1715.] BATTLE OF SHERIFFMUIR. 15 declaration. About fifteen hundred of the rebels surrendered, two thirds of whom were Scotch. Amongst the prisoners were eight noblemen. The number of the insurgent forces who escaped from Preston must have been considerable. The English troops marched into the town. The Highlanders were drawn up in the market-place, and were finally put into the church, "where," says Patten, "they continued about a month, the townspeople being obliged to find them water and bread; whilst they took what care of themselves they could, unripping all the linings from the seats or pews, and making thereof breeches and hose to defend themselves from the extremity of the weather." Some of the common men were subsequently tried, and, being found guilty, were executed or transported. Officers who had held commissions in the royal forces were summarily convicted by courts-martial, and were shot. The noblemen and other leaders were marched under strong guard to London. Patten relates that, "setting forward from Highgate, we were met by such numbers of people that it is scarce conceivable to express, who with Long live king George,' and 'Down with the Pretender,' ushered us throughout to our several apartments." Whilst the English insurrection thus came to an end at Preston, important events were taking place in Scotland. The government, partly through the politic adhesion of Simon Fraser, who claimed to be lord Lovat, obtained possession of Inverness. At the same time the earl of Mar marched southwards from his camp at Perth, and Argyle led his forces northwards. The Master of Sinclair represents the movements of Mar as indecisive, and deficient in military organization;-that he encumbered his army with cannon without having powder or ball; and being prevented by the presence of the enemy from passing the Forth at Stirling, was wholly ignorant where the river was fordable at this winter season. "I never heard," he says, "of any man in our army who knew anything of these fords except Rob Roy; who, they themselves said, they could not trust." * On the 12th of November, the Master of Sinclair, with three squadrons of cavalry, and the greater number of the Highland clans, were in advance of Mar, whose quarters were at Ardoch. They were marching upon Dunblane, when the wife of a Jacobite laird sent a lame boy as messenger to say that Argyle was already there. The van ceased their advance; the rear formed a junction with them; and the whole army passed the night in a very narrow hollow of the hill near the Sheriffmuir-so called, as being the old place of meeting for the militia of the sheriffdom of Monteith. "All the night did our army lie in that small circumference; and I believe eight thousand men, for we were about that number, were never packed up so close together since the invention of gunpowder." Early in the morning of the 13th the insurgents drew out of their confined quarters, and formed, in two lines, above the hollow where they had passed the night. From the elevated ground Mar saw some officers at a short distance examining his position. Argyle, who was now at the head of four thousand seasoned troops, was looking upon the irregular forces, twice in number, that he was preparing to encounter. He had pre-arranged that he would endeavour to bring the rebels to battle upon the Sheriffmuir. It was a very peculiar battle-ground-"a broad eminence, which is formed by a * Memoirs, p. 201. + Ibid., p. 208. 16 BATTLE OF SHERIFFMUIR. [1715. spur of the Ochils, but swells so gently that at a distance it seems an elevated plain * * * * It has the peculiarity of being a regular curve, presenting in all parts a segment of a sphere, or rather an oblate spheroid. There are no rapid declivities and no plains. Hence, in every part of the hill, there is a close sky-line, caused by the immediate curve; and where there is so much of the curve as will reach a perpendicular of some eight feet between two bodies of men, they cannot see each other." * When Argyle's army was known to be at hand, there was little question how to act. When there was a doubt with some about venturing to attack, the Highland chiefs cried out "Fight! Fight!" The clans shouted, tossing up their caps and bonnets. Mar headed the Highlanders who were to oppose the left wing of the king's troops. He was superior in numbers. The English, under general Witham, were terrified and scattered under the rush of the Highlanders; and in a few minutes were in full retreat towards Stirling. The attack of the insurgents on the right wing, commanded by Argyle, had a totally different result. The night of frost had made a morass hard enough to bear a charge of cavalry; and whilst a squadron passing over the icy ground took the enemy in flank, Argyle with his remaining horse attacked their front. The rout was here complete; though many times in a distance of three miles did the Highlanders attempt to rally. It was a doubtful battle. Argyle had broken the left wing of the rebels, and had driven them over the river Allan. Mar had scattered the left wing of the royal army, and had chased them to Corntoun, a village near Stirling. Mar had been the first to return to the battle-field. He saw Argyle toiling along the road at the foot of the hill with his exhausted forces. "If they had but thrown down stones," writes sir Walter Scott, in a note to Sinclair's Memoirs, "they might have disordered Argyle's troops." Mar determined to leave the battle-field to Argyle; and then, whilst the wail of the bagpipes was heard in the retreat, was uttered, by Gordon of Glenbucket, the well-known apostrophe, "Oh, for an hour of Dundee !" But the ineffectual battle had for Argyle all the advantages of a great victory. The insurgents returned to Perth in numbers greatly reduced by desertion. "We were not long in our old quarters," writes the Master of Sinclair, "when the bad news of our friends' misfortune at Preston was brought us." Mar felt that the time was come when he might, through a friend, ask if Argyle was empowered to grant terms. Argyle replied that he would apply for such powers. Mar in his Diary says that no answer was returned to Argyle's application to the government in London. It might have been wise in the government of George I. to have made some demonstration of a conciliatory policy. But the fear of a successful insurrection in England was overpassed. The affair of Preston had destroyed all the hopes of the northern Jacobites. Six thousand Dutch troops had landed, and were on their march to Scotland. Other reinforcements for Argyle's army were constantly arriving at Stirling. In this condition of strength no overtures towards oblivion were likely to be favourably regarded. An event now occurred which, if it had been well timed, might have rendered the struggle between the House of Brunswick and the House of Stuart more equal. James Edward had sailed from Dunkirk in a small armed vessel, and * Burton, vol. ii. p. 191-3. 1716.] THE PRETENDER IN SCOTLAND. 17 had landed at Peterhead. He had only six followers, and proceeding through Aberdeen he reached the camp at Perth on the 16th of January, 1716. The advent of the prince was not so propitious to his cause as his adherents might have expected. The Highlanders gazed on a man of somewhat feeble frame and of listless action. In an account of the "Proceedings at Perth" it is said, "We saw nothing in him that looked like spirit. Our men began to despise him. Some asked if he could speak. His countenance looked extremely heavy. He cared not to come abroad among us soldiers, or to see us handle our arms or do our exercise." The prince whose appearance was thus so disappointing, took up his residence at Scone, and surrounded himself with all the etiquette of royalty. He issued proclamations, one of which commanded all able-bodied male persons to repair to his standard; another fixed the day of his coronation for the 23rd of January. Alarm seems to have been felt at the Court in London. Lord Townshend, who may be considered prime minister, was apprehensive that the Chevalier would receive assistance from France. On the 26th of January Townshend wrote thus to Horace Walpole, the English minister at the Hague: "The Pretender is now at Perth, and to be crowned king of Scotland. This step his friends here would not have suffered him to take in the present situation of affairs, unless the regent [of France] had given strong assurances of assistance. They send over in single ships, arms and ammunition, and officers; and those who are in the secret of their affairs seem confident, they shall be farther and more openly assisted as soon as the season will permit. For my part I cannot think anything can divert the regent from taking vigorously part with the Pretender, but a strict union amongst our old friends and allies, by which he will see, that he cannot meddle with our affairs here without involving France in a new war with all Europe; and by the best intelligence we have, the passion of the French is so strong in favour of the Pretender, that nothing but the fear of a new and general war can prevent their assisting our rebels here."* To have relied upon that union of strength with merciful conciliation which the ministers of George had in their own power, without regard to continental alliances, might have been the best course for defeating the hopes of the Pretender. The regent of France was not disposed to give the aid to the Pretender which Townshend dreaded. The open assistance did not arrive. Argyle, with his reinforced army, was moving northward. Between him and Perth were villages in which shelter and provision might be obtained; and a decree went forth from the royal palace of Scone, by which the military commanders of Mar's forces were ordered to burn and destroy each village,-houses, cows, and forage. Six happy abodes of a peaceful population were thus devastated: and the inhabitants were turned out in the snow to perish. Mar in a private letter wrote, "We shall be forced to burn and destroy a good deal of the country to prevent the enemy marching, which goes very much against the king's mind, as it does mine and more of us; but there's an absolute necessity for it." The prince himself wrote to Argyle respecting this act, "It was indeed forced on me by the violence with which my rebellious subjects acted against me, and what they as the authors of it must be answerable for not I." * Coxe-"Walpole," vol. i. p. 50. VOL. VI. 18 FLIGHT OF THE PRETENDER. Mar's belief was that Argyle's troops could not march when there was no cover left; for "how they can endure the cold for one night in the fields I cannot conceive; and then the roads are so that but one can go abreast." But Argyle did march, although, it is alleged, with some reluctance. On the 21st of January, a party of dragoons went forth to report how far it was practicable to advance through a country buried in snow. On the 29th the main body moved, the peasantry having been pressed to clear the roads. On the 30th Argyle was at Auchterarder, one of the desolated villages. Terror began now to prevail amongst the courtiers in Perth. James Edward attended council of war, and manifested extreme reluctance to compromise his personal safety. The Highlanders desired to place the king in the midst of them, and fight to the death-a desire by no means agreeable to an unenterprising man who now saw before him little else than a prospect of more signal inisfortune than had yet awaited him. On the 30th of January, a day of evil omen, the army was informed that it was determined to retreat from Perth. They crossed the Tay upon the ice; and passing through Dundee reached Montrose on the 4th of February. Many of the Highlanders had previously dispersed, and had sought the shelter of their valleys. In the offing were several French vessels. Murmurs went through the camp that they were about to be deserted by the prince who had come to lead them to victory. Appearances were kept up by a guard of honour patrolling round the royal quarters. But the plan of escape had been effectually arranged. James Edward and the earl of Mar passed at night by a lane to the harbour; got into a boat which was in waiting; were soon on board a French ship; and were safely landed near Gravelines. General Gordon, who was left chief in command, went on to Aberdeen with an army reduced to a thousand men. When Argyle entered Aberdeen on the 8th of February the whole insurgent army had melted away. The unhappy prince, whose attempt to regain the throne of his ancestors had thus so signally failed, wished to do a slight act of justice to the poor people who had been ruined by what he deemed a military necessity amongst rebellious subjects. With the letter to Argyle which we have mentioned, he sent a sum of money, desiring it to be given as a relief to those whose homes he had commanded to be destroyed. GEORGIVSDC MAG Medal struck to commemorate the Battle of Dunblane. The Parliament met on the 9th of January, 1716. The Rebellion was 1716.] IMPEACHMENTS OF THE REBEL LORDS. 19 necessarily the most prominent subject of the king's speech. The past successes were matter of congratulation; but the danger was not yet overpast. "Our enemies," said the king, "animated by some secret hopes of assistance, are still endeavouring to support this desperate undertaking; and the Pretender, as I have reason to believe, is landed in Scotland." Amongst the ill consequences of this rebellion was the extraordinary burden which it must create. "I take," added his majesty, "this first opportunity of declaring, that I will freely give up all the estates that shall become forfeited to the crown by this rebellion, to be applied towards defraying the extraordinary expense incurred on this occasion." This incentive to a sweeping measure of attainder was scarcely wanted to stimulate the zeal of the majority in the Commons. Not an hour was lost in the proceedings which were expected to consign many victims to the executioner. Before the House adjourned, Mr. Lechmere, in a speech which is reported at length, impeached James earl of Derwentwater of high treason. This speech of the Whig member is remarkable for its emphatic assertion that the punishment of the leaders of the rebellion was a national question, involving the great principle of the Act of Settlement as opposed to the bare claim of hereditary right. In justice to the king, as well as the people, they ought to take this prosecution into their own hands. The power of impeachment, Mr. Lechmere said, was the most valuable and useful privilege that belonged to the body of the Commons; and he maintained that no pardon under the Great Seal could discharge a judgment obtained under such an impeachment. Six other members severally impeached William lord Widdrington, William earl of Nithisdale, George earl of Winton, Robert earl of Carnwath, William viscount Kenmure, and William lord Nairn. The Commons agreed to the impeachments without any opposition; and on the same day the seven members carried their impeachments to the bar of the House of Lords. In a few days the articles against the seven noblemen were presented to the Peers; and on the 19th of January, they knelt at the bar, and each delivered his answer to the charges. The answers of all, with the exception of that of lord Winton, amounted to a plea of Guilty. When lord Derwentwater was asked by the Chancellor if he meant by his answer to plead Guilty, the reply was, "He does; and submits to the king's mercy, and humbly desires their lordships' intercession to his majesty." The same supplication for mercy, founded upon extenuating circumstances set forth in their answers, was urged by the five Scottish noblemen whose pleas of Guilty were recorded. On the 9th of February, lord Derwentwater and his companions in misfortune were again brought to the bar of the House of Lords, and the ancient sentence in cases of high treason was pronounced by Lord Chancellor Cowper, who had been appointed by the king to act as Lord High Steward. That unavoidable struggle between the advocates of an exemplary punishment for the highest legal offence, and the advocates for mercy towards mistaken but conscientious political offenders, now went on under circumstances of intense interest. The ordinary feelings of compassion, and the national dislike of blood-shedding, were more than commonly excited when it was known that the young countess of Derwentwater, surrounded by the highest ladies of the court, had obtained an audience of the king, and |