My Dear Lord,
I Received the Honour of your Lordſhip's Letter, late laſt Night, of Yeſterday's Date, and I own I never received one like it ſince I was born; and I give your Lordſhip ten thouſand Thanks for the kind Freedom you uſe with me in it: For I ſee, by it, that, for my Misfortune in having an obſtinate ſtubborn Son, and an ungrateful Kindred, my Family muſt go to Deſtruction; and I muſt loſe my Life in my old Age Such Uſage looks rather like a Turkiſh or Perſian Government, then like a Britiſh: Am I, my Lord, the firſt Father that has had an unnatural Son? Or am I the firſt that has made a good Eſtate, and ſaw it deſtroyed in his own Time by the mad fooliſh Actings of an unnatural Son, who prefers his own extravagant Fancies to the ſolid Advice of an affectionate old Father? I have ſeen Inſtances of this in my own Time, but I never heard till now that the Fooliſhneſs of a Son would take away the Life and Liberty of a Father that lived peaceably, and was an honeſt Man, and well inclined to the reſt of Mankind. But I find, the longer a Man lives, the more Wonders and extraordinary Things he ſees. Now, my dear Lord, I beg Leave to tell you my Mind freely in my Turn, I thank GOD, I was born with very little Fear in my greateſt Difficulties and Dangers by Sea and Land, and, by GOD's Aſſiſtance, I often ſaved my Life by the Firmneſs and Steadfaſtneſs of my Reſolutions; and tho' I have now but a little Remains of a Life that is clog'd with Infirmities and Pain; yet, by GOD's help, I am reſolved to preſerve it it long as I can; and tho' my Son ſhould go away with the young People of his Clan, yet I will have 600 brave Fraſers at Home, many of them about my own Age, that will loſe the laſt Drop of their Blood to preſerve my Perſon: And I do aſſure your Lordſhip, if I am attack'd, that I will ſell my Life as dear as I can; for ſince I am as peaceable a Subject as any in the Kingdom, and as ready to pay the King's Taxes, and to do every Thing elſe that a faithful Subject ought to do, I know no Law or Reaſon that my Perſon ſhould not be in Safety.
I did uſe, and will uſe the ſtrongeſt Arguments that my Reaſon can ſuggeſt to me, by my Couſin Gortleg that he may repete them to my Son, and if they ſhould not prevail, is it any ways juſt or equitable that I ſhould be puniſhed for the Fault of my Son? Now, my dear Lord, as to the unhappy civil War that occaſions my Misfortunes, and in which, almoſt the whole Kingdom is involved, on one side or other, I humbly think that Men ſhould be moderate on both Sides, ſince it is morally impoſſible to know the Event; For Thouſands, nay Ten thouſands on both Sides, are poſitive that their own Party will carry. And ſuppoſe this ventorious Prince ſhould be utterly defeat, and that the Government ſhould carry all in Triumph, no man can think that any King upon the Throne would deſtroy ſo many ancient good Families, for engaging in a Cauſe that was always their Principal, and what they thought their Duty to ſupport.
King William was as great a King, as to his knowledge of Government and Politicks, as ſat for many Hundred Years upon the Throne of England; and when his General, who was one of the beſt in Europe, was forced to run to ſave his Life, and all his Army routed at Killichranky, by a Handful of Highlanders not full 2000 in Number, King William was ſo far from deſiring to extirpate them, that he ſent the Earl of Breadalbane with 25000 L. Sterling, and ſought no other Condition from them than that they ſhould live peaceably at home: So, my Lord, we cannot imagine, that, tho' the Highlanders ſhould be defeat at this Time, and moſt of them killed, and the Government full Maſter of the Kingdom, that any Adminiſtration would be ſo cruel, as to endeavour to extirpate the whole remains of the Highlanders; beſides, it would be a dangerous Enterpriſe, which neither we nor our Children would ſee at an End. I pray GOD we may never ſee ſuch a Scene in our Country, as Subjects killing their Fellow-subjects.
For my Part, my Lord, I am reſolved to live a peaceable Subject in my own Houſe, and do nothing againſt the King or Government; and if I am attacked, if it was by the King's Guards and his Captain General at their Head, I will defend myſelf as long as there is Breath in me; and if I am killed here, it is not far from my Burial-place, and I will have, after I am dead, what I always wiſh'd, the Cromach of all the Women in my Country to convey my Body to the Grave; and that has been my Ambition when I was in my happieſt Situation in the World.
Prt, October
29, 1745.
I am your Lordſhips, &c.
Bt.
