BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 279
confined for some trifling instance of improper conduct, an attempt was made
by a few of his comrades to effect a rescue ; but they failed in the endeavour,
and the ringleader was taken prisoner. A court-martial having been immediately
held, the prisoners were remanded back to the guard-room ; but on the way the
escort was attacked by fifty or sixty of the soldiers, with fixed bayonets, and
the prisoners rescued. By great exertions on the part of the Lieut.-Colonel and
officers, most of the parties were afterwards secured, when they expressed deep
regret for their improper conduct, and peaceably submitted to their fate. Sir
James was not with the regiment at this period, and arrived too late to interfere
with propriety and effect. At a general court-martial, held at Musselburgh
soon after, five of the mutineers were found guilty-four were adjudged to
suffer death, and one to receive corporal punishment. The melancholy spectacle
of the military execution took place in consequence at the Links of Gullane, on
the 19th July 1795, in presence of all the regular and volunteer troops in the
neighbourhood. When the prisoners had been marched to the scene, the sentence
was restricted to two individuals, who suffered accordingly. The Strathspey
Fencibles,along with most of the other similar regiments, was disbanded in
1799.
Sir James was one of the original office-bearers of the Highland Society of
Edinburgh, instituted in 1784; and continued to be one of the most zealous
members of that society. In 1794 he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the
county of Inverness-which office he filled till he was compelled to resign, in
consequence of ill health, in 1809, when his son was nominated his successor.
In 1795 he was preferred as Cashier to the Excise, when his seat in Parliament
became vacated, in consequence of which Mr. M'Dougal Grant succeeded him
in the representation of Banffshire.
After a lingering illness, Sir James died at Castle Grant, on the 18th
February 1811, deeply regretted. He married, in 1763, Jane, only child of
Alexander Duff of Hatton, Esq., by whom he had seven sons and six daughters,
The eldest, Lewis Alexander Grant, succeeded to the estates and earldom of
Seafield on the death of his cousin, James Earl of Findlater' and Seafield, in
1811. The second son, Colonel Francis Grant, was some time member of Parliament
for Nairn. '
The earldom of Findlate?, which was destined to heirs male, was claimed by S i William
Ogilvie, Bart., but he failed to substantiate his right to it.
