Ossian Collection > History of the Highlands and of the Highland clans > Volume 4

APTENDIX. . 13
No. CV.
A'o^e, or Memorandum, of the message delivered, referred to in thejhre-
'joing letter.
Pauis. 1 1M July, 1747,-9 at night.
I WAS at thii moment called to the door by a gentleman who deliver'd me
the following message, That lie was just then sent by H. R. H. the Prince of
Wales at St Ouen, who had heard that I was come to town, that his R. H. de-
sir'd I should not come near him, for that he would not see me, and that I would
do well to leave Paris as soon as I coidd.
1 ask'd the Gentleman his name, who, after assuring me he would not have
deliver'd such a message witliout orders, he at last told me his name was Mr
Stafford. 1 desir'd lie would acquaint H. R. H. tliat I had come to Fiance witli
no other design but to pay my respects to him, and that I should punctually
obey his orders, which I hop'd Mr Stafford would assure H. R. H. of.
George Murray
The moment Mr Stafford was gone I sat down and wrote wh.it had past, not
to trust too much to my memory.
• No. CVI.
The Rev. Mi/les jyTacdonnell to the Chevalier de St George.
Most Gracious Sovereign,
The compliance I owe to your Majesty's dread commands, and
the bent of my own natural inclination, will not permit me to be silent upon
his Royal Higlmess the Duke of York's late change of condition. The general
distraction is only equal to the confusion your Majesty's subjects here are in,
agreeing in nothing so unanimously as in their seeing it a mortal deadly stroke
to the cause, especially at this present juncture, when the war is at the height
and prosperous, and the usurper's general pardon just published at home. Many
and various are the conjectures as well as the resolutions fciken upon this occa-
sion, and I am heartily grieved ('tis with submission I say it) tliat not one of
them is favourable to your Majesty's person or cause. The people at home were
never so ripe, so well disposed, nor in greater hopes of another successful at-
tempt, being determined to second it with all their power, to make amends for
their late supineness : this I know from gentlemen of distinction and quality
lately come from England, and just returned thither. I endeavoured to persuade
them, that, when your Majesty's reasons for consenting to the late event were
known, tliey would certainly justify tlie proceeding: this is all I could say, but,
alas ! that will be of little force at home, where all the old bugbears of popery,
bigotry, &c. will be renewed with (I am afraid) too much success, wherefore I
liumbly apprehend, and with the utmost submission remonstrate, that it will be
proper to dispatch some discreet persons to England speedily, furnished with all
the arguments and reasons imaginable, to justify that step, and ward off, if pos-
sible, the dreadful storm the cause is threatened with : For my part, I am de-
termined to go at all hazards to throw in my little mite of assistance, if [ ran