CHAPTER XIV: Prestonpans.
Advancing in high spirits through the mountains of Badenoch, PrinceCharles with his army came down into the vale of Athole, and visited,with Tullibardine, the castle of Blair Athole, the noble property ofwhich the marquis had so long been deprived, owing to his constancy tothe cause of the Stuarts, but which would again be his own were thisgreat enterprise successful.
From Blair Athole the little army moved on to Perth. Here they werejoined by powerful friends, of whom the principal were the young Duke ofPerth, Lord Nairn, and Lord George Murray, the younger brother of theMarquis of Tullibardine. Lord George Murray was but ten years of age whenthe events of 1715 had taken place, but four years later he came overwith the marquis with a handful of Spaniards and was wounded at thebattle of Glenshiels. The influence of the family obtained his pardon onthe plea of his extreme youth, but he remained at heart a Jacobite, and,going to the Continent, entered the service of Sardinia, then a portionof the possessions of the Duke of Savoy. For many years he served abroad,and acquired a considerable reputation as an excellent officer and a mostgallant soldier.
He had, indeed, a natural genius for military operations, and had he notbeen thwarted at every turn by the jealousy of Murray of Broughton, it isby no means improbable that he would have brought the enterprise to asuccessful termination and seated the Stuarts upon the throne of England.The accession of such an officer was of the highest value to the prince.
Hitherto the army had consisted merely of wild clansmen, full of valourand devotion but wholly undisciplined; while among those who accompaniedhim, or who had joined him in Scotland, there was not a single officer ofany experience in war or any military capacity whatever. Lord GeorgeMurray and the Duke of Perth were at once named generals in the prince'sarmy; but the command in reality remained entirely in the hands ofMurray, for Lord Perth, though an estimable young nobleman possessed ofconsiderable ability, had no military experience and was of a quiet andretiring disposition.
Lord George Murray at once set about raising the tenantry of his brotherthe Hanoverian Duke of Athole, who was absent in England, and as thesehad always remained attached to the Stuart cause, and still regarded theMarquis of Tullibardine as their rightful head, they willingly took uparms upon Lord George Murray's bidding. Lord George decided at once thatit would be useless to attempt to drill the Highlanders into regularsoldiers, but that they must be allowed to use their national style offighting and trust to their desperate charge with broadsword and targetto break the enemy's ranks.
Unfortunately dissensions commenced among the leaders from the veryfirst. Secretary Murray, who desired to be all powerful with the prince,saw that he should not succeed in gaining any influence over so firm andenergetic a character as Lord George Murray, while it would be easy forhim to sway the young Duke of Perth, and he was not long in poisoning theear of the latter against his companion in arms by representing to himthat Lord George treated him as a mere cipher, although of equal rank inthe army. The secretary's purpose was even more easily carried out withPrince Charles. The latter was no judge of character, and fell readilyunder the influence of the wily and unscrupulous Murray, who flatteredhis weaknesses and assumed an air of deference to his opinions. LordGeorge Murray, on the other hand, was but too prone to give offence. Hewas haughty and overbearing in manner, expressed his opinions with adirectness and bluntness which were very displeasing to the prince, and,conscious of his own military genius and experience, put aside with opencontempt the suggestions of those who were in truth ignorant of militarymatters. Loyal, straightforward, and upright, he scorned to descend tothe arts of the courtier, and while devoting his whole time to hismilitary work, suffered his enemies to obtain the entire command of theear of the prince.
Ronald was introduced to him as soon as he joined at Perth, and findingthat young Leslie had had some military experience, Lord George at onceappointed him one of his aides de camp, and soon took a warm liking tothe active and energetic young officer, whose whole soul was in his work,and who cared nothing for the courtly gatherings around the person of theprince.
Malcolm rode as Ronald's orderly, and during the few days of their stayin Perth, Ronald was at work from morning till night riding through thecountry with messages from Lord George, and in the intervals of such dutyin trying to inculcate some idea of discipline into the wild Highlandlevies. At this time Charles was using all his efforts to persuade LordLovat, one of the most powerful of the northern noblemen, to join him,offering him his patent as Duke of Fraser and the lord lieutenancy of thenorthern counties.
Lovat, however, an utterly unscrupulous man, refused openly to join,although he sent repeatedly assurances of his devotion. Throughout thestruggle he continued to act a double part, trying to keep friends withboth parties, but declaring for the prince at the moment when hisfortunes were at their highest. The result was that while he afforded theprince but little real assistance, his conduct cost him his head.
Sir John Cope, finding that his march to Inverness had failed to draw theprince after him, and had left the Lowlands and the capital open to theinsurgents, directed his march to Aberdeen, and sent to Edinburgh fortransports to bring down his army to cover that city. But Prince Charlesdetermined to forestall him, and on the 11th of September commenced hismarch south. The age and infirmities of the Marquis of Tullibardineprevented his accompanying Prince Charles during active operations.
It was impossible for the army to march direct against Edinburgh, as themagistrates of that town had taken the precaution to withdraw every shipand boat from the northern side of the Forth, and the prince wasconsequently obliged to make a detour and to cross the river at the fordseight miles above Stirling, and then marching rapidly towards Edinburgh,arrived on the evening of the 16th within three miles of that town.
So long as the coming of the prince was doubtful the citizens ofEdinburgh had declared their willingness to defend the town to the last.Volunteer regiments had been formed and guns placed on the walls; butwhen the volunteers were ordered to march out with Hamilton's regiment ofdragoons, to oppose the advance of the insurgents, the men quitted theirranks and stole away to their houses, leaving the dragoons to march outalone. The latter, however, showed no greater courage than that of theircitizen allies, when on the following day they came in contact with aparty of mounted gentlemen from the prince's army, who fired theirpistols at their pickets. These rode off in haste, their panic wascommunicated to the main body, whose officers in vain endeavoured tocheck them, and the whole regiment galloped away in wild confusion, andpassing close under the walls of Edinburgh continued their flight,without halting, to Preston. There they halted for the night; but one ofthe troopers happening in the dark to fall into a disused well, hisshouts for assistance caused an alarm that they were attacked, andmounting their horses the regiment continued their flight to Dunbar,where they joined General Cope's army, which had just landed there.
This disgraceful panic added to the terror of the citizens of Edinburgh,and when, late in the afternoon, a summons to surrender came in fromPrince Charles, the council could arrive at no decision, but sent adeputation to the prince asking for delay, hoping thereby that Cope'sarmy would arrive in time to save them. But the prince was also wellaware of the importance of time, and that night he sent forward Lochielwith five hundred Camerons to lie in ambush near the Netherbow Gate. Theytook with them a barrel of powder to blow it in if necessary; but in themorning the gate was opened to admit a carriage, and the Highlanders atonce rushed in and overpowered the guard, and sending parties through thestreets they secured these also without disturbance or bloodshed, andwhen the citizens awoke in the morning they found, to their surprise,that Prince Charles was master of the city.
The Jacobite portion of the population turned out with delight to greetthe prince, while the rest thought it politic to imitate theirenthusiasm. The Highlanders behaved with perfect order and discipline,and although the town had, as it were, been taken by storm, no singlearticle of property
was touched. An hour later Prince Charles, at thehead of his troops, entered the royal palace of Holyrod, being met by acrowd of enthusiastic supporters from the city, who received him withroyal shouts and tears of joy.
In the evening a grand ball was held in the palace, in spite of the factthat it was within range of the guns of Edinburgh Castle, which stillheld out. But one day was spent in Edinburgh. This was occupied inserving out about a thousand muskets found in the magazines to theHighlanders, and in obtaining tents, shoes, and cooking vessels, whichthe town was ordered to supply. They were joined during the day by manygentlemen, and on the night of the 19th the army, two thousand fivehundred strong, of whom only fifty were mounted, moved out to the villageof Duddingston. There the prince that evening called a council of war,and proposed to march next morning to meet the enemy halfway, anddeclared that he would himself lead his troops and charge in the firstranks.
The chiefs, however, exclaimed against this, urging that if any accidenthappened to him ruin must fall upon the whole, whether they gained orlost the battle; and upon the prince persisting they declared that theywould return home and make the best terms they could for themselves. Hewas therefore obliged to give way, declaring, however, that he would leadthe second line. The next morning the army commenced its march. They hadwith them only one cannon, so old that it was quite useless, and it wasonly taken forward as an encouragement to the Highlanders, who had thegreatest respect for artillery.
Sir John Cope, who had received intelligence of all that had happened atEdinburgh, had also moved forward on the 19th, and on the 20th the twoarmies came in sight of each other. The Highlanders, after passing thebridge of Musselburgh, left the road, and turning to the right took uptheir position on the brow of Carberry Hill, and there waited the attack.The English forces were marching forward with high spirit, and believedthat the Highlanders would not even wait their assault. Cope had with himtwo thousand two hundred men, including the six hundred runaway dragoons.The numbers, therefore, were nearly equal; but as the English were wellarmed, disciplined, and equipped, while only about half the Highlandershad muskets, and as they had, moreover, six pieces of artillery againstthe one unserviceable gun of Prince Charles, they had every reason toconsider the victory to be certain.
On seeing the Highland array Cope drew up his troops in order ofbattle--his infantry in the centre, with a regiment of dragoons and threepieces of artillery on each flank. His right was covered by a park walland by the village of Preston. On his left stood Seaton House, and in hisrear lay the sea, with the villages of Prestonpans and Cockenzie. Theirfront was covered by a deep and difficult morass.
It was now about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the Highlanders,seeing that the English did not advance against them, clamoured to be ledto the attack. Prince Charles was himself eager to fight, but hisgenerals persuaded him to abstain from attacking the English in such aformidable position. The Highlanders, however, fearing that the Englishwould again avoid a battle, were not satisfied until Lord Nairn with fivehundred men was detached to the westward to prevent the English frommarching off towards Edinburgh.
During the night the two armies lay upon the ground. Cope retired tosleep at Cockenzie, the prince lay down in the middle of his soldiers.Before doing so, however, he held a council, and determined to attacknext morning in spite of the difficulty of the morass. But in the courseof the night Anderson of Whitburg, a gentleman well acquainted with thecountry, bethought himself of a path from the height towards their rightby the farm of Ruigan Head, which in a great measure avoided the morass.This important fact he imparted to Lord George Murray, who at once awokethe prince.
Locheil and some other chiefs were sent for, and it was determined toundertake the enterprise at once. An aide de camp was sent to recall LordNairn and his detachment, and under the guidance of Anderson the troopsmade their way across the morass. This was not, however, accomplishedwithout great difficulty, as in some places they sank knee deep. Themarch was unopposed, and covered by the darkness they made their wayacross to firm ground just as the day was breaking dull and foggy. Asthey did so, however, the dragoon outposts heard the sound of theirmarch, and firing their pistols galloped off to give the alarm. Sir JohnCope lost no time facing his troops about, and forming them in order ofbattle. He was undisturbed while doing so, for the Highlanders weresimilarly occupied.
As the sun rose the mist cleared away, and the two armies stood face toface. The Macdonalds had been granted the post of honour on the Highlandright, the line being completed by the Camerons and Stuarts, PrinceCharles with the second line being close behind. The Highlandersuncovered their heads, uttered a short prayer, and then as the pipersblew the signal they rushed forward, each clan in a separate mass, andraising their war cry, the Camerons and Stuarts rushed straight at thecannon on the left.
These guns were served, not by Royal Artillerymen, but by some seamenbrought by Cope from the fleet. They, panic struck by the wild rush ofthe Highlanders, deserted their guns and fled in all directions. ColonelGardiner called upon his dragoons to follow him, and with his officersled them to the charge. But the Stuarts and Camerons, pouring in a volleyfrom their muskets, charged them with their broadswords, and thedragoons, panic stricken, turned their horses and galloped off.
The Macdonalds on the right had similarly captured three guns, andcharging with similar fury upon Hamilton's regiment of dragoons, drovethem off the field; Macgregor's company, who, for want of other weaponswere armed with scythes, doing terrible execution among the horses andtheir riders. The English infantry, deserted by their cavalry, and withtheir guns lost, still stood firm, and poured a heavy fire into theHighlanders; but these, as soon as they had defeated the cavalry, facedround and charged with fury upon both flanks of the infantry. Theironslaught was irresistible. The heavy masses of the clans broke rightthrough the long line of the English infantry, and drove the latterbackward in utter confusion. But the retreat was impeded by the inclosureand park wall of Preston, and the Highlanders pressing on, the greaterportion of the English infantry were killed or taken prisoners.
A hundred and seventy of the infantry alone succeeded in making theirescape, four hundred were killed, and the rest captured. Colonel Gardinerand many of his officers were killed fighting bravely, but the loss ofthe dragoons was small. Only thirty of the Highlanders were killed, andseventy wounded. The battle lasted but six minutes, and the moment it hadterminated Prince Charles exerted himself to the utmost to obtain mercyfor the vanquished.
He treated the prisoners with the greatest kindness and consideration,and the wounded were relieved without any distinction of friend or foe.The dragoons fled to Edinburgh, and dashed up the hill to the castle; butthe governor refused to admit them, and threatened to open his guns uponthem as cowards who had deserted their colours. Later on in the day thegreater portion were rallied by Sir John Cope and the Earls of Loudon andHome; but being seized with a fresh panic they galloped on again at fullspeed as far as Coldstream, and the next morning continued their flightin a state of disgraceful disorder as far as Berwick. The contents of thetreasure chest, consisting of two thousand five hundred pounds, with thestandards and other trophies, were brought to Prince Charles. The rest ofthe spoil was divided among the Highlanders, of whom a great numberimmediately set off towards their homes to place the articles they hadgathered in safety.
So greatly was the Highland army weakened by the number of men who thusleft the ranks that the prince was unable to carry out his wish for aninstant advance into England. His advisers, indeed, were opposed to thismeasure, urging that in a short time his force would be swelled bythousands from all parts of Scotland; but unquestionably his own view wasthe correct one, and had he marched south he would probably have met withno resistance whatever on his march to London. There were but few troopsin England. A requisition had been sent to the Dutch by King George forthe six thousand auxiliaries they were bound to furnish, and a resolutionwas taken to recall ten English regiments home from Flanders.
Marshal Wade was directed to collect as many troops as he could atNewcastle, and the militia of several counties was called out; but thepeople in no degree responded to the efforts of the government. Theylooked on coldly, not indeed apparently favouring the rebellion, but aslittle disposed to take part against it. The state of public feeling wasdescribed at the time by a member of the administration, Henry Fox, in aprivate letter.
"England, Wade says, and I believe, is for the first comer, and if youcan tell me whether these six thousand Dutch and the ten battalions ofEngland, or five thousand French or Spaniards, will be here first, youknow our fate. The French are not come, God be thanked; but had fivethousand landed in any part of this island a week ago, I verily believethe entire conquest would not have cost a battle."
The prince indeed was doing his best to obtain assistance from France,conscious how much his final success depended upon French succour.
King Louis for a time appeared favourable. The prince's brother, Henry ofYork, had arrived from Rome, and the king proposed to place him at thehead of the Irish regiments in the king's service and several others toenable him to effect a landing in England; but with his usual insinceritythe French king continued to raise difficulties and cause delays until itwas too late, and he thus lost for ever the chance of placing the familywho had always been warm friends of France, and who would in the event ofsuccess have been his natural friends and allies, on the throne ofEngland.
In the meantime Prince Charles had taken up his abode in Edinburgh, wherehe was joined by most of the gentry of Scotland. He was proclaimed kingin almost every town of the Tweed, and was master of all Scotland, savesome districts beyond Inverness, the Highland forts, and the castles ofEdinburgh and Stirling.. Prince Charles behaved with the greatestmoderation. He forbade all public rejoicing for victory, saying that hecould not rejoice over the loss which his father's misguided subjects hadsustained. He abstained from any attempt to capture Edinburgh Castle, oreven to cut off its supplies, because the general of the castlethreatened that unless he were allowed to obtain provisions he would fireupon the city and lay it in ruins, and he even refused to interfere witha Scotch minister who continued from his pulpit to pray for King George.
In one respect he carried his generosity so far as to excite discontentamong his followers. It was proposed to send one of the prisoners takenat Preston to London with a demand for the exchange of prisoners taken orto be taken in the war, and with the declaration that if this wererefused, and if the prince's friends who fell into the enemy's hands wereput to death as rebels, the prince would be compelled to treat hiscaptives in the same way. It was evident that this step would be of greatutility, as many of the prince's adherents hesitated to take up arms, notfrom fear of death in battle, but of execution if taken prisoners.
The prince, however, steadily refused, saying, "It is beneath me to makeempty threats, and I will never put such as this into execution. I cannotin cold blood take away lives which I have saved in the heat of action."
Six weeks after the victory the prince's army mustered nearly sixthousand men; but Macleod, Macdonald, and Lovat, who could have brought afurther force of four thousand men, still held aloof. Had these threepowerful chiefs joined at once after the battle of Prestonpans, PrinceCharles could have marched to London, and would probably have succeededin placing his father on the throne, without having occasion to strikeanother blow; but they came not, and the delay caused during thefruitless negotiations enabled the English troops to be brought over fromFlanders, while Prince Charles on his side only received a few smallconsignments of arms and money from France.
But in the meantime Edinburgh was as gay as if the Stuart cause had beenalready won. Receptions and balls followed each other in closesuccession, and Prince Charles won the hearts of all alike by hiscourtesy and kindness, and by the care which he showed for the comfort ofhis troops.
At the commencement of the campaign Lord George Murray had but one aidede camp besides Ronald. This was an officer known as the Chevalier deJohnstone, who afterwards wrote a history of the campaign. After thebattle of Prestonpans he received a captain's commission, and immediatelyraised a company, with which he joined the Duke of Perth's regiment. Twoother gentlemen of family were then appointed aides de camp, and thisafforded some relief to Ronald, whose duties had been extremely heavy.
A week after the battle Lord George said to Ronald:
"As there is now no chance of a movement at present, and I know that youcare nothing for the court festivities here, I propose sending you withthe officers who are riding into Glasgow tomorrow, with the orders of thecouncil that the city shall pay a subsidy of five thousand pounds towardsthe necessities of the state. The citizens are Hanoverians to a man, andmay think themselves well off that no heavier charge is levied upon them.Do you take an account of what warlike stores there are in the magazinesthere, and see that all muskets and ammunition are packed up andforwarded."
The next morning Ronald started at daybreak with several other mountedgentlemen and an escort of a hundred of Clanranald's men, under thecommand of the eldest son of that chief, for Glasgow, and late the sameevening entered that city. They were received with acclamation by a partof the population; but the larger portion of the citizens gazed at themfrom their doorways as they passed in sullen hostility. They marcheddirect to the barracks lately occupied by the English troops, thegentlemen taking the quarters occupied by the officers. A notificationwas at once sent to the provost to assemble the city council at nineo'clock in the morning, to hear a communication from the royal council.
As soon as Malcolm had put up Ronald's horse and his own in the stables,and seen to their comfort, he and Ronald sallied out. It was now dark,but they wrapped themselves up in their cloaks so as not to be noticed,as in the hostile state of the town they might have been insulted and aquarrel forced upon them, had they been recognized as two of the newarrivals. The night, however, was dark, and they passed withoutrecognition through the ill lighted streets to the house of AndrewAnderson. They rang at the bell. A minute later the grille was opened,and a voice, which they recognized as that of Elspeth, asked who wasthere, and what was their business.
"We come to arrest one Elspeth Dow, as one who troubles the state and isa traitor to his majesty."
There was an exclamation from within and the door suddenly opened.
"I know your voice, bairn. The Lord be praised that you have come backhome again!" and she was about to run forward, when she checked herself."Is it yourself, Ronald?"
"It is no one else, Elspeth," he replied, giving the old woman a heartykiss.
"And such a man as you have grown!" she exclaimed in surprise. For thetwo years had added several inches to Ronald's stature, and he now stoodover six feet in height.
"And have you no welcome for me, Elspeth?" Malcolm asked, coming forward.
"The Lord preserve us!" Elspeth exclaimed. "Why, it's my boy Malcolm!"
"Turned up again like a bad penny, you see, Elspeth."
"What is it, Elspeth?" Andrew's voice called from above. "Who are thesemen you are talking to, and what do they want at this time of night?"
"They want some supper, Andrew," Malcolm called back, "and that badly."
In a moment Andrew ran down and clasped his brother's hand. In thedarkness he did not notice Malcolm's companion, and after the firstgreeting with his brother led the way up stairs.
"It is my brother Malcolm," he said to his wife as he entered the room.
Ronald followed Malcolm forward. As the light fell on his face Andrewstarted, and, as Ronald smiled, ran forward and clasped him in his arms.
"It is Ronald, wife! Ah, my boy, have you come back to us again?"
Mrs. Anderson received Ronald with motherly kindness.
"We had heard of your escape before your letter came to us from Paris.Our city constables brought back the news of how you had jumpedoverboard, and had been pulled into a boat and disappeared. And finelythey were laughed at when they told their tale. Then ca
me your lettersaying that it was Malcolm who had met you with the boat, and how you hadsailed away and been wrecked on the coast of France; but since then wehave heard nothing."
"I wrote twice," Ronald said; "but owing to the war there have been noregular communications, and I suppose my letters got lost."
"And I suppose you have both come over to have a hand in this madenterprise?"
"I don't know whether it is mad or not, Andrew; but we have certainlycome over to have a hand in it," Malcolm said. "And now, before we have aregular talk, let me tell you that we are famishing. I know your supperis long since over, but doubtless Elspeth has still something to eat inher cupboard. Oh, here she comes!"
Elspeth soon placed a joint of cold meat upon the table, and Ronald andMalcolm set to at once to satisfy their hunger. Then a jar of whiskey andglasses were set upon the table, and pipes lighted, and Ronald began adetailed narration of all that had taken place since they had last met.
"Had my father and mother known that I was coming to Scotland, and shouldhave an opportunity of seeing you both, they would have sent you theirwarmest thanks and gratitude for your kindness to me," he concluded. "Forover and over again have I heard them say how deeply they felt indebtedto you for your care of me during so many years, and how they wished thatthey could see you and thank you in person."
"What we did was done, in the first place, for my brother Malcolm, andafterwards for love of you, Ronald; and right glad I am to hear that youobtained the freedom of your parents and a commission as an officer inthe service of the King of France. I would be glad that you had come overhere on any other errand than that which brings you. Things have gone onwell with you so far; but how will they end? I hear that the Jacobites ofEngland are not stirring, and you do not think that with a few thousandHighland clansmen you are going to conquer the English army that beat theFrench at Dettingen, and well nigh overcame them at Fontenoy. Ah, lad, itwill prove a sore day for Scotland when Charles Stuart set foot on oursoil!"
"We won't talk about that now, Andrew," Malcolm said good temperedly."The matter has got to be fought out with the sword, and if our tongueswere to wag all night they could make no difference one way or another.So let us not touch upon politics. But I must say, that as far as Ronaldand I are concerned, we did not embark on this expedition because we hadat the moment any great intention of turning Hanoverian George off histhrone; but simply because Ronald had made France too hot to hold him,and this was the simplest way that presented itself of getting out of thecountry. As long as there are blows to be struck we shall do our best.When there is no more fighting to be done, either because King James isseated on his throne in London, or because the clans are scattered andbroken, we shall make for France again, where by that time I hope theking will have got over the breach of his edict and the killing of hisfavourite, and where Ronald's father and mother will be longing for hispresence."
"Eh, but it's awful, sirs," Elspeth, who as an old and favourite servanthad remained in the room after laying the supper and listened to theconversation, put in, "to think that a young gallant like our Ronaldshould have slain a man! He who ought not yet to have done with hislearning, to be going about into wars and battles, and to have stood upagainst a great French noble and slain him. Eh, but it's awful to thinkof!"
"It would be much more awful, Elspeth, if the French noble had killed me,at least from the light in which I look at it."
"That's true enough," Elspeth said. "And if he wanted to kill you, and itdoes seem from what you say that he did want, of course I cannot blameyou for killing him; but to us quiet bodies here in Glasgow it seems anawful affair; though, after you got in a broil here and drew on the citywatch, I ought not to be surprised at anything."
"And now we must go," Ronald said, rising. "It is well nigh midnight, andtime for all decent people to be in bed."