400. Proceedings in the Parliament of Scotland respecting the MasSACRE OF GLENCO: 7 WILLIAM III. A. D. 1695. [Collection of State Tracts published in the Reign of King William the Third.*]

COMMISION for Trial of the Slaughter committed at Glenco, upon the 13th day of February, 1692.

GULIELMUS Dei Gr. Mag. Brit. &c. Omnibus probis hominibus, ad quos præsentes Literæ nostræ pervenerint, salutem. Quandoquidem nos considerantes, quod etiamsi nos,

66

Anno Dom. 1693. per expressam instructionem, potestatem concessimus de mortuo 'Gulielmo Duci de Hamilton, aliisque, pro ex'aminando et inquirendo de cæde quorundam Cognominis de Macdonald aliorumque de 'Glenco. Anno Dom. 1692. et de modo et de 'methodo Commissionis ejusdem; nihilomi' nus Inquisitio quæ tunc facta erat in prosecu«From an Article entitled, The Mas- that Mr. Johnston should know any thing of sacre of Glenco: Being a True Narrative of your design to publish this: for though you the barbarous murder of the Glenco men in know as well as I that his diligence to serve "the highlands of Scotland, by way of military and obey the queen in this matter, was always "execution, on the 13th of February, 1692. judged here to be one of the chief causes of "Containing the commission under the great our nation's losing that able and honest minisseal of Scotland, for making an inquiry into ter; yet he is so nice in point of honour, that "that horrid murder: the proceedings of the he chused rather to be unjust to himself, and to "parliament of Scotland upon it: the report lie under imputations, than to give any part of "of the commissioners upon the inquiry, laid those papers to be published, though frequently "before the king and parliament, and the ad- urged to it, because he said it would be unde "dress of the parliament to king William for cent in him, that had once been his majesty's "justice upon the murderers. Faithfully ex-secretary, to do any such thing. Therefore, "tracted from the Records of Parliament, and "published for undeceiving those who have "been imposed upon by false accounts.” The Narrative is preceded by a Letter as

follows:

"Sir; In answer to yours of the 1st of October, I herewith send you from the Records of our parliament, a true and authentic Account of the Massacre of Glenco, as you righteously call it. I wish this matter could have been forgotten to eternity; but since you say it is altogether needful for the vindication of the justice of our country, against many false, slanderous accounts that are daily given of that business in England, I am willing you print what I now send you; and that you may be furnished to answer all objections against the truth of this Narrative, you may inform any Englishman of quality, that is willing to be satisfied in the matter, that the Report of the Commission, the Address of our Parliament herewith sent you, and the Duplicates of the lord Stair's Letters, are, or were at least in the Scots Secretaries Office at London or if they should happen to be withdrawn from thence, they may inform themselves fully in the truth of this from Mr. Johnston, who was at that time secretary of state for Scotland, and had particular directions from the late queen Mary to push on this inquiry, and search into the bottom of that horrid murder; for her majesty was grieved at the heart, that the reputation of the king her husband should have suffered so much by that affair. I would not, however,

:

though you are carefully to conceal this matter
from him till it be published, yet as soon as it
is, I must pray you, if you think it proper, to
go and tell him, that I beg his pardon for mak
ing this appeal to him, without his leave:
and though I may suffer in his good opinion
by what I have done, yet if this publication
may any ways oblige him to do himself, his
late master, and his country further justice, by
telling what he knows more of the matter, 1
shall be the easier under his displeasure. I
had almost forgot to notice, that the duke of
Athol, the lord Chancellor, and marquiss of
Anandale, all now at London, were members of
the commission, who made the inclosed report;
and howsoever scrupulous they may have been
in point of honour, to communicate any papers
relating to this matter, they cannot in honour
but own that this history is authentic, if any
of the English nobility think fit to inquire of
them about it: but you must be careful to let
none of them know any thing of your design
to publish it, or which way you have this in-
formation; though if they should come to
know it, I chuse rather to incur their displea
sure, by appealing to them, than to omit any
thing that lies in my power to vindicate the
honour and justice of our country."
"Edinburgh, Nov. 1, 1703."

And at the end of the Narrative are subjoined the following Observations:

are in print. It is very pathetically related ployed to recruit the regiments abroad. The by Gilpin in his Tour in Scotland.

'sonarum infra nominatarum in fines supra expressos; sciatis igitur nos nominasse et con'stituisse tenoreque præsentium, nominare et

doned or preferred. The necessary supplies and levies were provided. The episcopal clergy were permitted, on accepting the oaths to government, to remain exempt from the jurisdiction of presbyteries, and 106 who were persuaded to qualify, retained their livings under the protection of the king."

'constituere fidelissimos et dilectissimos nostros Consanguineos et consiliarios, Joannem marchionem de Tweddale supremum nostrum

of secresy among themselves and having imposed it upon their clerks; how they came to make use of different tools to give light to that matter (as they pretended) more especially Roman Catholics then in rebellion, and Glengary in particular the chief of them, and manager of a great part of the intrigue, who besides his Catholicity, is and was known to be liam's person and government? Or how these one of the most obstinate enemies to king Wilgentlemen came to adventure to take testi

In the "Complete History of Europe, &c." for the year 1707, in which year lord Stair died, is given an encomiastic account of him; to which is appended a defence against 6 two things commonly objected against this earl."onies concerning the honour and life of any With the first, that being lord advocate to king James, he had framed a proclamation in Scotland for a toleration, wherein the king's absolute and dispensing power was very highly asserted," the bloody proceedings at Glenco

have no immediate connection.

subject, and much more of any imployed in his majesty's service, and yet most of all, which giving so much as an opportunity to any body concerned the king's honour directly, without concerned to see that things were fairly and honestly done, or to justify themselves or their friends. And yet all these circumstances are no less undeniable and certain than they are surprising.

"When these inquisitors had thus prepared

strange discoveries, and then some men out of zeal for the king, whom the enemies of his government would have loaded with these cruelties, moved the parliament that the proceedings of the commission might be laid before the House, to which the king's commissioner was pleased to give very ready compliance. A just deference to that great assembly forbids too parti cular a disquisition of all that past upon that subject. Thus much is certain; the thing itself being horrible, some body was to be blamed. The king could not be charged, and indeed it is undeniable, that though his royal orders were given after the breach of a pacification, and in very precise terms, yet they did contain a warrant for mercy according to circumstances, and it was not possible, that the king could know that his troops were received hospitably by the people whom that warrant principally concerned.

"The other charge against the earl," proceeds his advocate, "was that the peremptoriness and severity of his letters, when he was secretary of state, was the cause of the bar-matters, reports were spread of great and barous massacre of the Glenco men; a matter of fact, which, if considered with regard to the merit of the persons or their number, was inconsiderable, but has been very much taken notice of by all the writers of the life of king William, and others, partly because the officers entrusted in the execution of a military command, did not only exceed the warrant they had, but broke in upon the undeniable rules of hospitality and humanity; and partly because the circumstances of that matter have been greatly aggravated, to serve the turns of a party for disparaging and persecuting the late earl of Stair. The matter was carried on with that heat, as to draw the late king William directly into question in the parliament of Scotland, which the enemies to the memory of that great prince have laboured to improve to his disadvantage. It were too long to account for that here: as for the king himself, it is ridiculous for men of common sense to imagine that so great a prince should have singled out a low and obscure mean sept of thieves, who could in no ways either be an object of his vengeance or jealousy, but as they were enemies to the government; nor can any man of candour and ingenuity imagine, that the earl of Stair, who had neither estate, friendship, nor enmity in that country, nor so much as knowledge of these persons, and who was wever noted for cruelty in his temper, should have thirsted after the blood of these wretches, and it is as little conceivable how a commission under the great seal was directed to no magistrates, Her court of judicature, nor to any persons having power and authority by law, to enquire into tais matter for several years after it was past: nor how these entrusted with this commission came to tread the very steps of the court of inquisition, in having taken an oath

"The blame then must lie either upon the secretary, the king's general in Scotland, or the officer that executed the order. To lay it upon the officer that executed the order, where indeed it justly lay, was of no consequence against the earl of Stair, and did not answer some men's design to lay it upon the general was hard, for truly he had been prevailed with to furnish the commission with a good many of the earl's principal letters and the king's principal instructions. And though the dispensing of the mercy, mentioned in the king's order, did belong to the general, and so the excess seemed more naturally to touch him, yet the report of the commission licked him clean, for the barbarity of the fact consisted in one circumstance, viz. that officers received in hospitality for several days, and kindly entertained by their landlords, fell upon them unexpectedly and murdered them. Now the general

• Cancellarium, et Gulielmum Comitem d' An- 'cobum Stuart, advocatum nostrum, Adamum 'nandale, et fideles et dilectos nostros Consilia- 'Cockburn de Ormiston nostrum Justitiarium ‹ rios, Joannem Dominum Murray, Dom. Ja-Clericum, Magistrum Archib. Hope de Ran

being at Edinburgh, and but lately returned from London, the commission presumed that he was ignorant of the troops being friendly received in Glencoe.

"It remained that the earl, then master of Stair, must be guilty; but seeing what was done against him was neither by way of process nor sentence, and was carried with so much haste, when he was in Flanders, attending the king, that there was no time left for publishing a case in his defence by his friends. And that a case being printed late that evening when the vote passed, and some copies of it being delivered to some members before the House rose, the earl's brother, though a member himself, was fain to ask for giveness of the House rather than be sent to prison; which to a man sickly and weak as he was then, was present death, besides abandoning of his friend's just defence. I say then, that what was done in parliament not being done judicially, nor by way of legislature, and during the earl's absence, leaves the matter still entire; and not to enter into a detail of that whole matter, the earl's friends made the following remarks.

they might come in, even after the time for taking the oaths, and lay down their arms, there was power for dispensing mercy both in the order and in the letters that related to it. And in the next place it was unjustifiable in the commissioners or inquisitors concerning the matter of Glencoe, to pretend that they proceeded for the vindication of the government, and yet to draw their chief lights from Glengarry and Keppoch, persons notoriously disaffected to it. While at the same time they overlooked the council books, where they would have found at large the rise and circumstances of all that matter, and that the king having entered into a pacification with the highlanders, then in arms, on condition that they should submit and take the oaths by the first of January 1691-2, and that this pacification (which was traversed by diverse interests well known to some of the inquisitors) not being likely to have all the desired effect; the king put out two very solemn proclamations, intimating that after the day none of the rebells should be received into mercy, but treated with the rigours of war; so that neither Glencoe nor any of them, had any reason to "1. That the orders for using military exe- complain of unfair dealing. 6. By the story, cution against Glencoe were not so much as it is pieced together by these inquisitors, it as countersigned by the earl of Stair. 2. is very plain, that old Glencoe did not come in That all his letters, as well those which ac- till the end of December, the day indeed they companied the orders, as those that pre- thought fit to omit for reasons best known to ceded the military execution, made ineation of themselves. When he did come in, he did not the power the general had to shew mercy offer himself to any one impowered to tender according to occasion, and that those clauses the oaths, but old colonel Hill governor of of the earl's letters were omitted in the Inveriochy, who told him, he had no such report of the commission. 3. That the power. This governor being the person by earl's letter writ after the execution, or a whom any order could be put in execution, few days before it, from London, could never Glencoe according to his cunning, thought be the cause or warrant of any excess; be- that if he kept a little correspondence with cause it was impossible in nature, that those him, without directly submitting to the governletters could come to the general, much less toment, he should be safe, but to make all sure, the knowledge of the officers entrusted with the he was forced to make a step further, and some execution, seeing the post in those places with days after the time went to the sheriff's deputy the best expedition must require 7 or days of Argyleshire, where he took and subscribed in coming and as much in going. 4. The the oaths, and got a certificate at the bottom of warmness expressed in the earl's letters against the paper, of his having taken them of that Glencoe, being always tempered with a power to date from the sheriff's deputy which was inthe general to show mercy, could not so much as trusted with himself, and was sent by him," be the occasion, much less the cause of the ex- with his son, to be presented to the privy councesses committed: and the indignation expressed cil. But they haveing positive orders to admit even in the later letters after the execution, of nobody after the day, the clerks would not was yet excusable, upon the supposition of his receive the certificate, and these were sufficient being ignorant of the troops being received warnings for Glencoe to have made his applifriendly at Glencoe, which was more natural cation to the general or to the council, to have and easy for the commission to have presumed, his case represented. But having some dethan that the general then at Edenburgh pendence upon his intelligence with the govershould have been ignorant of it. 5. Another nor of Inverlochy, and as it appears being wilgreat circumstance which aggravates the bar-ling to play fast and loose, he was content to barity committed on Glencoe, was his taking the oaths, but as to this it is to be observed, that neither the king, nor any about him, had the least intimation of it at granting of the orders, and yet upon the supposition that

keep his oaths in his pocket, and to make a fair appearance of friendship during the winter, that he might be safe at home till it was time to go to the field; nor will this subtilty seem any ways a thing extraordinary to persons that

keiller, et Dom. Guliel. Hamiltone de White'law Senatores nostri Collegii Justitiæ, Dom. 'Jacobum Ogilvy, Sollicitatorem nostrum, et

are conversant with the genius of that sort of people. In this state of affairs some foot were sent from the garrison of Inverlochy to quarter in Glencoe, which does not appear to have been by any order. These troops Glencoe received with all the appearances of friendship, and the officer having received his orders during the time he was there entertained, had not resolution or honesty enough either to declare fair war, or lay down his commission, rather

than imbrue his hands in the blood of his landlord and his children, but chose to take the opportunity of an order given by persons wholly ignorant of the hospitality and submission of these unhappy wretches, and executed it in a way that is for ever unjustifiable. In this, and this only, consisted the atrocity of that matter, and had the inquiry been directed to find out truly where the matter lay, the officers had received condign punishment. It is true, the report of the commission does charge these officers for the behaviour, but as the report bore hard in laying the blame where it was not, the king suspected the sincerity of the whole, and nothing followed upon it.

Lastly, the Keenness and asperity that appears in the ear!'s letters, proceeded from a cause very different from what his enemies have endeavoured to possess the world of; and the truth of it is, he had pretty good reasons to wish, that if the highlanders should break the pacification, and draw upon a whole country the severity and cruelties of war, it should rather light upon an obscure small sept of tennants, considerable for nothing but their noted robberies and murders, who being treated with the rigours of war might procure an easy submission from the rest. And the earl was the more concerned, because he was thought to have a considerable part in advising the pacification, whereby the broken and desperate men in the highlands, some whereof were in rebellion, even before king James went away, and had defeated a party of his troops, who were commanded to assist in executing of a sentence upon a civil contract, might be brought in to be good subjects, and to have liberty and property in their native country: but for this counsel the earl was very liberally blamed by the enemies of the government, because it indeed broke their interests, nor have they ever made any considerable appearance since; and by others, because the thing was not done by them. And these people did not fail to solicit the late king to severities, and to disparage the pacification, as being very dishonourable; and upon that occasion the merits of Glencoe were set forth to the full, and a certain person was sent commissioner to manage that affair at court, who was witness at all the deliberations before the military order was drawn up.

To conclude, it is plain to any man who considers the matter, that it must appear very

'Adamum Drummond de Meggins (quoram

quinque Numerus erit legitimus, ac cum po'testate iis Clericum suum eligendi) Commisstrange, that ever the king or his ministers should have been suspected accessary to so mean a cruelty."

Sir John Dalrymple in his relation of Stair, says, that the scheme for cutting off by the means of "Letters of fire and sword, an inhuman but illegal weapon," all the highland rebels who should not take the oaths within Breadalbane, adopted by Dalrymple, and asthe time prescribed, was suggested by lord sented to by the king. And he adds, that noxious to lord Breadalbane, because there had “Glenco with all his clan was peculiarly obbeen frequent wars between their people. And be thrown away upon them, because they had sir John Dalrymple thought that mercy would been in the irreclaimable habit of making incursions into the low countries for plunder, and because he had himself obtained a pardon for them from king William, when one of the crime, the rest had tied him to a tree, and tribe having discovered his accomplices in a every man in the tribe had stabbed him with a durk, Glenco the chieftain giving the first blow." I perceive not that Dalrymple refers to any distinct authorities for this circumstantial account, the latter part of which is somewhat indistinctly expressed.

Burnet states that the proposition of military execution upon the Glenco men originated from Breadalbane, and that the severe order concerning the separation of that clan from the rest of the highlanders, was signed by the king, without any inquiry about it, "for he was too apt to sign papers in a hurry without examining the importance of them;" the consequence of bis suffering that sort of business to accumulate, till it became necessary to dispatch a great deal in a very little time. And he refers the king's permitting the matter to escape public investigation to the operation of his tenderness upon discovering how many had participated in the

transaction.

In Dalrymple's Appendix to part 2, book 6, be has inserted some curious documents rela

tive to the treaty with the Highlanders, and
other proceedings about this time respecting
them. The following are those most nearly
connected with Glenco:

Secretary Stair to Lord Breadalbane.
My lord;

London, Dec. 2, 1691.
"Yours of the 16th past was very uneasy;
it is a little qualified by that of the 19th.-I
know not by what I was moved to write to you
eight days ago, as if I had known what these
letters brought me; and though what I wrote
then was only to hasten matters, the lingering
being of ill consequence, yet I never thought
there was danger in the miscarrying of it. I