Redgauntlet | Page 4

involved in the ruins of a falling cause, indulged themselves
in undeserved reproaches against their leader. Indeed, such censures
were by no means frequent among those of his followers who, if what
was alleged had been just, had the best right to complain. Far the
greater number of those unfortunate gentlemen suffered with the most
dignified patience, and were either too proud to take notice of
ill-treatment an the part of their prince, or so prudent as to be aware
their complaints would meet with little sympathy from the world. It
may be added, that the greater part of the banished Jacobites, and those
of high rank and consequence, were not much within reach of the
influence of the prince's character and conduct, whether well regulated
or otherwise.

In the meantime that great Jacobite conspiracy, of which the
insurrection of 1745-6 was but a small part precipitated into action on
the failure of a far more general scheme, was resumed and again put
into motion by the Jacobites of England, whose force had never been
broken, as they had prudently avoided bringing it into the field. The
surprising effect which had been produced by small means, in 1745-6,
animated their hopes for more important successes, when the whole
nonjuring interest of Britain, identified as it then was with great part of
the landed gentlemen, should come forward to finish what had been
gallantly attempted by a few Highland chiefs.
It is probable, indeed, that the Jacobites of the day were incapable of
considering that the very small scale on which the effort was made, was
in one great measure the cause of its unexpected success. The
remarkable speed with which the insurgents marched, the singularly
good discipline which they preserved, the union and unanimity which
for some time animated their councils, were all in a considerable degree
produced by the smallness of their numbers. Notwithstanding the
discomfiture of Charles Edward, the nonjurors of the period long
continued to nurse unlawful schemes, and to drink treasonable toasts,
until age stole upon them. Another generation arose, who did not share
the sentiments which they cherished; and at length the sparkles of
disaffection, which had long smouldered, but had never been heated
enough to burst into actual flame, became entirely extinguished. But in
proportion as the political enthusiasm died gradually away among men
of ordinary temperament, it influenced those of warm imaginations and
weak understandings, and hence wild schemes were formed, as
desperate as they were adventurous.
Thus a young Scottishman of rank is said to have stooped so low as to
plot the surprisal of St. James's Palace, and the assassination of the
royal family. While these ill-digested and desperate conspiracies were
agitated among the few Jacobites who still adhered with more
obstinacy to their purpose, there is no question but that other plots
might have been brought to an open explosion, had it not suited the
policy of Sir Robert Walpole rather to prevent or disable the
conspirators in their projects, than to promulgate the tale of danger,

which might thus have been believed to be more widely diffused than
was really the case.
In one instance alone this very prudential and humane line of conduct
was departed from, and the event seemed to confirm the policy of the
general course. Doctor Archibald Cameron, brother of the celebrated
Donald Cameron of Lochiel, attainted for the rebellion of 1745, was
found by a party of soldiers lurking with a comrade in the wilds of
Loch Katrine five or six years after the battle of Culloden, and was
there seized. There were circumstances in his case, so far as was made
known to the public, which attracted much compassion, and gave to the
judicial proceedings against him an appearance of cold-blooded
revenge on the part of government; and the following argument of a
zealous Jacobite in his favour, was received as conclusive by Dr.
Johnson and other persons who might pretend to impartiality. Dr.
Cameron had never borne arms, although engaged in the Rebellion, but
used his medical skill for the service, indifferently, of the wounded of
both parties. His return to Scotland was ascribed exclusively to family
affairs. His behaviour at the bar was decent, firm, and respectful. His
wife threw herself, on three different occasions, before George II and
the members of his family, was rudely repulsed from their presence,
and at length placed, it was said, in the same prison with her husband,
and confined with unmanly severity.
Dr. Cameron was finally executed with all the severities of the law of
treason; and his death remains in popular estimation a dark blot upon
the memory of George II, being almost publicly imputed to a mean and
personal hatred of Donald Cameron of Lochiel, the sufferer's heroic
brother.
Yet the fact was that