JOURNAL of the Prince's imbarkation and
arrival, etc.,[221] taken from the month of ÆNEAS MACDONALD (a
banker in Paris, and brother of Kinlochmoidart) when he was in
a messenger's custody in London, by Dr. BURTON of York, who
was taken up, upon suspicion, the 30th of November 1745, and
confined till the 11th of March following in York Castle, and
was from thence removed to a messenger's house in London, in
whose custody he remained till March 25th, 1747, being in all
sixteen months wanting only five days.[222]
[221] This Journal is printed in the _Jacobite Memoirs_ (pp. 1-27)
with some omissions, in combination with another by Duncan Cameron,
f. 346, _ante_.
[222] Dr. Burton and Bishop Forbes were both enthusiastic Jacobites,
and an account of their meeting follows (f. 519). Later, a
considerable correspondence passed between them, most of which the
latter embodied in this manuscript.
[Sidenote: 1745. June.]
[Sidenote: _fol._ 490.] After the Prince had settled everything for
his subsequent undertaking, the gentlemen who were to accompany him
on his voyage took different routs to Nantz, the place appointed to
meet at, thereby the better to conceal their design. During their
residence there they lodged in different parts of the town, and if
they accidentally met in the street or elsewhere they took not the
least notice of each other, nor seemed to be any [Sidenote: _fol._
491.] way acquainted, if there was any person near enough to observe
them. During this time, and whilst everything was preparing to set
sail, the Prince went to a seat of the Duke of Bouillon and took
some days' diversion in hunting, fishing, and shooting, amusements
he always delighted in, being at first obliged to it on account
of his health. By this means he became inured to toil and labour,
which enabled him to undergo the great fatigues and hardships he was
afterwards exposed unto.
From this place he went to a seat of the Duke of Fitz-James,
seemingly upon the same errand, and thence at a proper time went in
disguise directly on board the ship lying in the Loire, being the
river which goes immediately from Nantz to the sea. [Sidenote: _fol._
492.] Here he found eight gentlemen[223] above hinted at ready to
accompany and assist him in his expedition. They were the Marquis
of Tullibardine, alias Duke of Athol, Sir John MacDonald (a French
officer), Mr. Æneas MacDonald (a banker in Paris), Mr. Strickland,
Mr. Buchanan, Sir Thomas Sheridan, Mr. O'Sullivan, and Mr. Kelly. To
these I may add a ninth, viz., Mr. Anthony Welch, the owner of the
ship which carried the Prince. He (this last) staid on the coast of
Scotland about three weeks, and did the Prince considerable service.
[223] The Prince in his Manifesto from the Abbey of Holyrood-house
calls them _seven only_. Perhaps Mr. Buchanan (as I have heard
suggested by several persons) was reckoned amongst the Prince's
domesticks.