and the vast prospects opening before him, that he fell to "carousing with his friends," nor knew till the alarm was given, and he found it impossible to repass the Frith. The appearance of the British fleet, however, while it brought the deliberations of the enemy to a speedy conclusion, rendered pilots unavailing, and a smart land breeze springing up, they cut their cables and put to sea, in the utmost trepidation, with all the sail they could carry. The British gave chase, and the Salisbury, one of their line of battle ships, was speedily boarded and taken. During the night the French admiral altered his course, and by daylight was out of sight of the English squadron. Sir George Byng returned immediately to the Frith, where he was received with every mark of respect, and was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, in a gold box, as a testimony of the gratitude of its citizens, for having so opportunely dispelled their fears, and averted the dangers with which they were threatened.

Monsieur Andrezel, in his journal of the proceedings of the French fleet, states, that when the action commenced with the English, the Chevalier de St. George entreated the admiral, Forbin, to put him on shore, declaring that he was resolved to remain in Scotland, although none were to follow him but his domestics, which, Forbin, "after representing to him that it was very improper," refused to agree to. From the same document, we learn, that, when they were no longer pursued by the enemy, the marshal de Matignon, and the admiral count Forbin, proposed to the chevalier to attempt a landing at Inverness, which he agreed to; but as there was no pilot on board, who knew that coast, Ogilvie of Boyn was desired to go in search of one at Buchanness, when a strong wind arising, rendered it impossible for them to continue their course to the north. Being also under apprehensions of wanting provisions, they steered their course towards Dunkirk, where, after being tossed about, in very tempestuous weather, nearly a month, they arrived on the seventh of April, having lost the Salisbury, fallen into the hands of the enemy, and nearly all the land troops by disease, owing to the crowded state of the ships.

Lockhart Papers, vol. i. p. 241.

Andrezel adds, that though the landing had taken place, the success of the expedition would have been, nevertheless, very doubtful, by reason of the uncertainty both of a fit place for landing, and of the succours that they were to expect to join them, and he seems to think it was no small degree of good fortune that carried them back to Dunkirk, after running so great hazard.*

Thus ended the first attempt of the Chevalier de St. George, which certainly did not advance either his interest or his reputation. It demonstrated to all who were not blinded by prejudice, that, in common with too many of his predecessors, he was infatuated with the superstitions of Popery, and intoxicated with the dream of inviolable prerogative, which must have detached from his interest, all who held enlightened views of the nature of society, and the legitimate ends of government, while it strengthened that mortal aversion, which the whole body of Presbyterians felt towards his family. Instead of resting solely upon his long line of ancestry, and assurances of assistance from the French government, assurances, which, it is highly probable, they never intended to make good, any further, than as they might operate in favour of their schemes of continental aggrandizement, had he cast himself upon the nation, admitted the Claim of Right, and, acting upon the principles of common sense, satisfied the Presbyterians, who, situated as they now were, and feeling as they now did, would certainly have been easier satisfied, than on some former occasions, he might almost by a mere volition, have placed himself upon that throne, from which, through mere folly and imbecility, his father had been ejected, and have left it a peaceable possession to his children. But he had strongly impressed upon him all those marks of special reprobation, which had long characterized his unfortunate family, and among others, that wayward obstinacy, which no prospect of advantage could bend, nor the most awful visitations subdue. Fortunately for the house of Hanover, he supposed he had no friends in Britain but Papists and high churchmen, who had been the plagues of the

* Hooke's Secret Negotiations, p. 156.

country for two centuries, and were feared and hated by the great body of the people. This circumstance, much more than the vigilance of the government, rendered his attempts not only abortive for the present, but gave to all his after efforts, a character of hopeless despair.*

Such a miserable failure, where so much had been expected, threw a sad damp over the Jacobites, who, for several days, previous to the expected landing, had carried themselves with great insolency toward their opponents, and the immediate imprisonment of their principal leaders, completed their confusion. The castles of Stirling and Edinburgh, with the prisons of the latter, scarcely sufficed to contain the multitudes of those, who, from the jealousy or the policy of the government, were thus treated. The circumstance was, indeed, of singular service to the ministry, with regard to the approaching elections, as it afforded them a fair pretext for imprisoning, or threatening to imprison, all from whom they feared any thing like effectual opposition, and by this means they carried them, generally speaking, entirely to their own minds. The

* James himself, it appears, did not as yet admit any such desponding ideas, nor had he learned to distrust either his faithless allies, or the weakness of his own judgment; for he had scarcely returned to St. Germains, when he despatched Charles Farquharson, with the following instructions, to his friends in Scotland.

"James R. You are to show these instructions to such as we have ordered you, and whose names, for their security, we will not here insert.

"I. You are to assure them of the concern and trouble we are in, on their account, as well as on our own, that this last enterprise has failed, occasioned by our sickness, the mistake of the pilots, and other unforeseen accidents, which gave the enemy the opportunity of preventing our landing in the frith; while, on the other side, violent contrary winds, the dispersing of the fleet, the ignorance we were in of the coasts, and want of provisions, hindered our landing in any other place. II. You are to assure them of the concern and pain we are in for them, to know their present condition, fearing they may have been brought into trouble after this enterprise has failed. III. You are to assure them, that far from being discouraged with what has happened, we are resolved to move heaven and earth, and to leave no stone unturned, to free ourselves and them; and to that end, we propose to come ourselves into the Highlands, with money, arms, and ammunition, and to put ourselves at the head of our good subjects, if they rise in arms for us, and if not, we do exhort them to rise, with all convenient speed, upon the expectation of our

prisoners, after some time, were divided into three classes, and in separate divisions carried up to London, where they were all thrust into close confinement. The duke of Hamilton, who, upon the approach of the French fleet, had been taken into custody, at his seat in the north of England, was brought up to London at the same time, and, taking advantage of the struggle which the whigs were at that time making to obtain the direction of the government, prevailed upon them to obtain his liberation, and that of all his fellow prisoners, upon condition of their throwing all their influence into the scale of the whigs, at the approaching election of the Scotish peers. "This certainly," says one, who was himself pretty deeply implicated in the business, "was one of the nicest steps the duke of Hamilton ever made, and had he not hit upon this favourable juncture, and managed it with great address, I am afraid some heads had paid for it, at least, they had undergone a long confinement; so that to his grace alone, the thanks for that deliverance were owing."*

The same author asserts, that "no doubt the government

arrival, which we intend shall be as soon as possible, after we have had an answer to this, by this our messenger, who is entirely trusted by us; and since we are so desirous of venturing of our person, we hope they will follow our example, this being a critical time which ought not to be neglected. IV. The most Christian King has likewise promised to support this undertaking with a sufficient number of troops, as soon as they can be transported with security. In the meantime we will stay in the Highlands, unless we be invited and encouraged by our friends in the Lowlands, to go to them. V. We desire they would consider this project, and, with all diligence send back this bearer, well informed of their opinion concerning it; as also, with an account of the state of the nation, of what troops are in it, of what country and how inclined, and what number of men they can bring into the field for us. VI. And in case they approve this our project, and promise to stand by us, we desire that all means may be used to get possession of the fort of Inverlochy, and that they would inform us of the fittest place in the Highlands for our landing, and send along with the bearer, two or more able pilots, who know these places, and can conduct us into them. VII. And, in case they prove instrumental to our restoration, by doing what is here proposed to them, we promise to give them particular and essential marks of our kindness, and of the sense we have of all they have done and suffered on our accounts. J. R." Stuart Papers.

* Lockhart Papers, vol. i. pp. 248, 249.

expected to have had proof enough to have brought several of them, [the leading Jacobites,] to punishment, and he blesses God, that they failed in this," apparently without much foundation. So much publicity had been given to their transactions with the French court, and with that of St. Germains, and so much zeal manifested for forwarding the interests of these courts, not to speak of the certain fact, that almost every member of the government had, either directly or indirectly, communicated with St. Germains, and so must have personally been acquainted with the greater part of its intentions -that to suppose there could have been any difficulty in finding proof to condemn almost every man among them, especially the tergiversating, irresolute duke of Hamilton, would leave a heavy stain upon the character of the then administration, as either grossly deficient in diligence, or in talents. The probability is, that they were not so bloodthirsty as this author has represented them, and that, being not altogether free themselves, they rather wished to wink at Scotish delinquency, than to punish it with severity, seeing it had been so feebly seconded, and foreseeing, as they must have done, that it could scarcely, from the circumstances of the country, be more vigorously followed out at any future period. They had probably sagacity enough to perceive, that the French court never had any serious intention, even though it had possessed the power, of placing James upon the throne of Britain. The Scotish Jacobites, blinded by ambition and pride, were such poor politicians, as to think, the king of Scotland being king of England, that Scotishmen and Scotish measures, should be predominant over both kingdoms, and this, after the experience of three reigns had demonstrated such things to be impossibilities. The French knew better, and aware, that whether a prince of Orange, an elector of Hanover, or a royal Stuart, filled the throne of Britain, the policy of his court, and the measures of his government behoved to be English, were at no great pains about the matter, further than by it to create a diversion in favour of themselves; and this, so long as they kept the Stuarts in their own hands, they supposed could be done at pleasure. On no other principle is it possible to account for their conduct on this occasion. By the extreme cau