Chapter II: Macleod 294 (4)

An odious tale is told by the ‘Impartial Hand,’ about Barisdale’s conduct to his wife’s young sister. We do not trust the Impartial one where we have not corroboration, and, to his fair prisoner, Lady Sutherland, Barisdale certainly displays a tender gallantry. But she may not have regretted that her Barisdale was occasionally absent. Cumberland was approaching, and, on the eve of Culloden, Lord Cromarty was captured in ‘The Battle of Golspie,’ while dallying over his _adieux_ to ‘his favourite Amazon,’ the Countess of Sutherland, as the Impartial one invidiously declares.

The Countess must have managed her diplomacy adroitly, for the Whig author previously cited says, ‘It is a pity the present Earl of Sutherland should be such a weak man, but his lady behaved very honourably, though her brother (nephew) the Lord Elcho, was engaged in the Rebellion.’[60] The lady’s letter to Prince Charles was not known to our author.

Barisdale, leaving his fair prisoner, marched south, and halted at Beauly, on the night before Culloden. ‘He might easily have reached the field, had he been any way resolute or brave.’ But like the Master of Lovat and Cluny, Barisdale came up too late. The fugitives passed through Inverness, under his eyes, and Barisdale also made off.

He was at the Meeting of the Chiefs at Murlagan, on May 8, when it was determined to rally in a week, and a treaty was made, that all should hold together, in spite of the Prince’s defection.[61] When the week ended, nobody came to the tryst but Lochgarry, who retired at once, Lochiel, and Barisdale, with three or four hundred of their clans. But the Rev. John Cameron, in ‘The Lyon in Mourning’ (i. 88) accuses Barisdale of promising to return next day, as a blind, and of sending instead two companies of infantry in English service, to capture Lochiel. They were recognised by their red crosses, and Lochiel escaped, ‘which was owing to its not being in Barisdale’s power’—to catch him, ‘rather than to want of inclination,’ says Mr. Cameron. Murray of Broughton represents Barisdale as accusing his cousin and enemy, Lochgarry, of treachery, and believes that both were equally guilty, but Lochiel was as incapable of suspecting as of being guilty of treason. In his Letter to the Chiefs, of May 26, he says that Clanranald’s men refuse to leave their own country, that Glengarry’s men have yielded up their arms (induced thereto, we shall see, by Old Glengarry), that Lochgarry promised to return, but did not, and that, ‘trusting to Lochgarry’s information, we had almost been surprized.’ But he never hints at a suspicion of Barisdale.[62]

On June 10, says the ‘Impartial Hand,’ Barisdale and Young Barisdale both surrendered to Ensign Small, in a cave. But Barisdale, it is known, got a protection, on his promise to deliver up Prince Charles. He laid several schemes to this end, and had two companies to seize the Prince at Strathfillan. Sheridan, however, ‘who had a talent for reading men with as great freedom and judgement as others do books,’ warned the Prince, who kept out of Barisdale’s clutches.[63] So says the Impartial Hand.

His story of the protection for Barisdale was true, as witness the following letters from the Cumberland Papers, at Windsor Castle.

_From G. Howard to Col. Napier, A.D.C. to D. of C._

‘July 5th....

‘A person passed me here yesterday morning whom I took to be
lawful Prey, but, to my great concern, he produced a Pass-port
for himself and 4 servants with their arms &c., syned by Sir
E. Faulkner: it was dated only the day before yesterday. The
person was McDonald of Barisdale, who is so particularly
zealous for hanging our officers. I asked him if he had seen
H.R.H. (Cumberland). He said no, but that a friend got him his
Protection.’

_Lord Albemarle to Duke of Cumberland_

‘July 26th.

‘The Complaint is universal against Barisdale, therefore I
shall not renew his protection, but drive and burn his country
to punish him for having made such a bad use of your goodness.
Glengarry is much commended for his behaviour.’

Finally, Barisdale had already induced several Macdonnells to lay a written information against Old Glengarry, their chief.

How did Barisdale, who had played a part so conspicuous, manage to obtain a protection from Sir Everard Faulkner? That is the point which we shall later find him explaining with singular candour. Protected he was, and, in pursuit of information, he had the singular impudence to venture, with his son, in September 1746, on board the ship which was to carry the Prince, Lochiel, Lochgarry, and other gentlemen to France. They could not but be aware that Barisdale had made his submission, and was come on no good errand. Lochgarry was his bitter enemy. They therefore put Barisdale and his son in irons, shut them down under hatches, carried them to France, and there imprisoned these gentlemen of Knoydart on a charge of treason. Mr. Fraser Mackintosh, a very innocent writer, thus describes the high-handed outrage: ‘Barisdale was so unpopular with the Camerons, that, without the slightest warrant, they took it on themselves to deport Coll Macdonnell, and his son Alexander [Archibald?] to France.’ Mr. Fraser Mackintosh attributes this unwarrantable action to ‘the Camerons,’ with whom Barisdale was generally ‘unpopular.’ But, of course, the seizure was warranted by Charles, Prince Regent, who is said to have knighted Barisdale on a stricken field. The seizure was more than justified, and was not due to poor Col’s ‘unpopularity.’

Col languished in a French prison till 1749. In March he ventured back to Scotland, finding himself, after his release, very ‘unpopular’ in Flanders. He was promptly culled like a flower by his old captor, Ensign Small, and was brought before Erskine for examination. Erskine writes that he found the tall bully ‘under visible terror.’ France had imprisoned him. England was likely to give him what ‘he wad be nane the waur o’’—a hanging. His house was left unto him desolate; he would flirt no more with fair captive Countesses: no one trembled at his frowning brows: it was Barisdale’s turn to tremble, as he did. He was locked up in Edinburgh Castle, where, at least, he was safe from avenging dirks. He there penned the following explicit confession, in hopes of a pardon, and pay as a spy. Perhaps Cumberland refers to Barisdale’s earlier services in this capacity, in a letter of August 2, 1749. Cumberland speaks of ‘the goodness of the intelligence’ now offered to Government. ‘On my part I bear it witness, for I never knew it fail me in the least trifle, and have had very material and early notices from it.’[64]

Here, then, follows Barisdale’s confession to the Justice Clerk in Edinburgh. It entirely disposes of Mr. Fraser Mackintosh’s suggestion that the Camerons seized Barisdale because he was ‘unpopular.’

_Narrative given in by Barrisdale to the Justice Clerk_

(_H. O. Scotland. Bundle 41. No. 13. State Papers. Domestic_)

April 10th, 1749.

‘His Royal Highness, the Duke of Cumberland, sent a protection
by Sir Alexr. Macdonald to Barisdale, upon delivering to him
of which, he told him, in Consequence of the Favours the Duke
intended for him, he should cause all such as he would have any
Influence with, surrender their arms directly, which Barisdale
did at the Barracks of Glenelg immediately thereafter; by
which the Concert of those that imagined to make any further
resistance was broke, and he gave all the Assurances Sir Alexr.
desired of him, to be a good faithful subject, yt would give
all obedience to the Government, which Since he has perform’d.
_But from that time the Jacobite party design’d to ruine
Barisdale_, and endeavoured, with all Calumny’s, to make him
odious to all partys and all Persons. The Pretender’s Son
having returned from the Isles to the Continent (mainland), Sir
Alexr. Macdonald wrote to Barisdale, desiring to inform him
of some particulars, which he did very distinctly, and soon
after his R. Highness [Cumberland] left Fort Augustus, my Lord
Albemarle, then Commander in Chief, desired Sir Aler. McDonald
to send for Barisdale to Fort Augustus. Sir Alexr. Macdonald
wrote to him, and accordingly Barisdale waited of my Lord
Albemarle at Fort Augustus, at Sir Alex. McDonald’s Lodgings,
where before Sir Alex. McDonald, his Lordship told Barisdale,
as the Pretender’s Son was now returned from the Isles to
the Continent (mainland), if he hop’d for the Continuance of
his R. Highness’s Favours, he must lay himself out in giving
Assistance to have the Person of ye Pretender’s Son sez’d.

‘Barisdale answered, in Sir Alexander’s Presence, that Sir
Alexr. never made any such Proposal to him from his R. Highness
(Cumberland); and if he was a Man supposed formerly in the
Jacobite Interest, and _upon getting a better Light_, to
forsake them it would be very inconsistent wth. Honour, for a
Man so supposed, to go such Lengths. But for his share, were
he to do his utmost to comply with his Lordship’s desire, he
could expect little success in it, since all the Jacobite Party
were upon their Guard, even the meanest Highlander, to give no
Intelligence to any he had Influence with.

‘His Lordship and he parted that Day: my Lord Loudoun, Sir
Alexr. McDonald, and Barisdale, being at a Bottle that night,
resumed all that past at that Communing—Loudoun said, “I own
what his Lordship desires of you, may not be easy for you to
perform, but such Information as you can best receive, you can
transmit to his Lordship and you can make an Observe upon each,
according to the Credite you give yourself to the Information.”

‘My Lord Albemarle, the next day, at Sir Alexander’s Lodgings,
insisted as the Day before; and Barisdale agreed, such
Informations as he could learn, he would transmit them, wt.
Remarks upon them of the Credite he thought they deserved—My
Lord Albemarle gave a Continuance upon the Protection for ten
Days more, which was a short time for Barisdale to go to his
country, and find Informations and then transmit them to Fort
Augustus.

‘However he sent two different Informations wt. Remarks upon
them: is not certain which of the two, my Lord Albemarle or
my Lord Loudoun’s Hands they came to, as the Bearer of them
brought back no Answer in writing: But at the End of the Ten
Days of my Lord Albemarle’s Protection, B. was rather more
distrest than any who were not before protected.

‘Some few days thereafter, being at Sir Alexr. McDonald at
Slaite, hearing two French ships coming to Ariseg, Sir Ar.
McDonald desired Barisdale to go to these Ships, in order to
learn some things he wanted to be inform’d of, and Barisdale
coming to the shore before the Ships, under Pretension of
great Friendship was invited aboard, there being at the Ships
severals he was acquainted with; But soon after he was aboard,
found his Mistake, would not be allow’d afterwards to come
ashore, was carried to St. Malos, seated upon the River La
Luare where he was prisoned about 2 years and four months. The
7th. of February last, with a Sentence of Banishment to leave
France in a few Days, was liberated: which Sentence is now in
the hands of the Governor of Fort Augustus.

‘The Accusations laid against him by the Pretender’s son and
likewise laid before the Court of France were sent to Barisdale
enclosed in a Letter, wrote and signed by George Kelly, the
Pretender’s Son’s Secretary, of which there is a Copy herewith.’

He now offers services unconditionally[65]—‘but is sorry to
be prevented in his Design of going to London as he entended
to throw himself in his R. Highness the Duke of Cumberland’s
Hands, hoping, as he still does, for his Highness’ Protection
and Friendship, as promised to him by Sir Alexander MacDonald
in his R.H’s. Name at their first Conference, when he delivered
to him the protection, in the obtaining of which Barisdale
will be capable, as he is most willing, of doing essential
Services to his R. Highness and the Government in the North of
Scotland:—and says ‘it may appear most reasonable, however,
for the Family he is descended from, or the Clan he is of,
have been attach’d to the Pretender’s Family, that his cruel,
uncommon, and severe usage from that Family will not only
make him most faithfull to the Government, but as stiff an
Enemy as that Family have upon Earth. For it is well known the
Pretender’s Son exprest at Paris to some of the Scots, who
were sorry for Barisdale’s treatment, that while it was in his
power, Barisdale woud never recover his Liberty, at least while
he was in France, for that he was well assured, if ever he
return’d to Scotland, being well assured B. being both resolute
and Revengefull, he woud prove a very destructible Instrument
to his Interest.’

Here are the Jacobite charges against Barisdale:—

_Copy of George Kelly, the P.’son’s Secretary’s Letter_

‘Paris, May 3rd, 1747.

‘... Did you not own publickly, that upon his R.H’s. Approach
to Inverness, you advertised the Lord President and the Lord
Loudoun of the same, and advised them for their further Safety
to retire from thence?... Did you not, without asking their
Advice or Approbation, Surrender yourself to the Enemy, and
enter into certain Articles with them?...

‘Whether, after receiving a Protection from the Enemy, you did
not engage and promise to apprehend the Person of H.R.H. and
deliver him up to them within a limited time?...

‘Whether or not you did not impose on several Gentlemen of
Glengary’s Family, by asserting that he had promised to
deliver them up to the Enemy, and that he was to receive
30_l._ sterling Premium for Each Gentleman he should put into
their Hands? Did these gentlemen sign an information against
Glengary? And were his letters ordering them to take up arms
delivered up to Lord Albemarle, upon which your Cousine,
Glengary, was apprehended?’

And now the whole truth is out, as concerns Col, third of Barisdale. His cruelties, his thefts, his swaggerings, have ended in deliberate treachery, and this worthy chieftain is found endeavouring to do what the humblest peasant disdained even to contemplate, to deliver up the fugitive Prince.

Barisdale took no profit by his iniquity. The Ross people, whom he had harried, burned his famous stocks, and his house, with its ‘eighteen fire-rooms, and many others without fires, beautifully covered’ (roofed) ‘with blue slates.’

He himself died in 1750, in Edinburgh Castle; six soldiers, with no mourners, carried his bulky and corpulent carcase to a grave ‘at the foot of the _talus_ of the Castle.’

So says the Impartial Hand. Of Barisdale’s classical lore, and of his courtesy to a fair captive, we have seen proof. For the rest, a more worthless miscreant has seldom stained the page of history. It was time that such a career as his should be made impossible.

Young Barisdale skulked for years in the Highlands, a kind of Hereward, pursued by the English troops. He was usually accompanied by five or six of his Clan, armed, and in the prohibited Highland dress. He supported life in his father’s fashion, mainly by robbing the herring fishers of a fifth of their takes, under some pretence of a legal claim. His tenants, spoiled by the English troops, probably could contribute little to his maintenance. He is often mentioned in the Cumberland Papers, and, after he had been the guest of young Glengarry’s uncle, Dr. Macdonnell, that physician talked indiscreetly as follows.

On Sept. 30, 1751, Captain Izard, of the Fusiliers, writes: ‘Dr. Macdonald, brother of Glengarry, living at Cailles on Loch Nevis, told that young Barisdale lay at his house the Monday before, and took boat thence to carry his sister home, and he proposed going to the Isle of Skey’ (Skye).[66]

He was taken at last on July 18, 1753, in a wood near Lochourn in Morar, and was tried in Edinburgh on a charge of High Treason, on March 11, 1754. With him was Macdonald of Morar, five or six other Macdonalds, and Mackinnons, a MacEachan, and others. He disputed the indictment, which described him as ‘of Barisdale,’ on the score that his grandfather had only been ‘a moveable tenant of Glengarry’s, without any right in writing whatsoever.’ This plea was disregarded, and he was condemned to be hanged on May 22, bearing his sentence ‘with great composure and decency.’ Being respited, he lay in the Castle till 1762, when he took the oaths, and was released.

By a curious freak of fortune, young Barisdale’s son Col, in 1788, ‘held a Commission to regulate the Fisheries. This, in the height of the fishing season, was no easy task, and required a firm hand. Not only were there disputes among the fishermen themselves, but, apparently, thieves made it a regular trade to attend, and pick up what they could.... The poor fishermen now suffer from piracy in another form. If there were officials like Barisdale armed with sufficient powers, trawling within the limits would soon be extirpated,’ writes Mr. Fraser Mackintosh.[67] The fishermen have never been fortunate. Before trawling came in they had to do with the portentous Col of Barisdale. Perhaps, of the two, they may prefer the trawlers.

Thus, in a generation, the son of Archibald and grandson of Col, the former a brigand and thief alike of cattle and herrings, became a peaceful subject, and protector of the very class of fishermen whom his grandsire had plundered. We may drop a tear over old romance, but reality has its alleviating features. There is absolutely no kind of villainy of which Col of Barisdale was not eminently guilty. Oppression, cruelty, cowardice, theft, and treachery were all among his qualities, were all notorious, yet, till after Culloden, Col could laugh at the law, and was not shunned by society.

We have seen that Col accuses Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat of corrupting his honour, and advising him to sell himself. This may, or may not, be true. The sympathies of Sir Alexander had been Jacobite, before 1745, but Murray of Broughton states that in 1741 he was very angry when Balhaldie put his name on a list of adherents presented to the French Court. ‘He declared he had never given him any authority to do so.’ A statement to the contrary effect will be found in Mr. Mackenzie’s ‘History of the Macdonalds,’ page 234. In 1744, Murray represents him as ready to rise if French troops were landed. Murray repeats, in justice, that Sir Alexander’s promises were purely contingent; they depended on the existence of a ‘well-concerted scheme,’ and there was none. But Sir Alexander not only did not come out, he was won over by Forbes of Culloden to the Hanoverian Cause. ‘I should be sorry,’ says Murray, ‘to have so bad an opinion of mankind as to think any of them cappable of attempting an apologie for him.’ Murray, in his examination, lied in Sir Alexander’s interests, saying ‘he always absolutely refused to have anything to do with the Pretender.’ But, after Preston Pans, Sir Alexander, moved by that victory, said, in the hearing of Malcolm Macleod of Raasay, that he would now raise 900 of his clan and march south to fight for King James. Next morning, however, he received a letter from Forbes of Culloden, and instantly ‘was quite upon the grave and thoughtful, and dropt the declared resolution of his own mind.’[68] In fact, he turned Hanoverian.

Later, in the crisis of the Prince’s wanderings, Sir Alexander was not at home when his wife, Lady Margaret, connived with Flora Macdonald to secure Charles’s escape from Skye. Lady Margaret wrote to Forbes of Culloden that Flora was ‘a foolish girl,’ and thanked God that _she_ knew nothing of the Prince’s being in hiding near her house. Sir Alexander, on the other hand, confessed to Forbes that Flora put his wife ‘in the utmost distress by telling her of the cargo she had brought from Uist.’[69] It was fortunate for everybody, himself included, that Sir Alexander was away from home. He wrote the following letter to Cumberland, confessing nothing:—

_From Sir Alexander McDonald to H.R.H. giving
intelligence of Pretender’s movements_

‘Sconsar, Isle of Sky, 1746.

‘Sir,—This morning Capt. Hodgson remitted to your R. Highness
all the intelligence I had then got; in rideing a few miles I
was informed of the Pretender’s whole progress since he landed
in this island. By the letter remitted to your R.H. he was left
at Portree, 14 miles from my house near which he landed; at
Portree he met one Donald McDonald, who was in the Rebellion,
and who put him into a boat belonging to the Isle of Rasay,
which feryd him into that island; after staying there 2 nights
he returned in the same small boat to the neighbourhood of
Portree, attended by one Malcolm McLeod. That night he and his
companion lay in a byre; next day (the Pretender in shabby
man’s apparel since he left Portree) they found their way
into a part of MacKinnon’s estate, and having found MacKinnon,
though disguised and lurking himself, he found a boat which
next day convey’d the Pretender, MacKinnon, and one John
MacKinnon, into Moror. They sail’d from this island on Saturday
last. MacKinnon was taken in Moror by a party from Sky, and
John McK. was this day seized ... they are both on board the
Furnace and confirm to a trifle the above relation.

‘ALEX. MACDONALD.’[70]

The Baronet tells as little as may be; he does not implicate Flora, and, of course, shields his wife. His own position was awkward.

Sir Alexander died in November 1746, when about to visit Cumberland in England. It is to his credit that he did his best to protect the loyal Kingsburgh. But his vacillations were extreme, and if he really helped to corrupt Barisdale, his behaviour is without excuse. ‘Were I to enumerate the villains and villainies this country abounds in I should never have done,’ wrote Cumberland to the Duke of Newcastle. ‘Some allowance must be made for Sir Alexander’s behaviour in the Forty Five,’ says Mr. Fraser Mackintosh. It was not precisely handsome. The epigram on his death, which has variants, ran thus:

If Heaven be glad when sinners cease to sin,
If Hell be glad when traitors enter in,
If Earth be glad when ridded of a knave,
Then all rejoice! Macdonald’s in his grave.

VI

CLUNY’S TREASURE

The bayonets of Cumberland scarcely dealt a deadlier blow at Jacobitism than the spades which, in gentle and unaccustomed hands, buried the treasure of French gold at Loch Arkaig. About this fatal hoard, which set clan against clan, and, literally, brother against brother, something has been elsewhere said. But the unpublished reports given by spies and informers in the Cumberland Papers and the Record Office throw a great deal of unexpected light on the subject.

Our purpose is, first to offer what may be called official statements as to the original amount and hiding places of the treasure. Next we shall examine the stories as to the disposition and diffusion of the money. These will indicate that the charges of ‘embezzlement’ and ‘villainy’ brought by Young Glengarry against men so noted for their loyalty as Dr. Cameron and Cluny Macpherson are false. In our evidence will occur the testimony of informers, whose names, as they were persons of no historical importance, it seems needless to reveal. But their revelations were employed by Government in securing the condemnation and banishment of Lochiel’s brother, Cameron of Fassifern.

On the whole subject of the hoard we have several statements by Murray of Broughton. The least copious is contained in a tract which professes to be written by a friend of Murray; really it is from his own pen.[71]

Murray, who had been in very bad health since the Prince was in Elgin before Culloden, found himself skulking with Lochiel in a wood near Loch Arkaig. He heard at the same moment of Charles’s flight to the isles, which he condemned, and of the arrival of French ships with money. Most of the party resolved to scatter, but Lochiel declared ‘that to desert his Clan was inconsistent with his honour and their interest,’ and, by his desire, Murray remained with him, ‘unable to refuse the desire of a person for whom he had such a regard, and with whom he had lived so many years in the strictest intimacy.’ Major Kennedy, too, though, like other officers in French service, he might have surrendered safely, most generously clave to Lochiel. In later years Kennedy recovered for the Prince a remnant of the French _louis d’or_.

Murray was next carried to the bay opposite Keppoch, where the French ships were lying. They had been attacked by British vessels of war, but had previously landed 35,000 _louis d’or_ in six (seven?) casks. One cask, however, was already missing. The five casks were conveyed to Murray, and of the stolen cask all but one bag of gold was recovered. Next day the Duke of Perth, who was dying, with his brother, Lord John Drummond, Elcho, old Sir Thomas Sheridan, the Prince’s tutor, the younger Lockhart of Carnwath, and others sailed for France in the ships. Murray paid Clanranald, Barisdale, and others their arrears, with allowances for widows and wounded men, out of the French gold. He then sent off the remainder of the hoard under Archy Cameron’s care, and returned to Loch Arkaig. Fifteen thousand louis were buried ‘in three several parcels in the wood,’ and the empty casks were filled with stones, and carried about with Murray, ‘so as to give no Jelousy to the other Clans of his having more confidence in the Camerons’ than in them. Near the foot of Loch Arkaig, Murray caused Dr. Cameron to bury 12,000 louis, reserving about 5,000 for expenses.

Murray travelled south and was captured in Tweeddale. On August 27, 1746, when in the Tower, he wrote to an English official, ‘last time I had the honour to see you, I offered to lay my hand upon the 15,000 _louis d’or_, and am still certain I can do so, but as the season is now advancing, and the parties will probably soon be called in, it is not in that event impossible but the money may be raised.’ (It was ‘raised’ by Dr. Cameron.) In his Examination (August 13, 1746) Murray had already betrayed the secret of the casks of gold. But the English could never discover the treasure.

Elsewhere, in a paper of accounts, Murray tells, in defence of his pecuniary honesty, all about the disposition of the _louis d’or_.

He accounts for various sums, including 40_l._ to Lochiel, who, like the gallant gentleman he was, had given every penny in his possession ‘to his own people about.’ Mr. Murray ‘chided him for being too easy to give money to whoever asked it.’ A sum of 3,868_l._ was buried in the garden of Mrs. Menzies of Culdairs. This, we presume, was the bulk of the 5,000 louis reserved. Murray corroborates (as in his tract) an anonymous informant’s story, presently to be given, about the stealing of a cask of money, and restitution made after confession to Father Harrison. The penitent however, an Irishman, kept 700_l._, as stated in the anonymous information. Murray reckons at 15,000_l._ a sum buried near Loch Arkaig, by Dr. Archibald Cameron, Young Macleod of Neuck, Sir Stewart Threipland, and Major Kennedy. There were fifteen bags containing 1,000_l._ each; one parcel was put under a rock, in a burn, and two in holes, near at hand, dug by the four gentlemen. Another sum of 12,000_l._, in two parcels, was carried by Dr. Cameron and Mr. Macleod, from Lochiel’s house of Achnacarry, and buried near the _lower_ end of Loch Arkaig. Lochiel received 1,520_l._ for the Prince’s immediate needs, and the rest is scrupulously accounted for the unhappy Secretary. His stories are consistent throughout.[72]

Another description of the arrival and burial of the gold has never been published. It is from the Cumberland Papers, and must have been written about 1749-1750. This is proved by the writer’s mention of Barisdale as still alive, and in prison. Now young Barisdale (Archibald) is not meant, for he was not taken till 1753.[73] His father, Coll Macdonnell of Barisdale, on the other hand, was taken in March 1749, and died in Edinburgh Castle on June 1, 1750.[74]

We now offer this anonymous intelligence of 1749-1750, as to the arrival, burial, and later fortunes of the French gold.

‘_Intelligence sent to Col. Napier from Scotland about Seven
Casks of Money for the Rebels_

Cumberland Papers. Memoir for Col. Napier.

‘Soon after the Battle of Culloden a french privateer anchored
in Loch Nonha in Arisaig, where Doctor Cameron, Brother to
Lochiel, Cameron of Dungallen, prisoner in Edr. Castle, and
many other Rebels were then sculking. One of his Majesties’
20 gun Ships and 2 Sloops were cruising on the West Coast,
immediately got intelligence of the privateers, and came up
and attacked them, but before the action began they had landed
7 Casks of money and committed it to the Charge of Doctor
Cameron, who was upon the shore wth. a great many others of the
Camerons and Mc.Donalds, who flocked from all Corners to see
the engadgement, and among others Mc.Donald of Barrisdale, now
prisoner, was also present and Alexd. Mc.Lachlan in Lidderdale
and Aide-de-Camp to The Pretender.

‘When the action was over, The Commander of the Privateers,
having heard of the Battle of Culloden, insisted to have
the money put on board again. _But the Rebells beg’d to be
excused_, and Doctor Cameron conveyed away six of the Casks
to Loch Morrer, 3 miles from Loch Nonha: (The 7th Cask
being stole) and there he got a boat and went wth. it to
the head of ye Loch and from thence got in to Loch arkick;
And having dismissed all the Country people, He wth. Major
Kennedy, a french Officer, and Alexd. McLeod son to Mr. John
McLeod advocate, took the money out of the Casks, and put it
underground in the head of Locharkick, in the midle of a Wood.

‘There was £6 or 7,000 st. in each Cask, All put up in separate
Bags, £1,000 in Each bag. They afterwards carried away the
empty Casks themselves (none being present but the 3 persons
above named) and when at a considerable distance from the place
where the Money was hid, They caused the Country people put
them under ground in a different place in order to deceive.

‘After this was over, All persons were employed to enquire
after the Cask that was stole during the engadgement. And by
the Assistance and authority of a priest (Father Harrison)
who is great in that country (all Roman Catholics) the money
was recovered except £700, and That is still amissing, ... It
is not well known what became of this broken Cask afterwards
But Dr. Cameron had the Manadgement of it and all the rest,
and it is imagined That The money divided at the meeting with
Lovat, at the head of Loch arkick, was part of it, and £3,000
was given to one Donald Cameron at Strontian to Conceal, wch
he again delivered to The Doctor, but got not one shilling
for himself. [Is this the money hidden at Culdares?] Severals
of the Country people got each a Louis d’or and some of their
gentlemen got each 2 or 3 and that was all the Distribution
made among the Camerons.

‘His Majestie’s troops afterwards search’d the woods of
Locharkick for this money, and were often round the place
where it was, and missed very narrowly finding it, for being
hid by Gentlemen, not used to work, it was very unskilfully
done, and the stamps and impression of their feet visible
about the place. But as soon as Dr. Cameron found a proper
opportunity, He went and took up the money and hid it in two
different places of the wood. In one of them he put 12,000_l._,
wch he shewed to his own son, and another man, That in case
he was taken, it might not be lost altogether, and the other
part he put in a place which he shewed to nobody. And thus it
remained till a Ship arriv’d in Loch Nonha to carry off the
Pretender &c. When the above Ship arriv’d He (the Pretender)
was sckulking in one of the Glens of Brad Badenoch where he
had been for some time conceal’d in a place under ground, with
Lochiel, Cluny Mcpherson, and some other person. Upon receiving
Intelligence of the arrival of this Ship, It seems it was
concerted That Cluny should remain in Scotland and have the
Charge of the money. And having come all together from Badenoch
to Locharkick, they got Dr. Cameron, who went and shew’d Cluny
the 2 different places where the money was: Left him in that
Country, and the rest went and embarked with the Pretender in
Loch Nonha. Whether there was any of the bags then taken up (as
is probable) carried with them, or how many, is what I am not
informed of.

‘But Certain it is that Cluny immediately after Carried the
£12,000 to Badenoch And there were in Company wth. him Angus
Cameron (of Downan) a Rannoch Man, brother to Gleneavis,
McPherson of Breachy (Breakachy), a brother in Law of his own,
and his piper.

‘The other part of the money, was shew’d to no Living but
himself, and he either did not find an opportunity, or did not
think convenient to come for it, untill a month afterwards,
when he came and carried it also away, but I am not justly
Informed who were wth. him, nor how much was of it, tho’ It is
generally believed That he got betwixt £20 and £30,000 in all.

‘It is said by Cluny’s Friends that the Pretender, after
embarking, sent a note to Cluny with particular instructions
how he was to manadge the money and to whom he was to give
any part of it,[75] and _they say that he has conformed in
the most exact manner to his Instructions_, but The other
Rebells in the highlands grumble egregiously That he has not
done them justice. I have only heard That he gave £100 to Lady
Keppoch[76] and have reason to think That if he made any other
distributions it was to some other of the principall Gentlemen
of The Different Clans, to be given away among their people,
and that those have thought fit to retain all to themselves.

‘I know it is strongly suspected that Cameron of Gleneavis,
whose Brother (Angus) was wth Cluny at Carrying away the
£12,000, has received a Large proportion by some means or
other, and there is great reason to think so, as he was almost
bankrupt before the rebellion and is now shewing away in a very
different manner, particularly This year about a month ago,
there were 120 Louis d’ors sent from him to a man in Locharkeek
to buy Cattle for him; and some of the Camerons having lately
threatened to be resented of him for his behaviour about yt
money, he met with them, and parted good friends, which is
supposed to have been done by giving them considerably.

‘Barrisdale tells that Cole or Major Kennedy was to embark much
about the same time yt he came from France, was to land on the
West Coast in order to meet with Cluny, and carry away the
money, but I have not yet learned any thing wth regard to him,
And am apt to believe That he has rather landed on the Eastern
Coast and my reasons for this Conjecture are: That one Samuel
Cameron (Brother to The above men’d Cameron of Gleneavis) Major
in the Regt. which was Lochiel’s in the French Service, was at
Edr. and came in a Chaise with the famous Mrs. Jean Cameron
to Stirling, where they parted, and she came to her house in
Morvern about the middle of March, and he took some different
route: It is supposed That he came over on a message wth.
regard to that money, and I the rather believe it as his two
brothers seem to have been concerned in it, and I am apt to
think that Kennedy and he have come together, but this is only
my own conjecture. Another reason which induces me to believe
That he would Chuse to land on the E. coast is That Cluny would
not probably Like to march with that money or trust himself
among the highlanders, who would probably not let it pass
without partaking liberally.

‘It has been said That the French Officer Cameron came to Mrs.
Jean Cameron’s, but I am certain he has not come, else I would
have got Intelligence of him, for I have had a sharp look
out for him and all others of that Kind. And I think he would
not probably venture so near the Command and specially after
hearing of Barrisdale’s fate’ (taken in March 1749).

‘It is said That his Two Brothers and Cluny have differed
about the money, and therefore Cluny would not see this French
Officer nor trust him wth anything and some say He is gone back
again, but how far This is true I can’t positively determine.

‘The above is all that I have been able to learn wth regard to
that money from first to last, and I am much convinced that the
Substance of it is true.’

[Unsigned.]

Even before the probable date of this intelligence, Government knew that Cluny’s fidelity to his trust had embittered his relations with the Camerons of Glenevis and Glengarry’s people. There is a curious anonymous note of January 26, 1748,[77] written by a man who could spell, and was something of a scholar. ‘_Scyphax_,’ he says, ‘is still in the country and there are disturbances between him and the _Dorians_ and _Ætolians_ over the goods left by the _Young Mogul_.’ Scyphax is Cluny, the Dorians are the Camerons, the Ætolians are the Glengarrys; the Young Mogul is Prince Charles: ‘Nothing but stealing and plundering prevails in all quarters here.’ The writer may have been a Presbyterian minister.

The author of the long letter of intelligence is unknown, but he can hardly have been an English officer, like Ensign Small, who did much secret service in the Highlands. _His_ name is always signed to his Reports, as when he tried to catch Lochgarry on shipboard, in 1753. The information, however obtained, is accurate, and, so far, entirely exculpates Cluny from the various unpleasant accusations brought by his enemies.[78] Major Kennedy really went from France to Newcastle, and received 6,000_l._ for Charles, a sum conveyed to him, at what peril we may imagine, by Macpherson of Breakachy.[79]

We now consider the various accounts given of embezzlement by Dr. Cameron and Cluny. It is certain that, in November or December, 1749, Young Glengarry, Lochgarry, and Dr. Cameron were in Cluny’s country, that they handled the treasure, that they quarrelled, and that they carried their dispute before the exiled James in Rome. Dr. Cameron accused Young Glengarry of obtaining the money by a forged order from James; while Glengarry charged Cluny and the Doctor with ‘embezzlement’ and ‘villainy.’ Cameron, he said, declared that the Royal Family had given up all hopes of a restoration, and told the Highlanders that they must now shift for themselves. He also took 6,000 louis d’or of the Prince’s money, ‘and I am credibly informed,’ says Glengarry, ‘that he designs to lay this money in the hands of a merchant in Dunkirk, and enter partners with him.’[80] Again, in an undated letter to Charles, of about March 1751, Glengarry denounces the embezzlement and ‘villainy’ of Cluny and Dr. Cameron.[81] He acknowledges having taken ‘a trifle’ himself. Another account, clearly from a Macdonnell source, occurs in old Gask’s hand, among his papers.[82] Dr. Cameron is here, as by Glengarry, credited with absorbing 6,000_l._, while Cameron of Glenevis is said to have ‘intercepted’ 3,000_l._, and Cluny, ‘for his estate’ gets 10,000_l._ This reads like a variant of Young Glengarry’s tale told to Bishop Forbes in April 1752. According to that version, Cluny and Lochiel took security from Charles for the full value of their estates before they joined the Royal Standard. This full value is the 10,000_l._ which Cluny is said to have ‘embezzled.’

_Prince Charles_

_circ. 1747._]

Now the only independent evidence against Dr. Cameron is contained in a letter of his uncle, Cameron of Torcastle, to Prince Charles.[83] In this Torcastle denies that he himself touched the money, and avers that he knew nothing of it, till Dr. Cameron ‘told it himself at Rome, where I happened to be at the time’ (1750). This letter is singularly inconsistent with another unpublished letter from Douay, of August 28, 1751. The epistle was intended for Cameron of Glenevis, but was intercepted by Colonel Crawfurd, Governor of Fort William. The Colonel attributed its authorship to Cameron of Torcastle, and if the attribution be correct, the letter contradicts Torcastle’s accusations of his nephew, Dr. Cameron. Whoever the author of the Douay letter may be, he speaks of ‘the industrious malicious designs and scandalous untruths, publicly handed about against Lochiel’s family by Gl⸺ry.’ ‘Chalmers (Dr. Cameron) knows very well that when truth comes out, these people will fall with scandal into the trap they have contrived for others.... All that Chalmers (Dr. Cameron) saw or had access to _was his expenses_.’ The writer then speaks of the ‘unprecedented method Gl⸺ry &c. took to get att their sinister ends,’ and about Gl⸺ry’s misrepresentations of Chalmers to Mr. Young,’ the Prince. Singular irritation against Lochgarry is also expressed.[84]

On this showing Dr. Cameron got no 6,000_l._, but only his expenses. Now, that Dr. Cameron should receive his expenses was perfectly legitimate. But, if he took 6,000_l._, as Young Glengarry declares, his character is lost. In 1750, 6,000_l._ was a fortune. Dr. Carlyle, writing of that time, speaks about a minister who married a lady with a tocher of 4,000_l._, which then was equivalent to an estate. When executed in June 1753, Dr. Cameron left his family destitute. Consequently he cannot have helped himself to 6,000_l._, and put it into commerce, as Glengarry alleged. That he did nothing of the sort, we have the very curious evidence of an Informer in 1753. This man, declaring that he is afraid of being informed against by Young Glengarry, informs against him. He says, in his information:

‘In Sep. 1749 Dr. Cameron told him (the Informer) he had come over to get some money on behalf of Lochiel’s Family; That Fassfarn got from Clunie £6,000, took it to Edinburgh the following winter, and put it in the hands of John Mc.Farlane, W.S.[85] Dr. Cameron at the same time got £350: and Fassfarn £400 more to be employed in making good certain claims on the estate of Lochiel.

‘Says he saw Dr. Cameron a day or two after, who denied either he or Fassfarn had got any money, alledging that Cluny would not give it without orders from the Old Pretender: That the Doctor was off to Rome (1750) to get these, with only £100 for expenses. That the following winter he (the Informer) met Young Glengarry, who disproved this by giving him a copy of the Accounts in Clunie’s writing of all the money.’

Here follows Young Glengarry’s _alleged_ copy of Cluny’s accounts:—

‘_A State of Clunie McPherson’s Intromissions_

£ s. d.

‘By Cash given Dr. Cameron and Fassfern, _secured
with Fassfern for use of young Lochiel_ 6,000 0 0
” sent to Lochiel by Angus Cameron and
Donald Drummond, brother to Bohaldie 1,000 0 0
” given the Dr. when last in Scotland to carry
his Charges to and from Rome 350 0 0
” at 2 different times by Angus Cameron to
the Clan Cameron and others needy 800 0 0
” charged by Clunie for his Estate 5,000 0 0
” ” ” for his Commission 1,000 0 0
” ” ” for 30 Men from September
1746-Sep. 1749. 1,627 10 0
” charged by Clunie as his pay, at half a-guinea
per diem during said time 542 10 0
” charged by Clunie as Maintenance of his Family 1,400 0 0
” charged by Clunie for Brechachow (Breakachie) 800 0 0
” given to young Glengarry Nov. 1749 300 0 0
” given by Clunie to his Clan 500 0 0
” ” Fassfern to pay Publick Burdens
on Lochiel’s Estates, viz. Cess
and Teinds due by the Tenants 200 0 0
” given Fassfern to defray the Expences in
carrying on the Claims on Lochiel’s Estate 100 0 0
” Alleged by Clunie to be in Angus Cameron’s hands 500 0 0
” in Clunie’s hands 4,880 0 0
------------
£25,000 0 0
============

‘N.B.—Young Glengary got £1,900 at Edinburgh from Mr. Mc.Dougald
at the sight of Mr. John Mc.Cleod of Nuck, Advocate, of which
Glencarney got £80 and Glencoe £50. But this money had no
connection with Clunie’s Intromissions, having been carried
to the South by Mr. John Murray.’[86] [Part of the 5,000 louis
kept by Murray?]

According to this statement, said to be produced as Cluny’s, Dr. Cameron did _not_ receive 6,000_l._ for himself. The money went to the support of the exiled family of Lochiel, who had died in 1748. The large claims made by Cluny rest, as before, on the word of Young Glengarry.

In May 1753, Fassifern himself, then a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, was examined. He declined to give any evidence against anybody on any charge. He admitted that in 1749 he received 4,000_l._ from Evan Cameron of Drumsallie, now dead, for Lochiel’s family. He asked no questions, but deposited it with Mr. Macfarlane, W.S., who lent it out to Wedderburn of Gosford, in Fassifern’s name. Fassifern acted as a near relation for his exiled nephew, Lochiel’s son.

Thus the money which Dr. Cameron is said to have seized, was used for the support of Charles’s best friends, the family of his most renowned adherent. So vanishes the charge that Dr. Cameron speculated with the money.[87]

As to Cluny’s retention of money, the same difficulty occurs as in the case of Dr. Cameron. He arrived in France a destitute exile, when, by Charles’s command, he ceased to skulk in the caves of Ben Alder, and crossed to join the Prince in 1754. There is no trace of the value of an estate in his possession, though Charles, in ordinary gratitude, owed him much more than he is said to have claimed. Thus it is certain that Archibald Cameron did not help himself to the Prince’s money; while the story about Cluny is inconsistent both with his honourable poverty and with figures, for these accounts make no allowance for 6,000 louis, certainly conveyed to Charles by Major Kennedy. The whole scandal rests merely on the word of Young Glengarry.[88]

VII

THE TROUBLES OF THE CAMERONS

This affair of the treasure caused endless calamities, especially involving Cameron of Glenevis, a place within two or three miles of Fort William. The relationship of this family to the head of the clan, Lochiel, stands thus: Archibald Cameron of Dungallon, who died in 1719, was the husband of Isabel Cameron of Lochiel. By her he left two sons and three daughters, of whom Jean married Dr. Archibald Cameron of Lochiel, the last Jacobite martyr; while Mary married Alexander Cameron of Glen Nevis.[89] Glenevis, or Glen Nevis, was not out in the Rising of 1745, but he was imprisoned in 1746, and released in 1747.[90]

The house of the Camerons of Glenevis, according to Mr. Mackenzie’s ‘History of the Camerons,’ was of very ancient standing. It was ‘generally at feud with Lochiel, and this feeling of antagonism came down even to modern times. Indeed, it has been maintained that the Glenevis family were _originally not Camerons at all, but Macdonalds_, who settled there under the Macdonalds of the Isles, before the Camerons had any hold on the district.’ They are also spoken of as Macsorlies. However this genealogical point may be settled, there was no love lost between Glenevis and Young Glengarry.

The Glenevis family, though not overtly engaged for the Cause, suffered from the brutalities of the victors. In spite of Glenevis’s abstinence from the Rising, his family was persecuted. Mrs. Archibald Cameron communicated to Bishop Forbes a lamentable story of how her sister, Glenevis’s wife, was stripped by Cumberland’s men, under Caroline Scott, and only permitted to keep a single petticoat. Her little son’s gold buttons and gold lace were cut off his coat, and the child was wounded by the knife.[91] This story, which has contemporary evidence from the lips of Lady Glenevis’s sister, Mrs. Archibald Cameron, has received the usual picturesque embroidery of Highland tradition. Dr. Stewart (‘Nether Lochaber’) got the tale from some ladies named Macdonald, in this fashion: the infuriated soldiery, finding none of the plate and jewels which Lady Glenevis had buried, observed a bulky object under her plaid. Slashing with swords at the plaid, to discover the supposed treasure, they wounded the lady’s baby, a child of a few months old. Mrs. Cameron’s less romantic version, if either, is correct.[92] The brothers of Glenevis were Allan, who fell at Culloden—_felix opportunitate mortis_; Angus of Dunan or Downan, in Rannoch; and that unhappy Samuel, called Crookshanks, whom Dr. Cameron, before his execution, denounced as ‘the basest of spies.’ He was in French service, but was drummed out, after Dr. Cameron’s death.

In October 1751, Colonel Crawfurd, commanding at Fort William, received from head-quarters information about Glenevis’s and Angus’s share in the treasure. Fassifern, Lochiel’s brother and representative, was also denounced. The Colonel took to the duties of policeman with a will, and the following letter from him describes his arrest of the accused:—

_From Lieut.-Col. Crawfurd to Churchill_

Cumberland Papers.

Fort William: Oct. 12, 1751.

... ‘When I received the Packet from the Express, I without
hesitation affected a surprise and concern at receiving the
news of our Cloaths being stranded, and pretended to consult
him about the nearest way through the Hills to Aberdeen, near
which Place I saw the misfortune had happened; this answerd
extremely well in blinding our good Neighbours in the Town of
Maryburgh,[93] who are for the greatest part ready enough to
give Intelligence to the Country, of any Movements made by the
Garrison. I then employed Captn. Jones to execute the warrant
upon Fassifarn, and that he might be at no loss in not knowing
the Man or the Country, I sent Mr. Gardiner along with him,
whose zeal and readiness to assist you are no strangers to.
They pretended to go in the German Boat on a fishing scheme,
and turning up Lochiel, they soon got to his house, and secured
him and every Thing of Paper Kind, bringing all to the Garrison.

‘As soon as they were set out for Fassifarn I pretended to take
a walk out of the Garrison, to see if I coud make a purchase
of Hay for my Horses, and taking Mr. Douglas, the Sheriff
substitute, out with me,[94] by way of shewing me the Road and
Country, I allowed only two more officers to accompany me, that
we might give no suspicion of our Intentions, which would have
been soon discovered had I allowed more or sent a Party.

‘However, notwithstanding these precautions, we were told
at going to the House, that Glen Nevis was walk’d out with
his Brother in Law, Dungallon, and still persisting that
we shoud be glad to see Glen Nevis, to talk with him about
his Hay, I prevailed on his wife to send a messenger for
him into the Fields, which having done I took care, that
no other Intelligence should go from the House, and then
proceeded to search for his Papers: but I soon perceived that
a Consciousness of Guilt, had made him secrete almost every
Paper, and the hearing that Dungallon[95] had come to his
House in the Middle of the preceeding Night, confirmed me
in my suspicions that we should see no more of Glen Eves or
Dungallon. I then ordered the Parties who were in readiness to
go round the Hill, and come down upon the Head of the Glen,
making a strict search, but it was to no purpose. You’ll please
to observe that Dungallon, by way of blinding Douglas, had
wrote him on the Wednesday, that it woud be some Days before he
coud be in this part of the Country, and yet that very night,
near the middle of it, did he come to Glen Eves’ house, and for
what Intention may be easily guessed.

‘It is however some satisfaction that notwithstanding the pains
they have been at, to conceal their treasonable practices,
yet by their remissness I have found some Old Letters among
Cloaths, which will greatly help to put their transactions
in a proper light, and part of wch I have now enclosed for
your perusal. [The letters enclosed are not in the Cumberland
Papers.] The Letter I have marked No. 1. is a Letter from Glen
Evis to his brother Angus Cameron, in the beginning of which
you’ll see that Fassifarn and he are not in concert, and that
Fassifarn complains of them both, as I imagine for having got
too great a share of the money, and Glen Eves’ hint to Angus
is, not to look upon Fassifarn as his friend.