MONTROSE, furious at his monetary loss as well as what had been done to his factor, redoubled his efforts against Rob Roy. He also saw in this an opportunity to attack his rival, the Duke of Argyll – for although Montrose was in charge of the government of Scotland, Argyll still had enormous influence and power in the land. Scotland, indeed, so recently split for or against the Union, for or against the Stewarts, was now splitting for or against Argyll and Montrose. The Secretary of State, who, as the Lord Justice Clerk wrote, was frightened to travel from his horne area to Edinburgh by the direct Stirling route on account of Rob Roy’s kidnapping ways, now ordered the new Commander-in-Chief not only to put a strong English garrison into Inversnaid and take the fullest military measures against the outlaw, but also told the Independent Companies of Militia to do the same. This was a shrewd move against Argyll – for the only Independent Companies in the area in which Rob Roy operated were Campbell ones, officered by Argyll’s own lairds.
So there developed the farcical situation of the Campbell militia busily scouring the snow-bound hills for Rob Roy for two hard winter months – and not finding him – while all along Rob was dwelling, by the duke’s permission, in the Campbell glen of Shira only a mile or two from the duke’s castle!
In hot anger at this, Montrose took the drastic course of altogether disbanding the Independent Companies as unreliable – all of them, since he dared not single out the duke’s ones for such treatment.
Nothing could have suited Rob Roy better, of course. Although these militia companies had never done him much harm, they were always a force to be kept in mind as they acted in a manner similar to his own old Highland Watch in many ways. Now there were only regular soldiers charged with keeping the peace in Scotland – and not only was there not enough of them, but being mainly English or foreign mercenaries, they were not very good at soldiering in Highland territory. Rob had a freer hand in consequence. So had all other Highlanders interested in cattle-lifting. Obviously it was time that Rob started the Highland Watch again, officially or unofficially.
For the next year or so, two threads are most prominent in the tapestry of Rob Roy’s dramatic life. Both stemmed from the feud between the two dukes, Montrose and Argyll. On the one hand, just as Rob had foreseen, civil lawlessness increased in the Highlands, due to the suppressing of the Independent Companies and the presence of the many masterless men left by the Jacobite risingfor it must be remembered that there were no police forces in operation in those days. On the other hand, intrigues were going on all the time, on the part of Montrose and the faction in power, to bring down Argyll to the very dust. Strangely enough, these efforts very much involved Rob personally.
As to the lawlessness, this really became serious, with the swift and alarming rise in the theft of cattle, almost immediately the militia ceased to function. There can be no doubt at all that Rob himself was at the back of much of this; but equally surely there were plenty of others to take a hand, with nobody but the unfortunate farmers and cattle-owners themselves to take measures against the menace. All along the Highland Line, and far south also, the groan began to go up: ‘Oh, for the Glengyle Watch, again!’
Privately, Rob began to visit clients.
Much more secret was the other thread of the tapestry – but this time the initiative lay with Rob’s enemies. Montrose hated and feared Rob undoubtedly, but as became a duke, he hated and feared the other duke more. And Rob could be used to pull down Argyll.
The politics of the 18th century are murky indeed, and the case of the Duke of Argyll is a notable example. As we know, he had been accused of being too kind to the Jacobites, of bungling Sheriffmuir, and of failing to stamp out the embers of the Rising vigorously enough immediately afterwards, before he was dismissed. Now a new accusation crept in. It was suggested that all along he had been a secret Jacobite himself, deliberately betraying King George. And the man to prove this was Rob Roy.
Whether there was any basis of truth in this charge we cannot be sure. It certainly is possible. Rob’s letter to Wade years afterwards, if genuine, admits that he did communicate with Argyll during the period prior to Sheriffmuir. The important matter here is that Rob did not admit it at this stage, when it would have been so much to his advantage to do so. He kept his mouth resolutely shut.
It was not Montrose himself, of course, who approached Rob the first time – though the proposals seem to have first come through his factor, Graham of Killearn. A meeting was arranged, a most secret meeting, at Cramond Bridge near Edinburgh, between Rob and the Lord Justice Clerk, Cockburn of Ormiston. This Ormiston was really the second man in Scotland at the time, but he was acting for Montrose. He offered Rob full pardon for all his activities, reversal of the outlawry sentence, restoration of his estates, and other benefits, if he would corne forward publicly to testify against Argyll, to the effect that he and the Duke had indeed been in secret correspondence in the Jacobite favour while the latter was government Commander-in-Chief in Scotland. Rob refused blankly to betray the man who was now giving him shelter.
The next attempt came a few months later. By that time, Rob’s plans for the revival of the Watch were far advanced – in fact, it was probably in operation again in a small way. But Glen Shira in Argyll was far too far away from the edge of the prosperous Lowlands to make a suitable base for the large-scale droving of cattle, and most of Rob’s old stamping-grounds were either in Montrose’s hands or under military surveillance. His eyes kept turning to his early haunts in Balquhidder, Atholl’s property, not Montrose’s and most convenient for his purposes. The large farm of Inverlochlarig Beg, away up at the head of the glen, miles above Monachyle Tuarach, and very safe from surprise attack, was vacant. Rob put feelers out to the Duke of Atholl. The farm could not be rented to an outlaw – but a friend’s name would serve. And, of course, Atholl’s great cattle interests would benefit also.
After some cautious preliminaries, it was agreed that Rob should call at Dunkeld House and see the duke – secretly, needless to say, and under safe-conduct. But when the two met, for the first time for so many years, it turned out that it was not about the farm of Inverlochlarig that Atholl was concerned, but a very different matter – the old business of bringing down Argyll. Atholl had been got at, no doubt as the price of himself being received back into government favour, to assist in this matter. Once again all the benefits which would accrue to Rob were brought forward – this time adding official acceptance of the restored Watch, and of course, Inverlochlarig Beg.
When Rob once again indignantly refused to betray Argyll, Atholl showed his teeth. He had Rob arrested there and then, claiming that the safe conduct had been signed by his brother, Lord Edward Murray, and did not bind himself. Rob was a prisoner once again.
If this was treacherous practice, it was typical of the times. The government much approved of Atholl’s loyal action, at any rate, and King George himself sent a message that he was well pleased with His Grace’s care and diligence on this occasion. The Lord Justice Clerk ordered Rob to be brought into Edinburgh and lodged in the castle which he declared, ‘is the best prison the King has’.
But Rob Roy MacGregor, as these lofty gentlemen should have known by this time, if not easy to catch, was still more difficult to hold. A strong military detachment was sent north to fetch him to Edinburgh, but meantime he was held imprisoned at Logierait near Dunkeld, under armed guard.
Rob seems to have come well supplied with money on this occasion – possibly he had intended to clinch the Inverlochlarig deal by paying his rent in advance and he now spent it liberally in buying liquor for himself and his jailers. Probably the latter, being Highland Murrays, were somewhat ashamed of the way in which he had been trapped, and sympathised with a man going to Edinburgh Castle, possibly to his death. They humoured him in his drinking, at any rate, and did not refuse his generous hospitality. Soon Rob seemed very drunk, and his captors were merry. He insisted on more and more liquor being purchased, and when the guards were far from vigilant and he himself appeared to be quite helpless, he abruptly exploded into typical action, bursting out of the gaol, leaping on to one of the horses outside, and galloping off before his bewildered warders could do anything effective to stop him. Needless to say, he got clean away.
Atholl’s new-found popularity with the Government dropped sharply. Angry and upset, he quickly put a new tenant into Inverlochlarig Beg, with a squadron of troopers quartered in Balquhidder to see that he was not put out again.
Rob bided his time but he had an answer to this, too. He would show Atholl what it meant to hoodwink and betray Rob Roy MacGregor. He wrote a pamphlet, in the form of a letter to all who loved honour and honesty, setting forth the infamy of those in power, of Montrose, Lord Justice Clerk Ormiston, and Atholl himself, in seeking to make him bear false witness against the Duke of Argyll, and saw that this pamphlet had wide distribution. It was, of course, an age of pamphleteering. But that was not all. He proceeded with the revived Watch activities, and left the new tenant of Inverlochlarig alone until the troopers were withdrawn from Balquhidder. Then he went to see the tenant secretly.
We can imagine the unfortunate man’s state of mind at this interview. But Rob was gentle, reasonable, persuasive. He did not go in for any dramatics. Instead of seeking to throw the man out, he came to a working agreement with him. Since the lease could not be in Rob’s outlawed name anyway, the present tenant’s name was good enough. Let him stay on in Inverlochlarig Beg – but as Rob’s nominee and lieutenant. He would not suffer for it, to be sure.
Undoubtedly the man found this solution much better than anything he had expected. He agreed – and soon upper Balquhidder was again a busy centre of Rob Roy’s activities, and was to remain so.
Whether Atholl realised fully what had happened we do not know. But if so, he seems to have decided to shut his eyes to what he was unable to mend.