Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/180

invitation, framed by the court party, to the queen to return from Holland, to assist in mediating a peace between his majesty and the two houses of Parliament. The battle of Edgehill, however, so inspirited the king, that lie rejected the offer on the pretence that he durst not hazard her person. In 1042, when, in compliance with the request of the Parliament of England, troops were raised by the Scottish estates, to aid the protestants of Ireland, Argyle was nominated to a colonelcy in one of the regiments, and in the mouth of January, 1644, he accompanied general Leslie, with the Scottish army, into England as chief of the committee of Parliament, but in a short time returned with tidings of the defeat of the marquis of Newcastle at Newburn. The ultra royalists, highly offended at the assistance afforded by the estates of Scotland, to the Parliament of England, had already planned and begun to execute different movements in the north, which they intended should either overthrow the Estates, or reduce them to the necessity of recalling their army from England for their own defence. The marquis of Huntly having received a commission from Charles, had already commenced hostilities, by making prisoners of the provost and magistrates of Aberdeen, and at the same time plundering the town of all the arms and ammunition it contained. He also published a declaration of hostilities against the covenanters. Earl Marischal, apprized of this, summoned the committees of Angus and Mearns, and sent a message to Huntly to dismiss his followers. Huntly, trusting to the assurances he had had from Montrcse, Crawford, and Nithsdale of assistance from the south, and from Ireland, sent an insulting reply to the committee, requiring them to dismiss, and not interrupt the peace of the country. In the month of April, Argyle was despatched against him, with what troops he could raise for the occasion, and came unexpectedly upon him after his followers had plundered and set on fire the town of Montrose, whence they retreated to Aberdeen. Thither they were followed by ArgyJe, who, learning that the laird of Haddow, with a number of his friends, had fortified themselves in the house of Killie, marched thither, and invested it with his army. Unwilling, however, to lose time by a regular siege, he sent a trumpeter offering pardon to every man in the garrison who should surrender, the laird of Haddow excepted. Seeing no means of escape, the garrison accepted the terms. Haddow was sent to Edinburgh, brought to trial on a charge of treason, found guilty, and executed. Huntly, afraid of being sent to his old quarters in Edinburgh castle, repaired to the Bog of Gight, accompanied only by two or three individuals of his own clan, whence he brought away some trunks filled with silver, gold, and apparel, which he intrusted to one of his followers, who, finding a vessel ready to sail for Caithness, shipped the trunks, and set off with them, leaving the marquis to shift for himself. The marquis, who had yet one thousand dollars, committed them to the care of another of his dependants, and taking a small boat, set out in pursuit of the trunks. On landing in Sutherland he could command no better accommodation than a wretched ale-house. Next day he proceeded to Caithness, where he found lodgings with his cousin-german, Francis Sinclair, and most unexpectedly fell in with the runaway and his boxes, with which by sea he proceeded to Strathnaver, where he remained in close retirement for upwards of twelve months. In the meantime, about twelve hundred of the promised Irish auxiliaries, under Alaster Macdonald, landed on the island of Mull, where they captured some of the small fortresses, and, sailing for the mainland, they disembarked in Knoydart, where they attempted to raise some of the clans. Argyle, to whom this Alaster Macdonald was a mortal enemy, having sent round some ships of war from Leith, which seized the vessels that had transported them over, they were unable to leave the country, and he himself, with a formidable force, hanging upon their rear, they were driven into