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On the same day, however, on which the President's letter to
Lord Tweeddale was written, all doubts of the arrival and landing of the prince were
removed at Edinburgh. An express came from Lord Milton, the Justice Clerk, then at
Roseneath, to Sir John Cope, with a letter dated the 5th, which he had received from Mr
Campbell of Stonefield, sheriff of Argyle, in which was contained a copy of a letter
received by the latter from Mr Campbell of Aird, factor to the Duke of Argyle in Mull and
Morvern, announcing the landing of the prince in Arisaig, and stating that some of the
Macdonalds were already up in arms, and that other Highlanders were preparing to follow
their example. This news was confirmed next day, by another express from the laird of
Macleod to the Lord President, dated the 3d of August.
This intelligence, which as first was withheld from the public, was shortly followed by
the arrival of the Gazette, containing the proclamation for the apprehension of the
prince. Nothing was now talked of at Edinburgh but the threatended invasion. In the state
of ignorance in which the public was still kept, the most contradictory reports were
circulated. A rumour of the departure of Charles from France had indeed been insrted in
the Edinburgh Courant a few days before, and the same paper had also, on the back of this
report, stated, upon the alleged information of a foreign journal, that the prince had
actually landed in the Highlands, and was to be supported by 30,000 men and 10 ships of
war; but neither of these statements appears to have excited any sensation, being
generally discredited. Now, however, every person firmly believed the prince had arrived.
One day it was confidently asserted that he had landed in the western Highlands with
10,000 French troops. Next day it was affirmed with equal confidence that he had landed
without troops; but that whenever he came the Highlanders to a man had joined him. On the
other hand, the Jacobites, who were in the secret of the arrival, anxious to conceal the
fact till Charles should be ready to take the field, industriously circulated a report
that he was still in France, and had not the least intention of coming over. To divert the
public attention, they had recourse to the weapons of ridicule. In their conversation they
represented the preparations of the commander-in-chief in a ludicrous light; and to make
him contemptoble in the eyes of the public, sent him anonymous letters containing most
absurd articles of intelligence, which afterward circulated with scurrilous comments. |
