, ca 1679; a professional colleague in the
Dutch States Army who later became a political opponent As a result of the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms, many in both Scotland and England viewed standing armies as a threat to individual liberty and society itself. Those who wanted a military career joined units in foreign service, such as the Dutch
Scots Brigade; loyalties were often based on religion or personal relationships, with officers moving between armies. Douglas' younger brother John (1647–1675) was killed at
Trier with the French army, while Robert (1650-1676) died serving with the Dutch at
Maastricht. In the 1670
Secret Treaty of Dover,
Charles II signed an alliance with
Louis XIV agreeing to a joint war against the
Dutch Republic. Charles also undertook to supply the French army with a
brigade of 6,000 men; in a secret provision not revealed until 1771, Louis agreed to pay him £230,000 per year for this. On the outbreak of the
Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672, a related conflict of the wider
Franco-Dutch War, Douglas was appointed
captain in a regiment commanded by
William Lockhart of Lee intended as part of the expeditionary force for a proposed landing in the Dutch Republic. When this plan was cancelled in 1673, Lockhart's unit was incorporated into the British brigade fighting in the
Rhineland under the command of the
Duke of Monmouth, Charles' illegitimate son. , Douglas' commander in the Scots Brigade and post 1688. However, the alliance with Catholic France was deeply unpopular and England withdrew from the war with the 1674
Treaty of Westminster. Despite this, the Franco-Dutch War continued and to keep his French subsidies, Charles encouraged members of the Brigade to remain in French service, although many enrolled in the Dutch Scots Brigade, including Douglas and a fellow officer from Lockhart's Regiment,
John Graham, later Viscount Dundee. The Scots Brigade normally contained several English regiments, which had been withdrawn in 1672 then restored in 1674. One of these was Colyear's Regiment, which Douglas joined along with his brother Robert; he took part in the 1676
recapture of Maastricht, where Robert was killed. By 1678, he was
lieutenant colonel, being wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of
Saint-Denis in August 1678, shortly before the
war ended. After Colyear died in March 1680, he was promoted Colonel in his place. Douglas was in Scotland during the 1679
Covenanter rebellion, and took part in the
Battle of Bothwell Bridge that ended it. As a reward, he was granted the lands of Patrick Murdock of Cumloden, one of those convicted for their participation, later tconfirmed in April 1685. Scottish politics was dominated by Douglas' elder brother, the
Marquess of Queensberry, who was appointed
Treasurer of Scotland in 1682. To offset his rival Dundee, who was effectively acting as military commander in Scotland, Queensberry needed a reliable subordinate; in June 1684, he persuaded the
Earl of Linlithgow to step aside as Colonel of the
Scots Guards in favour of his younger brother, who now returned to Scotland permanently. When
James II succeeded his brother Charles in February 1685, Douglas was elected
MP for
Peeblesshire in the new
Parliament of Scotland. He played an active role in suppressing the June 1685
Argyll's Rising; the
Tweedsmuir cemetery contains a memorial to John Hunter,
cruelly murdered at Core Head by Col. James Douglas and his party for his adherence to the Word of God and Scotland’s Covenanted Work of Reformation 1685. In October,
William Drummond, Viscount Strathallan was appointed
Commander-in-Chief, Scotland, with Douglas as
Master-General of the Ordnance. Douglas took over when Strathallan died in March 1688 but it is not clear whether he was ever officially appointed Commander-in-chief and operational control was largely exercised by Dundee. , on the
Meuse, where Douglas died of fever in 1691 In 1685, many in both England and Scotland supported James despite his personal
Catholicism from fear of civil war if he were bypassed; by July 1688, anti-Catholic riots made it seem only his removal could prevent one. Just before the 1688
Glorious Revolution, the Scottish army was brought south to join the rest of James' forces in England. After
William III of England landed in
Brixham on 5 November, his troops deserted and he went into exile on 23 December. When James II
invaded Ireland in March 1689, Douglas joined the army in Ireland and was formally replaced as Commander in Scotland by
Sir Hugh Mackay, another former colleague. He commanded a brigade at the
Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, and supervised the unsuccessful
Siege of Athlone, whose failure William considered a missed opportunity to end the war in Ireland. He felt this was partially due to conflict between Douglas and two other senior British officers,
Percy Kirke and Sir John Lanier. As a result, in May 1691 they were posted to the
Low Countries to serve in the
Nine Years War, where they could be supervised by William himself. All three died within a year, Kirke of disease at
Brussels in October 1691, Lanier at
Steenkerque in August 1692, while Douglas died at
Namur in July 1691. He was succeeded as Colonel of the Scots Guards by
George Ramsay, another former Scots Brigade colleague. ==References==