Origins of the 'Forty-five : $b and other papers relating to that rising
History
Origins of the 'Forty-five : $b and other papers relating to that rising
Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746
It may be that Lovat was one of those Highlanders who joined in
Glenbucket’s message. About this time he had been deprived of his
sheriffship and of his independent company, and, furious against the
Government, had almost openly avowed his Jacobitism. In 1736 he, as
sheriff, had released the Jacobite agent John Roy Stewart from prison
in Inverness and by him had despatched a message of devotion to the
Chevalier,[59] but of his co-operation with Glenbucket I have found no
hint. The sequence of events here narrated make it plain that whoever
it was for whom he spoke, it was Gordon of Glenbucket whose initiative
in 1737 originated the Jacobite revival which eventually brought Prince
Charles to Scotland.
Analysis of the papers is unnecessary after the admirable introduction
to the _Memorials_ by Mr. Fitzroy Bell, but it may interest readers
of that work to refer to two letters mentioned in the _Memorials_.
The first of these was a letter Murray says he wrote to the Chevalier
giving an account of his interview with Cecil in London.[60] Mr. Bell
searched the Stuart Papers at Windsor, but failed to find it. I think
the letter printed on page 20 is the letter that was intended, though
it is addressed not to James but to his secretary Edgar. The other
letter mentioned in the _Memorials_ was one to the Earl Marischal
written about the same time. It was entrusted for delivery to Balhaldy
and Traquair, but to Murray’s intense indignation they destroyed it.
In the _Memorials_ he expresses his regret that he has not a copy to
insert. There is little doubt that the letter on page 27 of these
papers is the draft of the letter referred to.
The account of the interview with Cecil (pp. 16, 21) makes pathetic
reading. Murray, the Scottish official agent, fresh from seeing
Balhaldy and Sempill, the official agents in Paris, is conscious that
the latter are deceiving both the French Government and their own
party. Murray conceals from Balhaldy that he is going to interview
Cecil; from Cecil that he has been in Paris. Cecil, on the other
hand, makes only a partial disclosure of his feelings in Murray’s
presence. He is contemptuous of his Jacobite colleagues, the Duchess of
Buckingham and her party, and he has not a good word to say of Sempill.
Murray again ridicules Cecil, of whom he has a poor opinion.
How could a cause served by such agents ever prosper?
This copy of John Murray’s papers and the three following documents
were found among some papers relating to the ’Forty-five collected by a
gentleman of Midlothian shortly after the Rising. Many years ago I was
permitted to copy them, and from these transcripts the text has been
printed.
MEMORIAL CONCERNING THE HIGHLANDS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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