intended invasion
of Scotland, and particulars of the preparations made for it in England,
Scotland, and France, became public. Measures were, of course, instantly
taken to guard the coasts of England and Scotland, and to augment land
forces. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended in England, and in Scotland.
An Act, passed in 1701, for preventing wrong imprisonments, and against
undue delay in trials, was also suspended from the twenty-third of July,
1715, until the twenty-fourth of the ensuing January. A fleet, under the
command of Sir George Byng, was ordered to cruise in the Downs; and the
most active and vigilant measures were taken in order to put the nation
into a position of defence. The former intended invasion of 1708 was not
forgotten, and it acted like a warning voice to the English Ministry. A
Whig Association was framed among persons of rank and influence; and in
Edinburgh a body of volunteers was formed, who might daily be seen
exercising in the Great Hall of the College.

Meantime the Jacobites were increasing in strength. During the last six
years collections had been made in the continental nations, purporting
to be for a "gentleman in distress," and the amount was said to have
exceeded twelve millions.[6] Of this sum, one hundred thousand pounds
was entrusted to the Earl of Mar.

The whole scheme of the insurrection was matured, and the Chevalier had
been proclaimed King in different towns in Scotland, when the death of
Louis the Fourteenth cast such a damp over the spirits of the party,
that there ensued a consultation as to the expediency of their
separating and returning to their homes. In this emergency, unhappily
for the brave and ardent men whom he had assembled at Braemar, the
influence of the Earl of Mar, and the arguments which his sanguine
spirit suggested, prevailed; and the assembled chiefs parted, only to
meet again at their appointed places of rendezvous.

The scheme of the Insurrection of 1715 embraced three different
movements. In the north, the Earl of Mar was to possess himself of all
the rich coasts of Fife, and also to maintain, in the name of James the
Third, the northern counties, which, with few exceptions, were soon
under the control of the insurgents. An attempt was made upon the
southern parts of Scotland, by sending Brigadier Mackintosh, with a
strong detachment of men, to cross the Firth of Forth, and to land in
the Lothians, there expecting to be joined by friends on the bo