D' Sir, No. CXLII. From General Wade to the Lord Advocate. From my Hutt at Dalnacardock, YESTERDAY I had an express from the Post Master of Edinburg, with an enclos'd from the Duke of Newcastle, of a very old date, which by neglect was detain'd at the Post Office at least a fortnight; the letter being dated the 7th of August from Kensington. His Grace informs me by her Majesty's Command, that they have advice, that some of the Scotch who were with the Pretender are comeing home, in order to carry on some designs in his favour; ordering me to endeavour to discover and secure any such persons whom I may apprehend to be concerned therein, and to prevent any attempts or practices against his Majesty or his Government. He tells me likewise, that he has written to your Lordship on that Subject; and I suppose your letter may have been detain❜d as mine has been. I have wrote to Willy Grant, to be vigilent towards Gordon Castle, and to observe Glenbucket's motions, who I think a dangerous Fellow, and who I believe will be ready to play the fool if he is any way encouraged by the Agents from Abroad. I think the Troops are so disposed, that nothing can give us any sort of trouble, unless with the assistance of a foreign force; which makes me very easy and free of all apprehensions from the jacobite quarter. I shall leave this place this day se'nnight, stay a day or two at Fort William, and as long at Killyhunnen; and propose to be at Inverness about ye 10th or 12th of the next month; when I hope to have the pleasure of kissing your hand; being with the greatest sincerity Your very faithfull humble Serv GEORGE WADE. No. CXLIII. Dear Sir, Lord Advocate to Gen' Wade. WHEN I was at Inveraray, I received from the Duke of Newcastle a letter of the same Import, with what you tell me, in yours of the 27th of August, you had from his Grace. I immediately returned an Answer, That from the observations I had made, since my Arrival in Scotland, upon the Countenance and Conduct of the Disaffected, it appeared to me they did not at that time know of any project to give Disturbance, or of any Emissaries from Rome being come among them. But I promised, in my way through the Highlands, to be as attentive as possible to the motions of those people, and to report with greater Certainty on my arrival in this Country. In my progress from Argyleshire through Lorn, Mull, Lochaber, &c. I have been as inquisitive as prudence could permit; and I have the answers of some Letters which I wrote from Inveraray to Edin' upon this Subject; and the result of all confirms my former Opinion, That no Emissaries are hitherto come into Scotland; at least, that the Highlanders have not any knowledge or Expectation of their coming; and this I am resolved by the next post to signify to his Grace. It was because I took it for granted, that You had the same Directions as I had, that I did not attempt to send you Notice of what was wrote to me, notwithstanding the difficulty ficulty of coming at You, from the part of the World in which I then was. But, as I believed you had the same advice, and would readily frame the same Opinion of it, I thought it unnecessary to say any thing on the Subject till Meeting. I was so damnably tired of the Highlands, that I durst not venture on your mines. The History of me you will meet with in your Travels; I long to hear Yours. Never was penitent banished into a more barren Desart, to suffer for his sins, than what you have suffered in since your Confinement to Drumochlter. I hope, however, you have got safe out of it, and that this will find you in full Vigour of Mind and Body. I beg you may be so good as to direct John Baillie, who will deliver you this, to let me know when I may expect to see you at Inverness, fince you do not intend to be long at KillieI am, Dear Sir, Your most faithful, &c. whinnan. Bunchrew, 3 Sept 1729. D. F. No. CXLIV. My Lord, The Lord Advocate to the Duke of Newcastle. I HAVE the honour of your Grace's Letter of the 2nd Ins'; and w1 it the greatest pleasure in observing, that the Accounts I transmitted to your Grace, in mine of the 5th of August, were satisfactory. Since that time I had the Honour to acquaint your Grace, from Inverness the 5th Ins',* what I observ'd in my Travells through the Highlands; and I hope that also has proved to your Liking, as it confirms pretty much what I wrote formerly from Opinion only. As, in Obedience to her Majestie's Commands, I was resolved to make all possible inquiry into the Truth of those reports that had reached her, touching Designs carrying on in Scotland in favors of the Pretender, I made a Trip, since my last, through Stathearn to Badenoch; and from thence, cross the Country, to Gordon Castle. I have likewise found occasions of conversing with Gentlemen from almost all those parts of the Highlands where I have not been; and I am very glad to be able to assure your Grace, that, from all the Observations I could make, what I formerly wrote to your Grace is confirm'd, That there is not any project at present stirring in favours of the Pretender; that no Agents from him have lately come among them; and that if any one sent, the Highlanders hitherto know nothing of it. I propose yet to stay some days in this Country, and to make a different part of the Highlands from what I have already pass'd my way to Edinburgh, if the weather permit. If in that Expedition I can discover any thing further worth your Grace's notice, I shall have the honour to acquaint you with it. I am, with the most sincere Regard and Duty, Your Grace's most Obedient & most faithful Dear Sir, No. CXLV. The Lord Advocate to Sir Robert Walpole. I HAD your Note of 9th Instant inclosed with my Lord Duke's. It did me Good tho' very short, because it shew'd me that my friend was well. I heartily thank you for your Mindfulness of the getting in the presentation to the Living of By this post I have acquainted the Duke with my further Travells through the Highlands; which confirm me in the Opinion I formerly was of, that there is not at present the least thought among them of any Design in favour of the Pretender; and if any such thing should be set a foot, I am satisfy'd it could not long be kept Secret, nor with any hopes of success supported, considering the present situation of the people, and of the Troops. His Majesty's happy and early arrival from beyond Seas, spreads an Opinion, that the Parliament is to sit before Xmas, a thing that I should be sorry for my own Particular to see; but which, if it should happen, I ought to be prepared for. Pray, Dear Sir, be so good as to inform me what you know of this, when you find a Minute's leisure. I am, D' Sir, with perfect Esteem, I HAD the pleasure to receive yours of the 26th Sept' at Col' James Campbell's, who was so kind to give me good Quarters for two days on my way hither. On the day after you left us at Ruthven, the Knight and I travelled in my Coach with great ease and pleasure to the feast of Oxen, which the Highwaymen had prepared for us opposite to Lock Gary; where we found 4 roasting at the same time, in great order and solemnity. We dined in a Tent pitched for that purpose; the Beef was excellent; and we had plenty of Bumpers, not forgetting your Lord' and Colloden; and, after three hours stay, took leave of our Benefactors the Highwaymen, and arrived at the Hutt before it was Dark. The 5 dayes I continued there set me upon my leggs again, and enabled me to take a second Survey of the projected Road between Dalnacardock and Creif, which is to be the work of the next Summer.-I am very thankfull to you for your kind mediation of the treaty between her Grace and me.-I supp'd last night with Ilay at Lady Milton's, who, I found, had been informed of the whole affair, and of our Court of Judicature held at Ruthven, and disaproved of none of our proceedings, except the laft; in which, he said, he thought I had acted with too much lenity, or to that purpose. The Knight of the Bath is much your humble Servant; but more Colloden's, for he never fayles to remember him in a Bumper; though, in the main, I have interposed between him and the Bottle, and kept him sober ever since we parted. I wish you had as much influence over Colloden. The last post brought us no news. I shall go from hence on Monday Morning, and propose to be in London the day after the birth-day.-I have not yet the honour of her Grace's Grace's Letter. If you happen to see Willy Grant, desire him to lodge the Armes that were taken from her Grace's tennants in the Castle of Inverness. My Lord, M' Murdock to the Lord Advocate. Orleans, 24th June 1730. I HAD the honour of your Lordship's of the May some days ago; which was the more refreshing to Mr. Forbes & me, that it had been so long expected; though the multiplicity of Business you have upon your hands during the Session of Parliament, and, which we hear of with the greatest concern, your still unconfirmed state of health, were but too good reasons of your silence. The apprehension your Lordship has been under, that his head might suffer by some civilitys he met with on the road will be over, when I assure you that any vanity of that sort is not his foible: on the contrary, if he were fit for it, I should think the very best Company to which he could have admittance the properest for him. This would inspire him with a certain ambition of a polite and manly behaviour, which he wants as much as any thing, and which is no where else to be learned. As for study, properly so called, from several Experiments we have had sufficient leisure here to make, I find no such thing is to be expected of him; he is ever ready, in very good earnest, to own the necessity of redeeming the time he has lost, and to enter into resolutions and schemes for that purpose; but the issue is generally such as satisfy's me there is a want of power more than of will; and indeed when one cannot conceive things with that ease and distinctness as to take pleasure in contemplating them, how is it possible the attention should be engaged to any purpose? The next care is, that if he is not distinguisht, he may at least be easy to himself and others, in Society; and that he be not remarkably defective in the ordinary accomplishments of a Gentleman who does not pretend to be a Scholar; and this I doubt not he will be able to compass. His inclination runs chiefly upon the Army, which I had lately an occasion of discovering. He had read in the Gazette, that there was some appearance of a War, and that some of the British Troops were in that case to be sent abroad. Upon this he took a resolution, if the War was of any continuance, to join them some time at least before their return to Britain; for," said he, "I shall by this means have an opportunity of learning something of the trade; and of enlisting myself with a better grace, than I could afterwards do at home." This notion he was so full of, that if some other Newspapers had not spoke of the thing as doubtful, he would certainly have before now wrote to your Lordship himself about it. In the mean time, he is, upon his own proper motion, taking a lesson of Fortification and Gunnery once a day; besides what French we have read for the sake of the language, and some attempts to recover the Latin, cast Accompts, write English, &c. We lighted on a very good Book, called "La maniere d'Enseigner et d'Etudier les Belles Lettres, par Rollin," containing, amongst other things, extracts of some of the best passages of the Greek and Roman History. These he read once and again with pleasure. He is now busy with the History of Louis 14. This your Lordship may possibly think preposterous; but that period is so remarkable, and is so much the subject of conversation, that it was necessary he should look into it as soon as possible. Besides, a course of History that is tolerably complete being too large an undertaking 66 for for us; and one that is not, so imperfect and unentertaining; I thought the best way would be to pick up the most useful and remarkable passages, and connect them into a sort of body afterwards. For Learning, or Learned Men, there is scarce such a thing to be heard of in this place. The fathers are all busy in their Shops, and the Sons at their diversion; and, except a Family or two where we pay a visit once a Week, we have little more acquaintance than when we came here. There is a sort of Theatre too for some time past, where Racine and Corneille do penance; Harlequin comes off on better terms. In two months or so, we may, if your Lordship pleases, be steering down the river, which will be the easiest and cheapest way of moving towards our winter quarters; and we will at the same time have an opportunity of seeing several places worth while by the way. Mr. Forbes offers his affectionate and humble duty; and I remain, My Laird of Culodin, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient humble Ser1, No. CXLVIII. Lord Lovat to M' John Forbes. PAT. MURDOCK. I AM persuaded y' you will be very well pleas'd to know y' I bless God, I have this afternoon gained my cause, two to one. Ther was but four Votes upon y Bench against me; Dunn, Roistown, Newhall, and the Justice Clark, who shewed his spite to ye last, but to little purpose; the eight for me are, the President, Grange, Cowpar, Miltown, Drumore, Minto, Muny, and Henning. ** said, he would not vote in y cause, and Poltown was ; but what he spoke was for me. The Speakers on my side were, Grange, Drumore, Miltown, and ye President; and I am told, that they beat to pieces all ye arguments yt Roistown, Dunn, and Newhall advanced. In short, I have gained it w' honour and advantage. I cannot tell you how much I owe to Duncan; but I can freely tell you, y' he was full as sanguine in it as if it had been your Cause; so y' since he was His Majesty's Advocate, he never took so much pains in any cause every manner of way. I hope he has now established a family y' will be forever faithful to the Rooftree of Culodin; and I beg y' you may believe y there is not a Forbes come out of your family y' loves and respects you more than I do and yt I am while I live, with zeal and affection, IT being his Majesty's pleasure, that every the estate reall and personall of Coll' Charteris, wch became forfeited to the Crown, upon his being lately convicted of a Rape, shou'd be granted and restored to him: The Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury desire you to give Warrants to the Clerk of the Petty Bagg, to make forth so many Commissions as you shall judge necessary to be passed under the great seal of Great Brittain, and to be directed to such and so many particular persons as shall |