a pension. But this
accusation is refuted by the two letters, of which vouchers are given in
the Lockhart Papers, on which the allegation is founded. These letters
were written from Geneva to the Prince and to Colonel Dillon.[170]

Lastly, Lord Mar stood charged with a scheme, discovered to Atterbury
by Lord Inverness, for the restoration of the Stuarts, which, under
pretence of replacing them on the throne, would for ever have rendered
that restoration impracticable. From this allegation Lord Mar justified
himself by referring to the scheme itself, which he was declared to have
laid before the Regent of France with the intent to ruin James. Of this
scheme, the two main features were, first to re-establish the ancient
independence of Scotland and Ireland: secondly, that a certain number of
French troops should remain in England, and that five thousand Scots,
and as many Irish troops, should be sent to France and kept in pay by
the French King, for a certain number of years. There is certainly a
great deal of Mar's double policy, his being all things to all men, in
such a scheme. He declared, however, and proved that he acquainted James
with his plan in confidence, and that Colonel Hay sent a copy of it to
the Bishop of Rochester. Little as one can approve of Mar's conduct, it
is manifest that, by a deeply-laid intrigue, it was resolved for ever to
uproot him from the confidence of James.

But the public career of Lord Mar had now drawn to its ignoble close.
That he had his partisans, who repelled the charges against him by
counter allegations, Lord Inverness soon found; and he began to think
that "the less noise that was made about Mar," the better.[171]

During the year 1725, James further evinced his distrust of Lord Mar, by
dismissing Mr. Sheldon, his supposed spy, and placing Mr. James Murray,
a Protestant, as preceptor to the young Prince.

The retirement of the Princess Clementina into a convent, followed this
last step. The correspondence of the royal couple, their recriminations,
furnished, for some months, conversation for the continental courts, and
even for St. James's, until the dismissal of Colonel Hay and his wife
appeased the resolute daughter of the Sobieski, and produced an apparent
reconciliation.

From the close of this altercation, and after the disgrace of Colonel
Hay, the name of Lord Mar occurs no more in the history of the period.
He resided at Paris until 1729, when, falling into ill health,