Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/359

 landing in 1692, he was on 5 May seized under a warrant (ib. ii. 441), on the 7th committed to Newgate (ib. 443), and on the 18th superseded in his post at the excise (ib. 494). In connection with the Lancashire plot of 1694 he published ‘A Letter to my Lord Chief Justice Holt,’ and ‘A Letter to Secretary Trenchard’ (attributed by Lord Macaulay to Montgomery), containing virulent attacks on the government and the executive. The following year he published ‘Whether the preserving the Protestant Religion was the motive unto, or the end that was designed in the late Revolution?’ ‘Whether the Parliament be not in Law dissolved by the Death of the Princess of Orange?’ and ‘A brief Account of some of the late Encroachments and Depredations of the Dutch upon the English.’ That Ferguson was privy to the plot of Sir [q. v.] there can be no doubt. He was the author of ‘Advice to the Country in their electing of Members for the ensuing Parliament,’ which was circulated in January 1695–6. On suspicion of being concerned in Barclay's plot he was arrested 10 March 1695–6 (ib. iv. 27), and he remained in Newgate till 14 Jan. 1696–7, when he was admitted to bail (ib. p. 169). He now took up the cudgels on behalf of the Scots in reference to the Darien question, and, having previously published ‘A Letter to Robert Harley, Esq., in favour of the Scots Act for an African Company,’ he published in 1699 a treatise of some size entitled ‘A Just and Modest Vindication of the Scots' Design for having established a Colony at Darien; with a brief display how much it is their interest to apply themselves to trade, and particularly to that which is foreign.’ This year his father died, but, as he failed to enter an appearance as heir, his brother, [q. v.], was on 19 June 1700 confirmed in possession of the estate. His name next comes into prominence in connection with the ‘Scots Plot,’ and it was through his revelations that the machinations of, twelfth lord Lovat [q. v.], against the Duke of Atholl were frustrated. In connection with this, Ferguson on 24 Dec. 1703 published a declaration in which he solemnly asserted that, ‘so far as concerns either my knowledge or my belief, there is not a nonjuror, or one reckoned a Jacobite, engaged in a plot, or that will, against her majesty and the government,’ and that his only motive for revealing Fraser's conspiracy against Atholl was ‘the preserving the safety and honour of her majesty.’ With the knowledge now possessed of the designs then cherished by the Jacobites, it is impossible to regard these statements of Ferguson as anything else than deliberate falsehoods, intended both to aid in overturning Queensberry and the whigs, and to divert suspicion from further projects that the Jacobites might then have in hand. In this he did not altogether succeed. On account of the assertions of Sir Thomas Stewart, which undoubtedly revealed Ferguson's true relation to Fraser and the court of St. Germain, he was brought up for examination, but having answered with great dexterity he was dismissed. By the lords his narrative was declared ‘false, scandalous, and seditious,’ and he was ordered to be committed to Newgate; but he was admitted to bail, and was never put upon his trial. Besides his ‘History of the Revolution,’ 1706, 2nd ed. 1717, Ferguson subsequently published, ‘Qualifications requisite in a Minister of State,’ 1710, and ‘An Account of the Obligations the States of Holland have to Great Britain, and the Return they have made both in Europe and the Indies. With Reflections upon the Peace,’ 1712. The ‘History of all the Mobs, Tumults, and Insurrections in Great Britain, with the tryals of the ring-leaders and betrayers counting from William the Conqueror to the present time. Begun by Mr. Ferguson, and continued by an impartial hand,’ appeared at London in 1715. He also edited Bishop Guthrie's ‘Memoirs,’ 1702. His latter years were spent in great poverty, and he died in 1714.



FERGUSON, ROBERT (1750–1774). [See ]

FERGUSON, ROBERT, M.D. (1799–1865), physician, son of Robert Ferguson of Glen Islay, Perthshire, and of the Indian civil service, and grand-nephew of Adam Ferguson, the historian, was born in India in 1799. He went to school at Croydon under Dr. Crombie, author of the ‘Gymnasium,’ and began to study medicine as the pupil of one