128 CHARLES EDWARD AT HOLYROOD-HOUSE. 1745. Highlanders. The dragoons disgracefully galloped away in a body; and the Edinburgh loyalists were left to their own wretched means of defence. A message was brought to the city that resistance to the prince would be followed by military execution. The magistrates called a meeting; when a formal summons to surrender, containing a similar threat, was read. A deputation was now sent to the rebel camp to offer terms of capitulation. A messenger had meanwhile arrived with the news that general Cope, who had embarked his troops at Aberdeen, was in sight of Dunbar, and would speedily land for the relief of Edinburgh. The deputation returned to say that an unconditional surrender was demanded. A second deputation was sent in the night to entreat for delay. As might have been expected, they obtained no hearing. These baffled negotiators returned to the city before day-break ⚫ on the morning of the 17th. The Canongate having been opened to allow the hackney carriages which had brought back the deputation to go out to the suburbs, a party of Highlanders, who had waited in ambush, rushed in. The volunteers had dispersed when they saw the disposition of the authorities to surrender, and had delivered up their arms, which were sent to the castle. There were none to dispute the possession of the city with the alert mountaineers. The other gates were soon opened. "The Parliament Close," says an eye-witness, "was filled with rebels before five in the morning. They were very naked, and several wanted arms, especially firelocks. Their weapons, which were unfit for use, were rubbed up by the armourers, who at this time got constant employment. They set about providing clothes, shoes, and linen, of which they were in great want, the most part having nothing but a short old coat of coarse tartan, a pair of hose much worn, coming scarce up to their knees; their plaids and bonnets in the same condition."* Moving by the south of the city, far out of the reach of the guns of the castle, Charles Edward entered the Palace of Holyrood; and, amidst the antique pomp of heralds and poursuivants, king James VIII. was proclaimed at the High Cross of Edinburgh. Whilst a large number of the populace of Edinburgh huzzaed as prince Charles rode into Holyrood, and the declarations were read at the High Cross; "whilst a number of ladies in the windows strained their voices with acclamation, and their arms with waving white handkerchiefs; "+ Cope was landing at Dunbar. On the 18th he had completed the debarkation of his troops, artillery, and stores; and he had been joined by the panic-stricken dragoons, who had run away at Colt's Bridge. On the 19th Cope marched towards Edinburgh. "This little army," says Home, "made a great show, the cavalry, the infantry, the cannon, with a long train of baggage-carts, extended for several miles along the road." Home was himself with that army, being, most probably, the volunteer whom he describes as giving information to the English general of the numbers and condition of the Highland forces, as he had observed them before he quitted Edinburgh. He estimated them at about two thousand men. They had no artillery, except "one small iron gun which he had seen, without a carriage, lying upon a cart drawn by a little Highland horse." About fifteen hundred were armed with firelocks and * Andrew Henderson. "History of the Rebellion, 1745." 1745.] COPE'S ARMY LANDS AT DUNBAR. 129 swords; and a hundred or so had each a scythe fastened to the shaft of a pitchfork. The volunteer probably underrated the number of the rebel forces; as Cope and other officers overrated them. In the same way Cope's forces were overrated by those opposed to them. The most trustworthy accounts make the Highlanders amount to less than three thousand men, and the royal troops to somewhat above two thousand.* On the 21st Cope had reached the village of Preston; and he there learnt that the prince had marched from Edinburgh to encounter him. The English general resolved to rest here, and wait to be attacked. He had a strong position, thus described by De Johnstone: "We arrived about two o'clock in the afternoon within musket-shot of the enemy, where we halted behind an eminence, having a full view of the camp of general Cope, the position of which was chosen with a good deal of skill. . . . . The general had on his right two enclosures, surrounded by stone-walls, from six to seven feet high, between which there was a road of about twenty feet broad, leading to the village of Preston-Pans. Before him was another enclosure, surrounded by a deep ditch filled with water, and from ten to twelve feet broad, which served as a ditch to the marshy ground. On his left was a marsh, which terminated in a deep pond; and behind him was the sea." The Highlanders saw the difficulty of getting through the morass, so as to attack their enemy in front. During the evening various movements were made in each army, but Cope clung to the supposed advantage of his position; although doubts had arisen whether it was prudent for his troops thus to be shut up, whilst the rebels could move freely about, watching for any opportune advantage. The night came on, dark and cold. Pickets of the royal army kept guard along the morass. Fires were lighted. The baggage was sent to the rear. All seemed safe against a surprise. It had been determined by Charles, with the advice of a council of war, to attack at break of day, from a ground below the east of Tranent; and his little army had been moved into this position. The Highlanders were sleeping, wrapped in their plaids. The prince, lord George Murray, and other chiefs, were lying down in a field of peas. A proprietor, named Anderson, was brought to lord George Murray, to tell him that he knew a far more practicable way through the morass than their present position offered. He had often crossed it when hunting, and he would himself lead the way. Another council was held; and Anderson's plan was adopted. In the silence of the dark morning the Highlanders began to move. As the day broke a frosty mist concealed their advance. The morass was successfully crossed, though some men sank deep in the boggy ground. The column marched northward towards the sea; and then formed in line. Between the two armies was a broad corn-field, the harvest having just been got in. Over the thick stubble rushed the Highlanders. The sun rose; the mist dispersed; the disciplined troops, horse and foot, stood before these wild and ill-armed men, in their firm ranks; their arms glittering in the morning ray; their cannon threatening a swift destruction. Some of the rebel officers afterwards acknowledged that when they looked upon this array they expected the Highland army to be swept away in a moment.† The * See Note to Chevalier de Johnstone's Memoirs, p. 30. Note to Home, vol. iii. p. 92. 130 BATTLE OF PRESTON-PANS. [1745. Highlanders rushed on. They fired; cast away their muskets; and threw themselves on the astonished line, "with a swiftness not to be conceived," as one of the English colonels described in evidence. According to De Johnstone's account the Highlanders had been instructed to cut at the noses of the horses, and thus threw the cavalry into confusion. The cannon which Cope had landed was of little use, for he had only one artilleryman; and sailors who were placed to work the guns immediately abandoned them at the rush of the Highlanders. Neither Horse nor Foot could stand up against these strange and terrible foes. "None of the soldiers," says Home, "attempted to load their pieces again, and not one bayonet was stained with blood." Then commenced a slaughter of which modern warfare has few parallels. The road between the two enclosures was stopped up by the fugitives. "The strength of the enemy's camp," says De Johnstone, "became their destruction. . . . . . The field of battle presented a spectacle of horror, being covered with heads, legs and arms, and mutilated bodies; for the killed all fell by the sword." The king's officers, with one exception, seem to have abandoned their men to this terrible slaughter, with very feeble attempts to rally them-with no disposition, certainly, to die with them. The one signal exception to the shame of commanders who were the first to carry the news of their own defeat, * was colonel Gardiner. Dr. Doddridge has told how this brave and pious man fell, close to the door of his own mansion. He had been wounded in the breast and in the thigh. He had tried, in vain, to rally his panic-stricken troop, who at last made a precipitate flight. Deliberating what his duty next required of him, "he saw a party of the foot, who were then bravely fighting near him, and whom he was ordered to support, had no officer to head them; upon which he said eagerly, in the hearing of the 'person from whom I had this account, These brave fellows will be cut to pieces for want of a commmander,' or words to that effect; which, while he was speaking, he rode up to them, and cried out, Fire on, my lads, and fear nothing.' But just as the words were out of his mouth, a Highlander advanced towards him with a scythe fastened to a long pòle, with which he gave him so dreadful a wound on his right arm, that his sword dropped out of his hand; and at the same time several others coming about him while he was thus dreadfully entangled with that cruel weapon, he was dragged off from his horse. The moment he fell, another Highlander gave him a stroke either with a broadsword or a Lochaber-axe (for my informant could not exactly distinguish) on the hinder part of his head, which was the mortal blow. All that his faithful attendant saw further at this time was, that as his hat was falling off, he took it in his left hand and waved it as a signal for him to retreat, and added, what were the last words he ever heard him speak, 'Take care of yourself;' upon which the servant retired." The prince, as related by Home, "remained on the field of battle till midnight, giving orders for the relief of the wounded of both parties." We may add a characteristic passage from a Manuscript Journal of a Scottish chaplain in the Highland army: "Then I rode straight into the field of * A just sarcasm to this effect was addressed by lord Mark Kerr to brigadier Waugh and colonel Lasselles; according to some accounts addressed to Cope himself. 1745.] CHARLES EDWARD RETURNS TO EDINBURGH. 131 battle; and after meeting Invernahyle and his men in the pursuit, I made up to the prince, and wished him joy of the glorious victory! To which he was pleased to reply, with a smile, Sir, the Highlanders have done it all.' After the wounded of both sides and the prisoners were taken care of, there was a table spread for his Royal Highness on the field of battle, at Cope's cannons; and he did me the honour to bid me say grace, to which he rose, and stood very gravely." This triumph was called by the rebels the victory of Gladsmuir- -a place about a mile from Preston-Pans-there being an old prediction "On Gladsmuir shall the battle be." Charles Edward slept on the night of the battle at Pinkie House; and he returned to Edinburgh on the 22nd of September, with exulting followers but with a diminished army. The booty of the field of Preston was too great to allow the Highlanders to believe that there was any duty more urgent than to return to their homes in triumph with their spoil, provided they could escape from the control of their leaders. They found serviceable arms and good clothes; money, whose value they comprehended, and watches, whose use they could not readily understand. But the victory which had been gained inspired such confidence in wavering chiefs and hesitating lairds, that, during the time of the prince's sojourn in Edinburgh, nearly six weeks, he was enabled, in spite of large desertions, to muster double the number of men that he had been able to oppose to general Cope. Duncan Forbes describes the effect produced by the possession of Edinburgh, This MS. Journal, in the possession of the author of the "Popular History," was contributed by him to the "London Magazine" of September, 1828. It appears incidentally in the narrative that the chaplain's name was Mac Lachlan, and that his home was at St. Cowan's. 132 BLOCKADE OF EDINBURGH CASTLE. [1745. and the battle of Preston: "All Jacobites, how prudent soever, became mad; all doubtful people became Jacobites; and all bankrupts became heroes, and talked nothing but hereditary rights and victory. What was more grievous to men of gallantry, and if you will believe me much more mischievous to the public, all the fine ladies, except one or two, became passionately fond of the young adventurer, and used all their arts and industry for him in the most. intemperate manner."* From the 22nd of September to the 31st of October, Edinburgh was unwontedly gay in the sunshine of the young prince's successes. There was some terror when the governor of the castle, general Guest, threatened to bombard the city if the blockade which cut off the supplies of the garrison were not removed. Charles was indignant at what he called the barbarity of the governor; although he listened to the prayer of the magistrates that he would not persevere in exposing them to this peril. General Guest was also induced to suspend his resolve till orders had been received from London. There was a sort of armistice, which the Highlanders broke by firing upon men who were carrying provisions up the Castle-hill. The governor retaliated; and swept the streets with his artillery loaded with small shot. The prince then yielded to the terror of the citizens, and revoked the order "which made it death to carry provisions to the castle." The intention of Charles Edward to cross the Border was formed immediately after the victory of the 21st of September. He gave authority to a person named Hickson to repair forthwith to England, to notify to his friends the great success he had met with; and "to let them know that it is my full intention, in a few days, to move towards them." + Hickson was apprehended at Newcastle; and attempted to destroy himself. We shall have to direct our view to the state of affairs in England,—to the movements of the administration, the opinions of the parliament, and the temper of the people,-under the extraordinary circumstances which had placed the capital of Scotland in the possession of the Jacobites, and which rendered an invasion of the south a very imminent danger. In the illusions of the romance of the Forty-five, or in sympathies with a faded Toryism, writers, otherwise judicious and impartial, have taken little trouble to examine the real difficulties of an attempt, in the middle of the eighteenth century, for the restoration of the Stuarts. In entering upon such an examination, we demur to the conclusion of one excellent historian, who expresses his belief, that if, after the battle of Preston, Charles could have pushed on with two or three thousand men, "he might have reached the capital with but little opposition, and succeeded in at least a temporary restoration." He says "the spirit of the people in no degree responded to the efforts of the government; they remained cold lookers-on, not indeed apparently favouring the rebellion, but as little disposed to strive against it."§ The popular feeling is described as, first apathy, and then terror. In our view, the public spirit of the people of England, in the crisis of 1745, is not to be estimated by the alarm of timid ministers, or the indifference of fashionable triflers. Pelham was not so apprehensive of the strength or zeal of the enemy, as fearful of the inability or languidness of friends. Some politicians "Culloden Papers," p.250. Letter to Mitchell. Ibid., p. 226. § Ibid., p. 364. |