They advised that the regular troops under
Douglas and Claverhouse, now between three and four thousand strong,
should be augmented by a force of twelve thousand raised from the
Highland clans and the militia, and that these troops should be
distributed along the Border and through the northern shires of England.
Preparations were at once begun to this effect. The chiefs of the great
clans were ordered to hold their claymores ready: the castles of
Edinburgh and Stirling were munitioned for war: the militia was called
out in every county, and volunteers enrolled in every town. In the midst
of the bustle arrived a second despatch from James, ordering the regular
troops to march at once for England to join the army under Feversham.
This foolish order was Melfort's doing, urged by his secretary, Stewart
of Goodtrees, who, after having been concerned in all the most notorious
plots of the last twenty years, and actually condemned to death for his
share in Argyle's rebellion, had now blossomed into an Under-Secretary
of State. Remonstrance was useless. "The order," wrote Balcarres, "was
positive and short--advised by Mr. James Stewart at a supper, and wrote
upon the back of a plate, and an express immediately despatched
therewith."
And so "with a sorrowful heart," he goes on to remind the exiled King,
"they began their march--three thousand effective young men--vigorous,
well-disciplined and clothed, and, to a man, hearty in your cause, and
willing, out of principle as well as duty, to hazard their lives for the
support of the Government as then established both in Church and
State.
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