Fraser's goal was to regain the Lovat title and estates; while his brother John tried to keep his clansmen loyal and collected rents in his absence, there were signs they were beginning to accept a Mackenzie in his place. Later evidence suggests his betrayal of the Stuart cause was an attempt to implicate his political enemies Atholl and Queensbury in a Jacobite plot. In the absence of a successful rising, this would ensure his political rehabilitation by ingratiating himself with the existing government.