tion was lost by a majority of 3 on the proxies, which stood 13 for repealing the Union, and 17 against it.1

The question, how far the queen and her immediate advisers desired to make a path for the son of her exiled father to reach the throne, is not a merely Scots question, but belongs to the larger field of British history. An incident, however, has been connected with this larger question, on which the Scots could not fail to feel a peculiar interest belonging to their own national household. The Duke of Hamilton was to be ambassador to Paris, and it was maintained that one whose history was so associated with Jacobitism could have been selected with no other view than an arrangement for bringing over the heir of the house of Stewart. The tragic fate of the ambassador cut off the design, if it had been contemplated, but by no means shut the question of the original intention. The fatal quarrel arose out of a matrimonial question with Lord Mohun, who was the challenger. Both the combatants were killed. It was maintained that it was no mere ordeal of single combat, but a design by the Whigs to put the Duke of Hamilton to death; and it was maintained that Macartney, Lord Mohun's second, had stabbed the duke after Lord Mohun was slain. Macartney, whether he was guilty or not, took to flight. It must be admitted that he had little chance of a fair trial, and the question lies with its fellows, deposited in the great heap of historical and judicial mysteries. This tragedy was soon followed by the death of "The good Queen Anne," on the 1st of August 1714.

1 Parl. Hist., vi. 1213-1221.

250

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

MAR'S INSURRECTION.

THE HANOVER DYNASTY-GEORGE I.-EXTERNAL QUIETNESS OF SCOTLAND-ELEMENTS OF DANGER-THE EARL OF MAR-HIS PROFFERS TO KING GEORGE-THEIR RECEPTION-HIS JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND -THE GATHERING OF THE JACOBITES-GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF THEIR STRENGTH-GOVERNMENT PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE -PRESBYTERIAN ZEAL FOR THE GOVERNMENT-OFFERS OF ARMED FORCE-ARGYLE-EARLY INCIDENTS OF THE WAR-THE MACGREGORS AND THE LOCH LOMOND EXPEDITION-BRIGADIER MACKINTOSH-PASSAGE OF THE FORTH-ATTEMPT ON EDINBURGH CASTLE -LEITH FORT MARCH SOUTHWARD-RISING OF WINTON, KENMURE, AND NITHSDALE IN THE SOUTH-MARCH INTO ENGLANDLANCASHIRE-FOSTER AND DERWENTWATER-BATTLE OF PRESTON -WAR IN THE NORTH-SHERIFFMUIR-ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE OF THE CHEVALIER-BREAKING up.

AN order of the Lords of the Regency to proclaim King George arrived at Edinburgh on the 4th of August, at midnight, addressed to the Earl of Ilay, Lord JusticeGeneral. Next day the proclamation was made at the market-cross with great solemnity and magnificence. The day was fine; there were processions, rich in brilliant uniforms and gay liveries; troops were paraded; bonfires blazed; the bells rang; the people shouted; and over all the lesser joyful sounds boomed now and then the great guns of the castle.1 The great Whig nobility, who seem to have been clustering round Edinburgh, gave dignity and

1 Rae, 63-who says "the author was present at this great solem

lustre to the occasion; and the list of those who appeared at a moment's warning to join the procession, shows how large a proportion of the Scots peerage still lingered near the ancient capital.

Some small precautionary arrangements were madethe trifling bodies of troops dispersed in the provinces were concentrated in Edinburgh, and the fortifications of the castle were increased by a drawbridge and moat. A number of half-pay officers, selected chiefly from the Scots regiments, were directed, under General Wightman, to be ready to head the local volunteers or other troops who might be enrolled for the defence of the Government. The prevailing calm was occasionally interrupted by rumours of the marching of armed men from the interior Highlands towards the passes, or the gathering of assemblages of Jacobites; but those who met finding themselves isolated in small bodies, timeously dispersed to their homes. Near Inverlochy a small party appeared in arms, but dispersed without fighting, when threatened by a detachment from Fort William.

Within doors there was a certain amount of noisy convivial ebullition of Jacobite feeling, and many deep goblets were drained to "the king over the water." In some instances these convivial manifestations were, in the excitement and hilarity of the moment, obtruded on public notice; and a party of young men were tried by the Court of Justiciary, and fined £50 each, for having distributed the contents of a stoup of liquor on the High Street of Edinburgh, and drunk the Pretender's health, accompanied with music and dancing. It became frequent with these noisy bacchanalians, when their convivial parties were sufficiently large, to sally forth into the streets at midnight, and proclaim King James VIII., a practice which sorely vexed the sober and sleepy Whig burgesses, but in itself augured little danger. On occasions of public amusement, when the gentlemen of a Jacobite neighbourhood came together, much political excitement mingled itself with the other appropriate exhilarations. Thus at Lochmaben, the gentle

1 State Trials, xvii. 1.

men of Dumfriesshire proclaimed "King James VIII." to a considerable multitude assembled by the attractions of a horse-race. The conduct of those great landowners, who were notoriously Jacobite, was, of course, pretty accurately watched by the Government, which, in some instances, had recourse to precautionary coercion, at other times employed a sort of friendly dictation, requiring them to keep their motions within sight of the law if they desired to avoid its coercive interference. Thus one or two Highland chiefs, including MacDonald of Sleat, were made prisoners, charged with intrigues against the Government; while the Duke of Gordon was required to remain in Edinburgh, and Lord Seaforth in his own castle.1 Lord Drummond, on an attempt being made to arrest him, escaped. Lockhart of Carnwath, with whom we have already had ample acquaintance, was arrested, and bailed more than once, and by his own account was very accommodating in his endeavours to live wherever and in what manner the Government desired him.2

The crafty old Earl of Breadalbane, feeling that, whenever suspicion was alive, he would naturally be its object, retired to one of his mountain fastnesses, whence, while it appears to have been considered impracticable to dislodge him, precautions were taken against his escaping, by parties being stationed at the neighbouring passes.

A singular incident occurred during the proclamation of George I. at Glasgow. A small detachment of the crowd present on the occasion proceeded to the church of an Episcopal clergyman where the English liturgy was used, and tore it down. The perpetrators had dispersed and disappeared ere the authorities could reach the spot, and were never discovered, though the matter was brought before the Lords of the Regency, who specially instructed the Lord Advocate to pursue a strict inquiry as to this outrage, of a kind which had, for some years past, been frequently scandalous in the west. The Jacobites naturally referred to the incident as an illustration of the

1 So it is stated, but in a rather confused shape, in Rae's Narrative, 77. 2 Lockhart Papers, i. 491.

insubordinate intolerance of the Hanoverian party; but it was remarked, among the other singular circumstances attending the occurrence, that the clergyman, Mr Cockburn, had retired the day previously with his family and effects to Edinburgh, as if desirous, not only to secure his safety, but to avoid witnessing the scene he anticipated; and there were not wanting those who inferred that the incident was arranged and carried out for the purpose of casting scandal on the Government party.

At the elections for a new Parliament, the Whigs and Presbyterians, discovering that the Jacobites were far more earnest and united in dissatisfaction with the Union and the new fiscal policy than themselves, postponed these questions to a united effort against the common enemy.1 Hence the contribution from Scotland in the Parliament which met on 17th March 1715, showed a large majority in favour of the Hanover succession. The sixteen peers selected by the Government, of whom the Duke of Argyle brought a list from London, were all accepted and returned by the Scots lords.2

A like spirit came forth among the clergy of the Establishment. At the sitting of the General Assembly, in May 1715, though there was a formal testimony on the grievances of the Church, the most conspicuous proceeding was a confirmation of the deposition of two northern clergymen, who had failed to observe an injunction from the Church to keep the 20th of January as a day of thanksgiving for his majesty's accession, and had not prayed for the king by name.3

The motives of those who resolved to break in upon this peaceful adjustment of the Revolution succession will ever be matter of dispute, both in the leading party principles and the conduct of individual men. Ostensibly,

1 Tindal, ii. 412.

2 Tindal (ii. 416) finds it difficult to account for Lord Belhaven, the opponent of the Union, having been on the Government list; but his difficulty arises in a mistake. That Lord Belhaven did not long survive the measure from which he predicted so many calamities, and died in the year 1708.

3 Index to Unprinted Acts of Assembly.