Volume II Part 11 (1/2)
On the followingthe party from Paisley went on their expedition, and arrived at Inversnaid Here, in order to ”arouse those thieves and rebels froh the roof of a house on the declivity of aout, and scrambled up the hill; but no other persons appeared ”Whereupon,” adds the narrator,[115] ”the Paisley men, under the command of Captain Finlason, assisted by Captain Scot, a half-pay officer, of late a lieutenant of Colonel Kerr's regioons, who is indeed an officer, wise, stout, and honest; the Dumbarton men, under the coistrates of the burgh, with several of the other coreatest intrepidity leapt on shore, got up to the top of the mountain, and drew up in order, and stood about an hour, their dru, they thereupon went in quest of the boats which the rebels had seized; and having casually lighted on soth they found the boats drawn up a good way on the land, which they hurled down to the loch Such of theed, they carried off with them; and such as were, they sunk or hewed in pieces And that saht they return'd to Luss, and thence next day, without the loss or hurt of so much as one ether, bringing along with them the whole boats they found in their way on either side the loch, and in creeks of the isles, and moored them under the cannon of the castle And thus in a short tiours were towed, and a way pointed how the Governht easily keep theury, that a violent stor, notwithstanding this nified triumph on the part of his enemies, neither Rob Roy nor his folloere in the least daunted, but went about ”proclaiht,[116] about seven,”
writes the same historian, ”we had ane accountt from one of our townsmen, who had been five miles in the country, in the paroch of Baldernock, that three or four hundred of the clans, forerunners of the body co, had at Drummen, near Dunkeld, proclaimed the Pretender; but no accountt to us froistrates sent fitt ht for information, and can hardly return till afternoon, if they have access to the three garrisons, of which they are I hear ordered to goe to to-day I hear by report, without sufficient authority, that it's the M'Grigors come with a party, proclaimed the Pretender, tore the exciseman's book, and went away
H E”
In a letter from Leslie, dated the twentieth of January, 1716, it is stated that the country did not oppose the incursions of Rob Roy, being mostly in his interest, or indifferent Emboldened by this passive conduct, Rob Roy marched to Falkland on the fourth of January, 1716, and took possession of the palace for a garrison He afterwards joined the Earl of Mar's forces at Perth, yet, whether fronal events of the day He hovered sometimes in the Lowlands, uncertain whether to proclaiors in the war: so under Lord Mar, froyle; at all events he had the wiliness to erent powers each conceive him as of their respective parties
At the battle of Sherriff Muir, Macgregor had the address to make both the Jacobites and Hanoverians conceive, that, had he joined thelory of the day would have been secured
The inhabitants of Leslie, who had heard, with dis of Auchterarder and Blackford, were now affrighted by a rumour that Rob Roy had a commission to burn Leslie, and all between that place and Perth But, whilst the burgesses of Leslie were daily looking for this dreaded event, Rob Roy was forced to retreat to Dundee, by the approach of the King's troops He left behind him a character of reckless rapacity, and of a deterenerous and hu the fairest and discreetest of the party to who his favourite speech, ”that he desired no better breakfast than to see a Whig's house burning” The people could not, indeed, trust any man's assurances after the recent and cruel devastation at Auchterarder
When the fortune of the battle was decided, he was heard to say, in answer to demands that he should send his forces to the attack, ”If they cannot do it without me, they cannot do it with me,” and he immediately left the field Such is the popular account of his conduct on that occasion
The partizans of Rob Roy have, however, given a very different version of his conduct The Duke of Argyle was the patron and friend of Macgregor; and he could neither, therefore, openly adopt a course which the Duke disapproved, nor would he altogether retire from a cause to which he was disposed to be favourable With the true Gaelic caution Rob Roy waited to see which side prevailed, and then hastened to avail hi pursuit of his existence--plunder
He retired fro terror wherever he passed
The following letter, descriptive of his progress affords a curious picture of the state of that harassed and wretched country:--
”D B
”I received yours this evening, but I find you have been quit mistaken about our condition You datt our freedo befor its co accompt of what past heir these last ten days Upon the fourth instant Rob Roey, with one hundred and fifty arrison, froh the countrey side and robs and plunder, taking cloaths and victuals, and every thing that ht days The sixth instant there cohland men (I had almost said devils) to Leslie;them at Formand Hills and resolved to resist, and so man, wife, and child drew out
”The reen with draords in the hands, and we askt them what they were for; they said they wanted cloaths and et neither of them heir, at which they stormed and swore terribly, and we told them if they were come for mischeif they should have thee fill of it; at which ther were soan to feear that we should fall upon theh the tohich we granted, but withall told them if they went upon the least house in the town, ther should never a h we should die on the spot, and so they ot not so much as the rise of a cap And they were so afraid that they did not return, but went down over the Hank Hill, and east to the minister's land; and their they faced about and fired twenty shots in upon the peple that were looking at the the least hurt And so they went off to the Formand Hils, and plundred all the could carry or drive, and threatned dreadfully they should be avenged on Leslie and burn it”
The pursuit of plunder was considered by Rob Roy as a far ainst Lord Mar, or offended Argyle, hom he continued on such convenient terms, that he did not leave Perth until after the arrival of that General He then retired with the spoils he had acquired, and continued for so incursions which had already proved so troublesohbours
In the subsequent indeor was specially excepted; and their leader, Robert Caor, commonly called Robert Roy, was attainted
The severities which followed the Rebellion of 1715, drove Rob Roy to a rehlands, where he lived in a solitary hut, half covered with copsewood, and seated under the brow of a barren mountain
Here he resided in poverty, and orse to his restless spirit, in idleness Here he was in frequent dread of pursuit froents of the law; and several anecdotes are told hat veracity it is difficult to judge, of his dexterity in evading justice Attainted, disappointed, aged, and poor, he had one grievous addition to his sorrohich it required a cheerful and energetic mind to sustain,--that of a faor, Coll, James, Robert, Duncan, and Ronald, four were known to be but too worthy of the naors to the individuals of that tribe--”devils” Of Coll, the eldest, little is ascertained Robert, or Robbiq, or the younger, as the Gaelic word signifies, inherited all the fierceness, without the generosity, of his race At sixteen years of age, he deliberately shot at a man of the name of Maclaren, and wounded him so severely that he died His brothers were ied with being not only oods Robert was proved to have boasted of having drawn the first blood of the Maclarens; and the brothers were all accused of having followed thiscattle belonging to a kinsman of the deceased
Robert Roy, the principal party in the crih Court of Justiciary, to which he was summoned: he was therefore outlawed The other brothers were tried, and the prosecution was conducted by the celebrated Duncan Forbes, of Culloden The prisoners were acquitted of being accessory to thethat the charge of being reputed thieves was ood behaviour
Robert Roy was advised to retire to France: his brother James remained in Scotland, and took an active part in the Rebellion of 1745; when, with the assistance of his cousin Glengyle, he surprised the fort of Inversnaid; he afterwards led to the battle of Preston Pans six coh-bone was broken in that battle; yet he appeared again at Culloden, and was subsequently attainted
The life of Jauilty schemes, and to end in infamy and exile That of Rob Roy was dyed yet deeper in crino in the Grass Market in Edinburgh, in the year 1754 Ja condition, died in France, after exhibiting in his conduct, whilst in Scotland, if possible, almost a deeper shade of depravity than that displayed by his brother
Their father was, however, released from his existence before these desperate men had sullied the naressions
As he declined in strength, Rob Roy became more peaceable in disposition; and his nephew, the head of the clan, renounced the enors and the Duke of Montrose The time of this celebrated freebooter's death is uncertain, but is generally supposed to have occurred after the year 1738 ”When he found hie,” says Sir Walter Scott, ”he expressed sohed at these scruples of conscience, and exhorted him to die like a man, as he had lived In reply, he rebuked her for her violent passions and the counsels she had given him ”You have put strife,” he said, ”betwixt me and the best men of my country, and now you would place enh he had been educated in the Protestant faith, Rob Roy had beco before his death ”It was a convenient religion,”
he used to say, ”which for a little money could put asleep the conscience, and clear the soul from sin” The time and causes of his conversion are only surmised; but when he had resolved on this important step, the freebooter left his lovely residence in the Highlands, and repairing to Druht an old Catholic priest, by name Alexander Drummond His confessions were stated by hied man to whom he unburthened his heart, and who frequently crossed hi to the recital
Even after this manifestation of penitence, Rob Roy returned to his old practices, and accohlands, he is stated to have so greatly enriched hian far