Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 | Page 6

embarked at Dunkirk disembarked. A fatal delay was occasioned; and
the French fleet, after an ineffectual voyage, went "sneakingly home,"
"doing," as one of the most active Jacobites remarks, "much harm to
the King, his country, and themselves."
Such was the fate of the attempt, in 1708, to place James Stuart on the
throne of his ancestors; and it will readily be believed that the
ill-starred endeavour did not add to the probable success of any future
enterprise. Scarcely had the accession of George the First, an event
which a certain historian denominates "a surprising turn of
Providence," taken place, than the removal of Lord Bolingbroke from
office announced to the Tory party that they had lost their best friend at
Court. Upon this intelligence reaching the Highlands, many of the
Jacobites took up arms; but this hasty demonstration of good will to
their cause was instantly suppressed. The Chevalier was, nevertheless,
proclaimed King in the night time, and three noblemen, the Duke of
Gordon, the Marquis of Huntley, and Lord Drummond, were kept
prisoners in their own houses. In the middle of November, the
Chevalier's Declaration, asserting his right and title to the Crown of

England, was sent by a French mail to many persons of rank in this
country. For some months the country was in a state of ferment, such as,
perhaps, had never been witnessed since the days of the Great
Rebellion. The Jacobites were centered in Oxford, but Bristol was also
another of their strongholds; the course of justice was impeded there by
riots; and every effort was made, both there and elsewhere, to influence
the elections, which were carried on with a degree of venom and fury,
exasperated by the cry of "the Church in danger!"
In February, 1715, the Duke of Argyle, Commander-in-Chief of his
Majesty's forces in Scotland, received information that a vessel
containing arms and ammunition had landed in the Isle of Sky, and that
five strangers had disembarked there, and had instantly dispersed
themselves throughout the country. This was the first positive
indication of the combination, which already comprised most of the
ancient and respected names in Scotland. This confederacy, as it may
be called, had existed ever since the peace of Utrecht, under the form of
the Jacobite Association. In 1710, the formation of the October Club
had shewed plainly the bias of the country gentlemen, who, according
to a judge of men's motives who was rarely satisfied, "did adhere firmly
to their principles and engagements, acting the part of honest
countrymen and dutiful subjects."[5]
About the month of May, the report of James Stuart's intended invasion
of Scotland, and particulars of the preparations made for it in England,
Scotland, and France, became public. Measures were, of course,
instantly taken to guard the coasts of England and Scotland, and to
augment land forces. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended in
England, and in Scotland. An Act, passed in 1701, for preventing
wrong imprisonments, and against undue delay in trials, was also
suspended from the twenty-third of July, 1715, until the twenty-fourth
of the ensuing January. A fleet, under the command of Sir George
Byng, was ordered to cruise in the Downs; and the most active and
vigilant measures were taken in order to put the nation into a position
of defence. The former intended invasion of 1708 was not forgotten,
and it acted like a warning voice to the English Ministry. A Whig
Association was framed among persons of rank and influence; and in

Edinburgh a body of volunteers was formed, who might daily be seen
exercising in the Great Hall of the College.
Meantime the Jacobites were increasing in strength. During the last six
years collections had been made in the continental nations, purporting
to be for a "gentleman in distress," and the amount was said to have
exceeded twelve millions.[6] Of this sum, one hundred thousand
pounds was entrusted to the Earl of Mar.
The whole scheme of the insurrection was matured, and the Chevalier
had been proclaimed King in different towns in Scotland, when the
death of Louis the Fourteenth cast such a damp over the spirits of the
party, that there ensued a consultation as to the expediency of their
separating and returning to their homes. In this emergency, unhappily
for the brave and ardent men whom he had assembled at Braemar, the
influence of the Earl of Mar, and the arguments which his sanguine
spirit suggested, prevailed; and the assembled chiefs parted, only to
meet again at their appointed places of rendezvous.
The scheme of the Insurrection of 1715 embraced three different
movements. In the north, the Earl of Mar was to possess himself of all
the rich coasts of Fife, and also to maintain, in the name of James the
Third, the northern counties, which,