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CHAPTER LXXXVII.

Allowance granted by France to Charles's Followers—Removal of the Prince from France-Miss WalkinshawCharles's Visit to London-Jacobite Intrigues-Death of Prince Charles—and of his Brother, Cardinal Duke of York-Changes effected in the Highlands by the Measures adopted in consequence of the Rebellion-Decay of the System of Clanship-the Jacobites become reconciled to the House of Hanover-Restoration of the Forfeited Estates-The Highland Garb again permitted to be worn -Introduction of Store-Farming-Improvement in the Commerce of Scotland.

BEFORE giving a farther account of the effect produced on Scotland and its inhabitants by the Disarming Act, the Jurisdiction Act, and other alterations adopted into the law of Scotland, in consequence of the insurrection of 1745, we may take some notice of the melancholy conclusion of Charles Edward's career, which had commenced with so much brilliancy. There are many persons like this unfortunate Prince, who, having failed in an effort boldly made and prosecuted with vigour, seem afterwards to have been dogged by misfortune, and deprived, by the premature decay of the faculties they once exhibited, of the power of keeping up the reputation gained at the beginning of their career.

On his first arrival in France, with all the eclat of his victories and his sufferings, the Chevalier was very favourably received at Court, and obtained considerable advantages for some of his followers. Lochiel and Lord Ogilvie were made lieutenant-colonels in the French service, with means of appointing to commissions some of the most distinguished of the exiles who had participated in their fate. The Court of France also granted 40,000 livres a-year for the support of such Scottish fugitives as were not provided for in their military service.

This allowance, however liberal on the part of France, was totally insufficient for the maintenance of so many persons, accustomed not only to the necessaries but comforts of life; and it is not to be wondered at, that many, reduced to exile and indigence in his cause, murmured, though perhaps with injustice, against the Prince, whose power of alleviating their distresses they might conclude to be greater than it really was.

An incident which followed, evinced the same intractability of temper which seems to have characterised this young man in his attempt to regain the throne of his ancestors. When the French Government, in the winter of 1748, were disposed to accede to a peace with England, it was an indispensable stipulation, that the young Pretender, as he was styled, should not be permitted to reside within the French territories. The King and ministers of France felt the necessity of acceding to this condition if they would obtain peace; but they

were desirous to do so with all the attention possible to the interest and feelings of Charles Edward. With this purpose, they suggested to him that he should retreat to Friburg, in Switzerland, where they proposed to assure him an asylum, with a company of guards, a large pension, and the nominal rank and title of Prince of Wales.

It is not easy to say with what possible views Charles rejected these offers, or from what motive, saving the impulse of momentary spleen, he positively refused to leave France. He was in a kingdom, however, where little ceremony was then used upon such occasions. One evening as he went to the opera, he was seized by a party of the French guards, bound hand and foot, and conveyed first to the state prison of Vincennes, and from thence to the town of Avignon, which belonged to the Pope, where he was set at liberty, never to enter France again.1

To this unnecessary disgrace Charles appears to have subjected himself from feelings of obstinacy alone; and of course a line of conduct so irrational was little qualified to recommend him as a pleasant guest to other states.

He went first to Venice with a single attendant; but upon a warning from the Senate, he returned to Flanders.

Here, about the year 1751, he admitted into his family a female, called Miss Walkinshaw. The

' [For a particular account of the proceedings with regard to Charles, his ultimate arrest and banishment from France, see the Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 569-586.]

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person whom he thus received into his intimacy had connexions, of which his friends and adherents in Britain were extremely jealous. It was said that her sister was a housekeeper at Leicester House, then inhabited by the Prince of Wales; and such was the general suspicion of her betraying her lover, that the persons of distinction in England who continued to adhere to the Jacobite interest, sent a special deputy, called Macnamara, to request, in the name of the whole party, that this lady might be removed from the Chevalier's residence, and sent into a convent, at least for a season. The Prince decidedly put a negative upon this proposal,"Not," he said, "that he entertained any particular affection or even regard for Miss Walkinshaw, but because he would not be dictated to by his subjects in matters respecting his own habits or family." When Macnamara was finally repulsed, he took his leave with concern and indignation, saying, as he retired,-" By what crime, sir, can your family have drawn down the vengeance of Heaven, since it has visited every branch of them through so many ages?"

This haughty reply to a request, reasonable and respectful in itself, was the signal for almost all the Jacobite party in England to break up and dissolve itself; they were probably by this time only watching for an opportunity of deserting with honour a cause which was become hopeless.1

["When Macnamara returned to London, and reported the Prince's answer to the gentlemen who had employed him, they were astonished and confounded. However, they soon resolved

Before this general defection, some intrigues had been set on foot in behalf of Charles, but always without much consideration, and by persons of incompetent judgment. Thus the Duchess of Buckingham, a woman of an ambitious but flighty disposition, took it upon her at one time to figure as a patroness of the House of Stewart, and made several journeys from England to Paris and also to Rome, with the affectation of making herself the heroine of a Jacobite revolution. This intrigue, it is needless to say, could have no serious object or termination.

In 1750, the Jacobite intrigues continued to go on, and the Prince himself visited London in that year. Dr King, then at the head of the Church of England Jacobites, received him in his house. He assures us, that the scheme which Charles had formed was impracticable, and that he was soon prevailed upon to return to the continent.'

Dr

on the measures which they were to pursue for the future, and determined no longer to serve a man who could not be persuaded to serve himself, and chose rather to endanger the lives of his best and most faithful friends, than part with an harlot, whom, as he often declared, he neither loved nor esteemed.". KING." From this anecdote," says Sir Walter Scott, "the general truth of which is indubitable, the principal fault of Charles Edward's temper is sufficiently obvious. It was a high sense of his own importance, and an obstinate adherence to what he had once determined on-qualities which, if he had succeeded in his bold attempt, gave the nation little room to hope that he would have been found free from the love of prerogative and desire of arbitrary power, which characterised his unhappy grandfather."-Introduction to Redgauntlet.]

["September 1750-I received a note from my Lady Primrose, who desired to see me immediately. As soon as I

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