Perth, were summoned privately by Lord Mar; and it was then agreed not
to fight, but to retreat. For a time this determination was concealed
from the bulk of the army, but it gained wind; and on the evening of the
thirty-first of January, eight hundred of the Highlanders indignantly
left Perth, and retired beyond Dunkeld, to their homes. That very night,
also, the Chevalier, who had far less of the Scottish Stuart within him
than of that modified and inferior variety exemplified in the British
line of the family, disappeared from the town, and repaired to Scone. He
supped and slept in the house of the Provost Hay; and on the following
morning, at an early hour, was ready for retreat. To do the Chevalier
justice, there was, according to Lord Mar's journal, much difficulty in
persuading him to this step: it was found necessary to convince him that
it had become a duty to retire from the pursuit of the Government,
which, as long as he was in the country, would never cease to persecute
his followers, who could not make any terms of capitulation so long as
he remained. He was obliged, at last, to consent: "And, I dare say,"
adds Lord Mar, "no consent he ever gave was so uneasy to him as this
was."[145] Of that point it would be satisfactory to be well assured.
On the first of February, four hours after the unfinished letter of Lord
Mar was written, the Jacobites abandoned Perth, and crossing the frozen
stream of the Tay, took their route to Dundee. They went forth in such
precipitation, that they left their cannon behind them,--a proof that
they never hoped to oppose again the victorious arms of Argyle. About
noon the Chevalier, accompanied by Lord Mar, followed his people towards
the North. He is said to have been disconsolate,--and, shedding tears,
to have complained "that instead of bringing him a crown, they had
brought him to his grave." This murmur and these tears having been
reported to Prince Eugene, of Savoy, that General remarked "that weeping
was not the way to conquer kingdoms."[146]
The Jacobites marched direct for Dundee, along the Carse of Gowrie. The
Duke of Argyle's forces entered Perth only two hours after the Highland
army had entirely cleared the Tay, which, happily for their retreat, was
frozen over with ice of an extraordinary thickness. At Dundee the
Chevalier rested one night only; but leaving it on the second of
February, was again succeeded by Argyle and his squadrons, who arrived
there on the following day.
The unfortunate Prince pursued his way to Montrose. His route along the
sea-coast gave credence to a report which had now gained ground, of his
intention of embarking for France. The loudest murmurs again ran through
the Highland forces, worthy of a noble leader, and the sight of some
French vessels lying near the shore confirmed the general suspicion.
This was, nevertheless, somewhat allayed by an order to the clans to
march that evening at eight o'clock to Aberdeen, where, in accordance
with the crooked policy and deceptive plan of Lord Mar, it was
represented that large supplies of troops and arms would meet them from
France. But a very different scheme was in agitation among those who
governed the feeble James, and perhaps, with right motives, guided him
to his safety.
A small ship lay in the harbour of Montrose, for the purpose,
originally, of carrying over an envoy from James to some foreign court.
This vessel was now pitched upon to transport the Chevalier; the size
being limited, she could accommodate but few passengers: and therefore,
to avoid confusion, the Chevalier "himself thought fit to name who
should attend him." "The Earl of Mar, who was the first named, made
difficulty, and begged he might be left behind; but the Chevalier being
positive for his going, and telling him that, in a great measure, there
were the same reasons for his going as for his own,--that his friends
could more easily get terms without him than with him,--and that, as
things now stood, he could be of no more use to them in their own
country, he submitted."[147]
The Chevalier then chose the Marquis of Drummond to accompany him: this
nobleman was lame from a fall from his horse, and was not in a condition
to follow the army. He, as well as the Earl of Mar, the Lord
Tullibardine, and the Lord Linlithgow had a bill of attainder passed
against them. The Chevalier on that account was desirous of taking these
other Lords with him; but both were absent: Lord Tullibardine was at
Brechin with a part of the foot, and Lord Linlithgow at Berire with the
horse. He ordered the Earl Marischal, General Sheldon, and Colonel
Clephan to accompany him.
After these arrangements the Chevalier issued several orders which
reflect the utmost credit upon his disposition. After appointing General
Gordon Commander-in-chief, with all necessary powers, he wrote a paper
containing his reasons for leaving the kingdom, and, delivering it to
the General, gave him at the same time all the money in his possession,
except a small sum which he reserved for his expenses and those of his
suite; and desired, that after the army had been paid, the residue
should be given to the impoverished and houseless inhabitants of
Auchterarder. He then dictated a letter to the Duke of Argyle, in which
he dwelt at some length upon his distress at being obliged "among the
manifold mortifications which he had had in this unfortunate
expedition," to burn the villages. The letter, which was never delivered
to the Duke of Argyle, is in the possession of the Fingask family.[148]
Having completed these arrangements, the Chevalier prepared to take
leave for ever of the Scottish shores. The hour had now arrived which
was appointed for the march of the troops, and the Chevalier's horses
were brought before the door of the house in which he lodged: the guard
which usually attended him whilst he mounted, were in readiness, and all
was prepared as if he were resolved to march with the clans to Aberdeen.
But meantime, the Chevalier had slipped out of his temporary abode on
foot, accompanied only by one servant; and going to the Earl of Mar's
lodgings, he went thence, attended by the Earl, through a bye-way to the
water side, where a boat awaited him and carried him and the Earl of Mar
to a French ship of ninety tons, the Marie Therese, of St. Malo. About a
quarter of an hour afterwards two other boats carried the Earl of
Melfort and Lord Drummond, with General Sheldon and ten other gentlemen,
on board the same ship: they then hoisted sail and put to sea; and
notwithstanding that several of the King's ships were cruizing on the
coast, they sailed in safety, and after a passage of seven days, arrived
at Waldam, near Gravelines, in French Flanders.
The Chevalier sailed at nine o'clock. Some hours afterwards, Earl
Marischal and Colonel Clephan arrived at the shore, but they could get
no boat to convey them, for fear of the men-of-war that were cruizing
near. The Marie Therese, nevertheless, got out of reach of these vessels
before daylight.
With what reflections Lord Mar left his native country a prey to the
power of an irritated Government, cannot readily be conceived. That he
left it at such a moment, is a fact which for ever stamps his memory
with degradation. The deserted adherents of James, being in no condition
to make a stand against the Duke of Argyle, betook themselves to holes
and caves, mostly in the remote parts of the Highlands, where many
lurked until they could safely appear; but such as were most obnoxious
took the first opportunity of ships to carry them into foreign
countries; and vessels were, to this end, provided by the Chevalier with
such success, that many escaped from the pursuit of justice.
James, accompanied by the Earl of Mar, proceeded to his former residence
at St. Germains, where, in spite of the wishes of the French Government
that he should repair to his old asylum in Lorraine, he wished to
remain. In Paris, the Chevalier met two of his most distinguished
adherents,--the faithless Bolingbroke, and the popular Duke of Ormond.
Although aware of the unsoundness of Bolingbroke's loyalty, James
received him cordially. "No Italian," says Bolingbroke, "ever embraced
the man he was going to stab with a greater show of affection and
confidence."
For some time the Chevalier lingered in Paris, hoping to see the Regent.
"His trunks were packed, his chaise was ordered at five that afternoon,"
writes Lord Bolingbroke, "and I wrote word to Paris that he was gone.
Instead of taking post for Lorraine, he went to the little house in the
Bois de Boulogne, where his female ministers resided; and there he
continued lurking for some days, pleasing himself with the air of
mystery and business, while the only real business which he should have
had at heart he neglected."[149]
Avignon was now fixed on as the retreat of the Chevalier; and thither,
after some delay, he retired, to an existence politically forgotten by
the Continental powers, until the war with Spain and the consequent
declaration of the Spanish King in his favour recalled him to
importance.
Lord Mar, meantime, occupied himself in fruitless endeavours to excite,
once more, the struggle which had just ended so fatally. As far as
France was concerned, all those schemes upon which Mar successively
built were futile: no aid could ever be expected during the Regency. "My
hopes," said Bolingbroke, speaking of the Jacobite cause, "sunk as he
[Louis the Fourteenth] declined, and died when he expired. The event of
things has sufficiently shown that all those which were entertained by
the Duke [of Ormond], and the Jacobite party under the Regency, were the
grossest delusions imaginable."[150]
Some of the remaining years of Lord Mar's life were, nevertheless,
devoted to chimerical projects for which he received in return little
but disappointment, ingratitude, and humiliation. One of his schemes was
to engage Charles the Twelfth of Sweden on the side of the Chevalier. In
a letter to Captain Straiton, the Chevalier's agent in Edinburgh, he
signified that if five or six thousand bolls of meal could be purchased
by the King's friends and sent to Sweden, where there was then a great
scarcity, it would be of service to his master in conciliating the good
will of Charles. This proposal was communicated by Mar's desire to
Lockhart of Carnwath, to Lord Balmerino, and to the Bishop of Edinburgh.
But it was the sanguine disposition of Mar which alone could lead him to
suppose such a scheme practicable. It was, in the first place, found
impossible to raise so large a sum from men, many of them exiles, or
involved in difficulties from the expenses of the recent insurrection.
It was also deemed folly to conceive that so large a quantity of Scotch
meal as necessary could be exported without exciting the suspicion of
Government.
The next plan which Lord Mar contrived was not so fully unfolded as the
project of which Charles the Twelfth was to be the object. He wrote to
Edinburgh soon after the failure of the first scheme, to this effect:
that a certain foreign prince had entered into a design for the
restoration of James: that it "would look odd if his friends at home did
not assist him;" and he wished they would fall on some means to have in
readiness such a sum as they could afford to venture in his cause when a
fair opportunity occurred. The hint was taken up seriously by the
zealous Lockhart of Carnwath, and assurances were sent from "several
persons of honour, that they would be in a condition to answer his
Majesty's call." Among these, the Earl of Eglintoun offered three
thousand guineas; and the others "would have given a good round sum."
The conduct of the English Government to the Duke of Argyle, who had
been superseded as Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, and the strong
personal friendship between Lockhart and the Duke, emboldened Mar to
hope that a negotiation might be entered into with Argyle, and that he
might be persuaded to join in their schemes. At the same time, Lord Mar
enjoined the strictest secrecy in all these affairs, and with reason,
for the letters of the exiled Jacobites abounded in false hopes and
plans; many of their correspondents at home had not the discretion to
conceal their delight, when the sanguine expectations of their party
prevailed over despair.
The agent employed by Lockhart to treat with the Duke of Argyle was
Colonel John Middleton. By him Lockhart was, however, assured that his
Grace would neither directly nor indirectly treat with Mar for "he
believed him his mortal enemy, and had no opinion of his honour; and,"
added Middleton, "I cannot think Mar does, more seriously now than
before, desire to see Argyle in the King's measures, lest he eclipsed
him." It was therefore resolved by Lockhart, that the correspondence
between the Chevalier and Argyle should be contrived without Mar's
cognizance. A letter was written to James, and was forwarded by Captain
Straiton, enclosed, to the Earl of Mar, who was, in another epistle from
Lockhart, "entreated not to be offended that the contents of the letter
were not communicated to him, because he was bound to impart the same
alone to the King."
This letter, containing a proposal so important to the interests of
James, is supposed never to have reached the Chevalier. Mar, distrustful
and offended, is suspected of having broken it open, and given it his
own answer in a letter to the Duke of Argyle, which tended to affront
and repel the Duke rather than to invite him to allegiance. When, some
time afterwards, Lockhart's son spoke on the subject to the Chevalier at
home, and represented what a fair opportunity had been lost, the Prince
replied, "that he did not remember ever to have heard of it
before."[151] Whether Mar was misjudged or not must be a matter of
doubt, but this anecdote proves how little respect was entertained for
his good faith, or even for his possessing the common sentiments of
gentlemanly propriety, when the suspicion of breaking open a letter
which had been entrusted to him was attached to his conduct.
In consequence of the difficulty of bringing any scheme to bear, from
the want of a head, Lockhart had contrived a plan of having trustees in
Scotland to conduct it, to be empowered by James to act during his
absence, and in his behalf. This plan had the usual obstacles to
encounter among a set of factious partisans, who were only united when
the common danger pressed and common services were required, but
discordant and selfish in the calmer days of suspense. Mar, perhaps,
with greater wisdom than he was allowed to display, did not advance the
scheme; his reluctance to promote it was ascribed to his love of power
in Scotland; but since the plan was resented by Tullibardine, Seaforth,
and Penmure,[152] as infringing upon their dignity, there is as good
reason for believing that it was the suggestion of an intriguing
ambition on the part of the proposer, as that Mar resisted it on selfish
grounds. The notion was excellent, but the difficulty was to find men of
sufficient fidelity, honesty, and prudence to exercise functions so
delicate.
The spirit of Jacobitism seems scarcely, at this period to have been
checked in the bosoms of the resolute people who had suffered so much;
and the Netherbow and the High Street of Edinburgh still resounded at
times with the firing of musquetry, directed against a harmless rabble
of boys who betrayed the popular feeling by the white roses in their
hats.[153] Nor was the lingering enthusiasm for the Jacobite cause
confined to the lower classes in either country. It is almost incredible
that men of Whig principles, who held high offices in the Government,
should, at various times, have engaged in correspondence with the agents
of James; yet such is the fact.
Among those who were involved in these dangerous negotiations, Charles
Earl of Sunderland, the son-in-law of Marlborough, and at that time
Prime Minister of George the First, was one with whom Lord Mar treated.
Among the Sunderland Papers is to be found a singular letter from the
Earl of Mar to the Earl of Sunderland, urging that nobleman to assist in
inducing his royal master to accede to a proposal from which he might
himself derive a suitable advantage. "We find," says Dr. Coxe,
"unequivocal proofs that Lord Sunderland, who was considered at the head
of the new administration formed in 1717, was in secret correspondence
with the Pretender and his principal agents."[154]
The letter referred to from Lord Mar, on which Dr. Coxe has inscribed
the word "curious," began with professions of respect and confidence on
the part of his Lordship, to whom it was quite as easy to address those
expressions to a man of one party as of the other. It contained also a
promise of secrecy, and an exaction of a similar observance on the part
of Lord Sunderland. He then alluded to the misfortunes into which the
British nation was thrown by the disputed succession, and the violence
of party spirit in consequence. The subtle politician next touched on
the subject of George the First, whom he delicately terms, "your
master."
"Whatever good opinion you may have of _your master_, and the way that
things are ordered there at present, does not alter the case much; his
health is not so good as to promise a long life, and he is not to live
always even if it were good, nor will things continue there as they are,
any longer than he lives at most."
He then suggests that the Earl would have it in his power to prevent the
dangers resulting from a disputed succession, "which can only be
prevented by restoring the rightful and lineal heir."
"I can assure your Lordship," he continues, "my master has so many good
qualities, that he will make the nation happie, and wants but to be
known to be beloved; and I dare promise in his name, that there is not
any thing you could ask of him, reasonable, for yourself and your
friends, but he would agree to. My master is young, in perfect good
health, and as likely to live as any who has pretensions to his crown,
and he is now about marrying, which, in all appearance, will perpetuate
rightfull successors to him of his own body, who will ever have more
friends in those kingdoms, as well as abroad, than to allow the house of
Hanover to continue in possession of their right without continual
disturbance."
The Earl then suggests that George the First should secure to himself
the possession of "his old and just inheritance, and by the assistance
of '_his master_,' and those who would join, acquire such new ones on
the Continent as would make his family more considerable than any of its
neighbours.
"Britain and Ireland will have reason to bless your master for so good
and Christian an action; and Europe no less for the repose it would have
by it: and your master would live the remainder of his life in all the
tranquillity and splendour that could be required, and end his days with
the character of good and just."
Lord Mar was at this time on the borders of France, where he proposed to
wait until he received Lord Sunderland's reply, in hopes that the
Minister of George the First might be induced to give him a meeting,
either in France or Flanders. "If you approve not of what I have said,"
he adds, "let it be buried on your side, as, upon my honour, it shall be
on mine." "I am afraid," he adds in a postscript, "you know not my hand;
but I have no other way of assuring you of this being no counterfeit
than by writing it myself, and putting my seal to it."
The following remarks on this letter are interesting; they were penned
by Dr. Coxe:
"Singular as this overture, made at such a period, may appear, we have
strong proofs that it was not discouraged by Sunderland; for he not only
procured a pension for the exiled nobleman, but even flattered the
Jacobites with hopes that he was inclined to favour their cause. This we
find by intelligence given at a subsequent period by the Jacobite
spies."
The following addition to the above-stated remark of Dr. Coxe is even
yet more astonishing:
"On the death of Lord Sunderland the secret of this correspondence
became by some means known to the Regent Duke of Orleans, and he
hastened to make so important a communication to the King of England.
The letter written on this occasion by the British agent at Paris, Sir
Luke Schwaub, and the reply of his friend Lord Carteret, then Secretary
of State, are highly curious, because they prove, not only the
correspondence, but the fact that it was known and approved by the
King."[155]
How near were the unfortunate Stuarts to that throne which they were
destined never to ascend!
Upon the disgrace of Bolingbroke, and on his return to England, the
Seals had been offered by James Stuart to Lord Mar, who refused them on
the ostensible ground that he "could not speak French." The actual
reason was perhaps to be sought for in a far deeper motive.[156]
In 1714 the celebrated Lord Stair had been sent as Ambassador to France,
chiefly to watch over the proceedings of the Jacobites, and to cement a
friendship with the Duke of Orleans, on whom King George could not rely.
The brilliant and spirited manner in which Lord Stair executed this
commission, the splendour by which his embassy was distinguished, and
his own personal qualities, courtesy, shrewdness, and diligence,
contributed mainly to the diminution of the Jacobite influence, which
declined under his exertions. It was from Lord Stair's address that
Bolingbroke, or, as Stair calls him in his correspondence, Mr. York, was
confirmed in his disgust to the Jacobite cause.
Between Lord Stair and the Earl of Mar an early acquaintance had
existed. Agreeably to the fashion of the period, which led Queen Anne
and the Duchess of Marlborough to assume the names of Morley and
Freeman, Lord Stair and Lord Mar, in the early days of their confidence,
had adopted the familiar names of Captain Brown, and Joe Murray.
Lord Mar had remained in Paris until October 1717; he then went into
Italy with the Duke of Ormond; but previous to his departure he called
on Lord Stair, and remained in the house of the Ambassador for four or
five hours. He appears to have declared to Lord Stair that he then
looked upon the affairs of his master as desperate. "He flung out," as
Lord Stair wrote, "several things, as I thought, with a design to try
whether there was any hopes of treating." Lord Stair, not liking to give
an old friend false hopes, declined "dipping into particulars;" adding
at the same time, in his account of the interview, "he would not have
dealt so with me: but in conversation of that kind there is always
something curious to be learned."
They parted without explanation, and Lord Mar proceeded to Rome. The
correspondence between these two noblemen ceased for nearly two
years.[157] During that interval, James had married the Princess
Clementina Maria, a daughter of Prince Sobieski, elder son of John King
of Poland. The marriage could scarcely have been solemnized, since it
took place early in May 1719, before we find Lord Mar at Geneva, on his
way from Italy, resuming his negotiations with Lord Stair.
LORD MAR TO LORD STAIR.
"May 6th, 1719.
"Good Captain Brown will not, I hope, take amiss his old
acquaintance Jo. Murraye's writing to him at this time; and when he
knows the occasion, I am persuaded he will forgive him, and comply,
as far as he can, with what he is to ask him. My health is not so
good just now nor for some time past, as you would wish it; and I am
advised to drink the waters of Bourbon for it, as being the likest
to those of the Bath of any this side the sea, of which I formerly
found so much good. The hot climate where I have been for some time
past, by no means agrees with my health; and I am persuaded that
where some of our company is gone will still do worse with me.
"The affair in which it might be thought my Captain would employ me
being now, I suppose, over for this bout, there needs be, I should
think, no objection to what I should ask.