More I could not get. All the great towns and seaports were
in rebellion, and had seized the powder, and would sell
none. But I had one advantage--the Highlanders will not fire
above once, and then take to the broadsword.
"But I wonder, above all things, that in three months I
never heard from you, seeing by Mr. Hay I had so earnestly
recommended it to you, and told of this way by Inverlochy as
sure. If you could not have sent expresses, we thought you
would at least have hastened the dispatch of those we sent.
McSwyne has now been away near two months, and we know not
if the coast be clear or not. However, I have ventured to
advise Mr. Hay to return straight, and not go further in the
country. He came not here until the 22nd, and they
surrendered on the 13th.[86] It was not Mr. Hay's fault he
was so long of coming, for there has been two English
men-of-war and the Glasgow frigates amongst the islands till
of late. For the rest of the letters I undertook to get them
delivered. Most of the persons to whom they are directed are
either put in bond, or in prisons, or gone out of the
kingdom. The Advocate is gone to England, a very honest man,
firm beyond belief,[87] and Athole is gone too, who did not
know what to do.
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