|
MURRAY, (SIR) ROBERT,
a statesman and natural philosopher, appears to have been born about the
commencement of the seventeenth century. He was a son of Sir Robert Murray
of Craigie, by a daughter of George Halket of Pitferran. According to his
intimate friend, Burnet, he served in the French army, and having found
great favour with the all-potent Richelieu, was early promoted to a
colonelcy. [Burnet’s Own Times, i. 59.] When the difficulties of Charles I.
assumed their most alarming aspect, he returned to Scotland, and raised
recruits for the royal army. When the king was with the Scots army at
Newcastle, he seems to have attempted an escape, designed by Sir Robert.
"The design," says Burnet, "was thus laid: Mr Murray had provided a vessel
by Teignmouth, and Sir Robert Murray was to have conveyed the king thither
in disguise; and it proceeded so far, that the king put himself in the
disguise, and went down the back stairs with Sir Robert Murray. But his
majesty, apprehending it was scarce possible to pass through all the guards
without being discovered, and judging it hugely indecent to be catched in
such a condition, changed his resolution, and went back, as Sir Robert
informed the writer." [Mem. Of D. of Hamilton, 307.] About this
period, it is probable that he had not received his title, and that he may
be identified with "Mr Robert Murray, quarter-master general," who, on the
occasion of the town of Berwick (which was ordered to be dismantled at the
treaty of the two kingdoms) petitioning to be permitted to keep three pieces
of ordnance, and the two gates of the bridge, was "sent to Berwick with his
majesty’s recommendation, to take notice what may be the importance of that
petition, and report the same to the house." [Balf. An., iii. 337.]
After the fall of the royal cause, he appears to have been recommended
by the parliament of Scotland to the French government, and to have obtained
from Mazarine a continuation of the favours extended to him by Richelieu. On
the 22nd May, 1650, two letters from France were read to the parliament of
Scotland, one from the young king, the other from the queen regent, in
answer to the letter of the parliament in favour of Sir Robert Murray; in
which "both did promise, from their respect and love to the Scots nation,
they would see their desire performed, so far as possibly the convenience of
their affairs would permit, and that he should be paid off his arrears." [Balf.
An., iv. 17.] We afterwards find the parliament exhibiting their
favour, by sending him a few cargoes of prisoners, to serve in his ranks. Of
two hundred and eighty-one soldiers, taken at Kerbester, where the marquis
of Montrose was finally defeated, after some disposals to coal mines, &c.,
the remainder "are given to lord Angus and Sir Robert Murray to recruit
their French troops with." [Ib. 18.35, Act. Par., vii. 516.] It is probable
that he was an officer in the Scots guards. He continued in the confidence
of Charles II., and was connected with the obscure negotiations of
Montreville with the independents and presbyterians, for the purpose of
procuring their assistance at as cheap a rate as possible to the conscience
of the king, or under the form of promise which might admit the easiest and
safest infraction on his part. The moderation of Sir Robert in matters
connected with the church, evinced in this transaction, may have been the
reason why Clarendon termed him "a cunning and a dexterous man;" and
accused him of attempting, under the pretext of bringing the king to peace
with the Scots, a coalition betwixt the Roman catholics and presbyterians,
to the destruction of the church of England.
On the 21st May, 1651, while
Charles was in command of the army in Scotland, Sir Robert was appointed
justice-clerk; and, on the 6th of June, he was chosen a lord of session, and
nominated a privy councillor. [Ib.] But the subversion of the courts by
Cromwell prevented him from sitting in judgment. Burnet mentions that he was
in great credit with the remains of the king’s army surviving in Scotland,
when "lord Glencairn took a strange course to break it, and to ruin him." A
letter written by him to William Murray, a low minion, who had risen in the
court of Charles I., by the performance of the most despicable offices, was
pretended to have been found at Antwerp. "This ill-forged letter gave an
account of a bargain Sir Robert had made with Monk for killing the king,
which was to be executed by Mr Murray: so he prayed him in his letter to
make haste and despatch it. This was brought to the earl of Glencairn: so
Sir Robert was severely questioned upon it, and put in arrest: and it was
spread about through a rude army that he intended to kill the king, hoping,
it seems, that some of these wild people, believing it, would have fallen
upon him, without using any forms. Upon this occasion, Sir Robert practised,
in a very eminent manner, his true Christian philosophy, without showing so
much as a cloud in his whole behaviour." [Own Times, i. 103.]
At the discussion at
Whitehall, on the question of the future established religion in Scotland,
Sir Robert Murray, along with Hamilton and Lauderdale, proposed to delay the
establishment of episcopacy, until the temper of the people should be
ascertained. [Ib. 132.] In the attempt, by means of ballot, to
disqualify those who had been favourable to the government of Cromwell from
serving under Charles, Sir Robert was one of those whose own fall, along
with that of Lauderdale, was particularly aimed at. [Ib. 150.] This
association with Lauderdale seems not to have been called for by the
previous conduct, the party opinions, or the moral character of Sir Robert.
Afterwards Lauderdale’s aversion to so moderate and honest a man, disturbed
his councils, and was partly productive of his downfall. He joined the
rising administration of Tweeddale; and, having at the Restoration been
re-appointed a lord of session, was promoted to be justice-clerk. "The
people were pleased and gratified," says Laing, "when a judicial office, so
important and dangerous, was conferred on the most upright and accomplished
character which the nation produced." [Hist. Ii. 47.] But Sir Robert was
made justice-clerk, not to be a judge, but that the salary might induce him
to be a partizan. He never sat on the bench, and was probably quite ignorant
of law. Meanwhile, in 1662, took place the most important event in his life,
and one of the most interesting transactions of the period. He was one of
the leaders of that body of naturalists and philosophers, who, with the
assistance of lord Brounker and Robert Boyle, procured for the Royal Society
the sanction of a charter. The society had existed as a small debating club
previous to the republic, at the establishment of which, the members
separated. At the Restoration, they re-established themselves, and conducted
their meetings and operations on a rather more extensive scale. On the 28th
November, 1660, we find Sir Robert present at, probably, the first meeting,
where it was proposed "that some course might be thought of to improve this
meeting to a more regular way of debating things; and that, according to the
manner in other countries, where there were voluntary associations of men
into academies for the advancement of various parts of learning, they might
do something answerable here for the promoting of experimental philosophy."
[Kirch. Hist. R. Soc., i. 3.] Sir Robert undertook to communicate the views
of the society to the court, and at next meeting returned an answer,
indicative of encouragement from that quarter. [Ib. 4.] After rules for
holding meetings, and for the appointment of office-bearers, were
established, Sir Robert was successively chosen president during the first
and second month of the existence of the society. [Ib. 21.] He
was a member of almost all committees and councils, delivered several
papers, prepared and exhibited experiments, and gave information in natural
history, chiefly relating to the geology of Scotland. The charter was
obtained on 15th July, 1662.
This useful and high-minded
man died suddenly in June, 1673. Burnett says of this event: "He was the
wisest and worthiest man of the age, and was as another father to me. I was
sensible how much I lost on so critical a conjuncture, being bereft of the
truest and faithfullest friend I had ever known: and so I saw I was
in danger of committing great errors for want of so kind a monitor." [Own
Times, i. 356.] But the same partial hand, on all occasions
graphic and rich in description, has elsewhere excelled its usual power, in
drawing the character of Sir Robert Murray. "He was the most universally
beloved and esteemed by men of all sides and sorts of any man I have ever
known in my whole life. He was a pious man, and, in the midst of armies and
courts, he spent many hours a-day in devotion, which was in a most elevating
strain. He had gone through the easy parts of mathematics, and knew the
history of nature beyond any man I ever yet knew. He had a genius much like
Peiriski, as he is described by Gassandi. He was afterwards the first former
of the Royal Society, and its first president; and while he lived, he was
the life and soul of that body. He had an equality of temper in him, which
nothing could alter: and was in practice the only stoic I ever knew. He had
a great tincture of one of their principles: for he was much for absolute
decrees. He had a most diffused love to all mankind, and delighted in every
occasion of doing good, which he managed with great discretion and zeal. He
had a superiority of genius and comprehension to most men; and had the
plainest, but, withal, the softest way of reproving, chiefly young people,
for their faults, that I ever knew of." [Ibid. 59.] |
