l of Sutherland, aided by Lord Lovat, in Invernesshire.
Seaforth had collected, on the Moor of Gilliechrist, twelve hundred men,
the remnant of those whom he had been able to save from Sherriff Muir;
but finding that Lord Sutherland had resolved to force him into an
engagement, he owned King George as his lawful Sovereign, and promised
to lay down his arms. This had occurred early in December, and,
according to Lord Mar, before the Earl of Seaforth, in those remote
regions, could have heard of the Chevalier's landing. Mar therefore
regarded it as a temporary cessation on the part of Seaforth and
Huntley, for a given period, of hostilities against the Government.

As far as related to Lord Seaforth, the belief of Lord Mar was correct.
At the end of the days agreed upon for the cessation of arms, Seaforth
drew his people together, the influence of clanship enabling him to
summon them at will, like a king; and again appeared in arms. This was
the consequence of the news that James had landed having reached
Inverness. But Seaforth could not retrieve the cause of James in the
North, nor repair the effects of even a temporary submission. Eventually
he returned to the party which he had espoused, and escaped to France.
The Marquis of Huntley made his own terms with the Government.

At this critical juncture, unanimity still prevailed, according to Lord
Mar, among the assembled chieftains at Perth. "I do assure you," he
writes, "that since the arms came here, there has not been a quarrel of
any kind happened among us--not even among the Highland men, which is
very extraordinary; and you may depend upon it there is the greatest
unanimity here just now, and all fully resolved to stand to it, let what
will come. I pray God preserve our King from the wicked and hellish
designs of his enemies! I hope we will be apprized of their motions, so
as to be in readiness to receive them."

These expressions were written, but the letter which contained them was
not sent, on the twenty-third of January. The postscript, written in a
hurried hand, shows that the camp at Perth was not unprepared for the
coming attack.

"Since writing of the inclosed, I have two from which I gott last
night with the paket; and ane account of that detachment of horse
comming out, who we hear came the lenth of Acterardie,[140] upon
which account the whole army here were ordred to be in a readyness
to march this morning, and we have no account