implicated in the royalist intrigue
called the "Montgomery plot," but after the battle of Killiecrankie in
July 1689 he made overtures to the government, subsequently took the
oath of allegiance, and was entrusted with a large sum of money by the
government to secure the submission of the clans. On the 30th of June
1691 he met the Jacobite chiefs and concluded with them secret articles
by which they undertook to refrain from acts of hostility till October,
gaining their consent by threats and promises rather than by the
distribution of the money entrusted to him, the greater part of which,
it was believed, he retained himself. When asked to give an account of
the expenditure he replied: "The money is spent, the Highlands are
quiet, and this is the only way of accounting between friends."[3]

On the 27th of August a proclamation was issued offering indemnity to
all those who should submit and take the oath of allegiance before the
1st of January 1692, and threatening all those who should refuse with a
military execution and the penalties of treason. All the chiefs took the
oath except MacIan, the chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe, who
postponed his submission till the 31st of December, and was then
prevented from taking the oath till the 6th of January 1692 through the
absence of a magistrate at Fort William, whither he had repaired for the
purpose. This irregularity gave Breadalbane an immediate opportunity of
destroying the clan of thieves which had for generations lived by
plundering his lands and those of his neighbours. Accordingly, together
with Argyll and Sir John Dalrymple (afterwards Lord Stair), Breadalbane
organized the atrocious crime known as the "Massacre of Glencoe," when
the unfortunate MacDonalds, deceived by assurances of friendship, and at
the moment when they were lavishing their hospitality upon their
murderers, were butchered in cold blood on the 13th of February 1692.
Breadalbane's astuteness, however, prevented the disclosure of any
evidence against him in the inquiry afterwards instituted in 1695,
beyond the deposition of a person who professed to have been sent on
Breadalbane's behalf to obtain a declaration of his innocence from
MacIan's sons, who had escaped. The discovery of his former negotiations
with the Jacobite chiefs caused his imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle in
September, but he was released when it was known that he had been acting
with William's knowledge.

Breadalbane did not vot