had in effecting the "cursed union," which he was now resolved to spend his best blood to free them from—on the miseries attendant on a foreign succession; which, grievous as they already felt them to be, might be expected to increase till their liberties, civil and religious, were totally annihilated; but from which they had now the means of being delivered, by simply restoring James VIII. who had already promised them his presence for that end, with abundance of arms, ammunition, officers, and engineers, so soon as they should have resolved upon the proper place to land them. Money, the grand desideratum in all such undertakings, he assured them he had received, and would regularly receive in abundance, so that no gentleman would find any difficulty in subsisting his men, nor should the country be at all burdened on their account. Finally, he informed them that he had received a commission from the said king James, to act as his lieutenant-general, in consequence of which he intended immediately to set up the royal standard, and summon to attend it the whole fencible men in the kingdom. Though these statements were false, and foolish in the extreme, from the rank of the speaker, the confidence with which they were uttered, and especially from the previously formed habits and feelings of the hearers, they made a powerful impression; each hasted to bring forward his followers, and, on the 6th day of September, 1715, Marr set up the standard of James and proclaimed him king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c., at his castle of Braemar. The same proclamation was repeated three days after at the village of Kirk-Micbael, and the people summoned generally to attend him,—for, as yet, they were a very small handful. From Kirk-Michael he proceeded to Moulin, in Perthshire, and thence, by Logic Rait to Dunkeld, where he found his army swelled to upwards of two thousand men. At the two former of these places, James was proclaimed with proper solemnity; at the latter, he had been proclaimed by the marquis of Tullibardine, previous to Marrs arrival At Perth, he was proclaimed by colonel Balfour and colonel John Hay, who, with two hundred and fifty horse, assisted by two hundred men, introduced into the town, by the duke of Athol, under the pretence of defending it, secured it for the earl of Marr, though the earl of Rothes, with five hundred well-appointed troops, was in the immediate vicinity, intending to take possession of it for the government James was at the same time proclaimed at Aberdeen, by the earl
Marischal ; at Castle Gordon, by the earl of Huntly; at Brechin, by the earl of Panmure; at Montrose, by the earl of Southeske; at Dundee, by Graham of Duntroon, then, by the pretender, created viscount Dundee; and at Inverness,
by Mackintosh of Borlum, who, with five hundred men, had taken possession of that important place for James ; and, after giving it in charge to Mackenzie of Coul, proceeded to join the army under Marr.
While the whole north of Scotland, with the exception of Sutherland and Caithness, was thus, without anything like opposition, cordially declaring for the Pretender, a scheme was laid for surprising and taking possession of the castle of Edinburgh, which would at once have given the rebels the command of Scotland almost without stroke of sword. The prime agent in this affair was the lord Drummond, who, had he succeeded, was to have the governorship of the castle, and his companions, ninety gentlemen of his own selection, were to be rewarded with one hundred guineas each, and a commission in the rebel army. To accomplish their purpose, they corrupted a sergeant in the castle, of the name of Ainsley, with the promise of a lieutenancy; a corporal, with the promise of an ensigncy, and two soldiers, the one with eight, and the other with four guineas. They then provided a scaling ladder, made of ropes, and so constructed that two or three persons could ascend it abreast. This the traitor within drew up with pulleys, fastening it at the top, and a number of the rebel
