But, believers in personation may say, ‘Pickle had carefully studied and adroitly copied Glengarry’s orthography, as, ex hypothesi, he wished to pass for that Chief.’
Then why did he not also imitate Glengarry’s handwriting?
Glengarry wrote two hands; one is a sprawling scrawl, sloped much to the right, in his rough drafts of letters, preserved in his Letter Book; the other is merely the same hand written smaller, closer, not so sloped, in his letters, for example, to James and Edgar. The Windsor Letters, the neater and more careful, I could not compare with those of Pickle at the British Museum. But I took Glengarry’s Letter Book, or folio of scrawled drafts, thither, and Mr. Millar (author of the criticism in the Scottish Review) kindly compared the two sets of documents, he having much experience in such studies. I append what is essential in his report, contributed to the Dundee Advertiser of April 28, 1897.
‘Mr. Lang has come into possession of much new evidence upon the subject. Amongst other documents he has the Letter-book in which Glengarry frequently copied his letters with his own hand and signed them. This book comes from an unchallengeable source. By Mr. Lang’s invitation I had to-day the pleasure of comparing the handwriting of Glengarry in this book with the Pickle letters in the British Museum. At the first glance one would say that the manuscripts are so unlike superficially that they were not both written by the same person. Glengarry wrote a wide, sprawling hand, with a very distinct slope towards the right. The Pickle letters are all written in the vertical style, and the lines are small and neat. When examined more closely, however, there is a striking similarity in the details. Having selected Pickle letters that contained similar words to those in the Letter-book, I have made a careful comparison of them minutely. It is beyond question that whoever Pickle was he wrote in a feigned handwriting to prevent identification should any letter miscarry. If Glengarry wished to feign another hand than his own, the most obvious way of effecting his purpose would be to change the sloping style into the upright style. When Pickle wished to disguise his hand he used the upright style. There are several letters which Glengarry wrote in a very peculiar manner. The capital letter “T,” for instance, was distinctly Glengarrian. But the capital “T” written repeatedly by Pickle is absolutely identical with that used in the Glengarry book. Such words as “most,” “humble,” “Sir,” “I,” and “Tho’” are precisely the same in form in both cases, the only difference being the change of the slope. There is only one curious fact which comes out after careful examination. When Glengarry is writing adjectives that begin with the letter “d” he generally uses a capital. Tickle never does this, but uses the small “d” instead, yet that small “d” is exactly similar in form to the same letter written by Glengarry. This is certainly minute criticism, and might not be sufficient alone to establish the case against Glengarry; but when the other fact is borne in mind, that Pickle and Glengarry make the same errors in the spelling of uncommon words, the confirmatory proof is very strong. It is not likely that any letter exists in which Glengarry fully acknowledges his treachery, and the main evidence must therefore be circumstantial. If Mr. Lang had now to begin writing his book with all the additional evidence before him which he has obtained since its publication, he would probably find few who would dissent from his conclusion that Pickle the Spy was no other than Alastair Macdonnell of Glengarry. There may be coincidences in events in the lives of two men; but it is incredible that Pickle, when disguising his handwriting, should fall into the same formation of many of the letters which was peculiar to Macdonnell of Glengarry. Though begun upon a mere surmise by Mr. Lang, extended research seems to confirm his notion as to the identity of these two personages. It is not a pleasant conclusion for any one who believes that all the Highlanders engaged in the Rising of 1745 were indomitable and patriotic heroes. There were blacklegs in the army of Prince Charles Edward, as there are in every movement of the kind; but there were also noble characters prepared to shed their blood and sacrifice their prospects in support of what they believed to be the rightful cause. Glengarry, apparently, must now take his place among the execrated traitors.—I am, &c.
‘A. H. Millar.
‘London: April 26, 1897.’
I am no expert in handwriting, and I offer no opinion, except that Pickle’s confessedly feigned hand is more like Glengarry’s careful hand, in the Stuart Papers, than like his sloping scrawl, meant only for his own eyes (and these nearly blind) in his Letter Book. The Duke of Atholl has compared letters from Glengarry, in his possession, with those of Pickle, and has arrived at the same conclusion as Mr. Millar. Pickle’s hand is Glengarry’s, disguised.
Such is my chain of evidence towards proving the personal identity of Pickle and Glengarry. Both men, it is hardly worth while to add, had been officers in French service. I am aware of not one discrepant feature to discredit the identity which Pickle practically asserts, when he declares himself (corroborated by Bruce) to have become, by his father’s death, Chief of the Macdonnells, just when Old Glengarry died, and Young Glengarry succeeded to the headship of the clan. To sum up the whole case:
Young Glengarry’s conduct, as far as we know, is stainless, till, after endeavouring to ‘conform’ in October 1747, he presently poses as a religiously faithful subject, or devotee, of James in January 1748. He is starving in London, which he visits in July 1749, his father being soon after released from Edinburgh Castle. Young Glengarry, in the winter of 1749, visits Cluny at Dalwhinnie, in company with Glenevis, Lochgarry, and Angus MacIan. Glengarry obtains, by his own admission, a share of the treasure, and then formally charges Archy Cameron with looting 6,000 louis d’or. Archy accuses him of forgery; they carry their quarrel before James in Rome. Early in 1751 Glengarry, though he is not known to have taken the oaths, is allowed to reside in London, and announces his approaching marriage with an English lady. But Glengarry is already suspected, and he knows it; for when Leslie, the priest, is charged with treason by the Jacobites, Glengarry says that the blow is aimed at him. Nothing is proved against Leslie, but stories of Glengarry’s intimacy with Murray the traitor, and the spy Samuel Cameron, called Crookshanks, are anonymously brought by Blair and Holker. In October 1751 Samuel’s brother, Glenevis and Downan, arrested for their share with Glengarry in the matter of the French gold, accuse Glengarry of informing against them. They lie in gaol in Fort William; Glengarry (though the Government know him to be their accomplice) lives freely in London, and travels where he pleases.