in such way as that the advice cannot come into the enemy's hands, what course you propose to take; &, as nearly as can be guess'd, when; to the end, any thing that can be done in this corner may answer it. In my last I acquainted you that I had a letter from Mac Leod of the 22" from Sky, giveing ane account that Clanranald's men from Uist were not sail'd from thence: in that letter, he is extremely pressing to have arms sent to him & Sir Alex' Mac Donald by sea; as they have render'd themselves obnoxious to the Clans in arms by opposeing them; & if that may not be, he proposes, if he may have but 200 stand of arms att Ins for his immediate protection, he will send down so many men to fetch them. I could not take upon me to dispose of so many of the small store that is here, not knowing but you might have more immediate use for them; but I detain'd his messenger untill I have your orders; & if you think it proper that I should promise him those arms, I shall direct him to send the men for them in the mean time you will think, how far it is proper, or possible, to supply those two Gentlemen, who have been of vast service to the cause, by sea with arms; & you will give immediate directions with respect to this last proposall of delivering 200 at Inverness. I expect to hear from you as soon as possible; and am most faithfully, D' Sir, your's. My Lord, No. CCCCXXVI. Lady Cluny to the Lord President. I HOPE you will easily believe, that the situation of affairs at present in this family may have been cause sufficient to put me so much in disorder, as not to have the presence of mind your Lop may judge might be necessary, by letting you sooner know of the unhappy transaction happened here last night; which was, that Cluny was seized in this house, 'twixt ten and eleven o'clock, by a party of about a hundred and twenty men from the Highland camp, which arrived yesterday evening at Garva; when we were but just then assured they had taken the Strathherick road. The party that came here guarded him, & surrounded the house all night; and this morning there came two hundred men more; they brought him then away; & my sister with me fol lowed, to beg of the Gentlemen who had the principall command of the army to allow him return home on parole; but, after all our intercessions, it was not in our power to prevail with them to part with him one minute. They marched towards Dallchuny this afternoon, and have brought him allong. How far they propose to bring him, God knows. The case being thus, and as your Lordship will judge of what is proper much better than I can think of, I beg you advise what you see necessary to be done for Cluny's interest. I beg you will be so good as forgive this trouble, & believe that I am, My Lord, My Lord, No. CCCCXXVII. Lord Reay to the Lord President. I'M extremly glad your Lop is in the North at this time, when your advise and assistance can be of such service to the Government. When I first got such intelligence of the insurrection in the West Highlands as I could give credit to, I wrote immediately to S' Jn° Cope, that I and my clan were ready to do all in our power for the support of the present Government; but that we wanted arms & ammunition; which is so far the case, that without a supply of these we could scarcely defend the passes of our own properties, in case of attempts to carry off our cattle or so. I believe my letter did not overtake S' Jn° Cope ere he left Edin'; nor may he, as he is a stranger in Scotland, know or advert to the necessity of our having arms, &c. Therefore, as your Lop is well acquainted with him, and as, no doubt, he'l have the greater regard to your judgment, I beg leave to give your Lop the trouble of this, that you may be so good as to take your own method to lay our situation before him. Your Lop knows that in the year 1715 what effect the junction of the people of this country with the well-affected in Ross & Inverness shires had; so far as it helped to divide our enemies; and perhaps it may be necessary to play the same game over again; of which your Lop is best judge. I was lately informed, that some people in Caithness, who were never looked on to be well affected to the Government, have entered into a resolution to raise their militia as for the Government; and that, with that view, one of most note amongst them was soon to be sent to L-d S-r, who was lately in that country, to invite him to be their commander. If their intentions in this are sincere, I shall be glad of it; tho' I can't help suspecting the reverse. I hope your Lop will not name me as your informer in this. As these are my neighbours, I want to live with them as well as I reasonably can; but should the case be as I suspect, the necessity of our getting arms & ammunition is still the greater. This your Lop can easily see by the situation of the country; therefore I need not explain it. The Earl of Sutherland and I have concerted to joine all our men for the service of the Government, as his father & I did in 1715. I wrote of this date to St Jño Cope under Governor Grant's cover, calling for 400 stand of arms. I reckon Earl Sutherland acquaints the number he'l need. As I have not the honor of Sir Jn° Cope's acquaintance, I did not mention the Caithness story to him; but leaves it to your Lop to communicate it, or not, and in what manner you see proper; but in any event, I beg leave to think that their militia should get no arms. As I said already, I know your Lop's advice and opinion will have more weight & effect with respect to all I have represented to you, than any thing I can write; particularly as I am in manner a stranger to him. As I had allwise the greatest regard for your Lop, and that I know none has a more sincere zeal and affection for his Majesty's person & Government; so I make no doubt but you'l forgive this trouble from him who has the honor to be, with great truth and esteem, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient," most affectionate humble Servant, Tongue, 30 Aug. 1745. REAY. My Lord, No. CCCCXXVIII. The Provost of Aberdeen to the Lord President. I RETURN your Lop the town of Aberdeen's most hearty thanks for the favour of your Lop's letter in relation to the troubles in the Highlands. A merchant of this place haveing ane express about privat business from Montrose, dated Sunday, one a'clock afternoon, in which is the following paragraph, I thought it my indispensable duty to lett you know the same by express, lest the enemy may have shutt up any communication by the Highland road; and, in caise of intercepting, thought it more prudent to send it under cover of the Earle of Findlater. The paragraph is as follows: "The Provost of Perth has sent ane express to the Provost of Brichen, adviseing that " he hade just then a letter from the Duke of Athol, telling that the Highlanders were "within six miles of Blair, and on Saturday night was to be in Perth, and that they were fyve to six thousand strong. Sir John Cope having retired to Inverness, this express from Perth was going for Sir John at Inverness. But six Highland Gentle"men, comeing into Brichen when he came there, went out a little from that before "the express, and turned back the guide that was sent along, and carried off the ex"press." This is all I know, and give you the information in the very words of the letter, which I believe not altogether fictitious, but desire it may have no further influence on the Government's management, than the stress your Lop may lay upon such information. I hope you have more certain advice ere this comes to hand, but could not excuse myself without acquainting your Lop with what's above, and have the honour to be, with great esteem and regard, 66 66 My Lord, I BEG leave to congratulate your Lordship on General Cope's arrival in the North with his army. I flatter myself that his military skill and prudence, joined with the bravery of our troops, and assisted by your Lordship's good advice and knowledge of the country, will defeat the rebells, or oblige them to dissipate; because, whatever their numbers may be, their men cannot be very well trained; neither are they led by persons remarkable for great abilitys or experience in the souldier trade. I am sure the King and Country is much oblig'd to the diligent and prudent care which I understand your Lordship has used upon this occasion; and I most heartily pray God may crown your Lordship's endeavours, and those of His Majesty's other servants, with speedy success. In the situation in which I am, in a corner where tho' far the greatest number of my tenants are really well affected, yet they have no arms, and have never been accustomed to use them; and there are many popish and disaffected persons in the neighbourhood; 3 E bourhood; you may be sure I am under very great uneasiness; and my anxiety must be very great, especially as we are dayly allarmed and entertained with various storys totally differing from one another. I hope therefore, however unwilling I may be to take up any part of your Lop's time, which I know is so well employed, you will excuse my begging to have such truth from you as you think fit to communicate, and what advice and direction you think proper. I have in various ways been most faithfully using my endeavours to keep up the spirits of the well affected; and to demonstrate to those, whom I suspected not to be so, the folly and rashness of this very extraordinary enterprize; and I imagine I have had some success. Among others, have had a pretty frequent correspondence with the Magistrates of Aberdeen, who have indeed always expressed the greatest zeal and most firm attachment to His Majesty's service, and the libertys of their country. This correspondence has, I suppose, occasioned their sending the enclosed letter open to me; and I shall take care to forward without delay whatever answer your Lordship may think fit to give. There is an incident happened near this place last night, which, altho' it may perhaps be but trifling, I chuse to mention. A boat came about one a clock in the morning to Portknocky, a fisher-town of mine a long mile from this house. There were in it ten or twelve people, as they say, in tolerable good habit. Only one gentleman came ashore, and lay in a little ale-house. He paid liberally for his entertainment, and went off at five a clock in the morning with his servant, pressing a cupple of horses and a hirer from a countryman. He said in the ale-house, that he was an officer belonging to General Cope, and intended to breakfast with me, and that he would only take the horses the length of Cullen; but when he had proceeded a little, he altered his resolution and went eastward closs by the coast, shunning this little town and the high road. The hirer he took with him is not yet returned. The boat likewise proceeded eastward, and by the enclosed letter appears to have landed another man at Banff. Our suspicion is, that they are people intended to be taken up at Inverness, who have made their escape. Your Lordship will, perhaps, judge of the matter better than I can. I am glad that this corner at present affords no incidents more remarkable. The General's coming has struck some damp on the disaffected; but I tend to be of opinion, that any event favourable to their cause would tempt many loose people to join them. As I have not the honour of being acquainted with General Cope, I hope your Lordship will pardon my using the freedom to intreat you will be so good as to make my compliments to him in the most respectful manner; and to assure him, that nobody in Great Brittain can more sincerely and heartily wish his good success. I must alfo beg you will excuse my using a servant's hand, because, having been these two days a good deal indisposed, I could not easily write myself. I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect and esteem, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient humble Servant, Cullen house, Septem' 2a 1745. No. CCCCXXX. My Lord, you No. CCCCXXX. The Lord President to Lord Harrington. IT is the difficulty of the situation in which I find myself that obliges me to give the trouble of this letter. About 3 weeks ago I flung myself into this country to try how far any share of credit which I had with people could preserve them in their duty & prevent their madness; & I had no unconsiderable success, tho' I had not what I wish'd. But I was astonish'd to hear, that after the rebells had got together to a head, Sir John Cope, with a handfull of troops, had been ordered into the mountains to attack and disperse them; & that he had actually engaged himself so far, as to reach the Spey, & to be within a few hours march of them. My concern grew, as I was perfectly well acquainted with the passes of Carryyarig, over which he must pass if he would go the direct road to Fort Augustus, & which, by a very small body of clever Highlanders, who should mar the roads & break down the bridges, could be easily defended against a much greater force than he commanded. And I was relieved from my apprehensions only upon finding that he turn'd to the right, & by forced marches reach'd this place Thursday last, at night. It was unlucky that his orders engaged him to come so far north, which has given ane opportunity to the rebells to seize the passes of the mountains betwixt Badenoch & Atholl, & to march southward, where it is not easie to determine what mischief they might do. At the same time, it would be exposeing the troops to too evident a danger, to pretend to follow them by that road, wch they can easyly mar & render impassable. He has chosen the party of going southwards by the coast, which will give him ane opportunity of embarking his troops at some of the sea ports, if the transports which he has order'd from Leith meet him; or if he can pick up shipping sufficient in the seaports near to which he passes. When embarked, he can land at Leith, or more southward, as the nature of the service may require. Those circumstances your Lop will, doubtless, be acquainted with by himself; but what engages me to write, is, the situation in which this country must be when he leaves it. The greatest part of the chieftains are quiet, & disposed to be so; nay, some of them most certainly desirous to show their zeal for the Gov'; but they are all unarm'd; there is no authority to bring them, or any number of their men, together, & there is neither money nor credit to support any body of them whom it might be thought proper to bring together for his Majtie's service. I made this remonstrance to my Ld Marquis of Tweeddale before I left Ed', in my journey hither, & now I renew it to your Lop; to the end your Lop may consider what is fit to be done. Had we been provided with these three things ten days ago, matters would not have been in the condition in which they are at present. If we are speedily supply'd, the peace of this part of the country will be secured, & the rebells views of gathering any further forces in the north prevented; if we are not, every thing must be left to chance; & I cannot say what influence is to be expected from praying and preaching only, which is all that will be left me to do. I further submitt it to your Lop's consideration, whether it may not be proper, furthwith to order some clever sloop of war to attend this place, were it for no other end than to give & receive intelligence, & to convey your orders. Haveing laid these things before your Lop, I have discharged my duty; & whether any orders shall be given upon what I represent, or no, I shall continue endeavouring 3 E 2 to |