Volume II Part 18 (1/2)
He had long been suspected Even in 1737, infor up ed to defend himself from the imputation of Jacobitism by a friend, he insisted upon the services he had done in 1715 as a reason why he should for ever be free from the imputation of disloyalty; and he continued to play the same subtle part, and to pretend indifference to all fresh enterprises, to his friends at Culloden, as that which he had always affected
”Everybody expects we shall have a war very soon,” he writes to his friend John Forbes in 1729--”which I arowne old, I desire and wish to live in peace with all mankind, except soue ed in a plot to restore the Stuarts In 1736, when he was Sheriff for the county, he received the celebrated Roy Stuart, as ih treason, when he broke out of gaol, and kept hi by him an assurance to the Pretender of his fidelity, and at the sa Roy Stuart to procure hieneral, and a patent of dukedo It is degrading to the rest of the Jacobites, to give this double traitor an epithet ever applied to honourable, and fervent, and disinterested randizee was his amusement
Henderson, in his ”History of the Rebellion,” attributes to Lord Lovat the entire suggestion of the invasion of 1745 It is true that the Chevalier refused to accede to the proposal , as he said, that the ”ti the Pope, it was agreed that the present tihlanders, and in sowing in them the seeds of loyalty that so frequently appeared” In consequence of this, Lord Lovat's request was granted; a letter ritten to hi him full power to act in the name of James, and the title of Duke of Fraser and Lieutenant-General of the Highlands was conferred upon theall hoed the whole style of his deportment He quitted the coh, where he set up a chariot, and lived there in a suh with little of those cereenerally associate with rank and opulence He now sought and obtained a very general acquaintance
Few men had more to tell; and he could converse about his former hardshi+ps, relate the account of his introduction to Louis the Fourteenth, and to the gracious Maintenon He returned to Castle Downie
That seat, conducted hitherto on the most penurious scale, suddenly became the scene of a plenteous hospitality; and its lord, once churlish and severe, became liberal and free He entertained the clans after their hearts' desire, and he kept a purse of sixpences for the poor As his castle was alhlands, it was much frequented; and the crafty Lovat now adapted his conversation to his own secret ends He expatiated to the Highlanders, always greedy of fame, and vain beyond all parallel of their country, upon the victories of Montrose on the fields of Killicrankie and Croet,” he would say to a listener, ”your honest grandfather wore that day, and with it he forced his way through a hundred reat friend, and an honest man Few are like him now-a-days;--you resean to interpret prophecies and dreams, and to relate to his superstitious listeners the dreaht He would trace genealogies as far back as the clansmen pleased, and show their connection with their chieftains They were all his ”cousins and friends;” for he knew every person that had lived in the country for years
Then he spoke of the superiority of the broad-sword and target over the gun and the bayonet; he sneered at the weakness of an army, after so many years of peace, commanded by boys; he boasted of the valour of the Scots in Sweden and France; he even unriddled the prophecies of Bede and of Merlin By these methods he prepared the minds of those over whom he ruled for the Rebellion; but in the event, as it has been truly said, ”the thread of his policy was spun so fine that at last it failed in the ht indeed be called in question, when he decided to risk the undisturbed possession of his Highland property for a dukedom and prospect But there were many persons of rank and influence who believed, with Prince Charles Edward, that ”the Hanoverian yoke was severely felt in England, and that noas the time to shake it off” ”The intruders of the family of Hanover,” observes a strenuous Jacobite,[232] ”conscious of the lameness of their title and the precariousness of their tenure, see their power, and gratifying their insatiable avarice: by the foret above the caprice of the people; and by the latter, they , happen ould” ”Abundance of the Tories,” he further remarks, ”had still a warm side for the fas, their attach but their love of liberty, which they saw expiring with the family of Hanover: they had still this, and but this chance to recover it In fine, there was little opposition to be dreaded froentle accusto any questions But there werethem, too; such as were men of property, whose estates exceeded the value of their commissions, did by no means approve of the present measures”[233]
Upon the whole the conjuncture seemed favourable, and Lord Lovat, whose political vieere very lin the association despatched in 1736, according to soned and sealed bythe Chevalier to come over to that country His belief was, that France had at all ti in Jaeneral expectation of the Jacobites
”Most of the powers in Europe,” writes Mr Maxwell, ”were engaged, either as principals or auxiliaries, in a war about the succession to the Austrian doland were hitherto only auxiliaries, but so deeply concerned, and so sanguine, that it was visible they would soon come to an open rupture with one another; and Spain had been at ith England some years, nor was there the least prospect of an accohly probable that France and Spain would concur in forwarding the Prince's views”
Influenced by these considerations, Lovat now became chiefly involved in all the schemes of the Chevalier In 1743, when the invasion was actually resolved upon, Lovat was fixed upon as a person of ihlands Nor did the failure of that project deter hi years, and until after the battle of Preston Pans, he acted with such caution and dissiht still have ht, with the Hanoverians
In the beginning of the year 1745, Prince Charles despatched several co his friends in Scotland, with certain letters delivered by Sir Hector Maclean, begging his friends in the Highlands to be in readiness to receive hi, ”if possible, that all the castles and fortresses in Scotland ht be taken before his arrival”[234] On the twenty-fifth of July,[235] the gallant Charles Edward landed in a rehlands, with only seven adherents Lord Lovat was inforaested on all occasions He sent one of his principal agents into Lochaber to receive the young Prince's codoms, and to express his joy at his arrival He sent also secretly for his son, as then a student at the University of St Andrews, and co him colonel of his clan Arms, money, and provisions were collected; and the fiery cross was circulated throughout the country
Such proceedings could not be concealed, and the Lord Advocate, Craigie, wrote to Lord Lovat fro upon hi to Lovat's son as well able to assist hihlands The epistle alluded to a long cessation of any friendly correspondence between the Lord Advocate and Lord Lovat
It was answered by assurances of loyalty ”I a and Government as I was in the year 1715, &c But lected these many years past, that I have not twelve stand of ar twelve hundred good 's service if I had arms and other accoutrements for them” He then entreats a supply of arms, names a thousand stand to be sent to Inverness, and pro's service He continues,--”Therefore, ood Lord, I earnestly entreat that as you wish that I would do good service to the Government on this critical occasion, you may order immediately a thousand stand of arms to be delivered to me and my clan at Inverness, and then your Lordshi+p shall see that I will exert et these arms immediately, ill certainly be undone; for these madmen that are in arms with the pretended Prince of Wales, threaten every day to burn and destroy my country if we do not rise in arms and join them; so that my people cry hourly that they have no arms to defend themselves, nor no protection or support from the Government So I earnestly entreat your Lordshi+p may consider seriously on this, for it will be an essential and singular loss to the Government if my clan and kindred be destroyed, who possess the centre of the Highlands of Scotland, and the countriesand Governood as to es at St Andrews, under the care of a relation of yours, Mr Thoie, professor of Hebreho I truly think one of the prettiest, entlemen that I ever conversed with in any country: and I think I never saw a youth that pleased hiood scholar, and has the best genius for learning of any he has seen, and it is by Mr Thoie's positive advice, which he will tell you when you see him, that I send my son immediately to Utrecht to complete his education But I have many a one of e; and I do assure your Lordshi+p that they will behave well if they are supported as they ought from the Govern his son to Utrecht, when he was, at that ti him into the field of civil war, is finished thus:--
”I hear that nates the Prince) ”has set up a standard at a place called Glenfinnin--Monday last This place is the inlet from Moydart to Lochaber; and I hear of none that joined him as yet, except the Camerons and Macdonells”
But thismind of him to whom it was addressed
Since the death of Mr Forbes, the President had resided frequently at Culloden, now his own property; his observing eye was turned upon the proceedings of his neighbour at Castle Downie, but still appearances were maintained between him and Lovat ”This day,” writes the President to a friend, ”the Lord Lovat came to dine with me He said he had heard with uneasiness the reports that were scattered abroad; but that he looked on the atteht hi his co, as well as his interest, led him to support the present Royal Family; that he had lain absolutely still and quiet, lest his stirring in any sort ht have been misrepresented or misconstrued; and he said his business with me was, to be advised as to be done on this occasion I approved greatly of his disposition, and advised him, until the scene should open a little, to lay hience he could come at, which the situation of his clan will enable hi seduced by their hbours, which he readily promised to do”
Consistent with these professions were the letters of Lovat to the President
”I have but melancholy news to tell you,report that o, to the West; and I have the same report of poor Kilbockie; but I don't believe it However, if I be able to ride in o to Stratherrick next week, and endeavour to keep ot to tell you that the man yesterday assured me that they were resolved to burn and destroy all the countries where the hts me ine to preserve my people
”As I know that the Laird of Lochiel has always a very affectionate friendshi+p for ular services, and as he is perfectly well acquainted with Gortuleg, I endeavoured all I could to persuade Too there, and that he should endeavour in my name to persuade Lochiel to protect my country; in which I think I could succeed; but I cannot persuade Gortuleg to go; he is so nice with his points of honour that he thinks his going would bring upon him the character of a spy, and that he swears he would not have for the creation I used all the arguments that I was capable of, and told hireatest service he could do tome a full account of their situation, and that is the only effectual means that I can think of to keep the Stratherrick men and the rest of my people at home He told me at last he would take some days to consider of it until he comes out of Stratherrick; but I am afraid that will be too late I oas not well pleased with him, and we parted in a cooler manner than we used to do”[236]
In all his letters he characterizes Charles Edward, to whoiance, as the ”pretended Prince” His affectation of zeal in the cause of Government, his pretence of an earnest endeavour to arrest the career of the very persons who to action, his exertions with ht to find that ”honest Kilbockie,” who without his consent,if they were not traits of such wanton irreclaied man, soon to be called to an account, before a heavenly tribunal, for a long career of crihbours
If any further instance of his duplicity can be read with patience, the following letter to Lochiel, who, according to Lovat, had a very affectionate friendshi+p for hi[237]
”1745