MONTROSE, JAMES GRAHAM, first marquis of, belonged to a family that can be traced back to the year 1128. Its first notable member was sir JOIIN GRAIME of Dundaff, who fell at the battle of Falkirk, July 22, 1298. Early in the 15th c., sir WILLIAM GRAHAM married for his second wife a daughter of Robert HI. ROBERT, the eldest son of tins mar riage, was ancestor of the Grahams of Claverhouse. The third lord Graham, created earl of Montrose by James IV., fell at Flodden; his eldest son at Pinkie. The next in succession became viceroy of Scotland after James VI. had ascended the throne of Eng land. Ills eldest son, John, who succeeded to the earldom iu 1616, married lady Mar garet Ruthven, eldest daughter of William, first earl of Gowrie, and sister of the unfor tunate nobleman who gives name to the Cowrie Conspiracy. The issue of this union was five daughters and one son, James, the "great marquis," who was born in 1612, according to tradition, in the town of Montrose. His mother died in 1618, his father in 1626. In the following year, the boy was sent to the university of St. Andrews by his guardian and brother-in-law, Archibald, lord Napier, son of the famous inventor of logarithms. He was an apt, if not an ardent student, and during the two or threves sions of his attendance at college, acquired a very respectable amount of classical knowl edge, besides exhibiting a genuine predilection for literature, which the stormy character of his after-life never quite destroyed. In his 17th year, he married Magdalene Car negie, daughter of lord Carnegie of Kinnaird, on which occasion he had his portrait painted by Jameson, the pupil of Van Dyck. For the next three years he lived quietly at Kinnaird castle, pursuing his studies. On attaining his majority, he left Scotland, to travel on the continent, visited the academies of France and Italy, and perfected him self in all the accomplishments becoming a gentleman and a soldier. On his return, he was introduced to king Charles I., but owing, it is said, to the machinations of the mar quis of Hamilton, was coldly received by that monarch, and had no sooner reached Scotland, than he joined the ranks of the king's opponents, which at this period com prehended the majority of Scotehmen. Montrose came back in the very year (1637) when the tumults broke out in Edinburgh on the attempt to introduce the prayer-book. Whether his conduct at this moment was the result of chagrin, or whether he was car ried away by the prevailing enthusiasm, or by the persuasions of craftier persons than himself, is difficult to say. Baillie speaks of his having been "brought in " by "the canniness of Rothes," a phrase which appears to Mr. Mark Napier to indicate that he was trepanned with difficulty into joining the league. At any rate, the youthful nobleman soon became to appearance one of the most zealous of the covenanting lords. He was one of the four uoblemett.selected to compose the "table" of the nobility, which, along with the other tableS of the gentry, of and of the ministers, drew up the national covenant (see COVENANTS), sworn to by all ranks at Edinburgh in the spring of 1638. Montrose was appointed in the following summer to agitate for sub eripuons in Aberdeenshire, where the influence of the marquis of Huntly was exercised on the side of the king. He did not, however, meet with great success. In 1639, he made three military expeditions to Aberdeenshire to overawe the royalists. The latter were in considerable force under the marquis of Huntly, but owing to the timid, if not treacherous orders of the marquis of Hamilton, then governor of Scotland, they were always forced to disband. Montrose twice took the city of Aberdeen. On the first occasion (March 29), he compelled the inhabitants to subscribe the covenant, but did no injury to the city. His "too great" humanity is even lamented by Baillie. On the second (May 25), he imposed on the city a tine of 10,000 merks; but though his soldiers pillaged the place, he honorably resisted the importunities of the zealots among the Presbyterian clergy, who wished to expose it to the horrors of conflagration. Baillie again complains of his "too great lenity in sparing the enemy's houses." The Aberdeen by sea of the earl of Aboyue—Charlcs's lieutenant of the north—with some re-enforeements, induced Montrose to retreat, who was followed by the earl and the Gor don Highlanders. At Meagra Hill, near Stonehaven, a battle was fought (June 15) between the two armies, in which Montrose obtained a complete victory; four days later, he was again master of Aberdeen, after a fierce struggle at the passage of the Dee. The citizens were stricken with alarm, expecting some bloody punishment for their well-known Episcopalian leanings, but Montrose agreeably disappointed their fears. At a subsequent period, he was upbraided by the committee of estates for not having burned the town on this occasion. News of "the pacification of Berwick" now arrived in
Aberdeen, and terminated the struggle in the north. Charles invited several of the covenanting nobles to meet him at Berwick. where lie was then holding his court, and to consult with him about 'sottish affairs. Among those who went was Montrose, and tire Presbyterians dated what they regarded as his apostasy from that interview. Be that as it may, his political position was certainly different after his return. In the general assembly which met, Aug. 13, 1639, under the presidency of the earl of Traquair, as royal commissioner, he showed symptoms of disaffection towards the covenant, and was the object of much popular obloquy. One night lie is said to have found affixed upon his chamber-door a paper bearing these words, Inc/des arias, verbis rmsitur. The dis solution of the parliament, in June 1640, led to an open rupture between the king and the covenanters, and both parties prepared to decide their quarrel by force of aims. The former assembled at York an army of 21,000 horse and foot; the latter another of 26,000, which, under the command of Leslie, crossed the Tweed, Aug. 21, 1640. Mont rose was the first mart that forded the stream. The successes of the Scots, as is well known, soon forced Charles to summon a new parliament for the settlement of the national grievances. Meanwhile Montrose, along with several other influential nobles, had entered into a secret engagement at Cumbernauld, for the purpose of frustrating what they regarded as the factious designs of the extreme covenanting leaders. Ilis conduct in England, too, had been suspicions. It was accidently discovered that lie had been secretly communicating with the king; and when time parliament assembled (Nov., 1640), he was cited to appear before a committee. The affair of the Oumthernauld.bond, discovered by the ingenuity of Argyle, was brought up; but Montrose defended his con duct and that of his colleagues; and nothing came of it, though some fiery spirits among the clergy, says Guthrie, "pressed that their lives might go for it." In the following June, Montrose and some others were accused of plotting against Argyle, and were con fined in Edinburgh Castle, where they remained till the beginning of 1642, when they were set at liberty in return for the concessions which Charles had made his Scottish suhjects. Although they had been frequently examined, nothing definite had been proved ag_inst them. The accusation that Montrose had offered to (licking to assassinate Argyle, is cot historically substantiated, and is intrinsically improbable. Daring the next two or three years, Itc kept aloof, outwardly, from public affairs, but he had finally broken with the covenanters, and had privately ranged himself on the side of the king. The civil war in England had now broken out, and was being carried on with dubious success. Charles and his advisers resolved to crush the Presbyterian leaders in Scotland, who were abetting the efforts of the English parliamentarians. In the spring of 1644 Montrose now raised to the rank of marquis, left Oxford, where Ire had been residing with his sovereign, and proceeded to Scotland to raise the royalists in the north. The battle of Marston Moor for a moment paralyzed him, but his resolution speedily returned. He threw himself into the highlands, and after skulking about the hills for some time in disguise, met at Blair-Athol some Irish auxiliaries and a body of Highlanders under Allaster Maccoll Keitache Macdonald, better known as Colkitto, who had forced their way thither from the Western Isles in hopes of joining him. Montrose instantly placed himself at their head, and the clans quickly rallied round his standard. Marching south, he fell suddenly (Sept. 1) on the covenanting army commanded by lord Elcho, at Tipper muir, near Perth, and gained a complete victory. Not a single royalist was slain. The same night, Montrose entered Perth, where he remained for three days, levying a fine of 9.000 merks on the inhabitants. He then set out for the north, defeated a force of cov enanters under lord Bttrleirh at Aberdeen (Sept. 13), and took poSsession of the city, which was abandoned for four days to all the horrors of war. The approach of Argyle, at the head of 4,000 men, compelled Montrose, whose forces were far inferior in num bers and discipline, to retreat. He now plunged into the wilds of Badenoch, recrossed the Grampians, and suddenly appeared in Angus, where he wasted the 'estates of more than one covenanting nobleman. Having obtained fresh supplies, he once more returned to Aberdeenshire, with the view of the Gordons, narrowly escaped defeat at Fyvie in the end of Oct., and again withdrew into the fastnesses of the mountains. Argyle, baffled in all hii attempts to capture or crush Montrose, returned to Edinburgh, up his comm:ssion.