PICKLE AND THE ELIBANK PLOT
The Elibank plot—George II. to be kidnapped—Murray and Young Glengarry—As
Pickle, Glengarry betrays the plot—His revelations—Pickle and Lord
Elibank—Pickle meets Charles—Charles has been in Berlin—Glengarry writes
to James’s secretary—Regrets failure of plot—Speaks of his
illness—Laments for Archy Cameron—Hanbury Williams seeks Charles in
Silesia—Pickle’s ‘fit of sickness’—His dealings with the Earl
Marischal—Meets the Prince at the masked ball—‘A little piqued’—Marischal
criticises the plot to kidnap George II.—‘A night attack’—Other
schemes—Charles’s poverty—‘The prophet’s clothes’—Mr. Carlyle on
Frederick the Great—Alleges his innocence of Jacobite
intrigues—Contradicts statesmen—Mr. Carlyle in error—Correspondence of
Frederick with Earl Marischal—The Earl’s account of English
plotters—Frederick’s advice—Encouragement underhand—Arrest of Archy
Cameron—His early history—Plea for clemency—Cameron is hanged—His
testimony to Charles’s virtues—His forgiveness of his enemies—Samuel
Cameron the spy—His fate—Young Edgar on the hidden treasure—The last of
the treasure—A _salmo ferox_.
THE Stuart Papers, we have said, contain no hints as to the Elibank plot
of November 1752, unless Goring’s scruples were aroused by it. It was
suggested and arranged by Alexander Murray, younger brother of Lord
Elibank, whom young Edgar describes as ‘having a very light head; he has
drunk deep of the Garron’ (Garonne?). {169} With a set of officers in
the French service, aided by Young Glengarry (who had betrayed the
scheme) and 400 Highlanders, Murray was to attack St. James’s Palace, and
seize the King. If we may believe Young Glengarry (writing to Edgar in
Rome), Charles was ‘on the coast,’ but _not_ in London. Pickle’s letters
to his English employers show that the design was abandoned, much to his
chagrin. As Glengarry, he expresses the same regret in a letter to
Edgar. We now offer Pickle’s letters. He is at Boulogne, November 2,
1752.
Add. B.M. MSS. 32,730.
‘Boulogne: November 2, 1752.
My dear Sir,—My friends will be most certainly greatly surprised at
my silence, but I have such reasons that I can clear all at meeting.
I have been so hurried, what with posting, what with Drinking, and
other matters of greater weight than they dream of, that I have not
had a moment, as the french says, _Sans temoigne_, till now; thus
rendered my writing impracticable. Next Post brings a letter to my
friend, and I hope he will not grudge to send Credit to this place,
for I am to take a trip for ten days, the Jurny is of importance,
it’s likewise very expencive, and I must give mony. After this trip,
my stay here will be short, for I dare not be explicite on a certain
point. I can answer for myself—but how soon my letter is received, I
beg remittance. You’ll think all this very strange, and confus’d,
but I assure you, _there you’l soon hear of a hurly Burly_; but I
will see my friend or that can happen. I wish I had the Highland
pistoles. If Donald wants mony, pray give him. He is to come with a
Shoot of Close to me, when I receive Credit. _I will run at least
tow Hundred leagues post_. You’l hear from me when I write to my
friend. Aquent them of what I write, and ever believe me
‘Yours unalterable
‘JEANSON. {171}
‘Don’t proceed in your jurney, till you have further advice—Direct
for me as Johnny directs you.
* * * * *
_To the Provost_.
Add. 32,730.
‘Boulogne: November 4, 1752.
‘Dear Sir—By this post I write to my great friend [Henry Pelham], I
hope what I say will prove agreeable, and as I am sure what I write
will be communicated to Grand Papa [Gwynne Vaughan] I beg he excuses
my not writing. Besides it would be both dangerous and precarious,
as I have not a moment to write but after 12 at night, being hurried
at all other hours with company. If the credit I demand be sent, I
will immediately proceed to Paris—If not, I will return directly.
Without a trip to Paris, I can’t come at the bottom of matters. I
wish I had the Pistoles. I beg you’l give my servt. any little thing
he wants, and let him come off by the first ship without faile. Let
me hear from you upon recet, and derect for me simply to this place
in french or English. I have told friends here that I expect a
considerable remittance from Baron Kenady [Newcastle], and that how
soon I receve it, I go for a trip to Paris. This admits of no delay.
My kind respects to Grand papa and allways believe me, Dr. Sir,
‘Your sincere and affte. friend
‘ALEXR. JEANSON.
‘To Mr. William Blair, at Mr. Brodie’s in Lille Street, Near Leister
fields—London.
(marked)
‘PICKLE.’ {172}
The following letter of November 4 is apparently to Henry Pelham. If
Charles was in Berlin, as Pickle says here, about August 1752, the Stuart
Papers throw no light on the matter. What we know of Frederick’s
intrigues with the Jacobites will find its place in the record of the
following year, 1753. Pickle here confesses that his knowledge of future
intrigues is derived from Frederick’s ambassador at Versailles, the Earl
Marischal.
The letter to Pelham follows:
‘Bologne: November 4, 1752.
‘Sir—Tho’ I delayd till now aquenting you of my arrival this side of
the watter, yet I hope you will not attribute my silence either to
neglect or forgetfulness of my friends. I mostly pass my time in
company of my old aquentences how [who] have each in theire turn
entertaind me handsomely. I am now returning the compliment.
‘Notwithstanding my endeavours, I have lost sight of 6 [Goring]—I
took a trip in hopes to meet him, at which time I had a long chatt
with 69 [Sir James Harrington], how [who] is in top spirits, and
assures me that very soon a scene will be opend that will astonish
most of Envoys. Whatever may be in this, I can for certain assure
you, that 51 [King of Prussia] will countenance it, for three months
ago 80 [Pretender’s Son] was well received there. He has left that
part, for he was within these twenty days not the distance of thirty
leagues from this town. This depend upon, and was you to credit all
he says, it would be justly termd what the french term _Merveille_;
whatever is in it they keep all very hush from 8 [Pretender] tho I
have some reason to believe that 72 [Sir John Graeme] was dispatched
to him leatly, for he disappear’d from Paris four days ago. Whatever
tune they intend to play of this, Battery 66 [Scotland] is not
desir’d to mouve, untill his neibour [London] pulls off the mask. If
0l—2d [French Ministry] countenances 80 [Pretender’s Son], its thro
the influence of 51 [King of Prussia]. I have some reason to believe
they dow, for 80 [Pretender’s Son] is accompanied by one of that
faction. I suspect its 59 [Count Maillebois] but I cant be positive
untill I go to Paris, which I think a most necessary chant [jaunt] in
this juncture, for if 2 [Lord Marshall] has no finger in the piy, I
lost my host of all. When I am a few days at Paris, I take a trip
sixty leagues farther South to meet 71 [Sir J. Graemne or Sir James
Harrington] and some other friends, when I will be able to judge of
matters by my reception from them and 01–2d [French Ministry], {174}
and if the last are concerned I must beg leave not to write upon
these topicks, for no precaution can prevent a discovery in this
country; should this be the case, and that anything particular cast
up, I will make the quickest dispatch to lay before you _in person_
all I can learn of these affairs—I only wait here for your orders,
and be assur’d whatever they be they will be obeyd with pleasure. I
have not had time to write to my worthy old friend [Gwynne Vaughan],
so I beg you’l aquent him that the place he visits ought [to] be
looked after with a watchful eye—I doubt not but D. B. [Bruce, an
English official] has inform’d you of his receving a few lines from
me by last post, in which I aquented him that I was necessitated to
thro a way some mony, and be at a very considerable expence. I dow
not pretend to make a particular demand yet I assure you 200_l._ St.
is necessary, and I intirely reffer to yourself to diminish or
augment, only I beg you be convinced that no selfish interesting view
occasions my making this demand, but only that I would be vext want
of cash would disapoint either of us in our expectations, since I dow
assure you that I dont look upon anything I tuch upon such journeys
as solid, for it does not long stick in my pockets. I will drop this
point, being fully perswaded if my correspondence proves anything
amusing, such Bagatelle will not be grudged, but if I go forward, I
beg credit be sent me either upon this place or Paris, any mony I
receve passes for being remitted by the order of Baron Kenady {175}
[Newcastle]. All this is fully submitted to your better judgement,
only I beg you’l be fully perswaded how much I have the honour to
remain, Sir,
‘Your most obedient and most humble Servt.,
‘ALEXR. JEANSON.
P.S. Lord Strathallan left this a few days ago, to meet Lord George
[Murray] some says at the Hague, others at his house near Claves (?).
‘(PICKLE.)’
The following undated ‘Information’ appears to have been written by
Pickle on his return from France, early in December. It is amazing to
find that, if we can believe a spy, Lord Elibank himself was in the plot.
The scene between the political economist and the swaggering Celt, when
Pickle probably blustered about the weakness of deferring the attack
which he had already betrayed, may be imagined.
_Information_.
‘December 1752.
‘The Young Pretender about the latter end of September [1752] sent
Mr. Murray [of Elibank] for Lochgary and Doctor Archabald Cameron.
They meet him at Menin. He informed them that he hoped he had
brought matters to such a bearing, particularly at the King of
Prussia’s Court, whom he expected in a short time to have a strong
alliance with—that he did not desire the Highlanders to rise in Arms
untill General Keith was landed in the North of Scotland with some
Swedish troops. He likewise assur’d them that some of the greatest
weight in England, tho’ formerly great opposers to his family, were
engaged in this attempt, and that he expected to meet with very
little opposition. In consequence of this he gave Lochgary, Doctor
Cameron, Blairfety, Robertson of Wood Streat, Skalleter, mony; and
sent them to Scotland, so as to meet several highland gentlemen at
the Crief Market for Black Cattel. Cameron Cassifairn and Glenevegh
were those how [who] were to carry on the Correspondence twixt the
Southern Jakobits and Clunie Mackpherson. Lochgary was after the
general meeting at Menin with the Young Pretender, for two nights at
Gent in Flanders. I was at Boulogne when Sir James Harrinton gave me
directions to go to Gent, but to my great surprize as I lighted of
horseback at Furnes was tipt upon the shoulder by one Morison
[Charles’s valet] how [who] desir’d me to stop for a little at the
Inn. I was not long there when the Young Pretender enter’d my room.
The discourse chiefly turn’d upon the Scheme in England, when he
repeated the same assurances as to Lochgary, but in stronger terms,
and with the adition that the Swedes were to embark at Gattenburgh
[Göthenburg], and that Mr. Murray was sent with commissions for me,
and full instructions how I was to act in Scotland. The Young
Chevalier was so positive of his schemes succeeding, that he told me
he expected to be in London very soon himself, and that he was
determin’d to give the present Government no quiet until he succeeded
or dyed in the attempt. I came over here [to England] by his express
orders; I waited of Lord Elibank who, after the strong assurances of
the Young Pretender, surprised me to the greatest degree, by telling
me that all was put off for some time, and that his Brother [Murray]
had repassd the seas in order to aquent the Young Pretender of it,
and from him he was to go streight for Paris to Lord Marishal. Its
not above nine days since I left the Young Pretender at Furnes. When
he was at Menin a French gentleman attended him. Goren [Goring] has
been within these two months twice in England, and Mr. Murray three
times since he first went over. Its not above five days since Mr.
Murray left London. Probably the landing for England was to be from
France, as there is 12,000 troops in Flanders more than the ordinary
compliment. This the Comon French takes notice off. But I can say
nothing of this with certainty. The Young Chevalier has more than
once seen the King of Prussia, but none other of his Court, that I
ever could learn, but General Keith.
‘Sir John Douglas, Mr. Charteris, {178} and Heparn of Keith, are in
the secret. The Young Chevalier has been in close correspondence
with England for a year and a halph past. Mr. Carte the Historian
has carried frequent messages. They never commit anything to
writing. Elderman Hethcot is a principall Manager. The very words
the Young Pretender told me was that all this schemne was laid and
transacted by Whiggers, that no Roman Catholick was concerned, and
oblidged me to give my word and honour that I would write nothing
concerning him or his plan to Rome. After what I said last night
this is all that occurs to me for the present. I will lose no time
in my transactions, and I will take care they will allways be
conforme to your directions, and as I have throwen myself entirely
upon you, I am determined to run all hazards upon this occasion,
which I hope will entittle me to your favour and his Majestys
protection. Dec. 1752.’
Pickle, of course, broke his ‘word and honour’ about not writing to Rome.
In April 1753, to anticipate a little, he indited the following epistle
to Edgar. He can have had no motive, except that of alarming James by
the knowledge that his son had been on the eve of a secret and perilous
enterprise, in which he was still engaged. Glengarry here confirms the
evidence against himself by allusions to his dangerous illness in the
spring of 1753. To this he often refers when he corresponds, as Pickle,
with his English employers.
_MackDonell to Edgar_.
‘Arras: April 5, 1753.
‘Sir, I frequently Intended since my coming to this Country to renew
our former corespondence. But as I had nothing to say worth your
notice, that I could with prudence comitt to writing, I choise rather
to be silent than to trouble you with my Letters: yet I cant perswad
myself to leave this Country without returning you many thanks for
your former friendship and good offices, and at same time assuring
you of the great Value and Estime I allways had, and still have for
you.
‘I would gladly comunicate to his Majesty the leate Schemes, and
those still persuid, upon the same fondation. But as I am hopfull
that his Majesty is fully Informed of all that is past, and what is
now a Transacting, I will not trouble his Majesty with a repetition
of facts, which I am hopfull he has been Informed off from the
fountaine head. All I will say is that for my owne parte I will
allways make very great difference t’wixt English promasis and
Action, and am more fully confirmed in this opinion since the tenth
of Nov. last, when the Day was fixt; But when matters come to the
puish, some frivolous excuses retarded this great and Glorious blow;
Thank God the Prince did not venture himself then at London, {180}
tho he was upon the Coast ready at a Call to put himself at their
head. I wish he may not be brought to venture sow far, upon the
stress laid upon a suden blow, to be done by the English; we will see
if the Month of May or June will produce something more effective
than Novr., and I am sorry to aquent you that the sow great stress
laid upon those projects is lick to prove fatal to some, for
Lochgary, and Doctor Archibald Cameron, were sent to the Highlands to
prepair the Clans to be in readiness: thire beeing sent was much
against my opinion, as I allways ensisted, and will allways persist,
that no stirr should be done there untill the English would be so
farr engaged that they could not draw back. I hope his Majesty will
aprove of my Conduct in this. Doctor Cameron was taken by a party of
soldiers in Boruder [?], and is now actually secured in the Castel of
Edinr. Loch still remains but what his fate will be is very
precarious. The concert in Novr. was that I was to remain in London,
as I had above four hundred Brave Highlanders ready at my call, and
after matters had broke out there to sett off directly for Scotland
as no raising would be made amongst the Clans without my presence.
Now I beg in laying this before the King, you’l at same time assure
his Majesty of my constant resolution to venture my owne person, let
the consequence be what it will and dow everything that can convince
his Majesty of my Dutifull attachmt to his sacred person and Royal
Cause, for which I am ready to Venture my all, and nothing but the
hand I had in those leate and present Schemes and the frequent jants
I was oblidged to take in Consequence, Has hindered me from beeing
settled in a very advantagious and honorable way, being affraid that
Matrimony might Incline me to a less active life than my Prince’s
affairs now requires. I belive in a few days that I will take a
private start to London, tho I am still so weake after my leate
Illness at Paris {181} that I am scarse yet able to undergo much
fatigue. I have left directions with Mr. Gordon, principal of the
Scots Colledge, to forward any letters for me to a friend at
Boulogne, how [who] has a secure way of forwarding by trading ships
any Letters for me.
‘I will be very glad to hear from you particularly as I Expect to
return in a few weeks back to France. I have one favour to ask of
you, and I hope it wont displeace his Majesty; Its, that whatever I
write upon this topick, be neither shown or comunicated to any other
person, as there are reports that people with you comumicate their
Intelligence too freely to the Court of france, which von know may go
farther, and prove of dangerous consequence. I hope the freedom with
which I express myself will be wholly attributed to the warmth of my
zeall for the good of the cause, and it beg you’l forgive the hurry I
am in writing this, and I rely upon your friendship to Excuse the
same towards his Majesty in case you think Proper to lay this hurried
scrawle before him, for what with the fatigue of posting and Other
Affairs, I am so Tumbled. I wish with all my heart you may conceve
the sincer true and reale sentiments which Induced me to write so
freely, and as the Gentilman with whom I send this to Paris is just
ready to set off, I beg you’ll allow me to conclude, and I hope
you’ll not faile to lay me at his Majesty’s and Royal Emmency’s feet
and at same time to Believe me Sir
‘Your most obedient and most humble Servt
‘MACKDONELL.’
Edgar probably did not reply directly. John Gordon, of the Scots College
in Paris, writes to Edgar:
‘Paris: 19th August.
‘I had the favour of yours of the 17th. July in Course. I found an
opportunity lately to acquaint Glengarie of what you wrot me on his
account some time ago in answer to his from Arras; he desires me to
thank you for what you say obliging to him, and begs youll accept of
his best compliments.’
It will be remarked that Pickle, who had informed the English Government
of Archy Cameron’s and Lochgarry’s mission to Scotland in September 1752,
in his letter to Edgar laments Archy’s capture! Hypocrisy was never
carried so far. To Cameron and his fate we return later.
The Stuart Papers contain nothing of interest about Charles for some time
after Mademoiselle Luci’s death and the postponement of the Elibank plot.
The news of the Prince’s conversion was spread by himself, in October
1752. Sir James Harrison was charged to inform Lord Denbigh, who thought
the change ‘the best and happiest thing.’ Lady Denbigh, ‘a most zealous
smart woman,’ saw Mr. Hay at Sens, and received from him some of the
Prince’s hair, wherewith ‘she would regale three or four of her
acquaintances, and each of them set in heart-form, encircled with
diamonds.’ {183a} Cardinal Tencin also heard of the conversion. In
January 1753, Charles was in Paris. His creditors were clamorous, and he
deplores his ‘sad situation.’ {183b} On January 24 he was more in funds,
thanks to a remittance from Rome. Hanbury Williams, meanwhile, was
diligently hunting for him in Silesia! On January 17 and February 11,
1753, Williams wrote long letters from Dresden. He had sent an honest
fellow of a spy into Silesia, where the spy got on the tracks of a tall,
thin, fair gentleman, a little deaf, travelling with a single servant,
who took coffee with him. The master spoke no German, the servant had a
little German, and the pair were well provided with gold. As Charles was
a little deaf, this enigmatic pair must be the Prince and Goring.
Hanbury Williams was energetic, but not well informed. {184} By February
18, 1753, the excellent Williams learned from Count Brühl that Charles
was _dead_, ‘in one of the seaports of France.’ Meanwhile the English
Government knew, though they did not tell Williams, all that they needed
to know, through their friend Pickle. Williams they kept in the dark.
In March 1753, Charles was trafficking with Hussey, lieutenant-colonel of
a regiment stationed in Luxembourg. He conceived a plan for sending
Goring to Spain, and he put some boxes of his, long kept by ‘La
Grandemain,’ into the hands of Waters. He wrote a mutilated letter to
Alexander Murray in Flanders, and there our information, as far as the
Stuart Papers go, fails us. But Pickle steps in with the following
letter. He describes the illness about which, as we saw, he wrote to
Edgar in April of this year. Here follows his letter:
Add. 32,843.
‘17th March, 1753.
Dr. Sir,—I receved some time ago your kind favour, and no doubt
you’ll be greatly surprised at my long silence which nothing could
have occasiond but a violent fitt of sickness, which began with a
stich that seasd me as I was coming from the Town of Sence, in fine
it threw me into a violent fever that confin’d me to my bed twenty
days. I was let blood ten times, which has so reduc’d me, that I am
but in a very weake situation still. This with my long stay here,
has quite exausted my finances, and oblidg’d me to contract 300
Livres, tow of which I am bound to pay in the month of Aprile, and if
I am not suplay’d, I am for ever undon. I beg you’l represent this
to Grandpapa, upon whose friendship, I allways relay. The inclosed
is for him, and I hope to see him soon in person, tho. I am to make a
little tour which will still augment my Debts and think myself very
lucky to find credit. Let me heare from you after you see Grandpapa,
for there is no time to be lost, but pray don’t sign that fellow’s
name you made use of to my Correspondent. It occasions —’s [the
Prince’s?] speculations, you know he is sharp. I don’t comprehend
what you would be at in your last. What regards my cusins I don’t
comprehend. I will soon remouve my dr. mistres jelousies, if she has
any . . . The old woman you mention is a great tatteler, but knows
nothing solid but what regards Court amours and little intrigues. I
hope to overtake her in your City, as I believe she will not incline
to come so soon over as she leatly recev’d the news of her son’s
being kill’d in a dowell by one of the petit masters of this
Capitall. The Deer hunting will be dangerous without a good set of
hounds which will prove expencive and very trubelsome. If I don’t
hear upon recet I will conclude I am entirely neglected and dropt. I
beg you’l offer my dutiful respects to Grandpapa, and all friends,
and still believe me, Dear Sir,
‘Your sincere and affte. friend
‘ALEXR. PICKLE.
‘To Mr. William Blair, at Mr. Brodie’s in Lille Street, near Leister
fields—London.’
This illness of Pickle’s was troublesome: it is to be feared the poor
gentleman never quite recovered his health. As usual, he is in straits
for money. England was already ungrateful. Here follows another
despatch:
Add. 32,843.
‘Paris: March 15, 1753.
Dr. Sir,—I had a long letter leatly from Mr. Cromwell [Bruce]
contining in chief tow Artickles by way of charge; the first
complaining of my long silence—t’other for not keeping a due and
regular correspondence . . . What I beg you assure my mistress of,
is, that had there been any new mode worth her notice invented since
I gave her one exact patron of the last [the Elibank plot], I would
not have neglected to have sent her due patrons. Please aquent my
mistress that of leate they have comenced some new fashions in the
head dresses, very little varying from the former one, yet they
estime it is a masterpiece in its kind, for my part, I have but a
slight idea of it, though they bost the people of the first rank of
our country will use it. I would have wrot of this sooner, but my
illness occasiond my not knowing anything of the matter till very
leatly, and I was so very ill, that it was impossible for me to
write, as you may see by Mr. Cromwell’s letter. You may remember,
dr. Papa, that I was always very desirous that my love intrigues
should be secret from all mortalls but those agreed upon, and that my
letters might be perus’d by non, but by my mistress and you, now if
you have people how [who] were, and a few that still are, at the
helme, that don’t act honourably, I can’t be possitive, neither will
I mention them at this distance, beeing myself a little credulous, as
I have but one under architect’s word for it. Were I to credit some
of the managers, some of the fundation stones are pleacd upon a very
sandy ground, but our little thin friend, the Embassador [Earl
Marischal?], gives it little or no credit, it may be but a puff in
hopes to create suspicion, and make one of each other mistrustfull.
In consequence of all this the managers have derected our Northern
friends [Lochgarry and the clans] to keep their posts. I can answer
for such as regards me, and I beg least the Company [Jacobites] make
banckrout that you proteck my parte of them. I am now pretty well
recover’d of my leate illness, tho’ I have been very much afraid of a
relapse, having catch’d a violent cold at the Masquerad ball of Lundi
Gras, beeing over perswaded to accompany our worthy friend Mr. Murray
to that diversion, where I was greatly astonish’d to find Mr.
_Strange_ [Prince Charles] whom I imagin’d to be all this time in
Germanie, for I took it for granted that he went for Berlin when I
meet him at Furnes. I know not how long his stay was at Paris, for I
was _a little pickt that he did not inquire after me during my
illness_. He left this early Tuesday morning, and our friend Mr.
Murray gave him the convoie for some days, and yesterday he returnd
to town. I am to dine with him this day, and you may be sure, we
will not forget to drink a bumper to our British friends and your
health and prosperity in particular.
‘I leave this in a cuple of days, and I must, tho, with reluctance,
aquent you, my dear Papa, that my long stay here, together with my
illness, has runn me quite aground, which forct me to borow very near
150_l._ St. and Mr. Woulf, Banquier, has my note payable the 5th of
Aprile to his correspondent at Boulogne. As for the remaining 50,
its not so pressing, as I had it from my Collegian friends [Scots
College], now if I’m not enabled to pay this triffle, my credit,
which was always good in this country, will be blown . . . I beg you
ly me at my charming Mistress’ feet [Pelham], and assure her how
ardent my desires are to preserve her love and affections, which I
hope very soon to assure her personally.
‘I ever remain, my dear Papa
‘Your most obedient, and most oblidged humble servt
‘ALEXR. JACKSON.’
‘P.S. Tho’ I am still very weake, I will endeavour to leave this
upon the 18th. Instant, and I stear my course for Imperiall
Flanders.’
The following communication is undated, but, from the reference to
Pickle’s illness, it must be of March or April 1753. In April, Glengarry
informed Edgar, as we saw, that he was going to England from Arras. He
apparently went over, and handed in this intelligence. If he speaks
truth, the Earl Marischal criticised the Elibank plot as a candid friend.
There exists evidence of a spy on a spy, who tracked Glengarry to the
Earl Marischal’s house. ‘Swem-rs M. P.’ is a Mr. Swymmer.
Add. 33,050.
‘Pickle remaind about ten days at Boulogne, where he was frequently
in company with Sir J. Harrington who at that instant knew as little
as Pickle of the P. Destination. Sir J. H-a-r-t-n was much cast down
at the grand affair’s [Elibank plot] being retarded. He wrote to Ld.
S-t-ln [Strathallan] aquenting him therewith, for Ld. S-t-ln and
Young Ga [Glengarry?] had been sent some time before to sound Ld.
George Murray, not knowing how he stood affected, as he [Prince
Charles] had once greatly disoblidgd him. S. J. H-a-r-t-n aquenting
them of the disappointment in England, stopt further proceedings, so
they return’d back to Boulogne. Pickle went streight from Boulogne
to Paris, where he was very intimate with Ld. Marischal; few days
past but Pickle was at his lodgings or M-r-l- at Pickle’s. Ld.
M-r-l- was first aquented with the intended insurrection in England
by Goring who waited of him by his master’s [Charles’s] particular
order, a person of distinction spoke very seriously to M-r-l- upon
this head. Pickle does not know how [who] this was, M-r-l- declining
to mention names, yet he estem’d this person as a man of weight, and
good judgement, this person was publick at Paris, but waited of M-r-l
at night—Carte has been several times over, he is trusted, and it is
by his means chiefly, that the P. turn’d off Kelly, as Mr. Carte
inform’d the P. that persons of note would enter upon no scheme with
him whilst that fellow shar’d his confidence. Sir Jo: A-s-ly [?] was
over, and Pickle believes he met the P. at Paris. The pretence of
Mr. Swem-rs, Memr. of Pt. traveling abroad with his lady, was to
settle the English Scheme. Ld. M-r-l has not seen the P. but twice,
before Pickle went over. He never saw him at Berlin, _tho’ he
believed that he had taken several trips to that Court_. He saw
Goring twice at Berlin. M-r-l knew nothing of a foreign Invation,
and did not believe there could be any in time of peace. Pickle one
day asking his opinion of their affairs, he answer’d that he could
say nothing upon the head with certainty, he kept his mind to
himself, that when they ask’d his Opinion, he told them he _could not
judge so well as they_, _since he was quite a stranger to London_,
_and to the different posts_, _and manner of placing their Guards_,
_but that if they executed according to their plan laid before him_,
_he doubted not but they might succeed_, but Pickle making some
objections as to the veracity of this plan, told him that he could
not positively contradick them, and tell the P. that they impost upon
him, for, says he, “what Opinion, Mr. Pickle, can I entertain of
people that propos’d that I should abandon my Embassy, and embark
headlong with them? what can I answer, when they assure me that
B-d-rl, S-dh G-me-ele [?] with others of that party have agreed when
once matters break out, to declare themselves? But you need not, Mr.
Pickle, be apprehensive, you may safely waite the event, as you are
not desir’d to make any appearance [in Scotland] untill London and
other parts of England pulls off the mask, or untill there is a
foreign landing.” This, and matters much of the same nature were the
ordinary topicks of Mrl and Pickle’s conversation.
‘Pickle was not above six weeks in France, when he was determin’d to
return, but was prevented by M-r-y [Count Murray, Elibank’s brother]
aquenting him that he would soon see the P. personally. Of this he
at once aquented Mr. Cromwell [Bruce, English official] and that it
was the only thing that detain’d him, but as Pickle in the interim
went to Sens, in his return to Paris, _he was seased with a fluxion
de Poitrine_ which had very near tript up his hiells. Pickle, when
he recover’d, went to the Opera Ball, here to his great surprise he
met the P. who received him very kindly, and he still insisted upon
foreign assistance, and the great assurances he had from England, and
that he expected matters would go well in a very little time, he
often mentioned foreign assistance by the Court of Berlin’s
influence, from Swedland. His conversation with Pickle was in
general terms. Pickle told him that he intended returning to
Britain. “Well then,” says he, “I hope soon to send you an agreeable
message, as you’l be amongest the very first aquented when matters
coms to a Crisis: for my parte I hope to have one bold puish for
all;” then after assurances of his friendship, he went off, and
Pickle has not seen him since; this was upon Lundie Gras. He left
Paris that very morning, and Capt. Murray gave him the Convoy, and
was absent four days. A few days after this, Pickle met, by meare
accident, Goring going to Ld. Mrl. Gor was then upon his way to
England where he did not tarry above six days. D.K-ns [Dawkins] went
leatly over, and brought mony for the P. Pickle believes upwards of
4,000_l._ St. There is few weeks but Sir J. H-a-r-t-n leeves messages
by means of the Smugglers. _Eldermen Blastus Heth_ [Heathcote] _B-n
J-r-n-d_ Black, with many others, are mannagers in the City. _If
anything is to be attempted_, _its to be executed by a set of
resolute daring young fellows_, _laid on by a set of young
Gentlemen_, _conducted by a few regular Officers_. If ever any
attempt is made, it’s to be a Night onset, and if they succeed in
’scaping the Guards then all will declare. The P. has been tampering
with the Scots Dutch, he saw some of them. Pickle cant condescent
who they were, his Agents spoke to many of them. No Officers are
fitter for such attempts, as they are both brave and experienced.
The P. depends upon having many friends in the Army, there being not
a few added to their number by the [Duke of Cumberland’s] conduct
towards many gallant gentlemen and men of property, but whatever
steps they have been taking, to sound or gaine over either Officers
of the Land or Sea Service, they still keep a dead secret. As for
B-r [Beaufort?], Ld. W-r-d [Westmoreland] Sir Jo-s-ps with other of
the Cohelric [choleric?] and [Bould?] Pickle is very ready, as he is
not accustom’d to such Surnames and titles, to forget them, but
assemblys of that nature are pretty publick, members of such meetings
can’t escape the vigilancy of the Ministry: Murray, when he came over
in Novr. last, brought over several manefestos to England, with a
very ample comission for — [Glengarry?] to raise the Clans and
command in Chief untill an Expressd Generall Officer landed, and even
then the Clans were to have a particular Commander (a Highlander)
this they insisted upon, knowing what tools they have been in times
past to Low Country Commanders, no more experienced than the most
ordinary amongest themselves. — [?] was pitched upon, as the P.
believed he would readily comploy with any reasonable plan that would
be concerted by the Commander in Chief, what Pickle asserts as to
this, will probably be known by others. _Neith. Drum. Heb_, were
pitched upon to try the pulse of D. H. [Hamilton?] and other nobelmen
and gentlemen of the South. Aber-ny with some of the excepted
Skulkers were to manadge and concert matters with the North Country
Lowlanders, and Menzy of Cul-d-re was to be agent betwixt the
Lowlands and bordering Highlands. Several were sent to Scotland by
the P. and mony given them in order to prepaire the people.
‘— [Glengarry] can fully answer for the Highlands, for nothing can be
transacted there without his knowledge, as his Clan must begin the
play, or they can come to no head there. What Pickle knows of
English schemes he can’t be so positive, as he was not designed to be
an actor upon that Stage, yet in time he may perhaps be more
initiated in those misterys, as they now believe that Pickle could
have a number of Highlanders even in London to follow him, but
whatever may happen, you may always rely upon Pickle’s attachment.’
To be ‘pick’t’ (piqued) by the Prince’s neglect to inquire about Pickle’s
precious health is very characteristic of Glengarry. His vanity and
pride are alluded to by men of all parties.
Pickle’s remarks on Charles’s receipt of 4,000_l._ must be erroneous.
His Royal Highness was in the very lowest water, and could not afford a
new suit of clothes for his servant Daniel, ‘the profet,’ as he once
calls him. This we learn from the following letter to Avignon:
_To Sheridan and Stafford_. _From the Prince_.
‘April 10, 1753.
‘This is to let you know that as I am extremely necessitous for
money, it engages me out of economi to send for Daniell’s Close which
you are to Pack up in his own trunc, and to send it adresed to Mr.
Woulfe to Paris, but let there be in ye trunc none of Daniel’s Papers
or anything else except his Close.’
Meanwhile, on March 20, 1753, Archy Cameron had been arrested. His
adventure and his death, with the rumours which flew about in society,
bring us into collision with a great authority, that of Mr. Carlyle.
‘If you, who have never been in rich Cyrene, know it better than I,
who _have_, I much admire your cleverness,’ said the Delphian Oracle
to an inquiring colonist. Mr. Carlyle had never lived in the Courts
of Europe about 1753; none the less, he fancied he knew more of them,
and of their secrets, than did their actual inhabitants, kings,
courtiers, and diplomatists. We saw that, in September 1752,
according to Pickle, Prince Charles sent Archibald Cameron and
Lochgarry to Scotland, with a mission to his representative, Cluny
Macpherson, and the clans. The English Government, knowing this and
a great deal more through Pickle, hanged Cameron, in June 1753, on no
new charge, but on the old crime of being out in the Forty-five. Sir
Walter Scott was well aware of the circumstances. We have already
quoted his remark. ‘The ministers thought it prudent to leave Dr.
Cameron’s new schemes in concealment, lest by divulging them they had
indicated the channel of communication which, it is well known, they
possessed to all the plots of Charles Edward.’
Mr. Carlyle, however, knew better. After giving a lucid account of the
differences which, in 1752–1753, menaced the peaceful relations between
England and Prussia; after charging heavily in favour of his hero
Frederick, Mr. Carlyle refers to Archibald Cameron. Cameron, he says,
was ‘a very mild species of Jacobite rebel. . . . I believe he had some
vague Jacobite errands withal, never would have harmed anybody in the
rebel way, and might with all safety have been let live. . . . ’ But
‘His Grace the Duke of Newcastle and the English had got the strangest
notion into their head; . . . what is certain, though now well nigh
inconceivable, it was then, in the upper classes and political circles,
universally believed that this Dr. Cameron was properly an emissary of
the King of Prussia, that Cameron’s errand here was to rally the Jacobite
embers into a flame, . . . ’ and that Frederick would send 15,000 men to
aid the clans. These ideas of the political circles Mr. Carlyle thinks
‘about as likely as that the Cham of Tartary had interfered in the
Bangorian Controversy.’ {196a} Now, Horace Walpole says {196b}
‘intelligence had been received some time before [through Pickle] of
Cameron’s intended journey to Britain, with a commission from Prussia to
offer arms to the disaffected Highlanders . . . That Prussia, who opened
her inhospitable doors to every British rebel, should have tampered in
such a business, was by no means improbable. . . . Two sloops were
stationed to watch, yet Cameron landed.’ Writing to Mann (April 27,
1753), Horace Walpole remarks: ‘What you say you have heard of strange
conspiracies fomented by _our nephew_ [Frederick] is not entirely
groundless.’ He adds that Cameron has been taken while ‘feeling the
ground.’
Information as to Frederick’s ‘tampering’ with Jacobitism came to the
English Government not only through Pickle, but through Count Kaunitz,
the Austrian minister. On December 30, 1753, Mr. Keith wrote to the Duke
of Newcastle from the Imperial Court. He had thanked Count Kaunitz for
his intelligence, and had expressed the wish of George II. for news as to
‘the place of the Young Pretender’s abode.’ He commented on Frederick’s
‘ill faith and ambition,’ which ‘could not fail to set the English nation
against his interest, by showing the dangerous effects of any increase of
force, or power, in a Prince capable of such horrid designs.’ {197}
As between Mr. Carlyle in 1853, and the diplomatists of Europe in 1753,
the game is unequal. The upper classes and political circles knew more
of their own business than the sage of Ecclefechan. Frederick, as
Walpole said, _was_ ‘tampering’ with the Jacobites. He as good as
announced his intention of doing so when he sent the Earl Marischal to
Paris, where, however, the Earl could _not_ wear James’s Green Ribbon of
the Thistle! But, to Frederick, the Jacobites were mere cards in his
game. If England would not meet his views on a vexed question of
Prussian merchant ships seized by British privateers, then he saw that a
hand full of Jacobite trumps might be useful. The Earl Marischal had
suggested this plan. {198a} The Earl wrote from Paris, February 10,
1753: ‘The King of England shows his ill-will in his pretensions on East
Frisia, in the affairs of the Empire, and in revoking the guarantee of
Silesia. Your Majesty, therefore, may be pleased to know the strength of
the party hostile to him at home, in which, and in the person of Prince
Edouard [Charles] you may find him plenty to do, if he pushes you too
far.’ The Earl then suggests sending a rich English gentleman to
Frederick; this was Mr. James Dawkins, of the Over Norton family, the
explorer of Palmyra. Pickle mentions him as ‘D-k-ns.’
Frederick did not expect a rupture with England, but condescended to see
the Earl’s friend, Mr. Dawkins. On May 7 the Earl announces his friend’s
readiness to go to Berlin, and says that there is a project maturing in
England. The leaders are Dawkins, Dr. King of Oxford, ‘_homme d’esprit_,
_vif_, _agissant_,’ and the Earl of Westmoreland, ‘_homme sage_,
_prudent_, _d’une bonne tête_, _bon citoyen_, _respectable_, _et
respecté_.’ {198b} They will communicate with Frederick through the Earl
Marischal, if at all. ‘The Prince knows less of the affair than Dawkins
does. The Prince’s position, coupled with an intrepidity which never
lets him doubt where he desires, causes others to form projects for him,
which he is always ready to execute. I have no direct communication with
him, not wishing to know his place of concealment: we correspond through
others.’
Frederick (May 29, 1753) thinks the plot still crude, and advises the
Jacobites to tamper with the British army and navy. ‘It will be for my
interest to encourage them in their design underhand, and without being
observed. You will agree with me that the state of European affairs does
not permit me to declare myself openly. If the English throne were
vacant, a well conceived scheme might succeed under a Regency.’
Such is the attitude of Frederick. He receives a Jacobite envoy; he
listens to tales of conspiracies against his uncle; he offers
suggestions; he will encourage treason _sous main_. In fact, Frederick
behaves with his usual cold, curious, unscrupulous skill.
Frederick’s letters have brought us to May 1753, when Archy Cameron, in
the Tower of London, lay expecting his doom. While kings, princes,
ambassadors, statesmen, and highland chiefs were shuffling, conspiring,
peeping, lying and spying, the sole burden of danger fell on Archibald
Cameron, Lochgarry, and Cluny. They were in the Elector’s domains; their
heads were in the lion’s mouth. We have heard Young Glengarry accuse
both Archy Cameron and Cluny of embezzling the Prince’s money in the Loch
Arkaig hoard, but Glengarry’s accusations can scarcely have been credited
by Charles, otherwise he would not have entrusted the Doctor with an
important mission. Cluny’s own character, except by Kennedy and Young
Glengarry, is unimpeached, and Lochgarry bore the stoutest testimony to
his honour.
The early biography of Archibald Cameron is interesting. As the youngest
son of old Lochiel, he, with his famous brother ‘the gentle Lochiel,’ set
about reforming the predatory habits of their clan, with considerable
success. Archibald went to Glasgow University, and read Moral Philosophy
‘under the ingenious Dr. Hutchinson.’ He studied Medicine in Edinburgh
and in France; then settled in Lochaber, and married a lady of the clan
of Campbell. He was remarked for the sweetness of his manners, and was
so far from being a violent Jacobite that he dissuaded his brother,
Lochiel, from going to see the Prince at his first landing in 1745. This
account of his conversion, from ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’ (June 1753),
is _naïf_. ‘Dr. Cameron was at last brought to engage by the regard due
to a benefactor and a brother, who was besides his Chief as head of his
Clan, _and threatened to pistol him if he did not comply_.’ Wounded at
Falkirk (the ball was never extracted), he served at Culloden, escaped to
France with Lochiel, was surgeon in his regiment, and later in Lord
Ogilivie’s, was guardian of Lochiel’s son, and, as we know, came and went
from Scotland with Lochgarry and Young Glengarry. His last trip to
Scotland was undertaken in September 1752. Of his adventures there in
concerting a rising we know nothing. On March 20 he was detected near
Inversnaid (possibly through a scoundrel of his own name), and was hunted
by a detachment of the Inversnaid garrison. They were long baffled by
children set as sentinels, who uttered loud cries as the soldiers
approached. At last they caught a boy who had hurt his foot, and from
him discovered that Cameron was in a house in a wood. Thence he escaped,
but was caught among the bushes and carried to Edinburgh by Bland’s
dragoons. On April 17 he was examined by the Council at the Cockpit in
Whitehall. He was condemned on his attainder for being out in 1745,
{201} and his wife in vain besieged George II. and the Royal Family with
petitions for his life. ‘The Scots Magazine’ of May 1753 contains a bold
and manly plea for clemency. ‘In an age in which commiseration and
beneficence is so very conspicuous among all ranks, and on every
occasion, we have reason to hope that pity resides in that place where it
has the highest opportunity of imitating the divine goodness in saving
the distressed.’
They ‘sought for grace at a graceless face.’ Mrs. Cameron was shut up
with her husband to prevent her troubling any of the Royal Family or
nobility with petitions in his favour. On June 8, Cameron was hanged and
disembowelled, but _not_ while alive, as was the custom. A London letter
of June 9 says ‘he suffered like a brave man, a Christian, and a
gentleman. . . . His merit is confessed by all parties, and his death
can hardly be called untimely, as his behaviour rendered his last day
worth an age of common life.’
‘One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name!’
As Scott remarks, ‘When he lost his hazardous game Dr. Cameron only paid
the forfeit which he must have calculated upon.’ The Government, knowing
that plots against George II. and his family were hatching daily, desired
to strike terror by severity. But Prince Charles, when in England and
Scotland, more than once pardoned assassins who snapped pistols in his
face, till his clemency excited the murmurs of his followers and the
censures of the Cameronians. They wrote thus:
‘We reckon it a great vice in Charles, his foolish pity and lenity in
sparing these profane blasphemous Red Coats, that Providence put into
his hand, when, by putting then to Death, this poor Land might have
been eased of the heavy Burden of these Vermin of Hell.’ {202}
Cameron was deprived in prison of writing materials, but he managed to
secure a piece of pencil, with which on scraps of paper he wrote his last
words to his friends. These were obtained by Mrs. Cameron, and are
printed in the ‘State Trials.’ {203} Never was higher testimony borne to
man than by Cameron to Prince Charles.
‘As I had the honour from the time of the Royal youth’s setting up
his Father’s standard, to be almost constantly about his person, till
November 1748 . . . I became more and more captivated with his
amiable and princely virtues, which are, indeed, in every instance so
eminently great as I want words to describe.
‘I can further affirm (and my present situation, and that of my dear
Prince too, can leave no room to suspect me of flattery) that as I
have been his companion in the lowest degree of adversity that ever
prince was reduced to, so I have beheld him too, as it were, on the
highest pinnacle of glory, amidst the continual applauses, and I had
almost said, adorations, of the most brilliant Court in Europe; yet
he was always the same, ever affable and courteous, giving constant
proofs of his great humanity, and of his love for his friends and his
country. . . . And as to his courage, none that have ever heard of
his glorious attempt in 1745 can, I should think, call it in
question.’
Cameron adds that if he himself _was_ engaged in a new plot, ‘neither the
fear of the worst death their malice could invent, nor much less their
flattering promises, could have extorted any discovery of it from me.’
He forgives all his enemies, murderers, and false accusers, from ‘the
Elector of Hanover and his bloody son, down to Samuel Cameron, the basest
of their spies.’
As to the Prince’s religion, Cameron says (June 1753):
‘I likewise declare, on the word of a dying man, that the last time I
had the honour to see H.R.H. Charles, Prince of Wales, he told me
from his own mouth, and bid me assure his friends from him, that he
was a member of the Church of England.’
Who was this Samuel Cameron, who stained by treachery the glorious name
of Lochiel’s own clan? On this point the following letter, written after
Archy’s death, casts some light. We have already seen that Samuel
Cameron was accused of being in communication with Murray of Broughton,
as also was Young Glengarry. Young Edgar, in French service, writes thus
to his uncle, James’s secretary, from Lille:
‘Samuel Cameron, whom Archy mentions in the end of his speech, is the
same that Blair and Holker wrote to me about when at Rome, the end of
1751. He has been a constant correspondent of John Murray’s, and all
along suspected of being a spy. Cameron’s remarks leave it without a
doubt.’ Samuel, Edgar adds, is now a half-pay lieutenant in French
service, at Dunkirk. Lord Ogilvie and Lochiel mean to secure him,
but Lord Lewis Drummond does not think the evidence sufficient. From
‘The Scots Magazine’ of September 1753, we learn that a court-martial
of Scottish officers was held on Samuel at Lille, and, in April 1754,
we are told that, after seven months’ detention, he was expelled from
France, and was condemned to be shot if he returned. His sentence
was read to him on board a ship at Calais, and we meet him no more.
Dr. Cameron was buried in a vault of the Savoy Chapel, and, in 1846,
her present Majesty, with her well-known sympathy for the brave men
who died in the cause of her cousins, permitted a descendant of the
Doctor to erect a monument to his memory. This was destroyed in a
fire on July 7, 1864, but now a window in stained glass commemorates
‘a brave man, a Christian, and a gentleman.’
The one stain on Cameron’s memory, thrown, as on Cluny’s, by Young
Glengarry, may be reckoned as effaced. Whatever really occurred as to
the Loch Arkaig treasure, it did not destroy the Prince’s confidence in
the last man who laid down his life for the White Rose.
Before Archy Cameron’s death, young Edgar had written thus from Lille to
old Edgar in Rome:
‘May 2, 1753.
‘We have no account of Cameron except by the Gazete. It is thought
that all the others who have been apprehended either had of the
Prince’s money in their hands, or that the Government expects they
can make some discoverys about it; I wish with all my heart the Gov.
had got it in the beginning, for it has given the greatest stroke to
the cause that can be imagined, it has divided the different clans
more than ever, and even those of the same clan and family; so that
they are ready to destroy and betray one another. Altho I have not
altered my opinion about Mr. M— [Murray] yet as he may on an occasion
be of great use to the cause with the Londoners—I thought it not
amiss to write him a line to let him know the regard you had for him,
for as I know him to be vastly vain and full of himself I thought
this might be a spur to his zeale.’
So practically closes the fatal history of the Loch Arkaig treasure.
Cluny later bore back to France, it seems, the slender remains of the
40,000 louis d’or. But this accursed gold had set clan against clan,
kinsman against kinsman, had stained honourable names, and, probably, had
helped to convert Glengarry into Pickle.
The Highlanders yet remember the Prince’s treasure. A few years ago, a
Highland clergyman tells me, he was trolling with a long line in Loch
Arkaig. He hooked something heavy, which came slowly to hand, with no
resistance but that of weight. ‘You have caught one of the Prince’s
money bags,’ said the boatman, when suddenly the reel shrieked, and a
large _salmo ferox_ sped out into the loch. My friend landed him; he
weighed fifteen pounds, and that is the latest news of Prince Charles’s
gold!