No diminution in the strength of the regular army in Scotland took place until March 6, 1747, when Albemarle proceeded to Flanders, taking with him Howard's Buffs from Carlisle, the Scots Fusiliers, Fleming's, Dejean's and Conway's regiments. From that date the weakening of the establishment in Scotland was rapid. The 2nd battalion of the Royal Scots sailed from Leith for Flanders on May 24, 1747, and Loudoun's 2nd Highland regiment followed thither from Burntisland on May 30.2 Early in July, 1747, the usual camp was formed at Fort Augustus of Skelton's, Handasyde's, Mordaunt's, Sackville's and Blakeney's regiments. Houghton's regiment, 3 which had replaced Guise's at Fort William in May, 1746, was in its turn replaced by Lee's, and St. George's dragoons were sent into quarters at Aberdeen and other places upon the eastern coast. At the end of August, 1747, two more regiments were withdrawn from Scotland: Lee's from Fort William and Sackville's from Fort Augustus were despatched to Burntisland and sailed for Flanders on September 8. Detachments of one hundred men each from Skelton's, Handasyde's, Mordaunt's, and Blakeney's regiments at Fort Augustus were sent to garrison Fort William in place of Lee's regiment.* About September 10, 1747, the summer camp at Fort Augustus broke up and the troops proceeded to winter quarters. Skelton's took the place of the composite garrison at Fort William. Handasyde's was sent to Perth, where the artillery train was also quartered. Five of Mordaunt's companies garrisoned Edinburgh Castle, and five were placed at Linlithgow and Borrowstouness. Blakeney's was distributed between Montrose, Arbroath, Dundee, and St. Andrews. Five companies of Barrell's, relieved at Edinburgh Castle by Mordaunt's five 1 1 Infra, p. 437. 3 Ibid., vol. ix., p. 348. 2 Scots Magazine, vol. ix., pp. 247, 248. companies, moved thence to Stirling. Houghton's regiment, lately relieved at Fort William, was now moved from Stirling to Glasgow. At Inverness Price's regiment was quartered. Batereau's was distributed between Elgin, Banff, Peterhead, and Aberdeen. Two additional companies of the 1st and two of the 2nd battalion of the Royal Scots were established at CuparFife and Kirkcaldy respectively. At Taybridge and Tarland were three companies of Lord John Murray's Highlanders, and ten companies of Loudoun's were stationed at Ruthven and Dingwall. St. George's dragoons occupied Leith, Haddington, Duns, and Kelso, and Naizon's were quartered at Newliston, Ayr, Stranraer, and Dumfries.1 Such was the distribution of the military forces in Scotland when on October 31, 1747, Humphrey Bland, lately promoted Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief in Scotland in succession to Lord Albemarle, arrived at Edinburgh.2 Authorities. That friction should have arisen between the army and the civil authorities in Scotland is hardly to be wondered The Army at. Not much more than a generation had passed and the Civil since Scotland had, in 1707, as her patriots held, bartered her independence. The events of 1745 had offered the first opportunity for the War Office at Whitehall to direct operations upon a considerable scale in Scotland, and though public bodies were ready to recognise in the English army a force which was battling for their true interests, it still remained to them an army which had come from a distant Macedonia, alien in traditions, not over-considerate of Scottish susceptibilities, and by no means unready to confound friend and foe. It needs but a glance at the correspondence of Albemarle and his officers to detect in their minds a fairly rooted conviction that Scotsman 1 Scots Magazine, vol. ix., p. 453. 2 Ibid., vol. ix., p. 500. and Jacobite were convertible terms. Added thereto was a scarcely concealed contempt for the country and its people. If such was the attitude of the leaders, it is not strange that the rank and file and junior officers failed sometimes to deal gently with the susceptibilities of the proud people whose saviours they claimed to be. Nor was an eighteenth century army trained in those habits of restraint which the higher standard of more modern times demands. The individual unit of the rank and file reverted easily to a state of nature amid the ardours of a campaign. The Ten Commandments were suspended with the Habeas Corpus Act. Yet, so far as the papers in these volumes bear testimony, the conduct of the army in Scotland was by no means bad. Cases of flagrant assault were rare, and it is clear that Albemarle fully recognised the necessity for maintaining harmonious relations with the civil authorities, and that he was ready to check any tendency to military ßpis on the part of his officers. From Aberdeen especially lamentations reached the ears of Lord Albemarle and the Lord Justice-Clerk, notably over the socalled "riot" which occurred in the town on the night of August I, 1746. On that date, the anniversary of the accession of the Hanoverian dynasty to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland, the officers of Fleming's regiment quartered in Aberdeen met to celebrate appropriately the auspicious occasion. The Duke of Gordon, who was on his way to London, the Town Clerk and the Collector of Customs at Aberdeen were present as guests.1 The Earl of Ancram, who commanded what may be termed the North-East Military District, had approached the civil authorities. with the suggestion that the town should be generally illuminated in honour of the day. His proposal had been coldly received, and various objections had been urged against it. The magis 1 Supra, p. 28. trates were willing that the bells should be rung and that the flag should be hoisted, but the careful authorities had found from experience that illuminations occasioned "Noise and Confusion upon the Street". Besides, to be effective on a light August evening, the illuminations would have to be at an hour when "the Inhabitants ought rather to be at rest". A message to that effect was communicated to the Town Clerk to carry to Lord Ancram. He, however, came to the strange conclusion, that as the authorities "were not thoroughly to comply with Lord Ancram's desire, he thought it better not to send an answer".1 The worthy Clerk, though the guest of the officers in the evening, does not appear to have offered even a hint that objection had been taken to their request, and the conviviality of the supper-party was broken into rudely by a messenger, who reported that "the mob and some soldiers among them were breaking all windows that were not light," those of the Town House among others. Prompt measures were taken, and a sergeant and twelve men were instantly despatched to Old Aberdeen to prevent any outbreak there. The authorities were indignant, the more so since even the officers of Fleming's regiment were declared to be implicated in the riot, Captain Hugh Morgan in particular. Several swore that Morgan incited the mob, and "one who swore heartily" declared that the captain himself threw stones at the offending windows. Morgan was thereupon arrested by the outraged magistracy, his lieutenant-colonel finding bail for his appearance.' The Lord Justice-Clerk was probably sufficiently acute in inferring that the officers' zeal for the Royal family was "inflamed perhaps with a little too much liquor". The Magistrates, however, could find no excuse in loyal excesses. offending officers with the persistency of the They pursued the Eumenides on the 3 P. 42. trail of Orestes. On August 4 they complained to the Lord Justice-Clerk of the "Attrocious Riot". The inhabitants had been "much frighted and intimidated," they declared; a "vast many" windows had been broken, "particularly the Windows of the Townhouse and the Warehouse of George Forbes, wherein Several Mirrours and other goods were broke and spoil'd". On the following day (August 5) they informed Lord Albemarle that the "reall Damnages" occasioned by the riot amounted to £130 "besides Costs"." "If it had been only a few panes of glass that had been broke," they wrote again on August 16, "neither we nor any of the Inhabitants would have taken the least notice of it. But there were many hundreds of panes broke, and upwards of two hundred familys suffered on this occasion." On August 29 the Magistrates wrote to the Lord Justice-Clerk. A committee of tradesmen had been appointed, they told him, and had estimated the damages occasioned by the riot at 129 3s., in addition to the "expenses of consulting Lawyers and sending several Expresses South and North, and allowance to Tradesmen who were employ'd several days in takeing up account of the Damage," items which added about 20 to the sum of their claim." "3 Five days after the disturbance of August 1 the authorities of Aberdeen were again outraged by the conduct of the military. By Lord Ancram's order two merchants of the town, Walter Nicol and Andrew Walker, were summarily apprehended on August 6 and were committed prisoners to the guard. Both men had returned to Aberdeen after Cumberland had left the town in April, and in accordance with instructions, they and all others who had been absent during the Duke's visit were closely examined as to their movements. That ordeal the two men had successfully faced. On what grounds, therefore, were they appre 3 P. 116. 1 P. 41. 2 P. 56. 4 P. 194. |