“An indemnity having been granted to those who had left the country with the exiled court, on condition of their returning within a time limited, and taking the oaths, it was observed with alarm, that many persons were taking advantage of this opportunity to return, who were among the most formidable of the Jacobite leaders, and who could not be supposed to be sincerely disposed to support the Protestant line of succession. Among these ominous apparitions were Lovat himself, the two Murrays, Sir John Maclean, Robertson of Struan the poet chieftain,—‘a little black man, about thirty years old,’ as he was described by those who kept their eyes on him; and David Lindsay, secretary to the Pretender’s prime minister, Middleton. The fiery Lord Belhaven had just paid a visit to France. He was an opponent of English ascendency, and a cadet of the house of Hamilton; and his mission could, of course, have no other object but to offer the allegiance of that house to the young prince. Political intriguers, such as the renowned Ferguson, looked busy and mysterious. Mrs. Fox, whose name was connected with the plot for which Sir John Fenwick suffered, had ventured over to Britain, under a feigned name; and sundry young men of good birth, whose avowed mission to France had been to study medicine, had, either in vanity or carelessness, allowed it to transpire that they had been at the court of St. Germains, and had seen those royal personages who created so dangerous an interest throughout the country. The general movement of these parties was northwards, and was accompanied by incidents such as those which happened to Lovat. Captain Hamilton, an officer stationed at Inverness, wrote to Brigadier-general Maitland, governor of Fortwilliam, on the 23d of July, that a great hunting match had been planned for the 2d of the month, at which many of the Highland chiefs were to assemble their vassals.
“‘The Duke of Hamilton is to be there, the Marquis of Athol: and our neighbour the Laird of Grant, who has ordered 600 of his men in arms, in good order, with tartane coats, all of one colour and fashion. This is his order to his people in Strathspey. If it be a match of hunting only, I know not, but I think it my duty to acquaint you, whatever may fall out of any such body of men in arms, particularly in our northern parts.’
“It will be remembered that this was exactly the form in which the Earl of Mar raised the standard of rebellion at Braemar, in 1715; and we appear to owe the suggestion to the inventive genius of Lovat. At the same time, the British ambassador at the Hague received some mysterious intimations about large sums forwarded in gold, through a Dutch commercial house, to persons of importance in Scotland.”[661]
Lovat had the address before leaving France, by imposing upon Louis, to whom he was introduced by the pope’s nuncio, to obtain from the widow of King James, acting as regent for her son, a commission of Major-general, with power to raise and command forces in his behalf. As the court of St. Germains had some suspicion of Fraser’s integrity, Captain John Murray, brother of Mr. Murray of Abercairney, and Captain James Murray, brother of Sir David Murray of Stanhope, were sent over to Scotland, under the protection of Queen Anne’s indemnity, as a check upon him, and to sound the dispositions of the people.
On arriving in Scotland, he set off for the Highlands, introduced himself into the society of the adherents of the exiled family, and, by producing his commission of major-general, induced some of them to give him assurances that they would rise in arms when required, though they regretted that such a character should have been intrusted with so important a command. Others, however, apprehensive of his real designs, refused to hold any intercourse with him on the subject of his mission.
On Lovat’s return to Edinburgh, late in September, he contrived to obtain an interview with the Duke of Queensberry, High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland, and revealed to him the whole affair, drawing considerably on his own fertile fancy for startling facts. He also produced a letter, purporting to be from the ex-queen, signed with the initial M., addressed to the Duke of Athole. Its words were, “You may be sure that when my concerns require the help of my friends, you are one of the first I have in my view. I am satisfied you will not be wanting for any thing that may be in your power according to your promise, and you may be assured of all such returns as you can expect from me and mine. The bearer, who is known to you, will tell you more of my friendship to you, and how I rely on yours for me, and those I am concerned for.” Queensberry was delighted with this apparent discovery, and immediately sent the letter unopened to the queen. Lovat, however, by his plotting had made the country too hot to hold him, and a day or two after his letter had been sent to the queen, letters of fire and sword were issued against him, so that he now set himself to get safely back to France. He managed to obtain from Queensberry a pass to London, to which place the duke himself was bound, and after a few more secret interviews in London, with another pass which he contrived to obtain, he safely quitted England about the middle of October.[662]
When this so-called conspiracy became publicly known it excited considerable sensation, and the House of Lords immediately resolved that a committee should be appointed to inquire into the matter; but the queen, who was already well acquainted with the circumstances, sent them a message, intimating, that as the affair was already under investigation, she was desirous that the house should not interfere, and she promised in a short time to inform them of the result. Accordingly, on the 17th of December, she went to the House of Peers, and made a speech to both houses, informing them that she had complete evidence of evil practices and designs against her government, carried on by the emissaries of France in Scotland. The peers, however, proceeded in the inquiry, and after considerable investigation they agreed to the following resolution, “that there had been a dangerous conspiracy in Scotland toward the invading that kingdom with a French power, in order to subvert her majesty’s government, and the bringing in the pretended Prince of Wales; that it was their opinion nothing had given so much encouragement to these designs as the succession of the crown of Scotland not being declared in favour of the Princess Sophia and her heirs; that the queen should be addressed to use such methods as she thought convenient, for having the succession of the crown of that kingdom settled after that manner; and that being once done, then they would do all in their power to promote an entire union of the two kingdoms.” Mr. Lockhart asserts that the lords thus interfered at the instance of the Duke of Queensberry, as he knew that the Whigs would bring him off, and although they were so clear as to the existence of a plot, he maintains that “it was all trick and villany.” Meanwhile Fraser, for his imposition upon the French king, was committed a prisoner to the Bastile, in which he remained several years.[663]
It was discovered that the address on the letter from the ex-queen was forged by Lovat himself, she having addressed it to no one, although it is supposed to have been meant for the Duke of Gordon. Lovat had also to implicate the Duke of Hamilton, and as he regarded both these noblemen as “impostors” and enemies of the exiled family, he considered that his conduct, in thus attempting to ruin them, “far from being a real crime, ought to be regarded as a good and essential service to the king (James III.), and the sincere, political, and ingenious fruit of his zeal, for his project, and the interests of his sovereign.”[664] Such is a specimen of the morality of this extraordinary personage, who, in his correspondence with the revolution party, always pretended to be a friend to the revolution settlement.
According to Lockhart, the Duke of Queensberry was at the bottom of this sham plot, but he appears really to have been entirely innocent, and to have acted all along for what he thought the best interests of the government. “He was, to use a common but clear expression, made a fool of.”[665] Although he had managed to clear himself of all blame, still as the affair had rendered him very unpopular in Scotland, he was dismissed from his situation as one of the Scottish secretaries of state, and the Marquis of Tweeddale was appointed to succeed him as lord high-commissioner to the Scottish parliament, which met on the 6th of July, 1704.[666]
From the temper displayed in the Scottish parliament, it was obvious that without entering into a treaty with Scotland, it would be utterly impossible for the English ministry to carry the question of the succession in Scotland. To accomplish this the English parliament authorised the queen to nominate commissioners to treat with commissioners from Scotland; but the conduct of the parliament was by no means calculated to allay the jealousy entertained by the Scotch, of the interference of England in imposing a foreign sovereign upon them. Instead of simply empowering the queen to appoint commissioners, the English parliament, instigated by the Scottish ministry, directed the Scottish parliament in the choice of its commissioners, and they even prohibited their own commissioners to meet and treat with those of Scotland unless the parliament of Scotland allowed the queen to name these commissioners herself. Moreover all Scotsmen not settled in England, or in its service, were declared aliens, until the succession to the crown of Scotland should be settled on the Princess Sophia and her Protestant heirs. Several prohibitory clauses against the trade of Scotland were also inserted in the act, which were to take effect about eight months thereafter if the Scottish parliament did not, before the appointed time, yield to the instructions of that of England.