RESIDENCE AT GRAVELINES.

11

herent. He then hastened from Paris to direct the intended expedition, and took up his residence at Gravelines, where he lived in strict privacy, under the name of the Chevalier Douglas, and with only Bohaldie attending him as secretary. It was from thence that his eyes, for the first time, greeted the white cliffs of that island, which he believed himself born to rule, and was destined so soon to invade. What visions of glory and empire may then have floated before him, and seemed to settle on the distant British hills! How little could the last heir and namesake of the martyred Charles at that time foresee that he should be even more unhappy, because selfdegraded, and unlamented in his end!

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The letters of Charles, at this period, to his father, give a lively picture of his close concealment : "The situ"ation I am in is very particular, for nobody knows "where I am, or what is become of me; so that I am "entirely buried as to the public, and cannot but say that "it is a very great constraint upon me, for I am obliged very often not to stir out of my room for fear of some"body's noting my face. I very often think that you "would laugh very heartily, if you saw me going about "with a single servant, buying fish and other things, and squabbling for a penny more or less!" And again: "Everybody is wondering where the Prince is: some put "him in one place, and some in another, but nobody "knows where he is really; and sometimes he is told "news of himself to his face, which is very diverting." "I have every day large packets to answer, without any "body to help me but Maloch (Bohaldie). Yesterday I "had one that cost me seven hours and a half."* About this time, however, the Prince received a visit from Lord Marischal, who intended to join the expedition to Scotland, but was informed by Charles that it was deferred until that to England had sailed.

Meanwhile the squadrons at Brest and Rochefort had combined, and, led by Admiral Roquefeuille, were already advancing up the British Channel. Our fleet had, till lately, lain anchored at Spithead it consisted of twenty

:

*To his father, April 3. April 16. and March 6. 1744. Stuart Papers.

one ships of the line; and its commander was Sir John Norris, an officer of much experience, but whose enterprise, it is alleged, was quenched by age. He had now steered round to the Downs, where, as Captain of Deal Castle, he had long been well acquainted with the coasts, and where, being joined by some more ships from Chatham, he found his force considerably greater than the French. Roquefeuille, by this time, had come abreast of the Isle of Wight, and, perceiving no ships left at Spithead, rashly adopted the conclusion that they had all sought shelter within Portsmouth Harbour. Under this belief, he despatched a small vessel to Dunkirk, to urge that the expedition should take place without delay, a direction which was cheerfully complied with. Seven thousand of the troops were at once embarked in the first transports, the Prince and the Mareschal de Saxe in the same ship, and they had put out to sea, while Roquefeuille, proceeding on his voyage, was already at anchor off Dungeness.

At this critical moment the British fleet, having advanced against Roquefeuille, anchored within two leagues of him, so that the Downs and Isle of Thanet were, for the time, left open to invasion. The French fleet might have been attacked with every advantage, and almost certain prospect of not only their defeat, but their destruction; but though a good officer, Norris was no Nelson; and, considering the state of the tide, and the approach of night, resolved to defer the battle till next morning. Next morning, however, the French fleet was gone. Roquefeuille seeing the very great superiority of his opponent, and satisfied with having made some diversion for the transports, had weighed anchor in the night, and sailed back towards the French harbours. Next day a dreadful tempest, which greatly damaged his ships, protected them, however, from any pursuit of Norris. But the same storm proved fatal to the transports. It blew as was observed in London on the same daydirectly on Dunkirk, and with tremendous violence: some of the largest ships, with all the men on board, were lost; others were wrecked on the coast; and the remainder were obliged to put back to the harbour with no small injury. For some time Charles hoped to renew the attempt; but the French Ministers were discouraged, and

THE EARL MARISCHAL.

13

the French troops diminished by this disaster. The Mareschal de Saxe was appointed to the command in Flanders, the army withdrawn from Dunkirk, and the expedition relinquished.

Under these mortifying circumstances, Charles, not yet losing hope, sent a message to Lord Marischal to repair to him at Gravelines, and proposed that they should engage a small fishing vessel and proceed together to Scotland, where he said he was sure he had many friends who would join him. This bold scheme - yet scarcely bolder than that which Charles put in execution a year later, and far better timed as to the preparations of his party was strenously opposed by Lord Marischal, and at length reluctantly abandoned by Charles. The Prince's next wish was, to join the French army in the ensuing campaign, a project which was in like manner withstood and finally baffled by the Scottish nobleman. On this last occasion Charles wrote to his father in terms of high resentment against Lord Marischal.* It certainly is no matter of blame to a young Prince if he ardently pants for warlike distinction; but on the other hand, Lord Marischal was undoubtedly most kind, judicious, and farsighted in preventing him from entering the French ranks against his own countrymen, where his restoration was not concerned, and thereby heaping a needless unpopularity upon his head.

As another instance how rife were divisions and animosities amongst those who had every motive to remain united, it may be mentioned that Charles had, at first, neglected to summon the Duke of Ormond from his retirement at Avignon, to embark with the intended expedition. Ormond, it is true, was now an octogenarian, and his exertions even in his prime were little worth; but his name and popularity in England had long been a tower of strength. The Prince perceived his error when too late, and hastily wrote to the Duke pressing him to join the armament, and Ormond accordingly set out; but, receiving intelligence upon the road that the design had already miscarried, returned to his residence.

Disappointed in all projects of immediate action, whether

*Letter, May 11. 1744. Stuart Papers.

in England, in Scotland, or in Flanders, Charles now returned to Paris. He received a message from the King directing him to remain concealed; accordingly, he writes to his father - -"I have taken a house within a league of "this town, where I am like a hermit.”* But in a little while the zeal and loquacity of his adherents betrayed his presence; so that, as is observed by himself, "at last my "being in Paris was LE SECRET DE LA COMÉDIE."† At some intervals, accordingly, he was allowed to live privately in the capital, but at others, he found it necessary to retire to Fitz-James, the seat of the Duke of Berwick, where he sought recreation in field sports. During all this time he carried on an active correspondence with his Scottish partisans, whom he soon perceived to be greatly superior in zeal and determination to his English. "The "truth of the matter is," says he at a later period, "that our friends in England are afraid of their own shadow, "and think of little else but of diverting themselves; “otherwise, we should not want the King of France.”‡ During the last two years his adherents in the North had employed, as their principal agent, Mr. John Murray, of Broughton, a gentleman of birth and property, whom they knew to be active and able, and believed courageous and trusty; and this person being despatched to Paris in the summer of 1744, held frequent conferences with Charles. In these the Prince appeared sanguine of French assistance, but declared himself willing to go to Scotland though he brought but a single footman. §

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* Letter, June 1. 1744. Stuart Papers.

To his father, November 16. 1744.

To his father, February 21. 1745.

Examination of Mr. Murray of Broughton, August 13. 1746.

15

"THE FORTY-FIVE."

CHAPTER I.

(CHAPTER XXVII. OF THE HISTORY.)

We are now arrived at that memorable period when the cause of the banished Stuarts flashed with brilliant lustre, then sunk into eternal darkness when the landing of seven men could shake an empire - when the wildest dreams of fiction were surpassed by the realities of history -when a principle of loyalty, mistaken indeed, but generous and noble, impelled to such daring deeds, and was followed by such utter ruin-when so many gallant spirits, lately exulting in hope or forward in action, were quenched in violent death, or wasted in the lingering agonies of exile.*

The spring of 1745 found the young Pretender still at Paris, harassed by the discords of his own adherents, and weary of leaning on a broken reed-the friendship of Louis the Fifteenth. Since the failure at Dunkirk, the French professions of assistance were continued, but the reality had wholly disappeared. It seems that several Protestant Princes-the King of Prussia more especially

*Of the rebellion of 1745 there are three separate histories, which I have consulted and found of great service. First, Mr. Home's, published in 1802; it is meagre, unsatisfactory, and by no means worthy the author of Douglas, but it contains several valuable facts and letters. Secondly, Sir Walter Scott's, in the Tales of a Grandfather-an excellent and perspicuous narrative, but which, being written for his little grandson, is, of course, not always as well adapted to older persons. Thirdly, Mr. Chambers's-very full and exact. The writer, though a warm partisan of the Stuarts, is always fair and candid, and deserves much praise for his industry in collecting the remaining local traditions.