JAMES MOHR MACGREGOR
Another spy—Rob Roy’s son, James Mohr Macgregor—A spy in 1745—At
Prestonpans and Culloden—Escape from Edinburgh Castle—Billy
Marshall—Visit to Ireland—Balhaldie reports James’s discovery of Irish
Macgregors—Their loyalty—James Mohr and Lord Albemarle—James Mohr offers
to sell himself—And to betray Alan Breck—His sense of honour—His
long-winded report on Irish conspiracy—Balhaldie—Mrs. Macfarlane who shot
the Captain—Her romance—Pitfirrane Papers—Balhaldie’s snuff-boxes—James
Mohr’s confessions—Balhaldie and Charles—Irish invasion—Arms in
Moidart—Arms at the house of Tough—Pickle to play the spy in
Ireland—Accompanied by a ‘Court Trusty’—Letter from Pickle—Alan Breck
spoils James Mohr—Takes his snuff-boxes—Death of James Mohr—Yet another
spy—His wild information—Confirmation of Charles’s visit to Ireland.
FROM the deliberate and rejoicing devilry of Glengarry, and from
Charles’s increasing distress and degradation, it is almost a relief to
pass for a moment to the harmless mendacity of a contemporary spy, Rob
Roy’s son, James Mohr Macgregor, or Drummond. This highland gentleman,
with his courage, his sentiment, and his ingrained falseness, is known to
the readers of Mr. Stevenson’s ‘Catriona.’ Though unacquainted with the
documents which we shall cite, Mr. Stevenson divined James Mohr with the
assured certainty of genius. From first to last James was a valiant,
plausible, conscienceless, heartless liar, with a keen feeling for the
point of honour, and a truly Celtic passion of affection for his native
hand.
As early at least as the spring of 1745, James Mohr, while posing as a
Jacobite, was in relations with the law officers of the Crown in
Scotland. {231a} James’s desire then was to obtain a commission in a
Highland regiment, and as much ready money as possible. Either he was
dissatisfied with his pay as a spy, or he expected better things from the
Jacobites, for, after arranging his evidence to suit his schemes, he took
up arms for the Prince. He captured with a handful of men the fortress
of Inversnaid; he fell, severely wounded, at Prestonpans, and called out,
as he lay on the ground, ‘My lads, I am not dead! By God! I shall see
if any of you does not do his duty.’ Though he fought at Culloden, James
appears to have patched up a peace with the Government, and probably eked
out a livelihood by cattle-stealing and spying, till, on December 8,
1750, he helped his brother Robin to abduct a young widow of some
property. {231b} Soon after he was arrested, tried, and lodged, first in
the Tolbooth, next, for more security, in Edinburgh Castle.
On November 16, 1752, James, by aid of his daughter (Mr. Stevenson’s
Catriona), escaped from the Castle disguised as a cobbler. {232a} It has
often been said that the Government connived at James’s escape. If so,
they acted rather meanly in sentencing ‘two lieutenants’ of his guard ‘to
be broke, the sergeant reduced to a private man, and the porter to be
whipped.’ {232b}
The adventures of James after his escape are narrated by a writer in
‘Blackwood’s Magazine’ for December 1817. This writer was probably a
Macgregor, and possessed some of James’s familiar epistles. Overcoming a
fond desire to see once more his native hills and his dear ones (fourteen
in all), James, on leaving Edinburgh Castle, bent his course towards the
Border. In a dark night, on a Cumberland moor, he met the famed Billy
Marshall, the gipsy. Mr. Marshall, apologising for the poverty of his
temporary abode, remarked that he would be better housed ‘when some
ill-will which he had got in Galloway for setting fire to a stackyard
would blow over.’ Three days later Billy despatched James in a fishing
boat from Whitehaven, whence he reached the Isle of Man. He then made
for Ireland, and my next information about James occurs in a letter of
Balhaldie, dated August 10, 1753, to the King over the Water. {232c}
Balhaldie’s letter to Rome, partly in cypher, runs thus, and is
creditable to James’s invention:
‘James Drummond Macgregor, Rob Roy’s son, came here some days agoe, and
informed me that, having made his escape from Scotland by Ireland, he was
addressed to some namesakes of his there, who acquainted him that the
clan Macgregor were very numerous in that country, under different names,
the greatest bodies of them living together in little towns and villages
opposite to the Scottish coast.’ They had left Scotland some one hundred
and fifty years before, when their clan was proscribed. James ‘never saw
men more zealously loyal and clanish, better looked, or seemingly more
intrepid and hardy. . . . No Macgregors in the Scotch highlands are more
willing or ready to joyn their clan in your Majesty’s service than they
were, and for that end to transport 3,000 of their name and followers to
the coast of Argileshyre.’ They will only require twenty-four hours ‘to
transport themselves in whirries of their own, even in face of the
enemy’s fleet, of which they are not affrayed.’
The King, in answer (September 11, 1753), expressed a tempered pleasure
in Mr. Macgregor’s information, which, he said, might interest the
Prince. On September 6, 1753, Lord Strathallan, writing to Edgar from
Boulogne, vouches only for James’s courage. ‘As to anything else, I
would be sorry to answer for him, as he had but an indifferent character
as to real honesty.’ On September 20, James Mohr, in Paris, wrote to the
Prince, anxious to know where he was, and to communicate important news
from Ireland. Probably James got no reply, for on October 18, 1753, Lord
Holdernesse wrote from Whitehall to Lord Albemarle, English ambassador in
Paris, a letter marked ‘Very secret,’ acknowledging a note of Lord
Albemarle’s. Mr. Macgregor had visited Lord Albemarle on October 8th and
10th, with offers of information. Lord Holdernesse, therefore, sends a
safe-conduct for Macgregor’s return. {234} We now give Macgregor’s
letter of October 12, 1733, to Lord Albemarle, setting forth his sad case
and honourably patriotic designs:
MS. Add. 32,733.
‘Paris: October 12, 1753. Mr. James Drummond.
‘My Lord,—Tho’ I have not the Honour to be much acquainted with Your
Lordship, I presume to give you the trouble of this to acquaint your
lordship that by a false Information I was taken prisoner in Scotland
in November 1751 and by the speat [spite] that a certain Faction in
Dundas, Scotland, had at me, was trayd by the Justiciary Court at
Edinburgh, when I had brought plenty of exculpation which might free
any person whatever of what was alledged against me, yet such a Jurie
as at Dundas was given me, thought proper to give in a special
verdict, finding some parts of the Layable [libel] proven, and in
other parts found it not proven. It was thought by my friends that I
would undergo the Sentence of Banishment, which made me make my
escape from Edinburgh Castle in Novr. 1752, and since was forced to
come to France for my safety. _I always had in my vew if possable to
be concerned in Government’s service_, {235} and, _for that purpose_,
thought it necessar ever since I came to France to be as much as
possable in company with the Pretender’s friends, so far as now I
think I can be one useful Subject to my King and Country, upon giving
me _proper Incouragement_.
‘In the first place I think its in my power to bring Allan Breack
Stewart, the suposd murdrer of Colin Campbell of Glenouir, late
factor of the forfet Estate of Ardsheal, to England and to deliver
him in safe custody so as he may be brought to justice, and in that
event, I think the delivering of the said murderer merits the getting
of a Remission from his Majesty the King, especially as I was not
guilty of any acts of treason since the Year 1746, and providing your
lordship procures my Remission upon delivering the said murderer, I
hereby promise to discover a very grand plott on footing against the
Government, which is more effectually carried on than any ever since
the Family of Stewart was put off the Throne of Britain, and besides
to do all the services that lays in my power to the Government.
‘Only with this provision, that I shall be received into the
Government’s Service, and that I shall have such reward as my Service
shall meritt, I am willing, if your lordship shall think it
agreeable, to go to England privily and carry the murderer [Allan
Breck] alongest with me, and deliver him at Dover to the Military,
and after waite on such of the King’s friends as your lordship shall
appoint. If your lordship think this agreeable, I should wish
General Campbell would be one of those present as he knows me and my
family, and besides that, I think to have some Credit with the
General, which I cannot expect with those whom I never had the Honour
to know. Either the General or Lieutt. Colln. John Crawford of
Poulteney’s Regiment would be very agreeable to me, as I know both of
these would trust me much, and at the same time, I could be more free
to them than to any others there. Your lordship may depend [on] the
motive that induces me to make this Offer at present to you, in the
Government’s name, is both honourable and just, {236} so that I hope
no other constructions will be put on it, and for your lordship’s
further satisfaction, I say nothing in this letter, but what I am
determined to perform, and as much more as in my power layes with
that, and that all I have said is Trueth, and I shall answer to God.
‘JAS. DRUMMOND.’
James was sent over to England, and we now offer the results of his
examination in London, on November 6, 1753. The following document deals
with the earlier part of Mr. Macgregor’s appalling revelations, and
describes his own conduct on landing in France, after a tour in the Isle
of Man and Ireland, in December 1752. That he communicated his Irish
mare’s nest to Charles, as he says he did, is very improbable. Like Sir
Francis Clavering, as described by the Chevalier Strong, James Mohr
‘would rather he than not.’ However, he certainly gave a version of his
legend to the Old Chevalier in Rome.
_Extract of the Examination of Mr. James Drummond_.
‘That about the 8th. of May following (vizt. May 1753) He (Mr. D.)
did set out for France, and arrived at Boulogne on the 16th. where He
met with Lord Strathalane, and as He (Mr. D.) was asking after the
Young Pretender, His Lordship told Him that He had seen a letter from
Him (the Young Pretender) lately to Sir James Harrington, at which
time he (the Young Pretender), was lodged at an Abbé’s House, about a
League and Half from Lisle, whereupon He (Mr. D.) communicated to his
Lordship, in the presence of Capt. Wm. Drummond, and Mr. Charles
Boyde, the Commission, with which He was charged. That thereupon His
Lordship undertook to wait upon the Young Pretender with the Irish
Proposal, and advised Him (Mr. D.) to go and stay at Bergue, till He
(Lord Strathalane) came to Him there. That on the 20th. June
following, His Lordship wrote Him (Mr. D.) a Letter (which is
hereunto annexed) to this effect—“That he (Lord Strathalane) had laid
Mr. Savage’s Proposal before the Young Pretender, who desired, that
he, (Mr. D.) would repair to Paris, and that He had sent Him (Mr. D.)
a Bill upon Mr. Waters (the Banker) to pay His charges. {238} That
He (Mr. D.) did accordingly go to Paris, and that upon His arrival
there, He first waited upon Mr. Gordon, Principal of the Scot’s
College, but that nothing particular passed there. (N.B. There is
not one word, in any of Mr. Drummond’s papers, of His [the Prince’s]
intending to go to Berlin.) (Official Note.)’
Nobody, of course, can believe a word that James Mohr ever said, but his
disclosures, in the following full report of his examination, could only
have been made by a person pretty deep in Jacobite plans. For example,
Balhaldie, chief of the Macgregors, did really live at Bièvre, as James
Mohr says. There was in Edinburgh at this time a certain John
Macfarlane, w.s., whose pretty wife, in 1716, shot dead an English
captain, nobody ever knew why. She fled to the Swintons of Swinton, who
concealed her in their house. One day Sir Walter Scott’s aunt Margaret,
then a child of eight, residing at Swinton, stayed at home when the
family went to church. Peeping into a forbidden parlour she saw there a
lovely lady, who fondled her, bade her speak only to her mother, and
vanished while the little girl looked out of the window. This appearance
was Mrs. Macfarlane, who shot Captain Cayley, and was now lying _perdue_
at Swinton.
Now, in 1753 the pretty lady’s husband, Mr. Macfarlane, was agent in
Scotland for Balhaldie. To him Balhaldie wrote frequently on business,
sent him also a ‘most curious toy,’ a tortoise-shell snuff-box,
containing, in a secret receptacle, a portrait of King James VIII.
Letters of his, in April 1753, show that James Mohr was so far right;
Balhaldie _was_ living at Bièvre, in a glen three leagues from Paris, and
was amusing himself by the peaceful art of making loyal snuff-boxes in
tortoise-shell. {239}
As to Bièvre, then, James Mohr was right. He may or may not have lied in
the following paper, when he says that the Prince was coming over, with
Lord Marischal, to the Balhaldie faction of Jacobites, who were more in
touch with the French Court than his own associates. Mr. Trant, of whom
James Mohr speaks, was really with the Prince, as Pickle also asserts,
and as the Stuart Papers prove. Probably he was akin to Olive Trant, a
pretty intriguer of 1715, mentioned by Bolingbroke in his famous letter
to Wyndham. As to Ireland, James Mohr really did take it on his way to
France, though his promises in the name of ‘the People of Fingal’ are
Irish moonshine. Were arms, as James Mohr says, lodged in Clanranald’s
country, Moidart? Pickle refused to let them be landed in Knoydart, his
own country, and thought nothing of the kind could be done without his
knowledge. James Mohr may really have had news of arms landed at the
House of Tough on the Forth, near Stirling, where they would be very
convenient. Pickle, I conceive, was not trusted by Clanranald, and
Cameron he had traduced. If James Mohr by accident speaks the truth in
the following Information, more was done by Lochgarry and Cameron than
Pickle wotted of during the autumn of 1752 and the spring of 1753. The
arms may have been those ordered by Charles in 1750.
Here is James Mohr’s Confession, made in London, November 6, 1753: {240}
‘That, in June 1753, the Pretender’s Son wrote to Mr. McGregor of
Bolheldies, in a most sincere manner, that he wanted He should
undertake His Service, as formerly: Bolheldies refused to undertake
anything for him, till such time, as He was reconciled with his
Father, and make acknowledgements for His Misconduct to the King of
France, and then, that He was willing to enter upon His affairs only,
in concert with the Earl of Mareschal, and none other, for that He
could not trust any about Him: Upon which, the Pretender’s Son wrote
Him a second time, assuring Bolheldies, that He would be entirely
advised by Him, and at the same time, that He expected no see Him
soon, when things would be concerted to His Satisfaction. {241}
‘About the middle of September, the Pretender’s Son arrived in Paris,
in company with one Mr. Trent [Trant], and Fleetwood, two English
Gentlemen, who carried Him from South of Avignon [probably a lie],
and when they came thro’ Avignon, He was called Mr. Trent’s Cousin,
and thereafter, upon all their Journey, till they landed at Paris.
During his stay at Paris, He stayed at Mr. John Water’s House.
Immediately upon His arrival at Paris, Bolheldies was sent for, who
stay’d with Him only that night: The next day, He went to Baivre
[Bièvre], where He lives, Two Leagues South of Paris: How soon
Bolheldies went Home, He sent Express to Mr. Butler, the King of
France’s Master of the Horse, and also a great Favorite: Mr. Butler
came upon a Sunday Morning to Baivre, and about 3 o’clock in the
Afternoon, the Earl of Marischal sent an Express to Bolheldies; and
after Receipt of this Express, Mr. Butler went off to Versailles:
That evening, Bolheldies told me, that now He hoped, the Prince, as
He called Him, would be advised by His best friends, for that He
seems to have a full view of what Folly He had committed, by being
advised and misled, by a Parcel of such Fools, as has been about Him,
since the year 1745. But now, providing He would stand firm to His
promise, to stand by the Earl of Mareschal and His advice, that He
hoped His Affairs might soon be brought on a right Footing; He added
further, That he was still afraid of His breaking thro’ concert; That
He was so headstrong, how soon He saw the least appearance of
success, That He might come to ruin His whole Affairs, as He did,
when He stole away to Scotland, in the year 1745, by the advice of
John Murray, Callie [Kelly], Sheridan, and such other Fools.
‘I then told Bolheldies, that He had been at great pains to get the
Restoration of the Family Stuart brought about, and that tho’ He
succeeded, he might be very ill rewarded, in the Event, and He and
His Clan, probably, on the first discontent, be ruined, as that
Family had done formerly, to gratify others, for that it seems, He
had forgot, that very Family in King Charles’s time, persecuted the
whole of His Clan, in a most violent manner; {242} and I added
farther, that the whole of His Clan would be much better pleased, if
He did but procure Liberty from the Government to return Home, and
live the remainder of His Days among His Friends. Bolheldies assured
me, that He was willing to go Home, providing He had the least
consent from the Government; Only, He would not chuse to be put under
any Restrictions, than to live as a peaceable Subject.
‘He added further, that He was so much afraid of the Pretender’s Son
being so ill to manage, and also that the Irish would break thro’
Secret, That he could heartily wish not to be concerned, could he but
fall on a Method to get clear of it; But at present, that He had
engaged to enter upon some Business with the Earl of Mareschal; and
especially, about those Proposals from Ireland, which He thought very
probable, if Matters were carried on by people of sense, that knew
how to manage, for that all this affair depended on keeping the
Government ignorant of what was doing. Four days after this, there
was a meeting held, Two Leagues South from Baivre, by the Pretender’s
Son, Earl of Mareschal, Bolheldies, Mr. Butler, Mr. Gordon, Principal
of the Scots College, Mr. Trent, and Fleetwood, and some other
English Gentlemen, whom Bolheldies did not inform me of.
‘When Bolheldies returned Home, He told me, the Irish Proposals were
accepted of, and for that purpose, that there were some Persons to be
sent both to Scotland, and Ireland, and that I was appointed to be
one of those for Ireland, to transact the affairs with the People of
Fingal, especially as Mr. Savage had desired, that if any should be
sent, that I would be the person intrusted in their affair. {243}
That Col. and Capt. Browne, Capt. Bagget, were to be sent along with
Mr. McDiarmid: Bolheldies also said, that He was afraid, he would be
obliged to take a trip to England, some time in winter, for that some
certain Great Men there would trust none other to enter on business
with them, as Lord Sempil was dead, but that, if [he] could help it,
He did not incline to go. That those, that were to be appointed to
go to Scotland, were entirely refer’d to him, and Mr. Gordon the
Principal. The management of the Scots affairs is entirely refer’d
to Stirling of Kear, Mr. Murray of Abercarney, Mr. Smith, and Sr.
Hugh Paterson [uncle of Miss Walkinshaw!]. That Mr. Charles has
promised to manage the Duke of Hamilton, and Friends . . . Bolheldies
assured me, that any, that pleased to join from France, would not be
hindered: and that there was a Method fallen upon to get Two Ships of
War, as also plenty of arms, and ammunition, which would be sent by
the Ships, to both Ireland and Scotland. That the Irish propose to
raise 14,000 Men [!], and in two days time, to have them embarked in
Wherries from Dublin, Rush, Skeddish, and Drogheda, and from thence
transported, in six hours, to North Wales, or, in Twenty-four hours,
to Scotland, either of which as the service required; providing
always, that the 2 Ships of War were sent to escort them, as also
Arms and ammunition and Money. That it was proposed by both the Earl
of Mareschal, and Bolheldies, that 11,000 should land in North Wales,
and 3,000 in Campbelltown of Kentyre in Argyleshire; for that those
in Argyleshire that were well affected to their cause, would have a
good opportunity to rise, by leading 3,000 Irish. That McDonald of
Largye has proposed that there will rise, from that end of
Argyleshire 2,500 Men, including the Duke of Hamilton’s Men from
Arran; To wit, the McDonalds of Largye, the McNeils, McAlisters,
Lamonds, and McLawchlans, with what Sr. James Campbell of Auchinbreck
can rise; and those from Campbelltown to march to the Head of
Argyleshire, and to Perthshire, where they were to be joind by the
North Country Clans, which with the Irish, and those from
Argyleshire, was computed to be near 14,000 Men, and to be commanded
by the Earl of Mareschal, and Lord George Murray. {245}
‘Bolheldies assured me . . . that the Pretender’s Son made a proposal
to His Father to resign the Crown in his Favor: It was refused; and
it was desired of Him not to make any further Proposals of that kind.
Bolheldies was desired to go to Rome, to expostulate with the
Pretender, which he begged to be excused, for that it was contrary to
his Opinion, and that He did not approve of the Proposal, would never
desire the Old Gentleman to resign. He told me, that this Proposal
proceeded from the English, as the Young Pretender had owned that He
was Protestant . . .
‘It consists with my knowledge, that there were lodged, in
Clanronald’s Country, 9,000 Stands of Arms under the care of Ronald
McDonald, Brother to the late Kinloch Moydart, Mr. McDonald of
Glenaladale, and the Baillie of Egg, and kept still by them, in as
good order as possible. That one, John McDonald, who is my own
Cousin German, and is also Cousin German to Glenaladale, met with me
in the Braes of Argyleshire, in March last [James was not in Scotland
at that date!]; when He told me, that if there was an Invasion that
they had plenty of Arms; and told the way and manner they had then
preserved: But immediately before they were lodged in their hands,
that Dr. Cameron had taken away, without orders, 250 Stands. That
they might be got in Order, in six days time, by very few hands; for
that they had sustained very little damage. It’s certain, some
little pains might find them out. . . . Bolheldies assured me, that
Sr. John Graham was sent by the Young Pretender’s Orders, to deliver
Capt. Ogelvie 8,000 Swords, which had lain at Berlin [?], since the
last affair, that he was to deliver them to Capt. Ogelvie, at or near
Dunkirk, concealed into wine Hogsheads; and that Capt. Ogelvie was to
land them at Airth, in the Frith of Forth; and to get them conveyed
to the house of Tough, where they were to remain under the charge of
Mr. Charles Smith, whose Son is married to the Heiress of Tough. The
House of Tough is two miles above Stirling. I also saw Mr. Binglie,
Under Master of the Horse, sent by Mr. Butler, and met at Bolheldie’s
House, by young Sheridan, who is always with the Young Pretender.
{246} . . .
‘That the Irish Proposal, sent by me was thus: In way to France, I
came to the Isle of Man, where I had occasion to meet one Mr. Patrick
Savage, to whom I was recommended by a Friend in Scotland; This Mr.
Savage is an Irishman, and was in Scotland some time before I had
seen Him: He was informed by Sir Archibald Stewart of Castle-Milk
near Greenock, that Sir Archibald had seen Dr. Cameron in
Stirlingshire; who told Him, that He hoped the Restoration would
happen soon, for that preparations were a making for it, and that He
had been sent to Scotland to transact some affairs for that purpose.
Mr. Savage told me, in the year 1745, if the Pretender’s son had sent
but the least notice to Ireland, that He might have got 10,000 or
12,000 Men, for that they at that time had formed a scheme, for that
purpose, expecting to have had a message. . . . Mr. Savage assured
me, that there were two Lords concerned, who put it out of his power
to let their Names be known, till I came with a commission from the
Young Pretender, and then, that they would frankly see me, and take
me to their Houses to make up matters . . . ’
The pleased reader will observe that Mr. Macgregor’s Irish myth (though
here sadly curtailed) has swollen to huge proportions since he
communicated his tale of long lost Macgregors to the Old Chevalier in
August. Whether the Prince was really turning to Balhaldie and official
Jacobitism or not, is matter of doubt. Mr. Macgregor’s Information
having been swallowed and digested by Lord Holdernesse, Pickle was
appealed to for confirmation. We have seem his unfriendly report of Mr.
Macgregor’s character, as a spy mistrusted by both sides. But among
other precautions an English official suggested the following:
‘That, if it’s thought proper, Mr. — [Pickle clearly] should be sent
to Ireland forthwith, to know the whole of those concerned in the
Irish Plot of the People of Fingal, that He could have a _Trusty_ in
Company, sent from the Secretary, who would undergo any borrowed
name, and was to be Companion in the affair to Mr. — [Pickle]. That
particularly those Lords should be known, as also such of the People
of Connaght as could be discovered. That Mr. — [Pickle] is willing
to undertake whatever in his power lays, to shew the zeal, wherewith
He is inclined to serve the Government, but that He will not chuse to
go to Ireland, _unless a court Trusty is sent with him_, who will be
eye witness to His Transactions with the Irish, as Mr. — [Pickle]
will tell that he [the English companion] is a Trusty sent by the
Pretender’s Son.’
I detect Pickle under ‘Mr. —,’ because later he was sent in a precisely
similar manner into Scotland, accompanied by a ‘Court Trusty,’ or secret
service man, named Bruce, who, under the style of ‘Cromwell,’ sent in
reports along with those despatched by Pickle himself. Whether Pickle
really went to Ireland to verify Mr. Macgregor’s legends or not, I am
unable to say. The following note of his (December 13, 1753) suggests
that he went either on that or a similar errand.
Add. 32,730.
‘Grandpapa,—In consequence of what past at our last meeting I have
wrot to my Correspondent, fixing the time and place of meeting, and
at leatest I ought seet off the 20th. pray then, when and where are
we to meet? If not soon, I must undow what I have begun. Excuse my
anxiety, and believe me most sincerely with great estime and
affection
‘Your most oblidged humble Servt.
PICKLE.
‘13th December, 1753.
‘To the Honble. Quin Vaughan, at his
house in Golden Square.’
Here James Mohr Macgregor slips out of our narrative. He was suspected
by Balhaldie of having the misfortune to be a double-dyed scoundrel.
This impression Mr. Macgregor’s letters to ‘his dear Chief’ were not
quite able to destroy. The letters (Dunkirk, April 6, and May 1, 1754)
are published in ‘Blackwood’s Magazine’ for December 1817. James tells
Balhaldie that he had visited England, and had endeavoured to deliver
Alan Breck, ‘the murderer of Glenure,’ to the Government, and to make
interest for his own brother, Robin Oig. But Robin was hanged for
abducting the heiress of Edenbelly, and Alan Breck escaped from James
Mohr with the _spolia opima_, including ‘four snuff-boxes,’ made,
perhaps, by Balhaldie himself. In England, James Mohr informs Balhaldie,
he was offered ‘handsome bread in the Government service’ as a spy. But
he replied, ‘I was born in the character of a gentleman,’ and he could
only serve ‘as a gentleman of honour.’
James, in fact, had sold himself too cheap, and had done the Devil’s work
without the Devil’s wages. Probably the falsehood of his Irish myth was
discovered by Pickle, and he was dismissed. James’s last letter to
Balhaldie is of September 25, 1754 (Paris), and he prays for a loan of
the pipes, that he may ‘play some melancholy tunes.’ And then poor James
Mohr Macgregor died, a heart-broken exile. His innocent friend, in
‘Blackwood’s Magazine,’ asks our approbation for James’s noble Highland
independence and sense of honour!
There was another spy, name unknown, whose information about the Prince,
in 1753, was full and minute, whether accurate or not. It is written in
French. {250} About the end of June 1753, Charles, according to this
informer, passed three months at Lunéville; he came from Prussia, and
left in September for Paris. Thence Charles went to Poland and Prussia,
then to Strasbourg, back to Paris, thence to Liège, and thence to
Scotland. Prussia and Denmark were next visited, and Paris again in
January 1754. As a rule, Charles was in Scotland, or Liège, collecting
an army of deserters. This valuable news reached the Duke of Newcastle
on October 30, 1754.
As to the Irish plot reported by James Mohr, I found, among the papers of
the late Comte d’Albanie, a letter from an Irish gentleman, containing
record of a family tradition. Charles, it was said, had passed some time
near the Giant’s Causeway: the date was uncertain, the authority was
vague, and there is no other confirmation of James Mohr’s preposterous
inventions. {251}