As soon as the news of the arrival of the Prince of Orange in London, and the departure of the king, was received in Edinburgh, an immense concourse of persons, “of all sorts, degrees, and persuasions,” who “could (says Balcarras) scrape so much together” to defray their expenses, went up to London, influenced by motives of interest or patriotism. The Prince of Orange took the wise expedient of obtaining all the legal sanction which, before the assembling of a parliament, could be given to his assumption of the administration of affairs in England; obtaining the concurrence of many of the spiritual and temporal peers, and of a meeting composed of some members who had sat in the House of Commons during the reign of Charles II., as also of the Lord-Mayor of London, and 50 of the common council. He now adopted the same expedient as to Scotland, and taking advantage of the great influx into the capital of noblemen and gentlemen from that country, he convened them together. A meeting was accordingly held at Whitehall, at which 30 noblemen and 80 gentlemen attended. The Duke of Hamilton, who aimed at the chief direction of affairs in Scotland, was chosen president. At this meeting a motion was made by the duke that a convention of the estates should be called as early as possible, and that an address should be presented to the prince to take upon him the direction of affairs in Scotland in the meantime; but this motion was unexpectedly opposed by the Earl of Arran, the duke’s eldest son, who proposed that the king should be invited back on condition that he should call a free parliament for securing the civil and religious liberties of Scotland. This proposition threw the assembly into confusion, and a short adjournment took place, but on resuming their seats, the earl’s motion was warmly opposed by Sir Patrick Hume, and as none of the members offered to second it, the motion was consequently lost, and the duke’s being put to the vote, was carried.
A convention of the estates, called by circular letters from the prince, was accordingly appointed to be held at Edinburgh, on the 14th of March, 1689, and the supporters of the prince, as well as the adherents of the king, prepared to depart home to attend the ensuing election. But the prince managed to detain them till he should be declared king, that as many as might feel inclined might seal their new-born loyalty by kissing his hand; but William had to experience the mortification of a refusal even from some of those whom he had ranked amongst his warmest friends. The Earl of Balcarras and Viscount Dundee, the former of whom had, as before mentioned, been invested by the king with the civil, the latter with the military administration of affairs in Scotland, were the first of either party who arrived in Scotland, but not until the end of February, when the elections were about to commence. On their arrival at Edinburgh they found the Duke of Gordon, who had hitherto refused to deliver up the castle, though tempted by the most alluring offers from the prince, about to capitulate, but they dissuaded him from this step, on the ground that the king’s cause was not hopeless, and that the retention of such an important fortress was of the utmost importance.
The elections commenced. The inhabitants of the southern and western counties (for every Protestant, without distinction, was allowed to vote), alarmed for the extinction of their religious liberties, and excited by the recollection of the wrongs they and their forefathers had suffered, gave their suffrages to the popular candidate, and the adherents of the king soon perceived that the chances were against him. Yet, when the convention met, a respectable minority seemed, notwithstanding, to be in favour of the king, but they had neither the courage nor address to oppose the popular current. To overawe, as is supposed, the friends of the king, or to prevent the convention from being overawed by the troops in the castle, the Duke of Hamilton and his friends, a few days before the meeting of the convention, introduced a considerable number of armed men into Edinburgh, some of whom were concealed in cellars and houses, ready to act as occasion might require. The first trial of strength between the two parties took place on the election of a president. To the Duke of Hamilton the adherents of the king opposed the Marquis of Athole, who, in consequence of being slighted by the prince, had promised his support to the royal party; but the duke was elected by a considerable majority. This vote sealed the fate of the Tory party, and many who had hitherto wavered in their allegiance now openly abandoned the cause of James. The consequence was, that within a few days, the number of the adherents of the king was greatly reduced.
The first act of the convention was to send the Earls of Tweeddale and Leven, with an order to the Duke of Gordon to deliver up the castle within twenty-four hours. The duke, overcome by the smooth and insinuating behaviour of Tweeddale, reluctantly yielded, and promised to surrender the castle next morning at ten o’clock. When this answer was brought to the convention, Balcarras and Dundee were alarmed, and immediately despatched a confidential servant to the duke reminding him of his promise to hold out, and imploring him not to give way. The duke wavered, but on obtaining a writing which he required under the hands of these noblemen that the retention of the castle was absolutely necessary for the success of the king’s affairs, and being visited the following morning by Lord Dundee, who impressed on him the importance of holding out, he resolved to break with the convention. To prepare matters in the north he despatched thither the Earl of Dunfermline, his brother-in-law, to whom he granted a written commission, authorising him to raise his friends and vassals in support of the king.[551]
In consequence of the refusal of the duke to deliver up the castle, he was, by order of the convention, summoned by the heralds at the gate of the castle to surrender, and a proclamation was read at the same time prohibiting all persons from having any communication with him, and promising a reward of six months’ pay to the Protestants in the garrison who should seize him and deliver him and the castle up to the convention. The duke addressed the heralds from within the gate, and told them, that he kept the castle by commission from their common master, and would defend it to the last extremity; and after handing them some guineas, which he requested they would spend in drinking the king’s health, and the healths of all his loyal subjects, he facetiously advised them not to proclaim men traitors with the king’s coats on their backs till they had turned them. Upon the departure of the heralds, the duke drew out the garrison and gave them their option, either to remain in the castle and share with him the dangers that awaited them, or to depart. Upwards of a third of the garrison took advantage of the permission to depart, and left the castle on that and the following day.[552]
As the king’s friends saw that any efforts they could make in the convention would be quite unavailing, they agreed at a private meeting which they held on the 17th of March, to repair to Stirling and there hold a convention by themselves. This resolution was adopted agreeably to the wish of the king himself, who had sent a written authority, dated from Ireland, empowering the Archbishop of St. Andrews, the Earl of Balcarras, and Viscount Dundee, to call a meeting of the estates at Stirling. Balcarras and Dundee received an assurance from the Marquis of Athole, who, ever since the cold reception he had met with from William, had been wonderfully loyal, that he would accompany them, and a similar promise was obtained from the Earl of Mar, governor of Stirling castle. Athole, however, began to waver, a circumstance which deferred the departure of the king’s friends.
Here it may not be improper to notice a circumstance which probably had its weight in the deliberations preceding the departure of Dundee. On the morning of 16th March, just as Lord Dundee was on the point of going to the convention, he was waited upon by James Binnie, a dyer, who informed him that he had overheard a conversation the day before among some persons of their intention of murdering him and Sir George Mackenzie, and Binnie offered, if a warrant were granted him, to apprehend them. Dundee immediately went to the convention and applied for protection, but they refused to act in the matter, and passed to the order of the day. Whether this affair was the device of the Whig party, as has been supposed, to get quit of two individuals particularly obnoxious to them, there are no means of ascertaining; but when the circumstances of the times, and the opinions then held by many of the people are considered, the design of assassinating them is far from improbable.[553]
But be this as it may, Dundee resolved to remain as short as possible in a place where he might be every moment exposed to the dagger of the assassin; and, accordingly, he and his friends fixed on Monday the 18th of March for their departure for Stirling. With the exception of Dundee, they all assembled at the appointed place of rendezvous in the city at the hour which had been fixed; but as the Marquis of Athole, who had promised to accompany them and to protect them on their arrival at Stirling with a body of his vassals, wished them to postpone their departure till the following day; they consented to remain, and were in the act of dispersing and proceeding to the convention when Dundee made his appearance. Such an unexpected resolution greatly surprised him, but he told Balcarras, that whatever were the views of his friends, he would not remain another day in Edinburgh. Balcarras remonstrated with him, and represented, that his departure would give the alarm to their enemies, who would not fail to take advantage of the discovery; but he replied, that as he had a select body of between forty and fifty troopers ready mounted and prepared to start, he would not remain any longer within the city, but would clear the walls with his party and wait without for such friends as might choose to join him. Dundee accordingly left the city at the head of his troopers, to go, as he is said to have emphatically replied to a friend who put the question to him, wherever the spirit of Montrose should direct. After passing the Nether Bow port, he turned to the left down Leith Wynd, and after clearing the suburbs of the Calton, he faced to the west, and proceeded along the line of road known at the time by the name of the Lang-gate, and which now forms the splendid terrace of Princes’ street. On arriving opposite the castle, Dundee ordered his men to halt, and alighting from his horse, he clambered up the steep precipice on the west side of that fortress, and from the bottom of the wall held a conference with the Duke of Gordon, who stood in an adjoining postern gate immediately above. No account has been preserved of the nature of the conversation which passed between these two devoted adherents of the king, but it is understood that the viscount entreated the duke to hold out the castle as long as he could, and that he would endeavour to raise the siege as soon as he had collected sufficient forces.[554]
The convention despatched a Major Bunting with a party of horse in pursuit, but although he overtook Dundee, he had not the courage to attack him, alarmed by a threat with which, it is said, Dundee menaced him, that he would send him (Bunting) back to the convention, in a pair of blankets, did he dare to molest him.[555] Dundee crossed Stirling bridge the second day of his departure, and proceeded to his residence of Dudhope, near Dundee, to ruminate over the events which had just passed, and to concoct his plans, under the new and extraordinary circumstances in which he was placed, for the restoration of James.