Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/204

190 thousand mountaineers for his service if provided with the necessary authority and funds. Louis XIV. listened to the project of this devil incarnate, but, as he knew the infamy of his character, he would only consent to send him, if accompanied by two other gentlemen, on whom he could rely. These gentlemen were instructed to sound the natives, and ascertain the real prospects of the prince for themselves.

The very first thing which Lovat did on reaching Scotland was to discover the whole scheme to the duke of Queensberry, the queen's commissioner, and proposed to him to inform him of all whom they should be able to bring over to their views in their tour through the Highlands. Queensberry, instead of seizing the base outlaw, and giving him up to justice, thought it a fine opportunity to make himself acquainted with all the disaffected, and to be able to fix on them the proof of their treason. Not reflecting that this Mephistophiles of the mountains would be just as likely to betray him as he had been to betray his first employers, he gave Frazer a pass to bear him safe through the Highlands in this devil's work of corrupting the queen's subjects, and he was to furnish Queensberry with a list of all the loyal and all the disaffected. Before setting out, Frazer executed a masterpiece of demoniacal art. His grand object in coming over was to take a signal vengeance on the marquis of Athol, whom he had so deeply injured, and who had driven him from the country. He delivered, therefore, to the duke of Queensberry a letter from the ex-queen Mary of Modena to the marquis of Athol. It was observed that the address was in a different hand to the letter itself, and therefore it was probable that Frazer had procured a general letter, which he might himself address to a particular person, as occasion served. The object was to ruin the marquis.

Having made his diabolical tour, Frazer represented what additional service he could render by returning to St. Germains, and there hunting out and conveying to Queensberry all the plots and the names of the plotters against the queen of England. Queensberry had communicated the particulars of information to the queen without revealing the name of his informant, which, for good reasons, he desired might be kept secret. That such a plot was in agitation was confirmed by the queen's own spies at St. Germains, and Frazer was furnished with a passport to Holland by the earl of Nottingham under a feigned name.

About the same time Sir John Maclean was arrested at Folkestone, with his wife, having been conveyed over from France in an open boat. He was the head of one of the clans, and being conveyed to London, he pretended that he had landed only with the intention of passing through England to Scotland, where he meant to take advantage of the queen's pardon, submit himself, and become a loyal subject. Being, however, told that he would be handled as a traitor unless he would purchase forgiveness by rendering real service, he confessed his knowledge of the plot, and gave the necessary information for apprehending one Keith, a nephew of one of the two persons appointed by Louis XIV. to accompany Frazer through the Highlands. This Keith alleged that there was no intention to bring in the prince of Wales until after the queen's death, on hearing which, bishop Burnet remarked to the queen that if that were so, they did not mean her to live any longer than till they thought their designs for the prince were well laid; on which Burnet observes, the queen answered very quickly, "There was no manner of doubt of that."

Nearly at the same time with Keith, David Lindsay, who had been under-secretary to lord Middleton for James II. and the prince of Wales, and James Boucher, who had been aide-de-camp to James's natural son, the duke of Berwick, were arrested. The latter was taken on the coast of Sussex just as he came from France. As for Lindsay, he was the same man who had been employed in bringing over letters during the insurrection of Dundee; and it was not doubted that he had come over now to manage the correspondence of the insurgents. He denied there being any plot at all against the queen and her government, but on being shown Frazer's commission as a colonel, signed by the pretended king, and countersigned by Middleton, he could not deny its genuineness, but observed that things of that kind were never communicated to him. These men, like Maclean, pretended that they were merely coming to live peaceably at home; and at this moment stepped forward Ferguson, that extraordinary presbyterian preacher who was out with Monmouth, and had been in every plot since. He evidently was employed to mystify the whole affair. He protested there was no plot at all; that the Jacobites were glad to see a Stuart on the throne in the person of the queen, and their only desire was to see things so arranged that her brother should succeed her. Frazer, he contended, had merely been employed by Queensberry to draw some persons into the guilt of high treason; but as for plot, there was none. These manœuvres, however, had no effect in convincing the people of the non-existence of a plot. The arrival of so many suspicious persons about the same time, and the unquestionably genuine document of Frazer, proved clearly enough that there was a plot on foot, as certainly as there was two or three years later, in which the very same persons, Frazer and Athol, were engaged.

It was at this moment that the house of lords, determining to search Boucher to the bottom, excited so fiercely the wrath of the commons by demanding that he and Sir John Maclean should be brought to their bar. Nothing, however, could be extracted from Boucher. He pleaded that he was tired of living out of his native country, and had determined to throw himself on the mercy of the queen. He contended that, during the wars in Ireland as well as in Flanders, he had been extremely attentive to all English prisoners, and he produced so much effect that he was allowed to retire, and died soon after in Newgate.

The year 1704 opened amid these inquiries. The queen laid before the house of lords the papers concerning the Highland plot, with one exception, which the earl of Nottingham asserted could not yet be made public without tending to prevent a further discovery. This only stimulated the lords, who addressed the queen, praying that the whole of the papers might be submitted to them. The queen replied that she did not expect to be pressed in this manner, but she ordered the papers in question to be delivered to them under seal. The peers pursued the inquiry with renewed vigour, and soon issued a report that it appeared