Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/320

318 the rebels made themselves master of the barrack of Ruthven. It was then too late to fetch unarmed men from distances, it was even unsafe to land the arms and the money; so we were forced to suffer them remain on board and to retreat with the force we had to preserve them for the further annoyance of the enemy. Another ill consequence, the scrimping us of money had, was that, as there were a great many contingent services absolutely necessary, and as all the money that could be raised upon lord Loudon's credit and mine was not sufficient to answer these extraordinary services,—we were obliged to make free with the cash remitted for the subsistence of the companies. This at the long run will come out as broad as it is long when accounts are made up and allowances made for the contingent expense but in the meantime it saddles us with the trouble of settling and passing an account.

"If any one will reflect on the situation I was in, and consider what I had to do, he will soon be convinced that the expense I laid out could not be small. So far as I could command money of my own, you will easily believe it was employed without hesitation; and of that I say nothing at present. But when the expedient proposed by the marquis of Tweeddale of taking bills to be drawn on Mr Pelham failed, I had no resource but to take up money where I could find it, from well disposed persons, on my own proper notes. That money so picked up was at the time of great service; and now that peace is restored, the gentlemen with great reason expect to be repaid. You can guess how ill I like a dun, and I should hope now that the confusions are over, there can be no great difficulty in procuring me a remittance, or leave to draw upon Mr Pelham or some other proper person, to the extent of the sum thus borrowed, which does not exceed one thousand five hundred pounds sterling.———I am heartily tired of this erratic course I have been in, but as the prevention of any future disturbance, is a matter of great moment, and which requires much deliberation and some skill, if those on whom it lies to frame the scheme, for that purpose, imagine I can be of any use to them, I should not grudge the additional fatigue of another journey; but it is not improbable their resolutions may be already taken," &c. There is in this letter an honest feeling, and a frankly expressed conviction of the value of his services; and though possessed with a prophetic anticipation of their being latterly to be overlooked, an equally open and straight forwardly expressed determination to continue them as long as they should be useful to his country, strongly indicative of that high minded devotion to the best interests of his species, which peculiarly characterized this great man. At the same time, there is manifested the most delicate feeling with regard to the money part of the transaction. What portion, and that was a large one, had been advanced from his own treasury he makes for the present no account of; but he pleads in the most gentlemanly manner in behalf of those who had assisted him at the time, and could scarcely be expected to have the same disinterested regard to the public service, and the same degree of philosophic patience. They expect with reason, he remarks, to be paid, and he interposes in the most delicate manner, his own repugnance to be dunned, as the most pressing of all arguments in their favour. Surely never was so small a request, and so exceedingly well founded, so modestly prepared, yet never perhaps did a reasonable one meet with a more careless reception. Upwards of a month elapsed before he had an answer from George Ross, with a bill for five hundred pounds, which perhaps was not for his own use. It has been generally said that he never received one farthing, and to his generous spirit, if he received only this small portion, which we dare not affirm he did, taken in connexion with the manner in which he did receive it, it must have been nearly, if not more mortifying than if he had not. His grace of New-