Chapter XXVII: A.d. 1716-1737 (1)

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS:--George I., 1714-1727.--George II., 1727-1760.

Trial and execution of the prisoners taken in the
rebellion--Bills of attainder against the Earl of Mar and
others--Proceedings of General Cadogan in the Highlands--Trials
of the prisoners in Scotland--Act of grace--Removal of
the Chevalier from France--Duke of Argyle dismissed from
office--Continental affairs--Confederacy to restore the
Chevalier--Threatened Spanish invasion--Disarming of the
Highlanders--Means taken to prevent further disturbances by
building forts, making roads, &c.--Aversion of the Highlanders
to these innovations--The Chevalier appoints trustees to
manage his affairs in Scotland--Discovery of a new Jacobite
conspiracy--Habeas-corpus act suspended--Bolingbroke--Meeting
of Highland chiefs at Paris--The disarming act--Disgrace of the
Earl of Mar--His ambiguous conduct--Atterbury’s charges against
him--The Chevalier’s domestic affairs--Death of George I.--Views
of the Chevalier--Prospects of the Jacobites.

After the flight and dispersion of the insurgents, the Duke of Argyle returned to Edinburgh about the end of February, where he was magnificently entertained by the magistrates of the city, whence he set off for London on the 1st of March. He had left instructions with General Cadogan to keep up a communication with the Whig leaders in the north, and to distribute the troops in quarters contiguous to the adjoining Highlands, that they might be the more readily assembled to repress any fresh insurrection which might break out. To keep some of the disaffected districts in check, parties of Highlanders were placed by Lord Lovat and Brigadier Grant, in Brahan castle, and in Erchles and Borlum; the former the seat of the Chisholm, the latter that of Brigadier Mackintosh.

The fate of the prisoners taken at Preston remains now to be told. The first who were tried were Lord Charles Murray, Captain Dalziel, brother to the earl of Carnwath, Major Nairne, Captain Philip Lockhart, brother to Lockhart of Carnwath, Captain Shaftoe, and Ensign Nairne. These six were tried before a court-martial at Preston, and all, with the exception of Captain Dalziel, having been proved to have been officers in the service of government, were condemned to be shot. Lord Charles Murray received a pardon through the interest of his friends. The remainder suffered on the 2d of December.

The English parliament met on the 9th of January, 1716. The commons agreed, on the motion of Mr. Lechmere, to impeach Lords Derwentwater, Nithsdale, Wintoun, Carnwath, and Kenmure, of high treason. The articles of impeachment were carried up to the lords the same night, and on the next day these peers were brought to the bar of the house of lords to hear the articles of impeachment read. They were brought back from the Tower on the 19th, when they all pled guilty to the charge of high treason, except the Earl of Wintoun, who petitioned for a longer time to give in his answers. The rest received sentence of death on the 9th of February, in Westminster-hall. The Countess of Nithsdale and Lady Nairne surprised the king as he was passing through his apartments at St. James’s, and throwing themselves at his feet implored his mercy in behalf of their husbands; but he turned away from them with contemptuous indifference. The Countess of Derwentwater was equally unsuccessful, though introduced by the Dukes of Richmond and St. Albans into the king’s bed-chamber, and accompanied by the Duchesses of Cleveland and Bolton.

This refusal on the part of the king raised up a number of advocates in both houses of parliament, in behalf of the unfortunate noblemen. Availing themselves of this feeling, the ladies of the condemned lords, accompanied by about twenty others of equal rank, waited in the lobby of the house of peers, and at the door of the house of commons, and solicited the intercession of both houses. Next day they petitioned the houses. The commons rejected the application, and to get quit of further importunity adjourned for six or seven days, by a small majority; but the result was different in the house of lords. Petitions, craving the intercession of that house, were presented from the condemned peers, which being read, after considerable opposition, a motion was made to address his majesty to grant them a reprieve. This occasioned a warm debate; but before the vote was taken, an amendment was proposed to the effect, that his majesty should reprieve such of the peers as should seem to deserve his mercy. It was contended by the supporters of the original address, that the effect of this amendment would be to destroy the nature of the address, as from the nature of the sentence which had been passed, none of the condemned peers could _deserve_ mercy; but the amendment was substituted, and on the vote being taken, whether the address should be presented, it was carried _present_, by a majority of five votes. It is said that on one of the peers afterwards observing to the mover of the amendment, that it looked as if its object was to defeat the vote, and make it of no use to the persons for whose benefit it was intended, the proposer observed, that such was his intention in moving it.[745]

The king was evidently chagrined at the conduct of the house, and when the address was presented, he informed the deputation, that on this as on all other occasions, he would do what he thought most consistent with the dignity of the crown, and the safety of his people. The Earl of Nottingham, president of the council, who had supported the petitions of the condemned lords, together with Lord Aylesford, his brother, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Finch, his son, one of the lords of the treasury, and Lord Guernsey, master of the jewel office, were all removed from office; and to show the determination of the king, orders were issued on the same day the address was delivered, for executing the Earls of Derwentwater and Nithsdale, and Viscount Kenmure the following day. The other three peers were reprieved to the 7th of March. The Earl of Nithsdale, by the assistance of his heroic wife, made his escape the night before the execution, dressed in female attire. When the king heard of his escape next morning, he observed, that “it was the best thing a man in his condition could have done.”[746]

On the morning of the 24th of February the Earl of Derwentwater and Viscount Kenmure were beheaded on Tower-hill. On ascending the scaffold, Derwentwater knelt down, and having spent some time in prayer, he got up, and drawing a paper out of his pocket, read a short address. He hoped for forgiveness through the passion and death of his Saviour; apologised to those who might have been scandalized at his pleading guilty at his trial, excusing himself for doing so on the ground that he was made to believe that it was only a consequence of having submitted to mercy, acknowledged as his only right and lawful sovereign, King James III., and earnestly hoped for his speedy restoration; and died, as he had lived, a Roman Catholic. He displayed the utmost coolness and perfect self-possession.

As soon as the remains of the Earl of Derwentwater were removed, Viscount Kenmure was brought up to the scaffold. Like Derwentwater, he expressed his regret for pleading guilty to the charge of high treason, and prayed for “King James.” After praying a short time with uplifted hands, he advanced to the fatal block, and laying down his head, the executioner struck it off at two blows.

The Earl of Wintoun, on various frivolous pretences, got his trial postponed till the 15th of March, when he was brought finally up, and, after a trial which occupied two days, was found guilty, and received sentence of death; but his lordship afterwards made his escape from the Tower and fled to France.

On the 7th of April a commission for trying the other rebels met in the court of Common Pleas, Westminster, when bills of high treason were found against Mr. Forster, Brigadier Mackintosh, Colonel Oxburgh, Mr. Menzies of Culdares, and seven of their associates, and on the 10th bills were found against eleven more. Forster escaped from Newgate, and so well had his friends concerted matters, that he reached Calais in less than 24 hours. The trials of Brigadier Mackintosh and others were fixed for the 4th of May, but about eleven o’clock the preceding night, the brigadier and fifteen other prisoners broke out of Newgate, after knocking down the keepers and disarming the sentinels. Eight were retaken, but Mackintosh and seven others escaped. The trials of the prisoners who remained proceeded: many of them were found guilty; and five, among whom were Colonel Oxburgh and Mr. Paul, a non-jurant clergyman of the Church of England, were executed at Tyburn. Twenty-two prisoners were executed in Lancashire. The remainder of the prisoners taken at Preston, amounting to upwards of 700, submitted to the king’s mercy, and having prayed for transportation, were sold as slaves to some West India merchants; a cruel proceeding, when it is considered that the greater part of these men were Highlanders, who had joined in the insurrection in obedience to the commands of their chiefs.[747]

The severities exercised by the government, and the courage and fortitude displayed by the unfortunate sufferers, wrought an extraordinary change in the dispositions of the people, who began to manifest great dissatisfaction at proceedings so revolting to humanity. Though the rebellion was extinguished, the spirit which had animated it still remained, being increased rather than diminished by the proceedings of the government; and the Tories longed for an opportunity of availing themselves of the universal dissatisfaction to secure a majority favourable to their views at the next general election. The Whigs, afraid of the result of an early election as destructive to themselves as a party and to the liberties of the country, had recourse to a bold measure, which nothing but the most urgent necessity could justify. This was no other than a plan to repeal the triennial act, and to prolong the duration of parliament. It is said that at first they intended to suspend the triennial act for one election only, but thinking that a temporary measure would appear a greater violation of constitutional law than a permanent one, they resolved to extend the duration of parliament to seven years. A bill was accordingly brought into the house of lords on the 10th of April by the Duke of Devonshire, which, notwithstanding much opposition, passed both houses, receiving the royal assent on the 7th of May. On the same day an act of attainder against the Earls Marischal, Seaforth, Southesk, Panmure, and others, also received his majesty’s sanction. An act of attainder against the Earl of Mar, the Marquis of Tullibardine, the Earl of Linlithgow, Lord Drummond, and other leaders of the insurrection, had received the royal assent on the 17th of February preceding. Besides these bills, three others were passed, one attainting Mr. Forster and Brigadier Mackintosh; another for more effectually securing the peace of the Highlands; a third appointing commissioners to inquire into the estates of those persons who had been attainted or convicted.

While the parliament was thus engaged in devising measures for maintaining the public tranquillity, General Cadogan was employed in dispersing some hostile bands of the clans which still continued to assemble with their chiefs in the remoter parts of the Highlands. Hearing that the Earl of Seaforth had retired into the island of Lewis, where he had collected a considerable body of his men under the command of Brigadier Campbell of Ormundel, an officer who had just arrived from Muscovy, where he had served in the army of the Czar, he sent a detachment into the island under the command of Colonel Cholmondely to reduce it. The earl, on the appearance of this force, crossed into Ross-shire, whence he escaped to France; and Campbell being abandoned by his men after he had formed them in order of battle, was taken prisoner while standing in a charging posture. Another detachment under Colonel Clayton, was sent into the isle of Skye, where Sir Donald Macdonald was at the head of about 1,000 men; but the chief made no resistance, and having no assurance of protection from the government in case of a surrender, retired into one of the Uists, where he remained till he obtained a ship which carried him to France. About this time three ships arrived among the western islands from France with military supplies for the use of the insurgents, but they came too late to be of any service. Two of them, after taking 70 gentlemen on board, immediately returned to France, and the third, which carried fifty chests of small arms, and one hundred and fifty barrels of gunpowder, and other military stores, was captured while at anchor near Uist by an English ship of war.

In consequence of instructions from government, General Cadogan issued an order, which was intimated at the different parish churches in the north, requiring the rebels to surrender themselves and to deliver up their arms, assuring them, that such as complied should have liberty granted to return home in safety, but threatening to punish rigorously those who refused to comply. This order was generally obeyed by the common people in the Lowlands, who had been engaged in the insurrection; but few of the Highlanders seemed to regard it. To enforce compliance, Cadogan despatched different detachments through the Highlands, and took up his quarters at Blair Athole, where he could more easily communicate with the disaffected districts. He next removed to Ruthven in Badenoch, and afterwards proceeded to Inverness, where he received Glengary’s submission. Lochiel, Keppoch, and Clanranald, had resolved to oppose by force the delivery of their arms; but on hearing that Clayton, who had returned from Skye, had resolved to march from Fortwilliam to Lochiel’s house to disarm the Camerons, these chiefs retired, and their men delivered up their arms without resistance. Having succeeded in disarming the Highlands, the general left Inverness on the 27th of April, leaving General Sabine in command, and proceeded to London. The rebellion being now considered completely extinguished, the Dutch auxiliaries were withdrawn from Scotland, and in a short time thereafter were embarked for Holland.

To try the prisoners confined in the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, Blackness, and other places in Scotland, a commission of Oyer and Terminer was appointed to sit at Carlisle in December, 1716. There were nearly seventy arraigned. Of twenty-nine who were brought to trial, twenty-five pled guilty. Brigadier Campbell of Ormundel, Tulloch of Tannachie, Stewart of Foss, and Stewart of Glenbuckie, entered a plea of not guilty. The two last having satisfied the solicitor-general of their innocence, he allowed a writ of _noli prosequi_ to be entered in their behalf, and Campbell having escaped from the castle of Carlisle, Tulloch alone stood his trial, but he was acquitted. Sentence of death was passed upon the twenty-five who had admitted their guilt, and thirty-six were discharged for want of evidence; but the sentence of death was never put into execution. It was wise in the government to pacify the national disaffection by showing mercy.

Following up the same humane view, an act of grace was passed in 1717 by the king and both houses of parliament, granting a free and general pardon to all persons who had committed any treasonable offences, before the 6th of May of that year, with the exception of those who, having committed such offences, had gone beyond the seas, and who, before the said day, had returned into Great Britain or Ireland without his majesty’s license, or who should on or after the said day return into either of the kingdoms without such license. All persons of the name and clan of Macgregor were also excepted, as well as all such persons as should, on the 5th of May, 1717, remain attainted for high treason. But all such persons so attainted, unless specially named, and who had not escaped out of prison, were freely pardoned and discharged. Under this act the Earl of Carnwath, and Lords Widdrington and Nairne, were delivered from the Tower: seventeen persons confined in Newgate, the prisoners still remaining in the castles of Lancaster and Carlisle, and those in the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and other places in Scotland, including Lords Strathallan and Rollo, were likewise released.

While the Chevalier was preparing to embark for Scotland, the Earl of Stair, (the ambassador at the court of France,) had used every effort to prevent him. Duclos and others say that Stair not only applied to the Duke of Orleans, the regent, to have the Chevalier arrested, but that finding the regent insincere in his promises of compliance, he sent persons to assassinate the Chevalier on the road when crossing France to embark for Scotland. That Stair made such an application, and that he employed spies to watch the progress of the prince, are circumstances highly probable; but both Marshal Berwick and the Earl of Mar discredited the last part of the story, as they considered Stair incapable of ordering an action so atrocious as the assassination of the prince.[748]

On the return of the Chevalier, Stair, afraid that he and his partisans in France would intrigue with the court, presented a memorial to the regent in name of his Britannic majesty, in which, after notifying the flight of the Chevalier, and the dispersion of his forces, he requested the regent to compel the prince to quit France. He next insisted that such of the rebels as had retired to France should be ordered forthwith to depart from that country. The removal of the Jacobite exiles from the French court was all that the earl could at that time obtain from the regent. By an agreement, however, which was shortly thereafter entered into between France and England, mutually guaranteeing the succession to the crown of France, and the Hanover succession according to the provisions of the treaty of Utrecht, it was stipulated that the Pretender should be sent beyond the Alps, and should never be allowed to return again to France or Lorraine on any pretence whatever, and that none of the rebellious subjects of Great Britain should be allowed to reside in France.

After the suppression of the insurrection, the leading supporters of government in Scotland repaired to London to congratulate George I. on the success of his arms, and to obtain the rewards they expected. The Duke of Argyle, to whose exertions chiefly the king was indebted for his peaceable accession to the throne, and the extinction of the rebellion, was already so overloaded with favours that he could scarcely expect any addition to be made to them, and would probably have been contented with those he had obtained. The “squadron” party, however, which had been long endeavouring to ruin him, now made every exertion to get him disgraced; and being assisted by the Marlborough faction, and a party which espoused the interests of Cadogan, they succeeded with the king, who dismissed the duke and his brother, the Earl of Islay, from all their employments, which were conferred on others. General Carpenter, to whom the success at Preston was entirely ascribed, succeeded Argyle in the chief command of the forces in North Britain; and the Duke of Montrose was appointed Lord-Register of Scotland in the room of the Earl of Islay.

The aspect of affairs in the north of Europe requiring the king’s presence in his German dominions, an act was passed repealing the clause in the act for the further limitation of the crown, which restricted the sovereign from leaving his British dominions. He closed the session on the 26th of June, and embarked at Gravesend on the 7th of July for Holland, where he arrived on the 9th. He proceeded to Loo incognito, and thence set out for Pyrmont.

For reasons which need not be stated here, Alberoni, the Spanish prime minister, was eager that Great Britain should enter upon an alliance with his country, and in his appeal to George I. he was backed by the English minister at Madrid. George thus found himself placed in a singular but fortunate situation. Equally courted by France and Spain, he had only to choose between them, and to form that connexion which might be most conducive to uphold the Protestant succession and to maintain the peace of Europe, with which the internal peace of Great Britain and the safety of the reigning family were intimately connected. The alliance with France being considered as more likely to secure these advantages than a connexion with Spain, the English minister at Madrid was instructed by the cabinet at home to decline the offers of Spain. “His majesty,” said secretary Stanhope, in his letter to the minister, “is perfectly disposed to enter into a new treaty with the Catholic king, to renew and confirm the past; but the actual situation of affairs does not permit him to form other engagements, which, far from contributing to preserve the neutrality of Italy, would give rise to jealousies tending to disturb it.”[749]

This was followed by the agreement with France, to which allusion has been made, and in January, 1717, a triple alliance was entered into between England, France, and Holland, by which the contracting parties mutually guaranteed to one another the possession of all places respectively held by them. The treaty also contained a guaranty of the Protestant succession on the throne of England, as well as that of the Duke of Orleans to the crown of France.

Baffled in all his attempts to draw England into an alliance against the Emperor of Austria, Alberoni looked to the north, where he hoped to find allies in the persons of the King of Sweden and the Czar of Muscovy. Both Peter the Great and Charles XII. were highly incensed against the Elector of Hanover, the former for resisting the attempts of Russia to obtain a footing in the empire, the latter for having joined the confederacy formed against him during his captivity, and for having accepted from the King of Denmark the duchies of Bremen and Verden, Swedish possessions, which had been conquered by Denmark during the absence of Charles. Charles, to revenge himself, formed the design of restoring the Stuarts, and by his instructions, Goertz, his minister in England, began to cabal with the English Jacobites, to whom, in name of his master, he promised to grant assistance in any efforts they might make to rid themselves of the elector. It was whispered among the Scottish Jacobites, that “the king,” as they termed the Chevalier, had some hopes of prevailing on Charles to espouse his cause, but the first notice on which they could place any reliance was a letter from the Earl of Mar to one Captain Straiton, which he directed to be communicated to the Bishop of Edinburgh, Lord Balmerino, and Mr. Lockhart of Carnwath, and in which he suggested, that as there was a great scarcity in Sweden, the friends of the Chevalier should purchase and send 5,000 or 6,000 bolls of meal to that country. Their poverty, however, and the impracticability of collecting and sending such a large quantity of food out of the kingdom, without exciting the suspicions of the government, prevented the plan from being carried into execution.[750] Shortly thereafter, Straiton received another letter from Mar, in which, after stating that there was a design to attempt the restoration of the prince by the aid of a certain foreign sovereign, and that it would look strange if his friends at home did not put themselves in a condition to assist him, he suggested, that as the want of money had been hitherto a great impediment in the way of the Chevalier’s success, the persons to whom this and his first letter were to be communicated, should persuade their friends to have in readiness such money as they could procure, to be employed when the proper opportunity offered. Mr. Lockhart, who received a letter from the Chevalier at the same time, undertook the task of acquainting the Chevalier’s friends in Scotland with Mar’s wish, and obtained assurances from several persons of rank that they would attend to the prince’s request. Lord Eglinton in particular made an offer of 3,000 guineas.

The intrigues of Goertz, the Swedish minister, being discovered by the government, he was arrested and his papers seized at the desire of King George. This extraordinary proceeding, against which the foreign ministers resident at the British court remonstrated, roused the indignation of Charles to the highest pitch, and being now more determined than ever to carry his project into effect, he, at the instigation of Alberoni, reconciled himself to the Czar, who, in resentment of an offer made by King George to Charles to join against Russia, if the latter would ratify the cession of Bremen and Verden, agreed to unite his forces with those of Sweden and Spain for placing the Pretender on the throne of England. To strengthen the interest of the Chevalier in the north, Alberoni sent the Duke of Ormond into Russia to negotiate a marriage between the son of the Chevalier, and Anne the daughter of Peter, but this project did not take effect. The Chevalier himself, in the meantime, contracted a marriage with the Princess Clementina Sobieski, but she was arrested at Inspruck by order of the imperial government, when on her journey to meet her betrothed husband, and sent to a convent.

King George returned to England towards the end of January, 1717. The parliament met on the 20th of February, when he informed them of the projected invasion, and mentioned that he had given orders for laying copies of papers connected therewith before them. From these documents it appeared, that the plan of invasion was ripe for execution, but that it was not intended to attempt it till the Dutch auxiliaries should be sent back to Holland.

In consequence of the conduct of his Swedish majesty, parliament passed a bill prohibiting all intercourse with Sweden, and a fleet was despatched to the Baltic under the command of Sir George Byng, to observe the motions of the Swedes; but the death of Charles XII. dissolved the confederacy between Sweden and Russia.

War was declared against Spain in December 1718; but a respectable minority in parliament, and the nation at large, were opposed to it, as hurtful to the commercial interests of Great Britain. France also followed the same course.

The war with Spain revived the hopes of the Jacobites, and the Duke of Ormond repaired to Madrid, where he held conferences with Alberoni, and concerted an invasion of Great Britain. The Dutch, alarmed at Ormond’s appearance at Madrid, remonstrated with Alberoni, as they had guaranteed the Protestant succession, which might be endangered if an insurrection in favour of the Chevalier de St. George was encouraged by Spain; but the cardinal assured them that the duke had no other design in coming into Spain but to consult his personal safety. Meanwhile, under the pretence of sending reinforcements into Sicily, preparations were made at Cadiz and in the ports of Galicia for the projected invasion, and the Chevalier himself proceeded to Madrid, where he was cordially received and treated as King of Great Britain. On the 10th of March, 1719, a fleet, consisting of ten men-of-war and twenty-one transports, having on board 5,000 men, a great quantity of ammunition, and 30,000 muskets, sailed from Cadiz, with instructions to join the rest of the expedition at Corunna, and to make a descent at once upon England and Ireland. The Duke of Ormond was appointed commander of the fleet, with the title of Captain-general of his most Catholic Majesty; and he was provided with declarations in the name of the king, stating, that for many good reasons he had sent forces into England and Scotland to act as auxiliaries to King James.

To defeat this attempt the allied cabinets adopted the necessary measures. His Britannic majesty having communicated to both houses of parliament the advices he had received respecting the projected invasion, they gave him every assurance of support, and requested him to augment his forces by sea and land. He offered a reward of £10,000 to any one who should apprehend the Duke of Ormond. Troops were ordered to assemble in the north and west of England, and a strong squadron, under Admiral Norris, was equipped and sent out to sea to meet the Spanish fleet. The Dutch furnished 2,000 men, and six battalions of Imperialists were sent from the Austrian Netherlands; and the Duke of Orleans ordered ships to be prepared at Brest to join the English fleet, and made an offer of twenty battalions for the service of King George.

The expedition under Ormond, with the exception of two frigates, never reached its destination, having been dispersed and disabled, off Cape Finisterre, by a violent storm which lasted twelve days. These two ships reached the coast of Scotland, having on board the Earls Marischal and Seaforth, the Marquis of Tullibardine, some field officers, 300 Spaniards, and arms for 2,000 men. The expedition entered Loch Alsh about the middle of May, and the small force landed in the western Highlands, when it was joined by some Highlanders, chiefly Seaforth’s men. The other Jacobite clans, with the disappointment they formerly experienced from France still fresh in their recollection, resolved not to move till the whole forces under Ormond should arrive. A difference arose between the Earl Marischal and the Marquis of Tullibardine about the command, but this dispute was put an end to by the advance of General Wightman from Inverness, with a body of regular troops. The Highlanders and their allies had taken possession of the pass at Glenshiel; but on the approach of the government forces they retired to the pass at Strachell, which they resolved to defend. General Wightman attacked and drove them, after a smart action of three hours’ duration, and after sustaining some loss, from one eminence to another, when night put an end to the combat. The Highlanders seeing no chance of making a successful resistance, dispersed, during the night, among the mountains, and the Spaniards, on the following day, surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Marischal, Seaforth, and Tullibardine, with the other officers, retired to the Western Isles, and managed to escape to the continent.[751]

After government had succeeded in putting an end to the rebellion, it felt the necessity of doing something, not only to allay the consequent disorders in the Highlands, but also to render the Highlanders less capable in future of entering into rebellion, and make them more accessible to the strong arm of the law. The estates of most of the chiefs and proprietors who had been engaged were forfeited, although practically in some cases it was found difficult to carry the forfeiture into effect; as in the case of the Earl of Seaforth, one of whose retainers seized the office of receiver, and transmitted the rents to the exiled earl.

Lord Lovat, who, on account of his loyal conduct, had risen high in the royal favour, drew up, in 1721, a memorial to George I. concerning the state of the Highlands, characterised by great insight into the source of the existing evils, and recommending to government the adoption of measures calculated to remedy these.

From this memorial we learn that King William, possibly in accordance with the recommendation of Breadalbane, formerly referred to, had organized a few independent Highland companies, which appear to have been of some service in repressing the disorders so prevalent in the north.[752] “The independent companies, raised by King William not long after the revolution, reduced the Highlanders to better order than at any time they had been in since the restoration. They were composed of the natives of the country, inured to the fatigue of travelling the mountains, lying on the hills, wore the same habit, and spoke the same language; but for want of being put under proper regulations, corruptions were introduced, and some, who commanded them, instead of bringing criminals to justice, (as I am informed) often compounded for the theft, and, for a sum of money set them at liberty. They are said also to have defrauded the government by keeping not above half their numbers in constant pay, which (as I humbly conceive) might be the reason your majesty caused them to be disbanded.”[753]

These companies being broken up in 1717, according to Lovat and Wade, robberies went on “without any manner of fear or restraint, and have ever since continued to infest the country in a public and open manner.”[754]

Wade entered upon his investigation in 1724, and his report shows he was competent to undertake such a task. He computed that of the 22,000 Highlandmen able to bear arms, 10,000 were “vassals to superiors,” well affected to government, and the remainder had been engaged in rebellions, and were ready, when called upon by their chiefs, “to create new troubles.” One of the greatest grievances was the robberies referred to by Lovat, accompanied with the levying of _black mail_. According to the general, “the clans, in the Highlands, the most addicted to rapine and plunder, are the Camerons, on the west of the shire of Inverness; the Mackenzies and others, in the shire of Ross, who were vassals to the late Earl of Seaforth; the M’Donalds of Keppoch; the Broadalbin men and the M’Gregors, on the borders of Argileshire. They go out in parties from ten to thirty men, traverse large tracks of mountains, till they arrive at the low lands, where they design to commit their depredations, which they choose to do in places distant from the glens which they inhabit. They drive the stolen cattle in the night time, and in the day remain on the tops of the mountains or in the woods, (with which the Highlands abound), and take the first occasion to sell them at the fairs or markets that are annually held in many parts of the country.

“Those who are robbed of their cattle (or persons employed by them), follow them by the tract, and often recover them from the robbers, by compounding for a certain sum of money agreed on; but if the pursuers are in numbers superiour to the thieves, and happen to seize any of them, they are seldom or never prosecuted, the poorer sort being unable to support the charges of a prosecution. They are likewise under the apprehension of becoming the object of their revenge, by having their houses and stacks burnt, their cattle stolen, or hocked, and their lives at the mercy of the tribe or clan to whom the banditti belongs. The richer sort, to keep, as they call it, good neighbourhood, generally compound with the chieftain of the tribe or clan for double restitution, which he willingly pays to save one of his clan from prosecution; and this is repaid him by a contribution from the thieves of his clan, who never refuse the payment of their proportion to save one of their own fraternity. This composition is seldom paid in money, but in cattle stolen from the opposite side of the country, to make reparation to the person injured.”[755]

To remedy these evils, an act for the disarming of the Highlanders was passed in the year 1716, but it was so badly put into force that the most disaffected clans remained better armed than ever. By the act, the collectors of taxes were empowered to pay for the arms delivered up; but none were given in except such as were broken and unfit for use, which were valued at a price far beyond what they were worth. Not only so, but a brisk trade appears to have been carried on with Holland and other countries in broken and useless arms, which were imported and delivered up to the commissioners at exorbitant prices. Wade also found in the possession of the Highlanders a great number of arms which they had obtained from the Spaniards engaged in the affair at Glen Shiel. Altogether he computed that the Highlanders hostile to his majesty were in possession of about five or six thousand arms of various kinds. Wade further reports that to keep the Highlanders in awe, “four barracks had been built in different parts of the Highlands, and parties of regular troops, under the command of Highland officers, with a company of 30, established to conduct them through the mountains, was thought an effectual scheme, as well to prevent the rising of the Highlanders disaffected to your majesty’s government, as to hinder depredations on your faithful subjects. It is to be wished that, during the reign of your majesty and your successors, no insurrection may ever happen to experience whether the barracks will effectually answer the end proposed; yet I am humbly of opinion, that if the number of troops they are built to contain were constantly quartered in them (whereas there is now in some but 30 men, and proper provisions laid in for their support during the winter season), they might be of some use to prevent the insurrections of the Highlanders, though, as I humbly conceive (having seen them all), that two of the four are not built in as proper situations as they might have been. As to the Highland parties, I have already presumed to represent to your majesty the little use they were of in hindering depredations, and the great sufferings of the soldiers employed in that service, upon which your majesty was graciously pleased to countermand them.

“I must farther beg leave to report to your majesty, that another great cause of disorders in the Highlands is the want of proper persons to execute the several offices of civil magistrates, especially in the shires of Inverness, Ross, and some other parts of the Highlands.

“The party quarrels and violent animosities among the gentlemen equally well affected to your majesty’s government, I humbly conceive to be one great cause of this defect. Those here in arms for your majesty, who raised a spirit in the shire of Inverness, and recovered the town of that name from the rebels (their main body being then at Perth), complain that the persons employed as magistrates over them have little interest in the country, and that three of the deputy sheriffs in those parts were persons actually in arms against your majesty at the time of the rebellion, which (as I am credibly informed) is true. They likewise complain that many are left out of the commissions of lord lieutenants, deputy lieutenants, sheriffs, &c., and I take the liberty to observe, that the want of acting justices of the peace is a great encouragement to the disorders so frequently committed in that part of the country, there being but one now residing as an acting justice for the space of above an hundred miles in compass.”[756]

He also complained that the regular troops laboured under great disadvantages in endeavouring to penetrate in the Highland fastnesses from the want of roads and bridges.

As a remedy for these evils he proposed “that companies of such Highlanders as are well affected to his majesty’s government be established under proper regulations, and commanded by officers speaking the language of the country, subject to martial law, and under the inspection and orders of the governors of Fort-William, Inverness, and the officer commanding his majesty’s forces in those parts;”[757] that a redoubt or barrack be erected at Inverness, and an addition be made to the one already established at Killyhuimen (Fort Augustus), at the south end of Loch Ness, and that a small vessel, with oars and sails, be built on the loch, capable of holding from sixty to eighty soldiers, which would be a means of keeping up communication between Inverness and Fort Augustus, and of sending parties to the county bordering on the lake. Further, that the different garrisons and castles in North Britain, especially the castle of Edinburgh, be put in such condition as to guard against surprise, and that a regiment of dragoons be quartered in the district between Perth and Inverness. As to the civil government of the country, Wade recommended that proper persons be nominated for sheriffs and deputy sheriffs in the Highland counties, and that justices of the peace and constables, with small salaries, be established in proper places, and that quarter sessions be regularly held at Killyhuimen, Ruthven in Badenoch, Fort William, and if necessary, at Bernera, near the coast of the Isle of Skye.

By an act passed in 1725, Wade was empowered to proceed to the Highlands and summon the clans to deliver up their arms, and to carry most of his other recommendations into effect. After quelling the malt-tax riots in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Wade set out for the Highlands, and arrived in Inverness on the 10th of August 1725, and immediately proceeded to business. As his report contains much interesting and valuable information on the state of the Highlands at this time, we shall give here a large extract from it.

“The laird of the M’Kenzies, and other chiefs of the clans and
tribes, tenants to the late Earl of Seaforth, came to me in a body,
to the number of about fifty, and assured me that both they and their
followers were ready to pay a dutiful obedience to your majesty’s
commands, by a peaceable surrender of their arms; that if your
majesty would be graciously pleased to procure them an indemnity for
the rents that had been misapplied for the time past, they would
for the future become faithful subjects to your majesty, and pay
them to your majesty’s receiver for the use of the public. I assured
them of your majesty’s gracious intentions towards them, and that
they might rely on your majesty’s bounty and clemency, provided they
would merit it by their future good conduct and peaceable behaviour;
that I had your majesty’s commands to send the first summons to the
country they inhabited; which would soon give them an opportunity of
showing the sincerity of their promises, and of having the merit to
set example to the rest of the Highlands, who in their turns were
to be summoned to deliver up their arms, pursuant to the disarming
act; that they might choose the place they themselves thought most
convenient to surrender their arms; and that I would answer, that
neither their persons nor their property should be molested by your
majesty’s troops.--They desired they might be permitted to deliver
up their arms at the castle of Brahan, the principal seat of their
late superior, who, they said, had promoted and encouraged them to
this their submission; but begged that none of the Highland companies
might be present; for, as they had always been reputed the bravest,
as well as the most numerous of the northern clans, they thought
it more consistent with their honour to resign their arms to your
majesty’s veteran troops;--to which I readily consented.

“Summonses were accordingly sent to the several clans and tribes,
the inhabitants of 18 parishes, who were vassals or tenants of the
late Earl of Seaforth, to bring or send in all their arms and warlike
weapons to the castle of Brahan, on or before the 28th of August.

“On the 25th of August I went to the castle of Brahan, with a
detachment of 200 of the regular troops, and was met there by the
chiefs of the several clans and tribes, who assured me they had used
their utmost diligence in collecting all the arms they were possessed
of, which should be brought thither on the Saturday following,
pursuant to the summons they had received; and telling me they were
apprehensive of insults or depredations from the neighbouring clans
of the Camerons, and others who still continued in possession of
their arms. Parties of the Highland companies were ordered to guard
the passes leading to their country; which parties continued there
for their protection, till the clans in that neighbourhood were
summoned, and had surrendered their arms.

“On the day appointed, the several clans and tribes assembled in the
adjacent villages, and marched in good order through the great avenue
that leads to the castle; and one after another laid down their arms
in the court-yard, in great quiet and decency, amounting to 784 of
the several species mentioned in the act of parliament.

“The solemnity with which this was performed, had undoubtedly a great
influence over the rest of the Highland clans; and disposed them
to pay that obedience to your majesty’s commands, by a peaceable
surrender of their arms, which they had never done to any of your
royal predecessors, or in compliance with any law either before or
since the Union.

“The next summons were sent to the clans and countries in the
neighbourhood of Killyhuimen and Fort William. The arms of the
several clans of the M’Donalds of Glengary, M’Leods of Glenelg,
Chisholms of Strathglass, and Grants of Glenmoriston, were
surrendered to me at the barrack of Killyhuimen, the 15th of
September; and those of the M’Donalds of Keppoch, Moidart, Aresaig,
and Glencoe; as also the Camerons, and Stewarts of Appin, were
delivered to the governor of Fort William. The M’Intoshes were
summoned, and brought in their arms to Inverness; and the followers
of the Duke of Gordon, with the clan of M’Phersons, to the barrack of
Ruthven in Badenoch.

“The inhabitants of the isles of Skye and Mull were also summoned;
the M’Donalds, M’Kinnons, and M’Leods delivered their arms at the
barrack of Bernera; and those of the Isle of Mull, to the officer
commanding at Castle Duart, both on the 1st day of October.

“The regiments remained till that time encamped at Inverness; and
this service was performed by sending detachments from the camp to
the several parts of the Highlands appointed for the surrender of
arms. Ammunition bread was regularly delivered to the soldiers, and
biscuits to the detachments that were sent into the mountains. The
camp was plentifully supplied with provisions, and an hospital in
the town provided for the sick men. This contributed to preserve the
soldiers in health; so that notwithstanding the excessive bad weather
and continued rains that fell during the campaign, there died of the
three regiments no more than ten soldiers:--but the weather growing
cold, and the snow falling in the mountains, obliged me to break up
the camp, and send the troops into winter quarters.

“The new-raised companies of Highlanders were for some time encamped
with the regular troops, performing the duty of the camp with the
rest of the soldiers. They mounted guard, went out upon parties, had
the articles of war read and explained to them, and were regularly
paid with the rest of the troops. When they had made some progress
in their exercise and discipline, they were sent to their respective
stations with proper orders; as well to prevent the Highlanders
from returning to the use of arms, as to hinder their committing
depredations on the low country.

“The Lord Lovat’s company was posted to guard all the passes in the
mountains, from the Isle of Skye eastward, as far as Inverness;
the company of Colonel Grant in the several passes from Inverness
southward to Dunkeld; Sir Duncan Campbell’s company, from Dunkeld
westward, as far as the country of Lorn. The three companies
commanded by lieutenants were posted, the first at Fort William; the
second at Killyhuimen; and the third at Ruthven in Badenoch; and may
in a short time be assembled in a body, to march to any part of the
Highlands as occasion may require.

“The clans of the northern Highlands having peaceably surrendered
their arms, pursuant to the several summonses sent them in your
majesty’s name, and consequently exposed to the inroads of their
neighbours, to prevent this inconvenience, (though the season of
the year was far advanced) I thought it both just and necessary to
proceed to disarm the southern clans, who had also joined in the
rebellion, and thereby to finish the campaign by summoning all the
clans and countries who had taken up arms against your majesty in the
year 1715.

“Summonses were accordingly sent to the inhabitants of the Brea of
Mar, Perth, Athol, Braidalbin, Menteth, and those parts of the shire
of Stirling and Dumbarton included in the disarming act. Parties of
the regular troops were ordered to march from the nearest garrisons
to several places appointed for the surrender of their arms, and
circular letters were sent to the principal gentlemen in those parts,
exciting them to follow the example of the northern Highlands. The
clans of these countries brought in their arms on the days and at the
places appointed by their respective summonses, but not in so great
a quantity as the northern clans had done. The gentlemen assured me
they had given strict orders to their tenants to bring in all the
arms they had in their possession; but that many of them, knowing
they were not to be paid for them, as stipulated by the former act,
several had been carried to the forges, and turned into working tools
and other peaceable instruments; there being no prohibition by the
act of parliament to hinder them from disposing of them in any manner
they thought most to their advantage, provided they had no arms in
their possession, after the day mentioned in the summons; and if
the informations I have received are true, the same thing has been
practised, more or less, by all the clans that have been summoned
pursuant to the present act of parliament, which makes no allowance
for arms delivered up, in order to prevent the notorious frauds and
abuses committed by those who had the execution of the former act,
whereby your majesty paid near £13,000 for broken and useless arms,
that were hardly worth the expense of carriage.

“The number of arms collected this year in the Highlands, of the
several species mentioned in the disarming act, amount in the whole
to 2,685. The greatest part of them are deposited in the Castle of
Edinburgh, and the rest at Fort William, and the barrack of Bernera.
At the time they were brought in by the clans, there was a mixture
of good and bad; but the damage they received in the carriage, and
growing rusty by being exposed to rain, they are of little more worth
than the value of the iron.

“In the execution of the power given me by your majesty, to grant
licences to such persons whose business or occupation required the
use of arms for their safety and defence, I have given out in the
whole 230 licences to the foresters, drovers, and dealers in cattle,
and other merchandise, belonging to the several clans who have
surrendered their arms, which are to remain in force for two years,
provided they behave themselves during that time as faithful subjects
to your majesty, and peaceably towards their neighbours. The names
of the persons empowered to wear arms by these licences are entered
in a book, as also the names of the gentlemen by whom they were
recommended, and who have promised to be answerable for their good
behaviour.

“The several summonses for the surrender of arms have been affixed
to the doors of 129 parish churches, on the market crosses of the
county towns; and copies of the same regularly entered in the
sheriff’s books in the method prescribed by the disarming act, by
which these Highlanders who shall presume to wear arms without a
legal qualification, are subject to the penalties of that law which
has already had so good an effect, that, instead of guns, swords,
durks, and pistols, they now travel to their churches, markets, and
fairs with only a staff in their hands. Since the Highland companies
have been posted at their respective stations, several of the most
notorious thieves have been seized on and committed to prison,
some of which are now under prosecution, but others, either by the
corruption or negligence of the jailers, have been set at liberty, or
suffered to make their escape.

“The imposition commonly called black-meal is now no longer paid
by the inhabitants bordering on the Highlands; and robberies and
depredations, formerly complained of, are less frequently attempted
than has been known for many years past, there having been but
one single instance where cattle have been stolen, without being
recovered and returned to their proper owners.

“At my first coming to the Highlands, I caused an exact survey to
be taken of the lakes, and that part of the country lying between
Inverness and Fort William, which extends from the east to the west
sea, in order to render the communication more practicable; and
materials were provided for the vessel which, by your majesty’s
commands, was to be built on the Lake Ness; which is now finished and
launched into the lake. It is made in the form of a gally, either
for rowing or sailing; is capable of carrying a party of 50 or 60
soldiers to any part of the country bordering on the said lake; and
will be of great use for transporting provisions and ammunition from
Inverness to the barrack of Killyhuimen, where four companies of foot
have been quartered since the beginning of last October.

“I presume also to acquaint your majesty, that parties of regular
troops have been constantly employed in making the roads of
communication between Killyhuimen and Fort William, who have already
made so good a progress in that work, that I hope, before the end of
next summer, they will be rendered both practicable and convenient
for the march of your majesty’s forces between those garrisons, and
facilitate their assembling in one body, if occasion should require.