During the latter years of Anne, who was so much and so deservedly beloved by the people, the Jacobites had remained quiescent, believing that in the political crises certain to arise on the queen's death, the Chevalier de Saint George would be called to the throne.
Disappointed in this expectation, they determined not to tolerate a rule adverse to the religion of the majority, and hateful to all.
In the year 1715, at which date we shall resume our story, a formidable plot spread throughout England and Scotland, causing the greatest alarm to the Government by the avowed intention of the conspirators to depose the reigning monarch, whom they described as a tyrannous usurper, and restore the ancient sovereignty.
Aware of the designs of his enemies, King George made an appeal to the Nation, in which he said, that after his solemn assurances, and the opportunities he had taken to do everything that might tend to benefit the Church of England, it was unjust and ungrateful to doubt him, and he refused to believe that the people could be so far misled by false representations as to desire to place a Popish Pretender on the throne.
In an address to his majesty by the Lord Mayor, James the Third was denounced as an impostor, who proposed to govern the kingdom by Popish maxims, while the High Church Tories, who were regarded as the Pretender's main supporters in England, and more dangerous than the Roman Catholics themselves, were stigmatised as “Nonresisting rebels, passive-obedience rioters, abjuring Jacobites, and Frenchified Englishmen; monsters, whom no age or country ever produced till now.”
The first movements of the Jacobites were checked by the death of Louis the Fourteenth, and the appointment of the Duke of Orleans as Regent; thus precluding any hope of immediate assistance from France, as had been previously calculated upon, since the Regent, on assuming the government, had at once entered into friendly relations with George the First.
Notwithstanding this unpropitious circumstance, the Chevalier de Saint George, who felt that his position had become critical, sent orders to the Earl of Mar and some others of his adherents that a general rising should take place without delay.
The prince's command was promptly obeyed by the Earl of Mar, who embarked in disguise in a coal-sloop at Gravesend, accompanied by Major-General Hamilton and Colonel John Hay, brother of the Earl of Kinnoul. Eventually the earl and his companions reached Braemar Castle in Aberdeenshire in safety.
The forests of Braemar were celebrated for red deer, and under the pretext of a grand hunting-match, the earl invited all the principal Scottish nobles, and chiefs of clans, whom he knew to be opposed to the Union, and attached to the Stewarts. His list of guests included 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, Traquaire, Errol, Southesk, Carnwath, Seaforth, Linlithgow, and Panmure, with nearly a dozen others. Among the chiefs of clans were Glengarry, Campbell of Glendarule, and Mackintosh. They well knew why they were invited, and came attended by numerous followers.
It was a grand sight to see all these nobles and chiefs in full Highland costume, and attended by their vassals and retainers, likewise in Highland dress, and all carrying guns upon the shoulder, assembled in front of the castle, preparatory to setting out on the hunt. With them were several couples of large deer-hounds held in leash by the huntsmen.