9thly When the Highlanders are deprived of their Arms, and thereby that diversion which is the greatest incentive to their idleness, i. e. hunting, is cut off, it is to be hoped the advantages which they must see in their neighbourhood acrueing from industry, may naturally lead them to it, or, at least, may induce them to send their children to the nearest stations, to be instructed in husbandry, and the other arts and manufactures that may be there acquired. Iothly As the demand at the Stations for provisions, and necessaries of all kinds, must raise considerably the Value of all the Commodities which the Highlands produce, and thereby encourage the inhabitants to that industry which may produce those Commodities in greater quantity and in greater perfection; if feeling the benefit thence flowing can induce the Highlanders to put some value on property more than they at present do, it is to be hoped the enthusiastic regard for their Chiefs will subside, and some regard for the Security of their property, the Laws, may take place of it. It is remarkable, that in some districts bordering upon the Highlands, where within memory the inhabitants spoke the Irish Language, wore the Highland dress, and were accustomed to make use of Arms, upon the accidental introduction of industry, the Irish Language and Highland dress gave way to a sort of English, and lowland Cloath. ing; the Inhabitants took to the Plough in place of Weapons; and, tho' disarmed by no Act of Parliament, are as tame as their Low Country neighbours. If the hints now flung out are deemed worthy of being carried into execution, the particular manner of establishing those Stations, and the Boroughs consequent on them, and of effectually disarming and establishing Posts for that purpose, may be considered in detail; as also the manner of giving a free course to the Laws in that wild Country. My dear Lord, No. CCCXLIV. Mr. Normand Mac Leod to the Lord President. THIS day Lord Lovat was brought to the Bar of the house of Peers, to give in Answers to the Articles of Impeachment exhibit against him; which he did; his answers were a denial, but seemed to be well drawn up, and properly worded. He then presented two petitions to the Lords: the first set furth, that the Factor apointed on his Estate had not complied with the Orders of the House; nor had Capt" Ferguson restored his strong box with his money, tho' ordered so to do by a Warrant from the De of Newcastle by His Majesty's Command; saying, he was in the same Condition as before, destitute of money to support himself, or to provide for his defence; prayed for relief, &c. The Chancellor spoke first, and shewed with great eloquence the fittness of all that had been done in Scotland to suppress the most unnatural and unprovoked Rebellion that ever was raised; shewed its conformity to the Laws of England, the laws of Nations, and of Common Sense; mentioned precedents of things done in the Irish Rebellion, after the Revolution, and cited opinions of some English Lawyers, The D. of Newcastle made a very proper encomium on what the C- -r had said, and told the steps that had been taken, by order of his Majesty, with regard to the money Ferguson had, and with regard to his Estate; and read a part of the Advocate's letter, shewing he had comply'd with the first Order from the Crown, as well as with that from the house of Peers: he then said, as to the money Ferguson had, he had been ordered to deliver it up; but on his representing that he looked on it as fair prize, belonging - to himself and the Seamen with him, it would be hard to rob him of it, till it was known whether it was so or not; which could not be certainly ascertained, till the event of Lord Lovat's Trial; so that matter was to rest there. In the end, he moved C for rejecting the Petition. Lord Granville spoke next, agreed entirely with the r's exposition of the Law, and said he would even go further, and cited a very learned and eminent Lawyer of our Country, M' Craigie, who had lately, in the Case of Hamilton, wrote a very fine paper on that Subject; and made an encomium on him in much finer words than I can pretend to remember; but said, that they were to support their own order and dignity, and do justice, without shewing favour or resentment. That the Prisoner had made a legal Demand, and that it must have a legal answer; and that the Petition could not be rejected, but on the supposal of falshood in the Allegation. On which, the D. of Newcastle said, it was on that Supposal he moved it, and referred to the Advocate's letter. The D. of Argyle then said, that the debate might have been much shortened, as it was only Allegation, and no proof offered to support it; which the house ought not to notice; said, that something more was couched in the petition than appeared openly, and meant, if possible, to throw dust in their eyes; that if it was real want of Support to defend himself, that the petitioner knew well little or nothing could be got out of his Estate, or any other Highland one, for that purpose, by the unhappy situation those parts had been in for some time past. So it carried, to reject that Petition; on which the prisoner desired to be brought to the Bar; and told the Lords he had heard that it had been thrown out [because] he had no proof of the Allegations in his petition: he said, he came prepared with full and legal proof, and had an instrument or protest in his hand, taken against the Factor, for not complying with the Orders of the house; but that paper was refused. He said some strong things with regard to his unhappy situation, and read some strong epithets with regard to Ferguson and the Factor, and seemed to be very much moved on the order for his withdrawing the second time. There was a very full house; and his Royal Highness the Duke attended, as did almost all the members of our house in Town, you may be sure. His second petition was, desiring leave for his Agent, WillTM Fraser, to have access to him; which was granted, with the proviso of an Officer of the Tower being present; which proviso was proposed by the Duke of Argyle, and agreed to. Several of your acquaintance enquire frequently for you. I ever am yours, London, Jan 13th, 1747. No. CCCXLV. From Sir Arthur Forbes to the Lord President. Ń. M. L. London, April 9th, 1747. IT's astonishing w' what resolution and sang-froid Lovat dyed to-day. He said, one of his predecessors 500 Years ago had dyed in the same way for his principles; that his principles had been constant and invariable; that in the course of his life he had never betrayed them, nor any body; nor should any Peer or Commoner be hurt from what he should say. He ended at Dulce et Decorum est, &c. and laid down his head. His Conversation in the Tower has all along been in the same strain. He said, the Day before he dyed, he was never in better spirits; and did tell Doct' Clark, that the Tower was a better receipt for the spirits than the Vomits he used to give him. Yours, &c. A. F. Tho' Macleod could write you many more things (at least as I suppose), he desires to be excused till Saturday. Lovat said, he dyed as a Christian, and as a Highland Chief should do; that is, not in his Bed. I'm seized w' a Maladie du pais; so must see ye soon. No. CCCXLVI. My good Lord, No. CCCXLVI. Mr. Alex. Brodie to the Lord President. AS Sir Arthur and M'Leod write to you so frequently the occurrences here, I need not trouble you with a repetition of them; especially as, since Tuesday last, there has nothing remarkable happened, except Lovat's dying with courage and decency, forgiving all Mankind. He, I am told, blamed your Lordship & M Leod for somewhat; but I have not heard the particular. I hear, he blamed Gortuleg, to whose care he trusted some of the papers produced against him; and said, that Gortuleg was a Pupil or a Spy of your Lop and McLeod. Sir Lud. Grant tells me, he regretted ever having differed with his Family; and that his provocation agt Sir James Grant was, that your Lop told him, Sir James had solicited to take away his Company from him. London, April 11th, 1747. My good Lord, Your Lop's most faithful, most obed', No. CCCXLVII. The Earl of Stair to the Lord President. Edr, Ap' 30th, 1747. My dear Lord, I GIVE your Lop the trouble of this Message, to thank you for the many marks of your friendship which I have received; and to beg of your Lop, that you will now & then take into your Consideration, & give your best Advice to my family, which very probably may fall into distress; tho for many years past the family has been, without varying, attach'd to the Honor & Interest of their Country; & tho' I myself, personally, have had the good luck to be usefull more than once to the present Royal Family. My dear Lord, I shall not make you any other compliment on your behaviour as to publick matters of late, than of my haveing seen & approv'd of most of the things you transacted dureing the Rebellion; &, as far as I understood, of what your Lop propos'd for makeing an end of this unhappy Rebellion. I am, with the greatest affection & esteem, my dear Lord, Your most obedient & most hble Servant, No. CCCXLVIII, Mr. Fox to the Lord President Forbes. STAIR My Lord, War Office, June 1, 1747. I AM commanded by H. M. to write to you, & to desire that your Nephew would use the utmost expedition in raising a Company, of which he is to be Captain, to consist of 100 Men, 4 Serj" 4 Corporals & drums; which are to be at Portsmouth by the 25th * He indeed died nobly, repeating several quotations in Latin, especially the Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori of Horace. He ate heartily during his whole confinement, even the morning of his execution, and went to the scaffold in cheerful and easy conversation with those about him. He gave the executioner some instructions and ten guineas. The purse brought to him for holding the money was not so handsome as his Lordship wished; but he said, few people such as the executioner would refuse it with ten guineas, of of August next; where they will find Arms, Accoutrements, & Cloathing; and it is H. M's particular direction to me, that I desire you not to be nice as to the principles of those you enlist; but, on the contrary, rather to chuse those whose loyalty has of late been most suspicious. They are desigd for foreign & not European service. Your Nephew has been wrote to, by order of M' Pelham; but there is not time to wait for his answer. These Companys are much sought, because it is thought they are to go to the E. Indies; and, in confidence, I will to you own, that I believe they are. 1st L' is an -pay Ensign, & a Scot, a good Officer, & the two 2" L" are left for your recommendation of such as are most serviceable to you in raising Men. Should y Nephew decline this Command, you will, I hope however, employ two 2" L's to be recommended by you in raising the Company in the Manner above prescrib'd, & let me know it.. I am, with great Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient humble Serv', The H. FOX. Mr. Adair, who is Agent to these Companys, will send you this Letter by Express; together with the beating-order, & Commission to y' Nephew; whose Commission in Fowkes's, you may be assur'd, will not be vacated till I hear he accepts of this. My Lord, No. CCCXLIX. Mr. (afterwards Lord) Lyttelton to the Lord President. your Argyle Street, November y 10th [1747.] NOTHING could give me more pleasure than any Occasion of shewing the sense I had of your Lordship's great merit, and endeavouring to deserve the honour of friendship, in the only way I can hope to deserve it, by sincerely and cordially giving you mine. But had I not had the happiness of being personally known to your Lordship, I should, meerly as a friend to my Country, have wish'd that some proper returns might be made to the eminent Services you have done it, at a time when they were so necessary, and when a Zeal of that kind was so rare and unfashionable in your part of the world. Nor can I persuade myself, but that M' Forbes will feel the effects of his Father's Merit, in a manner more fitt for him than what I askt would have been; and I am confirmed in this way of thinking, by M' Pelham's assurances that he had very strongly recommended his promotion to the Duke, and did not doubt of success. I shall, however, take the first opportunity to remind him of it again; and let him know how greatly I think the honour of the Government will be concern'd, not to suffer your Son to have any reason to quitt the service, unless it should be more agreable to him, and to you, to have him rewarded by a civil Employment. I am proud that your Lordship approves the manner in which I delivered my sen timents on the Jurisdiction bill. As I was thoroughly sensible of the delicacy of the subject, it was not without some apprehension that I communicated my Speech to your Lordship, and am very happy in its having received the Sanction of your Judgement. Nor am I less pleased with your approbation of the little work that I sent you in print*. When I ventured to publish it, I was well aware that I should draw on myself the censure and ridicule of the Fashionable World, and of many of those who are esteem'd * This must have been his Dissertation on the Conversion of St. Paul. the the wisest among us; but, I thank God, that did not dishearten me: on the contrary, I thought it the more my duty, convinced as I am of the truth of the Christian Religion, to resist the torrent that runs so strongly against it, and not to be ashamed of professing it openly, or giving my reasons for that profession; when it is almost taken for granted, that whoever thinks with any freedom has given it up. I have the satisfaction to hear, that my having done this has made some people consider it with more attention and candour than they would have otherwise done; which alone is more than enough to overpay me for any Contempt that I may suffer from others on this account. I hope, as in this, so in all other instances, that I shall always preserve as much disregard to unjust censure or scorn, as desire of meriting a well-founded esteem; and prefer the good opinion of one such Man as you, to that of thousands whom fashion or prejudice may bias against me. Allow me, dear Sir, to return you my warmest and most gratefull thanks for the friendship you offer me, which I accept with the greatest joy, and shall be ever ambitious to deserve and improve. I have not yet had conversation enough on the subject of Scotland with the friends you refer me to for an account of the state of that Country, to be able to say more to your Lordship concerning it, than that I heartily wish rewards to those who have merit, there, may not be too long forgot or delay'd. Certain I am, this is a time when the utmost attention is due from the Government both to its friends and its enemies in that part of the Kingdom. I am, with the truest and most respectfull Attachment, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obliged and most obedient humble Servant, No. CCCL. Mr Will. Forbes to M' John Forbes, of Culloden. D' Sir, Edin', 17th March 1748. I RECEIVED your's; and in answer to that part of it, by which you want to know how your Father, on his Death Bed, expresst himself with regard to the losses, dammages, & expences which your Uncle the late Culloden, and his Lordship, sustain'd by the two late Rebellions in Annis 1715 & 1745; you'll please mind, that I told you, the second day after his Lordship's interment, that he had, upon the first day of December last, sent for me, and enjoyn'd me, how soon you came to Scotland, to communicate to you several particulars which he then told me; and all which particulars, immediately after I parted with his Lop, I took down into wryteing, in way of memorandum; which memorandum I read over to you. But, as his Lordship told the same things to M' Forbes, Writer to the Signet, which he says he also took down in wryteing, and that you was so lucky as to come in time to hear the same things from his Lop's own mouth, a very short time before he dyed, you must certainly know the whole as well as I do. However, to satisfy you, I do sincerly declare, upon the word of an honest man, that amongst the many expressions and instructions he told me to be communicated to you, the following was one: "You will also tell my Son John, that his Uncle had been a great looser, as he "himself was, by their outlays during the Rebellion 1715. That his Lordship was "a vast looser by the Rebellion 1745; for that his factor Thom. Steuart had ex"pended RR |