which, appeared lord Kilmarnock, and his son, lord Boyd, then an object of deep interest, being the heir of the family, and only eleven years of age.* Had there been present any gifted seer, who, through the folds of time, could have descried the red field of Culloden, what would have been his emotions! The people of Greenock, under the influence of lady Shaw Stuart, in the absence of Sir John, who was abroad at the time, and the assiduity of the Rev. Mr. Turner, the minister of the parish, behaved in the most praiseworthy manner, being able, by the middle of August, to muster two hundred and sixty men, well armed, trained, and divided into six companies. In Clydesdale, his grace the duke of Douglas, of his vassals and tenants, raised to the number of three hundred men, for the service of the government. Nor were the other gentlemen in that neighbourhood negligent of their duty. Her grace the dutchess of Hamilton, captain Daniel Weir of Stonebyres, the laird of Corehouse, James Carmichael of Bonnyton, the laird of Lee, Mr. Alexander Menzies of Culterallers, &c. &c., had all their vassals and tenants trained and mustered, in defence of his majesty's person and government, by the beginning of September. → In Nithsdale and Galloway, though there were many papists and Jacobites, the zeal of the great body of the people was most conspicuous. In Dumfries, seven companies, of sixty effective men each, were raised among the inhabitants, and for fear of being surprised by the factious and disloyal, who, they knew, were in great numbers on every side of them, a strong guard was constantly kept. The lord provost was commander of the companies of volunteers, and they were trained so as to have reached the highest degree of military discipline. Nor was the example of the burgh lost upon the surrounding country. The inhabitants, every where witnessing the consultations of the Jacobites, and being informed of the movements of the Highlanders, made the most diligent preparations for counteracting their designs. The exercise of arms was general and incessant, and they kept guards at all the most considerable * Douglas' Peerage. places on the roads, to take notice of strangers, intercept letters, and cut off the communication of the Jacobites with one another, A Jacobite gentleman, Bell of Minsca, having taken it upon him to insult a party of these guards at Penpont, was shot by one of the centinels through the leg, which is said by Rae to have been the first blood drawn in that rebellion. We may notice here that the clergy of the Scotish church were every where active, awakening the spirit, and directing the movements of their parishioners; many of them took arms themselves, and set bright examples of true patriotism, as well as of religion, while the episcopal clergy, for whom such a bustle had been kept up for many of the bypast years, and for whom the feelings of the presbyterians had been so deeply wounded, were, to a man, rebels, and exerted themselves, to spread the flame of rebellion, with a zeal worthy of a better cause. The presbyterian dissenters, on the contrary, who had been persecuted and reviled by their brethren, even more than the epis copalians, took arms for the defence of their country's liberties. Mr. John Hepburn kept the field, with three hundred of his people, all the time the rebellion raged in the south, and in activity and watchfulness seems to have been behind none of the other leaders of the people at that time. Mr. Stuart of Torence he apprehended returning from a visit to a part of the rebel army, and sent him in prisoner to Dumfries, whither he himself, with his party, hastened when he had reason to think it had been invested by the enemy; but finding the place still safe, he encamped without the town, which, in present circumstances, he refused to enter, without explanations, which the magistrates and ministers of Dumfries either would not, or could not make.* It was evident, however, that he and his people, were determined to have acted vigorously against the pretender in case of extremity; but from the unhappy divisions subsisting between them and their brethren, respecting the revolution, and the Union settlements, they probably thought that extremity alone could justify their interference. As Kircudbright was one of the stations pointed out by the Rae's History of the Rebellion, pp. 256, 276. Jacobites as a fit place for the chevalier to land with his foreign auxiliaries, Galloway was an object of particular attention with both parties, and major James Aikman was despatched from Edinburgh, about the end of July, to oversee the preparations there going on, and to advise with the inhabitants upon the measures that might be found necessary upon the approach of an enemy. Major Aikman accordingly reviewed the fencible men in the upper ward of Nithsdale, on Marjory Muir, in the beginning of August, and afterwards held a meeting with the principal inhabitants of the district at Closeburn. He was accompanied by Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, Gordon of Earlston, Mr. James Nimmo from Edinburgh, Mr. John Pollock, minister of Glencairn, &c. &c., when it was unanimously agreed:"First, that each parish be modelled into companies, and proper officers chosen to that effect. Secondly, That each parish exercise twice or thrice in the week. Thirdly, That upon the first advice of the pretender's landing, each parish should meet by themselves, in some convenient place appointed for that effect, there to concert what is proper to be done, either with their horse or foot; and it was earnestly desired, that they should bring their best arms and ammunition along with them to that place. Fourthly, That upon the first notice of the pretender's arrival at Lochryan, Kirkcudbright upon the borders, or in the Frith of Leith, in case he should land there, Sanquhar should be the place of rendezvous for the western shires. Fifthly, that upon the enemy's landing in any of these places, all the horses and cattle should be driven from the coasts into the country, and that a body of horsemen wait on, to hinder their plundering the country and seizing of horses, if possible. Sixthly, That there be a party of light horse or foot in each parish, to join with such in neighbouring parishes, to hinder the Jacobites in the country from joining with the French, to interrupt their communications, and to harass their parties; and in order to this, that all roads leading to the enemy should be stopped, and persons travelling towards them in arms secured. Seventhly, That all boats upon the western coast be secured, to prevent the Jacobites from going to the French fleet upon their first appearance, their carrying provisions to them, or assisting them in their landing. And Lastly, That our friends in every particular district, fall upon ways and means to make the above said particulars effectual.”* Kelso, and the neighbouring country, exhibited the same spirit of loyalty and affection to the government, and encouraged by their minister, Mr. Ramsay, Sir William Bennet of Grubbet, and Sir John Pringle of Stitchel, the inhabitants subscribed an association, "Binding and obliging themselves, by the blessing of God, to assist and stand by one another, in defence of their lawful sovereign king George, the succession of the crown, happily established by law, and the protestant religion, in opposition to a popish pretender, and all his abettors;" and were formed into regular companies, trained and armed for their own and their country's defence. The same spirit, indeed, pervaded the whole country except where the clergy were episcopal, and the principal heritors Jacobites, and even where this was manifestly the case, the people in general seemed to have nothing so much at heart as the security of their religion and liberties from the dangers with which they were now so evidently threatened. Many individuals in different places of the nation also, whom it would be tedious to particularize, eminently distinguished themselves on this occasion, but none more than the earl of Glasgow, who, living in the vicinity of the Highlands, and aware of the clans being, for the most part, in the interest of the chevalier, as well as of the paucity of regular troops in the kingdom, made offer to his majesty, to raise, and maintain at his own proper charge, one thousand men, for which he had the thanks of his majesty, with an assurance, that for an offer so generous, and so seasonable, he would not fail to be rewarded with marks of especial favour.+ While these preparations were going thus rapidly forward at home, the chevalier and his friends were equally busy abroad; and they flattered themselves with being able to make an attempt in a short time that would be irresistible. In France, Germany, Switzerland, and among the states of Italy, vast sums were collected for his service, under the immediate Rae's History of the Rebellion, p. 185. influence of the see of Rome, among the devotees to which, the design must have been regarded as peculiarly holy, being calculated at once to revive, in some degree, the long eclipsed splendour of the pontiff, preserve a royal dynasty from final degradation and disgrace, and to be the salvation of three kingdoms. Some estimate may be made of the sums collected, by the complaints of the agents of the chevalier at St. Germains, upon the failure of the design, "that the partisans of the cause in Scotland had spent twelve millions upon the business, and had accomplished nothing but the ruin of their friends."* Of the money thus collected, an hundred thousand pounds sterling was said to have been transmitted to the earl of Marr, with letters and instructions, under the chevalier's own hand, and a commission appointing him lieutenant-general, and commander-in-chief of all his forces, as he called them, in Scotland, which induced that nobleman to throw off the mask of loyalty to king George, which he had, ever since that monarch's accession to the throne, worn rather ostentatiously, but which had failed to produce those honourable marks of distinction which his lordship so ardently desired. His offers of service and duty he had the mortification to find neglected, and the address from the Jacobite chiefs, which was intended to set him high in his majesty's favour, he dared not to present, being told that his majesty had certain information that it was prepared at St. Germains. His majesty, indeed, was too well informed, and had too deep a feeling upon the subject of the plots carried on in the last years of queen Anne, to look with complacency upon the earl of Marr; and the course of inquiry which the parliament was so eagerly pursuing, was calculated to awaken fear in every bosom that was in any degree tainted with guilt; besides, the suspension of the habeas corpus, and the vigorous measures which the government was adopting, probably gave him ground to apprehend immediate imprisonment, which would have blasted for ever those high hopes which he had all along too fondly cherished. • Annals of George I., vol. vi. p. 118. + Douglas' Peerage of Scotland, by Wood, vol. ii. P. 218. |