A = ^^^ ^ A5 n = CI n = = := D3 B o 1 6 M -T = ^^= ^ 1 ,>:>:^>> _wv\ 'H^i '^^^ JAMES CJ.PENDER.EL-BRODHURST COUNT DE BOSCOEEL. ^^i^i^.^i-^.^^3^m.ife^wa.^;^^<,^,^ ^,1 \>J:^ .^r/ Vo, PRINCE CHARLES STUART LONDON : PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET PRINCE CHARLES EUWARD STUART From, a. Bust eccecUled at Paris (by Ze Maine) in- the year 1749. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ^dj/yr; yaf ^ ^^7 ' '^'^^ ^^ Prince Charles Stuar't^^/-^^ COUNT OF ALBANY COMMONLY CALLED THE YOUNG PRETENDER ^trom tt)c §faic "papers anb of^cr Sources BY ALEX. CHARLES EWALD, F.SA. AUTHOR OF STORIES FROM THE STATE PAPERS ETC. A NEW EDITION WITH A PORTRAIT CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1883 l^All rights reserved'^ PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. "With the exception of the Appendix and Index, this Edition is in every respect similar to its predecessor. A. c. p:. April 1883. PREFACE. Some few years ago it fell within the course of my official work at the Eecord Office to make a calendar of the State Papers of the reigns of the first two Gfeorges. As I approached the period of the Kebellion of 1745, the papers increased in interest, and it struck me that they could be made to throw a new light on the thrice-told tale of the last Jacobite insurrection. The documents before me, either from ignorance of their existence, or on account of the diffifculties that in former days surrounded the examination of the State Papers, had never been consulted. Here and there some isolated paper had been made use of by historians and biographers, but the greater portion of the letters and examinations of witnesses was virgin soil. It was a mine well worth the working, and I delved amidst its unsunned treasures. From the events of the rebellion to the hero of the enterprise was but a natural stej). To my surprise, I found that nothing worthy to be called a biography of Prince Charles had been written. Works, it is true, calHng themselves ' Lives of the Young Pretender,' were numerous ; but the information contained in their pages began and ended with the Rebellion of ' The Forty-Five.' Little beyond what was due to mere conjecture was known of the Prince's early life and declining years ; viii PREFACE. these biographies were therefore scarcely more than mere histories of the Jacobite struggle. The best of the class is a Life of the Prince by one Karl Klose, a German, which appeared some thirty years ago. It is, however, very meagre ; nor, with the materials at the writer's command, was it possible that it could be otherwise. The materials for a biography of Prince Charles are to be sought in the Stuart Papers and the State Papers. The Stuart Papers are now lodged at Windsor Castle, and their contents, so far as they relate to the Chevalier de St. Greorge and his son, have been made public by the late Earl Stanhope. Herr Klose has incorporated these papers in his Life of the Prince, and it is for that reason that his work is more complete than its predecessors. But the State Papers, in their way, are as important as the Stuart Papers, and connect, as much as, I fear, they ever can be connected, the various links in the chain of this Prince's biogra2:)hy. It is because our national documents have never yet been consulted that no fuULife of the Young Pretender has appeared. In the following pages I have endeavoured to fill up this gap in our historical biography. The materials for the latter years of the life of Prince Charles are to be found among the State Papers of Tuscany preserved in the Public Kecord Office. Sir Horace Mann was then the English envoy at Florence, and he seems to have been most diligent in posting up the Grovernment at home in everything which related to the Prince. His letters, bearing upon the life and conduct of Charles, were edited in 1845 by Earl Stanhope, then Lord Mahon, for the Eoxburghe Club. To the world at large, the ' Decline of the Last Stuarts,' the title of the work in which these letters appeared, is almost an un- known volume. It is. not without reason that the charge has been brought against the Roxburghe Club that it only PREFACE. ix serves to multiply manuscripts, for it is with the greatest difficulty that its editions can be obtained by the public. So difficult did I find it to procure this ' Decline of the Last Stuarts,' that at*last I had to beg the loan of a copy from Lord Stanhope himself. The latter chapters of this biography are based on the valuable despatches of Sir Horace JNIann. It will be seen that I have been able occasionally to supplement the information derived from the ' Decline of the Last Stuarts ' by the letters of other envoys among the State Papers and elsewhere. Let me add, to avoid the charge of accepting authorities at second- hand, that though I refer to the work of Earl Stanhope, I have none the less examined the papers for myself. I have to thank the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for permission to make this examination. What the correspondence of Sir Horace Mann is to the latter part of the life of Prince Charles, the letters of John Walton are to the earlier portion. Walton was the agent of the English Gfovernment at Eome, and his letters, running through several volumes, have never before, to my knowledge, been made public. They will be found among the State Papers of the Italian States, preserved in the Public Eecord Office. Thanks to the courtesy of \h.Q Marquis of Lansdowne, who placed several volumes of his MSS. at my disposal, I have been able to insert some additional matter respecting the subject of my biography. I have also to express my best thanks to Mrs. Erskine Wemyss, of Wemyss Castle, for kindly lending me the manuscript copy of Lord Elcho's Journal, a favour not before accorded to any. To the Eev. Francis Hopkinson, LL.D., of Malvern Wells, I am also indebted for several important papers. Nor am I under less obligations to those kind but unknown friends who have helped me in my work by their answers to many X PREFACE. queries, and not unfrequently by inclosing me some com- munication of no little historical interest. Of the printed books that I have consulted the fol- lowing is a list : — The Lockhartl^Papers ; The Culloden Papers ; The Stuart Papers ; Macpherson's Original Papers ; The Tales of a Orandfather ; Chambers' History of the Rebellion of 1 745 ; ' The Forty-Five,' by Earl Stanhope ; Burton's History of Scotland ; The Chevalier Johnstone's Memoirs ; The Waverley Novels ; Dr. King's Political Anecdotes ; The Pretenders and their Adherents, by Jesse ; Bishop Forbes' Jacobite Memoirs ; Thompson's Memoirs of the Jacobites ; Home's History of the Eebel- lion ; Memoirs of John Murray of Broughton ; The Jaco- bite Ballads of Scotland ; The Letters of Horace Walpole ; Coxe's Pelham ; A. Hayward's Essays ; and Articles in the Quarterly Review, Revue des Deux Mondes, Scottish Episcopal Magazine, and Caledonian Mercury. LoifDON, May 1875. PAGK CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ' Scotland's heir.' Birth of the Prince — Marriage of the Chevalier de St. George with the Princess Clementine — An ill-fated race— John Walton — Lord Blandford's account of the Pretender — The Pretender's mode of life — Proposal to send Charles into Scothind — Suggestion of the confessors — Birth of Henry, Duke of York — James and his favonr- ites — The Countess of Inverness — Separation of the Princess from her husband — She retires into a conA'ent — The scandal that ensued — Interference of the Vatican — The Queea of Spain re- monstrates — Representations of the Jacobites — Obstinacy of James — Eeconciiiation — Death of George the First — An ill- assorted union , . . . . , .1 CHAPTER H. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. Education of Charles — His abilities above the average — Lord Dunbar — The Prince a favourite of the Pope — Siege of Gaeta — The Baptism of Fire — Courage of Charles — Duke of Liria — Death of the Princess Clementine — The musical talent of the Prince — He visits the chief Italian cities — Is entertained at Bologna, Parma, Piacenza, Genoa, Milan, and Venice — English interference with his reception at Florence — Mr. Fane — Returns to Rome — Ambi- tion of the Prince — His character drawn by the Jesuit Cordara . 24 CHAPTER in. INTRIGUE. Spirits of the Jacobite party revive — Bishop Atterbury — A plot- Disappointment of the Jacobites — Maria Theresa — Murray of Broughton — Murray's opinion of the Prince — Charles and Henry CONTENTS. PAGE compared — Lord Elclio — Scotch Jacobites form themselves into an Association — Intrigue to obtain French aid — Secret departure of Ci.arles from Rome — Travels in disguise to France — Lord iSemple — Takes Lodgings at Gravelines — His letters to his father ' — Retreat of the French fleet — Mortification of the Prince — War between England and France — Determination of the Prince to go over to Scotland — The Council of Seven disapprove of his in- tention — The ' Elizabeth' and ' La Doutelle ' — He sails for Scot- land — His letter to his father informing him of his resolution — The crew ignorant of his presence . , . .39 CHAPTER IV. THE RAISIJfG OF THE STANDARD. Engagement between the ' Elizabeth ' and the ' Lion' — 'La Doutelle' anchors off Erisca — Macdonald of Boisdale refuses his adherence — ' La Doutelle ' sails for the mainland — Interview with Clan- ranald — The Seven Men of Moidart — iEneas Macdonald — Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat and Maeleod of Macleod hold themselves aloof — Condition of the Highlands — List of the Clans — The Black Watch — Proclamation of Charles — Anthony Walsh — Defeat of Captain Scott — The Standard raised — Speech of the Prince to his followers — The Highland chiefs remonstrate with Macdonald and Macleod . . • . . .64 CHAPTER V. ON THE MARCH. The Duke of Newcastle — His egotism, incapacity, and timidity — Critical condition of England — Tne Government in Scotland — Conflicting opinions concerning the landing of the Prince — The fears of the Duke of Newcastle — Sir John Cope — The march to Stirling — Coldness of Cope's reception — Counter-proclamation of the Prince — Lord Lovat's wily policy — The pass of the Corryar- rack — Retreat of Cope — March south of tlie Prince — Lord George Murray — The Duke of Perth — The Clans halt at Perth — Sanguine letter of Charles to his father — Description of the Highlanders —The halt before Edinburgh . . . . .81 CHAPTER vr. THE FIRST VICTORY. Consternation of Edinburgh — Defenceless condition of the town — Appeal of the Lord Justice Clerk — The loyal Clans should be armed — Gardiner's and Hamilton's dragoons — The ' Canter of Coltbrigg ' — Agitation of the capital — Proposals to surrender — CONTENTS. xiii I'AGK Summons of the Prince— Loan of Lord Elcho- -Eeported arrival of Sir John Cope — Capture of Edinburgh — Conduct of the Lord Provost — Lament of the Lord Justice Clerk — The Prince enters Holyrood — His reception — Condition of the rebels — The march to meet Cope — The halt before the attack— The suggestion of Anderson — The battle of Prestonpans —Death of Gardiner — Eetreat of Cope— Letters of Cope and the Prince on the engage- ment — Gladsmuir . . . . .106 OHAPTEE VII. THE MARCH SOUTH. Anxiety of the Government — Horace Walpole — Preparations of the Ministry — Festivities at Edinburgh — The English Jacobites told ti> be ready — Edinburgh threatened by the Castle — Interference of the Prince- His humanity — The ProclaniHtion — Refutes the the chargeof the Whigs —Reasons assigned for accepting foreign aid — Trimming policy of Lord Lovat — Treasury of the Prince at a low ebb — Disagreements between Charles and his Council — Help requested from France — Resolve of the Prince to march into England — Declaration drawn up by the Jacobites — The Clan regiments and their commanders — Desertion in the rebel army — Marshal Wade deceived — The Clans lay siege to Carlisle— The Mayor of Carlisle — Summons of Charles — The rebels retire from Carlisle — Delight of the Mayor — His joy soon turned into bitter- ness — Surrender of Carlisle — Colonel Durand's account of the surrender- Infamous condiu-t of the militia — Satire unjust upon tlie INIayor — Triumphant entry of the Prince into Carlisle . 133 CHAPTER VIII. ADVANCE TO DERBY. Perplexity of Wade — He marches to Hexham, then retires upon New- castle — Instructions to the Lord-Lieutenants — A seditious paper — A lend between Murray and Perth — Fickleness of the Jacobites in the North — The rebels reach Preston — Coldness with which their cause was regarded by the English — Letter of the Prince to an adherent — The Duke of York writes to his brother — Incapa- city of Wade — Lord Tyrawly — The Ditke of Cumberland — Expectations of his Royal Highness -Tiie new regiments — Pro- clamation to the people of Manchester —Scene on the Mersey — Tactics of Lord George Murray — Arrival at Derby — Alarm of London — M. Gautier — Condition of the Clans — Letters from Alick Blair and Henry Bracken — Advice of Lord George — A hot dis- cussion -Resolution taken to retreat — Thomas Drake — The retreat a grave mistake . . . . . .160 PAGE xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. THE SECOND VICTORY. Disappointment of the rebels — Manchester entered — Plot to assassi- nate the Prince — The march out of England — Advance of the Duke of Cumberland — Wade's movements — Alarm of the Duke of Newcastle — The Duke of Cumberland begged to return for the protection of London — The engagement at Clifton — The Duke's account of the skirmish — Siege of Carlisle — Its surrender - — Arrival of the Clans at Glasgow — Increase in the number of the rebels— Siege of Stirling Castle — Dissensions in the camp of Charles — Memorial of the chieftains — Peply of the Prmce — Resignation of Wade — His incapacity — General Hawley — Expe- dition of Gtissett — Approach of Hawley — The battle of Falkirk — Hawley's letter — His speech to the informers — Duke of Cum- berland supersedes Hawley — Arrival of his Royal Highness at Holyrood . . ." . . . . .182 CHAPTER X. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. Murmurs amongst the Clans — Siege of Stirling Castle resitmed — Advice of Lord George Murray to retreat — Reply of the Prince- - His objections to retire — The retreat — Pursuit of the Duke of Cumberland — The Prince at Moy Castle — Lord Loudoun — Sur- render of Inverness — Loudoun's account of it — Fidelity of the Highlanders— Indignation of the Duke — Surrender of Fort George — Siege of Blair Castle — Timidity of Lord Crawford — • Precarious condition of the Prince — Desires aid from France — Mission of Sir James Stewart — Capture of Fitzjames — Assumed gaiety of the Prince — The spirit of chieftain and vassal — Divided state of the camp — Condition of the men — Advance of the Duke upon Inverness ....... 205 CHAPTER XI. THE END. Complaints of the Duke of Cumberland — Conduct of the rebels — The Duke quits Aberdeen — The passage of the Spey — The halt at Nairn — The march of the rebels to the attack — The retreat — Charles and Lord George Murray — Advice of Lord George — Position of both armies before the battle— Jealousy of the Mac- donalds— CuUoden — Futile charge of the Highlanders — Conduct of the Macdonalds — Results of the battle — Statement of Lord Klcho investigated — Found to be false — Courage of the Prince — The future uncertain — The gathering at Murligan — The gather- ing at Ruthveu^Melancholy of James .... 226 CONTENTS XV CHAPTER XII. REVENGE. PAOIC Boldness of the rebellion — Sentiment of the Dnko of Cumberland — His hatred of the Jjicobites — Quarter given to none — Ill-usage of the prisoners — The State Papers of this period — The Jacobite witnesses — Murray of Broughton — His capture and subsequent confessions — Lord Kilmarnock — Lord Cromarty — Lord Balme- rino — Their trial — And fate — Charles RatelifF — Lord Lovat — Vengeance of the Government — The Act of Indemnity — Destruc- tion of the feudal authority . . . . .249 CHAPTER XIII. THE FUGITIVE. Interview with Lord Lovat — The halt at Invergarry — Ned Burke— Eeply of diaries to address from the gathering at Ruthven — Donald Macleod — The island of Benbecula — Scalpa — The scene at Stornoway — Dangei-ous position of the fugitives —A deserted spot — Distressed condition of Charles— South Uist — The Prince visited by his friends -Hugh Macdonald of Balshair — A sad parting — Hemmed in— Flora Macdonald — O'Neal's narrative — Betty Burke — Lady Clanranald — Preparations for the flight , 209 CHAPTER XIV. HUNTED DOWN. Tiie escape — Observed by the militia sentries — Mugstat — Terror of Lady Margaret — Macdonald of Kingsburgh — His offer — Arrival of the Prince at Kingsburgh — Lady Kingsburgh — A luxurious rest — Jacobite devotion — Fate of Kingsburgh— The parting with Flora Macdonald- -Raasay — Lands again at Skye — Disguised as a servant — John Mackinnon — Malcolm Macleod — Chased by the militiamen — Coldness of old Clanranald — Macdonald of Morar — A critical moment — Donald Cameron to the rescue — The Seven Men of Glenmoriston — Their hospitality — End of the Highland wanderings — Departure for France — ' Prince Charlie ' . . 28] CHAPTER XV. UNDER PROTECTION. The landing in Brittany — Letter to Henry — Anxiety of James — The greeting between Ciiarles and Louis — lleception of the Prince at Versailles —Report as to his marrying — Cardinal Tencin — Visit a xvi CONTENTS. PAGE of Charles to Madrid — Letter to his father detailing the failure of his mission — Spanish coldness — The Diike of York created a cardinal— The ceremony on the occasion — Speech of the Pope — . The Prince informed of the honour by James — Estrangement between Charles and Henry — Feud between father and son — Extract from Walton's despatches . . . .306 CHAPTER XVI. THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. Condition of France— The treaty of peace— Stipulation of England— The protest of the Prince — His indignation with the French Court — His dissipated life — Causes medals to be struck — Kemark of the Prince de Conti — Desired by the French ministry to quit France — Persistently refuses — Impolitic nature of his proceed- ings—His conduct admired by the Parisians — Dilemma of Louis — Obliged to resort to force — Arrest of Charles — His imprison- ment — Statement of Puysieiix — Indignation of the Parisians — Dufresnoy's sarcasms — The Prince hurried across the frontier — Arrives at Avignon — There takes up his abode . . . 32-t CHAPTER XVII. UNDER A CLOUD. Miss Walkenshaw- Joins the Prince at Avignon — Kemonstrances of the English CTOVcrnment— The love of the Prince for boxing- Feud between him and the Archbishop— The Infanta Don Philip — The Prince compelled to leave Avignon — His movements wrapped in secrecy — Bad faith of France — First visit of the Prince to London — Dr. King — Charles embraces Protestantism — Character of the Prince— His fatal love for drink— Contrast between his past and present conduct — His mind affected . 338 CHAPTER XVIII. STILL IN SECLUSION. The second visit to London — Account of the visit by Hume — Charles and Miss Walkenshaw— The third visit to London — Statement of Philip Thicknesse — Mission of Maenamara — Keply of the Prince to the request of the Jacobites— Bad taste of the reply — Ketiroment of the Prince to Basel- Account of Charles Ijy the English envoy at Berne — Lord Marischal and the Prince— Miss Walkenshaw abandons her lover and takes refuge in a convent — Lord Elcho Conduct of the Prince- Rumour of presence of the Prince at the coronation of George the Third . . . 350 CONTENTS. xvii CHAPTER XIX. A TITULAR KING. PAOE Illness of the Chevalier de St. George — His death — Funeral obsequies of the Chevalier — Wish of Charles to return to Rome — Letter of Cardinal Albani — Claim of Charles to be recognised as a sovereign — Conduct of the English Government — Refusal of Rome to recognise the title of the Prince — Reconciliation of the brothers — Entrance of the Prince into Rome — His mimic court — Intoxicated habits of the Prince — Grief of his brother thereat— Lord Elcho applies for his debt to be repaid — Is refused — Sketch of the Prince, drawn by the English Envoy at Naples — Intro- duction of Cliarles to the Pope — Abandons his secluded habits — His health fails — Takes the baths at Pisa — Is compelled to q\iit Florence — Visits Paris ...... 364 CHAPTER XX. MAKRIAGE. Aversion of the Prince to marriage — Tactics of the French Court — Louisa, Princess of Stolberg — She accepts the Prince — Their marriage — Their arrival in Rome — The ' Queen of Hearts ' — Querulous conduct of the Prince — Quits Rome — The silly story that an heir was born unto him — The Prince takes up his abode at Florence — His pride and seclusion — Becomes a patron of the drama — His hatred of the French — A confirmed toper — A miser- able luiion ....... 382 CHAPTER XXI. UNO CAVALIERE SERVENTE, Alfieri — His dissipated life — Resides in Florence — Becomes enamoured of the wife of Charles — His description of the Princess — Friend- ship between the two — Jealousy of Charles — Brutal conduct of the Prince — Escape of the Princess to a convent — Fury of Charles — Letter of Cardinal York to the Princess — She enters Rome — Resides in the Orsoline — Alfieri follows her — Confession of Charles — Culpable conduct of those who advised the Princess — Alfieri ordered to quit Rome — Poverty of Charles — The King of Sweden — The Prince and Princess amicably divorced . . 397 xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIT. THE LAST OF THE LINE. PACE The Duchpss of Albany — She takes up her abode with Charles — They enter Florentine society — Mr. Greathead — Departure for Rome — Kindness of Cardinal York — Comte de Vaudreuil- Death of the Prince — His character — Description of his daughter — Her death — Alfieri and the royal widow— Last years of Louisa — Cardinal York — His reverses — Cardinal Borgia — The last of the Stuarts befriended by the Englisli Government — Sir Jolin Cox Hipposley — Lord Minto — Extinction of the line — Monument to the Stuarts at St. Peter's . . . . . . .411 APPENDIX 430 INDEX 441 THE LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. CHAPTER I. ' Scotland's heib.'. 'Twas thus in early bloom of time, Under a reverend oak, In sacred and inspired rhyme An ancient Druid spoke, — ' An hero from fair Clementine Long ages hence shall spring, And all the gods their power combine To bless the future king.' The year 1720 was rapidly drawing to its close when an event occviiTed at Rome wliicli had long been expected. After a weary travail of six days, the Princess Clementine, or, as she was styled by her adherents, the Queen of England, was safely delivered of a son. In order to silence the voice of cakimny it was deemed advisable that certain members of the Sacred College should be present to attest the reality of the birth. Each kingdom sent a Cardinal as its representative. Their Eminences Paolucci and Barberini appeared for the Holy See ; Gualtieri as Protector of England ; Sacripanti as Protector of Scotland ; Imperiali as Protector of Ireland ; Ottoboni as Protector of France ; Aquaviva as Minister of Spain ; and Panfili as Senior of the Cardinal Deacons. In addition to these lofty personages the chamber was thronged Avith ladies whose names and titles had for centuries been recorded in the Libi'O d'Oro. Kneeling at a jvie-dieic near the couch was the husband. In the tall, thin, and not inelegant figure, the high narrow B 2 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. foreliead, the cold eye, tlie shapely nose, the full weak lips, and the long oval face, one recognised the man Avhom foes called the Pretender, friends the Chevalier de St. George, and subjects King James the Third. A romantic incident had ushered in the marriage .the issue of which was now occasioning such excitement. The wife of the Chevalier, by blood a Sobieski, and grand-daughter of the Victor of Vienna, had been one of the wealthiest heiresses in Europe. Her hand was courted by many, and would have been a prize to the noblest. In an evil hour, dazzled by the prospect of a crown, she was wooed and won by the head of the House of Stuart. To James the alliance was in every way desirable, but political enemies did their best to frustrate his wishes. The Coiu't of St. James's, averse to any prosperity that might fall to its rival, at once entered into negotiations with the Court of Vienna to prevent the marriage. Hearing of this opposition the parents of the bride proposed that the Princess should be secretly conducted to Bologna, and there be united to the man of her choice. The lovers approved of the suggestion, and the future Queen of the Jacobites, accompanied by her mother, hastily set out from Poland to cross the Alps. But the Emperor of Germany, whose policy it then waste stand well with England on account of his pretensions to Sicily, which were supported by our fl«et, being informed of their purpose, gave orders for the an-est of the fugitives, and at Innspruck they were seized and confined in a neighbouring convent. For his share in this affair, the father, Prince James Sobieski, Avas deprived of his government of Augsburg and imprisone(i' In despair at this unexpected opposition, both James and Clementine now regarded their union as an impossibility. But at this crisis a devoted adherent of their cause, like a deus ex onachind, came to the rescue. One Charles Wogan, who had nearly lost his life in the year '15, devised a plan whereby the parted couple might be united. In the name of Count Cernes, who he gave out was returning with his family from Loretto to the Low Countries, he obtained a passport from the Austrian ambassador. Armed with this important document, two friends of his, a Major 3Iisset and his wife, passed themselves off as the pretended Count and Countess ; Wogan represented the brother of the Countess, whilst the Princess, when freed from her prison, was to appear as the sister of the Count, a character very well acted in the meantime by a smart maid of Mrs. Misset's. 'SCOTLAND'S HEIR: 3 On tlie evening of April 27, 1719, the party arrived at Innspruck, and took lodgings near the convent. As fortune would have it, a servant attached to the person of the Princess, who appears to have been somewhat of a gay Lothario, had received permission from an accommodating porter to bring a young woman into the cloister as often as he liked, and conduct her out whenever he thought proper. The first thing, there- fore, that had to be done was to render the amorous domestic favourable to the plot. A handsome bribe speedily secured his services, and made him warmly suppoi't any effort that should be attempted. It was now arranged that Jenny, Mrs. Misset's maid, should be introduced into the cloister through his agency, and the Princess issue from its walls in her stead. So far all liad gone well, but here a piece of natural timidity on the part of Jenny nearly defeated the plot. The young woman had only been partly let into the secret, and when she heard that she was to assist in the abduction of so illustrioiTS a personage as a Princess, and to be left as it were in pawn for that lady's disappearance, she not unreasonably demurred, and declared that she would have nothing further to do with the rescue. But bright pi'omises, a few pieces of gold, and a fine suit of damask belonging to her mistress gradually restored her courage, anck set her scruples at rest. And so one dark stormy night, Tinder cover of a blinding fall of snow, the maid was introduced into the cloister, where she quickly exchanged clothes with the Princess,, and assumed her character. A carriage was in waiting, into which the bride-elect entered, and along bad roads, ren- dered all the more dangerous by the miserable weather, and past the sleepy jwlizei, the party pushed on till the Austrian frontier was left behind. A few days afterwards Bologna was safely reached, when the Princess quitted her incognita. The marriage took place shortly afterwards by proxy, James being then intriguing in Spain. Many happy omens were drawn by the Jacobites from this successful escape — omens which, like most of those that prognosticated good to the Stuarts, vcere never fulfilled. For this act Wogan was knighted by the Pope. We do not hear what became of Jenny. ^ To return to the young mother. As soon as the happy event became known throughout Rome, congratulations poured in on all sides. The Castle of St. Angelo fired salvoes 1 Karraticv of ilie Escape of iht Princess Chmcnttne. By Charles Wogan. London : 17'22. E 2 4 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. artillery. The Pope, who had been engaged in offering up special prayers before the altar of St. Thomas for the health of the Queen, and had provided consecrated baby-linen to the value of six thousand scudi, attended at the palace in person to bestow his blessing. Members from the Saci'ed College and the Spanish Court came in a body with welcome presents of scudi and doubloons. By a s])ecial grant, the residence of the Holy Apostles, now the Palazzo Muti-Papazui-ri, was made over to James, together with a handsome sum for furnishing. Medals of silver and bronze, bearing on one side the busts of James and Clementine, and on the reverse a mother and child, with the motto Spes By'daytinice, were struck in numbers to commemorate the event. It was said by the Jacobites that a new star had made its appearance in the heavens, and that a violent storm had raged throughout Germany, committing fearful havoc, at the precise moment of the Prince's birth. As soon as the child had been swaddled in the consecrated robes, he was j)laced on a couch beneath a gorgeous canopy of state, and held his first levee. Never in after life did he receive such homage. Beautiful dames, the brilliant leaders of a brilliant society, bent the knee and covered him with caresses. Cardinals and prelates stood over him and gave him their blessing. Soldiers who had been exiles from their country to follow the declining fortunes of his house pressed his chubby hand with their bearded lips, and felt a new life animating their loyalty. Bigoted intriguers, whose one prayer was that England might return to the Catholic faith, hurried to the couch to pay homage, knowing that as long as the old line still survived there was a chance of their hopes being granted. At a distance, taking no part in the ceremony, was the crowd whom curiosity had attracted to the chamber. Surely amongst these there must have been some who, reflecting on the ill- starred race of which the new-born babe was the last link, felt ready to cry out : — ' Why all this pomp and ceremony ? "What has the line from which yon child is sprung ever done that there should be these rejoicings at its perpetuation ? Were it not better for the God-cui'sed dynasty to die out and cease provoking the divine wrath 1 What are its annals but the history of blood- shed and oppression, failure and intrigue ? Has there ever been a family whose history has been such a record of misery generation after generation '] What awful details their pedigi-ee discloses ! The first of yon child's ancestors who bore the 'SCOTLAND'S JIEIR: 5 fated name of James was muvdered by the hand of an assassin, after a wearisome imprisonment in England. His son, the second James, began a troublous reign by slaying his own nephews, and was himself slain by the bursting of a gun at Roxburgh siege. The third James had to make war against his own son, was defeated in the battle that ensued, and met his death by assassination as he fled from the field. The fourth James pei'ished at Flodden. The fifth James was driven mad by his turbulent nobles. His daughter, after a career of infixmy, expiated her sins upon the scaflbld at Fotheringay, The sixth James, and the first of his line and name on the English throne, Avas a true son of the abandoned woman his mother — a mnlicious buftbon, a pompous pedant, and addicted to the most pagan of vices. His son essayed to play the part of a despot, and met the fate which tyranny so often brings upon itself Of the two sons of that condemned monarch — the one was a vicious worldling, who did not rise to the level of contempt ; the other, a bigot and a despot, justly driven by an angry nation from the throne. "Was ever race so accursed % For three centuries it has wielded the sceptre, and 3'et not one of the line has borne a name worthy the respect or admiration of postei'ity. Could dignity more grievously ignore all its responsibilities % Why the;^ all this rejoicing at the appearance of another victim of an inexplicable fatality % Why should his lot be happier than that of his ancestors % Better it were that the child had never been born.' Some such thoughts doubtless crossed the mind of more than one silent spectator on this occasion. As soon as the lying-in-state was concluded the child was baptised. The names given him on that occasion were Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir. Histoi'y has been somewhat perplexed to know exactly how to designate this prince. On his monuments at St. Peter's and at Frascati he is styled Charles Edward, but never did he so sign himself. In his various letters among the Stuart and the State Papers his signature is invariably Charles, and there is not a single instance of his ever making use of any of the other four names given in his baptism. In the absence of better reasons for the contrary practice, I shall adopt the customary rule of calling a man by the name he himself acknowledges, and henceforth in these pages the leader of the ' Forty-five ' will figure as Prince Charles. The Stuarts, in spite of their cradle land, had never been a stalwart race, and the yoiing child, shortly after his birth, was so weak and sickly that his life was despaired of On the 6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. authority of John \Yalton, who was then the agent for the English government at Rome, and who, by means of bribes, had succeeded in tampering with the sei-vants of the household of James, we learn that the prince was born with his legs turned in, and that it was doubtful whether he would ever be able to walk. ' Les janibes lui sont tellement tournees en dedans et estrojy'tees,^ he writes,^ ' qu'on doute fort qu'il n'cqyjyrendra jamais a marcher.'' This statement seems more like a piece of diplomatic spite which the writer well knew would be more asrreeable at home than the actual truth. But whether this were so or not, it is well known that in after life no such distortion existed. The lad who boated on the lake at Albano, and who marched from Edinburgh to Derby, and from Derby to Glasgow, in fifty-six days, was as vigorous and straight- limbed as athletic youth need ever wish to be. But not con- tent with informing the govei"nment that the young hope of the Stuarts was deformed and doomed to an early grave, — ' son Jils est d'une sante qui de jour en jour montre plus d'im- 2)erfections, et que par consequent il ne pourra pas vivre long temp)S,^ are his exact words, — "Walton proceeds to assure the Secretary of State that he need have no fears at the jDrospect of Clementine having further issue. He writes that he has been assured, ' ^^a?" p>lusieurs dames, connoissetoses dans le metier defaire les infants, que la Princesse Sohieski <% juger du present etat de sa sante n^en fera point d^autres^ - We know how valuable this statement, which he more than once i-epeats, was, by the appearance a few years afterwards of Henry. A few weeks after the birth of the Prince, the Marquis of Blandford happened to be staying at Eome, and though it appears he had received strict orders from home not to visit James, or pay court in any way to his Consort, yet curiosity speedily conquered his obedience, and he became a frequent guest at the Palace of the Santi Apostoli. In the following letter-"^ he gives a graphic account of the hospitality and conver- sation of the Chevalier : — ' May 6, 1721. ' Sir, — . . c After myarrival here I'received your letter of the 15th of February, l>y which you reminded me of your commands 1 State Papers, Italian States, Walton's letters, Jan 5, 1723. 2 lUd. Jan 9, 17-23. 5 For a copy of this very interesting letter, which has never before been published, I am indebted to the Icindnessof the Rev. Francis Hopliinson, LL.D., of Malvern Wells, in Mhose possession tlie MS. is. To whom the letter is addressed is not known. 'SCOTLAND'S HEIR: 7 at my departure, to avoid conversing witli the Pretender or any of his adherents. I must own that, notwithstanding my inbred dislike to his pretensions, and my confirmed aversion for his profession, I often found my curiosity inclining me to be so far acquainted with his person and character that I might be able to say from my own knowledge what sort of man he is, who has made and daily makes, so great a noise in England : and I have sometimes fancied that even you yourself, Sir, would not be satisfied with me if (after staying so long in Rome) I were not able to give you a particular account of him. . . . About a month ago Mr. and I l^eing in search of some of the anti- quities of this place, we became acquainted with an English gentleman very knowing in this kind of learning, who was of great use to ns. His name is Dr. Cooper, a priest of the Church of England, whom we did not suspect to be of the Pretender's retinue but took him to be a curious traveller, which opinion created in me a great liking for his conversation. On Easter eve he made us the compliment that as he supposed us bred in the professioii of the said church, he thought it incumbent on him to invite us to divine service (next day being Easter Sun- day) : such language at Rome appeared to me a jest, I stared at the Doctor, who added that the Pretender (whom he called king) had prevailed with the late Pope to grant licence for liav- iug divine service according to the rules of the Church of England performed in his palace for the benefit of the Protes- tant gentlemen of his suite, his domestics, and travellers, and that one Dr. Berkeley and himself were appointed, for the dis- charge of this duty, and that prayers were read as orderly here as at London. I should have remained of perfect unbelief had I not been witness that this is matter of fact, and as such have placed it amongst the greatest wonders of Rome.^ ... In some days after, my friend and I went to take the evening air in the stately gardens called Villa Landovici. There we met on a sudden, face to face, with the Pretender, his Piincess, and Court ; we were so very close before we understood who they were, that we could not retreat with decency ; common civility obUged lis to stand sideways in the alley, as others did, to let them pass by. The Pretender was easily distinguished by his star and garter as well as Ijy an air of greatness which discovered a majesty superior to the rest. ... I remarked his eyes fixed upon me, which I confess I could not bear ; I was perfectly 1 This statement is corroborate 1 by the author of the Genvim Jlenwirs of John Murray of Broiighton. 8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. stunned and not aware of myself, when pursuant to what the standers-by did, I made him a salute. He returned it with a smile which changed the sedateness of his first aspect into a very graceful countenance : as he passed by I observed him to be a well-sized clear-lim'd man. I had one glimpse of the Prin- cess which left me a great desire of seeing her again . . . she is of a middling stature, well shaped and has lovely features — wit, vivacity and mildness of temper are painted in her looks. When they came up to us, the Pretender stood and spoke a word to the Doctor, then looking at us he asked him whether we were English gentlemen % He asked us how long we had been in town and whether we had any acquaintances in it, then told us he had a house where English gentlemen would be very welcome. The Princess, who stood by addressing to the Doctor, in the politest English I think I ever heard, said, ' Pray Doc- tor, if these gentlemen be lovers of music, invite them to my concert to-night, I charge you with it,' which she accompanied with a salute and a smile in the most gi-acious manner. . . . We went and saw a bright assembly of the prime Roman nobility, the concert composed of the best musicians of Rome, a plentiful and orderly collation served : but the courteous and afiable manner of our reception was moi-e taking than all the rest. . . . The Pretender entertained us on the subject of our families as knowingly as if he had been all his life in Eng- land. He told me of some passages of my grandfather and of his being a constant follower of King Charles the First and Second. . . . He discoursed as particularly on several of our neighbouring families, as I could do, upon which I told him I was surprised at his so perfect knowledge of our fami- lies in England. His answer was, that from his infancy he had made it his business to acquire the knowledge of the laws, customs, and families of his country, so that he might not be reputed a stranger when the Almighty would j^lease to call him thither. . . . There is every day a regular table of ten or twelve covers well served, unto which some of the quali- fied persons of his court or travellers are invited; it is sup- plied with English and French cookery, French and Italian wines, but I took notice that the Pretender eat only of the English dishes and made his dinner of roast beef. . . . He also prefers our March beer (which he has from Leghorn) to the best port wines. He drinks his glass of champagne very heartily, and to do him justice he is as free and cheerful at his table, as any man I know ; he spoke much in favour of 'SCOTLAND'S IIEIR: 9 our English ladies, and said he was persuaded he had not many enemies amongst them, then he carried a health to them. The Princess, with a smiling countenance upon the matter, said, "I think then. Sir, it would be just that I drink to the Cavaliers." Sometime after the Pretender began a health to the prosperity of all friends in England which he addressed to me. . . . After we had eat and drank very heartily the Princess told us we must go to see her son, which could not be refused. He is really ^ tine promising child and is attended by Englishmen, mostly Pi'otestants, which the Princess observed to us saying, that as she believed, he was to live and die amongst Protestants she thought fit to have him bred up by their hands, and that in the country where she was born there was no other distinction but that of honest and dishonest.^ These women, and particularly two Londoners, kept such a racket about us to make us kiss the young Pretender's hand, that to get clear of them as soon as we could we were forced to comply. The Princess laughed very heartily, and told us she did not question but the day would come that we should not be soriy to have made so early an acquaintance with her son. I thought myself under the necessity of making her the compliment that being hers he could not miss being good and happy. On the next post day we went, as commonly the English gentlemen do, to the Pretender's house for news ; he had received a great many letters, and after perusing them he told us, that there was no great prospect of an amendment of affairs in England, that the secret committee and several other honest men were taking abundance of pains to find out the cause of the nation's destruction, which knowledge, when obtained to, would avail only to give people more concern for the ptiblic without procuring relief, for that the authors would find means to be above the reach of the common cause of jus- tice. He bemoaned the misfortunes of England groaning under a load of debts and the severest hardships contracted and im- posed to support foreign interest. He lamented the ill-treat- ment and disregard of the ancient nobility, and said it gave him great trouble to see the interest of the nation abandoned to the directions of a new set of people, who must at any rate enrich themselves by the spoil of the country. " Some may imagine," contintied he, " that these calamities are not displeas- ing to me because they may in some measure turn to my 1 If Clementine really said this, she must have changed her opinions con- siderably -within the next few years. lo LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. advantage ; I renounce all such xinwortliy thoughts — the love of my country is the first principle of my woi-lcUy wishes, and my heart bleeds to see so worthy and honest a people distressed and misled by a few wicked men, and plunged into miseries almost irretrievable : " thereupon he rose briskly from his chair and expressed his concern with fire in his eyes. . . . Then turning to an old English gentleman of the company, he said, " I have been told by several of the eminent prelates of the Church of Rome, particularly by my friend the Archbishop of Cambray, that it should never be my business to study how to be an Apostle but how to become a good King to all my people with- out distinction, which shall be found so if it please God to restore me. I have given my word in my declaration, to refer the securities requisite in such points to the persons themselves that are most concerned therein, and I have never given any persons reason to doubt but I will maintain my promises to the full; I can boldly say that none can with justice reproach me with faihng in the least point of honour, which was and always shall be dearer to me than any crown, or my very life itself." It was urged to him that the Roman Catholic clergy, the Jesuits and Fi-iars, are accused of being apt to start disputes to come by their end, and of a dangerous encroaching temper. He answered he had sufficient warning before him from the misfor- tunes in which his father had been involved by faithless and wicked men — that he was entirely of opinion that all clei'gymen not tolerated by the statutes of a nation, ought to be confined, to the business of their profession, and that if any of them should be found meddHng with public concerns, or creating disjjutes to the prejudice of the understanding that ought to be cherished between the King and his subjects, it was his opinion they ought to be removed out of the way of doing mischief — he averred this should constantly be his maxim. ... I give you my word,' concludes the Marquis, ' I shall enter no more upon arguments of this kind with him, for he has too much wit and learning for me; besides that he talks with such an air of sincerity that I am apprehensive I should become half a Jaco- bite if I continued following these discourses any longer.' After the birth of the Prince, the Court of James was crowded with adherents who came to offer their congratulations and to mature their intrigues. It was proposed that the infant should be sent into Scotland, where it was considered his pre- sence would be most serviceable in keeping alive the spirit of Jacobitism. James, who, like his father, seldom undertook any 'SCOTLAND'S HEIR.' ii at measure without first consulting his spiritual advisers, talked the matter over with his confessors. These keepers of the royal conscience thought somewhat difierently. It was very desu-able, they said, that the spirit of loyalty and zeal for the House of Stuart should be encouraged throughout every shire and isle in Scotland, but [at the same time the proposed scheme had its dangers. Two perils especially presented themselves. The in- fant Prince might be taken prisoner, or, if he escaped that fate, the influence of surrounding Calvinism might poison the pure current of his Catholic teaching. A plan which would avoid danger and at the same time excite loyalty would be preferable. Equal to the occasion the confessors proposed that Charles should be kept secretly in a convent at Home, his education being strictly supervised by the priests, whilst another child should be sent into Scotland to personate the Prince, and test the devotion of his future subjects. Then, when it should be found that the kingdom was rij^e for insurrection, and all classes animated by an ardent loyalty to the cause of the Stuarts, the time would have arrived to send over the real child and expose the imposture, but not before. Unfortunately for the execution of this innocent and inge- nious scheme, prominent among the friends and counsellors of James was a certain Colonel John Hay, who, when the subject was broached to him by his master, at once returned an angry negative, adding ' that the confessors knew nothing of English afiairs, and that their blind zeal would spoil all.' Hay appears to have been indignant that he had not been consulted in the first instance, and that his opinion had only been asked after the interview with the priests.' As soon as Charles had arrived at the age of some three years and a half, he was introduced by his royal parents to the Pope. The interview took place in the garden of the Vatican, where the Supreme Pontiff was then holding an audience. James and his consort duly did homage, but we are informed that nothing would induce the Prince to follow their example. This offensive exhibition of Protestantism was regarded by all the spectators as a bad augury.- But this act of discourtesy was not repeated in after life. Without troubling himself much with religious matters, Charles knew perfectly well who was his truest friend, and was always a dutiful and submissive son of the Church. He was in the Church, but not of it. ' State Papers, Italian States, July 24, 1723. 2 Ibid. Sept. 7, 1724. 12 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUARI. In spite of the opinion of the * jjlusie^rs dames connois- seuses' the Princess was again, on March 6, 1725, safely delivered of a second son. The Pope, who was then at his private prayers, was at once informed of the happy news, and graciously replied that he would attend in person and baptise the child. His Holiness was received on the steps of the jialace by James, and then escorted to the apartment where the mother lay. The Chevalier approached the couch of his wife, took the child up in his arms, and presented him to the Pope, saying, ' I present to your Holiness the Duke of York in order to make him a Christian.' He was baptised, and the Pope gave him the names of Henry Benedict Maria Thomas, and others up to the number of twelve. This ceremony per- formed, his Holiness spent a few minutes in conversation with the Princess, and then withdrew to the Vatican. Shortly after his departure the whole of the Sacred College came to offer their congratulations.^ The ministers of James, thinking it a wise policy to keep the Court of Spain in remembrance of the exiled family, now proposed that the young Duke should be sent to Madrid, there to be brought up, and to receive his education. The ftxther had no objection, but on the matter being discussed with the Princess she strongly opposed it, and desired that neither of her children should be removed from her.^ Her request was granted, but events soon arose which interfei'ed with this very natural maternal wish. From the days when the first James made an idol of Carr, Earl of Somerset, the Stuarts had been notorious for their favourites. It would seem that their mental condition could not exist without the support of a warm and controlling intimacy. Like the ivy they could not stand alone, but derived their strength and growth from the object their affections encircled. The titular monarch at Rome did not belie his ancestry in this respect. Irresolute, narrow-minded, and miserably weak, save where blind obstinacy gave him detei"- mination, he loved to select those from his adherents whose qualities were a contrast to his own, and, finding them worthy of confidence, to place implicit trust in theii- guidance, opinions, and advice. At this moment his little Court was directed by a triumvirate which permitted no interference Avith their proceedings outside theii- coterie. The leader of this trio was a 1 State Papers, Italian States, Mar. 6 and 10, 1725. 2 Ibid. Mar. 17, 1725. 'SCOTLAND'S HEIR: 13 Colonel John Hay, whom I have already mentioned, the brother of Lord Kinnoul, who was so entirely in the confidence of his master, now that Mar was in disfavour, that about the time of the birth of the Duke of York he had been created Earl of Inverness and Secretary of State. According to Lockhart ' he was ' a cunning, false, avaricious creature, of very ordinary parts, cultivated by no sort of literature, and altogether void of experience in business ; with insolence pre- vailing often over his little stock of prudence.' Whether this character be true or no, we have only to read the correspond- ence of Walton to learn how complete was Hay's influence over James, and with what jealousy such control was re- garded. Great as was this authority, however, it is doubtful whether it would have been so absolute had the titular Earl not been married. Mrs. Hay, if we may believe the same writer who so harshly sums up the character of her husband, was 'a mere coquette, tolerably handsome, but withal prodi- giously vain and arrogant.' James, who, in spite of his priests and his prayers, had the promptings of his race, which made a woman who fascinated him an irresistible temptation, paid no little court to the lady, and scandal asserted that she had the honour of pleasing him. The last of the trio was James Murray, the son of Lord Stormont, and brother of the above lady. Though a Protestant, he was appointed, on the dismissal of Mrs. Sheldon, who no longer satisfied James, the governor of Prince Charles, and created Earl of Dunbar. It was with extreme aversion that the Princess Clementine viewed the appointment of the Protestant Murray as governor of her son. A pure and blameless woman, she was a true daughter of her Church, and deemed any other religion (not- withstanding Lord Blandford's assertion to the contrary) as the most pernicious heresy. It was natural that the position Murray held in the household shoidd have been most distaste- ful, not only to her, but also to her confessors. But James, when once he placed a favourite on the pedestal of his affec- tions, refused to dethrone him. He turned a deaf ear to all remonstrances from either wife or priest, subject or superior. But soon a graver matter entered into the contention. In the veins of James's consort there ran the proud blood of the Sobieskis, and she declined to limit her resistance merely to the pettier insults she was in the habit of receiving from the 1 The Lockhart Tapers, vol. ii. p C40. 14 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Earl and Countess of Inverness. She faced her lord, and openly accused him of infidelity, haughtily declaring that he must choose between losing his wife or dismissing his mistress. Nothinc: would induce her to submit to degradation. ' The Pretender has had very high words with his wife,' writes Walton,^ ' on the subject of Mrs. Hay (called here the Countess of Inverness). The Princess told him flatly that unless he dismissed that lady, she herself woi^ld quit the palace. The following reasons have contributed to tliis state of things which has been going on for several months, and always steadily increasing : — ' 1. A jealousy based upon very stx'ong appearances and the extraordinary kindness shown by the Pretender to Mrs. Hay, whilst the Princess, on the other hand, has been treated very badly. ' 2. The sovereign authority which the colonel and his wife disjjlay in the house, removing from the presence of the Prin- cess, all who are likely to interfere with their authority. Their last act has been to drive away the only confidante of the Princess, Mrs. Sheldon, formerly governess to the children. * 3. That since Mui-ray (called at Ptome the Earl of Dunbar), a Protestant, and brother of Mrs. Hay, has been appointed governor of his eldest son, she and other Catholics have been prevented from speaking to the child, which has thus created the suspicion in her own mind that her children are to be brought up as Protestants — a suspicion carefully fomented by the Ptomish clergy.' The Princess, finding that her remonstrances had no avail with her husband, but were only met by the most oSensive indifference, withdrew to her chamber — the solitude of which had not lately been disturbed by her consort. Here she penned a letter to the Abbess of the Convent of Saint Cecilia, at Transtevere, begging that the door of the convent might be left open on the following day at a certain hour, when she Avould j^i-esent herself and seek an interview. The letter was no sooner despatched than her retii-ement was broken in upon by the unexpected appearance of James, who was leading Mrs. Hay by the hand. The Princess instantly buried herself in the pages of a book she hastily snatched up, and refused to take any notice of the entrance of either James or his favour- ite. Offended at what he no doubt considered his v.-ife's rude- ness, the Chevalier approached Mrs. Hay, offered her his arm, 1 State Papers. Italian States, Nov. 17, 1725. <■ SCOTLAND'S HEIR: 15 and said, ' Let me take you into supper.' And the couple then took their departure without another word. This gratviitous insult was keenly felt by the Princess, who determined all the more to put her resolve into execution. The next day, which was November 15, she drove to Trans- tevere, stopped the carriage before the convent, and entered within its walls, accompanied by one of her ladies-in-waiting. The Lady Superior conducted her to a room, when she instantly despatched three letters — one to her husband, the second to the Pope, and the third to Cardinal Gualtieri, who had always taken the part of the Hays.^ To her sister she thus wrote ^ : ' Mr. Hay [Loi-d Inver- ness] and his lady are the cause that I am retired into a con- vent. I received your letter in their behalf, and returned you an answer, only to do you a pleasure, and to oblige the King ; bvit it all has been to no purpose, for, instead of making them my friends, all the civilities I have shown them have only served to render them the more insolent. Their unworthy treatment of me has, in short, reduced me to such an extremity, and I am in such a cruel situation, that I had rather suffer death than live in the King's palace with persons that have no religion, honour, nor conscience, and who, not content with having been the authors of so fatal a separation between the King and me, are continually teasing him every day to part with his best friends and his most faithful subjects. This at length determined me to retire into a convent, there to spend the rest of my days in lamenting my misfortunes, after having been fretted, for six years together, by the most mortifying indignities and affronts that can be imagined, I desire you to make my compliments to the Bishop of Ambrun, and to tell him from me, that as I take him to be my friend, I doubt not but he will do me justice on this occasion. He is very sensible that they were strong and pressing reasons that determined me to take so strong a resolution, and he has been a witness of the retired life I always led ; and you, my dear sister, ought to have the same chaiity for me. But whatever happens, I assure you that I should rather choose to be silent under cen- sure, than to offer the least thing which may prejudice either the person or affairs of the King, for whom I always had, notwithstanding my unhaj)py situation, and for whom I shall retain, as long as I live, a sincei-e and respectful affection.' 1 State Papers, Italian States, Nov. 17, 1725. Lochhart Pavers vol. ii. p. 2G5. i6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. The morrow after the flight of the Princess the Pope despatched Bishop Merlini, his financial secretary, to James, to inform him that his Holiness would not tolerate for one moment that the young Princes should be brought up as Pro- testants, ' ni voir devant ses yenx son concubinage avec la Com- tesse cV Inverness aic frejudice de son epouse! ^ Hereupon James, in a great rage, replied that though the governor of the Prince was a Protestant, yet all those who taught his son religion and morality were Catholics, and that as for his pretended adultery with Lady Inverness, ' il ne 2)ouvait repondre, ni croire que pareil message s'adressait a lui, autrement le porteur du tel compliment coiirrait risque de descendre par lafenetre au lieu de I' e scalier.' ^ Shortly after the departure of this prelate, Cardinal Albe- roni, who most warmly espoused the cause of the Princess, also called upon her husband, and expi"essed himself very strongly against the Hays. Irritated at the Cardinal's remarks, James haughtily replied that his Eminence was forgetting himself, and that he dare not put in writing what he had verbally alleged. At this the Cardinal, rising from his seat in such a fury that his robes were torn by the arms of his chair, replied that he had never failed to speak the truth even in the presence of powerful sovereigns, who could have had him executed on the spot, much less was he to be intimidated by a king without a country. And with this Parthian sho.t at the crownless mon- arch, Alberoni took his departure — only to return shortly afterwards with every insult he had hurled against the Hays written down on a paper, which he handed to James. ^ The intriguer of Madrid was certainly not a man to fear a Stuart. It has been stated that Alberoni had counselled the Princess, before her final rupture with her husband, to take refuge in the convent. This assertion he appears to have distinctly denied at an audience of the Pope.^ It is beyond my province to enter into the details of a scan- dal which was the gossip of every court and cofieediouse in Europe. James resolutely refused to break with the Hays, to dismiss Murray, or to be reconciled to his wife. He emphatic- ally denied that he ever intended bringing up his children as heretics, and that the appointment of Dunbar had only been made to conciliate the Protestant party in England. Moreover, he added that he had given Dunbar strict order's never to dis- 1 State Papers, Italian States, Nov. '22, 17-25. » Ihhl. s Ibid. 4 Hid. 'SCOTLAND'S HEIR: 17 diss matters of i*eligion with his sons. These commands, how- ever, appear not to have been fully carried out, for we read that Charles had been taught to learn by heart ' Je me fiche des pretres, les moines sont de (jrands frippons,la iiiesse a coiUetrois royaumes a mon grand pere,^ and other similar phrases of an aggressively Pi-otestant character.' As for his adultery, James calmly ignored all accusations upon that head, but with that irritating perversity which certain obstinate natui-es love to dis- play, he wrote to his consort that he had much to forgive, but that if she would express regret for her conduct he would par- don her, and the past would be forgotten. He, however, never said a word about his own conduct, or hinted at the possibility of such an act as the removal of the Earl and Countess of Inver- ness. He was the one who had been injured, whose feelings had been outraged, and, with the superiority of vii'tue itself, he placed the whole blame on his innocent and wounded consort. ' See, Madam, to what difficulties you expose me ! ' he wiites with well-acted indignation. * What honourable man will ven- ture to serve me after the scenes you have publicly exhibited ? Do not then wonder that I expect from you some token of regret for the disrespect you have shown me, and for the injury you have done yourself and me by so unheard of aai exposure, and that yovi will thereafter open your heart to me unre- servedly ; if you do so I shall forget the past, and shall in future only study your satisfaction and happiness. I protest, Madam, that I know of no just ground you have of complaint against me : were I conscious of any, I should assuredly remedy it, but I am persuaded that if you take time for candid re- flection, you will be touched by all I am writing to you, and by my gentle and kind behaviour towards you. Do then repent of the past, and do not drive matters to extremity, which indeed you cannot do without precipitating yourself into irretrievable mischief, and incurring responsibilities to God and man. This, my dear Clementine, is all I can say upon a sad and lamentable subject. I conjure you to make it matter of serious meditation. Think how gloiious it is to avow an error, and that it is but by correcting it you can restore your happiness ; and do not any longer resist the last efforts of my tenderness, w-hich only awaits your return to rekindle never again to relax or cease.' ^ Such letters were received in silence, but they had the effect perhaps 1 State Papers, Italian States, Nov. 2S, 1725. - ' La Spcdizione di Carlo Stuart,' dal Jesuita Giulio Cordara. — Quarterly Bevkw, vol. Ixxix. C 1 8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. intended of makinsf the gulf between liusband and wife all the wider. Indeed the conduct of James and his creatures at this time appears to have been wanting not only in morality, but even in ordinary delicacy of feeling. ^Yhen letters addressed to the Princess by people in England or elsewhere, who were ignorant of the details of the separation, were delivered at the palace, the messenger was informed * that they did not know that foreign lady at the palace of his IMajesty.' ^ On another occasion it was the talk of Roman society that a reconciliation had been effected, and that on a certain evening the Princess would visit the theatre accompanied by the Chevalier. Accordingly on the appointed night, all Rome assembled at the theatre, and every eye was directed to the box of the exiled King of England. There was James, it is true — but with whom ? — with the Countess of Inverness, who was magnificently dressed.^ Even in the land of cicisbeism this was toi peu trop/ort ; and we are told that a universal murmur of disapprobation resounded through the house. It was natural that such conduct should be regarded in a very severe light by the Vatican. The Holy See was not only a staunch friend to the cause of the Stuarts, but also its chief supporter. The possession of the Sixtine treasury permitted the Popes of that day to express the sympathy they entertained for the fallen or deserving in no unsubstantial manner. The greater portion of the revenue of James had been made up by donations from Clement XI. and Innocent XIII., from Bene- dict XIII. and Clement XII. In the letters of that date we -constantly read of donations of scudi being given now to the Chevalier, and now to the Princess. Indeed this generosity was extended to the son at a very early period of his life. For when, in the early part of June 1721, Charles had been pre- sented to the Pope by his mother, who carried him in her arms, the kindly Innocent showed his favour by a gift to the child of 8,000 scudi. Thus the Supreme Pontiff, both as friend and patron, had every right to exercise his authority in the settle- ment of this painful scandal. He took it up sternly. He re- fused to give James audience, or in any way to recognise him untU he consented ' to give satisfaction to his wife, and remove scandal from his house.' More than this ; the pension of 12,000 scudi, allowed the exile by the court of Rome, was diminished 1 State Papers, Italian State?, Jan. 20, 1720. 2 Ibid. 'SCOTLAND'S HEIR: 19 by one half. Like his son during his later years, the Chevalier was veiy keen about money matters, and, however indifferent he might be to tlie claims of morality or good taste, he was specially sensitive when attacks were directed against his purse. Aware of this, the Pope knew exactly where to touch his vul- nerable i:)oint, and Avound him into submission. But it was not only from the Vicar of Christ that James met with rebuffs and reproaches. There is no one like a woman to avenge a wrong against her sex, and the Queen of Spain now entered the lists and took up the cause of her outraged sister. James had intended paying a visit to Spain for political pur- poses. Her Most Catholic Majesty commanded him not to think of putting his foot within her dominions unless accom- panied by his wife. Not only by her, but by her royal husband, his miserable conduct towai'ds the Princess was I'egarded with the most utter detestation, and he need never hope for any aid, pecuniary or otherwise, until he was reconciled to his wife. Everybody, her Majesty said, was indignant at his continuing to keep near him three persons Avho were known by all honest people to be the most notorious characters, and who served no other purpose than that of alienating all true friends from the cau.se of his house. He had made great pretensions of his sub- mission to the Church, and of his love for Her creed, hence- foi"th throughout the whole Catholic world his name would be a byword of reproach, and the good opinion it formerly enter- tained of him be completely lost. In such strains the letter continued, the Queen using every wheie 'the strongest expres- sions that could emanate from the pen of an outraged woman.' ^ In a subsequent epistle Alberoni was informed that he had full power to obtain every satisfaction from James for the insulting position in which he had placed the Princess. The Emperor of Germany, who was connected with the Sobieskis, was equally indignant at the treatment of his kinswoman, and despatched his remonstrances. Nor was it only from royalty that James encountered re- proof. Among his adherents, and especially by those in Eng- land, his conduct was regarded as a severe blow to the cause, and more than one strong representation had been forwarded to Rome. In reply James made light of the affair, and stated that it had not in any way affected hi-; position abroad. Accord- ingly a staunch Jacobite, one George Lockhart of Carnwath, after taking counsel with a good number of James's ' trustees,' 1 State Papers, Italian States, Feb. 1(>, 1726. c2 io LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. wrot3 ' to his master, begging him, in the name of tlae trustees, to accommodate that ' unlucky affair in your family.' ' For though they (the trustees) are glad to hear from so good an authority as yourself (without which they would scarce have credited it), that this affair is not likely to produce any bad consequences on your affairs abroad ; yet it is with the greatest concern that they see quite the contrary at home ; and therefore are obliged, by the duty they owe you, in plain words, to tell you, that, so far as their observations and intelligence reach, they apprehend it is the severest stroke your affairs have got these manji years, and will be such an impediment to them, that they have much reason to think no cir-cumstance of time, no situation of the affairs of Europe, can make amends. . . . They beg leave, with the greatest respect and submission, to repi'esent that they believe the point to be of such consequence to you, that, in good policy and prudence, you should rather pass by some failings in, and make some condescensions to, the Queen, than not repixir a breach that in all appearance will prove fatal . . . for your people here, of all kinds, have got such an impression of the Queen's great merit, and are so pre- possessed with the reports of her being ill-used by some about you, that it is in vain to attempt to dispossess them of that notion, . . . That God Almighty may direct you in this, per- haps the most critical step of your life, is the serious prayer of all your dutiful disinterested subjects.' Months later Duncan Forbes, then Lord-advocate, and afterwards the famous Lord President, writes on the same sub- ject to the Duke of Newcastle ^ : — * I told your Grace this last season,' he says, ' that the dis- affection in this part of the kingdom was wearing out apace, and that the greatest part of those people who within these seven years last ]5ast were extremely violent and determined on the side of the Pretender had changed their note and become exceedingly lukewarm and indifferent to his interests, and now it is with great pleasure I can assure your Grace fi'om the observations of persons that I can safely trust that the zeal with which they lately were fired is, from a more perfect know- ledge of their idol's 2^6rsonal character, turned into a sort oj shame and confusion for having espoused so warmly his cause; that all endeavours to support his party have ceased ; that the most disagreeable thing that can be done to those of the best 1 Lnckhart's Memoirs, July 23, 172G, vol. ii. p. 191. 2 State Papers, Scotland, June 26, 1728. 'SCOTLAND'S HEIR: 21 sense amongst his late friends, is to make mention of his name, and that, therefore, tliere is no doubt that the justice and clemency of His JMnjesty's Government will in a vory few year.s, universally gain the hearts of men who already have sot rid of that fascination that so lately blinded them.' Still James, with true Stuart obstinacy, refused to listen to the advice of reason. In spite of the whole Sacred College; in spite of the Courts of Vienna and Madiid ; in spite of the Avarnings of adherents, he refused to be dictated to. He would not part with the Earl, he would not break with the Countess, he would not dismiss Murray. Never was Antony more infatuated. But the Eternal City — what with the nnger of the Pope, the incessant visits from the Cardinals, and the indignation of his partisans — was getting a little too hot for him. A change of scene, he thought, would be agreeable, and a few miles between him and Rome lend that enchantment which distance is said to insure. Bologna was the spot fixed upon. He packed uj) his goods and chattels and meditated departure. On the eve of going away, three Cardinals called upon him. He was informed that they had been specially despatched by the Pope to gravely remonstrate with him. His Holiness had heard of his intended withdrawal from Rome, and if he chose to go to^ Bologna for a few weeks, he was perfectly at liberty to do so, but if he had any idea of establishing himself there for good, simply out of spite to his wife, and in the hopes of becoming a freer agent as regards the education of his children, he was very mucli mistaken. His Holiness would never for one moment permit the young Princes to be brought up by a Protestant, and thus put in peril their immortal souls. As for his conduct to the Princess it was wrong throughout. The grievances complained of by his wife were perfectly just, and were based on religion, equity, and common sense. The Church had taken hei- Majesty under its sacred protection in the hope of one day establishing the Catholic religion in England. He would not be permitted to sin unpunished. Until matters were satisfactorily arranged between him and his wife, his Holiness refused to give him audience, and he would find that withdrawal from Pome would not remove him from the Papal resentment. During this lecture James pre- served a strict silence, and replied never a word.' For the next few days the gossips in Rome were on the 1 State Papers, Italian States, Sept. 5, lliQ. 22 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. alert. Would James quit their city for a permanent abode elsewhere % Would he remain and be reconciled % Would he make a temporary sojourn at Bologna ? These were the ques- tions discussed on every side. The packing of James's luggage continued, but it was noticed that the furniture and other arrangements of his palace were left as usual. It was, there- fore, inferred that his absence from Rome would not be per manent. Two other facts were also discovered. Within the walls of the convent the husband and wife had held a long interview — James had agreed to dismiss Murray, but refused to part with the Earl and Countess. The Princess said that unless the Invernesses took their departure she would not return to her husband's roof. James declined to comply with her request, and bade her farewell. Still the interview, it was said, had been an amicable one. The second fact was that the Countess of Inverness herself had called at the convent, had used all her coquettish arts to make her peace with the Prin- cess, and had failed. Why had she thus humbled herself? Was she not sure of her position % Was her empire over her lover on the wane, and was she preparing for her fall % It was thought so. However, scandal received fresh food by learning that the exile, a few days after the interview with the Cardinals, had taken his departure for Bologna. There he remained for several weeks, enjoying the charms the neighbourhood ofiered, and frequently driving about the town with his fascinating Countess. Thus time passed on. Winter had given place to spring, spring, had developed into summer, and fashionable Home was meditating villeggiatiira, when a report was circu- lated that the separated couple were reconciled. It was said that the Princess had received a letter from her husband couched in such penitent and affectionate terms ' that she fainted straight away.' The rumour was true. What w^ere the reasons which induced James to make peace we know not. Coming events may have cast their shadows before, and the titular King may have thought it wise not to alienate his powerful friends any longer from his cause. Perhaps the threat, both from Pome and Madrid, of stopping supplies, may have had something to do with his resolution : or he may have fancied that he sincei-ely repented of his conduct and honestly desired a reunion with his wife. But whatever were the motives at work, certain it is that James consented to dis- miss the Earl and Countess, and remove Charles from the ' SCOTLANDIS HEIR: 23 tutelage of Murray. He parted fi'om Inverness with sincere regret, and expressed a hope that the Earl might still be of service to him, — ' You know the great and good opinion I have long had of that lord,' he says in the paper he incloses to Lockhart,' 'and it is now with reason augmented by the sacri- fice he will make of himself for the good of my family in this conjuncture, which ought to increase his merit with all honest men, and I hope to have yet soon occasion to show in his person that I am incapable of abandoning my faithful servants.' These obstacles to domestic felicity having been removed, the Princess early in June quitted the convent to rejoin her husband at Bologna. ^ Whilst on the road she heard the news of the death of George I., and that James, who considered his political position of far more importance than his domestic situation, was posting with all speed to Lorraine. For neai'ly a year he was absent from his consoit, intriguing unsuccess- fully with his adherents for a rising in Scotland. At first he settled at Kancy, but pressui-e being put on the French govern- ment by the Court of St. James's, he was ordered by the Duke of Lon-aine to quit the Duchy. He then repaired to the Papal State of Avignon, and wrote to the Princess, desiring her to rejoin him there. The wife, however, acting under tlie advice of the Cardinals, thought it more prudent not to comply with his wishes. The counsel had been well given, for James was soon afterwards compelled to quit Avignon, and, crossing the Alps, he returned once more to Pome, where he was reunited to his wife. The reconciliation, however, was not a very lasting one. Thi'oughout the correspondence of Walton we read of re- criminations between husband and wife — the wife complaining of her husband's conduct (for James soon gave her fresh cause for jealousy), the husband squabbling with his wife about money matters — but for the sake of their children, and to avoid open scandal, they agreed to live together. It was an ill-assorted imiou, and when the Princess, after years of mental and physical suffering, passed to her rest, death Avas a welcome release. 1 Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 3-] 7. 2 State Papers, Italian States, July 5, 1727. See also the whole of the volume, 1726-17-2y. No. 49. 24 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. CHAPTER II. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. Young Charlie is a gallant lad. One of the chief results of the reconciliation between James and his consort was that the education of their children now proceeded without interruption. As long as the health of the Princess, who suffered severely from asthma, was equal to the effort, she superintended the studies of her boys herself. _ But as Charles and his brother advanced in years and required a wider range of subjects, the exertion was too much for lier, and tutors had to be appointed. Of tiiese tutors we have mention of Chevalier Eamsay, the pupil and friend of Fenelon ; of Thomas Sheridan, who was more of a zealous Jacobite than a careful pedagogue; and of one Legouz, who was a great favourite with the young Princes. What the exact nature of the education was which Charles and Henry received we cannot tell, but there is nothing to warrant the assertion tha,t Charles was either neglected in his youth, or deficient in ordi- nary acquirements. From contemporary evidence we know that he spoke French and Italian well at an early age ; that his conversation was far beyond his years ; that he had a taste, as became one brought up in Italy, for music and the fine arts, and that in Latin, history, and the like he was not backward. Doubtless his education was strongly tinged by the peculiar colouring of his tutors' minds : in Religion he may have been taught to depreciate the strength and vitality of Protestantism, and in Constitutional history to believe in Brady and Filmer, rather than in that development of Parliamentary Govern- ment which was gradually making the House of Commons the centre and force of the State. There is much in the after-life of Charles to show that his education was of foreign training, and that he did not understand, as an Englishman should have understood, many of the institutions of his country, but we have no foundation for the statement that he was wanting in culture or capacity. Much stress has been laid by some upon the errors of orthography to be seen in his letters, and no one who has examined his correspondence can deny that his spell- ing is shocking, and his handwriting anything but legible. But THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 2$ if a man belonging to the eighteenth century is to be con- sidered as ill-educated because his spelling and calligraphy fail to satisfy the standard of the present day, then we must admit that men like Henry Pelham, the Duke of Newcastle, the Duke of Cumberland, the Lord President of the Court of Sessions, Lord Townshend, the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Harrington, Sir Everard Fawkener, and a host of others occu- pying high positions in the service of their country — as their letters among ^the State Papers bear witness — were also ill- educated. Instead of writing down Charles as an ignoramus, we shall be nearer the truth in supposing him, before he was embittered by disappointment and his mind clouded by dissipation, to have been possessed of culture and accomplishments rather above the average than below it. At least the evidence we possess would lead us to arrive at this conclusion. Still it is only fair to those who have formed a contraiy opinion to state that an acute and impartial observer like Desbrosses considered that Charles had a moderate understanding, and was less cultivated than became a prince.^ vEneas Macdonald also, who was ])er- sonally acquainted with Charles at Paris, says in his Confes- Bions that ' he seemed to have been badly educated and to care for little else than hunting and shooting.' ^ Lord Elcho like- wise speaks disparagingly of the acquirements of the Prince. In spite of the reconciliation between James and his wife, Loi'd Dunbar continued to exercise control over Charles, and appears to liave been as distasteful to the pupil as he was to the mother. On one occasion, if we are to credit Walton,^ this dislike exhibited itself in such a fit of temper that the young Prince, after pouiing foi-th a torrent of abuse, threatened to kick Murray and even to kill him. For this piece of insub- ordination Charles was locked up in his room for several days, and, for fear that he might carry his threat into execution, all kinds of arms were placed out of his reach. ' On a observe dans cette occasion' writes Walton, ' la vivacite brutale du jeune homme qui a sovffert • mal volontiers cette correction et a jn7-e de se venger a tel 2->i'ioc que celafut! If this story be true, the boy was very different from the man, for whatever faults Charles possessed (and he had his full allowance), brutality of that description was not one of them. The Prince who during 1 History of E7igland , Lord Stanhope, vol. iii. p. 26. 2 State Papers, i)omestic, Sept. 17, 1746. ' State Papers, Tuscany, Oct. 3, 1733. 26 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. the whole of the ' Foi^ty-five ' was remarkable for his feminine aversion to shed blood and who never once permitted cruelty among his followers, Avas scarcely the lad to have been guilty of using such a threat. The story was in all probability some piece of household gossip, which, by the time it reached Walton's ears, had been grossly exaggerated. Impetuous, hot- tempered when thwarted, and impatient of control, Charles may well have said what he ought not to Murray, and have been shut up in consequence. It may even be that in a fit of boyish rage he attempted to kick and struggle with his master, but in his threat of a sanguinary revenge at any price, and the removal of arms from a lad not yet thirteen, I think we can see the exaggeration of the story — an exaggeration moreover not at all improbable in the country of the stiletto. "We know that during the march and retreat of Charles more than one pistol was snapped in his face, and that he systematicall}^ re- fused to pass capital punishment upon the captured offenders. Indeed in his youth he was humane almost to a fault, and utterly wanting in anything approaching a ' vivacite brutcde.' It was in the same year that Walton accuses Charles of committing the above offence that the Pope desired an inter- view Avith the Prince at the Vatican. His Holiness on a previous occasion had been rather anxious as to the amount of harm that Charles had received from the tuition of a Protestant — perhaps the Supreme Pontiff may have heard of some of the lad's sentiments respecting priests — and after an audience took the trouble to examine the Prince in the tenets of the faith he should profess. To the Pope's dehght, Charles not only repeated without a mistake whole passages from the Catholic catechism, but answered every question put to him most satisfactorily. Indeed he acquitted himself so well that the Pope made no allusion to his education having been super- intended by a Protestant. From that time Charles was in good odour at the Vatican. Accompanied by his father or Lady Nithisdale he was generally present at every audience, and Clement seldom failed to take notice of him, either by a kindly word or handsome gift. He was now to receive a signal proof of the Papal fiivour. By virtue of a writ specially granted him by the Coiu^t of Rome, Charles was enabled to hold bene- fices of all kinds, a privilege which his adherents trusted would procure him a good revenue in France or Spain. ^ Thus, favoured by the Pope, petted by the principal nobility 1 State Papers, Tuscany, 1733, No. 30. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 27 of tlie nigliboui'lioo J, and flattered by all, the early days of the Prince passed on. Scai'cely had he entered upon his fourteenth year — the year in which a Eoman prophecy had declared his father would succeed to the throne of England — when an event occurred which revealed to him sterner interests in life than mere domestic comfort, and was no bad preparatory school for Gladsmuir and Falkirk. The year 1734 was one of heavy odds against the Imperi- alists. On all sides Charles, Emperor of Germany, and King of Naples and Sicily, was suri'ounded by foes. Spain, animated by one object, a crown for her son, Don Carlos, had resolved, with the aid of France, to make the Don king of Naples. Assisted by Sardinia the united armies poured into Austrian Lombardy. The battle of La Crocetta crushed the power of the Austrians in northern Italy. A Spanish army, under the Duke de Montemar, was hastening with Don Carlos to Naples, when the Imperialists, too few to withstand a siege, yielded without a blow. The fortresses of Capua and Gaeta, into which the flower of the Austrian troops had thrown them- selves, were closely invested. Sicily was surrounded. On the Khine, Eugene was coping Avitli the successor of Marshal Berwick, and doing his utmost to check the progress of France. Throughout his dominions the Emperor was on his trial. Whilst the siege of Gaeta was proceeding, the Duke of Liria, afterwards Duke of Berwick and son of a natural brother of James, was at Rome, intending to join the besieging army. Happening to visit his uncle, he asked him whether he Avould like Charles to see service, promising to take every care of the young prince. After some little hesitation, James gave hi^ consent, and everything was put into preparation for the hasty departure of Charles. His friend the Pope received him in audience as became an heir apparent to a throne, and presented him with a couple of thousand pistoles. By order of the Princess, prayers were offered at all the convents of Pome for the happy success of her son's arms, and on July 27, attended by Murray, Gore, Sheldon, a confessor, a surgeon, and four servants, Charles quitted Rome for his first campaign.' On his arrival at Gaeta he was received with the greatest distinction by Don Cai-los, who saluted him as Prince of Wales, and appointed him a General of Artillery, with the pay of a thousand crowns a month. Nor was Charles one of those mock soldiers which exalted rank sometimes exhibits. Malice 1 State Papers, Tuscany, July 31, 1734. 28 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. never winged a falser shaft than ■when it accused this Prince of cowardice. A.t no time was he conscious of fear. His courage, it is true, was purely physical, and lacked much of that intel- lectual character which diminishes the danger without shunning the conflict, but courage of the rash impetuous order Charles certainly had. Throughout his military career he was always wanting to hasten the attack — to rush on, come what may, and succeed by a brilliant couj> de tnain. His voice was never in favour of retreat, and, had it not been for the discipline and foresight of those who accompanied him, his short-lived cam- paign would in all probability have presented a very different aspect. Though a poor commander, Charles was yet precisely the man, and possessed precisely the qualities, to lead a forlorn hope, or to head a charge. Considering the abundant evidence we possess of his bravery, calumny never more completely stultified itself than when it went out of its way to make an accusation which admits of such easy disproof. With an ardour worthy of his ancestor the victor of Bannockburn, Charles threw himself into his new duties. He keenly observed all the details of military life ; was popular with the men ; actively superintended the operations intrusted to his nominal command, and soon showed that he was neither a fool nor a poltroon. On August 6 he was serving in the trenches with Don Carlos, when Gaeta was forced to sur- render. * The siege of Gaeta is now over, blessed be God ! ' writes the Duke of Liria to his brother, the Duke of Fitzjames.' ' Though a very short one I suffered more whilst it lasted than in any siege I had been heretofore at. You may easily imagine the uneasiness I talk of was my anxiety and concern for the person of the Piince of Wales. The king, his father, had sent him hither under my care to witness the siege, and laid his commands on me not only to direct him, but even to show him everything that merited his attention. And I must confess that he made me pass some as uneasy moments as ever I met with from the Grossest accidents of my past life. Just at his arrival I conducted him to the trenches, where he showed not the least concern at the enemy's fire, even when the balls were hissing about his ears. I was relieved the day following from the trenches, and as the house I lodged in was very much exposed, the enemy discharged at once five pieces of cannon against it, which made me move my quarters. The Prince 1 State Papers, Domestic, 1745, No. 79. Aug. 7, 1734. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 2^ arriving a moment after would at any rate go into the house, though 1 did all I could to dissuade him from it, by representing to him the danger lie was exposing himself to, yet he stayed in it a very considerable time with an undisturbed countenance, though the walls had been pierced through with the cannon balls. In a Avord, this Prince discovers that in great Princes whom nature has marked out for heroes, valour does not wait for number of years. I am now, blessed be God, rid of all my uneasiness, and joyfully indulge myself in the pleasure of seeing the Prince adored by officers and soldiers. His manner and conversation are really bewitching, and you may lay your account that were it otherwise I would not have kept it a secret from you. We set out for Naples in a day or two, where I am pretty certain his Royal Highness will charm the Nea- politans as much as he has done our troops. The King of Naples [on the capture of Naples Don Carlos had been called king] is mvich taken with his polite behaviour, and there is not the least necessity of suggesting to him what is either proper for him to do or to say. I wish to God that some of the greatest sticklers in England against the family of the Stuarts had been eye-witnesses of this Prince's resolution during that siege, and I am firmly persuaded that they would soon change their way of thinking. In his very countenance I discover something so happy that presages to him the greatest felicity.' I see no reason to doubt the contents of this letter. Its tone is certainly flattering to the courage and savoir /aire of so young a man, and, were the testimony of the Duke of Liria the only evidence we possessed, it might be perhaps necessary to accept with a little reservation the praises he so freely, but to my mind with such an air of truth and candour, lavishes on Charles. But almost every one, not jaundiced by party preju- dice, who came in contact with the Prince during the earlier period of his life — Desbrosses, Murray, the accomplished Jesuit Cordara, Home, and the like — fully corroborate by their state- ments the above remarks of the Duke. ' I cannot express to you how much our whole army is charmed with the Prince of Wales,' writes an anonymous admirer ; ' ' never was any Prince endowed with so much vivacity nor appeared more cheerful in all the attacks. If he had been master of his own inclinations he never would have 1 Excerpts of some letters from the camp at Gaeta, bearing date Aug. 7, 1734. State Papers, Domestic, 1745. Among the Undated Papers, No. 79. 30 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. quitted the trenches, and was overheard to say that the noise of the cannon was more pleasant music to him than that of the opera at Kome. The whole employment of his Grace the Duke of Berwick [on the death of the Marshal, the Duke of Liria had succeeded to the title] was to hinder him from exposing himself rashly ; and I do assure you, it was not an easy task. The Prince having gone towards a place where a detachment from the whole army were makmg gabions, fascines, he, and mixing with the soldiers, they were struck with wonder and astonishment when they heard this young Prince speaking to each of them in their own language. To the Walloon he spoke French, Spanish to the Spaniards, and to the Italians Italian, being perfect master of these three languages. The soldiers flocked about him and disputed among themselves who should have the honour of sj)eaking a word to him. . . . You may easily conclude that a young Prince, so afiable and of so charming a behaviour, cannot fail of being adored both by officers and soldiers. In fine, I would never have done, if I were to give you an exact account of everything that is said and done by the amiable Prince whom we all adore.' ' The Prince exceeds everji^hing I was capable of fancying about him,' says another,^ ' and meets here with as many admirers as he hath spectators. AVhen talking to this and the other person about their respective employments, one would imagine that he had made the inclinations of those with whom he conversed his particular study. The King of Naples was struck with wonder to find in the dawn of years such ripe thoughts and so much prudence, which are rarely to be met with even in princes arrived at full maturity of age. All that have seen him, afiirm that he is born to a happy fate, and to make others happy too.' Alas for the realisation of those bright omens, that the appearance of Charles, at this time, invariably gave rise to ! The siege of Gaeta completed, Charles, at the special invi- tation of the King, paid a visit to Naples. Whilst coasting along from Gaeta to the beautiful Bay, it is said that his hat blew off" and fell into the sea. A boat was about to be lowered in the hope of saving the sinldng article, when Charles begged the crew to desist, saying that ' he should be obliged before long to go and fetch himself a hat in England,' — alluding to the crown of which his family had been deprived. This stoxy is not unlikely. In spite of his tender years, the Prince had 1 State Papers, Domestic, 1745, No. 79. Aug. G, 1734. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 31 been taken into the confidence of his father, and the intrigues of the Jacobites were subjects with which he was fully familiar. According to Walton, the fiither and son were in the habit of walking out together amid the deserted spots of Rome, and talking and plotting how to obtain possession again of the throne of their ancestors. It is therefore not improbable that Charles, preoccupied with the bright destiny promised him by his partisans, may have given vent to so prophetic a remark. On the conclusion of the siege of Gaeta, the Duke of Berwick quitted the Spanish service, and James declined to allow his son to accompany the Spanish army into Sicily.' Accordingly, early in September Charles returned home, * rich and opulent with two splendid horses given him by the King of Naples and numerous jewels.' ^ Walton, who had at first sneered ^ at the departure of Charles for the seat of war as a mere piece of bravado, and had prophesied his speedy return without having ever been within earshot of action, was now obliged to admit that the young Prince went into the trenches like a soldier, gave many signs of courage, and showed that he had not only good sense beyond his age, but the talents to make himself beloved.^ ' Everybody,' writes Walton, ' says that he will be in time a far more dangerous enemy to the present establishment of the Government of England than ever his father was.' These admissions, coming from such a quarter, are a satisfactory refutation of the report that Charles was then wanting either in courage or ability. A few weeks after the return of her son from his first campaign, the Princess Clementine, whose health had long been failing, passed to her rest. Before her death she asked to see her children, and earnestly exhorted them to hold fast to the religion of their ancestors, and never to quit it ' for all the kingdoms in the world, none of which could ever be com- pared to the Kingdom of Heaven.' During the closing hours of her illness, James appeared to take her final dissolution very much to heart, ' in order to eflflice from the minds of the Roman people,' writes Walton,^ ' the idea that his bad treat- ment of her some years ago shortened her days.' liet us hope that this melancholy was not altogether the acting of a part, but that there entered into it a genuine repentance for having caused an accomplished and amiable woman to suffer the 1 State Papers, Tuscany, Sept. 4, 1734. y Ihid. Sept. 25, 1734. 3 /6i(/. Sept. 25, 1734. * //^^"e?. Aug. 7, 1734. ^ Jan. 22, 1735. 32 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. greatest indignity that a wife can receive at the hands of her husband. She died on January 18, 1735, and her funeral obsequies were conducted with the greatest pomp and mag- nificence. The wax tapers that were burnt on the occasion alone weighed 13,000 pounds.^ Benedict XIV. raised a splen- did monument to her memory, and a medal was struck on the occasion. The two years that succeeded his mother's death Charles spent in study and retirement. His father, aware of the position that one day might be his lot, took every opportunity to render his son fit for exalted station, by making him avail himself of every advantage within his reach. Thus the natural abilities of Charles were cultivated and developed by constant intercourse with all that boasted of rank and refinement in Rome. As Prince of Wales, among those who acknowledged the royalty of his descent, he was brought up in a school where he early acquired that charm of manner and courtly air which always characterised him, and which tended not a little to win the adherence of those with whom he came in contact. We learn that both he and his brother, being passionately fond of music, were in the habit of giving a concert once a week to the elite of the Roman world, when Charles played the violoncello, and was considered for so young a man a finished musician. * Yesterday I entered the room as they were executing the celebrated composition of Corelli, the Notte di natale,' writes Charles Desbrosses, first President of the Parliament of Dijon, in his agreeable letters upon Italy, ' and expressed my regret at not having heard the commencement. When it was over they were going to begin a new piece, when Prince Charles stopped them, saying, " Stop, I have just heard that Monsieur Desbrosses wishes to hear the last composition complete." I give this little anecdote with ]>leasure, as it manifests at once a true spirit of politeness and a kindness of disposition.' Good-looking, amiable, and endowed with social qualities Avhich, had he not been a Prince, would have been in themselves a recommendation, we are not surprised to learn from Walton's letters that Charles was a welcome guest in Roman society. He was a frequent diner out, and devotedly fond of dancing. The three relaxations he chiefly indulged in were, boating with 1 State Papers, Tuscany, Feb. 5, 1735. Waltoa invariably speaks well of the I'rincess. ' La Princesse Sobieski,' he writes in one of his earlier letters, ' est fort aime'e et estime'e ici a cause de son esprit et savoir vivre, et c'est elle qui maintient au Pre'tendant le peu d'amis qui lui sont reste's parmi les cardi- naux et prelats depuis la mort de Clement XL' — Kome, Ftb. 28, 1722. rilE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 33 Ills brothor on the Lake of Albino, liJing, and sliooting the covers of the Villa Borghese. Early in 1737 James, in order to form the Prince, sent him on a tour throughout the chief Italian capitals, giving directions that he was to be received with eveiy distinction. Assuming the title of Count Albany, Charles quitted Rome on April 22, accomjjanied by Dunbar, Sheridan, and a suite of twelve persons, of whom five were in livery. On his arrival at Bologna, he was complimented by a deputation from the Senate, and a guard of honour, composed of twenty-four Swiss and two officers, told off to attend him to his palace, an escort which Charles, however, declined to accept, as he was travelling incognito. At Bologna he made a stay of a couple of days, and a public ball was given in his honour at the splendid palace of the Marquis of Tibbia. On the evening of May G he an'ived at Parma, where apartments had been prepared for him in the Benedictine Convent by order of the Duchess Dowager Dorothea. Most flattering was the attention paid him here. On his presentation to the Duchess Dowager she greeted him most warmly, and begged him to accept a gold snuff-box set with diamonds. Charles bowed his acknow- ledgments and took the gift ; then, in company with her Highness and the Bishop of Parma, he visited the churches, the picture galleries, and his attention was specially directed to the Veronese marble of the splendid baptistery near the Cathe- dral. The next day he was invited by the Dowager Duchess to a state dinner, and in the evening a ball, which was bril- liantly attended, was given in his honour. On the morning of his departure for Piacenza, he inspected the troops at a review, and on bidding the Dowager Duchess farewell her Highness presented him with a valuable diamond ring.' After a brief sojourn at Piacenza, where a ball was again given in his honour by the orders of his kind friend the Dowager Duchess, he travelled on till he reached Genoa, where apart- ments had been pi'epared for him in the Franciscan Convent, Here he was visited by the Spanish envoy, and became the special guest of Cardinal Spinola, who treated him with every attention. After the usual programme had been gone through of dinners, dances, and receptions, he proceeded on his way to Milan, where he was lodged in the Benedictine CouA^ent, and freely entertained with true Milanese hospitality. All vied with each other in showing the young man honour save the 1 State Papers, Florence, C. Fane, May 21, 1737. D 34 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Imperial officers, wlio had received express orders from Vienna not to visit him or pay him the sHghtest attention.^ From Milan Charles proceeded to Venice, where the gorgeous gondola of the French ambassador was placed at his disposal. Here, fo]^ the first time on his tour, distinction due to royalty was shown him. He paid a visit to the Assembly of the Grand Council, where he sat on the Bench of Princes, and a Knight della Stuolo cV Oro was ordered to attend him. He then entered the Hall of Scrutiny, and was presented to tlie Doge, when reciprocal compliments passed between them. During his stay he made the acquaintance of the Duke of Bavaiia, who, like himself, was passing through Italy incognito, and together they went to the play, and from the deck of one of the gondolas belonging to the Republic witnessed the sight of the Doge's marriage. After a stay of several days, which were occupied in the customary festivities, he took his departure for Florence. ^ Passing through Padua, Ferrara, and again through Bologna, where his progress was one succession of triumphal honours, the Prince reached Florence on June 23, attended by the coaches of the Nuncio, and was lodged at the Corsini Palace, Now Mr, Fane, the English envoy at Florence, to whose letters I am indebted for my iixformation, was by no means pleased at the distinction with which Charles was received by the different Italian cities. He therefore resolved that, though Bologna and Genoa, Milan and Venice, had treated Charles with every i-espect and attention, it should be from no fault of his if the ' Young Pretender ' was not snubbed at Florence. No sooner did he hear that the Prince was meditating taking Florence on his way than Fane called upon the Secretary of the Grand Duke, and desned that no celebration should take place on the arrival of the young man at Florence. The Secretary assured the English envoy that he had heard nothing of the intended visit of Charles to Florence ; that such a visit would not be agi-eeable to his royal master, and that, should the Prince come to the place, no ' improper mark of distinction would be paid him.' ^ Satisfied with this reply. Fane took his departure, and wrote home that, whatever reception the other Italian capitals had accorded Charles, Florence would, at least, set an example of devotion to the House of Hanover. Judge, then, of our envoy's indignation when he heard that on the approach of the Prince 1 State Papers, Florence, May 27. 2 jn^^ J^^e ig, 1737. - Ibid. May 13, 1737. THE FIRS 7 CAMPAIGN. 35 to Floi'ence, tlie coaches of the Grand Duke had been sent for- ward to meet him ! In no gentle mood Fane called upon the Secretary to remind him of the promise he had made but a few weeks before. The Secretary was all apologies, and replied that the ministers had never sanctioned the departure of the coaches, but that the blame lay entirely with ]Mr. Tyrrell, the Master of the Ceremonies of the Grand Duke, who had taken upon himself to show this respect to the stranger. Without a moment's delay Fane visited Tyrrell. The courtly official received him politely, listened to his remonstrances, but said he had not acted in this matter on his own responsibility, as the ministers had given him orders to despatch the royal car- I'iages to meet the Prince. It was not for the envoy to decide between such contra- dictory statements, but he again strongly urged upon the government of the Grand Duke the policy of not acting in any measure so as to mar the friendly relations that existed between the Court of his Highness and that of St. James's. The sug- gestion of Fane Avas accepted : the ministers i:)romised not ta recognise the Prince officially, and the carriages were at once ordered to return to the town. Still Charles had no reason to complain of the reception he received. Save by the Court, he was entertained magnificently by the Florentine aristocracy, and fascinated all who met him. ' It is not so much the atten- tions themselves which are shown to the Prince,' said Lord Dunbar to an official of the Grand Duke, in the hearinsr of Walton, ' that displease the English Court, as the manner in which the Prince receives them.' Could the voice of Florence have decided the fate of things, the exiled family would soon have been domiciled at St. James's, and ' the King icould have his ain again.' The Florentines have been called the Parisians of Italy, and we may be sure that to such keen social critics the good looks of Charles, his air of high breeding, and the graceful urbanity which was the charm of his manner did not fail to make a'most agree- able impi-ession. The Grand Duke himself, though his cour- tiers prudently remained aloof, had heard so much in favour of Charles that his curiosity was excited, and he wished very much to see him. But Fane was true to the interests of his master, and when his opinion was asked by one of the officials of the Court, gave an answer in the negative. ' But you know how curious his Highness is? ' pleaded the Florentine. ' Surely it cannot be considered a grave political offence to permit a brief d2 36 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. interview to take place 1 ' Then the matter was fully discussed, and at last Fane agreed that, provided the Prince was not re- ceived publicly, and only entered into the Grand Ducal presence at a time when few people were present, no great harm would ensue. Unfortunately for Charles, however, the Grand Duke fell suddenly ill, and all thoughts of an interview between the two were at an end. Indeed, his Highness died a few days after the departure of the Prince.' His stay at Florence concluded, Charles returned to Rome by way of Lucca, Pisa, and Leghorn, and thi'oughout his tour was everywhere received with the greatest distinction. Indeed, from the very hour he quitted the palace of his father to the time of his return, his progress through the Italian cities was nothing but a succession of congi'atulations and princely fes- tivities. So distasteful to the English government were the honours paid him, that Businiello, the Venetian resident in London — Venice having been the only town where Charles had been received as became royalty — was ordered without ceremony to leave England within three days. The Republic of Genoa was also informed that its interests would be better consulted if it treated the House of Hanover with a little more deference and the House of Stuart with a little less. Had it not been for the jealous supervision of Fane, the same repri- mand would in all probability have been forwarded to the ministers of the Grand Duke. One of the results of this Italian tour was to impress the mind of Charles with the reality of his unhappy position. From early youth he had been accustomed to the etiquette of a Court, and to the homage due to one who was recognised as the Heii'- Apparent to a throne. By those who swelled his father's retinue he was styled Prince of Wales, and visitors who were ushered into his presence knelt down and kissed his hand. "When he was received in audience by the Pope, an armchair was placed for him, and the Sacred Conclave yielded him precedence. As he grew up to man's estate, and entered into the hospitalities of society, he was shown the honours paid to royalty. But now he began to see how vain and empty were these attentions, and how fo.lse was the position he occu- pied. His thoughts winged their flight to that country which he had never seen, and over which his forefxthers had reigned. And as memory recalled the eventful past and imagined the thadowy future, there rang in his ears the sic vos non vohis of 1 State Papers, Florence, June and July 1737. THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. 37 the poet. * His father a king without a throne, an exile with- out a country ; he himself an heir-appaient with nothing to in- herit ! What was England to his House but a geographical fact % His father was styled King James the Third of Great Britain and Ireland, and yet it was treason for him to enter the very dominions whose monarch he pretended to be ! Why] Was his father not every inch a king ; did he not spring law- fully from the loins of kings ; and had not his ancestors ruled over the country that now rejected him % Could it be dis- proved that he was not the legitimate rejiresentative of Eng- lish royalty, and that he who reigned in his stead was of the younger branch — a usurper and no lawful monarch % And why should such things be ] Did not kings rule by right divine, and know no law but such as was acceptable to their own judgment? When a nation rose in rebellion against their divinely appointed monarch, Avas it not a most heinous sin % W^hat if his grandfather had chosen to act contrary to the wishes of his subjects ; had his subjects the right to dispute those wLshes and to decree expulsion? Was a king subject to his people, or his people subject to their king ? By what right had his line been ousted from the succession, and the name of his family erased from the roll of sovereigns ? By no right. Was the voice of posterity in favour of this iniqu^itous degrada- tion of a Boyal House % If so, what meant the scenes of the year '15 ? What meant the present intrigues of France and Spain % What meant the devotion of adherents and the loyalty he encountered on all sides % What if the rumours he had heard should ever be realised, and he have to strike a blow for the cause of his line as his father had before him ! Why should he tamely acquiesce in the deprivation of his rights % He had seen service in the cause of another at Gaeta, would he not draw the sword in defence of his own % Ay, let the hour come, and he would not fail his friends— only let the hour come ! ' ' Edward, titular Prince of Wales,' writes the Jesuit Cor- dara,' ' was reared from infancy never to forego the desire or the hope of recovering the crown, and even in early youth it was his aim to discipline to every kingly art those talents and regal endowments with which nature bad furnished him. Features of remarkable regularity and beauty, with a ceitain princely air ; a noble, generous, and fervid disposition j a soaring spirit, cap- able of the loftiest flights ; a nimble yet robust frame, and an equable temperament, were native gifts to which he added a 1 ' La Spedizione di Carlo Stuart.' — QuarUrhj Review, vol. Ixxix. 38 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. studious acquaintance with all courtly hal)its and observances, and an admirably gentleman-like and easy manner with an un failingly joyous and fluent address. Though avoiding all arrog- ance, he never demeaned himself to folly or trifling. He was averse to idleness, but much more to those sensual indulgences which Rome ofiered to a youthful prince. He knew several languages, and could converse freely in Italian, Latin, English, and French ; his acquaintance with ancient and modern history was likewise extensive for his years. But the bent of his mind lay enthusiastically towards military life, as the arena of glory and distinction. And although he had nothing to desire in point of station and magnificence at Rome, where the citizens paid him royal honours and deference, yet he was sick of his residence in a community of priests, where, surrounded by peaceful pursuits, he found himself constrained in his prime to drag on an inactive existence. . . . He therefore urgently besought his father no longer to keep him lounging at home, but to send him where he could learn the art of war, as it surely was the duty of one born and bred in the expectancy of a crown to be a soldier ere he became a king, since that was the only path that could lead him to substantial sovereignty. A\^iilst secretly ap- proving this youthful ardour, his parent mildly restrained such premature outbreaks, pleading the necessity of succumbing to circumstances and to evil times. This, however, the Prince reargued, saying that, on the contrary, we ought to struggle against adverse events, and by our own energy repair the in- jvistice of fortune.' Meditating upon the future, Charles was entirely absorbed with matters touching upon the past and present of Great Britain. We learn that now everything relating to the king- doms his grandfather had lost possessed a deep interest for him. His presence was never denied to those of his country- men who craved audience with him. The deeds of Englishmen on the battle-field, the romance of the feudal system in Scot- land, the supremacy of the British flag, were subjects that always fascinated him. He never Avearied when the conversa- tion touched upon the fidelity of the Irish to his grandfather, the events of 1715, the loyalty of 'his brave Scotch,' and the chances of the restoration of his House. Ardently he longed to assume his rightful position among the monarchs of Europe, and be no more the titular prince of a titular kiiag. So passionately did he brood over this subject that we read in the pages of Desbropses that he felt ' deeply the oppressive character of his THE FIRST CAMPAIGN. , 39 present position, and should he not one day be relieved from that oppression, a want of enterprise will certainly not be the cause.' But the clouds were gathering which were to break into the storm. CHAPTER III. INTRIGUE. The only way relief to bring. And save both church and steeple, Is to bring in our lawful king. The father of his people. Ne'er can another fill his place. O'er right divine and civil. The birth of Prince Charles had revived the drooping spirits of the Jacobite party, which the successful administration of Lord Stanhope had crushed not a little. ' It is the most acceptable news,' writes Bishop Attei'bury ' which can reach the ears of a good Englishman. May it be followed every day with such other accounts as may convince the world that heaven has at last undertaken your cause and is resolved to put an end to your sufferings ! ' An active correspondence now ensued between James and his adherents in England, who Avere controlled by a council composed of the Earls of Arran and Orrery, Lords ISforth and Gower, and the famous Atterliury, Bishop of Eochester. The great object of the party was to obtain a foreign force, of some five thousand men, to land in England, from any government which would encourage the idea. For this purpose Ormond was intriguing in Spain, and General Dillon in France. A plot charming in its simplicity was at last hit upon. The King of England was expected to visit Hanover in the summer, and his absence was full of hope to the conspiring mind. It was decided that immediately on his departure the foreign legion was to land in Sussex, accompanied by the inspir- ing presence of James. At once the head of the House of Stiiart was to be proclaimed king throughout the country. The Tower was to be seized, and the bullion in the Bank and the Exchequer was to defray the expenses of the cause. These measures carried out, it was confidently expected that the nation, groaning under the bondage of Hanoverian oppression, would declare for the old line. But unfortunately for the 4° LIFE OF PRIXCE CHARLES STUART. Jacobites, tins very practicable scheme got wind, and the con- spirators were brought to triah Sentence of deprivation and banishment was passed upon Atterbury, whose ^ connection with the plot was discovered, thanks to the now historical dog Harlequin. Three years after this fiasco, another scheme was set on foot. James assured his followers that the Emperor would espouse his cause * in a very particular manner,' and proposed that the pulse of the people should again be felt. A trusty Jacobite, one Allen Hay, was therefore sent over to Scotland to prepare the Highlands for a rising. The result of his mission was to inform James that the party in his favour had not decreased, that the Union was cordially hated, and that the people at large were ready to repeat the events of '15. In England, also, James was assured that he had a large band of followers. ^ One condition, however, it was necessary to insist upon. "Without the aid of a foreign power, no attempt in favour of the cause could possibly be successful. Again, therefore, every court in Europe had its Jacobite agent intriguing for arms and money. Atterbury was plotting at Versailles, Ormond and Wharton at Madrid, whilst inferior partisans were engaged at Vienna and elsewhere. And again foreign cabinets amused themselves by making promises which were only made to be withdrawn, and only withdrawn to be repeated. On the death of George the First, however, the hopes of the Jacobites ran high. It was known how the incoming king hated \yalpole, and the Tories expected a powerful majority. But such hopes were soon doomed to disappoint- ment. After the brief reign of Compton, Walpole was restored and the influence of the Whigs stronger than ever. So confident had James been at this time of a prosperous issue to his cause that he hastened from Bologna to Nancy to confer with his adherents and to be ready to seize upon the advantages that it was expected would ofier themselves.^ But his followers, aware that no definite promise of foreign aid had been given, and now fully alive to the fact that the signs of discontent which they had anticipated were wanting, opposed entering into hostile proceedings. The advices, both from Paris and London, were unanimous that the hour was not ripe for any desperate undertaking. At first James seemed to have been resolved to repeat at all hazards the experiment of '1.5, and to repair to the High- lands with any who would support him, and it was only after INTRIGUE. 1 the strong expressions of disapproval both from Lockhart and Atterbury that he was induced to abandon his rash idea. After English pressure had forced him to quit Lorraine and subsequently Avignon, he returned to Eome. 'Thus in my present situation,' he writes to Atterbury, ' I cannot pre- tend to do anything essential for my interest, so that all that remains is the world should see that I have done my part.' ^ And so years passed on. Scheme after scheme was pro- posed, discussed, and then fell to the ground. Wandering agents, bent on the restoration of the Stuarts, were to be found in every capital, weaving their empty plots one after the other. The little court of James was ever swelled by the arrival of some impulsive Jacobite, who had endless plans for the future, which had only to be propounded, however, to be rudely dismissed. Meanwhile the old leaders of the party — men like Mar, Atterbury, the faithful Lockhart, and the Duke of Wharton — had died, and their mantle had fallen on unscrupulous exiles and hot-headed militaires, Thus twelve years of idle plotting and self-seeking intrigue sped on. At last the hour airived when it was thought the tide of fortune, taken at the flood, would lead the party on to victory. On October 20, 1740, Charles the Sixth, the last German emperor of the male line of the proud House of Hapsburg, died, leaving a daughter, the afterwards heroic Maria Theresa, to mourn his loss. It had been the one object of the father that there should be no dispute touching the right of his child to succeed to the throne, and he had hoped that by the Pragmatic Sanction all opposition to her claims had been re- moved. The Imperial orphan, however, had barely ascended the throne, when the spark was kindled which was afterwards to lead to a genei'al conflagration. Fredericlc the Second, destined to be the founder of Prussian military renown, invaded Silesia on the pretext that part cf its territories were secured him by certain old treaties of co-fraternity, and prosecuted his conquest with great rapidity. The example set by successful aggression has never lacked followers, and it was not long before Bavaria, Spain, Naples, Saxony, and Sardinia laiil claims to portions of* the fair dominions of the unfortunate Maiia Theresa. Such aggressive conduct could not but lead to a general war. France, deeming the present a fitting opportunity to humble Austria, espoused the cause of Bavaria, and the treaty of Nvmphen- burg was the result of her sui)port. In Italy the King of 1 Stanhope, vul. ii. p. 122. 42 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Sardinia declared for Austria : the Republic of Genoa was in favour of France ; tlie Pope, Venice, and Tuscany were neutral ; the King of Naples resolved to support the claim of his family to the Austrian dominions in Italy, and, strengthened by the forces of his mother, the Queen of Spain, began to make vigorous prepai-ations. Hanover and the States- General were augmenting their forces ready for any contingency that might arise. Russia and Sweden were on qviarrelsome terms. Seldom has Europe been in such a state of distui'bance. The heroic coiaduct of Maria Theresa and the fidelity of her gallant Hungarian subjects, who, almost single-handed, had to resist the attacks of France, Bavaria, Poland, and Prussia, excited a strong feeling in favour of the Queen of Hungary in England. For a time Walpole was successful in preventing the King from actively interfering with the struggle ; but on war being declared against Spain for her interference with our commei'cial interests, the Court of St, James's resolved to support the Court of Vienna, A fleet was sent into the Mediterranean to compel the King of Naples to desist from hostilities, and subsequently an Anglo-Hanoverian force, known as the Pragmatic army, was assembled in the German pro- vinces of George the Second, who, shortly after its collection, joined it in person. Whilst these events were occurring, a young man of good birth and fortune, whom Jacobite song has immortalised as the Judas of the cause, came to Rome with the intention of passing the winter. He was the son of Sir David Murray, a respect- able Scotch baronet, and on his mother's side was connected with the Scotts of Ancrum. Having passed creditably through the University of Edinburgh, it was considered desirable for the completion of his education that he should make the grand tour. Accordingly early in 1741 he visited France, and after a brief stay in the different foreign capitals that fell within his route, found himself at the latter end of the year in Rome. Here, in common with all visitors to the Eternal City, he spent much of his time in the endless galleries criticising the paintings and the sculpture. One morning, whilst so engaged, two gentlemen came up to him and asked him whether he would like to see the Palace of the Santi Apostoli, the residence of his Majesty King James. Murray replied in the affirmative, and after being shown over the palace asked his guides whether his Majesty would permit him the honour of kissing hands. In i-esponse the guides said that his Majesty was always most INTRIGUE. 43 gracious to those who regarded him as their sovereign, but that at present the Court was at Albano ; however, on his Majesty's return, his wish would be laid before the proper quarter. A few days after this convei-sation, Murray had the honour of being introduced to James, and was presented to the Princes. Charles and he being much of an age, a strong intimacy soon sprang up between them. Murray was fascinated with the Prince, and from the very moment of his introduction became fully impressed with the justice of the Stuart cause, and eni-olled himself amongst its most devoted adherents. Charles, in his turn, was equally struck with his new friend, who was a man of a certain amount of culture, of a handsome appear- ance, and with very prepossessing manners. Murray now became a daily guest at the Palace, and was taken notice of not only by the Princes but by James, ' in such a manner as excited too much gratitude in him, and made him imagine the service of his whole life, and even life itself, scarce an equivalent for the condescension he received.' Gradually he acquu-ed the fullest confidence of James, and was soon taken into the secret of all the schemes and intrigues which, owing to the position of European afiairs, were then being hotly plotted. The climax of favouritism was reached when, by a special writ of James, John Murray of Broughton was constituted Secretary for Scottish affairs. It was but natural that Murray, after the favour he had received, should write home the most enthusiatic accounts of the Court of James, and especially of his august friends, the young Princes. The terms in which he institutes a comparison between Charles and his brother, in a letter to his married sister, Lady Polmood, though highly coloured by the rosy hues of friendship, is not wanting either in truth or historical interest. ' Charles Edward,' he writes, dating from the year 1742, 'the eldest son of the ChevaKer de St. G-eorge, is tall, above the common stature, his limbs are cast in the most exact mould, his complexion has in it somewhat of an uncommon delicacy; all his features are perfectly regular and well turned, and his eyes the finest I ever saw. But that which shines most in him, and renders him without exception the most surprisingly handsome person of the age, is the dignity that accompanies his every gesture ; there is indeed such an un- speakable majesty diffused through his whole mien as it is impossible to have any idea of without seeing, and strikes those that do with such an awe as will not suffer them to look upon 44 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. him for any time, vinless he emboldens them to it by his excessive amiability. ' Thus much, Madam, as to the person of the Prince. His mind, by all I can judge of it, is no less worthy of admiration ; he seems to me, and I find to all who know him, to have all the good nature of the Stuart family blended with the spirit of the Sobieskis. He is, at least, as far as I am capable of seeing into men, equally qualified to preside in peace and war. As for his learning, it is extensive beyond what could be ex- pected from double the number of his years. He speaks most of the European languages with the same ease and fluency as if each of them was the only one he knew, is a perfect master of the difierent kinds of Latin, understands Greek very well, and is not altogether ignorant of Hebrew. History and philosophy are his darling entertainments, in both of which he is well versed. The one, he says, will instruct him how to govern others, and the other how to govern himself, whether in prosperous or adverse fortune. Then for his courage ; that was sufficiently proved at Gaeta, when, though scarce arrived at the age of fifteen, he performed such things as in attempting made his friends and enemies alike tremble, thovigh from difierent motives. What he is ordained for we must leave to the Almighty, who alone disposes all ; but he appears to be born and endowed for something extraordinary.' Murray's opinion of the younger brother is equally lauda- tory, though, oddly enough, he considers the future ecclesiastic as the more warlike of the two. * Henry Benedict, the second son, has also a very fine person, though of a stature somewhat lower than his brother, and his complexion not altogether so delicate ; he is, however, extremely well made, has a cei^tain agreeable robustness in his mien, and a more than common sparkle in his eyes. Many of those perfections I have, though faintly, described as appertain- ing to the one are equally the due of the other — 'tis hard, indeed, to say which of them has most applied himself to all the branches of those kinds of learning which enable a man to be useful to his fellow-creatures. The difference I make between their tempers is this, that the one has the agreeable mixture of the Stuart and Sobieski, as I have already said, and the other seems actuated more entirely by the spirit of the latter ; all the fire of his great ancestors on that side seems collected in him, and I dare believe that should his arm ever be employed in so warrantable a cause as that which warmed the INTRIGUE. 45 breast of his glorious progenitor, when a hundred and fifty- thousand Turks owed their defeat to the bravery of a handful of Christians led on by him to victory,' this warlike young prince would haA^e the same success. His martial spirit dis- covered itself when being no more than nine years old at the time his brother accompanied the young King of Naples to enforce possession of his dominions, he was so much discon- tented at being refused the partnership of that glory and that danger, that he would not put on his sword till his father threatened to take away his Garter too, saying it did not become him to wear the one without the other.^ In another comparison between the brothers, written at the same time as that of Murray, I find it said that ' the two young gentlemen are very pretty figures as to their persons. The elder has much better parts and a quicker apprehension than the younger, who, sensible of his inferiority in that respect, makes it up by greater application. The last is more lively, the other the more considerate, and never speaks with- out thinking, which makes him alwavs reasonable in his conversation and actions, and has given him the habit of keep- ing a seci'et. They are both virtuous, and as likely as any young men to bear up against the corruption of idleness, the only quarter from which there appears any danger. They are both exceedingly good-natured and well bred, and their sweet- ness of temper and accomplishments of address and good breeding gain them the affections of all that converse with them. The elder, who is the more reasonable, and has the better knowledge and judgment, does not show any attach- ment to any particular mode of religion, to which the younger seems more disposed.' ^ Shortly after Murray's introduction to James, the same honour was also asked by a young man then wintering at Eome, whose family had always been most loyal to the Jaco- bite cause. Lord Elcho, the eldest son of the Earl of Wemyss, had just completed his studies at Winchester School, and, as with Murray, was giving his education a finishing touch by foreign travel. The old Earl had been repeatedly offered posts under the Hanoverian government, but invariably refused to take the oath of allegiance, preferring the society of Paris to Alluding to the conduct of John, King of Poland, at the siege of Vienna. - Genuine Jfemolrs of John ^Tnrrai/, ICsq. ~> State Papers, Domestic; 1745, No. 79. Papers relating to the Pretender and his son, ccmLaur.kiH'c-i 7 Gen. Dalzell. 46 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. that of liis own country. As soon as his son reached hoyhood he sent him to Winchester, where, if we can credit the Diary of Lord Elcho, the discipline enforced was not of the strictest character. The boys played cards, haunted taverns, and their morals were anything but carefully looked after. ' We did not learn,' frankly writes Lord Elcho, ^ ' Latin and Greek as well as we should have done had we been placed with a private tutor, but we were taught how to live as men of the world, and made acquaintances which, if cultivated, could be very useful to us in after life.' Among these useful acquaintances were the sons of the Dukes of Hamilton, Devonshire, and Queensborough, and the Earls of Exeter and Coventry. As in the outer world, the school was divided into Jacobites and Hanoverians, and frequent conflicts ensued between those who supported ' King Jamie ' and those who gave in their adher- ence to the ' Wee, wee German lairdie.' On quitting Winchester Lord Elcho returned to Paris, and beinw now twenty years of age — indeed he was born in the same year as the Prince — his father sent him, in the winter of 1740, to Pome. Shortly after his arrival he desired the honour of being introduced to the Chevalier, and James (graciously appomted a morning for the visit. On Lord Elcho presenting himself the head of the House of Stuart received him most kindly, bade him sit down by his side, and said that he was well aware of the loyalty of the Earl his father, and hoped when he ascended the throne of Great Britain to be able to repay with interest such attachment. He then sent for the Princes and introduced them to his visitors. Prince Charles and Lord Elcho being about the same age, James bade them stand back to back to see which was the taller, and Charles had slightly the advantage. With the Chevalier Lord Elcho seems to have been much struck, and calls him ' a very affable, well-informed, and sen- sible Prince.' Of Charles he did not think as highly, con- sidering him not nearly so polite or agreeable as Henry. ' Prince Edward,' as he invariably calls him throughout the pages of his journal, 'did not speak much to those who called on* him,' he writes, ' but chiefly amused himself in shooting thrushes and blackbirds and playing " golf " in the grounds of the Yilla Borghese ; Prince Henry, on the contrary, knows how to converse, and takes a keen interest in Enghsh affiiirs.' But whenever Lord Elcho makes mention of Charles it is ] Journnl MS. in the possession of Mrs. Erskino Wemyss, of Wcmyss Castle. INTRIGUE. 47 necessary to receive his account with more than the ordinary- grains of salt allowed for prejudiced writei-s. The Journal from which I quote was written years after the rebellion of '45, when Lord Elcho entertained the most bitter feelings to- wards the Prince, whom he accused of not paying what he borrowed, and of having sacrificed his Scottish friends for a coterie of scheming Irishmen who completely enslaved him by their counsels. The statement that Charles was cold and re- served in the presence of his visitors is so at variance wath all that we hear of the Prince at this time, that we shall not be wrong in regarding the assertion as one of the many instances in which Lord Elcho, when commenting upon his former master, prefers spite to veracity. From this Journal we learn that though it was easy for visitors at Rome to pay their respects to the young princes, it was high treason, save under special circumstances, to talk to their fixther; hence the diffi- culty that attended a presentation to the Chevalier. Lord Elcho and Murray of Broughton had been intro- duced to each other, and w^ere most constant in their attend- ance at the court of James. Murray was, however, the fa vo mite both with the Chevalier and his sons, and an oppor- tunity soon oflfei'ed itself for the display of his newdy born devotion. The year before the arrival of these young men at Rome, certain Scottish Jacobites had formed themselves into an Association with the object of restoring the House of Stuart. The chief members of this society were Lord Lovat, the Duke of Perth, the Earl of Traquair, Sir James Campbell of Auchinbreck, Cameron of Lochiel, Lochiel the younger, Lord John Drummond, and John Stuart, Lord Traquair's brother. One William Drummond, alias Macgregor of Bo- haldie, was constituted the agent of the party, and Avas de- spatched to Rome to acquaint James with the existence and object of the Association. After an interview with the exile, during which he greatly raised James's waning hopes, Drum- mond went to Paris and saw Cardinal Eleury. Here the agent presented matters in the most favourable light. He told the pacific Cardinal that Scotland was ripe for rebellion, that 20,000 men would appear for the cause of the Stuarts, that there was a large Jacobite party in England, and that all that was requii'ed to insure success was the support of France. The Cardinal was far from being averse to the pi^oposal, and an active correspondence ensued between Drummond, directed by a mischievoii'^, egotistic person, called Lord Semple, the 48 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. agent of James at Versailles, and the members of the Associa- tion. Early in 1742 Drummond returned to Scotland, and declared to the Association that the Cardinal was a staunch friend to their cause, and that provided encouragement were received from England, troops would be sent over from France in the autumn. Everything being now dependent upon the state of feeling south of the Tweed, Lord Traquair came at once to London to sound Sir John Hinde Cotton, Sir Watkin Wynn, and Lord Barrymore, who occupied the same position in England as the members of the Association did in Scotland. These persons declared their readiness to give every assistance in their power the moment troops were landed in England, but declined to promise anything in writing. With regard to the question of money, Sir Watkin said that if he were expected to contribute heavily he should decline ; for though his estate was a large one, it was incumbered, and he had very little to spare. On hearing this Lord Barrymore at once said that there need be no difficulty on that score, as he would take care to have the money ready when it was required. Whilst this interview was taking place, the Duke of Perth came in, having returned from York, where he said the jSIayor and corporation were Jacobite to the backbone, and had promised, if a sufficient body of troops came into their country, to join them with 10,000 men. During the elaboration of these intrigues, James de- spatched Murray of Broughton to Paris, to see how matters stood with the Cardinal, and thence to proceed to Scotland to ascertain how far the clans might be depended upon. Shortly after the young Secretary's arrival at Paris, Cardinal Fleury, who with true French policy had been temporising in the affair, died, and Cardinal Tencin was appointed his successor. The accession of Tencin was most favourable to the Jacobite cause. The new minister was warmly attached to the Stuarts, to whom he had been indebted for his Hat, was of a scheming, enterprising temper, and possessed little of that dilatory pru- dence which had always been the characteristic of Fleury. He at once took the matter up vigorously. After a long inter- view with Murray, his Eminence agreed that, as soon as the affairs of France permitted, 3,000 French troops should be sent to Scotland under Lord Marischal, 1,500 of which were to land at Inverness, where they were to be joined by Lord Lovat and the Erasers, whilst the other 1,-500 were to laud on the INTRIGUE. 49 ■west coast : the Macleans were to be raised in the Isle of Mull; the Macdonalds and the Macleods were to march through Ross-shire to join the Frasers ; and Count Saxe was to land with 12,000 men within tAvo or three days' march of London. From Paris Murray now started for Scotland, where he seems to have been successful in engaging the clans to pro- mise to support the expected invasion.' As an agreeable relief from the anxieties attendant upon dynastic intrigues, he now paid his attentions to a young lady of great bertuty, and shortly afterwards married her. In order that there should be no delay in the execution of the proposed scheme, it was thought advisable that Charles should be on the spot to take his place at the head of the expe- dition. Accordingly, Tencin wrote to James, desiring him to allow the Prince to start at once for Paris ; but the father, who had so often been led to rely on promises that were never ful- filled, wrote back that it would be better for his son to defer his departure until the preparations were fully completed. His suggestion was complied with, and it was not till troops were assembled at Dunkirk, and a fleet ready to sail from the har- bours of Brest and Rochefort, that James, seeing that France was really in earnest, gave his son the requisite permission. The parting between the two was affecting. * I go. Sire,' said Charles, embracing his father, ' in search of three crowns, which I doubt not but to have the honour and happiness of laying at your Majesty's feet. If I fail in the attempt, your next sight of me shall be in my cofiin.' ' Heaven forbid ! ' cried the father, bursting into tears, * that all the crowns of the world should rob me of my son ! ' Then, tenderly embracing him, he added, ' Be careful of your- self, my dear Prince, for my sake, and, I hope, for the sake of millions ! ' ^ Thus they separated. On the departure of Charles from Rome the greatest care was taken to shroud his movements in the most complete secrecy in order to baffle the vigilance of the English o-overn- ment. But the watchful John Walton was ever on the alert and fully equal to the occasion. Of late this pattern of diplo- matic espionage had been imable to send home news of any great importance. He regretted that the Jesuits around the 1 Exam, of John Murray, Aug. 13, 1746. State Papers, Domestic. Further exam. Nov. 17, 1746. ^ Genuine Memoirs of John Murray, Esq. E 50 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Pretender so absorbed all the secrets of the household that hardly any found their way into his despatches.^ He, how- ever, constantly states that the affairs of the Jacobites are at a great crisis ; that they are plotting something of importance ; and not uufrequently mentions the general fact that there is a good deal of talk about sending Charles to France. It also appears that, at a ball given at the Palazzo Pamphili, the young Prince wore a Highland dress which had been sent him from Scotland, and which being a costume unknown in Italy attracted considerable attention.^ Charles, conscious of the admiration the bright tartan of his house created, swaggered about the rooms and chatted in terms of enthvisiasm about Scotland and its people. Walton regarded the wearing of this kilt as a very suspicious circumstance, and as an indication of the bent of the young man's thoughts. He felt sure, too, that the activity displayed by the Jacobites at Rome was fraught with conspiracy. ' The great precautions,' he writes, ' taken by the ministers of France and Spain in order to hide the most trifling steps of the Pretender's son are a cer- tain argument that they intend to make him play an important role shortly upon the world's theatre — both courts being in- fatuated with the false idea that nothing in the world would more embarrass the British government than an invasion in which the eldest son of the Pretender would be at the head, and the perj^etual representations made by the Scotch Jacobites let them imagine that such an enterprise would be very easy to put into execution.' ^ Aware from the frequent communica- tions between France and Rome that something important was on the tains, Walton redoubled his vigilance, and took a keen interest in all the moves that were being played within the walls of the Palazzo of the Holy Apostles. The result was that, careful and elaborate as had lieen the schemes of Charles and his friends to hide the fact of his departure, he had not travelled many leagues before the news of his intended visit to France was speeding as fast as the post could carry it to the official regions of Whitehall. Three months later Walton wi-ites that James, fully alive to the difficulties in the way of this intended expedition, had strongly opposed the departure of his son, and indeed only finally consented at the powerful instances of the Pope and Cardinal Acquaviva.* The flight of Charles, in spite of its discovery, was, how- 1 State Papers, Tuscanv, Mav 31, 1739. "- Ibid. Feb. 18, 1741. - Ibid., July 8, 1741. ' " * Ibtd. MaTC^. 31, 1744. I XT RI CUE. 51 ever, managed very cleverly. The Prince liad given out that he intended going boar-hunting with his brother and several friends on January 11, 1744, at Cisterna, and a few days before the day appomted sent on his horses and baggage ready for the expedition. Having obtained all the necessary facilities for his departure by the gate of St. John, he rose from his bed in the middle of the night of the 9th, leaving his brother Henry still fast asleep, and softly descended the staircase. At the porch, Dunbar was in waiting for him with a postchaise and two saddle-horses led by a groom. Charles got into the chaise and gave directions to drive to Albano, but after posting several miles he complained of the cold, and said that he would rather ride than drive. The groom who had been trotting behind with the led horse was accordingly hailed, and Charles at once jumped into the saddle. Leaving Dunbar in the chaise, the Prince now rode on followed by his servant, Avho was a faithful Norman and fully in the secret, till he came to the cross-road which leads to Frascati, Here he pulled up and waited for Dunbar. On the arrival of the chaise he complained of having hurt his foot from a bad fall that he had just received. Dun- bar, with well-feigned surpi-ise, at once advised the Prince to re-enter the carriage, but Charles said he preferred remaining on horseback, as he could get over the ground faster, and that after his accident he wanted rest. It had been previously arranged that, when Henry awoke and inquired after hie brother, he was to be told that Charles, owing to his passion for sport, had gone on before, but would meet him at Albano. In consequence of his accident the Prince now told Dunbar that it would be impossible for him to proceed to Albano as he oi'iginally intended, but that he would take the road to Marino, and go straight to Cisterna, where he would lie down for a few hours. He advised Dunbar, however, to hasten to Albano to explain matters to Henry. The object of this byplay was to throw the postilions and servants, who thought they were driving C*harles to early sport, off the scent. On Dunbar's arrival at Albano, Henry, who had not been let into the secret, naturally inquired after his brother. At first the acting was kept up, but afterwards Dunbar told the whole truth, and advised Henry to talk openly about the acci- dent and to begin boar-hunting without Charles. His advice was acted upon, and so well was the ruse maintained that every day Dunbar called upon the Duke of Sermoneta, to whom Cisterna belonged, to give him an account of the progress that E 2 52 LIFE OF FRIXCE CHARLES STUART. Charles was making. The Duke was espscially desired not to mention the accident in any of his letters to Rome, for fear it should come to the ears of James, and thus cause the Chevalier needless anxiety, but to say that the brothers had very good sport and spent their time very well. "Whether his Grace of Sermoneta was so accommodating, we know not, but in order the better to keep matters dark at Rome, hampers of wild boar, pretending to come from the brothers, were sent to the Pope, to Acquaviva, and other friends. Tnus the sham went on till the 17th instant, when a letter purporting to have been written by Charles was received by Dunbar, saying that the Prince had recovered from his acci- dent, but that, as the weather was bad, he did not care for hunting, but would go back to Rome instead. On the receipt of this intelligence the party broke up and returned to the Eternal City, Dunbnr having planned that a young man who closely resembled Charles should be by his side so as to preserve the secret still from the people. Two days afterwards James despatched Dunbar to the Vatican to inform the Pope that Charles had left for Paris, and that he had not acquainted his Holiness with the fact earlier ' because he thought thus to pre- vent the umbrage of those who might liave hoped to stop this motion.' On the news being publicly known that the Prince had safely reached his destination, James received the congratu- lations of the ministers of France and Spain, and of all those interested in the welfare of his cause.' Meanwhile Charles had been pushing on to France. Here is his portrait on the road as forwarded by Horace Mann to the Duke of Newcastle. ' The young man is above the middle height and very thin. He wears a light bag- wig ; his face is rather long, the complexion clear, but borders on paleness ; the forehead very broad, the eyes fairly large, blue, but without sparkle, the mouth large with the lips slightly curled ; and the chin more sharp than rounded.' ^ Until his arrival at the Tuscan frontier, Chaides had given out that he was a Neapolitan courier, travelling to Spain, and for that purpose wore on his breast the badge then exhibited by the Italian couriers. On reaching Tuscan territory he removed the badge, and showed a passport which the Cardinal ' ' Spedizione (li Cavlo Stuart.' ' Secret Intellifcence from Rome.' Stanhopf", 77/.sf. of Kiioland, vol. iii. Appendix. John Walton, Jan. 28, ]74(. State Papers, Tuscany. - State Papers, Tuscan}', Jan. W, 174 J. IN'IRIGUE. 53 Acquaviva had obtained from the minister of the Grand Duke, in which Charles was represented as an officer in the Spanish service under the name of Don Biagio. Furnished with this important document he rode, still attended by his faithful Norman, through Sienna, Castel Firentino, Pisa, until he arrived at Carrara. Here a Maltese barque was in waiting for him, and after a voyage of a few hours he reached Genoa. But the excessive cold and the fatigue of the journey, during which he had never once taken off his clothes, was now too much for him, and he had to keep his bed a day and night. From Genoa he hastened on to Savona, where he remained some six days, for what reason we know not, and then, embarking in a small vessel, ran cleverly through the English fleet and arrived at Antibes. Once on French territory, he posted night and day, with a brief interval of rest at Lyons, till he reached Paris, which city he safely entered eleven days after his flight from Rome.^ On his arrival at Paris, Charles rode straight to the house of his father's unscrupulous agent. Lord Semple, where he remained for about a fortnight, and then proceeded to Gave- lines, attended by Drummond, Buchanan, a former steward of the banker Macdonald, and one or two servants. Here he took the keenest interest in the preparations for the descent upon England, and so little was he known that, putting up once at one of the ordinary cabarets, with which the port abounded, he was compelled to leave by the proprietor threatening to give him a thrashing — under what provocation is not stated. ^ Curiously enough, in spite of the friendship pretended to be felt by the French Court for Charles, during the whole of the time that he spent at Paris and at Gavelines neither the King nor his ministers nor any persons of distinction took the slightest notice of him.'' So marked was this neglect that the Jacobites at Paris augured unfavourably for the success of their cause. Lord Elcho laughed at the reports Semple was industriously circulating, that there would be a general rising in London on the approach of the Dunkirk expedition, whilst many, among them tlie Duke of Ormond, openly stated that they did not believe that the expedition was ever intended on behalf of the young Pi-ince.^ That Charles at this time was in rigid seclusion is evident 1 State Papers, Tusciriy, Jjin 28, 1744 : .ilsi Feb. 4, 1744. 2 Ex;ini. of^Eneas Macdonald. State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 17, 174G. 3 lUd. * Ihvl. 5+ LIFE OF FRINGE CHARLEs STUART. from his letters to his father, ' The situation I am in is very peculiar,' he writes, ' for nobody knows where I am, or what is become of me ; so that I am entirely buried as to the public, and cannot but say that it is a very great constraint upon me, for I am obliged very often not to stir out of my room for fear of somebody's noting my fiice. I very often think you would laugh very heartily if you saw me going about with a single servant buying fish and other things, and squabbling for a penny more or less.'^ A few days afterwards he continues, ' Everybody is wondering where the Prince is : some put him in one place and some in another, but nobody knows where he is really ; and sometimes he is told news of himself to his face, which is very diverting.' ^ He was, howevei', not idle, but busy with the plans of the future. ' I have every day,' he writes, 'large packets to answer, without anybody to help me but Bohaldie. Yesterday I had one that cost me seven hours and a half.' ■■' This must have been no little effort to a man who so cordially hated correspondence that it was always a matter both of physical and mental diiBculty. And now the long-talked-of expedition was put into motion. The squadrons at Brest and Eochefort had combined, and, led by Admiral Roquefeuille, were sailing up the Channel. The English fleet, commanded by Sir John Norris, which had hither- to lain at Spithead, was sheltering in the Downs, exj)ectant of the foe. As Eoquefeuille neared the Isle of Wight, he was on the look-out for the fleet, which, he had been informed, was an- chored off Spithead, but to his astonishment not one English frigate was to be seen. With the impulsiveness of his nation, he at once jumped to the conclusion that owing to stress of weather the English fleet had sought the safety of Portsmouth Harbour. Instantly he sent intelligence of the fact to Dunkirk, and urged that the expedition should take place without delay. His advice was only too welcome, and in a few houi'S 7,000 troops were embarked under Marshal Saxe, with Avhom was Prince Charles, and the transports were crowding all sail for the shores of Albion. Meanwhile Eoquefeuille, coasting along, had met almost athwart his bows the squadron under Sir John Norris. An enofasement would have been attended with the worst conse- quences to the French, but the English commander, what with the state of the tide and the approach of night, thought it 1 Stuart Papers, April 3, 1744. 2 im^ April 16, 1744. 3 Ibid. :March G, 1744. INTRIGUE. 55 prudent to defer the battle till the next morning. But the French Admiral, actuated by a still sounder prudence, and seeing that the English were vastly his superiors in number, quietly weighed anchor during the night and hastened back to his own country. The fates, however, were against him ; a fearful storm arose ; the wind blew dead on to the French coast, and the waves ran as if lashed by a hurricane. Many of the ships belonging to the reti'eating squadron were severely damaged, but the greatest sufferers were the ti'ansports now ready for the conquest of England in the port of Dunkirk. These were well-nigh totally shipwrecked. Some of the largest ships were lost with all the troops on board ; others Avere dashed against the coast, and their men saved with difficulty ; whilst of those vessels which had already put out to sea in the hopes of shortly sighting the shores of Sussex, but few regained the harbour. Happily the ti'ansport in which Marshal Saxe and Charles had sailed succeeded in putting into port without receiving much damage. This disaster was a terrible blow to Jacobite hopes. The French ministers were sorely discouraged, and abandoned all idea of a further attempt until a more propitious occasion ; Marshal Saxe was appointed to the command in Flanders ; the army was withdrawn from Dunkii^k, and England felt that all prospect of an invasion was for the moment removed. To Charles, who had been panting with the ardour of youth for military distinction, and who had hoped in a few short hours to have loyal subjects rallying round his standard, this fiasco was a bitterness worse than death. Had it not been for the wise counsels of Lord Marischal, he would have chartered a small fishing-smack and sailed for Scotland alone, there to be joined by any friends who would support him. Nay, he even offered to enter the French army and fight against that England which had exiled his race, and called his father Pretender ; most indignant too was he that this wish also was thwarted by Lord Marischal. Nor was James a whit less disappointed than his son. So certain had be been that the expedition would be crowned with success that he had ordered new liveries for the servants of his household to be put on for the first time when the news reached him that Charles had made his triumphant entry into London.^ But now he and his adherents seemed stunned at the sudden collapse of all their bright hopes, and so 1 State Papers, Tuscany, April 14, 1744. 56 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. keenly did the Chevalier feel his mortification that he shut himself up for days in the most ric;id seclusion. It was not to be expected that the English government would permit Charles to find a home in France without remon- strance. No sooner was it known that the young Prince had left Rome meditating a visit to Paris than the Duke of New- castle wrote to Mr. Thompson, the English secretary at the Court of Versailles, and desii-ed him to call at once upon M. Amelot, the French minister for Foreign Afiairs, and to say that the King of Great Britain, mindful of the treaties that existed between France and England regarding the Pretender, fully expected that his Most Christian Mnjesty would not per- mit Charles to remain in French territory or countenance him in any way. M. Amelot, however, did not view the matter in the same light, and returned so * injurious and offensive ' an answer that Mr. Thompson received orders to quit France immediately without taking leave of the Court, and war was openly declared.' On the failure of the Dunkirk expedition, and the effect it produced upon the enthusiasm of France, Buchanan, the ex- steward of Macdonald, was sent over to England by the Paris Jacobites to tell their brother-intriguers that nothing more could be expected at present from the French ministry, but that it was hoped fortune soon would be more propitious. After a brief stay in London, Buchanan returned to Paris, and was at once met by Lord Semple. This unscrupulous mem- ber of a titular aristocracy appears to have regarded truth as a virtue utterly unworthy of his notice, for he had concocted a pretty little story, which the recent visit of Buchanan to London rendered not improbable. He arranged to introduce Buchanan to Messieurs Amelot and DArgenson, -svho was then to tell them that he had just returned from England, where he had been visiting the Lord Mayor and several people of consequence, and that the country was so strongly opposed to the Hanoverian succession that there were 20,000 men ready to join Prince Charles the moment he should cross the Channel. Buchanan willingly entered into the spirit of this audacious hoax. Ac- cordingly these two honourable supporters of the House of Stuart being ushered into the presence of MM. Amelot and D'Ai^genson, Semple was the spokesman, and made out that England was in such a state that it only wanted the merest spark to put the whole country into a conflagration. Honest 1 State Papers, France, Feb. 3 and Mirch G, 1744. INTRIGUE. 57 Bucbanan, sitting by his side, was constantly refoired to, and confirmed -whatever his lordshi]) advanced. It is not, therefore, very siirpiising to learn that the French ministers were much pleased with Lord Semple's account of English domestic affiiirs, and thought that something might yet be done to atone for the recent catastrophe at Dunkirk.' During this time Charles had taken lodgings at Gavelines, where he was living, according to his own account, the life of a harmit,'^ but after a while he returned to Paris, and was known by the title of Baron Renfrew. Here he now made the ac- quaintance of a young banker, ^neas Macdonald by name, to whose subsequent confessions I am indebted for my present information, and the two soon became great fiiends, frequently going out together on * parties of pleasure.' Upon the one subject which must have incessantly absorbed his thoughts, we learn that Charles maintained a rigid silence. Friendly as the two young men were, the Prince never alluded to the schemes of his adherents, never mentioned the names of those who supported his interests, and, whenever the conversation touched upon England, invariably changed the topic.^ No doubt this reserve was due in some measure to the bitterness of disap- pointment. When Drummond was at Pome on one of his special expeditions, he had spoken enthusiastically to Charles upon the help to be received from France, showed him a list, which afterwards turned out to be false, full of distinguished English names anxious to enrol themselves in his cause, and, in short, deceived the young Prince as grossly as Buchanan had deceived the French ministers. Full of hope, and confident that the promises made would be fulfilled, Charles had arrived at Paris. And what was the result % The Dunkirk expedi- tion a failure, with no present probability of further aid. The promised adherence of those influential friends conspicuous by its absence, for, save from his staunch partisans in Scotland, he had received no encouragement from England. His openly avowed supporter, the King of France, not taking the slightest notice of him — indeed, his Majesty had openly shunned him at two or three hah masques at Versailles to which he had gone with Macdonald. . Where w^ere the assurances of support upon which he had built so many brilliant castles in the air % Well, indeed, mav he have said that ' there was no believing a word that either Semple or Drummond said.' * ^ Exam, of uEneas Macdonald, Sept. 17, 174G. State Papers. 2 Stuart Papers, June 1, 1744. 5 Exam, of ^Eueaji Macdonald, Sept. 17, 174G. * Ibid. 58 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Aware of Semple's unscrupulous character, and that Drummond was not the most fitting companion for the Prince, Lord Marischal and the other more respectable adherents of the cause did their best to remove Chai-les from the intimacy of these men. Drummond was sent to Holland on a pretended mission to buy arms, and the Prince, in order to make the acquaintance of the Irish officers in the French service — men like Lord Tyrconnel, Lord Clair, and Colonel Dillon — who were not cordially disposed towards Semple, quitted Semple's roof, whose guest he had lately been, and took lodgings for himself at Paris in a street called the Petite Ecurie. It was now through the interest of Cardinal Tencin, who had been worked upon by O'Brien, Kelly, and Sheridan, whom James had despatched to Paris, that Charles received an allowance from the French Court of 5,000 livres a month. About this time John Murray, who had been busy in the interests of James both in England and Scotland, came to Paris to see how affairs stood at the French Court. Charles had a long conversation with him, expressed impatience at this dallying with fortune, and said that he was determined to go over to Scotland, even if he took only a single footman with him. Murrav tried to dissuade him, but findins; it useless, promised to talk the matter over with the leaders of the party, and ascertain how far they thought such an attempt feasible. On his return, therefore, to Scotland, he mentioned the inten- tion of Charles to the Council of Seven. All, with the excep- tion of the Duke of Perth, opposed it. Cameron of Lochiel thought it ' a i-ash and desperate undertaking ' ; INIacleod was of the same opinion, and said that no one would join the Prince. Murray in his turn was not favourable to the scheme, and wa-ote a strong letter to Charles, advising him to abandon the idea, but the letter being delayed by private hands, never reached its destination. So little chance did Murray think there was of an invasion that he was trying for employment in the Dutch service.^ Not so Charles. The more he thought of visiting the land of his ancestors, and of following the example his father had set him thirty years before, the more the idea began to assume a definite form, and the greater seemed to him the prosj)ect of success. Though England might stand aloof, he was sure of his own country. He knew that the moment he landed in 1 Exam, of Joliu Murray, Aug.' 13 and Xov. 17, 171G. State Papers, Domestic. INTRIGUE. 59 Scotland stalwart adherents from its rocky glens and heather- crested hills would flock round his standard and support the old line. England, it is true, was cold now ; but would she so continue % AVhat said the jiroverb % — He that would England win, Must with Scotland first begin. Once let his kilted friends enrol themselves in his service, and fight under his banner, as they had fought in years bygone under that of his ancestors, and his cause would be far from hopeless. But come what may, let them have the opportunity of seeing their future ;King, and of offering or withholding theu' obedience. He was tired of these fruitless promises of France ; she was engaged in her own cause, and had no time to think of his ; besides, it had always been his wish to restore his royal fcither by means of his own subjects alone. Let him, then, place the fullest trust in that loyalty to his house which he had been so frequently assured every true Scotchman felt. At all events, he would not shrink from hazarding his life and fortune to win the object of his ambition. ' Whatever I may suffer,' he writes to his father, ' I shall not regret in the least as long as I think it of service for our great object. I would put myself in a tub, like Diogenes, if necessary.' ^ He was noAv stopping at Fitzjames, the seat of the Duke of Berwick, a few miles from Paris, and he began to put his schemes vigorously into action. He was surrounded by several Irish officers, who strongly encouraged him in his resolve, and willingly co-operated with him. Indeed ^neas Macdonald says ' the expedition to Scotland was entii^ely an Irish pro- ject.' ^ He used every effort to procure arms. He borrowed 180,000 livres from two of his adherents, the bankers Waters and Son, and gave orders, without ejiipressing any definite reasons, that his jewels at Rome should be pawned. By the aid of two merchants at Nantes, Butledge and Walsh, he obtained two vessels — the one a man-of-war, which had been granted to Butledge by the French Court to cruise on the coast of Scotland ; and the other, a small brig, which belonged to Walsh, and which had been fitted ou.t against the British trade. The name of the man-of-war was the ' Elizabeth,' and the name of the brig ' La Doutelle.' The ' Elizabeth ' lay at Belleisle, and had on board all the arms Charles had been 1 Stuart Papers, Jan. 3, 1745. 2 Further Exam, of iEneas Macdonald, Jan. 12, 1748. State Papers, Domestic. 6o LIFE OF PRINCE C II ARIES SI U ART. able to obtain- — 1,500 fusees, 1,800 broadswords, twenty small field-pieces, and ammunition. The ' Doutelle ' was at Nantes. All things being ready on the Wednesday before Ascension Day, Charles came to the lodgings he still kept on in Paris, and invited iEneas Macdonald to dinner. The invitation was accepted. After dinner Charles said to his guest, who was then on the eve of visiting Scotland about a lawsuit in which he was engaged : ' I hear, Macdonald, that you are going to Scotland : I am going there too — we had better bear each other company? ' Macdonald readily agreed, and after a little discussion it was decided that Macdonald should proceed to Nantes and thei^e wait for the Prince. ' After the Prince had settled everything for his subsequent vmdertaking,' writes Macdonald in his narrative, ' the gentlemen Avho were to accompany him in his voyage took different routes to Nantes, the place appointed to meet at, thereby the better to conceal their designs. During their residence thei^e, they lodged in different parts of the tovv-n ; and if they accidentally met in the street, or elsewhere, they took not the slightest notice of each other, nor seemed to be any way acquainted, if there was any person near enough to observe them. During this time, and whilst everything was preparing to set sail, the Prince went to a seat of the Due de Bouillon, and took some days' diversion in hunting, fishing, and shooting — amusements he always delighted in, being at first obliged to it on account of his health. By this meai^s he became inured to toil and labour, which enabled him to undergo the great fatigues and hardships he was afterwards exposed unto.' ' At Pain'boeuf Charles was joined by Sir Thomas Sheridan, Kelly, O'Sullivan, Buchanan, Sir John McDonald, and Francis Strickland. On arriving at Nantes they all embarked on board ' La Doutelle,' which lay in the mouth of the Loire, and sailed for Belleisle, where tliey were to be joined by the * Elizabeth.' On this brief voyage the Prince suffered much from sea sickness. At Belleisle they remained eight daj's, taking in provisions, and, on the ' Elizabeth ' coming up, sailed in earnest for the shores of Scotland, July 13, 1745.^ All these preparations had taken place Avithout the know- ledge or consent of France. The arms had been shipped by Walsh under a fjxlse statement made to the Minister of War, that they were intended for his own plantations in Martinique. ' Jacohile Jifemoirf. p. 1. 2 E am. of vE.neas Macd- naM, Sept. 17, 174G. State Papers, Dome.'itic. LYTRrGUr, 6 1 The ' Elizabeth ' lia 1 been lyinj? by out of comuiission wheu Rut- ledge obtained her from the Minister of Marine, to fit lier out as a ])rivateer — a custom then common in France when men-of- war were not actually in service. We are assured tha,t had the Court of France been acquainted with the design of Charles he would not have been suffered * to execute so wild a project.' ' Nor had James been admitted into the secret. It was not till the * Elizabeth ' had cast off her mooriugs in the hai'bour of Belleisle, and was in full sail for Scotland, that the father was informed of the perilous resolve of his son. The letter of Charles on this occasion is worthy of inseition. It is dated from Navarre, a chateau near Evreux, belonging to the Due de Bouillon, who was a most enthusiastic friend of the Prince, and with whom Charles was then staying. ' Xavarre, June 12, 1745. * Sib, — I believe your Majesty little expected a courier at this time, and much less from me, to tell you a thing that will be a great surprise to you. I have, above six months ago, been invited by our friends to go to Scotland, ^ and to carry what money and arms I could conveniently get ; this being, they are fully persuaded, the only way of restoring you to the crown, and them to their liberties. ' After such scandalous usage as I have received from the French Court, had I not given my word to do so, or got so many encouragements from time to time as I have had, I should have been obliged, in honour, and for my own rejiutation, to have flung myself into the arms of my friends, and die with them, rather than live longer in such a miserable way here, or be obliged to return to Rome, which would bej'ust giving up all hopes. I cannot but mention a parable here, which is, that if a horse which is to be sold if spurred does not skip, nobody v.ould care to have him, even for nothing ; just so my friends would care very little to have me, if, after such usage as all the world is sensible of, I should not show I have life in me. Your Majesty cannot disapprove a son's following the example of his father. You yourself did the like in the year '15 ; but the cir- 1 Further Exam, of yEceas Macdonald, Jan. li', 1748. State Papers, Domestic. 2 Cliar'es here drew upon his imagination to excuse bis project. His friends nevir atlvifed liim to visit Scotland ; on the contrary, as we shall see, they were stroiifily opposed to such a step. In their opinion' the time had net yet arrived tor the cntcrp: isc. 62 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUARI. cumstances now are indeed very different by being much more encouraging, tliere being a certainty of succeeding with the least help ; the particulars of which are too long to explain, and even impossible to convince you of by writing, which has been the reason that I have presumed to take upon me the management of all this without even letting you suspect there was any such thing a-brewing, for fear of my not being able to explain and show you demonstratively how matters stood, which is not pos- sible to be done by writing, or even without being upon the place, and seeing things with your own eyes : and, had I failed to convince you, I was then afraid you might have thought what I was going to do to be rash, and so to have absolutely forbidden my proceedings. ' I have tried all possible means and stratagems to get access to the King of France, or his miuister, neither could I get Littleton (Sir Thomas Sheridan) an aiidience, who, I was sure, would say neither more nor less than what I desired him, and would faithfully report their answer. As for Wright (the Car- dinal) he is not much trusted or well looked upon by Adam (the King of France), who is timorous, and has not resolution enough to displace him. Now, I have been obliged to steal off without letting the King of France so much as suspect it, for which I make a proper excuse in my letter to him,^ by saying it was a great mortification to me never to be able to speak and open my heart to him ; that this thing was of such a nature that it could not be communicated to any of the ministers, or by writing, but to himself alone — in whom, after Almighty God, my resting lies, and that the least help would make the affair infallible. If I had let the French Court know this before- hand, it might have had all these bad effects : — 1st, It is pos- sible they might have stopped me, having a mind to keep measures with the Elector, and then, to cover it over, they would have made a merit of it to you, by saying they had hindered me from doing a wild and desperate thing. 2ndly. My being invited by my friends would not be believed, or at least would have made little or no impression on the French Court. . . . ' I have sent Stafford to Spain, and appointed Sir Thomas Geraldine to demand succours in my name to complete the 1 At Belleiele Charles had despatched Rutledge to the French Court with a letter to the King, explaining the nature of the intended expedition. (Exam, of iEneas Macdonald, Sept. 17, 1746.) INTRIGUE. 63 work, to whom I sent lettei'S for the King and Queen, written in the most engaging terms, to the same purpose. Let what will happen, the stroke is struck, and I have taken a firm reso- lution to conquer or to die, and stand my ground as long as I shall have a man remaining with me. ' I think it of the greatest importance your Majesty should come as soon as possible to Avignon, but take the liberty to advise that you would not ask leave of the French Court ; for if I be not immediately succoured they will certainly refuse you. . . . ' Whatever happens unfortunate to me cannot but be the strongest engagements to the French Court to pursue your cause. Now if I were sure they were capable of any sensation of this kind, if I did not succeed, I would perish, as Curtius did, to save my country and make it happy ; it being an indis- pensable duty on me as far as lies in my power. ' Your Majesty may now see my reason for pressing so much ' to pawn my jewels, which I should be glad to have done imme- diately, for I never intend to come back, and money, next to troops, will be the greatest help to me. I owe to old Waters about 60,000 livres, and to the young one about 120,000 livres. I and Sir Thomas will write more fully to Edgar about these matters, both as to the sum I carry with me and arms, as also how I go. I write this from Navarre, but it won't be sent off till I am on shipboard. If I can possibly I will write a note and send it from thence at the same time. I have wrote a note and sent it to Lord Marischal, telling him to come immediately, and giving him a credential to treat with the minister for succours. ' To the Duke of Ormond I have writ a civil letter, showing a desire of his coming here immediately, but at the same time leaving it to his discretion so to do. ' . . . I should think it proper (if your Majesty pleases) to be put a^t his Holiness's feet, asking his blessing on this occa- sion ; but what I chiefly ask is your own, which I hope will procure me that of Almighty God upon my endeavours to serve you, my family, and country, which will ever be the only view of 'Your Majesty's most dutiful son, ' Charles P.' ^ During the passage Charles wore the habit of a student of the Scots College at Paris, and, the better to conceal his features, allowed his beard to grow. None of the crew were conscious of the rank of their distinguished passenger. '^ Stuart Papers. 6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUAR'I CHAPTER IV. ^ THE RAISIJIG OF THE STANDARr. . . . the array That around the royal standard Gathered on the glorious day, When, in deep Glenfinnan's valley, Thousands on their bended knees Saw once more that stately ensign Waving in the northern breeze ! When the noble Tullibardine Stood beneath its weltering fold. With the ruddy Lion ramping In its field of tressured gold ! When the mighty heart of Scotland, All too big to slumber more, ^ Burst in wrath and exultation Like a huge volcano's roar ! Four days after quitting Belleisle the ' Elizabeth ' fell in with an English man-of-war, called the ' Lion,' commanded by Captain Brett, the officer who, in Anson's expedition, stormed Paita. An engagement was inevitable, and after a desperate but singu- larly equal conflict, which lasted some six hours, both vessels retired, each considerably shattered. In the struggle the ' Eliza- beth ' lost several of her men, and her captain was wounded ; it was therefore necessary for her to change her course and run into Brest to refit. Fortunately Charles and his companions were on board ' La Doutelle,' the captain of which, though repeatedly urged by the Prince to bear down to the aid of the 'Elizabeth,' resolutely refused. Too staunch a Jacobite, and too conscious of the responsibility devolving upon him, Walsh had no intention of putting in danger the royal person of his young master. On the contrary, instead of taking any part in this engagement, be crowded all sail, and, under cover of the insignificance of his own vessel, made straight for the West of Scotland.^ As the return of the ' Elizabeth ' to France had made the party lose nearly all the arms and ammunition which it had cost Charles such efforts to obtain, the banker, ^neas Macdonald, advised the Prince to put back to Nantes, and defer the expe- dition to a more convenient season. His advice was supported ' • Journal of the ship the young Pretender CKme to Scotland in,' July 2, Aug. 5, 1745. State Tapers, Domestic. THE RAISIaYG of TffE STANDARD. 65 by Strickland and Sir John M'Donald, the latter stating that it was a ' desperate undertaking.' But Charles, who, when once his mind was made np, was inflexibility itself, turned a deaf ear to all their counsels, and scorned to return any other answer than ' Y'ou will see ! you will see ! ' ' Burning no light at night, and ever keeping due course, ' La Doutelle,' after a brief chase by an English man-of-war, which she managed to escape by her superior speed, anchored on August 2, 1745, off the island of Erisca, one of the islets of the Hebrides, situated between Barra and South Uist. An eagle, frightened from his eyrie, came hovering round the ship. * Here,' said TuUibardine, pointing upwards, ' is the king of birds come to welcome your Royal Highness to Scotland ! ' The laird of this district was young Macdonald of Clan- ranald, 'an indolent, head-strong boy, guided by the priests,' as Mui-ray of Broughton called him,^ but one whom Ciiai'les knew to be devoted to his interests. A messenger was imme- diately despatched to inform him of the arrival of the Prince. The young chieftain happening to be absent on the mainland, his uncle, Macdonald of Boisdale, received the news in his stead. At once Boisdale went down to the coast, and was rowed on board ' La Doutelle.' His visit was not encourasr- ^ mg. He assured Charles that the enterprise must end in disaster ; that his friends had all along told him that without arms and men from France a rising was nothing less than insanity; and that without foreign aid not a chieftain would summon a single man or wield a single claymore. The old chief ended by advising Charles to return to France, and not to ruin matters by an impatience which was as dangerous to himself as it was to his cause. The Prince, however, had resolved to pay no heed to all such timid counsels ; he was bent on landing, and even if every clansman shunned him he would yet unfurl his standard. With all his persuasive arts Charles tried to represent the expedition in a glowing light, and win over the opposition of the sturdy chief; but Boisdale was too hard-headed to be imposed upon. He gave a decided no as his answer, and rowed back to his island more obstinate and unconvinced than ever. 'With 6,000 troops and 10,000 stand of arms at his back the Prince had a chance of success, but not unless,' he gi'owled. 1 Exam, of /Eneas Macdonald, Sept. 17, 1746. Shite Papers, Domestic. 2 Account of the Clans, by John Murray of Brouyliton. State Papers, Domestic, Aug. 22, 1716. 66 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Charles, however, was not to be daunted. He had entered upon the undertaking well aware of the obstacles he would encounter, and he was resolved that nothing short of death should deter him from the object he had in view. Let Boisdale remain in the safety of seclusion, let others follow his example, still he was sure that deserters from the standard he had come to unfurl would be the exception, not the rule. ' I am come home,^ he cried, ' and I will entertain no notion of returning to the place from whence I came : for I am persuaded that my faithful Highlanders will stand by me ! ' ^ He trusted his loyal Scotch, and those who had left sunny France with him for these bleak western shores would soon see that his con- fidence was not misplaced. But if the worst came to the worst, rather than return he would roam through the wilds and glens of those glorious Highlands, and beat up for recruits himself whilst making the echoes resound with the slogan of his cause. Was he to be deterred by a first rebuff ? If the tributaries were dry, let them see how fared it with the parent stream. If the Isles refused homage to their true lord, let them appeal to the loyalty of the mainland. And ' La Doutelle ' altered her course for the rugged coast of Inverness, and in a few hours entered the rocky basin of Lochnahuagh, between Moidart and Arisaig. As at Eiisca, a messenger was now sent to apprise Clan- ranald of the arrival of his distinguished visitor. A large tent was rigged up on deck, and beneath the awning the choicest vintages of France stood in temi^ting companionship wath the stronger spirits of the country the party had come to explore. Charles, seated in the tent ready for the interview, was dressed in a black coat, ' with a plain shirt not over clean, a cambric stock fixed with a plain silver buckle, a fair round wig out of the buckle, a plain hat with a canvas string, having one end fixed to one of his coat buttons, and black stockings, with brass buckles to his shoes.' This sober attire well suited the character he assumed before the ship's crew of an English clergyman on a visit to the Highlands. Around him were his trusty Council of Seven, not a little anxious to know whether the conduct of Macdonald of Boisdale was to be imitated on this occasion. On receiving the summons, Clanranald, attended by several of his tribe, especially by Macdonald of Ivinloch-Moidart, the brother of the banker -i3ineas, and by the Lairds of Glenala- 1 Jacobite 3Iemoirs, p. 12. THE RAISING GF THE STANDARD. 67 dale and Dalilv, at once came on board and did homage. Charles immediately plunged in medias res, and urged the same arguments that he had shortly before used to Boisdale; but, to his mortification, only with a like result. The only answer the young chief returned was that the hour was not fitting, that his resources Avere too slender, and that foreign assistance was indispensable for a rising. Precisely the echo of the words of Boisdale. Again and again Charles pleaded his cause, but still failed to alter the decision of the chieftain. In the earnestness of argument he paced up and down the deck, and, whilst tidying to force his views upon his visitors, noticed a young Highlander, who had been attentively listening to all that had been said, with flushed cheek and sparkling eye. He was dressed in the tartan of the Macdonalds of Tvinloch-Moidart, and was indeed a younger brother of the chief of that ilk. To him the hesita- tion of Clanranald and of Kinloch-Moidart was cowardice unworthy of their clan. The son of their lawful king plead for aid, and be refused — appeal to a subject and meet with no response — approach the shores from which he had been so long exiled, and be bidden to withdraw ! It was treason and dis- loyalty of the blackest, and the young man looked as if for very shame he could have buried his face in the plaid around him. Charles marked the agitation working in this loyal breast, saw the chord of sympathy his words had struck, and at once rushed forward with hands extended : — ' You, at least, will not forsake me? ' he cried. 'I will follow you to death, were there no other to draw a sword in your cause,' was the eager reply. The enthusiasm of the answer passed into the hesitating chiefs, and they declared that, since their Pi'ince was resolved, it became them ill to dispute his pleasure. Henceforth they were his vassals. Charles now landed, and was at once installed at Borro- daile, a neighbouring farmhouse belonging to Claiu'anald, in one of the wildest parts of Inverness-shire. With him dis- embarked the aged Marquis of Tullibardine, called by all true Jacobites the Duke of Athol, though he had been attainted for his share in the insurrection of 1715, and the dignity had descended to a younger brother; Sir Thomas Sheridan, the Prince's tutor ; Sir John Macdonald, an ofScer in the Spanish service; Kelly, a nonjuring clergyman, who had been con- cerned in Atterbiiry's plot; Francis Strickland, an English F 2 68 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. gentleman; Buchanan, the messangar, and ^Eneas Macdonald, the banker. These have been called the ' Seven Men of Moidart,' and, save the name of one, whatever curiosity has preserved of them exhibits, in no doubtful colours, their un- swerving fealty. But a Judas was in their midst. With the caution of commerce, ^neas Macdonald, as soon as the effect of excitement had worn off, had by no means approved of being mixed up with dynastic intrigues. His pursuits were mercantile, not military, and he regretted that it should be his lot to share in the efforts of revolution. But the Fates were against him, and he had been compelled to act that most unhappy of all chai-acters, the unwilling accomplice of a distasteful enterprise. Shortly after landing he had been asked to visit Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat, the Laird of Macleod, Maclean of Coll, and several other lairds in the Isle of Skye, and inform them of the arrival of the Prince, and bid them assemble their men. But Macdonald, finding that Sheridan, who proferred the request, had no letters from these chieftains authorising such an appeal, declined to undertake the embassy. Indeed, so far from becoming an advocate in the cause of the Prince, the young banker used the influence his name possessed in those parts to dissuade the people of Moidart from having anything to do with the meditated rising of the clans. ^ And at a later period we find him acting the part of a traitor in the camp, by sowing the seeds of discontent among the followers of Charles. For ^Fneas had wished, when he saw the undertaking assuming a formidable character, to sever his connection with it altogether ; but a warrant had been issued for his apprehension by the law officers in Edinburgh, who, aware that he was one of the Seven Men of Moidart, had deemed him a Jacobite staunch and true. Thus self-preserva- tion, more than anything else, made him cling to the ranks of the Highlanders. Nay, he would have surrendered, only self-interest stood in the way, for being the deputy of a M. Dubernay, purvey or- general of the French array, he feared that such a course would militate against him with the French Court, as they had it in their power to ruin him.- This luke- warm calculating position soon exposed itself. It was not long before Charles and his friends heard reports not very creditable to the banker's loyalty ; they were believed, and ^F]neas was sent to Coventry. The banker, though he must have been 1 Exam, of ^neas Macdonald, Sept. 17, 1746. State Pajiers, Domestic. 2 Ibid.\ also Exam. Jan. 12, 1748. Stcte Papers, Domestic. THE RAISING OF THE STANDARD. 69 perfectly aware of the grounds he had given for just offence, wrote a piteous letter to the Prince, complaining of the treat- ment he received.* He denied that he had been disloyal, or had attempted to tamper with the soldiers, but that on the contrary ' No servant could ever serve a piince with greater fidelity and attachment,' and that he was ' quite grieved to the heart to see himself so much wronged when he deserved a quite different treatment.' This letter did not have the effect intended. Macdonald remained with the Prince during the march into England, but the ban under which he lay seems never to have been removed. On being taken prisoner he willingly gave his evidence. His is not the only instance in history of one who steers a middle course in the stormy seas of political intrigues, only to land in safety with the loss of all that men hold most dear. But svich treachery was the exception throughout the Porty-Five. Those who wore the white cockade well knew at what peril to life and property they lallied round their Prince; but once having declared themselves in his favour they sup- ported him with the strictest loyalty, and met their death like men. And of all these followers second to none was the brave Cameron of Lochiel, the Bayard of the expedition. ' He was a man of pretty good understanding,' says Murray of Broughton, condescendingly, ' though of no learning, and esteemed by everybody to be in private life a man of strict honour.' ^ He soon received his summons to attend, and Avaited upon Charles immediately. Like Boisdale, he was fully convinced of the rashness of the enterprise, and intended to tidvise the Prince to return to France. 'If such is your purpose, Donald,' said his brother, Cameron of Fassiefern, ' write to the Prince your opinion ; but do not trust yourself within the fascination of his presence. I know you better than you know yourself, and you will be unable to refuse com- pliance.' Lochiel declined to accept the advice. He visited Charles, and before the fascination of the Prince his resolve melted like snow in the sunshine. As long as Charles con- fined himself to the coldness of mere argument, Lochiel was firm, and saw the weak points in the enterprise, but when the Prince made an appeal to his feelings, the wariness of the chief was at once conquered. 1 ^Eneas Macdonald to the Prince, Sept. 10, 1745. Srate Papers, Domestic. * Account of the Clans, by John Murray. State Papers, Domestic, Aug. 2-2, 1746. 70 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. ' I have come hither,' said Charles, ' with my mind un- alterably made up, to reclaim my rights or to perish. Be the issue what it will, I am determined to display my standard, and take the field with such as may join it. Lochiel, whom my father esteemed the best friend of our family, may remain at home, and learn his Prince's fate from the newspapers.' The chief was moved. ' Not so,' he replied : ' if you are resolved on this rash undertaking, I will go with you, and so shall every one over whom I have influence.' This answer was full of importance to the interests of the Prince, No man possessed more authority in the Highlands than Lochiel, and had he refused his support, not a chief would have risen in favour of the House of Stuart. * Thus,' writes Sir Walter Scott, ' was Lochiel's sagacity overpowered by his sense of what he esteemed honour and loyalty, which induced him to front the prospect of ruin with a disinterested devotion not unworthy the best days of chivalry. His deci- sion was the signal for the commencement of the rebellion.' ' Lochiel had been gained, but there Avere others whose adherence was of equal moment. Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat and Macleod of Macleod were two of the gi'eatest chieftains in the Hebrides, and their joint forces were estimated at more than three thousand men. The hereditary sympathies of these two powerful families had been Jacobite, and it is said they had hinted to the members of the Association that, pro- vided the Prince landed with sufficient foreign support, they would go over to his side. If such a promise had ever been made, when put to the test it was unhesitatingly withdrawn. Clanranald was sent to Mugstat, the seat of Sir Alexander Macdonald, where Macleod happened also to be staying, and begged the chieftains to raise their followers. He said that the Prince expected their adherence, that the clans already assem- bled were eagerly waiting their I'eply, and that their active support would set an example of incalculable value to the cause. The chiefs returned a decided refusal, and, in spite of the promises they are said to have made, but which they denied having made, not only declined to be mixed up in any way with the rebelHon, but did their best, and ap2>arently at first not without success, to dissuade their kinsman Clanranald from having anything to do with it. ' It is certain,' writes Macleod to Duncan Forbes,^ ' that the pi-etended Prince of 1 Tales of a Grandfather, vol. iii. p. IGl. ^ Aug. 3, 1745, Cullodon Papers. THE RAISING OF THE STANDARD. 71 "Wales is come on the coast of South Uist and Barra, and has since been hovering on parts of the coast of the mainland . . . His view, I need not tell you, was to raise all the Highlands to assist him. Sir Alexander Macdonald and I not only gave no sort of countenance to these people, but we used all the interest we had with our neighbours to follow the same pru- dent method ; and I am persuaded we have done it with that success that not one man of any consequence benorth the Grampians will give any sort of assistance to this mad rebel- lious attempt. . . . Young Clanranald has been here with us, and has given all possible assurance of his prudence.' A few days later Sir Alexander Macdonald wrote in the same sti-ain to the Lord President/ declaring that he would not have the slightest connection ' with these madmen,' but regretting that ' young Clanranald is deluded notwithstanding his assurance to us lately.' At the same time Sir Alexander also wrote to General Guest, then in command of the Castle, vindicating his loyalty in case it should be unjustly aspersed. ' Before this reaches you,' he says,- ' the delusion of some Highlanders must be known to you. The good nature of mankind will probably report me as making a part of that mob against the govern- ment, though I never had (and indeed never will have) any concern with these people. I hope, sir, you will readily believe me when I assure you that this island is quiet, and will con- tinue so. Dare I venture to beg the favour of you, sir, to say so to Sir John Cope, to whom I have not the honour to be known ; if you are so good as to pvit this confidence in my veracity, 1 shall look upon it as a piece of kindness as well as honour done to me.' An eminent historian has to my mind judged the conduct of these two chieftains on this occasion very unfaii-ly. ' Their object being,' writes Earl Stanhope,^ ' to wait for events and to side with the victorious, they professed zeal to both parties.' I certainly fail to see the ' zeal ' evinced for the cause of Charles. Nothing can well be stronger than the loyalty expressed towards the Hanoverian government by Sir Alexander Macdonald and Macleod of Macleod, in their letters to the Lord President. To the Prince they did not, though more than once appealed to, vouchsafe the slightest support. In their eyes he was ' the 1 Aug. 11, 1745, CuUoden Papers, p. 207. 2 Aug. 11, 1745. I am indebted for a copy of this letter to the kindness of Mr. Home Drummond Moray of Abercairny. 3 The Forty-Five, p. 24.' 72 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. pretended Prince of Wales,' and his followers a parcel of ' madmen.' Nor was their loyalty merely passive. When the rebellion had fairly broken out, they accepted commissions in the king's service. The defections of these two powerful chiefs — if defection it can be called ; for, from their subsequent conduct, it seems very doubtful whether they ever pledged themselves to adherence — was a great blow to the Prince ; but he resolved not to be discouraged. Conscious that his hopes of success depended en- tirely upon the support of the Highlands, he did everything in his power to ingratiate himself with the people. He was affable to all, and denied his presence to none who wished to visit him. He joined in their sports, and won their hearts .by trying to talk Gaelic. As George the Third piqued himself upon being an Englishman, so Charles wished to be thought a Highlander, Taking up his abode in the very centre of those tribes which had ever been loyal to his house, his manly, frank disposition, the quiet dignity of his manner, his handsome bearing, and last, but not least, his adoption of the national costume, soon won the hearts of those who had always called his father king. Oh ! better loved he c.inn.a be ; Yet, when we see him wearing Our HighLand garb sae gracefully, 'Tis aye the niair endearing. Though' a' that now adorns his brow Be but a simple bonnet ; Ere lang we'll see of kingdoms three The royal crown upon it. Not many days succeeded his landing before clan after clan promised to come down from their mountain fastnesses to swell the ranks of his followers. The feudal authority of the Scottish chieftains was still unbroken, and still as strong as eve-;. The civilisation which ■was working its healthy way in the Lowlands had not yet penetrated the Highland wilds. There, in their pathless woods and gloomy valleys, the inhabitants still adhered to the customs of their forefathers, still wore the garb which for centuries had been their characteristic, and still spoke the language of Erse. That patriarchal system so dear to Stuart monarchs still pervaded every clan. The chief was the leader in war, the judge and protector in peace, and the whole income of the tribe, pjud into his purse, served to maintain that rude but generous hospitality which was meted out to the poorest of the clan. The value of an estate was never estimated according THE RAISING OF THE STANDARD. 73 to its rental, but according to the number of men that it could raise. The story is told of Macdonald of Keppoch, who, entertaining some Lowland gentry with great hospitality at his Highland seat, was asked by one of the guests, with blunt curiosity, ' what was the rent of his estate.' * I can raise five hundred men,' was the only answer. The men thus raised were often idle, haughty, and warlike — their only occupation fighting or hunting, their only law the command of their chief. ^ ' The Highlanders,' writes Mm-ray of Broughton, in his information to the Government,^ * are naturally sagacious, ciinning, and extremely curious. Very hospitable to strangers when not to remain amongst them, but jealous to a degree of any who propose to settle in their country, and seldom fail to use all methods, however unjust, to distress them. Very much addicted to theft, which is much owing to the indolence of their chief, who, if honest and active, can easily prevent it. Their chief is their god and their everything, especially when a man of address and understanding, but if weak, or of an easy temper, no farther regarded than so far as custom prevails, or interest directs.' The English Government, after the insurrections of 1715 and 1719, aware of the danger that might accrue from this state of military autonomy, passed an Act of Parliament to disarm the Highlands, whilst several other measures were introduced with the object of weakening the connection be- tween chieftains and clansmen. Companies of Highlanders were enrolled and constituted regiments, known, on account of the darkness of their uniform, by the title of the Black Watch — now the famous Forty-Second. These companies, officered by Highland gentlemen, were employed to maintain the authority ' The following is a list of the elans, and of the number of men it was in the power of their chieftnins to raise. The list was forwarded by the Duke of Cumberland to the Duke of Newcastle; in some instsnces it under-estimates the strength of tlie chiefs: — Macneal of Barra, GO men; Clarranald, 700; Macleod, "1,000 ; Macdonald, 1,000; Macleod of llasa, 40; Mackinnon of Strath, 100 ; Macleans, .-JOO ; Macdougal of Lorn, lOO ; Stuart of Appin, 300 ; Cameron of Lochiel, 800 ; llacdonaldof Glcngarrv, oOO ; ]Macdonaldof Glencoe, 100 ; Grant of Glenmoriston, 100; Lord Lovat, 600; Chisholm of Strathglass, 100 ; IVIacdonald of Keppoch, oOO ; Macintosh, ."lOO ; Macphersons, 500 ; Arg3'll and Breadalbane, 4,000 ; Macgreirors, '200 ; Koliertson of Struan, 300 ; Menzies of ^\■emyss, 200 ; Drummond, 500 ; Athol, 2,000 ; Mackenzies, 2,000 ; Mac- kays, 500 ; Sutherland, 700 ; Monroes, 300 ; Koss, 100 ; Grants of Strathspey, 700 ; Duke of Gordon, 1,000 ; Forbes of Don, 200 ; Farquharsons in Mar, 300 ; Lord Ogilvie, 500— total, 10,800 men. Lht of the Highland Clans. State Papers, Scotland, March 174|. 2 Account of the Clans. State Tapers, Domestic, Aug. 22, 1746. 74 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. of the Government in the mountain regions of Scotland. Nor was such, a force unnecessary. The union with England was by no means popular with the fiery Gael, who i-egarded it as a sla\'ish subjugation. Home Rule, with a Stuart on the throne, was the one object of the political creed he ever cared to profess. And since he believed that this event would one day come to pass, thanks to Highland chivalry, he was always ready to scheme, plot, and prepare. It was natural, therefore, that he would use his best efforts to evade the Disarming Act. And he was successful: With the exception of the Duke of Argyll's clan, not a tribe had been effectually stripped of its weapons.^ As a rule the Government received the worn-out old arms, whilst those that were keen and serviceable were carefully concealed and kept i^eady for a future occasion. Nor had the confiscation of the estates of fugitive Jacobites, which the Government had thought proper to enforce, stamped out the fidelity of the clans. The Lowltind gentry, well aware of the fate in store for them should they buy up the land of an exiled laird, refused to enter themselves as purchasers. The fate of Alexander Murray had taught them a lesson. This person had dared to become the purchaser of Ardnamurchan, tempted by its valuable lead mines, and hoping that the cannons of Fort William, which almost frowned down upon his newly acquired property, would protect him from insult and outrage. But he was mistaken. Woe was the day when the presump- tuous Lowlander succeeded to the confiscated aci-es of a High- land chieftain ! His buildings were burnt, his cattle were houghed, his workmen were shot down, and finally he himself had to save his life by a hasty flight. For these outrages no redress could be obtained. The embodiment of the Black Watch was a step in the right direction, but it failed from local motives to serve the end intended. In the regiment were many of the best friends and relatives of the exiled Jacobites, while the chiefs availed them- selves of the corps to keep alive the martial spirit of their clans- 1 Yet so well concealed was this fact that we find General Wade writing : 'I can assure yonr Lordships that the Disarming Act has fully answered all that was proposed by it, there being no arms carried in the Highlands but by those who are legally qualified. Depredations are eftectually prevented by the Highland companies, and the Pretender's interest in the clans is so low, that I think he can now hope for no effectual assistance from that quarter.' State Papers, Scotland, Aug. 9, 1726. The year before he writes: 'The Highlanders, instead of guns,"broadswords, dirks, and pistols, are now reduced to travel to their fairs and markets with only a staff in their hand.' S. P. S. Oct. 20, 1725. THE RAISING OF THE STANDARD. 75 men. Thus that wiliest and most unscrupulous of chieftains, Lord Lovat, having obtained, owing to his services in the '15, the command of a company in the Black Watch, took the oppor- tunity of giving all the men of his clan a good knowledge of drill, and of the use of arms at his Majesty's expense, by enrolling them by rotation in the King's service. His fidelity being suspected. Government thought it prudent to deprive him of his commission. Hence the indignation he entertained towards the House of Hanover, and that calculating, valueless support he afterwards offered the Prince. Such was the organisation of the Scottish Highlands, and Charles was not slow to perceive the advantages it offered. He at once sent for his friend Murray, who was in his home in the south of Scotland, and intrusted him with the dangerous duty of getting the manifestoes of James, and the papers appealing for arms and volunteers, printed. Murray readily undertook the task, and was appointed Secretary of State, an office which he held till the end of the Rebellion. The next step was to circulate through the Highlands a Proclamation previously drawn up by Charles, announcing the object of his enterprise, and his hopes of adherents. It began by declaring that by virtue of a commission of regency granted to him by his royal father, he had come to execute his Majesty's will, by setting up his royal standard, and of asserting his undoubted right to the throne of his ancestors. To all such as had been in rebellion against the House of Stuart since the flight of James the Second, a general pardon would be granted, provided they now swore fealty to their new king, and renounced all allegiance to the usurper. All soldiers engaged at the present time in the service of the Elector of Hanover would receive a full pardon should they quit their respective regiments for the ranks of his Majesty King James. Officers on deserting the Hanoverian standard for the forces of the Prince Regent would occupy a higher military position than they formerly held ; whilst private soldiers and able-bodied seamen who thus declared for their lawful king would receive all their arrears and a whole year's pay. On the rights of his Majesty King James being effectually asserted, a fi-ee' Parliament would be summoned, and all the privileges, ecclesiastical as well as civil, of the respective kingdoms settled, confirmed, and secured as heretofore. The fullest toleration in religious matters would be preserved, his Majesty being utterly averse to all persecution and oppression 76 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. ■whatsoever. In order to avoid inconvenience, all civil officers and magistrates now in office sbovild continvie the exercise of their respective employments until further orders, but in the name and by the authority of his Majesty King James, and all officers of the revenue and excise should deliver the public money in their hands to those authorised by the Prince Regent to receive it. Every subject between the ages of sixteen and sixty was to join himself to such as should first appear in his own shire to represent his Majesty's cause. ' Lastly,' concluded the document, ' we do hereby require all Mayors, Sheriffs, and other magistrates, of what denomi- nation soever, their respective deputies, and all others to whom it may belong, to publish this our declaration at the maiket- crosses of their respective cities, towns, and boroughs, and there to proclaim his Majesty, under the penalty of being proceeded against according to law for the neglect of so neces- sary and important a duty. For, as we have hereby graciously and sincerely offered a free and general pardon for all that is past, so we, at the same time, seriously warn all his Majesty's subjects, that we shall leave to the rigour of the law all those who shall from henceforth oppose us, or wilfully and delibe- rately do or concur in any act or acts, civil and military, to the let or detriment of us, our cause and title, or to the destruction, prejudice, or annoyance of those who shall, according to their duty and our intentions thus publicly signified, declai'e and act for us.' ^ This paper Murray took upon himself to print and set in circulation. Before the Prince had landed many days, copies were liberally scattered throughout the Western coast, and some even travelled as far south as Edinburgh, Berwick, and Carlisle. On August 11, Charles quitted the fiirmhouse at Borro- daile for the seat of Macdonald of Kinloch-Moidart, but before leaving he took a cordial fai'ewell of his friend Anthony Walsh, the commander of 'La Doutelle,' and wrote to Borne bescrinsr that the gallant captain might be created Earl of Ireland. ' It is the first favour I ask of you since my arrival in this country. I hope it will not be the last, but at all events I beg of you to grant it. ... I have, thank God, ariived here in perfect good health, but not with little trouble and danger, as you will hear by the bearer. ... I am joined here by brave people as I expected. As I have not yet set up the standard I cannot tell 1 Collection of Declarations, &c., May IC, 1745, Paris. THE RAISING OF THE STANDARD. 77 the luimber, but that will be in a few clays, as soon as the arms are distributed, at which we are workin 84 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. ' For God's sake,' he cried, * what is the matter % Is the King illl ' The man replied that his Majesty was in perfect health, but still hesitated to give the message it was evidently his duty to deliver. At last he blurted it out. ' When Sir Joseph had sufficiently aired the bed, would he kindly tui-n out and let his Grace take possession of the couch 1 ' History does not give us Sir Joseph's answer. It was this susceptibility of his nervous system that never j)ermitt€d the Duke of Newcastle to say no to a man's face. He would promise the same thing to fifty, and disappoint all because he dared not gratify one. To an official who had been called upon to resign, he would write a letter full of regrets and honeyed phrases, and at the same time abuse his incompetency to the more fortunate successor. Never was he frank and true. He ruled the country not in the spirit of an English gentleman, but in the letter of a pettifogging attorney. No more miserable example of the exclusiveness of the parlia- mentary government of those days exists than that svich a man shoiild have been intrusted, for sixteen long inglorious years, with the guardianship of the State, Had it not been for the able mind of Henry Pelham, the country would have been, at the outbreak of the rebellion, in a most critical state; for the time Prince Charles had chosen to carry on his expedition was not ill calculated. England was immersed in an anxious foreign war. The King was in his German do- minions. The Duke of Cumbeiiand, and most of the forces, were on the Continent. The defeat at Fontenoy had dealt a severe blow to the Government, and damjDed the spirits of the people. The administration of affiiirs was in the hands of not the most com- petent of Loid Justices. Parliament w^as up, and the Privy Council, with the rest of the advisers of the Crown, were passing their holidays attheir country seats. The coast waspoorly guarded by an inconsiderable part of the navy. The militia of the diflerent counties was unprepared for any sudden emergency, London was wholly defenceless. Had France leally been in earnest in her support of the House of Stuart, she was now in possession of an opportunity not likely to be renewed. That she neglected such a moment is a proof, in spite of her protestations to the contrary, of her coldness and indiffisrence. But the Duke of Newcastle believed in the hostility of Versailles, His agents abroad had assured him that France was meditating a sudden descent upon our shores : that the Court of Versailles had resolved to make a diversion in Eng- ON THE MARCH. 85 land, and take every advantage of her present defenceless condition ; that the young Pretender was being furnished with a hirge body of troops and a formidable stand of arms, and would soon set sail for the western coast of Scotland ; and that shortly the Government might ex[)ect all the horrors of an invasion. By many, these reports were not credited ; but by the Duke of Newcastle they were fully believed in. This new- complication, springing up on the political horizon at such an unfortunate moment, was not to be lightly treated. Frequent, therefore, were the consultations between his Grace and his brother, Mr. Pelham — the ' my brother ' who figures so often in his correspondence — and still more frequent were the letters that passed between him and Scotland. Affiiirs in the North were at this time conducted by six important persons. Lord Tweeddale was the Scottish Secretary of State in London. The celebrated Duncan Forbes, whose name will never die as long as Scotland values patriotism, up- rightness, and humanity, was the Lord President of the Court of Session. Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton, an able man, and indefatigable in the Hanoverian cause, was Lord Justice Clerk. "William Grant was the Lord Advocate. Sir John Cope, whose military shoi-tcomings have earned an unenviable notoriety in Jacobite song, was the Commander-in-Chief. Whilst last, but not least, the Duke of Argyll, whose services in 1715 had been so basely ignored by the Government, exercised that influence in all the departments which was due to his high rank and previous experiences. The moment had now come when the united ability of this Council of Six was to be called forth and its energies tested to the utmost. On August 1 the Duke of Newcastle had written to the Duke of Argyll that he had received a letter from Lord Har- rington, his brother secretary, stating ' ' that the King had undoubted intelligence that the resolution was actually taken at the Court of Fi'ance to attempt immediately an invasion of his Majesty's British dominions. This intelligence came through such a channel that they have not the least dovibt of it. . . . Our advices, for some time past, from the ports and the coast of France, show that steps are actually taking to put that design in execution. Mv Lord Harrington wrote imme- diately, by the King's order, to the Duke of Cumberland to have a body of troops ready to send here in case of necessity, and we have been using our vitmost endeavours to get together 1 State Papers, Scotland, Aug. 1, 1745. 86 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. a good squadron in tlie Channel (though I am very soiTy to say we have made but little progress in it as yet), which is to be commanded by Admiral Vernon. His Majesty has been so good as to declare that if the scheme of an invasion should go on, and that it should be thought absolutely necessary for the public service that he should return immediately to England, he would begin his journey on the first notice. In answer to which I wrote to my Lord Harrington on Friday last, in the name of his Majesty's servants here, humbly to entreat his Majesty not to defer putting those, his gracious intentions, in exe- cution. All this happened before Sunday last, when we had an account from Mr. Trevor that Van Hoey [the ambassador of the Netherlands at Paris] had despatched an express to the States acquainting them that the Pretender's eldest son embai-ked on the 15th of July, n.s., at Nantes, on board a ship of about sixty guns, attended by a frigate loaded with arms for a con- siderable number of men, and that it was universally believed that they were gone for Scotland. . . . This account was laid before the Lord Justices on Tuesday last, and it was thought necessary that my Lord Tweeddale should immediately send directions to Sir John Cope to assemble the troops in proper places, and to order the dragoon horses to be taken up from grass. Sir John Cope is also to concert with the Lord Justice Clerk and the Lord Advocate what may be proper to be done for securing the public peace and tranquillity, and disappointing these designs. . . . We have this day signed a proclamation offering £30,000 for apprehending the Pretender's son in case he should land in any part of his Majesty's dominions.' In these days of steam and electricity, when a speech delivered by a leading statesman at the Wick Burghs can be read within a few hours in a remote Cornish manor house, it is difficult to understand how so important an event as the land- ing of a rival Piince on our own shores should have given rise for any length of time to doubt and conflicting statements. And yet for many days the fact of Charles's arrival in Scotland was denied in Edinburgh, though it seems to have been pretty well credited in London. ' I cannot believe,' writes the Lord Advocate to Tweeddale on August 6,' ' the intelligence yovi have of his being actually landed.' ' It is possible that this piece of intelli- gence may not be true,' says the Lord Justice Clerk the fol- lowing day.- ' I consider the report as improbable,' writes the Lord President ^ on August 8, ' because I am confident that 1 State Papers, Scotland, 1745. ^ md. s Ihid. ON THE MARCH. S7 young man cannot with reason expect to be joined by any con- siderable force in the Highlands. Some loose, lawless men of desperate fortunes may, indeed, resort to him. But I am pei'- suaded that none of the Highland gentlemen who have aught to lose will, after the experience with which the year 1715 furnished them, think proper to risk their fortunes in an attempt which to them might appear desperate, especially as so many considerable families have lately altered their sentiments,' And even when Charles was quietly ensconced in the house of Kinlochmoidart and counting the days that intervened before the raising of his standard, we find Tweeddale on Avigust 13 * still cautiously writing to Lord Harrington, whilst inclosing intelligence from Scotland, ' though it does not yet appear absolutely certain from these informations that the Pretender's son is actually landed there, yet they confirm in general the first intelligence we received.' Three days later he gravely writes,^ * Upon the whole I am of opinion that it is i:>robable the Pretender's son may be landed in Scotland.' Only probable even then ! Nay, Charles had assembled his men, and was marching south, and still Tweeddale^ thought it prudent to put himself in communication with the Lord Justice Clerk in order to obtain ' more particular accounts as to the young Pretender himself, since there are several letters in town abso- lutely contradicting the accounts sent to the Government here from Scotland, of his ever having Innded there.' Certainly those who administered the affiiirs of Scotland at that time cannot be congratulated upon their expedition in receiving or circulating intelligence. Whilst these nebulous statements were being passed to and fro, Government thought it proper to take precautionary measures. Sir John Cope was oidered to dispose of his forces as he deemed best, to secure the forts and garrisons in the Highlands, and to take the dragoon horses from grass.^ The Loi'd President, doubtful whether this rumour of an invasion was true or not, hurried down to his seat in Inverness-shire, and used all his influence to confirm the well-affected and awe the Jacobites. He entered into communication with the Earl of Sutherland, Lord Reay, Sir Alexander Macdonald, the Laird of Macleod, and with the chieftains of the Grants and Munros. All these pi'omised, when occasion required, adherence to the Government 'pi King George. He then agitated I State Papers, Scotland, 174o. -' Ihld. 5 Ibid. Aug. 29, 1745. •* Tweeddale to Cope, Aug. 2, 1745. State Papers, Scotland. 88 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. the quBstion of obtaiuin:? commission? for tlie raising of twenty com|)anies, and pub hims3lf acfcivaly in communica- tion with Whitehall. ^'j his industry and ability he was the most formidable enemy the House of Stuart at this time possessed. But the Duke of Newcastle, especially as matters on the Continent were not so happy as had been expected, refused to be comforted. ' Your Grace will allow me to assure you in confidence,' he writes to Argyll,^ ' that I never was in so much apprehension as I am at present . . . the loss of all Flanders, and that of Ostend (which I am afraid must soon be expected), will, we apprehend, from the great superiority of the French in Flanders, be soon followed by some embarkation from Ostend or Dunkirk, or both. And there is reason to believe that the French and Spanish ships which are now in the Western ports of France, and in the Bay of Biscay (amountins; to between twenty and thirty, twenty of which are of the line), may be intended to support the embarkation either by coming up the Channel, where at present we have not a squadi-on sufficient to oppose them. Or (as I find is apprehended by some), by cominnf north, about Scotland to Ostend. Seven French men- o'-war sailed from Brest about five weeks ago. It is thought }X)ssible they may be somewdiere lying to the westward to wait there till Ostend shall be in the hands of the French, and then proceed round Scotland thither. We are getting our ships ready, and I hope we shall soon have a tolerable squadron in the Channel. But if the French should come north about, they might surprise us. We are sending transports for 10,000 men to Cami)veer and Flushing, in order to bring part of our army from Flanders, if it should be necessary for the defence of this kingdom.' Frequent as were the appeals from Whitehall to Edinburgh, the G-overnment was anything but prompt in following the advice of the Duke of Argyll, the Lord President, and the Lord Justice Clerk. By the Act for disarming the clans, the friends of the Hanoverian cause in the Highlands were ren- dered useless for an emergency like the present. The dis- affected clans, as I have said, had managed to evade the Act by secreting their serviceable arms, whilst the well-affected had on the contrary given up their weapons unreservedly. Should a struggle therefore ensue, the clans attached to the House of Hanover would be powerless to assist the Government unless 1 Newcastle to Argyll, Aug. 14, 1745. State Papers, Scotland. ON THE MARCH. 89 the Act was suspended find they were again permitted to baar arms. The advisers in Edinburgh repeatedly urged the Minis- try to adopt such a course, and give ' legal strength to the friends of the Governmont in the Highlands.' ' It is men, money, and ammunition,' writes the Lord Justice Clerk,' 'it is timely and inopsrly arming the King's friends and faithful subjects that can only resist the enemies of the Government in time of invasion.' A fortnight later ^ he again mentions the subject, and offers it as his opinion that regular troops will be useless, in the inaccessible parts 'without the help of the friends of the Government, who remain st\U vnthout arm.f! or power to make use of them.'' The Dake of Ai'gyll, the Lord President, and the Lord Advocate reiterated the same advice, and yet, as we shall see, weeks elapsed before proper attention was paid to their remonstrances. Meanwhile Sir John Cope had received instructions from Tweeddale to set out at once for the rendezvous of the rebels. Having concentrated his troops near Stirling, he proposed to begin his march into the Highlands on the very day that Charles had chosen to unfurl his standard at Glenfinnan. His forces, however, were not very formidable — barely 3,000 men — two regiments of dragoons, Gardiner's and Hamilton's, three newly raised regiments, several companies of a Highland regi- ment under Lord Loudoun near Inverness, and a few troops in the gai'rison. As the numbers of the followers of the Prince had been grossly exaggerated, there were those in Edinburgh who thouo'ht the Commander-in-Chief might meet with more difficulties than his light-hearted advisers anticipated. It may also be that Cope, who was one of those dull officers whom routine and interest promote to a conspicuous position, as if for the purpose of proving their utter unfitness for the advance- ment, did not inspire the fullest confidence in his proceedings. ' I pity poor him,' writes Horace Walpole,-' ' who with no shining abilities, and no experience, and no forces, was sent to fight for a crown. He- never saw a battle but that of Det- tingen, where he got his red riljbon. Churchill, whose led captain he was, and my Lord Harrington, have posted him up to this misfortune.' That in Cope's setting out to engage the Prince there was the possibility of failure is plainly seen from the correspond- ence between Edinburgh and the Government. ' Letter to Tweeddale, Aug. 4, 1745. State Papers, Scotland. 2 Ihld. Aug. 18. 3 Letters, vol. ii. p. G8. 90 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. ' Sir John Cope will marcli as he is ordered ' (in the direc- tion of Foi't Augustus), writes Argyll to Newcastle/ ' though I am not sure that such a inarch is jjracticable ; for if the rebels can come near with the numbers they say they Avere to have this day at the setting up their standard, the advantage those Highlanders will have in the mountains inaccessible to regular troops, maT/ produce a very had e^ffect ; and if they can actually defeat him in an action, I fear that very few of all the men he has with him can escape to the Low Covintry, In that case they will immediately have possession of all Scotland. On the other side, if he can arrive at Fort Augustus with the 1,500 foot he has with him, it will cast a gi'eat damp on the rebelKou, though, even in that case, he cannot pursue them through the mountains without Highlanders, the raising of which,' he continues sorely, * is criminal till the militia is called out by royal authority, and arms must be delivered to them before they can act. As to all this the time is far spent.' ' Sir John Cope,' writes the Lord Justice Clerk to Tweed- dale,^ ' will have no small difficulty in getting at the rebels with regular troops in so inaccessible a countiy, or preventing them from getting betivixt him and the Low Country without the help of the friends of the Government, who remain still with- out arms, or power to make use of them.' ' I hope you will forgive me,' says the Lord Advocate to the same,^ ' to suggest it, that if any rub shoidd happen to Sir John Cope, and the chance is the greater that Ids troops are but new raised, and he is not very well supported with many officers of rank or of military experience. ... I hope his Majesty's ser- vants will not grudge some expense to make provision evenybr the ivorst and most unexpected events.'' The Commander-in-Chief, however, did not share these fears. He believed that his sudden march to the mountains would throw the enemy into the greatest consternation, and that on his route his ranks would be swelled by hundreds of eager volunteers. His preparations were being busily carried out. Bread and biscuit were largely baked at Perth and Stirling for the troops. Orders were sent for the two companies of Lord John Murray's regiment to join the main army. At the foot of the Highlands Cope was to be met by eight compa- nies of infantry stationed at Perth. Perth and the surrounding country were to be protected by four troops of dragoons, whilst 1 State Papers, Scotland, Au^^ 19, 1745. - Ibid. Aug. 19. s Ibid. Aus. 22. ON 77JE MARC /I. 91 several regiments of cavalry were to be quartered in the neigh- bourhood of the capital. Lord Loudoun's troops were ordered to keep watch about Invei'ness, and arms had been sent to that garrison. Some artillery had also been despatched to Stirling.! All these arrangements completed, save the arrival of the troops he had asked for the protection of Edinburgh, Sir John quitted the capital in the early morning of the 19th with some 1,500 men, his two regiments of dragoons, and a vast quantity of baggage, and the following day entered Stirling. Here, as forage was diificult to obtain, and cavalry would be useless in the mountains, he left his dragoons behind for the protection of the Lowlands. After a couple of days' easy mai'ching he reached Crieff, and now it was that he began to perceive the difficulties of his expedition. Expecting to be joined by the loyal youth of the parts he passed through, he had brought an extra thousand stand of arms for these recruits of the future. To his astonish- ment not a volunteer presented himself, and as the additional arms were found to be very cumbersome, he contented himself with only retaining a quarter of their number, ' in hopes of some few moi^e men of Lord Loudoun's and some of the Duke of Athol's ' entering his ranks, and sent the remainder back to Stirling.^ On the 22nd he arrived at Amolrie, where he was forced to encamp for the night, * though I did intend to go fur- ther,' he wx'ites to Tweeddale ; ' but the difficulty of getting horses to march at daylight, and they, being weak, keep the men so long on the march that I must leave many behind, (which I can't well afford) if I made long marches.' ^ Five days afterwards he reached Dalwhinnie, having encotintered no slight difficulties in his march from the want of horses to cairy pro- visions. His zeal was also greatly cooled from the fact of ' not one single man having joined him since he set out.' ' Nothing,' he writes to Colonel Guest, who then was in the command of the castle at Edinburgh,"* ' but the strongest orders received at Edinburgh, and since received at Crieff, would have prevailed with me to have come further than Crieff; but I had no choice left me to make, therefore,' adds he, as if coming events were casting their shadows before, ' consequences I am not accountable for.' Here matters for the first time in the campaign looked serious. In the meantime the Prince had not been idle. As soon as 1 Cope to Tweeddale, Aug. 10. State Papers, Scotland, 1745. 2 Ibid. Aug. 22. ^ Ibid. ^ State Papers, Scotland, Aug. 27, 1745. 92 LIFE OF FRL^fCE CHARLES STUART. he heard of the advance of Cope, he began his march south eager for the contest, and determined to anticipate tlie tactics of his foe. Resolved not to imitate the dilatory policy of Mar in the '15, he was anxious to strike whilst the iron was hot, and to take every advantage of the elan and new-born ardour of his men. His troops, inci-eased by the clansmen of Glengarry the younger and by the Grants of Glenmoriston, now numbered nearly 2,000 men, and were all keen for conflict. On hearing of the proclamation which set a price upon his head, Charles had at first refused to retaliate. In his eyes — always accus- tomed to view matters in an amiable and humane light — such a proceeding was ' unusual among Christian Princes,' and he had no intention of imitating so ' infamous an example.' But at last he found it necessary to comply with the wishes of those around him. Accordingly, from his camp at Kinlocheil a counter-proclamation was issued in the name of the ' Regent of the Kingdoms of Scotland, England, Finance, and Ireland,' and signed by the secretary Murray. It ran as follows : — ' Whereas we have seen a certain scandalous and maliciou> paper published in the style and form of a proclamation, bearing date the 1st instant, whei^ein, under pretence of bringing us to justice like our royal ancestor, Charles the First of blessed memory, there is a reward of 30,000^. sterling promised to those who shall deliver us into the hands of our enemies. We could not but be moved with a just indignation at so insolent an attempt. And tliough from our nature and principle we abhor and detest a practice so unusual amongst Christian Princes, we cannot but out of a just regard to the dignity of our person promise the like reward of 30,000^. sterling to him or them who shall seize and secure till our further orders the person of the Elector of Hanover, whether landed or attempting to land in any of his Majesty's dominions. Should any fatal accident happen from hence, let the blame be entirely at the door of those who first set the infamous example.' ^ About the same time as the issue of the proclamation, those chiefs who had taken the field under the banner of the Prince drew up an association, pledging themselves never to abandon Chai-les whilst he remained in the realm, and never to lay down their arms or make peace without his express consent. One gi^eat laird, however, still refused his open adherence. Of all the Highland chieftains none, from his rank and the number of vassals which he could bring into the field, possessed greater 1 State Papers, Domestic, August 22, 1745. ON THE MARCH. 93 influence than the notorious Simon Fraser, Lovd Lovat, In addition to his own clan, which he kept in a high state of mili- taty disciphne, he exercised no little authority over the Laird of Cluny, his son-in-law, and chief of the Macphersons ; over the Macintoshes, the Farquharsons, and the other clans in the neigh- bourhood of Inverness. It was very natural therefore that the Prince should be anxious to secure his fealty. But Lovat aimed at steering that middle course by which the cunning and the unscrupulous so love to attain their ends. Discontented with the Government for depriving him of his independent company, he had long declared his intention of embracing the cause of the House of Stuart. Anxious to become Duke of Fraser and Lord Lieutenant of the shire of Inverness, he had made a bargain with James, when signing himself as an adherent in 1740, that, provided those honoui-s were conferred on him, he would uphold his cause. Accordingly when the Prince lay at Invergarry, Lovat despatched one Fraser of Gortuleg, his especial confidant, to beg for the patent of the Dukedom and the lieutenancy which King James had promised him. But the cannie chief- tain, though he was anxious that the piomise made to him should be fvilfilled, had no intention — until matters assumed a more definite form — of carrying out his own stipulations. He expressed his heartfelt loyalty for the cause of the Prince, but deeply regretted that his age and infirmities would not permit him at present to assemble his clan. As Sir Walter Scott puts it, he wanted the bait without any chance of being caught by the hook. But he was a bite worth playing, and the bait was given him. And so, standing in this slippery middle position, he amused himself for a time by reaching out to both sides. Now he was offering his services to the Prince, and mourning that all that he could give at present in the great cause were his prayers ; and then in the same breath was writing to the Lord President, calling Charles ' a mad and unaccountable gentleman,' and vowing his 'zeal and attachment for his Majesty's Government.' Such duplicity seldom fails to meet with its own reward, and the subsequent fate of Lord Lovat proves no exception to the rule. Fortunately for the Prince the men under his command ■were made of truer stuff than he who was the chieftain of the Frasers. The clans who followed the fortunes of the silken banner that had been raised in the valley of Glenfinnan were heart and soul as bi'ave and single-minded an army as ever wooed the dangers of battle. Impressed with the righteousness 94 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. of their cause, and inspired by no mean or mercenary ambition, they exchanged the peace of their mountain homes for the most terrible rigours of the law, in order that the royal rights which they held were the due of him who had landed in their midst should be asserted and restored. They knew that the odds were heavy against them, but never once did disloyalty rise within their stalwart breasts ; on the contrary, they counted the hours until they should meet face to face their Lowland foes, and prove their superiority in the field. At last they believed the long-looked-for moment had arrived. On the morning of August 26 the Prince reached Aber- challder, within three miles of Fort Augustus, and halted for the evening. Scouts and deserters now told him that Cope was approaching Dalwhinnie, and that an engagement in the hills would be inevitable. Much, therefore, depended upon gaining the command of the situation. Before him lay the steep moun- tain of Corryarrack, with its tortuous paths winding their diffi- cult Avay to the broken crest of the hill. Intersected by deep ravines, and flanked by huge boulders of rock, the rugged sides of the mountain offered excellent protection to sharpshooters, whilst the points where a safe ambush could be lodged were innumerable. At this time the pass over the Corryarrack was the chief means of commu;nication between the Eastern and Western Highlands, and to secure such a position was therefore a matter of extreme importance. Cope with his men would have to scale the south side of the mountain ; Charles, the north side ; the struggle would thus, in all probability, take place in the pass, and the Corryarrack be another Thermopylae. The Prince, fully alive to his situation, and aware that j^i-omptness in his measures might give him a most appreciable advantage, resumed his march early next morning, and hastened to ascend the hill on the northern side. He was full of hope at the coming contest, and, while pulling on a new pair of Highland brogues, said in great glee, ' Before I throw these ofi", I shall fight with Mr. Cope ! ' As be toiled up the base of the mountain, he sent on Mac- donald of Lochgarry and Secretary Murray to reconnoitre the position of the enemy, and to give timely warning. It was expected that the two armies would come into collision about midday. But what was the astonishment of the Prince when, instead of hearing it rejiorted that the zigztvg paths on the south were thronged with redcoats, he learnt that the view in front was wrapped in silence and solitude ; that not an English ON THE MARCH. 95 soldier was visible, and that deserters had just brought in the intelligence that Cope had altered his tactics and was in full march for Inverness ! From the top of the hill the panting Highlanders gazed on the desolate plain below with feelings in which disappointment and congratulation were struggling for the mastery. They had been prepared for battle, and were eager for the fray, but they had never expected an English general would hold their numbers in dread and beat a retreat. And the more they dwelt on the strangeness of the fixct, the more they felt that such a flight was a compliment to their prowess, which even victory itself could not have offered. With a cheer they threw their bonnets into the air, and, like hunters baffled of their prey, called unanimously to follow the retreating commander and force him to fight. But prudence Avaited upon enthusiasm, and after a council among the chiefs it was re- solved to leave the English general vmpursued, and to march at once upon the unprotected Lowlands. To return to Cope. Shortly after reaching Dalwhinnie, he heard that the Highlanders were in possession of the pass of the CorryaiTack, and he was at a loss how to proceed. To attack an irregular army, accustomed to mountain warfare, posted in a defile, was ridiculous. To reach Fort Augustus by the pass in front of him was, as he wrote to General Guest, simply to court the vitter destruction of his troops.^ To return to Stirling would be ignominious. To remain where he was would be culpable inactivity. He had heard that his foes were far more in number than he had been led to expect, and now they were intrenched in a commanding position. What should he do % In the multitude of counsellors there was wisdom : he would call a council of war. His chief officers assembled in his tent, and he laid before them the situation of affairs. Whoever had informed him either of the movements or the condition of the enemy it is evident had grossly exaggerated matters. He began by saying that on each side of the Corryarrack there were 400 men lying concealed ready to spring upon the King's troops as soon as they entered the pass. Every winding of the zigzag path in front of them was commanded by the enemy's cannon ; thus an ascent could only be made in the veiy teeth of hidden gvins, and under a terribly rakish fire. At the base of the mountain were 800 men waiting in concealment to attack the I'ear of the troops ; on the summit, intrenched as in a fortress, were some ' State Papers, Scotland, Aug. 27, 1745. 96 LIFE OF PRINCE C II ARIES STUART. 1600; whilst at Snugborough a large force was assembled ready for attack. Moreover, all the biidges over the deep ravines and mountain torrents were cut down. Under these circumstances, it was nothing short of madness to march to Fort Augustus by the Corryarrack. "What course did they advise % To fall back upon Stirling would only encourage the disaffected in the north who as yet had not taken up arms. To remain here or at Garviemore would not prevent the enemy marching into the Lowlands, as they could go by other routes — by the head of Loch Tay, for instance. In his opinion they should proceed at once to Inverness. His advice was taken. ^ Nothing more clearly proves the incapacity of Cope for the position he held than his conduct on this occasion. It is ex- tremely doubtful whether, with his small force, he should ever have suggested a march into the Highlands. The formation of a camp at Stii'ling, a few men-of-war stationed in the Forth to prevent the Prince crossing the estuary, and troops sent by sea to Inverness and farther north to raise the well-affected would have perhaps been a more prudent course to adopt. But having once marched towards the Highlands, nothing short of actual defeat should have made him relinquish his purpose. That he was right in not courting an engagement in a moun- tain pass is evident, but had he remained in the neighbourhood of Dalwhinnie he could either have given battle on his own terms or have been content with hemming the Piince in, and making him suffer from the want of money and provisions. In starting for Inverness he certainly adopted the worst of the three courses open to him.- ' The militaiy men here are of opinion,' writes Tweeddale to the Lord President,^ ' that though it might not have been fit for his Majesty's service for Sir John Cope to attack the rebels when they were posted on the Corryarrack, or that it was even practicable for him to have marched that way to Fort Augustus after they were possessed of that pass, yet they think that he ought to have stayed somewhere about Dalwhinnie ; and in that case it would not have been easy for tlie rebels to have made such a progress into the south before him.' For thus deserting his position Cope has been branded a coward and a traitor. Yet he erred neither from timidity nor from treachery; be was a plain, stupid soldier, with courage 1 State Papers, Scotland, Aug. 27, 1745. Council of Wa' at Dalwhinnie. - Tales of a Giandfaihar, vol. iii. p. 174. 5 Sept. lb, 1745. Culloden Papers, p. 399. ON THE MARCH. 97 enongli to follow, and capacity enougli to fill a subordinate post, but utt'jrly unsuited for the position and responsibility of com- mand. Like many of his class, he was so burdened by the authority intrusted to him, and so fearful of failure, that he deemed an engagement only justifiable when victory was re- duced to the most perfect certainty. Believing that the enemy greatly outnumbered him — as the Highlanders themselves be- lieved that he greatly outnumbered them — he considered it good generalship to hasten to Inverness in order to swell his ranks with the well-affected clans, and then to give battle to the foe, which he believed would never do otherwise than follow him in the same direction. He little thought that, whilst his redcoats remained in their rear, the Highlanders would dare to descend upon the Lowlands, He was mistaken. Charles was not slow to take advantage of the retreat of the English General. After an unsuccessful attempt to sur- prise the barracks of Ruthven, he marched at once southward u{)on Garviemore. Two days carried him through the passes of Badenoch, and on the third his men looked down upon the fei-tile vale of Athol, spread out before them like a map. Ere the month of August had come to a close, he was entertained at Blaii' Castle by his aged follower, Tvillibardine, whose younger brother, the Duke of Athol, hastily fled at the approach of the insurgents. ' He stayed some time at the Duke of Athol's,' writes Horace Walpole,' ' whither old Mar- quis Tullibardine sent to bespeak dinner ; and has since sent his brothei- word that he likes the alterations made there. The Prince fovind pine apples there, the first he ever tasted.' Whilst Charles remained here more than one Jacobite of note hastened to his standard. Viscount Strathallan and his son ; Oliphant of Gask and his son ; Mr. Murray, the biother of Lord Dun- more ; John Roy Stewart, and others eagerly pressed themselves into his service. Strengthened by these new allies, he resumed his march, and in the soft light of an early September evening entered the walls of the ancient city of Perth. On his march the Prince had again made overtures to Lovat, but the old chief thought it still better to play his waiting game. He was not yet sure how far the tactics of the Prince would be crowned with success. It was true that the Highland clans were rallying in numbers round the exiled line, captivated by the fascination of its young chief; but it was also true that the Lord President was busy in the North raising 1 Lettei-s, vol. ii. p. 62. H 98 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. independent companies, and soliciting government for arms. He did not, therefore, yet know liow matters would turn out ; but though he was ]mrsuing a double and neutral policy, he Vv'as at the same time preparing to throw his weight on to the winning side. Meanwhile Charles had gained an impoi'tant acquisition in the person of Macpherson of Cluny, Lovat's son- in-law, who had been carried off prisoner at Kuthven. Cluny had been appointed by the government captain of one of the independent companies, but, after a few interviews with the Prince, renounced his Hanoverian allegiance, and swore fealty to the Stuarts. As an excuse for this transfer of sentiment, he admitted that the personal pleading of Charles was so irre- sistible that ' even an angel could not resist such soothing close application ! ' His adherence v/as no light thing, for his clan was among the most civilised in the Highlands, whilst he himself was a man of both sense and activity, and exercised a control over his vassals such as no chief then possessed. ' At Perth Charles was met by the Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray, the two most important accessions to his strength which he had yet received. As a mark of his appre ciation both were created Lieutenant-Generals in his service. The Duke of Perth was grandson of James, fourth Earl of Perth, who, on following James the Second to France, had been created Duke of Pertli. He had been educated in France, and his manners bore all those signs of breeding for which the court of Versailles and the halls at Marli were then famous. A man of much amiability of character and command of temper, he was yet too young and too unskilled for the position in the field which the Prince had been pleased to confer on him. Shortly after the landing at INIoidart a warrant had been issued for his apprehension, though he was then living quietly at Drurnmond Castle, as it was well known that his proclivities were in favour of the exiled family. Fortimately, by a clever piece of presence of mind, he managed to efiect his escape, and withdrew to the neighbouring Highlands, where he remained concealed, in spite of all the vigilance of the government, until the approach of Charles, whom he hastened to meet with some 200 men he had succeeded in raising. In the opinion of his enemies Perth did not stand very high. Horace Walpole '-^ calls him ' a silly racehorsing boy ' ; whilst Tweeddale, in commenting upon his escape from Drummond 1 Account of the Clans, by Murrav of Broughton. State Papers, Domestic, Aug. 22, 174G. ' ^ ie«(;-s, voL ii. p. G9. ON THE MARCH. 99 Castle, wi'ites to Lord Harrington that, ' as lie is a man of so little spirit, and has no great following in the Highlands, he cannot be of any gi'eat consequence.' ^ Lord George Murray was a very different man. He was both an able and experienced soldier, and undoubtedly the best officer the Prince possessed. Like his brother, the Marquis of TuUibardine, his sentiments were Stuart, and he had been engaged in the affair of 1715. He had also been present at the battle of Glenshiel, in 1719, and subsequently served lor some years in the Sardinian ai-my. On being pardoned by the government, he mariied, and passed his days quietly upon his property ; but on the invasion of the Prince, his old feelings of loyalty became as vivid as ever, and he hastened to join his young master on the war-path. Unfortunately, the adherence of Lord George was not an unmixed advantage. Conscious of his military capacity and of his past services, he held in no little contempt the rude simple men who called themselves his brother officers, many of whom could not even relieve guard without makins: blunders which would draw a smile from the rawest recruit. Thus his military superiority, coupled with a hot and haughty temper, led him often into collision with those around him. Almost from the very first day of his assummg command a jealousy sprung up between liim and the Duke of Perth, and throughout the campaign an ill-timed rivalry was ever at work between the two. Nor was this all. As Lord George made himself as personally objectionable in the council chamber as he did in the field, he soon created a party hostile to him. Murray of Broughton and Sir Thomas Sheridan were the two who became his most bitter enemies. It so happened that some years ago Lord George had asked for a commission in the British army, but had been refused ; Murray accordingly took every opportunity of poisoning Charles against his new lieutenant, by insinuating that he was not so zealous in the good cause as he should be, and so far effected his purpose that the Prince, in spite of all the services rendered him by Lord George, never quite believed in the sincerity of his lieutenant's devotion. ' Lord George Murraj",' writes the Chevalier de Johnstone, ' possessed a natin-al genius for military operations, and was a man of surjjrising talents ; which, had they been cultivated by the study of military tactics, would unquestionably have rendered him one of the greatest generals of his age. He was 1 State Papers, Scotland, Aug. 9, 1745 H 2 lOO LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. tall and robust, and brave in tlie highest degi-ee; conducting the Highlanders in the most heroic manner, and always the first to rvish sword in hand into the midst of the enemy. He used to say, when we advanced to the charge, " I do not ask you to go before but merely to follow me." He slept little, was continually occupied with all manner of details, and was altogether most indefatigable, combining and directing alone all our operations ; in a word, he was the only person capable of conducting our army. He was vigilant, active, and diligent ; his plans were always judiciously formed, and he carried them promntly and vigorously into execution. However, with an infinity of good qualities, he was not without his defects. Proud, haughty, blunt, and imperious, he wished to have the exclusive ordering of everything; and feeling his superi- ority, he would listen to no advice. Still it must be owned that he had no coadjutor capable of advising him, and his having so completely the confidence of his soldiers enabled him to perform wonders. He possessed the art of emplo}T.ng men to advantage without having had time to discipline them; but taking them merely as they came from the plough, he made them defeat some of the best disciplined troops in the world. Nature had formed him for a great warrior; — he did not require the accidental advantage of birth.' At Perth Charles remained a week. Here he spent his time in drilling his newly raised troops, and adding to his ex- hausted exchequer, by levying the cess and public revenue in those towns — Dundee, Montrose, and the Lowland towns north of the Tay — where his authority dared not be disputed. The gaols were forced open and the prisoners set free. Parties were sent through out Angus and Fife to proclaim King James YIII., and busily enlisted followers. At the same time Charles was exercising his social qualities and winning golden opinions on every side. He was courteous to all, and permitted no theft or rapine to take place without swift punishment visiting the ofiender. A fair being held in Perth at this time, he granted passports to all strangers, protecting their persons and goods from violence or depredation. Balls were given in his honour, and the Prince, well trained by the handsome beauties of Rome and Venice, soon obtained the verdict of the fair sex in his favour. But still aware that grave work, and not amuse- ment, was liis chief duty, he never allowed the charms of society to interfere with his heavier labours. Indeed he offended more than one fair dame by neglecting her charms for O.V THE MARCH. loi a military inspection. Whenever lie rode through the town he was greeted by loud huzzas, and the inhabitants struggled amongst themselves to obtain a good view of him. As for his followers, the more they saw of him the more they idolised him. ' His fine person, his affability, and, above all, his putting on the Highland dress ; marching at the head of his infantry, and being the first to plunge into any liver they were to pass, charmed them to such a degree, that I believe there was scarce a man among them that would not have readily i-uai on certain death, if by it his cause might have received any advantage ; but as their lives were of much greater service, they testified their love and admiration of him by huzzas and acclamations that even rent the sky whenever they saw him, and by making songs in his praise, and singing them among themselves when they saw him not.' ' It was whilst staying at Perth that the Prince penned the following encouraging letter to his father, who was watching keenly the progress of his son : — ' Since my landing, eveiything has succeeded to my Avishes. It has pleased God to prosper me hitherto even beyond my expectations. I have got together thirteen hundred men; and am promised more brave determined men, who are resolved to die or conquer with me. The enemy marched a body of regular troops to attack me, but when they came near they changed their mind, and, by taking a different route and making forced marches, have escaped to the north, to the great disappoint- ment of my Highlanders; but I am not at all sorry for it — I shall have the greater glory in beating them Avhen they are more numerous and supported by their di'agoons. ' I have occasion to reflect every day on your Majesty's last words to me, that I should find power, if tempered with justice and clemency, an easy thing to myself, and not giievous to those under me. 'Tis owing to the observance of this I'ule, and to my conformity to the customs of these people, that I have got their heaits, to a degree not to be easily conceived by those who do not see it. One who observes the discipline I have established would take my little army to be a body of picked veterans ; and, to see the love and harmony that reign amongst us, you would be apt to look on it as a large well-ordered family, in which every one loves another better than himself. ' I keep my health better in these wild inountains than I 1 Genuine Memoirs of John Murray. 102 LIFE OF FRINGE CHARLES SFUART. used to do in the Campagna Felice, and sleep sounder, lying on the ground, than I used to do in the palaces of Rome. ' There is one thing, and but one, in which I had any difference with my faithful Highlanders. It was about the price upon my kinsman's head, which, knowing your Majesty's generous humanity, I am sure will shock you, as it did me when I was shown the proclamation setting a price npon my head. I smiled and treated it with the disdain I thought it deserved; upon which they flew into a violent rage, and insisted upon my doing the same by him. As this flowed solely from the poor men's love and concern for me, I did not know how to be angry with them for it, and tried to bring them to temper by representing that it was a mean, barbarous principle among princes, and must dishonour them in the eyes of all men of honour ; that I did not see how my cousin's having set me the example would justify me in imitating that which I blame so much in him. But nothing I could say would pacify them. Some went even so far as to say, " Shall we venture our lives for a man who seams so indiffei'ent of his own % " Thus have I been drawn in to do a thing for which I condemn myself. ' Your Majesty knows that in my nature I am neither cruel nor revengeful ; and God, who knows my heart, knows that if the prince who has forced me to this (for it is he thathasfoi-ced me) was in my power, the greatest pleasure I could feel would be in treating him as the Black Prince treated his prisoner the King of France — to make him ashamed of having shown himself so inhuman an enemy to a man for attempting a thing, whom he himself, if he had any spirit, would despise for not attempting. ' I beg your Majesty would be under no uneasiness about me. He is safe who is in C4od's protection. If I die, it shall be, as I lived, with honour ; and the pleasure I take in think- ing I have a brother, in all respects more worthy than myself to support your just cause, and rescue my country from the oppression under which it groans (if it will suffer itself to be rescued), makes life more indifferent to me. As I know and admire the fortitude with which your Majesty has supported your misfortunes, and the generous disdain with which you have rejected all ofters of foreign assistance, on terms which you thought dishonourable to yourself and injurious to your coun- try; if bold but interested friends should at this time take advantage of the tender affection with which they know you OM THE MARCH. 103 love me, I hope you will reject their proposals with the same magnanimity you have hitherto shown, and leave me to shift for myself, as Edward the Third left his brave son, when he was in danger of being oppressed by numbers in the field. No, sir, let it never be said that, to save your son, you injured your country. When your enemies bring in foreign troops, and you reject all foreign assistance on dishonourable terms, your deluded subjects of England must see who is the true father of his people. For my own part, I declare, once for all, that, while I breathe, I will never consent to alienate one foot of laud that belongs to the crown of England, or set my hand to any treaty inconsistent with its sovereignty and independ- ency. If the English will have my life, let them take it if they can ; but no unkindness on their part shall ever force me to do a thing that may justify them in taking it. I may be overcome by my enemies, but I will not dishonour myself ; if I die, it shall be with my SAvord in my hand, fighting for the liberty of those who fight against me. ' I know there will be fulsome addresses from the diflerent corporations of England; but I hope they will impose upon none but the lower and more ignorant people. They will, no doubt, endeavour to revive all the errors and excesses of my grandfather's unhappy reign, and impute them to your Majesty and me, who had no hand in them, and suffered most by them. Can anything be more unreasonable than to suppose that your Majesty, who is so sensible of, and has so often considered, the fatal errors of your father, would, with your eyes open, go and rejjeat them again 1 ' Notwithstanding the repeated assurance your Majesty has given in your declaration that you will not invade any man's pro- perty, they endeavour to persuade the unthinking people, that one of the first things they are to expect will be to see the public credit destroyed ; as if it would be your interest to render yourself contemptible in the eyes of all the nations of Europe, and all the kingdoms you hope to reign over, poor at home and insignificant abroad. They no doubt try to frighten the present possessors of church and abbey lands with vain terrors, as if your Majesty's intention was to resume them all ; not considering that you have lived too long in a Catholic country, and read the history of England too carefully, not to have observed the many melancholy monuments to be seen there of the folly of those pious princes who, thinking to honour religion, have lessened it by keeping superstitious rites in the 104 LIFE OF FRINGE CHARLES STUART. chnvch, whereby they have insensibly raised np a power which has too often proved an over-match for their snccessors. ' I find it a great loss that the brave Lord Marischal is not with me. His character is very high in this country, and it must be so wherever he is known. I had rather see him than a thousand French, who if they should come only as friends to assist your Majesty in the recovery of your just rights, the weak people would believe came as invaders. ' There is one man in this country whom I could wish to have my friend, and that is the Duke of Argyll, who, I find, is in great credit amongst them, on account of his great abilities and quality, and has many dependants by his large fortune; but 1 am told I can hardly flatter myself with the hopes of it. The hard usage which his family has received from ours has sunk deep into his mind. What have those princes to answer for, who by their cruelties have raised enemies, not only to themselves but to their innocent children % ' I must not close this letter without doing justice to your Majesty's Protestant subjects, who, I find, are as zealous in your cause as the Roman Catholics, which is what Dr. Wagstaff has often told me I should find when I came to try them. I design to march to-morrow, and hope my next shall be from Edinburgh.' ^ The hope with which this letter concluded was not falsified. The English General on reaching Inverness was deeply hurt at finding his tactics so completely frustrated by the descent of the Highlanders. Aware how unprotected was the condition of Edinburgh, he at once assembled his men and marched straight for Aberdeen, where he intended to embark and sail south as swiftly as the winds would carry him to defend the^ capital, Eor this purpose he wrote to the Lord Advocate, desiring that 2,000 tonnage of shipping should be despatched from the Forth, for the purpose of transporting the troops on their arrival at Aberdeen. But various difficulties encountering him on the line of march, he was not able to make the rapid progress he expected. The officials at Edinburgh, now fully alarmed, wrote, urging him to hasten south with all speed. To this Cope rejilied that he had marched from Inverness without a halt, but could not go over the ground ' a quarter so fast as those at a distance expect.' At the same time he was confident of ultimate success. * Though damage,' he writes to the Lord 1 Stuart Tapers, Perth, Sept. 10, 1745. ON THE MARCH. 105 Advocate, ' may be done by the quickness of the march which the Highlandei's are much more able to make than we are, yet a solid body like ours must effectually get the better of them in the end.' ' Little did he anticipate the humiliation in store for him ! Meanwhile the Prince had quitted Perth, and was pushing south with all haste. True to his tactics of always anticipating his foe, he determined to forestall Cope at Edinburgh, as he had forestalled him at the Corryarrack. The moment the scouts brought him intelligence of the intention of the English General, he resolved to lose no time in idle delay, but to collect his rough troops and set out at once for the fair capital of his new kingdom. The route was given, and Charles, quitting the town with the vanguard, was joined at Dunblane by the rest of his men. ' There were about two thousand,' writes Captain Vere, an English officer and a staunch adherent of him whom the Highlanders called ' the Elector,' ^ ' that marched in one body from Perth, the rest joined them upon their march. They have four brass cannons with them, that they got at the Duke of Athol's house, and twelve swivel guns, that they brought from Lochaber with them. There are great numbers of them perfect boys, without arms, stockings, and shoes, of about fourteen or sixteen years of age. They have brass hilted swords tied about them with straw ropes, and they are no better than a band of thieves and robbers plundering the country everywhere they come.' This last accusation was a very fovourite one with those attached to the existing government, and not always to be credited. Considering the predatory habits of the Highlanders, it is a matter of surprise that their behaviour on the line of march should have been as regular and orderly as it was. It is certain that many of the stories concerning the outrages they committed are false, and were only circulated by the govern- ment in the hope of ruining the cause of the Prince. Through- out the whole progress of the Rebellion, the clans were under the strictest orders to do no hurt to the cities and villages, fields and farms, through which they passed. Any one so offending was severely punished. Where the ' plundering ' really consisted was in the Prince, as Regent of the kingdom, raising taxes and levying contributions of food and money from those he compelled to acknowledge his authority. That the Highlanders at times disobeyed their orders, and gave full 1 State Papers, Scotland, Sept. 9, 1745. '- /t/ern, Sept. 12, 1745. io6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. scope to their national instincts of appropriation, cannot be denied. What nation when on the war path. has failed to do as they did % The astonishing fact is, not that these rough moun- taineers, whose whole lives had been passed in clan-robberies and border-lifting, availed themselves of what loot they came across, but that when oppoi'tunity offered they should have been so moderate in their theft, and so merciful in their be- haviour. Rapidly passing over ground every inch of which was fraught with memories of Scottish history, — Sheriffmuir, where thirty years before the Stuart cause had struggled for its rights — Stirling, whose every battlement spoke of sieges, victories, and surrenders — Bannocklnirn, where English and Scotch met face to face, and the Saxon and his foreign allies had to bite the dust — Falkirk, on whose plains the great Wallace had been taught the bitter lesson of defeat and desertion — Linlithgow, in whose palace the unhappy wife of Darnley first saw the light, and on whose bridsre Angus and Lennox waged mortal combat, — the Prince halted his men within a few easy miles of Edinbursfh. o' CHAPTER YI. THE FIRST VICTORY. The battle of Gladsmnir it was a noble stour, And "weel do we ken that our young Prince wan ; The gallant Lowland lads, when they saw the tartan jjlaids, Wheel'd round to the right, and away they ran : For Master Johnnie Cope, being destitute of hope, Took horse for his life, and left his men ; In their arms he put no trust, for he knew it was just That the King should enjoy his own again. Nothing could exceed the consternation of the good people of Edinburgh at the progress of the Highlanders. At first the news of the invasion had been received with contempt and derision. It was an undertaking unworthy of serious atten- tion, and would no sooner raise its rebellious head than be crushed in the bud. ' The Highlanders,' sneered the Edinburgh ' Evening Courant,' ' Avere only a pitiful crew, good for nothing, and incapable of giving any reason for then' proceedings, but talking only of tobacco. King James, the Regent, plunder, and new brogues.' But when such confident folk heard that Cope had I'efused to encounter this ' pitifitl crew,' and that the THE FIRST VICTORY. 107 Prince had already reached Perth, matters assumed a more serious aspect. It was now thought advisable, however con- temptible might be the foe, to take some active measures to defend the city, and not to be entirely behindhand in prepara- tions for resistance. Such precautions were not premature. In a military point of view no town was worse protected than Edinburgh. It is true that it possessed defences, but these were of so ancient a character as to be useless in the hour of danger. A high solid wall inclosed the city from the West Port to the Potterrow Port, but though it looked a showy object of fortification, it was too narrow for mounting cannon, and, save at one or two points, exhibited neither turret nor redoubt from which the defensive line could be flanked or defended. In addition to this, it was out of repair in several places, and could be easily scaled from more than one spot. Nor were the gallant de- fenders of the city in a much more serviceable condition. By the name of Trained Bands, the different townspeople capable of bearing arms had been from time to time embodied, and served with firelocks which w^ere kept in the town's magazine. But no military discipline being maintained, this institution — like the late National Guard in France — was looked upon as a harmless corps, which had no' other object in view than to dis- play its military ardour on all festive but peaceful occasions. There were also the Town Guard, and a few volunteers; but except the two regiments of dragoons which Cope had left be- hind him for the protection of the Lowlands, no regular troops remained to dispute the passage of the Prince. It was evident that if resistance was to be seriously thought of, there should be no time lost in making the needful pre- pai-ations. A meeting was held, and measvu-es of defence passed. Volunteers were enrolled ; fortifications were added to the walls under the direction of the celebrated M'Laurin, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh; cannon were mounted on available parts ; the city guard was doubled, all the vessels in the Frith were brought over to the Edinburgh side, and the wheat stored in Leith was ordered to be housed in the capital. • But careful as these measures were, the government in Scotland, which had never been blind to the dangers which faced them, still viewed matters very seriously. There were 1 TaZes 0/ a G«»irf/a//(er, vol. iii. p. 182. State Papers, Scotland. Lord Advocate to Tweeddale, Sept. 5 aud 10, 1745. lo8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. many in the city strongly in favour of the Prince, and who only hid their hopes under cover of the ridicule and irony with which they interrupted all means taken for the protection of the town. The Lord Provost himself was more than suspected of being a Jacobite. Should Cope therefore be anticipated by the arrival of the Highlanders, it would go hard in the present defenceless state of affairs with the Hanoverian cause in the north. The secret Jacobites lurking in the town and the neighbourhood only wanted a little encouragement to proclaim openly their adherence. Let the Prince once gain possession of the capital, and Scotland w^ould be his. Hundreds who now held back from fear, both in the north and the south, would hasten to join the ranks of him whom they regarded as their lawful liege, and whose name was so closely identified with the history of their country. All this the Scottish law oihcers represented to those who presided at Whitehall ; and yet the English cabinet took no pains to protect its interests across the Tweed. The chieftains of the well-aflfected clans had written to Edinburgh begging that arms might be supplied to their people, and explaining under what disadvantages they laboured from the disarming clauses; but the Duke of Argyll and the Lord Justice Clerk had been forced to reply that they were powerless to act in the matter — they had expressed their views to the Ministry in London, but no attention had been paid either to their remon- strances or their advice : the chieftains must do the best they could. Still, in spite of the past, the Lord Justice Clerk deter- mined to make one farther appeal to those at the helm of government. It was not pleasant to keep on reiterating de- mands ])ersistently refused, but high-minded men, anxious for the welfare of their country, never permit personal feelings to stand in the way of the national good. ' Your lordship will be pleased to reflect,' he therefore writes to Lord Tweeddale,' ' on the state of this country at present at the beginning of this rebellious insurrection, which began about six weeks ago and at this hour is holding in dread the capital of this part of the kingdom. Scotland may be divided into two parts, the one disarmed and the other un- armed. By the former I mean the Highlands, and by the latter the Lowlands. The former produces as good a militia as any in Europe ; the latter (with which your Lordship and I are most acquainted) are neighbourlike, but little accustomed to 1 State Tapers, Scotland, Sept. IG, 1745. THE FIRST VICTORY. 109 the use of arms till they are employed in a military manner. The Highlanders again may be divided into three classes. First, what 1 shall call the Whig clans, who have always borne that character since these names and distinctions were among ua. Of this sort your lordship, and every one acquainted with this country, knows the chief are the Campbells, the Sutherlands, the Grants, the Monroes, the Mackays. The second class are the clans still professedly Jacobites, and who at this moment are giving proof of it, viz. the Camerons, the Macdonalds of Clanronald, Keppoch and Glengary, and a few more of lesser note. The third class is made up of those who were engaged in the late rebellion, but whereof the chiefs now profess and practise submission and obedience to the government. Among these may be accounted the Mackenzies, Macleods, Gordons, Macdonald of the Isles, the helmviour of lohich last has been most exemplary and meritm-ious on this oGcasio7i. By an Act of the first of the late King, intituled " An Act for the more effectual security of the peace of the Highlands," the whole Highlanders, without distinction, are disarmed for ever and forbidden to use or bear arms under penalties. This Act has been found by experience to work the quite contrary effect from what was intended by it, and in reality proves a means for more effectually disturbing the peace of the Highlands and of the rest of the kingdom, and his Majesty's government by and through those Highlands, and the cause of this operation is now plainly visible. For all the disafiected clans retain their arms, and either concealed them at the first disarming or have provided themselves since — at the same time that the dutiful and well-affected clans have merely submitted to this measure of the government and act of the legislature, and are still dis- armed or have no quantity of fireai-ms amongst them. The fatal effects of this difterence at the time of a rebellious insur- rection must be very obvious and but too clearly seen, and by us in this country felt at this hour : I pi\ay God they be felt no further south. By that disarming Act, as it stands, there is still room left for arming occasionally even the Highlands or prohibited countries, and this method reserved or excepted from the prohibition is, when by his Majesty's orders and out of his arsenal the people are called out, and armed by the Lord- Lieutenant of the counties, then they may lawfully wear and use such arms during such number of days and space of time as shall be expressed in his Majesty's orders.' On this point the Lord Justice Clerk dilates at length, and urges Twteddale iio LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. to impress upon the government not only the necessity of arm- ing the Whig clans, but also the Lowland militia in the southern and western counties. ' If this had been done,' he continues in a spirit of just indignation, ' it is as clear as any moral demonstration to every man in Scotland that this, at first pitiful, and now ugly insurrection, would have been dis- sipated and crushed at once . . . instead of which, what do we see % Scotland seemingly reduced under the obedience of the Pretender ! And by what force % The dregs and scum of two or three petty Highland gentlemen — the Camerons and a few tribes of Macdonalds ! ' Meanwhile the ' dregs and scum ' were pushing on to Edinburgh. The King's dragoons, who had been left behind by Cope, with a consistency which marked their movements throughout the campaign, rapidly retreated before the onward march of the troops of the Prince. In every quarter of the capital grave fears were entertained. All depended upon the movements of Cope. Would he be able to land his troops before the ariival of the Prince % That was the question. The secret Jacobites in the town were sanguine of their cause, and felt that, thanks to the rapid marching of the Highlanders, the English general was at a disadvantage. ' I look upon Scot- land as gone,' writes Horace Walpole.' ' I think of what King William said to the Duke of Hamilton when he was extolling Scotland : " My lord, I only wish it was a hundred thousand miles off, and that you was King of it ! " ' But at last it was resolved to stem the tide of rebellion. The dragoons of Colonel Gardiner were within three miles of the city, and had now summoned up coui'age to make a stand at a place called Corstorphine. The second regiment of dra- goons, known as Hamilton's, were quartered at Leith ; orders "were at once despatched for them to form a junction vath Gardiner, and to collect as many volunteers, on their march through Edinbiu'gh, as the town could supply. Hamilton did as he was requested. As the men rode through the city, loud were the huzzas that rang through the streets, whilst the volunteers, who hastily enrolled themselves under the cavalry colonel, aware that flxir eyes beamed upon them from every casement, were brave with the pride that casts out cowardice. On marched the cavalry, clanking their swords and shouting that the Highlanders would soon get their deserts; on marched the volunteers, with colours flying, the band playing, and all 1 Letters, vol. ii. p. CO. THE FIRST VICTORY. in the charms of the panoply of war, till the more fashionable parts of the town had been passed. But the courage that is animated by the presence of spectators is somewhat apt, when that presence is withdrawn, to ooze away. As the brave volun- teers approached the city gates, and felt that they Avere about to engage in stern earnest with the furious Highlanders — ^the Hic'hlanders whom report and romance depicted as the most awful of monsters, whom even regular troops feared ! — they beo-an to regard matters more from a personal than a patriotic point of view. The ranks became thinner and thinner as the march proceeded. One by one the men dropped off, till at last, when their gallant commander had passed the gates, and was about to inspect his courageous followers, a miserable dribble of some two dozen men only met his eye. It was, therefore, thought better that this gallant remnant should be dismissed, and the cavalry proceed unsupported. The advice was acted upon. But the example was infectious. On the morning of Sep- tember 16, General Fowkes, who had been appointed to super- sede Gardiner, drew up his men near the north end of the Colt Biidge, which crosses the water of Leith some two miles from Corstorphine. Here the troops remained in a fever of expectancy, and soon showed the stuff of which they were made. It so happened that the Prince, according to his wont, had despatched a party of mounted officers in advance to re- connoitre \ these gentlemen, seeing a body of dragoons in their front, rode up, with a coolness which more than one English- man must have then envied, and discharged their pistols almost in the faces of the cavalry. And now a most humiliating scene ensued. The dragoons, teriified beyond measure at the appearance of these few Highlanders, were seized with a sudden panic, and thrown into disorder \ in vain their officers tried to rally them ; commands or curses were powerless to restore courage, and at last every man turned tail, buried his spurs in his horse, and fled for dear life. On they galloped in full view of the city they had vowed to defend, and of the inhabitants, whose cheers still seemed to resound, until they reached Leith. But even here they were not safe ; a cry was raised that the Highlanders were at hand, and again the bold dragoons jumped into their saddles, and away they sped till the folds of dark- ness overtook them, and the gates of Dunbar opened their wel- come portals. Such was the ' Canter of Coltbrigg ' — perhaps the most contemptible instance of militai-y cowardice that the annals of warfare have ever had to record. 112 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. The flight of the dragoons — the only regiment Cope had left for the defence of the capital — struck all in Edinburgh but the Jacobites with terror. A few short hours before a message had been delivered to the Provost, purporting to come from the Duke of Perth, stating that if the citizens surrendered, the town would be favourably treated, but that if any resist- ance was attempted, military execution must be expected. Crowds even then flocked to the Lord Provost, and begged him to yield up the town, and not to shed needless blood. But after the withdrawal of Gardiner and Hamilton's men, few advocated resistance. What means of defence, they said, had they but the City Guard, and a few newly raised recruits'? The regular troops had fled : was it not madness to resist % Let the town be delivei'ed up. Such advice was not perhaps unwelcome to tlie Jacobite Provost ; but before acting he said he would assemble the magistracy and take the sense of the meeting. To assist him in his counsels he sent for the Lord Justice Clerk, the Lord Advocate, and the Solicitor-General ; but these important functionaries had wisely cpiitted the city, and were safely housed at Dunbar. However, in spite of their absence, the meeting was convened, and being packed with Jacobites and terrified citizens, the cry for surrender was all but unanimous. The volunteers had been drawn up in the street, but as no one came forward to command them, they resolved to disembody themselves, and return their arms to the Castle magazine. This resolution was all the moi-e agreeable as a report had just been spread that the Highlanders were close upon the town, and 16,000 strong. And now, whilst stormy debate was agitating the Town Council, a letter was brought in from the Prince summoning the city to surrender, and declaring that if he were compelled to enter the place by force, it would go hard with those in- habitants who were under arms. The reception of this epistle only increased the cry against resistance, and after much con- fusion and rival advice, it was at last agreed that a deputation from the Town Council should be sent to the Prince, who had now taken up his quarters at Gray's Mill, within two miles of Edinburgh, and beg for the suspension of hostilities until the citizens had agreed upon the answer they should return. The memljers of the deputation were selected, and at once de- spatched upon their mission. Shortly after the Prince's arrival at Gray's Mill, Lord THE FIRST VICTORY. 113 Elcho, who had ouly Avaited until Charles approached Edin- burgh to attach himself to his sv;ite, entered his tent, and declared his adherence to the Stuart cause. Charles received him most cordially, and appointed him his first aide-de-camp, at the same time bidding him not take Lord George Muii'ay into his confidence, as he knew that Lord George had only joined him to betray him. On conversation becoming more and more confidential between the two, Chailcs informed his latest supporter that he was in great distress as regards money matters, not having even enough to pay his men. Elcho asked him how much he was in immediate want of. Charles replied that if he could have a sum of 1500 guineas it would be now of the greatest service to him. It so happened that Lord Elcho, when expressing his intention of joining the Prince to his younger brother, who had inherited a large foi-tune from his maternal grandfather on taking the name of Charteris, had i-eceived from him the exact sum of 1500 guineas as a present. Elcho now begged the Prince to accept this 1500 guineas, saying that he was charmed to have it in his power to advance his Royal Highness the money, as there still remained with him some thousand guineas to cai'iy on the campaign. Charles gladly availed himself of Lord Elcho's oflVr, and thanked his new adherent most warmly for his generosity.' We shall hear more than once of this loan. Meanwhile the deputation, with all the speed of timidity, were wending their way to Gray's Mill. But now a new com- plication ensued. Scarcely had the selected f-up]iliants quitted the city than a report — long expected, bat which hope had almost abandoned — circulated like wildfire tlirough the town. It was said that the army of Sir John Cope had just arrived in the transports from Aberdeen, that the fleet was seen off Dunbar, and that the commander-in-chief intended to land his troops and march immediately to the lelief of Edinburgh. At once a messenger was sent to recall the deputation, but he failed to overtake them. The council were in a quandary. They dare not adopt any strenuous measures for fear of giving the alarm in the camp of Charles, and having the members of their deputation hanged without ceremony. And yet to be idle at such a crisis was not possible. In another day Cope would enter the city ; it was therefore important to use all means to hold out imtil his arrival. General Guest, who com- manded the Castle, was asked to recall the dragoons, but he 1 MS. Journal of Lord Elcho. I 114 LIP'E OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. declined, saying it wtis better for the service that tliey should join Cope. The disaffected citizens now begged for a new- supply of arms, but Guest, conscious of the irresolution of the volunteers, refused : he however said that the magistrates might arm those whom they could trust from the city's magazine. "Whilst these demands were being raised, the deputation sent to the Prince returned. Their mission had not resulted in much good. The reply of Charles was that before two o'clock in the morning he must have a positive answer to his sum- mons. It was now past ten at night. Both parties, there- fore, felt how important an element, in the proper conduct of their tactics, time was. To dally with the hours, the Town Council resolved to despatch another deputation to entreat for a further suspension of hostilities and a longer time for de- liberation. The deputation started off again for Gray's Mill ; but this time they were refused admission to the royal pre- sence, and had to return without an answer. Little did they think what ends their return would further. Charles, as well aware as the Town Council that time was evei-ything, and also conscious that matters might soon arise which would render his summons for surrender diificult to en- force, had resolved to delay no longer, but steal a march upon the inhabitants of Edinburgh, and secure the city by a coup de main. Shrouded by the darkness of night, Lochiel and Secre- tary Murray, with five hundred Camerons, were sent stealthily forward to reconnoitre the town wall. Arriving at the Nether- bow Port, which then closed the head of the Canongate, they halted, and lay in ambush ready for any opportunity that might arise. A piece of good fortune soon favoured them. The rejected deputation had just returned to the city in the same coach which had carried them into the enemy's camp ; the driver had put down his fai'es and was leisurely driving home to his stables in the Canongate. It was necessary for him to pass through the ISTetherbow Port. He approached the gates utterly unconscious that a troop of Highlanders were secreted close to him, and knocked loudly. It was known by the porter that the coachman had been engaged that night in the service of the magistrates, and without any ado the gates were opened, and the lumbering coach rolled through the archway. But visitors less peaceful also gained admission. The leaves of the gate had no sooner unfolded themselves than the Camerons rushed in, when they easily disarmed the few watchmen, and secured the guard-house. The victorj^ was as complete as it -I HE FIRST VICTORY. 115 was simple. On the inhabitants of Edinburgh awaking a few hours later, they found that the Highlanders were masters of the city. And yet the capture of the town had been managed so quietly that no disturbance was created and no blood shed. As an instance of this it is recorded that a citizen of Edin- burgh, taking his customary stroll round the walls on that eventful morning, observed a Highlander seated astride upon a cannon, waving his bare legs to and fro, and solemnly impressed with his duty as a sentinel. The astonished citizen approached him, and said that surely he and his fellows were not the same legiment which mounted guard yesterday % * Och no,' replied the Cameronian coolly, ' she pe releeved ! ' For this tame surrender of Edinburgh the Lord Provost Stewart, on the overthrow of the rebellion, was brought to trial for high treason. The Lord Advocate, on -the facts of the case being placed before him for his opinion, thus sums up : ^ ' What renders the conduct of Mr. Stewart liable to the worst construction, is the uniformity of his behaviour from the begm- uing to the end in discovering a constant unwillingness to pro- vide for, or heartily prosecute, the means that were in a manner forced upon him for defence of the city . . . such as taken together afford at least a presumptive evidence of an inclination or formed design upon his part that the city should be suffered to fall into the hands of the rebels at a time when, if he had observed a contrary conduct, thei'e was at least a high proba- bility that it might have been preserved.' Those who read the account of the trial of the Lord Provost carefully will indorse to a certain extent this opinion. There can be no doubt but that Stewart was a Jacobite, and openly shov/ed his proclivities. At the latter end of August it had been proposed that a thousand men should be raised by voluntary subscriptions to defend the capital : the proposal was received by the Lord Provost ' with derision and contempt.' On cer- tain volunteei's having been enrolled, they were treated with great rudeness hy the Lord Provost, who refused to appoint field officers for their direction. The repairing of the city walls was also carelessly superintended by him, and on the 15th, when the rebels were within a few miles of Edinburgh, he refused to give orders for loading the cannon planted on the walls. Again, on the evening of the 16th, in spite of the danger that menaced the capital, the captain of the guard was ordered to his post by 1 Eeport of Lord Advocate on the case of Archibald Stewart. State Papers, Scotland, Sept. 20, 1746. I 2 Ii6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES SI UART. the Lord Provost with only the usual complement suited for peaceable times. His lordship likewise refused to give orders that the 1,200 city arms should be secured in the Castle.' Such conduct certainly affords presumptive evidence of treasonable inclinations; but then, on the other hand, does it of itself justify the belief that, had more care and promptness been shown, the town would have held out % T think not. Edin- burgh was an open and unfortified city, and incapable of resist- ing a siege. At first, when the two regiments of cavalry were quartered in its neighbourhood, there were some who hoped that the town would be enabled to make a stand until the arrival of Sir* John Cope ; but on the fiight of the gallant dragoons it is dilficult to see what course, other than the one adopted, could have been pursued by the Lord Provost. He had no regular soldiery to protect the town ; the chief advisers of the Crown had fled to Dunbar, and he was left to act alone ; whilst he was worried on all sides to obey the commands of the Prince and surrender the city. Very wisely he asked time for deliberation ; and, on hearing that Cope was marching to the relief of Edinburgh, renewed his application for a further delay of hostilities in the hopes that the regular troops would arrive and save the town. But the Prince, well aware that time was his friend and delay his most dangerous enemy, was too clever for the Lord Provost, and by a secret night attack gained pos- session of the city. Had Stewart been the most loyal of mavoi's, how could he — with his dilapidated walls, his terrified volun- teers, and the leaven of Jacobitism working strongly among the inhabitants — have made any resistance worthy of the name ] He showed neglect and delay in making the prelimi- nary preparations for defence, and, so far, was guilty of a betrayal of his trust ; but when once the Highlanders were at his gates and Cope's men still miles away, he ha^l no alternative but to try to play a waiting game. Perhaps, too, he would have succeeded had Chaxdes been less prompt in his move- ments. In the trial that ensued, the Lord Provost was unanimously found not guilty; the jury was, however, notoriously packed with Jacobites, and its verdict History need not scruple to reverse. Stewart was guilty of high treason inasmuch as he neglected precautions which a loyal subject in the face of an enemy should have — however worthless in the end they might be — scrupulously observed : still it is unfair to attribute the ' Keport of the Lord Advocate. THE FIRST VICTORY. 117 cfiptnre of the city to his neglect alone. Edinburgh fell into the hands of the Highlanders, not on account of the treachery or supineness of its mayor, but because it was ill fortified, ill disciplined, and in want of regular troops. The same result would have been attained had the Lord Provost been gifted even with the loyalty and ability of the hero of the siege of Londondeny. ' Alas, my lord ! ' writes the Lord Justice Clerk to Tweeddale, ' I have grief and not glory that my fears have been more than fulfilled ; for moi'e than I feared is come to pass. Yesterday, the two regiments of dragoons fled from the rebel army in the sight of Edinburgh, where many loyal gentle- men stood armed to defend the city, vJtlch ivas so disjnrited and struck tvith consternation, that they resolved to oj^en their gates to the rebels, desj^airing 0/ speedy relief, and linahle to make a long defence.' About noon of the same day as the capture of Edinburgh — September 17 — the Prince set out from his camp to enter the capital of bis ancestors, and take possession of that palace from whose walls his line had so long been excluded. To avoid the fire of General Guest he made a considerable circuit to the south, and halted in the hollow between Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. As he approached Holyrood by the Duke's Walk, the favovirite promenade of his grandfather, he called for his horse; and, escoited on one side by the Duke of Perth and on the other by Lord Elcho, slowly made his triumphal entry into the palace. Nothing could exceed the warmth of his reception. An immense crowd surged around him, at one time almost endangering his safety. Men and women struggled with each other to get near him so as to touch his clothes or kiss the hand ever readily extended. Huzzas, whose echoes resounded through the walls of the castle, were raised with a cheer which showed that the heart was in unison with the voice. Ladies waved their handkerchiefs, and freely displayed in their cos- tume the white ribbons that denoteil their adherence to the House of Stuart, Nor was the hero of this ovation one cal- culated to damp the ardour of this new-born loyalty. Aware of the national pride which runs strong in all Scotch breasts, Chailes had the tact to identify himself by his garb with the ancient nation he had summoned to arms. He was dressed in a short tartan coat and a blue bonnet with a white rose, while the star of St. Andrew glittered on his breast. As men gazed upon his pale, handsome face, they compared him with Robert Bruce, whom they said he resemble! in the grace of his figure ii8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. as well as in the charm of his features. Even his enemies admitted that, though he did not look like a conqueror, he looked like a gentleman. As the Prince entered the porch of Holyrood, a person stepped from the crowd, bent his knee in homage, and then, with sword unsheathed, marshalled Charles into the halls of his ancestors. This was James Hepburn of Keith, the pink of the Scottish gentry, and one who had taken no inactive part in the struggle of 1 71 5. The arrival of the Prince was the signal for every attention due to his rank and to the important mission upon which he was engaged. With all ceremony — the magis- trates in their robes, the heralds and pursuivants in their resplendent official dresses — the fether of the Prince was pro- claimed King James the Eighth, at the old Cross — site of many a scene recorded in history — and the Koyal Declarations and Commission of Regency read amid the cheers of the crowd. The beautiful wife of John Murray of Broughton sat on horse- back close to the Cross, a drawn sword in one hand, whilst with the other she distributed white ribbons to those who pressed ai'ound her. In the evening a ball Avas held at Holy- rood, and the day closed amid the most brilliant festivities. The lamp shone o'er fair women and brave men ; A thousand hearts heat happily, and when Music arose with its voluptuous swell. Soft eyes look'd love to eyes whicli spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell. Who knows how many a fair waverer was convei'ted that night to the cause of the House of Stuart by the charms of the Prince % But danger was close at hand, and the day that now had dawned was devoted to the sterner details of business. The banner raised at Glenfinnan had been lately joined by the Earl of Kellie, Lord Balmerino, Sir Stuart Thriepland, Sir David Murray, Lockhart of Carnwarth the younger, and several Lowland gentlemen of distinction. This accession of strength was now further augmented by the arrival of Lord Nairne with the five hundred men he had been busy collecting in the north. Fortunately for the equipment of these newly raised troops, a thousand arms which had been lodged in the city magazine by the trained bands were secured by order of the Prince. At the same time a requisition was laid upon the capital for a thousand tents, two thousand targets, six thousand pairs of shoes, and six thousand canteens. Aware that matters THE FIRST VICTORY. 119 were rapidly coming to a crisis, Charles assembled his clans and passed them in review. A strange sight they presented. The chieftains, dressed in their picturesque costumes, were all well armed, and not one who wore the eagle's plume but possessed firelock and broadsword, dirk and target, pistols and the short knife so terrible at close quarters. But with them equipment and \uiiformity ended. Their brave vassals had to content themselves with whatever weapons they could lay hands on. Those were to be envied who possessed either sword, dirk, or pistol ; many had nothing but scythe-blades set straight on the handle — an unwieldy but most murderous implement; whilst not a few were only armed with heavy clubs and cudgels. As the more civilisecl Lowland crowd watched these ill-clad, ill- armed, ill-fed troops marching past their Prince, some wanting coats, some lacking hose and shoes, some having their hair tied back with a leathern strap, v/ithout bonnet or covering of any kind, how many may have observed with Jonathan Oldbuck, that they were a proper set of ragamnlfins witli which to pro- pose to overturn an established government ! But, despite their appearance and shortcomings, such was their aim. And now the news was brought that Cope had landed his troops at Dunbar and was marching to the relief of the capital. "With him were 2000 infantry, the two courageous regiments of dragoons, whose nerves were still shattered with the ' Coltbrigg Canter,' and a small body of volunteers — in all some 3000 men and six ])ieces of aitillery. Charles, Avho well knew what good use might be made of the impetuosity of his men, resolved at once to issue foith to meet the English, general and give him battle. He callod a council of war, and asked the opinion of the chieftains. The Protestant Keppoch was the spokesman. He said, ' All were fully of opinion with their Prince that they should advance and meet the enemy. Every one around him would answer for the fealty of his clansmen. Each chief would head the attack, and where the chieftain went the vassals would swiftly follow. It was true that but few of their men had ever engaged with regular troops, but his Royal Highness need not fear entrusting his cause to their hands. A Highlander could face death without treachery, and a battle without desertion. The mottoes de- scribed on their banners had never yet belied their actions. Let the word be once given for the charge, and the Prince would see of Avhat mettle his troops were made.' Charles said that such orders would soon be ist^.ued : the foe was in their » I20 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. front, and an engagement would speedily ensue. He himself would lead the van, and set all an example how to fall or conquer. But this resolve the chiefs crushed as soon as it was vittered. On his life the whole success of the expedition depended, and it should not be lightly risked. The Prince, after a discussion in which his followers threatened desertion if he pei-sisted in his intention, had to yield. He determined, however, to lead the second line. Early on the morning of the 20th, whilst the white mists still curled around the hills, the Highlanders, forming in one narrow column, began their march to meet the English. On putting himself at the head of his army, the Prince drew his sword and said, ' Gentlemen, I have flung away the scabbard ! ' His words were received and answered back by loud cheers. It was expected that the enemy would be encountered about Musselbui'gh or Invei'esk, and so with prudent generalship the Highlanders kept the high ground from Duddingston towards Musselburgh, where they crossed the Esk by the old bridge, and then rapidly advanced towards Carberry Hill. On reach- ing Falside Hill the scouts brought in the intelligence that parties of dragoons had been seen about Tranent, where Sir John Cope, it was said, lay with his whole army. On the receipt of this news Charles gave orders for his army to divide into two columns, and still marching, so as carefully to pre- serve the upper ground, pushed on till the hill which over- looked Tranent was breasted. As they looked down upon the open plain below them, the heavy folds of mist cleared away, and the Highlanders saw the red coats of the English. A mutual yell of defiance at once burst forth from the ranks of the rival forces. It was the first time the two had met face to face, and each scanned the other with eager curiosity. Here again the generalship of Cope was at fault. Because a road passing from Seton House to Preston was the usual highway from Haddington, he seems never to have thought that the Highlanders, unencumbered by baggage, and well accustomed to the braes of their hillsides, should have pre- ferred ci'ossing the country and thus keeping the heights, to the plain level road from Edinburgh which lies along the coast. On the contrary, with the simplicity of the man who can only look at one side of a question, he expected that the rebels, if they had the hardihood to quit Edinburgh, would meet him on the very road by which he was advancing, and thus engage on equal terms. As it was the Highlanders commanded the THE FIRST VICTORY. 121 situation, and coukl give battle or avoid it as they pleased. But they had no intention of shunning the conflict. The two armies were less than a mile apart. On perceiv- ing the Highlanders moving upon the higher ground, Cope immediately changed his front and drew up his troops in order of battle ; his infantry in the centre, with a regiment of dragoons and three pieces of artillery on each Hank. His right was covered by Colonel Gardiner's park wall, and by the village of Preston. On his left, at some little distance, was Seton House; whilst the sea, with the villages of Preston- pans and Cockenzie, lay on his rear. Immediately separating him from the ridge on which the clans were stationed was a treacbei'oiis morass, intersected by ditches and inclosures, and near the bottom traversed by a thick hedge which ran along a broad marshy ditch ; this covered the front of the English troops. It was now past noon, and at the sight of their enemy the clans were eager for instant battle. Charles, always aware how important it was to encourage the impetuous energy of his men — for then, as now, at the charge they were second to none— despatched Ker of Gradon, a soldier of experience, and of iron nerve, to reconnoitre. Mounted on a grey pony, the chieftain spurred forward, and, in spite of a running fire from the English, keenly examined the ground which divided him from the enemy. With easy coolne.^s he crossed the plain in several directions, made a gap in the rough stone dyke which barred his progress, jumped his pony through the breach, and critically investigated the position the foe had taken up. His inspection concluded, he returned to the Prince. He said that the morass was deep and diificult, and could not be passed so as to attack the English in front without sustaining a heavy and continuous fire : aggressive movements for the present were therefore not advisable. It was thought better to defer the attack till the morrow, and meanwhile to pass the night on the ground. This advice was eminently unsatisfactoiy to the eager Highlanders, who were all for sweeping down upon their prey and atoning for the disappointment of Corryarrack. In- deed, so fearful were they that Cope would repeat on the plain the tactics he had practised at Dalwhinnie, and elude an en- gagement altogether, that they wei'e only appeased by Lord Nairne being sent to the westward with some 500 meia to intercept Cope, if he meditated a retreat upon Edinburgh. The English General, satisfied that his position for the 122 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. present was unassailable, contented himself with acting purely on the defensive. In vain Colonel Gardiner and other officers urged him to give battle and not to damp the spirits of his men by dilatory measures — measures which, though they might be safe for a rabble, were inglorious for an army. Cope was not to be moved from his purpose — if he had one. Duiing that day, save the dislodging a few Highlanders from Tranent churchyard, no hostilities took place; and, when the white mists rose from the ocean and darkness began to enfold the land, the rival armies prepared to encamp for the night. Charles contented himself with the ' broad canopy of heaven,' a shake down of pease straw, and the shoulder of a Highlander for a pillow ; whilst the more luxurious Cope retired to comfortable quarters at Cockenzie. But rest for a few short hours was all that the Highlanders indulged in. A dilatory policy was evidently so distasteful to the impetuous clans that the chiefs held a midnight council, and resolved, come what might, to cross the morass early next morning and attack the English. Whilst their anticipated movements were being discussed, an East Lothian gentleman, one Anderson of Whitburgh, to whom this part of the country was well known, bethought himself of a certain path which led from the heights, on which the Highlanders now lay ' thick as leaves in Valambrosa ' to the })lain below, by a circuitous route which avoided to a great extent the dreaded morass. The discovery was at once made known to the Prince, who, starting up from his sti-aw bed, joyfully listened to news which promised him a speedy battle. As eager as his own followers, he advised that no time should be lost — as the night was now far spent, — in collecting the men ; and that, with Anderson for their guide, they should set out at once and march swiftly upon the enemy. Lochiel and the other chiefs were of the same opinion, and in a very short time the whole Highland army was got under arms and began its downward march with all the stealth of secrecy. According to Highland military tactics it marched in two columns of three men in front. The first column consisted of the following clans : — Clanranald, whose chieftain led the cohimn, then Glengarry, then Keppoch and Glencoe, then Perth with a few Macgregors, then Appin, and lastly Lochiel. The second collimn, led by the Prince, was composed of Lord George Murray's Athol men, the regiment of Lord Nairne and the vassals of Menzies of Struan. Lord Strathallan with his small THE FIRST VICTORY. 123 troop of cavalry kept the heiglits commanding the morass. The force of the Highlanders was estimated at some 3000 men — a number therefore equal in strength, but very inferior in equip- ment, to the army of the English general. Guided by Anderson the clans marched down the silent pathway, crossed the morass, at the present day a fertile field bearing grass and wheat, in which many of the men sunk knee deep, and finally reached in safety the firm ground of the plain. The morning was now breaking, but the white thickness of an easterly haar, it was hoped, would conceal their movements. Still on the quick ear of the dragoon outposts, ever ready to detect danger even where danger was not, the heavy tread of men marching fell suspiciously — they fired their pistols and galloped oflf to give the alarm. And now made aware of the approach of his foe, Cope hastened to draw up his troops in order of battle. Save that the men faced the east instead of the west, he made but little alteration in his tactics. In the rear of his army were the walls of Preston Park and those of Bankton, the seat of Colonel Gardiner ; his left flank stretched out towards the sea, whilst his right rested upon the morass which had lately been in his front. The infantry were stationed in the centre, the dragoons of Hamilton on the left, whilst Gardiner's men, with the artil- lery in their front, were drawn up on the right next the morass. Gradually the morning mist rolled away, and the sun, shining upon the arms of the regular troops, showed to the eager High- landers the position and strength of the enemy. Afterwards, when the conflict was over and no harm could result from the confession, not a few of the Prince's followers admitted that when they compared their own men — ill armed and broken into clumps and clusters — with the serried ranks of the English, they expected nothing less than instant defeat and annihilation- As for Cope's army, his oflicers, in their march from Haddington to Preston, had confidently assured the crowds that followed them that there would be tio battle, as the rebels would not dare to attack so complete a force. But men who talked like this knew veiy little of the foe they were to encounter. At the first sight of the glittering array which the English presented, the clans quickly formed, as was their military cus- tom, into a series of phalanxes, so as the better to carry on their peculiar mode of warfare. Each phalanx was composed of an entire clan ; the chief with the best armed of his vassals was placed in the front, whilst the remainder, with theii' scythes, 124 LI^^^ OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. pruning-liooks, or any weapon that came to hand, brought up the rear. So eager were the men for the charge that they could hardly restrain their impetuosity whilst these movements were executed. No sooner had the shrill pipes given the signal for attack than, pulling their bonnets over their brows whilst a hurried prayer in which mercy formed a scant element rose to their lips, the Highlanders dashed forward with that savage fury which made their charge among the most terrible perils of warfai-e. Straight upon the artillery, whose cannon wxre then served not by the regular gunners but by seamen hastily col- lected by Cope, ran the Camerons and Stuarts, who in a moment stormed the battery by the sheer force of their impetuosity. Away fled the terrified naval volunteers ; their example fol- lowed of course by Gardiner's dragoons, who, true to their old tactics which made personal safety the first law of warfare, on seeing the Highlanders in their front waving their plaids and brandishing their battle axes, galloped oft' in every direction with all the speed which characterised them when in retreat ; whilst at the same time the Macdonalds, who held the post of honour, darted upon Hamilton's men and scattered them to the winds. Thus in less than five minutes the English infantry, what with the flight of the cavalry and the loss of the artillery, remained uncovered at both flanks ; yet with courage worthy of their country, and which, had it been universal on their side, would soon have told another tale, they stood true to their colours, receiving the centre of the Highland line with a regular and well-sustained fire. But resistance under such circum- stances was not possible for long. Utterly indifterent to life, the Highlanders, paying no heed to the musketry of their foe, literally threw themselves, with all a Zouave's devilry, upon the English, parried bayonets with their targets, came to close quarters with their terrible broadswords, and hacked and hewed ' sic unco hacks and deadly whacks,' raising the while their hideous yell, till the line of the royal army was broken and the English, no longer able to withstand the awful pressure of a charge which knew noopjwsition, were forced to rw^iwhen they could no longer resist. So rapid was this onset that in less than five minutes the battle was over. It was impossible for defeat to be more crushing. The dra- goons had fled, and only escaped pursuit from the lack of Highland cavalry. But terrible were the losses sustained by the infantry. Before going into action, the latter had num- bered some 2500 men ; scarce 200 escaped, the rest being either THE FIRST VICTORY. 125 slrtin or made piisoners. Among the fallen was one whose name biogra]>hy has done well to preserve. Colonel Gardiner, seeing a small party of foot fighting bravely near him withoiit any ofiicer to head them, cried out, ' These brave fellows will be cut to pieces for want of a commander,' and spurred on his hoi-se to their help. ' Fire on, my lads, and fear nothing ! ' said he, encouragingly ; but scarcely were the words out of his mouth before a Highlander cut him down with his murderous scythe, whilst the moment he fell another Highlander dealt him a severe blow on the back of his head. He was carried senseless to the manse of Tranent, where he expired a few hours after- wards. He lies buried in the village church. But Gard'ncr brave did still behave Like to a lioro briglit, man ; His courasj:e true, like liim were few That still despised flight, man. Forking and laws and c<)uutr}''s cause, In honour's bed he lay, man, His life, but not his courage, fled \Vhile he had breath to draw, man. His life is well known. In his youth he had been a man of dissipated habits ; but one evening, whilst awaiting an assign- ation with a married woman, he believed he saw the Saviour on the Cross, svirrounded by the glory of Heaven, calling him to repentance. So deep was the impression caused by this vision that the gallant was henceforth transformed into the most earnest and steadfast of Christians. He died as he had lived — as true to the banner of his King as he was to that of his Divine Master. During the engagement tlae Prince led the second line, but the impetuosity of his men kept him so near to the first that to the forces of Cope the Highlanders resembled but one body. The total loss of the clans was but thirty killed and seventy wounded. Besides the moral results of the victory, the baggage that fell into the hands of the Highlanders was of no little value. In the flight of the English everything had been left on the field. The artillery, with colours, standards, and other supplies, became the property of the victors ; the baggage and the military chest, containing some 2000^., shared the same fate. To many of the uncouth mountaineers the various objects of civilised life that now came into their hands were utterly incomprehensible. We read of their astonishment at the sight of wigs, and other dandy articles of the toilette. One man into whose possession a watch had fallen, being ignorant of the secret 126 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. of winding it np when it stopped, sold it for a mere pittance, thinking it a ' dead beast,' and chuckled at his cunning in so neatly doing the innocent customer. Another was so ignorant of the value of things as to exchange a horse for a j^istol. Some, more accustomed to stronger potations, were puzzled at the chocolate contained in Cope's baggage chest, which they hawked about as 'Johnnie Cope's salve ' ; whilst several who were unable to resist the temptations which all this booty offered, fled to their mountain dens, laden with the spoils of war. Meanwhile some of the dragoons who had escaped from the field turned their horses' heads in the direction of Edinburgh, and rode up the High Street at full gallop. Fearful of the pur- suit of the Highlanders they begged admission into the Castle, but the sturdy General Preston, who had succeeded Guest in. the command, sent them wox'd to begone, or lie would open his guns on them as cowards who had deserted their colours. On hearing this, the runaways turned tail and rode into the west country as fast as their horses could lay legs to the ground. With the exception of these deserters, Cope, aided by the Earls of Home and Loudoun, managed to collect his shattered cavalry, and conduct them in no very respectable condition by Lauder to Coldstream, and thence to Berwick. Here behind the ram- parts of the town he felt safe, and here it was that Lord Mark Kerr received the unfortunate commander, with the well-known sarcasm ' that he believed he was the first General in Europe who had brought the first tidings of his own defeat ! ' When Johnnie Cope to Dunhar came They specr'd at hiin, ' Where's a' your men ? ' ' The cleil confound me gin I ken, For I left tliem a' this morning.' Hey Johnnie Cope, &c. ' Now Johnnie, troth, ye wasna blate To come wi' the news o' your ain defeat, And leave your men in sic a strait Sae early in the morning.' liey Johnnie Cope, &c. ' I' faith,' quo' Johnnie, ' I got a fleg (fright) Wi' their claymores and philaliegs, If I face them again, deil break my legs ! So I wish you a good morning.' Hey Johnnie Cope, &c. There was nothing left for the unhappy commander but to make the best of his ignominious defeat, and acknowledge the fact with candour. ' This morning, at the dawn of day,' he THE FIRST VICTORY. 127 "\vT.ntes to Tweeddale/ 'the enemy attacked us; our troops ex- pected the enemy, so that there was no sort of surprise ; not- withstanding this, our troops gave way, and all that the officers could do to carry them on, or to rally them, was to no purpose, and we lost the day. I tried to rally the foot, but it was im- possible. I then tried the dragoons at a considerable distance off the enemy. I prevailed on about 4.50 to keep together, with which Lord Loudoun, Lord Irvine, and I marched ; and as the enemy were partly in possession of Edinburgh and Musselburgh, and being in expectation that the Dutch might soon be expected to land, we thought it most advisable to morch this body to- wards Berwick. The battle was fought on a field near Preston- pans. I have despatched express to the coast, that if it is possible the Dutch may be sent to land southwai'd. I have been unfortunate, which will certainly give a handle to my enemies to cast blame upon me. I cannot reproach myself; the manner in which the enemy came on was quicker than could be described, and (of which the men have been long warned) possibly was the cause of our men taking a most destructive panic. I cannot give any account of the numbers of killed and wounded, the whole baggage taken, and the militaiy chest and papers belonging to it. The fatigue and concern I have had render me incapable of being more particular.' In another letter, despatched the following day, he, not un- justly, throws the whole blame of his defeat upon the dragoons. * I can only take upon me to say,' he writes,^ ' not from my own opinion only, but from that of officei's now with me, the fatal accident was principally owing to the ill behaviour of some of the dragoons, in consequence of which the whole line took a panic ; nor was it in the power of any officer to bring back or rally a man.' In addition to this disgraceful cowardice. Sir John goes on to say that he was concerned to find that the military management of his enemy was ' not at all inferior to that of experienced troops, and from the different manoeuvre by changing repeatedly their disposition, gave occasion to our men being continually harassed so as to be in a situation to oppose so many well-concerted schemes.' Still, he concludes, defeat would not have attended them, had it not been for the conduct of the dragoons. It is difficult to understand what Cope means by the * different manoeuvre ' and ' well-concerted schemes ' of the 1 State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 21, 1745. ~ To Xewcastle, State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 22, 1745. 128 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Highlanders. The tactics employed at Prestonpans were of the 5-implest character — the clans rushed upon the I'egular troops like demons let loose, knew no fear, suffered no resistance, and in some seven or eight minutes totally routed both horse and foot, and drove them from the field, i^s a contemporary puts it, the English, meaning we presume only the infantry, ' fought very gallantly, but they could not withstand the im- petuosity, or rather fury, of the Highlanders, and weie forced to vun when they could no longer resist.' ^ But as for manoeuvres of any elaborate nature there were none. It was a victory attained by a fiendish coup de main, and by nothing else. ' The field of battle,' says Chevalier Johnstone,'^ describing the scene after the conflict, ' presented a spectacle of horror, being covered with hands, legs, and arms, and mutilated bodies; for the killed all fell by the sword. . . . The panic terror of the English surpasses all imagination ; they threw down their arms, that they might run with more speed, thu.s depriving themselves, by their fears, of the only means of arresting the vengeance of the Highlanders .... these were, however, the same English soldiers who had distinguished themselves at Dettingen and Fontenoj', and who might justly be ranked among the bravest troops of Europe.' With his characteristic humanity, the Piince gave orders that every care and attention should be paid to the wounded. He remained on the field till midday, superintending the measures he advised for relief, and suffered no distinction to be made between friend or foe, when once mortal agony had levelled the barriers of party. In the first mad excitement of victory, scant qviarter had been shown by the Highlanders to their terrified enemy, but Charles, with admirable presence of mind, rode instantly to the front, and commanded that con- quest should be tempered with mercy — his men had gained the day, let them not dim their honours by a brutal butchery. To Charles, though the victoiy was sweet, it was mixed with no little sadness. In a fratricidal war it was impossible that it should be otherwise. ' Sir,' said one of his staff", coming up to congratulate him, ' there are your enemies at your feet.' ' They are my father's subjects,' replied Charles, turning away. The same day of this his first victory the Prince wrote the following very interesting letter to his father ^ : — 1 Scots Magazine, Sept. 1745. - Memoirs nf t'le Rehellion, p. ."0. 5 Treasury Bjard Pa) ers, 1745, Xc. 244. State Papers, Domestic. This letter, a copy of which only remains, has never before been published. THE FIRST VICTORY. 129 'Pinkie House, Sept. 21, 1745. ' Sir, — Since my last from Perth, it has pleased God to prosper your Majesty's arms under my command, with a success that has even surpassed my hopes. On the 17th I ■entered Edinburgh, sword in hand, and got possession of the town without being obliged to shed one drop of blood, or commit the least violence ; and this morning I gained a most signal victory with little or no loss. If I had had a squadron or two of dragoons to pursue your Majesty's enemy, there would not one man of them have escaped ; as it is, they have hardly saved any but a few dragoons, who, by a most pre- cipitate flight, will, I believe, get into Berv/ick. If I had obtained this victory over foreigners my joy would have been complete; but as it is over Englishmen, it has thrown a damp upon me that I little imagined. The men I have defeated were your Majesty's enemies, 'tis true, but they might have been your friends and dutiful subjects, when they had got their eyes open to see the true interest of their countr}^, which I am come to save, and not to destroy. For this reason I have discharged all public rejoicings. I do not care to enter into particulars of this action, I choose rather that your Majesty should hear it from anotlier than myself ^ . . . [a few words here follow in praise of Stuart, the messenger who takes this letter to Rome]. I have seen two or tliree gazettes filled with addresses and mandates from the bishops to the clergy. The addresses ai-e such as I expected, and can impose on none but the weak and credulous. The mandates are of the same sort, but more artfully drawn up. They order the clergy to make the people sensible of the great blessings they enjoy under the present Family that govern them, particularly of the strict administration of justice, of the sacred regard that is paid to 1 ' It is impossible for me to ftive yon a distinct journal of m}' proceed- ings,' lie writes a few days later (Oct. 7), 'because of my being so much hurried with business, which allows me no time ; but, notwith-tanding, i cannot let slip this occasion of giving a short account of the battle of Glads- muir, fought on the "ilst of September (O.S.), wbieh was one of the most sur- prising actions that ever was. We gained a complete victory over General Cope, who commanded S,000 foot, and two regime/its of the best dragoons in the island; he beini^ advantageously posted, with also batteries of cannon and mortars, we having neither horse nor artillery with us, and being to attac-lc them in their post, and obliged to pass before their noses in a defile and bog. Only our first line had occasion to engage ; for actually' in five minutes the lield was cleared of the enemies ; all the foot killed, wounded, or taken prisoners; and of the horse only 200 escaped, like rabbits, one by one. On our side, we only lost a hundred men, between killed and wounded ; and the army after- wards had a fine plunder.' — Stuart Papers. K ISO LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. the laws, and the great secuiity of their- religion and property. This sounds very well, and may impose on the unthinking, but one who reads them with a little care will easily see the fallacy. What occasion has a Prince who has learnt the secret of cor- rupting tlie fountain of all law and justice — the Parliament, to pull off the mask by openly violating all the ancient laws, and disturbing the ordinary course of justice % Would not this be to give the alarm, and amount to telling them that he was not come to protect, as he pretended, but really to betray them. ' When they talk of the security of their religion, they take care not to mention one woi'd of the dreadful growth of atheism and infidelity, which I am extremely sorry to hear (from very sensible men) within these few years is gi-own to a fiaming height, even so far as that, I am assured, many of their fashionable men are ashamed to own themselves Christians, and many of thel ower sort act as if they were none. Conversing on this melancholy subject I was led into a thing I never understood rightly before, which is, that those men M^ho are louder in the cry of Popery and the danger of the Protestant religion, are not really Protestants, but a set of profligate men, whose good parts and some learning are void of all principle,, but pretend to a Republic. * I asked those who told me this, what shovild make them so zealous about preferring the religion, seeing they were not Christians % It was answered that it was in order to recom- mend themselves to the Ministry, which, if they can but write pamphlets for them, or get themselves chosen members of Parliament, will be sure to provide amply for them ; and the motive for their extraordinary zeal I was told is, that they thereby procure to themselves the connivance at least, if not the protection of the Government, while they are pro])agating their impiety and infidelity. I hope in God Christianity is not at so low an ebb in this covmtry as the account I have had represents it to be, yet when I compare what I have formerly seen and heard at Pome with some things I have observed since I have been here, I am afraid there is too much truth in it. ' The bishops are as unfair and partial in representing the security of their property, as that of their religion, for when they mention it, they don't say a word of the vast load of debt that is increasing yearly, under which the nation is groaning, and which must be paid (if ever they intend to pay it) out of their propeity. 'Tis true all this debt has not been con- THE FIRST VICTORY. 131 tracted under the Prince of this Family, but a great jjai't of it has, and the whole of it might have been cleared by a frugal administration during the thirty -six years of profound peace which the nation has enjoyed, had it not been for the immense sums that have been squandered in corrupting Pai'liaments and supporting foreigners that can never be of any service to these kingdoms. I am afraid I have taken up too much of your Majesty's time about these sorry mandates, but having mentioned them I was willing to give you my sense of them. I remember Dr. Wagstaif (with whom I wish I had conversed more frequently, for he always told me truth) once said to me, that I must not judge of the English clergy by the bishops, who were not promoted for their piety and learning, but for very different talents, viz., for writing pamphlets, for being active at elections, and voting as the Ministry directed them. After I've won another battle, they'll write for me and answer their own letters. ' There's another body of men amongst whom I am inclined to believe the lowest sort are the honestest, as well as amongst the clergy, I niean the army. There was never a finer body of men than those I fought with to-rJay, yet they did not liehave so well as 1 expected. I thought I could see plainly that the common men did not like the cause they were engaged in. Had they been fighting against French, come to invade their country, I am convinced they would have made a better defence ; the poor men's pay and their low prospect not being sufiicient to corrupt their natural justice and honesty, which is not the case with their ofiicers, who, incited by their am- bition and false notion of honour, fought more desperately. I asked one of them who is my prisoner, a gallant man, why he would fight against his lawful Prince, and one who was come to rescue his country from a foreign, yoke % He said " he was a man of honour, and would be true to his Prince whose bread he eat and whose commission he bore." I told him it wos a noble principle, but ill applied, and asked him if he was a Whig % He replied " he was." " Well," said I, " how came you. to look on the commission you bear and the bread you eat to be the Prince' .s, and not the country's that raised you and paid you to defend it against foreigners, who come not to defend but enslave it (for that I have always understood to be the principles of a Whig) % Have you not heard how your country- men have been carried abroad, to be insulted and ill-treated by K 2 132 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. those pretended defenders, and butchered fighting in a quarrel in which yoi;r country has little or no concern, only to enrich Hanover % " To all this he made no answer, but hung down his head. The truth is, thei-e are few good officers amongst them ; they are biave, because an Englishman cannot be otherwise ; bvit they have generally little knowledge in their business, are corrupt in their morals, and have few restraints from religion, though they would have you believe they are fighting for it. As to their honour they talk so much of, I shall soon have occasion to try it, for, having no strong place to put my prisoners in, I shall be obliged to release them on their parole : if they do not keep it, I wish they fall not into my hands again, for it will not be in my power to pi-otect them from my Highlanders. My haughty foe thinks it beneath him I suppose to settle a cartel : I wish for it as much for the sake of his men as my own ; I hope ere 'tis long I shall see him glad to sue for it. T hear there are 6,000 Dutch troops arrived, and 10 battalions of the English sent for. I wish they were all Dutch, that I might not have the pain of shedding English blood. I hope I shall oblige them to bring over the rest, which at all events will be one piece of service done my country in the helping it out of ruinous foreign wars. 'Tis hard my victory should put me under new difficulties I did not feel before, and yet this is the case. I am charged with the care both of my friends and my enemies : those who should bury their dead, run away, as if it was no business of theirs, and my Highlanders think it beneath them to do it, and the country people are fled away. However, I am resolved to tiy if I can have people for money to undertake it — for I cannot bear the thoughts of Englishmen to rot above ground.^ I am at a greater difficulty how to dispose of the wounded prisoners— if I make a hospital of a church, it will be looked on as a great profanation ; and if I take private houses for that purpose, I shall be accused by ungenerous enemies of having violated my manifesto, in which I promise to violate no man's property. If the magistrates would act they could help me out of this difficulty ; but come what will I am resolved I won't sufier the poor wounded men to lie in the streets, and if I can do no better I will make a hospital of the Palace, and leave it to 1 ' Charles remained on the field of battle till midnight, givino; orders for the relief of the wounded of both armies, for the disposal of his prisoners, and preserving from temper or from judgment every appearance of moderation and humanity.' — Home, chap. vi. THE FIRST VICTORY. 133 them. I am so distracted with these cares, joined with those of my own people, that I have no time to add that I am ' Your Majesty's most dutiful Son, ' Charles.' This battle, better known in history as the battle of Preston or Prestonpans, was called by the Jacobites the battle of Glads- muir, though Gladsmuir, a large, open heath, is situated more than a mile distant from the scene of contest : however, out of respect to an ancient prophecy, of the date of 1615, which assured posterity that ' on Gladsmuir shall the battle be,' the victory was called by a name to which, strictly speaking, it had no risht. '&^ CHAPTEE VII. THE MARCH SOUTH. See the northern elans advancing ! See Glengarry and Lochiel ! See the brandish'd broad swords glancing ! Highland hearts are true as steel. Now our Prince has reared his banner ; Now triumphant is our cause ; Now the Scottish Lion rallies ; Let us stiike for Prince and Laws. The news of the victory of the Prince, while it animated the Jacobites in every quarter of the kingdom, created the gravest apprehension in the minds of the Government. A body of rebels that could defeat, in a few minutes, a picked army, was clearly a force not to be despised. Horace Walpole writes, in his chatty way, that he will have to exchange his comfortable apartments in Arlington Street for some wretched attic in Herrenhausen, and perhaps be reduced to give lessons in Latin to the young Princes at Copenhagen. ' The dowager Strafford,' he says,^ 'has already written cards for my Lady Nithisdale, my Lady Tullibardine, the Duchess of Perth and Berwick, and twenty more revived peeresses, to invite them to play at whist Monday three months. . . . This sounds great to have walked through a kingdom and take possession of the capital ! But the capital is an open town and the castle impregnable, and in our possession. There never was so extraordinary sort of rebellion ! One can't tell what assurances of support they may ^ Letters, vol. ii. p. 65. 134 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. have from the Jacobites in England or from the French ; but nothing of either sort has yet appeared — and if there does not, nevei- was so desperate an enterprise . . . but sure banditti can never conquer a kingdom ! On the other hand, what cannot any number of men do who meet no opposition % ' TIh! ' banditti ' had, however, made matters look serious. The King had been recalled from his Electorate, but owing to the heat of faction could not arrive at the exact truth regarding the progress of the insurrection. Lord Granville, the fallen Minister, who, notwithstanding his deposition, enjoyed in no slight degree the confidence of his Royal Master, represented the enterprise of Charles as a matter of little importance ; the Duke of Newcastle, on the other hand, was full of alarm, but yet could not help feeling glad when the rebels made any pro- gress, in order that Lord Granville's assertion might be refuted. ' I am very apprehensive,' he writes,^ ' that the Pretender, being in possession of Scotland, may encourage France to try to put them in possession of England also. . . . Everything is done that can be done by an Administration that has no jiower, and to whom the King, their master, will hardly vouchsafe to say one word about his own business. The greater the danger is, the more angry he grows with those who alone can help them out of it, and if he goes on he may run the risk of losing another kingdom by the rashness and hating of sotne as he has already done one by the folly and obstinacy of others.' The defeat of Cope was the first positive sign that the rebels were more formidable than had been expected, and not lightly to be considered. Granville was accused of want of foresight, and many believed themselves to be on the eve of a serious civil war. At once vigorous pi'eparations were entered into. Three battalions of the Guards and seven regiments of Infantry were recalled from Flanders ; two regiments of a thousand men were ordered to be transported from Dublin to Chester ; Marshal Wade was to march north Avith a large body of ti'oops and with the 6,000 Dutch auxiliaries which Holland had agreed to furnish ; Major-General Huske was despatched to Newcastle to superintend its defence ; Cope was ordered not to loiter at Berwick, but to proceed at once to Newcastle ; 2,000 Swiss, and several ti-oops of cavalry under General Wentworth, were in full march for the nortli ; the gentry in Northumberland and Durham and indeed in all the northern counties were raising 1 Sept. 21, 1745. MSS. of his Grace the Duke of Eichmond. Hist. MSS. Commiss. Report, 1., p. 115. THE MARCH SOUTH. 135 regiments of horse for the King's service ; the Mihtia was called out ; and every measui-e that jjrudence and alarm could suggest was adopted.' Still the nation at large was far from being imbued with the zeal and energy of the Government; though it did nob fjxvour the Stuart cause, it regarded with cold indifference the approachmg struggle. So apathetic was the country that it was said that had five thousand French only landed in any part of the island the entire conquest would not have cost them a battle. In order, however, to prevent such an invasion — for it was now fully expected that this first success of Charles would induce the Court of Versailles to abandon its present inactivity — Admiral Vernon, that ' simple noisy creature,' as Horace Walpole calls him, was stationed in the Downs, and ordei^ed to keep a watchful eye on the movements of the Gaul, and especially upon bis doings in the harbours of Dunkirk and Boulogne. Across the Tweed a veiy different spirit reigned. The Prince was everywhere hailed with the greatest enthusiasm. On the day after the battle he made his triumphal entry into Edinburgh. A hundred pi])ers marched in front playing the favourite Jacobite air ' The King shall enjoy his own again ' ; next came the clans, their lianners waving side by side with the flags taken from the English, whilst the captured prisoners, scarcely less in number than their conquerors, brought up the rear with the ti'ophies and artillery. The streets through which the procession passed were thronged with spectators, and every balcony that looked u])on the scene was filled with ladies wearing the colours of the Prince, and waving their handker- chiefs. As the Highlanders marched on, some of them, not content with shouting huzzas and waving their bonnets, dis- charged their pieces in the air ; and as fortune would have it, a musket, accidentally loaded with ball, wounded a young lady named Kairn who was standing with a bevy of her sex on one of the balconies. For a few moments she was stunned, but, on recovering, her fii'st words were, ' Thank God, the accident has happened to me whose principles are known. Had it befallen a Whig, they woiild have said it was done on pui'pose ! ' Happily Miss Naii-n not only recovered, but lived long enough to be acquainted with Sir Walter Scott in his younger days. Everything now reigned in Edinburgh as became a capital iu which royalty had been pleased to take up its abode. 1 Duke of Newcastle to the jMayor of Newcastle, Sejit. 25, 1745. CuUoden Papers. 136 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Levees and drawing-rooms were held in Holyrood, and the crush that assembled was worthy of St. James's. Concerts, balls, and receptions were freely given by the Lowland gentry, and the presence of the Prince seldom withheld. The clans were encamped at Duddingston, and the sober citizens were gratified with reviews, in which astonishment that such men should have so easily defeated a regular army was the chief element. But gay and festive as the Prince wished Edinburgh to be, he permitted no rejoicings or illuminations to celebrate his victory, giving as his reason that triumph had only been bought at the cost of his father's subjects. At the same time he did not scruple to let the country feel the result of conquest. The magistrates of all the towns in Scotland were commanded to repair immediately to Edinburgh to pay the contributions which were imposed on every town. The collectors and comptrollers of the Land-tax and Customs were ordered to hand over all public money in their possession on pain of high treason. The goods in the Leith Custom House were sold out, and their value given to the Prince. It was the duty of Secretary Murray to superintend these matters, and many a memo- randum among the State Papers attests his energy and super- vision. It was the wish of the Prince immediately after the victory at Preston to march upon London, and, considering the temper in which the public mind then was, had he taken this step it might not have been unattended with success. According to Wade, England was for the fii'st comer that made a bold dash for her possession. But there were grave reasons against such a course. The Highland chiefs were opposed to it, as they would then abandon all chance of supplies from France. Though their ranks had been swelled by various new arrivals, yet the vassals of Lovat, Macleod, and others still held aloof, and it was hoped that they might ultimately be gained over. Their army had also been considerably diminished by many of the Highlanders having, according to their custom, returned home to deposit with their families the booty they had secured. Besides, were not the British and Dutch forces diawing to a head at Newcastle, and was it wise to precipitate measures by an advance which, under the present circumstances, was rashness itself? Such reasons were alleged and hoxl their weight. The Prince was advised to bide his time, and for the present to occupy himself in recruiting his men and consolidating his power in Scotland ; still it was thought expedient to prepare the Jacobites in THE MARCH SOUTH. 137 England fov liis appearance at no distant period. Accordingly, the day after the battle of Prestonpans, one Hixon was sent into "Northumberland with the following instructions : — ' Sept. 22, 1745. * You are hereby authorised and directed to repair forthwith to England, and there notify to my friends, and particularly those in the north and north-west, the wonderful success with which it has hitherto pleased God to favour my endeavours for their deliverance. You are to let them know that it is my full intention, in a few days, to move towards them ; and that they will be inexcusable before God and man, if they do not all in their power to assist and support me in such an undertaking. What I demand and expect is, that as many of them as can, shall be ready to join me; and that they should take care to furnish provisions and money, that the country may suffer as- little as possible by the march of my troops. Let them know that there is no time for deliberation — now or never ! is the. word : I am resolved to conquer or perish. If this last should happen, let them judge what they and their posterity have to expect. ' ' C. P. R.' Meanwhile Edinburgh Castle was being closely blockaded, and the adherents of the Government wei"e not a little anxious regarding its fate, especially as it contained ' quantities of artillery, ammunition, and small arms, and the whole public and private money of the country, and a great quantity of plate.' ^ It was known that its stock of provisions was running low. and the Scottish law officers of the Crown accordingly wrote up to Whitehall, asking whether it would be advisable for the Castle to demand provisions fiom the town under penalty of reducing it to ashes. ^ The result of this application was that Lord Mark Kerr was directed by TweeddaJe to authorise ' the Com- manding Officer of the CasUe to declare to the magistrates and inhabitants of the town that if they did not furnish him with 1 A copy of this letter is among the State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 1745, No. 70. tinderneath the lettei- is -written, ' the above was found in the top of one Hixon's glove, taken up at Newcastle, who keej;s an inn at Perth, in Scotland. Since he was taken up he has but his throat, but 'tis hoped he Avill recover. lie has made some useful discoveries, whicii will not be published at present.' Unfortunately 1 have not come across any of his ' useful dis- coveries.' -' Lord Justice Qerk. State Papers, Scotland, Sept. 1745, s Ibid. 138 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. such provisions as should be necessary for the garrison, he was to distress and annoy them by all the means in his power, par- ticularly by destroying the reservoir which supplies the town with water, and even cannonading the town from the Castle.' ^ When the terrified townsmen were informed of this alternative by General Guest, they riTshed to the Prince and implored his intercession. With his usual amiability Charles at once, com- miserating their condition, wrote in terms of remonstrance to the Governor of the Castle. He expressed his surprise at the barbarity of an officer who could threaten ruin to harmless citizens for not doing what it was out of their power to per- form. Were he, the Prince, out of compassion to his fellow- subjects, to raise the blockade of the Castle, General Guest might with equal reason next ask him, under the same threat, to quit the city and resign all the advantages of victory. He trusted in the name of humanity that no wanton mischief would be done, but should any be attempted, he would not only make full reprisals upon the estates of the officers of the Castle, but also upon all who were known openly to abet the German Government. On receipt of this letter Guest sent an express to White- hall for further instructions, and in the meanwhile Si;igpended his threatened cannonade. Horace Walpole sneers at t^e very idea of forbearance. ' It is modest, it is Scotch ! and I dare say will be granted. Ask a government to spare your town, which you yourself have given up to rebels, and '^^ conse- quence of saving which will be the loss of your castle ! but they knew to what government they applied.' 2 However it so happened that whilst the governor was awaitinc the return of his express, certain Highlanders, ignorant of what had been passing between the gaixison and the town unluckily fired upon some people whom they saw carryiuo- provisions up the hill. At once Guest, who thought that his forbearance was being treacherously returned, gave orders for t^e Castle to open its guns. The streets were accordingly swept with shot, and several of the inhabitants killed. A furtj^er appeal by the unhappy citizens was made to the Prince ; and Charles whose humanity was always his weak point, thought it better to yield to their demand and raise the siege. ' As we have threatened,' he writes to Guest, ' we might justly proceed to use the powers which God has put in our hands, to chastise those who are \ State Papers, Scotland. Sept. 25, 1745. - Letters, vol. ii. p. 72. THE MARCH SOUTH. I39 instrumental in the ruin of this capital, by reprisals upon the estates and fortunes of those who are against us ; but we think it no way derogatory to the glory of a Prince to suspend punishment, or alter a resolution when thereby the lives of innocent men can be saved. In consequence of this sentiment, our humanity has yielded to the barbarity of our common enemy, and the blockade of the Castle is hereby taken off, and the punishment threatened suspended.' ^ Henceforth supplies were freely permitted to be furnished to the garrison, and all efforts for its reduction were virtually at an end. This clemency gave much displeasure to certain of the advisers of the Prince, who represented to him that the beating down a few old buildings was not to be put in competition with the reduction of a place of such importance as Edinbvirgh Castle, and that the loss some particular persons might sustain ought not to interfere with what was good for the whole. They con- cluded by saying that this clemency was not only mistaken, but by his enemies would be regarded as a sign of weakness; moreover, no prince or general had ever given such a pre- cedent. To these remarks Charles replied with more sternness than was his wont, ' My enemies may term it as they please ; but in this I am determined to be obeyed. Besides what might be virtue in another person, or in other ckcumstances, would be a vice in me. Remember,' he said impressively, and alluding to the story of Solomon and the two harlots, ' I come to save, not to destroy ; and how much soever I may lose, the child is mine, and I would sooner choose to yield my right in it than suffer it should be mangled before my face.' ^ Another event which occurred at the time also shows the humanity of the Prince. It was wished that one of the Eng- lish officers taken at Prestonpans should be sent to London to demand a cartel for the exchange of prisoners and to declare that if this request were refused, and the Prince's followers who fell into the hands of the enemy were to be treated as rebels and not as prisoners of war, the Prince would be forced, in his turn, to deal out the same severity to his captives. It was obvious that a cartel would greatly further the cause of Charles, as many were deterred from joining him by the hard fate in store for them should they bo crefeated and taken prisoners ; and it was also argued, with the merciless logic of warfare, that a few severe examples would induce the English 1 Proclamations, &c., Oct. 5, 1745. Treasury Board Papers, 1745, No. 244, 2 Genuine. Memoirs of John Hurray. I40 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. officers to remonstrate and the English Government to comply. To all this Charles objected. ' It is below me,' he said, ' to make empty threats, and I will never put such as these (allud- ing to the prisoners taken at Prestonpans) into execution ; I cannot in cold blood take away lives which I have saved in the heat of action.' ' And yet Charles covald be stern when occasion offered. Parliament had been summoned for October 17, and at once a Proclamation was issued denouncing * the pretended Parlia- ment of the Elector of Hanover,' and declarins that all who paid any obedience to its summons were guilty of an overt act of treason and rebellion. ' And for those,' Charles goes on ta say, ' of his Majesty's subjects of this his ancient kingdom of Scotland, whether Peers or Commoners, who shall contrary to these ovir express commands, presume to sit or vote as afore- said, as soon as the same shall be verified unto us, the trans- gressors shall be proceeded against as traitoi\s and rebels to their King and countiy, and their estates shall be confiscated for his Majesty's use according to the laws of the land ] the pretended union of this kingdom being now at an end.' ^ This Proclaination was shortly afterwards followed by a document of far more importance. Aware that the Act of Union was distasteful to the Scotch people in general, and that the re -establishment of Scotland as a separate kingdom was, to many of his adherents, a matter of as much moment as the re-establishment of the Stuart dynasty, the Prince thought it now expedient to specify the principles upon which his future government was to be conducted. A long and exhaustive Proclamation was accordingly published, justifying the steps Charles had taken, explaining his policy, and seeking to ani- mate the people to more vigorous exertions in support of his cause. It set forth that now as it had pleased God to smile upon the undertaking of the Prince, and to make him master of Scotland, his Royal Highness thought it proper to express publicly ' what ought to fill the hearts of all his Majesty's sub- jects of what nation or province soever v/ith comfort and satis- faction.' He began by declaring his intention not to enslave a free people, or impose upon them a religion which they disliked, but only ' to redress and remove the encroachments made upon them.' He then inveighed against the National Debt con- 1 MS. Memoirs of Maxwell_ of Kirkconnoll. Quoted from the Forty-Jive, by Earl Stanhope, p. Go. 2 Proclamations, Oct. 9, 1745. State Papers, Domestic, IRo. 71. THE MARCH SOUTH. 141 tracted under an unlawful government, and which had become a most heavy load upon the nation ; but still with this griev- ance he would do nothing of his own accord ; it was his inten- tion to take the advice of his Parliament, and follow out the directions it suggested. Upon one act, however, he determined to have no two opinions. * With respect to the pretended union of the two nations,' he said, ' the King cannot possibly ratify it, since he has had repeated remonstrances against it from each kingdom ; and since it is incontestable that the prin- cipal point then in view was the exclusion of the Royal Family from their undoubted right to the Crown.' The remainder of this document is so important as to justify its insertion at full length. ' And now that we have in his Majesty's name given you the most ample security for your religion, properties, and laws, that the power of a British sovereign can grant, we hereby for ourselves, as Heir-apparent to the Crown, ratify and confii^m the same in our own name, before Almighty God, upon the faith of a Christian and the honour of a Prince. '■ Let me now expostulate this weighty matter with you, my father's subjects : and let me not omit this first public oppor- tunity of awakening your understandings, and of dispelling that cloud, which the assiduous pens of ill-designing men have all along, but chiefly now, been endeavouring to cast on the truth. Do not the pulpits and congregations of the clergy, as well as your weekly papers, ring with the dx^eadful threats of popery, slavery, tyranny, and arbitrary power, which are now ready to be imposed upon you by the formidable powers of France and Spain % Is not my royal fiither represented as a blood-thirsty tyrant, breathing out nothing but destruction to all those who will not immediately embrace an odious religion? Or have I my- self been better used ] But listen only to the naked truth. ' I, with my own money, hire a small vessel, ill jDrovided with money, arms, or friends ; I arrive in Scotland, attended by seven persons ; t publish the King my Other's Declaration, and proclaim his title, with pardon in one hand, and in the other liberty of conscience, and the most solemn promises to grant whatever a free parliament "shall propose for the happiness of the people. I have, I confess, the greatest reason to adore the goodness of Almighty God, who has in so remai'kable a manner protected me and my small army through the many dangers to which we were at first exposed, and who has led me in the way to victoiy, and to the capital of this ancient kingdom, amidst 142 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. the acclamations of the King my fixther's suTyects. Why then is so miich pains taken to spirit up the minds of the people against this my undertaking % ' The reason is obvious. It is, lest the real sense of the nation's present sufferings should blot out the remembrance of past misfortunes, and of the outcries formei-ly raised against the royal family. Whatever miscarriages might have given occasion to them, they have been more than atoned for since ; and the nation has now an opportunity of being secured against the like for the future. ' That our family has suffered exile during these fifty-seven years, everybody knows. Has the nation, during that period of time, been the more happy and flourishing for it 1 Have you found reason to love and cherish your governors, as the fathers of the people of Great Britain and Ireland 1 Has a family upon whom a faction unlawfully bestowed the diadem of a rightful prince retained a due sense of so great a trust and favour 1 Have you found more humanity and condescension in those who were not born to a crown than in my royal fore- fathers 1 Have their ears been open to the cries of the people ? Have they, or do they consider only the interest of these nations 1 Have you reaped any other benefit from them than an immense load of debts 1 If I am answered in the affirma- tive, why has their government been so often railed at in your open assemblies 1 Why has the nation been so long crying out in vain for redress against the abuse of parliaments, upon account of their long duration, the multitude of placemen which occasions their venality, the introduction of penal laws, and, in general, against the miserable situ:ation of the kingdom, at home and abroad? All these, and many other inconve- niences must now be removed, vmless the people of Great Britain be already so far corrupted, that they will not accept of freedom when offered to them ; seeing the King, on his restora- tion, will refuse nothing that a free parliament can ask, for the security of the religion, laws, and liberty of his people. ' The fears of the nation, from the powers of France and Spain, appear still more vain and groundless. My expedition was undertaken unsupported by either : but indeed, when I see a foreign force brought by my enemies against me, and when I hear of Dutch, Danes, and Hessians, and Swiss, the Elector of Hanover's allies, being called over to protect his government against the King's svibjects, is it not high time for the King my father to accept also of the assistance of those who are able THE MARCH SOUTH. 143 and who have engaged to support him % But will the woi'ld, or any one man of sense in it, infer from thence that he inclines to be a tributary prince rather than an independent monarch % Who has the better chance to be independent on foreign powers % He who, with the aid of his own subjects, can wrest the government ovit of the hands of an intruder % or he who can- not, without assistance from abroad, support 'his government, though established by all the civil powei-, and secured by a strong military force, against the undisciplined part of those he has ruled over so many years % Let him, if he pleases, try the experiment; let him send off liis foreign hirelings, and put the whole vTpon the issue of a battle. I will trust to the King my father's subjects, who are, or shall be, engaged in mine and theii" country's cause. But, notwithstanding all the opposition he can make, I still trust in the justice of my cause, the valour of my troops, and the assistance of the Almighty, to bi-ing my enterprise to a glorious issue.'' Charles had some grounds for this hope. The victory of Gladsmuir had cheered many of his scant and wavering sub- jects, and they now eagerly enrolled themselves under his standard. General Gordon, of Glenbucket, brought down from the wilds of Aberdeenshire some 400 of his men ; Lord Ogilvie led a body of 600 from Strathmore and the Mearns ; the wise and venerable Lord Pitsligo — the Baron of Bradwardine of the author of ' Waverley ' — took the field at the head of a squadron of six score country gentlemen ; Lord Lewis Gordon, unlike his brother, the Duke, declared for the Prince, and was busy collecting forces in his own county; Macpherson, of Cluny, returned from Perth with 300 men; whilst many of the Low- land gentry enlisted themselves as volunteers. Still the three great chieftains, who could have swelled his ranks by some 4,000 men, held aloof. Sir Alexander Macdonald and Macleod, though again begged by the Prince to join his standard, resolutely refused. Lovat was not so decided. As usual he was playing his double game, and trying to keep his hand in both with the Prince and the Lord President. He had at first been desirous of forming a Northern army at the pass of Corryarrack, com- posed of the clans over whom he had influence, which he could employ either for the Prince or for the government as it might seem best for his own interests. But on finding this scheme impracticable on account of the resolve of Macdonald and Macleod not to enlist themselves in the cause of the insurgentg 1 Stuart Papers ; also State Papers, Domestic, Oct. 10, 1745, Xo. 71. 144 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. — the wily chieftain bethought himself of a measure which, without endangering either his personal safety, or his trimming policy, might yet serve his purpose. We have seen Lord Lovat in the light of a loyal subject, a >straightforward friend, and a man to whom truth was dear; we now behold him in the character of a fond and devoted father. The plan he had conceived was, if not unselfish, at least simple — it was merely that his son should carry out what he did not dare himself, and thus expose his own life to protect that of his afiectionate parent. In all secrecy the Master of Lovat re- ceived orders to gather some seven or eight hundred men and march towards the Prince. The son at once set himself to obey his father's directions, but the vigilant eyes of the Lord Presi- dent wei-e upon his movements, and Lord Lovat was speedily informed, both by Duncan Forbes and Lord Loudon, that the Master of Lovat was collecting the Erasers, and his Lordship was desired to put a stop to the proceedings. With his usual truthful candour, Lord Lovat replied that ' his son, the Master of Lovat, was positive and obstinate in his resolution to join the Pretender's son, and that the Master had the power over the clans, who would not obey or be governed by any one else.'' Then in the same moment as this infamous assertion was being made, he wrote to his son, blaming him for not being zealous and active enough in collecting the clan. On the Master of Lovat being informed that his father was '■ laying the whole rising to his charge, he said, " By God ! I will go to the Presi- dent about it and clear myself, and discover the whole ! " ' 2 This resolve he, however, seems to have abandoned, probably on account of the dread with which he, with the rest of the family, regarded Lovat. But such slippery and dastardly conduct generally meets A\ith its own reward. The Frasers thus raised did not reach Perth until Charles had entered England, and their embodiment was therefore of little service. In spite, however, of the loss of the Erasers, the army of the Prince, which still lay at Duddingston, was now mustering nearly G,000 men. The cavalry was formed into two troops of guards, the first consisting of gentlemen of family and cha- racter, who received no pay, commanded by Lord Elcho, whilst the second division, which was not so entirely a volunteer force, was commanded by Lord Kilmarnock. At the same time great care was taken to equip and discipline the infantry ; the men received their rations punctually, and their pay, which 1 Exam, of Eobert Fraser, Secretary- to Lord Lovat, Sept. 10, 1746. State Papers, Domestic. - Ihid. THE MARCH SOUTH. 145 was fixed at sixpence a day for the common men, and a shilling for those in the front ranks of the Highland regiments, was regularly settled. Still, the followers of the Prince fully bore out the designation the English loved to throw at them, that they 'were a rabble and not an army.' Their ranks were composed of old men fit for the grave, and young lads who could hardly wield the weapons at their sides, whilst the greater number were miserably clad, ill armed, and presented anything but a favourable appearance. And yet, with the scanty funds at his disposal, it was hardly possible for the Prince to equip his men in better style. Money was greatly wanted. The public taxes had been levied in several districts; Glasgow had been forced to contribute 5,000^. ; a few Jacobites, like the aged Earl of Wemyss, gave handsome donations to the cause they were personally unable to support, but still Charles's treasury remained at a very low ebb. This deficiency in the Exchequer led to unpleasantness. ' There is a spirit of inso- lence reigning among the Highland oificers,' says the intelli- gence that Cope incloses to the Duke of Newcastle,^ 'against their Head, occasioned by the want of their pay. Last week a gentleman, who has a fortune in this countiy (and was out in 1715), happened to be in Holyrood House waiting on his Pre- tended Highness, by whom he was strongly solicited to join in the cause. Various arguments were adduced to persuade him — the justice of it, the probability of success, the ardour and bravery of the military, gentry, ttc. But, unluckily, as an unanswerable objection to what had been so speciously alleged, in rushed two of his officers, who chanced to be a little mellow, and in the most reproachful manner demanded the arrears of their pay, which, as they said, were in arrears altogether except two guineas. He, by sugared words, flattered them out, and then exclaimed, " Good God ! what a slavery to have to do with these fellows ! " This is what I am very well assured of.' Certainly unanimity did not always prevail in the camp of the Prince. To assist Charles in the conduct of his campaign a Council had been formed, composed of the Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray, the two Lieutenant-Generals ; O'Sullivan, who was Quartermaster-General ; Lord Elcho. Secretary Murray, Lords Pitsligo, Nairne, Ogilvie, and Lewis Gordon, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and all the Highland chieftains. This Council invariably met at ten every morning in the draw- 1 Intelligence from Edinburgh, inclosed bj' Sir J. Cope to the Duke of New- castle. State Papers, Domestic, Oct. 16, 1745. I4 146 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. ing-room of Holyrood ; and from Lord Elcho we learn that its meetings were not always in the most perfect harmony — the rivalry between the Scotch and Irish officers led to frequent displays of feeling ; Lord George Murray could not brook the interference of the Prince ; whilst Charles, in his turn, ' could not bear to hear anybody differ in sentiment from him, and took a dislike to everybody that did.' A proposal was now made which caused no little disturbance in the Council. Charles . had collected as many men as his means permitted, and he was anxious to march south ; hi« sanguine temperament hated delay, and since he saw that without his personal presence in England the French would decline to make a descent, or the English Jacobites rise, the sooner he crossed the Tweed the better he thought it would be for his interests. But the Council were far from being of the same opinion. It was urged that, as his army was too small to compel the English to accept him as their sovereign, and as Wade had collected troops with a view to march into Scotland, it was wiser to await the English General's advance than to assume the aggres- sive — thus remaining unbi-oken and in force, they would encourage France to send supplies ; but if once they were defeated, France would refuse to support them. These argu- ments were lost upon Charles ; he said that he was confident the Fi'euch auxiliary force would land shortly after his crossing the Border, and that he possessed a strong party in London and elsewhere who would receive him as Edinburgh had done. At three several Councils was the question agitated, and always with the same result — the Council overruling the Prince. Though the Prince had been, as he repeatedly declared on his landing, desirous of attaining his end without foreign aid, he soon saw, if he was to march south, the importance of assistance from France. Shortly after the victory of Preston- pans, he had, therefore, despatched Kelly and Sir James Stewart to the Court of Versailles, to acquaint his most Christian Majesty with the details of the battle, and to impress upon his ministers the necessity for help. The vuiexpected sitccesses of Charles had, to a certain extent, excited sympathy on his behalf across the Channel. Money and arms had been occa- sionally sent into Scotland ; but as many of the vessels em- ployed for that object fell into the hands of English cruisers, the aid was well nigh imperceptible. Preparations were also being made at Dunkirk with a view to a landing in England. Heni-y, Duke of York, the brother of the Prince, was sent for THE MARCH SOUTH. 147 from Rome to take command of the intended expedition, and he had posted ^^'ith all speed from Albano to the French port. But the Court of the vacillating monarch could not make up its mind to enter at once, and boldly, v;pon so decisive a step. It threatened and then drew back, promised and withheld fulfilment, and thus lost the best opportunity it ever had of subjugating the power of Great Britain. Whilst the Duke of York was chafing with impatience at Dunkirk superintending the ships that were never to sail, and the Irish regiments that were never to march, some little assistance was rendered to the Prince. A vessel anchored at Montrose with 5,000Z. on board, whilst three other ships brought over 5,000 stands of arms, a train of six field-pieces, and a few Fi'ench and Irish oflacers. Among these new arrivals was M. de Boyer, called the Marquis d'Eguilles, who was intrusted with a letter of congratulation to the Prince from Louis XV. Charles received the Marquis with studied and polite ceremony, addressed him as Monseigneur, and had him regarded in the light of the accredited ambassador from the King of France to his Boyal Highness the Prince Kegent of Scotland. The appeai-ance of the envoy led the adherents of the Prince to hope that France would soon send her pro- mised support to their assistance. But it was not long before Charles learnt that if he would win his cause it would have to be almost alone through the unaided strength and coui-age of his loyal Highlanders. In conversation with the Marquis, the envoy said that it was immaterial to his master whether a George or a James was on the throne of England, but that if the Scotch nation wished a king for themselves, France would assist them in the struggle. Some members of the Council approved of the severance from England, and talked to Charles about the matter, but the Prince refused to listen to the proposal, and said that nothing short of the three kingdoms would content him.^ Indeed, acted upon by his Irish adherents, who painted the future in glowing colours, and who assured him of support in England, Charles determined to be no longer brooked by his Council, but to march at once south. He assembled his oflficers in his apartment, and laid before them his proposal for a march upon Newcastle. The usual objections were raised. Charles would not listen to them, but contented himself with saying, in his most positive manner, ' I see, gentlemen, you are determined 1 MS. Lord Elcho's Journal. L 2 148 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. to stay in Scotland and defend your country ; but I am not less resolved to try my fate in England, though I should go alone.' Thus pressed, the chieftains felt that they were in honour bound to follow the fortunes of theii- Prince, and not to endanger his person by withdrawing from the expedition. The only point that Loi'd George Murray urged was that they should enter England from the Cumberland and not the Northumberland side, so that if "VVade meditated giving them battle he would have to harass his troops by a ftxtiguing march across a mountainous country, whilst the Highlanders would fight to advantage among hills, which somewhat resem- bled their own. If, on the other hand, the Marshal was not anxious for an immediate collision, the Prince could move as lie pleased, and more time would be allowed for the French to land, or the English Jacobites to rise. This wise suggestion of Lord George was adopted, and everything prepared for an immediate departure. At the same time the secret of the change of route was well kept, and it was generally given out that the clans Avould march straight upon Newcastle, and into the very arms of Wade. The better to mislead the English, the subtle strategy of Lord George again suggested that they should divide their men into two columns, both to join on an appointed day near Carlisle ; the first column to march by the direct road to Mofiat, with the baggage and artillery ; whilst the second column, under the Prince in person, should pass by Kelso, as if with the intention of entering Northumberland. This suggestion was also adopted. Bnt carefully as the secret had been preserved, the friends of the Government were soon acquainted with it. ' The young Pretender,' writes ' Phila- lethes' to Lieut. -Gen. Handasyd, who was then at Newcastle,^ 'left Edinburgh last night (Oct. 31), about six, and came the length of Pinkie, attended by his Life Guards, where he lay all night, and this day about one o'clock proceeded to Dalkeith, from which place he is to march his whole army by the west road to Peebles and Moffat, and so through Annandale to Carlisle, as is believed. And the better to disguise his motions, he has so ordered it, that billets for quartering his army have been sent to IMusselburgh, Haddington, and other villages upon the east road to Berwick, while in the night time above 1,000 at a time march by the west road, and it is believed that there are already above 4,000 got as far as Peebles on their way to 1 State Papers, Domestic. Handasyd to Duke of Newcastle, Nov. 3, 1745. THE MARCH SOUTH. 149 Carlisle. They have along with them above 150 carts and waggons of baggage, besides a great many baggage horses, by which everybody conjectures they will not return again to Edinburgh, but are to proceed directly to England, and will endeavour, if possible, to take so far the advantage of our troops as to escape them, and so get into Lancashire, where they expect to meet with friends.' Before marching south the advisers of Charles drew up a declaration, ' Unto those who have not as yet declared their approbation of this enterprise, and unto such as have or may hereafter aj)pear in arms against it.' The document began with a regret that this glorious undertaking had been so traduced and misrepresented by the enemies of the Prince, and especially by the Bishops, who stated that the elevation of James the Third to the throne of England would result in nothing less than the overthrow of the Protestant religion and the establishment of Popery. ' Were there any grounds,' the paper went on to say, ' for supposing that the Prince intended to introduce Popery % Have not both the King and the Prince Pegent sworn in the most solemn manner to maintain the Protestant religion throughout his IMajesty's dominions? . . . Are we not Protestants who now address you % And is it not by the strength of a Protestant army that we must mount the throne % What further security can the nature of the thing admit of 1 . . . Our enemies have represented us as men of low birth and desperate fortunes. We who are now in arms, are, for the greatest paft, of the most ancient families of this island, whose forefathers asserted the liberties of their country long, long before the names of our declaimers were ever heard of. Our blood is good, and that our actions shall mnke appear. If our fortunes be not great, our virtue has kept them low, and desperate we may be truly called, for we are determined to conquer or die. . . . Perhaps you may find fault that you were not apprised of this undertaking. No more were we. Ood has conducted, the Prince of Wales has exeruted, and we are thereby in possession of Scotland, and victorious over one of the Elector's armies, which nothing could have saved from total destruction but the authority and mercy of a young con- queror, possessed of all the shining qualities which can adorn a throne, and who may challenge the keenest enemy of his Pvoyal Family to impute to him a vice Avhich can blacken the character of a Prince. Compare his clemency towards all the prisoners and Avounded at the battle of Gladsmuir with the ISO LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. executions, imprisonments, and banishment exercised by the German family after their success at Preston, in the year 1715, and your affections will tell you who is the truer father of the people.' The document concluded with a strong eulogium on the character of Charles, and the request that all should rally round the standard of the Prince, and ' cheerfully join issue with us, and share in the glory of restoring our King, and in setting our country free, which, by the strength of our arm, the assistance of our allies, and the blessing of God Almighty, we shortly expect to see accomplished.' ^ On November 3 the army marched from Dalkeith in two columns, as had been suggested. The first column was com- manded by Charles and Lord George, and consisted of the Camerons, the Macdonalds of Glengarry, the Grants of Glen- moriston, the Macdonalds of Keppoch, the Macdonalds of Clanranald, the Macdonalds of Glencoe, the Stewarts of Appin, the Macgregors, and the Mackinnons. The second column, commanded by the Duke of Perth and the Marquis Tullibar- dine, consisted of the Athol brigade, the Robertsons, the Duke of Perth's regiment, Glenbuckets, John Roy Stewarts, Lord Ogilvie's, the Maclauchlans, and the Macphersons. The guards under Lord Elcho, and Pitsligo's horse, marched with the first column. The Perthshire squadrons, commanded by the Earl of Kilmarnock, with the artillery and baggage, marched with the second.- Accordinsj to the estimates formed by the Lord Justice Clerk,3 the strength of the Highlanders consisted of 1 Inclosed in the letter of tlie Lord Justice Clerk to the Duke of Argyll, Nov. 2, 174.5. State Papers, Scotland. - Journal of the Rebellion. Treasury Board Papers, 1745, No. 244. j State Papers, Scotland, Xov. 2, 1745. In The Life of the Duke of Cum- berland, 8vo, London, 17G7, the following statement of the numbers of the Highland axmj is given :— CLAX UEGIJIEXTS AND THEIR roIMM ANPEHS. Loehiel . . Cameron of Locliiel . 700 Appin . . Stnart of Ardshiel . 200 Clanranald . . Macdonald of (,'lanranald . ;ioo Keppoch . Macdonald of Keppoch . 200 Kinloch-Moidart i\Iac:lonald of Kinloch-^Inidar; 100 (llencoe ^lacdonald 1 if Glencoe 120 j\Laciunon Maeinnon of Macinnon . 120 ]\Iacphersun . . Macpherson of Cluny 120 Glen;;arry . Macdonald of Glengarry . .300 Glenliucket . . Gordon of Glenliucket ."00 j\Lu-]auchlan . . Maclauchlan of that ilk . 200 Struau . . Robertson of Struan 2(10 Glenmoriston . Grant of Glenmoriston . 100 2'J60 THE MARCH SOUTH. ^51 Infantry G,280, Yohmteers 1,000, and 300 Cavalry. Other authorities make it a thousand less ; according to Home, ' they were not 6,000 men complete.' On the following day, and shrouded by the darkness of night, the column of Charles entered Kelso. ' This party,' writes the Lord Justice Clerk to the Duke of Argyll,' ' is said to be about 4,000 men, and among them are the best of their men, the Camerons, Macdonalds; they have no cannon and little baggage, no more than what thirty carts and twelve horses could lightly load and carry, and one covered waggon with the Pretender's son's baggage, in which is a fine gilt French box. ... It is said that Major Kelly has written to them that everything is ready for effecting a landing both from France and Spain, and advised them to march to the west of England, where they should meet with friends enough. How- ever, that report has not been able to prevent desertion in the rebel army ; many have deserted on their march from Edin- burgh, and particulai'ly at Kelso.' This last fact was a severe drawback to the cause of the Prince. The march south Avas by no means popular among the common soldiers, who were very superstitious about crossing the Border ; and it is said that Charles spent an hour and a half in persuasion before he could prevail upon any of his men to go forward. In spite of their seeming compliance, before the two columus reached Carlisle at least a thousand men had deserted. At Kelso a halt was made for two days, and orders were despatched to Wooler for quarters to be got ready, thus alarm- ing Wade, and diverting his attention from Carlisle, the real object of attack. But not towards Wooler did Charles bend Athol . Ogilvie . Perth . Nairn . Edinburgh LOWLAND REGIMENTS. . Lord George Murray . Lord Ogilvie, Angus men . Duke of Perth .... GOO 900 700 . Lord Nairn .... 200 . Kov Stuart .... 4,")0 2,850 CAVALKY. Lord Elcho and Ba'merino Lord Pitsligo . Lord Kilmarnock 120 80 60 2G0 * State Papers, Scotland, Nov. 5 and 7, 1745. 152 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. his steps. By a sudden inarch to the westward, by way of Hawick and Hagiehaugh, he entered Cumberland on the even- ing of November 8, As the clans crossed the Border they di-ew their swords and huzza'd, but in unsheathing his weapon Lochiel cut his hand, and the accident was looked upon as a bad omen. On the following day both the columns united, and proceeded to lay siege to the red stone walls of Carlisle. Carlisle had long been the principal garrison of England upon the western frontier, and many a time in bygone days had Scottish troops besieged it in vain. The castle, which commanded the town, was situated on a steep elevation, and surrounded by thick but crumbling walls. It contained only one company of Invalids as a garrison, commanded by Colonel Durand ; but in the city was a considerable force of Cumber- land and Westmoreland militia. Though the place was in no respect qualified to stand a regular siege, it was certainly sti^ong enough to defy the efforts of an enemy which possessed no heavier artillery than a few four-pounders to bring against it. At the approach of the clans the town showed a proper spirit of resistance. The mayor, whose name of Pattison will live as long as Jacobite lampoons endure, has, in my opinion, been the subject of much undeserved censure and ridicule. He has been stigmatised as the most arrant of cowards, the emptiest of braggarts, and the most miserable of Englishmen. Pattisou, olion ! ohon ! Thou wonder of a flavor ! Thou blest thy lot thou wert no Scot, And hluster'd like a plaver. What hast thou done, witli sword or gun, To baffle the Pretender ? Of mouldy cheese and bacon grease Thou much more fit defender ! front of brass and brain of ass, With heart of hare compounded, How are thy boasts repaid with costs, And all thy pride confounded ! Thou need'st not rave lest Scotlend crave Thy kindness or thy favour ; Thy wretched race can give no grace, No glory thy behaviour. These verses of the popular song ' The Mayor of Carlisle ' express, though in a ])lainer and coarser form, very much the opinions of many people who have had to discuss the conduct of the Worshipful Thomas Pattison on this occasion. And yet, on investigation, it will be found that he was much less to blame for the surrender of his city than is generally supposed. THE MARCH SOUTH. 153 It is not my object to liken this worthy citizen to a military genius, or to endow him with a capacity above the rest of his class ; but this I do say, that if he had not been compelled to capitulate by the wretched conduct of the militia within the town, we have every reason to believe he would have done his best to defend the city to the last. On the appearance of the Highlanders he issued a pro- clamation, stating that he would never surrender, and that he was not Paterson a Scotchman, but Pattison a true-born Englishman. For thus declaring his nationality he has been not a little laughed at. And yet why % Surely a man whose name bears a doubtful nationality — a name which to many Englishmen sounds Scottish- — and who held on such an occasion so prominent a post as the chief magistrate of a city about to be besieged, was perfectly justified in informing his fellow- citizens that he was of English birth and lineage, and had nothing in common with the invader % In times of warfare, when party feeling runs high, and nationalities are keenly criticised, it is not only expedient but right that men placed in positions of command, whose names, antecedents, or con- nections may excite suspicion, should take the first opportunity of openly declaring that between them and the eneany there is no bond of sympathy. I fail to see, thei^efore, why Thomas Pattison should be sneered at by posterity becaixse he thought it his duty at such a moment to state that he was an English- man and not a Scotchman ; and that nothing would induce him to betray his trust. On hearing of the mayor's resolve to defend the city, Charles at once despatched the following order to him : * Being come to recover the King our Father's just right, for which we are arrived with all his authority, we are sorry to find that you should prepare to obstruct our passage. We, therefore, to avoid the eflfusion of blood, hereby require you to open your gates, and let us enter, as we desire, in a peaceable manner, which if you do we shall take care to preserve you from any insult, and set an example to all England of the exactness with which we intend to fulfil the King our Father's Declarations and our own. But if you shall refuse us entrance we are fully resolved to force it by such means as Providence has put into our hands, and then it will not perhaps be in our power to prevent the di'eadful consequences which usually attend a town's being taken by assault. Consider seriously of this, and let nie have your answer within the space of two 154 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. hours ; for we shall look upon any further delay as a peremp- tory refusal, and take our measures accordingly.' ' Charles Prince Regent.' But the mayor refused to return any answer to the sum- mons. Patiently waited Charles. When the time allowed for consideration had passed away, he was on the point of giving orders to begin operations, when the news suddenly arrived that Wade had left Newcastle, and was making forced marches across country to relieve Carlisle. It was now considered advisable both by the Prince and his Council to retire and advance upon Brampton, so as to engage the English with the advantage of hilly ground. It was with no ordinary feelings of pride that the inhabitants of Carlisle saw the foe which had been the terror of Hamilton's and Gardiner's dragoons, the victors of Cope, and the capturers of Edinburgh, beating, as they thought, a hasty retreat before the resolution and prowess of ' the first city in England.' Flushed with success the mayor wrote an account of the matter to Lord Lonsdale : — ' Last Saturday night,' he writes,^ ' our city was surrounded with about 9,000 Highlanders. At three o'clock that after- noon I received a message from them for billets for 13,000 men to be ready that night. I refused. On Sunday, at three in the afternoon, I received the inclosed message (the summons of the Prince). The answer returned was only by firiiig ovir cannon. Then Charles and the Duke of Perth, with several other gentlemen, lay within a mile or two of us, but have now all marched for Brampton, seven miles on the high road for Newcastle. I told your Lordship,' continues he, proudly, 'that we would defend this city \ its proving true gives me pleasure, and more so since we have outdone Edinburgh, nay, all Scot- land. We are bringing in men, and arms, and covered waggons frequently. I shall in a little time fully set forth eveiything to your Lordship. If you think proper I would have you mention our success to the Duke of Newcastle and to General Wade.' It was not probable, after the rebels had carried everything before them in Scotland, that their first check in England should be hid under a bushel. Lord Lonsdale at once wrote up to Whitehall, and in a few days' time the mayor, whose 1 State Papers, Domestif", Xov. 10, 17-15. Inclosed in letter of Lord Lons- dale to Duke of Newcastle, Nov. 13. 2 State Papers, Uomcstic, Nov, 12, 174.5. In Lord Lonsdale's letter of Nov. 13. THE MARCH SOUTH. 155 entlinsiasm altered circumstances had by that time considerably damped, received a letter from the Duke of Newcastle. His Grace, little dreaming how events had turned out, began by stating that last night he had received a letter from my Lord of Lonsdale, giving an account of the ineffectual attempt of the rebels to make themselves masters of Carlisle : ' Imme- diately,' writes the Duke,' ' I laid it before the King, and his Majesty was so sensible of the loyalty and courage which the magistrates and officei's at that place have showed on this important occasion, that his Majesty commanded me to take the first opportunity of rettn-ning his thanks to them, with which I am to desire you would be pleased to acquaint them. I most heartily congratulate you upon the great honour the town of Carlisle has gained by setting this example of firmness and resolution, which it is to be hoped will be followed in other places should the rebels attempt to advance further.' But pride was soon to have a bitter fall, and the mayor, so elated with his success, to be made the scapegoat of a hvimiliat- ing surrender. Had Wade not been deceived by that march to Kelso, and had he only left Newcastle in time to come up with the rebels. History would have been spared the record of a miserable event, and the mayor of Carlisle, instead of being unjustly lampooned, would have been handed down to posterity as the staunchest of patriots. The element of luck enters more largely into the acquisition of fame than many suppose. On arriving at Brampton, Charles discovered that the report respecting the movements of Marshal Wade was false, that the English general was still at Newcastle, and that the High- landers had therefore nothing to fear. Several regiments were at once sent back to Carlisle, under the command of the Duke of Perth, to resume the siege, and shortly after their departure Charles penned the following letter to Lord Barrymore, a staunch and wealthy Jacobite in Cheshire : — 'Bkamptox, Nov. 11, 1745. \ ' My Lord, — This is to acquaint you with the success we have had since our arrival in Scotland, and how far we are advanced without repulse. We are now a numerous army, and are laying siege to Carlisle this day, which we are sure cannot hold out long. After that we intend to take our route straight for London, and if things answer our expectations we I State Papers, Domestic, Nov. 1.5, 1745. IS6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. design to be in Cheshire before the 24th inst. Then I hope you and all my friends in that county will be ready to join us. For now is the time or never. Adieu. 'Charles Prince Eegent.'^ The opinion which Charles expressed that Carlisle would Bot hold out long was soon realised. On the 13th inst. the Duke of Perth began to raise a battery on the east side of the town, and in order to encourage his men both he and the Marquis of Tullibardine pulled off their coats and set vigor- ously to work in the trenches. At the same time the most terrible stories of the conduct of the rebels were in full circula- tion among the inhabitants of Carlisle. It was said that the Highlanders shot at everybody that fled from them, that the country all round was put under military execution ; that all the able-bodied peasantry in the neighbourhood had been seized, and were to carry the scaling ladders to the walls ; and that the severest punishments were to be inflicted upon all within Carlisle if they continued their resistance, as the rebels were perfectly aware that Wade's army was at so great a dis- tance that they had nothing to fear.^ Still all might yet have been well with the city, had not the conduct of the militia within its walls been so scandalous and cowardly that we can find no parallel to it in the history of this rebellion save in the behaviour of the di-agoons at Prestonpans. But let Colonel Durand, the commander of the garrison, tell in his own words the humiliating scene that ensued : — ' The following is a short but true account of the manner in which the rebels became possessed of Carlisle^ : — * Satui^day, Nov. 9th, the i-ebels first appeared before Carlisle, and Nov. 14th, in the morning, I received a message in writing signed by the officers of the militia of Cumber- land and Westmoreland, acquainting me that having been lately extremely fatigued with duty in expectation of relief from his Majesty's force, and it appearing that no such relief 1 State Papers, Domestic, Xo. 73. This letter was carried by one Peter Pattinson, a messenger wliom Slieridan had selected ; but Pattinson, on enter- ing Olieshire, gave it into the hands of Lord Barrvmore's son, Lord Biittevant, thinking that a letter wi'itten to the father might' well be delivered to the son. It so happened that Lord Buttevantwas anything but a Jacobite, and at once i^ave Pattinson up to justice, consequently "the letter never reached its destina- tion. Exam, of Peter" Pattinson. State t*apers. Domestic, No. 78. -' Intelligence from Penrith. State Papers, Domestic, Nov. 14, 1745. 3 Col. Durand to Lieut.-Gen. Folliot. State Papers, Domestic, Nov. 20. 1745. THE MARCH SOUTH. 157 is now likely to be had, and not being able to do duty or hold out any longei-, they were determined to capitulate. Upon which I immediately went to them with Capt. Gilpin and the rest of the officers of the Invalids, and did all that lay in my power to persuade them to change so rash a resolution by repre- senting the fatal consequences that might attend it, and the dishonour of treating with I'ebels whilst they were in a condi- tion of defending themselves, and solemnly protesting that I wovild never join in so unworthy an action ; and some of them having taken notice of an intrenchment w^hich the rebels were that morning throwing up aboiit thi'ee hundred yards' distance from the citadel, I answered that I had carefully viewed the intrenchment they spoke of, and thought it was at too great a distance to be of any great consequence ; and, besides, as it was not usual to carry on works in the day time, I imagined it was only done to intimidate the garrison ; assuring them that, if they would but stand by me, it was my opinion we might defend both the city and the castle for some considerable time longer against the whole of the force of the rebels, as by the best accounts we had of them they had no cannon large enough to make a breach, and they knew all the ladders within seven miles round had been brought into the city. But they still continued firm in their resolution, alleging that several of their men had deserted the preceding night over the walls, and the rest were so fatigued and intimidated that they could not much depend upon them, and therefore they would send to capitulate immediately, for should they defer it till next morning the city might probably be stormed that night, and they all put to the sword ; and then sent to the mayor to know if he would join with them. The mayor upon that applied to me to know what I would do ; I told him I was determined to defend both the city and castle as long as I could. He answered he wo^dd do the same, but the militia still persisted in their resolution, and said if the mayor and inhabitants would not join with them they woiild send and capitulate for themselves upon the best terms they could get. This struck such a panic into some of the towns-people that they desired the mayor woiild summon the inhabitants at the town-hall to consult what was proper to be done, which he immediately did, and the opinion of the majority then present v)as to defend the to%i:n ; but the militia still persisting in their resolution to capitulate, the towns-people at last agreed to join with them, and to send away to the rebels to desire a capitulation. Upon which myself, Capt. Gilpin, IS8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. and the rest of the officei's of the Invalids, after protesting against it in the most solemn manner, retired into the castle, with the two companies of Invalids and about 400 other men, who all then said they would join with me in defending the castle to the last. But before 8 o'clock the next moi-ning they changed their resolution, and all left us to a man. . . . 'Nov. 15. — About 10 o'clock in the morning, most of the principal inhabitants and officers of the militia came to me to acquaint me that they had received an answer from the rebels that unless the castle was surrendered at the same time with the town, they would immediately destroy the city with fire, and pu.t all the inhabitants and militia without distinction to the sword, and desiring for God's sake that we would take it into consideration, and that the gariison of the castle might march out with all military honours, and both officers and men be at liberty to go wherever they pleased. I told them I would call a council of war, and then we would give them an answer.' Colonel Durand summoned a council of war, and it was then agreed that as the militia of Cumberland and Westmoreland had refused to a man to defend the castle, and as the garrison consisted of about 80 men, many of whom wei-e very infirm, and their numbers insufficient to manage the guns or man the walls, and that as the mayor and inhabitants of the town had, contrary to the opinion of the officers of the garrison, treated with the rebels, who refused to listen to them without the surrender of the castle ; it was therefore thought advisable, the castle not being tenable, that it be abandoned. ' I know nothing of the terms of the capitulation,' continues Colonel Durand, ' as I had no hand in it, but on the contrary solemnly protested against it — nor have I so much as seen it.' His letter concludes with a hope that his conduct, and that of his officers, will meet with Folliot's approbation, as they had done all in their power to preserve both the city and the castle. A month later the Rev. Dr. Waugh, the Chancellor of Carlisle, gives the Duke of Newcastle an account of the surren- der of the city ; and, whilst speaking in the highest terms of Colonel Durand, abuses in no measured terms the conduct of the militia, attributing to their cowardice and example the whole blame of the capitulation.' Now it seems to me that satire has been somewhat unjustly severe upon this poor mayor. At the approach of the rebels 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 1, 1745. THE MARCH SOUTH. 159 he issues a proclamation that he will defend the citj and glories in the name of an Englishman ; the rebels resume the siege ; the militia — the sole defenders of the city — declare that they will surrender to the enemy; an interview takes place be- tween the Mayor and Colonel Durand — Durand, as a soldier, vows he will defend the city and castle as long as he can; Pattison, as a loyal citizen, re-echoes the same sentiments, and it is only when the gallant Cumbei-land and Westmoreland militia, by then- conduct, sow timidity bi'oadcast among the unarmed citizens, that the mayor feels he has no alternative but to surrender. He has no arms ; the only defenders the town possesses refuse to fight, and threaten to go over to the enemy ; nothing remains to protect the city but panic-stricken inhabitants and a company of Invalids in the castle. Under such circumstances wlaat alternative had a man who was no hero — perhaps some respectable, half-educated tradesman, who knew, as the song kindly suggests, far more of ' mouldy cheese and bacon grease,' than he did of wai-fare or of military organisa- tion — but capitulation % Still, if he is to be arraigned at the bar of history, and condemned as a coward and traitor, let not the Cumberland and Westmoreland mihtia, whose business it was to fight, who were embodied for that sole purpose, and who were brought into the city of Carlisle to animate its inhabitants and defend its interests, escape lanpunished. The mayor was but an ordinary citizen, — the ofiice he held has never been highly distinguished for capacity or common sense on unaccustomed occasions- — and satire has been much too hard upon him. On the 17th inst. the Prince entered Carlisle in triumph. The conditions of the capitulation were that the garrison and militia should deliver up their arms and horses, and promise not to serve against Charles for the space of a year. The siege cost the Highlanders one man killed and one wounded. l6o LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. CHAPTER VIII. ADVANCE TO DERBY. To your .arms, to your arms, my bonnie Hif^liland lads! We winna brook the rule o' a German thing. To your arms, to your arms, wi' your bonnets and your plaids ! And hey fur Charlie and our ain true king ! The tactics of Lord George Murray had completely perplexed Marshal "Wade, who, old, querulous, and past his work, had been despatched to Newcastle to intercept the progress of the Prince. The troops under his command numbered over 12,000 men,' and, had the Prince entered England by any other route than the one he adopted, the rebellion would have received a severe check within a few hours of the clans crossini;; the border. But the march to Kelso had entirely deceived the Marshal and altered the whole character of his reckoninjrs. On hearins; that the Prince had returned from Brampton to invest Carlisle he summoned a Council of War and wrote to the Duke of New^- castle ^ that he intended to march on the 16th inst. to the relief of the city; ' though the country is covered with snow and the roads extremely broken, I hope we shall be able to take with us eight or ten days' provisions, if the country does not disappoint us of our carriages, which it has often done.' This intention of an immediate march upon the Prince was cordially welcomed by the Secretary of State, who had far from approved of the dilatory conduct of Wade, the more especially as the Court was disturbed by news of an invasion fi'om France. * We have certain accounts,' writes the Duke of Newcastle to the Marshal,^ ' that preparations are making for an embarkation from Dunkirk, that Lord John Drummond's regiment is actually embarked, and that there are now transports at Dunkirk and Ostendsufficient for 3,000 men. . . . All our advices agree that the Covirt of France intend to support the Pretender in earnest. For these reasons his Majesty was the more pleased with your resolution to go immediately to the rebels, in hopes that by the blessing of God they may be defeated and these intestine troubles in a ajreat measure ended before the French can have' an opportunity to put their designs in execution.' On reaching Hexham, Wade to his dismay ascertained that 1 Wade's Instructions. State Papers, Domestic, Oct. 6, 1745. 3 State Papers, Domestic, Nov. 15, 1745. ' Ibid. Nov. 19, 17-J5. ADVANCE TO DERBY. i6r the ' resolute behaviour of the town of Carlisle had in the end proved very scandalous and shameful, if not treacherous.' He writes to Newcastle ' that had the city only held out a few days longer, which it could have easily done without the least hazard or difficulty, he might not only have saved the town and castle but have given the rebels a decisive defeat under its walls. According to the favourite expedient of the incompe- tent commander, he now summoned a Council of War. As the roads were impassable from snow, and as it was impossible to pursue the rebels should they advance into Lancashire by any other road than that by Newcastle to Boroughbridge, it was resolved to return at once to Newcastle. ' And even in that way,' writes Wade, dolefully,^ ' the rebels will be in Lancashire long before us, and we must expect a great diminution of our force from the numbers that fall sick every day by the severity of the weather and the badness of the roads. And I am sorry to tell your Grace that, in all the service I have seen since my first coming into the army, I never saw more distress than what the officers and soldiers suffer at this time.' After a bitter two days' marching, Wade entered Newcastle with his troops, ' very much fatigued and half-starved with the cold, insomuch as it moved the compassion of the magistrates and gentlemen of the town to admit the whole body of foot to march into it, and to take shelter in the public halls, glass- houses, malt-houses and other empty buildings, as also in many of the private houses of the town — which are comfortable quar- ters, after what they had suffered by lying on the ground in tempestuous weather.'^ Here he proposed to halt for three days, and then to march his men en masse in pui-suit of the rebels. But the defence of England was not intrusted alone to the army in the north. The capture of Carlisle and the unchecked progress of the rebels were clearly matters demanding the serious attention of the Grovernment. Sir John Ligonier was therefore ordered to march with a body of troops into Staffordshire, and to rendezvous at Lichfield, so as to prevent the Highlanders, should they escape Wade, from entering Wales. The Lord- Lieutenants were directed to give every assistance in their power to those troops which passed through their counties, and to see that the roads and bridges wei-e in a fit state of repair. 1 State Papers, Domestic, Nov. 19, 1745. » 7j,-^_ Nov. 19, 1745. 3 Jbid. Nov. 23, 1745. M l62 LIFE OF PRIXCE CHARLES STUART. The regiments of the city train-bands were carefully inspected and ordered to hold themselves in readiness for any emergency that might arise. Signals were posted all over London, and the guard was doubled. One morning, whilst the train-bands were being inspected by the King and the Duke of Cumberland from the Terrace Walk of St. James's Park, a small paper parcel carefully sealed was thrown by a man in the crowd into tlie face of his Majesty. Instantl}^ the culprit was secured by a few privates of the Guards who witnessed the act, and brought to the guard-room amid cheers and cries of ' Let the rogue be hanged without judge or jury ! ' On being examined before Justice Burgess, the prisoner said that his name was James Corbet, that he was a priest of the Catholic Church, and that ' what he had done was nothing but what was lawful in serving both God and his King, whom they were pleased to call the Pretender's son, and that he did not value what any damnable heretics could do to him.' The packet thrown at the King was now opened, and found to con- tain a letter which ran as follows : — *FoR George the Usurper. ' Sir, — I have given myself the trouble of inditing to you the following lines, which will be for your safety though you are my professed enemy. I would not have you flatter yourself with the zeal with which your subjects have thought proper to show towards your person, and the support of your Government, who this day have sent from the city (as I am informed) a number of 12,000 men for you to view, in order to strengthen and con- firm their loyalty. But alas, I assure you, that whenever I begin to tread England's ground, which will not be many days first, then will you hear of a far superior number joining me than what any of your territories, put them all together, can produce. I have sent you this notice that you may not deem me a cowai-d, for I do not fear success in my undertaking ; therefore, I would have you take care to secure yourself and family from the fuiy of the sword belonging to Charles, King of England.' ^ It is needless to say that this miserable composition was not penned by the Prince. What became of James Corbet we know not. He was one of those scheming priests, then busy in London, who to serve their own purpose did their best to iden- 1 State Papers, Domestic, 1745, No. 72. ADVANCE TO DERBY. 163 tify the Stuart cause with Popery : and who, thoUjgh culling themselves partisans of the Prince, were among his most formidable enemies. ' Save me from my friends,' Charles might well cry when he saw and heard these adherents endeavouring to pave his way to the throne of England by useless and irritating attacks upon the established religion of the country. Nor was it only from bigoted ecclesiastics that he received annoyance. Shortly after the reduction of Carlisle, the feud which had long been smouldering between his rival Lieutenant- Generals broke out. Lord George Murray, jealous of the preference given to the Duke of Perth in commanding the pro- ceedings of the siege of Carlisle, and of the favour with which he was regarded by the Prince, tendered his resignation — which Chai'les coldly accepted. But popular thougli the Duke of Perth was, in the social sense of the word, throughout the little army, it was felt by all that his military capacity was feeble, and that the resignation of Lord George would be as severe a blow as the expedition coidd ueceive. Accordingly a petition was got up, praying Charles to request Lord George to resume his com- mission ; and at last, what promised to be a very unpleasant dispute was satisfactorily settled by Perth generously waiving his pretensions to command, and ofiering to serve in any capacity. And indeed the clans, in the present crisis of their affairs, required all the generalship they possessed. If anything could show Charles, in spite of the enthusiasm of the past, how slight was the hold his cause possessed, and how fickle was the adher- ence of his friends, he had but to regard the country whose borders he had scarcely quitted. The towns of Glasgow, Paisley, and Dumfries had resumed their allegiance to the existing Government, and had levied their militia for the House of Hanover. Almost immediately after the departure of the Highland troops the city of Edinburgh had been entered by the officers of the Crown in solemn procession, and, overawed by two regiments of cavalry that Wade had sent forward, the Jacobite enthusiasm in the town prudently changed its tone. At Perth and Dundee, where the proclamation of King James III. had been so loyally i-eceived, the inhabitants insisted upon cele- brating the birthday of King George, and fired upon the Jacobite garrisons. In addition to this lukewarmness and speedy change of sentiment, the friends of the Government, under the Earl of Loudoun and the Lord President, were assembling their forces M 2 l64 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. at Inverness, and doing their utmost to crush the progress of the rebellion in the north. But the motto of Charles was thorough. He had resolved,. in spite of all difficulties and discouragements, to march farther into England, and not to be deterred by any misgivings. A council of war was held at Carlisle, and the opinion of the officers taken upon the matter. Advice was not unanimous. Some recommended that they should remain where they were until the reinforcements under Lord Strathallan arrived from Perth. Others voted for returning at once to Scotland, whilst a fe"w agreed with the Prince and decided in favour of an advance upon London. Lord George Murray was referred to, and he replied that though he could not advise his Royal Highness to march far into England without more encouragement than he had at present received, yet, if the Prince was resolved to make the trial, the army, small though it was, would follow him. Charles, assured by his Irish adherents that the Jacobites in Lancashire would rise in his favour, and under the impression that a landing of French troops would soon take place, ex- pressed his intention of continuing the advance ; the council acquiesced in his wish. Leaving a garrison of 200 men at Carlisle, the Highlanders resumed their adventurous expedition on November 20, form- ing for the convenience of quarters into two columns. The line of march led through Penrith, Shap, Kendal, and Lancaster to Preston, where the troops arrived on the 27th. ' I am now in your town of Preston,' writes one Rollo. Anderson to his brother,* ' which I find the prettiest by far of any I have as yet seen in England, and where we have found none but friends. Numbers have joined \is, and we want nothing but arms to give to many more of the same inclination : we march to-moiTow for Wigan. The Prince was obliged to stay here this day to get shoes for his men, and likewise to refresh them a little after so long marches as they have had of seventy miles in three days. Ligonier has broken down the bridge at Warrington to hinder our passage that way if he can, and by what I can learn without some reinforcement to his army will not risk a battle. We have now eight days' march upon General Wade, who must ship his ai'my if he intends to be at London before us. The Prince always marches on foot, as he will do I suppose to London. His army is in as great spirits as possible for troops to be in, and I have no doubt of a J State Papers, Domestic, Nov. 27, 1745. ADVANCE TO DERBY. 165 victory on our side against an army twice our number. "We were welcomed to tliis town by loud huzzas, the first we met with in England. I breakfast this morning with two Welsh gentlemen who have joined us from Monmouth and Glasgow; they say we will get numbers from North Wales.' In spite of the assertion of iloUo Anderson that numbers had joined them, the contrary was the fact. The whole force of the clans was under 5,000, and though the people on the line of march came forward in crowds to offer the men their good wishes, few could be persuaded to enlist, declining the arms offered them with the remark that they did not understand fighting. Much of this apathy was no doubt due to the know- ledge that French aid had been called in to assist the Prince. The English Jacobites in the northern counties felt their patriot- ism insulted at the idea of their ancient line of kinss beinsf restored by the help of foreign bayonets. If the expulsion of the House of Hanover from the throne of England could only be attained by French troops landing in Kent and Sussex, and gaily marching to London, the accession of the Stuarts would be a triumph too dearly bought to be acceptable. The greater portion of the English Jacobites, though sincere in the cause of the white cockade, were yet Englishmen first and Jacobites afterwards, and the thought of being indebted to their hated enemy across the Channel for the realisation of their wishes made party feeling give way to the stronger instincts of national pride. The Scotchmen who followed the Prince entertained no such objections. Between Scotland and France a cordial alliance had always been maintained — the Highlander regarded the Englishman as his enemy, and the Gaul as his friend — and the association of the two countries on this occasion would have partaken more of the character of a union between friendly powers to conquer a common foe, than of that of a civil war waged by foreign assistance in the interests of an expelled dynasty. And yet if anything could have animated dormant enthu- siasm, it would have been the conduct of the Prince. He marched at the head of any clan he for the moment specially affected in full Highland costume, and scarcely ever availed himself of the luxuries his position commanded. He seldom mounted his horse, and hardly once entered his carriage, in- sisting that the aged Lord Pitsligo should use it in his stead. He rarely dined, but contented himself Avitli one hearty meal at night, and then lay down to rest Avithout undressing, to rise 1 66 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Hgain at four o'clock. Such an example not only inspirited his followers, but silenced any grumbling that might have arisen in the ranks. If a Prince of the Blood and the first officer in command bore without a murmur hardship and fatigue, it was not for the privates to be discontented. Whilst staying at Preston the Prince despatched the follow- ing letter to an adherent. ' Nov.Tt, 1745. 'After the success which Providence has gi'anted to my arms in Scotland, I thought I could not do better than to enter England, where I have been always assured I should meet with many friends, equally disposed to exert their loyalty to their native king, and to shake off" a foreign yoke under which the nation has so long groaned. I have now put into their hands an opportunity of doing both, by repairing with what strength every man can to my army, from which the enemy industriously keeps at such a distance. The particular character I have heard of you makes me hope to see you among the first. I am persuaded you will not baulk my ex- pectations, and j'ou need not doubt but I shall always remem- ber to your advantage the example you shall thus have put to your neighbours, and consequently to all England. ' Charles P. R.' ' From Preston the army marched to "VVigan, and from Wigan to Manchester, At Manchester the Prince was received with undisijuised f^xvour. The church bells chimed their wel- come ; the crowds not only cheei-ed him with fervid loyalty but wore the white cockade ; in the evening the town was illumi- nated, bonfires were lighted, and numbers flocked around him to kiss his hand and promise service. It was the most enthu- siastic reception he had yet received, or was to receive, on English soil. During the two days he halted here, some 200 volunteers were enlisted, and were embodied -with the few English recruits who had joined him on his route — the whole taking the name of the Manchester Regiment, under the com- mand of one Francis Townley, a Roman Catholic of an old Lancashire family. 1 From tlio ]\ISS. of Sir John Lawson. Biirh, Brouirh Hall, Yorkshire. See Hist. MSS. Commission, Third Report. |i. 'Ihh. This lettor was forwarded by the Duke of IVrth, but its address, ' for the more socurity,' was scored out. It is Dot improbable tliat the person to Avhom it was sent was SirWatkin Wynn. ADVANCE TO DERBY. 167 "While resting here Charles received the following letter from his brother ' : — 'Bagneux, Nov. 26, 1745. ' Dear Brother, — I was overjoyed to hear the good news Kelly and his companion brought of you. It would have lieen a great point if they could have saved their papers. [Kelly was detained by a ' little agent ' at Flushing, and bui'nt his papers — he, hoAvever, managed to effect his escape.] But for all that mischance I cannot but see things going here even better than I well expected. Gordon's arrival here has done good. I wish we could have often news from you diiectly. The ministers come to see the Duke of York sans fac^on, which I take to be no small advantage. A great point we have gained is, that the Marquis D'Argen^on in a conference with me a few days ago told me I might send immediately to adver- tise you in his name and his brother's, that the King of France was absolutely resolved upon the expedition into England, qu^l y avail mis le hon, and that you might count upon it being ready towards the 20th December, new style. ' Dear Brother, I have nothing but you in my heart and mind. Pardon me if lam so short, but the shoi-ter these sort of letters are the better. ' I remain, with all respect, ' Your most loving brother, * Henry.' Meanwhile where was Wade 2 The querulous old man having, at his time of life, no great liking for rapid move- ments, had so slowly conducted his operations that the clans were well-nigh at Pi'eston before he began his advance across country. ' We march this day,' writes Lord Ty rawly, the second in command, to the Duke of Newcastle,^ ' our whole body together, and encamp, so that I suppose by the time we get to Wetherby, our proposed ground, we shall have no army, for there is not the least care taken to provide straw, forage, or meat to be killed for the men. ... I really begin to suspect that we are afraid of these scoundrels — the Marshal knows best what he is about, for my own part I don't pretend to it.' For very much the same reason that no man is a hero to bis valet, it is not given to eveiy chief to obtain the respect and enthusiasm of his subordinate, and certainly the military capa- city of Wade seems to have inspired his Lieutenant- General 1 State Papers, Domestic, No. 75. « 7/,;^/. Xov. 26, 1745. 1 68 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. with anything but feelings of hero-worship, ' He is infirm both in mind and body,' writes Tyrawly/ with the jealous criticism of a second in command, who feels himself the supe- rior officer, 'forgetful, irresolute, perplexed, snappish, and positive, sometimes at the expense of good breeding . . . nothing that anybody says or proposes has any weight till it has the sanction of Mr. Wentworth, and that of a certain poor ignorant creature of a Quartermaster-General.' Then, after complaining that his advice is never accepted, which may to a certain extent account for the candour of his criticism, Tyrawly goes on to say that, during their interrupted march to Carlisle, bread, straw, carriages, firing, and clothes had all been miser- ably provided, ' and all this for want of common forecast and a parsimony ill-judged for the public, that he cannot lay out half- a-crown, though ever so necessary, and I am confident that a penny now saved will cost a pound before this Rebellion is over. . . . "We have no bi'ead waggons, no conveniences of sufficient horses or carts to carry our sick or baggage, but depend upon the country to supply us, who constantly disappoint us, so that, not being masters of our motions, and having not the means of marching within ourselves, but depending in these particulars on the country, all oiu- movements are retarded, and every body knows as well as we, when and where we intend to march. . . , "VVe are to begin our march south to-morrow with- out the least precaution taken to supply the troops with neces- saries that I have yet heard of. Nor has the Marshal the least capacity remaining for this, or,' adds he, kindly, 'anything in my opinion, and his governor, "Wentworth, is brimfull of an in- finite detail that perplexes all mankind, and does no business.' Though the tone of this letter is dictated by personal spite, still its criticisms are in the main just, the whole story of the cam- paign showing that Wade was most incompetent for the post he held ; nor at his age should he have been expected to be equal to its duties. We shall see more of his incapacity as we proceed. But if the appointment of Wade was severely criticised, that of his colleague, who was gathering to a head the troops in Mid-England, was viewed with satisfaction. We are so accustomed to connect the character of William, Duke of Cumberland, solely with the awful barbarities that followed Culloden, that we are liable to ovei-look everything else in his conduct, and every other event in his history. One most foul 1 State Papers, Domestic, Nov. 24, 1745. ADVANCE 7'(9 DERBY. 169 blot so overshadows his escutcheon that we do not care to in- quire into its quarterings. History having recoi'ded him as a merciless enemy, an inhuman victor, and a glutton for all that was brutal, we pass him by with loathing. Yet, prominent as were his vices, there were virtues in the background. His courage was undoubted ; he had a sincere respect for authority, and showed the same obedience to his superiors that he de- manded from all who were his subordinates. In an age of much bribery and corruption he scorned money, and was not to be bought. He was liberal, and in his dealings with the world, according to his lights, was strictly honourable. Jea- lousy did not enter into his composition, and he was always prompt to acknowledge and reward good service in others. His intincts too were manly — he was fond of sport ; rode well to hounds ; was a good shot ; excelled in all muscular exercises ; and was indifferent, or assumed indifference, to pain. But the baser part of human nature was the sti"onger within him. His intellect was dull, narrow, and one-sided ; what he thought were ideas were but prejudices. His passions were strong, and he gratified them with a supreme contempt for all the laws of social decorum ; his taste was not nice, and hence, as Horace Walpole puts it, he was popular ' with the low women.' His temper was hot and savage, and, when roused, his vindictive- ness was so intense that it may be doubted whether on those occasions he was quite himself. His sluggish brain, his hard, rude nature, and the utter absence of the finer emotions, coupled with his inordinate love for the maintenance of order, made him punish all offences with a severity that was simply fiendish in its brutality. He amended the military laws, and, as Horace Walpole observes, the penalty of death was as often enjoined ' as the curses in the Commination on Ash Wednesday.' A young soldier had counterfeited a furlough but for a day; he was ordei-ed 200 lashes ; the Duke, in a rage, swore it was not suflScient. His bitter conduct during the prosecution of Admii-al Byng is well known. Cruelty was with him a sen- sual pleasuie ; the texture of his mind was shot with it. ' He loved blood like a leech,' said his contemporaries : the victor of Culloden is one of the very few examples noticed, in history of high courage unaccompanied by any feeling of mercy to a foe. His lofty birth had advanced him rapidly to distinction. At the age of twenty-four, having two years before proved himself no coward at the battle of Dettingen, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Flanders. The 170 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. defeat at Fontenoy, due in no slight measui^e to the rashness and incapacity of the Duke, showed the grave error the ministry had made in his selection. ' The Duke of Cumberland,' said Marshal Saxe with a sneer, ' is the greatest general of his age, for he has maintained several thousand men where I should never have thought of billeting so many ra! bits.' When, after the battle of Fontenoy, some French officers were informed by a captive Englishman that they had narrowly missed captur- ing the Duke, the answer was, ' We took good care not to do so, for he does us much more service at the head of your army ! ' Still, thanks to the courage and gallantry displayed by his Royal Highness on that occasion, his defeat made no adverse impression upon the people of England. He was warmly cheered on his return, and his military reputation sustained no discredit. He was popular with the army, for his bravery had not then been disgraced by inhumanity ; he had a natural love for soldiering, and there was the stuff, it was said, in him to make a good general. When the Rebellion broke out, it was universally felt that his presence was necessary. He crossed over from Flanders and assumed the command of the royal forces, some 10,000 in number, then gathering at Lichfield, that had originally been assembled under General Ligonier. By the evening of the day that the Prince entered Preston the Duke of Cumberland reached Lichfield. On his arrival he wrote to the Secretary of State that the part of the army already come up was cantoned from Tarn worth to Stafford, with the cavalry in his front at Newcastle, so that he was now equally at hand for the preservation of Derby or Chester as occasion might require.' From what he heard he believed that the rebels would remain a few days at Preston, thus giving him time to collect his whole body together, and ad- vance directly upon them, 'in which case,' he adds, 'I flatter myself the affair would be certain in my favour. . , . Should the rebels be mad enough to march forward to Manchester and Stockport, then it will be impossible to say how soon there may be an affair, as I must move forward to hinder them slipping by me on either side.' At the same time he forwarded a despatch to Wade, who was toiling through Yorkshire, in- forming him of his arrival at Lichfield, and of his intention of waiting till his whole force had come up before he gave battle ; he suggested that the Marshal's cavalry should go forward and harass the enemy in every conceivable manner.^ 1 State Papers, Domestic, No7.28, 1745. « Ibid. ADVANCE TO DERBY. 171 When the Duke heard of the arrival of the rebels at Manchester he wrote to the Duke of Newcastle ' that if they advanced any further south he would also have to advance, and the result would be that in two days' time he hoped to have 'an aflfliir with them.' The Duke of Devonshire had given immediate orders that the great road from Stockport to Buxton should be broken up and rendered impassable, ' wliich is a good thing.' His Royal Highness hoped either on Sunday or Monday to march towards the Mersey with the force at his command, and trusted that if there was to be a battle he would be suc- cessful, ' for the spirit and alacrity of the troops fill him with the stx-ongest hopes ; ' but still he would far rather defer an engagement until ' all have joined us.' The following day he resumed the subject,^ and stated that 'the report begins to spread more and more in and about this country as if the rebels were intending to give us the slip either through Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire ; but his Majesty may be assured I am giving the utmost attention to their motions, and that I flatter myself they will not be able to get by us that way.' By the morrow he expected all his old infantry to arrive, but he appears not to have been very sanguine respecting the new regiments which had been i-aised, and against which Horace Walpole wings more than one venomous shaft. ' As for the new regiments,' writes the Duke,''* ' I could almost wish they were not to have come up, for the Duke of Bedford's marched in here last night and on this morning ; and I am sorry to speak my fears that they will rather be a hindrance than a service to me, for this regiment was represented to be the forwardest of them, yet neither men nor officers know what they are about, so how they will do before an enemy God only knows. However,' adds his Royal Highness, con- solingly, ' I think the old corps more than sufficient to do the business.' Certainly an engagement between the invading and defending forces seemed now imminent. On December 1 the Prince quitted the hospitable walls of ]\Ianchester, en route for Mac- clesfield ; but before taking his departui-e, and as a proof, whether feigned or sincere, of the contempt in which he held his enemy, he issued the following proclamation : — State ra]wrs, Domestic, Xov. 29, 1745. 2 //,,>;. Xov. 30, 174.". •"' Ihid. Nov. oO, 1745. 172 LIFE OF PRn\CE CHARLES STUART. ' To the Inhabitants of Manchester. ' JVov. 30, 1745. * His Royal Highness being informed that several bridges liave been pulled down in this county, he has given orders to repair them forthwith, particularly that at Crossford, which is to be done this night by his own troops, though his Royal Highness does not propose to make use of it for his own army, but believes it will be of service to the country; and,' here comes the sting, ' if any forces that were with General Wade be coming this road, they may have the benefit of it. ' Charles, Prince Regent.' The day after the issue of this proclamation Charles re- sumed his march. His men formed in two columns, but united again the same evening at Macclesfield. As the bridge over the Mersey had been broken down, the river was forded by the column led by Charles near Stockport, whilst the second column, headed by Lord George, passed with the artillery and baggage lower down at Cheadle over a rough bridge made by ■choking up the channel with the trunks of poplar trees. On arriving at the other side of the river, the Prince witnessed a scene characteristic of the enthusiasm with which his cause was regarded by those who had his interests really at heart. The event is thus described by Earl Stanhope on the authority of the late Lord Keith ' : — ' On the opposite bank of the Mersey Charles found a few of the Cheshire gentry drawn up ready to welcome him, and amongst them Mrs. Skyring, a lady in extreme old age. As a child, she had been lifted up in her mother's arms, to view the happy landing at Dover of Charles the Second. Her father, an old cavalier, had afterwards to undergo not merely neglect, but oppression, from that thankless monarch ; still, however, he and his wife continued devoted to the royal cause, and their daughter grew up as devoted as they. After the expulsion of the Stuarts, all her thoughts, her liopes, her prayers, were directed to another restoration. Ever afterwards, she had with rigid punctuality laid aside one-half of her yearly income, to remit for the exiled family abroad, concealing only what, she said, was of no importance to them — the name of the giver. She had now parted with her jewels, her plate, and every little article of value she possessed, the price of which, in a purse, « The Forty- Five, p. 83. ADVANCE TO DERBY. ijj she laid at the feet of Prince Charles, while, straining her dim eyes to gaze on his features, and pressing his hand to her shrivelled lips, she exclaimed with affectionate rapture, in the words of Simeon, " Lord ! now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ! " It is added that she did not survive the shock when a few days afterwards she was told of the retreat.' On quitting Macclesfield Lord George Murray, by the astute generalship he never ceased to display, found means to deceive the Duke of Cumberland, who was ' flattering himself that a speedy engagement was about to take place. With his column of the army he advanced to Congleton, Avhere he attacked the Duke of Kingston and a small party of English horse. Suc- ceeding in dislodging them, he drove them before him, and with his vanguard pursued them some way on the road to Newcastle. His Royal Highness, fully believing that the Highlanders were on their march in that direction, either ta give him battle or to unite with their partisans in Wales, at once pushed forward with his main body to Stone, ready to intercept the rebels or to fight them, as occasion might require. Lord George, having been informed of the movements of the Duke by a spy whom he had captured, turned suddenly off ta the left, and by a forced march gained Ashbourne, where he was shortly afterwards joined by the column led by the Prince. The next day the clans, in great glee at having gained two or three marches upon the Duke, and being now interposed between him and London, entered Derby in the dusk of the afternoon of December 4. His Royal Highness had now no alternative but to frankly own that the tactics of the enemy had deceived him. He wrote to the Duke of Newcastle that, being under the impression that the rebels were to continue their route to Wales, he had assembled all his troops at Stone, intending to give them battle, or to push on to Newcastle. On hearing that the insurgents * had turned, and were gone for Leek and Ashbourne, which is the direct road to Derby,' he would have marched directly for Derby, only his men 'had scarcely halted six hours these ten days, had been without victuals for twenty-four hours, and had been exposed to unusually severe weather.' Under these circumstances he felt bound to halt, but would interrupt the progress of the rebels at Noi-thampton. ' By this I flatter myself,' writes his Royal Highness, with his usual confidence, ' we cannot fail of intercepting them. However,' he adds cautiously, ' I should humbly be of opinion that if without 174 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. alarming the city tlie infantry that is about London could be assembled on Finchley Common, it would prevent any little part of those who might give me the slip (for I am persuaded the greater part can't) from giving any alarm there.' ' The news of the arrival of the rebels at Derby fell upon London like a thunderbolt. The whole city was in a state of panic. ' When the Highlanders,' writes Fielding in the ' True Patriot,' ' by a most incredible march got between the Duke's army and the metropolis, they struck a terror into it scarce to be credited.' The shops were shut up and public business everywhere suspended. A rush was made on the Bank of England, and that treasury of the nation only escaped bank- ruptcy by paying in sixpences to gain time. A special prayer was drawn up by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be said in all churches, imploring the Divine protection now that ' we are exposed to the dangers and calamities of foreign war, disturbed with rebellious insurrections at home, and threatened with powerful invasions from abroad, to the great hazard of our happy constitution in Church and State.' ^ The guards of the city were immediately strengthened, and companies of the train-bands patrolled the streets day and night. In the squares and open places soldiers were constantly posted. All the stables within the city were rigidly searched, and an account of the horses kept for hire laid before government. The Master- general of the Ordnance was ordered to inspect the several enti'ances into the city, and to consider in what manner, in case of any emergency, they could be obstructed. Alarm posts were hastily erected within the precincts of the city, and in all the suburbs. Volunteers desirous of appearing under arms were encouraged to enlist. The magistrates were commanded to suppress at once, with a strong hand, any disorders and tumults that might arise. The Guards, with various newly raised ti'oops, were encamped at Finchley. Between Highgate and Whetstone another camp was being marked out. Cavalry were stationed at Barnet. Magazines were formed at St. Albans, Dunstable, and Barnet. And at the same time, to restore confidence to the nation, the Duke of Newcastle wrote to the Duke of Cumberland, beseeching him to hasten up to London to superintend the military arrangements that were being speedily organised."* 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 4, 1745. ^ Ibid. 5 Duke of Newcastle to the Lord Mayor and the Duke of Cumberland, Dec. 6, 1745. State Papers, Domestic. ADVANCE TO DERBY. 175 So dangeious to tlie Hanoverian cause did the unchecked progress of the Rebellion now appear that it is said King George had liis yachts anchored at the Tower quay, laden with some of his most precious goods, ready to sail at a moment's •warning. We are also told that his Grace of Newcastle, whose impartiality was always sublime when his own intei-ests were concerned, shut himself up one whole day in his apartments debating within himself whether the time had not now arrived for him to transfer his allegiance to the House of Stuart, and boldly declare for the exile at Rome. Certainly the news of the occupation of Derby by the Prince's army threw London into the most complete consternation, and the day — a Friday — on which the intelligence was received was long remembered under the name of Black Friday. So confident were the London Jacobites of the speedy arrival of their Prince that one enthusiastic partisan, a M. Gautier, a teacher of languages, inserted in the current number of the ' London Courant ' the following motto from Vii'gil. Venisti tandem, tuaque expectata parenti Yicit iter durum pietas ! datur ora tueri, Nate, tua, et notas audire et reddere voces ! Sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum, Tempora dinumeraus ; nee me mea cura fefellit. Quas ergo te terras et quanta per aequora vectum, Aceipio ! quantis jactatum, nate periclis ! Quam metui, ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent ! 1 As tliis motto bore a very Jacobite construction, a few gentlemen who frequented the same coffee house as Gautier asked him what he meant by it ? Gautier instantly tui'ned on his heel and left the room without answering the question. On this, the gentlemen pasted up the motto against the walls with a preamble demanding an explanation. On Sunday morning, 1 At last ! and are you ccme at last ? Has filial tenderness o'erpast Hard toil and peril sore ? And may I hear that well-known tone, And speak in accents of my own, And see that face once more ? Ah yes ! I knew the hour would come : I ponder'd o'er the days' long sum, Till anxious care the future knew ; And now completion proves it true. What lands, what oceans have you crossed ! B}' what a sea of peril tossed ! How oft I feared the fatal charm Of Libya's realm might work you harm ! ^NEiD, book vi. line 688, tt seq. Coninqton. 176 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. December 8, M. Gautier (evidently unconscious of the turn events had taken) affixed to the paper the following paragraph in his own handwriting : ' If the gentlemen (if any such) who put up this paper will be so good as neither to be ashamed nor afraid to put their names to it, they shall be answered fully in four days' time.' When M. Gautier heard, at the date fixed for his reply, that the clans, instead of making, as he had antici- pated, a triumphant entry into London, were in full retreat for "Wigan, his feelings were certainly not to be envied. Whether he received punishment at the hands of an offended Hanoverian Government, for this open expression of his principles. History sayeth not,^ To return to the author of all this commotion and disap- pointment. On his entrance into Derby, Charles took up his quarters at the Earl of Exeter's. He was in the highest spirits, and could talk of nothing but his expected triumph, and whether it would be better for him to make his entry into London on horseback and in Highland costume, as he had done at Holyrood, or on foot and in plain English dress. Every piece of intelligence that he now received seemed to prophesy that he was being borne on the flood tide of prosperity, and that the task he had set himself to accomplish would soon be ended. Here be heard for the first time that, late in the night of the last day of November, six transports from Dunkirk had landed some 800 L-ish and Scotch, under the command of _ Lord John Drummond, at Montrose and Peterhead, and that this reinforce- ment had greatly inspirited his adherents in the north. The letters of Kelly, who had been indefatigable in the service of his master since his arrival in Paris, were next laid before him, and their information was equally cheering. ' We are flattered here,' writes Kelly to Colonel Strickland,^ ' with the hopes of making you all easy very soon, which I long for extremely, and everybody believes it will be done in fifteen days or three weeks. I wish you may be able to stand your ground, since a retreat must be fatal. . . . The Duke of York has been here some time, and treated in quite a different manner from the Prince. I found no other alteration here besides the universal praises of his Royal Highness, and they will be continued. . . Lord John Drummond is gone with 1,000 men, and the Duke of Fitzjames is soon to follow with his regiment. I wish they may get safe to you.' In a letter 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 9, 1745. ' Ibid. Dec. 1, 1745. ADVANCE TO DERBY. l77 to Sir Thomas Sheridan of the same date, Kelly says : ' ' Every- body speaks in the highest terms of the Prince. You cannot oonceive how zealous the whole nation is for him, or the shininw character he has got amongst them. In all places you hear their talk of nothing but Prince Edward; and were they capable of making an insurrection, they would probably do it against the Ministry if they did not assist him,' He concludes with the assurance that French aid will speedily arrive, and that ' the delay of the French court in rendering assistance has been due to the exaggeration of the Prince's adherents, some giving out that he had 20,000 or 30,000 men, so that the Ministry naturally concluded that he could do his business himself, and that they might send their succour at leisure,' The receipt of this intelligence made not only Charles but some of hi? followers very sanguine as to the future. ' I hear,' writes one Alick Blair to his wife, '^ ' that General Wade is behind us, and the Duke of Cumberland and General Lisonier upon one hand of us ; but we are neai'er London than any of them, and it is thought we are designed to march sti-aight there, being only ninety miles from it. But though both these forces should unite and attack us, we do not fear them, for our whole army is in top spirits, and we trust in God to make a good account of them.' One Mr. Henry Bracken of Warrington, however, who had taken upon himself to inspect the clans, formed a vei^y different opinion of their merits. He writes ^ to the Government that the infantry of the rebels, inclusive of stragglers, is only 5,000, one third of whom are either sixty years of age or upwards, or else under seventeen. Their cavalry is not worthy of the name, being ' so out of order and slender shaped.' ' The common soldiers,' he says emphatically, ' are a most despicable crew, being in general less in stature, and of a wan and meagre countenance, stepping along under their arms with difficulty, and what they are about seems more of force than inclination. They intend,' he continues, ' to push on to London, but do not know the route. Wherever they go they magnify their num- bers, and tell the most confounded lies about themselves. In their letters to their friends in Scotland, they say that their army now consists of 24,000, and that neither ditch, dyke, nor devil can turn them,' Here is the portrait of the Prince, 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 1, 1745. 2 ji^ij^ Dq^,^ 5 Derby. 5 Ibid. Dec. 4, 1745. N 178 LIFE OF PRINCE CHAKIES STUART. ' Their Chief is about 5 feet 1 1 inches high, pretty strong and well built, has a brown complexion, full cheeks, and thick- ish lips that stand out a little. He looks more of the Polish than the Scottish breed, for he is nothing like the king they call his grandfather. He looks very much dejected — not a smile being seen in all his looks, for I walked a quarter of a mile with him on the road, and afterwards saw him in his lodgings amongst company.' Unfortunately for the veracity of Henry Bracken — whose account is perhaps no more mendacious than the mass of intelli- gences which were sent to Whitehall by those trained detractors anxious to obtain favour with the Government by distorting every fact connected with the rebels — it is well known that the Prince, so far from being dejected, was in the cheeriest of spirits. Everything had succeeded beyond his most brilliant expectations. From the day of his landing in JNIoidart up to the present moment his progress had not met with a single check. Whenever he had been opposed he had come off vic- torious. He had gained the battle of Preston, he had taken Edinburgh, he had taken Carlisle, he had avoided Wade, he had avoided the Duke, and now he had entered Derby, and nothing hindered him from pressing on to London and becoming the possessor of the metropolis. W^ell might he and his little army exult ! Well might Horace Walpole write ' there never was such a rebellion ! ' But as the darkest hour is the one before daylight, so the hour when we are the most sanguine and our hopes the most sure is often the very time when we are set to learn the bitter lesson of failure and defeat. On the morning of December 5 — when panic-stricken London was encamping her troops, doubling her guards, and patrolling her train-bands — Lord George Murray, accompanied by the commanders of battalions and squadrons, waited on the Prince, and begged to lay before him the opinion at which they had now unanimously arrived. He lordship said that the clans had done all that could be expected of them, and that now prudence advised them to beat a retreat. They had marched into the heart of England through the counties repre sented as most favourable to their cause, and, save an insignifi- cant few, not a soul had joined them. They had been assvtred of a def^cent from Erance, but of this there had not as yet been the slightest appearance. Their position at Derby was now very critical. Within a day's march the army of the Duke of Cumberland, 10,000 strong, lay in their front. The troops of ADVANCE TO DERBY. 179 Marshal Wade were but two or three marches in their rear. Even supposing they could avoid both these forces, a battle under the walls of London with the Army of George II. must be inevitable. It was tiaie that London was undefended by regular troops, but the clans now numbered only some 4,000 or 5,000 men, and such a force was clearly inadequate to take possession of the metropolis. The Prince might argue that his friends would rise in his favour and rally round his standard as he proceeded further south, but what grounds had he for the indulgence of such hopes % Could he produce a single letter from any English person of note inviting the Scottish army to march to London or elsewhere % If he could, willingly would they go forward. But if no such encouragement had been given, he strongly advised an instantaneous retreat, and that the Prince should retire upon the i-einforcements he possessed at Perth and Montrose. The rest of the council, except the Duke of Perth and Sir John Gordon, who proposed a march into Wales, supported the argument of Lord George, and begged that they might be permitted to go back and join their friends in Scotland, and live or die with them. But they in^ged their ad s^ice in vain. Charles said he was determined to advance upon London, and would denounce as traitors all those who should deter him or other-s from carrying out his resolution. ' Rather than go back,' he cried, ' I would wish to be twenty feet under ground.' In reply. Lord Elcho said that if the Prince went forward he would be in Newgate in a fortnight.^ An angry discussion followed, and at last the Prince dissolved the council. Save the Irish officers, who had nothing to lose, and might have a good deal to gain, all were of the opinion of Lord George. During the whole of the day Charles did everything in his power, by expostulation and enti-eaty, to change the minds of those in favour of retreat. At last, finding that all the chief- tains were against him, he ungraciously declai-ed his consent to retrace his steps. ' But,' added he, with the hauteur of disap- pointment, ' in future [ shall summon no more councils, since I am accountable to nobody for my actions but to God and my father, and therefore I shall no longer either ask or accept advice.' ' The rebels came in here on Wednesday,' vvrites one Thomas Drake from Derby,^ ' and stayed till yesterday morning, 1 Exam, of vEneas Macdonald, State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 17, J 746. 2 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 7, 1745. x 2 l8o LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. They demanded billets for 12,000 men, hut it is the general opinion here that they were not above half that number. The officers, and indeed the horse in general are likely men, but the foot are sui-e the poorest scoundrels that were ever seen. They were in general but very indiiferently armed : few or none but the officers were what we call completely armed. Their pistols are indifferent, but their firelocks are very bad. They had thirteen pieces of cannon ; six of them had the French King's arms on them, were made of brass, and seemed good pieces. , . . They had twenty covered carts, and a great number of waggons and other carriages. They had several colours and standards, some white, some quartered white and red, and some had theu' respective commander's arms on them, but I could never ob- serve the Pretender's coat of arms, not even on his coach. I thovight at least he would have had the arms of Scotland, but could neA'^er find them. There was a cipher of P. 0. on several things. The first thing they did after they came and were drawn up in the Market Place was to proclaim James Stuart King of England, &c., and they obliged all the magistrates in town to attend in their formalities, but there were not many, for all that had any place under the Government fled, or they would have taken them prisoners. They then demanded the Association money on pain of military execution, and then sent the bellman about, ordering everybody to bring in their excise by five o'clock on Thursday night. They likewise de- manded half a year's land tax, and 100?, from the Post Office. They were offered 20?. from the last, but refused it, so they got nothing. But the rebels took the post chaise, they rifled numbers of houses in town, pretending to search for arms, and they fetched all the horses in from four or five miles round and took them. They amused the common people by telling them they expect i^einforcements, and the officers I think begin to reflect on their latter end, for they look very dejected. . . . We have been under terrible apprehension all last night and to-day for fear of a second visit, but just now a gentleman has been to reconnoitre them, and says their whole body was on the road from Ashbourne to Leek in Staffordshire, and I hope we shall see them no more, though they said when they went they should be glad to meet Shonny Ligonear.' And so ended the celebrated march to Derby. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to forlune ; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. ADVANCE TO DERBY. l8l • It is open to dispute whether Charles shouhl ever have entered England until he had collected all the forces he could command, but once having begun his march south, nothing save the most crushing defeat should have induced him to retreat. It is now universally admitted that the advice given by Lord George Murray and the chieftains on the occasion was unsound. Had the Pi'ince been permitted to carry out his intention of advancing upon London, he would have taken his prosperity at the flood, and been led on to fortune. He had outmanoeuvred the armies of the Duke and of Marshal Wade, and the success of his movements covild not but have greatly discouraged the English troops, and led them to believe all the more in the invincibility of their foe. The camp at Finchley, the only obstacle that stood in his way to prevent his gaining possession of the capital, was but barely formed, and would easily have been overthrown by the victors at Gladsmuir. Once within the walls of London, whei'e the Jacobite party was very strong, and which had at its head one of the city members, Alderman Heathcote, his success would have been complete. * Sir AVatkin Wynn,' writes a zealous Jacobite,^ * has been with the citizens of London, whom he found as well disposed as ever to treat with the Prince. The citizens of London declared they are ready to receive him, and to exert themselves to the vitmost of their power to make such a pro- vision for him, as they do not doubt will make him completely happy. . . . The elector of Hanover and his Ministry's interest decline so fast, that Sir Watkin says now nobody will accept of their places nor employments, which throws them into the greatest distraction.' Nor would the English Jacobites alone have had to bear the brunt of a revolution. France, whose pi'eparations at Dunkirk were now complete, had actually, at the very time the Prince was consenting to quit Derby, issued orders for 10,000 troops, under the command of Henry, Duke of York, to eflfect a landing on the sovithern coast of England. Had this force arrived, it would have dealt the death-blow to the hopes of George II. England, as Wade had truly said, was for the first comer, but Charles, who on this occasion took a sounder view of his position than did his council, was not allowed to act as he wished, and thus, happily for us, lost the day. The history of his expedition is the history of a splendid chance lost. That the restoration of the Stuarts would have 1 State Papers, Scotland, Dec. 14, 1745. i82. LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUAKT. been a permanent event had Charles marched onward from Derby is a subject idle for us now to enter into, but that he ■would have gained the thi-one, if not for himself, at least for his father, no one who reads the history of the period aright can doubt. His opportunity came to him, but he was not permitted to seize it, and henceforth the voyage of his life was to be bound in shallows and in miseries. CHAPTER IX. THE SECOND VICTORY. I hae but just ae word to say, And ye maun hear it a', Hawley ; We came to charge wi' sword and targe, And nae to hunt ava, Hawley, When we came down abonn the town, And saw nae faes at a', Hawley. We couldna, sooth ! believe the truth. That ye had left us a', Hawley. O wae befa' these northern lads, Wi' their braidswords and white cockades ! They lend sic hard and heavy blads, Our Whigs nae inair can craw, man. Shortly after dawn on December 6 the Highland army began its retreat northward. At first the men, who but the day before had been crowding eveiy cutler's shop in Derby to sharpen their broadswords, the better to be prepared for an engagement with ' Shonny Ligonear,' were under the impres- sion that they were advancing to meet the foe, and their spirits rose at the prospect of battle. When they heard that they were in fast retreat their expressions of rage and disap- pointment could with difficulty be silenced. ' If we had been beatt'U,' says one of the officers, ' the grief could not have been greater.' ' It is all over now,' sighed Sheridan, ' we shall never come back again ! ' The charm of the enterprise was indeed completely broken. The officers marched on sulky and discontented, wondering why the prize, which they had deemed all but within their grasp, should be abandoned. The few volunteers who had joined the army were debating within themselves which of the two alternatives was the better — to tender an unqualified sub- mission to the vengeance of the House of Hanover or to cheerfully bear exile from their country. The men, whose THE SECOND VICTORY. 183 sobriety and discipline during tlieir advance south had on the whole been most commendable, now gave full rein to their predatory instincts, and plundered and did violence as they passed through the different towns and villages on their route. Nor was the conduct of the Prince calculated to encourage his army. Instead of placing himself at the head of his men as had been his wont, he rode in the rear mortified and dejected, more like a captive thiin a, commander. The bitterness of failure was now for the first time being felt by chieftain and by vassal, and the feeling was all the more bittei- because to the many there seemed no reason why failure should be acknow- ledged. On the 9th the clans entered Manchester, and the town, so loyal and friendly to their cause but a few days before, opposed their vanguard and showed iinmistakable signs of hostility. For this unexpected reception the inhabitants were fined 5,000^. Charles had intended resting his men here a day, but was dis- suaded by Lord George, who argued that as there Avas no occa- sion for the halt it was only giving the enemy time to come up. Accordingly, early the next morning they pushed on their rapid retreat. Whilst leaving Wigan, some hot-headed Hano- verian formed a plan for the assassination of the Prince, but, mistaking his person, shot at O'SuUivan instead. * Search was made for him,' says Captain Daniel, ^ 'but in vain; and no great matter, for anything he would have sufiered from us ; for many exercised their malice merely on account of the known clemency of the Prince, which, however, they would not have dared to do if he had permitted a little more severity in punishing them. The army, irritated by such frequent in- stances of the enemy's malice, began to behave with less for- bearance, and now few there were who would go on foot if they could ride; and mighty taking, stealing, and pressing of horses there was amongst us ! Diverting it was to see the Highlanders mounted, without either breeches, saddle, or any- thing else but the bare back of the horses to ride on, and for their bridle only a straw rope ! In this manner did we march out of England.' On hearing that the rebels were in full retreat from Derby, the Duke of Cumberland, who had been hastily marching his forces to Coventry and Lichfield, in order to intercept any advance upon London, at once sent an express to "Wade, who was halting at Doncaster. ' We are here at Coventry,' his 1 The Forty-Five, by Earl Stanhope, p. 92. J 84 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Royal Highness says,' * the rebels at Ashbourne, and you at Doncaster. It seems to me much to be feared that if you can't move westward into Lancashire these villains may escape back unpunished into the Highlands, to our eternal shame.' In answer to this Wade detached a body of horse from his- army, and sent them across country in hot pursuit. Without loss of time the Duke put himself at the head of his cavalry and a thousand volunteers, mounted by the loyalty of the neighbouring gentry, and began his chase after the retreating foe. ' But I fear it will be fruitless,' he writes to the Duke of Newcastle from Lichfield,- ' for they march at such a rate that I can't flatter myself with the hopes of over- taking them, though I set out this morning on a march of at least thirty measured miles.' Wade had sent him a message to the effect that he intended marching towards Halifax, Roch- dale, and Manchester, and thus prevent the rebels from re- turning north wai'ds ; * but,' says his Royal Highness, aware of the shortcomings of the Marshal, ' there is little hope of that army being able to intercept them or pi'event their retreat to Scotland.' 3 Nor was the Duke wrong in his surmises. On reaching Wakefield, Wade learnt that the enemy were some three or four days' march in his front, and that it was impossible to overtake them. Again he had recourse to his favourite expe- dient. A Council of War was summoned, and after some little debate it was agreed that a detachment of cavalry, tinder General Oglethorpe, should be sent after the rebels, whilst the main army should march at once to the protection of New- castle. This decision was immediately carried out.'* On the same day that this Council was held, the Duke reached Manchester, his men much fatigued with their rapid march from Lichfield ' over the most dreadful country.' His Royal Highness had ' flattered ' himself that the Highlanders would have waited for him at Manchester, ' and if they had halted there all yesterday,' he writes to the Duke of New- castle,^ ' I should have been in reach of them with my whole 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 6, 1745. ^ Ih\d. Dec. 9, 1745. 5 The rapidity with which this retreat was etfected drew praise even from Sir Alex. Macddiiald of Sleat, who evidently, in spite of his refusal to join the Jacobites, thought highly of the Prince, for he says Charles ' has not so good an officer in his armv as Jiimself.' See State Papers, Scotland. Letters forwarded by Albemarle, Sept." 24, 1746. 4 State Papers, Domestic, Wade to Newcastle, Dec. 10, 1745. 5 7i2rf. Dec. 11, 1745. THE SECOND VICTORY. 185 cavalry and volunteers.' Thus the advice of Lord George Murray had been well-timed. The Duke now advised that the main body of his army should be quartered at Coventry, whilst a small corps of infantry remained at Manchester in case of need. At the same time he sent an express to Wade desiring him to post himself at Hexham, where he would not only cover Newcastle, but also be ready to prevent the rebels from returning to Carlisle.^ For a brief moment the tactics of the Dute met with an interruption. The news received from across the Channel were full of alarm to his Grace of Newcastle. The advance of the Highlanders, and the anticipated capture of London, had been bad enough, but the prospects of a French invasion were even worse. In his extremity the Secretary of State wrote an agi- tated letter to his ' friend ' the Duke of Cumberland. The King had heard, he said,^ from Admiral Yernon that a con- siderable number of vessels were assembled at Dunkirk, and that there was every reason to believe that an attempt would immediately be made to land troops on the southern and eastern coasts. His Grace therefore begged his Royal High- ness to despatch a certain number of his troops to Marshal Wade and return immediately to London with the rest of his cavalry and infantry. At the same time he wrote to Ligonier, who was then with the main army at Coventry, requesting him to start at once for the capital with the regiments under his command. ' We are under the greatest alarm,' he says,^ ' of an immediate embarkation from Dunkirk, and perhaps some other ports. . . . We shall be but very ill-prepared to receive them till you come to our assistance, not having, according to our last account, 6,000 men in all. I therefore hope you will make all possible haste to us by waggons, horses, kc. ... I hope his Royal Highness will not dislike coming home with his troops. I am sure if he knew the real apprehensions people here are under of an invasion from France, and how much the King desires to have him with him in times of action and danger, his Royal Highness would fly faster and more cheer- fully hither than he ever did to meet the rebels. I must beg your good offices to make my peace with his Royal High- ness — I doubt he is angry with me, but 1 am his most dutiful slave.' Expresses were now despatched to the Deputy-Lieutenants of Sussex to keep a sharp look-out along the coast. The 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 11, 1745. 2 /jj^;, -q^^.. 12, 1745. 3 iijtf. i86 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Custom House officers were ordered to patrol the cliffs and beach, day and night. Alarm posts were erected in the southern counties, and signals settled upon in London for the instant assembling of the battalions of the Guards and the train- bands.' And all for a time was anxiety, commotion, and nervous excitement. But at the end of a few hours it was found, as has so often happened since, that the news of an invasion was a false alarm, and that there had been no grounds for the past panic. Scarcely had the Duke received the letter bidding him post without delay to London than a second des- patch was put into his hands hoping that he would continue his pursuit of the rebels, and not return to town as he had been previously desired.^ Thanks to the twenty-four hours' delay which this letter caused, his Royal Highness failed to overtake the Highlanders until entering Westmoreland. On the evening of December 17, the Prince, with the main body of his army, reached Pen- rith, and began to billet his men. Lord George Murray, however, owing to the various accidents that had impeded his progress, was forced to pass the night at the little town of Shap, six miles in the i-ear. Early next morning his lordship resumed his march, but on approaching the village of Clifton, some three miles from Penrith, he saw several parties of cavalry volunteers of the neighbourhood drawn up between him and the village. Without a moment's hesitation he ordered the Macdonalds of Glengarry to advance to the attack. The com- mand was obeyed, and one fierce charge sufficed to disperse the foe and to capture several prisoners ; among these a footman of the Duke of Cumberland, who said that his royal master was close at hand with some 4,000 horse. On hearing this Lord George sent the servant on to Penrith to be examined by the Prince, with a request for orders. With his usual courtesy Charles dismissed the man to his master, and despatched the Stuarts of Appin and the Macphersons of Cluny for the support of his Lieutenant- General. The cavalry of the Duke of Cumberland had now formed upon the open moor of Clifton. On the one side were the low stone walls of the village, and on the other the inclosures of Lord Lonsdale's estate. Lord George saw that an attack was in- evitable, and prepared to meet it. The Macdonalds were drawn up upon the high road within the field ; the Stuarts of Appin were massed together in the inclosure on their left ; the Roy I State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 12 and 13, 1745. ^ /^.j^/ Dgg 14^ 1745, TIJE SECOND VICTORY. 187 Stuarts men, covered by a wall, were stationed on the right ; whilst to the left of the Stuarts of Appin stood the Macpher- sons of Cluny. The night was dark, but through the clouds the moon shone fitfully. It was during one of these moment- ary bursts of light that Lord George observed a body of men stealing along the low stone walls towards the Clifton inclo- sures. 'There is no time to be lost,' he cried, 'we must instantly charge ! ' and, drawing his broadsword, he rushed on the English, exclaiming ' Claymore ! Claymore ! ' followed by the Stuarts and Macphersons. The skirmish was but a charge and a victory. ' The High- landers,' says the Chevalier de Johnstone,' ' immediately ran to the inclosures where the English were, fell down on their knees, and began to cut down the thorn-hedges with their dirks — a necessaiy pi'ecaution, as they wore no breeches, but only a sort of petticoat, which reached to their knees. During this operation, they received the fire of the English with the most admirable firmness and constancy ; and, as soon as the hedge was cut down, they jumped into the inclosures sword in hand, and, with an inconceivable intrepidity, broke the English battalions, who suflfered so much the more as they did not turn their backs, as at the battle of Gladsmuir, but allowed them- selves to be cut to pieces without quitting their ground. Pla- toons of forty and fifty men might be seen falling all at once under the swords of the Highlanders ; yet they still remained firm, and closed up their ranks as soon as an opening was made through them by the sword. At length, however, the High- landers forced them to give way, and pursued them across three inclosures to a heath which lay behind them.' It was with difliculty that the Highlanders were prevailed upon to abandon the pui-suit, exclaiming that it was a shame that so many of their enemies should be drawn up on the moor with- out being attacked. Lord George, anxious to maintain his position, and derive some profit from the victory, had sent for- ward, desiring i-einforcements from the Prince ; but Charles, whether from prudence or jealousy, refused to accede to the request. In his account of this action to the Duke of Newcastle, his Royal Highness is not so truthful as might be wished. There can be no doubt that the skirmish at Clifton was a victory to the Highlanders, and so effectual a check to the Memoirs, p. 91. j88 life of prince CHARLES STUART. English that the Duke thought it prudent to desist from harassing the retreating dans. ' After a ten hours' march,' writes his Royal Highness,^ • our cavalry came up with the rebels just beyond Lowther Hall ; nay, we heard that their rear was in possession of it, but they left it on our approach, and, threw themselves into the valley of Clifton, which we immediately attacked with the dismounted dragoons, and though it is the most defensible village I ever saw, yet our men drove them out of it in an hour's time with a very small loss. Cobham's and Mark Kerr's behaved both extremely well. As it was quite dark before the skirmish was over, we were obliged to remain contented with the grovmd we had gained. What the rebels may have lost I can't tell ; we have four officers wounded, none mortally, and about forty men killed and wounded. . . . The regiment which suffered the greatest loss was the King's Own Eegiment of Dragoons. By some confusion in the two dismounted squad- rons commanded by Colonel Honeywood, they firing at 150 yards' distance and then giving way, the rebels came out with their broadswords, and wounded several of the officers and some of the men. , . . When the officers of the King's Regiinent were wounded, the rebels cried, " No quarter ! murder them ! " and they received several wounds after they were knocked down.' His Royal Highness also coolly says that ' the little affair at Clifton, though but trifling, has increased the terror and panic which has daily been coming on among the rebels ; ' and gives as his excuse for not pursuing the Highlanders that * he dared not follow them because it was so dark, and the country between Clifton and Penrith so extremely covered ; besides, his troops, both horse and men, were so fatigued with these forced marches.' History, however, teaches us that the Duke of Cumberland is not the only commander who has represented a defeat as a victoiy in his despatches. Still rapidly effecting his retreat, Charles arrived on the morning of the 19 th at Carlisle. Here it was thought desir- able that the Highland garrison should be reinforced, so that in the case of a second invasion of England by the clans, which many expected would sjieedily take place, this important town would be secured them. But it was not easy to find men willing to be left behind in a place almost sure to be saciificed. At last a certain number of French and Irish, together with the volunteers raised at Manchester, who were disheartened at 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 19 and 20, 1745. THE SECOND VICTORY. l80 the prospect of a retreiit into Scotland, were selected for the purpose. But theu- garrison duties were of brief duration. Scarcely had Charles quitted Carlisle than the Duke of Cum- berland appeared befox"e its walls. The town was immediately invested. On the Scotch side was posted Major-General Bland, with a regiment of dragoons and 300 infantry, with strict orders not to allow any passing or repassing the bridge over the Eden. In the suburbs of the English gate stood Major Adams with 200 foot to prevent the garrison from escaping. At the Irish gate was Major Merac with 200 men. Sir Andrew Agnew, with some 300 foot, guarded the Sally Porte. Whilst at a distance of a couple of miles from the town all the cavalry and footguards were cantoned. These precautions taken, the Duke bided his time until the arrival of the cannon he had ordered from Whitehaven allowed him to play against the walls. ^ His Royal Highness had hoped in a couple of days' time to commence operations, but it was not till the 28th inst. that the artillery arrived. At once they ' began to batter the 4-gun battery with six 18-pounders,' writes the Duke, ' and the artil- lery officers hope to have a breach fit to give the assault to- morrow night. '2 During the night of the 29th the artillery were employed in raising a new battery of three 1 "^-pounders, which was completed early the following morning. ' But on the first platoon of the old battery being fired,' continues his Royal Highness, '■ the rebels hung out the white flag, on which our battery ceased, and they called over the walls to let us know that they had two hostages ready to be delivered at the English gate.'^ The Duke now despatched his aide-de-camp, Colonel Con- way, to inquire what was the meaning of the white flag, and to inform the town that he would make no exchange of hostages with rebels. In reply the garrison said they wished to capitu- late, and begged to know upon what terms his Royal Highness would receive their submission. Colonel Conway was ordered to give the following answer:— 'All the terms his Royal Highness will or can grant to the rebel garrison of Carlisle are that they shall not be put to the sword, but be reserA^ed for the king's pleasure. If they consent to these conditions the governor's principal officers are to deliver themselves up imme- diately, and the castle, citadel, and all the gates of the town J State Papers, Domestic, Cumberland to Newcastle, Dec. 22, 1745. 2 State Papers, Domestic, Dec. 28, 1745. ^ im^ -Qtc. 30, 1745. 190 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. are to be taken possession foi-thwith by the King's troops. All the small arms are to be lodged in the town guard-room, and the rest of the garrison are to retire to the cathedral, where a CTuard is to be placed over them. No damage is to be done to the artillery, arms, or ammunition. '^ The gariison having agreed to these terms, General Bligh was ordered to take pos- session of the town with a large body of infantry, whilst a troop of cavalry pati'olled the streets. Shortly afterwards, the Duke, accompanied by his staff, rode into Carlisle. ' I wish,' writes his Royal Highness, with the promptings of his kindly nature, ' 1 could have blooded the soldiers with these villains, but it would have cost us many a brave man, and it comes to the same end, as they have no sort of claim to the King's mercy, and I sincerely hope will meet with none.'^ His hopes were not disappointed. Of the eighteen officers who served in the Manchester regiment, seventeen were condemned to death. Meanwhile Charles had been pushing on into Scotland. After crossing the Esk, swollen by the winter floods, and where in mid-river the Prince managed to save the life of one of his followers, who was being carried down the stream, the High- land army divided into three bodies. The first, consisting of the clans, marched with the Prince to Annan. Lord Geox-ge Murray was ordered to Ecclefechan with the Lowland regi- ment and the Athole Brigade. Whilst Lord Elcho, with the cavalry, was sent to Dumfries, where he was shortly after- wards joined by Charles. As this town had always been noted for its attachment to the House of Hanover, and had been more than ordinarily active against the Prince, it was now to feel his resentment. The inhabitants were ordered to contri- bute 2,000Z. in money, to supply 1,000 pair of shoes, to give free quarters to every man in the army, and to surrender into the hands of appointed agents all their arms, public and private, all their saddlery and every horse that the place pos- sessed. Of this contribution some 1,100^. was paid, and until the balance was settled the Provost and another gentleman were taken off as hostages.^ ' The Lowlanders,' says Mr. Robert Chambers,^ * were often highly amused by the demands 1 State Papers, Domestic, Dee. 30, 1745. Smollett says that there was a sort of a capitulation entered into for the surrender of Carlisle, and that its terms were not honovirably observed by the victorious party. The Duke, however, carefully pledged himself to nothing beyond not jtutting the garrison to the sword. - Ibid. 3 State Papers, Scotland. Provost Bell to Newcastle, Dec. 24, 1745. 4 Hhtory, vol. ii. p. 307. THE SECOND VICTORY. 191 of their Highland guests, or rather by the uncouth, bi'oken language in which these demands were preferred. It is still told by the aged people of Dumfries as a good joke that they would come into houses and ask for ' a pread, a putter, and a sheese, till something petter pe ready J It is remembered in another part of the country that some of them gave out their orders to the mistress of the house for a morning meal, in the following language : — ' You'll put down a pread matam. — and a putter matam — and a sheese matam — and a tea matam — shentleman's preakfast matam — and you'll give her a shilling to carry her to the neisht town, matam ! ' From Dumfries the Highland army proceeded by vai'ious routes to Glasgow, marking their way by numerous acts of violence and pillage. Like Dumfries, Glasgow had given strong proof of its hostility to the cause of Charles, and the requisitions were proportionately heavy. The magistrates were ordered to furnish the little army, now dwindled to some 3,600 foot and 500 horse, with 1,200 shirts, 6,000 short coats, 6,000 pairs of shoes, 6,000 bonnets, and 6,000 pairs of stockings. This demand, added to the requisition in September last, amounted to a sum equal to 10,000/. When peace was re- stored, Glasgow claimed compensation for the levies uj)on its purse, and in 1749 Parliament granted 10,000/. as a reimburse- ment in full. Arrived at Glasgow, Charles now carefully examined his position. Since his depai-ture for England, various clans had risen in his favour. The arrival of Lord John Drummond at Montrose with the Royal Scots and French piquets the previous month had greatly animated the drooping spirits of the Prince's followers in the North. The Lord Justice Clerk was anything but cheered by the landing of these new supporters of the Stuart cause. He wrote dolefully to Whitehall ^ that the number of the rebels was ' daily increasing,' that they were busy bringing their cannon from Montrose to Perth, that they threatened to cross the Forth, and that he was confident that by the help of their French engineers they would be able to take Edinburgh and Stirling Castles. ' If we do not get timely help or support,' he says, ' it is no ways impracticable. The two regiments of foot (which had been sent from Berwick to Edinburgh under General Handasyd) are reduced by sickness, and have not 900 effective men. The spirit of the country to resist the rebels, and prevent their crossing the Forth, is very 1 State Papers, Scotland, Dec. 0, 1745. 192 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLIS STUART. strong, and I really hop3 that before the reljsls be able to bring all their cannon to Stirling, about 3,000 good Whigs may ha brought to support the King's troops at Stirling; about the half of that number will be able to maintain themselves, or will be maintained by subscription, and 'tis hoped the King will give directions to General Guest to pay those who cannot maintain themselves. . . . ShoiTld this be refused, it will con- firm a rumour industriously spread here, always thrown in our teeth, that the Government does not desire or encourage any assistance from private persons ; and even delays in this case will be taken as a disapprobation, and throw a damp on those who contribute or go on their own expense.' In his reply, the Duke of Newcastle fully approved of the measures proposed by the Lord Justice Clerk, and said that a number of regular troops would be speedily sent to Scotland, which he hoped would be sufficient to put an end to the unnatui*al rebellion.'' Such additional aid was now necessary. Lord Lewis Gordon had been busy in Banff and Aberdeen raising men and levying money. Lord Strathallan was at Perth in command of a considerable Highland reinforcement. The Frasers, the Mackenzies, the Macintoshes, and the Farquharsons had added themselves to the number of the Prince's followei-s. In all, some 4,000 men were now ready to swell the diminished ranks of the little army which had just marched out of England. By the union of these additional forces, the Prince found himself in possession of nearly 9,000 men, the largest number he had as yet had under his command. With these troops Charles resolved to undertake the siege of Stirling Castle. He quitted Glasgow on January 3, and fixed his headquarters the follow- ing day at Bannockburn House, the seat of Sir Hugh Paterson, whilst his troops occupied St Ninians and other villages in the neighbourhood. But what threatened to be a grave dissension in the camp now arose. The Prince, true to the resolution he had formed after the retreat from Derby, refused to take any one, save Murray of Broughton and Sir Thomas Sheridan, into his coun- sel. He formed his own plans for future action, and paid scant heed to the advice of those around him. Naturally mortified at their exclusion from the royal confidence, the •chieftains, who were risking all for the Stuart cause, and who felt that their opinions ought not to continue thus supremely ignored, met together, and debated the matter. Lord George 1 State Papers, Scotland, Dec. 9, 1745. THE SECOND VICTORY, 193 Murray as usual took the lead in the discussion, and proposed that they should represent to the Prince how keenly they regarded the slight passed upon them, and beg him, instead of ruling the details of warfare by his mere personal control, to appoint a committee of officers to decide by the votes of the majority what operations were to be carried on, and what neglected. The suggestion was unanimously adopted. After a brief discussion, a memorial was drawn up, and placed in the hands of the Prince. In this document Charles was asked to summon a Council of War, composed of a committee chosen by commanders, to decide on all the operations of war by a majority of votes. ' Had not a Council,' said the memorial, '• determined the retreat from Derby, what a catasti'ophe might have followed in two or three days % Had a Council of War been held when the army came to Lancaster, a day (which at that time was so precious) had not been lost. Had a Council of War been consulted as to the leaving a garrison at Carlisle, it would never have been agreed to, the place not being tenable, and so many bi-ave men would not have been sacrificed, besides the reputation of his Royal Highness's arms.' The Prince was also desired to place discretionary power during an engagement in those who commanded, ' as it was the method of all armies.' The memorial concluded by hinting that the force of the Prince was one of volunteers, and not of mercenai'ies.^ Charles returned the following answer ^ : — * When I came into Scotland I knew well enough what I was to expect from my enemies, but I little foresaw what I met with from my friends. I came vested with all the authority the king could give me, one chief part of which is the command of his armies, and now I am required to give this up to fifteen or sixteen persons, who may afterwards depute five or seven of their own number to exercise it for fear if they were six or eight, that I might myself pretend to be the casting vote. By the majority of these all things are to be determined, and nothing left to me but the honour of being present at their debates. This I am told is the method of all armies, and this I flatly deny ; nor do I believe it to be the method of any one army in the world. I am often hit in the teeth, that this is an army of volunteers, and consequently very different from one composed of mercenaries. What one would naturally expect 1 State Papers, Domestic, 174f), No. 93. Account of papers transmitted by- Sir E. Fawkener. State Papers, Domestic, May 10, 1716, Xo. 83. ^ State Papers, Domestic, Jan. 7, 1740, No. 93. O J94 LIFE OF FRINCE CHARLES STUART. from an army whose chief officers consist of gentlemen of rank and fortune, and who came into it merely upon motives of duty and honour, is more zeal, more resolution, and more good manners, than in those that fight merely for pay. But it can be no ai-my at all where there is no general, or what is the same thing, no obedience or deference paid to him. ' Every one knew before he engaged in this cause,' continues Charles, his temper getting the better of his generosity, ' what he was to expect in case it miscarried, and should have stayed at home if he could not face death in any shape. But can 1 myself hope for better usage % At least I am the only person upon whose head a price has been already set, and therefore, I cannot indeed threaten at every other word to throw down my arms and make my peace with the government. I think I show every day this, I do not pretend to act without taking advice, and yours (that of Lord George) oftener than anybody's else ; which I shall still continue to do, and you know that upon more occasions than one, I have given up my own opinion to that of others. I stayed indeed a day at Lancaster without calling a Council of War, but you yourself proposed to stay another. But I wonder much to see myself reproached with the loss of Carlisle. Was there a possibility of cariying off the cannon and baggage, or was there time to desti-oy them % And would not the doing it have been a greater dishonour to our arms % After all, did not you, yourself, instead of proposing to abandon it, offer to stay with the Athole Brigade to defend it? ' I have insensibly made my answer much longer than I intended, and might yet add much more, but I choose to cut it short, and shall only tell you that my authority may be taken from me by violence, but I shall never resign it like an idiot.' After the receipt of this letter the matter dropped for a time. Meanwhile, reinforcements mentioned by the Duke of Newcastle in his despatch to the Lord Justice Clerk had entered Scotland. As the rebels were now flying before the regular troops, the King considered that there was no further necessity for the Duke of Cumberland to be in command, and desired his presence in London. The rumours of a French invasion had been revived, and the piiblic mind refused to be at rest until the Duke was recalled from the north to guard the southei'n coast. Accordingly, immediately after the surrender of Car- lisle, his Eoyal Highness returned to town. Marshal Wade too, on the ground of old age, had taken the opportunity of THE SECOND VICTORY. 195 asking to be released from further military service, and as he had failed in everything he had undertaken, and was never at hand when reqviired, his request was granted. Able service as the Marshal had rendered to his country in former years, it is difficult to point to a single fact in the his- tory of his command on this occasion which reflects credit on him. He was outwitted by the march of the rebels to Kelso, and failed to relieve Carlisle when a little more activity on his part would have made all the difference to the town between surrender and victory. He failed to prevent the rebels marching into England, which was the chief object of the organisation of his army. He failed to cut off the retreat of the rebels on their return to Scotland. He failed to be of service to the Duke at the exact time when his services would have been most precious. In his frequent despatches, among the State papers, he is always grumbling and finding fault. Now it is that the forced marches are fatiguing the men ; or that the troops are in want of forage, straw, and shoes • or that he cannot march at the time needed becatise the artillery have not come up ; or that he is expecting cavalry ; and similar excuses which the incompetent love to urge when extenuating their incapacity. Sir Everard Fawkener said truly, when he wrote to the Duke of Newcastle, that the march of the rebels to Derby, and their return unmolested to their own country, were ' a disgrace to the English nation.' For this disgrace the blunders and inactivity of Marshal Wade are not a little to blame. To serve in the stead of Wade and to take command of the army in Scotland, the Duke of Cumberland now recommended Greneral Hawley. ' I must give you some idea of this man, who will give a mortal blow to the pride of the Scotch nobility,' writes Horace Walpole concerning the new commander. ^ ' He is called Lord Chief Justice : frequent and sudden executions are his passion. Last winter he had intelligence of a spy to come from the French army ; the first notice our army had of his ai-rival was by seeing him dangle on a gallows in his muff and boots. One of the suT'geons of the army begged the body of a soldier, who was hanged for desertion, to dissect. " Well," said Hawley, " but then, you shall give me the skeleton to hang up in the guard room." He is very brave and able, with no small bias to the brutal.' On the whole he was a fitting forerunner to the conqueror of Culloden. 1 Letbrs, vol. M ]) DC. o 2 196 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES S7VART. On arriving at Edinburgh Hawley had been anxious to hasten at once to the rehef of Stirling, but his promised ten battalions not having yet come up from Newcastle caused him a few days' delay. During this period of enforced inactivity he amused himself by ordering gibbets to be erected, as an indi- cation of the fate which awaited those rebels who should fell into his hands. There was, however, no pressing need for his immediate departure. Stirling Castle, secure in the rocky strength of its natural position, and in the gallantry of its stout defender. General Blakeney, defied all the engineering skill of the insurgents. The governor had been summoned to surrender, but sternly replied that he would act as a man of honour and show his foes that he was worthy of their respect. Trenches were now opened b}' the enemy before the fortress, but active hostilities had to be deferred until the arrival of cannon from Dunblane. The government authorities in Edinburgh were, however, keeping a vigilant eye on the tactics of the Highlanders, and determined to frustrate their designs. One, a collector Gossett, was ordered to take two sloops of war and 300 troops with transports from Leith, and sail up the Forth in order to pre- vent the enemy getting their guns across the river. On Wednesday, January 8, the sjiies had given out that the rebels were to be expected at Alloa with their cannon. Accordingly, Gossett hurried the shipping of his ti'oops, and sailed with the intention of surprising the rebels that night. Unfortunately for him, contrary winds set in, and he did not reach Alloa until the next day. Here he leai-nt that the enemy had got two of their cannon shipped on board, and intended to proceed early next morning across the river to a place called Fallin Pow, two miles above Alloa. To prevent this, shortly after nightfall, he despatched fifty of the troops, along with the same number of sailors, in an open boat, to lie between Alloa and Fallin Pow and intercept the vessel carrying the rebels' cannon. But batteries having been erected by the enemy at Eljjhinstone and Alloa, opened fire as the boat passed under cover of the guns, and did some little damage to the crew. Still, the proceedings of Gossett were so far successful that they alarmed the lebels, and pre- vented the vessel sailing with that night's tide for Fallin Pow. As soon as day dawned Gossett had intended sailing up the Frith and forcing his way past the batteries ; but, the wind still continuing unfavourable, he dared not execute his project THE SECOND VICTORY. 197 in so narrow a river. Changing his tactics, he resolved to land his troops at Kincardine, and march straight upon Alloa and there engage with the rebels, whose numbers, he was now assured by private information, did not exceed two hundred. No sooner, however, had he disembarked his men than intelli- gence was brovight him that the enemy had just received a re- inforcement of three hundred. Instantly he gave orders for the re-embarkation of his troops, and quitted Kincardine. The landing of his men had, however, so alarmed the rebels that they could find no time for shipping any more of their cannon, or for getting the two they had shipped to Fallin Pow. Gossett, ignorant what course he should now pursue, re- mained inactive for the next few hours, and the rebels, availing themselves of his indecision, dismantled the battery at Alloa, and carried the guns by land two miles higher up, in order that they should be ready foi' transportation to Tallin Pow. Hearing of this, Gossett resolved to attack the remaining battery at Elphinstone, and after silencing its guns to proceed with the smaller vessels to the spot which the rebels had chosen for the ferrying over of their cannon. The wind proving favourable, he hauled up anchor and proceeded on his way. In less than two hours he had silenced two of the enemy's guns at Elphin- stone ; and the remaining two would have speedily been dis- mounted had not a cannon ball cut asunder the cable of one of the sloops of war, when she was forced by the strength of the tide to leave her position. The other sloop having her two pilots severely wounded, Gossett felt that he was obliged to quit the battel y and give up the enterprise. Though not so successful as he had anticipated, he yet so harassed the enemy by his movements as to effectually prevent them from attacking the castle. * On the departure of Gossett, Charles was hoping to concen- trate all his efforts upon the reduction of Stirling, when a new and far more formidable foe engaged his attention. The ten battalions having arrived from Newcastle, Hawley, at the head of some eight or nine thousand men, marched from Edinburgh on January 13, to raise the siege of Stirling. Made aware of the approach of the English general, Charles left a thousand men to protect the trenches and continue the blockade of the Castle, and drew up his men on Bannockburn, a field of happy omen, as he said, to his arms, and awaited battle. The English regiments, which had marched from Edinburgh in two divisions, 1 Statement of Goss?tt. State Papers, Scotland, Jan. 8-13, 174G. 198 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. had now united at Falkirk, and the rebels anticipated an imme- diate attack. Bvit Hawley showed no signs of movement. His contempt for the Highland rabhle was so supreme that he did not trouble himself about issuing any immediate orders, and even neglected sending out patrols. The old impatience came back upon the Highlanders as hour after hour passed and still the enemy made no signs of advance. At last the chiefs resolved that as the English would not move forward to meet them, they would begin the aggressive them- selves, and march to the attack. As no patrols from the enemy interfered with their movements, the rebels resolved to put the English upon a false scent. Lord John Drummond was ordered to advance upon the straight road leadmg from Stirling and Bannockbui-n towards Falkirk, with his own regiment, the Irish piquets, and all the cavalry. He was to carry the royal standard and other colours, and make a display in fi-ont of the ancient forest of Torwood, so as to let the English imagine that the whole force of the Highland army were advancing in that quarter. These orders were obeyed. Lord George Murray, shortl}' after the departure of Drummond, then crossed the river Carron, near Dunnipace, with the main army, and ad- vanced to the southward of the high ground called Falkirk Muir, a rugged and ridgy upland, which lay on the westward to the left of Hawley's camp. It was not till well-nigh noon that General Huske, an able and honourable officer, who was second in command of the royal forces, descried the division of Lord John Drummond, which, as had been anticipated, attracted the exclusive attention of the English. The men were about to take their dinner, but the drums instantly beat to arms and the troops speedily formed in line in fi'ont of their camp. And now the division under Lord George was seen making for the heights. Upon this, murmurs broke forth from the ranks of ' What are we to do % where is the general % we have no orders ! ' It so happened that on that very day— January 17 — Hawley was a guest at Callender House, the seat of the fasci- nating Countess of Kilmarnock, whose husband was in the rebel army ; and he had been so engrossed by the charms of his fair hostess as to forget the responsibilities of his position. The moment he was apprised of the situation of affairs he rushed out of the house without his hat, jumped into the saddle, and galloped to the camp. A brief survey taught him what tactics to employ. He ordered his three regiments of Dragoons, under Ligonier, to advance at full speed to the top of Falkirk Muir, THE SECOND VICTORY. 199 in order if possible to anticipate the arrival of the enemy, whilst the foot were to follow with fixed bayonets. It was now a race between the clans and the dragoons, which should first gain the top of the hill. So close was the struggle that, whilst the Highlanders were breasting the little eminence on one side, the dragoons were riding up it on the othei'. The first to attain the summit were the dragoons : they presented a formidable line of horse, and were under the impression that the foe still toiling up the hill would never dare encounter a charge from cavalry. But the clans were not to be intimidated. They had formed into three lines on marching towards the Muir : in the first line the Macdonalds held the right and the Camerons the left ; in the second line the Athole brigade had the right and Lord Lewis Gordon's Aberdeenshire men the left, whilst Lord Ogilvie's regiment held the centre ; the third line was composed of cavalry and the Irish piquets. Loi-d John Drummond, as soon as he saw that the enemy had taken the alarm, had desisted from his feint and rejoined the main body of his countrymen, falling in with the third line. In this manner they marched to the attack. The dragoons on the crest of the hill soon saw that their foe beneath them meant battle, and they were ordered to prepare to charge. With their swinging, uneven, but terribly swift step, the clans poured up the hill- side. A short distance intervened between them and the dragoons, when the word of command was given to the latter to charge. At full trot, with sabres drawn, and threatening anni- hilation, the cavalry bore down upon the Highlanders. With a coolness which would have done credit to a picked regiment, the clans halted, massed themselves together in close order, but reserved their fire till not ten yards separated them from the foe. Then at the word ' Fire ' they gave a general discharge, with such promptness and eflfect that the dragoons were com- pletely broken. A few tried to cleave their way through the Macdonalds and the Camerons, but perished in the attempt beneath the dirks and the pistols of the Athole brigade and the Aberdeenshire men. The greater number put spurs into their horses and fled along the front of the Highland line, I'unning the gauntlet of so terrible a fire that many a saddle was emptied. A violent storm of wind and rain, which blew straight in the face of the royal troops, had now come on, and not a little disconcerted the tactics of both Hanoverian and Jacobite. 200 LIFE OF PIUNCE CHARLES STUART. With tliat Avildness which discipline could never tame, and which became almost maniacal at the first taste of victon', several of the clans, headed by the Macdonalds, rushed sword in hand upon the English. Hawley had drawn up his infantry into two lines, with the Argyle militia and the Glasgow reserve in the rear. He himself commanded in the centre, and Huske on the right. Throwing their muskets on the ground, as was their custom before charging, the Highlanders dashed upon the right and centre of Hawley's foot, broke their ranks, and put them to flighl , Eut on the extreme right of the royal army, the clans, which formed the Prince's left, were not so successful. Pro- tected by a ravine in their front, three English regiments, Price's, Ligonier's, and Bnrrel's, bravely held their own against all the efforts of the Highlanders. The clans, prevented by the ravine from attacking sword in hand, had neither the arms nor the ammunition to sustain a prolonged struggle. Their chai'ge, it was true, was terrible, so terrible that the best troops of Europe would with difficulty sustain its first shock ; but, where the charge was impossible, their mode of warfare was not dan- gerous. Behind the bank of the ravine the English shot down man after man, and the Highlanders were meditating retreat when Cobham's dragoons, which had since rallied in the rear of the three regiments, dashed into the discouraged clans anfl forced many of them to fly for their lives. The battle was now in a strange condition. ' Both armies,' writes Home, ' were in flight at the same time.' With the ex- ception of the three regiments above mentioned, Hawlej^'s cavalry and infantry were routed and put to confusion, whilst those of the Highlanders who had been attacking in vain, fled^ believing that the day was lost and that victory remained with the English. But the advantage rested with the Highlanders. Taking up his position on a slight elevation, known as Charlie's Hill, Charles, seeing his left wing thrown into disorder by the three regiments, advanced with his second line and forced the English that still resisted to quit the field. Unlike their com- rades, who had fled to Falkirk in the utmost confusion, the thi-ee regiments reti-eated in good order, with drums beating and colours flying. ' Some individuals,' says Mr. Chambers,^ * who beheld the battle from the steeple at Falkirk, used to descrit)e its main events as occupying a surprising brief space of time. They first ' Hist, of the liebelli€7i, p. G'\ THE SECOND VICTORY. 201 saw the English army enter the misty and storm -co vei-ed moor at the top of the hill : then saw the dull atmosphere thickened by a fast rolling smoke, and heard the pealing sounds of the discharge : immediately after they saw the discomfited troops burst wildly from the cloud in which they had been involved and rush in for-spread disorder over the fiice of the hill. From the commencement till Avhat they styled " the hreah of the battle," there did not intervene more than ten minutes — so soon may an efficient body of men become, by one transient emotion of cowardice, a feeble and contemptible rabble.' The loss for so short a struggle was severe. On the side of the English, inclusive of killed, wounded, and missing, it amounted to twenty officers and between four and five hundred privates. The Highlanders had thirty-two officers and men slain in action, and one hundred and twenty wounded. ' After an easy victory,' writes Sheridan in his account of the battle transmitted to the kings of France and Spain, ' we remained masters of the field of battle ; but as it was near five o'clock before it ended, and as it recjuired time for the Highlanders to recover their muskets, rejoin their colours, and form again in order, it was quite night before we could follow the fugitives. The Prince, who at the beginning of the action had been conjured for the love of his troops not to expose him- self, was in the second line of the piquets ; but as soon as the left wing was thrown into some disorder, he flew to their relief with an ardour that was not to be restrained. In the dis- position of his ti'oops he followed the advice of Lord George Murray, who commanded the right wing, and fought on foot during the whole action at the head of his Highlanders. Lord John Drummond commanded the left, and distinguished himself extremely.' Quartering his disordered troops in the palace of Linlithgow, whither he had hastily fled after burning his tents at Falkirk, Hawley wrote the following letter to the Duke of Cumber- land':— ' Linlithgow, Jan. 17, 17-lG. ' Sir, — My heart is broke. I can't say we are quite beat to-day, but our left is beat, and their left is beat. We had enough to beat them, for we had 2,000 men more than they. But such scandalous cowardice I never saw before. The whole second line of foot ran awny without firing a shot. Three squadrons did well ; the others as usual. The dragoons 1 Sta*^e Papers, Scotland. 202 LIFE OF FRINGE CHARLES SFUART. were all on the left. I was beat with them, the brigade upon the left of the first line, and all the second line, and the Glasgow Regiment, &c., which made an elbow or coude for show. Major-General Huske's people beat their left wing and made a handsome retreat with two squadrons of Cobham's dragoons. But at the very beginning all the horses of the artillery ran away. They pushed upon their right to slip between us and Edinburgh, by trying to gain our right flank. And as after the afiau- was over, and all the country assured me they were making for Edinburgh to cut us, when we came back to our camp and struck all the tents we had horses left to load, I retreated at night hither. I got off but three cannon of the ten. By guess I think there was not above one thoiisand shots fired on each side. ... I must say one thing, that every officer did his duty, and what was in the power of man to do in tiying to stop and rally the men ; and they led them on with as good a countenance till a halloo began, before a single shot was fired, and at 500 yards distance. Then I own I began to give it over, ' I only beg leave to acquaint your Royal Highness that we were neither surprised nor attacked. We met them half way, and rather attacked them though they were still in motion. ' Pardon me, Sir, that you have no more this time from ' The most unhappy, but most faithful, ' And most dutiful, your Royal Highness has, ' H. Hawley.' The following day Hawley retreated to Edinburgh with his forces in a sad state of disorder and dejection. Shortly after his arrival he sent for the chief members of the committee which had pretended to supply him and his predecessor with informa- tion, and vented the spite of defeat upon the inaccuracy of their intelligence. ' Gentlemen,' he said harshly,' ' you pretend to have an extra- ordinary zeal for his Majesty's service, and seem to be very as- siduous in promoting it ; but let me tell you, that you have either mistaken your own measures or have been betraying his cause. How often have you represented the Highland army, and the multitude of noblemen and gentlemen who have joined them from the Low country with theii' followers, as a despicable pack of herds, and a contemptible mob of men of desperate 1 ' A few passages showing the sentiments of the Prince of Hesse and General Hawley.' A pamphlet. State Papers, Scotland, 1746, No. 35. THE SECOND VICTORY. 203 fortunes'? How have you in your repeated advices disguised and lessened the numbers and strength of his Majesty's enemies in your rebellious country % And how often have you falsely magnified and increased the power and numbers of his friends % These things you had the hardiness to misrepresent to some of the Ministers of State, and to several generals in the army. If the Government had not relied on the truth of your advices, it had been an easy matter to have crushed this insurrection and rebellion in the bud. If your information had not been unluckily believed, that most part of the High- landers had run home with their booty after the battle of Gladsmuir, and that they who remained had absolutely refused to march into England, what Avould have hindered the King to have sent down a few troops from England to assist his forces in Scotland, to have at once dispersed and destroyed them % But you, out of your views or vanity, made him and his ministry believe, that you were able to do it yourselves. And what are the consequences of your fine politics and intelligence % The rebels have got time to draw to such a head, as obliged the King to withdraw more than 10,000 of his own troops from the assistance of his allies abroad, and as many auxili- aries from Holland and Hesse, to defend his own person and dominions at home. ' As to your diminishing theii- numbers, and ridiculing their discipline. You see and I feel the efiect of it. I never saw any troops fire in platoons more regularly, make their motions and evolutions quicker, or attack with more bravery, or in better order than those Highlanders did at the battle of Falkirk. And these are the very men that you I'epresented as a pai^celof raw and undisciplined vagabonds. No. Jacobite could have contrived more hurt to the King's faithful friends, or done more service to his inveterate enemies. Gentlemen, I tell you plainly that these things which I am now blaming you for, I am to represent to the Court, that as far as in me lies, it may be put out of your power to abuse it for the future. I desire no answer, nor will I receive any. If you have anything to offer in your own defence or justification, do it above or publish it here. It will not ofiend me. In the mean time I will deal with you with that openness and honour which become one of my station and character. I will send to you in writing what I have now delivered by word of mouth, that you may make any use of it that you shall judge proper, for yoiir own advantage and exculpation. Farewell.' 204 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. In addition to thus rating the heads of the Intelligence Departirient, Hawley consoled himself for the bittei-ness of his disappointment by using the gallows he had erected for the punishment of the rebels to hang those soldiers who had grossly misbehaved themselves in the late action. So whole- sale were his executions -that even the Duke of Cumberland, on his arrival at Edinburgh, thought it wise to interfere, and saved the lives of many who had thus been sentenced to death. "When the news of the battle of Falkirk reached London the greatest consternation prevailed. A Drawing' Room was being held the same day at St. James's, and every countenance was mai'ked with doubt and apprehension save that of Sir John Cope, who was delighted to have at last a partner in mis- fortune. It was felt that after this crushing defeat the only person who could restore confidence to the nation and re- animate tlie army was the Duke of Cumberland. His Royal Highness was, therefore, appointed foi-thwith Commander-in- Chief of the Forces in Scotland, and urgently requested to proceed at once north. ' His Majesty thinking his Royal Highness' presence in Scotland,' writes the Duke of Newcastle to Hawley,^ ' might be of great use to animate and encourage the troops, and to keep up the spirits of the people in that part of the kingdom, the King has been pleased to direct his Royal Highness to go to Scotland. The Duke will accordingly set out this evening for Edinburgh, and will probably be with you soon after you receive this letter. But I am expressly ordered by his Majesty,' adds his Grace, with that official consideration which conveys censure, ' to assure you that it does not proceed from any disapprobation of your zeal and abilities for his service, with which the King is perfectly satisfied. And though during his Royal Highness' stay in Scotland you will follow his orders and directions, your commission still subsists, and his Majesty does not mean in any other way to lessen or diminish your authority. And I am pei'suaded you will think yourself extremely happy to be under his Royal Highness' command, who has a veiy particular regard for you.' In spite of this * particular regai'd,' the Duke of Cumberland, when discussing the defeat at Falkirk with Lord Marchmont, laid the whole blame of the aflTair on Hawley's want of discipline, and said had he been there ' he would have attacked the rebels with the men that Hawley had left.' - ' State Papers, Scotland, Jan. 2'!, 1746. ^ Lord Marclimont's Diary, Jan. 23, 174G. THE SECOND VICTORY. 205 Travelling uight and day, his Royal Highness arrived at Holyrood on the morning of January 30, and retired to rest in the same apartments which Charles had but a few weeks ago occupied. CHAPTER X. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. Thy sympathising complaisance Made thee believe intriguiag France ; But wo is me for thy mischance. That saddens every true heart ! That mushroom thing, called Cumberland, Has lately pass'd the Forth, Sir. The victory of Falkirk, in spite of the apprehensions it created at St. James's, resulted in no substantial advantage to the Jacobite cause. Hardly had the smoke over the battle-field cleared away than angry discussions arose among the Highland officers. Why, it was asked, had not the enemy been pursued and i;ttei-ly destroyed % Lord George Murray laid the blame upon Lord John Drummond, who had not, he said, supported as he ought to have done the operations of the right wing ;. whilst Lord John, in retaliation, inveighed against Lord George for not having consented, after the repulse of the dragoons, to a simultaneous attack by both wings on the enemy's infantry. The discussion was taken up by the ranks, and the men murmured at the opportunities their commanders incessantly made them throw away. They recapitulated the events of the campaign, and passed their opinions freely on their officers. ' At Prestonpans,' they murmured, ' they could have annihilated their foe, but there they were prevented by the humanity of their Prince, as if warfare had anything to do with humanity ! They march into England — their advance one uninterrupted progress — and then when the road to London is clear before them, and everything appears most favourable to their cause, they are ordered without either rhyme or reason to beat a retreat. Why should they have retreated % Whenever they met the enemy they had gained the day — they made him slink away at the Corryarrack, they took Edinburgh, they beat Johnnie Cope in five minutes, they made Carlisle hang out the white flag, they deceived Wade, and they stole three days' march upon the Duke of Cumberland 2o5 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. — was this a foe to be feared, and before whom they should retreat without having a chance given them of battle % It was shameful. Then, at Clifton, they had again come off victorious, but they were stopped from pursuing the enemy over the moor, whilst the Prince refused to send them reinforcements to complete their victory. Why were they always being ham- pered when they should be encouraged % And then at Falkirk, when they could have utterly routed the enemy and recap- tured Edinburgh, they again, by the irresolution and ignorance of their leaders, had lost theu" opportunity. What was the good of fighting if they were always to be victorious and yet only gain barren laurels % They had better make what booty they could and escape over the hills to theu" homes ! ' Not a few carried this last suggestion into execution. On the night that succeeded the battle, thoiigh the storm of wind and rain which had been raging all day still continued, troops of Highlanders were scattered over the field, plundering the camp and stripping the dead. So thoroughly did they perfoi-m their work that a citizen of Falkirk, surveying the slain from a distance, used to say that he could only compare them to a large flock of white sheep at rest on the face of the hill. Laden with ' plunter,' hundreds, nay thousands, of the High- landers made off to their mountains, and thus reduced the army of the Prince to a comparative skeleton. Still with this faithful remnant Charles resolved to resume the siege of Stirling Castle, considering it a disgi'ace to his arms to relinquish any enterprise that he had once begun. The consequence of this imprudent step was to leave his enemies full leisure to recover from their recent defeat. The siege, too, was badly conducted. Mirabelle, the French engineer, who had arrived with Lord John Drummond, failed to justify the confidence reposed in him. Opening his trenches on a hill to the north of the Castle where there was not fifteen inches depth of earth above the solid rock, he was forced to supply this want of soil with bags of wool and sacks of earth, that had to be brought from a distance. So exposed were the trenches that the Prince lost as many as twenty-five men in a day. The batteries, also, from their open situation, were soon silenced by the superior fire of the Castle. Thus it was not long before the Highlanders, growing weary of a service for which they were unfit, i-efused to go into the trenches or man the batteries. At last the operations of the siege had to be intrusted to the piquets of the Irish brigade, and to the regi- THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 207 ment brought by Lord John from France. Provisions now were scarce, and fresh supplies not to be obtained without difficulty ; daily the siege became more distasteful to the troops engaged in it. Thus two weeks, invaluable to the enemy, valueless to Charles, passed away. Guided by the advice of his favourite counsellors, John Murray of Broughton, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and the Quartermaster-Genei'al, the Prince still persevered in his operations against the Castle. Bub the other chieftains and officers, mortified at the continuance of their exclusion from the royal councils, and still more irritated at the slow and doubtful progress of the siege, met again together, and considered the matter. The result of their deliberations was that, at the instigation of Lord George Murray, a second paper was drawn up addressed to the Prince, strongly recommending the raising of the siege and a retreat to the north. Lord George for- warded the memorial to Sheridan, begging him to lay it before Charles. ' We are sensible,' he writes,' ' it will be unpleasant, but in the name of God what can we do % Whatever his Royal Highness determines, let the thing be kept secret as possible, and none consulted but men of prudence and probity.' The document was laid before Charles. It ran as fol- lows : — ' We think it our duty in this critical juncture to lay our opinions in the most respectful manner before your Royal Highness. We are certain that a vast number of the soldiers of your Royal Highness's army are gone home since the battle of Falkirk ; and, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the commanders of the different corps, they find that this evil is increasing hourly, and not in their power to prevent ; and, as we are afraid Stirling Castle cannot be taken so soon as was expected, if the enemy should march before it fall into your Royal Highness's hands, we can foresee nothing but utter destruction to the few that will remain, considering the in- equality of our numbers to that of the enemy. For these reasons we are humbly of opinion, that there is no way to extricate the army out of the most imminent danger, but by retiring immediately to the Highlands, where we can be use- fully employed, the remainder of the winter, by taking and I A ccount of papers transmitted by Sir E. Fawkener to Duke of Newcastle, May 10, 174P. State Papers, Domestic, No. 83. For copies of these papers see No. 93. 2o8 LIFE OF FRIXCE CHARLES STUART. mastering the forts of the north, and we are morally sure we can keep as many men together as will answer that end, and hinder the enemy from following us into the mountains at this season of the year ; and in spring we doubt not but an army of ten thousand effective Highlanders can be bi'ovight together to follow your Royal Highness wherever you think proper. This will certainly disconcert 5'our enemies, and cannot but be approved by your Royal Highness's friends, both at home and abroad. If a landing should happen in the meantime, the Highlanders would immediately rise, either to join them or to make a powerful diversion elsewhere. The hard marches which your army has undergone, the winter season, and now the inclemency of the weather, cannot fail of making this measure approved of by your Royal Highness's allies abroad, as well as your faithful adherents at home. The greatest diffi- culty that occurs to us is the saving of the artilleiy, particu- larly the heavy cannon ; but better some of these were thrown into the river Forth, than that your Royal Highness, besides the danger of your own person, should risk the flower cf your army, which we apprehend must inevitably be the case, if this retreat be not agreed to and gone about, without the loss of one moment ; and we think that it would be the greatest im- prudence to risk the whole on so unequal a chance, when there are such hopes of succour from abroad, besides the resources your Royal Highness will have from your faithful and dutiful followers at home. It is but just now we are apprised of the numbers of our own people that are gone off, besides the many sick that are in no condition to fight. And we offer this our opinion with the more freedom, that we are persuaded that your Royal Highness can never doubt of the uprightness of our intentions.' ^ The receipt of this resolution fell upon Charles like a thunder-clap. Only the day before he and Loi'd George Murray had been discussing a plan of the battle that must ensue when the Duke of Cumberland came up. Not a word had been then said about a reti'cat. He scarcely knew whether to feel indignation or astonishment the most as he re-read the paper. ' Good God ! ' he cried, ' have I lived to see this % ' With feelings not to be envied he sat down and wrote the following answer ^ : — ■^o ^ Home's History, Appendix, Xo. iJD. 2 State Papers, Domestic, 174C, No. 93. Papers alluded to by Sir E. Faw- kener, No. 83. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 209 ' Bannockbuun, Jan.i>(i, 171(1. * Gentlemen, — I have received yours of last night and am extremely surprised at the contents of it, which I little ex- pected from you this time. Is it possible that a victory and a defeat should produce the same effect, and that the conquerors should fly fi'om an engagement whilst the conquered are seek- ing it % Should we make the retreat you propose how much more will that I'aise the spirits of our enemies and sink those of our own people ? Can we imagine that where we go the enemy will not follow and at last oblige us to a battle which we now decline % Can we hope to defend ourselves at Perth or keep oui- men together thei e better tlian we do here % We must therefore continue our flight to the mountains and soon And ourselves in a worse condition than we were in at Glen- finnan. What opinion will the French and Spaniards then have of us, or what encouragement will it be to the former to make the descent they have been so long preparing, or the latter send us any more succours % I am persuaded that if the de- scent be not made before this piece of news reaches them they will lay aside all thoughts of it, cast all the blame upon us, and say it was in vain to send succours to those who dare not stay 'to receive them. Will they send us any more artillery to be lost or nailed up % But what will become of our Lowland friends'? Shall we persuade them to retire with us to the mountains, or shall we abandon them to the fury of our merci- less enemies % What an encouragement will this be to them or others to rise in our favour, should we, as you seem to hope, ever think ourselves in a condition to pay them a second visit % But besides, what urges us to this precipitate resolution is, as I apprehend, the daily threats of the enemy to come and attack us, and if they should do it within two or three days our re- treat will become impracticable. For my own part I must say that it is with the greatest reluctance that I can bring myself to consent to such a step, Init having told you my thoughts upon it I am too sensible of what you have already ventured and done for me not to yield to your unanimous resolution if you persist in it. However, I must insist on the conditions which Sir Thomas Shei'idan, the bearer of this, has my orders to propose to you.' I desire you would talk the 1 These conditions were that tlie memorial should be signed ])y the Master of Lovat and Ardshiel [it had been signed by Lord Geo. Jliirray, Lochiel, Keppoch, Clanranald, Lochgarry, Scothouse, &c.] that all should declare that they would appear again in arms with a more formidable army, that they P 210 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. matter over witli him, and give entire credit to what he shall say to yovi — in my name. ' Your assured friend, ' Charles." In spite of this remonstrance, the chiefs still adhered to their resolution, and Charles, fully conscious of the position he occupied, felt that he had no alternative but to acquiesce in their decision. ' He washed his hands of the fatal consequence such a step would be attended with,' he said, and took the trouble to repeat his views a second time in a letter to a friend of his in the camp. ' I doubt not,' he writes to this nameless friend,^ ' but you have be?n informed by Cluny and Keppoch of what passed last night, and heard great complaints of my despotic temper. I therefore think it necessary to explain myself more fully to you. I cannot see anything but ruin and destruction to las all in case we should think of a retreat. Wherever we go the enemy will follow, and if we now appear afraid of them, their spirits will rise, and those of oui- owm men sink very low. I cannot conceive but we can be as well and much more safely quartered in and about Falkirk than here. We have already tried it for several days together, and though the men were ordered to be every day in the field of battle early, you know it was always near noon before they could be assembled. Had the enemy come upon us early in the morning, what w^ould have become of usi And shall we again wilfully put ourselves in the same risk'? Believe me, the nearer we come to the Forth the greater the desertion will prove. But this is not the worst of it ; I have reason to apprehend that when we are once there, it will be proposed to cross the Forth itself, in which case we shall be utterly undone, and lose all the fruits of the success Providence has hitherto gi-anted us. Stirling will be retaken in fewer days than we have spent in taking it, and prove a second Carlisle, for it will be impossible to carry off our cannon, &c. In fine, why we should be so much afraid now of an enemy that we attacked and beat not a fortnight ago, when they were much more numerous, I cannot conceive. Has the loss of so many ofiicers and men killed and wounded, should sipi a paper to satisfy the Courts of France and Spain that the retreat did not proceed from necessity, and that Lochiel and Cluuy should visit the Prince in the evening. Papers alluded to by Sir E. Fawkener. State Papers, Domestic, No. 83. 1 State Papers, Domestic, Jan. 174G-7, No. 93. THE DEGIXMXG OF THE EXD. 211 and the shame of their flight still hanging upon them, made them more formidable'? I would have you consider all this, and represent it accordingly, but show my letter to no mortal. After all this I know I have an army that I cannot command any further than the chief officers please, and, therefore, if you are all resolved upon it, I must yield — but I take God to witness that it is with the greatest reluctance, and that I wash my hands of the fatal consequences which I foresee, but cannot help.' Still the chieftains were inexorable. On February 1 the i-etreat commenced ; the Highlanders taking the precaution of spiking their heavy cannon, and blowing up their powder magazine at St. Ninian's. This last operation was so ill exe- cuted that the explosion destroyed the neighbouring church ; the destruction was purely accidental, but party spirit, perhaps not unnatui-ally, imputed it to deliberate design. What also gave a more venomous colouring to the account of this disaster was the fact that the loss of the chui^ch fell very heavily on the poor of St. Ninian's. It appears that some six hundred pounds had been collected in order to build an aisle 'joining to, and making part of the church of St. Ninian's, and by letting the seats in that aisle, a considerable annual sum was raised for the poor.' Thus by the destruction of the sacred edifice the poor lost a very important fund for their subsistence. On the conclusion of the rebellion, the King was asked to repair the loss at the cost of the Treasury. • Resting the first night at Dunblane, the Highlanders mai'ched the next day to Crieff. But all discipline seemed now at an end. The men did very much as they pleased, and the officers could not check their actions. Charles himself, in a fit of peevishness that did him little credit, maichcd sulkily along, and endeavoured to show that it was no longer to his orders that the army was amenable. More than once he neglected to give the word of command, and at other times countermanded the orders that his lieutenants had given, causing thereby much confusion and loss of baggage. At Crieff a council of war was called, when the officers began to reproach each other with having caused the retreat to be so disorderly. Charles, who had now partly recovered his temper', however, put an end to the recrimination by taking the whole blame of the matter upon himself. At this meeting it was resolved to divide the troops into two columns, one of which, under the command of * State Papers, Scot.aad, Lord Justice Clerk to Ne^vcastle, Mar. 20, 1747. p 2 212 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Charles, was to march to Inverness, whilst the other, under Lord George Murray, was to proceed by Perth, Dundee, Mont- rose, Aberdeen, and Peterhead to the same destination. So keenly did James feel the news of the retreat from Stirling that he became almost insensible, and went about, writes Walton, ' muttering to himself that he would henceforth be obliged to take other resolutions; what those resolutions were one does not know, whether to retire into a monastery, or ta trust no longer in the faith of France one knows not.' ^ The very day Charles had been forced to withdraw from Stirling, his pursuer, the Duke of Cumberland, marched fromi Edinbui'gh with an army consisting of fourteen battalions, the Argyleshire men, and the two regiments of Cobham and Mark Kerr's dragoons. At Falkirk the Duke despatched General Mordaunt with the dragoons and the Argyleshire men in pur- suit of the foe, but in vain, * for their precipitate flight,' says his Royal Highness, ' is not to be described ; their own men say that they will not give vis a chance of coming up with them.' Disappointed at this unexpected retreat of Charles, the Duke writes to the Secretary of State - that he had hoped ' that the rebels, flushed with their late success, would have given us an opportunity of finishing this affair at once, and which I am morally sure would have been in our favour, as the troops in general showed all the spirit that I could wish, and would have retrieved whatever slips are past ; but, to my great astonishment, the rebels have blown up their powder magazine, and are retired over the Frith at Frew, leaving their cannon behind them and a number of sick and wounded. . . . When the rebels crossed the Forth their leaders told them to shift for themselves, which is the first order they have yet obeyed.' After a brief halt at Crieff, where the Duke commanded Lady Perth, who was with her daughter at Drummond Castle, to write immediately to her husband to lelease all the officers and solciieis who weie his prisoneis under penalty of having the castle burnt at once about her ears,^ the aimy marched on to Perth, which tbey reached on the aftfrnoon of Februaiy 6. Here, owing to the difficulty of obtaining bread and stores, the Duke had to lemain several days. Bi;t he was not inactive. He sent detachments to Dunkeld and Castle Menzies to harass the rebels. He wrote to Byng, wto was cruising with the 1 State Papers, Tuscanv, Mar. 22, 1740. -' State Fapfis, &cctlancl, Teb. 1, 174G. '" Ibid. Feb. 5. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 213 'Gloucester' and twenty gun-boats off Montrose, to keep a sharp look-out that none of the foe escaped to France. He despatched a small boij of infantry to Coupar and a regiment of dragoons to Dundee. He ordered Major- General Campbell, who had joined him on the 8th instant with a large force of Western Highlanders, to take every precaution to pi-event any meat or sustenance getting into the disaffected districts of the Western Highlands. The Hessians, which had just arrived at Leith under Prince Frederick of Hesse Cassel, to take the place of the Dutch troops, were told to remain at Edinburgh to guard the southern counties. The Duke of Athole was sent to take possession of Blair, whilst Lord Glenorchy was despatched to guard the districts by the Western seas.' In the execution of these measures the Duke was ably assisted by the Lord Justice Clerk. ' I cannot praise him sufficiently,' he writes : ' he is indeftitigable in doing whatever may be expedient for the service of the troops.' His Royal Highness, however, complains of having to spend so much time at Perth in laying in provisions, and attributes the delay to the fact that the Scotch, seeing what an advantage it was to them to cater for so large an army, were loth to let the troops depart. 'The maintaining,' writes the Duke, 'such a lot of ti'oops is a great local advantage, and far more than compen- sates for all the damage done by the rebels.' - At last the commissariat department wtis fully provided, and bread supplied for twenty days. On February' 20 the Duke put his troops in motion by four divisions for Aberdeen. The country quitted was, however, not left unprotected. The Scotch Fusiliers, under Colonel Colville, remained behind to protect Perth. Five hundred men, under the doughty Sir Andrew Agnew, were garrisoned in Blair Castle. Four hun- dred, under Captain Webster, were stationed at Castle Menzies to command Tay Bridge ; whilst Major-Geueral Campbell was ordered off" to the west to aid Glenorchy. In informing the Government of these details, the Duke suggests that some short Act should be drawn up for the speedy punishment of the rebels, ' for as yet,' he writes, ' I have only taken up gentle- men, and yet all the jails are full, whilst the common people, v/hom I pick up every day, must remain unpunished for want of being able to try such a number, so that they will rebel again when any one comes to lead them.' •'' 1 State Papers, Scotland. Duke of Cumberland's letters to Duke of New- castle, Feb. 8-20, 174G. -' IhiL 3 7/,/,/. Feb. 2:i, 1716. 214 J-JFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. In the meantime Charles had arrived with liis column in the neighbourhood of Inverness. His only enemy in the north was the small army which Lord Loudoun had raised by means of the Grants, Monros, Rosses, and other northern clans, with whom the Macdonalds of Skye and the Macleods had united. But their number was not sufficient to interfere with the pro- gress of the Prince, whose ti'oops spread through the country, and did very much as they pleased. The position of Loudoun was becoming embarrassing. Cooped up in Inverness, he had written for money and for 1,000 stand of arms, but Captain Porter, of H.M.S. the ' Speedwell,' who was commissioned to bring him the required aid, either being dilatory in his move- ments or not having received his instrvictions in time from the Government, arrived some three weeks too late. Before his sloop anchored off Inverness, the rebels had taken the barracks of Buthven, within twenty-four miles of Inverness, which had resisted them some months before on their descent from the Highlands, and thus put it out of the power of Loudoun ' to assemble the people that were to come at a distance, whilst those who were close by were so terrified that they would not stir when they found danger so near them.' ^ There was, however, no immediate cause of danger. To insure the capture of the Highland capital, Charles had re- solved to delay the aggressive till the arrival of Lord George Munay's column, and having cantoned his clans in the neigh- bourhood, accepted the hospitality of Lady Macintosh at Moy Castle, about seven miles from Inverness. This lady, whose husband was serving under Loudoun, had nevertheless raised her clan for the Prince, and was in the habit of riding at the head of her kinsmen in martial attire with pistols at her saddle-bow. Scarcely had Charles taken up his quarters at Moy Castle than Loudoun i-esolved to surprise him and make him prisoner On the evening of the 16th, all the gates of the town haA'ing been closed, Loudoun marched out of Inverness with 1,.500 men, expecting to arrive at Moy Castle shortly before midnight. But though he had taken every precaution to prevent intelligence of his movements leaking out. Lady Macintosh received timely information of the intended visit, from a girl whose father kept a public-house at Inverness, where gcssip had been busy in the tap-room touching a night inarch to Moy. AVithout telling her guest of the danger that 1 State Taycrs, Scotliind, Loudoun to Lord Stair, Mar. 2, 174G. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 215 threatened him, Lady Macintosh sent six or seven of her men to disperse themselves in the woods through which the road passed. No sooner had Loudoun and his troops made their appearance than these few vassals of her ladyship fired upon them from their several stations, at the same time imitating the war-cries of Lochiel, Keppoch, and other well-known clans. The ruse was successful. Loudoun and his men, believing that they were entrapped in an ambush, and that the whole High- land army was in their fi"ont, instantly wheeled round and made a rapid retreat to their quarters at Inverness. The following day Charles, acquainted with Loudoun's intention, assembled his troops, purposing to I'epay with interest his enemy's tactics. But Loudoun, having no coutidence in his men, and aware that Inverness could not withstand a siege, had effected a sudden retreat. He afterwards said that if he had remained at Invei'ness he believed he would have been beaten in five minutes. ' Had I,' he writes to Lord Stair, whilst excusing his abandonment of the town,i ' men that I durst trust would folloAv me I would strike another blow yet ; it is a cruel situation to have names and numbers that you dare not fight with.' As it was of great importance that the Duke of Cumber- land should be informed as soon as possible of the surrender of Inverness, Loudoun, who had now retired into Ross-shire, wrote the following letter to his Royal Highness ^ : — 'On Sunday, the 16th, the rebels lay within eight miles of me at Inverness. On which I ordered the men under my com- mand to assemble at their alarm posts at eleven, in order to be posted in the outer parts of the town, there to remain luider arms all night. By which means I got them to march out Avithout the least knowledge of the inhabitants, and marched off with 1,.500 men to beat up their quarters, and got halfway undiscovered, when a detachment I had sent to prevent intelli- gence, going a near road contrary to orders, fired about thirty shot at four men, which alai-med the country and threw the body along with me in such confusion that it was a great while before I could get them in ordei- again ; and on examining I found I had lost about 500 of my men, on which, after waiting an hour on the field to gather fls many as I could, I marched back to the town again. My next scheme, on finding I was likely to do little in fighting till we had some troops to 1 State Papers, Scotland, Mar. 2, 1746. ^ Ihul Fub. 22, 17:(i. 2i6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. assist VIS, was to liave slipped them, and endeavoured to have joined your Royal Highness. But they changed their situation, v/hich made that imj)ossible. And finding it impossible to defend the place with such people as I had under my command, I threw in two of the Independent companies into the castle, where I had placed a large quantity of beef I had provided for the troops, and above 500 bolls of meal, and put on shipboard what arms and ammunition could be spared. On Tuesday at twelve I marched out of the town, and crossed the ferry at Kessock without the loss of a man, though the rebels were in posses- sion of the one end of the town before I left the other, and the rear posts under the fire of three pieces of cannon. From thence I crossed at Cromarty, in order to have it in my power to cross the Firth of Murray and join your. Royal Highness if you had been so far advanced. Bvit now their approach obliges me to cross at Tain, in order to put myself behind the river, which, I am assured, is to be defended against a superior force, where I shall endeavour to make the best defence I can, and shall, as soon as I know of your approach, acquaint your Royal Highness by boat with my situation. The very great desertion I had after the affair on Sunday night made me conclude that this retreat was absolutely necessar3^' But Loudoun could make no defence. He was pursued by Lord Cromarty and compelled to find shelter in Sutherland, where his army finally disbanded. » The surrender of Invex-ness was at first incompreheiisible to the Duke, who learnt the news whilst haltino: at Montrose. ' I am really quite at a loss,' he writes to Newcastle,' ' to ex- plain all the contradictions I meet here from morning to night, for I am assured by jDeople who should know the hills tlie best, that there are no places between the Blair of Athol and Inverness where 500 men can subsist in a body, yet Lord Loudoun has been driven across the Frith with 2,000 men which he said he had, and expecting a junction of 1,500 more; by that party of the rebels alone which marrhcd from Blair with the Pretender's son, and which I could never make, by the best account I had, above 600 men. . . . But I am now in a country so much o?ir enemy that there is hardly any intelligence to be got, and whenever we do procure any it is the business of the country to have it contradicted to me 1 State Papers, Scotland, Feb. 25, 174G. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 217 that I may be always kfpt in an uncertainty what I am to believe.' ^ More tlian once in his despatches to the Government does his Royal Highness murmur at the loyalty evinced in the north towards the cause of the Stuarts, and the difficulties with which the faithful adherents of that House loved, and not unsuccess- fully, to beset his progress. In vain the Duke bribed and imprisoned, threatened and punished, he could get no informa- tion. The Highlander, who would have thought little of ' lifting ' cattle, felt his honour touched when he was bade to furnish intelligence of the movements of the son of his lawful King ; sternly he either kept silence, or, wliat was a more annoying alternative, put the royal troops on a wrong track. Even so late as 1747, when the Rebellion had fully spent its force and Culloden had exiled many a clansman from hearth and home, we find General Blakeney, who was busy extinguish- ing the dying embei's of insurrection in the north-west of Scotland, complaining of ' his want of intelligence, notwith- standing the great rewards I have oflered with assurance of secresy. ' ^ It was not, therefore, without reason that James and his sons regarded the people of the Highlands with affec- tion, and called them his ' faithful Scots.' A few weeks later the Duke, who on the receipt of the news of the retreat fi-om Inverness had done Lord Loudoim scant justice, found that he had been somewhat deceived in the intelligence brought to him. ' I am sorry,' he writes,^ ' that my accounts of Inverness were so sanguine, but I was entirely misinformed both as regards the strength of the place and the number of Loudoun's men.' At a later period, when Loudoun's army was disbanded and had ftxiled to be of any service, his Royal Highness says : ' I must do Lord Loudoun the justice to say that I am convinced he has done everything that was in his power for the good of the service, but he was put at the head of a set of raw militia, of the greatest j^art of which he dared trust neither the couraoe nor affections.' ^ Duncan Forbes, in giving his version of the retreat from Inverness, attributes the fact to the negligence of the Government in not executing the orders he had repeatedly made them. * The too 1 Horace Walpole -writes to Mann, Mar. 21 : ' The Duke complains ex- tremely of the loyal Scotch : he says he can get no intelligence, and reckons himself more in an enemj''s country than when he was warring with the French in Flanders.' 2 State Papers, Scotland, April 4, 1747. 3 Ibid. Mar. 5, 174G. 4 lud. Mav 8, 174G. 2i8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. late arrival of the sloop with arms and money,' he writes to the Duke of Newcastle/ * which I had long solicited, was the cause why the rebellion gathered fresh strength in this country after the rebels' flight from Stii-ling. Had those arms come in time enough to have been put into the hands of men who were ready prepared to receive them, the rebels durst hardly have shown themselves on this side the mountains; but as those arms did not arrive in our road till the very day that the rebels made themselves masters of the barrack of Ruthven, within twenty- six miles of vis, it was too late to assemble the men we had prepared, and in place of making use of arms we were obliged to keep them, as well as the money, on shipboard for security.' Immediately after the departure of Lord Loudovm, Inver- ness was taken possession of by the Highlanders. The citadel called Fort George was garrisoned by Major Grant, who declared that he would never surrender. A few hours of attack, however, sufficed to change his resolution, and the fort shared the fate of the town. 'Fort George,' writes the Duke, who had now pushed on with the main body of his army to Aberdeen,- ' has fallen into the hands of the rebels. I am no ways able to explain how or by what neglect it is so, but a silly affair it is. I fear Fort Augustus will follow its fate.' This fear was soon realised. The rebels, on obtaining possession of Inverness, had resolved to occupy the winter season in reducing those forts in the north whose object was to strengthen the Hanoverian clans by allowing them to draw reinforcements from those districts in which the cause of King George had numerous followers. Fort Augustus was the first object of attack. Svirrounded by Lord John Drummond's regiment and the French piquets, which began to shell the garrison, it was soon compelled to surrender. ' It is impossible it could defend itself long,' said the Duke, when the news reached him.^ The officers were taken prisoners and sent over to France, where they remained as hostages for such of the rebels who had fallen, or might fall, into the hands of the royal troops. J State Papers, Scotland, May 13, 174G. ■- Ibid. Feb. 28, 1740. Grant was dismissed the service by court-martial for 'misbehaving liimseU' before the enemy and shamefulh' abandoning Fort George.' State'rapers. Scotland, :M:iy •22,"l74(). ^ State Papers, Scotland, Mar. 14, 174(1. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 219 Fort "William next attracted the attention of the Hich- landers. But the Duke, aware of the importance of this post, and not having the fullest confidence in its governor, sent a reinforcement under Captain Scott to protect the place, the moment he heard of the fate of Fort George. ' The reason I have been so anxious about this particular Fort,' writes the Duke,' ' is, that from thence the Lowlands would be open to the enemy, and that the fort once taken by the rebels might cost us much trouble before we retook it, and that Lieutenant- General Alex. Campbell is by all accounts no way fit for a thing of that importance.' In vain did Keppoch and Lochiel essay all their engineering arts. Fort William stoutly held its own ; and the chieftains, finding that they were powerless to prevent the arrival by sea of constant supplies to the garrison, were eventually forced to raise the siege. Nor was the attempt of Lord George Murray upon the castle of Blair — an ancient fortress belonging to his brother the Duke of Athol — a whit more successful. After having cleared the vale of Athol of the few royal troops which then invested it, the Lieutenant- General beran to besiecje Blair Castle ; but the castle, seated on a rock, fenced by walls seven feet thiek, and commanded by the vigilant and somewhat choleric Sir Andrew Agnew, was not to be taken by the two light field - pieces that Lord George could only bring against it. Finding, therefore, that there was no hope of battering down its sohd walls, Lord George, aware that the garrison Avas numerous, and believing it to be indifferently supplied with pi-ovisions, resolved to reduce the place by famine. Closely blockading the castle, he sat down before its walls, content to bide his time till the flaaf of surrender should be hunor out. But the movements of Lord George had struck terror into a commander who was made of less stern stuff than Sir Andrew Agnew. Whilst scouring his native country of Athol, in order to deliver it from the small forts and military stations — consisting chiefly of the houses of the gentry — established by the Duke of Cumberland, Lord George had forced, among other forts, those at Blair and at Bun-Bannoch. These petty vic- tories so alarmed Lord Crawford, a weak but kindly peer,^ then commanding at Perth, that, discussing the matter with Prince 1 State Papers, Scotlaud, Fclj. 28, 1746. 2 ' If his head were as good as his heart his Majesty woiikl not have a l)etter officer in his Avliolc ami}-.' State Papers, Seotiand, the Didie to New- castle, Mar. 26, 17'l(i. 220 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Frederick of Hesse, whose troops were quartered at Perth, he resolved to abandon the city. When Lord Crawford informed his Royal Highness of his intention, the Duke cried out that it was the most ' i-idiculous and shameful thing ever known,' and sitting down, penned a reply to his subordinate, which he hoped would bring him to his senses. ' I am very much surprised,' writes his Royal Highness,^ ' at the resolution of the Council of War to evacuate Perth, and leave the magazines there upon the news of two of our paltry posts on the hills being surprised, I can easily excuse the Hessian general officers, but can't express my astonishment that you, who should so well know the country and the people, could put so much trust in our Highland posts as to expect anything else from them. Those posts in the hills are only to prevent little parties from the rebels coming down to take meal. Considering the rebels are besieging Fort William, and a considerable body opposing us in this country, I should like to know how many of them you expect to come and disturb the four battalions at Perth and the regiment of dragoons. When you hear that the whole force of the rebels is coming down to you, then it is time to take the measures you have now taken, but not befoi-e.' 1^ This letter had the desired effect. The alarm at Perth subsided, and Lord Crawford was ordered to march with the Hessians to the relief of Blair Castle. His lordship obeyed, and on his approach Lord George sent a messenger to Charles, offering to attack the Hessians if a reinforcement of 1,200 men could be spared him. But again that unaccountable suspicion of the fidelity of his Lieutenant-General was at work in the breast of the Prince, and he refused to send the help required, under the plea that he was about to concentrate his forces.^ Lord George accordingly abandoned the siege, and fell back upon the main body of the army. This retreat the Duke of Cumberland unjustly attributed to cowardice. ' The relief of Blair,' he writes, ' is more owing to the cowardice of the rebels than to the Hessians putting my orders into execution.'^ ' State Tapers, Scotland, Mar. 10, 1746. - A roiii;h draft in Charles's handwriting found anionp: the Stuart Papers declares, ' When Ld. Geo. Murray undertook tlie attack of the fort at Blair ("astle, he took an officer whom he sent back without so much as consulting the Prince, a thing so contrary to all military practice that no one that has the least sense can be guilty of it without some private reason of his own.' The Forty-five, by Earl Stanhope, ]i. 112. "> State Papers, Scotland, April 15, 1746. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 221 Though the mountain warfare during the last few Aveeks had on the whole been fairly successful, Charles was fully alive to the fact that his situation was becoming daily more and more precarious. His finances were so low that he was now obliged to pay his men in meal, ' at which the poor creatures gi'umbled exceedingly,' and even this species of payment was not always made with the regularity that was desirable. Nothing could exceed the difficulty he met with in obtaining the necessary provisions for his troops, in the wild, beautiful districts over which he was master. At first he had dispersed his men in sections throughout the surrounding country, in order the better to collect supplies ; but Avhen he heard of the camp forming at Aberdeen he found it necessary to assemble his forces to meet the attack which the English Avere slowly yet surely preparing for him. Cooped up in the mountains, his treasury reduced to some 500 louis d'ors, his men ill-fed and discontented, more than once he turned a longing gaze to the east coast to see if the assistance which France had so often promised and never fulfilled was at hand, to relieve him from his embarrassments. The hope deferred which maketh the heart sick had not yet crushed the spirits of the Prince. Almost to the last he believed in the friendship of his powerful ally — that the southern coast of England would be invaded, the Duke re- called from Aberdeen, and French ships anchor ofi* Montrose with men, arms, and money. Months back he had sent over to France one Sir James Stuart, ' an understanding, capable man,' with proper compliments to his Most Christian Majesty and earnest petitions for speedy aid, jNIost persistently did Sir James plead his master's cause. He had audiences of Louis XV. and his ministers, and was assured that they ' intended to effectually succour the Prince, and that nothing in the power of France should be wanting to support his just title to the Crown of England.' Then he visited Sir John O'Brien, 'the only person through Avhom the French Ministry would treat,' who informed him of a treaty that had been signed between the Court of France and King James III., ' vastly for the interest of the Royal Family, in which the Prince was declared the ally of France, and that he was to be supported by all their power.' Cardinal Tencin was also most gracious to the Jacobite envoy, and listened attentively to everything which related to the Prince and his little army. * Thank God ! ' cried his Eminence, ' we now see something of 222 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. truth, for till now we could believe nothing ; some of your ministers said black, others white, and a third blue, some that the Prince's army consisted of 30,000 men, others of 20,000, and some that it was not 10,000 ! ' But in spite of his cordial reception, and the warm pro- fessions of friendship which France indulged in. Sir James fancied he perceived an under-current of coldness. He noticed that when the King spoke of the Prince he always called him '■ Prince Edward,' and not Prince of Wales, that the Cardinal dallied with the departure of the embai-kation from Dunkirk, and that difficulties were constantly being put in the way when assistance was proposed to be rendered. Accordingly, Sir James resolved to urge his suit with a little more force. He showed the vacillating ministers how useful an ally his Royal Highness had been to France, and how he had already served her most effectually in drawing the English army out of Flanders. ' Gentlemen,' said he, ' if the Prince and his friends shall now be deserted by France, rather than fall a sacrifice they will be brought to make proposals to the Court of Eng- land, to save themselves and families from utter ruin, and to enter into the service of the English Government, and carry over their whole followers to Flanders to revenge themselves on France for deceiving them.' ' Do yovi imagine,' asked M. Maurepas, ' that the English Government would ever accept of such an offer, or ever trust it?' ' Such an offer,' replied Sir James, ' would be embraced with the greatest joy by the Coui't of England, and if so, France never had to do with such enemies as she would then find them. If France had in view the making up a peace for herself and sacrificing the Prince and his friends, she would soon find that she was mistaken in her politics, for that those in the British Parliament who wished a restoration, and who only waited for a landing of French troops to declare them- selves, would be able to make such opposition, that no English Ministry durst venture on making a peace with Fiunce, but greatly to the advantage of England. But if, on the contrary, a restoration was brought about by the assistance of France, she could then get affairs on the Continent settled to her own mind, and a solid peace concluded between France and Britain to their mutual interests.' Sir James, though he drew some- what on his imagination for his premises and deductions, seems to have been very well pleased with the manner in which he THE BEGINNING OE THE END. 223 put the case, for he said afterwards in conversation that ' he observed this way of speaking had nioi-e force with it than asking in a low pitiful way.' But in spite of this ' way of speaking,' Sir James's mission did not meet with the success it deserved, and he talked the matter over with Lord Marischal, who was then in Paris. His lordship, however, was a poor comforter. He roundly stated that he suspected the sincerity of the French Court, and did not believe it ' had any real or sincere intentions of succoui-ing the Prince.' ' He had been hanging about,' he grumbled, ' ex- pecting to command an expedition into England, and if it had not been that the Duke of York had retained his services, he would have gone over to Scotland ere this with or without troops. No, he did not place much faith in the prepai'ations that were talked about : they might alarm England, but no practical result would ensue from them. It was easy to see that the ships were never meant to sail. Now it was that the transports were ready to quit Dunkirk with troops and ammuni- tion, but that there were no men-of-war to guard them from the English fleet cruising within sight, and so that scheme was abandoned ; then Calais, or Boulogne, or Ostend was fixed upon for the embarkation, but some excuse always arose at the very last moment to delay or prevent departure. No sooner was an order made than it was countermanded. For instance, on the 15th of last January he received instructions that he was to cross the channel, and capture, if he could, the port of Rye. Three thousand men were instantly embarked at Boulogne, and at nine o'clock at night he was pi'eparing to sail, though none of them ever expected to set foot on English ground, when all at once he received orders from the Duke of Richelieu to suspend the embarkation. Ever since that time the shipping had been kept in pay, and every appearance of an invasion of England maintained, but no one of the least penetration be- lieved in its reality. He told the Duke of Richelieu, who had concerted this great afiair, that an invasion of England with artillery, &c., from Boulogne or Calais was impracticable, un- less France had the command of the sea, and that an invasion was only to be undertaken by a coup de main, as the French call it. But Richelieu only repUed that he would have every- thing in its proper way when he invaded England. No, France was not sincere ! ' It was not long before Sir James found Lord Marischal a true prophet. By the end of December all thoughts of invad- 224 I^IPE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. ing England were laid aside by the French Court. But wish- ing in some measure to keep faith with the Stuarts, Louis XV. gave instructions that troops should be sent to Scotland, ' which the Court,' writes Eichelieu to Fitzjames, ' looks upon as very important, in order to show Prince Edward and his party their great zeal and desire to assist him and them.' After some delay in collecting troops and ammunition, five vessels set sail from France for the eastern coast of Scotland, under the command of Fitzjames.^ Tlie assistance thus tardily rendered was, however, of no avail. The English cruisers prevented the French from effect- ing a landing, whilst tlie presence of the Duke of Cumberland at Aberdeen made all operations on the eastern coast most dangerous. Save a picket of Berwick's regiment which landed safely at Portsoy, no other troops in the embarkation reached the Prince's army. Fitzjames himself, together with his regi- ment of horse, were taken prisoners by Commodore Knowles. The commander and his illustrious captive indulged frequently in conversation, and the Count spoke freely of the expedition he had undertaken. 'All the officers and their friends,' he said,2 ' counted upon being taken prisoners when they came into Scotland, yet the Court was determined to endeavour to keep up the rebellion in order to prevent England sending troops abroad to oppose the progress of France ; and, indeed, it was in some measure to fulfil their jH-omise with the Pretender, but he doubted whether any further assistance would be sent, and wished the young Squire well away out of Scotland.' Fitzjames also added that he was certain France had laid aside all designs of a general invasion, for she had not 12,000 men in garrison at her northei^n ports, inclusive of the battalions of militia. The loss of this French aid, and still more the receipt of the intelligence that the Court of Versailles had finally abandoned all ideas of invading England, were bitterly felt by the Prince. He now saw that he had to rely exclusively on the courage and devotion of his own followers. Still, heavy as were the odds against him, he never despaired. He hoped that the good fortune which had sided with him at Gladsmuir and at Falkirk would not now, in the hour of his extremity, desert T \ ?I^'? Pnppi-s, Domestic, Feb. 1740, Narrative of Sir James Stuart and Lord Manschal s negotiation. Also extracts of letters, &c., taken from Count Fitzjames, State Pai)ers, Domestic, Feb. 1746, No. 81. ^ State Papers, Scotland, Mar. 6, 1746. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 225 him. He was aware that a pitched battle must soon take place, and that the foe were steadily preparing for an engage- ment. He lacked much that a general requires to sustain confidence — his men were in sore need of supplies, his artillery was ineffective, he wanted arms and ammunition, with many of the chieftains he was not on the best of terms — yet his sanguine temper only rose the more as the dangers that had to be met seemed insurmountable. He resolved to keep up the spirits of those around him by presenting a bold and cheerful front. He spent his mornings hunting in the neighbourhood, and in the evenings attended dinners, balls, and concerts. It has been said that this gaiety was the result of a conviction that the army of the Duke of Cumberland would not dare oppose their lawful Prince in battle. ' But this could scarcely be the case. Charles had no grounds for supposing that the same soldiers who showed no scruples at resisting him at Pres- ton and Falkirk w^ould be less willing when the momeiat came to fight under the orders of the Duke of Cumberland. On the contrary, the Prince knew right well that the only way he could extricate himself from the position in which he was now placed was by a battle. It is far more probable that the air of gaiety he assumed was not owing to any feeling of security or to the result of levity, but simply a part which he was acting, in order to impress those around him with confidence in his cause. It would have been well if Charles, in addition to the roh he was playing, had also taken some pains to suppress the secret jealousies which were busy at work within the camp. His favourite advisers were still Secretary Murray, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and the Irish officers.- He conferred with but few 1 MS. Journal of Lord Elcbo. ^ ' For some time past he ceased to assemble his council, and only consulted •with his favourites. All the Irish officers that had come over from France were well received by him, and he preferred them to the Scotch. These gentlemen had nothing to lose, and were always of the same opinion as the Prince, whilst the Scotch, who carried their lives and estates in their hands, were very often obliged to find fault with the schemes of the Prince. Lord George Murray was at the head of the Scotch party : the Prince and the Irish did not like him, whilst the Scotch on the contrary liked him much, and had the fullest confid- ence in his ability. Nothing could better exhibit the want of capacity in the Prince than his siding with a few Irish, who came over from France to make their fortunes instead of consulting with the Scotch who composed his army and were in their own country. . . . The Prince so bitterly hated Lord George Murray that he spoke of him as a man who would betra}' him, though no one could have better conducted himself on every occasion than his lordship. He preferred the Irish officers in everything. . . . We Scotch regarded that 226 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. of the chieftains, and his ablest officer, Lord George Murray, was seldom asked to give an opinion. Natm\ally, those who were sprung from the best families in Scotland, and who had engaged their lives and fortunes in the Stuart cause, felt hui-t at this impolitic hauteur of their chief. A spirit of bad feel- ing spread its leaven throughout the camp. The chieftains held themselves aloof, and sided with Lord George. Many of the privates, who were men of birth, complained that they were regarded as mei-e troopers, and not as volunteers who fought at their own expense : these, too, gradually became alienated from the Prince, Not a few of the common soldiery, on whom no pay and bad food were beginning to do their evil work, showed signs of discontent, and the muster roll was seldom called without desertion being painfully evident. Still, bitter as were the jealousies, and ominous as were the murmurs, the prevailing discontent never broke out, as in Mar's insurrec- tion, into mutiny, or a desii'e for submission to the Govern- ment. As a rule, the spirit of both cliieftain and vassal was that, however cooled might be their personal feeling towards the Prince, they would never desert him out of pique, or sur- render unless compelled by defeat. Such was the condition of the camp when news was brought in which put a check to quarrels and heartburnings, and made men sink their dif- ferences for the good of the common cause, — the news that the English were crushing the heather of the neighbouring hills, in full march for Invei^ness. CHAPTER XL THE END. Fatal dny ! -whereon tlie latest Die was ca.st for me and mine — Cruel day, that quelled the fortunes Of the hapless Stuart line ! Cabefully the Duke of Cumberland was maturing his plans in order that there should be no chance of a repetition of favouritism unfavourably, and in general the Prince was not liked by the chieftains of tlie army, lie carried his suspicions against Lord George Murray to such an extent that he employed two Irish officers to -watch his conduct, and to assassina (!) him should he ever attempt to betray him.' — MS. Journal of Lord Elcho. THE END. 227 Glaclsmuir aiicl Falkirk. He had reached Aberdeen, which city he had fixed upon as his lieadquarters, on Pebruary 27, and had at once set about organising measures for an immediate campaign. At first he had been led to hope that a few days would sufiice to collect his troops and march directly upon In- verness. But on examining his situation more closely, he saw- that some little time would have to elapse before he could begin the aggressive. The condition of the countiy was not favour- able for his purpose ; he had difficulty in obtaining the neces- sary provisions ; whilst on all sides he w^as hampered by the turbulent spirit of the neighbouring disaffected Highlanders, who did their best to retard his arrangements. Nothing seems to have annoyed his Royal Highness more, both during his march and on his arrival at headquarters, than the conduct of these northern Jacobites, who seized every opportunity of giving him wrong information, pillaging his camp, and releas- ing his prisoners. ' I am extremely concerned that every despatch of mine,' he writes to Newcastle,^ ' must be filled with repeated com- plaints of the disaffection of this part of liis Majesty's dominions. But so it is, that though his Majesty has a con- siderable and formidable army in the heart of this country, yet they cannot help giving impotent marks of their ill-will by making efibrts to raise men and to set prisoners at liberty in the places we have passed through, especially at Forfar, where each of our four divisions lay a night, they had the insolence to conceal three French-Irish officers in the town during the whole time, and after all our troops were passed through, to let them beat up for volunteers there. . . . What you observe is certainly very unfortunate, that a rebel army can be raised and subsisted at the expense of this country, and that they will hardly give any assistance to the King, though his Majesty has an army in the heart of the country.' A few days afterwards he again alludes - to the subject, and after complaining of ' the petulant, insolent spirit of the rebels which is always showing itself,' declares that nothing will check it but ' some stroke of military authority and severity,' and therefore he intends to take upon himself to inflict the necessary punishment when occasion requires, without waiting for orders from home. As the different regiments of his Royal Highness marched into Aberdeen, or were cantoned iir the neighbourhood, the dis- 1 State Papers, Scotland, Marcli 9, 1746. 2 Ihid. March 15, 174(5. Q 2 228 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. affected Highlanders, now fully alive to the power of the enemy they had been harassing when only in divisions and sections, ceased their aggressive interference, and withdrew to the other side of the Spey. The ' punishment ' dealt out to all offenders who had the misfortune to be caught doubtless had something to do with the prudence of this retreat. During his enforced stay at Aberdeen the Duke divided his army into three cantonments. At Strathbogie were quar- tered Kingston's horse and Cobham's dragoons ; at Old Meldrum^ the reserve three battalions and four pieces of cannon ; whilst the six remaining battalions, and Lord Mark Kerr's Eegiment of Dragoons, occupied Aberdeen. The monotony oi inaction was occasionally relieved by various skirmishes with the ad- vance posts of the enemy, and success did not always attend the efforts of the royal troops. By the end of March the Duke gave out that he would set forth from Aberdeen, but the swollen state of the Spey delayed his departure till the following week. On April 8, at the head of some 8,000 foot and 900 cavalry, abundantly provided with provisions, and with a naval force accompanying him along the coast, his Royal Highness at last quitted Aberdeen for Inver- ness. He was the more anxious to meet the foe, as scouts had informed him that the rebels had been receiving no pay for the last seven days, and he feared that this exhaustion of the treasury would lead to their instant dispersion. He wished to press on and crush the enemy for ever. In his eyes the High- landers were so tainted with Jacobitism that, as he wrote to Newcastle,' ' the only way to end this rebellion is by the sword, and to punish the rebels so that they will not rise again . . . the inhabitants in this country are certainly the friends of the rebels, and are in a good measure in arms for them ; but as we advance they must disperse, though I know they will rise be- hind me unless some marks of severity are left upon the first who shall dare to show themselves.' These constant references to the sword and to severity, visible throughout the despatches of the Duke, show how scant was the mercy the foe had to expect from the commander of the English army. They fore- shadow the fell brutality of Culloden. As the Duke advanced northwards he was joined by Generals Bland and Mordaunt, in command of his advanced division, and the whole army assembled at Cullen, some few 1 State Papers, Scotland, March 19 and 31, 174C. THE END. 229 miles from the banks of the Spey. On their arrival at this deep and rapid stream some resistance to their progress was apprehended. Several weeks before, Lord John Drummond had received orders from the Prince to defend the fords with a considerable division of Lowland troops. Accordingly a trench had been dug, and some batteries raised upon the left bank. But on the approach of the English, Lord John, who had drawn up his men on the hills, deemed prudence the better part of valour, and fell back upon Elgin. This was a grave mistake, for had Lord John disputed the passage the Duke would have been compelled either to beat a retreat or to force his way with considerable loss. The river now being perfectly free, the royal army forded it in three divisions, the band striking up as an insult to the foe : — Will you ])lay mo fair play. Bonnie laddie, Hii^hhmd laddie ? * His Royal Highness,' writes Henderson,' ' was the first to enter the water at the head of the horse, who forded it, while the Highlanders and grenadiers passed a little higher : the foot waded over as fast as they arrived, and though the water came up to their middles, they went on with great cheei-fulness and «ot over with no other loss but that of one drasroon and four women, who were carried down by the stx-eam. Thus was one of the strongest passes in Scotland given up ; a pass where 200 men might easily have kept back an army of 20,000 ; a sure prelude of the destruction of the rebels.' Certainly in attempt- ing no resistance the military judgment of Lord John Drum- mond was grievously at fault. ' On our first appearance,' writes the Duke, triumphantly,^ ' the rebels retired from the side of the Spey towai-ds Elgin. It is a very lucky thing we had to deal with such an enemy, for it would be a most difficult undertaking to pass this river before an enemy who knew how to take advantage of the situation.' After two forced marches from the Spey mouth, the English advanced to Nairn, where a slight skirmish ensued between their extreme front and the rear guard of the retreat- ing Highlanders. The advantage would undoubtedly have been with the royal troops had not Charles himself suddenly arrived from Inverness at the head of his guards, and caused the English van to fall back upon their main body. * Whilst 1 TAfe of the Lvke of Cumberland, p. 112. 2 Stale Papers, £cotland, April 13, 1746. 230 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. marching liere,' wrote the Duke ' the clay after his arrival at Nairn, ' a lai'ge body of rebels tried to cut in between us and our advance guard, but they were driven off with no loss on our side, and on theirs of eight or ten killed and four taken prisoners. ... It is said that the Pretender was yesterday at Inverness, and that upon our driving the body of the rebels towards Inverness, he had marched out a mile on this side of it. With what intent I know not, though I cannot bring myself to believe that they propose to give us battle. All accounts agree that tliey cannot assemble all their clans, and should they have them all together, I flatter myself the affair would not he very long.' But the Duke was mistaken in his foe. The Highlanders resolved to contest the progress of his troops and give him battle. On the night that his Royal Highness entered Nairn, Charles and his staff occupied Culloden House, the seat of the Lord President. The Highlanders lay upon the moor, their native heather serving them for bedding and fuel, though the cold was intense. As soon as the morning dawned they wei*e drawn up in order of battle, and waited upon their arms till the redcoats of the English should make their appearance. But as the day deepened, and no enemy came in sight, Charles sent forward Lord Elcho with a troop of horse to reconnoitre. After an absence of some hours his lordship returned, bringing word that the Duke of Cumberland had halted at Nairn, and that, as the day was the anniversary of his birthday, the English were merrily celebrating the occasion, and gave no signs of an immediate march forward. On hearing this Charles, throwing to the winds that exclusiveness whicli was engendering so bad a feeling among his followers, assembled a council of war — the first, save the meeting near Crieff, that had been held since the retreat from Derby. The Prince let every one speak before him. "Various opinions were given, and numerous plans pro- posed, but none met with the general approval of the meeting. The last to speak was Loi-d Geoi-ge Murray, and his words carried the weight which visually attended their utterance. He advocated taking the enemy by surprise, and in darkness, rather than in the light of day. The distance from Culloden to the enemy's camp Avas but nine miles, and, provided secrecy was observed, could easily be got over between nightfall and dawn. He therefore proposed that when dusk set in, the first 1 State Papers, Scotland, April 15, ITIH. THE END. 231 line should march in two divisions. With the i-iirht winar he would march round Nairn and attack the Duke of Cumber- land's camp in the rear ; whilst the Dvike of Perth with the left division would, supported by the whole second line under the Prince, attack the camp in front. This sudden onset at two different points, and especiall}- coming after the day's revelry, would, he said, throw the English into the most com- plete confusion, and afford the Prince another decisive victory. No sooner had he concluded his proposal than Charles, whose mind had conceived precisely the same project, rose up, and with a warmth which it had been well had he fek oftener embraced Lord George, and said that he was fully of his opinion — indeed, he had entertained the very same idea. The council cordially approved of the design, and orders were immediately given to have it executed. The heath was set on fire so that the enemy might imagine the clans to be still in the same position. The muster-roll was then called, when it was found that not a few of the Highlanders had repaired to Inver- ness in search of food. So bitterly did some of these poor fellows feel the pangs of hunger that they bade the officers sent after them to shoot them rather than compel them to starve any longer. After not a few precious hours had been spent in collecting these deserters, the men were di'awn up in marching order. The aide-de-camp of the Prince — Ker of Gradon — rode down the line and gave the necessary instruc- tions. Pie bade the Highlanders not to use their muskets or pistols during their attack on the camp, but only their broad- swords, dirks, and Lochaber axes. "With these they were to beat down the tent poles, cut the ropes, and stab wherever they saw any swelling in the canvas. They were to march in the strictest silence, and the watchword was ' King James the Eighth.' If they obeyed their orders another victory would be added to Preston and Falkirk. All now being i-eady, the signal to march was given. Lord George put himself at the head of the first column, the Duke of Perth commanded the second division, whilst Charles followed in the rear leading the reserve. The evening was rapidly deepening into night, and the route Avas already shrouded in darkness. At first the men marched in close order, but soon the privations they had undergone began to tell their tale. They toiled painfully along, the rear failing to keep up with the van, whilst many were forced to drop out of the ranks by sheer fatigue. Frequent Avere the halts that Lord George had to 232 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. make before the second division and the extreme rear could unite with the column under his command. It is said that he was asked to halt fifty times within eight miles, in order to pre- serve something like connection between the van and the rear. Another difiiculty also retarded his progx*ess. The whole army having to keep along the same road till within four miles of the English camp, it was found impossible to march in the order suggested by Loi-d George. The only plan that could be adopted was to form the Highlanders into one long column, the second line following the first, and the third the second. This naturally prevented the men from going over the ground with the rapidity they had expected. Thus it was two in the morning, the hour which had been named for tbe attack, before the head of the first column reached Kilravock House, where the first division was to diverge from the other, cross the river Naii-n, and fall upon the enemy in the rear. In the cold grey of the dawning day a halt took place for deliberation. Lord George had hoped by this very time to have made his attack upon the English, and he was now an hour's march from their camp ; already he coiild hear the distant roll of their drums ; his men were exhausted and the ranks thinned by desertion ; the light was breaking ; their position was one of danger. He pointed out the impossibility of reaching the enemy before daylight, and advised, as the object of their expedition was frustrated, an immediate retreat. Whilst giving this coun- sel a message was sent from the Prince stating that * he would be very glad to have the attack made, but as Lord George Murray was in the van he could best judge whether it could be done in time or not.' The fate of the army thus left to his decision, Lord George felt that he had no alternative but to adhere to his first opinion, and gave the word to retreat.^ ^ The account given of this transaction by Lord George Murray varies from that left us by Charles himself ; there is, however, do reason to suspect either of wilful inaccuracy. Lord George wrote within a short time after the event in question, whereas Charles's account was given thirty j'ears afterwards, in reply to some questions addressed to him in Italy. Murray, in a letter dated the 5th of August, 1749, and addressed to one William Hamilton, of Bangour, says : — ' Mr. O'Sullivan also came up to the front, and said his Royal Highness would be very glad to have the attack made ; but as Lord George Murray was in the van, he could best judge whether it could be done in time or not.' The Prince's words are : ' Upon the army's halting, M. le Comte [the Prince] rode up to the front, to inquire the occasion of the halt. Upon his arrival, Lord George Murray convinced me of the necessity of retreating.' Lord Elcho, with his usual spite, jjivcs a different version of the affair. ' Cameron of Lochiel,' he says in his journal, ' came up and told the Prince that as the day was dawning a night attack was out of the question, and that the advice both of Lord THE END. 233 Charles at this time rode up, and was fully convinced both of the wisdom and the necessity of his lieutenant-general's decision. In less than three hours the clans had regained the swamps of Culloden, but wearied with famine and exhaustion. The effects of the night march were now visible. Numbers of the men hurried off to Inverness to obtain food and rest. The Prince himself with great difficulty obtained some bread and whisky at Culloden House. His officers, too tired to eat, threw themselves down, to court the repose they had so well earned. But the sweets of even a hasty rest were not long to be enjoyed. The exhausted condition of the troops was such that it was impossible to expect any really formidable resistance on their part. Lord George therefore renewed a proposal he had made the day before, that the wearied troops should take up a position behind the river Nairn, where the ground being hilly and inaccessible to cavalry, the army of the Duke of Cum- berland would be forced to operate at great disadvantage. But Charles, when the matter was laid before him, refused to enter- tain it. He had retreated from Derby, he had i-etreated from Stilling, and in both instances grave harm had been done to his cause. Whereas whenever he had made a bold stand against the foe, as at Gladsmuir and at Falkirk, he had come off vic- torious. To decline a battle on fair gi-ound and wage a kind of guerilla waifare amid the neighbouring hills was contrary to his ideas of chivalry. He would fight the English in open field as his ancestors had fought them in years bygone, no matter what might be the issue of the struggle. If he won, his enemies, at least, should not say that he owed his victory to the cowardly advantages of a protected position ; should he be defeated, and Culloden henceforth be known in history — like the hills of Halidon and Homildon, and the fields of Floddenand of Pinkie — as spots where Saxon and Scot had met foot to foot to test each other's prowess, and the Saxon had proved the victor, then, at least, let the conflict be worthy of his cause. But his rash, sanguine nature did not anticipate defeat. He had every confidence in the bravery of his men, and he was de- termined, since a battle was inevitable, to fight like a king, and George and himself was tolieat a retreat. The Prince was anxious to proceed, and whilst the point was beinj^ discussed the column of Lord George appeared in siglit retreating towards Inverness. Seeing this the Prince immediately concluded that he was being betrayed by Lord George, and he distrusted all the more those who were attached to Lord George.' This version, at variance with the statements both of the Prince and Lord George Murray, can scarcely be allowed much weight. 234 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. leave the issue to his God. He Avas implored to delay the execution of his intention for thi'ee days, when the stragglers seeking provisions in the hills and at Inverness would have returned, and his army perhaps be doubled. The Marquis d'Eguilles, it is said, even went down on his knees to the Prince, and begged him to accept the proposal of Lord George — let him retire to the mountains ; then should the English dare follow him they would be destroyed in detail in a series of sliirmishes. But advice and entreaties were in vain. Sir Thomas Sheridan and the officers from France, instead of show- ing how culpably rash Charles was, only the more encouraged him in his mad resolve. They represented to him that Heaven was on his side; that his successes at Preston and at Falkirk were not common ^TLctories but miracles, and that the God of battles would again smile upon his arms. This teaching was only too much in accordance with the wishes of the Prince, who, to use the words of Lord George ]\Iurray, ' was rather too hazardous, and was for fighting the enemy on all occasions.' Charles now came forward and informed the chieftains that as a battle was sooner or later inevitable, he would take up his position on the spot on which they now stood, and listen to none wlio counselled retreat. Very shortly after arriving at this decision, it became im- possible, had he even so wished, to follow the prudent advice of his lieutenant-general. At seven in the morning — three hours after the return to Culloden — the scouts came into the camp, bringing the news that the Duke of Cumberland had quitted his quarters at Nairn, and was in full march for Inver- ness — his cavalry but two miles distant, his main body not above four miles. At once the drums beat to arms, and the trumpets of the picket of Fitzjames sounded the call to boot and saddle. Struggling with the sleep that still hung heavy upon them, and but little refreshed by their few snatches of rest, the men rose up from their couch on the dewy moor and hurried to the ranks to answer the roll-call. And now, in this awful hour of emergency, it was found that the Highland army had been shorn of its strength by the desertion of some 2,000 men, who, driven by hunger, had gone to Inverness and the neighbouring mountains in quest of food. Time pi^essed, and it was impos- sible to send in pursuit of them. Every man was now of the utmost importance, for the whole force of the little army num- bered but some 5,000 men. As the clans formed in line, and their diminished ranks became painfully apparent, more than THE END. 235 one officer must have regretted that the sage counsel of Lord George Murray had been overruled. The scouts who reported the movements of the enemy to the staff at Culloden House had not been misled. Between four and five o'clock of the morning, the hour after the High- landers had returned from their night march, the Duke of Cumberland quitted Nairn. He marched his men in three lines. The first line, commanded by Lord Albemarle and Brigadier Sempill, consisted of the regiments of Pulteney, Chol- mondeley, Price, Monro, and Burrell, the Eoyals, and the Scotch Fusiliers. The second line, commanded by Major-General Huske, the same who had distinguished himself at Falkirk, was composed of the regiments of Howard, Fleming, Bligh, Sempill, Ligonier, and Wolfe. The third line, commanded by Brigadier Moi'daunt, consisted of the regiments of Battereau and Blackney. The cavalry, imder the command of Lieutenant -Generals Hawley and Bland, consisted of Cobham's dragoons. Lord Mark Kerr's dragoons, and Kingston's Horse. The strength of the whole force Avas estimated at 10,000 men.' Confident of victory, the Duke marched his men i^apidly over the marshy ground, now a cultivated tract, which extends from Nairn to Inverness. At first he had been under the impression that the rebels would fly before him into the moun- tains and never attempt resistance, but he was led to change his mind. ' I must own,' he writes to the Duke of Newcastle,^ * I never expected they would have had the imprudence to risk a general engagement, but their having burnt Fort Augustus the day before convinced me they intended to stand.' Aware, therefore, that his men were on the eve of a battle, the Duke issued instructions how to cope with the enemy, whose mode of warfare was so strange, and had inflicted such humiliation upon the King's troops. He bade his men, in order to avoid the interposition of the Highland targets, to thrust with their bayonets, not in a straight, but in a slanting line, each soldier directing his weapon, not against the man immediately opposite to him, but against the one who fronted his right-hand com- rade ; thus the foe woitld be wounded under the sword-arm before he could ward off" the thrust. The men received his advice with a loud cheer, and for the first time during the cam- paign seemed eager to meet their foe, and to revenge the disgrace which Gladsmuir and Falkirk had inflicted upon their arms. Twice they halted on their march, and the morning was well- 1 State Paper?, Scotland, April 18, 174 G. 2 Ihhl 236 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. nigh spent before the English came in sight of the Highlanders. A loud huzza was raised by the royal troops when their enemy- became visible, which the clans re-echoed in savage earnest. At last the moment had come which was to decide the fate of the House of Stuart for ever. Charles had drawn up his followers in two lines. On the right stood the first line commanded by Lord George Murray, which consisted of the Athole Brigade, the Camerons, the Stewarts, the Frasers, the Macintoshes, the Farquharsons, and some other clans. On the left stood the second line com- manded by Lord John Drummond, composed of the three regi- ments of Macdonalds, styled, from their chiefs, Clanranald, Keppoch, and Glengarry. On the right of the first line was the first troop of horse guards, and on the left of the second line a troop of Fitzjames' horse. The reserve consisted of Lord Kilmarnock's regiment of foot guards and the remains of Lord Pitsligo's and Lord Strathallen's horse. The right flank was covered by some straggling park walls ; to the left was a descent sloping down to CuUoden House. Four pieces of artillery were placed at the extremity of each line, and the same number in the centre. No little jealousy had been excited by this arrangement of the troops. The clan Macdonald, as the most powerful and numerous of the clans, had claimed from the beginning of the expedition the privilege of holding the right of the whole army. They had led the right at Preston and at Falkirli, and regarded their exchange to the left as not only an insult but ominous. * We of the clan Macdonald,' says one of their officers, * thought it ominous we had not this day the right hand in battle, as formerly at Gladsmuir and Falkirk, and which our clan maintain we had enjoyed in all our battles and struggles since the battle of Bannockburn.' On his first sight of the enemy, the Duke halted his men, and made preparations for attack. His army formed in three lines, with cavalry on each wing, and two pieces of cannon between every two regiments of the first line. The High- landers who supported the Hanoverian cause, and of whom the Duke thouglat but little, were told off" to guard the baggage. Before entering action, his Royal Highness rode in front of his men, and again addressed them. ' I do not suppose,' said he, ' that there is a soldier before me unwilling to fight, but should there be any, who, either from disinclination to the cause, or from having relatives in the rebel army, prefer to THE END. 237 retire, in God's name I beg them to do so now : I would rather face the Highlanders with one thousand men at my back, determined to fight, than with ten thousand of whom a tithe are lukewarm.' The only response to his speech were shouts of * Flanders ! Flanders ! ' which were enthusiastically raised. It was now one o'clock, and some of the officers around the Duke proposed that the men should dine before going into action. 'No,' replied the Commander-in-Chief, ' they will fight more actively with empty bellies ; besides, it would be a bad omen — you remember what a dessert they got to their dinner at Falkirk ! ' But the lesson taught at Falkirk was not to be repeated. The Highlanders met their foe under every disadvantage that it was possible for men about to fight to labour. No one watch- ing the rival forces as they stood on their arms in the expect- ancy of onset could have doubted the issue for a moment. The English were well commanded ; each regiment was in harmony with its fellow ; every man was fresh and healthy ; there was no lack of arms, artillery, and ammunition ; and in numbers they were double that of the enemj'. The rebels, on the other hand, faced their foe, wearied with their fruitless night-march to Kilravock, sick and famished for want of provisions, ill-clad, ill- armed, ill-supplied with artillery, shoi-n of neai'ly half their strength by recent desertion and by the non-arrival of expected support, and with their chief regiment sullen and depressed. Added to these terrible deficiencies, the ground they occupied was somewhat lower than that on which the English had formed, whilst a strong north-west wind was driving a heavy fall of rain and snow straight into their faces. Still, the very thought of action fired for a time the hot blood of the High- landers ; and, forgetful of fatigue and hunger, they stood shoulder to shoulder, grasping their claymores with warm eager hands, ready to spring forward at the word of command. The battle began with a sharp but inefiective cannonade from the Highlanders, which was returned with terrible interest by the royal troops. ' We spent half an hour,' writes the Duke,' 'trying which should gain the flank of the other, and I having sent Lord Bury forward within a hundred yards of the rebels to reconnoitre somewhat that appeared like a battery, they began fiirng their cannon, which was extremely ill-served and ill-pointed. Ours immediately answered them, which began their confusion.' For well-nigh an hour the rival artillery 1 State Papers, Scotland, April 18, 1746. 238 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. kept up incessant firing; the shots from the English tearing through the ranks of the clans and making wide gaps which no amount of closing up could conceal. Charles had taken up his position on a slight elevation immediately behind the rear. Here he had a complete view of the field, and was able to give his orders with the best advantage. But his vantage point was no sheltered spot, as his enemies have insinuated. He was in the immediate line of the English artillery, several of the officers around him fell, and a servant who held a led horse was killed by his side, the Prince himself being covered by the earth thrown up by the ball. Undisturbed by these disasters, he remained as cool under fire as he had been at Gaeta, and continued his inspection. The galling fire which had opened upon the Highlanders from the enemy's cannon was received by them with an im- patience which even better disciplined troops would have dis- played under the circumstances. The men looked anxiously at their chiefs to know when the order to advance would be given. They were eager to charge as they had done at Gladsmuir, and break the enemy's ranks by one of their terrible coups de main. This inactivity was hateful to them. A few threw themselves on the ground to avoid the storm of shot around them ; others took the responsibility of command upon themselves, and cried out to their fellows to charge ; a few — a very few — cowed and panic-stricken, broke their i-anks and fled. Lord George felt that it would be dangerous to resist much longer the fiendish impa- tience that was surging like molten lead in the breasts of his men. He sent Ker of Gradon to the Prince requesting per- mission to attack. But, before the aide-de-camp retvirned with his answer, the Macintoshes, who had never before been in action, rushed upon the English centre, and were followed by the whole right mng of the Highland army. A shai-p storm of hail and snow began now to fall, and was driven by a strong north-west wind right into the faces of the rebels. Half blinded with its pitiless flakes, and with the acrid smoke that rolled around them, the Highlanders, sword in hand, dashed forward with all their terrible impetuosity. The regiments of Monro and Bui'rell received their charge with a warm fire of musketry and artillei'y ; but, after a brief resist- ance, the fierce onset of the clans met with its accustomed reward, and the ranks of the English were broken. The Duke, however, had anticipated the possibility of such an event, and had strengthened his second line, which was drawn up three THE END. 239 deep, so as to constitute a steady support in case any part of his first gave way. As the Highlanders, partially victorious and elated with their success, continued their furious advance, the front rank of Sempill's regiment knelt down, presenting a bristling array of bayonets, the second rank bent forward, the third I'ank stood upright. Calm and collected, with their fire- locks at the present, they awaited the advance of the High- landers : then, when their foes were within a yard of the bayonet-point, poui-ed upon them a volley so murderous and so Avell directed that, after the action, the bodies of the unfortunate Highlanders are said to have been found in layers of three and, four deep ! A few, according to the Duke, in their rage at not making any impression upon the battalions, rushed forward and threw stones at the English for a minute or two.^ But the rest, staggered by their terrible reception, were at a loss how to act. Then the royal troops advanced and drove the clans before them — the whole right and centre of the foe — irretriev- ably routed. In the charge, the chief Maclauchlan had been killed, and the brave Lochiel was carried to the rear by two faithful henchmen severely wounded. But, though defeated, the Highlanders had no cause to reproach themselves : they had fought with splendid courage, bearing themselves like gallant men who did their best to win the day ; but they had to cope with an enemy twice their strength, and amply pi^ovided with all the materiel of warfare. They were defeated, but not dis- honoured. It would be well if the same praise could be accorded to the left vang. Moody and sullen, the Macdonalds saw the enemy putting to rout the right and centre of their army, yet their hands never grasped their swords with an itching for revenge ; their feet still halted as if stuck to the swampy moor; they were passionless as cravens. The courage and chivalry of their tribe had indeed strangely deserted them. Their dignity had been offended by being placed on the left : so, with a preference as selfish as it was traitoi-ous, they chose rather to subscribe to a defeat than to forgive the insult. In vain the Duke of Perth called out to them, ' Claymore ! Claymore ! ' and tried to soothe their sullen pride by telling them that ' if they behaved with their usual valour they would convert the left into the right, and that he would call himself in future Macdonald.' But the well-known battle-cry and the kindly flattery were both incapable of rousing these surly, ill-conditioned 1 State Papers, Scotland, April 18, 1746 240 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. vassals into action. The only answer Perth received was a low, long-drawn-out murmur of dissatisfaction. In vain the gallant Keppoch rushed forward to the charge, followed by a few of his kinsmen : his clan, with an obstinacy and infidelity unknown in Highland warfare, remained stationaiy. A well- directed shot brought the chieftain to the ground : still his followers stirred not. ' My God ! ' cried the dying chief, ' have the children of my tribe deserted me % ' And the last sight his eyes, rapidly glazing in death, beheld, was the clan which bore his name still remaining fixed and immovable in the face of the foe. So stood the whole left wing, calm and uninterested spectators of the rout and repulse of their brethren. Then, when the end had come, they fell back in good order, and joined the remnant of the second line. A more treacherous and disgraceful display of temper military history has never yet had to record. From the height where he stood with one squadron of horse, Charles watched the scene in amazement. Defeat he had never yet sufiered, and therefore believed impossible ; but now he saw his army rovited and his cause ruined. His eyes sufiused with bitter tears as he gazed upon the fruitless gallantry of the centre and the right, the baseness of the Macdonalds, and the imminent overthrow of his whole army. He cast a hurried glance upon the Lowland troops and the French and Irish piquets, which still remained. What if he could yet turn the tide of defeat by leading the second line to vmdertake what the first had failed to accomplish? A moment's reflection showed him that such an idea was hopeless. It was hardly possible that one half of an army should be able to retrieve the battle against treble its numbers flushed with victory. More- over, the second line was dispirited at the defeat of the centre and the right ; and their past privations, now that they were no longer buoyed up by excitement, had made them sick and almost craven at heart. To continue the battle without any hope of gaining it was only to increase the slaughter and to destroy every chance of rallying his men on a future occasion. The officers around the Prince concurred in thinking the battle irretrievably lost, and advised an instant retreat. Nor was there a moment to lose. The Duke of Cumberland was repairing the losses in his first line by supplies from tha second, and evidently preparing for a general attack. On the flank of the second line of the Highland army were the Camp- bells ; whilst in the rear of the clans was a body of cavalry THE END. 241 which had broken through the inclosures on the rebel right, and, if reinforced in time, couki cut off all retreat from the defeated army. Under these circumstances the Highlanders, dejected and dispirited, began to prepare for flight. Many departed singly to provide betimes for their own safety ; not a few fled in the utmost confusion. A portion of the second line eflfected a retreat in good order, with colours flying and pipes playing, while the French auxiliaries fell back upon Inverness, where they obtained honourable terms of capitulation from the Duke of Cumberland. Many from the Highland army fled in the •direction of Inverness, but the greater part towards the High- lands. In this decisive action the rebels lost about one fifth of their men, while the victors did not estimate their loss much above 300 in killed and wounded. The trophies that fell into the hands of the Duke wei'e fourteen standards, 2,300 muskets, and the whole of the artillery and baggage of the Highland army. On quitting the field of battle, the Prince was accompanied by two troops of cavalry, with which he crossed the river Nairn and rode to Fort Felie, about three miles from Culloden. Here he halted and dismissed his escort, directing them in the first instance to repair to Iluthven. An interview, it is stated, now took place between him and Lord Elcho, which may as well be told in his lordship's words.' ' The Prince halted four miles from the field of battle, and I found him in a deplorable state. As he had flattered himself always by false hopes that the army of the Duke would fly befoi^e him like that of Cope and Hawley, he believed that he had been betrayed, and seemed to fear all the Scotch, believing that they were capable of surrendering to the Duke in order to obtain peace and the 30,000^. the King had put on his head. He inquired about no one, and only spoke to the Irish who were around him , . . he seemed only interested in the ftxte of the Irish, and not at all in that of the Scotch • and seeing that the number of Scotch officers around him had increased, he bade them begone to a village a mile distant, and that he would send them orders. I remained after their departui^e, and asked him if he had any •orders to give me % He i-eplied I could go where I pleased, and that as for himself he intended to repair to France. I answered that I was surprised at such a resolution, so little worthy of a Prince of his birth ; that it was unworthy in him to have caused so many people to sacrifice themselves for him, and ' MS. Journal of Lord Elcho. K 242 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. then to abandon them ; and that, even if he had lost a thousand men in the battle, there remained some 9,000 for him to put himself at their head, and to live and die with them. I represented to him that he arrived in this country without troops, and that he could even yet muster an army of 9,000 men, so that his situation was still better than when he landed in Scotland. I also told him that when his men found them- selves without a leader they would disperse, arid consequently fall under the vengeance of the Duke of Cumberland. All these reasons, however, made no impression upon him, and he only answered that he was determined to escape into France. Upon that I left him, fully determined never to have anything more to do with him.' I have given this extract at length, because much has been made of the conduct of Charles during the closing scenes of the trac^edy of Culloden. Sir Walter Scott relates, on the authority of certain manuscript memoirs of Lord Elcho, that at the time when the Macdonalds in their sullen obstinacy refused to fight, and the centre and the right were completely routed. Lord Elcho rode up to the Prince, pointed to the second line, which was as yet entire, and implored Charles to charge forward with them and retrieve the fortune of the day. To this proposal the Prince returned a doubtful or negative answer, upon which Lord Elcho called him an Italian coward and a scoundrel, and vowed he would never look upon his face again ; an oath, says Sir Walter, which he religiously kept in the future.^ What these memoirs are which authorise the great novelist to make such a statement, I know not : there is no mention of the fact in the Journal from which I have just quoted. And the omission is striking. The Journal of Lord Elcho is a careful and minute autobiography. In it the writer records where he was educated, the friends he made at Winchester, the houses he dined at in town, the foreign cities he visited, his interviews with the Chevalier de St. George, his connection with Prince Charles, the incidents of the Rebellion, his retire- ment to Paris, and the vai-ious events, some important, others of no special note, which formed the different links in the chain of his life. But as the Journal was drawn up some forty years after the affair of the '45, it may perhaps be said that Lord Elcho, writing: from memory, had foi'gotten much in his life which it would have been important for him to remem- b?r. This, however, will not get over the difficulty, for from 1 Quarterly Bevlew, Ixxi. p. 213. THE END. 243 the pages of the autobiography it would appear that the memory of Lord Elcho was singularly acute and tenacious. He relates the various incidents of his childhood and school- days, freely mentions the names of those who were known to him in his youth, and indeed displays throughout the narrative of his diary a remembrance both of petty details and important events almost surprising in a man at his time of life. And yet there is not one word of the incident at Culloden as related by Sir Walter Scott. We know that Lord Elcho was anything bub friendly towards the Prince, and, whenever opportunity offered, loved to Aving a bitter shaft against his foi-mer master ; therefore the omission in his Journal of all mention of this story of Sir Walter Scott's cannot certainly be credited to good taste or kindly feeling. It seems to me, from the animus evinced by Lord Elcho against the Prince, that if such an event had ever occurred, his lordship would certainly have remembered it, and have been only too glad to publish the fact. If he recollects the colour of the gowns the sixth-form boys wore at Winchester, he certainly would have remembered so noteworthy a circumstance as the refusal of the Prince to accept his advice and head a charge at a most eventful moment on the moor at Culloden. But there is no allusion to such an event. In the extract I have given, the only one touching the personal history of the Prince at the time of the battle, it will be seen that the interview between Lord Elcho and Charles takes place Avhen the conflict is over and the two are fugitives from the field. There is nothing about Lord Elcho riding up to the Prince and bidding him lead on his men and change a defeat into a, victory, or die as became a scion of his House ; but simply a conversation as to the future movements and policy of the Prince. Now which of these two accounts are we to accept % If we believe the statement quoted by Sir Walter Scott, and Charles is to be branded with the most cruel imputation that a Prince and a soldier can sustain, how comes it that no mention is made of the incident in the Journal of Lord Elcho % How comes it that Lord Elcho, after having declared in a fit of virtuous indignation that he will never look upon the face of the Prince again, yet within a few minutes of such an asser- tion follows in the train of Charles, and, according to his own statement in his Journal, has another interview with his master by the waters of the Nairn % How comes it that Lord Elcho, after having sworn never to look upon the face of the k2 244 ^IF^ OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Prince again, yet, as we shall show, appears a few months afterwards in the suite of Charles, at his first public audience at the Court of France, and years afterwards tries to see him at Rome 1 If, on the other hand, we believe the conversation as recorded in the Journal, how can we reconcile the tAvo state- ments 1 Is it likely that the Prince, a man of spirit, and fully conscious of what was his due, would permit one who some half-hour before had openly insulted him to his face by calling him a ' scoundrel ' and an ' Italian cowai'd,' to address a word to him, much less to carry on a sustained conversation, and offer him advice ] . Surely not. If we are to place faith in the quotation given by Sir Walter Scott, Lord Elcho exhibits the Piince as an utter coward during the battle ; but the statement in the Journal makes no mention of such an exhibition, but simply records a conversation between the two when the battle was over. Both extracts, however, though relating to different events, occurring at different times, have but one object in view, to write Charles down as a coward and a selfish adventurer. I hope it will not be said that my zeal outruns critical dis- cretion when I ask the reader to give no credence to either of these charges, but to regard them as calumnious falsehoods. Their aim is to degi-ade the Prince and to exalt the cakimniator. In one picture. Lord Elcho — spurring in hot haste to his royal master, bidding him charge at the head of his division and win the day or die like a king — is represented, if somewhat reckless, yet as loyal, chivalrous, and heroic. In the other, Lord Elcho on the banks of the Nairn — reading his master a moral lesson, telling him of the army he has yet at his disposal, and encouraging him to act worthy of his race by not losing heai-t and deserting the cause — is described as a good and true man. But is either of them probable'? From what we know of Lord Elcho, he was a man of doubtful fealty to the Stuart cause, of a violent and jealous temper, and as unsparing as unscrupulous in his enmity. It is true that he had lent the Prince the far from contemptible sum of 1,500Z, ; but then that Avas at the very commencement of the campaign, before his spite and jealousy had been awakened, and when he had every confidence in the ultimate success of the Prince's cause. Besides, when a creditor expects his debtor to be raised to a throne, his kindness does not seem such a disinterested act as at first sight may appear. But later on, when jealousy of the favouritism shown to the Irish was doing its bitter work, Lord Elcho, so staunch and true in his Jacobitism, used often, THE END. 445 in conversation with ^neas Macdonald, to curse himself for having been so mad as to join in the Rebellion, and said in his spite that he always had the most despica))le opinion of the success of the enterprise.' How bitterly, then, he must have regretted his loan to the Prince ! We shall see how, in after- life, he harps upon it. Again. The battle of Culloden had scarcely been fought two months when he who had so chival- rously urged his Prince to lead a charge, and had spoken so patiiotically beside the waters of Nairn, was writing from Paris to his Grace of Argyll,- to take him under his protection, and to represent to his Majesty that, if he would pardon him his past offences, he was ready to surrender immediately, and to give every assurance that in the future he would be a peace- able subject, and ' shall never be concerned in any scheme that can be detrimental to his Majesty or his family.' * But,' says Horace Walpole, ' as Lord Elcho has distinguished himself beyond all the Jacobite commanders by brutality and insult and cruelty to our prisoners, I think he is likely to remain where he is.' Nor were Walpole's surmises falsified. Lord Elcho was not pardoned. The inconsistent narratives of such a man, at open enmity with him of whom he spoke, sliould be received with extreme caution. Fortunately for Charles, his reputation at this date rests npon other authority than that of Lord Elcho. So far from it being true that the Prince refused, like the craven Elcho would wish him to appear, to lead the second line, it is said, on the testimony of a cornet, who can-ied the standard of the second troop of horse guards and who was close by the Prince's side, that Charles was eager to place himself at the head of the remaining Highlanders and charge the enemy ; nay, that he was only deterred from his plan by Sheridan and O'Sullivan seizing his horse by the bridle and forcing him to quit the field.^ Such a statement is far more in harmony with the con- duct and character of Charles throughout the campaign than the spiteful impression Lord Elcho Avished to convey. The probability is, however, that Charles, as I have said, thought at first of making use of his second line, but on the officers around him agreeing that the battle was irretrievably lost, and that it 1 Examination of Macdonald. State Papers. Domestic. Sept. 17, 1746. - State Papers, Scotland, June 17, 1740. Ten days later he writes to the Lord .Tiistice Clerk ' not to forsake him at this critical juncture,' and promises 'any ;is.-iirance ■whatever for my making his M;ijestv a most loyal fulijcct lur the future.' State Papers, Scotland. / Home, vol. iii. p. 225. 246 LIFE OF FRIACE CHARLES STUARF. would only aggravate matters to continue the conflict, pru- dently abided by their judgment. With regard to the conversation by the waters of the Nairn, recorded by Lord Elcho in his Journal, there are several reasons for doubting its accuracy. It is impossible to deny that Charles showed a most culpable predilection — the sin of favouritism ever ran blackly in his race — for the Irish officers on his staflf, but that he cai-ried this feeling to such an extent as to believe that his Irish were the only good men and true he possessed is absurd on its veiy face. He doubted the fidelity of Lord George Murray, he was not on the best of terms with some of his chieftains, who, very properly, wei'e ofiended at his exclu- siveness, but that he ever doubted the loyalty of the clans we have not a shred of evidence. On the contrary, he was so con- fident of the Highlanders who formed his army that he believed, wherever they went, victoi-y must attend them. To repeat the remark of Lord George Murray, who certainly had no reason to be a very well-disposed critic of the Prince, ' his Royal Higlmess,' said he, ' had so much confidence in the bravei-y of his army that he was rather too hazardous, and was for fighting the enemy on all occasions.' An ai'my may be brave and yet treacherous, but assuredly no one would have confidence in an army's bravery if suspecting it of treachery. In after-life, when the most baneful of all indulgences had dimmed his faculties and i-uined his once splendid physique, the very thought of his Scottish campaign and the inviolable attachment of his followers — his loyal dunnie wassails — always roused him to something like his former self. Indeed, so keen and joyous was the enthusiasm that such recollections awakened that latterly his shattered frame was unable to bear the excitement they occasioned. In the last sad days, both at Florence and at Rome, though well-nigh a generation and a half had passed away since his struggle for a crown, Scotland and the High- landers v,'ere tabooed subjects of conversation with him. ' No one dares mention them in his presence,' said the Duchess of Albany, in an awed whisper, to the few English who came to pay their devoirs to the head of the once famous House of Stuart. Nor was this enthusiasm misplaced. Thirty thousand pounds had been set on his head. He was in the midst of a people poor to misery, whose notions of ordinary honesty were auything but clearly defined, who on all sides were experiencing the terrible punishment that awaits those who rise in rebellion THE END. 247 against a monarch in possession ; and yet their fidelity was such that for five long months their rugged glens, their rocky islets, their forest wilds were his home, and not the rudest vassal who fashioned fir logs for his wretched shibeen, not the most miserable exile burnt ovit of hearth and home, but would rather have had his tongue torn out by the roots than reveal the haunts of the son of his king. Well might the Duke of Cumberland and his soldier-scouts, close on the scent and yet ever at ftxult, curse their inability to obtain intelligence ! By her splendid fidelity to the great-gi-andson, Scotland has indeed given reparation in full for the baseness of her conduct towards the great-grandsire. Lord Elcho says that immediately after his retreat from CuUoden the mind of the Prince was resolutely made up to repair to France. This was not so. On halting at the river Nairn, Charles was as yet ignorant what course the future would map out for him. He had bidden his fugitives to rendezvovis at Ruthven in Badenoch, and wait foi further orders. He knew that tlie master of Lovat and Cluny Mac- pherson, though not in time for the action at Culloden, were marching at the head of strong reinforcements, and would shortly come up with him. Macdonald of Barrisdale and Glengyle with liis Macgregoi's were also expected to arrive. Nor was he hopeless that the large body of stragglers which had deserted after their night march to Kili'avock might again unite %vith the remnant of the army. Could a junction of these troops be effected he A\ould still be at the head of a formidable force, and the tide might yet turn in his favour. He had no intention because he had sustained a defeat — bitter and crippling though it was — at once to throw up his cause and tiy in hot haste to Pai'is. It was only when he found all hopes of rallying the ai-my and of renewing the war for the pi-esent completely vanish, that he looked with a longing eye towards Versailles. Shortly after the battle of Culloden, a meeting had taken place at Murligan, two miles from the deep blue waters of Loch Aikaig. Here attended the wily Lord Lovat, Lochiel, whose wound in the ankle was slowly progressing, Macdonald of Barrisdale, Macdonald of Lochgarry, Cordon of Glenbucket, John Roy Stuart, and other chieftains, to consider what course of action they should now pursue. After much con- flicting debate they agreed to meet on the following week. The measure they proposed, however, fell through, ' theii- people 248 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART, Vieing unwilling to come out a second time.' • True to the master who had so ungraciously rewarded his labours, Lord George Murray was busy also at Ruthven in collecting a force of some 1,200 men, and the chiefs who supported him vowed forthwith 'to raise in arms for the interest of his Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, all the able-bodied men they could collect within their respective interests or pro- perties; ' but, like the meeting at Murligan, this proposed resistance was also abandoned. The cruelty which followed Culloden was doing its work : the Highlanders, panic-stricken and impoverished, felt themselves powerless to stem the tide, and so one by one the clans dispersed, and the last attempt at a Stuart restoration was at an end. Charles, lying hid in the glens of the Western Highlands, saw that the struggle for a time was over, and could only be repeated if France threw her aid into the scale. He resolved, therefore, to cross the seas, to present himself as a suppliant at the Court of Yer-sailles, and again plead his father's cause. He sent by word of mouth to Lord George Murray his intention of embarking for France, whence he hoped soon to return with fresh succours. He also addressed his thanks to his adherents for their past zeal and fidelity, but advised them for the present to think only of providing for their own security. But though the son was still sanguine as to the future, the father was not. When the news of the defeat at Cullodeii reached Rome, the Pretender was so sorely stricken at the intelligence that, like the Czar of All the Russias after the victory of the Alma, he shut himself up in his room, and refused to be comforted. Then, when it was hoped his grief had somewhat abated, the Ambassador of France and Cardinal Tencin called on him and tried to cheer the fallen man by saying ' That the battle was not decisive, and that the Court of France was capable of remedying all.' But he whom they would comfort well knew by this time the value of French support, and 'remained after their departure more confused and melancholy than ever.' Immense was the consternation at Rome, writes Walton, when the details of the battle fought on the swamps of Drummossie were known in the Eternal City, ' for all the priests and monks had contributed money for this expedition, in the firm hope of seeing the Romish religion established in England.' ^ Posterity may congratulate itself upon their disappointment. 1 Examin.ation of John Miirrny, Ana:nst27, 174G. State rnpers, T) micsfic. 2 State Papers, Tuscany, May 31, 1746. •249 CHAPTER XII. REVENGE. Mourn, l)a]ilcss Caledonia, mourn 'J'tiy banish'd peace, thy laurels torn ! Th}' sons, for valour long renown'd, Lie slaughter'd on their native ground. Thy hospitable roofs no more Invite the stranger to the door ; In smoky ruins sunk they lie, 'i'lie numunients of cruelty. Tliink on the hellish acts tiiou'st done, The tliousands thcu'st lietrayed : Xero himself v/nuld Mush to own Tlie slaughter tliou hast made. The battle uf Culloden Had been fougbt, and a victory, com- plete and decisive, adjudged to the English. The opposition of the Highlanders Avas overthrown, and the combinations they had formed for resistance had received an insurmountable check. Rebellion had at last been crushed. During the past few 11 onths a mere handful of men had risen in armed enmity against the established monarchy of the land ; in one division of the kingdom they had boldly usurped the authority of the Crown ; on all sides their proceedings had occasioned the live- liest anxiety ; troops had been despatched to oppose their pro- gress, and had been ignominiously defeated ; peaceful counties, loyal to their king, had been marched through, and the in- habitants, in terror of their lives, compelled to swear fealty to another. Nay, for a time it had been feared that the whole country would have had to bow beneath the yoke of the invader, and a king of the exiled House of Stuart once more "wield the sceptre and sit on the throne of his ancestors. In every town loyalty had been divided and inti-igue busy with its schemes. Thx'oughout the realm public tranquillity had been sorely disturbed, commei'ce paralysed, and men's minds troubled, not knowing what a day might bring forth. And now this terrible foe, which had sought to undermine the constitution of a country and to poison the fidelity of a people, had been foiled in its purpose, and forced to bite the dust. It was an oppor- tunity not to be lost. It was an opportunity not to be lost, but at the same time 250 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. it was one which a generous enemy would so avail himself of as to temper justice with mei'cy, and allow consideration to wait upon the severities of punishment. But unfortunately the victor of Culloden was little inclined to display the milder qualities of a conqueror. Clemency, forbear-ance, moral per- suasion, were not within his military code. With him victory meant not merely the defeat of a foe, but his annihilation, with rapine, cruelty, and merciless slaughter. These savage accom- paniments of a campaign were, owing to the nature of the enemy on this occasion, all the more in harmony with his feelings. He hated a Jacobite, not with the common sentiments which hostility engenders, but with a distinct and personal hatred. A Jacobite was the special enemy of his race ; an enemy who planned and plotted for the overthrow of the reigning Hovise, and who openly admitted that he would be content with nothing less. He regarded an adherent of the Stuarts as a man in possession regards one who seeks to oust him from the property he holds, and whose existence is fraught with every element of animosity. From his boyhood the Duke had been taught to look upon Jacobitism as the embodiment of everything that was offensive, disloyal, and treacherous to himself and his line. He believed there was no treason, how- ever black ; no scheme, however revolutionary ; no effort, however dangerous, in which a Jacobite would not engage to serve the ends he had in view. He hated France, not because most Englishmen of his time hated a Frenchman, but simply because France, ever since the exile of the Stuarts, had been a staunch friend to the fallen House. And inasmuch as he hated France, he hated Scotland all the more. It was there, amid its wild glens and picturesque fastnesses, that he knew lived a people devoted to the interests^ of the exiled race, and who, ever since the days of the Hano- verian accession, had schemed and intrigued against the esta- blished monarchy. Throughout his despatches it is plain to see how the Duke disliked Scotland, and how readily bitter expressions against her people rise to his lips. He had no faith in Scottish loyalty. In spite of Lowland devotion, he believed that the leaven of Jacobitism, if not mercilessly ci'ushed, would work its evil way in the south as well as in the north, and that the only cure for this disloyalty was punishment by the sword. For the last few weeks his temper had been aggravated by the tricks and devices of a hostile neighbourhood. He had marched and countermarched on false information ; his REVENGE. 251 prisonei'S had been set free ; every delay that could be contrived had interfei'ed with his supply of provisions ; he was ever cursing the country antl the difficulties with which he was surrounded. On quitting Aberdeen he had made up his mind to a harassing mountain warfare, and had never expected that his enemy would have had the courage to stand and stake their all on the issue of a pitched battle. But he had underrated the self- confidence of the rebels, and in a few hours it had been his good fortune to inflict upon his rival a crushing defeat. He had gained a victory, and he was resolved, with the brutality which lay not far beneath the surface of his coarse good nature, to teach those who had plotted against his royal father and disturbed the peace of the realm what kind of an enemy they had aroused. On the dispersion of the Highland army being complete, he gave orders for his cavalry to pui-sue the i-etreating foe. With fiendish glee the dragoons — the cravens of the Colt Bridge, of Prestonpans, and of Falkii'k — obeyed their instructions. Those fugitives who had not made good theii" escape were caught, and, save a few reserved for pubHc execution, were mercilessly slaughtered. Quai'ter was given to none. The wounded, who had crept into thickets and deserted sheds, thei-e hoping to die in peace, were dragged forth, drawn up in line, and despatched by platoon firing : the few who escaped death by this fusilade had their brains beaten out by the stocks of the soldiers' muskets. A barn in which several wounded Highlanders had taken refuge was set on fire, and as the unhappy inmates, half suflfocated with the smoke, tried to make their egress, they were driven back at the point of the bayonet by the soldiers stationed around the shed, and roasted in the flames. On the moor, sodden by the recent rains, the dying and the dead remained in awful companionship for two whole days — from the Wednesday to the Friday — with not a soul at hand to alleviate their sufterings, or to examine into their condition ; then on the afternoon of the Friday detachments were marched down by the Duke to kill the few who survived the conse- quences of this terrible exposure. ' Our men,' writes an English officer, • ' what with killing the enemy, dabbling their feet in the blood and splashing it about one another, looked like so many butchers.' And yet Sir Everard Fawkner writes to the Duke of Newcastle that his Royal Highness is a general that any nation should be proud of ! - 1 Scots Magazine, April 174G. - State Papers, Scotland, April 19, 1746. 252 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. But this was only the inauguration of the reign of brutality. The Duke now proceeded to lay waste the country of the enemy. He fixed his headquarters at Fort Augustus, and sent forth day by day strong parties of soldiery to scour the disaffected glens and visit upon their inhabitants the utmost extremities of war. The hvimane and loyal Duncan Forbes manfully remonstrated with this general ' of whom any nation would be proud ' against the enormities committed by the English, and invoked the outraged laws of his country. * Laws ! ' roared the Duke. ' Laws ! what laws % I'll make a brigade give laws ! ' And these were his laws. Merciless as had been the slaughter on the moor of Culloden of the wounded and the dying, it is doubtful whether their fate was not to be envied when compared with the lot of those who were preserved alive. The Highland gaols were thronged to suffocation • prisoners of all classes were crowded together ; no distinction was made between the laird and his vassal ; men of birth and ladies of position were taken up and confined amongst the common prisoners, without any reason being assigned — thus imprisoned they were denied the use of bedding and sufficient nourishment; they cried out piteously for water; thej^ implored protection against the damp cold of their cells ; they offered large sums for bail — but all in vain. And when suffering and privation had done their work, and the death that supervened spared further torment, the bodies ' were canied out of the prisons by the beggars and brought all naked through the streets to be buried in the churchyard.' Those who were not so fortunate as to die, bore about with them to the end of their days the effects of the usage they had suffered. Men perfectly innocent of complicity with the rebellion, but whose fi'iends or relations had taken a pi'ominent part, were seized as spies, their bodies stripped naked and lashed from head to heel, and then they were either sent to die in the cells of a mountain prison or strung up on the boughs of a neigh- bouring tree. A wounded Jacobite, imprisoned in a cellar, had effected his escape thi-ough the aid of a poor Avoman and her son. For this friendly act the woman was confined in a dungeon in such a position that she could neither sit nor lie down. Her im- prisonment lasted many months, and when released she was crippled for life. Her son was so brutally beaten by the soldiers of the Duke that he died within three days. REVENGE. 253 The men of Glenmoiiston and Urquhart had been told that if they gave up their arms at Inverness their lives should be spared, and protection to return to their homes granted them. Believing in the promises thus held out, they mai'ched to Inverness and delivered up their arms. They were immediately taken prisoners, shipped for London, and transported to the plantations. A Provost having remonstrated at the cruelty with which certain of the Jacobite prisoners in his city were treated, was met with the reply, ' Damn you, you puppy ! Do you pretend to dictate here % ' He was kicked down stairs and brutally ill- used. The sufferings of the prisoners shipped to London for trial were even more intense than those their unhappy brethren confined in the Scottish gaols had to endure. They were packed as close as negroes in a slaver. The provisions doled out to them maintained life without relieving the pangs of hunger : many went mad from raging thirst ; the absence of all ventilation bred fevers of the worst desciijotion, but no surgeon was in attendance to wait vipon the wretched patients : some died, but the living and the dead were not separated from each other ; it was said that the odoiu- which arose from the hatchways was sufficient to poison all London. The Duke had fixed upon Fort Augustus for his head- quarters. One of the sports he did not think it beneath him to institute, for the amusement of his men, was to make the peasant women of the neighbourhood strip in front of the camp, and tide races on horseback in perfect nudity. From Aberdeen to the Hebrides the route was marked by a barbarity as sickening in the refinement of its cruelty as in the monotony of its punishment. In every city and hamlet the list of atrocities was the same : fai'ms burnt ; cattle shot ; lands mercilessly laid waste ; women ravished ; whole families made homeless and turned out into the wilds to perish by starvation and exposure ; cruelty, x^apine, bloodshed, throughout the line of march. And yet his Grace of Cumberland — this general that ' any nation should be proud of — quietly calls these terrible atrocities only ' a little blood-letting,' which has weakened the madness vrithout curing it.^ It was warfare more worthy of the Huns than of English soldiery. ' In several parts of the Highlands,' says Bishop Forbes,^ 1 Coxe's Pelhani Administration, vol. i. p. 303. '"' Barbarities after Culloden, by Bishop Forbes. Jacobite Memoirs. See 254 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. 'the soldiery spared neither man, woman, nor child. The hoary head, the tender mother, and the weeping infant behoved to share in the general wreck, and to fall victims to rage and cruelty by the musket, the bloody bayonet, the devouring flame, or famishing hunger and cold. In a word, the troops sported with cruelty. They marched through scenes of woe, and marked their steps with blood.' Yet when the rage of battle ceased, 'J'lie victor's soul was not appeased ; The naked and forlorn must feel Devouring flames and murd'ring steel ! The pious mother doom'd to death, Forsaken wanders o'er the heath, The bleak wind whistles round her head, Her helpless orphans cry for bread : Bereft of shelter, food, and friend. She views the shades of night descend ; And stretch'd beneath the inclement skies, Weeps o'er her tender babes and dies. While the warm blood bedews my veins And unimpair'd remembi'ance reigns, Resentment of my countr3-'s fate Within my filial breast shall beat. Nor was severity confined to the north of the Tweed. In England every prison was so crowded with rebel captives awaiting their trial that at last the holds of transports in ihe Thames bad to be enhsted in gaol service. The State Papers of this period contain little which does not bear directly or in- directly on the condition of the victims of the Rebellion — lists of the prisoners against whom Indictments have been found ; piteous petitions for pardon; letters from influential people interesting themselves in the condemned ; warrants to issue writs for executions ; testimonials to the * character and ami- able qualities ' of the more distinguished prisoners ; the last dying speeches of those who glory in their martyrdom for the Stuart cause ; prayers from the condemned for change of sen- tence; prayers for transportation; prayers to serve in the navy ; and the like. Indeed, sadder reading than these docu- ments afford there scarcely can be. Now it is an agonising letter from a pregnant wife interceding for her husband ; now a widow imploring that the life of her only son may be spared ; then petitions praying for mercy from young lads of gentle blood on whom the Tower and the horrors of the future have .also ' Memorial concerning the sufferings of the Duke of Montrose's tenants, June 1746.' State Papers, Scotland, Feb. 16, 1747. REVENGE. 255 completely sobered the enthusiasm of the past ; then again indignant letters from numbers complaining of the cruelty of their gaolers, and loudly protesting their innocence ; or else petitions from the weak and the invalided begging to be allowed to take the air, to see a doctor, or to have their galling chains removed ; throughout every document nothing but moaning, imploring, and despairing ; nothing but piteous appeals to the Fountain of Mercy. So vindictive was the tone of the Government that in abject fear men were always to be found I'eady to come forward and offer their testimony against their colleagues. Nor were those who thus consented to turn King's evidence men only of low birth, of no culture, and whose mere animal instincts ran so strong that life at any price was worth the having. Here and there some rude Scot who had served in the ranks of Prince Charles with no higher motives than plunder and self- advancement, the moment he felt the grip of his chains in the prisons of York or Cai-lisle, Penrith or London, was only too glad to buy his chance of pardon by revealing all that he knew ; but as a rule it was those of gentler blood who set the example of Jacobite disloyalty. The common vassal, who had entered the rebellion simply because desired by his chieftain, not unfre- quently faced his fate with a manliness which his master failed to display. "Whilst the poor hutsmen in the wilds of the Hebrides would have scorned to betray the seci'et haunt of their Prince, Macdonald of Barrisdale, whose clan had been in arms for Charles, and who professed himself always as a staunch and loyal Jacobite, was promising the Duke of Cumberland to discover the whereabouts of the Pi-ince, provided his Royal Highness would intercede for him ; and the Duke had agreed to the bargain. 1 Whilst rude clansmen, who had never pre- ferred a petition or regretted their attachment, were being drawn and quartered at Kennington and Carlisle, at York and Edinburgh, Lord Elcho was writing for a pardon from Paris, and his example was being imitated by a host of chieftains and lairds, whose prayers for mercy and willingness to change their opinions render the cynic almost doubtful whether, amongst those who have somewhat to lose, there be such a thing as dynastic loyalty in the hour of adversity. And last but not least, men of old blood and high standing, like ^neas Mac- donald and John Murray of Broughton, were busy in imparting 1 State Papers, Scotland, June 28, 174G, No. 33 ; for subsequent histon^ of Macdonald, see State Pajiers, Scotland, April 1 and 10, 1749, No. 41. 2S6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. their confessions to the Government, and bringing more than one brother-in-arms to the scafibld. In the history of betrayal the name of John Murray will always occupy a most conspicuous position. He had been intimately connected with the late rebellion, he was private secretary to the Prince, his signature was attached to every order issued by his master, his voice had carried great weight in all the past delibei'ations : it was known that nothing had been conceived without his knowledge, and for much that had been so conceived he was himself i-esponsible. It was felt that the evidence that could be given by such a man was invaluable. Nor did Murray require much pressing. Though he had been the bosom friend of the Prince ever since the two had met at Kome, and had always pi'ofessed the most ardent attachment to the Stuart dynasty, he consented with but very little hesitation to expose the secrets of his master, to implicate the staunchest of his former companions, and to make in the most candid manner his revelations. It was not, there- fore, without reason that Lord Elcho, who hated the secretary, said, ' We had a bad opinion of the honesty of Mr. Mui-ray.' ^ After Culloden Murray had fled to the Highlands ; but his delicate state of health rendering him incapable of encovmter- ing the severity of those regions, he returned south and took up his abode with his brother-in-law. Hunter of Polmood. Hearino' of this, the Lord Justice Clerk despatched a sergeant and seven men early in the morning to Polmood, Murray was in bed, and, in spite of all the efforts of his sister to bribe the men with 195 guineas, was taken prisoner and handed over to Andrew Fletcher. * Mr. Murray was delivered to me prisoner yesternight,' writes the Lord Justice Clerk : ^ ' what with fatioue or drink he was in such disorder that it required some hours' sleep before he i^ecovered ; and then, in answer to some questions I put to him, he told me that all his papers were burnt by his clerks ; that his late master, with Sullivan and O'Neil, both Irish, and no other person in company, did about four days after the battle of Culloden go off from Moidart in an open boat in order to get aboard of a ship ; but being at that time himself unable to travel, he was not let further into the secret, nor does he know or has he heaixl what became of them since. I have committed him close prisoner to the Castle of Edinburgh.' On the Duke of Newcastle becoming acquainted with the capture of this important personage, he at once sent 1 Journal, MS. ^ State Papers, Fcotland, June 29, 1746. RE VENGE. 257 down an order to Edinburgh for Mr. Murray's presence in London. With the craftiness of a lawyer, the Lord Justice Clerk did everything in his power to conciliate Murray, saw him frequently in the Castle, obtained leave for him, on account of the delicacy of his health, to be sent to London by sea, and in many ways ingratiated himself with his prisoner. Before Murray's departure the Lord Justice Clerk had a long chat with him. He expostulated with the captive upon * the mad- ness of the undertaking in trusting either to the perfidy of France or the sham valour of a Highland rabble,' and told him that he had been ill used by the Pretender and his son in having ventured his life and fortune for them. Having thus smoothed the way, the Lord Justice Clerk said that ' he must now be sensible what distress and ruin he had brought upon his own country by that I'ash undertaking, and he could not but now think himself obliged to make all the reparation in his power by discovering what he knew.' To this Murray replied that * he was very sensible and sorry for the distress that was brought on the country, and would willingly make any amends in his power, but could not think of accusing any man.' This virtuous resolve was, however, not very long main- tained, for almost in the next breath he said that ' if he could have any hopes given him he would discover all he knew.' The cautious Lord Justice Clerk refused to commit himself. He replied that ' he had no authority to give him any hopes ; but now that Murray was sensible of the hurt he had done, and that such attempts, though unsuccessful, behoved always to be ruinous to the country, the only reparation that he could now make to the king and country was to discover everything, so as to enable the Administration to prevent such attempts in time coming.' Again the faithful Murray replied that, ' If they would make him sure of anything, he would discover all.' And still with the caution of a lawyer who ti-ies to gain his end without compromising his word, the Lord Justice Clerk contented himself with answering that ' it would be folly in him to propose or expect that they would make a bargain with him, or assure him of anything. He must endeavour, by the importance of his discoveries and the sincerity and openness with which he makes them, to merit their favour, and convince them of the sincerity of his repentance.' This counsel was so agreeable to Murray that, on taking his leave of the Lord Justice Clerk, he said that he would follow his advice, ' that S 2S8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. he would discover all he knew, that he would attempt no bar- gain nor ask no promises or assurance, but leave it to them to do with him whatever they should think proper.' All he desired was, that he might not be examined in open council, but only by two or three of its body. The Lord Justice Clei"k replied that he saw no reason why that favour should not be granted him.' Less than a fortnight's confinement had been sufficient to show him the superiority of life, even with the loss of all that is generally considered to make life valuable, over an attachment to a ruined cause. It was well for the Prince that all his followers were not cast in the same mould as his late secretary. The Lord Justice Clerk had no i-eason to i^egret that his advice had not been followed. Nothing could be more frank and candid than the confessions Murray made in his examina- tion before the Government. He gave full details of the original conspiracy in 1740. He mentioned, in the most gar- rulous manner, the names of those, all over Europe, who either secretly or openly advocated the cause of the Pretender. He sketched the conduct of France during the whole afiair. He stated the measures and counter-measures which, as the rebel- lion proceeded, were discussed, adopted, and abandoned. Had he been influenced by spite instead of by fear he could not have been more dangerously frank about his late colleagues. Indeed, on more than one occasion he was so needlessly candid in his revelations that he was checked by the Lord High Steward. Life must have been very precious in his own eyes when it led him to go through so much dirty work to preserve it. We are not surprised that he passed the rest of his days, in his own country, an object of universal detestation. Thus may you drag your heavy chain along, Some minutes more inglorious life prolong. And when the Fates shall cut a coward's breath, Weary of being j'et afraid of death. If crimes like thine hereafter are forgiven, Judas and Murray both may go to Heaven ! We have only to read the ballads and poems of Jacobite literatui-e to see how bitter is the hate that the name of Murray inspires. For grotesque humour, savage satire, and a weird imagination, the ballad of ' Cumberland and Murray's Descent into Hell ' is almost unsurpassed. The Government, having been informed by these revelations » State Papers, Scotland, Lord Justice Clerk to Newcastle, July 10, 1746. REVENGE. , 259 of the original plan and extent of the rebellion, proceeded to the trial of the men who had taken a prominent part in its con- duct. Towards the end of the July of 1746, the Earls of Kil- marnock and Cromarty, and Loi'd Balmerino, appeared before their peers on the charge of high treason. Westminster Hall was inclosed with galleries and hung with scarlet. One hundred and thirty-nine peer.s were present. The Lord Chancellor, * handsome Philip Hardwicke,' was the Lord High Steward, and, according to Walpole, appears to have conducted the trial not with the taste and dignity expected from him. The body of the hall was crowded with spectators. ' As it was the most interesting sight,' writes Walpole, ' it was the most solemn and fine : a coronation is a puppet show, and all the splendour of it idle-; but this sight at once feasted one's eye and engaged all one's passions.' • The appearance of the three prisoneis was closely scrutinised, and few failed to be affected by their behaviour. ' Lord Kilmarnock and Lord Cromarty are both past forty,' says Walpole, * but look younger. Lord Kilmarnock is tall and slender, with an extreme fine person : his behaviour, a most just mixture between dignity and sub- mission, if in anything to be reprehended, a little affected and his hair too exactly dressed for a man in his situation ; but when I say this, it is not to find favdt with him, but to show how little fault there was to be found. Lord Cromarty is an indifferent figure, appeared much dejected and rather sullen : he dropped a few tears the first day, and swooned as soon as he got back to his cell. For Lord Balmerino, he is the most natural brave old man I ever saw ; the highest intrepidity even to indifference. At the bar he behaved like a soldier and a man : in the inter- vals of form, with cax'elessness and humour. . . . When they were to be brought from the Tower in separate coaches, there was some dispute in which the axe must go, old Balmerino cried, " Come, come ; put it with me ! " ' Of the guilt of the culpiits there could be no question. All three had borne arms against their lawful sovereign. In the beginning of March, Lord Cromarty had been despatched by the Prince to dislodge the army of Lord Loudoun. As we know, he succeeded so well in his enterprise that Loudoun was compelled to retreat before him, and, finally, so feared his foe that he broke up his army and embarked with the Macleods and Macdonalds to the isle of Skye. Thus Cromarty gained possession of the coast of Sutherlandshire, and did his best to I Letters, vol. ii. p. 136. s 2 26o LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. transform a county loyal to the Hanoverian accession into a Jacobite province. But his efforts were not crowned with success ; the Sutherlandshire vassals not only declined to join the rebels, but kept possession of their arms, and refused the most favourable terms of submission. On the advance of the Duke of Cumberland from Aberdeen, the Prince sent word for Cromarty to join him at Inver-ness. But the Sutherlandshire men, learning that their enemy was about to evacuate their territories, resolved to annoy the rear of the invaders as they left the county. A body of armed militia was collected from the hills, in which they had taken shelter, and did their best to annoy the retreating insurgents. It so happened that Cromarty and his chief officers stayed behind at Dunrobin Castle, ' to see a few bottles out,' and it was not till their men had marched down to the ferry, where they were to embark, that his lordship and his staff began to quit the castle. But they were soon driven back. A company of the Sutherlandshire militia were on the watch, and, by a bold cowp de main, took Lord Cromarty, Lord Macleod, and the other officers of the regiment prisoners. Thus secured, they were put on board the ' Hound,' a British sloop of war, and sent to London. No less open was the connection of Lord Kilmarnock with the Kebellion. He had served throughout the campaign in command of a troop of horse grenadiers, and after the battle of Culloden, instead of making his escape like the rest, had sur- rendered himself to the Duke. He was descended from an ancient and noble family, and nature had been so liberal to him in the endowment of his person that he was reckoned one of the handsomest men of the day. From his youth upwards he had been educated in revolutionary principles, and had been induced to join the Eebellion partly from the desperate state of his fortunes and partly out of pique to the Government for having deprived him of a pension which he had sometime enjoyed. Arthur Elphinstone, Lord Balmerino, stands out in bold relief against a mass of men who now, on the suppression of the Rebellion, were only too desirous of obtaining their lives by the sacrifice of their political principles. Old enough to be the grandfather of the boys who were prostrating themselves in the dust as they ci-aved for mercy, he met his peers, stout and true, proud of the cause fov which he had fought, and preferring death to a renunciation of his loyalty. In early life he had commanded a company of infantry in Lord Shannon's regiment, REVENGE. 261 having obtained his commission from Queen Anne. But on the accession of George I., deeming his past service disloyal to his true Prince, and wishing to atone for what he considered an act of treason, he resigned his commission and joined the Earl of Mar, under whom he served at Sheriffmuii'. On the conclu- sion of the rebellion of 1715 he escaped to France, entering the French service, and did not return to his own country till 1733, when his father obtained a pardon for him — which, by the way, he refused to accept until he had received permission from the Pretender. On the raising of the standard at Glenfin nan he again drew his sword in favour of the Stuai^t cause. He served as a volunteer at Prestonpans, and was afterwards appointed to the command of a troop of Life Guards. After the battle of Culloden he surrendered himself. Such were the three men who were now called upon to answer for their misdeeds. The Earls of Kilmarnock and Cromarty admitted their guilt, and threw themselves upon the mercy of their peers. Balmerino, in order, as he said, that so many fine ladies should not be disappointed of the show they had come to see, pleaded not guilty. He objected to his being indicted as the Lord Balmerino ' of the city of Carlisle,' a title which did not belong to him ; but his objection being over- ruled, the Lord High Steward asked him whether he had any- thing fui'ther to offer in his defence. The old man, with a smile, replied that he was satisfied his exception was not founded on law, and regretted that he had given their lordships the trouble of hearing it. The three Jacobites were then pro- nounced guilty of high treason, and conducted to their cells in the Tower. After the interval of a few days the prisoners again put in an appearance at the bar to receive sentence. They were asked whether they had anything to say why judgment should not be passed upon them. Kilmarnock was the fii-st to reply. He confessed his offence, and ngain pleaded guilty, urging that his father had bred him up in the strictest Hanoverian principles, and stating that he himself had so effectually impressed the same upon his eldest son that Lord Boyd was in arms for King George at the battle of Culloden, while he himself was fighting on the other side. In extenuation of his guilt, he said that he had in the course of the insurrection protected the persons and property of loyal subjects; and that he had surrendered of his own accord after Culloden, although he could have effected his escape. But his best point was his indignant repudiation of 262 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART, the interference of France on his behalf. It so happened that Van Hoey, the Dutch Ambassador at Paris, had been induced by the French Court to write to the Duke of Newcastle, recom- mending humanity, clemency, and — what certainly was con- spicuous by its absence in the court and cabinet of Greorge IL — greatness of soul. ' It is with the utmost abhorrence and de- testation,' said Kilmarnock, throwing his fine eyes round the Hall, and extending his right arm towards his judges, ' that I have seen a letter fi'om the French Court, presuming to dictate to a British monarch the manner in which he should deal with his rebellious subjects. I am not so much in love with life, nor so void of a sense of honour, as to expect it upon such an inter- cession. I depend only upon the merciful intercession of this Honourable House, and the innate clemency of his Sacred Majesty.' So distinguished was the appearance of Kilmarnock, and so effective the eloquence of his speech, that many of the spectators were moved to tears. Lady Townshend, who was among the audience, had conceived an extravagant passion for the noble rebel, whom she had never seen before, and her sayings and actions on this occasion were, according to Walpole, the laugh- ing-stock of the town. Cromarty was the next to reply. Though a dull and vin- prepossessing man, he struck a chord in tlie conclusion of his address which sent a thrill through the fxirer portion of the spectators. ' Nothing, my lords,' said he, earnestly, ' remains but to throw myself, my life, my fortune, upon your lordships' compassion • but of these, my lords, as to myself is the least part of my sufferings. I have involved an affectionate wife with an unborn infant, as parties of my guilt, to share its penalties. I have involved my eldest son, whose infancy and regard to his parents hurried him down the sti'eam of i-ebellion. I have involved also eight innocent children, who must feel their parent's punishment before they know his guilt. Let them, my lords, be pledges to his Majesty, let them be pledges to your lordships, let them be pledges to my country, for mercy; let the powerful language of innocent nature supply my want of eloquence and persuasion. . . . But if, after all, my lords, the sacrifice of my fortune and family is judged indispensably neces- sary for stopping the loud demands of public justice, and if the bitter cup is not to pass from me, not mine but Thy will, God, be done.' Stout old Balmerino scorned to sue for mercy, but faced the REVENGE. 263 court with a smile. At first he raised ?;ome fresh objections to the indictment, but afterwards withdrew them, saying that ' his counsel had satisfied him there was nothing in the objec- tion that could be of service to him, and, therefore, he was sorry for the trouble he had given his Grace and the peers.' The prisoners having thus submitted to the court, the Lord High Steward addressed them in a speech which, we are told, failed to be impressive, and then pronounced the terrible sen- tence passed upon those guilty of the dread crime of high treason : — ' The judgment of the law is, and this high court doth award, that you William Earl of Kilmai'uock, George Earl of Cromarty, and Arthur Loid Balmerino, and every of you, re- turn to the prison of the Tower, from whence you came ; from thence you must be drawn to the place of execution ; when you come there, you must be hanged by the neck ; but not till you are dead ; for you must be cut down alive ; then your bowels must be taken out, and burnt before your faces; then your heads must be severed from your bodies, and your bodies must be divided each into four quarters ; and these must be at the King's disposal. And God Almighty be merciful to your souls ! ' As is invai'iably the case with the distinguished who are condemned for political offences, powerful intercession was made on their behalf. Thanks to the instances of his countess, whose agony is apparent in many a letter among the State Papers, Lord Cromarty was pardoned. It is said that when his wife, a few weeks after this terrible period of suspense, was confined, the child came into the world bearing upon its neck the mark of the executioner's axe. Balmerino and Kilmarnock were not so fortunate. To the last the gallant old Jacobite refused to sue for mercy, or to express regret for the cause he had supported. ' Heaven help me ! ' cried King George, when inundated with applications for mercy in behalf of Cromarty and Kilmarnock, ' will no one say a word in behalf of Lord Balmerino % He, though a rebel, is at least an honest one ! ' Kilmarnock, it was thought, would have been pardoned, had not the Duke of Cumberland taken a strong dislike to him. The execution was to take place at Tower Hill, the spot on which so many a dynastic plotter has given up his life. On the appointed day, August 18, the open square was thronged by a vast crowd. Every house in the neighbourhood had both its 264 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. roof and windows full of eager heads. * Look, look/ cried Balmerino to his companion, ' how they are all piled up like rotten oranges ! ' It was with difficulty that the troof)S which lined the inclosure could keep the mob from bursting thx'ough the barriers. On the clock striking ten, the victims issued for the last time from the heavy gates of the Tower. They were both on foot. Kilmarnock headed the little procession dressed in black, with his hair unpowdered in a bag, and supported on either side by friends. Balmerino walked behind alone, dressed in his ' rebellious regimentals ' — a blue coat turned up with red, and a tie wig. The warders followed in the rear with the hearses. On approaching the scaffold, its timbers draped in black cloth, the unhappy Jacobites were conducted to a house near the place of execution. Here they took leave of each other. Balmerino went up to his companion, embraced him tenderly, and said, * My Lord, I wish I could suffer for both ! ' Then after a pause he said, ' My Lord Kilmarnock, do you know anything of the resolution taken in our army the day before the battle of Culloden, to put the English prisoners to death % ' To this Kilmarnock replied, ' My Lord, I was not present ; but since T came hither I have had all the reason to believe that there was such order taken ; and I hear the Duke has the pocket-book with the order.' ' It is a lie,' cried Balmerino, 'it is a lie, raised to excuse their barbarity to us ! ' ' Take notice,' says Horace Walpole, * that the Duke's charging this on liOrd Kilmarnock (certainly on mis-information) decided this unhappy man's fate.' Anxious to palliate the butchery of Culloden, the Duke was ever giving out that, on the day of the battle, the Highland chieftains had issued the most cruel orders touching the tveatment of those who should be taken prisoners. Among these orders, his Royal Highness said, was one from Lord Elcho, commanding his men to chop off the thumbs of all the English who fell into their hands. Lord Elcho, in his Journal, indignantly disclaims ever having issued such a brutal decree. Kilmarnock was the first of the two to sufier death. When he reached the spot and saw the scaffold, all the more gloomy in its black trappings — the executioner leaning on his axe — the sawdust ready at hand to sop up his blood — the coffin close to the block — and above all the human sea of faces watching his every movement with hideous curiosity, he turned to his friend, a young Presbyterian clei-gyman, and said in a whisper, 'Homo, this is terrible ! ' But he met his fate without flinch- REVENGE. 26s ing. He renewed his assurance of contrition, prayed for the reigning King and family, and admitted the justice of his sen- tence ; then he knelt down, placed his head well over the block, as Balmerino had playfully taught him, so that the neck rested firmly and fully upon the wood, and gave the signal. With one blow his head was severed from the trunk. Kilmarnock was the only one among the seventy-seven exe- cuted for their share in the insurrection of 1 745-46 who confessed his guilt or expressed repentance whilst on the scaffold. As a rule, though many begged hard for pardon when in their cells, the moment they saw that mercy would not be extended them, they resigned themselves calmly to their fate, and died at the block true to themselves and their exiled King. It is very easy courage for the critic or historian, seated in his study, to stig- matise such conduct as inconsistent and unmanly, but it is not given to every one to meet a violent death, esi^ecially for a crime which becomes only a crime when unsuccessful — without efforts, which at the best can never be very dignified, to obtain mercy. Let it be put somewhat down to the credit side of those who implored the royal clemency — even at the sacrifice of then* political principles^-that on the scaffold their manhood was restoi-ed them, and they died without fear or disloyalty. After a brief interval, Lord Balmerino was summoned to follow the fate of his fellow victim. He mounted the scaffold with so undaunted a step that the crowd were taken by sur- prise. With a smile he examined his coffin and looked at the inscription. Then he felt the edge of the axe, and returned it to the executioner, bidding him strike boldly, ' for in that, my friend,' he said, ' will consist thy mercy.' He approached the block and called it his ' pillow of rest,' -vThen, putting on his spectacles, he read a written speech, which he afterwards handed to the sheriff. In this speech the staunch old man spoke of King George as a good, kind prince, but denied his right to the throne, and declared that Prince Charles was so sweet a prince that flesh and blood could not resist him. ' If I had a thousand lives,' he cried, ' I would lay them all down here in the same cause.' He then called the executioner, who was on the point of kneeling to ask forgiveness, but the old Jacobite stopped him, saying, ' Friend, you need not ask me forgiveness ; the execution of your duty is commendable.' He then presented the man with three guineas. * Friend,' he said, as he put the money into the fellow's hand, ' I never had much money ; this is all I have ; I wish it was more for your sake, and am sorry 266 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. I can add nothing to it but my coat and waistcoat.' Having taken off these and placed them on the coffin, he bade farewell to his friends. ' I am afraid,' said he, ' there are some who may think my behaviour bold ; but remember what I told you, it arises from a confidence in God and a clear conscience.' Then he knelt down at the block, and said in a loud voice, ' O Lord, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, bless King James, snd receive my soul.' This prayer uttered, he rested his head on the wood, and quickly gave the signal for despatch — so quickly that the executioner was taken by surprise, sti-uck a false blow, and not till three strokes had been given was the brave old man sent to his rest. A few weeks after this execution the mob on Tower Hill saw another sight. Charles Ratcliff, brother of the Earl of Derwentwater, was summoned to the scaffold. Though he had taken no direct share in the recent rebellion, he had been en- gaged in his brother's treason of 1715, and had the following year been tried and condemned to death. Confined in ]N"ew- gate, he managed to effect his escape, and fled to France. Towards the end of the year 1745 he was taken on board a French ship of war, bound for Scotland with arms and stores, together a\ ith several other officers, and placed once more in Newgate. His case was a simple one. It having been shown to the satisfiiction of a jury that he was the same Charles Ratcliff who had been condemned some thirty years ago, he was sentenced to death. On December 8 he mounted the scaflfold, and died with a serenity and calmness which gained him uni- versal sympath)'. We are told that, of all the victims of the Eebellion, the execution of Ratclifi' most affected the Pretender. James had known tjie dead man at Rome for many years, and regarded him as one of the most zealous and loyal of his ad- herents.' Of those who perished on the scaffold during this sad period but one met his death unpitied and unregretted. That man was Lord Lovat. His calculating baseness, his temporising policy, his infernal duplicity, throughout the months of the Rebellion, remove him entirely out of the region of sympathy. For such a man we can but have the intensest contempt. After the failure at Culloden, and when he learnt that Jacobite resistance had received its death-blow, he fled to the High- lands. There, whilst one of the detachments sent by the Duke 1 State Papers, Tuscauy, Jan. 17, 1747. REVENGE. 267 of Cumberland to scour the country was busying itself upon the coast of Knoidart and Arisaig, he was found wrapped up in a blanket and hid in a hollow tree. ' I imagine,' writes the Duke of Cumberland to the Duke of Newcastle,' ' I imagine that the taking Lord Lovat is a greater humiliation and vexation to the Highlanders than anything that could have happened, as he is dignified with great titles, and ranks high in command, and they had such confidence in his cunning and the strength of the country, that they thought it impossible for any one to be taken who had those recesses open as well as known to him to retire to, especially as they had a high opinion of his skill to make use of their advantages.' Before Lovat was sent to London, it fell to the lot of Sir Everard Fawkener to have fre- quent interviews with the subtle old chieftain. On these occa- sions Lovat never affected to be innocent, but talked of his principles, and spoke much of the services he had rendered the Government during the '15. He imputed all his misfortunes to Marshal Wade, who had been the means of getting him deprived of his command of his Independent Company. In speaking of the trial that was to ensue, he said that if he were pardoned he would perform ' greater services than many such heads as his are worth ; ' but still he was ' utrumque paratus, seu versare dolos seu certce occumhere niorti.' ' I find,' writes Fawkener to the Government at home ^ — ' I find Lovat as much a rosue as I had ever heard he was, but I cannot discover the parts which had been so much boasted of. He appears to me greedy, impudent, lively, with some low cunning, and rather audacious than stout. He is infirm in his body, and fails in his hearing, but his head seems clear and his memory strong . . . he is excessively civil, and '—the connection is delicious — ' I fear has the itch.' Unlike his fellow sufierers, Cromarty, Kilmarnock, and Balmerino, Lord Lovat had never appeared openly in arms, and it was therefore more diflicult to prove an overt act of high treason against him. He was consequently not brought to trial till the spring of 1747, and conviction might not then have followed had it not been for the evidence of Mm-ray, who, not content with damning Lovat, mentioned the names of the Duke of Beaufort, Sir Watkin Wynn, Sir John Cotton, and others, as having entered into a correspondence with the Stuart family for many years. Lovat's trial lasted ten days, and at the close he was found 1 State Papers, Scotland, June 28, 1746, « 7^^^, ju^e 20, 174G, No. 33. 268 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. guilty of higli treason and sentenced to death. Almost the last words he uttered on the scaffold was Horace's well-worn quotation, ' Dulce et decorum est pro patria niori.' It would have been difficult for him to have met his death with a more inappropriate text. But the vengeance of the Government was not partial in its severity — the vassal suffered as well as his lord. Numerous were the executions that took place upon Kennington Common, at York and Carlisle, at Penrith and Brampton. And it was the exception for men not to die bi*avely. One after the other as he mounted the scaffold prayed for the exiled family, expressed his devotion to the cause for which he died, and then, with a * Long live King James the Third ! ' laid his head on the block and awaited the stroke. Where weakness was displayed was not in the bitter hour of death, but during the awful period of suspense between the imprisonment and the condemnation. Many who were not considered worthy of capital punishment were shipped off as slaves to our colonies : not a few were par- doned on condition of serving in the navy. Of the other prominent adherents of the Prince, brief men- tion must suffice. The Marqviis of Tullibai'dine escaped the scaffold by dying in the Tower before his trial. It is said that Sheridan, who had fled abroad, perished of grief owing to the reproaches heaped upon him by James. I do not know what is the foundation for that statement. According to Walton, Sheridan reached Rome in the November of 1746, sadly altered in appearance, and until the day of his death was the one con- stant companion of James. He died of apoplexy November 23, 1746.' Lord George Murray escaped to the Continent, and died in Holland in the year 1760. The Duke of Perth perished on board ship whilst escaping to Prance, a few weeks after Culloden. Lord Pitsligo lived in concealment until his death in 1762. Lord Elcho we shall again meet. It was not till the June of 1747 that the English Govern- ment passed an Act of Indemnity granting a pardon to all who 'had been engaged in the Rebellion. Still, even fi-om this Act of Grace no fewer than eighty names were excepted ; and in spite of its clauses, many Jacobites were detained in prison. In the reign of George III. an Act was passed restoring the estates forfeited for treason in the year 1745 to the descend- ants of those by whom they had been forfeited. With a view to prevent the renewal of insurrection, various 1 State Papers, Tuscany, Nov. 29, 1746. REVEXGE. 269 Acts of Parliament were passed for the purpose of destroying the feudal authority of the Highland chieftains over their clans. One bill not only disarmed the clans but restrained them from Avearing the national garb. Another" rendered it imperative upon the master of every private school north of the Tweed to swear allegiance to King George, his heirs and suc- cessors, and to register his oath. A third abolished the system of hereditary jurisdiction, by which many Scottish lairds had been permitted to administer the law on their own estates. Thus by the operation of these and other measures, and by the healing effects of time, the discord which heretofore existed between clan and clan gradually ceased. All the former harsh inequalities of the Feudal system have now been exchanged for the advantages of civilisation and commerce. Instead of piquing himself upon the number of men he can bring into the field, the Highland laird is now occupied in draining his land, clearing his forests, improving his farms, and turning his vas- sals into satisfactory tenants. The romance of Scotland ends with the failure of Prince Charles : its new career as a com- mercial and industrial country dates from Culloden. CHAPTER XIIT. THE FUGITIVE. On hills that are by right his ain, He roams a lonely stranj^er ; On ilka hand he's press'd by want, On ilka side bj' danger. Yestreen I met him in a glen, My heart near bursted fairly, For sadly chang'd indeed was he — Oh ! wae's me for Prince Charlie. Accompanied by Sir Thomas Sheridan, O'Sullivan, O'Neal, his aides-de-camp. Sir David Murray and Alexander Macleod, John Hay, who was acting as secretary in the absence of Murray of Broughton, Allan Macdonald, a priest, and one Ned Burke, as his guide, Charles, on quitting the banks of the Nairn, spurred forwards through those charming regions which attract every year their crowd of tourists, to Gortuleg. Here an interview took place between him and his treacherous adhe- rent Lord Lovat. ' A lady,' writes Sir Walter Scott, * who. 270 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. then a girl, was residing in Lord Lovat's family, described to us the unexpected appearance of" Prince Charles and his flying attendants at Castle Dounie. The wild and desolate vale on which she was gazing with indolent composure was at once so suddenly filled with horsemen riding furiously towards the castle, that, impressed with the belief that they were fairies, who, according to Highland tradition, are visible to men only from one t^dnkle of the eyelid to another, she strove to refrain from the vibration which she believed would occasion the strange and magnificent apparition to become inv^isible. To Lord Lovat it brought a certainty more dreadful than the presence of fairies or even demons.' Of the interview that ensued between the Prince and his crafty vassal we know but little, and that little is conflicting. According to some, the Prince was met with reproaches, and the regret of Lord Lovat was so keen as to make him wish for death. ' Chop ofi" my head, chop ofi" my head,' the old lord cried out to the unhappy fugitive. ' My own family, with all the great clans, are undone, and the whole blame will fall upon me. Oh ! is there no friend here to put an end to my life and misery ! ' He even called upon some particular persons by their names, whose friendship he knew was sincere and inviol- able towards him, beseeching them earnestly to do this last office and favour to him. * But at last the Chevalier said to him, " No ; no, my lord, don't despair. We have had two days of them, and will yet have another day about with them." Then he informed him of several pai-ticulars of the battle, and mag- nified the bravery of the Frasers, but reflected prodigiously upon the conduct of those who hindered his attacking the Royalists in the preceding night, when they were no way prepared to receive them. By such discourses as these he endeavoured to soothe him, but all his art was insufficient to rouse the drooping spirits of that subtle and unfortunate lord, who could not so much as be prevailed on, at that time, to hear or deliberate upon any proposals for mending the state of his affiiirs.' ' According to others, the Prince was cordially embraced by Lord Lovat, who expressed his deep regret at not having been able to take any active part in the campaign on account of his old age.^ Whichever story is the true one, it is certain that the inter- 1 ' A Genuine Narrative of all that befel that Unfortunate Adventurer.' 2 Exam, of Rob. Fraser, late secretary to Lord Lovat. State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 16, 1746. THE FUGITIVE. 271 view between the two was but brief, for Charles by midday was safely quartered at Invergarry, the seat of Macdonnell of Glengarry, now one of the chief objects of attraction to the traveller as he steams through the exquisite scenery of the Caledonian Canal. Unfortvmately the loyal chieftain was absent, and the house completely deserted. Charles, however, who had had no rest the previous night, and had just ridden some forty miles after a day of the most intense mental anxiety, was indifferent to everything but the weariness of fatigue. He laid himself down on the floor, for it appears that the house had been uninhabited and was destitute of furniture, and slept far into the morning of the next day. On his awaking, the faithful Ned Burke had managed to give him a breakfast off some salmon which he caught in the loch, and which, as he writes in his journal, he ' made ready in the best manner he could, and the meat was reckoned very savoury and acceptable.' ' The Prince was not always to enjoy such good fare. But a long stay at Invergarry was out of the question. His breakfast finished, Charles pi'epared to start afresh on his flight. It was deemed advisable that he should again diminish the number of his followers in order to escape observation, and, with the exception of O'Sullivan, O'Neal, and Ned Burke, as both servant and guide, the remainder took leave of their master. Like every other spot in the Highlands that offered shelter to the Prince or his adherents, Invergarry had to pay a bitter penalty for its bi'ief and indifferent hospitality. By orders of the Duke of Cumberland, the house was battered down, the grounds laid waste, and the plate melted and carried off. Dressed in the clothes of Ned Burke, Charles, in the rear of his three companions, pushed on to Loch Arkaig. The deep purple twilight had settled over the waters of the loch, in- creasing the weirdness of its hillsides, when the Prince made his arrival. He was received by Donald Cameron of Glenpean, and so worn out was he by his recent fatigues that he fell fast asleep whilst Burke was undressing him. A good night's rest was, however, all he needed, and early the next morning he was fresh enough to ride on to Newboll, in Clanranald's country, where he halted for the night. And now it was that he was to enter upon the severity of his sufferings. The rocky, impassable character of the country around him rendered it * Jacobite Memoirs, p. 364. Jesse, The Pretender and his Adherents, p. 279. 272 LIFE OF PRISCE CHARLES STUART. necessary for him to quit the saddle and work his way west- wards on foot. Fi'om NewboU the party marched to Oban, near the head of Loch Morar, which they reached on the evening of April 19, and had to content themselves during the ni.wht with the shelter of a miserable hovel used for sheep- shearing. The following day, after a most fatiguing walk over rough and uneven country, Charles arrived at the village of Glenbiasdale in Arisaig, close to the spot where, some nine eventful months before, he had first landed full of hope and enthusiasm, to unfui-1 the standard of his cause. It was whilst resting here that fiiends told him that another attempt at insurrection was for the present utter madness, and that he would far more further his cause by escaping to France. Chai"les too saw that the game was up, and accordingly wrote to his followers, then gathering at Ruthven under the command of the loyal and unjustly judged Lord George Murray, advising them to disperse, as he was compelled by circumstances to retire to France. He thanked them most warmly for the gallantry and devotion they had ever shown in his cause, and he hoped before long to be again in their midst, and backed by such foreign aid as would render success certain. In many a home those words were treasured up, and years afterwards, when the rebellion of Forty Five had ceased to be aught than a strange, historical event, the hope was still entertained by the brave Highlanders of the west that the Prince would return and claim his own again. ' He went,' writes Earl Stanhope, ' but not with him departed his remembrance from the Highlanders. For years and years did his name continue enshrined in their hearts and familiar to their tongues ; their plaintive ditties resounding with his exploits and inviting his return. Again in these strains do they declare themselves ready to risk life and fortune for \m cause ; and even maternal fondness — the strongest perhaps of all human feelings — yields to the passionate devotion to Prince Charlie.' The suggestion of the Duke of Cumberland that the Government should have gunboats cruising off the western coast to intercept the escape of the Prince had been strictly carried out. At Glenbiasdale, Charles learnt for the first time that English vessels were lying in wait for him, and he now saw, what with detachments of the Duke's infantry scouring the country in all directions, the militia guarding the fords and passes, and all escape by means of a foreign vessel cut off THE FUGITIVE. 273 by the vigilance of the English cruisers, that his position was indeed full of peril. Deep and earnest were the deliberations between him and his followers, and at last they proposed that he should betake himself to the Western Isles, where it was hoped he would be out of danger's way, and the more easily obtain a passage on board a foreign ship. Charles readily assented. It so happened that there was staying in the neigh- bourhood a brave old Highlander, one Donald Macleod by name, who had passed all his life amid the straits and inlets of the neighbouring seas, and knew every inch of the course from the mainland to the Hebrides. He had just been en- gaged in bringing off from the Island of Barra a large sum of money left there by a French vessel for the use of the Jacobites, and was resting at Kinlochmoidart. A messenger was at once sent to him by O'Sullivanj bidding him repair to the Prince at Borrodaile, Donald hastened to obey the message, and the first person he met on nearing Glenbiasdale was Charles walking moodily about alone. The Prince~ looked up. ' Are you Donald Macleod of Guattergill, in the Isle of Skye ] ' asked he. ' I am that same man, your Highness,' replied Donald. * I am at your service. What is your pleasure with me ] ' ' Donald,' answered the Prince, ' you see I am in distress, I throw myself into your bosom, and let you do with me what you like. I hear you are an honest man, and fit to be trusted.' ' When Donald was giving me this part of the narrative,' writes Bishop Forbes, * he cried sore ; the tears came running down his cheeks, and he said, "What de'il could help weeping when speaking on sic a sad subject ? " ' • On the evening of April 24, Charles pushed ofi" from the mainland in an eight-oared boat which Donald had procui-ed from the neighbouring fishermen. Accompanying the Prince were O'Sullivan, O'Neal, Allan Macdonald, and eight watermen, of whom Ned Burke was to be one. Shortly after they had put to sea, one of those sudden storms peculiar to the Western Isles arose. The darkness of the moonless night thickened around them ; the waves, lashed by a boisterous wind into a tempestuous sea, swept over the boat, rapidly filling it with water ; the rain came down in torrents ; the thunder made the rock-bound shores resound with its fierce echoes, and the lightning that flashed across the heavens only served to show the crew the extreme danger of their position. ' It was a storm,' says 1 Jjcobite 3Iemoirs. Jesse, p. 281. T 274 I^IPE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Donald, ' greater than he had ever been trysted with before.' TJnfortunatelj^ they had neither pump to lighten the boat of its Imrden of water, nor compass to steer by, and Charles, now fully alive to tlie danger of himself and his crew, suggested returning to the mainland. But Donald, who was working the helm, with the Prince seated between his knees, replied that the open sea was safer, and that it was ' as good for them to be drowned in clean water, as to be dashed in pieces upon a rock, and be drowned too.' ^ Then, as was his custom when it was necessary that danger should be faced, Charles rose equal to the occasion, bade the crew trust in the mercy and goodness of the Almighty, and, we are told, tried to enliven their spirits by singing them a Highland song. As morning began to dawn the wind lulled, and the crew found themselves upon the coast of Long Island. Donald steered straight for the wild solitariness of the Island of Benbecula, and ran the boat into the little creek at Roonish, wheie they all landed after a passage of some eight hours, fraught with no little peril and discomfort. A tumbledown shepherd's hut w^as at hand, and there Charles took up his quarters. A cow wandering about in quest of hei'bage was seized, killed, and its ribs soon simmering over a wood fire. For two days the party, owing to the storm, which had again sprung up, were comj^elled to remain in this desolate region. A couch made of an old sail spread on the ground served Charles for a bed, and, thanks to the remains of the cow, there was no want of food. It is said that he was not at all dis- tressed at his situation, but ' was very well pleased, and slept soundly.' ^ This fortitude was all the more praiseworthy, as Charles appears not to have enjoyed the best of health during that time. But one of the most excellent points in the cha- racter of the Prince had ever been the desire to show those who served him that he fully appreciated their services, and that, provided they did not repine, he was content. Tlu'ough- out his campaign he had always put himself, wherever physical privation was concerned, on a level with his men, and this unselfishness had perhaps endeared him more than anything else to his followers. He now, amid the sterile regions of Benbecula, pursued the same policy. He shared the same fatigues, the same accommodation, the same fare, and, though never forgetful of his condition, yet never allowed advantages ' Jacobite Memoirs, p. 382. Jesse, \\ 282. 2 Jacobite Memoirs, p. 385. THE FUGITIVE. T.'jt^ to accrue to himself which were not common to others. His maxim seems to have been, In misfortune all men are equal. * I asked Donald,' writes Bishop Forbes, ' if the Prince was in health all the time that he was with him ? Donald said that the Prince would never own he was in bad health, though he and all that were with him had reason to think that, during the whole time, the Prince was more or less suffering iinder some disorder, but that he bore up most s\u"prisingly and never wanted spirits. Donald added that the Prince, for all the fatigues he underwent, never slept above three or four hours at most at a time, and that when he awakened in the morning, he was always sure to call for a clio}yhi of water, which he never failed to drink off at a draught. He said he had a little bottle in his pocket, out of which he used to take many drops every morning and throughout the day, saying if anything should ail him he hoped he should cure himself, for that he was something of a doctor. " And faith," said Donald, '' he was indeed a bit of a doctor, for Ned Burke, happening once to be unco ill of a colic, the Prince said, ' Let him alane, I hope to cure him of that ; ' and accordingly he did so, for he gae him sae mony draps out o' the little bottle, and Ned soon was as well as ever he had been." ' ' Charles was always subject to an irritability of the mucous membrane, and it can easily be imagined that the privations and exposure he now endured must have tried him sorely. On the evening of the 29th, the party again put to sea, intending to make for the port of Stornoway, in the Island of Lewis, where it was hoped a French vessel might be in the harbour. But the elements were again against them, an^ they had to take refuge in the small island of Scalpa. As Scalpa belonged to the laird of Macleod, now a most active partisan of the Government, it was thought advisable to agree upon some story in case questions should be asked. Accordingly, O'Sullivan gave out that he was a shipwrecked merchantman, the Prince was his son, and that the rest of the party were the sailors of the lost vessel. Fortunately there was no occasion for the story to be inquired into, for the islet being rented by one Donald Campbell, he treated the Prince with great kind- ness, and even lent his own boat for Donald to repair to Stornoway, there to obtain a larger vessel for the use of Charles. At the end of four days, Donald reported that he had secured a stout wherry at Stornoway, and that all was 1 Jacobite Memoirs, p. ri84. Jesse, p. 284. T '?. 276 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. now ready for the Prince's service. Charles, bidding a cordial farewell to the hospitable Campbell, at once put to sea, with his faithful crew, but the wind blowing dead against them, they were compelled to land at Loch Sheffort., and make their way on foot over a dreary moor to Stornoway. On nearing the Lewis port, Charles sent forward one of the watermen to apprise Donald of his approach. The loyal High- lander hastened to meet his master, gave him bread and cheese and brandy, and conducted him to the house of Mrs. Mackenzie of Kildun, a true Jacobite, where he spent the night. And now a circumstance occurred which might have resulted in the most serious consequences. On Donald entering Stornoway to look after the boat he had hired, he found the whole place in commotion, and not less than two or three hundred men under arms. Demanding the cause of the excitement, to his horror he learnt that one of his men whom he had engaged to row had got drunk, and had disclosed for whom the vessel had been hired, adding, with that mixture of truth and exaggeration of the intoxicated, that the Prince was in the neighbourhood at the head of some five hundred men. In vain Donald gave the lie direct to this statement, the good people of Stornoway refused to be calmed. They wished, they said, no harm to the Prince ; all they wanted was for him to quit their country, and not com- promise them with the Government. Nor would they have any hand in effecting his escape, for they refused Donald both the iise of the vessel he had engaged and the aid of a pilot. The only thing, therefore, to be done, was for the Prince and his party to hasten away as fiist as possible, before information reached the authorities, and make for any haven that fell within their course. Certainly no place could be more dangerous than Storno- way. Accordingly Charles, accompanied by O'SuUivan and O'Neal, for Allan Macdonald was journeying to South Uist, and with but half their original crew, for the remainder had taken flight and fled to the mountains, embarked once more in their open boat, doubtful for what coast to steer. They were fairly supplied with oatmeal, brandy, and sugar, and, provided the boat could live in the heavy seas that were so frequently whipped up in those parts, all felt that for the present the ocean was a safer refuge than the land. Scarcely had they put out to sea, however, when four vessels of war were sighted, which compelled them hastily to seek the shelter of a small desert island near the Harris. A few fishermen, accustomed THE FUGITIVE. 277 to make the island their temporary home, under the belief that the Prince and his followers were a press-gang despatched from one of the men-of-war in the offing to beat up for recruits, now took flight, leaving the fish they were curing on the beach. This was a compulsory gift not to be despised by the Jacobite crew. ' Upon this desert island,' writes Donald, ' we found plenty of good dry fish, of which we were resolved to make the best fare we could A\dthout any butter ... as we had plenty of brandy and sugar along with us, and found very good springs upon the island, we wanted much to have a little warm punch to cheer our hearts in this cold remote place. We luckily found an earthen pitcher, which the fishermen had left upon the island, and this served our purpose very well for heating the punch.' It was on these occasions, when the festive bowl went round, that Charles gave the toast of the Black Eye, * by which,' explains Donald, ' he meant the second daughter of France. I never heard him name any particular health but that alone. When he spoke of that lady, which he did fre- quently, he appeared to be more than ordinarily well pleased.' In spite of the treatment he had received from the Court of Versailles, Charles always appears to have spoken well of the French King, ' but,' said he, mysteriously, ' I can assure you that a King and his Council are two very different things.' ' After a brief stay upon this lonely spot, the party again took boat, well supplied mth dried fish, and coasted along the shores of Long Island. During the night a dead calm sprang up, obliging them to take to their oars. The terrible lack of fresh water was here severely felt, and it was necessary to have recourse to a nauseous mixture of meal mixed with bi'andy and sea water to quench the thirst of the unhappy crew. Yet we are told the Prince never murmured : * Never did any meat or drink come wrong to him,' wTites Donald, 'for he could take a share of everything, be it good, bad, or indif- ferent, and was always cheerful and contented in every con- dition.' But soon a graver enemy than either hunger or thirst marked them down for misfortune. As soon as morning dawned they were sighted by an English man-of-war, which at once gave chase and bore down upon them with full sail. Fortvinately for the Prince the dead calm of the past night still continued, and the boat pulled by the staunch watermen kept well ahead. ' If we escape this danger,' cried Charles, J Jacobite Memoirs, p. 391. 278 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. cheering on his men to fresli efforts, ' you shall have a handsome reward — if not, I will be sunk rather than be taken.' Off the Harris the English vessel was fully becalmed, and unable to continue the pursuit : a few hours afterwards Charles landed for the second time in one of the hospitable creeks of Benbecula. Here nothing but a few crabs presented themselves, which were eagerly caught and boiled — then, with their hunger but miserably appeased, the crew walked inland in quest of more soHd provisions. After half an hour's weary tramp they reached ' a poor grass-keeper's bothy or hut, which had so low a door,' narrates ISTed Burke, ' that we digged below it, and put heather below the Prince's knees, he being tall, to let him go the easier into the poor hut.' • Beneath this roof Charles remained a few days. Clanranald, who was on the island, called upon him in his wretched retreat, bringing him Avine and linen, of which he stood sorely in need. The contrast between the handsome lad flushed with success entering Edin- burgh to receive homage from his jjeople, and the unhappy wanderer hunted down on all sides by his rival on the throne, was a painful sight for his visitor. ' He found the youth,' writes Mr. Chambei's, in his ' Histoiy of the Rebellion,' ' who had recently agitated Britain in so extraoi'dinary a manner, and whose pretensions to a throne he considered indubitable, reclining in a hovel little larger than an English hog-stye, and perhaps more fllthy; his face haggard with disease, hunger, and exposure to the weather ; and his shirt, to use the expres- sive language of Dougal Graham, as dingy as a dish-clout.' ^ After a few days' stay at Benbecula, Charles removed to one of the most secluded spots in the neighbouring island of South Uist, where, from the character of its situation, he had a better chance, should his retreat be discovered, of escape either by the mountains or the sea. Strict watch was here kept to prevent surprise. Scouts were placed in all directions to give notice of the enemy's ajjproach ; guides were quartered about the Prince's hut to shovv him the way to the mountains in case of need ; and a boat was always at hand ready to put to sea at a moment's notice. Thus wearily passed a whole month. As much as in them lay, the friends of the Prince did their best to relieve the tedium of his sechision. Clanranald, with ^ Jacobite Memoirs, p. 308. - HUt. of Rebellion, p. 96. Jesse, p. 290. THE FUGITIVE. 279 his brother Boisdale, frequently visited him ; Lady Margaret Macdonald, the wife of the Hanoverian, Sir Alexander Mac- donald of Sleat, sent him newspapers, and frequent presents of little luxuries very agreeable to the prisoner ; and when in the mood Charles, accompanied by one or two of his rough courtiers, would wander about with his gun after the game with which the island abounds. We are told that ' he was very dexterous at shooting fowl on the wing.' His love for sport led one day to what might have been a most fatal event. Having brought down a deer, he was assisting Ned Burke in preparing a certain portion of it for food, when a half-starved lad, tempted by the savoury smell of the cooking venison, made a rush at the wood fire, and tried to snatch some of the meat away. Burke rose up, canght the boy, and gave him a thrashing, which he was about to repeat, when the Prince hastily interfered. ' Man,' cried Charles, ' do you not remember the Scripture, which commands us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked % You ought rather to give him meat than a stripe.' He then ordered the lad to be fed and some old clothes to be given him, adding, ' I cannot see a Christian perishing for want of food and raiment, if I have the power to support him.' Scarcely had the boy made his escape, and learning who his benefactor on this occasion had been, than with rare infamy he went to the officers commanding the companies in search of the Prince, and told them that he had seen him of whom they were in quest. Happily for Charles the lad's statement was regarded only as an impudent ftilse- hood, and no notice taken of it.^ But the persistent efibrts of the Hanoverian scouts soon rendered it advisable for Charles to remove himself fi-om South TJist. A large body of militia had landed on the island of Erisca, and their next step wovild doubtless be to scour South TJist. Lady Margaret Macdonald at once sent over to the Prince a faithful Jacobite, one Hugh Macdonald of Balshair, to inform him of the news, and bid him hasten away from his pi-esent quarters ere it was too late. ' Being a misty day,' writes Balshair in his account of this mission, ^ * I came near the Prince and his people before they' discovered me, which surprised them. O'Sullivan introduced me to the hut. The Prince saluted me very kindly, and told me he was heartily glad to see the face of an honest man in such a remote corner, 1 Jacobite Memoirs, p. 396. Jesse, p. 291. 2 Chambers's Hist, of Rebellion, p. 97. 2So LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUA2T. His dress was then a tartan short coat, and vest of the same, got from Lady C'lanranald ; his niglat-cap all patched with soot-drops ; his shirt, hands, and face patched with the same ; a short kilt, tartan hose, and Highland bi'ogs, his upper coat being English cloth. He called for a dram, being the first article of a Highland entertainment, which being over he called for meat. There was about a half-stone of butter laid on a timber plate, and near a leg of beef laid on a chest before us, all patched with soct-drops, notwithstanding it being washed toties quoties. As soon as we had done, who should enter the hut but Boisdale, who seemed to be a very welcome guest to the Prince, as they had been together above cnce before. Boisdale then told him there was a party come to Bari-a in pursuit of him. He asked what they were. Bois- dale said they were Macdonalds and Macleods. He then said he was not the least concerned, as they were Highlanders, and more especially such. I spoke to Boisdale about leaving Glen- coradale (the secluded spot in South Uist Charles had selected for his quarters), as our stay there would be of dangerous consequence, and of no advantage to him. The Prince told us, as it was but seldom he met with friends he could enjoy him- self with, he would not on any account part with us that night. Boisdale says to me, we could not in good manners part with him that night. I replied if he would risk staying himself that I would for my part. The Prince advised Edward Biiike to fill the bowl : but before we would begin with our bowl, Boisdale insisted on his being shaved first, and then putting on a clean shirt, Avhich he was importuned to do : and Burke shaved him Then we began with our bowl, frank and free. As we were turning merry we were turning more free. At last I started the question if his Highness would take it amiss if I should tell him the greatest objections against him in Great Britain. He said not. I told him that Popery and arbitrary government were the two chiefest. He said it was only bad constructions his enemies \)\\t on it. " Do you know, Mr. Macdonald," he says, " what religion are all the princes of Europe of?" I told him I imagined they were of the same established religion of the nation they lived in. He told me they had little or no religion at all. Boisdale then told him that his predecessor Clanranald had fought seven set battles for his; yet after the Kestoration he Vv'as not owned by King Charles at Court. The Prince said, " Boisdale, don't be rub- bing up old sores, for if I came home the case would be other- THE FUGITIVE. 281 ■wise with n.r." I then said to him that, notwithstanding the freedom we enjoyed there -with him, v.-e conld have no access to him if he was settled at London ; and he told us then, if he had never so much ado, he would be one night meny with his Highland IViends. We continued this drinking /'o?- three days and three viglits. He had still the better of us and even of Boisdale himself, notwithstanding his being as able a bowls- man, I dare say, as in Scotland.' Thus already the habit that cursed and degraded his later years was beginning to fetter him with its terrible slavery. On the evening of June 14, Charles, accompanied by O'Sullivan, O'Neal, Ned Burke, and Donald Macleod, took leave of South Uist, and pushed out into the open sea, again ignorant what course to pursue. The Western Islands were now environed by vigilant cruisers; militia boats were con- stantly rowing about the inland seas ; scouts were being landed at the different neighbouring islets, and escape was a graver difficulty than had ever before been encountered. The first fev/ nights were passed on the little island of Wia, where a grazier tending his flocks gave them hospitality. Then they found snatches of shelter at Rossinish, and at a most desolate spot called AikersidealHch, where Charles slept in a crevice formed by the riven rocks. At last, finding how difficult it was to break through the men-of-war that encircled them, they resolved to return again to South Uist, Rowing towards the island, to their horror and surprise they saw a frigate lying at anchor, within gunshot of the bay they had intended entering. Instantly they changed their course, and steered towards a small inland loch belonging to the island and out of sight of their pursuers. Here they landed, hid the boat in a cavern formed by the overhanging rocks, and fled to the mountains. But they could not escape the danger that was now fast hemming them in. Within two miles of their mountainous asylum, some five hundi'cd regular troops and militia were drawn up, and it became again advisable that Charles and his followers should part company, and each singly find his way out of the island. O'Neal alone remained with the Prince ; the rest took their departure. The separation of these faithful men from their liege lord, after the weeks of privation and misery which had linked them the closer together, was very sad. In the words of Donald, ' it was a woeful parting indeed.' Charles bade them farewell with big tears in his eyes, and presented 282 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. each with a souvenir to remind them of the days they had spent under a common misfoi-tune. Then he climbed to the top of a hill, and keenly inspected the country spread out before him, as yet hopelessly ignorant in what direction to bend his course. Towards Benbecula he at last decided upon journeying, and as night set in, accompanied by O'Neal and Niel Mackechan, a Highlander whom Clanranald had recommended him to take as his body servant, he began his march. And now there enters upon the scene one whose act of chivalrous devotion has ever rendered her first among the favourite heroines of history. Commanding a company of the militia, then quartered in South Uist for the purpose of discovering the Prince, was one Hugh Macdonald of Arnadale, in the Isle of Skye. In spite of his accepting service in the King's army, he came of an old stock imbued wich strong Stuart proclivities, and was in secret as earnest a Jacobite as ever wore the white cockade. It is said that, worked upon by his kinswoman, Lady Margaret Mac- donald, he was induced to grant permission to his step-daughter, Flora, to assist in the escape of the Prince, and even went so far as to write to Charles informing him of the treachery he had consented to enter into for his sake. Of the reasons which in- duced Flora Macdonald to embark in so perilous an enterprise we know nothing for certain. By some she is said to have con- ceived a tender attachment for the Prince ever since she danced with him at the ball at Holyrood. By others, that, fired by the stories of Lady Margaret touching the '45, she had warmly espoused the Stuai-t cause, and had declared her intention of showing the true nature of her sentiments whenever any oppor- tunity arose. But be the reasons what they may, one thing is certain, that shortly after the arrival of the Prince near Ben- becula O'Neal was sent on a mission to Miss Macdonald at Milton, where she was then staying with her brother, to demand her services. Though prepared by her father for the plan she was to pursue, she showed some little hesitation when the matter was put directly before her. Of the interview that took place on this occasion we have O'Neal's words. A meeting had been arranged at night time at one of the out- houses on the estate, when O'Neal was to bring Charles with him. 'At midnight we came to the hut,' writes O'Neal, 'whereby good fortune we met with Miss Flora Macdonald, whom I for- merly knew. I quitted the Prince at some distance from the hut, and went with a design to inform myself if the Independent THE FUGITIVE. 2S3 Companies were to pass that way next day. The young lady answered me, No ; and said they were not to pass till the day after. Then I told her that I had brought a friend to see her ; and she with some emotion asked me if it was the Prince. I answered her, it was : and instantly brought him in. We then consulted on the imminent danger the Prince was in, and could think of no more proper and safe expedient than to propose to Miss Flora to convey him to the Isle of Skye, where her mother lived. This seemed the more feasible, as the young lady's step- fiither being Captain of an Independent Company would accord her a pass for herself and servant to go and visit her mother. The Prince assented, and immediately proposed it to the young lady ; to which she answered with the greatest respect and loyalty, but declined it, saying, " Sir Alexander Macdonald was too much her friend for her to be the instrument of his ruin." I endeavoured to obviate this by assuring her Sir Alexander Avas not in the country (he was then absent on duty at Fort Augustus), and that she could with the greatest facility convey the Prince to her mother's, as she lived close by the water side. I then demonstrated to her the honour and immortality that would redound to her by such a glorious action : and she at length acquiesced, after the Prince had told her the sense he would always retain of so conspicuous a service. She promised to acquaint us next day, when things wei'e ripe for execution, and we parted for the mountains of Coradale.'^ The course to be adopted was soon settled upon. Milton being within a walk of Oi'maclade, the seat of the Clanranalds, Flora talked the matter over with Lady Clanranald, and ai'ranged the details for the flight. It was decided that the Prince should dress up in female attire, and under the name of Betty Burke act the character of Miss Macdonald's maid. A small boat had been obtained to carry Charles over to Skye, and the departure from South Uist was fixed upon for the following day. But now, as had so often ha2:)pened before at critical moments in the history of the Prince's wandeiings, there occurred an incident which seemed likely to be attended with the most disastrous consequences. Going over to Ormaclade to get ready the garb and things necessary for the disguise of Charles, Miss Mac- donald was observed by the neighbouring militia. Having strict orders not to let any one pass without being taken before the commanding officer, they made her a prisoner. Matters ap- peared still more hopeless when Niel Mackechan, who had been ^ Jesse, p. 297. 284 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. on his way to meet Flora to ascertain what was the plan that had been agreed upon, walked into the guard-house also a close prisoner. But as good fortune had it, the officer commanding this militia detachment happened to be Macdonald of A rnadale, Flora's step-father. Hearing of his daughter's arrest, Mac- donald at once gave orders for her release, and then secretly placed in her hands passports for herself, Niel Mackechan, and Betty Burke. At the same time he wrote to his wife recom- mending Betty for service. ' I have sent your daughter from this country,' he wrote, ' lest she should be frightened with the troops lying here. She has got one Betty Bui-ke, an Irish girl, who, as she tells me, is a good spinster. If her spinning pleases you, you may keep her till she spins all your lint ; or if you have any wool to spin, you may employ her. I have sent Niel Mackechan along with your daughter and Betty Burke to take care of them.' Armed with these important documents, Miss jMacdonald bade Niel conduct the Prince to Rosshiness, where she would immediately join him with the clothes and provisions necessary for the flight. Niel hastened back to Charles, who was lying 2)erdu amid the wilderness of rocks, and informed him of what had been done and where the next place of rendezvous was to be. But how to get to Rosshiness was the question. All the fords being strictly guarded by the Skye militia drawn up in line, the only plan was to make their way by sea. But they had no boat. Anxiously they scanned the open waters in front of them in the hopes of descrying some fishing smack homewai'd bound. Waiting and waiting till their hearts grew sick with despair, they at last hailed a small wherry, and easily prevailed upon its crew to land them upon the nearest rocks. But before Rosshiness could be reached they had to tramp across a bleak and rugged moor. A blinding rain was falling, a bitter east wind cut through their drenched garments, they were in want of provisions, and a more dreary and painful walk could not be imagined. About the middle of the day Charles, who had not tasted food for several hours, was so fatigued that he dropped down from sheer exhaustion. Happily a shepherd's hut stood nigh, and, representing themselves as Irish gentlemen who had made their escape from CuUoden, they were cordially welcomed in and refi-eshed with some black bread and dried fish. After a bi'ief halt they again set out, and by five o'clock were within three miles of Rosshiness. They now made a rest, not thinking it prudent to arrive at their place of rendezvous till nightfall. THE FUGITIVE. 285 In spite of the cold and wet, Charles lay down amid the heather, and was soon asleep ; then, when the darkness was thick enough to shroud their movements, they walked on and reached Rosshiness b}^ten. They had agreed to meet Miss Macdonald at a little shep- herd's hovel which stood on a hillock within easy reach of the rock-bound shore. In order to prevent surprise from the enemy, Charles and O'Neal remained some distance behind, whilst Mackechan went on in front to examine the place of rendezvous. To his horror he ascertained that only two days before a detachment of the Skye militia had landed in the island, and had pitched their tents within a quarter of a mile of the very hut which was to be the temporary quarters of the Prince. On hearing this terrible statement Charles felt that the worst had indeed come, and that in a few hours he would be in the hands of his pursuers. For a short time he laid down in the hovel, but it appears that the daughter of its owner served milk to the militia, who came to fetch it, and it was therefore necessaiy as soon as morning dawned to hurry the Prince down to the rocks, where he secreted himself in a large fissure. ' It is almost inexpressible,' says Mackechan,^ * what torment the Prince suffered under that unhappy rock, which had neither height nor breadth to cover him from the rain, which poured down upon him so thick as if all the win- dows of heaven had broken open ; and to complete his tortui-es, there lay such a swarm of midges upon his face and hands as would have made any other but himself fall into despair, which, notwithstanding his incomparable patience, made him utter such hideous cries and complaints as would have rent the rocks with compassion.' For several hours he had to remain in this woful plight, and jt was not till past nine in the morning that the ' good dairy maid ' came to tell him that the militia had been served witli their milk, and that the hut was free to him for the rest of the day. The loyalty of this young woman is only one instance out of many of the disinterested devotion shown to the Prince by the humble peasantry of the Western Islands, who, though aware that a reward was within their reach which would raise them at one bound to the position of great lairds, yet never once seem to have suffered the temptation to cross their minds, much less to take any active form. Let those who malign the Scottish character as mean and calculating think of Prince ' New Monthly Magazine, Nov. 1840. Jesse, p. 301. 286 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Charles in his wanderings, and of the splendid fidelity that always attended him. To the wretched cynicism that ' every man has his price,' the noble conduct of those who followed the Prince in his bitter hour of extremity is the most complete refutation. Unfortunately Miss Macdonald had been delayed longer thar she expected, owing to the difficulty she met with in obtaining the necessary articles for the disguise of the fugitive ; and it was not till the third day after the Prince's arrival at the hut that the good news was brought him that Flora, accompanied by Lady Clanranald, had taken boat, and was approaching him by sea. Soon the wherry was seen on the waters, and Charles hastened down to the landing-place to escort the two faithful dames to his quarters. He gave his arm to Lady Clanranald, whilst O'lSTeal, who appears to have had a tendre for the fair Flora, took charge of Miss Macdonald, and the four walked together to the hut. Dinner was soon served, consisting of the heart, liver, and kidneys of a sheep, which the Prince had helped to cook, and the party merrily sat down to their fare. When Miss Macdonald expressed regret at the Prince's altered fortunes and his present sad condition, Charles gaily replied that ' it would be well for all kings if they could pass through the same ordeal of hardships and privations which it had been his lot to undergo.' The festivity of the occasion was, however, soon rudely broken in upon. Whilst seated at table, Mackechan rushed in with the intelligence that General Campbell had landed with a large body of troops in the neighbourhood, and that Captain Ferguson was marching with an advanced party to Ormaclade. Under these circumstances Lady Clanranald thought it advis- able to hasten back to her own house. She arrived there only a little before the appearance of Ferguson, and was subjected to a severe examination : nothing more could be elicited from her, however, than that she had been on a visit to a sick child. Shortly afterwards she and her husband were taken prisoners and sent up to London, where they remained in confinement until the June of 1747. 287 CHAPTER XIV. HUNTED DOWN. And thou, my Prince, my injured Prince, Tliy people have disown'd thee, Have hunted and have driven thee lience, With ruin'd chiefs around thee. Though hnrd beset, when I forget Thy fate, young helpless rover. This broken heart shall cease to beat, And all its griefs be over. On the night of June 28, Charles, accompanied by Miss Mac- donald and Niel Mackechan, put out into the open sea in the small wherry which had been obtained for them. The night was dark, and it was hoped that tlie weather would be favoui-- able, but shortly after they had proceeded some little distance a storm arose, and the boat, buffeted by'the wind and waves, was in considerable danger of being swamped. . Miss Macdonald became nervous, and her fears were, in a measure, entertained by the watermen at their oars. The Prince, however, was in a merry mood, and did his best to make light of the perils that beset them. Attired in the i-aiment of a waiting-maid to a woman of fashion, to wit, ' a flowered linen gown, a light- coloured quilted petticoat, a white apron, and a mantle of dun camlet, made after the Irish fashion, with a hood,' he sat by the side of his brave protectress, singing the while gay ballads and telling stories of foreign adventure. As morning dawned, they sighted the point of Waternish, on the western coast of Skye, and were about to make for that deserted district, when, nearing the shore, they found it in pos- session of the militia, whose boats were pulled high and dry on the beach. Instantly the Prince gave orders to row out again to the open sea, but already the militia sentries had observed them, and shouted that, unless they landed immediately, they would fire. To these threats Charles turned a deaf ear, and bade his men pull on for dear life and ' not to fear the villains.' Pieadily responding to their chief's command, the men whipped their oars through the surging sea, saying that they had ' no fear for themselves but only for him,' and soon increased the distance between the boat and the inimical shore. A few bullets whistled over their heads and fell harmlessly into the 28S LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. water: then, in another dozen strokes, they were out of gun- shot reach, and pursued their course without interruption. It appears that the oars belonging to the mihtia boats had been locked up in the guard-room, otherwise the Prince and liis crew would doubtless have been vigorously chased on their first sign of retreat.^ At the end of three hours the fugitives landed at Kilbride, within easy access of Mugstat, the seat of Sir Alexander Macdonald. Sir Alexander had not returned, being still on fluty at Fort Augustus, but his wife was at home, and anxious to obtain tidings of the Prince. As soon as she had stepped from the boat, Flora bade Charles hide himself among the rocks on the beach, whilst she and Mackechan walked over to Mug- stat and informed Lady Margaret of their arrival. Unfortu- nately the house was full of visitors, and Miss Macdonald, it seems, found some little difficulty in seeing Lady Margaret alone. To add to her perplexity, a Lieutenant Macleod, who was in command of a small detachment of militia quartered in the neighbourhood, was staying at Mugstat with several of his men, and appears to have been somewhat curious respecting her proceedings. At last Flora, aware of the important issues that hung upon her mission, determined to take into her confidence an old friend of hers, one Alexander Macdonald of Kingsburgh, a staunch Jacobite, the factor to Sir Alexander, who also hap- pened to be a guest at the house. Taking him aside she confided to him that the Prince was within a few hundred yards of Mugstat, and begged him, as time was of the utmost importance, to inform Lady Margaret at once of the fact. The old man readily undertook the task, and, sending a message to his hostess that he wished to see her on matters connected with Sir Alexander, told her that Charles was crouching amid the rocks on the shore, and that Flora had determined to aid him in his escape. Lady Margaret, good friend as she had been to the Prince throughout his wanderings, saw now how dangerous was her position if the fugitive were to remain on her estate and be discovered obtaining aid from one whose husband was in the full confidence of the Hanoverian Government. She was terror-stricken, and cried out that she and her family would be ruined foi' ever. Kingsburgh did his best to calm her, but Lady Margaret was not to be pacified unless the Prince withdrew himself at once from her neighbour- hood. She would help him to the utmost of her power if he ' Lockhart Papers, p. 546. HUNTED DOWiV. 289 remained at a distance, but with him close beside her, her house containing several of the militia, and her husband holding a command in the King's service, she was pai-alysed with fear, and could not support the secret. Miss Macdonald, she said, must remove the Prince instantly from Kilbride ; there must be no delay ; she was imperative upon that point. Kingsburgh now pi-oved his fealty. He said he was an old man, death could not be far distant, and it was a small matter to him whether he died in his bed or was hanged as a traitor — he would take Charles to his own house. With the selfishness of terror, Lady Margaret eagerly welcomed the oflfer. After some little discussion it was arranged that the Prince should be conveyed that night to Portree by way of Kingsburgh, and then should cross over to the island of Raasay, whose owner, Macleod of Raasay, was a zealous adherent of the exiled line, and had fought at Culloden. One Donald Roy, a young chieftain, who had been badly wounded at Culloden, and was staying at a doctor's house in the neighbourhood to be cured, undertook, at the bidding of Lady Margaret, to go to Raasay and inform its laird of the visit Charles intended to pay him. The faithful Niel was at once sent off by Flora to the Prince to inform him of what had been settled, and that Kingsburgh within an hour would meet him on the beach. As soon as the loyal old man could leave Mugstat without creating suspicion, he quitted the house, taking with him some meat and bread, a bottle of Burgundy and a tumbler, and wended his way towards the rocks. As he approached the shore he was confronted by a tall ungainly figure, dressed in very ill-fitting woman's attire, who came towards him bran- disliing a thick stick. ' Are you the Macdonald of Kingsburgh % ' cried the strange person, suspiciously. Kingsburgh replied in the affirmative, said he recognised the Prince in spite of his strange garb, and introduced the subject of his mission. The fears of Charles were at once allayed, and he proposed that they should immediately set out on their journey. Kingsburgh, however, induced him to take some food and try a few glasses of Burgundy ere they began their walk. Nothing loth, Charles sat down on a rock, Kings- burgh spread out before him the frugal fare he had brouglit down from the house, and they were soon very merry. Charles drank to the health of his new friend, and Kingslxirgh pledged him in return. u 290 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. * How fortunate it was,' said Kingsburgh, * that I came to Mugstat to-day ! It was by the merest accident I visited the place, for I had no motive in doing so.' ' It was not by accident,' said Charles, gravely, who always believed that his cause was under the special direction of the Almighty. ' Providence sent you there to take care of me.' Their meal finished, they rose up and took the road towards Kingsburgh. A couple of hours after the departure of Kingsburgh from Mugstat, Miss Macdonald bade good-bye to Lady Margaret, saving, in reply to the mock entreaties of her hostess, that she shoukl remain, that she was unable to make any stay this time, as ' she wanted to see her mother, and be at home in these troublous times.' Horses were brought round, and she, together with a Mr. Macdonald of Kirkibost, Niel Mackechan, and a couple of servants, set out riding for Kingsburgh. They had not proceeded far on the road when they overtook the Prince and his companion. The manner in which Charles walked and held up his clothes was so singular, and so plainly revealed his sex, that Miss Macdonald became alarmed lest those of her party should detect his disguise. Not to allow longer oppor* tunity for observation than could be helped, she urged on her horse, followed by Mr. Macdonald and the rest, and passed the Prince at a hand gallop. ' I think I never saw,' said Flora's maid to her mistress, ' such an impudent-looking woman as Kingsburgh is walking with ; I dare say she is either an Irish- woman or a man in woman's clothes. See what long strides the jade takes, and how awkwardly she manages her petticoats ! ' ' Yes,' replied Flora, quietly, ' she is an Irishwoman, for I have seen her before.' Even Kingsburgh appears to have been alarmed at the manner in which Charles sustained his new character. Crossing a brook the Prince held up his petticoats so indecently high that Kingsburgh begged him to act his part with more discretion. ' It shall not occur again,' said Charles, and the next brook he forded he was so modest that his gown and things trailed in the water. ' They call you a Pretender,' cried Kingsburgh, thoi-oughly annoyed : ' all I can say is that you are the worst at your trade that I ever saw,' And he thought it prudent to strike ofi" from the high road, and take his companion by the hills to his house. On arriving at Kingsburgh, they learnt that Flora and her companions had just made their appearance. Lady Kingsburgh, for so she was called, had gone to bed, and sent down excuses HUNTED DOWN. 291 for her absence, begging her husband do the honours of the house. No sooner had she despatched this message than her davTghter, a child of seven years of age, burst into the room, crying that her papa had brought home ' the most odd, muckle, ill-shaken up wife she had ever seen ! ' Lady Kingsburgh wa.s about to inquire who this strange visitor could be, when her husband came up and hurriedly desired his wife to get ready and go down stairs to the guests. Quickly obeying the order. Lady Kingsburgh descended the staircase, and entered the room, where Charles and her husband were seated together. The Prince, still clad as a woman, rose from his chair, bowed, and then came forward and kissed her on both cheeks. Lady Kingsburgh felt the bristles of a man's beard touching her, but, though somewhat alarmed at the discovery, received the saluta- tion without any signs of surprise. Then she di'ew her hus- band aside and asked, ' Is he one of the unfortunate gentle- men who has escaped from Culloden % ' Kingsburgh answered in the affirmative. ' Does he bring any tidings of the Prince % ' she then in- quired. * My dear,' said Kingsburgh, taking both her hands in his, ' he is the Prince himself ! ' ' The Prince ! ' she cried, terror-stricken, for well she knew the penalty attached to harbouring The Prosci-ibed, and her first thoughts were for her husband and children. ' Then we are all ruined ! We shall all of us be hanged ! ' ' Never mind,' replied Kingsburgh, cheerily, ' we can die but once ; and if we are hanged for this, we shall die in a good cause — in performing an act of humanity and charity.' He then begged her to look after supper, and send up any provisions the larder contained. But the fare happened to be scanty that day in the house, and nothing save eggs, butter, and cheese could be obtained ; these, with some household pride, she demurred at placing before her visitor, but her husband told her to have no scruples. ' Eggs, butter, and cheese ! ' she cried. ' What supper is that to set before a Prince 1 ' ' Wife,' said Kingsburgh, sternly, * you little know how he has fared of late ; our supper will be a feast to him. Besides, if we were to make it a formal meal, it would rouse the sus- picions of the servants. Make haste, therefore, with what you can get, and come to supper yourself.' But the invitation appalled the homely woman. '/ come V 2 292 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. to supper ! ' she exclaimed ' I know nothing how to behave before Majesty.' ' You must come,' answered her husband, * for the Prince would not eat a bit without you, and he is so obliging and gay in conversation that you will find it no difficult matter to behave before him.' In spite of the fears of Mistress Kingsburgh, the supper was a great success. Charles sat between his hostess and Miss Macdonald, and made an excellent meal. We are told that he ate * four eggs, some coUips and bread and butter, and drank two bottles of beer.' When his hunger had been appeased, he called for a bumper of brandy and proposed ' the health and prosperity of his landlord and landlady, and better times to them all.' Then, on the ladies retiring, he and Kingsburgh drew their chaii-s around the dying logs of the wood fire and began to smoke, Charles producing a small pipe, ' as black as ink, and worn or broken to the very stump.' Some pvmch was brewed in a china bowl, and the two sat smoking and drinking far into the night. About three in the morning Kingsburgh, who was aware that they would have to be up betimes in the morning, suggested going to bed, biit Charles, who was then beginning to show his fatal fondness for conviviality, would not hear of such a thing until another bowl of punch was brewed. Kingsburgh, who knew what a solemn responsibility was intrusted to him, and how necessary it was for the Prince to have rest, positively refused to accede to such a request, and rose up to put away the 1 towl. Charles, not to be deterred from his purpose, seized hold of the bowl, and in the' struggle that ensued the china basin was broken into two pieces. No more drink now being possible, the Prince consented to go to bed. So gi'cat a luxury was it to rest between sheets — for, as Charles said, he ' had almost forgotten what a bed was ' — that the Prince slept on until one o'clock the next day. Flora was most anxious that he should be awakened, in order to continue their flight, but the kind-hearted Kingsburgh would not let him be disturbed until nature herself had roused him. No sooner, however, did he wake than it was necessary for him to dress at once and push on to Portree. He hastily put on his woman's attire, and then sent for Lady Kingsburgh and Flora to adjust his cap and apron, and dress his hair. With much merriment the ladies gave the finishing touches to his toilet, and completed his disguise. Whilst Miss Macdonald was putting on his mob c ip, Lady Kingsburgh whispered to her in GaeKc to ask the HUNTED DOWN. 293 Prince for a lock of his hair. Flora hesitated and then de- clined ; but Charles, hearing them talking together, inquired what was the matter, when his foir Abigail told him of Lady Kingsburgh's request. Instantly he laid his head in Flora's lap and told her to cut off as much as she wanted. His shoes being in a very sorry condition, Kingsburgh pre- sented him with a new pair, whilst he took the old ones, and tying them together hung them on a peg, observing that they might yet be of use, ' In what way % ' asked Charles. •' Why,' replied his host, ' when you are fairly settled at St, James's, I shall introduce myself by shaking these shoes at you, to put you in mind of your night's entertainment and protection under my roof.' Until the death of Kingsburgh these shoes were re- ligiously preserved ; thpy were then cut into strips and given to Jacobite friends. ' It is in the recollection of one of his descend- ants,' writes Mr. Chambers, ' that Jacobite ladies often took away the pieces they got in their bosoms,' The sheets in which the Prince slept served as tlie grave-clothes for Lady Kings- burgh and Flora Macdonald. Taking a most affectionate farewell of his kind hostess, and receiving from her hands a small snuff-box as a souvenir, he walked, accompanied by Flora and Kingsburgh, towards Port- ree. At the end of half an hour they passed a wood, into which Charles entered and changed his female garments for a highland dress. This done, he bade a cordial adieu to Kingsburgh, who took charge of the discarded clothes, which he subsequently burnt, and pushed vigorously on to Portree, guided by Niel Mackechan, wlulst Flora pursued a different route. Not many days elapsed before his gallant host at Kingsburgh was scented by the bloodhounds of the Government, and confined in a dun- geon at Fort Augustus, heavily laden with irons. Sir Everard Fawkener took his examination, and reminded him of the noble opportunity he had lost of making his fortune. ' Had I gold and silver,' was the answer, ' piled heaps upon heaps to the bulk of yon huge mountain, that mass could not afford me half the satisfaction I find in my own breast for doing what I have done.' From Fort Augvistus he was removed to Edinburgh Castle, where he was kept in close confinement until the passing of the Act of Grace in 1747, He died in 1772. On arriving at Portree the Prince found a boat, which Donald Roy had obtained with considerable difiiculty, ready to take him over to Raasay, In it were the laird of Raasay, with two of his kinsmen and a couple of sturdy boatmen, John 294 LIFE OF FKIXCE CHARLES STUART. Mackenzie and Donald Macfriar by name, who bad both served in the Jacobite army. To avoid suspicion Donald Roy had come ashore alone at Portree, the boat lying at anchor in a rocky inlet some half-mile from the little Skye capital. Whilst proceeding to the only public-house the place boasted, he was met by Flora, who told him that the Prince was close behind. Donald waited for his illustrious friend, and on Charles making his appearance went forward to meet him, and conducted him to the tavern. ' He no sooner entered the liouse,' wintes Donald in his nari-ative, ' than he asked if a dram could be got there : the rain pouring down from his clothes, he having on a plaid without breeches, trews, or even phihbeg. Before he sat down he got his dram, and then the company desii-ed him to shift and put on a dry shirt. He refused to shift, as Miss Flora Mac- donald was in the room, but I and Niel Mackechan told him it was not a time to stand upon ceremonies, and prevailed upon him to put on a dry shii-t.' The Prince then sat down to a frugal meal of fish, bread, cheese, and butter, and after a pipe of tobacco walked down to the shore where the boat with the men resting upon their oars was in wait for him. It was now necessary for him to say farewell to the courageous girl through whose agency he had been brought tlius far safely on his flight. The parting was not without emotion on either sitle. Charles held her hand in his, but the words would not find their way through the husky passage of his throat. He stood for some moments silently looking at her, whilst the teai-s rushed unbidden to her eyes. Then taking off" his cap he bent down and kissed her twice upon the forehead. No cold formal pkrases of thanks passed his lips. When memory in after-life brought the scene before his fail" preserver, it recalled nothing save a hot grasp of the hand, two kisses, and a bronzed, haggai-d face that said a speechless farewell. As Charles entered the boat he turned towards her and said, ' For all that has happened, I hope, madam, we shall meet in St. James's yet.' The liope was never fulfilled, the two never met again. As the boat pushed ofi'from the shore. Flora sat upon a rock, and earnestly watched its pro- gress till out of sight. Far over yon hills of the heather so green, And down by the corrie that sings to the sea, The bonuie young Flora sat sighing her lane, The dew on her plaid and the tear in her e'e. She look'd at a boat with the breezes that swung Awa}- on the wave, like a bird of the main ; HUNTED DOWX. 295 And aye as it lessen'd, she siglied aud she sung, — Farewell to the lad I shall ne'er see again ! Farewell to my hero, the gallant and young ! Farewell to the lad I shall ne'er see again! Her end is well known. Within a few days she was taken prisoner— her examination lies before me as I write,' and sent to London to be dealt with as the Government thought proper. She was kept in confinement but a few months, and then, after being the lion of the season, returned to her native island. She married Alexander Macdonald the younger, of Kingsburgh, and was the mother of several children. Her conversation with Dr. Johnson has been immortalised by Boswell. She died at the age of seventy, in the year 1790, at her home in the Isle of Skye. ' Her name,' said Dr. Johnson, ' will be mentioned in History, and, if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour.' That opinion posterity has fully indorsed. After a passage of some three hours Charles landed at a place called Glam, in the melancholy island of Eaasay. A small hut, recently built by some shepherds, stood close at hand, and within its walls the whole party, consisting of the Prince, young Raasay, his brother Murdoch Macleod, and his cousin Malcolm Macleod, took shelter. In spite of its distant situa- tion, the little island had not escaped the visiting hand of the Duke of Cumberland. Its herds had been pillaged, its huts burnt down, and many of the inhabitants carried over to the mainland. Charles was much moved at the tale of misery now unfolded to him, and he inquired narrowly into all the damage that had been done. ' Upon his being told,' writes Murdoch Macleod, ' of all the houses burnt, and of the other great depre- dations on the island to which the houses were but a trifle, he seemed much affected, but at the same time said that, instead of the huts burnt, he would yet build houses of stone.' Young Raasay having gone out in seai'ch of food, i-eturned with a kid, which they roasted, and, with the aid of some oaten bread, cream, and butter, made an excellent supper. The ex- posure and privations tlie Prince had suffered in his past wanderings now became the subject of conversation, and Charles remarked that his ' was a bitter, hard life, but he would rather live ten years in that way than be taken by his enemies.' He appears to have been surpiised, as well he might, at being able to bear such fatigues, ' for,' said he, ' since the battle of Culloden, 1 Declaration of Miss Macdonald, Applecross Bay, July 12, 1746. State Papers, Scotland, No. 33. 295 LIFE OF FRFVCE CHARLES STUART. I have endured more tlian would kill a hundred men. Sure Providence does not design this for nothing'; I am certainly yet reserved for some good ! ' On one of the party asking him what he thought his enemies would do with him should he by chance fall into their hands, he answered moodily, * I do not think that they would dare to take away my life publicly ; but I dread being privately destroyed, either by poison or assassination.' ' After a stay of a couple of days at Eaasay, Charles set sail for Skye in the same boat which had carried him from Portree. He was anxious to reach the country of the Mackenzies, where he hoped to find a French ship on the look out for him in the neighbourhood of Lochbroom. He fared no better now than he had ever done on those treacherous inland seas, the open boat was in so great danger of foundering that his companions begged him to return to Raasay and defer liis departure till the weather was more favourable. But he declined. ' Providence,' he said, 'has carried me through so many dangers that I do not doubt it will have the same care for me now.' They sailed on, but the waves kept splashing into the boat with such force that it required all the exertions of young Eaasay and the Macleods to prevent the craft from being swamped. ' Gentle- men,' said Charles, in acknowledgment of their labours, ' I hope to thank you for this trouble yet at St. James's.' Late at night they landed at a place called Nicholson's Great Eock, close to Scorobreck in Troternish, on the north coast of Skye. The boat was hauled up high and dry, and the wet and shivering crew rambled on in search of shelter. After a two miles' walk they spied a cow-house. Young Eaasay went forward to inspect it. ' What must become of your Eoyal Highness,' said Murdoch Maclecd, ' if there be people in it, for certainly you must perish if long exposed to such weather.' ' I care nothing for it,' replied Charles, bravely, ' for I have been abroad in a hundred such nights.' However, Eaasay returned with the report that the shed was empty, and not a soul in the neighbourhood. Then they all laid down to rest for the night, after paitaking of some bread and cheese which they had brought with them. The next day the Prince took leave of Eaasay and his brother Murdoch, and despatched them on different missions over the island. Linking his arm in that of Malcolm Maclcod, 1 jya'iative of Jlurduch 31acIeod, Jesse, It. 317. HUNTED DOWN. 297 lie quitted the cow-house and walked on. ' Whei'e are you intending to go to % ' asked Malcolm. ' Why, Malcolm,' frankly replied the Prince, ' I now throw myself ei til ely into your hands, and leave you to do with me as you please. I wish to go to Mackinnon's country, and if you can guide me there safe I hope you will accompany me.' Macleod, with that devotion which invariably characterised the friends of Charles, readily assented, but advised that they should proceed by sea,, and thus avoid the soldiers and scouts who were infesting the island. Bvit the Prince preferred the land journey. ' In our situation,' said he, ' there is no doing anything without I'unning lisks.' It was arranged, therefore, that the Prince should for the second time appear in the character of a servant. Charles took off his waistcoat of scarlet taitan with gold twist buttons, and exchanged it for the plain vest of Malcolm : then he put his periwig in his pocket and tied \v^ his face, as if suf- fering from toothache, in a dirty napkin : the buckles were pulled off his shoes and the lace ruffles from his shirt ; a bundle was put in his hand, and his disguise was supposed to be com- plete. Still there was so much of the gentleman about Charles Avhich art and raiment were powerless to conceal that his com- panion feared he would be recognised. ' There is not a person,' said Macleod afterwards to Bishop Forbes, ' who knows what the air of a noble or great man is, but, upon seeing the Prince in any disguise he could put on, would see something that was not ordinary^ — something of the stately and grand.' ' After travelling all night, they reached Ellagol, near Kilmaree, in Mackinnon's country. Malcolm now conducted the Prince to the house of his brother-in-law, one John Mackinnon, who had served as a captain in the Highland army. Mackinnon happened not to be at home, but the travellers wei-e warmly received by his wife ; Charles being passed off as a certain Lewie Caw, the son of a surgeon in Ciieff who had been engaged in the rebellion, and was now known to be lying jwrdu among his relations in Skye. Mrs. Mackinnon was much concerned at the condition of the Prince, and said to her brother that her heart warmed to a man of his appeai-ance. Certainly, if we are to believe Malcolm Macleod, the state of Chailes was far from enviable. ' Happening,' says Malcolm, 2 * to see the Prince uneasy and fidgety, he took him to the back of a knowe, and, opening his bi-east, saw him troubled with vermin for want of clean linen, and by reason of 1 Jacobite 3I(innirs, p. 480. 2 Jesse, p. 322. 298 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. the coarse odd way he behoved to live in, both as to sustenance and sleep : Malcolm said he believed he took four score off him. This,' writes Bishop Forbes, ' serves to show that he was reduced to the very lowest ebb of misery and distress, and is a certain indication of that greatness of soul which could rise above all misfortunes and bear up with a cheerfulness not to be equalled in history under all the scenes of woe that could happen,' It is difficult to undex^stand how or why Charles allowed himself to get into this filthy state. One would have thought, in spite of his scanty stock of linen and the continual wearing of the same garments, that an occasional bathe in the sea, for it was summer time, or an ablution in a mountain stream, would have prevented all the grosser details that arise from uncleanliness. In the course of the day the old chief of Mackinnon was in- formed that the Prince was in the neighbourhood. At once he hastened to pay his i^espects, and advised Charles to repair to the mainland under his guidance that very night, for the militia scouts were active, and every moment was of importance. The Prince assented ; a good-sized wherry was obtained ; and at eight o'clock in the evening the fugitive, accompanied by the old chieftain Mackinnon and liis kinsman, John Mackinnon, went down to the sea-shore to embark. The parting between the Prince and Malcolm Macleod, which was now considei-ed advis- able, was felt by both. ' For myself,' said Malcolm, ' I have no care : but for you I am much afraid.' Malcolm had been so long absent that he thought the military would pursue him on suspicion, and in that case Charles would also fall into their hands. It was better therefore that they should separate. Before sapng adieu the two sat do^\'ll together, at the instiga- tion of Charles, and had a smoke, talking the while of the sorrows of the past and the hopes of the future ; then the Prince rose up, presented Malcolm Avith a silver stock buckle and ten guineas, embraced him twice as he said farewell, and hurried to his seat in the stern of the boat. As he had anticipated, Mal- colm was taken prisoner and brought to London, A\hei'e he was kept in custody till July 1747, when he returned to Scotland with Flora Macdonald. ' And so,' he vised to say with much glee, ' I went up to London to be hanged, and returned in a braw post chaise with Miss Flora Macdonald.' Twenty-seven years afterwards he was introduced to Boswell. ' I never saw a figure,' said the biographer of Dr. Johnson, ' which gave a more perfect representation of a Highland gentleman. I wished HUNTED DOWN. 299 much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite in the true sense of the word.' ' After a stormy passage, which occupied some eight hours, Charles and his companions hxnded at four o'clock in the morn- ing near a place called Little Mallack, on the southern side of Loch Nevis. But the change was not for the better. The militia were quartered in the immediate neighbourhood, and it thus became most dangerous for the Prince or his friends to attempt to penetrate into the interior. For three days they re- mained on the spot at which they had first landed, without fire or shelter, not daring to move. On the fourth day they entered their boat, and coasted along the broken shores of Loch Nevis, in the hope of finding some cave which would protect them from the inclemency of the weather. Steering round one of the petty promontories of the loch, they fouled against a boat moored to a rock, and the next moment saw five men standing on the shore whose bonnets, marked with a red cross, proclaimed them to belong to the militia. Charles was fortunately lying at the bottom of the boat taking his rest, with the plaid of Mackinnon thrown over him. This unexpected appearance of the enemy somewhat staggered the crew, and they hesitated on their oars. * Whei'O do you come from % ' cried the militiamen. * From Sleat,' answered Mackinnon. ' Row ashore,' ordered the miHtiamen, ' for examination ! ' ' Pull for your lives ! ' cried John Mackinnon ; and no sooner was the woi-d given than the watermen settled them- selves down to their work, and rowed rapidly along the loch. But the militiamen were not to be thus cheated. Like lightning they leaped into their boat, cast loose the painter, and in another minute were in full chase. For some quarter of an hour the pursuit was keen : then the oarsmen of the Prince drew rapidly away, and, coming to a part of the loch where the firs and vmderwood grew thick down to the water's edge, they shot their boat into the covert, and hid themselves from the foe. Charles landed and ran up a hill, from which he perceived the discomfited militiamen returning from their fi'uitless pursuit. Across the loch was a small island, to which the escaped crew, after a few hours' rest, now steered. Old Clanranald happening to be in the neighbourhood, the Prince sent John Mackinnon to him with a request for aid. But the chieftain, to whom the Stuart cause had already been sufficiently costly, 1 Jesse, p. o26. 300 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. declined any fuither assistance : he was prosci-ibed and ruined, and would not run any more risk. Mackinnon, finding that Clanranald was not to be won, either by arguments or entreaties, quitted him in a passion, and returned to the Prince, mightily indignant at the failure of his mission. But Cliarles met him with a cheerful ' Well, Mackinnon, there is no help for it : we must do the best we can for ourselves.' ^ They now rowed back to Little Mallack, and, as Clani-anald had failed them, resolved to try what success they would meet with at the hands of Macdonald of Morar, whose house stood hard by the loch of that name. Mrs. Macdonald was the sister of Lochiel, and received the illustrious fugitive most warmly ; so affected was she at the sight of his wretched condi- tion that, it is said, she burst into tears. Her husband, catch- ing something of his wife's sympathy, now came forward and greeted them all with mucli cordiality. The conversation turned at once upon the necessity of the Prince making speedy his escape out of the countiy. The coast was watched by gun- boats; Ferguson and his men were close on his track; the militia were at every port and inlet ; flight was no easy matter. Morar said that he would go in search of young Clanranald, and enlist his services on behalf of the Prince. He set out, and did not retur-n to his home till the following day. But it was evident that a change had come over the spirit of his en- thusiasm. He was cold and distant; he had been unable, he said, to find young Clanranald, and did not know of any one whom he could recommend to his Royal Highness. The Prince was not slow to see that Morar had been dissuaded from his purpose by others, and was not a little hurt. ' Why, Morar,' he said, ' this is very hard ; you were veiy kind to me yesternight, and said you would find out a hiding- place proof against all the search of the enemy's forces, and now you say you can do nothing at all for me. You can travel to no place but what I will travel to also, you can eat or drink nothing but I will take a share of them with you and be well content. When Fortune smiled on me, and I had money to give, I found some people I'eady enough to serve me ; but now, when Fortune frowns on me, and I have no pay to give, they forsake me in my necessity.' The taunt did not strike home. Like the old chieftain Clanranald, Morar was stubborn, and refused to mix himself up in the Prince's affairs. Then Charles, who saw the meshes of 1 Jacobite Memoirs, pp. 489, 490 ; Jesse, p. 328. HUNTED DOWN. 301 the enemy closing around him, and no way out for escape, thus gave expression to his feelings. ' Almighty God,' cried he, * look doA\"n upon my circumstances and pity me, for I am in a most melancholy situation. Some of those who joined me at first, and appeared to be fast friends, now turn their backs upon me in my greatest need; while some of those again who refused to join me, and stood at a distance, are now among my best friends ; for it is remarkable that those of Sir Alexander Macdonald's following have been most foithful to me in my distress, and contributed greatly to my preservation.' Then "turning round to John Mackinnon, he stretched out his hand and said, ' I hope, Mackinnon, yon will not desert me too, and leave me in the lurch 1 ' The old chieftain was standing by his kinsman, and he thought the words were addressed to him. ' I never,' he cried, tears of devotion and indignation starting to his eyes — ' I never will leave your Royal Highness in the day of danger, but will, under God, do all I can for you, and go with you wherever you order me.' ' Oh no,' replied Charles, ' this is too much for one of your advanced years. I heartily thank you for your readiness to take care of me, and I am well satisfied of your zeal for me and my cause ; but one of your age cannot well hold out with the fatigues and dangers I must undergo. It "was to your friend John here, a stout young man, that I was addressing myself.' ' Well, then,' readily responded John, ' with the help of God I will go through the wide world with your Eoyal High- ness.' ' Loyal as was the offer, it was not necessary to be accepted. Escorted by the Mackinnons, Charles now made his way towards BoiTodaile, the seat of Angus Macdonald. Here, as the aid of his two foithful fi'iends was now superfluous, the Prince bade them fiii-ewell, and placed himself unreservedly in the hands of his new protector. Burnt out of hearth and home for his advocacy of the Stuart cause, Angus Macdonald was now livins: in a small hut on his estate. As Charles entered the mean abode he could not restrain his tears, for not only had his host been utterly ruined for the adherence he had given, but a beloved son of his had perished on the fatal field of Culloden. The Prince approached Mrs. Macdonald, saluted her, and asked if she could endure the sight of one who had ' Mackinnon's Narrative, Jacobite Memoirs, p. 492 et stq. 302 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. been the cause of so much misery to her and her family. ' Yes, ' was the fine reply, ' even though all my sons had fallen in your Koyal Highness's service.' ' I ance had sons, but now hae nane, I bred them toiling sairly ; And I wad bear them a' again, And lose them a' for Charlie. For three days Charles remained at Borrodaile in the most strict seclusion ; but on the fourth day news was received that the enemy had traced him from Skye, were even now on his scent, and he was advised to fly to Glen Morar. Critical as had been the position of the Prince during the last few months, danger seemed now to have reached its full height. The gun- boats were stationed off Loch Nevis. General Campbell had drawn a complete cordon round the neighbouring district. Sentinels at frequent intervals guarded every pass and ford, and allowed none to pass without examination, whilst the scouts and militiamen were more busy than ever in scouring the dis- affected districts. But a Deus ex machind presented itself in the shape of Donald Cameron of Glenpean, who knew every glen and ravine in the surrounding wildness. Guided by this devoted adherent, Charles, at the end of three days of intense danger, fatigue, and exhaustion, found himself, on the night of July 28, on the top of the braes of Glenmoriston and Strath- glass, ' where, without food or fire, and wet to the skin, his only shelter was a small cave, the hmits of which were so nan-ow, and the narrow floor so rugged, as almost to rob him even of the luxury of sleep.' But by winding through the tortuous passages of ravines, scaling almost inaccessible passes, and making the widest of detours, he had broken through the enemy's lines and was for a time free from danger. Maintaining a guerilla warfare amid the rugged fastnesses of these regions were seven men whom Jacobite partisanship will not readily forget. Their names were Patrick Grant, a farmer, but better known as Black Peter of Craskie; John Macdonnell, alias Campbell; Alexander Macdonnell; Alexander, Donald, and Hugh Chisholm, three brothers, and Giigor Mac- gregor. These were the notorious ' Seven Men of Glenmoriston.' They had borne arms in the late Rebellion, and for this cause had had their homes burnt over their heads and been proscribed by the Government. With all the vindictiveness of a Corsican, each man had vowed a bitter revenge against those who had ' Jacobite Memoirs, p. 497. HUNTED DOWN. 303 made their lieartlis desolate, slain their kindred, and shipped their clansmen as slaves. Kissincf their dirks, they had solemnly sworn to stand by each other on every occasion, to know no mercy in an encounter with the minions of the Duke of Cumberland, and to deal out, whenever opportunity ofiered, the same punishment to the surrounding soldiery as had been dealt out by the victors of Culloden to the vanquished. Already their lawless deeds were the subjects of many a story round the camp-fires of Campbell's and Ferguson's men, and the veiy mention of their names arrested the soldier's attention and often made him blanch with fear. Not without reason. Well acquainted with every crag and cave for miles around, these Glenmoriston freebooters refused to be caught. Stationed behind rocks, they would pour a deadly fire upon any of the soldiery carrying provisions : then, before the attacked could recover themselves, would sweep down upon them, like a hawk upon his pi-ey, and utterly destroy them. On the boughs of the trees near the high-roads, it was no unusual thing to see the gory head of an Englishman suspended. In the dead of the night they would descend upon the little camp of the militia and carry oif the cattle. The soldiers, marching from one spot to the other, trembled as they entered any of those narrow defiles which, in the west of Scotland, lead on to the open, for Avell they knew the murderous fire with which their terrible and ubiquitous enemy had more than once from, above ploughed their ranks. On one occasion these seven men had attacked a large body of Campbell's troops, had kept up a running fire in a narrow ravine, and had forced the enemy to fly in dire confusion. Both Campbell and Fer- guson had set any price upon their beads, but none as yet had displayed the skill or the courage to deserve the reward. Charles, being now in the territory of these Jacobite ban- ditti, they were asked if they would protect their Prince. They readily assented. Young Clani'anald introduced themfr to the Prince, and he was escorted to their cave amid every demonstration of respect and delight. Here they swoi-e that ' their backs might be to God, their faces to the devil ; that all |; the curses the Scriptures did pronoimce might come upon them | and all their posterity, if they did not stand firm to the Prince in the greatest dangers, and if they should discover to any person, man, woman, or child, that the Prince was in then- keeping, till once his person should be out of danger.' So rigidly did they keep this oath that Charles had been a year in 304 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. France before it was known that he had been the guest of these loyal but lawless Highlanders. And he was their guest. For three weeks they secreted him in the different caves and hiding-places throughout the country. They foraged for him, and brought to their strongholds every delicacy they could rob or buy, which they fancied he would like. It was days since Charl.s had fared so sumptuously. Distressed at the miserable condition of his dress, they waylaid some servants carrying baggage to Fort Augustus, shot them down, and then bore off the booty to the Prince. He fascinated them. His coolness in moments of danger, his winning manners, his powei^s of endui-ing fatigue, his superiority in all manly exercises, won not only their devo- tion but their love. ' Stay with us,' they cried, when Charles had expressed his intention of finding Lochiel ; ' stay with us ; the mountain of gold which the Government have set upon your head may induce some gentleman to betray you, for he can go to a distant country and live on the price of his dis- honour — but to us there exists no such temptations. We can speak no language but our own : we can live nowhere but in this country. Were we to injure a hair of your head, the very mountains would fall down to crush us to death.' But the story of these Highland wanderings is now draw- ing to a close. On quitting these generous but unscrupulous outlaws Charles effected a junction with his staunch friends, Lochiel and Cluny Macpherson, who were lurking in the wilds of Badenoch. For some time they took up their abode in a ' very I'omantic and comical habitation ' called the Cage, on the side of Mount Benalder, which is still shown to the tourist. ' The Cage,' says Donald Macpherson, ' was only large enough to contain six or seven persons, four of which number were fre- quently employed in playing at cards ; one idle looking on ; one baking ; and another firing bread and cooking.' Here it was that the Prince received the joyful news that two French vessels, sent out expressly for his deliverance, had anchored in Lochnanuagh. Losing no time, he started off at once for the very spot where fourteen months before he had landed full of the most sanguine hopes. The ships were riding at anchor ; a boat was moored to a rock awaiting the arrival of the Fugitive; the Prince jumped into it, and in a few minutes was safe from the terrors of the past. With him embarked Lochiel, young Clanranald, John Roy Stuart, and other chief- tains ; also one hundi^ed and seven common men. HUNTED DOWN. 305 * A fellow I had in the braes of Loch Arkaig,' writes an informer to Lord Albemarle,^ ' this moment informs me that last Thursday about twelve o'clock, the Pretender's son em- barked on board a French ship of war in the same loch in Moidart where he first landed, attended by many of his friends . . . they had a considerable quantity of baggage along with them, and told those that were not to go on board to have good hopes that they might expect to hear from them in five or six weeks, and might depend upon their returning with a con- siderable force.' Thus ended the Highland adventures of him whom j30s- terity, with the fondness that shuns the stilted homage due to royalty, still calls Prince Charlie. When we consider the bold- ness of the enterprise he imdertook, the wondrous meed of success that first attended it, the endless dangei'S that were met and avoided during the trying months of his concealment, and the splendid devotion — among the most brilliant acts that Heroism can boast — of his followers, it is not surprising that the episode of ' The Forty-Five ' still maintains a hold over the imagination such as no other period of history possesses. It reads like a chapter in the romances of chivalry, and raises human nature in the estimation of mankind. ' For what wise end,' writes the Journalist of the Escape,^ ' Heaven has thus disappointed, and yet preserved this Noble Prince, and what future scenes the history of his life may dis- play, time only can tell ; yet something very remarkable still seems waiting him and this poor country also. May God grant a happy issue ! ' We shall see how that prayer was answered. 1 State Papers, Scotland, Sept. 21, 1746. 2 The Lockhurt Papers, vol. ii. p. 562. 3o6 LIFE OF PKL\CE CHARLES SlUARE. CHAPTER XV. UNDEE PROTECTION.! Eoj'al Charlie's now awa, Safely owre the friendly main ; Mony a heart will break in twa, Should he ne'er come back again. Will you no come back again ? Will 3'ou no come back again ? Better lo'ed you'll never be, And will you no couie back again ? On landing at the little port of Roscoff in Brittany, Charles drove on to Morlaix, where he resolved to rest for a few days in order to recover from the fatigues of the voyage. Here he penned the following letter to his brother Henry, who was the guest of Louis XV. at Versailles. 'Morlaix, October 10, N.S., 1746. ' Dear Brother, — As I am certain of your great concern for me, I cannot express the joy I have, on your account, of my safe arrival in this country. I send here inclosed two lines to my master,^ just to show him I am alive and safe, being fatigued not a little, as you may imagine. It is my opinion you should write immediately to the French king, giving him notice of my safe arrival, and at the same excusing my not writing to him myself immediately, being so much fatigued, and hoping soon to have the pleasure of seeing him. I leave to your pru- dence the wording of this letter, and would be glad no time should be lost in wi-iting and despatching it, as also that you should consult nobody, without exception, upon it, but Sir John Graham, and Sir Thomas,^ the reasons of which I will tell you on meeting. It is an absolute necessity I must see the French king as soon as possible, for to bring things to a right head. Warren, the bearer, will instruct you of the way I would wish you should meet me at Paris. I embrace you with all my heart, and remain ' Your most loving brother, 'Charles P.'* ' Unless where special reference is given, I am indebted for my information ill this chapter to 'The Young Pretender in France.' Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 565-86. 2 His father. ^ Sheridan. ^ Stuart Papers. Stanhope's Forty-Five, Appendix. UNDER rROTECTIOX. 307 The news that Charles had effected his escape into France created no little joy in the Pretender's Court at Rome. During the weary months of the Prince's wandering in Skye and the Hebrides, James had been a victim of the gravest melancholy. He was ignorant of the whereabouts of his son, and was ever tortui'ing himself with reproaches for having permitted so rash an expedition to be undertaken. He assailed the French am- bassador at Rome most bittei-ly for having misled him with false hopes of French assistance, and upbraided all with whom he came in contact. Day after day he went moaning about his palace, vowing that life was a burden to him, and that he should see his beloved Charles no more. Not a line had he received from the Prince, whilst he was always being given a wrong account of his movements. Now it was that his son was safelv housed in Paris; then that he had just landed in Sweden; or that he was marching south to England, a captive prisoner of the bloodthirsty Duke.^ Thus hearing nothing, and hoping against hope, James found no refuge for his anxiety but in the consolations of his Church and the sympathies of his con- fessor. At last intelligence that could be depended upon i-eached him, and from that moment the old man began to revive. ' Since the Pretender,' writes Sir Horace Mann to the Duke of Newcastle,^ ' has received the news of his eldest son's arrival in France, he is much less melanclioly than before, and has now confessed that for nearly six months he had not received any certain notice of him.' After a few days' rest at the quaint Breton fishing port, Charles set out for Paris. The Most Christian King, as soon as he learnt of the arrival of his illustrious visitor upon French soil, had given orders for the Castle of St. Antoine to be pre- pared for his reception. On approaching Paris, the Prince was met by the Duke of York and several members of the Fi-ench aristocracy, who congratulated him upon his past campaigns and successful escape. The meeting between the two brothers was most affectionate. ' Charles did not know me at fir-st sicfht,' writes Henry to his father, ' but I am sure I knew him very well, for he is not in the least altered since I saw him, except grown somewhat broader and fatter, which is incomprehensible after all the fatigues he has endured. Your Majesty may con- ceive, better than I can express in wintiug, the tendei'ness of our first meeting. Those that were present said they never 1 State Papers, Tuscany. Walton's Letters, 174(5. 2 Ihid. Nov. 15, No. 52. X 2 3o8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. saw the like in their lives, and indeed I defy the whole world to show another brother so kind and loving as he is to me. For my part, I can safely say, that all my endeavours tend to no other end but that of deserving so much goodness as he has for me.' Without even a halt at Paris for refreshment, Charles at once proceeded to Versailles to have audience with the King. Louis was presiding over the deliberations of an extraordinary Council of State, but at once quitted the chamber to receive the Prince. ' Mon tres cher Prince,' he said, cordially embracing him, ^ je rends grdce au del qui me donne le plaisir extreme de vous voir arrive en bonne sante ajjres tant de fatigues et de dangers. Vous avezfait voir que toutes les grandes qualites des heros et des philosophes se trouvent reunies en vous ; et j'espere qiCun de ces jours vous recevrez la recompense d'un merite si extraordinaire.' This charming speech, from the lips of one who had systematically during the last two years belied his words, having been delivered, Louis escorted Charles to the apartments of the Queen, who welcomed him with every de- monstration of goodwill and satisfaction. On his departure from the Palace, the whole Court crowded round him, and cordially complimented him upon the manner in which he had conducted his expedition. But Louis, if he had neglected his illustrious visitor during the past, determined now to treat him with every distinction. He gave orders that Charles should be received at Court as became the Prince Regent of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and appointed a day for his presentation. With all due ceremony Charles prepared himself for the occasion. At the hour appointed he issued from the gates of St Antoine to make his first official appearance at the Court of Versailles. He was dressed in a suit ' of uncommon elegance.' The coat was made of rose-coloured velvet embroidered Avith silver. The waistcoat was a rich gold brocade with a 'spangled fringe set on in scollops.' His cockade and shoe buckles sparkled with diamonds. On his breast were the stars of St. George and St. Andrew. ' In short,' says his reporter, ' he glittered all over like the star which they tell you appeared at his nativity.' The pi'ocession consisted of three carriages. In the first Avere I^ords Elcho and Ogilvie (the former of whom, according to Sir Walter Scott, had vowed that he would never look i;pon the face of his Prince again), with Glenbucket and Kelly, secretaries to the Eegency. In the second sat the Prince him- UXDER PROTECTION. 309 self, with Lord Lewis Gordon and old Locliiel : two pages resplendently dressed, and ten footmen in the English royal livery, walked by their side. The third was occupied by the four chamberlains. Following the state carriages were young Lochiel and an escort drawn from la jeioiesse doree of the French aristocracy. The King greeted the Prince with every mark of distinction, and in the evening he was entertained at a State banquet. ' I should not have mentioned these particulars,' A\'rites the narrator in the Lockhart Papers, ' but to show you that the French Court took all imaginable p;uns to lull the young Chevalier into forgetfulness of the breach of past pro- mises, and persuade him that his concerns Avould now be taken into immediate consideration.' Agreeable as were the attentions he now received after the months of past misery, Charles never forgot the subject which was uppermost in his mind. He was still as unth'ing as ever in his eflbrts to persuade Louis to send troops into Scot- land and create another rebellion. He explained that the recent conduct of the English government had caused the most lively dissatisfaction in Scotland, and that for every follower he formerly possessed he now had three. He was sure, he said, that he could rely on the fidelity of his Scotch subjects — he had never lacked warriors in the Highlands — but their loyalty was useless without money, provisions, and regular troops to strengthen their efforts. Had he only possessed 3,000 regular troops he would have mai'ched at once into England after de- feating Cope, and nothing could have prevented his reaching London. Had he but been supplied with provisions, he would have been in a condition to pursue Hawley after defeating him at Falkirk, and thus to put to the sword his whole army — the flower of the English troops. Had he but received half the money France sent him, he would have been able to fight the Duke of Cumberland on equal terms, and would doubtless have defeated him. But, argued Charles, the misfortunes of the past could easily be repaired, if only his Majesty would grant him a force of 18,000 or 20,000 men. The interests of France had always been identical with those of the House of Stuart, and he hoped that this time he should not have to plead in vain. To this request Louis prudently gave no definite answer. He temporised with the matter, and tried to turn the young man's thoughts into a different channel by surrounding him with all the gaieties of a Court. He was styled Prince Regent of England, and a suite placed at his disposal. A handsome 3IO LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. pension was assigned him. The brilliant society of Paris was at his feet. Not a week passed Avithont his being invited to Court, and treated with the distinction due to one of royal blood. The Queen, who had been a warm friend of his mother, looked upon him with almost matei'nal tenderness, and we ai-e told often encouraged him to talk of his past adventures, ' the details of which seldom failed to draw tears from her eyes.' Nor are we led to believe that this sympathy was confined only to the Consort of Louis XV. There was, we are told, a dark- eyed daughter of the House of Boui'bon who shared her mother's interest in the graceful young man, and whose sympathy and admiration were fast developing into a warmer feeling. For the hazel orbs of this kindly damsel, Charles, we know, had always expressed an admiration, and on convivial occasions during the past campaign, his favourite toast was 'the Black Eyes— the second daughter of France.' The tendre, if ever it existed, however, never came to any- thing, and served only perhaps as an agreeable flirtation for the Prince. Rumour was then very busy with his name wherever the fair sex was concerned, and always reporting that he was about to enter into a matrimonial alliance. Now it is Walton who says that he is to marry a daughter of the House of Massa, then it is Mann who writes that he is to marry a young Pi-incess of Modena, or else the bride is to be a Princess of France, or a Princess of Spain, or a daughter of the reigning House in Sweden — gossip which shows the interest Europe was taking in the fortunes of the young Chevalier. Charles did not marry till late in life ; and, though it may appear strange why a man, endowed with a handsome person and singularly winning manners, to whom a brilliant alliance would have been politic- ally of service, should have so long remained a bachelor, the reason perhaps is that the affections of Charles were deeply but illicitly engaged elsewhere. The attention shown to the Prince by the House of Bourbon created great hopes in the minds of the Jacobites. ' Everybody,' writes Mann from Florence,' ' talks of the distinguished recep- tion which the French King is said to have given to the Pretender's eldest son, and with assurances never to abandon his interests. The Pretender's people and partisans are grown extremely insolent upon it, and flatter themselves with the greatest advantages,' But these hopes were soon destined to ' State Papers, Tiiscnny, Xov. 20, ITJfi, Xo. 52. UNDER PROTECTION. 311 disappointment. It was not long before Charles felt how illusory was the idea of expecting aid from France. A few regiments, it is true, were being drilled and paraded at Calais and Boulogne, Dunkirk and Dieppe, ostensibly for the invasion of England, but the Prince saw plainly how inadequate their numbers were for the pui-pose. He knew how crushing had been the effect of the battle of Culloden upon his party, and that it would be nothing short of madness again to stir up a rebellion and expose the lives of his faithful friends unless powerfully supported by French troops. He now saw how wise had been his friends when they advised him, some eighteen months ago, not to meditate an invasion without the aid of French soldiery. He had learnt by experience, and he would not repeat the fault. Still he hoped on, and it was not till after a visit from Cardinal Tencin that he really discovered how frail, in the present condition of foreign politics, was the reed on which he depended. The Cardinal was a staunch and ambitious Jacobite, and, having been indebted for his Hat to the interest and favour of James, there was little he was not ready to undertake, or pre- tend to undertake, for the advancement of the Stuart cause. He called frequently upon Charles at St. Antoine, ' to pay,' as he said, ' his compliments to the son of a person to whom he was so highly obliged.' Their conversations naturally turned upon the state of England, and the expediency of obtaining French assistance. The Cardinal, in whose person the whole power of the Ministry was centred, was at first very guarded in his answers, and careful not to compromise himself. But one morning his Eminence hinted that though France had her hands full, and was busy in coping with her enemies on all sides, yet she might be induced to grant him the desired aid on a condition. ' What was the condition % ' asked the Prince, eagerly. ' That Ireland be ceded to France,' replied the Car- dinal, ' as a compensation for the expense the court at Versailles would necessarily be put to.' But scarcely had his Emin- ence mentioned the proposal than Charles rose angrily from his seat and cried out, ' Non, Monsieur le Cardinal, tout ou rien ! poi7it de partage ! jwint de portage ! ' and to quiet him- self he paced up and down the room, repeating the while the words of his refusal. The Cai'dinal, somewhat taken aback by this burst of indig- nation, now changed his tactics, and begged Charles to think no more of the offer : he had, he said, but made the suggestion, 312 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. which was entirely a project of his own, and in no way of an official character, simply out of the love and regard he bore to the illustrious House of Stuart, and in the belief that the pro- posal would have been acceptable. It was not acceptable, and there was an end of the matter ; he hoped his Royal Highness would think no more about it. To this Charles haughtily replied that he would not even condescend to give himself the trouble to think of it. Whether Tencin had orders to make this proposal, or it was, as he said, but a scheme of his own, we know not. The pro- bability is that the idea was conceived by the ambitious chvirchman alone, under the impression that Charles would be only too glad to avail himself of the offer, and thus Ireland be transferred to the dominion of France, with his Eminence Cardinal Tencin as Primate of the new kingdom and patron of its ecclesiastical benefices. Had the Prince accepted the pro- posal, Tencin would have had but little difficulty in 'educating' the French Ministers up to his views. He Avas, however, not prepared for the fact that, though Chai-les was ever ready to conspire against the reigning House of Hanover, and to plot for the repossession of what he considered as his dominions, he was none the less an Englishman, and would rather see his country in the hands of a rival, whole and intact, than recover possession of it at the cost of territorial sacrifice. But the offer, coming from the foremost statesman of France, plainly proved to the Prince the folly of expecting such assistance from Louis or his ministers as he could receive without disloyalty to his country or indignity to himself. He had imagined his all)^ a chivalrous fx'iend, he found him but a keen-witted ti'ader. He wanted generous help, not a vile bargain. Despairing of France, Charles now turned his gaze south of the Pyrenees. If Versailles was cold and calculating, perhaps the Escurial would be warmer and less interested. Spain had always been full of assurances of sympathy and good wishes towards the House of Stuart. She had been a staunch ally to the father, and had extended her favour to the son. At the commencement of the rebellion she had sent a ship into Moidart with arms and money for the Prince ; but, as the campaign proceeded, she held herself rather coldly aloof. This coldness was attributed by Sir Charles Wogan, who was busying himself about his master's affairs at Madrid, to the jealousy felt by the Spanish Court at the Prince's having entered into a treaty of alliance with France. ' They look upon it,' UNDER PROTECTION. 313 writes Wogan to Charles/ ' as a sort of neglect or contempt of them that you have not equally entered into engagemejits with them.' And then he hints that it would be as well if the Prince wrote occasionally to his Most Catholic Majesty and to his ministers, ' as they often express a wish to hear from him, and would take such an act very kindly.' ' For their jealousy,' continues Wogan, *is a jealousy of love and real kindness, which only wants some demonstration and affection and confid- ence on your side to exert itself in your favour with all the eagerness and zeal that the circumstances of their whole troops being abroad and their Treasury being stinted at home, by the few returns from their Indies in this time of war with England, can affoi'd. For I (that have many friends in this Court, and know but too well how their affairs stand) was sur- prised, I own it, at their liberality in sending your Royal High- ness so great a sum.' ^ Charles received this letter when about to retreat from Stirling, and the events that ensued appear to have rendered liim unable to take the hint of Wogan. It was now, whilst idling away his time in Paris, that he bethought himself of journeying south, in the hopes that Madrid might gi-ant what Versailles refused. But he was doomed to disappointment. Spain was no longer the first-rate power she had been under the sway of her first Charles and her second Philip, but a kingdom rapidly on the decline, and fully alive to the expe- diency of adopting a conciliatory state policy. The Prince crossed the Pyrenees in vain. Let us learn from his owti lips the failure of his mission.^ ' T believe your Majesty will be as much surprised as I am to find that, no sooner arrived, I was hurried away without so much as allowing me time to rest. I thought there was not such fools as the French court, but I find it here far beyond it. Your Majesty must forgive me if I speak here a little out of humour, for an angel would take the spleen on this occasion. Notwithstanding, you will find I behaved towards them with all the res])ect and civility imaginable, doing a la lettre whatever they required of me, to give them not the least reason of com- 1 State Papers, Domestic. Madrid, Dec. 10, 1745,^0. 76. 2 This sum is various!}' estimated at 10,000/., 6,000/., and 5,000/.; but in the Domestic State Papers, Oct. 1745, No. 72, I have come across the exact amount sent by tlie King of Spain to Charles. It is as follows : 3,000 Spanish pistoles in jxokl, or 2,625/. ; and 6,705 Spanish crown pieces in silver, or 1,670/. 2s. All.; making a total of 4,.301/. 2s. Ad. ■' Stuart Papers, Guadalaxara, March 12, 1747. Stanhope. 314 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. plaining of me, and by that putting them entirely dans leiir tort. I shall now begin my narration of all that has passed since my arrival in this country. ' For, to arrive with the greater secrecy and diligence, so that this court should not hear of me until I let them know it, I took post at Perpignan, with Vaughan and Cameron, the rest not being able to ride, and not to be so many together. I arrived at Barcelona, and finding that, by the indiscretion of some of our own people (which the town happened then to be full of), it was immediately spread I was there ; this hindered me to wait here foi- the rest of my people coming up, as I intended, and made me take the resolution to leave even those that had come there with me, for the greater blind and expe- dition, and to take along with me only Colonel Nagle, who had been with the Duke of Ormond. * I arrived at Madrid the 2nd instant, and addressed myself iramediately to Geraldine, Sir Charles Wogan being at his government ; and it happened better so, for I find they are not well together, and Geraldine is all in all with the ministers. I gave him immediately a letter for Caravajal, which enclosed one for the king, of which I send here a copy ; this was the channel he advised me to go by. Upon that I got an appoint- ment with the said minister; and he carried me to him in his coach, with a great many ridiculous precautions, for I find all here like the pheasants, that it is enough to hide their heads to cover the rest of the body, as they think. After I made Caravajal many compliments, I asked him that I supposed he had delivered my letter to the king, and had received his orders what I should do ? To which he said he had not, telling me it was better he should not give it, and that I should go back immediately ; that he was very sorry the situation of affairs Wivs such, that he advised me to do so. This he endeavoured to persuade me to by several very nonsensical reasons. I answered them all, so that he had nothing in the world to say, but that he would deliver my letter. I told him that my sudden resolution of coming here was upon one of my friends coming just before I parted from Paris to me, from the rest, assuring me that they were ready as much as ever, if they had the assistance necessary, to allow them time to come to a head ; at the same time expressing what a conceit that nation had for the Spaniards' good inclinations, and how popular it would be for me to take a jaunt in that country, out of gratitude for all they had endeavoured to do for us ; that I could be back UNDER PROTECTION. 31$ at any event for any expedition of effect, for that, with reason, none could be undertook till the month of April or May. I added to that my personal inclinations, which hit with theirs. ' I parted, after all compliments were over, and was never more surprised than when Caravajal himself came at the door of the auherge I was lodged in, at eleven at night and a half, to tell me that the king wanted to see me immediately. I went instantly, and saw the king and queen together, who made me a great many civilities, but at the same time desiring me to go back as soon as possible ; that, unluckily, circum- stances of affairs required so at present ; that nothing in the world they desired more than to have the occasion of showing me proofs of their friendship and regard. (One finds in old histories, that the greatest proofs of showing such things are to help people in distress ; but this, I find, is not now a la mode, according to French fashion.) I asked the king leave, in the first place, to see the queen dowager, and the rest of the royal family, to which he answered there was no need to do it. Upon my repeating, how mortifying it would be for me, at least, not to make my respects to the old queen, to thank her for her goodness towards us, he said I might speak of that to Caravajal. I found by that he had got his lesson, and was a weak man just put in motion like a clock-work. At last, after many respectful compliments, and that the chief motive of my coming was to thank his Majesty for all the services his royal family had done for ours, at the same time to desii'e the continuation of them ; to which he said, if occasion offered he would even do more ; after that I asked him, for not to trouble him longer, which was the minister he would leave me to speak to of my affaii's, and of what I Avanted 1 to which he said, that he had an entii^e confidence in Caravajal, and that to him alone I might speak as to himself. I spoke then, that Caravajal might hear, that there was nobody that could be more acceptable to me than him : says I, in laughing, he is half an Englishman, being called Lancaster. I parted ; and who should I make out at the door but Farinelli, who took me by the hand with effrontery. I thought at first it was some grandee, or captain of the guards, that had seen me in Italy, and was never so much surprised as when he named himself, saying that he had seen me formerly, which he was sure I could not remember. ' From thence I went in the minister's apartment, and staid some time with him ; but I perceived immediately that he hattait la campagnc, and concluded nothing to the purpose, but 31 6 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. pressing me ardently to go out of the town and away imme- diately. I told liim, though I had made a long journey, notwithstanding, being young and strong, I would be ready to go away that very same night ; but that, if he cared to assist me in the least, he must allow me a little time to explain and settle things with him ; that, if he pleased, I would be next day with him again. He agreed to that, but that absolutely it was necessary, to do a pleasure to the King, I should part the day after. I Avent to him as agreed upon, and brought a note of what I was to speak to him about, which, after ex- plaining, I gave to him a copy of, Avhich I enclose here, along with the answer he made before me in writing, which seems to me not to say much. He pressed me again to part next day. I represented it was an impossibility, in a manner, for me to go before any of my people coming up. At last he agreed to send along with me Sir Thomas Geraldine, as far as Guada- laxara, whei-e I might wait for my family. We parted, loading one another with compliments.' Cold as the reception of the Prince had been, we learn that the visit was not entirely fruitless. ' One of my correspondents,' writes Sir Horace Mann to the Duke of Newcastle,^ 'has seen a letter from the daughter of the Constable Colonna, who is married in Spain, by which she acquaints her father that the Pretendei-'s eldest son had been there, but was very ill received at Court; that, however, his journey had not been totally fruitless, as he had obtained a promise from the King of Spain of the continuance of the yearly pension which that Court has long given to the Pretender, thougli at some times it has been very ill paid, and that the Court besides gave the young man a considerable sum of money for his journey.' On the receipt of his son's letter James w^as seized with another of those fits of melancholy which the vigilant "Walton was ever observing. Believing that his cause was now de- serted both by France and Spain, he wished the Prince to take up his abode at Eome, and used all his influence with the Pope to obtain a settled allowance for Charles. But the Prince, much to the annoyance of his father, had no intention of returning to Italy : he thought the wiser course was to remain quietly at Paris, and seize every opportunity of pleading his cause to his most Christian Majesty. *I thought it proper,' Charles wi-ites to Lord Clancarty from Paris within a fortnight after his return from Madrid, ' to come back again to France ; 1 Slate Papers, Tuscany, April 18, 1747. UNDER PROTECTION. 317 but intend to keep myself absolutely in private, as the season is now favourable to make another attempt and to bring these people here to reason if possible. On our side we must leave no stone unturned, and leave the rest to Providence.' ^ But the Stuart cause was soon to receive a blow almost as severe as that dealt out to it on the sods of Gulloden. The Duke of York had always been a devoted son of the Church ; indeed, if we are to believe his contemporaries, he was bigoted to a degree, and as years rolled on he became more and more desirous of prominently identifying himself with her creed. At last this desire took a definite form. Unknown to his brother, he secretly quitted Paris and arrived at Rome late in the evening of the 25th of May. He gave out that his visit was merely to pay his respects to his father ; but the gossips and spies at Rome were not to be deceived. ' The young Prince,' writes a correspondent to Mann,- ' seems very quiet at present, but he has certainly something in his head which will soon flash out.' Nor had expectation long to wait. In a few days the Eternal City learnt that it was the intention of the svipreme Pontiff to raise the Duke to the Cardinalate. The ceremony was conducted with a distinction which aroused not a little the jealousy of the Sacred College. On the day appointed — the third of July — a particular ceremonial was estabhshed for the occasion. The Duke was treated not only as a Prince of the Church but also as a Prince of the Blood Royal. He wore ermine on his upper cloak. He took rank next to Cardinal Ruflo, the Dean of the Sacred College, and received, without retui^ning, the visits of ceremony from the different members of the Conclave. His arms were the Royal Arms of England, and ' there was a great dispute whether the Crown or the Hat should be uppermost.' In the Consistory the Pope made a speech on the occasion, which, writes Mann,^ ' was extremely ridiculed at Rome.' And not without reason. His Holiness began by saying that he had assembled his Holy Brethren together to inform them of his intention of creating Henry Benedict Clement, Duke of York, the second son of his Majesty King James the Third of Great Britain, a Cardinal Deacon. He forbore to enumerate the gallant deeds of the Cardinal elect's royal parent, for they were known to all. None could be ignorant of the fact that from his boyhood his Majesty was a king without a kingdom, and that he had ever 1 Stuart Papers. 2 gtate Papers, Tuscany, 1747. 3 Ibid. July 11, 1747. J 1 8 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. been undertaking expeditions to kingdoms and provinces estranged from the Catholic Church, not only with the object of restoring his exiled family to their throne, but also of re- storing faith and I'eligion to their ancient splendour. All his attempts had, alas ! been unsuccessful ; but still no reverse could break his Majesty's spirit or weaken his virtue ; no labour or distress could detach him from Christian laws and insti- tutions. And why'? Because his Majesty not only professed the gospel but followed it during the whole course of his life. No one knew better than his Majesty that nothing profited a man if he gained the whole world and yet lost his own soul. And as a worthy companion to this life and conduct were the good actions and pious career of his Majesty's late consort, who was known and admired by the whole city, and at her death left behind her examples of all the vu-tues. From these illustrious parents, continued his Holiness, was Henry, Duke of York, sprung. Though but twenty -three years of age, he was yet as old as Saint Charles Borromeo when he was enrolled among the Cardinals by Pius lY. ; he was six years older than was Peter of Luxemburg when created Car- dinal by Clement YII. ; and ten years older than was Robert de Nobilibus whom Julius III. raised to a seat in the Sacred College. And yet all these, young though they were, sustained their dignity to the love and admiration of all. So did his Holiness expect that Henry, Duke of Yoi-k, who, from his youth upwards, had ever taken piety as his guide and com- panion, would, in like manner, be an oi'nament to the Sacred Order. Should he be elected he Avould be of no slight assist- ance to religion, and reflect no diill glory upon the Apostolic seat. For of him might be said, in the words of St. Bernard, ' Morihus antiquavit dies, fra^venit lemfora meritis, et quod cetcdi deest, coi/ipensavit virtutibus' ; and, in the words of Holy Writ, ' Cani sunt sensus hominis, et cetas senectutis vita iinmacu- lata.' Then, looking at his audience, the Pope asked, ' Quid vohis videtur V and no dissentient voice being raised, his Holi- ness lifted up his hands and said, ' Auctoritate Omnipotentis Dei, Sanctorum Apostolorum, Petri et Pauli, ac nostrd, crpamus Sanctce Romante Ecclesice Diaconum Cardinalem Henricum Benedictum Clementem Ducem Eboracensem, cum disjyensati- onibus, derogationibus et clausulis necessariis et opportunis, et Jirma remanente reservatione duorum in iiectore alias a nobis facta. In Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Saiicti. Amen.' ^ 1 ' Speech of Pope Benedict XIV. to the Most Rev. and Eminent Lords the UNDER PROTECT/OX. 319 Five days afterw.irds the creation was gazetted. The elevation of the Duke of York did not apparently add much to his popularity. ' The Pretender's second son,' writes Mann,' ' makes himself very odious to the nobility of Rome since his being Cardinal. He pretends that the Roman Princes and Dukes should make him a visit in ceremony without a restitution of that visit, which the others insist upon. He has an assembly every Thursday evening in his apartment, to which, the Duke Lanti lately went, but was told by a servant, after he was got up the stairs, that there was no place for him, so that he was obliged to return back extremely mortified ; the same afiront had been shown to many others, and particularly to the Duke of Caserta, who was formerly tlaeir great friend, and had for several years in the hunting season entertained both the Pretender's sons at his country house at a very great expense. The Duke Lanti is nephew to the Cardinal of that name, who is styled at Rome Protector of Scotland, and it is said he insists upon his nephews going in cei'emony to the Pretende^-'s second son to make excuses for not having made him a proper visit sooner, though it is thought that his example will not be followed by any others of the same rank.' Utterly ignorant of his brother's resolution, the first intel- ligence that Charles received of the premeditated step was from his father.^ ' I know not whether you will be surprised, my dearest Carluccio,' writes James, ' when I tell you that your brother will be made a Cardinal the first day of next month. ^ Natur- ally speaking, you should have been consulted about a reso- lution of that kind before it had been executed ; but as the Duke and I were unalterably detei-mined on the matter, and we foresaw that you might probably not approve of it, we thought it wovild be showing you more regard, and that it would even be more agreeable to you, that the thing should be done before yoiir answer could come her§, and to have it in your power to say it was done without your knowledge and appro- bation. It is very true, ] did not expect to see the Duke here Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church.' State Papers, Tuscanv, July 11, 1747. 1 State Papers, Tuscany, Dec. 5, 1747. 2 Stuart Papers, Alb.ino, June 13, 1747. Stanhope. 5 This is wrong. Henry was created a cardinal on Monday, the 3rd of July, and received the hat on the 8th inst. See Mann, State Papers, Tuscany, July 11, 1747. 320 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. so soon, and that his tenderness and aflfection for me prompted him to undertake that journey ; but, after I had seen him, I soon found that his chief motive for it was to discourse with me fully and freely on the vocation he had long had to embrace an ecclesiastical state, and which he had so long concealed from me and kept to himself, with a view, no doubt, of having it in his power of being of some use to you in the late conjunctures. But the case is now altered ; and, as I am fully convinced of the sincerity and solidity of his vocation, I should think it a resist- ing the will of God, and acting directly against my conscience, ' if I should pretend to constrain him in a matter which so nearly concerns him. ' The maxims I have bred you up in, and have always fol- lowed, of not constraining others in matters of religion, did not a little help to determine me on the present occasion, since it would be a monstrous proposition that a king should be a father to his people and a tyrant to his children. A fter this, I will not conceal from you, my dearest Carluccio, that motives of conscience and equity have not alone determined me in this particular ; and that, when I seriously consider all that has passed in relation to the Dvike for some years bygone, had he not had the vocation he has, I should have used my best en- deavours, and all arguments, to have induced him to embrace that state. If Providence has made you the elder brother, he is as much my son as you, and my paternal care and aflfection are equally to be extended to you and him ; so that I should have thought I had greatly failed in both towards him, had I not endeavoured by all means to secure to him, as much as in me lay, that tranquillity and happiness which I was sensible it was impossible for him to enjoy in any other state. 'You will understand all that I mean, without my en- larging farther on this last so disagreeable article; and you cannot, I am sure, complain that I deprive you of any service the Duke might have been to you, since you must be sensible that, all things considered, he would have been useless to you remaining in the world. But let vis look forward and not back- ward. The resolution is taken, and will be executed before your answer to this can come here. If you think proper to say you were ignorant of it, and do not approve it, I shall not take it amiss of you ; but, for God's sake, let not a step, which natur- ally should secure peace and union to us for the rest of our days, become a subject of scandal and eclat, which would fall heavier upon you than upon us in our present situation, and UNDER PROTECTION. 321 whicli a filial and brotherly conduct in you will easily prevent. Your silence towards your brother, and what you writ to me about him since he left Paris, would do you little honour if they were known, and are mortifications your brother did not de- serve, but which cannot alter his sentiments towards you. He now writes to you a few lines himself, but I forbid him entering into any particulais, since it would be giving himself and you a useless trouble after all I have said about him here, * You must be sensible that on many occasions I have had reason to complain of you, and that I have acted for this long while towards you more like a son than a father ; but I can assure you, my dear child, nothing of all that sticks with me, and I forgive you the more sincerely and cordially all the trouble you have given me, that I am persuaded it was not your intention to fail towards me, and that I shall have reason to be pleased with you for the time to come, since all I request of you hereafter is your personal love and afiection for me and your brother. Those who may have had their own views in endeavouring to remove us from yovir affairs, have compassed their end. We are satisfied, and you remain master ; so that I see no bone of contention remaining, nor any possible obstacle to a perfect peace and union amongst us for the future, God bless my dearest Carluccio, whom I tenderly embrace, ' I am all yours, * James R,' From this letter it is evident that Charles and Henry wei'e not on the best of terms during latter residence together at Paris. What caused the estrangement is not quite clear, but from one or two sentences in the letters of the Prince to his father, it would appear that Henry disapproved of some of his brother's courtiers, and that his mind had been poisoned against him. 'I do nothing without consulting my dear brother,' writes Charles,^ ' and when I happen to do contrary to his opinion, it is entirely of my own head, and not by any- body's else advice ; for I can assure your Majesty I myself trust nobody more than I do him, as with reason I tell liim everything I can; but I am afraid some people have given him a bad opinion of me, for I suppose I must own he does not open his heart to me. I shall always love him, and be united with him. Whatever he does 1,0 me, I will always tell 1 Stuart Papers, Dec. 19, 1716 ; Jan. 16, 1747. Stanhope. Y 322 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. him face to face what I think for his good, let him take it well or ill. I know him to be a little hvely, not much loving to be contradicted ; but I also know and am sensible of his love and tenderness for me in particular beyond expression, and of his good heart in general. . . . Notwithstanding I offered to my dear brother, that anyone or all about me that he had a dis- gust for, I would dismiss to make him easy; to which he assured me he had no dislike for anybody, and did not want any such thing. He does not open his heart to me, and yet I perceive he is grieved, which must proceed from malicious people putting things in his head, and preventing him against me.' Whatever the cause of this coldness, there is no doubt that the moment Charles heard of his brother havmg been created a Cardinal, the kindly feelings which once animated him altogether ceased. He broke off all correspondence with him, and for a time refused even to write to his father. Walton is full of gossip relating to this grave family feud. Here are a few extracts from his despatches. ' The Pretender has found himself en grande disunion with his eldest son, on account of the latter having never approved of the resolution adopted at Rome of making the Cardinal take Holy Orders, and thus preventing him ever marrying should occasion require it. They have written to him (Charles) explaining the necessity of such a proceeding, but without any effect ; he has for some time shown openly his discontent towards his father, and among other things has not written to him for several posts. At this the Pretender is very much hurt, because of his two sons the elder has always been his favourite.' ' ' Cardinal Yalenti has written by the order of the Pope to the Pretender's eldest son, to convince him of the necessity he has been under of conferring priest's orders upon Cardinal Stuart, and has exhorted him to become reconciled . with his father, who in all that he has done has only followed the persuasions of the Court of France and of the Vatican.'^ ' Bishop Canillo has given himself a great deal of trouble in ordei- to persuade the Pretender to write to his eldest son, but he has found it impossible to soften his temper, which is so irritable upon the subject that the dissension between the father and son continues to grow stronger and stronger, and offers very little hope of a reconciliation.'^ 'The eldest son StatePapers, Tuscany, Sept. .S, 1748. * Ibid. Sept. 17, 1748. 5 Ibid. Sept. 24, 1748. UNDER PKOTECriON. 323 still preserves his silence towards his father, and makes use of Bishop Canillo to conduct his affairs at the Vatican.' ' * No one ever mentions the name of the eldest son in the Palace of the Pretender, which shows that peace has not yet been effected between father and son.' '^ ' The Pretender has caused Cardinal Riviera to write to his eldest son, begging him in very pathetic terms to recommence their ordinary correspond- ence, which has now been interi'upted for so many months.' '^ And then at last we read : ' Cardinal Corsini has received a letter from the Pretender's eldest son full of respect for his father, which makes one believe that a reconciliation will soon follow.' -i A kind of reconciliation did follow, but the affectionate feeling which had formerly subsisted between father and son never regained its place in the heart of the son. Instead of the long letters Charles had been in the habit of writing to Rome, a few curt lines signifying his future movements or his pecuniary necessities were all he henceforth vouchsafed. Throughout the correspondence of Walton, the information that the Pretender has received a letter from his eldest son en peu de mots is constantly occurring. On the side of James this coldness is never apparent; he speaks always affection- ately of Charles ; takes up the cudgels in his defence ; is bitterly grieved at the life he leads ; and uses every effort to induce him to come and take up his abode iiear Rome. But Charles, rendered stubborn and morose whenever he took offence, by that fatal habit of which he was fast becoming the slave, seems always to have declined to respond to this paternal interest and affection. Among the pet grievances he loved in after-life to dwell upon, Henry's acceptance of the Hat and priest's orders was perhaps the most prominent. I State Papers, Tuscany, Oct. 8, 1748. « Oct. 22. 3 Nov. 13. ■* Not. 26. y2 324 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. CHAPTER XVL THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. Suppliant-like for alms depending On a false and foreign court ; Jostled by the flaunting nobles, Half their pity, half their sport. Forced to hold a place in pageant Like a royal prize of war, Walking with dejected features Close behind his victor's car ; Styled an equal — deemed a servant — Fed with future hopes of gain : Worse by far is fancied freedom Than "the captive's clanking chain ! Whilst Charles, still hoping against hope, was trying to make himself believe that France would one day cordially support his cause, the Court of Versailles was seriously thinking of peace. Of late the war, that was generally engrossing the attention of Europe, had pressed hardly upon Louis the Fifteenth. His fleets had been severely defeated by the ' English. His finances were well-nigh exhausted. In Italy his arms had not been so successful as he had anticipated. The elevation of the Grand Puke of Tuscany to the Imperial throne, and the peace that now subsisted between the Houses of Austria, Bavaria, and Brandenburg, had totally defeated his schemes in Germany. Though victoi-ious in the Netherlands, the election of a Stadtholder so united the force of the States- General against him as to leave little hopes of future con- quest in that quarter. Both Spain and Genoa were expensive allies. Influenced by these considerations, the ministers of the Most Christian King thought it advisable to make advances both at London and the Hague towards an accommodation. Plenipotentiaries met at Aix-la-Chapelle, and in the first week of the October of 1748 a definitive treaty of peace was signed, and hostilities ceased in all quarters. With the various articles of this Treaty we have little to do : the only one that interests us is the clause relating to the treatment of Prince Charles and his family. Months before the Treaty was signed it became evident, as soon as the plenipotentiaries met together in council, that England would agree to no peace unless the King of France pledged himself THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 325 not to permit any member of the Stuart family to reside within his territory. Anxious for peace and yet desirous of preserving himself from the impression of being dictated to, Louis, though perfectly willing to agree to the wishes of England, preferred that the removal of Charles should appear to be a voluntary act on the young man's part. He sent for the Prince and offered him a residence at Fribourg in Switzer- land, with the promise of a handsome pension. The Prince declined ; he had been invited to France under the promise of active assistance, and he would not quit the country out of obedience to Hanoverian dictation. If France chose to break her word and obtain peace by ignoring his cause, that was her affaii' ; he, however, would only submit to be exiled from the kingdom by foi'ce, and then all Europe should see how basely he had been deceived, and with what cowai-dice protected. In this extremity Versailles wrote to James, and begged him to use his influence and recall his son. But Charles was in no humour to pay attention to his father's wishes and entreaties, and curtly refused to return to Italy. Quarters might be pre- pared for him at Bologna or Ferrara, if his father so chose, but nothing would induce him to leave Paris. So hurt was James by this decided refusal, that he begged the Pope to remonstrate with the Prince on his obstinacy.^ At Paris Charles remained during the months the articles of the Treaty were being drawn up, and used every effort to win the Marquis de Puysieux over to his side. When the terms of the Treaty were made known to him, and he found that France had humbled herself to be dictated to by England, he issued the following indignant protest ^ : — ' No one is ignorant of the hereditary rights of our Royal House to the throne of Great Britain ; it is needless to enter into a particular detail thereof. All Europe is acquainted with the troubles which have so often disturbed these king- doms, and the wrongs we have suffered. She knows that length of time cannot alter the constitution of the state, nor ground a prescription against the fundamental laws. She cannot see without astonishment that we should remain silent while the powers in War are holding a treaty for a peace which may, without regarding the justice of our cause (in which all sovereigns are concerned), agree upon and stipulate 1 State Papers. Tuscany, Dee. 3, 1748. 2 Paris, July 16, 1748. " I have to thank the Eev. Francis Hopkinson, LL.D., of Malvern Wells, for a copy of this document. 32"6. LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. articles prejudicial to oui^ interests and to those of the svibjects of our most honoured Lord and Father. ' For these causes, authorised by the examples of our most honoured Grandfather, and our most honoured Lord and Father, "VVe, as well in the name of our most honoured Lord and Father, who has given to us full powei's by committing to us the regency of his kingdoms, as also in our own and proper name as natural heir to the Crown, Protest in the most solemn manner, and in the best form that may be done against all that may be said, done, or stipulated in the assembly now held at Aix-la-Chapelle, or in other assembly which, in consequence thereof, may be held in any other place to the prejudice or diminution of the lawful rights of our most honoured Lord and Father, of our own, or those of the Princes or Princesses of our Royal House that are or shall be born. ' We Protest in lik(5 manner against all conventions which may be stipulated in the Assembly aforesaid, which shall be contrary to the engagements before made with us : Declaring by these presents that we look vipon, and shall ever look upon as null, void, and ineffectual all that may be agreed upon and stipulated which may tend to the diminution of our just rights, and the recognition of any other person whatsoever in qualitj; of sovereign of the Eealms of Great Britain other than the person of the most High and most excellent King James the Third, our most honoured Lord and Father, and in default of him to the person of his next heir conformably to the funda- mental laws of Great Britain. ' "We declare to all the subjects of our most honoured Lord and Father, and mere particularly to those who have lately given us such strong proofs of their attachment to our Royal Family and the Ancient Constitution of the State, that nothing shall alter the warm and sincere love which our birth inspires us with for them, and that the just sense which we have of their fidelity, zeal, and courage will never be effaced from our hearts; that far from listening to any pro- posal which may tend to annul or weaken those indissoluble bands which unite us, we look upon ourselves, and shall always look upon oiirselves, under the most intimate and indispensable obligation, to be constantly attentive to every thing that may contribute to their hapi^iness, and that we shall be ever ready to spill even the last diop of our blood to de- liver them from a foreign yoke. ' We Protest and declare that the defects Avhich may be in THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 327 the present Protestation shall not hurt or prejudice our Royal House, and We reserve to ourselves all our rights and actions which remain safe and entire.' Nor was the indignation of the Prince confined merely to his own personal treatment. It had been decided at the ('on- gress that Cape Breton should be restored to France, and that hostages should be given for its restitution. The Earl of Sussex and Lord Cathcart, two noblemen of high i-ank, were fixed upon as the pledges to be sent to Paris for this purpose. No sooner did Charles hear of their arrival than he burst out, ' If ever I mount the throne of my ancestors, Europe shall see me use my utmost endeavours to force France in her turn to send hostages to England.' Wounded at the conduct of France towards him, Charles held himself haughtily aloof from the circle at Ver.-ailles and Fontainebleau. When necessity compelled him to attend at Court, his visits were rendered as short as possible. Instead of seeking, as he had formerly done, private conferences with the King, he took every opportunity of avoiding his Majesty, and whenever conversation turned upon the late peace he paid no attention to what was said, ' but either sang or found some way of avoiding a reply.' At the same time, like many dis- appointed men, he gave himself up to dissipation. Of the drama he had always been fond, and seldom a night now passed without his presence being obsei'ved at the theatre or the opera. Indeed, in order that he might be nearer to his favourite places of amusement, he rented a handsome hotel on the Quai des Theatins. Walton says that the conduct of the Prince at this time caused his father much sorrow. As if to show how little he prized the future friendship of France, Charles, in a fit of spite, caused a number of medals to hQ cast with his pi'ofile, and the inscription Carolus Wallice Princeps on the obverse, and on the reverse Britannia sur- rounded by shipping, with the motto Ajnor et spes Britannice. As France had been reduced to the condition of being glad of a peace solely by the prowess of the English fleet, these medals, which were freely distributed among all classes, were regarded by many Frenchmen as a special insult to their country. Indeed the ministry were so much offended that they reported the matter to Louis, and begged him to take cognisance of the impertinence. The King, deeming it wise to ignore the whole afiaii', replied that * the Prince doubtless had his reasons, but that whatever they were, as he could not be called to an 328 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. account, nothing should be said on the occasion.' The Prince de Conti, one of the proudest and wittiest of Frenchmen, was, however, of a different opinion, and thought that the insult should not be permitted to pass completely unnoticed. Meet- ing Charles one morning as he was taking the air in the gar- dens of the Luxembourg, he came up to him and said with a sneer that his Royal Highness was not very happy in selecting the device on his medals, as the past had shown that he and the English navy were not the very best of friends. * That is true, Prince,' replied Charles, haughtily, ' but for all that I shall not tlie less always defend the Biitish navy against all its enemies. The glory of England I shall always regard as my own, and the glory of England rests on her navy.' ' Un- Avilling to make a serious affair of it,' writes he who records the interview, ' the Prince de Conti made no reply, but left the Prince to join some other company, to whom it seems he related what had passed, not without inveighing with some heat against the ingratitude, as he termed it, of the young Chevalier.' ' Meanwhile the continued stay of Charles at Paris was becoming awkward to the French Ministry. It seemed as if the I'esolve of the Prince not to quit France unless by actual force would have to be carried ovit. In vain ministers and high officials called one after the other at the Castle of St. Antoine to persuade him to depart ; the answer they received was always the same, a firm and decided refusal. Neither entreaty nor argument moved him. When mention was made of the painful necessity the King was under, owing to the late Treaty, of insisting on the departure of the Prince, Charles replied with warmth that ' there was a prior treaty between himself and his Most Christian Majesty from which he could not depart with honour.' On being asked to explain what he meant, the Prince coldly bade his visitors repeat his answer to their Master, who would know well enough what he meant. He was then asked if he would quit France only for a time, and that the Court would see that he speedily returned ' w^th a greater prospect of advantage than ever,' but this alternative was also rejected. Charles, with true Stuart obstinacy, would not leave Paris. Four years ago he had been invited to France, he had been assured that come what might his cause should not be aban- doned, he had been drawn into the position in which he now stood almost entirely by the faithless policy of Versailles, and 1 Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 571. THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 329 he declined to be made a cat's paw any longer. If eveiy word in a treaty was to be binding, he had a prior treaty with Fiance, in which his rank was duly acknowledged and his cause openly supported. He would abide by that treaty. What had he to do with the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, and the clauses there framed % He had protested against the treaty, and refused to be bound by its articles. After being induced to visit the country by specific promises, he would not quietly submit to be dismissed at the dictation of a foe, without the fulfilment of a single one of those promises. Such was his answer, and he gave it frankly to the emissaries of the Court who argued with him. Clearly this resistance of Charles was impolitic. He must have known that his opposition was not only fruitless but suicidal to his interests. The fortune of war, and the exhaus- tion of the treasury, made peace a necessity for France ; but painful as it might be to her pride, peace could only be ob- tained by her definite promise to protect no longer the interests of the Stuarts. She had to decide between the continuation of a grievous war or the abandonment of a family from which she could now obtain but little advantage. She preferred the abandonment of the Stuarts. Had Charles been sensible he would have bowed to the force of circumstances. He would have said, ' It is true I have been most shamefully treated by France in the transaction of this peace, but what can I do 1 I have vented my wrongs, and satisfied my sense of self-respect, by publicly protesting against the treaty, but now that it is signed and ratified can I, alone, an exile, with no poAver at my back, attempt to resist its being carried out ] Will not such resistance only embarrass the chief friend I have, the King of France, and alienate his ministry from my side % The course for me to adopt is to quit France with dignity, and to show the world how a great mind can bear adversity. A time may come when France, after a brief rest, will be able to cast this treaty to the Avinds, and then, mindful of the manner in which I have behaved in the hour of their extremity, she may reso- lutely support my cause, and lead me to the throne of my fathers. At all events, without the aid of France I can never, either pow or in the future, hope to win England. Let me not then incense, from mere temper, the friend that must always be needful to me.' So would argue with himself the prudent, cal- culating mind. But Charles seldom listened to the voice of prudence — rash, hot-headed, and burning with indignation, he 330 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART, faced the Court and Cabinet of Versailles, and braved, with the defiant spirit of a man who knows he has been deceived, the cold diplomacy of Europe. ' I cannot pi'ophesy how this resistance of the Prince will end,' Avrites one of his adherents to a friend at Rome,^ ' but I fear the worst. The reason of the Prince's obstinacy is an insoluble enigma to me and to all those who are here, and I regard it as the greatest misfortune that has ever happened to the family since the Revolution. . . . Still the Prince is in good health, and seems very gay, but his household is very sad, and with good reason, for the future is far from bright.' And yet the Prince did not lack admirers. The clause in the treaty compelling France to treat with such inhospitality the man who was their guest, and who but a few months before had been received with such public favovir at Versailles, was very distasteful to many Frenchmen — the more so as the treat- ment had been dictated by England. The resistance of Charles was therefore looked upon as a sign of proper spu'it, and ' for one that blamed his conduct in this respect,' writes the chroni- cler in the Lockhart Papers, ' there were more than a hundred that applauded it.' The Prince, always a favourite in Paris, now became the hero of the hour. When he walked about the streets or gardens of the gay capital, his steps were followed by an admiring crowd, ' as if impelled by irresistible attraction.' No sooner did he take his seat in his box at the opera or the theatre than ' the attention of the audience was fixed upon him, regardless of what was presented on the stage.' Fair ladies so ardently espoused his cause that one of their order, the beauti- ful Princess Talmont, was forbidden the Court. Nor was the Princess alone in her punishment, for we are assured by our authority that ' several other great personages were highly in disgrace on the same account.' In short, the Prince, what with the embarrassment he was causing the French ministers, and the favour that was being shown to his resistance by Parisian society, was becoming daily more and more dangerous. Louis, who, in spite of the neglect of the past, was person- ally not indisposed to the Prince, determined to make yet another efibrt to conquer the young man's obstinacy. He com- missioned for the fourth time the Due de Gesvi^es, the. Gover- nor of Paris, to visit Charles, and insist upon his departure. Irritated at these frequent orders, to which he had always returned the same answer, the Prince replied with some asperity 1 State Papers, Tuscany. Inclosed in Sir H. Mnnn's, Dec. 6, 1748. THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 331 that ' thougli he should always treat with respect any one who came to him from the King, yet he was sorry to find that the Duke had the trouble of so often repeating a message to which he could give no ear without hearing it from the King himself.' ' But,' answered the Duke, ' since your Royal Highness does not go to Court, how can such a message ever be delivered? It cannot be expected that his Majesty is to visit you in person at the Quai des Theatins.' ' Very well then, Monsieur le Due,' exclaimed Charles, ' I have nothing more to say on the matter than I have already said. Excuse me, I have some business to attend to.' And with these words he quitted the room, leaving the Duke in the greatest consternation. .Anxious to get rid of his tenacious visitor, and yet loth to proceed to extremities, the King now wrote him a letter with his own hand, and sent it with a blank order to be filled up by the Prince for what yearly sum he pleased. Charles read the letter twice over, and then, after a brief pause, threw the order from him with disdain, saying that he neither wanted nor would receive any favours of that kind from his Most Christian Majesty, and that as for the rest what was required of him was not consistent with honour. ' Whether,' says our narrator, ' he meant his own honour or that of the King is uncertain, but he would explain himself no further, and this was all that the King's condescension produced.' ^ Another step was now taken. Perplexed, and not a little irritated, the King called a council of his ministers, and it was then resolved that Count de Maurepas, who had always been very friendly with the Prince, should see Charles, expostulate with him, and not leave him till he had received a distinct promise of departure. But the Count was no more successful than his predecessors. He informed the Pz^ince that it was absolutely necessary that he should quit Paris, and that if he * did not conform to the present necessity of aflfairs by leaving the kingdom with a good grace, the ministers would be forced to compel him to it, in order to fulfil their engagements with Great Britain.' ' The ministers ! the ministers ! ' cried Charles, in hot scorn. ' If you wish to do me a favour, Monsieur le Comte, have the goodness to tell the King your master that I am born to defeat all the desis^ns of his ministers ! ' The obstinacy of the young man was now becoming very 1 Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 577. 332 LIFE OF PRIXCE CHARLES STUART. serious. England, tlirough her hostages, Lords Cathcart and Sussex, was complaining that the continued residence of the Prince within Fi'ench territory was a violation of the late treaty, and could no longer be permitted. The Ministry felt they had no alternative but to have recourse to strong measures. Every scheme which courtesy and honour could suggest had been adopted in order to get rid of the intruder, but in vain. The King had written to him ; his own father had wTitten to him ; the Pope through his Cardinals had remonstrated with him ; minister after minister had expostulated with liim — com- mands, entreaties, arguments had all been useless. Since fair means had failed in their purpose, recourse must be had to foul. The King was pressed to give orders for the arrest of the Prince, and for his expulsion from the kingdom by force. After a brief hesitation, Louis consented. As he signed the order he muttered, ' Poor Prince ! how hard it is for a Kino- to be a true friend ! ' In a gossiping town like Paris the news that an order had been drawn vip for the arrest of the Prince was soon an open secret. Charles himself was made aware of the decree through an anonymous letter, but, either from disbelief or indifference, declined to trouble himself about the matter. The spot chosen for his capture was a passage leading to the opera house. In the evening of the day — the 10th of December — on which the order had been signed, Charles, according to his custom, drove to the opei'a. As his cari'iage passed along the Rue St. Honor6 a voice cried out, ' Prince, return, they are going to arrest you, the Palais Royal is beset ! ' To this warning he paid no atten- tion, but drove on to the doors of the theatre. Here every precaution had been taken to carry out the royal instructions. The opera house was surrounded by twelve hundred men ixnder the command of the Due de Biron, Colonel of the French Guards. At all the avenues the guards were doubled, and the sentinels at the doors had received orders to let no one pass out of the theatre. In the neighbouring streets armed police were stationed. To prevent Charles from taking refuge in an adjoining house, scaling-ladders were prepared and locksmiths in readiness to force open doors and windows. So careful were all the arrangements that three surgeons and a physician were in attendance to dress the wounded in case of accident. The moment the Prince's carriage was in sight. Major de Vaudreuil, of the French Guards, accompanied by a staff of non- commissioned officers in plain clothes, stationed himself at the THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 333 doorway of the theatre. The carriage drove up and Charles alighted. No sooner had he set foot to the ground than at a preconcerted signal two sergeants seized him by the arms behind, two confined his hands, one clasped him round the middle, whilst the sixth seized his legs. Thus secured, he was carried through a long passage into an alley near the theatre, where de Vaudreuil came up to him and said, ' I arrest you in the name of the King my master.' ' The manner is a little too violent,' replied the Prince quietly, and without the least change in his countenance. He was then taken to a room on the ground floor and ordered to give up his arms. ' I shall not dehver them to you, but you may take them,' said he. They then searched his person, and took his sword, a knife with two blades, and a brace of pistols. ' You must not be surprised,' said Charles, '• at seeing me with pistols, having constantly carried them with me since I returned from Scotland.' De Vaudreuil now came up and begged the Prince not to make any attempt upon his own life, or that of any other person. ' I will not,' curtly answered Charles. A brief delay ensued. Yaudreuil, not knowing exactly how to act, went up to the Due de Biron, who was seated in bis coach in the courtyard of the theatre, and informed him that the Prince had been made prisoner and had allowed himself to be disarmed without resistance. ' Have you had him bound % ' asked the Due. Yaudreuil replied in the negative. It was then thought that for greater security Charles should be bound. Ten ells of crimson silk cord had been procured for that special purpose. Yaudreuil returned to his prisoner and apologised for the act he was about to perform by assuring the Prince that these precau,tions were taken out of regard to his person, and solely to prevent him from making any attempt upon himself. ' I am not used to such proceedings,' said the Prince, as the men began to secure him, ' and I shall not say whether they are justifiable or not. But the disgrace cannot aflfect me, it can only affect your Master.' Again Yaudreuil apologised, and assured the Prince how chagrined he felt at having to execvite such a commission. ' It must be very mortifying for an officer',' said Charles, drily. Thus swathed like an infant, as Colonel Power puts it, the 334 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Prince was lifteil into a coach by four men, and Yaudreuil placed himself by his side. Guarded by a military escort, the coach then drove off for the prison at Vincennes. At St. Antoine horses were changed, and the Prince in bitter jest asked if they were going to take him to Hanover. ' No, sir,' answered Yaudreuil, ' we change horses in order not to be too long on the road.' The Prince declined to ask where he was being conducted. As the carriage rolled under the gateway of the Chateau de Vincennes, the Marquis de Chatelet, the prison governor, who was well known to Charles, and highly respected by him, came forward, ' I should be glad to embrace you,' said Charles ; ' come to me, my friend — you see I cannot go to you.' Horror-stricken at the brutality with which the capture of the Prince had been effected, the Marquis at once gave orders for the crimson cords to be unbound, and conducted his illus- trious prisoner to his cell. It was a small white-washed room, lacking all furniture save a rvish chair and a wretched camp bed. ' This is not very magnificent,' said the Prince with a smile, and looking round him. A larger room was adjoining, and the Marquis was about to say that if the. Prince would give his word, when Charles haughtily interrupted him. ' I shall not give my word,' said he, ' I have given it once already, and it was not taken. I shall therefore give it no more.' ' I am undone,' cried the Marquis, falling at the feet of the Prince. ' Monseigneur, this is the most unfortunate day of my whole life ! ' Charles bent forward, extended his hand, and raised up the prostrate penitent, ' I know your friendship for me,' said he, kindly; *I shaU never confound the friend with the governor — do the duties of your office.' No sooner did the governor leave his prisoner to himself than the acted impassiveness of the last few hours gave way, and the Prince burst into a flood of tears. 'After Culloden he had been hunted down like a wild beast,' he said, ' but like a wild beast, he had at least ground to range over.' The memory of this indignity was never effaced. Forty years afterwards he accidentally met at Rome the son of Major Yaudreuil, and the associations that the young man's presence called up were so strong that Charles straightway fainted. THE TREATY OF AIX-I.A-CIIATELLE. 335 The morning after the arrest of the Prince, the Marquis tie Puysieux begged the Lords Sussex and Cathcart to wait upon him. As soon as the two peers were ushered into his chamber, he said that the King his master liad been throughout most anxious to fulfil all the engagements he had entered into with the Court of Great Britain, but that he had delayed the execu- tion of the article relating to the Pretender's son longer than he intended, in the hopes of effecting his purpose with the delicacy and gentleness he thought proper to employ on such an occasion. His Majesty, said the Marquis, had now found that, as all gentler measures had been used in vain, it was necessary to have recourse to force, and, therefore, last night the young- man had been seized and conducted to Vincennes, where he would remain in close confinement foi- a few days, until it was thought proper to convey him out of the French dominions. ' It is not easy to explain to your Grace,' write the Lords Sussex and Cathcart to the Duke of Newcastle,^ 'to what point the unaccountable headstrongness of the Pretender's son has exasperated the French ministry. He did not satisfy himself with refusing to comply with the King's reiterated instances, which were conveyed to him in the gentlest manner by persons of rank, but at last declared he would shoot the first man who brought him any message on that subject, and afiected in several circumstances a contempt for the Court, and an indecent ostentation of gaiety at all public places. The most sensible of his adherents left him day by day.' "When the circumstances which attended the arrest of the Prince became fully known, all Paris was loud in expressions of sympathy and indignation. The day that followed was described as one of general mourning. ' The Prince,' says Colonel Power, ' was beloved by the people, and they sym- pathised with his unhappy fate. He had been invited to France, and the French people had felt that he was worthy of their protection. There seemed to be scarcely a house in which an air of sadness did not prevail, in which indignation was not loudly expressed, in which it was not felt that a blot had been cast on the glory of the King of France, and of every individual Frenchman.' But the act was not to pass unpunished. The whole army of pamphleteers, always hostile to the errors of a government, discharged their broadsheets, bitterly railing at the Ministers for their humiliating compliance with the orders of le fier 1 State Papers, France, Dec. 11, 1748, No. 39. 336 LIFE OF PRINCE CHARLES STUART. Anglais, and at the manner in which all the laws of hospitality had been flagrantly violated. The press teemed with sneers and invectives against Louis, who was so taken up with his mistresses as to be indifferent to the honour of his country, and against the Due de Biron, Vaudreuil, and the minions who had given a harsh obedience to disgraceful behests. In the Parisian salons the wits invented each day a fresh epigram on the Marquis de Puysieux and the members of his Cabinet. Not a Frenchman who respected himself or his country but felt the clause dictated by England in the late treaty a personal insult. The poets burst forth into verse and indignantly denounced their King, Jletri par sa faiblesse, and sleeping, dans le sein de la honte, whilst they sang the praises of Edouard captif et sans couronne. Dufresnoy awoke his muse, and his rin