Of John Erskine, the 11th Earl of Mar, the chief leader in the ensuing insurrection, it may be proper to say a few words. Following the footsteps of his father, who joined the revolution party, merely because he considered it his interest so to do, the young earl, on entering into public life, attached himself to the party then in power, at the head of which was the Duke of Queensberry, the leader of the Scottish Whigs. He took the oaths and his seat in parliament in September, 1696, was sworn in a privy councillor the following year, and was afterwards appointed to the command of a regiment of foot, and invested with the order of the Thistle. In 1704, when the Whigs were superseded by the country party, the earl, pursuant to the line of conduct he intended to follow, of making his politics subservient to his interest, immediately paid court to the new administration, by placing himself at the head of such of the Duke of Queensberry’s friends as opposed the Marquis of Tweeddale and his party. In this situation he showed so much dexterity, and managed his opposition with so much art and address, that he was considered by the Tories as a man of probity, and well inclined to the exiled family. Afterwards, when the Whig party came again into power, he gave them his support, and became very zealous in promoting all the measures of the court, particularly the treaty of union, for which he presented the draught of an act in parliament, in 1705. To reward his exertions, he was, after the prorogation of the parliament, appointed secretary of state for Scotland, instead of the Marquis of Annandale, who was displaced, because he was suspected of holding a correspondence with the “Squadron,” who were inclined to support the succession to the crown without, rather than with the proposed union. His lordship was chosen one of the sixteen representative peers in 1707, and re-elected at the general election the following year, and in 1710 and 1713. By the share he had taken in bringing about the union, Mar had rendered himself very unpopular in Scotland; but he endeavoured to regain the favour of his countrymen, by attending a deputation of Scottish members, consisting of the Duke of Argyle, himself, Cockburn younger of Ormiston, and Lockhart of Carnwath, who waited on Queen Anne in 1712, to inform her of their resolution to move for a repeal of the union with England. When the Earl of Findlater brought forward a motion for repeal in the House of Lords, Mar spoke strongly in favour of it, and pressed the dissolution of the union as the only means to preserve the peace of the island.[681] He was made a privy-councillor in 1708, and on the death of the Duke of Queensberry in 1713, the earl was again appointed secretary of state for Scotland, and thus, for the second time, enlisted himself under the banners of Toryism; but an end was put to his political tergiversation by his abrupt and unceremonious dismissal from office by George I., and he vowed revenge.
Though not possessed of shining talents, he made ample amends for their deficiencies by artifice and an insinuating and courteous deportment, and managed his designs with such prudence and circumspection as to render it extremely difficult to ascertain his object when he desired concealment; by which conduct “he showed himself,” in the opinion of a contemporary, “to be a man of good sense, but bad morals.”[682] The versatility of his politics was perhaps owing rather to the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed than to any innate viciousness of disposition. He was a Jacobite from principle, but as the fortunes of his house had been greatly impaired in the civil war by its attachment to the Stuarts, and as, upon his entrance into public life, he found the cause of the exiled family at a low ebb, he sought to retrieve the losses which his ancestors had sustained; while, at the same time, he gratified his ambition, by aspiring to power, which he could only hope to acquire by attaching himself to the existing government. The loss of a place of £5,000 a-year, without any chance of ever again enjoying the sweets of office, was gall and wormwood to such a man. This disappointment, and the studied insult he had received from the king, operating upon a selfish and ambitious spirit, drove him into open rebellion, with no other view than the gratification of his revenge. But whatever were his qualifications in the cabinet, he was without military experience, and consequently unfit to command an army, as the result showed.
On the eve of Mar’s departure from England to place himself at the head of the intended insurrection in Scotland, he resolved to show himself at court; and, accordingly, he appeared in the presence of King George on the 1st of August, with all the complaisance of a courtier, and with that affability of demeanour for which he was so distinguished. What his motives were for thus needlessly laying himself open to the charge of studied duplicity by confronting a sovereign whose throne he was about to attempt to overturn, it is difficult to conjecture. Was it to solace his offended pride, or to show the world the hardihood of his determination to unfurl the standard of revolt, that he had the cool daring, in presence of the nobles of the land, to look in the face the man against whom he had inwardly vowed to wage war? Or was his object, in thus appearing as if no treasonable design could be in his contemplation, intended as a feint to deceive the court and lull suspicion, so as to enable him the more effectually to conceal the preparations he had made for his intended departure? All of these questions might be fairly answered in the affirmative, as being in perfect conformity with the earl’s character.
Having disguised himself by changing his usual dress, he embarked at Gravesend on the 2d of August, 1715, on board a vessel bound for Newcastle, accompanied by Major-general Hamilton and Colonel Hay, and attended by two servants. On arriving at Newcastle he and his party went on board another vessel bound for the Frith of Forth, the property of one Spence, and were landed at Elie, a small port on the Fife coast, near the mouth of the Frith. During the great civil war, and for many years thereafter, a landing in Fife in support of the Stuarts would have been a dangerous attempt, but the opinions of many of the Fife people had, of late, undergone a complete revolution; and, at the time in question, Fife had, as the Jacobites would have said, many “honest” men, or in other words, persons who were warmly attached to the interests of the exiled family. From Elie, Mar proceeded to Crail, where he was met by Sir Alexander Erskine, the Lord Lyon, and other friends of the Jacobite interest, who accompanied him to the house of “the Honest Laird,” a name by which John Bethune of Balfour, a stanch Jacobite, was commonly known. After remaining a few days in Fife, Mar paid a visit to his brother-in-law, the Earl of Kinnoul, at his seat of Dupplin in the county of Perth, whence he departed on Thursday the 18th of August, and crossed the Tay about two miles below Perth, with 40 horse, on his way to his seat of Kildrummy, in the Braes of Mar. On the following day he despatched letters to the principal Jacobites, inviting them to attend a grand hunting-match at Braemar, on the 27th of August. As the government was on the alert, and watched very narrowly any unusual assemblages, the Jacobites had frequently before had recourse to this and similar expedients to enable them to concert their measures without exciting the suspicion of the government.[683]
That the earl had matured his plans before coming to Scotland, and that the Jacobites were let into the secret of his designs, is evident from the fact that, as early as the 6th of August, those in Edinburgh and the neighbourhood were aware of his intention to come down to Scotland. On the following morning the Honourable John Dalzel, a captain on half pay, sent in a resignation of his commission, that he might join with greater freedom the standard of the earl.
Under pretence of attending the hunting-match, a considerable number of noblemen and gentlemen arrived at Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire, about the time appointed. Among these were the Marquis of Huntly, eldest son of the Duke of Gordon; the Marquis of Tullibardine, eldest son of the Duke of Athole; the Earls of Nithsdale, Marischal, Traquair, Errol, Southesk, Carnwath, Seaforth, Linlithgow, and others; the Viscounts Kilsyth, Kenmure, Kingston, and Stormont; Lords Rollo, Duffus, Drummond, Strathallan, Ogilvie, and Nairne; and about twenty-six gentlemen of influence in the Highlands, among whom were Generals Hamilton and Gordon, Glengary, Campbell of Glendaruel, and the lairds of Auchterhouse and Auldbar.[684]
After the meeting had assembled, the earl proceeded to address his friends in a regular and well-ordered speech. He began by expressing his sorrow for having been instrumental in forwarding the union of the two kingdoms. He informed them that his eyes were now opened, and that he clearly perceived the error he had committed; that he would therefore do every thing in his power to make his countrymen again a free people, and restore to them their ancient liberties which had been surrendered into the hands of the English by the accursed treaty of union. That this treaty, which had already done so much injury to Scotland, was calculated to inflict additional grievances upon it, and that such were the designs of the English appeared evident by the measures which had been daily pursued ever since the Elector of Hanover had ascended the throne. That this prince regarded neither the welfare of his people, nor their religion; but had committed the charge of both entirely to a set of men who, while they stuck to the Protestant succession, made such alterations in church and state as they thought fit. That they had already begun to encroach upon the liberties of both, on which account he had resolved to vindicate their rights by placing the lawful sovereign, James VIII., who had promised to hear their grievances and redress their wrongs, upon the throne of his ancestors. He then informed them of his determination to take up arms in behalf of his lawful king: that he would summon all the fencible men among his own tenantry, and with them hazard his life in the cause; and he exhorted all those assembled to follow his example. To encourage them to do so, he assured them that there would be a general rising in England in support of the cause; that they would receive powerful assistance from France, whither the Duke of Ormond and Lord Bolingbroke had gone to induce Louis XIV. to aid and assist them with men and money; and that the Duke of Berwick would certainly land in the West of England with a large force. That there were thousands of persons throughout the kingdom who had solemnly pledged themselves to him, and to one another, to join him in deposing King George, and establishing James VIII. on the throne. He then informed them that he had received letters (which he exhibited) under the hand of James himself, from Lorraine, promising to come over to Scotland and place his person under the protection of the valour and fidelity of his Scottish subjects; and that, in the meantime, ships, provided with arms, ammunition, and other military stores, would be sent over from France as soon as a landing port should be fixed upon. He thereupon produced, or stated that he had in his possession, a commission from James, appointing him his Lieutenant-general, and commander of all the Jacobite forces in Scotland, and informed the meeting that he was furnished with money, and that an arrangement had been made by which he would be enabled to pay regularly the troops that should be raised, so that no gentleman who might join his standard, with his followers, would be put to any expense, and the country would be quite relieved from the burden of supporting the war. After the earl had finished his harangue, the meeting unanimously resolved to take up arms in support of the Chevalier; and after taking an oath of fidelity to the earl as the representative of James VIII. and to each other, the persons present took leave of him, and promised to return immediately to their estates and raise their men, and to hold themselves in readiness to join the earl on the first summons. To enlist the feelings of the people in favour of the prince, copies of his manifesto, of which each individual who attended the meeting obtained a supply from the earl, were industriously circulated throughout the country, and dropt in the streets of the different towns in Scotland during night.
The government was not inattentive to the proceedings of the Jacobites, and measures were adopted immediately by the Lord Advocate for securing the chiefs. Under the authority of an act passed on the 30th of August, a large number of noblemen and gentlemen, of whom a great proportion belonged to the Highlands, were summoned by him to appear at Edinburgh within certain specified periods, under the pain of a year’s imprisonment and other penalties, to give bail for their allegiance to the government. Among them was Rob Roy. The time allowed for the appearance of such as resided to the south of the river Tay, was seven days, to those on the north, fifteen, and to such as might be out of Scotland, sixty days after the day of citation. Very few of them however appeared, and the remainder, almost without exception, rushed at once into the insurrection.
The confederated chiefs had scarcely all of them reached their respective homes, when they were again summoned by Mar to meet him at Aboyne, on the 3d of September, to concert measures for appearing immediately in arms. Some of those who resided only a short distance from the appointed rendezvous, attended, and having received instructions to assemble their men, and to join him without delay, at Kirkmichael, a village in Braemar, they returned to their estates, and sent round the fiery cross to summon their followers to the field. With 60 followers only, Mar proclaimed the Chevalier at Castletown in Braemar, after which he proceeded to Kirkmichael, where on the 6th of September he raised his standard, which was consecrated by prayer, in presence, according to some accounts, of a force of 2,000 men, mostly consisting of horse.[685] When the standard was in the course of being erected, the ball on the top of the pole fell off, an incident which was regarded by the superstitious Highlanders as a bad omen, and which threw a damp over the proceedings of the day.
On the following day, Mar intimated by a circular letter to the gentlemen of Perthshire, his appointment to the chief command of all King James’s forces in Scotland, and he required them to hold themselves in readiness to join him with their vassals when called upon. He also directed them to secure the arms of such persons as were hostile to the cause of King James, and desired they would prevent their men from plundering, or living at free quarters, upon his Majesty’s subjects. “The King,” he observes, “makes no doubt of your zeal for his service, especially at this juncture when his cause is so deeply concerned, and the relieving of our native country from oppression and a foreign yoke, too heavy for us and our posterity to bear, and when now is the time to endeavour the restoring, not only our rightful and native king, but also our country to its ancient, free, and independent constitution under him, whose ancestors have reigned over us for so many generations.”