CHARLES II. died at the beginning of February 1685, and was succeeded by

his brother. As Duke of York James had been Claverhouse’s chief patron;

as King, one of his first actions was to express his disapproval of the

conduct to which his favourite had been urged by a ‘high, proud and

peremptory humour.’ This was the result of a quarrel with Queensberry,

of which the origin, trifling in itself, went back to the beginning of

the previous December. At a meeting of the Privy Council, held on the

11th of that month, there was read a complaint presented by some

soldiers whom Queensberry’s brother, Colonel James Douglas had turned

out of his regiment, and who alleged that their commanding officer ‘had

taken the arrears of their pay, and clothed and shoed some of the rest

of the soldiers therewith.’ The complainant’s cause was taken up by

Claverhouse, on the ground that the treatment to which they had been

submitted would discourage others from entering into his Majesty’s

service. This the High Treasurer resented as reflecting on the manner in

which his brother had done his duty; and thus, says Fountainhall, grew

the difference between him and Claverhouse.

Whatever may have been the intrinsic merits of the case, and it is but

fair to state that Douglas had otherwise shown himself a zealous and

capable officer, there can be no doubt that Claverhouse had put himself

in the wrong, by allowing his temper to get the better of him. This he

himself admitted in a letter which he wrote to James, and in which he

endeavoured ‘to excuse his warmth by saying he took what was said as

levelled at him.’ But after reading this account and comparing it with

that which he also received, not from Queensberry, but from ‘both the

Chancellor and Lundy,’ the Duke was obliged to express his regret ‘that

Claverhouse was so little master of himself the other day at Council,’

and promised that when he came to Scotland he would let the offender

know that his behaviour was not approved of.

James’s accession prevented his leaving London at the time, as he had

apparently intended to do. It was also the cause of Queensberry’s being

summoned to Court. It may be assumed that during his stay the quarrel

with Claverhouse formed the subject of conversation between him and the

King; but there is nothing to show that he solicited further

satisfaction than had already been given him by the appointment of

Douglas to the command of the forces in the western shires, in

supersession of Colonel Graham. When he returned to Scotland at the end

of March as Lord High Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament, he does

not appear to have known that it was the King’s intention to take

further cognizance of the matter.

It was from Secretary Murray that he learnt Claverhouse’s exclusion from

the Privy Council, ‘to show him and others that his Majesty would

support his Minister, and not suffer any to do unfit or misbecoming

things.’ The letter conveying the information was written on the 5th of

April. Four days later a new Commission was produced at the Board, from

which none of the former Privy Councillors but Claverhouse was omitted.

Amongst the better informed, there was no doubt that this was ‘because

of the discords between him and the High Treasurer and his brother,’ as

Fountainhall asserts. But the same authority states the ‘pretence’ to

have been ‘that having married into the Lord Dundonald’s fanatic family,

it was not safe to commit the King’s secrets to him.’

While thus indicating his dissatisfaction with Claverhouse, James felt

that the whole quarrel was too petty to justify him in punishing with

lasting disgrace a faithful servant whose valuable help he had

repeatedly acknowledged. He was at special pains to let him understand

that if he tendered an apology to Queensberry he should be restored to

place and favour. There is no direct evidence of submission on

Claverhouse’s part; but, that his better sense, or, to put it at its

lowest, a saner appreciation of his own interest soon prevailed over his

pride may be gathered from the fact that a royal letter, dated the 11th

of May, reinstated him as Privy Councillor.

Within a fortnight of his reappointment he received further proof of the

value set on his services. About this time news had arrived of Argyle’s

intended invasion of Scotland, and it would seem that Claverhouse had

communicated some important information with regard to it, in a despatch

to the Lord Commissioner. The document is not known to be extant; but

its purport is indicated by the reply which it elicited from the Secret

Committee of Council, and which was written on the 23rd of May. ‘If

there be any danger by horse,’ he was told, ‘it must be from the

Border’; and he was authorised to propose what he judged expedient with

a view to meeting the emergency, and instructed to inform the Earl of

Dumbarton, who had just received his commission as Commander-in-Chief,

of the measures which he intended to adopt. He was also to keep in touch

with Fielding the deputy-governor of Carlisle. This clearly shows that

the danger which he apprehended and had pointed out threatened the

disaffected western counties.

The discretionary powers with which the letter of the Council invested

Claverhouse implied the recognition, not very willing, it may be

assumed, on the part of all the ‘affectionate friends and servants’ who

signed it, and at the head of whom Queensberry figured as Commissioner,

of his special fitness to cope with it. But the most striking and

interesting passage in the document consists of a couple of lines,

thrown in almost casually, and curtly announcing his promotion. ‘The

King has sent commissions to Colonel Douglas and you as Brigadiers, both

of horse and foot. Douglas is prior in date.’ When it is remembered in

what relation Claverhouse had stood to Queensberry and his brother, but

a short time before, the ungracious tone of this communication becomes

highly suggestive. The suspicions which it arouses are amply confirmed

by a full statement of the case, as it is set forth by Secretary Murray

in a confidential letter to Queensberry. There could be no more striking

proof of the feelings of ill-will and of envy which Claverhouse had to

contend against, on the part of the Government, or of the intrigues that

were resorted to by his opponents:—

‘The King ordered two commissions to be drawn, for your brother and

Claverhouse to be Brigadiers. We were ordered to see how such

commissions had been here, and in Earl Middleton’s office we found the

extract of one granted to Lord Churchill, another to Colonel Worden, the

one for horse, the other for foot. So Lord Melfort told me the King had

ordered him to draw one for your brother for the foot, and Claverhouse

for the horse. I told him that could not be; for by that means

Claverhouse would command your brother. To be short, we were very hot on

the matter. He said he knew no reason why Colonel Douglas should have

the precedency unless that he was your brother. I told him that was

enough; but that there was a greater, and that was, that he was an

officer of more experience and conduct, and that was the King’s design

of appointing Brigadiers at this time. He said Claverhouse had served

the King longer in Scotland. I told him that was yet wider from the

purpose; for there were in the army that had served many years longer

than Claverhouse, and of higher quality; and without disparagement to

any, gallant in their personal courage. By this time I flung from him,

and went straight to the King, and represented the case. He followed and

came to us. But the King changed his mind, and ordered him to draw the

commissions both for horse and foot, and your brother’s two days date

before the other; by which his command is clear before the other. I saw

the commissions signed this afternoon, and they are sent herewith by

Lord Charles Murray. Now, I beseech your Grace, say nothing of this to

any; nay, not even to your brother. For Lord Melfort said to Sir Andrew

Forrester, that he was sure there would be a new storm on him. I could

not, nor is it fit this should have been kept from you; but you will

find it best for a while to know, or take little notice; for it gives

him but ground of talking, and serves no other end.’

Even if Queensberry was as discreet as his correspondent advised him to

be, there is no reason for supposing that Melfort considered himself

bound to keep Claverhouse in ignorance of the stormy scene described by

Murray. But although the newly-promoted Brigadier must have been well

aware of the device by which his enemies had found means of coupling a

slight with what was intended to be a mark of royal favour, he had the

wisdom and the self-restraint to show no consciousness of it. A letter

which he wrote to Queensberry on the 16th of June, bears testimony to

his calm and self-respecting conduct, whilst, at the same time, it shows

that the Lord Commissioner was as spitefully intent as ever on finding

opportunities or excuses for annoying and humiliating him.

Documents for the reconstruction of the whole case are not available.

All that can be ascertained is that, in carrying out the precautionary

measures which his additional powers justified and which the emergency

required, he had requisitioned the assistance of some of Queensberry’s

tenants. This had been construed into an offence, and made the subject

of a report to the commander-in-chief who had no course open to him but

that of intimating the Duke’s displeasure to his subordinate. The reply,

addressed to Queensberry himself was respectful but dignified. ‘I am

sorry,’ he wrote, ‘that anything I have done should have given your

Grace occasion to be dissatisfied with me, and to make complaints

against me to the Earl of Dumbarton. I am convinced your Grace is ill

informed; for after you have read what I wrote to you two days ago on

that subject, I daresay I may refer myself to your own censure. That I

had no design to make great search there anybody may judge. I came not

from Ayr till after eleven in the forenoon, and went to Balagen, with

forty heritors against night. The Sanquar is just in the road; and I

used these men I met accidentally on the road better than ever I used

any in these circumstances. And I may safely say, that, as I shall

answer to God, if they had been living on my ground, I could not have

forborne drawing my sword and knocking them down. However, I am glad I

have received my Lord Dumbarton’s orders anent your Grace’s tenants,

which I shall most punctually obey; though, I may say, they were safe as

any in Scotland before.’

With this explanation, the matter appears to have been dismissed from

Claverhouse’s mind; and the remainder of his letter is taken up with

remarks concerning certain dispositions intended by the other commanders

who, like himself, were watching the progress of the threatened

invasion. His outspoken, but well-grounded criticism of them showed that

the rebuke administered to him had not reduced him to a condition of

cringing subserviency, and that the obedience which he was prepared to

yield to those in authority above him did not include a readiness to

bear responsibility for the result of measures which seemed to him

ill-advised.

The extant correspondence between Claverhouse and Queensberry closes

with a letter bearing date of the 3rd of July 1685. It is a report as to

the manner in which an order from the Secret Committee with regard to

the disposal of the moveables of rebels for the maintenance of the royal

forces had been carried out. It is a straightforward and business-like

statement, setting forth how the money already received had been laid

out, and requesting instructions with respect to the sums still due.

Apart from the desire which every honourable man would feel, and with

which Claverhouse may be credited, of placing himself above suspicion in

all that concerned the management of the funds that came into his hands,

he had special reason for exercising exceptional care in the matter in

view of the humiliating treatment to which he had been subjected shortly

before. In the preceding month of March, Queensberry, as High Treasurer

had given orders to the cash-keeper to charge Claverhouse on a bond he

had given to the Exchequer, for the fines of delinquents in Galloway.

Claverhouse had replied that his brother, the Sheriff-depute, was

gathering them in, and craved for delay, whereupon he was allowed five

or six days’ grace. He objected that considering the distance, such a

concession was as unreasonable as giving no time at all. To this the

Treasurer had retorted, ‘Then you shall have none.’

Claverhouse had paid the money; but he was not content to remain under

the imputation which Queensberry’s action towards him implied. He had

repeatedly applied for leave to proceed to London, for the purpose of

explaining his conduct to the King, both in this transaction and in

other matters which had been made the grounds of complaints against him,

and which had led to his temporary disgrace. He had been persistently

refused, and it was not till the end of the year that he had an

opportunity of pleading his cause before James. Then, however, he did it

to good purpose. According to Fountainhall, ‘the King was so

ill-satisfied with what the Treasurer had exacted of Claverhouse, that

he ordered the Treasurer to repay it.’

On the 24th of December 1685, Claverhouse returned to Edinburgh in

company with the Earl of Perth. The Chancellor had recently abjured

Protestantism, and stood in high favour with the King. But if, as

Halifax sarcastically remarked, his faith saved him at Court, it made

him impossible in Scotland. Within a few weeks of his arrival, on

Sunday, the 31st of January, there was a popular demonstration against

the avowed and public meetings for the celebration of Mass and other

acts of ‘Papish worship.’ The disorderly crowd, in which the apprentices

of Edinburgh figured conspicuously, fell upon one of the priests, and

compelled him, under threats of death, to renounce popery, and, on

bended knees, to take the test oath. Others, as they came from church,

were roughly treated and had mud thrown at them.

One of the victims of this popular violence was the Chancellor’s wife.

The Earl was so incensed at the outrage that he caused some of the boys

to be apprehended; and, next day, by order of the Council, one of them

was taken to be whipped through the Canongate. But whilst the sentence

was being carried out, the apprentices again mustered in large numbers,

assaulted the executioner, and rescued their companion. Encouraged by

their success, they became so riotous that the soldiers were called out.

The crowd was fired upon, and three persons were killed. Next day

further punishment was inflicted on the rioters. A woman and two men

were flogged through the city; but the authorities had become so

apprehensive of violence that the streets were lined with ‘two thick

ranks and defiles of musketeers and pikemen.’

Even the military could not be depended upon. A grenadier was remitted

to a court-martial for saying he would not fight in the quarrel against

the Protestants; and a drummer having been denounced by some Catholics

for drawing his sword and declaring that he could find it in his heart

to run it through them was summarily shot. Later, a fencing-master was

condemned to death and hanged for publicly giving expression to his

approval of the tumult. Another man who was brought before the

magistrates on a charge of speaking against the Papists, would perhaps

have shared the same fate, had it not been proved on his behalf, that he

was sometimes mad.

The protest of the street was taken up by the pulpit. A fortnight later,

‘Mr Canaires, lately Popish,’ but now minister at Selkirk, preached a

violent sermon in the High Church of Edinburgh. In the course of it he

gave utterance to the opinion ‘that no man, without renouncing his sense

and reason,’ could embrace such doctrines as those of the Pope’s

infallibility or of transubstantiation. At the next meeting of the

Council, the Chancellor moved that notice should be taken of this

seditious language. Fountainhall records that ‘Claverhouse backed the

Chancellor in this. But, there being a deep silence in all the rest of

the Councillors, it was passed over at this time.’

With this incident, which the unquestioned sincerity of his own

religious belief makes it impossible to regard in any light but that of

a protest against the insult offered to his sovereign, Claverhouse

disappears for a time from the scene. There is no record of personal

action on his part for a space of nearly three years. The only two

events that have to be chronicled are his promotion, in 1686, to the

rank of Major-General, still in subordination to his rival Douglas, and

his appointment, in March 1688, to be Provost of Dundee, a dignity

which, in conjunction with his Constable’s jurisdiction, made him

absolute there.

Early in the month of September 1688, a royal messenger arrived in

Edinburgh, bearing a letter in which James informed the Secret Committee

of the Privy Council of the Prince of Orange’s designs on England. The

news was wholly unexpected. So incredible did it at first seem, that

suspicions of a device for raising money were aroused by it. The

precautionary measures which the announcement made it incumbent on the

Government to take for the security of the country, were nevertheless

adopted without delay. On the 18th, a proclamation was issued, calling

out the militia regiments and requiring all fencible men to hold

themselves in readiness for active service as soon as they should see

the light of the beacons that were to be kindled the moment a hostile

fleet was sighted from the coast.

These preparations were nullified by a second despatch from London,

which ordered all the regular troops to proceed at once to England,

where they were to be under the orders of the Earl of Feversham, the

commander-in-chief of the King’s forces. This new plan of action,

suggested by James Stewart of Goodtrees, a notorious plotter who had

actually been condemned to death for his connection with Argyle’s

rebellion, and whose antecedents were not such as to justify the King’s

confidence in him, was received with consternation in Edinburgh. The

Council and Secret Committee, relying on the loyalty of the army, felt

satisfied of their power to keep the nation in due respect; but they

were fully alive to the danger which would arise if the country were

denuded of troops. They accordingly sent a remonstrance to the King, at

the same time that they submitted a feasible and efficient scheme of

defence of their own. Its main features consisted in the retention of

the regular forces in their several garrisons, for the maintenance of

internal order, and in the protection of the Border by means of an army

of thirteen thousand men, to be formed by a combination of the militia

with the Highland clans.

This judicious advice was summarily rejected; and a further command was

sent to the Council to carry out the former instructions. According to

Balcarres, the order was positive and short, advised by Mr James Stewart

at a supper, written upon the back of a plate, and immediately

dispatched by an express. In the memoirs which the same writer addressed

and presented to James in his exile, the sequel is thus narrated: ‘With

a sorrowful heart to all your servants, your orders were obeyed, and

about the beginning of October they began their march, three thousand

effective young men, vigorous, well-disciplined and clothed, and to a

man hearty in your cause, and willing out of principle as well as duty,

to hazard their lives for the support of the Government, as then

established, both in Church and State.’

Of the army that marched into England, Claverhouse led the cavalry,

which consisted of his own regiment of six troops, of Livingstone’s

troop of royal Horse Guards, and of Dunmore’s regiment of dragoons. The

infantry was under the orders of Douglas, who, in virtue of his rank as

Lieutenant-General, was also entrusted with the supreme command of the

whole force. The arrangements for the march appear to have been as

inadequate as the order for it had been ill-advised. Writing to

Queensberry on the 7th of October, Douglas reported that he had reached

Moffat the evening before, with considerable difficulty, owing to the

bad state of the roads. He was unprovided with ammunition, and all he

knew concerning his present business was, that horses for his baggage

were to be furnished him in England, during forty days, and that it was

the King’s wish that he should march to Preston and remain there till

further orders.

At Aleson Bank, which he reached three days later, further cause for

worry and annoyance awaited him. Conflicting instructions from the King

and from Dumbarton left him in doubt whether he was to take the east or

the west road to London. In any case, Claverhouse was to proceed to York

with the cavalry; and Douglas’s comment on this was that he had never

seen such a course adopted before, to send away all the horse, and leave

two regiments of foot open to the insults of foreigners, who were

expected to land horse and dragoons.

Fully a month had elapsed since the departure of Douglas and Claverhouse

from Scotland before they reached London. After a few days’ halt they

started for Salisbury, where James had assembled an army of twenty-four

thousand men, to oppose the Prince of Orange, who had landed at Torbay,

on the 5th of November, and was advancing towards the capital. It was

whilst on his march to join his sovereign that Claverhouse received a

further and final token of royal favour by being created Viscount

Dundee. He had left London on the 10th, and the patent of his peerage

bore the date of the 12th of November 1688.

Before setting out for the camp at Salisbury, James had summoned his

principal officers to him—Churchill, lately promoted Lieutenant-General,

Grafton, colonel of the First Guards, Kirke and Trelawny, colonels of

the Tangier regiments—and had received from them assurances of fidelity.

Before the end of the month they had all deserted to William. Amongst

the officers of the Scottish contingent, there was one also whose

loyalty was unequal to the strain which circumstances put upon it. This

was Lieutenant-General Douglas. When he went to England with the army,

he was ignorant of the treasonable designs of some of his English

brother officers; but he had not conversed long with Churchill, Kirke,

and the others before he grew ‘one of the hottest of the party.’

Balcarres, who brings the charge against him, asserts, on the authority

of Dundee himself, that he proposed to his subordinate to betray the

royal cause, and to take his regiment over with him. Before broaching

the subject, however, he took the precaution of exacting an oath of

secrecy. Though bound in honour to conceal his chief’s disloyal

overtures, Dundee may be supposed to have imposed conditions which

Douglas thought it prudent to accept, and in accordance with which he

maintained a show of allegiance for some time longer. The Earl of

Dumbarton was amongst the faithful few. In his sturdy loyalty he

offered, with his single regiment of Scottish infantry to make a stand

against the invading forces of William. A more practical suggestion was

made by Dundee. With a generous confidence, says Dalrymple in his

“Memoirs,” he advised his Majesty either to fight the Prince, or to go

to him in person and demand his business in England. But James chose to

adopt a more spiritless course, and retired from Salisbury. According to

the account given by Creichton, who was serving at the time in Dunmore’s

regiment of dragoons, Dundee was ordered to bring up the Scottish horse

to Reading, where he joined Dumbarton with his forces, and remained for

nine or ten days. ‘They were in all about ten thousand strong. General

Douglas, with his regiment of Foot Guards, passing by Reading, lay at

Maidenhead, from whence one of his battalions revolted to the Prince,

under the conduct of a corporal whose name was Kemp. However, Douglas

assured the King that this defection happened against his will; and yet

when the officers were ready to fire upon the deserters, his compassion

was such that he would not permit them.’ After this, continues the same

narrator, the Earl of Dumbarton and Dundee, with all the officers who

adhered to the King, were ordered to meet his Majesty at Uxbridge, where

he intended to fight the Prince.

When the forces had assembled at the place appointed, each party sent an

officer to the Earl of Feversham, to receive his commands. Creichton

says that it was he who attended on the part of Dundee, and that he was

ordered with the rest to wait till the King came to dinner, his Majesty

being expected within half-an-hour. But matters took an unexpected turn.

The Earl, to his great surprise, received a letter from the King,

signifying that his Majesty had gone off, and had no further service for

the army. When Creichton returned with this news, neither Dundee, nor

Linlithgow, nor Dunmore could forbear bursting into tears. It is further

stated that Dundee, acting upon a suggestion of which Creichton claims

the credit, had resolved to make his way back to Scotland, when the

townspeople, anxious to rid themselves as soon as possible of the

military, raised the report that the Prince of Orange was approaching.

After preparation to receive him had been hastily made, Creichton was

again dispatched by Dundee, to discover whether the alarm were true. The

orderly was met on the way by a messenger whom William had entrusted

with a letter, of which the contents, quoted from memory, are said to

have been as follows:—

‘MY LORD DUNDEE,—I understand you are now at Watford, and that you keep

your men together. I desire you will stay there till further orders, and

upon my honour, none in my army shall touch you.

‘W. H. PRINCE OF ORANGE.’

From this point, there is some doubt as to Dundee’s movements. He may,

very probably, have gone on to London; and there is evidence of his

having been there shortly after the King’s flight. He was one of those

who attended a meeting of the Scottish Privy Councillors, which had been

hastily summoned by Balcarres to consider the situation, but which

effected nothing beyond affording Hamilton an opportunity of displaying

his ‘usual vehemency.’ If an account quoted by Napier from ‘Carte’s

Memorandum Book’ is to be credited, Dundee must, shortly after this,

when the news of James’s arrest at Faversham reached the capital, have

gone to meet his luckless master at Rochester, and there advised him to

summon his disbanded army together again, undertaking to raise ten

thousand men himself, and to march through all England with the royal

standard at their head.

There is better evidence of a final interview with James after his

return to London. Besides Dundee himself, Colin Earl of Balcarres was

also present at it. The Earl had come for the purpose of making a last

attempt to move the King to active resistance, promising that if he

would but give the word, an army of twenty thousand men would be ready

to receive his orders. The King, however, had rejected the proposal;

and, as it was a fine morning, expressed a wish to take a walk.

Balcarres and Dundee accompanied him, ‘When he was in the Mall, he

stopped and looked at them, and asked how they could be with him, when

all the world had forsaken him, and gone to the Prince of Orange. Colin

said, their fidelity to so good a master would ever be the same, they

had nothing to do with the Prince of Orange. Lord Dundee made the

strongest professions of duty. “Will you two, as gentlemen, say you have

still attachment to me?” “Sir, we do.” “Will you give me your hands upon

it, as men of honour?” They did so. “Well, I see you are the men I

always took you to be; you shall know all my intentions. I can no longer

remain here but as a cypher, or be a prisoner to the Prince of Orange,

and you know there is but a small distance between the prisons and the

graves of Kings. Therefore, I go to France immediately; when there, you

shall have my instructions. You, Lord Balcarres, shall have a commission

to manage my civil affairs, and you, Lord Dundee, to command my troops

in Scotland.”’

After the departure of James, both the noblemen remained in London for a

time. It is stated by Dalrymple that both of them were asked by William

to enter his service. ‘Dundee,’ he says, ‘refused without ceremony.

Balcarres confessed the trust which had been put in him, and asked the

King if, after that, he could enter the service of another. William

generously answered, ‘I cannot say that you can;’ but added, ‘Take care

that you fall not within the law, for otherwise I shall be forced,

against my will, to let the law overtake you.’

Bishop Burnet puts a different complexion on the matter as regards

Dundee; and it is his account that has led Macaulay to accuse the latter

of having been less ingenuous than his friend Balcarres. The Bishop

distinctly states that he himself had been employed by Dundee to carry

messages from him to the King, to know what security he might expect, if

he should go and live in Scotland without owning his government. ‘The

King said, if he would live peaceably and at home, he would protect him:

to this he answered that, unless he was forced to it, he would live

quietly.’

It is not easy to believe that this is an absolutely accurate account of

what actually took place. But the result, which scarcely amounts to a

promise on the part of Dundee, as Macaulay interprets it, but rather

appears in the light of a compromise on either side, is probably not far

removed from the truth. It did not place Dundee in a special and

exceptional position; it only put him on the same footing as all who

were included in the general amnesty, not more generously than wisely,

granted by William to the former adherents of the dethroned King. Of a

personal interview between Dundee and William, there is no actual

evidence.

By the beginning of 1689 there was no reason for further stay in

England; and Dundee turned northwards again with Balcarres, and with the

remnant of the cavalry at the head of which he had ridden to London in

the autumn—a few troopers who had kept by their old chief even after

their regiment was disbanded.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

VIII

BEFORE THE STRUGGLE

WHEN Dundee reached Edinburgh, in the last days of February, the

disturbances that had broken out shortly before had been quelled, owing

mainly to the judicious and vigorous measures taken by the College of

Justice; and to all outward appearance, at least, the capital was in a

state of great tranquillity. But the excitement, though less

demonstrative than it had been in the earlier weeks of the year, was

still intense, and increased with the approach of the date fixed for the

meeting of the Convention of the Estates, which was to determine whether

England and Scotland were to be ruled by one sovereign, or whether there

was to be a renewal between them of the hostilities of former centuries.

The Duke of Hamilton, the most influential of the Scottish noblemen who

had offered their services to William, was making his arrangements in

view of the coming crisis. He had brought in several companies of foot,

which he billeted in the town. There seemed to be good reason to believe

that before long he would be able to quarter them in the Castle. The

command of the old fortress had been entrusted by James to the Duke of

Gordon, ‘a man weak and wavering in courage, but bound by shame and

religion.’ He had committed the almost inconceivable error of failing to

provision the Castle, when he determined to hold it, and whilst the

opportunity of procuring necessaries from the townspeople was still open

to him. He had learnt that all the castles and forts in England had been

given up, some of them, it was reported, by order of the exiled King

himself; and no communication from any of his own party had brought him

encouragement to further resistance. When, on the faith of a letter from

William, he was offered indemnity and full assurance of protection, he

agreed to what, under the circumstances, seemed to him to be an

honourable capitulation. He was in the very act of evacuating the

Castle, his furniture was actually being removed from it, when Dundee

and Balcarres came to him. By representing to him the service which he

might still render to the royal cause, and by appealing to his honour,

they succeeded in persuading him to hold out until the Convention had

given indications of its designs.

When the Estates met, on the 14th of March, Hamilton secured a first

victory for his party by getting himself appointed President. At his

suggestion, negotiations were again opened with Gordon, by the

intermediary of the Earls of Lothian and Tweeddale. They were so far

successful that the wavering Governor promised to surrender on the

following day. But, when the time came, he again evaded his engagement

by insisting upon terms which he knew could not be accorded him. It was

Dundee who had again worked the change. He had gone to the Castle and

assured Gordon that the King’s friends had resolved to desert the

Edinburgh Convention, and to summon another at Stirling, in virtue of

the powers given to the Archbishop of St Andrews, Balcarres, and himself

by a royal warrant received from Ireland. It is asserted by Dalrymple

that ‘Balcarres, but still more Dundee,’ then urged the Governor to fire

upon the city, in order to dissolve the Convention. From the account

given by Balcarres, however, it would appear that this advice was given

by the King’s ‘friends’ immediately after Dundee had ridden off with his

fifty troopers. For failing to keep his engagement with the Convention,

Gordon was declared a traitor. As the heralds made their proclamation in

due form, under the very walls of his fortress he spiritedly retorted

that they ought in decency to have doffed the King’s livery before they

proscribed the King’s governor.

It was true that, as Dundee had told Gordon, the adherents of James had

determined to desert the Convention. Their resolution was the result of

an incident that had taken place at a recent sitting of that Assembly.

Two letters had been received, one from the new King William, the other

from the late King James. The former was read and ‘answered in strains

of gratitude and respect.’ The latter met with a different reception.

The members of the Orange party were at first unwilling that its

contents should be made known. They urged that the nation would be in a

miserable condition if the despatch should prove to be an order for the

dissolution of the Convention. Many of their opponents admitted this.

But they were confident that James had written ‘in terms suitable to the

bad situation of his affairs in England,’ and had given such full

satisfaction in matters of religion and liberty as would induce even

most of those who had declared against him to return to their duty; and

they consequently pressed that the message should be heard. It was not,

however, until a unanimous vote had declared the Convention to be a

legal and free meeting, and, as such, not to be dissolved by any order

the letter might contain, that permission was granted. To the

consternation of the Jacobites, and the joy of their enemies, it was

found that the despatch, in which the hand and style of the obnoxious

Melfort were recognised, ‘was written in the terms of a conqueror and a

priest, threatening the Convention with punishment in this world and

damnation in the next.’ There could no longer be any doubt as to what

the result of the Convention would be.

The futility of making any further attempt to influence the Estates in

favour of James was not the only reason that made Dundee desire to leave

Edinburgh. He had received information that a number of his old enemies,

the Covenanters, had formed a plot to assassinate him and Sir George

Mackenzie. There can be no doubt that George Hamilton of Barns had

brought up four hundred armed citizens from Glasgow, and had lodged them

about the Parliament House; but it is alleged that the object of this

measure was merely to prevent Dundee himself from carrying out a design

which he had formed of seizing certain members of the Convention. At the

next meeting of the Estates he made known what he had learnt, offered to

point out the very house in which his intending murderers were

concealed, and demanded that they should be brought to justice. A

majority of the House refused to take cognisance of what was slightingly

described as a private matter, until affairs of greater moment had been

dealt with; and Hamilton, who saw a welcome chance of getting rid of a

troublesome adversary, cast sneering reflections upon the courage that

could be alarmed by imaginary dangers.

This was on the eve of the day fixed upon by the Jacobite members for

their departure from Edinburgh. In the meantime, however, the Marquis of

Athole had pleaded for a further delay, and this had been agreed to at a

meeting from which Dundee happened to be absent. When informed of the

new arrangement, he refused to be bound by it. In vain Balcarres urged

that his departure would give the alarm, and frustrate their designs. He

replied that he had promised to meet a number of his friends outside the

city, and that he did not wish to disappoint them. It was then that,

going forth, he gathered his fifty troopers about him and galloped

through the streets of Edinburgh. To a friend who called out to inquire

where he was going, he is reported to have cried back, as he waved his

hat, ‘Wherever the spirit of Montrose shall direct me.’

Dundee’s road to Stirling skirted the base of the Castle rock. As he

approached he was recognised by the Duke of Gordon, who was ‘in a manner

blocked up by the western rabble,’ and who signalled that he desired to

speak with him. Equipped as he was, he performed the almost incredible

feat of scrambling up the precipitous crag, as far as a postern gate, at

which he held conference with the Governor. In the course of the

conversation he urged the Duke to delegate the command of the stronghold

to his subordinate Winrhame, an experienced and trustworthy soldier, and

to retire into the Highlands for the purpose of raising his clansmen in

support of King James. But Gordon’s timidity suggested a ready and

plausible excuse. A soldier, he said, could not in honour quit the post

that had been assigned to him.

Whilst the two noblemen were conferring together under such unusual

circumstances, they were noticed from the city. The troopers who were

waiting below for their adventurous leader were magnified into a great

body of horse, and it was assumed that Dundee’s motive for braving the

danger of such a climb, and defying the outlawry under which the

Governor had been placed by the Convention, was to concert an attack in

which he would be supported by the fire of the Castle batteries. The

rumour spread and reached the ears of Hamilton. In all probability he

knew it to be unfounded; but he also saw how he could avail himself of

it to serve his own ends, and he did not neglect the opportunity which

chance offered him. The Convention was sitting. With assumed indignation

he exclaimed that it was high time they should look to themselves, since

their enemies had the audacity to assemble in force, with hostile

intent. Pretending to believe that there was danger within as well as

without, he commanded the doors to be shut and the keys to be laid on

the table before him, so that the traitors in their midst should be held

in confinement until all danger from them was over. Then, by his orders,

the drums were beat and the trumpets sounded through the city. At the

signal, the armed men who had been brought in from the west, and

hitherto kept concealed in garrets and cellars, swarmed out into the

streets, where their fierce and sullen looks further increased the alarm

of the townspeople, who gathered in great crowds about the Parliament

House.

When the tumult and confusion had lasted for some hours, and long after

the unconscious cause of it had resumed his ride, Hamilton, judging that

the proper pitch had been reached, caused the doors to be thrown open

again. As the members came out into the square, the Whigs ‘were received

with the acclamations, and those of the opposite party, with the threats

and curses of a prepared populace.’ The President had attained the

object he had in view. As Dalrymple reports, ‘terrified by the prospect

of future alarms, many of the adherents of James quitted the Convention

and retired to the country; more of them changed sides; only a very few

of the most resolute continued their attendance.’ The Whigs were left to

themselves to settle the government of the country.

Whilst the Convention was still sitting with doors closed to prevent the

egress of the Jacobite members, information was brought by Lord

Montgomery, that Dundee had been seen going towards Queensferry after

his defiant conference with the outlawed Duke of Gordon. Thereupon Major

Buntin with a troop of horse was dispatched in pursuit. At the same time

it was ordered that an express should be sent with a letter signed by

the President, calling upon the deserter to return to the meeting by the

following Friday. Whether it be true that the Major ‘never came within

sight’ of the fugitive, or that he was scared by a threat of being sent

back to his masters ‘in a pair of blankets,’ the result of his mission

was the same.

The messenger may have found the means of delivering his letter at

Linlithgow, where the Viscount made his first halt. It was possibly he

who brought back the information which, on the next day, the 19th of

March, caused the Convention to issue an order for the heritors and

militia of Edinburgh and Linlithgow to assemble and ‘dislodge’ Lord

Dundee. To give legal justification to these proceedings, an official

proclamation was made by herald, charging both Dundee and Livingstone

who accompanied him, to return to the Convention, within twenty-four

hours, under pain of treason. Next day, a further report was received in

Edinburgh, in consequence of which the Magistrates of Stirling were

called upon to take suitable measures for seizing on the Viscount, who

was understood to be in their neighbourhood. He had, in reality, ridden

straight through to Dunblane, where he had an interview with Drummond of

Balhaldy, who, as Lochiel’s son-in-law, was doubtless able to give him

useful information as to the condition of the Highlands, and where he

also wrote to the Duke of Hamilton, as President of the Convention, a

letter which has not been preserved, and which may never have reached

its destination. About the end of that eventful week, he reached his own

home, at Dudhope. But, even here, he was not out of reach of heralds and

their proclamations. On the 27th of March it was duly notified to him,

with official blast of trumpet, that he was to lay down his arms, under

penalty of being dealt with as a rebel to the State. His reply was

almost suggested by the terms of the herald’s summons. Dundee had no

thought of accepting the new Government, and had never made a secret of

his opposition to it. That he was fully prepared to take the field, if

he saw a favourable opportunity of doing so, may be looked upon as the

natural and necessary sequel to his acceptance of the trust verbally

committed to him at his last meeting with James. But, so far, he had

done nothing that justified the charge of having taken up arms. From

that point of view, he had no difficulty in giving an explanation and a

defence of his conduct. He did so in the following letter:—

DUDHOPE, _March 27, 1689_.

‘MAY IT PLEASE YOUR GRACE,—The coming of an herald and trumpeter, to

summon a man to lay down arms that is living in peace at home seems to

me a very extraordinary thing, and, I suppose, will do so to all that

hears of it. While I attended the Convention at Edinburgh, I complained

often of many people being in arms without authority, which was

notoriously known to be true; even the wild hillmen; and no summons to

lay down arms under the pain of treason being given them, I thought it

unsafe for me to remain longer among them. And because a few of my

friends did me the favour to convey me out of the reach of these

murderers, and that my Lord Livingstone and several other officers took

occasion to come away at the same time, this must be called being in

arms. We did not exceed the number allowed by the Meeting of Estates. My

Lord Livingstone and I might have had each of us ten; and four or five

officers that were in company might have had a certain number allowed

them; which being, it will be found we exceeded not. I am sure it is far

short of the number my Lord Lorne was seen to march with. And though I

had gone away with some more than ordinary, who can blame me, when

designs of murdering me was made appear? Besides, it is known to

everybody that, before we came within sixteen miles of this, my Lord

Livingstone went off to his brother my Lord Strathmore’s house; and most

of the officers, and several of the company, went to their respective

homes or relations. And, if any of them did me the favour to come along

with me, must that be called being in arms. Sure, when your Grace

represents this to the Meeting of the States, they will discharge such a

groundless pursuit, and think my appearance before them unnecessary.

Besides, though it were necessary for me to go and attend the Meeting, I

cannot come with freedom and safety; because I am informed there are men

of war, and foreign troops in the passage; and, till I know what they

are, and what are their orders, the Meeting cannot blame me for not

coming. Then, my Lord, seeing the summons has proceeded on a groundless

story, I hope the Meeting of States will think it unreasonable I should

leave my wife in the condition she is in. If there be anybody that

notwithstanding of all that is said, think I ought to appear, I beg the

favour of a delay till my wife is brought to bed; and, in the meantime,

I will either give security, or parole, not to disturb the peace. Seeing

this pursuit is so groundless, and so reasonable things offered, and the

Meeting composed of prudent men and men of honour, and your Grace

presiding in it, I have no reason to fear further trouble.—I am, may it

please your Grace, your most humble servant,

DUNDEE.’

‘I beg your Grace will cause read this to the Meeting because it is all

the defence I have made. I sent another to your Grace from Dunblane,

with the reasons of my leaving Edinburgh. I know not if it be come to

your hands.’

It is hardly probable that Dundee seriously expected Hamilton and the

Convention to be influenced in the course they were bent on adopting by

a letter which, as regarded the past, contained little or nothing but

what they had heard already, and which in respect to the future, bound

the writer for a very limited period, in consideration of purely private

and domestic, and not of political circumstances, except, perhaps, the

circumstance that the instructions without which he was not to venture

on any act of open hostility had not yet come from Ireland.

He cannot have been greatly surprised to learn that on the 30th of March

he had formerly been declared a traitor.

Within less than a fortnight there occurred an incident which supplied

Hamilton not only with a justification of the action he had taken, but

also with a reason for adopting further measures against Dundee. The

Viscount’s commissions as Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief in

Scotland had been dispatched from Ireland. They were accompanied with

letters from Melfort to both Dundee and Balcarres. To the former he

wrote, ‘You will ask, no doubt, how we shall be able to pay our armies:

but can you ask such a question while our enemies, the rebels, have

estates to be forfeited? We will begin with the great, and end with the

small ones.’ The same sentiments were expressed in even stronger terms

in his letter to the latter. ‘The estates of the rebels will recompense

us. You know there were several Lords whom we marked out, when you and I

were together, who deserved no better fates; these will serve as

examples to others.’ According to Balcarres, he added the senseless

threat, ‘when we get the power we will make these men hewers of wood and

drawers of water.’ Whether by the folly or the knavery of the bearer of

them, these compromising documents fell into the hands of Hamilton. He

communicated them to the Convention. When they had been read, he rose

and cried out in an impetuous voice, ‘You hear, you hear, my Lords and

Gentlemen, our sentence pronounced. We must take our choice, to die, or

to defend ourselves.’

The President had not waited for the decision of the Assembly. In virtue

of the power given him at an earlier meeting, to imprison whomsoever he

suspected to be acting against the common interest, he had sent a

hundred men of the Earl of Leven’s regiment into Fifeshire, and a like

number into Forfarshire, to apprehend the two noblemen. Balcarres had

already been brought back to Edinburgh and cast into prison. The

knowledge that Dundee still had a number of his old troopers with him,

did not help to stimulate the zeal of those to whom the duty of

effecting his capture had been committed. Moreover, there lay between

him and them two rivers, which necessitated a circuitous march. There

had, consequently, been ample time for him to be informed of their

approach; and when they reach Dudhope, they learnt that their errand

would be fruitless. Taking what was destined to be a last farewell of

his wife and of his infant son, he retired towards the north.

But his retreat was not a flight. One of those who sallied forth with

him, has described in scholarly Latin hexameters, how the gallant Graham

mounted on his charger, brilliant in scarlet, in the face of the town,

drew out in long line his band of brave youths, all mounted and in

bright armour; how, on the very top of the Law of Dundee, he unfurled

the royal banner for the Northern war; and how he triumphantly led the

little troop of those who dared stand for the King in his misfortunes,

over the lofty ridges of the Seidlaws, by Balmuir and Tealing, to his

wife’s jointure-house, in Glen Ogilvy. There he remained three days; and

Sir Thomas Livingstone, with his hundred men, marched after him, in the

hope of being able to take him by surprise. But, ‘though very well and

secretly led on,’ he was again too late. He returned to Dundee, whence

he sent information of ‘his mislucked design’ to Mackay, whom William

had appointed to the supreme command of the troops sent to Scotland, and

where he was told to await the arrival of the General himself.

In the meantime, Dundee, who, at his interview with Lochiel’s

son-in-law, had been assured that as soon as he could get a body of

troops together, the clans ‘would risk their lives and fortunes under

his command, and in King James’s service,’ was riding through the

Highlands in the hope of enlisting recruits for the Stuart cause. From

Dudhope, he had proceeded due north, through Glen Ogilvy, to the ‘bare

town’ of Kirriemuir. Then crossing the Esk at the North Water Bridge,

climbing the rugged heights of the Cairn-o’-Mount, and fording the Dee,

he reached Kincardine O’Neil. By the 21st of April he was north of the

Don, at Keith, where he made a brief halt, utilised for the purpose of

attempting negotiations with Lord Murray. His next halting-place was

Elgin, on the other side of the Spey, where the hospitality accorded him

brought down the anger of the Convention on Provost Stewart and two of

his bailies. Forres was the term of the rapid dash to the north, and

there the little band again rested for a brief space.

During his progress through the Highland provinces, Dundee had not

omitted the precaution of keeping up communication with the south; and

he had received from his wife important information in accordance with

which he at once devised a scheme of action. General Mackay was now in

Scotland. On reaching Edinburgh he had received orders to march the

forces which he had brought with him, and which consisted of three or

four regiments of foot, and one of horse, besides Sir Thomas

Livingstone’s dragoons, against Lord Dundee. Leaving Sir John Lanier to

carry on the siege of the Castle, he hastened across the Tay to the town

of Dundee, where he halted for a night or two.

Amongst the officers of the Scotch dragoons there were some who had not

forgotten their old chief, and who were ready to avail themselves of any

favourable opportunity that occurred to join themselves to him. One of

them was William Livingstone, a relative of the Colonel’s. Captain

Creichton, who had served with Claverhouse in the west, was another. It

was arranged between them to enter into communication with Lady Dundee;

and it was Creichton who undertook to act as messenger. Making his way

to Dudhope privately and by night, he assured the Viscountess that the

regiment in which he served would be at her husband’s command, as soon

as he pleased to give the word. This acceptable news was dispatched

north. Creichton, who did not belong to either of the two troops that

were left in Dundee, but had been obliged to follow Mackay into the

Highlands, received a reply to the effect that Dundee had written to

James to send him two thousand foot and one thousand horse out of

Ireland, and that, as soon as those forces had arrived, he would expect

his friends to join him with the dragoons.

In the hope of securing this important and welcome reinforcement, he

resolved to make his way south, towards Dundee, where a part of the

regiment was stationed. An intercepted despatch from Mackay to the

Master of Forbes having given him some information as to the plan by

which it was intended to check his movements, he waited at the

Cairn-o’-Mount till the General was within eight miles of him, near

Fettercairn. Understanding that it would be unsafe to advance further,

in view of the dispositions that had been taken to surround him, he

turned back again to Castle Gordon, where the Earl of Dunfermline joined

him with forty or fifty gentlemen.

It appears to have been from Castle Gordon that Dundee dispatched a

messenger to Lochiel to inform him of the situation. After consultation

amongst the neighbouring Highland chiefs, it was decided that a

detachment of eight hundred men, under Macdonald of Keppoch, should be

sent to escort him into Lochaber. But Keppoch, whom the poetical

chronicler describes as a man whom love of plunder would impel to any

crime, had his own ends to serve. He was at feud with the Macintosh, and

the town of Inverness had taken sides with the Macintosh. Instead of

marching to meet Dundee, he led his forces against the town, from the

magistrates of which he extorted the promise of a ransom of four

thousand merks. The hasty arrival of Dundee, to whom information of

Keppoch’s outrageous conduct had been conveyed, put an end to this state

of siege. But the weakness of his following obliged him to adopt a

conciliatory policy towards the freebooter. He assured the magistrates,

who appealed to him, that Keppoch had no warrant from him to be in arms,

much less to plunder. Beyond that, however, he could only give his bond

that, at the King’s return, the money exacted by Keppoch should be made

good. Having so far humoured the plundering laird, Dundee depended on

his help to engage Mackay. But Keppoch, to whom honour and glory meant

little, and for whom booty was everything, found various reasons for

refusing his co-operation; whilst his followers declared that they could

do nothing without the consent of their master. Their object was, in

reality, to add to their spoil, by harrying the country, and to retire

with it to their mountain fastnesses.

Dundee was sorely disappointed at this untoward incident. So fully did

he expect to be joined by Keppoch’s men that he had already written to

the magistrates of Elgin to prepare quarters for nine hundred or a

thousand Highlanders besides his own cavalry. And now, instead of

turning round on his pursuer, he was obliged to make his way through

Stratherrick to Invergarry and Kilcummin, and thence into the wilds of

Badenoch. Throughout this march, Dundee did not relax his efforts to

enlist recruits, and he succeeded in engaging the greater part of the

men of note to be ready at call to join in his master’s service. Feeling

that he might now depend on the active co-operation of the Highland

chiefs, about the sixth or seventh of May, from the isolated farm of

Presmukerach, in a secluded district between Cluny and Dalwhinnie, he

issued a royal letter, calling upon the clans to meet him in Lochaber on

the eighteenth of the month.

In the meantime, however, it was not Dundee’s intention to remain idle.

On the 9th of May, he was at Blair. Thence he advanced next day to

Dunkeld, where, coming unexpectedly upon an agent of the new Government,

who, with the help of the military, had been gathering the revenues of

the district, he relieved him of the money, and secured the arms of his

escort. This was but an incident. The real object of the raid was

seventeen miles further. Dundee had received information that William

Blair of Blair, and his lieutenant Pollock were raising a troop in the

county of Perth, for the new Government; and he had resolved to

interfere with their recruiting. Leaving Dunkeld in the middle of the

night, he was at Perth by two o’clock in the morning, with seventy

followers. No attack was expected, and no resistance was offered. Blair

and Pollock were taken prisoners in their beds; and several officers of

the new levies were also captured. Secure from surprise, the invading

troopers carried out their work deliberately and thoroughly; and when

they retired, about eleven o’clock next morning, the spoil they took

with them included arms, gunpowder, public-money, and forty horses. It

is said that, on being brought before Dundee, Blair had protested with

some indignation against the treatment to which he had been subjected,

and that the Viscount had curtly replied, ‘You take prisoners for the

Prince of Orange, and we take prisoners for King James, and there’s an

end of it.’

From Perth, Dundee retired to Scone, where an unwilling host, the

Viscount of Stormont, was obliged to accord him the hospitality of a

dinner. Knowing what pains and penalties were incurred by holding

intercourse with one who had been outlawed as a traitor and a rebel,

Stormont lost no time in informing the President of the Convention of

the untoward incident. But although he urged the excuses that the dinner

had been forced from him, and that his ‘intercommuning’ had been wholly

involuntary, the Committee was not satisfied. Stormont, together with

his uncle and his father-in-law, who happened to be staying with him at

the time, was subsequently put to considerable trouble for the

delinquency of having been compelled to entertain the unbidden and

unwelcome guest.

Dundee had not forgotten the errand on which he had originally started

from the north, but which Mackay’s advance had obliged him to abandon

for a time. By way of Cargill, Cupar-Augus, and Meigle, he worked his

way round to Glamis, within less than twenty miles of Dundee. He

utilised the circuitous march by detaching some of his troopers to

collect revenues, in the name of the King, from the neighbouring

villages; and not less acceptable than the money thus brought in, was

the accession of half a score of volunteers amongst whom were

Hallyburton, Fullerton, and a third whose is variously given as Venton,

Fenton, and Renton. But even with these added to it, the little force

with which he re-entered Glen Ogilvy did not amount to more than eighty.

In the afternoon of the 13th of May, the inhabitants of Dundee were

startled by the alarming intelligence that an armed force was advancing

over the Seidlaws to attack them. Hardly had they completed a rough and

hasty preparation for defence by barring the gates and barricading the

streets, when the redoubted leader appeared on the summit of the Law, of

which his troopers held the base and the declivities. What the scared

citizens took for a serious attack was merely a demonstration, devised

for the purpose of affording the friendly dragoons an opportunity of

effecting a junction with Dundee. William Livingstone appears to have

understood the hint; for, according to the poetical chronicle of James

Philip of Almerieclose, he endeavoured to head a feigned sortie at the

head of the dragoons and of three hundred citizens whom he had enlisted

for the Jacobite cause. But, by some means, of which there is no record,

Captain Balfour, who was a staunch partisan of the new Government,

succeeded in frustrating the attempt.

At nightfall Dundee retired to Glen Ogilvy, without the reinforcement

which he had hoped to secure. All that he was able to take back with him

as the result of his raid consisted in three hundred pounds of cess and

excise, which he succeeded in seizing, and the baggage of a camp which

lay outside the town, and which had been hastily abandoned at his

approach. By the other side, this demonstration was looked upon as a

daring attack. In the excitement which the news of it caused on reaching

Edinburgh, the Convention gave orders that six firkins of powder should

be sent from Bo’ness to Dundee, and that Hastings’s infantry, and

Berkley’s horse should reinforce the garrison. Urgent despatches were

also forwarded to Mackay, in Inverness, and brought less welcome than

trustworthy information as to the movements of the man in pursuit of

whom he was supposed to be.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

IX

THE HIGHLAND CAMPAIGN

THE date fixed for the meeting of the clans was drawing near; and, after

a brief rest, Dundee was again in the saddle. By way of Cupar, Dunkeld,

Comrie, and Garth, he shaped his course to Loch Rannoch, and thence over

the Grampians, through wild and rugged paths, to Loch Treig and

Lochaber. There he was received with all honour and respect by Sir Ewen

Cameron of Lochiel, who assigned to his use a house at a little distance

from his own, and supplied him with such conveniences as the country

afforded. The chief of the Camerons was the most remarkable Highland

figure of the time. He had always shown himself a staunch adherent of

the Stuart cause, and his veneration for the memory of its great

champion, Montrose, was proverbial amongst his kinsmen and friends. His

own loyalty was above temptation; and when, at the suggestion of

Mackenzie of Tarbat, Mackay made an attempt to bribe him into submission

to the new Government, the letters containing the proffered terms, were

contemptuously left unanswered. It was mainly through the influence of

Lochiel that the coalition of the clans had been effected. He himself

brought to the royal cause a contingent of a thousand men, whom he had

never led but to victory.

In accordance with the old Highland custom, Dundee sent round the fiery

cross, immediately on his arrival in Lochaber. During the week which

would have to elapse before the chieftains could all bring their

followers to the trysting-place, he utilised his enforced leisure by

drilling his small body of cavalry, and accustoming the horses to stand

fire. The time at his disposal was insufficient to allow of his putting

the infantry through a course of military training, and, on the advice

of Lochiel he refrained from interfering with the rude but effective

tactics of the Highlanders.

At length, about the 25th of May, the gathering of the clans was

complete, and Dundee held a review of his army in the plain of Macomer.

There was the brave Glengarry with three hundred warriors in the flower

of vigorous manhood; and following him closely was his brother with a

hundred more. Next came Glencoe, huge-limbed, but strong and active,

accompanied by another hundred claymores. Macdonald of Sleat headed a

body of five hundred clansmen from the Isles of which he was the Lord.

The men of Uist, of Knoydart, and of Moydart, marched under the

leadership of their youthful chief, Allan Macdonald, Captain of Clan

Ranald; and two hundred men, as wild as himself were gathered about

Keppoch, the notorious raider, the ‘Colonel of the Cows,’ as he was

dubbed by Dundee, because of his particular skill in finding out cattle,

when they were driven to the hills, to be out of his way.

All these, some fifteen hundred in the aggregate, belonged to the great

clan Donald. They were all armed alike, and carried into battle, as

their emblem, a bunch of wild heather, hung from the point of a spear.

Under Dundee, the Macdonalds formed one battalion of twenty companies.

The thousand men that composed the Cameron contingent doubtless included

the various septs of the great clan, as well as some of the proscribed

and scattered Macgregors, between whom and the Camerons there existed a

close friendship.

From the various branches of the Macleans, another thousand men gathered

around the blue standard of the tribe. The two hundred retainers of

Stewart of Appin, together with those of Macneill of Barra, of Macleod

of Raasay, of Fraser of Fayers, of Fraser of Culduthill, of Grant of

Urquhart, of Macnaughten, Macallister, Maclaughlane, and Lamont, helped

to swell the ranks of Dundee’s infantry, and to bring up its numbers to

a total, which, if the enumeration of one who was present, and bore the

leader’s standard, be not grossly exaggerated, must have amounted to

close on four thousand. Dundee’s own following consisted of some eighty

horse, composed of his veteran troopers, reinforced by a few noblemen

and gentlemen. The most notable of these were the Earl of Dunfermline,

Lord Dunkeld, Sir Alexander Innes, Edmonstone of Newton, Clelland of

Faskin, the three recruits who had joined Dundee after the raid on

Perth, a Bruce, who may have been Captain Bruce of Earlshall, Graham of

Duntroone, and David Graham, the leader’s own brother.

On the same day, after a stirring address from Dundee, who promised them

that they should see him in the van whenever he hurled their united

bands against the foe, the Highlanders marched forth towards Glen Spey.

Glengarry, accompanied by thirty horse, opened the march. The rear was

brought up by Fayers with his marshalled clan. By the evening of the

28th of May, Dundee had pitched his camp near the Castle of Raits, a few

miles from Kingussie.

The 29th of May was a date which the adherents of the Stuarts held in

special reverence. It was that of the birth of Charles II., and it was

also that of his entry into London, at the Restoration. A day marked by

two such events was considered specially auspicious; and its annual

recurrence was hailed by commemorative celebrations. It offered an

opportunity for a general and public expression of loyalty to the cause,

which Dundee did not neglect; and with impressive ceremony he himself

lighted a huge bonfire in the middle of the camp, and drank to the

memory of the late King, and the success of his brother.

But the day was to be kept in a more practical way. Within accessible

distance lay the Castle of Ruthven. In it Mackay had placed a garrison

under Captain John Forbes, for the purpose of facilitating communication

with Ramsay, who was expected with reinforcements from the south. Dundee

opened hostilities by sending a force under Keppoch to demand the

surrender of the Castle. Forbes returned a spirited answer to the

summons, and made a brave show of resistance; but perceiving how futile

it would be, in view of the preparations which were being made for the

assault, he came to terms, and promised to lay down his arms, if, within

three days, Mackay did not come to his relief. But the General remained

at Alvie, to which he had advanced from Inverness, and the Castle was

evacuated at the expiration of the delay agreed upon.

Forbes was treated with remarkable consideration by Dundee. He was

allowed to pass through the camp with his garrison; and having noticed

that the horses were all saddled and bridled, he concluded that

immediate action was intended, and reported accordingly when he reached

Mackay. On his way to join his chief, he met two of his troopers making

for Dundee’s camp. They alleged that they had been sent out to

reconnoitre; and though warned of the danger which they ran of being

captured, they pursued their way towards Raits. This circumstance having

also been communicated to Mackay, he opened an inquiry from which it

resulted that the troopers were messengers who had been sent to arrange

for the desertion of the Scots dragoons. By the measures which the

General at once adopted, the plan was again frustrated.

In the meantime, Dundee, whom rumours of an intended attack had reached,

sent Bruce with a dozen troopers to ascertain their truth. He returned

with the information that Mackay was encamped near Alvie, and did not

appear to have made any preparations for an advance. At this, Dundee

himself determined to move forward. As he was pressing towards Alvie, he

was startled to see that the Castle of Dunachton which he had passed

shortly before, and left unharmed, was in a blaze. The marauding Keppoch

had again been at work. After setting fire to Ruthven, as he had been

ordered to do, he had further gratified his own love of plunder and of

revenge by pillaging and destroying the old castle of his enemy the

Mackintosh.

If discipline was to be maintained, Dundee could not tolerate such

conduct, even on the part of so powerful a chieftain as Keppoch, and he

sharply called the offender to task for it. He told him in presence of

all the officers of his small army, that ‘he would much rather choose to

serve as a common soldier amongst disciplined troops, than command such

men as he, who seemed to make it his business to draw the odium of the

country upon him.’ Keppoch, whom no man had probably overawed before,

muttered an excuse, and promised to abide strictly by the commander’s

orders for the future.

On reaching Alvie, Dundee discovered that Mackay had broken up his camp

and was in full retreat. For four days he followed him so persistently

and so closely that, on one occasion parties of his Highlanders were

within shot of the rear-guard. If night had not come on, nothing, in all

probability, could have saved the retreating troops. But the ground was

dangerous, the march had been long, and the open country of Strathbogie,

now only three miles distant, would have given Mackay’s cavalry too much

advantage over their pursuers. Dundee ordered a halt.

Next morning, having learnt that Mackay had marched ten miles further,

he lay still all day. This was on the 5th of June. That same day, he

received information that Barclay and Lesly’s regiments, from Forfar and

Cupar-Angus, had joined Mackay at Suy Hill. His old friends in the

Scotch dragoons, who had dispatched the messenger with these tidings,

communicated the further intelligence, that the Duke of Berwick was

reported to have been captured, and that a party which had endeavoured

to effect a landing in Scotland was also said to have been beaten back.

They told him, too, that they were now surrounded by English horse and

dragoons themselves, and that, in spite of their desire to cast in their

lot with his, they could not avoid fighting against him, if there were

an engagement. Under these circumstances, they begged him to go out of

the way for a time, until better news should come.

The advice was judicious. Dundee adopted it, and turned back towards

Badenoch. His action was fully justified by the event. With the

reinforcements which he had received from the south, Mackay at once

turned back upon his pursuer, whom he hoped to take by surprise. But his

night march was in vain. When he reached Edinglassie, where the Highland

camp had been, it was only to find that Dundee was already on his way to

Cromdale. He sent a party of horse in pursuit; but the troopers never

came within sight of the rear-guard, though they succeeded in cutting

off some of the plundering stragglers.

During this retreat, there occurred an incident which helped to cheer

Dundee; for it was not with a glad heart that he had turned away from

the enemy, and, to add to the disappointment which he felt, he was so

prostrate through illness, at this critical moment, that his rate of

progress had to be reduced to a few miles a day—to less than six miles

in all on the 7th and 8th of June. On the 9th of June, whilst Dundee,

who had moved up the Spey, was in the neighbourhood of Abernethy, Mackay

gave orders to Sir Thomas Livingstone to cross the river with a

detachment of dragoons, for the purpose of supporting the Laird of

Grant’s men, who had been hard pressed by parties of the Highlanders.

Whilst on this mission, an advance guard of the troopers fell in with a

body of three hundred Macleans, who, under Lochbery, were on their way

to join Dundee. In the engagement that followed, the cavalry was

completely routed, and the clansmen, elated with victory and laden with

spoil stripped from the slain were enthusiastically welcomed in Dundee’s

camp.

It had been Dundee’s intention to take up a strong position in Rannoch,

but, as he wrote in one of his despatches, finding that the Lochaber men

were going away every night by forties and fifties, with droves of

cattle, and that all the rest, who were laden with plunder of Grant’s

land and others, were equally anxious to return home with it, he yielded

to necessity, came into Lochaber with them, and dismissed them to their

respective houses, with injunctions to be ready within a few days, if

the enemy pursued. If he did not, they were to lay still till further

orders. Mackay, on his side, seeing that Dundee had reached a district

where there were no good roads, and where it would be impossible to buy

the provisions without which no regular body of forces could subsist

together, also resolved to retire from the field for a time. In a

despatch forwarded to Ireland through Hay, the position at this time was

described as follows: ‘My Lord Dundee hath continued in Lochaber,

guarded only by two hundred, commanded by Sir Alexander Maclean. But,

being in the heart of Glengarry and Lochiel’s lands, he thinks himself

secure enough; though he had not, as he has, the Captain of Clanranald,

with six hundred men within ten miles of him, and Maclean, Sir Donald,

and Macleod marching towards him. So that he can march with near four

thousand; or refresh in safety, till such time as the state of affairs

of Ireland may allow the King to send forces to his relief: which if it

please God shall fall out, there is all appearance of forming a

considerable army, notwithstanding that the people are a little

disheartened by the unexpected surrender of the Castle of Edinburgh,

which, as said, was only by despair the Duke had of any relief, though

he wanted not from my Lord Dundee, by a third hand, all the

encouragement he could give.’ This brings the Highland campaign forward

to about the middle of June.

In spite of the circumstances which had made it necessary for him to

retire to Lochaber, Dundee entertained no doubt as to the ultimate

success of the cause which he championed. Though indecisive, the result

of his military operations was such as to inspire him with confidence in

himself, and in the fighting powers, if not in the discipline, of his

Highlanders. With them, he had more than held his own under difficulties

that might well have discouraged a less energetic and resourceful

leader. He had been obliged to begin the campaign with but fifty pounds

of powder, for all the great towns and sea-ports were hostile to him,

and would sell none. He had no money, and could raise none on his own

credit; and, worse than all, the help on which he depended, and on the

promise of which he had induced the chieftains to join him, had not

come. Yet, in spite of all this, he had suffered no reverse; and though

the bulk of his army was disbanded, he knew that a few days would

suffice to bring the clans about him again, in all their former

strength, and with more than their former devotion. For he had won their

respect by his own cheerful endurance of all the hardships of the

campaign, and their affection by the sympathy and the ready help which

he had given them to bear their share.

Of that which might, indeed, have discouraged him, of the true state of

affairs outside Scotland, he knew nothing. He had not only been kept in

ignorance, he appears to have been systematically deceived. As late as

the 23rd of June, writing to Macleod of Macleod to communicate to him

the news he had just received, he gave him a glowing account of what was

being achieved in Ireland. Hay, who had himself been at the siege of

Londonderry, had just reported, that more than three weeks before, the

inhabitants were reduced to such extremities that horse flesh was sold

for sixpence a pound, that, for cannon-balls they were shooting lumps of

brick wrapped in pewter plates, that an attempt at relief had been

defeated with great loss. Fifty-two sail of French warships were already

in Ireland; eighty more were on their way from Brest; some of the French

fleet had been seen amongst the islands, and had taken the two Glasgow

frigates; Edinburgh had lost heart, and offered to surrender if King

James would grant terms; in short, everything was so hopeful and so far

advanced, that if Macleod did not hasten to land his men, he would have

but little occasion to do the King much service.

In view of such hopeful accounts, Dundee who could have no means of

testing their truth, and who had no suspicion of their exaggeration,

might well feel confident of success, if only, as had repeatedly been

promised, King James would send him the reinforcements and the supplies

so anxiously expected, ‘ammunition, and three or four thousand arms of

different sorts, some horse, some foot.’ Even when he learnt, about the

middle of July, that the only succour to be got from Ireland, consisted

of three hundred ill-trained men, with whom Cannon had effected a

landing at Inverlochy, he did not lose confidence, and an attempt to

bring him to terms, of which his brother-in-law, Lord Strathnaver was

the intermediary, was met with a dignified refusal. Nor did his enemies

themselves seem to think that his power and influence had yet begun to

wane; for they thought it worth their while to set a price of twenty

thousand pounds sterling on his head.

But a crisis was now at hand. About the middle of July, Lord John

Murray, the Marquis of Athole’s eldest son, in accordance with an

agreement come to with Mackay, had gone into the Highlands, for the

purpose of raising a body of his father’s followers. He knew their

loyalty to the Stuart cause, and had no hope of being able to induce

them to take sides for the new Government. But he might devise means to

keep them neutral; and no more was required of him. ‘Keep the Athole men

from joining Dundee,’ Mackay had said to him, ‘and that is all I ask, or

can expect, from your father’s son.’ He succeeded in bringing together

twelve hundred men, with whom he intended to garrison the important

Castle of Blair.

Dundee had been duly informed of Murray’s levies; but he affected to

believe in the young chief’s loyalty, and wrote to him, from his

quarters in Struan, on the other side of the Garry, suggesting that they

should meet to concert what was fittest to be done for the good of the

country, and the service of their lawful King. Receiving no answer to

his letter, he gave orders to Stewart of Ballechin, a retainer of

Athole’s, and a staunch Jacobite, to occupy the Castle, in the name of

King James. Two further communications to Murray having been similarly

disregarded, Dundee dispatched two of his officers to him, with a final

appeal. They were instructed to deliver it into Murray’s own hands, and

to receive his positive answer; but Murray declined to grant them an

interview.

When this became known to the clansmen whom he had with him, and from

whom he had so far succeeded in concealing his real designs, they called

upon him to let them know what course of action he had resolved upon,

and plainly told him that if he meant to join Dundee they would follow

him, but that if he refused to do so, they would immediately forsake

him. In vain he attempted to threaten them into submission. They were

true to their word. Filling their bonnets with water, they drank the

King’s health, and turned their backs on the chief who had thought to

make them traitors, against their will, to the cause of the Stuarts.

In the meantime, Dundee had been active in other directions. His summons

to the clans had again been sent forth, and orders given for a general

meeting at Blair, where he himself arrived, at latest, on the 26th of

July. That same day Mackay marched from Perth to Dunkeld, with about

four thousand foot, and two troops of horse and dragoons.

There still remained two days to the date fixed for the gathering of the

claymores, when Dundee moved from the camp at Blair to meet Mackay’s

advance. He could not wait for the arrival of his full force; but he

hoped that the deficiency in numbers would be compensated by the mettle

and determination of those who had joined. To satisfy himself that the

martial ardour of the clans had not suffered from the long years of

inactivity which had elapsed since last they met an enemy, at

Philiphaugh, he put it to an effective test. At early dawn, when the men

were still sleeping in their plaids, in the heather, he caused the alarm

to be sounded. In an instant, every man had sprung to his feet, and

seizing his arms had run to take up his position in front of the camp.

When the Viscount perceived this, says one of the chroniclers who record

the incident, and that not a man of them retired, with full assurance,

he instantly began his march to meet the enemy.

Before deciding to leave Blair, Dundee had called together a council of

war composed of all the leading men who had joined him. The question to

be discussed was, whether it was wiser to remain encamped until the

arrival of all the Highland contingents, or to march forward at once to

meet Mackay. The old officers, who were accustomed to the command of

regular troops, favoured the former alternative, and urged that it would

be imprudent to risk an engagement against an army which exceeded theirs

by more than half, and was composed of trained soldiers, whilst their

own forces consisted of raw, undisciplined men, who had never seen

blood, whose strength was impaired by the sufferings and privations of a

long march, and whose spirit was damped by disappointments.

Glengarry, on the other hand, represented that, although the clansmen’s

endurance had been taxed by want of provisions as well as by fatigue,

they were but little affected by hardships to which their own way of

living inured them; and that, in spite of what they had gone through,

they were both able and ready to fight an equal number of the enemy’s

best troops, and had a fair chance of beating them. Still, even he did

not recommend a general engagement before the arrival of the remaining

claymores had brought their numbers more nearly to an equality with

those of their opponents. His advice, which met with the approval of

most of the chieftains, was that they should keep the army constantly in

sight of the enemy, and should post their men on strong ground, where

they would be safe from attack themselves, and whence they could easily

sally forth, at every available opportunity, to harass the foe.

Alone of those present, Lochiel had refrained from giving any sign of

adherence to the views of either party; and Dundee noticing this, called

upon him, in terms most flattering to the old chief, to declare his

opinion. It was given without hesitation: To fight the enemy. As he

supported this advice by pointing to the eagerness of the men, and by

enumerating the disadvantages of a delay, it was observed that Dundee’s

countenance brightened, and that he listened with obvious satisfaction

to his spirited yet wise words. When his turn came to speak, he told the

Council that his sentiments had just been expressed by one who added to

them the weight of long experience and of intimate knowledge, and that

his voice, like that of Lochiel, was for immediate and decisive action,

a course which was consequently resolved upon.

Before the Council broke up, the venerable chieftain again rose to

speak. He had promised, he said, and would yield implicit obedience to

all Dundee’s orders; but he requested that, before they separated, he

might be allowed to give one command, not in his own name, but in that

of the whole Council. It was the unanimous wish of all present that

Dundee should not engage personally, for on him depended the fate, not

only of their brave little army, but also of their king and of their

country. ‘If your Lordship deny us this reasonable demand,’ he added,

‘for my own part I declare that neither I, nor any I am concerned in,

shall draw a sword on this important occasion, whatever construction

shall be put on the matter.’ In his reply to this appeal, Dundee

admitted that, if he fell, his death might be a loss to them; but he

reminded his hearers of the temper of their men. If the least reason

were given them to doubt the personal courage of their leader, they

would lose their respect for him, and give him, at best, but grudging

obedience. For this reason, he begged to be permitted to give one

‘shear-darg’—that is, one harvest day’s work—to the King, his master,

that he might have an opportunity of convincing the brave clans that he

could hazard his life in that service, as freely as the meanest of them.

If this were granted him he pledged his word never again to risk his

person, so long as he had the honour of commanding them. Finding him

inflexible in the chivalrous resolution which he had couched as a

request, the Council reluctantly yielded.

On the morning of the 27th of July, Mackay left his quarters in Dunkeld.

By ten o’clock he had reached the southern extremity of the Pass of

Killiecrankie, where he halted for two hours. At noon he again gave the

order to advance. The Pass into which he led his army consisted of an

almost straight road, fully two miles in length, and so narrow that

barely half a dozen men could march abreast. To the right it was flanked

by lofty mountains. The precipitous banks of the Garry skirted it on the

left; and, on the other side of the river, a thickly wooded mountain

hemmed in the landscape. Through this wild and rugged defile Balfour,

Ramsay and Kenmore opened the march with their three battalions. Then

came Belhaven’s troop of horse, followed by Leven’s regiment, and a

battalion of the General’s. Over twelve hundred baggage horses formed a

long line behind them, protected by a rear-guard which consisted of the

Earl of Annandale’s troop of horse and Hastings’s regiment.

Impressed by the wildness of the surroundings, and conscious of the

danger to which it would be exposed in the event of an attack, the army

moved cautiously but cumbrously on. As it advanced without discovering

any sign of the presence of the enemy, his neglect to avail himself of

the obvious advantages which the nature of the ground offered him,

inspired a new fear. Some carefully prepared trap at the further end

seemed to afford the only intelligible explanation of his action in

leaving the pass free. Even Mackay himself did not realise that the only

stratagem which Dundee had devised was an engagement that should not

merely retard, but wholly scatter his opponent’s forces.

At length, the open ground on the bank of the Garry was reached. As his

men debouched into it, Mackay drew them up three deep, without changing

the relative position of the regiments. The extreme left was thus held

by Balfour. Ramsay and Kenmore came next, and were posted between him

and two troops of horse that occupied the centre. Leven, Mackay and

Hastings were on the right. Some short, portable leather cannon, that

could hardly be dignified with the name of artillery were placed behind

the horse. The whole line faced towards Blair, from which the enemy was

expected to move forward. And, indeed, before long, the General

perceived what he thought was the advance guard, coming down the valley

towards him. It was in reality but a small detachment that had been sent

on for the purpose of attracting his attention. Dundee, with his main

body had wound his way round to the left, and his Highlanders were soon

seen taking up their position on some elevated ground that commanded

Mackay’s right wing. Without altering the disposition of his line of

battle, the General wheeled it round to face the clansmen, a movement by

which he put the river and the steep ridge above it immediately in his

rear, and rendered his own position far more precarious in the event of

a defeat, whilst the rise of the ground towards the hills in his front

prevented him from attacking the enemy except under obviously

disadvantageous conditions.

In the meantime, Dundee was making his own dispositions for the coming

fight. Acting under the advice of Lochiel, who knew the spirit of

emulation by which the several clans were animated, he drew them up in

such a way that each of them should have a regiment in Mackay’s line

assigned to it The Macleans, under their youthful chief, were posted on

the extreme right. The Irish contingent, commanded by Colonel Pearson

occupied the next position, and had the Tutor of Clanranald with his

battalion on their immediate left. A fourth battalion, composed of the

men whom the stalwart Glengarry led to battle, made up the right wing.

The left consisted of two others, of which Lochiel’s was one, and Sir

Donald Macdonald’s the other. The only cavalry at Dundee’s disposal

consisted of a few Lowland gentlemen and some remains of his old troop,

not exceeding forty horse in all, and these ‘very lean and ill-kept.’ It

was posted in the centre, to face Mackay’s hundred sabres. It should

have been under the orders of the Earl of Dunfermline; but that very

morning, Sir William Wallace, a gentleman who had come over from

Ireland, produced a commission which appointed him to the command

hitherto held by the Earl. Though deeply mortified Dunfermline had

submitted without demur to the unjust and ill-advised supersession, for

which Melfort, Wallace’s brother-in-law, was probably responsible. His

loyalty to the cause which he served prevented him from raising a

dispute at so critical a time.

For two hours the armies stood facing each other, within musket-shot,

without engaging, though some desultory skirmishing appears to have been

going on towards the left, between some Macleans and the regiment

opposed to them, whilst the guns in Mackay’s centre kept up an

intermittent and harmless fire. During this long pause before the battle

both leaders addressed their troop. In spite of his superiority in

numbers, Mackay did not hide from his men that the task before them was

no easy one. In encouraging them to it, he pointed out that, in such a

place and with such foemen, they could not hope for safety in flight,

but must win it for themselves by the defeat of the enemy. His words

were greeted with a cheer, which to Lochiel who heard it, seemed wanting

in enthusiasm, and from which he drew for his own followers an omen of

victory.

In Dundee’s allocution there was a spirited appeal to the loyalty and

patriotism of the clansmen. He urged them to behave like true Scotsmen,

in defence of their King, their Religion, and their Country. He asked

nothing of them but what they should see him do before them. For those

who fell, there would be the comfort and the honour of having died in

the performance of their duty, and as became true men of valour and of

conscience; and to those who lived and won the battle, he promised a

reward of a gracious King, and the praise of all good men.

It was not till eight o’clock on that summer evening that Dundee gave

orders for the advance of his two thousand men. Casting off brogues and

plaids the clansmen moved forward down the slope. They were met with a

heavy fire, which grew more terrible as they approached the treble line

of their opponents. But with wonderful resolution they obeyed the orders

given them, and reserved their own till they came to within a few yards

of the enemy. Then they poured it in upon them ‘like one great clap of

thunder,’ and, throwing away their muskets, fell upon the infantry with

their claymores before it had time to fix bayonets to receive them.

‘After that,’ in the words of Lochiel’s ‘Memoirs,’ ‘the noise seemed

hushed; and the firing ceasing on both sides, nothing was heard for some

few moments but the sullen and hollow clashes of the broadswords, with

the dismal groans and cries of dying and wounded men.’

Dundee, who had joined his small body of horse, ordered Wallace to

attack the troopers whilst the clans were scattering the infantry, and

himself rode forward to take part in the charge. But Sir William, the

nominal commander, ‘not being too forward,’ Dundee would have met with

no support if the Earl of Dunfermline, taking in the situation at a

glance, had not dashed forward, with some sixteen volunteers who left

the laggard ranks. Mackay’s troopers did not stop to receive the shock

of this handful of men, but joined the infantry in their flight. Nor did

the gunners make a better stand; and their clumsy ordnance was captured

before Wallace came up. Then Dundee, wheeling to the enemy’s right,

charged Mackay’s own regiment, which, after delivering a last volley,

turned and fled like the rest, in spite of the General’s efforts to

rally it.

Pausing for a moment to look round the field, the victorious leader

perceived that Sir Donald Macdonald’s battalion, ‘which had not shown so

great resolution as the rest of the Highlanders,’ was hesitating in its

attack upon Hastings’s regiment. He was on his way to urge it forward,

when a shot struck him in the side and inflicted a mortal wound. He

reeled in the saddle, and was falling from his horse; but one of his

officers, named Johnstone, was at hand to catch him in his arms and to

help him to the ground. As he lay there, the dying leader asked how the

day went. ‘The day goes well for the King,’ replied Johnstone, ‘but I am

sorry for your Lordship.’ But Dundee felt the comfort which he had so

shortly before promised those who should fall; ‘it is the less matter

for me,’ he said, ‘seeing the day goes well for my master.’

Besides Dundee himself, there lay on the fateful field some nine hundred

men of his little army of hardly more than two thousand. Whether he died

on the scene of his dearly-bought victory, or whether he was removed

from it and survived long enough to dictate the letter which his

Jacobite admirers have regarded as a last tribute of loyalty to his

King, and his Whig opponents denounced as an unscrupulous forgery, are

questions upon which too little depends to justify a discussion of them.

He was buried at Blair.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

INDEX

ACT Rescissory, The, 25.

BALCARRES, his final interview with James VII., 121

—— retires to Scotland, 123.

BALFOUR and the other murderers of Archbishop Sharp flee to the West,

46.

BOOG, the case of, 85.

BOTHWELL BRIDGE, 56.

BROWN, John, the Christian carrier, shooting of, 100.

BRUCE of Earlshall appointed Sheriff-depute, 42.

BRYCE, John, conflicting accounts of his case, 104.

BUCHAN, Colonel, his unsuccessful pursuit of Covenanters, 91.

CARSPHAIRN, Curate of, murdered, 95.

CHARLES II. proclaimed King in Scotland, 24.

—— accepts Covenant, 24.

—— crowned at Scone, 24.

—— establishes Episcopacy, 26.

—— death of, 110.

CLANS, meeting of the, in Lochaber, 141.

COCHRANE, Lady Jean, 85.

—— her covenanting family, 85.

—— married to Claverhouse, 89.

CONVENTICLES to be dispersed, 21.

COVENANT of 1643, 22.

—— signing the, 22.

—— purport of, 23.

COVENANTERS rise at Dalry, 30.

—— proceed to Dumfries, 30.

—— attack Turner, 30.

—— march towards Edinburgh, 31

COVENANTERS routed at Rullion Green, 31.

—— meet at Rutherglen Cross, 47.

—— defeat Claverhouse at Drumclog, 48.

—— march to Glasgow, 50.

—— defeated at Bothwell Bridge, 55.

—— rescue prisoners at Enterkin, 92.

DALRYMPLE, Sir James, his quarrel with Claverhouse, 79.

DALZIEL, General, defeats Covenanters at Rullion Green, 31.

DRAGOONS sent to the West, 21.

DRUMCLOG, battle of, 48.

—— numbers of combatants, 49.

EDINBURGH, popular demonstration in, against the Chancellor, 115.

GILLIES, Peter, case of, variously stated by De Foe and Macaulay, 104.

GORDON, Duke of, holds Edinburgh Castle, 120.

GRAHAM, Cornet, killed at Drumclog, 50.

GRAHAM, Lady Helen, proposed marriage of, with Claverhouse, 59.

—— with Montrose, 61.

GRAHAM, John, of Claverhouse family, 9.

—— date of birth, 10.

—— made burgess of Dundee, 11.

—— At St Andrews, 11.

—— Acquirements, 12.

—— serves in France, 13.

—— in Holland, 14.

—— at the Battle of Seneff, 14.

—— resigns his commission, 17.

—— offered a commission by Montrose, 18.

—— sent with dragoons to the West, 21.

—— at Dumfries, 37.

—— dissatisfied with arrangements, 40.

—— appointed Sheriff-depute, 43.

—— defeated at Drumclog, 48.

—— present at Bothwell Bridge, 56.

—— his circuit in the West, 56.

—— correspondence with regard to marriage with Lady Helen Graham,

59.

—— appointed Sheriff of Wigtownshire, 74.

—— his repressive measures in the West, 75.

—— thanked by Council, 77.

—— plot against him, 78.

—— quarrel with Dalrymple, 79.

—— promoted to be Colonel, 82.

—— marries Lady Jean Cochrane, 89.

—— Constable of Dundee, 93.

—— account of shooting of John Brown, 100.

—— how far responsible for the shooting of Andrew Hislop, 105.

—— quarrel with Queensberry, 110.

—— excluded from Privy Council, 110

—— restored to favour, 111.

—— receives commission as Brigadier, 111.

—— promoted to rank of Major-General, 117.

—— marches to England with his regiment, 118.

—— created Viscount Dundee, 119.

—— his final interview with James VII., 121.

—— retires to Scotland, 123.

—— at the Convention of Estates, 126.

GRAHAM, John, his interview with the Duke of Gordon, 126.

—— retires to Dudhope, 130.

—— his answer to the Duke of Hamilton’s summons, 130.

—— his ride through the Highlands, 134.

—— calls upon the clans to meet him in Lochaber, 136.

—— his raid on Perth, 137.

—— his feigned attack on Dundee, 138.

—— assembles the clans in Lochaber, 141.

—— advances against Mackay, 145.

—— retires into Lochaber and dismisses the clans, 145.

—— appoints a second meeting of the clans at Blair, 149.

—— holds a Council of War, 149.

—— prepares for battle, 153.

—— attacks Mackay, 154.

—— his death, 156.

HAMILTON, Robert, heads the opposition to the Indulgence, 46.

—— refuses quarter after Drumclog, 52.

HIGHLAND HOST, the, 34.

HISLOP, Andrew, responsibility for shooting, 105.

INDULGENCE, the, 33.

JAMES VII. succeeds to the throne, 110.

—— his disapproval of Claverhouse’s conduct, 110.

—— sets out for Salisbury, 119.

—— disbands his army, 121.

—— final interview with Dundee and Balcarres, 121.

KEPPOCH, Macdonald of, attacks Inverness, 135.

—— burns Dunachton, 143.

KILLIECRANKIE, battle of, 154.

KING’S CURATES, 28.

KIRKCUDBRIGHT, attacked by party of Covenanters, 96.

MACKAY, General, sent to command forces in Scotland, 134.

—— encamped near Alvie, 143.

—— retreats towards Strathbogie, 144.

—— marches from Dunkeld to Killiecrankie, 151.

MACLACHLAN, Margaret, drowned on Solway Sands, 99.

M’MICHAEL, the case of James, murderer of Curate of Carsphairn, 97.

MEETING-HOUSE at Castlemilk pulled down, 39.

MEETING of the Convention of Estates, 125.

MEIKLEWRATH, Matthew, the manner of his death, 108.

MENTEITH, Earl of, corresponds with Claverhouse, 59.

—— with Marquis of Montrose, 67.

MINISTERS ejected, 27.

MONMOUTH, Duke of, appointed Commander-in-Chief, 55.

ORANGE, Prince of, lands in England, 119.

—— writes to Dundee, 121.

PENALTIES imposed on recusants, 28.

PERTH, attacked by Dundee, 137.

QUEENSBERRY, his quarrel with Claverhouse, 110.

RENWICK, his apologetical declaration, 95.

RULLION GREEN, Covenanters defeated at, 31.

RUTHERGLEN, declaration at Cross, 47.

RUTHVEN, Castle of, surrendered by Captain Forbes, 143.

SHARP, Archbishop, murdered, 44.

STEWART of Ballechin occupies Blair Castle, 148.

SWYNE Abbey, soldiers murdered at, 95.

WALLACE, Sir William, commands cavalry at Killiecrankie, 153.

WESTERHALL, how far responsible for the shooting of Hislop, 106.

WILSON, Margaret, drowned on Solway Sands, 99.

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TRANSCRIBERS’ NOTES

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