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the same while there is breath in me; so that they must be damnably ignorant of the principle of my heart and soul, who would imagine that I would endeavour to promote a civil war in my country.

"I do assure you, my dear lord, that if the king had taken away my house, and a part of my estate, without any just ground, as he did my company, that I would go and live, though most miserable, in arry country on earth, rather than make a civil war in my own country. I hope this will convince your lordship that I have always been a declared enemy against this mad project. Now, my dear lord, as to what you desire. me, of acquainting all my people to be in readiness, I do assure you, that I did so immediately after coming from Inverness; but to obey your commands, I have sent my officers this day, with orders to them to be ready when I should call for them out; and I ordered them to make short coats and hose, and to put aside their long coats, and to get as many swords and dirks as they could find. As to the article of arms, it is needless to talk of it, for my men have no arms, and I never will present them to king or general without arms. And your lordship may remember, that when you spoke to me of that article at Inverness, you said, at last, that I could not show my men without arms, and without sufficient orders from the government; to which opinion I told your lordship I would adhere.

"And as to my zeal for the government, I can assure your lordship, that I have as much as any lord or laird in Scotland, except your lordship, whose constant, uncommon, and fiery zeal for this government, to my certain knowledge, is, and has always been without example. But I hope, my lord, since you have this day the same power over your old corporal, that you had in the year 1715, you will make my court to Sir John Cope. If I be able to step into my chariot, I will pay my duty to him at Inverness or Culloden, and will beg of your lordship to introduce me to him.

"After writing the above, I had an express from Gortuleg, I think Tam More seems to be a little frighted. I will write a strong letter to him to-morrow, to be shown to my Stratherrick and Abertarf people. But my dear lord, I am in a very terrible situation; my country threatened to be destroyed, and they have

neither support nor arms to defend themselves, and they see all the clans about them save themselves by sending some men to the Highland camp, and they only left a sacrifice; but as it is you that has engaged me to make an appearance for the government at this time, (to which I had not an immediate call, having neither post nor employment from the government, and not having been well used, as your lordship knows,) I trust entirely to your true friendship and generosity, that you will in the first place, obtain arms for my people to defend themselves; and in the second place, that you will obtain for myself what encouragement your lordship thinks I deserve, or may deserve from the government. I can say, without vanity, that if I was so mad as to be on the other side, the Highlanders would have a much greater number than they have by this time, and might with such a desperate bold prince as they have at their head, become more troublesome to the government than they were in the year 1715.

"I refer all this to your lordship's generous consideration, and I beg that you may forgive any blunders that I may have writ in this letter, for the pain in my body and the troublesome situation of my country have almost turned my head, but whatever situation I am in, I shall always remain your lordship's most faithful slave and affectionate cousin,"* &c.

The day after receiving this letter, the twenty-eighth of August, the president was informed by express from Sir John Cope himself, that he had declined attempting the Corryarrak, and had taken the road for Inverness, which tidings he did not lose a moment in communicating to lord Lovat, adding, that Sir John now expected that the chiefs of the Highlands who were in the interest of the government would exert themselves, and, by the promptitude of their conduct, prevent among their neighbours any further manifestations of folly. The laird of Grant, he informed him, had already made liberal offers, which had been kindly accepted of; and he submitted it to him, whether for his own credit he ought not to arm and assemble his people of Stratherrick and the Aird, that they might be disposed of as should be most conducive to the public

* Culloden Papers, pp. 214, 215.

service. Arms, of the want of which Lovat complained so loudly, he assured him had been ordered from Edinburgh and London, and would be at Inverness by and by.*

Lovat, in the above letter, represents Gortuleg, Tam More, as he facetiously calls him, as appearing to be a little frightened, and though Gortuleg was at bottom as much as ever in the interest of Charles-to save appearances, and secure himself in case of inquiry, he now wrote to the president an account of his visit to Invergary, in the following terms:-" My lord, I wrote to lord Lovat yesterday morning from this place, [Gortuleg] wherein I told his lordship that I had occasion to see Lochiel and some others of that army, Tuesday, when they lay near Fort Augustus, and gave a true account of their ber, which still is not two thousand, and I recommended to lord Lovat to let your lordship know this, and what I then judged was their resolution.

num

"This morning I am informed that yesterday they set out early from Aberchalder, and came before seven in the morning to a place called Lugganvane, four miles from Fort Augustus, and at the foot of Corryarrak, that then they were assured of Sir John Cope's marching by Ruthven to Inverness, that immediately they called a council of war, and the resolution taken was to pursue general Cope with all expedition, that their whole army was at Garvamore about twelve o'clock, and that they were resolved to march by night and by day until they came up with their enemy. I am assured that their young forward leader called for his Highland clothes, and that at tying the latchets of his shoes, he solemnly declared that he would be up with Mr. Cope before they were unloosed. If this information holds true, they must certainly have a brush this day. The people are in top spirits, and make sure of victory in case they meet. Should that happen, I can assure your lordship that they will be troublesome neighbours for some time, for they know their situation, and they are desperate. I am plagued and fatigued by keeping some idle lightheaded people here in order, and, I do assure your lordship, that if the Highland army remained any time in our neighbourhood, that even

• Culloden Papers, p. 216.

the lord Lovat could not get some of them commanded. I have the honour to be, &c. P. S. The bearer is a very honest pretty fellow, in whom I have entire confidence."* Though there are some parts of this statement evidently framed to serve the cause of Charles, and facilitate his march into the Low Country, particularly where he represents him as determined to pursue the king's army, which it was neither his interest nor his intention at this time to do, yet there is throughout the whole an approximation to the truth, and he gives the number of the rebels, when he visited them on the twenty-seventh of August, in all probability as accurately as circumstances would admit. On that day, according to his statement, their numbers stood thus:-Lochiel, seven hundred; Clanronald, two hundred and fifty; the Stewarts of Appin, commanded by Ardsheil, two hundred and twenty; Keppoch, two hundred and sixty; Glengary's men, including Knoidart, Glenco, and Glenmoriston, six hundred, making in all, two thousand and thirty.†

While the lord president was thus successfully employed in retarding the movements of many of the most powerful and determined Jacobites, Charles finding the way entirely open by the march of the king's troops for Inverness, eagerly seized upon the opportunity of moving forward, well knowing that if success should attend him in the south, there would be no danger of his friends in the north becoming either fewer or less devoted to his cause. Having reached Garvamore on the twenty-eighth, he despatched one hundred men to apprehend Macpherson of Clunie at his own house. Clunie had accepted of a commission in lord Loudon's regiment, had waited on Sir John Cope at Ruthven, who had sent him home to raise part of his people, with which he was to hasten to Sir John at Inverness, of all which the rebels had full information, and to prevent him from executing his purpose, carried him along with them, and he very soon became one of the most devoted and determined rebels. They sent another division of two hundred men to surprise the barrack and small

* Culloden Papers, pp. 116, 117.

† Several accounts make their numbers less formidable, and others, among whom is that of Mr. Home, make them more so; but we take the above to be, if not the truth, exceedingly near it.

garrison of Ruthven, but the garrison being prepared to receive them, they did not succeed.

On the twenty-ninth, Charles reached Dalwhinnie, where he was waited upon by a number of the gentlemen of the surrounding country with offers of duty and obedience. On the thirtieth he proceeded to the castle of Blair, where he remained some days, and was joined by lord Nairn and several others. On the morning of the third of September, lord Nairn and Lochiel, with a detachment of four hundred men, took possession of Dunkeld, where Charles arrived in the afternoon, and James was publicly proclaimed king, and the different manifestos read.* The same party set forward in the evening, and next morning took possession of Perth, where Charles, with the whole of his followers, arrived in the afternoon, and so low were his finances, that he was now reduced to his last guinea, which he showed to Kelly, one of his Irish counsellors, with the flippant remark, that he would soon get more. Here Charles remained till the eleventh, during which he had his father proclaimed king, and his manifestos read in Perth, and in several of the principal towns in the neighbouring counties of Angus and Fife, in all of which he levied the public money, and took up for his service what men, horses, arms, and ammunition he could obtain. At Dundee his partisans seized upon a ship supposed to have some gunpowder on board, which they carried up to Perth.

The bond of rebellion was here strengthened by the accession of the duke of Perth, who joined it with upwards of two hundred of his followers, by Robertson of Struan with one hundred, and by lord George Murray-whose native courage and intuitive military skill were worth an army-with nearly one thousand of the men of Athol. Macpherson of Clunie, who, though made a prisoner at Dalwhinnie, had hitherto refused to join, was here prevailed upon to follow the example of the duke of Perth and lord George Murray, and was sent back to bring up his retainers, who had already been put in motion to be marched to Inverness, to assist Sir John Cope or lord Loudon, but who, in consequence of this, had a destination

* Vide Note, pp. 133–136.

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