Two days thereafter the earl published a high-flown declaration, in which he summons, “in his Majesty’s name and authority,” and “by the King’s special order to me thereunto,” all faithful and loving subjects to raise their fencible men with their best arms, and to join him at the Inver of Mar on the following Monday, “in order to proceed in our march to attend the king’s standard with his other forces. The king intending that his forces shall be paid from the time of their first setting out, he expects, as he positively orders, that they behave themselves civilly, and commit no plundering or other disorders, upon the highest penalties, and his displeasure, which is expected you’l see observed.”
As a contrast to this high-flown and liberty-sounding document, the following singular letter, written by the earl to his baillie in the lordship of Kildrummy, on the evening of the day on which the above declaration was issued, is curious. It exhibits, in a remarkable point of view, the despotic power which, even down to such a modern period, a feudal or rather a Highland chief considered himself entitled to exercise with impunity over his vassals. Had such an order been issued by a baron, who had scarcely ever gone beyond the boundaries of his own demesnes, it might have been passed over without remark, as in perfect keeping with the ideas of a feudal despot; but to see the refined courtier threatening his own vassals and tenants with destruction, and even extermination, merely because they hesitated to take up arms in opposition to the government under which they lived, and under which the earl himself had served, is indeed very extraordinary:—
“Invercauld, Sept. 9, at night, 1715.
“Jocke,—Ye was in the right not to come with the hundred men ye sent up to-night, when I expected four times the number. It is a pretty thing, when all the Highlands of Scotland are now rising upon their king and country’s account, as I have accounts from them since they were with me, and the gentlemen of our neighbouring lowlands expecting us down to join them, that my men should be only refractory. Is not this the thing we are now about, which they have been wishing these twenty-six years? And now, when it is come, and the king and country’s cause is at stake, will they for ever sit still and see all perish? I have used gentle means too long, and so I shall be forced to put other orders I have in execution. I have sent you enclosed an order for the lordship of Kildrummy, which you are immediately to intimate to all my vassals: if they give ready obedience, it will make some amends, and if not ye may tell them from me, that it will not be in my power to save them (were I willing) from being treated as enemies, by those who are ready soon to join me; and they may depend on it, that I will be the first to propose, and order their being so. Particularly, let my own tenants in Kildrummy know, that if they come not forth with their best arms, that I will send a party immediately to burn what they shall miss taking from them. And they may believe this not only a threat, but, by all that’s sacred, I’ll put it in execution, let my loss be what it will, that it may be an example to others. You are to tell the gentlemen that I’ll expect them in their best accoutrements, on horseback, and no excuse to be accepted of. Go about this with all diligence, and come yourself and let me know your having done so. All this is not only as ye will be answerable to me, but to your king and country.
“Your assured friend and servant,
“MAR.”
“To John Forbes of Inverau,
Bailie of Kildrummy.”
While the Jacobite chiefs were collecting their forces, an event occurred which ought to have induced them to abandon, at least for a time, an enterprise signalized by such an untoward beginning. This was the death of Louis XIV., who expired on the 1st of September, after a short illness. An occurrence more unfortunate to the cause of the Chevalier could scarcely have happened at such a conjuncture, as it tended to damp the spirits of his partisans, who looked upon Louis as the main prop of the cause. On receipt of this intelligence, the chiefs held a meeting to consult upon the course they ought to pursue under this new aspect of matters. Some of the more moderate were for returning home, and remaining quiet till the arrival of the Chevalier, should he receive any encouragement from the new government of France to proceed on his intended voyage; but the majority argued that they had already gone too far to recede with safety, and that as a general insurrection would take place in England in favour of the Chevalier, they should take the field forthwith. An immediate appeal to arms having been resolved upon, messengers were despatched to France to urge the Chevalier to hasten his departure, and the following notable manifesto, which had been privately printed at Edinburgh by Freebairn, one of the king’s printers, was issued at the same time:—
“Manifesto by the Noblemen, Gentlemen, and others, who dutifully appear at this time in asserting the undoubted rights of their lawful sovereign, James the Eighth, by the grace of God, king of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c.; and for relieving this, his ancient kingdom, from the oppressions and grievances it lies under.
“His majesty’s right of blood to the crowns of these realms is undoubted, and has never been disputed or arraigned by the least circumstance or lawful authority. By the laws of God, by the ancient constitutions, and by the positive unrepealed laws of the land, we are bound to pay his majesty the duty of loyal subjects. Nothing can absolve us from this our duty of subjection and obedience. The laws of God require our allegiance to our rightful king—the laws of the land secure our religion and other interests; and his majesty giving up himself to the support of his Protestant subjects, puts the means of securing to us our concerns, religious and civil, in our own hands. Our fundamental constitution has been entirely altered and sunk amidst the various shocks of unstable faction, while, in searching out new expedients pretended for our security, it has produced nothing but daily disappointments, and has brought us and our posterity under a precarious dependence upon foreign councils and interests, and the power of foreign troops. The late unhappy union which was brought about by the mistaken notions of some, and the ruinous and selfish designs of others, has proved so far from lessening and healing the differences betwixt his majesty’s subjects of Scotland and England, that it has widened and increased them. And it appears by experience so inconsistent with the rights, privileges, and interests of us, and our good neighbours and fellow-subjects of England, that the continuance of it must inevitably ruin us, and hurt them; nor can any way be found out to relieve us, and restore our ancient and independent constitution, but by the restoring our rightful and natural king, who has the only undoubted right to reign over us. Neither can we hope that the party who chiefly contributed to bring us into bondage, will at any time endeavour to work our relief, since it is known how strenuously they opposed, in two late instances, the efforts that were made by all Scotsmen by themselves, and supported by the best and wisest of the English, towards so desirable an end, as they will not adventure openly to disown the dissolution of the union to be. Our substance has been wasted in the late ruinous wars, and we see an unavoidable prospect of having wars continued on us and our posterity so long as the possession of the crown is not in the right line. The hereditary rights of the subjects, though confirmed by conventions and parliaments, are now treated as of no value or force, and past services to the crown and royal family are now looked upon as grounds of suspicion. A packed up assembly, who call themselves a British parliament, have, so far as in them lies, inhumanely murdered their own and our sovereign, by promising a good sum of money as the reward of so execrable a crime. They have proscribed, by unaccountable and groundless impeachments and attainders, the worthy patriots of England, for their honourable and successful endeavours to restore trade, plenty, and peace to these nations.
“They have broken in upon the sacred laws of both countries by which the liberty of our persons was secured, and they have empowered a foreign prince, (who, notwithstanding his expectations of the crown for fifteen years, is still unacquainted with our manners, customs, and language,) to make an absolute conquest (if not timely prevented) of the three kingdoms, by investing himself with an unlimited power, not only of raising unnecessary forces at home, but also of calling in foreign troops, ready to promote his uncontrollable designs. Nor can we be ever hopeful of its being otherwise, in the way it is at present, for some generations to come. And the sad consequences of these unexampled proceedings have really been so fatal to great numbers of our kinsmen, friends, and fellow-subjects of both kingdoms, that they have been constrained to abandon their country, houses, wives and children, to give themselves up prisoners, and perhaps victims, to be sacrificed to the pleasure of foreigners, and a few hot-headed men of a restless faction, whom they employ. Our troops abroad, notwithstanding their long and remarkable good services, have been treated, since the peace, with neglect and contempt, and particularly in Holland; and it is not now the officers’ long service, merit, and blood they have lost, but money and favour by which they can obtain justice in their preferments. So that it is evident the safety of his majesty’s person, and independency of his kingdoms, call loudly for immediate relief and defence.