any person but the king himself. The duke told him the thing was impossible, unless indeed he expected, what he could scarcely suppose he did, that his majesty was to come to the Quai de Theatin in person. “In short, then, sir,” said Charles, “I have nothing farther to say than what I have said already,—pardon me, I have some business.” With these words Charles left the room, leaving the duke in amazement.

Long before the French public were aware of the intentions of their government in relation to the prince, the fame of his exploits, in connection with the fact of his being a descendant of Henri Quatre, had endeared him to the French nation; but when they found that he was to be sacrificed by their sovereign to state necessity, their admiration for his person was heightened into enthusiasm, and they looked upon the approaching struggle between Louis and his kinsman with feelings of the deepest interest. Every person was desirous to see a prince who had the courage to brave the grand monarch in his own capital, and whenever Charles appeared upon the public walks, he was followed by the assembled multitudes. When he entered the theatre, all eyes were directed towards him, and the performance was allowed to pass off unheeded by the audience. Charles alone seemed to make light of his misfortunes, and evinced the gaiety of his spirits by talking in an easy, cheerful, and affable manner to the young noblemen, by whom, on these occasions, he was always surrounded.[1336]

After trying every possible means to induce Charles to quit the French territory without effect, the ministry pressed the king to arrest him, and send him by force out of the kingdom. Louis was naturally averse to such a strong proceeding; but as he saw he could not fulfil the stipulation of the treaty regarding the exiled family in any other way, he reluctantly signed an order for his arrest. When putting his name to the warrant, he felt the extreme delicacy of the act, and pathetically exclaimed, “Poor prince! how difficult it is for a king to be a true friend!” This order, which was signed at three o’clock in the afternoon, was blazed all over Paris before evening. One of the prince’s retinue, who heard the intelligence, brought it to him; but Charles would not believe it. “Pish! pish!” he exclaimed, “an idle romance; they know I will obey my father.” Though no official notice was sent to Charles of the order, yet it is understood that means were taken to apprise him of his situation; and on the morning of the 10th of December, while walking in the Tuilleries, he was informed by a person of distinction that he would certainly be seized that very day if he did not prevent it by an immediate departure; but, instead of taking the hint thus kindly given him, he seemed to treat the intelligence as chimerical, and turning to one of his followers, gave directions that a box should be hired for him that night at the opera-house.

To carry the warrant into effect, no less than 1200 of the guards were in the course of the day drawn out, and posted in the court of the Palais Royal; a great number of sergeants and grenadiers, in cuirasses and helmets, filled the passages of the opera-house; and the police were placed in all the streets leading to it, to stop any carriages that might attempt to pass. Six intrepid sergeants of the grenadiers were ordered to seize the prince. Two companies of grenadiers took post in the court-yard of the kitchens, where the Duc de Biron, colonel of the French guards, disguised, waited in a coach to see the issue of the enterprise. The Mousquetaires, a body of French horse-guards, had orders to be ready to mount on horseback; troops were posted upon the road from the Palais Royal to Vincennes; hatchets and scaling ladders were prepared, and locksmiths directed to attend, in order to take the prince by escalade, in case he should throw himself into some house, and there attempt to stand out a siege. A physician named Vernage, and three surgeons, were also ordered to be in readiness to dress such of the troops as might be wounded. These extensive preparations can only be accounted for on the supposition that the government was apprehensive that an attempt would be made by the Parisians to rescue the prince.

Charles received several notes during the day, giving him notice of the measures taken for securing him; but he resolved to brave the danger. He accordingly left his hotel in his carriage, accompanied by three gentlemen of his household, at a quarter after five o’clock, for the opera-house, and, in passing through the street St Honoré, was warned by a friendly voice not to proceed, as the opera-house was beset. He proceeded onwards, however, and on entering the cul-de-sac, leading to the opera-house, the barriers were drawn, and the doors of the opera-house shut. On alighting from his coach, he was instantly surrounded by the six sergeants, disguised as tradesmen, who seized his person, and, lifting him off the ground, carried him through the porte cochère, at the end of the passage which led into the court-yard of the Palais Royal. M. de Vaudreuil, major of the blue guards, who, with some officers, had remained behind the gate, then approached his Royal Highness, and said, “Monseigneur, I arrest you in the name of the king, my master.” Charles, without betraying any emotion, answered that the manner was a little too violent. The sergeants, thereupon, carried him into a room on the ground floor of the palace, possessed by a surgeon of the Duke of Orlean’s household. The major demanding his arms, Charles presented his sword, but suspecting that he had other weapons about him, the sergeants, by De Vaudreuil’s order, searched his person, and found a pair of pocket pistols and a penknife, of which they took possession. Charles remarked that he had carried a pair of pistols about with him ever since he returned from Scotland. The major had provided himself with thirty-six ells of black silk ribbon[1337] with which to tie the prince, and on hearing him give directions to that effect, Charles offered his parole that he would hurt neither himself nor any other person, and added that he thought so many persons were quite sufficient to guard one unarmed man without resorting to such a step. The major consulted the Duke de Biron, who ordered that the prince should be bound. Charles was accordingly tied in five different places. In this situation he was put into a hired coach, attended by the major and two captains of the blue guards, and was driven, under a strong guard, to the castle of Vincennes, into which he was received by his friend M. de Chatelet, the governor, who placed him in a small upper apartment in the Tower, and treated him as well as his duty permitted him. The only person who remained with him in his confinement was Neil Mac Eachan, who had attended him in his perilous journey from Uist to Skye. Charles had borne the indignity offered him with great composure, the disgrace attending which, he told M. de Vaudreuil, could only affect his master; but after he found himself shut up in the castle, his feelings were overcome, and he is said to have clasped his hands together and to have burst into tears. “Ah! my faithful mountaineers,” he pathetically exclaimed, “from you I never would have received such treatment. Would to God I were still among you!” Meanwhile the three gentlemen who had attended Charles to the opera were also seized, and five others, who were by chance at his house, and all his servants were sent to the Bastile; his hotel was taken possession of by the lieutenant of police.[1338] Next day all the prince’s French servants were released.

The arrest of the prince created an extraordinary sensation in Paris; and next morning all the public places of the city were covered with pasquinades, which had been put up during the night, reflecting, in very severe terms, upon the conduct of the king and his ministers for their treatment of the prince. One of these was in the form of an order from King George, directed to Louis of Bourbon, as his viceroy, commanding and requiring him to seize, and, if necessary, to tie the person of Charles Edward Stuart, and to conduct him out of the kingdom of France; and that, if Louis should continue to please his master as he had hitherto done, he should be continued, by the king of England, in the viceroyalty of his kingdom of France. These placards were exceedingly annoying to the French court, and were torn down by the police with as great expedition as possible.

Bronze Medal, Prince Charles; reverse, Louisa, his Wife.
(From Original in Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh.)

Charles was kept in confinement till the 14th December, on which day, in consequence of a correspondence which had passed between him and the king on that and the previous day, he was allowed to walk a few hours in the gardens. Having tendered his parole to leave the French territories without guards, Charles was released at seven o’clock, in the morning of Sunday the 15th, and departed for Fontainebleau, in a coach, under the charge of a commandant of musketeers. Messrs. Stafford and Sheridan, two gentlemen of his household, who had been set at liberty, followed him in two post-chaises. The remainder of Charles’s domestics were released a few days afterwards. On reaching Fontainebleau, Charles despatched a facetious note to a M. de Boile at Paris, requesting him to inform his friends that he carried himself well, that his head had never been off his shoulders, and that it was still upon them. From Fontainebleau Charles proceeded, by easy stages, to Avignon, where he arrived on the morning of the 27th of December, disguised in the uniform of a French officer of musketeers. He had received a letter from his father on the road, and four days after his arrival he despatched an answer acquainting him that he was “in perfect good health, notwithstanding the unheard-of barbarous and inhuman treatment” he had met with.[1339]

FOOTNOTES:

[1303] It is to be attended to, that in alluding to Charles’s proceedings on the continent the New Style is followed.

[1304] Letter among the Stuart Papers.

[1305] Letter from O’Bryen to the Chevalier, 17th October, 1746, in the Stuart Papers.

[1306] Letter from the Chevalier to Charles, 6th January, 1747.—Stuart Papers.

[1307] Authentic Account. The writer of this account, who states that he obtained his information from an eye-witness, says that when Charles arrived at Paris he could not be prevailed upon to take any refreshment, but instantly proceeded to Versailles, to see the king, and that though Louis was at that time engaged in council on some affairs of importance, he immediately quitted it to receive him. He then relates the interview as above stated, and says that Charles was afterwards publicly received at Fontainebleau in the character of the Prince Regent of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It is certain, however, that the first time that Charles met Louis after his return to France was at Fontainebleau, and it is equally certain that he was never recognised at court as a British prince.

[1308] Both these letters will be found among the Stuart Papers.

[1309] Letter from O’Brien to the Chevalier de St. George, 31st October, 1746, among the Stuart Papers.

[1310] Of the unlimited confidence which these two favourites enjoyed with Charles the Stuart Papers afford abundant proofs. Sheridan in fact directed every thing when Charles was in Scotland, and it was solely owing to his aversion to a hill campaign,—the fatigue of which he said he could not endure,—that Lord George Murray could not prevail upon Charles to desist from engaging the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden; yet so great was the ascendency which Sir Thomas had acquired over the mind of Charles, that the ruinous result which ensued did not in the least weaken it. Edgar announced Sheridan’s death to Charles in a letter dated 2d December, 1746, and sent along with it all the papers found in Sir Thomas’s repositories having relation to the Prince or his affairs, among which was a sketch of a dying speech which Sir Thomas had prepared in case he had been taken and executed. Dr. King insinuates, from the ignorance of Charles, that Sheridan was in the pay of the English government; but it would be doing injustice to the memory of the favourite to believe him guilty of such baseness without direct proofs of his criminality. The Doctor’s words are: “His (Charles’s) governor was a protestant, and I am apt to believe purposely neglected his education, of which, it is surmised, he made a merit to the English ministry; for he was always supposed to be their pensioner. The Chevalier Ramsay, the author of Cyrus, was Prince Charles’s preceptor for about a year; but a court faction removed him.” The illiterateness of Charles is very perceptible in his ignorance of the orthography of French and English. Both in style and orthography they contrast most unfavourably with those of his father, whose epistolary correspondence cannot fail to give the reader a favourable idea of his literary acquirements. Though James appears to have had a good opinion of Sir Thomas, yet after his death he complained bitterly to Charles, in a long and very interesting letter, (that of 3d February, 1747, in the Stuart Papers,) of the conduct of the favourite, and in general of the other persons who obtained the Prince’s confidence. It was James’s deliberate conviction that their object was to corrupt Charles, by withdrawing him from his “duty to God in the first place, and to him in the second!” The sequel of Charles’s unfortunate history seems to confirm this opinion. A most unfavourable sketch of the character of Kelly, the new favourite, is given by Father Myles Macdonell, his own relative, for which see the Father’s letter to the Chevalier de St. George, 4th May, 1747, in the Stuart Papers.

[1311] There are two copies of this memoir among the Stuart Papers. One of them written in the first person, and holograph of the prince, is titled, “Memoir to ye F. K. from me of 10th Nov. 1746.” The other is titled, “Ancien Project de Memoire,” and is written in the third person.

[1312] Statements showing the division of this money, will be found in the Stuart Papers.

[1313] Letter from the Chevalier to Charles, 6th January, 1747.—Stuart Papers.

[1314] Letter from Charles to Louis, 12th January, 1747, in the Stuart Papers. Sir James Stewart appears to have been the person Charles intended to appoint, as there is a draught of a commission in his hand-writing among these papers, bearing the date of 29th December, 1746.

[1315] Letter from Lochiel to the Chevalier de St. George, of 16th January, 1747, among the Stuart Papers.

[1316] Letter from the Chevalier to Prince Charles, 13th January, 1747.

[1317] This circumstance, so disgraceful to the memory of Charles, is mentioned in a letter from Prince Henry to his father, dated Paris, 30th January, 1747, under the signature of John Paterson, a name sometimes assumed by Henry, when corresponding in cipher. The original letter is among the Stuart Papers.

Lord George’s arrival at Rome was announced to Charles by the Chevalier, in a letter dated 21st March, 1747. The following extract places James’s character in a very favourable point of view: “I must tell you that I was much surprised t’other day at the arrival of Lord George Murray in this place. After having absconded many months in Scotland, he found means to come to Holland, and from thence by Venice here. By what Bramston, (the corresponding name of O’Sullivan,) says, I am sorry to find that you have not been pleased with him, but tho’ I questioned Bramston much about him, yet I own I don’t see any motive to suspect his fidelity and loyalty. People may have an odd, and even a wrong way of thinking, and may even fail in something towards ourselves, but may be men of honour and honesty with all that; so that considering his birth, and the figure he made in your service, and that you had never writ to me about him yourself, I thought it would be very wrong in me not to receive him with all kindness, and even distinction. I don’t know how long he will stay here, or how he proposes to dispose of himself, but I understand he has a mind to bring over his lady, and to live privately with her in some retired place. He is publicly here, for he has no measures to keep; and I must do him the justice to say that he never speaks of you but with great respect, and even eloge.” See also the letters among the Stuart Papers from the Chevalier to Charles of 25th April, and 2d and 9th May, 1747, copied also from the original copies in the same collection. All of them, as far as they relate to Lord George, will be read with pleasure, but particularly the first.

[1318] Letters among Stuart Papers.

[1319] Vide Memoir, among the Stuart Papers.

[1320] Stuart Papers.

[1321] Letter from Lochiel to Charles, 23d February, 1747, among the Stuart Papers.

[1322] See the Chevalier’s repeated remonstrances on this subject in his letters to Charles.

[1323] Stuart Papers.

[1324] Father Macdonell’s letter to the Chevalier of 15th July, 1747, among the Stuart Papers.

[1325] Letter from James to Charles, 13th January, 1747. See also two extremely interesting letters of 3d April, 1747, and 28th January, 1748, which also throw considerable light on the domestic differences which existed between Charles and his father.—Stuart Papers.

[1326] Letter from James to Charles, 17th February, 1747, among Stuart Papers.

[1327] This gentleman had been long in the service of the Chevalier de St. George. His father acted as solicitor in Scotland to James II. He was knighted by the Chevalier, and acted for a considerable time as his secretary of state. He was with Prince Henry at Paris, and on his departure for Rome entered Charles’s household. He afterwards became a Roman Catholic. He went to Rome in 1759, at the desire of the Chevalier to act as his Secretary.

[1328] Vide Charles’s letter, and the answer, among the Stuart Papers.

[1329] Letter of 10th February, 1747.

[1330] Vide the two papers presented by Sempil to the Chevalier de St. George in February 1748, among the Stuart Papers.

[1331] Charles wished his father, on Lochiel’s appointment, to present the chief with a patent of peerage, which, with other patents, had been made out but kept latent. This James declined, as he thought that, by declaring Lochiel’s patent, he would disgust many deserving people, and particularly the other Highland chiefs. He very properly observed that Lochiel’s interest and reputation in his own country, and his being at the head of a regiment in France, would give him more consideration there than any empty title he could bestow.—Letter from James to Charles, 7th November, 1747, among Stuart Papers.

[1332] Letter to M. de Puyzieux, among the Stuart Papers.

[1333] Letter, Charles to his father, 13th May, 1748, Stuart Papers.

[1334] The Earl of Essex and Lord Cathcart, hostages sent to France until the restitution by Great Britain of Cape Breton.

[1335] Letter,—Charles to the Duke de Gesvres, among the Stuart Papers.

[1336] Authentic Account, p. 51.

[1337] Another account (G. Charles’s Transactions in Scotland) says that the material for binding was ten ells of crimson silk cord. This looks far more probable; if the major wished to make the binding of the prince effectual, “silk ribbon” would have been ridiculous. Still the anonymous letter referred to below is so circumstantial as to call it “a black ribbon, three fingers broad, and thirty-six ells long.”

[1338] Authentic Account, p. 63. Anonymous letter to Dr. Meighan, among Stuart Papers.

[1339] Stuart Papers.

CHAPTER XL.

A.D. 1748 to Present Time.

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS:—

George II., 1727–1760. | George III., 1760–1820.
George IV., 1820–1830. | William IV., 1830–1837.
Victoria, 1837—

Departure of Prince Charles from Avignon incognito—Visits London—Proposed marriage with a Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt—Charles’s reported change of religion—Arrest and execution of Doctor Cameron—Negotiations between Charles and his Jacobite friends in England—Result—Negotiations resumed, and finally broken off—Death of the Chevalier—Marriage of Charles—His death—Character—Death of Cardinal York—Descendants of the Stuarts—“Charles Edward and John Sobieski Stuart.”

The city of Avignon, in Provence, which Charles selected for his place of abode, did not at this time form a part of the French dominions, but belonged to the pope. On the death of George I. the Chevalier de St. George had taken up his residence in this city, that he might the better be enabled to correspond with his friends in England; but he was soon obliged to retire across the Alps, in consequence, it is understood, of an application from the British government to the court of Rome. To expel the Stuarts from the French territories, whilst, by a sort of geographical subtlety, they were allowed to reside almost in the heart of France, was certainly an absurdity; and had Charles remained for any length of time at Avignon, it is probable that, as in the case of his father, he would soon have been forced to look out for another asylum; but, to the astonishment of all Europe, he left Avignon incognito, after a residence of about two months, and went whither nobody could tell.

Attended only by Colonel Goring, and one or two unliveried servants, Charles left Avignon in a travelling chaise, and proceeded on the road to Lyons. The prince and Goring passed for French officers, who, on the conclusion of the peace, had obtained leave to visit their friends—Charles taking the name of the Count D’Espoir.[1340] What his motives were for taking this step have not been ascertained; but it is probable that one of his objects was an interview with the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, with whose daughter, the Princess Charlotte Louisa, he contemplated a matrimonial alliance.

After passing through Lyons, Charles hired another chaise, and proceeded to Strasbourg. From Strasbourg it is supposed that Charles went to Paris, as it is quite certain that, in the month of May, he visited that capital.

Of Charles’s wanderings, during the several years that he continued to roam on the continent, no satisfactory account has yet appeared; but recent researches have thrown some light on this obscure part of his history. It has been long known that during this period he visited Germany, spent some time privately in Paris, but resided chiefly in the dominions of his friend the Duc de Bouillon, where, surrounded by the wide and solitary forest of Ardennes, his active spirit sought, in the dangerous chase of wolves and bears, some compensation for the military enterprise from which he was excluded.[1341] Secretary Edgar, who corresponded frequently with “the dear wild man,” as he jocularly styled Charles, considered the prince’s incognito as one of the most extraordinary circumstances that had ever occurred, so great was the secrecy with which it was for several years preserved.

After his departure from Paris, the first trace that can be discovered of him is in September 1750, when he visited London.[1342] His object in coming over appears to have been to establish a regular correspondence with his friends in England, to ascertain the probability of a rising in his favour, and to fix with them upon a proper place for landing arms, &c. Before his departure he applied to his father for a renewal of his powers as regent, which James reluctantly granted.[1343] If he found matters in a favourable train, he intended to issue a declaration in which he was to offer to refer the funds to a free parliament; and to encourage the army to join him, he was to show the nullity of the oaths they had taken to the “Elector.”[1344] Charles arrived in London in the month of September, and went immediately to the house of Lady Primrose. Her ladyship sent a note to Dr. King, a zealous Jacobite, desiring to see him immediately. On the doctor’s entering the house, Lady Primrose led him into her dressing-room, and presented him to the prince. Dr. King was surprised at seeing him, and still more astonished when informed of the motives which had induced him to hazard a journey to England at such a juncture. According to Dr. King, whose statement is fully supported by documents among the Stuart Papers, the impatience of the prince’s friends who were in exile had formed a scheme which was impracticable; but although it had been as feasible as they had represented it to him, yet no preparation had been made to carry it into execution. Charles was soon convinced that he had been deceived, and after a stay in London of only five days, returned to the continent.[1345]

As Charles studiously concealed from his father all his designs and movements, the latter was entirely ignorant of his contemplated marriage with the daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. The Chevalier had suggested, in 1747, a marriage with one of the Duke of Modena’s daughters, from which family his mother had sprung; but Charles appears not to have relished the proposed match. He now urged upon him the necessity of marrying, so as to secure the succession of the family; for he could not think the prince so selfish as to consider himself only in all he did and suffered.

Though he could not but feel disappointed at the result of his journey to England, Charles did not despond, and he now resolved to sound the dispositions of the courts of Berlin and Stockholm. As Lord Marischal had resided about three years in Berlin, and was, through the interest of Field-marshal Keith, his brother, on the best footing with his Prussian majesty, it occurred to Charles that, by availing himself of the services of that nobleman, whom he looked upon as “an honest man,” Frederick might be induced to espouse his cause. Accordingly he despatched Colonel Goring to Berlin, in June 1751, with a letter to Lord Marischal. After consulting with his lordship, Goring was directed to proceed to Sweden.[1346] Of this mission nothing farther is known. An interview which took place between Lord Marischal and Goring, and another probably with the prince himself at Paris, in September following, are involved in the same obscurity. About this time Charles received notice that one Grosert, collector of the customs at Alloa, had left Scotland with an intention to assassinate him. This information was brought to France by Robertson of Blairfetty, who had been in Scotland. Grosert is said to have been married to a German woman, the daughter of the milliner of George I.[1347]

No trace can be discovered of Charles’s wanderings, after his return from London, till the 5th of April 1752, when he was seen by a gentleman of the name of Mackintosh at Campvere, in the island of Middleburg, where he remained four days.[1348] He is said to have revisited London in the course of the following year, and to have formally renounced the Catholic religion in a chapel in Gray’s Inn Lane under his own name of Charles Edward Stuart; but for this statement there appears to be no sufficient authority.[1349] Dr. King, who corresponded with Charles for several years, makes no allusion to this visit, nor is there the least trace of it to be found among the Stuart Papers. The story of a third visit, on occasion of the coronation of George III., at which Charles is said to have attended, rests on the authority of a letter of David Hume, written in 1773. As to his reported change of religion, a rumour was generally prevalent in 1752—a year before the date of his alleged apostacy at London—that Charles had become a Protestant; but its accuracy was doubted of by some of his friends.[1350] It is certain, however, that Charles was not disposed to imitate the self-denial of his father and grandfather, who preferred their faith to a crown.[1351]

In consequence of the state of comparative security which the British government enjoyed after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, it became less vigilant than before in watching the motions of the exiled adherents of the house of Stuart. Some of them accordingly ventured, from time to time, to revisit their native country and friends. Amongst others, Dr. Cameron came over in 1749 to recover part of a large sum of money which had been left by Charles in charge of Macpherson of Cluny when he quitted Scotland. He made a second journey to Britain in 1753, for what particular purpose is not certainly known, although it is supposed his visit had some connection with a scheme for another rising, then under the consideration of the Jacobites, but which luckily was nipped in the bud. Having been apprehended in Scotland, he was carried to London, confined to the Tower, and his identity being proved in the court of king’s bench by several witnesses, he received sentence of death, and was barbarously executed at Tyburn. He conducted himself with manly fortitude and decorum, and his fate was generally pitied.[1352] Some of the best wishers to the Government thought the sacrifice of this unfortunate gentleman a most unnecessary and wanton act at such a juncture, and at such a distance of time from the period of his attainder.[1353] It is said that King George himself, as he reluctantly signed the warrant for Cameron’s execution, exclaimed, “Surely there has been too much blood spilt upon this account already!”

Down to 1754 Charles kept up a regular communication with his friends in England, several of whom visited him personally, and though they saw many reprehensible things in his conduct, yet they were willing to make every allowance for the peculiarities of his situation. There was one circumstance, however, which they could not overlook. When in Scotland, Charles had a mistress named Clementina Walkinshaw, who, by all accounts, possessed no great attractions, bodily or mental. Some years after he was sent out of France he sent for this woman, who managed to become acquainted with all his plans, and was trusted with his most secret correspondence. As Miss Walkinshaw had a sister who acted as housekeeper to Frederick, Prince of Wales, at Leicester house, all the persons of distinction in England attached to Charles grew alarmed, being apprehensive that this paramour had been placed in his family by the English ministers. They, therefore, despatched a gentleman, named M’Namara, to Paris, where Charles then was, with instructions to insist upon Miss Walkinshaw’s removal for a certain time from his presence. Mr. M’Namara, who was a man of excellent understanding, urged the most powerful reasons, and used all the arts of persuasion to induce him to comply, but to no purpose. M’Namara then informed him that an immediate interruption of all correspondence with his most powerful friends in England, and the ruin of his interest, would be the certain consequence of his refusal; but Charles was inflexible. M’Namara staid some days in Paris beyond the time prescribed, in hopes of ultimately prevailing; but all his entreaties and remonstrances were ineffectual. At parting, M’Namara could not help exclaiming, with great indignation, “What has your family done, Sir, thus to draw down the vengeance of Heaven on every branch of it, through so many ages?” During his conferences with M’Namara, the prince declared that he had no violent passion, or, indeed, any particular regard for Miss Walkinshaw, and that he could see her removed from him without any concern; but that he would not receive directions for the regulation of his private conduct from any man alive. When M’Namara returned to London and reported Charles’s answer to the gentlemen who had sent him to Paris, many of whom were persons of the first rank, and all of them men of fortune and distinction, they were amazed and confounded, and resolved at once to break with him.[1354]

Lord Marischal was then residing at Paris as ambassador from the king of Prussia to the court of Versailles, and was apprised by M’Namara of everything that passed between him and the prince. Had M’Namara’s mission been successful, his lordship, whose services Charles was anxious to obtain, meant, on the expiration of his embassy, to have entered Charles’s household; but disgusted with the conduct of the prince, who even had the ingratitude to threaten to publish the names of his English friends, he declined to take any farther interest in his affairs, and embracing the mediation of the king of Prussia, reconciled himself to the British government.[1355]

When, in the following year, a war with France seemed inevitable, some of his French friends petitioned the French court to take advantage of this favourable opportunity to make one more attempt to restore the Stuarts. Charles himself came to France, and appears to have made exertions in his own behalf, but the time was consumed in fruitless negotiations, and Charles returned to Italy and the retirement of private life. It seems to be with this attempt that a document contained among the Stuart Papers is connected. This document purports to be notes of a statement made by a deputation, sent over to Prince Charles, at a conference with him, drawn up at his own desire; it is dated August 15, 1755. If this document is authentic, and there seems to be no reason to believe otherwise, the deputies must have lectured the prince on his conduct most fearlessly and outspokenly, and in a manner to which princes are mostly strangers.

It is not known what reception the deputation met with, or how this message was received by him; but, at his desire, the address was committed to writing, and sent to him. Charles returned an indignant answer, informing his “friends” that reason might, and he hoped should, always prevail with him, but his own heart deceived him if threats or promises ever would. He despised, he said, the malice of those who aspersed his character, and considered it below his dignity to treat them in the terms they deserved. He told them he had long desired a churchman from his friends to attend him, but that his expectations had been hitherto disappointed.[1356]

Though Charles at first affected not to feel the indignity offered to him by the French government, yet it is certain that it left upon him an indelible impression, soured his disposition, and tended to confirm into a habit the propensity to tippling which he contracted during his long and exhausting wanderings in the Highlands. Indeed, his mind, which never was of the strongest or noblest type, appears to have been quite unhinged. During his long incognito he scarcely ever corresponded with his afflicted father,—a silence which he said was not owing either to neglect or want of duty, but because his situation was such that he could do nothing but vent “imprecations against the fatality of being born in such a detestable age.”[1357] Led away by his passions, and reckless of the feelings or wishes of others, he would suffer no control; and so infatuated did he become, that in resisting the admonitions of his friends, he thought he was pursuing a course honourable to himself, and dutiful towards the “honest man,”—his father;[1358] but James was not to be misled by such false notions, and hinted, that though he was happy to find Charles in such sentiments, yet it was possible that what he might think for the best might be otherwise. “Do you,” he asks the prince, “rightly understand the extensive sense of honour and duty from which you say you will never go astray? If you can,” he continues, “keep up to that rule, you will then be really an honest man, which is the new name you give me, and with which I am much pleased, since it is a title I value more than all those which vanity can desire, or flattery invent. It is a title we are all obliged to pretend to, and which we may all, without vanity, think we deserve, and unless we deserve it, we, in reality, can neither be happy in the next world, nor even in this, because peace and tranquillity of mind is only the share of honest men. The best wish I can therefore make you, is that you may yourself long deserve and enjoy that title it would be the most effectual means of drawing down God’s blessing upon you.”[1359]

Prince Charles Edward Stuart.
From an Original Drawing by Ozias
Humphrey, R.A. Taken at Florence 1776.

After the estrangement of his friends, Charles appears to have given up all thoughts of restoration, and resided chiefly at Avignon till shortly before the death of his father, on December 31, 1766, when he returned to Italy, fixing his abode at Florence. The Chevalier had, for several years, been in a declining state of health, and, for two years before his death, had been confined to his bed-chamber. His remains were carried to the church of the parish where he had resided, and were decorated with all the insignia of royalty. Over the bed was this inscription:—“Jacobus Magnæ Britanniæ Rex, Anno MDCCLXVI.” The body lay in state three days, during which none but the Italian princes and British subjects were admitted into the church. The corpse was then removed in procession to St Peter’s church to be interred. By his will, the Chevalier left his real estate, which yielded about forty thousand crowns per annum, exclusive of pensions, to Prince Charles. He also left him a box of jewels belonging to the crown of Poland, formerly pledged to the Sobieski family, if not redeemed. The jewels belonging to his own family he directed to be divided between Charles and Henry.

From the state of comparative seclusion in which the Chevalier passed the most part of his life, his personal history is less known than either that of his father, or his son, Charles Edward. His character, to judge from his correspondence and the many acts of individual kindness he showed towards his exiled adherents, was benevolent and estimable. He seems to have been better acquainted with the principles of the English constitution than any of his race, and would, had he been called to empire, have very possibly eschewed the dangerous rock of the prerogative on which his grandfather and father split. His boast was not merely that he was an Englishman, but that, to use an Italian phrase, there was not “a greater Englishman than himself.”[1360]

After his father’s death, Prince Charles retired to Albano, near Rome, where he appears to have lived in great seclusion till the year 1772, when the court of Versailles, desirous for its own selfish purposes to prevent the male line of the house of Stuart from becoming extinct, negotiated a marriage between him and the young princess Louisa Maximiliana Carolina of Stolberg-Gedern; and the three Bourbon courts all concurring in the match, a suitable allowance was settled by them on the prince and his wife. Charles, who, in consequence of the refusal of the court of Rome to recognise the titles which his father had assumed, had taken that of the Count of Albany, which when a youth he had used on his travels through Italy, took up his residence upon his marriage in the neighbourhood of Florence, whither he was invited by the grand duke of Tuscany. The marriage was unfortunate. Charles had lived too long single to enjoy connubial happiness; and his mind, soured by misfortune and degraded by dissipation, unfitted him for the discharge of the domestic virtues.[1361] An English lady who saw Prince Charles at Rome in 1770, describes him thus:—“The Pretender is naturally above the middle size, but stoops excessively; he appears bloated and red in the face, his countenance heavy and sleepy, which is attributed to his having given in to excess of drinking, but when a young man he must have been esteemed handsome. His complexion is of the fair tint, his eyes blue, his hair light brown, and the contour of his face a long oval; he is by no means thin, has a noble person and a graceful manner. His dress was scarlet, laced with broad gold lace; he wears the blue riband outside of his coat, from which depends a cameo, antique, as large as the palm of my hand, and he wears the same garter and motto as those of the noble St George in England. Upon the whole, he has a melancholy, mortified appearance.”[1362]

Charles and the princess lived together uncomfortably till 1780, Charles, it is said, often treating his youthful, beautiful, accomplished, and gentle wife with the greatest brutality. In 1777 she became acquainted with the great Italian dramatist Alfieri, and the two immediately conceived for each other a passionate, lasting, and comparatively pure love; for while her husband lived there is every reason to believe that she remained faithful to him. The princess left Charles in 1780, and took up her residence with his brother the cardinal at Rome, but shortly after removed from that to Baden and ultimately to Paris, where Alfieri joined her, and they separated no more. On her husband’s death, it is understood that she was privately married to Alfieri, who died in 1803, she surviving him upwards of twenty-one years. When Tuscany fell under the dominion of Bonaparte, he ordered the princess, then living in Florence, (she having incurred his displeasure), to repair to Paris. She was afterwards allowed to return to Florence, where it is said she made a left-handed marriage with a French historical painter, named Francis Xavier Fabre, the friend of Alfieri, whom upon her death she appointed her universal executor.

About 1785, Charles, who must have felt himself at this time a lonely, homeless, disappointed old man, took to live with him his daughter, Charlotte, by Miss Walkinshaw, who was born about 1760. Little is known of this lady; she, however, appears to have been of a gentle disposition, and we would fain hope that her presence and companionship helped much to soften the misanthropy and soothe the bitter spirit of the disappointed aspirant to the British throne. Shortly after his daughter came to live with him, Charles removed to Rome, where in January 1788 he was prostrated by paralysis, and after an illness of three weeks died on the 31st. He was buried royally in the church of his brother at Frascati, the body, however, being afterwards removed to St Peter’s at Rome. Some time before his death, he legitimatized his daughter, and as the last act of his shadowy sovereignty, created her Duchess of Albany, leaving her the greater part of his private property.[1363] Even down to the time of his death, it would seem he had not entirely relinquished the hope of one day sitting on the throne of his ancestors, for, according to Lord Mahon, he used to keep under his bed a strong box with 12,000 sequins, ready for the expenses of his journey to England whenever he might suddenly be called thither.[1364] His daughter, so far as is known his sole descendant, survived him only one year.

Whilst Charles’s partisans have painted him in the most glowing colours of admiration, as the paragon of all that is noble and high-minded, others have represented him as a man devoid of any good and generous feeling,—as despotic, revengeful, ungrateful, and avaricious,—having, in short, all the vices without one of the redeeming virtues of his race. Paradoxical as the assertion may be, there is some truth in both delineations; but considerable abatements must be made from the exaggerated eulogies of the one party, as well as from the sweeping condemnation of the other. There were, in fact, as has been well observed, two Charles Edwards. The hero of 1745 was a generous and high-minded youth, who, notwithstanding some constitutional defects, merited a better destiny; but the Charles Edward of a subsequent period was a degraded man, who, dispirited by misfortune and soured by disappointment, lost all command over himself, and became the sport of his passions. He retained, however, to the close of his existence, a vivid recollection of his early exploits, and frequently betrayed genuine emotion on hearing any allusion to Scotland and the Highlanders.

Medal of Henry, Cardinal Duke of York.
From Original in Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh.

When Charles was ill in 1784, his brother the cardinal, supposing him to be on his death-bed, drew up a paper maintaining his pretensions to the British crown, which, he declared, were in no way prejudiced or renounced by his retention of the incognito title, Cardinal Duke of York. A copy of this document he sent to the pope, cardinals, and various foreign ministers. When his brother the prince did die, and Henry was left the last and sole representative of the royal Stuart race, he caused a medal to be struck bearing the inscription, “Henry IX., King of England, by the grace of God, but not by the will of men.” This, however, was all the cardinal ever did to maintain his right divine to the throne from which his grandfather fled. He appears to have been perfectly contented with his life as a Roman cardinal, to have been generous and gentle in disposition, and to have performed his duties faithfully as a minister of the Catholic Church, although in his own house he is said to have insisted upon a strict observance of all the etiquette usual in the residence of a reigning sovereign. He had many rich livings both in Italy and France, but of most of these and of all his wealth and treasures, literary, antiquarian, and curious, he was despoiled by the emissaries of the French revolution in 1798, when he took refuge in Venice infirm and destitute. His case was represented to his successful relative George III., who immediately, and in as delicate a manner as possible, generously settled on the cardinal a pension for life of L.4000 a year. The cardinal returned to Rome in 1801, and resided there till his death in 1807, aged 82 years. He was buried in St Peter’s, beside his father and brother, “and a stately monument, from the chisel of Canova, but at charge, as I believe, of the House of Hanover, has since arisen to the memory of James the Third, Charles the Third, and Henry the Ninth, Kings of England—names which an Englishman can scarcely read without a smile or a sigh! Often at the present day does the British traveller turn from the sunny height of the Pincian or the carnival throngs of the Corso, to gaze in thoughtful silence on that sad mockery of human greatness, and that last record of ruined hopes!”[1365]

Henry of York, as we have said, was the last scion of the direct line of the royal house of Stuart, although he was by no means the last of the Stuarts, as the genealogy of nearly every royal and princely house of Europe can testify. Much valuable information on this point is contained in Mr. Townsend’s Descendants of the Stuarts, where the reader will meet with many interesting and a few strange and startling facts. The Stuart blood, it would seem, enriches the veins of every Christian sovereign of Europe, and among the European noble families will be found many princes who, by the now ignored and we hope never to be revived, principle of divine hereditary right, are nearer heirs to the British throne than the Prince of Wales. The heir-of-line of the Stuarts is, we believe, Francis, ex-Duke of Modena, the heiress presumptive being his niece, Maria Theresa, wife of Prince Louis of Bavaria. Great Britain, however, is as likely to assert her right to the allegiance of the United States as is any of the many descendants of the Stuarts to endeavour to establish a claim to the throne of England, to the prejudice of the reigning family. The Lady who at present occupies the throne of Britain, and in whose veins runs a large share of the ancient Stuart blood, has won her way to the hearts of all classes of her subjects, Highland and Lowland, by her true nobility of character, genuine womanliness, and anxious interest in the welfare of her people, as effectually as did the young Chevalier by his youthful thoughtless daring, fascinating manners, and feigned enthusiasm for all that was Highland. Still the ancient spirit is not dead, and probably never will die, so long as Gaelic and Lowland Scotch is understood in the land, and so long as there exists such a superabundance of Jacobite songs unmatched for pathos and humour, and set to music which cannot fail to touch the heart of the “canniest Scot” that ever tried to overreach his neighbour. This sentimental Jacobitism, initiated by Scott, appears to be getting stronger and stronger every year, and pervades all classes of society from the “queen on the throne to the meanest of her subjects;” it has, indeed, become now to a certain extent fashionable, no doubt owing largely to the example set by the greatest lady in the land, in her love and admiration of the Highlands and Highlanders. Tartans, not very many years ago proscribed and forbidden to be worn under severe penalties, and regarded as barbarous and vulgar, have now become the rage, and are as indispensable to every Scottish family, Highland or Lowland, as its crest or its family ghost.

Before dismissing entirely the Stuart family, which latterly was so intimately associated with the Highlands, it may not be out of place to mention that only a few years ago, two young men made their appearance in Scotland, holding themselves forth as legitimate grandsons of Prince Charles. Their story, set forth in an inflated, misty style, after the manner of romantic novelists, will be found in a work published by them in 1847, entitled, Tales of the Century, or Sketches of the Romance of History between the years 1746 and 1846. There can be no doubt that John Sobieski and Charles Edward Stuart, the names by which these gentlemen made themselves known to the public, have no connection whatever with the royal Stuarts: it is certain that Prince Charles Edward Stuart left behind him no legitimate offspring. The story told by them in the above publication, however, was to the effect that their father, instead of being a son of Admiral Allen, as was commonly supposed, was a son of Prince Charles and the Princess Louisa, whose birth was kept secret through fear of the Hanoverian family, and who was intrusted to Admiral Allen, and passed off by him as his own son.[1366] It is not at all improbable that they themselves believed their own story, and were, strictly speaking, no impostors; at all events, they appear to have met with considerable sympathy in the form of hospitality and subscriptions to their publications, for besides the book above mentioned and a volume of poems, they published a large and expensive work, splendidly illustrated, entitled, The Costume of the Clans, a copy of which was ordered at the time for her Majesty’s library. To judge from the introduction to this last book, occupying about the half of the work, written in a most painfully lofty style, and having an amusing look of learning by being crammed full of small type notes and enigmatical references, one would be almost inclined to think that they were weak-minded enough to believe that it was possible, even in the middle of the 19th century, in the reign of Queen Victoria, to incite the loyal Highlanders to enact a second ’45.[1367]

John Sobieski Stuart generally resides in London, where he is to be met with in good society under the title of “Count D’Albanie.”

FOOTNOTES:

[1340] “Letter from H—— G——, Esquire, one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber to the young Chevalier, and the only person of his own retinue that attended him from Avignon, in his late journey through Germany and elsewhere, &c., to a particular friend. London, 1750.”

[1341] Klose’s Memoirs of Prince Charles, vol. ii. p. 199.

[1342] Charles alludes to this visit in a note dated 1st July, 1754, in his own hand-writing, among the Stuart Papers.

[1343] Stuart Papers.

[1344] See a curious memorandum, dated 3d May, 1750, among the Stuart Papers. From this document it is evident that Charles thought that the French ministry were bribed by the British government to withhold assistance from him.

[1345] King’s Political and Literary Anecdotes, p. 197:—“He came,” says Dr. King, “one evening to my lodgings and drank tea with me. My servant, after he was gone, said to me, ‘that he thought my new visitor very like Prince Charles.’ ‘Why,’ said I, ‘have you ever seen Prince Charles?’ ‘No, sir,’ replied the fellow, ‘but this gentleman, whoever he may be, exactly resembles the busts which are sold in Red Lion Street, and are said to be the busts of Prince Charles.’ The truth is, these busts were taken in plaster of Paris from his face. I never heard him,” adds the doctor—who, however, cannot be received as an altogether unbiassed reporter—“express any noble or benevolent sentiment, the certain indications of a great soul and a good heart; or discover any sorrow or compassion for the misfortunes of so many worthy men who had suffered in his cause. But the most odious part of his character was his love of money.... I have known this gentleman with 2000 Louis d’ors in his strong-box pretend he was in great distress, and borrow money from a lady in Paris who was not in affluent circumstances. His most faithful servants, who had closely attended him in all his difficulties, were ill rewarded. To this spirit of avarice may be added his insolent manner of treating his immediate dependants, very unbecoming a great prince, and a sure prognostic of what might be expected from him if ever he acquired the sovereign power.”

[1346] See the letter to Earl Marischal and the instructions to Goring, both dated 21st June, 1751, among the Stuart Papers.

[1347] Letter from Sir James Harrington, dated 6th August, 1751, among the Stuart Papers.

[1348] Letter, Mr. Donald Mackintosh to Secretary Edgar, dated from Civita Vecchia, 6th February, 1754.—Stuart Papers.

[1349] He is said on this occasion to have called without previous notice on Lady Primrose, and to have walked into the room, where she and others were playing cards, being announced by the servant under another name. After he left it was remarked how like he was to the prince’s portrait which hung in the very room into which he entered. He is said on this occasion to have used so little precaution that he went abroad undisguised in daylight, walking once through St. James’s, and taking a turn in Pall Mall. This story looks very like another version of his visit in 1750. See George Charles’s Transactions in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 470.

[1350] See among the Stuart Papers a letter from Secretary Edgar to Mr. William Hay, 26th September, 1752, and that from Mr. Hay’s letter to Edgar, October 1752. Charles seems to have been desirous after this to have none but Protestants about him. He sent an order to Avignon, in November 1753, to dismiss all his “Papist servants.” He kept at this time a French mistress, and having quarrelled with her, he discarded her because she was “a Papist too.” The following note, also, in the prince’s hand, appears on the back of a letter of Waters the banker, of 26th June, 1754:—“My being a Protestant I can prove to be an advantage to the Papist, and my terrible situation not to be incapable to attempt any plan either against my honour or interest, seeing them that are so far from my country.” At this time (June 1754) Charles was living in Paris incognito.

[1351] See his answer to the deputation that waited on him in the year 1755:—

“As to his religion,” says Dr. King, “he is certainly free from all bigotry and superstition, and would readily conform to the religion of the country. With the Catholics he is a Catholic, with the Protestants he is a Protestant; and to convince the latter of his sincerity, he often carried an English Common Prayer-book in his pocket, and sent to Gordon (whom I have mentioned before), a non-juring clergyman, to christen the first child he had by his mistress, Mrs. Walkinshaw.”

[1352] Klose’s Memoirs of Prince Charles, vol. ii. p. 208.

[1353] The French government settled a pension of 1200 livres per annum upon his widow, and granted an annual allowance of 400 livres to each of his two sons who were in its service, in addition to their pay.

[1354] King’s Political and Literary Anecdotes, p. 264, et seq.

[1355] Several letters between Charles and Lord Marischal will be found among the Stuart Papers. The most interesting are one from his lordship, without signature, 15th April 1754, another also without signature, 18th May 1754, and Charles’s answer of the latter date.

[1356] Stuart Papers.

[1357] Letter to Edgar, 24th March 1754.

[1358] Letter,—Charles to Edgar, 12th March, 1755.

[1359] Letter to Charles, 14th April, 1755, among Stuart Papers.

[1360] Letter to Charles of 3d February, 1747.

[1361] Lord Mahon thinks that Charles had contracted a disparaging opinion of the tender sex in general. Among the Stuart Papers is the following written by Charles about the time of his marriage:—“As for men, I have studied them myself, and were I to live till fourscore, I could scarcely know them better than now, but as for women, I have thought it useless, they being so much more wicked and impenetrable.” “Ungenerous and ungrateful words,” justly exclaims Lord Mahon; “surely as he wrote them, the image of Flora Macdonald should have risen in his heart and restrained his hand.”—Mahon’s England, v. iii., p. 527.

[1362] Letters from Italy by an Englishwoman, London, 1776. Quoted by Lord Mahon.

[1363] Klose’s Memoirs, v. ii., p. 241.

[1364] Mahon’s England, v. ii., p. 528.

[1365] Mahon’s England, v. iii. p. 529.

[1366] See the whole story set forth and conclusively refuted in the Quarterly Review for June 1847.

[1367] A gentleman of Jacobite sympathies, to whom this part of the work has been submitted, appends the following note:—

“It is but justice, however, to these gentlemen to say, that they have never made any loud or noisy assertion of their claims, leaving, what they believe to be, the fact of their descent to be indicated, rather than asserted in the work above mentioned. It is understood, also, that they do not encourage much reference being made to those claims, which they consider to amount only to the fact of their being descended from Prince Charles, not to any ‘Divine Right’ to the throne in virtue of that descent; that right having been forfeited, they believe, by the fact of themselves and their ancestors having been Roman Catholics—the nation having declared for a Protestant succession. It looks also as if they depended on the strength of truth, or what they believe to be truth, that they have never answered the criticisms of the Quarterly reviewer, whilst at the same time it is understood that they maintain that they could answer him, if they were so minded. They bore a high character during their residence in the Highlands of Scotland, which character they still retain. It is some time since the writer of this note has seen them, but the resemblance which their features bore to the features of the ancient Stuart race used to be remarked by all who knew them. This, however, would not prove much. Even the Quarterly reviewer does not allege that they were conscious or knowingly impostors.”

CHAPTER XLI.

Proceedings which followed Culloden, their cause and consequences—Influence of clan-feeling—Lord Lovat and the Frasers—Parliamentary measures—Disarming Act—Act against the Highland dress—Abolition of Hereditary Jurisdictions—The Scottish Episcopalians—Effect of these measures—The Old Jacobites—The Jacobite Songs—Whig Songs—Sir Walter Scott—Jacobitism at the present day—Queen Victoria—Innovations, and their probable consequences.

The harsh military proceedings which followed the battle of Culloden, of which we have already endeavoured to give the reader an idea, seem to have completely crushed the spirit out of the poor, and, in many cases, innocent Highlanders. The Duke of Cumberland and his subordinates exercised, as we have seen, no discrimination in the selection of their victims, laying their bloody clutches on chiefs and people, him who had been “out” and him who had not; it was sufficient to bring slaughter, slavery, or ruin on a man and his family, if he bore upon or about him any mark of Highland origin or connection,—wore a kilt, or could not justify himself in English. The end which it was intended to accomplish by these cruel and saddening measures, was no doubt in the main highly desirable; it was well to let it be distinctly known once for all, that the divine hereditary right of ruling could be conferred only by the people, and that these would bestow the post of king on him who could fill it best, and who would by no caprices of his own obstruct the progress of the nation. It was assuredly right and absolutely necessary that the Highlanders should be made clearly to understand that they lived in the middle of the 18th century, and were only a very small part of a great nation which was leading the march of the world’s progress, and that, instead of doing their best to pull their country back a century, they should lend the aid of the many valuable and noble qualities with which they were endowed, but which were running comparatively waste, to enable Britain to keep her proud position in the van of the nations, and help the world on in its glorious course of progress, to try to stop which would certainly lead to their own destruction. It was, we say, high time that such a splendid race of men should be roused out of self-satisfied slumber and brought to their senses, but surely there was some gentler method of effecting this than by thrusting a sword into their hearts or blowing out their bewildered brains; their tendency to rebellion was no disease which required to be “stamped out,” but merely the result of much unoccupied energy, which only required proper direction in order to become a blessing instead of a curse to their fellow-countrymen. No one, possessing ordinary human feeling, can regard the proceedings which followed Culloden, and which were continued for many months, with any feelings but those of pity, sadness, and horror, combined with loathing at those who were so inhuman as to carry out the bloody work of wholesale butchery and ruin. We of the present day regard the Highlanders of ’45 as a chivalrous, impulsive, simple-minded race, who really wished to do no one any harm, and perhaps we are to a certain extent right. But, as at the time of the massacre of Glencoe, their southern fellow-countrymen looked upon them as a pestiferous race of semi-barbarians, enemies to progress, “thieves and lawless limmers,” who, like vermin, should be annihilated, or at least for ever incapacitated from doing harm to any but themselves. This seems especially to have been the case with the Duke of Cumberland, who was utterly incapable of regarding the Highlanders in any other light than as a set of barbarous villains, to whom no mercy ought to be shown. Writing, April 4, 1746, to the Duke of Newcastle, he says, “All in this country are almost to a man Jacobites, and mild measures will not do. You will find that the whole laws of this ancient kingdom must be new modelled. Were I to enumerate the villains and villanies this country abounds in, I should never have done.” And again, July 17, “I am sorry to leave this country in the condition it is in; for all the good that we have done is a little blood-letting, which has only weakened the madness, but not at all cured it; and I tremble for fear that this vile spot may still be the ruin of this island and of our family.” From a man of Cumberland’s character, cherishing such feelings as the above towards an enemy in his power, what other course of conduct was to be expected than that which he followed, more especially when it is remembered that these feelings must have been considerably aggravated by the defeats which the royal army had already sustained. On this last account the royal soldiers themselves must have cherished more than usually bitter feelings towards their opponents; for what can be more chagrining to regularly disciplined troops than to be routed by a wretchedly armed rabble of half naked, untrained men, in which light the royal army must have regarded the Highlanders. These special causes, added to the insatiable thirst for blood which seems to take possession of a victorious army, sufficiently account for the inhuman, heartless, and uncalled for treatment of the Highlanders after the battle of Culloden. Good as the end was, the means was utterly unjustifiable and abhorrent.

The end, however, was accomplished. The spirit of the Highlanders was totally broken; they were left completely prostrate, broken hearted, and bleeding, with no power left of further disturbing the peace of the kingdom, and with little inclination, at least among the great majority of the clansmen, to lend their aid towards another rising. Indeed, it is well known that, so far as the mass of the clansmen, as distinguished from the chiefs and tacksmen, were concerned, they were entirely the tools of their superiors, and were ready, according as their chiefs ordered, either to espouse the cause of Prince Charles, or to be loyal to the existing government. There is not a better instance of the indifference of the common Highlanders as to whom they fought for, than the conduct of the clan Fraser in the rebellion of 1715. At the time this rebellion broke out, Lovat was in France, the headship of the clan being assumed by Mackenzie of Fraserdale, who favoured the cause of the Stuarts, and who had joined the Earl of Mar at Perth with 400 of the Frasers, many other members of the clan remaining neutral till the pleasure of Simon, their real chief, should be known. Lovat returned from France, espoused the side of King George, in which he was immediately followed by the neutral Frasers, while those who were in the camp of Marr left it to a man, and joined themselves to him whom they regarded as their rightful chief. Such was the strength of the clannish principle, and such the indifference of the majority of the Highlanders as to which side they espoused, so long as they pleased their chief, to please whom, they had been taught from their infancy, was the first and great commandment, to offend him being little better than banishment or death. To say the least, then, how utterly indiscriminating and shameful was the cruel conduct of “Butcher” Cumberland and his assistants.

The cruel and unconstitutional method of punishing the Highland rebels, and crushing the sting out of them, adopted by Cumberland, was at length put a stop to about the month of August, the Civil Courts successfully asserting their supremacy over military licence and coercion. Parliament set itself to devise and adopt such measures as it thought would be calculated to assimilate the Highlands with the rest of the kingdom, and deprive the Highlanders of the power to combine successfully in future against the established government. To effect these ends, Parliament, in 1746 and 1747, passed various Acts, by which it was ordained that the Highlanders should be disarmed, their peculiar dress laid aside, and the heritable jurisdictions and wardholding abolished.

Marshal Wade, in 1725, seems really to have succeeded in confiscating a very considerable number of good, useful arms, although the pawky Highlanders managed to throw a glamour over even his watchful eyes, and secrete many weapons for use when occasion should offer. Still, that arms were scarce in the Highlands after this, is shown by the rude and unmilitary character of the weapons possessed by the majority of the rebel army previous to the battle of Prestonpans; there, many of the Highlanders were able to exchange their irregular and ugly, but somewhat formidable weapons for government firelocks and bayonets. Still Culloden, and the merciless oppression which followed, more than annulled all that the Highlanders had gained in this and other respects by their previous success; so that those who had the enforcing of the disarming Act would have comparatively little work to do, and were not likely to meet with much opposition in performing it. Severe penalties were threatened upon any who dared to keep possession of weapons after the Act came in force; for the first offence the delinquent was liable to a heavy fine, to be sent to serve as a soldier in America, or, if unfit for service, to be imprisoned for six months. Seven years’ transportation followed the second offence.

There can, we think, be no doubt as to the wisdom and prudence of this Act if judiciously and thoroughly carried out, although the penalties certainly do seem too severe. It seems to have accomplished its purpose: “the last law,” says Dr. Johnson,[1368] “by which the Highlanders are deprived of their arms, has operated with efficacy beyond expectation ... the arms were collected with such rigour, that every house was despoiled of its defence.” Not only was this disarming of the Highlanders effectual in preventing future rebellion, but also helped considerably to soften and render less dangerous their daily intercourse with each other. Formerly it was quite a common occurrence for the least difference of opinion between two Highlanders—whose bristling pride is always on the rise—to be followed by high words and an ultimate appeal to weapons, in which the original combatants were often joined by their respective friends, the result being a small battle ending in one or more deaths and many wounds. The Disarming Act tended to make such occurrences extremely rare.

There is certainly great room for doubting the wisdom which prompted the enactment that followed the above, enforcing the discontinuance of the peculiar dress of the Highlanders. By this Act, “Any person within Scotland, whether man or boy (excepting officers and soldiers in his majesty’s service), who should wear the plaid, philibeg, trews, shoulder belts, or any part of the Highland garb, or should use for great coats, tartans, or parti-coloured plaid, or stuffs, should, without the alternative of a fine, be imprisoned for the first conviction for six months, without bail, and on the second conviction be transported for seven years.”[1369] Of all the medicines administered by the government physicians to the Highlanders at this time, this was certainly the most difficult for them to swallow, and the one least calculated to serve the purpose for which it was intended. As to the other enactments made by government to keep down rebellion, the Highlanders could not but feel that those in power were only doing what common prudence dictated. But this interference in a matter so personal and apparently so harmless as that of dress, this prohibition of a costume so national, ancient (at least in fashion), and characteristic as that of the Highlanders, seemed to them an act of mere wanton and insulting oppression, intended to degrade them, and without purpose, to outrage their most cherished and harmless prejudices. They seem to have felt it as keenly as any officer would feel the breaking of his sword or the tearing off of his epaulets, or as the native troops, previous to the Indian mutiny, felt the imposition of greased cartridges. It humbled and irritated them far more than did any of the other acts, or even than the outrages and barbarities which followed Culloden; instead of eradicating their national spirit, and assimilating them in all respects with the Lowland population, it rather intensified that spirit, and their determination to preserve themselves a separate and peculiar people, besides throwing in their way an additional and unnecessary temptation to break the laws. A multitude of prohibitory statutes is always irritating to a people, and serves only to multiply offences and demoralize a nation; it is generally a sign of weakness and great lack of wisdom in a government. This enactment as to the Highland dress was as unwise as religious intolerance, which is invariably a nurse of discord, a promoter of sectarianism. This Act surrounded the Highland dress with a sort of sacred halo, raised it into a badge of nationality, and was probably the means of perpetuating and rendering popular the use of a habit, which, had it been left alone, might long ere now have died a natural death, and been found only in our museums, side by side with the Lochaber axe, the two-handed sword, and the nail-studded shield.

The sagacious President Forbes—to whom, had the government perceived clearly the country’s true interest, they would have entirely intrusted the legislation for the Highlands—had but a poor opinion of the dress bill, as will appear from the following letter of his to the Lord Lyon, dated July 8, 1746:—“The garb is certainly very loose, and fits men inured to it to go through great fatigues, to make very quick marches, to bear out against the inclemency of the weather, to wade through rivers, and shelter in huts, woods, and rocks upon occasion; which men dressed in the low country garb could not possibly endure. But then it is to be considered, that, as the Highlands are circumstanced at present, it is, at least it seems to me to be, an utter impossibility, without the advantage of this dress, for the inhabitants to tend their cattle, and to go through the other parts of their business, without which they could not subsist; not to speak of paying rents to their landlords. Now, because too many of the Highlanders have offended, to punish all the rest who have not, and who, I will venture to say, are the greatest number, in so severe a manner, seems to be unreasonable; especially as, in my poor apprehension, it is unnecessary, on the supposal the disarming project be properly secured; and I must confess, that the salvo which you speak of, of not suffering the regulation to extend to the well-affected Clans, is not to my taste; because, though it would save them from hardships, yet the making so remarkable a distinction would be, as I take it, to list all those on whom the bill should operate for the Pretender, which ought to be avoided if possible.”[1370] General Stewart perhaps speaks too strongly when he remarks, that had the whole Highland race been decimated, more violent grief, indignation, and shame, could not have been excited among them, than by being deprived of this long inherited costume. However, it should be remembered that all this was the legislation of upwards of 120 years ago, that the difficulties which the government had to face were serious and trying, that those who had the making of these laws were totally ignorant of the real character of the Highlanders, and of the real motives which urged them to rebellion, and that even at the present day legislative blunders do occasionally occur.

The means by which the Highlanders endeavoured to elude this law without incurring a penalty, were ingenious and amusing. Stewart tells us that, “instead of the prohibited tartan kilt, some wore pieces of a blue, green, or red thin cloth, or coarse camblet, wrapped round the waist, and hanging down to the knees like the fealdag.[1371] The tight breeches were particularly obnoxious. Some, who were fearful of offending, or wished to render obedience to the law, which had not specified on what part of the body the breeches were to be worn, satisfied themselves with having in their possession this article of legal and loyal dress, which, either as the signal of their submission, or more probably to suit their own convenience when on journeys, they often suspended over their shoulders upon their sticks; others, who were either more wary, or less submissive, sewed up the centre of the kilt with a few stitches between the thighs, which gave it something of the form of the trousers worn by Dutch skippers.” The Act at first appears to have been carried out with rigid strictness, these ingenious attempts at evading it being punished somewhat severely; but, if we may judge from a trial which took place in 1757, the administrators of the law had by that time come to regard such breaches with a lenient eye. Although no doubt the law in course of time became practically obsolete, it was not till 1782 that it was erased from the statute book. Since then “tartans and kilts an’ a’, an’ a’,” have gradually increased in popularity, until now they have become “the rage” with all classes of society, from John o’Groats to Land’s End; tartan plaids, of patterns which do great credit to the ingenuity of the manufacturers, are seen everywhere adorning the graceful forms of ladies, and the not so long since proscribed kilt being found not unfrequently displaying itself in the most fashionable London Assemblies. Tempora mutantur.

By far the most important measure adopted by government for the improvement of the Highlands was the abolition of the Hereditary Jurisdictions, which lay at the root of many of the evils that afflicted that country, and to which, in a great degree, the rebellion owed the measure of success that attended it. Before these jurisdictions were abolished, a Highland chief was as absolute a potentate over the members of his clan as any eastern pasha or African chief is over his abject subjects. The power of “pit and gallows,” as it was called, which belonged to each of these petty sovereignties—for such they were practically—gave the chief absolute command of the lives and liberty of his followers. The only thing he lawfully could not do was to banish; but even this prohibition he managed to evade by giving his victims the alternative of “emigration”—as it was mildly called—or death. This is not the place to enter into a minute account of the origin and working of this curious system, so utterly inconsistent with the spirit of a constitutional government like that of Britain; but any one can perceive that such a power as this in the hands of a discontented chief, especially when complemented by the high notions which a Highlander had of the obedience due to the head of the clan, must have been dangerous in the highest degree to the peace and progress of the country. There is no doubt that this coercive power was frequently brought into play in the late rebellion; indeed, the only plea urged by a great majority of the common Highlanders, when tried at Carlisle and elsewhere, was that they were forced into rebellion against their wills. Of course a prudent chief would be careful not to carry his power beyond due bounds, at least so far as the members of his own clan were concerned, for there was a point in the scale of oppression which even the strong spirit of clanship could not stand. No doubt the power thus entrusted to the chiefs may at one time have served a good purpose. When the country was in a turbulent and unsettled state, when communication between the different parts of the country was tedious, expensive, and hazardous, when it was difficult for the strong arm of the law to reach to a remote, rugged, and inaccessible district like the Highlands, where life and the rights of property were as little regarded as they are at the present day in Ireland,—perhaps this putting of the power of a judge in the hands of the chief men of the various districts, was the only practicable substitute for the direct administration of justice by those to whom this duty properly belonged. In reality, the justice meted out was of the roughest kind, and continually liable to be modified by the interests of the administrator, or any of his many friends. “That such a system should have been tolerated into the middle of the 18th century, after Somers, Hardwicke, and Forbes had occupied the bench, may seem incredible, but it is true.”[1372] It was assuredly high time that such an anomalous state of matters should be done away with.[1373]

An Act for the abolition of the Hereditary Jurisdictions was passed in March 1747, and came in force a year after. Of course some other plan for the administration of the laws had to be devised. “At the head of the arrangements for carrying justice throughout the land, the system begun in England in the reign of Henry II., for sending the royal courts at fixed intervals through the provinces, was adopted. Nominally there had been circuits or justice-ayres, but they were not systematically held, either at stated intervals of time, or so as to bring up before them the revisal of the administration of justice in all the districts. This, indeed, was impossible while the hereditary jurisdictions remained, but now regular circuits were to take place biennially, and the country was so partitioned into districts, that the higher offences were systematically brought up from the most remote provinces for adjudication. The exceptional hereditary jurisdictions, such as the regalities, were abolished, and the smaller authority exercised in baronial courts was restricted to trifling matters. The sheriff courts, locally commensurate in their authority with the boundaries of the counties, were taken as the foundation of a system of local tribunals, presided over by responsible judges. These, which were hereditary, were to be yielded to the crown; and ever since the passing of the act, the sheriff of each county has been appointed like the other judges, for life, removeable only for misconduct.”[1374]

Of course, as these jurisdictions, besides conferring influence and power, were sources of emolument[1375] to the holders of them, and as they had been sanctioned in the treaty of Union, it was considered only fair that some compensation should be allowed by the country to those who profited by them; in fact, they had to be bought up. The holders of the jurisdictions appear to have been asked to send in the amount of their claims to the Court of Session, which was authorised to fix the price to be paid. Of course, those who were convicted or attainted for having taken part in the late rebellion, had no claim, as their estates were forfeited to the Crown, and they themselves deprived of all their privileges. Those who were about to part with their ancient powers were determined to make the most of them now that they were no longer to be a perpetual source of emolument and influence. The aggregate sum asked by the proprietors from government as the price of their jurisdictions was more than three times greater than that which the Court of Session deemed a fair price. There may be some truth in what Mr. Fraser-Mackintosh says in his Antiquarian Notes[1376]:—“Of course, the amounts ultimately paid bore not the slightest proportion to the claims, but they did bear some proportion to the politics of the holders, just as these happened to be friendly to government or the reverse.” Argyll, for the Justice-Generalship of Argyll, asked £15,000, for the Sheriffdom £5000, and for various small regalities other £5000, making £25,000 in all; from this the Court of Session deducted only £4000, allowing him for his various offices and jurisdictions what would then be considered the munificent sum of £21,000. Besides receiving this sum, the duke was appointed, in exchange for his office of Hereditary Justiciar of Scotland, Lord Justice-General, head of the Justiciary Court. The Duke of Montrose, for his various regalities, and the Sheriffdom of Dumbarton, demanded £15,000, but did not get above one third of that sum; nor did the Dukes of Buccleuch and Athole, who each modestly valued his various offices at £17,000. The Duke of Gordon’s claim amounted to £22,300, the Earl of Sutherland’s to £10,800, Breadalbane’s to £7000, Moray’s to £14,000, Findlater’s to £5,500. The smallest sum claimed for a Highland jurisdiction was by Evan Baillie, of Abriachan, for the Bailliary of Lovat, which he modestly valued at £166; Munro, Sheriff-Clerk of Inverness, claiming the same sum for that office combined with the Clerkship of the regality of Lovat. The total amount claimed for the whole of the jurisdictions was upwards of £490,000, which the Court of Session cut down to a little over £150,000.[1377] The sum was well spent in doing away with so many sources of petty tyranny and injustice, in the abolition of a system inconsistent with the spirit of the British constitution in the middle of the 18th century, calculated materially to hinder progress and to aid rebellion.

The abolition of these jurisdictions in the Highlands, and along with them the power and paternal authority of the Highland chiefs, effected a complete change in the social life of that part of the country, led at first to considerable discontent and confusion, and was the indirect means of bringing much suffering and hardship on the subordinate dignitaries and commonalty of the clans. Some such consequences were to be expected from the breaking up of a system which had held sway for many generations, and the substitution of a state of matters to which the people were altogether unused, and which ran counter to all their prejudices and traditions; still, as in the case of every reformation, individual suffering was to be looked for, and in the course of time, as will be seen, matters gradually righted themselves, and the Highlands became as progressive and prosperous as any other part of the country.

Another much needed measure adopted by government was the abolition of a remnant of feudality, the kind of tenure known as “wardholding.” “By this relic of ancient feudality, military service had remained down to that juncture the condition under which lands were held by one subject from another. Efforts were of course made to bring land into commerce, by substituting pecuniary arrangements for such services, but the ‘wardholding’ was so essentially the proper feudal usage, that the lawyers held it to be always understood, if some other arrangements were not very specifically settled. It had become the means of very oppressive exactions or ‘casualties,’ arising out of those conditions—such as minority—where the military service could not be performed. But by the act of 1746, arrangements were devised for converting all the superior’s privileges into reasonable pecuniary claims.”[1378]

Another means taken by government to extinguish the seeds of rebellion and prevent its future occurrence, was the enactment of more stringent laws in reference to the Scottish Episcopalians, among whom Jacobite sympathies were almost as strong and as universal as among their Roman Catholic brethren. Their partiality to the house of Stuart was no doubt in a great measure owing to their strong belief as a class in divine right of government, both in Church and State, and to a conviction that seems to have prevailed among them that the restoration of the Stuarts meant the restoration of the supremacy, or at least establishment of episcopacy in Scotland. The Stuarts had not more devoted adherents than the Episcopalians in the kingdom, nor any who, amidst many petty, irritating, and even severe enactments, continued longer to adhere to their first love. Indeed, there is good reason for believing that at the present day, among many Scottish Episcopalians, especially in the Highlands, there are still many Jacobites in sentiment and sympathy, although, as a principle of action, Jacobitism is undoubtedly dead and gone, never to be resuscitated.

As this party, though not numerous, was not less formidable from its rank and wealth than from the esprit de corps with which it was animated, the attention of the legislature was directed towards it, and a strong measure was resorted to, which nothing could justify but necessity. This was an act by which it was ordained that any episcopal clergyman officiating after the 1st of September 1746, without having previously taken the oaths of allegiance, abjuration, and assurance, or without praying once during the performance of worship for the king, his heirs, and successors, and for all the royal family, should for the first offence suffer six months imprisonment, for the second be transported to the American plantations for life, and, in case of returning from banishment, be subjected to perpetual imprisonment. By another enactment it was declared that no peer of Scotland should be capable of being elected one of the representative peers, or of voting at such election, and that no person should be capable of being elected a member of parliament for any shire or burgh, who should within the compass of any future year be twice present at divine service in an illegal episcopal meeting-house in Scotland. Several other severe Acts were passed against Episcopalians, and these were not allowed to remain a dead letter, but were acted upon in several instances.[1379] The devoted Episcopalians bore their privations with becoming fortitude, by yielding to a necessity which they could not control, but they submitted only because they were unable to resist.

Still there is no doubt that even at the present day there are not a few hereditary adherents of the Scottish episcopal church, whose sympathies are all Jacobite, and who have never taken kindly even to the present dynasty.

After the death, in January 1788, of Prince Charles Edward, whose brother the cardinal could leave no lawful descendant, the Scottish bishops felt they could conscientiously recognise the Hanoverian government, and therefore issued an intimation to the clergy and laity of their church, announcing that they had “unanimously agreed to comply with and submit to the present government of this kingdom, as vested in the person of his Majesty King George the Third.” They also resolved “to testify this compliance by uniformly praying for him by name in their public worship, in hopes of removing all suspicion of disaffection, and of obtaining relief from those penal laws under which this church has so long suffered.”[1380]

The forfeited estates were annexed to the Crown, and placed in the hands of the court of exchequer, who appointed commissioners to apply their produce to the improvement of the Highlands. In course of time, as will be seen in the history of the clans, government wisely restored to most of the unfortunate families the estates foolishly thrown away by their representatives in 1745.

The effect of all the measures above referred to was, of course, immediately to annul all possibility of further active resistance, although, no doubt, they tended to intensify and perpetuate Jacobitism as a sentiment, and change into a sort of living reverence or worship the feeling of loyalty towards Prince Charles which had animated most of the Highland chiefs and incited them to rebellion. The idea of endeavouring to repeat the experiment of ’45 seems not to have been entirely abandoned by some of the more obstinate Jacobites even up to the time of Charles’s death, although after the accession of George III.,—in whose reign the stringent measures adopted after 1745 were gradually relaxed, and efforts made for the improvement of the Highlanders,—the embodiment of many Highland regiments, the gradual dissolution practically of the old relation between the chief and his clan consequent on the abolition of the heritable jurisdictions, and the general progress of the country, Jacobitism became, as we have said above, a matter of mere sentiment, a feeling of tenderness almost akin to love, often finding expression in song in the melting language of the tender passion. Prince Charles was known to most of the Jacobites both in the Highlands and elsewhere only from the brief episode of 1745–6, in which he played the chief part, and in which he appeared to them as the handsome, brave, chivalrous, youthful, fair-haired, warm-hearted heir, come to recover that inheritance from which he was most unjustly excluded by a cruel usurper. His latter degraded life most of them knew nothing of, and even if they had been told of it, they most probably would have regarded the tale as a vile calumny; their love for “Bonnie Prince Charlie” was blind as the love of an impetuous youth for his first mistress, and they would allow no flaw to mar the beauty of that image which they tenderly cherished in their heart of hearts. This sentimental Jacobitism, as we have said already, prevailed extensively among all classes of society for very many years after all idea of actively asserting it had died out of the land.[1381] These Jacobites, who were generally of a somewhat social turn, in their private meetings, gave expression to their feelings in various ways, known only to themselves; indeed, there appears to have been a sort of freemasonry tacitly established among them, having signs, and words, and customs unknown to the great outside Whig world. One of their favourite methods, for example, of toasting Prince Charles at their feasts, was to drink to the health of “the king,” at the same time passing the glass in their hands over the water-bottle, to signify that they meant not King George, but him “over the water.”

What more than anything else, perhaps, tended to nourish and keep this feeling alive was the great body of song which was born of Jacobitism, and which dates from the time of Charles I. down almost to the present day. These songs are of all kinds, tender, humorous, pathetic, sarcastic, indignant, heroic, and many of them cannot be matched as expressions of the particular feelings to which they are meant to give utterance. The strength and character of the Jacobitic feeling can be well ascertained by a study of these songs, of which we believe there are some hundreds, many of them of high merit, and some, as we have said, not to be matched by the songs of any country. Indeed, altogether, this outburst of song is one of the most remarkable phenomena connected with Scottish Jacobitism, for most of them are Scotch both in language and authorship, and most of the tunes borrowed or adapted from the Gaelic, which has furnished to Scotland some of its richest song music. These songs not only show the intensity of the loyalty of the Jacobites towards the Stuart family, and their hatred of the reigning dynasty and of all Whigs, but also show that all along they had felt themselves to be the weaker party, unable to show their loyalty by their deeds, and compelled to let their energy escape in taunt and sarcasm. The Whigs have, indeed, a few, very few songs, which are artificial and cold, altogether devoid of the fire, the point, the perfect abandon, the touching tenderness, the thorough naturalness, which characterise those of their opponents. No one ever thinks of singing those Whig songs now-a-days; few know aught of them save industrious collectors.[1382] The Jacobite songs, on the other hand, both those which were written when Jacobitism was at its height, and those which are merely the outcome of modern sentiment, are, wherever Scotch songs are sought after and appreciated, scarcely less popular than the matchless love-songs in which the language must ever live. Who, when he hears some of these Jacobite gems sung, Protestant and Whig though he be to the core, is not for the nonce a Jacobite, ready to draw his sword if he had one, to “Wha wadna fight for Charlie;” feel delighted at the defeat of the Whig gudeman in “Hame cam’ our gudeman at e’en;” or shed a tear to the mournful verse of “Wae’s me for Prince Charlie?” With such a powerful instrument in their hands as this body of song, not only evidencing the intensity of the sentiment, but so well calculated to touch the feelings, excite the tenderness, and rouse the indignation of all who were capable of being influenced by music, it seems surprising that Jacobitism, as a principle of action, was not more prevalent even than it was, and did not, inspired by these songs, accomplish greater things. But the very fact that there were so many songs, may account for this lack of important deeds. The muses, Burns has said, are all Jacobites, and it would seem at any rate that all the best song writers of the country had enlisted on the unfortunate side; and it will be found, on the other hand, in scanning the account of the last rebellion, that those who joined in it were little given to forethought or to weighing the consequences of their actions, little able to regulate or lead any great enterprise, but influenced chiefly by imagination and impulse. There were, indeed, one or two superior to all the others in calibre, foresight, and aptitude to command, but these had little chance of being attended to when their power was not absolute among so many harebrained, thoughtless adventurers. In 1745, had there been at the head of the rebels one thoroughly able, experienced, iron-willed, thoughtful general, who had absolute command of the whole expedition, matters might have turned out very differently, especially when in these songs he had instruments far more powerful to incite than any threats or promises of reward. It is far from us to say that the bravery of the Jacobites evaporated in a song: their whole history would give such a statement the lie; but we think had there been less singing and song-making and more attention to stratagem and dry military business and diplomacy generally, they would have been more likely ultimately to have placed their idol on the throne. However, as General Stewart well remarks, “when it is considered how many feel and how few reason,” the power of this popular poetry to stir up sympathy in behalf of the cause for which it was written will be easily understood.[1383]

The great majority of these songs are in the Scottish language, a few of them being translations from the Gaelic, but most of them original; the authors of very few of them are known, a feature which they have in common with many of the oldest and richest of our Scotch songs. Any one who may wish to form an idea of their merit and multitude will find the best of them collected in Hogg’s two volumes of Jacobite Relics.

Some of the finest of these songs are perhaps better known than any others in the language; many of them, however, are known only by name, and many of them known at all but to a very few. Among those generally known and now commonly adapted to non-Jacobite sentiments, we may mention “My ain country,” the song of the home-sick exile, “Here’s a health to them that’s awa’,” “Over the seas and far awa’,” “Will he no come back again,” “Charlie is my darling,”—of which there are an ancient and a modern set, the latter by James Hogg,—“Farewell to Glen Shalloch” (from the Gaelic), “Hey Johnnie Cope,” perhaps one of the most popular humorous songs in the language, “The wee wee German lairdie,” full of genuine Scotch humour and irritating sarcasm, “This is no my ain house,” “O’er the water to Charlie,” “Welcome royal Charlie,” and “The bonnie house o’ Airly,” as old as the days of Montrose and Argyll. One of the most touchingly pathetic and most popular of these old songs is the well-known “Will he no come back again,” and equally popular is that, perhaps, most heroic and stirring of them all, “Wha wadna fecht for Charlie.”

Not a few of the Jacobite songs, as we have said, are from the Gaelic, and, as might be expected, they display little of the humour, pawkiness, and rollicking sarcasm which characterise many of the Scotch songs; they mostly evince a spirit of sadness and pensiveness, some show a heroic determination to do or die in the cause of Charlie, while others are couched in the language of adoration and love. One of the most characteristic and most poetical of these Gaelic songs is Maclean’s Welcome, which we take the liberty of quoting here:—

“Come o’er the stream, Charlie, dear Charlie, brave Charlie,

Come o’er the stream, Charlie, and dine with Maclean;

And though you be weary, we’ll make your heart cheery,

And welcome our Charlie and his loyal train.

We’ll bring down the track deer, we’ll bring down the black steer,

The lamb from the breckan, and doe from the glen;

The salt sea we’ll harry, and bring to our Charlie,

The cream from the bothy, and curd from the pen.

Come e’er the stream, Charlie, &c.

And you shall drink freely the dews of Glen-Sheerly,

That stream in the star-light when kings do not ken;

And deep be your meed of the wine that is red,

To drink to your sire, and his friend the Maclean.

Come o’er the stream, Charlie, &c.

Our heath-bells shall trace you the maids to embrace you,

And deck your blue bonnet with flowers of the brae;

And the loveliest Mari in all Glen-M’Quarry

Shall lie in your bosom till break of the day.

Come o’er the stream, Charlie, &c.

If aught will invite you, or more will delight you,

’Tis ready, a troop of our bold Highlandmen

Shall range on the heather with bonnet and feather,

Strong arms and broad claymores three hundred and ten.”

One of the best known and most admired of this class of Jacobite songs is “The Lament of Flora Macdonald,” beginning, “Far over yon hills of the heather so green,” of which we here quote the last verse:—

“The target is torn from the arms of the just,

The helmet is cleft on the brow of the brave,

The claymore for ever in darkness must rust,

But red is the sword of the stranger and slave;

The hoof of the horse, and the foot of the proud

Have trod o’er the plumes on the bonnet of blue.

Why slept the red bolt in the breast of the cloud,

When tyranny revell’d in blood of the true?

Fareweel, my young hero, the gallant and good!

The crown of thy fathers is torn from thy brow.”

Some of those whose titles are well enough known are “The White Cockade,” of which we give a verse or two:—

“My love was born in Aberdeen,

The bonniest lad that e’er was seen;

But now he makes our hearts fu’ sad,

He’s ta’en the field wi’ his white cockade.

O he’s a ranting roving blade!

O he’s a brisk and a bonny lad!

Betide what may, my heart is glad

To see my lad wi’ his white cockade.

I’ll sell my rock, I’ll sell my reel,

My rippling-kame, and spinning-wheel,

To buy my lad a tartan plaid,

A braid sword, durk, and white cockade.

O he’s a ranting roving blade,” &c.[1384]

Another great favourite with the old Jacobites over their cups was, “The King shall enjoy his own again.”

Did space permit we could quote many more, remarkable for pathos, humour, wit, sarcasm, and heroic sentiment, but we must content ourselves with the following. What can be more touching than “Carlisle Yetts”:—

“White was the rose in his gay bonnet,

As he faulded me in his broached plaidie;

His hand, whilk clasped the truth o’ luve,

O it was aye in battle readie!

His lang lang hair, in yellow hanks,

Wav’d o’er his cheeks sae sweet and ruddie;

But now they wave o’er Carlisle yetts,

In dripping ringlets clotting bloodie.

My father’s blood’s in that flower tap,

My brother’s in that harebell’s blossom;

This white rose was steeped in my luve’s blood,

And I’ll aye wear it in my bosom.

When I came first by merrie Carlisle,

Was ne’er a town sae sweetly seeming;

The white rose flaunted owre the wall,

The thristled banners far were streaming.

When I came next by merrie Carlisle,

O sad sad seem’d the town, and eerie!

The auld auld men came out and wept:

‘O maiden, come ye to seek your dearie?’

There’s ae drop o’ blood atween my breasts,

And twa in my links o’ hair sae yellow;

The tane I’ll ne’er wash, and the tither ne’er kame,

But I’ll sit and pray aneath the willow.

Wae, wae, upon that cruel heart,

Wae, wae, upon that hand sae bloodie,

Which feasts on our richest Scottish blood,

And makes sae mony a dolefu’ widow!”

Hogg, however, is of opinion that this may be indebted for much of its beauty to the genius of Allan Cunningham.

Of “Cumberland and Murray’s descent into Hell,” which appears to be but little known, Hogg justly says, that “of all the songs that ever were written since the world began this is the first; it is both so horrible and so irresistibly ludicrous.” It is a pity that the author of a poem so full of fire, and hate, and lurid wit is totally unknown; the heartiness of the hate displayed in it, as well as the wealth of unearthly fancy, ought to have recommended it to the approval of Dr. Johnson, had he known of it. Of course Cumberland is the hero of Culloden; Murray is Secretary Murray, who turned king’s evidence against his comrades in the trials after the rebellion, and thus earned for himself the bitterest hate of all Jacobites.

“Ken ye whare Cleekie Murray’s gane?

He’s gane to dwall in his lang hame.

The beddle clapt him on the doup,

‘O hard I’ve earned my gray groat.

Lie thou there, and sleep thou soun’;

God winna wauken sic a loon.’

He’s in a’ Satan’s frything-pans,

Scouth’ring the blude frae aff his han’s:

He’s washing them in brunstane lowe;

His kintra’s blude it winna thow:

The hettest soap-suds o’ perdition

Canna out thae stains be washing.

Ae devil roar’d, till hearse and roopit,

‘He’s pyking the gowd frae Satan’s pu’pit!’

Anither roar’d, wi’ eldritch yell,

‘He’s howking the keystane out o’ hell,

To damn us mair wi’ God’s day-light!’

And he doukit i’ the caudrons out o’ sight.

He stole auld Satan’s brunstane leister,

Till his waukit loofs were in a blister;

He stole his Whig spunks, tipt wi’ brunstane,

And stole his scalping-whittle’s whunstane;

And out o’ its red-hot kist he stole

The very charter-rights o’ hell.

Satan, tent weel the pilfering villain;

He’ll scrimp your revenue by stealing,

Th’ infernal boots in which you stand in,

With which your worship tramps the damn’d in,

He’ll wile them aff your cloven cloots,

And wade through hell fire in your boots.

Auld Satan cleekit him by the spaul,

And stappit him i’ the dub o’ hell.

The foulest fiend there doughtna bide him,

The damn’d they wadna fry beside him,

Till the bluidy duke came trysting hither,

And the ae fat butcher tried the tither.

Ae deevil sat splitting brumstane matches;

Ane roasting the Whigs like bakers’ batches;

Ane wi’ fat a Whig was basting,

Spent wi’ frequent prayer and fasting.

A’ ceas’d when thae twin butchers roar’d,

And hell’s grim hangman stopt and glowr’d.

‘Fy, gar bake a pie in haste,

Knead it of infernal paste,’

Quo’ Satan; and in his mitten’d hand

He hynt up bluidy Cumberland,

And whittled him down like bow-kail castock,

And in his hettest furnace roasted.

Now hell’s black tableclaith was spread,

Th’ infernal grace was reverend said;

Yap stood the hungry fiends a’ owre it,

Their grim jaws gaping to devour it,

When Satan cried out, fit to scunner,

‘Owre rank a judgment’s sic a dinner!’”

Not a few of these old Jacobite songs, with little or no alteration in the words, are sung at the present day as pure love-songs, few ever dreaming that they were meant for anything else when first composed: nothing more than this shows the intensity and tenderness of the feeling entertained by the Scotch Jacobites to their hero and idol, Bonnie Prince Charlie. The well-known and apparently perfectly harmless song, “Weel may the keel row,” belongs to this class; and who would ever smell treason in the touching strain “For the sake o’ somebody.”

One of the sweetest and tenderest of all the Jacobite songs is undoubtedly “Wae’s me for Prince Charlie,” beginning “A wee’ bird cam’ to our ha’ door,” and well known to all who have the least knowledge of Scottish song. Yet this song was written only about thirty or forty years ago by Mr. William Glen, a Glasgow merchant; and it is well known that many of the finest of Aytoun’s Lays are animated by this spirit of Jacobitism, showing how much calculated to touch the feelings and rouse the imagination of any one of an impulsive, poetic temperament, is the story of “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” as it is popularly told in song and story.

Perhaps it may be only fair, as a set off to the above, to give one or two of the best Whig songs:—

Haud awa frae me, Donald.

“Haud awa, bide awa,

Haud awa frae me, Donald,

Your principles I do abhor;

No Jacobites for me, Donald.

Passive obedience I do hate,

And tyranny I flee, Donald;

Nor can I think to be a slave,

When now I can be free, Donald.

Even Highland Maggie, though she’s bred

Up under tyranny, Donald,

No sooner you her rights invade,

Than she’ll a rebel be, Donald.

For all that you can say or do,

I’ll never change my mind, Donald;

Your king takes so much of your heart,

To me you’ll ne’er be kind, Donald.”

A Litany.

“From the lawless dominion of mitre and crown,

Whose tyrannies now are absolute grown,

So that men become slaves to the altar and throne,

And can call neither bodies nor souls their own,

Libera nos, Domine.

From a reverend bawling theological professor,

From a Protestant zealous for a Popish successor,

Who for a great benefice still leaves a lesser,

And ne’er will die martyr, nor make good confessor,

Libera nos, Domine.

From deans and from chapters who live at their eases,

Whose lechery lies in renewing church-leases,

Who live in cathedrals like maggots in cheeses,

And lie like abbey-lubbers stew’d in their own greases,

Libera nos, Domine.

From an altar-piece-monger who rails at Dissenters

And damns Nonconformists in the pulpit he enters,

Yet all the week long his own soul he ventures,

By being so drunk that he cutteth indentures,

Libera nos, Domine.

From fools, knaves, and villains, prerogative Tories,

From church, that for the Babylon whore is,

From a pretended prince, like pear rotten at core is,

From a court that has millions, yet as old Job poor is,

Libera nos, Domine.”

That the Jacobite songs tended largely to nourish and perpetuate Jacobite sympathies long after all idea of endeavouring to restore the Stuart dynasty had been abandoned, all must admit who know anything of Scotch social life during the latter part of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. In the early part of the latter century, an additional and most powerful instrument in the cause of sentimental Jacobitism came into play, in the shape of the poems, and especially the novels of Sir Walter Scott, on whose bold imagination and strong sympathy with chivalry and the days of old, the story of the young prince and the misfortunes of the Stuarts and their adherents generally, appear to have taken a strong hold. The very first of the Waverley Novels presented the history of the ’45 in its most fascinating aspect, and painted its hero in the most attractive colours, as the handsome, chivalrous, high-minded, but unfortunate prince. In one or two of Scott’s other novels the same episode is made use of, and with such bewitching power as only the Wizard of the North could exercise. The influence of these matchless fictions continues unabated, and as it is from them that most people derive their knowledge of the last rebellion, and of the Stuarts and their cause, it is no wonder that even at the present day there exists a wide-spread, tender sympathy for the unfortunate race, a sort of sentimental Charlie-worship, adoring as its object the ideal presented by Scott, filled in with some of the most attractive and touching features from the sweetest and most popular of the songs. With perhaps no exception, this admiration of Prince Charlie and the other heroes of ’45 is of the same nature as the unthinking admiration of the “good old days” generally, of King Arthur and his knights, of the days of chivalry, of Robin Hood and his merry men, and of the bold Rob Roy; he would be looked upon as a harmless imbecile, who should ever talk of doing aught to restore any of the institutions of these old times, which are as likely to find active partisans as is the restoration of the Stuart dynasty.

BALMORAL.
THE HIGHLAND RESIDENCE OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.

However, that Jacobitism still runs in a few old families as something more than a sentiment, as something like an ideal politico-religious creed, cherished as the remnant of the Cameronians cherish the ancient covenant, we have good reason to believe. These families are, practically, perfectly loyal to the present government and the present sovereign, and would as soon dream of taking to cattle-lifting as to rebellion; but still they seem to regard the Stuart dynasty as their first love, the love of their impulsive youth, with whom a closer relation was impossible. The creed of these modern Jacobites we may be permitted to state, in the words of one who has ample opportunities of mixing with them and knowing their sentiments. “As a principle of action,” he writes, quoting the words of a noble lord, “it is dead and gone, but in sentiment and sympathy there are still lots of us.” He himself proceeds:—“I quite agree with him. We claim, with the late Professor Aytoun, to be White-Rose Scots, Tories in some things but not in others—some of us Tories—some I daresay Radicals—none of us Whigs; all of us animated by an abhorrence of Macaulay’s History as an audacious libel on our forefathers and their principles.” In another letter he says:—“The question you ask, as to whether we would now stand up for any of the descendants of Prince Charles, is one I have no difficulty in answering. We should not. I cannot say we have any great love for the present royal family; they cross our feelings and prejudices in many ways, by marriages in Lent, and alliances with Campbells!! But were the time of trial to come (and a contest between monarchy and republicanism may come in this country sooner than many expect), Queen Victoria would find none more loyal—I could almost venture to say, none so loyal—as those whose sympathies go with the former enemies of her race. To us she represents ‘the powers that be, as ordained of God,’ and we must bear a good deal at their hands. Queen Victoria herself certainly does appreciate the Highlands and Highlanders. Our loyalty is a matter of principle, not of preference, and might be found to wax the warmer, as that of others—when subjected to a strain by the royal family running counter to their ideas and prejudices—waxed cold.” Indeed Jacobitism, as an active principle, is as much a thing of the past as clan-feuds, cattle-lifting, and active religious intolerance.

Her present Majesty has done more to win the hearts and command the loyalty of the Highlanders than ever did any of her predecessors, by taking up her residence yearly in their midst, and in many other ways showing her trust in and love for them, and her unbounded admiration for all that is Highland. As is well known, before her widowhood, her favourite plaid was one of Stuart tartan of a special pattern. If any section of her Majesty’s subjects is at all inclined to use occasionally expressions savouring of disloyalty, it is that of which one or two Cockney newspapers are the mouthpieces, the grievance being that the Queen spends so much of her time in the Highlands. The loyalty and love of the Highlanders, and of all Scotchmen, have been for ever intensified by the recent marriage of one of the Queen’s daughters to the son and heir of one of the oldest and greatest Highland chiefs.[1385]

So far as the record of external strife or inward feud constitutes history, that of the Highlands may be said to end with the battle of Culloden in 1746. By many, however, the period from that date onwards will be considered as of far more interest and importance than all the previous centuries put together; for in the years succeeding the last rebellion are witnessed the struggle of lawlessness with law, of semi-barbarism with civilization, the gradual but rapid breaking-up of the old patriarcho-feudal way of ruling men and regulating property, on which the whole social life of the Highlands was based, and the assimilation of that district in all respects to the rest of the kingdom of which it forms a part.

That innovations such as were of necessity forced upon the Highlands should be adopted without a struggle, without resistance, without hardship to many, was not to be expected. No thoughtful person could expect that there could be accomplished without many difficulties and mistakes the abolition of a system which had maintained its sway for many centuries, and the introduction of a new one so little adapted to the character stamped on the Highlander under the former, and in every respect so contrary to the ideas and prejudices which had been transmitted from father to son for many generations. Any sudden change of an old-established system, by which the every-day life of thousands of people is regulated, would in any case almost inevitably lead at first to disorder and a certain amount of hardship. It was to be looked for that, in the case of the Highlands, which in many respects were centuries behind the rest of the country, there would be much trouble and confusion before they could be brought up to the stand-point of their Lowland fellow-countrymen. Such was the case. It took very many years—indeed, the process is still going on—before the various elements got settled into their places according to the new adjustment of matters. There were, of course, many interests to be attended to, and necessarily many collisions and misunderstandings between the various classes; often no doubt unnecessary hardness, selfishness, and want of consideration for inferiors on one side, as frequently met on the other by unreasonable demands, and a stubborn and uninformed determination to resist the current of change, and not to accommodate themselves to inevitable innovations. The old clan-system, with the idea which it nourished of the close relation between the various grades of the clan, of the duty of the chief to support his people, and of the people to do the will of the chief, must be abolished, and the Highlander must be taught, each man to depend entirely upon himself and his own exertions, and to expect nothing from any man but what he could pay for in labour or money. Of course it would be hard for a Celt to put himself on the same footing in this respect with the low-minded, greedy, over-reaching Saxon; but it had to be done, and, like many other things which seemed hard to face, has been done, and the process is still going on, and probably will go on, till there be not only an assimilation in habits and ways of living and thinking, but till the two races be so fused or blended together by intermarriage and otherwise, that there shall be neither Celt nor Saxon, but a mixed race superior to either, combining the best qualities of each, the fire, the imagination, the dash, the reverence, the heart of the Celt, with the perseverance, clear-headedness, patience, fairness, capacity for business, head of the Saxon. Ere long, no doubt, the two will become one flesh, and their separation and strife a tale of bygone days.

FOOTNOTES:

[1368] Johnson’s Journey, ed. 1792, p. 126.

[1369] Stewart’s Sketches, b. l. p. 116.

[1370] Culloden Papers, p. 289.

[1371] The difference between the fealdag and the philibeg is, that the former is not plaited.

[1372] Burton’s Scotland after Revolution, v. ii. p. 405.

[1373] To give the reader a notion of the evils which flowed from these irregular jurisdictions, we quote the following from the old Statistical Account of the Parish of Abernethy, in Inverness-shire:—“A few instances will be enough to mention, in case the reader should imagine that these things were lately done in Tippoo Sultan’s dominions. One of them lived in this parish, named Robert Grant, commonly called Bailie More. It is said he used to hang people for disobliging him. He seldom called juries. He hanged two brothers on a tree within a thousand yards of this town, and buried both in one grave, on the road side. The grave and stones above it are still visible. Another, named James Grant, commonly called Bailie Roy, who lived long in this parish, hanged a man of the name of Stuart, and after hanging him, set a jury on him, and found him guilty. The particulars are too long to be inserted here. The bailie had many reasons for being in such a hurry. The man was, unluckily for him, wealthy, and abounded in cattle, horses, sheep, and goats, all of which were instantly driven to the bailie’s home; Stuart’s children set a-begging, and his wife became deranged in her mind, and was afterward drowned in a river. It is not very long since. This same Bailie Roy, on another occasion, hanged two notorious thieves, parboiled their heads, and set them up on spikes afterward. At another time he drowned two men in sacks, at the bridge of Billimon, within a few hundred yards of this manse, and endeavoured to compel a man from Glenmore, in the barony of Kincardine, to assist him and the executioners he had with him in the business, which the man refusing to do, the bailie said to him, ‘If you was within my regality, I would teach you better manners than to disobey my commands.’ This bailie bought a good estate. There was another of them, called Bailie Bain, in this country, who became so odious that the country people drowned him in Spey, near the church of Inverallan, about two miles from hence. They took off his boots and gloves, left them on the bank, and drove his horse through a rugged place full of large stones. The tract in the sand, boots, &c., discovered what had become of him; and when a search was made for him down the river, a man met the party near the church of Cromdale, who asked them what they were searching for, they answered, for the bailie’s body, upon which he said, ‘Turn back, turn back, perhaps he is gone up against the river, for he was always acting against nature.’”

[1374] Burton’s Scotland after Revolution, vol. ii. p. 535.

[1375] “As their power was great, and generally abused, so many of them enriched themselves. They had many ways of making money for themselves, such as 1. The Bailie’s Darak, as it was called, or a day’s labour in the year from every tenant on the estate. 2. Confiscations, as they generally seized on all the goods and effects of such as suffered capitally. 3. All fines for killing game, black-fish, or cutting green wood, were laid on by themselves, and went into their own pockets. These fines amounted to what they pleased almost. 4. Another very lucrative perquisite they had was what was called the Herial Horse, which was, the best horse, cow, ox, or other article, which any tenant on the estate possessed at the time of his death. This was taken from the widow and children for the bailie at the time they had most need of assistance. This amounted to a great deal on a large estate.”—Old Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xiii. pp. 151–152.

[1376] P. 243.

[1377] See Fraser-Mackintosh’s Antiquarian Notes, p. 242.

[1378] Burton’s Scotland after Revolution, vol. ii. p. 537.

[1379] Among others, the Rev. John Skinner, well known as the author of the song of “Tullochgorum,” was a sufferer: he was imprisoned for six months.

[1380] Dunbar’s Social Life in Former Days, 1st series, p. 390.

[1381] When the Princess of Wales, mother of George III., mentioned, with some appearance of censure, the conduct of Lady Margaret M’Donald, who harboured and concealed Prince Charles, when in the extremity of peril, he threw himself on her protection; “And would not you, madam,” answered Prince Frederick, “have done the same, in the same circumstances? I am sure—I hope in God you would.” Captain Stuart of Invernahoyle’s singular remark was not, it seems, quite without foundation. A gentleman, in a large company, gibed him for holding the king’s commission, while, at the same time, he was a professed Jacobite. “So I well may,” answered he, “in imitation of my master: the king himself is a Jacobite.” The gentleman shook his head, and remarked, that the thing was impossible. “By G—,” said Stuart, “but I tell you he is, and every son that he has. There is not one of them who (if he had lived in my brave father’s days) would not to a certainty have been hanged.”—Hogg’s Jacobite Relics.

[1382] “We find that the whole of national song during that period inclined towards the ancient dynasty, and the whole force of the ludicrous, the popular, and the pathetic, volunteered in the Jacobite service. It is beyond question that the merit of these Jacobite songs eclipsed, and still eclipses, every attempt at poetry on the other side, which has produced little beyond a few scraps of verses in ridicule of the bare knees, the kilts, and bad English of the Highlanders.”—Stewart’s Sketches, vol. i. p. 100.

[1383] “These songs are a species of composition entirely by themselves. They have no affinity with our ancient ballads of heroism and romance, and one part of them far less with the mellow strains of our pastoral and lyric muses. Their general character is that of a rude energetic humour, that bids defiance to all opposition in arms, sentiments, or rules of song-writing. They are the unmasked effusions of a bold and primitive race, who hated and despised the overturning innovations that prevailed in church and state, and held the abettors of these as dogs, or something worse—drudges in the lowest and foulest paths of perdition—beings too base to be spoken of with any degree of patience or forbearance. Such is their prevailing feature; but there are amongst them specimens of sly and beautiful allegory. These last seem to have been sung openly and avowedly in mixed parties, as some of them are more generally known, while the others had been confined to the select social meetings of confirmed Jacobites, or hoarded up in the cabinets of old Catholic families, where to this day they have been preserved as their most precious lore.”—Hogg’s Jacobite Relics.

[1384] The gentleman referred to in a former note appends the following:—

“There is also an Irish version of the ‘White Cockade.’ It has been translated from the Irish by J. J. Callanan. The following is the last verse:—

‘No more the cuckoo hails the spring,

The woods no more with the stanch-hounds ring;

The song from the glen, so sweet before,

Is hushed since Charlie left our shore.

The prince is gone, but he soon will come,

With trumpet sound, and with beat of drum:

Then up with shout, and out with blade—

We’ll stand or fall with the white cockade.’

Lover, commenting on this song in his Lyrics of Ireland, tells the following anecdote in connection with Ireland, and its devotion to the White Rose:—“The celebrated Lord Chesterfield, who governed Ireland with rare ability and liberality in 1744, when told by an alarmist that ‘the Papists were dangerous,’ replied that he had never seen but one dangerous Papist, and that was Miss ——, a particularly lovely woman. This lady, sharing in the gratitude and admiration of the Roman Catholics, wished to show the Earl how thoroughly she could overcome political prejudices, and on a public occasion at Dublin Castle wore a breast knot of Orange ribbon. The earl, pleased at the incident, requested Lord Doneraile, celebrated for his wit, to say something handsome to her on the occasion. The request occasioned the following impromptu:—

‘Say, little Tory, why this jest

Of wearing Orange on thy breast,

Since the same breast, uncover’d, shows

The whiteness of the rebel rose.’”

[1385] In connection with the above subject, our Jacobite correspondent has communicated to us the following anecdote. He does not vouch for its truth, but he states that he had it on very good authority. On one occasion, when her Majesty’s guests had been enjoying themselves, in scattered groups, in the pleasure-grounds around Balmoral, the conversation chanced to turn, amongst one of those groups, on Jacobite songs and Jacobite music. One of the ladies, known for her knowledge of Jacobite melodies, and for her skill in the execution of them, was asked to favour her companions with a specimen. The party having retired to a distance from the rest of the company, the lady sung her song. The echoes of the music reached, it is said, the quick ears of the Queen, who went at once to the spot whence it proceeded. And no one, it is added, enjoyed the melody more. One of the company having ventured to express surprise that the Queen could so enter into the spirit of a song which seemed to reflect so much on the present dynasty, her Majesty is said to have stated, as the representative of the family of Bonnie Prince Charlie, no one could be a greater Jacobite than herself; and that she considered all the songs in praise of “the Auld Stuarts” as songs in praise of her own ancestors.

END OF VOL. I.

INDEX.

Abercromby, Sir Ralph, his portrait, ii. 372;
Major-General, at Ticonderoga, 338;
his expedition against the West Indies, 362;
Egypt, 366;
his fatal wound, 372.

“Abercrombie Robinson,” The, its voyage with the 91st, ii. 732.

Aberdeen, Montrose’s march upon it, i. 169;
Covenanters expelled from, 172;
Farquharson’s “Hieland Men” at, 174;
Covenanters at, 187;
battle and sack of, 188;
deputation from, to Montrose, 202;
Covenanting officers killed at, 246.

Aberdeen, Old, view of, i. 246.

Aberdeenshire Highland Regiment, or Old 81st, ii. 565.

Aberdour, in Aberdeenshire, i. 39.

Aboukir taken by the British ii. 367.

Aboyne, the viscount’s force, i. 161;
appointed lieutenant of Highlands, 173;
landing in Aberdeen, 173;
proclamation to Covenanters, 173;
his escape from Carlisle, 208;
Montrose deserted by him, 229;
interview with Montrose, 234;
escape, 254.

Achnacarry, the seat of Cameron of Lochiel, engraving of it, i. 709.

A fin (“to the end”), the motto of the Ogilvy, ii. 319.

Agricola in Britain, i. 3;
his invasion of Scotland, 6;
his voyage and death, 9.

Agriculture in the Highlands, ii. 9.

Ahmednuggur, this fortress attacked and taken, ii. 575;
taken (1803), 627;
the Hon. Mrs Stewart Mackenzie’s memorial slab to the 78th in the Pettah wall, 628.

Ahwaz, captured (Apr. 1, 1857), ii. 665, 666.

Aire, The, the fight here in 1814, ii. 729.

Alba or Scotland, i. 34.

Alba de Tormes, the allies’ retreat from, ii. 584;
the battle of, 760.

Alban or Scotland, i. 26;
note, 34.

Albania or Scotland (note), i. 34, 50.

Albany, Count of, this title is assumed by Prince Charles, i. 758.

Albany, Duke of, i. 69;
Regent, 71;
his victory at Harlaw, ii. 140.

Albany’s Highlanders, see 72nd.

Albinn or Britain, i. 17.

Alexander III., his coronation at Scone, i. 61;
his portrait, 62.

Alexander of the Isles, Inverness destroyed by, i. 73;
he surrenders to James I., 73.

Allahabad, the 78th proceed thither, ii. 667;
Havelock’s march against the insurgents, 667;
the 79th here (1867), 716.

Alma, the battle of the, 42nd, ii. 410;
the 79th, 711;
the 93rd, 785;
—the River, the position of the Russians, 711;
—Medals, their distribution, 417.

Almarez, Lord Hill carries, ii. 381;
the 92nd here (1812), 760.

Alpine, Siol, several clans, ii. 242.

Alum Bagh, The, the sick and wounded guarded here, ii. 676.

Am Freiceadan Dubh (“the Black Watch”), the Gaelic name of the 42nd, ii. 324.

Amoaful, the battle here, ii. 804.

Anderson, General Paul, the 78th receive new colours and accoutrements from his estate, ii. 659.

Anglo-Norman jurisdiction, i. 59.

Anglo-Saxon colonisation of Scotland, i. 56.

“Another for Hector,” origin of the saying, i. 324.

Anrias or Ross, Clan, its history, crest, arms, and motto, ii. 235.

Anson, Hon. Mrs George, she presents new colours to the 74th Highlanders, ii. 608.

Antonine, Wall of, map and profile of, i. 10;
stone from, 11.

Antwerp, allied commanders’ object against (1811), ii. 651.

Arapiles, Los, near Salamanca, ii. 583;
Pakenham’s obstinate fight here, 383.

Ard Choille (“the wooded hill”), motto and slogan of the Macgregors, ii. 243.

Ardoch Moor, i. 7;
battle of, 8;
view of Roman Camp at, 15.

Ardvraick Castle, Montrose imprisoned here, i. 268;
view of, 269.

Argaum, battle of (1803), ii. 633.

Argyll, i. 34;
settlement of Scots from Ireland here, 33;
the proper orthography (note), ii. 177.

Argyll, Campbell, the clan, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 175.

Argyll, Archibald, the 5th Earl, ii. 179.

Argyll, 2nd Duke of, portrait, i. 472.

Argyll, the 7th Earl of, his portrait, i. 338;
defeated at Glenlivet, 109;
the 8th Earl and 1st Marquis, his portrait, 178;
defeated at Tippermuir, 184;
at Aberdeen, 188;
at Fyvie, 192;
his conduct towards Montrose, 271;
declines to serve in the Scots army in England, 289;
declaration of the 9th Earl against Government.
See Campbell, Clan.

Argyll, 1st Marquis of, arrested, i. 332.

Argyll Highlanders, or Old 74th Highland Regiment, their history, ii. 519.

Argyllshire Highlanders, the 91st Princess Louise’s Regiment, see Ninety-first.

Argyll’s Stone (note), i. 339.

Arinez, the action here in 1813, ii. 596.

Arkaig, Loch, view of, i. 709.

Armour, ancient Caledonians’, i. 5.

Army sub-districts of Highland Regiments, see Brigade Centre.

Arriverète, the battle here (1814), ii. 762.

Arroyo de Molinos, the battle here, ii. 496.

Ashantee Campaign (1874), map, ii. 803.

Ashantee War, volunteers from the 79th share in its dangers, ii. 721.

Assaye, battle and plan of, ii. 574, 631.

Athole, 2nd Duke of, with President Forbes at Blair Castle, i. 323;
the 4th Duke raises a regiment in 1778, ii. 522;
note from the 7th Duke on the death of Dundee, i. 376;
his accepting the care of the monument to the fallen of the 42nd, ii. 435.

Athole Highlanders at Culloden, i. 663.

Athole Highlanders, see 77th Regt., Old.

Athole, Marquis of, created duke, i. 410.

Athole, Stewarts of, their descent, ii. 300.

Attainted estates, i. 478.

Audaces juvo (“I favour the brave”), scroll motto of the Buchanans, ii. 281.

Audentes Fortuna juvat (“fortune aids the daring”), Mackinnon’s motto, &c., ii. 256.

Augustus, Fort, view of, i. 485.

Auldearn, battle of, i. 210.

Aut pax aut bellum (“either peace or war”), motto of Gunn, &c., ii. 278.

Badajoz, its siege and capture, ii. 581.

Bagh, “garden,” of frequent occurrence in Indian names, ii. 530.

Bagpipe, history of, in Highlands, ii. 109.

Bagpipe-playing in the Highlands, i. 312.

Baird, Major-General, his portrait, ii. 482;
commands against Hyder Ali, 481;
at the assault on Seringapatam, 570;
commands at the Cape of Good Hope, 778.

Balaklava, battle of, ii. 418, 713, 785.

Balloch, Donald, Lord of Isla, i. 76;
sends his own head to Edinburgh, ii. 141.

Balmerino, his letter to the Chevalier de St George, i. 726;
his execution, 727.

Balmoral, Highland residence of Her Majesty, steel engraving of, i. 775.

Balnagowan, Ross of, and Pitcalnie, their claims to the chiefship, ii. 237.

Bangalore, the storming in 1791, ii. 527.

Bannockburn, battle of, i. 63.

Bannockburn House—Prince Charles passes a night here, i. 616.

Bards’ influence on the Highlanders, i. 315.

Bareilly, its final reduction, ii. 686.

Bayonne—the battle in 1813, ii. 729;
last action of the Peninsular war, ii, 763.

Bede, the Venerable, i. 20, 22;
dialect, 21.

Belhaven, “the fiery Lord,” i. 411.

Ben, beann, ban, bean, bain, bane,—literally “white, beautiful;” applied to amountain, it refers to the snow-cap, ii. 216.

Bengal army—the mutiny, ii. 666.

Beresford, Major-General, at Buenos-Ayres, ii. 488;
at the siege of Badajoz, 496;
his brigade in 1808, 727.

Bergen-op-Zoom, attack on, ii. 451.

Berridale, Lord, prosecution of, i. 126;
imprisoned, 137-8;
and his creditors, 145;
his wounds at Charlestown, ii. 521.

Bithoor, its evacuation before Hope-Grant, ii. 420;
the march against, 674.

“Birkenhead,” wreck of the, ii. 604.

Bi se mac an t’slaurie (“Be thou son of the crook”), the scroll motto of the Maclaurins, ii. 279.

Bishops, Scottish, Anti-Popery mandates to their clergy (1745), i. 582;
recognise the Hanoverian Government, 769.

“Black Camp,” before Inverary, i. 434.

Blackmail in the Highlands, i. 321;
levying of it, 483;
cessation of its payment, 488;
its amount, ii. 2.

“Black Watch,” the, see Forty-Second Royal Highlanders, ii. 324.

Blair-Athole, Prince Charles here, i. 635.

Blair Castle abandoned by the Duke of Athole, and seized by the Marquis of Tullibardine, i. 534;
the family residence of the Dukes of Athole, with engravings of as it stood in 1745–6 before being dismantled, 643;
and as restored in 1872, ii. 312.

Blantyre, Lord, deputed to London, Queen Elizabeth refuses to see him, i. 409;
his experience of Highlanders, ii. 380.

Blauw-Berg, the battle in 1806, ii. 778.

“Bloody Preacher,” the, David Dickson, i. 238;
John Nave or Neaves, ii. 252.

Bog of Gight, Earl of Murray here, i. 156;
the castle taken by Leslie, 251;
the site of Gordon Castle, ii. 318.

Bondage, Manerial, predial service in Harris, ii. 35.

Bones, Highland superstitions about, i. 309.

“Bonnet gained,” the, its history, ii. 417.

“Bonnie Dundee,” song of (note), i. 350.

“Bonnie House o’ Airly,” the, destroyed by the Earl of Argyll, i. 178.

Book of Deer, the, (note), i. 22, 38.

Borlum, Old, Brigadier Mackintosh, Laird of, i. 437;
ordered by Mar to the Borders, 445.

Boyd, Lord, incident at Culloden, i. 667.

Boyne, King James’s defeat at the, i. 393.

Brahan Castle, the Highlanders lay down their arms here, i. 486.

Brandywine Creek—the battle, ii. 353.

Breadalbane Campbells, their motto, history, arms, &c., ii. 186;
first earl, 187.

Breadalbane, his portrait, i. 394;
his policy for the winning side, 395;
imprisoned for high treason, i. 402.

Bridge of Dee (note), i. 85;
battle of the, 175;
skirmish at, 202.

Brigade Centres, or “Army Sub-districts” of the Highland regiments—the 42nd and 79th is Perth;
the 71st and 78th is Fort George;
the 72nd and 91st is Stirling;
the 74th is Hamilton;
and the 92nd and 93rd is Aberdeen.

Brooklyn, battle of (1776), ii. 349, 467.

Bruce, Robert, i. 63.

Buchanan, Clan, its history, arms and mottoes, ii. 281.

Buchanan, George, on Highland dress and armour, i. 327.

Burgos, the siege in 1812, ii. 383, 703.

Burton, Major, his melancholy fate, ii. 551.

Burt’s Letters on Highland dress, i. 330;
their value, ii. 20.

Busaco—the battle, A.D. 1810, ii. 578.

Busheer, its surrender, ii. 660.

Bydand (“permanent”), motto of the Gordons, ii. 316.

Byng, Lt.-General Sir John, presents new colours to the 92nd, Dec. 13, 1830, ii. 767.

Caber Feidh, or “Gathering of the 72nd Highlanders,” the music arranged for the bagpipes, ii. 532.

Cadogan, Colonel, mortally wounded at La Puebla—engraving of his monument in Glasgow Cathedral, ii. 498.

Caffraria, map of the eastern part, ii. 564.

“Caisteal Foulis na theine”—Castle Foulis in flames—slogan of the Munroes, ii. 434.

Caithness and Sutherland, Earls of, feud between, i. 100;
reprisals, 110;
differences, 128;
agreement, 136.

Caledonians, Ancient, their habits, i. 1, 4;
weapons, armour, government, physique, 5;
engravings of two sculptured stones representing them, 4.

Callernish Circle in Lewis—view of, i. 37.

Callum More, Colin Mòr or Mohr, ii. 178.

Cambridge, H.R.H. the Duke of, in the Crimea, ii. 784;
he presents new colours to the 93rd, 788.

Cameron (or Chameron), Clan, its history, arms, crest, mottoes, and branches, ii. 217;
clan muster in 1745, i. 522;
defeat of Clan Chattan by, 106.

Cameron, Alan (of Erracht), raises the 79th Regiment, ii. 697;
his candid and stern refusal to allow the king to draft the 79th Regiment (note), 698;
his letter on abolishing the kilt, 699.

Cameron, Sir Duncan A., K.C.B., his portrait on steel as colonel of the “Black Watch,” ii. 325;
at the Alma, 413;
succeeds Sir Colin Campbell in command of the Highland Brigade (1855), 547, 713;
succeeds Sir Colin in command of a division, 548;
his war services, 437.

Cameron, Col. John, 92nd, his portrait, ii. 763;
—his part and death at Quatre Bras, June 16, 1815—some details of his life and bravery, 764;
his coat of arms, 762;
Sir Walter Scott’s lines upon, 765.

Cameron, Donald (Lochiel), “The Gentle Chief,” see Lochiel.

Cameron, Dr Arch., portrait, i. 718;
execution at Tyburn—reluctance of George II. to sign his death warrant, 756.

Cameron Highlanders, “the 79th Queen’s Own,” see 79th Regiment.

Cameron, John Dhu, Sergeant Mòr, i. 325.

Cameron, Sir Ewen, of Lochiel (or “Ewan Dhu”), his character and achievements, i. 296, 297, ii. 220-222;
with his second son at Killiecrankie, i. 371;
his foster brother at Killiecrankie (note), 377;
Byron’s mention of him, ii. 706.

Cameronian Volunteers, the first designation of the 79th, ii. 697.

“Cameronians,” origin of the name, the test, i. 335;
become partisans of the Stuarts, their warlike movements, i. 414.

Camerons, their conduct before the battle of Prestonpans, i. 555, 562.

Campbell—its etymology, ii. 175.

Campbell, Clan, Argyll Branch, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 175;
its prominent men, 177-185.

Campbell, Clan, Breadalbane Branch, arms, crest, and motto—its prominent men, ii. 186-189.

Campbell, Clan, Offshoots, ii. 189-190.

Campbell, Castle, burned by the Macleans, i. 221.

Campbell, Colin (of Carwhin), he succeeds to the Breadalbane peerage, ii. 188.

Campbell, General Duncan, of Lochnell, first colonel of the 91st—his portrait on steel, ii. 756;
his punch-bowl, 754.

Campbell, Major-General John Francis Glencairn—his portrait, ii. 746;
his bravery, 738;
his becoming colonel, 91st, 746.

Campbell, Major-General Sir Archibald, K.C.B., first colonel of the 74th Highlanders, ii. 571;
his portrait, 572.

Campbell of Lochnell at Glenlivet, i. 108.

Campbell, Sir Archibald Ava, Bart., the representative of the Robertsons, ii. 172.

Campbell, Sir Colin (Lord Clyde), his portrait on steel plate, ii. 409;
his career (note), ii. 413;
his generalship, 416, 417, 682, 684, 713, 784, 785, 790.

Campbell’s Highlanders, or Old 88th Regiment, history of, ii. 475.

Campbells, Macdougall, of Craignish, ii. 167.

Campobello, Sir Nigel de, the head of the Clan Campbell (in 1320 A.D.), ii. 176.

Camps, Roman, i. 14, 15.

Canada, plan for its conquest (1759), ii. 460.

Cannon, Colonel, joined by Farquharsons, Frasers, Gordons, Macphersons, i. 380;
defeated at Dunkeld, 384.

Canute in Scotland, i. 53.

Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch yield it up, ii. 624.

Carlisle, occupied by Duke of Hamilton, i. 256;
surrenders to Prince Charles, 589;
engraving of the city (1745), 604;
surrenders to Cumberland, 610.

Carpenter, General, he intercepts the Jacobite army, i. 146, 449;
commander of the forces in North Britain, 480.

Caschroim, the crooked Scotch spade (woodcut), ii. 9.

Cassilis, Earl of, i. 88;
his flight from Linlithgow, 258;
at Queensferry, 258.

Cat, the Great, a name of the Sutherland chief, ii. 273.

Cathcart, Colonel, is despatched against the rebels by the Duke of Argyll; he surprises the Jacobites, i. 457;
his skilful attack at Sheriffmuir, 463.

Catholic religion, restoration of, i. 329.

Cattanachs, the, ii. 217.

Cattle-lifting in the Highlands, i. 321; ii. 1.

Cattle raids in the Highlands (1724), i. 483.

Cawnpore, more correctly Cawnpoor.

Cawnpoor, siege and second massacre of, ii. 667;
view of Suttee Chowra Ghât, the scene of second massacre, 668;
the third massacre, 669;
view of mausoleum over the well, 670;
and its monumental inscription, 669;
plan to illustrate the action near Cawnpoor, 16th July 1857, 669.

Caw, Lewis, assumed name of Prince Charles (in Skye), i. 700.

Cean Ciknith, “Head of the Lineage,” ii. 117.

Ceanmore, Malcolm, i. 54.

Cearnachs or Caterans, i. 321.

Celtic and feudal names, i. 72, 299.

Celtic MSS., their archives, ii. 67.

Ceylon, Stuart’s expedition, ii. 531.

Chariot, ancient British war chariot, i. 6.

Charles I. and the Covenanters, i. 175;
and the Marquis of Huntly and people of Scotland, 251;
prisoner at Newport, 259;
his reverses in England—taken prisoner. 247;
writes to Montrose, 248.

Charles II., his arrival in Scotland, i. 331.

Charles Edward, Prince, his portrait engraved on steel, from a miniature given to Lochiel, frontispiece to vol. i.;
his portrait in old age, taken at Florence in 1776, i. 758;
portraits of the Prince and his wife Louisa, ii. 753;
his parentage, i. 499;
leaves Rome for the invasion of England, 507;
his spirit in 1745, 510;
aspires to the throne, 511;
his companions in the invasion of Great Britain, 512;
in a naval battle, 513;
his dress and manners on landing in 1745, 515;
resolve to raise his standard, 520;
proclamation to apprehend, 528;
encamps at Loch Lochy—his proclamation to apprehend George II., 532;
his Highland army (1745)—adopts the Highland dress—his resolve to meet Sir John Cope, 533;
enters Perth, 535;
shows his last coin, 536;
his entry into Edinburgh, 547;
description of him, 549;
his prudence at Prestonpans, 555;
his address to his army at Prestonpans, 559;
his humanity after the battle—at Pinkie House, 565;
his clemency in Edinburgh, 570;
marches to England, 576:
deportment at Holyrood—orders a review of his army on Leith Links—final departure from Holyrood, 584;
enters Carlisle, 569;
progress in England, 594;
proposes to march into Wales, 599;
dejection after the decision to retreat from Derby, 600;
reviews his army on Glasgow Green, 615;
flight of his troops, 634;
loss of his war treasure, 645;
pecuniary difficulties, 647;
energy and strategetic ability, 648;
account of battle of Culloden, 650 to 663;
conduct after Culloden, 665;
flight and proceedings after Culloden, 671 to 673;
reasons for returning to France—meeting the chiefs in Glenboisdale—and departure from the mainland, 675;
his narrow escape to Harris—his assumed name and disguise, 683;
his skill as a cook—his linens, 684;
ability as a sportsman, 686;
adventures in making his escape, 689-691;
his social manners, 693;
resumes his male attire—his old shoes sold for £21, 694;
buys 4 oz. of “pigtail,” 696;
parts with Flora Macdonald, 697;
his wound at Culloden—his estimate of the Highland corps—his return to Skye, 699;
recognised in his disguise, 701;
a Highland servant washes his feet, 702;
is entertained in a cave by Mackinnon—parts with his faithful guide, and gives him his old pipe, 703;
leaves Skye in Mackinnon’s boat, 704;
narrow escapes, 710-712;
wanderings in Glengarry, 714;
French officers meet him, and his narrow escape, 716;
rashness, impatience, and escape, 718-720;
career in Great Britain, 721;
arrives at Paris, 740;
goes to Madrid, 744;
returns to Paris—his non-success with Louis XIV.—wishes to marry the Czarina, 745;
ceases to drink his brother’s health—pecuniary difficulties—obstinacy against Louis’ pension, 746, 747;
strikes a medal as Prince of Wales, 748;
arrest and expulsion from France—his prison, 751, 752;
his assumed name on the Continent, 753;
visits Paris and London incognito—wanderings on the Continent, 754;
visits London in 1752 and 1760, 755;
his mistress, Walkinshaw, 756;
assumption of the Stuart doctrine of divine right, 757;
marriage to a princess in 1772—fixes his abode at Florence in 1766—gets his daughter to live with him—removes to Rome—becomes a paralytic and dies, 759;
his real character, 760;
known and loved by the Highlanders, 770.

Chattan, dissension in clan, i. 85;
in Knoydart and Moydart, 88;
defeated by clan Cameron, 106;
joins the Macdonalds, ii. 143;
its history, 197;
its component clans, 201;
its force in 1704, 1715, and 1745, 217.

Chevalier de St George, the title assumed by the son of James II, i. 414;
his claim to succeed Queen Anne, 421;
reward for his apprehension, 422;
proclaimed at Aberdeen, Castle Gordon, Brechin, Montrose, and Dundee, 436;
the Master of Sinclair’s description of, 468;
utter failure of his cause, 475;
contract of marriage, 481;
letters to Clementina, 500;
proclaimed as James VIII., 523;
his death, 758.

Chiefs, Highland, their status and authority, i. 322;
their power and influence previous to 1745, ii. 3;
their idea of land rights, 34;
sometimes deposed, 130.

Chieftains, their position and status, ii. 6.

Chisholm, clan, its history, arms, crest, and mottoes, ii. 307;
view of Erchless Castle, the family seat, 308.

Chumie or Tyumie—this river (Kaffraria) crossed by the troops in 1846 (an illustration), ii. 737.

Ciudad Rodrigo, its siege in 1811, ii. 579.

Clan, Gaelic and Erse, Clann or Cland Manx = Cloan (note), literally “children,” or “offspring,” “tribe,” ii. 117.

Clan, legal status of, decision given by Lord Ardmillan in 1860, ii. 213.

Clan and clanship, Highland import, ii. 116;
Clan influence, latest instance, 777.

Clanranald, its arms, history, and mottoes, ii. 153.

Clanranald of Lochaber, ii. 142, 147;
its suppression by Argyll, 182.

Clan regiments, mode of commanding—list of them for invading England, i. 585.

Clans, origin of the Highland clans, ii. 117;
division of people into, i. 316;
matrimonial arrangements—power of chiefs—warlike spirit—military ranks, 317;
places of rendezvous—The Fiery Cross—war cry or slogan—effects of omens in—number of fighting men, 318;
succession of chiefs—fidelity of followers to chiefs—administration of laws—feuds, 319;
union and opposition among—degrees of insult among—feeling of revenge, 320;
fidelity to their chiefs, 325;
a list of Breadalbane’s proposed forces of the Highland chieftains (note), 404;
their valour in 1745, 533;
their disputes anent rank and precedence, 659;
their costume by Sobieski and Charles Edward Stuart, 761;
the forfeited estates of clansmen, 769;
Border clans early broken up—chief works respecting them, ii. 116.

Clarior hinc honos (“hence brighter honour”), arms motto of Buchanan, ii. 281.

Claverhouse, Graham of, see Dundee.

Clephane, Lieut.-Col., his anecdotes of the 79th, ii. 722.

Cluny, Macpherson of, chief of Clan Macpherson—is called in the Highlands Mac Mhurich Chlanidh, ii. 212;
The Cluny meets the Prince in Lochiel’s hut, i. 746;
nine years of cave life, 719;
commands the Clan Pherson at Dalkeith, 584.

Cluny Castle, relics of the rebellion of 1745 in, ii. 212.

Clyde, Lord. See Campbell, Sir Colin.

Cnoc elachan (“willow hill”), the slogan of Colquhoun, ii. 284.

“Cock of the North,” the Marquis of Huntly, i. 170;
the Duke of Gordon, ii. 318, 775.

Cògaidh nà Sith (“war or peace”), Kenneth Mackay plays it at Waterloo, ii. 707.

Colonsay island, and Lord Colonsay, ii. 165.

Colquhoun Clan, its history, arms, crest, and mottoes, ii. 284.

Colquhouns and Macgregors at feud, i. 113.

Columba, St, birth, i. 37;
preaching to the Picts, 21;
landing at Aberdour, 22;
conversion of Picts, 33;
death, 39.

Comyn, Cumin, Cummin, Cumming, ii. 318.

Comyn, John, Earl of Buchan, i. 61.

Coomassie, the capital of Ashantee, ii. 803;
its capture and cremation, 805.

Cope, Sir John, commander-in-chief in Scotland, i. 527;
his progress in the Highlands, 530;
his autograph, 531;
Prince Charles resolves to encounter him—his flight, 533;
Prince Charles drinks his health, 534;
his march to Aberdeen, 537;
at Prestonpans, 559.

Cornwallis, Lord, his victory at Jeffrey’s Ford, ii. 353;
his command in America in 1780, 471;
commander-in-chief in 1791, 485;
his arrival in India, 527.

Corunna, Moore’s retreat thither, and his death, ii. 377;
battle of, in 1809, 490.

“Courage,” motto of the Cummings, ii. 318.

Covenant, Charles II. signs it, i. 279.

Covenanters, ii. 177-217, 219-232, 233-246, 257-280, 335.

Craggan an Fhithich (“the raven’s rock”), scroll motto of Macdonnell, ii. 156.

Craigellachie (“rock of alarm”), the slogan of the Grants, ii. 256.

Craigievar Castle, engraving of, ii. 294.

Crawford, John, Earl of, the first colonel of the “Black Watch,” his portrait on steel, ii. 325.

Creachs, or predatory excursions, i. 321.

Creag Dhu, or Cragi Dhu (“black rock”), the slogan of the Macphersons, ii. 212.

Crimea, Map of, ii, 777;
invasion in 1854, 409;
evacuation in 1856, 548.
See Highland Regiments.

Cro (“fine,” “ransom,” or “forfeit”), Celtic = Eric in the Brehon Law, i. 46.

Cromwell, Oliver, Scotch army surrender to him, i. 256;
his siege of Berwick, 259;
crosses the Tweed, 279;
his fortress at Leith, 442;
his narrow escape at Ribble Bridge, 451.

Culloden, Forbeses of, ii. 295;
battle of, i. 657, 664, 667, 669;
plan of the field of battle, 661.

Culloden House, engraving of it, i. 657;
Prince Charles occupies, 651.

Cumberland, Duke of, his portrait engraved on steel, i. 631;
his movements, 602;
presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, 631, 636, 639;
his measures and rapacity, 648;
at Culloden, 661-666;
his futile efforts to capture Prince Charles, 676;
his movements in suppressing the rebellion, 678.

“Cumberland and Murray’s Descent into Hell,” a song, i. 773.

Cumming, sept or family of, its history, arms, and motto, ii. 318;
adopt the name of Farquharson, 319.

Cymric origin of the Picts, i. 22, 28, 30.

Cymric roots of the Pictish tongue, i. 28.

Dalcross Castle, an engraving of it, one of the seats of the Mackintosh, ii. 209.

Dalkeith, insurgents’ camp (1745), i. 564.

Dalkeith House, surrender of, i. 167.

Dalriads, or Irish Scots, i. 33.

Dalrymple, Master of Stair, his treachery to Glencoe, i. 396;
bears the blame of the massacre of Glencoe, 402.

Dalrymple, Sir David, his inquiry about the medal presented to the Advocates by the Duchess of Gordon, i. 419.

Danish Fleet in the Clyde, i. 50.

Daoine Shith, or men of peace, i. 304.

Daoine Matha, or good men, i. 307.

Data fata secutus (“following the allotted fates”), scroll motto of Mackenzies, ii. 238.

David I., his influence, i. 57.

David II., i. 64; recalled from France, ii. 138.

Davidsons’ and Macphersons’ feud, i. 66.

Davidsons, the, their fate at the battle of Invernahavon, ii. 203.

Davoch-lands in the Highlands, ii. 16.

Dawson, Jemmy, origin of “Shenstone’s Ballad” of, i. 723.

Dear or Deer, its site and antiquity, i. 39.

Dee, Bridge of, battle of the, i. 85, 175.

Deemster or judge, the Brehon, ii. 129.

Deer, Book of, its character, ii. 68, 70.

Deer-forests, their recent formation, ii. 63.

Defoe on the Highland dress, i. 328.

Depopulation (Highland), its progress, ii. 54.

Derby, arrival here of Prince Charles on foot—the crisis of his enterprise, i. 598.

Derwentwater, Earl of, his espousal of the Chevalier’s cause, i. 436;
his Jacobite zeal, 452;
sent to General Willis as a hostage, 455;
beheaded, 477.

Dettingen, battle (June 1743), i. 509.

Dh’aindheoin co theireadh è (“in spite of, who would gainsay”), motto of Clanranald, ii. 153.

Dick, Colonel (afterwards Sir) R. H., 42nd, his portrait, ii. 396;
his death and tablet to his memory in St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, 408.

Dingwalls of Ross-shire, i. 62.

Dirk, the Highland, i. 301.

Disarming Act (in 1716), i. 495 and 489.

Donald, Clan, its history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 136.

Donald Dubh escapes from prison, ii. 144.

Donald Gorme (of Sleat), claims the lordship of the Isles, ii. 145.

Donald, Lord of the Isles, i. 69.

Donnachie, Clan, their name, ii. 170.

Donnibristle Castle, Huntly attacks, i. 105.

Donolly—cadets of this family, ii. 161.

Dornoch, the Duke of Perth advances on, and Lord Loudon abandons (1746), i. 641.

Dornoch Castle, view of, i. 117;
town besieged, i. 91, 92.

Douglas, Chevalier, an assumed name of Prince Charles, i. 509.

Douglas, Lady, she presents new colours to the 79th, ii. 709.

Douglas, Major-General Sir John, K.C.B., his portrait as colonel of the 79th, ii. 711.

Douglas, Sir Neil, K.C.B., K.C.H., colonel of the 72nd, his portrait on steel, ii. 479;
colonel of the 78th, 694.

Drammach, peculiar preparation, i. 685.

“Dread God,” motto of Munro of Foulis, ii. 231.

Dress, Highland, its advantages, i. 300, 302, 699;
remarks on, 326;
Highland armour, 327;
Highland women’s dress, 302.

Druid, derivation of the word (note), i. 36.

Druidheachd, Gaelic term, i. 307.

Drummond, origin of the name and clan, ii. 312;
history, arms, and motto, 313.

Drummond, Captain James, falls at Prestonpans, his dying address, i. 562.

Drummond, the first Lord, ii. 314;
his confinement in Castle Drummond, i. 421;
his attempt to seize Edinburgh Castle, 431;
he embarks with the Pretender, 475;
attainted, 478.

Drummond’s Edinburgh Volunteers, i. 544.

Drummossie Moor, Culloden battlefield, i. 651;
plan of this moor, 661.

Duart Castle, view of, i. 98;
Argyll unable to take it, 393.

Duffie, history of this clan, ii. 261.

Duffus, Laird of, i. 91, 150, 152.

Duinewassels, ii. 129.

Dulcius ex asperis (“sweeter out of adversity”), the motto of the Ferguson or Fergussons, ii. 320.

Dumbarton Castle taken, i. 167.

Dunadd, capital of Dalriadda, i. 34.

Dunaverty Castle, siege of, i. 252;
seized by James IV., ii. 143.

Dunbar, battle of (1650), i. 283.

Dunbeath Castle taken, i. 265.

Dunblane, engravings of, about 1715, i. 460;
burnt by the Danes, i. 49.

Dunchattan, Macintosh of, murdered, i. 85.

Duncrei (Crieff), i. 40.

Dundee, Viscount, John Graham of Claverhouse, his portrait—steel plate of armour worn by him at Killiecrankie, i. 376;
antecedents, 350;
education at Seneffe—Prince of Orange saved by—appointed captain in Scotland by Charles II., raised to the peerage, 351;
outlawed, 352;
resumé of his character (note), 353;
joined by Macdonald of Keppoch and clan, 355;
before Dundee, 356;
joined by various clans in Lochaber, 357;
men desert from, 358;
joined by Athole men and enters Athole, 366;
movements at Killiecrankie, 369;
at Urrard House, 369;
battle of Killiecrankie, 372;
death—note from present Duke of Athole on death of Dundee, 376;
alleged letter from to the king (note)—character, 377;
buried at Blair-Athole, 378.

Dunfermline, seat of government, i. 57.

Dunkeld, view of, as in the 17th century, i. 384;
church built by Kenneth, i. 49.

Dunolly Castle, i. 34.

Dunottar Castle, Earl Marshal shut up in, i. 204;
view of in the 17th century, 205.

Dunrobin Castle, Old, view of, besieged, i. 83;
an ancient seat of Sutherland chiefs, ii. 273;
view of, from a photograph by Collier & Park, 277.

Dunstaffnage Campbells, ii. 190;
the castle taken by the Bruce, 161;
castle, i. 34.

Dunyveg Castle, view of, taken by Angus Oig, i. 129;
by Campbell of Calder, 131;
by Sir James Macdonald, 131.

Edgar Ætheling, seal of, i. 55.

Edgar, Secretary, on Charles incog., i. 754.

Edinburgh captured from the English, i. 51;
approach of Prince Charles, 542;
freedom of the city presented to the Duke of Cumberland, 631.

Edinburgh Castle, view of, as in 1715, i. 432;
surprised by General Leslie, 167;
Montrose imprisoned in, 268;
siege by Cromwell, 285;
surrender of, 287, 362;
attempt to seize it by Jacobites, 431.

Edinburgh city guard, i. 352.

Edinburgh, Duke of, visits India, ii. 775.

Edward, son of Malcolm III., i. 55.

Edward the Confessor, i. 55, 57.

Edward the Constable, i. 59.

Eglinton, Earl of, advances on Edinburgh, i. 257;
offers to assist the Stewarts, 481.

Egypt, battle of, March 21st, 1800, ii. 369.

Eigg, all its inhabitants suffocated, ii. 195.

Eighty-first, Old, ii. 565.

Eighty-fourth, Old, ii. 565.

Eighty-seventh Regiment, Old, ii. 475.

Eighty-eighth Regiment, Old, ii. 475.

Eighty-ninth Highland Regiment, history and reduction of, ii. 478.

Elephant, the, His Majesty’s order that the troops engaged at Assaye should bear it on their colours—the regiments thus honoured, ii. 632.

El Hamet, the battle here (1807), ii. 648.

Enfield Rifles, their first issue to the 74th, ii. 609;
to the 78th (1857), 664.

English soldiery, their ferocity after Culloden, i. 665;
their brutality at Culloden, 667;
their barbarities in Scotland, 680.

Episcopacy, attempt to introduce, into Scotland, i. 165.

Episcopalians, stringent laws and stern penal enactments against them, i. 769.

Erchless Castle, the seat of the Chisholm (with an engraving), ii. 308.

Erig, or compensation tribunals, i. 321.

Errol, Earl of, attainted, i. 107;
restored, 110.

Erskine, Rev. Ebenezer, commanded two companies of Seceders at defence of Stirling, i. 616.

Erskine, John, Earl of Mar, see Mar.

Espoir, Comte d’—one incognito of Prince Charles, i. 753.

Euzofzai, an erroneous orthography of Yûzûfzai, ii. 511;
engraving of a monument to the 71st Regiment, 517.

Fairies of Shetland (note), i. 306.

Fairy legends in the Highlands, i. 304.

Falkirk, the field of battle in 1746, i. 624.

Famine, the Highland, in 1750, ii. 24.

Fantees, a tribe on the Gold Coast, ii. 803.

Farmwork in the Highlands (1760), ii. 11.

Farquhar, progenitor of the Shaws, ii. 213.

Farquharson, Clan, their history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 215.

Farquharson (of Invercauld), opposed General Wills at Ribble Bridge, i. 451.

Farquharson of Inverey in Cromar, i. 293.

Farquharsons join Colonel Cannon, i. 380.

Fassifern, Sir Ewen Cameron of, the first Baronet (father of Colonel John Cameron, 92nd Regiment), ii. 222.

Fencible Corps, chronological list, ii. 807.

Ferguson or Fergusson, a Highland sept, their badge, ii, 320.

Ferguson, Lt.-Gen. Sir R. C., his portrait on steel plate of the colonels of the 78th and 79th, ii. 617;
colonel of the 79th, 708;
his death in 1841, 709.

Feros ferio (“I strike the cruel”), Chisholm’s scroll motto, ii. 307.

Feudal and Celtic manners, i. 72.

Feudalism differs from clanship, ii. 119.

Feudality, its remnant abolished, i. 768.

Feuds among clans, their causes, i. 319.

Fide et fortudine (“by fidelity and fortitude”), motto of the Farquharsons, ii. 215.

Fide parta fide aucta (“acquired by fidelity, increased by fidelity”), the crest motto of the Mackenzies, ii. 238.

Field of Shirts, battle of, i. 87.

Fiery Cross, last instance of its use, i. 318.

Fighting men, number of, in clans, i. 318.

Findlater, Earl of, i. 202.

Fingall, Gallgael, and Dugall, ii. 131.

“Fire and Sword, Letters of,” how easily obtained, i. 404.

Fish, supply of a century ago, ii. 26.

Fletcher of Saltoun, Scottish patriot, i. 410.

Flight Cairn or Carn-Teiche, i. 112.

Flodden, the Highlanders there, i. 80.

Flora Macdonald. See Macdonald.

“Follow me,” the motto of the Breadalbane Campbells, ii. 186.

Fontenoy, victory of the French, i. 511;
the Black Watch at, ii. 333.

Forays, Highland, i. 321.

Forbes, Clan, their history, arms, and motto, origin of the name, ii. 290.

Forbes, Duncan, his defence of Culloden fortalice, i. 457;
hanged after the battle of Culloden, 668.

Forbes, Lord President, i. 323;
portrait, 679;
his worth, sagacity, and opinion of the Highlanders, 765.

Forbes of Craigievar taken prisoner, i. 168;
released, 191; ii. 293.

Fordyce, Lt.-Col., 74th, his death, Nov. 6, 1851, ii. 597;
engraving of the scene, 598.

Forres, town of, burned by Badenoch, i. 68.

Fort Augustus, with illustrations, i. 485;
its erection, 489;
Prince Charles determines to reduce it, 640.

Forteviot, battle of, i. 43.

Fort George, its capture, i. 638, 670.

Fortis et fidus (“brave and trusty”), motto of Maclachlan, &c., ii. 165.

Fortitudine (“with fortitude”), motto of the Macraes, &c., ii. 280.

Forty-Second Royal Highland Regiment (“The Black Watch”), its history, ii. 324-445;
Appendix, Ashantee Campaign, 803.
For details of history see contents of—

Ch. I. | 1772–1775, | ii. 324.
II. | 1775–1795, | 349.
III. | 1795–1811, | 362.
IV. | 1811–1816, | 380.
V. | 1816–1854, | 399.
VI. | 1854–1856, | the Crimea, 409.
VII. | 1856–1859, | Indian Mutiny, 419.
VIII. | 1817–1873, | 429.

and Appendix, 1874–1875,
Ashantee War, &c.,

803.

Succession lists of colonels, field and staff officers, ii. 437.
Steel plate of colonels opposite page 325.
Alphabetical list of all the officers who have served in “The Black Watch,” from 28th May 1817–1874, 439.
Highland pibroch played by the 42nd while marching to Quatre Bras, 446.

Forty-Second, Second Battalion, now the 73rd Regiment, history of, ii. 566.

“Frances Charlotte,” The, her wreck on the Island of Preparis—compare the “Birkenhead” wreck (ii. 604), ii. 638.

Fraser, Clan, its history, arms, crest, motto, and branches, ii. 302;
new clan in America, 305;
massacre of, by Clan Ranald, i. 87.

Fraser, Duke of, a title of Lord Lovat, i. 734.

Fraser (Inverallachie), killed at Culloden, i. 666.

Fraser, Lt.-Gen. Alexander Mackenzie, 78th, his portrait, ii. 642;
his death, 650.

Fraser, Simon, see Lovat, Lord.

Fraser, Sir Alexander, of Philorth, his portrait, ii. 303.

Fraser’s, Bishop, seal, engraving of, ii. 302.

Fraser’s Highlanders, or Old 78th, their history, ii. 457;
discharged, 465.

Fraser’s Highlanders, or Old 71st, their history, ii. 465;
discharged, 1783, 474.

Fraser’s Hill, near Seringapatam, ii. 531.

Frasers of Stratherrick, their assistance of Prince Charles, i. 533.

French Invasion, dread of, in 1744, i. 507.

Frendraught, disasters at, i. 162, 202.

Frendraught House, view of, i. 156;
burned, 156;
Spalding’s account (note), 157;
ballad on, 158.

Fuaran u trupar or “Horseman’s Well,” at Killiecrankie, i. 368.

Fuel in the Highlands, ii. 19.

Fuentes de Onoro (or Fuentes d’Onor), the battle of, ii. 495, 579, 700.

Fullarton, Colonel, besieges, attacks, and takes Palghatcherri (1783), ii. 525.

Furth fortune and fill the fetters (“the future is unknown”), motto of Murray or Moray (Athole), ii. 309.

Fyvie, battle of, i. 192.

Gaelic-Picts, i. 26;
roots of Pictish language, 28;
language and literature, chap. xlv., ii. 66;
charter of 1408 A.D., MSS. of the 15th century, 77;
antiquities (Dr Smith’s), 87;
literature (modern), 91;
Bible and Confession of Faith, 93;
prose writings, 94;
poetry, exclusive of the Ossianic, 99;
grammars, 100;
dictionaries, 101;
music, its different species, 106;
sacred music, 108;
musical instruments, 109;
MSS., catalogue of them, 110.

Gael of the coasts, peculiar device, ii. 159.

Galley, oared, a special device of the Maclachlans, ii. 166.

Gallgael, Fingall, and Dugall, ii. 131.

“Gang warily,” the scroll motto of the Drummonds, &c., ii. 313.

“Garb of Old Gaul,” the, words of this song in Gaelic and English, ii. 347.

Gardiner, Colonel, at Prestonpans, i. 560;
his portrait and death, 563;
view of his house, 566.

Garmoran, Macdonalds of, ii. 154;
earldom, 175.

Garrons, ancient Highland horses, ii. 14.

Gartmore MS., its account of the Highlands in 1747, ii. 2.

“General Band,” Act of Parliament, i. 160.

Gilchrist, progenitor of Maclachlans, ii. 165.

Gilchrist, the Siol, Clan Ogilvy, ii. 320.

Gillevray, Clan or Siol, its branches, ii. 162;
a tribe of the Macpherson, 212.

Girnigo Castle, i. 102;
view of, 125.

Glasgow Highland Light Infantry, origin of this appellation of the 71st, ii. 488.

Glenbucket, his command at Sheriffmuir, i. 461;
his escape to Norway, 683.

Glencairn, 9th Earl of, i. 292.

Glencoe, his appearance at Fort-William i. 395;
account of the massacre, 397;
engraving of the glen of the massacre, 400;
commission of inquiry, 402.

Glenfinnan, here Prince Charles raised his standard, i. 520.

Glengarry and Kenzie clans, i. 114.

Glengarry, Macdonnell of, the history, arms, crest, and mottoes of, ii. 156.

Glenlivet, battle of, i. 108.

Glenurchy family, their genealogy, ii. 186.

Gordon (Avochy) at Culloden, i. 662.

Gordon Castle, an engraving of it, ii. 318.

Gordon, Bertie, portrait as colonel of the 91st, ii. 744;
personal details of his life, 749;
his death, 751.

Gordon, Mrs Col. Bertie, presents new colours to the 91st (1869), ii. 750.

Gordon, Clan, its history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 316.

Gordon, Duchess of, her Jacobite medal to the Faculty of Advocates, i. 419;
her assistance in raising the 92nd, ii. 757.

Gordon (Glenbucket) joins Glenalladale, i. 522;
blows up Ruthven Barrack, 637.

Gordon Highlanders, see 92nd Regiment.

Gordon, Sir Patrick, of Auchindun, i. 100, 103, 107;
Sir Robert, commission to from James I., 144;
march upon Caithness, 146;
Sir Alexander, at Broray Bridge, 152;
of Rothiemay, outlawed, killed, 154;
Sir Nathaniel, in Aberdeen, 202;
Sir Adam, of Strathbogie, ii. 317.

Gordons and Grants, their feud, i. 105.

Gothic roots in the Pictish language, i. 28.

Gows, their traditional descent, ii. 217.

“Grace me guide” and “Grace my guide,” the motto of Clan Forbes, &c., ii. 290.

Graddaning, preparing grain for food, ii. 18.

Graham or Græme, Clan, history, arms, and motto, and branches, ii. 314.

Graham, James. See Montrose.

Graham, John, of Claverhouse. See Dundee.

“Graham of the Hens,” ii. 316.

Grampius, Mons, battle of, i. 5;
site of, 7.

Grant, Clan, history, arms, and motto, ii. 250;
various branches, 255;
their slogan “Craigellachie,” 256;
view of castle, from a photograph, 254.

Grant, Sir Hope-, K.C.B., commands the Lucknow field force, ii. 686;
a Brigadier-General, 716.

Grant, Lieut.-General Sir Patrick, G.C.B., his portrait on steel, ii. 617;
colonel of the 78th, 690.

Grants and Gordons, feuds between, i. 105.

Gregor, Clan, hunted down, i. 401.

Gunn, Clan—its history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 278.

Gwalior, its capture in 1858, i. 509.

Haco, King of Norway, 1263 A.D., i. 62.

Hallowe’en, i. 35.

Hal o’ the Wynd, i. 67.

Hamilton, Duke of, i. 255;
his trial and execution, 1649, i. 260.

Hand-fasting, its nature, ii. 124.

Hanover, House of, proposal to put the Scottish Crown upon, i. 410.

Hare, Colonel, presents the 91st with new colours, ii. 734.

Harlaw, battle of (1411 A.D.), i. 70; ii. 140.

Harrow, the, its use and utility, ii. 10.

Havelock, K.C.B., Brig.-Gen., his portrait, ii. 644;
his arrival at Busheer in 1857—his high opinion of the 78th Highlanders, 666;
sketch map to illustrate his military operations during July and August 1857, 671;
his death, 683.

Havelock, Lady, presents the Indian Mutiny medals to the 78th in Edinburgh, ii. 688.

Hawley, General, sends armed boats to Stirling, i. 617;
moves from Edinburgh, 618;
his apathy and dilatoriness, 620;
his low estimate of Highland pluck, 622;
his command at Culloden, 658.

Hay, ancestor of the Kinnoul family, i. 51.

Hay, John, his account of the conduct of Charles, i. 634;
occasional secretary to Prince Charles, 634;
his account of the retreat to Culloden (note), 656.

Hay, Sir Francis, his execution, i. 278.

Hebrides, boundaries of, i. 2;
Earl Ross proclaimed King of, 77;
rebellion here, 1614–15, 129;
Dr Johnson in, 311.

Henry, Prince, his portrait, i. 745;
his letter to his father about Lord George Murray, 744;
he becomes a cardinal, 745.

Henry IX., King of England, his medal engraved, i. 760.

Hepburn of Keith, his Jacobite proclivities, i. 440;
he urges an attack on Cumberland, 656;
meeting Prince Charles, 550.

Hereditary jurisdictions abolished, i. 766.

Hereditary succession introduced, i. 49.

Highland Brigade in the Crimea, composed of the 42nd, 79th, and 93rd Highlanders, ii. 410;
it meets at Lucknow (1858), 796;
curious coincidence (1874), 693;
the 72nd attached to it, 547;
under Brigadier-Gen. Ronald C. Ferguson, 778.

Highland Chiefs seized by James I., i. 72;
executed, 73;
their reply to General Mackay (note), 305;
their meeting in Paris, 494;
their mutual league for defence, 677;
their treatment of their clansmen, ii. 27;
those who fell into the hands of the English Government, i. 681.

Highland Regiments, introduction to their histories, ii. 321.
See 42nd, 71st, 72nd, 74th, 78th, 79th, 91st, 92nd, and 93rd.

Highland Society’s vase presented to the 42nd—an engraving of it, ii. 400;
their present to the 78th.

Highlanders, their character in 1066, i. 57.

Highlanders, agreements and bargains, i. 313;
arming in 1745, 521;
armour, 327;
bagpipe playing, 312;
bard’s (influence), 315;
bonnet, 301;
character, 299;
false estimate of it, 763;
chiefs: see Chiefs;
chieftains: see Chieftains;
clothing, 327;
courage (at Preston), 454;
courage (in retreat), 606;
cowardice (punishment), 314;
death (feelings about), 215;
Dunkeld (at), 382;
employments (aversion to peaceful), ii. 323;
fidelity, i. 86, 324;
fiery cross, 318;
fighting (mode of), 585;
fighting (with cavalry), 623;
filial affection, 313;
forays, 321;
Cumberland (forbearance towards), 679;
garters, 301;
German (notice of), ii. 477;
habits and manners, i. 299;
honesty (note), 313;
hospitality, 316;
idiosyncrasy (Parliament would deprive them of it), 764;
insult and revenge, 320;
integrity, 313;
laws (administration of), 319;
love of country, 314, ii. 66;
loyalty, 473, 699;
manners and habits, i. 72, 299;
mercy to the vanquished, 564;
opposition and union, 320;
predatory excursions, 321;
prowess as soldiers, 565;
retreat (in 1746), 635;
revenge and insult, 320;
robbery (rarity of), 321;
shirts, 302;
shoes and stockings, 301;
social condition, ii. 1;
spirit broken, i. 763;
attempt to suppress them, 291;
treachery (detested), 300, 325;
trial after the rebellion of 1745, 722;
union and opposition, 320;
valour, ii. 483;
war-cry or slogan, i. 318;
wealth, 321;
worth against invasion, &c., 404.

Highlands, ancient state, i. 298;
bailies, 323;
boundaries, 1;
Campbell’s “Popular Tales” about, ii. 88;
condition in 1424, i. 72;
disease-curing in, 309;
history (modern), ii. 2, 30;
insurrections, i. 285, 421;
law in the (disrespected), 87;
laws (of Malcolm Mackenneth), i. 323;
military characteristics, ii. 321;
pasture lands, 44;
Peace Act in, i. 478;
physical aspects, 1;
progress since 1800 A.D., ii. 54;
question (Highland) both sides, ii. 38-43;
Scots-Norman, i. 72;
Wedding ceremonies in, 311.

Hodgson, Lt.-Col., 79th, portrait, ii. 719.

“Hold Fast,” scroll motto of Macleod, ii. 191.

Holland, British troops land here, ii. 619.

Holyrood House, Bothwell attacks, i. 105.

Holyrood Palace, engraving of it in 1745, i. 550;
Prince Charles enters—his hearty welcome, 548;
his deportment, receptions, and entertainments here, 579.

Home (author of “Douglas”), made a prisoner of war, i. 629.

Home (of Polwarth), his attempt to alter the succession to the throne, i. 409.

Hope, Brigadier Adrian, his portrait as Lt.-Col. of 93rd, ii. 778;
his death wound, 796.

Hope, Sir John (afterwards Earl of Hopetoun), taken prisoner at Bayonne (1814), ii. 763;
colonel of the 92nd, 759.

Hope-Grant, Sir. See Grant.

Hopetoun, G.C.B., Lt.-Gen. the Earl of becomes colonel of the 42nd (Jan. 29, 1820)—his death, ii. 401.

“Horseman’s Well” at Killiecrankie, i. 368.

“Hunting Match,” Lovat’s plot, i. 411.

Huntly, origin of the title among the Gordons, ii. 317.

Huntly, Countess of, she beheads Wm. Mackintosh, ii. 206.

Huntly, George Gordon, 1st Marquis of, his portrait with that of his Marchioness, i. 163;
his death in 1636, and remarkable character, 165.

Huntly, 2nd Marquis of, his portrait, i. 254;
raises the royal standard in the north and takes Aberdeen, 167;
meeting with Montrose, 169;
“The Cock of the North,”—arrest, 170;
manifesto on the Covenant, 171;
Aberdeen and Montrose taken by him, 180;
position of his three sons, 191;
captured, 253;
beheaded at Edinburgh (1647), 260.

Huntly, 5th Marquis of, his confinement in Brahan (1714), i. 421;
joins Mar (1715), 438;
his descent before the battle of Sheriffmuir, 461.

Huntly, 9th Marquis of, afterwards 5th Duke of Gordon—his portrait on Plate of Colonels of the 91st, 92nd, and 93rd, ii. 756;
he raises the 92nd, 756;
his removal to the 42nd, 759.

Hurry, General, Aberdeen surprised by him, i. 203;
his retreat, 209;
defeated at Fettercairn and Auldearn, 205, 211;
Dunbeath Castle taken by him, 265;
executed at Edinburgh, 277.

Husbandry in the Highlands in 1760, ii. 11.

Hutchinson, Gen., invests Alexandria, ii. 373.

Hyder Ali, he invades the Carnatic, ii. 481.

Iàn Vòr, the Clan, ii. 150.

I-columb-ell, or Iona, i. 37.

Ierne, or Ireland, i. 17.

“I hope in God,” the motto of Macnaughton, ii. 229.

Indemnity, the Act of, passed in 1703, i. 410;
in 1747, 738;
exceptions to the Act (1747), note, 738.

Indian Mutiny, Highland regiments engaged in suppressing it, the 42nd, ii. 419;
the 71st, 509;
the 72nd, 549;
the 74th, 609;
the 75th, formerly a Highland regiment, also engaged, 616;
the 78th, 667;
the 79th, 715;
the 91st, 748;
the 92nd, 769;
and the 93rd, 789.

Innes, Cosmo, Critical Essay on Scotland, i. 23;
on the Picts, 25.

Insolvency, punishment of, in the Highlands, i. 313.

Inver, “confluence,” i. 29.

Invergarry, here Prince Charles arrives in his flight from Culloden, his reception, disguise, &c., i. 671.

Inverlochy, view of, i. 199;
battle here, 198;
castle taken, 252;
Major Ferguson’s expedition against—General Mackay arrives at—reconstruction of the castle, 390;
here the Glencoe murderers divide the spoil, 401.

Inverness destroyed by Alexander of the Isles, i. 73;
castle besieged, 90;
taken by the Laird of Borlum, 437;
capture by the Royalists in 1715—view of, at the end of the 17th century, 456;
Prince Charles takes possession of (1746), and lays siege to Fort George (the Castle), 638;
its capture after Culloden, 670.

Iona or Iova, i. 37;
view of the monastery and ruins, 38;
attacked by Norsemen, 41.

Ireland, its invasion by Donal, i. 42;
its state in 1821, ii. 402.

Irish massacred by the Covenanters, i. 233.

Irish MSS., a catalogue of them, ii. 110.

Irish-Scots or Dalriads, i. 33.

Irish troops, arrival in Scotland, i. 182.

Isla, devastated by Maclean, i. 99;
Macdonalds of, or Clan Iàn Vòr, ii. 150;
invaded by Hector Maclean, 226.

Islay, Rhinns of, i. 97;
view of a cottage in 1774, ii. 25.

Isles, Kings of the, ii. 135.

Isles, Lord of the, title disputed, ii. 146.

Jackson, Robert, his character of Highland soldiers, ii. 322.

Jacobinism, its adherents imprisoned in Edinburgh and Stirling, i. 418;
in Scotland in 1744, 507.

Jacobite conspiracy, i. 438;
exiles, removal from the French court, 480;
manifesto printed at Edinburgh (1715), 429.

Jacobites, Act of indemnity in favour of them, i. 410;
association in Edinburgh in 1740, 503;
cabal with the Swedes, 481;
coalition with Presbyterians, 368;
conspiracy, new (in 1722), 493;
designs frustrated by Sophia, 408;
enterprise for the Pretender in 1716, 475;
expectations in 1745, 511;
Highland adherents, 769;
hopes revive, 482;
leaders return to Scotland, 410;
Lochiel they trust, 519;
measures for securing their chiefs, i. 427;
modern (their creed), 775;
precautions against, in 1714, 421;
proceedings of (1745), i. 613.

Jacobus Magnæ Britanniæ Rex, his death and will—his character, i. 758.

James I., his portrait, i. 73;
return from captivity, 71;
his court in Highlands, 72;
his descendants cut off from the succession to the throne of England, 408.

James II., his administration, i. 76;
Highland chiefs support him (note), 385;
coalition of Jacobites and Presbyterians in his favour, 386;
his death, 408;
Scotch plot to restore his son, 414.

James IV., policy in the Highlands, i. 79.

James V. i. 85;
his Highland dress, 326;
his mandate against Clan Chattan, 401.

James VI. at Dundee, i. 109.

James III. proclaimed as king at the Cross, Edinburgh, in 1714, i. 421, 550.

James VIII. proclaimed king in 1745—manifesto, i. 523.

James Rex, the Chevalier—departure to France—letter to General Gordon, i. 474;
letter to the Highland chiefs, 494.

Java wrested from the French, ii. 637.

Jedburgh, the Pretender proclaimed here, i. 440;
Prince Charles at (1745), i. 587.

Je suis prest (i.e., je suis prêt, “I am ready”), motto of the Frasers, ii. 302.

Johnson, Dr, on Highland chiefs (note), i. 322;
on second sight, 311;
tradition concerning Coll Maclean, ii. 228.

Johnstone, the Chevalier, author of “Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745–6,” i. 535.

Johnstone, Colonel, 42nd, his Kephalonian gold medal, engraving of it, ii. 407.

Johnstone’s Highlanders or 101st Regiment, their history and reduction, ii. 479.

Kaffir war of 1835, the 72nd engaged in, also the 75th, originally a Highland regiment, ii. 535.

Kaffir war, the second, in 1850, the 74th engaged in, ii. 593;
the 91st engaged in, 739;
the termination of it in 1853, 603.

Kaffraria, map of the eastern part, ii. 564.

Keith’s Highlanders, or Old 87th Regiment, their history, ii. 475, 653.

Kelp, manufacture in the Highlands, ii. 50.

Kelpies, superstitions about, i. 303.

Kenmure, Lord, he holds a council of war at Kelso, i. 446;
is beheaded, 477.

Kenzie, Clan, and the Monroes, i. 92, 110.

Kenzie and Glengarry clans, i. 114.

Keppoch, the Macdonalds of, ii. 152;
(Macdonald), his advice to Prince Charles, i. 554;
the only prisoner made at the Falkirk Moor fight, 625;
his bravery and death at Culloden, 664.

Killiecrankie, engraving of the Pass, i. 369;
Horseman’s Well, 368;
battle, 371;
Mackay’s army, 373;
the Pass on the morning after the battle, 375;
officers killed, 376, 377.

Kilmarnock, Earl of, entertains Prince Charles, i. 542;
is made prisoner at Culloden, 667;
his execution, 727.

Kilt, its comparatively modern origin, i. 301;
Col. Cameron’s opinion of, ii. 699.

Kinglake, his history of the war in the Crimea, ii. 410;
his description of the battle of the Alma, 712.

Kingsburgh House, Charles here, i. 692.

Kingsburgh, Laird of, imprisoned and sent to Edinburgh, i. 704.

Kinlochmoidart, he meets Prince Charles, i. 514;
his execution, 732.

Kinnoul, Earl of, his death, i. 264;
the death of his brother, the 2nd Earl, 268.

Kintail, Lord Kenneth Mackenzie, i. 115;
his death, 123.

Knap and Knapdale, former possessions of the Macmillans, ii. 234.

Kooshab, the battle, ii. 662;
the 78th to wear it on their colours, 666.

Lachlan, the Clan, Irish account of it, ii. 166.

La Haye Sainte, the 79th occupy, ii. 707.

Lakes, survey of Highland, i. 488.

Lambert, Sir Oliver, commander, i. 130.

Lamonds, their history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 168;
massacred, 169.

Lanark, Earl of, attacked by Covenanters—appointed commander of army—advance to meet Munro—declines to attack Leslie, i. 257;
his army at Pentland Hills and Linlithgow, 258.

Landlords and tenants, their mutual relations in the Highlands, ii. 55.

Lang Causeway, a Roman road, i. 14.

Largs, battle of, i. 62.

Laws, disrespect for, in the Highlands, i. 87;
in the clans, 319.

Leannan Shi’, traditions of the, i. 307.

“Leaves from Our Journal in the Highlands,” the Queen’s book—her present to the 79th, ii. 721.

Lecan, Book of, now in Trinity College, Dublin, ii. 67.

Leith, landing of Marquis of Hamilton, i. 166;
Marquis of Huntly conveyed to, 254;
Mackintosh takes possession of, 442;
evacuated by Mackintosh, 443;
here the Prince of Hesse lands, 636.

Lennox, 1st Earl of, ii. 173.

Leod, or MacLeod, Clan, its history, arms, and mottoes, ii. 191.

Leslie, Bishop of Ross, on Highland dress and armour, i. 327.

Leslie, Gen. David, his portrait, i. 264;
his march upon Scotland, 228;
at Melrose, 231;
rewarded at Glasgow, 234;
ordered to England, 240;
Highland castles taken by him—his advance on Kintyre, 252;
in Mull, 253;
appointed Lt.-Gen. to Earl of Leven, 257;
sent to the north—Chanonry Castle garrisoned by him, 262;
at Doon Hill, 282;
agreement with Royalists, 285.

Leven, Earl of, commander of the Edinburgh city guard, i. 352;
commands the Covenanting army, 257.

Lewis and Harris, condition in 1850, ii. 60.

Lewis Caw, the assumed name of Prince Charles (in Skye), i. 700.

Lewis, civil commotions in island of, i. 119;
contemplated colonisation of—invaded by Earl of Sutherland, &c., 122;
noble character of the soldiers thence, ii. 626.

Lewis Macleods, their sad history, ii. 194.

Lindsay, Lt.-Col., his daughters give the old colours of the 91st to Col. Bertie Gordon, ii. 749.

Linlithgow, Cromwell at, i. 286;
Prince Charles at, 542.

Linlithgow, Earl of, attainted, i. 478.

Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, his league with the Scotch nobles, ii. 236.

Lochaber, i. 34, 297;
men of, their intense clan feeling, (note), ii. 756.

Lochgarry informed of the movements of Prince Charles—he joins him, i. 715.

Lochiel, Camerons of, see Cameron clan.

Lochiel, Cameron of, outlawed, i. 128.

Lochiel, Donald Cameron of, “the gentle chief,” his portrait, i. 519;
his adherence to Prince Charles, 320;
heads 800 men for Prince Charles, 523;
his care of his men at Preston, 555;
joins Prince Charles at Culloden, 651;
message from Charles to him at Culloden, 663;
severely wounded there, 666;
sends his brother to meet Charles, 715;
his retreat and attendants—he meets Charles in Benalder, 718;
advises Charles to make a second attempt to recover Britain, 745;
appointed to command of a regiment in France, 748;
his death and tribute to his memory, 519;
reference to him in “Childe Harold,” ii. 706.

Lochiel, Sir Ewen Cameron of, see Cameron, Sir Ewan, ii. 220.

Lochshiel, engraving of, i. 523.

Loch Sloy, Macfarlane’s war-cry. [It is properly Loch Sloighe (“lake of the host”), a small lake at the back of Ben-Vorlick], ii. 173.

Lockhart, author of “Memorials of Prince Charles’ Expedition in 1745,” i. 514;
his description of Prince Charles, and his conversation with him in 1745, 516.

Lockhart, Lt.-Col. A. I., 92nd, his portrait, ii. 770;
his command in India, 769.

London, consternation in, on hearing of Prince Charles’ arrival at Derby, i. 597.

Long Dykes, the, old name of Princes Street, Edinburgh, i. 545.

Lord-of-the-Isles, this title disputed, ii 146.

Lorn, the leader of the first colony that settled on the western coast of Argyll and the adjacent islands in 503 A.D., i. 34;
his death, 41;
the tribe and district of, 34;
Macdougalls of, 159;
the brooch of, 160;
the Stewarts acquire, 161.

Lorne, Marquis of, his portrait on steel, ii. 726;
his marriage to the Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, 21st March 1871, 185.

Lorne or Lorn, Stewarts of, their arms and motto, ii. 299.

Loudon’s Highlanders, their history, 1745–1748, ii. 451;
party of them search for Prince Charles Edward, i. 717.

Louis XIV., he acknowledges the Stuart Prince of Wales as king, i. 409;
he sanctions aid to Prince Charles, 601;
his reception of Prince Charles, 739;
his death, 428.

Louise, Princess, her portrait on steel plate, ii. 726;
her marriage, 185;
presents to her from the officers and men of the 91st Regiment, 752.
See Lorne.

Lovat, Simon Fraser, Lord, his portrait, i. 734;
his birth, &c.—is baulked in eloping with his niece, 405;
forcibly marries his cousin, Lord Lovat’s widow—outlawed—flees to France, 406;
his share in the “Scottish plot,” 410;
imprisoned in the Bastile for several years, 412;
sends assurances of services to Prince Charles, 533;
his character and procedure, 612;
apprehended, 681;
his indictment, 733;
his execution (engraving of) and place of interment, 737.

Lucknow, sketch map to illustrate relief of, ii. 671;
plan to illustrate siege of, 677;
relief of garrison (78th), 680;
siege of, 685;
(93rd), 790.

Lymphad, Highland oared galley, ii. 159.

Macalisters, history and branches, ii. 161.

Macarthur Campbells of Strachur, history of, ii. 177, 189.

Macaulay, Clan, their history, clan relations, and eminent men, ii. 264.

Macbane, Gobie, his stature and bravery at Culloden, i. 666.

Macbeans, The, Macbanes or Macbains, Clan of, ii. 216.

M’Bean, Lt.-Col. Wm., V.C. (93rd), his portrait, ii. 800.

Macbeth (1039), i. 49, 54.

Macbraynes, The, ii. 231.

Maccallum More, ought to be Colin Mohr (Big Colin), ii. 178.

M’Crummens, the famous pipers of the Macleods, ii. 108.

Macdonalds, The, or Clan Donald, origin, history, arms, crest, various branches, &c., ii. 136;
branches after 1540, 146;
clans or septs sprung from, 158;
strength of clan in 1745, 158;
feud between and Macleans (1586), i. 97;
at Sheriffmuir (1715), 462;
at Prestonpans and Falkirk (1745), 558 and 621;
at Clifton, 608;
claim the right of precedence at Culloden (1746), 659;
their misconduct there, 644.

Macdonalds, Clan Ranald of Garmoran, origin, arms, crest, history, &c., ii. 153.

Macdonald, the prevailing name in the 92nd, ii. 757.

Macdonald, Alaster, knighted by Dundee (1645), i. 229.

Macdonald of Barisdale’s treachery to Prince Charles, i. 682.

Macdonald, Flora, her portrait, i. 690;
Prince Charles and O’Neill find her in a hut—she rescues the Prince, 686;
her subsequent history, 704.

Macdonald, John and Alexander, their escape at the massacre of Glencoe, i. 399.

Macdonald (Kinsburgh), Mrs Flora, her winding-sheet, i. 695.

Macdonald, Lady (Skye), her heroic friendship to Prince Charles, i. 691.

Macdonald, Lady (of Dulchosnie), presents colours to the 92nd—her speech, ii. 774.

Macdonald, Lord, raises the Macdonald’s Highlanders, or Old 76th, in 1777, ii. 520.

Macdonald, Murdoch, the last Highland harper, ii. 109.

Macdonald, of Glencoe, takes the oath of allegiance (1692)—refusal of his certificate, i. 396;
he and thirty-seven of his followers massacred, 400.

Macdonald, of Keppoch, he and his clan join Dundee, i. 355.

Macdonald, of Morar, how he receives Prince Charles, i. 705.

Macdonald, Rev. Peter, of Kintore, editor of the oldest collection of Highland music, ii. 107.

Macdonald’s Highlanders, or Old 76th regiment, 1774–1784, history of, ii. 520.

Macdonald, Sir John, K.C.B., his portrait on steel as colonel of the 42nd, ii. 325.

Macdonald, Sir John, K.C.B. (of Dalchosnie), portrait as Lt.-Col. of the 92nd, ii. 768.

Macdonnell, the Glengarry branch of the Macdonalds, their history, arms, and crest, ii. 157;
principal families descended from, 158;
at Killiecrankie (1690), i. 370, 372.

Macdonell, Sir James, K.C.B., K.C.H., his portrait on steel, plate of colonels, 78th and 79th, ii. 617;
colonel of the 79th (1842), 709;
colonel of the 71st (1849), 506.

Macdougall, Clan—Macdugalls, Macdovals, Macdowalls—their history, arms, crest, motto, and branches, ii. 159.

Macduff, Thane of Fife, i. 54.

MacEwens, Clan, their history, ii. 167;
their origin, 162.

Macfarlane, Clan, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 173;
its origin, 169.

Macfie or Macphie, Clan, their origin and history, ii. 261.

MacGilchrist. See Macfarlane, ii. 173.

Macgillivray, a minor branch of Clan Chattan—history and possessions, ii. 213.

Macgillivray, of Drumnaglass, Colonel of the Macintosh Regiment, killed at Culloden, i. 666; ii. 213.

Macgregor, Clan, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 243;
excepted from participation in the Act of Grace (1717), i. 479.

Macgregors, The, account of their irruption into Lennox in 1603, ii. 182;
at battle of Prestonpans, i. 559;
their impetuosity, 562.

Macgregor, Rob Roy, See Rob Roy.

M’Gregor, Sir Duncan, K.C.B., his portrait as Lt.-Col. 93rd, ii. 782.

Macintosh, Clan. See Mackintosh.

Mackay, Clan, their history, arms, crest, motto, and various branches, ii. 266;
for more minute details of history, see i. 59, 69, 73, 75, 78, 82, 84, 86, 88, 93, 101, 102, 126, 139, 140, 151.

Mackay, Angus, piper to Queen Victoria, his collection of pipe music, ii. 107, 205.

Mackay, General Hugh, of Scourie, his portrait, i. 361;
resumé of his history, 352;
appointed by William and Mary, 4th Jan. 1689, “Major-Gen. of all forces whatever, within our ancient kingdom of Scotland,” 352;
his pursuit of Dundee and military movements till battle of Killiecrankie, 352-371;
his movements after defeat at Killiecrankie till cessation of hostilities in August 1691, 371-393.

Mackay’s Highland Regiment, reasons for wearing gold chains by officers of, i. 302.

Mackenzie, Clan Kenneth, their history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 238;
principal families, 242;
their military strength in 1704, 618;
incidents in history, i. 123, 262, 263, 349, 486, 711.

Mackenzie, Capt. Colin, his history of the 78th (note), ii. 617.

Mackenzie, Gen. John, honour shown him at Inverness in 1859 by the 78th, ii. 787.

Mackenzie, Keith Stewart, of Seaforth, chief of the Clan, ii. 690.

Mackenzie, Kenneth (Lord Kintail), acquires the title to Lewis, ii. 195;
his crown charter, 157.

Mackenzie, Kenneth (Lord Viscount Fortrose), his restoration to the family title (Earl of Seaforth), ii. 254.

Mackenzie, Richard James, M.D. (79th), zeal and devotion, ii. 714;
portrait, 715.

Mackenzie, Roderick, his death (1746), i. 713.

Mackenzie, Sir George, of Rosehaugh, his portrait, ii. 240.

Mackenzie, the Hon. Mrs Stewart, ii. 687.

Mackinnon or Fingon, Clan, history, arms, motto, and branches, ii. 256.

Mackinnon, Corporal Alexander, the bard of the 92nd, ii. 757-759.

Mackinnon (Ellagol), of Skye, reception and treatment of Prince Charles, i. 699-703.

Mackintosh, Clan, their history, arms, motto, branches, and etymology of the name, ii. 201;
the rival claims of Mackintosh of Mackintosh and Macpherson of Cluny to the headship of Clan Chattan, 197;
at Culloden, i. 663, 666.

Mackintosh, Lady Anne (1745), her portrait, i. 637.

Mackintosh Lament, the, music arranged for the bagpipes, ii. 204.

Mackintosh, Sir James, the historian, ii. 210.

Macknights, or Macneits, ii. 231.

Maclachlan or Maclauchlan, Clan, history, arms, crest, motto, and branches, ii. 165;
one of the Siol or Clan Gillevray, 162.

Maclauchlan, Rev. Thomas, LL.D., his account of the Gaelic literature, language, and music, ii. 67.

Maclaurin or Maclaren, Clan, their history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 280.

Maclean or Gillean, Clan, its history, arms, crest, motto, and various families, ii. 222;
its clan feuds, i. 97, 334; ii. 225.

Maclean, Colonel Alan (1775), ii. 452, 565.

Maclean, Sir Allan, his portrait, &c., ii. 227.

Maclean, Sir Hector, origin of proverb, “Another for Hector,” i. 324.

Maclean, Sir John, at Killiecrankie, i. 369;
at Sheriffmuir, 461.

“Maclean’s Welcome,” Gaelic Jacobite song, i. 772.

Macleod or Leod, Clan, their history, arms, crest, motto, and various families, ii. 191.

Macleod, Col. Patrick, of Geanies (78th), his portrait, ii. 650.

Macleod, John (Lord), portrait as first colonel of the 71st, ii. 479;
death in 1789, 485.

Macleod, Laird of Assynt, betrays Montrose in 1650, i. 268.

Macleod, Laird of Raasay, his devotion to Prince Charles, i. 695.

Macleod’s, Lord, Highlanders. See Seventy-first.

Macleod, Malcolm, guide to Prince Charles—incidents in his history, i. 700-704.

Macleod, Mary—“Mairi nighean Alasdair Ruaidh”—her touching elegy on one of the Lairds of Macleod, ii, 107.

Macleod, Sir John C. (42nd), K.C.B., his portrait, ii. 805.

Macmillan, Clan, history of, ii. 234.

Macnab (or Anab), Clan, history, arms, and motto, ii. 258;
cadets of the clan, and portrait of the last Laird, 261.

Macnaughton (or Nachtan), Clan, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 229;
families ascribed to the Macnaughton line, 231.

Macneill, Clan, its two independent branches—its history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 162;
cadets of, 165.

Macnicol, Clan, its history, ii. 271.

Macphails, the, ii. 216.

Macpherson, Clan, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 210;
cadets of the, 212.

Macpherson, Cluny, promises to raise his clan for Prince Charles, 1745, i. 534;
with 300 Macphersons joins Lord George Murray, 1745, 641;
conducts Prince Charles to a secure retreat, 718.

Macpherson, Duncan (of Cluny), 1672, throws off all connection with the Mackintosh, ii. 208.

Macpherson, James, resuscitator of Ossianic poetry—his portrait, ii. 211.

Macphersons, feud between Clan Chattan and Camerons, i. 65;
and Davidsons, 66;
join Gen. Cannon (1689), 380;
at Clifton (1745), 607;
Falkirk (1746), 621.

Macphersons of Cluny, the male representatives of the old Clan Chattan—their claims, ii. 197.

Macphie, or Clan Duffie, see Macfie, ii. 261.

Macquarrie, or Quarrie, Clan, history, arms, and motto, ii. 262.

Macqueens, origin and history, ii. 217.

Macrae, Clan, their history, arms, and motto, ii. 280.

Macrae, Sergt. John, his bravery at El Hamet (note), ii. 649.

Malda, victory here (78th), ii. 642;
Count of—Sir John Stuart’s title, 647.

“Maiden Causeway,” a Roman road, i. 14.

“Maiden,” the, engraving of it, i. 333;
executions under it, 277.

Manrent, nature of, i. 64, 319.

Manu forti (“with strong hand”), motto of the Mackays, ii. 266.

Mar, Earl of, at Harlaw, 1411, i. 71.

Mar, John Erskine, 11th Earl of, portrait of, on steel plate, i, 498;
dismissed by George I., i. 422;
sketch of his history to 1715, 424-428;
his proceedings in 1715, 436;
operations of the Jacobite army under him in 1715–16, 456-466;
the Chevalier raises him to a dukedom, 467;
his letter describing the Pretender, 468;
he accompanies “James Rex” to France, 474;
attainted, 478;
dismissed by the Pretender, 496.

Margaret, queen of Malcolm III., i. 55.

Marriage ceremonies in the Highlands, i. 311;
sanctity of vows, 312.

Marriage customs, Highland, ii. 124.

Mart, its oppressive nature, ii. 7.

Martinière, La, the fight here in 1858, ii. 421, 682.

Mary, Queen, her expedition to the north (1562), i. 90.

Massacre of Glencoe, i. 399.

Massacres after battle of Culloden, i. 668.

Massacres, the Cawnpoor, ii. 667.

Mathieson, or Clan Mhathain, ii. 242.

“Mean, speak, and do well,” the Urquhart motto, ii. 296.

Melfort, Earl of, embarks with the Pretender, i. 475.

Mendelssohn’s visit to Highlands, ii. 107.

Menzies, Clan, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 306;
rupture with Montrose, i. 183.

Middleton, General (1645), second in command of Covenanting army, i. 234;
left in Scotland to watch Montrose, 240;
movements, 245-256;
escapes from Tower, and appointed generalissimo of all the Royal forces in Scotland, 294;
rout of his army by Monk, 295.

Milk stealing, superstitions about, i. 309.

Mills, the Highland, ii. 19.

Money, its inutility in the Highlands previous to 1745, ii. 7.

Monk, General, invades Scotland—and surrender of Stirling, Dundee, St Andrews, Montrose, and Aberdeen to, i. 290;
administration of the affairs of Scotland committed to, 291;
his subsequent movements, 291-296.

Montgomery’s Highlanders, or 77th Regiment, history and reduction of, 1757 to 1763, ii. 453; (note)
of their arrival in Philadelphia (1758), 354;
view of Philadelphia as at that time, 455.

Montreal surrenders (1761), ii. 344.

Montrose, James Graham, Earl and afterwards first Marquis of, his portrait on steel plate, i. 271;
sketch of his early history, 167;
description of, by Gordon of Ruthven, 168;
raises troops for the service of the Covenanters, 169;
his proceedings till he deserts the Covenanters and joins the Royalist cause in 1639, 169-176;
apprehended and afterwards released by the Covenanters, 179;
proceedings from time of his entering Scotland, in 1644, till the disbanding of his army in 1646, 180-250;
leaves Scotland in disguise for Bergen, in Norway, 250;
enters the service of the Emperor of Germany, 261;
his emotion on receiving news of the execution of Charles I., and his oath to avenge his death, 262;
received by Charles II. at the Hague—descent upon Scotland resolved upon, and Montrose appointed Lieut.-Governor of Scotland, 262;
proceedings from his landing in Orkney till his capture by Macleod of Assynt, 268;
brought to Edinburgh Castle—generous treatment of, at Dundee, and attempt to rescue him, 269;
his reception in Edinburgh—conduct in prison—defence—sentence—lines written by, in prison—execution—character, &c., 270-277.

Montrose, town of, taken by Royalists, i. 180;
surrenders to Monk (1651), 291;
insurgent army arrives at, 473.

Monument to the 42nd in Dunkeld Cathedral, ii. 434;
to the 71st in Glasgow Cathedral, ii. 517;
to the 78th on Castle Esplanade, Edinburgh, ii. 689;
to the 79th in the Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, ii. 722.

Moon, superstitions concerning, i. 309.

Moore, Gen. Sir John, his portrait, ii. 758;
his expedition to the West Indies, 362;
his command in Spain, and retreat and death at Corunna, 490;
his choice, and reason for choice of supporters, 757;
his estimate of Highland soldiers, 380.

Moray, the orthography changed to Murray in 1739, ii. 312.

Moray, see Murray (Athole), ii. 309.

Morgan, or Mackay, Clan, see Mackay.

Mormaor, the, “head of the clan,” ii. 117.

Mormaordom, “district of a clan,” ii. 117.

Moy, Castle, Prince Charles halts here (1746), i. 637.

Moy Hall, the principal seat of the Mackintosh, ii. 270.

Moy, the rout of, i. 638.

Muidartach, Alan, Captain of Clanranald, mortally wounded at Sheriffmuir, i. 462.

Munro (of Foulis), Clan, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 231.

Munro, Sir George, duel between Glencairn and him (1654), i. 294.

Murray, Stewart-Murray (Athole), or Moray, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 309.

Murray, Col. Lord John, his death in 1787, in the forty-second year of his command of the 42nd, ii. 358.

Murray, Earl of, insurrection of Clan Chattan against (1624), i. 148;
appointed by King James his lieutenant in the Highlands, 149;
the “Bonny” Earl of, slain (1591), 106.

Murray, Hon. William, condemned to death by the Committee of Estates (1646), i. 241;
his execution, 244.

Murray, Lord (eldest son of the Marquis of Athole) fails to prevent Athole men from joining Dundee, i. 365.

Murray, Lord Charles, at battle of Preston (Lancashire), i. 453;
his pardon, 476.

Murray, Lord George, his portrait, i. 672;
visits Cope at Crieff (1745), 530;
rallies under Prince Charles’ standard at Perth—his character and brilliant qualifications—appointed Lt.-General, 535;
proceedings till battle of Prestonpans, 535-565;
his plan of invading England, 586;
resigns his command, 591;
his subsequent proceedings in England, 591-606;
his plan of battle at Falkirk, 621;
and history till Culloden, 672;
his escape to Holland, 683;
Prince Charles’ opinion of his conduct at Culloden, 700;
Charles’ shameful ingratitude to him, 743, 756.

Murray, Major-Gen. Sir George, G.C.B., his portrait on steel, ii. 325;
becomes colonel of the 42nd, 401;
of the 72nd, 533.

Murray of Broughton, his mission to Paris, i. 505;
his base conduct, 734;
Mrs, her devotion to the Stuarts, 551.

Murray, Secretary, evil effects of his inordinate ambition in the Jacobite cause, i. 590;
his apprehension, 681-731.

“Murus Aheneus” (“brazen wall”), the Macleod motto, ii. 191.

Music of the Highlands, ii. 105.

Musselburgh, skirmish between Covenanters and Royalists at, i. 258;
Cromwell’s headquarters, 281.

“My hope is constant in thee,” the scroll motto of Clanranald, ii. 153.

Mythology, Highland, i. 304.

Napier, Archibald Lord, of Merchiston, his death and noble character, i. 238.

Napoleon I., news of his abdication (1814), ii. 730 and 762;
his return from Elba, 652;
his compliment to the Highlanders at Waterloo, 765.

Napoleon III., reviews the 79th, ii. 719.

Naseby, defeat of royalist troops at, i. 217.

Neill, Brigad.-Gen., joins Havelock at Cawnnpoor, ii. 672;
his command in relieving Lucknow, 675;
his death, 681.

Neill, Clan, their arms, crest, and motto—their origin, ii. 163.

Nemo me impune lacessit (“no one touches me with impunity”), motto of the order of the Thistle, &c., ii. 324.

Ne obliviscaris (“you must not forget”), motto of the Campbells, Lorne, and Mactavish, &c., ii. 175.

Ne parens nec spernas (“neither spare nor despise”), the motto of the Lamonds, Lamont, &c., ii. 168.

New York, actions at, in 1776, ii. 350.

Niagara, fall of the fort, ii. 343.

Ninety-first, Princess Louise Argyllshire Highlanders, originally the 98th, their history, ii. 726-755.
For details, see—
Ch. I. 1794–1848, 726-735.
II. 1842–1857, 735-745. The Reserve Battalion.
III. 1857–1874, 745-754.
List of colonels and lt.-colonels, 755.
Plate of colonels of the 91st, 92nd, and 93rd, ii. 756.

Ninety-second, Gordon Highlanders, their history, ii. 756-776.
For details, see—
Ch. I. 1794–1816, 756-766. Peninsula, &c.
II. 1816–1874, 766-775. Crimea, India, &c.
List of colonels and lt.-colonels, 776.
Plate of colonels of the 91st, 92nd, and 93rd, ii. 756.

Ninety-third, Sutherland Highlanders, their history, ii. 777-802.
For details, see—
Ch. I. 1800–1854, 777-784. Africa, America, West Indies, &c.
II. 1854–1857, 784-789. Crimea.
III. 1857–1875, 789-801. Indian Mutiny.
List of colonels and lt.-colonels, 802.
Plate of colonels of the 91st, 92nd, and 93rd, ii. 756.

Nive, battles on the (42nd), ii. 388;
(71st), 500;
(79th), 704;
(91st), 729;
(92nd), 761.

Nivelle, battle on the (42nd), ii. 288;
(74th), 588;
(79th), 704;
(91st), 729.

Norsemen, their advent in Britain, i. 41.

North Inch of Perth, battle of, i. 66.

Norway, the Maid of, heiress to the Crown (1284 A.D.), ii. 137.

Nova Scotia, the 72nd there in 1851, ii. 546;
the 74th embark for, May 13, 1818, 591;
the 78th leave in 1871, 692.

Oak tree, Druidical veneration for, i. 37.

Ogilvy, the name, history, arms, crest, and motto, ii. 319.

Ogilvy, Lord, the first title of the Airlie family, ii. 320.

O’Loughlins of Meath, their Highland descendants, ii. 166.

Omens in the Highlands, i. 310, 318.

Oporto, its capture in 1809, ii. 728.

Oracles, invisible, in the Highlands, i. 308.

Ordah-su, the battle here, ii. 805.

Orkney and Shetland made over to Scotland, i. 77.

Orkney, effect of battle of Carbisdale here, i. 268;
landing of Argyle, 338;
French frigates arrive for insurgents, 475.

Ormond, Duke of, he declares for the Chevalier, i. 124;
his embassy to Russia, 481;
captain-general of the Spanish fleet to invade England (1718), 482.

Orthes or Orthez, the battle (42nd), ii. 389;
(71st), 501;
(74th), 589;
(91st), 729;
(92nd), 762.

Ossian, Macpherson’s, ii. 84, 87, 88, 211.

Outram’s, Sir James, conduct in the Persian war, ii. 660;
consideration for his troops, 663;
appointment to Cawnpoor and Dinapoor divisions, 674;
generous treatment of Havelock, 675;
resumption of the command, 680;
strong position at the Alum Bagh, 684.

Outram and Havelock meet Sir Colin Campbell at the Residency of Lucknow, ii. 793;
his encomium on the 78th, 685.

“Over the water,” health to the king, the Jacobite toast, i. 770.

Pack, Sir Denis, Major-Gen. K.C.B., his portrait, ii. 504;
he joins the 71st as lt.-col., 488;
presents new colours to it, 504.

Pamplona, the fortress invested, ii. 729.

Panmure, Earl of, attainted, i. 478.

Paris invested by the Allies in 1815, ii. 503.

Parke, Major-Gen., C.B., his portrait as lieutenant-colonel 72nd, ii. 557.

Peanfuhel, Pictish word, important in the controversy about Picts, i. 24.

Per mare et terras (“by sea and land”) the scroll motto of the Urquharts, ii. 296.

Per mare per terras (“by sea by land”), clan Donald motto, ii. 136;
and of Macdonnell of Glengarry, 156.

Persia, war with (Nov. 1, 1856), ii. 659.

Persia, Major M’Intyre’s and Col. Stisted’s command in the war (1857), ii. 660;
the 78th to wear it on their colours, 666;
medals for the campaign of 1856–7, 688.

Perth, view of, in 17th century, i. 220;
captured by Montrose, 186;
return of Charles II. to, 285;
captured by Cromwell, 289;
Chevalier proclaimed at, in 1715, 436;
Prince Charles enters it, 535.

Perth, Duke of, his portrait (1745), i. 586;
present at Prestonpans, 558;
conducts the siege of Stirling, 620;
joins Prince Charles at Culloden, 651.

Perth, Earl of, the Chancellor, superseded, i. 344;
arrested, 347.

Peter the Great and Charles XII. unite to restore the Pretender, i. 481.

Peterhead, Chevalier arrives in, i. 467.

Philadelphia, view of British barracks at, in 1758, ii. 354;
view of the city in 1753, 455.

Philibeg, Highland, opinions about, i. 300.

Philiphaugh, battle of, and prisoners of war shot by Covenanters at, i. 231, 232.

Pibroch, Highland, M’Crummens’, arranged for the bagpipes—regimental pipe music of the Black Watch, ii. 446-450.

Pibroch of Kilchrist, Glengarry family tune, ii. 157.

Pibrochs, or An Ceol Mòr (“the great music”), ii. 107.

Pictavia, this name gives place to that of Albania, i. 50.

Picti, why so called, i. 5;
Roman name for Highlanders in the 3rd century, 19.

Pictish kings, chronological table of, i. 47.

Picts divided into two nations—Eumenius concerning them, A.D. 297, i. 12;
their origin discussed—history, religion, &c., and writers upon the Pictish controversy, in chap. II., vol. i. 16-48.

Pipe music, and collections of, ii. 107, 205.

Pitcalnie, Ross of, and Balnagowan—their claims to the chiefship, ii. 237.

Pitmedden, eminent Scottish house, ii. 606.

Pitt, William, his eulogy of the Highland soldiers (1776), (note), ii. 345.

Plaid, Highland, opinions about, i. 300.

Plate, centre-piece of (78th), engraving of, ii. 691;
mess plate of 91st, 754;
centre-piece of, 93rd, engraving of, 801.

Plough, engraving of an old Scotch, ii. 9.

Poetry, influence on Highlanders, i. 315.

Pondicherry, expedition against, ii. 573.

Potatoes introduced into Scotland, ii. 52.

Presbyterians, toleration granted to, i. 340;
unite with Jacobites for James, 386.

Preston, England, battle of, i. 453;
its surrender to General Wills, 455.

Prestonpans, battle of, i. 554;
plan and map of battle-field, 561.

Pretender, the, son of James II., birth of, i. 341;
a reward offered for his apprehension, 424;
banished from France, 480;
Russia and Sweden unite to restore him, 481;
he leaves Bologna—his plans on the death of George I., 501;
suggestion that he should visit England, 504;
resigns his rights to Prince Charles Edward, 527.

Pro rege et patria (“for king and country”), motto of the Camerons, &c., ii. 217.

Pyrenees, battles among the (42nd), ii. 386;
(71st), 499;
(74th), 587;
(79th), 704;
(91st), 729;
(92nd), 760.

Quatre Bras, the action here, June 16, 1815 (see 42nd), ii. 394;
the 79th, 706;
the 91st, 730;
the 92nd, 763.

Quebec, siege of, in 1759, ii, 460.

Queen’s Hut, the inscriptions on, in the lines of the 91st at Aldershot, ii. 745.

Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. See 79th, ii. 697.

Quern, the Highland handmill, with an illustration, ii. 18.

Quhadder vil ze (“whither will you?”), motto of (Lord Innermeath), Stewarts of Lorn, ii. 299.

Raglan, Lord, commander-in-chief in the Crimea in 1854, &c., ii. 409, 417.

Ranald, Clan, their descent, ii. 147.

Reay, Lord, joins the Covenanters, ii. 269.

Rebels of 1715, their trial (1716), i. 477.

Rebels of 1745, their trial in 1746, i. 722.

Redan, attack on the, 1855, ii. 714.

Red Feather of the Fraser Highlanders (note), ii. 470.

Red Heckle of the 42nd, ii. 361.

Reestle, plough of the Hebrides, ii. 10.

Regiments, Highland, their number and histories, ii. 321.

Reid, Major, afterwards General, as a musician (note), ii. 347.

Rent, its nature in the Highlands, i. 322; ii. 6, 8;
Highland mode of paying in the 18th century, i. 322; ii. 8.

Rents, raising of, causes of emigration, ii. 47.

Residency, the, its inmates in Lucknow (1858)—its defence, ii. 676;
Havelock and Outram enter, 678.

“Restoration Regiment,” the, at Sheriffmuir, i. 461.

Restoration, state of Scotland before the, i. 297;
condition of Highlands before, 298.

Reynell, Sir Thomas, Bart., his portrait on steel as colonel of the 71st, ii. 479.

Roads, Roman, in the Highlands, i. 13;
construction of them by Wade, 490;
the Highland roads in 1750, ii. 30.

Robbery (highway), its rarity in the Highlands, i. 321.

Robertson of Struan, “poet chieftain,” i. 411.

Robertsons, or Clan Donnachie, their history, arms, and motto, ii. 169, 172.

Rob Roy, or Robert Macgregor, his portrait and history, ii. 245;
his first emergence into notice, i. 405;
he is summoned to Edinburgh, 427;
his dastardly conduct at Sheriffmuir, 465;
his five sons, 249.

Rodrigo, the siege of (1812) (74th), ii. 580.

Roleia, battle of (71st), ii. 489.

Roman Invasion, effects on Caledonia, i. 13.

Roman wall, Hadrian’s, i. 9;
Antonine’s, 10.

Romans in Britain, i. 3;
they abandon it, 13;
their departure, 56.

Rory Dall, famous harper in Skye, ii. 109.

Rory Mòr, a traditional hero, ii. 193.

Rose or Ross of Kilravock, ii. 237.

Rose, Hugh, his strenuous defence of Kilravock in 1715, i. 457.

Rose, Sir Hugh (Lord Strathnairn), he presents new colours to the “Black Watch,” ii. 424;
his command of the 92nd, 769;
his command in India, 749.

“Rosg Ghuill,” or War Song of Gaul, ii. 84.

Ross, Alexander, Earl of, his strange submission, ii. 140.

Ross or Anrios, Clan, their history, arms, and motto, ii. 235.

Ross, Earldom disputed in 1411, i. 69;
forfeiture of, in 1476, ii. 232.

Ross, Earl of (1642), his rebellion and assassination of, i. 77;
his successor surrenders, 78.

Ross, Queen Victoria’s piper, his collection of pipe music, ii. 107.

Rossdhu Castle, Old, engraving, ii. 289.

Ross-shire, Invasion of, by Donald, Lord of the Isles, i. 69;
retreat of Montrose into, 245.

“Ross-shire Buffs” or 78th Highlanders, see 78th, ii. 617.

Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment, or Old 84th, ii. 565;
Flora Macdonald’s husband in it, 704 (note).

Royalists and Covenanters, treaty between, i. 258;
and General Leslie, agreement between, 285;
condemnation of at Perth, 237;
levy of men for, 257;
surprised at Dalveny, 263.

Royal Ribbon, the, i. 169.

“Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch,” written by Mrs Grant of Carron, ii. 255.

Russell, Dr, his account of the battle of Balaklava, ii. 786.

Russia, expedition against (1854), ii. 546;
the Emperor Alexander’s curiosity about the Highland soldiers, 708.

Ruthven Castle, i. 104;
besieged, 107;
taken by Leslie, 252;
taken by Mackenzie of Pluscardine, 262;
besieged by Dundee, 358.

Salamanca, battle of (1812)—(74th), ii. 583;
(79th), 702.

San Sebastian, assault of, ii. 386, 588.

Sans peur (“without fear”), motto of clan Sutherland, &c., ii. 272.

Savendroog, stormed in 1791 (71st), ii. 486;
(72nd), 528.

Scenery, Highland, i. 3;
and Introduction, xiii.-xxxvi.

Scone, coronation stone at, i. 49-57;
Charles II. crowned at, 288.

Scotland, invasion of, by Agricola, i. 6;
state of, after departure of the Romans, 33;
Anglo-Saxon colonisation of, 56;
state of, before the Restoration, 297;
state of, after the death of Dundee, 386.

Scoto-Irish kings, i. 34;
chronological table of, from 503 to 843, 48.

Scots, first mentioned in connection with Scotland, i. 20;
in Ireland, 33.

Scots Greys at Sheriffmuir battle, i. 462.

Scott, Sir Walter, extract from his “Lady of the Lake” (note), i. 303;
his song of “Bonnie Dundee,” 350;
his original of Fergus M’Ivor, 732;
his early works and their spirit, 774;
his mention of the Camerons, ii. 702.

Scottish Kings, chronological table of, from 843 to 1097 A.D., i. 58.

Seaforth, Colin, 4th Earl of (1690), his escape, surrender, and imprisonment, i. 392;
William, 5th Earl of, his armed strength in 1715, 438;
attainted, and his estates forfeited, 478.

Seaforth, Francis Humberston Mackenzie, Baron, his portrait on steel, ii. 617;
created baron in 1796, 240;
raises the 78th or Ross-shire Buffs, 617;
engraving of original poster addressed by him to the Highlanders in raising the 78th, 618;
his daughter entertains the 78th at Brahan Castle in 1859, 687.

Seaforth, Kenneth Mackenzie, Earl of, in Irish Peerage—his portrait, ii. 479;
raises the 72nd Highlanders, 524;
death, 525.

Seaforth’s Highlanders. See Seventy-Second.

Sebastopol (accurately Sevastópol), see Crimean History in Highland Regiments.

Second-sight and seers, Highland, i. 310.

Secunder-Bagh, its capture (78th), ii. 282;
(93rd) and engraving of, 791.

Seringapatam, sieges of (71st), ii. 486;
(72nd) 528, 529;
(73rd) 570;
(74th) is authorised to bear the word “Seringapatam” on its regimental colours and appointments, 575.

Seton, Lt.-Col. (74th), his noble conduct during the loss of the “Birkenhead” troop-ship, Feb. 26, 1852, ii. 604;
monument erected by Queen Victoria to his memory in Chelsea Hospital, 606.

Seventy-First, or Highland Light Infantry, formerly 73rd, Lord Macleod’s Highlanders, their history, ii. 479-519;
for details of which see—
Ch. I. 1777–1818, 479 to 504.
II. 1818–1874, 504 to 519.
Plate of colonels of the 71st and 72nd, ii. 479.

Seventy-First, Old, ii. 465.

Seventy-Second, or Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders, formerly the 78th or Seaforth’s Highlanders, their history, ii. 524-561;
for details of which see—
Ch. I. 1778–1840, 524 to 543.
II. 1841–1873, 543 to 561.
Succession list of colonels, field and staff-officers, &c., 562;
map of Kaffraria, 564.
Plate of colonels of the 71st and 72nd, ii. 479.

Seventy-Third Regiment (the present), formerly the second battalion of the 42nd, history of, ii. 566.

Seventy-Fourth Highlanders, their history, ii. 571-613;
for details, see—
Ch. I. 1787–1846, 571 to 592.
II. 1846–1853, 593 to 606, Kaffir War.
III. 1853–1874, 606 to 613.
Succession list of colonels and field-officers;
map of Kaffraria, 564.

Seventy-Fourth Regiment, Old, ii. 519.

Seventy-Fifth, originally Highland, now the Stirlingshire regiment, its history, ii. 616;
engaged in Kaffir war (1835), 535;
guards the Alum Bagh (1857), 616.

Seventy-Sixth Regiment, Old, ii. 520.

Seventy-Seventh Highland Regiment, or Athole Highlanders (1778–1783), its history till reduced, ii. 522.

Seventy-Seventh Regiment, Old, ii. 453.

Seventy-Eighth Highlanders, or Ross-shire Buffs, their history, ii. 617-693,
for details, see—
Ch. I. 1793–1796, 617-625.
II. 1796–1817, 625-640.
III. 1804–1856, second battalion, 640-659, till its consolidation with first battalion, 1817, and first battalion, 1817–1856.
IV. 1857, Persian war, 659-666.
V. 1857–1859, Indian Mutiny, 667-693.
VI. 1859–1874, 687-693.
Succession list of colonels and field officers, 694.
Plate of colonels of the 78th and 79th, ii. 617.

Seventy-Eighth Regiment, Old, ii. 457.

Seventy-Ninth Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, their history, 697-724,
for details of which see—
Ch. I. 1793–1853, 697-710.
II. 1853–1874, 710-724.
Succession list of cols. and lt.-cols., 725.
Plate of cols., 78th and 79th, ii. 617.

Shaw, a minor branch of Clan Chattan, ii. 213;
its various families, 214, 215.

Shaw, Farquhar (of the Black Watch), his portrait, ii. 330.

Sheep, character of Highland, ii. 14.

Sheriffmuir, battle of, in 1715, i. 461;
steel engraving of view of battlefield, 464.

Shetland and Orkney made over to Scotland, i. 77.

Si je puis (“If I can”), the scroll motto of the Colquhouns, &c., ii. 284.

Sinclair Castle, view of, i. 125.

Siol Eachern, the original of the clans Macdougall, Campbell, &c., ii. 167.

Siol Gillevray, its branches, ii. 162.

Skene’s, Dr, “Chronicles of the Picts and Scots,” i. 43.

Slaves, 700 prisoners taken at Preston (1716) sold as, i. 478.

Slogan or war-cry of Highlanders, i. 318.

Sobral, battle of, in 1810 (71st), ii. 493.

Somerled, Thane of Argyle and the Isles, his origin, ii, 132;
peace concluded with him in 1153 A.D.—formed an epoch in the dating of Scottish charters, i. 59.

Songs, Jacobite and Whig, their comparative merits, i. 770;
titles of some, with specimens, 771.

Spem successus alit (“Success fosters hope”), the Ross motto, ii. 235.

Spottiswood, Sir Robert, his trial—his high character—his execution, i. 241-243.

Sprot, Lieut.-Colonel, 91st, ii. 750-752.

S’rioghal mo dhream (“Royal is my race”), scroll motto of the Macgregors, ii. 243.

Stair, Earl of re-appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Great Britain (1744), i. 508.

“Stand sure,” motto of Clan Grant, ii. 250.

Stewarts, origin of the family, ii. 297;
various branches of, 299.

Stewart of Ballochin takes possession of Blair Castle (1689), i. 365.

Stewart, Robert, a Catholic clergyman, his feats at Killiecrankie, i. 376.

Stewart of Garth’s “Military Sketches,” ii. 322;
extracts from, i. 313, 324, 325;
ancestor in 1520 imprisoned for life, 325.

Stirling, view of, as in 1700, i. 616;
camp here (1745), 530;
besieged by Prince Charles, 617;
Castle of, taken by Monk, 290;
bridge of, Argyle takes possession of, 459;
Cumberland’s troops detained at, 636.

Stisted, Sir H. W., K.C.B., his portrait on steel, ii. 756;
as Lt.-Col. exchanges from 78th to 93rd, 687;
honorary colonel of 93rd, 800.

Stonehenge, view of, i. 36.

Strathallan, Lord, falls at Culloden, i. 667.

Strathclyde, kingdom of, i. 33.

Strathmore, Earl of, his death, i. 465.

Stuart, General (72nd), his portrait, ii. 530.

Stuart, James, the Chevalier, steel engraving of, i. 469.

Stuart, Sobieski, and Charles Edward, their pretensions and visit to Scotland, i. 761.

Stuarts, The, monument to them in St Peter’s, Rome, by Canova, i. 760;
their descendants, 761.

Superstitions of the Highlanders, i. 303-307.

Sutherland, Clan, their history, crest, arms, and motto, ii. 272.

Suttee Chowra Ghât, view of—scene of the second Cawnpoor massacre, ii. 668.

Tacitus, i. 17; his account of clans, ii. 116.

Tacksmen, their interest in the land, ii. 31.

Talavera, the battle (1809) (91st), ii. 728.

Tanistry and gavel, their effects, ii. 122.

Tantallon, Castle of, Earl of Ross imprisoned in it (1429), ii. 140.

Tartan, antiquity of the, i. 302.

“Tartans an’ Kilts, an’ a’, an’ a’,” their popularity since 1782, i. 761, 766.

Taymouth, the Black Book of, ii. 186.

Test, the, of the Cameronians, i. 335;
refusal of Scottish Parliament to repeal, 340.

Thackeray, Captain, his assistance in compiling the history of the 74th (note), ii. 596.

Thane or Maor, his status, ii. 117.

Thirlage, its grievous nature, ii. 6.

Thorfinn (and Somerled), origin of, ii. 123.

Ticonderoga, plan of siege (1758), ii. 338.

Timor omnis abesto (“All fear be gone”), motto of the Macnabs, &c., ii. 258.

Tippermuir, battle of, i. 184, 185.

Tippoo Sultan, his desperate attack on Baird, ii. 481;
war with him in 1790, 526;
defeated, 572;
sues for peace, 530.

Tocqué’s portrait of Prince Charles, i. 749.

Torquil, Siol, their disastrous history, ii. 194.

Torres Vedras, the lines of, ii. 579.

Toshach, captain of a clan, i. 5; ii. 117.

“Touch not the cat, but a glove,” the Mackintosh motto, ii. 201.

Toulouse, the battle of, in 1814 (42nd), ii. 390;
(71st), 501;
(74th), 590;
(79th), 704, 705;
(91st), 730;
(92nd), 762.

Treachery, Highland detestation of, i. 325.

Trench, Lt.-Col. (74th), Sir R. Le Poer, portrait, ii. 583;
mentioned by Brisbane, 587.

Trincomalee, siege of, ii. 531.

Triple Alliance (1717) guarantee the Protestant succession to England, i. 481.

Trowis, truis, or truish, Highland breeches, i. 300, 329, 330.

Tullibardine, Marquis of, with 500 Athole men joins Mar (1715), i. 436;
attainted, 478;
escapes to France, 483;
accompanies Prince Charles in his invasion scheme (1745), 512;
his eagle omen, 514;
unfurls the standard of Prince Charles, 523;
seizes Blair Castle, 534;
his command in the invasion of England 1745, 587;
death in the Tower, 723.

Tulliebardine, speech of, at the Committee of Estates (1646), i. 237.

“Tullochgorum,” song of, its author, i. 769.

Turris fortis mihi Deus (“For me, God is a strong tower”), the motto of the Macquarries, &c., ii. 262.

Tweeddale, 2nd Earl of, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, his commission of inquiry into the Glencoe massacre (1693), i. 402;
4th Marquis, Secretary of State for Scotland (1745), 527;
the 8th Marquis becomes colonel of the 42nd R. H. (1862), ii. 426.

Tyrii tenuere Coloni (“Tyrians held it”), arms’ motto of the Maclaurins, ii. 279.

Union, repeal of the, proposed in 1712, i. 424;
treaty with England ratified, 414.

“Unite,” the Cameron scroll motto, ii. 217.

Urisks, superstition about, i. 303.

Urquhart or Urchard, the minor clan, their history, arms, crest, and mottoes, ii. 296.

Urquhart Castle, steel engraving of, ii. 296.

Vassals, Highland, bounty of, i. 323.

Vi aut virtute (“by vigour and valour”), arms’ motto of the Chisholm, ii. 307.

Victoria Cross, recipients of, in (42nd), ii. 423, 807;
(72nd), 558;
(78th), 680, 683;
(93rd), 791, 792, 795.
Abbreviation, V.C.

VICTORIA, HER MAJESTY QUEEN, her popularity and stability in our attachments, i. 761;
her visit to Dublin in 1849, ii. 507;
her Highland influence—how she appreciates Jacobite songs, i. 775.

Vimeiro, the battle here in 1808 (71st), ii. 490;
(91st), 727.

Vincere vel mori (“To conquer or die”), motto of the Macdougall, ii. 159, 162.

“Virtue mine honour,” Maclean motto, ii. 223.

Virtutis gloria merces (“Glory is the recompense of valour”), the motto of the Robertsons, &c., ii. 169.

Visions in the Highlands, i. 310.

Vitoria or Vittoria, the battle of, June 21, 1813 (71st), ii. 499;
(74th), 585;
(92nd), 760.

Vix ea nostra voco (“Those deeds I scarcely call our own”), motto of Campbell, ii. 175.

Volunteers, associate, their conduct at Leith (1715), i. 443;
of Edinburgh meeting the Highlanders (1745), 543.

Volunteers, Mid-Lothian Rifle, shooting matches with the 91st (1874), ii. 754.

Vulture Feather of the 42nd, ii. 361.

Wade, Gen., his portrait, i. 491;
his report on the state of the Highlands, 483;
empowered by Government to summon the clans to deliver up arms, 485;
constructs new roads in the Highlands, 490;
commander of H.M.’s forces in Scotland, 491;
sent to oppose Prince Charles, 582.

Wages, rate in the Highlands, ii. 28.

Walcheren expedition (1809), (42nd), ii. 380;
(71st), 491;
(78th), 650;
(91st), 728;
dress of 91st there, 731;
(92nd), 760.

Wales, Frederic, Prince of, procures the release of Flora Macdonald, i. 704.

Ward-holding, its abolition, i. 768.

Watch-money, its large amount, ii. 2.

Waterloo, the decisive battle here June 18th, 1815 (42nd), ii. 397;
list of officers of the 42nd present at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, 397;
(71st), 502;
(79th), 706;
(91st), 730;
Waterloo Roll of 91st discovered, 749;
(92nd), 764.

Wealth in the Highlands, i. 321.

Wedderburn, Sir John, taken prisoner at Culloden, i. 667;
executed, 731.

Wedding ceremonies in Highlands, i. 311.

Wellington, Duke of, special references to, in connection with Highland regiments, (the 42nd), specially mentioned in his despatch, 12th April 1814, about Toulouse, ii. 705;
in Waterloo despatch pays high compliment to; (the 71st) in despatch concerning Sobraol, 14th Oct. 1810, he particularly mentions the names of Lt.-Cols. Cadogan and Reynell, 494;
(the 72nd), he presents new colours to and addresses in Jan. 1842, 543;
(the 74th), received his special thanks for their services under his command at the taking of Ahmednuggur, Assaye, and Argaum, 575, 576;
his special commendation for Rodrigo and Badajoz, 581, 582;
in 1845 the duke recommends to Her Majesty that the 74th should be permitted to resume the appellation of a Highland regiment, &c., 592;
(the 78th), thanked in despatches for its services under him at Ahmednuggur, Assaye, and Argaum, 627, 628, 633;
complimented and inspected by him at Nieuwpoort, 652;
(the 79th), his grief for the loss of Col. P. Cameron, and his high sense of the 79th’s conduct at Fuentes D’Onor, 702;
specially mentioned in despatch, 12th April 1814, about Toulouse, and highly praised for Quatre Bras and Waterloo, 707;
(the 91st), compliments Col Douglas at Toulouse, 730;
his high commendation of the 91st’s conduct in the wreck of the “Abercrombie Robinson,” 733;
(the 92nd), the thanks for Toulouse, 707;
in person thanks the 92nd for its conduct at “Nive,” at Orthes, where the 42nd, 79th, and 92nd meet for the first time in the Peninsula—he orders them to encamp beside each other for the night, 762;
at Quatre Bras, personally orders the 92nd to charge, 763;
in person thanks them for their conduct at Waterloo, 766;
(the 93rd), he presents with new colours, 781.

Wemyss of Wemyss, Major-Gen., 1st colonel of the 93rd—his portrait on steel, ii. 756;
(note), ii. 777.

Western Islands, boundaries of, i. 2.

West Indies, reduction of, in 1795, ii. 362.

Wheatley, Lt.-Col. (42nd), notes from his “Memoranda,” ii. 402, 404, 432.

Whitelock’s army, capitulation of, ii. 488.

“Will God I shall,” the motto of the Menzies, &c., ii. 306.

William III., his instructions to Sir Thomas Livingston, i. 397;
Scotch intense hostility to him, 407;
his Highland companies, 483.

William, Prince of Orange, designs of, i. 341;
lands at Torbay, 342;
reception, 343;
address from Scottish nobles to, 344;
Feversham arrested by—Whitehall seized, 345;
in London—assumption of Government by, 347;
life saved by Dundee—declared King of England, 351.

Windham, Lady, she presents new colours to the 78th, ii. 692.

Wine, its abundance in the Highlands in 1745, ii. 22.

Wintoun, Earl of, his resolve for the Stuarts, i. 449;
escape from the Tower, 477.

Wishart, Montrose’s affecting parting from his troops (1646), account of by, i. 249.

Witchcraft, charges of, in Scotland, i. 292.

Wolfe, Gen., his noble answer to Cumberland after Culloden, i. 666;
forces under his command against Quebec, ii. 460.

“Wolf of Badenoch,” Alexander, 4th son of Robert II.—his effigy, i. 68.

Wolseley, Major-Gen. Sir Garnet J., K.C.M.G., C.B., his portrait, ii. 803;
his campaign in Ashantee, 803-807.

Worcester, battle of (1651)—flight of Charles II. from, i. 289;
the Macleods at this battle, ii. 195.

Wright, Col. E. W. C., C.B. (91st), engraving of tablet to his memory, ii. 742.

York, Henry, Cardinal, Duke of, Prince Charles’s brother, i. 499;
his portrait, 745;
his medal and assumptions—his death and place of interment, 760.

York, Duke of (son of George III.), his movements in Holland (1794), ii. 697.

Yuzufzai Hills, engraving of the monument to those of the 71st H.L.I. who fell here, ii. 517.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Footnote [135] is referenced from inside Footnote [134].

Footnotes [565] through [578] are referenced from inside Footnote [564].

Footnotes [580] through [583] are referenced from inside Footnote [579].

Footnote [679] is referenced from inside Footnote [678].

Footnote [729] is referenced from inside Footnote [728].

Footnote [886] is referenced from inside Footnote [885].

Footnote [1123] is referenced from inside Footnote [1122].

Footnote [1183] is referenced from inside Footnote [1182].

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Eight occurrences of ‘aid-de-camp’ replaced by ‘aide-de-camp’.

Both M’ and Mac are used as part of many names, for example M’Donald and Macdonald, and these spellings have not been changed.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained: for example, Mar, Marr; Fort William, Fort-William; ahead, a-head; broadsword, broad-sword; staid; stanch; ancles; stopt; infeft; debouched; houghed; contemn.

Pg xi: ditto sign replaced by the text ‘W. Holl,’.
Pg xii: page number ‘556’ replaced by ‘566’.
Pg xix: ‘hawks seems to’ replaced by ‘hawks seem to’.
Pg xxx: ‘inverted lanscape’ replaced by ‘inverted landscape’.
Pg xxxvi: ‘ar not all dead’ replaced by ‘are not all dead’.
Pg 29: ‘shore of eth Frith’ replaced by ‘shore of the Frith’.
Pg 50: new paragraph position changed; ‘gave way to\n\nDonald’ replaced by ‘gave way to Donald ... in 893.\n\nDuring’.
Pg 57: ‘north of the Firth’ replaced by ‘north of the Frith’.
Pg 58 (Table): in the text the duration of Lulach is “only a few months”, so the duration ‘4½’ has been replaced by ‘½’, which then matches the stated year of his death, 1057.
Pg 81: ‘and Soil-Thomais;’ replaced by ‘and Siol-Thomais;’.
Pg 129: ‘dernier resort’ replaced by ‘dernier ressort’.
Pg 168: ‘so bening, as’ replaced by ‘so benign, as’.
Pg 225: ‘dernier resort’ replaced by ‘dernier ressort’.
Pg 279: ‘is necesssary to’ replaced by ‘is necessary to’.
Pg 325: ‘Back mail’ replaced by ‘black mail’.
Pg 360: ‘with instructious to’ replaced by ‘with instructions to’.
Pg 457: ‘the Moray Firth’ replaced by ‘the Moray Frith’.
Pg 458: ‘and dicharging all’ replaced by ‘and discharging all’.
Pg 483: missing anchor [753] inserted after ‘to be disbanded’.
Pg 498: ‘rival factiens’ replaced by ‘rival factions’.
Pg 524: ‘crown, providsd’ replaced by ‘crown, provided’.
Pg 530: ‘a judicions step’ replaced by ‘a judicious step’.
Pg 537: ‘outward observanees’ replaced by ‘outward observances’.
Pg 576: ‘began to develope’ replaced by ‘began to develop’.
Pg 578: ‘the goverment.’ replaced by ‘the government.’.
Pg 601: ‘Fiz-James’s’ replaced by ‘Fitz-James’s’.
Pg 647: ‘obtain possesion’ replaced by ‘obtain possession’.
Pg 662: ‘three several’ replaced by ‘there several’.
Pg 677: missing anchor [1230] inserted after ‘sail for St. Kilda.’.
Pg 708: ‘her lordlord, and’ replaced by ‘her landlord, and’.
Pg 718: ‘a few miles of’ replaced by ‘a few miles off’.
Pg 738: the ‘A.D. 1747–1748.’ line of the Chapter XXXVIII summary has been moved to the top for consistency with other Chapters.
Pg 753: the ‘A.D. 1748 to Present Time.’ line of the Chapter XL summary has been moved to the top for consistency with other Chapters.

Footnote [104] anchored on pg 44: ‘this great grievvance’ replaced by ‘this great grievance’.
Footnote [617] anchored on pg 385: ‘blank space’ replaced by ‘______’.
Footnote [794] anchored on pg 507: ‘9th January, 1740’ replaced by ‘9th January, 1744’.
Footnote [795] anchored on pg 507: ‘23d January, 1740’ replaced by ‘23d January, 1744’.
Footnote [1142] anchored on pg 638: ‘about the the time’ replaced by ‘about the time’.

INDEX:
Aberdeen: ‘169’ replaced by ‘i. 169’.
Athole: ‘376’ replaced by ‘i. 376’.
Auldearn: ‘Auldsarn’ replaced by ‘Auldearn’.
Dornoch: ‘641’ replaced by ‘i. 641’.
Fraser’s Highlanders: ‘457’ replaced by ‘ii. 457’.
Hope, Sir John: ‘763’ replaced by ‘ii. 763’.
Lorne: ‘March 1871.’ replaced by ‘March 1871, 185.’.
Mackintosh, Clan: ‘663, 666’ replaced by ‘i. 663, 666’.
Macleod: ‘May—’ replaced by ‘Mary—‘.
Philadelphia: ‘354’ replaced by ‘ii. 354’.
Quhadder: ‘Lord Innermeithts’ replaced by ‘Lord Innermeath’.
Thorfinn: ‘and Somereld’ replaced by ‘and Somerled’.
Victoria Cross: ‘791, 792, 705.’ replaced by ‘791, 792, 795.’.

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Table of Contents

E-text prepared by Brian Coe, John Campbell, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)

A HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS HIGHLAND CLANS AND HIGHLAND REGIMENTS

PREFACE.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

REMARKS ON THE SCENERY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

PART FIRST. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER II.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER III.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IV.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER V.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VI.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VIII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IX.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER X.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XI.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XIII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XIV.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XV.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XVI.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XVII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XVIII.[465]

- APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XVIII.,

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XIX.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XX.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXI.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXIII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXIV.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXV.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXVI.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXVII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXVIII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXIX.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXX.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXI.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXIII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXIV.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXV.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXVI.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXVII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XXXIX.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XL.

- FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER XLI.

- FOOTNOTES:

INDEX.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE