The Patriot (40 page)

So Andrew found himself in a strange position, in consequence - popular. From being the furtive fugitive and the awkward man to be seen with, he quite suddenly graduated to being one of the key figures in this great national enterprise, a man to know. His campaign for bringing Dalrymple and Glenlyon to trial, however unsuccessful, also commended him to the populace at large if not to the government and its immediate supporters. But even these were, in the main, now involved as Darien subscribers; so that there was a curious dichotomy with regard to Andrew Fletcher - approval and the reverse. King William's favour towards William Paterson — from whom he was again negotiating a loan for his military adventures - was likewise a factor to be considered in assessing how closely to get involved with Paterson's friend and colleague - even though no direct royal favour was detectable towards Andrew himself.

These circumstances enabled Andrew to score a quite major personal success at the Parliament of 1693, when he was prominent in putting through the assembly a Bill for the Encouragement of Foreign Trade, which gained an overwhelming vote and became an Act. Its details had been drawn up by a new Committee of Trade, a novel development for Scotland in itself, wherein much that Andrew had learned during his foreign travels was brought forward, in addition to Paterson's own proposals. Although the latter was now himself a commissioner to Parliament, representing the burgh of Dumfries, he was unable to attend either committee or assembly with any regularity owing to his problems in the south. The Bank of England design was taking up a lot of his time and though going ahead was meeting with a lot of opposition from established money and usuary interests in London and their spokesmen in both Houses of Parliament. The powerful East India Company had reached the stage of almost automatically opposing all that William Paterson did, fearing competition -and some of the most influential figures in English public life were connected therewith. Inevitably word of the Darien charter and scheme leaked out from Whitehall and Paterson found himself embarrassed, not so much by the enmity but by the clamorous support and demands for shares in his company - this largely by interests excluded from and envious of the East India Company, who saw it as a means of stealing a march on that great monopoly. On Paterson's assertion that it was a Scots-only venture, the applications
were
merely channelled through the many Scots in London. In the end he had to give way, in some measure, for many of the applicants were the same men with whom he was working over the Bank of England. And, of course, compared with Scotland, London was awash with ready money for investment, and quickly over £300,000 was subscribed, whilst Andrew and his colleagues in the north had reached only
half
that,
splendid
a figure as this had seemed to them at
this
stage. So,
much
rethinking had to be engaged in, or the entire scheme would
slip
into English
control.
It was decided
to
delay the actual
parliamentary
procedure of setting up the new
company officially meantime, to
discourage
the London
speculators, and
to content them
selves with this Act for the Encouragement of Foreign Trade, which prepared the way in general for the more detailed company legislation and allowed the organisers to keep their options open.

Andrew for one had not realised that trade and commerce could involve almost as much infighting and strategy as politics and warfare. His skilful sponsorship of the new Act, however, and the lead he was taking against what seemed like one more threat from London, gained him much prestige and recognition as a leading parliamentarian, to help overcome his reputation as a loner and awkward rebel against authority. He still did not lead nor belong to any party but nevertheless he acquired a sort of following, on whose votes he could more or less rely, led by the lords Belhaven, Polwarth, Annandale, Eglinton and Ross and commissioners such as Cockburn of Ormiston, Pringle of Torwoodlee, Swinton of that Ilk, Maxwell of Pollock and Montgomery of Giffen, largely members of the former Club. The last's kinsman, Sir James Montgomery, was less dependable, a disappointed man with a grievance, however able. But as a member of the Committee on Trade he did good work and spoke eloquently on behalf of the Act.

The Scots were a people who appeared to need to be preoccupied, theorists to a man. In the past they had been preoccupied with war, fighting for freedom or just fighting, feuding; with religious reform or at least change; with theological hair-splitting. Now, of a sudden, it was trade, commerce and the better life to be gained thereby. Some saw this as a grievously mundane and earth-bound deterioration, almost shameful in a people who should have their minds above the merely material and sordidly mercantile. Andrew saw it otherwise, he who surely was no materialist. All this, of course, referred to the southern or Lowland Scots. Their Highland compatriots were a different kettle-of-fish.
They
had a simpler outlook, less concern with theories and certainly no preoccupation with commerce. One hundred and thirty years after the Reformation they were still mainly Catholic, thirled to the old ways, patriarchal and clan-conscious. The Stewarts had become a clan, despite Norman origins, and James Stewart was still chief of chiefs whatever his faults and failings. The
Glencoe affair profoundly shook and alarmed the Highlands.
Their
preoccupation was far from schemes of foreign trade and social betterment. The sword commended itself to them, at this juncture, rather than the word, the edict, the vote and the subscription-list. Highlands and Lowlands were on a collision course.

17

It was not often that two gentlemen of Lothian should find occasion to ride over the Highland Line, even the very southern skirts thereof, as now. But circumstances can conspire to even such drastic measures, and in the summer of 1695 circumstances were sufficiently so to impel Andrew Fletcher and Johnnie Belhaven to these lengths. With a suitable escort of half a dozen troopers of the Haddingtonshire militia, drawn from their own two estates - for none would question but that they were venturing into dangerous territory - they trotted up the west bank of the Water of Ruchill in the wide vale of Strathearn, of a late August afternoon, and were in fact surprised to find it all so fair, so fertile-seeming, so far from the barbarous wilderness of crags and mountains and foaming torrents against which they had been warned. Mountains there were but they stood well back, to form a pleasantly blue backcloth to the sylvan strath, the Water of Ruchill was a fine peat-brown river but no fearsome cataract and there was not a crag nor yawning chasm in sight. Strathearn, of course, although just within the Highland Line clan-country, was scarcely truly Highland; and the clan in major possession was that of Campbell, which made a difference.

And it was with the Campbells that the pair were mainly concerned, heading for Aberuchill Castle, seat of Sir Colin Campbell, Lord Aberuchill of Session, Privy Councillor. The fact was that, after so encouraging a start, the Darien scheme was in danger. Not from any failure in the conception or
planning, nor yet from any lack of support in Scotland; but wholly on account of opposition in England. William Paterson was paying now for having, against his better judgment, allowed subscriptions to be raised in London. For the East India and Africa Companies had combined to bring overwhelming pressure to bear and had succeeded in getting the English Parliament to declare the entire project unlawful and an infringement of their statutory monopolies. This, to be sure, carried no weight in Scotland, but it meant that it was illegal for any persons domiciled in England to hold shares in the Company; therefore all the £300,000 subscribed there had to be paid back.

This had severely upset all their arrangements and preparations, which had been nearing completion. For revised estimates of initial capital requirements amounted to £600,000, of which Scotland had managed to raise approximately half. Now, with the other half having to be paid back, the crisis situation did not have to be emphasised. Somehow that £300,000 had to be replaced; for the new Company, duly set up by Act of the Scots Parliament only a month or two before, was committed to major expenditure, in especial the building of two new ships suitable for carrying out the settlers and their gear and livestock to Central America, ordered from shipyards in Amsterdam and Hamburg, a third vessel having already been bought from Leith merchants. Paterson, in some desperation, had hurried over to the Continent and managed to raise at short notice something over £100,000 from his Dutch and German associates; but that left £200,000 which had to be produced from Scotland, and quickly. Hence this and other attempts by Andrew and Johnnie - the latter appointed chairman of the new Company of Scotland for Trading with Africa and the Indies, since it was judged politic to have a lord as figurehead, especially as he was now made a member of the Privy Council.

They were thus probing into the Highlands for good reason. Admittedly there was, in the main, precious little money to be found north of the Line, plenty of cattle, broad-swords, pride and flourish but little gold and silver. But such as there might be was undoubtedly largely in the hands of Clan Campbell. It
was strange how different from all the other clans were the Campbells, as Celtic in origin as any, yet totally different in outlook, in style of life and especially in acquisitiveness. They were nowise less concerned with pride and status and flourish, but they sought to display and enhance these by the pen and the parchment rather than with the sword, using the law, legal processes, politics and sheer ingenuity - as well as carefully-planned inter-marriage - to gain and hold and expand their influence, lands and riches. Inevitably, although they remained Highland and based, in the main, north of the Line, their eyes were apt to be turned southwards, unlike the other clans. And they multiplied and prospered exceedingly, to the envy and hatred of the rest, who affected to despise them; so that from Argyll, their homeland, they had spread all over the North -and southwards into Ayrshire, for instance, where one of their chieftains had become Earl of Loudoun - so that they had now three earls in the clan, Argyll himself, Breadalbane, who was Campbell of Glenorchy, and Loudoun. Also sundry baronetcies and half a hundred lairdships, many of them very rich and productive.

Hence this journey. Hitherto, although certain Campbells linked to the establishment and government had invested in the Company, by and large the Highland-based lairds had not been involved. Aberuchill himself had shares in a modest way; and at Andrew's suggestion had agreed to call together a selection of his most prosperous fellow-clansmen for approach on the subject. If these could be suitably impressed, a large proportion of the extra capital might well be raised.

That was one aspect of their mission. The other was very different. The authorities in Edinburgh were worried about continuing rumours of Jacobite activity in the North, suggestions of planned rising. It was known that there were constant comings and goings of couriers between the Highlands and James at St. Germain, where he now held court at the expense of Louis of France, who still saw fit to recognise him as King of Scots, and of England too, to William's wrath. It was important for the government to discover how serious a threat this constituted; and this mission to the Campbells seemed an excellent way of attempting a discreet enquiry, with the co-operation of Lord Aberuchill. The Campbells themselves were not likely to be involved in overt seditious activities - they were much too well aware on which side their bread was buttered for that, at least until the other side looked like winning; but undoubtedly they would have their sharp ears very close to the ground and might give useful leads. This was really Belhaven's business rather than Andrew's, as one of the militia commanders and Privy Councillor - although the other was concerned also that James Stewart and his tyrannies should not be restored.

With the mouth of Glen Artney opening southwards before them, out of which this Water of Ruchill issued, they swung off to the west on a road gravelled with marl and grit from the river, something unusual for the Highlands, marks of carriage-wheels thereon. This led through grassy pastureland dotted with birchwoods, where many black cattle grazed, with some tilled land walled off by stone dykes. Andrew in especial was interested, noting that the land-use was superior to much that they had seen since leaving the Lowlands at Dunblane, but perceiving where improvements could be made, in liming, drainage, stone- and scrub-clearance and the like.

Presently the castle of Aberuchill appeared before them, under a green hill, not very large, a fairly typical tall oblong tower of four storeys with angle-turrets and crowstepped gables, whitewashed and spruce within a high-walled courtyard with gatehouse and outbuildings. The yard proved to contain three coaches, horses unhitched. For Highlanders, the Campbells clearly travelled in style.

They were well received, if somewhat cautiously eyed by their fellow-guests, who evidently were on their guard against being sold a horse which might not run. There were half a dozen gentlemen present already and more kept arriving, one creating a major stir, drawing up in a black and yellow coach with what Andrew considered to be a vulgar display of heraldic paintwork reminiscent of the Duke of Lauderdale, now deceased, and six matched black horses with yellow harness, liveried postillions and outriders. This proved to be John Campbell
of
Glenorchy, first Earl of Breadalbane, second only to Argyll in the Campbell hierarchy, a smooth-faced, bland,
cold-smiling man in a full-bottomed wig, in his late fifties, with whom the others were all obviously much impressed. Andrew for one did not much like what he saw, but recognised that if he could convince this man to invest, much of his task might be done, for undoubtedly others would be apt to follow his lead. The fact that Breadalbane had come at all, from Balloch Castle near the foot of Loch Tay, a good forty miles, was encouraging in itself. Whatever else he was, this was a shrewd and able character, ruthless by reputation, a manipulator, and alleged to have urged Dalrymple on to the Glencoe affair, as a means of adding to his territories at the same time as getting rid of
his old enemy MacI
an - even though already it was Breadalbane's boast that he could ride from the North Sea to the Atlantic on his own land.