Dundee had ridden out of Edinburgh with no clear plan of action before
him. Balcarres afterwards declared that his friend had no intention of
making for the Highlands till he learned that warrants were out for his
apprehension. Yet it is probable that the idea of a Highland campaign
had already begun to take shape in Dundee's mind before Mackay's advance
forced him over the Grampians. His orders were, in the event of the
Estates declaring for William, to keep quiet till the arrival of a
regular force from Ireland should enable him to take the field with some
chance of success. And, indeed, he had at that time no alternative. It
was clear to him that the game was lost in the Lowlands, but it was not
yet clear to him that anything was to be gained in the Highlands. The
example of his famous kinsman might indeed serve to fire both his
imagination and his ambition; but it could hardly serve to make him
hopeful of succeeding with the weapons which had failed Montrose. A few
thousand claymores would no doubt prove a useful supplement to the small
body of troops James might be able to spare from Ireland; but even a
mind so ardent and sanguine as Dundee's might well have shrank from
facing the chances of war with no other resources than a handful of
troopers and a rabble of half-armed, half-naked, and wholly
undisciplined savages. And in truth experience had shown that these
fierce and jealous spirits were little less dangerous as allies than as
enemies. Every clan had its hereditary feud, and no one could say that
on the day of battle the claymores might not be drawn against each other
instead of against the common foe. Branches even of the same stock did
not conceive themselves inevitably bound by the tie of blood, though it
was a claim never forgotten when it was convenient to make or allow it.
Sometimes a few of the smaller clans would make common cause against the
oppressions of a more powerful, or the cattle of a wealthier neighbour;
but it was rarely that friendship went beyond the conditions of an armed
neutrality. Though the feudal system had long prevailed in many parts of
the Highlands, it had never superseded the older patriarchal system. The
chief of the clan might pay homage to a great lord like Argyle or
Athole; but in the clan he was king, and his word was law. Moreover,
brave as the Highlanders undoubtedly were, they were not a warlike race.
They would rise to the signal of the fiery cross, without questioning
the cause; and they would on occasion fight for their own hand, for
revenge or plunder. But the long service of a regular war was little to
their taste. Of military science and military discipline they knew
nothing. To win the battle with the rush of the first onset, and when
the battle was won to make off to their homes with all the plunder they
could lay hands on,--this was their notion of warfare, and it was a
notion which the chiefs were too ignorant or too prudent to interfere
with. What chance could there be of inducing such spirits as these to
combine in one great confederacy, and to undertake a long and desperate
struggle for the sake of a king of whom the most part had never heard,
and of a cause which they could not understand?
But Dundee had learned something at Dunblane which had given him fresh
views. During the few hours he had passed there he had talked much with
a Highland gentleman, Alexander Drummond of Bahaldy, son-in-law to Sir
Ewan Cameron of Lochiel, the great chief of the clan Cameron. Drummond
told him that Lochiel had been busy all the winter among his neighbours,
that they were now ripe for war, and were only waiting a leader and some
succours of regular troops and ammunition; that James had been
communicated with, and had approved their plan in a letter written with
his own hand to Lochiel; and that an early day had been appointed for a
rendezvous of the clans in Lochaber, the headquarters of the Camerons.
It is now generally acknowledged that on this occasion, however it may
have been in the next century, the action of the Highland chiefs was not
inspired by devotion to the House of Stuart. Lochiel himself may indeed
have been moved by some personal consideration for the exiled King. He
had fought bravely under Montrose for Charles the First, and under
Middleton for Charles the Second. From the latter King he had received
more than one letter full of those flattering assurances Charles knew so
well how to make. By James he had been graciously welcomed at Whitehall,
and had received the honour of knighthood from the royal hand. He was
brave, wise, generous, and faithful, and, even in a less rude society
than that in which his lot was cast, his manners would have been called
agreeable and his education certainly not contemptible. But even
Lochiel's loyalty was not suffered to run counter to his interests. In
Lochaber the name of James was as nothing compared with the name of Evan
Dhu, and the law of the King of England gave place to the law of the
great Chief of the Camerons. As for the rest, the dispute between Whigs
and Jacobites was no more to them than the dispute between the Guelphs
and Ghibellines had been to their ancestors. They cared not the value of
a single sheep whether James or William sat on the throne of Great
Britain, so long as neither interfered with them. No later than the
previous year the authority of James had been insulted and his soldiers
beaten by one of these independent lordlings--Colin Macdonald of
Keppoch, familiarly known as Coll of the Cows, for his skill in tracking
his neighbour's cattle over the wildest mountains to the most secret
coverts.[78]
But for what loyalty to the House of Stuart was powerless to effect a
motive was found in the hatred to the House of Argyle. Nearly all the
chiefs of the Western Highlands were vassals to Mac Callum More, the
head of the great clan of Campbell. The numerous branches of the
Macdonalds, who had once been lords of the Hebrides and all the mountain
districts of Argyleshire and Invernessshire, the Camerons, the
Macnaghtens, the Macleans, the Stuarts of Appin, all these paid tribute
(it would be probably more correct to say owed tribute) to the Marquis
of Argyle, and all were ready to welcome any chance of freedom from that
odious bondage. The early loyalty of Lochiel had probably been as much
inspired by the fact that he was fighting against an Argyle as for a
Stuart, as it is possible had been the loyalty of Montrose himself. In
1685 he had cheerfully summoned his clan to repel the invasion of
another chief of that hated House; and now the Revolution had brought
back from exile yet another to exercise the old tyranny. This was enough
to make the Revolution a hateful thing in the eyes of Lochiel and his
neighbours. But it was also believed that James had conceived the idea
of buying up from the great Highland nobles their feudal rights over the
clans, and had only been prevented from carrying his idea into effect by
the Revolution. In the minds of these Western chiefs, then, William was
the oppressor and James the deliverer. Throughout the winter they had
watched eagerly for news from the South. At length they learned that the
Estates had declared for William; that their prime enemy was restored to
favour and power; and that Dundee, whose exploits against the party of
which for three generations an Argyle had been the acknowledged head
were well known to them, was an outlaw and a fugitive. In him they at
once recognised the leader for whom they waited. Drummond was
accordingly sent to invite him to their councils, and to promise that a
sufficient escort should be ready at the proper time to convey him to
the appointed meeting-place.
Meanwhile it had become necessary for Dundee to look to his own safety.
A more dangerous enemy than Leven was now in the field against him. As
soon as William had learned the decision of the Estates he had
despatched a body of troops into Scotland under General Mackay. Hugh
Mackay, of Scourie, was himself of a Highland stock. Like Dundee, he had
learned the art of war first in France, and afterwards in the Low
Countries, where he had risen to the command of the Scots Brigade, as
those regiments were called which upwards of a century before the new
Protestant enthusiasm of England had raised to support Holland against
the tyranny of Spain. He was a good man, a brave if not a dashing
soldier, a prudent tactician, and well skilled in all the machinery of
war.
Mackay at first contented himself with sending Livingstone and his
dragoons after Dundee, while he turned his attention to Gordon, who was
still maintaining some show of resistance in the castle. But Livingstone
was too late. He found the nest warm, but the bird had flown. Dundee had
gone northwards over the Grampians into the Gordons' country, where the
Earl of Dunfermline, the Duke's brother-in-law, at once joined him with
a most welcome addition to his little band of troopers. Mackay foresaw
that the Highlands were to be the real scene of operations, and that no
danger need be apprehended from the vapouring Gordon. He sent word,
therefore, to Livingstone to await him in Dundee, and marched himself
for that place with some two hundred of his own brigade and one hundred
and twenty of Lord Colchester's dragoons.[79]
It is as difficult for the reader to follow Dundee through these April
days as Mackay found it. In the sounding hexameters of the "Grameis,"
his movements are indeed described with more labour than lucidity; but
at this early stage of the campaign it is not necessary to track him
over every mountain and river, and by every town and castle.[80] It will
be enough to say that in an incredibly short space of time he beat up
for recruits the greater part of the counties of Aberdeen, Inverness,
and Perth, while the bewildered Mackay, whose training and troops were
alike unfitted to this sort of campaigning, toiled after him in vain. He
also found time for a flying visit to Dudhope, where his wife had been
safely delivered of a son. He can have stayed with her but a day at
most; and when he left her, he was to see her face no more.
From Dudhope Dundee crossed the Grampians again for Inverness. Here it
had been arranged for him to meet Keppoch and the promised escort of
Highlanders. And here, accordingly, he found them; but he also found a
state of things which gave him a lively foretaste of the character and
conduct of his new allies.
Between the clan of Macdonald and the clan of Mackintosh there had
existed for many centuries a deadly feud, the exact origin of which had
long been lost in the mists of fable. On the other hand, a good
understanding had long existed between the Mackintoshes and the town of
Inverness. Though the town in those days consisted only of some five
hundred mean buildings surrounded by a crazy wall, the busy little
colony of artisans which inhabited it, and the occasional visit of a
trading vessel to its port, had invested it among the Highlanders with
the reputation of vast wealth. Here was an opportunity for gratifying
his love of revenge and his love of plunder which Keppoch was not the
man to lose. He advanced through the territory of the Mackintoshes,
harrying and burning as he marched, up to the walls of Inverness. For
two days he lay before its crazy gates threatening fire and sword, while
the burghers mustered to arms within, and the ministers exhorted them
from the market-place. Such was the state of affairs Dundee found when
he and his troopers rode into the Highland camp on the first day of May.
Keppoch tried to excuse himself. The town, he said, owed him money, and
he sought only to recover his own. On the other hand, the magistrates
said that he had forced them to promise him four thousand marks. Dundee
answered that Keppoch had no warrant from him to be in arms, much less
to plunder. But it was not yet safe for him with his handful of horse to
use such brave language to the chief at the head of his eight hundred
claymores. He therefore temporised. By his advice the magistrates agreed
to pay two thousand dollars: half of this sum was raised on the spot
with some difficulty: for the other half Dundee gave his bond to
Keppoch. He also promised the magistrates that, when James was restored
to his throne, the money should be refunded to them. Dundee had saved
the town, but for the present he had lost his allies. Keppoch and his
thieves, laden with the silver of Inverness and the cattle of the
Mackintoshes, retired in dudgeon to their mountains.
But Dundee was destined to achieve something before he joined the muster
at Lochaber. After he had parted from Keppoch he turned westward down
the valley of the Ness, by the noble castle of Glengarry, which
Cumberland destroyed after Culloden, by Kilcummin, where Fort Augustus
now stands, memorable in his eyes as the spot whence Montrose had led
the clans to break the power of the Campbells at Inverlochy, and so
southwards again through the forest of Badenoch to the Tay. As he was
painfully toiling through this vast and rugged recruiting-ground word
was brought to him that a regiment of cavalry was being raised in Perth
under the auspices of the Laird of Blair, a rich and powerful gentleman
who had married into Hamilton's family. He determined on a bold stroke.
He was sorely in need of powder, provisions, money, and especially of
fresh mounts for his troopers, the long rapid marches, cold weather, and
scanty forage having reduced his horses to a very sorry plight. In Perth
he might lay hands on all these, and possibly on a few recruits into the
bargain. He was in Blair when the messengers found him on May 10th. With
his handful of sabres he swooped down on Dunkeld, which he reached just
in time to relieve a tax-collector of the dues he had been successfully
raising for William. At Dunkeld he rested his men till nightfall, and
then rode straight for Perth. At two o'clock in the morning he entered
the city, surprised Blair and his lieutenant, Pollock, in their beds,
collected forty horses, a store of arms and powder, some provisions, and
some of the public money, and was off again with his booty and his
prisoners before the startled citizens had fairly realised the weakness
of their invaders. He recrossed the Tay, and halted at Scone to refresh
himself and his men at the charges of Lord Stormont, an involuntary act
of hospitality on the latter's part for which he had some trouble to
excuse himself in Edinburgh.[81]
While in the wilds of Badenoch Dundee had received another message which
had interested him much. In the dragoons now under Livingstone's command
were several of Dunmore's old officers still well affected to James.
Chief among these were William Livingstone,[82] a relation of the
colonel, and that Captain Creichton of whom mention has been already
made. While lying in garrison at Dundee Creichton found means to get
secretly into Dudhope, and to assure Lady Dundee that he and many of his
comrades were only waiting an opportunity to join her husband. She sent
off word of this to the wanderer, who managed to convey an assurance to
Creichton of his plans, and of the strength of the reinforcements he
expected from Ireland. On their landing, he added, he should expect the
dragoons to join him.
This note was received by Creichton from the hands of a ragged
Highlander two days after he had marched with a part of his regiment to
join Mackay at Inverness. Could he have waited a little longer he would
have seen his correspondent in person. On the afternoon of Monday, May
13th, the inhabitants of the town which had given this terrible
Claverhouse his title saw to their amazement the crest of the high
ground to the north glittering with steel-clad riders. At the same time
Lord Rollo, who was camped outside the walls with some new levies of
horse, came flying through the gates with the news that Dundee was upon
them. The drums beat to arms: the gates were closed; and barricades
hastily thrown up in the principal streets, while the citizens crowded
on the walls to stare at the audacious foe.
It is possible that Dundee, who was ignorant of Creichton's departure,
thought that his appearance might bring the dragoons over to his side at
once. But the officer who was then in command kept his troops quiet; and
after manoeuvring his men up to the very walls of the town Dundee drew
off as night fell to Glen Ogilvy.[83] It is impossible that even he can
have conceived the idea of a serious attack on the place; and the story
of his actually entering and plundering the town is certainly
apocryphal, though his men very probably made free with Rollo's camp.
Meanwhile Mackay at Inverness was busy in his turn among the clans.
Lochiel had only sent the cross round among those chiefs who, like him,
hated the Campbells. Dundee had gone further afield, but had not been
successful. The gratitude of the Mackintoshes was not enough to do more
than keep them neutral,--which was perhaps fortunate, for had they
joined the muster at Lochaber they would inevitably have been at blows
with the Macdonalds before a day had passed. The Macphersons also kept
aloof, and the Macleods. Mackay's invitations were received with the
same indifference. Some of the Grants, whose chief had suffered under
the late Government for his allegiance to Argyle, joined him; and from
the northern shires of Ross and Sutherland a few Mackays came to fight
for a captain of their own blood. But the two sources on which the
Government had mainly relied for help were both found wanting. The
Campbells had suffered so severely from the invasion of Athole in the
previous year that Argyle found it impossible to rally them in time to
be of service in the present campaign. The Covenanters, though hailing
the rule of William as a deliverance from the rule of James, were
persuaded by their ministers that it was a sin to take military service,
even against the abhorred Dundee, with men whose orthodoxy was, to say
the least, not above suspicion. Seaforth, Lovat, Breadalbane, and the
other great lords of the east and south Highlands, would not bid their
vassals arm for either side. Athole had indeed once more professed
allegiance to the new order, but while affairs were still in an
uncertain state he would not commit himself to any decisive action. It
was clear to Mackay that the name of William was no name to charm with
in Scotland, and that the most he could hope to effect was to prevent a
general rising of the clans for James. The sagacious Tarbat had already
pointed out to him how this might be done. Five thousand pounds, he
said, would be ample to satisfy all Argyle's claims upon the chiefs who
owed him vassalage. If these claims were satisfied, and the clans
assured that under William they would secure the freedom they had hoped
for from James, though it might not be possible to persuade them to
fight for the former, not a single claymore would follow Dundee to the
field for the latter. William was now induced to try the experiment. But
by a blunder so extraordinary as to suggest treachery somewhere, the
agent entrusted to manage the affair was himself a Campbell. The chiefs
naturally refused to listen to such a messenger, and treated all
subsequent overtures with a contemptuous refusal or a still more
contemptuous silence. It is not certain that any money was actually
expended; but if so, it is very certain that not a penny of it went to
any Cameron or Macdonald.
Dundee had now reached Lochaber, where he was cordially welcomed by
Lochiel, and lodged in a building close to the chief's own house, a rude
structure of pine-wood, but in his men's eyes a magnificent palace. The
clans had proved true to their tryst. Every Cameron who could wield a
broadsword was there. From the wild peaks of Corryarrick and Glen Garry,
from the dark passes of Glencoe and the storm-beaten islands of the
western seas, the men of Macdonald came trooping in. Sir John of Duart
brought a strong gathering of Macleans from Mull, promising that more of
the name were on the road. Young Stewart of Appin had led his little
band from the shores of Loch Finnhe. The Macnaghtens were there from the
very heart of the great enemy's country, where the hated towers of
Inverary cast their shadow on the waters of Loch Fyne. Fraser of Foyers
and Grant of Urquhart, disregarding the action of their respective
chiefs, each brought a small following of his own vassals.
It is impossible to calculate the exact force which, at any time during
his short campaign, Dundee had at his disposal. But the number of
claymores which this first muster brought to Lochaber cannot have been
less than two thousand. Besides these, there was his little body of
cavalry, some fifty sabres in all, partly composed of his own troopers,
and partly of Dunfermline's followers. That nobleman and Lord Dunkeld
were of the party. Dundee's own brother, too, seems to have been with
him, and a member of the Duntroon branch of the Grahams. Certain
gentlemen from the Lowlands had also joined him: Sir Alexander James of
Coxtone, Sir Archibald Kennedy of Cullean, Hallyburton of Pitcur, Murray
of Abercairny, and others.
Still there was no sign from Ireland, and Dundee hesitated to take the
field against Mackay with such capricious and irregular allies. He did
not doubt the courage of his Highlanders, but he had grave doubts of
their obedience. That they would fight bravely when it was their cue to
fight, he knew well; but he was much less confident that they would take
their cue from him. He had at first conceived the idea of putting them
through some course of military training, but Lochiel urged so many and
such weighty reasons against it that he gave up the plan. "There is not
time," said the sagacious old chief, "for our men to learn your method
of warfare. They would merely unlearn their own. This is one which must
seem strange to your notions of war; but it is one which they thoroughly
understand, and which makes them, when led by such a general as you, a
match for the most practised veterans. Think of what they did under
Montrose, and be sure that they will show the same courage and win as
great victories under you." It, therefore, became more than ever
necessary that the promised succours should be no longer delayed. Some
regular troops, however few, would serve both as a rallying-point and as
an example to the Highlanders. And, indeed, it had been only on the
promise of such support that Lochiel had induced the chiefs to arm.
Dundee sent letter after letter to Ireland full of cheerful accounts of
the good promise of affairs, but urging the instant despatch of troops,
together with a store of money, ammunition, and all the other
necessaries for an army about to take the field, of which there was, in
truth, a most plentiful lack in Lochaber. There were not above fifty
pounds of powder in the camp; and though the Highland fashion was to
trust more to the cold steel than the bullet, powder was a necessity of
war that could not well be altogether dispensed with. Dundee also urged
upon Melfort the good effect James' own presence would have upon his
Scottish allies. If that could not be managed, he said, at least let him
send the Duke of Berwick. There was no petty jealousy in Dundee's
character. He would have cheerfully put himself under the command of any
man if by so doing he were likely to further the cause he had at heart.
But no answer came to these appeals. In one of the last letters Dundee
wrote, he reminds Melfort that for three months he had received not a
single line from him or from James.
Meanwhile, his tact, his good temper, courtesy, and liberality had won
the hearts of his new allies. With the money he had brought with him
from the Lowlands, and the supplies his wife and some of his friends
were able occasionally to send him, he contrived to maintain an
establishment that was at least superior to anything which most of his
new friends were accustomed to. Every day he entertained some of the
chiefs at his table. He made himself acquainted with the faces and names
of the principal tacksmen of each clan, and mastered a few words of
Gaelic to enable him to address and return salutations. In the field he
lived no better than the meanest of his men, sharing their coarse food
and hard lodging, and often marching on foot by their side over the
roughest country and in the wildest weather. His powers of endurance
extorted the wonder even of those sturdy mountaineers who had been
inured from childhood to the extremes of hunger and fatigue. More than a
century after his death it was still told with admiration how once,
after chasing Mackay from dawn to sunset of a summer's day over the
ruggedest part of the Athole country, he had spent the night in writing,
only resting his head occasionally on his hands to snatch a few moments
of sleep. Among the Camerons he was always spoken of as the General, and
honoured next to Lochiel himself. At the same time, he was careful to
maintain his authority and to exact the respect due to his position. He
knew well that among those lawless spirits he who would be obeyed must
be feared. On one occasion he administered a public rebuke to the
arch-thief, Keppoch, who had found time for another raid on the
Mackintoshes. In the presence of all the chiefs Dundee told the offender
that he would sooner serve in the ranks of a disciplined regiment than
command men who were no better than common robbers; that he would
countenance such outrages no more, nor any longer keep in his army those
who disgraced the King's cause by their private quarrels. Keppoch, who
would infallibly have struck his dirk into any other man who had used
such language to him, attempted some lame excuses, muttered an apology,
and ended by promising for the future neither he nor any of his men
would stir a foot save at the General's command. There is no stronger
proof of Dundee's genius and capacity for affairs than the singular
influence he was able in a few short weeks to gain over men who could
not speak his language and who hated his race. When on the dark day of
Culloden the wavering clans looked in vain to their Prince, an old
chief, who had heard his father talk of Ian Dhu Cean (Black John, the
Warrior), exclaimed in a passion of rage and grief, "Oh, for an hour of
Dundee!"
But loth as he was to engage Mackay with the Highlanders alone, Dundee
knew that he could not hope to keep them long together inactive.
Provisions were running short. If they could not harry James's enemies,
they would make free with their own. Dundee was particularly anxious to
give no cause of offence to those clans whose neutrality he hoped to be
able to turn into friendship. Already a serious prospect of disunion had
threatened the little army. A party of the Camerons had made a raid on
the Grants, in which a Macdonald of Glengarry had been killed. The man
had become affiliated to the Grants, and had refused to join the muster
of his own tribe. He had therefore forfeited all the right of clanship.
Yet Glengarry, as much perhaps from policy as from any overpowering
sense of kinship, demanded vengeance; and it needed all the combined
tact of Dundee and Lochiel to prevent him from drawing out his men to
attack the Camerons. When, therefore, Dundee learned that Mackay had
left Inverness to join some reinforcements from Edinburgh, he determined
on action.
The troops Mackay expected to find in Badenoch were six hundred men of
his own Scots Brigade under Colonel Ramsay. Ruthven Castle on the Spey
was the place of meeting, and May 26th the time. But Ramsay had been
detained in Edinburgh by an alarm of an invasion from France, and it was
not till the 27th that he entered the Athole country. Here he learned
that Dundee was on the march to meet him. The population did not seem
friendly: he could get no news of Mackay; and on the whole he judged it
prudent to retire to Perth. That he might do this with more speed he
blew up his ammunition train, to prevent it falling into Dundee's hands.
Mackay, who, as soon as he learned that Ramsay was fairly on the road,
had marched with all speed from Inverness, was too late to save Ruthven
Castle. It had been surrendered by the governor, Captain Forbes, on the
29th, and reduced to a heap of ruins.
This was the beginning of a series of marches and counter-marches on the
part of the two generals, which lasted far into June, without any
advantage on either side. On one occasion a party of the Macleans of
Lochbuy, marching to join Dundee in Badenoch, came to blows with some of
Livingstone's dragoons; and there were other skirmishes, of no material
result, at none of which was either general present in person. More than
once Dundee was in striking distance of Mackay; but he never found
himself in a position to engage with sufficient assurance of victory. A
defeat he dared not risk; and even victory, unless complete enough to
need no second blow, had its dangers. An army which considered the safe
storage of his booty as the first duty of a successful soldier could not
safely be trusted to make good the result of a doubtful battle. And in
fact he found his forces each day diminishing as food became more scarce
in those barren wilds, or as some lucky raid necessitated a departure
for home with the prize. At length, wisely determining to sanction what
he could not prevent, and feeling that even his iron frame and dauntless
spirit were in need of rest, Dundee dismissed the clans for the present,
on their giving a promise to join him again when he should require them.
Keeping only some two hundred of the Macleans with him, he returned to
his old quarters, on the pressing invitation of Lochiel, who swore to
him that while there was a cow in Lochaber neither he nor his men should
want. Mackay did not attempt to follow him. At such a game of
hide-and-seek he saw that his men were no match for the active
light-marching Highlanders. He accordingly put garrisons into certain
fortified parts of Invernessshire and Perthshire, sent the rest into
quarters, and himself repaired to Edinburgh.
From the middle of June to the end of July the war therefore languished.
But Dundee was not idle. The arts of diplomacy were as familiar to him
as the arts of war. He still maintained an active correspondence with
the neutral chiefs, and kept Melfort well informed of all he had done
and proposed to do for his master's service. I shall conclude this
chapter with an extract from the last despatch he sent to Ireland. It is
long; but it gives so graphic an account of his proceedings since the
muster at Lochaber, of the state of the country, and the relative
positions and prospects of the two parties, that its length may be
excused. It also shows, what one would not perhaps have otherwise
surmised, that the writer had some little touch of humour. The letter is
dated from Moy, in Lochaber, June 27th, 1689. I omit the first part,
which seems to refer to some complaints Melfort had made of his having
been ill-spoken of by Dundee.
"My Lord, I have given the King, in general, account of
things here; but to you I will be more particular. As to
myself, I have sent you it at large. You may by it
understand a little of the state of the country.[84] You
will see there, when I had a sure advantage I endeavoured to
profit on it; but on the other hand, shunned to hazard
anything for fear of a ruffle. For the least of that would
have discouraged all. I thought if I could gain time, and
keep up a figure of a party without loss, it was my best
till we got assistance, which the enemy got from England
every day. I have told the King I had neither commission,
money, nor ammunition. My brother-in-law and my wife found
ways to get credit.[85] For my own nobody durst pay to a
traitor. I was extremely surprised when I saw Mr. Drummond,
the advocate, in Highland habit, come up to Lochaber to me,
and gave account that the Queen had sent 2,000_l._ sterling
to London, to be paid to me for the King's service, and that
two more was a-coming. I did not know the Queen had known
anything of our affairs. I received a very obliging letter
from her with Mr. Crane, but I know no way to make a return.
However, when the money comes, I shall keep count of it and
employ it right. But I am feared it will be hard to bring it
from Edinburgh.
"When we came first out I had but fifty pounds of powder.
More I could not get. All the great towns and seaports were
in rebellion, and had seized the powder, and would sell
none. But I had one advantage--the Highlanders will not fire
above once, and then take to the broadsword.
"But I wonder, above all things, that in three months I
never heard from you, seeing by Mr. Hay I had so earnestly
recommended it to you, and told of this way by Inverlochy as
sure. If you could not have sent expresses, we thought you
would at least have hastened the dispatch of those we sent.
McSwyne has now been away near two months, and we know not
if the coast be clear or not. However, I have ventured to
advise Mr. Hay to return straight, and not go further in the
country. He came not here until the 22nd, and they
surrendered on the 13th.[86] It was not Mr. Hay's fault he
was so long of coming, for there has been two English
men-of-war and the Glasgow frigates amongst the islands till
of late. For the rest of the letters I undertook to get them
delivered. Most of the persons to whom they are directed are
either put in bond, or in prisons, or gone out of the
kingdom. The Advocate is gone to England, a very honest man,
firm beyond belief,[87] and Athole is gone too, who did not
know what to do. Earl Hume, who is very frank, is taken
prisoner to Edinburgh, but will be let out on security. Earl
Breadalbane keeps close in a strong house he has, and
pretends the gout. Earl Errol stays at home. So does
Aberdeen. Earl Marischal is at Edinburgh, but does not
meddle. Earl Lauderdale is right, and at home. The Bishops?
I know not where they are! They are now the Kirk invisible.
I will be forced to open the letter, and send copies
attested to them, and keep the original till I can find out
our Primate. The poor ministers are sorely oppressed over
all. They generally stand right. Duke Queensberry was present
at the Cross when their new mock king was proclaimed, and, I
hear, voted for him, though not for the throne vacant. His
brother, the Lieutenant-General, some say is made an earl.
He is come down to Edinburgh, and is gone up again. He is
the old man, and has abused [deceived] me strangely. For he
swore to me to make amends. Tarbat is a great villain.
Besides what he has done at Edinburgh, he has endeavoured to
seduce Lochiel by offers of money which is under his hand.
He is now gone up to secure his faction (which is melting),
the two Dalrymples and others, against Skelmorly, Polwart,
Cardross, Ross, and others, now joined with that worthy
prince, Duke Hamilton. Marquis Douglas is now a great knave,
as well as beast, as is Glencairn, Morton, and Eglinton.
And even Cassilis is gone astray, misled by Gibby.[88]
Panmure keeps right and at home. So does Strathmore,
Southesk, and Kinnaird. Old Airlie is at Edinburgh under
caution. So is Balcarres and Dunmore. Stormont is declared
fugitive for not appearing. All these will break out, and
many more, when the King lands, or any from him. Most of the
gentry on this side the Forth, and many on the other, will
do so too. But they suffer mightily in the meantime, and
will be forced to submit if there be not relief sent very
soon. The Duke of Gordon, they say, wanted nothing for
holding out but hopes of relief. Earl of Dunfermline stays
constantly with me, and so does Dunkeld, Pitcur, and many
other gentlemen, who really deserve well, for they suffer
great hardships. When the troops land, there must be blank
commissions sent for horse and foot for them, and others
that will join. There must be a Commission of Justiciary, to
judge all but landed men. For there should be examples made
of some who cannot be judged by a council of war. They take
our people, and hang them up, by their new sheriffs, when
they find them straggling.[89]
"My Lord, I have given my opinion to the King concerning the
landing. I would first have a good party sent over to
Inverlochy; about five or six thousand, as you have
convenience of boats; of which as many horse as conveniently
can. About six or eight hundred would do well, but rather
more. For had I had horse, for all that yet appeared I would
not have feared them. Inverlochy is safe landing, far from
the enemy, and one may choose, from thence, to go to Moray
by Inverness, or to Angus by Athole, or to Perth by Glencoe,
and all tolerable ways. The only ill is the passage is long
by sea, and inconvenient because of the island; but in this
season that is not to be feared. So soon as the boats
return, let them ferry over as many more foot as they think
fit to the point of Kintyre, which will soon be done; and
then the King has all the boats for his own landing. I
should march towards Kintyre, and meet, at the neck of
Tarbet, the foot, and so march to raise the country, and
then towards the passes of Forth to meet the King, where I
doubt not but we would be numerous.
"I have done all I can to make them believe the King will
land altogether in the west, on purpose to draw their troops
from the north, that we may easier raise the country if the
landing be here. I have said so, and written it to
everybody; and particularly I sent some proclamations to my
Lady Errol, and wrote to her to that purpose, which was
intercepted and carried to Edinburgh, and my Lady taken
prisoner. I believe it has taken the effect I designed; for
the forces are marched out of Kintyre, and I am just now
informed Major-General Mackay is gone from Inverness by
Moray, towards Edinburgh. I know not what troops he has
taken with him as yet; but it is thought he will take the
horse and dragoons (except a few) and most of the standing
forces; which, if he do, it will be a rare occasion for
landing here, and for raising the country. Then, when they
hear of that, they will draw this way, which will again
favour the King's landing. Some think Ely a convenient place
for landing, because you have choice of what side, and the
enemy cannot be on both. Others think the nearer Galloway
the better, because the rebels will have far to march before
they can trouble you. Others think Kirkcudbright or
thereabouts, because of that sea for ships, and that it is
near England. Nobody expects any landing here now, because
it is thought you will alter the design, it having been
discovered. And to friends and all I give out I do not
expect any.
"So I am extremely of opinion this would be an extreme
proper place, unless you be so strong that you need not care
where to land. The truth is, I do not admire their mettle.
The landing of troops will confound them terribly. I had
almost forgot to tell you that the Prince of Orange, as they
say, has written to his Scotch Council, telling them he will
not have his troops any more harassed following me through
the hills, but orders them to draw to the West, where, he
says, a great army is to land; and, at the same time, gives
them accounts that eight sail of men-of-war is coming from
Brest, with fifteen thousand men on board. He knows not
whether they are designed for England or Ireland. I beg you
will send an express before, whatever you do, that I may
know how to take my measures; and if the express that comes
knows nothing, I am sure it shall not be discovered for me.
I have told Mr. Hay nothing of this proposal, nor no man. If
there come any party this way, I beg you send me ammunition,
and three or four thousand arms of different sorts--some
horse, some foot.
"I have just now received a confirmation of Mackay's going
south, and that he takes with him all the horse and
dragoons, and all the standing foot. By which I conclude,
certainly, they are preparing against the landing in the
west. I entreat to hear from you as soon as possible; and
am, in the old manner, most sincerely, for all Carleton can
say, my lord, your most humble and faithful servant,
"DUNDEE."
It appears by a postscript added on the following day, that before
Dundee's messenger left Lochaber letters had arrived from Melfort. They
seem to have been again full of complaints of the hard things said about
him, and of the undeserved dislike with which all classes in Scotland
seemed to regard him. But of help there was no more than the usual
vague promises, and glowing accounts of apocryphal successes in Ireland.
Dundee congratulated the Secretary on their master's good fortune,
diplomatically fenced with the question of unpopularity, and reiterated
his appeal for succour.
"For the number" [he wrote], "I must leave [that] to the
conveniency you have. The only inconveniency of the delay
is, that the honest suffer extremely in the low country in
the time, and I dare not go down for want of horse; and, in
part, for fear of plundering all, and so making enemies,
having no pay. I wonder you send no ammunition, were it but
four or five barrels. For we have not twenty pounds."
FOOTNOTES:
[78] The passage in which Macaulay has explained the condition and
sentiment of the Highlanders at this time, will be familiar to every
reader. What may be less familiar is a pamphlet entitled "Remarks on
Colonel Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders," published at Edinburgh
in 1823, the year after Stewart's book.
[79] Now the Third Dragoon Guards.
[80] In Napier's third volume will be found many translations in prose
from this poem, from which I have taken a few touches.
[81] Napier (iii. 552, note) quotes the following minute in the records
of the Estates:--"13th May, 1689: A missive letter from the Viscount of
Stormont to the President was read, bearing that the Viscount Dundee had
forced his dinner from him at his house of Scone, on Saturday last, and
therefore desiring that his intercommuning with him, being involuntary,
might be excused." He was cited, however as a delinquent, together with
his father-in-law, Scott of Scotstarvet and his uncle, Sir John Murray
of Drumcairn (a Lord of Session), who had also to assist at the
involuntary banquet. Throughout his short campaign Dundee was careful
never to take a penny from the pocket of any private person. He
considered, he said, that he was justified in appropriating the King's
money to the King's use.
[82] Creichton calls him Lord Kilsyth, but he had not then succeeded to
the title. He is the same who afterwards married Lady Dundee.
[83] It is doubtful who this officer was. Mackay, in his memoirs, says
it was William Livingstone, calling him either a coward or a traitor for
not showing fight. If Livingstone it was, he may not have felt sure
enough of the men who were left with him to join Dundee in so open a
manner, and to fight was not his cue. But another account puts one
Captain Balfour in command. The whole account of the affair is even more
confused than are most of Dundee's exploits. But that he did make a
demonstration of some sort against the town is proved by the Minutes of
the Estates.
[84] None of his previous despatches from the Highlands are in
existence.
[85] Robert Young of Auldbar had married Dundee's youngest sister, Anne.
[86] The Duke of Gordon surrendered the Castle of Edinburgh on June
13th, after a resistance which towards the end assumed the character
almost of a burlesque.
[87] Sir George Mackenzie.
[88] Gilbert Burnet, the bishop. His wife was a sister of Lord Cassilis.
[89] On Dundee's retreat from Badenoch, some of his men who had
straggled for plunder had been caught and hung by Gordon of Edenglassie,
Sheriff of Banff.