some knavish justices of the peace, who will too probably commit them."*

All this anxiety, however, was in vain, as the representations by which it was excited, were utterly vague and visionary, and, in the month of September, two months after the date of the above, we find them thus expressing to the pretender their disappointment and regret :-" Such of your friends as knew the contents of yours of the twenty-third of June, have been ever since under the utmost impatience, and are extremely vexed and surprised that they have heard no further from you, and that nothing of what was insinuated to be soon expected, nay, not so much as the arrival of their Highland chieftains that were on your side of the water hath happened. Had your measures succeeded, never was this country in such a disposition. The duke of Hamilton came yesterday from the west, and tells me he had messages sent him from the magistrates of Glasgow, and from leading people in other parts of the west, that they were willing to venture all for you, and would follow him, and, indeed, the people in all parts are thus disposed, so that with a small foreign force, or even without it, your business could be effectually done here in a short time, if so be you could bring such foreign assistance to England, as could make a stand till your friends in that country were thereby encouraged, and enabled to get together."+

By the same letter they are at great pains to make him easy with regard to the progress of general Wade, and to certify him what they apprehended would be the result of the disarming act which he was commissioned to enforce. "No doubt," continues the writer," the government will be at pains to magnify and spread abroad their success in disarming the Highlanders, but depend upon it 'tis all a jest, for few or no swords or pistols are or will be surrendered, and only such of their firelocks as are of no value, so that a small recruit of good arms will put them in a better state than before. I mention this so expressly that you may contradict reports to the contrary, lest they discourage those from whom you expect

* Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 187-190. + Ibid. p. 194.

foreign aid. I now plainly see that this Highland expedition, whatever might be at first pretended or intended, is now at the bottom a money job; the general has got a great sum of money to pass through his hands, and his scheme is to be mighty civil to the Highlanders, and, under the colour of having persuaded them to give up their arms, which the trash they give him will enable him to represent, to make himself pass as an useful man, and fit to be continued in Scotland with a good salary. at the same time, I know likewise there are some of the government heartily vexed that the Highlanders have made no opposition, hoping, if they had, that in this time of tranquillity they might have extirpated them, whereas, as matters have been managed, they will still remain, and be in a capacity to serve you when a fair occasion offers.”*

But

This affair of disarming the Highlanders, which was looked upon as so important by both sides, was, indeed, so managed as to be of no consequence to either. Wade was a man of polite manners, and of an agreeable placid disposition, willing to execute his orders in the most accommodating style, and he was met by the Highlanders, to all appearance, in the same spirit of conciliation. In the month of August he was met at Inverness by the M'Kenzies, to the number of one hundred and fifty, headed by Tarbat, Mackenzie of Coul, and Sir Kenneth McKenzie of Cromarty, who stated themselves as representing the vassals and tenants of Seaforth, to whose agent, Donald Murchieson,† they had paid their rents for several past, and were unable to pay them over again, but, on being discharged of these years, they promised to pay their rents to government, to deliver up their arms, and to live in quiet sub

• Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 195.

years

+ This Murchieson uplifted the rents for Seaforth, for which he gave receipts as deputy factor to the commissioners on the forfeited estates. This deputyship he extorted some years previous to this from the factor appointed by the said commissioners, whom he attacked with upwards of five hundred armed men as he was entering upon the said estate accompanied with a small body of his majesty's troops. He even had the audacity, only the year previous to this, to come publicly to Edinburgh for the purpose of remitting eight hundred pounds to his master residing in France, and, amidst all the loyalty of that good city, remained there fourteen days without any molestation. Letters from the North of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 280.

mission to the laws. They were hospitably entertained for several days by the general, who, with a small body of dragoons, having promised them all they requested, accompanied them to the Castle of Brahan, where they delivered up to him their worn out and useless arms, to the number of seven hundred and eighty-four, having previously given up all those that were of any value to Donald Murchieson, Seaforth's factor, whom he had sent among them for that purpose.

From the castle of Brahan, the general proceeded to Killyhuimen and Fort William; at which places, the Macdonalds of Glengary, the Macleods of Glenelg, the Chisholms of Strathglass, the Grants of Glenmoriston, the Macdonalds of Keppoch, Moidart, Arisaig, and Glenco, the Camerons and the Stewarts of Appin, delivered up such arms as were of no farther use to them. The Macintoshes brought in theirs to Inverness; and the vassals of the duke of Gordon, with the Macphersons, delivered up what number they chose to part with at the barrack of Ruthven, in Badenoch. The Macdonalds, the Mackinnons, and the Macleods of Skye, delivered up theirs at the barrack of Bernera, and the inhabitants of Mull at Castleduart. The same routine was gone through at Braemar, Perth, Athol, Braidalbine, Monteith, part of Stirling and Dunbartonshires, where the people brought in their arms punctually on the days and at the places appointed, but fewer in number than their brethren of the north, they having fewer out of repair, and the gentlemen took care to persuade the general that many of their people knowing that they were to receive no money for them, had sent their old arms to the blacksmith, to be manufactured into agricultural implements, which he seems to have been kind enough to believe, though it was an absolute fiction. Over all these districts, the general collected two thousand six hundred and eighty-five stand of arms, which he admits were of little more value than old iron, and they were deposited in the castle of Edinburgh, Fort William, and the barrack of Bernera. Licenses to carry arms were at the same time granted by him to foresters, drovers, &c. &c. to the number of two hundred and thirty.*

* Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 196, 197. Report to his majesty concerning the Highlands of Scotland, 1725, &c. &c.

At the same time that general Wade was thus gratified by the apparent frankness with which the people parted with their arms, he was still more so by the submission of the greater part of those chieftains that had been in the rebellion conducted by the earl of Marr, who no sooner learned that he had it in his power to receive them, than they seemed to be only anxious who should be the first to renounce his errors and return to his allegiance. "The greater part of them," says he, "were drawn into the rebellion at the instigation of their superiors; and, in my humble opinion, have continued their disaffection rather from despair, than any real dislike to your majesty's government. As soon as their respective clans. had delivered up their arms, several of these attainted persons came to me, at different times and places, to render their submission to your majesty. They laid down their swords on the ground, expressed their sorrow and concern for having made use of them in opposition to your majesty, and promised a peaceable and dutiful obedience for the remaining part of their lives." In addition to all this, the general was favoured with letters of submission, signed by the disaffected chiefs themselves, or by their friends in the interest of the government, who thus became, in some sort, securities for their fidelity and good conduct. These letters were forwarded to his majesty's secretaries of state, and remain to this day irrefragable proofs of the fickle and faithless disposition by which these chieftains were too generally animated. Of this disposition the general

*

* These letters are for the most part written with apparent ingenuity, though they generally contain a little flattery to the man to whom they were immediately addressed. The following from Robert Campbell, the celebrated Rob Roy, we consider as the most characteristic:

Sir, The great humanity with which you have constantly acted in the discharge of the trust reposed in you, and your having ever made use of the great powers with which you are vested, as the means of doing good and charitable offices to such as ye found proper objects of compassion, will, I hope, excuse my importunity in endeavouring to approve myself not absolutely unworthy of that mercy and favour your excellency has so generously procured from his majesty for others in my unfortunate circumstances. I ain very sensible nothing can be alleged sufficient to excuse so great a crime as I have been guilty of-that of rebellion; but I humbly beg leave to lay before your excellency some particulars in the circumstances of my guilt, which I hope will extenuate it in some measure. It was my misfortune, at the time

was perfectly aware, for he particularly alludes to it, and suggests a number of judicious expedients for guarding against its future operation, and, notwithstanding the insinuations of Lockhart, above mentioned, seems to have felicitated himself, not without good grounds, upon the success of his undertaking. He had traversed the country in all directions, and had been every where received with apparent cordiality—he had built a vessel on Loch Ness, capable of carrying fifty or sixty soldiers, with all their accoutrements-he had made considerable progress in carrying forward the military road between Killyhuimen and Fort William, and his whole expenses, including the encampment and subsisting the troops, sending one hundred and forty-nine summonses, to the several parishes and county towns, gratuities, intelligence, &c. &c. did not exceed the sum of two thousand pounds; so that when he says, "I have acted with the utmost application, diligence, and frugality," we feel disposed to give him full and entire credit.

The leading Jacobites were perfectly sensible, as we have already clearly demonstrated, of the duplicity with which the

the rebellion broke out, to be lyable to legal diligence and caption, at the duke of Montrose's instance, for debt alleged to be due to him. To avoid being flung into prison, as I must certainly have been, had I followed my real inclination, in joining the king's troops at Stirling, I was forced to take party with the adherents of the pretender, for, the country being all in arms, it was neither safe, nor, indeed, possible for me to stand neuter. I should not, however, plead my being forced into that unnatural rebellion against his majesty king George, if I could not at the same time assure your excellency that I not only avoided acting offensively against his majesty's forces upon all occasions, but on the contrary sent his grace the duke of Argyle all the intelligence I could from time to time of the strength and situation of the rebels, which I hope his grace will do me the justice to acknowledge; as to the debt to the duke of Montrose, I have discharged it to the utmost farthing. I beg your excellency would be persuaded that had it been in my power, as it was in my inclination, I should always have acted for the service of his majesty king George, and that one reason of my begging the favour of your intercession with his majesty for the pardon of my life, is the earnest desire I have to employ it in his service, whose goodness, justice, and humanity, are so conspicuous to all mankind. I am, with all duty and respect, your excellency's most, &c. &c.

ROBERT CAMPBELL." Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland, &c. vol. ii. pp. 333-335.