Duke of Argyle

“ The Duke of Argyle is a noble and true-hearted nobleman, who pleads the cause of the poor, and those who have none to help them; verily his reward shall not be lacking unto him.—I have, been writing of many things, but not of that whilk lies nearest mine heart. I have seen the misguided thing, she will be at freedom the morn, on enacted caution that she shall leave Scotland in four weeks. ”

“ It was to no purpose they were assured, that there were a great many arms and a good supply of powder in the town, which they might secure, and that the Duke of Argyle, whom they appeared to dread, was in no condition to injure them, as he had scarcely 2,000 men under him, and was in daily expectation of being attacked by the Earl of Mar, whose forces were then thrice as numerous;—these and similar arguments were entirely thrown away upon men who had already determined at all hazards to adhere to their resolution of carrying the war into England. ”

“ By this enterprise, if successful, the Duke of Argyle must have been disabled for keeping together his small army, and the whole of the south of Scotland would at once have fallen into the hands of the insurgent general, if he had been gifted with common energy to take it into his possession. ”

“ As the appointment of a person of rank, influence, and talent, to the command of the army, destined to oppose the Earl of Mar, was of great importance, the Duke of Argyle, who had served with distinction abroad, and who had formerly acted as commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland, was pitched upon as generalissimo of the army encamped at Stirling. ”

“ PROCEEDINGS IN THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT.
The ministry of Scotland was now entirely changed. The marquis of Tweedale and Johnston having been found unequal to the undertaking, were dismissed. The duke of Queensberry resumed the management of affairs in that kingdom under the title of lord privy-seal, and the office of commissioner was conferred upon the young duke of Argyle, who succeeded to his father’s influence among the presbyterians. He was a nobleman possessed of good natural talents, which had not been neglected; candid, open, and sincere; brave, passionate, and aspiring ”

“ He was scarcely crowned before England was invaded by the Duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II., and Scotland by the Duke of Argyle, with a view of ejecting James from the throne.
Both these noblemen were exiles in Holland, and both were justly obnoxious to the government for their treasonable intentions and acts. Argyle was loath to engage in an enterprise so desperate as the conquest of England ”

“ Although the Duke of York had been heard to declare that no honest man could take the test,—a declaration which fully justified the course Argyle had pursued,—yet the enemies of that nobleman wrought so far upon the mind of his royal highness as to induce him to think that Argyle’s declaration was a highly criminal act. ”

“ Still, I cried out that he was unjust to the Duke of Argyle, who (for all he was a Whig) was yet a wise and honest nobleman.
“Hoot!” said Alan, “the man’s a Whig, nae doubt; but I would never deny he was a good chieftain to his clan. ”

“ That nobleman, whom we all honour, and who has indeed been wounded in a near place by the late barbarity, sits too high to be reached by these aspersions. The Duke of Argyle—you see that I deal plainly with you—takes it to heart as I do, and as we are both bound to do by our judicial functions and the service of his Majesty ”

“ He was always fertile in expedients, and audacious in proffering his petitions for mercy. During his father's life, a petition in the form of a letter, written by Thomas of Beaufort, and signed by seven Frasers, had been addressed to the Duke of Argyle, appealing to his aid at Court, upon the plea of that "entire friendship which the family of Lovat had with, and dependence upon, that of Argyle, grounded upon an ancient propinquity of blood, and zealously maintained by both through a tract and series of many ages." ”

“ The jurisdiction of the Duke of Argyle was absolute even in cases of life and death. From his sentences there was no appeal. [7] Each barony had its Gallows Hill, and its dempster or hangman. [8] Pennant, in 1772, saw "on a little flat hill near the village of Kilarow in Islay the remains of the gallows." [9] At Dunvegan men had been hanged on the sentence of the laird, so late as 1740. No doubt this power was sometimes most oppressively exercised. A chief who lived near Inverness was charged with having rid himself at a profit of men on his estate who had given him trouble. ”

“ We showed it to Congreve, who, after reading it over, said, ‘It would either take greatly, or be damned confoundedly.’ We were all at the first night of it, in great uncertainty of the event, till we were very much encouraged by overhearing the Duke of Argyle, who sat in the next box to us, say, ‘It will do—it must do!—I see it in the eyes of them!’ This was a good while before the first Act was over, and so gave us ease soon; for the Duke [besides his own good taste] has a more particular research than any one now living in discovering the taste of the public. ”

“ This popularity, with a discontented and warlike people, was supposed to be a subject of jealousy at court, where the power to become dangerous is sometimes of itself obnoxious, though the inclination is not united with it. Besides, the Duke of Argyle’s independent and somewhat haughty mode of expressing himself in Parliament, and acting in public, were ill calculated to attract royal favour. ”

“ Whilst the Duke of Gordon was advancing upon his rear with the northern forces, and the Earl of Dumbarton with the regular troops pressing him in front, the Marquis of Athole and Lord Charles Murray, at the head of 1,500 men, kept hanging on his right wing, and a fleet watched his ships to prevent his escape by sea. In this conjuncture Argyle yielded to the opinion of his officers, and, leaving his stores in the castle of Allangreg, in charge of a garrison of 150 men, he began his march, on the 10th of June, to the Lowlands, and gave orders that his vessels should follow close along the coast. ”

“ So that and want of provisions oblidg'd me yet to retire, first to Auchterarder, and then here to Perth. I have been doing all I can ever since to get the armie together again, and I hope considerable numbers may come in a little time; but now that our friends in England are defeated, there will be troops sent down from thence to reinforce the Duke of Argyle, which will make him so strong, that wee shall not be able to face him, and I am affraid wee shall have much difficultie in makeing a stand any where, save in the Highlands, where wee [Pg 115] shall not be able to subsist. ”

“ Such had been his political course until the Duke of York came down to Edinburgh armed with the whole regal authority. The despotic viceroy soon found that he could not expect entire support from Argyle. Since the most powerful chief in the kingdom could not be gained, it was thought necessary that he should be destroyed. On grounds so frivolous that even the spirit of party and the spirit of chicane were ashamed of them, he was brought to trial for treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. ”

“ Not a single man was of course raised in Argyleshire, and scarcely any in the adjoining part of Inverness-shire, to which the influence or power of Argyle extended. The Earl of Sutherland, who had been appointed a colonel of foot in his own division, declined the office, and Lord Reay was so disgusted with “Duke Hamilton’s failure,” that he took shipping at Thurso in the month of July, and went to Norway, [377] where he was appointed governor of Bergen, and received the colonelcy of a regiment from the King of Denmark, whom he had formerly served. ”

“ The revenue was granted without any notice being taken of the illegal manner in which the king had levied it upon his own authority. Argyle was stigmatised as a traitor; nor was any desire expressed to examine his declarations, one of which seemed to be purposely withheld from parliament. Upon the communication of the Duke of Monmouth’s landing in the west that nobleman was immediately attainted by bill. The king’s assurance was recognised as a sufficient security for the national religion ”

“ A true account of the proceedings at Perth, by a Rebel.
[736] This officer appears to have been very suspicious of Argyle’s motives, and did not hesitate to communicate his opinion to his superiors. In a letter to the Duke of Marlborough, he says: “Argyle grows so intolerably uneasy, that it is almost impossible to live with him any longer; he is enraged at the success of the expedition, though he and his creatures attribute to themselves the honour of it. When I brought him the news of the rebels having ran from Perth, he seemed thunderstruck ”

“ Argyle, Archibald, second Earl of, 141.
Argyle, Archibald, ninth Earl of, 217, 249.
Argyle, Archibald, Marquis of, 250.
Argyle, Elizabeth Gunning, Duchess of, 247, 249-252, 256.
Argyle, Jane, Countess of, 250.
Argyle, John, second Duke of, 251.
Argyle, John, fifth Duke of, 227, 246 253
Armidale, 23, 167, 214.
Auchans, 268.
Auchinleck, Lord, 18, 56, 62, 74, 79, 80, 115, 146, 189, 234, 271–288, 292.
Auchinleck, 271–290; house, 273–5; old castle, 287; via sacra, manse, church, 288; village, 289; pronounced Affléck, 290. ”

“ There you have Duke of Argyll—God bless him!—addressing House of Lords. He is not one piper, but many. As he proceeds, intoxicated with sound of his own voice, ecstatic in clearness of his own vision, he competes with himself as the pipers struggle with each other until at last he has, in a Parliamentary sense of course, swollen to such a size that there is no room in the stately chamber for other Peers. Nothing and nobody left but His Grace the Duke of Argyll. Towards end of sixty minutes spectacle begins to pall on wearied senses ”

“ Son of Argyle, so near to the sceptre,
And Princess Louise fair child of a throne,
We welcome to stand for our Queen in this empire,
Rule us, and love us, and make us your own
Blow, wild pibroch, that welcomes no other!
Shout million-voiced failte, wave banners the while;
She's worthy, fair child of so royal a mother,
He's worthy the name and fame of Argyle. ”

“ Argyll was frequently consulted by the government in the more important matters relating to Scotland, and there are a large number of his letters in the Carstares ‘State Papers.’ By letters patent dated at Kensington 23 June 1701, he was created duke of Argyll, marquis of Lorne and Kintyre, earl of Campbell and Cowal, viscount of Lochow and Glenisla, lord Inverary, Mull, Morven, and Tyree. ”

“ He blamed the bishops for persuading the king to bring in the English liturgy and canons in so abrupt and violent a manner; that their pride was great, their folly greater. He gives the king his opinion of the character and degrees of the trustworthiness of the different Ministers, and bids him beware of the Earl of Argyle, whom he declares to be the most dangerous man in the State; so far from favouring episcopacy, as had been supposed, that nobleman wished it abolished with all his soul. This was immediately afterwards, as we shall see, made clear by Argyle himself. ”

“ Unlike not a few families and clans who can boast of a lineage almost if not quite as ancient and noble as their own, their name and fame are not "to hastening ills a prey." The lapse of years has not dimmed the lustre of their achievements, or caused them to lie upon their oars inactive and inglorious. The present head of their clan—the Duke of Argyll—has in his day and generation been as distinguished as any of his more formidable ancestry. ”

“ It is not easy for any person who has studied the history of that contest to doubt that, if Argyle had supported the cause of monarchy, his neighbours would have declared against it. Grave writers tell of the victory gained at Inverlochy by the royalists over the rebels. But the peasants who dwell near the spot speak more accurately. They talk of the great battle won there by the Macdonalds over the Campbells.
The feelings which had produced the coalition against the Marquess of Argyle retained their force long after his death. ”

“ And, though his conduct after the king's return displayed his accustomed prudence, it is evident that, if he had retained great influence in the council, which he assuredly did not, he would have maintained as much as possible of the existing settlement in the church. The deepest stain on his memory is the production of Argyle's private letters on his trial in Scotland; nor indeed can Monk be regarded, upon the whole, as an estimable man, though his prudence and success may entitle him, in the common acceptation of the word, to be reckoned a great one. ”

“ His body was by his friends put in a coffin and conveyed with a good many attendants through Linlithgow and Falkirk to Glasgow, and from thence to Kilpatrick, where it was put in a boat, carried to Denune, and buried in Kilmunn church.
Thus died the noble marquis of Argyle, the proto-martyr to religion since the reformation from popery, the true portrait of whose character cannot be (a historian [102] says I dare not) drawn. His enemies themselves will allow him to have been a person of extraordinary piety, remarkable wisdom and prudence, great gravity and authority, and singular usefulness. ”

“ His presence so alarmed the men of Argyle, that they immediately made their submission. Several of the chiefs fled for safety, and to punish them, the king distributed their lands among his officers and their followers. After this invasion Argyle was brought under the direct jurisdiction of the Scottish king, although the descendants of the race of Somerled, Lord of the Isles, still continued to be the chief magnates. ”