Claverhouse

INDEX. FOOTNOTES: [90] See the sixth canto of "The Lady of the Lake." "We'll quell the savage mountaineer, As their tinchel cows the game." The tinchel was the name given to the circle of hunters which, gradually narrowing, hemmed the deer into a small space, where they could be easily slaughtered. [91] Mackay complains bitterly in his Memoirs of "the unconcerned method of the Government in matters which touch them nearest as to their general safety, each being for his particular, and fixed upon his private projects, so as neither to see nor be concerned for anything else." [92] "When in front of Blair Castle their real destination was disclosed to them by Lord Tullibardine [the heir of Athole did not assume this style till 1695]. Instantly they rushed from their ranks, ran to the adjoining stream of Banovy, and, filling their bonnets with water, drank to the health of King James; and then, with colours flying and pipes playing, 'fifteen hundred of the men of Athole, as reputable for arms as any in the kingdom' [Mackay's words], put themselves under the command of the Laird of Ballechin and marched off to join Lord Dundee." Stewart's "Sketches of the Highlanders of Scotland," i. 67. But this is not strictly true. They joined neither Ballechin nor Dundee, but went off on their own account to the mountains to watch the issue of events. [93] Probably Dundee wrote more confidently than he felt. He owned that Murray might "have more to do to believe" Melfort's assurance than James's; but, in fact, there was too good reason to disbelieve both. From the first letter written from Struan it appears that the despatch from James which had fallen into Hamilton's hands was much more temperate and conciliatory than the earlier one brought to the Convention by Crane. Dundee had not seen this despatch; and it is possible that he described it rather as his own good sense urged him to believe it must have been, than as it really was. The letters to himself, which he summarises for Murray's benefit, must have been those acknowledged in the postscript to Melfort of June 28th. It is, as we shall presently see, certain that about this time James was induced to assume, as he had before assumed when it was too late, the virtue of toleration. How much of these promises Dundee really believed, it is impossible to say. The history of our own time has shown, and is every day showing, that neither wisdom nor experience will always avail to prevent a man from believing that which it is his interest to believe. [94] Memoirs of Balcarres and of Lochiel. [95] I have given the modern style of these regiments as they were before the last freak of the War Office. What they may be now, I do not know; nor is the knowledge important, for the style I have used will probably be most familiar to my readers. "My Uncle Toby," it will be remembered, was of Leven's regiment. There exists a letter from Schomberg to Lord Leven, especially commending to the latter's care a gentleman of the name of Le Fevre. See the "Leven and Melville Papers." [96] Mackay says in his Memoirs that he left Edinburgh with two troops of horse, and four of dragoons. It is certain that only the former were engaged at Killiecrankie. But the general's narrative is throughout extremely confused, and sometimes barely intelligible. Perhaps the larger force was that he had counted on having; or the four troops of dragoons may have been those he ordered to follow from Stirling. Alexander Hamilton, who commanded the artillery in the Covenanter's army with which Leslie and Montrose made the famous passage of the Tyne in 1640. From Burton's description of them they can hardly have been very dangerous, at least to the enemy. "They seem to have been made of tin for the bore, with a coating of leather, all secured by tight cordage. A horse could carry two of them, and it was their merit to stand a few discharges before they came to pieces." "History of Scotland," vi. 302. [97] It is said that one of Dundee's arguments against attacking in the pass was, that it did not become brave soldiers to engage a foe at disadvantage, an argument which I should imagine Dundee was much too sensible a man to employ to Highlanders. Had his force been sufficient for him to close up the mouth of the pass after the Lowlanders had entered, it is hard to imagine he would have lost the chance of catching Mackay in such a trap. But his force was too small to divide: while the nature of the ground would of course have told as much against those who made as against those who met a charge, besides inevitably offending the jealous point of honour which forbad one clan to take precedence of another. It may be, too, that Dundee was not very well served by his scouts. Mackay certainly seems to have got well on his way through the pass before the other knew that he had entered it. See the "Life of Mackay," and the "Rebellions in Scotland." [98] Memoirs of Lochiel. [99] For long afterwards the battle was known among the Highlanders as the battle of Renrorie. [100] Mackay's Memoirs: "a quart de conversion" is his own phrase for this change of front. [101] "Sketches of the Highlanders." [102] Among the Nairne Papers is what purports to be a copy of Dundee's speech. It has been contemptuously rejected by some writers as a manifest forgery, on the ground that no Highlander would have understood a word of it. But there were Dundee's own officers and men to be addressed; and, moreover, his language would have been perfectly intelligible to some, at least, of the chiefs, who would have conveyed its purpose to their men. It was still the fashion for a general to harangue his troops before leading them into action, and it was a fashion particularly in vogue among the Highlanders. I see no reason, therefore, to doubt the general authenticity of this speech. Exactly as it stands in the Nairne Papers probably Dundee did not deliver it; the style being somewhat more grandiloquent than he was in the habit of employing. But its general purpose, which I have endeavoured to give in a paraphrase, seems to be very much what such a man would have said at such a moment. The authority for Mackay's speech will be found in his own despatch to Lord Melville after the battle. [103] It was the disastrous experience of this day that led Mackay to devise a plan of fixing the bayonet to the musket so that each could be used, as now, without interfering with the other. [104] "History of the Rebellions in Scotland." Even the men who had stood by Lord Murray joined in the slaughter. He did his best to keep them quiet, but was forced to own afterwards to Mackay that he had not been very successful. "It cannot be helped," he wrote, "of almost all country people, who are ready to pillage and plunder whenever they have occasion." See the Bannatyne edition of Dundee's Letters, &c. [105] Mackay's opinion was that "the English commonalty were to be preferred in matter of courage to the Scots." [106] One tradition, for a long while current among the Lowlands, declares him to have been shot by one of his own men in the pay of William Livingstone, who afterwards married Lady Dundee; Livingstone having been for some weeks a close prisoner in Edinburgh with the other disaffected officers of his regiment. Lady Dundee, the story goes on to say, was aware of his intentions, and on the following New Year's day sent "the supposed assassin a white night-cap, a pair of white gloves, and a rope, being a sort of suit of canonicals for the gallows, either to signify that she esteemed him worthy of that fate, or that she thought the state of his mind might be such as to make him fit to hang himself." Another tradition makes Dundee fall by a shot fired from the window of Urrard House, in which a party of Mackay's men had lodged themselves. He was watering his horse at the time at a pond called the Goose-Dub, where the Laird of Urrard's geese were wont to disport themselves. This story is evidently part of the old nurse's prophecy mentioned on page 3. For these and many other anecdotes of the battle, see the "History of the Rebellions in Scotland." I have taken my account of Dundee's death from the memoirs of Balcarres and Lochiel, and from the depositions, printed by Napier, of certain witnesses examined afterwards at Edinburgh, among them being an officer of Kenmure's regiment, who was carried prisoner into the castle after the battle and heard Johnstone's story. As for the letter said to have been written by Dundee to James after the battle, and now among the Nairne Papers, there is more to be said for it than some have allowed. Macaulay, alluding to it as dated the day after the battle, calls it as impudent a forgery as Fingal. But in fact it bears no date at all: the handwriting is declared on the best authority to be beyond question contemporary; and there is no absolute proof that Dundee did not live long enough at least to dictate an account of his victory to James. It is tolerably certain that he would have done so had his strength permitted him. But in a letter written from Dublin in the following November by James to Ballechin, there is no mention of any letter from Dundee, and his death is there alluded to as having occurred at the beginning of the action. This, of course, is not conclusive; James's actual words are, "the loss you had ... at your entrance into action," which need not imply instant death. On the whole, however, the balance of evidence seems to me to prove that Dundee died where he fell, and that the letter is not genuine, though certainly no forgery of Macpherson's. Those who are still curious on a point which is, after all, of no very great importance, will find it amply discussed in a note to the edition of Dundee's letters published for the Bannatyne Club, and in an appendix to Napier's third volume. A stone still marks the spot where Dundee is said to have fallen, and was seen by Captain Burt less than fifty years after the battle. INDEX. Abjuration oath, the, 121 Acts against the Covenanters, 35-6 , 40 , 45 , 121 Aird's Moss, skirmish at, 91 Annandale, Lord, 200 Argyle, Marquis of, 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 34 Earl of (son of preceding), 45 , 119 , 139 Earl of (son of preceding), 171 , 193 Athole, Marquis of, 44 , 46 , 139 , 145 note , 153 , 154 , 159 , 162 , 188 , 194 men of, behaviour of the, 196 note , 211 and note Auchencloy, execution of Covenanters at, 128-31 Auchinleck, Robert, execution of, 131-2 Balcarres, Earl of, 141 , 142 , 143 , 148 , 149 , 151 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 166 , 189 memoirs of the Revolution by, 144 note Balfour, Colonel, 200 , 205 , 211 of Burley, John, 58 , 60 , 62 , 65 , 69 , 83 Ballechin, Stewart of, 194 letter to, from James, 215 note Belhaven, Lord, 200 , 211 Blair Castle, 194 , 195 , 201 , 214 Church, 214 , 215 Bothwell Bridge, battle of, 83-6 Brown, John, execution of, 116-22 Bruce, Andrew, of Earlshall, 55 , 91 Buchan, Colonel, 107 , 108 , 109 , 145 Burnet, Bishop, on Claverhouse, 4 , 151 note Cameron of Lochiel, Sir Ewan, 169 , 170 , 171 , 179 , 181 , 185 , 198 , 202 , 203 , 210 memoirs of, 5 note Allan, 207-8 Richard, 91 Cameronians, the, 91 Cannon, Colonel, joins Claverhouse with Irishmen, 198 Cargill, Rev. Donald, 78 , 79 , 91 Charles the Second, signs the Covenant, 24 crowned in Scotland, 24 his opinion of Lauderdale's administration, 42 acquits Claverhouse of malversation, 91 Charles the Second appoints Claverhouse to a regiment of cavalry, 97 his goodwill to Claverhouse, 100 and note settles Claverhouse in possession of Dudhope, 101 Claverhouse, birth of, 1 family and education, 2-7 supposed to have served in French army, 8 , 9 gallant action at Seneff, 12 , 13 resigns commission in Dutch service, 15 story of his reasons for resigning, 15 , 16 note applies to Montrose for employment, 44 receives lieutenant's commission, 45 portrait of, 46 , 47 refuses to interfere illegally with Covenanters, 48 appointed Deputy-Sheriff of Dumfriesshire, 55 at Drumclog, 70 at Glasgow, 72 , 73 at Bothwell Bridge, 85 , 86 accused of malversation, 90 , 91 note appointed Sheriff of Wigtownshire, 92 his policy towards the Covenanters, 92-3 , 135 and note receives command of cavalry regiment, 97 his quarrel with the Dalrymples, 95-7 his visit to England, 97-100 made a Privy-Councillor, 100 obtains estate of Dudhope, 101 his marriage, 101-5 merciful conduct to prisoners, 109 examination into charges against, 111-36 in disgrace, 125-6 his character, 134-5 his quarrel with Queensberry, 139-42 second visit to England, 142 Provost of Dundee and Major-General, 143 marches into England, 145 quartered in London, 146 joins James at Salisbury, 146 created Viscount of Dundee, 146 his advice to James, 147 marches to Reading, 147 receives a message from William at Watford, 148 attends Scottish Council in London, 148 waits on James at Whitehall for the last time, 149 negotiations with William, 151 returns to Edinburgh, 151 plot to assassinate him, 158 leaves Edinburgh, 160 his interview with the Duke of Gordon, 160 proclaimed traitor by the Convention, 164 escapes to Glen Ogilvy, 166 a son born to him, 173 saves Inverness from Keppoch, 174 his raid upon Dunkeld and Perth, 175 demonstration outside Dundee, 177 at Lochaber, 179 the muster of the Clans, 179-80 his popularity with the Highlanders, 182-3 returns to Lochaber, 185 re-assembles the Clans, 198 garrisons Blair Castle, 198 holds Council of War, 201-4 addresses his soldiers, 208 death and burial, 213-15 Cleland, William, 65 , 159 "Cloud of Witnesses," the, value of the testimony of, 123 Cochrane, Lady Jean, 101 , 102 , 104 Convention of Estates, the, 155-9 , 161-2 , 165-6 Covenanters, assembly of, at Mauchline, 21 under Strachan, 28 cruelties of, 29 , 30 character of, 29 , 59 address of, to Charles, 32 rising of, in the West, 37 divisions among, 77-80 , 82 , 83 declarations by, 63 , 91 , 120 , 121 note treatment of, after Bothwell Bridge, 87-8 rabble the Episcopalian clergy, 154 Creichton, Captain, 176-7 Cromwell, Oliver, his advice to the Presbyterians, 20 negotiates with Argyle, 21 , 25 his policy towards the Presbyterians, 25-6 Dalrymples of Stair, their quarrel with Claverhouse, 95-7 Dalziel, Thomas, 38 , 81 , 85 , 106 , 145 note Declaration of Indulgence, the, 8 repeal of, 9 the Rutherglen, 63 the Hamilton, 82 the Sanquhar, 91 Defoe on Claverhouse, 123 note , 127 , 131 value of his testimony, 124 note Douglas, General James, 123 , 126 , 139-40 , 145 , 147 , 188 Drumclog, battle of, 64-71 Drumlanrig, Viscount, 145 note , 147 Drummond, General, 126 Alexander, of Bahaldy, 169 John, of Bahaldy, 5 note Drunken Parliament, the, 33 Dumbarton, Earl of, 123 , 137 , 138 , 147 , 150 Dundee, Viscount of. See Claverhouse memoirs of, 16 note Viscountess of, second marriage and death, 105 note story of, and Col. Livingstone, 214 note Dundonald, Earl of, 101 , 103 Dunfermline, Earl of, 172 , 180 , 189 , 207 , 213 Dunmore, Earl of, 145 note , 150 Edinburgh, riots in, 142 , 154-5 Enterkin Hill, rescue of Covenanters at, 109 Episcopal clergy, Scotch, Burnet's complaint against, 48 note Feud between Macdonalds and Mackintoshes, 123 Field-preaching, Act against, 40 Gordon, Duke of, in command of Edinburgh Castle, 155-6 , 160-61 , 187 note Graham, David, 3 , 115 , 180 Graham, Robert, 68 and note Grameis, the, 13 , 173 Grierson, Sir Robert. See Lag Hackston of Rathillet, 58 , 60 , 83 , 91 Hamilton, Duke of, 42 , 102 , 148 , 153 , 155 , 159 , 161-3 , 165-6 Robert, 62-3 , 65 , 71-3 , 77-9 , 82-4 Highland Host, the, 41-2 Highlanders, loyalty of, 169-71 their value as soldiers, 168 , 181 Hislop, Andrew, execution of, 125-7 James the Second, as Duke of York, favours Claverhouse, 44 High Commissioner in Scotland, 91 , 97 promotes Claverhouse, 139-40 summons him to London, 141 announces invasion of England to Scotch Council, 143 orders Scotch troops to England, 144 at Salisbury, 145-7 his flight and return, 148 ordered to leave the capital by William, 148 his last interview with Balcarres and Claverhouse, 149-50 leaves England, 150 his foolish letter to the Estates, 156 his letter to Claverhouse falls into hands of Hamilton, 165 his promises of toleration, 197 note , 214 his letter to Ballechin, 215 note Keppoch, Colin Macdonald of, 170 , 173-4 , 183 Killing-time, the, 111-36 King, Rev. John, 64 , 71 Lag, the Laird of, 49-53 , 114 note Latin poem on Battle of Bothwell Bridge, 68 note Lauderdale, Duke of, 33 , 39 , 42 , 58 , 98 Earl of, 98-101 Leather guns, 201 Leighton, Bishop, 34 , 40 Leslie, David, 30 Letters from Claverhouse to Archbishop Burnet, 107 , 108 to Duke of Hamilton, 163-4 to James, 215 note to Earl of Melfort, 186-92 to Linlithgow, 48-9 , 54 , 56 , 64-5 , 67 , 70 to Lord Murray, 196-7 to Queensberry, 92 , 94 , 96 note , 99 note , 103-4 , 109 , 117 , 138 Leven, Earl of, 166 , 200 , 212 Linlithgow, Earl of, 44 , 81 Livingstone, George, Lord, 83 , 145 , 162-3 Sir Thomas, 150 , 172 , 185 , 199 William, 176 , 177 note , 214 note Macaulay on Claverhouse, 13 , 17 , 18 , 119 , 125 , 151 note Macdonald of Keppoch, 170 Macdonalds, killed at Killiecrankie, 213 Mackay, General, story of his alleged quarrel with Claverhouse, 16 note commands the troops in Scotland, 172 tries to raise the Clans for William, 178-9 marches against Claverhouse, 184-5 new plan of campaign, 193 sends Lord Murray to Blair Castle, 195 takes the field again, 199 the strength of his army, 200-1 and note marches through the Pass of Killiecrankie, 204-5 his order of battle, 206 his address to his troops, 208 his bravery, 211 his opinion of English soldiers, 212 note his retreat to Stirling, 212-13 John, of Rockfields, his biography of General Mackay, 16 note Mackenzie, Sir George, 99 , 159 , 188 Colin, 105 Macpherson, James, alleged forgery of letters from Claverhouse by, 215 note Martyrs, the Wigtown, 112-15 Mekellwrath, Matthew, execution of, 128 Melfort, Earl of, 142 , 144 , 156-8 , 165 , 186 , 207 Mitchell, James, attempt to assassinate Sharp by, 58 Mitchell, Robert, 130 Monmouth, Duke of, appointed to command army in Scotland, 80 his leniency to the Covenanters, 82 , 84 , 87 executed, 139 Montrose, Marquis of, 44-5 , 46 Munro, Dr., on Claverhouse, 5 Murray, Earl of, letter from to Queensberry, 140 Lord Charles. See Earl of Dunmore Lord, 194-7 , 204 , 211 note Muster-roll of Claverhouse's regiment, 145 note Nairne Papers, the, 209 note , 215 note Napier, Mark, his "Life and Times of Dundee," 5 note Peirson, Rev. Peter, murder of, 129-30 Perth, Earl of, 39 note , 142 , 154-5 "Pilliwincks," torture of the. See Thumbkin Plot to assassinate Claverhouse and Mackenzie, 159 Queensberry, Duke of, 55 , 92 , 99 , 137-8 , 141 , 162 . See Letters from Claverhouse to Ramsay, Lieut.-Col., 184 , 211 , 212 Gilbert, 213 Remonstrants, the, 21 , 25-8 Renwick, head of the Covenanters, proclamation by, 121 note Resolutioners, the, 21 , 25-8 Ross, George, Lord, 57 and note , 61 , 72 William, Lord, 105 and note , 200 Rullion Green, battle of, 38 Rutherford, Rev. Samuel, 35 Ruthven Castle destroyed, 184 Saint Drostan, church of, memorial to Claverhouse in, 215-6 Sanquhar Declaration, the, 91 Scotch troops ordered to England, 144 Scotland, state of, reviewed, 17-76 Scott, Sir Walter, his account of Drumclog in "Old Mortality," 67 his account of Bothwell Bridge in the same, 85 and note Seneff, battle of, 12 Sharp, James, 26 , 31 consecrated Primate of Scotland, 34 murdered, 57 , 60 Simpson, Rev. Robert, on Claverhouse and the Covenanters, 132 note Smith, Robert, evidence on battle of Bothwell Bridge, 85 Stormont, Viscount of, 176 and note Thumbkin, torture of the, 39 note Tinchel, the, 193 and note Traditions about Claverhouse, 3 , 47 note , 70 , 182 , 214 note Turner, Sir James, 36-8 Walker, Patrick, on Claverhouse, 7 note , 135 his opinion of Wodrow, 116 on death of John Brown, 116-17 , 122 and note Welsh, Rev. John, 56-7 , 78 , 82 Westerhall, Johnstone of, 125 Western Shires, the, nursery of the Covenanters, 29 Whiggamores' raid, the, 22 Whigs, origin of the name of, 23 note brought into Edinburgh by Hamilton, 158-9 , 161 William the Third, stories of his early acquaintance with Claverhouse, 12 , 15-16 his message to Claverhouse, 148 tries to persuade Claverhouse and Balcarres to enter his service, 151 and note his opinion of Claverhouse, 216 Winrahame, George, 118 note , 160 Wodrow, Rev. Robert, his "History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland," 51-2 vagueness of his charges against Claverhouse, 88 on the Wigtown Martyrs, 113-14 on the death of John Brown, 116 Andrew Hislop, 127 on the murder of Rev. Peter Peirson, 129-30 and note

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