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Home Domestic Politics and the First Two Georges, 1714-1760 The Risings of 1715 and 1745; Part 3 |
The Risings of 1715 and 1745; Part 3General Wade, meanwhile, had been sent north to Newcastle with ten battalions (seven of which were composed of foreigners) to prevent an invasion of England. Prince Charles advanced south, then suddenly-to avoid Wade- swerved west, entered England by Carlisle, took Manchester, and reached Derby-within one hundred and twenty-five miles of London. Whether he ought to have advanced farther will always be a matter for dispute. Had he but known that Newcastle, one of the chief ministers of the day, was restlessly pacing his room in an agony of doubt as to whether to join the Pretender or not, that George II himself had made all preparations to retire to Hanover, and that people were rushing in wild panic to get their money from the bank, he might have proceeded. As it was, Prudence in the person of Lord George Murray said "No"; for Wade was with one army in the north, Cumberland with another in the Midlands, and yet another lay near London, whilst the Prince's own army was dwindling and recruits were not coming in. Consequently Prince Charles retreated; and when he had once begun, he could not stop.The rebellion henceforward became, as a contemporary said, "a rebellion on the defensive", and was bound to fail. Prince Charles, however, reached Scotland safely, and won a victory at Falkirk (January, 1746). The Duke of Cumberland was then appointed to the chief command in Scotland. Travelling in six days from London to Edinburgh to take up his appointment, he showed a like energy in drilling his troops, and in teaching them to meet a Highland charge. Whilst the men in the rear rank were to fire volleys, those in the front rank were to kneel with bayonets fixed, and each man was to thrust at the Highlander on his right front, the right being the Highlander's unprotected side. After a clever winter campaign in a mountainous country, Cumberland met Prince Charles at Culloden, in the neighbourhood of Inverness, and won a complete victory (April, 1746), though he obtained the horrible appellation of "Butcher", from the cruelty which he showed after the battle (The battle of Culloden made the Duke of Cumberland a popular hero in England. Parliament voted him £25,000 a year. Handel composed an oratorio in his honour, whilst Tyburn Gate in Hyde Park was renamed Cumberland Gate. Innkeepers delighted to put his head on their tavern signs, and florists made use of his Christian name to call a flower "Sweet William". Eleven years later, however, the battle of Hastenbeck made him very unpopular). After the rebellion was over, many Scotsmen were executed. Prince Charles himself, through the heroism of Flora Macdonald, was able to effect his escape, and eventually died in I788 (Through Flora Macdonald's help he escaped to Skye disguised as an Irish spinning-maid. and subsequently got safely to France. In 1750 he revisited England, of course disguised, and "in the new church in the Strand" made a Declaration of his Protestantism). The British Parliament passed a stringent Disarming Act - and even bagpipes, by a decision of the law courts, were declared instruments of war and therefore illegal. Parliament also abolished the hereditary jurisdiction of the Highland chiefs - many of whom had taken part in the insurrection - and tried, though without success, to abolish the national dress. With the failure of the rising, the hopes of the Jacobites - as the supporters of the Stuarts were called - were for ever crushed. Before long the Highlanders were to show on many a battlefield the same splendid loyalty and devotion to the House of Hanover as they had shown to the House of Stuart, for Pitt during the Seven Years War formed two Scottish regiments, which did magnificent service, especially on the "Heights of Abraham". |
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