1745.

LEVEES AND BALLS AT HOLYROOD.

257

ર body that did."* We should not forget that Lord Elcho wrote thus in exile, after a violent quarrel and total estrangement between him and the Prince; yet, on the whole, from his and other testimony, we may clearly conclude, that Charles was too fiery in his temper and too fixed in his opinions.

Before the council, Charles always held a levee; when the council rose, he dined in public with his principal officers, and then rode out with his Life Guards, usually to his camp at Duddingstone. On returning in the evening, he held a drawing-room for the ladies of his party; and not unfrequently closed the day by giving them a ball in the old picture-gallery of Holyrood. His affability and constant wish to please were neither relaxed by his good fortune nor yet clouded by his cares: at table he often combined a compliment to his followers with a sarcasm on his rival, by saying, that, after his restoration, Scotland should be his Hanover, and Holyrood House his Herrenhausen.† At his camp he talked familiarly even to the meanest Highlanders. At his balls he was careful to call alternately for Highland and Lowland tunes, so as to avoid showing an invidious preference to either, -to such minute particulars did his anxiety to please descend! The fair sex in general, throughout Scotland, became devoted to his cause; those who conversed with him, won by his gaiety and gallantry; those in a remoter sphere, dazzled by his romantic enterprise and situation, and moved by the generous compassion of a woman's heart. The heir of Robert the Bruce come to claim his birthright, and animated, as they fondly believed, by a kindred spirit! the master of a kingdom, yet reigning beneath the cannon of a hostile fortress!- an exile two months before! -a conqueror to-day! - perhaps a monarch, or perhaps again an outcast and fugitive to-morrow!

Charles, having now collected as large an army as his present means allowed, was eager to employ it in an expedition to England. His Scottish counsellors, on the contrary, argued, that he ought to content himself with

* Lord Elcho's MS. Memoirs: a large extract, inserted in the Tales of a Grandfather, vol. iii. p. 54-58.

† Chambers's Hist. vol. i. p. 211.

Report of the spy sent from England, October, 1745.

the possession of their ancient kingdom; to think only of defending it against the English armies when they marched against him, but to run no hazard in attempts at further conquest*: a strange and thoughtless advice, evidently founded on traditional feelings, rather than on sober reason! With better judgment the young Prince perceived, that in his circumstances to await attack was to ensure defeat, and that his only hope of retaining Scotland lay in conquering England. It might indeed, with more ground, be objected to his enterprise, that his present force was wholly insufficient for it, and would expose both his cause and his person to imminent peril. Yet still, considering that the English could hardly be incited to an insurrection, nor the French to a descent, without Charles's personal appearance, and that further delay would probably strengthen the established government in a far greater proportion than himself, the course of present danger was undoubtedly the best for final safety and success. At three several councils did Charles accordingly propose to march into England and fight Marshal Wade, whose army, consisting partly of the Dutch auxiliaries and partly of English regiments, was gathered at Newcastle; but as often was his proposal overruled. At length he declared, in a very peremptory manner, “I 'see, Gentlemen, you are determined to stay in Scotland "and defend your country, but I am not less resolved to "try my fate in England, though I should go alone."

66

Thus pressed in honour, the chiefs reluctantly yielded; limiting their consent, however, to a march a little way across the Border. It was then urged by Lord George Murray, that since they needs must enter England, it should be on the Cumberland rather than on the Northumberland side: for, if Marshal Wade advanced towards Carlisle to give them battle, he must harass his troops by a fatiguing march through a difficult country, and the Highlanders would fight to advantage among hills not

* See these views vehemently maintained by Chevalier Johnstone; Memoirs, p. 45. 8vo ed.; a work that may be consulted for opinions, though not trusted for facts. He adds, "By fomenting the natural "hatred which the Scots have at all times manifested against the English, the war would have become national; and this would have "been a most fortunate circumstance for the Prince."

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.1745.

MEASURES OF THE GOVERNMENT.

259

unlike their own. If, on the contrary, the Marshal re mained inactive, the Prince would be at liberty to move where he pleased, and more time would be afforded for the French to land, or the English to rise. This scheme, which seems a great improvement on Charles's first idea, was finally resolved upon; the secret, however, was well kept, it being generally given out and believed that they were to march straight against Wade. To mislead the English as long as possible, the Chevalier adopted another suggestion of Lord George, that the army should proceed in two columns, both to join on a day appointed near Carlisle; the first, with the baggage and incumbrances, to go by the direct road of Moffat, but the second and lighter one, under the Prince in person, to pass by Kelso, as if with the design of pushing on into Northumberland.

At this period, however, the English Government was no longer, as after Preston, unprepared or defenceless: their regiments had arrived from Flanders, their auxiliaries from Holland. Besides Wade's army at Newcastle, which amounted already to near ten thousand men, another under the Duke of Cumberland was forming in the midland counties. The militia had been raised in many districts, and the Duke of Bedford, with thirteen other noblemen, had undertaken to raise each a new regiment of his own. The House of Commons, moreover, had voted not merely loyal addresses but liberal supplies; and consented to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act. On their part, all the ruling statesmen had begun to open their eyes to the magnitude of the impending danger; and the Chancellor, starting as from a lethargy, remarked, that he had thought lightly of the Highlands, but now saw they made a third of the island in the map. Every exertion was used to rouse and stimulate the people, not only by a just representation that their religion and liberties were in peril, but also by lower, and probably more effectual arts. Thus, for example, the butchers were reminded that the Papists eat no meat in Lent†;

* Earl of Marchmont's Diary, October 7. 1745.

*

†The placard was as follows:-“TO ALL JOLLY BUTCHERS: My "bold hearts, the Papists eat no meat on Wednesdays, Fridays, "Saturdays, nor during Lent. Your friend, JOHN STEEL."-H.. Walpole to Sir H. Mann, October 4. 1745.

and the Highlanders were held forth as brutal savages, from whom the worst excesses might be feared. I have now lying before me a pamphlet, "by a British Lady." "Let every mother," says the fair authoress, "consider, "if this inundation is not stopped, her prattling boys, the "pledges of her love and the darlings of her heart, may "be torn from her sight, and slavery, the French galleys, "and the Spanish Inquisition be their portion. What "may be the fate of her girls, whom she watches over "with so much tender care, I have already hinted, and "think the subject too horrible, to resume-indeed too "horrible even but to mention: what then must be the "reality?"*

It may be doubted, however, whether, with all these exertions and exaggerations, much effect was produced upon the great body of the people. The county of York seems to have been the only one where the gentry and yeomen, headed by their Archbishop, made a public and zealous appearance. The fourteen promised regiments all vanished in air or dwindled to jobs: "These most "disinterested Colonels," writes Horace Walpole, "will << name none but their own relations and dependents for "the officers who are to have rank."+ Great lukewarmness, to say the least of it, appeared in the ranks of opposition. Lord Bolingbroke told Marchmont, that he thought this was the time when people should endeavour to keep themselves cool; and that unless there was a third party for the Constitution, there was none worth fighting for! And at a still later period he says, "I "wait with much resignation to know to what lion's paw we are to fall."§ In like manner, the great Scottish peers of King George's side, from whom much had been expected, promised little and did nothing. Thus, the Duke of Montrose thought it a right opportunity to complain that Argyle had always been preferred before

*Epistle from a British Lady to her Countrywomen, 1745, p. 11. At p. 13. she bids them emulate "the courage of the women in the reign of Romulus!"

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To Sir H. Mann, November 4. 1745.

Lord Marchmont's Diary, September 24. 1745.

Lord Bolingbroke to Marchmont, December, 1745. Marchmont

Papers. vol. ii. p. 348.

1745,

CHARLES MARCHES INTO ENGLAND.

261

him: :- "My grandfather," added he, "lost his estate at "the head of a party-and I will not lose mine at the "tail of one!"* But, on the other hand, the faction of the Jacobites in England seemed still more inactive and benumbed, taking no apparent measures to rise in arms, and to counteract the immense superiority of regular troops which their Prince must have to overcome.

Charles, having now matured and fixed his plans, set out from Holyrood on the last day of October, and at six in the evening. That night he slept at Pinkie-house, as after Preston; next day his army, dividing into two columns, began its march. The whole force fell short of six thousand men, of whom about five hundred were cavalry: they were well clothed and equipped, and had horses to carry their baggage, and four days' provisions. † But a march into England was nearly as distasteful to the common Highlanders as to their chiefs, and they began to desert in great numbers on the way. One morning Charles is said to have passed an hour and a half before he could prevail upon any of the men to go forward the weather, too, was so unfavourable, that it would have prevented any troops less hardy than the Highlanders from marching.

Charles's column halted for two days at Kelso, and sent forward orders to Wooler to prepare their quarters; thus alarming Wade for himself, and diverting his attention from Carlisle, the real object of attack. By a sudden march to the westward and down Liddisdale, they entered Cumberland on the evening of the 8th of November. As the clans crossed the Border they drew their swords, and raised a shout in pledge of their future resolution; but Lochiel, in unsheathing his weapon, happened to cut his hand, and the Highlanders, -the same men whom a drawn sword in battle never terrified, turned pale at the evil omen.§ Next day both columns of the army joining, proceeded together to the investment of Carlisie.

Carlisle, the ancient bulwark of England on this fron

*Lord Marchmont's Diary, October 7. 1745.

† Chambers's Hist. vol. i. p. 249.

§ Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 455.

Ibid. p. 255.