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 ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
JORDAN

Volume 2

ON BOTH BANKS OF THE JORDAN

ON BOTH BANKS OF THE JORDAN
A Political Biography of Wasfi al-Tall

ASHER SUSSER
First published in 1994 by Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
This edition first published in 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1994 Asher Susser
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-62955-4 (Set)

ISBN: 978-1-315-20177-1 (Set) (ebk)
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ISBN: 978-1-315-20226-6 (Volume 2) (ebk)

Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but
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 ON BOTH BANKS
OF THE JORDAN
A Political Biography of
Wasfi al-Tall

Asher Susser

FRANK CASS
 First published in 1994 in Great Britain by
FRANK CASS & CO. LTD.
Newbury House, 900 Eastern Avenue,
Newbury Park, Ilford, Essex IG2 7HH

and in the United States of America by

FRANKCASS
c/o International Specialized Book Services, Inc.
5804 N.E. Hassalo Street
Portland, Oregon 97213-3644

Copyright© 1994 Asher Susser

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Susser, Asher
On Both Banks of the Jordan: Political
Biography of Wasfi a!-Tall
I. Title
956.9504092

ISBN 0-7146-4542-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Susser, Asher.
[Ben Yarden le-Falestin. English]
On both banks of the Jordan : a political biography of Wasfi a!
-Tall I Asher Susser.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7146-4542-7
1. Tall, Wasfi, 1919-1971.2. Prime ministers-Jordan-Biography.
3. Jordan-Politics and government. 4. Palestinian Arabs-Politics
and government. 5. Muna~~amat al-Tal)rir al-Filasttnlyah.
I. Title.
DS154.52. T34S8713 1994
956.9504'3'092-dcZO
[B] 93-10856
CIP

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior permission of Frank Cass and
Company Limited.

Typeset by Vitaset, Paddock Wood, Kent

Printed in Great Britain by Bookcraft (Bath) Ltd
 Contents

List of Illustrations vn
Preface ix
Introduction: The Jordanian Regime and
the Palestinians 1
1. Wasfi al-Tall- The Early Years 9
2. The Beginning of a Political Career (1945-49) 14
The 'Arab Offices' 14
The Army of Salvation (Jaysh al-Inqadh) 15
Lessons of the 1948 war 19
3. Jordanian Government Service (1949-61) 23
Senior civil servant 23
The spokesman for the regime 29
The propaganda war against Eygpt 30
Relations with Iraq 32
Jordan's ambassador in Baghdad 33
Anti-Nasserist plots in Lebanon 34
4. Prime Minister (1962-63) 36
The appointment 36
Purging the bureaucracy 39
The Amnesty Law 41
Elections under controlled liberalization 42
Jordan's initiative on Palestine 47
Confrontation with ~ Abd al-Nasir 53
Support for the royalist cause in Yemen 57
A new government: increasing domestic opposition 59
The Ba ~thi coups in Iraq and Syria-
Husayn back on the defensive 65
5. Confrontation with the PLO (1965-67) 70
Back to the Prime Minister's office 70
The merits of political indoctrination 72
Shura but no more 73
 The General Amnesty 75
The price of the 'summit spirit' 76
The challenge of the PLO 78
Tall and Shuqayri- negotiations between rivals 82
Peparations to thwart the PLO 84
Fruitless attempts at compromise 87
The March 1966 agreement 93
The suppression of the oppositon and
popular PLO support 94
Mounting tension with the PLO 96
Crisis and rupture 99
Tall's assault on 'Shuqayri's PLO' 102
The disintegration of the 'summit spirit' 103
The impact of the Samu' operation 109
Opposition within the establishment 117
Jordan's counter-offensive 119
6. Behind the Scenes (1967-70) 123
Tall and the Six Day War 123
The arch-enemy of the Fida'iyyun 132
'Black September' 137
7. The Final Eviction of the Fida'iyyun (1970-71) 141
Tall, the Fida'iyyun and the question of
'law and order' 141
Relentless pressure 145
The final expulsion 150
Political rehabilitation of the Kingdom 156
Tall and the future of the West Bank 160
Between Tall and Husayn 163
The assassination in Cairo 168
Conclusion: Wasfi al-Tall and the East Bank Political Elite 172
Notes 182
Bibliography 196
Index 204
 List of Illustrations

Between pages 90 and 91

1 Wasfi al-Tall at the High School in Salt.

2 Wasfi al-Tall with his wife Sa'diyya.

3 Wasfi al-Tall as Director of Jordanian

Radio.

4 Tall sets fire to domestic intelligence

dossiers.

5 Wasfial-TallandKingHusayn.

6 Wasfi al-Tall's final return to Cairo.

Picture credits
All photographs are taken from Wasfi al- Tall: An Illustrated Record
by Isam Arida (1972) and reproduced by courtesy of the Jordan
Press Foundation.

vii
 Preface

More than any other single issue, Jordan's complex and often
contentious relations with Palestine and the Palestinians have
shaped the historical development of the Hashimite Kingdom.
Perhaps more than any other individual, with the exception of
King 'Abdallah, the founder of the Kingdom, and his grandson,
King Husayn, it was the East Bank politician and statesman, Wasfi
al-Tall, who personified Jordan's determination to preserve its
political and territorial integrity.
No Jordanian, outside the Hashimite royal family, has ever
embodied the Jordanian state and its struggle for survival with
greater resolve and power than Wasfi al-Tall. All the fundamental
characteristics of the Kingdom became integral components of
Tall's political consciousness. During his rather brief political
career, cut short by the bullets of assassins, he matured into one
of the most representative examples of those East Bankers who
compose the Jordanian political elite, the backbone and mainstay
of the Hashimite regime.
Wasfi al-Tall was one of King Husayn's closest confidants and one
of Jordan's senior statesmen from the early 1960s until the early
1970s. During this period he served three terms as prime minister,
all at decisive junctures in the unfolding competition and confronta-
tion between Jordan and the Palestinian national movement. It
was in the last of these terms of office, in 1970-71, that he orchest-
rated the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan. Ironically, Tall's
political career, which began in the 1940s, when he devoted himself
to the Arab political and military struggle in Palestine, was abruptly
terminated when he was gunned down by Palestinians, who con-
demned him as the architect of their defeat in Jordan.
Writing the political biography of a Jordanian politician while
unable to visit Jordan to interview those who worked closely with
him has its obvious drawbacks. I have tried to compensate with
interviews with the late Anwar Nusayba and two former US
ambassadors to Jordan, Findley Burns and William Macomber, to
all of whom I remain particularly grateful for their co-operation.
My main sources, however, came from the wealth of available
written material: Tall's own writings, speeches, interviews and

lX
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

press conferences; Jordanian and other Arab press articles and

broadcasts covering Tall's entire career; and secondary sources on
Jordan published in Jordan and elsewhere.
Much of this study was originally published in Hebrew (a first
edition in 1983 and a second in 1986). This English version has
been revised in places, following the publication of some new
source material. It differs from the Hebrew edition in two main
respects. The first chapter, 'The Early Years', has been partly
rewritten in view of the publication in Jordan of a collection of
biographies by Sulayman Musa which included new material on
Tall's childhood and youth that had hitherto been unavailable to
me. I have also written a new concluding chapter on the Jordanian
political elite which did not appear in the Hebrew book.
To quote my fri~nd and colleague, Dr Martin Kramer, 'when
done with sensitivity, the telling and reading of lives increase our
empathy for people of other times, other places, other cultures'
(Martin Kramer (ed.), Middle Eastern Lives: The Practice of
Biography and Self-Narrative (Syracuse University Press, 1991),
p. 19). I do sincerely hope that this book meets these criteria.
There are many to whom I owe a debt of gratitude and without
whose help this book would never have been completed. I am
especially grateful to the late Professor Uriel Dann and to Mr Daniel
Dishon who read the manuscript of the English version and made
most valuable suggestions. I am similarly most grateful to my parents,
Gideon and Minnie, for their painstaking assistance in preparing
the initial draft of the English translation. For 20 years my academic
home has been the Moshe Dayan Center and Shiloah Institute at
Tel Aviv University. It is to that institution and its fellows, and
particularly to its former head, Professor !tamar Rabinovich, that I
owe an extraordinary debt of gratitude for friendship, inspiration,
co-operation and material support. Edna Liftman and Amira
Margalith, who turn the wheels of publication and office adminis-
tration, were as indispensable as always. Lydia Gareh, who typed
the manuscript with painstaking precision, has become an institution
in her own right in the eyes of all who have ever had the pleasure of
working with her. Last, but not least, I want to thank by wife
Miriam and my two sons, Boaz and Eyal, who have lent a special
sense of purpose to the demands of academia.
Asher Susser
Tel Aviv, May 1993

X
 Introduction: The Jordanian Regime
and the Palestinians

For centuries inhabitants of the East and West Banks of the River
Jordan have been linked by bonds of kinship and economic inter-
action and, at times, by administrative and political ties as well.
The British Mandate for Palestine initially included both banks,
and the British authorities noted, with considerable historical
justification, that for economic reasons as well as in some geo-
graphical aspects the two areas were essentially one unit. 1
In 1921 the Emirate of Trans-Jordan was established to serve
both British imperial interests and Hashimite dynastic ambitions.
Henceforth, Trans-Jordan developed as a separate political unit.
Nevertheless, Trans-Jordan remained part of the British Mandate
for Palestine, until it achieved independence, as the Hashimite
Kingdom of Jordan, in 1946. Jordan's political fate continued to
be intimately connected to that of Palestine. King 'Abdallah, the
grandfather of King Husayn and the founder of Hashimite Trans-
Jordan, never concealed his political aspirations in respect of
Palestine. He regarded the establishment of an independent Arab
state in Palestine as a potential threat to his throne and therefore
sought to ensure Hashimite supremacy in the settlement of the
Palestinian question. Jordan's occupation of the West Bank in
1948 and the formal annexation of the territory in 1950 forestalled
the immediate threat to the Kingdom, but did not suffice to
overcome the deep-seated hostility which many Palestinians felt
for the Hashimite regime. From the outset, the relationship between
the regime and the large Palestinian population that was absorbed
into the Kingdom was characterized by considerable tension and
repeated political confrontations. At times, the regime's very
existence was endangered. Yet, despite the challenge, the Jordanian
political entity remained stable, consistently defined by the follow-
ing characteristics:

• A Kingdom, hereditary in the Hashimite family, successor to

the British-mandated Emirate of Trans-Jordan, and heir, as far
as possible, to its political, social and psychological values. The

1
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

King is the linchpin of the political system and the real head of
the decision-making process.
• The monarchy is backed by a political elite which is pre-
dominantly Trans-Jordanian. This elite is supportive of the
status quo and is. apprehensive of any change that may deny it
access to, and control of, the key positions of state, government
and army. Power resides disproportionately with East Bankers.
Palestinian influence has never been commensurate with their
demographic weight.
• The regime relies heavily on the army and other security forces.
These are employed against the opponents of the regime, upon
the King's instructions, whenever he perceives it to be in serious
danger. It should be noted, however, that King Husayn does not
relish the use of force against his subjects, and tends to do so
only in extreme situations.
• The regime is fearful of any radical ideology- Nasserist, Ba'thi
or Communist on the one hand, or revolutionary Islamic on the
other. It treats all who show any sympathy for these ideological
trends with suspicion, and it does not hesitate to confront them,
at times even resorting to force.
• Jordan has always been connected with the West, first to Britain
and later to the United States, from which it has received much
of the political, economic and military assistance that has been
essential for the Kingdom's survival. 2

In its attitude to the regime, the political public was traditionally

divided into two fairly clearly defined groups: the supporters of the
existing political structure, namely, the ruling political elite, com-
posed in the main of Trans-Jordanians, supported by a Palestinian
minority; and its opponents, among whom Palestinians have always
figured prominently, backed by a minority of Trans-J ordanians.
Palestinians probably constitute just over half of the population
of the East Bank of Jordan and some two-thirds of the population
in both Banks combined. 3 A large proportion of this Palestinian
political public rejected the traditional 'image of Jordan' as defined
above and strove for radical change. They objected to the cen-
trality of the monarchy and opposed the supremacy of the Trans-
Jordanian elite. They also rejected the regime's traditional alliance
with the Western powers, on whose shoulders the Palestinians

2
 INTRODUCTION

tended to place much of the responsibility for their national

calamity in 1948. Most of the Palestinian political elite identified
with, and drew revolutionary inspiration from, precisely those
ideological trends that were anathema to the regime.
The role of the Palestinians in the upper echelons of the
government and the military has always been marginal. Even so, a
not insignificant number of Palestinians threw in their political and
personal lot with the regime, and displayed unswerving loyalty to
the throne, even in times of crisis between the regime and the
Palestinian population.
Some of the Palestinians who supported the regime originated
from the N ashashibi camp in Palestinian politics, which formed
during the years of the British Mandate. They maintained strong
ties with the Amir (later King), 'Abdallah. The N ashashibis and
'Abdallah chose to join forces against their mutual enemy, Hajj
Amin al-Husayni, then leader of the Palestinian national
movement. Others had economic interests which they wished to
safeguard by links with the establishment. Yet another group was
composed of those whose support for the monarchy stemmed from
their loyalty to government per se, and from a realistic appraisal of
the balance of forces in Jordan. They did not believe that there Was
a reasonable chance of change and therefore preferred not to pay
the price of sterile opposition. One cannot ignore those who chose
to co-operate with the regime for reasons such as the aspiration for
status, prestige and authority, or other personal rewards. On the
other hand, there were also Palestinians who genuinely identified
with the regime's pragmatic and relatively moderate policies on the
struggle with Israel, in inter-Arab affairs and the economy.
From among East Bankers who have traditionally filled key
positions, southerners of tribal Bedouin origin have often been pre-
ferred to urban northerners. Since the earliest days of'Abdallah's
rule, northerners, from the towns of Irbid and Salt, have been at
the core of the Trans-Jordanian opposition.
The Bedouin have played a central role in the Jordanian estab-
lishment. From the outset, most of their chieftains were closely
associated with 'Abdallah, who cultivated a special relationship
with the Bedouin, and since their recruitment to the Arab Legion
in the 1930s the Bedouin have been the backbone of the crack
fighting units of the army, the mainstay of the regime. The number

3
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

of nomadic or semi-nomadic Bedouin has been steadily declining

for many years. In 1960, they accounted for less than ten per cent of
the East Bank population, 4 and by 1980 their number had dwindled
further, to some five to seven per cent of an East Bank population
of well over two million. 5 Today, that figure is even smaller, in a
population that exceeds three million.
The proportion of nomadic, semi-nomadic and recently sedenta-
rized Bedouin in the army, particularly in key units, far exceeds
their relative weight in the overall population. Their devotion to
the Hashimite monarchy rests to a large degree on the unique
status of the King. He has become the focus of a supra-tribal
loyalty, which, to a certain extent, has replaced the traditional
more circumscribed tribal solidarity. This special relationship has
engendered a remarkable and almost complete identification of
the army with the regime.
The Jordanian army, contrary to a number of other Arab
armies, developed as a relatively apolitical and professional military
machine that has suffered only marginally from subversion. There
have been isolated attempted coups but these never seriously
eroded its loyalty. It has been employed on various occasions by
the King against his domestic enemies. The army's reputation for
unswerving loyalty to the regime has also probably deterred many
would-be plotters. The causes for the army's exemplary loyalty are
not related solely to the fact that it is based on the Bedouin nucleus,
but also to the systematic cultivation of its esprit de corps; long-
term service under relatively good material conditions; good leader-
ship from the throne downwards; and the fear of the officer class
for its position under a regime rejecting the 'image of Jordan'. 6
In recent decades social change and modernization had had a
far-reaching impact on the Bedouin. The process of sedenta-
rization and the influence of education and communications have
reduced the level of tribal awareness and identity. Moreover, since
the institution of conscription in 1976, the relative weight of the
Bedouin in the army has declined. 7 These factors might eventually
have a negative effect on army loyalty. At present, however, there
-are no indications that the army has undergone significant change
in this respect.
Many of the conscripts, as opposed to career recruits, are placed
in service jobs and most do not remain in the army after their two

4
 INTRODUCTION

years of duty are up. 8 The Bedouin, on the other hand, are still
largely inclined to seek career fulfilment in the military ,9 and, as a
result, the fighting units and the officer corps are still
disproportionately Bedouin. Available evidence even suggests
that the weakening of tribal solidarity and the diminishing
authority of tribal shaykhs has actually tended to reinforce the
King's role of 'shaykh of shaykhs'. Modernization and change have
thus promoted a more direct identification of the individual with
the Jordanian nation-state, which is replacing the traditional
identification through the collective tribal association with the
regime. 10 The bond between the Bedouin troops and the King,
therefore, is still very strong. 11
The political leadership, with the King at the centre of the
decision-making process, is composed of a very small number of
senior officials and members of the royal family. It includes only
some members of the cabinet, usually the Prime Minister, the
Minister of the Interior (responsible for domestic security), and
the Minister of Information. As opposed to the situation obtaining
in many Western countries, the role of the Foreign Minister is, for
the most part, restricted to the execution of policy laid down by the
King and to the supervision of the diplomatic corps. The authority
of the Minister of Defence is similarly confined and his role is
limited, in the main, to administrative matters; the formulation of
policy is the exclusive domain of the King and his inner group.
Since the annexation of the West Bank, there have always been
Palestinians in Jordanian cabinets. Until Jordan's disengagement
from the West Bank in 1988, usually about half of the ministers in
any given cabinet were of Palestinian extraction. At times, some
were entrusted with the portfolios of Defence and Foreign Affairs.
However, it is only in rare instances that they have held those
portfolios which entail membership of the restricted decision-
making group at the very top.
Generally, the most senior officers in the defence establishment
are associated with this inner group, including the most senior
army officers and the directors of the domestic security forces -
General Intelligence (the internal security service) and General
Security (the police). None of these positions has ever been held by
a Palestinian.
Outside the functional categories, there is a circle of 'King's

5
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

friends' who may or may not hold official appointments, but who
have the King's ear and who are regularly entrusted with missions
of political importance. 12 This circle would normally include
various members of the royal family, such as the King's younger
brother, Crown Prince Hasan, and, in Husayn's earlier years, the
Queen Mother and some of Husayn's uncles; the Chief of the
Royal Court; one or two very close personal advisers; and a select
few of former senior officials.
Husayn selects the members of his inner council and those who
fill important positions according to their personalities and
political proclivities in order to facilitate the satisfactory execution
of policy, as formulated by him, at any particular juncture. Policy is
determined in the palace and not by the cabinet, which is chiefly
concerned with its execution and its explanation at home and
abroad. But it is the cabinet which is far more exposed to public
scrutiny than the palace. Consequently it is the cabinet which
invariably attracts criticism for a policy in fact laid down by the
King. Changes in government in response to such criticism serve as
a mechanism designed to protect the King. They occur frequently,
particularly in times of stress, but do not necessarily herald any
change in policy. However, they do tend to create the impression
of impending change, thus acting as a most important 'shock
absorber' in times of crisis.
Any opposition whose objective is to obtain a meaningful share
in political power, let alone assume power, in order to change the
traditional image of the Kingdom is perceived by the regime as a
form of subversion and thus not tolerated. This does not mean that
the opposition is completely deprived of any freedom of action.
The measure of freedom it is allowed is a function of the King's
self-confidence and the risk he is prepared to take at any given
time. In recent years Jordan has undergone a process of
liberalization. However, the regime has never had the intention of
permitting the opposition to have real influence on the decision-
making process.
The Jordanian parliament (Majlis al-Umma) is bi-cameral.
Until Jordan's disengagement from the West Bank, the Senate
(Majlis al-A 'yan) had 30 members appointed by the King from
among the notables, former prime ministers, ministers and ambas-
sadors; and an elected Chamber of Deputies (Majlis al-Nuwwab)

6
 INTRODUCTION

which had 60 members, equally divided between East Bank and

West Bank constituencies. Following the disengagement, member-
ship of the Senate was increased by ten and the Chamber of
Deputies by 20 members, representing constituencies solely from
the East Bank. The constitution requires that they be elected for a
period of four years, in regional, secret and direct general elections.
The appointed Senate tends to ensure that a certain skein of
conservatism is woven into the fabric of the legislature. 13 More-
over, until quite recently, the regime resorted to a number of other
measures to guarantee that parliament was not transformed into a
vehicle of the opposition. The existence of political parties in
Jordan was forbidden, and elections were therefore held on a
personal basis. In spite of the fact that the constitution requires
that elections should be free, they were generally 'directed' by the
government, with the object of minimizing the representation of
the opposition. Candidates considered undesirable by the govern-
ment were sometimes prevented from running in the elections by
various forms of pressure brought to bear upon them by the
domestic security apparatus. In order to ensure the success of its
favoured candidates, the regime also often adopted a variety of
fraudulent procedures in the voting and in the counting of votes.
The antagonism prevalent between a large segment of the
Palestinian political public and the Hashimite regime made it a
constant facet of Jordanian policy to limit Palestinian attempts to
attain key positions; moreover, the government deprived them
of the ability to organize any political power-base which would be
independent of the central government. One of the essential
elements of this policy was the attempt by the Hashimite regime to
assimilate the Palestinians into the Jordanian state by systemati-
cally de-emphasizing their Palestinian identity, so as to transform
them into loyal Jordanian subjects. This, however, was diametric-
ally opposed to autonomous Palestinian efforts to maintain their
national identity and to the general Arab consensus on this issue.
The predominant trend in the Arab world was to preserve the
Palestinian identity and to allow for its organizational expression
through the notion of a 'Palestinian entity' (kiyan Filastini). It was
the coalescence of this Palestinian effort and the Arab consensus
that spurred the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) in 1964.

7
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

Before the establishment of the PLO, the Palestinian opposition

in Jordan expressed itself through the medium of various radical
political parties until these were banned in 1957. Indeed, the
Palestinians were the backbone of a variety of opposition parties
all subscribing to a revolutionary social and political platform.
On the left, these were the Ba'th, the Communists, the Arab
Nationalist Movement (Harakat al-Qawmiyyin al- 'Arab), and the
less radical National Socialist Party led by Sulayman al-Nabulsi; on
the right (a term chosen for convenience rather than accuracy)
there were the religious-fundamentalists organized in the Muslim
Brotherhood and the Islamic Liberation Party. All these groups
rejected the traditional image of Jordan in one way or another. In
October 1956, as a result of elections that were freer than usual,
opposition candidates won a majority in the Chamber of Deputies.
Nabulsi formed a government which soon threatened to overturn
the traditional political order. Husayn, aware of the danger, bided
his time for a while, but then, in April 1957, cracked down and
smashed the opposition. He dismissed the Nabulsi government,
imposed martial law and banned all political parties. 14
The formation of the PLO threatened yet again to provide the
Palestinians with a framework for political organization against the
government. Like the parties of the 1950s, it presented the regime
with a political challenge, only now the threat was even greater.
The PLO purported to provide a political framework potentially
appealing to the majority of the population in a manner liable to
threaten the very existence of the Jordanian state far more directly
and more seriously than any of the banned parties had done.
In the annals of the Jordanian-Palestinian confrontation, one
could hardly point to a more outstanding Jordanian personality
than Wasfi al-Tall. Tall's entire political career was interwoven
from beginning to end with the Palestinian saga and the impact it
had on Jordan.

8
 1

Wasfi al-Tall- The Early Years

Wasfi al-Tall was born in 1919 and grew up in Irbid in northern

Jordan. The family has its origins in the Bani Zaydan tribe which
migrated from the Najd region in Arabia to Syria in the middle of
the eighteenth century. Some members of the tribe settled in the
Irbid area while others chose the area of Zabdani in south-western
Syria. 1 The Tails became one of the most distinguished families in
Trans-Jordan and some of them rose to positions of prominence
even during Ottoman times, well before the founding of the
Emirate of Trans-Jordan in the early 1920s. 2 The first to achieve
real fame, or rather in this case notoriety, was Wasfi al-Tall's
cousin 'Abdallah al-Tall. He was a battalion commander in the
Jordanian army and military governor ofthe Old City of Jerusalem
in 1948. 'Abdallah al-Tall was sentenced to death in absentia for his
part in the assassination of King 'Abdallah in 1951. During Wasfi
al-Tall's second term as prime minister, at the beginning of 1965,
'Abdallah was pardoned and allowed to return to Jordan from his
extended exile in Cairo.
Wasfi al-Tall was the son of Mustafa Wahbi al-Tall, a well-
known Jordanian poet who had not always been favourably
disposed towards the Hashimite regime. Wasfi's mother was a
Kurdish woman whom his father had married during a sojourn in
'Arabkir (Arapkir, in present-day Turkish Kurdistan). Mustafa
W ahbi was caught up there on his way to university in Istanbul
during the First World War. Wasfi al-Tall was born in' Arabkir and
it was there. that he spent his early childhood, until his family
resettled in Irbid in 1924. 3 Wasfi was tall and had a dark complexion
inherited from his Tall forefathers and from his Kurdish mother.
He always looked younger than his years. Even when he reached
the age of 50, his thick jet-black hair gave him the appearance of a
younger man. His sharp and stern facial features corresponded
with his character which was essentially serious, strict and tough.

9
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

But people who knew him well maintained that these features
belied some of his more humane and gentle traits. He had a fine
sense of humour, a deep affection for his friends and a romantic
streak, attested to by his love of nature, his profound appreciation
for the desert poetry of the Bedouin and for the traditions of village
life, which he cherished. As a mature politician, Tall was the
image of self-confidence and he was prone to demonstrations of
arrogance and disdain towards his opponents. But even when in
high office he did not find it unbecoming to work very long hours
and to take simple meals of bread and laban, falafil or humus,
sitting on the floor like the Bedouin and the villagers. 4
As a young boy Wasfi al-Tall was obstreperous, aggressive and
mischievous and it was already apparent in his early youth that he
had a mind of his own. He received his elementary education in
Irbid and in 1936 he enrolled at the high school in Salt, which was
the only government high school in Trans-Jordan in those days. 5
These were the beginnings not only of his formal education but of
his political schooling as well. He and his classmates came under
the influence of their history teacher, Sa'id al-Durra, who inspired
in them a powerful sense of identification with the Arab nationalist
cause. Tall and some of his peers became so emotionally involved
with the Arab cause in Palestine that they decided to form a secret
society called 'The Black Hand'. 6 These were the years of the Arab
Rebellion in Palestine and one of the most prominent groups
responsible for the promotion of the armed rebellion was 'The
Black Hand', led by the legendary Shaykh 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam.
Qassam was killed in a clash with the British in 1935, 7 and one may
assume that Wasfi and his friends had Qassam in mind when
choosing the name of their society. Theirs was but a youthful and
quite innocuous adventure. But they did succeed in getting
themselves into serious trouble. One night in order to register their
protest against their own government's moderation and restraint
on the Palestine question, they packed an old bombshell with
explosives and tossed it at the home of the local Mutasarrif( district
governor). They were immediately arrested, but Wasfi's father
intervened on their behalf and bailed them out. 8
Tall graduated from high school in 1938 and went to Lebanon
to pursue his university education at the American University in
Beirut (AUB). The AUB was then the most distinguished insti-

10
 THE EARLY YEARS

tution of its kind in the Arab world. It was the intellectual hub for
the educated young of the most respectable families from a number
of Arab countries and, as such, became the training ground for
numerous Arab leaders of the future. The three years he spent at
the AUB were an educational and political inspiration to Wasfi al-
Tall, as he entered his twenties.
He came into contact with students from all over the Arab world
in a highly politicized college atmosphere. The ideas of Arab
nationalism were expounded to them by some of the leading Arab
intellectuals. The most prominent of these at the AUB was
Qustantin Zurayq, a distinguished medieval historian and, as
Albert Hourani has put it, a 'consulting don to a whole generation
of nationalists' .9 It was around the likes of Zurayq that the nucleus
of what was later to become the Arab Nationalist Movement was
formed in the late 1930s and early 1940s, when Zurayq published
some of his most important works on Arab national consciousness.
When British forces intervened in Iraq, in early 1941, to put
down the pro-Axis Rashid 'Ali movement, many students at the
A UB, including Wasfi al-Tall, staged demonstrations in support of
Rashid 'Ali. Tall and others, fired with enthusiasm for the Arab
nationalist cause, volunteered to fight for Rashid 'Ali and left
Beirut for Baghdad. However, they turned back before reaching
their destination when they heard the news of Rashid 'Ali's
defeat. 10
Wasfi al-Tall studied physics, chemistry and philosophy, but it
was for the last of these that he developed a real passion. The Arab
nationalists with whom Tall was associated at the time had initially
been influenced by European fascist thought. Tall became an
admirer of German philosophy, particularly Nietzsche's theories
on power .11 He was convinced that societies and nations had no life
without the acquisition of power and that work and power were the
very essence of existence. The idea of power, he contended (in an
essay he wrote in his final year at the AUB), was associated with
Islam fro111 its very beginning. The object of Islamic teachings, he
wrote, was to make the individual strong in his beliefs and in his
spirit, and powerful in his relations with others, and thus to ready
him for struggle. 12 Tall's acquaintance with Nietzsche's philosophy
was to have a lasting impact.
His student days at the AUB turned Tall into an avid reader.

11
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

Most of his reading was on politics, philosophy and history,

particularly military history. His library included Plato's Republic,
the philosophy of Nietzsche, books on the history of the Roman
Empire and numerous works on war, especially the Second World
War and the memoirs of the great leaders who fought it. But there
were other interests too, like the novels of Lawrence Durrell and
books about animals, for which he had an especially soft spot. 13
Wasfi graduated from the AUBin 1941 and returned to Trans-
Jordan. He taught very briefly at a school in the southern town of
Karak before being transferred to his alma mater in Salt. He taught
chemistry, but he was far too much of a political being to confine
his classes to the subject at hand. Instead, they often drifted into
political sessions on the threat of Zionism to the Arabs and the
need for Arab unity. 14
In the summer of 1942 Wasfi's father was appointed to the
position of Mutasarrif of Salt. However, he soon fell out with the
Prime Minister, Tawfiq Abu al-Huda: after having deliberately
and provocatively challenged Abu al-Huda's authority, Mustafa
Wahbi al-Tall found himself in prison. Wasfi was outraged. He
sought an interview with the Prime Minister, but Abu al-Huda
refused to see him. In the corridor outside the Prime Minister's
office, Wasfi launched into a tirade of curses and abuse, which
could not but have been overheard by the Prime Minister. Having
lost his temper, Wasfi now lost his job as well. Abu al-Huda had
Wasfi join his father in prison where they spent the next three
months together .15
Having served a prison sentence, a return to teaching was out of
the question. The moment had come for a new departure. He tried
to join the Arab Legion, but was turned down by Glubb Pasha- it
was said on account of the fact that he was a university graduate. 16
In late 1942, the tides of war in the Middle East began to change in
favour of the Allies. The anti-British and pro-German mood that
had prevailed in much of the Arab world in the early years of the
Second World War (and which had not passed over Wasfi al-Tall
himself during his studies in Beirut) was beginning to subside. At
the end of 1942, Wasfi al-Tall decided to enlist in the British Army.
One cannot dismiss the notion that he enlisted for reasons similar
to those which, at least to some extent, had motivated the Jews
of Palestine to join the British Army - that is, to obtain military

12
 THE EARLY YEARS

training for the imminent conflict over the fate of Palestine. 17 It was
during his service in the British Army that he acquired the habit of
pipe-smoking. In later years he was seldom seen without one,
though he liked cigarettes as well and generally smoked a lot. In
early 1943,Tall completed an officers' course at the British base at
Sarafand in central Palestine, where he was commissioned as a
second lieutenant. At the end of the war, he was demobilized with
the rank of captain. 18 Shortly thereafter, he began his political
career, at the heart of which was the struggle for Palestine.

13
 2

The Beginning of a Political Career

(1945-49)
THE 'ARAB OFFICES'

Following his release from the British Army Wasfi al-Tall joined
the 'Arab Office' in Jerusalem, apparently at the beginning of
1946. 1 This was one of the 'Arab Offices' proposed by Musa al-
,Alami, at the preparatory conference of the Arab League, where
'Alami represented the Arabs of Palestine. The preparatory con-
ference, held in Alexandria in September-October 1944, was
followed by the inaugural conference of the Arab League in March
1945. The latter adopted 'Alami's proposal and 'Arab Offices'
were opened in Jerusalem, London and Washington a short time
afterwards. Their purpose was to engage in publicity for the Arab
cause, particularly on the issue of Palestine. Musa al-'Alami was
the Director of the 'Offices' and recruited his staff in Palestine and
in the member states of the Arab League, mainly from the ranks of
former government officials and from the young intelligentsia. 2
In the course of his work at the Arab Offices, Tall divided his
time between the offices in Jerusalem and London. 3 He was hard-
working, devoted and intelligent and his military experience left a
marked imprint on his style and conduct. He took nothing for
granted. His competence soon drew the attention of Musa al-
,Alami who made him his permanent secretary. In the spring of
1947, 'Alami also made Tall a member of the select committee he
appointed to prepare a report for the United Nations Special
Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). 4
In December 1947 Iraq suspended its financial support to the
Arab Offices, and, as a result, the scope of their activities was
considerably reduced. 5 This happened to coincide with the decision
of the Arab League, taken just after the UN Partition Resolution
of the previous month, to establish Jaysh al-Inqadh (The Army of
Salvation)- to be composed of volunteers from the Arab states- to
assist the Palestinian Arabs in their struggle against partition. Tall

14
 BEGINNING A POLITICAL CAREER (1945-49)

resigned from the Arab Offices and was among the first to enlist in
Jaysh al-Inqadh, 6 as it was being formed in Syria.
It is difficult to give a clear and definite appraisal of Wasfi al-Tall's
political inclinations at this juncture, but the nature of the activities
of the Arab Offices does give some indication. At the time of his
appointment as representative of the Palestinian Arabs to the Arab
League, Musa al-'Alami was associated with the Husayni camp in
Palestine. However, the two soon entered into political confronta-
tion when 'Alami was pressured by the Husayni camp to allow the
Palestinian Higher Arab Committee to control the activities of the
Arab Offices. This was particularly so after the Higher Arab Com-
mittee was re-formed in June 1946 in a manner which gave the
Husaynis and their supporters absolute control. Among the Pales-
tinian Arabs there were some who accused the Arab Offices of
being pro-British, or of loyalty to Iraq. 7 At the end of 1947, the
British Foreign Office considered Mus a al- 'Alami to be a moderate
leader, at the head of the camp of those Palestinian Arabs who
opposed Hajj Amin al-Husayni. Shortly after the UN Partition
Resolution, while 'Alami was in London as the director of the Arab
Office there, he expressed his view, in a conversation with an official
of the Foreign Office, that one of the possible solutions to the
Palestinian problem was for King 'Abdallah to take control of sub-
stantial portions of Palestine, including large areas allocated to the
Jewish State in the partition plan. 8 It is therefore, quite clear that the
Arab Offices did not serve the enemies of the Trans-Jordanian regime
among the Palestinian Arabs, and certainly not the Husayni camp.
That Wasfi al-Tall was genuinely devoted to the Arab cause in
Palestine is shown by his volunteering for Jaysh al-Inqadh (see
below). There was nothing anti-British or anti-Hashimite about
that, though one still cannot point to any clear evidence in this
period of the unflinching loyalty to the Hashimite regime in Jordan
that was to emerge and develop in the later stages of his life.

THE ARMY OF SALVATION (JAYSH AL-INQADH)

Following the secret resolutions of the representatives of the Arab
states in Cairo in December 1947, the organization of the first units
of Jaysh al-Inqadh began in Syria. 9 1ts commander in chief was the
Iraqi General Isma'il Safwat. He was aided by a number of staff

15
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF WASFI AL-TALL

officers, among them Wasfi al-Tall, his assistant for operations.

Starting with the rank of captain, 10 Wasfi was soon promoted to
major. The capture of Nazareth and the surrounding villages by the
Israelis (in July 1948) shattered the morale oflaysh al-Inqadh, and
it was swiftly reorganized. Wasfi al-Tall, who had meanwhile
become a lieutenant-colonel, was given command of the 4th
Yarmuk Battalion, deployed near the villages ofMaghar, 'Aylabun
and Kafr Manda in Lower Galilee. 11 After the Israelis had taken
Galilee, Jaysh al-Inqadh was redeployed in southern Lebanon, its
command was disbanded and its units, renamed the Y armuk Forces,
were attached to the Syrian Army. When Lebanon signed an
armistice agreement with Israel in March 1949, theY armuk Forces
were moved to the Syrian front. Tall's battalion was stationed near
Qunaytra. 12
Tall and a number of other former senior officers of Jaysh al-
Inqadh, incensed by the humiliation of defeat, had made up their
minds to oppose any ceasefire or armistice agreement. They dis-
patched representatives to Damascus to inform the Syrian President,
Shukri al-Quwatli, of their resolve to continue the struggle, even if
they had to take Damascus and depose Quwatli to do so. On the
night they had taken this momentous decision, the Syrian Colonel
Husni al-Za'im arrived at the headquarters of the Yarmuk Forces
at the front and informed the prospective rebels of his own plans to
lead a coup against Quwatli. He expressed his support for their stand
and carried out his coup at the end of March 1949, with their
benevolent approval. Once in power, however Za'im embarked on
a totally different policy. When Tall learned of Za'im's own plans to
conclude an agreement with Israel, 13 he convinced the officers in
his battalion to move, with their men, to Nablus and Tubas in the
West Bank to continue the struggle. All the officers agreed and
preparations were made to cross into Jordan and from there over the
Damiya bridge into the West Bank. Some ofthe officers, however,
informed Syrian intelligence of their plans and Za'im, who obviously
did not think highly of Tall's demonstration of independence,
summoned him to Damascus. The two men had a stormy encounter
after which Za'im had Tall locked up for three months in the
notorious al-Mazza prison. After Syria and Israel signed an armi-
stice agreement in July 1949, Tall was released and left the country. 14
It is said of Wasfi al-Tall that he was a gifted officer who was

16
Another random document with
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of Culloden to his neglect or inefficiency in provisioning the
army, a duty which Murray had always performed well. Hay
held a colonel’s commission in the Jacobite army. He attached
himself to Prince Charles after leaving Scotland, became
major-domo of his household when he went to Rome after his
father’s death in 1766; created a Jacobite baronet in that year;
dismissed in 1768; returned to Scotland 1771; died 1784.
[452] Alexander Macleod, an Edinburgh advocate, was
aide-de-camp to the Prince throughout the campaign. His
father, John, also an advocate, was a grandson of Sir Norman
Macleod of Bernera, and was a first cousin of Lady
Clanranald. He had purchased Muiravonside in Stirlingshire,
two miles from Linlithgow. Alexander was sent from Edinburgh
in September to summon to the Prince’s standard Sir
Alexander Macdonald of Sleat and Macleod of Macleod, both
his near kinsmen. This mission, in which he failed owing to the
stronger influence of Duncan Forbes, brought on him the
special anger of the Government. He was attainted, and for
thirty-two years he wandered in the wildest regions of the
Western Highlands and Islands. He received a pardon in 1778,
and died in 1784. He was in Raasay when Dr. Johnson and
Boswell visited that island in September 1773. He was
generally known as Sandie Macleod in the Islands, and had
also acquired the nickname of M‘Cruslick, signifying a cross
between Proteus and Don Quixote. He possessed the most
boisterous spirits, which delighted Johnson and irritated
Boswell.
[453] See post, p. 230, n. 2.
[454] Allan Macdowell is a mistake for Macdonell or rather
Macdonald, as his name is afterwards correctly spelled. He
was a ‘native of the Isles’ and a clansman of Clanranald’s; he
went out with the clan as chaplain when the standard was
raised, and continued with the army until the end of the
campaign. He also acted as confessor to the Prince. He and
Æneas M‘Gillis, the chaplain of Glengarry’s men, were the only
priests that accompanied the Highlanders to Prestonpans.
They wore the Highland dress, with sword and pistol, and were
styled captains. At the battle of Falkirk Mr. Macdonald rode
along the line and gave his blessing, which the Catholics
received kneeling. From Culloden he accompanied the Prince
in his flight and in the earlier part of his wanderings, leaving
him at Scalpa. Later on he was apprehended in South Uist,
and sent with some other priests to London in Ferguson’s ship
the Furness. He and four other clergymen were examined by
the Duke of Newcastle, who informed them that they might
leave the country on finding bail for £1000 each not to return.
They pointed out that the bail was quite beyond their power, on
which the Duke smilingly replied that they were honest men
and he would take each man’s bail for the other. Macdonald
went to Paris, and in 1748 to Rome, where he lived for many
years. (Bishop Geddes’s MS.) I do not know if he ever
returned.
[455] Sic in N. M. Mag. Most likely an error caused by
careless transcription and meant to read, ‘to Gortlick’s house
[not horge] a gentleman of the name of Thomas Fraser.’
Gortlick, more generally spelt Gortuleg, belonged to Thomas
Fraser, a cadet of Lovat’s. It was in this house and on this
occasion that Prince Charles had his memorable meeting with
Lord Lovat which is dramatically described by Mrs. Grant of
Laggan. (See Wariston’s Diary and Other Papers, p. 265,
Scot. Hist. Soc., vol. xxvi.)
[456] Stratherrick.
[457] Neil, who at this period is writing from hearsay, is
quite wrong here. Glengarry was not at home and the house
was ‘without meat, drink, fire or candle, except some firr-
sticks!’ Had Ned Bourke not netted a couple of salmon, there
would have been nothing to eat. (L. in M., i. 89, 191.)
[458] Angus MacEachain (or Macdonald) was a son-in-law
of Angus Macdonald of Borradale. He had served in the
campaign as a surgeon in Glengarry’s regiment.
The family of MacEachain-Macdonald of Drimindarach,
Arisaig, was a branch of the Clanranalds, descended from
Eachain (or Hector), a younger son of Roderick, 2nd
Clanranald. Neil MacEachain was of the MacEachains of
Howbeg, a junior branch of the sept. Both families have long
since resumed their earlier name, Macdonald, dropping the
name MacEachain.
[459] This was the Prince’s second visit to Borradale
House on Lochnanuagh. It was here he stayed on his first
landing in July 1745. He came again to Borradale in July 1746,
after his wanderings in the Hebrides, by which time the house
had been burned down by Cumberland’s soldiers; he finally
returned to Borradale on 19th September, whence he sailed
for France the following day. Angus Macdonald, the tacksman
of Borradale, was a son of the 5th laird of Glenaladale, a cadet
of Clanranald’s, and was a first cousin of Flora Macdonald.
Borradale’s descendant, Colonel John Andrew Macdonald, is
to-day laird of Glenaladale.
[460] Captain Felix O’Neille, born at Rome, son of a
brigadier in the Spanish service. He served in the Spanish
army until 1744, when he joined Lally’s French-Irish regiment
as captain. Was sent to Scotland with despatches from the
Duc de Richelieu in March 1746. After Culloden he
accompanied Prince Charles during the first two months of his
wanderings and shared his discomforts. He was captured in
Benbecula by Captain John Ferguson of the Furness. He was
confined in Edinburgh Castle until February 1747, when he
was released on parole and subsequently exchanged (Scots
Mag., ix. 92). He wrote a journal of his wanderings, which is
printed in The Lyon, i. 102, 365.
[461] John William O’Sullivan; b. in Co. Kerry, 1700;
educated in France and Rome for the priesthood, and, it is
said (Fielding’s True Patriot), took orders. Entered the family of
Maréchal de Maillebois as tutor, afterwards secretary. Joined
the French army and served under Maillebois in Corsica;
afterwards in Italy and on the Rhine. Recommended to
D’Argenson as an officer ‘who understood the irregular art of
war better than any other man in Europe, nor was his
knowledge in the regular much inferior to that of the best
general living.’ Entered the household of Prince Charles about
1744; accompanied him to Scotland and acted as adjutant-
general, as well as private adviser, during the campaign. Was
with the Prince in his wanderings until 20th June. Escaped to
France in a French cutter. Knighted by the Chevalier about
Christmas 1746, and created by him a baronet of Ireland 1753.
Date of death not ascertained.
[462] Donald Macleod of Gualtergil, on Dunvegan Loch,
Skye, the faithful ‘Palinurus’ of Prince Charles from 21st April
to 20th June. He was captured in Benbecula in July, and taken
to London in Ferguson’s ship; released June ’47; died at
Gualtergil in May ’49, aged 72. His wife was a sister of
Macdonald of Borradale and a first cousin of Flora Macdonald.
 [463] It seems absurd to write of seizing the boat and
stealing away. In addition to the Prince’s five attendants,
O’Sullivan, O’Neil, Allan Macdonald, Ned Bourke, and Donald
Macleod, there was a crew of seven boatmen, probably the
servants of Borradale who must have known. It is true,
however, that the Prince’s intended departure was concealed
from most of the Jacobite officers assembled in Arisaig.
[464] Neil is right as to the day of the week, but wrong as to
the day of the month. It should be Sunday, 27th April. See
Itinerary.
[465] Rev. John Macaulay, son of the Rev. Aulay Macaulay,
minister of Harris, was ordained parish minister of South Uist
in May 1745. He was subsequently minister of Lismore and
Appin 1755; Inverary 1765, and finally of Cardross 1775. He
died 1789. At Inveraray he had a good deal of intercourse with
Dr. Johnson in 1773, duly recorded by Boswell in the Tour to
the Hebrides. John Macaulay was the father of Zachary
Macaulay, and grandfather of Lord Macaulay.
[466] i.e. Neil MacEachain.
[467] Rev. Aulay Macaulay, formerly of Tyree; appointed to
Harris 1712; died 1758; aged about eighty-five.
[468] Rev. Colin Mackenzie was not minister of Stornoway
but of Lochs, the parish to the south of Stornoway.
[469] Should be 30th April.
[470] Donald Campbell was the brother-in-law of Hugh
Macdonald of Baleshare and of Donald Roy Macdonald, the
former of whom is mentioned later on; the latter, though of the
family of Sleat, had served in Glengarry’s regiment. Donald
Roy took over charge of the Prince when he said farewell to
Flora Macdonald at Portree in Skye. (L. in M., ii. 21.) An
anecdote of Campbell’s fidelity to the Prince when he
protected him against a party headed by Aulay Macaulay the
minister is given in the Itinerary. Neil MacEachain does not
love Donald Campbell, but Ned Bourke, who was one of the
party, calls him ‘one of the best, honestest fellows that ever
drew breath.’ (L. in M., i. 191.)
[471] Lady Kildin should be spelt Kildun. This lady was the
wife of Colin Mackenzie of Kildun, a grandson of the 2nd Earl
of Seaforth. Mackenzie’s sister was the second wife of Donald,
16th Clanranald, the mother of Macdonald of Boisdale, and
stepmother of old Clanranald of the ’45. From private letters
belonging to Frances, Lady Muir Mackenzie, I find that Colin
Mackenzie was then in London.
[472] Neil MacEachain is all wrong here in the sequence of
events and in his dates. He was writing from hearsay only. The
true sequence will be found with authorities for the same in the
Itinerary, pp. 48-50.
[473] A quarter of a peck of oatmeal not threshed, but burnt
out of the ear.
[474] This was strictly in accordance with Hebridean
honesty, continued to this day. The Prince desired to leave
money on the rocks to pay for the fish, but O’Sullivan and
O’Neille (not the islanders) dissuaded him. Cf. L. in M., i. 172.
[475] Prince Charles landed in Benbecula, Clanranald’s
island, on 11th May, and from this time onward Neil writes from
knowledge, not hearsay.
[476] South Uist.
[477] Ranald was afterwards taken prisoner and sent to
London.
[478] Corradale is a picturesque valley situated in the
mountainous part of South Uist, which occupies the middle of
the east side of the island, whose northern, western, and
southern confines are wonderfully flat. Corradale lies about the
middle of this district, running north-west from the sea,
between the mountains Hekla and Benmore, each about 2000
feet high. If approached by sea it was easy for a fugitive to get
away to inaccessible hiding-places in the mountains, while if
attacked from the land he could escape by sea. Prince
Charles’s lodging was a forester’s house not far from the
shore. On the north side of the glen, close to the sea, there is
a fairly commodious cave, traditionally but erroneously the
dwelling-place of the Prince. This cave was probably the rock
under which Neil left the Prince while he looked for strangers.
Considering the weather to be expected in this island, there
can be little doubt that the Prince often sat there for shelter
while he looked out for passing ships, as the cave commands
an excellent view of the offing to the south-east.
 [479] The actual stay at Corradale was from 14th May to
5th June, although the Prince was in South Uist until 24th
June. For details, see the Itinerary.
[480] See ante, p. 213, and Introduction.
[481] Moidart.
[482] In Ordnance Survey Glen Quoich, to the west of Loch
Garry. I have no knowledge of the actions here referred to.
[483] Donald Macdonald, second son of Clanranald, served
as captain in his brother ‘Young Clanranald’s’ regiment
throughout the campaign. His mother was Margaret, d. of
William Macleod of Luskintyre, son of Sir Norman Macleod of
Bernera, and Catherine, d. of Sir James ‘Mor’ Macdonald of
Sleat, 2nd bart. Donald’s uncle, Alexander Macleod, was at
this time laird of Luskintyre in Harris. Donald was afterwards
captured and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, but discharged
without trial. In 1756 he joined Fraser’s Highlanders (the
Master of Lovat’s); fought with Wolfe at Quebec and was killed
in a subsequent action.
[484] i.e. Boisdale.
[485] Hugh Macdonald of Baleshare, an island to the
south-west of North Uist, was of the Sleat family, his father
being a natural son of Sir James ‘Mor,’ 2nd bart., and his
mother a daughter of the 13th Clanranald. As Sir Alexander of
Sleat and Lady Clanranald were both great-grandchildren of
Sir James ‘Mor,’ they were nearly related to Baleshare, being
in the Scots phrase ‘first-cousins once removed.’ Baleshare’s
sister was the wife of Donald Campbell, the Prince’s host in
Scalpa. Hugh of Baleshare had been sent to South Uist by
Lady Margaret Macdonald, the wife of Sir Alexander of Sleat
then in attendance on Cumberland at Fort Augustus, while his
men were out against the broken Jacobites. Lady Margaret
had sent Baleshare secretly with money and little luxuries to
relieve the Prince’s discomfort and to help him generally. At
one time it was proposed that Baleshare should conceal
Prince Charles in his own island, but the scheme was
abandoned as it might compromise his chief, Sir Alexander.
[486] This power of drinking seems to have made a great
impression. Baleshare told Bishop Forbes that the Prince ‘still
had the better of us, and even of Boystill [Boysdale] himself,
notwithstanding his being as able a boulman as any in
Scotland.’ It is generally assumed that Prince Charles acquired
his drinking habits as a result of his hardships in Scotland, yet
his anxious father had detected symptoms of an over-
fondness for wine even before he left Rome in 1744. In a letter
to Colonel O’Bryen (Lord Lismore), his envoy at the French
Court, in August 1745, the Old Chevalier writes: ‘La grande
vivacité du Prince, son penchant pour toutes sortes de
divertissements, et un peu trop de goût qu’il sembloit alors
avoir pour le vin, leur ont faire croire faussement qu’ils avoient
gagné quelque chose sur son esprit et il devint bientôt par là
leur Héros.’ (Stuart Papers, Browne, Hist. of the High., iii. 445.)
[487] See post, p. 249, n. 3.
[488] Should be Ulinish. He was a first cousin of Sir
Alexander Macdonald, whose mother was a Macleod of
Greshornish. Alexander Macleod was made sheriff-substitute
in Skye in 1773. In 1791 he was alive and in his 100th year.
[489] Captain John Ferguson was the fourth son of George
Ferguson, one of six brothers, members of a family long
resident at Inverurie. The eldest was the celebrated or
notorious ‘Ferguson the Plotter’ of the late seventeenth and
early eighteenth centuries; other brothers founded the families
of Pitfour and Kinmundy. George lived and died at Old
Meldrum near Inverurie, so it may be supposed that his son,
John, was born there. Nothing is known of his early career, but
in 1746 John Ferguson was in command of H.M.S. Furness,
(which is always spelt Furnace in the Scottish journals and
narratives of the time), and was employed in hunting fugitive
Jacobites. He was the ‘black captain’ of the ’45, one of the
most active and ruthless of the Government officers. His
cruelties are a constant theme in Jacobite annals (see the
Lyon from the index). Captain O’Neille, who was one of his
prisoners, states that Ferguson used him with the barbarity of
a pirate, stripped him, and ordered him to be put into a rack
and whipped by his hangman because he would not confess
where he thought the Prince was. (L. in M., i. 374.) Ferguson
was promoted in the same year, by the express interference
and recommendation of the Duke of Cumberland, to be
captain of the Nightingale, a new frigate just launched. He died
in 1767. (Records of Clan Ferguson, p. 280.) Ferguson’s
greatest exploit was the capture of Lord Lovat, which was
effected with skill. Lovat had taken refuge in an island on Loch
Morar, a fresh-water lake, and had removed all the boats on
the loch to the island. Ferguson landed a party, who saw the
fugitives, whom they could not reach, and by whom they were
greeted with cries of derision. He then sent a boat ashore from
his ship, carried it over a mile or so of rugged country, and
launched it on Loch Morar. Lovat’s party rowed rapidly up the
loch, and got on shore, but after three days’ concealment, the
old lord, unable from infirmities to continue the struggle,
determined to give himself up, sent word to his pursuers and
surrendered to Captain Dugald Campbell of Achacrossan of
the Argyll Militia.
[490] Fuyia, which I have corrected from Fugia in the N. M.
Maga., as it is a manifest error of the copyist or printer. Fuyia
gives the local pronunciation of the name of the island, which
is generally spelt Ouia in the Lyon, and Wiay in the Ordnance
Survey maps. It is spelt Fouay on p. 253.
[491] Alexander Macdonald of Boisdale (Clanranald’s step-
brother) was carried prisoner to London, and kept there until
July 1747, when he was released.
[492] This was Boisdale’s third wife, Anne, daughter of
Macneil of Barra.
[493] Captain Carolina Frederick Scott shares with
Ferguson and Lockhart eternal infamy for his superlative
cruelty to the hunted Jacobites of the Western Highlands. I
found his name and that of Ferguson still perfectly
remembered in the Outer Hebrides, and received with
execrations. He was an officer of Guise’s regiment, the 6th
(now the Royal Warwickshire). His satanic zeal, like
Ferguson’s, was rewarded with promotion. In November 1746
he was appointed major in his regiment in the room of Major
Wentworth, who was cashiered for surrendering Fort Augustus
to the Jacobites (March 5th), when three companies of Guise’s
regiment were made prisoners of war.
[494] Meaning Captain O’Neille.
[495] This is the Beinchillkoinnich of the Lyon (i. 329), the
Beinn Ruigh Choinnich of the Ordnance Survey; a hill on the
north side of Loch Boisdale, 900 feet high, from whence the
low-lying country of South Uist can be viewed from sea to sea.
On the northern spur there is a cave accessible only by a
precipitous narrow ledge, where shelter from the weather
could be had and an outlook to the Minch. Local tradition
associates this cave with the Prince. He possibly took shelter
there on this momentous day. South Uist, even in summer, is a
very rainy island.
[496] Hugh Macdonald of Armadale, in Skye, was Flora
Macdonald’s step-father. He was a grandson of Sir James
‘Mor’ Macdonald of Sleat, and was thus a first cousin of Sir
Alexander’s father, and of Lady Clanranald’s father, as well as
of Baleshare and Mrs. Campbell of Scalpa. He was a captain
in one of Sir Alexander Macdonald’s independent companies
out against Prince Charles. He had formerly been an officer in
the French army. (Henderson’s Life of Cumberland, p. 299.)
[497] Daughter of Alexander (Montgomerie), 9th Earl of
Eglinton. Married as his second wife to Sir Alexander
Macdonald of Sleat; d. 1799.
[498] At Alisary, on the slopes of Sheaval, a hill to the south
of Loch Eynort, and rising to the north-east from Flora’s old
home of Milton (or Arrivoulin) on the low ground near the
ocean. This was the hill pasture of her brother’s farm to which
the cattle were driven in summer, while the owners occupied
‘shielings’ or temporary huts in the neighbourhood. It was an
excellent place to meet. The western side of the island is a
wide belt of dead level links formed by the sand thrown up by
the swell of the Atlantic, and known as ‘the Machar.’ No
wayfarer on the Machar could easily escape detection even if
he were miles away, and it was the night of the full moon.
Flora’s shieling was near the western end of the hill region of
South Uist, and just about as far west as the Prince could have
dared to go without losing the shelter of the hills.
[499] Benbecula, that part of the ‘Long Island’ lying
between North and South Uist, and joined to these islands by
sea-fords passable only at low tide and thus easily guarded.
[500] I found that the custom of nick-naming local
notabilities after distinguished statesmen still exists. When I
was visiting these islands fifteen years ago I met a crofter
known as ‘Gladstone’ on account of his financial ability and his
persuasive powers of (Gaelic) oratory, and there were others
whose nick-names I have forgotten.
[501] I obtained a very interesting confirmation of this story
from an aged cailliach when in the islands. She told me that a
family of Campbells, who lived near Loch Eynort or Loch
Skipport, had rowed the Prince and Neil MacEachain to
Benbecula, and that the Prince was furiously angry with them;
but her explanation of his anger was that the boatmen were
Campbells, a name not beloved in the Outer Hebrides: no one
had ever thought of the terrifying effect of a tidal island on a
stranger. Cf. R. L. Stevenson’s Kidnapped, ch. xiv.
[502] A tenant who takes stock from the landlord and
shares with him in the increase.
[503] Clanranald’s residence in Benbecula.
[504] A hill named Rueval, 400 feet above sea level, the
only high ground on a very flat island. A projecting rock, on the
south side of the hill, which gives considerable shelter and
affords a wonderful view of the country, is probably the spot
where the Prince lay waiting for Flora.
[505] John Campbell of Mamore; b. about 1693; d. 1770;
suc. as Duke of Argyll on the death of his cousin, the 3rd duke,
in 1761. He had command of the troops in the west of
Scotland in 1745, with headquarters at Dumbarton. He
pursued Prince Charles through the islands, hunting for him as
far away as St. Kilda. He was on his way back from that island
when he nearly captured the Prince at Benbecula. Many of the
Jacobite prisoners passed through his hands, and, as a rule,
he was kind to them, contrasting favourably with such men as
Scott and Ferguson.
[506] Spelt Loch Uskavagh in the Ordnance Survey.
[507] i.e. Neil MacEachain.
[508] The home of Sir Alexander of Sleat at this time was
Monkstat House (also spelt Mongstat, Mougstot and other
variations), in the parish of Kilmuir, Trotternish. It was built on
the site of an ancient monastic foundation near the shores of a
lake named Columbkill, since then drained and parcelled into
crofts. The ancient home of the family was Duntulm Castle,
about five miles north of Monkstat, but during the troubles of
the Revolution it is said to have been burnt by a party landed
from a warship. Local legendary lore gives various other
versions of the reason for abandoning Duntulm. By one
account the family was driven from the castle by the ghost of
Donald Gorm, a sixteenth-century ancestor. By another, it was
owing to the death of a child of the family, who was killed by a
fall from a window of the castle, which is built on the edge of a
precipitous rock overhanging the sea. Monkstat was built in its
stead.
[509] Alexander Macdonald of Kingsburgh, a senior cadet
of the Sleat family, was the 6th in descent from James, a
younger son of Donald Gruamach, 6th in descent from John,
Lord of the Isles and the Princess Margaret. Kingsburgh was
Sir Alexander’s factor in 1746. His house was on Loch Snizort,
about eight miles south of Monkstat.
[510] The garrison belonged to the Macleod Militia, and the
officer in command was Alexander, son of Donald Macleod of
Balmeanach.
[511] Robert Craigie of Glendoick, Perthshire; b. 1685;
advocate 1710; Lord Advocate 1742-46; Lord President 1754;
d. 1760.
[512] App. 1. Printed in Chiefs of Grant, ii. 144. From
Edinburgh, telling of rumours of the Pretender’s eldest son
who had sailed from France. Requesting intelligence for
government and expressing his belief that Grant will do all in
his power to support government.
[513] App. 2. C. of G., ii. 146. Of Grant’s zeal for H. M. and
the government he never doubted. First intelligence
ridiculously exaggerated, and had delayed military advance,
but now Cope will be soon in your neighbourhood which ‘with
the assistance of H. M. friends it’s hoped will restore quiet to
the country.’
[514] Near Aberfeldy; Cope reached it when marching to
the Highlands from Stirling on 23rd Aug. He reached Trinifuir
the 24th; Dalnacardoch 25th; Dalwhinny 26th.
[515] App. 3. Mr. Grant to Sir John Cope, dated 25th Aug.
—Upon the first Information I had of the Pretender’s son
landing in the north west Highlands I came to this part of the
Country, and conveened all the Gentlemen of my name, and
gave them Directions to prepare as well as they could to keep
the Peace of the Country. I and my Friends have had great
vengeance denounced against us by those Clans, who are in
arms, for the appearance we made for the Government at the
Revolution, and in the year 1715. We have been preparing to
defend ourselves the best we could; But now all my Fears are
dissipate, as I am informed you are marching to attack those
Rebells, when I think of your abilitys and experience, no doubt
can remain with me, but that the Highlanders will run before
you. I wish you from my heart all Success. I have sent the
Bearer a cousin of mine who has served several years in the
army, to give you all the Information he can, and to assure you
of my zeal for the Support of his Majestys Service and
Government, I am with esteem, Sir, etc.
[516] This date is wrong; Cope reached Ruthven 27th
August; Dalrachny’s (Carrbridge) 28th August; Inverness 29th
August. (See Itinerary and authorities there quoted.)
[517] All this is disingenuous and quite anachronic. The
Duke of Perth, it is true, had fled from Drummond Castle on
24th July, and taken refuge in Braemar, but he had left long
before this, for he was back at Machany in Perthshire on 9th
August. (Jac. Lairds of Gask, pp. 103, 104.) Cluny
Macpherson at this time had declared openly for government,
had accepted a commission as captain in Lord Loudoun’s
Highland regiment, and was now actually raising his men for
King George. He was seized by Lochiel on 28th August,
carried prisoner to Perth, and not released until the 9th or 10th
September, when he undertook to join the Prince. He returned
to Badenoch, and not until then raised his men for the Stuart
Cause. The Mackintoshes at this time were arming for King
George, under their chief, who was a captain in the Highland
regiment (Black Watch); it was not until considerably later that
they deserted their chief to join Prince Charles under Lady
Mackintosh.
[518] Alexander Brodie of Brodie, Morayshire; M.P.
Inverness Burghs; appointed Lyon-King-of-Arms 1727; d.
1754. His daughter married John, eldest son of Macleod of the
’45.
[519] App. 4. C. of G., ii. 149. A letter of indignant
remonstrance. Cope cannot attack highlanders in their passes
or strongholds without highlanders to flank the regular troops.
If the king’s highland friends fail him we are undone, and all of
us must be at the mercy of the rebels. The writer is told that
Grant’s people refuse to join him (Grant) if he joins Cope or
marches out of his own country. Let him beware of counsels
that will lead to his ruin. Grant should not give himself the airs
of having a clan that can support and serve the government if
when it comes to the push they tell him they won’t go along
with him. Grant had written to Cope expressing his readiness
to join and assist him, but he would neither join him nor assist
him with one man, nor go near him, although Cope stopped at
Aviemore and spent the night at Dalrachny’s (Carrbridge)
within ten miles of Grant. Rose of Kilravock, Lord Moray,
General Cope and President Forbes are all disappointed with
him. Grant’s uncle, the major (governor of Fort George,
Inverness Castle) is very angry. It would have been far better if
Grant had given no assurances if he were not sure he could
fulfil them. The writer is distressed about what people are
saying of Grant at Inverness. How glorious it would have been
if he had been the first man in the country to join the king’s
forces. The President has got two hundred stand of arms for
the laird of Mackintosh, who is to join Cope with two hundred
men. Munro, Mackays, Sutherland, Seaforth and others are
raising their men for government. The writer is to meet Cope
and President Forbes on Tuesday (3rd September), what is he
to say of or for Grant at that interview?
A separate piece of paper contains this rider, ‘I would not
have been so strong if it had not been with a design, that you
might show it to those of your own people that I am told are
not for leaving your own countrey; so hope you’ll forgive any
strong expressions, as my meaning is to serve you.’
[520] Ludovick Grant’s uncle.
[521] App. 5. C. of G., ii. 152. Duke of Gordon claims a right
to the superiority over Morange, and Glenbucket (the Duke’s
former commissioner) was threatening the people if they did
not join him.
[522] App. 6. C. of G., ii. 155. Grant’s situation had made it
absolutely impossible to wait on Cope when in his
neighbourhood; tells of Glenbucket’s movements; also that
very few have joined the Pretender’s son north of Badenoch;
Glenbucket only got 130 men from Strathdoune (Strathavon)
and Glenlivet.
[523] James Ogilvy, eldest son of the 5th Earl of Findlater
and 2nd Earl of Seafield; b. 1715; suc. as 6th Earl 1764; d.
1770. He was a brother-in-law of Lord George Murray, being
married to his step-sister Lady Mary. He was also brother-in-
law to Ludovick Grant, who married (1735) Deskford’s sister,
Lady Margaret, a union which two generations later (1811)
brought the Earldom of Seafield (but not of Findlater) to the
Grant family.
[524] App. 7. C. of G., ii. 160. Protests against the granting
of one company only, but Lord Deskford has explained and he
acquiesces; he names as officers for the independent
company—Capt., Grant of Rothiemurchus; Lieut., Robert
Grant, son of Easter Duthill; Ensign, William Grant, yr., of
Dellachapple.
[525] App. 8. C. of G., ii. 160. (From Culloden.)
[526] App. 9. C. of G., ii. 162. (From Culloden.)
[527] The Macphersons under Cluny joined the Prince at
Edinburgh (nine or ten marches distant) on 31st October. The
Mackintoshes joined the reserves at Perth (five marches) on
30th October.
[528] Accidentally shot at Falkirk the day after the battle.
[529] App. 10. Angus MacDonell, second son to Glengerry,
to the Baillie of Urquhart, dated Delchannie, 30th Sept.—This
serves to give you notice, that I am this far on my way to
Glengerry, and being clad with the Princes orders to burn and
harrass all People that does not immediately join the Standart
and as I have particular orders to raise your Country, I do by
these begg the Favour of you on receipt of this to have at least
100 men ready in 5 days after receipt of this to join my
Standart at Invergarry, and tho contrary to my Inclinations, in
case of not due Obedience to this my demand, I shall march to
your Country with the Gentlemen here in Company, Keppoch’s
Brother and Tirnadrish,[659] etc. and shall put my orders in
Execution with all Rigour. And as I have the Greatest Regard
for Grant and all his Concerns, I begg you’ll neither give your
Country nor me any Trouble, I do not chuse to give, and your
ready Compliance with this will much oblige him, who is
sincerely, Dr. Sir, your most humble servant.
P.S.—Let me have your answer p bearer, which will
determine me how to behave.
App. 11. Mr. Grant to the Gentlemen of Urquhart, dated
Castle Grant, 6th Oct.—Auchmony has communicate to me
the Subject you have had lately under your deliberation. All the
Return I will give you, considering what I formerly wrote to my
Chamberlain, and which he communicate to you is this, That
whoever among you dont comply with my directions in this
present conjuncture, which is to remain peaceable at home,
and to be ready to receive my Directions as your Superior, and
as Master of my own Estate, must resolve to obey me at your
own Peril. And as I have firmly determined that whosoever
shall insult me or disturb any part of my Estate shall meet with
the Returns such an Insult shall merite. I am hopefull none of
my neighbours will act a part by me, which I could not nor
cannot allow myself to think them capable of. I cannot
conceive the least title any man can have to command any of
my vassals or Tenants, but myself, therefore whoever deserts
me to follow any other at this Time, I must look upon it as a
disobedience to me, which I will never forgive or forget to them
and theirs. I am perfectly persuaded all the tenants will adhere
and keep firm to me, if they are not led astray by bad advice,
which I hope they will not follow.—I am, Gentlemen, your
Friend and will continue so, if not your own Fault.
App. 12. The Baillie of Urquhart to Mr. Grant, dated
Bellmackaen, 8th Oct.—In obedience to your orders I
convened all the Tenents of this Country this day, in order to
March them to Strathspey, and there was only 60 or 70 of the
Tenents, that agreed to go with me. Dell and I came with all
the men that joined us the length of Drumbuie, so far on our
way to Strathspey, and Coll MacDonald and all the Gentlemen
of this Country came up with us there, and one and all of the
Gentlemen but Sheuglie and his son swore publickly to the
Tenents, if they did not return immediately or two nights
thereafter, that all their Corns would be burnt and destroyed,
and all their Cattle carried away. And when the Tenents were
so much threatned by the Gentlemen as well as by Mr.
MacDonald, they would not follow me one foot further. And
upon the Tenents returning Mr. MacDonald assured me, that
this Country would be quite safe from any hurt from him and
not only so; but as some of the Gentlemen that came north
with him, had the same orders as he had to destroy this
Country, if we did not join them, he sincerely assured me, he
would do all he could to prevent these Gentlemen from
coming. And if he could not prevail upon them to keep back,
that he would run me an Express in a few days to put me on
my guard, and acquaint me of their coming; but one thing I
assure you of e’er ten days that this Country will be ruined.
Lord Lovat has not appointed a day for his marching as yet; for
I am told that he has the Meal to make that he carrys along
with him for his Men’s subsistance. There is a Report here this
day that there is 2000 French landed at Cromarty last
Saturday with Prince Charles Brother. You’ll please let me
have your advice how to behave; for I am in a very bad
situation. Please excuse this confused Letter, being in haste
and ever am, Honourable sir, Your most faithfull hubl sert.
P. Auchmony[660] did not act a right part.
App. 13. Mr. Grant to the Chamberlain of Urquhart, dated
Castle Grant, 10th Oct.—I received yours of the 8th this day
about Dinner Time. I am not at all surprised at the Conduct of
the Gentlemen of Urquhart; for as they seem determined to
disobey my repeated Orders, they want to prevail with my
Tenents to do so likeways. However now that they must have
heard, that General Legonier with at least 18,000 of our troops
that have come from Flanders and the Dutch, and that there is
12,000 Danes, and the Remainder of the British Troops dayly
expected, and that nobody even at Edinburgh pretended to
say, that the French can spare any of their troops, I fancy they
will soon see their Folly, and they must be satisfied in a little
Time, I will make them repent their Conduct, and they will see
the numbers they believed would join the Rebells, dwindle to a
very few, if any at all. Whenever you hear any Motions among
your neighbours make the best of your way for this Place and
see to bring these men with you, who were coming last day
and as many more as you can, and assure them I will see
what Losses they sustain repaid. And shall do all in my power
afterwards to save them when others must fly the country.
Dont let any of the Gentlemen know the day you design to
march over with the men, other ways they might bring a Possy
to stop you, which will not be in their Power if you be upon
your Guard. I think you ought to have Spyes in the
neighbouring Countries. See that you get money from the
Tenents, who are due, that we may clear when you come over.
[530] App. 14. C. of G., ii. 170. (From Inverness.) Claims
Grant as a relation and friend whom he finds, with great
satisfaction, acting so distinguished a part. The king has
appointed Loudoun to command the troops in this country; it
gives him the greatest pleasure to know that he has so
powerful and faithful a friend to support him in time of need.
 [531] App. 15. C. of G., ii. 171. (From Culloden.) Urging
Grant to press forward his company; any expense after his
men are brought together shall be made good. Believes that
‘the thing will blow over without much harm,’ but Grant should
have his eye on as many of his people as he can arm, to be
ready for any emergency; ‘ways and means shall be fallen on
to subsist them.’
[532] App. 16. C. of G., ii. 175. Mr. Grant’s heart is full of
zeal for the preservation of our religion and liberties, and will
exert himself to do everything in his power for H. M. service,
and is perfectly happy ‘that we who are the friends of
government’ have Loudoun to advise and direct us. The delay
in his company’s joining Loudoun is caused by all his clan
vassals being ready, and he wishes the company to be all
volunteers. He foresees that there will be occasion to convene
all his men and he wants Rothiemurchus with him, and asks
for certain alterations in the commissions to his officers. All the
men of his company will have swords and most of them pistols
and dirks. Hopes to capture Capt. Gordon, who is levying cess
on his party as their arms will be useful. He is determined to let
none of the clans now in motion enter his county.
[533] App. 17. John Grant in Urquhart to Mr. Grant, dated
21st Oct.—The MacDonalds and Glenmoristones came into
this Country Saturdays night late, and Sundays morning. And
this day we expected the Master of Lovat with 200 men to join
the MacDonalds, who were in number six score, in order to
spreath [ravage] the Country, if the whole people did not join
them. The countrymen were all acquainted to meet this day at
Milntown, but few of them attended. And as the Master did not
come this day, as he appointed, sent word that he would be
here tomorrow morning, so that I am made to understand, that
they design to raise all their Cattle, and by that method are of
opinion, that the men will come present, and condescend to
march directly to the army before their Effects are carried off,
but I made the Bearer, who is the only one I could trust in,
advise the People to keep at a distance and allow them to
carry off their cattle, as I assured them that you would repay
them in what damage they might suffer that way. I cannot
acquaint you at this Time of the Gentlemens Disposition, but
tomorrow I shall send an Express, and give you a full account
of our Fate. Belintombs house was attacked; but I procured a
party from the Colonel to guard it this night. Is all on haste but
that I remain as becometh, Honble Sir your most ob. humble
servant.
I am informed they design to march by Inverlaidnan.
Barrisdale came this day from the north to this country; but did
not bring any men alongst with him.
App. 18. John Grant in Urquhart to Mr. Grant, dated 22nd
Oct.—The most of the Countrymen met this day at Bellymore
where Barrisdale came with a Commission from his Colonel to
them, assuring if they did not join him, that he was fully
resolved to spreath the whole Country. They all unanimously
replyed that in any Event, they would not disobey their masters
orders and his positive commands to them to sit peaceable at
home, and swore that while there was a drop of Blood in their
Bodys, they would not allow the Macdonalds to carry off their
Cattle. In a short Time thereafter the Master of Lovat
accompanied with all the Stratherrick Gentlemen came to
Milntown, and after a long Conference with Mr. MacDonald of
Barrisdale, he agreed that the MacDonalds in the Country
might be compelled to join the Colonel, as he was not in
readiness to march his men this week, but in the Event that
this did not satisfy Mr. MacDonald, he was to come in person
with 200 men tomorrow, to prevent their carrying off the Cattle,
and secure the rest of the men for his own use, as he believed
he had a better Title to them than any MacDonald in life. As
they could not agree upon the above terms, Barrisdale went
with the Master to Castle Downie to know my Lord’s
sentiments, and act accordingly. As this happens to be the
case we are as yet uncertain of our Fate, but shall to the
outmost of our Power, resist the MacDonalds if not assisted by
the Frasers Is all but that I remain as becometh, Honourable
Sir, Your most obedt humble servt.
 [534] App. 19. C. of G., ii. 179. (From Culloden.) A letter to
Lord Deskford from the Lord President countersigned by Lord
Loudoun. In addition to what Grant quotes, they cannot
understand the unaccountable folly of his people that they
deliberate in entering the company and hope that they may be
persuaded to form it forthwith.
[535] App. 20. Lord Lewis Gordon to Mr. Grant, dated St.
Bridget,[661] 3rd Nov.—I take this opportunity to assure you of
the Esteem and Regard I have for yourself and all your Family,
and that I shall be always glad to do all in my Power to
maintain the good Correspondence that has so long subsisted
between the Familys of Grant and Gordon. And as you are
very sensible of the Situation of Scotland at present, I shall
take this occasion of delivering you the Prince Regents
Complements, and how much he would be obliged to you for
your aid at this important Time; and if you dont appear active
yourself, that you would not oppose the rising of your Clan,
which is so capable of Serving the King and Country. I hope
you will be so good, as to consider this seriously, and to
excuse this Liberty from a Friend, who does it with a pure
Intention of Serving his Country. I begg my Complements to
Lady Margaret and all your Family, as also to Lord and Lady
Findlater and Lord Deskfoord, to whom please tell, that what I
am to do for the Princes Cause in Banffshire, shall be
executed in the mildest and easiest manner in my Power.
Glenbucket will deliver this to you, and believe me to be, Dr.
Sir, with great Sincerity Your most affectionate ffriend and
Servant.
[536] This was the ancestral home of the family of John
Roy Stewart, the Jacobite soldier-poet.
[537] App. 21. C. of G., ii. 184. (From Inverness.) Grant’s
company had arrived the previous day, was a very good one,
the best clothed Loudoun had seen. Was sorry that Lord Lewis
Gordon had risen, but the Duke (of Gordon) had given orders
to his people not to join him. Few had done so. If Grant were
attacked his own power should make Lord Lewis repent; if not
strong enough Loudoun would do what he could for him.
[538] App. 22. C. of G., ii. 183. (From Culloden.)
[539] App. 23. C. of G., ii. 186. (From Castle Grant.)
 [540] App. 24. C. of G., ii. 187. (From Inverness.) Lord
Loudoun declines to send the company back to Mr. Grant, as
he proposes to march through Stratherrick to Fort Augustus.
[541] Thomas Grant of Achoynanie, Keith, afterwards of
Arndilly, a cadet of Grant of Grant, best known as the early
patron of James Ferguson the astronomer. (Henderson, Life of
Ferguson, p. 18.)
[542] Alexander Grant of Tochineal, near Cullen.
[543] App. 25. Lord Lewis Gordon to Thomas Grant of
Auchynany, dated Huntly Castle, 6th Dec.—As Lord
Lieutenant of the Countys of Aberdeen and Banff, I am to raise
a man for each £100 of valued Rent within the same, and
where Fractions happen the same is to yield a Man. I hope,
therefore, you will be so good as to send to Keith Tuesday
next such a number of ablebodied men, as will answer to the
Valuation of your estate well cloathed in short cloaths, Plaid,
new Shoes, and three pair of hose and accoutred with
shoulder belt, gun, pistol and sword. I have appointed a proper
officer to attend at Keith the above day for receiving the men. I
need not tell a man of your good sense and knowledge the
hazard of not complying with the demand. Your Prudence will
no doubt direct you to avoid hardships of military execution,
wherein you’ll extremely oblige, Sir, your most humble servant.
App. 26. C. of G., ii. 190. Thomas Grant of Auchynanie to
Mr. Grant, 11th Dec. (From Arndillie.) Lord Lewis Gordon has
only 300 men, and of these only 100 have joined: mostly herds
and hire-men from about Strathbogie and unacquainted with
the use of arms; many of them are pressed and intend to
desert; 100 or 150 of Grant’s men would drive them to the
devil, and capture Lord Lewis and his prime minister Abbachy
(Gordon of Avochie). Lord Findlater’s tenants and the people
of Keith are being ruined by Abbachy and look to Grant as
their only saviour. If Lord Loudoun would take possession of
old Balveny Castle it would spoil Lord Lewis’s recruiting.
App. 27. Lord Findlater’s Steward[542] to his Lordship,
dated 11th Dec.—I had a Letter from John Saunders in Keith
upon Sabbath day night, informing me that there had 60 of
Lord Lewis men come to that place upon Saturdays night,
under command of one White and that he and others in that
place much wanted advice what to do. To whom I wrote for