Dunkeld in the 17th century.—From Slezer’s Theatrum Scotiæ.
During three hours an incessant firing was kept up on both sides, which might have continued for several hours longer without producing any definite result, unless, indeed, the ammunition of either party had become exhausted. Probably from the dread of such a contingency, which would have been fatal to the Cameronians, Captain Munro, to whom, on the death of Cleland, the command had fallen, resolved to attempt to dislodge the Highlanders from the houses by setting the town on fire. He accordingly sent into the town several small parties of pikemen with burning faggots upon the points of their pikes to set fire to the houses in which the Highlanders were posted. This order was executed with such promptitude, that in a short time the whole town was in a conflagration. The scene which the town now presented was one of the most heart-rending description. The din of war was indeed no longer heard, but a more terrific sound had succeeded, from the wild shrieks of despair which issued from the dense mass of smoke and flame which enveloped the unfortunate sufferers. To add to the calamity, the pikemen had coolly locked the doors of such of the houses as had keys standing in them, and the unhappy intruders being thus cut off from escape, perished in the flames. No less than 16 Highlanders were, in consequence, burnt to death in one house. With the exception of three houses, possessed by the Cameronians, the whole of the town was consumed.
The Highlanders finding their ammunition all spent,[615] and seeing that they could no longer maintain their position among the ruins of the town, began to retire to the hills about eleven o’clock, after having sustained a loss of about 300 men. The Cameronians, whose loss was trifling, on seeing the Highlanders depart, set up a loud shout, threw up their caps, beat their drums, and waved their colours in token of triumph, demonstrations which must have been exceedingly galling to the feelings of the Highlanders, who only four hours before had assured themselves of an easy conquest. It is stated in the Cameronian account of the battle, that an attempt was made by Cannon to induce the Highlanders to renew the attack, but they declined, for this reason, that although still ready to fight with men, they would not again encounter devils.[616] To show their gratitude to God for “so miraculous a victory,” the Cameronians spent a considerable part of the afternoon in singing psalms of praise and thanksgiving.
The Highlanders were greatly discouraged by the repulse which they sustained at Dunkeld, and they attributed the misfortune to the incapacity of Cannon, in whom they consequently lost all confidence. Perceiving that they could no longer keep the field with any probability of success under such a commander, they retired to Blair, and after entering into a bond of association to support the cause of King James, and for mutual protection, they departed for their homes, leaving Cannon and his Irish troops and the few lowland gentlemen to shift for themselves. Cannon went to Mull, and resided with the chief of Maclean.[617]
In the meantime Mackay left Aberdeen for the purpose of joining Lanier, leaving behind him Sir Thomas Livingston, with his regiment and nine troops of cavalry, to keep the adjoining northern counties in awe. At Brechin he learnt that Lanier had received an order from the privy council to march into Athole, in consequence of which information he joined him at Perth on the 26th of August. He thereafter left Perth, with the greater part of the forces which he found there assembled, and took the route to Blair. It was clearly the interest of James’s party to have burned the castle of Blair, so as to prevent Mackay from placing a garrison in it to overawe the neighbouring country; but if such was the intention of the Highlanders, they were deterred from putting it in execution by a message from Mackay, who threatened, in the event of the castle being burnt, to raze every house in Athole to the ground, and to burn and destroy all the corn in that district. Mackay remained ten days at the castle of Blair, during which time many of the Athole people took advantage of an indemnity which he offered them, and delivered up their arms. Having placed a garrison of 500 men in the castle, and given orders to raise a pallisade and breast-work round it, he was forced to return to Perth in consequence of continual rains, which made him also forego a resolution he had entertained of marching to the head of Loch Tay, and placing a garrison in the castle of Finlarig, belonging to the Earl of Breadalbane, who, according to him, was “one of the chiefest and cunningest fomenters of the trouble of that kingdom (Scotland), not for love of King James, but to make himself necessary to the government.”[618] The subsequent conduct of this nobleman fully corroborated this opinion. After the rains had subsided, a detachment of 200 men under Lord Cardross, took possession of Finlarig castle, notwithstanding that the proprietor had, shortly before, taken the oaths to the government, and found bail for his allegiance.
While the death of Dundee seemed to give stability to the government in Scotland on the one hand, its safety appeared to be endangered on the other, by the jealousies and dissensions which agitated the parliament. Among the persons who had been instrumental in bringing about the revolution, there were some extreme Presbyterians, who, seeing that their expectations were not to be realized, and that all the offices of trust were monopolized by a few favourites about court, became factious and impatient, and were ready to seize the first opportunity that offered of overturning the government. Sir James Montgomery was at the head of this disaffected party, which, during the ensuing winter, held several private meetings. The result was, that a most extraordinary and unnatural coalition took place between the Jacobites and the discontented Presbyterians for the restoration of King James. By uniting their votes in parliament they expected to embarrass the government, and make it odious to the people, and thereby pave the way for the return of the exiled monarch; but their designs were disconcerted by a discovery of the plot.
Mackay had now grown heartily tired of the service, and as his plans for the subjugation of the Highlands had been treated with indifference or neglect by the government, he became desirous to resign his commission, and retire to Holland, his adopted country, there to spend the remainder of his days in peace. There was certainly nothing in the situation of his native country at the period in question to induce him to remain. An unpaid, disorderly, and mutinous army; an oppressed people, a discontented nobility, a divided parliament and council; “church divided into two more irreconcileable factions, though both calling themselves Protestants, than Rome and Geneva,” matters deemed of so little importance by the first reformers as scarcely to be mentioned in their writings, preferred by the “religious zealots” of those days to the well-being of the whole Protestant church, the Episcopal ministers who had been ejected preaching “King James more than Christ, as they had been accustomed to take passive obedience more than the gospel for their text:”—these considerations all tended to disgust a man of a moderate and conciliating disposition like Mackay, and made him “look upon Scotsmen of those times in general, as void of zeal for their religion and natural affection, seeing all men hunt after their particular advantages, and none minding sincerely and self-deniedly the common good, which gave him a real distaste of the country and service; resolving from that time forward to disengage himself out of it as soon as possible he could get it done, and that the service could allow of.”[619] Mackay, however, failed in obtaining even a temporary leave of absence during the winter, by the intrigues of Lord Melville and Viscount Tarbet, who, as he says, suspecting an interview with William, who was then in Holland, to be the object of his proposed visit thither, were afraid that he would induce William to adopt a system different from that hitherto followed in the management of Scottish affairs.
Mackay finding that he would not succeed in his application for leave of absence, began to apply himself with great perseverance to accomplish his long-desired project of erecting a fort at Inverlochy, capable of containing 1,000 or 1,200 men, to keep the western Highlanders in check. In a communication which he made to King William on the subject, he requested to be supplied with three frigates of about 30 guns each, 10 or 12 ships of burden, and 3 or 4 dozen of large boats, 3,000 muskets, 400 chevaux de frise, and 2,000 spades, shovels, and pickaxes, with money sufficient to purchase two months’ provisions for 3,000 or 4,000 men. On receiving these supplies he proposed to march with this force through Argyle about the end of March, as far as Dunstaffnage, where he meant to embark his men in the ships, and thence proceed to Inverlochy, and land them under the protection of the guns of the ships of war. No notice, however, was taken of this proposal either by William or his ministers, notwithstanding that its importance was urged in repeated letters from Mackay, who, in consequence, grew quite impatient, and threatened to throw up his commission. At length the privy council having, at his request, written a letter to the king on the subject, he ordered the frigates to be sent down, with some arms and ammunition, and implements for commencing the work; but the required supply of money was not forthcoming, without which the expedition could not be undertaken. Anxious, however, to get the fort erected with as little delay as possible, Mackay offered to the privy council to proceed to Inverlochy with a select detachment of 600 men, provided they would give him provisions for three months; but although a sum of five or six hundred pounds would have almost sufficed for this purpose, the council pleaded the impossibility of raising the money.[620] In this emergency he applied to the city of Glasgow, the magistrates of which undertook to hire vessels for transporting the detachment, and to furnish him with the necessary provisions, and such articles as he might require for completing the fort, in addition to those sent down from England.[621] Major Ferguson, who was appointed to command this expedition, repaired to Glasgow; but he was detained there about five weeks waiting for the provisions. The news, however, of such an armament being in preparation, and a report purposely circulated by Mackay, that it was much larger than it actually was, having reached the Highlands, had the effect of preventing many of the Islanders and the inhabitants of the adjoining mainland from joining Major-general Buchan, who took the field in April 1690.
Before the arrival of this officer, the Highlanders had resolved to place themselves under the command of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, having, in consequence of their defeat at Dunkeld, lost confidence in Cannon as a commander. After that disaster, Lochiel and the other Jacobite chiefs had represented to James the precarious state of his affairs in Scotland, and the necessity there was for sending them aid; but James was too much occupied with preparations for resisting a threatened invasion of Ireland, by his son-in-law, to attend much to his Scottish concerns. He, however, sent over a vessel with some clothes, arms, ammunition, and provisions, and a few Irish officers, among whom was Major-general Buchan, with a commission, as commander-in-chief of all the Jacobite forces in Scotland.