effects of walpole's administration—formation of the new ministry—attitude of the malcontents—committee of inquiry into walpole's administration—walpole's protectors—ministerial measures—prorogation of parliament—disasters of the french—british division in the netherlands—opening of parliament—the german mercenaries—amendment of the gin act—george goes to germany—stair and de noailles in franconia—stair in a trap—bold resolution of king george—the battle of dettingen—resignation of stair—retreat of the french—negotiations for peace—treaty of worms—pelham becomes prime minister—the attacks of pitt on carteret—attempted invasion of england—its failure—progress of the french arms—frederick ii. invades bohemia—his retirement—resignation of carteret—pelham strengthens his ministry—death of the emperor—campaign in flanders—battle of fontenoy—campaign of frederick ii.—the young pretender's preparations—loss of the elizabeth—landing in the hebrides—the highland clans join him—the first brush—raising of the standard—cope's mistake—he turns aside at dalwhinnie—charles makes a dash for edinburgh—the march to stirling—right of the dragoons—the "canter of coltbridge"—edinburgh surprised by the highlanders—charles marching against cope—battle of prestonpans—delay in marching south—discontent of the highland chiefs—the start—preparations in england—apathy of the aristocracy—arrival of the duke of cumberland—charles crosses the border—capture of carlisle—the march to derby—resolution to retreat—"black friday"—the retreat—recapture of carlisle—siege of stirling—battle of falkirk—retreat to the highlands—cumberland's pursuit—gradual collapse of the highlanders—battle of culloden—termination of the rebellion—cruelty of the duke of cumberland—adventures of the young pretender—trials and executions—ministerial crisis.

so passed from a long possession of power a minister who inaugurated a system of corruption, which was not so much abused by himself, as made a ready instrument of immeasurable mischief in the hands of his successors. had walpole used the power which he purchased with the country's money more arbitrarily and perniciously, the system must have come much sooner to an end. as it was, the evils which he introduced fell rather on posterity than on his own time.

before he withdrew, the king, who retained his high opinion of his political wisdom, consulted him on the constitution of the new cabinet. walpole recommended that the post of first lord of the treasury, including the premiership, should be offered to pulteney, as the man of the most undoubted talent. if he should refuse it, then that it should be given to lord wilmington, who, though by no means capable of directing affairs by his own energy, was of a disposition which might allow them to be conducted by the joint counsel of his abler colleagues. the king consented that the premiership should be offered to pulteney, though he hated the man, but only on this condition, that he pledged himself to resist any prosecution of the ex-minister. pulteney declined the overture on such a condition, for though he said he had no desire to punish walpole, he might not be able to defend him from the attacks of his colleagues, for, he observed, "the heads of parties, like those of snakes, are carried on by their tails." the king then sent newcastle to pulteney, and it was agreed to allow wilmington to take the post of first lord of the treasury. carteret thought that this office was more due to him, but pulteney declared that if wilmington were not permitted to take the premiership he would occupy it himself, and carteret gave way, accepting the place of secretary of state, with the promise that he should manage in reality the foreign affairs. in[80] all these arrangements the king still took the advice of walpole, and newcastle was instructed to again endeavour to draw from pulteney a promise that he would at least keep himself clear of any prosecution of the late minister. pulteney evaded the question by saying that he was not a bloody or revengeful man; that he had always aimed at the destruction of the power of walpole, and not of his person, but that he still thought he ought not to escape without some censure, and could not engage himself without his party.

newcastle, who wanted to retain his place in the new cabinet, was more successful on his own behalf. pulteney said he had no objection to himself or the lord chancellor, but that many changes must be made in order to satisfy the late opposition, and to give the cabinet a necessary majority. pulteney then declared that, for himself, he desired a peerage and a place in the cabinet, and thus the new ministry was organised:—wilmington, first lord of the treasury; carteret, secretary of state; the marquis of tweeddale, secretary for scotland; sandys, the motion-maker, chancellor of the exchequer; the prince of wales was to receive the additional fifty thousand pounds a year; and his two friends, lord baltimore and lord archibald hamilton, to have seats at the new board of admiralty.

when these arrangements became known, the tory party grew dreadfully exasperated. but not the tories only—there were throngs of whigs who had battled zealously for the same object, and with the same hope of personal benefit, and yet they were passed over, and pulteney, carteret, and their immediate coterie had quietly taken care of themselves, and thrown their coadjutors overboard. a meeting was appointed between pulteney and the rest already in office, and the duke of argyll, chesterfield, cobham, bathurst, and some others. the prince of wales was present, and the different claims were discussed. argyll was satisfied by being made master-general of the ordnance, colonel of his majesty's royal regiment of horse guards, field-marshal and commander-in-chief of all the forces in south britain. chesterfield got nothing, professing to wait to see a more thorough change of men before he went amongst them; but cobham was made a field-marshal, and restored to the command of the grenadier guards, but he could get nothing for his nephew, the fiery oppositionist, lyttelton. lord harrington was made an earl and president of the council. but what surprised the country most was that pulteney, hitherto the head and soul of the party, should have been content to sacrifice himself for the sake of a title. he was made earl of bath and received a place in the cabinet; but by this change, although he seemed to have a brilliant career before him, he forfeited the confidence of the country, which had always looked up to him as the most determined and disinterested of patriots. from this moment he sank into insignificance and contempt. some others of the old officials remained in as well as newcastle. sir william yonge and pelham, brother of newcastle, retained their posts, yonge as secretary of war, and pelham as paymaster of the forces.

the new ministry were now to find that it was very difficult to perpetuate principles and measures which they had for a quarter of a century been condemning simply because they furnished weapons of annoyance to the party then in power. the public, still smarting under the ruinous mismanagement of the war, returned to the charge, by demanding an inquiry into the conduct of walpole, whom they accused of their sufferings. these petitions were introduced and recommended by what were called the boy patriots—pitt, lyttelton, and the rest.

as a means of popularity, they insisted on the standing army being abolished in time of peace, on the strict limitation of placemen in parliament, and on the return to triennial parliaments. these were hard topics for the patriots now in power to digest. but the depression of trade continued, and no one could suggest a remedy but that of reducing taxation at the very time that all parties were zealous for the prosecution of the war. finding no other solution to their difficulties, the public turned again to the demand of an inquiry into the administration of walpole, hoping to lay bare in that the causes of their sufferings. accordingly lord limerick, on the 23rd of march, rose and proposed a committee to inquire into the administration of walpole, not for twenty, but for the last ten years. pulteney not only voted, but spoke in favour of this motion, and it was carried by a majority of seven. lord limerick was chosen chairman, and such was the partial and vindictive spirit in which they went to work in examining papers and witnesses, that the honourable-minded sir john barnard, though so staunch an opponent of walpole when in power, declared that he would no longer take part in the labours of a committee which displayed so little regard to the general inquiry, but concentrated all their efforts on the ruin of one individual.

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but the committee found itself opposed in these objects in the highest quarter. the king displayed the most firm disposition to protect his late minister, and was in constant communication with walpole and his friends for the purpose. every means were used to protect from the scrutiny of the committee those who were possessed of the most important information, and to induce them to remain obstinately silent. mr. edgecumbe, who had managed the cornish boroughs for walpole, and could have revealed things which would have filled the committee with exultation, was raised to the upper house, and thus removed from the power of the commons. paxton, the solicitor to the treasury, a most important witness, remained unshakably silent, and was committed to newgate; nor was the committee more successful with scrope, the secretary to the treasury. this officer, who, no doubt, held most desirable knowledge in his bosom, firmly refused to make any disclosures, though he was now a very feeble old man. other officials declined to make statements whose disclosure might incriminate themselves, and which they were excused from doing by the great principles of our judicature. to remove this obstacle lord limerick, the chairman of the committee, then moved that a bill of indemnity should be passed, to exempt witnesses from all penalties in consequence of their disclosures. this passed the commons by a majority of twelve, but was rejected in the house of lords by a large majority.

after contending with such difficulties—for the committee was, in truth, combating with all the powers of the crown—it was not likely that it would produce a very effective report. in fact, desirable as it was that a deep and searching inquiry should have been made, and the mysteries of that long reign of corruption thrown open, the fact that the monarch and the minister had gone hand in hand through the whole of it was, on the very surface, fatal to any hope of a successful issue, and what rendered this fatality greater was, that the committee too obviously went into the question hotly to crush an old antagonist who had defeated and humiliated them for a long course of years, rather than to serve the nation. when, therefore, on the 30th of june, they presented their report, the feeling, on its perusal, was one of intense disappointment. it alleged that, during an election at weymouth, a place had been promised to the mayor if he would use his influence in obtaining the nomination of a retiring officer, and that a church living had been promised to the mayor's brother-in-law for the same purpose; that some revenue officers, who refused to vote for the ministerial nominees, were dismissed; that a fraudulent contract had been given to peter burrell and john bristow, two members of the house of commons, for furnishing money in jamaica for the payment of the troops, by which they had pocketed upwards of fourteen per cent. but what were these few trifling and isolated cases to that great system of corruption which the public were satisfied had spread through all walpole's administration, and which abounded with far more wonderful instances than these? the very mention of them, and them alone, was a proclamation of defeat.

the committee of inquiry, stimulated by the disappointment of the public, began preparations for a fresh report; but their labours were cut short by the termination of the session. in order to conciliate in some degree public opinion, ministers hastened to allow the passing of a bill to exclude certain officers from the house of commons; they passed another to encourage the linen manufacture; a third, to regulate the trade of the colonies; and a fourth, to prevent the marriage of lunatics. they voted forty thousand seamen and sixty-two thousand landsmen for the service of the current year. the whole expenditure of the year amounted to nearly six million pounds, which was raised by a land-tax of four shillings in the pound; by a malt-tax; by a million from the sinking fund; and by other resources. they provided for the subsidies to denmark and hesse-cassel, and voted another five hundred thousand pounds to the queen of hungary. on the 15th of july the king prorogued parliament; at the same time assuring the two houses that a peace was concluded between the queen of hungary and the king of prussia, through his mediation; and that the late successes of the austrian arms were in a great measure owing to the generous assistance of the british nation.

deserted by the prussians, the french retired with precipitation to prague, where they were followed by the austrian army under prince charles of lorraine and prince lobkowitz. soon after the grand duke of tuscany took the principal command, and the french offered to capitulate on condition that they might march away with their arms and baggage. this was refused; but marshal belleisle stole out of prague in december, and, giving lobkowitz the slip, made for the mountains with fourteen thousand men and thirty pieces of artillery. belleisle[82] displayed unwearied activity in protecting his men and baggage from the harassing pursuit of lobkowitz. notwithstanding this his men perished in great numbers from famine and the severity of the season. they had been reduced to eat horseflesh before leaving prague, and now they fell exhausted in the deep snows, and were mercilessly butchered by the austrian irregulars and peasantry. on the 29th of december he reached eger, and from that point marched into alsace without further molestation; but he then found that of the thirty-five thousand troops which he took into germany, only eight thousand remained. though this retreat was celebrated as one of the most remarkable in history, the marshal, on reaching versailles, was received with great coldness.

whilst these events had been passing in austria and bavaria, the king of england had endeavoured to make a powerful diversion in the netherlands. under the plea of this movement sixteen thousand british troops were embarked in april for the netherlands; but they were first employed to overawe prussia, which was in contention with hanover regarding the duchy of mecklenburg. there were other causes of dispute between prussia and the elector of hanover. george having now this strong british force, besides sixteen thousand hanoverian troops and six thousand auxiliary hessians, frederick thought proper to come to terms with him, and, in consequence of mutual arrangements, the hanoverian troops quitted mecklenburg, and george, feeling hanover safe, marched this united force to the netherlands to join the british ones. he expected the dutch to co-operate with him and the austrians, and strike a decided blow at france. but the earl of stair, who was to command these forces, and who was at the same time ambassador to the states, found it impossible to induce the dutch to act. they had increased their forces both by sea and land, but they were afraid of the vicinity of the french, and were, with their usual jealousy, by no means pleased to see the english assuming power in the netherlands. therefore, after making a great demonstration of an attempt on the french frontier with the united army, the project was suddenly abandoned, and the troops retired into winter quarters. but little was accomplished during this year by the british fleet.

parliament met on the 16th of november, when the king told them that he had augmented the british forces in the low countries with sixteen thousand hanoverians and six thousand hessians. in fact, it had been his design, accompanied by his son, the duke of cumberland, to go over and take the command of the combined army of english, hanoverians, austrians, and dutch; but the arrival of the earl of stair, who had been the nominal commander of these troops, and the return of lord carteret from the hague, with the news that the dutch could not be moved, had caused him to give up the idea and order his baggage on shore again. he assured parliament, however, that the spirit and magnanimity of the queen of hungary, and the resolute conduct of the king of sardinia in italy, had produced the most beneficial effect. the usual address, proposed by the marquis of tweeddale, met with considerable opposition, especially in the upper house, from the earl of chesterfield. lyttelton again introduced the place bill, but it was rejected by the very men who had formerly advocated it. there was another motion made for inquiry into the administration of walpole, on the plea that inquiry had been shamefully stifled on the former occasion; but it met with the same fate. but on the 10th of december the opposition mustered all its strength on the motion of sir william yonge, the new secretary at war, that we should pay for the sixteen thousand hanoverians and the six thousand hessians, and that a grant of six hundred and fifty-seven thousand pounds should be made for their maintenance from august, 1742, to december, 1743. it was the hard task of sandys, as the new chancellor of the exchequer, to defend this monstrous grant and the interests of hanover, after so many years of attack on these topics in opposition. pitt answered sandys in the most caustic style of his eloquence, and sir john aubyn and others followed as indignantly; but the ministers carried the motion by two hundred and sixty votes against one hundred and ninety-three. their ablest supporter on this occasion was murray, afterwards lord mansfield, who made his first parliamentary speech on the occasion, and showed the delighted cabinet that the man whom they had just made their solicitor-general was capable of contending with that "terrible comet of horse," pitt.

george ii. at dettingen, 1743.

from the painting by robert hillingford

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the year 1743 opened with a mighty struggle on the subject of gin. in 1736, as we have seen, the awful increase of drunkenness, which was attributed to the cheapness of gin, induced a majority of the house of commons to pass an act levying twenty shillings a gallon duty upon the liquor, and charging every vendor of it fifty pounds per annum for a licence. walpole at the time declared that such an attempt to place gin beyond the reach of the poor consumers would fail; that it would fail equally as a source of revenue, for it would lead to wholesale smuggling and every possible evasion of the law. the event had proved walpole only too correct in his prognostications. so far from checking the use of gin, the act had stimulated it enormously. the licences, so preposterously high, were wholly neglected; no duty was paid, yet the destructive liquid was sold at every street corner. ministers now saw that, by attempting too much, every thing in this case had been lost. they were sacrificing the revenues only to sacrifice the well-being of the people. they determined, therefore, to reduce the licences from fifty pounds to one pound per annum, and at the same time to retain a moderate duty on the liquor. by this means the fatal compound would remain much at the same price, but the vendors would be induced to take out licences, and the revenues would be greatly improved, whilst the whole sale of the article would be more under the restraints of law and police. a bill was framed on these principles, and passed rapidly through the commons; but in the lords it encountered a determined opposition. it was, however, carried entire, and, says smollett, "we cannot help averring that it has not been attended with those dismal consequences which the lords in the opposition foretold."

the business of the session now hastened to its close. votes were given for forty thousand seamen and eleven thousand marines; for sixteen thousand british troops in flanders, and twenty-three thousand for guards and garrisons at home. for the year's supplies six millions of pounds were voted, and then parliament was prorogued on the 21st of april. in doing this, george told the houses that he had ordered his army to pass the rhine to support the queen of hungary. no sooner had parliament closed, than george, accompanied by his son, the duke of cumberland, and lord carteret, hastened off to germany. the british army, which the king had ordered to march from flanders to aid the austrians, had set out at the end of february. they were commanded by lord stair, and on their route were joined by several austrian regiments under the duke of aremberg, and the sixteen thousand hanoverians in british pay, who had wintered at liége. they marched so slowly that they only crossed the rhine in the middle of may. they halted at h?chst, between mayence and frankfort, awaiting the six thousand hanoverians in electoral pay, and an equal number of hessians, who had been garrisoning the fortresses of flanders, but who were now relieved by dutch troops. stair had now forty thousand men, and might easily have seized the emperor at frankfort. all parties had respected, however, the neutrality of frankfort, and stair did the same, probably because the emperor, having no subjects to ransom him, might have proved rather a burden on his hands. de noailles, on his part, had sixty thousand men, independently of the twelve thousand furnished to broglie. he kept an active eye on the motions of the allied army, and as stair encamped on the northern bank of the main, he also passed the rhine and encamped on the southern bank of the main. the two camps lay only four leagues from each other, presenting a most anomalous aspect.

the genius of lord stair was anything but military, and soon led him into a dilemma. instead of waiting, as he had first determined, for the reinforcements of hessians and hanoverians, he advanced up the river, with the intention of drawing supplies from franconia. he advanced to aschaffenberg, which he reached on the 16th of june; but noailles had rapidly followed him, and adroitly seized on the fords of both the upper and lower main, thus cutting off stair both from his own stores at hanau, and from the expected supplies of franconia. at this critical moment king george arrived at the camp, and found noailles lying in a strong position, and stair cooped up with his army in a narrow valley between the wild and hilly forest of spessart, which extends from aschaffenberg to dettingen and the river main. to render his case the more desperate, he had quarrelled with aremberg, who had let him pursue his march alone; and stair now lay, with only thirty-seven thousand men, in the very grasp, as it were, of noailles and his sixty thousand men.

in this awkward dilemma the king resolved to cut his way through the french, superior as they were, and regain communication with their magazines and their auxiliaries at hanau. but noailles was closely watching their movements; and, being aware of what was intended, took instant measures to prevent the retreat. he immediately advanced from their front to their rear, threw two bridges over the main at selingenstadt, and[84] despatched his nephew, the duke de gramont, to secure the defile of dettingen, through which the english must pass in their retreat. he also raised strong batteries on the opposite bank of the main, so as to play on the english as they marched along the river. these preparations being unknown to the english, and still supposing noailles' principal force lay between them and aschaffenberg, instead of between them and dettingen, on the 27th of june, at daybreak, the king struck his tents, and the march on dettingen began. george showed a stout heart in the midst of these startling circumstances, and the soldiers, having the presence of their king, were full of spirits. george took up his position in the rear of his army, expecting the grand attack to come from that quarter; but presently he beheld his advanced posts repulsed from dettingen, and the french troops pouring over the bridge of the main. he then perceived that noailles had anticipated their movements, and, galloping to the head of his column, he reversed the order of his march, placing the infantry in front and the cavalry in the rear. his right extended to the bosky hills of the spessart, and his left to the river. he saw at once the difficulty of their situation. gramont occupied a strong position in the village of dettingen, which was covered by a swamp and a ravine. there was no escape but by cutting right through de gramont's force—no easy matter; and whilst they were preparing for the charge, the batteries of the french on the opposite bank of the main, of which they were previously unaware, began to play murderously on their flank. with this unpleasant discovery came at the same instant the intelligence that noailles had secured aschaffenberg in their rear with twelve thousand men, and was sending fresh reinforcements to de gramont in front. thus they were completely hemmed in by the enemy, who were confidently calculating on the complete surrender of the british army and the capture of the king.

george and his soldiers, however, lost no atom of heart; they determined to cut a way through the enemy or die on the ground; and luckily at this moment the enemy committed almost as great an error as stair had done. noailles quitted his post in front of the king's army, and crossed the main bridge to give some further orders on that side; and no sooner did he depart than his nephew, de gramont, eager to seize the glory of defeating the english, and not aware that the whole british army was at that moment about to bear down upon him, ordered his troops to cross the ravine in their front, and assault the english on their own side. the order was executed, and had instantly the unforeseen effect of silencing their own batteries on the other side of the river, for, by this movement, the french came directly between their fire and the english, which it had been till that moment mercilessly mowing down.

at this moment the horse which george ii. was riding, taking fright at the noise made by the french in their advance, became unmanageable, and plunged forward furiously, nearly carrying the king into the midst of the french lines. being, however, stopped just in time, the king dismounted, and placing himself at the head of the british and hanoverian infantry on the right, he flourished his sword and said, "now, boys! now for the honour of england! fire, and behave bravely, and the french will soon run!"

the first charge, however, was not so encouraging. the french made an impetuous onset, and threw the advanced guard of the english into confusion; but the king and his son, the duke of cumberland, who commanded on the left, and, like his father, took his stand in the front line, displayed the highest pluck, and inspired their troops with wonderful courage. the tide of battle was quickly turned, and noailles, from the other side, saw with astonishment and alarm his troops in action contrary to his plans. he returned in all haste to give fresh support to his soldiers, but it was too late. gallantly as the french fought, the presence of the king and prince on the other side made the english and hanoverians irresistible. king, and prince, and army all showed an enthusiastic courage and steadiness which bore down everything before them. the dense column of infantry, led on by the king, broke the french ranks, and cut through them with terrible slaughter. noailles, seeing the havoc, gave a command which completed the disaster. to shield his men, he ordered them to repass the main; but a word of retreat, in all such cases, is a word of defeat. the retrograde movement produced dismay and disorder; the whole became a precipitate rout. the french were driven in confused masses against the bridges, the bridges were choked up with the struggling throng, and numbers were forced into the river, or jumped in for escape, and were drowned.

such was the battle of dettingen, equally remarkable for the blunders of the generals and the valour of the men; still more so, as the last battle in which a king of england has commanded in[85] person. at hanau, the army not only refreshed itself, but was joined by reinforcements, which rendered the allies nearly equal in numbers to the french. lord stair, therefore, proposed to pass the main, and make a second attack on the enemy. the king, however, would not consent. stair, with all his bravery, had shown that he was very incautious. he was, moreover, of a most haughty temper, and had quarrelled violently with the hanoverian officers, and displayed much contempt for the petty german princes. they were, therefore, by no means inclined to second his counsels, though they had fought gallantly at dettingen. stair complained loudly of the neglect to follow up the french, and resigned.

george ii.

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the best excuse for george ii.'s apparent sluggishness was, that the french were now so closely pressed by concentrating armies. prince charles of lorraine and the austrians were pressing de broglie so hotly that he was glad to escape over the rhine near mannheim; and noailles, thus finding himself between two hostile armies, followed his example, crossed over the rhine to worms, where, uniting with broglie, they retreated to their own frontier at lauter, and thus the empire was cleared of them. the emperor charles now suffered the fate which he may be said to have richly deserved. he was immediately compelled to solicit for peace from austria through the mediation of george of england and prince william of hesse. but maria theresa, now helped out of all her difficulties by english money and english soldiers, was not inclined to listen to any moderate terms, even when proposed by her benefactor, the king[86] of england. the emperor was down, and she proposed nothing less than that he should permanently cede bavaria to her, or give up the imperial crown to her husband. such terms were not to be listened to; but the fallen emperor finally did conclude a treaty of neutrality with the queen of hungary, by which he consented that bavaria should remain in her hands till the conclusion of a peace. this peace the king of england and william of hesse did their best to accomplish; and carteret, who was agent for king george, had consented that on this peace england should grant a subsidy of three hundred thousand crowns to the emperor. no sooner, however, did the english ministers receive the preliminaries of this contract, than they very properly struck out this subsidy, and the whole treaty fell to the ground.

before quitting germany, however, george had signed a treaty between himself, austria, and sardinia, in which italian affairs were determined. the spaniards, under count gages and the infant don philip, had made some attempts against the austrians in italy, but with little effect. by the present treaty, signed at worms on the 13th of september, the king of sardinia engaged to assist the allies with forty-five thousand men, and to renounce his pretensions to the milanese, on condition that he should command the allied army in italy in person, should receive the cession of vigevenasco and the other districts from austria, and a yearly subsidy of two hundred thousand pounds from england. this was also negotiated by lord carteret on the part of king george, and without much reference to the ministers in england, who, on receiving the treaty, expressed much dissatisfaction; but, as it was signed, they let it pass. but there was another and separate convention, by which george agreed to grant the queen of hungary a subsidy of three hundred thousand pounds per annum, not only during the war, but as long as the necessity of her affairs required it. this not being signed, the british ministers refused to assent to it, and it remained unratified.

in all these transactions carteret showed the most facile disposition to gratify all the hanoverian tendencies of the king, in order to ingratiate himself and secure the premiership at home. but in this he did not succeed; he was much trusted by george in foreign affairs, and in them he remained. lord wilmington, prime minister, had died two months before the signing of the treaty at worms, and the competitors for his office were pelham, brother of the duke of newcastle, and pulteney. pelham was supported by newcastle, lord chancellor hardwicke, and still more powerfully by the old minister under whom he had been trained—lord orford, who, though out of office, was consulted in everything relating to it. pulteney and pelham had both, according to their friends, neglected the necessary steps for succeeding wilmington. pulteney had declined any office, vainly hoping that his great popularity would enable him to guide public affairs. his friends reminded him that had he taken the treasury on walpole's resignation, he would now have been still at the helm. pelham's great adviser, lord orford, said to him, "if you had taken my advice, and held the exchequer under wilmington, the whole had dropped into your mouth." pelham, however, received the appointment from the king, and this was communicated in a letter from carteret, who candidly told him that, as the old friend and colleague of pulteney, lord bath, he had done all in his power to secure the office for him, but now he would support pelham cordially, notwithstanding. pelham was at this period forty-seven years of age, of far inferior talent to orford, but pursued his cautious principles and acted under his advice.

on the return of the king and carteret, parliament was opened on the 1st of december. the first trial of the opposition was on the address, on which occasion its real strength was not called forth, and this was carried by two hundred and seventy-eight votes against one hundred and forty-nine. but the subject of hanoverian troops and hanoverian measures soon displayed its extent and virulence. there was a vehement feeling against everything relating to hanover, and pitt lost no time in denouncing carteret and his measures in the most bitter terms. pitt's thunder was echoed by others, and the scene in the commons was described by a spectator as like nothing but a tumultuous polish diet. such was the ferment amid which opened the year 1744, and it soon became evident that the existence of the country was at stake. preparations had been making for the invasion of england for some time. cardinal tencin, the new french minister, sent murray of broughton to james in rome, to desire him to send his eldest son, prince charles, to france to be in readiness for the campaign[87] in england, and in due course the young pretender arrived at gravelines.

the expedition against england was at this moment actually in motion. the squadrons of brest and rochefort were already united under the command of admiral roquefeuille, and sailing up the channel to clear the way for the transports containing the soldiers. sir john norris had been appointed admiral of our channel fleet, consisting of twenty-one ships of the line. he had lain at spithead, but had quitted that station and sailed into the downs, where he was joined by other ships from chatham; and thus was not only superior in number to the french, but had the advantage of being well acquainted with the coasts, he having long been captain of deal castle. roquefeuille sailed right up to the isle of wight, and, observing no vessels off spithead, he, in his french egotism, concluded that the fleet had sought shelter in portsmouth harbour. he therefore lost no time in despatching a small vessel to dunkirk to hasten on his armament. seven thousand men were instantly sent on board transports, and the prince and marshal saxe, who was to take command of the land force, accompanied them. roquefeuille, meanwhile, proceeding on his voyage, came to anchor off dungeness, which he had no sooner done than he beheld the british fleet bearing down upon him in much greater force than his own, for he had only fifteen ships of the line and five frigates. the destruction of the french fleet appeared inevitable, but sir john norris this time justly incurred the censure of lingering. he thought, from the state of the tide and the approach of night, it was better to defer the attack till morning; and, when morning came, no frenchmen were to be seen. the french admiral, much more active than poor old sir john, had slipped his cables and made the best of his way homewards.

the next day tempest scattered the approaching transports. sir john thought the storm sufficient excuse for not pursuing; but the winds followed the invaders, and blowing directly from london towards dunkirk, dispersed the french transports, sank some of the largest of them with all their men, wrecked others on the coast, and made the rest glad to recover their port. charles waited impatiently for the cessation of the tempest to put to sea again, but the french ministers were discouraged by the disaster, and by the discovery of so powerful a british fleet in the channel. the army was withdrawn from dunkirk, marshal saxe was appointed to the command in flanders, and the expedition for the present was relinquished.

after these transactions there could no longer remain even the name of peace between france and england. mr. thompson, the british resident at paris, made the most indignant complaints of the hostile proceedings of the french fleets and of the encouragement of the young pretender. the reply to this was a formal declaration of war, couched in the most offensive terms, in the month of march, to which george replied in a counter-declaration equally strong.

the french having now formally declared war with england, entered on the campaign with flanders in the middle of may with eighty thousand men, the king taking the nominal command, in imitation of louis xiv. marshal saxe was the real commander, and with this able general louis went on for some time reaping fictitious laurels. the king of england expected to see the allies muster seventy-five thousand men—a force nearly equal to that of the french; but the dutch and austrians had grievously failed in their stipulated quotas, and the whole army did not exceed fifty thousand. general wade, the english commander, was a general of considerable experience, but no marlborough, either in military genius or that self-command which enabled him to bear up against tardy movements and antagonistic tempers of the foreign officers. consequently, whilst he had to contend with a very superior force, he was hampered by his coadjutors, lost his temper, and, what was worse, lost battles too. the french went on taking town after town and fortress after fortress. but this career of victory was destined to receive a check. prince charles of lorraine, at the head of sixty thousand men, burst into alsace, and marched without any serious obstacle to the very walls of strasburg; while the french king was stricken with fever at metz.

whilst louis lay ill at metz, france received an unexpected relief. prince charles was hastily recalled to cope with frederick of prussia, who had now joined france in the counter-league of frankfort, and burst into the territories of maria theresa. he found in prague a garrison of fifteen thousand men, yet by the 15th of september he had reduced the place, after a ten days' siege. at the same time marshal seckendorf, the imperial general, entered bavaria, which was defended only by a small force, and quickly reinstated[88] charles on the throne of munich. vienna itself was in the greatest alarm, lest the enemies uniting should pay it a visit. but this danger was averted by the rapid return of prince charles of lorraine from before strasburg. he had to pass the very front of the french army; nevertheless, he conducted his forces safely and expeditiously to the frontiers of bohemia, himself hastening to vienna to consult on the best plan of operations. maria theresa again betook herself to her heroic hungarians, who, at her appeal, once more rushed to her standard; and frederick, in his turn alarmed, called loudly on the french for their promises of assistance, but called in vain. the french had no desire for another campaign in the heart of austria. the prussian invader, therefore, soon found himself menaced on all sides by austrians, croatians, and hungarian troops, who harassed him day and night, cut off his supplies and his forages, and made him glad to retrace his steps in haste.

carteret—or granville, as we must now style him, for he succeeded to the earldom in 1744—still retained the favour of the king precisely in the same degree as he had forfeited that of the people and the parliament, by his unscrupulous support of george's hanoverian predilections. elated with the favour of the king, granville insisted on exercising the same supreme power in the cabinet which walpole had done. this drove pelham and his brother, newcastle, to inform the king that they or granville must resign. george, unwilling to part with granville, yet afraid of offending the pelham party, and risking their support of the large subsidies which he required for germany, was in a great strait. he sent for lord orford up from houghton, who attended, though in the extreme agonies of the stone, which, in a few months later, brought him to his end. walpole, notwithstanding the strong desire of the king to retain granville, and that also of the prince of wales—who on this and all points connected with hanover agreed with the king, though no one else did—decided that it was absolutely necessary that he should resign; and accordingly, on the 24th of november, granville sullenly resigned the seals, and they were returned to his predecessor, the earl of harrington.

the fall of granville became the revolution of all parties. the pelhams, in order to prevent his return to the ministry through the partiality of the king, determined to construct a cabinet on what was called a broad bottom—that is, including some of both sections of the whigs, and even some of the tories. they opened a communication with chesterfield, gower, and pitt, and these violent oppositionists were ready enough to obtain place on condition of uniting against granville and bath. the difficulty was to reconcile the king to them. george was not well affected towards chesterfield, and would not consent to admit him to any post near his person, but permitted him, after much reluctance, to be named lord-lieutenant of ireland. as for pitt, he was even more repugnant to the king than chesterfield, and pitt, on his part, would accept nothing less than the post of secretary at war. the pelhams advised him to have patience and they would overcome the king's reluctance; but when they proposed that the tory sir john hynde cotton should have a place, george, in his anger, exclaimed, "ministers are kings in this country!"—and so they are for the time. after much negotiation and accommodating of interests and parties, the ministry was ultimately arranged as follows:—lord hardwicke remained lord chancellor; pelham was first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer; the duke of newcastle became one secretary of state, lord harrington the other; the duke of devonshire remained steward of the household; the duke of bedford was appointed first lord of the admiralty, with lord sandwich as second lord; lord gower was made privy seal; lord lyttelton became a member of the treasury board; mr. grenville was made a junior lord of the admiralty; sir john hynde cotton received the office of treasurer of the chamber in the royal household; and bubb doddington contrived to be included as treasurer of the navy. lords cobham and hobart had also appointments; and the duke of dorset was made president of the council.

granville being got rid of, and the opposition bought up with place, the only difference in the policy which had been pursued, and which had been so bitterly denounced by the noblemen and gentlemen now in office, was that it became more unequivocally hanoverian and more extravagant. "those abominably courtly measures" of granville were now the adopted measures of his denouncers. the king had expressed, just before his fall, a desire to grant a subsidy to saxony; but lord chancellor hardwicke had most seriously reminded his majesty of the increased subsidy to the queen of hungary, which made it impracticable: now, both the increased subsidy to maria theresa and the subsidy to saxony were passed without an objection. a quadruple alliance was entered into between britain, austria, holland, and saxony, by which saxony was to furnish thirty thousand men for the defence of bohemia, and to receive a hundred and fifty thousand pounds, two-thirds of which were to be paid by england, and one-third by holland. the elector of cologne received twenty-four thousand pounds, the elector of mayence eight thousand pounds. nay, soon discovering that, as there was no opposition, there was no clamour on the subject, ministers the very next year took the hanoverians into their direct pay again, and in 1747 increased the number of them from eighteen thousand to twenty thousand.

[89]

interior of the house of commons in 1742.

(from a drawing by gravelot engraved by w. j. white.)

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[90]

in january of 1745 died charles vii., king of bavaria and emperor of germany. his life had been rendered miserable, and his kingdom made the prey of war, by his unpatriotic mania of supporting the french in their attacks on germany. his son and successor showed himself a wiser and a better man. he at once renounced all claims to the austrian succession, and to the imperial crown. he agreed to vote for the prince of tuscany, maria theresa's husband, at the next diet, and never to support the french or the prussian arms. on these terms a treaty was concluded between austria and bavaria at füssen, and austria therefore restored to him his rightful inheritance of bavaria.

the campaign in flanders opened in april. the british faithfully furnished their stipulated number of men (twenty-eight thousand), but both austria and holland had most disgracefully failed. holland was to send fifty thousand into the field, and keep the other ten thousand in her garrisons; but she had sent less than half that number, and austria only eight squadrons. the french had a fine army of seventy-five thousand men under the able general, marshal saxe; and the king of france and the dauphin had come to witness the conflict, which gave a wonderful degree of spirit to their troops. on the part of the allies, the duke of cumberland was chief in command, but, from his youth, he was not able to set himself free from the assumptions of the austrian general, old marshal k?nigsegg, and the dutch general, the prince of waldeck. as it was, to march against the french before tournay was to rush into a certain contest with the whole french army of nearly eighty thousand men, whilst the allies could have only about fifty thousand. saxe made the ablest arrangements for the coming fight. he left fifteen thousand infantry to blockade tournay, drew up his army in a very strong position a few miles in advance, and strengthened it by various works.

the allies, on coming near, found saxe encamped on some gentle heights, with the river scheldt and the village of antoine on his right, and a wood named barré on his left. in front lay a narrow valley, and, as at dettingen, he had secured the passage of the river by the bridge of calonne in his rear, defended by a tête-de-pont, and a reserve of the household troops. he had constructed abatis in the wood of barré, thrown up redoubts between antoine and fontenoy, and strongly fortified those villages themselves. the narrow valley between barré and fontenoy was formidably defended by cross batteries, and by the natural ruggedness of the ground; and altogether the french officers confidently regarded their position as unassailable. yet, inferior as they were in numbers, the allies at once marched and attacked the french pickets and outposts, drove them in, and stood under arms, as it was growing dark, ready to renew the onset at daybreak.

at four o'clock in the morning (the 11th of may) the cannonade began. prince waldeck undertook to carry fontenoy and antoine with the dutch, and the duke of cumberland, at the head of the english and hanoverians, to bear down on the enemy's left. at the same time, the duke sent general ingoldsby with a division to clear the wood of barré, and storm the redoubt beyond. when ingoldsby reached the wood, he found it occupied by a body of sharpshooters, and instead of attacking them vigorously he paused and returned to the duke for fresh orders—a great neglect of duty by which much time was lost, and the enemy enabled to direct their undivided attention on that side to the main body of english and hanoverians advancing under the duke. on the other hand, the dutch, finding fontenoy surrounded by a fosse, and the french mounted with their batteries on the rubbish of houses, which they had demolished for the purpose, were panic-struck, and instead of making a resolute rush to storm the place, having suffered considerably from the french batteries, fell back, and stood aloof, thus leaving the english and hanoverians exposed to the whole fire of the hostile army.

thus shamefully deserted on both hands, cumberland still led forward his british and hanoverians against the main body of the french army. the ruggedness of the ground in the[91] narrow valley between the wood of barré and fontenoy compelled them to leave the cavalry behind; but the infantry pushed on, dragging with them several pieces of artillery. cumberland had the advantage of the advice and spirit of his military tutor, general ligonier, and, in face of a most murderous fire, the young commander hastened on. the batteries right and left mowed them down, and before this comparative handful of men stood massed the vast french army, in a position pronounced by the french impregnable. the dense column of the english, compressed between the wood of barré and fontenoy, soon drove the french from their positions, and, still pushing on towards the rear of fontenoy, threatened to cut off the bridge of calonne, and with it the enemy's retreat across the river. both french and english conceived that the battle was decided for the allies. marshal k?nigsegg congratulated cumberland on their victory, and, on the other hand, saxe warned louis xv. that it was necessary to retreat. louis, however, is said to have protested against giving way, and both french and english soon became aware that the dutch had deserted their post, and that the right wing of the french army remained wholly unengaged. the british and hanoverian conquerors on their right, when they mounted the french positions, looked out for their left wing, the dutch, and, to their dismay, beheld them hanging with cowardly inactivity in the distance. the brave marshal saxe, at the same moment making the same discovery, called forward the household troops, which had been posted to receive the dutch, and precipitated them on the flank of the british. foremost in this charge was the irish brigade, in the pay of france, who fought like furies against their countrymen. overwhelmed by numbers, and numbers perfectly fresh, and mowed down by additional artillery which the default of the dutch had set at liberty, and unsupported by their own cavalry from the confined and rugged nature of the ground, the brave british and hanoverians were compelled to give way. but they did it in such order and steadiness, disputing every inch of the ground, as excited the admiration of their opponents. the duke of cumberland was the last in the retreat, still regardless of his own danger, calling on his men to remember blenheim and ramillies; and seeing one of his officers turning to flee, he threatened to shoot him. thus they gave way slowly, and still fighting, till they reached their horse, which then made a front to cover them, till they were out of the mêlée; their dastardly allies, the dutch, then joined them, and they marched away in a body to ath. tournay, for which the battle was fought, might have detained the french a long time; but here, again, dutch treachery did its work. hertsall, the chief engineer in the dutch service, betrayed the place to the french, fled to their camp, and then assisted them by his advice. tournay surrendered in a fortnight, and the citadel the week after. ghent, bruges, oudenarde, and dendermond fell in rapid succession. whilst the allies were covering antwerp and brussels, the french attacked and took ostend, again by the treachery of the governor, who refused to inundate the country.

the affairs of england, menaced by invasion, were during this time compelling george to draw part of his forces homeward; it was, consequently, only the approach of winter which saved the towns of flanders from the french. at the same time, the wily prussian was in arms again, trusting to seize yet more of the austrian territories, whilst the powerful ally of maria theresa was at once pressed by the fault of the dutch and austrians in flanders, and at home by the pretender. george, who, in spite of all remonstrances, had persisted, notwithstanding the domestic danger, in paying his annual visit to hanover, was earnestly engaged, through lord harrington, in endeavouring to accomplish a peace between prussia and austria. neither frederick nor maria theresa, however, was in any haste to conclude peace. frederick hoped to profit by the engagement of england with the french, and maria theresa held out, with some vague hopes of regaining silesia through the money of england. but frederick, on the 3rd of june, gained a decided victory over prince charles of lorraine, throwing himself between the austrians and the saxons, whom the english subsidy had brought to their aid. in this battle of hohen friedberg the austrians lost nine thousand men in killed and wounded, and had as many made prisoners. prince charles retreated into bohemia, and was soon followed by frederick, who fixed his camp at chlum. whilst another battle was impending, maria theresa, still undaunted, accompanied her husband to the diet at frankfort, where she had the satisfaction of seeing him elected emperor of germany on the 13th of september. the same month, however, her troops were again defeated by frederick at sohr, near the sources of the elbe. the king of prussia now offered to make peace, and maria[92] theresa rejected his overtures; but another victory over her combined army of austrians and saxons, which put frederick in possession of dresden, brought her to reason. a peace was concluded at dresden on christmas day, by which silesia was confirmed to prussia, and frederick, on his part, acknowledged the recent election of the emperor francis. king george had also entered into a secret treaty with prussia; and frederick, sending his army into winter quarters in silesia, returned to berlin, thence to ponder fresh schemes of aggrandisement.

the time for the last grand conflict for the recovery of their forfeited throne in great britain by the stuarts was come. the pretender had grown old and cautious, but the young prince, charles edward, who had been permitted by his father, and encouraged by france, to attempt this great object in 1744, had not at all abated his enthusiasm for it, though providence had appeared to fight against him, and france, after the failure of dunkirk, had seemed to abandon the design altogether. when he received the news of the battle of fontenoy he was at the chateau de navarre, near evreux, the seat of his attached friend, the young duke de bouillon. he wrote to murray of broughton to announce his determination to attempt the enterprise at all hazards. he had been assured by murray himself that his friends in scotland discountenanced any rising unless six thousand men and ten thousand stand of arms could be brought over; and that, without these, they would not even engage to join him. the announcement, therefore, that he was coming threw the friends of the old dynasty in scotland into the greatest alarm. all but the duke of perth condemned the enterprise in the strongest terms, and wrote letters to induce him to postpone his voyage. but these remonstrances arrived too late; if, indeed, they would have had any effect had they reached him earlier. charles edward had lost no time in making his preparations.

he had been able to borrow a hundred and eighty thousand livres from two of his adherents, had made serious exertions to raise arms, and though he had kept his project profoundly secret from the french king and ministry, lest they might forcibly detain him, he had managed to engage a french man-of-war called the elizabeth, carrying sixty-seven guns, and a brig of eighteen guns called the doutelle, an excellent sailer. on the 2nd of july the doutelle left st. nazaire, at the mouth of the loire, and waited at belleisle for the elizabeth, when they put forward to sea in good earnest. unfortunately, only four days after leaving belleisle, they fell in with the british man-of-war the lion, of fifty-eight guns, commanded by the brave captain butt, who in anson's expedition had stormed paita. there was no avoiding an engagement, which continued warmly for five or six hours, when both vessels were so disabled that they were compelled to put back respectively to england and france.

with the elizabeth the young pretender lost the greater part of his arms and ammunition. yet he would not return, but set out in the doutelle towards scotland. in two days more the little vessel was pursued by another large english ship, but by dint of superior sailing they escaped, and made the western isles. it was only after a fortnight's voyage, however, that they came to anchor off the little islet of erisca, between barra and south uist.

charles landed in lochnanuagh on the 25th of july, and was conducted to a farm-house belonging to clanranald. he then despatched letters to the highland chiefs who were in his interest. principal amongst these were cameron of lochiel, sir alexander macdonald, and macleod. lochiel was as much confounded at the proposal to commence a rebellion without foreign support as the macdonalds. for a long time lochiel stood out, and gave the strongest reasons for his decision; but charles exclaimed, "i am resolved to put all to the hazard. i will erect the royal standard, and tell the people of britain that charles stuart is come over to claim the crown of his ancestors, or to perish in the attempt. lochiel, who, my father has always told me, was our firmest friend, may stay at home, and learn from the newspapers the fate of his prince." "not so!" instantly replied the impulsive highlander. "i will share the fate of my prince, whatever it may be, and so shall every man over whom nature or fortune has given me any power." the decision of lochiel determined the whole highlands. the macdonalds of skye held back when sent for, but numbers of others were immediately influenced by the example of lochiel. macdonald of keppoch, macdonald of glengarry, and numbers of others, sent in their adhesion. charles then removed to kinloch moidart, the residence of the chief of that name, where he was joined by murray of broughton, who brought with him[93] from the south the manifestoes of charles ready printed. charles appointed him his secretary, which post he continued to hold during the expedition.

on the 16th of august a party of english soldiers, sent by the governor of fort augustus to reinforce the garrison at fort william, were assailed by a number of keppoch's highlanders in the narrow pass of high bridge. they attempted to retreat when they found they could not reach their antagonists in their ambush, but they were stopped by a fresh detachment of the followers of lochiel, and compelled to lay down their arms. five or six of them were killed, and their leader, captain scott, was wounded. they received the kindest treatment from the conquerors, and as the governor of fort augustus refused to trust a surgeon amongst them to dress the wounds of captain scott, lochiel immediately allowed scott to return to the fort on his parole, and received the rest of the wounded into his house at auchnacarrie.

the landing of prince charlie. (see p. 92.)

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in the valley of glen tronian, on the 19th of august, they proceeded to erect the standard. the marquis of tullibardine, as highest in rank, though feeble and tottering with age, was appointed to unfurl the banner, supported on each hand by a stout highlander. the colours were of blue and red silk, with a white centre, on which, some weeks later, the words tandem triumphans were embroidered. tullibardine held the staff till the manifesto of james, dated rome, 1743, appointing his son regent, was read; and as the banner floated in the breeze the multitude shouted lustily, and the hurrahs were boisterously renewed when charles made them a short address in english, which few of the common class understood.

the slowness with which the government became aware of these proceedings is something astonishing in these days of telegraphs and railroads. though charles sailed on the 2nd of july, it was not till the 30th of the same month that lord tweeddale, the scottish secretary of state in london, was informed even that he had left nantes. sir john cope was the commander of the forces in scotland, and he immediately gave orders for drawing[94] together such troops as he had to stirling. these were extraordinarily few. there were two regiments of dragoons, gardiner's and hamilton's, but both recent in the service; and the whole force at his disposal, exclusive of garrisons, did not amount to three thousand men. cope was eager enough to march into the highlands, even with such forces as he had, and crush the insurrection at once. he proposed this apparently active and judicious scheme to the lords justices in england, george ii. himself being at hanover, and they warmly approved of it, and issued their positive orders for its execution. it was, in truth, however, the most fatal scheme which could be conceived. the spirit of rebellion was fermenting in every glen and on every hill, and to march regular troops into these rugged fastnesses was only to have them shot down by invisible marksmen on all hands, and reduced to the extremity of the two companies already captured. the plan was to have secured all the passes into the lowlands, to have drawn his forces to the foot of the mountains wherever a descent could be made, and blockade the rebels in their own hills till they should be reduced by gradual approaches and overwhelming numbers. famine, indeed, would soon have tamed any large body of men in those sterile regions.

sir john marched out of edinburgh for the north on the very day that the standard of the stuarts was erected in glenfinnan, the 19th of august. on the following day he continued his route from stirling, accompanied by one thousand five hundred foot, leaving, very properly, the dragoons behind him, as of no service in the mountains, nor capable of finding forage there. he then continued his march towards fort augustus, which he hoped to make the centre of his operations, and then to strike a sudden and annihilating blow on the handful of rebels. at dalwhinnie he heard that the rebels now mustered six thousand, and that they meant to dispute the pass of corriarrick, lying directly in the line of his march towards fort augustus. this corriarrick had been made passable by one of general wade's roads, constructed after the rebellion of 1715, to lay open the highlands. the road wound up the mountain by seventeen zig-zags or traverses, and down the other side by others, called by the highlanders the devil's staircase. three hundred men were capable, much more three thousand, of stopping an army in such a situation, and cope called a council of war. at length it was agreed that they should take a side route, and endeavour to reach inverness and fort george. the resolve was a fatal one, for it gave the appearance of a flight to the army, and left the road open to stirling and the lowlands.

charles, on his part, had determined to occupy corriarrick. for that purpose he had made a forced march, disencumbered himself of all possible encumbrances by burning his own baggage, and encouraging his followers to do the same. on the morning of the 27th he stood on the north side of corriarrick, and, as he put on his brogues, he is said to have exclaimed, with exultation, "before these are unloosed, i shall be up with mr. cope." to his great astonishment, however, when he reached the summit all was one wild solitude—not a man was visible. at length they discerned some soldiers ascending, whom they set down for part of lord loudon's regiment, forming the english vanguard. they turned out to be only some deserters, who informed them of the change in cope's route.

at this news the highlanders were filled with exuberant joy. they demanded permission to pursue and attack cope's soldiers; but the chiefs saw too clearly the grand advantage offered them of descending suddenly into the lowlands by the road thus left open. whilst sir john was making a forced march to inverness, which he reached on the 29th of august, the highlanders were descending like one of their own torrents southwards. in two days they traversed the mountains of badenoch; on the third they reached the vale of athol.

on the 30th of august they reached blair castle. the duke of athol, the proprietor, fled at their approach, and old tullibardine resumed his ancestral mansion, and gave a splendid banquet there to charles and his officers. on the third day they resumed their march, and reached perth on the 4th of september, which the prince entered on horseback, amid loud acclamations. whilst at perth he received two valuable accessions to his party—the titular duke of perth, who brought with him two hundred men, and lord george murray, the brother of the duke of athol, and a man of considerable military experience.

"god save king james."

from the painting by andrew c. gow, r.a.

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hearing that general cope—who had seen his blunder in leaving open the highway to the scottish capital—after having reached inverness, had begun a rapid march on aberdeen, trusting to embark his army there, and reach edinburgh in[95] time to defend it from the rebel army, charles marched out of perth on the 11th of september. he reached dunblane that evening, and on the 13th he passed the fords of frew, about eight miles above stirling, knowing that several king's ships were lying at the head of the firth. on their approach, gardiner retired with his dragoons from the opposite bank. stirling, being deserted by the troops, was ready to open its gates; but charles was in too much haste to reach edinburgh. hearing that gardiner, with his dragoons, intended to dispute the passage of linlithgow bridge, charles sent on one thousand highlanders, before break of day, under lord george murray, in the hope of surprising them; but they found that they had decamped the evening before, and they took peaceable possession of falkirk and the old palace. the prince himself came up on the evening of that day, sunday, the 15th, where the whole army passed the night, except the vanguard, which pushed on to kirkliston, only eight miles from edinburgh.

the consternation of the city may be imagined. the inhabitants, who had, at first, treated the rumour of the young pretender's landing with ridicule, now passed to the extreme of terror. on sunday night the highlanders lay between linlithgow and the city, and on monday morning charles sent forward a detachment, which, on coming in sight of the pickets, discharged their pistols. the dragoon pickets did not wait to return the fire, but rode off towards coltbridge, nearer to edinburgh, where gardiner lay with the main body of horse. no sooner, however, did this commander perceive the advancing highlanders, than he also gave the order to retreat, and the order was so well obeyed, that from a foot's-pace the march quickened into a trot and presently into a gallop, and the inhabitants of edinburgh saw the whole force going helter-skelter towards leith, where they drew bit. the valiant troops mounted again, and galloped to preston, six miles farther, some of them, it was said, not stopping till they reached dunbar. this "canter of coltbridge," as it was called in derision, left the city at the mercy of the highlanders, except for about six or seven hundred men mustered from the city guard, the volunteer corps, and some armed gentlemen from dalkeith and musselburgh, who took post at the gates.

the magistrates, now summoned by the lord provost to a meeting in the goldsmiths' hall, resolved to send a deputation to the prince, desiring that he would cease hostilities till they had had time to decide what they should do. scarcely had the deputies set out, when news came that the transports, with cope's army on board, were seen off dunbar, the wind being unfavourable for making leith, and that his troops would soon be landed, and in full march for the city. it was now determined to recall the deputation, but that was found to be too late, and general guest was applied to to return the muskets, bayonets, and cartridge boxes which had been given up to him. guest very properly regarded men who had thrown up their arms in a panic as unfit to be trusted with them again, and advised that the dragoons should be ordered to unite with cope's infantry, and advance on the city with all possible speed. about ten o'clock at night the deputation returned, having met the prince at gray's mill, only two miles from the city, who gave them a letter to the authorities, declaring that they had a sufficient security in his father's declarations and his own manifesto; and he only gave them till two o'clock in the morning to consider his terms. the deputation returned in the utmost dejection, little deeming that the prince had taken such measures as should render them the means of surrendering the city. but charles had despatched lochiel and murray of broughton, with eight hundred camerons, to watch every opportunity of surprising the town, carrying with them a barrel of gunpowder to blow up one of the gates. this detachment had arrived, and hidden themselves in ambush near the netherbow port. the deputation passed in with their coach by another gate, and the ambush lay still till the coachman came out at the netherbow port to take his carriage and horses to the stables in the suburbs. the ambush rushed upon the gate before it could be closed, secured the sentinels, ran forward to the other gate, and secured its keepers also. when the inhabitants rose in the morning they were astonished to find the city in possession of the highlanders. on the 17th of september charles occupied holyrood. amidst wild enthusiasm, the old pretender was proclaimed as king james viii. at the cross, murray of broughton's beautiful wife sitting on horseback, with a drawn sword in her right hand, while with her left she distributed white favours to the crowd.

but there was no time for festivities. the english army was approaching, and it was necessary for charles to assert his right by hard blows as well as by proclamations. the citizens stood aloof from his standard; but lord nairn arrived most opportunely from the highlands with five[96] hundred of the clan maclachlan, headed by their chief, and accompanied by a number of men from athol. these swelled his little army to upwards of two thousand five hundred, and charles declared that he would immediately lead them against cope. the chiefs applauded this resolution, and on the morning of the 19th he marched out to duddingston, where the troops lay upon their arms, and then he summoned a council of war. he proposed to continue the march the next morning, and meet cope upon the way. in the highest spirits the clans marched on through musselburgh and over the heights at carberry, where mary queen of scots made her last unfortunate fight, nor did they stop till they came in sight of the english army.

cope had landed his force at dunbar on the very day that the prince entered edinburgh. his disembarkation was not completed till the 18th. lord loudon had joined him at inverness with two hundred men, and now he met the runaway dragoons, six hundred in number, so that his whole force amounted to two thousand two hundred men—some few hundreds less than the highlanders. sir john took the level road towards edinburgh, marching out of dunbar on the 19th of september. next day lord loudon, who acted as adjutant-general, rode forward with a reconnoitring party, and soon came back at a smart trot to announce that the rebels were not approaching by the road and the open country to the west, but along the heights to the south. sir john, therefore, altered his route, and pushed on to prestonpans, where he formed his army in battle array. he placed his foot in the centre, with a regiment of dragoons and three pieces of artillery on each wing. his right was covered by colonel gardiner's park wall and the village of preston; his left extended towards seaton house, and in his rear lay the sea, with the villages of prestonpans and cockenzie. between him and the highlanders was a deep morass.

the night was cold, and the two armies lay on the ground. in the middle of the night anderson of whitburgh, a gentleman whose father had been out in the 'fifteen and who knew the country well, suddenly recollected a way across the bog to the right. he communicated this to hepburn of keith and lord george murray, who went to waken the prince, who, sitting up in his heap of pea-straw, received the news with exultation. he started up, a council was called, and as it drew towards morning it was resolved to follow anderson as their guide immediately. an aide-de-camp was despatched to recall lord nairn and his five hundred, and the army marched after anderson in profound silence. it was not without some difficulty that they crossed it, after all; some of the soldiers sank knee-deep, and the prince himself stumbled and fell. when they reached the firm ground the mounted pickets heard the sound of their march, though they could not see them for the thick fog. the dragoon sentinels demanded who went there, fired their pistols, and galloped off to give the alarm.

cope maintained the order of battle arranged the day previous, except that he turned the men's faces towards the east instead of the west, to meet the new position of the enemy. his infantry was posted in the centre; hamilton's dragoons were on the left, and gardiner's with the artillery in front, on the right, leaning on the morass. the highlanders no sooner saw the enemy than, taking off their caps, they uttered a short prayer, and pulling their bonnets over their brows, they rushed forward in their separate clans with a yell that was frightful.

colonel gardiner endeavoured to charge the advancing enemy with his dragoons; but it was in vain that he attempted to animate their craven souls by word and example—at the first volley of the highlanders they wheeled and fled. the same disgraceful scene took place on the left, at nearly the same moment. hamilton's regiment of horse dispersed at the first charge of the macdonalds, leaving the centre exposed on both its flanks. the infantry made a better stand than the cavalry; it discharged a steady and well-directed volley on the advancing highlanders, and killed some of their best men, amongst others, a son of the famous rob roy. but the highlanders did not give them time for a second volley; they were up with them, dashed aside their bayonets with their targets, burst through their ranks in numerous places, so that the whole, not being able to give way on account of the park wall of preston, were thrown into confusion, and at the mercy of the foe. never was a battle so instantly decided—it is said not to have lasted more than five or six minutes; never was a defeat more absolute. sir john cope, or johnnie cope, as he will be styled in scotland to the end of time, by the assistance of the earls of loudon and home, collected about four hundred and fifty of the recreant dragoons, and fled to coldstream that night. there not feeling secure, they continued their flight till they reached berwick, where sir mark kerr received cope with the[97] sarcastic but cruelly true remark that he believed that he was the first general on record who had carried the news of his own defeat.

prince charles edward stuart (the "young pretender"). (after the portrait by tocque, 1748.)

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charles was anxious to follow up his victory by marching directly into england, trusting to the effect of this signal triumph to bring all inclined to the stuart dynasty to his standard. he was confident that if he met with anything like success on the way, a rapid march would put london in his possession. and, in truth, such was the miserably misgoverned condition of the country at the time, that, had he come with a tolerable french army, nothing could have prevented him from becoming master of the kingdom. never was england so thoroughly exposed to foreign danger, so utterly unarmed and unprotected,[98] whilst it had been sending such armaments to the continent. fortunately, the french had not supported the pretender on this occasion, as they had promised, and fortunately, too, when charles came to review the army with which he proposed to enter england, there remained of it only one thousand four hundred men. the rest had gone home with their booty; nay, some had gone and were returning, not to fight, but to carry off more which they had concealed.

accordingly, charles could do nothing but maintain his position for the present in scotland, and send off a messenger to france to announce his wonderful success, and to urge that now was the moment to hasten over troops and supplies, and secure the crown and friendship of england for ever. he sent over mr. kelly to the french court and to his father, and for a moment there was a lively disposition at versailles to strike the blow. the king immediately despatched some supplies of money and arms, some of which were seized by english cruisers, and some of which arrived safely. there was also a talk of sending over charles's brother, henry, duke of york, at the head of the irish regiments and of others, and active preparations were made for the purpose at dunkirk. but again this flash of enthusiasm died out, and charles, three weeks after kelly, sent over sir james stewart to aid him in his solicitations. but all was in vain. the french again seemed to weigh the peril of the expedition, and on their part complained that the jacobites showed no zeal in england, without which the invasion would be madness. thus the time went by, till the dutch and english troops landed in england, and the opportunity was lost.

meanwhile, charles, compelled to wait the course of events in edinburgh, endeavoured to render himself popular by his moderation and magnanimity. volunteers began to flock to his standard, the chief cause, however, being, no doubt, the prestige of his victory. fresh reinforcements poured down from the highlands. altogether, charles's army now amounted to nearly six thousand men. it would have amounted to ten thousand had the macdonalds and macleods of skye and lord lovat joined him. but though charles sent a macleod of skye over to the island chiefs, urging them now to join his standard as certain of victory, they refused to move. he then went over from skye to castle dounie to stimulate lord lovat, but that deceitful old miscreant was playing the double game, and waiting to see which side would be the stronger. at length his army had received the last reinforcements that he expected, by the arrival of menzies of sheen with a considerable body of men, and he was impatient to march southwards. he was the more ready to quit scotland because lord lovat had now sent him word that though he could not, from the state of his health, join the march into england, both he and the macdonalds and the macleods of the isles were prepared to defend his interests in the highlands. the greater part of this intelligence was false, entirely so as regarded the islesmen, and it was now well known that the english government had got together twelve thousand veteran troops, besides thirteen regiments of infantry and two of cavalry newly raised. the highland chiefs, therefore, strenuously opposed the march till they should receive the reinforcements which he had promised them from france, as well as more money. others contended that he ought not to invade england at all, but to remain in scotland, make himself master of it, and reign there as his ancestors had done. but it was not merely to secure the crown of scotland that he had come; it was to recover the whole grand heritage of his race, and he determined to march into england without further delay. the highland chiefs, however, resolutely resisted the proposal, and at three successive councils he strove with them in vain to induce them to cross the border and fight the army of marshal wade, which lay at newcastle, consisting of dutch and english troops. at length charles said indignantly, "gentlemen, i see you are determined to stay in scotland; i am resolved to try my fate in england, and i go, if i go alone."

lord george murray then said that, as they needs must go, he proposed that they should enter england on the cumberland side, so as to harass wade's troops, if he marched across to meet them. the idea was adopted as a great improvement; it was kept a profound secret. still further to mislead the english, lord george proposed another plan, which was also adopted—to divide the army into two columns, to march by two different routes, but to unite at carlisle. one of these was to be led by the prince himself by kelso, as if intending to march straight into northumberland; the other to take the direct road through moffat. it was resolved to leave lord strathallan to command in scotland, to take up his headquarters at perth, receive the expected succours from france, and all such reinforcements from the highlands as should come in.

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these arrangements being complete, charles lay at pinkie house on the 31st of october, and the next day, the 1st of november, he commenced his march. each of the two columns was preceded by a number of horsemen to act as scouts. in the day of battle each company of a regiment furnished two of its best men to form the bodyguard of the chief, who usually took his post in the centre, and was surrounded by his brothers and cousins, with whom it was a point of honour to defend the chief to the death. so set forward the highland army for england, and it is now necessary to see what preparations england had made for the invasion.

the news of the invasion brought george from hanover. he arrived in london on the last day of august, by which time the young pretender had already been entertained by lord tullibardine at blair castle; but he seemed to feel no great alarm. he thought the forces of cope were sufficient to compete with the insurgents, and lord granville and his party did their best to confirm him in this opinion. on the 20th of september three battalions of the expected dutch forces landed, and received orders to march north. but what contributed more than anything to the security of the kingdom was the activity of the fleet. the seamen all round the coasts showed as much spirit and life as the soldiers had shown cowardice. privateers as well as men-of-war vied with one another in performing feats of bravery. a small ship off bristol took a large spanish ship, bound for scotland, with arms and money. another small ship took the soleil, from dunkirk, carrying twenty french officers and sixty men, to montrose; and a small squadron of privateers, which volunteered to serve under a brave naval captain, took a vast number of french vessels, and drove still more upon their own shores. charles's younger brother, henry, was waiting to bring over the irish regiments to his aid, but louis would not hazard their appearance at sea in the face of such a dangerous fleet. charles made an attempt to corrupt captain beavor, of the fox man-of-war, by offering him splendid rewards in case of his success, but the gallant officer sent him word that he only treated with principals, and that, if he would come on board, he would talk with him.

in london, notwithstanding, there was considerable alarm, but rather from fear of the papists and jacobites at home than of any danger from abroad. every endeavour had been used, in fact, to revive the old popery scare. there were rumours circulated that the papists meant to rise, cut everybody's throats, and burn the city. there was fear of a run on the bank of england, but the merchants met at garraway's coffee-house, and entered into engagements to support the bank. they also opened a subscription to raise two hundred and fifty thousand pounds to enlist troops, and many of them gave as much as two thousand pounds apiece. a camp was formed in hyde park of the household troops, horse and foot, a regiment of horse grenadiers, and some of the battalions that came over from flanders. in the provinces many of the great nobility proposed to raise regiments at their own expense, and this act of patriotism was loudly applauded. in some instances the patriotism was real. but the main body of the whig nobility and some others cut a very different figure. no sooner did parliament meet on the 18th of october, and whilst the jacobites were in the highest spirits, and opposing both the address and the suspension of the habeas corpus, than the dukes of devonshire, bedford, rutland, montague, the lords herbert, halifax, cholmondeley, falmouth, malton, derby, and others, moved, contrary to their splendid promises, that their regiments should be paid by the king, and should be put upon the regular establishment. the king was as much disgusted as the most independent of his subjects, but he found himself unable to prevent the measure.

at length the duke of cumberland arrived from flanders, and foreign and english troops were assembled in the midland counties; marshal wade had also ten thousand men collected at newcastle-on-tyne. the duke of cumberland was appointed commander-in-chief, and the brave soldiers who had fought under him at fontenoy were ready to follow him, in the highest confidence of making short work with the highlanders.

those highlanders commenced their march into england with no predilection for the adventure. the warfare of scotland was familiar to them; in all ages they had been accustomed to descend from their mountains and make raids in the lowlands. but england was to them an unknown region; they knew little of the dangers or the perils before them; they knew that in the whiggish clans of the west they left powerful enemies behind them. no sooner did they lose sight of edinburgh than they began to desert. charles led his division of the army across the tweed at kelso, and sent on orders to wooler to[100] prepare for his reception, thus keeping up the feint of marching eastward; instead of which, he took his way down liddesdale, and on the 8th of november crossed the esk, and encamped that night at a place called reddings, on the cumberland side.

the next day, the other column, which had marched through moffat, came up, and the united army advanced towards carlisle. they were perceived as they were crossing a moor on the 9th, about two miles from carlisle, by the garrison, which began to fire their cannon upon them, and kept it up actively for some time. on the 10th charles sent a letter summoning the garrison to surrender, but the garrison returned no answer, except by its cannon. they expected that marshal wade would soon march to their relief, whence their courage; and, indeed, the prince heard that wade was on the way by hexham, and, instead of waiting for him, he went to meet him at brampton, in the forest of inglewood, seven miles from the town; but, finding he had been deceived, he sent back part of the troops to commence the siege of carlisle in form. as the batteries began to rise, the courage of the commanders in the town began to fail, and they offered to capitulate; but the prince declined any terms but surrender of both town and castle, the troops being allowed to retire without their arms on engaging not to serve against charles for twelve months. these terms were accepted on the 15th, and the prince made a triumphant entry on the 17th.

the town, the castle, the arms, horses, and military stores being surrendered to the prince, and the militia and invalids having marched out, a council of war was called to determine future proceedings. some proposed to march against wade and bring him to action, others to return to scotland, but charles still insisted on marching forward. lord george murray was the only one who at all seconded him, and he did not recommend marching far into england without more encouragement than there yet appeared; but as the prince was anxious to ascertain that point, he said he was sure his army, small as it was, would follow him. charles expressed his conviction that his friends in lancashire waited only for their arrival; and the marquis d'eguilles declaring his expectation of a speedy landing of a french army, under this assurance the council consented to the advance.

on the 20th of november this memorable march commenced. for the convenience of quarters, the two divisions of the army were still maintained, the first led by lord george murray, the second by the prince himself. they left a garrison of two hundred men at carlisle, though, on a muster, it was discovered that above a thousand men had deserted since they left edinburgh, and that they had now only four thousand five hundred to attempt the conquest of england with. at penrith the whole army halted for a day, hearing that wade was coming against them; but finding, on the contrary, that he was gone back, they pursued their route by shap, kendal, and lancaster, to preston, where they arrived on the 27th. on the way, so far from meeting with any signs of adhesion, the farmers from whom they had taken horses congregated and pursued them on other horses, dismounted some of their cavalry, and carried their horses away again. preston was a place of ill omen to the highlanders ever since the defeat of the duke of hamilton in the civil war there, and the surrender of mackintosh in 1715. they had a fixed idea that no scottish army could ever advance farther. to break this spell, lord george led his vanguard at once over the bridge, and quartered them beyond it. the army halted there a day, and then proceeded to wigan, which they entered the next day. till he reached preston, however, charles received no tokens of sympathy. at preston, for the first time, he received three hearty cheers, and a few men joined his standard. on the road from wigan to manchester the expressions of goodwill increased; throngs of people collected to see him pass, but none would consent to join them. at manchester the approach of the army had been heralded by a scottish sergeant, a drummer, and a woman, the men in plaids and bonnets exciting great astonishment, and bringing together thousands of spectators. they announced the prince for the morrow, and began recruiting for his service. they offered a bounty of five guineas, to be paid when the prince came. a considerable number enlisted, receiving a shilling in token of engagement.

on the 1st of december the army resumed its march. they immediately found the effect of cumberland's presence at lichfield: they had to ford the mersey near stockport, and to carry the baggage and artillery over a rude wooden bridge, consisting of the trunks of trees thrown across, at chorlton. that evening they reached macclesfield. lord george pushed on with his division to congleton, whence he sent on colonel[101] kerr, who routed a small body of the duke of kingston's horse, and drove them towards newcastle-under-lyme. kerr seized captain weir, well known as one of cumberland's principal spies, and, by threatening him with the gallows, drew from him the particulars of the duke's numbers and position. it appeared that the duke was under the impression that the prince was directing his march towards wales to join his partisans there, and having encouraged this notion by this advance, and led the duke to proceed as far as stone, lord george suddenly altered his route, and got to ashbourne, and thence to derby, thus throwing the road to london quite open, and being two or three days' march in advance of the duke. charles entered derby the same day, the 4th of december, and took up his quarters at a house belonging to the earl of exeter, at the bottom of full street.

prince charlie's vanguard at manchester. (see p. 100.)

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they were now only one hundred and twenty-seven miles from the capital, both wade and cumberland behind them, and charles, notwithstanding the conditions on which they had come on from macclesfield, still confidently and enthusiastically dwelt on the onward march to london, and his certain success. in the morning a council was held, when lord george murray appealed to the prince whether they had received the least accession of strength, or the smallest sign of encouragement? such being the case, what hope was there for them in proceeding? they had barely five thousand men to contend against three armies, amounting at least altogether to thirty thousand. if they got to london before cumberland, and if they managed to elude the army at finchley, they had scarcely numbers to take quiet possession of london. but were they forced to fight the king and his army under the walls of the metropolis, they could not do it without loss; and then, supposing wade and cumberland to unite behind them, as they certainly would do, how could they hope to contend against them? assistance from france, as they had pointed out, was hopeless whilst the english had such a force in the channel. charles listened to these arguments with undisguised[102] impatience, and the probability is that, had his officers been willing to follow him, and live or die in the enterprise, he would have seized london, and accomplished one of the most brilliant exploits in history.

it is true that george ii. was also a brave and staunch commander, prepared to die on the spot rather than yield, as he had shown at dettingen. but the greater part of his forces at finchley were raw levies, and might not have stood better than the troops had done in scotland. there was a terror of the highlanders, even in the army; and as for london itself, the panic, when it was heard that they had got between the duke's army and the capital, was, according to fielding, who was then in london, incredible. there was a frantic rush upon the bank of england, and it is said that it must have closed had it not gained time by paying in sixpences. the shops were shut, business was at a stand, the ministers were in the utmost terror, and the duke of newcastle was said to have shut himself up for a day, pondering whether he should declare for the pretender or not. the king himself was by no means confident of the result. he is said to have sent most of his precious effects on board a yacht at the tower quay, ready to put off at a minute's warning. the day on which the news of the rebels being at derby reached london was long renowned as black friday. in such a state of terror, and the army at finchley inferior in numbers, and infinitely inferior in bravery, who can doubt that charles would for a time have made himself master of the metropolis?

charles, wrought up to the highest pitch of agony at the prospect of being compelled to abandon the splendid design of entering london in triumph, continued to expostulate and entreat the whole day. the duke of perth and some of the irish officers, moved by his distress, gave way, and called on the other chiefs to yield; but they remained immovable, and the prince, seeing the case hopeless, at length gave up the contest, and, in deep dejection, assented to the retreat. but, as if he deemed the relinquishment of the march on the metropolis the ruin of the whole enterprise, he declared that henceforth he would summon no more councils—being accountable only to god and his father, he would not again either seek or accept their advice.

the next morning, the 6th of december, the retreat commenced; but the soldiers and the inferior officers little dreamed that it was a retreat. they imagined that they were going to fight the duke of cumberland, and marched out in high spirits. the morning was foggy, and for some time the delusion was kept up; but when the fog cleared away, and they perceived that they were retracing their former route, their disappointment and rage became excessive. the retreat was rapidly continued through preston, and on to lancaster, which they reached on the 13th. on the 18th oglethorpe and cumberland, accompanied by a mob of country squires and mounted farmers, attacked lord george murray's rear near penrith; but the countrymen were speedily put to flight by a charge of the glengarry clan, and oglethorpe fell back to the main body. they came up again, however, in the evening near the village of clifton, and lord george perceived, by the fitful light of the moon, the enemy forming behind the stone walls, and lining every hedge, orchard, and outhouse. just as the royal troops commenced their charge they were stopped by a cross-fire of the concealed highlanders, and, whilst affected by this surprise, lord george cried, "claymore! claymore!" and rushing down upon them with the macphersons of cluny, attacked them sword in hand. being supported by the stuarts of appin, they compelled the english to retreat.

nevertheless, the whole army was dead beat and in the most deplorable condition when they entered carlisle on the morning of the 19th. as the enemy did not appear, they rested that day and the following night, when they set forward again, leaving a fresh garrison. cumberland was soon up before the walls, and they fired vigorously at him; but he sent off to whitehaven and brought up six eighteen-pounders, with which, to their dismay, he began to play on their crumbling walls on the 29th. next morning they hung out a white flag, and offered to capitulate; but cumberland would hear of no terms except their surrendering on condition that they should not be put to the sword. at three o'clock in the afternoon both town and castle were surrendered, the garrison being shut up in the cathedral, and a guard set upon them. on the 3rd of january the duke of cumberland left the command to general hawley, and hastened back to london, being summoned to defend the southern coast from a menaced landing of the french.

meanwhile, the highland army was continuing its retreat. on the 20th of december they left carlisle, and crossed into scotland by fording[103] the esk. on the 26th lord george entered glasgow, and charles, with the other division, on the 27th. at glasgow the prince and the army lay for seven days to rest, and to levy contributions of all kinds of articles of apparel for the soldiers. on the 3rd of january, 1746, the same day that cumberland left carlisle for london, charles marched his army out of glasgow, new clad and new shod, for stirling. the next day he took up his quarters at the house of bannockburn, and distributed his men through the neighbouring villages, lord george murray occupying falkirk. lords strathallan and drummond soon arrived from perth with their united force, attended by both battering-guns and engines from france.

with this force, tempted by the battering train, charles committed the error of wasting his strength on a siege of stirling castle, instead of preparing to annihilate the english troops, which were in rapid advance upon him.

the duke of cumberland, being called southward, had got general hawley appointed to the command of the army sent after the young pretender. wade was become too old and dilatory, but hawley was much fitter for a hangman than a general. horace walpole says he was called "the lord chief justice," because, like jeffreys, he had a passion for executions; that when the surgeons solicited the body of a deserter, which was dangling before hawley's windows, for dissection, he would only consent on condition that he had the skeleton to ornament the guard room. hearing of his approach, charles drew in his forces from falkirk under lord george, left a few hundred men to blockade stirling, and concentrated his army on the renowned field of bannockburn. on the 16th of january charles, expecting hawley, drew up his forces, but no enemy appeared. the next day, still perceiving no hawley, he advanced to pleanmuir, two miles east of bannockburn, and on the way to torwood. no enemy yet appearing, the prince determined to advance and find him out. hawley was so confident of dispersing the highland rabble at any moment that he chose, that he had neglected every military precaution, had fixed no outposts, and was away at callander house, at some distance from the field, comfortably taking luncheon with lady kilmarnock, whose husband was in the rebel army, and who was exerting all her powers of pleasing to detain the foolish general as long as possible. at length, when the rebels had come up so near that there was only falkirk moor between the armies, hawley, roused by fresh messengers, came galloping up without his hat, and in the utmost confusion. in the middle of this rugged and uneven moor, covered with heath, rose a considerable ridge, and it appeared to be a race between the two enemies which should gain the advantage of the summit. on the one side galloped the english cavalry, on the other sped the highlanders, straining for this important height; but the fleet-footed gael won the ground from the english horse, and hawley's horse halted a little below them. neither of the armies had any artillery, for the highlanders had left theirs behind in their rapid advance, and hawley's had stuck fast in the bog. so far they were equal; but the prince, by taking a side route, had thrown the wind in the teeth of the english, and a storm of rain began with confounding violence to beat in their faces. the english cavalry remained, as it had galloped up, in front, commanded, since the death of gardiner, by colonel ligonier, and the infantry formed, like the highlanders, in two lines, the right commanded by general huske, and the left by hawley. behind, as a reserve, stood the glasgow regiment and the argyll militia. the order being given, the cavalry under ligonier charged the macdonalds, who coolly waited till the english horse was within ten yards of them, when they poured such a murderous volley into them as dropped a frightful number from their saddles, and threw the whole line into confusion. the frasers immediately poured an equally galling cross-fire into the startled line, and the two dragoon regiments which had fled at coltbridge and prestonpans waited no longer, but wheeling round, galloped from the field at their best speed. the macdonalds, seeing the effect of their fire, in spite of lord george murray's endeavours to keep them in order, rushed forward, loading their pieces as they ran, and fell upon hawley's two columns of infantry. having discharged their pieces, they ran in upon the english with their targets and broadswords. the left soon gave way, and hawley, who had got involved in the crowd of flying horse, had been swept with them down the hill, and thus had no means of keeping them to their colours. on the right of the royal army, however, the infantry stood firm, and as the highlanders could not cross the ravine to come to close quarters with sword and target, they inflicted severe slaughter upon them; and cobham's cavalry rallying, soon came to their aid and protected their flank, and[104] increased the effect on the highlanders, many of whom began to run, imagining that the day was lost. charles, from his elevated position observing this extraordinary state of things, advanced at the head of his second line, and checked the advance of the english right, and, after some sharp fighting, compelled them to a retreat. but in this case it was only a retreat, not a flight. these regiments retired, with drums beating and colours flying, in perfect order. a pursuit of cavalry might still have been made, but the retreat of the english was so prompt, that the highlanders suspected a stratagem; and it was only when their scouts brought them word that they had evacuated falkirk that they understood their full success (january 18, 1746).

the battle of falkirk, which in itself appeared so brilliant an affair for prince charles, was really one of his most serious disasters. the highlanders, according to their regular custom when loaded with plunder, went off in great numbers to their homes with their booty. his chief officers became furious against each other in discussing their respective merits in the battle. lord george murray, who had himself behaved most bravely in the field, complained that lord john drummond had not exerted himself, or pursuit might have been made and the royal army been utterly annihilated. this spirit of discontent was greatly aggravated by the siege of the castle of stirling. old general blakeney, who commanded the garrison, declared he would hold out to the last man, in spite of the terrible threats of lord george murray if he did not surrender. the highlanders grew disgusted with work so contrary to their habits; and, indeed, the french engineer, the so-called marquis de mirabelle, was so utterly ignorant of his profession, that the batteries which he constructed were commanded by the castle, and the men were so much exposed that they were in danger of being destroyed before they took the fortress. accordingly, on the 24th of january they struck to a man, and refused to go any more into the trenches.

this was followed by a memorial, signed by most of the chief officers, including lord george murray, lochiel, keppoch, clanranald, and simon fraser, master of lovat. this was sent by lord george to charles, and represented that so many men were gone home, and more still going, in spite of all the endeavours of their chiefs, that if the siege were continued they saw nothing but absolute destruction to the whole army. the prince sent sir thomas sheridan to remonstrate with the chiefs, but they would not give way, and charles, it is said, sullenly acquiesced in the retreat.

it was time, if they were to avoid a battle. cumberland was already on the march from edinburgh. he quitted holyrood on the 31st of january, and the insurgents only commenced their retreat the next morning, the 1st of february, after spiking their guns. with this force the prince continued his march towards inverness, a fleet accompanying him along the coast with supplies and ammunition. on nearing inverness, he found it rudely fortified by a ditch and palisade, and held by lord loudon with two thousand men. charles took up his residence at moray castle, the seat of the chief of the macintoshes. the chief was in the king's army with lord loudon, but lady macintosh espoused the cause of the prince zealously, raised the clan, and led them out as their commander, riding at their head with a man's bonnet on her head, and pistols at her saddle-bow. charles, the next morning, the 17th of february, called together his men, and on the 18th marched on inverness. lord loudon did not wait for his arrival, but got across the moray firth with his soldiers, and accompanied by the lord-president forbes, into cromarty. he was hotly pursued by the earl of cromarty and several highland regiments, and was compelled to retreat into sutherland. charles entered inverness, and began to attack the british forts. fort george surrendered in a few days, and in it they obtained sixteen pieces of cannon and a considerable stock of ammunition and provisions.

but, notwithstanding these partial advantages, and though the duke and his army were enduring all the severities of a highland winter, exposed to the cutting east winds on that inclement coast, and compelled to keep quarters for some time, cumberland was steadily seizing every opportunity to enclose the highlanders in his toils. his ships cut off all supplies coming by sea. they captured two vessels sent from france to their aid, on board of one of which they took the brother of the duke of berwick. the hazard, a sloop which the highlanders had seized and sent several times to france, was now pursued by an english cruiser, and driven ashore on the coast of sutherland: on board her were a hundred and fifty men and officers, and ten thousand pounds in gold, which the clan mackay, headed by lord reay, got possession of. this last blow, in addition to other vessels sent out to succour him being compelled to return to france, reduced charles to the utmost[105] extremities. he had only five hundred louis-d'ors left in his chest, and he was obliged to pay his troops in meal, to their great suffering and discontent. cumberland was, in fact, already conquering them by reducing them to mere feeble skeletons of men. the dry winds of march rendered the rivers fordable, and, as soon as it grew milder, he availed himself of this to coop the unhappy highlanders up still more narrowly in their barren wilds, and stop all the passes into the lowlands, by which they might obtain provisions. he himself lay at aberdeen with strong outposts in all directions; mordaunt at old meldrum, and bland at strathbogie. as soon as he received an abundance of provisions by a fleet of transports, along with bligh's regiment, hearing that the spey was fordable, on the 7th of april he issued orders to march, and the next day set forward himself from aberdeen with lord kerr's dragoons and six regiments of foot, having the fleet still following along the shore with a gentle and fair wind. on reaching the spey lord john drummond disputed their passage, having raised a battery to sweep the ford, and ranged his best marksmen along the shore. but the heavier artillery of the duke soon drove lord john from the ground; he set fire to his barracks and huts, and left the ford open to the enemy, who soon got across. on sunday, the 13th of april, the english advanced to alves, and on the 14th reached nairn. as the van, consisting of the argyllshire men, some companies of grenadiers, and kingston's light horse, entered nairn, the rear of lord john drummond had not quitted it, and there was skirmishing at the bridge. the highlanders still retreated to a place called the lochs of the clans, about five miles beyond nairn, where the prince came up with reinforcements, and, turning the flight, pursued the english back again to the main body of their army, which was encamped on the plain to the west of nairn.

culloden house. (from a photograph by g. w. wilson and co., aberdeen.)

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that night charles and his chief officers lay at culloden house, the seat of the able and patriotic lord-president, duncan forbes; but the troops were obliged to lie on the moor amid the heather, which served them both for beds and fuel, the cold being very severe. they were up early in the morning, and formed in order of battle on[106] drummossie muir, the part of the heath of culloden near to culloden house. no enemy, however, appeared, and there the poor hungry men lay for most of the day with no other food than a biscuit per man. a council of war being called, lochiel stated this fact as a plea for delay; lord john drummond, the duke of perth, and others, were of the same opinion; but lord george murray declared for making a night march, and surprising the duke's army whilst it would lie, as they supposed, asleep in a drunken debauch. charles, who had the same idea, but had not yet broached it, embraced lord george with ardour, declaring it of all things his own wish. the idea was adopted, yet the slightest military wisdom would have shown them the futility of the scheme. the men were in a general state, not only of famine, but of discontent, from the non-payment of their arrears. the night was dark, and the men soon began to stumble through bog and mire, making their march heavy, and causing them to curse and swear. it was soon found that they were so feeble and incapable of walking, even, to say nothing of fighting after a fourteen or fifteen miles' march, on empty stomachs, that it was impossible to make the rear keep up with the van. they had calculated on being at nairn at two o'clock, but it was that hour before they had all passed kilravock house, only four miles from the english camp. it was clear that it would be daylight long before they reached nairn, and they could only get there to be slaughtered in helplessness, for they would be too tired either to fight or run away. it was therefore agreed to return.

the retreat was made, and the men found themselves again in the morning on the bleak, black heath of drummossie, hungry and worn out, yet in expectation of a battle. there was yet time to do the only wise thing—retreat into the mountains, and depend upon a guerilla warfare, in which they would have the decided advantage. lord george murray now earnestly proposed this, but in vain. sir thomas sheridan and other officers from france grew outrageous at that proposal, contending that they could easily beat the english, as they had done at prestonpans and falkirk—forgetting that the highlanders then were full of vigour and spirit. unfortunately, charles listened to this foolish reasoning, and the fatal die was cast.

the english army was now in full march against them. about eight o'clock in the morning of april 16 a man who had been left asleep in the wood of kilravock hastened to culloden house, where charles and his chief officers were resting, to announce that cumberland's troops were coming. there was then a hurried running and riding to get the army drawn up to receive them. cumberland came on with his army, divided into three columns of five battalions each. the artillery and baggage followed the second column along the sea-coast on the right; the cavalry covered the left wing, which stretched towards the hills. the men were all in the highest spirits, and even the regiments of horse, which had hitherto behaved so ill, seemed as though they meant to retrieve their characters to-day. the highlanders were drawn up about half a mile from the part of the moor where they stood the day before, forming a sad contrast to cumberland's troops, looking thin, and dreadfully fatigued. in placing them, also, a fatal mistake was made. they were drawn up in two lines, with a body of reserve; but the clan macdonald, which had always been accustomed to take their stand on the right since robert bruce placed them there in the battle of bannockburn, were disgusted to find themselves now occupying the left. instead of the macdonalds now stood the athol brigade. as the battle began, a snow-storm began to blow in the faces of the highlanders, which greatly confounded them.

their cannon was both inferior and worse served than that of the english; and when, at one o'clock, the duke began to play on their ranks with his artillery, he made dreadful havoc amongst them. several times the highlanders endeavoured to make one of their impetuous rushes, running forward with loud cries, brandishing their swords and firing their pistols; but the steady fire of the english cannon mowed them down and beat them off. seeing, however, a more determined appearance of a rush, colonel belford began to charge with grape shot. this repelled them for a time; but at length, after an hour's cannonade, the macintoshes succeeded in reaching the first line of the english. firing their muskets, and then flinging them down, they burst, sword in hand, on burrel's regiment, and cut their way through it. the second line, however, consisting of sempill's regiment, received them with a murderous fire. cumberland had ordered the first rank to kneel down, the second to lean forward, and the third to fire over their heads. by this means, such a terrible triple volley was given them as destroyed them almost en masse. those left alive, however, with all their ancient fury, continued to hew at[107] sempill's regiment; but cumberland had ordered his men not to charge with their bayonets straight before them, but each to thrust at the man fronting his right-hand man. by this means his adversary's target covered him where he was open to the left, and his adversary's right was open to him. this new man?uvre greatly surprised the highlanders, and made fearful havoc of them. from four to five hundred of them fell between the two lines of the english army. whilst the macintoshes were thus immolating themselves on the english bayonets, the macdonalds on their left stood in sullen inaction, thus abandoning their duty and their unfortunate countrymen from resentment at their post of honour on the right having been denied them. at length, ashamed of their own conduct, they discharged their muskets, and drew their broadswords for a rush; but the macintoshes were now flying, and the grape-shot and musket-shot came so thickly in their faces, that they, too, turned and gave way. whilst charles stood, watching the rout of his army to the right, he called frantically to those who fled wildly by to stand and renew the fight. at this moment lord elcho spurred up to him, and urged him to put himself at the head of the yet unbroken left, and make a desperate charge to retrieve the fortune of the day; but the officers around him declared that such a charge was hopeless, and could only lead the men to certain slaughter, and prevent the chance of collecting the scattered troops for a future effort. though he did not attempt to resist the victorious enemy, which was now hopeless, he seems to have lingered, as if confounded, on the spot, till o'sullivan and sheridan, each seizing a rein of his bridle, forced him from the field.

after culloden: rebel hunting.

after the painting by seymour lucas, r.a., in the national gallery of british art

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charles, accompanied by o'sullivan, sheridan, and other gentlemen, rode away to a seat of lord lovat's. the wild gallop of horsemen startled that wily old fox in his lair; and when he heard the news the master began to tremble for his own safety. there are different accounts of his reception of the fugitive prince. one says that he was so occupied with thinking of making his own escape, that he hardly showed common courtesy to the prince and his companions, and that they parted in mutual displeasure. another states that lovat urged the same advice as lord george murray had done, still to get up into the mountains, and make a bold face, by which time might be gained for fresh reinforcements, or at least for making some terms for the unhappy people. but it is clear that charles had now lost all spirit, if he had ever retained much after he had been forced to retreat from derby. he and his party rode away again at ten o'clock at night, and reached invergarry, the castle of glengarry, about two hours before daybreak. lord george still entertained the idea of keeping together a large body of highlanders. he had already with him one thousand two hundred. charles had stolen away from invergarry to arkaig, in lochaber, and thence to glenboisdale, where the messengers of lord george found him, accompanied only by o'sullivan, o'neil, and burke, his servant, who knew the country and acted as guide. all the rest of his train had shifted for themselves. lord george entreated the prince not to quit the country, but to continue to gather a force in the mountains, and thus resist and harass their enemies till they received reinforcements; but charles sent him word that the only chance was for himself to hasten over to france, and use all his interest to bring over an efficient force. he therefore sent lord george a written plan of his intentions, which was not, however, to be opened till he had sailed; and he desired lord george to request the different chiefs and their men to seek their own safety as best they might. that act terminated the rebellion.

cumberland was now hunting down the fugitives on all sides. he posted himself at fort augustus, which the insurgents had blown up before leaving it, and from that centre he sent out his myrmidons in every direction to hunt out the highlanders, and shoot them down on the spot or bring them in for execution. everywhere the unhappy clans were pursued by their hereditary enemies, the whig clans, especially by the men of argyllshire, and massacred with the most atrocious cruelty. they stripped their houses and then burned them down, drove away the cattle, and tracking the miserable families into dens and caves, smothered them with burning heather, or thus forced them to rush out upon their bayonets. in all these diabolical proceedings, the duke of cumberland and the brutal general hawley were foremost. "after all," cumberland (whose wicked work earned him the name of "the butcher") wrote to the duke of newcastle from fort augustus, "i am sorry to leave this country in the condition it is in, for all the good that we have done has been a little blood-letting, which has only weakened the madness, but not at all cured it; and i tremble for fear[108] that this vile spot may still be the ruin of this island and our family."

the standard of prince charlie's bodyguard, taken at culloden. (in the possession of sir archibald lamb at beauport, sussex.)

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the young pretender, during this time, had been making a hard run for his life, beset and hunted on all sides for the thirty thousand pounds set upon his head. during the whole five months of his adventurous wanderings and hidings, nothing could induce a single highlander to betray him, notwithstanding the temptation of the thirty thousand pounds. the most familiar story is his escape from south uist, where he had been tracked and surrounded. at this moment miss flora macdonald, a near relative of macdonald of clanranald, with whom she was on a visit, stepped forward to rescue him. she procured a pass from hugh macdonald, her stepfather, who commanded part of the troops now searching the island, for herself, her maid, betty burke, and her servant, neil mac eachan. she, moreover, induced captain macdonald to recommend the maid, betty burke—which betty burke was to be charles in disguise—to his wife in skye as very clever at spinning. at the moment that all was ready, general campbell, as if suspecting something, came with a company of soldiers, and examined clanranald's house. the prince, in his female attire, however, was concealed in a farm-house, and the next morning he and his deliverer embarked in a boat with six rowers and the servant neil. in passing the point of vaternish, in skye, they ran a near chance of being all killed, for the militia rushed out and fired upon them. luckily the tide was out, so that they were at a tolerable distance, were neither hurt, nor could be very quickly pursued. the boatmen pulled stoutly, and landed them safely at mougstot, the seat of sir alexander macdonald. sir alexander was on the mainland in cumberland's army; but the young heroine had the address to induce his wife, lady margaret macdonald, to receive him; and as the house was full of soldiers, she sent him to her factor and kinsman, macdonald of kingsburgh, in the interior of the island, who brought him to a place of safety. at last, on the 20th of september, he got on board the french vessel. lochiel and cluny, and about a hundred other refugees, sailed with him, and they landed at the little port of roscoff, near morlaix, in finistère, on the 29th of september, whence charles hastened to paris, was received in a very friendly manner by louis xv., and by the parisians, when he appeared at the opera, with rapturous acclamations.

charles was, both in scotland—on which his wild adventure had inflicted such miseries—and in france, a hero of romance; but his captured adherents had far other scenes to face than the lights and luxurious music of the opera. the prisons were crammed to such a degree with the[109] unfortunate gaels, that government was compelled to stow numbers away on board of men-of-war and transports, till fever broke out and swept them off by hundreds, sparing the labours of judges, juries, and hangmen. in carlisle prison alone four hundred scots were jammed in a space not properly sufficient for forty! the poor prisoners had been brought out of scotland in open defiance of the act of union and of the recognised rights of the scottish courts; and now they were called on to cast lots for one in twenty to take their trials, with a certainty of being hanged, and the rest shipped off to the plantations in america without any trial at all.

the end of the '45. (after the painting by john pettie, r.a., by permission of the late captain hill.)

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amongst the most distinguished persons captured were lords kilmarnock, cromarty, balmerino, mordington, and lovat. cromarty, balmerino, and kilmarnock were brought to trial before the peers in westminster hall on the 28th of july. "cromarty," says horace walpole, "was a timid man, and shed tears; and kilmarnock, though behaving with more dignity, pleaded guilty, both expressing remorse for their past conduct, and their fervent good wishes for the person and government of the king." but old balmerino, the hero of the party, pleaded not guilty, and took exceptions to the indictment. "he is," writes walpole, "the most natural, brave old fellow i ever saw; the highest intrepidity, even to indifference." all these noblemen were pronounced guilty. cromarty pleaded piteously the condition of his wife and family: that he left his wife enceinte, and eight innocent children to suffer for his fault. his wife's entreaties and the interest of the prince of wales saved him; kilmarnock and balmerino were beheaded.

lord lovat was the last who was brought to the block for this rebellion, and we will conclude our account of it with his trial and execution, though they did not take place till march, 1747. lovat had not appeared in arms, nor committed any overt act, and therefore it was difficult to[110] convict him. the cunning old sycophant hoped to elude the law, as he had done so often before, but murray of broughton, the brother of murray, afterwards lord mansfield, to save his own life, turned king's evidence, and won eternal infamy by sacrificing his own friends. he not only produced letters and other documents which amply proved the guilt of lovat, but threw broad daylight on the whole plan and progress of the insurrection from 1740 onwards. the conduct of lovat on his trial was as extraordinary as his life had been. he alternately endeavoured to excite compassion, especially that of cumberland—who attended this, though he avoided the trials of the other insurgents—by representing how he had carried his royal highness in his arms about kensington and hampton court parks as a child, and then by the most amusing jests, laughter, execrations, and tricks, to puzzle or confuse the witnesses.

as he left the hall he turned and said, "farewell, my lords; we shall never meet again in the same place." and with this tragi-comedy closed the strange, romantic, and melancholy rebellion of 1745 and 1746, for in a few weeks an act of indemnity was passed, disfigured, however, with eighty omissions. it was followed by other measures for subduing the spirit of the vanquished highlanders—the disarming act, the abolition of heritable jurisdiction, and the prohibition of the highland costume.

whilst the rebellion was raging in scotland there had been an attempt to change the ministry, and to place at the helm lord granville. that nobleman had so engrossed the favour of the king, that pelham and his brother, newcastle, found their measures greatly obstructed by granville's influence, and suspected that they would soon be called on to give place to him. they determined, therefore, to bring matters to a crisis, confident that granville would never be able to secure a majority in either house against them. to furnish a reason for their tendering their resignation, they demanded the place which they had promised to pitt.

under the influence of granville and of lord bath, the king refused to admit pitt, and they determined to resign, but got lord harrington to take the first step. he tendered the resignation of the seals on the 10th of february, 1746, and the king accepted them, but never forgave harrington. the same day newcastle and pelham tendered theirs, and their example was followed by others of their colleagues. the king immediately sent the seals to granville, desiring him and bath to construct a new administration. they found the thing, however, by no means so easy. it was in vain that they made overtures to men of distinction to join them. sir john barnard declined the post of chancellor of the exchequer; chief justice willes that of lord chancellor. after forty-eight hours of abortive endeavours, lord bath announced to the king that they were unable to form a cabinet. it was with extreme chagrin that george was compelled to reinstate the pelhams. he expressed the most profound mortification that he should have a man like newcastle thus forced upon him—a man, he said, not fit to be a petty chamberlain to a petty prince of germany. what made it the more galling, the pelhams would not take back the seals without authority to name their own terms, and one of them was, that such of the adherents of bath and granville as had been retained in the ministry should be dismissed. the marquis of tweeddale was, accordingly, one of these, and his office of secretary of state for scotland was abolished. pitt was introduced to the cabinet, not as secretary at war, as he had demanded, but as vice-treasurer of ireland, and subsequently, on the death of winnington, as paymaster of the forces. by this event the opposition was still further weakened, and the pelhams for some time seemed to carry everything as they wished, almost without a single ruffle of opposition.