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operation was any longer to be hoped for; so that Cadogan's appointment had become a matter of necessity.

CHAP.

X.

1715.

36.

the Preten

land, and

tion at

8, 1715.

Cadogan brought with him powerful reinforcements; and the six thousand auxiliaries stipulated by the Bar- Arrival of rier Treaty had landed in England in the middle of der in ScotNovember, and were already in full march for Scotland. his recepThe insurgents, whose numbers were daily falling off, Scone, Jan. had decreased in a still more rapid proportion, so that the rebellion was now virtually extinguished. It was at this inauspicious moment that the Chevalier at length landed at Peterhead on December 22d, attended only by six persons, one of whom was son to the Duke of Berwick. His arrival might have led to decisive success, if it had taken place at an earlier period, by stilling the discord of the rival chiefs; but his coming at this gloomy season could only throw a parting gleam over a falling cause. He proceeded southwards-passed incognito through Aberdeen-received Mar with great distinction at the manor of Fetteresso-and made a public entry into Dundee on January 6th, with the Earl of Mar riding on his right hand and the Earl Mareschal on his left, and followed by a brilliant train of three hundred gentlemen on horseback. From thence he proceeded to Scone-the place where his ancestors had so often been crowned-and there issued several proclamations. The first ordered a general thanksgiving for the "miraculous providence" shown in his safe arrival; the second gave currency to all foreign coins; the third ordered the convocation of a Parliament; the 1 Original fourth ordered his coronation at Scone on 23d January; Papers, 160. and the fifth summoned all persons from sixteen to sixty 271,272, to join his standard.1

Immense was the enthusiasm excited at the time by

Mahon, i.

CHAP.

X.

1715.

37.

Passing en

and real

difficulties

his arrival.

the arrival of the exiled prince in the land of his fathers; but it soon appeared that the hand of fate was upon him, and that nothing could much longer arrest its resistless weight. The men remaining of the clans were so much thusiasm reduced that they could not venture on the customary following on spectacle of a review; and the Prince was so disheartened by their scanty numbers that he could not conceal his chagrin. He himself had none of the qualities requisite to uphold a falling cause. He had considerable abilities, great powers of language, and popular, graceful manners in peace; but he had little vigour or energy in character, and none of the habits or ideas which win the hearts of the soldiery in war. He could not handle a musket, and knew nothing of the broadsword exercise. Despair and discouragement followed his appearance amongst them; and so hopeless did affairs soon become, that, though it had been determined to fortify and defend Perth, Mar had in secret resolved, if Cadogan advanced against him, to abandon it without striking a blow. The discouragement was increased by the intelligence of the surprise of Inverness by Lord Lovat, who

257. Ma

1 Berwick's on this occasion acted on the Hanoverian side—a disasMem. 256, ter which, by depriving them of the northern capital of the Highlands, appeared to render the condition of the insurgents altogether desperate.1

hon, i. 271, 278.

38.

ation of the

sion of the

Meanwhile Cadogan, having collected an overwhelmRe-embark- ing force at Stirling, commenced his march to the northPretender, ward, in the midst of snow, and in a season of uncomand suppresmon rigour. Argyll was with the vanguard; and he was so discontented by the intelligence of the preparations for the abandonment of Perth, which were received as they bivouacked on the snow amidst the smoking ruins of Auchterarder, that his chagrin was visible to all the

insurrection.

X.

1715.

bystanders. When the order to retreat towards Aber- CHAP. deen was first issued, the indignation among the Highlanders at retiring before their enemies was so vehement that it almost amounted to open mutiny. "What," said one of them, "did you call us to arms for? Was it to run away? What did the king come here for? Was it to see his people butchered by the hangman, and not strike one stroke for their lives? Let us die like men, and not like dogs! We must take the person of our monarch out of the hands of his present timid counsellors; and then, if he is willing to die like a prince, he will find that there are ten thousand gentlemen of Scotland who are not afraid to die with him!" But though these heroic sentiments did honour to the brave men who uttered them, and showed what means had been at the disposal of the leaders of the insurrection, they could not supply the present deficiencies. The army was without either fuel or provisions; ammunition was becoming scanty; and the superiority of the enemy, in numbers, artillery, and cavalry, was overwhelming. A retreat was therefore agreed to on the 29th, and promulgated on the 30th. In sullen despair the Highlanders obeyed the dreaded summons-but such was their indignation that most of the clans separated on the road; and when they reached Aberdeenshire, all appearance of an army was at an end. The Pretender

both

"The Duke of Argyll grows so intolerably uneasy that it is almost impossible to live with him any longer. He is enraged at the success of this expedition, though he and his creatures attribute to themselves the honour of it. When I brought him the news of the rebels being run from Perth he seemed thunderstruck, and was so visibly concerned with it that even the foreign officers in the room took notice of it. Since the rebels quitted Perth, he has sent for five hundred of his Argyll men. Not one of them appeared when the rebels were in Perth, when they might have been of some use."Cadogan to Marlborough, Feb. 4, 1716; CoXE, vi. 335.

CHAP.

X.

1715.

himself gave the slip to his attendants, and embarked at Montrose, on the night of the 4th of February, with Lord Mar, and arrived in safety at Gravelines. His last act was to send a sum of money, the remains of his slender resources, to the Duke of Argyll, to be applied in indemnifying the cottagers in Auchterarder, whose houses had been burned by his orders, "So that I may at least have the satisfaction of having been the destruction of none, when I came to free all." Marlborough forbade all pursuit of the Highlanders into their hills, well knowing that no army could maintain itself there, and putting in practice an opinion which he had expressed years before in Flanders, "That if he ever commanded against the Highlanders, he would never be at 1 Sinclair's the trouble of following them into their hills, to run the risk of ruining an army by fatigue and want, but would post himself so as to starve them if they kept together, or till, by their natural inconstancy, they separated, after which every one would do his best to get terms." 1

Mem. MS.

343. Ma

hon, i. 276

285. Ber

wick, 257259.

39.

and sen

Thanks to the foresight and arrangements of MarlConviction borough, and the vigour of the Government, the insurrection was now suppressed, and the Hanoverian family water, &c. firmly seated on the throne. But the disaster did not stop here; the days of real mourning were to begin.

tence of Derwent

"Ah, no! for a darker departure is near;

The war-drum is muffled, and harnessed the bier."

In Scotland, few prisoners of note were taken, and the annals of its courts are not stained by unnecessary or lamentable severity. But it was otherwise in England; and Walpole, who was prime-minister, though by no means, as his subsequent long career proved, inclined to severity, deemed the risk run too great, the escape made too narrow, to permit lenity to be generally extended to

CHAP.

X.

1716.

the prisoners. Two noblemen and twenty-six commoners died on the scaffold for fidelity to their sovereign in misfortune. Six peers were indicted; and as their accession to the rebellion was self-evident, they all pleaded guilty except Lord Wintoun, who was convicted on trial, but afterwards escaped. Great interest was made by persons of the highest rank in favour of the unfortunate noblemen who had been convicted; many of the leading Whigs openly declared on the side of mercy; and so strongly was the public mind moved that petitions for their reprieve were thrown out only by a majority of seven in the Commons, and actually carried by one of five in the Lords. Alarmed with this unexpected opposition, the cabinet respited three of the noblemen-Lord Nairn, 1 State the Earl of Carnwath, and Lord Widdrington-but 747-801. ordered the execution of Derwentwater, Kenmure, and Walpole, ii. Nithsdale, the following morning. Nithsdale escaped lam's Confrom the Tower in woman's dress the night before the iii. 562. execution; but the two former were destined to seal 285-291. their faith with their blood.1

Trials, xv.

Coxe's

51. Hal

stitut. Hist.

Mahon, i.

40.

of Derwent

Kenmure,

1716.

They did so, and did it nobly. The scaffold, covered with black, was erected on Tower Hill, already stained Noble death by the blood of the first and the noblest in English water and story. Derwentwater was the first to suffer he turned Feb. 24, pale as he ascended the fatal steps, but his voice was firm, and his demeanour steady and composed. He passed some time in prayer; and then rising up, declared that he died a Roman Catholic; that he deeply repented his plea of "guilty," and expressions of contrition at his trial; and that he acknowledged James III., and him alone, as his rightful sovereign. "I intended," he added, "to wrong no one, but to serve my king and country, hoping, by the example I gave, to have induced others

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