John Sinclair, called, in
compliance with the custom of Scotland in regard to the eldest sons of
Barons, the Master of Sinclair, was descended from the ancient family of
Saint Clare, in France, on whom lands were bestowed by Alexander the
Third of Scotland. In early times, the titles of Earls of Orkney and
Caithness had been given to the first settlers of the Saint Clares; and
the possession of the islands of Orkney and Shetland had been added to
certain royal donations, by a marriage with an heiress of the surname of
Speire. One of the Sinclairs had even borne the dignity of Prince of
Orkney; but this distinction was lost by an improvident member of the
house of Sinclair, called William the Waster ; and the prosperity of his
descendants was due only to the favour of James the Sixth, who created
Henry Sinclair, of Dysart in Fife, a Baron.
The family continued in
honour and estimation until the subject of this memoir, John, brought
upon it disgrace, and incurred to himself lasting self-reproach.
The Master of Sinclair
was the eldest son of Henry, seventh Lord Sinclair, and the
representative, then;-fore, of an honourable family. But it was his fate
to forfeit his birthright, not so much by his adherence to an ill-fated
cause, as by the violence and brutality of his own temper and conduct.
He was, at an early age,
engaged in the military profession, and bore the commission of
Captain-Lieutenant in Preston's regiment under the great Marlborough. At
the battle of Wynendale, fought on the twenty-eighth of September, 1708,
the events which stamped the future character of the Master of
Sinclair's destiny occurred.
Two brothers of the name
of Schaw, Scotchmen, of an ancient race, and ancestors, collaterally, of
the present family of Shaw-Stewart of Renfrew, had commissions also in
Preston's regiment. These unfortunate young men were of the chief family
of the Schaws, or Sauchie, who had flourished since the reign of Robert
the Second.
By that singular
coincidence which sometimes occurs, and which seems to stamp certain
races with misfortune, the Schaws had already been nearly exterminated
fa feudal times by the violence of a neighbouring clan, the Montgomeries
of Skeilmorlie; and had been preserved from total destruction by what
seemed to human comprehension to be the merest chance. By one of the
Montgomeries, the Tower of Greenock was invaded and taken, and the Laird
of Schaw and four or five of his sons were put to death, One child, then
in his cradle, alone escaped, and grew up to manhood, with the
resolution to avenge his father and his brothers rankling at his heart.
Accordingly, he collected his friends and dependants, and invested,
during a period of repose and security, the house of his enemy.
Montgomery, finding his castle attacked, stood forth on the battlements,
and, after demanding a parley with the besieger, "Are you not," he cried
out, "an ungrateful man to come hither with bow and brand to take the
life of the man who made you young laird and auld laird in the same day?
Young Schaw, struck by the argument, drew off his forces, and left the
castle of Skeilmorlie standing, and its Inmates uninjured.
The family of Schaw were
zealous Whigs, the father of the two young officers in Preston's
regiment having raised a regiment at the time of the Revolution, without
any other expense to the Government than that of sergeants and drummers.
The eldest brother, Sir
John Schaw, had been an active promoter of the Union ; and, upon a
threatened invasion of the French, and a consequent alarm of the
Jacobites, Sir John had offered to join the army with five or six
hundred of his followers. This decided political bias may, perhaps, in
some measure, account for the disposition to affront on the side of
Sinclair, and the quickness to resent on the other hand, which was shown
between the parties.
During the battle of
Wynendale, in the midst of the fire, it appeared, in evidence afterwards
taken, that Ensign Hugh Schaw, the first of the victims to the Master of
Sinclair's wrath, was heard to call out to the Master "to stand
upright;" it was afterwards publicly stated by Ensign Hugh Schaw, that
he had done so upon seeing Sinclair bow himself down to the ground for a
considerable time. This alleged act of cowardice on the part of Sinclair
appears, however, not to have really taken place; but it was made the
groundwork of a calumnious imputation. It must, however, be
acknowledged, that there was nothing iu the subsequent conduct of the
Master of Sinclair, as far as the battle of Sherriff Muir was concerned,
to raise his character as a man of personal bravery.
Upon hearing of this
injurious report, Sinclair sent a challenge to Ensign Schaw. It was
dispatched through the medium of a brother officer, to whom the Ensign
replied, at first, that he had just heard of his brother George's being
wounded before Lisle, and that it was of far greater importance that he
should go to him than accept the Master of Sinclair's challenge;
besides, the young man added, that since his last misfortune, probably a
fatal duel, he had pledged himself neither to receive nor to give a
challenge. Should a rencontre happen, he would defend himself as he
could ; that, after all, he had said nothing but what he could prove.
Upon these words being repeated to the Master of Sinclair, he fell into
a violent passion, and swore that he would not give Schaw fair play;
that his honour was concerned. The second w hom he had employed then
threatened to take the challenge to Colonel Preston; upon which the
Master told him "he was a rascal if he did it."
On the following day, the
Master met Ensign Schaw, and taking a stick from underneath his coat,
struck the Ensign two blows over the head with it. They both drew, and
fought with such fury that the Master's sword was broken, and that of
the Ensign bent ; upon which Sinclair retired behind a sentinel,
desiring him "to keep off the Ensign, as his sword was broken." Schaw
then said, "You know I am more of a gentleman than to pursue you when
your sword is broken." But the young soldier Schaw had at this time
received a mortal wound, of which he died; but not until after the
verdict of the court-martial ultimately held on Sinclair.
In the course of three
days a second fatal rencontre succeeded this deadly contest; and another
brother, Captain Alexander Schaw, fell a victim to the vindictive and
brutal notions at that period considered in the army to constitute a
code of honour.
Captain Schaw was
naturally indignant at the death of his brother; he expressed his anger
openly, and said, that the Master of Sinclair had "paper in his breast,"
against which his brother's sword was bent; and that he had received the
fatal wound after his sword had thus become useless. The Master of
Sinclair having heard of these assertions, resolved to avenge himself
for these imputations cast upon him. On the thirteenth of September, as
Captain Schaw was riding at the head of Major How's regiment, the sound
of his own name, repeated twice, announced the approach of the hated
Sinclair. Captain Schaw turned, and inquired of the Master what he
wanted. Sinclair replied, by asking him to go to the front, as he wanted
to speak to him; to which Captain Schaw rejoined, that he might speak to
him there. "Yes," returned Sinclair, "but if I fire at you here, I may
shoot some other body." Captain Schaw answered, that he might fire at
him if he pleased, he bore him no ill-will " If you will not go to the
front," returned Sinclair, "beg my pardon." This was refused, some words
of further aggravation ensued; then the Master of Sinclair drew his
pistol and fired at Schaw. The Captain was also preparing to fire; his
hand was in the act of drawing his pistol when it was for ever checked,
whether employed for good or evil; the aim of Sinclair was certain, and
Schaw fell dead from his horse. Sinclair, without waiting to inquire how
far mortal might be the wound he had inflicted, rode away.
Thus perished two young
officers, described by their brother, Sir John Schaw, as "very gallant
gentlemen." To complete the tragedy, a third, wounded at Lisle, was
brought to the camp at Wynendale, and expired in the same room with his
brother, Ensign Schaw, partly of his wounds, partly of grief for his
brother's death; so that the offender, as the surviving brother
remarked, "was not wholly innocent even of his blood:" yet both these
rencontres, to. adopt the mild term employed by Sir Walter Scott, were
viewed in a very lenient manner by the officers of the court-martial
which afterwards sat upon the case, and even by Marlborough himself. The
Master of Sinclair speaks of them in his narrative in terms which imply
that one, whose hands were so deeply dyed in crime, regarded himself as
an injured man; there can scarcely be a better exemplification of the
deceitfulness of the heart than such a representation.
On the seventeenth of
October, 1708, a court-martial upon the Master of Sinclair was held at
Ronsales by the command of the Duke of Marlborough. Upon the first
charge, that of challenging Ensign Hugh Schaw (in breach of the
twenty-eighth article of war), Sinclair was acquitted, the court being
of opinion that the challenge was not proved.
Of the second accusation,
that of killing Captain Alexander Schaw, the Master of Sinclair was
found guilty, and sentenced to suffer death. He was, however,
recommended to the mercy of the Duke of Marlborough, in consideration of
the provocation which he had received,—the prisoner having declared
that, not only on that occasion, but upon several, and in different
regiments, Captain Schaw had defamed him; that he was forced to do what
he did, and that he had done it with reluctance.
The case was, however,
afterwards referred to the Attorney General and the Solicitor General,
who gave it their opinion that Sinclair was guilty of murder; for had
the trial taken place in England before a common jury, the judge must
have directed the jury to find him guilty of murder, no provocation
whatever being sufficient to excuse malice, or to make the offence of
killing less than murder, when it is committed with premeditation. How
far the provocation was to he considered as a ground of mercy, these
legal functionaries declined to judge.
Upon the publication of
this sentence, Sir John Schaw addressed a petition to Queen Anne,
praying for justice on the murderer of his brothers, and appealing to
his Sovereign against the extraordinary recommendation of the court to
mercy. He also wrote urgent letters to the Earl of Stair and the Duke of
Argyle, praying for their intercession with the Duke of Marlborough that
the murderer of his brothers might be punished. He next wrote to the
Duke of Marlborough himself. The following letters show the earnestness
of the pleader, and prove the caution and subtlety of the General. Some
deep political motive lay beneath the mercy shown to Sinclair, otherwise
it seems impossible to account for the conduct of so great a
disciplinarian as Marlborough in this affair.
Sir John Schaw to the
Duke of Marlborough.
"May it pleas your Grace,
"Amongst the misfortunes
that attend the matters of my two brothers, I thinck it's one to be
constrain'd to appear importunate with your Grace. The case, by the
depositions of the witnesses, being in the opinion of the learn'd
lawyers of the most atrocius nature, and not pardonable by the law of
the country whereof we are subjects, and such as indispensable requires
my utmost applications for redress, I cannot forbear the repeating of my
submissive prayers to your Grace for speedy justice. The blood of my
brothers, the tyes of nature, and the sentiments of friendship, would
render the least negligence on my part inexcusable with the world and
with my own conscience.
"I should deliver my
petition personally, rather than venture to give your Grace the trouble
of letters, were I not sufficiently assured of your Grace's justice, and
at the same time willing to gratifie my well wishers desires in staying
here. Hoping your Grace wil, with a condescending compassion to my
present circumstances, favourably admit the bearer, Capt, James Stuart,
in Coll. M'Carty's regiment, who is my faithfull friend and near
relation, to deliver this letter, and represent my case, that the whole
matter may be sett in a true light for a finall decision, in the
meantime, I remain, with a profound respect, my Lord, Your Grace's most
humble, etc."
"To the Duke of
Malborough, London, the 29th November, 1708."
The Duke of Marlborough
to Sir John Schaw.*
"Sir,
"Captain Stewart has
delivered me your letter of the twenty-first of November; I had before,
from the Secretary at Warr, tho opinion of the Attorney and Sollicitor
General upon the proceedings of the court-martiall, with the copie of
the petition you had presented to the Queen, hut no positive directions
from hir Majesty, which I should have been very glad to have received,
being without it under very great uneasiness, as Captain Steward will
tell you ; however, you may be sure I shall have all the regard you can
desire for your just resentment against Mr. Sinclair, being truly, Sir,
Your most humble servant,
"Marlborough."
"Copie letter Duke of
Marlborrough to Sir John Schaw, dated at the Camp at Melle, the 10th
December, 1708."
After this
correspondence, the unhappy brother of the two young officers had every
reason to conclude that the delinquent would very soon be brought to
justice. He wrote to Mr. Cardonnel, secretary to the Duke of
Marlborough, in grateful terms for the kind intercession employed for
him. What was afterwards his astonishment to find that Sinclair was
allowed to serve in the British army in the sieges of Lisle and Ghent,
and eventually received in the Prussian service! The evident favour of
the Duke is fully shown in the following passage from the Master of
Sinclair's narrative :
"I was obliged to quit
[the army] for two misfortunes which happened in a very short time, one
after the other, not-withstanding of the court-marshall's recommending
me to the General, his Grace the Duke of Marlborough's mercy, which was
always looked on as equal to a pardon, and which I can aver was never
refused to any one but myself. Nor was his allowing me to serve at the
sieges of Lisle and Ghent precedented on my giving my word of honour to
return to arrest after these sieges were over, which I did and continued
(prisoner) till his Grace the Duke of Marlborough sent his repeated
orders to make my escape, which I disobeyed twice; but at last being
encouraged by his promise to recommend me to any prince that I pleased,
for these were his words, I went off, and procured his recommendation to
the King of Prussia, from whose service, which I may say is of the
strictest, I came back to serve in the Low Countries, where I continued
until the end of the war, at which time her Majesty Queen Anne having,
as it is said, turned Tory, vouchsafed me her pardon."
These marks of indulgence
to Sinclair fell heavily upon the heart of him who still mourned two
promising brothers, sent to an untimely grave by brutal revenge. The
following letter from Sir John Schaw is beautifully and touchingly
expressed. What effect it produced upon the great but not faultless man
to whom it was addressed, can only be known by the impunity with which
Sinclair, his hands being imbued in the blood of his countrymen,
continued in the Prussian army, and afterwards returned to Scotland.
"It is with very great
regrate that I give your Grace any further trouble on account of the
melancholy story of my two brothers, who had the misfortune to be
murdered in the space of three dayes by Lieutenant Sinclair, then in the
regiment of Prestoun, in the year 1708. Your Grace was at the paines to
be informed of the whole case, and the murtherer, being a man of
quality, had many to intercede for him; your justice did overcome all
other considerations and indeed nothing could be more worthie of the
great character your Grace has, and the glorious name you must leave to
posterity, than the punishment of so cruel and bloodie a fact; but the
criminal escaped, and the sentence of death pronounced by the
court-martial, and confirmed by your Grace, was not executed; and I,
having done all I could to bring the murtherer of my unfortunate
brothers to condign punishment, was satisfied to pursue him no further,
tho' the atrocity of the crime committed against the law of nations
would have affoarded me ground to have prosecuted him in any country
where he could have been found. But to my surprize and sorrow, I have of
late been informed that Lieutenant Sinclair has added to the repeated
murthors the impudence of returning, an officer in a Prussian regiment,
to the army, where he was condemn'd, as it were to affront justice, and
glory in what he has done. I am wel persuaded, that if his guilt had
been known to the King of Prussia or his Generals, his Majesty would not
have suffered so odious ane offender to be entertained in his service.
Nor can the Generals or Ministers of Prussia have anything to plead, why
a sentence pronounced by a British court-martial against one of hir
Majesty's subjects, and confirmed by your excellency her Generall,
should not now be executed. I am confident your Grace will not sufferr
publick justice to be insulted in that affair, and I doe in the most
humble and earnest manner begg that your Grace would cause apprehend the
murtherer, that justice may be done upon him for his barbarous and
bloodie crimes. I had about two years ago four brothers, of whom I may
without vanity say, they were very gallant gentlemen; two were murthered
by Lieutenant Sinclair; the third died in the roome with one of these,
partly of his wounds received before Lille, and pairtlv out of griefe
for his brothers' misfortunes, so that the offender is not innocent even
of his blood; the fourth was killed at the battle of Mons. The blood of
these that were barbarously slain, call for vengeance; the law of God
and nature requires it. They had, and I in their name have a claime, in
a particular manner, to your Grace's justice, they having been all four
under your Grace's command; forgive it to my natural affection, if I use
arguments with your Grace to do an act of justice when the whole world,
and I in particular, have such proofs of the greatness of your minde and
virtue, I shall only add my most sincere and humble acknowledgement of
your Grace's justice and dispatch in the melancholic affair, of which I
shall ever retain the most gratefull sense ; and remain under the
strictest tyes of dutie, with the most profound respect, my Lord, your
Grace's most humble, most obedient, obliged, and faithful servant," &c,
With this letter, and
some memorials of Sir John Schaw's public service, end all known appeals
for justice on the murderer. But conscience avenged the crime. Many
years afterwards, when living in opulence upon his patrimonial estate at
Dysart in Fife, the Master received from an humble individual a bitter,
though involuntary reproach. When preparing to cross the Frith, he
stopped at an inn in order to engage a running footman to attend him.
Detested by his neighbours, and ever in dread of the Schaws, Sinclair
preserved a sort of incognito. A youth was presented for his approval.
The Master inquired of the young candidate what proof he could give of
his activity, on which this remarkable reply was given: "Sir, I ran
beside the Master of Sinclair's horse when he rode post from the English
camp to escape the death for which he was condemned for the murder of
the two brothers." The Master," adds Sir Walter Scott, "much shocked,
was nearly taken ill on the spot."
During the insurrection
of 1715, the Master of Sinclair took at first an active part, and became
the commander of a company of Jacobite gentlemen of Fife. He joined the
Earl of Mar at Leith, and was employed by an expedition which gained
some credit to the Jacobites. Some arms having been brought out of
Edinburgh for the use of the Earl of Sutherland, and being put on board
a ship at Leith, the Earl of Mar resolved to intercept these supplies.
The wind being contrary, the master of the vessel thus loaded had
dropped into Brunt Island, and had gone into the town on that island to
see his family. A party of four hundred horse and as many foot was
meantime detached on the second of October, 1715, and arrived at the
island about midnight. They pressed all the boats in the harbour, and
boarded the vessel, carrying off three hundred and six complete stand of
arms, together with a, considerable number which they found in the town.
This expedition was skilfully contrived and managed, the horse
surrounding the town whilst the foot ransacked it; and the invasion was
made so silently that the Duke of Argyle gained no tidings of it.
After this exploit the
Master of Sinclair returned to the camp at Perth, there to promote, if
not actually to originate, divisions which were fatal to the cause which
he had espoused. Lord Mar, in his letters, charges him, indeed,
distinctly with being the very source of the dissensions which soon
sprang up among the Jacobite chiefs. The temper of Sinclair could ill
brook submission to the Earl of Mar, whom, as a General, he soon ceased
to respect; and for whose difficult situation he had no relenting
feelings. "The Master," writes Sir Walter Scott, "who was a man of
strong sense, acute observation, and some military experience, besides
being of a haughty and passionate temper, averse to deference and
subordination, soon placed himself in opposition to the general, whom he
seems to have at once detested and despised."
The unfortunate result of
the siege of Preston, soon brought to light the discontents which the
Master had nourished among the followers of Mar. Parties had, indeed,
for some time agitated the camp. When the disasters in England gave them
a fresh impulse, and Lord Mar feelingly, and perhaps not too severely,
described the influence of Sinclair when he bitterly describes him as "a
devil in the camp, known in his true colours when calamity had befallen
those with whom he was in conjunction." It was henceforth in vain that
Mar, to use his own expression, "endeavoured to keep people from
breaking among themselves until the long-expected arrival of the
Chevalier should, it was hoped, check the growing jealousies in the camp
;" a party arose, headed by Lord Huntley, Lord Seaforth, and the Master
of Sinclair, who soon obtained the name of the Grumbler's Club, and who
rendered themselves odious to the sincere and zealous Jacobites.
Lord Huntley appears from
Lord Mar's representations, to have been completely under the influence
of the Master." "Lord Huntley," writes Lord Mar, "is still very much out
of humour, and nothing can make him yet believe that the King is coming.
He intends to go north, under the pretext of reducing Lord Sutherland,
and his leaving us at this time, I think, might have very bad effects,
which makes me do all I can to keep him. The Master of Sinclair is a
very bad instrument about fairs, and has been most to blame for all the
differences amongst us. I am plagued out of my life with them, but must
do the best I can."
Lord Huntley, however,
continued to manifest the greatest disgust and suspicion of Lord Mar,
often refusing to see him, and, though still lingering at Perth,
threatening continually to leave the camp and go northward.
Lord Sinclair, meantime,
having heard of these factions, and being sincerely affected to the
cause of the Stuarts, wrote to his son "a sharp letter about his
behaviour," and a visit of explanation from the Master instantly
followed. During his absence there was a revulsion of feeling among the
Grumblers, and some contrition was expressed by them for the part that
they had acted; but the fiend returned, and the malcontents quietly
relapsed.
The news of James's
certain arrival silenced, for a time, all complaints ; but again they
revived. Lord Mar seems to have had some misgiving of this, when he
wrote, "Those that made a pretext of the King's not being landed, are
now left inexcusable, and if those kind of folks now sit still and look
any more on, they ought to be worse treated than our worse enemies." Yet
it appears by a subsequent letter, that the grievances of which the
General complained so bitterly, were not cured even by the presence of
the Chevaiier; that those who had made a pretext of his absence to
complain and despond, desponded still, and that, in fact, the malady was
so deep-seated as to he incurable.
It may be urged, in
vindication of the Master, who so obviously aggravated the spirit of the
Grumblers, that the event proved that his apprehensions were well
founded. It was, indeed, natural for an experienced officer who had
served under Mallborough, to view with dissatisfaction and suspicion the
feeble and tardy movements of Lord Mar. Yet a hearty well-wisher to any
cause would have abstained from infusing distrust into those counsels
which, whether wise or foolish, were destined to guide the adherents of
the party. A man of honour will enter, heart and soul, into what he
undertakes, or not enter at all. The conduct of Sinclair was that of a
mean, morose spirit; and it is but fair to conclude that his motives for
adopting the name of Jacobite were either those of personal advancement,
or arose out of an enforced compliance with the wishes of his father.
Whilst Sinclair was thus
undermining the welfare of the party to which he nominally belonged, his
determined enemy, Sir John Schaw. after assisting the Duke of Argyle in
defending Inverness against the insurgent troops, was marching with Lord
Isla to rejoin the Duke of Argyle in his march towards Perth. It so
happened that Lord Isla and his friends reached Sherriff Muir at the
very moment when the Government troops and the Jacobites were about to
join in battle. "Sir John," says Sir Walter Scott, "though he had no
command, engaged as a volunteer and we may suppose his zeal for King
George was heightened by the recollection that the slayer of his
brothers fought under the opposite banners." He behaved himself with
distinguished courage, receiving a wound on his arm, and another in his
side. He was, at this time, the only surviving brother out of four, his
brother Thomas having been slain at the siege of Mobs, a year after the
death of the others. A month before Sir John Schaw had joined the Duke,
Lady Schaw, the daughter of Sir Hugh Dalrymple, and a woman of singular
energy and spirit, assembled the Greenock companies in arms, and telling
them that the Protestant religion, with their laws, liberties, and
lives, and all that was dear to them as men and Christians, were in
hazard by that unnatural rebellion, exhorted them to conduct themselves
suitably to the occasion.
The conduct of Sinclair
at the battle of Sherriff Muir was not inconsistent with his former
life. He remained, in that engagement, stationary, with the Marquis of
Huntley, at the head of the cavalry of Fife and Aberdeen; hence the
lines in the old song on Sherriff Muir.
"Huntly and Sinclair
They baith play'd the Tinkler,
With consciences black as a craw, man.
Upon the return of the
Jacobite army to Perth, where they waited, as Scott remarks in a tone of
mournful reprobation of Mar, "until their own forces should disperse,
those of their enemy advance, and the wintry storm so far subside as to
permit the Duke of Argyle to advance against them," Sinclair was the
chief promoter of a scheme formed by the Grumblers for a timely
submission to Government. Instigated by their wishes, an attempt was
made by Lord Mar to procure, through the Duke of Argyle's mediation,
some terms with Government ; but it failed, and those who had embarked
in the cause were obliged to provide, as they best might, individually
for their safety. The whole tenour of Sinclair's conduct was such as to
draw down upon him the severest invectives of his party. In one of the
poems of the day he is thus described :
"The master with the
bully's face,
And 'with the coward heart,
Who never fail'd, to his disgrace,
To act a coward's part,
Did join Dunbogue, the greatest rogue,
In all the shire of Fife,
Who was the first the cause to leave,
By counsel from his wife."
The Master quitted the
insurgent party at Perth, and joined the Marquis of Huntley at
Strathbogie; thence he proceeded as a fugitive through Caithness and
Orkney, with a few friends, who, like himself, were hopeless of pardon.
After wandering in these remote districts for some time, the Master and
his friends seized upon a small vessel and fled to the Continent. The
Marquis of Huntley, more fortunate than his political ally, obtained his
full pardon, in consideration of his having left the rebels in time.
The Master of Sinclair
married, afterwards, the widowed Countess of Southesk, whom he probably
met when on the Continent, since it appears that the Countess, for some
time subsequent to the death of her husband, lived at Brussels. In
referring to this union, it may not be improper to give, some account of
the family into connection with which it brought the Master of Sinclair.
James Carnegie, Earl of
Southesk, the first husband of the lady whom the Master of Sinclair
married, was descended from David Carnegie, an eminent lawyer, who in
1616 was raised to the dignity of Lord Carnegie of Kinnaird, and in 1623
was created, by Charles the First, Earl of Southesk. Like most of those
families who had been elevated by the Stuarts to the peerage, the house
of Carnegie retained a strong sense of their duty of allegiance to the
Crown; and the first Earl of Southesk suffered for his principles by
imprisonment and the extortion of a fine of three thousand pounds from
his estates in the time of Cromwell.
James, the fifth Earl of
Southesk, although nearly allied by his mother's side to the Maitlands,
Earls of Lauderdale, had retained as great an affection for the Stuarts
as his ancestors had manifested. Of the personal qualities of this
nobleman little is generally known, except that he has been designated,
generous Southesk!—of his fate, and of the subsequent fortunes of his
family, still less is to he ascertained. Some few particulars which are
to he derived from the State Papers are discreditable to the memory of
this nobleman. Like several other Jacobite noblemen, who have been
mentioned elsewhere, Lord Southesk did not hesitate to summon his
tenants to follow him to the field in the most peremptory terms. His
commands fell heavily, in one instance, upon a poor man who lived on the
Earl's estate, and bore also the name of James Carnegie. This unlucky
man was a natural son of Charles, the late Earl of Southesk, and was
therefore a brother of the present Earl James. Like all dependants in
those days, he seems to have entertained a deep sense of his obligation
to serve and to obey the head of the family ; and his obedience was
probably ensured by the tic of blood, however unacknowledged as
constituting a claim between him and the Earl of Southesk. James
Carnegie exercised the profession of a surgeon in the neighbourhood of
Ivinnaird, then the territory of Lord Southesk, and was employed by the
Earl, who appears to have entertained considerable opinion of his skill.
When the Insurrection of 1715 broke out, it would have been consistent
with the character of a " brave and generous man" to have left this
humble practitioner free to follow his own wishes, and not to have
embroiled him in the dangers of that disastrous undertaking. A further
claim upon the Earl's forbearance was the personal defect of the poor
surgeon, who was lame, and short in stature. He was nevertheless ordered
to meet Lord Southesk, at a certain place of rendezvous, on a certain
day. A compliance was expected as a matter of course, for James Carnegie
was a yearly pensioner of his noble and powerful brother, and refusal
was sure. Nevertheless, the surgeon ventured on this occasion to judge
for himself. He had, it appears, from his subsequent declaration, been
ever well affected to the reigning Government and attached to the
Revolution interest, and, by his disapprobation of the Insurrection of
1713, had given umbrage to his nearest relations. Upon the command of
Lord Southesk being issued to follow him to the camp at Perth, Carnegie
would have tied and hidden himself but for the illness of his wife ; he
afterwards took refuge in the house of Lord Northesk, but his seclusion
was of no avail. The following letter from Lord Southesk, the original
of which is in the State Paper Office, affords a curious insight into
the despotism exercised by the little kings of the Highlands over their
subjects :—
"James,—
"After what I both wrote
and spoke to you, I did not think you would have made any furder
difficulty's of going to Perth with me. I know very well your wife's
circumstances are to be pity'd; however, since you have a pension from
me, and served me since you have hail any business, there is nobody of
your employment in this country that I can put any confidence in,
whatever may happen to me. Therefore, I desire you may make no furder
excuses; and if you can't be ready to wait upon me from Kinnaird upon
Monday, I desire you may follow me upon Teusday ; :f you do not, you
will for ever disoblige
"Southesk."
"Kmrwiru, Sept. 17,
1715."
I desire you may come and
speak with me this night, or to-morrow, at furdest."
"The Case of James
Carnegie," also in the State Paper Office, furnishes a supplement to
this peremptory summons.
"The Case of James
Carnegie showeth, that though he lived in a country and amongst men the
most notoriously disaffected of any in Scotland, ho had, ever since his
appearance in the world, espoused the Revolution interest, and given
proofs of his affection to it, as would appear more fully in a
declaration from the Presbytery of Brichen, in whose bounds he resided,
and from another from Mr. John Anderson, his parish minister That upon
the first suspision of the treasonable designs of the rebells, Mr. James
Carnegy would have set off and gone south, had not his wife's dangerous
state (thought to be dying) obliged him to remain. That after the
rebellion broke out, he firmly withstood all solicitations to join it,
his neighbours and friends there threatening to burn house and land. He
being disappointed of going south, attempted to retire to Ethie, Lord
Nbrthesk's house, in Forfarshire. He could not remain concealed, the
rebells being possessed of all the passes in the country. Finding
himself blocked up amongst his enemies, to avoid the execution of the
threatenings against him, he was induced, to his shame and regret, to go
to Perth, but permitted none of his dependants or tennents to accompany
him, and went with no arms but what gentlemen were in the habit of
wearing. In order to give no support to those traitorous designs, he
feigned illness at Coupar of Angus, but they forced him to go."
The issue of this affair
was mournful. At the battle of Sherriff Muir where the Earl of Southesk
appeared with three hundred men, the unfortunate nobleman was supposed
to be slain. His faithful, though reluctant attendant, James Carnegie,
was taken prisoner as he was looking over the field of battle in order
to find the body of his lord. He was carried into prison at Carlisle,
whence considerable exertions were made for his release, not only by his
own representations, but by the mediation of Sir James Stewart, the
governor of the castle. What was the result, whether the blameless
victim of the will of others was released, or whether he sank among the
many who could not sustain the hardships of their fate, does not appear.
The Earl of Southesk,
although it was reported he had been killed, rallied his men, and
retreated with the Marquis of Tullibardine, the Earl Marischal and
several heads of clans to the mountains, to shelter themselves from the
pursuit of the Government troops. Some of these chieftains afterwards
made their escape to Skye, Lewis, and other of the north-western
islands, till ships came to their relief and carried them abroad. What
was the fate of the Earl of Southesk afterwards is not known,. neither
what became of his descendant. He had married the Lady Margaret Stewart,
daughter of the Earl of Galloway, and by her, according to some
accounts, he had two sons; according to a contemporary Scottish peerage,
he had one child only his widow also went on the Continent, and the
mention of her name by her brother, the Earl of Galloway, in a letter
written at Clery in France, without that of her husband, in May 1730,
appears to indicate that she was then a widow, and not married again
The letter from Lord
Garlies, in which Lady Southesk is mentioned, is to be seen in the
Murray MS. in the Advocate's Library at Edinburgh. It is addressed to
the eccentric and imprudent Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope. These
papers were found on a floor of a room, and were rescued from
destruction by Dr. Irvine of the Advocate's Library. After some remarks
of no moment, Lord Garlies, afterwards the Earl of Galloway, observes—
"But now I hope that
yours and all honest men's misfortunes are to hove a tun, and since my
belief has had the good fortune to gett a young prince, I pray God his
and all honest men's misfortunes may be at an end ; and I hope before my
young cheif dies, he that have the name of Charles the Third. I beg of
you to let me hear from you, and when I may expect to have the
happinesse of seeing you in this countrey, which is what I both long
mightily for, and expect as soon as you can continiue.
How long Lady Southesk
lived, the wife of the Master of Sinclair, is dubious. He survived her,
and married afterwards, Emilia the daughter of Lord George Murray,
brother of the Duke of Atholl. This intimate connection with one of the
principal leaders of the Rebellion of 1745, did not, however, indues the
Master to enter a second time into a course towards which he had,
perhaps in truth, no sincere good will.
Upon his flight to the
Continent, the Master of Sinclair was outlawed, and attainted in blood
for his share in the Insurrection of 1715. His father being still alive,
and not having taken an active part, his estates escaped forfeiture, and
Lord Sinclair endeavoured so to dispose of them as to prevent their
becoming the property of the Crown. It was necessary, on this account,
that Lord Sinclair should disinherit his eldest son; and "as it would,"
says Sir Walter Scott, "have been highly impolitic to have alleged his
forfeiture for treason as a cause of the deed, the slaughter of the
Schaws was given as a reason for his exlieredation." The following is a
clause of the deed by which the end was to be accomplished:
William Sinclairs, which
set forth that their father had been induced to grant a disposition of
his estate in their favour, and to pass over their elder brother, to
prevent all inconvenience and hazard whatsoever which the rents of the
said Lord Sinclair, his heritable estate, or his moveables, might be
liable to, if they were settled in the said Master's person, on
account of the said Master of Sinclair his present circumstances, by
means of an unfortunate quarrel that some years ago fell out between the
said Master and two sons of the, deceased Sir John Schaw of Greenock;
therefore," the deed proceeds to state, "it was reasonable that they,
James and William Sinclair, should grant a back bond of settlement,
binding themselves to manage the property, when they should respectively
succeed to it by advice of friends, overseers, and managers,—viz. Sir
John Erskine of Alva, Bart., Sir William Baird of New Baith, Bart., Mr.
John Paterson, eldest lawful son to the deceased Archbishop of Glasgow,
their brother-in-law—Sir John Cockburn of that Ilk, Bart., and Mr.
Mathew Sinclair of Hermiston, their uncles.'' The said James and William
Sinclair, as they should respectively succeed to the estate, were
obliged to make certain necessary expenditure to the family for behoof
of the Master; and the said James and William Sinclair became also
bound, in case the Master, their brother, should become free of his
present inconveniences, or should have a family of lawful children,
then, and in that case to convey the estate to the said Master, or to
his said children, at the sight of his trustees."
In the year 1726, the
Master of Sinclair received pardon, as far as his life was concerned,
but the forfeiture of his estates was not taken off, nor certain other
incapacities reversed. He then returned to the. family estate of Dysart
in life, of which he was, by his father's disposition of affairs, the
actual proprietor; and although the rents of the property were levied in
his brother's name, they were applied and received by the Master.
General James Sinclair, the second brother of the Master, was then the
nominal owner only of the estates. But although thus returning to his
patrimonial inheritance, the Master never recovered the good will of his
former friends, nor the blessings of security, and of a calm and
honoured old age. He seldom visited Edinburgh, living in seclusion and
never going from home without being well guarded and attended for fear
of the Jacobites, or of his enemies the. Schaws. Under these
circumstances it seems to have been a relief to his bitter spirit to
have vented itself, in like manner with Lord Lovat, in composing memoirs
of his own life. "These memoirs," says Sir Walter Scott, who long had a
copy of them in his possession, are written with talent, and peculiar
satirical energy, so much so indeed, that they have been hitherto deemed
unfit for publication. The circumstances attending the slaughter of the
Schaws argue a fierce and vindictive temper, and the frame of mind which
Sinclair displays as an author exhibits the same character. They are,
however, very curious, and it is to be hoped will one day be made
public, as a valuable addition to the catalogue of royal and noble
authors. It is singular that the author seems to have written himself
into a tolerably good style, for the language of the Memoirs, which at
first is scarcely grammatical, becomes as he advances disengaged,
correct, and spirited."
On the whole, it must be
acknowledged that qualities more repulsive and a career more culpable,
have darkened no narrative connected with the Jacobites so unpleasantly
as the biography of the Master of Sinclair. A disgrace, to every party,
he appears to have joined the adherents of the Stuarts, only in order to
disturb their councils, and to vilify their memory with personal
invective. He has extorted no compassion for the errors and crimes of
his earlier years by the couragc and magnanimity of a later period: His
character stands forth, unredeemed by a single trait of heroism, in all
the darkness of violence and revenge.
The barony of Sinclair,
lost to the family in consequence of the attainder of the Master of
Sinclair, was not assumed either by him, after his pardon in 1726, nor
by his brother General James Sinclair. At the death of General Sinclair
in 1762, the title reverted to Charles Sinclair, Esq., of Herdmanstown,
a cousin, and after him to his son Andrew, who also allowed his claim to
the Barony to lie dormant. It was, however, revived at his death in
1776, by his only son Charles, who is the present Lord Sinclair.
* The MS. Memoirs of the
Master of Sinclair are at present in the possession of the Countess of
Rosslyn. |