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FORBES, DUNCAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 638 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FORBES, See also:DUNCAN , See also:oar See also:CULLODEN (1685-1747), Scottish statesman, was See also:born at Bunchrew or at Culloden near See also:Inverness on the loth of See also:November 1685. After he had completed his studies at the See also:universities of See also:Edinburgh and See also:Leiden, he was admitted See also:advocate at the Scottish See also:bar in 1709. His own talents and the See also:influence of the See also:Argyll See also:family secured his rapid See also:advancement, which was still further helped by his See also:loyalty to the Hanoverian cause at the See also:period of the See also:rebellion in 1715. In 1722 Forbes was returned member for Inverness, and in 1725 he succeeded Dundas of Arniston as See also:lord advocate. He inherited the patrimonial estates on the See also:death of his See also:brother in 1734, and in 1737 he attained to 'the highest legal honours in See also:Scotland, being made lord See also:president of the See also:court of session. As lord advocate, he had laboured to improve the legislation and See also:revenue of the See also:country, to extend See also:trade and encourage manufactures, and no less to render the See also:government popular and respected in Scotland. In the proceedings which followed the memorable See also:Porteous See also:mob, for example, when the government brought in a See also:bill for disgracing the lord See also:provost of Edinburgh, for finingthe See also:corporation, and for abolishing the See also:town-guard and thy-See also:gate, Forbes both spoke and voted against the measure as an unwarranted See also:outrage on the See also:national feeling. As lord president also he carried out some useful legal reforms; and his See also:term of See also:office was characterized by See also:quick and impartial See also:administration of the See also:law. The rebellion of 1945 found him at his See also:post, and it tried all his patriotism. Some years before (1738) he had repeatedly and earnestly 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 See also:north. " If government," said he, " pre-engages the Highlanders in the manner I propose, they will not only serve well against the enemy abroad, but will be hostages for the See also:good behaviour of their relations at See also:home; and I am persuaded that it will be absolutely impossible to raise a rebellion in the See also:Highlands." In 1739, with See also:Sir See also:Robert See also:Walpole's approval, the See also:original (1930) six companies (locally enlisted) of the See also:Black See also:Watch were formed into the famous " See also:Forty-second " See also:regiment of the See also:line. The See also:credit given to the See also:earl of See also:Chatham in some histories for this See also:movement is an See also:error; it rests really with Forbes and his friend Lord See also:Islay, afterwards 3rd See also:duke of Argyll (see the Autobiography of the 8th duke of Argyll, vol. i. p.

8 sq., 1906). On the first rumour of the Jacobite rising Forbes hastened to Inverness, and through his See also:

personal influence with the chiefs of See also:Macdonald and See also:Macleod, those two powerful western clans were prevented from taking the See also:field for See also:Charles See also:Edward; the town itself also he kept loyal and well protected at the commencement of the struggle, and many of the neighbouring proprietors were won over by his persuasions. His See also:correspondence with Lord See also:Lovat, published in the Culloden papers, affords a See also:fine See also:illustration of his See also:character, in which the firmness of loyal principle and See also:duty is found blended with neighbourly kindness and See also:consideration. But at this See also:critical juncture of affairs, the apathy of the government interfered considerably with the success of his negotiations. Advances of arms and See also:money arrived too See also:late, and though Forbes employed all his own means and what money he could See also:borrow on his personal See also:security, his re-See also:sources were quite inadequate to the emergency. It is doubtful whether these advances were ever fully repaid. See also:Part was doled out to him, after repeated solicitations that his credit might be maihtained in the country; but it is evident he had fallen into disgrace in consequence of his humane exertions to mitigate the impolitic severities inflicted upon his countrymen after their disastrous defeat at Culloden. The ingratitude of the government, and the many distressing circumstances connected with the insurrection, sunk deep into the mind of Forbes. He never fairly rallied from the depression thus caused, and after a period of declining See also:health he died on the loth of See also:December 1747. Forbes was a patriot without ostentation or pretence, a true Scotsman with no narrow See also:prejudice, an accomplished and even erudite See also:scholar without pedantry, a See also:man of genuine piety without See also:asceticism or intolerance. His country See also:long See also:felt his influence through her reviving arts and institutions; and the example of such a character in that coarse and venal See also:age, and among a See also:people distracted by See also:faction, See also: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 he cultivated with some success the study of See also:philosophy, See also:theology and biblical See also:criticism.

He is said to have been a diligent reader of the See also:

Hebrew See also:Bible. His published writings, some of them of importance, include—A See also:Letter to a See also:Bishop, concerning some Important Discoveries in Philosophy and Theology (1732); Some Thoughts concerning See also:Religion, natural and revealed, and the Manner of Understanding See also:Revelation (173J); and Reflections on Incredulity (2nd ed., 1750). His correspondence was collected and published in 1815, and a memoir of him (from the family papers) was written by Mr See also:Hill See also:Burton, and published along with a See also:Life of Lord Lovat, in 1847. His statue by Roubillac stands in the See also:Parliament See also:House, Edinburgh.

End of Article: FORBES, DUNCAN

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