Part 29 (2/2)
[Sidenote: Battle of Culloden.]
But his miserable and dejected army succeeded in reaching their native soil, although pursued by the cavalry of two powerful armies, in the midst of a hostile population, and amid great sufferings from hunger and fatigue. On the 26th of December, he entered Glasgow, levied a contribution on the people, and prepared himself for his final battle.
He retreated to the Highlands, and spent the winter in recruiting his troops, and in taking fortresses. On the 15th of April, 1746, he drew up his army on the moor of Culloden, near Inverness, with the desperate resolution of attacking, with vastly inferior forces, the Duke of c.u.mberland, intrenched nine miles distant. The design was foolish and unfortunate. It was early discovered; and the fresh troops of the royal duke attacked the dispirited, scattered, and wearied followers of Charles Edward before they could form themselves in battle array. They defended themselves with valor. But what is valor against overwhelming force? The army of Charles was totally routed, and his hopes were blasted forever.
The most horrid barbarities and cruelties were inflicted by the victors. The wounded were left to die. The castles of rebel chieftains were razed to the ground. Herds and flocks were driven away, and the people left to perish with hunger. Some of the captives were sent to Barbadoes, others were imprisoned, and many were shot. A reward of thirty thousand pounds was placed on the head of the Pretender; but he nevertheless escaped. After wandering a while as a fugitive, disguised, wearied, and miserable, hunted from fortress to fortress, and from island to island, he succeeded, by means of the unparalleled loyalty and fidelity of his few Highland followers, in securing a vessel, and in escaping to France. His adventures among the Western Islands, especially those which happened while wandering, in the disguise of a female servant, with Flora Macdonald, are highly romantic and wonderful. Equally wonderful is the fact that, of the many to whom his secret was intrusted, not one was disposed to betray him, even in view of so splendid a bribe as thirty thousand pounds.
But this fact, though surprising, is not inconceivable. Had Was.h.i.+ngton been unfortunate in his contest with the mother country, and had he wandered as a fugitive amid the mountains of Vermont, would not many Americans have s.h.i.+elded him, even in view of a reward of one hundred thousand pounds?
[Sidenote: Latter Days of the Pretender.]
The latter days of the Pretender were spent in Rome and Florence. He married a Polish princess, and a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of _Duke of Albany_.
He never relinquished the hope of securing the English crown, and always retained his politeness and grace of manner. But he became an object of pity, not merely from his poverty and misfortunes, but also from the vice of intemperance, which he acquired in Scotland. He died of apoplexy, in 1788, and left no legitimate issue. The last male heir of the house of Stuart was the Cardinal of York, who died in 1807, and who was buried in St. Peter's Cathedral; over whose mortal remains was erected a marble monument, by Canova, through the munificence of George IV., to whom the cardinal had left the crown jewels which James II. had carried with him to France. This monument bears the names of James III., Charles III., and Henry IX., kings of England; t.i.tles never admitted by the English. With the battle of Culloden expired the hopes of the Catholics and Jacobites to restore Catholicism and the Stuarts.
The great European war, which was begun by Sir Robert Walpole, not long before his retirement, was another great event which happened during the administration of the Pelhams, and with which their administration was connected. The Spanish war was followed by the war of the Austrian Succession.
[Sidenote: Maria Theresa.]
Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, ascended the oldest and proudest throne of Europe,--that of Germany,--amid a host of claimants. The Elector of Bavaria laid claim to her hereditary dominions in Bohemia; the King of Sardinia made pretension to the duchy of Milan; while the Kings of Poland, Spain, France, and Prussia disputed with her her rights to the whole Austrian succession. Never were acts of gross injustice meditated with greater audacity. Just as the young and beautiful princess ascended the throne of Charlemagne, amid embarra.s.sments and perplexities,--such as an exhausted treasury, a small army, a general scarcity, threatened hostilities with the Turks, and absolute war with France,--the new king of Prussia, Frederic, surnamed the Great, availing himself of her distresses, seized one of the finest provinces of her empire. The first notice which the queen had of the seizure of Silesia, was an insulting speech from the Prussian amba.s.sador. ”I come,” said he, ”with safety for the house of Austria on the one hand, and the imperial crown for your royal highness on the other. The troops of my master are at the service of the queen, and cannot fail of being acceptable, at a time when she is in want of both. And as the king, my master, from the situation of his dominions, will be exposed to great danger from this alliance with the Queen of Hungary, it is hoped that, as an indemnification, the queen will not offer him less than the whole duchy of Silesia.”
The queen, of course, was indignant in view of this cool piece of villany, and prepared to resist. War with all the continental powers was the result. France joined the coalition to deprive the queen of her empire. Two French armies invaded Germany. The Elector of Bavaria marched, with a hostile army, to within eight miles of Vienna. The King of Prussia made himself master of Silesia. Abandoned by all her allies,--without an army, or ministers, or money,--the queen fled to Hungary, her hereditary dominions, and threw herself on the generosity of her subjects. She invoked the states of the Diet, and, clad in deep mourning, with the crown of St. Stephen on her head, and a cimeter at her side, she traversed the hall in which her n.o.bles were a.s.sembled, and addressed them, in the immortal language of Rome, respecting her wrongs and her distresses. Her faithful subjects responded to her call; and youth, beauty, and rank, in distress, obtained their natural triumph. ”A thousand swords leaped from their scabbards,” and the old hall rung with the cry, ”We will die for our queen, Maria Theresa.”
Tears started from the eyes of the queen, whom misfortunes and insult could not bend, and called forth, even more than her words, the enthusiasm of her subjects.
It was in defence of this injured and n.o.ble queen that the English parliament voted supplies and raised armies. This was the war which characterized the Pelham administration, and to which Walpole was opposed. But it will be further presented, when allusion is made to Frederic the Great.
France no sooner formed an alliance with Prussia, against Austria, than the ”balance of power” seemed to be disturbed. To restore this balance, and preserve Austria, was the aim of England. To the desire to preserve this power may be traced most of the wars of the eighteenth century. The idea of a balance of power was the leading principle which animated all the diplomatic transactions of Europe for more than a century.
By the treaty of Breslau, (1742,) Maria Theresa yielded up to Frederic the province of Silesia, and Europe might have remained at peace. But as England and France were both involved in the contest, their old spirit of rivalry returned; and, from auxiliaries, they became princ.i.p.als in the war, and soon renewed it. The theatre of strife was changed from Germany to Holland, and the arms of France were triumphant. The Duke of c.u.mberland was routed by Marshal Saxe at the great battle of Fontenoy; and this battle restored peace, for a while, to Germany. The Grand Duke of Tuscany, husband of Maria Theresa, was elected Emperor of Germany, and a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Francis I.
But it was easier to restore tranquillity to Germany, than peace between England and France; both powers panting for military glory, and burning with mutual jealousy. The peace of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, was a truce rather than a treaty; and France and England soon found occasion to plunge into new hostilities.
[Sidenote: Capture of Louisburg.]
During the war of the Austrian Succession, hostilities had not been confined to the continent of Europe. As colonial jealousy was one of the animating principles of two of the leading powers in the contest, the warfare extended to the colonies themselves. A body of French, from Cape Breton, surprised the little English garrison of Canseau, destroyed the fort and fishery, and removed eighty men, as prisoners of war, to Louisburg--the strongest fortress, next to Quebec, in French America. These men were afterwards sent to Boston, on parole, and, while there, communicated to Governor s.h.i.+rley the state of the fortress in which they had been confined. s.h.i.+rley resolved to capture it, and the legislature of Ma.s.sachusetts voted supplies for the expedition. All the New England colonies sent volunteers; and the united forces, of about four thousand men were put under the command of William Pepperell, a merchant at Kittery Point, near Portsmouth.
The princ.i.p.al part of the forces was composed of fishermen; but they were Yankees. Amid the fogs of April, this little army, rich in expedients, set sail to take a fortress which five hundred men could defend against five thousand. But they were successful, aided by an English fleet; and, after a siege of three months, Louisburg surrendered, (1745)--justly deemed the greatest achievement of the whole war.
[Sidenote: Great Colonial Contest.]
But the French did not relinquish their hopes of gaining an ascendency on the American continent, and prosecuted their labors of erecting on the Ohio their chain of fortifications, to connect Canada with Louisiana. The erection of these forts was no small cause of the breaking out of fresh hostilities. When the contest was renewed between Maria Theresa and Frederic the Great, and the famous Seven Years' War began, the English resolved to conquer all the French possessions in America.
Without waiting, however, for directions from England, Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, raised a regiment of troops, of which George Was.h.i.+ngton was made lieutenant-colonel, and with which he marched across the wilderness to attack Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburg, at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers.
That unsuccessful expedition was the commencement of the great colonial contest in which Canada was conquered. Early in 1755, General Braddock was sent to America to commence offensive operations. The colonies cooperated, and three expeditions were planned; one to attack Fort Du Quesne, a second to attack Fort Niagara, and a third to attack Crown Point. The first was to be composed of British troops, under Braddock, the second of American, under Governor s.h.i.+rley, and the third of militia of the northern colonies.
The expedition against Fort Du Quesne was a memorable failure.
Braddock was a brave man, but unfitted for his work, Hyde Park having hitherto been the only field of his military operations. Moreover, with that presumption and audacity which then characterized his countrymen, he affected sovereign contempt for his American a.s.sociates, and would listen to no advice. Unacquainted with Indian warfare, and ignorant of the country, he yet pressed towards the interior, until, within ten miles of Fort Du Quesne, he was surprised by a body of French and Indians, and taken in an ambuscade. Instant retreat might still have saved him; but he was too proud not to fight according to rule; and he fell mortally wounded. Was.h.i.+ngton was the only mounted officer that escaped being killed or wounded. By his prudent and skilful management, he saved half of his men, who formed after the battle, and effected a retreat.
The other two expeditions also failed, chiefly through want of union between the provincial governor and the provincial a.s.semblies, and also from the moral effects of the defeat of Braddock. Moreover, the colonies perfectly understood that they were fighting, not for liberty, but for the glory and ambition of the mother country, and therefore did not exhibit the ardor they evinced in the revolutionary struggle.
But the failure of these expeditions contributed to make the ministry of the Duke of Newcastle unpopular. Other mistakes were also made in the old world. The conduct of Admiral Byng in the Mediterranean excited popular clamor. The repeated disappointments and miscarriages, the delay of armaments, the neglect of opportunities, the absurd disposition of fleets, were numbered among the misfortunes which resulted from a weak and incapable ministry. Stronger men were demanded by the indignant voice of the nation, and the Duke of Newcastle, first lord of the treasury, since the death of his brother, was obliged to call Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge--the two most popular commoners of England--into the cabinet. But the new administration did not work harmoniously. It was an emblem of that image which Nebuchadnezzar beheld in a vision, with a head of gold, and legs of iron, and feet of clay. Pitt and Legge were obliged by their colleague to resign. But their removal incensed the whole nation, and so great was the clamor, that the king was compelled to reinstate the popular idols--the only men capable of managing affairs at that crisis. Pitt became secretary of state, and Legge chancellor of the exchequer. The Duke of Newcastle, after being at the head of administration ten years, was, reluctantly, compelled to resign. The Duke of Devons.h.i.+re became nominally the premier, but Pitt was the ruling spirit in the cabinet.
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