Regiments of Dutch on board Transports are now between London and this place, to remain here under the Command of Major Gen' Huske. 700 of the Dutch are landed at Berwick; and the ten Battallions of British landed at Gravesend on Sunday last; so I doubt not but a great Body will soon be in this part of the kingdom, sufficient to quell all further attempts of the Rebels. By the Acco" we yesterday had, they remained encamped near Edinburgh, and were in number now about 8000. I am, my Lord, To the Rt Hon ble the Ld President. Your Lordship's most Obedient hile Serv', No. CCLXXI. My L. P. General Wightman to the Lord President. Newcastle, 26th Septem' 1745. I CAME to Edinburgh from Potosi on the 10th instant, after having sett my Smelt Miln agoing, & put every thing in such order, under the direction of an active agent, as my affairs will go on successfully in my absense, without any interruption. I found the honest people in the City very zealous, and G. D. & I. N. very active; but soon perceived the Provost was a dead weight upon them, acting in the little subtil sly way. I assisted Mr McLaurin in forming a plan for fenceing the City, in some such manner as was done A° 1715, which somewhat was done before I left the City on Monday the 16 at noon; but nothing to the purpose. I soon saw the Provost's Plott; which was, to render all the efforts of the honest people of the Town vain, by arming the train'd bands, & critically raising a tumult in the City, which would have issued in their utter ruin. I therefore apprized my friends of their danger, & put the enclosed paper into G. D.'s hands; the effect whereof was, that the Volunteers laid down their Arms about 5 hours after I left the City. The Provst having declined to consent to the admission of the Dragoons, or even to invite 100 of them to assist in its defence, next morning betwixt 5 & 6 o'clock the Rebells entered, by a concerted surprize, whereof you have doubtless heard the particulars before this can come to your hand. I retired to Cockence without a servant or Clog-bag, mounted on a borrowed horse, having only about 5 Crowns in pocket; and next morning I sett out for Dunbar, to find out S Jo. Cope, and found him there disembarking the troops; where I continued till Thursday, and then accompanied him in his march, acting the part of a detached Volunteer, to get intelligence of the Rebells, without being so much as known to the G", or having any communication with the Ministers of State. Mounted on my old little Cropt Galloway, I was determined to witness the issue of that march (tho' I did not approve of it), and to be a near spectator of the Battle, if any such thing should happen; and therefor I posted myself by break of day on Saturday morning on the Rear of Hamilton's Dragoons, about a Muskett shott from them, and had not stationed myself above 3 minutes, when the scuffle begun (I say scuffle, for battle it was not), which lasted about 4 minutes, and no longer; for Hamilton's Dragoons, who were upon the left wing, wheel'd to the right, thereby disordering L' Loudoun's Highlanders, who stood next to them, and fled towards Coll. Gardner's House, upon the approach of the Edinburgh Riff-Raff Volunteers, without firing, or being fired upon, and without drawing a sword. The fix Field Pieces, which were placed on the right wing, were discharged only once, and only 12 platoons were fired. When all was in Rout, I stayed in my station, calm & fearless, till I saw all the Drati goons goons quite out of the field, & the-foot surrounded on all sides; and then marched off, accompanied by Lord Drummore (who lay w' G. D. & me, at M' Mathie's house in Cockence all night), through Prestonpans, & through his Parks to Pinkie Mains, & thence directly to Carberry; whence we travelled very gravely by Cranston to Falla, where we stopt, & awaited the G', who came thither with about 500 of the 700 Dragoons, accompanied by La Loudoun, L' Hume, & Geo. Drummond, who would needs fight among the Dragoons, mounted on an old Dragoon horse of M Mathie's, q" he bought for £4, & employed in drawing his cart. He could not get up to the right to joyn Gardner's Dragoons, as he intended, before the scuffle began, and therefor joyned Hamilton's, by whom he was swept away out of the field, to his great good luck, & my great comfort. He is now at Berwick, acting the part of Secretary to G" Cope. I accompanied him to Gingle Kirk, and then left him on his way with the Dragoons to Lauder, and traveled gravely, as I used to do, to Coldstream, by way of Grindley, and came thence hither, accompanied by S' Ja. Carnagie, from. Woolerhoughhead to Morpeth, where I found Baron Clerk and his family, who passed through this place yesterday to Durham. I came hither with a design to be of some use to my friend in his present active sphere, for which he is the only person in the Corporation who is qualified, and purposeto stay with him while I can be of any use; lodged with him as usuall; and, thus opportuned to know all that passes, possibly I may once more go out to get intelligence into the antient kingdom, and even go as far as Cockence, mounted on one of the best of his horses, attended by a servant. I am of opinion, the Rebells will move Westward into the shire of Air by way of Glasgow; there to await the arrival of the Ferrol squadron, and then march thro' Nithsdale to Carlisle by way of Dumfries. In which case, Edinburgh & the 3 Lothians may be recover'd by a handfull of Men, with whom I will go home; and if I find I can be of no use in the City, Ile return to Potosi, if another shoal of pestilential attoms does not come South from your Region. The true English spirit is roused, and I'm in no pain for the issue, tho' every Highland man, and all the Jacobites in Scotland, were collected under the Pretender's Banner, & advanced into England. But if the French land an army from Flanders near London, then the abomination of desolation encompasses our Metropolis, and we are in the utmost danger how soon his reign commences; the issue whereof I very well know, and will advise all my particular friends to quit the Island, unless they have a mind to take the mark of the Beast on their forehead; i. e. go to Mass, thereby declaring themselves Papists; or on their right hand, by acting for a Popish Pretender, as, alas! shoals of my poor Countrymen are doing, at the expence of being tormented with fire & brimstone for ever & ever. A letter from you, directed hither, will be a mighty solace to one who is unalterably your's, ROBERT WIGHTMAN. LoDowIC: XV. DCLXVI. The foot are almost all prisoners, 1300 in number, together wt 60 Officers; who are in the D. of Q- -ry's house; among whom is Coll. Hacket & Tam Lindsay, who were thought to be killed.-Honest, pious, bold Gardner died in the field, & was stript very nigh to his own house, as is said. I believe he prayed for it, and gott his desire; for his state of health was bad, & his heart was broken with the behaviour of the Irish dogs whom he commanded. My Dear L. P. No. CCLXXII. The Same to the Same. Newcastle, Septem2 30th 1745. THE Ship bound for Aberdeen not being as yet failed, Lord Loudoun brings you this packet, in which you have a Copy of the paper found in Hickson's Clog-bag, which occasioned his cutting his own throat in Prison on Saturday morning. He is under the Surgeon's hand, & wishes to live; if the wound superat [suppurate] he will recover, and probably make great discoveries of the Persons with whom he was to traffique, who, I'm affraid, are not a few in this town & county. Herewith you'll also have a copy of the D. of N:Castle's last letter to ye Mayor, if I can get it copyed; by which you'll see the state of things from an authentic voucher. The 600 Dutch who landed at Berwyk are on their way hither, that the whole corps may be collected here. I'm sorry for it, because I think it will encourage the Rebells to make an attempt upon Berwyk, which otherwise they would not have dared to do; and perhaps induce them, after they are masters of it, to try what they can do here, and will have other mischievous consequences, if they get hither before our Army is formed; at the same time that it will discourage the people left for the defence of Berwyk, who are only 3 Companys of Blakeney's, & the townsmen. particulars, I refer you to L Loudoun, and ever am No. CCLXXIII. As to other Inviolably your's, R. W. INSTRUCTIONS by the Young Pretender, before his March into England. YOU are hereby authorized and directed to repair forthwith to England, and there notifie to my friends, and particularly those in the North & North-west, the wonderful success with which it has hitherto pleased God to favour my endeavours for their deliverance. You are to let them know, that it is my full intention, in a few days, to move towards them; and that they will be inexcuseable before God & Man, if they do not all in their power to assist & support me in such an undertaking. What I demand & expect is, That as many of them as can should be ready to joyn me; and that they should take care to provide Provisions & Money, that the Country may suffer as little as possible by the march of my Troops. Let them know that there is no more time for deliberation; now or never, is the word. I am resolved to conquer or perish. If this last should happen, let them judge what they & their posterity have to expect. C. P. R. N. B. Hickson was apprehended & put into Newgate at Newcastle, on Friday the 27th of Sept', and came from Edinburgh on ye 24th, the day after the skuffle of d My Lord, |