Chapter XIX: Part 19

[163] Mr. Drummond told when at Paris that the method he had taken with the Gentlemen of the highlands was this. He talked to them of the situation of the Country and that a Restoration was the only thing would save us, with a great deal more to this purpose, which brought all those that inclined that way to declare how sensible they were of it and that they were very willing to promote it so soon as an Occasion should offer; upon which he told them that it was impossible for the King to undertake any things not knowing who were his friends and that he thought they should take care to acquaint the King of it, then it was natural for them to say they were contented his Majesty was informed it, but did not know of a method how; upon which he told them that he would not absolutely promise, but would endeavour to fall upon a method to acquaint him. This I took to be a safe way for the person that engaged them and as his Majesty was not quite satisfied with it as he said he desired me to write my Opinion of it which to the best of my Remembrance was in a few words, that I thought no Body would be so rediculous as to inform against themselves by telling they had given a Commission to such a person to ye King as it must redound to their own disadvantage for as their was none present when the matter was spoke off to a person that was to deliver it had no more to do but deny it and his not engaging absolutely to make it known was keeping his correspondence a secret, for which reasons I was then of opinion that the same method might be followed in the Low Country, but upon trial found it almost impossible and dangerous, first, because the Generallity are not so loyally inclined as in the Highlands and consequently not so easily brought to speak their mind, and the next place they have no following, they Generally tell you, of what use is the King’s knowing that I wish him well, I am only single Person, that can be of little Service, thirdly the present Government has been at pain to perswade people; the King is betrayed and that passes at Rome, but what they are fully informed off which makes people shy and affraid to have any dealings that way as they are near the Court of Justice and less able to shift for themselves, and fourthly, when a number of those people come to be spoke to they will some of them especially who are not brought all length in confidence impart to the other that such a man talked so and so, whereby the thing may come to be known and render it dangerous for the persons, all this occur’d to me upon serious reflection and found the difficulty of it, upon talking to some with folks here in that stile after my return and succeeded with none but two Mr. N. of D--n and Mr. C--r of Cr--g--th,[654] the last of which was drunk and repented next day for which I gave it up.

[164] A non-juring minister at Edinburgh; father of Lord Eskgrove.

[165] Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat (Skye), 7th baronet. His first wife was Anne Erskine (died 1735), widow of James (Ogilvy), 4th _de jure_ Earl of Airlie (died 1731). The Earl of Airlie mentioned here was his brother, 5th _de jure_ earl (died 1761). He remained passive during the ’45, but his son Lord Ogilvy raised two battalions for Prince Charles.

[166] Henry, Duke of York, afterwards cardinal.

[167] I cannot now recollect from whom I had that information, but it was such that in the time I had reason to Credit it.

[168] This was owing to Sir A[lexander] M[acdonald] having promised for a number supperior to what Mr. Drummond had marked him down for and at the same time as some folks were laying to his Charge we did not believe it was thought fitt to say something favourable of him as we had an entire confidence in his honesty.

[169] Bishop Rattray died at Edinburgh, May 12, 1743.

[170] Battle of Dettingen, fought 16th June old style, or 27th new style, 1743.

[171] The Highland Regiment, originally the 43rd and afterwards the 42nd, was raised in the name of John, 20th Earl of Crawford (then lying wounded at Belgrade), in 1739, and first embodied 1740. It was sent to London in 1743, and there its members, who understood on enlistment that their service was for the Highlands only, were persuaded that the Government intended to send them to the plantations or to sell them into slavery. When encamped at Highgate more than two hundred of them left the camp by night in May 1743 and started to march to Scotland. They were overtaken and surrounded when near Oundle in Northamptonshire; they surrendered and were marched prisoners to the Tower. Three of their leaders were executed, Corporals Samuel and Malcolm Macpherson and private Farquhar Shaw, all of Clan Chattan.

[172] There had been heavy recruiting for the Scots Brigade in the service of the Netherlands.

[173] Sir Thomas Gordon of Earlston, 3rd baronet, whose grandfather (killed at Bothwell Bridge) and father were eminent Covenanter leaders. Murray hoped to secure the adherence of the Cameronian Covenanters through Gordon and Dr. Cochran (see p. 51) and others. Cf. _Murray’s Memorials_, p. 54.

[174] Sir James Stewart; see Appendix.

[175] David (Wemyss), Lord Elcho, eldest son of James, 4th Earl of Wemyss. Joined Prince Charles at Edinburgh and served through the campaign. Forfeited, and lived in exile until his death in 1787. See his Memoir by Hon. Evan Charteris, prefaced to _A Short Account of the Affairs of Scotland_, 1744-46.

[176] Norman Macleod of Macleod, nineteenth chief; born 1706; died 1772. He engaged to join Prince Charles although he came alone; but he changed his mind, was the first to communicate the Prince’s landing to the Lord President, and was the vindictive foe of Prince Charles throughout the whole adventure.

[177] This was Alexander (or Alistair), Lord Lovat’s second son, by his wife Margaret Grant, sister of Sir James Grant of Grant. Born 1729, died unmarried 1762.

The school at Prestonpans was kept by Mr. John Halket who had been tutor in Lovat’s family at Castle Downie. Peggy Vint’s was a tavern in Prestonpans. Alexander Carlyle gives an account of an extraordinary carouse there in 1741, at which Lovat, Erskine of Grange, Halket, four Fraser henchmen, young Lovat, Halket’s son, and Carlyle were present. Lovat said Grace in French, and he ‘swore more than fifty dragoons’ at the fish. The claret was excellent and circulated fast. There was a piper at the tavern, and the landlady’s daughter Kate was ‘very alluring.’ Lovat, then seventy-five, and Grange not much younger, warmed with wine, insisted on dancing a reel with Kate Vint: ‘this was a scene not easily forgotten.’ A banquet at Grange’s house of Preston, with a ‘new deluge of excellent claret,’ finished what Carlyle calls ‘a very memorable day.’--Carlyle, _Autobiography_, p. 58.

[178] About this time Sir J. Ca[mpbe]ll had the misfortune to have his house burnt and lost everything in it, even to his Body Cloaks. The deplorable situation he was in, never having received any of the money promised him save 200£ call for immediate assistance, and still the more so, that he had from time to time borrowed Money upon his Honour to Return it in such a time, as he had always reason to expect his pension wou’d answer, his failing in which necessarly weakened his Interest in the Country, for two reasons: 1st that he had no money to enable him to entertain and visit his neighbours, and 2ndly So he was not able to keep his word to them from whom he had borrowed it. Both shaggerined him and naturally made him the less confided in other matters, for which reasons I wrote presently to my Lord T[ra]q[uai]r, to write Mr. Drummond then at London, that the money might be gott as he then had the bond I mentioned before in his Custody, but he still putt it off by saying that nothing could be done in it till he went over, as the money was to be gott in france, which was a most rediculous reason, for he told me in paris that it was through Lord Semple he was to find it, which had it been the Case there was no occasion for the things being delayed till he went over, as he was to have no influence but ought to have sent it to Lord Semple. However I don’t believe it will be found upon inquiring yt, Lord Semple knew any thing of the matter for Mr. Drummond would not agree that I should mention the thing to him when at paris, so that I am fully convinced that it was as I have said befor, all a fetch to prevent writing to the King about it, for fear that he should be disapointed of the 4,000 Livres a year he has since got settled upon him.

[179] Lord Lovat must surely have been deceiving or deceived. It was the proud boast of the Monroes that the clan had remained constant to Covenanting principles and to the Protestant succession, being the only Whig clan that never wavered. The Munroes were the only Highlanders who joined Cope on his march to Inverness in 1745.

[180] John Boyle, 5th earl; succeeded as 5th Earl of Cork, 1751; a man of letters; friend of Swift, Pope, and Johnson; died 1762.

[181] Of Wynnstay, 3rd Baronet, M.P. for Denbigh, an ardent Jacobite, almost openly avowed.

[182] 7th February 1744.

[183] He is marry’d to a sister of mine, and upon the Change of the Ministry was made keeper of the Signet, through the Marquiss of Tweedales Interest in the Room of Mr. Mcmillan the Writer.

[184] Thomas Hay of Huntington, East Lothian, advocate; Keeper of the Signet, 1742-46; raised to the Bench as Lord Huntington 1754. His brother, John Hay of Restalrig, W.S., succeeded John Murray as Secretary to Prince Charles on Murray’s falling ill at Inverness, in 1746.

[185] Robert Dundas of Arniston, first President Dundas; born 1685; was Lord Advocate, 1720-25; raised to the Bench as Lord Arniston 1737; became Lord President on the death of Duncan Forbes of Culloden 1748; died 1753. He was the father of Henry (Dundas), 1st Lord Melville.

[186] Sir John Inglis of Cramond, Postmaster-General of Scotland.

[187] Alexander Arbuthnott of Knox, merchant in Edinburgh; grandson of the 1st Viscount Arbuthnott; became Commissioner of Customs 1742; died 1769.

[188] Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton, nephew of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun the great opposer of the Union. Born 1692; elevated to Scottish Bench 1724; Lord-Justice-Clerk 1735-48; died 1766.

[189] Joshua Guest, born 1660; Lieut.-General 1745; died 1747. This is the only categorical statement which I am aware of that Guest was Commander-in-Chief in Scotland before the appointment of Sir John Cope (18th February 1744). Cf. _Book of Old Edinburgh Club_, 1909, p. 17.

[190] Hunter of Polmood was buried in Drumelzier Churchyard on Thursday, February 23, 1744, which dates this incident. His son, Charles Hunter, was married to Murray’s sister, Veronica.

[191] William M‘Dougall, wine merchant in Edinburgh, a brother-in-law of John Murray’s. See _Memorials_, pp. 66, 301, 311.

[192] Probably Dr. Cochran of Roughfoil, a physician in Edinburgh. He may have been a connection of Murray’s, whose aunt Margaret was married to Alex. Cochran of Barbachlaw. Cf. _Memorials_, pp. 38, 54.

[193] John M‘Leod of Muiravonside, Stirlingshire, an advocate. His son, Alexander, was A.D.C. to Prince Charles.

[194] Hartree, a Peeblesshire estate, in Kilbucho Parish, about seven miles from Broughton. The laird of Hartree, John Dickson, was married to Murray’s aunt Anne.

[195] French Fleet wrecked, 25th February old style, 7th March new style, 1744.

[196] On this occasion, as on a subsequent escape from capture, the Duke took refuge in the Invercauld country. See _post_, p, 271.

[197] Charles Stewart, 5th of Ardshiel, a cadet of Appin. He led out the Stewarts of Appin in 1745. Fled to France after Culloden, and died 1757. (He is the chief for whom Alan Breck collected rents. See _Kidnapped_, by R. L. Stevenson, chap. ix.)

[198] Balhaldy.

[199] Probably House of Commons.

[200] Balhaldy.

[201] Balhaldy.

[202] The names in this letter have been deciphered partly by comparison with other ciphers; partly from information given by Murray in his Memorials; occasionally by conjecture, in which last case the word ‘probably’ is prefixed.

[203] Sempill or Balhaldy.

[204] Probably 21st September 1744. Murray wrote two letters to Prince Charles from Senlis, on 21st September (which was a Wednesday). Both are given in _Murray’s Memorials_, pp. 376, 379.

[205] Probably Captain Clephan of Villegass’s Regiment, the second Scots regiment in the service of the Netherlands. See _Murray’s Memorials_, pp. 101, etc., for this, and following notes.

[206] Prince Charles.

[207] Rotterdam.

[208] Captain Anderson, also of Villegass’s Regiment.

[209] Officers of his regiment (probably).

[210] Colyear’s, that is the regiment of the Hon. W. P. Colyear, son of the 1st Earl of Portmore, Colonel of the third Scots regiment in the Netherlands.

[211] Lord Elcho.

[212] Prince Charles.

[213] Probably 30th September 1744.

[214] Dr. Barry.

[215] Probably Adam Cockburn, a hosier in Johnstone’s Court, Charing Cross. See _Murray’s Memorials_, p. 454.

[216] Not quite intelligible, something probably omitted, but apparently meaning that letters for the Prince are to be addressed to the care of ‘Morris,’ an occasional pseudonym for Charles Smith of Boulogne.

[217] Prince Charles.

[218] The King of France.

[219] Probably the English.

[220] Probably the Scots.

[221] A Restoration.

[222] Earl of Traquair.

[223] Scotland.

[224] Scotland.

[225] Perhaps ‘Skye’ referring to the clan of Sir Alexander Macdonald, who was then in collusion with the Jacobites.

[226] Prince Charles.

[227] Probably Nisbet of Dirleton. See _Murray’s Memorials_, p. 103.

[228] Probably England.

[229] Earl of Traquair.

[230] Sir James Steuart.

[231] Duke of Perth.

[232] Lochiel.

[233] Duke of Perth.

[234] Earl of Traquair.

[235] Prince Charles.

[236] Probably English and Scots.

[237] Macleod of Macleod.

[238] Sir James Steuart.

[239] Probably young Glengarry (whom Mr. Andrew Lang identifies as Pickle the Spy).

[240] _N.B._--I am satisfyd the reason for their so doing was that they found themselves blown, and imagined Mr. Burnet would soon drop them, for which they were resolved to prevent him by refusing to Act, and thereby give themselves the Air of significancy. As for the reason they give, in my Opinion it is inexpressibly frivelous and even betraying of their own want of a hearty Zeal, for their Masters Interest. For had I, either from Roguery, Ignorance, or folly, deceived Mr. Burnet in what I said, it was no reason for their Giving up a Scheme of such Extensive consequence, which plainly shows its not from principle they Act. At the same time I cannot see the least ground to believe they had any scheme going on, as they kept no correspondance with any of the Ministers save Mr. Orri,[655] as I was informed whose department did not lead him to treat of such like matters, neither was there then the least thing for an Expedition. As to my advice to Mr. Burnet, it is sufficient he knew it to be in every sense absolutely false, but the view they had in so doing is too obvious not to be seen through. They knew Kinny was just going over, and, as he is a man of Consequence in the Country, could they have influenced him against me they would thereby have broke the force of my Representations, being satisfied I would not fail in my arrival here to make known their shameful procedure to Mr. Edwards friends, and I must observe since at it was a very convenient time as Mr. Burnet seemed resolved to make the Money they promised to procure for Arms, the touchstone of their Veracity, and the frenches sincerity, so that their refusing to act at that time prevented the Sd--v believing them baffled men.

[241] Captain John Drummond, a nephew of Balhaldy’s.

[242] Prince Charles.

[243] Prince Charles.

[244] King.

[245] Rome.

[246] The Chevalier de St. George.

[247] Duke of Perth.

[248] Earl of Traquair.

[249] Lochiel.

[250] Scotland.

[251] James Fea of Clestrain (or Clesterton), in Stronsay, constituted himself a Jacobite leader in Orkney and attempted to raise men for the Prince. In March 1746 when Lord Macleod took his regiment to Thurso, Mackenzie of Ardloch, invited by Fea, went over to Stromness to raise men and money. None of the islanders were willing to go out, and Ardloch declined to take unwilling recruits although Fea offered to press some men. Ardloch, however, carried off £145 of cess and a quantity of smuggled brandy. For his indiscretion, Fea’s house of Sound in the island of Shapinsay was burnt down in May by the crews of a squadron sent to hunt down Jacobites, while Fea concealed himself in Caithness until the passing of the Act of Indemnity. (See Allan Fea, _The Real Captain Cleveland_, p. 175; _L. in M._, ii. 337.)

[252] A battle fought at Altimarlach three miles west of Wick, in 1680, between George Sinclair of Keiss, afterwards 7th Earl of Caithness and Sir John Campbell of Glenurchy, afterwards 1st Earl of Breadalbane. Sinclair’s kinsman the 6th earl, falling into debt and having no children, had disponed his titles, property and heritable jurisdictions to Sir John Campbell, the principal creditor, who married the earl’s widow in 1678, having managed the previous year to secure a patent from Charles II. as Earl of Caithness. Sinclair of Keiss resisted his claims by force, and Campbell marched an army of his own men and some royal troops to Caithness. The first advantage was with the Sinclairs, who celebrated the event with drunken revelry aggravated by finding a whisky-laden ship strategically stranded by the Campbells in Wick harbour. Next day the Sinclairs were defeated. It was on this occasion that the air ‘The Campbells are coming’ was composed by Finlay Macivor the celebrated piper of Breadalbane. (Calder, _Hist. of Caithness_, p. 162.) The courts found later that Keiss (grandson of the 5th earl) was entitled to the Caithness earldom; Sir John Campbell was compensated by being created Earl of Breadalbane in 1681, but with the precedency of the Caithness grant 1677.

[253] This Mr. Gilchrist is scathingly treated in _The Lyon_ (iii. 36). He went ‘to Edinburgh and thence to London to misrepresent and asperse the bulk of the Caithness gentry as enemies to the present establishment.’ He is further said to have collected 250 guineas for himself and to have made his friends ‘believe that he could not continue in Caithness for the wicked Jacobites who had threatened to take away his life and destroy his family.’ The writer, a non-juring minister, who had been a prisoner in London, adds sententiously ‘Honest Whigry that never thinks shame of lying for worldly interest!’

[254] George Sinclair of Geese, afterwards captured at Dunrobin, was the only Caithness Sinclair of position who joined the Jacobite army. Lord Macleod marched through Caithness in March 1746, but though the proprietors professed Jacobite sympathies, very few joined his standard. (Fraser, _The Earls of Cromartie_, ii. 398.)

[255] Sir James Stewart of Burray, Orkney, took no active part in the Rising, but he was apprehended on suspicion in May 1746, and taken prisoner to London, where he died of fever in the New Gaol, Southwark, the following August.

[256] George (Mackay), 3rd Lord Reay, b. 1678; suc. his grandfather _c._ 1680; supported government in 1715; was largely instrumental in establishing the presbytery of Tongue 1725; d. 1748.

[257] William (Gordon-Sutherland), 16th earl; b. 1708; suc. his grandfather 1720; d. 1750. His wife was Lady Elizabeth Wemyss, aunt of Lord Elcho of the ’45. His father acted vigorously against the Jacobites in ’15 and ’19.

[258] Assynt in ancient times was the territory of the MacNicols (or MacRyculs or Nicolsons), but in the time of David II. Torquil Macleod IV., of Lewis, married the heiress and obtained the lands. The MacNicols emigrated to Skye, where they have been for centuries. Macleod’s second son inherited Assynt, and there were twelve Macleod lairds. The last of these was Neil Macleod who was tried in 1666, and again in 1674, for betraying the great Marquis of Montrose and other crimes. He was acquitted, but, probably owing to the expense of the trials, he fell into debt, and was driven from his lands which were acquired by the Mackenzies. _Cf._ p. 107, _n._ 1.

[259] See _post_, p. 96.

[260] The writer is wrong here. It was the first earl’s grandfather, Sir Roderick Mackenzie (1579-1626), the terrible Tutor of Kintail who married Margaret heiress of Torquil Macleod of Lewis and Cogeach. George (Mackenzie), 1st Earl of Cromarty (1630-1714), was the antiquary. He was an original member of the Royal Society (London), founded 1662.

[261] See _post_, p. 104.

[262] A battle at Sgeir na Caillich on Lochalsh, between the Straits of Kylerhea and Kyleakin. According to the Clan Donald historians, the battle was fought in 1603. It was not Glengarry (Donald, 7th of Glengarry, who died in 1645, aged 102), but his eldest son Angus, ‘Young Glengarry,’ who was killed.

[263] Now called Glenshiel. The church was erected in the hamlet of Muick.

[264] It is hardly likely that the Macraes will accept this suggestion of descent without strong corroboration which does not seem to exist. A very different origin is given by the Rev. Roderick Morison, minister of Kintail in 1793: ‘It is generally allowed that the Mac Raes emigrated from the braes of Aird, on the Lovat estate, to this place, though what induced them to prefer the mountains to the plains is not universally agreed upon, yet certain it is, that long after their residence in Kintail, they maintained a firm alliance with the Frasers of Aird. The tradition which prevails, that an inscription was set up nigh the entrance to Lovat House, bearing “That no Mac Rae must lodge without, when a Fraser resides within,” is not wholly without foundation. When the Mac Raes first entered Kintail, there were several clans inhabiting it, particularly the Mac Aulays, of whom no vestige now remains. The Mac Lennans, a small tribe in the parish of Glensheal, were the only people that would not yield. These Mac Lennans, at the battle of Auldearn, were intrusted with Seaforth’s colours. The novelty of the preferment roused them to action and stubborn resistance, which proved fatal to the clan, for many were slain; and their widows, 18 in number, were afterwards married to Mac Raes. The boundaries which divide the Mac Raes from the Mac Lennans are marked by a river which runs into Lochduich; but common observation may easily trace a line of distinction from the difference in their language and accent.’ Mr. Morison gives the derivation of the name as _Mhac Ragh_, the son of good fortune, applied by the founder to his son after some successful exploits.--(_Statistical Account of Scotland_, vi. 242; the story of the great slaughter of Maclellans at Auldearn is modified by latest investigators.) The word _Ragh_ or _Rath_ may mean either ‘good fortune’ or ‘grace,’ and the latest clan historian, Rev. Alex. Macrae, is of opinion that the name has an ecclesiastical origin as the ‘son of grace’ applied to a holy man of old. Relying on tradition, he inclines to believe that the Macraes were from Clunes in the Aird and were of common origin with the Mackenzies and Macleans.

The Kintail Macraes were not out in ’45. There was, however, a certain Captain MacRaw in Glengarry’s regiment; he attended Prince Charles when in Lochaber during his wanderings; also a Lieut. Alexander M‘Ra from Banff; and one of the French officers taken prisoner at sea on the voyage to Scotland, was Captain James Macraith of Berwick’s regiment. Gilchrist Macgrath or M‘Kra entertained the Prince in Glen Shiel in his wanderings. Murdoch M‘Raw, ‘nearest relation to the chieftain of that name,’ was barbarously hanged as a spy at Inverness protesting his innocence. (_L. in M._, i. 205, 342; iii. 378; ii. 205, 299.)

[265] See Dickson, _The Jacobite Attempt of 1719_ (Scot. Hist. Soc., vol. xix.).

[266] The Long Island is the name given to the chain of the outer Hebrides from the Butt of Lewis to Barra Head, comprising Lewis and Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriska, Barra and Mingulay.

[267] The story of the transference of the lands of the ancient and powerful family of Macleod of Lewis to the Mackenzies is one of the most pitiful in Highland history. Towards the middle of the sixteenth century, Roderick (or Ruari) Macleod, the last undisputed Macleod of Lewis, married, as his first wife, a natural daughter of John Mackenzie of Kintail. The wife eloped, the son, named Torquil Connanach, was repudiated. Torquil was brought up at Strath Connan (hence his ‘to-name’) by the Mackenzies, who embraced his cause. From that moment the family of Lewis was doomed. Partly by purchase, partly by marriage, but largely by intrigue and violence the lands of Macleod were acquired by the Mackenzies. Lewis was driven to anarchy; feuds of the worst type ensued, father against sons, brothers murdering brothers. Government interfered; Lewis was forfeited and parcelled out among Lowland colonist-adventurers, who were thwarted by the Mackenzies, and at last were glad to go, and in 1610 to dispose of their rights to Mackenzie, who had become Lord Kintail the previous year. Any rights that remained to his cousin Torquil Macleod were made over to the Mackenzies. Meantime, in 1605, Kintail’s brother Roderick had married the daughter and heiress of Torquil, and became possessed of the mainland property of Coigeach. As soon as the Mackenzies obtained the island, they promptly restored order; the remaining members of the old Macleod family were murdered or driven out under a commission of fire and sword. Kintail’s son became an earl in 1623, and took his title from Loch Seaforth in Lewis, while his uncle Roderick, tutor of Kintail, terrible and ruthless (of whom the Gaelic proverb says ‘there are two things worse than the Tutor of Kintail, frost in spring and mist in the dog-days’), built a castle in Strathpeffer, which he called Castle Leod, and when his grandson obtained the earldom of Cromarty in 1685, the second title then assumed was that of ‘Lord Macleod,’ to show that the heritage of the old family of Macleod of Lewis remained with him.

[268] Roderick Macneill of Barra was from home when Prince Charles landed in the neighbouring island of Eriska, July ’45. He took no active part in the rising but was arrested on suspicion in July ’46, taken to London, released in ’47.

[269] For the Macdonald divisions and claims, see Appendix,

[270] John Mackinnon of Mackinnon was the only one of the three Skye chiefs who went out. He joined with his clan at Edinburgh, and served throughout the campaign, but was absent on duty in Sutherland when Culloden was fought. He was attainted. Prince Charles went to him in his wanderings, and the chief conducted him from Skye to the mainland, for which service he was made prisoner, taken to London, but released in July ’47. He died in Skye, in ’56, aged 75 years. He was a son-in-law of Archbishop Sharpe of St. Andrews.

[271] This is a reference to the well-known story of the conversion of the islanders. The laird, a man ‘much respected,’ an elder of the kirk, reproved by the General Assembly for allowing his people to remain in popery, retrieved his character by driving his tenants from the Catholic chapel to the Protestant church with the vigorous application of a gold-headed cane, called by the Highlanders a yellow stick: from this the Presbyterian religion became known in the islands as Creidimh a bhata bhui, the creed of the yellow stick. Cf. Bellesheim’s _Hist. Cath. Church Scot._ (iv. 188).

[272] Called the Parish of the Small Isles.

[273] Modernly, Loch Hourn = Hell Loch.

[274] Scotus and Barisdale were brothers, both being uncles of the chief of Glengarry. The elder, Angus Macdonell of Scotus, was an old man in ’45, and died the following year. He remained at home, but his eldest son Donald went out with Glengarry. Donald fell wounded at Culloden, and was supposed to have died on the field. The clan historians, however, state that evidence has been found in the Stuart Papers at Windsor that certain marauders landed from a ship at night, carried off a number of wounded, among them Donald of Scotus, who after various adventures was captured by Turkish pirates, and held in bondage ever afterwards. (_History of Clan Donald_, iii. 324.) Two of Scotus’s younger sons John and Allan were captains in Glengarry’s regiment. Donald’s eldest son Ranald fought on the Government side in ’45 in Loudoun’s regiment. Ranald’s grandson succeeded in 1868 as 18th hereditary chief of Glengarry.

For Macdonell of Barisdale, see _post_, p. 96.

[275] The _Morar_ family was really not a cadet, but the senior branch of the Clanranald family, descended from the eldest son of Dougall, 6th Clanranald, who was deposed by the clan for cruelty and oppression, and his children excluded for ever from the chiefship, which was conferred on his uncle. Dougall was assassinated in 1520; his family, on whom the lands of Morar were conferred, were known as the ‘MacDhughail Mhorair.’ In 1745 the laird of Morar was Allan, whose mother was a Macdonald of Sleat. He must have been an elderly man, as his wife was an aunt of Lochiel’s, the youngest daughter of Sir Ewan Cameron by his third wife, daughter of the Quaker David Barclay of Urie. Morar was one of the first to meet the Prince on his reaching Lochnanuagh in July ’45. He served as lieut-colonel of the Clanranald regiment. Prince Charles in his wanderings came to him for hospitality in July ’46, and Morar could only give him a cave to sleep in as his house had been burned down. His reception of the Prince, prompted it is said by young Clanranald, was very cold, and he was the object of fierce invective by the chief of Mackinnon, and of sorrowful reproach by Charles himself. (_L. in M._, iii. 187.) According to the clan historians, Morar had the reputation of being ‘an unmanly, drunken creature all his life.’ (_Hist. Cl. Donald_, iii. 256.)

Mr. Andrew Lang says that Morar was the author of the _Journal and Memorial of P---- C---- Expedition into Scotland_ (printed in the _Lockhart Papers_), which is a principal source of knowledge of the early days of the adventure. Mr. Lang did not remember his authority, but was certain of its authenticity. (I had been assured in Moidart that the _Journal_ was by young Ranald of Kinloch-Moidart, but without proof.) Allan of Morar died in 1756. His eldest son, John, was ‘out,’ but in what capacity he served I have failed to trace. Morar’s step-brother, John of Guidale, was a captain in the Clanranald regiment.

Another step-brother was Hugh Macdonald, who had been educated for the Church in France. He was reported to Rome as a ‘scion of one of the noblest branches of the Macdonalds.... He himself is distinguished even more for his zeal and piety than for his honourable birth, and is also a man of singular prudence and modesty.’ (Bellesheim, iv. 386.) He was consecrated Bishop of Diana _in partibus_ in 1731, and appointed vicar-apostolic of the Highlands. The Bishop visited the Prince on board ship on his first arrival, and implored him to return. When the Standard was raised in Glenfinnan it was blessed by Bishop Hugh. What part he took during the campaign I do not know, but after the debacle, he accompanied Lord Lovat in his hiding in Morar. When the fugitives were pounced upon by Ferguson’s party (see _post_, pp. 90, 244) Lovat was captured, but the Bishop escaped and went to France, in September, along with Prince Charles. He returned to Scotland in 1749, when he had an interview with Bishop Forbes, who veils his identity by calling him ‘Mr. Hugh.’ (_L. in M._, iii. 50.) He was betrayed in July 1755, and arrested, released on bail, and obliged to reside at Duns until the following February, when he was sentenced by the High Court to perpetual banishment. (_Scots. Mag._, xvii. 358, xviii. 100.) By connivance of the authorities, the sentence was not enforced, and he remained in Scotland until his death, which occurred in Glengarry in 1773.

The _Kinlochmoidart_ family descends from the 9th Clanranald (d. 1593). The laird in 1745 was Donald Macdonald; his mother was Margaret Cameron, the only sister of Lochiel of the ’45; his wife was a daughter of Stewart of Appin. Donald, as a boy, had fought at Sheriffmuir. His brother Æneas, a banker in Paris, came over from France with Prince Charles. On arrival in Scotland Æneas was sent to summon the laird. Kinlochmoidart, who was given a commission as colonel and made aide-de-camp to the Prince, was at once despatched to summon his uncle Lochiel, and other Jacobite leaders. Prince Charles lived in his house from August 11th to 18th. When a captive the following year, Kinlochmoidart was asked what made him embark in the adventure, ‘Lord, man’ he replied, ‘what could I do when the young lad came to my house.’ (_Carlisle in 1745_, p. 266.) It is interesting from the point of view of Highland hospitality to compare this reply with the advice given to Prince Charles by Clanranald’s brother, Boisdale, who had an interview with the Prince at Eriska on his first arrival, but refused to rise. When he found it impossible to dissuade the Prince from his enterprise he ‘insisted that he ought to land on the estate of Macdonald of Sleat or in that of Macleod, for if he trusted himself to them in the beginning they would certainly join him which otherwise they would not do. The Prince would not follow this counsel, being influenced by others.’ (Bishop Geddes’s MS.) Kinlochmoidart was made prisoner at Lesmahagow in Lanarkshire, in November ’45, while returning to the army from an unsuccessful mission to Sir Alexander of Sleat and Macleod. The principal agent in his capture was a divinity student, Thomas Lining, afterwards rewarded with the living of Lesmahagow. The chieftain was tried at Carlisle, and there hanged on 18th October ’46. His head was fixed on the Scots Gate, where it remained for many years. His house was burned down.

Kinlochmoidart’s family was deeply implicated in the Rising. Four of his brothers served in Clanranald’s regiment: John, a doctor of medicine, who was one of Ferguson’s victims in the _Furness_; he afterwards returned to Moidart; Ranald, whose chivalrous championship of the Prince’s cause, gave the first note of enthusiasm to the adventure (Home, _Hist. Reb._, p. 39); Allan, who fled to France and perished in the Revolution; James, who was captured at Culloden, but escaped; he was exempted from the general pardon, and is supposed to have gone to America. A fifth brother, Æneas the Paris banker, was captured, tried, and sentenced to death. He escaped from Newgate by throwing snuff in the turnkey’s eyes, but being shod with loose slippers he tripped when flying along Warwick Lane and was retaken. He received a conditional pardon, returned to France, and was killed in the Revolution.

[276] The property was acquired in 1726 by Sir David Murray of Stanhope (Peeblesshire) 2nd bart., the father of John Murray of Broughton. He died in 1729, but the work of developing the lead mines and minerals was carried on by his son, Sir James. In 1745 the proprietor was Sir David Murray, 4th bart., nephew of Sir James, He was ‘out,’ served as aide-de-camp to the Prince, and fought at Falkirk and Culloden. He was captured at Whitby endeavouring to escape; was tried at York; sentenced to death; conditionally pardoned; and died an exile in 1770. The forfeited estate in Ardnamurchan was sold for £33,700.

[277] Of Torcastle, fourth son of Sir Ewan Cameron. He was attainted. After Culloden he remained in Lochaber, and was agent for distributing money to the Camerons. At the end of ’47 he was still free, having evaded all attempts at capture (_Albemarle Papers_); of his subsequent career I have no knowledge.

[278] Sir Hector Maclean of Duart (Mull), 5th bart., who was major of Lord John Drummond’s French regiment of Royal Scots, had been sent from France to Edinburgh in May, and was made prisoner there in June, and removed to London. He was tried for his life, but on proving that he was born in Calais he was treated as a prisoner of war. Charles Maclean of Drimnin (Morvern) joined the Prince after the battle of Falkirk; at Culloden, where Drimnin was killed, his Macleans were formed into a regiment with the Maclachlans, commanded by the chief of Maclachlan. Allan Maclean of Brolas, who succeeded Sir Hector in 1750, as 6th bart., joined the Government side. (_Scots Mag._, viii. 141.)

[279] Lachlan MacLachlan; was commissary general in the Jacobite army; killed at Culloden.

[280] For the Maclean and Maclachlan gentlemen, see Appendix.

[281] Rev. John Maclachlan of Kilchoan, ‘chaplain general of the clans,’ friend and correspondent of Bishop Forbes. Writing to the Bishop in 1748, he says, ‘I live for the most part now like a hermite, because all my late charge almost were kill’d in battle, scatter’d abroad or are cow’d at home. (_L. in M._, ii. 210.)

[282] Dugald Stewart, 8th chief of Appin and last of the direct male line. Although a Jacobite, and created a peer, as Lord Appin, by James, in 1743, he did not join Prince Charles. His clan, one of the first to rise, was led out by his kinsman Charles Stewart, 5th of Ardshiel. Dugald Stewart sold Appin in 1765, and died 1769.

[283] Alexander Macdonald of Glencoe was attainted; he surrendered some time after Culloden; he was in prison as late as 1750; date of release or of death not ascertained. Two brothers, James and Donald, went out with him in ’45.

[284] Lochiel’s brother, Alexander Cameron, third son of John of Lochiel, joined the Church of Rome, and became a Jesuit. I have failed to trace what part he took during the campaign; but in July 1746 he was arrested at Morar and put on board the _Furness_, the ship of the notorious Captain Ferguson. Father Cameron was carried to the Thames; he suffered great hardships, and died at Gravesend on board ship. (_Albemarle Papers_, p. 408; _L. in M._, i. 312.)

[285] The last clan battle of importance, known as the Battle of Mulroy, fought in Glenroy, August 1688. The Mackintoshes, who had obtained charters of Keppoch’s country, were ever at feud with Keppoch, who legally owned none of the land his clan occupied. It is said that on this occasion Macdonell of Keppoch (‘Coll of the Cows’) treated his prisoner Mackintosh so kindly that the latter in gratitude offered him a charter of the lands in dispute. Keppoch declined, saying, that he would never consent to hold by sheepskin what he had won by the sword. (_Hist. of Clan Donald_, ii. 645.) Murray of Broughton, however, states that as the result of this battle Mackintosh granted Keppoch an advantageous lease, which was still running in 1745. (_Memorials_, p. 443.)

[286] In 1745 the chief of Keppoch, Alexander (son of Coll), was a Protestant. When his clan joined the Prince he refused to allow a favourite priest to accompany it, and in consequence, a number of his people deserted when at Aberchalder. Keppoch had been created a Jacobite baronet in 1743. His death at Culloden has been the theme of much romance. For some late light on the subject, see Mr. Andrew Lang’s _Hist. of Scot._, iv. 527.

[287] The Grants of Glenmoriston joined the Glengarry regiment.

[288] Not the eldest son, but the third son, Allan Grant of Innerwick. He was taken prisoner by the Jacobites at the bloodless battle of Dornoch. Lord John Murray’s regiment is the Highland Regiment (Black Watch).

[289] See _post_, p. 281 _et seq._

[290] Contrary to what I find is a general impression, the religion of Lord Lovat and his family, as well as his clan, was Protestant. It is true that in his days of outlawry and exile in France, about 1703, Lovat feigned conversion to Romanism, yet from his return to Scotland in ’15, until his capture in ’46, he conformed to the Presbyterian establishment; his bosom friend and crony was the gloomy and dissolute fanatic, James Erskine, Lord Grange. When in hiding after Culloden, along with Bishop Hugh Macdonald, in Loch Morar (see _ante_, p. 82) Lovat informed the Bishop that he had long been a Catholic in his heart, and wished to be received into the Church. He was preparing to make his confession, but before the rite could be accomplished, the fugitives were dispersed by a party of Campbells and seamen from Ferguson’s ship, and Lord Lovat surrendered a few days later. Though he desired the services of the chaplain of the Sardinian embassy while a prisoner in the Tower, where on one occasion he pronounced himself a Jansenist, and although he declared ‘Je meurs un fils indigne de l’Église Romaine,’ there is no evidence, which I know of, that he ever formally joined that communion.

[291] See _post_, p. 99.

[292] Robert Bruce, ordained minister at Edinburgh 1587; Moderator of the Kirk 1588 and 1592, was the son of Bruce of Airth, Stirlingshire, a rude and powerful baron of a family collateral with the royal Bruces. At first Bruce was in high favour with James VI., who placed him on the council of regency when he went to Denmark to be married, 1589, and appointed him to officiate at the coronation of Queen Anne the following year. Subsequently he thwarted the king in his ecclesiastical policy as well as in refusing to acknowledge the guilt of the Earl of Gowrie, who had been his pupil. James had him deposed from his parish, and banished from Edinburgh, 1600. Part of his exile was passed at Inverness (1605-9, and again 1620-24), where he preached to crowded congregations every Sunday. He died at Kinnaird, 1631.

[293] See _post_, p. 104.

[294] The valley of the Findhorn river, Inverness, Nairn, and Moray shires.

[295] See _post_, pp. 100, 410.

[296] See _post_, p. 269 _et seq._

[297] Now called Strathavon.

[298] Duncan Forbes of Culloden; b. 1685; M.P. Inverness-shire 1722; Lord Advocate 1725; Lord President of the Court of Session 1737; d. 1747.

[299] George (Mackenzie), 3rd earl; b. about 1702; known as the Master of Macleod until his grandfather’s death, 1714; as Lord Tarbat until his father’s death, 1731, when he succeeded to the earldom. His father, although a friend and cousin of Lord Mar, had not gone out in 1715. The Earl married, 1724, Isabella, daughter of Sir Wm. Gordon of Invergordon, head of a family ‘noted for their zeal for the Protestant succession.’ He was captured at Dunrobin 1746; condemned to death by the House of Lords; released with a conditional pardon 1749; d. at London 1766.

[300] John (Mackenzie), Lord Macleod, eldest son of 3rd Earl of Cromartie; b. 1727. Captured along with his father; pled guilty; received a conditional pardon 1748; went abroad 1749; entered the Swedish service when the Old Chevalier, at the request of Lord George Murray, sent him the necessary funds for his military outfit; became colonel, aide-de-camp to the King of Sweden, and Count Cromartie; returned to England 1777; raised a regiment for King George, first known as Macleod’s Highlanders, the 73rd, subsequently the 71st, and to-day the Highland Light Infantry; M.P. for Ross-shire 1780; family estates restored to him 1784; m. 1786, Margery, d. of Lord Forbes; d. _s.p._ 1789.

[301] There were three Macdonells all bearing the designation of Barisdale in the ’Forty-five, who are often confused, and who for distinction’s sake may be termed here, Old Barisdale, Young Barisdale, and Youngest Barisdale.

_Old Barisdale_ was Archibald Macdonell, an uncle of Glengarry and a brother of Scotus. He paid his respects to Prince Charles at Glenfinnan, but took no active part in the Rising, probably being too old to go out. In May 1746, however, his house was burned down by Cumberland’s order, and he was carried prisoner on board a ship of war, but was soon released. He died in 1752.

_Young Barisdale_ was Archibald’s eldest son, Coll Macdonell, who is a prominent figure in the rising. He was born in 1698. A man of commanding talent, he filled the _rôle_ of Highland cateran to perfection, and raised a following absolutely devoted to him. He became captain of the watch and guardian of the marches for western Inverness-shire, a vocation (similar to that of his great prototype, Rob Roy) which he exercised with rigour and occasional cruelty. He was able to purchase several wadsets, which gave him territorial importance in the western Highlands. He further strengthened his influence in Ross-shire by his marriages, his first wife being a daughter of George Mackenzie of Balmuchie, and his second wife a sister of Alexander Mackenzie, then laird of Fairburn. He joined Prince Charles at Aberchalder on 27th August at the head of Glengarry’s Knoydart men, fought at Prestonpans, and when the Prince went to England he and Angus Macdonell, Glengarry’s second son, were sent back to the Highlands to raise more men. Barisdale greatly disliked his first cousin Lochgarry, who commanded the Glengarry battalion, so he managed to raise a regiment of his own. (_Murray’s Mem._, pp. 280, 441.) He fought at Falkirk, but was not at Culloden, being absent on service in Ross-shire. In June he was captured and taken prisoner along with his son to Fort Augustus, and there he received a ten days’ protection on condition of giving certain information to Government. For this he was seized by the Jacobites, carried prisoner to France, and confined at St. Malo and Saumur for two years and four months; was not attainted in 1746, but was excluded from the Act of Indemnity in 1747. He returned to Scotland in February 1749, but was again arrested by Government, taken to Edinburgh Castle, and kept a close prisoner without trial until his death, 1st June 1750. A friendly account of this remarkable man will be found in the _History of Clan Donald_, iii. 337; and an unfriendly one in Mr. Lang’s _Companions of Pickle_, p. 97.

_Youngest Barisdale_ was Coll’s eldest son, Archibald, who was not quite twenty years old at the beginning of the adventure. He acted as major of the Glengarry regiment. His name was included in the list of attainders in 1746, apparently in mistake for his father. He was made prisoner along with his father in 1746, first by Government and afterwards by the Jacobites; he was carried to France, where he was held in durance for a year. He returned to Scotland, and in 1749 was again imprisoned by Government along with his father, but was immediately released. Once more he was arrested in 1753, at the time when Dr. Archibald Cameron was taken and executed. Barisdale was tried and sentenced to death in March 1754, but reprieved. He was kept a prisoner until 1762, when he was finally released. At his own request he at once took the oath of fealty to Government, and accepted a commission in the 105th Regiment (the Queen’s Own Royal Highlanders), which was disbanded the following year. He died at Barisdale in 1787.

[302] Captain in Cromartie’s regiment; was captured at Dunrobin; tried at Southwark in 1746, pleaded guilty and was condemned to death; he was not executed; I am ignorant of his subsequent career.

[303] Simon Fraser, b. 1726: after Culloden gave himself up to Government; attainted 1746, pardoned 1750; joined the Scottish bar 1752; acted as Advocate-Depute in the Appin murder trial, an episode immortalised in R. L. Stevenson’s _Catriona_; raised a Highland regiment for the Government 1757, and served with it under Wolfe in Canada (regiment disbanded 1763); M.P. Inverness 1761; family estates restored to him 1774; raised a second regiment of two battalions 1775, for the American War, which he did not accompany (regiment disbanded 1783); died a lieut.-general 1782. Sir Walter Scott calls the Master of Lovat the good son of a bad father. A very different account is given by Mrs. Grant of Laggan--‘he differed from his father only as a chain’d-up fox does from one at liberty.’ (See _Wariston’s Diary_, etc., p. 275, Scot. Hist. Soc., vol. xxvi.)

[304] Charles Fraser the younger, b. 1725, nephew and heir-presumptive of William Fraser of Inverallochy, Aberdeenshire, the senior cadet of Lovat’s clan.

His father, Charles Fraser of Castle Fraser, younger brother of the laird of Inverallochy, had inherited the property of Muchall or Castle Fraser (Kemnay, Aberdeenshire), on the death of his step-grandfather Charles, 4th and last Lord Fraser, who lost his life near Banff by falling over a precipice while in hiding to avoid capture after the ’15. In 1723 the elder Charles Fraser was created ‘Lord Fraser of Mushall’ by the Chevalier in recognition of his services, and particularly those of his father, ‘who died bravely asserting our cause, and in consideration of the earnest desire of the late Lord Fraser, when we were last in Scotland, to resign his titles of honour in favour of the said Charles’ father.’ I am not aware of what these special services were, nor why the elder brother William was passed over both for the Castle Fraser inheritance and the Jacobite peerage. Charles Fraser eventually succeeded to Inverallochy in 1749 on the death of his brother William. He was probably too old to go out in 1745, and his son went out as Lovat’s lieut.-colonel, ‘in accordance with the ancient highland practice and the policy of Lord Lovat as being nearest in blood to the chiefship.’ Young Inverallochy was killed at Culloden, and the story of his death is very painful. It is first told in a general way in _The Lyon_ (ii. 305; iii. 56), and afterwards with more detail by Sir Henry Seton Steuart of Allanton in the _Antijacobin Review_ of 1802 (p. 125) as follows:--

‘When the celebrated General Wolfe (at this period a lieut.-colonel in the army) was riding over the field of battle with the D---- of C-m-b-l-d, they observed a Highlander, who, though severely wounded, was yet able to sit up, and, leaning on his arm, seemed to smile defiance of them.--“Wolfe,” said the D----, “_shoot_ me that Highland scoundrel, who thus dares to look on us with such contempt and insolence!”--“My commission,” replied the manly officer, “is at your R----l H----s’s disposal, but I never can consent to become an _executioner_.” The Highlander, it is probable, was soon knocked on the head by some ruffian less scrupulous than the future conqueror of Quebec. But it was remarked by those who heard the story, that Colonel Wolfe, from that day, visibly declined in the favour and confidence of the commander-in-chief. We believe that some officers are still alive who are not unacquainted with this anecdote.’

Mr. Beckles Willson, Wolfe’s latest biographer, accepts the story as regards Wolfe but doubts its applicability to Cumberland. Wolfe, it must be remembered, was on Hawley’s staff, not Cumberland’s. These generals could easily have been mistaken for each other. The action is very like Hawley, who was hated by the soldiers, who nicknamed him the Hangman, and who held his military talents in contempt, a feeling shared by Wolfe. Moreover, it was a Jacobite cult to vilify the Duke, and to impute all cruelties to him personally. Seton Steuart was not an entirely unprejudiced writer; he had been brought up in an atmosphere of uncompromising Jacobitism. He was a cousin of Sir James Steuart of Goodtrees and of Provost Stewart of Edinburgh, both of whom suffered; while his wife was grand-daughter of Charles Smith of Boulogne, the Jacobite agent frequently mentioned in Murray’s Papers. (See _ante_, p. 11.)

[305] James Fraser, 9th of Foyers (Lochness), descended from the 3rd Lord Lovat, was one of the most ruthless and devoted henchmen of Lovat, who made him bailie of Stratherrick. He received from Prince Charles a special commission, dated 23rd September 1745, to seize President Duncan Forbes and carry him prisoner to Edinburgh, an enterprise which failed. His name was excluded from the act of indemnity, but he was afterwards pardoned and his estates restored. It was to his house that John Murray of Broughton was carried the day before Culloden.

[306] _N.B._--Most of the Chisholms are Papists.

[307] This does not quite accord with the clan history. Roderick, the chief of Chisholm, was then forty-eight years old. What part he took in the Rising is not on record, but he was specially excluded from the act of indemnity. His eldest son Alexander seems to have stayed at home; his second and third sons were officers in the Government army, and fought under Cumberland at Culloden; his fourth son, who was a physician in Inverness, afterwards provost, seems to have taken no part; his youngest son, Roderick Og, led out the clan; he ‘headed about eighty of the Chisholms at the battle of Culloden, himself and thirty thereof were killed upon the field.’ (Mackenzie, _Hist. of the Chisholms_.)