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side of the Jacobites exerts itself, things can be kept in this part of the world in the samė condition in which they are, I flatter myself your Lop will not think the Commis", at least so many of them as I shall dispose of, ill bestow'd; but I am hopefull they may have still better effects, provided our correspondence can be kept open in the manner I have mention'd, & that we can speedily be supply'd with arms & money. Your Lop easily will perceive, that literally I have not room for particulars, & therfor I shall only add, that I am most faithfully yours, &c.

Dr Sir,

No. CCCCXII.

The Lord President to Sir J. Cope. Same Date.

I HOPE this will find you safe in the latitude of Ed'; & that mine of the 12th & 13th, which follow'd you by sea, have been deliver'd you. What I now write goes in company with one of the same size to the Mar. of Tweedale, & ane other to Ld Stair, pressing the establishing a correspondence betwixt you & this country by sea, & furnishing money & credite to make the independant comp's effectuall, as I hope you will dispatch arms to us. As to our state, it is the same in this neighbourhood as when you left it; & to keep it even, costs me no small trouble. Glenbucket is levieing, but without the desired success, troops in the shire of Bamf & skirts of Aberdeenshire. His force is not as yet said to exceed 300; & money is become so scarce, that he levys it by force. He pretended to stop Culcairn & the Munro's at Bamf; & gave it out, that he was to disarm them; but upon the Munro's advancing to that town, he thought proper to leave it three hours before their arrivall; & they pass'd by this house to-day, in their way homewards to their harvest in great spirits. I long to hear from you, & am, D' Sir, Faithfully yours, &c.

P. S. Since writeing what is above, I have received a letter from Sconsar, in the Isle of Sky, dated the 17th 2 o'clock afternoon, in swer to one of mine sent by express. It is from the same gentleman whose letters I show'd you att Ed' without allowing you to name him; & bears in substance, that there was att that time no other ship arived besides the first; that the young Invader had not with him above 25 persons, mostly Irish, or descended of Irish; that none of these ever was above the rank of a Lieut. Coll"; that there was no Scotsman of figure, except the D. of Atholl's brother; that they had alongst with them 1600 stands of arms, which were said to be bad; that the ship, which was of 18 guns, *is gone north about; that, by the care of Sir Alex' Mac Donald & Mac Leod, no man has join'd them from that island; that they both are ready to arm their kinsmen to the number of 1500 or 2000, as the Gov' shall require, for the defence of it; that they have between them hardly 200 guns & swords, & these in very bad order; that, so arm'd, they at present cannot defend themselves if attack'd; & that if arms were sent them, which may easiely be done by sea, they will, on the first authority from the Gov', make use of them. The letter adds, that the Invaders talk confidently of ane invasion on the south-west part of England from Ferroll, & boast of 30,000 stand of arms, which are to be distributed to persons ready to receive them in: England; but this the writer looks upon to be gasconadeing. Now, D'Sir, as this

letter

letter is of the highest authority, with respect to the disposition of the two gentlemen from whose iland it comes, & as I have reason to be perfectly satisfy'd they are in earnest, you will not fail to give it due attention. If the D. of Argyle is with you, you may show him what I write, & name to him the person from whom the letter comes

to me.

D' Sir,

No. CCCCXIII.

The Lord President to Clunie.

20th August 1745, late at night. I RECEIVED your's of the 19th late this evening; but about two hours befor your messenger came, I dispatched ane express to John Mac Pherson with a letter to you, which I hope will come safe to hand; but lest it should loiter by the way, I inclose a copy of it. The advice I there give is my sincere opinion; paper bullets (such as the printed Declaration, for the transmitting of which I thank you) do generally but small execution; & I should hope prudence, as well as humanity, will prevent those necessary severities, which will tend, with men of resolution, only to exasperate. Should steadyness to their duty bring any country under hardships, I trust, as in my former letter I have mention'd, that ane indemnification for losses will ensue. Your letter to the Gen" (wherof you sent me the copy) is exceeding right; there is only one thing which I wish you had not express'd so strong; & that is, when you say, that most of all the Highland chiftains are with the young Invader. For, contrary to what you have been informed of concerning Sir Alex Mc Donald & Mac Leod, I do assure you, that they are both in the same disposition that you & I are; that they have absolutely refused to join, & have prevented the stirring of ev'ry man of their dependants; & my authority for saying so is no less than letters under the hands of both; the last of which I received this day about one o'clock; it is dated the 17th instant, 2 o'clock afternoon, & written by McLeod in answer to one that I sent him by express from this place after my arivall. I mention this to you for your private satisfaction, that you may not be imposed on by reports which will be purposely raised to intimidate some & delude others; but I would not have their correspondence with me spoken of, except to friends, because it is unnecessary it should yet be publick. If they had any expectations of your freind Lovat, they are vastly mistaken; & Seafort acquaints me, he has order❜d a randivous of his people. Communication is open by a sloop, & there must be some coin to begin with. As to Sir J. Cope's conduct, I think in my conscience he acted wisely, & for his Majestie's service, in not attempting the Corryarig, where want of success might have such terrible consequences to the publick; & without knowing the state of his orders, & the state of his provisions, I cannot say he ought to remain in Dalwhiny. The appointing L' Lieuts. I think would, as things now are, be too late. This is a strange scrawl, to be justify'd only by necessity.

No. CCCCXIV.

D' Sir,

No. CCCCXIV.

The Lord President to Sir John Cope.

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21 August, 7 at night. THIS goes by William Chisholm, a surgeon's mate to Coll" Lee's regt, who has been in this country for some time by leave; & is now, by Coll" Halket's order, to join the reg. His father is a good freind of mine; & as the young man is deserveing, I shall take the liberty, on a proper occasion, to recommend him to your favour. In mine of yesterday's date, I acquainted you that the D. of Gordon had set out for Ed' last Thursday. I have since learn'd that he went no further than Haddo-house, & has return'd to Gordon Castle. I have heard nothing from him: when I do, you shall know. By a letter from Mr. Mac Donald, of Lochgerry, of yesterday's date, which I saw to-day, it is assured, that Glengarry, who had not at all join'd the gentlemen in arms, was to set out as that day for Blair, to put himself into the hands of the D. of Atholl; & by a letter just now received, I am inform'd, that the Duke of Atholl, dispairing of support from the troops, who he was inform'd had orders to retire from Perth to Stirline, had set out for Ed' to meet you & the D. of Argyll. If this shall prove to be so, the fruit of fetching Glengary to Blair may be lost. When it is known here, it will be attended with considerable discouragement; & the communication by Blair, should the Highlanders advance that way, will be entirely cut off. In this situation, I will be much at a loss what to advise the people of this country to do; & the more so, as I have heard nothing from you since the 13th. 13th. If If my dispatch to you, of yesterday's date, come safe to hand, as I trust it will, I hope you will consult with the Dukes of Argyll & Atholl about the contents of it, & contrive some mean to let me know what we are to expect. Once more I presume to mention the necessity there is of sending more arms, if you would have any thing done in this country.

I am, &c.

No. CCCCXV.

My Lord,

Sir John Cope to the Lord President.

Trinifuir, 24th Aug 1745.

I HAVE just now recd your letter of the 20th August. The great quantity of provision, ammunition, & artillery, I have along with me has made it impossible for me to make stronger marches than I have done, without leaving men or provisions behind me. I have been marching from five o'clock this morning, & fear, from the horses being very weak, the provisions for the men will not arrive till ten or eleven at night; so that whether I shall be able to march from hence, or not, to-morrow I cannot yet determine. The men are well and in high spirits, & I doubt not but I shall keep them so. I'll certainly write to y' Lordp from Del Whinny; & by that time I shall be able to tell your Lordp when I shall get over the Coriaric. Your letter pleases me very much. I make no doubt but we shall bring the imprudent gentlemen who have engaged against us to repentence for their folly. A letter Lord Loudoun sent to Cluny was intercepted last night; it was of no great consequence, having reason to believe that might happen. The attention I have for the preservation of the troops I have with me takes up too much of my time to allow me to be particular. 'Tis true, two of St Clair's additional comp' are taken ill, I'm inform'd, upon the road.

9

A man

of

of war of ours lays before Fort William; & they tell me here many from the enemy's camp, who were forced away, left them. I wish your Lordship would let some body write in my name (which I have not time to do myself) to the lords in the north in our int; that I am marching with a body of troops too formidable for the enemy to dare to attack; & we only wish they may give us an opportunity of attacking them; that tho' those noblemen may not have their clans completely arm'd; yet as they are numerous, & probably by accident some of them may have arms, I hope they will be ready to join with me as shall be concerted amongst us. I am surprised to find an expression in your Lordp's letter, "The Duke of Argyll, if he be with you." I must conclude from hence, that my letters are miscarried; for I not only writ to your Lordp of my intended march, but likewise have writ since I set out. I have just now recd yours of the 21a & 22d; & am more surpriz'd to find you think me still at Edin'.

I hope all our friends in the north will think themselves safe under the protection of our troops. I saw Glengary the father at Crief with the Duke of Athol: 'tis said, none of his followers are yet out, tho' there is some doubt of his youngest son; the eldest (as Glengary told me) is in France. Letters from your Lordp will find me upon my march. I shall write to you when I can have time.

I am, my Lord,

Your most obed humble Serv

I march from hence to-morrow.

No. CCCCXVI.

JNO COPE.

D' Sir,

The Lord President to Sir John Cope.

24 August, 12 o'clock. YOUR'S of the 18th was deliver'd me last Thursday. I doubt the Duke & Earl will find it more easy for them to bring their men to serve in the shape of militia, under their own masters as officers, than by being incorporated with the troops; & somewhat of that kind ought, undoubtedly, to be done. I hear that Captn Switenham, and the officers of the two comp" of the Royall Regt, who were taken, have been treated with abundance of civility. Captn Switenham is released on his parole; & Capt" Scott, who was wounded in the shoulder, is in like manner sent to Fort William to be taken care of. I am told also, that the Highlanders assembled receive regular pay: it is ridiculous, that those in this neighbourhood who are disposed to serve the King cannot be supply'd in the same mammer. I need say no more about arms than what I said in my last. I am confident you will be inform'd, by the time this reaches you, of their numbers, as they stood three days ago, by a person who knows it better than I do. They talk confidently of their being soon to be join'd by greater numbers; but as to that, I continue ane infidel; their destination I can as little guess at, as formerly when I wrote you. However scanty our intelligence is, theirs is plenty; they lately have heard of troops haveing been march'd back from Perth to Sterline, & are in high spirits upon it. If you suspect that the correspondence by Blair & Ruthven may be unsafe, why may not messengers be sent by the coastway? This moment I have letters from the Isle of Sky, dated the 20th 12 at night. The two chiefs of that country have effectually prevented any junction from thence; they are dayly threaten'd: it's pity some sloop is not order'd to carry them arms.

I am, dr Sir, &c.

No. CCCCXVII.

The Lord President to the Provost of Aberdeen.

24 August 1745.

My Lord Provost, YOUR letter of the 21", desireing to be inform'd toutching the insurection in the West Highlands, was this day deliver'd to me. What you say you have been inform'd in relation to it is true. The eldest son of the Pretender landed about 3 weeks ago on the coast of Arisaig, with a few gentlemen, not exceeding 30 in number, & some hundreds of stands of arms, but wtout any troops: the Mac Donalds of Clanranald's family, & Keppoch, & some of Glengarry's, together with the Camerons, have flock'd in to him; but I do not hear of any other kindred that have, or are disposed to join him. Some of their loose people surprised the two new-rais'd comp's of the Royalls, as they were marching from Fort Augustus to Fort William ; &, as I presume, encourage themselves pretty much on that score, tho' the atcheivement is not of so great consequence, as the cop which had been lately draughted were not half completed, & as they were composed mostly of raw lads. I know nothing of the destination of this body that is now in the fields, which are not as yet at all in a condition to deal with the troops whom they will soon meet if they march to the southward, & who must be, I should think, discouraged, because none of the clans to the northward will dip in their folly, but are, on the contrary, disposed to oppose them. As this disturbance is now, on foot, which I hope will soon be quell'd, the town of Aberdeen is surely much in the right to be upon their guard, to take care by all proper means that the peace be preserved, & to discourage as much as possible fools from running upon certain ruing the means, you & the magistrates are much better able to judge of than I am at such a distance. I am, my Lord Provost, to you & the town of Aberdeen a sincere well wisher & most humble serv', &c.

My Lord,

No. CCCCXVIII.

The Marquis of Tweeddale to the Lord President.

Whitehall, 24 August 1745

Since my last to your Lordship of the 17th instant, there have been transmitted to me, from Sir John Cope, and others of his Majesty's Servants in Scotland, several pieces of intelligence so very extraordinary, that they did not gain the least credit with me; and yesterday I received a letter from Sir John Cope, with a copy of one from you to him, dated from Colloden, the 15th, late at night, which confirms what little credit ought to have been given to the various reports he had heard before that date. If Sir John Cope shews your Lordship the letters I have wrote to him, since the first of this alarm, you will, I hope, see that they all tend to one point; vizt his marching imme diately with a body of troops towards Fort Augustus, as the most effectual means tô deter the disaffected from assembling, and to prevent a set of loose and disorderly people from threatening with ruin and destruction those of their neighbours who will not concur with them in such desperate mad measures.

I am glad to find that Sir John Cope has at last begun his march; for I must own in confidence to your Lordship, that there appears to me to have been some unnecessary delay in this matter. In my own opinion, I can have no notion but that Sir John, even with the few forces he has, keeping them in a body, and going directly to the place pointed

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