Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

6. That all Persons, of what Nation soever, have full freedom and liberty to trade to and from the said colony under the condition after mentioned, and that such of them as shall come to live and inhabite on the said Colony, shall according to their respective States and conditions enjoy equal privileges with the other Inhabitants thereof, such Inhabitants first giving up their several names and designations to be enrolled in a particular Register to be kept for that use....

8. That the Company do reserve to themselves, the 1/20th part of all Lands and grounds that shall be possessed by the said Colony.

9. That the Company do also reserve to themselves, the 1/20th part of all Gold-dust, Mines of Gold, Silver, or other Metalls or Minerals, to be delivered above ground free of all Charges, together with the said proportion of Pearl-fishing, Wrecks, Ambergreese, precious wood, Jewels, Gems or Stones of value, that shall any ways be found in or upon the said Colony or dependancies thereof, and that the remaining 19 parts thereof do equally belong to the Company and Colony in proportion to their respective proportions of Lands in the said Colony, they always contributing in proportion to their respective interests to all Charges for discovering and working the said Mines and others....

In testimony of all which Premisses, these presents are in name, presence, and by order of the said Council General, Signed by the Company's Secretary and Sealed with the Company's Seal, At Edinburgh the eighth day of July One Thousand Six hundred and Ninty eight years.

C. WHY THE COLONY FAILED (1698).

+Source.+--Bishop Burnet's _History of His Own Times_, vol. iv., p.
395. (Oxford: 1833.)

... The company in Scotland, this year, set out a fleet, with a colony, on design to settle in America: the secret was better kept than could have been well expected, considering the many hands in which it was lodged; it appeared at last, that the true design had been guessed, from the first motion of it: they landed at Darien, which, by the report that they sent over, was capable of being made a strong place, with a good port. It was no wonder that the Spaniards complained loudly of this; it lay so near Porto Bello and Panama on the one side, and Carthagena on the other, that they could not think they were safe, when such a neighbour came so near the centre of their Empire in America: the King of France complained also of this, as an invasion of the Spanish dominions, and offered the court of Madrid a fleet to dislodge them. The Spaniards pressed the King hard upon this: they said, they were once possessed of that place; and though they found it too unhealthy to settle there, yet the right to it belonged still to them: so this was a breach of treaties, and a violent possession of their country. In answer to this, the Scotch pretended, that the natives of Darien were never conquered by the Spaniards, and were by consequence a free people; they said, they had purchased of them leave to possess themselves of that place, and that the Spaniards abandoned the country, because they could not reduce the natives: so the pretension of the first discovery was made void, when they went off from it, not being able to hold it; and then the natives being left to themselves, it was lawful for the Scots to treat with them: it was given out, that there was much gold in the country. Certainly, the nation was so full of hopes from this project, that they raised a fund for carrying it on, greater than, as was thought, that kingdom could stretch to; four hundred thousand pounds sterling was subscribed, and a fourth part was paid down, and afterwards, seventy thousand pounds more was brought in, and a national fury seemed to have transported the whole kingdom, upon this project.

... Our English plantations grew ... very jealous of this new colony: they feared, that the double prospect of finding gold and of robbing the Spaniards, would draw many planters from them into this new settlement; and that the buccaneers might run into them: for by the Scotch act, this place was to be made a free port; and if it was not ruined before it was well formed, they reckoned it would become a seat of piracy and another Algiers in those parts. Upon these grounds, the English nation inclined to declare against this, and the King seemed convinced, that it was an infraction of his treaties with Spain: so orders were sent, but very secretly, to the English plantations, particularly to Jamaica and the Leeward islands, to forbid all commerce with the Scots at Darien. The Spaniards made some faint attempts on them, but without success. This was a very great difficulty on the King; he saw how much he was like to be pressed on both hands, and he apprehended what ill consequences were like to follow, on his declaring himself either way.

D. INDIGNATION IN SCOTLAND (1699).

+Source.+--Bishop Burnet's _History of His Own Times_, vol. iv., p.
429. (Oxford: 1833.)

In Scotland all men were full of hopes, that their new colony should bring them home mountains of gold; the proclamations sent to Jamaica and to the other English plantations were much complained of, as acts of hostility, and a violation of the common rights of humanity; these had a great effect on them, though without these, that colony was too weak and too ill supplied, as well as too much divided within itself, to have subsisted long; those, who had first possessed themselves of it, were forced to abandon it: soon after they had gone from it, a second recruit of men and provisions was sent thither from Scotland; but one of their ships unhappily took fire, in which they had the greatest stock of provisions; and so these likewise went off: and though the third reinforcement, that soon followed this, was both stronger and better furnished, yet they fell into such factions among themselves, that they were too weak to resist the Spaniards, who, feeble as they were, yet saw the necessity of attacking them: and they finding themselves unable to resist the force which was brought against them, capitulated; and with that the whole design fell to the ground, partly for want of stock and skill in those who managed it, and partly by the baseness and treachery of those whom they employed.

The conduct of the King's ministers in Scotland was much censured in the whole progress of this affair; for they had connived at it, if not encouraged it, in hopes that the design would fall of itself; but now it was not so easy to cure the universal discontent, which the miscarriage of this design, to the impoverishing the whole kingdom, had raised, and which now began to spread, like a contagion, among all sorts of people. A petition for a present session of parliament was immediately sent about the kingdom, and was signed by many thousands: this was sent up by some of the chief of their nobility, whom the King received very coldly: yet a session of parliament was granted them, to which the duke of Queensbury was sent down commissioner ... it was further given out, to raise the national disgust yet higher, that the opposition the King gave to the Scotch colony, flowed neither from a regard to the interests of England, nor to the treaties with Spain, but from a care of the Dutch, who from Curasoe[12] drove a coasting trade, among the Spanish plantations, with great advantage; which, they said, the Scotch colony, if once well settled, would draw wholly from them.... In the session of parliament it was carried by a vote, to make the affair of Darien a national concern: upon that, the session was for some time discontinued. When the news of the total abandoning of Darien was brought over, it cannot be well expressed into how bad a temper this cast the body of that people: they had now lost almost two hundred thousand pounds sterling upon this project, besides all the imaginary treasure they had promised themselves from it: so the nation was raised into a sort of a fury upon it, and in the first heat of that, a remonstrance was sent about the kingdom for hands, representing to the King, the necessity for a present sitting of the parliament, which was drawn in so high a strain, as if they had resolved to pursue the effects of it by an armed force. It was signed by a great majority of the members of parliament; and the ferment in men's spirits was raised so high, that few thought it could have been long curbed, without breaking forth into great extremities.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] Curacoa.

THE UNION IMPENDING (1703).

+Source.+--_Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik,
Baronet, Baron of the Exchequer: extracted by himself from his own
Journals, 1676-1755_, p. 46. (Edinburgh: Scottish Historical
Society, 1892.)

A Convention of Estates followed the Revolution by King William in 1688, which was afterwards turned into a Parliament, and continued 'till the Death of that King in 1702. The same parliament continued to sit upon the accession of Queen Ann to the Crown, and was not dissolved till the year 1703, when the new Parliament was called.... I have thrown together some observations on this session of Parliament in another Manuscript book, so shall say little here. It was divided into 3 factions, who, as they had different views, drove different ways. The first was what was called the Court party; they were for supporting the Crown and the Credit of the High Commissioner, consequently they were for giving moderate subsidies for supporting the Government against the insults of the French, with whom we were, at that time, in war. They had the union of the two nations in view, because they not only considered it as the happiest thing that could be brought about for the Interest of Great Britain, but because it was expressly recommended to them by the Queen. The second faction was that of the Jacobites; they were to thwart and disturb the Administration at any rate. The third faction was what went under the name of the Squadrone Volante. These consisted of about fifteen Lords and Gentlemen, all Whigs in their principles, but who herded together, and kept little or no communication with the Duke of Queensberry[13] and his Friends. They were for opposing everything which they durst oppose, but to keep firmly in their view the succession of the Crown in the House of Hanover. They pretended to be great Patriots, and to stand up chiefly in defence of the rights and privileges of the subjects; in a word, the public good and the liberty of the subjects were still in their mouths, but in their Hearts they were known to have Court preferments and places in the chiefest degree of veneration. These were the springs and motives of all their Actions, which appeared in a hundred instances thereafter. However, by the bye, I must say that such a Squadrone Volante in any Parliament seems to be always a happy means in the hand of Providence to keep the several members of an Administration in their duty, for people in great power seldom fail to take more upon them than falls to their share.

The chiefs of the Squadrone Lords were the Dukes of Montrose and Roxburgh, the Earls of Rothes and Haddington, all these young men of about 24 years of Age; but the chief of all, at least the man under whose name they principally voted, was the Marquis of Tweeddale, a very good Man, but not perfectly qualified for Court intrigues.

Amongst their Gentlemen was one Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun, a Man of Republican principles, who had spent his youth in Holland, had been forfeited under the late King James, but afterwards restored under King William by Act of Parliament. He was a man a little untoward in his temper, and much inclined to Eloquence. He made many speeches in Parliament, which are all printed, but was not very dexterous in making extemporary replies. He was, however, a very Honest Man, and meant well in everything he said and did, except in cases where his humour, passion, or prejudices were suffered to get the better of his reason.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] The Royal Commissioner.

UNION OF THE CROWNS.

A. THE LAST SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT (1705).

+Source.+--_A Journey to Edenborough in Scotland_, p. 112, by Joseph
Taylor, late of the Inner Temple, Esquire. Edited from the original
manuscript by William Cowan. (Edinburgh: 1903.)

It hapned whilst we were at Edenborough, that the Act for a treaty of Union, between England and Scotland, was upon debate, and having the honour to have severall Lords and Members of parliament often dine with us, they inform'd us of the Grand day when the Act was to be past or rejected, and by speciall favour of my Lord high Commissioner, we had leave to stand upon the throne by his right hand: The usuall way to admit strangers is to give them a battoon; which holding in their hands, shows that they are forreigners. The Lords and Comons sit together; As soon as we heard the names call'd over, We observ'd Dukes, Marquesses, and Earles sat on the Uppermost seats on the right hand, Viscounts and Barons on the uppermost Seats of the left, The Knights of the Shires under the Dukes, Marquesses, and Earles, and the Burgesses and Commoners under the Viscounts and Barons. The Lord Chancellor under the Commissioner's Throne, The Lord Treasurer on his right hand, and the Secretary of State on his left, and directly under him the Lord Justice Clerk, and at the head of a long Table, on which is plac't the Crown, Scepter, and Sword, the Earle Marshall; The Lord high Commissioner has his Commission always before him in a velvet purse on his cushion.

When they began to debate, we observ'd that the principall leading men of the High party, or those which oppos'd the Court, were the Duke of H----,[14] the Duke of A----,[15] the Lord C----y,[16] and the Lord B--a--en,[17] and one Fletcher of Salton, who speaks well, but with a great deal of passion, The Earle of S--f--d,[18] who is Lord C----r,[19] is a very ingenious man, His cheif perfection, and what is most requisite for his office in the house, is resuming debates, which he does with an admirable dexterity, by giving soe happy a turn for the Interest of the party he espouses, that he generally carryes the point, without the censure of either party. The Lord high Commissioner says nothing; The Duke of Ar----e[20] was thought, as we were told not only too young for so high a Station, but too warm to bear the Reflections of some of the leading Malcontents, but on the contrary he behav'd himself in this criticall juncture, with so sedate and even a Temper, that he justly gain'd an universall reputation, and brought the Sessions to a happy conclusion. The Lord Chancellor determines upon all debates who shall speak first, when anything is put to the vote, every member is call'd by his name, and answers singly, approven, or not approven. The grand debate this day, being about the Act for a treaty with England, many learned speeches were made on the occasion. Some were for passing no Act till England had given them satisfaction for the affront they pretended was put upon them, by the Act pass'd last Sessions in England, which not only declar'd them Aliens, but prohibited their goods, and thereby touch't them in the most sensible part. Fletcher said, that England could not make them Aliens, since they were naturall born subjects to the Queen; ... After his debate, others were for making the English Aliens in Scotland, as a Retaliation for our making them soe in England: ... But after many other debates, and hard reflections on the English, it was at last put to the Vote, whether there should be added a clause to the Act of treaty, which should prohibit any treaty with England, till England had rescinded the Clause of Aliens, or whether it should be in a seperate way. Seperate way was carry'd by two Voices, ... The next great point was, whether the Queen or parliament should have nomination of Commissioners: ... 'Twas carry'd the Queen should nominate by 4 Voices. Then a Gentleman propos'd to add a clause, to preserve the discipline and Worship of the Kirk of Scotland, as at present establish'd: One propos'd it should be the Religion and Discipline, but my Lord Chancellor told them, that was all the same thing, and H----[21] said, 'twas not worth a Vote, and his brother the Earl of R----[22] ask't whether they might not add the Lord's prayer and Creed, and indeed by what I could observe, they would add the whole Common Liturgy of the Church of England, for they seem'd to be quite tir'd of the Kirk discipline: Now the whole Act being finish'd, the Vote was put whether it should be carry'd approven, or no, and 'twas carry'd approven, by 34 voices. As soon as this was over, we left the house, and that night Collonell Ogilby,[23] the Lord Chancellor's brother, the Lord Hardress,[24] and severall Lords and parliament men, came to our lodgings, and embrac'd us with all the outward marks of love and kindness, and seem'd mightily pleas'd at what was done; and told us we should now be no more English and Scotch, but Brittons. And thus we merrily spent the night, in drinking to the Success of the treaty and happy union, and next day, Colonell Ogilby and some Scotch Lords enquir'd mightily for the 3 English Gentlemen, as they call'd us, having a mind to give us a chirrupping Cup,[25] but we went to Leith that day, being willing to avoid them.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Hamilton.

[15] Athole.

[16] Cromarty.

[17] Belhaven.

[18] Seafield.

[19] Chancellor.

[20] Argyle.

[21] Hamilton.

[22] Ruglen.

[23] Colonel Patrick Ogilvy.

[24] No such peer.

[25] Stirrup cup.

B. DRAFTING THE TREATY (1706).

+Source.+--_Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik,
Baronet, Baron of the Exchequer: extracted by himself from his own
Journals, 1676-1755_, p. 55. (Edinburgh: Scottish Historical
Society, 1892.)

We of the Committee of Parliament for the publick accompts continued our applications to the matters remitted to us till the Parliament met in September 1705. John, Duke of Argyle, a youth of about 23 years of age, was appointed her Majesty's High Commissioner, and in this station behaved himself in a manner far above what cou'd be expected from one of his years.... A ... great benefit I received by my intimacy with the Duke and his brother was to be recommended to the Queen for one of the Commissioners to be appointed by Her Majesty for the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland.... This choise, however honourable to me, was very far from giving me the least pleasure or satisfaction, for I had observed a great backwardness in the Parliament of Scotland for an Union with England of any kind whatsoever, and therefore doubted not but, after a great deal of expense in attending a Treaty in England, I should be oblidged to return with the uneasy reflexion of having either done nothing, or nothing to the purpose, as had been the case of former Commissioners appointed for this end. I was, in short, upon the point of refusing the Honour conferred upon me, and the rather that my Father, whom I always considered as an Oracle seldom mistaken, seemed not to approve of it. However, as at last he grew passive, and that the Duke of Queensberry threatened to withdraw all friendship for me, I suffered my self to be prevailed upon, and to take journey for London with other Commissioners, and arrived there on the 13 of Aprile 1706.

... The Commissioners of both nations met in different apartments in the Royal palace of Westminster, which commonly goes under the name of the Cockpit. There was one great Room where they all met when they were called upon to attend the Queen, or were to exchange papers, but they never met to hold conferences together except once, when the number of the Scotch Representatives for the two Houses of the British Parliament came to be debated, all their transactions were reduced in writings concerted in seperat apartments. When proposals or Conditions of the Union were to be made by the English Commissioners, the Scots were desired to meet them in the great Room, and their proposals were given in by the L^d Chancellor, or the Keeper of the great seal, who was at that time the Lord Cooper, and when the Commissioners for Scotland had any thing to propose, or had answers to be made to the Commissioners of England, these were presented by the L^d Seafield, then Chancellor for Scotland....

The first grand point debated by the Commissioners for Scotland amongst themselves was whether they should propose to the English a Federal union between the two nations, or an Incorporating union. The first was most favoured by the people of Scotland, but all the Scots Commissioners, to a Man, considered it ridiculous and impracticable, for that in all the Federal unions there behoved to be a supreme power lodged somewhere, and wherever this was lodged it henceforth became the States General, or, in our way of speaking, the Parliament of Great Britain, under the same royal power and authority as the two nations are at present. And in things of the greatest consequence to the two nations, as in Councils relating to peace and war and subsidies, it was impossible that the Representatives or their suffrages in both nations cou'd be equal, but must be regulated in proportion to the power and riches of the several publick burdens or Taxations that cou'd affect them; in a word, the Scots Commissioners saw that no Union cou'd subsist between the two nations but an incorporating perpetual one. But after all the trouble we gave ourselves to please the people of Scotland, we knew at the time that it was but losing our labour, for the English Commissioners were positively resolved to treat on no kind of union with us but what was to be incorporating and perpetual....

The Queen came among us three several times, once at our first or second meeting, to acquaint us of her intentions and ardent good wishes for our success and unanimity in this great Transaction. At about a month thereafter she came again to enquire of our success, and had most of our Minutes read to her, and for the last time of what we had done....

I was ... intrusted with another province by the Commissioners for Scotland, which was to review the Calculations made for the Equivalent to be paid to Scotland for bearing their share of the Debt of England, which were afterwards to be considered as the Debts of Great Britain. These calculations were chiefly made by Doctor Gregory, professor of Mathematicks in the College of Oxford, and a certain great accomptant and projector, one Patersone,[26] from Scotland, but bred in England from his infancy....

One day I had occasion to observe the Calamities which attend human nature even in the greatest dignities of Life. Her majesty was labouring under a fit of the Gout, and in extream pain and agony, and on this occasion every thing about her was much in the same disorder as about the meanest of her subjects. Her face, which was red and spotted, was rendered something frightful by her negligent dress, and the foot affected was tied up with a pultis and some nasty bandages. I was much affected at this sight, and the more _when she had occasion to mention her people of Scotland_, which she did frequently to the Duke. What are you, poor meanlike Mortal, thought I, who talks in the style of a Soveraign? Nature seems to be inverted when a poor infirm Woman becomes one of the Rulers of the World, but, as Tacitus observes, it is not the first time that Women have governed in Britain, and indeed they have sometimes done this to better purpose than the Men.

But to return to the Treaty of Union, the Articles were at last agreed to, sign'd, and sealed, by all the Commissioners, the 22 of July 1706. They were afterwards presented to the Queen at her palace of S^t James, before a very numerous Assembley.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] Founder of the Bank of England, and originator of the Darien Scheme.

C. POPULAR HOSTILITY TO THE UNION (1706).

+Source.+--_The History of the Union of Great Britain_, part iv., p.
27, by Daniel De Foe. (Edinburgh: 1709).

The common people now screw'd up to a pitch, and ripe for the mischief designed, and prompted by the particular agents of a wicked party, began to be very insolent: It had been whispered about several days, that the rabble would rise, and come up to the Parliament House; and cry No Union; that they would take away the Honours, as they call them, viz. the Crown etc., and carry them to the Castle, and a long variety of foolish reports of this kind. But the first appearance of anything mobish was, that every day, when the Duke[27] went up, but principally as he came down in his chair from the House, the mob follow'd him, shouting and crying out, GOD bless his Grace, for standing up against the Union, and appearing for his country, and the like.... On the 22nd of October, they follow'd the Duke's chair quite thro the city down to the Abbey Gate; the guards prevented their going further; but all the way as they came back, they were heard to threaten what they would do the next day; that then they would be a thousand times as many; that they would pull the traitors, so they called the treaters of the Union at London, out of their houses, and they would soon put an end to the Union.

On the 23rd they made part of their words good indeed; for, as the Parliament sat something late, the people gather'd in the streets, and about the doors of the Parliament House, and particularly the Parliament Close was almost full, that the members could not go in or out without difficulty; when Duke Hamilton was coming out of the House, the mob huzza'd as formerly, and follow'd his chair in a very great number; the Duke, instead of going down to the Abbey as usual, went up the High Street to the Land-Market,[28] as they call it, and so to the lodgings of the Duke of Athole; some said, he went to avoid the mob; others maliciously said, he went to point them to their work.

While he went in to the Duke of Athole's lodgings, the rabble attended at the door; and, by shouting and noise, having increased their numbers to several thousands, they began with Sir Patrick Johnston, who was one of the treaters, and the year before had been Lord Provost; first they assaulted his lodgings with stones and sticks, and curses not a few; but his windows being too high, they came up the stairs to his door, and fell to work at it with sledges, or great hammers; and, had they broke it open in their first fury, he had, without doubt, been torn in pieces without mercy; and thus only, because he was a treater in the commission to England; for, before that, no man was so well belov'd, as he, over the whole city.

His lady, in the utmost despair with this fright, comes to the window, with two candles in her hand, that she might be known; and cried out, for GOD'S sake, to call the guards; an honest apothecary in the town, who knew her voice, and saw the distress she was in, and to whom the family, under GOD, is obliged, for their deliverance, ran immediately down to the town guard; but they would not stir, without the Lord Provost's order; but that being soon obtain'd, one Captain Richardson, who commanded, taking about thirty men with him, march'd bravely up to them; and making his way with great resolution thro the crowd, they flying, but throwing stones, and hallowing at him, and his men, he seized the foot of the stair case; and then boldly went up, clear'd the stair, and took six of the rabble in the very act; and so delivered the gentleman and his family....

The city was now in a terrible fright, and every body was under concern for their friends; the rabble went raving about the streets till midnight, frequently beating drums, and raising more people; when my Lord Commissioner being informed, there were a thousand of the seamen and rabble come up from Leith; and apprehending, if it were suffered to go on, it might come to a dangerous head, and be out of his power to suppress, he sent for the Lord Provost, and demanded, that the Guards should march into the city.

The Lord Provost, after some difficulty, yielded; tho it was alleged, that it was what was never known in Edinburgh before. About one o clock in the morning, a battalion of the Guards entered the town, marched up to the Parliament Close, and took post in all the avenues of the city, which prevented the resolutions taken to insult the houses of the rest of the treaters.

The rabble were intirely reduc'd by this, and gradually dispers'd, and so the tumult ended....

The author of this[29] had his share in the danger of this tumult, and tho unknown to him, was watch'd and set by the mob, in order to know where to find him, had his chamber windows insulted, and the windows below him broken by mistake. But, by the prudence of his friends, the shortness of its continuance, and GOD'S providence, he escaped.

FOOTNOTES:

[27] Of Hamilton. An opponent of the Union.

[28] The Lawn Market.

[29] De Foe was known to be staying in Edinburgh as the emissary of the English Government.

D. "AN END OF AN OLD SONG" (1707).

+Source.+--_The Lockhart Papers: containing Memoirs and Commentaries
upon the Affairs of Scotland from_ 1702 _to_ 1715, vol. i., p. 222,
by George Lockhart, Esq., of Carnwath. (London: 1817.)

It is not to be doubted, but the Parliament of England would give a kind reception to the articles of the Union as passed in Scotland, when they were laid before that House, as was evident from the quick dispatch in approving of and ratifying the same; and so the Union commenced on the first of May 1707, a day never to be forgot by Scotland; a day in which the Scots were stripped of what their predecessors had gallantly maintained for many hundred years, I mean the independency and soveraignty of the kingdom, both which the Earl of Seafield so little valued, that when he, as Chancellor, signed the engrossed exemplification of the Act of Union, he returned it to the clerk, in the face of Parliament, with this dispising and contemning remark, "Now there's ane end of ane old song."

"THE WEE, WEE GERMAN LAIRDIE"[30] (1714).

+Source.+--_The Jacobite Songs and Ballads of Scotland from 1688 to
1746_, p. 65. Edited by Charles Mackay, LL.D. (London and Glasgow:
1861.)

Wha the deil hae we gotten for a King,
But a wee, wee German lairdie!
An' when we gaed to bring him hame,
He was delving in his kail-yairdie[31]:
Sheughing[32] kail,[33] and laying leeks,
But[34] the hose and but the breeks;
Up his beggar duds[35] he cleeks,[36]
The wee, wee German lairdie!

And he's clapt down in our gudeman's chair,
The wee, wee German lairdie!
And he's brought fouth[37] o' foreign trash,
And dibbled[38] them in his yairdie:
He's pu'd the rose o' English loons,
And brake the harp o' Irish clowns,
But our Scots thristle will jag[39] his thumbs,
The wee, wee German lairdie.

Come up among the Highland hills,
Thou wee, wee German lairdie.
And see how Charlie's lang-kail[40] thrive,
That he dibbled in his yairdie:
And if a stock ye daur to pu',
Or haud the yoking of a pleugh,
We'll break your sceptre o'er your mou',[41]
Thou wee bit German lairdie!

Our hills are steep, our glens are deep,
No fitting for a yairdie;
And our norlan'[42] thristles winna pu',
Thou wee, wee German lairdie!
And we've the trenching blades o' weir,[43]
Wad lib[44] ye o' your German gear,
And pass ye 'neath the claymore's shear,
Thou feckless[45] German lairdie!

He'll ride nae mair on strae sonks,[46]
For gawing[47] his German hurdies[48];
But he sits on our gude king's throne,
Amang the English lordies.
Auld Scotland! thou'rt owre cauld a hole
For nursing siccan[49] vermin;
But the very dogs o' England's court
Can bark and howl in _German_!

FOOTNOTES:

[30] Written on the accession of King George I.

[31] Literally, vegetable garden.

[32] Trenching.

[33] Colewort.

[34] Outside.

[35] Shabby clothes.

[36] Grabs.

[37] Abundance.

[38] Planted.

[39] Lacerate.

[40] Unmashed cabbage.

[41] Mouth.

[42] Northland.

[43] War.

[44] Geld.

[45] Incompetent.

[46] Loose straw rubbish.

[47] Chafing.

[48] Buttocks.

[49] Suchlike.

THE RISING OF 1715.

A. GATHERING OF THE CLANS (SEPTEMBER).

+Source.+--_The History of the Rebellion rais'd against His Majesty
King George I. by the Friends of the Popish Pretender_, p. 187, by
the Reverend Mr. Peter Rae. Second edition. (London: 1746.)

The Earl of Mar, then at London, not finding how to form his own interest at court, had resolved on those wicked and traitorous measures he afterwards followed; and in order to raise and carry on the rebellion, had, by some means or other, received from abroad, no less than the sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, together with letters and instructions under the Pretender's own hand, and a commission appointing him Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief of his forces, as he called them, in Scotland: And fearing lest his traitorous designs against his lawful sovereign prince,[50] to whom he had so early and solemnly promised fidelity, might possibly be discovered, and he himself secured by the government, he resolved to make a sudden tour into Scotland, as the likeliest mean to prevent this fate, and in order to make some speedy advances in this his pernicious and bloody undertaking. Wherefore on the 2nd of August, or as some say, the 1st, in the evening, his lordship, in the dress of a private person, embark'd with Major-General Hamilton, Colonel Hay, and two servants on board of a collier in the Thames, and arriving in two or three days at Newcastle, hired there a vessel belonging to one Spence, which set him and his company on shore in the Ely, from whence he got over to Creil[51] in the shire of Fife. Soon after his landing he was attended by Sir Alexander Areskine, Lord Lyon, and others of his friends in Fife, to whom he made known the design of his coming, and then went forward to Kinoul, where he staid on Wednesday the 17th, and on the 18th he passed the river Tay, about two miles from Perth, with 40 horse on his way to the north. Next day he sent letters to all the Jacobites round the country, inviting them to meet him in haste at Brae-Mar, where he arrived on Saturday the 20th of August.

There is no room to doubt, that he had before-hand concerted measures with them; and that they were previously advised of his coming, before he arrived in Scotland: For, on Saturday the 6th of August, their friends at Edinburgh were apprized of it; and early next morning Captain John Dalziel, a half-pay officer, who, in view of this rebellion had thrown up his commission to the Earl of Orkney, was sent out to give the alarm to his brother, the Earl of Carnwath, then at Elliock, where he arrived that night; and, early next morning, expresses were sent to the Earl of Nithsdale, the Viscount of Kenmure, and others of their friends in those parts; the Earl himself went down that same day to meet them, in order to forward their measures; and after some time spent in preparing others, whose inclinations they knew, to embark with them in that bloody project, they repaired to Lothian; and 'twas then given out, that they were gone to a hunting in the north. This was indeed a plausible pretence for their getting to the Highlands, and the more that the Earl of Mar, to cover his design, too black to be owned at the first, in calling the chiefs of the clans together, had proposed a hunting in his own country. Accordingly, in a few days after he arrived at Brae-Mar, he was there attended by a great number of gentlemen, of the best quality and interest of all his party: And particularly at their Great Council, which was held about August 26, there appeared the Marquis of Huntley, eldest son to the Duke of Gordon; the Marquis of Tullibardine, eldest son to the Duke of Athol; the Earls of Nithsdale, Marischal, Traquair, Errol, Southesk, Carnwath, Seaforth, Linlithgow, and several others; the Viscounts of Kilsith, Kenmure, Kingston and Stormount; the Lords Rollo, Duffus, Drummond, Strathallan, Ogilvie and Nairn, with a good many gentlemen of interest in the Highlands, amongst whom were the two Generals, Hamilton and Gordon, Glenderule, Auldbair, Auchterhouse, Glengary, and others from the clans....

... Moreover, we are told, that he shew'd them the letters he had received from Lorraine, under the Pretender's own hand, promising to come over to them in person, and put himself upon the valour and fidelity of his Scots subjects; and that in the mean time, they should be sure of ships, with arms, ammunition, and all military stores, with officers, engineers, and volunteers, as soon as they could give him an account to what port they would direct them to be sent: As also, that he shew'd them his commission under the Pretender's own hand, appointing him Lieutenant-General, Commander in Chief, and Director of the War; and assur'd them, that he was furnish'd with money, and would, from time to time, be supplied with sufficient sums to levy men, and to pay the troops regularly that should be raised; so as no gentlemen should be at any expence to subsist their men, but that both they, and the country should be eased of all such burthens.

With these and other such arguments, which he proposed unto them with a popular air, he at length prevailed upon them to embrace his project; and some say, they engaged by oath to stand by him, and one another, and to bring over their friends and dependants to do the like. However, the noblemen and gentlemen did not immediately after this meeting draw together their men, but went every man back to his own estate, to take their measures for appearing in arms, when they should hear again from the Earl of Mar, who remain'd, in the mean time, in his own country, with some few attendants only. These noblemen and gentlemen being returned home, began to draw together their servants and dependants, in all the places where they had interest, making several pretences for doing so, but did not discover the real design till things were in readiness to break out. And indeed it was but a few days after, that the Earl of Mar summon'd them all, at least such as were near at hand, to a general meeting at Aboyne in Aberdeenshire, on the third of September, in order to concert farther measures for their appearing in arms: And having there directed the drawing together their forces without any loss of time, he returned to Brae-Mar, and continued some days gathering the people, till their number was increased considerably; but the accounts being so various, while some say there were then two thousand men, most of them horse, and others but sixty, I shall not condescend on the particular number: However, with those he had got together, he set up the Pretender's Standard at Brae-Mar, on the sixth of September, 1715, and there proclaim'd him King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, etc. 'Tis reported, that when this standard was first erected, the ball on the top of it fell off, which the superstitious Highlanders were very much concern'd at, taking it as an omen of the bad success of the cause for which they were then appearing, and indeed, the event has proven that it was no less. Thereafter they went to a small town named Kirkmichael, where having proclaim'd the Pretender, and summon'd the people to attend his standard, they staid some few days, and then proceeded to Moulin, another small town in the shire of Perth, where they likewise proclaim'd him, and rested some short time, gathering their forces; and where by the coming in of others of their party, their number was considerably increased.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] George I.

[51] Crail.

B. DEFENCE OF EDINBURGH (OCTOBER).

+Source.+--_Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik,
Bart.: extracted by himself from his own Journals, 1676-1755_, p.
89. Edited by John M. Gray. (Edinburgh: Scottish Historical Society,
1892.)

In the mean time it must be confessed that their courage and conduct in Scotland far exceeded what was expected, for the Earl of Mar had so much address as to bring to the town of Perth, the center of all the enterprise, at least 10,000 men, some have carried the number to 12,000, which _I_ am inclined to believe, provided the 1600 men be included that past the Frith of Forth near the Island of May, of which hereafter.

During these convulsions in my native country, I was obliged to change my course of living and turn a military man, for being appointed one of the Lieutenants of the Shire of Edin., I was obliged to act my part in bringing the militia together. These consisted of a few men, horse and foot, who never continued 3 days together, and signified nothing in the military way, the lowland men being a great deal more unfit for warlike expeditions than the Highlanders who had joined the Earl of Mar. However, with these militia troops we sometimes made a show, and perhaps they served to intimidate those who knew nothing about them. They were particularly useful and active when the Highlanders above mentioned past the Forth and were marching to take possession of Edin., for being drawn up on the high way a mile east of Edin., where these Highlanders were to march in order to take possession of the town, they found themselves obliged to turn to the right and take possession of the citadel of Lieth, the ----[52] of October, 1715.

That same night, to the joy of the inhabitants of Edin., who expected to be plundered by the Highlanders, the Duke of Argyll arrived from Stirling with 200 chosen foot and 300 dragoons, the foot mounted on country horses for more expedition. Next morning the Deputy Lieutenants and all the well affected to the Government of K. George waited on him, and immediately he ordered all his troops to march down with him to the attaque of the Citadel of Lieth.

I waited on his Grace, and we never halted till we were within 300 paces of that place. Here all our men were drawn up in 2 lines for the attaque. The foot in the center, and the horse on the wings, our number was as follows. 300 Dragoons, 200 Regular foot, about 200 of the Town Guards of Edin., and about 500 volunteers, with a regiment of militia. These amounting in all to about 1500 men, were drawn up on the crofts to the westward of the citadel. There were likeways two regiments of militia from the shires of Merse and Teviotdale, who were drawn up on the Links on the south side of the town to prevent the Highlanders from escaping.

The Duke called a Council of War, consisting of the principal officers present, in sight of the enemy, here it was debated in what manner to attaque the citadel, for the duke had never seen it, and the issue was that in regard we had neither cannon, bombs, nor granads, it was impossible to do anything to purpose, for that our men would be destroied by the fire of the enemy before they came near the ramparts, for altho' these ramparts and bastions were ruined ever since the days of Oliver Cromwell, who about the years 1654 and 1655 ordered them to be repaired out of the old fortifications of Lieth, yet they were sufficient against such a body of men as we were who came there to attaque them. On these considerations we were obliged to return to the town in a very disconsolet manner.

The Duke might have been informed of the condition of that place before he marched there, but he thought nothing in Scotland, except castles, impregnable to his troops, and we who knew the citadel never doubted but dismounted Dragoons cou'd force the place sword in hand. The next thing to be done was to provide artillery from the Castle of Edin., in order to attaque the citadel next day, but that night the Highlanders, who were under the command of one Brigadier Macintosh, marched off to Seaton House, where they staid 3 or 4 days. Here several detachments were sent out of Edin. to attaque them, but being without cannon we cou'd do nothing.

FOOTNOTES:

[52] 14th.

C. THE BATTLE OF SHERIFFMUIR (NOVEMBER).

+Source.+--_A Fragment of a Memoir of Field-Marshal James Keith:
written by himself, 1714-1734_, p. 16. (Edinburgh: Spalding Club,
1843.)

All our troops being now assembled, the Earl of Mar resolved to march towards the enemy, and on the eighth of November arrived at Denain,[53] with fourteen battalions of foot and eight squadrons of horse, having left three battalions in Perth for the defence of the place; the ninth the army lay at Auchterarder, where he reviewed the troops, who consisted of about 6000 foot and eight hundred horse. Here we lay two days, waiting for two battalions from Fife; but finding these did not come up so soon as we expected, the twelfth we continued our march, the advanced guard lay near Dumblain, and the rest of the troops were quarter'd about a mile behind them, the want of tents and the coldness of the weather rendering it impossible for us to encamp. We had as yet no perfect account of the motions of the enemy, and concluded from the inferiority of their number (they being not above 3000 foot and twelve hundred horse), that they would fight us at the passage of the river, but we had hardly got the troops marched to their different quarters, when we received orders to join with all haste our advanced guard, the Duke of Argile having passed the Forth, and encamped about the toun of Dumblain, within cannon shot of them. Both armies lay all night on their arms, and next morning by day break we discover'd a body of the enemies on a rising ground near our left. Before eight in the morning, our army was formed in order of battle, in two lines, without any body of reserve. The Earl of Mar call'd all the general officers and heads of clans to a council of war, which was held at the head of the line, and there asked their advice whither we should attack the enemy, or return to Perth and wait the arrival of King James, who was every day expected, as also for accounts what success our friends in England might have; but it was carried almost unanimously to attack, none daring openly to oppose the current; the Marquis of Huntly only made some insinuations that it would not be fit to remain in unaction till the King's arrival.

The resolution being now taken to attack the enemy, the Earl of Mar commanded the Earl Marischal, with Sir Donald M'Donald's regiment of foot, and his own squadron of horse, to take possession of the rising ground on which a body of the enemies horse still remain'd, and to cover the march of the army on the left (our right being cover'd by a river) to the toun of Dumblain, where we imagined the enemy still to be. On our approach, the enemies horse retired; and we had no sooner gained the top of the hill than we discover'd their whole body, marching without beat of drum, about two musket shot from us. It was now too late to retreat; we therfor form'd on the top of the hill, and the Earl Marischal sent an aid-de-camp to advertise the Earl of Mar that he was fallen in with the enemies army, that it was impossible for him to bring off the foot, and therfor desired he would march up to his assistance as quick as possible,--which he did even in too much haste; for the army, which marched in four columns, arrived in such confusion that it was impossible to form them according to the line of battle projected, every one posted himself as he found ground, and one column of foot enclining to the right and another to the left of the Earl Marischal's squadron of horse, that regiment which should have been on the right, found itself in the center, separated from the rest of the horse, and opposed to the enemies foot; our foot formed all in one line, except on the left, where a bog hinder'd them from extending themselves, and encreased the confusion.

The Duke of Argile was no less embarrassed on his side. His army was not yet entirely formed; the rear, which was to have formed his left wing, was yet on their march, and showed us their flanck, which being observed by Lieutenant General Gordon, he order'd our troops immediately to charge, which they did with so much vigour that in less than ten minutes they entirely defeated six regiments of foot and five squadrons of dragoons, which composed more than the half of the Duke's army, while the rest having taken the same advantage of our left, which had neither time nor ground to fire, entirely routed them. Both parties pursued the troops they had broken, not knowing what had happen'd on the other side, till at length the Earl of Mar, having had the fatal news of the loss we had receiv'd, order'd the troops to give over the pursuit, and having rallied them, returned to the field of battle, from whence we discover'd the enemy posted at the foot of the hill amongst mud walls, on the same ground where we had layen the night before.

The Earl of Mar sent immediately an officer to reconnoitre them, and at the same time assembled the General officers and heads of clans, to consult whether he should attack them again; but the officer having reported that their numbers were equal to ours, and the Highlanders, who were extreamly fatigued, and had eat nothing in two days, being averse to it, it was resolved to keep the field of battle, and to let the enemy retire unmolested, which they had already began to do under cover of the earth walls, as well as of the night which was now approaching, leaving us about fifty prisoners of ours, most of them wounded, whom they had not time to carry along with them. We continued on the field of battle till dark night, and then marched back to the same villages which had been marked for our quarters the night before.

The enemy had about seven hundred men killed or wounded, amongst whom was the Earl of Forfar killed, and the Earl of Islay wounded, and two hundred and twenty-three taken prisoners, and we had about 150 killed or wounded, and eighty-two taken; but among those killed we had three persons of note, the Earl of Strathmore, his unkle Auchterhouse, and Clanronald, and the Earl of Panmure very much wounded. The loss of colours was almost equal on both sides; but the enemy got five piece of our cannon, which we could not carry off, those belonging to the train having run away with the horses when they saw our left broke; and thus ended the affair of Dumblain, in which neither side gained much honour, but which was the entire ruin of our party.