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The History of the
Jacobites properly begins with the brave and conscientious men who
followed James the Second to France, or fought and bled for him in the
United Kingdom. Of the few nobles whom that Monarch had distinguished by
his friendship when Duke of York, or graced with his favours when King,
three only in Scotland remained attached openly to his interests: these
were the Duke of Gordon, the Lord Balcarras, and Claverhouse of Dundee,
who may be regarded as the parents of the Jacobite party in Scotland.
"The other nobles of the late King's party," remarks a great historian,
[Dalrimple] "waited for events, in hopes and in fears, from the Old
Government and the New, intriguing with both, and depended upon by
neither."
Upon the death of Dundee,
a troop of officers who hail fought under the standard of that great
General, and who had imbibed his lofty opinions and learned to imitate
his dauntless valour, capitulated, and were suffered to leave the
country and retire to France. Their number amounted to a hundred and
fifty: they were all of honourable birth, and glorying in their
political principles. At first these exiles were, pensioned by the
French Government, but, upon the close of the civil war, those pensions
ceased. Finding themselves a burden upon King James, they formed
themselves into a body-guard, which was afterwards incorporated with the
French army. It may fairly be presumed that this remnant of Dundee's
army, four of whom only returned to Scotland, were instrumental during
their abode in France in maintaining a communication between the Court
of St. Germains and their disheartened countrymen who had remained in
their Highland homes. Abroad, they supported their military character as
soldiers who had fought under Dundee: They were always the foremost in
the battle and the last to retreat, and were, distinguished by a
superiority in order and discipline, no less than by their energy and
courage.
There can be no doubt but
that the majority of the great landholders in England, as well as the
Highland chiefs, continued, through the reign of William and Mary,
disposed to high Tory views; and that had not the popular cry of the
Church being in danger aided the designs of the Whigs, the Highilyers,
or rigid Tories, would not have remained in quiescence during that
critical period, which resembled the settling of a rushing current of
waters into a frothing and bubbling pool, rather than the calm tenour of
a gently-flowing stream. Throughout the distractions of his reign, it
was the wise policy of William the Third to balance parties; to bestow
great posts upon moderate men; to employ alternately persons of
different opinions, and by frequent changes in his Ministry, to
conciliate the good-will of both factions;—and this was all that that
able Monarch could effect, until time should extinguish political
animosity.
Queen Mary, educated in
Tory principles, and taught by her maternal uncle, the Earl of
Rochester, to consider every opposition to the Sovereign's will as
rebellion, was scarcely regarded in the light of an enemy to the
doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, notwithstanding her
unfifiul conduct; and it is remarkable that, during her life, great
favour was shown at Court to the Highland partisans of James the Second;
distinctions were as much avoided as it was possible; and the personal
prepossessions of the Queen were supposed to be on the side of the High
Church Tories.
During the reign of Anne,
notwithstanding the coalition of Godolphin, Marlborough, and other
leaders of the moderate. Tories with the Whigs, and the reputation and
glory which their combined abilities and characters obtained, a
conviction was still prevalent that the heart of the Queen was disposed
to the restoration of the ancient race, and that her days would not
close before a design to secure the succession to her nephew would be
matured, and the Act of Succession, which was chiefly the offspring of
Whig policy, should be set aside. There was, doubtless, not only in the
mind of Anne, but in that of her sagacious predecessor, an apprehension
that after the death of the last of their dynasty, the succession would
again be fiercely disputed. Impressed with this conviction, it was a
favourite scheme of William to invite the child, who afterwards, under
the name of the Chevalier St. George, was the hero, in dumb show, it
must be acknowledged, of the Insurrection of 1715, to receive his
education in England under his kingly care; to be bred up a Protestant;
and to make that education the earnest of his future succession. The
proposal was rejected by James the Second, to the great prejudice of his
son's interests, and to the misfortune, it may be presumed, of the
British nation. For one can scarcely suppose a more perfect combination
of all the qualities calculated to form a popular Monarch, in this
country, than the natural abilities of the Stuart race, perfected under
the able, guidance of so reflective a ruler—so accomplished a general—so
consummate a statesman, as William. The education which that Monarch had
planned for the young Duke of Gloucester shows how enlarged and
practical were his views of the acquirements necessary for a Sovereign:
it presents a scheme of tuition which, if it may be deemed not wholly
adapted to the present day, was on the most comprehensive and liberal
scale. But James, acting, at all events, with the consistency of a
sincere believer, returned, as Dalrymple expresses it, "slowly and sadly
to bury the remembrance of his greatness in the convent of La Trappe;"
and all future attempts on the part of his posterity to recover the
throne of their ancestors were frustrated by the hollowness of French
professions of friendship.
The tranquil demeanour of
the Jacobite party during the reign of Anne may seem surprising, when we
consider the avowed favour and protection which were held out by Louis
the Fourteenth to the royal exiles of St. Germain. During the lifetime
of James, who considered that he had exchanged the hope of an earthly
for that of a heavenly Crown, there was little to wonder at in this
inactivity and apparent resignation. Had it not been for the influence
of an enthusiastic, high-minded, and fascinating woman, the very mention
of the cause would probably have died away in the priest-thronged
saloons of St. Germains. To Mary of Modena the credit is due—if credit
on such account is to be assigned—for maintaining in the friends of her
consort, for instilling in the breast of her son, a desire of
restoration;—that word, in fact, might be found, to speak
metaphorically, written in her heart. To her personal qualities, to her
still youthful attractions, to her pure mind, and blameless career of
coirugal duty—to the noble, maternal ambition which no worthy judge of
human motives could refuse a tribute of pity and admiration—to her
disregard of low and unworthy instruments to advance her means, as in
the case of Lovat, even the warmest partisans of the Revolution were
forced to do justice. The disinterested and sagacious Godolphin is said
to have done more: He is supposed to have cherished such a respectful
enthusiasm for the young mother who thus supported the claims of her
son, as might have become the chivalric Surrey. Whatever were the facts
during the existence of Anne, the payment of a dowry to Mary of Modena,
the favourable understanding between her son, as he grew up to man's
estate, and the English Court, the small reward offered for his
apprehension, the conniving at the daily enlistment of men in his
service, and the indulgence shown to those who openly spoke and preached
against the Revolution, were certain indications and ample proofs that
had the Queen's life been prolonged, some effectual steps would have
been taken to efface from her memory the recollection of her early
failure of duty to King James, and to satisfy the reproaches of her
narrow, though conscientious mind. That such was the fact, the
declaration or manifesto of the Chevalier, dated from Plombieres, August
2, 1714, and printed in French, English, and Latin, attests; and the
assertion was confirmed by a letter from the Duke of Lorrain to the
English Government. This favourable disposition on the part of Anne
proves that she gave no credence to the report of the supposititious
birth of the Prince; although, in her youthful days, and when irritated
against her step-mother, she had entered into the Court gossip on that
subject, with all the eagerness of a weak and credulous mind.
Nourished in secret by
these hopes, the Jacobites in England constituted a far more important
party than our historians are generally willing to allow. The famous
work entitled, " English Advice to the Freeholders of Great Britain,"
supposed to be written by Bishop Atterbury, was extensively circulated
throughout the country: It tended to promote an opposition cry of "the
Church in danger!" by insinuating that the Whigs projected the abolition
of Episcopacy. It was received with great enthusiasm; and was responded
to with fervour by the University of Oxford, which was inflamed with a
zeal for the restoration of the Stuarts; and which displayed much of the
same ardour, and held forth the same arguments that had stimulated that
seat of learning in the days of Charles the First. To these sentiments,
the foreign birth, the foreign language, and, above all, the foreign
principles of the King added considerable disgust: nor can it be a
matter of surprise that such should be the case. It appears,
nevertheless, extraordinary that the opposition to so strange an
engrafting of a foreign ruler should not have been received with greater
public manifestations of dislike than the unorganized turbulence of
Oxford under-graduates, or the ephemeral fury of a London populace.
In Scotland a very
different state of public feeling prevailed. In England men of commerce
were swayed in their political opinions by the good of trade, which
nothing was so likely to injure as a disputed succession. The country
gentlemen were, more or less, under the influence of party pamphlets,
and were liable to have their political prejudices smoothed down by
collision with their neighbours. Excepting in the northern counties, the
dread of Popery prevailed also universally. The remembrance of the
bigotry and tyranny of James the Second had not faded away from the
remembrance of those whose fathers or grandfathers could remember its
details. In the Highlands of Scotland the memory of that Monarch was, on
the other hand, worshipped as a friend of that noble country, as the
Stuart peculiarly their own; as the royal exile, whose health and
return, under various disguises, they had pledged annually at their
hunting-matches, and to whose youthful son they transferred an
allegiance, which they held sacred as their religion.
Nor had James the Second
earned the devotion of the Highland chieftains without some degree of
merit on his own part. The most incapable and unworthy of rulers, he had
yet some fine and popular qualities as a man; he was not devoid of a
considerable share of ability although it was misapplied. His letters to
his son, his account of his own Life, show that one who could act most
erroneously and criminally, did, nevertheless, often think and feel
rightly. Ilis obstinate. adherence to his own faith may be lamented by
politicians; it may be sneered at by the worldly; but it must be
approved by all who are themselves staunch supporters of that mode of
faith which they conscientiously adopt. In private society James had the
power of attaching his dependents; and perhaps from a deeper source than
that which gave attraction to the conversation of his good-natured,
dissolute brother. His melancholy and touching reply to Sir Charles
Littleton, who expressed to him his shame that his son was with the
Prince of Orange:— "Alas! Sir Charles! why ashamed? Are not my daughters
with him?" was an instance of that readiness and delicacy which are
qualities peculiarly appropriate to royalty. His exclamation at the
battle of La Hogue, when he beheld the English sailors scrambling up the
sides of the French ships from their boats—"None but my brave English
could do this!" was one trait of a character neither devoid of
sensibility, nor destitute of certain emotions which appear incompatible
with the royal patron of Judge Jeffries, and with the enemy of Monmouth.
During his residence,
when Duke of York, at Holyrood, accompanied by Anne Hyde, when Duchess
of York, James became extremely popular in Edinburgh and in the
Highlands his hold of the affections of the chieftains had a deeper
origin. The oppressor of the English had endeavoured to become the
emancipator of the chieftains. The rigour of the feudal system, which
was carried to its utmost extent in the Highlands, although softened by
the patriarchal character of the chiefs, was revolting to the chieftains
or landholders under the yoke of some feudal nobleman or chief; and they
became ambitious of becoming direct holders from the Crown. It was a
scheme of James the Second to abolish this system of infeudation, by
buying up the superiorities,—a plan, the completion of which was
attempted by William the Third, but defeated by the avarice and
dishonesty of those who managed the transaction. The chieftains,
however, never forgot the obligation which they owed to James and they
refused all offers of emolument or promotion from his successor; and
they adhered to the exiled King with a loyalty which was never shaken,
and which broke forth conspicuously in the Insurrection of 1715. "The
Highlanders," says Dalrymple, "carried in their bosoms the high point of
honour without its follies."
"Without entering into
the various reasons which strengthened this sentiment of gratitude and
allegiance; without commenting upon the partly patriarchal nature of the
clan system, and the firm compact which was cemented between every
member of that family by a common relationship of blood; it is
sufficient to remark, that to a people so retired, in many parts
insulated, in all apart from daily intelligence, far away from
communication with any whose free disquisitions might possibly stake
their opinions, it was not surprising that the loyalty to James should
continue unalloyed during two successive reigns. It burned, indeed, with
a steady though covered flame. The Insurrection of 1715, which seems, in
the pages of history, to break forth unexpectedly, was long in being
organized. From Anne's first Session of Parliament until the completion
of the Union, Scotland was in a state of ferment, and violent party
divisions racked civil society. In 1707, the famous Colonel Hooke was
sent to the northern parts of Scotland from France, to sound the
nobility and chieftains with respect to their sentiments, to ascertain
the amount of their forces, and to inquire what quantity of ammunition
and other warlike stores should be necessary to be sent from France. A
full account of affairs was compiled, and was signed by fifteen noblemen
and gentlemen, amongst whom the Duke of Athole, who aspired, according
to Lockhart, to be another General Monk, was foremost in promoting the
restoration of the youthful son of James the Second. This mission was
followed by the unsuccessful attempt at invasion on the part of James,
in 1708; when, according to some representations, there was a far more
reasonable prospect of success than at any later period. The nobility
and gentry were, at that time, well prepared to receive the royal
adventurer; the regular army was wholly unfit, either in numbers or
ammunition, to oppose the forces which they would have raised. The very
Guards, it is supposed, would have done duty on the person of James
Stuart the night that he landed. The equivalent money sent to Scotland
to reward the promoters of the Union, was still in the country, and a
considerable part of it was in the Castle of Edinburgh; and a Dutch
fleet had recently run aground on the coast of Angus, and had left there
a vast quantity of powder, shot, and cannon, and a large sum of money,
which might have been secured. England was, at this time, distracted
with jealousies and factions; and although the great Marlborough was
then in the vigour of his youth, ready to defend his country, as well as
to extend her dominions, there were suspicions that the General was not
wholly, adverse to the claims of James Stuart.
How far these
expectations might have been realised, it is difficult to say. The
French newspapers had proclaimed the preparations for invasion, and
Louis the Fourteenth had taken leave of James, wishing him a prosperous
voyage, and expressing, as the highest compliment, "the hope that he
should never see him again," when a slight, accidental indisposition
disturbed the whole arrangement. The royal youth was taken ill wi+t the
measles; upon which the French troops which had embarked at Dunkirk
disembarked. A fatal delay was occasioned; and the French fleet, after
an ineffectual voyage, went "sneakingly home," "doing," as one of the
most active Jacobites remarks, "much harm to the King, his country, and
themselves."
Such was the fate of the
attempt, in 1708, to place James Stuart on the throne of his ancestors;
and it will readily be believed that the ill-starred endeavour did not
add to the probable success of any future enterprise. Scarcely had the
accession of George the First, an event which a certain historian
denominates "a surprising turn of Providence," taken place, than the
removal of Lord Bolingbroke from office announced to the Tory party that
they had lost their best friend at Court. Upon this intelligence
reaching the Highlands, many of the Jacobites took up arms; but this
hasty demonstration of goodwill to their cause was instantly suppressed.
The Chevalier was, nevertheless, proclaimed King in the night time, and
three noblemen, the Duke of Gordon, the Marquis of Huntley, and Lord
Drummond, were kept prisoners in their own houses. In the middle of
November, the Chevalier's Declaration, asserting his right and title to
the Crown of England, was sent by a French null to many persons of rank
in this country. For some months the country was in a state of ferment,
such as, perhaps, had never been witnessed since the days of the Great
Rebellion. The Jacobites were centered in Oxford, but Bristol was also
another of their strongholds; the course of justice was impeded there by
riots; and every effort was made, both there and elsewhere, to influence
the elections, which were carried on with a degree of venom and fury,
exasperated by the cry of "the Church in danger!"
In February, 1715, the
Duke of Argyle, Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces in Scotland,
received information that a vessel containing arms and ammunition had
landed in the Isle of Skye, and that the strangers had disembarked
there, and had instantly dispersed themselves throughout the country.
This was the first positive indication of the combination, which already
comprised most of the ancient and respected names in Scotland. This
confederacy, as it may be called, had existed ever since the peace of
Utrecht, under the form of the Jacobite Association. In 1710, the
formation of the October Club had shewed plainly the bias of the country
gentlemen, who, according to a judge of men's motives who was rarely
satisfied, "l did adhere firmly to their principles and engagements,
acting the part of honest countrymen and dutiful subjects."
About the month of May,
the report of James Stuart's intended invasion of Scotland, and
particulars of the preparations made for it in England, Scotland, and
France, became public. Measures were, of course, instantly taken to
guard the coasts of England and Scotland, and to augment land forces.
The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended in England, and in Scotland. An Act,
passed in 1701, for preventing wrong imprisonments, and against undue
delay in trials, was also suspended from the. twenty-third of July,
1715, until the twenty-fourth of the ensuing January. A fleet, under the
command of Sir George Byng, was ordered to cruise in the Downs; and the
most active and vigilant measures were taken in order to put the nation
into a position of defence. The former intended invasion of 1708 was not
forgotten, and it acted like a warning voice to the English Ministry. A
Whig Association was trained among persons of rank and influences and in
Edinburgh a body of volunteers was formed, who might daily be seen
exercising in the Great Hall of the College.
Meantime the Jacobites
were increasing in strength. During the last six years collections had
been made in the continental nations, purporting to be for a "gentleman
in distress," and the amount was said to have exceeded twelve millions.
Of this sum, one hundred thousand pounds was entrusted to the Earl of
Mar.
The whole scheme of the
insurrection was matured, and the Chevalier had been proclaimed King in
different towns in Scotland, when the death of Louis the Fourteenth cast
such a damp over the spirit! of the party, that there ensued a
consultation as to the expediency of their separating and returning to
their homes. In this emergency, unhappily for the brave and ardent men
whom he had assembled at Braemar, the influence of the Earl of Mar, and
the arguments which his sanguine spirit suggested, prevailed; and the
assembled chiefs parted, only to meet again at their appointed places of
rendezvous.
The scheme of the
Insurrection of 1715 embraced three different movements. In the north,
the Earl of Mar was to possess himself of ail the rich coasts of Fife,
and also to maintain, in the name of James the Third, the northern
counties, which, with few exceptions, were soon under the control of the
insurgents. An attempt was made, upon the southern parts of Scotland, by
sending Brigadier Mackintosh, with a strong detachment of men, to cross
the Firth of Forth, and to land in the Lothians, there expecting to be
joined by friends on the borders and from England. In the west, a rising
of the south-country Scots, under the command of Lord Kenmure, was
projected; whilst in Northumberland the English Jacobites, headed by Mr.
Forster, with a commission of General from Lord Mar, and aided by the
Earl of Derwentwater, was to give the signal and incentive to the
adherents of James in the sister Kingdom, as well as to co-operate with
the Scottish forces under the commands of Brigadier Mackintosh and
Viscount Kenmure. An attack upon Edinburgh was also concerted.
Such is the. outline of a
plan of an insurrection to the effect of which the Earl of Mar declared
the Jacobites had been looking for six and twenty years, how immature it
was in its conception—how deficient in energy and union was its
execution—how-unworthy was its chief instrument— how fatal to the good
and great were its results—and, by a singular fortune, how those who
least merited their safety escaped, whilst the gallant and honest
champions of the cause suffered, will be fully detailed in the following
pages. Let it be remembered that the task of compiling these Memoirs has
been undertaken with no party spirit, nor with any wish to detract from
the deep obligations which we owe to those who preserved us from inroads
on our constitution, and oppression in our religious opinions. It has
been, however, begun with a sincere wish to do justice to the
disinterested and the good; and, as the task has proceeded, and
increased information on the subject has been gained, it has been
continued with a conviction that, whatever may be the nature or merits
of the abstract principles on which it was undertaken, the Insurrection
of 1715 forms an episode in the history of our country as creditable to
many of the ill-fated actors in its tragic scenes, as any that have been
detailed in the pages of that history.
London,
October 28, 1845. |
