Chapter IV: Part 4

"Lord Huntly and Earl Marishall are come up to us with their people
in very good order, but Lord Seafort is not, being deteaned by
forceing Earl Sutherland to submitt before he left that country,
which he has done by this time, and will be with us soon. I make
his not being come up the reason of our lying still here, but that
of our expecting the King or one from him, is the true one; and I
think we must do, until that happen, so as long as we loose no
credit by it. I thought it was necessary to let you know this, the
better to advise our friends in the South what meassurs to take;
which they had best determine by the success of our detachment
getting over to them,--what expectation they have of friends in
England joining them, and what is to be expexted about Edinburgh. If
they should be prest in England, which I hope will not be the case,
and could do nothing at Edinbrugh, they can march throw the south
and west of Scotland to Dumbartonshire, where before they can be,
Generall Gordon's armie or a considerable detachment of it, will be
before they can reach it, which they will aply join and be saif til
we meet them. Glengarry is actually marcht from Auchalator that way
alreddy. I have taken care to have detachments at all the places on
the coasts, where I judge the King can land, so I hope all is safe
for him when he comes on it; and so many of the cruisers being in
the Frith make the coast pretty clear, which is one good our
detachment in Fife has done, should they do no more. We have this
day sent two gentelmen to France (I hope) a safe way with a letter
to the Regent from the noblemen and gentelmen here, which we had
resolved on before Boin arrived; but should the King be come off
before it arrives in France it can do no hurt and may do good.

"I have wrote to Lord Bolingbroke (who is to remain in France to
negotiate the King's affairs there during his absence,) a full
account of things here; and if the King be come off, which I hope in
God he is, he is to lay it before the Queen, to whom I have likewise
wrote. I'm exceeding sorry for the loss of honest Keith's son, but
these gentelmen will have it yet payd home to them.

"As to your going to the South, or staying at Edinbrugh, I scarce
know what to say. I wish you could be in both places; but since that
cannot be, I leave it to yourself to do which you think will be of
most use to the service. If you go South I beg you may settle a
correspondence 'twixt Edin^{b} and this, and acquaint me with it.

"I heard to-day that my letters to our friends in the West,
desireing they might go immediately South to join Lord Kenmore, came
safe to hand, so I hope they will be with him soon. I have sent you
some of the manifestos which were printed at Aberdeen, and are
finely done: I wish they may come to you saif. I also send you
encloset a letter to Sir Rich. Steele, which I leave open for you to
read and take a copie of. Pray seal it and get it put into the
post-house; and I wish you could get it printed at Edinburgh, tho'
let me not seen it; and if you send a copie to any of your
correspondants at London and Newcastle, to get if printed there it
would do no hurt. I'm endeavouring to get a correspondence settled
by barks from the point of Fife to Newcastle, which may be of use
to us, especially if the communications twixt us and Ed^{r} should
be stopt."

On the very day of the Earl's arrival at Perth, Mr. James Murray, second son of Lord Stormont arrived from St. Germains, bringing assurances of support, and letters from the Chevalier, who had appointed him Secretary of State for the affairs of Scotland. Mr. Murray is said also to have presented the Earl of Mar with a patent, creating him Duke of Mar, Marquis of Stirling and Earl of Alloway: "And though," observes an historian, "there was little more said about it, yet the relation seems justified by this, that in some of the papers printed at Perth, he is styled the Duke of Mar."[100]

Extensive preparations were also declared to be in progress for the invasion of England. Twelve large ships were actually at that time at anchor in Havre, St. Malos, and other places. These vessels, with several frigates of good force, were loaded with ammunition, and manned with generals, officers, and soldiers. A particular account of the "Pretender's Magazine" is extant. But these preparations were all frustrated by the remonstrances of the Earl of Stair at the Court of the Regent of France. Admiral Byng was sent with a squadron to cruise on the coast of France, and the ships ready to sail for the enterprise against England were obliged, by command of the Regent, in order not to implicate the French Government, to declare that they were thus employed without the sanction or knowledge of the Regent. Thus, even whilst Mr. Murray was raising the sanguine hopes of the Jacobites to the highest pitch, their evil star had again prevailed. They were, indeed, singularly unhappy in those in whom they placed confidence. Their schemes perpetually got wind: whether it were owing to the irresolution of some of their partisans, or to the great participation which the female sex took in the affairs of the Chevalier's party, it is difficult to determine.

The Jacobite ladies were as fearless as they were persevering. The Duchess of Gordon, whose present of a medal to the Faculty of Advocates denoted her principles, and whose son, the second Duke of Gordon suffered a brief imprisonment on account of his share in the insurrection, was one of the most approved channels of communication between the two parties. She generally resided in Edinburgh, where she occupied herself as a mediator between some of the Presbyterians and the friends of James. Colonel Hooke mentions her as one of the depositories of all that was going on during his mission.

The Earl of Mar, in his letters, refers repeatedly to different ladies with approval of their zeal and courage, and mentions one of his fair confederates in the north of Scotland, through whose hands many of his letters were sent to different chieftains; but these channels may not, in all cases, have been so secure as the Earl conceived.[101]

The proceedings of the English Government were, meantime, marked with energy and judgment. The various movements of the insurgent party were met in every direction by a systematic resistance, the details of which have been minutely detailed by historians, and belong not to a narrative which is chiefly of a personal nature.

On the fourteenth of September, the Duke of Argyle, Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Forces in Scotland, and General of the army, arrived in Edinburgh. The interest of this able and powerful nobleman in the Western Highlands, his zeal for the Protestant succession, were sufficient reasons for his appointment to this important office. The following original letter from George the Second, then Prince of Wales, gives an insight into the views which were entertained by George the First upon the mode of conducting the warfare in Scotland. It is among various other papers in the Mar Correspondence.

"St. James's, 7th October, 1715."

"I have learned, my dear Duke, by your two last expresses, the
embaras you are in through the want of regular troupes. We have used
such efforts that the King has consented last Wednesday to detach to
you four batallions from Ireland, to reinforce your camp. Orders
have been given to cause those marche who are nearest, and to cause
them embarque as they come up, without waiting for their
conjunction. It appeares yet by the departure of the Duke of
Ormond, from Paris, that the malcontents continue in their wicked
design of raiseing up troubles in this kingdom here, which is the
cause that hinders me from sending you Campbell yet, untill that I
see if he will not be necessary for his post, where I think that it
is best every body should be fixed. As soon as all appearance of
Rebellion is ended here, I shall dispatch you him, if you shall have
need of him there. With respect to the orders you demand, it would
be very difficult to give you them positive, not knowing the
situation of your affairs, as you may judge yourself. The King
remits himself entirely to your judgment, and to your conduct. All
that I can say to you is not to hazard an action without a probable
appearance of carrying it,--rather to shune an engadgment, and to
yeild to them the ground, than to expose the affairs of the King to
such ill consequences as would follow from a defeat. In case that my
Lord Mar march into England before that you receive your
reinforcement, I think you would do very well to allow him at least
with your cavalery, and to harass him untill that we march to meet
him. This last reasoneing is my own properly, but which you will
judge yourself, if practicable or not. Farewell, my dear Duke; be
assured of my esteem, and my sincere friendship."

(Signed) "GEORGE P."

The Earl of Mar now began to fortify Perth, and brought up fourteen pieces of cannon for that purpose from Dundee and Dunotter Castle. His time and thoughts were at this time occupied in concerting and encouraging the movements of the southern insurrection conducted by Viscount Kenmure. There can be no better means of showing the state of the Earl's hopes and feelings at this time, than by giving them in his own words.

TO VISCOUNT KENMURE.

"My Lord,

"I wish your Lordship and Mr. Forster may have gott my letters,
which I took all the care I could to send safe. I wrote last by a
lady on the twenty-third, and she is so discreet and dextrous, that
I make little doubt of its going right. I have since had two from an
indisposed friend of ours on your side the water, and with them one
of the twenty-second from Brigadier Mackintosh to him, where he
tells of his being joined by your Lordship and five hundred horse
with you,--Lords Withrington and Derwentwater, Mr. Forester, and
about six hundred English gentlemen. Your Lordship may be sure this
was very agreeable news to me, and now, with the blessing of God, if
we do not mismanage, I think our game can scarce fail. By Brigadier
Mackintosh's letter, it seems the English are all for your going to
England in a body to put into execution a certain design, and our
countrymen are for first having the Pass of Stirling opened, and our
armies joined. I apprehended there would be difference about this
before I saw that letter, as your Lordship would easily see by what
the lady carried. It is indeed a difficult point to know or advise
which of the two is the best for the King's affairs; and we on this
side Forth being so ignorant of your situation on the other side,
and also of the condition of England, that I could not take it upon
me to determine in it, or to give any positive orders what your
Lordship should do; but after stating the advantages of both, and
what might happen according as the enemy should act, I left it to be
advised and determined among yourselves on that side, who could not
but know a great deal more, as you should judge it best for the
King's interest in generall.

"I know our indisposed friend, for whose judgment I have a very
great regard, advised coming to Dalkeith, and we have a report from
Fife last night that you have done so.

"I long impatiently to know what resolution your Lordship and the
noblemen and gentlemen with you have come to. It is of great
consequence and deserves to be well weighed. If you are now come to
Dalkeith, I will adventure to tell my thoughts in it, which I was
not quite so clear in before when you were at a greater distance
from it. That place was a far way from the other, where I judge the
secret design was to be put in execution; and I am afraid before you
can get there they'll have so strengthened the place, and filled it
with troops, that the design would prove impracticable with the
small army you have,--and it might prove, too, (especially if the
Dutch troops come to England,) that you could not penetrate farther
into that country with safety, and retiring back into Scotland would
have many inconveniences.

"Dalkeith is but a short way from Stirling, where we on this side
must pass (I mean near it), and I hope we shall attempt it very
soon; and when we do, your being in the rear of the enemy could not
but very much incommode them, and be of great advantage to us. The
Duke of Argyle would be so hemmed in at Stirling by your being on
the one hand of him and our being on the other, that I scarce see
what I can do but to intrench myself, and by that our passage over
Forth and joining of you might be very easy; nor do I see how the
Duke of Argyle in those circumstances can subsist long there. Were
we once past Forth and joined on the south side, we should soon make
our way good to England, and then should be much more able to put in
execution the project of our English friends, without being in any
danger of returning back to Scotland. It would be of great
consequence to have possession of Edinburgh, but I hear just now
that the Duke of Argyle has sent two regiments of dragoons, so tho'
perhaps that may prevent your getting possession of that town, yet I
scarce believe that they will be able with all the detachments that
the Duke of Argyle dare adventure to send from Stirling to make any
attempt against you at Dalkeith, which is so strong a place
naturally; and should the enemy return again from Stirling, you
might either follow them in their rear without danger, or take
possession of Edinburgh. Were once Lord Seaforth come up to us and
General Gordon with the clans which I expect every day, I shall not
be long of leaving this place, and I shall likewise be able to send
more foot over the water, as I sent the last, if you want them, and
your being at Dalkeith, they could easily join you. Should most of
the Dutch troops come to Scotland, as is probable they will, it
would be very hard for us here to pass Forth without your
assistance, which would be a great loss and a grateing thing. I hear
to-day from about Stirling that Sir William Blacish is upon the head
of several thousands in the North of England, but your Lordship and
our English friends will know the truth of this better: be it as it
will, I do not think it alters the case much. The main and principal
thing is for us to get soon joined all in one body, then I am sure
we should be more considerable than all the force the Government,
with the six thousand Dutch, can bring against us, and when once the
British troops see so considerable a force together, asserting their
King's and their country's cause, I cannot believe they will, but
rather join us, and restore their country to peace and liberty.

"These, my Lord, are my humble thoughts, but they are with
submission to your Lordship's and the King's friends with you who
are equally concerned with us, and I know equally zealous, and you
all certainly know a great deal more than me here.

"I beg your Lordship may make my compliments to our countrymen, with
you, and to those noblemen and gentlemen of England who have so
handsomely and generously joined you. I long impatiently to be with
you, and with all the haste I can.

"I send copies of this three different ways, that one or other of
them may certainly come to your hands.

"I also send by one of them, if not two, a power for your Lordship
to raise money for the use of your armie, which my commission for
the King fully empowers me to do and give.

"I wish this may come to your hand, and I long to hear from your
Lordship, which it being necessary I should soon, I am, with all
respect, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble servant,

"MAR."[102]

It was the intention of Lord Mar to remain at Perth until all the Jacobite clans should have joined his army; but having gained the intelligence that some arms for the use of the Earl of Sutherland were put on board a vessel at Leith, to be taken northwards, he determined to take possession of them. The master of the vessel had dropped anchor at Brunt Island, for the purpose of seeing his wife, who was there: Lord Mar sent a detachment to surprise the harbour, which succeeded in carrying off the spoil, back to Perth. A report was at the same time raised in Stirling: that the Earl was marching to Alloa, the Duke of Argyle forthwith ordered out the picquets of horse and foot, and, also, all the troops to be ready to march out to sustain them, if required. But the Jacobite army did not appear; and the report of their advance to Stirling was believed to be a false alarm, contrived by Mar in order to draw off the attention of the Duke of Argyle from the expedition to Brunt Island.

The insurgents were now masters of the eastern coasts of Scotland from Brunt Island to the Murray Frith, an extent of above one hundred and sixty miles along the shore. On the western side, the Isle of Skye, Lewis, and all the Hebrides were their own, besides the estates of the Earl of Seaforth, Donald Mac Donald, and others of the clans. So that from the mouth of the river Lochie to Faro-Head, all the coast of Lochaber and Ross, even to the north-west point of Scotland, was theirs: theirs, in short, was all the kingdom of Scotland north of the Forth, except the remote counties of Caithness, Strathnaver and Sutherland beyond Inverness, and that part of Argyleshire which runs north-west into Lorn, and up to Lochaber, where Fort William continued in possession of the Government.

The Earl of Mar had resolved to impose an assessment upon the large extent of country under his sway, to raise money for the use of his army. It was of course an unpopular, though doubtless a necessary measure. The sum of twenty shillings sterling was to be paid by each landholder upon every hundred pounds Scots of valued rent; and, if not paid by a certain day, the tax was to be doubled. In levying this assessment, the friends of the Government were far more severely treated than those of the Chevalier; and the Presbyterian Ministers, who had dared to raise their voices in their churches against the Pretender, as they called the Chevalier, were commanded to be silent on that subject; their houses were plundered, and many of them were driven by tyranny from their homes.[103]

The northern clans were now on their march to join the camp at Perth. First came the famous Laird of Mackintosh, better known as Brigadier Mackintosh, chief of that numerous clan in Invernesshire. His regiment, composed of five hundred men, whom he had persuaded to join in the insurrection, was considered the best that the Earl of Mar could boast. The Marquis of Huntley, with five hundred horse and two thousand foot, next arrived; and the Earl Marischal shortly afterwards brought a thousand men to the camp. But Lord Seaforth, afraid lest in his absence the Earl of Sutherland should invade his country, was still absent; and the anxiety of the Earl of Mar for his arrival is expressed in more than one of his letters. The whole strength of the army amounted to sixteen thousand seven hundred men; this number was afterwards diminished by the detachment sent southwards by the Earl, and by the number of three thousand who were dispersed in garrisons. But it was no common force that was now encamped at Perth.

At this critical moment where was the individual for whom these great and gallant spirits had ventured their all, the hills so dear to them, their homes, the welfare of their families, to say nothing of that which Highlanders least consider, their personal safety? At this moment, the ill-advised and irresolute James Stuart, was absent. What could have been his counsels? who were his advisers? of what materials was he made? why did he ever come? are questions to which the indignant mind can scarcely frame a reply. The fact, indeed, seems to be that his heart was never really in the undertaking; that he for whom the tragedy was performed, was the only actor in it who did not feel his part; it was reserved for a nobler and a warmer nature to experience the ardour of hope, and the bitter mortifications of disappointment.

It was not until the middle of October that the Earl of Mar took any personal share in the contest between the Jacobite army and that of the Government. Hitherto he had remained at Perth, acting with an ill-timed caution, and apparently bestowing far more attention upon the ill-fated insurrection in Northumberland, aided by the low country Scots under Lord Kenmure, than upon the proximate dangers of his own army. The detachment of a body of troops under Brigadier Mackintosh, sent in order to assist the Lowlanders, who were marching back into Scotland, accompanied by the forces under Mr. Forster and the Earl of Derwentwater, was the immediate cause of the two armies coming to an engagement. The Earl of Mar in his narrative thus explains his plans and their failure.

The detachment under Brigadier Mackintosh having been sent, "occasioned," Lord Mar says, "the Duke of Argyle's leaving Stirling, and going with a part of his army to Edinburgh. Now, had the Scots and English horse, who were then in the south of Scotland, come and joined the fifteen hundred foot, (under Brigadier Mackintosh) as was expected; had the Highland clans performed, as they promised, the service they were sent upon in Argyleshire, and marched towards Glasgow, as the Earl of Mar marched towards Sterling, he had then given a good account of the Government's army, the troops from Ireland not having yet joined them, nor could they have joined them afterwards. But all this failing by some cross accidents, Lord Argyle returned with that part of his army to Scotland, and the Earl of Mar could not then, with the men he then had, advance further than Dumblane, and for want of provisions there, was soon after obliged to return to Perth."

"But immediately after that we had got provisions, and that the clans and Lord Seaforth had joined us, we marched again towards the enemy; and notwithstanding the many difficulties the Earl of Mar had upon that occasion with some of our own people, he gave the enemy battle: and, as you saw in our printed account of it, had not our left wing given way, which was occasioned by mistake of orders and scarcity of experienced officers, that being composed of as good men, and marched as cheerfully up to the field of battle as the other, our victory had been complete. And as it was, the enemy, who was advanced on this side the river, was forced to retire back to Sterling."[104]

Such is the Earl of Mar's comment upon the battle of Sherriff Muir, of which the friends of Government gave a very different representation.

The Earl had, it is evident, no disposition to risk a general engagement before the Chevalier arrived in Scotland. He had sent two gentlemen to the Prince to learn his determination, and had resolved to remain at Perth until their return. During his continuance in that city he employed himself not only in throwing up entrenchments round the town, but in publishing addresses to the people, to keep up the spirits of the Jacobites. Since the Earl was never scrupulous as to the means of which he availed himself, we may not venture to reject the declaration of an historian of no good will to the cause, that he ordered "false news" to be printed and circulated; and published that which he hoped would happen, as having already taken place. "The detachment," he related, "had passed the Forth, had been joined by the army in the South, were masters of Newcastle, and carried all before them; and their friends in and about London had taken arms in such numbers, that King George had made a shift to retire." These falsehoods were printed by Freebairn, formerly the King's printer at Edinburgh, whom the Earl had established at Perth, and provided with the implements brought by the army from Aberdeen.[105]

In the beginning of November, the Earl of Seaforth arrived at Perth, and the Mac Invans, the Maccraws, the Chisholmes of Strath-Glass, and others, completed all the forces that Lord Mar expected to join him. Truly might the Earl say, "that no nation in such circumstances, and so destitute of all kind of succour from abroad, ever made so brave a struggle for restoring their prince and country to their just rights."[106] But the usual fate of the Stuarts involved their devoted adherents in ruin: or rather, let us not call that fate, which may be better described by the word incapacity in the leaders of their cause.

The want of ammunition, which was to have been supplied from abroad, was now severely felt. "I must here add one thing," says Lord Mar, "which, however incredible the thing may appear, is, to our cost, but too true: and that is, that from the time the Earl of Mar set up the Chevalier's standard to this day, we never received from abroad the least supply of arms and ammunition of any kind; though it was notorious in itself, and well known, that this was what from the first we mainly wanted; and, as such, it was insisted upon by the Earl of Mar, in all the letters he writ, and by all the messengers he sent to the other side."[107]

On the ninth of November it was determined, at a great council of war, to march straight to Dumblane with the ultimate view of following the Brigadier Mackintosh into England, with the main body of the army, amounting to nine thousand men, whilst a detachment of three thousand should, if possible, gain possession of Stirling.

The engagement which ensued, and which was called the battle of Sherriff Muir, was fought on a Sunday; after both armies had been under arms all night. No tent was pitched for the Duke of Argyle's men, either by officer or soldier, on that cold November evening. Each officer was at his post, nor could they much complain whilst their General sat on straw, in a sheepcote, at the foot of the hill, called Sherriff Muir, which overlooks Dumblane, on the right of his army. In the dead of the night, the Duke, by his spies, learned where the enemy were; for, although on account of the hills and broken ground, they could not be seen, they were not at two miles' distance. This was at Kinback; at break of day, the army of Argyle was completely formed, and the General rode up to the top of the hill to reconnoitre the foe.[108]

The Earl of Mar, meantime, had given orders for his army to form to the left of the road that leads to Dumblane, and whilst they were forming in front of the town of Dumblane, they discovered the enemy on the height of the west end of the Sherriff Muir. A council of war was then held, and it was resolved, _nemine contradicente_, to fight.

The Earl of Mar's forces had also been ready for combat during the whole of the night. To the Highlanders the want of shelter was of little consequence. It was usual to them, before they lay down on the moor to dip their plaids in water, by which the cloth was made impervious to the wind; and to choose, as a favourite and luxurious resting-place, some spot underneath a cover of overhanging heath. So late as the year 1745, they could not be prevailed on to use seats.[109] It was therefore with unimpaired vigour that they rushed on to the combat.

The Earl of Mar placed himself at the head of the clans: perhaps a finer, a more singular, a more painful sight can rarely have been witnessed than the rush of this great body of Highlanders to the encounter. It was delayed by the Earl of Mar's despatching his aide-de-camp, Colonel Clephan, to Lord Drummond, and to General Gordon, with orders to march and attack immediately. On their return, pulling off his hat, he waved it with an huzza, and advanced in front of the enemy's formed battalions. Then was heard the _slogan_ or war-cry, each clan having its own distinctive watch-word, to which every clansman responded, whether his ear caught the sound in the dead of night, or in the confusion of the combat. Distinguished by particular badges, and by the peculiar arrangement and colours of the tartans, these devoted men followed the Earl of Mar towards the foe.

But the action cannot be described in a manner better adapted to this narrative, than in the words of Lord Mar himself, in his letter on the very day of the engagement, to Colonel Balfour, whom he had left in command of the garrison at Perth. It is dated Ardoch, November 13th, 1715.

"Ardoch, Nov. 13th, 1715."

"I thought you would be anxious to know the fate of this day. We
attacked the enemy on the end of the Sherriff Muir, at twelve of the
clock this day, on our right and centre; carried the day entirely;
pursued them down to a little hill on the south of Dumblane; and
there I got most of our horse and a pretty good number of our foot,
and brought them again into some order. We knew not then what was
become of our left, so we returned to the field of battle. We
discerned a body of the enemy on the north of us, consisting mostly
of the Grey Dragoons, and some of the Black. We also discovered a
body of their foot farther north upon the field where we were in the
morning; and east of that, a body as we thought of our own foot, and
I still believe it was so. I formed the horse and foot with me in a
line on the north side of the hill, where we had engaged and kept
our front towards the enemy to the north of us, who seem'd at first
as if they intended to march towards us; but upon our forming and
marching towards them, they halted and marched back to Dumblane. Our
baggage and train-horses had all run away in the beginning of the
action. But we got some horses and brought off most of the train to
this place where we quarter to-night about Ardock, whither we
march'd in very good order: and had our left and second line behaved
as our right and the rest of the first line did, our victory had
been compleat: but another day is coming for that, and I hope ere
long too.

"I send you a list of the officers' names who are prisoners here,
besides those who are dangerously wounded and could not come along,
whose words of honour were taken. Two of these are the Earl of
Forfar, who I'm afraid will die, and Captain Urquhart, of Burn's
Yard, who is very ill wounded. We have also a good number of private
men prisoners; but the number I do not exactly know.

"We have lost, to our regret, the Earl of Strathmore and the Captain
of Clan Ranald. Some are missing, but the fate we are not sure of.

"The Earl of Panmure, Drummond of Logie, and Lieutenant Colonel
Maclean are wounded.

"This is all that I have to say now, but that I am,

"Yours, &c. MAR."

"P.S. We have taken a great many of the enemy's arms."

Lord Mar, on this occasion, showed a degree of personal bravery worthy of the great name which he bore. He had placed himself on the right, and, as he was giving orders to the Macdonalds to charge that battalion of the enemy opposite to them, he encountered a very close fire. "The horse on which my Lord was," writes an eye-witness on the Jacobite side, "was wounded, for he fell down with him upon the fire, and got away, and my Lord immediately mounted another horse: he exposed his person but too much, and showed a great deal of bravery, as did the other lords about him."[110]

The army of the Duke of Argyle lay on their arms all night, expecting that the next day the battle would be resumed; but, on Monday the fourteenth of November, the Duke went out with the piquet guard to the field to view the enemy, but found them gone: and leaving the piquet guard on the place, he returned to Dumblane, and thence to Stirling, carrying off with him fourteen of the enemy's colours and standards, and among them the royal standard called the Restoration, besides several pieces of artillery, and many prisoners, some of them men of rank and influence.

Both sides claimed the victory of Sherriff Muir as their own; but, however it may be argued, it is certain that with only three thousand effective troops, Argyle had contrived "to break the heart of the rebellion," and to subdue an army such as could never again be reassembled. Between six and eight hundred of the Jacobites are stated to have fallen on the field,[111] and several, among whom was the brave Earl of Panmure and Colonel Maclean, were among the wounded. Lord Mar, nevertheless, celebrated the engagement as if it had been a victory.

Thanksgiving-sermons were ordered to be preached at Perth, and a Te Deum sung in the church; and ringing of bells, and other demonstrations deceived the hearts of those who knew little of the real injury done to the cause, or amused others whose nearest interests had not suffered in the Sherriff Muir. A paper was also circulated containing a report of the battle, of course highly favourable to the Earl of Mar's part in what he called his victory. The following is the statement which he sent to the Chevalier.

THE EARL OF MAR TO THE CHEVALIER.[112]

"Nov. 24, 1715.

"Sir,

"It was but yesterday that I had accounts of your being at sea, and
I thought myself obliged to do all in my power to let you know the
state of affairs in this island before you land in it, so that you
may not be disapointed upon your comeing.

"I had the certain account yesterday of those who had appear'd in
arms besouth Forth, and in the north of England, all being made
prisoners at Preston in Lancashire, which I'm affraid will putt a
stop to any more riseings in that country at this time.

"Your Majesty's army, which I have the honour to command, fought the
enime on the Shirreff-Muir, near Dumblain, the thirteenth of this
moneth. Our left behav'd scandalously and ran away, but our right
routed the enimies left and most of their body.

"Their right follow'd and pursued our left, which made me not
adventure to prosecute and push our advantage on our right so far as
otherwayes wee might have done, however wee keept the field of
battle, and the enimie retir'd to Dumblain.

"The armie had lyen without cover the night before, and wee had no
provisions there, which oblidg'd me to march the armie back two
milles that night, which was the nearest place where I could get any
quarters. Next day I found the armie reduced to a small number, more
by the Highlanders going home than by any loss wee sustained, which
was but very small. So that and want of provisions oblidg'd me yet
to retire, first to Auchterarder, and then here to Perth. I have
been doing all I can ever since to get the armie together again, and
I hope considerable numbers may come in a little time; but now that
our friends in England are defeated, there will be troops sent down
from thence to reinforce the Duke of Argyle, which will make him so
strong, that wee shall not be able to face him, and I am affraid wee
shall have much difficultie in makeing a stand any where, save in
the Highlands, where wee shall not be able to subsist.

"This Sir, is a melancholy account, but what in duty I was oblidg'd
to let you know, if possibly I can, before you land; and for that
end I have endeavour'd to send boats out about those places where I
judg'd it most probable you would come.

"Ther's another copie of this upon the West Coast, and I wish to God
one or other of them may find you if your Majesty be upon the coast.

"By the strength you have with you, your Majesty will be best able
to judge if you will be in a condition, when join'd with us, to make
a stand against the enimie. I cannot say what our numbers will be
against that time, or where wee shall be, for that will depend on
the enimie, and the motions they make; but unless your Majesty have
troops with you, which I'm affraid you have not, I see not how wee
can oppose them even for this winter, when they have got the Dutch
troops to England, and will power in more troops from thence upon us
every day.

"Your Majestie's coming would certainly give new life to your
friends, and make them do all in their power for your service; but
how far they would be able to resist such a formed body of regular
troops as will be against them, I must leave your Majestie to judge.

"I have sent accounts from time to time to Lord Bolingbroke, but I
have not heard once from any of your Majestie's servants since Mr.
Ogilvie of Boin came to Scotland, nor none of the five messengers I
sent to France are return'd, which has been an infinite loss to us.
I sent another, which is the sixt, to France, some days ago, with
the account of our victory, who I suppose is sail'd ere now.

"May all happiness attend your Majestie, and grant you may be safe,
whatever come of us. If it do not please God to bless your kingdoms
at this time with your being settled on your throne, I make no doubt
of its doing at another time; and I hope there will never be wanting
of your own subjects to assert your cause, and may they have better
fortune than wee are like to have. I ask but of Heaven that I may
have the happiness to see your Majestie before I die, provided your
person be safe; and I shall not repine at all that fortune has or
can do to me.

"Your Majestie may find many more capable, but never a more faithful
servant than him who is with all duty and esteem, Sir, your
Majestie's most dutiful, most faithfull and most obedient subject
and servant,

"MAR."

"From the Camp of Perth, Nov. 24, 1715."

A fortnight previously the Earl of Mar had addressed the following curious letter to Captain Henry Straiton,[113] at Edinburgh, to whom many of Lord Mar's epistles are written. The allusion to Margaret Miller refers to Lady Nairn, the sister-in-law of the Marquis of Tullibardine, and wife of Lord Nairn, who, in compliance with a Scottish custom, took his wife's title, she being Lady Nairn in her own right. The allusion to "a dose" which will require the air of a foreign country to aid it, seems to offer some notion of the Earl's subsequent flight.

"Novemb. 8th, 1715.

"Sir,

"I had yours of the fourth this forenoon, which was very wellcome.
And I hope we shall soon see the certainty of what the accounts
makes us expect of these folks' arivall. I sent of a pacquet
yesterday with an answer to Margaret Miller's of the second, and in
it I sent a copie of my last to Mr. H----n, which was dated the
second and third, of which I sent him copies two different wayes, so
I hope he'll get one of them at least. They were pressing them to go
into England; and now that they are actually gone their, and in so
good a way, I am easie as to that. I hope God will direct and assist
them.

"I thought to have marcht from this to-day. The foot are mostly
gone, and I march with the horse to-morrow morning. Our generall
revew is to be at Auchterardor on Thursday morning, and then to
march forward immediately. It is of great use to hear often from
you, and to have accounts of our friends in the north of England,
and what is doing in England beside; so I know you'll write as often
as you can find occasions. I fancie I may hear to-day from our
friends in the north of England, for I hope they had some days ago a
way of sending directly. It seems the Duke of Argyll's absence from
London is not like to do his own court of interest there much good.
I hope our manifesto's being disperced at London, will have good
effect; and I long to see what the prints call the Pretender's
declaration, and the declaration of the people of England. The run
upon the bank, I hope, will not lessen. The public credit must not
be once ruined to make it raise again, and I hope that time may be
sooner than we think of. We have rainy weather, but that is an
inconveniencie to the enimie as well as to us. My humble service to
Margaret Miller: I thank her for the information she gives me, of
one about me giving intelligence; but other friends may be easie
about it, for I am sure there is nothing in it; and I know what made
them belive, which I confess had colour enough. I wish she would get
the Doctrix to send a new dose to the patient she knows of, for
there was a little too much of one of the ingredients in the last,
which toke away the effect of the whole. It is the ingredient that
has the postponeing quality in it; and the patient's greatest
distemper is the apprehentions he has of a perfect cure being long
of comeing, and that it is not to be til he get the air of another
country. The dose must be carefully made up, and no appearance of
its comeing from any other hand but the Doctrix' own. Ther's some
copies herewith sent of a paper printed on this side the water, of
which I hear severall are at Stirling. The other two papers I got
to-day are given to revise, and are to be printed soon. I send you a
copie of a letter was wrote t'other day, and sent to the
Cameronians in the west. I wish you could send this one to some of
them in the south. This is all I will trouble you with; but I hope
both to get from you and give you good news soon, and I ever am,
with all sincerity and truth, yrs. &c.

"Perhaps Capt. R----n will not be found to have done so much hurt as
was thought he designed; but this is not to bid trust him yet."

By two manuscript letters among the Mar papers, it appears, however, that the account soon afterwards published by Lord Mar was not so full of artifice and untruths as his enemies represented. "He kept the field of battle until it was dark," says one writer, in a letter dated from Perth (November the 19th, 1715); "and nothing but want of provisions prevented us from going forward the next day. We hear the Whigs give various accounts of the battle, to cover the victory; but the numbers of the slain on their part being eleven or twelve hundred, and ours not above fifty or sixty, and our keeping the field when they left it, makes the victory incontestable. Your friends that I know here mind you often, and they and I would be glad to have the opportunity to drink a bottle with you beyond the Forth."

Another eye-witness gives a still more detailed account.[114] "I have yours of the seventeenth, with the paper inclosed, wherein that gentleman has taken the liberty to insert many falsehoods relative to the late action, a true and impartial account of which I here send you, which is but too modest on our side, and many things omitted that will be afterwards made publick, particularly their murdering Strathmoir, after he had asked quarters, and the treatment they gave to Panmuir and several others, who, I hope, will be living witnesses against them. The enclosed is so full that I have little to say, only that we have not lost a hundred men in the action, and none of note, except Strathmoir, and the Captain of Clan Ronald."

The cruel spirit of party destroyed the generous characteristics of the soldier, during the excitement of the combat: but how can we palliate the conduct of one of the King's generals, Lord Isla, after the fierceness of the encounter was over? The letter referred to discloses particulars which were hushed up, or merely glanced at, in the partial annals of the time.

"So soon as they saw us coming down upon them, they marched off in
great haste towards Dumblain, and left several of our people they
had taken, among which was Lord Panmuir, who offered to give his
parole, not knowing what had passed upon the eighth; but he was told
by the person he sent to Lord Isla, that he could not take a parole
from a rebel, and they were in such haste that they lost him in a
little house, with several others near the field, where we found
them when we advanced and brought him along with us to Ardoch, two
miles furder, where we stayed all night and next day, until that we
heard the enemy were marched off to Stirling. He is now pretty well
and in no danger. Earl Loudoun passed him as he lay in the field,
without taking any notice of him, and he was wounded there by the
dragoons after he had surrendered to them; but I hope there will be
one other day of reckoning for these things. My Lord Mar sent off
two or three people to take care of Lord Forfar when he heard he was
wounded, and one of them waited of him to Stirling. He expressed a
good dale of consern that he should have been ingadged against his
countrymen, and sent a breslet off his arm to Lord Mar, so that we
all wish he may live. A good pairt of our baggage and the provisions
we had, were distroyed by our own people who went of from our left.
We are now getting provisions and every thing ready as soon as
possible; and I am hopefull we will be in a condition in a very few
days to pass forth without oposition.

"We have got accounts this day of a victorie obtained by our friends
in the south, the particulars of which we long for. I have sent you
some copies of the printed account of the action to give our
friends.

"So adieu."

Notwithstanding the humane attentions shewn by the Earl to Lord Forfar, that brave and generous nobleman died of his wounds. After lingering more than three weeks, he expired at Stirling on the eighth of December. He was wounded in sixteen different places, but a shot which he received in his knee seems to have been the most fatal injury. The conduct of the Earl appears in strong contrast with that of the Earl of Isla; but we must remember that each party had its own chroniclers. It is, nevertheless, a result of observation, more easily stated than explained, that through the whole of the two contests, both in 1715 and 1745, the generous and somewhat chivalric bearing of the Jacobites was acknowledged; whilst a spirit of cruel persecution marked the conduct of some of the chief officers on the opposite side. The Duke of Argyle indeed, in his own person, presented an exception to this remark, which chiefly applies to those secondary to him in command and influence.

The conduct of Lord Mar, in retreating to Perth after the affair of Sherriff Muir, has been severely censured. But, as Sir Walter Scott has observed, he met with that obloquy which generally follows the leader of an unsuccessful enterprise. According to Lord Mar's own account (and it has been corroborated by others), his retiring to Perth was unavoidable. The Highlanders, brave as they were, had a custom of returning home after a battle; and many of them went off when the engagement was ended. The Earl of Mar was not, therefore, in a condition to pursue the advantage which he had gained, but was forced to await at Perth the arrival of the Chevalier, or of the Duke of Berwick; on the notification of which, the Highlanders would have rallied to his standard. No supplies had been sent; the gentlemen of the army, as well as the men, had been long absent from their homes, and were living at their own expense; and therefore were impatient for leave of absence. To add to the general discouraging aspect of affairs, the fatal result of the English insurrection, under the command of Mr. Forster, was communicated at this time.

At first the result of the battle of Preston was represented to the Jacobites at Perth in a very different light to that in which the defeat of the English Jacobites afterwards appeared. The following is an extract of a letter from Lord Mar, dated the twentieth of November. "This day we hear from good hands that they (the English Jacobites) have had a victory, for which we have had rejoicings, and I hope in God they are in a good way by this time. Let me hear from you often, I beg it of you, and I'll long for the particulars of that affair.

"I am doing all I can to get us again in a condition to march from home. It will not be so soon as I wish, which is no small mortification to me, but our friends; you may depend on it, that it shall be as soon as I can, and no time shall be lost. It is wonderfull that neither the King nor the Duke of Ormond comes, nor that I have not accounts from them. Now that there is so considerable a party appearing in England, I hope they will put it off no longer. I hope all your friends in England are well in particular, but pray let me have an account of it.

"Lord Tullibardin and Lord George are well; they are gone again to Atholl to bring back their men, who went off that they might retrieve their honour, as I doubt not but they will. It is a great pity if poor Strathmore and Clanronald, and I'm afraid honest Auchterhouse, is killed, for we can get no account of him.

"I wish our prisoners may be as civilly treated as theirs are with us. They are all sent to Dundee (the officers I mean), where they have the liberty of the town, and wear their swords. My compliments to our sick friend, who I am sorry is still so; but he has had a good second and secretary.

"Pray let us have some good news now, and I am with all truth and esteem,

Yours, &c."

"Perth, November 20, 1715."

"Lord Panmure recovers pritty well. The enimie give out that he gave his parole when he was prisoner, but it was not so, he off'red it them but they wou'd not take it from a rebel as they call'd him, and neither did Strewan; so they were both resqued."

* * * * *

These letters place Lord Mar in a somewhat more estimable light than the usual statements have done. The truth is, that we ought never to judge of a man's actions before we have had an insight into his real motives and circumstances at the time. Few individuals had greater difficulties to contend with than Lord Mar.