I shall here occasionally relate an unfortunate accident, which happened this summer in Scotland.

M'Donnel, laird of Cappagh in the Highlands, within eight miles of Inverlochy, was unjustly possessed, as most men believed, for many years of an estate, which in right belonged to the laird of Mackintosh. Both these gentlemen were well affected to the king. The laird of Cappagh, after sowing time was over, had gone that summer, as it was his custom, to make merry with his clans, on the mountains, till the time of harvest should call him home. But in his absence, Mackintosh, and his clans, assisted with a party of the army, by order of the government, possessed himself of Cappagh's estate: whereupon M'Donnel, and his clans, returning from the mountains, set upon the enemy, killed several gentlemen among them, and took Mackintosh himself prisoner. M'Donnel had given strict orders to his men, not to kill any of the army. But captain McKenzie, who commanded on the other side, making a shot at one of M'Donnel's men, who was pursuing his adversary, the man, discharging his pistol at the captain, shot him in the knee, who, after having been carried fifty miles to Inverness, to a surgeon, died of his wound.

Soon after, the government ordered me to detach sixty dragoons, with a lieutenant, cornet, and standard, and to march with captain Streighton, and two hundred of the foot-guards, against the M'Donnels; to destroy man, woman, and child, pertaining to the laird of Cappagh, and to burn his houses and corn *. Upon

* The reader, perhaps, will not think very honourably of the government, or of Creichton's employment under it, when he reads the above particulars. An order from the king to get pos

session

Upon the approach of our party, M'Donnel, laird of Cappagh, dismissing his prisoners, retired farther into the mountains; whereupon we who were sent against him continued to destroy all the houses and corn, from the time of Lammas to the tenth of September: and then we advanced toward the borders, to join the Scotch army, which at that time was marching toward England, against the prince of Orange, who then intended an invasion. We arrived there the first of October, after a march of two hundred miles.

General Drummond being then dead, James Doug. las, brother to the duke of Queensberry, succeeded him as commander in chief: and Graham laird of Clavers (about this time created lord Dundee*) was major general. On the first of October the army passed the Tweed, and drew up on the banks, on the English side; where the general gave a strict charge

session of a contested estate by force, and a grant of a military power to effect it, was illegal, arbitrary, and tyrannical, totally inconsistent with the liberty of the people, and the coronation oath of the king: but to give orders to revenge an opposition by the murder, not only of the men, but of all the women and children belonging to the injured party, was an instance of cruelty that disgraced human nature, and would have been a crime of the deepest die, if there had been no positive institution, and neither law nor compact existing upon earth.

John Graham, created viscount Dundee by king James, was a major general of the Scottish army, and a privy counsellor, in the reign of Charles II. He was then employed in reducing the west of Scotland, and in forcing the dissenters to comply with the constitution of the established church, by imposing heavy taxes upon them, which was one of the methods of making proselytes in that kingdom. But he was a man of too noble a nature, to execute his orders in their full rigour. Granger, IV, 277.

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one of his battalions revolted to the prince, under the conduct only of a corporal, whose name was Kemp. However, Douglas assured the king, that this defection happened against his will; and yet, when the officers were ready to fire upon the deserters, his compassion was such, that he would not permit them.

After this, the earl of Dunbarton, and the lord Dundee, with all the officers who adhered to the king, were ordered to meet his majesty at Uxbridge, where he designed to fight the prince: the earl of Feversham got thi her before the king and the army arrived. When the forces drew together, every party sent an officer to the earl of Feversham, to receive his commands. I attended his lordship for my lord Dundee, and was ordered, with the rest, to wait till the king came to dinner, his majesty being expected within half an hour; but it fell out otherwise; for the earl, to his great surprise, received a letter from the king, signifying that his majesty was gone off, and had no farther service for the army. When I carried this news to my lord Dundee, neither his lordship, nor the lords Linlithgow and Dunmore, could forbear falling into teas: after which, being at a loss what course to take, I said to my lord Dundee, that as he had brought us out of Scotland, he should convey us thither back again in a body; adding, that the forces might lie that night at Watford, six miles off: my advice was followed, and I went before to get billets, where to quarter the men. My lord Dundee ordered all to be ready at sound of trumpet, and to unbridle their horses no longer than while they were eating their oats. The townsmen contrived to give out a report, before day, that the prince of Orange

was

was approaching, hoping to fright us away with a file alarm whereupon we marched out, but at the same time drew up in a strong enclosure, at the town's end resolving to fight the prince if he should advance toward us. My lord Dundee dispatched me immediately, to discover whether the report of the prince's approach were true: but I only met a messenger with a letter from his highness, to my lord Dundee, which I received and delivered to his lordship. The contents of it, as far as I am able to recollect, were as follow:

"I understand you are now at Watford, and that "you keep your men together; I desire you may stay "there till farther orders, and, upon my honour, none "in my army shall touch you.

"W. H. Prince of ORANGE."

Upon the receipt of this letter, our forces returned into the town, set up their horses, and refreshed themselves. About three in the afternoon, there came intelligence, that the king would be at Whitehall that night, having returned from Feversham, whither he had fled in disguise, and was ill treated by the rabble before they discovered him. Upon this incident, the lords Dundee *, Dunmore, Linlith

He advised the king to three things; one was, to fight the prince: another, to go to him in person, and demand his business; and the third, to make his way into Scotland. James had once resolved to pursue the last advice; but that, in the fluctuating state of his mind, was soon followed by another resolution. Upon the king's departure, Dundee applied himself to the prince of Orange, to whom he spoke with all that frankness which was natural to him; but met with a very cool reception. Granger, IV, 278.

gow, and myself, who desired leave to go with my colonel, took horse; and, arriving at Whitehall a little after the king, had the honour to kiss his majesty's hand.

The next morning, the earl of Feversham was sent by the king, with some proposals to the prince of Orange, who was then at Windsor: where his lordship was put in arrest by the prince's command, who sent the marquis of Halifax, the earl of Shrewsbury, and the lord Delamere (if I rightly remember) to the king, with his highness's order that his majesty should remove from Whitehall, next day, before twelve o'clock. This order was given about one in the morning at the same time, a barge was brought to Whitehall, and a Dutch guard set about the king, without his knowledge, but with directions to see him safe, if he had a mind to go on board any ship, in order to his escape *. A ship, it seems, was likewise prepared, and his majesty, attended by the lords Dunmore, Arran, and Middleton, went on board; and then the three lords returned to London. The prince arrived at St. James's about two hours after his majesty's departure †: and the earl of Arran went, among

the

*"A guard went with him, that left him in full liberty, and

paid him rather more respect than his own guards had done of "late. Most of that body, as it happened, were papists. So "when he went to mass, they went in, and assisted very reve"rently. And when they were asked, how they could serve in "an expedition that was intended to destroy their own religion, "one of them answered, His soul was God's, but his sword was "the prince of Orange's. The king was so much delighted with "this answer, that he repeated it to all that came about him." Burnet, vol. II, p. 548.

"It happened to be a very rainy day; and yet great num"bers came to him. But, after they had stood long in the wet,

he