one from Grant the 3 Nov; one from Ld Reay the 4th Nov"; and ane other Company from the E. of Sutherland, of the same number, on the 8th of Nov": so that we are at present more secure from insults in this Neighbourhood than we were heretofore. When Loudon first arrived, we had our handsfull to do. The Rebells' successes at & near Ed', together with the numberless lyes that were told, had blown up the spirit of mutiny to such a pitch, that nothing was heard of but caballing, & gathering together of Men in the neighbourhood; every petty head of a tribe, who was in any degree tinged with Jacobiteism, or desperate in his circumstances, assembled his kindred, & made use of the most mutinous to drag the most peaceable out of their beds, & to force others to list by threatning destruction to their Cattle & other effects; whilst we were unable to give them any assistance or protection. Loudon was in ane open defenceless Town, with no more than 150 Highlanders of his own Reg', liable to the insults of a very restless neighbourhood; but his vigilance secured his handfull of men, & the peace of that Town, untill the Independant Comp arrived successively; & I was obliged to take more than ordinary Care of myself; as upon a notion which did me too much honour, that I obstructed more than any body the Rebells' game in this Country, they had formed a design of laying hold of me, which they attempted in the Night between the 15th & 16th of Oct', by attacking my house with a party of about 200 Men; but they were repulsed, & the attempt did them rather harm than good; as it was generally disaproved of by the gross of the Country. Whilst we were in this Situation, the zeal of the Jacobites exerted itself not a little: many Emissaries were sent Northwards from Ed'; & amongst those, Angey Mac Donell, Glengary's 2 Son, who calls himself Coll". Mac Donald of Barisdale, & Mac Donald of Kanloch Muidart. By their industry disturbance was raised which we had not expected, & were not able altogether to prevent. Some Tribes, dependant on the Clanchattan, such as Macgilvray's, Mac Bean's, &c. began to stir; and notwithstanding all the means that could without force (which we had not) be used, march'd to the Southward to the number of about 200, & were as last Saturday got no further than Perth. The Frasers also, in the Aird & Strathharrick, that is, on the North side & South side of Lochness, began to stir, headed by the Master of Lovat, who had been debauch'd by those Emissarys, as the Lord Lovat affirms, & forced the Kindred to take Arms, much against his Lop's inclinations, & in defiance of his Authority. These Gentlemen began with blocking up Fort Augustus, by cutting off the communication betwixt it & Inverness, & with attempting to surprise me'; & they have since proceeded to form themselves into regular Comp", which, it is said, will consist of ten or eleven, & may amount together to 5 or 600 men. Your Lop will easily believe I left nothing that was in my power undone to prevent, or at least to protract, their marching; and tho' I have not succeeded so as to make them lay aside their design, yet the means used have had such effect, that they have not as yet march'd out of this Country; & I have still some hopes, that if the additionall force, which we look for from Sir Alex' Mac Donald & Mac Leod, come in time, they will consider better befor they leave this neighbourhood. This commotion among the Frasers I did not look for; but what surprised me more was, ane intrigue, carry'd on by means of the E. of Cromerty, to debauch the Mac Kenzies from their Chief the Lord Fortrose, who is extremely zealous for his Majestie's Gov', & to draw them into Rebellion. This design was so well masked, that tho' I had severall hints of it, I could not give credite to them. The Earl visited me at this place full of the strongest assurances of zeal for his Majestie, with offers of all his Men to be employed in the Service; & tho' he afterwards declined accepting one of the Independant Comp", which I offered to his Son, yet he wrote me a Letter, assuring me, that his sole in

tention

tention in bringing Men together was, to make out his original Declaration to me; but when it appeared that he was acting in conjunction with Mac Donald of Barisdale, already mentioned, who was employ'd in forcing the Men of Assint and Lochbroom into the Rebellion, all means possible were used to disappoint the design. Barisdale miscarry'd in his project, & Lord Fortrose brought down some hundreds of his Kintail & Loch Carron Men, who bridled the Mackenzies with whom Lord Cromerty had been tampering; so that he has not been able to prevail with above 150 or 160 of them to march. With those he & his Son march'd last Saturday to Urquhart, on the North side of Lochness, with intent, as was said, to wait for the Frasers, & with them to march Southwards. Haveing thus given your Lop a sketch of the disagreeable, it is reasonable, in the next place, to give your Lop some view of the agreeable side of our situation. Lord Fortrose is as zealous as it is possible to be; &, but for the intrigue I have just mentioned, would have had his clan intirely unanimous. He has named Officers for 2 Independant Comp", & the men have hitherto been placed at Brahan Castle, & the neighbourhood, to prevent the operations of those that intend to foment the Rebellion. When there shall be no further occasion for that Service, they shall be disposed of otherwise; & his Lop has promised to furnish a 3d Comp. Sir Alex' Mac Donald and Mac Leod have been of vast use for preventing the growth of the Rebellion: their example & influence has done much good; & as the other Highlanders had flattered themselves with the hopes of their assistance, the disappointment exasperates them, & has made them vow revenge, which by all means possible must be prevented. Should the Highlanders, after they are repulsed, return in any thing like a body, they have had notice to furnish two Indepen' Comp each; & tho' their Country is very distant, I expect them at Ins hourly. When that happens, we shall be able to check the Rebells' further recruiting. What has prevented the more early arrival of those Compy, & retarded the raiseing of others, is, that till the arrivall of the Saltash Sloop of War, with the Tender that brought the Arms & some money, we could not set about raiseing more than we could arm & pay. That vessell, with the Tender, was, it seemes, detain'd at the Nore by order of the Admiralty, for Convoy, for 10 days after the date of your Lop's Letter to me of the 1st of Oct'; & after she arrived at Cromerty, was prevented to come up to the road of Inverness by cross winds till the 31"; since which time she has been there, takeing in water, & waiting for the dispatches which she now carries. So soon as we were possest of the Arms, the necessary directions were given for bringing together the Comp's I have already mentioned, with a Company to be form'd of the Rosse's of Balnegown, & ane other Comp of the Grants, besides some Comp" more, which I am endeavouring to bring together for immediate service. When we are possest of this force, we shall effectually prevent any further recruiting for the Rebells, & dispose ourselves to do what, according to circumstances, shall appear to be further necessary to distress them. The service that seems to claim our first & earlyest attention is, the opening the communication with, & supplying Fort Augustus, which we shall set about immediately; & the next seems to be the delivering Murray, Bamf, & Aberdeen shires, from partys the Rebells, who have come North to levy money & raise recruits in these Countys, under the direction of ane unhappy young Man, Lord Lewis Gordon: his Brother, the Duke of Gordon, has not been in good health for some weeks past, & has for that reason not been able to do that service to the Gov' that might have been expected from him; but the Rebells have not had the least encouragement from him; & to that it is in a great measure oweing, that they make very small progress in recruiting in places where, in former times, multitudes would have joined them. We shall, however, soon find ourselves in a condition to send some Independ' Comp that

of

way, which will prevent the opression that is felt in that neighbourhood, where I am glad to be able to assure your Lop, that, in place of what was impudently asserted by the Rebells at Ed', that all the Freeholders of Aberdeenshire, except four, had join'd them, of about fourscore Freeholders, who voted at the last Election for a member of Parliament, two only join'd the Rebells. After performing those services, we shall apply ourselves to do what shall, according to circumstances, appear to us the most conducive to the putting ane end to the present Rebellion, untill particular directions shall be received from his Majestie, or from those that have the Command of his forces; & to the end that we may receive these with as little loss of time as possible, I have prevail'd with Capt" Pitman, of the Saltash, to make the best of his way to Newcastle; droping, if possible, Letters at Berwick for the Commander in Chief of his Majestie's Army in the North, giveing an Account of our present condition, & from Newcastle to forward the dispatches he carries, by land, to London by express. He agrees to remain at Newcastle, takeing in what provisions he wants, 8 or 10 days, untill he may receive dispatches from London for us, & then to return with them to this Country. I say he has agreed to those things at my request, because he does not appear to have had orders to follow such directions as he should receive from me; but, on the contrary, by his last orders from Capt" Rodney, of the Ludlow Castle, was directed to return towards the Firth of Forth, & to take further orders from such superior officers as he should meet with. He has however, from his zeal for the service, agreed to what was proposed; & I have given him a letter to any superior officer he may meet with, requesting that he may be permitted to proceed in the execution of what he has undertaken. Now, that this may be effectuall, what I humbly suggest to your Lop is, that Capt" Pitman be ordered by the Admiralty to proceed with such dispatches as he may receive from your Lop, from Newcastle to Inverness, & to receive directions there, from E. Loudon and me, or either of us. The necessity of haveing such a Vessell constantly employ'd between England & this Country, untill the communication is perfectly open, is obvious; and the reason why I propose Capt" Pitman for that service is, besides his being a carefull officer, that he is now acquainted with this Firth, and can make better dispatch than any other. The Arms which the Saltash brought us are just 1500 stand; & those, with what we had before, is little more than sufficient to arm the 20 Independent Comp", supposeing them to be compleated, & kept up to their present establishment. Now, as severall Kindreds in this Country have, on the present occasion, shown their Zeal for the Gov', & thereby render'd themselves obnoxious to its Enemys, it seems highly just as well as expedient, at this juncture, to trust them with some Arms, that they may be enabled to defend themselves as well as they can against any who may think fit to attack them; especially whilst the Comp" which they have furnish'd for his Majestie's Service may be employed elsewhere; & therefor I must humbly submitt it to your Lop whether it may not be fit, without loss of time, to send us down from the Tower some more Arms to be delivered out, as occasion shall require, from Fort George; upon the receipt of the respective Gentlemen whose Kindreds are to make use of them, obligeing themselves to return the Arms when required. Another thing which your Lop will think of is, a further supply of money. L Loudon brought some alongst with him, which has set us a going. The Saltash has brought £4000 of the money, imprest into the hands of Geo. Ross, as Agent for the Independent Comp". This is all the coin we have, to answer not only the pay of Troops, but all other incidents, which, considering our situation, & the tools we have to work with, must be numerous, and attended with some expence. We must, therefor, make use of the Cash we have, to answer all necessary purposes, without being confined

confined to its originall destination ; & as all trade & credite is in these parts, by the interuption for so long a time, now at a full stand, what I humbly submitt to your Lop as fit to be done is, that some more money may without loss of time be by sea sent down to us, to be deliver'd to E. Loudon, or me, for the publick service, & to be accounted for. Your Lop may easily believe neither he nor I would choose to entangle ourselves with such ane account; but the thing seems necessary to be done, and we have now gone too far to stick at any thing that is for the service. Your Lop will observe, that unless the cash can be furnished at Newcastle, to come North with the Saltash, it must be sent from the River. I should be to blame, if I did not inform your Lop, that the E. of Sutherland has shewn a very becomeing Zeall on this occasion. The Comp that were expected from him were brought together, & join'd us without loss of time; & nothing in his power will, I am confident, be wanting to promote the service. L Reay sent us his Son, with a very handsome Comp ; & the Munro's, whose situation is indeed the nearest, were, as your Lop will observe from the 1" paragraph of this Letter, the first that came in. What the Event of all our endeavours may be, I cannot foretell; but this much we have to say, that of the many thousands whom the Rebells boasted they expected from this Country, after their success at Prestonpans, & for whom they waited so long, no one, except Macpherson, of Clunie, & his posse, have as yet join'd them; & that, except those whom I have already observed to be in motion, & of whose proceedings I have at present no certain intelligence, no one will in all probability be able to stir from this Neighbourhood. The case of Macpherson, of Clunie, is, that he had very lately a Capt"s Commission in the E. of Loudon's Regt; he attended Sir John Cope on his march to Inš, & was allowed to go to his own house for a night, in order to bring his Comp' together, to join Sir John on his march. He was seiz'd by the Rebells that Night in his house, whether with or without his consent did not then appear, nor does it now, otherwise than as, after haveing been carry'd about with the Highlanders as a prisoner for some Weeks, he at last listed in their service, return'd to Badenoch, &, partly by perswasion, partly by violence, prevail'd with the greatest part of his Kindred, to the number of about 300, to go along with him to the Highland Camp, which they reach'd before the Rebells left Ed'. I have great cause to ask your Lop's pardon for this very long, confused, & ill wrote letter, which I wish you may be able to read; but as I had a multitude of things to say of which your Lop will judge better than I can, what was, or was not, materiall to be made known, I chose, knowing your Lop's patience, to lay them all before you, that you may make the proper use of them. It's possible the Vessell may be detain'd a day longer; in that case, I shall, either by a postscript or a separate letter, acquaint your Lop with any thing material that happens. I am, with perfect esteem,

My Lord, your Lop's most ob' & most humble Serv', &c.

No. CCXCIV.

The Lord President to M' (afterwards Sir And") Mitchell.

My Dear Andrew,

13 Nov, 1745.

I AM mortally tired with writeing a letter to the Marquis of ane immoderate length, & in a hand so like Arabick that I doubt your help will be wanted to decipher it; but it was impossible to make it shorter, and I am but a bad scribe; besides that, I have much more business on my hands at present to disturb my attention than I

K K

should

you will

should have had, if the Rebells had permitted me to go throw the course of the Session att Ed' when I came first into this Country, tho' I was not just treading in the path of a Chief Juftice. The prospect was very flattering, & the errand I came on had no appearance of difficulty; but the Rebells' successes at Ed' & Prestonpans soon changed the scene. All Jacobites, how prudent soever, became mad; all doubtfull people became Jacobites; & all Bankrupts became heroes, & talk'd nothing but hereditary rights & victory; &, what was more grievous to men of gallantry, & if you will believe me much more mischievous to the publick, all the fine Ladys, if except one or two, became passionately fond of the young Adventurer, & used all their Arts & Industry for him in the most intemperate manner. Under these circumstances, I found myself almost alone, without Troops, without Arms, without money or credite; provided with no means to prevent extream folly, except pen & ink, a tongue, & some reputation; & if you will except Mac Leod, whom I sent for from the Isle of Sky, supported by nobody of common sense or courage. Had Arms & money come when they were first call'd for, befor these unexpected successes blew up. folly to madness, I could have answered it with my head, that no Man from the North should have join'd the original flock of Rebells that pass'd the Forth; and even as it has happen'd, it is no small consolation to me, that, except Macpherson, of Clunie, whose force does not exceed 300, none from the North have reach'd them in time to march alongst with them Southwards from Ed; that no more than 200 of the Clanchattan have march'd, who had got as last Saturday no further than Perth; & that, notwithstanding the restless endeavours of the E. of Cromertie, the Master of Lovat, & others, no more than 150 or 100 of the Mackenzies have been debauched, & that even those have not as yet pass'd the Coriyarrig; no more than the Frasers, who, to the number of 5 or 600, have flock'd to Arms, & who possibly may think better, if the weather permitt the force which we hourly expect from the Isle of Sky to join us quickly, befor they leave their Country exposed. By this diversion, his Majestie's Army will have a much smaller body of Highlanders to deal with to the Southward, than otherwise they should have had; & if a small number of Troops could be spared from it, to take possession of Ed', & secure the foords on the Forth; as on the one hand, the small number of Highlanders that are marching towards Ed' could not join their Brethren; so on the other, the retreat of those who march'd towards England would be cut off; but this, if practicable, has doubtless been done befor this time. the Indepen' Comp", I have disposed of such of them as are hitherto given with the greatest discretion I was master of; following this rule, to bestow them on such as could be trusted, & could most quickly bring their Men together for the service. I shall have a dozen of them together soon, & some more in a little time; and in this operation I should have succeeded better, but for the folly and roguery of mankind, which finds many ways of exerting itself. You will naturally observe, that the cutting off the communication with the rest of Scotland confined the nomination of the Officers of these Companys to the North,

As to

E. Loudon's Arrivall has been a vast relief to me; his skill & dilligence, join'd to patience and a very obligeing behaviour, must be of very great service to the Publick at this Juncture, when those talents are so much wanted, & so scarce. As I am pretty much fatigued with wielding the Pen, give me leave to conclude; but befor I do so, to put you in mind, that I have hardly seen a common London print for a month past; & that any thing that you may be pleased to entertain me with, in my La Marquis's La packet, will come probably safe.

I am, my Dear Andrew, truly yours, &c.
No. CCXCV.