peculations, and mismanagement were frightful. Even when there was a tolerable harvest, people died like flies, of sheer hunger. One day the good Duke of Orleans brought in a loaf of bread made of powdered fern to the Council, threw it down, and said, "Sire, this is the food of your subjects!" Unfortunately he was a man of abrupt, shy, awkward manners, besides being a Jansenist, and no one heeded or cared for what he said. It is told of him that once when Mademoiselle de Clermont, daughter to the Duke of Bourbon, asked him to lead her to her stall in church, he blundered out, "I know my place, I do not know yours." The king, who at least was polite, handed her to a stall, and said, with great displeasure, “It is only sons and grandsons of France who are privileged to be rude to ladies." The Duke was always kept at a distance, and was much disappointed that he could not obtain the hand of one of the king's daughters for his son. It had been a year of disaster to the French, and finally Marshal de Belleisle and his brother, on their way home from Prussia, were arrested in Hanover and carried as prisoners to England. Louis protested that the person of an ambassador was violated; but George II. coolly replied that he only knew of a hostile general travelling in a country at war with France, and refused to surrender him. Frederick was defending Silesia against Maria Theresa, who was endeavouring to retake it, trusting to the words of George, "Ce qui est bon à prendre est bon à rendre." And in the midst, worn out with illness and disappointment, died in his forty-eighth year the unfortunate puppet Emperor Charles VII., on the 20th of January, 1745, his election having brought him nothing but misery. 66 وو -a I know that It was in that same spring that Lord Orford died, after a long and painful illness. His last advice was full of characteristic shrewdness. The Duke of Cumberland sent to ask advice confidentially as to the means of avoiding being forced into a marriage with a Danish princess reported to be deformed. Lord Orford reflected a few minutes, and then recommended that the Duke should couple his consent to the union with a demand for a suitably handsome establishment, "And believe me,' said the old statesman, "the marriage will be no longer pressed "prognostic which was verified. Two noted sayings are attributed to Walpole. One was when history was to be read to him, must be false;" the other, "All men have their price." But this was really, as he looked at a group of members of Parliament, "All these men have their price," a very different matter. The king was unwillingly kept at home by reports of Jacobite restlessness; but the Duke of Cumberland was sent to take the command in Flanders, sharing his authority with the Austrian general Konigsegg, and the Dutch prince Van Waldeck. Among them they had 50,000 men of three nations, while Marshal Saxe had 72,000. He was, however, in a terrible condition—the effect of his dissipated life. He was dropsical, and had been tapped before joining the army, and he travelled on a wicker couch, CAMEO XL. Death of Walpole. 1745 САМЕО Battle of Fontenoy. 1745 which, however, he quitted, and mounted his horse on any token of battle, and his troops had the utmost reliance on him. With these he infested Tournay, and the relief of this important fortress became the object of the allied forces. Louis XV. and the dauphin both joined the French army, which Saxe drew up on some low heights, with the village of Anhalt and the river Scheldt on their right, and in front, Fontenoy, memorable already for a dearly-bought victory of the Prince of Condé. On the left was the small wood of Barré, and the passage of the Scheldt in the rear was secured by the bridge of Calonne. It was an extremely strong position, but the allied generals had gained so many victories that they were undaunted, and the battle began at 6 A.M.On the morning of the 11th of May, 1745. The Dutch under the Prince of Waldeck were to assault Antoin and Fontenoy, while the Duke of Cumberland, with the British and Hanoverians, advanced on the left, detaching General Ingoldsby through the wood of Barré to storm the redoubt beyond it. Ingoldsby, however, found the wood full of sharp-shooters, and thinking them a larger body, went back to the Duke for orders, thus wasting much time. However, the Duke pressed on, in spite of a murderous fire, the compact mass of infantry gradually by its weight and firmness breaking through the French regiment, pushing onwards in spite of charges of cavalry, so as to threaten to cut off the retreat of the enemy. If they had been properly supported by the Dutch, the victory would have been complete, and the king and dauphin taken. Marshal Saxe tried to persuade them to quit the field, but Louis would not hear of doing so, though he would not suffer his son to lead a charge against the enemy. But the Dutch, after a first ineffectual onset, hung back and did not move, leaving Marshal Saxe at liberty to concentrate his full strength on the British. There was desperate fighting; but at last the column was forced to draw back, step by step, without confusion, the Duke at the last shouting to them to remember Blenheim and Ramillies, and thus they retreated to Ath, after a terrible battle, lost through Dutch cowardice or sluggishness. The French had lost above 7,000 men, including Marshal de Noailles and his nephew, the Duke de Grammont. The English loss was 4,041, Hanoverian 1,762, Dutch 1,544, also a few pieces of artillery, but no colours. The French could not attempt to follow up their victory by pursuit, but Tournay was forced by the treachery of the officers to surrender, and Ghent and Ostend were also taken by Marshal Saxe. Dettingen and Fontenoy were memorable as the last battles in which either a king of England or a king of France was engaged, and it is notable that in each case the royal firmness had its parts in retrieving the day. ENMITY between England and France was the opportunity of the House of Stuart, and slow and timid as was its head, the heir of the line was full of spirit, and most eager to seize every opportunity of restoration. The two brothers, Charles Edward and Henry, had grown up amid the dull ceremonies of the exiled court at Rome, without much education; Charles never could spell either French or English, though he could speak both with the greatest ease, and had perfected himself in manly exercises, inuring himself to hunger, fatigue and exposure, in the huntings on the Campagna, and in the mountains which formed the chief variety in his life. He was twenty-five when, seeing hope for his cause in the war, he set forth from Rome, starting with his brother as if for a hunting match, on the night of the 9th of January, 1744; then, leaving Henry behind, he went on as a Spanish courier to Savona, attended by a single servant. He embarked there, reached Antibes, and rode on to Paris so as to arrive on the 20th, the very day on which his father thought it safe to announce his departure. Louis XV. did not choose to see him, but he held counsel with the Jacobite gentlemen, and reparing to Gravelines, lived in strict retirement there, only leaving it for that abortive expedition of Roquefeuilles, when he was carried to the very coast of England only to be disappointed. He spent the ensuing months in trying to obtain support, sometimes living like a hermit near Gravelines, sometimes staying at FitzJames with his cousin, the Duke of Berwick, till, finding himself continually deceived by illusory expectations from all the enemies of the English or of the House of Hanover, decided at length on making a bold venture, CAMEO Enterprise of Charles Stuart. 1744. CAMEO South Uist. 1745. depending almost solely on his own personal influence with the Scottish Jacobites. To Louis XV. and his ministry Charles said nothing, lest they should detain him; but two English merchants, naturalised at Nantes, obtained leave to cruise against Britain on the northern coast. There was a brig called the Doutelle, the property nominally of Walsh, really of the Prince, and therewith went a large ship of war, the Elizabeth, in which he placed the stores which he had obtained by pawning his jewels, 1,500 muskets, 1,800 broadswords, 20 small pieces of cannon, with ammunition, and a set of uniforms which he flattered himself were very becoming, besides 4,000 louis d'ors. They sailed from St. Nazaire, at the mouth of the Loire, on the evening of the 2nd of July, 1745, the Prince in the disguise of a student of the Scots college at Paris. They waited at Belleisle till the 13th, to be joined by the Elizabeth, and then set sail; but on the fourth day of the voyage the Elizabeth fell in with the Lion, commanded by one of Anson's captains, and a fight took place, in which Charles was wild to join, but Mr. Walsh, the owner of the Doutelle, would not risk her, and when the Prince remonstrated hotly, told him that if he insisted any more he should be ordered down to the cabin. Each of the conflicting vessels was so much injured as to have to put back to her own country for repairs, the Elizabeth carrying off all the beautiful uniforms, and, what was more important, all the money and all the muskets. However, the Doutelle sailed on, and though chased by another vessel, it safely reached the Hebridean Archipelago. Near the little islet of Erisca, between Barra and South Uist, an eagle was seen hovering. "See," cried old Lord Tullibardine, "here is the king of birds come to welcome your Royal Highness to Scotland!" Charles landed and passed the night on shore, where he learned that this cluster of little flat islands was the property of a young chief called Macdonald of Clanranald, who was absent, but his uncle and chief adviser, Macdonald of Boisdale, was at home in South Uist. A message was sent to the old gentleman, who came on board bent on representing the hopelessness, nay the madness of the attempt, and declaring that if his nephew were drawn into it, it would be against his advice, and he would have nothing to do with it. All the Prince's eloquence was unavailing, and he departed in his boat, hoping to see the Doutelle sail off southwards. However, she proceeded to the mainland, and entered the bay of Loch Nannagh in Inverness-shire, near Moidart. Young Clanranald was not far off, and came on board with his kinsman of Kinloch Moidart, who had a brother on board. Both were of his uncle's opinion, that the enterprise was hopeless. Several of his clan had come with him, some not knowing whom they were to see. One was young Ranald Macdonald, another brother of the laird of Kinloch Moidart. As the chief paced up and down the deck beside the Prince, and the youth gathered the tenor of their consultation, his eyes lighted, the colour rose in his cheeks, he grasped his sword and his agitation was remarked by the Prince, who turned to him, exclaiming, "Will not you, at least, assist me?" “I will, I will!" Ranald cried. "Though no other man in the Highlands should draw a sword for you, I am ready to die for you." The spark was lighted. All the rest hesitated no longer, and Charles, still in his clerical disguise, felt himself secure of the hearts of these gallant Macdonalds. On the 25th of July (Old Style), he landed, together with the attendants who had come with him, the Seven men of Moidart as they were called; namely, old Lord Tullibardine, his own tutor, Sheridan, two Macdonalds-John, an officer in the Spanish army, Æneas, Kinloch's brother, a banker at Paris; Kelly, a nonjuring clergyman; Francis Strickland, of an old Roman Catholic English family, and a person named Buchanan. The next thing was to secure the Camerons, who had fought and suffered under Dundee. Lochiel was sent for, and started, determined to dissuade the Prince. He halted by the way with his brother of Fassiefern, who advised him to return at once. "I know you better than you know yourself," said the more cautious man. "If this Prince once sets eyes on you, he will make you do whatever he pleases." Lochiel, however, held out till the Prince declared himself determined to erect the Royal Standard at all costs, and then "Lochiel, who, my father always told me, was our firmest friend, will only learn my fate from newspapers." Lochiel was conquered, and cast in his lot with the Stuart, in the spirit of Campbell's poem "Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains, While the kindling of life in his bosom remains, With his back to the field and his feet to the foe, And leaving in battle no blot on his name, Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame. In spite of his brother of Fassiefern and Campbell's Wizard, Lochiel did not die on the battlefield, but his adherence was of immense importance to the Prince, since it decided many other chieftains to join in the insurrection. Another Macdonald and M'Leod of Skye resisted Clanranald's persuasions, and actually sent intelligence of the young Chevalier's landing to London, but waited for nine days to do so, hoping to give him time to escape. But he had burnt his ships, that is to say, had landed from the Doutelle all there was to land, and sent her back to France. He proceeded to Kinloch Moidart, where he received an adherent whose future course was little divined when he was appointed Secretary of State, namely, Murray of Broughton. The day appointed for the raising of the standard was the 19th of September, but before that time there had been a brief skirmish in the ravine called High Bridge, between two companies under Captain CAMEO XLI. The Standard to be raised. 1745. |