INEFFECTIVENESS OF THE MANIFESTO.

275

enforced with an energy of diction and a strength of reasoning admirably fitted for exciting the spirit of a people living, as they imagined, in a state of national degradation. But this manifesto which, a few years before, would have set the whole of Scotland in a flame, produced little or no effect in those quarters where alone it was necessary to make such an appeal.

CHAPTER XIII.

Active measures of the government to suppress the insurrection-Ineffectual attempt to surprise the castle of Edinburgh Duke of Argyle appointed to the command of the government forces-Expeditions of General Gordon and Campbell of Glenlyon into Argyle Armistice between Glenlyon and the Campbells-Chevalier proclaimed at Moulinearn by Mar-Capture of Perth by the rebels-Seize a vessel with arms at Burntisland-Insurrection in Northumberland-Capture of Holy Island-Preparations for the defence of Newcastle-Affair at Keith-Insurrection in the south of Scotland under Viscount Kenmure-Expedition of Brigadier Mackintosh-Crosses the Frith of Forth-Lands at North Berwick and other places in the neighbourhoodMarch of Mackintosh towards Edinburgh- Enters Leith-March of the duke of Argyle to Leith-Retires-Retreat of Mackintosh-Reaches Kelso and joins the forces under Forster-Disputes among the Insurgents-Secession of five hundred Highlanders-March of the rebels through Cumberland and Westmoreland-Battle of Preston.

WHILE the earl of Mar was thus busily engaged exciting a rebellion in the north, the government was no less active in making preparations to meet it. Apprehensive of a general rising in England, particularly in the west, where a spirit of disaffection had often displayed itself, and to which the insurrection in Scotland was, it was believed, intended as a diversion; the government, instead of despatching troops to Scotland, posted the whole disposable force in the disaffected districts, at convenient distances, by which disposition, considerable bodies could be assembled together to assist each other in case of need. The wisdom of this plan soon became apparent, as there can be no doubt, that had an army been sent into Scotland to suppress the rebellion in the north, an insurrection would have broken out in England, which might have been fatal to the government.*

To strengthen, however, the military force in Scotland, the regiments of Forfar, Orrery, and Hill, were recalled from Ireland. These arrived at Edinburgh about the twenty-fourth of August, and were soon thereafter despatched along with other troops to the west, under Major-General Wightman, for the purpose of securing the fords of the Forth, and the pass of Stirling. These troops being upon the reduced establishment, did not exceed sixteen hundred men in whole, a force totally inadequate for the protection of such an important post. Orders were, therefore, sent to the earl of Stair's regiment of dragoons and two foot regiments, which lay in the north of England, to march to the camp in the park of Stirling with all expedition, and at same time, Evans's regiment of

• Annals of 2d vear of George I. p. 30.

ATTEMPT TO SURPRISE THE CASTLE OF EDINBURGH.

277

dragoons, and Clyton's and Wightman's regiments of foot were recalled from Ireland.*

During the time the camp was forming at Stirling, the friends of the Chevalier at Edinburgh formed the daring project of seizing the castle of Edinburgh, the possession of which would have been of vast importance to the Jacobite cause. Lord Drummond, a Catholic, was at the head of this party, which consisted of about ninety gentlemen selected for the purpose, about one half of whom were Highlanders. In the event of success, each of the adventurers was to receive £100 Sterling and a commission in the army. To facilitate their design, they employed one Arthur, who had formerly been an ensign in the Scotch guards, to corrupt some of the soldiers in the garrison, and who by money and promises of preferment induced a sergeant, a corporal, and two sentinels to enter into the views of the conspirators. These engaged to attend at a certain place upon the wall, on the north, near the Sally-port, in order to assist the conspirators in their ascent. The latter had prepared a scaling ladder made of ropes, capable of holding several men abreast, and had so contrived it, that it could be drawn up through means of pulleys, by a small rope which the soldiers were to fasten behind the wall. Having completed their arrangements, they fixed on the ninth of September for the attempt, being the day after the last detachment of the government troops quartered in camp in St Anne's Yards, near Edinburgh, had set off for Stirling. But the projectors of this well concerted enterprise were doomed to lament its failure when almost on the eve of completion.

Arthur, the officer who had bribed the soldiers, having engaged his brother, a physician in Edinburgh, in the Jacobite interest, let him into the secret of the design upon the castle. Dr Arthur, who appears to have been a man of a timorous disposition, grew alarmed at this intelligence, and so deep had been the impression made upon his mind while contemplating the probable consequences of such a step, that on the day before the attempt his spirits became so depressed as to attract the notice of his wife, who importuned him to inform her of the cause. He complied, and his wife, without acquainting him, sent an anonymous letter, by a servant, to Sir Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, lord-justice-clerk, acquainting him of the conspiracy. Cockburn received this letter at ten o'clock at night, and sent it off with a letter from himself to LieutenantColonel Stuart, the deputy-governor of the castle, who received the communication shortly before eleven. Stuart lost no time in ordering the officers to double their guards and make diligent rounds; but probably supposing that no attempt would be made that night he went to bed after issuing these instructions. In the meantime, the conspirators had assembled at a tavern preparatory to their attempt, but unfortunately for its success they lingered among their cups far beyond the time they had fixed

. Annals of 2d year of George I. p. 36—7.

upon for putting their project into execution. In fact, they did not as seinble at the bottom of the wall till after the deputy-governor had issued his orders, but ignorant of what had passed within the castle, they proceed ed to tie the rope, which had been let down by the soldiers, to the ladder Unhappily for the whole party, the hour for changing the sentinels had arrived, and while the traitorous soldiers were in the act of drawing up the ladder, one Lieutenant Lindsay, at the head of a party of fresh sentinels, came upon them on his way to the Sally-port. The soldiers, alarmed at the approach of Lindsay's party, immediately slipt the rope, and the ladder fell to the ground. The noise which this occurrence produced alarmed one of the sentinels, who instantly discharged his piece, upon which the conspirators, perceiving that they were discovered, fled and dispersed. A party of the town-guard which the lord provost, at the request of the lord-justice-clerk, had sent to patrole about the castle, attracted by the firing, immediately rushed from the West-Port, and repaired to the spot, but all the conspirators, with the exception of four whom they secured, had escaped. These were one Captain Maclean, an officer who had fought under Dundee at Killiecrankie, whom they found lying on the ground much injured by a fall from the ladder or from a precipice; Alexander Ramsay and George Boswell, writers in Edinburgh; and one Lesly, who had been in the service of the same dutchess of Gordon who had distinguished herself in the affair of the medal. This party picked up the ladder and a quantity of muskets and carbines which the conspirators had thrown away in their flight."

Such was the result of an enterprise which had been matured with great judgment, and which would probably have succeeded, but for the trifling circumstance before mentioned. The capture of such an important fortress as the castle of Edinburgh, at such a time, would have been of vast importance to the Jacobites, inasmuch as it would not only have afforded them an abundant supply of military stores, with which it was then well provided, and put them in possession of a considerable sum of money, but would also have served as a rallying point to the disaffected living to the south of the Forth, who only waited a favourable opportunity to declare themselves. Besides giving them the command of the city, the possession of the castle by a Jacobite force would have compelled the commander of the government forces to withdraw the greater part of his troops from Stirling, and to leave that highly important post exposed to the northern insurgents. Had the attempt succeeded, Lord Drummond, the contriver of the design, was to have been made governor of the castle, and notice of its capture was to have been announced to some of the Jacobite partizans on the opposite coast of Fife, by firing three rounds of cannon from its battlements. On hearing the report of the guns, these men were

Patten, p. 159, 160. Annals of George 1. p. 39, 40. Rae, p. 199, 200.

EXPEDITION OF GENERAL GORDON INTO ARGYLE

279

instantly to have communicated the intelligence to the earl of Mar who was to hasten south with all his forces.*

As the appointment of a person of rank, influence, and talent, to the command of the army, destined to oppose the earl of Mar, was of great importance, the duke of Argyle, who had served with distinction abroad, and who had formerly acted as commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland, was pitched upon as generalissimo of the army encamped at Stirling. Having received instructions from his majesty, at an audience on the eighth of September, he departed for Scotland the following day, accompanied by some of the Scottish nobility, and other persons of distinction, and arrived at Edinburgh on the fourteenth. About the same time, the earl of Sutherland, who had offered his services to raise the clans in the northern highlands, in support of the government, was sent down from London to Leith in a ship of war with orders to obtain a supply of arms and ammunition from the governor of the castle of Edinburgh. He arrived on the twenty-first of September, and after giving instructions for the shipment of these supplies, departed for the north.

When the duke of Argyle reached Edinburgh, he found that Mar had made considerable progress in the insurrection, and that the regular forces at Stirling were far inferior in point of numbers to those of the Jacobite commander. He, therefore, on the day he arrived in the capital, addressed a letter to the magistrates of Glasgow, (who, on the first appearance of the insurrection, had offered, in a letter to Lord Townshend, one of the secretaries of state, to raise six hundred men, in support of the government, at the expense of the city,) requesting them to send forthwith five or six hundred men to Stirling, under the command of such officers as they should think fit to appoint, to join the forces stationed there. In compliance with this demand, three battalions, amounting to between six and seven hundred men, under the command of the Lord Provost of the city, were successively despatched to Stirling on the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth of September. On the arrival of the first battalion, the duke addressed a second letter from Stirling to the magistrates of Glasgow, thanking them for their promptitude, and requesting them to send intimation, with the greatest despatch, to all the friends of the government in the west, to assemble all the fencible forces at Glasgow, and to hold them in readiness to march when required. In connexion with these instructions, the duke, at the same time, wrote letters of a similar import to the magistrates of all the well affected burghs, and to private individuals who were known to be favourably disposed. The most active measures were accordingly adopted in the south and west by the friends of the government, and in a short time a sufficient force was raised to keep the disaffected in these districts in check.† Meanwhile, the earl of Mar and his friends were no less active in

• Annals of second year of George I., p. 40.-Patten, p. 160.

+ Rae.