who rejoiced to have at last a partner in his misfortune or misconduct.* The Duke of Cumberland, in conversation with the Earl of Marchmont, "laid the blame of "the affair of Hawley on want of discipline, and said, <6 were he there he would attack the rebels with the men "that Hawley had left."† This determination was speedily put to the proof; for the fear of a French invasion having now subsided, and the want of another general in Scotland being manifest, his Royal Highness was appointed to the chief command in that country, and was earnestly requested to set out immediately. Travelling night and day, he arrived most unexpectedly at Holyrood House on the morning of the 30th of January, a day, as usual, of ill augury to the house of Stuart, and he chose for himself the same apartments, nay even the same bed, in the palace, which had lately been occupied by Charles. - The Royal Duke destined to wield so decisive an influence over the fortunes of his cousin and competitor, was of very nearly the same age, being only four months younger. He had not, however, the same graces of person, being corpulent and unwieldy to a remarkable degree, and in his manner rough and displeasing. His character was adorned by considerable virtues; honesty of purpose, adherence to his promises, attachment to his friends. He was a dutiful son, and a liberal patron; as a soldier, he was enthusiastically fond of his profession; he had closely studied its details, and might even be lauded for capacity in an age which, to England at least, was singularly barren of military merit. His unwearied activity and his high personal courage would, however, at any period have justly claimed applause. But, as one of his own friends complains, "his judgment is too much "guided by his passions, which are often violent and un"governable." Against his foreign adversaries he displayed no undue asperity, and towards his soldiers he could sometimes show compassion; thus, for instance, on * See Quarterly Review, No. lxxi. p. 180. An abstracted Scottish Peer, at this Drawing Room, addressed Sir John by the title of General Hawley, to the no small amusement of the company. † Lord Marchmont's Diary, January 23. 1746. Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 23. THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. 107 arriving at Edinburgh he immediately arrested the course of Hawley's savage executions: yet even his own army often murmured at his harshness and rigour; and as to any rebel, he treated him with as little mercy as he might a wolf. Never perhaps did any insurgents meet a more ungenerous enemy. From the deeds of blood in Scotland. -committed by his own order in some cases, and connived at in many more, his contemporaries branded him with a disgraceful by-word THE BUTCHER; and the historian who cannot deny the guilt, must repeat and ratify the name. -- The Duke of Cumberland remained but thirty hours at Edinburgh on the 31st he set forward with his army to give the insurgents battle; his favourite Hawley still acting under him as one Lieutenant-General; and the other was the Earl of Albemarle. Officers and soldiers were in high spirits, and confident of victory under their new commander. But on approaching Falkirk his Royal Highness was informed that the rebels had already commenced their retreat; the causes of which I shall now proceed to detail. In the siege of Stirling, Charles had employed as his engineer one M. Mirabelle, a vain volatile Frenchman, who had come over with Lord John Drummond. So ignorant was this man of his profession, that the batteries he constructed with great labour were entirely commanded and soon silenced by the fire of the Castle. Still, however, the prince persevered, taking only the advice of his favourite counsellors, Secretary Murray, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and the Quarter-Master General. But the other chief officers, mortified both at their loss of confidence since the Derby retreat, and at the slow and doubtful progress of the present siege, determined to assert their authority by holding a consultation of their own. The result was a memorial signed by many influential names, and sent to the Prince by Lord George Murray, who was no doubt the secret mover of the whole design. This memorial is still preserved*: after lament *Home's Hist. Append. No. 39. Those who signed it were Lord George Murray, Lochiel, Keppoch, Clanranald, Ardshiel, Lochgarry, Scothouse, and Simon Fraser, Master of Lovat. 66 66 ing the numbers of Highlanders gone home, and the unequal chances of another battle, it proceeds: “We are therefore humbly of opinion that there is no way to "extricate the army out of the most imminent danger "but by retiring immediately to the Highlands, where we can be usefully employed the remainder of the "winter by taking and mastering the forts of the North, "and we are morally sure we can keep as many men "together as will answer that end, and hinder the enemy “from following us into the mountains at this season of 66 the year; and in spring we doubt not but an army of "10,000 effective Highlanders can be brought together, "and follow your Royal Highness wherever you think "proper." This remonstrance, coming from such persons, and armed with all the force of a command, struck the Prince with astonishment and grief. Lord George had been with him but the day before, and shown him a plan he had drawn for the intended battle, which Charles had approved and corrected with his own hand. In the same view, likewise, had the sick and wounded of the army already been sent to the rear at Dumblane. When, therefore, he read the paper disclosing such different designs, he could scarcely believe his eyes: he passionately exclaimed, "Good God! have I lived to see this?" and dashed his head against the wall with so much violence that he staggered. He sent sir Thomas Sheridan to argue with the chiefs against their project; but finding them firm, had no alternative but a sullen acquiescence. * The insurgents accordingly began their retreat on the 1st of February, first spiking their heavy cannon, and blowing up their powder magazine at St. Ninian's. So ill was this last operation contrived, that the explosion destroyed, together with the magazine, the neighbouring church, and lost the lives of several country people; nor did party spirit fail to impute this accident to deliberate and malignant design. The best proof to the contrary will be found in the fact, that some of the insurgent * John Hay's Account of the Retreat from Falkirk (Home's Appendix, p. 355.). MARCH TO INVERNESS. 109 soldiers themselves, and particularly the man who fired the train, were amongst the killed. Very little, however, of discipline or regularity was observed in the retreat. Charles, with a frowardness and recklessness that seem to have been part of his character, whenever he was thwarted, had either neglected to give the needful orders, or suddenly changed them after they were given, and much confusion and loss of baggage ensued.* The direc tion of the retreat was to Crieff, where the army separated in two divisions; nor did they reunite for some weeks; both, however, making their way by different roads towards Inverness. They were pursued, but not overtaken, by the Duke of Cumberland, who, fixing his headquarters at Perth, sent out detachments to reduce the neighbouring districts. While such were the events in the North, the Court of St. James's was agitated by a short but singular ministerial revolution. The Royal favour had been for some time engrossed by Lord Granville: the Pelham brothers found themselves treated with coldness and reserve, and apprehended that in carrying the supplies this winter they would only be paving the way for their own dismissal at the end of the session. To them, the unquelled rebellion appeared, not as a motive of forbearance, but only as a favourable opportunity for pushing their pretensions. They determined, therefore, to bring the question to an issue, and to concentrate their demands on one point an office for Pitt- to whom they were bound by their promises, and still more by their fears. The king, however, guided by Lord Granville, and under Granville by Lord Bath, and mindful of Pitt's old philippics against Hanover, steadily refused his assent to this arrangement. On the 6th of February, Lord Bath, coming from the Royal closet, said frankly to Lord Harrington, that he had advised the king to negative Mr. Pitt's appointment and to pursue proper (he meant Hanoverian) measures on the *At a council of war, called near Crieff, there was great complaint and recrimination amongst the officers, as to the disorder of the retreat. Charles ended their quarrel by saying very handsomely, that he would take all the blame on himself. Lord George Murray's Narrative, Jacobite Memoirs, p. 100. resentment. 66 Continent. Lord Harrington coldly replied, "They who "dictate in private should be employed in public.' A resignation was now resolved upon by nearly all the ministers. In this affair the Pelhams prudently shrunk from the front ranks; the van therefore was led by Harrington, he being the first on the 10th to give up the seals, and thus drawing on himself the King's especial and lasting He was followed on the same day by the Duke of Newcastle, on the next by Mr. Pelham. Other self-denying placemen now poured in, with their white staves and gold keys. His Majesty immediately sent the two seals of Secretaries of State to Lord Granville (who was indisposed), that he and Lord Bath might form an administration as they pleased. "Thus far," says Horace Walpole, "all went swimmingly; they had only forgotten one little point, which was to secure a ma"jority in both Houses."† Scarce any man of weight or reputation was found willing to join them. Chief Justice Willes declined to be their Lord Chancellor, and Sir John Barnard to be their Chancellor of the Exchequer. After various offers and repeated refusals, this ministry of forty hours was dissolved, and Lord Bath announced his failure to the King, who bitterly complained of his painful situation, and cried shame that a man like Newcastle, who was not fit, said he, for a chamberlain to a petty Court in Germany, should be forced on him and the nation as Prime Minister. His Majesty had, however, no other choice than to reinstate his former servants, and admit whatever terms they now required. It was agreed to dismiss from place the remaining adherents of Bath and Granville, amongst others the Marquis of Tweeddale, whose office as Secretary for Scotland was again abolished. Pitt became not indeed Secretary at War, as was asked at firstbut Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, and soon afterwards, on the death of Winnington, Paymaster of the Forces. The Opposition grew still weaker from their weakness being so signally tested and disclosed, and dwindled for some time to a scarcely perceivable minority. Yet Lord Granville's high spirits never forsook him; he continued to * Coxe's Memoirs of Horace Lord Walpole, p. 295. |