No sooner, however, had the clans left Inverary, than a detachment of the Earl of Breadalbane’s men, to the number of about 500, entered the county under the command of Campbell of Glenlyon. To expel them, the Earl of Islay sent a select body of about 700 men, in the direction of Lorn, under the command of Colonel Campbell of Fanab, an old and experienced officer, who came up with Glenlyon’s detachment at Glenscheluch, a small village at the end of the lake called Lochnell, in the mid division of Lorn, about 20 miles distant from Inverary. Both sides immediately prepared for battle, and to lighten themselves as much as possible, the men threw off their plaids and other incumbrances. Whilst both parties were standing gazing on each other with fury in their looks, waiting for the signal to commence battle, a parley was proposed, in consequence of which, a conference was held by the commanders half-way between the lines. The result was, that the Breadalbane-men, to spare the effusion of the Campbell blood, agreed to lay down their arms on condition of being allowed to march out of the country without disturbance. These terms being communicated to both detachments, were approved of by a loud shout of joy, and hostages were immediately exchanged on both sides for the due performance of the articles. The Earl of Islay, on coming up with the remainder of his forces, was dissatisfied with the terms of the capitulation, as he considered that he had it in his power to cut off Glenlyon’s party; but he was persuaded to accede to the articles, which were accordingly honourably observed on both sides.[694]
In the meantime, the Earl of Mar had collected a considerable force, with which he marched, about the middle of September, to Moulinearn, a small village in Athole, where he proclaimed the Chevalier. On entering Athole, he was joined by 500 Athole-men, under the Marquis of Tullibardine, and by the party of the Earl of Breadalbane’s men, under Campbell of Glenlyon and Campbell of Glendaruel. He was afterwards joined by the old earl himself, who, although he had, the day preceding his arrival, procured an affidavit from a physician in Perth, and the minister of the parish of Kenmore, of which he was patron, certifying his total inability, from age, and a complication of diseases, to comply with a mandate of the government requiring him to attend at Edinburgh; yet, nevertheless, found himself able enough to take the field in support of the Chevalier.[695] Having received intelligence that the Earl of Rothes, and some of the gentlemen of Fife, were advancing with 500 of the militia of that county to seize Perth, he sent Colonel John Hay, brother to the Earl of Kinnoul, with a detachment of 200 horse, to take possession of that town; he accordingly entered it on the 14th of September, without opposition, and there proclaimed the Chevalier. The provost made indeed a demonstration of opposition by collecting between 300 and 400 men in the market place; but Colonel Hay having been joined by a party of 150 men which had been sent into the town a few days before by the Duke of Athole, the provost dismissed his men. When the Earl of Rothes, who was advancing upon Perth with a body of 500 men, heard of its capture, he retired to Leslie, and sent notice of the event to the Duke of Argyle. The possession of Perth was of importance to Mar in a double point of view, as it not only gave him the command of the whole of Fife, in addition to the country north of the Tay, but also inspired his friends with confidence.[696] Accordingly, the Chevalier was proclaimed at Aberdeen by the Earl Marischal; at Castle Gordon, by the Marquis of Huntly; at Brechin, by the Earl of Panmure; at Montrose, by the Earl of Southesk; and at Dundee, by Graham of Claverhouse, who was afterwards created Viscount Dundee, by the Chevalier.
As Mar had no intention of descending into the Lowlands himself without a considerable force, he remained several days at Moulinearn waiting for the clans who had promised to join him, and in the meantime directed Colonel Hay, whom, on the 18th of September, he appointed governor of Perth, to retain possession of that town at all hazards. He also directed him to tender to the inhabitants the oath of allegiance to the Chevalier, and to expel from the town all persons who refused to take the oath. After this purgation had been effected, Governor Hay was ordered to appoint a free election of magistrates by poll, to open all letters passing through the post-office, and to appoint a new post-master in whom he could have confidence. To support Hay in case of an attack, Mar sent down a party of Robertsons, on the 22d, under the command of Alexander Robertson of Strowan, their chief, known as the elector of Strowan.
At this time, Mar’s forces did not probably exceed 3,000 men, but their number having been increased to upwards of 5,000 within a few days thereafter, he marched down upon Perth, which he entered on the 28th of September, on which day the Honourable James Murray, second son of the Viscount Stormont, arrived at Perth with letters from the Chevalier to the earl, giving him assurances of speedy and powerful succour, and promises from the Chevalier, as was reported, of appearing personally in Scotland in a short time. This gentleman had gone over to France in the month of April preceding, to meet the Chevalier, who had appointed him principal secretary for Scotland, and had lately landed at Dover, whence he had travelled incognito overland to Edinburgh, where, although well known, he escaped detection. After spending a few days in Edinburgh, during which time he attended, it is said, several private meetings of the friends of the Chevalier, he crossed the Frith in an open boat at Newhaven, and landed at Burntisland, whence he proceeded to Perth.[697]
The first operations of the insurgents were marked by vigour and intrepidity. The seizure of Perth, though by no means a brilliant affair, was almost as important as a victory would have been at such a crisis, and another dashing exploit which a party of the earl’s army performed a few days after his arrival at Perth, was calculated to make an impression equally favourable to the Jacobite cause. Before the Earl of Sutherland took his departure from Leith for Dunrobin castle, to raise a force in the north, he arranged with the government for a supply of arms, ammunition and military stores, which was to be furnished by the governor of Edinburgh castle, and sent down to the north with as little delay as possible. Accordingly, about the end of September, a vessel belonging to Burntisland was freighted for that purpose, on board of which were put about 400 stands of arms, and a considerable quantity of ammunition and military stores. The vessel anchored in Leith roads, but was prevented from passing down the Frith by a strong north-easterly wind, which, continuing to blow very hard, induced the captain for security’s sake to weigh anchor and stand over to Burntisland roads, on the opposite coast of Fife, under the protection of the weather shore. The captain went on shore at Burntisland, to visit his wife and family who resided in the town, and the destination of the vessel, and the nature of her cargo being made known to some persons in the Jacobite interest, information thereof was immediately communicated by them to the Earl of Mar, who at once resolved to send a detachment to Burntisland to seize the vessel. Accordingly, he despatched on the evening of the 2d of October, a party of 400 horse, and 500 foot, from Perth to Burntisland, with instructions so to order their march as not to enter the latter place till about midnight. To draw off the attention of the Duke of Argyle from this expedition, Mar made a movement as if he intended to march with all his forces upon Alva, in the neighbourhood of Stirling, in consequence of which Argyle, who had received intelligence of Mar’s supposed design, kept his men under arms the whole day in expectation of an attack. Meanwhile, the party having reached their destination, the foot entered Burntisland unperceived, and while the horse surrounded the town to prevent any person from carrying the intelligence of their arrival out of it, the foot seized all the boats in the harbour and along the shore, to cut off all communication by sea. About 120 men were, thereupon, sent off in some boats to board the ship, which they secured without opposition. They at first attempted to bring the vessel into the harbour, but were prevented by the state of the tide. They, however, lost no time in discharging her cargo, and having pressed a number of carts and horses from the neighbourhood into their service, the detachment set off undisturbed for Perth with their booty, where they arrived without molestation. Besides the arms and other warlike materials which they found in the vessel, the detachment carried off 100 stands of arms from the town, and between 30 and 40 more which they found in another ship. Emboldened by the success of this enterprise, parties of the insurgents spread themselves over Fife, took possession of all the towns on the north of the Frith of Forth, from Burntisland to Fifeness, and prohibited all communication between them and the opposite coast. The Earl of Rothes, who was quartered at Leslie, was now obliged, for fear of being cut off, to retire to Stirling under the protection of a detachment of horse and foot, which had been sent from Stirling to support him, under the command of the Earl of Forfar, and Colonel Ker.[698]
Mar had not yet been joined by any of the northern clans, nor by those under General Gordon; but on the 5th of October, about 500 of the Mackintoshes arrived under the command of the Laird of Borlum, better known by the name of Brigadier Mackintosh, an old and experienced soldier, who, as uncle of the chief, had placed himself at the head of that clan in consequence of his nephew’s minority. This clan had formerly sided with the revolution party; but, influenced by Borlum, who was a zealous Jacobite, they were among the first to espouse the cause of the Chevalier, and had seized upon Inverness before some of the other clans had taken the field. On the following day the earl was also joined by the Marquis of Huntly at the head of 500 horse and 2,000 foot, chiefly Gordons; and on the 10th by the Earl Marischal with 300 horse, among whom were many gentlemen, and 500 foot. These different accessions increased Mar’s army to upwards of 8,000 men.
Mar ought now to have instantly opened the campaign by advancing upon Stirling, and attacking the Duke of Argyle, whose forces did not, at this time, amount to 2,000 men. In his rear he had nothing to dread, as the Earl of Seaforth, who was advancing to join him with a body of 3,000 foot and 600 horse, had left a division of 2,000 of his men behind him to keep the Earl of Sutherland, and the other friends of the government in the northern Highlands, in check. As the whole of the towns on the eastern coast from Burntisland to Inverness were in possession of his detachments, and as there was not a single hostile party along the whole of that extensive stretch, no obstacle could have occurred, had he marched south, to prevent him from obtaining a regular supply of provisions for his army and such warlike stores as might reach any of these ports from France. One French vessel had already safely landed a supply of arms and ammunition in a northern port, and another during Mar’s stay at Perth boldly sailed up the Frith of Forth, in presence of some English ships of war, and entered the harbour of Burntisland with a fresh supply. But though personally brave, Mar was deficient in military genius, and was altogether devoid of that promptitude of action by which Montrose and Dundee were distinguished. Instead, therefore, of attempting at once to strike a decisive blow at Argyle, the insurgent general lingered at Perth upwards of a month. This error, however, might have been repaired had he not committed a more fatal one by detaching a considerable part of his army, including the Macintoshes, who were the best armed of his forces, at the solicitation of a few English Jacobites, who, having taken up arms in the north of England, craved his support.
About the period of Mar’s departure for Scotland, the government had obtained information of a dangerous conspiracy in England in favour of the Chevalier, in consequence of which the titular Duke of Powis was committed to the Tower, and Lords Lansdowne and Dupplin were arrested, as implicated in the conspiracy, and a warrant was issued for the apprehension of the Earl of Jersey. At the same time, a message from the king was sent to the house of commons, informing them that his majesty had given orders for the apprehension of Sir William Wyndham, Mr. Thomas Forster, junior, member for the county of Northumberland, and other members of the lower house, as being engaged in a design to support an invasion of the kingdom. Sir William Wyndham was accordingly apprehended, and committed to the Tower, but Mr. Forster having been apprised of the arrival of a messenger at Durham with the warrant for his apprehension, avoided him, and joined the Earl of Derwentwater, a young Catholic nobleman, against whom a similar warrant had been issued. Tired of shifting from place to place, they convened a meeting of their friends in Northumberland to consult as to the course they should pursue; it was resolved immediately to take up arms in support of the Chevalier. In pursuance of a resolution entered into, about 60 horsemen, mostly gentlemen, and some attendants, met on Thursday the 6th of October, at a place called Greenrig, whence, after some consultation, they marched to Plainfield, a place on the river Coquet, where they were joined by a few adherents. From Plainfield they departed for Rothbury, a small market town, where they took up their quarters for the night.
Next morning, their numbers still increasing, they advanced to Warkworth, where they were joined by Lord Widdrington, with 30 horse. Mr. Forster was now appointed to the command of this force, not on account of his military abilities, for he had none, but because he was a Protestant, and therefore less objectionable to the high-church party than the Earl of Derwentwater, who, in the absence of a regularly bred commander, should, on account of his rank, have been named to the chief command. On Sunday morning, Mr. Forster sent Mr. Buxton, a clergyman of Derbyshire, who acted as chaplain to the insurgent party, to the parson of Warkworth, with orders to pray for the Chevalier by name as king, and to introduce into the Litany the name of Mary, the queen-mother, and all the dutiful branches of the royal family, and omit the names of King George, and the prince and princess. The minister of the parish wisely declined to obey these orders, and for his own safety retired to Newcastle. The parishioners, however, were not deprived of divine service, as Mr. Buxton, on the refusal of the parson to officiate as directed, entered the church, and performed in his stead with considerable effect.[699]
On Monday the 10th of October, Mr. Forster was joined by 40 horse from the Scottish border, on which day he openly proclaimed the Chevalier. This small party remained at Warkworth till the 14th, when they proceeded to Alnwick, where they were joined by many of their friends, and thence marched to Morpeth. At Felton bridge they were reinforced by another party of Scottish horse to the number of 70, chiefly gentlemen from the border, so that on entering Morpeth their force amounted to 300 horse. In the course of his march Forster had numerous offers of service from the country people, which, however, he was obliged to decline from the want of arms; but he promised to avail himself of them as soon as he had provided himself with arms and ammunition, which he expected to find in Newcastle, whither he intended to proceed.