Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/352

338 number, who seized on Inverness. James was proclaimed by Panmure at Brechin, by the earl marshal at Aberdeen, by lord Huntly at Gordon, and by Graham, the brother of Claverhouse, at Dundee. Colonel Hay, brother of the earl of Kinnaird, seized Perth, and in a very short time the country north of the Tay was in the hands of the insurgents.

Whilst the flame was spreading from hill to hill in the Highlands, there was an attempt to surprise the castle of Edinburgh by a party of Highlanders. Lord Drummond, a catholic nobleman, was at the head of the plan. Three soldiers in the garrison were gained over, and a part of the precipice on the north side of the rock on which the castle stands, was pointed out as acceptable by one of the conspirators, who, having been once on duty as a soldier, had often descended by it into the town at night to visit his sweetheart. Ladders were prepared to facilitate the speedy ascent, and the rope which held them was secured to a strong post within the wall. The conspirator's, on gaining the castle-yard, were to fire three cannon as a signal, which was to be taken up by men stationed on the opposite side of the Forth, in Fifeshire, who were to fire a beacon light on a hill, and thus the news was to be sent from hill to hill all over the Highlands.

But fortunately for the cause of king George, the men who were to perform this exploit committed two gross errors—they stayed tippling after their time, and a Mr. Arthur, who was in the conspiracy, communicated the secret to his brother, Dr. Arthur, who betrayed it to his wife, and who soon dispatched a messenger with it to the lord justice clerk. The scaling of the castle wall was to take place at nine: the news of the intended surprise did not reach the lord justice clerk til ten, but the conspirators continued drinking, and even boasting of what they were going to do, till eleven, two hours after their time. Had they been punctual, notwithstanding the betrayal of the secret, they would have succeeded; as it was, just as they were ascending the ladders, the sentinel on duty, who was their accomplice, saw a body of soldiers issue from the castle and march towards him. Aware that the secret was out, he called over the wall, to give the conspirators the alarm, and suddenly let go the rope to prevent his own detection, so that numbers on the ladders were toppled down the cliff and were hurt. Four of them were taken, who turned out to be Ramsay and Boswell, writers to the signet; Leslie, late a page of the duchess of Gordon, famous for her Jacobite zeal; and captain Maclean, a veteran of the field of Killiecrankie.

The ministry in London, meantime, committed the political blunder—from a petty feeling of aversion to the man—of passing over Marlborough, and sending the duke of Argyll to Scotland as commander-in-chief against the rebels. Argyll was a man of ability, both in the field and in the house, but nothing like Marlborough, and he was of doubtful fidelity to the house of Hanover, Marlborough not more so. He was a man of imposing exterior, but with some mean and selfish qualities. Whilst Argyll proceeded to the Highlands to take the command of the forces there, the Dutch were called on, in compliance with a treaty with them, to supply six thousand soldiers; orders were issued to raise seven thousand more, all half-pay officers were summoned to active duty, and a reward of one hundred thousand pounds was offered for the pretender, dead or alive.

The authorities at Edinburgh, after the attempted surprise, suspended the habeas corpus act, and arrested and confined in the castle the most noted Jacobites, amongst them the earls of Hume, Wigtoun, Kinnoul, lord Deskford, Lockhart of Carnwath, and Hume of Whitfield. All suspected persons were summoned to give security for their good behaviour, and such as did not appear were deemed rebels. This done, great numbers came to a decision who might otherwise have remained inactive, and thus it did mischief. Amongst these was the earl of Breadalbane, a man of nearly eighty.

By the 28th of September Mar had mustered at Perth about five thousand men. He was cheered by the arrival of one or two ships from France with stores, arms, and ammunition. He had also managed to surprise a government ship driven to take shelter at Burntisland, on its way to carry arms to the earl of Sutherland, who was raising his clan for king George in the north. The arms were seized by Mar's party, and carried off to the army.

Argyll arrived about the same time in Scotland, and marched to Stirling, where he encamped with only about one thousand foot and five hundred cavalry. This was the time for Mar to advance and surround him, or drive him before him; but Mar was a most incompetent general, and remained inactive at Perth, awaiting the movement of the Jacobites in England, when, by a decisive action, he might have cleared all Scotland of the handful of king George's forces, and made a great impression on the public mind. Those movements which Mar awaited in England were the rising of the west under Ormonde, which we have seen never came off, and of the Jacobites in the north. Though this did take place, it was so paralysed by the successful measures of the government, that it ended in nothing.

In and around London the government seized and confined all the leading Jacobites that they could find. Lord Lansdowne and lord Duplin, the titular duke of Powis, were sent to the Tower; lieutenant-colonel Paul, detected in enlisting for the pretender, was arrested. The king sent a message to the house of commons, desiring them to apprehend six of their members, with which they immediately endeavoured to comply. Some of these members were already away, but Harvey and Austin were taken at once. Sir John Packington and Sir William Wyndham were taken at their seats in the country. Wyndham was seized at his house in Somersetshire by colonel Huske and a messenger, who secured his papers; he, however, managed to escape, but one thousand pounds reward being offered for his recovery, he surrendered himself. Sir Richard Vivian, of Cornwall, was also arrested and sent up to town. Plymouth, Bristol, and Exeter, which the insurgents proposed to get possession of, were strongly garrisoned, and the west remained quiet.

A prompt course was next taken with the insolent Jacobitism of Oxford. That university had shown a mast daring and insulting disloyalty; on the flight and attainder of the duke of Ormonde, their chancellor, had not only immediately elected his brother, the earl of Arran, to that