Redgauntlet | Page 5

whether the execution of Archibald Cameron was
political or otherwise, it might certainly have been justified, had the
king's ministers so pleased, upon reasons of a public nature. The
unfortunate sufferer had not come to the Highlands solely upon his
private affairs, as was the general belief; but it was not judged prudent
by the English ministry to let it be generally known that he came to
inquire about a considerable sum of money which had been remitted

from France to the friends of the exiled family. He had also a
commission to hold intercourse with the well-known M'Pherson of
Cluny, chief of the clan Vourich, whom the Chevalier had left behind at
his departure from Scotland in 1746, and who remained during ten
years of proscription and danger, skulking from place to place in the
Highlands, and maintaining an uninterrupted correspondence between
Charles and his friends. That Dr. Cameron should have held a
commission to assist this chief in raking together the dispersed embers
of disaffection, is in itself sufficiently natural, and, considering his
political principles, in no respect dishonourable to his memory. But
neither ought it to be imputed to George II that he suffered the laws to
be enforced against a person taken in the act of breaking them. When
he lost his hazardous game, Dr. Cameron only paid the forfeit which he
must have calculated upon. The ministers, however, thought it proper
to leave Dr. Cameron's new schemes in concealment, lest, by divulging
them, they had indicated the channel of communication which, it is
now well known, they possessed to all the plots of Charles Edward. But
it was equally ill advised and ungenerous to sacrifice the character of
the king to the policy of the administration. Both points might have
been gained by sparing the life of Dr. Cameron after conviction, and
limiting his punishment to perpetual exile.
These repeated and successive Jacobite plots rose and burst like
bubbles on a fountain; and one of them, at least, the Chevalier judged
of importance enough to induce him to risk himself within the
dangerous precincts of the British capital. This appears from Dr. King's
ANECDOTES OF HIS OWN TIMES.
'September, 1750.--I received a note from my Lady Primrose, who
desired to see me immediately. As soon as I waited on her, she led me
into her dressing-room, and presented me to--' [the Chevalier,
doubtless]. 'If I was surprised to find him there, I was still more
astonished when he acquainted me with the motives which had induced
him to hazard a journey to England at this juncture. The impatience of
his friends who were in exile had formed a scheme which was
impracticable; but although it had been as feasible as they had
represented it to him, yet no preparation had been made, nor was

anything ready to carry it into execution. He was soon convinced that
he had been deceived; and, therefore, after a stay in London of five
days only, he returned to the place from whence he came.' Dr. King
was in 1750 a keen Jacobite, as may be inferred from the visit made by
him to the prince under such circumstances, and from his being one of
that unfortunate person's chosen correspondents. He, as well as other
men of sense and observation, began to despair of making their fortune
in the party which they had chosen. It was indeed sufficiently
dangerous; for, during the short visit just described, one of Dr. King's
servants remarked the stranger's likeness to Prince Charles, whom he
recognized from the common busts.
The occasion taken for breaking up the Stuart interest we shall tell in
Dr. King's own words:--'When he (Charles Edward) was in Scotland,
he had a mistress whose name was Walkinshaw, and whose sister was
at that time, and is still, housekeeper at Leicester House. Some years
after he was released from his prison, and conducted out of France, he
sent for this girl, who soon acquired such a dominion over him, that she
was acquainted with all his schemes, and trusted with his most secret
correspondence. As soon as this was known in England, all those
persons of distinction who were attached to him were greatly alarmed:
they imagined that this wench had been placed in his family by the
English ministers; and, considering her sister's situation, they seemed to
have some ground for their suspicion; wherefore, they dispatched a
gentleman to Paris, where the prince then was, who had instructions to
insist that Mrs. Walkinshaw should be removed to a convent for a
certain term; but her gallant absolutely refused to comply with this
demand; and although Mr. M'Namara, the gentleman who was sent to
him, who has a natural eloquence and an excellent understanding,
urged the most cogent reasons, and used all the arts