Next day I again wrote to the King a few lines wherein I told him I thought Mr. Amalot had done as much as he could at the present juncture and that I thought the information I had gott was well worth my while of coming over and sure enough it merited the journey, for by this I had it in my power to assure our friends in Scotland there was no determinate Resolution taken; and at the same time the manner in which Mr. Drummond told me he had taken to engage the Highland Gentlemen seemed to me very good and practicable. As I was then but little acquainted with business imagined it might have the same effect upon these in the Low Country and indeed was so much prevented with the good character of L[ord] Semple and Mr. Drummond had amongst those concerned in his Majesty’s affairs in Scotland that it never came into my head to doubt of anything they advanced; in which opinion I partly remained till my L[ord] T[ra]q[uai]r’s return to Scotland in Octr. 1743 that same year.[134] From what Mr. Amelot had told us the next thing to be done was endeavouring to form a Concert in England, by which they might be able to give such encouragement to the French and such assurance of joining upon their landing together with victuals and carriages as might then oblidge the King to declare one way or other. To execute this Mr. Drummond and I sett out from Paris the end of Febuary and gott to London by the way of Dover in four days and a half. The method he proposed was to bring my L[ord] T[ra]q[uai]r to London and to work the point by him as he was acquainted with all the principal Torries and desired I would go to York and gett the D[uke] of P[erth] to send express for him and that I would return with a Resolution to stay there for some time to be an assistant to his L[ordship] and him; but this I refused to go into as the reason I had given out for my journey would not suffice to detain me any time, so rather chuse to go to Scotland myself and shew my L[ord] T[ra]q[uai]r the necessity there was for his coming up. In the meanwhile I was employed in endeavouring to learn from Coll. Cicel and Mr. Smith the objections the Dutches of Buckingham and her party had to L[ord] Semple, and as I was pretty well acquainted with them both I easily made myself master of all they had to say against him, which I then thought quite frivolous from the favourable notion I had of L[ord] Semple. As to the particular accusations laid against him I shall say nothing of them here as I shall put down the Copy of a letter I had the Honour to write to the King some litle time after my arrival in Scotland wherein I mentioned them all.