ston's horse followed the chase along the Inverness road. They did not charge such of the enemy, whether French or Highlanders, as kept in a body, but dogged and watched them closely on their retreat, moving more or less speedily as they moved, and halting once or twice when they halted. On the stragglers they made great havoc, till within a mile of Inverness.

It was in general remarked, that the English horse, whose reputation had been blemished in previous actions with the Highlanders, took a cruel pleasure in slaughtering the fugitives, giving quarter to none, except a few who were reserved for public execution, and treating those who were disabled, with cruelty unknown in modern war. Even the day after the battle, there were instances of parties of wounded men being dragged from the thickets and huts in which they had found refuge, for the purpose of being drawn up and despatched by platoon-firing; while those who did not die under this fusilade, were knocked on the head by the soldiers with the stocks of their muskets. In a word, the savageness of the regulars on this occasion formed such a contrast to the more gentle conduct of the insurgents, as to remind men of the old Latin proverb, that the most cruel enemy is a coward who has obtained success.1 It was early found necessary to make some averment which

1

66

[Crudelis semper timidus, si vicerit unquam. 'By this time our horse and dragoons had closed inupon them from both wings, and then followed a general carnage. The moor was covered with blood; and our men, what with killing the enemy,

might seem to justify this unheard-of cruelty; and, accordingly, a story was circulated, concerning an order said to have been issued by Lord George Murray, commanding the Highlanders to give no quarter if victorious. But not one of the insurgent party ever saw such an order; nor did any of them hear of it, till after the battle.

In this decisive action, the victors did not lose much above 300 men, in killed and wounded. Lord Robert Ker, captain of grenadiers, was slain at the head of his company.

The loss of the vanquished army was upwards of 1000 men. The Highlanders on the right wing, who charged sword in hand, suffered most severely. These were the MacLeans, and MacLauchlans, the MacIntoshes, the Frasers, the Stewarts, and the Camerons. The chief of MacLauchlan was slain in the action, together with MacLean of Drimnin, MacGillivray of Drumnaglass, several of

dabbling their feet in the blood, and splashing it about one another, looked like so many butchers."-Letter, Scots Mag. April, 1746. "The road from Culloden to Inverness," says Johnstone, was every where strewed with dead bodies. The Duke of Cumberland had the cruelty to allow our wounded to remain amongst the dead on the field of battle, stript of their clothes, from Wednesday, the day of our unfortunate engagement, till three o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, when he sent detachments to kill all those who were still in life; and a great many who had resisted the effects of the continual rains, were then despatched. He ordered a barn which contained many of the wounded Highlanders, to be set on fire; and having stationed soldiers round it, they with fixed bayonets drove back the unfortunate men who attempted to save themselves into the flames, burning them alive in this horrible manner, as if they had not been fellow-creatures."-Memoirs, p. 147.]

the Frasers, and other persons of distinction. Lochiel was wounded, but borne from the field by his two henchmen. In short, the blow was equally severe and decisive, and the more so, that the heaviest of the loss fell on the high chiefs and gentlemen, who were the soul of the Highland army.

CHAPTER LXXXIV.

Claims of the Jacobite Prisoners to Clemency-Severity of the Duke of Cumberland—Ravages committed by his Troops-his Return to London, and Cessation of Cruelties in the Highlands-Escape of Prince Charles-his Remarkable Wanderings, in various Disguises—his Embarkation at Lochnanuagh, and Arrival at Morlaix, in Brittany, on the 29th of September, 1746.

[1746.]

It was not to be expected that the defeat of Culloden should pass over, without fatal consequences to those who had been principally concerned in the insurrection. A handful of men had disturbed the tranquillity of a peaceful people, who were demanding no change of their condition, had inflicted a deep wound upon the national strength, and what is seldom forgotten in the moment when revenge becomes possible, had inspired universal terror. It was to be expected, therefore, that those who had been most active in such rebellious and violent proceedings, should be called to answer with their lives for the bloodshed and disorder to which they had given occasion. They themselves well knew at what bloody risk they had played the deadly game of insurrection, and expected no less forfeit than

their lives. But as all concerned in the rebellion had, in strictness, forfeited their lives to the law, it became fitting that Justice should so select her victims, as might, if possible, reconcile her claims with the feelings of humanity, instead of outraging them by a general and undistinguishing effusion of blood. Treason upon political accounts, though one of the highest crimes that can be committed against a state, does not necessarily infer any thing like the detestation which attends offences of much less general guilt and danger. He who engages in conspiracy or rebellion, is very often, as an individual, not only free from reproach, but highly estimable, in his private character; such men, for example, as Lord Pitsligo, or Cameron of Lochiel, might be said to commit the crime for which they were obnoxious to the law, from the purest, though, at the same time, the most mistaken motives-motives which they had sucked in with their mother's milk, and which urged them to take up arms by all the ties of duty and allegiance. The sense of such men's purity of principles and intention, though not to be admitted in defence, ought, both morally and politically, to have limited the proceedings against them within the narrowest bounds consistent with the ends of public justice, and the purpose of intimidating others from such desperate courses.

If so much could be said in favour of extending clemency even to several of the leaders of the insurrection, how much more might have been added in behalf of their simple and ignorant followers, who came out in ignorance of the laws of the