History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

i 9 6 GALABANK'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY
except perhaps once a year I never see any person who could be depended on
to carry anything, and then often he has no place for it except a small mouse
hole in the crowded bags of some very thrifty merchant." Shortly afterwards
the uncle bought a silver spoon for 45s. for the child, and found a trusty
messenger going South, who, however, would not take it lest he should be
robbed on the road ! The same letter relates how he had been asked to meet
the Drumlanrigs at Lord Hopetoun's, and once more had the honour of kissing
the hand of" Caledonia's fairest daughter."
Only two months later Lord Drumlanrig was killed by the discharge of
his own pistol on his way to England. Edward Johnstone alludes to it as
accidental. His bride only survived him a year and a half, and, leaving no
child, the Queensberry dukedom (after being held by a distant relative, who
died in 18 10) merged into that of Buccleuch, the Marquisate going to his cousin,
Sir Charles Douglas.
On Nov. 10, 1755, Edward wrote: "I congratulate you on the exploit of
Major-General Johnson 1
[in Virginia], for his name originally is Johnston,
whose ancestors in the time of Oliver Cromwell were a colony from this
country. What a pity that so fine an officer had it in his power to do so
little. We are told that we have twenty to one in that part of the world more
than the French, and yet in every action we might almost say sans hyperbole
that les messieurs are twenty to one against us. This being his Majesty's
birth-night, I have ordered a bonfire and ringing of bells, etc., and my people
are instantly drinking the loyal healths and ' Success to brave General John-
ston,' and at every round they hurra, ' Up with the Johnstones.' Our poet
says, 'Johnston has done what Braddock failed to do—routed the Indians,
scourged the faithless crew.' And we all wish that you were there to cure
his wound."
The Life of George Washington states he was a major in the Colonial
Militia "under the unfortunate General Braddock." James's letter on the
subject crossed his brother's. " In America the safety of our Colonies seems to
depend upon New England, and General Johnson has retrieved the respect to
our arms which Braddock lost by his inconsiderate rashness and obstinacy. A
1 Sir William Johnson, as he spelt his name, held a Colonial commission. He was born in
Ireland in 1715, the son of Christopher Johnson of Warrentown, Co. Down, and his wife,
Anne, sister of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, who took up a large tract of land near the Mohawk
river, in British America, and made his nephew the manager. Johnson, by firmness, justice,
and honesty, acquired a greater influence over the six united Indian tribes than any Briton
had done before. In 1748 he was appointed General of the New York Colonial Forces to
oppose the French on the north frontier. Peace intervened, but he was ready to act when
the war broke out again In 1755, with these Indians, aided by provincial Militia, he defeated
the French, who also had Indian allies, at Lake George, and saved the colony from invasion,
being wounded in the hip early in the action, but remaining in the field. He "went far to
counteract the ill effects of Braddock's defeat" {Did. Nat. Biog.). He received the thanks of
both Houses of Parliament, a grant of ^5000, and a baronetcy. In 1760 he led the Indians,
under Amherst, to the advance on Montreal and the capture of Canada, for which he received
a grant of 100,000 acres. There he lived, in baronial and pasha-like style, improving his estate.
He died at his house, near New York, in 1774. His son, John, who claimed knighthood when
he came to England—the old privilege of a baronet's heir—commanded Colonial troops on the
British side during the Revolutionary War. The baronetcy is represented by his descendant.