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the Roman Catholic gentry. MacIntosh entered heartily into the scheme, but was unable to prevail upon all his followers; and a detachment of 500, disregarding his orders, marched away to the northward by themselves.

The remaining body of the insurgents entered England on the 1st of November, and took up their quarters for that night at Brampton, a small town in Cumberland, where Mr. Forster opened a commission which he had received during the march from Lord Mar, authorising him to act as their General in England. Next day they proceeded to Penrith. The Posse Comitatus had been called out to oppose them: it was headed by the Bishop of Carlisle and Lord Lonsdale,* and amounted to above 10,000; but these ignorant men, having formed to themselves a dreadful idea of the insurgents, were seized with a panic terror at their approach, and dispersed in all directions. A great number of horses and of prisoners were taken; but the latter being of far less value to the insurgents than the former, were immediately released. From Penrith they pursued their march through Appleby and Kendal to Kirby Lonsdale, every where proclaiming the Pretender, and levying the public money. They received no assistance from the leading Catholics in Cumberland and Westmoreland; most of them, such as Mr. Howard, of Corby, and Mr. Curwen, of Workington, having been previously secured by the government in Carlisle Castle. At Kirby, however, Mr. Forster was joined by some of the Roman Catholic gentlemen of Lancashire; and they now entered that county, directing their march upon the town of the same name. Lancaster was then occupied by the notorious Colonel Chartres, who wished to defend the place by blowing up the bridge over the Loyne, and preventing the enemy's passage: but this being opposed by the inhabitants, he retired, and the rebels entered without hinderance. They had here the satisfaction to release several of their friends imprisoned in the county gaol, especially one Thomas Syddal, who had headed a mob at Manchester in pulling down a meeting house. On the 9th they pushed forward to Preston, from whence Stanhope's regiment of dragoons, and one of militia, withdrew on their approach. The insurgents received at this place a very large accession of force, being joined by nearly all the Roman Catholic gentry of the district, with their servants and tenantry, to the number of about 1200.† Most of these, however, were very imperfectly armed; some had swords and no muskets, others had muskets and no swords; many had no other weapons than pitch-forks, and none had any notion of discipline, so that this rabble might be considered an incumbrance rather than a succour; and thus Preston,

This Bishop was Dr. William Nicholson. Lord Lonsdale was the third and last Viscount of the first creation. He died unmarried in 1750. He is said, in Collins's Peerage, to have been "a great patriot, and a Lord of the bedchamber,”"'-a happy com. bination!

Lancashire was very strongly Jacobite. Lord Sunderland, in 1719, speaks of one Mr. Crisp, a gentleman of estate there, who had acted with so much zeal for the Govern ment during the Rebellion, that (what does the reader suppose?) "he has never been able to live in the country since!" See Appendix.

instead of affording new energy to the English rebels, became, as we shall presently find, the term of their inglorious career.

General Carpenter, on learning that the rebels were in full march into England, had also crossed the border, and hastened by forced marches to New Castle and Durham, from whence he combined his movements with General Wills, an officer who had served with distinction in the Spanish campaigns, and who had now been sent by the Government to command in the north-west. The Jacobites had certainly cause to lament that their friends should, during the last year, have raised so many riots in Lancashire, more troops having accordingly been sent to that quarter than would otherwise have been the case. Wills had at his disposal Wynne's, Pitt's, Stanhope's, Honeywood's, Munden's and Dormer's regiments of cavalry; consisting, for the most part, of newly levied men, but comprising good and experienced officers. These forces were assembled by Wills first at Manchester, and more completely at Wigan, to which Stanhope's regiment had retired from Preston, and to which Wills marched on the 11th. Having there received intelligence that Carpenter was advancing from the opposite quarter, and would be ready to take the rebels in flank, he determined to set his own troops in movement the next morning. It was on the evening of the 11th that Forster first became aware of Wills' approach. Disheartened and confounded, that incapable chief, instead of giving his orders or summoning a council, only retired to bed; and it was not till roused by Lord Kenmure and other officers from his unseasonable slumbers that he directed any measures for defence.

Preston was a place whose natural advantages might have seemed to insure an obstinate resistance, did not resistance, as all history shows, depend infinitely more on the spirit of the defenders than on the strength of the ground. Even an open town like Zaragoza becomes a citadel when garrisoned by Aragonese; even the triple ramparts of Gaeta are of no avail with Neapolitans upon them! In front of Preston was a bridge over the Ribble, where a handful of resolute men might have stood their ground against an army. From this bridge to the town (a distance of about half a mile) the road ran through a hollow between two steep banks. This was the place where, in 1648, Oliver Cromwell had encountered such stout resistance from the Royalists, who are said to have rolled down large stones from the heights upon him and his men; one of these stones coming so near him, that he could only escape by making his horse leap into a quicksand.* But Forster took no advantage of this pass. He confined his measures to Preston itself, stationed his men in the centre of the town, and drew barricades along the principal streets.

So evident to a military eye was the importance of the bridge over the Ribble, that when Wills, on the 12th, reached that point, and found it undefended, he came to the conclusion that the rebels

* Patten's History, p. 99. I must observe, however, that no mention of this mode of resistance is made by Clarendon (Hist. vol. vi. p. 74, ed. Oxf. 1826), nor by Cromwell himself in his official despatch. (Rushworth's Coll. vol. vii. p. 1237.)

must have retired from Preston, and were returning to Scotland. As he approached the town, however, and found the enemy ready to maintain it, he prepared for an immediate onset. Under his direction two of the barricades were gallantly charged by separate divisions, but their intrepid attack was met with equal courage. A destructive fire was poured upon them, not only from the barricades, but from the neighbouring houses, and they had few opportunities to retaliate upon their invisible assailants. When the night came on they withdrew, having suffered considerable loss, and made little impression. Early next morning General Carpenter arrived with some of his cavalry; but even after this junction the King's troops, according to Marshal Berwick's statement, did not exceed 1000 men.* But whether or not able to overpower Mr. Forster, they were enough to terrify him. Quite disheartened, he, without consulting several of his principal officers, sent Colonel Oxburgh to propose a capitulation. Oxburgh found Wills by no means inclined. to treat; the General saying that he would not enter into terms with rebels; that they had already killed many of his Majesty's subjects, and must expect to undergo a similar fate. After many entreaties he at last relented, so far as to say, "that if the rebels would lay down their arms, and surrender at discretion, he would protect them from being cut to pieces by the soldiers until further orders from the Government."t

The news of this proposal filled many of the insurgents with the highest indignation. "Had Mr. Forster," says an eye-witness, "appeared in the streets, he would have been slain, though he had had a hundred lives." The Highlanders, especially, almost rose in mutiny; wishing to rush upon the King's troops sword in hand, and cut their way through them to their native country; but the chiefs, divided amongst themselves, perceived that it was too late for an enterprise which could only have been accomplished by a hearty and combined determination. They resolved to yield their fate, gave up Lord Derwentwater and Colonel MacIntosh† as hostages, and induced their followers to lay down their arms. Amongst the captives were Lords Derwentwater, Widdrington, Nithisdale, Wintoun, Carnwath, Kenmure, Nairn, and Charles Murray; and members of the ancient northern families of Ord, Beaumont, Thornton, Clavering, Patten, Gascoigne, Standish, Swinburne, and Shafto. The total number taken was only 1400; a number so unequal to the previous computation as to show that many-above all, no doubt, the Lancashire peasants-had either escaped from the town, or disguised their persons in it. Seventeen of their men had been killed in the defence; of the King's troops seventy, and as many wounded. Thus inglo

Mém. de Berwick, vol. ii. p. 162. His short sketch of this rebellion, and his account of numbers on other occasions, are remarkably accurate. He had, of course, the

best sources of information.

† See Wills' evidence at Lord Wintoun's trial. Howell's State Trials, vol xv. p. 854. This person is confounded by Mr. Chambers (Hist. p. 281) with the Brigadier. See the evidence at Lord Wintoun s trial.

riously ended the English insurrection! Thus helpless are even the bravest men when without an able one!

Another illustration of this truth was given in Scotland on the very day of the surrender of Preston. Mar had continued to linger at Perth even beyond the commencement of November, whereas a true general might have been master of Scotland six weeks before. It is well observed by Sir Walter Scott, that, "with a far less force than Mar had at his disposal, Montrose gained eight victories and overran Scotland; with fewer numbers of Highlanders, Dundee gained the battle of Killiecrankie; and with about half the troops assembled at Perth, Charles Edward, in 1745, marched as far as Derby, and gained two victories over regular troops. But in 1715, by one of those misfortunes which dogged the House of Stuart since the days of Robert the Second, they wanted a man of military talent just at the time when they possessed an unusual quantity of military means."* During this senseless delay, the force of Argyle at Stirling had been more than doubled by reinforcements from Ireland; for one amongst the many errors of the Jacobites, both in 1715 and 1745, appears to have been their neglect of the sister island; probably because they considered it too remote to bear very powerfully on a conflict for the Crown of England; but their inactivity in a country where they had so many partisans enabled its government to dispose of the troops which must otherwise have been left for its defence. Several regiments landing from Ireland hastened to the standards of Argyle, and raised his army to 3300 men, of whom 1200 were cavalry, so that it seemed probable this occasion would again confirm the old proverb-"Forth bridles the wild Highland

man.'

On the 10th of November, Mar, at length starting from his lethargy, marched from Perth with all his baggage, and provisions for twelve days. Next morning he was joined at Auchterarder by General Gordon and some of the western clans,† and the combined body amounted to upwards of 10,000 men, but presented a very motley appearance;-gentlemen and their servants on good horses, equipped with swords and pistols; volunteers from the towns on foot; Lowland peasants with arms slung over their plain grey clothes; Highland chiefs and DUNNIE WASSAILS in their own romantic garb; and a train of half-naked mountaineers; "and upon the whole," says Sinclair, "though we had more men, the Duke's army had more fire-arms in a condition to fire." On the 12th, the troops came to Ardoch, within eleven miles of Stirling; and Argyle, learning their approach, did not hesitate to give them battle, but marched forward and occupied the town of Dumblane.

Early next morning, Sunday the 13th, both armies advanced

*Note to Sinclair's MS. ad fin.

† Gordon had not been very successful in his expedition to Argyleshire. Lord Isla, brother to the Duke, had thrown himself into Inverary, and held out the place with great bravery. Sir W. Scott's note to Sinclair, p. 699.

Memoirs, p. 795.

against each other. The ground which now lay between them had been the former place of meeting for the militia of the sheriffdom of Menteith, and thence called the Sheriffmuir; it was swelling and uneven, but well suited to evolutions of cavalry. Even before quitting Stirling, Argyle, anxious to avail himself of his superiority in horse, had resolved to meet the enemy, if possible, at that very spot. He now ranged his troops in battle-order, taking to himself the command of the right, giving the left to General Whitham, and the centre to General Wightman. On the other side, the insurgents displayed equal alacrity; and the brave spirit of the Highlanders, so long curbed by the timid counsels of Mar, now burst forth free and unrestrained, like a mountain eagle from its cage. When the Earl summoned his principal officers around him, and proposed to them the alternative of a battle or a retreat, his voice was drowned by impatient cries of Fight! Fight! "and we were no sooner got to our posts," says one of them, "than a huzza began, with tossing up of hats and bonnets, and ran through our whole army on the hearing we had resolved to fight. No man who had a drop of Scots' blood in him, but must have been elevated to see the cheerfulness of his countrymen on that occasion."*

Mar himself took post at the head of the clans opposite the left wing of the Royal troops, and endeavoured to outflank them by his superiority of numbers. It was, however, on the other wing that the battle began. The insurgents in that quarter opened against Argyle a fire so simultaneous and so well sustained as to extort the praises of even their practised opponents; it was such as few regular forces could have surpassed, and still fewer have stood. But the Duke was not inactive. His experienced eye turned to a morass on his right: it was usually impassable; but he calculated the effects of the last night's frost, and commanded Major Cathcart to lead a squadron over the hardened level, and strike upon the enemy in flank. Meanwhile he put himself at the head of his remaining horse, and, watching the favourable moment, charged the rebels at once both in front and side. Discipline carried the day; the rebels were beaten back at the point of the sword. They made, however, a most resolute resistance, and, in their retreat upon the river Allan, less than three miles distant, they made above ten attempts to stop and rally. Argyle, on his part, behaved with no less humanity than courage: he offered quarter to all those he recognised; and, on one occasion, was seen to parry three strokes which one of his dragoons had aimed at a wounded gentleman. At length, after an obstinate fight of two or three hours the Duke succeeded in forcing the enemy over the Allan, a great number being drowned in the stream; but meanwhile he had altogether lost sight of the rest of his army, where affairs had assumed a very different appearance. The clans com

Sinclair's MS. p. 805. General Wightman says in his official despatch, "I must do the enemy the justice to say, I never saw regular troops more exactly drawn up in line of battle, and that in a moment, and their officers behaved with all the gallantry imagi nable."

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