PROPOSAL OF RETREAT.

209

28th of January, they learned that Argyle was actually on his march towards Perth, it seemed rather to announce a jubilee than a battle with fearful odds. The chiefs embraced, drank to each other, and to the good day which was drawing near; the pipes played, and the men prepared for action with that air of alacrity which a warlike people express at the approach of battle.

When, however, a rumour, first slowly whispered, then rapidly spreading among the clans, informed them, that notwithstanding all the preparations in which they had been engaged, it was the General's purpose to retire before the enemy without fighting, the grief and indignation of these men, taught to think so highly of their ancestors' prowess, and feeling no inferiority in themselves, rose to a formidable pitch of fury, and they assailed their principal officers in the streets with every species of reproach. "What can we do?" was the helpless answer of one of these gentlemen, a confidant of Mar. "Do?" answered an indignant Highlander; "Let us do that which we were called to arms for, which certainly was not to run away. Why did the King come hither?— was it to see his subjects butchered like dogs, without striking a blow for their lives and honour ?" When the safety of the king's person was urged as a reason for retreat, they answered "Trust his safety to us; and if he is willing to die like a prince, he shall see there are ten thousand men in Scotland willing to die with him."

Such were the general exclamations without doors, and those in the councils of the Chevalier were equally violent. Many military men of skill gave it as their opinion, that though Perth was an open town, yet it was so far a safe post, that an army could not, by a coup-demain, take it out of the hands of a garrison determined. on its defence. The severity of the snow-storm, and of the frost, precluded the opening of breaches; the country around Perth was laid desolate; the Duke of Argyle's army consisted in a great measure of Englishmen and foreigners, unaccustomed to the severe climate of 18* VOL. I.

210 THE JACOBITES RESOLVE TO RETREAT.

Scotland; and vague hopes were expressed, that, if the

General of Government should
press an attack upon the
town, he might receive such a check as would restore
the balance between the parties. To this it was replied,
that not only the superiority of numbers, and the advan-
tage of discipline, were on the side of the royal army,
but that the garrison at Perth was destitute of the neces-
sary provisions and ammunition; and that the Duke of
Argyle had men enough at once to form the blockade of
that town, and take possession of Dundee, Aberdeen,
and all the counties to the northward of the Tay, which
they lately occupied; while the Chevalier, cooped up
in Perth, might be permitted for some time to see all the
surrounding country in his enemy's possession, until it
would finally become impossible for him to escape. In
the end it was resolved in the councils of the Chevalier
de St. George, that to attempt the defence of Perth
would be an act of desperate chivalry. To reconcile the
body of the army to the retreat, reports were spread that
they were to make a halt at Aberdeen, there to be joined
by a considerable body of troops which were expected
to arrive from abroad, and advance again southwards
under better auspices. But it was secretly understood
that the purpose was to desert the enterprise, to which
the contrivers might apply the lines of the poet-

"In an ill hour did we these arms commence,
Fondly brought here, and foolishly sent hence."

RETREAT OF THE JACOBITE ARMY.

211

CHAPTER XIII.

Retreat of the Jacobite Army from Perth-Escape of the Chevalier and the Earl of Mar on board a Vessel at Montrose-Dispersion of the Jacobite ArmyIncapacity of Mar as a General-Argyle's Arrival in London, and Reception at Court-he is deprived of all his Employments-Causes of this Act of Ingratitude on the part of the English GovernmentTrial of the Jacobite Prisoners, at Carlisle-Disarming of the Highlanders-Sale of Forfeited Estates-Plan of Charles XII. of Sweden for Restoring the Stewarts-Expedition fitted out by Cardinal Alberoni for the same purpose-Battle of Glenshiel -the Enterprise abandoned.

WHATEVER reports were spread among the soldiers, the principal leaders had determined to commence a retreat, at the head of a discontented army, degraded in their own opinion, distrustful of their officers, and capable, should these suspicions ripen into a fit of fury, of carrying off both King and General into the Highlands, and there waging an irregular war after their own

manner.

On the 28th of January, an alarm was given in Perth of the Duke of Argyle's approach; and it is remarkable, that, although in the confusion, the general officers had issued no orders what measures were to be taken in case of this probable event, yet the clans themselves, with intuitive sagacity, took the strongest posts for checking any attack; and, notwithstanding a momentary disorder, were heard to cheer each other with the expression, "they should do well enough." The unhappy Prince himself was far from displaying the spirit of his partisans. He was observed to look dejected, and to shed tears, and heard to say, that instead of bringing him to a crown,

212

DISPERSION OF THE JACOBITE ARMY.

they had led him to his grave.

"Weeping," said Prince Eugene, when he heard this incident, "is not the way to conquer kingdoms."

The retreat commenced under all these various feelings. On the 30th of January, the anniversary of Charles the First's decapitation, and ominous therefore to his grandson, the Highland army filed off upon the ice, which then covered the Tay, though a rapid and deep stream. The town was shortly afterwards taken possession of by a body of the Duke of Argyle's dragoons; but the weather was so severe, and the march of the rebels sɔ regular, that it was impossible to push forward any vanguard of strength sufficient to annoy their retreat.

;

On the arrival of the rebels at the seaport of Montrose, a rumour arose among the Highlanders, that the King, as he was termed, the Earl of Mar, and some of their other principal leaders, were about to abandon them, and take their flight by sea. To pacify the troops, orders were given to continue the route towards Aberdeen the equipage and horses of the Chevalier de St. George were brought out before the gate of his lodgings, and his guards were mounted as if to proceed on the journey. But before the hour appointed for the march, James left his apartments privately for those of the Earl of Mar, and both took a by-road to the water's edge, where a boat waited to carry them in safety on board a small vessel prepared for their reception. The safety of these two personages being assured, boats were sent to bring off Lord Drummond, and a few other gentlemen, most of them belonging to the Chevalier's household; and thus the son of James II. once more retreated from the shores of his native country, which, on this last occasion, he seemed to have visited for no other purpose than to bring away his General in safety.

General Gordon performed the melancholy and irksome duty of leading to Aberdeen the disheartened remains of the Highland army, in which the Lord Marischal lent him assistance, and brought up the rear. It is probable, that the rage of the men, on finding themselves

INCAPACITY OF MAR AS A GENERAL.

213

deserted, might have shown itself in some acts of violence and insubordination; but the approach of the Duke of Argyle's forces, which menaced them in different columns, prevented this catastrophe. A sealed letter, to be opened at Aberdeen, contained the secret orders of the Chevalier for General Gordon and his army. When opened, it was found to contain thanks for their faithful services; an intimation, that disappointments had obliged him to retire abroad; and a full permission to his adherents either to remain in a body and treat with the enemy, or disperse, as should best appear to suit the exigency of the time. The soldiers were at the same time apprised that they would cease to receive pay.

A general burst of grief and indignation attended these communications. Many of the insurgents threw down their arms in despair, exclaiming, that they had been deserted and betrayed, and were now left without either king or general. The clans broke up into different bodies, and marched to the mountains, where they dispersed, each to its own hereditary glen. The gentlemen and Lowlanders who had been engaged, either skulked among the mountains, or gained the more northerly shires of the country, where vessels sent from France to receive them, carried a great part of them to the continent.

Thus ended the Rebellion of 1715, without even the usual sad eclat of a defeat. It proved fatal to many ancient and illustrious families in Scotland, and appears to have been an undertaking too weighty for the talents of the person whom chance, or his own presumption, placed at the head of it. It would be unjust to the memory of the unfortunate Mar, not to acquit him of cowardice or treachery, but his genius lay for the intrigues of a court, not the labours of a campaign. He seems to have fully shared the chimerical hopes which he inspired amongst his followers, and to have relied upon the foreign assistance which the Regent Duke of Orleans wanted both power and inclination to afford. He believed, also, the kingdom was so ripe for rebellion, that nothing was necessary save to kindle a spark in order to produce a gen