IV. 1689. his right cover'd by the River of Tomel, his left by the Hills T O M. of Blair, and his front by a small rivelet which ran along the plaine, which by this time Mackay had enter'd also, and puting his men in order of Battle too, stretched forth his line so far, that it reached betwixt the two hills: My Lord Dundee observeing this, did all he could to make an equal front, which took up so much time that it was near eight a clock at night, the 27th of July, ere the action began: the Highlanders bore the enimys fire with great intrepiditie till they came close up to them, and then discharging their muskets threw them away, and fell in so furiously with their broad swords and targets, as disorder'd Mackey's men exceedingly, who not being accustomed to such a method of fighting made but a faint resistance, especially when their hors gaue way too; which My Lord Dundee chargeing in person routed entirely, and then puting himself at the head of sixteen men only, seized the enimys cannon and had gain'd a glorious victory, when crossing over the plaine to give some orders on the left, where the enimy made the most opposition, was most unfortunately * kill❜d by a that to-day begins the fate of your King, your Religion, and your Country. Behave yourselves, therefore, like true Scotchmen; and let us, by this action, redeem the credit of this Nation, that is laid low by the treacheries and cowardice of some of our Countrymen; in which I ask nothing of you, that you shall not see me do before you; and, if any of us shall fall upon this occasion, we shall have the honour of dying in our duty, and as becomes true men of valour and conscience and such of us as shall live and win the battle, shall have the reward of a Gracious King, and the praise of all Good Men. In God's name, then, let us go on, and let this be your word, King James and the Church of Scotland, which God long preserve." EDITOR. *This appears to be a mistake, Lord Dundee did not die until the next morning; and after the Battle wrote the following Letter to JAMES THE SECOND. Macpherson has inserted it (Vol: 1. p. 372.) from Nairne's Papers. "SIR, It has pleased God to give your forces a great Victory over the Rebells, in which 3-4ths of them are fallen under the weight of our swords. I might say TOM. 1689. random shot, which thō it hinder'd not the total defeat of the Rebells, who had near two thousand men kill'd and five hunderd taken prisoners, it proved a most fatal stroke to the King's cause; who by it lost the man in the world the best qualifyd, not only by his fidelity, courage, and capacity, to manage such a war, but who knew admirably well the temper and humours of those he was to Command, and how to struggle with the wants and disapointments of such difficult circomstances; he knew where to use rough, and where gentle means, and how to accompany his punishments and rewards with so much equity and reason, as made all he did acceptable; and had got such an esteem and authority amongst his Countrymen, that had he lived, there was little doubt but he had soon reestablished the King's authority in Scotland, prevented the Prince of Orange going or sending an Army into Ireland, and put his Majesty in a fair way of regaining England it self; but this gave Mackay and his broken troops time to retreat to much of this Action, if I had not the honour to command in it; but of 5000 men, which was the best computation I could make of the Rebels, it is certain there cannot have escaped above 1200 men. We have not lost full out 900. This absolute Victory made us masters of the field and the Enemy's baggage, which I gave to the Soldiers; who, to do them all right, both Officers and common men, Highlands, Lowlands, and Irish, behaved themselves with equal gallantry, to whatever I saw in the hottest battles fought abroad by disciplined Armies; and this M'Kay's old Soldiers felt on this occasion. I cannot now, Sir, be more particular; but take leave to assure your Majesty, the Kingdom is generally disposed for your service, and impatiently wait for your coming; and this success will bring in the rest of the Nobility and Gentry, having had all their assurances for it, except the notorious rebels. Therefore, Sir, for God's sake, assist us, though it be with such another detachment of your Irish Forces as you sent us before, especially of horse and dragoons; and you will crown our beginnings with a compleat success, and yourself with an entire possession of your antient hereditary kingdom of Scotland. My wounds forbid me to enlarge to your Majesty at this time, though they tell me they are not mortal. However, SIR, I beseech your Majesty to believe, whether I live or die, I am intirely your's, DUNDEE." Editor. Sterling, and repair his loss, which had My Lord * Dundee TO M. been aliue, he would never haue suffer'd him to do. When the news of this misfortune came to the King, it gaue him a fresh occasion of adoreing Providence, and contemplateing the instability of humain affairs, when one single shot from a routed and flying Army, decided in all apearance the fate of more than one Kingdom; for upon the first news of the battle many of the Conventioners were shifting for themselves, and the fright of those who fled so augmented the report of the loss, that it put the Town of Edinburgh in the last consternation, which would soon have spread itself further, had not the news of My Lord Dundee's death, moderated their fears and even make them think themselves gainers in the whole; nor were they deceiv'd in their conjecture, for the Command of the Army naturally devoulveing upon Major General Cannon, who thō a good and experienced Officer, not being conversant with the ways and humours of the Highlanders, and unaquainted with their method of makeing war, he Soon lost all the benefit of this Victory, and the advantagious disposition the generality was in on all hands to join him; for after haveing dismised five or six hunderd prisoners for want of provisions, upon their swearing never to bear armes against the King (a weak engagement with people IV. 1689. The affairs of Scotland go ill the rest of the Campain. * Sir J. Dalrymple, in his Appendix, (Vol. 2. p. 16.) has inserted the Epitaph which D' Pitcairn wrote upon The LORD DUNDEE: VOL. II. "Ultime Scotorum, potuit quo sospite solo Libertas patriæ salva fuisse tuæ : Tuque vale, gentis priscæ fortissime ductor, Ultime Scotorum, atque ultime Grame, vale." EDITOR. TOM. IV. 1689. so often perjured in point of Allegiance) it was agreed to send a detachment of a 100 foot and 12 hors in pursute of the enimy, too weak a partie to doe any execution; and yet because they found no opposition, ventring too far, were cut in pieces in St John's Town, which encouraged the enimy to rally their forces, and be able to cross Cañon's design of marching to Inverness, which forced him to return to Argileshire, where heareing that eight hunderd * Cameronians were in Dunkel an open Town, he came so unexpectedly upon them with his whole force (which was now encreased to foure thousand men,) that he looked upon them as certain pray; but being a desperate people and imprudently 1. the so put an unfortunate end to this Campaign in Scotland. The affairs of Ireland both civil and military, thō as hopefull as those of Scotland in the begining, were no less fatall in the end, thō they held out something longer, and had they been better managed, might have had a better fate; but the Irish by reckoning themselves sure of their game, when in reality they had the wors of it, thought of nothing but settling themselves in richess and plenty, by breakeing the Act of Settlement; and by that means rais new enimys, before they were secure of mastering those, they had already on their hands. *The Cameronians were commanded at Dunkeld by Lieut: Col: Cleland, a good Officer, and a man of some Poetical Genius, who was killed in the Action. He was the Father of the Cleland, whose name is subjoined to the prefatory Letter to Pope's Dunciad. EDITOR. IV. 1689. On the 7th of May the Par liament meets in Ireland; Speech to it. the King's On the 7th of May the Parliament met at Dublin, to whom TO M. the King made the following Speech: The exemplary loyalty which this Nation express'd to me, at a time when others of my Subjects So undutifully misbehaued themselves to me, or so basely betrayd me, and your seconding my Deputy as you did in his bould and resolute asserting my Right in preserveing this Kingdom for me, and puting it in a posture of defence; made me resolve to come to you, and venter my life with you in defence of your liberties and my own Right, and to my great satisfaction I have not only found you ready to serve me, but that your courage has equall'd your Zeal. I have always been for libertie of Conscience, and against Tot which done too for e Army naturally done sit General Cannon, who tha mga ist yode not being corno of road dreaded to have established by law amyonions, and made them set themselves up against me, thō for different reasons, seeing that if I had once settled it, my people in the opinion of the one, would haue been too happy; and in the opinion of the other, too great. This argument was made use of, to perswade their own people to join with them, and so many of my Subjects to use me as they had done, but nothing shall ever perswade me to change my mind as to that; wheresoever I am Master I design God willing, to establish it by Law, and haue no other test or distinction but that of Loyalty: I expect your concurrence in so Christian a work, and in makeing Laws against profaneness and against all sortes of debauchery. I shall most readily consent to the makeing such Laws as may be for the good of the Nation, the improuement of trade, and releiveing such as have been injured in the late |