Chapter V (2)

* Robert earl of Orford, late prime minister, died in March,
after having for a very short time enjoyed a pension of four
thousand pounds granted by the crown, in consideration of
his past services. Though he had for such a length of time
directed the application of the public treasure, his
circumstances were not affluent: he was liberal in his
disposition, and had such a number of rapacious dependents
to gratify, that little was left for his own private
occasions.

{1745}

The business of the British parliament being discussed, the session was closed in the beginning of May; and, immediately after the prorogation, the king set out for Hanover. The death of the emperor Charles VII. hich happened in the month of January, had entirely changed the face of affairs in the empire, and all the princes of Germany were in commotion. The grand-duke of Tuscany, consort to her Hungarian majesty, was immediately declared a candidate for the Imperial crown; while his pretensions were warmly opposed by the French king and his allies. The court of Vienna, taking advantage of the late emperor’s death, sent an army to invade Bavaria in the month of March, under the conduct of general Bathiani, who routed the French and Palatine troops at Psiffenhoven, took possession of Rain, surrounded and disarmed six thousand Hessians in the neighbouhood of Ingoldstadt, and drove the Bavarian forces out of the electorate. The young elector was obliged to abandon his capital, and retire to Augsburgh, where he found himself in danger of losing all his dominions. In this emergency, he yielded to the earnest solicitations of the empress his mother, enforced by the advice of his uncle the elector of Cologn, and of his general count Secken-dorf, who exhorted him to be reconciled to the court of Vienna. A negotiation was immediately begun at Fuessen; where, in April, the treaty was concluded. The queen consented to recognise the Imperial dignity, as having been vested in the person of his father; to acknowledge his mother as empress dowager; to restore his dominions, with all the fortresses, artillery, stores, and ammunition which she had taken: on the other hand, he renounced all claim to the succession of her father, and became guarantee of the pragmatic sanction; he acknowledged the validity of the electoral vote of Bohemia in the person of the queen; engaged to give his voice for the grand duke at the ensuing election of a king of the Romans. Until that should be determined, both parties agreed that Ingoldstadt should be garrisoned by neutral troops; and that Braumau and Schardingen, with all the country lying between the Inn and the Saltza, should remain in the queen’s possession, though without prejudice to the civil government or the elector’s revenue. In the meantime he dismissed the auxiliaries that were in his pay, and they were permitted to retire without molestation.

The court of Vienna had now secured the votes of all the electors, except those of Brandenburgh and the Palatinate. Nevertheless, France assembled a powerful army in the neighbourhood of Franckfort, in order to influence the election. But the Austrian army, commanded by the grand-duke in person, marched thither from the Danube; and the prince of Conti was obliged to repass the Rhine at Nordlingen. Then the grand-duke repaired to Franckfort, where on the second day of September he was, by a majority of voices, declared king of the Romans and emperor of Germany. Meanwhile the king of Prussia had made great progress in the conquest of Silesia. The campaign began in January, when the Hungarian insurgents were obliged to retire into Moravia. In the following month the Prussian general Lehrwald defeated a body of twelve thousand Austrians, commanded by general Helsrich; the town of Eatisbon was taken by assault; and the king entered Silesia, in May, at the head of seventy thousand men. Prince Charles of Lorraine, being joined by the duke of Saxe-Wessenfels and twenty thousand Saxons, penetrated into Silesia by the defiles of Landshut; and were attacked by his Prussian majesty in the plains of Striegau, near Friedberg. The battle was maintained from morning till noon, when the Saxons giving way, prince Charles was obliged to retire with the loss of twelve thousand men, and a great number of colours, standards, and artillery. This victory, obtained on the fourth day of June, complete as it was, did not prove decisive; for, though the victor transferred the seat of the war into Bohemia, and maintained his army by raising contributions in that country, the Austrians resolved to hazard another engagement. Their aim was to surprise him in his camp at Sohr, which they attacked on the thirtieth of September, at day-break; but they met with such a warm reception, that notwithstanding their repeated efforts during the space of four hours, they were repulsed with considerable damage, and retreated to Jaromire, leaving five thousand killed upon the spot, besides two thousand that were taken, with many standards, and twenty pieces of cannon. The loss of this battle was in a great measure owing to the avarice of the irregulars, who having penetrated into the Prussian camp, began to pillage with great eagerness, giving the king an opportunity to rally his disordered troops, and restore the battle; nevertheless, they retired with the plunder of his baggage, including his military chest, the officers of his chancery, his own secretary, and all the papers of his cabinet.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

TREATY OF DRESDEN.--THE GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY ELECTED EMPEROR.

After this action, his Prussian majesty returned to Berlin and breathed nothing but peace and moderation. In August he had signed a convention with the king of Great Britain, who became guarantee of his possessions in Silesia, as yielded by the treaty of Breslau; and he promised to vote for the grand duke of Tuscany at the election of an emperor. This was intended as the basis of a more general accommodation. But he now pretended to have received undoubted intelligence that the king of Poland and the queen of Hungary had agreed to invade Brandenburgh with three different armies; and that, for this purpose, his Polish majesty had demanded of the czarina the succours stipulated by treaty between the two crowns. Alarmed, or seemingly alarmed, at this information, he solicited the maritime powers to fulfil their engagements, and interpose their good offices with the court of Petersburgh. Yet, far from waiting for the result of these remonstrances, he made a sudden irruption into Lusatia, took possession of Gorlitz, and obliged prince Charles of Lorraine to retire before him into Bohemia. Then he entered Leipsic, and laid Saxony under contribution. The king of Poland, unable to resist the torrent, quitted his capital and took refuge in Prague. His troops, reinforced by a body of Austrians, were defeated at Pirna on the fifteenth day of December; and his Prussian majesty became master of Dresden without further opposition. The king of Poland, thus deprived of his hereditary dominions, was fain to acquiesce in such terms as the conqueror thought proper to impose; and the treaty of Dresden was concluded under the mediation of his Britannic majesty. By this convention the king of Prussia retained all the contributions he had levied in Saxony; and was entitled to a million of German crowns, to be paid by his Polish majesty at the next fair of Leipsic. He and the elector palatine consented to acknowledge the grand duke as emperor of Germany; and this last confirmed to his Prussian majesty certain privileges _de non evocando_, which had been granted by the late emperor, with regard to some territories possessed by the king of Prussia, though not belonging to the electorate of Brandenburgh. Immediately after the ratification of this treaty, the Prussian troops evacuated Saxony, and the peace of Germany was restored.

THE ALLIES ARE DEFEATED.

Though the French king could not prevent the elevation of the grand duke to the Imperial throne, he resolved to humble the house of Austria, by making a conquest of the Netherlands. A prodigious army was there assembled, under the auspices of mareschal count de Saxe; and his most christian majesty, with the dauphin, arriving in the camp, they invested the strong town of Tournay on the thirtieth day of April. The Dutch garrison consisted of eight thousand men, commanded by the old baron Dorth, who made a vigorous defence. The duke of Cumberland assumed the chief command of the allied army, assembled at Soignes; he was assisted with the advice of the count Konigsegg, an Austrian general, and the prince of Waldeck, commander of the Dutch forces. Their army was greatly inferior in number to that of the enemy; nevertheless, they resolved to march to the relief of Tournay. They accordingly advanced to Leuse; and on the twenty-eight day of April took post at Maulbre, in sight of the French army, which was encamped on an eminence from the village of Antonie, to a large wood beyond Vezon, having Fontenoy in their front. Next day was employed by the allies in driving the enemy from some outposts, and clearing the defiles through which they were obliged to advance to the attack; while the French completed their batteries, and made the most formidable preparations for their reception. On the thirtieth day of April, the duke of Cumberland, having made the proper dispositions, began his march to the enemy at two o’clock in the morning; a brisk cannonade ensued; and about nine both armies were engaged. The British infantry drove the French beyond their lines; but the left wing failing in the attack on the village of Fontenoy, and the cavalry forbearing to advance on the flanks, they measured back their ground with some disorder, from the prodigious fire of the French batteries. They rallied, however, and returning to the charge with redoubled ardour, repulsed the enemy to their camp with great slaughter; but, being wholly unsupported by the other wing, and exposed both in front and flank to a dreadful fire, which did great execution, the duke was obliged to make the necessary dispositions for a retreat about three o’clock in the afternoon, and this was effected in tolerable order. The battle was fought with great obstinacy, and the carnage on both sides was very considerable. The allies lost about twelve thousand men, including a good number of officers; among these were lieutenant-general Campbell, and major-general Ponsonby. The victory cost the French almost an equal number of lives; and no honour was lost by the vanquished. Had the allies given battle on the preceding day, before the enemy had taken their measures and received all their reinforcements, they might have succeeded in their endeavour to relieve Tournay. Although the attack was generally judged rash and precipitate, the British and Hanoverian troops fought with such intrepidity and perseverance, that if they had been properly sustained by the Dutch forces, and their flanks covered by the cavalry, the French in all likelihood would have been obliged to abandon their enterprise. The duke of Cumberland left his sick and wounded to the humanity of the victors; and retiring to Aeth, encamped in an advantageous situation at Lessines. The garrison of Tournay, though now deprived of all hope of succour, maintained the place to the twenty-first day of June, when the governor obtained an honourable capitulation. After the conquest of this frontier, which was dismantled, the duke of Cumberland, apprehending the enemy had a design upon Ghent, sent a detachment of four thousand men to reinforce the garrison of that city; but they fell into an ambuscade at Pas-du-mêle, and were killed or taken, except a few dragoons that escaped to Ostend; on that very night, which was the twelfth of June, Ghent was surprised by a detachment of the French army. Then they invested Ostend, which, though defended by an English garrison, and open to the sea, was, after a short siege, surrendered by capitulation on the fourteenth day of August Dendermonde, Oudenarde, Newport, and Aeth, underwent the same fate; while the allied army lay entranced beyond the canal of Antwerp. The French king having subdued the greatest part of the Austrian Netherlands, returned to Paris, which he entered in triumph.

THE KING OF SARDINIA IS ALMOST STRIPPED OF HIS DOMINIONS.

The campaign in Italy was unpropitious to the queen of Hungary and the king of Sardinia. Count Gages passed the Appenines, and entered the state of Lucca; from thence he proceeded by the eastern coast of Genoa to Lestride-Levante. The junction of the two armies was thus accomplished, and reinforced with ten thousand Genoese; meanwhile prince Lobkowitz decamped from Modena and took post at Parma; but he was soon succeeded by count Schuylemberg, and sent to command the Austrians in Bohemia. The Spaniards entered the Milanese without further opposition. Count Gages, with thirty thousand men, took possession of Serravalle; and advancing towards Placentia, obliged the Austrians to retire under the cannon of Tortona; but when don Philip, at the head of forty thousand troops, made himself master of Acqui, the king of Sardinia and the Austrian general, unable to stem the torrent, retreated behind the Tanaro. The strong citadel of Tortona was taken by the Spaniards, who likewise reduced Parma and Placentia; and forcing the passage of the Tanaro, compelled his Sardinian majesty to take shelter on the other side of the Po. Then Pavia was won by scalade; and the city of Milan submitted to the infant, though the Austrian garrison still maintained the citadel; all Piedmont, on both sides of the Po, as far as Turin, was reduced, and even that capital threatened with a siege; so that by the month of October the territories belonging to the house of Austria, in Italy, were wholly subdued; and the king of Sardinia stripped of all his dominions; yet he continued firm and true to his engagements, and deaf to all proposals of a separate accommodation.

THE ENGLISH TAKE CAPE BRETON

The naval transactions of Great Britain were in the course of this year remarkably spirited. In the Mediterranean, admiral Rowley had succeeded Matthews in the command; Savona, Genoa, Final, St. Remo, with Bastia, the capital of Corsica, were bombarded; several Spanish ships were taken; but he could not prevent the safe arrival of their rich Havannah squadron at Corunna. Commodore Barnet, in the East Indies, made prize of several French ships richly laden; and commodore Townshend, in the latitude of Martinico, took about thirty merchant ships belonging to the enemy, under convoy of four ships of war, two of which were destroyed. The English privateers likewise met with uncommon success. But the most important achievement was the conquest of Louisbourg on the isle of Cape Breton, in North America; a place of great consequence, which the French had fortified at a prodigious expense. The scheme of reducing this fortress was planned in Boston, recommended by their general assembly, and approved by his majesty, who sent instructions to commodore Warren, stationed off the Leeward Islands, to sail for the northern parts of America, and co-operate with the forces of New England in this expedition. A body of six thousand men was formed under the conduct of Mr. Pepperel, a trader of Piscataquay, whose influence was extensive in that country; though he was a man of little or no education, and utterly unacquainted with military operations. In April Mr. Warren arrived at Canso with ten ships of war; and the troops of New England being embarked m transports, sailed immediately for the isle of Cape Breton, where they landed without opposition. The enemy abandoned their grand battery, which was detached from the town; and the immediate seizure of it contributed in a good measure to the success of the enterprise. While the American troops, reinforced by eight hundred marines, carried on their approaches by land, the squadron blocked up the place by sea in such a manner that no succours could be introduced. A French ship of the line, with some smaller vessels destined for the relief of the garrison, were intercepted and taken by the British cruisers; and, indeed, the reduction of Louisbourg was chiefly owing to the vigilance and activity of Mr. Warren, one of the bravest and best officers in the service of England. The operations of the siege were wholly conducted by the engineers and officers who commanded the British marines; and the Americans, being ignorant of war, were contented to act under their directions. The town being considerably damaged by the bombs and bullets of the besiegers, and the garrison despairing of relief, the governor capitulated on the seventeenth day of June, when the city of Louisbourg, and the isle of Cape Breton, were surrendered to his Britannic majesty. The garrison and inhabitants engaged that they would not bear arms for twelve months against Great Britain or her allies; and being-embarked in fourteen cartel ships, were transported to Rochefort. In a few days after the surrender of Louisbourg, two French East India ships, and another from Peru, laden with treasure, sailed into the harbour on the supposition that it still belonged to France, and were taken by the English squadron.

The news of this conquest being transmitted to England, Mr. Pepperel was preferred to the dignity of a baronet of Great Britain, and congratulatory addresses were presented to the king on the success of his majesty’s arms. The possession of Cape Breton was, doubtless, a valuable acquisition to Great Britain. It not only distressed the French in their fishery and navigation, but removed all fears of encroachment and rivalship from the English fishers on the banks of Newfoundland. It freed New England from the terrors of a dangerous neighbour; overawed the Indians of that country; and secured the possession of Acadia to the crown of Great Britain. The plan of this conquest was originally laid by Mr. Auchmuty, judge-advocate of the court of admiralty in New England. He demonstrated, that the reduction of Cape Breton would put the English in sole possession of the fishery of North America, which would annually return to Groat Britain two millions sterling, for the manufactures yearly shipped to the plantations; employ many thousand families that were otherwise unserviceable to the public; increase the shipping and mariners; extend navigation; cut off all communication between France and Canada by the river St. Lawrence; so that Quebec would fall of. course into the hands of the English, who might expel the French entirely from America, open a correspondence with the remote Indians, and render themselves masters of the profitable fur-trade, which was now engrossed by the enemy. The natives of New England acquired great glory from the success of this enterprise. Britain, which had in some instances behaved like a step-mother to her own colonies, was now convinced of their importance; and treated those as brethren whom she had too long considered as aliens and rivals. Circumstanced as the nation is, the legislature cannot too tenderly cherish the interests of the British plantations in America. They are inhabited by a brave, hardy, industrious people, animated with an active spirit of commerce; inspired with a noble zeal for liberty and independence. The trade of Great Britain, clogged with heavy taxes and impositions, has for some time languished in many valuable branches. The French have undersold our cloths, and spoiled our markets in the Levant. Spain is no longer supplied as usual with the commodities of England; the exports to Germany must be considerably diminished by the misunderstanding between Great Britain and the house of Austria; consequently, her greatest resource must be in her communication with her own colonies, which consume her manufactures, and make immense returns in sugar, rum, tobacco, fish, timber, naval stores, iron, furs, drugs, rice, and indigo. The southern plantations likewise produce silk; and with due encouragement, might furnish every thing that could be expected from the most fertile soil and the happiest climate. The continent of North America, if properly cultivated, will prove an inexhaustible fund of wealth and strength to Great Britain; and perhaps it may become the last asylum of British liberty. When the nation is enslaved by domestic despotism or foreign dominion; when her substance is wasted, her spirit broke, and the laws and constitution of England are no more; then those colonies, sent off by our fathers, may receive and entertain their sons as hapless exiles and ruined refugees.

PROJECT OF AN INSURRECTION IN GREAT BRITAIN.

While the continent of Europe and the isles of America were thus exposed to the ravages of war, and subjected to such vicissitudes of fortune, Great Britain underwent a dangerous convulsion in her own bowels. The son of the chevalier de St. George, fired with ambition, and animated with the hope of ascending the throne of his ancestors, resolved to make an effort for that purpose, which, though it might not be crowned with success, should at least astonish all Christendom. The Jacobites in England and Scotland had promised, that if he would land in Britain at the head of a regular army, they would supply him with provisions, carriages, and horses, and a great number of them declared they would take up arms and join his standard; but they disapproved of his coming over without forces, as a dangerous enterprise, that would in all probability end in the ruin of himself and all his adherents. This advice, including an exact detail of his father’s interest, with the dispositions of his particular friends in every town and county, was transmitted to London in January, in order to be forwarded to prince Charles; but the person with whom it was intrusted could find no safe method of conveyance; so that he sent it back to Scotland, from whence it was despatched to France; but before it reached Paris, Charles had left that kingdom. Had the paper come to his hands in due time, perhaps he would not have embarked in the undertaking, though he was stimulated to the attempt by many concurring motives. Certain it is, he was cajoled by the sanguine misrepresentations of a few adventurers, who hoped to profit by the expedition. They assured him that the whole nation was disaffected to the reigning family; that the people could no longer bear the immense load of taxes, which was daily increasing; and that the most considerable persons of the kingdom would gladly seize the first opportunity of crowding to his standard. On the other hand, he knew the British government had taken some effectual steps to alienate the friends of his house from the principles they had hitherto professed. Some of them had accepted posts and pensions; others were preferred in the army; and the parliament were so attached to the reigning family, that he had nothing to hope from their deliberations. He expected no material succour from the court of France; he foresaw that delay would diminish the number of his adherents in Great Britain; and, therefore, resolved to seize the present occasion, which in many respects was propitious to his design. Without doubt, had he been properly supported, he could not have found a more favourable opportunity of exciting an intestine commotion in Great Britain; for Scotland was quite unfurnished with troops; king George was in Germany; the duke of Cumberland, at the head of the British army, was employed in Flanders, and great part of the highlanders were keen for insurrection. Their natural principles were on this occasion stimulated by the suggestions of revenge. At the beginning of the war a regiment of those people had been formed, and transported with the rest of the British troops to Flanders. Before they were embarked, a number of them deserted with their arms, on pretence that they had been decoyed into the service by promises and assurances that they should never be sent abroad; and this was really the case. They were overtaken by a body of horse, persuaded to submit, brought back to London pinioned like malefactors, and tried for desertion. They were shot to death _in terrorem_; and the rest were sent in exile to the plantations. Those who suffered were persons of some consequence in their own country; and their fate was deeply resented by the clans to which they belonged. It was considered as a national outrage; and the highlanders, who are naturally vindictive, waited impatiently for an opportunity of vengeance.

THE ELDEST SON OF THE CHEVALIER DE ST. GEORGE LANDS IN SCOTLAND.

The young pretender being furnished with a sum of money, and a supply of arms, on his private credit, with-out the knowledge of the French court, wrote letters to his friends in Scotland, explaining his design and situation, intimating the place where he intended to land, communicating a private signal, and assuring them he should be with them by the middle of June. These precautions being taken, he embarked on board of a small frigate at Port St. Nazaire, accompanied by the marquis of Tullibardine, sir Thomas Sheridan, sir John Macdonald, with a few other Irish and Scottish adventurers; and setting sail on the fourteenth of July, was joined off Belleisle by the Elizabeth, a French ship of war, mounted with sixty-six guns, as his convoy. *

* The Elizabeth, a king’s ship, was procured as a convoy, by
the interest of Mr. Walsh, an Irish merchant at Nantes; and
on board of her fifty French young gentlemen embarked as
volunteers.

Their design was to sail round Ireland, and land in the western part of Scotland; but falling in with the Lion, an English ship of the line, a very obstinate and bloody action ensued. The Elizabeth was so disabled that she could not prosecute the voyage, and with difficulty reached the harbour of Brest; but the Lion was shattered to such a degree, that she floated like a wreck upon the water. The disaster of the Elizabeth was a great misfortune to the adventurer, as by her being disabled he lost a great quantity of arms, and about one hundred able officers, who were embarked on board of her for the benefit of his expedition. Had this ship arrived in Scotland, she could easily have reduced Fort William, situated in the midst of the clans attached to the Stuart family. Such a conquest, by giving lustre to the prince’s arms, would have allured many to his standard, who were indifferent in point of principle; and encouraged a great number of highlanders to join him, who were restricted by the apprehension, that their wives and families would be subject to insults from the English garrison of this fortress. Prince Charles, in the frigate, continued his course to the western isles of Scotland. After a voyage of eighteen days he landed on a little island between Barra and South-Inst, two of the Hebrides; then he re-embarked, and in a few days arrived at Borodale in Amsacy, on the confines of Lochnannach, where he was in a little time joined by a considerable number of hardy mountaineers, under their respective chiefs and leaders. On the nineteenth day of August, the marquis of Tullibardine erected the pretender’s standard at Glensinnan. Some of those, however, on whom Charles principally depended, now stood aloof, either fluctuating in their principles, astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, or startled at the remonstrances of their friends, who did not fail to represent, in aggravated colours, all the danger of embarking in such a desperate enterprise. Had the government acted with proper vigour when they received intelligence of his arrival, the adventurer must have been crushed in embryo, before any considerable number of his adherents could have been brought together; but the lords of the regency seemed to slight the information, and even to suspect the integrity of those by whom it was conveyed. They were soon convinced of their mistake. Prince Charles having assembled about twelve hundred men, encamped in the neighbourhood of Fort William; and immediately hostilities were commenced. A handful of Keppoch’s clan, commanded by major Donald Macdonald, even before they joined the pretender, attacked two companies of new raised soldiers, who, with their officer, were disarmed after an obstinate dispute; another captain of the king’s forces, falling into their hands, was courteously dismissed with one of the pretender’s manifestoes, and a passport for his personal safety. The administration was now effectually alarmed. The lords of the regency issued a proclamation offering a reward of thirty thousand pounds to any person who should apprehend the prince-adventurer. The same price was set upon the head of the elector of Hanover, in a proclamation published by the pretender. A courier was despatched to Holland to hasten the return of his majesty, who arrived in England about the latter end of August. A requisition was made of the six thousand Dutch auxiliaries; and several British regiments were recalled from the Netherlands. A loyal address was presented to the king by the city of London; and the merchants of this metropolis resolved to raise two regiments at their own expense. Orders were issued to keep the trained bands in readiness; to array the militia of Westminster; and instructions to the same effect were sent to all the lords-lieutenants of the counties throughout the kingdom. The principal noblemen of the nation made a tender of their services to their sovereign; and some of them received commissions to levy regiments towards the suppression of the rebellion. Bodies of volunteers were incorporated in London and many other places; associations were formed, large contributions raised in different towns, counties, and communities; and a great number of eminent merchants in London agreed to support the public credit, by receiving, as usual, bank-notes in payment for the purposes of traffic. The protestant clergy of all denominations exerted themselves with extraordinary ardour, in preaching against the religion of Rome and the pretender; and the friends of the government were encouraged, animated, and confirmed in their principles, by several spiritual productions published for the occasion.

In a word, the bulk of the nation seemed unanimously bent upon opposing the enterprise of the pretender, who, nevertheless, had already made surprising progress. His arrival in Scotland was no sooner confirmed, than sir John Cope, who commanded the troops in that kingdom, assembled what force he could bring together, and advanced against the rebels. Understanding, however, that they had taken possession of a strong pass, he changed his route, and proceeded northwards as far as Inverness, leaving the capital and the southern parts of North Britain wholly exposed to the incursions of the enemy. The highlanders forthwith marched to Perth, where the chevalier de St. George was proclaimed king of Great Britain, and the public money seized for his use; the same steps were taken at Dundee and other places. Prince Charles was joined by the nobleman who assumed the title of the duke of Perth, the viscount Strathallan, lord Nairn, lord George Murray, and many persons of distinction, with their followers. The marquis of Tullibardine, who had accompanied him from France, took possession of Athol, as heir of blood to the titles and estates which his younger brother enjoyed in consequence of his attainder; and met with some success in arming the tenants for the support of that cause which he avowed. The rebel army being considerably augmented, though very ill-provided with arms, crossed the Forth in the neighbourhood of Stirling, and advanced towards Edinburgh, where they were joined by lord Eleho, son of the earl of Wemyss, and other persons of some distinction. On the sixteenth day of September Charles summoned the town to surrender. The inhabitants were divided by faction, and distracted by fear; the place was not in a posture of defence, and the magistrates would not expose the people to the uncertain issue of an assault. Several deputations were sent from the town to the pretender, in order to negotiate terms of capitulation. In the meantime, one of the gates being opened for the admission of a coach, Cameron of Lochiel, one of the most powerful of the highland chiefs, rushed into the place with a party of his men, and secured it without opposition. Next morning the whole rebel army entered, and their prince took possession of the royal palace of Holyrood-house in the suburbs. Then he caused his father to be proclaimed at the market-cross; there also the manifesto was read, in which the chevalier de St. George declared his son Charles regent of his dominions, promised to dissolve the union, and redress the grievances of Scotland. His being in possession of the capital encouraged his followers, and added reputation to his arms; but the treasure belonging to the two banks of that kingdom had been previously conveyed into the castle, a strong fortress, with a good garrison, under the command of general Guest, an old officer of experience and capacity.

During these transactions, sir John Cope marched back from Inverness to Aberdeen, where he embarked with his troops, and on the seventeenth day of September landed at Dunbar, about twenty miles to the eastward of Edinburgh. Here he was joined by two regiments of dragoons which had retired with precipitation from the capital at the approach of the highland army. With this reinforcement, his troops amounted to near three thousand men; and he began his march to Edinburgh, in order to give battle to the enemy. On the twentieth day of the month, he encamped in the neighbourhood of Prestonpans, having the village of Tranent in his front, and the sea in his rear. Early next morning he was attacked by the young pretender, at the head of about two thousand four hundred highlanders, half-armed, who-charged them sword in hand with such impetuosity, that in less than ten minutes after the battle began, the king’s troops were broken and totally routed. The dragoons fled in the utmost confusion at the first onset; the general officers having made some unsuccessful efforts to rally them, thought proper to consult their own safety by an expeditious retreat towards Coldstream on the Tweed. All the infantry were either killed or taken; and the colours, artillery, tents, baggage, and military chest, fell into the hands of the victor, who returned in triumph to Edinburgh. Never was victory more complete, or obtained at a smaller expense; for not above fifty of the rebels lost their lives in the engagement. Five hundred of the king’s troops were killed on the field of battle; and among these colonel Gardiner, a gallant officer, who disdained to save his life at the expense of his honour. When abandoned by his own regiment of dragoons, he alighted from his horse, joined the infantry, and fought on foot, until he fell covered with wounds, in sight of his own threshold. Prince Charles bore his good fortune with moderation; he prohibited all rejoicings for the victory he had obtained; the wounded soldiers were treated with humanity; and the officers were sent into Fife and Angus, where they were left at liberty on their parole, which the greater part of them shamefully broke in the sequel. From this victory the pretender reaped manifold and important advantages. His followers were armed, his party encouraged, and his enemies intimidated. He was supplied with a train of field artillery, and a considerable sum of money, and saw himself possessed of all Scotland, except the fortresses, the reduction of which he could not pretend to undertake without proper implements and engineers. After the battle he was joined by a small detachment from the highlands; and some chiefs, who had hitherto been on the reserve, began to exert their influence in his favour. But he was not yet in a condition to take advantage of that consternation which his late success had diffused through the kingdom of England.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS OF GOVERNMENT IN SCOTLAND.

Charles continued to reside in the palace of Holyrood-house; * and took measures for cutting off the communication between the castle and the city.

* While he resided at Edinburgh, some of the presbyterian
clergy continued to preach in the churches of that city, and
publicly prayed for king George, without suffering the least
punishment or molestation. One minister in particular, of
the name of Mac Vicar, being solicited by some highlanders
to pray for their prince, promised to comply with their
request, and performed his promise in words to this effect--
“And as for the young prince, who is come hither in quest of
an earthly crown, grant, O Lord, that he may speedily
receive a crown of glory.”

General Guest declared that he would demolish the city, unless the blockade should be raised, so that provisions might be carried into the castle. After having waited the return of an express which he had found means to despatch to court, he began to put his threats in execution by firing upon the town. Some houses were beaten down, and several persons killed even at the market-cross. The citizens, alarmed at this disaster, sent a deputation to the prince, entreating him to raise the blockade; and he complyed with their request. He levied a regiment in Edinburgh and the neighbourhood. He imposed taxes; seized the merchandize that was deposited in the king’s warehouses at Leith and other places; and compelled the city of Glasgow to accommodate him with a large sum, to be repaid when the peace of the kingdom should be re-established. The number of his followers daily increased, and he received considerable supplies of money, artillery, and ammunition, by single ships that arrived from France, where his interest seemed to rise in proportion to the success of his arms. The greater and richer part of Scotland was averse to his family and pretensions; but the people were unarmed and undisciplined, consequently passive under his dominion. By this time, however, the prince-pretender was joined by the earl of Kilmarnock, the lords Eleho, Balmerino, Ogilvie, Pitsligo; and the eldest son of lord Lovat had begun to assemble his father’s clan, in order to reinforce the victor, whose army lay encamped at Duddingston, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Kilmarnock and Balmarinowere men of broken and desperate fortune; Elcho and Ogilvie were sons to the earls of Wemyss and Airly; so that their influence was far from being extensive. Pitsligo was a nobleman of very amiable character, as well as of great personal interest; and great dependence was placed upon the power and attachment of lord Lovat, who had entered into private engagements with the chevalier de St. George, though he still wore the mask of loyalty to the government, and disavowed the conduct of his son when he declared for the pretender. This old nobleman is the same Simon Fraser whom we have had occasion to mention as a partisan and emissary of the court of St. Germain’s, in the year one thousand seven hundred and three. He had renounced his connexions with that family; and, in the rebellion immediately after the accession of king George I., approved himself a warm friend to the protestant succession. Since that period he had been induced, by disgust and ambition, to change his principles again, and was in secret an enthusiast in jacobitism. He had greatly augmented his estate, and obtained a considerable interest in the highlands, where, however, he was rather dreaded than beloved. He was bold, enterprising, vain, arbitrary, rapacious, cruel, and deceitful; but his character was chiefly marked by a species of low cunning and dissimulation, which, however, overshot his purpose, and contributed to his own ruin.*

*He solicited, and is said to have obtained of the chevalier
de St. George the patent of a duke, and a commission for
being lord-lieutenant of all the highlands.

While Charles resided at Edinburgh, the marquis de Guil-les arrived at Montrose, as envoy from the French king, with several officers, some cannon, and a considerable quantity of small arms for the use of that adventurer.

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN IN ENGLAND.

While the young pretender endeavoured to improve the advantages he had gamed, the ministry of Great Britain took every possible measure to retard his progress. Several powerful chiefs in the highlands were attached to the government, and exerted themselves in its defence. The duke of Argyle began to arm his vassals; but not before he had obtained the sanction of the legislature. Twelve hundred men were raised by the earl of Sutherland; the lord Rae brought a considerable number to the field; the Grants and Monroes appeared under their respective leaders for the service of his majesty; sir Alexander Macdonald declared for king George, and the laird of Macleod sent two thousand hardy islanders from Skye to strengthen the same interest. These gentlemen, though supposed to be otherwise affected, were governed and directed by the advice of Duncan Forbes, president of the college of justice at Edinburgh, a man of extensive knowledge, agreeable manners, and unblemished integrity. He procured commissions for raising twenty independent companies, and some of these he bestowed upon individuals who were either attached by principle, or engaged by promise, to the pretender. He acted with indefatigable zeal for the interest of the reigning family; and he greatly injured an opulent fortune in their service. He confirmed several chiefs who began to waiver in their principles; some he actually converted by the energy of his arguments, and brought over to the assistance of the government, which they had determined to oppose; others he persuaded to remain quiet, without taking any share in the present troubles. Certain it is, this gentleman, by his industry and address, prevented the insurrection of ten thousand highlanders, who would otherwise have joined the pretender; and, therefore, he may be said to have been one great cause of that adventurer’s miscarriage. The earl of Loudon repaired to Inverness, where he completed his regiment of highlanders; directed the conduct of the clans who had taken arms in behalf of his majesty; and, by his vigilance, overawed the disaffected chieftains of that country, who had not yet openly engaged in the rebellion. Immediately after the defeat of Cope, six thousand Dutch troops* arrived in England, and three battalions of guards, with seven regiments of infantry, were recalled from Flanders, for the defence of the kingdom.

* They were composed of the forces who had been in garrison
at Tournay and Dendermonde when those places were taken, and
engaged by capitulation, that they should not perform any
military function before the first day of January, in the
year 1747; so they could not have acted in England without
the infringement of a solemn treaty.

They forthwith began their march to the north, under the command of general Wade, who received orders to assemble an army, which proceeded to Newcastle. The parliament meeting on the sixteenth day of October, his majesty gave them to understand, that an unnatural rebellion had broke out in Scotland, towards the suppression of which he craved their advice and assistance. He found both houses cordial in their addresses, and zealous in their attachment to his person and government. The commons forthwith suspended the _habeas-corpus_ act; and several persons were apprehended on suspicion of treasonable practices. Immediately after the session was opened, the duke of Cumberland arrived from the Netherlands, and was followed by another detachment of dragoons and infantry. The train-bands of London were reviewed by his majesty; the county regiments were completed; the volunteers, in different parts of the kingdom, employed themselves industriously in the exercise of arms; and the whole English nation seemed to rise up as one man against this formidable invader. The government being apprehensive of a descent from France, appointed admiral Vernon to command a squadron in the Downs, to observe the motions of the enemy by sea, especially in the harbours of Dunkirk and Boulogne; and his cruisers took several ships laden with soldiers, officers, and ammunition, destined for the service of the pretender in Scotland.

This enterprising youth, having collected about five thousand men, resolved to make an irruption into England, which he accordingly entered by the west border on the sixth day of November. Carlisle was invested, and in less than three days surrendered; the keys were delivered to him at Brampton, by the mayor and aldermen on their knees. Here he found a considerable quantity of arms; his father was proclaimed king of Great Britain, and himself regent, by the magistrates in their formalities. General Wade being apprized of his progress, decamped from Newcastle, and advanced across the country as far as Hexham, though the fields were covered with snow, and the roads almost impassable. There he received intelligence that Carlisle was reduced, and forthwith returned to his former station, In the meantime, orders were issued for assembling another army in Staffordshire, under the command of sir John Ligonier. Prince Charles, notwithstanding this formidable opposition, determined to proceed. He had received assurances from France, that a considerable body of troops would be landed on the southern coast of Britain, to make a diversion in his favour; and he never doubted but that he should be joined by all the English malcontents, as soon as he could penetrate into the heart of the kingdom. Leaving a small garrison in the castle of Carlisle, he advanced to Penrith, marching on foot in the highland garb, at the head of his forces; and continued his route through Lancaster and Preston to Manchester, where on the twenty-ninth day of the month, he established his head quarters. There he was joined by about two hundred Englishmen, who were formed into a regiment under the command of colonel Townley. The inhabitants seemed to receive him with marks of affection; and his arrival was celebrated by illuminations and other public rejoicings. His supposed intention was to prosecute his march by the way of Chester into Wales, where he hoped to find a great number of adherents; but all the bridges over the river Mersey being broken down, he chose the route to Stockport, and forded the river at the head of his division, though the water rose to his middle. He passed through Macclesfield and Congleton; and on the fourth day of December entered the town of Derby, in which his army was quartered and his father proclaimed with great formality. He had now advanced within one hundred miles of the capital, which was filled with terror and confusion. Wade lingered in Yorkshire; the duke of Cumberland had assumed the command of the other army assembled in the neighbourhood of Lichfield. He had marched from Stafford to Stone; so that the rebels, in turning off from Ashbourne to Derby, had gained a march between him and London. Had Charles proceeded in his career with that expedition which he had hitherto used, he might have made himself master of the metropolis, where he would have been certainly joined by a considerable number of his well wishers, who waited impatiently for his approach; yet this exploit could not have been achieved without hazarding an engagement, and running the risk of being enclosed within three armies, each greatly superior to his own in number and artillery. Orders were given for forming a camp on Finchley-common, where the king resolved to take the field in person, accompanied by the earl of Stair, field-marshal and commander-in-chief of the forces in South-Britain. Some Romish priests were apprehended; the militia of London and Middlesex were kept in readiness to march; double watches were posted at the city-gates, and signals of alarm appointed. The volunteers of the city were incorporated into a regiment; the practitioners of the law, headed by the judges, weavers of Spitalfields, and other communities, engaged in associations; and even the managers of the theatres offered to raise a body of their dependents for the service of the government. Notwithstanding these precautions and appearances of unanimity, the trading part of the city, and those concerned in the money corporations, were overwhelmed with fear and dejection. They reposed very little confidence in the courage or discipline of their militia and volunteers; they had received intelligence that the French were employed in making preparations at Dunkirk and Calais for a descent upon England; they dreaded an insurrection of the Roman-catholics, and other friends of the house of Stuart; and they reflected that the highlanders, of whom by this time they had conceived a most terrible idea, were within four days’ march of the capital. Alarmed by these considerations, they prognosticated their own ruin in the approaching revolution; and their countenances exhibited the plainest marks of horror and despair. On the other hand, the Jacobites were elevated to an insolence of hope, which they were at no pains to conceal; while many people, who had no private property to lose, and thought no change would be for the worse, waited the issue of this crisis with the most calm indifference.

THE REBELS RETREAT INTO SCOTLAND.

This state of suspense was of short duration. The young pretender found himself miserably disappointed in his expectations. He had now advanced into the middle of the kingdom, and except a few that joined him at Manchester, not a soul appeared in his behalf; one would have imagined that all the Jacobites of England had been annihilated. The Welch took no step to excite an insurrection in his favour; the French made no attempt towards an invasion; his court was divided into factions; the highland chiefs began to murmur, and their clans to be unruly; he saw himself with a handful of men hemmed in between two considerable armies, in the middle of winter, and in a country disaffected to his cause. He knew he could not proceed to the metropolis without hazarding a battle, and that a defeat would be attended with the inevitable destruction of himself and all his adherents; and he had received information that his friends and officers had assembled a body of forces in the North, superior in number to those by whom he was attended. He called a council at Derby; and proposed to advance towards London: the proposal was supported by lord Nairn with great vehemence; but, after violent disputes, the majority determined that they should retreat to Scotland with all possible expedition. Accordingly, they abandoned Derby on the sixth day of December, early in the morning, and measured back the route by which they had advanced. On the ninth their vanguard arrived at Manchester; on the twelfth they entered Preston, and continued their march northwards. The duke of Cumberland, who was encamped at Meriden, when first apprized of their retreat, detached the horse and dragoons in pursuit of them; while general Wade began his march from Ferry-bridge in Lancashire, with a view of intercepting them in their route; but at Wakefield he understood that they had already reached Wigan; he therefore repaired to his old post at Newcastle, after having detached general Oglethorpe, with his horse and dragoons, to join those who had been sent off from the duke’s army. They pursued with such alacrity, that they overtook the rear of the rebels, with which they skirmished in Lancashire. The militia of Cumberland and Westmoreland were raised and armed by the duke’s order, to harass them in their march. The bridges were broken down, the roads damaged, and the beacons lighted to alarm the country. Nevertheless, they retreated regularly with their small train of artillery. They were overtaken at the village of Clifton, in the neighbourhood of Penrith, by two regiments of dragoons. These alighted, and lined the hedges, in order to harass part of the enemy’s rear-guard, commanded by lord John Murray; who, at the head of the Macphersons, attacked the dragoons sword in hand, and repulsed them with some loss. On the nineteenth day of the month, the highland army reached Carlisle, where the majority of the English in the service of the pretender were left, at their own desire. Charles, having reinforced the garrison of the place, crossed the rivers Eden and Solway into Scotland, having thus accomplished one of the most surprising retreats that ever was performed. But the most remarkable circumstance of this expedition, was the moderation and regularity with which those ferocious people conducted themselves in a country abounding with plunder. No violence was offered; no outrage committed; and they were effectually restrained from the exercise of rapine. Notwithstanding the excessive cold, the hunger, and fatigue to which they must have been exposed, they left behind no sick, and lost a very few stragglers; but retired with deliberation, and carried off their cannon in the face of their enemy. The duke of Cumberland invested Carlisle with his whole army on the twenty-first day of December, and on the thirtieth the garrison surrendered on a sort of capitulation made with the duke of Richmond. The prisoners, amounting to about four hundred, were imprisoned in different gaols in England, and the duke returned to London.