99 very foolish circumstances appear about his own certificate for upwards of three hundred pounds in the name of one Gordon, who is said to have been a Servant of his; but what wakened the Commissioners attention was, the intelligence they had, that he rode the first horse in bringing about the pretended examination before some justices of the peace in Sutherland, where affidavits were taken, contrary to former declarations. I wish Sir John had not meddled in that matter, because it has quickened the attention of the Commissioners, and may put them upon Enquiries that may be attended at least with trouble to him. They were advised to send for Sir John in custody, as they have done for others; but, upon my intercession, they have forborn to apply for any warrant of that nature at this time. I do not think it proper for me, in my present situation, to write to Sir John; but as I know you are his Friend, I beg you may as speedily as possible meet with him, and let him know what I now tell you, that he may deliberate well, and resolve what is fit for him to do. I have a strong inclination to believe Sir John is innocent; and if he is, I should think it well worth his while to take a trip this far to clear it, and to show the Commissioners that their treating him in a different manner from other People has a proper return. You will not faill to discourse with Sir John on this subject as soon as possible; and when you have done so, let me hear from you. I am Yours, &c. No. CXXIX. To the Lord Advocate from My Lord, Edr: 14 Janr: 1726-7. IN the hurry of important publick business, it were folly for private people to expect, that their little concerns should be much minded: therefor I write this only, that when occasion offers (wch may be sooner than is thought of) you may the better remember some things we talked of before you took journey; and I wish you may read it presently: it will not rob you of much time. You know how uneasy it is to me, that my nephew L' Erskine waited not on Mr. Scrope, as I often wrote to him of it: he wrote to me again and again, that he wished to do it; and since he came to Scotland has frequently regreated that it was not done. In a few weeks he returns to London, & then will intreat you to introduce him to Mr. Scrope; and in the mean time, begs you to assure him of his humble respects; and I pray you do me the same favour. I hope it will not be thought unseasonable, but dutifull, when we are threatned with disturbance from the enemys of our King & Country, to mention my Ld Erskine's firm resolution to adhere inviolably to the present Government, and never to have any concern with the Pretender. He is just now with me, reading what I write about him, and I write it at his own desire; and he intreats you to do him the honor, in his name, to assure S' Robert Walpole, and any other of the Ministry, that this is his sincere & fix'd resolution; and that he desires not to make his fortune any where but in our King's Interest and Service. I have done all I could to discover whether he be sincere in this; and I do believe that he is sincere. If he should prove otherwise, it would be a double affliction to me; first to see him in so bad a way, and next that he had dealt so disingenuously and falsely with me. But I do not think he cheats me: I am cheated if a friend of his, nearer to him than I am, do not now fully acquiesce in his serving our King faithfully, & having nothing at all to do with the Pretender. It is my misfortune, that some of my relations have been in the Pretender's interest; but it is my duty to endeavour that they may leave it; and that those of them who are entering on the World may be firmly attached to our King & his Familly; since I have allways done so, & acted for the present establishment. It would be a little hard to get me still in the shade of my jacobite relations, and, tho' I be of their colour, to look at me through a false medium, & then cry, I am not white. Ennemys do so, & no wonder: but sometimes friends, or they who at least are not foes, are pleas'd to act as if they were afraid of the litle clamour of Ennemys, though without foundation, & which they themselves can easily put an end to. Men of Power can do with honest people, in certain circumstances, as Kings can do with good metal on which dirt has been thrown; either stamp them into current coin, or else let them be thrown aside as of base alloy; and then, 'tis ten to one but they shall generally be deemed of that alloy; for few carry a touchstone to make the tryal, & fewer are at the pains to try a piece neglected as suspicious. Yet one would think that this faint clamour, thrown out by foes who can do no other hurt, is not really regarded; for we have seen even those who had been openly disaffected, push'd ford as fit to be trusted by the Government; and perhaps few, if any, will burden themselves to answer that they are better affected, to this hour. We have seen such actually trusted, & in favour; and whatever others have done, I'm sure the clamourers did so. Could they then pretend, that it should be worse with a man who was always well affected, but only has disaffected relations, whom he was never influenced by? this cannot hold in common reason, nor would it in the general oppinion of the world. It is true, great men take not the trouble to consider the case of a private person who makes not himself considerable. If there be the appearance of an objection good or bad, it is easyest to have nothing to do with him. But Friends who have access to speak freely with great Men of his subject, can render them effectually attentive to it; and when the great Men have good understanding & experience (as at present), the task is less difficult; because they soon perceive the real import of things; and, when they are brought to consider them, are not amus'd with superficial appearances. If it be too much for me to expect to be noticed, as one who in his low sphere has not deserved ill; yet I hope it is not an immodest request, that when my name casts up, I be not slurr'd as a person whom the friends and servants of the Government must be shy of, and keep at a distance. If I be otherwise used, whether on a pretended personal account, or on account of my Relations, the reall effects of it as to me, and the appearance it must give me in the World, will be much the same. Only when it proceeds from friends, or from those who are not Ennemys, with one's friends standing near and looking on, it must strike deeper and stick faster, and the unlucky. person must appear to be sans resource. This would make my case so singular, that perhaps there is not an other instance of it in Brittain; and, indeed, it seems to be a pretty strange case. If Jacobitism, or even torryship, prevail, I am to be undone for my own sake. At present, I must pass for a strange creature, whom it is not safe to give Countenance to, because of my Jacobite Relations; for this would offend those that know me not, and the Sq-y, who are Ennemys to me & to the present Administration.. If that same Sq-y gets up again, I am still to be defeat, because they fancy those presently in power to be my friends. Perhaps some others know how to have good luck in all events; and these pretty fellows would tell me, that I am served as becomes an honest fool, who, by acting sincerely, leaves himself but one foot to stand upon; & when that faills him, down he tumbles, & must ly there. I did not think to have said so much on this Head; wh speaking of my Nephew, La Erskine, led me to. You may the more easily pardon me, because I do not intend to trouble you again with it. Do with this as you think it requires. Nothing remarkable in this Country has come to my knowledge since you left it. No. CXXX. Lord Lovat to the Lord Advocate. your My Dear Lord, My Lord, No. CXXXI. Lord Balmerino to the Lord Advocate. LOVAT. Leith, 11th May 1727. SOME Months ago I writt to my excellent friend the Earl of Loudoun, concerning a Remission to my Son Arthur Elphinston, to be obtained by the means of the Duke of Argyl; but to this hour I have had no answer. My Son James, several Weeks ago,, writt to your Lordship; and likewayes he has got no Answer from you. This astonishes me; for, indeed, I would rather have a Refusal, than remain in this uncertainty. Considering how mercifull the King is, and how great the favour he has showen to some who were more Criminal (though his fault was very great), I cannot but hope that this which I so earnestly desire will be readily granted. But whatever be in this, I beg the honour of your Answer, that I may take measures accordingly. I am, with great truth, My Lord, Your Lordship's most humble Serv', No. CXXXII. BALMERINO. D' S', for Sir Hugh Dalrymple to the Lord Advocate. THIS, I own, looks very like ingratitude, to be so long in returning you thanks your favour; but I had many reasons for not writing till now, of which the thing called called Protelation was one; & the uncertainty of ever coming back again, another. Before I went, I thought Bunchrew would be a very decent date; but when I was there, the place, the trees, the Firth, & Peter, were all my enemies; & I do not remember if I was in a capacity to write or no. From that time forward, the good people of Inverness & Murray were so exceedingly kind (if it can be called kindness to make a Man run the gantlet), that neither shame nor remorse had any effect upon me; & seriously, tho' I thought myself happy that neither your Brother John nor the Squire were in the Country, yet every body, I don't know how, took upon them to be Johns & Squires to me; &, for aught I know, I might have been cracking nutts till now, if I had been able. The fire about Aberdeen was not so intense; but, comparatively speaking, it was pretty smart: the Perth people are good enough for a brush and away; but the pleasures of the enchanted Island, the Ball, the Lucy Barbers, & the strange and surprizing adventures of Emperor Gausy, must be left to another time. I am in some hopes that this will not find you at London: it is but blushing a little more for an excuse, to make it here to you myself, coram Francy Farquhar and a dish of hard fish. But, as far as I can see, it is more convenient to be unthankful; for it makes me look sillier, to tell you that I never shall cease to be sensible of what I owe to you, than it would do to some people to fall asleep & forget it. I am, D' S', Ed May 30, (oh, shameful!) 1727. No. CXXXIII. M' Delafaye to the Lord Advocate. My Dear Lord, Whitehall, Nov 7th 1727. I HAVE received the honour of your Lops letter from Edinburgh, and was glad to find you were returned thither safe, & I hope in sound health, from your expedition to the Highlands, wh is now no more a Wild Country. My Lord Duke of Newcastle was so well pleased with the account you give of the disposition of things there, that he would shew your Letter to His Maj", to whom it gave a good deal of satisfaction. I ask your pardon for having omitted to acknowledge y receipt of your return, which I immediately transmitted to the Crown Office. Matters here go as they did; the King very good and gracious to his Ministers and Servants, & all things very quiet. As to foreign affairs, I think we shall certainly have a Congress; France is prodigious honest and hearty; Rottembourg behaves like an Angel at Madrid; the Emperor & his Ministers are the greatest in ye world, or else they are sincerely for pacifick measures; so that, tho' the Q. of Spain does still scold, that power must and will come into measures, tho' not with a good grace. The general talk is, that ye Parliam' will not sit till ye 10th Jan", which I fear will retard y pleasure I promise myself, of assuring you in person of the sincere & hearty respect with which I have the honour to be, I dined this Day wth My Lord Townshend, who is in a very bad way with his Rheumatism, & I fear will not get rid of it till Warm Weather comes in. My Dear Lord, Your Lops most humble & most Obedient Servant, CH: DELAFAYE. No. CXXXIV. No. CXXXIV. Mr T. Rawlinson to the Lord Advocate, dated Invergary, May 24th 1728. My Lord, AS I have not the honour of being known to your Lordship, I humbly beg leave to acquaint you, before I proceed to give you an account of other matters, that I have made a purchase (for myself and Company) of a considerable quantity of Wood in Glengary for the use of Iron works we are erecting there; and we fear not of having good success in our Business (which certainly will be of great use and benefit in this part of North Britain), provided we can peaceably enjoy the same; but I am extreamly sorry that I have occasion to acquaint your Lordship, that I have had two of my Servants murthered by a Villain in this Country, who I apprehended, with one of his Accomplices, on the 20th of the last instant; and because it is supposed (by my friends) that they may find means to make their escape out of the Gaiel of Inverness if they should be committed there, I am therefore favoured in having them confined in the Barricks of Kiliwhynnan till I am further instructed how to proceed against them. The Murtherer's accomplice (by name John Grant) hath confessed before M1 Fraser of Cuduthall (a Justice of Peace), that their principle design was to rob and Murther me, and as they could not meet with me, they were resolved to rob & Murther some of my Servants. I have good proof against the Murtherer; but as for his accomplice, John Grant, I have no other than his own confession; and as the Murtherer is famed for a notorious and dangerous fellow, I should be glad to have him brought to his tryall as soon as possible; but if I am obliged to send him and his Accomplice to Edinburgh to take their tryall, I am informed that their Prosecution will be very expensive. But if your Lordship would be so kind as to give your Orders to the Sheriff of Inverness to try them there, a great part of that expence might be saved; and (with submission) if their punishment was directed to be upon the place where this murther was committed, I believe it would be a very terrifying example to our Rogueish Inhabitants: all which I most humbly submit to your Lordship's opinion; beging your pardon for the liberty here taken by, My Lord, Your Lordship's P. S.-If your Lordship thinks it proper to honour me with your return to this Letter, to the care of the Postmaster in Inverness, it will come safe to me. Most Obed' humble Servant, T RAWLINSON Note This Thomas Rawlinson, an Englishman, was the person who introduced the Phelie Beg, or short kilt, into the highlands. This fat, very little known, is explained by a Letter from Evan Baillie of Oberiachan, inserted in the Edinburgh Magazine for 1785. My Lord, No. CXXXV. Lord Seafort to the Lord Advocate. AS you gave me leave, when last I had the honour of seeing you, to let you know how my affairs went after you was gone; so I lay hold of ye opportunity with pleasure, because to one I value I impart where my grievance lys. |