An Account how I came by Oneille's attested Journal

N: B: After getting Notice, that
CapnCaptain Felix O neille, after his being
removed from the Castle of Edinburgh
to some Part in England, had trans-
mitted Copy of an attested Copy of
his Journal to one of his Friends in
EdrEdinburgh, I was at no small Pains to find
it out. At last I discovered, that it
was in the Hands of the Countess
of Dundonald. Upon Tuesday, DecrDecember
8th, 1747, I did my selfmyself the Honour
of paying my Respects to Lady Mary
Cochran ^in EdrEdinburgh. I begged to know of her
Ladyship, if it was true, that the
Countess had any such Journal, &and if I 693 (693)
I could have the Favour of seeing
it. Lady Mary ^said, it was very true, it
her Mamma had the Journal with
O neille’s own Subscription at it, &and ytthat
it was transmitted to Her from
O neille himself, &and that She would
endeavour to procure it for me from
her Mamma, &and send it down to
me as soon as possible; but then
Her Ladyship was pleased to ob-
serve, that the Countess would not
allow any Copy to be taken of it,
as CapnCaptain O neille had desired, that
no Copy should be given of it,
till he should send a Letter to
the Countess from France, wherein
he would give Allowance for Co-
pies to be taken of it ^at a proper Time; &and there-
fore Lady Mary added, that all yethe
Favour I could obtain was only
the Reading of it. To this I an-
swered, that I had heard the Jour-
nal was made a great Secret, and,
seeing it was so, I did not chusechoose
to have the Trust of it; for that if
Copies should happen to appear
from other Quarters, it might be
said, that I had taken a Copy with-
out any Allowance, &and thereby had be-come694(694)
come the Occasion of spreading it; &and
therefore I would much rather chusechoose
to read it in Her Ladyship’s Presence,
&and return it directly into her Hands,
if her Ladyship would take the Trou-
ble of procuring me a Sight of it qlewhile
I had the Honour of being with Her.
Lady Mary was so good as to say, that,
though My Lady Dundonald was con-
fined to her Apartment with a se-
vere Cold, She would step to Her &and
ask a Reading of the Journal. Accor-
dingly in a very short Time Lady
Mary returned, &and gave me the Jour-
nal. After Reading of it, I could
not help declaring my SurprizeSurprise, ytthat
the Journal should be made a Mat-
ter of so much Nicety, when I could
assure her Ladyship, that I had been
Master of a Copy of it (the Preface
&and Conclusion only excepted) for a-
bout six Months past, &and that seve-
ral such Copies as mine were in
EdrEdinburgh &and other Places of Scotland.
Lady Mary said, that certainly CapnCaptain
O neille’s touching so severely upon
General Campbell behoved to be
the Reason why he made his Journal
an Affair of such Secrecy. To this I
answered, that the Reason was good
so long as CapnCaptain O neille remained in 695 (695)
in any Part of Scotland or England,
because the making such a Particu-
lar the Subject of common Conver-
sation might have brought rough
enough Treatment upon Captain
O neille; but now, that he was safe
in France, I could not help look-
ing upon it as a Point of Justice
to make that particular Part of the
Journal known to the World, that
so General Campbell might have
an Opportunity of Vindicating him-
self, if there was any Mistake in
the Case, &and that, if the Charge
was a Fact, the Truth might be
fixed. Then I added, that if My
Lady Dundonald could be prevailed
upon to allow ^me the Use of the attes-
ted Copy to compare it with my own,
&and to take Transcripts of the Preface
&and Conclusion, I would promise to
give her Ladyship, in Return for
that Favour, a Copy of Ker of
Gradyne’s Account; &and withal I said,
I should not give Copies of the
Preface &and Conclusion, or have any
Hand in making them common.
Lady Mary was so good as to assure
me, that She would faithfully re-
port that to my Lady Dundonald, &and 696 (696)
&and would employ her Interest to pro-
cure that Favour for me upon the
Conditions I had mentioned. I then
took Leave, &and said, I would do my
selfmyself the Honour of waiting upon
her Ladyship some Day next Week.
Upon Thursday, DecrDecember 17th, I again made
my Court to Lady Mary, who had most
faithfully performed her Promise, &and
had procured what I so much desired.
Upon receiving the attested Journal
at Lady Mary’s Hands, I repeated
the Conditions, &and assured her La-
dyship, I would observ[] them. —
I had been promised the Use of
Ker of Gradyne’s Account from yethe
Right Reverend Bishop Keith
in the Canongate, who at that
Time had the only Copy of it in
Scotland. — Lady Mary inform-
ed me, that the Countess was
very much surprizedsurprised to hear, that I
should have a Copy of O neille’s
Journal, the Preface &and Conclusion
excepted; for that her Ladyship had
firmly believed, that there was no
such Thing in all Scotland as the
Copy of a single Sentence of it.
Upon this I informed Lady Mary, ytthat
Mr WmWilliam MacDougal, Wine-merchant, was 697 (697)