"I have yours of the seventeenth and the twentieth both togather last night, and a paket from H. in the last. I wrote to you on Saturday the old way, and sent you a paket enclosed, which I belive is of consequence, so I hope it's come safe, and that H. has gott it. He has had two or three sent him from this of late, different ways, and one goes of this day by the near way he sometimes uses. We hear from all hands of the preparations against us, but we resolve to stand it, cost what it will, and if they come out we will certainly give them battle, lett their number be never so great. It must now be plain to all that will allow themselves to see, that nothing less is designed by the present managers than the intire ruin and destruction of this poor country, and of every honest man in it; and if this will not be an awakened people, I know nothing that will. Since this then is plainly the case, there can be no choise in dying honourably in the field for so just a cause, or leving to see the ruin and intire destruction of our country, our King, and our friends and relations. For my part, I shall prefer the first with all cheerfulness, and never desire to live to be a witness to the latter, which certainly will be the case if it please God our King should be defeat."
The next paragraph of this letter speaks mournfully of disappointment in those on whose aid the Earl had counted.
"It must be a strange infatuation that has gott amongst people, especially those that always pretended to be friends to our cause, many of whom told before the King came that they wad certainly joyn him when he landed, and made his not being with us the only objection, and now when he is come they make some other shift;—I must say such people are worse than our greatest enemies; and if any misfortune should befal the King or his cause, (which God forbid!) I think they that pretended to be our friends have very much to count for, and are more the cause of it than any others, since no doubt the ashourances that many gave to joyn us when the King landed was a chief motive for his comming to us. I hope in God we shall be able to opose them tho' their numbers should be greater, and to their shame and confusion be it if they come against us. I hope very soon the King will have such assistance as will defeat all their designs, and that his affairs will take a sudden turn in other pairts."
The most serious defection from the Jacobite cause was the submission of the Marquis of Huntley and the Earl of Seaforth to the victorious arms of the Earl of Sutherland, aided by Lord Lovat, in Invernesshire. Seaforth had collected, on the Moor of Gilliechrist, twelve hundred men, the remnant of those whom he had been able to save from Sherriff Muir; but finding that Lord Sutherland had resolved to force him into an engagement, he owned King George as his lawful Sovereign, and promised to lay down his arms. This had occurred early in December, and, according to Lord Mar, before the Earl of Seaforth, in those remote regions, could have heard of the Chevalier's landing. Mar therefore regarded it as a temporary cessation on the part of Seaforth and Huntley, for a given period, of hostilities against the Government.
As far as related to Lord Seaforth, the belief of Lord Mar was correct. At the end of the days agreed upon for the cessation of arms, Seaforth drew his people together, the influence of clanship enabling him to summon them at will, like a king; and again appeared in arms. This was the consequence of the news that James had landed having reached Inverness. But Seaforth could not retrieve the cause of James in the North, nor repair the effects of even a temporary submission. Eventually he returned to the party which he had espoused, and escaped to France. The Marquis of Huntley made his own terms with the Government.
At this critical juncture, unanimity still prevailed, according to Lord Mar, among the assembled chieftains at Perth. "I do assure you," he writes, "that since the arms came here, there has not been a quarrel of any kind happened among us—not even among the Highland men, which is very extraordinary; and you may depend upon it there is the greatest unanimity here just now, and all fully resolved to stand to it, let what will come. I pray God preserve our King from the wicked and hellish designs of his enemies! I hope we will be apprized of their motions, so as to be in readiness to receive them."
These expressions were written, but the letter which contained them was not sent, on the twenty-third of January. The postscript, written in a hurried hand, shows that the camp at Perth was not unprepared for the coming attack.
"Since writing of the inclosed, I have two from which I gott last night with the paket; and ane account of that detachment of horse comming out, who we hear came the lenth of Acterardie,[140] upon which account the whole army here were ordred to be in a readyness to march this morning, and we have no account they are returned: we hear it was to vew the roads, and to try if it was practicable to march their army, which they will find very hard to doe while this weather holds. The account you gave in yours of their motions and that detachment was very distinct. The K. read it himself,—it came prety quick. I entreat you fail not to lett us have what accounts you can learn, for what comes from you are among the best we can gett.
"The K. ordered a review of the whole army here this morning, and they are all to hold themselves ready at one half ane hour's advertisment. Lett me hear from you soon. Adieu."
Again, on the twenty-fourth of January: