[346] Here begins vol. iv. of Bishop Forbes's Manuscript Collection.
It is entitled:
'THE LYON IN MOURNING,' or a collection (as exactly made as the
iniquity of the times would permit) of Speeches, Letters, Journals,
etc., relative to the affairs, but more particularly, the dangers and
distresses of.... Vol. 4th. 1748.
_Extera gens nostra passim dominatur in orbe_,
SCOTORUM PRINCEPS _vix, ubi degat, habet!_
On the inside of the back board there is one piece of wood, an inch
long by about 3/8 broad and 1/8 thick (and there has been another
piece, but now it is not) and underneath is written:--
The above are pieces of that identical eight-oar'd boat, on board of
which Donald Macleod, etc., set out from Boradale on the continent
with the Prince (after the battle of Culloden) for Benbecula in the
Long Isle. The above pieces were sent to me from Major MacDonald of
Glenaladale to the care of Captain Alexander MacDonald in Edinburgh,
brother-german to Dalely. The said Alexander MacDonald delivered the
above pieces to me on Wednesday evening, December 28th, 1748, he
having come under a promise upon our first acquaintance to procure me
a bit of the eight-oar'd boat. See vol. 2, ff. 270, 284, vol. 3, ff.
581, 582. Vol. 4, ff. 677, 678.--ROBERT FORBES, A.M.
[347] It is very remarkable that the Prince made little rest serve
him at any time, and that he was almost indefatigable in walking and
in undergoing hardship. [See ff. 238, 244, 291.]--ROBERT FORBES,
A.M.
[Sidenote: 2 Aug.]
[Sidenote: 6 Aug.]
[Sidenote: 7 Aug.]
Having time in that space to provide some necessaries and to
gather intelligence about the enemy's motions, they removed, on
the 2d of August, into a place within two miles of them, called
Coirmheadhain,[348] where they took up their habitation in a grotto
no less romantic than the former. After taking some refreshment,
they placed their sentries and made up a bed for his royal highness
in a closet shaped out by nature, and seemingly designed by her
for the reception of his royal highness. He rested comfortably all
night. In this place he resided four days; but, being informed that
one Campbell (factor to Seaforth in Kintale, and captain at that
time of a company of militia) had gathered a throng herdship of
cattle and pitched his camp within four miles of them, it was then
resolved his royal highness [Sidenote: _fol._ 626.] should remove
his quarters. Accordingly, upon the 6th of August, he set out to the
northward, and, by break of day upon the 7th, came in upon the Brae
of the Chisholm's country, called Strathglass, having left one of
their party behind in the Brae of Glenmoriston to wait Campbell's
motions.[349] That friend came up to them that night (August 7th) and
brought word that they needed not be afraid for that night. Upon this
his royal highness repaired to a neighbouring sheally hut, when they
prepared a fire, and, taking some refreshment, they made up a bed for
his royal highness, which consisted of a long divot or fail (that
was found lying in the hut) of six or seven foot long; and, laying
it flat upon the floor, the grass side uppermost, with a pillow of
the same kind, his royal highness slept on the earthen bed all night.
They remained in this place two days, and in that time the prince
sent an express to Pollieu[350] to know the certainty about some
French vessels being there.
[348] See f. 1664.
[349] See f. 1665.
[350] The Prince used to insist upon it that the French would still
send him succours. This I heard from severals. See ff. 175, 214.--F.
[Sidenote: 9 Aug.]
[Sidenote: 10 Aug.]
[Sidenote: _fol._ 627.] Early in the morning of August 9th, his royal
highness set out to the northward so far on his way to Pollieu in
case of any encouragement[351] from that quarter, and, travelling a
muir road unfrequented, came that night into another sheally hut,
about the distance of five or six miles from where they had set out.
There they remained all night, and set out about two o'clock in the
morning of August 10th, and came about twelve o'clock into a place
called Glencanna, where, passing the remainder of the day in a wood,
they repaired late at night to a neighbouring village, where they
stayed only the dead of night.
[351] See the preceding note.--ROBERT FORBES, A.M.
[Sidenote: 11 Aug.]
About two o'clock in the morning of August 11th, they set out and
climbed a hill on the northmost side of Glencanna,[352] where they
pass'd the day and sent off two of their party to furnish a fresh
supply of provisions. At night they repaired into a neighbouring
sheally hut, where they remained two days, [Sidenote: _fol._ 628.]
expecting the return of the express sent off to Pollieu, who
accordingly came to them and brought back word that the only French
ship that had come there had sailed off again, and that a couple of
gentlemen who had come on board of her had actually landed and were
making the best of their way for Lochiel's country in search of the
Prince.[353] He, becoming anxious to know if they had dispatches for
him, resolved to return towards the place from whence he had come in
order to meet with them.
[352] See f. 1665.
[353] See ff. 173-176, 356.
[Sidenote: 13 Aug.]
August 13th, at night, they set out cross the water of Canna back
again, and boldly by young Chisholm's house, came by two o'clock
in the morning to a place called Fassanacoill in Strathglass; and,
consulting what was best and fittest to be done, it was resolved
(before his royal highness should venture any further) to send some
spies to the Braes of Glengary and Lochiel's country, in order to get
sure information [Sidenote: _fol._ 629.] whether or not the search
for him in these bounds was all over, and if the troops had gone into
their camp at Fort Augustus, which being done, his royal highness
remained there for three days in a very fast wood, the inhabitants
dreaming nothing of his being so near them.
[Sidenote: 17 Aug.]
They waited the return of the spies, who brought notice that the
forces had returned to their camp. Whereupon his royal highness set
out by six o'clock in the morning of August 17th, travelled through
an unfrequented road, and came by ten o'clock to the Braes of
Glenmoriston, and, passing the day on the top of a hill, they set out
at night, and had not travelled above a mile when they learned that
a strong party had been detached to the Braes of Glengary in quest
of the Prince. Upon this it was resolved to proceed no further on
their journey untill the motion of the enemy should be farther known;
and then they repaired into a neighbouring sheally [Sidenote: _fol._
630.] hut, where they passed the remainder of the night.
[Sidenote: 18 Aug.]
Upon August 18th, in the morning, three expresses were sent off--two
to Lochiel's country, Lochharkaig, who were to seek out Cluns
Cameron,[354] and to tell him from Major MacDonald of Glenaladale
that he wanted to meet with him in a convenient place; and the third
express was to return at the Brae of Glengary and to bring back word
if the party they were informed of the night before had returned to
their camp or not; that so, if the road should happen to be clear,
his royal highness might be pursuing his journey, even while the
meeting betwixt the Major and Cluns Cameron was a concerting.
[354] See f. 173.
[Sidenote: 19 Aug.]
Accordingly the expresses were sent off, and, upon the 19th, the one
that was to return brought word that the road was clear. Whereupon
the Prince and his small party, being then ten in number, set out
under the advantage of a foggy afternoon, [Sidenote: _fol._ 631.]
and, passing through Glenmoriston and Glenlyne, came late at night
to the Brae of Glengary. In their way to the water of Gary, the
rain came on so heavy that the water swell'd to a great height. Two
of the company went first to try if they could wade the water, and
they found it passable, even though it came up to their very middle.
Whereupon, his royal highness and the rest of his party entering
the water, they forded it safely, and, travelling about a mile from
the water of Gary, the night being very dark, they were obliged to
pass it on the side of a hill, without any cover, though it rained
excessively.
[Sidenote: 20 Aug.]
In the morning of August 20th the Prince set out, the rain still
continuing very heavy, and, travelling six miles cross hills
and muirs, came about ten o'clock to the Brae of a place called
Achnasaul,[355] where the other expresses had been appointed to meet
them. There they pass'd the day in a most inconvenient [Sidenote:
_fol._ 632.] habitation, it raining as heavy within as without it.
Towards the afternoon they began to despair about their expresses,
and, being entirely run out of provisions of any kind and being quite
strangers to the situation of Lochiel's country for the present, they
began to concert what should be done, when, in the midst of their
concert, the expresses came to them and brought word to the Major
that Cameron of Cluns could not wait upon him that night, but had
directed him to lodge all night in a certain wood within two miles
of them, where he would come to them next morning. Accordingly,
two of their number were detailed to take a view of their intended
habitation, who, coming to the place, found it to be very fast.
[355] It is omitted in this Journal that Auchinsaul himself was with
the Prince. See f. 173.--ROBERT FORBES, A.M.
And here it must be observed that that wonderful providence which
always prevented his royal highness's difficulties seemed in a
particular instance remarkable here. He and his faithful few, as
has been observed above, running entirely out of all manner of
subsistence and being at a loss to know which [Sidenote: _fol._ 633.]
way to be provided, they were immediately supplied by the small
detachment, they having shot the finest deer (a large hart) that
could be, at the very place where the Prince intended to pass the
night.
The two returning with their approbation of the place to his royal
highness, he (after permitting Major MacDonald of Glenaladale to
acquaint D. MacDonald of Lochgary of their arrival at that place, and
to send for him) set out for the intended quarters with his party,
and coming to the place, they were most deliciously feasted with
their late purchase. Lochgary joined them that night, after which
they took their rest.
[Sidenote: 21 Aug.]
About ten o'clock in the morning of August 21st, Cluns Cameron
joined them, and, remaining there till towards the afternoon, Cluns
conducted them into a wood at the foot of Lochharkaig, where they
lodged all night, etc.
[Sidenote: 22 Aug.]
[Sidenote: _fol._ 634.]
Timeous in the morning of August 22d, an express was sent off to
Lochiel[356] to command his attendance. His royal highness stayed
in the foresaid place three days, till the return of the express,
who brought word that Lochiel, not being recovered of his wounds
and being at too great a distance, could not come, but he sent his
brother, Dr. Cameron, to make his apology, who came to his royal
highness upon August 25th.
[356] The affair of the Prince's sending expresses to Lochiel, and of
Lochiel's sending proper persons to seek out the Prince, and at last
of their meeting together as they both intended, appears to me not to
be so distinctly and accurately narrated in this Journal as in that
of Mr. John Cameron [See ff. 173-179]. As I have made some enquiry
into this matter, I shall note down all I have discovered about it
as exactly as possible. Dr. Archibald Cameron (Lochiel's brother)
and Mr. John Cameron (late Presbyterian chaplain at Fort William)
were the persons despatched by Lochiel to use all the endeavours they
could to find out the Prince, in which they were happily successful.
Lochiel was by this time recovered of his wounds [See f. 1479] as
is evident from Dr. Stewart Threpland's leaving him and making
his way to Edinburgh in the habit and character of a Presbyterian
probationer, in the month of July, long before the Prince and Lochiel
could meet. The foresaid Mr. John Cameron was the person dispatched
by Lochiel (after meeting with the Prince) to Edinburgh in order to
hire a vessel to take him and whom he should bring along with him off
the east coast. Mr. Cameron (by the assistance of proper friends)
succeeded in this negotiation, as is well known to some. But when he
returned to inform the Prince of his success, he, with Lochiel, etc.,
had set out for the place where the French were landed upon the west
coast to take off the Prince, etc. So that Mr. Cameron was left to
shift for himself. He made his way back to Edinburgh in disguise,
and at last got off under a borrowed name in the same coach with
Lady Lochiel and her children for London, the lady passing under
the name of Mrs. Campbell, for she could have no pass. They all got
safely to France. When I happened to be conversing with John Cameron,
uncle of the said Mr. Cameron, in Edinburgh [See f. 558], he told
me that he himself attended Lochiel in his skulking. I told him it
was surprizing to me how any person could find out the Prince when
the ship landed in the west, because he was so far down the country
in his way southward, and then asked him if he could inform me what
miles the Prince might be from the ships when notice came to him. He
said that he himself was then on an errand enquiring about some of
the distressed gentlemen, but that he was persuaded the Prince was
no less than 60 miles from the ships in a direct line over the tops
of hills, etc., as by that time he behoved to be in the confines or
in the county of Athol. I said no doubt he meant Highland miles.
He said he meant so, for that it would be no less than 70 or 80
ordinary miles; and if one was to travell it by the common roads [See
f. 1475], it would make no less than 90 or 100. The indemnity did
not make John Cameron (the uncle) safe, because he had carried arms
abroad in the first Highland regiment, and when the Prince landed had
a pension from Chelsea. He got off to Holland, and from thence to
France. He said the Prince, when skulking, used to retire some time
morning and evening by himself.--ROBERT FORBES, A.M.
[Sidenote: 26 Aug.]
August 26th. The Prince set out with his attendants, and travelling
about a mile came to a wood opposite to Achnacary called Torramhuilt
or Torvauilt. Dr. Cameron and Lochgary having parted with his royal
highness about three or four o'clock in the afternoon to avoid
suspicion, as did also Cluns Cameron, how soon he had conducted his
royal highness into [Sidenote: _fol._ 365.] this last habitation. In
this place the Prince remained for eight days, during which time the
forementioned French gentlemen were sent for and were brought to the
place where his royal highness was, and after staying two or three
days with him, were sent to a safe place to be taken due care of till
such time as they could get a passage to their own country.
[Sidenote: Sept.]
The Prince seeing himself in a manner out of danger, having got
intelligence that all the forces which had been encamped at Fort
Augustus were dispersed up and down the kingdom, and that no more
was left there but Loudon's regiment; and besides that all the
militia were returned home, having delivered back their arms; and
supposing that a chance party might come near the place where he was
still, he had a safe retreat, south and north as would be thought
most convenient; upon all these considerations put together he
thought proper to [Sidenote: _fol._ 636.] dismiss Major Macdonald of
Glenaladale home to his own country near the coast, there to look out
for the arrival of French vessels which his royal highness expected
daily for conveying him safely off, and to bring him intelligence
upon their arrival, the Prince himself being resolved to remain in
the same place (unless he was surprized) to wait that event.
[Sidenote: 3 Sept.]
Accordingly upon September 3d the Major set out, leaving his royal
highness attended by Lochgary and Cluns Cameron, and arrived in his
own country upon the 5th, where he remained till the 13th, when
Captain Sheridan and Lieutenant O'Burn landed from on board two
French ships that anchored in Lochnannuagh upon the Arisaig side in
order to carry off his royal highness, they coming to the place where
Glenaladale then was and expecting to find the Prince with him.
Lochnannuagh is the boundary between Arisaig and Moydart, [Sidenote:
_fol._ 637.] so that people can arrive upon either of these places
out of that loch.
[Sidenote: 13 Sept.]
Glenaladale set out that very night (September 13th) to acquaint the
Prince of the arrival of these ships and to conduct him safely on
board. But coming to the place where he expected to have found him,
to his great disappointment he could get no person that could give
any certain account whereabouts his royal highness might happen to
be. The Prince had been obliged to retreat by a party that had come
out of Fort Augustus under the command of Culcairn and Captain Grant;
and Cluns Cameron, who had been appointed to acquaint the Major where
the Prince was to be found in case he should be obliged to retreat,
having gone out of the way without leaving any directions for the
Major either about his royal highness or [Sidenote: _fol._ 638.]
himself, these things put the Major in the utmost pain, considering
the many disappointments and inconveniencies this piece of
inadvertency in Cluns might be the occasion of. Whilst he was taken
up with these melancholy thoughts, a poor woman came accidentally
where he was and told him the place where Cluns was to be found.
Immediately he set out with all diligence and arrived at a shealling
whither Cluns came soon after, with whom he concerted measures for
sending an express to his royal highness, who by this time had gone
where Lochiel was for the reasons abovementioned, that so he might be
speedily informed about the arrival of the ships. When the concert
[Sidenote: _fol._ 639.] about sending an express was adjusted, the
Major returned with all possible expedition to the ships to inform
the gentlemen of the reasons of the delay, and that the Prince would
be with them as quickly as possible.
[Sidenote: 28 Sept.]
As soon as his royal highness was informed that the vessels were at
Lochnannuagh he set out with all possible diligence for that place,
where he arrived about the 28th of September,[357] accompanied by
Lochgarry, John Roy Stewart, and Lochiel, and went on board the
_Happy_, a privateer of St. Malo's, which set sail instantly upon his
royal highness's being on board.
[357] This certainly is a wrong date, for by the best intelligence
that can be had the Prince arrived in France on the 29th or 30th of
September, having set sail from Scotland on the 20th of said month.
[See ff. 522, 1476.]