prevented their takeing time to come to resolutions, & give directions on the demand I made. The nearness of the danger, which was at that time approaching London, may have been the cause why they overlooked one that was more remote; but as that allarm must have worn off in a day or two at farthest after the date of your last, I am hopefull they have before this time thought in good earnest of our case, & sent us the supply desired. If they have not, the consequences I am affraid will be severely felt. Befides the want of Arms, our Money is almost spent ; but if this have a quick paflage, & if upon the receipt of it the supplys are immediately dispatched, they may happen to come before it is too late; especially if the Rebells choose to make a stand for any time at Perth. To understand distinctly what I write, with the reason for my writeing so, you must confider my Letter to my Lord Marquis of this date, which I presume you will see ; & my reason for writeing to you so urgently on this subject, in terms which might possibly be not altogether so proper to put in a letter to his Lop, which may be seen by other eyes, is, that My Lord may know, and be able to express to the Ministers who must cooperate with him, the sense I have, and what I fear all those who act alongst with me generously in this country, will soon have, of the neglect with which we are treated, if what I complain of is not speedily remedied. I have nothing further to say, My Dear Andrew, but that in this rude season, & under no small fatigue, I hold out wonderfully well for ane old fellow. The only thing I can ascribe it to is, good providence; & the antient observation, Si natura negat, dabit Indignatio. I am sincerely No. DXXII. Yours, &c. Sir, Lord Lewis Gordon to the Laird of Mac Leod. Aberdeen, Dec. 27th, 1745 th I RECEIV'D your Letter by express last night, dated from Gordon Caftle y 24" All the care in our power has and shall be taken of your wounded Men ; & all the Prisoners y' were taken under their Arms shall meet with all the Civility in our power. But for Regent Chambers, Forbes of Eight, & Maitland of Petrichie, who have acted the infamous part of Spys & Informers, and the two last especially, who have given a great deal of bad advice to a certain great Man who shall be nameless, it is neither consistent with my honour or inclination to treat them as Prisoners of War. I shall take care to order supplys to be given to all the Prisoners who want them, & the wounded men are as well taken care of as our own. I shall send you a list of the Prisoners & wounded, with any useless papers & letters, as soon as poffible; and any other thing y' we can reasonably agree to, shall be done with pleasure. I think I have now answered the most material parts of your Letter. Letter. You will much oblige me in offering my Compliments to La Charles Gordon ; & I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant, LEWIS GORDON As I do not know where this will find you, I think the most proper direction is to Duncan Forbes's House. Colonel Colbert desires his compliments to be made to his Broy' Castlehill. [Addressed" To the Honourable ye Laird of Makcleod, att Duncan Forbesse's House near Inverness. These."] My Lord, No. DXXIII. The Earl of Sutherland to the Lord President. Dunrobin, Dec 31, 1745. AFTER wishing your Lordship a happy new year and many of them, I must acquaint your Lop that the uprightness of my own heart, and the constant attachment of my family at all times to support the Protestant cause, had, I thought, put my sincerity to serve his Majesty, and his interests, past all doubt and question with all men ; yet I find myself mistaken in this opinion by some things that dropt from the Lyon when lately here. My Lord, I offered to join Sir John Cope with 6 or 700 men. I believe I have, by letters and messages, let your Lop understand that all the men I had were at his Majestie's service, if wanted; but lest I should have been hitherto misunderstood, I do hereby tell your Lop that my person, my estate, and all the men I have a right to command, and such as I may or can have any influence with, will be at his Majesty's service when called for. The number your Lordship called for from me were sent you in less time after notice came to my hands, than any other men at the distance from you that I am. More would [have] gon had it been asked; yet objections have been made at the number and at the men. I will expect from your Lordship's known candour, that you will put a stop, as occasion offers, to such malicious suggestions and insinuations; especially when they come from such, whose greatest merit consists in finding fault with those that are more capable to serve his Majestie than themselves, and always have been willing. My Lord, The Lord President to the Earl of Sutherland. Culloden, 2 Jan" 1746. THIS morning I received the letter which your Lop did me the honour to write to me of the 31" Decem'; and with it no small surprise, to learn that any body should be so foolish, as to disparage yo' Lop's zeal, or service, on this important occasion; or so wicked as to suggest, that any hint of that kind came from any one who knows what the support of his Majestie's government requir'd, and how contributary your Lop has been to it. I am hopeful that either your Lop misunderstood the Lord Lyon, or that the reflections he mentioned to you came from some very low, ill meaning person, who was not acquainted with the truth; which is, that your Lop, from the very beginning of those unhappie confusions, have shown the most becoming zeal and forwardness for the maintenance of his Majestie's just right, and of the religion and liberty of this country; that you furnished the troops called for, with an exemplary promptitude and alacrity; and that you over and over again offered to march with your whole posse, if occasion required; an offer which nothing prevented your making good, or our accepting of, but the want of arms and subsistence, which most certainly was none of your Lop's fault. I hope, therefore, yo' Lop will not suffer yourself to be under any uneasiness from so foolish a falsehood; nor fancy it can make any impression elsewhere, against the concurrent reports of the E. of Loudoun, & of Your most obedient and most humble sert DUN. FORBES. I beg yo' Lop may make my compliments to my Lady; & wish her from me, as I do yo' Lop, a happy year, and a great many more such. My Lord, No. DXXV. Mr John Forbes to the Lord President. I take the opportunity of the sloop which the government sends, to assure you of my best wishes, & to congratulate you upon the figure you make in this part of the world; who are surprised to find a man, without views, standing up for the rights & libertys of his country, just upon the brink of falling into eternal misery and confusion. It would be presumption in me to pretend to inform you of numberless transactions here, who assuredly have these accounts from better hands: but I wish to God your interest of persuasion, joined to the opinion the world has of your disinterestedness, and the knowledge they agree you have of your country, cou'd be convey'd here, to second good Lord Stair's, in the many though fruitless attempts his Lordship has made to save, if possible, the ruin of the north, and effectually finish the rebellion before the spring. But, at present, any proposalls from La Stair are, I am afraid, neglected, lest by their success he should gett power, which is not the interest of the present ruler ; who, although not publicly declared, yet privately manages the Scots affairs, with the same despotism he ever has done. We flattered ourselves here, that the Duke was to go to Scotland himself; but that seems now to be no longer believ'd, and the whole burthen [is] left upon Hawley, and your old friend Hugh, his aid-de-camp. No mortal disputes Mr. Hawley's genius for the management of a squadron, or prosecuting with vigour any mortal to the gallows; although, at the same time, they wish that he had the lenity to make converts, or the absolute force to make all fly before him. But he has only 15 Batt", some of these extream weak, and La Cobham's drag", to join those who distinguish'd themselves at Preston. This moment an express tells us, the rebels are march'd to attack Stirling. As, probably, M' Hawley will go to relieve it, before this reach you the fate of Scotland may be determined, on which our other schemes depend. For it will appear odd to you, that this great kingdom is by trifles either raised to a prosperity that exceeds impertinence, or falls from the smallest adversity below compassion. Wee at present beginne to breathe, as the rebells have retired to Scotland, which, to the generality here, is the same as Norway; and that they no longer are in terrour from the invasion, and now indeed countermand (as we are told) the Hessians and our own 18 squadrons, and are become so brave, as to think of sending troops to Flanders, and by May next to invade France. Lord Stair, in his letter to Lord Loudoun, which no doubt you'll see, has discuss'd all the matters of business; so I have no more left, than assuring your Lordsp, in my low capacity, devoted slave, your JO. FORBES. My Lord, No. DXXVI. The Duke of Argyll to the Lord President. London, Jan. 10th, 1745-6. IMMEDIATELY upon the receipt of your Lordship's letter, I recommended M' Corse to the law chair at Glasgow, as you desired, & that in prejudice of a friend of my own. I found the Scotch administration advised the king to delay the disposing of it; but Mr. Pelham obtained in the closet assurances that Mr. Corse should have it; & I believe the Duke of Newcastle will now soon send down the warrant. I was very glad to have this opportunity of obeying your commands, & the more so that I owed it you. It is a great pleasure to me to find that Macleod has behaved himself in so handsome & so zealous a manner. I had answered for him in such positive terms, that I have great reason to rejoice at his having but done all I said in his behalf. I am, my dear Lord, No. DXXVII. ARGYLL.. My L. P. General Wightman to the Lord President. Edinburgh, 14th January 1746. I WROTE you from Newcastle by your coal messenger, and I have written you since I came home under W. F's cover; but have not as yet heard from you. As this comes privately in the ship which LJ-ce C-k sends, I need not write you any thing about the rebells, and about the army which is on its march against them. I only say, it's uncertain as yet whether all who were on the north side of Forth be come over to this side to joyn the Pretender. If they are not come, the Pretender, and those now with him on this side, will scamper away to Perth; if they are come, as they have got over their cannon, it's probable they will stand a brush; and it's more probable they will [be] destroyed or dispersed. G Campbell is advanced to Kirkintilloch with 1000 Argyleshire men; but the transports y' should have brought hither the Hessians are frozen up at Helvoet Sluys.. Lord Balmerinoch is dead. We met at Belford & travelled together to Aldcammas, & on that occasion commenced intimate acquaintance; having had some tete-a-tete conversations, in which he shewed himself another kind of man than I apprehended him to be. The sq-n is totally routed; the D-ke and J-ce return into power in the same shape they formerly were, which bodes no good to this city and country. The J-ce made up to me at Newcastle, and I did some little things for him, & among others introduced him to Mr. Ridley; but we no sooner parted, than he broke squares, and thenceforth I don't know him, nor have I so much as seen him, till yesterday, that we met at G' Hawley's Levee; when I forced him to make a bow to me, ere I made one to him. I am quite independent, and act in my own sphere, and find ways and means to know more & sooner than he does; qh gravels him not a little. It's surprising to see so much order and quiet in this place when there is no magistracy. I am endea * One of the judges of the Court of Session.. vouring vouring to promote the measure of a new sett; I hope with some success; and were you here to give life to the well affected inhabitants, I should hope it might in due time be brought about. The zeal which the inhabitants have shewed in accommodating the troops will help to ridd us of the suspicion of jacobitism; but we have a pack of vermin within our walls, who take unaccountable libertys, of whom I hope we shall be for ever ridd ere long. I write this chiefly to begg your coming hither, that you may be a checque upon the D-ke and the J-ce, and may take the Government of this Town till we get a new constitution of Government. All the Inhabitants will petition for a Commiffion of Lieutenancy to you, which will put you upon a Par with the D-ke, and enable you to do more, to put spoaks in his Wheel as formerly, when you was L' Ad-t. Your Country calls upon you at present loudly to act for it; I beseech don't be deaff to it, by staying longer where you are than you needs must. I'm in no pain about the Rebells, were they much more numerous than they are; but I much affraid the whole force of France & Spain will be bended against both Holland & us in a few weeks. If they land Armies in the Island, then I know its fate, as I think I formerly hinted to you. Herewith you have the postscript to the Letter I sent you by Hugh Inglis, and three other Pamphlets, all bound together under the title of The Edinburgh Packet Opened. I have not heard from G. D. of late; but I heard of him this Week from Mr Ridley; who tells me a friend of his at Newcastle told him, that he was married to the quakeress at last. If it is so, I wish it may answer expectation; but I'm afraid it will not, when I consider his manner of carrying on the Courtship, and his concealing his Circumstances from her. I have written him urgently to come home; for which there are many reasons; and hope he will either come, or give me a solid reason why he does not. I beg to hear from you; and only add, that I ever am inviolably The letter which your Grace did me the honour to write to me, of the 11th inst.* was brought hither by a small Vessell from Leith on the 21st. I am very sensible of the obligeing expressions of your good will; and the more so, that the kind Countenance which your Grace has been pleased to shew me at all times, since I first had the honour to be known to you, convinces me of their reality. I shall therefore with pleasure obey his Majesty's Command, in giveing your Grace the trouble of a Letter, when I have any thing to say that may be for the service of the publick. My last to the Marquis of Tweedale, which I presume has been laid before his Majesty, was of the 29th Dec' by the Saltash. Since that period no alteration of any consequence has hapen'd in this part of the country. The want of Arms to put in their hands, and of money to subsist them, made it impossible to call in a further force from the well affected Clans to Inverness (which is in some sort the key of this Country) for its securitity; whilst, with the troops already on foot, we might have proceeded South |