Life and diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader

456 LIFE OF COL. BLACKADEK. CHAP. XIX.
But all these arts and intrigues were baffled by the
vigilance and activity of the government. Measures
were adopted for the public safety, and the nation put
in a posture of defence. New regiments were levied,
and several disaffected officers were dismissed from
the army. The Dukes of Marlborough and Argyle,
the Earl of Stair, and others who had been disbanded
under the late administration, were restored. Of the
chief abettors of those intrigues, some were committed
to custody, and others retired into banishment to es-
cape the penalties of the law. The death of Louis,
the great supporter of the Stuart dynasty, was a final
blow to the interests of the Pretender in France, and
should have taught his friends to moderate that en-
thusiasm which was ultimately to bring ruin on their
cause. But they had gone too far to recede ; and with
a fatal temerity, they resolved to erect the standard
of rebellion, and try the fortune of war. The unsuc-
cessful result of this experiment is well known, and
cannot here be enlarged upon ; we shall, however, ad-
vert again to the subject, when we have brought up
our extracts from the Diary, to the date when the
Highlanders took arms under their Commander-in-
chief at the Castleton of Braemar.
In quelling this rebellion, Colonel Blackader, though
not called to action, rendered his country some ser-
vice ; and his exertions were not overlooked by the
government. He was still residing as a private
gentleman in Stirling, but ready to obey the call of
honour, when the religion and liberties of the king-
dom were threatened with extinction. He volun-
teered to take the command, and submitted to the
drudgery of training a regiment that was raised in the