Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/375

 1920 36' k Macphersoji and the Naime Papers IN 1896 the late Colonel Arthur Parnell contributed to this Review^ an article entitled Macpherson and the Naime Papers. In it he discussed the value as historical evidence of eight docu- ments, which formed part of the papers of David Nairne, under- secretary to Melfort, the secretary of state to James II at St. Germain, and which are now in the Bodleian Library. All these documents have reference to the communications of certain states- men, and particularly of Marlborough, with James II after he had abandoned the English throne and had been succeeded by William and Mary. Colonel Parnell advanced various objections to the authenticity of these papers, and claimed to have proved that this Camaret Bay draft,^ written by Nairne and corrected by Melfort, was simply, if ever presented at Versailles and not a later forgery,^ a cunning design of that most unscrupulous statesman, partly to mislead Louis XIV into a false idea of the zeal of Marlborough on behalf of James, and partly to show his own importance. I submit also, for the reason given, that the seven preceding accusatory documents ^ are all of the same deceptive nature, and are of no more historical value than so much waste paper.^ There are thus three points to be considered : whether Macpherson forged the Nairne Papers in question, whether Melfort concocted them to deceive Louis XIV, and whether they have any historical value. It is curious that Colonel Parnell attempted to expose the ' forgery ' of Macpherson from the internal evidence afforded by the letters, not from a comparison of the handwriting. The handwriting of the disputed documents is the same as that of other papers which are in the same volumes ^ in the Bodleian Library, and which Colonel Parnell admitted to be genuine. Apart from this, there is good evidence that these papers were in existence before Macpherson had an opportunity of ' forging ' them. Macpherson, ' by a present of £300 made by his publisher to the proprietor ', Mr. Jernegan, who married Carte's widow,' » Ante, xii. 254-84. a quotation from the Memoirs o/ Thomas Bruce, Earl of AUesbury. The Camaret Bay draft is the last, i. ^ The italics are Colonel Parnell's. * a-g. * ArUe, xii. 274 • Carte MSS. 181, 209. ' Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, ii. 514.
 * Colonel Parnell distinguishes the documents by the letters a-g, i ; h being