(Copy of Pickle’s letter to G. V. (Gwynne Vaughan) deciphered. R. Oct. 16th, 1754.)
II.—MACLEOD
‘The Rebels had an implacable Illwill and Malice against Him (Macleod) as they alledged, and many of them believed, that he not only deserted, but betrayed their Cause: what truth there is in this I will not take upon me to determine.’ So says the writer of the MS. 104, ‘The Highlands of Scotland in 1750.’
‘Surely never did man so basely betray as did Macleod, whom I shall leave for the present to the racks and tortures of a guilty conscience, and the just and severe judgement of every good man.’ Thus writes Murray of Broughton, after narrating how Macleod gave a written promise to aid Prince Charles whenever he landed. What he did was to send information to Forbes of Culloden, ‘it is certain that the pretended Prince of Wales is come into the coast of South Uist and Barra.’ He begs that his name as informant may be kept secret.[205]
Macleod can thus avoid the charge of betraying the Cause, only by disproof of Murray’s allegation that he gave a written promise to rise. But this allegation is confirmed by family tradition. ‘Miss Macleod of Macleod, Dunvegan Castle, remembers having seen in the family charter-chest an interesting correspondence between His Royal Highness and Macleod, in which Norman “invited the Prince to come over, several months before he arrived,” but the letters have since disappeared, and the family knows nothing as to where they have gone to.’[206]
On the showing of Miss Macleod, as reported by Mr. Mackenzie, in the passage just cited, Murray might well cry ‘never did man betray so basely as did Macleod.’ Despite his written promise to Prince Charles, Macleod was the first to send information against ‘the pretended Prince of Wales.’ After Prestonpans, ‘it would appear,’ writes Mr. Mackenzie, ‘that Macleod was taking lessons in duplicity from Simon,’ Lord Lovat. Macleod scarcely needed instruction in treachery; but, if Mr. Mackenzie is right, he now meant to send Young Macleod with the clan to join the Prince, while he stayed at home, and said that he could not help it.[207] This domestic arrangement was not carried into effect.
Macleod was born in 1706, and inherited the family lands with 60,000l. He died in 1772, leaving 50,000l. of debt. He is still spoken of in the traditional history of his family as An Droch Dhuine, or ‘the Wicked Man,’ partly because of his extravagance, partly ‘for his cruel treatment of his first wife and Lady Grange.’[208] When we add his treachery to the Prince, we see in Macleod a character far from exemplary. His grandson speaks of him as ‘always a most beneficent and beloved chieftain, whose necessities had lately induced him to raise his rents.’... ‘The Jacobites treated him as an apostate, and the successful party did not reward his loyalty.’[209] He reaped as he had sown.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Literature, July 30, 1898, p. 93.
[2] There is a brief sketch of the Earl in his brother’s Memoirs (Spalding Club), which cites d’Alembert, and puts the Earl’s birth in 1687.