FORBES

FORBES, DUNCAN, of Culloden, one of the most honest and enlightened of Scottish patriots, was descended from the Forbeses of Tolquhoun in Aberdeenshire, a branch of whom had settled in Inverness about the end of the sixteenth century. His great-grandfather, the first northern Duncan Forbes, carried on business in the Highland capital, exchanging the native products of the country (chiefly salmon and the skins of game and cattle collected from every strath and glen) for the conveniences and luxuries to be had in England and Holland. He built ships, traded largely, and was able in 1625 to purchase the barony of Culloden from the laird of Mackintosh. He was also provost of the town, and in this capacity it fell to the lot of "Grey Duncan" (as from his flowing grey beard he was usually called) to receive the Marquis of Montrose, a prisoner, on his way from the north to Edinburgh, where shortly afterwards he was tried and beheaded. Forbes was a stern old Whig, but it appears he did not, like some others of higher rank, insult the fallen general in his misfortunes. He spread a table at the market cross, in the street through which Montrose had to pass, and covered it with wines and other refreshments, of which the prisoner partook. He accompanied him to the end of the town, and on taking leave of him courteously said, "My lord, I am sorry for your circumstances." Montrose replied, "I am sorry for being the object of your pity." (M.S. History of the Frasers.) The incident has a touch of the picturesque romance of the old feudal times. The son and successor of Grey Duncan continued the prosperity of the family, and added to its possessions the barony of Ferrintosh in Ross-shire, and the estate of Bunchrew, a pleasant well-wooded spot on the southern shore of the Moray Frith, about three miles from Inverness. Both of these properties were purchased from the Frasers of Lovat, on whose more ancient greatness the Forbeses were now encroaching. A second Duncan Forbes inherited the strong Presbyterian Whig principles, as well as the lands of his progenitors, and was a conspicuous member of the Convention Parliament. As such, in 1689, his estates were ravaged and wasted by the Jacobite soldiery under Buchan and Cannon, and to compensate him for his losses, the Scottish Parliament granted him a privilege, always dear in the Highlands—a license perpetual to him and his heirs to distil duty-free all the barley that might be grown in Ferrintosh. The "loyal Forbes' chartered boast," as Burns designates it, became a valuable possession. It was enjoyed nearly a century, and was withdrawn by the government in 1785, when a sum of about £20,000 was granted as compensation. The third Duncan Forbes, afterwards Lord President, was born at Bunchrew or Culloden in the year 1685. He studied law at Edinburgh and Leyden, and was admitted advocate at the Scottish bar in 1709. His own talents, and the influence of the Argyle family, soon elevated him in his profession. At the period of the rebellion in 1715, he stood firm to the

Hanoverian cause, as did also his brother, John Forbes, then Laird of Culloden, a popular and hospitable Highland gentleman, whose convivialities are described in Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland. In 1722 Duncan Forbes was returned member for Inverness, and in 1725 he was appointed Lord Advocate. He succeeded to the patrimonial estates in 1734, and in 1737 he attained to the highest legal honours in Scotland, being made Lord President of the Court of Session. As Lord Advocate, Forbes had laboured to improve the legislation and revenue of the country, to spread manufactures and extend trade, and no less to render the imperial government popular and respected in Scotland. In the proceedings which followed the memorable Porteous mob, when the government brought in a bill (which passed the Lords) for disgracing and removing the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and for abolishing the town-guard and city gate, Forbes opposed the measure, and both spoke and voted against that paltry and vindictive outrage on the national feeling. A miserable spirit of faction and jealousy pervaded the ministry as to all just and public claims, especially on Scottish questions, while at the same time they were profuse and profligate on private and party objects. Forbes' influence abated if it could not remove this evil, and as Lord President he also carried out some legal reforms and insured the quick and impartial administration of the law. The Rebellion of 1745 found him at his post, and it tried all his patriotism. He had in vain urged upon the government the expediency of embodying Highland regiments, putting them under the command of colonels whose loyalty could be relied upon, but officering them with the native chieftains and cadets of old families in the north. Such a plan was afterwards successfully pursued by Chatham; but though Walpole is said to have approved of Forbes's scheme, the Council unanimously rejected it. Had it been adopted in time, and a few thousand pounds placed in Forbes's hands to be spent usefully in the Highlands, there would have been no Jacobite rising in '45. Through his personal influence with the chiefs of Macdonald and Macleod, those two powerful western clans were prevented from taking the field for Charles Edward; the town of Inverness he also kept loyal and well protected at the commencement of the struggle, and many of the neighbouring proprietors were won over by his persuasions. His correspondence with Lord Lovat, published in the Culloden Papers, affords a fine illustration of his character, in which the firmness of loyal principle and duty is found blended with neighbourly kindness and consideration. In the case of Lovat he had to contend with inveterate duplicity and low-minded ambition. The crafty old chief had been nearly all his life a plotter for the restoration of the Stuarts, but he would never have raised his clan had he not obtained from the Court of St Germain's a commission as lieutenant-general and a patent of dukedom. This gratified his inordinate vanity and love of power. The ducal coronet, surmounting his yew-crested bonnet as chief of the Frasers, formed a vision of greatness unparalleled in the north! At this critical juncture of affairs, the apathy of the government was immovable. No advance of arms or money could be obtained until it was too late, and though Forbes employed all his own means and what money he could borrow on his personal security, his resources were quite inadequate to the emergency. And it is doubtful whether these advances were ever fully repaid. Part was doled out to him, after repeated solicitations, that his credit might be maintained in the country—his own sacrifices he did not mention, but he had fallen into disgrace in consequence of his exertions to mitigate the inhuman and impolitic severities inflicted upon the poor misguided Highlanders after their defeat at Culloden. His entreaties for mercy were heard with contempt—a brigade, it was said, would give laws! The ingratitude of the government, and

the many distressing circumstances connected with this insurrection, sunk deep into the mind of Forbes. He never fairly rallied from his depression, his health declined, and he died on the 10th of December 1747, in the sixty-second year of his age. A tardy act of justice was rendered to his family. Two years after his death, a pension of £400 per annum was granted to his only son, John Forbes; and the same good fortune that had attended the early history of his race, enabled this worthy man (the chosen associate of Thomson the poet in his youth) to free the estate from the debt so generously contracted by his father, and to add to the amount of his possessions by the purchase of contiguous lands. The fair fame of the President is, however, the proudest inheritance of his descendants. He was a patriot without ostentation or pretence—a true Scotsman with no narrow prejudices—an accomplished and even erudite scholar without pedantry—a man of genuine piety without asceticism or intolerance. His country long felt his influence through her reviving arts and institutions, and the example of such a character in that coarse and venal age, and among a people distracted by faction, political strife, and national antipathies, while it was invaluable to his contemporaries in a man of high position, is entitled to the lasting gratitude and veneration of his countrymen. In his intervals of leisure, President Forbes cultivated the study of Hebrew and biblical criticism. He was something of a speculative theologian, having embraced the views of his friend John Hutchison, the English philosopher and theological writer, that a system of natural science as well as religion could be drawn from the books of the Old Testament if interpreted according to the radical import or root of the language. In his retirement at Bunchrew—his favourite retreat—he is said to have read the Hebrew bible through eight times. His published writings are—1, A Letter to a Bishop, concerning some Important Discoveries in Philosophy and Theology; 2, Some Thoughts concerning Religion, natural and revealed, &c.; and 3, Reflections on Incredulity. His correspondence was collected and published in 1815, and a Memoir of him (from the family papers) was written by John Hill Burton, Esq., advocate, and published along with a Life of Lord Lovat, in 1847. (n. c.—s.)