nder seventy that lived in the valley, the
number of whom amounted to two hundred; but some of the detachments did
not arrive soon enough to secure the passes; so that one hundred and
sixty escaped. Campbell having perpetrated this cruel massacre, ordered
all the houses to be burned, made a prey of all the cattle and effects
that were found in the valley, and left the helpless women and children,
whose fathers and husbands he had murdered, naked and forlorn, without
covering, food, or shelter, in the midst of the snow that covered the
whole face of the country, at the distance of six long miles from any
inhabited place. Distracted with grief and horror, surrounded with the
shades of night, shivering with cold, and appalled with the apprehension
of immediate death from the swords of those who had sacrificed their
friends and kinsmen, they could not endure such a complication of
calamities, but generally perished in the waste, before they could
receive the least comfort or assistance. This barbarous massacre,
performed under the sanction of king William's authority, answered the
immediate purpose of the court by striking terror into the hearts of the
Jacobite high-landers; but at the same time excited the horror of all
those who had not renounced every sentiment of humanity, and produced
such an aversion to the government, as all the arts of a ministry could
never totally surmount. A detail of the particulars was published
at Paris, with many exaggerations, and the Jacobites did not fail
to expatiate on every circumstance, in domestic libels and private
conversation. The king, alarmed at the outcry which was raised upon this
occasion, ordered an inquiry to be set on foot, and dismissed the master
of Stair from his employment of secretary: he likewise pretended that he
had subscribed the order amidst a heap of other papers, without knowing
the purport of it; but as he did not severely punish those who had made
his authority subservient to their own cruel revenge, the imputation
stuck fast to his character; and the highlanders, though terrified
into silence and submission, were inspired with the most implacable
resentment against his person and administration.

PREPARATIONS FOR A DESCENT UPON ENGLAND.

A great number in both kingdoms waited impatiently for an opportunity to
declare in behalf of their exiled monarch, who was punctually informed
of all these transactions, and endeavoured to make his advantage of the
gr