Volume II Part 19 (1/2)
”PS--The Prince's reason for going to my house is, to see a salmon kill'd with the rod, which he never saw before; and if he proposes that fancy, heto hear fro, my dear child, you may send me any news you have from the east, and from the north, and from the south”[243]
It was not until after the battle of Culloden that Charles Edward and Lord Lovat first ement, Lovat's infir an active part; but his son, the Master of Lovat, whose energy in the cause which he had unwillingly espoused, met the praise of Prince Charles, led his clan up to the encounter, and was one of the feho effected a junction with the Prince on theof the battle Fresh auxiliaries fro in at the very ed action; and they behaved with their accustomed bravery, and were per, and their colours flying The great body of the clan Fraser were led by Charles Fraser, junior, of Inverlaltochy, as Lieutenant-Colonel in the absence of the Master of Lovat, as co The brave Inverlaltochy was killed; and the fugitives were sorely harassed by Kingston's light horse
The battle of Culloden occurring shortly afterwards, decided the question of Lord Lovat's political bias Very different accounts have been transs and conduct of Prince Charles after the fury of the contest had been decided By some it has been stated, that he lost on that sad occasion those claims to a character for valour which even his enemies had not hitherto refused him; but Mr Maxwell has justified the unfortunate and inexperienced younghis army entirely routed, and all his endeavours to rally the men fruitless, was at last prevailed upon to retire Most of his horse assembled around his person to secure his retreat, which was er, for the eneround They were too happy to have got so cheap a victory over a Prince and an enemy that they had so much reason to dread They made no attack where there was any body of the Prince'ssuch unfortunate people as fell in his way single and disarmed”[244]
”If he did less at Culloden than was expected from him,” adds this partial, but honest follower, ”'twas only because he had formerly done more than could be expected” He justly bla couide hi himself, and had too little experience to perforh there are exaenerals, they had the advice and assistance of old experienced officers, s to any army”[245]
Lord Elcho, in his manuscript, thus accounts for the censures which were cast upon the Prince by those who shared his misfortunes
”What displeased the people of fashi+on (consequence) was, that he did not seem to have the least sense of what they had done for hi but their duty, as his father's subjects were bound to do
”And there were people about hie to represent the Scotch to him as a mutinous people, and that it was not soas for themselves; and repeated to him all their bad behaviour to Charles the First and Charles the Second, and put it to hiht that all the Scots in general were a parcel of traitors And he would have continued in the saot out of the country immediately; but the care they took of his person when he was hiding e his mind, and affix treason only to particulars”[246]
After the battle was decided, and the plain of Culloden abandoned to the fury of an enemy more merciless and insatiable than any who ever before or after answered to an English name, the Prince retired across ato Maxwell, slept that night at the house of Fraser of Gortuleg; and there for the first time saw Lord Lovat But this interview is declared by Arbuthnot, who appears to have gathered his facts chiefly from local information, in the Castle of Downie; and the testimony of Sir Walter Scott confirms the assertion ”A lady,” writes Sir Walter, ”who, then a girl, was residing in Lord Lovat's family, described to us the unexpected appearance of Prince Charles and his flying attendants at Castle Downie The wild and desolate vale on which she was gazing with indolent composure, was at once so suddenly filled with horse furiously towards the Castle, that, i to men, are visible only from one twinkle of the eyelid to another, she strove to refrain froe and nificent apparition to becoht a certainty more dreadful than the presence of fairies or even demons The tower on which he had depended had fallen to crush hie mutual condolences”[247]
The Prince, it is affirmed, rushed into the chamber where Lovat, supported by men, for he could not stand without assistance, awaited his approach The unhappy fugitive broke into lamentations ”My Lord,” he exclaimed, ”we are undone; my army is routed: ill become of poor Scotland?” Unable to utter anyon a bed near him
Lord Lovat immediately summoned assistance, and by proper remedies the Prince was restored to a consciousness of his misfortunes, and to the recollection that Castle Downie, a spot upon which the vengeance of the Govern place for him or for his followers[248]
Such was the cos, to the interest and romance of which no fiction can add After this conference was ended, Prince Charles went to Invergarie; Lord Lovat prepared for flight
His first place of retreat was to a mountain, whence he could behold the field of battle; he collected his officers and azed with mournful interest upon the plain of Culloden Heaps of woundedin their blood; others were still pursued by the soldiers of an arive no quarter_; fire and sere everywhere; vengeance and fury raged on the moor watered by the river Nairn Here, too, the unhappy Frasers and their chief raced with a noble avenue of great length leading to the house, and surrounded by a park covered with heather Here Charles Edward had slept the night before the battle The remembrance of ht recur at this ht be his reflections, his fortitude remained unbroken He turned to the sorrowful clan around them, and addressed them He recurred to his for to keep up his old influence over the minds of his clans, ”that our eneun with ed all the country” He still, however, exhorted his captains to keep together their ht obtain better ter thus counselled them, he was carried upon the shoulders of his followers to the still farther ular stroke of retributive justice, to have beheld Castle Downie, the scene of his crime, to maintain the splendour of which he had sacrificed every principle, and compassed every crime, burned by the infuriated eneadier Mordaunt, were detached for this purpose
In one of the Highland fastnesses Lovat reer in pursuit Parties of soldiers were sent out in search of Lovat, and he soon found that it was no longer safe to remain in the vicinity of Beaufort He fled, in the first instance, to Cawdor Castle In this farated doors, its ancient tapestry hanging over secret passages and obscure approaches, he took refuge In one of its towers, in a small low chamber beneath the roof, the wretched old man concealed hied to quit it, he descended by means of a rope from his chay On the fourth of May, fifteen of the Jacobite chieftains, Lord Lovat a, to concerta body of men to resist the victorious troops On this occasion Lord Lovat declared that they need not be uneasy, since he had no doubt but that they should be able to collect eight or ten thousand ht the Elector of Hanover's troops Cahton, and several other leaders of distinction were present; Lord Lovat was attended by many of his own clan, ere ar sprays of yew in their bonnets But the conference broke up without any important result The leaders embraced each other, drank to Prince Charles's health, and separated On this occasion Lord Lovat headed that party a the Jacobites who still looked for aid fro to the conqueror[249] Still hunted, to use his own expression, ”like a fox,”
through the ot off in a boat to the Island of Morar, where he thought himself secure from his enemies; but it was decreed that his iniquitous life should not close in peaceful obscurity
It was not long before he heard that a party of the King's troops had arrived in pursuit of hiarrison of Fort William, on board the Terror and Furnace sloops, was also despatched, to make descents on different parts of the island Lovat retreated into the woods; Captain Mellon, who coe, and house; but not finding the fugitive, he resolved to traverse the woods, planting parties at the openings to intercept an escape In the course of his researches he passed a very old tree, which, from some slits in its trunk, he and hisinto the aperture, thought he saw a ; upon which he su farther, found on one side a large opening, in which stood a pair of legs, the rest of the figure being hidden within the hollow of the tree
This was, however, quickly discovered to be Lord Lovat, for whom this party had then been three days in search He rapped in blankets, to protect his aged limbs from the cold
Thus discovered, Lovat was forced to surrender, but his spirit rose with the occasion: he told Captain Mellon that ”he had best take care of him; for if he did not, he should entleht of ould make him tremble” He was taken, in the first instance, to Fort William, where he was treated with humanity, in obedience to the express orders of the Duke of cumberland
Fro his Royal Highness of the services which he had perfore the First ”I often carried your Royal Highness,” pursues the unhappy old ton and of Harandfather, that heprincesses” He then represented to the Duke that if ht have the honour to kiss the Duke's hand, heand Govern a hundred such old and very infirm men like s, or knees,) can be of advantage in any shape to the Government”
He was conveyed soon after this letter, which is dated June the twenty-second, 1746, to Fort Augustus He had requested that a litter ht be prepared for him, for he was not able either to stand, walk, or ride On the fifteenth of July he was re, where a party of Lord Mark Ker's dragoons received hih for the last tian his last journey under the escort of sixty dragoons commanded by Major Gardner His journey to London was divided into twenty stages, and he was to travel one stage a day It was, indeed, of importance to the Government that he should reach London alive, sinceNewcastle three days afterwards he appeared to be in a very feeble state, and walked frooons As he travelled along in a sort of cage, or horse-litter, the acclamations and hisses of the populace everywhere assailed him; but his spirits were unbroken, and he talked confidently of his return
But as he drew near London this security diminished He happened to reach London a few days before the unhappy Jacobite noblemen were beheaded on Tower Hill On his way to the Tower he passed the scaffold which was erected for their execution ”Ah!” he exclai before I shall make my exit there”
He was received in the Tower by the Lieutenant-Governor, who conducted hi in an elbow chair, he is said to have broken out into reflections upon his eventful and singular career He uttered many moral sentiments, and expressed himself, as many other men have done on similar occasions, perfectly satisfied with his own intentions Such was the self-deception of this extraordinaryfive ht to trial But the delay was of infinite importance; it prepared him to quit, hat may be almost termed heroism, a life which he had e which ample time for preparation had been afforded, the hardihood which could sport with the most solemn of all subjects, would shock rather than astonish In consideration of the conduct of many of our state prisoners on the scaffold, we must recollect how faloomy chambers whence they could see many a fellow sufferer issue, to shed his blood on the same scaffold which would soon be re-erected for the his i that his estates, after being plundered of everything and destroyed by fire, were given by the Duke of cumberland to James Fraser of Cullen Castle[251] He was therefore left without a shi+lling of revenue during his confinement, and was thus treated as a convicted prisoner In this situation he was reduced to the utmost distress, and indebted solely to the bounty of a kinsh Governor Williath, early in the year 1747, upon preferring a petition to the House of Lords, these grievances were in a great measure redressed Yet the unhappy prisoner had sustained al plunder of his strong box, containing the sum of seven hundred pounds, and of many valuables[252]
After much deliberation on the part of the Croyers, Lord Lovat was ih treason ”We learn,” says Mr Anderson, ”from Lord Mansfield's speech in the Sutherland cause, that much deliberation was necessary It was foreseen that his Lordshi+p would have recourse to art
If he was tried as a coht clai was fully considered; the true solid ground upon which he was tried as a peer, was the presumption in favour of the heirs male”[253]
On Monday, the ninth of March, the proceedings were coainst Lord Lovat; and a renewal took place of that scene which Horace Walpole declared to be ”most solemn and fine;--a coronation is a puppet-show, and all the splendour of it idle; but this sight at once feasted the eyes, and engaged all one's passions”