_A nation's craven rage_; The want of public spirit in England shown
during the war of 1745-6 is astonishing. 'England,' wrote Henry Fox, 'is
for the first comer . . . Had 5,000 [French troops] landed in any part of
this island a week ago, I verily believe the entire conquest of it would
not have cost them a battle.' And other weighty testimonies might be
added, in support of Lord Mahon's view as to the great probability of the
Prince's success, had he been allowed by his followers to march upon
London from Derby.
This apathy and the panic which followed found their natural issue in the
sanguinary punishment of the followers of Prince Charles. 'The city and
the generality,' wrote H. Walpole in August, 1746, 'are very angry that
so many rebels have been pardoned.' The vindictive cruelty then shown
makes, in truth (if we compare the magnitude and duration of the
rebellion for which punishment was to be exacted), an unsatisfactory
contrast to the leniency of 1660. But History supplies only too numerous
proofs that a century's march in civilisation may be always undone at
once by the demons of Panic or of Party in the hour of their respective
triumphs.