X. 1689. commanders omitted nothing to encourage their BOOK respective troops. Dundee recommended to their valour the defence of their country, their religion, and their king. Mackay represented the justice of the protestant cause, and the impossibility of a retreat through a long and narrow pass, overlooked by mountains overgrown with wood, and overhanging a steep precipice, with a river beneath 12. Killy June 17. Within an hour of sunset the signal was given Battle of by Dundee, and the highlanders descended in cranky. thick and separate columns to the attack. They suffered considerably from the enemy's fire, but till within a few paces they reserved their own. After a single, desultory discharge, they rushed forward with the sword, before the regulars, whose bayonets were then inserted within the musket, could be prepared to receive or to resist their furious attack. The weight of their columns pierced through the thin and straggling line, where Mackay commanded in person; and their ponderous swords completed the rout. Within a few minutes the victors and the vanquished, intermixed together in the field, in the pursuit, and in the river, disappeared from view. Mackay alone, when deserted by his horse and surrounded, forced his way to the right wing, where two regiments had maintained their ground. While 12 Mackay's Memoirs, MS. 306-12-28. Burnet, iv. 38, Macpherson's Orig. Papers, i. 369-79. X. 1689. BOOK the enemy were intent on plundering the baggage, he conducted them in silence and in obscurity, across the river beneath the defile, and continued his flight for two days through the mountains to Stirling; less afraid of the highlanders, who were oppressed with booty, than of the pursuit of Dundee, at the head of his horse 13. Death and victory of Dundee. But Dundee, whose pursuit he dreaded, was himself no more. After a desperate and successful charge on the artillery 14, which he seized with his horse, he returned to restore the battle on the left, and to renew the attack against the two regiments that remained entire. At that moment, while his arm was extended to his troops, and while his person was conspicuous to the enemy, he received a shot in his side, through an opening in his ar mour, and dropt from horseback as he rode off the field. He survived to write a concise and dig. nified account of his victory to James. With the loss of nine hundred of his men, two thousand 13 Macpherson's Orig. Papers, i. 369-72. Balcarras. Mackay's Memoirs, 327-43. Dalrymple, on the authority of Mackay's manuscript, informs us that Mackay, on ascend ing the first eminence, and perceiving that there was no pursuit, said to those around him, that he was sure the enemy had lost their general. Dalrymple's Memoirs, ii. 89. Mackay, who escaped in the dusk, expressly declares that he was apprehensive of Dundee's pursuit, whom he knew not to have been killed. MS. Memoirs. Adv. Lib. P. 340. 14 Three pieces of light leathern artillery, probably preserved since the civil war. Id. 326. X. 1689. of the enemy were killed or taken; and but for BOOK his untimely fate, not a man would have escaped. Had he survived to improve this distinguished victory, little doubt can be entertained that he would have recovered the whole of Scotland beyond the Forth. His party were prepared to take arms on the borders, and his progress southwards might have arrested William's attention and arms, till James was firmly established in Ireland. But his death was fatal to his party; and among the papers papers found on his body, a letter from Melfort, intimating that the indemnity was couched in such terms as might be broken or revoked by the king at pleasure, excited deep dis gust at the insincerity of James 15. A rude stone was erected on the spot, to mark his victory to future times. His memory was long lamented by his party, and his name is still celebrated in their poetry, as the last of the Scots 16. On the first report of the defeat, while Dundee His army was daily expected to advance, the consternation dispersed. was extreme. Government proposed to abandon the north, and confine its forces to the defence of the Forth. Such unworthy counsels were rejected by Mackay, who returned within a few days after his defeat, and by a seasonable enterprise, surprised a detachment of the highlanders at Perth. 15 Macpherson's Orig. Pap. i. 370-2. Balcarras. 16 See Pitcairn's Epitaph on Dundee, which Dryden has not disdained to translate. X. 1689. BOOK The command of their army had devolved on Cannon, an Irish officer unacceptable to the clans; who knew not how to improve the victory which their valour had obtained. With an army increased to four thousand men, he continued to coast along the Grampians, followed by Mackay; the one afraid to descend from the mountains, and the other to quit, with his cavalry, the advantage of the open plains. Returning by a secret march to Dunkeld, he surrounded the regiment of Cameronians, whose destruction appeared so inevitable, that they were abandoned by a party of horse to their fate. But the Cameronians, notwithstanding the loss of Cleland their gallant commander, defended themselves amidst some slight August 21. enclosures against the whole army, with such desperate enthusiasm, that the highlanders, discouraged by the repulse, and incapable of persevering fortitude, dispersed and returned to their homes; nor did they resume their arms till the succeeding year 17. Montgomery's plots. The sudden decline of a formidable insurrection gave no intermission to the violence of factious discontent. From the abrupt and frequent prorogations of parliament, the exiles who returned from Holland were apprehensive that there was no design to restore their forfeited estates. Even when episcopacy was utterly abolished, the presby Mackay's Mem. 319-64. Balcarras. Macpherson's Orig. Pap. i. 371. X. 1689. terians in general were impatient of delay, and BOOK from the refusal to redress entirely their grievances, were suspicious of William's intentions to re-esta blish their church. Their discontent was fomented by the intrigues and revenge of the disappointed Montgomery. Under the designation of the club or country party, a regular opposition was already formed against the court. Notwithstanding the recess of parliament, a majority of the members were persuaded to concur in a remonstrance, enumerating the grievancess of which redress was denied; and upbraiding William, in terms of affected respect, with his choice of ministers from among their former oppressors. The proceedings of parliament were vindicated by Montgomery and Ferguson the plotter, with the accustomed bitterness and asperity of Ferguson's pen & The October 15. remonstrance was presented by Montgomery, Annandale, and Ross; but the leaders of the country party were received with such marked displeasure, and the vindication was productive of such visible offence, that they despaired of regaining the confidence or favour of the king. Revolutions are ever productive of fresh conspiracies; and when the mind is once released from habitual obedience, not only the adherents of the old, but the disappointed candidates under the new government are impatient for a change. The advantages denied by the one, may be acquired from the other; and 18 State Tracts, Tem. Gul, vol. iii. Q VOL. IV. 18 |