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FRASER, SIMON, twelfth lord
Lovat, a person too remarkable in history to be overlooked in this work,
though his want of public or private virtue might otherwise have dictated
his exclusion, and the second son of Thomas Fraser of Beaufort, by Sybilla
Macleod, daughter of the laird of Macleod, and was born at Beaufort, near
Inverness, in the year 1667. Of his early years we have no very distinct
account. He has himself asserted that, at the age of thirteen, he was
imprisoned for his exertions in the royal cause, though we do not well see
how this could happen. That his elder brother however, was in the
insurrection of the viscount Dundee, and himself, after the death of
Dundee, in that under general Buchan, is certain. After all the pains his
lordship has been at to set forth his extreme zeal for the Stuarts,
nothing can be more evident than that, from his earliest days, the sole
purpose of his life was to promote his own power by all feasible means,
this end being the only object of his solicitude. Agreeably to this view
of his character, we find him in the year 1694, while yet a student at the
university of Aberdeen, accepting of a commission in the regiment of lord
Murray, afterwards earl of Tullibardine. This commission had been procured
for him by his cousin, Hugh lord Lovat, who was brother-in-law to lord
Murray, with the express view of bringing him "forward most
advantageously in the world;" and though he professed to have
scruples in going against the interest of king James, these were all laid
asleep by an assurance, on the part of lord Murray, that the regiment,
though ostensibly raised, and in the meantime to take the oaths to, and
receive the pay of king William, was really intended for king James, who
would not fail to be in the country to lay claim to and revive his rights,
in the course of the succeeding year. No sooner had young Beaufort
received this assurance than he led into the regiment a complete company,
almost entirely made up of the young gentlemen of his clan. In the course
of the succeeding year, lord Murray was, by the favour of king William,
appointed secretary of state for Scotland, and, in place of doing any
thing for king James, inforced upon every officer in his regiment the oath
of abjuration.
Being a young man, at
liberty to follow out his education, and in the regular receipt of his
pay, Beaufort, it might have been supposed, would have found his situation
comfortable, and been, in some measure, content; but his spirit seems to
have been naturally restless, and any thing like an under part in the
drama of life did not square with his disposition. In the course of the
year 1696, a company of lord Murray’s regiment, being stationed at the
castle of Edinburgh, where the earl Marischal, lord Drummond, and other of
the Jacobite lords were imprisoned, a visit from the Pretender being at
the time expected, Simon, the subject of this narrative, entered into an
engagement with the rebel lords, to seize upon the castle, and to hold it
under the earl Marischal for the French and king James. In this project,
which appears not to have been executed, only because the French were
unable to make the premised demonstration, Beaufort was to have been
assisted by another captain of the same regiment, who seems to have been
equally faithless and equally servile with himself.
But while he was thus
careful to watch the tides, and to take advantage of every wind that might
ruffle the ocean of politics, his eye was steadily fixed upon the estate
of Lovat, which, as his cousin Hugh lord Lovat had but one child, a
daughter, he had already marked out as his own. For this end he seems to
have embraced every opportunity of ingratiating himself with his cousin,
who appears to have been a man of a facile and vacillating disposition,
and to have been considerably under the influence of lord Murray, his
brother-in-law. Of this influence, Simon of Beaufort was perfectly aware,
and watched with the utmost assiduity an opportunity to destroy it. This
opportunity lord Murray himself afforded him in the affair of the
colonelcy of the regiment, which, upon his appointment to the office of
secretary, it was expected he would have given up to his brother-in-law,
lord Lovat. Nor is it at all unlikely that such was
originally his lordship’s intention; for, in the year l696, he sent for
him to London, apparently with the intention of doing so, after having
presented him to the king. Lovat unfortunately carried along with him his
cousin, Simon, whose character must, by this time, have been pretty well
known to king William, and whose companionship, of course, could be no
great recommendation to the royal favour. Lovat was, however, presented to
the royal presence, most graciously received, and gratified with a promise
of being provided for. As this was all that Lovat expected, he took leave
of his majesty, along with lord Murray, leaving no room for William to
suppose, for the present at least, that he either wished or had
any occasion for a further interview. This his cousin Simon highly
resented, telling him that it was a contrivance of lord Murray’s to
deprive him of an opportunity of soliciting a regiment for himself, and he
prevailed with him instantly to demand of lord Murray the reason for which
he had brought them at this time to London, at such an enormous expense.
Lord Murray frankly told him that it was his design to have resigned to
him the command of his regiment, but that the king had positively enjoined
him to keep it in his own hands till such time as the rumours of an
invasion should subside, when he should certainly surrender it into his
hands.
Had Lovat been left to
himself, this answer would most probably have been altogether
satisfactory; but it did not satisfy Simon nor his friends lord Tarbat and
Alexander Mackenzie, son to the earl of Seaforth, both of whom were at
that time in London, and were of service to Beaufort in persuading lord
Lovat that lord Murray had been all along his mortal enemy. By the advice
of all three, Lovat sent back to lord Murray two commissions, that of
captain and lieutenant-colonel, which he held under him, expressing, at
the same time, in strong language, his resentment of his treachery, and
his fixed resolution never more to see him nor any individual of his
family, excepting his own wife. At the same time that the poor old man was
thus eager in casting off his old friends, he was equally warm in his
attachment to the new. "Impressed with the tender affection of the
laird of Beaufort, and the resolution he manifested never to leave him, he
declared that he regarded him as his own son;" and as he had
executed, at his marriage, some papers which might perhaps be prejudicial
to the claims of this said adopted son, he obliged him to send for an
attorney, and made a universal bequest to him of all his estates, in case
he died without male issue. This affectionate conduct on the part of lord
Lovat, deeply, according to his own account of the matter, affected our
hero, who pretended "that he would for ever consider him as his
father." In consequence of so much anxious business, so much chagrin
and disappointment, with a pretty reasonable attendance on taverns, lord
Lovat fell sick; but after convalescing a little, was brought on his way
home as far as Edinburgh by his affectionate Simon, where he left him,
proceeding by the way of Dunkeld to meet with his wife. He had not been
many days at Dunkeld when he again fell sick, and retired to an inn at
Perth, where he was again waited on by Simon of Beaufort, and, in a state
of distraction, died in his arms the morning after his arrival.
Though, as we have seen,
the subject of this memoir had got a deed executed by a London attorney
under the direction of his cousin, the late lord Lovat, constituting him
heir to the estate, it was judged by him the more prudent method to put
forward his father, as the nearest male heir, to take possession of the
estate, with the honours, contenting himself with the title of master of
Lovat. No sooner, however, had he assumed this title than he was
questioned on the subject by his colonel, now lord Tullibardine, who made
him the offer of a regiment, with other preferments, which should be to
him an ample provision for life, provided he would execute a formal
surrender of his claim to that dignity. This produced a violent
altercation between them, which ended in the master of Lovat throwing up
his commission, which he bade his lordship, if he pleased, bestow upon his
own footman. Through the friendship of Sir Thomas Livingston, however, he
received another company in the regiment of Macgill, and his father having
taken possession of the estate and the honours of Lovat, without much
apparent opposition, he must have been, in some degree, satisfied with his
good fortune. In order, however, to secure it, and to render his claims in
every respect unexceptionable, he made love to the heiress of his cousin,
the late lord Lovat, and had succeeded in persuading her to marry him,
without the knowledge of her friends, when one of his agents betrayed
trust, and she was carried out of his way by the marquis of Athol, after
the day of the marriage had actually been appointed.
The marquis of Athol, late
lord Tullibardine, probably aware that he had an adversary of no common
activity to deal with, lost no time in concluding a match for the heiress
with lord Salton, or Fraser, whom he also took measures for having
declared head of the clan Fraser. The first part of his plan was not
difficult to have been executed; but the latter part, for which the first
was alone contemplated, was not of so easy a character, being opposed to
the spirit of highland clanship. A considerable time, however, was spent
in attempting to bring it to bear. A few Frasers only could be brought to
engage in it; whose treachery no sooner came to the ears of the lord and
the master of Lovat, than orders were issued to apprehend and punish them
according to their deserts; and it was only by a timely and well-concerted
flight that they escaped being hanged. A letter was, at the same time,
sent to lord Salton, signed by the principal men of the clan, begging him
not to attempt forcing himself upon them, and thus destroying their
tranquillity, and endangering his own life. Salton returned a soft answer;
but, confident in the power of the marquis of Athol, and, at any rate, in
love with the consequence attached to the fair estate of Lovat, whether he
was in love with the heiress or not, persevered in following out his plan,
and with a considerable train of retainers came to Beaufort, at that time
the residence of the dowager of Lovat, whose son-in-law he intended to be.
Thomas, lord Lovat, happened to be at this time on the Stratherrick
estate, a district which stretches along the south bank of Lochness, and
was requested by his son Simon, to cross the lake by the nearest way to
Lovat, which is only three miles from Beaufort, in order to meet with lord
Salton, while he himself hastened to the same place by the way of
Inverness. At Inverness the master learned that lord Salton, persevering
in his original design, had fully matured his plans at the house of the
dowager lady Lovat, whence he intended next day to return into his own
country, calling at Athol, and marrying the heiress of Lovat by the way,
without waiting to sue either the lord or the master of Lovat. Irritated,
as well as alarmed by this intelligence, he wrote by a special messenger
to lord Salton, calling upon him to adhere to his word "passed both
to his father and himself, and to meet him next day at two o’clock in
the afternoon, three miles from Beaufort, either like a friend, or with
sword and pistols, as he pleased." This letter lord Salton received
at six o’clock in the evening, and returned for answer that he would
meet the master of Lovat at the time and place appointed, as his good
friend and humble servant. In the meantime it was concluded by him and his
followers to break up from their present quarters, and to pass the bridge
of Inverness before the master of Lovat could have any suspicion of their
being in motion, and thus escape a meeting with him for the present. The
master, however, was too good a calculator of probabilities in this sort
of intercourse to be thus taken in, especially as his messenger to lord
Salton, from what he had observed at Beaufort, had strong suspicions of
what was intended. He was, accordingly, at the road very early in the
morning, attended by six gentlemen and two servants, all well mounted and
armed, and meeting lord Salton, lord Mungo Murray, and their followers, to
the number of forty, issuing from a defile in the wood of Bunchrive, about
five miles from Inverness, disarmed and dismounted them; first lord Mungo
Murray, then lord Salton, and the rest singly as they came forward,
without stroke of sword or the firing of a single musket. Though the party
of the master of Lovat was so inconsiderable at the outset, lord Salton
and his party soon found themselves surrounded by some hundreds of enraged
enemies, by whom under the direction of the master, they were carried
prisoners to the castle of Fanellan, where they were closely shut up under
a certification that they should be all hanged for their attempt to
intrude themselves into the inheritance, and to deprive the owner of his
lawful and hereditary rights. Nor had they any right to consider this as a
mere bravado: the history of clan wars could easily furnish them with
numerous examples of such barbarous atrocity, where there was not greater
provocation.
Having thus completely
marred the marriage of lord Salton, the master of Lovat immediately set
about the celebration of his own. The heiress of Lovat was safe in the
hands of her friends at Athol; but the dowager, her mother, was in the
house of Beaufort, every avenue to which he beset with his followers, so
that it was out of her power to inform her friends of any thing that was
going on; then, entering the house with a parson, whether catholic or
episcopal is unknown, he made the lady go through the form of marriage
with himself, had her forcibly undressed and put to bed, whither he as
forcibly followed her before witnesses, thus constituting it, as he
supposed, a lawful marriage. This is one of the most atrocious of the many
revolting actions in the life of this profligate nobleman, though one to
which he has given a flat denial in the memoir which he has written of
himself. The truth is, it was as foolish as it was wicked; and, after the
purpose for which it was committed, viz, to remove the enmity of the Athol
family, had utterly failed, he himself must have been heartily ashamed of
it. There is, indeed, a total falsehood in one reason that he insists upon
as proving its improbability. She was old enough, he says, to have been
his mother. Now she was only four years older than himself, having died at
Perth in the year 1743, in the eightieth year of her age. She had been
either so frightened by him, or so cajoled, as to offer, if we may believe
the duke of Argyle, writing to the Rev. Mr Carstairs, to give her oath
before the court of justiciary that all that had passed between her and
Lovat was voluntary, and as much her inclination as his; and she lived to
hear him deny his being at all concerned with her, and to see him twice
afterwards married.
But to return from this
short digression. Having, as he supposed, put himself in a fair way for
being acknowledged by the house of Athol, the master of Lovat abandoned
the idea of hanging so many of the members and allies belonging to it, as
he had in custody in his castle of Fanellan, contenting himself with
extorting a bond from lord Salton for eight thousand pounds, with four
low-country barons as his sureties, if he ever again interfered with the
affairs of the estate of Lovat, or if ever he or the marquis of Athol
prosecuted any one individual for any thing that had been transacted in
this whole affair. This was only a little more of the same folly which had
guided him through the whole business, and tended but to excite the wonder
of his friends, and the hatred and contempt of his enemies, the latter of
whom, on a representation to the privy council, had him intercommuned, and
letters of fire, and sword issued out against him and all his clan. This,
though perfectly in the natural order of human affairs, was altogether
unexpected by the master of Lovat, and seems to have reduced him to great
extremity. Besides the family of Athol, which was much more powerful than
his own, troops were ready to pour in upon him from all quarters, and even
those upon whom he depended for counsel and assistance seem at the time to
have declared against him. To the laird of Culloden, we find him writing
from Beaufort in the month of October, 1697. "Thir Lds. att
Inverness, wt, ye rest of my implacable enemies, does so confound my wife,
that she is uneasy till she see them. I am afraid they are so mad with
this disappointment, that they will propose something to her that’s
dangerous, her brother having such power with her; so that really till
things be perfectly accommodate, I do not desire they should see her, and
I know not how to manage her. So I hope you will send all the advice you
can to your obliged, &c. &c. I hope you will excuse me for not
going your length, since I have such a hard task at home." The advice
given him by Culloden has not been preserved; but that it was not to his
mind, we learn from a letter written by that gentleman from Inverlochy,
about ten or twelve days after. "I am much concerned," says he,
"that your neighbour Beaufort hath played not the fool but the
madman. If, by your persuasion, he cannot be induced to deliver up the so
much abused lady upon assurance of pardon, in all probability he will ruin
both himself and his friends. ‘Tis not long since he was here, and
promised me other things; but since he has run a quite contrary course,
and stands neither to his own nor the proposals of any other, I have sent
down two hundred men," &c. &c. This view of the matter is
still further confirmed by another letter from Lovat to Culloden, a few
days after the above, when he seems to have felt that he was pretty much
in the power of his enemies. "I pray you receive the inclosed account
of my business, and see if your own conscience, in the sight of God, do
not convince you that it is literally true. I had sent to you upon
Saturday last, but you were not at home; however, I sent it that day to
the laird of Calder, who, I hope, will not sit down upon me, but transmit
it to my best friends; and I beseech you, sir, for God’s sake, that you
do the like. I know the chancellor is a just man, notwithstanding his
friendship for Tullibardine. I forgive you for betraying of me; but
neither you, nor I, nor I hope God himself, will not forgive them that
deceived you, and caused you do it. I am very hopeful in my dear wife’s
constancy, if they do not put her to death. Now, I add no more, but leaves
myself to your discretion," &c. At the same time his father, lord
Lovat, wrote to the duke of Argyle an explanatory letter upon the subject,
signed by himself and all the principal Frasers. The great benefit of the
marriage to the estate of Lovat is chiefly insisted on in this letter, and
represented as the sole cause of the enmity of the Athol family; who, it
states, wished to appropriate that fair domain to themselves. Argyle, on
the receipt of this letter, wrote to Mr Carstairs, who was king William’s
principal adviser in all that related to Scotland, and, after a
considerable length of time, was gratified by receiving the pardon he had
solicited for all the treasons with which his client had been charged,
leaving the story of the rape for a subject of future investigation. For
this also, had there been a little patience and prudence exercised, there
cannot be a doubt but he would have obtained a full remission.
To be out of the way of
this storm at its commencement, lord Lovat had taken shelter in the island
of Skye, with his brother-in-law the laird of Macleod, where he died in
the beginning of 1698. Simon, who had defended himself in the best manner
he could, then assumed the title of lord Lovat, but to escape the rage and
superior strength of his enemies, was also under the necessity of taking
refuge in the isles, where he remained till the following year, When the
duke of Argyle, with the promise of a pardon, brought him to London.
Delays took place, however, in procuring his remission to pass
the Scottish seals, till the king set out for the United Provinces, and
Lovat took an excursion into France, for the purpose of lodging, at the
court of St Germains, a complaint against the marquis of Athol, and
soliciting James’s protection against the maliguity of his powerful
family. Having obtained his request, and been enjoined by the exiled
monarch to wait on and make his peace with king William, Lovat proceeded
by the way of London to the court of that sovereign, at Loo, being
favoured with a letter from the duke of Argyle to Mr Carstairs, through
whom he received a remission, he himself says, of all crimes that could be
imputed to him, but restricted by Seafield in passing the Scottish seals,
as has been above stated. With this remission, such as it was, he ventured
to make his appearance in public, had a citation served upon the marquis
of Athol and his family for falsely accusing him, and for devastating his
estates; and, making a progress through the north, returned to Edinburgh
with a hundred gentlemen as honourable as himself, to support his charges,
and bear witness to the innocence and integrity of his character; or
rather to browbeat the authorities, and extort from fear a decision which
he well knew could never be procured from the voice of truth and justice.
Finding, however, that he had undertaken what would fail him in the issue,
he once more set out for London, the day before the trial should have come
on, and was nonsuited in his absence; and thus, by his imprudent temerity,
lost the opportunity of being fairly instated in the estate and honours of
Lovat, as he would certainly have been, through the interest of Argyle and
his other friends, had he allowed them to do their own work in their own
way.
The restoration of king
James was now Lovat’s sheet anchor; and, lest the Murrays, whom he
suspected of being warmer friends to James than he was himself should also
be before him here, it was necessary for him to be peculiarly forward.
Accordingly, on the death of king William in the early part of the year
1702, he procured a commission from several of the principal Scottish
Jacobites to the court of St Germains, declaring their being ready to take
up arms and hazard their lives and fortunes for the restoration of their
lawful prince; as usual, paying all manner of respect to the court of
Versailles, and requesting its assistance. With this, he proceeded, by the
way of England and Holland, and reached the court of St Germains about the
beginning of September, 1702; just in time to be particularly useful in
inflaming the contentions that distracted the council of James VIII., for
the direction of whose affairs there was a most violent struggle among his
few followers. He had for his fellow-traveller his cousin-german, Sir John
Maclean, well known in the history of the intrigues of that time, who,
leaving him at Paris, was his precursor to the court of St Germains,
whence in two days he returned to conduct him into the presence of the
duke of Perth, from whom he received private instructions how to conduct
himself towards the queen. The principal of these was to request of the
queen that she should not make known any part of what he proposed to lord
Middleton, who, at the time, was the rival of lord Perth for the supreme
direction of their affairs, which might be said to lie chiefly in sending
out spies, fabricating reports, and soliciting pensions. Nothing could be
more agreeable to Lovat, the very elements of whose being seemed to be
mystery, and with whom to intrigue was as natural as to breathe. To work
he went, exacted the queen’s promise to keep every thing secret from
Middleton; and by the aid of the marquis de Torcy, the marquis Callieres,
and cardinal Gualterio, the pope’s nuncio, funded himself sole
administrator of the affairs of Scotland. The queen herself was so much
pleased with the opening scene, that she gladdened the heart of Lovat, by
telling him she had sent her jewels to Paris to be sold, in order to raise
the twenty thousand crowns he had told her were necessary for bringing
forward his Highlanders in a properly effective manner. But she was not
long true to her promise of secrecy; and Middleton at once depicted Lovat
as "the greatest traitor in the three kingdoms:" nor did he
treat his favourite highlanders with any more respect, representing them
as mere banditti, excellent at plundering the Lowlanders, and carrying off
their cattle, but incapable of being formed into a regular corps that
would look a well appointed enemy in the face. From this day forward,
Lovat seems to have fallen in the opinion of Mary d’Este, who was a
woman of rather superior talents, though he seems to have gone on well
with de Torcy, Callieres, and, Gualterio, who found in him, as they
supposed, a very fit tool for their purpose of raising in Scotland a civil
war, without much caring whether it really promoted the interests of James
or not. After much intriguing with Perth and Middleton, as well as with
the French ministry, Lovat obtained a commission to visit Scotland in
1703, but rather as an emissary of the French government, than as a
credited agent for James. The object of the French government was to have
an immediate diversion created in the Highlands, and they furnished his
lordship with six thousand francs (250 pounds) to defray the expenses of
his journey, and a commission to be a major-general, with power to raise
troops and appoint officers, as he should find needful. At the same time,
to be the witness of his behaviour, they joined with him John Murray of
Abercairney, a gentleman who ought to have been ashamed of such a
companion as Lovat, and had the address to send James Murray, brother to
Murray of Stanhope, so as to be in Scotland at least a month before him,
where he told it openly, that Lovat was on his way, as agent for the pope
and the king of France, to raise a civil war in Scotland, contrary to the
positive orders of the king and his mother the queen. Owing to this and
the well known character of Lovat, many of the Jacobites were shy of
communicating with him, though he certainly found a few willing to depend
upon his promises, and to enter into his projects. His principal object,
however, most probably was to see if there were yet any openings whereby
he might reconcile himself with the government, and be allowed to take
possession of the estate of Lovat, the first and the last grand object of
his ambition. He accordingly threw himself in the way of Queensberry, to
whom he betrayed all—perhaps more than he knew, respecting his old
friend, lord Murray, now, by the death of his brother and the queen’s
favour, duke of Athol, and his associate in politics, the duke of
Hamilton; but his best friend the duke of Argyle dying at this time, he
appears to have obtained nothing more than a free passport, and perhaps
some promises in case of further discoveries; and with this he passed
again into France. Having, while in London fallen in with, or rather been
introduced to, a well known Jacobite, William Keith, and the well known
framer of plots, Ferguson, who was shortly after taken up, the whole of
his transaction took air before he had time to reach Paris. The companion
of his travels, too, Sir John Maclean, coming to England about the same
time, surrendered himself prisoner, and, in consideration of obtaining his
liberty and a small pension, laid open the whole of Lovat’s proceedings
from first to last, so that he was discovered to both courts at the same
time. The reader, however, if he supposes that Lovat felt any pain at
these discoveries, is in a great mistake. They were unquestionably the
very events he wished, and from which he expected to rise in worldly
estimation and in wealth, which is too often the chief pillar upon which
that estimation is founded. There was at this period, among all parties, a
thirst for emolument which was perfectly ravenous, and scrupled at no
means by which it might attain its gratification. Of this fatal
propensity, the present affair is a remarkable instance. Lovat had
received from king James the present of his picture, which, with a
commission for a regiment of infantry, he had inclosed in a box made for
the purpose. This, on leaving Scotland, he committed to his friend,
Campbell of Glendaruel, to keep for him, and his back was scarcely turned
when Glendaruel went to the duke of Athol, and offered him the box, with
its contents, provided he would give him a company in a regiment that was
held by Campbell of Finab, and was worth about one hundred and seventy
pounds a year, which he at once obtained, and the box with its contents
was in a short time lodged in the hands of queen Anne. Lovat, in his
memoirs, relates the transaction, and exclaims against its treachery,
though it was wholly his own contrivance; the box being given for the
express purpose of procuring a pension for his friend, and giving Anne and
her ministers ocular demonstration of his own importance.
On his arrival in France;
lord Lovat found the earl of Middleton and the exiled queen, as much
opposed to him and his projects as ever, but he continued his assiduities
with the French courtiers, who informed him, that he might expect very
soon to be the first of the Scottish nobility, since he would be called on
to head the insurrection not only as a general officer to king James, but
as a general officer in the army of France; every thing necessary for the
success of the expedition, land forces, a squadron of ships, arms, and
ammunition, being already prepared, and nothing remaining to be done but
the form of carrying it through the privy council, which a day or two
would accomplish. In a day or two it was proposed in the council, when the
king himself declared, that, though he had the highest opinion of the
excellence of the proposed plan, the queen of England had positively
refused to sign commissions for her subjects to engage in it, and
therefore, for the present it was necessary to lay it aside. This was a
sad blow to the hopes of Lovat; and being always fond of letter writing,
he wrote a letter to the queen, in which he told her, that she had at one
blow overturned a project which he had sacrificed his property and exposed
his life to bring to perfection; and he affirmed, that, so long as her
majesty followed implicitly the advice of the people who were at the head
of the English parliament, Jesus Christ would come in the clouds before
her son would be restored; and he concluded by saying, that, for his own
part, he would never draw a sword for the royal cause, so long as the
regency was in her majesty’s hands.
In consequence of this
letter, lord Lovat was at the queen’s instance imprisoned thirty-two
days in a dark dungeon, three years in the castle of Angouleme, and seven
years in the city of Saumur. In the meantime the project was not
abandoned. Colonel Hooke succeeded to the part that Lovat had played or
attempted to play. A large armament, under admiral Forbin, was fitted out
in the year 1708, and in which James himself embarked, and had a sight of
the Scottish shore, when meeting with admiral Byng and afterwards
encountering a violent storm, the whole was driven back upon the French
coast, with great loss. In this expedition the friends of Lovat had
requested James to employ him, and they had received the most determined
refusal, which finally, with the failure of the expedition, cut off all
his hopes from that quarter. What added greatly to the bitterness of his
reflections, the heiress of Lovat was now married to Mr Alexander
Mackenzie, (son of lord Prestonhall,) who had assumed the title of
Fraserdale, with the estate of Lovat settled on him for life, with
remainder to the heirs of the marriage, who were to bear the name of
Fraser, and of which there were already more than one. Thus circumstanced,
he confessed, that he "would not merely have inlisted himself in the
party of the house of Hanover, which was called to the crown of Scotland,
England, and Ireland, by all the states of the kingdom, but with any
foreign prince in the universe, who would have assisted him in the
attainment of his just and laudable design of re-establishing his family,
and proclaiming to all Scotland the barbarous cruelty of the court of St
Germains." In this state of mind he formed the resolution of escaping
from Saumur, in company with some English prisoners, and throwing himself
at the feet of the dukes of Marlborough and Argyle, entreating them to
interpose in his favour with queen Anne. This design circumstances
prevented him from executing; but he transmitted on various occasions,
letters to the duke of Argyle and others of his friends, upon whom he
supposed he could depend, stating the determination he had come to, and
requesting their good offices to effect his reconciliation with the queen.
Some of these letters were returned to the court of St Germains, shown to
the court of France, and nearly occasioned his being shut up in the
Bastile for life. He soon, however, engaged in forming another plan for
the invasion of Scotland, in which he expected to be employed; but the
terrible campaigns of 1710 and 1711, put it out of the power of the court
of France to attend to any thing beyond domestic concerns; and the marquis
de la Fuziliere, the principal friend he possessed at the French court,
dying at the same time, rendered all his prospects in that country
hopeless. The conclusion of peace and the appointment of the duke of
Hamilton to represent queen Anne at the court of Versailles, filled him
with still more gloomy apprehensions, from which he was not delivered till
he read in the public papers the fatal duel that had been fought between
that nobleman and lord Mohun, when he again took courage, and applied once
more to the French court to be set at liberty. The person he employed,
however, had no success; his character seemed to be losing rather than
gaining at that court, and he was advised to make his escape. Others,
certain that the king would be immediately restored by Anne and her
ministers, and was even now on the point of setting out for Scotland to be
at hand when wanted, assured him that to depart for Scotland without his
permission was only to rush upon inevitable destruction. This seems to
have filled him with great apprehension, and he laboured to be reconciled
to the Pretender with the greatest but the most fruitless industry, till
he was driven to utter despair by the death of queen Anne, and tidings
that all the Jacobite clans in the north were arming in behalf of James,
who had again and again declared, that, without the consent of the duke of
Athol, he would never hear of his name. In this dilemma, one of the
Frasers arrived to request his presence with the clan, and advising him to
join the party of Argyle, who was their old friend, and the only one that
was likely to be able to afford them protection. He had previously to this
written to Argyle, but does not seem to have had any reply. He now
despatched a trusty servant to consult with him and Ilay, Culloden, Grant,
Kilravock, and other of his old friends, who stated that if he could make
his way safely to London, the business was done. This at once determined
him to set out for England, taking the best precautions he could to avoid
being arrested. On the 1st of November, 1714, after an imprisonment of ten
years, he arrived at Dover, where, on account of extreme fatigue, he
rested for one night. He then, by a journey of two days, arrived safely in
London.
Here his first care was to
despatch his trusty friends, James and Alexander Fraser, for the earl of
Ilay and brigadier-general Grant. The brigadier lost not a moment in
waiting on him, expressed great joy to see him safe and assured him of
every good office in his power. Ilay, on the contrary, expressed
considerable regret at his having quitted the provision which, amid the
severe treatment he met with, had been made for him in France, while in
England he had not even the security of his life, but he engaged to bring
his case before the king and the prince that very night, and to let him
know the result next day. The circumstances in which Lovat had thus placed
himself were by no means pleasant. In Scotland there was a sentence of
death in full force against him, and a price set upon his head, while he
had nothing to rely upon but a precarious promise from a few friends, who,
after all, might neither have the will nor the power to protect him. He
was, however, too deeply embarked to draw back, and he determined,
regardless of consequences, to throw himself upon the protection of the
duke of Argyle and the earl of Ilay, to take no step in his affairs but by
their direction, and to live and die in their service. How happy had it
been for his lordship had he never lost sight of this prudent
determination. Next day Ilay informed him that he had spoken of his case
both to the king and the prince, who were well disposed towards him; but
without some security for his future loyalty, were not willing to grant
him a free pardon. It would therefore be necessary for him to present an
address to the king, signed by all his friends who were well affected
towards the present government, and that, in this address, they should
enter into an engagement for his loyalty in any sum the king pleased. Such
an address as would be proper, Ilay promised to draw up, which he
accordingly did two days after; and Lovat, by his trusty friend, James
Fraser, immediately despatched it to the north, with the following letter
to his old friend, John Forbes of Culloden, who was at the time canvassing
for the county of Inverness:
"Much honoured and
dear sir,—The real friendship that I know you have for my person and
family makes me take the freedom to assure you of my kind service, and to
entreat of you to join with my other friends betwixt Spey and Ness to sign
the address the court requires in order to give me my remission. Your
cousin James, who has generously exposed himself to bring me out of
chains, will inform you of all the steps and circumstances of my affairs
since he saw me. I wish, dear sir, you were here; I am confident you would
speak to the duke of Argyle and to the earl of Ilay, to let them know
their own interest and their reiterated promises to do for me. Perhaps
they may have sooner than they expect a most serious occasion for my
service. But it’s needless now to preach that doctrine to them, they
think themselves in ane infallible security. I wish they may not be
mistaken. However, I think it’s the interest of all those who love this
government betwixt Spey and Ness to see me at the head of my clan, ready
to join them, so that I believe none of them will refuse to sign ane
address to make me a Scotchman. I am persuaded, dear sir, that you will be
of good example to them on that head. But secrecy, above all, must be
kept, without which all may go wrong. I hope you will be stirring for the
parliament, for I will not be reconciled to you if you let Prestonhall
outvote you. Brigadier Grant, to whom I am infinitely obliged, has written
to Foyers to give you his vote, and he is an ingrate villain if he refuses
him. If I was at home, the little pitiful barons of the Aird durst not
refuse you. But I am hopeful that the news of my going to Britain will
hinder Prestonhall to go north, for I may meet him when he least thinks of
me. I am very impatient to see you, and to assure you most sincerely how
much I am, with love and respect, right honourable," &c.
The above is a fair
specimen of Lovat’s manner and address in complimenting those
whom he had an interest in standing well with. He had indeed use for all
his activity on this occasion. The secrecy which he recommends was also
very necessary, for Fraserdale no sooner heard of his intention of coming
down to Scotland, which was only a few days after this, than he applied to
the lord justice clerk for an extract of the process and sentence against
him, no doubt with the intention of putting it in execution, before his
friends should be able to interpose any shield of legal authority in his
defence. All his friends, however, especially Culloden, were
particularly active. The address and bond of security to the king was
speedily signed by all the whig gentlemen of consequence in the north, and
remitted to lord Ilay, who carried it to London in the month of March,
1715. Culloden, in the meantime, had, through his brother Duncan Forbes,
afterwards lord president, transmitted to be presented by lord Ilay, a
most loyal address to the king, signed by the Frasers, with a tender of
their clan to Argyle as their chief. This was intended to counterbalance
the address of the Jacobites that had been transmitted to the earl of
Marr, but which he durst not present, and to strengthen the interest of
Argyle, which the other was calculated to weaken. Through the opposition
of the duke of Montrose, however, who had been gained over by Prestonhall
and the duke of Athol, Lovat’s business was protracted till the month of
July, 1715; when the news of the preparations of the Pretender for an
invasion of Great Britain, transmitted by the earl of Stair, then
ambassador at Paris, and the general ferment that prevailed through the
country, had aroused the fears of the government. Ilay availed himself of
these circumstances for turning the attention of the English minister more
particularly to that too long delayed affair. The addresses which had been
obtained in his favour were then given in to his majesty, whose gracious
pardon he obtained, and in October, making the best of his way for the
north, he was arrested by a loyal party at Dumfries as a Jacobite.
Referring for his character to the marquis of Annandale, who happened to
be in the neighbourhood, and to whom he was known, he was immediately set
at liberty. Here he volunteered his services to lead a party of the
townsmen in attacking the rebels in their quarters at Lochmaben, but the
attack after it had been resolved on was abandoned through the prudent
advice of the marquis of Annandale, who was afraid of the consequences
both to themselves and the good cause in which they were engaged.
Leaving Dumfries, his
lordship found his way into the north, where the insurgents were nearly
triumphant, being in possession of the whole country save the shires of
Sutherland, Ross, and Caithness, with perhaps a detached castle or two in
some of the neighbouring counties. Among these was the castle of Culloden.
The Grants and the Munroes had also been able in some measure to preserve
their own territories; but the rebels were every where around them in
great force. The first of Lovat’s proceedings was to hold a counsel with
his general, as he long after called him, Duncan Forbes, and his brother
the laird of Culloden, who was, perhaps, the most trust-worthy man in the
north; after which he went home, where he was waited upon by a
considerable number of Frasers, with whom he marched for Stratherrick, one
of his estates, and by the way compelled the clan Chattan to lay down
their arms and disperse to their homes. Macdonald of Keppoch, too, who had
three hundred men assembled on the braes of Abertarf, dismissed them the
moment he was apprized of Lovat’s approach. At Stratherrick he was
waited upon by Fraser of Foyers, and Fraser of Culduthill, with their
retainers; and to prevent the Macdonalds from reaching the other side of
Lochness, he himself crossed over at Bonat, and with two hundred picked
men marched according, to agreement for Inverness, by Kinmayles. Colonel
Grant, with a number of his own, Elcheiz’s and Knockandow’s men,
captain Grant with three hundred Grants, and all the other gentlemen
engaged in the enterprise, were at the same time approaching the northern
capital in order to rescue it from the hands of the rebels. For this end,
it was proposed that the gentlemen of Moray, in conjunction with lord
Lovat and the Grants, should set upon it from the south, while the earl of
Sutherland, lord Rae, the Munroes, and the Rosses, should attack it on the
north. These latter gentlemen, however, having some, of them upwards of
fifty miles to march, besides ferries to cross, it was not thought
advisable to wait for them. Captain Arthur Rose, brother to Kilravock, was
therefore ordered to enter the town, while those that were already come up
proceeded to invest it in the best manner they could. Lord Lovat, with his
detachment was stationed on the west end of the bridge, captain Grant on
the south side, to enter by Castle Street, and the Moray lieutenants,
Kilravock, Letham, Brodie, Sir Archibald Campbell, Dunphail, &c. were
to attack the east part. The attack was led on with great spirit by
captain Arthur Rove, who was unfortunately killed pressing on in the front
of his men; and Sir John Mackenzie, the rebel governor, seeing himself
about to be overpowered, abandoned the place, escaping with his men across
the Frith in a number of boats, which but a few days before he had
intended to destroy, in order to cut off all communication by the ferry.
This was upon Saturday the 12th of November, the day before the battle of
Sheriffmuir and the surrender of Preston. Thus the rebels were completely
broken in the north, and it was a triumph obtained with very little loss.
Much of the credit of the achievement was given to Lovat, much more indeed
than was his due; but he was in want of something to elevate his
character, and his friends were willing to give him all advantages. The
immediate consequence of the honour he acquired on this day was the
desertion of three hundred Frasers, who, under Fraserdale, were in Marr’s
camp at Perth; but now denying his authority to lead them, put themselves
under the charge of lord Lovat at Inverness, where they remained till the
rebellion was finally put down by the earl of Argyle and general Cadogan.
But there was another consequence not very remote and of far greater
importance: it secured him at once in the estate and all the honours of
Lovat, which it had been the great object of his whole life to compass,
but which, without some such strange event, joined to the false step of
his rival in joining the rebel standard, was most certainly for ever
beyond his reach. Prestonhall had married the heiress of Lovat, in whose
person, by a decree of the court of session, so far back as the year 1702,
rested the honours and dignity of Lovat. He had assumed in consequence the
name of Fraser and the title of Fraserdale, and had a numerous offspring
to inherit as heirs of marriage the estate which he had so long possessed,
and had he maintained his loyalty, nothing but a revolution, with singular
folly on his own part, could have dispossessed him of the property. Most
fortunately for Lovat, when he arrived in the north, Fraserdale was with
the earl of Marr at Perth, and there was nothing to prevent him from
executing his purpose, of taking immediate possession of his estates,
which he did before proceeding to act vigorously in behalf of the
government, every member of which knew that such was the reward he
expected. The fortunate issue of this his first action too called forth
all the natural arrogancy and presumption of his character. We find him in
the ensuing March, only four short months after, writing to Duncan Forbes
in the following style. "My dear general, I send you the enclosed
letter from the name of Macleod, which I hope you will make good use of,
for it’s most certain I keeped the Macleods at home, which was
considerable service done the government." How had he kept the
Macleods at home, when the rebellion was at its height before it was so
much as known if ever he would be allowed to enter it? But he goes on to
speak of his own achievements still more boastingly, and of the recalling
of Argyle, which he says, has made him sick. "I hope my dear general
you will take a start to London to serve his grace and do something for
your poor old corporal, (meaning himself;) and if you suffer Glengarry,
Fraserdale, or the Chisholm to be pardoned, I will never carry a musket
any more under your command, though I should be obliged to go to Afric.
However, you know how obedient I am to my general’s orders; you forgot
to give the order signed by you and the other deputes to meddle with
Fraserdale’s estate for the king’s service. I entreat you send it me,
for — — is afraid to meddle without authority." How his lordship
wished Fraserdale to find no mercy is obvious from what is above stated;
but why should Glengarry and the Chisholm find none for the very same
reason? Their estate lay contiguous to those of Fraserdale; and if they
could be all escheated to the king, why might not Lovat for his own
extraordinary services have got all the three as well as one? Fraserdale
was escheated and Lovat had only to wait till the month of August, when a
grant passed his majesty’s privy seal of Scotland "for the many
brave and loyal services done and performed to his majesty by Simon lord
Lovat, particularly for the zeal and activity he showed in suppressing the
late unnatural rebellion in the north of Scotland, and for his known
affection to his majesty’s person and government, giving, granting, and
disposing the escheat of all goods, gear, debts and sums of money, jewels,
gold, silver, coined or uncoined, utensils and domecills, horse, nolt,
sheep, corns, cattle, bonds, obligations, contracts, decreets, sentences,
compromitis, and all other goods and gear escheatable, which belonged to
Alexander Mackenzie of Fraserdale, together with the said Alexander
Mackenzie his life-rent escheat of all lands, heritages, tenements, annual
rents, tacks, steadings, rooms, possessions, as also five hundred pounds
of sterling money, fallen in the king’s hands by the said sentence,
&c.
This was certainly an
abundant reward, though Lovat had been a much better man, and his services
more ample than they really were. It was nothing more, however, than he
expected, and it excited no gratitude, nor did it yield any thing like
content. Fraserdale’s plate he had attempted to secure, but it fell into
the hands of general Wightman; who, it was at the time remarked, had a
happy knack of keeping what he got. However, he engaged to return it,
Lovat paying him the one half in money, the whole being only valued at
L150, sterling. In the month of April, he was, on his own request allowed
to come to London, to look after all those great affairs that were then
going on and his mode of writing about them gives a curious view of a
worldly man’s morality:—"I want," he says to his friend
Duncan Forbes, "but a gift of the escheat to make me easy. But if it
does not do, you must find some pretence or other that will give me a
title to keep possession, either by the tailie my lord provost has, or by
buying off some creditors; in short, you must make a man of it one way or
other." He was also at this time on the eve of his marriage with
Margaret Grant, daughter of Ludovick Grant, of Grant; and his moral
feeling on this subject is equally interesting to that which regarded the
estate of Lovat:—"I spake to the duke, and my lord Ilay, about my
marriage, and told them, that one of my greatest motives to the design,
was to secure the joint interest of the north. They are both fully for it,
and Argyle is to speak of it, and propose it to the king. But Ilay desired
me to write to you, to know if there would be any fear of a pursuit of
adherence from the other person, (the dowager of Lovat) which is a
chimerical business, and tender fear for me in my dear Ilay. But when I
told him that the lady denied before the justice court, that I had any
thing to do with her, and that the pretended marriage had been declared
null, which Ilay says should be done by the commissaries only; yet when I
told him, that the minister and witnesses were all dead, who had been at
the pretended marriage, he was satisfied they could make nothing of it,
though they would endeavour it. However, I entreat you, write to me or Mr
Stewart a line on this head, to satisfy my lord Ilay’s scruple."—This
puts an end to all doubt respecting the rape charged upon his lordship, of
which he had often before, and did often again declare, that he was as
innocent as the child unborn. All was now, however, forgiven; the duke of
Argyle wrote in his favour to the Grants, recommending the match, and in
the course of the next year he obtained the young lady for his bride.
Lovat might now have been,
if worldly success could make any man so, a very happy man. He had been,
for many years an exile and a prisoner, proscribed at home and abroad, and
alike odious to both parties in the state, and both claimants of the
crown. He had ventured home at the hazard of his life, had obtained the
grace of the reigning prince, the countenance of all his friends,
possession of the inheritance of his fathers, two honourable commissions
among his countrymen, a young and beautiful wife, and a handsome pension
yet he was the same as before, querulous and discontented.
In the beginning of the
year 1717, we find him resuming the subject of the grant, and he requests
Duncan Forbes to employ Sir Walter Pringle, and any one else he pleases,
and consult together of some legal way for his keeping possession of his
estate; "for," says he, "I must either keep violent
possession, which will return me my old misfortunes, or I must abandon the
kingdom and a young lady whom my friends have engaged me to marry. So, my
dear general, I beg you may give me some prospect of not being again
forced to leave the kingdom, or to fight against the king’s forces. The
one or the other must be, if I do not find any legal pretence of
possessing the estate but by this gift." And all this was because a
Mr Murray or a lord Murray had made a motion in the house of commons, for
a redeeming clause to be added in favour of Fraserdale’s lady, which
occasioned a few hours’ debate, and was improved for making remarks on
lord Lovat’s character and conduct, but at last came to nothing. Perhaps
he was also a little disturbed by the movements of the Spanish court in
favour of James, which were still more contemptible than any party motion
that ever was made in the house of commons.
For a number of years after
this, Lovat was fully occupied with the legal campaigns which he carried
on under the direction of Duncan Forbes, for the final settlement of the
Lovat estate, during all which time the affairs of the pretender gave him
no trouble; nay, they seem to have been totally forgotten. After the lapse
of a number of years, however, when he had got every thing secured in his
own way, we then find him again treating with the pretender for a
generalship and a dukedom, and all his old uneasinesses returning upon
him. Having no more to expect from his "dear general" the lord
president, he ceased to correspond with him; and on the breaking up of the
black watch, one of the companies of which had belonged to him, he
withdrew his affections entirely from the existing government, and became
ready once more to act for the exiled family of Stuart.
The nation was now involved
in war; and the friends of the pretender, stirred up by the emissaries of
the court of France, which protected him for no other purpose but to make
him a tool on such occasions—began to bestir themselves. Lovat, whose
political views were very limited, never doubted but that France had at
all times the power to restore the pretender, if she had but the will, and
now that her promises were so magnificent, he fell at once into the snare,
and was the first to sign, in the year 1740, that association which
brought entire ruin upon the cause, and nearly all that had connected
themselves with it. Still he acted upon the old principle: he stipulated
that he was to have a patent creating him a duke, and a commission
constituting him lieutenant of all the Highlands, and of course elevating
him above even the great Argyle.
Though Lovat had now
committed himself, and was fairly in the way of "having all his old
troubles returned upon him," common sense, as in most cases, did not
forsake him all once. He was employed in making preparations for the new
scenes of grandeur that to his heated fancy lay before him, but he did not
run the hazard of disappointment by any ridiculous parade, or any weak
attempts prematurely to realize them. When prince Charles landed at
Boradale, accompanied, not, as had been agreed upon with the association,
at the head of which Lovat had unfortunately placed his name, by thirteen
thousand men with all necessary equipments, but with seven persons and a
few domestics; his friends were perfectly astonished, and none of them
more so than Lovat. Accordingly, when he received Lochiel’s letter
stating that Charles was come, and that he had brought the papers
stipulated upon, viz, the patent for the dukedom, and the general’s
commission, Lovat returned a cold and general answer, that he might rely
upon what he had promised. Lochiel, however, being led to take part in the
enterprise, drew in some of his neighbours, and when the gathering had
begun, who could tell where it would end? It might be at last successful,
and all who had been backward at the outset might expect no mercy in the
end. Still Lovat was cautious. He only sent one of his distant relations,
"mad Tom of Gortuleg," to meet Charles at Invergarry, and to
advise him to come by Stratherrick to Inverness, and by the time he
reached the latter place, Sir Alexander Macdonald and Macleod would have
time to come up; besides, he might expect to be there joined by the
Grants, the Mackenzies, and the Mackintoshes. These were all engaged to
come forward, as well as Lovat, who was now, from a number of
circumstances, doubtful of their constancy, and, while he preserved the
character of a leader, wished to see them all committed before he began to
play his part. All his finesse, however, was of no avail. Charles
took other advice. Sir Alexander Macdonald, and his powerful neighbour,
Macleod, stood entirely aloof; and to crown all, his "dear
general," the lord president, to whom he owed all that he possessed
in the world, and to whose acute powers of perception he was no stranger,
became his next door neighbour, with the almost avowed purpose of watching
his every action. All these circumstances reduced him to the necessity of
acting with the utmost caution, and at the same time subjected him to the
most tormenting anxiety. His preparations for joining the pretender he
dared not entirely suspend, lest some inferior neighbour might rise to
that pre-eminent place in the prince’s favour, that, in case he were
successful, it was the dearest wish of his soul to occupy, and he knew not
how to proceed, lest he might stand fairly committed, and be compelled to
abide by the consequences. He did, however, what he could: he compelled
his son to leave his studies with a view to make him the leader of his
clan, and he employed, in an underhand way, his dependents to bring all
matters connected with the expedition into a state of forwardness, while
he himself wrote letters to the lord president, filled with lamentations
for his unhappy country, and his more unhappy situation, as having to do
with such mad people, and such an untoward and ungrateful son. After the
brilliant affair at Gladsmuir, however, when he saw "that as sure as
God was in the heavens, the mad young man would prevail," he took a
little more courage, and sent to congratulate him on the victory, and to
say, that being an old man, he could not come himself with five thousand
men, as he had originally intended, but that he would send his son, which
he hoped would be regarded the same as if he had come himself. As the
course of events seemed to favour or frown upon the attempt, his lordship’s
conduct continued to be more open, or more concealed, till lord Loudon
found it to be his duty to take him into custody. Still, as he appeared
undecided, and but few of his men had gone south, and it was hoped he
might still countermand them, his confinement was only nominal. In an evil
hour he made his escape from lord Loudon, and, when it was utterly
useless, threw the whole weight of his influence into the rebellion. The
master of Lovat had a share in the affair of Falkirk, but was only coming
up with his reinforcements to join the army of Charles, when he met it,
totally routed, a few miles from the fatal field of Culloden. On the
evening of that fatal day, Lovat was petrified with the first and the last
sight he ever had of Charles. This was at Gortuleg, where the unfortunate
prince arrived about sunset, a miserable fugitive, accompanied by his
Irish counsellors, Sheridan, Sullivan, O’Neil, and his secretary John
Hay. Lovat, on being told of his approach in this forlorn condition,
poured forth against him the bitterest execrations, as having brought
utter ruin on the house of Lovat, and on the entry of his unexpected
visitant, he is said to have run about the house in a state of
distraction, calling upon his domestics to chop off his aged head.
Charles, however, who possessed the art of flattery in great perfection,
soothed him by the promise of another and better day with the elector,
observing at the same time, that he had already had two, while the elector
had but one. That one, however, unluckily for him and Lovat, was better
than all the days either of them had seen, or were ever again to see. But
the joke satisfied the old man; supper was hastily prepared, as hastily
eaten, and at ten o’clock Charles changed his dress, and bade his
entertainer an everlasting farewell.
Lovat had now abundance of
leisure to reflect upon his folly in rejecting the sound advice of his
friend the lord president; but as he could have little hope of being again
pardoned, he studied to prolong his liberty and life in the best manner he
could, first by proposing a mountain campaign, which, was found
impracticable, and. then by betaking himself to the fastnesses of his
country, with which he was well acquainted. From one of these retreats he
had the misery of seeing his house of Castledownie laid in ashes, and his
estates every where plundered, the cattle driven off, the sheilings set on
fire, and the miserable inmates driven to the mountains. He had also the
misfortune to see it given over by commission from the duke of Cumberland
to James Fraser of Castle Cullen for the behoof of the government, which,
considering what it had cost him, and the value he set upon it, must have
been worse than many deaths. As he had been so long a conspicuous
character, and one of the most active movers of this rebellion, the search
after him was continued with the utmost patience and perseverance, and he
was at last, found upon an island in Loch Morar, where he was living
comfortably with Macdonald of Morar, the proprietor of the island, without
any suspicion of being found out, having carried all the boats upon the
loch into the island, and being at a considerable distance from the sea.
Information, however, having been obtained, captain Ferguson, of his
majesty’s ship Furnace, sailed round till directly opposite the island,
when the men of war boats were carried over land and launched into the
loch. Most of those that were upon the island fled by their boats and
escaped; but Lovat being totally lame, was unable to escape in this
manner, he was, however, carried upon his bed into the woods, and was not
found till after a search of three days. Being in no condition to make any
resistance, he surrendered himself at once, delivered up his arms and his
strong box, was carried aboard captain Ferguson’s ship, and brought
round to Fort William, where he wrote a letter to the duke of Cumberland,
boasting of the extraordinary services he had performed for his family, of
the great kindnesses he had then met with, and of the vast benefits he was
still capable of bestowing, should he be made a participant of the royal
mercy. Of this letter the duke took no notice, but he treated him with
much kindness. A litter having been provided for him, he was brought to
Fort Augustus on the 15th of June, 1746. On the fifteenth of July he was
sent to Stirling castle, where he remained some days. From Stirling he was
sent to Edinburgh, and thence by Berwick to London, the journey being
divided into twenty stages, one only of which he was required to travel in
a day. In this easy way he reached Barnet on the 14th of August, and on
the 15th, the Friday before the execution of the lords Kilmarnock and
Balmerino, he arrived in London. On his way to the Tower, he passed the
scaffold that had been erected for the execution of those noblemen, which
he looked at with some emotion, exclaiming "Ah! is it come to
this!" When brought to the Tower, he was received by general
Williamson and conducted to the apartment prepared for him, where, as his
trial did not come on till the beginning of next year, he had abundance of
leisure to contemplate the ruin he had brought upon himself and his house
by indulging a most insatiable avarice and a ridiculous ambition. He,
however, took possession of his dreary habitation with a degree of
fortitude and an equanimity of mind worthy of a better man and a better
cause.
On the 11th of December he
was impeached of high treason by the house of commons, a committee of
which was appointed to draw up the articles and prepare evidence. On the
11th, he was brought to the bar of the house of lords and the articles
read to him. On this occasion his lordship made a long speech, in which he
expressed the highest esteem for his majesty and all the royal family,
enumerating at great length the many services he had performed for them
during the rebellion in 1715, and singular favours bestowed upon him in
return by the late king and his ministers. He then enlarged with great
eloquence upon his age and infirmities, particularly his deafness, in
consequence of which he said he had not heard one word of the charges
preferred against him. They were of course read over to him again, when he
presented a petition, praying that he might have a copy of them, and
counsel and solicitors might be assigned him. He also acquainted their
lordships that his estate had been taken forcible possession of, in
consequence of which he had nothing either to support him or to bear the
expenses of his trial. Their lordships gave orders that he should be
allowed the income of the estate for his subsistence. He also petitioned
for his strong box; but this was refused. On this day his lordship
displayed great ability and excited considerable sympathy. On the 13th of
January, 1747, his lordship was again placed at the bar and gave in an
answer to the articles of impeachment, every one of which he denied. After
making a very long speech, his trial was fixed for February the 23d. He
was this day carried back to the Tower amid the hissings and execrations
of a vast mob that attended him. In consequence of a petition from his
lordship, his trial was put off till the 5th, and on a second petition
till the 9th of March, on which day it commenced, and was continued till
Thursday the 19th, when it was concluded, his lordship having been found
guilty by an unanimous vote of his peers, by the lord chancellor
pronouncing upon him the awful sentence of the law.
To give any particular
account of this trial would be to give a history of the rebellion. Suffice
it to say that on Wednesday, the sixth day occupied by his trial, his
lordship read his defences, which were drawn up with all that sarcastic
shrewdness for which he was remarkable, and displayed his talents to very
great advantage. After being sentenced, the old man made a short speech,
begging their lordships to recommend him to his majesty’s mercy. Turning
to the commons at the same time, he said, that he hoped the worthy
managers, as they were stout, would be merciful. Going from the bar, he
added, "My lords and gentlemen, God Almighty bless you all. I wish
you an everlasting farewell, for we shall never all meet again in one
place."
Though he was sentenced on
the 19th of March, there were no orders issued respecting his execution
till the 3d of April, when it was fixed for the 9th of that month. He had
been in the meantime to all appearance perfectly at his ease, and
indifferent alike to life or death. Being importuned to petition his
majesty for a pardon, he replied he was so old and infirm that his life
was not worth asking. He presented, however, a petition for the life of
his son, who was a prisoner in the castle of Edinburgh, and who had been
drawn into the rebellion solely by his counsels. The notification of his
death he received with perfect composure, drank a glass of wine to the
health of the messenger who brought it, and entertained him for a
considerable time with a most cheerful conversation, assuring him that he
would not change situations with any prince in Europe. Next day he talked
freely of his own affairs, and took praise to himself for having been
concerned in all the schemes that had been formed in behalf of the Stuarts
since he was fifteen years of age, and boasted that he never betrayed a
private man nor a public cause in his life. He added, perhaps with more
truth, that he never shed a drop of blood with his own hand, nor ever
struck a man except one young nobleman (meaning we suppose, lord Fortrose
in a public meeting at Inverness) whom he caned for his impertinence and
impiety. On the Sabbath he talked of his family, and showed to his
attendants a letter he had written to his son in a style affectionate and
pious, breathing the resignation of a martyr. Being asked this day some
question about his religion, he answered that he was a Roman catholic, and
would die in that faith. Wednesday, the day before his execution,
he awoke early and prayed for a considerable time with great fervency, but
was very merry during the day, talking generally of public affairs,
particularly of the bill that was in its progress through parliament for
abolishing heritable jurisdictions, which he highly reprobated. Thursday,
the day of his execution, he awoke about three in the morning, and prayed
with great fervour. At five he rose, called as usual for a glass of wine
and water, and being placed in his chair, sat and read till seven, when he
called for another such refreshment. The barber shortly after brought him
his wig, which he found fault with for not being powdered so deeply as
usual, saying that he went to the block with pleasure, and if he had a
suit of velvet would put it on for the occasion. He then ordered a purse
to put money in for the executioner, which when brought, was not to his
taste, "yet he thought no man could dislike it with ten guineas in
it." At nine he called for a plate of minced veal, of which he ate
heartily, and afterwards in wine and water drank the healths of several of
his friends. In the meantime the crowd was collecting on Tower hill,
where, about ten o’clock, the fall of a scaffold converted many idle
spectators into real mourners, upwards of twenty persons being killed and
a vast number maimed. Lovat, it is said, made the remark that "the
more mischief the better sport." About eleven the sheriff came to
demand the body, and he was conducted to a house near the scaffold, where
he delivered to his lordship a paper saying he might give the word of
command when he pleased and he would obey. He then said a short prayer,
desired that his clothes might be given to his friends along with his
body, took a little brandy and bitters, and was conducted to the scaffold,
in going up to which he looked round him and exclaimed, "God save us,
why should there be such a bustle about taking off an old grey head, that
can’t get up three steps without two men to support it." Observing
one of his friends very much dejected, his lordship clapped him on the
shoulder, saying "Cheer up, man, I am not afraid: why should
you?" On the scaffold, the first object of his attention was the
executioner, to whom he gave his purse with ten guineas, bidding him do
his work well. He then felt the edge of the axe, saying he believed it
would do, looked at his coffin, on which was written "Simon Dominus
Fraser de Lovat decollat. April 9, 1747, aetat. suae 80," and sitting
down in a chair set for him, repeated from Horace
"Dulce et decorum est
pro patria mori,"
and from Ovid,
"Nam genus et proavos
et quae non fecimus ipsi
Vix ea nostra voco."
He then said a short
prayer, called for his solicitor, William Fraser, to whom he gave his gold
headed cane and his hat, and requested him to see that the executioner did
not touch his clothes. Being undressed he kneeled to the block, gave the
signal in half a minute, and the executioner at one blow severed his head
from his body.
Thus died Simon lord Lovat,
one of the most extraordinary characters recorded in Scottish history. He
was possessed of good natural talents, which considering the age in which
he lived, and the troubled life he led, had been considerably cultivated,
but he was totally destitute of that which alone constitutes true dignity
of character, moral worth. His private character, as may well be
conceived, from what we have detailed of his public one, was vicious, his
appetites coarse, and his pleasures low and unscrupulous. He had, however,
seen much of the world, possessed great address, and when he had a purpose
to serve, could make himself peculiarly agreeable. Few men have ever been
so very fortunate, and as few have recklessly thrown their good fortune
from them. "A protracted course of wickedness," one writer has
remarked, "seems at last to have impaired his natural shrewdness; he
digged a pit into which he himself fell, spread a snare with his own hands
in which he was caught, and in the just judgment of God, his hoary hairs
came to the grave with blood."
Besides his early affair
with the dowager of Lovat his lordship was twice married, first to
Margaret, daughter to the laird of Grant, and secondly to Primrose,
daughter to John Campbell of Mamore. This latter marriage was singularly
unfortunate, and after the most unheard of barbarities exercised upon the
lady, his lordship was under the necessity of granting her a separate
maintenance. By his first wife he had three children, two sons and one
daughter, and by the second one son, who eventually succeeded to the
estate of Lovat.
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