A.D. 1715.
BRITISH SOVEREIGN:--George II., 1727-1760.
Charles returns to Holyrood--State of public feeling--Charles
resolves to remain at Edinburgh--Measures taken to increase
the army--Charles’s proceedings at Edinburgh--Blockade of the
Castle--Disorder in the city--Blockade removed--Exertions
of Lord President Forbes--Arrival of reinforcements at
Edinburgh--Charles issues a second manifesto--Arrival of supplies
from France and detachment from the north--Charles resolves
to invade England--Preparations--Deportment of Charles at
Holyrood--Declaration of the Highland army--Preparations of the
government--Riot at Perth on the King’s birth-day.
On the evening of Sunday the 22d of September, the day after the
battle of Preston or Gladsmuir, as that affair is named by the
Highlanders, Charles returned to Holyrood House, and was received by
a large concourse of the inhabitants, who had assembled round the
palace, with the loudest acclamations. His return to the capital had
been preceded by a large portion of his army, which, it is said, made
a considerable display as it marched up the long line of street,
leading from the Watergate to the castle, amid the din of a number of
bagpipes, and carrying along with it the enemy’s standards, and other
trophies of victory which it had taken upon the field.
[Illustration: Colonel Gardiner’s House, near Prestonpans.]
Apprehensive that the alarm, which Cope’s disaster would excite
in the city, might obstruct the public worship on the Sunday,
Charles had sent messengers on the evening of the battle, to the
dwelling-houses of the different ministers, desiring them to continue
their ministrations as usual; but although the church bells were
tolled at the customary hour next morning, and the congregations
assembled, one only of the city clergymen appeared, all the rest
having retired to the country. The minister who thus distinguished
himself among his brethren on this occasion was a Mr. Hog, morning
lecturer in the Tron church. The two clergymen of the neighbouring
parish of St. Cuthbert’s, Messrs. Macvicar and Pitcairn, also
continued to preach as usual, and many inhabitants of the city
went to hear them. No way dismayed by the presence of the Highland
army, they continued to pray as usual for King George; and Mr.
Macvicar even went so far in his prayers, as to express a hope that
God would take Charles to himself, and that instead of an earthly
crown, he would “give him a crown of glory.” Charles is said to have
laughed heartily on being informed of Mr. Macvicar’s concern for his
spiritual welfare. To induce the ministers to return to their duty,
the prince issued a proclamation on Monday, repeating the assurances
he had so often given them, that no interruption should be given to
public worship; but that, on the contrary, all concerned should be
protected. This intimation, however, had no effect upon the fugitive
ministers, who, to the great scandal of their flocks, deserted their
charges during the whole time the Highlanders occupied the city.
In the first moments of victory, Charles felt a gleam of joy, which
for a time excluded reflection; but when, after retiring from the
battle-field, he began to ruminate over the events of the day, and
to consider that it was British blood that had been spilt, if we can
trust his own words, his spirit sunk within him. “If I had obtained
this victory,” says he to his father, in the letter already quoted,
“over foreigners, my joy would have been complete; but as it is over
Englishmen, it has thrown a damp upon it that I little imagined. The
men I have defeated were your majesty’s enemies, it is true, but they
might have become your friends and dutiful subjects when they had got
their eyes opened to see the true interest of their country, which
you mean to save, not to destroy.” For these reasons he was unwilling
that the victory should be celebrated by any public manifestation,
and on being informed that many of the inhabitants of Edinburgh
intended to testify their joy on the occasion by some public act,
the prince, in the same proclamation which enjoined the clergymen to
return to their charges, prohibited “any outward demonstrations of
public joy.”
The news of the prince’s victory was received every where, by the
Jacobites, with the most unbounded delight. Unable any longer to
conceal their real sentiments, they now publicly avowed them, and
like their predecessors, the cavaliers, indulged in deep potations
to the health of “the king” and the prince. But this enthusiasm was
not confined to the Jacobites alone. Many persons whose political
creed was formerly doubtful, now declared unequivocally in favour
of the cause of the prince; whilst others, whose sentiments were
formerly in favour of the government, openly declared themselves
converts to an order of things which they now considered inevitable.
In short, throughout the whole of Scotland the tide of public opinion
was completely changed in favour of the Stuarts. The fair sex,
especially, displayed an ardent attachment to the person and cause of
the prince, and contributed not a little to bring about the change
in public feeling alluded to. Duncan Forbes has well described this
strong revolution in public feeling. “All Jacobites, how prudent
soever, became mad; all doubtful people became Jacobites; and all
bankrupts became heroes, and talked of nothing but hereditary rights
and victory; and what was more grievous to men of gallantry, and if
you will believe me, much more mischievous to the public, all the
fine ladies, if you will except one or two, became passionately fond
of the young Adventurer, and used all their arts and industry for him
in the most intemperate manner.”[952]
In England the news of the prince’s victory created a panic,
causing a run upon the bank, which would have been fatal to that
establishment, had not the principal merchants entered into an
association to support public credit by receiving the notes of
the bank in payment.[953] Scotchmen were everywhere looked upon
with distrust by their southern neighbours, and the most severe
reflections were indulged in against the Scottish nation. Sir Andrew
Mitchell, writing to President Forbes, notices with deep regret this
feeling against his countrymen: “The ruin of my country, and the
disgrace and shame to which it is, and will continue to be, exposed,
have affected me to that degree, that I am hardly master of myself.
Already every man of our country is looked on as a traitor, as one
secretly inclined to the Pretender, and waiting but an opportunity
to declare. The guilty and the innocent are confounded together,
and the crimes of a few imputed to the whole nation.”[954] Again,
“I need not describe to you the effects the surrender of Edinburgh,
and the progress the rebels made, had upon this country. I wish I
could say that they were confined to the lower sort of people; but
I must fairly own that their betters were as much touched as they.
The reflections were national; and it was too publicly said that
all Scotland were Jacobites; the numbers of the rebels and their
adherents were magnified for this purpose; and he that in the least
diminished them was called a _secret Jacobite_.”[955]
Elated by the news of the victory of Preston, a party of armed
Highlanders entered Aberdeen on the 25th of September, seized the
provost, and carrying him to the cross, held their drawn swords over
his head, till they proclaimed the Chevalier de St. George. They then
requested him to drink the health of “the king,” but having refused
to do so, they threw a glass of wine into his breast. Not wishing to
have his loyalty put a second time to such a severe test, the provost
left the city, not thinking himself safe, as he observes, “in the way
of those who had used him in so unreasonable and odd a manner.”[956]
With the exception of the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and a
few insignificant forts, the whole of Scotland may be said to have
been now in possession of the victor. Having no longer an enemy
to combat in North Britain, Charles turned his eyes to England;
but against the design which he appears to have contemplated,
of an immediate march into that kingdom, several very serious
objections occurred. If the prince could have calculated on a
general rising in England in his favour, his advance into that
kingdom with a victorious army, before the government recovered
from the consternation into which it had been thrown by the recent
victory, would have been a wise course of policy; but it would have
been extremely rash, without an absolute assurance of extensive
support from the friends of the cause in England, to have entered
that kingdom with the small army which fought at Gladsmuir, and
which, instead of increasing, was daily diminishing, by the return
of some of the Highlanders to their homes, according to custom,
with the spoils they had collected. There were indeed, among the
more enthusiastic of the prince’s advisers, some who advocated an
immediate incursion into England; but by far the greater part thought
the army too small for such an undertaking. These urged that although
the success which had attended their arms would certainly engage a
number of friends, who either had not hitherto had an opportunity
of joining, or had delayed doing so, because they saw little or no
appearance of success, yet it was prudent to wait for such aid,--that
French succours might now be depended upon, since the prince had
given convincing proofs of his having a party in Scotland,--that, at
any rate, it was better to remain some little time at Edinburgh,
till they saw what prospects there were of success, and that in
the mean time the army would be getting stronger by reinforcements
which were expected from the north, and would be better modelled and
accoutred. The latter opinion prevailed, and Charles resolved to make
some stay in Edinburgh.[957]
Alluding to this resolution, Mr. Maxwell observes, “Those who judge
of things only by the event, will condemn this measure, and decide
positively that if the prince had marched on from the field of
battle, he would have carried all before him. As the prince’s affairs
were ruined in the end, it is natural to wish he had done any thing
else than what he did. Things could hardly have turned out worse, and
there was a possibility of succeeding. But to judge fairly of the
matter, we must have no regard to what happened, but consider what
was the most likely to happen. The prince had but 3,000 men at the
battle, where he had 100 at least killed and wounded. He might reckon
upon losing some hundreds more, who would go home with the booty they
had got, so that he could not reckon upon more than 2,500 men to
follow him into England, where he had no intelligence, nor hopes of
being joined, nor resource in case of a misfortune. But what would
the world have said of such an attempt had it miscarried!”[958]
According to the Chevalier Johnstone,[959] the prince was advised
by his friends, that as the whole of the towns of Scotland had been
obliged to recognise him as regent of the kingdom, in the absence of
his father, his chief object should be to endeavour by every possible
means to secure himself in the government of Scotland; and to defend
himself against the English armies, which would be sent against him,
without attempting for the present to extend his views to England.
There were others who strongly advised Charles to annul the union
between Scotland and England, as an act made during the usurpation
of Queen Anne, by a cabal of a few Scotch peers, and to summon a
Scottish parliament, to meet at Edinburgh, to impose taxes in a legal
manner, and obtain supplies for his army. This party assured the
prince that these steps would give great pleasure to all Scotland,
and that the tendency of them would be to renew the ancient discord
between the two countries, and that the war would thereby be made
national: they informed him, that, so far from being prepared to run
an immense risk, for the sake of acquiring England, they wished for
nothing more than to see him seated on the throne of Scotland. As the
chief object of his ambition, however, was to obtain the crown of
England, he rejected the proposal made to him, to confine his views
to Scotland.
As soon as it was determined to remain in Scotland till the army
should be reinforced, every measure was adopted that could tend to
increase it. Letters were despatched to the Highlands, and other
parts of Scotland, containing the news of the victory, and urging
immediate aid; and messengers were sent to France to represent the
state of the prince’s affairs, and to solicit succours from that
court. Officers were appointed to beat up for recruits, and every
inducement was held out to the prisoners taken at Preston to join
the insurgents. Many of these, accordingly, enlisted in the prince’s
army, and were of considerable service in drilling recruits, but
before the Highland army left Edinburgh, almost the whole of them
had deserted, and joined their former companions at Berwick.[960]
The principal person selected by Charles to go to the Highlands, on
the present occasion, was Mr. Alexander Macleod, a gentleman of the
Scottish bar, who carried along with him a paper of instructions,
dated the 24th of September, and signed by secretary Murray.[961]
By these instructions, Macleod was directed forthwith to proceed to
the Isle of Skye, to assure Sir Alexander Macdonald, and the laird
of Macleod, and other gentlemen of their names, that the prince did
not impute their not having hitherto joined him, to any failure of
loyalty or zeal on their part, for his father’s cause; but to the
private manner in which he had arrived in Scotland, which was from a
desire to restore his royal father without foreign assistance--that
he was ready still to receive them with the same affection he would
have welcomed them, had they joined him on his landing,--and that
as they well knew the dispositions of the Highlanders, and their
inclination to return home after a battle, they would be sensible
how necessary it was to recruit the army with a strong body of men
from their country. After giving them these assurances, Macleod was
directed to require of these chiefs to repair with all possible speed
with their men to Edinburgh, where they should be furnished with
arms. In case they were found refractory, Macleod was directed to
use all proper means with the gentlemen of their different families,
to bring them to the field with as many followers as possible,--that
to encourage them to take up arms, he was to acquaint them that the
prince had received undoubted assurances of support from France and
Spain,--that the Earl Marischal was expected to land in Scotland
with a body of troops,--that the Duke of Ormond was also expected
in England, with the Irish brigade, and a large quantity of arms,
ammunition, and money,--and that before passing the Forth, he had
received letters from the Spanish ministry, and the Duke of Bouillon,
containing positive assurances of aid. In conclusion, Macleod was
ordered to assure these gentlemen that the encouragement and favour
which would be shown them, if they joined the prince’s standard,
would be in proportion to their loyalty and the backwardness of their
chiefs. He was likewise directed to send for the chief of Mackinnon,
and to tell him that the prince was much surprised that one who had
given such solemn assurances, as Mackinnon had done, to join him,
with all the men he could collect, should have failed in his promise.
As Macleod of Swordland, in Glenelg, who had visited the prince in
Glenfinnan, had there engaged to seize the fort of Bernera, and to
join Charles with a hundred men, whether his chief joined or not,
the messenger was instructed to ask him why he had not fulfilled his
engagement. The result of this mission will be subsequently noticed.
Seated in the palace of his ancestors, Charles, as Prince Regent,
continued to discharge the functions of royalty, by exercising
every act of sovereignty, with this difference only between him and
his rival in St. James’s, that while King George could only raise
troops and levy money by act of parliament, Charles, by his own
authority, not only ordered regiments to be raised for his service,
and troops of horse-guards to be levied for the defence of his
person, but also imposed taxes at pleasure. To give eclat to his
proceedings, and to impress upon the minds of the people, by external
acts, the appearances of royalty, he held a levee every morning in
Holyrood-house, and appointed a council which met every morning at
ten o’clock, after the levee was over. This council comprised the
Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray, the lieutenant-generals of the
army, O’Sullivan, the quarter-master-general, Lord Pitsligo, Lord
Elcho, Sir Thomas Sheridan, Secretary Murray, and all the Highland
chiefs.[962]
As nothing could injure his cause more in the eyes of the people
than acts of oppression on the part of his troops, one of Charles’s
first acts after his return to Edinburgh, was to issue an edict
granting protection to the inhabitants of the city and the vicinity,
in their persons and properties; but farmers, living within five
miles of Edinburgh, were required, before being entitled to the
protection, to appear at the secretary’s office, in Holyrood-house,
and grant bond that they should be ready, on twelve hours’ notice,
to furnish the prince with horses for carrying the baggage of his
army to Berwick-upon-Tweed, or a similar distance, according to their
plowgates. By another proclamation put forth the same day, viz. the
23d of September, he denounced death or such other punishment as a
court-martial should order to be inflicted on any soldier or person
connected with his army, who should be guilty of forcibly taking
from “the good people of Edinburgh,” or of the country, any of their
goods without a fair equivalent to the satisfaction of the parties.
These orders were in general scrupulously attended to, though, in
some instances, irregularities were committed, under the pretence
of searching for arms. The greater part, however, were the acts of
persons who, though they wore the white cockade, did not belong to
the army.
Besides the clergymen of the city, a considerable number of the
volunteers had deserted their homes in dread of punishment for
having taken up arms. To induce these, as well as the ministers of
the city, to return, Charles issued a proclamation on the 24th of
September, granting a full pardon to all or such of them, as should,
within twenty days after the publication thereof, present themselves
to Secretary Murray, or to any other member of the council, at
Holyrood-house, or at such other place as the prince might be at the
time. A few volunteers only took advantage of this offer.
When the Highland army first approached the city, the directors
of the two banks then existing, had removed all their money and
notes to the castle, under the apprehension that the prince would
appropriate them to his own use. As great inconvenience was felt in
the city by the removal of the banks, Charles issued a proclamation
on the 25th of September, in which, after disclaiming any intention
to seize the funds belonging to the banks, he invited them to resume
their business in the city, pledging himself to protect them. He
declared that the money lodged in the banks should be free from any
exactions on his part; and that he himself would contribute to the
re-establishment of public credit, by receiving and issuing the
notes of the banks in payment. The banks, however, declined to avail
themselves of the prince’s offer; but when applied to for money in
exchange for a large quantity of their notes in possession of the
Highland army, the directors answered the demand.
As the wants of his army were many, the next object of the prince’s
solicitude was to provide against them. Anxious as he was to
conciliate all classes of the people, he had no alternative on
the present occasion, but to assess the burghs of Scotland, in
sums proportionate to the duties of excise drawn from them. He
accordingly sent letters, dated the 30th of September, to all the
chief magistrates of the burghs, ordering them, under pain of being
considered rebel, to repair, upon receipt, to Holyrood-house, to get
the contributions to be paid by their respective burghs ascertained,
and for payment of which, he promised to assign the duties of excise.
For immediate use, he compelled the city of Edinburgh, on pain of
military execution, to furnish his army with 1,000 tents, 2,000
targets, 6,000 pair of shoes, and other articles, to the value of
upwards of £15,000, to liquidate which, a tax of 2s. 6d. per pound
was laid on the city, and in the Canongate and Leith. From the city
of Glasgow he demanded £15,000, a sum which was compromised by a
prompt payment of £5,500. The prince, at the same time, despatched
letters to the collectors of the land-tax, the collectors and
comptrollers of the customs and excise, and to the factors upon the
estates forfeited in the former insurrection, requiring all of them,
upon receipt, to repair to Holyrood-house with their books, and to
pay such balances as might appear upon examination to be in their
hands,--the first and last classes, under the pain of rebellion and
military execution, and the second class, besides the last-mentioned
penalty, under the pain of high-treason. Charles, at the same time,
seized all the smuggled goods in the custom-houses of Leith and
other sea-ports, which being sold, yielded him £7,000. Besides the
exactions from public bodies, he compelled several of the nobility
and gentry in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh to supply him with
considerable quantities of hay and oats. Parties of Highlanders were
sent to the seats of the Dukes of Hamilton and Douglas, and the Earl
of Hoptoun, to carry off arms and horses. From the last mentioned
noblemen they took nearly 100 horses.[963]
For some days after the Highlanders resumed possession of Edinburgh,
a sort of tacit understanding existed between the garrison and
them, under which the communication between the castle and the city
continued open. A guard of Highlanders was posted at the Weigh-house,
an old square building, which stood at the head of West Bow, at the
distance of a few hundred yards from the fortress. This guard allowed
provisions of every description to pass, particularly for the use
of the officers; and matters might have remained for some time in
this quiescent state, to the great comfort of the inhabitants, had
not the garrison one night, most unaccountably fired off some cannon
and small arms in the direction of the West Port. In consequence,
it is believed, of this breach of the implied armistice, orders
were given to the guards, on the 29th of September, to block up all
the avenues leading to the castle, and allow no person to pass.
On being made acquainted with this order, General Guest sent a
letter, in the evening, addressed to the Lord Provost, intimating,
that unless the communication between the castle and the city was
renewed, and the blockade removed, he would be obliged to dislodge
the Highland guards with his cannon, and bombard the city. Nothing
could be more unreasonable and absurd than this threat. Though
willing, the citizens had it not in their power, either to keep up
the communication with the castle, or to take off the blockade, and
though they were as unable to remove the Highlanders from the city
“as to remove the city itself out of its seat,”[964] or prevent them
from acting as they pleased, yet the citizens would be the only
sufferers in the event of a bombardment; for the Highlanders, if the
city were destroyed, would only be obliged to change their quarters,
and neither the destruction of the one, nor the removal of the other,
could be of any service to the castle. These views were represented
to the governor by a deputation from the city; but Guest remained
inflexible, and pleaded in his justification a peremptory order,
which he said he had received from the king himself, and which left
him no discretion. At the earnest solicitation of the inhabitants,
Guest was prevailed upon to grant a respite for one night. Next
morning, six deputies waited on the prince, at the palace, with
General Guest’s letter, which was in reality intended for him. After
perusing the letter, Charles returned an answer immediately to the
deputies in writing, in which he expressed surprise at the barbarity
of the orders from the castle, at a time when it was admitted, that
the garrison had six weeks provisions on hand,--that, in pleading,
as Guest had done, the directions of “the Elector of Hanover,” as
an excuse, it was evident, that the Elector did not consider the
inhabitants of Edinburgh as his subjects, otherwise he would not
have made a demand upon them which they could not fulfil,--and that,
should he, the prince, out of compassion to the citizens, comply with
the extravagant demand now made, he might as well quit the city at
once, and abandon all the advantages he had obtained,--that, if any
mischief should befall the city, he would take particular care to
indemnify the inhabitants for their loss,--and that, in the meantime,
if forced by the threatened barbarity, he would make reprisals upon
the estates of the officers in the castle, and also upon all who were
“known to be open abettors of the German government.”
This letter was laid before a meeting of the inhabitants, who sent
deputies with it to General Guest. After some altercation, he agreed
to suspend hostilities till the return of an express from London,
on condition that the Highland army should, in the mean time, make
no attempt upon the castle. This condition was, however, infringed
by the Highlanders, who, on the following day, discharged some
musket shots with the intention, it is supposed, of frightening
some persons who were carrying up provisions to the castle. General
Guest, considering that he was no longer restrained from executing
his threat, immediately opened a fire upon the guard stationed at
the Weigh-house, by which some houses were damaged and two persons
wounded. Charles retaliated by issuing a proclamation next day, in
which he prohibited all correspondence with the castle, under pain of
death. This proclamation was followed by an order to strengthen the
blockade, by posting additional guards at several places about the
castle. To revenge this step the garrison fired at every Highlander
they could discover from the battlements, and, by this reckless
proceeding, killed and wounded several of the inhabitants. A daring
exploit was performed at the same time by a soldier, who slipped down
from the castle, set fire to a house in Livingston’s yards, where a
guard was posted, and after shooting one of the guards dead upon the
spot, returned safe to the fortress. Shortly after this occurrence
a party sallied out from the castle, killed some of the guards
stationed at the same place, took an officer and a few prisoners, and
put the rest to flight.
Meanwhile General Guest sent a message to the city, intimating
that he meant to demolish the houses where the guards were posted,
but that care would be taken to do as little damage as possible to
the city. Accordingly, on the 4th of October, about two o’clock in
the afternoon, a cannonade was opened from the half-moon battery,
near the Castle-gate, which was kept up till the evening. When it
grew dark the garrison made a sally, and set fire to a foundry and
a house on the Castle-hill which had been deserted. They then dug
a trench fourteen feet broad, and sixteen feet deep, across the
Castle-hill, about half-way between the gate and the houses on the
Castle-hill, and along the parapet made by the earth taken from
the trench on the side next the castle, they posted 200 men, who
discharged some cartridge shot down the street, killing and wounding
some of the inhabitants. The bombardment was resumed next day, with
more disastrous effect. No person could with safety appear on the
High-street, as the shots from the Castle-hill penetrated as far down
as the head of the old Flesh-market close, and shattered several
houses. At first, some of the better informed among the citizens
were disposed to regard the threat of bombardment as a mere device
to induce the prince to discontinue the blockade, as they could not
bring themselves to believe that the government could have been
guilty of issuing the barbarous order alluded to by the governor
of the castle; but the inhabitants in general entertained more
correct views, and before the cannonade commenced, the streets were
crowded with women and children running towards the gates, in great
confusion, while many of the citizens were to be seen carrying their
most valuable effects out of the city. During the two days that the
cannonade lasted, viz., the 4th and 5th of October, the utmost dismay
prevailed among the inhabitants, and multitudes of them left the
city, without knowing whither to flee or where to look for shelter.
To put an end to this disastrous state of affairs Charles issued
a proclamation on the evening of the 5th of October, removing the
blockade. In this document he stated that it was with the greatest
regret that he was hourly informed of the many murders which were
committed upon the innocent inhabitants of the city, by the inhuman
commanders and garrison of the castle, a practice contrary, he
observed, to all the laws of war, to the truce granted to the
city, and even exceeding the orders which the government, it was
alleged, had given upon the occasion,--that he might have, as he
had threatened, justly chastised those who had been instrumental in
the ruin of the capital, by reprisals upon the estates and fortunes
of the supporters of the government; but as he thought it noways
derogatory to the glory of a prince, to suspend punishment, or alter
a resolution, if, by such a course, he could save the lives of
innocent men, he had allowed his humanity to yield to the barbarity
of the common enemy. This proclamation was followed by a cessation of
the cannonade; but the garrison still continued to fire occasionally
at the Highlanders whenever they made their appearance in the
neighbourhood of the castle.
The object of Guest, according to Mr. Home, in thus annoying the
town, and provoking the Highlanders, was not to secure a supply of
provisions, of which he had already an abundance, but to prevent
them from marching into England, by keeping them occupied in the
siege of the castle. To deceive Charles, he wrote in the beginning
of the week following the battle of Preston, several letters to the
Duke of Newcastle, one of the secretaries of state, acquainting him
that there was but a very small stock of provisions in the castle of
Edinburgh,--that he would be obliged to surrender, if not immediately
relieved, and recommending that any troops sent to his relief,
should be forwarded by sea, to Berwick or Newcastle, for the sake
of despatch. These letters, which were intended for the perusal of
Charles, were sent so that they might fall into his hands; but lest
any of them might find their way to London, Guest sent a letter to
the Duke of Newcastle, by a sure conveyance, giving him an account of
the real state of the garrison, and informing him of the deception he
was endeavouring to practise upon the Highlanders.[965]
Whilst the adherents of Charles in the Highlands and the northern
Lowlands were exerting all their energies to collect reinforcements,
Lord-president Forbes was using all his influence to prevent the
chiefs of doubtful loyalty from committing themselves with the
government. To induce them to arm in its support after the success
which had attended the prince’s arms, was what he could scarcely
have expected; but by persuasion, and by pointing out in forcible
terms the ruin which would befall them and their families, should
the prince fail in his enterprise, he succeeded in making them at
first to waver, and finally to abandon any design they may have
entertained, of joining the prince. Among others who appear to
have vacillated between two opinions, and in their perplexity to
have alternately changed their minds, was Macleod of Macleod. This
chief, influenced probably by the solicitations of his clansman, who
had been sent to him on the mission before alluded to, attended a
meeting of gentlemen of the name of Fraser, convened by Lord Lovat
at Beaufort, or Castle Downie, as that seat of the chief of the
Frasers was sometimes called, on Friday the 4th of October, and
was despatched the following day to Skye, having engaged to join
the Frasers with his men at Corriearrick on the 15th;[966] but on
advising with his friend Sir Alexander Macdonald, he resolved to stay
at home.[967]
In neutralizing the efforts of the disaffected clans, and dissuading
others of doubtful loyalty from joining the ranks of the insurgents,
President Forbes had difficulties to contend with, which few men
could have overcome, but which he finally surmounted by that
firmness, zeal, and indomitable perseverance, which distinguished
him among all his political contemporaries. At its commencement,
Forbes treated the insurrection very lightly. Before his departure
for the north, he considered the prospect of affairs very flattering,
and that the object of his journey had no appearance of difficulty;
but the alteration in public feeling, consequent on the battle of
Preston, changed the scene. Instead of finding the ready support he
anticipated from the professed adherents of the government, he saw
himself, to use his own words, “almost alone, without troops, without
arms, without money or credit; provided with no means to prevent
extreme folly, except pen and ink, a tongue and some reputation; and,
if you will except Macleod, whom I sent for from the Isle of Skye,
supported by nobody of common sense or courage.”[968] The successes
of the insurgents had, he observes, “blown up the spirit of mutiny
to such a pitch, that nothing was heard of but caballing, and
gathering together of men in the neighbourhood: every petty head of
a tribe, who was in any degree tinged with Jacobitism, or desperate
in his circumstances, assembled his kindred, and made use of the
most mutinous, to drag the most peaceable out of their beds, and to
force others to list by threatening destruction to their cattle and
other effects; whilst we were unable to give them any assistance or
protection.”[969] Exasperated at the president for the exertions he
made to obstruct the designs of the disaffected, a plan was formed
for seizing him by some of the Frasers, a party of whom, amounting
to about 200 men, accordingly made an attack upon the house of
Culloden during the night between the 15th and 16th of October;
but the president being upon his guard, they were repulsed.[970]
The apprehension of such an important personage would have been of
greater service to the Jacobite cause than the gaining of a battle.
Confiding in the loyalty and discretion of President Forbes, the
ministry had, at the suggestion of the Earl of Stair, sent down to
the president, early in September, twenty commissions, for raising
as many independent companies in the Highlands for the service of
the government. The names of the officers were left blank in the
commissions, that the president might distribute them among such of
the well-affected clans as he might think proper. The plan which his
lordship laid down for himself, in disposing of these commissions,
was to distribute them among the clans who adhered to the government
in the former insurrection, without neglecting such other clans, who,
though then opposed to the government, had, on the present occasion,
shown an unwillingness to join the Jacobite standard. To raise the
companies, which were fixed at 100 men each, as quickly as possible,
the president resolved to leave the nomination of the officers to
the chiefs of the clans, out of whom they were to be raised.[971]
He accordingly despatched letters to the Earls of Sutherland and
Cromarty, Lords Reay and Fortrose, Sir Alexander Macdonald, the
lairds of Macleod and Grant, and other chiefs, requesting each of
them to raise a company out of their respective clans, most of whom
accordingly proceeded to enrol their men; but from the want of
money and arms, only two companies were completed before the end
of October, and several months expired before the whole were fully
formed and drawn together.[972]
If the majority of the people of Scotland had been favourably
disposed to the cause of the Stuarts, they had now an opportunity of
displaying their attachment to the representative of their ancient
monarchs, by declaring for the prince; but Charles soon found that,
with the exception of the Highlands, and a few districts north of
the Tay, where catholicity and non-juring episcopacy still retained
a footing, the rest of Scotland was not disposed to join a contest
for legitimacy, which they might imagine would not, if successful,
strengthen the liberties of the nation, and might possibly impair
them. The regular line of hereditary succession had been departed
from, and it did not seem wise after a trial of fifty-seven years,
during which period the political frame and texture of society had
undergone a complete revolution, to place the succession on its
original footing, by restoring the son of James II. The Jacobites,
however, imbued with ideas of indefeasible hereditary right, were
deaf to every argument founded on expediency or the will of the
nation, and contended that every departure from the direct line of
succession was a usurpation, and contrary to the divine law. No
sovereign was, therefore, held by them as legitimate, while there
existed a nearer heir to the crown in the direct line of succession;
but they did not reflect that, upon this principle, there was
scarcely a legitimate sovereign in Europe.
Among the Lowland Jacobites who displayed the greatest zeal on the
present occasion, was Lord Ogilvy, eldest son of the Earl of Airly,
who joined the prince at Edinburgh on the 3d of October with a
regiment of 600 men, chiefly from the county of Forfar, where his
father’s estates were situated. Most of the officers of the regiment
were either of the Airly family, or bore the name of Ogilvy. Lord
Ogilvy was followed by old Gordon of Glenbucket, an equally zealous
supporter of the Stuarts, who arrived at Edinburgh next day with a
body of 400 men, which he had collected in Strathdon, Strathaven,
Glenlivet, and Auchindoun. Glenbucket had been a major-general in
Mar’s army, in 1715; but he now contented himself with the colonelcy
of the regiment he had just raised, of which he made his eldest
son lieutenant-colonel, and his younger sons captains, while the
other commissions were held by his relations or personal friends.
On the 9th of October, Lord Pitsligo also joined the prince. He was
accompanied by a considerable number of gentlemen from the counties
of Aberdeen and Banff, with their servants, all well armed and
mounted. These formed an excellent corps of cavalry. He also brought
with him a small body of infantry. Lord Pitsligo, though possessed
of a moderate fortune, had great influence with the gentlemen of the
counties above named, by whom he was beloved and greatly esteemed,
and having great reliance on his judgment and discretion, they did
not hesitate, when he declared himself in favour of the prince, to
put themselves under his command.
Having been informed that there were many persons, who, from
infirmity and other causes, were unable to join him, but were
disposed to assist him with money, horses, and arms, the Chevalier
issued a proclamation on the 8th of October, calling upon all such
persons to send such supplies to his secretary; and as an order
had been issued, summoning the parliament to meet on the 17th, he,
by another proclamation dated the 9th, prohibited all peers and
commoners from paying obedience to any order or resolution that might
be published in the name of either house, in case they should meet.
On the 10th of October, Charles issued a second rather spirited
manifesto, justifying the step he had taken, proclaiming his father’s
gracious intention to redress every grievance, including the repeal
of the union, endeavouring to show that the government of the Elector
of Hanover was a grievous tyranny supported by foreign mercenaries.
It concluded thus:--
“Let him send off his foreign hirelings, and put the whole upon
the issue of a battle; I will trust only to the king my father’s
subjects, who were, or shall be, engaged in mine and their 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 bring my enterprise to a glorious
issue.
“It is now time to conclude, and I shall do it with this reflection;
civil wars are ever attended with rancour and ill-will, which
party-rage never fails to produce in the minds of those whom
different interests, principles, or views, set in opposition to one
another: I therefore earnestly require it of my friends, to give
as little loose as possible to such passions: this will prove the
most effectual means to prevent the same in the enemies of our royal
cause. And this my declaration will vindicate to all posterity the
nobleness of my undertaking, and the generosity of my intentions.”
During Charles’s stay in Edinburgh the magisterial authority was in
complete abeyance, and thieves and robbers, no longer restrained
by the arm of power, stalked about, in open day, following their
vocation. Under pretence of searching for arms, predatory bands,
wearing white cockades and the Highland dress, perambulated the
country, imposing upon and robbing the people. One of the most noted
of these was headed by one James Ratcliffe, the same individual who
figures so conspicuously in the Heart of Mid-Lothian, and who, having
spent all his life in the commission of acts of robbery, had twice
received sentence of death, but had contrived to effect his escape
from jail.[973] To suppress these and other acts of violence, Charles
issued several edicts, and in one or two instances the last penalty
of the law was inflicted by his orders upon the culprits.
Early in October a ship from France arrived at Montrose with some
arms and ammunition and a small sum of money. On board this vessel
was the Marquis Boyer d’Eguille, who arrived at Holyrood house on the
14th of October. The object of his journey was not exactly known, but
his arrival was represented as a matter of great importance, and he
was passed off as an ambassador from the French court. This vessel
was soon followed by two others in succession, one of which brought,
in addition to a supply of arms and money, some Irish officers in
the service of France. The other had on board six field-pieces
and a company of artillerymen. These succours, though small, were
opportune, and were considered as an earnest of more substantial
ones, of which d’Eguille gave the prince the strongest assurances. To
facilitate and shorten the conveyance of arms and cannon, and of the
reinforcements still expected from the north, batteries were raised
at Alloa and on the immediately opposite side of the Frith of Forth,
across which these were transported without any annoyance, although
the Fox, a British man-of-war, was stationed in the Frith.
The army of the prince continued to increase by the arrival of
several additional detachments from the north, and before the end
of October he found that his forces amounted to nearly 6,000 men;
but this number was far below what Charles had expected. He had
entertained hopes that by the exertions of Lord Lovat and other
chiefs, whom he expected to declare in his favour, about triple
that number would have been raised; but a messenger who arrived at
Edinburgh from his lordship, brought him intelligence which rendered
his expectations less sanguine. Lovat had calculated that he would
be able to raise by his own influence a force of 4,000 or 5,000 men
for the service of Charles; and, the better to conceal his design,
he opened a correspondence with President Forbes, in which, with
his characteristic duplicity and cunning, he avowed himself a warm
supporter of the government, and succeeded for a considerable time
in throwing the president off his guard. By degrees, however, his
real intentions began to develop themselves, and after the battle
of Preston he resolved to assemble his clan for the purpose of
joining the prince. To deceive the government he compelled his
son, (afterwards known as General Fraser,) a youth of eighteen who
had been pursuing his studies at the university of St. Andrews, to
put himself at the head of the clan, and afterwards pretended that
his son had, by this proceeding, acted in direct opposition to his
orders.[974] The only force raised south of the Tay was a regiment
of 450 men which Colonel Roy Stewart formed in Edinburgh during the
stay of the Highland army; for, although the prince was joined at
Edinburgh by the Earls of Kilmarnock and Kellie, Lord Balmerino,
Maxwell of Kirkconnel, and other south-country gentlemen, they did
not bring as many men along with them as would have formed the staff
of a company.
Having now spent nearly six weeks in Edinburgh, the prince considered
that he could no longer delay his intended march into England.
By postponing that measure a few days longer he might have still
farther increased his force by the return of the men who had gone
home after the battle, of whom he had received favourable accounts;
by the accession of a body of Gordons which Lord Lewis, brother to
the Duke of Gordon, was raising among the followers of the family;
and by other small corps from the north. But it was judged that this
advantage would be more than counterbalanced by other circumstances
attendant upon delay. The long stay of the Highland army in Scotland
had enabled the government to concentrate a considerable force in
the north of England, already far superior, in point of numbers,
to the prince’s troops, and this force was about to receive large
additions from the south and from the continent. Nothing but a
dread of the Highlanders and ignorance of their real strength kept
the English army, already concentrated in the north, from entering
Scotland; but terrible as was the impression made upon the minds of
the English troops, by the reports which had been carried to England
of the prowess of the Highlanders, it was not to be supposed, that,
after the arrival of large reinforcements, their commanders would
remain inactive. Had the government been aware of the weakness of
the prince’s army after the battle of Gladsmuir, it would probably
not have delayed a single week in sending an army into Scotland;
but the exaggerated reports which had been every where spread,
of the great strength of the Highland army, were fully credited.
Attempts were made by some friends of the government, as well as
by others, to ascertain their numbers; but Charles, by perpetually
shifting their cantonments, and dividing them into detached bodies,
not only contrived to conceal his weakness, but to impress these
prying persons with an idea that he was much stronger than he really
was.[975]
Another reason for hastening his march south was the danger that
the army might be diminished by desertion if kept in a state of
inactivity. Desertions were frequent, and it was thought that
nothing but an active life would put an end to a practice imputed
to idleness and repose, and which allowed the men time to think on
their families, and contemplate the hardships and dangers they were
likely to undergo in a foreign land. But the chief motive which urged
Charles and his council to put the army in motion was an apprehension
that their supplies of money would be soon exhausted, in which event
it would be quite impossible to keep the army together for a single
day. By adhering to a declaration he had made, that he would not
enforce the obnoxious malt tax; the public money, which had been
collected, and was still in course of being raised, was far from
being adequate to support the army which Charles had collected; and
the contributions of his friends, which at first were considerable,
were now beginning to fail. The supplies which had lately been
received from France were therefore very opportune; but without
additional and early pecuniary succours, which, though promised,
might not speedily arrive or might miscarry, it was considered that
unless the exchequer was replenished in England, the abandonment
of the enterprise was inevitable. For these reasons, and as the
prince informed his council[976] that he had received the strongest
assurances of support from numbers of the English Tories and
Jacobites, a unanimous resolution was entered into to march forthwith
into England.[977]
Upon this resolution being adopted, the prince despatched a messenger
to France with intelligence of his intentions, and to solicit the
French court to make a descent on England. As this court had all
along given as its reason for not seconding the prince’s designs, by
sending an army into England, the doubt which it had of his having
a considerable party in that country, the messenger was instructed
to represent the situation of the prince’s affairs in the most
favourable point of view. This person, by name Alexander Gordon,
a Jesuit, left Edinburgh accordingly on the 28th of October. On
arriving in France he drew up a most flattering report, which he put
into the hands of the prince’s brother, Henry, Duke of York, then at
Paris, to be laid before the French king. In this report he stated,
that while the prince had about 12,000 men with him in Edinburgh
and its vicinity, there were 4,000 more expected to arrive--that
he had already upwards of 1,000 cavalry, and that a great number
more were on their march to join him,--that almost all these troops
were well armed, and were amply provided with every necessary,--and
that all the inhabitants of the counties and towns where the prince
had appeared, and particularly those of Edinburgh and Glasgow, had
furnished the army with clothing, arms, and money, and, in short,
with every thing in their power. He stated, that besides the Highland
chiefs and the noblemen of different counties, who had declared in
favour of the prince before the battle of Preston, a great number
of persons of distinction had since joined him at Edinburgh, among
whom he particularly enumerated Lord Nithsdale and Kenmure, and
Maxwell of Kirkconnel,--that besides these there were many others,
who, being unable to give their personal services, had sent the
prince horses, arms, and money, and that after the prince’s father
had been proclaimed in the capital and the most considerable towns
in Scotland, those who had formerly shown themselves least disposed
to acknowledge him had displayed the most favourable dispositions
towards the prince, being either subdued by the charms of his
manners, or gained over by his manifestoes and proclamations. In
short, that by the astonishing victory he had achieved, many persons,
who would otherwise have still been in connexion with the court of
London, had submitted themselves to the prince, who might be said
to be now absolute master of Scotland. That with regard to England,
the people of that kingdom were ready to receive the prince with open
arms as soon as he should appear among them with an army supported by
France,--that, independently of the general discontent of the nation
with the government, the prince was emboldened to enter England by
upwards of a hundred invitations which he had received from the
nobility of England, and by large sums of money which he had obtained
for the payment of his troops,--that the English government, alarmed
at this state of things, had, as was reported, hesitated accepting
offers, which some counties had made of raising bodies of militia,
for fear that this force would be employed against itself. In fine,
that such was the disposition of men’s minds throughout the whole of
Great Britain, that the fear of the prince not being supported by
foreign aid, of which the court of London was in great dread, alone
prevented the people from openly declaring themselves, and that every
person was persuaded, that for every thousand of foreign troops which
the prince could bring into the field, his army would receive an
accession, four times as large, from the English people, who only
wanted the presence of a foreign force to encourage them to take up
arms against the government.[978]
The last days of October were occupied in making the necessary
arrangements for the march of the Highland army; preparatory to
which, orders were issued, near the end of that month, to call in
the different parties which were posted at Newhaven, Leith, and
other places in the vicinity of Edinburgh. The army which, for three
weeks after the battle of Preston had lain in camp at Duddingston,
had, since the middle of October, been quartered in and around the
city; but on the 26th of that month the main body left Edinburgh,
and encamped on a field a little to the west of Inveresk church,
with a battery of seven or eight pieces of cannon pointing to the
south-west.[979] Hitherto Charles, to conceal his weakness, had
reviewed his army in detached portions; but he now ordered a general
review of his whole force on the 28th of October. The place appointed
was Leith links; but being warned by a few bombs which were thrown
from the castle as the army was approaching the ground, that he might
expect some annoyance, Charles abandoned his intention, and reviewed
his army on the sands between Leith and Musselburgh.[980]
Of the deportment of Charles, and the mode in which he spent his time
during his abode at Holyrood house, it may now be necessary to say a
few words. It has been already stated on the authority of an officer
in his army, whose memoirs are quoted by Mr. Home, that before
the meeting of his council, Charles held a levee. The same writer
adds, that after the rising of the council, which generally sat
very long, he dined in public with his principal officers, and that
while the army lay at Duddingston he rode out there after dinner,
accompanied by his life-guards.[981] The object of these visits was
to keep the Highlanders together; and to show them that the change
of circumstances had not altered his disposition towards them, he
frequently supped and slept in the camp.[982]
Another writer, an eye-witness,[983] says that “the prince’s court
at Holyrood soon became very brilliant, and that every day from
morning to night there was a vast concourse of well-dressed people.
Besides the gentlemen that had joined the prince, there was a great
number of ladies and gentlemen who came either from affection or
curiosity. People flocked from all quarters to see the novelty of a
court which had not been held in Scotland for sixty years, and from
its splendour, and the air of satisfaction which appeared in every
person’s countenance, one would have thought the king was already
restored, and in peaceable possession of all the dominions of his
ancestors, and that the prince had only made a trip to Scotland to
show himself to the people, and receive their homage.” The conduct
of Charles corresponded in all respects with the attentions shown
him. He professed the warmest attachment to Scotland, and was often
heard to say, that should he succeed in his attempt, he would make
Scotland his Hanover, and Holyrood house his Herenhausen;[984] an
expression by which he not only marked his devotion to the Scotch
nation, but conveyed a severe rebuke upon King George, who was justly
accused of an undue predilection for his native soil.
To mark his sense of the respect shown him, and to ingratiate himself
still more with his new friends, Charles gave a series of balls and
entertainments in the palace, which were attended by all the persons
of rank and fashion assembled in the capital. On these occasions, the
young Chevalier appeared sometimes in an English court-dress with the
blue ribbon, star, and other insignia of the order of the garter, and
at other times in a Highland dress of fine silk tartan, with crimson
velvet breeches, and the cross of St. Andrew.[985] His politeness,
affability, and condescension, were the theme of universal
conversation. Captivated by the charms of his conversation, the
graces of his person, and the unwearied attentions which he bestowed
on them, the ladies entered warmly into the prince’s views; and their
partizanship became so available to his cause as to attract, as we
have seen, the especial attention of President Forbes. Indeed, so
strong was the hold which the spirit of Jacobitism had taken of the
hearts of the ladies of Edinburgh, that when afterwards overawed by
the presence of an English army, they, nevertheless, continued to
wear the Jacobite badge, and treated the approaches of the Duke of
Cumberland’s officers with supercilious indifference. As Charles was
almost wholly destitute of every household requisite, his female
friends sent plate, china, linen, and other articles of domestic use
to the palace.[986]
At the present stage of this history, it seems proper to record
a manifesto which emanated from Charles’s army on the eve of
its departure for England, which, as an historical document of
considerable interest, shall be given entire. It was titled, “The
declaration and admonitory letter of such of the nobility, gentry,
and freeborn subjects of his majesty, as, under the auspicious
conduct of his royal highness, Charles, prince of Wales, steward of
Scotland, &c., have taken up arms in support of the cause of their
king and country.” It was addressed “unto those who have not as yet
declared their approbation of this enterprise; and to such as have,
or may hereafter, appear in arms against it.”
“COUNTRYMEN AND FELLOW-SUBJECTS,--It is with abundance of regret,
and not without indignation, that we daily hear and see this
our undertaking, which in glory and disinterestedness may vie
with any to be met with, either in ancient or modern history,
traduced, misrepresented, and reviled in those fulsome addresses
and associations made to and in favours of the Elector of
Hanover, by those very bishops of the church of England, who,
for so many years, have contributed their utmost endeavours to
abet and support every measure the most unpopular, pernicious,
and hurtful, that the worst of ministers, be he of what party he
would, could ever devise for the undoing of these nations.
“Is it from such patterns of virtue and piety that the nation
now must take the alarm? Are we by these old bugbears of popery,
slavery, and tyranny, for ever to be hindered from pursuing our
only true interest? Or, is the groundless fear of an imaginary
evil to prevent our shaking off the heavy yoke we daily feel?
“What further security, in the name of God, can a people desire
for the enjoyment of their ecclesiastical rights? Have not both
the king and prince regent sworn in the most solemn manner
to maintain the protestant religion throughout his majesty’s
dominions? Nay, more, have they not promised to pass any laws
which shall be thought necessary for the further security of
it? Are we not protestants who now address you? And is it not
by the strength of a protestant army that he must mount the
throne? Can any man, or number of men, persuade you, that we,
who are your brethren, born in the same island, and who have the
same interest, do not love ourselves, our religion, laws and
liberties, as well as you do?
“What further security can the nature of the thing admit of?
You have your prince’s promises, and here you have laid before
you the sentiments of his army; who, having thankfully accepted
of them, are determined and resolved to set their country at
liberty, by establishing that glorious plan which has been freely
offered to us by the only rightful prince of the British nations;
and this must be done before we sheath our swords.
“Our enemies have represented us as men of low birth and of
desperate fortunes. We, who are now in arms, are, for the
greatest part, of the most ancient families of this island,
whose forefathers asserted the liberties of their country, long,
long before the names of many of our declaimers were ever heard
of. Our blood is good, and that our actions shall make 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.
“The justice, therefore, of the cause we now appear for, the
interest of the nation which we support and pursue, and the
glorious character of our royal leader, may each by itself, or
all together, abundantly convince the nation, that now at last
there appears an happy and unforeseen opportunity of acquiring
all those blessings which a distrest nation has been so long
wishing for in vain.
“This golden opportunity we have laid hold of; and in justice to
ourselves and fellow-subjects, are obliged thus to apprize them
of the uprightness of our intentions in carrying into execution
a scheme calculated and adapted to those principles of liberty
which the true lovers of their country have been polishing and
refining for these many years past.
“Perhaps you may find fault that you were not apprized of this
undertaking. No more were we. God has conducted, the prince of
Wales has executed; 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 conqueror, possest of all the shining virtues
which can adorn a throne, and who may challenge the keenest enemy
of his royal family to impute to him a vice which can blacken
the character of a prince. Compare his clemency towards all
the prisoners and wounded at the battle of Gladsmuir, with the
executions, imprisonments, and banishments, exercised by the
German family after their success at Preston in the year 1715,
and your affections will tell you who is the true father of the
people.
“We have hitherto only spoke to your interests: when his royal
highness comes himself amongst you, let his appearance, his
moderation, his affability, his tenderness and affection for
those he can truly call his countrymen, speak to your passions;
then you who, at the instigation of your enemies, are now arming
for the defence, as you imagine, of your respective communities,
will be able to judge from whom you will have the best reason to
expect protection. Thus far we can take upon us to promise in his
highness’s name, that such as shall make no resistance to our
troops, though before our arrival they may have been levying war
against us, may nevertheless depend upon the most ample security
for their persons and estates, provided, by a timely surrender
of their arms, they put in our power to protect them against
the fury of the army: and how foolish will it be, after this
assurance, for any city, corporation, or county, to attempt to
make head against the combined force of a whole nation, collected
in a numerous army, and flushed with success? If any misfortune,
therefore, ensue from a disregard of this admonition, we of his
royal highness’s army declare ourselves free of all blame therein.
“It is time for you now, O countrymen! to lay aside all
animosities, all distinctions of families or names, and to
confine your thoughts only to the interest of these kingdoms,
connecting with them as you go along the sentiments you had a few
years ago.
“What transport of joy would the bulk of the British nation have
felt upon a certain remarkable and never-to-be-forgotten period
in our political history, (that great change of ministry which
happened not long ago, when the cries of a distressed people,
supported by the interest and influence of powerful, though
designing men, accomplished the ruin of a mighty minister,) how
great would have been your joy had you then had from the Elector
of Hanover such a declaration as that emitted the 10th of this
month by his royal highness, the heir and representative of our
natural and only rightful sovereign?
“Is it possible to conceive the universal satisfaction which such
a declaration would have occasioned, unless we judge of it by
our fatal disappointment?--We leave it to yourselves to make the
application. As it is not our intention here to set forth the
domestic grievances of the nation, nor the scandalous preference
showed upon all occasions to a pitiful foreign concern; for as
we address ourselves chiefly to the friends of liberty and the
constitution, we suppose you all abundantly instructed in them:
nor would it serve but to lengthen this letter, to enumerate
the many promises in the king’s and prince’s declarations
and manifestoes to his subjects upon this occasion; we have
abundantly explained our own motives for now appearing in arms,
and would willingly use a little serious expostulation with you,
gentlemen, who intend to oppose us.
“What then, in the name of God, do you propose to yourselves? Is
it also the interest of Great Britain and Ireland? Or, is it the
support of the Elector of Hanover’s family in the succession to
the crown of these realms? If your armaments proceed from the
first of these motives, tell us what a prince can do more to make
you a free and a happy people? What security can you have more
than his word and his army’s guarantee, until the nation shall
have time abundantly to secure themselves by parliament?
“If you be satisfied with the promises made you, and the security
of the performance, do you disapprove of this method of bringing
about the execution by force of arms? If you do, be so good as
suggest another equally efficacious.
“That by parliament, indeed, would have been universally the
most acceptable; but we cannot be so infatuated as to remain in
eternal bondage, unless a parliament, composed of hirelings,
should set us at liberty; nor have we any hopes that the Elector
will strip himself of that pecuniary influence by which alone he
has carried, over the bellies of the nation, every destructive
measure.
“On the other hand, if the dispute is to be whether the Stuart
or Hanoverian family shall reign over Great Britain, without
reference to the interest of the nation, we need use no other
argument than the sword with such as shall oppose us upon these
principles.
“To conclude, we desire to lay this important question before
you in a new light. Suppose, for it is only a supposition, that
this dreadful and unnatural rebellion, as you are taught to call
it, should be extinguished and quashed, and every man concerned
in it executed on a scaffold; your joy, no doubt, would be very
great upon so glorious an event; your addresses would then be
turned into thanksgivings,--your parliament would then meet and
cloath your beloved sovereign with new powers,--your standing
army, which has hitherto been looked upon as the bane of the
constitution, would then be consecrated as your deliverers; and
the reverend bishops of the church of England would be hailed
from the most distant corners of the island by the glorious
appellation of patriots and protectors of British liberty. O
happy, thrice happy nation, who have such an army and such a
bench of bishops ready upon this occasion to rescue them from
popery, and slavery, tyranny, and arbitrary power!
“When, indeed, the first transport of your joy would be
over,--for you are not to expect that these halcyon days are ever
to remain,--you might perhaps find, to your fatal experience,
that the constitution of your country was not in the least
improved; and upon the return of the unavoidable consequences
of those evils all along complained of, and which now you have
so fair an opportunity of having redressed, you would at last
be sensible that we were those who, in truth, deserved the
appellation of deliverers, patriots, and protectors of the
British liberty. But this last part of our letter is addressed
only to such as we expect to meet with in a field of battle, and
we are hopeful that those will prove but an inconsiderable part
of the nations of Great Britain and Ireland; and that you, our
countrymen and fellow-subjects, upon being advised and informed,
as you now have been, of the whole plan of this glorious
expedition, will 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 Almighty God, we shortly expect to see
accomplished.”
Whilst the prince and his partizans were thus spreading the seeds
of insurrection, and endeavouring to improve the advantages they
had gained, the ministry of Great Britain, aroused to a just sense
of the impending danger, took every possible measure to retard the
progress of the insurrection. King George had returned to London
on the 31st of August. He met with a cordial reception from the
nobility and gentry in the capital, and loyal addresses were voted
by all the principal cities, and towns and corporations in the
kingdom. A demand was made upon the states-general for the 6,000 men
stipulated by treaty, part of whom were landed at Berwick the day
after Cope’s defeat. Three battalions of guards, and seven regiments
of foot, were ordered home from Flanders, and a cabinet council was
held at Kensington on the 13th of September, which directed letters
to be sent to the lords-lieutenant and _custodes rotulorum_ of the
counties of England and Wales to raise the militia. Marshal Wade was
despatched to the north of England to take the command of the forces
in that quarter, and two regiments, of 1,000 each, were ordered to
be transported from Dublin to Chester. A number of blank commissions
were, as has been before stated, sent to the north of Scotland to
raise independent companies; the Earl of Loudon was despatched to
Inverness to take the command, and two ships of war were sent down
with arms to the same place.
As popery had been formerly a serviceable bugbear to alarm the people
for their religion and liberties, some of the English bishops issued
mandates to their clergy, enjoining them to instil into their people
“a just abhorrence of popery” and of arbitrary power, both of which
they supposed to be inseparably connected; a proceeding which formed
a singular contrast with the conduct of their brethren, the Scottish
protestant episcopal clergy, who to a man were zealously desirous
of restoring the Stuarts. The clergy attended to the injunctions
they had received, and their admonitions were not without effect.
Associations were speedily formed in every county, city, and town
in England, of any consideration, in defence of the religion and
liberties of the nation, and all persons, of whatever rank or degree,
seemed equally zealous to protect both.
The parliament met on the 17th of October, and was informed by his
majesty that he had been obliged to call them together sooner than he
intended, in consequence of an unnatural rebellion which had broken
out, and was still continued in Scotland, to suppress and extinguish
which rebellion he craved the immediate advice and assistance of
the parliament. Both houses voted addresses, in which they gave
his majesty the strongest assurances of duty and affection to his
person and government, and promised to adopt measures commensurate
with the danger. The _habeas corpus_ act was suspended for six
months, and several persons were apprehended on suspicion. The Duke
of Cumberland, the king’s second son, arrived from the Netherlands
shortly after the opening of the session, and on the 25th of October
a large detachment of cavalry and infantry arrived in the Thames from
Flanders. The train-bands of London were reviewed by his majesty
on the 28th; the county regiments were completed; and the persons
who had associated themselves in different parts of the kingdom as
volunteers, were daily engaged in the exercise of arms. Apprehensive
of an invasion from France, the government appointed Admiral Vernon
to command a squadron in the Downs, to watch the motions of the enemy
by sea. Cruisers were stationed along the French coast, particularly
off Dunkirk and Boulogne, which captured several ships destined for
Scotland with officers, soldiers, and ammunition for the use of the
insurgents.
The birth-day of George II., which fell on the 30th of October,
was celebrated throughout the whole of England with extraordinary
demonstrations of loyalty. Many extravagant scenes were enacted,
which, though they may now appear ludicrous and absurd, were deemed
by the actors as deeds of the purest and most exalted patriotism. In
Scotland, however, with one remarkable exception, the supporters of
government did not venture upon any public display. The exception
alluded to was the town of Perth, some of whose inhabitants took
possession of the church and steeple about mid-day, and rang the
bells. Oliphant of Gask, who had been made deputy-governor of the
town by the young Chevalier, and had under him a small party, sent
to desire those who rang the bells to desist; but they refused to
comply, and continued ringing at intervals until midnight, two hours
after the ordinary time. Mr. Oliphant, with his small guard and three
or four gentlemen, posted themselves in the council-house, in order
to secure about 1,400 small arms, some ammunition, &c., belonging
to the Highland army, deposited there and in the adjoining jail. At
night seven north-country gentlemen, in the Jacobite interest, came
to town with their servants, and immediately joined their friends in
the council-house: when it grew dark the mob made bonfires in the
streets, and ordered the inhabitants to illuminate their windows, an
order which was generally obeyed, and the few that refused had their
windows broken. About nine o’clock at night a party sallied from
the council-house, and marching up the street to disperse the mob,
fired upon and wounded three of them. The mob, exasperated by this
attack, rushed in upon the party, and disarmed and wounded some of
them. After this rencontre the mob placed guards at all the gates of
the town, took possession of the main-guard and rung the fire-bell,
by which they drew together about 200 people. They thereupon sent a
message to Mr. Oliphant, requiring him to withdraw immediately from
the town and yield up the arms, ammunition, &c. Mr. Oliphant having
refused, they rang the fire-bell a second time, and hostilities
commenced about two o’clock in the morning, and continued about three
hours. The people fired at the council-house from the heads of lanes,
from behind stairs, and from windows, so that the party within could
not look out without the greatest hazard. About five o’clock the
mob dispersed. An Irish captain in the French service was killed in
the council-house, and three or four of Mr. Oliphant’s party were
wounded. Of the mob, which was without a leader, four were wounded.
To preserve order, about 60 of Lord Nairne’s men were brought into
the town next day, and these were soon thereafter joined by about 130
Highlanders.[987]
FOOTNOTES:
[952] _Culloden Papers_, p. 250.
[953] Id., p. 227.
[954] Id., p. 426.
[955] Id., p. 253.
[956] _Culloden Papers_, p. 420.
[957] Kirkconnel MS.
[958] Id.
[959] _Memoirs_, p. 45.
[960] Home, p. 120.
[961] Appendix to Home’s _Rebellion_, No. xxviii.
[962] Home, p. 124.
[963] Marchant’s _History of the Rebellion_, p. 113.--Boyse, p. 91.
[964] Kirkconnel MS.
[965] Home, p. 127.
[966] Home, p. 327.
[967] Lovat’s Trial, p. 138.
[968] _Culloden Papers_, p. 250.
[969] _Culloden Papers_, p. 246.
[970] Idem.
[971] Idem, p. 404.
[972] The following is a list of the officers of eighteen of the
independent companies, being the whole number raised, with the dates
of the delivery of their commissions on the completion of their
companies, and of their arrival at Inverness:--
_Captains._ _Lieutenants._ _Ensigns._ _Dates of completing
the companies, and
of their arrival
at Inverness._
1. George Monro, Adam Gordon, Hugh Monro, 1745, Oct. 23d.
2. Alexander Gun, John Gordon, Kenneth Sutherland, -- -- 25th.
3. Patrick Grant, William Grant, James Grant, -- Nov. 3d.
4. George Mackay, John Mackay, James Mackay, -- -- 4th.
5. Peter
Sutherland, William Mackay, John Mackay, -- -- 8th.
6. John Macleod, Alexander John Macaskill, -- -- 15th.
Macleod,
7. Normand Macleod
of Waterstein, Donald Macleod, John Macleod, -- -- --
8. Normand Macleod
of Bernera, John Campbell, John Macleod, -- -- --
9. Donald
Macdonald, William Macleod, Donald Macleod, -- -- --
10. William Kenneth
Mackintosh, Mathison, William Baillie, -- -- 18th.
11. Hugh Macleod, George Monro, Roderick Macleod, -- -- 28th.
12. Alexander
Mackenzie, John Mathison, Simon Murchison, -- Dec. 20th.
13. Colin Mackenzie Alexander
of Hilton, Campbell, John Macrae, -- -- --
14. James
Macdonald, Allan Macdonald, James Macdonald, -- -- 31st.
15. John Macdonald, Allan Macdonald, Donald Macdonald, -- -- --
16. Hugh Mackay, John Mackay, Angus Mackay, 1746, Jan. 6th.
17. William Ross, Charles Ross, David Ross, -- -- 8th.
18. Colin Donald
Mackenzie, Mackaulay, Kenneth Mackenzie, -- Feb. 2d.
_Culloden Papers._
1. The Monros.
2 and 5. The Earl of Sutherland’s men.
3. The Grants.
4 and 16. The Mackays.
6, 7, 8, and 9. The Macleods, under the laird of Macleod.
10. A company raised in the town of Inverness.
11. The Macleods of Assint, raised by Captain Macleod of Geanies.
12 and 13. The Mackenzies of Kintail.
14 and 15. The Macdonalds of Skye.
17. The Rosses.
18. The Mackenzies of Lewis.
[973] _Caledonian Mercury_, 11th October, 1745.
[974] _Culloden Papers_, pp. 231-254.
[975] _Kirkconnel MS._
[976] Maxwell of Kirkconnel had a very sorry opinion of the
capabilities of most of the members of the council. After stating,
that by degrees all the colonels of the army were admitted into it,
he thus proceeds:--“I must acknowledge that very few of the members
of this assembly were either able statesmen or experienced officers;
but as those who knew least were generally led by the opinions of
those they thought wiser than themselves, and they in their turn had
private conferences with the ablest of the prince’s secret friends
in Edinburgh, things might have been well enough conducted had there
been as much harmony and union as the importance of the affair
required; but an ill-timed emulation soon crept in, and bred great
dissensions and animosities. The council was insensibly divided into
factions, and came to be of little use when measures were approved
of or condemned, not for themselves, but for the sake of their
author. These dissensions, begun at Edinburgh, continued ever after,
and their fatal influence was not always confined to the council:
by degrees it reached the army; and though the prince’s orders
were ever respected and punctually obeyed by the army, there were,
nevertheless, a certain discontent and diffidence which appeared
on sundry occasions, especially towards the end, and was very
detrimental to his affairs.”--_Kirkconnel MS._
[977] Idem.
[978] Vide the report in the _Stuart Papers_, and a letter of 26th
November, 1745, from Gordon to the Chevalier de St. George, inclosing
a copy of his report.
[979] Marchant, p. 130.
[980] Boyse, p. 95.
[981] Home, p. 139.
[982] _Kirkconnel MS._
[983] Maxwell of Kirkconnel.
[984] Henderson, p. 92.
[985] Boyse, p. 89.
[986] Idem.
[987] Adamson’s _Muses Threnodie_, Perth ed. of 1774. Appendix, No.
2, p. 165.