As Light was beginning to dawn as they reached harder ground, but there was a frosty mist concealing them till they were close upon the dragoon patrols, who fired their pistols and galloped off to give the alarm. the sun cleared away the smoke, the two armies were visible, opposite to each other, drawn up in battle array. The Macdonalds had claimed the right to make the first charge, and the Camerons and Stuarts had yielded to them. Charles headed the second line. 'Gentlemen," he said, "follow me; and by the blessing of God I will this day make you a free and happy people." 66 Then, after one muttered prayer, the Highlanders drew their bonnets over their eyes, the bagpipes played, and each shouting his own warcry, down charged the men, each clan together. The Macdonalds broke one regiment before them, the Camerons and Stuarts rushed on the artillery, whose gunners-irregular ones—fled. Colonel Gardiner tried to bring his dragoons up to the charge, but the broadswords and the shot of the Highlanders put them to flight. The infantry were behaving better, but their officers were missing— Gardiner put himself at the head of a body of them. "These brave fellows," he said, "will be cut to pieces for want of some one to command them," and he began to cheer them on, but at that moment he was cut down by one of the scythe-armed Highlanders, and then received many ghastly wounds close to his own park wall. He was presently carried to the manse of Tranent, where he died in a few hours, and was buried close to nine of his thirteen children. The panic extended and the battle was really won in about five minutes. The Highlanders, under the impression that the horses were dangerous animals, tried to kill as many as they could, but this was stopped by the officers. Their loss was only thirty killed and seventy wounded. The English dragoons, thanks to their cowardice, scarcely lost a man, though only 170 of the braver infantry escaped. One party of dragoons galloped up to the castle of Edinburgh, but the commandant would not let them in, and told them to make off before he turned his guns on them as cowards deserting their colours. The others were got together by Sir John Cope, and reached Coldstream, but there, in spite of all he could do, a fresh panic seized them, and off they went to Berwick utterly disordered. Lord Mark Kerr, who was in command there, received Sir John by telling him he was the first general who had brought the news of his own defeat, and derision was poured on the unfortunate man, especially in the notable song with the chorus "Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waking yet? Oh, haste ye, get up, the drums do beat; CAMEO XLI. Preston Pans. 1745. CAMEO Gladsmuir. 1745. "Troth, Johnnie Cope, ye are na blate Poor Sir John, it was rather that his men left him than he his men! The Prince remained on the field till mid-day, restraining the violence of the Highlanders, and doing his best for the wounded on either side. Then there was a triumphant return to Edinburgh amid shouts, waving of flags, and shots fired in exultation. Then it was that the accident and brave words which Scott has given to Flora MacIvor really befel Miss Nairn in one of the balconies. war. The Highlanders were running about much perplexed by the spoils of One sold a horse for a horse pistol, and another a gold watch for a few pence, observing, "he was glad to be rid of the creature, for she lived no time after he caught her." Chocolate was sold at Perth under the name of Johnnie Cope's salve; and the fine-laced clothes seized in the camp figured strangely on the Highland men. They called the battle Gladsmuir, on account of an old prophecy, "At Gladsmuir, shall the battle be," but as that moor is a mile away from the place of combat, we know it as Preston Pans, while we realise it with the eyes of Edward Waverley. A GREAT deal of alarm was spared to those who lived before electricity had been taught to carry tidings. It is curious to see in memoirs of the time how little quiet people in the south of England troubled themselves about Edinburgh being in the hands of the rival heir. Nobody as a general rule wished for the return of the Stuarts, and yet nobody cared enough for the House of Brunswick to make much effort. The fate of England seemed at the moment to depend on foreigners, whether the Dutch should first come to the succour of George, or French to the support of Charles Edward. The King and all the really trained soldiery were in Flanders, and though George II. returned to London, it was without his troops; and Lord Granville, to whom his confidence was given, while the Duke of Newcastle was his Prime Minister, continued to represent that the insurrection was of no consequence; and, on the other hand, Newcastle was secretly glad of any Jacobite advantage which proved Granville to be in the wrong. Thus very little was done when tidings of the Battle of Preston Pans arrived, and the first person who showed any zeal was Archbishop Herring, of York, who stirred up the gentlemen of his own diocese, and those of Lancashire and Cheshire, to form an association, and raise the country for the defence of their Church. Charles's wish was to hasten at once towards London, and he immediately sent an agent into Northumberland to stir up the country, but his advisers were bent on waiting for reinforcements from the Highlands, and for the French supplies which his brother Henry was expecting at Dunkirk; but they did not come. France was cautiously waiting for a movement from the English Jacobites; and this was not made. Even the Roman Catholic gentry were so convinced of the hopelessness of the CAMEO England. 1745. САМЕО Edinburgh Castle. 1745. attempt, that those in Cheshire had joined the counter association, declaring that ruin would be brought on them and their religion. Yet if Charles could have dashed on at once, probably he would have made his way to London. There was no fortress between except Newcastle, where the people were in great alarm; but the want alike of money and of men detained him at Edinburgh, where he continued to win golden opinions. He invited the ministers back to their kirks with all liberty of worship; but only one ventured to come, and he still prayed openly for King George. Charles forbade that he should be molested, and it was reported that the requital was the following prayer, "As for the young man that is come among us to seek an earthly crown, we beseech Thee in mercy take him to Thyself, and give him a crown of glory." Edinburgh Castle held out, and all supplies were cut off; but the Commandant wrote to the baillies of Edinburgh that if the blockade continued, he should cannonade the city. A respite was procured till orders could be obtained from London; but some of the wild Highlanders, not understanding this, fired on some persons carrying provisions up the hill. On this the garrison fired, and several lives were lost. Charles had not the heart to allow the burghers to suffer, and the fair town to be ruined, so he agreed to give up the attempt at a blockade, thus relinquishing the hope of making himself master of the castle. He published various manifestoes, which so gratified the national spirit of the Scots, as to draw many to his standard. Among them old Lord Balmerino, who had so narrowly escaped in 1715, and it is said was warned by a maidservant, who was found screaming, and said that she had seen her master's head roll off. Another adherent was Forbes, Lord Pitsligo, a most admirable old man, the original in some degree of the Baron of Bradwardine. The prisoners of Gladsmuir lived with their captors just as Colonel Talbot is shown doing with Waverley, and Charles refused to comply with the politic advice, that if the English government refused to exchange, or treat captives on his side as prisoners of war, he should execute some of them as traitors. Finally, they were released on giving their word not to serve against him for a year. With Macleod of Macleod, and cautious old Sir Alexander Macdonald, and of course with the Campbells, Charles could not prevail, and old Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, as before, hesitated cannily, writing polite letters both to Charles and to the Lord-President, and finally causing his son to raise 700 Frasers, while protesting to Duncan Forbes that it was against his orders; and so delaying the march that it was too late to join the Prince on his advance. Money was collected with great difficulty, and without supplies it was impossible to proceed without plundering for subsistence. All the dues and revenues of the Crown in Scotland were collected, some families sent free gifts, the French sent £8,000, also 5,000 stand of arms, six pieces of artillery, some French and Irish officers, and a letter from Louis XV. There were hopes of a French landing in England, and altogether So on the last day of October, 1745, he set forward on his march with 6,000 men, of whom 500 were cavalry. But the Highlanders were most unwilling to leave their own country, and began to desert every night. As the army crossed the Border on the 6th of November, there was a general unsheathing of swords, in token of defiance; but it happened that Lochiel cut his hand, and this was held to be an augury, which filled the Highlanders with dismay. The clans formed regiments, each having its chief as colonel, and the two captains, lieutenants, and ensigns being his nearer relatives. These were ardent enough; but the ordinary clansmen, not being allowed to plunder, and being really afraid of the new, untrodden lands, grew more dispirited day by day, in spite of all the encouragement of their Prince, who often would walk among them talking to them. However, they reached Carlisle, which had a wall, though a frail one, and a castle, though with only one company in it; but there were a number of Cumberland militia in the place, and defence was thought possible. So the Mayor issued a proclamation to the citizens to tell them that he was no Scotch Paterson, but an English Pattison, determined to hold out to the last. This "last came very soon, for the sight of the trenches being made for a regular siege so daunted the valiant Pattison, that city and castle surrendered, on the terms that no harm should be done, and that all the garrison should go free on condition of not serving against the Prince within a twelvemonth. Marshal Wade had tried to march from Newcastle; but finding the roads blocked with snow had retreated. Thus the invaders pressed on, one division with Lord George Murray, the other with the Prince himself, almost always on foot, having insisted on giving up his carriage to old Lord Pitsligo. There was no violence, no plundering, but the people were in great dread of the Highlanders. One woman threw herself at Lochiel's feet, entreating him to spare her two little children, and he found that she was persuaded that babes were the favourite food of Highlanders. In Lancashire the people were more friendly, but would not rise, saying they did not understand fighting. Only at Manchester was there any enthusiasm, bell-ringing, illuminations, and white cockades, and Mr. Francis Townley, a Roman Catholic gentleman, brought in two hundred horsemen. Advancing and crossing the Mersey-on trunks of poplars laid in the channel-the Prince met a touching welcome. Among a few Cheshire gentry there was a very aged lady, Mrs. Skyring, who could just remember being lifted up by her mother to see King Charles II. land at the Restoration. She had sent annually half her income to the Stuart Court, and now she had sold all her available property, bringing the price to the Prince's feet. As she kissed his hand, she murmured, CAMEO March into 1745. |