MA S TER NEGA rn NO. 92 =«»#, MICROFILMED 1992 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the 'Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" 1 *.aEffi^ -j&« Funded by the ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The States Code -- concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyriglited material... Columbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, m its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. A U T / / () K : HOZIER. HENRY M. TITLE : INVASIONS OF ENGLAND PL A CE : LONDON DATE: 1876 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # \i BIBLIOGRAPHIC MTCROFORM TARHFT Restrictions on Used Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record B F KS/3AVE Books FUL/BIB IN PH HOZIER AND TW INVASIONS NYCG92-B25735 Cluster 1 of 1 SAVE Acquisition record s ID:NYCG92-B25735 CC;:9124 BIT .-am CP:enk PC:s MMD: 010 040 050 DCF INT RTYP CSC GPC REP DM: ST:s MOD: BIO: CPIrO RR 100 2AS 260 300 SOO 651 LOG QD 1 14 L :eng PD:1376/ OR: POL: 0210760 NNC^cNNC DA50l:b.H8 Hozier, Henry Montague, ^cSir, t:dl842-' Th« ' FRN SNR FIC FSI COL MG EL: ATC CON ILC EML NYCG-PT A0:04-14-92 UD:04-14-92 II GEN eSE: invasion of Englandi:h[microforni].^bA history of the past, with Je .sons for the future. {:cBy Captain H. M. Ilozier London, tbMacmillan and co.,{:cl876. 2 v.{:c23 cm. From the invasion of Caesar to the attempt by Napoleon Great Bntam^xHistory^xInvasions. RLIN 04-14-92 TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: FILM SlZEi^^jK IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA (® IB IIB DATE FllMED:_g_£jri&L^l_ INITIALS HLMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODn RinnpTT //y. \<- JIE Association for information and image IManagement 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring Maryland 20910 301/J.87-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 LM llllillllllllllllllllllllllll 4 5 iiiiliiiiliiiiliiii 6 7 8 9 10 11 iiiliiiiliiiiliiiil iiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliii 12 13 14 15 mm iiliiiili ''^''[''^''[■' ■'^'■['■'■| TTT Inches ^M 3 .0 I.I 1.25 T m 4.5 5.0 2.8 Hill "i O 1 5.6 J-^ 1^ US 1^ 1.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 TTT 1 MRNUFflCTURED TO fillM STfiNDPRDS BY fiPPLIED IMfiGE, INC. !i intl)t(£itpoflm]furk THE LIBRARIES THE INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, V ■•y I THE INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. HISTORY OF THE PAST, WITH LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE. BY CAPTAIN H. M. HOZIER, AUTHOK Oh "THE SEVEN WEEKS' WAP. " IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. The cry is still they com^."- Shakespeare. MACMILLAN AND CO. 1876. [7he Right of Translation atid Reproduction is Reserved. If PREFACE. LONDON K. CLAY. aONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STRKKT HILL, QL'EEN VICTORIA STREET. C| 4 t ) \ \J t \ I' I $^ "We in England have been so long unaccustomed to any threat of an invasion, or to the idea that our country might ever be made a theatre of Avar, that we have begun to regard such a possibility as almost chimerical. It was, however, but in the beginning of this century that this country was seriously threatened, and the gravest apprehensions were entertained as to our national safety. It has been my endeavour in the following pages to trace the history of the various invasions or attempts at invasion that have been made against England, and to deduce from a study of the conditions under which they were either successful or the reverse, the probabilities of another successful descent upon our shores. In a work of this nature it is necessary to avoid either that too great confi- dence which sometimes results from an overweening patriotism, or the wild terror which may be nurtured b VI PREFACE. by an alarmist. I have endeavoured to steer a just and even course, equally removed from both of these extremes. Yet a careful and, I truly believe, an impartial consideration of all the circumstances under which invasions of our island have been attempted, carried out, or averted, leads to the belief that sufficient means have as yet not been developed for insuring our security against invasion from abroad. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PAGi: Sketch of Early BrttxVin i CHAPTER I. Invasions of Britain by Julius Cesar 13 CHAPTER II. Invasion of Claudius 33 Synopsis of Events between the Invasion cojuniencetl by Claudius and the proposed Invasion of Severus 39 CHAPTER III. Proposed Invasion by Sev^erus 42 Synopsis of Events between the proposed Invasion of Severus and the English Invasion 43 CHAPTER IV. State of Britain at the Time of the English Invasion. . . 46 English Invasion 48 Synopsis of Events between the English and the Danish Invasions 53 CHAPTER V. Danish Invasions 57 Synopsis of Events between the Danish and the Norman Conquest 74 CHAPTER VI. The Norman Conquest . 90 ", -I ^"3 Vlll CONTENTS. y CHAPTER VII. PAGE Invasions to Reassert the Independence of England ... 121 CHAPTER VIII. Invasions with the Object of Changing the Norman Rule over the English CHAPTER IX. Reorganization of the English Army. -Attempt to Unite England with France under the French Crown . . . 168 Summary of Events between the Invasion of Prince Louis and the Descent of Montmorenci ^ ' ' CHAPTER X. Invasion by Isabella and Mortimer.— 1326 1'79 CHAPTER XL Invasions of the Hundred Years' War l^^ CHAPTER Xll. Invasions of the Wars of the Roses ^^^ CHAPTER XIII. ^ . , 217 The Armada CHAPTER XIV. 2*^7 Invasion by the Dutch CHAPTER XV. Invasions Under the Stuart Dynasty 240 CHAPTER XVI. Invasions to Restore the Stuart Dynasty 292 THE INVASIONS AND ATTEMPTED INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. INTEODUCTIOK SKETCH OF EARLY BRITAIN. I PROPOSE to write an account of the invasions and attempted invasions of England from the Norman Con- quest ; and, from an examination of the causes which led to the success or failure of those descents, to attempt to deduce the possibility of a future successful invasion during our own times. In order to thoroughly compre- hend these causes, I must treat not only of the warlike preparations of the invaders and of the military prowess of the inhabitants of our country, but also to a slight extent of the political state, the customs and habits of both parties ; of the offensive and defensive armour in existence ; of the diet, organization, and administration of the combatants ; and of the facilities for communica- tion and for the transport of troops by land and water. B i 2 INTROBUCTIOK INTliODUCTION. ' Of the earliest history of the island little is really known. The science of language and the earliest records of history teach us that Europe has been peopled by con- secutive incursions of tribes who, springing from the teeming population of Asia, have been driven into our continent by the desire of change or the compulsion of war.i The first of these arrivals were pressed by the advances of their successors further and further west- ward, until, reaching the shores of the Atlantic, they were 'forced either to turn at bay or to seek some other coasts whither the full pressure of the eastern exodus had not yet extended. Great families of mankind are said to have crossed in succession from Asia into Europe —the Celtic, the Gothic, and the Slavonic. The Celtic race is supposed to have been already settled on the northern shores of the Black Sea at the time of the production of Homer's "Odyssey," but before Herodotus wrote his history to have been dispossessed by the Gothic family, and pushed in a north-easterly direction to the shores of the Baltic, the German Ocean, and the British Channel Various tribes of the former family are said to have crossed from their settlements on the mainland to the island which wo now call Britain. Whether these were the early savages, who have left us a silent history of their existence in cromlechs and relics of flint, or whether these disturbed already esta- blished inhabitants, it is hardly possible even to conjecture. The first of the Celtic tribes who landed on these shores arc supposed to have been soon followed by the Cimbri, 1 Max JluUcr, " Lecture;- ou the Sckiice of Langaage." who, crossing from Jutland, Slesvig, and Holsteiu, — dis- tricts still termed collectively, by classical scholars, the Cimbric Chersonese, — drove their predecessors from the eastern and southern parts into the northern portion of the island — known to us as the highlands of Scotland, to the earlier settlers in this country as Alben, or "the land of hills " — across the Irish Channel, and into the Western Hebrides. The Cimbri, or accordini; to Latin orthography the Cambrians, were succeeded by the Logrians, also a tribe of Celtic race, who had settled in Gascony, and being themselves expelled from Gaul by the pressure of late arrivals from the East, sailed to the island of the Cambrians, established themselves on the southern and eastern coasts, and pushed the former inhabitants into the mountainous districts of Wales. After the incursion of the Logrians, we find, according to learned authorities, the island partitioned among three different tribes, wdio all spoke dialects of one great language : the aboriginal inhabitants occupied the portion called Alben, north of the Forth and Clyde ; the Cambrians held possession of Cambria, or Wales ; and the Logrians occupied the eastern and southern por- tions, which were named from their inhabitants Lomia. Another tribe of Celtic origin, named the tribe of Brythan, sailing from the districts of Gaul contained between the Loire, the Seine, and the sea, landed on our island after the Logrians, and occupied the country between the northern Lomans and the aborio-inal his^h- landers. It is from this tribe, the last arrival of the Celtic race, that our island is said to have ol)tained the B 2 INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION. 5 name of Britain, and it is therefore inferred that these colonists from North-western Gaal had before the Eoman invasion extended their dominion considerably south of tbeir first settlements. At the time the tribe of Brythan is supposed to have landed in the island which from them was to be named Britain, the vanguard of the great Gothic incursions, which had been gradually following up across Europe the receding Celtic tribes, arrived on the shores of the German Oc^an. A tribe of Gothic race, settled in the low country of Flanders, were driven from their habita- tions by an inroad of the sea : unable to retreat inland on account of the approaching masses of their Gothic brethren, they were obliged to seek safety on the element w^hich had threatened them with destruction, sail to the Humber, push up that river, and esta- blish themselves on its banks. This Gotliic colony would probably have been followed by others within comparatively short intervals, had not another power now commenced to be felt on the north-western conti- nent of Europe, and the rude, rough savages of both Celtic and Gothic tribes of Gaul to be defeated and subdued by the drilled and disciplined legions of civi- lized Eome. Interesting as the above surmises may be to archseologists, in tracing them to a definite source we find little but conjecture to guide us ; and although the rule in history, as in ancient physics, seems to be that a vacuum is to be abhorred, we can hardly believe that, in the long string of conjectures which details the pre- historic invasions of our island, all are correct; and except for the expert in archseological conjecture, it would be dangerous to guess which are probable and which improbable. Julius Caesar, who had brought under the dominion of the Eoman Eepublic the wild tribes of Gaul, heard vague accounts on the continent of a land of which the cliffs were distinctly visible on a clear day from many parts of GauFs northern coast. Ambition of penetrating into a land hitherto untrodden by the Eoman soldier, and so unexplored that none knew whether it was a vast continent spreading into the misty north, or a confined island bounded by a stormy sca,^ impelled this adven- turous captain to make a descent on its shores. From the writings of this invader we have . the earliest records, at all authentic, of the island. But the accounts of the civilized Eoman s of barbarous Britain were col- lected apparently much in the same manner as modem anecdotes of savage travel. According to them, at this time the Britons w^ere divided into numerous tribes, of which about forty-five are enumerated in the Commen- taries of the Eoman general. The Belgae, an agricultural race, inhabited Hampshire and Sussex, along the coast of the British Channel : the tribes in the interior of the island led a pastoral life ; their hovels, made of reeds and wood, or in some cases but holes in the ground covered over with these materials, were huddled together in clearings of the forests which spread abundantly over the country : in the immediate neighbourhood of these * It must be rememhered that Cicsar's description was written after his expedition to the ishind. J II G INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION. m m 11^ so-called towns (similar in reality to the palis of New Zealand), which were defended from surprise and attack by barriers among the trees, their cattle were folded and their little cultivation carried on. The people them- selves were tall but ungraceful savages, with fair hair, wanting the symmetry of form and regularity of limb which are generally supposed to peculiarly characterize mankind in the uncivilized state. Fierce and active in w^ar, they fought both on horseback, and in chariots with scythes fixed to the axles : when these chariots had broken the ranks of an enemy, the infantry leaped to the ground and fought on foot, while the driver, who was superior in rank to the foot-soldiers, retired a little from the meUe, and remained ready to receive the com- batants in the event of a reverse. Thus they combined the mobility of cavalry with the steadiness of the foot- soldier. The infantry of barbarous Britain, less ignorant of the art of war thau some more civilized armies, did not advance to the contest in heavy and cumbrous masses. Protected by small bucklers, and armed with long swords, which the soldiers wielded with address, they advanced in tiny detachments, which mutually supported each other. Daily practice perfected the British warriors in the exercises of war. So expert were they that they could, mounted, traverse the steep de- clivities and the rough hollows of an untended land at full speed ; could guide their horses at will ; could run along the beam, stand on the yoke, and thence rapidly dart into the chariots. The ordinary tactics were, first a charge of chariots, which often cast dismay into the hostile ranks by the mere noise of the horses and the wheels : if this did not succeed, the chariots retired through the intervals of the horsemen, the infantry sprang down and advanced in skirmishing order to the attack, supported by the cavalry, which were ever ready to push a wavering line or pursue a retreating foe.^ The British in war availed themselves also of their hounds, which were renowned for the chase, as auxiliaries.^ The ordinary British dress was a waistcoat with sleeves, a pair of loose breeches, and an upper garment called by the Romans a sagum ; but on occasions of battle and of some religious festivals, they stripped themselves naked and stained their bodies a dark purple colour, with a vegetable extract called " woad." They had great quan- tities of cattle, but little money, and what they possessed of the latter consisted, like that of the Spartans, of copper or iron rings of a definite weight. They stored their scanty harvests in the ear in rude subterraneous granaries, and threshed out each morning sufficient for the wants of the day. Polyandrism, or the community of one woman among ten or twelve men — the custom of many deeply barbarous, the scandal of most highly civilized societies — existed in pre-Roman Britain. Infanticide, however, does not ap- pear to have prevailed in our island while uncivilized, and children w^ere agreed to be regarded as the offspring of the man who married the mother. The religion of ^ Compare Caisar, v. xvi. ; Tacitus, "Agricola," xxxvi.; Frontin, "Histoire de Jules Cesar ;" Sharon Turner, &c. 2 In these days a pack of sleuth-hounds might, in imitation, be used with advantage to aid in outpost duty and to pull down hostile vedfttes. u 1^1: i 8 IXTROmiCTWN. the Britons was of a superstitious and sanguinary nature, and consisted chiefly of sacrifices of human victims, and of a blind obedience to the dictates of the Druidical hierarchy. Those who were about to brave dangers or battle, vowed men's lives as sacrifices to the gods of their o-loomy mythology in case of a successful issue of their expeditions : those suffering from disease or misfortune sought cure or alleviation from their deities by means of the mortal agonies of thieves, criminals, prisoners of war, or, when these failed, guiltless fellow-men. On great occasions large images of wicker-work were made and filled with living men, who, by the application of fire, were roasted alive. Those who have pounced upon every chance expression in ancient writers as either a foundation or fortifieauon of their theories, go on to tell ns that the belief of the Britons in magic and augury was great, and the issue or fiiilure of future undertakings determined by the appearance of the quivering entrails of disembowelled victims. At these grim ceremonials the Druids and prophetic women presided. They deemed sacred the oak and its parasite the mistletoe, which they termed " the all-healing." Groves of oak were the scenes of their sacrifices; no ceremonies were performed without the leaves of that tree, and the mistletoe was supposed to bestow fecundity and act as a charm against poison for those to whom it was presented by a Druid. On the sixth day of the moon, which was the beginning of their months, years, and period of thirty years, they came to the oak on which mistletoe was growing; the presiding Druid, clothed in white, ascended the tree and cut off the plant with a INTRODUCTION. 9 golden knife, which was received in a white woollen cloth below ; two white bulls were then sacrificed, and a feast celebrated below the sacred tree. The Druids are asserted to have left us monuments of their more per- manent temples in the blocks of Avebury and Stone- henge : their relio:ion is traced as havino^ been derived from stray Phoenician or Carthaginian colonists who sought Britain for the sake of tin — an inference which is rendered almost conclusive by the assertion of the fact that they used Greek characters in their writings, and that the Druidical religion spread from Britain into Gaul. These priests adjudged all causes of homicide or property, fixed the punishments of criminals, and assessed the re- muneration of the injured. Whoever disobeyed their decrees was excommunicated from their sacrifices, which was regarded as the most severe possible punishment. All men fled from him on whom this ban rested, his conversation and very presence were shunned, and he was deprived of all legal rights. The members of the hierarchy themselves paid taxes neither in kind nor in person ; they did not engage in war, and filled no ofl&ces in peace. Their dogmas taught that souls never perished, but passed at death into other bodies. This creed removing from its tenants the fear of the unknown, doubtless was calculated to, and doubtless did conduce much to the valour of the British soldiery, for no man "can march really boldly into battle who believes that the accident of the next instant may hurl him into eternal punishment. History confirms this opinion, which common sense dictates. Unless under peculiarly V V h', ! 10 INTRODUCTION. disadvantao-eous strateorieal or tactical circumstances, no example can be found in military history where troops thoroughly confident of immortality or totally sceptical of futurity, have not conquered men who were believers in heart, but indifferent in life. It is not necessary to recall to mind the followers of Mahomet or the soldiery of Cromwell. The last war between Germany and France showed the truly believing or philosopliically rationalistic German encounter, without emotion and with unvarying victory, the Frenchman, a believer in heart but an atheist in life. To the former, death held out few terrors ; to the latter, the prospect of immortality was the prospect of punishment more terrible than the un- excited mind could conjure up. The morals of a land are of high concern for its military prowess. No warrior nation should be content with a purely secular education for its sons, as all men gather glimmerings of religious thought which in the moment of trial inspire fear, but which, unless cultivated, will not found a faith. The pre-Koman Britons are said to have held it wrong to eat hares, geese, or fowls, but they bred and reared them for pleasure. The hare at this time appears to have been a domestic animal, and British fowls, ancestors of those black-breasted reds and gallant duckwings on whose prowess till lately thousands of pounds often depended in modern England, were, after the time of Csesar, largely exported for the purposes of the pit to Gaul and to Eome. It is curious to remark that the pre-Roman Britons, although inhabiting an island of which the sea-coast is much indented, and forms many INTROmiCTION. 11 creeks and harbours, do not appear to have been at all maritime, or to have had any but the very rudest ideas of navigation. They were foreign vessels which exported the tin that first drew the island into the commercial circle of civilization ; and even a century after Csesar the coracles of the native Britons were osier baskets framed with hides. To give a proper value to these stories, the Britons, at the time of the first Roman assault on their island, seem to have been much in the same state as the present aborigines of New Zealand. They seem to have possessed the art of mining and smelting ores, and it would appear probable that they could manipulate iron sufficiently to form the weapons and carriages which they used in war ; but all fine and ornamental articles, such as vases of amber and of glass, ornamental collars and ivory decorations for the headstalls of their horses, they drew from Gaul. The Roman general who planned their invasion probably knew full well the value among the lower citizens of Rome of the omne ignotum pro ^luig- nifico, and, with a policy which seems traditional with Csesarism, sought to gain the suffrages of the mob by dazzling it with the success of distant enterprise. At the same time, as might be the case in other invasions of the country, prospects of plunder were not entirely absent. V V! .I< CHAPTEE I. INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS C^SAE. / I i [Authorities. — Csesar, ** De Bello Gallico ; " " Vie de Jules C^sar," by the Emperor Napoleon III. ; Professor Airey on the Roman Invasion ; Lewin's " Invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar," Dr. Guest, AValckenoer, Mr. Beale, Mr. Appach, Sir S. Scott, various i^apers in the Archceological Journal, &c.j Such were the Britons upon whose island the Eoman commander-in-chief resolved to make a descent. The island they inhabited, except for slight geological altera- tions, has remained of the same physical configuration as in those days. Its form is that of an irregular triangle ; and it is not often that men realize of what small dimensions this triangle is. The base, formed by the south coast, measured in a straight line from the South Foreland to the Land's End, is but 330 miles in length ; the shorter side, the eastern, from the South Foreland to the northern extremity of Scotland, is little more than 560 miles if measured directly ; and the western, the longest side, will measure but 600 miles from the Land's End to Dunnett's Head. The whole area of Britain is not 100,000 sr^uare miles. England, now the southern division of the island, has an extent of about 51,000, while the adjacent principality of Wales includes under 7,500 square miles. Scotland, li > fc » ^ i 14 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. I.] INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BF JULIUS C^SAR. 15 r. r* 1 II J » I > the northern portion of the ishand, contains about 31,500 square miles. The island of Ireland, which lies to the west of Britain, and is separated from the larger island by St. George's Channel and the Irish Sea, contains about 32,500 square miles. The shortest distance across the latter sea, be- tween the Mull of Cantyre in Scotlaud and Fair Head in Ireland, is about 13 miles, while the average distance from the headlands of Wales to the Irish coast is about 60 miles. If the superficial area of Britain is compared with that of other lands, we find that it is about thrice that of Greece, less than half that of Italy, about a fourth that of France or Spain, and about a hundredth of that of Russia. Small as this island may thus appear, its sons have in former times done great things ; tiny as the country in w^hich they have been born, and for which so many of them have died, may seem, in life they have overspread the world, and grasped its remotest climes within the sphere of their dominion. But the offensive energy of Britain can be regarded as no criterion of her defensive capabilities : these are great ; but the soil will not sustain its teeming population, and the isolation which may result from a purely defensive policy must, if continued, be as certainly calamitous as the invest- ment of any circumscribed fortress. No country in the w^orld is similarly favoured by geographical situation and physical configuration ; the climate of Britain is subject neither to scorching heat nor to long-continued cold; the mineral wealth of the V- island is apparently boundless ; the soil is favourable for both energetic agriculture and the careful rearing of stock. An insular position and an indented coast-line favour the training and the profession of the seaman, and not only do much to guarantee our land against foreign invasion, but tend to develop as the main national defence a navy, which is less adapted than an army to be made the tool of an unconstitutional ruler for subverting the liberties of his subjects. When Caesar assumed the command of the Roman forces in Gaul, the Roman state was still in name a republic. It had, however, for eighty years been torn by internal strife, and had been often the victim of the despotic dominion of successful military leaders. Rome w^as already on the verge of the stormy century which commenced with the opposition of the senatorial party to the reforms proposed by the Gracchi, and terminated with the battle of Actium, w^hich, thirty-one years before the birth of Christ, left Augustus the supreme leader of the arms of the Roman w^orld. Julius Coesar, w4io four years previously had taken possession of the province of Gaul, then comprising the north of Italy (Gallia Cisalpina) wdth part of Illyrium and the south of France (Gallia Transalpina), resolved in the year 55 B.C. to invade Britain. In the three pre- ceding years he had extended the limits of vassalage to Rome as far as the Rhine in the east and the Atlantic in the west. Ambition stirred him to the idea of adding an unknown and fabled country to dependency on the capital of the world ; the desire of pojDular applause 1 / / / 16 hXrASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. and the possibility of another triumph urged him for- wards; and the policy of extended government, which must necessitate an increase of legions under his com- mand, doubtless had its weight. But his main object was to increas3 his revenue. All generals engaged in foreign war under the service of a commonwealth of which the executive government is swayed by popular opinion must have either friends or admirers at home to watch their interests and to sound their praises. Without these, every sliglit reverse is taught to the popular mind to be a serious disaster, every insignifi- cant failure to be a terrible catastrophe, brilliant achieve- ments are scarcely noticed, and self-sacrifice and ability under adverse circumstances barely recognized. In aristocratic communities, powerful leaders must be pro- pitiated by those generals who desire popular fame ; in democratic communities, those must be courted who can guide the opinion of the ignorant but noisy populace. Thus, at some periods of history we see generals in the field eager to gain patrician patrons, at others to win over newspaper correspondents. At Eome, in the time of Csesar, venality ran high, and bribery was the readiest method of gaining supporters in the metropolis. A well- replenished chest was as necessary to Ci-esar as the artillery of his army or the weapons of his legionaries. The easiest method to replenish his chest was to take captives who could be sold into slavery, and the fame of the large though uncomely size of the residents ol Britain doubtless fanned his desire to make a descent upon the island. I.] INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS C^SAR. 17 The ostensible reason for the invasion was that the Britons had aided the Gauls against the Romans, and this reason we can conceive excited the legionaries to desire the enterprise ; for we have seen within a few months how fiercely the anger of other invaders of Gaul could be raised against England by the idea that the inhabitants of Britain fostered the war against them. Ha^dng determined on the expedition, Caesar sent over a Gallic chieftain, Commius — whom he had made ruler over a conquered tribe, and who was believed to have friends in the island — on a diplomatic mission, and with orders probably to reconnoitre. The instructions of Commius were to represent to the tribes on the southern coast the immensity of the Roman power, and to advise them to gain the favour of the Roman commander by a ready submission. The Britons vouchsafed no answer, but arrested Commius and detained him in the island. No informa- tion of the resources or means of the country was gained from this source. The Gauls generally knew little of Britain ; and the traders who visited the island, with a natural desire to retain the monopoly of its trade, with no afiection for their Roman conquerors and with friendly feelings for the inhabitants of the island, could not be induced to play the part of spies. Foiled in these endeavours, Caesar sent one of his own officers, Caius Volusenus, in a fast war-galley to gain information. Volusenus hovered about the south-eastern coast for five days, and then returned to Caesar with the report of the best survey which he could make from his 9^ c 18 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. vessel, being "unable or unwilling to land. His short absence would lead us to suppose that he readily dis- covered a favourable point for the Eoman landing. Caesar, in the meanwhile, had marched into the country of the Morini, who inhabited the strip of coast between Calais and Boulogne. He had devastated the country of this people in the previous year, and now the greater portion of this tribe sent to him oflfers of sub- mission and hostages. This the Roman leader regarded as a favourable occurrence, as the distance from the country of the Morini to Britain afforded the shortest passage, and he was glad to gain security for the port of embarkation : still, the troops not destined for the expeditionary army were sent against the Menapii and another tribe who had not tendered their submission, and, we can hardly question, were so distributed as to cover the port. This port is named by Caesar the Portus Itius.^ Of its exact locality there are great doubts. The places of embarkation and of landing the Roman army have been considered by various authorities, have been discussed by professional antiquaries and by learned men, but it is impossible to fix them exactly with any certainty, and we must be content to accept those which appear to satisfy most nearly the description given of them by Caesar himself. At this Itian port (which, perhaps, may have been the harbour afterwards named Witsand) Caesar collected 1 It may be objected that Caesar only names the Itian port as the point of departure of his second expedition, but it is generally agreed that both expe- ditions embarked and disembarked at the same place. I.] INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS C^SAR, ID about eighty merchant vessels. As these were deep and of heavy burden, he calculated that they would provide transport for his two legions, a force of about 8,400 combatants. He had also some fast galleys propelled by oars, and built for speed, which were suitable for the transport of staff-officers. Eighteen other merchant- men were collected at a port eight miles distant, which were to transport the cavalry, and join him as soon as the wind permitted. It seems as if at sunset, when the wind usually falls, the embarkation of the infantry commenced at the Itian port. The cavalry were apparently retained to cover the embarkation, for it was not till the infantry transports were ready to weigh anchor, that the horsemen were ordered to march to the other port and to embark. On a fine night, a little after midnight, the fleet got under way, and, with a gentle south-west wind blowing, stood across for the shores of Britain. About ten o'clock in the morning of the 27th August, Caesar himself, with his fastest ships, brought up under the high chalk cliffs which fringe the south-eastern coast of Kent. At this rendezvous he awaited the remainder of his fleet, and, in the interval, called the superior officers together and informed them of what had been reported to him by Volusenus. He seems to have re- cognized the difficulty of landing in the face of an enemy, and particularly impressed upon them the necessity of adhering rigidly to punctuality and of attention to signal. When the vessels of the fleet were collected, and the officers were dismissed, the fleet weighed anchor, c 2 20 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. 1.] INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS C^SAR, 21 and, with wind and tide favourable, stood along the coast, apparently down channel, until he faced the marshy tract between Sandgate and Eye, where now lies the creek of Lymme. The natives, who had assembled in large numbers on the cliflfs on the appearance of the Roman fleet, moved along the coast as it steered down channel, and, before Caesars dispositions to dis- embark w^ere complete, were on the shore ready to receive him. Csesar was obliged to force his landinof. His vessels were built for beaching; but the tide was low, the beach sloped gently, and the heavy vessels were unable to approach close to the land. The landing had to be eflected under dangerous conditions : the Roman soldiers, who were put ashore in the small boats, could gain the beach only in insignificant handfuls, exposed to heavy showers of darts ; and before they were able to form, encumbered with heavy armour in the water, were charged by the war-chariots and horses of the Britons, who fearlessly advanced into the water to meet them. The legionaries in the heavy vessels, strange to this wild warfare, seeing the danger of ex- posing themselves heavy with armour to attack in deep water, and in all probability, being unaccustomed to the sea, considerably demoralized by twelve hours on board ship, hung back. To cover their advance, and to clear the beach of its defenders, their commander detached his war-galleys, which were of lighter draught than the transports, and placed them over against the exposed flank of the enemy. Each galley carried on its fore- castle machines for throwing darts and stones ; these enfiladed the British line in the same manner as the heavy guns of a fleet would, if possible, be brought to bear upon the ranks of modern defenders to cover a landing. When the artillery fire, which caused some loss and surprised the natives by its novelty, had made the defenders withdraw slightly from the water, the boats of the larger vessels, filled with troops, again pulled towards the shore. Still the main body of the troops hung back, till the standard-bearer of the 10th Legion, calling to his men not to desert their eagle and sufl'er it to fall into the hands of the barbarians, leaped into the water and pushed for the shore. The contagion of example, as always in battle, resulted immediately in the general advance of the legionaries. As they gained the shoal water the ranks were formed, and then ad- vancing with their short cut-and-thrust swords, they quickly drove back the savages. The Romans were superior in discipline and in armament ; for the Roman soldier, with a short pointed sword, could easily with a thrust anticipate the blow of the long pointless sword of the native, which, if it did descend, fell harmlessly on helmet, cuirass, or shield ; while the native, unpro- tected, except by a buckler, was fully exposed to a skilful thrust. The cavalry which Csesar had sent to embark on his own departure had not arrived ; and he could not pursue, in an unknown and diflicult country, without scouts, and Avith night coming on. But the battle was won ; the first descent on British soil that authentic his- tory records, was successful ; and that night the Roman camp was entrenched od British soil, and the Roman -i\ 22 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. sentry paced upon British ground. With the rising tide the Roman galleys were hauled up on the beach, and the Roman transports anchored in the harbour. The natives, at first panic-stricken by their defeat when circumstances gave them such decided defensive advantages, sent envoys to Csesar who carried with them the captive Commius. They made excuses for resistance, and promises of submission. To accept these tenders was Caesar's policy. He directed them to send hostages, which they promised to do as soon as the necessary persons could arrive from the interior of the island. But on the fourth day a disastrous storm arose, which caused the Romans a double calamity, and encouraged the natives to attempt renewed hostilities. The Roman cavalry, which should have sailed from the coast of Gaul on the 27th August, and have landed at the same time as the infantry, took longer to embark than had been antici- pated : when the embarkation was complete, the wind had changed, and the transports could not stand across the Channel. They were detained till the 30th August, when they sailed with a gentle east wind for Britain, and had already come in sight of Caesar's camp when the breeze freshened to a gale, and the transports were dispersed and driven in confusion along the coast towards Beachey Head. On the same night a greater calamity fell upon the invading force. Caesar had probably on the coast of Gaul, when embarking his army, become aware of the normal ebb and How of the channel tide, and his galleys were probably beached just above the usual high-water I.] INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS CjESAR. 23 mark. On the fourth night of the Roman stay in Britain an abnormal spring tide occurred, which was increased by the gale that had driven the cavalry transports away from the landing-place. The galleys on shore were lifted by the waves and dashed together: the transports at anchor, either dragging their anchors or not moored at sufficient distance, also came into collision. Twelve vessels were destroyed, and many more so much injured as to be no longer seaworthy. Caesar saw his communi- cations with the Continent threatened ; he had brought with him no large stock of provisions, and his position became critical. To re-establish his communications, the artificers of the fleet were at once set to work to repair the damage done to the least injured vessels with the spars and stores of those that were no longer fit to take the sea. He soon had a diminished squadron ready to enable him to return to the Continent, but in the mean- while his army had to be fed, and the only method by which food could be collected was to forage in the countiy near the camp. The British submission cannot have been very sincere, or the natives would have brought provisions to the camp ; and the apparent difficulties of the Romans led them to open hostilities. The harvest was still upon the ground, and the legions were sent out in terror to gather in the corn. One day when the 7th Legion had been detailed for this duty, the British, who had watched their opportunity, dashed from the woods upon the soldiers while the latter were divested of their armour and engaged in gathering the corn. It seems extraordinary that this surprise could have been allowed 24 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. X.] INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS CjESAR, ii under the strict discipline of Eorae ; possibly the absence of the cavalry prevented the outpost duty being carried out with proper vigilance, and probably the uncleared forest closely abutted on the ground to which, for the sake of food, the 7th Legion was now forced to ad- vance. Few men can have been spared for the guard over the arms, as, deducting casualties, the effective strength of the 7th Legion can have been little more than 4,000 men. There was naturally no transport with the army, and the soldiers must have both cut and carried the corn into the camp. The Britons, waiting till the soldiers were dispersed, rushed upon them, attacked them furiously, killed many before they could regain their arms, and pressed those who did recover their weapons so heavily with charges of cavalry and chariots that the legion could not form into ordered line. The dust raised by the fight was observed by the sentry at the Eoman camp and immediately reported to Cassar. Caesar at once turned out the cohorts on guard, and, ordering them to be replaced by two others at the gate of the camp, started with them in the direction of the con- test. The whole of the available force was ordered to get under arms, and to follow as rapidly as possible. On arriving at the scene of action, Caesar found the men of the 7th Legion driven together into a confused heap, which afforded an easy mark for the Britons, who were hurling upon them showers of javelins. By a steady charge on their assailants, Caesar gave room to the men of the 7th Legion, and drove back the Britons sufficiently to allow the legion to get into regular order. 25 But the Britons, although repulsed, were not driven off; they again attacked, and it is evident by Caesar s own despatch that he gained no success, and with difficulty covered a secure retreat for his harassed soldiery to the camp. f Encouraged by this encounter, the Britons flocked together in large numbers, prompted perhaps by the tales of the spoil found on the killed Eoman soldiers as much as by patriotism, and advanced to an attack upon the Eoman camp. Caesar appears to have drawn out his troops to meet them in a favourable position, chosen probably where his flanks would be secure from the chariots and cavalry, and where a reinforcement of Gallic cavalry which had arrived could act advantageously. A pitched battle was fought in front of the camp. Caesar won a victory which allowed him to quit Britain with success : the Britons fled, and the Eomans pursued them, but without very marked results. On the same day the natives sent to Caesar a deputation to sue for peace. Caesar demanded double the number of hostages he had before exacted, and then, convinced that a much larger force than that he had with him was necessary to subdue the island, as the equinox was near at hand, set sail with a favourable wind, and, after a visit of less than three weeks, returned to Gaul. In the next year he determined to revisit the island. During the winter Caesar himself visited Italy, but great preparations for the expedition were made during his absence. The fleet was remodelled, and the transports were made lower and wider so as to admit of their more commodiously receiving cargoes of 26 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. I.] INFASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS C^SAR. 27 M horses, and of being more conveniently hauled up on the beach. The expeditionary force was collected at the Itian port : it consisted of five legions, or about 20,000 men, with 2,000 Gallic cavalry. Labienus was left with three legions and 2,000 cavalry to maintain tranquillity in GauL The army was embarked on 800 vessels, and conveyed to the place of disembarkation of the previous year. The Britons, alarmed by the magnitude of the Roman preparations, made no attempt to oppose the landing. Csesar had now ample opportunity to select a convenient site for his intended camp, which should cover the base of operations. Having estabhshed himself on the coast, he lost no time in pursuing the enemy. His cavalry apparently made some prisoners, and by their informa- tion he appears to have discovered where the British army was posted, and where his passage into the interior was to be barred. Ten cohorts and 300 cavalry were left as a guard over the ships ; and the very night that he landed, Csesar made a march of twelve miles, and came upon the British army. The natives had placed them- selves under the supreme command of Cassivelaunus, the king of the Trinobantes, a tribe that lived on the north of the Thames. He encountered the Eomans with no little military skill. The British chariots and horsemen disputed the passage of a stream, which seems to have been the Stour, but were driven back with loss by the Gallic cavalry. Cassivelaunus drew back his troops to a strong position, strengthened by barricades, but the 7th Legion carried the position, occupied the works, and drove the enemy away. Pursuit was, however, forbid- den, as the Roman staff were ignorant of the nature of the country. Early next day the Roman army had scarcely begun its advance, in three divisions, when mounted messengers arrived from Quintus Atrius, who had been left as commandant of the port of debarkation, to announce that, in the storm over night, the fleet had been washed ashore and seriously damaged. The disaster of the previous year had recurred. The troops were countermanded, and Caesar hurried back to the port of debarkation. The artificers were at once set to work to repair the injured vessels, and a message was sent to Labienus for as many vessels as he could send. When the ships were repaired, they were hauled up on the beach, and a line of intrenchments, which required ten days and nights to complete, was formed to connect the military and naval camps, and cover the port. The Roman army then recommenced its attack. Cassive- launus, with true tact, avoided general actions. His tactics were to make a dart with his mounted corps, and then to rapidly retreat. When the prospect of battle seemed over, and the Romans had commenced to fortify their camp, suddenly the shouts of the British were heard : the chariots and native cavalry burst out from the alleys of the forest, and charged before the soldiers had time to seize their arms. Csesar himself admits that his veterans were scared by this, to them, novel mode of warfare. As soon as the Roman troops were formed, the natives retreated under cover of a shower of javelins. The cavalry of the invaders could not 28 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. pursue them unsupported by infantry ; for the Britons, often simulating flight, would draw the Eoman horsemen after them, and when the latter were beyond the support of the infantry, would jump from their chariots, and, in the broken ground, fight on foot with every advantage. The Komans certainly remained masters of every field, but only after severe and annoying combats, and at the cost of heavy losses. The Britons were always repulsed, but never defeated. They watched every movement of the invaders, till on one day, after they had seriously threatened the Roman cavalry on a previous day, they fell upon a force of three legions and all the cavalry which had been sent out to forage. The Britons fought with great courage, but pushed their attack too far. The Eoman soldiers, although, encumbered with armour, they could not pur- sue the wild enemy, could defend a position, Und drove ofi* their assailants with heavy loss. After this defeat his allies forsook Cassivelaunus, and the defence of the country by its united forces was at an end. The authority of Cassivelaunus over his own tribe had been gained by violence and fraud : his rival was a refugee in the Roman camp. It was only by means of con- tinuous success thai Cassivelaunus could keep his army together, and as soon as fortune deserted him his troops fell to pieces. He himself retired to his own chief town, a stockaded pah among the woods, with the force that still stood by him, where great quantities of cattle, which probably formed the main wealth of a British chieftain, were collected. '.] INFASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS CAESAR, 29 Csesar determined to carry the war into the territory of his chief opponent. To do so he marched upon the Thames, and, although opposed by the advanced British troops, forced the passage of the river at a point which seems to have been the Curay Stakes, between "Walton and Weybridge. When Csesar was about to cross the Thames, Cassivelaunus sent to four of the minor kings of Kent, and urged them to attack the Roman harbour and cut the line of Roman communications. No better military movement could have been suggested, but the attack was repulsed with great loss. The Roman main army advanced and placed Mandu- bratius, its ally, at the head of the Trinobantes, who submitted to Caesar, sent him hostages, and a supply of corn. The Romans discovered, from the Trinobantes, the fastness of Cassivelaunus, which they found well fortified both by art and nature. Caesar stormed it at two points simultaneously : the Britons could not long withstand the attack of the legionaries ; the place was carried, many of the defenders were killed, the rest fled, and a large store of cattle fell into the hands of the conquerors. After the loss of his stronghold and the failure of the attack from Kent on the Roman port, Cassivelaunus abandoned any further hostilities, and employed Com- mius to negotiate for peace. The terms were readily ao-reed to, as the summer was well advanced, and the state of Gaul made Caesar anxious to quit Britain. The terms were not severe : an annual tribute was to be paid to Rome ; hostages were to be given ; and 30 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. Cassivelaunus bound himself not to interfere with Mandubratius or the Trinobantes. Caesar then led his army back to the naval camp, it may be presumed, without interruption. As his num- bers are stated to have been largely increased by the number of his captives, it may be assumed that the slave- catching speculation had been profitable. He intended to transport his army in two voyages, but after awaiting some time the return of the vessels which had taken over the first division of the army, and the arrival of those ordered from Labienus, which were detained by the prevalence of strong head-winds, he crowded his whole force on board such vessels as he had, sailed at night with fine weather, and landed safely in Gaul at dawn next morning, after an absence of about four weeks. Except for the slaves, the British expedition does not appear to have been very successful, yet the large force of vessels employed would seem to betoken that the conquest and reduction of Britain were contemplated. Csesar was content with restoring Mandubratius, but did not leave a single fortified post or garrison in the island to protect his interests, and there was little guarantee in consequence for the quiet of Cassivelaunus. Many educated Eomans thought but little of the expe- dition ^ to Britain, though the chained captives delighted the populace, and the chaplet of British pearls presented by the commander to Venus may have excited national vanity. Britain sent no tribute in consequence of this invasion. ^ Compare Lucan, " Pharsalia," ii. 672 ; Tacitus, *' Agricola," 13. I.] INVASIONS OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS CJESAU. 31 Eome did not attempt to exact its payment. The short remainder of Caesar's life was fully occupied in crushino- the last partial efibrts of the Gauls to recover their inde- pendence, and in political strife. After Caesar's death, the Eoman world was again torn by civil war and revolu- tion ; and the Emperor Octavianus Augustus, who came out of that stormy period the ultimate victor, was little disposed to extend the Roman dominion to Britain. Neither his policy nor his nature prompted such a step. British refugees occasionally appeared at Rome to solicit the aid of the Emperor against their fellow-countrymen, being sent on from Gaul, where they had besought the assistance of the Roman governors. These were treated with studied deference, in order to make them appear to the Roman populace as the delegates of the whole British nation ; but Britain was practically independent, and paid no tribute, notwithstanding the invasion of Cjesar. SYNOPSIS OP EVENTS BETWEEN THE INVASIONS OF JULIUS C^SAR AND THE INVASION OF CLAUDIUS. During this period of independence, which lasted nearly a century, Roman merchants and traders from Gaul visited the island, and great progress was made in civilization by its people. A currency, the sure sign of the advancement of civilization due to commerce, is believed to have been instituted in his dominions by Canobelin, the successor of Cassivelaunus. He, while Augustus was Emperor of Rome, acquired supreme 32 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. I. power over nearly the whole of southern and central Britain. Northward of his territories, the kingdom of the leeni opened from sea to sea, from Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk to the western coast of Wales. The Mersey and Humber separated the Iceni from the Brigantes, who formed the third great federation, and occupied the land from sea to sea, up to the mountains of Caledonia. CHAPTER IL INVASION OF CLAUDIUS. [Authorities.— Tacitus ; Martial] After Britain had enjoyed nearly a century of inde- pendence, the fifth of the Eoman emperors, Claudius, in A.D. 43 was induced by British refugees to renew the enterprise of the first Caesar. The general, Aulus Plau- tius, was then despatched to Britain. He had consider- able difficulties in inducing his soldiers to embark for a land which they considered beyond the confines of the world, but ultimately conquered their prejudices, and landed on the coast with a force of four legions and a body of German auxiliary cavalry. These horsemen were of great use to the Eoman general, by swimming rivers and dashing at the Britons in positions which the latter regarded as inaccessible. Plautius and his heutenant, the celebrated Vespasian, under whom served Titus as tribune or colonel, overran the southern district of the island, reduced the Isle of Wight, and marched upon the capital town of the Trinobantes, which seems to have stood on the site of the modern Colchester. Two of the sons of Canobelin had organized the defence against the invaders. Of these, one was D I 34 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. II.] INVASION OF CLAUDIUS. 35 slain in battle near the Thames; the other, Caradoc, or Caractacus as named by the Eoman writers, acquired a mythical fame almost equal to that of Arthur, by re- treating into Wales, then the country of the Silures, and continuing thence his resistance to foreign invasion. Plautius drove the remnants of the British army before him to Camelodunum, but did not attack the town until he had induced the Emperor in person to be present at the battle which might be supposed to seal the fate of Britain. Claudius came from Kome to the Eoman camp before Camelodunum, was present at an easy victory gained over the disheartened and dis- organized British, and accepted from the Trinobantes the surrender of their town and their tender of sub- mission. After this success, in which he gained some popular glory, Claudius returned to Eome. The south and south-east of Britain was now secured to Eome by the conquest of Kent, which had been effected simultaneously with the campaign against the Trino- bantes, and by the allegiance of the tribe of the Eegni, who inhabited the county of Sussex, and whose chieftain, Cogidunas, in return for increased territory, became the dependent ally of Eome; for Eome in new provinces, as England once in India, was constantly fain to rule the land under the plea of alliance with its rightful sovereign. The Iceni did not withstand, certainly not for long, the Eoman power; but the inhabitants of Hampshire and Wiltshire fought bitterly for the independence of their country. They were, however, subdued, and their I* principality given over to Cogidunas. The whole force of the Eoman army in Britain could then be turned against the mountainous district where Caractacus and the Silures defied the southern conquerors. It is utterly impossible to trace what battles the gallant son of Canobelin fought against the advancing tide of Eoman success, or what raids he made from the shelter of the mountains into the districts where his enemies had settled. It seems probable that for nine years, with varying success, Caractacus carried on the war, and fought many drawn battles. It is certain that his valour and military skill gained the panegyric of his enemies. At last, as legend tells, the British chief was driven to bay at the lofty hill of Caer- Caradoc, in Shropshire. The Eoman troops under Ostorius Scapula stormed the position in the face of a determined resistance. The wife and children of Caractacus were taken captive, and his remaining brothers surrendered themselves in despair to the Eoman leader. Caractacus himself escaped from Caer- Caradoc to the principality of Curtismandra, his mother- in-law, who was then the queen of the Brigantes. She, probably a dependent ally of Eome, betrayed her son- in-law to the Eomans, and Caractacus was taken prisoner to Eome, with his wife and children, to add lustre to the triumph which the Emperor Claudius held for the con- quest of Britain. The Eoman historian tells that during the triumph, Caractacus, while being marched past the chair of the Emperor as a captive in chains, solicited an audience of D 2 36 INFJSIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Claudius. His request was granted, and the British chief, who it must be supposed had become conver- sant with Latin at the court of his father Canobelin, addressed to the Emperor of the World a speech which still forms one of the brightest gems in the pages of Tacitus, but which reads more as if it expressed the sentiments of the historian than of the Briton. The Em- peror, moved by one of those fits of generosity which are so often recorded in the lives of men in high positions, ordered that the life of Caractacus should be spared, and that he should be freed from his chains. His family also met wdth the Emperor's favour, and it seems pro- bable that his children remained in Rome and adopted the Claudian name. Indeed, there is ground to believe that Claudia, the daughter of Caractacus, *' Claudia of British race," with her husband Pudens, were some of the earliest converts in Eome to Christianity, and that they were the Claudia and Pudens mentioned by St. Paul among the friends whose greetings were sent from Eome in the well-known epistle. While the war with Caractacus was still being carried on on the frontiers of Wales, the Romans were consoli- dating their power in the south and south-east of Britain. Camelodunum, which became almost the head-quarters of the Roman power, was rebuilt by a large number of dis- charged legionaries, who there received grants of land : in place of the w^retched cabins of the former inhabitants, a theatre, a senate-house, and temples to the Roman gods, the most conspicuous of course to the deity of the hour, the divine Emperor Claudius, were reared. Another II.] INFJSION OF CLAUDIUS, 37 Roman settlement was planted at Verulam, on the road from Camelodunum to the coast : and London, althouo-h not a garrison town, became a thriving commercial depot. From this influx of civilization no doubt Britain gained many advantages ; but there were concomitant disadvan- tages. A severe and arbitrary military conscription drew away the ablest and best of her youth to fight in Roman legions on the Danube or the frontiers of Germany, where they often found an unknown and unheeded grave. Some of the most stalwart of her sons were carried to the capi- tal, to please in gladiatorial shows a lascivious populace with the agonies of their death-throes. Arbitrary and frequent requisitions of provisions for the troops, and of military stores, were made throughout the conquered portion of the island, and the weight of taxation bore heavily on the subdued population. The Roman ofiicials, unless restrained by energetic superiors, ruled the natives with insolence and brutality. Such treatment roused the feelings of the people into disafifection, which was continually fanned by the exhortations of the native hierarchy. The Druids established in the island of Anglesey were energetic propagandists of revolt and resistance. To crush this evil at its fountain-head, Suetonius Paulinus, in a.d. 61, who had lately assumed the command of the Imperial forces in the island, a general of high ability and great resolution, determined to strike a heavy blow against the citadel of opposition to Rome. He concentrated the finest troops under his command on the north-western coast of Wales. The Menai Straits were crossed by the infantry in boats of 38 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. 11.] SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS, 39 light draught, while the cavalry either waded or swam. The passage to the island was forced, notwithstanding both the force of British arms and the terrors of British religion ; for the priests, with dishevelled hair, mingled with the warriors to oppose the landing. After a short but desperate conflict, the island was gained, and the Roman soldiers gave to the sword and fire the Druids, their defenders, their shrines, and their groves. But while Suetonius was subduing Anglesey, the rest of Britain was almost lost to Eoman rule. Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, who had been a devoted adherent to Rome, had, dying, made the Emperor co-heir to his kino-dom with his two daughters. The Roman agent appointed to watch the Imperial interest had scourged Boadicea, the widow of Prasutagus, on the pretext that she had secreted some of the State property, and had handed over her daughters to the brutal violence of his slaves. Boadicea called on the Iceni, fired by such out- rages, for revenge. A general rising took place. Every partisan, every ofiicial of Rome was massacred. The Iceni poured over the country of the Trinobantes, and called their British countrymen to their aid. The call was promptly answered. Camelodunum was stormed and burnt ; Verulamium met with a similar fate ; and London, which was largely inhabited by Roman settlers, was utterly destroyed. It is said that 120,000 Britons took part in this rising, and that 70,000 Romans fell victims to their fury. The news of these disasters recalled Suetonius from the west. With the 14th Legion and its auxiliary .t cavalry he moved eastwards. On his march he was joined by part of the 20th Legion. Of the two other legions which formed the garrison of the island, the 9th Legion had been already defeated by the insurgents, and the commander of the 2nd Legion feared to leave his intrenched camp. Suetonius had only a force of about 10,000 men with which to engage the whole strength of Boadicea ; but discipline and organization, as it ever must, won the day against a larger number of disorganized troops, however much excited or devoted. The Britons were defeated with a loss of, it is said, 80,000 men, and Boadicea poisoned herself on the defeat of her countrymen. SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE INVASION COMMENCED BY CLAUDIUS AND THE PROPOSED INVASION OF SEVERUS. Britain sank into the quiet of exhaustion, but the ter- rible nature of the rising taught the government at Rome the necessity of a milder rule in the island ; and in a.d. 78, Julius Agricola was sent by the Emperor Vespasian as governor of the island and commander-in-chief of the military forces in Britain. Agricola was not only an able general, but a consummate statesman. After again reducing Anglesey, and in eight campaigns quelling all revolt in Southern Britain, he twice led his forces north of the Forth against the Caledonians, who had begun to molest their southern neighbours. To check their inroads, he built a line of fortifications across the island from the Forth to the Clyde, and defeated their chief 40 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. II.] SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS. 41 Galgacus in a conflict under the Grampian hills. During these campaigns in the extreme north, the Roman fleet, sailing along the coast, co-operated with the army ; and when the troops retired to winter quarters, it sailed round the north of Scotland, and established the fact that Britain was an island. But daring his military labours Agricola did not neglect the pacification of the conquered country. He established a fair and equal rule for both Eomans and Britons ; he taught the Britons the value of the conveniences of civilization, and made them acquainted with the Latin tongue. Every precau- tion was taken to make the chains of the islanders as little galling as possible ; and the Britons, gradually acquiescing in the new order of things, became incor- porated members of the Eoman Empire. The Eoman towns were restored. Eoman villas and houses nestled in the nooks and hollows of the undu- lating downs of the south, and of the more rugged mountains of the north : roads, constructed with marvel- lous engineering capabilities, were made from place to place, harbours were opened, ports constructed, and commerce developed and stimulated. Britain, subdued and pacified, gave little further incon- venience to Eoman rulers, and for many years after the viceroy alty of Agricola is baicly mentioned by Eoman historians. The wild tribes of Caledonia, defended by inaccessible mountains, and intrenched in impassable morasses, made frequent raids on the cultivated and civilized districts of the south. These incursions had evidently become formidable when the Emperor Hadrian visited the island in a.d. 120. He did not seek to punish the aggressors, but to limit their forays into the south ; he gave up the lowlands of Scotland, and built an interior intrenchment to that of Agricola, from the Tyne to the Solway Frith. Afterwards, while Antoninus Pius was Emperor, a Eoman general, Lollius Urbicus, swept the Scottish lowlands of highland marauders, and raised a second intrenchment on the site of the line of Agricola, which was named by the Eomans the wall of Antoninus, and now known by the peasants as "Graham's dyke." None of these defences efiectually barred the descents of the highlandmen, as the border strife was continuous, and the Meatae are often noticed as the most formidable tribe that disturbed the quiet of the northern regions of Eoman Britain. Beyond the rayon of these northern forays Britain became thoroughly Eomanized ; and when civil commotion and the favour- itism of a distant soldiery swayed the election to the Imperial purple, she had no slight influence on the fortunes of the whole Eoman world. U CHAPTER III. PROPOSED INVASION BY SEVERUS. On the death of Pertinax the Praetorian Guards sold the Empire to Didius Julianus. The receipt of this intelligence had much the same effect in Britain as if in the present day a local British army in India were to hear that the Household Brigade had surrendered London and sold the throne to an adventurer. The soldiers of the 2nd, the 20th, and the 6th legions,^ who received no benefit from the transaction, naturally refused to acknowledge a sovereignty thus acquired : and their commander-in-chief, Clodius Albinus, for four years was in fact, though not in name, an independent sovereign in the island. The Illyrian legions declared their own leader, Severus, emperor. He overthrew a rival emperor created by the Syrian legions, and for a time simulated to court the friendship of Albinus. But Severus threw off the mask, and marched with an army against Britain. Albinus, with a true appreciation of a just insular policy, did not await attack, but moved an army, largely recruited from Britons, into Gaul, and marched against Severus. At Lyons the decisive action 1 These legions formed the greater portion of the localized garrison of Britain. See Poste's "Britannic Researches." CHAP. III.] PROPOSED INVASION BY SEVERUS. 43 was fought, and the Britons bore themselves well in the combat, but the army of Albinus was defeated, he himself was captured and beheaded, and Severus remained the sole Emperor of the Eoman World. The lieutenants of Severus could not hold their own aofainst the incursions of the Caledonian tribes, and in A.D. 208 the Emperor came to the island in person, determined to quell the Highlanders. He marched through their country to the farthest portion of Cale- donia, making a military road as he went, and extorted the temporary submission of the natives. But only for a short time : the next spring the clans were again in arms, and before Severus could undertake a second campaign, he died at York, a.d. 21 1. SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE PROPOSED INVASION OF SEVERUS AND THE ENGLISH INVASION. After the death of Severus, little is said of Britain by Eoman writers. The incursions of the northerners con- tinued, and towards the end of the third century the naval marauders from the coasts of Germany began to annoy the Eomanized portion of Britain. Their attacks became so formidable that the Emperors Diocletian and Maximianus appointed Carausius specially to guard the province against these inroads. Carausius first ap- preciated the necessity that Britain must, to be secure, command the seas. He formed an efficient fleet, and for a while the island was safe from foreign aggression, and Carausius was even admitted to an equality with the 44 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. rulers of Rome. After Car7 the treaty, or else returned for more, for we find Olaf and Swegen shortly afterwards wintered again in South- arapton. Olaf, it is said by some, became a Christian in the Orkneys, where Norwegian settlers already held domi- nion ; by others that he came to Andover, and was baptized through the instrumentality of King ^thelred. It is true that he became a Christian, and that the intro- duction of Christianity into Norway was greatly due to him. He perished shortly afterwards in a fight at sea with Swegen, king of Denmark, and from this time we hear no more of Norwegian invasions of England until Harold Hardrada descended on the north-east coast some seventy years later, and turned the scale of Englands sovereignty. To rid himself of the Danes, who had ravaged Devon- shire, the Isle of Wight, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire, ^thelred, in 1002, caused all the Danes, of whom great numbers were living in England intermingled with the English population, to be massacred. This massacre took place on St. Brice's Day. Among th^ victims was the sister of Swegen, Gunhild, who had married and settled in England. The deepest indignation was caused on the Continent by the massacre of St. Brice. Swegen collected a larger fleet and army than had ever been known in the North, and came to England to take vengeance for his sister and to conquer the land. He landed on the south coast of Devon, and obtained possession of Exeter, which was betrayed into his hands by a French governor appointed by Emma, the queen of ^thelred. Emma was the sister F 2 G8 ISrASIONS OF ENGLAND, [ciiAP. ill of Eicliard 11. , duke of Normandy, and had brought over this Frenchman amonoj others in her train. After gaining Exeter, Swegen marched through Southern England. The men of Hampshire and Wiltshire mus- tered to withstand him, but their traitorous leaders failed them. He marched to London, but was repulsed by the stout burghers of the city : still the Danes harried England, and in 1013 -^thelred fled from before them beyond the sea, and sought a refuge with his wife's kins- men in Normandy. Just previous to this flight, Swegen, who had returned to England in 1013 after a short stay in Denmark, had gained without a blow all the Danish part of the north-east of England, and the five confede- rate boroughs, Stamford, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, and Derby, But not content, he pushed beyond Watling Street, leaving his son Knut with his fleet and his hostao:es. He marched straiorht throuoh Mercia to Ox- ford, which he burnt, and thence to Winchester. He was soon acknowledged as king in all the land except London, and was counted as kinor over all Eno[- land; and the men of London also soon, thinking further resistance useless, submitted to him and gave hostages. Before his victory was consolidated Swegen died, i.nd the Danes of the fleet elected his son Knut as king ; but the English sent across the sea for ^thelred, and he returned to renew a struggle with the son of his old enemy, Swegen, Avhich was only terminated by iEthel- red's death in 1016. The war was bequeathed by an unworthy sire to a more worthy son. Edmund, known V.1 DANISH INVASIONS. 69 as Edmund Ironside, mainly supported by the stalwart Londoners, rallied the men of Dorsetshire, Devon, and Wilts, and inflicted some heavy blows on the armies of the Dane. After five great battles, mostly in Edmund's favour, it was agreed that Knut and Edmund should divide the land between them. So the two kings made peace, and gave hostages, and divided the kingdom. King Edmund, it was agreed, was to be Head-king, and was to hold Wessex, Essex, and East Anglia, with ihQ city of London, while Knut was to have Mercia and Northumberland. Within a few months the gallant Edmund fell by the hand of an assassin. Knut the Dane obtained the whole land of the English nation, and established in England a Danish dynasty, which endured for three reigns. It would appear at first sight that the efforts of King Alfred and the great English kings who pursued his policy had been rendered fruitless. But the Danes against whom Alfred fought, and the England for the independence of which Alfred strove, were very dif- ferent from ih^ Danes whom Knut led, or the England over which he obtained supreme power. The Danes were now a compact nation. Christianity had already made great progress among them, although the conversion of Denmark was not completed till the time of Knut. England in the days of Alfred was inhabited by nume- rous bands of English who had little national feeling in common, but an English nationality had been developed by Alfred and his immediate successors, as well as civic order and civilizing institutions, which were stron'^ 70 IXFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. enough to survive the unfortunate reign of ^thelred. Within the bounds of the English nationality many men of Danish blood had been included, and the enlightened and liberal Dane who now ascended the throne was very different from such bloodthirsty buccaneers as Guthrum and Hasting. Still Knut was not, although elected by the Wise men of England, so secure on his throne that he did not wish to remove the English royal ftxmily from the land. The two young sons of iEthelred and Emma were with their mother in Normandy, but two sons whom Edmund had left were in England. These Knut sent to Olaf, king of Sweden, with the intention, it i« said, of having them murdered abroad. But Olaf sent them to the court of Stephen, the first Christian king of Hungary, where Edmund died, but Edward was safely brought up, and married Agatha, the niece of the Emperor of Germany. He had by this marriage a son known as Edgar JEtheling, who afterwards is frequently mentioned in Old English history. Knut, soon after ascendinpr the throne, divided Endand into four parts. Wessex he ruled himself, but set Earls over the other three parts. Knut sent to Normandy and asked Emma, the queen of the late iEthelred the Un- ready, to be his wife. She accepted, and two children, of whom one was Hartha-Knut, were born of this marriao-e. The year after his marriage, Knut laid a heavy tax on England, and especially on London, to pay off his Danish fleet. Of this the greater part now returned home. Afterwards, safe in his power by the possession of v.l DANISH INVASIONS, 71 several years, and by a marriage which in a measure made him less foreign to the English nation, Knut became gentler, and desired to become impartial between the English and the Danes. The taxes which the Danish invasions had imposed upon England he employed in pur- chasing the absence of unsettled Danes from the country. Of the armed Danes who accompanied him he retained but a few, whom he established as his body-guard. These were the origin of the Thing-men or House-carls. They were the first regular standing army maintained in England,^ and, although of originally Danish blood, were recruited subsequently by men both of English and foreign race. Their number has been variously estimated from 2,000 to 6,000 men in the days of Knut. The House-carls were retained by his successors until the EngHsh household troops perished to a man around their standard at Senlac. In another way Knut, who perhaps had more the talent of military organization than of command in the field, developed a great change in the military condition of England. We have already seen that he established, early in his reign, earls or lieutenants over some of the provinces of England. In 1020 this organization was completed. Formerly, in England, the ealdorman was the leader of the military forces of each shire, and all free men within the shire were bound to bear arms ; but Knut centralized the military command of the ^ This is tnie, but only to a certain extent. The Thanes of the court of the earher English kings were practically a standing arni}^, but were a band of officers, such as th« Gentlemen-at-Arms of the present (%. 7*^ INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, rciiAi v.] DANISH lA'FASIOM). 4 O provinces in the Eaiis, and so brought, perhaps a smaller, but a more efficient force into the field. In his reign, too, the armament of the English forces appears to have been altered. Formerly the English, like their Germanic ancestors, fought with a sword, a buckler, and a dirk ; but the increase of wealth had greatly promoted the use of defensive armour. Against this the sword was of little avail. It was necessary to have an offensive weapon which should not only wound the body, but smash the armour which encompassed it; and in the days of Knut we find that the sword is laid aside, and the household troops of the king, if not the bulk of the English forces, were armed with the axe instead of the claymore. The talent of the Danish king for military oraani- zation seems confirmed by the fact, that, although much absent in England, his officers on the Continent won for him the sovereignty of Norway and part of Sweden, and advanced the German frontier of Denmark from the Dannewerk again to the Eyder. Among the earls whom he placed as lords-lieutenant over provinces, were Leofric, earl of Mercia, and God- wine, earl of Wessex. Of the origin of the latter remarkable man, little is certainly known, though much is confidently told. It is said that he was the son of a cowherd who saved the life of a noble Dane. It is certain that he rose to be the foremost man in Endand, and that his son was the last kinn^ who rei^-ned in England before the Norman Conquest. Knut, with a strong hand and iron will, established fi peace in England. The Danes and Northmen, the former invaders of England, were now fellow- subjects with the English, and the latter were secured from their inroads. Indeed, Knut employed his English soldiers to tame the Northmen. Many Englishmen served him well in his campaigns against Norway and the Baltic ; and his English fleet destroyed those of the petty kings of the North. During his reign a new enemy threatened the island. Eobert, duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror, prepared a descent on England in favour of the sons of ^Elhelred, and fitted out a fleet to con- quer England ; but the ships were driven back and many of them damaged by a contrary wind, so that they came no further than the Isle of Jersey. Knut, victorious over all his enemies, assumed the new title of Emperor of the North. But, notwith- standing his great victories and his military glory, the English antipathy to Danish domination broke out im- mediately after his death. Nothing remained of the ap- parent fusion of the different races over whom he ruled. The empire that for the moment he had raised above all the kingdoms of the North, melted away on the with- drawal of the strong arm which had welded it into one, in the same manner as the empire of Charles the Great. The Scandinavian populations expelled their Danish conquerors; and although the English, more early subjected, could not all at once regain their liberty, they commenced by intrigue a secret revolution, which attacked the power of the foreigner, till it was ter?ni- nated by force. 74 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. SYNOPSIS or EVEN-TS BETWEEN THE DANISH AND NORMAN CONQUESTS. [AuTHOBiTiES.-Knighton, Henry of Huntingdon.Roger de TToveden, Thierry. Sharon Turner, Freeman, Palgrave, Sir Sibbald Scott, Meyriek, Grose, &c.] Knut died in 1035, and left three sons; of whom one only, Hartha-Knut, was the son of the Norman Emma. The others were the children of a former wife of English birth. Knut had desired that the son of Emma should be his successor ; and such a wish from a dying sovereign had usually much influence in the choice of the future king. But Hartha-Knut at the time was absent from England, in Denmark. The English under the guidance of Godwine, earl of Wessex, elected Hartha-Knut, possibly to fulfil the Old English custom The Danes of the fleet and the army proclaimed Harold another son of Knut by a former English wife. Thus England was divided into two parties. The north was for Harold, the south for Hartha-Knut ; but the struggle earned on under these two names was really the struggle between the English and foreign elements of the society of England. The most remarkable incident of this struggle is that, while the son of a Norman woman was supported by the English party, the son of an English woman was the chosen prince of the Danish party. A fierce war seemed inevitable between the people on the north and south of the Thames. A panic sprang up among the English of the north, who, although they acknowledged the Danish king, feared that they would v.] EVENTS BETIVEEN lUNISII AM) NORMAN CONQUESTS. 10 be treated as rebels. Whole crowds of men, women and children quitted their homes and sought refuo-e in the islands of the marshes, which extended for more than a hundred miles over the counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, Northampton, and Lincoln. But the absence of Hartha-Knut was protracted. The enthusiasm of his Danish partisans subsided. Queen Emma made peace with the rival of her son, and gave up to him the treasure of Knut. Forced by her desertion to abandon the cause of Hartha-Knut, Godwine and the English chiefs of the west acknowledged Harold as king, swore obedience to him, and the cluims of Hartha-Knut were for the time forgotten. At this time the younger son of ^Ethelred the Unready and Emma, who, with his elder brother Edward, was living at the court of the Duke of Nor- mandy, came over to England with the object of asserting the claim of his family to the throne. He came, however, with a retinue of Frenchmen ; and the English leaders, foreseeing that to sustain this prince would be but the means of substituting a French for a Danish domination, would not support his cause. Alfred was seized at Guildford, and the greater portion of his followers slain, tortured, or mutilated, by the officers of Harold. He himself was carried to the Isle of Ely, in the heart of the Danish territory, where his eyes ^vere put out, and he shortly afterwards died. Queen Emma, if she had the power, did not, it is said, inter- fere to save her son, and, it is even asserted, was herself privy to the cruelty. Godwine has been accused of ll INVASIONS CF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. v., lA'ENTS BETWEEN DANISH AND NORMAN CONQUESTS. 7 7 having betrayed Alfred into the hands of his torturers ; but there is no evidence to supjDort the accusation, and it is unlikely that God wine, who was the supporter of Hartha-Knut, would have betrayed Alfred to Harold. But the tale of God wine's treachery Avas afterwards freely circulated in Normandy, no doubt to stir men's minds against the English party and its leaders. Shortly after Harold was acknowledged as king of all England, Emma was driven into exile, and sought refuo-e, not with her own relatives in Normandy, but with the Marquis Baldwin at Bruges. On the death of Harold in 1040, the English, not yet bold enough to choose a king of English race, concurred with the Danes ; and Hartha-Knut, the son of Knut and Emma, was chosen king of England. He was at this time with his mother at Bruges, but messengers were sent to bring him to England. Hartha-Knut arrived with sixty vessels manned by Danes, and almost his first exercise of royalty was to levy Danegeld from the whole country to pay these followers. He then had the body of Harold torn up and thrown into a fire. Having given this proof of fraternal afi'ection towards one brother, he commenced a judicial inquiry into the murder of Alfred. Godwine was one of the first accused. He presented himself, according to English law, with a large number of relations, who swore that he' neither directly nor indirectly was concerned in the murder. But the English system of compurgation did not satisfy the Danish king until the fountainof justice was appeased by large presents bestowed by the accused. In his relations with his English subjects Hartha-Knut showed more avarice than cruelty. He overwhelmed the country with taxes which excited discontent and revolt. The citizens of Worcester killed two of the House-carls who were employed in collecting the tax ; and although their town and minster were burnt in revenge, the burghers escaped to an island in the Severn, where they found safety. The Danish king was not the sole oppressor of thi Eno-- lish. Under him were many foreign favourites of Danish blood who did not pay taxes, but shared the imposts levied by their leader, and heaped misery and insult on the English population. The sufi'erings of the English people produced their natural results. Immediately on the death of Hartha- Knut in 1042, an insurrectionary army was formed under Houne.^ Godwine, always the leader of the English party against foreign domination, took vigorous measures ; and before the burial of Hartha-Knut the Endish resolved to restore the House of Cerdic to the throne, and elected Edward, the son of ^thelred and Emma, king of England, on condition that he should bring but few Normans with him. The struggle between Norman and English influence in England, which was only decided by the battle of Hastings, had commenced as early as the reign of ^thelred the Unready. In wedding a daughter of the ducal house of Normandy, ^thelred had entertained ^ Knighton, lib. i. cap. vi. The rapidity with wl^pi the English took their steps seems as if a revolt had been contemplal,jed,Svhich was rendered unnecessary by the sudden death of Hartha-Knut. 7S INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. tlie hope of gaining aid from the powerful relatives of his wife against the Danes. But he was deceived in his expectations.^ The union which was to have gained defenders for England resulted only in bringing over from Gaul troops of hungry adventurers, greedy claim- ants for places and salaries. Many towns were entrusted by the weak iEthelred to the care of these foreigners, and when the Danish invasion came these were the first which surrendered to the enemy. ^ The influence of Emma employed many Frenchmen about the court. Had these men been even men of great capacity and the noblest principles, they would have been regarded with jealousy and distrust by the English nobility. In many cases they seem to have merited the distrust and aversion with which they were regarded. The struggle between the French and English influ- ence, although partially suspended during the Danish domination, was not extinguished. We can hardly dis- cover the reasons that Godwine — whose policy was con- tinually antagonistic to the French influence, and who, by education a Dane, was, before the ingratitude of Hartha-Knut, friendly to the Danish interest — should have supported the son of the French Emma against the son of Knut by an English wife, unless we accept the account which says that Emma's marriage with Knut resulted in hatred and antagonism to her earlier children, who were being educated in France. * See the authorities quoted by Thierry for this argument. ("Nonnan Conquest," vol. i. p. 84.) * Henry of Huntingdon, Eoger de Hoveden. v.] EVENTS BETWEEN DANISH AND NOliMAN CONQUESTS. 79 Had Harold and Hartha-Knut been men of ability (even approaching to that of their father Knut), it is pro- bable that the Danish dynasty would long have endured in England. But the suff'erings of the people during late years had been insupportable. The English were deter- mined to expel for ever the Danish family from the throne. To effect this revolution national unity was necessary, and national unity could not be secured ex- cept by the election of a prince of the House of Cerdic. No prince of this line, or ^theling, was available except the son of iEthelred, for the son of Edmund Ironside was away in Hungary : rapidity of action was necessary, as there was a Danish party in favour of Knut's nephew, and it would, in the days of Godwine, have taken longer to recall a prince from Hungary than at the present time from the Himalayas. If an objection to Edward, the son of ^thelred, lay in his foreign education, it was stronger m the case of Edward, the son of Edmund, though pro- bably the election of the latter would have been the more fortunate for England, as he would have been swayed by German, and not by French influences. Edward accepted the condition oflfered to him,^ and came to England, attended by but few Frenchmen. After being crowned in the Cathedral of Winchester, he selected as his wife, Edith, the daughter of the English leader to whom he owed his election. The natural reaction from Danish administration made the English laws dear to the English people, who sought to return to the legal state as it had been administered ^ Henry of Huntingdon. 80 lA^JSIOyS OF ENGLAXD. [ciiAr. under ^tlielred. Tlie laws and institutions which had prevailed in England in his reign, were sought out and re-established as far as possible; and the rules which now guided the jurisdiction of the land, were known for many years afterwards as the laws of King Edward. During the reign of Edward, the system of secondary rule by means of lords-lieutenant of provinces was fully developed. Edward, naturally of a weak and easy mind, was rendered still less adequate to hold the reins of the kingdom, by the almost total attention which he bestowed upon personal religion. This attention gained him the name of the Confessor, but blinded his eyes to the necessities of his land. Under his reign the country was really governed by a few powerful nobles. Leofric was Earl of Mercia ; Siward Earl of Northumber- land ; and the most powerful and popular of all, Godwine, was Ead of Wussex. During the reign of Edward there was little war between England and the Continent. Magnus, king of Norway, made an attempt to invade England, but was met at sea by Swegen, king of Den- mark, the ally of the English, and hindered from coming. The enterprise of Magnus was, however, renewed by his son Harold with more success. At home there was always border fighting with the Welsh ; but Harold, the son of Godwine, the king's general, not only drove back the mountaineers, but pursued them in the mountainous country in which the Welsh thought themselves secure from the heavy-armed English troops ; for Harold made his House-carls exchanore their hauberks v.] EFENTS BETWEEN DANISH AND N0RM4N CONQUESTS. 8 1 of interlinked chain-maiP for scale-armour, made of leather ; and his men, thus lightly equipped, could meet the mountaineers on even terms. Harold completely sub- jugated Wales, and established Hereford as a fortress, with lines in its vicinity to protect England from any future Welsh incursions. But under apparent prosperity germs of trouble and ruin were being silently developed. Edward, the son of a Norman mother, brought up in France from his infancy, returned to England more a foreigner than an Englishman. His companions, his amusements, and his cherished relatives were foreign. He had undertaken to bring with him few Frenchmen, and few came with him ; but many followed him. All those who had aided him in his exile, for whose assistance while banished he owed gratitude, hastened to urge their claims upon him. The softness of his heart seems to have been his greatest misfortune, for, desirous to repay the services which Frenchmen had rendered to him, he gave all the high dignities of Church and State to men born in a foreign land. Normans and Frenchmen had high offices and large estates bestowed upon them, and the latter began to build castles, as was not then the custom in England. Fortresses had been raised in England by Edward the Elder ; but the construction of individual fastnesses dates from the days of the Confessor. The English people looked with dislike on the construction of these stron^r- holds, which gave their owners a power never before con- ^ Ancient Armour, i. 63. G 82 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. v.] EVENTS BETWEEN BANISH ANB NORMAN CONQUESTS. 8 3 templated by the landed aristocracy, for the oppression of the rural districts. None who sought favours in the French tongue met with denial ; the language of France became the lan- guage of the court, and the language of the country became an object of ridicule in the eyes of the courtiers. The English nobles who were anxious for the Kino-'s favour, learnt the foreign tongue and adopted foreign fashions. They abandoned the long Saxon cloak for the short wide-sleeved Norman pelisse; they imitated in their handwriting the lengthened form of the French letters : instead of signing their names at the bottom of civil acts, they affixed seals according to French custom, and were willing to abandon national habits to the lower class. But Earl God wine and his sons, the rulers of Wessex, Sussex, Kent, East Anglia, and Mercia, saw under another form the revival of a foreign government. The men who already wished much that England might be free, resisted with their influence the invasion of foreign habits. A fierce jealousy, and at last open hostility, sprang up between the party of the court and the party of the people. Godwine at one time fell a victim to his sturdy de- fence of English law. He refused to chastise the people of Dover without trial, who had resisted the unauthorized billeting, of the troops of Eustace of Boulogne on their town. The King, supported by the Earls of Northumber- land and Mercia, obtained the outlawry of the family of Godwine by the Witengemote, and the leader of the national party and his sons for a while were outlawed from England, and obtained refuge with Baldwin of Brushes. On tlie departure of Godwine, the foreign influence in England seems to have become irresistible ; and a visitor came to King Edward, who probably would not have come had Godwine's counsel still lieen heard. This visitor was William, duke of Normandy, natural son of Robert, the sixth duke, by the daughter of a tanner of Falaise.' He had, at seven years of age, on the departure of his father on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, been left heir to Normandy ; and although, on the death of his father, Norman nobles rebelled against his claim to the duke- dom, William's cause was supported by the King of France, and his opponents silenced by the defeat; of Val-es-Dunes. The Duke of Normandy, who now visited England, might well have imagined that he had hardly quitted his own duchy. Normans officered the fleet he found lying at Dover; Norman soldiers formed the garrison of the fortified post at Canterbury; and everywhere Normans, in the dress of soldiers or prelates, greeted the chief of their native land, their natural Seigneur.' William appeared in England a king superior to Edward himself, and his observations cannot fail to have made an impression on his ambitious mind. As William always maintained that Edward had left him the English crown, it is probable that at this time Edward gave him some kind of understanding that he should be the heir, i^ut the crown was not the King's to leave. The suc- ' Thierry's " Norman Conquest." G 2 84 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [CIIAP. cessor had to be determined by tlie election of English- men, and on his death Edward did not even recommend Duke William to the consideration of the electing body of Englishmen. But Duke William and his followers were received with great honour, and when they went away were loaded with arms, horses, dogs, and falcons.^ Within two years of his banishment. Earl Godwine, who could not obtain an audience of the King to a peaceful appeal, collected a fleet and sailed against England. The royal fleet, commanded by Frenchmen, failed to prevent his landing. War was averted by the mediation of Bishop Stigand, and the settlement of Godwine's case submitted to the decision of the Witen- gemote. During the absence of Godwine the French party at court appears to have become more distasteful than before to the English, and troubles had sprung up on the Welsh frontier, which were only finally quelled under the generalship of Harold, son of Godwine. At the Witengemote the supporters of Godwine carried all l^efore them : the Earl and his sons were restored to their homes and possessions, and Queen Edith, who had been banished by the King from the palace to the con- vent of Wherwell, was recalled. The French favourites and courtiers, the French archbishops and bishops, in great part fled from their oflices and their sees. Some crossed the channel to France ; some retired to the shelter gladly provided for them by Macbeth, king of Scots ; and all, except a few near attendants on the King, were outlawed. Shortly afterwards Earl Godwine died. * Roiiaii (le Eou. v.] EVENTS BETWEEN DANISH AND NORMAN CONQ VESTS. 8 5 His son Harold was made Earl of Wessex, and ^Elfo-ar son of Leofric, was made Earl of East Anglia. So the house of Leofric had now two earldoms, and that of Godwine only one. From this time Harold the son of Godwine became the most important man in the kingdom, and his power was augmented wTien the old Earl Si ward died, as Tostig, brother of Harold, was made Earl of Northumberland. About this time an embassy Avas sent to Germany to solicit the Emperor to send into Hungary for the iEtheling Edward; and in the year 1057 he and his children arrived in England; but he never saw his uncle the king, for soon after landing in England he died. It was about this time that Harold was enorawd in his principal Welsh war. The Welsh had won a victory over the Norman commandant of Hereford, who on the eve of battle altered the tactics of the English infantry, and insisted on their fighting on horseback, instead of on foot as they had always been accustomed to do. Harold came from the south to the aid of the Endish, and gained great glory by the manner in which he conducted the Welsh campaign. But Avhile Harold was winning renown, his brother Tostig had caused a revolt in the north by the arbitrary levy of taxes and by the execu- tion without trial of those who ofl*ended him. The people of Northumberland rose in rebellion, drove away Tostig, and made Morkere, the grandson of Leofric, Earl of Northumberland, who was aided by Edwin his brother, who afterwards succeeded his father /Elfoar as Earl of 86 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. !^ Mercia. King Edward was anxious to restore Tostig by force of arms, but Harold would not be a party to such a policy. He endeavoured to gain his brother's return to power by conciliatory measures ; but the men of North- umberland would not take back Tostig. So Tostii^ had to quit England, bitterly angered with his brother Harold, because Harold would not enter into civil strife to replace him by force in the earldom of Northumber- land. He went later to the court of Harold Hardrada, king of Norway. About this time it is said that an event occurred, which is told with such great difference of story that it is almost impossible to discover the exact truth. It seems that Harold was sailing in the Channel, either for pleasure or on a voyage to Normandy, Avhen he was driven by stress of weather upon the coast owned by Guy, Count of Ponthieu. It was the custom of this territory, as of many others in the Jliddle Ages, that strangers thrown on the coast by tempest, instead of being succoured, should be imprisoned and put to ransom. Harold appealed to the Duke of Normandy, to whom Count Guy was vassal, and William obtained 'his delivery by the payment of a large sum of money, after he had vainly endeavoured to obtain it without payment. At the Court of Eouen Harold was received with all honour, and Avas created a Norman knight by William, who acted as his godfather in chivalry, and presented him with horses and weapons. Harold, it is said, even accompanied William in an expedition against Conan, Count of the Bretons, in which v.] EVENTS BETJFEEN DANISH AND NORMAN CONQUESTS, 87 he greatly distinguished himself, especially by saving many Normans at the passage of the river Coesnon, which separates Normandy from Brittany. It is told that in returning from the campaign William got Harold to promise to aid him to gain the crown of England at the death of Edward, to deliver up to him at due time the fortress of Dover, and to marry his daughter. On arriving at Bayeux, William called together a great council of the Norman barons. On the eve of the as- sembly he collected all the relics and the bones of saints from the churches in the neighbourhood, and had them placed in a large trough covered with cloth of gold in the council-hall. A missal was placed upon the cloth. As soon as the Norman barons and the Englishmen were assembled, William called upon Harold to confirm thi verbal promises he had made by an oath before the assembly. Harold, taken by surprise, and not venturing to deny his words, laid his hand on the missal and swore to execute his agreement with the duke, provided he lived and God aided him. All the assembly responded, " May God aid him.'' Then, on a sign from William, the cloth was removed, and the bones and sacred relics on which Harold had sworn without suspecting their pre- sence, displayed. An oath which was sworn on the bones of the saints was at this time held of the utmost sanctity, and it is said that when Harold perceived the terrible nature of the engagement he had undertaken he shud- dered and turned pale. This story is told only by the Norman writers. English ^vriters are wholly silent as to any oath taken by Harold, 88 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. and their silence is a strong argument that an oath of some kind was taken by Harold of fealty to William. Whether the oath so taken was one relating to the betrayal of England, or merely an oath of fidelity taken to his superior on being knighted, twisted by Normans into an oath of the surrender of the English crown, it is impossible to decide. Even if the story is literally true, i| w^ould seem that Harold, although cul- pable in taking the oath, was hardly as culpable as William, who kidnapped a man in his power into swearing an oath which was surreptitiously made more sacred than the swearer intended. Had William be- lieved that Harold freely made his promise, the Norman duke would have been satisfied with the promise, and would not have sought to confirm it. Harold then returned to England. King Edward shortly fell sick : he saw that his death was near. His chief anxiety was to finish his great church at West- minster before he died. He lived to see it completed, but was too sick to be present at the consecration, which took place on the Feast of the Innocents. A few days afterwards, Edward, the son of ^thelred, the last de- scendant throuo:h the male line of Cerdic w^io reiorned over England, died in 1066, and was buried on the fol- lowing day, the Feast of the Epiphany, in his new church at Westminster. Miracles were soon believed to be wrought at his grave, and a hundred years after his death he was canonized as a saint. While Kincj Edward lay on his d^ath-bed, the fear that there would be war in England for the possession of the crown pressed heavily ' v.] EVENTS BETJVEEN DANISH AND NORMAN CONQUESTS. 89 on men's minds. Edgar, the son of Edward the .Ethe- ling, known as Edgar ^Etheling, was in England ; but he had' been born in a foreign land, and had only lately come to England : he was, too, a mere child of small capacity and little promise, and it was not likely that his claim would be considered by the bold spirits who were ready to strike for the prize. It must have been suspected in England that Duke William had thoughts of claiming the crown ; and it must have been known that Harold Hardrada, whom Tostig had sought as a protector and avenger, would be ready, on the plea of replacing Tostig, to step in to win the kingdom for himself. Of all Englishmen, Harold the son of Godwine was most fitted, by valour, mili- tary ability, experience, and talent, to be elected king. But Harold did not inherit in the least degree the royal blood of Cerdic, and, except while the Danish dynasty ruled, the English had never elected any prince who could not trace his descent through Cerdic up to Odin. Still, King Edward, for the sake of the country, coun- selled the English to elect Harold as his successor, and commended to Harold's care his sister Edith and the Frenchmen whom he had brought over to England, who, as the amiable king expressed it, bad left their country for his sake* CHAPTER YI. THE NOKMAX CONQUEST. [Authorities.— Roman de Eou, Tapestry of Eayeux, Thierry, Palgrave, Freeman, &c.] We now approach the time of the greatest event in the history of our country. In the year in which King Edward the Confessor died, the Norman Conquest of England was effected. The introduction of Christianity in the island nearly five hundred years earlier may have had deeper results, but no other event of our history was for the time so striking, or caused such a revolution of English society. King Edward, to give greater glory to the consecra- tion of his new church at Westminster, had summoned the Witengemote to meet in Westminster at the Christmas of 1065. He died while the Wise men were assembled on the banks of the Thames, and on the day of King Edwards burial they, in accordance with his latest counsel, elected Harold, son of Godwine, king of the English. That day Harold was hallowed at Westminster as king. Harold was chosen King of England and Lord of the Isles of Britain at Westminster, but a few people in CHAP, vi-l TITTJ NORMAN CONQUEST, 91 Northumberland did not at first acknowledge him. He went to York with his friend AVulfstan, bishop of Wor- cester, had a meeting with the men of Northumberland, and won their allegiance without war. King Harold returned to York to keep Easter. The beginning of his reign was marked in the south by a complete return to the national customs abandoned under the former reign. In his charters the ancient signature replaced the seals lately appended in the Norman fashion. He did not, however, expel the Normans, whom, notwith- standing the outlawry decreed against them, a com- pliance with the wishes of Edward had spared. These foreigners were still permitted to enjoy all civil rights, but, it is said, showed no gratitude, and began to intriofue both at home and abroad for the cause of o Duke William. Soon after Easter a comet appeared, which was seen for seven days from our country, and men believed that the signs of the heavens foretold that some terrible calamity was about to fall upon England. The super- stition of the people was probably supported by their reason, for it mi^^ht at this time have been foreseen that two enemies at one time were arrayed against Harold. He had been chosen king by the English people, but both his brother Tostioj and William duke of the Normans opposed his possession of the sceptre. Tostig perhaps had hoped that on the death of Edward the English would elect him kinof, but his conduct in Northum- berland had prevented all chance of the realization of this hope. On the death of Edsvard, it appears as 92 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. if he were demented by jealousy of his brother, and determined to force his way again into England at any cost. It is said that when he heard the news of the election, Duke William sent an embassy to Harold to remind him of the oath which he swore by mouth and by hand on good and holy things. Harold, we are told, answered that he swore such an oath to William, but that he swore it under compulsion ; that he had pro- mised what he could not perform, for his royalty was not his own, and he could not divest himself of it, neither could he marry a foreign wife, without the con- sent of the country. It is said that the Norman ambas- sador took back this answer, and that William replied by a second message, entreating Harold, if he would not fulfil all the conditions he had vowed, to take at least as a wife the young girl he had sworn to marry. Harold refused, and married an English wife. William then broke with Harold, and swore that within the year he would come and claim his whole debt, and pursue the perjurer to the places where he thought lie had the surest footing. It is not probable that William supposed that Harold would yield the crown to his demand, but he could now assert that he had sought by peaceful means to secure what he claimed as his own. As far as publicity could be obtained in the eleventli century, William published what he called the English- man's dishonesty. He laid an accusation of sacrilege against Harold before the Pontifical Court, and demanded VI.] THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 93 that England should be placed under the ban of the Church, and declared the property of the first occupant sanctioned by the Pope. He founded this demand on three grounds : the murder of Alfred, the expulsion of the Norman archbishop, Ptobert, and the sacrilegious perjury of Harold. Harold was summoned to defend himself before the Court of Eome, but he refused to ac- knowledge the jurisdiction of that court in the matter, and deputed no ambassador to Eome to argue his cause. At this time Cardinal Hildebrand was the adviser of the Pope Alexander II. After the death of Otho III. in 1002, the Holy Eoman Empire had fallen into confusion and feebleness. The superiority of the Emperor over the Pope, of the temporal power over the sacerdotal power, which under Otho the Great and his descendants had been unquestioned, had been weakened, and Hildebrand was engaged in working out the revolution which gave to the Popes supreme temporal power. Hildebrand resolved that the elections to the Papacy should no longer be dependent on the Emperors, but should be conducted by the clergy of Eome alone. He accomplished this great revolution, but it was far from being the limit of his scheme. He determined to make the princes of Europe abandon all interference in the elections of bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries. He also formed the daring design of establishing the universal supremacy of the Pope over all temporal authorities, and of making emperors and kings and all subordinate temporal authorities acknow- ledge the right of the Pope to interfere in political matters wlion he perceived grievous wrong in the dealings of State 94 LWJSIONS OF ENGLAND, [cHAr. with State, or even in the private conduct of rulers. Had the principles of Hildebrand been crowned with success, the soldier and the diplomatist, the tool and the originator of international quarrels, would alike have been sw^ept off the stage of European history from the eleventh century. The revolution of making the spi- ritual powTr of the Pope superior to the temporal or lay authorities had been commenced in Italy in the ninth century, by the reduction of several powers of Central Italy to Papal suzerainty. It was continued during the tw^o following centuries. All the cities of Campania passed under the temporal power of the Pope ; and in the beginning of the eleventh century, Norman knights, emigrants from their country, led under the banner of St. Peter Eoman troops to this conquest. Other Norman knights established their dominion over Apulia and Calabria, shook off the claims of the Eastern Empire, declared themselves vassals of the Pope, and received a banner of the Eoman Church as a feudal confirmation of their claims to the lands they had conquered. When William made his appeal to Eome, Hildebrand eagerly embraced the opportunity of asserting in England the supremacy which had been gained in Italy. The case of William against Harold w^as investigated in the assembly of the cardinals. A Papal bull was drawn up and published, by w^hich it was decided that William duke of Normandy was permitted to enter England to bring back that country to obedience to the Holy See, and to re-establish there for ever the tax of Peter's pence. With this bull the Pope sent to William a banner VI.] THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 95 hearing the figure of St. Peter, blessed by the Pope himself, and a ring containing one of the hairs of the apostle. Thus on William was bestowed the double emblem of military and ecclesiastical investiture. The consecrated banner with which Duke William was to invade and conquer England was the same which a few years before Norman knights in the name of the Church had planted on the castles of Campania. Before the bull, the banner, and the ring arrived from Eome, Duke William had already begun to make his preparations for the invasion. At first the Norman knights w^ere un- wiUing to undertake an expedition across the sea ; they acknowled2!:ed that their service was due to the Duke for the defence of their own country, but not for the purpose of conquering foreign lands. William held an assembly at Lillebonne, near the Seine, and tried to convince them of the advantage of the expedition. His proposals were at first received with much tumult and opposition, but he adopted an artifice w^hich has seldom failed when powerful personages have desired to overcome popular resistance. He sent separately for the men who had in a body opposed his views. None had the courage to refuse in the face of the chief of the country, in an interview with him alone. That which each engaged to do was immediately registered, and the example of the first summoned decided those who came afterwards. Some subscribed for ships, others for soldiers ; others promised to march in person. When once the Normans had bound themselves to undertake the expedition, they manfully set to work to 96 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. prepare fur it. The arrival of the consecrated banner and the bull stimulated their ardour. William published his ban in all lands that he could reach, and invited volunteers to join his ranks. He called on the true sons of the Church to aid in his holy enterprise ; and at the same time offered good pay and the plunder of the fertile English soil to every able-bodied man who would serve him with lance, sword, or crossbow. A multitude of soldiers answered to his invitation. Some bold and enthusiastic soldiers of the Church flocked to the banner consecrated by the Pope, and a laro-e mass of adventurers sought the ranks of Duke William. They came from Maine and Anjou, from Poitiers and Brittany, from France, Flanders, Aquitaine, and Burgundy, from the slopes of the Alps and from tlie banks of the Ehine. All the professional swash-bucklers, all the military vagabonds of Western Europe, hastened to join the Norman expedition, actuated by the rare opportunity of securing spoil and plunder in a holy and sanctified cause. During the spring and early summer, William was busy with preparation. Shipwrights were labouring in all the ports of Normandy in building and fitting vessels ; armourers and smiths were occupied in forging lances, swords, and coats of mail ; and porters were continually employed in carrying the arms from the w^orkshops to the vessels. William had by the middle of August, 1066, collected from his Norman forces and his various recruits a force of 60,000 men between the mouths of the Seine and the VI.] THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 97 Orme. The rendezvous of the vessels was at the mouth of the Dive. For a long time the north-eastern winds blew steadily, and kept the Norman fleet in its harbours and the Norman army encamped upon the shore. After a month the wind changed, and a western breeze carried the flotilla to the roadstead of St. Valery, at the mouth of the Somme, where unfavourable western wdnds recom- menced, and it w^as necessary to wait some days. The fleet anchored. The troops disembarked and encamped upon the shore. Here dysentery seems to have broken out in the army. Some of the vessels, broken by a heavy gale, sunk with their crews, and the spirits of the men fell. William, to increase their moral courage, had the dead secretly buried, and issued increased rations of food and spirits. But the soldiers, inactive and idle, chafed and murmured at their seeming bad fortune and forced delay. In truth, the unfavourable wdnd wdiich checked their attack was their best ally ; for while they halted on the Norman shore, another enemy appeared on a distant coast of England, and drew the defending general from the southern coast to repel an invasion in the north. Early in the year, Tostig, the brother of Harold, had gone to Normandy with the object of inducing Duke William to at once invade England. He pretended that he was more powerful in England than Harold, and that an immediate invasion w^ould command immediate success. But William was too wise to throw for a stake of such magnitude before his preparations were complete : and he declined at the time to act. It is said that he gave Tostig some ships, and it is certain that shortly after H 98 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. vi.l THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 99 Easter Tostig had some ships under his command, lie then came from Flanders to the Isle of Wight, where he plundered and enforced tribute, and then harried the coast as far as Sandwich. In the meantime Harold was in London collecting and organizing a large army. As soon as his preparations were complete he marched towards Sandwich, and Tostig sailed away. King Harold spent the whole summer in the south, preparing his fleet and army for the defence of the southern coast. He waited lonfT, but the Normans did not come ; and it is wonderful how he managed for so long to find food for his force and to hold together the men of the country who were called out for service, especially at harvest-time. By the 8th September, after waiting so long, the provisions of Harold's army were exhausted. He was forced to dis- miss the men of the southern shires to their homes, and retained with him only his House-carls and his immediate followers. Had he been able to keep his army together a few weeks longer, and not been called away to the north, the fate of England might have been different. When Tostig sailed from Sandwich he steered to Lin- colnshire, or Lindesey as it was then called, and began to harry the land. But the two earls, Edwin and Morkere, marched against him and drove him away. He then sailed to Scotland, and stayed with Malcolm till the summer. According to the Norwegian account, Tostig went to Denmark, and sought the aid of Swegen, king of Denmark, who refused to assist him ; and then he went to Norway, and solicited the aid of King Harold Hardrada. This Harold was the last of the Scandi- ■m navians who led the roving life which had originally such a charm for the worshippers of Odin. In his southern expeditions he had at times acted as a bucca- neer, at times as a soldier of fortune. He had served in the East under the leaders of his nation, who for nearly two centuries had possessed a portion of the Slavonian provinces. Then he had visited Constantinople, where Scandinavian mercenaries did the duties of the Imperial Guard. In this guard Harold enrolled himself, and, axe on shoulder, stood sentry over the gate of the Imperial palace, and served with his corps in Asia and Africa. Afterwards he returned home, and carried on a long war with Swegen, king of Denmark. Tostig persuaded Harold to undertake an expedition against England, as the Norwegian chronicles tell. English sources of information say nothing of the jour- neys of Tostig to Denmark or Norway. They mention simply that Tostig found Harold cruising on the coast of Scotland in company with the Earl of Orkney. Any- how it is sure that Tostig and Harold Hardrada united at the mouth of the Tyne, and that Tostig swore fealty to Harold and became his friend. They then attacked Scarborough and burnt the town, sailed together to the mouth of the Humber, and afterwards to the mouth of the Ouse. They pushed up the Ouse to a place named Riccall, where the ships were left under the charge of raul. Earl of Orkney,^ and the land army marched upon York. ' The Orkneys and Western Isles of Scotland were now inhabited and held by Northmen. H 2 100 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. VI.] THE N0R3IAN CONQUEST, 101 The Norwegian legend tells many omens of ill-success which greeted the formation and embarkation of the Norwegian force. It says that while the Norwegian army was encamped, before the wind was favourable for the sailing of the fleet, vague causes of depression and undefined presentiments of evil fell upon the soldiery. Several believed that they had prophetic revelations in their sleep. One dreamed that he and his comrades were landed in England, and saw the English army marching against them with banners displayed ; that in front of the army came a woman of gigantic stature, riding on a wolf, and as she rode she fed the wolf wdth the carcases of men. The vision of another was, that a flock of birds lighted on the spars of the vessels of the fleet, and that a woman on a rock, counting the vessels with a drawn sword in her hand, said to the birds, '' Go, go without fear ; you shall soon have plenty to eat." Whether these stories are true or not, the visions of his soldiers did not prevent Harold from undertaking the expedition. When the fleet of Harold and Tostig was left at Eiccall, the soldiers marched on to Fulford by the Ouse. Here the Earls Edwin and Morkere met them, to stay their further advance, on the eve of St. Matthew. The troops on both sides fought very bravely, and in one part of the field the English gained a success; but Harold Hardrada then came up with his banner, which he named the " Ravager of the World." His assault turned the fortune of the day, for he pressed mightily upon the English, so that they fled. Their flight must have been a complete rout, for we are told that more of them were drowned in the river than fell by the sword of the Northmen. The Northmen remained victorious on the place of slaughter. This battle of Fulford was fought on Wednesday, September 20. The defeated army naturally fled to the fortress of York, and the invaders as naturally blockaded the city. The demorali- zation of the army of Edwin and Morkere seems to have been complete, and it would almost seem as if they expected no aid from Harold, for the city of York made peace with the foreign general on the following Sunday. The people of York gave to the Northmen one hundred and fifty hostages, and the Northmen gave the same number to the men of York. The men of York also received Harold, king of Norway, as king, and promised that more hostao-es should be eiven for the whole shire of York. Harold and Tostig did not occupy the city which had capitulated, but retired to Stamford Bridge on the Derwent, and to Aldby, the town of the old kings, to await the hostages. We have before seen that about the 8 th September Harold allow^ed the men of the southern shires who were under arms to return to their homes. There is no evi- dence to prove that this had anything to do with the receipt of the news of the descent of the Northmen in Yorkshire, but it is not unlikely that this was the case. On the news of the presence of the actual invader in the island, he would naturally take his picked troops, his House-carls and his Thanes, who could march rapidly and be easily supplied, and, leaving the local militia in their J 102 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. own counties, trust to supplement his regulars by the local militia of the north. Even if food had been available, it would not have been advisable to keep together an irregular militia while the regular officers and troops were away. If the invader had landed, he would easily have swept away such a force, have gained easily the moral triumph of a victory, and would have destroyed a body of men who, in company with regular troops, might be highly valuable. Harold no doubt trusted to be able to defeat the Northmen and return to the south coast in time to oppose the landing of William. If he could not do so, it was better even to allow the Normans to land, and to fight with collected forces in the interior of the country, than to allow an invader to gain the importance of the fact of an early success. It almost seems as if Harold's intelligence as to the state of the Norman forces was at this time faulty. His spies, perhaps eager to bring pleasing intelligence, as spies always are, exaggerated the effects of the late heavy weather on the Norman fleet ; for it is most extra- ordinary that at the same time as Harold marched with his army to the north, the English channel fleet went to port in search of provisions,^ and the English southern coast, in the face of an armament prepared on the oppo- site shore of the Channel, was left doubly unguarded. Harold's movements w^ere characterized by the utmost rapidity. It cannot be clearly traced where Harold was when he received the intellig;ence of Tosti^'s land- ing; so it is impossible accurately to determine the ^ Eoinan de Ron. VI.] THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 103 I time taken by his march from the south to the north ; but we know that he did not leave Stamford Bridge before the 26th September, and that he was ready to fight at Senlac on the 14th October. It is doubtful whether a modern army could, without railways, march from York to London in seventeen days. The rapidity of Harold's movements seems to clearly show that he moved without any infantry, and carried with him only his Thanes and House-carls, who marched on horseback although they fousfht on foot. o On the evening of Sunday, the 24th September, the even- ing of the day that York capitulated to Harold of Norway, Kins: Harold of Enoland marched into Tadcaster on the Wharf. This was the last stage on the old Eoman road from London to York. Near it, four centuries later, was fought the battle of Towton, the most sanOTinary battle of the Wars of the Eoses. Here were the English who had been detached to the north-eastern coast, and had sailed up the Wharf to avoid the Norwegian fleet when it sailed up the Ouse. The appearance of King Harold at Tadcaster changed the whole course of affairs at York : the burghers re- sumed their arms, and the gates of the city were care- fully guarded, so that no one should carry information to the camp of the Northmen. Harold inspected the fleet, and the following morning pushed on to Stamford Bridge. His march was ap- parently so directed that he avoided the enemy's out- posts and surprised the main body. The day was one of those autumnal days in which the sun has still its full 104 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. vigour. The Northmen lying near Stamford Bridge seem to have spread widely on both sides of the Derwent, and, not expecting any contest, to have neglected to put on their coats of mail. While they were thus at ease they suddenly saw a cloud of dust, and through the dust a glittering in the sunshine which looked like burnished steel. At first the Northmen supposed that it could only be some Englishmen who were coming to give sub- mission, but as Harold and his troops pushed on they were found to be the enemy. Horsemen were at once sent to bring up their comrades from the ships, but the men on the York side of the Derwent were completely surprised, and seem to have been immediately over- whelmed with great loss. Then it is said that one brave Northman held the bridge over the Derwent against the whole force of the English, and killed as many as forty enemies with his axe; and stood his ground till his post was turned, and he himself attacked in rear bv an Endish- man who crossed lower down the stream in a boat. After this came the most severe part of the fio-htin^r for the Northmen on the further bank of the Derwent had had time to form their order of battle. Harold of Norway planted his banner, which he called the "Land- waster," ^ and his soldiers fell in around it in a long narrow line, curved at the extremities, so as to refuse the flanks. They formed, with their shields pressed close together, what was then called the "shield- wall,'' and stood prepared to fight a defensive battle till the arrival of their com- rades from the fleet. The English quickly attacked. ^ Freeman, VI.] THE N0R3IAN CONQUEST, 105 Superior in numbers, they hewed down the shield-wall with their axes, and broke the first line of Northern battle before the reinforcements from the fleet arrived. In this encounter Harold of Norway was killed, and Tostig took the command. The Northmen strove to fioht on, but the first line of battle had been broken, and the troops who came up from the ships, though fully equipped, were not strong enough to turn the day. Only, however, after a severe contest, in the end the English won the victory, and pursued the Northmen with great slauo-hter. Tosti^: was killed as well as Harold, and the royal banner of the Norwegians captured by the victors. Olaf, son of King Harold of Norway, and Paul, Earl of Orkney, seem to have been taken, for they sw^ore oaths ' to Harold and gave him hostages* / By the victory of Stamford Bridge Harold saved Endand from the invasion of the Northmen, but a more dangerous enemy was in a few days on the southern coast. The army of Duke William was detained at Saint Valery by stress of weather till the 27th of September. At daybreak of that day the sun rose bright, and the breeze blew from the south. The camp was immediately raised, and the army commenced its embarkation. A few hours before sunset all preparations were complete, and 400 ships with large sails, and more than a thousand transport vessels, weighed anchor and stood out to sea, amidst the clang of trumpets and the joyous cheers of 60,000 men. The vessel of Duke William led, with the banner blessed by the Pope at its masthead, and a cross on its own flao;. Its sails were of diSerent Ill 106 INFJSrONS OF ENGLAND. fcHAP. VI.] THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 107 h I colours : on tliem were painted the three lions, the arms of Normandy, and its figure-head was the image of a boy carrying a bended bow with the arrow ready to quit the string. Lanterns were hung from the spars of this vessel, to serve as beacons and guides in the nio-ht passage. At daybreak, the vessjl of Duke WilJiam had sailed so much faster than the transports, that it was out of sight of the rest of the fleet, but all came up during the morning of the 28th; and that day, as Harold was in the north and his fleet had gone to seek for food, the French landed at Pevensey without opposition. The archers, or light troopers, dressed in short coats, and with their beards shaved, landed first, and probably occupied an intrenchment which was made in apparently an angle of the old Eoman walls of Anderida. The landing thus covered, the horsemen were sent ashore, wearing coats of mail and helmets of burnished steel, and armed with long lances and straight double-edged swords. These were followed by the artificers of the army, who brought on shore the siege train and the pieces with which to construct three wooden castles that had been prepared beforehand. The Duke himself was the last to land. The same story is told of his landing as of that of Ceesar in Africa. It is said that as he touched the shore he fell, and that as he got up with his hands begrimed with mud, one of his attendants said to him, " This is a good omen, Lord Duke ; thou hast already taken seizin of the land of England." ' ' When a lord gave lands to a vassal, he often gave him seizin by handing him a piece of earth. The custom still prevaUs in the sale of landed property m some parts of the island. I ■t After occupying the town of Pevensey, the Norman army took the road to Hastings. There Duke William erected one of his wooden castles, on the hill where the ruined castle now stands. His troops overran the neigh- bouring country, ravaging and pillaging houses and lands.^ At Hastings they remained for fifteen days. It is diflicult to account for this delay, unless William was io-norant of the situation of the English army. The fertile lands of southern England were before him, where he could have fed both his troops and his horses, and it would have appeared peculiarly advantageous to him to have marched rapidly on London during Harold's absence, and seized the city, which was always the hot- bed of opposition to foreign invasion. There seems no satisfactory reason to account for this delay. It may perhaps be supposed that William ex- pected a rising of the Frenchmen in England. It is known he brought many arms in his fleet, which might have been intended for partisans ; and the erection of a castle at Hastings seems to show that, so far from burn- ing his vessels according to the vulgar story, he was peculiarly solicitous of the secure communication with his fleet. Harold, in person, was at York after the battle of Stamford Bridge, although he must have already begun the movement of his troops towards the south, when a Thane, who had seen the Normans land at Pevensey, came Avith the intelligence of their debarkation, having ^ These accounts are very likely exaggerated : probably the troops were ordered only to take the food which they required. But in foraging some plundering always takes place. 108 I.WASIONS OF ENGLAND, [CHA] ridden day and night with the news. At the same time a yeoman arrived who had come from Hastings, and he told King Harold how the army of Duke William had marched from Pevensey to Hastings, how they had made a castle at the latter place, and how they were wasting the land far and near. King Harold at once mustered his House-carls and Thanes, and those of his following who had fought at Stamford Bridge, and started with all haste for London. He at once sent out orders to all the land, bidding all men fit to carry arms to concentrate at London, to fio-ht against Duke William and his Normans. The men'^of Wessex and East Anglia hastened to join his standard, and as the King went to London he picked up the men of all the shires of Mercia through which he passed. The men from those shires of Mercia under the King's brother, and under Waltheof the son of Si ward, obeyed the call ; but the men from the other shires of Mercia did not come, nor did those from Northumberland, except such as followed the King from York ; for Edwin and Morkere considered that the descent of Duke William only threatened Wessex, and thought that even if Harold fell they might become kings instead of earls. It was of course impossible that the infantry of the shires could march at the same rapid rate as the King himself and his mounted House-carls, and time was required to concentrate his forces. A short time Harold waited in London, and at his own house at Waltham ; but he did not give his whole force time to collect, and he advanced from the Thames towards the southern coast with an army four times less numerous VI.] THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 109 A A than that of Duke William. The success of his rapid movements from the south to Yorkshire perhaps inspired him to seek to overthrow Duke William by an attack as sudden and unexpected as had ruined Harold Hardrada, and he may have hoped to find William's troops as much divided as those of the Norwegian. But when they neared the coast of Sussex, he found that his opponent was as vigilant and skilful as himself. The Norman outposts were thrown out a long distance, and the cavalry piquets, falling back, told that the English were coming on furiously. To attempt an attack on the fortified camp at Hastings with an inferior force would have been utter madness, so Harold took up a position, probably to await reinforcements, on a hill called Senlac, about seven miles from Hastings, which, in memory of the great contest that occurred there, is now known as Battle.' While Harold was collecting his army in London, messengers seem to have passed between his head-quarters and those of William. It is said that in these pour- parlers Harold ofi*ered William money to go away, and that William off'ered to Harold the land beyond the 1 It must be remembered that scarcely any details of the battle of Hastings can be gained from English sources. Neither the Chronicles nor Florence give anything but the most meagre account. It is from Norman writers that we have to 'extract the story, and Norman writers not unnaturally were biassed. The best account of all is that shown, not written, in the Bayeux tapestry, which every Englishman ouglit to see. Those who cannot do so may read with advantage Sharon Turner's account, vol. ii. p. 324. The Bayeux tapestry, the Roman de Ron, "Carmen de bello Hastingsensi," "Life of William," by William of Poitiers, and the " Brevis Relatio," seem to be all the authorities for the history of the fight. no INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. VI.] THE NORMAN CONQUEST. Ill • I i II ■ M l\ Humber, and to Gurth the land wliicli Godvvine held ; that William offered also to submit the decision of the quarrel to the arbitration of the Holy See, or to the ordeal of single combat. It is impossible to say if these tales are true; but if they are, Harold declined all William's propositions, declaring that the quarrel was not his quarrel, but that of the people of England, of whom he was the chosen chief. When Harold arrived at Senlac and found that it was impossible to surprise the Norman camp, it is said that some of his officers counselled him to retreat and lay waste the country before him. If it is true that Harold's fleet of 700 sail, as some accounts assert, had now again taken the sea, and was capable of blockading the Norman fleet, this would have been his best policy. His army was much inferior to that of his enemy, and the Normans would have soon been compelled by want of provisions either to have lain down their arms, or to have hazarded a flank march in the presence of the enemy, to gain a country not yet devastated. Harold, however, neglected this counsel on the score that it would be treason to lay waste his own land, and took up a position to bar the progress of the invaders inland. If the English leader made a strategical error in de- termining to accept battle with inferior forces while reinforcements were hurrying up to his aid, his tactical dispositions were certainly excellent for sustaining a defensive contest. The position he took up was the southernmost spur of the hill country of North Sussex, called Mount Senlac. He occuj)ied a ridge across this spur. In rear of the position the country was much broken and wooded ; in front lies a small detached hill, used probably by the English army as an outpost, and further south is the hill of Telham, a spur of the heights which run from Hastings inland. This position was well suited to be held by an inferior against a superior force coming from the south, as the assailants could not attack in front without encountering much dis- advantage of ground, and could hardly attempt to turn it without exposing themselves to be attacked in flank on the march. On the main hill Harold formed his front of battle. The English at Hastings, fighting a defensive battle, formed a line much similar to that adopted by the Northmen at Stamford Bridge. They formed a deep line with the flanks refused and the standard in the centre, with their shields pressed close together. Harold, ac- quainted with Norman customs, gave his men every vantage at Senlac, for the English all fought on foot, wliile the Norman gentry fought mounted. He also intrenched his position and covered its front with stakes and willow hurdles. It must have been thus very difficult for the Norman cavalry to approach ; and even if they breasted the intrenchment, they found an unbending line of shields, topped with helmets and guarded with the terrible English axe and bill. The English arrived at their camp on Senlac on Friday, the 13th October, 1066. His cavalry had in- formed Duke William of their advance. The horse- men, able to approach much nearer to a hostile army than at the present day, could probably tell him accu- rately the English strength ; and spies, it is believed, let 112 INFASTONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. him know that large forces of English were rajoidly collecting near London, and that in four days Harold would be at the head of an army of 100,000 men. Of course William Avas eager to fight while his forces were superior, and before his enemy received reinforce- ments ; and it was now known in the Norman camp that the morrow would be the day of battle. Harold had declined the prudent advice of the coun- sellors who urged him to retreat and await his supports : his position was prepared; and the English also, if their intelligence was at all good, should have known that the morrow would be a day of battle. There seems, however, no evidence to show that they did. Norman writers tell that while during the night the Norman camp was hushed and silent, except where priests chanted litanies or soldiers murmured confessions, in the English camp the sounds of laughter and of wassail were heard from the sides of the watch-fires, where the English House-carls drank deep horns of beer and shouted the songs of Brunanburh or Maldon. Early on the following Saturday morning, the Feast of Pope Calixtus, Duke William arose, heard mass, received the Holy Communion, and marshalled his army. The whole force then marched to the hill of Telham, whence they could see the English camp on Senlac. There the Norman knights put on their armour, and exchanged the cobs which they had ridden from Hastings for their heavy war-horses. William, when putting on his coat of mail, turned the, fore-part backwards. This was considered an unhappy omen; but the Duke asserted that it was a good VT.] THE NORMAN CONQUESi'. 113 sio-n as that day the duke would be converted into a kin^. He then^ saw King Harold's standard on the Senlac hill, and he vov^ed that he would build where that standard stood a great cathedral in honour of Saint Martin, the Apostle of the Gauls. As the army of Duke William approached Telham hill, the dust raised by its march would be seen from the English camp ; and when the troops crowned Telham, whence during the pause which occurred there William no doubt recon- noitred his enemy's position, they could of course be seen from the English position. King Harold ranged his troops in order of battle. On the slope of the hill towards the centre of the position he planted the two banners which were g>lways borne with an English royal army, and marked the post of the king. One was the golden dragon, the ancient ension of Wessex ; the second was Harold's own standard, richly bejewelled with precious stones, and with the efiigy of a fighting man broidercd in gold upon it. In front of the standard Harold formed his House-carls, his own Thanes and followers, and the troops of Kent and London. These were armed with coats of mail, had javelins to hurl at the commencement of a fight, and axes and knives for closer combat. But besides these well-equipped troops there were the ceorls who had come from all the rural districts of the south, and who were armed as they could best arm themselves. Few had armour, and many neither swords nor axes. Some had 1 After he had donned his harness. This seems aR if the standard had not bpcn ftying when he first reached Telham. 114 INP^ASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. 11 pikes, some forks or scythes, and a few bows and arrows. On open ground these irregular levies could not have withstood for a moment a charge of Norman chivalry. They were therefore placed in reserve, where the crest of the hill trending inwards leaves a narrow summit. Here they could guard the flanks against such desultory attacks as might be made against them. Harold, after ranging his army, rode along the position and inspected the troops. He told them that the Normans had come to conquer England, that the Norman horsemen were most formidable, but that if the English stood firm no cavalry could break their shield- wall, and if they maintained the intrenchments shoulder to shoulder they must gain the victory. After having visited the different points of the position, Harold returned to his post by the standard, dismounted from his horse, prayed God for aid, and then took his place beneath the royal standard. By his side stood his brothers Gurth and Leofwine, and his kinsfolk. Duke William formed his army in three columns of attack. On the left were the men of Ponthieu, of Maine, and of Brittany, led by Alan ; in the centre the Normans marched, led by William ; and on the riojht flank were all the mercenaries and adventurers from France and Picardy, led by Roger de Montgomery. The head of each column w^as formed of archers, who were followed in support by the heavy-armed infantry, and the horsemen closed the march of the columns, to rush into any gap made by the footmen, to ensure victory, and to conduct pursuit. In the centre Duke VI.] THE NORMAN CON qu EST. 115 Willifim himself rode on a Spanish charger brought from Galicia: he wore around his neck the most important of the relics on which Harold had sworn, and he carried in his hand a mace of iron. By his side rode Odo bishop of Bayeux, and his other half-brother, Robert count of Mortain; and the banner, blessed by the Pope and borne by Toustain le Blanc, floated above his h(?ad. The moment before ordering the advance, the Duke raised his voice and spoke to his officers. " Fight your best," said he, " and give no quarter ; for if we conquer we shall be rich : if I take the land, you shall share it. Know, however, that I am not come here merely to take what is my due, but to revenge our Avhole nation for the felonious perjuries and treason of these English. They put to death the Danes, men and women, on the night of St. Price : they decimated the companions of my kinsman Alfred, and put him himself to death. On, then, in God s name, and chastise them for their misdeeds."^ The Norman troops were so eager for the combat, that they barely tarried for the end of their leaders speech. The army was quickly in motion, and pricking across the ground that lies between Telham and Senlac. In front of all rode a minstrel, nicknamed Taille-fer. He had sought Duke William's leave to strike the first blow; and now he rode before the Norman columns smgmg the song of Roland and of Roncesvalles, and tiirowing up his sword and catching it again as he ^ Thierry's " Norman Conquest.'" I 2 116 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. vi.l THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 117 went. As Taille-fer closed on the English line he killed one man with his lance and another with his sword, but was then himself cut down. The Norman army, about nine o'clock on Saturday morning, came in contact with the English. The Norman archers first poured upon the defenders of Senlac a shower of arrows, and, covered by this fire, the infantry rushed to the attack, shouting the Nor- man war-cry, " Dieu aide,'' which the men of England answered as loudly with " God Almighty '' and *' The Holy Cross.'' But the arrows fell harmless on the linked shields of the English, and the French infantry, shaken by the javelins hurled from behind the intrenchments, went down under the ponderous axes of the House- carls and the men of Kent, without being able to effect a gap in the Englishmen's iron wall. To cover the retreat of their infantry, or to avenge their repulse, the chivalry of France, with lance in rest, charged up the slope and bore against the position of the English ; but the intrenchments stopped the career of the horses. The sudden shock brought many riders and steeds together to the ground. On these the English soldiers plied their heavy axes and ghastly bills so sternly that they never rose again. Again and again did the French renew the assault on the hill ; again and again the heads of their columns melted away under the heavy strokes of the English, who preserved their unbending line in front of the spot where the standard of Wessex floated. Dismayed by such a stern resistance, the Bretius, who fought on the Norman left, began to waver, and, as is nearly always the case in battle, the wavering line soon melted into flight. The infection of fear quickly spread, and soon afterwards the Normans turned. The English were then strongly tempted to break their ranks to pursue, but the discipline and example of the King held those near Harold firm to their post. But some of the irregular troops, who had perhaps been drawn in to aid in resisting the Breton attack, carried away by excitement, quitted their lines and followed the flying enemy into the open. In the Norman ranks a cry was raised that Duke William was slain ; and at first, being carried away by the throng of fugitives, his horse fell with him ; but he quickly mounted another, and, riding among his men without his helmet, cried, '* I live, and by God's help I mean to conquer.'' With the assistance of his brother Odo he managed to rally and to restore order among the flying troops, and he cut off with heavy slaughter the rash English who had quitted their position in pursuit. Having re-fon::ed his men, Duke William again ad- vanced to attack. This time his men seem to have fought steadily up the hill, and William himself got so near the English standard that Gurth could single him out and hurl a spear at him. The spear missed its aim, but the Duke's horse was killed: but Duke William pressed forwards on foot and met Gurth face to face, and slew him with his own hand. Earl Leof- wine was killed about the same time. 118 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [cHAr. V,.] lUE NORMAN CONQUEST. 119 ill llll Somewhere about, this period of the battle it seems as if Eoger de Montgomery and the French adventurers on the Norman ridit ^ had succeeded in breakinor throuo^h the intrenchments on the English left. The second attack was more successful than the first, but Duke William saw that on the hill-side, even if gaps w^re forced in the intrenchments, there was no room for the action of his best arm — his cavalry. It is said that to induce the English to break their unyielding shield- wall he adopted the hazardous expedient of a pretended fiight. The whole French army seemed to be again in flight, and many of the light-armed English rushed down the hill to pursue ; but the French, as soon as they reached open ground, turned on their pursuers and cut many off with slaughter from their lines. Some of the English seized the small detached hill, and hurled down javelins and stones on those who attacked them. Otherrr', retreating, led their pursuers over a gully, over- grown with brushwood and long grass, into which the horses and riders fell, and thus caused the death of many Norman knights. Still it does not appear as if much impression had been made on the centre of the English position. So William formed his men for another attack, and this time placed the archers in rear of the assailing columns. He ordered the bow^men to fire not directly on the shields of the English, but up in the air over the heads ^ Those who have been in battles, and know the difficulty of rememberin,!]? exactly the various incidents, will understand the impossibility of describiii:^ accurately a fight of eight hundred years ago. of the assailants. In this way the archers had not to cease firing when the lines closed, and their arrows, falling at a high angle, could strike behind the shields of the English. The battle had been going on since nine in the morning, and it seems to have been about twilight when this last attack was ordered. The arrows of the archers, falling like bolts on the defenders, pierced the helmets of the English, and, causing men to raise their shields to guard their heads, opened gaps in the Encrlish line for the assault of the Norman in- fantry. One shaft in falling pierced King Harold in the eye, and he fell, disabled by pain, below the royal standard. From this time the line of Enolish battle seems to have been broken : and thouoh the fioht continued, it seems to have been more in desultory combats than in organized array. Twenty Norman knights swore to take the English standard, and strove to force their way through the surging mass which was still engaged in fierce conflict in front of the spot wdiere the wounded Harold lay. Many of them w^ere slain by the English, but the survivors succeeded in tearing down the standard of Harold and carrying ofl" the ensign of Wessex. Four knights, one of whom was Count Eustace, rushed upon Harold where he lay, killed him with many wounds, and mutilated his body. Still the death of Harold did not end the contest. No quarter was given, and none of the House-carls on the occasion seem to have fled. Those who escaped were probably wounded men who were carried away on the following day. The irregular forces naturally fled, but 120 liWASlOKS OF ENGLAKJ). [chap. VI. the nature of the ground hindered the Norman pursuit, and some of the Norman cavahy were lost in a morass on the north side of the hill. At dusk the battle seems to have ended ; the standard blessed by the Pope was raised on the spot where that of Harold had waved in the morning, and, the dead bodies being cleared away, William pitched his tent beside it. It is told that the body of Harold was recognized by a lady he had loved, named Edith, and was taken and buried under a cairn near Hastings, as William would not allow it to be placed in consecrated ground, since he considered Harold a perjurer and excommunicated. After the coronation of William, the body of Harold was removed, and was buried in the church which he had himself built at Waltham. Such is the story of the Battle of Hastings. CHAPTER Vn. INVASIONS TO REASSERT THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. [Authorities.— Roman de Rou, Tapestry of Bayeux, Thierry, Palgrave, Freeman, &c.] But the victory of Hastings did not give King William the possession of England. In London there were many Englishmen of rank and power who had not stood with Harold on the fatal hill of Senlac : the reinforcements which had been hurrying up to support their king in Sussex were rapidly mustering, and there was no room to despair of the English cause when the tidings of Harold's death and defeat reached London. The English in London chose Edgar the ^Etheling as their king, and a show was still made of resistance to the invader. A favourable opportunity was given to the defenders of the land to re-organize their forces and prepare for the defence of the line of the Thames, or that of the chalk hills which bounded the valley of that river on the south, for the Norman army halted long in its ad- vance on London. In those days the fall of London did not mean the submission of the kingdom, but still it was a most important point. But the English nobles were II •I 1 r> :y u:j INVASIONS OF ENGLAXD. [chap. li too much occupied with jealousies among each other to turn all their energies to the protection of the common- weal, and Edgar was too young and too w^eak to grasp the situation. While the army of William was still opposed by that of Harold, some Norman vessels crossed the Channel, and the troops they contained landed at Eomney. The English inhabitants received the invaders as enemies, and drove them off with loss. William, after his victory at Senlac, heard of the disaster of his comrades at Romney. To secure the entire coast and ensure the safe landing of reinforcements from Normandy, he deter- mined to establish himself principally on the coast of Sussex. Instead of advancing to the Thames after the battle at Senlac, he fell back to Hastings, and waited there a while for proposals of peace and for reinforce- ments to his army, which had lost one-fourth of its number by the battle-axes of the English. No man came to sue for peace, so the Norman leader marched eastwards along the coast, ravaging and destroy- ing as he went. At Eomney he avenged the defeat of his soldiers by massacring the inhabitants and burnino- the houses. Then he marched to Dover, of which he had desired to make himself master in virtue of the oath sworn by Harold. The Castle of Dover, the key of England, had lately been completed by the son of Godwine. It stood on a naturally steep cliff washed by the sea, which with great labour had been scarped on every side. The details of the siege of Dover are lost. All that is known is that the town was fired, and that the place surrendered : 1^ vii.] REASSERTION OF THE IXDEFENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 12.3 either because the garrison had gone to the battle and the place was not manned, or through the terror or treason of the commandant. William spent a wTek at Dover strengthening the works, and then moved by the Roman road towards Canterbury. On the way, it is re- ported that the men of Kent met him in arms and forced hhn to guarantee the continuance of their old laws, but this is not confirmed. Near Canterbury, however, Duke William fell ill, and was for a month detained from pushing forward the war. Still the English were worse than inactive, for Edwin and Morkere, angered at the election of Edgar as king, withdrew to their own domi- nions, and took away with them the forces furnished by their provinces. During the illness of William, it seems that a Norman detachment occupied Winchester, where was living Edith the widow of King Edward, and took from the town tribute, but did little damage, for William either was or wished to appear to be friendly with the widow of the sovereign by w^hose bequest he claimed the crown of England. As soon as its leader Avas recovered, the Norman army renewed its march, preceded by bodies of cavalry, Avhich foraged over the country and did much injury to the land. One party of horsemen, sent forward to clear the road and to reconnoitre, came upon the citizens of London on the outposts of Edgar's forces south of the Thames. These they quickly drove in, and then burnt the suburb of Southwark. After this skirmish the citizens doubtless guarded sternly all passages over the river, and withdrew all boats 124 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. from the Surrey side. William had left his vessels behind him, and we do not know whether they were not unable to sail for the Thames on account of the presence of the English fleet. So William moved up the right bank of the river, till he found a bridge and ford at Wallingford, in Berkshire. The Berkshire men had fouo-ht well at Senlac, but now their leader yielded without a blow, and the Norman army crossed the stream without resistance, partly by a ford and partly by an unguarded bridge. Various accounts are given of the conduct of the Norman troops during the march to Wallingford. Writers favourable to the English say that they plundered in all directions ; those who favour the Normans tell that no man suffered. Neither account can be accepted as accurately true. Of course William was forced to feed his army : on the one hand the hardships always caused by requisitions would be greatly exaggerated; on the other, foraging can rarely be conducted in the best dis- ciplined armies without plunder and violence, and the composition of William's army does not argue that high discipline would prevail among his soldiers, especially in their dealings with the people of the country. At AVallingford William formed an intrenched camp, to secure his communications and to cut off English re- inforcements which might attempt to move from the west towards London. He then moved north-east, to Berk- hampstead, in Hertfordshire, to cut off London from aid from the north, and to prevent Edwin and Morkere, even if they desired, from coming to the help of the city. Thus London was isolated from the country. The Nor- VII.] REASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 125 man cavalry ravaged the country which supplied the town with provisions ; and though the citizens came to blows sometimes with the Normans, they were forced to succumb by fear of famine and the faint-heartedness of the garrison. Edgar, the Archbishop Eldred, some other bishops, and the best men of London, came to Berkhampstead and swore oaths of fealty to William, and gave him hostages, and in return William swore to be clement and merciful to them ; but it seems as if his troops ravaged the country all the same. William himself marched to London, and on Christmas Day, 1066, was crowned King of England in the new church of King: Edward at Westminster, with the consent of the Normans and the few timid English who were present at the ceremony. But the streets of the then suburban village of Westminster had to be crowded with Norman cavalry to protect their countrymen who took part in the ceremony, and so apprehensive were the guards of surprise, that on the sound of the acclamations which greeted the election of the king, they fired the houses which doubtless would have hindered their free action and given cover to enemies. The coronation of William did not complete the con- quest of England. For five years the strife between the English and the Normans overtly endured, and for cen- turies was furtively continued. During the whole period of the conquest the state of England was wretched. On the very day of his coronation William imposed an enor- mous war contril)ution on the citizens of London. He I'lG IM'ASIOKS OF ENGLAND, [CfTAP. immediately began to construct a castle in tlie city, the foundation of the Tower of London, and himself retired to Barking till its fortifications were completed. While their leader remained at Barking;, the Norman army rested concentrated round London and on the southern coast, but the partition of the occupied districts, at once com- menced. The whole property of those who had been supporters of Harold, whether they were present at the great battle, or hindered from taking part in it by in- voluntary delay, was confiscated. The product of this wholesale spoliation was the pay of the adventurers who had followed William from Normandy. Some obtained this pay in money, some in land, some by compulsory marriage with English heiresses, some by the possession of English matrons or English maidens as mistresses. Li the winter of lOGG the Norman army seems not to have occupied the country north of the Wash, nor south of the highlands of Dorsetshire, but these boundaries did not long limit the exactions and spoliations of the invaders. Soon the state in which these southern districts now re- mained was extended over all England. English men had to undergo servitude and penury ; English women insult and outrage more terrible than death. Those whose fortunes did not tempt their conquerors to take them var mariage were taken par amour, and English ladies of noblest rank became the toys of the lowest privates and camp-followers of the army. The towns, although fired and partly destroyed, were portioned out to Norman possessors, who exacted from the diminished and impoverished householders the full taxes w^hich had vii.] rtEASSEIlTlON OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 127 been paid by a flourishing community in the days of Edward. For the lands thus wrung from the English and be- stowed on the chiefs of the expedition, these swore fealty to their leader. They again meted out their spoil among men of lower rank, who in return for their tenures vowed military service. All w^ere rewarded at English expense, and drovers of Normandy and weavers of Flanders became rich knights at the expense of the former pro- prietors of the country. Such misery bore its fruit, and when William returned to Normandy, in the year after Hastings, the exactions and outrages of the Normans, under the rule of his brother Bishop Otho and his friend Fitz-Osborn, drove the people of the eastern coast to seek independence for themselves and their country by the aid of a foreign power. Eustace, Count of Boulogne, who had caused confu- sion in England during the reign of Edward, was now at enmity with William, who held his son a prisoner. The former connection with Edward — the good King Edward to whose days Englishmen now looked back with regret — made him regarded as a national ally to Eno;land. The men of Kent sent a message to Eustace, and pro- mised to aid him to take Dover, if he would make a descent and help them against the Normans. The Count of Boulogne assented, and landed near Dover under the cover of a dark night. All the English near took up arms. Simon de Montfort and the Bishop of Bayeux, 128 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. the governors of the fortress, had gone beyond the Thames with their troops. Had the siege lasted two days, the whole population of the country would have joined the invading force. But Eustace made a rash attempt to seize Dover by surprise. He was repulsed by the Norman garrison, and his troops lost heart on the first failure. A report of the approach of a Norman army struck terror into his soldiers : a panic broke out in the ranks. Eustace ordered a retreat, which quickly degenerated into a flight. His men hurried in disorder to their ships, and the Norman garrison, seeing them dispersed, left their works and pursued. Eustace him- self owed his life to the speed of his horse ; many of his men were killed by falling in their haste down the steep steps which scaled the cliff on which Dover Castle stands ; and the English insurgents dispersed by byroads to their homes. Such was the result of the first invasion which had as its object the re-establishment of English power in England. Eustace soon after made his peace with William, and forgot the allies whom for the moment he desired to succour. During the absence of King William in Normandy, revolts in England against his power were frequent. On the borders of Hereford the Eno-lish and Welsh united under the command of Edrik, and drove some partisans of the Normans from the valley of the Lugg. As yet the Norman posts had not been established in this district, and a Norman king was not acknowledged (here any more than between the Humber and the Tweed. In the midland districts the Norman cavalry freely VII.] REASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENOLAND. 129 roamed over the open country, but many fortified towns still remained untaken. Each of these was the centre of opposition to Norman aggression, and communications were established between them to rally the friends of English independence, and to organize a general rising. The tidings of this agitation and threatened danger to his power reached William in Normandy, and urged his return to the island. He embarked at Dieppe on a cold December night, and reached London in time to celebrate there the festival of Christmas with great solemnity. The feast which marked the anniversary of the day when the Prince of Peace was born, seemed likely to b]ing peace to England. William assembled round him many English chiefs and bishops. He gave to them the kiss of welcome, hearkened to all their counsel, and listened to all their complaints. The men of London beheved that the bitterness of the death of national in- dependence was past ; freed for a time from outrage and spoliation, they abandoned resistance to the Norman power, returned to their desks and their workshops, and William was able without concern to march his troops from the neighbourhood of the capital to complete the subjugation of the provinces which were still unsubdued. The campaign of 1067 was opened in the south-west. Crossing the hilly land which separates Dorsetshire from Devonshire, the Norman army bore down upon Exeter. In this city, after the battle of Hastings, the mother of Harold had taken refuge, and here she had collected her treasure. The burghers of Exeter strengthened their walls, called in the men capable of bearing arms from K lao INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the neighbouring county, and enlisted foreign merce- naries for the defence of the city. The Normans halted at a place four miles distant, and William summoned the city. The townsmen offered tribute, but refused to pay fealty to the Conqueror as king. Some of the leading men, apparently bribed by Norman largess, gave hos- tages, but the burghers would not yield, and shut them out of the town. So the sieoje bcQ-an. The assault was led by a battalion of English who had enlisted in Norman pay either by compulsion or from the force of hunger. The Normans invested the city. The siege continued eighteen days : many of the Normans died, but their places were supplied by fresh men, and at last the town surrendered, apparently by treachery. Forty- eight houses were destroyed in the siege, and the Normans applied their materials to the construction of a fortress which was called Rougemont. After the capture of Exeter the Norman troops pushed forward into Corn- wall. The English settlers and the Celtic inhabitants were involved in a common ruin. Their country was wrested from them and partitioned out among the in- vaders. The war was then carried into Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, w^hich were also overrun and reappro- priated. In the south the theatre of independence was thus gradually curtailed, but the north was still unsub- dued, and English patriots still freely roamed the country from Oxford to the Tweed. By these the alliance of the Welsh chieftaius was sought, and a great plan w-as at this time formed to free the island from the Normans by a general rising. The project was, however, dis- •II.] REASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OP ENGLAND. 131 covered before it could be executed, and in consequence of its discovery many noble Englishmen fled to the north from Norman vengeance, and crossed the border to seek the friendly refuge offered to them by Malcolm, king of Scots. Tlie descents of the Northmen, which had caused so much trouble in England, occasioned a great revolution in Scotland. South of the Forth the invasions of the Danes had strengthened the Teutonic race akeady esta- blished there, but north of that river the Northern raids had gradually weakened the power of the Picts. The Scots, men of Irish extraction, the inhabitants of the Western Highlands, had taken advantage of this weak- ness ; and at last, Kenneth MacAlpine, king of the Scots, descended into the more fertile country of the Picts, welded the two tribes into one, and became the sole ruler of Scotland. The fusion of Picts and Scots, though not effected without violence, was not of the nature of a conquest of one race by a race totally different. The blood of the two tribes was the same, and their languages were not so dissimilar but that at the time of the Norman invasion no trace remained of any difference between the idioms of the Picts and the Scots. The only difference of languages or of race was that between the Northerners of Gaelic blood, who spoke the Gaelic tongue and lived beyond the Clyde, and the Teutonic colonists of the lowlands between the Forth and the Tweed. Even in those days this difference was homg gradually diminishexl. The superior intelligence K 2 182 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. and the grander mind of the men of Germanic blood were gradually, peaceably, and silently, but certainly and surely, replacing the wild and lawless character of the Gael. Even at this time the kings of Scotland pre- ferred the men of Germanic blood to the Celts descended from the same ancestry as themselves, and welcomed with cordiality every immigrant from England. IMal- colm, then king of Scotland, seems to have been the last sovereign crowned at Scone who could speak the vernacular of the Highlands, and from his time the Celts of the North sank into opprobrium and contempt, until resuscitated to a romantic interest by the dexterous pen of Sir Walter Scott. It was this desire to en- courage the settlement of men of Teutonic race within his realm which led Malcolm to extend so eagerly the hand of friendship to Edgar. He gave to all the fol- lowers of the English ^theling lands and possessions, probably taken from his Gaelic subjects, and himself espoused Margaret, Edgar s youngest sister. The news of this alliance, and the hostile attitude of the north of England, determined William to push his operations rapidly. He marched upon Oxford. The buro-hers resisted, and insulted the invader from tlie walls; but the miners made a breach practicable, aiul the assailants pushing into the town, avenged the insult with fire and sword, and more than half the houses in the town were destroyed. Warwick, Derby, and Lei- cester were captured in quick succession, and all felt the withering hand of the victor in all its rigour. Nottingham and Lincoln soon fell into Norman hands. VI!.} REASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENOLANI). 133 Li all the cities thus taken, Norman castles were raised and Norman garrisons posted, so that fortified positions were gradually established through the country to secure its possession and to prevent its revolt. It was especially necessary for the Normans to guard effectually the eastern coast, for it was feared, not without cause, that the Danes, excited by the woes of their kins- men of Teutonic race, might make a descent upon the island to aid the English. Having occupied Lincoln, the invaders marched upon York. On their way at the fork of the rivers which united form the Humber, they were met by the allied armies of the Northern English and the Welsh. As is always the case, the seasoned and well-disciplined troops of the invader defeated the irregular and hasty levies of the de- fender, though animated by the most lofty patriotism and inspired with the greatest courage. When the regular defences of a country have once been broken down, it is too late to endeavour to replace them by the ephemeral creation of hasty levies. Many of the English were slain; those who escaped sought safety within the fortress at York, but the victorious Normans followed them closely, made a breach in the ramparts, rushed into the city, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword. A few remnants of the English army escaped in boats down the Humber, and gained safety in Scotland. York was now established as the main Norman forti- fied post of the north. In the centre of the town a citadel was built, and this fort was garrisoned by five iiundred men-at-arms, with several thousand squires and 134 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. followers. But the country in the neighbourhood [was not occupied, and the Norman garrison, fearful of attack, hastened to complete their works and to collect stores of provisions. While war was still threatening the Norman power, and agitation was everywhere cropping up within the sphere of Norman dominion, an invasion to restore English independence was attempted on the south-west coast. In 1069, Edmund, one of Harold's two sons, who with his brother had sought refuge in Ireland, either after the battle of Hastings or after the taking of Exeter, came to England with sixty vessels and a small army, provided by Dermot. Landing near the Avon, he made an assault on Bristol, but failed to capture the town ; so, returning to his fleet, he sailed along the coast, and again landed in Somersetshire. On his descent the whole neighbourhood rose against the Normans, and the insur- rection spread into Devonshire and Dorsetshire. The Cornish men threw in with the English, and the Norman garrisons of the south-west were attacked. These were supported by the English soldiers whom William had ranged under his banner, and whom he sent against the invaders, careless of the loss on either side, provided only that Englishmen perished. Many of the English auxiliaries were slain ; but the men of Edmund do not seem to have gained a decided success, and although the insurrection was not quelled, Edmund returned to Ireland to bring across fresh troops. He was not absent long. Then, returning with his brother God wine, he entered the mouth of the Tamar, in VII.] RE ASSERTION OF TUE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 135 Devonshire. The point was unhappily selected, for in that direction were concentrated the Norman rrarrisons of the southern counties. The Norman leader surprised the English, and defeated them with the loss of two thousand men. The surviving invaders sought safety on board their vessels, and sailed away, abandoning all hope of the rescue of their country. To stamp out the insur- rection, the Norman garrisons of London, Winchester, and Salisbury were marched into Dorsetshire and Somer- setshire, and martial law was executed on those who had taken up arms or were suspected of being implicated in the revolt. But the Western population, once aroused, was not de- terred from further action either by the executions in the south or the retreat of the auxiliary fleet. The inhabitants of the Welsh border, and of the district round Chester which had not yet been taken, formed an army, and, moving on Shrewsbury, drove back the Frenchmen towards the east. The Norman leaders who had defeated the sons of Harold moved against them, and, William in person hastened from Lincoln to join them with his picked troops. Near Staff'ord he fell in with the main body of the English forces, and overthrew it in one battle. The Norman leaders from the south marched on Shrewsbury, and this town, with the surrounding country, again fell into the hands of the foreigner. The mhabitants threw down their arms; a few men only sought the hills and the forests, whence they made raids on the French lines of communication, cut ofl" stragglers and orderhes, and annoyed their enemies by a guerilla 136 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. warfare ; but the cities, the main roads, and the open country were thoroughly held by the French troops. In the north, insurrection was still rife. The king: was forced to hurry to York to relieve the French garrison there, which had been besieged by the j^eople of North- umberland. He raised the siege, with great slaughter of the besiegers, and having ordered the construction of some extensive fortifications, confided their care to William Fitz-Osbern. Fitz-Osbern assumed the offensive, and sent an expedi- tion to capture Durham, but his force, after it had entered the town, was attacked by the inhabitants of the banks of the Tyne. The Normans sought to defend themselves in the episcopal palace, but their enemies set fire to the building, and the whole expedition perished by fire or the sword. The men who gained this success were the descendants of the Danish colonists of Northumberland, and friend- ship had never ceased to exist between them and their parent stock in Denmark. When they found themselves threatened by the French, they sent to demand help from Denmark in the name of their common country. This application was supported by the prayers of many English refugees at the court of King Swegen, who implored the Danish sovereign to draw the sword against the French oppressor of a kindred Teutonic race. The Germanic peoples have ever shown themselves prompt to rush to arms to protect from stranger oppression the sons of the Fatherland when settled in foreim lands. Kino; Swegen, notwithstanding the endeavours of William by VII.] UE ASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 137 diplomacy and Ijribery to divert him from his object, in the autumn of 10G9 called together his ships and his soldiers to sail to the rescue of En2:land. A fleet of two hundred and forty sail, commanded by Osl)ern, brother of King Swegen, and his sons Harold and Knut, started for England. On the news of the departure of the flotilla, the English in Scotland exerted all their influence to cause an expedition to aid the Danes. In the interval between the two festivals of the Virgin Mary in autumn, the Danish chiefs landed in England. The Normans, from the first period of their advance on the east and north of England, had foreseen the possibility of a Danish alliance, and fortified posts had been thickly erected along the eastern coast. It is remarkable that tlie Danes, coming to help the people of the country, the nationality to which the maritime popu- lation and fishermen belonged, should have attempted their landing on the most strongly guarded portion of the coast. It may have been that they hoped to capture London and shake the political jDower of the French ruler ; or they may have calculated that a descent on the south-eastern coast, if successful, would cut off the Norman garrisons scattered in the north and west from their communications with Normandy, whence reinforce- ments were continually arriving. Had the Danish descent in this direction been successful, it can hardly be doubted that \h^ French, cut off from Normandy, and exposed to the attacks of a victorious army in rear and to the assaults of the insurgent English in front, would have lieen in a precarious position. But William's 138 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [ClIAl' VII.] REASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 139 great military genius and wonderful foresight saved his followers from this hazard. The Danes were repulsed successively from Dover, Sandwich, and Norwich, and, attain standinir out to sea, were forced to seek the mouth of the Humber. As soon as their approach was known, the chiefs of the English from every direction hurried with all their kindred to join them. King Edgar, with the nobles who had sought an asylum in Scotland, hastened across the border, and a large army was quickly formed near the Danish landing-place. With the English forming the advanced guard, and the Danes in support, the army so collected started to capture York. Information was sent to the burghers that the hour of their deliverance was nigh, and soon the city was completely invested. On the eighth day of the siege the French garrison was already closely pressed, and fired the houses near the ramparts, so that the besiegers might not avail themselves of their materials to fill up the moat. But the fire did not check the assail- ants progress ; the English and the Danes, aided by the burghers, forced their way into the city, and the garrison was driven to shut itself up in the two citadels. Here the French found no safety, for these were carried by assault on the same day ; and in that hour of short-lived triumph the English seem to have wreaked a heavy vengeance on their oppressors. Several thousands of the men of France perished by the assault, and some who escaped and took refuge in a wood were burnt to death by the wood being set on fire. In their wild frenzy of hatred, the English destroyed the fortifications which the French had raised at York, instead of preserving them for their own defence of the town. King Edgar was declared king, and concluded a treaty of alliance with the burghers, and for a space a descendant of Cerdic ao-ain reio^ned in Encrland. AVith the fall of York fell the French power north of the Humber, and Edgar s kingdom stretched from that river to the Tweed. It was, however, the approach of winter ; the Danish fleet took up winter-quarters at the mouths of the Ouse, the Humber, and the Trent. The Danish and English armies waited for spring to force the war southwards, and to drive the Normans from England. The news of the capture of York and the defeat of his Norman troops considerably agitated William. But his vexation did not betray him into rash' action. He essayed by craft to separate the Danes from their English alliance, and sent skilful messengers to Osbern, the l)rother of King Swegen, who commanded the Danish forces. The pleadings of these messengers were probably aided by the scantiness of provisions in the Danish camp, for the Dane yielded to the offer of William to give him secretly a large sum of money and permission to seize freely provisions on the whole eastern coast. On his side the Dane engaged to depart from England at the end of winter without fighting. Faithful to his promise to the Norman, faithless to the English cause, he departed from the English coast when the time for active operations returned. William, at the same time as he cut away by diplo- t 140 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. ! i i \ 1 ( macy their active aid from the independent English, undermined the sympathy of their subjected countrymen with them. He listened to the complaints of the English in the occupied districts, checked the excesses of his agents and soldiers, gave the English inhabitants a few favours and some good words, and in return received from them fresh oaths and additional hostages. Having thus secured his base of operations, and deprived his adversaries of their best hope of resistance, William moved upon York w^ith a considerable force of liis best troops by long marches. The English who occupied the town, although forsaken by their allies, manfully held the walls, and were slaughtered in large numbers in the breaches. The contest was long, but in the end the French \vere victorious, and carried the city. King Edgar, and all who could escape with him, fled to Scot- land, and again sought the generous asylum again hospitably proffered to them by Malcolm. After the capture of York from the English for the second time, William took terrible measures to prevent the north-east coast from again harljouring a Danish invasion. His troops were let loose on the land north of the Humber, the fields under cultivation were destroyed, the hamlets and towns were burned, and the men were massacred. Nothing was spared, and in the winter of 10G9 the whole of North-eastern England was devastated and converted into a desert. This rigorous execution was due to military, not political motives. AVilliam knew well that a desert land could not support an invading Danish army, any more than it could harbour a po[)iila- VII.] REASSERTION OF TEE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 141 tion which might make common cause with the invader. The men of the north-east, driven from their own land by famine and desolation, sought refuge in the moun- tains of the western coast, in the marshes of the Wash, and upon the sea, where they maintained an independent life by the fruits of the plunder of the enemy's stragglers and the enemy's convoys. The Normans now entered Durham without opposition. The town was converted into a fortified post, but the country around was devastated, and soon the whole district between the Humber and the Tyne was deso- lated by the fire and sword let loose upon them during this fearful winter. Wilham himself, sweeping the remnants of resistance before him, moved to the Roman wall, which stretched from the Tyne to th^ Solway, and after crushing out the last spark of rebellion in the north, returned to York. Famine, the certain successor of desolation, fell upon the devastated regions in the year 1070, and many who had escaped the Norman sword fell victims by Norman instrumentality to a more horrible, because more lino-er- ing. death. York itself was a mere heap of ruins, the result of two sieges. The remaining inhabitants of York- shire and of the counties in the north, after feeding on the dead horses left by the French army, at last greedily devoured human flesh. But this distress was the por- tion only of the Englishman : the French soldier, in his garrison or post of observation, lived in plenty. The French stores were filled with provisions ; for though food failed in Northern England, the natives still had treasure : 4 ! 142 IXFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. this was wrested from them, and employed to buy pro- visions on the Continent for the men who garrisoned the desolated country. Famine among the inhabitants ended in the subjugation of the country. Men formerly of note among the English inhabitants were forced, for the hare sustenance of life, to sue for any terms and to accept any conditions from their French oppressors ; and some Englishmen were fain to earn the remnants of a groom^s dinner by selling themselves and all their family into perpetual slavery. ^ But the country, devastated and desolate as it was, did not secure immunity even by its desolation. It was partitioned and divided among the conquering race, and such churches, shops, and even butchers' stalls as still remained, were farmed by Frenchmen to their miserable subjects. After the conquest of the north, the north- western shires were rapidly overrun. Cumberland be- came a Norman county; the soil of Westmoreland and the beautiful women of its valleys were divided among the Norman troops, who pursued into its mountains the English who sought a harbour of safety there. The English proprietors who lived in Lancashire were expelled and their properties swept into one demesne, which fell to Gilbert de Lacy. In the west, the French who -had occupied Shrewsbury pushed beyond Offas Dyke, entered Wales, and so commenced the conquest of that princi- pality, wdiich was only completed two centuries later. The first Norman fortress built on Cambrian soil was placed sixteen miles from Shrewsbury, by a leader named Baldwin, and in native Welsh was known as Tre-Faldwin, VII.] EE ASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 143 but the name given to it by the French was Montgomery, in compliment to Eoger de Montgomery, earl of Shrop- shire and of the annexed portion of Wales. In the year 1070, Chester, which had hitherto been free from the foreigner s incursions, was taken by William, who marched thither from York, along roads, hitherto deemed impracticable for horses, which led across the chain of mountains running north and south throurrh Western England. At Chester, as usual, a fortress was constructed; another at Salisbury, and another at Stafford. With England thus almost entirely occupied, William returned to Winchester, which was his sprino- residence as Westminster was his summer, and Gloucester his winter abode. The whole country from Cape Cornwall to the Tweed was now, if not subjugated, at least held. In every large town the French held a fortified position ; on every high road their posts were established, and their cavaby in most parts scoured the open country without molestation. The war between the two races still continued, but in a difi*erent form. The French persecuted the English, and executed by sentence of court-martial those who raised a hand against them. The English emigrated in large numbers: some went to Wales or Scotland; othe'^s sought the countries where the Teutonic language was spoken and understood— Denmark or Germany ;"" while several took service under the Emperors of the East, and Englishmen formed almost entirely the Imperial Guards who, under the name of Varangs, guarded the Imperial chamber and held the keys of the Imperial treasure. 144 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. Those who could or would not (juit England took refuge in the forests and mountains of England, or in the marches which then extended so widely over Hunt- ingdonshire and Lincolnshire. From these places of safety they made raids against the French convoys, or assassinated the French Avhen they ventured abroad in detached bodies. The sanctity of the cause in which they struck sanctified all means in their eyes, and they inflicted not a little damage on the new proprietors of the land. It was in vain that the Normans branded these patriots as outlaws ; the law that they violated had no sanctity in their eyes, for they had given no sanction to its institution. In the eyes of the people, the name of outlaw became a term of afl^ection instead of contempt; and for long years after the Norman Conquest, the English ballad singers delighted to recount the tales of the daring deeds of the outlaws in the merry greenwood : to sing of how they roamed free, with no home but the forest glade, no resources but the king's deer ; how they seized the king s ofiicers and held them to ransom ; how they plundered the king's deputies and judges, or seized the king's bishop as he passed through tlie forest, and forced him to dance a measure in his canonical robes. For the Norman Conquest was not without its in- fluence on the English Church. English bishops, English priests, English monks, and English nuns were hunted from their cathedrals, their glebe-houses, their cloisters, and their convents. In the places from which the clergy of English race were ousted, men of foreign race were vii.] RhJ ASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND, 1 45 by force installed, who jDreached to the English in an unknown idiom, and could barely converse with their flocks in the vulgar tongue. These men, however, were useful, for they were still in the eyes of Englishmen endowed with the power to bind or loose, to absolve or to condemn ; and they thus discovered many a patriotic plot, and detected for the good of their fellow-country- men many a scheme of revenge. Thus the French clergy, who filled the churches and the cloisters, became, in the eyes of th^ wilder portions of the English community, mere symbols of foreign domination, and to these, a bishop dancing in his pontifical robes seemed but a humorous insult to the oppressing race. The outlaws mustered in great numbers in the Isle of Ely, which, then surrounded by marshy lakes and forests of osiers, was one of the most inaccessible portions of the country. Here a camp of refuge was formed, whence sallies were made on the neighbouring Norman land- holders. Here Hereward, who had long been the scourge of the invaders, sought an asylum, and here he con- ducted some of his most spirited enterprises. But in 1072 William surrounded and invaded the camp of refuge, and scattered its colonists. Not, however, before its existence had led to the last mvasion which was undertaken to restore English inde- pendence. The Danish fleet, which had wintered on the eastern coast in the winter of 1069, and by its with- drawal had allowed the second capture of York retired to Denmark. King Swegen, who possibly received some of the money with which William gained the departure ^ 146 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. of Osbern, was highly indignant with the leaders of the futile expedition. He banished his brother, and assum- ing the command of the armament himself, sailed for England, and entered the Humber. On the news of his arrival, the English of the neighbouring districts again rose, and came to form an alliance with the Danes. But the country was now devastated, the population was decimated by military executions, and there was neither food for an army nor an auxiliary force of sufficient dimensions to secure the victory of the Danes. King Swegen returned to Denmark, but sent his lieutenants to the Wash. These, pushing up the rivers that flow into the Wash by means of the Ouse and the Glen, reached the Isle of Ely, where they were received as kinsmen, friends, and liberators. As soon as William heard of the arrival of the Danish fleet, he sent messengers and presents to the court of Sweo;en, and the kino- who had been so enrao-ed with his brother for sacrificing the English cause was himself fain to call ofl* his soldiers. The Danish fleet received orders to return home from Ely, and carried with it some portion of the treasure of the insurgents. This was the last invasion of England undertaken to secure the freedom of the island from French rule. The Eng- lish sank into a sullen and exhausted lethargy, crushed down and worn out by the power of the oppressor. Twice more their hopes were for a moment revived, and the fears of the French conquerors aroused. A report was spread in 1080 that a thousand Danish vessels, sixty vessels of Norway, and a hundred ships VII.] RE ASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. \ 4 -, f 4: I from Flanders, furnished by Robert de Frisen, were con- centrating in the Gulf of Lymfiord, with the object of making a descent on the English coast and giving relief to the English nation. But the Danes did not come on this occasion, although an insurrection which took place at this time seems to have been planned to aid their landing. Again in 1085 the English were excited and the French alarmed by the prospect of a Danish descent. The great bulk of the Norman troops was at once hur- ried into the eastern provinces^ posts were established on the coasts, and cruisers sent to sea. William sought mercenaries from the Continent, and again promised pay and England's plunder to those who would defend the land which his earlier soldiers had won. An immense number arrived from all parts. Fresh soldiers were billeted in the towns and villages, and now the Normans equally with the English were forced to provide and to lodge WiUiam^s troops. The tax of Dane-geld was resuscitated and re-established, at the rate of twelve francs in silver for every hide of land. The Frenchmen who were called upon to pay the impost wrung their contributions from their English farmers and serfs, who thus paid, to repulse the Danes coming to aid them, what their forefathers had paid to drive off the Scan- dinavians coming to invade them. Bodies of troops overran the north-eastern shires, to occupy them and also to devastate them and render them incapable of supporting either the Danes who might seek to land, or the English who might seek to L 2 : -^ 148 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. VII.] REASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND. 149 aid their landing. No beast, no man, no crops, no fruit- trees were left within reach of the crews of vessels which might descend on the eastern coast. But even these precautions were not considered sufficient. The English in all parts near the sea were ordered by the proclamation of criers to don Norman dresses and to shave their hair in the Norman fashion. But these precautions, stringent as they were, were not undertaken without cause. The King of Norway, Olaf Rys, the son of that Harold Hardrada who had been overthrown and slain at Stamford Bridire, was preparing to aid the nationality which had fought so resolutely against his sire. With him was allied Knut, the King of Denmark, son of Swegen, who had, as Danish chroniclers tell, yielded to the prayers of the exiled English, to the supplications addressed to him from England, and to the pity aroused in his breast by the sutferings of a nation so kindred to his own : a nation whose chief leaders and notables had been slain or exiled, and which found itself reduced to slavery under the foreign yoke of the French or the Romans.^ For the descendants of Eolf wei^e now regarded by the Teutonic nationalities as a different and distinct race. In adopting the Romance tongue, the Scandinavian colonists of Neustria had eliminated from their society the outward sign of Teutonic descent. French manners and French blood had mixed with the Scandinavian habits and Scandinavian race which had settled in * Hifit. S. Canuti. Normandy. The more refined and civilized tongue had triumphed, and, in the eyes of William, the Normans were regarded, and regarded themselves, as French, and were regarded by the conquered race as French, as much as Queen Victoria is regarded as English by her Indian subjects. The English, on the other hand, still spoke a Teutonic language, and still preserved the manners transmitted to them from the common fatherland. They ^vere still looked upon as kinsmen by the men who dwelt on the Elbe and the Weser, on the Eyder and the northern fiords. The Teutonic Kino* of Denmark recomized his rela- tionship with his kindred, and in the cause of his oppressed kinsmen resolved to draw the sword. But all the diplomatic arts of which Wdliam's legates were possessed were used to stay his enterprise. The whole power of the Church was thrown into the scale to delay his expedition. William bribed the Danish counsellors, and embraced the Danish bishops. Every difficulty was thrown in the way of the starting of the expedition, and every obstacle was raised which an obstructive hierarchy and unwilling captains could originate. The soldiers of Denmark were kept under arms for a long time without action and without ex- citement. They were willing to fight, but they could not endure the wearisome monotony of the camps in which they were assembled and delayed. They sought either to put to sea or to be allowed to return to their farms, their homesteads, and their commerce. Deputies 150 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [cHAr. VII.] REASSERTION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF ENGLAND, 151 were sent to signify their wishes to their king. Witli an unwise rigour he resolved to restore discipline. The ringleaders were imprisoned, and the whole army ordered to pay a fine. These harsh measures inflamed discontent into revolt. A mutiny broke out in the Danish army in July 1086, in which the king was killed by his soldiers. A civil war was the result, which spread over Denmark, and the Danish people, thence- forward occupied in their own quarrels, forgot the woe and sufferinor of the kindred English. This was the last attempt made by a foreign power to restore English independence. On its failure the English people began to despair of the future, and the foreign conquerors ruled triumphantly in our land. The English language was gradually ousted from the court, and was assigned to the common people, and, in the reign of Henry Beauclerc, French became the language of literature, society, and commerce. It was not till the time of the first Edward that the French supremacy was checked, and that the English element of our island's society was reasserted. Till that time the English were a subjected and servile race, and were mere serfs and villains in the land which Frenchmen ruled with all the dire severity of conquerors. A long list of glorious victories, from Cre9y to Waterloo, has avenged the French conquest of England. The Englishmen, conscious of recent victory, would willingly forgive and forget the past ; but those who know France best, recognize that the enmity between the nations of France and England is far from extinct, and were struck with wonder that during a recent war, many Englishmen hoped for the success of French soldiers and French diplomatists, who were engaged in conflict with the sons of our kinsmen, with the off*spring of our own fatherland. I CHAP. VIll.] NORMAN DYNASTY, 153 CHAPTER Vin. INVASIONS WITH THE OBJECT OF (.'HANGING THE NORMAN RULE OF THE ENGLISH. [Authorities. — Palgrave, Freeman, Grose's Military Antiquities, Matthew Paris, Henry of Huntingdon, &c.J The conquest of the English was gradually completed through England. Every precaution was taken by the French to prevent relief being given to their new subjects by foreign invaders. We have already seen how North- umbria was devastated to prevent its being made the base of operations of an invading army. Partly for the same reason, partly to satisfy the delight of the king in the chase, a large district of seventeen thousand acres between Winchester and the sea was also said to have been desolated to increase the old forest of Cetene, and to form a new forest. The uncultivated and desolate nature of this county is still attributed to William the Norman ; but some portion of the want of cultivntion is due, in great measure, to the geological nature of the district. But William certainly gave nature every advantage, and the New Forest, planted with trees, spread from Salisbury to ih^ sea, over a space of thirty miles, which had previously contained sixty parishes. There can be almost no doubt that this forest, as the others, were created for military reasons as well as for the pleasures of the chase. It was William's object to make the country in the vicinity as unfit for the debarkation of a hostile army as he had made the coast north of the Humber. To this reason may partly also be ascribed the stringent and cruel regulations which he made against carrying arms in the forests of England, or hunting in the royal demesnes. They were probably directed against the English who, under the pretext of pursuing game, might meet in arms for political pur- poses. It was ruled that whoever should kill a stag or wild boar should have his eyes picked out ; and game to the smallest kind was protected from danger.^ William included within the royal demesne all the great forests of England, the haunts and hiding-places of the last op- posers of French rule. The Norman game laws were the protection of the lives of many Norman subjects, and to secure this protection in its full importance, hunting in the royal demesne became a close privilege which could be granted by the sovereign alone. Many Normans of high rank objected to this exclusive law, but their opinions had to be held subservient to the general in- terests of the conquest, and only when the interests of the conquest no longer required it were the exclusive privi- leges of the chase surrendered by William's successors. ' This decree or Order in Council seems never to have been repealed, and by law Queen Victoria could to-day cause the eyes to be picked out of any poacher who shot a stag in Windsor Park. JI9AI& 154 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. In the thirteenth century the Anglo-French nobles enjoyed the privilege of hunting in their own woods and their own parks without danger of encounter with a royal forester or fine exacted by a royal keeper. The law for the preservation of game was expanded, and the Norman landed proprietors were able to keep watchers who might kill the Englishman detected in laying wait for deer or hares. On the death of William Rufus his younger brother seized the crown, while the elder brother, Robert, was still absent from Normandy on the crusade preached by Urban II. He immediately took steps to gain over to his rule the powerful ecclesiastical party, and made some advances to the English population, who eyed him with more favour than his brother, from the simple fact that he had been born in England. To strengthen his appearance as an Englishman, Henry quickly married a wife of English blood : this was the orphan daughter of Malcolm, king of Scotland, and of Margaret, the sister of Edgar the ^theling, who was then under the care of her aunt Christian, another sister of the iEtheling, being educated in the convent of Romsey in Hants. Her name was on her marriage changed from Edith to Matilda, as more familiar to Norman ears. This marriage with a daughter of their race did not bring much comfort to the English population, and did much to estrange from the king the support of his French subjects. When Duke Robert landed in Nor- mandy on his return from Italy, many of the French in I VIII.] NORMAN DYNAST r. 155 England were ill-contented with their new sovereign, and many French lords crossed the Channel to urge Robert to vindicate his claims and secure his due. Others sent messages to him, and avowed their deter- mination to stand by him as soon as his banner was raised on the southern coast. To the advice of these Robert hearkened, and collected a fleet and army for the invasion of England. Henry, supported by the clerical party and the men of English race, also prepared a fleet and army to oppose him. The English fleet was stationed on the coast of Sussex, but, through some cause which is not clearly explained, failed to intercept the Norman transports in their pas- sage across the Channel. While Henry with his army awaited his brother in Sussex, the Norman fleet crossed the sea, and the Norman army without opposition effected its disembarkation at Portsmouth. Robert was imme- diately joined by many French lords, barons, and knights, and the two brothers were preparing for battle. But the least excited of the French leaders, headed by Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, availed themselves of the delay which had perforce to ensue before the armies could meet, appeased the quarrel, and concluded a treaty be- tween the brothers. It was settled that Robert should again yield his claim to the crown of England in return for a yearly pension of two thousand pounds of silver, while Henry gave up to Robert the continental posses- sions of the family. Henry did not enjoy his acquisition in peace : the King of France, aided by the Earl of Anjou, took up arms 156 INr.lSIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. VIII.] NORMAN DYNASrr. 157 against him ; but in 1120, William, the only legitimate son of Henry I., married the daughter of the Earl of Anjou. This alliance detached the Angevins from the confederation, and peace was restored by Henry con- senting to do homage for Normandy to the Kino' of France. Almost immediately afterwards Prince Wilham was shipwrecked and drowned on his passage from Har- fleur to England, and Henry was left without a son. One legitimate child remained to him— Maude, who had married Heniy V., emperor of Germany. Left a widow in 1126, she returned to her father's court, and by her father's desire the French barons swore fealty to her as Henry's future successor on the throne. One of the first who took this oath was Stephen, son of the Earl of Blois and of Adele, the daughter of William I., the nephew of the king. The same year Foulques, earl of Anjou, the father-in- law of the drowned Prince William, assumed the Cross and started for the Holy Land. Before his departure he gave over his possession to his son, Geoffrey of Anjou, surnamed Phxnte Genet, from wearing in his hat in- stead of a feather a sprig of flowering broom. To this young Count Geoffrey the widow Matilda was married in 1127, and in 1133 a son was born of this marriage, who afterwards became Henry H. of England. On the birth of his grandson, the King again assembled the principal men of the realm, and they swore fealty to Matilda and to her children after her as the successors of Henry L on the English throne. Their vows did not bind them sternly, for two years later Henry L died, and Stephen of Blois, his nephew, immediately sailed for England, and was elected king by the lords, prelates, and barons who had sworn fealty to Matilda, and who satis- fied their consciences by the plea that a woman could not succeed to the crown. The election of Stephen was sanctioned by a bull of Pope Innocent H. The young king was extremely popular with his French subjects. He gave to the landed proprietors the right of the forests which had been jealously guarded as a roj^al prerogative by his predecessors. His tastes were lavish and magni- ficent : he freely spent the treasure which William L had collected, and which the sons of William had increased, and distributed in fiefs the lands which William had reserved as his share of the conquest, and which were known as the royal demesne. His popularity at first deprived the adherents of Matilda of all hope of the crown. Geofirey of Anjou consented to forego the claims of his wife for a pension of five thousand marks, and Robert, earl of Gloucester, the natural brother of Matilda, swore homage to Stephen. But this calm did not endure. Several of the young barons and knights who had sued without efiect for a share of the demesne lands, attempted to seize them by force. Discontent sprung up and gradually increased. Robert of Gloucester, required by the Holy See to observe his oath to Matilda, broke the peace with Stephen, and sent him a message renouncing his homage. War could alone decide between the party of Matilda and that of Stephen. The latter, to secure an army on which he could depend, collected, by the promise of good pay. ^1 i' 158 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHAr. VIII.] NORMAN DVNASTr. 159 !l mercenaries from the Continent, especially Flemings and Bretons ; but the English people apparently took no side in the quarrel, and, as is so often the case with neutrals, were equally abused and oppressed by both. In the quarrel between the partisans of Stephen and those of the Empress, they sided neither with the elected kincr, who vaunted his cause as that of order and of public peace, nor did they take a part in favour of the grand- daughter of Edgar the ^theling. Opposed equally to both parties, the English saw once again in the quarrels of their oppressors the hope of English independence. A last great national conspiracy was arranged, and on a given day, if Ordericus is to be credited, all the Normans in England were to be massacred. The plot was dis- covered^ by the agency of Lenoir, the Norman bishop of Ely. The most important leaders were forced to fly fur safety to Wales or Scotland, but others were seized and executed. Matilda, encouraged by the discontent of many of Stephen's subjects, incited by several of the French knights, and secretly encouraged by the chiefs of the clerical party, landed at Portsmouth on the 22nd of September, 1139, with a retinue of only 140 knights. Many of these, discontented with the King, hastene'd to join her. She moved quickly along the southern coast and threw herself into Arundel Castle, the gates of which were opened to her by Adelais, the queen dowager, now married to Albini, earl of Sussex. Adelais and the friends of Matilda in the east feared, before her forces had been collected, to remain in the east of the kingdom, and withdrew to the west, where her cause and that of the Welsh, equally hostile to Stephen, excited more sympathy. She removed to Bristol Castle, the property of her natural brother Eobert, earl of Gloucester, a man of great energy and superior military talent. The northern and western chiefs almost entirely renounced their oath to Stephen, and vowed again the support to Matilda which they had before pledged in her father's lifetime. Her party every day gained new strength. Stephen, deserted by many of the Anglo-French leaders, sent again abroad for mercenary troops, to whom he promised as the reward of success the plunder of the properties of his opponents. The opposite side also sought the aid of foreigners. At this time the Flemings were the most famous infantry in Europe. The services of the Bra- bangon soldiery were eagerly sought by both sides, and numbers arrived in England by various ports and various roads to join the cirmies of the Empress or of the King, both of whom promised to their supporters the plunder of their enemies' demesnes as the prize of victory. But in the civil war which now broke out, the foreign levies paid little heed to distinguish nicely between friend and foe. Their example quickly spread in both armies, and mdiscriminate plunder seems to have been the rule during the contest. For years the whole country was devastated by constant forays and counter-forays. ^^ Every rich man," says the Saxon Chronicle, -built castles and defended them against all, and they filled the land full of castles. They greatly oppressed the wretched people by forcing them to work at these castles, and 160 INFASWNS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Vlll.] NOBMAN DYNASTY. 161 when the castles were finished they filled them with devils and evil men. Then they took there whom they supposed to have goods, both men and women, by night and by day, and put them in prison for their gold and silver, and pained them with unutterable pain, for never were martyrs so pained as these were. Some they hung up by the feet, and smoked with foul smoke ; some they hanged by the thumbs, others by the head, and hung brands on their feet. About the heads of some they knotted strings and writhed them so that they went to the brain. They put them in quarters where there were adders and snakes and frogs, and so wore them out.- Some they put in a crueet-house — that is, a chest which is short and narrow, and not deep ; and they put sharp stones therein, and crushed the man therein, so that they broke all his bones. There were loathsome and grim things in many castles, called sachenteges, which two or three men had enough to do to carry. This was so made that it was fastened to a beam, and they put sharp iron about the man s throat and neck, so that he could neither sleep, nor lie, nor sit, and bore all that iron. Many thousands they wore out with hunger. I cannot, and I may not, tell all the wounds nor all the pains that they did to the wretched men of this land. And this lasted the nineteen winters while Stephen was king, and ever it was worse and worse. They levied taxes on the town continually, and called it tenserie} Then the wretched men had no more to give. Men they robbed, and all the towns, so that thou mightest journey all a ^ From tenstTy the old French " to chastise." a.w's K>^and shouklst never find a man dwelling in ^, norland tiUed. Then was corn ^^>^^ and cliecse and butter, for there was none of them m the Ld Wretched men starved of hunger : some lived on 1:1 who had been erewhile rich. Some fled out o^ he land. There was never more wretchedness m the land never did heathen men do worse than they did At lcn..th they spared neither churcli nor churchyard but tok all thit was valuable therein, and then burned tire church and all together. Nor did they spare the laud of bishops or abbots or of priests, but they robbed the monks and the clergy, and every man plundered Ins neighbour as much as he might. If two or three men eame riding to a town, all the township fled before them and thought that they were robbers. The bis lops and clei-y were ever cursing them, but this to them was nothinc, for they were all accursed and forsworn and reprobate. The earth bare no corn ; you might as well have tilled the sea, for the land was all rumed by such deeds, and it was said openly that Christ and his saints slept. These things, and more than we can say, did we suffer during nineteen years, because of our sins." Great terror prevailed in the neighbourhood of Bristol from the time that the Empress Matilda and her soldiers established their head-quarters there. Soldiers disguised in English dress constantly left the castle, and with arms concealed wandered through the neighbourhood, mingling with the crowds at market or in places of pubhc resort. °As soon as they saw a man whose appearance bespoke easy circumstances, they rushed upon him and M 162 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. VlTl.] NOiaiAN DYNASTY. 163 brought him into the castle, bound or gagged with wood or iron, where he was detained till ransomed. As soon as Stephen had collected his forces he marched against Bristol. He failed to take the city, which was well defended and well held, but his troops burnt and ravaged the surrounding country. Stephen then attacked one after another the fortresses along the Welsh frontier, the owners of which had almost in a body joined Matilda. Many of these he took, but while he was engaged in the tedious operations of these sieges, an insurrection broke out in the morasses around Ely, which had been the last refuge of English independence. This district, always formidable on account of its topographical facilities for defence, was made the trysting-place of the French barons of the north, who opposed Stephen's claim to the crown. Recalled from the west by the intelligence of the formation of a body of antagonists in this direction, where a fortress was being rapidly constructed, Stephen returned hastily and commenced an attack on the Isle of Ely. He made bridges of boats across the water, over which he passed his cavalry, and completely defeated the insurgent troops, which were led by Baldwin de Eeviers and Lenoir, bishop of Ely. The Bishop escaped to Gloucester, whither Matilda had moved from Bristol, where her officers were employed in repairing the breaches in the cathedrals, forming the churches into temporary fortresses, and arming the fortifications with the engines of war which at that time served as garrison artillery. The insurgent troops defeated at Ely were rallied by the Bishop of Lincoln, who formed an army on the eastern coast to oppose the King, and seized the castle of Lincoln. Stephen marched to attack the fortress, and, aided by the burghers of the town, laid siege to the castle, hoping soon to capture it by assault or famine. Robert, earl of Gloucester, hastened with an army to raise the siege, and Stephen, hearing of his approach, took np a position to cover the besieging force. The battle was fought on the 2nd February, 1141. After a stern onset the^'wings of Stephen's army were broken and driven off the field"^ The troops which had been victorious at Ely were defeated near Lincoln, and abandoned their leader, who was taken prisoner. Carried by his captors to Glou- cester, Stephen, by the counsel of the military advisers of Matilda, was confined in the donjon of Bristol. His defeat and capture was the signal for the great bulk of the French barons to desert his cause. His brother Henry, bishop of Winchester, on condition of freely exercising the whole Church patronage of England, the exercise of which was a constant source of quarrel between the temporal and spiritual authorities of the realm, acknowledged Matilda's title, crowned her at Winchester with the sanction of the assembled prelates, barons, and knights,^ and excommunicated those who were rebellious against her. But the good fortune of the granddaughter of AVilliam the Conqueror did not long endure. Her authority for 1 It is asserted that only ecclesiastics were present at this assembly, and that the only laymen present were the delegates of London, who protested aoainst the election. It seems unlikely that the Barons, who had now all forsaken Stephen's cause, would not be present. M 2 164 INFASTOXS OF ENGLAKT). [chap. a short time, by the judicious measures of Eobert of Gloucester, apf)earecl secured, but success engendered in the Empress an arrogance which quickly bore fruit. The Bishop of Winchester and other authors of her elevation were often received wdth coldness and contumely, and many supporters left her who would not submit to her treatment, but who were so far favourable that they would not declare for the King. From Winchester Queen Matilda w^ent to London, and immediately levied a heavy impost on the city. The townspeople, already despoiled by tlie civil war, remon- strated, but were treated with indignity. Angered by Matilda s bearing, they burst out into insurrection. The Empress and her Angevin supporters, surprised by the suddenness of the movement, and afraid to venture a contest in the narrow and tortuous streets, w^here superior military skill could be of little avail, mounted their horses and fled. The Empress escaped by the road to Oxford, and she safely gained that town with her brother the Earl of Gloucester and the few followers who still adhered to her in her misfortune. The people of London were satisfied with driving the Empress from their city, and did not pursue her ; but the partisans of Stephen entered the city and garri- soned it with their troops under the pretext of an alliance with the citizens : all that the burghers obtained was permission to enrol a thousand of their own men with helmet and hauberk, as auxiliaries of the troops who quickly assembled in the name of Stephen. The Bishop of AVinchester, seeing the recovery of his VIII.] NORMAN DYNASTY. 1G5 brother's party, broke with the Angevins and declared acrain for the prisoner at Bristol. He raised the royal st^indard at Winchester Castle and on his episcopal palace, which was strengthened and defended like a fortress. Eobert of Gloucester besieged him ; the garri- son set fire to the houses in which the besiegers sought cover, and these were obliged to take refuge in the churches. A relieving army came up from London : Robert of Gloucester was taken prisoner, but the Empress escaped.-^ The captured Earl of Gloucester was, however, the life and soul of Matilda's party, and Matilda, sensible of his importance, agreed to exchange Stephen for him. Stephen quitted Bristol Castle and resumed his rule over the central and eastern provinces. During his captivity Normandy had submitted to Geoff'rey of Anjou, the husband of ]\Latilda. On his release, Robert of Gloucester persuaded Geoffrey to allow his son Prince Henry to come to England. Henry landed at Wareham in 1142 with a small army, but his arrival produced nothing decisive. The civil war still continued. Stephen took Oxford in 1143, after a long siege : he was again defeated by Robert of Gloucester at Wilton, but the Empress, wearied with the protracted struggle, retired to Normandy in 1146, whither she had previously sent her son. About the same time Robert of Gloucester died, and the cause of Stephen seemed to be triumphant ; but many of the large landed proprietors were still hostile to him, the country was overrun by mercenary soldiers ^ The accounts of this siege at Winchester are most contradictory. 166 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. unrestrained by proper discipline, and the people bene- fited little by the apparent cessation of hostilities. In 1150 Prince Henry was with Matildas consent invested in the duchy of Normandy. In 1151, on the death of his father, this prince inherited Anjou and Maine, and in the following year contracted a marriaoe which gave him a still more formidable power on the Continent. Eleanor, the daughter and heiress of William, earl of Poitou and duke of Aquitaine, had been married for sixteen years to Louis VII., king of France, and had accompanied that monarch on a crusade, when it was whispered that she had listened too fondly to the tale of love of a young and gallant Saracen. This report, althougli it is believed now to have been wholly unfounded, induced Louis to seek a divorce, which was granted on the ground of consanguinity. Six weeks after her divorce Henry married Eleanor, and in her right acquired Poitou and Ac^uitaine. The fame of these great acquisitions bruited through England again raised a hostile party to Stephen, and when he wished to have his son Eustace anointed as his successor, the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to perform the ceremony, and fled across the Channel for protection. This action of the Primate was but an indication of a deeply-spread hostile feeling to Stephen in England. Prince Henry, made aware of this disposition of tha English barons, made a second descent on the Enghsli coast. Again he landed at Wareham, and pushed inland without encountering opposition. Near IMalmesbury Stephen met the invaders. In the action which ensued VIII.] NORMAN DYNASTY. 167 the young Prince Henry gained an advantage, and having t^ken Malmesbury, threw reinforcements into Wallingford, which Stephen, who had now collected a superior force, was about to besiege. About this time Eustace the son of Stephen died, and the way was open to an accommodation. The Norman leaders, weary of perpetual war, seized the opportunity, and by their medi- ation terms were arranged. It was agreed that Henry should surrender to Stephen for his life the whole terri- tory of England, on the condition that afterwards Henry should succeed. The Barons swore fealty and did homage to Henry as the successor of Stephen, and then the prince left the kingdom, but in October 1154, on the death of Stephen, returned and assumed the crown. CHAPTER IX. REORGANIZATION OF THE ENGLISH ARMY. — ATTEMPT TO UNITE ENGLAND WITH FRANCE UNDER THE FRENCH CROWN. [Authorities.— Thierry, Palgrave, Freeman, Grose, Sir Harris Nicolas, &c.] But the reign of Henry H., though a reign of prosperity for England when compared with those that preceded it, was not a reign of peace. In 1159 war broke out with the King of France concerning the county of Toulouse, which Henry claimed in virtue of the title of his wife, while Louis of France protected the rival pretender, Eay- mond de St. Gilles. To carry on this war Henry made an important change in the military organization which had existed in England since the Norman Conquest. Hitherto the Norman kings of England had held the power of convoking their military tenants in case of war, and embodying them in the army for forty days. The'royd military tenants came with their tenants, and a hetero- geneous army was formed, often intractable and undis- ciplined, as command depended not upon military capacity but upon birth. Such an army was also unfit to carry out a campaign, as its components were able to quit the ranks after a limited service of forty days. CHAP. IX.] INVASIONS FROM FRANCE. 169 Henry in order to carry on the war in France, raised from his military tenants a tax in lieu of personal service, and levied a scutage on each knight^s fee. The mditary tenants were glad to compound their personal service for money, with which the King was able to raise a paid army more amenable to command, and more willing to tolerate lengthened operations. The natural result of the introduction of paid military service was, that a much larger proportion of the lower classes were now found m the^'ranks. These were Englishmen : but the Englishmen who fought in Normandy and Maine were very differently armed to their ancestors who had fought at Senlac. They no longer wielded the ponderous battle-axe, the favourite weapon of the House- carls of Harold, but were armed with large bows and arrows a cloth-yard long. The Norman conquest had caused this change in English armament through two reasons. The English who had accepted Norman service and had consented to draw Norman pay, naturally were obliged to adopt the arms and tactics of their leaders. Those who had adopted the wild and independent life of the mountain, the forest, and the morass, had found it necessary to discard weapons useful only in close combat for others which could reach from a distance a Norman knight or a king's stag. The sons of both these classes were educated from infancy in the use of the bow, and England, in less than a century after the Norman conquest, was the land famous for archers. In 1173 Prince Henry claimed the crown of England from his father Henry H., and military operations were iii 170 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. INVASIONS FROM FRANCE. 171 commenced against the King in support of this claim, both on the Continent, where Henry himself led his army, and in England, where he left Henry de Lucy as guardian of the realm. The King of Scotland, in sup- port of Prince Henry, made an irruption into Northum- berland, and did great damage to the country, but being met by De Lucy, he agreed to a suspension of arms, and retreated into his own land. This truce enabled De Lucy to march southwards and meet an invasion which the Earl of Leicester, a partisan of the prince, had made in Suffolk at the head of a laro^e force of Flemino-s. Leicester was joined by Hugh Bigod, who admitted the Flemings to his castle of Framlingham. Making this his point of departure, Leicester marched into the heart of the country, hoping to induce many vassals and military tenants to join him. At Leicester, Northamp- ton, and Farnham, Leicester and his Flemings were encountered by the royal forces, and at the last place w^ere completely defeated by the troops of De Lucy and of the Earls of Arundel, Gloucester, and Cornwall. Leicester was captured, and the Flemings were glad to gain their lives as the price of at once quitting the kingdom. The reign of John was marked by three great contests which the King had to sustain, and in none of which he did aught but lose reverence and respect. In the first contest with the King of France, by the weakness of John, before the end of the year 1204 Anjou, Maine, nearly all Touraine, Brittany, and even Normandy, which the House of Eollo had held for four centuries, were torn IX.] a small portion of Touraine were alone, out of the wide continental possessions of Henry II. retained by he Kin- of England. The contest of the King with the Pope almost brought on an invasion of England for Inno- cent III., in consequence of the rash assaults of John on the English clergy, issued against the King personally his bull of excommunication, absolved all the Kings sub- jects from their allegiance, and called on all the sons of the Church to dethrone the Church's enemy. There were strong hands ready and willing to execute the Papal sentence of deposition. Philip Augustus, king of France, who had expelled John from Normandy, was equallv ready to expel him from England, and seize his insular as well as his continental possessions. A large armament was collected by Philip for the invasion of England at the mouth of the Seine, and though John, by seizing the Church property and rapaciously extorting contributions from his subjects, was enabled to maintain a considerable mercenary army, he could not, supported by mercenaries alone, hope successfully to contend against the great forces being arrayed against him by the French king. John appealed to the English people, and so great was the patriotism of the country that an army of 60,000 men was quickly assembled on the coast of Kent. But though this army was numerically sufficient for its purpose, it failed signally in a most important essential. The soldiery neither respected nor loved John, and had neither confidence in him as a military leader nor affection towards him as a beneficent sovereign. 172 IXFASIOXS OF ENGLAND. [cHAr. John, foreseeing the result of a contest with an army so demoralized, in abject terror implored Pandulph, the papal legate, to have mercy upon him and to save him. In a meeting with Pandulph at Dover, in May 1213, he submitted to all the demands of the Pope, and surren- dered to Pandulph, as the papal representative, the sovereignty of the kingdom of England and Ireland, and did homage to the Pope as sovereign lord, binding himself to hold his realm as papal vassal. In return, Pandulph promised that the excommunication should be withdrawn, and admonished the French king to cease his designs for the conquest of England. The admoni- tion of Pandulph was supported by an English squadron under the command of the Earl of Salisbury, which destroyed the French fleet in the harbour of Damme. The French king abandoned his project of invasion, and his army was sent into Flanders instead of to England. The man on whose account the Pope had quarrelled with the kinor ^vas the man who became the leader and inspirer of the great national movement wliicli led to the memorable contest between John and the nobility of the realm. Archbishop Langton was the chief promoter of the famous Magna Charta, the title-deed of English liberty. But the contest between the King and the Barons did not conclude with the grant of the Charter. After the meeting at Runnymede, John retired to the Isle of Wight, and there remained till the barons had dispersed to their homes and dismissed their retainers. Then, having col- lected a considerable force of mercenaries from the Con- INVASIONS FROM FRANCE. 173 ■X.] thJ^i^M^burst in as an invader into his own kingdom. The absence of all armed force to oppose his progress made him master of the open country. Rochester was besiecred and reduced by famine. Then the King com- menc°ed a march of terror through England, lettmg his mercenary troops loose on the country. From Dover to Berwick he spread devastation ; villages and castles were criven to the flames, and the people were driven into the morasses and mountains, or subjected to horrible tortures by the soldiery to force them to reveal their hidden treasure. The nobility of the north, who were particu- larly the objects of the royal animosity, fled across the border and sought protection from and paid homage to Alexander, the young king of Scots. To such an extremity was the liberal party reduced by the outrages of the foreign soldiery of the King, that its leaders had recourse to the desperate expedient of in- viting over Louis, the son of King Philip of France, and off"ering him the crown of England as the price of his assistance. Louis sailed from France with a fleet of six hundred vessels, and, on May 23,' 1216, landed on the Isle of Thanet. He was received in London in June by a large body of barons and prelates, who swore fealty to ■ him and did him homage in St. Paul's Cathedral. He in turn swore to restore their liberties to all classes of the inhabitants of England. The first result of the appear- ance of Prince Louis was that the bulk of his foreign troops and English adherents deserted John; but the Gascons and Poitevins remained faithful to him. Most ' Mattliew Paris. 174 INFJSIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAI' IX.] INVASIONS TROM FRANCE. 175 ;!• I !f of the fortresses fell into the hands of the party of Louis, but Dover held out for John under the command of Hubert de Burgh. But a rumour gained credence that Louis had formed the resolution of exterminating the Barons of England and installing officers from the Con- tinent in their properties. This report caused many to return to John's side, and he was enabled to assemble a large army with the view of fighting a decisive battle for the crown. But in passing from Lynn to Lincolnshire alono- a road which was overflowed at high water, and not choosing the proper time for his purpose, his baggage and treasure were overwhelmed by the sea and lost. The vexation caused by this disaster augmented an illness under which he was then labouring, and King John died at Newark on the 19th October, 1216. The right of the throne was left by John to his son Henry, who at the time of his father's death was but ten years of age. But the famous Earl of Pembroke stood forward as protector of the young king and of the afflicted country. By Pembroke's interposition the young prince was crowned as King Henry III., and in the name of the new king proclamations were published which told that all his subjects should enjoy a full amnesty for the past and freedom of laws and of rights in future. A new copy of the Great Charter Avas widely promulgated, and every precaution taken that its terms should be publicly made known. Nevertheless, some of the Barons still adhered to the cause of the Dauphin, who with their support and his own French army was enabled to carry on the war for nearly twelve months after the death of King John. When that king died the French prince held London and most of the southern districts. In the north and west he had partisans, and the Kincr of Scotland and the borderers of Wales were of course always ready to act as his allies against the Enolish. On the other hand, Hubert de Burgh, the stauncircommandant at Dover who had always remained constant to the House of Plantagenet, detained the main French army for many weeks before his fortress, and foiled all Louis's endeavours to capture it by force or bribery. The delay of the French in front of Dover gave time to Pembroke to reorganize the royal party, with which was now combined the national liberal party. On the 20th May, 1217, the Protector gained a brilliant victory at Lincoln over a large force which Louis had sent there under the Comte de Perche. This victory cleared all England north of the Thames of the foreigners, but did not much to shake their footing in the country, for a powerful fleet and army had been equipped in France to reinforce Louis and complete Ihe conquest of our island. The French Armada set sail from Calais on the 24th August, 1217, under Eustace the Monk, an ecclesiastic by profession, who had become a buccaneer by choice, and was as famous for his sea- manship and daring as infamous for his cruelty. The French design was to sail up the Thames to London. But De Burgh, the commandant of Dover, took counsel with the men of the Cinque Ports, and sixteen English vessels manned by English seamen, with twenty smaller ships, put to sea and carried Hubert de Burgh and his \ "^^ff 176 IXFJSIOyS OF EXGLAXD. [chap IX.] INVASIONS FROM FRANCE, 111 bravest kiiights to intercept the invaders/ The French fleet, far superior in number and in the tonnage of the ships, was soon seen approaching. The wind blew fresh from the south, and the French fleet was running be- fore it to double the North Foreland. The small English sc[uadron manoeuvred to gain the wind, and seemed at first to avoid the French fleet and stand out to sea as if makinof for Calais. Eustace the Monk, who knew the streno^th of the defences of Calais, lauiii-hed at what he imagined to be an Enrfish counter-stroke which he knew must be ineffectual. But when the English ships were well to windward of the French, they suddenly tacked and bore down on the rear of the invading squadron. As soon as the English came under the sterns of the French vessels they threw in grapnels and boarded, cutting down the stays and halliards with axes, so that the sails fell down on the crouching French crews and soldiery like *' nets upon small birds,'' as the old historian expr<3sses it. Surprised by the sudden and determined onset, the •French made a short and disordered resistance. Many of the sailors were put to the sword, and only fifteen vessels escaped. The great bulk of the remainder fell as prizes into the hands of De Burgh, and were towed into Dover harbour amid the cheers of the townspeople, who had been able to witness the fight from the cliffs. This victory off* Dover secured the crown of England to Henry III. Prince Louis, on hearing that the force intended to reinforce him had been defeated and scattered, entered into negotiations with Pembroke. A treaty was 1 Sir Harris Nicolas's '' History of the Royal Navy." (concluded at Kingston in September, by the terms of which Louis and his troops were allowed an unmolested return to France, and a full amnesty was granted to the subjects of the English crown who had espoused the French cause. Before the close of the year all the fortresses which Louis had occupied were handed over to the troops of the King of England, the prisoners were exchanged, and the French prince with his army sailed from the Enorlish coast. SUxMMARY OF EVENTS BETWEEN THE INVASION OF PRINCE LOUIS AND DESCENT OF MONTMORENCI. During the long reign of Henry IIL England was not free from war : the military annals detail the battles of Lewes and Evesham, the death of Leicester on the field, and the daring of Prince Edward in the fight. But these battles sprang from internal quarrels, not from foreign interference ; and as they neither resulted from nor induced a descent upon the English coast, detailed description of them would be foreign to the purpose of this work. But the reign of Henry HL was conspicuous for the advance of learning ; and experimental science in the hands of Eoger Bacon, the Franciscan friar, attracted an attention which subsequently effected a revolution in the science of war. Durinor the reiixn of Edward L one descent from the sea was made upon the coast of England. During the N 178 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. IX. progress of the war in Scotland, the French marauding squadrons in the Channel continually menaced the English coast. They were generally kept at bay by the ships and men of the Cinque Ports, but Montmorenci succeeded in making a successful descent on the shore in the year 1296, and partially destroyed the town of Dover. The result was only the capture of some booty and the destruction of some English property. No further invasion of England occurred during the reign of Edward L, but this reign marked an epoch in English affairs which has had a great influence on the subsequent military history of our country. The loss of Normandy by John had compelled the Norman barons who were landowners in England to reside entirely on their English estates. They thence became accustomed to look upon England as their home, and Englishmen as their countrymen, instead of regarding the island as a conquered land and its people as a subject race. The English language became gradually the language of all classes of society, and men of all ranks henceforward formed in the line of battle shoulder to shoulder for Enorland's riorhts and for England's honour. CHAPTER X. INVASION BY ISABELLA AND MORTIMER — 1326. The failure of Edward II.'s disastrous expedition into Scotland at Bannockburn, was succeeded by great misery in England. Famine and pestilence desolated the land : society was disordered, and the nobility and people, grievously angered by the King's partiality for worthless favourites, were ready to assent to a change of the sovereign. Queen Isabella, the most deadly enemy of her hus- band's many enemies, had sought refuge from the indignities of Edward at the court of her brother, Charles le Bel. To the same court she caused the young Prince Edward to be conveyed, and in his name Queen Isabella, with Lord Mortimer, one of the chief of the disaSected barons, undertook offensive operations against the King of England. Mortimer and Isabella made Hainault the base of these operations. There they raised an armed force of about 2,000 Flemings and Germans, besides the numerous English malcontents who naturally rallied round them abroad. With this army, sailing from N 2 ISO INFASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. tlio Flemisli coast in September 1326, Isabella, Mortimer, and the young prince landed at Orwell, in Suffolk. No force was prepared "to meet tbem on the coast, the land- ing was totally unopposed, and soon a large and power- fid party of the inhabitants of the country joined the .standard of the young prince. It is evident that Isabella must have been well aware of the existence of this party before leaving Ilainault. Her army could not have mustered more than 3,000 fighting men. With such a force it would have been easy to have made a raid on an unguarded portion of the coast, and, as the French cruisers so often did, have carried away a certain amount of plunder ; but to have attempted to have advanced from Orwell to the metropolis through a hostile country would have been impossible, even had the King been able to retain the allegiance of the 10,000 men-at-arms and 4,000 archers who now formed the more regular portion of the defensive forces of the realm. For" a force of 3,000 men moving through an enemy's territory from Orwell to London, must have left at least one-third of its number to guard the port of debarkation and the line of its communications, and could not have accepted battle with even the citizens of London alone without almost certain defeat. But King Edward 11. had almost no party, and cer- tainly no army. Three princes ol the blood royal— the Earls of Kent, Norfolk, and Leicester— joined the Queen as soon as she landed. The Bishops of Ely, Lincoln, and Hereford hurried to her camp with all the forces they could collect, and other prelates sent her aid in men and X.] INVASION BY ISABELLA AND MORTIMER. 181 money. Not a sword was drawn against her cause, as she marched forward proclaiming that she had come to free the kingdom and the King from the tyranny of the Spensers. Her army continually increased and swelled as she advanced. Her husband, on the other hand, after vainly endea- vouring- to raise the citizens of London, fled to the western counties before the mere news of Isabellas advance. Here neither he nor his hated counsellors found safety. The elder Spenser sought a refuge in the fortress of Bristol, but the ill-feeling of the populace compelled him to surrender the place on the third day that the Queen's soldiery invested the walls. The King, accompanied by the younger Spenser, had previously taken ship at this port to escape their enemies beyond the sea. The opposite party immediately declared that the King had by flying the realm forfeited his crown, and the young prince w^as proclaimed guardian and governor of the kingdom. The King did not, however, escape : a storm drove his vessel on the coast of South Wales, where he and the younger Spenser were taken prisoners by the Queen's troops near Neath Abbey, on the 17th November. The latter was hurried to Here- ford and immediately executed as a traitor ; the King was taken to Kenilworth, and subsequently to Berkeley Castle, where a dreadful death was inflicted upon him. i CHAP. XI.] INVASIONS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 183 CHAPTER XL INVASIONS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. The contest between England and France, which arose from the claim of Edward III. to the French crown, has been named by French historians the Hundred Years' War. Commenced by the English invasion of Picardy in 1338, the contest was renewed by Henry V. in 1415, and continued till the English were finally driven from Guienne in 1453. Not, however, without cessation, for there were ever and anon brief periods of hollow truce, but even daring these the quarrel was merely latent, not extinguished. Before the English king invaded France, the French Government had given him cause of com- plaint. The war which had broken out with Scotland five years previously was evei- fanned and nursed by French influence and French assistance. And while King Philippe de Valois encouraged the Scotch enemies of Eno'land, and made invasions into Edward's continental provinces, he seems to have meditated striking a home blow at England itself, and of carrying an offensive war into the island. There are reasons to believe that in 1335 and 1336 fleets and armaments were collected in the French ports of the Channel which were intended for more serious undertakings than merely to aid the Scotch in their own country, or to conduct such buccaneering and pillaging descents on the English coasts as con- tinually were taking place. These preparations aroused considerable alarm in England. In August 1335, it was deemed necessary to place the country in a state of defence against invasion ; special military com- manders were nominated particularly for the defence of London ; and merchant ships were impressed and con- verted into men-of-war. In the following spring all Englishmen between the ages of sixteen and sixty were ordered to equip themselves with arms and prepare for military service : and in the August of that year the principal subject laid before the consideration of Parlia- ment was the necessity of preparing the country for defence against invasion.^ The energetic measures adopted by the English Go- vernment seem to have deterred the French from making a heavy attack with the view of the conquest of the island ; and by the end of the year, Edward, justly aware that a true defensive military policy can only be secured by assuming the offensive, began to make preparations for carrying the war into his adversary's realm. Had he not done so ; had he been content to merely organize a military force solely available for the defence of the island, and incapable of striking an aggressive blow, the French preparations might have been carried on with ease 1 Rymer (ed. 1739), vol. ii. part iii. pp. 132—142. 184 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. for years, and the whole defensive army of England have been retained uselessly under arms for a generation. But \\iQ true military genius of the great Plantagenet clearly perceived the necessity of a totally opposite line of conduct. He made an alliance with the Flemings, which gave him Flanders and the port of Antwerp as his continental base of operations, and by the winter of 1339 had, after a short campaign in Picardy, assembled a considerable English army at Ghent, with which he intended again to cross the north-eastern frontier of the provinces subject to Philippe in the following spring. But from 1337 to 1340 the French fleet was superior to the English, and not only did it threaten to intercept the passage of supplies and reinforcements to the army in the Low Countries, but actually made a descent upon Portsmouth, partially destroyed the town, and retired with considerable plunder and without punishment. The necessity of a secure communication between his army on the Continent and England caused Edward to devote serious attention to gaining that command of the seas which English kings had formerly claimed, but which they had done little to enforce since the victory grained off Dover under John. The material which King Edward possessed wherewitli to cope with the naval power of France, was principally derived from the men and vessels which the Cinque Ports were bound to furnish for the defence of the coasts. The vessels which the ports had to furnish fully equipped with crews were fifty-two in number ; but Edward III. largely supplemented this squadron with royal vessels XI.] INVASIONS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 185 built by his own order, as well as by impressed mer- chantmen. With the fleet thus formed in 1340, King Edward won the great naval victory of Sluys, asserted the Eng- lish supremacy on the seas, and gained a safe communi- cation for his armies across the Channel. But French privateering descents still continued, and in the autumn of this year, only three months after the battle of Sluys, we find that by such descents Southampton was con- siderably damaged and much plundered. Such expedi- tions, however, had in those days but little effect on the result of a war. Now-a-days it would be different if hostile cruisers were to run into the Mersey, the Clyde, or the Humber, for their presence would cause extreme commercial misfortune, and the ransoms they might levy might seriously diminish the national wealth. But on the other hand, in modern times such descents must be much more difficult, and even in the absence of friendly cruisers could be rendered almost impracticable if the approaches to our great commercial ports were but pro- vided with proper batteries armed with long-range guns. A more serious invasion took place in the reign of Edward III., though no landing was ever attempted with the view of the subjection of the country, or even the occupation of the metropolis. The English, too confident in the naval supremacy which they had won over the French at Sluys, and the Spaniards at Winchelsea, failed to give proper heed to the improvement or maintenance of their fleet : and even the fortifications of the seaports were allowed to 186 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. fall into decay. Of this the French Regent had sure in- tellio-ence, and turned it to account. In 1360 a fleet with a considerable force was rapidly fitted out in the French ports ; and when the news reached England that that fleet was at sea, no naval force could be sent out to meet it. On the contrary, the English vessels were hauled up on the coasts so as to be beyond the reach of the enemy : and a general muster was commanded of all men capable of beariiio- arms, to guard the maritime counties. Natu- rally a hasty and ill-organized levy was found to be of no avail, and the French landed without opposition at the then important town of Winchelsea, burnt the place, slaughtered a large number of inhabitants, and de- solated the neighbouring country far and wide before an eflicient force could be collected to check their in- roads. Still, during this reign the English nation was united : there was no party within the realm to stretch a hand to an invader from without ; and although bucca- neering descents were easy, any attempt at invasion with a view to the subjugation of an united and patriotic people, was necessarily extremely difiicult. The last truce made by Edward III. with the King of France expired shortly before the accession of Richard 11. The French then recommenced hostilities with great activity, and in 1377, after sweeping the English merchantmen off" the seas, in June made a descent on Rye in conjunc- tion with the Scotch. Having plundered that town, they retired to the Isle of Wight, where they remained a short time. They also did much damage to Portsmouth, Plymouth, Dartmouth, and Hastings. XI.] INVASIONS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 187 The Duke of Lancaster, uncle of the English king, claimed the crown of Castile in right of his wife, the dauo-hter of King Pedro the Cruel. The attempts made to enforce this claim threw the Spaniards into alliance with the French, and in 1380 a combined flotilla made another buccaneering expedition against the English coasts, and plundered the town of Winchelsea. But this claim of Lancaster shortly afterw^ards exposed Encdand to the danger of a much more serious invasion. In the June of 1386, the Duke carried with him to Spain the bulk of the English navy and an army of 10,000 men, which comprised the best chivalry of the nation. The advisers of the young French king, Charles VL, saw the opportunity of striking a heavy blow against the great enemy of their nation, and prepared to deal it with extraordinary energy. Every vessel which could be obtained or impressed between Seville and Hamburg, was collected in the harbour of Sluys and the neighbour- ing ports of the Flemish shore. The French king marched thither at the head of an army of 60,000 men— the most numerous and the best equipped force which France had raised for many years. The conquest of England w^as intended ; heavy taxes were laid on the French nation to provide for the equipment of the force ; and vessels to the number of 1,387 were collected for the transport of cavalry as well as infantry. Every preparation which foresight could suQ-aest w^as made to insure the success of the expedition ; wooden huts which could be put together on arrival so as to house the troops, were even provided. On the English coast all was dismay and perturbation : m* 188 IXFJSIONS OF ESGLANIK [chap. XI.] JXrjSIOAS OF THE llUXDliKI) YI'LiltS' WAR. 189 what preparations for defence were made were lax and feeble and it seems eertain that but for the contrary winds, most serious disasters, if not total subjugation would have fallen upon England. The muldle of August had been fixed upon as the date for the sadmg of the armament, but the wind blew steadily adverse o the French, and confined their vessels to harbour ti 1 the hist day of October. Then it changed, and the force, nn- patient for action and of high hope, set forth Hardly however, had the fleet sailed before the wind chopped round, and, freshening to a gale, drove the invaders back to the Flemish coast with heavy loss of men and ships Vfter this first failure, tlie expedition was postponed for a year, and finally was altogether abandoned, not, however, on account of any formidable resistance that Encrland was in a position to otfer. , ^ v i Predatory incursions were made against the English coasts during the next ten years, when Richard married a French princess, and a truce of twenty-five years was one of the articles of the marriage contract. We must pause in our survey of the invasions due to the Hundred Years* War, to notice here one which was the result of domestic political strife in England, and which resulted in a change in the English dynasty. The Duke of Lancaster, cousin of the King, and son of the Duke ol Lancaster who had nearly brought about an invasion o England through his claim to the crown of Castile, had been arbitrarily exiled by Richard U. In the July of 1389, while Richard, who had earned the indignant hatred of the nation, was absent on an expedition to Ireland, Lancaster landed at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, with a handful of merely fifteen lances. So unpopular, however, was the King, that the returning exile was welcomed with enthusiasm, and was immediately joined by the earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland. Tlie Duke of York, who as Regent had been left in charge of the o-overnment, feared to resist him, and Lancaster advanced unopposed towards London with an army which increased at every march. London was entered without a blow^, and the favourites of Richard who were discovered there put to death. After a brief halt in London, the Duke marched towards the West with a view of meeting Richard, whose speedy return from Ireland was naturally expected. As soon as the King in Ireland heard of the landing of Lancaster he sent the Earl of Salisbury with a small force to Wales to collect an army, while he made pre- parations to embark the troops that he had with him at Dublin, having first added to them a considerable body of Irish recruits. The pre})arations for the embarka- tion of Richard's forces took a considerable time, and in the meantime the troops under Salisbury deserted and dispersed. When Richard landed in Wales, the forces that he brought with him also abandoned him on the second day after landing, and he himself was forced to seek a refuge in Conway Castle. Induced by the Earl of Northumberland to surrender, Richard was conveyed to London, where he was forced to abdicate, and the Duke of Lancaster became King of England, under the title of Henry IV. 190 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. The courts of France and Scotland refused to recog- nize Henry of Bolingbroke as King of England and re soverlgns of those countries professed to beheve 1 ^^^ l>v thpm with Enc^land were that the truces concluded l)> them j tii terminated by the deposition of Richard. A French nvasion was now threatened, but before the preparations Issumed definite form it was warded off by the cbp^- „.acy of the English ruler, who restored the youtl^ widow of Richard to her father, King Charles VI.. and sent back some of the jewels which had formed part of her dowry. i -n. i ^+- Soon after this the quarrel between the Dukes ol Burcrundy and Orleans introduced confusion into the French councils. No war was declared by the French Government, and no hostilities of grave moment occurred during Henry's reign, but French troops more than once harried the remaining English possessions m Guienne, and on the sea the sailors of the two countries con- stantly captured each other's vessels and made buc- caneering descents on the towns and villages of the Channel coasts. In 1403 the French landed m the Isle of Wi-ht, and pillaged several villages ; m the same year some vessels from the ports of Brittany reduced Plymouth to ashes. In the following year a descent on Dartmouth was contemplated, but was finally directed to the Isle of Wight, where it pillaged and retired with some booty. In 1405 a French fleet of 140 vessels, with 12,000 troops, made a descent upon Milford, m Wales The army was landed, captured several towns and advanced to Carmarthen ; but on the intelligence pt XT.] INVASIONS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 191 the approach of Henry with a considerable force, the troops were hurried back to the ships and hastily re- embarked with the plunder which had been collected. During the glorious reign of Henry V. an offensive war, victoriously conducted in the enemy's territory, held Eno-land safe from harm ; and it was not till party strife and civil w^ar tore England into jarring factions that a foreign invader again descended on our coasts. ■ I ■^^^■^ CHAP. XTi.] INFASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES, 193 •» A- CHAPTER XII. INVASIONS OF THE WAllS OF THE HOSES. Within Uvo years of tlic lx.ttlc of (,'astilbn, which terminated the hundred years' war between France and England, was fought the battle of St. Albans, the first of the°memorable civil contests between the Houses of York and Lancaster. Bat though open war on the Continent had ceased by the final expulsion of the English from all their acquisitions in France except Calais, hostilities ^vere not entirely abandoned on the French side, and two years after the battle of St. Albans another Frend, buccaneering descent was made on the English coast. This time Sandwich was the point selected. A surprise was effected, the town was harried, and with their plunder the assailants returned to their ships. In 1459 the chiefs of the Yorkist party were forced to fly from En-land. The Earls of Warwick and Salisburj- sou-ht refuge at Calais, of which fortress Warwick was which he was fondly addicted, for hunting parties, and the adornment of his person, gave little heed to the warn- ings which reached him of the preparations being made by Warwick on the coast of France. He despised his enemies ; he boastfully expressed a wish that they miglit land in England, so that he might at once meet and crush them. He, not unlike other rulers, contemned the warnings of those that preached the possibility of in- vasion, and laughed to scorn the alarmists. ^ But the invasion did come. Warwick, with the brother of the King, the Duke of Clarence, landed at XII.] INFASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 195 Dartmoutli on the 13th September, 1470, and in eleven davs afterwards the Kino^ of Eno;land was a fuoritive from his dominions. King Edward had given to Lord Montagu, Warwick's brother, the command of the army raised to resist the invasion. The commander deserted to the enemy. The character of the Earl of Warwick, and the spirit of party then prevalent in England, soon brouo'ht G0,000 men under tlie standard of their former (jueen. The invading army increased as it advanced, and Edward, after narrowly escaping capture, was fain to cross the sea and S(^ek refuge with his brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy. Henry \ I. was taken from the Tower, where he had been held prisoner, and replaced upon the throne. For a few months Warwick, acting for the nominal king, Avas the real ruler of the realm. Queen Margaret had not accompanied him to England : she had remained in France organizing an army of Lancastrian refugees round a nucleus of some auxiliary troops given to her by King Louis. Apparently she did not place full confidence in AVarwick, and postponed her coming to England until she could appear there at the head of such a force as would ensure to her the independent exercise of the royal authority. The organization of her army and her naval preparations were complete early in 1471, but unfavourable weather hindered her from makino^ crood her landin«: from the middle of March till the 14tli April, and on that very day her chief supporter and partisan was overthrown and slain by Edward. He had obtained from his brother-in-law, the Duke of Bur- 2 196 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XII.] INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 197 I! ) gancly, the loan of a small force of 2,000 men. These were embarked at Flushing towards the middle of March, on four large ships and fourteen transports. Setting sail on the ^1 1th of that month, on the following day Edward was with his flotilla off the coast of Norfolk. He made a feint towards Cromer, but, finding circum- stances there unfavourable for landing, stood out again and ran to the northward. At Ravenspur, where Henry of Bolingbroke had landed when he came to dethrone Eichard 11. and found the dynasty of Lancaster, Edward disembarked his troops without opposition. He seems to have carried the example of Henry before his eyes. Similarly, on landing, he disclaimed all intent upon the crown, and asserted that he had merely come to seek his paternal inheritance. These fair professions allowed him to march without resistance into the city of York. He was loud here in his avowals of allegiance to the reign- ing sovereign, and his soldiery shouted in every village and town they entered, '^Long live King Henry !" The lieutenants of Warwick in Yorkshire hesitated as to what reception they should afford to a powerful noble- man wdio returned to his native country so full of loyalty to the sovereign under whom they acted. While they pondered, Edward marched. The Yorkist cause was extremely popular ; the whole of popular literature and of popular song had long been enlisted on its side. As Edward advanced on his southward route, many flocked to join him, and by the time he reached Nottingham he had several thousand men under his command. In modern times such recruits, hastily drawn together. would have been devoid of discipline, organization, arms, and ammunition ; they would have been not only worthless, but absolutely pernicious to the cause they souo-ht to aid: but in the fifteenth century every Englishman was well skilled in the use of a weapon and inured to warfare ; every landed proprietor brought a small army, well exercised, in his train; and every yeoman was a warrior. At Nottingham Edward found himself at the head of so strong a force that he could throw off disguise, and began to assume the royal title. Warwick attempted to concentrate an army at Coventry. Had this force re- mained staunch, it would have been impossible for the invader, leaving this hostile army on his flank and rear, to move upon London. But the Duke of Clarence, who possibly had been privy to Edward's design before the latter left Holland, deserted to the aid of his brother with a large body of troops which he had been com- missioned to levy by Henry VL This desertion weakened Warwick's army, and strengthened Edward's both morally and physically. His great object was to secure London, where he had numerous partisans, and w^here 24,000 men-at-arms and 30,000 archers, furnished by the burghers of the city, could throw an enormous weight into the scale of civil war. He pushed his march accordingly as rapidly as possible, as eager perhaps to secure the moral triumph of the occupation of the metropolis as the alliance of the armed citizens. Warwick had entrusted to his brother the Archbishop of York the command in London ; but 198 INTASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the citizens were enthusiastic for the Yorkist cause, and the popular feeling within, and the rapid arrival of Edward with an unbroken army without the walls, made the prelate waver in his allegiance to the House uf Lancaster. Negotiations were opened, which resulted in the Yorkists being admitted into the city, and Henry VI. being sent back to his former prison in the Tower. Edward did not remain in London a moment longer than was necessary to re-organize his army, now swelled by large reinforcements from the citizens, who were in those days considered to form the most important mili- tary force in the kingdom ; and to collect a considerable supply of artillery, the value of which he appreciated, althouoh that arm was still most imperfectly developed. On the second day after occupying the city, Edward marched again northward to encounter AVarwick, who with the forces he had preserved had moved southward as far as Barnet. On the next day, Easter Sunday 1 171, the battle of Barnet was fought. The result was the complete defeat of AVarwick's army, and the death of AVarwick and of his Ijrother the Earl of Montagu. On the very day tliat the battle of Barnet was fought, Queen Margaret, with her son Edward and the troops she had collected in Fiance, succeeded in making good her landing at Weymouth. In this neighbourhood she had many partisans, and she overran the counties of Devon and Somerset. To aid her enterprise a general movement was being made by the Lancastrian party. The Earl of Pembroke had collected a force in Wales, which was intended to unite with the army of the Queen and to Xll.] INP'ASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 199 make a common advance on London. Another Lancas- trian leader had equipped a fleet and a force beyond the seas, and at the same time was to attack the Thames and London. But the Lancastrian plan of campaign was disjointed, and gave Edward the opportunity of crushing his adversaries while separated in isolated detachments. To do so immediately after the battle of Barnet, he marched rapidly westwards from London. The Severn flowed between the armies of the Queen and Pembroke. To sever their communications Edward reinforced the Yorkist garrison of Gloucester, and for- tified the bridge there so as to prevent the Lancastrians from crossing the river at that town. Queen Margaret, seekino" to ioin with Pembroke, moved upon Tewkesbury, whence she hoped to be able to form a junction with her ally, but Edward determined to force her to battle before she crossed the river, and moved upon Tewkesbury with his whole force. On the news of his approach the Queen s army, which was numerically infeiior, intrenched itself in a strong position at the back of the town. Edward immediately attacked, and here his London artillerymen did him good service. With a long and heavy cannonade they overpowered the feeble artillery which the Lancastrians could bring into action against them. In vain the Duke of Somerset, with some of the Queen's troops, charged forward to silence the batteries. The assault was repulsed, and Edward's archers pushed close up to the enemy's position and poured heavy showers of arrows into the defenders' lines. Under cover of their fire, two columns of attack were formed, one 200 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. led by the Duke of Gloucester, the other by Edward in person. Both succeeded in their attack, forced their way into the intrenchments, and the Lancastrians fled in panic. They were pursued with heavy loss and com- pletely routed. The Queen was taken, and her son was killed. Eighteen days afterwards Edward made a triumphal entry into London, and King Henry VL died in the Tower. But between the battle of Tewkesbury and the entry of Edward into London another invasion had taken place. The Bastard of Falconberg, sailing up the Thames in King Henry's name, had sought to liberate the im- prisoned King from the Tower. The Londoners resisted his attack stoutly : but he forced his way into the city, and fought a bloody battle in the streets. In this he was worsted and forced to retire, but was preparing a fresh assault when Edward's return with the army vic- torious at Tewkesbury was reported to him. He then withdrew to Blackwall, where he had left his ships, and as soon as Henry's death was known, submitted to King Edward, and purchased pardon by giving up his ships. No further invasion occurred during the reign of Edward IV., for we may exclude from notice a slight and unsuccessful attempt made in Cornwall by the Earl of Oxford in 1473. The reports of the murder of the two young sons of Edward IV. by Eichard III. in the Tower inflamed the hatred of a portion of the Yorkist party against Richard. These were eagerly aided by the remaining XII.] INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES 201 Lancastrians, and a common design was formed to bring back to England the Earl of Richmond, who was now regarded as the head of the Lancastrian party, and had sought refuge with the Duke of Brittany. The first attempt at invasion made by the Earl of Eichmond was unsuccessful. The forces he had collected to bring across the Channel and to aid the risings or- ganized in various parts of the country were delayed by contrary winds ; and when at last they approached the Devonshire coast, it was deemed imprudent to attempt a landing on account of insufficiency of force, as the risings in England had been suppressed. Eichmond accordingly returned to Brittany. In the following year, however, he again made preparations to invade the island. King Eichard was aware of these preparations and he set himself with great vigour to frustrate them. But he was extremely unpopular with his subjects : he could not obtain freely the pecuniary means to carry on a war, and had to have recourse to benevolences in order to raise money. This despotic taxation alienated the English still more from him : but it gave Eichard the means of raising a considerable force, with which he took post at the central position of Nottingham. But his funds arbitrarily raised do not seem to have been sufficient to maintain his fleet in full force upon the sea ; and some of the chroniclers say that after the miscarriage of Eichmond's first attempt, and the death of the Duke of Buckingham, he laid up at least the larger portion of his vessels. Henry of Eichmond obtained from France, in July 202 INFASIOXS OF ENGLASD. [chap. 1485, a small body of iiicii, about 2,000 strong. Philip de Commiiics, who saw this force, declared the men the worst he ever beheld, and undeserving the name of soldiers. They were the scum of the inhabitants of France, the sweepings of gaols, hospitals, and the streets, and were apparently sent to England much as in former times our forefathers sent men to America, to the hulks, or to Botany Bay. On Sunday, July 31st, 1-485, Henry Tudor, with this ill-favoured body, set sail from Harfleur, and on Satur- day, the Gth August, arrived at Milford Haven. Here he landed without opposition. He marched through Wales, by way of Haverfordwest, Cardigan, Newtown, and Welshpool, to Shrewsbury. As his object must have been as speedily as possible to obtain possession of London, it is at first surprising that he should have taken this indirect road. But he had weighty reasons.. He was of Welsh name and extraction, claimed to be descended from the ancient Celtic kings, had many relatioiis and great interest there, and the further lie passed through the Principality the more strength would he gain. It is even asserted that between the failure of his first expedition and the preparations for his second, he travelled secretly in Wales to organize a party and foster alliances. He had also another reason : the Severn was the strong military line for English defence against the West : it was possible that Pilchard's troops might hold the river, and the Lancastrians would more easily command a passage at Shrewsbury than either at Bristol, Chepstow, xu.] INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 203 Gloucester, AVorcester, Bewdley, or Bridgnorth. The powerful northern family of the Stanleys was also favourable to him, and a iiortherly march would facilitate his junction with their troops before the issue of a final battle. At first he was refused admission into the fortress of Shrewsbury, but the commandant was ultimately per- suaded to open the gates, and the passage of the Severn was gained Avithout a blow being struck. Eichard, uncertain where the descent would be made, kept his head-quarters at Nottingham. He sent messages to the gentlemen on the AVelsh border whom he believed to be faithful to him, to detain and oppose the Earl by every possible means if he should pass their way. He warned his distant friends to be in readiness, and stationed post-horses at every twenty miles to facilitate the transmission of intelligence. As Henry marched with expedition, the first certahi news that Richard obtained was that the Welsh gentry had not only suff'ered him to pass unmolested, but even favoured his pretensions, and that he was arrived with- out hindrance at Shrewsbury. This caused Eichard to perceive that some at least of those whom he thought friends were forsaking him, but he still trusted to collect a sufficient army. He sent hurriedly for the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surrey, and the Earl of Northum- berland to join him, and ordered Sir Eobert Brackenbury, lieutenant of the Tower, to bring Sir Thomas Boucher and Sir Walter Hungerford, with all the forces they could instantly muster : for, as he thought that Eichmond 204 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. would pursue his way to London by the main road, which then ran along the Watling Street, he resolved to bar the way. The uncertainty of the pomt where Eichmond would land and the rapidity of his progress made it impossible for Richard to concentrate all his forces. His friends were necessarily scattered, as he could not know where to assemble them. Norfolk, Surrey, and Brackenbury probably joined him at his camp at Stapleton the day before the great battle, and Northumberland on the very field. Fenn gives us a curious letter from the Duke of Norfolk to Sir John Pas ton, sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, which must have been written only a few days before Bosworth, in which he tells that the enemy was landed, that the King would march on Friday, August 16th, and that he himself should rest the same night at Bury St. Edmunds on his way to the army. He desires the sheriff to meet him at Bury with the men he had promised the King, and bring besides as large a company of tall men as he could procure, dressed in jackets of the Duke's livery, and he would reimburse his expense when they met. Henry made no halt at Shrewsbury : he wisely judged that lingering would on the one hand weaken the spirit of enterprise and diminish his army, and on the other hand would give Richard time to concentrate more troops. Leaving Shrewsbury, he camped near Newport, where Sir Gilbert Talbot, sheriff of Shropshire, uncle and guardian to the Earl of Shrewsbury, a minor, joined him with 2,000 men. XII.] INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF WE ROSES. 205 He next arrived at Stafi'ord, where he was met by Sir William Stanley, in a private interview, who came not more on his own account than on account of his brother Lord Stanley, who durst not appear himself, as his son was retained by Richard as a hostage. He then moved upon Lichfield, which the royal advanced troops evacuated on his approach. The King, hearing that Henry was at Lichfield, mar- shalled the troops he had with him in the market-place of Nottingham on the 16th August, and marched them in exact order that day to Leicester. They chiefly con- sisted of foot, separated into two divisions. The first marched five in a rank, then the baggage, and next the King himself, attended by his body-guard. The second division, also five abreast, followed. The horse were formed into two wings, which covered the centre. In the north-gate street of Leicester there stood, till a few years ago, a large house formerly known as the Blue Boar Inn ; hence an adjoining street now called Blubber Lane derives its name. In one of the apartments of this hostelry Richard slept. On the 1 7th he marched out of Leicester, expecting to meet the enemy at Hinck- ley ; but not finding him, he turned on the 18th to the right, and encamped at a place called the Bradshaws, near Stapleton, about three miles south of the market town of Bosworth. The situation of his camp was on an eminence a mile and a half east of Bosworth Field, and two miles from the top of Anyon Hill, the scene of the action. Henry, having rested one day at Lichfield, moved on 20G ixrjswys of englaxd. [ciiAr. Tamwortli. In liis march lie \vas joined by Huiigerford and Boucher, who, although ordered to attend Eichard, had deserted Brackenbury, their leader ; as did also on the following day, August 19th, several other knights. On the 20th August he reached Atherstone, where he had a private interview with Lord Stanley, and the plan of battle was arranged, by which the corps of both liOrd Stanley and Sir William Stanley, which had joined Richard's armv, were to remain neutral or desert in the action. The Stanleys then ]"ejoined their corps, whicli were encamped on either flnnk of the King's army. On the following day, the 21st, Henry moved from Atherstone to within a mile of Anyon Hill. It is extraordinary, unless Richard — a proved commander of irreat military skill — had strong' motives to avoid battle, that he permitted his adversary to move forward un- assailed. Henry had to cross Wetherby Bridge, and afterwards the small rivulet of the Tweed. At both these points he might have been delayed, if not driven back, even by an advanced guard ; Ijut the system of outposts seems not to have been understood or observed in Richard's army. The result of this neglect was, that Henry Avas able to take up an excellent position in a field named the Whitemars, where his left and rear were secured by a brook, and his right by a swamp. We now approach the consideration of one of tlie most important days in British annals — Monday, 22nd xVugust, 1485, which answers to the 2nd September, New Style. This was the day of the decisive battle in the Wars of the Roses. Enorlish blood had flowed so XII.] INFASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 207 freely by the sword or the axe during this contest for thirty years, that the royal family was almost extinct, the nobility extirpated, and the nation grievously thinned. Though the united forces of the armies brought into action at Bosworth did not exceed 28,000 men, yet there had not been a l)attle since that of Hastings, 419 years before, of such importance: and as the importance of Hastings consisted in the fall of Harold, so did that of Boswoi'th in the fall of Richard. But in an important respect the two battles werc^ widely different. William the Conqueror, a foreign invader, struck dowji in ftiir fight Harold, the leader of the best army of an united country. Richard was over- thrown not so much l)y the army of the invader as by the treachery of some of his own officers. The success of the invasion of Henry VII. was due to domestic- faction much more than to the military power of the invader. On the morning of the 22nd, in the same manner as war was conducted in tlie contests of the Roses, neither side strove to take any advantage or surprise the other. Both marshalled their forces leisurely, and so unwatched was the pnssnge betw^een the two armies, that Lord Stanley, the leader of one of Richard's divisions, privately visited Henry's army, and aided him to form his troops. Both armies were similarly drawn up : each was in two lines, the bowmen in front, the bill-men in rear, and the horse formed the wings. The principal officers were in armour — that is, each wore a coat of mail and a 20S INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XII.] INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 209 il Y\ helmet; and on the helmet carried his crest: that of the King himself was a crown. Every soldier carried a sword for close combat : in addition the horsemen had lances ; and the foot soldiers, some bows, some bills, some battle-axes. There seems reason to believe that Eichard had some artillery which cannonaded the hostile lines, but with very little effect. King Richard's army took up a defensive position on Anyon Hill. Henry's advanced to the attack. As they approached each other, both sides commenced the action with showers of arrows ; but as the assailants still continued to advance, the front lines were soon engaged in a hand- to-hand contest. While this swayed backwards and forwards, the greater strength of Richards army and its longer line gave it the opportunity of outflanking that of Henry ; but when this movement was being attempted. Lord Stanley deserted with his command from the left of the King's line to the right of Henry, and so not only restored the balance of the fight, but threw great weight into the scale for Richmond. Still the contest endured : and about eleven o'clock, after it had continued about an hour, no decisive result had been obtained, although it would seem that Richard's men did not fight so boldly or willingly as those of his opponent's, and that it was necessary for their officers to expose themselves much for the sake of example. Certain it is that, thus early, Norfolk, Surrey, and several other high officers on the royal side had fallen. But as yet only the front line of either army had been eno-a^ed, and not much ground had been lost or gained. Still, at this time it was necessary for Richard to take measures to reinforce his front line; and while he was engaged in so doing, he was i^/'ormed that Richmond was posted on the left rear oi his own army with a small escort. Knowing that the death of Henry would at once frus- trate the invasion, Richard, collecting a few knights, boldly galloped round the right flank of his own army, and dashed straight upon Henry. With his own hand he cleft the head of Sir William Brandon, the standard-bearer, and seizing from him the red dragon of Cadwallader, cast it on the ground. Henry's position was dangerous : those that were with him threw themselves in the way of Richard's onset, but it seemed as if Richard's attack would reach him, when Sir William Stanley, who with :],000 men covered the right flank of the royal army, suddenly attacked Richard in rear. Surrounded by overwhelming forces, Richard struggled bravely. Quarter was neither asked nor given, and under the blows of many swords the King was beaten to the earth and slain. The death of Richard was quickly followed by \\\Q retreat of his army, and the enemy was so close that this retreat was rapidly turned into flight. The j'emnants of the royalist force fled in several directions, but chiefly towards Stoke, savagely pursued by the victors. On the field of battle the helmet of Richard was found : Sir William Stanley placed it on Richmond's brow, and the victorious soldiery with loud shouts hailed their leader as Henry king of England — the first time since the Norman Conquest that a king of England 210 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. had been slain in battle, and his crown transferred to an invader. But the defeat of Bosworth and the consequent coro- nation of Henry VII. did not altogether hinder the Yorkist party from again bidding for the throne, and ao-ain invading Endand. The Earl of Warwick, the eldest son of the late Duke of Clarence, was held by Henry prisoner in the Tower ; but at Oxford there was a young student of the name of Lambert Simnel, pupil to a priest, Sir Eichard Simond, and he was of similar years and appearance to the son of the Duke of Clarence. Instigated by Simond, this youth assumed to be the Earl of Warwick, who, it was bruited abroad, had escaped from the Tower. Simond and Simnel sailed to Ireland, where their cause was eagerly embraced by the nobility and gentry of that country, which had always strongly favoured the House of York. Strengthened by the adhesion of the Irish, the friends of Simnel attempted to organize in his favour a rising in England, and also sent for aid to Margaret, the Duchess of Burgundy, who was the sister of the late Edward IV. It was in vain that the real Earl of Warwick was publicly shown in the streets of London. The Earl of Lincoln and Elizabeth the sister of Edward IV., either from a belief in Simond's asser- tion, or through a desire to shake the crown of Henry, espoused the cause of Simnel. By the aid of Margaret, the Earl of Lincoln collected in Flanders a force of 2,000 Germans, with which, in the early days of 1487, he sailed to Ireland, and at Dublin XII.] INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 211 caused Simnel to be proclaimed and crowned in solemn fashion King of England. A large number of Irish joined themselves to the German troops in Dublin. With the whole force Simnel and* the Earl of Lincoln sailed to England, and disembarked at Fowdrie, near Lan- caster, where they trusted to obtain aid from Sir Thomas Broughton, a Yorkist partisan. Henry, having been informed of the intended invasion, had concentrated a large force in the central position of Coventry, whence he soon moved to Nottingham. The Earl of Lincoln moved into Yorkshire, trusting by respecting the property of the people of the country to gain followers. But few joined him, and his circuitous march gave time for Henry to be joined by many men of Shropshire and the adjoining counties. Lincoln then determined to force on a battle, and marched from York towards Newark But Henry, well informed of his movements, seized Newark before his arrival, and, advancing three miles further, pitched his camp for the night. That day, the 15th June, Lincoln occupied Stoke. The following morning the King attacked. The Ger- mans in the battle were found fully equal to the English, but their allies, the Irish, being without defensive armour, were rapidly worsted. Still the battle was long and severe, but finally the greater numbers of the English triumphed : nearly all the insurrectionary leaders were slain, the invading army driven off the field in flight, and Simnel himself taken prisoner. Again, in 1495, another pretender to the crown was p 2 212 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. set up, cliiefly by the aid of Margaret of Burgundy, in the person of Perkiii Warbeck, who declared himself to be the younger son of Edward IV., and to have escaped from the Tower at the time of the murder of his brother. He set sail from Fhxnders with such forces as he could collect, and appeared off the coast of Kent, in the neio-hbourhood of Deal. A detachment was sent ashore to sound the feelings of the inhabitants, but these stood firm to Henry, and, having enticed the small force of invaders some distance from their ships, then fell upon them with superior numbers, and either slew or captured all. The King, having heard of the landing in Kent, was about to move into that county, but, quickly in- formed of its failure, contented himself with sending messao-es of thanks to the men of Kent ; and, as he fore- saw further attempts of the same kind, made arrange- ments for the erection and watching of beacons. Perkin Warbeck, discomfited on the coast of Kent, sailed to Ireland. There plenty were willing to join him, but their services were valueless for a contest with the well-armed yeomen and skilful archers of England, as the Irish were almost totally destitute of either defensive or offensive armament. He then went to Scotland, whence he was forced to retire on the con- clusion (fa peace with England, and returned to Ireland, vith a view of again seeking refuge at the court of Burgundy. The people of Cornwall were then in a state of grievous discontent with the government of Henry, on XII.] INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 213 account of the taxes levied for the payment of the expenses of the war with Scotland. They had already risen once in rebellion, and had been only put down by a defeat on Blackheath, within four miles of the walls of London. They were now again ripe for rebellion. Of this Warbeck heard while he was in Ireland. He set sail for Cornwall with only four small ships and about 120 men, and in September 1497 landed on the southern coast of the county. He immediately marched to Bodmin, where he was joined by people of the county, who increased his force to 3,000 men. Here he issued proclamations and assumed the style of Richard IV. Anxious to secure a firmer footing in the country, he (juickly marched to Exeter and laid siege to that city. He had no artillery to breach the walls, but attempted to burst in the gates by casting stones against them, hammering them with iron bars, and finally by kindling fire under them. The citizens, to delay him, kindled large fires inside the gates, which impeded ingress even after the gates were destroyed, and hastened to throw up trenches and ramparts to cover the gateways. Re- pulsed from these points, the besieger attempted to carry the walls by escalade, but was repulsed with the loss of over 200 men. The King, informed of the siege of Exeter, hastened thither, sending before him Lord Daubeney with bands of light horsemen to announce his approach. On the news of the proximity of the royal army, Warbeck raised the siege and moved to Taunton, where, on the 20th September, he mustered his forces as if to give battle. But many of his troops 214 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap deserted him, and in the night he himself fled to the sanctuary of Bevvdley, near Southampton. Here he was quickly surrounded by the royal horsemen, to whom he surrendered himself. He was taken to the Tower, and after several attempts to escape was finally executed at Tyburn. With his flight from Taunton terminated the last invasion of England due to the great civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster. When war broke out between Henr}^ VH. and Louis XIL, the superior naval power and seamanship of the English enabled the English Lord High Admiral to blockade the French fleet of thirty-nine sail in Brest harbour, where it was protected by formidable batteries thrown up on the shore. A rash attempt on the part of the English to force the entrance to the harbour was repulsed, and the Lord High Admiral killed. The Enolish fleet returned to Portsmouth for further orders. No sooner was the blockade of Brest raised than a few vessels, commanded by Prior Jehan, a Knight of Rhodes — who had formerly been engaged with galleys on the coast of Barbary to protect his co-religionists, and was now in the French service — stealing along the coasts of Normandy, suddenly swept across the Channel, made a plundering descent on the coast of Sussex, burnt a few cottages, and so effected an invasion which would be barely worth mention but for the prominence sometimes given to it by French writers. The gentlemen of Sussex, taking arms, drove back Prior Jehan to his galleys, and very shortly a new Lord High Admiral was xii.l INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 215 appointed. The English navy scoured the Channel, and for the remainder of the period of active operations secured the English coasts from harm by the offensive policy of penning the French fleet within its own ports. But in the early spring of the following year, before the English fleet had apparently taken the sea, Prior Jehan, with his galleys charged with basilisks and other artillery, again descended on the coast of Sussex. His raid was made in the night season, at a point then known as the poor fishing village of Brighthelmstone, now the great town of Brighton. The village was burnt, and such goods as could be readily removed taken away. But when the people began to gather on the firing of the beacons. Prior Jehan sounded his trumpet to call his men on board. By this time it was day, and some archers who had kept watch were now able to see to aim. They followed Jehan on his retreat to the sea, and shot so fast that they wounded many of his men, and himself in the eye with an arrow. The English, in revenge for this descent, burnt one-and-twenty towns and villages on the French coast of the Channel. Again, in 1545, when hostilities were being carried on between Henry VHI. and Francis I. of France, a large French fleet of 200 ships, with twenty-six galleys, arrived on the coast of Sussex. Some of the troops that the fleet convoyed were put ashore to spoil and plunder the country, but the beacons were fired, and the people of the county assembled so quickly that the French were forced to fly with considerable loss, and after inflicting only insignificant damage. The French 216. INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. XII. fleet then made for the Isle of Wight, and cast anchor off St. Helen's Point, whence sixteen galleys were daily sent to the very month of Portsmouth harbour. On the 20th July the English fleet, which was lying in Ports- mouth harbour, set out to engage the French fleet, but in leaving harbour the Marie Rose, a large vessel with 400 soldiers on board, having the ports open, which were very low, and being overladen with ordnance, suddenly sank. This disaster seems to have had the effect of delayino- the expedition, and on tlic following day 2,000 French- men landed on the Isle of Wight, but were driven off by the people of the island with great loss. The French fleet did not, however, retire, and orders were sent for the men of Hampshire, Somersetshire, AViltshire, and the adjoining counties, to come with all speed to encounter the enemy. These hastened to the threatened spot in large numbers, well equipped with arms, victuals, and weapons, so that King Henry was able to strongly garrison the Isle of Wight and to dis- pose large numbers of men all along -the coast. The French, hearing of these preparations from some fisher- men whom they captured, drew off along the Sussex coast, and made an attempt to land in Sussex. This wa.H again beaten off, and then the French fleet retired and made no further attack. CHAPTER XIIL THE ARMADA. [Authorities. — Report on Internal Defence, from State Paper OtTice ; Hakluyt, Stowe, Murdin, Rapin, Motley, Froude.] The next invasion which threatened England was that which Philip, king of Spain, undertook against Elizabeth. From the establishment of the Norman conquerors up to the time of the Armada no invader had attempted the subjugation of our country. The buccaneers who had ever and anon swept down on the villages and towns that lie along the coast, had come to plunder, not to subdue, and had usually hurried away with what booty they could snatch on the first appearance of any hostile force. The invaders who had marched into the country, threatened the metropolis, and frequently overthrown the reigning dynasty, were not foreign conquerors. They were generally invited to undertake their expedi- tions by a political party within the country anxious for their success, and Avere always sure of internal support from one or other of the great political parties which were continually striving for supremacy in the country. At the time of the Spanish attempt the case was different. The cause of the Spanish kmg was indeed !»- 218 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. asserted to be the cause of the Catholic Church, and the large community of Catholic Englishmen were urged to aid the invaders against the established government of the reahn. But the design of Philip was not confined to a restoration of the Catholic faith in England : his intention was to grasp the English crown and lower England to being a subdued dependency of Spain. This the English Catholics well knew, and the great majority were as eager to defeat the Spaniards and to maintain the independence of the country, and to shed their blood in their country's cause, as were the fiercest professors of the Eeformed religion. A very small minority of Catholics were indeed desirous of the triumph of their creed at the cost of their country, but these were mostly dreamy devotees, who spent their lives in penance and- fasting in Catholic seminaries. The Catholic nobles and the Catholic gentry, the men who could summon followers and take a place in battle within the island, were as antagonistic to the Spanish conquest as the members of Elizabeth's Council. The Catholic English soldiers who would have wished to see England carried by the Spaniards were fighting in the Low Countries in Parma's army, or mustering for embarkation on the wharves of Lisbon or Corunna. For all practical pur- poses of war England was united, and it was to the united strength of the nation that the Spanish sovereign threw down the gauntlet. The event was not unconnected with the fortunes of other countries, nor with the general fate of Europe. But the civil strife south of the Channel was so evenly XIII.] THE ARMADA. 219 balanced between the League and the Protestants, that France remained a neutral spectator. The devious policy of Elizabeth had alienated the United Provinces : the notorious ambition of Philip held the King of Scot- land inactive : and thus, without allies and without extraneous aid, the Queen of the island and the King of the peninsula were left to fight their battle single- handed. For eight years before the Armada sailed preparations had been made in the peninsula for the expedition. For eio-ht years men in England aware of these preparations had constantly expected the assault. But it was long deferred, as were the proper preparations for meeting it. Philip was unwilling to strike till his claim to the English crown was recognized by Sixtus V. The Pope was unwilling to sanction the enormous increment of power which the subjection of England would bring to Spain, as long as there glimmered any hope of the con- version of James of Scotland to the true faith. The avarice of Elizabeth was only too ready to clutch any plea for postponing the costs or deferring the expenses of warlike preparations. But careful as Elizabeth was of spending money, England during eight years of warning had done much against the hour of trial, and when the time of trouble came, though not completely ready, was better armed than was believed abroad. In 1587, the Jesuits, who had been the constant advocates of the expedition, prevailed in the councils of St. Peter's and Madrid. Definite orders were issued for the Armada to make ready to sail, from the western 220 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIII.] THE ARMADJ. 221 ports of the peninsula to the Low Countries, where it , was to embark the army of the Duke of Parma, and convoy it across the Channel. But the sailing of the fleet was delayed beyond the winter, partly through th(» gallant action of Drake, who, sailing down to the ports of preparation, boldly attacked and destroyed some of the vessels, partly through the death of the intended commander and the time requisite for his successor to master the details of the service. Early in 1588, how- ever, the Armada sailed, and Europe at large firmly believed in its certain success. On the Continent it was believed that thirty years of peace had tamed the once warlike English nation, and that the people had become so wedded to quiet that they would lack the vigour to defend their homes. It was assuredly supposed that, even if the will were still existent, the English soldier had of late had no op- portunity to acquire skill or experience in war. Since an English army had fought in France the progress of military science had rendered the famous weapon of the English yeoman, the longbow, if not obsolete, at least indecisive. Arquebuses, calivers, and ordnance, not yew- tree shafts, now turned the tide of battles. London was an open town, and there was no fortress to check even a detachment of an invading army. On the sea the Englishman was formidable ; as a corsair he had plundered every Catholic coast, and pillaged many a Catholic merchantman. But far and wide throuofh Europe it was confidently believed that if the naval power could be pierced or dodged, and a well-trained army of Spanish legionaries be planted on the English shore, it must sweep away like chaff the raw militia hurried together to defend the metropolis, and in a few days enter London. How far these views in some respects were correct it is impossible of course to even guess. Patriotic English writers have insinuated that, had the Armada escaped the English fleet, the soldiery of Parma would have fared as badly at the hands of Leicester as did the galleons of Sidonia at those of Drake. Every historian is inclined to regard the ground upon which he himself was born as holy. But the examples of well- disciplined and care- fully trained troops being overthrown and crushed by raw levies do not occur so frequently in military history as to warrant our considering them the general rule. In some respects, however, our forefathers were certainly better prepared than they obtained popular credit for. More clear-sighted than Englishmen of the present (veneration have shown themselves on more than one occasion, although not involved in war themselves, they followed step by step the progress of military science. The new weapons had been introduced, and for the last eight years the musters had been to a certain extent trained to their use. Many thousands of Englishmen had visited continental theatres of war, had served in the armies of foreigners, and had acquired a practical know^- ledge of the military profession. In Ireland there had been a constant school for minor operations : and the youth of the coasts were full well accustomed to savage contests with Catholic privateers or foreign fishermen. (if 222 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Already in the reign of Edward VI. lieutenants of counties had been appointed. The duties of these officers were to make musters periodically of the men liable to bear arms in each county, and to ascertain that the arms were of modern service. But while the prospect of invasion was distant, these duties seem to have been but languidly conducted. When, however, the danger became imminent in 1586, general directions were issued to the lord-lieutenants of the maritime counties requiring them to issue orders to the different captains of their lieutenancy to meet at appointed places on or before the 20th March, to make up their musters of men and arms. In 1587 these instructions were followed by others directing the lord-lieutenants of all counties to complete their musters, and to have them fuUy accoutred and ready to be placed in array and to marcli at the shortest notice. Instructions were also given to the commanders of the various shires as to the posts which were to be occupied, and how these posts were to be covered by batteries, forts, and stakes ; what stations were to be assigned to batteries and to field- pieces ; the most suitable points for powder magazines and places of rendezvous ; the fords and roads which were to be prepared to facilitate concentration, and the points where barricades were to be thrown up to check the progress of the invader. A proper number of pioneers were to be raised in every shire to throw up earthworks : beacons were to be erected on the coast, and it was arranged that each of these when fired should call a certain number of the neighbouring militia XIII.] THE ARMADA. 223 to a predetermined point: every market town was required to provide a mounted postman, every parish a foot post, to carry information of the enemy's approach, and the towns and counties were bound to provide ade- quate stores of clothing, ammunition, and necessaries. Such were the measures taken beforehand to ensure what in modern terms might be called the effective mo- bilization of the defensive force of the realm. To those who have studied the wonderful machinery of Prussian military organization they may appear crude, but they were as perfect as the times would admit ; and we who possess no plan of mobilization at all cannot but look back with envy on the days of Elizabeth. The soldiers arrayed for battle by these means were doubtless of little military worth, but this was due to the measures taken for the organization, not for the mobilization, of the defensive force. The old feudal law which divided the country into 60,000 knights' fees and gave the king an army of 60,000 men for forty days in a year without expense, had long been obsolete. Kings had long ago become distrustful of such a precarious military power, and subjects had been only too ready to exchange personal service for pecuniary aid. The soldiers who under the Plantagenets had carried the English standards to Paris and the walls of Orleans, and still more lately garrisoned Flushing and Sluys, were all paid men. But to preserve internal peace and to resist the invasion of his country, every Englishman was still bound to pro- vide a proper quantity of arms and to take his place in array. But as the longbow came to be laid aside and 224 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. XIII.] THE ARMADA. 225 expensive and complicated fire-arms introduced, it was soon found that tlie yeomans time and yeoman's life was all he could give in his country's cause, and the cost of his weapons and ammunition was perforce de- frayed by local taxation. Here was an element of weak- ness. The expenses of each district were proportionate to the number of men placed in the field, and it con- sequently became the interest of the ratepayers to reduce the number of fighting-men to as low a standard as possible. The men themselves, though willing to risk their lives in battle, were naturally averse to spare time for preparation ; and as the expense of training was con- siderable, it appears that the local authorities, and the constables in their employ, not unfrequently winked at absences from muster. It was only with difficulty, and after strong remonstrances from the central government, that even during the excitement of the pending Armada men in some parts of England were induced to undergo fifteen days' drill ; and from the diff*erences in the muster- rolls made between trained and able men, we may safely argue that this amount of military exercise was the exception rather than the rule. With an infantry so inexperienced, partly unaccustomed to the use of a new weapon, partly equipped in motley fashion with bows, bills, or pikes, how hopeless would it have been to have encountered, even with equal numbers in pitched battle, the famous arquebusiers of Parma or the solid pikem^n of Spain ! And if the infantry was not worthy of high respect, the cavalry was contemptible. Knights of the feudal times had wholly disappeared. The horsemen who were to watch the enemy that landed from the Armada were not provided or equipped by even a responsible authority. They were scraped together by the contributions of justices, ecclesiastics, and country gentlemen, mounted on animals which ranged through all the varieties of unimproved horseflesh, from the New Forest pony to the shaggy drone raised in the marshes of Lincolnshire. This cavalry must have been wholly unsuited to act in masses, or to have even formed in order of battle. Indeed, it does not seem to have been so intended except in a very minor degree. Only about one-tenth of the total force was armed with lances, which betokened a close engagement ; the remainder, equipped either with petronels or pistolets, seem to have been only expected to perform the duties of light cavalry, and in this capacity a knowledge of locality might have made each band valuable as long as its action was confined to its own shire. The total number of troops collected to defend the country amounted to a force of nearly 133,000 men. The army which might descend on the coast consisted of 30,000 men whom the Duke of Parma had prepared in the Low Countries, and of a little over 20,000 men who were to be transported from Spain by the Armada itself. So great is the power of numbers in the field of battle, that could the whole force of England have been concentrated against the 50,000 well-trained troops of Spain at one moment, even taking into consideration all the disadvantages of inexperience and want of discipline, the defeat of the Enorlish might not have been certain. i 226 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIII.] THE ARMADA. 227 But this could not be. It was impossible to sacrifice the whole country for the sake of one particular point : the men of Devon or of Yorkshire could not be expected to consent that their orchards, cornfields, and homesteads should be sacrificed without a blow, so that the mer- chants' offices and wharves of London should be covered from hurt. It was necessary to watch the whole coast, from Mount's Bay to Newcastle. The musters of the maritime counties must necessarily remain within their own shires, and within hail of their own beacons, till the point of the enemy's landing was declared. A central army of not quite 30,000 was indeed collected at Tilbury from the musters of the midland counties, to watch the Thames and defend the capital ; but had the Spaniards landed on the coasts of Essex, Kent, or Sussex, the most rapid forced marches could hardly have brought more than 20,000 additional men to join with it for the decisive battle in front of London, even had the orders of the light horse to destroy all crops and drive off" all cattle in front of the advancing enemy been most successfully and satisfactorily carried out. What impartial man can doubt what would have been the result of an encounter between 50,000 Spanish troops, then the best in the world, guided by the genius of Parma, and an equal number of raw English militia com- manded by Leicester ? The whole history of our nation warrants the belief that the English would have fought recklessly, bravely, and fiercely ; that they would have died sternly and unflinchingly beneath the arquebuses and pikes of the invader, and that the Spaniard would have only gained the Tower or occupied London Bridge after heavy losses and with diminished numbers ; but the most sanguine Englishman must rejoice that the test was not applied, and that the fate of the country Avas decided on the stormy waters of the Channel instead of on the lowlands of Essex or the hills beside Blackheath. The English fleet, although starved by the parsimony of Elizabeth, had not been neglected. The able adminis- tration of Sir John Hawkins had made the ships the stoutest, most seaworthy, and most rapid of manoeuvre in the world. The privateering expeditions of Drake and his brother corsairs had taught English mariners both seam^anship and the conduct of naval battle. The stern thrift of Elizabeth's administration limited the royal navy to thirteen vessels of more than 400 tons and to thirty-eight vessels of all sizes. But the seaport towns provided ships ; many private noblemen and naval officers did the same : and in days when every merchantman that sailed the seas was accustomed to fight for its cargo and the liberty of its crew, these privateers were more than valuable auxiliaries. In the beginning of May news came to England that the Armada was assuredly about to sail. The vessels which the avarice of the royal administration had caused to be dismantled were as quickly as possible fitted for sea, and the English fleet was arranged so as to guard the coast both against the Armada and the flotilla, which Parma had collected to transport his troops, in the har- bours of Flanders. Lord Henry Seymour, with the Rainbow, i\iQ Vanguard, the Antelope, and thirty pri- Q 2 228 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIII.] THE ARMADA. 229 vateers, was left to watch the flotilla of Parma, while the Lord High Admiral, with the rest of the royal fleet and his merchantmen, sailed down Channel and joined Drake at Plymouth. The whole force collected at that port amounted to twenty-nine Queen's ships and fifty-three privateers. While these preparations had been made in England, the Armada had been making ready for sea in the port of Lisbon. The fighting fleet which was to convoy the army transports consisted of 129 vessels, of which the average tonnage was far superior to that of the English navy. The great proportion were built high, like castles, with their upper decks musket-proof, and their main timbers of a thickness of four or five feet, which it was hoped the English ordnance could not penetrate. The weight of metal carried by the men-of-war far exceeded the power of the English broadsides ; but by a curious oversight, and apparently to give space for the military necessities, the supply of powder was limited to fifty rounds per gun. The store of provisions and ammunition embarked, which was intended for the army after land- ing, was calculated to supply 40,000 men for six months. The most serious deficiency of the Armada was the want of pilots. In former times the Spaniards had known the Channel as well or better than the English ; but the capture of Flushing and consequent sealing up of the Scheldt had left the trade of the Baltic in the hands of the Protestant Dutch, who refused to supply pilots to the Catholic Armada, and did their utmost to impede Parma's preparations. They succeeded so far that the Duke was unable to avail himself of the harbour of Sluys ; but by May 1588 he had his transports freighted with stores and provisions along- side the quays of Nieuport and Dunkirk, and his 30,000 men camped on the shore and ready to embark as soon as the Armada should open up the Channel. On the 1 9th May, the Armada, amidst the cheers and prayers of Spain, weighed anchor, and stood out from the Tagus. Northerly breezes prevailed ; and as the heavy galleons worked with difliculty to windward, it required three weeks for the fleet to make Finisterre. Here it was separated by a gale, but concentrated again in the Bay of Ferrol ; and on the 12th July, as the early sun was lio-hting up the white walls of Corunna against the purple masses of the Gallician mountains, floated before a gentle breeze over the tiny waves that gave back to the sunshine the red crossed pennants waving from the mastheads, and glided for ever out of Spanish waters. On the 16th the fleet was off Ushant. A south-west gale, the successor of many that raged in the Channel that spring, came down upon them. Four galleys were driven on the coast of France and wrecked, and the Santa Anna, a galleon of 800 tons, foundered with 90 sailors and 300 troops. But after two days the weather cleared. On the 19th, in good order, they stood into the Channel, and on the 20th sighted the Lizard. But English fishing-boats had already announced their approach, and on the night of the 19th July through England spurring horsemen and beacons fired from hill to hill bore the news. In manor-house and hamlet, in 230 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIII.] TUE ARMADA, 231 city and market town, horses were saddled and arrows were seized. Yeomen hurried to the musters; squires and nobles galloped to the array. Then men knew what they had never truly expected to realize. The hour of trial was come. Then colonels fully felt how untrained were their men, and how little did even the spirit of supreme patriotism compensate for the want of military preparation. But the cares and fears of that nio-ht were hidden from all but a few : the troops had to be encouraged ; their spirits must be maintained. The true sense of anxiety was known but by a small number ; and when the bitterness of the agony was fresh, these were not ready to declare it openly. But its effect was seen in subsequent legislation. On that same night, as the wand blew fresh into Plymouth Sound, the Queen s ships and some of the pri- vateers there were warped out and moored behind Eam Head. By the next morning forty English vessels were lying under shelter of Mount Edgecumbe, so that they could fetch out to sea to engage as soon as necessary. It was late in the afternoon, however, before the look- out men posted on the heights reported a line of canvas in siorht. which came nearer and nearer, in the form of a broad crescent of 150 sail. The English ships w^eighed anchor immediately, and as the Duke de Medina Sidonia at dusk opened Plymouth he perceived that Howard w^as ready to engage. In tlie night the English vessels came out and hung upon the rear of the Spanish squadron, but out of gunshot. The next morning the Spaniards bore up for battle, but the heavy galleons toiled slowly through the water, while the English vessels, built on sharper lines, with longer keels and lower bulwarks, flew speedily from point to point. The Spanish vessels could not close ; the English would not. The latter, conscious of their superior power of manoeuvre, ran backwards and forwards in rear of the Spanish line, and raked each vessel as they passed. The English seamen also manned their guns with more effect than the Spaniards, and fired four rounds for the Spanish one, whenever the vessels came within close distance, which was not seldom, for at every advan- tageous moment some English ship was firing at close quarters into the stern or bow of a Spaniard. After sustaining a not inconsiderable loss of cordage, spars, and rigging, on the approach of more English vessels from Plymo'iith, Medina Sidonia signalled the Armada to proceed up Channel. Howard hung upon his rear, and orders^vere sent to Lord Henry Seymour to be ready in the Downs. Some of the Spaniards fouled each other, and were left behind. They were seized by the English, and the powder transferred from their magazines ; for so '^shortsighted had been the parsimony of the i:oyal administration, that the English ships after one day's action were already short of ammunition. Some was got from captured Spanish vessels ; more was occasion- ally brought out by vessels from the coast. The orders of Medina Sidonia w^ere to make straight for Margate, there to land his own troops, and to cover with his superior numbers the transport of the army of Parma across the Channel. Pursued by Howard, who 1 232 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. continually fired upon his rear, captured stragglers, and occasionally engaged more seriously, the Spanish fleet, in intervals of storm and sunshine, made its tardy way up Channel. On the 27th July it anchored off Calais, and orders were sent to Parma to embark his troops. The English prospects were not particularly encouraging. The Spanish fleet had been injured by the actions in the Channel, but had now opened communications with Parma, and its strength, even if impaired, was not very seriously diminished. The English ships were short of provisions and powder. It was necessary to drive the Spaniards, if possible, out of the Channel. On the night of the 28th, eight vessels smeared with pitch, with sheets belayed and helms lashed, were fired by the English, and were carried by the strong westerly wind and the tide straight down upon the Spaniards' anchor- age. In great confusion they slipped their cables and stood out to sea, losing not a few vessels. The next day the wind increased, and added to the confusion of the Armada. Then the English closed upon them. The superior sailing powers of their vessels enabled them always to keep to windward ; and with great loss of men and ships, the Spaniards were slowly driven towards the shoal water which breaks in muddy foam upon the Flanders coast. The entire destruction of the Spanish fleet seemed imminent ; but when it was all but assured the English powder fell short, the English guns one after another dropped into silence, and Sidonia, leaving many of his vessels behind, extricated the remainder, and bore up for the North Sea, having lost in that day's engage- XIII.] THE ARMADA. 233 ment over 4,000 men. The Spaniards were short of water, but the stormy wind which was blowing fiercely from the south-west, and the continual presence of the English fleet, gave them no time to refit. They resolved to push up the eastern coast, round Scotland, and return to Spain by the west of Ireland. Leaving Lord Henry Seymour in the narrow seas to guard against any attack by Parma, the English fleet pursued till the Spaniards 'were well past the Forth. It then returned to the Downs, leaving the weather, which became worse and worse, to complete the discomfiture of the 120 vessels which still remained to Sidonia from the 150 with which he had sailed from Corunna. These were scattered, dis- persed, and wrecked in large numbers along the coasts of Scotland and of Ireland ; and of the whole Armada, fifty- four ships, sorely battered, with only 9,000 or 10,000 worn and exhausted men, ever regained Spain. Parma, deprived of the escort for his convoy, could attempt nothing on the sea, and broke up his camp at Dunkirk. The naval action fought off" Gravelines on the 30th July, 1588, defeated this invasion, and the military preparations made in England to resist a dis- embarked force were fortunately not put to the proof. Philip, even after the defeat of the Armada, made preparations again to invade England in the following year, which were frustrated by an expedition under Sir Francis Drake, that occupied Corunna, destroyed the naval stores and magazines there, threatened Lisbon, and bombarded Vigo. Neither the repulse of the Armada nor the subsequent 234 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap* English expedition to Lisbon terminated the war be- tween England and Spain. During its further progress the English Government, schooled by experience, recog- nized that the sole true defence of the country could be found in a daring offensive policy. Frequent expedi- tions were directed from England against the coasts and colonies of Spain, and duriag the remaining years of the reign of Elizabeth the Spaniards as a rule were too much occupied at home to engage in distant expedi- tions on a large scale. Spanish privateers lurked in all the inlets of the peninsula, and whenever they could avoid the English cruisers they flew to sea to attack Eno-lish merchantmen or to even harry the English coasts. In the month of July 1591, notwithstanding the superiority of the English navy, a Spanish detachment under Don Diego Borchen, with four galleys, entered Mount's Bay in Cornwall. Some troops were disem- barked, who burnt Mouth-hole, Newlin, and Penzance, and then returned to their vessels without attempting to penetrate into the country. Ao-ain in 1601, the Spanish Government despatched -an expedition to Ireland, which had been in a state of chronic rebellion against the English Government since the year 1560. This expedition consisted of forty-eight diips, carrying 4,000 thousand troops, under the com- mand of Don Juan d'Aguilar. The Spanish flotilla, avoiding the English navy, arrived ofi* Kinsale on the 23rd September. The Spaniards immediately com- menced to disembark, and Sir Eichard Piercy, tha W XIII.] THE ARMADA. 235 English commandant of Kinsale, who had a garrison of only 150 men at his disposal, found it imperative to at once evacuate the place. The Irish showed a strong inclination to join the invaders in large numbers ; but before the native chiefs could reach Kinsale, Lord Mountjoy, the English governor of Ireland, marched rapidly to Kinsale with a considerable force, and laid siege to the place on the land side, while an English squadron under Sir Pdchard Levison completed the investment by sea. These energetic measures prevented the Spanish reinforcements, consisting of 2,000 men under the com- mand of Alphonso Ocampo, from landing at Kinsale. They threw themselves, however, into Baltimore and Berehaven, where they were joined by Tyrone and other Irish chieftains with all their forces. The first thought of the invaders at Baltimore was naturally to move on Kinsale with their Irish allies, raise the siege, and set their compatriots free for further operations. Lord Mountjoy was apprised of these intentions by inter- cepted letters. Leaving a force of 600 mariners and some cavalry to watch Kinsale in conjunction with the navy, he drew up his troops on some advantageous ground, so as to bar the march of the relieving force. Tyrone led the vanguard of the advancing Irish, and expected to surprise Mountjoy engaged in the siege and unsuspicious of attack. Finding the English army strongly posted, he wished to retreat ; but Mountjoy immediately closed, drove back the vanguard in dis- order, and, pursuing it to the main body, defeated the 236 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIII. latter with the loss of 1,200 men. Ocampo was taken prisoner, and Tyrone fled into Ulster. D'Aguilar, finding himself reduced to the greatest straits, and disappointed of relief, was forced to capitulate. He surrendered Kinsale and Baltimore, and agreed to quit Ireland. CHAPTER XIV. INVASION BY THE DUTCH. During the negotiations for peace at Breda, the Govern- ment of Charles 11. anticipating an early termination to the hostilities which had lately, with an equal balance of success, been carried on by the English against the naval power of the States-General aided by France and Denmark, imprudently suspended naval preparations. De Witt, the Pensionary of the States, saw the oppor- tunity of striking his enemy a severe blow. De Ruyter sailed from the Texel with fifty sail of the line, and on the 18th June, 1667, appeared at the mouth of the Thames. The greatest consternation prevailed in London. A chain was drawn across the Medway, and some hasty additions made to the works of Sheerness port. But these preparations were quite unequal to the necessity. De Kuyter detached his vice-admiral, with seventeen sail and some fireships, to sail up the Thames. The fort of Sheerness, though bravely defended, was captured on the 10th July. Favoured by a spring tide and an easterly wind, the Dutch passed up the Medway, broke the chain which was placed to bar the passage, 238 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIV.] INVASION Br THE DUTCH. 231) though supported by some hulks sunk by the Duke of Albemarle, and burned the three vessels — the Matthias, the Unity, and the Charles the Fifth — which lay to to defend the chain. After damaging many other vessels, the Dutch forced their way to Upnor Castle, and there on the 13th burned the Royal Oak, the Loyal London, and the Great James. Without suffering any appreci- able loss, the Dutch then sailed down the Medway. The greatest agitation prevailed in London. It was feared that with the next tide the Holkmders would push up the Thames and carry hostilities even to London Bridge. Hurried means of resistance were as rapidly as possible arranged. Nine ships were sunk in the channel at Woolwich, four at Black wall ; ramparts were raised in many places along the bank and armed with artillery, and the train bands were called out. A force of 120,000 men was hastily levied throughout the country, and Parliament was called together. The Dutch held the command of the sea ; the military preparations for defence in England were crude, im- perfect, and wholly inadequate. Had but a small army accompanied the Dutch fleet, there can hardly be any doubt but that it could, without encountering: anv resistance, save from the train bands, have occupied London. There was no time to collect a force from even the midland shires. The first line of defence of the island had been caught napping, and there was no line of military defence ready to supplement it. Never since has the English capital been so nigh falling into the power of an invader. •it- 4- Fortunately the military power of the Dutch was totally incommensurate with their navy. No troops accompanied the expedition. De Ruyter, either ignorant of the weakness of the country or anxious to inflict damage on the navy alone where success was open to him, leaving a small force to blockade the Thames, sailed to the south, and made an attempt on Portsmouth. Eepulsed there, he again made a descent on Plymouth, where he was also driven oS*. Returning to the Thames, he again pushed on as far as Tilbury, but the Dutch admiral did not appreciate that importance of time Avhich has been so thoroughly appreciated in late modern warfare. He had from the first acted slowly, and when he returned to Tilbury the preparations to meet him, though by no means complete, were respectable. There were well-placed batteries on the bank, supported by the trained bands. Without a land army he was unable to attack these, except in front, and was forced to draw off* without doing more actual harm to the metropolis than of throwing it into a frenzy of panic, which was speedily forgotten when its cause had passed away, even before the Peace of Breda, wdiich shortly afterwards occurred, was signed. CHAPTER XV. INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. [Authorities. — Macaulay ; Historical Records of the various Regiments of the British Army.] The sudden death of Charles 11. deprived of all hope of recall to their own country those English refugees who had embraced too heartily the Whig policy of the exclu- sion of James II. from the throne. Conspicuous among these were the Duke of Monmouth, the eldest natural son of Charles L, and Archibald, ninth earl of Argyle. Having met at Amsterdam, seduced by the temptations of banished compatriots who possessed but little military experience and not always assured characters for honesty, these ill-fated noblemen determined to attempt by force what they could not accomplish by policy, and by open violence to drive James from the throne. At Amsterdam there quickly collected a large body of those English and Scotch exiles whom the unbending policy of the Tories or the persecution of the Episco- palians had driven from their homes. But these had little feeling in common except hatred of the sovereign who had just been crowned at Westminster. The Eng- lish looked down upon the Scots ; the Scots were jealous CH. XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 241 of the English. The claim of Monmouth to be regarded as a prince of the blood-royal offended Argyle, proud of a descent from ancient kings and of his more than regal sway over the great clan of Campbell. Monmouth, easy and effeminate everywhere except in the excitement of battle, could not but feel a good-natured contempt for one whose claim to consideration was mainly based on the hereditary allegiance of half-savage islanders and mountaineers. But these national jealousies were not even so dangerous to the enterprise as the views held by the leading Scotchmen who professed at Amsterdam to follow Argyle. So jealous were these emigrants of the power of the sword and of the possible policy of a victorious leader, that the Aulic Council or Dutch Com- missioners never imposed on a general charged with the conduct of a well-organized and well-disciplined force such restrictions as those with which they tied the hands of Argyle. The success of any military enterprise must be extremely doubtful if unbounded confidence and unbounded power be not freely accorded to the chosen commander. Much more so must this be the case when, as in the present instance, the only hope of avoiding disaster depends upon secrecy, energy, and rapidity of action. Yet so eager were the Scots who assembled at Amsterdam to ensure that Argyle should not abuse the fruits of victory, that they denied to him the power without which his victory was impossible. At length the disputes between the Scotch themselves and between them collectively and the English were compromised. It was agreed that Argyle should make a descent on the R 242 IXrASiONS OF ENGLAND, [CHAI:, west coast of Scotland. His landing near the Clyde would, it was anticipated, draw the English troops to the north, and leave free scope for a descent by Mon- mouth in the south-west of England. Argyle was to have the nominal command of the expedition in Scotland, but his command was really limited to the direction of the troops in manoeuvre. A committee accompanied him, which reserved to itself the adjudication of those points of military administration which form the most important duty of a general. It was left to this committee to determine the point of debarkation of the force, the mode of raising troops, the method of supply of provisions, and the period and amount of the issue of stores and ammunition. Monmouth naturally was to command in England, His hands were not tied so closely as those of Argyle, but even his supporters bargained that he should not assume the regal title till it had been bestowed u})on him by the vote of a free Parliament. His success was therefore more possible. It was believed that his arrival would be the signal for general risings in Cheshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Hamp- shire : and the instigators of the expedition pointed out with complacerbcy that two centuries before the Earl of Eichmond under similar circumstances had invaded Encrland and torn the crown from Richard III. But the circumstances were very different. In the fifteenth century every nobleman had at his disposal a long train of men-at-arms, archers, and pikemen. These feudal retainers formed the military strength of XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 243 the kingdom, a strength which was by no means de- pendent on the sovereign. Each baron could rely with confidence on the action of his own contingent. There was naturally little quiet m the country when the proprietor of every castle possessed individually the power of the sword. Constant strife made both the leaders and their retainers experienced in warfare ; and any leader who was assured of the support of even a few noblemen was certain to find himself at the head of, for the times, a formidable array. Towards the close of the seventeenth century this had long been altered. The feudal supremacy of the no- bility had long ceased to exist. Those who as lord- lieutenants of counties had the command of the militia, led bands not dependent on themselves, but as commis- sioned officers of the Crown — assembled troops avowedly arrayed and mustered for the service of the sovereign. The archers and bill-men who fought at Bosworth were the tenants and dependants of Stanley and Norfolk. The ploughmen and weavers who could now be mustered by Beaufort or Pembroke had no necessary connection with their titled leaders except the tie of living in the same county and of allegiance to a common sovereign. When Stanley deserted on Bosworth field, he carried over with him the whole military force of his wide estates and of his dependent neighbours. Had Pem- broke hastened to join Monmouth, he could hardly have carried with him more men than performed the neces- sary duties of his household. In the metropolis indeed there was a force which had already given an earnest, in R 2 244 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. times of political excitement, of independent action. The duties entrusted to the lord-lieutenants of counties were in London performed by a committee of the leading citizens. Under this committee were the aldermen and councilmen who formed the officers, the apprentices and journeymen who filled the ranks of the twelve regiments of foot and two regiments of horse that constituted the train-bands of the city. The diflerence between the in- telligent Londoner and the rustic clown was far greater when the power of intellectual exercise was concentrated in a narrow focus than at the present time, and the train-bands of the city were in the days of James II. as superior to the rural musters as are now the Volunteers of the Inns of Court to the militiamen of Somersetshire ; but had thev even with one accord gone over to the invader, it is doubtful if they could have materially influenced the fortune of Monmouth. There was a wide military distinction between the period of Bosworth and the period of Sedgemoor. The train-bands which had protected Hampden and Pym, and had turned the fate of a revolution by raising the siege of Gloucester, formed no longer the most important armed force in the kingdom. The stern army of Puritan warriors, whose religious zeal was even stronger than their own discipline, which had forced its leader to slaughter a king and had compelled the Parliament which called ' it into existence to submit to its rigid domination, had been disbanded after the restoration of the Royal House. But in its place, and to guard against the possible fervour of its disbanded members, XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTr. 245 a new standing army had been called into existence. The character of the two forces was indeed difi*erent. The army of the Parliament received wages superior to those of the labourer or mechanic of the time. It was composed of men of a superior class, whose military prowess was only equalled by their religious zeal. In it no ribaldry was permitted, no licence tolerated. The only sounds which broke the stern silence of camp or quarters were the tunes of fervid exhortation or the song of psalms. Its soldiers greeted battle with a yell of joy, and looked on the charge of a post as a sacred trust. The crimes and diseases which ever follow in the train of intemperance and excess were unknown among its members. No desertions or malingering reduced its ranks. But although its regiments had in Flanders, Spain, and England driven before them all foemen in headlong rout, Charles was unable to retain its soldiery in the royal service. The parsimony of the Court in all matters which did not conduce immediately to the Prince's pleasure, and the strong political bias of the troops, alike forbade his doing so. But soon after his restoration Charles had commenced to form a regular standing army, and laid the foundation of that force which now guards British interests from Halifax to Hong Kong, and ensures order on the arid clifl's of Aden and the deep valleys of the snow-capped Himalayas. The Life Guards then consisted of four troops, of which one was permanently stationed at Edinburgh. In this corps, which was held responsible for the security of the King and the Eoyal Family, even the privates 246 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. were officially designated as Gentlemen of the Guard. They were mostly cadets of good families and younger sons of country gentlemen. A small body of grenadier dragoons, who came from a lower class and received lower pay, were attached to each troop, and apparently performed the duties of the stable. The social status of the privates of the Life Guards was not long maintained, and towards the close of the last century the corps was re-organized, divided into two regiments, and placed on its present footing. Another troop of household cavalry, distinguished by blue uniform and known as the Oxford Blues, was usually quartered at Windsor. Near the metropolis also lay the solitary regiment of dragoons then borne on the Army List. It had, till the close of the reign of Charles IL, formed part of the fortress of Tangier, which, originally a portion of the dowry of the Queen, was only abandoned by the English Government shortly before the accession of James. This regiment is still known as the 1st Eoyal Dragoons. Since the close of the eighteenth century, in common with all the other dragoon regiments, it has been regarded as a body of cavalry, but in the time of the last James the dragoons fought on foot, and merely used their horses for the purpose of rapid movement from one point of action to another. A single troop of dragoons, which was not regimented, lay in the fortress of Berwick, and was frequently employed in keeping order among the moss- troopers of the border. Scattered throuoh Eno-land and Scotland, and employed for police purposes in Ireland, were the rudiments of corps which, afterwards drawn closer XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 247 into a more solid organization, became seven regiments of horse. When it was afterw-ards found that dragoons gradually asserted the performance of mounted duties alone, and did those duties equally well and more economically than the more orthodox regiments of horse, the seven regiments of horse not included in the houseliold cavalry were made dragoons, but, to salve the wound which this reduction might occasion, were termed Dragoon Guards, were permitted to retain velvet facings as a relic of the rich dress that distin- guished horse regiments, and formed the present seven reo-iments of Dragoon Guards of the British service. At the present time England, correctly speaking, pos- sesses only three horse regiments, the two regiments of Life Guards and the Blues. To them almost the sole distinguishing mark from dragoons that remains, is, that the rank of corporal of horse is the highest rank of their non-commissioned officers. The household infantry in England consisted, in the time of James IL, of the 1st Eegiment of Foot Guards and the Coldstream Guards. They did duty near White- hall and St. James's Palace. There were then no bar- racks, and the Petition of Right, granted soon after the Restoration, protected the people from troops being billeted in private houses. The soldiers in consequence received lodging money, and, much to the prejudice of discipline and morals, cro^vded the smaller alehouses and drinking; dens in Westminster and behind Whitehall. The regiment of Scots Fusiliers formed a part of the standing garrison in Scotland. \ \ :liS INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Besides the household infantry on the English esta- blishment, there were five regiments of infantry. One of these, named the Admiral's Eegiment, was specially retained for service on board ship, and gradually became the corps of Eoyal Marines. The remaining four still rank as the first four regiments of the Line. Two of these represented corps which had already gained high fame in European war. The first, or Eoyal Scottish Eegiment, generally spoken of in the chronicles of the time as Dumbarton's Eegiment, from the name of its commander, had fought under Gustavus Adolphus, and contributed not a little to the deliverance of Germany. The third regiment, which from its light orange-coloured facings has acquired the name of the Buffs, had under Maurice of Nassau fought sternly for the freedom of the Netherlands and the cause of the House of Orange. Both these corps had been recalled by Charles II. from foreign service and stationed in England. The two remaining regiments had lately returned from Tangier, where they had formed the bulk of the gar- rison. They now rank as the second and fourth of the Line. The former, from having been employed to defend a Christian fortress against a Mahometan population, bore as their badge the sign of the Paschal Lamb. They were commanded by the notorious Colonel Kirke. Their discipline had been impaired by a long term of service in an unhealthy climate, where punctual and rigid perform- ance of duty could not be enforced, where the climate encouraged drunkenness, and where licence and rapine could be freely indulged against the Moorish population. |\ ^v] , INVASIONS VNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 249 II Such an education made the soldiers brutal, violent, and licentious. Their commander, though prone to anger and severe in punishment for some offences, indemnified his men for submitting to illegal penalties for incurring his displeasure, by permitting them to get drunk on guard, reel maudlin about the streets, and insult, rob, and beat modest girls and unoffending mcQhanics or labourers. Besides these regiments of infantry, a few detached companies were held in garrison at Tilbury Fort, Ports- mouth, Plymouth, and other important places along the coast. As yet there was no regiment of Artillery, no corps of Engineers, no body of scientific officers. At most of the garrisons there were gunners, and at a few stations of importance an engineer could be found. But in field artillery the country was far behind the nations of the Continent, and the field-pieces which it possessed could only be moved with extreme difficulty. During the seventeenth century the pike had been gradually superseded by the musket, and at the close of the reign of Charles II. the infantry mainly consisted of musketeers, though there was still in the ranks a con- siderable intermixture of pikemen. Each foot soldier carried, besides the musket or pike, a sword for close combat. The dragoon was armed with a musket, and with what was then called a dagger, but now is known as the bayonet. The bayonet, when fixed, was inserted in the muzzle of the musket, which could not be fired if a charge was anticipated. No Mutiny Act, and consequently no special punish- ! \ 250 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, fcnAp. ment for military offences, then existed.^ A soldier who knocked down his captain or beat his corporal was in the eye of the law liable to no other penalties than those attendant on ordinary assault and battery. Practically the officers did inflict military punishments for military offences, but on their own responsibility. The majority of the officers do not appear to have possessed the moral tone which can induce discipline without severity. It is f asy to believe, therefore, that the troops were in a state which at the present day would be considered extremely irregular, and that in England there was little oppor- tunity of enforcing regularity. Still, the army which served under James II. was immensely superior as a military force to the feudal levies that fought at Bosworth ; and being trained to war and confined to professional duties, was immeasurably superior to the rural militia, or to any rustic levies that a discontented nobleman or even a popular adventurer could rally round his standard. It was arranged that two Englishmen, Eumbold and Ayliffe, should accompany Argyle to Scotland, and that a Scotchman, Fletcher of Saltoun, should go w^itli Mon- mouth to England. The outlaws WTre able to raise, from their own resources and from the subscriptions of sympathisers in Holland, sufficient money to charter vessels and freight them with a certain amount of arms, stores, and provisions. The friends of the movement in England sent little. 6,000Z. was expected from London, but ]\Ionmouth's agent in London sent excuses instead * Articles of W"ar were in existence in the time of James II. XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 251 of the money. This single fact should have shown the Duke how little the upper classes of the island favoured his enterprise. Monmouth made up the deficiency by pawning his own jewels and those of Lady Wentworth, an heiress who had fled from family and home to share his wanderings and soothe his exile with her love. The information of the English Government was extremely good. The preparations of JMonmouth and Aro-yle were early known at Whitehall. It w\as at first supposed that Argyle would, with the Duke, sail to the west of Scotland : and at first no invasion of England seems to have been expected. A proclamation was issued directing that Scotland should be placed in a state of defence. The militia of the Lowlands was ordered to be held in readiness. The laws hostile to the Campbells were set in motion. John Murray, Marquis of Athol, was appointed lord -lieutenant of Argyleshire ; and imme- diately, with a large force of his clansmen, occupied Argyle's castle of Inverary. Several persons suspected of communication with the exiled chief of the Clan Campbell w^ere arrested. English cruisers w^ere sent to watch the Firth of Clyde and the Kyles of Bute, and part of the army which garrisoned Ireland w^as moved to the north-west coast over against Can tyre. English diplomacy endeavoured to obtain the arrest of the ex- pedition in Holland. The Prince of Orange and the States-General were both anxious to oblige the English king, but the local authorities of Amsterdam threw obstacles in their way, and Argyle was allowed to sail unimpeded from the Zuyder Zee. 252 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, _^^ [chap. He steered for the north of Scotland, and on the sixth day sighted the Orkneys. Most unwisely, he anchored and delayed at Kirkwall. Intelligence of his presence was immediately sent to Edinburgh. Troops were at once moved to Argyleshire, and the Earl lost the great advantage of landing unexpectedly among his own clan By the time that he reached Dunstaffnage, the heads of the branches of the Campbell family, who would have acted as his officers, were already arrested. From Dun staffuage the expedition sailed to Campbelltown. Here the Earl landed, and sent forth the fiery cross to summon the Campbells to arms. The tiysting-place was the isthmus of larbet : there within a few days 1,800 clay- mores were assembled of the 4,000 or 5,000 Campbells who would have flown to arms had not a great part of their land been held by hostile forces. Argyle divided the clansmen who joined him into three regiments. Now the baneful action of the Com- mittee of War became at once manifest. Its members not only suffered the arms they had brought to be spoiled and the provisions wasted, but even attempted to inter- fere with the patriarchal authority of the chief over his ckn and to claim an authority in the appointment of the officers among the mountaineers. The Committee equally unwisely interfered with the selection of the theatre of operations Argyle naturally wished to commence the campaign by driving from his own province the hostile clans that had been poured into it from the east. Thus he could have established a secure base of operations, and gained freedom for the whole of his clansmen to XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 253 join him in arms. But some of the Committee thought that Argyle at the head of his own clan would be too formidable, and insisted that a descent should be made on Ayrshire. To their loud insisting the Earl allowed his better judgment to yield, and consented to divide his force, which, even held together, was small enough for the task before it. Argyle remained with Rumbold in the Highlands. Hume and Cochrane were detached with a force which was to make a descent on the Ayrshire coast. But this coast was closely watched by the royal cruisers. The party which had been detached from Tarbet was obliged to run up the Firth of Clyde to the village of Greenock, then a small fishing hamlet, con- sisting of a single row of thatched cottages, now one of the most important ports of our island. A few men were landed under the fire of a company of militia that lay at Greenock. The militia were driven back, and some meal levied in the village. But none of the people joined the adventurers. These, having failed to raise even a spark of insurrection on the mainland, rejoined Argyle, who, to support the movement, had come into the island of Bute. The Earl now again proposed to recur to his original plan of advance on Inverary. Again his views were opposed in the council. The views of Argyle were naturally held by his clansmen ; the seamen of the vessels supported Cochrane and Hume. So high did the dispute wax, that it seemed probable the two sides would resort to arms against each other. The fear of such a catastrophe induced the Committee to yield. 254 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. '[chap. The movement was agreed to. The h]^^^^^^^,, GheuTig, at the mouth of Loch EicMaw, was selected 'as the base of operations and a pLace of arms. Earthworks were thrown up, and a battery armed with some guns taken from the vessels to cover the ships, which were moored close to the port, behind rocks and shoals, where It was thought they must lie unharmed by any of the kmgs frigates. Elphinstone was left as the command- ant of the port. For a short period there was some show of energy Eumbold captured the castle of Ard- king ass. Argyle skirmished successfully with the men of Murray. But suddenly his advance was stayed, and lie kmself called back to Ealan Gheirrig by the news tliat the Government frigates were close to Ealan Ghe.rng The Earl proposed an attack upon them by the vessels, supported by a flotilla of thirty boats filled with armed Highlanders. The Committee refused to sanction such a measure, and made it impossible by raising a mutiny among the seamen. To add to their misfortunes the provisions were now exhausted and there was no longer food for the men. The Highlanders began to desert, and the Earl in despair yielded to the urgent appeals of those who clamoured for an advance into the Lowlands. He hastily drew his force to the bank of Loch Luig, crossed the water in boats, and anded in Dumbartonshire. Here next mornin.. he learned that the Government vessels had forced a passage to Ealan Gheirrig, captured all his ships, and that Elphinstone had fled from his charge without Striking a blow. XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 255 ill As a last resource, Argyle resolved to push boldly on Glaso-ow. But no sooner was this determination announced than the very men who had constantly insisted on carrying the Avar into the Lowlands loudly opposed his resolution ; and, when their remonstrances proved vain, laid a plan for seizing the boats, making their own escape, and leaving Argyle and his High- landers to perish alone. This plan was discovered and frustrated, and the would-be fugitives forced involun- tarily to share the further peril of the adventure. In the advance towards Glasgow, through the country between Loch Luig and Loch Lomond, the little army was constantly harassed by detachments of militia. These were pushed back by the advancing Highlanders, but sent word of their approach and constantly fell back upon reinforcements ; and when Argyle reached the river Leven, he found a considerable force of militia drawn up to bar his way, supported by a regiment of regulars that had been hurried up from Glasgow. The Earl wished to attack, but Hume loudly remon- strated against such a hazardous proceeding. He could see at least one regiment in scarlet ; more might be in support : to attempt to force the Leven was to court certain death ; the safest course was to wait till niofht, and in the darkness slip past the enemy. Argyle again yielded ; but in the evening proposed a night attack. This was also overruled, and the dan- gerous course adopted of attempting to pass by a flank march an unbroken enemy by night and through a difii- cult country. The bivouac fires were left burning, and u m i V I •wwrnm-ymmmm^* 25G INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY, 257 the little army shortly after nightfall set out over heaths and morasses to slip round the enemy's position, and gain Glasgow without an action. The exploit was extremely dangerous. The result was disastrous : the guides mistook the path across the moors, and led the army into boggy ground. Alarm quickly succeeded despondency. Every wind that stirred the heather seemed in the darkness to be the sound of the hostile infantry marching ; every gust that swept through the pine-trees was imagined to be the rush of the enemy's horse. Panic followed quick upon alarm. The troops lost all order, large parties lost the main body, and individual stragglers fell rapidly away. When morning broke, only^500 men remained to assemble, weary and dispirited, at Kilpatrick. With such a tiny force in broad daylight it was hopeless to attempt to continue the contest. All the hopes of the expedition were at an end. A quick attack on the Leven the previous night might have been successful. Success might have raised the western shires. But all chance of avoiding failure had been destroyed by the apparently safer, but really desperate, flank march to Kilpatrick. In war usually much more is lost by timidity than by temerity. Nothing remained for the unhappy leaders of the expedition but to seek safety in flight. Hume escaped to the Continent, but Argyle was taken by a party of militia near Inchin- nan, and shortly after executed at Edinburgh. The expedition of Argyle into a province which, on account of the tardy communications of the time, was little regarded and little cared for, raised only a languid interest in London. But the metropolis was startled a few days after the receipt of the news of the landing of Argyle by the intelligence that a more formidable invader had descended on the south-western coast of England. It had been arranged that Monmouth should sail from Holland six days after the departure of the Scottish earl. He deferred sailing for a few days after the arranged period, apparently in the hope that most of the English troops would be moved northward on the news of Argyle's landing, and when he was anxious to set out the wind was unfavourable. While he was thus delayed, the English Government attempted by diplomacy to secure the arrest of the expedition in Dutch waters. The States-General were willing to accede to the desires of the King of England, and the Stadtholder, the Prince of Orange, was prompted both by policy and interest to prevent the departure of Monmouth. But the town of Amsterdam was eager to thwart the Prince, and its municipal authorities threw so many difiiculties in the way of carrying out their instructions, that the Duke was enabled on a change of wind to quit the Texel unmolested with one large ship— the Helderenhergh, armed with twenty-six guns, and freighted with arms and ammunition — and with two smaller vessels. The only aid which the Prince was able to give his uncle was to procure the departure of the three Scotch regiments then in the pay and service of the United Provinces. These were quickly conveyed across the Channel, and marched to the vicinity of London. 258 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. During Monmouth's voyage the sea was rough, and several Ens^lish men-of-war were cruisinor in the Channel. Although the voyage was prolonged by the bad weather, he evaded the English cruisers, and reached in safety the Dorsetshire coast. Here one of the refugees, named Thomas Dare, who possessed considerable influence in Taunton, was put ashore with instructions to hurry across countiy and inform those friendly to his cause at Taunton of the speedy arrival of Monmouth. On the morning of the 11th of June the Helderenbergh with her two smaller consorts appeared off the port of Lyme, the only harl)our where within several miles vessels could lie at anchor secure from the storms of the Channel. The appearance of these vessels of foreign rig and without colours caused uneasiness in the town. The Customs officers who went on board did not return. At last seven boats put off from the largest ship, and, carrying about eighty men, rowed ashore. Among the passengers were Monmouth, Grey, Fletcher, Ferguson, and Wade. As soon as they landed, Monmouth returned thanks for his safe voyage on the beach, and then with his sword drawn led his men into the town of Lyme. As soon as it was known who was the leader, and what the cause of the expedition, the townspeople enthusiastically welcomed the Duke as the champion of the Protestant religion. His ensign, a blue flag, was displayed in the market-place ; the arms and ammunition were stored in the town-hall ; and a declaration setting forth the legitimacy of Monmouth, and the design of XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 259 freeino' the country from tyranny and Popery, was read at the Cross. The yeomen and artisans of the neigh- bouring districts, who were generally Dissenters, em- braced the cause of Monmouth enthusiastically, and flocked in crowds to join him. Before he had been twenty-four hours on English ground 1,500 men had joined him. Dare came in from Taunton, with forty horsemen mounted on the rough colts then bred largely in the Somersetshire marshes, with a good account of the state of feeling in Somerset. But the gentry and nobility stood aloof. They were, with few exceptions, Tories, and looked with horror on the possibility of another reign of armed saints imposed on the country in the name of Protestantism. At Brid- port a force was being quickly assembled to oppose the insurrection. On the 13th of June the red regiment of Dorsetshire Militia was mustered in that town, and the yellow or Somersetshire regiment was expected to come in on the next day. The Duke determined to strike a blow before his enemies concentrated. On the following morning a detachment of 500 men under Grey and Wade marched against Bridport. An inde- cisive action took place, such, as Macaulay says, may be expected when two bands of ploughmen officered by country gentlemen and barristers are opposed to each other. At first Monmouth's men drove back the militia, but subsequently retreated to Lyme in considerable confusion. The result of this skirmish did not impede recruiting. Hundreds of young men hurried to Lyme, and arming s 2 2G0 IXrJSIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. and drillino* went on continuously. But information of the landing liad already been sent to London, and pre- parations to resist the invasion had already commenced. The day that the Duke landed, the Mayor of Lyme, a zealous Tory, sent messengers to apprise the gentry of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire, and himself set out for the west. At Honiton he stopped late at night, and sent off to London a hurried despatch. He then j^ushed on to Exeter. Here Christopher Monk, duke of Albe- marle, son of the celebrated General Monk, was hold- inor, as lord-lieutenant of Devonshire, a muster of the militia. Four thousand men were actually under arms at Exeter at the moment of the Mayor s arrival. With this force Monk considered he was sufficiently strong to immediately crush the insurrection, and determined to march on Lyme. He set out, but on the loth of June, in the afternoon, on nearing Axminster, found the insurgents in order of battle ready to receive him. They had with them four field -pieces, doubtless brought from Holland by Monmouth. The gTOund was difficult : the approaches to the position of the rebels led through narrow lanes bordered by thick hedges, which w^ere lined with men armed with muskets. Nor were these the o-reatest difficulties which encountered Albemarle. A mutinous spirit was evident among the militia-men in his own ranks. To the greater bulk of these the name and cause of Monmouth were dear : had they caught sight of his features or heard his voice, they might have deserted in a body to his standard. Lender these circumstances, fearful XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 261 of a greater catastrophe than a retreat, without firing a shot Albemarle resolved to retire, although considerably superior in force. As might have been expected with such troops as those forming the militia, with whom forma- tion in line was just possible, advance difficult, and retreat disastrous, the retreat soon became a rout. Men threw away their arms, fled from the ranks, and in many cases stripped off their uniforms. It required only a resolute advance, and Monmouth would have occupied Exeter without a blow. But the Duke knew a little of war, althouo-h not an experienced captain, and he saw that his recruits must be better trained before he ventured upon a bold movement. Instead of pursuing the enemy towards Exeter, he marched to the friendly town of Taunton, and arrived there on the 18th of June, exactly a week after his landing. The despatch sent by the Mayor of Lyme from Honiton reached King James in London at five in the morning of Saturday the 13th of June. The Privy Council were at once called together. Orders w^ere given to raise the strength of every company of infantry and of every squadron of cavalry. Commissions were issued for the levying of new regiments. The Houses of Par- liament met : a bill of attainder passed against Mon- mouth, and five thousand pounds immediately offered as a reward for his capture. At Taunton Monmouth met with a cordial reception from the townspeople ; but the landed gentry and the nobility still stood aloof. Though miners, ploughmen, arti- sans, and dissenting preachers flocked to his standard, no 262 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. one accustomed to authority, or looked up to with reve- rence by their neighbours, joined his camp. In the hope of gaining the allegiance of those who might feel scruples in taking up arms against the only acknowledged king, Monmouth at Taunton assumed the regal style, and was proclaimed King of England in the market-place of that town on the 20th June. But this assumption did not improve his position. James was no longer young : he had no son : the crown must naturally in a few years descend to a Protestant princess wedded to the chief of the Protestant cause on the Continent. Those who had anything to lose preferred to escape civil war, and though they disliked the government of James, trusted to be relieved of it rather by the sure processes of nature than by the more hazardous, though more immediate, chances of force. On the 21st of June Monmouth marched from Taunton to Bridgewater. Here he took up his quarters in the castle. His army, which consisted of about 6,000 men, was encamped in the castle field. The force could have been easily swelled to larger numbers. Eecruits were not wanting, but arms were not forth- coming. The Duke had brought with him but a small supply of pikes and muskets. Many of those who now followed him had no other arms than could be extem- porized from articles of husbandry. Of these the most formidable were scythes fastened to long poles, one of which may still be seen in the Tower. But it was im- possible to find even a sufficient number of these rude substitutes for pikes, in the country around Taunton and Bridgewater, for those who wished to enlist, and XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 263 many who were eager to serve had for this cause to be sent away. The foot-soldiers now encamped at Bridgewater were organized in six regiments. Many of the men had been in the militia, and still wore their uniforms. The cavalry mustered about 1,000 horsemen, but were of almost no military value. The men were untrained : the horses, large colts intended for the London dealers, had barely been mouthed, and were totally unaccus- tomed to either the sights or sounds of the ranks. A small body of forty young men, well armed and mounted at their own expense, formed the body-guard of Monmouth, and were the only cavalry worthy of the name with the rebel force. In the meantime the forces of the Government were making ready for action. On the west of MonmoutVs army, the Duke of Albemarle still held under arms a considerable body of militia in Devonshire. On the east the militia of Wiltshire had mustered ; and on the north-east that of Gloucester was collected under the Duke of Beaufort, who occupied the important city of Bristol. The train-bands of Sussex and Oxfordshire were moving westward ; and at Oxford a volunteer corps of undergraduates was enrolled for the defence of the Crown. But these would have met the insurgents only on equal terms. The King had at his disposal a more for- midable force. The regular army, though much inferior in discipline and equipment to the regular army of the present day, was a body of soldiers trained to the mili- 264 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 265 tary profession. On this much more than on the militia the King justly relied. As soon as the news of the landing reached White- hall, Churchill, afterwards the great Duke of Marl- borough, was ordered to march with the Blues to the west. Feversham, the commander-in-chief, marched quickly with all the troops that could be spared from the neighbourhood of London. The three Scotch regi- ments just arrived from Holland took up the garrison duty of the metropolis, and allowed the ordinary gar- rison to be moved towards Dorsetshire. By the time Monmouth was ready to march from Bridgewater, Churchill was in front of him. He moved, though harassed by the Blues, to Glastonbury, from Glastonbury to Wells, and from Wells to Shepton Mallet. As yet he had moved from point to point more with the object of collecting troops than of any serious mili- tary enterprise. Now it was necessary to undertake some regular operation. His first design was to seize Bristol. The town was garrisoned only by the Glouces- tershire Militia. Many of its inhabitants were friendly to the Whig cause ; and if the train-bands of Beaufort could be overpowered and the city seized, not only would the moral credit of the rebel arms be raised, but Mon- mouth's military chest would be amply filled. Bristol was fortified. The works on the southern side of the town were strong, but those on the Gloucestershire side w^ere weak. It was accordingly determined that the attack should be made on the northern front. To 'Z^TZ^^^^^^^^ry to make a flank march, and : tot tllAvon at Keynsha- The bridge at this Z had been practically destroyed by the garrison of Cl and -L the foment impracticable. A party ! as accordingly sent forward to execute the requisite re- nts The main body followed slowly, and on the evening rthe 24th of Jnnc halted at Pensford.- The northern l-t of the fortress was still a long clay's march dis ant, though the army lay within a few miles of the southern vorks The night was one of great excitement in Bristol : but Beaufort, with the help of some regular cavaky which had come in from Chippenham, prevented a not. btU there was a fire in the town ; and had Monmouth pushed boldly in, he might have seized the place. As ^lowever is so often seen in war, the leader feared o tiust a judicious temerity. Though the fire in Bnstol was seen from his camp, he remained inactive at Pensford, and the next day moved only to Keynsham Here the bridge was found repaired; and, halting for the after- noon, he intended to assault Bristol that night. But the opportunity was past. The advantage of sui-pnse and of the power of the initiative had been lost by want o rapidity of action. The royal troops were close at hand. WhUe the rebel force lay at Keynsham, a squad- ron of the Life Guards under Colonel Oglethorpe dashed into its lines, routed two troops of rebel horse, mflieted some damage, and doubtless retired with full informa- tion of the strength and disposition of its enemy, ilns cavalry raid caused Monmouth to change all his plans. He relinquished the idea of an attempt on Bristol, ihe 266 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 267 question then was, what was to be done ? It was pro- posed that the Duke should pass the Severn at Glou- cester, break down the bridge there, and, Avith his right flank protected by the river, move through Worcester- shire into Shropshire and Cheshire. There he would certainly find numerous partisans, and could swell his army to double its actual strength. But his troops were ill equipped for such a task. The men were ill shod, and were already much worn by wading through deep roads imder heavy rain : the hostile cavalry were close at hand, and it could hardly be expected that the Duke could reach Gloucester without being forced to a general action in a peculiarly disadvantageous position. It was then proposed to enter Wiltshire, where it was expected that large bodies of men would join him and enable him to accept battle with a prospect of success. This advice was taken. Monmouth turned towards Wiltshire. He summoned Bath, but Bath was strongly held for the Crown. The royal troops were quickly drawing near. The rebel troops made no assault on .the town, but hurried to Philip's Norton, where they halted on the evening of the 26th of June. Feversham followed, and on the following morning his cavalry of the advanced guard made an attack. The ground was not favourable for the action of cavalry, and the royal horse, harassed by the fire of the infantry which lined the numerous hedges, was driven back, but the main body of the King's troops came up, and a general action seemed imminent. It did not, however, then occur. Feversham, unwilling to fight till he was joined by his artillery, fell back to Bradford ; and Monmouth, as soon as night fell, quitted his position and marched southward to Frome, where he arrived at daybreak the next morning. Here he expected to find reinforcements ; but the Earl of Pembroke, with the Wiltshire Militia, had been here a few days before, had suppressed an insurrection, and had carried away all the scythes of the neighbourhood. Thus, though men were ready, they had no weapons, and Mon- mouth's field stores were unable to provide any. The rebel army was now in unfavourable circum- stances. The weather was bad, the roads were dread- fuUy heavy with mud, and the night marches had been most trying. It was reported that Feversham was joined by his artillery, and was about to advance. News of Argyle's disaster in Scotland arrived. The hope that some of the regular regiments would come over had been found futile. To advance towards London across the open ground of Salisbury Plain, m the presence of regular cavalry, was to court immediate destruction. Monmouth even contemplated flying ; but his advisers urged him not to betray the peasantry so basely, who had sacrificed all for him, and soon the idea was abandoned. At this crisis news arrived that the peasantry of the marshes of Axbridge had risen in the cause of the Protestant religion, and, armed with bludgeons, flails, and pitchforks, were assembling by thousands at Bridgewater. Thither Monmouth resolved to march, and to unite with these new reinforcements. The rebel army consequently marched to Wells, and from Wells returned to Bridgewater. The reinforce- 268 INVASTONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. ments, which rumour had magniaed into a general rising of the peasantry, were found to be insignificant. The royal army was in close pursuit, and Monmouth began to' waver between schemes of fortifying the town and of again attempting to gain the northern bank uf the Severn. In the meantime the King's troops gradually closed upon him. They consisted of about 2,500 men of the rec^ular armv and of about 1,500 of the Wiltshire Militia. Early on Sunday, the 5th of Jul}', with this force Feversham marched from Somerton, and encamped that afternoon on the plain of Sedgemoor, about three miles from the town of Bridgewater. In the time of Monmouth's rebellion the wide marshes of Somerset- shire, which in the days of Alfred had been inaccessible morasses, had partly been reclaimed by art. Instead of the wide waste of waters formed by the Parret and its tributaries, broken only by treacherous islands covered with rushes and jungle, Monmouth, on Sunday the 5th of July, 1685, saw from the tower of Bridgewater church a broad expanse of moor, intersected by deep-cut drains, known in the dialect of the country as rhines. On this open moor, not ftir from the village of Chedroy, lay the camp of the main body of the royal army, formed of several battalions of regular infantry. Among these, conspicuous lay the Royal Scots, then known as Dum- barton's Regiment, now as the 1st Regiment of the Line. ]kIonmouth recognized this gallant corps, and when he thought of his own army, composed of untrained plough- men and disbanded militia-men, his heart fell. But the INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTT. 269 incompetency of the commander of the royal forces appeared almost to neutralize the superiority of the iroops His strength, although almost in contact with the enemv, ^vas considerably scattered. The Wiltshire Militia lay in the village of Middlezoy, some distance to the rear of the regular infantry ; and the cavalry and head-quarters were cantoned in the hamlet of Weston Zoyland. The discipline in the royal ranks was slack, and Monmouth's spies reported to him that the troopers were drinking themselves drunk with the Zoyland cider. If this were true, and the cavalry incapacitated, a sur- prise of the infantry might be eflfected. Were the regulars caught napping, and defeated, or even repulsed, the Wilt- shire Militia would probably disperse without firing a shot. To advance across the open plain in daylight, and to attempt to surprise the regular camp, was impossible. But to lose the opportunity Feversham afforded would have been absurd. Monmouth, although he must have been conscious of the difficulty of his task with troops not thoroughly disciplined, resolved to run the hazard of a night attack ; and preparations were at once made. Towards eleven o'clock that night Monmouth set out from Bridgewater. The moon was full, but the marsh fog lay thick over Sedgemoor, and objects could not be distinguished at the distance of fifty paces. Monmouth in person led the foot. The cavaliy was commanded by Grey. In order to approach the royal camp unobserved, the rebel army pursued a circuitous route of about six miles in length. Orders were given that strict silence should be preserved in the ranks, no drum was to be 270 INVASIONS OF -ENGLAND. [chap. beaten bo shot fired ; the countersign by which the soldiers were to recognize each other was " Soho." At about one o'clock in the morning of Monday, the 6th of July, the troops of Monmouth had gamed the open moor. But between the Duke's force and the position of the royal camp lay three broad and deep ditches, or rhines, filled with mud and water. The wa-c^ons which conveyed the spare ammunition were halted at the entrance to the moor, where they were to remain Two of these, the Black Ditch and Langmoor Ehine were known to the rebel staff, but curiously the Sussex Ehine, immediately behind which the royal infantry lay, had not been reported to the Duke by either his troopers or his spies. The horse, followed by the foot, crossed the Black Ditch in a long narrow column by means of a causeway. A similar causeway led across the Langmoor Ehine, but in the excitement and the foc^ the leading guide missed the spot. It was necessary to countermarch the head of the column, and to halt the rear. Even this simple evolution in the dark was too much for the training of the rebel bands. Some confusion arose, and in the disorder a pistol went off, just when the passage of the Langmoor Rhine was bemg effected. The sound at once attracted the attention of a party of the Horse Guards that was on outpost duty in front of the royal lines. They quickly perceived that a large mass of men was approaching through the mist. To gFve the alarm they fired their carbines, and galloped off°in different directions. One spurred to Weston Zoyland to arouse the horse : another galloped off to ,1 lyrASIOaS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTV. 271 X^'-J ^ ^ the infantry encampment. The drums of Dumbarton's Reoiment gave the alarm ; the men turned out fast, feU into the ranks behind the Sussex Rhine, and lighted their matches. They had little time to spare. Monmouth ordered Grey to push forward at once with the rebel cavalry. Had the ground been clear, a vigorous onset of even untrained horsemen might, in the darkness, have scattered the forming companies of the Royal Scots. But Grey's advance was suddenly checked by finding a deep and broad trench in front of him, of the existence of which he was profoundly ignorant, and on the opposite side of which the royal infantry was hastily forming. An officer of the Foot Guards challenged the rebel cavalry ; the reply was, " For the King." " For which king ? " was the instant demand. The troopers shouted " King Monmouth," and the old Parliamentary war-cry " God°with us." The royal infantry immediately fired a volley, which dispersed the rebel horse in all directions. A few moments after the horse had been scattered, Monmouth's infantry came marching up. Their way was guided by the glowing matches of Dumbarton's Regiment ; but they were also suddenly checked by the Sussex Rhine. Across this volley after volley was fired both by the militia and the regulars, and for three- quarters of an hour the clatter of musketry endured. No success was, however, achieved by either side, for though the regulars fired badly, the militia-men of Monmouth fired worse. The battle might have long continued in an impotent fusillade across the trench, but time had been Ml 272 INVASION'S OF ENGLAND^ [chap. given for the royal cavalry to appear upon the scene. The Life Guards and Blues came as hastily as possib e from AVeston Zoyland, and on their ^vay to the bat 1. scattered in a moment some of Grey's troopers who attempted to rally. These, driven like chaff_ before the breath of the heavy horsemen, spread panic m then flight. The waggoners who had been left with the ammunition took alarm and drove off at ull speed. Nothing, could be now hoped for : the King s forces were united : the rebels were without ammunition and cavalry. The advantages of surprise and night had been lost, for day was about to break. Monmouth, who had hitherto been fighting on foot among his infantry, mounted and rode from the field. His peasant soldiery still made a good stand, ihe Life Guards charged them on the right, the Blues ou the left : on both flanks the royal horse were repulsed. But ammunition failed, and no reserve could be obtained The royal artillery at this crisis came up. It had been camped half a mile off, on the road from Bridge- water to Weston Zoyland, but depended for locomotion on horses pressed from the country. In the mght these were not to be obtained, and it was only by the loan of the coach horses of the Bishop of Winchester, who accompanied the King's army, that the guns were got into action at all. They soon terminated the engage- ment The rebel ranks quickly shook, and naturally immediately afterwards broke. The royal horse again charged and swept everything before them. While their cavalry tore away the flanks, the King's foot pushed XV.] INFASIONS UNDER THE SWART DYNASTY. 273 across the rhine and attacked in front. A short hand- to-hand contest ensued on the bank of the trench ; but the insurgents, pressed on all sides, were quickly routed, with the loss of over 1,000 men. Of the Eoyalists about 300 were killed or wounded. It seems now extraordinary that a force of between 5 000 and 6,000 rustics and miners should have for an hour resisted the attack of half that number of regular troops ; but it must be borne in mind that the men who fought under Monmouth were chiefly militia-men, and had some slight military training, while the regular troops were only inefiiciently drilled and in a very slack state of discipline. The broken army was severely pursued and completely routed. Monmouth himself fled into Hampshire, where he was taken, and afterwards executed at the Tower. The memorable bloody assizes avenged on the peasantry the aid that they had given to him. The campaign in the west, though successful, had only been decided by the regular troops. The Government found that but little confidence could be placed in the local militia. This served as an excuse to augment the regular army. The six regiments of horse now known as the first six regiments of the Dragoon Guards, were embodied and formed into regiments. At the same time the 3rd and 4th Regiments of Dragoons were raised. The infantry in England, which since the return of the Scotch regiments from Holland numbered seven regi- ments, was increased by nine regiments. These formed the corps known now as those regiments from the 7th T INVASIONS OF ENGLANB. [chap. 274 to ^thTT^dTTti^Tli inclusive. The effect of the recall of the garrison of Tangier and of these augmeu- tations was that the regular arnay was xncreasec ^n about 6.000 to near upon 20,000 men. Such W no king of England had ever before commanded m time ""^ InZ year following the western campaign, the King collected and encamped at Hounslow a large force. There were assembled fourteen battalions of mfantry, with thirty-two squadrons of horse and twenty-six from Ireland ; as many were ordered to march south- ward from Scotland ; and it was estimated that the Kin^ would be able, if truly served, to meet the in- vaders with 40,000 regular troops, backed by 130,000 militia. r „i On the 16th of October, William, after takmg a formal farewell of the States-General, embarked at Helvoet- XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY, 277 sluys on board of a frigate named the Brill His flag ^Yas at once hoisted. On it were the arms of Nassau quartered with those of England, and to the motto of the House of Orange, " I will maintain," were added ^' the liberties of 'England and the Protestant religion/' The wind soon became favourable. On the 19th the expedition put to sea, and, favoured by a fresh breeze, (rained the mid-channel between the coasts of Holland and of England. Then the wind veered round to the west, and, gradually increasing in force, rose into a gale. The vessels were scattered, and regained the ports of Holland in disorder. The Prince himself returned to Helvoetsluys on the 21st, but did not go ashore. In a few days the fleet was again collected : damages were quickly repaired, and again it set sail on the evening of Thursday, the 1st of November. The wind blew strongly from the east. The fleet steered towards the north^'-west. The vessels sent by the English admiral from the Thames to collect information reported this direction, and confirmed the impression which prevailed that the expedition would attempt a landing in York- shire. On a sudden a signal was made from the Brill and the whole fleet bore round and stood for the Straits of Dover. The easterly wind, which favoured the voyage of the invaders, cooped the vessels of Dartmouth within the Thames. Two alone gained the open sea, and were driven back into the river by the violence of the wind. At about ten on the morning of Sunday, the 3rd of November, the Brill neared the narrow seas. She led 278 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [cHAr. the way, followed by more than 500 transports, Avhich were protected on either flank and in rear by men- of-war, commanded by an English admiral, and partly manned by English sailors. Soon after mid-day the armament passed the Straits. The fleet spread across the Channel, from within a league of Calais on the south to within the same distance of Dover on the north. The men-of-war on the flanks saluted both fortresses at the same time. Immense crowds of spectators lined the heights of both Kent and Picardy. The troops stood to arms on the decks, the roll of drums and the crash of martial music were heard at once both on the coasts of England and of France. At sunset the fleet was off Beachy Head : but through the night it stiU swept on, every vessel steering her course by the three large lanterns which hung at the stern of the Brill. A courier quickly carried from Dover to Whitehall the news that the armament had passed down the Channel. The military arrangements had to be immediately altered, and fresh combinations executed. The troops in London paraded at three in the morning of Sunday, the 4th of November, by torchlight, in St. James's Park. Several regiments had been sent northwards, under the impression that the descent would be made in Yorkshire. Couriers spurred fast to recall these, and all the forces not abso- lutely required to keep order in London were ordered to hurry to the west, and to concentrate at Salisbury. As it was thought that Portsmouth might be the first point attacked, three battalions of the Foot Guards and a strong INVASIONS UNDER THE SWART DYNASTY. 279 Xv.J ^ __ body of cavalry set out for that place ; but as soon as the news arrived that Portsmouth was safe, the direction of their march was changed, and they were also given the route for Salisbury. , ^ . At daybreak on Sunday, the 4th of November, the fleet was close to the chalk clifts of the Isle of Wight. The day was the anniversary of both William's birth and marriage. Sail was shortened, and Divine service per- formed^in the morning. In the afternoon and the night the vessels held steadily on their course. It was intended to land at Torbay, but the morning of the 5th Novem- ber was very misty, and the pilot of the Brill missed the marks, and the whole fleet, passing the intended point swept down channel under the easterly wind before the error was discovered. Then it was impossible to return in the teeth of the breeze. Plymouth was the next channel port, but it was known that Plymouth was held for the King by Lord Bath with a strong garrison. The objects of the expedition seemed about to be frus- trated, when suddenly the wind dropped, a gentle breeze sprang up from the south, and the fleet was able to retrace its track and by mid-day rode safe in Torbay. The peasantry, who remembered the name and cause of Monmouth with affection, crowded down to the beach with proffers of provisions and service. The disem- barkation immediately commenced, at the point where the quay of Brixham now stands, but which then was a desolate beach. Mackay was sent ashore first with the British regiments which had still remained in the service of the United Provinces. Sixty boats continually carried INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 281 280 ^^Z^r. the ships to the shore. The Prince soon landed, and, having procured horses, started at once ^nth Schomberg, his second in command, to reconnoitre he country. The troops who landed had on the first c^y some hardships to endure : there was no shelter ava 1- able • the ground was heavily wet with rain, and the bago;.e was still on board ship. The disembarkation of the horses for the cavalr>' and artillery threatened to be a work of time. But the following day the wind was calm ; the sea was smooth. Some fishermen showed where the transports could come within sixty feet of the beach, and in a few hours the whole of the horses were swum ashore. Hardly had the landing been completed when the wind again sprang up, and blew with violence from the west. The royal fleet, which had cleared the Thames and followed in pursuit down channel, was stayed by the same weather as had allowed William to make Torbay. For two days Dartmouth was becalmed ott Beachy Head : then he was able to proceed. He passed by the Isle of Wight, and his leading vessel sighted the topmasts of the Dutch fleet lying in Torbay. But then the westerly gale arose with fury, and he was compelled ■ to run for shelter into Portsmouth harbour. There was little delay on the part of the Prmce ot Oranc^e. On Tuesday, the 6th of November, he com- menced his inland march, and that afternoon his ad- vanced guard reached Newton Abbot. But the roads were extremely deep and heavy on account of the late rain, and the main body could only traverse them slowly. On the 8th of November a detachment surrounded XV.] '^S^^^^^^^^^^r.,^ its gates immediately; and on the following day the Prince in person with his whole force nlld^the'capital of the West. The whole of the inhabitants of the surrounding country flocked m crowds to welcome the arrival of the champion of their religion and were not only filled with pleasure, but struck with 'awe by the appearance of the troops th^t ^cc^^mpam^d him Macclesfield led the way at the head of 200 oentlemen, mostly of English blood, armed with helmets and cuirasses, and mounted on heavy chargers from Brabant. Each of these horsemen was attended by a nearo youth brought from the plantations of Guiana. Thl common people, who had naturally even less know- ledge of foreign countries than their descendants of the present day, gazed with surprise on so many specimens of the African race attendant on the cuirassed warriors. Surprise was succeeded by awe when a squadron of Swedish cavalry came in view following the glittering advanced guard. These troopers rode with drawn swords, and were equipped in black helmets and fur cloaks. The rumour went through the crowd that they came from a land where the ocean was always frozen, and that they themselves had slain the huge bears whose skms they bore. Next came, held by a number of gentlemen and pages, the banner of the Prince, with the motto displayed which told that he came in the cause of the liberties of England. The Prince himself foUowed, armed with back Tnd breast plates, conspicuous with a white plume, and mounted on a white war-horse. By his side rode Schomberg, who, since Turenne and Conde were dead, 282 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. was justly held to be the first soldier in Europe, and was even more celebrated because for conscience-sake he had resicmed the baton and rich emoluments of a mar- shal of France. In rear of the Prince followed a long- column of the bearded inflmtry of Switzerland, so highly renowned for courage and discipline. These were fol- lowed by the English and Scotch regiments m the service of Holland, not, as now, known by numbers, but by the names of their colonels— Bentinck, Solmes, Ginkell, Tal- mash, Mackay, and Ossorj-. The appearance of these warriors and the memory of their former contmental services inflamed the imaginations of the spectators. They were described as men above the ordinary human stature, and armed with weapons which required gigantic force to wield. So easily is a multitude unaccustomed to military spectacles imposed upon by military order and military array. In rear of the infantry marched the artillery train. It consisted of twenty-one bronze pieces of but small calibre and no great weight, but superior to any field artillery which had as yet been seen on English soil. So bad were the roads of the West of England at this time, and so poor were the horses of the country, that the cannon, which can have been little more than three-pounders, were with labour hauled along by six cart-horses each. A pontoon train also followed the force, and excited great admiration among the staring clowns. It was naturally William's policy to gam at the outset both the respect and affection of the mass of the people. The appearance of his army commanded the former ; the strict discipline preserved in biEets and 1 INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 283 quarters elicited the latter from a population only too we'll taught by Kirke's Lambs and Feversham's troopers to appreciate an army in which pillage was prevented and even insult to the inhabitants promptly punished. Even in a hostile country a force which never plunders but pays for its supplies is quickly sure of abundant provisions ; much more so was this the case in a laud predisposed to welcome the invader. The country people's afi-ection and safety within his lines relieved William of all fear of being able to feed his troops. His base of operations and°his line of communication were unnecessary, and could be safely neglected, for in a theatre of war so friendly it was necessarj- only to transport with the army the ammunition which that theatre could not supply ; the proportion of powder and bullets required was much less than with a modern force, and it was easy to arrange for its transport in rear of the fighting-men. On Tuesday the 6th of November a courier arrived at Whitehall with the intelligence that the Prince had landed the previous day in Devonshire. During the following Aveek London was much agitated. On the following Sunday riots against the Catholics broke out in the City. But as yet the cause of James looked weU. The Prince had been already a week on English ground, but though the apprentices of Exeter and the clowns of Chudleigh cheered and stared at his troops, no nobleman or gentleman of consideration had joined his standard. The royal army was rapidly concentrating at Salisbury, and, although inferior in military qualities to the troops of the Prince, was numerically superior. 284 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. William was much disappointed and mortified by tlie apparent timidity and lethargy of those who had invited him over. His design was not to invade England with the view of conducting a campaign against the royal army while the people of the land preserved an in- different neutrality. The object of his armament was to aid the people in freeing themselves from a yoke they detested. The apathy of their natural leaders in a cause for which he had, though perhaps less interested, risked so much, disgusted him. He even at one time talked of returning to Torbay, re-embarking his army, and leaving those who had betrayed him to their fate. On the 12th of November, however, a landed gentleman of the name of Barrington, who lived near Crediton, came into the Princes camp. The example once set was speedily imitated, and gradually spread through the country. Lord Lovelace, indeed, on his way to join the court of Prince William at Exeter, was arrested at Exeter by the Duke of Beaufort and sent to Gloucester Castle; but Lord Colchester, Wharton, the eldest son of the Duke of Bedford, and Lord Abingdon arrived in quick succession. These were soon followed by Viscount Cornbury, eldest son of the Earl of Clarendon. He was the commanding officer of one of the regiments of dragoons which had marched to Salisbury. The chief conspirators against the King, among whom Churchill seems to have been important, arranged that on the 14th of November Cornbury should become the senior officer at Salisbury, and that the whole of the troops there should be con- sequently subject to his orders. XV.] INVASIONS VNDm THE STUART DYNASTY. 285 He suddenly ordered three of the cavalry regiments quartered at Salisbury to march to the west under his immediate command. He moved them first to Bland- ford, and then to Dorchester. After a halt there of a few hours they were again set in motion to move to Axminster. Some of the officers were disquieted, and pressed for an explanation of such strange orders. Cornbury asserted that he was commanded to attack some outlying troops which the Prince of Orange had thrown into Honiton. But this solution did not satisfy suspicion. Further questions found only evasive answers, and Cornbury began to perceive that not only would it be impossible to carry over the whole three regiments as he had intended, but that his own position was one of serious peril. He accordingly stole away with a few friends, and the greater part of his troops, left to an inferior command, returned to Salisbury ; but some, having reached Honiton, found themselves among William's forces, and were easily induced by the promise of the gratuity of a month\s pay to take service under the Prince of Orange. The news of this desertion reached London on the 15th of November. The King was justly alarmed, and called around him the prin- cipal officers still in London. Conspicuous among these were Churchill, as well as Kirke and Trelawney, who commanded the two regiments then known as the Tangier regiments. All, with more policy than veracity, avowed their determination to shed their blood for their august master, as also did the Duke of Grafton, who commanded the 1st Eegiment of Guards, 286 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 287 and who was also in comraunication with the Prince of Orange. Blinded by their protestations, James prepared to set out for Salisbury. Before he started he appointed a Council of five Peers to represent him in London. On the 19th he arrived at Salisbury, having sent the Prince of Wales to Portsmouth on the day he left London. The tidings which greeted the King at Salisbury were ominous. The desertion of Cornbury was the signal for a general rising in the western counties, for it showed the spirit of the royal army. The gentry and nobility of Devonshire and Dorsetshire flocked to William's head-quarters at Exeter, which, through the crowd of liveries, coaches, and lackeys, soon assumed the ap- pearance of a court. The common people were eager to take up arms ; but William and Schomberg, with a just appreciation of the value of rustic levies, held that if the enterprise were not to succeed, it would not stand a better chance on account of such aid. Commissions for raising regiments were therefore very abstemiously bestowed, and only picked men were enlisted. At the same time as the great influx of leading men of the west took place at Exeter, a messenger arrived there from Plymouth. His errand was to say that the Earl of Bath, the commandant of the fortress, placed himself, his troops, and his charge entirely at the Prince's dis- posal. The invaders had therefore no longer any hostile force in their rear. At the same time as the invasion prospered in the west, an insurrection broke out in the north. On the 16th the men of Cheshire took up arms, and they were quickly aided by risings at York, Derby, and Nottingham, which became the head-quarters of the opposition to the Government in the north. Here were soon assembled in armed array against the King, Danby, Devonshire, Delamere, Stamford, Rutland, Chesterfield, Cholmondeley, and Grey de Ruthyn. When the King arrived at Salisbury, the Prince thought it time to break up his camp at Exeter. Leaving that city and the surrounding district under the military charge of Seymour, he moved to Axminster, where he remained several days. The royal army pushed out its posts in the hopes of battle. The King was naturally eager to fight, as each day deprived him of a portion of his strength, and a great battle, even if it resulted in victory, must take away a part of the Prince's popularity. But the invaders were determined not yet to engage seriously ; and in the affairs which occurred between the advanced troops, as those of James were formed by the detested Irish regi- ments, and those of William by his British regiments, the invaders had the moral support of the sympathy of all Englishmen. The first of these skirmishes occurred at AVincanton, and the Irish had certainly the best of the engagement, but were obliged to retire in consequence of hearing a report of the speedy arrival of an overwhelming con- tingent of the invaders. But all danger of a serious collision between the two II 288 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. armies was a few hours after this skirmish at Wincanton speedily set at rest. The long-prepared treason of James's principal officers was ready for execution. Churchill and some of the principal conspirators were at Salisbury ; Kirke and Trelawney were at Warminster, where their regiments were stationed. The King was advised by Churchill to visit Warminster and inspect the regiments there. He was on the point of setting out, when his nose began to bleed violently, as James ever after believed, in consequence of the intervention of some averting saint, and he was forced to postpone his journey. But the real spirit of the army began to leak out. Feversham, the commander-in-chief, reported that the feeling of the troops was bad ; and some even hinted that Churchill should be arrested. The King was now no lono-er eager for battle: he discussed the pohcy of a retreat, and on the evening of the 24th of November summoned a council of war. At the consul- tation, which endured till midnight, Feversham urged the necessity of retreat : Churchill opposed this view, but the King finally announced that he had decided to fall back. Churchill fancied that he was suspected, and before daybreak fled to the Prince's camp. Next morning this desertion caused great confusion in the royal army. At the same time it was reported that Kirke at Warminster had refused to obey the orders sent him from Salisbury. In great consternation the retreat was commenced. The desertion of Churchill was quickly followed by many other officers, and the whole moral force of the troops was sapped. On the XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 289 25th the royal army retreated to Andover, whence the following morning Prince George of Denmark, the hus- band of the Princess Anne, and the Duke of Ormond also departed ; the Princess Anne at the same time fled from London to the northern insurgents. The King reached London on the evening of the 26th. Hence a negotiation was opened with the Prince, and royal commissioners were sent to his head-quarters. In the meantime the insurrection spread ; the eastern counties were up in arms ; the men of Gloucester, in the Orange cause, with their pikes decorated with Orange ribbons and drums beating LullibuUero, occupied Oxford without any censures or opposition from the Tory university. The Prince meanwhile moved to Salisbury, and from Salisbury on the 6 th of December to Hungerford, where he met the royal commissioners. While head-quarters remained at Hungerford, a sharp affair took place at Reading between 2.50 of the Prince's troops and 600 Irish who occupied that place. The discipline of the assailants drove the Irish back on the first attack to the market-place. Here the defenders rallied, but, being assailed in front and fired upon in rear from the win- dows by the townspeople, were forced to vacate the place. The negotiation opened by James with the Prince was but a feint to cover his flight to the Continentv On the 9th of December the Queen and Prince of Wales were sent away. On the morning of Tuesday, the 11th, the King himself, before daybreak, left Whitehall in a u 290 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XV.] INVASIONS UNDER THE STUART DYNASTY. 291 hackney coach, crossed the Thames in a wherry at Mill- bank, and landing at Vauxhall, where a carriage was awaiting him, took the road to Sheerness. Here a hoy belonging to the Custom House was ready to take lam on board. As soon as the flight of James was known, London declared for the Prince ; and the Lords assembled in the metropolis provisionally assumed the government of the realm. By the King's orders Feversham disbanded the royal army, and thousands of soldiers were at once let loose without pay and without the restraints of discipline. To pass through these without a strong guard was im- possible, and William could not hasten to London more quickly than his troops could march. Li those days on the English roads an army could move only slowly. Unfortunately, before the hoy upon which he had embarked could set sail, the King was captured by the mob of Sheerness. He was set at liberty by order of the Lords, and returned to London on the 16th of December. William was then at Windsor. The King proposed a personal conference with the Prince, but the proposal was declined, and James remained at Whitehall, while the Dutch advanced guard occupied Chelsea and Kensington. On the night of the l7th, three battalions of the Prince's infantry, with some squadrons of horse, advanced through St. James's Park, and their com- mander requested Lord Craven, who was in command of the Coldstream Guards on duty at the palace, to withdraw his sentries peaceably, and to allow the Dutch troops to take up the duties. Craven declared that he would fight to the last for his charge ; but the King, with considerable magnanimity, for which he has hardly received due credit, commanded him to avoid useless bloodshed, and to withdraw his men. The palace was at once surrounded by the invaders' sentinels. On the morniug of the 18th James started, in accord- ance with a request of the Prince, for Eochester. While he was on his way the whole of the invading army poured into London, and that night Prince William occupied St. James's. On the 22nd King James left Eochester and sailed for France. In February the crown was tendered to, and accepted by, William and Mary. u 2 CH. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 293 CHxVPTER XVI. INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. Authorities -.-Regimental Records of the British Army ; Allen'.- Battles of the British Navy;" Skene'. "Highlanders;" Browne's '• History of the Highlanders ;" Burnet's "History of his own Times ;" Napier's Me- moirs of Montrose and Dundee ;" Macaulay's '^History of England ; « Records of the Chevalier de Johnstone ;" Mahon's " History of Eng- land • " Stocqueler's " Familiar History of the British Army ; Buckle s "History of Civilization;" London Gazelte; London Post-hoij; Londm Post; "Memoirs of Saint Simon;" "Luttrell's Diary;" Story's 'Im- partial History ; " " Memoires de Berwick ; " " Story of an Officer of Dundee's Army ;" '' Lockhart's Memoirs ;" "Lockhart's Commentaries ; Hamilton's "Transactionsof Queen Anne;" Colonel Hooke's " Memoirs ; '^ Oldmixen's " Historv of Three Reigns ; " " Memoirs of Prince Eugeiie ;' " Macpherson Papers ; " Journals of the House of Commons ; Cham- bers' "Rebellions;" Patten's "History of the Rebellion of l,lo; Grant's " Edinburgh Castle ; " Stewart's " Sketches of the Highlanders ; Murray's " History of the Scottish Regiments ; " Duncan's " History ot Royal ArtiUery ; " " Tales of a Grandfather." The Prince of Orange and liis consort did not long remain unmolested on the throne. With the title of sovereigns of England they assumed that of sovereigns of Ireland, for the English advisers of William looked upon this island as a mere appanage of the crown of Great Britain. But James, during the three years of his reign, had made it a place of arms against England. By the time of the Revolution, the civil and military I power alike were in the hands of the Eoman Catholics. The army of the Irish establishment was almost without exception of that belief. Tyrconnell occupied the post now held by the Lord- Lieutenant of the island. He was a firm adherent of the Stuart line, and in 1689 called the Irish to arms in support of the claims of James to the kino'dom. The war so kindled was at first adverse to the Protestants, but its tide was stayed before the w^alls of Londonderry and Enniskillen, and rolled back from the valley of the Boyne. It w^ould be foreign to the purpose of this work to trace the details of that contest, but the fact of its existence led to an attempted invasion of England. In March 1689, James, supported by the power of France, landed at Kinsale, in Ireland, and soon after- wards, unopposed, triumphantly entered Dublin. The news of this event roused all the energies of the Govern- ment at Whitehall. Transports with troops under Kirke were quickly hurried to Lough Foyle ; and ten thousand men under Schomberg soon followed across St. George's Channel, to aid the beleaguered Protestants of Ulster. Commissions were issued to raise five regiments^ of cavalry and eighteen regiments of foot. Many of these were subsequently disbanded. But to this struggle owe their origin the corps still known as the Enniskillen dragoons and the present seventh hussars. The infantry regiments then raised, wdiich still exist, rank from the sixteenth to the twenty-eighth of the line inclusive. Among them is the celebrated Cameronian regiment, which was levied from anions: the Covenanters of the 294 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. western Lowlands, to serve against the Highlanders who were also in arms under Dundee for the cause of King James. In the following year, 1690, William determined to take the field in Ireland in person. All the regular troops that could be spared were marched to the Cheshire coast, and embarked at Highlake. Thirty thousand English and Dutch troops were soon concen- trated in Ulster, but the energy of the ofi'ensive action ao-ainst Ireland almost denuded England of a regular army. Scarce ten thousand soldiers were left to find the guards and garrisons, even at a time when there was no civil police, and the preservation of order in the streets of London depended on armed men, and the presence of sentinels around the palace was no mere pageant, but necessary for the exclusion of unauthorised intruders and the safety of the person of the Sovereign. So hard pressed was the Government for the performance of military duty that, thoug-h there was trouble in Scotland, the Scotch troop of Life Guards was marched to London, and with one remaining troop of English Life Guards, found the necessary services for the Queen at Whitehall. The occasion was favourable for both insurrection and invasion. The Jacobite party was numerous and full of hope. Their agents were busy with intrigues throughout the country, arms were secretly collected and men silently mustered in the northern and western shires ; malcon- tents were rife in Bath, Plymouth and Bristol, and in all the coffee-houses in London, and were trusting to the fall of the new dynasty. Jacobite emissaries lurked, even swarmed, in Hyde Park while the Queen was XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTr. 295 takino- her airing. A large French fleet was collected at Brest, and close beside the harbour a strong body of troops was massed to be transported to the shores of England. Special galleys were brought from the French ports in the Mediterranean to facilitate the disembarcation of the soldiers on the English beach. All that seemed requisite was that for a few hours the command of the Channel should be in the hands of the French navy. To secure this advantage, scarcely had William sailed from Cheshire than the Comte de Tourville, with sixty- eio-ht French sail of the line, and twenty-two fireships, took the sea. His vessels mounted 4,700 guns. As yet the French laid claim to the command of the seas, and their most formidable maritime rivals were not the English, but the Dutch. An English fleet was ready in the Downs to meet this force, but it was much inferior both in numbers and in the weight of metal of its artillery. De Tourville, favoured by a gentle, southerly breeze, stood across the Channel and showed his force in front of Plymouth. The number of sail in his fleet could be counted from the towers of the fortress. Couriers hurried to London with the news. Messengers spurred hastily to every deputy-lieutenant within the county. Intelligence was also sent to the neighbouring shires. Hurried orders were given for the muster of the militia. From the gates of Brist:> to the Land's End men were called to arms. But the French fleet, after being seen, gradually sank away below the northerly horizon, and 296 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. glided harmlessly along the coast. On a summer sea, filled by a gentle breeze, the white sails and tall masts of the foreign armament could be tracked from every sand- stone cliff and every chalky down along the Devonshire and Dorsetshire coast. They swept along slowly under easy sail. Ever and anon the liners on the extreme left floated almost within cannon shot of the English shore. The far rirfit of the line was lost from view below the white-crested waves to southward. Noiselessly and un- interruptedly they glided on. The white cliffs near the Needles and the bold downs of the Isle of Wight lay clear before them, when the French look-out men sano- out that the English fleet was in view. As soon as the panting couriers galloped into London with the news that the French fleet had actually been sighted from the fortifications of Plymouth, Lord Tor- rington was sent to take the command of the squadron in the Downs. He weio^hed anchor, and off St. Helen's was joined by the Dutch fleet, under Evertsen. Yet the two squadrons united did not show more than fifty-six pennants, and their united artillery was not one-fourth of the o;uns which under De Tourville's charo^e werebeinix slowly wafted up Channel. Still the allied fleet moved forward till it too was close to the Isle of Wio-ht. On the 26th of June, 1690, over 150 ships of war could be counted from the high cliffs of St. Catherine. On the left hand, in a long line, lay the English fleet, stretching from the flat shores of Hayling Island away to the south, on the right lay the fleet of France, extending in a still longer line into the haze that under the summer sun pi Ni XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTr. 2d 7 dimmed the horizon. A great naval action was ex- pected, and the country people flocked to the summits of the downs to witness the fight. But Torrington thought the odds against him too heavy. His vessels, instead of bearing down upon the French line, were seen, on a signal from the flagship, to put about and slowly to bear up Channel. This was quickly reported to London, and orders were hurried to the Admiral to engage the enemy at all hazards. The despatch reached him when he was off Beachy Head. It placed the commander in a great difficulty. Not to fio'ht was to be directly disobedient to orders, to engage was to risk the fleet, with it the safety of the coast, and the entrance to the Thames itself. He attempted a middle course ; he desired to engage the enemy with some of his vessels, and to hold the remainder in reserve to avert a disaster. In war a middle course is usually a failure. In war when a blow is struck it should be struck hard and with all force. This occasion was no exception to the general rule. On the 13th of June at daybreak, the long line of the French fleet could be made out by the English signalmei^ stretching across the Channel on the larboard tack, with the heads of the vessels pointing towards the high chalk cliff which, standing steep and prominent in the rolling waters of the Channel, forms the headland of Beachy. The English line of battle was quickly formed. In the van were placed the Dutch vessels, heavier and less easy of manoeuvre than the English craft, but manned by seamen as bold and officers as able as ever fought for the 298 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. honour of the Batavian Fhig. Next to the Dutch followed the squadron bearing the red cross of St. George, com- manded by Torrington in person. The rearguard was formed by the Blue squadron under Eooke. All the ports were open, all the magazines were ready, tlie matches were lighted, and the gunners stood ready by the guns. A few flags were suddenly hoisted at the mast of the Admiral's ship. With one accord, on every vessel the sheets were loosed, the yards swung round, the English ships were put before the wind, and bore down towards the enemy's line. The Dutch were quickly eno'ao'ed. Broadside after broadside was exchanp;ed : tlie contending vessels were wrapped in a thick cloud of sulphurous smoke that hung over them like a dense wdiite shroud. On the right of the French line the English Blue squadron also came soon into action. By nine o'clock the battle at either end of the contending lines became general. Many gallant deeds were done ; many a bold sailor received his death- wound ! On either flank was a continuous roar of artillery broken ever and anon by the sharp clatter of musketry from the marines in the tops or by the occasional explosion of a magazine. But in the centre there was a mysterious silence. The Admiral himself, with the Red squadron, did not close. When still beyond cannon shot of the enemy, his vessels suddenly tacked and hovered aloof during the whole day, beating fruitlessly backwards and forwards beyond the range of the battle. What was the cause of this inaction was never clearly explained. Torrington was afterwards tried, but was acquitted of blame, yet it is difficult to m xvT.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 299 perceive what motives could have hindered a naval commander in the hour of need from bearing down with all his forces to the assistance of his allies and his comrades. It is but fair to state that French officers who visited England during the subsequent peace, ex- pressed their opinion that he acted to the best of his ability and by his cautious tactics saved the whole fleet from destruction. The French perceiving the gap in the enemy's line pushed their centre through it, and, separating the Dutch from the squadron of the Blue, attacked both with far superior force. Both, though seriously out- numbered, fought with desperate energy till five in the afternoon, when they were forced to draw off, leaving one dismasted hml in the hands of the enemy. Three Dutch and one English vessel were so severely handled that they went ashore, and had to be burnt by their own crews. Three hundred seamen and marines and a large number of officers perished. The allied squadrons could not keep the sea in the face of their victorious opponents. Torrington retreated in haste to the Thames, where he sought shelter, and had all the buoys removed to impede the navig-ation. Some of the Dutch fleet retired for safety to the shallow and difficult harbours of Holland. Great was the dismay in London when the news arrived of the battle of Beachy Head. The English fleet had been driven from the waters of the Channel, and the enemy held undisturbed sway of the sea from the Land's End to the Nore. Between these points not a single vessel bearing the ensign of St. George could 300 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. show itself to impede a landing of troops on any part of the Hampshire or Sussex coasts. The capital itself was not safe. The passage of the Thames might be forced, the dockyards of Chatham and Sheerness be set in a blaze, and the merchant vessels near the Tower burnt. Every seaside village from Dungeness to Torbay might suddenly find itself the bustling base of operations for a French army of invasion. Nor were tliose alarms w^ith- out occasion. A force of 30,000 French soldiers lay within an easy distance of Dunkirk, under the com- mand of Marshal Humieres. Unfortunately the battle of Fleurus, won by the Duke of Luxemburg from the Allies, prevented the necessity of these men being sent to reinforce the French arms. They were free to act elsewhere; and good judges of war, among others Marlborough himself, surmised that they would be quickly embarked in Tourvilles fleet and borne across to Pevensey or Folkestone. The first line of defence for England, the navy, w\as helpless and could not even show a front. The second line of defence was represented by barely 10,000 regular troops, chiefly recruits, w^ho w^ere no match for even only an equal number of veterans of France. The flower of the army and the pick of the officers were aw^ay in Ireland, engaged among the roUing hills and sw^ampy valleys that lie near the Boyne. The militia had been much neglected since the Restoration. It had, indeed, been put under the Crown ; but the Crown could not appoint to it regular oflBcers, and those who commanded the local services had seldom seen a drill-ground and never a battle-field. There seemed no X^^I .] iNFJSrONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 301 reason that at any moment Kent, Sussex, or Hampshire mio'ht not become the theatre of w^ar. The cathedrals of Winchester or Canterbury might in a few days be the stables of French cavalry. Every hamlet between the coast and the capital might be teeming with French grenadiers. Every manor-house might be the head- quarters of a foreign division. The trim orchards might be hewn down for firew^ood or abattis, the tidy farm- houses sacked for plunder and provisions. Southwark itself might be alight, and foreign sentries challenge in a stranger tongue on London Bridge. If such w^ere the w^ell-grounded fears of our ancestors when their navy no longer held possession of the Channel, how much more formidable w^ould be the aspect of affairs at the present day ! At that time no gay watering-places, no important harbour towns studded the southern coast. No crowds of steamers, carrying correspondence and great merchandise, daily swarmed from its ports. At present, if the British navy lost the command of the home seas for even twenty-four hours, the mere threat of a bombardment of Brighton would bring a fortune to an assailant ; and the stoppage of our mercantile communications would be felt with an electric thrill from Hons Kono; to San Francisco. Panic in the city of London would be the prelude to financial catastrophes throughout the country, and wdiile the Exchanges of Liverpool and Glasgow vibrated with terror and dismay, the fall of public securities w'ould throw hundreds of families into dire distress. Nor would this be the worst aspect of our temporary 302 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. loss of the possession of the seas. Since the introduc- tion of steam as the motive power of navigation, Liver- pool is not now farther, for all practical purposes, from Cherbourg than 200 years ago Plymouth was from Brest. An active enemy who might nowadays hold the command of the seas for even a few hours, would send far and wide to levy contributions and spread dismay in all our seaport towns. The enormous wealth wdiich Glasgow has collected on the Clyde could l)e heavily mulcted by a hostile ironclad which might be only a few hours off Greenock or Port Glasgow. Of the whole fleet of ocean-going steamers which hail from Liverpool, all within English waters would be at the mercy of an enemy's cruiser in the river Mersey; the town itself, the great emporium of our western trade, would be doubtless glad to purchase immunity from fire and plunder by an enormous tribute. Bristol would be an easy prey and a rich prize. On the eastern coast, Har- wich and Hull would amply compensate for even a venturesome dash past the British fleet in the Thames ; while farther north the defenceless ports of Edinburgh and Aberdeen would necessarily fall w^ithout a blow. Our assailants now would depend upon no favouring breezes, no fortunate tides. All that they would require in order to carry on their depredations for any length of time, till driven off by a superior force, would be coal, • and this could be obtained from any seaport on requi- sition. Any commercial town would be glad not only to furnish this necessary material of war, but even to ship it in an enemy's bunkers, rather than see its pubhc XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 303 buildino-s and its magazines fired by shells or razed by a bombardment. To such risks in case of w^ar nearly all our seaports are now exposed, not only if our fleet were driven from the sea, but even if it were concentrated to give battle to an enemy. Their only true security would be to have the passages and entrances to their harbours and docks securely fortified, and so commanded by heavy fire that no cruiser could approach within cannon range of their treasures. In war it is often forgotten that gaining a battle is not the ultimate success to be acquired. A battle should not be the end of an undertaking, but merely the stepping-stone to that end. The real results are those that ensue as the consequences of victory. Yet De Tourville appears to have committed the error of being satisfied with his success at Beachy Head. He did not lay waste the towns on the southern coast. He did not embark the army of Humieres and place it, ready to advance upon London, on the shore of Kent. He did not blockade the Thames or Portsmouth ; he did not even despatch cruisers to levy contributions from the wealthy seaport towns. For many days after the action he contented himself with no more hurtful ofi'ensive movement than sending a few men ashore in Sussex, who published placards inviting the people of England, and officers of the army and navy especially, to espouse the cause of James. If the want of energy of the English Admiral during the battle of Beachy Head was curious, that of the French Admiral after the battle was gained was more curious still. He contented 304 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 305 himself with sending nine of his vessels back to Brest to escort thence part of the troops which had been collected near that town, and to convey them across the Channel towards a part of the Devonshire coast, far distant from London, the financial and commercial heart of the country. Had the veterans of Humieres, immediately after the battle off Beachy Head, been landed in Kent and advanced rapidly on the metropolis, it is only too probable that the city would have fallen. The resuU would perhaps have been fatal to the dynasty, certainly disastrous to the country, but not nearly so disastrous as it would be in our time. A hostile army by now occupying Shooter's Hill or Hampstead, would not only command London, but would paralyse in a moment the whole trade and commercial activity of the island. An enemy's advanced guard, loopholed in the Bank and the Exchange, with London Bridge barricaded and Islington entrenched, could dictate any terms of peace. It is impossible to realize how many milliards might be demanded as the ransom of the few acres that lie around Guildhall. At the same time as London, Woolwich Arsenal must fall ; not a single round of ammunition, not a solitary cannon, could be obtained by any native army in the field. The whole system of our military administration would come down with a crash. The Home Counties could be overrun without opposition, and the foreign cavalry could wdth impunity push their scouts and foraging parties to Oxford and Northampton. Two hundred years ago the capital was saved by the want of energy of the French Admiral. It would not I be safe always to calculate upon such a fortunate contingency. As usual the spirit of the English people was roused by the imminency of danger, though, had the enemy been a little more bold, the rousing would have come too late. The wealthy city of London was foremost in the emergency. The Queen sent for the Lord Mayor, and asked him what could be expected from the city. He retired for an interview with the Aldermen, and after a brief consultation returned to Whitehall to inform her Majesty that London was prepared at once to pay one hundred thousand pounds into the exchequer, and that ten thousand Londoners were ready to march at a day's notice. The city was further prepared to raise without any cost to the crown six regiments of infantry, a strong regiment of horse, and a thousand dragoons. All that the city asked the Queen was to provide officers of the regular army for their force. These were scarce, for the reformado oflScers, as those on half pay were then called, were but few, and many had been already draughted into the newly-raised regiments. Fortunately, the train-bands of the city and the hasty levies of the Common Council were not called upon to meet in pitched battle the soldiery of France. Had such been the case, they would no doubt have fought stubbornly, they would no doubt have died doggedly ; but how could they have performed the manoeuvres necessary in a battle, how could they have changed front to face a flank attack, when they hardly understood one word of command or knew how to manaore their firelocks? 306 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Thinking men in England were fully impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. The capital was dull and gloomy, men moved slowly and listlessly about the streets, or gathered together moodily in small groups in the endeavour to seek from society that consolation which was nowhere to be found. All felt that in a few hours the French columns might be winding through the hop-yards of Kent, or tramping over the dusty downs near Guildford, with their heads converging towards the lower Thames, For three days all was depression and gloom. Torrington was sent to the Tower; but though this might tend to soothe the public mind, it coulcl do nothing to avert the threatened disaster. On the fourth day flags were flying from the housetops and the churches. The bells clanged joyously in the steeples, men were smiling and shaking hands in the streets, candles were arranged in the windows for an illumination, faggots for bonfires were being raised in the corners of the squares, children were huzzaing and waving streamers in the pathways : the town seemed bent on carnival. That morning a hurrying courier had brought to Whitehall the tidings of the battle and victory on the Boyne. But though the Protestant arms were crowned with brilliant success in Ireland, the victorious fleet of De Tourville still rode unopposed in the Channel. The defeat of the Jacobites in Leinster did not add one iota of security to the shores of the narrow seas. The tale of the battle of the Boyne might raise men's spirits, but the battle itself did not remove the danger XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 307 from their hearths. On the contrary, anyone versed in war would have believed that now it was more than ever necessary to divert William's attention from Ireland by a bold and rapid dash at his own capital. So after a few hours of spasmodic exhilaration, the hearts of the Londoners again grew heavy, and gloom settled on the country. The cloud was gradually re- new^ed. Day after day passed by, yet no beacons flamed on the southern sky ; the watchman on the tower of Westminster Abbey could make out no galloping horse- man spurring a tired steed to bring in, dusty and panting, the news of a landing on the coast. The councils at Whitehall became less agitated, the drills of the train-bands at the artillery ground less incessant. It gradually grew^ apparent that the French admiral was losing his opportunity. Enormous eflforts were made at Chatham and Sheerness to equip the fleet. Twenty-two troops of cavalry furnished by Essex, Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire, were collected and encamped at Hounslow. The militia of Kent and Surrey were called together and reviewed at Blackheath, and though victory could hardly be expected from these motley assemblages, yet the knowledge that armed men were at hand gave a certain sense of security. Loud then were the cries for more regular troops, especially from those who, when danger was not dreamt of, were most noisy in declaiming against a standing army. James fled from Ireland directly after the loss of the battle of the Boyne, and landed at Besrt on the 9th of July. De Tourville, after his ineffectual demon- X 2 308 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. stration against Sussex, returned with the great bulk of his fleet to Brest to convoy his flotilla across the Channel. To carry the land troops over the water, galleys had been brought from the Mediterranean. These were such as were used in the southern seas to wage maritime war against the pirate or the Turk. For such warfare they were well suited, for they were long and narrow, with but two feet of height between the water-line and the deck, and could run easily in shallow channels. On these galleys sails were rarely used, but each craft was propelled like the ancient triremes by fifty or sixty oars. At each of them five or six chained slaves toiled, urged to enormous exertion by constant blows with scourges, so devised as to inflict exquisite torture. Some of the unfortunate wretches who tugged at the oars were JMahometans captured in war, some were felons sentenced to penal servitude by the criminal law, several were condemned to this pain- ful labour merely for an unswerving adherence to the Huguenot faith. In each galley there were three hundred and thirty-six slaves to propel across the Channel one hundred and fifty-five oflScers and soldiers. Much was expected at the French Court from the employment of these vessels, which had hitherto been strangers to any sea beyond the pillars of Hercules, and a medal was even struck at Paris in commemoration of their being adopted in northern maritime warfare. They were no doubt well 'suited for the rapid embarcation or disembarcation of troops through their low freeboard and small draught of water* They were well suited to XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 309 pursue the swift sailing pirate into the wooded inlets of Cyprus, or the many ports of the vine-clad islets of the eastern Archipelago under a serene sky and on smooth water. They might also be used with advantage to lurk for the unsuspecting Ottoman where the dark blue waters only with a tiny wave splash against the sun-burnt rocks of Valetta. But English seamen smiled when they were told of such an armament being fitted out to carry soldiers over the rough billows that burst against the granite buttresses of Cornwall, or under a murky sky lash with high foam the white spires of the Needles. When the preparations for departure from Brest were complete, De Tourville drew his whole naval force towards Brest to convey the troops to England. The soldiers were embarked in their hazardous conveyances. A favourable wind and a gentle sea w-ere awaited. Then the armament set forth, escorted by a fleet of one hundred and eleven sail. On the 21st of July the masts were counted from the high cliff's that look down on Portland. Here, had the French landed, the peculiar geographical formation of Portland Bill would have given them an admirable post in which to entrench themselves and await future reinforcements. Across the isthmus which connects the limestone peninsula with the mainland, lines could have been easily drawn, ditches excavated and ramparts raised that might have made a foreign occupation of Portland to England what a foreign occupation now makes Gibraltar to Spain. 310 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. For some unexplained cause here the French did not attempt a landing, but bearing away stood for Torbay. On the 22 nd of July, the fleet cast anchor opposite where the watering-jDlace of Torquay now stretches along the beach, with its long streets of glistening white houses. Then a mere fishing hamlet of a few thatched cottao-es stood on the ground, where now streets, shops, buildings, churches, and museums abound. Here England was seen to every advantage. Men from Gascony and Auvergne, who had been taught to believe that our island lay shrouded in fogs impenetrable, and washed by an ocean so gloomy that their influences morbidly affect the insular temperament, and conduce to frequent sui- cide, must have been undeceived and surprised. In that portion of our island the climate is more in accordance with the shores of the Mediterranean than of the English Channel. During the winter, breezes, softened by a passage across the Atlantic, afford such a mildness of atmosphere, that the myrtle and arbutus grow as luxu- riantly as they do in southern lands. Here the invalid can find a temperature, where through the whole winter open exercise is advantageous to constitutions which would be nipped and pierced by the rude air of our eastern shores. The fuschia flourishes all the year round, with no fear of being nipped by frost, and many plants that in other parts of the island fail to exist without artificial protection grow with impunity. Hence it is dut natural that the country is beautiful. The soft air and mild rains encourage a herbage of darker green than are often to be found even in this island, freelv decked XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 311 with multitudinous woodland flowers of brightest hues ; and groves of beautiful shrubs, and noble forest trees stud the landscape, while heavy corn crops wave upon the open mountain sides. Now a great watering-place has arisen opposite to where De Tourville's ship lay, but then the small fishing hamlet, of some thirty squalid hovels, formed the only habitations on the site of what is now the gay and brilliant Torquay. The view of the country was then as charming as it now can be. The large French fleet, with sails furled and anchors down, lay between the eastern point of Torbay and the bar stone. Between the two lines of the masted vessels the galleys, manned by their wretched oarsmen, and crowded with musqueteers and pikemen gay with feathered hats and the white livery of the Bourbons, rocked lazily on the summer sea. On the shore there was no English host to oppose a landing. A few fishermen gazed with awe from near the cottages on the strange armament, but no scarlet coats could be made out among the houses, no musquets or pikes glittered in the July sun, or even flashed here and there from a dis- tant hedgerow or plantation. The opportunity seemed favourable for a landing. The galleys could easily be dashed, by the exertions of their tugging rowers, almost as far as the Av^ater washed up the shelving beach. The soldiers could have leapt to the land nearly dry shod. No resistance was prepared, and Torbay, since the descent of William, might be re- garded as a spot of fortunate omen for an invasion of England. But a strange quiet hung over the fleet ;' no 312 JNFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. signals ran np to order the galleys to close upon the shore : no sharp trumpet's sound called the musqueteers to prime their pieces or to blow their matches. All re- mained still and inert till towards sunset the anchors were laboriously weighed, the sails were shaken slowly out to the evening land breeze, the loud cries and execrations of the taskmasters were heard urging the galley-slaves to exertion, while the long-boats were with difficulty turned about, and gradually took up their order between the tall liners. Then the masted vessels swung round before the wind, the galleys between them moved slowly away with a monotonous clank of oars, and the squadron slowly swept out of Torbay, rounded Hope's Ness, and glided into the darkness |' towards the jSTorth. But the alarm had been given in England. The fishermen who marked the French fleet in Torbay and counted its vessels were not idle. The nearest Deputy Lieutenant was quickly warned. Every horse that could be found was rapidly saddled, and before De Tourville's anchors had touched the bottom, couriers were hurrying in all directions to call Devonshire and Cornwall to arms. The darkness which covered the movements of the French fleet aided a yet more rapid means of trans- mitting the news. As the long line of vessels bore up round the cape, which forms the inlet of Torbay on the northern side, quick eyes on shore noticed that each vessel changed her course and stood towards the North. It was clear that the destination must be some point on the Devonshire coast. The beacon above Torquay was f XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 313 lighted, but had hardly blazed up when sheets of fire flared in answer from Thober Down and Halden Hill. High Tor and Camsland caught up the signal, and from hilltop to hilltop it flew Avith lightning speed, till London itself was alarmed. All the short summer ni^ht frequent lights in the windows, and a dull murmur in the streets, told that the train-bands were making ready to march at daybreak. The alarm was quicker in the AVest. Early the next morning, five hundred yeomen and gentlemen were posted in arms on Halden Hill looking down on Teio-n- mouth. Below them lay, near the mouth of the river, the small fishing town of that name, consisting of about forty turf-hovels, clustering round a Norman church. Beyond the river which flov/s in a narrow channel at low tide, between wide flats of mud, rose the red sandstone cliff' of Tor Point, two hundred feet hidi, with an expiring beacon on its summit. On the sea in front lay the object of all their fear and hatred, De Tourville's fleet, with the white flag of the Bourbons wavino- from Its hundred masts. There was now no hesitation on the part of the French commander. Signals were quickly hoisted and quickly answered. Hoarse words of command were heard rising from the galleys. The musqueteers were formed on the decks, the oars were laid in rest ; after a moment's pause, the boats with a mighty splash dashed forward, and were run upon the beach. Here there was then but shingle and sea- weed, now there is a fine parade, with broad walks, sur- rounding a neatly-kept turf and beds, gorgeous with i H 314 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. many-coloured flowers, to landward of which rise lono- rows of comfortable houses. The musqueteers and pike- men hurrying from the galleys formed their ranks upon the shore. The local cavalry on Halden Hill was in- competent to oppose their advance ; the columns were ordered, and directed their march over the sandy spit that separates the river harbour from the sea, and entered the village without opposition. The inhabitants fled before the troops arrived, and the houses were found deserted. The word was given to plunder and to burn. The soldiers quickly separated, quitting the ranks to carry out their instructions. Some tore the thatch from the cottages, others penetrated the church, tore down the communion table, ransacked the sacristy for the plate, and jeeringly clothed themselves or their comrades in the sacred vestments. In a short time flames shot up from one or two points, and heavy smoke slowly curled upwards. The roar of flames and the noise of falling walls were heard as the fire swept away the cottages and surrounded the church. Its Norman walls and stout timbers were no protection against the flames which, fed upon the inferior build- ings, burst on the larger edifice with enormous fury. Amidst the loud cheers and lauditer of the foreisfn soldiery the walls came to the ground with a mighty crash and amidst a coruscation of sparks. The atten- tion of the invaders was then turned to a few fishing smacks in the harbour, which were also burnt, to the great loss of^their owners and not much to the improve- ment of the maritime supremacy of France. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DFNASIT. 315 The news of the arrival of the French fleet at Torbay had called all Devonshire to arms. From sea to sea the militia was arrayed, and long columns of armed men were pressing along every high road and every sandy lane with their faces set towards Torbay. By the evening of the day on which Teignmouth was burnt sixteen or seventeen thousand Devonshire men were clustering on Halden Hill. Nor were they likely to stand alone. Seven thousand of the tin-workers of Cornwall, a rude but bold multitude, had sprung from their mines, thrown down the pickaxe and the shovel, grasped the pike and the halberd, and were now hurrying eastward. The garrison of Plymouth had been roused, and Lansdowne, with a small detachment of regulars, soon arrived to take command at Halden. He was no tyro in the art of war, for he had served with distinction in the wars which pressed the Ottomans back from the gates of Vienna : nor was he wantins; in couraore, but he saw at a glance that the forces at his disposal were of no avail. One battalion of regulars could probably have swept the French land-troops off the shore as long as it was shielded from the fire of the ships, but to bring a hastily-formed mass of grooms, farmers, ploughmen, and weavers into contact with the French soldiery would have been little short of murder. It was impossible to attack the invaders. The only hope was perhaps to be able to bar their way at Halden Hill till regular troops might arrive to assume the offensive. Fortunately,: even so far, the militia was not put to the test. The French, having burnt and devastated 316 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. 'reignmontli, did not make it a base of operations to push farther into Devonshire. The expedition was satis- fied with the destruction of a poor fishing hamlet, and did not attempt the conquest of the country. After a few days, when the French troops had consumed all they could find in the few acres near the harbour, while Lans- downe on Halden sighed for regulars, De Tourville drew off his troops. The galleys were run out from the beach, the vessels formed line to cover them, and then the whole flotilla stood off" towards the coast of France without a single shot being fired on English soil. ATTEMPTED INVASION AND BATTLE OF LA HOGUE. On the 6th of March, 1692, William left Endand to ur^re on the military preparations of the allied powers on the Continent against France, and to make ready the united armies for the campaign which w^as made famous by the battle of Steenkirke. To the Queen were ao-ain entrusted the duties of a regency pending the absence of her consort. The departure of the King might have been delayed had it been certainly understood at White- hall that at that very time the Government of Louis was making formidable preparations for an invasion of our island. Eumours had indeed reached Eno-land of troops being assembled on the coasts of the Channel, and of some collection of vessels in the harbours of Brit- tany and Normandy ; but these were apparently either discredited or disregarded, for no attention seems to XVI.] INVASIONS TO RES W RE THE STUART DINASTK. 317 have been paid to them. William not only quitted England himself, but about the same time sent to Flanders the great bulk of the regular troops on the English establishment that were fit to take the field. It is curious to remark to what poor account the French turned the supremacy at sea which they had acquired by the battle at Beachy Head. Not only were the English dockyards not blockaded and the English mercantile ports not laid under tribute, but free passage for troops was allowed between the Thames and Holland, and open communication was continued between London and the Hague. It would have seemed the first step after a naval victory to have cut England off from the Continent and to have in+ercepted our communications with the mainland, where a campaign was in progress, for which recruits, reinforcements, and supplies were drawn from the island. Had De Tourville eff^ectually interposed his ships of the line betw^een the Nore and the coast of Zealand, he would not have infiicted so much damage on our country as a hostile fleet in the same position would at the present day, when our teeming population depends for the mass of its daily food on imports from abroad, but he would have sepa- rated from the army in Flanders a considerable and not the least eflScient portion of the forces on which its commander depended. It is difficult now to tell to what extent the policy of France towards England after the battle of Beachy Head was influenced by Louvois. That able minister of war seemed always to regard Eugland as beyond 318 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the theatre of hostilities. He was ever steadily opposed to an invasion of the island. His correct military ideas showed that an invasion, even if saccessful, could not very materially influence the war on the north-east frontier of France ; and in the collection of a fleet, the transport of soldiers across a stormy sea, and the hope of a Jacobite insurrection to aid a landing on the northern shore, there were too many elements of chance to suit the mind of a minister who ever desired to carry on operations with all of the mathematical certainty that skill, foresight, or preparation can impart to the conduct of war. Since the fall of the Eoman Empire the world had never seen troops so well trained, so carefully equipped, so scrupulously provided, so scientifically led, as those of Louis the Fourteenth under the adminis- tration of Louvois. He united the abstruse talents of the strategist with the precision of an adjutant-general, and the calculation of a commissary-general. He was naturally averse to spasmodic and extended operations. He preferred to concentrate all his forces on the one decisive point, and the decisive point he perceived to be, not for the moment on the coast of Kent, but on the Scheldt or t\\Q Meuse. Could the allied armies be swept from Flanders amd peace dictated at the Hague, England could alone but feebly injure France und could be dealt with when alone with full force and greater prospect of success. Louvois had already carried on two wars for Louis and was now engaged in the ad- ministration of a third. He had much political as well as administrative sagacity. To him the promises of XVI ] INFASWNS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 819 exiles were of little value. He well knew that men eager to regain power in their native land catch at straws of popular feeling, and endorse them as the great current of public opinion. He did not believe that the majority of the English people were athirst to rise in their masses in the cause of James as soon as the white flag was hoisted on the Cape of Portland or Portsdown HilL K the people of England were so ready to welcome back the Sovereign whom they had expelled both from England and from Ireland ; if the Jacobites were the powerful party in the state that they were represented to be at St. Germains, why had not England shown itself thus when two years before De Tourville's fleet swept the Channel unopposed and French musqueteers were already landed in Devonshire? Far diflferent was their reception then from what James and his adherents insisted to Louis would be the case now, in the event of an invasion. When Teignmouth was burnt, the Jacobites so far from joining the invaders ' had hid their arms in hay-lofts or coal-cellars, had burnt their commissions from St. Germains, had hardly even ventured to show themselves in public, not so much from fear of the Government as from dread of the populace. Nothing had occurred which, to the mind of Louvois, showed a great change in English opinion. He believed that still the whole country \A'ould rise in arms against a French army with the exception of an msignificant Jacobite minority, that, though the English Mihtia was almost contemptible, it would improve as the war continued, that the French soldiers would have 320 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. W perhaps to fight their way to London, would certainly have their communications with the coast constantly assailed, and even if installed at Westminster and Southwark, must hold the island for James as a sub- jugated province. Such were not his views of the proper conduct of the war or of the proper employ- ment of the French forces. Conspicuous as was the capacity of Louvois, Louis, with that singular jealousy of talented advisers which not unfrequently mars even great characters, often took his counsels ill. There were sometimes stormy meetings between the master and the servant. At one time the minister so far forgot himself as to dash his portfolio to the ground in the sovereign's presence. The King, equally forgetful of proper dignity, raised his cane, but his wife seized his uplifted arm, and hurried Louvois from the chamber, earnestly begging him to come back on the following day, as if nothing extraordinary had occurred. The minister returned the followinir mornino-, but pale and worn. It was his last interview with the sovereign whom he had served so well. That night he died. Great was the secret rejoicing at St. Germains; though etiquette required that mourning should be worn, and that condolences should be offered. Louis respected the memory of Louvois to his own cost, for it was con- sidered necessary to bestow the portfolio of the war department on the son of the late minister. The Marquis of Barbesseux was still quite a young man; he had neither the ability nor experience requisite to XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTV. 39 1 administer an army engaged at once in Piedmont, Catalonia, and Flanders. He cherished power solely as a means to obtain pleasures, and little recked of camp equipments or military provisions as long as his cups were plentiful and his mistresses abundant. The efforts of St. Germains were redoubled. Loud boasts were made to Louis of the disaffection of the English fleet, of the power of the Jacobites in the north, of the hatred of the non-juring bishops, of the lukewarmness of the Church of England to a prince who was not even an Episcopalian, and little better than a sceptic. Perhaps these assertions influenced the French king, perhaps a feeling of chivalry towards a fallen brother prompted him. At any rate, formidable preparations for the invasion of England were begun early in the year. The dockyards of Brittany and Provence were actively employed, the arsenals of Toulon and Brest were set to double work, clothing was made, munitions of war were manufactured, and jjrovisions, harness, and sad- dlery, were bought and collected at the necessary depots. The plan for the invasion was not ill-conceived, and with fair fortune might have been successful. But con- trary winds and adverse gales, which, before the intro- duction of steam navigation, often stayed fleets and baffled calculation, prevented the surprise that would have been the best stepping-stone to success. A fleet of eighty ships of war was to be collected to convey the expedition across the Channel. Of these, forty-four were to sail from Brest, under the Count of Tourville, and were to be joined off Ushant by thirty-five more from i" 1 322 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIL^ AP. Toulon, under the Count of Estrees. The united fleet was then to sail to the peninsula, which, since the great Revolution, has formed the department of the Manche. There, not far from where the grand breakwater and noble dockyards of Cherbourg now teem with a forest of masts, a camp was being formed on the coast of Nor- mandy, and transports were being collected for the con- veyance of the troops thence to the opposite shore. The army being assembled here mainly consisted of the Irish soldiery, who, after the fall of Limerick, and the complete subjection of Ireland, had been persuaded to enlist in the French service. These were very different now from the squalid hordes which, without animal food, without proper arms, without brogues, almost without breeches, had fled from the Boyne, or been driven out of Athlone and Limerick, sneered at and despised by the French officers sent to aid them. Fed by the French commis- sariat, paid from the French exchequer, and clothed from the French arsenals, they were now well equipped for the field, and were to be commanded by their favourite leader, Sarsfield. The Irish mustered almost ten thou- sand fighting men, and to them were to be joined an equal number of French troops. The whole army was to be led by the Marshal Bellefonds. The camp was formed : the Irish were collected, brigaded, and drilled, and the French troops were en- camped near the shore ; two forts named St. Vaast and Lisset, which already existed beside the beach, were hurriedly strengthened to cover the camp from any cursory demonstration by a hostile cruiser. By royal I xvi.j INVASIONS ro RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 323 decree from Louis all maritime trade aud all privateer- ing was suspended, so that almost every vessel liailino- from French ports might be available to carry soldiers, or to guard the transports. Three hundred vessels were collected near the camp for the conveyance of the troops, aud the very day of embarkation was named. It was believed that all preparations would have been completed early in the spring, while the English ships were still laid up, or at least were not half-manned or half-rigged, and before a single Dutch man-of-war had shown in the Channel. It was thus hoped that the expedition would not even fall in with the English fleet, nor would it have done so, had not contrary winds delayed for a long time the concentration of the squadrons from Toulon and from Brest. Yet the exiled king believed that even in the event of a naval encounter, the British sailors would not fight against him, or even if they did beat to quarters, would certainly engage with only half a heart, and in the course of battle would probably turn their guns against the Dutch. He had not only been their king, but he had been their Admiral. He believed with truth that he had been popular in the naval service, and his agents were only too glad to bring him stories of words spoken against the existing government by all ranks of the navy, from flag officers down to powder-monkeys. Such words were doubtless freely used, but James little knew Englishmen or English sailors, if he attached any im- portance to such fevered utterances. In neither the mihtary nor naval professions in England have grumb- lings against the existing government at any time been Y 2 324 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. unlrequent ; tliey are often heard at the present day in the club, the ward-room, or the mess-house ; but any continental agent who imagined that even those who growl deepest would falter an iota in the hour of action would be wofully mistaken. James was equally in error; he should have known that a rough sailor during a carouse would freely curse the government, anathematize the Dutch, and loudly proclaim his own grievances, but that in the morning this talk wpuld all but be forgotten, and that he would be more likely to curse still more freely, any foreign agent who miglit tempt him to desert his ship, or betray his mates. The Court of St. Gerraains did not understand, or if it did understand, did not weigli these national characteristics. But any story of disaffec- tion .that was brought in was eagerly swallowed, how- ever wild, however improbable, and the emissaries who brought the nicest news were greeted with the sweetest smiles ; the temptation to exaggerate the goodness, and to palliate the unpleasantness of intelligence, was great, and was, of course, indulged, and consequently the truth was garbled or explained away until it was totally lost sight of. That there were Jacobites in the English fleet is certain. Russell, who was afterwards chosen as com- mander, is now well known to have been most favour- able to the Stuart cause, hut it is one thing to wish well to a cause, or even to aid a party by secret information or conveyed hints ; it is a totally different matter to go over in action, or what is still more difficult in the EngHsh service, to shirk an engagement. An admiral who might wish to take his fleet over to the enemy, must either have XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 32.5 the consent of his subordinates, and to arrange this, all discipline must be sacrificed ; or else he must give orders, which probably would not be obeyed, and would certainly be followed by his own execution. In other ways, the Court of St. Germains, at which no niihtary genius, except Berwick, seems to have been consulted, was led into error, no doubt by the ever constant desire to hear things pleasant rather than to hear things exact. It was there imagined that as soon as James appeared on the English throne, thousands would flock to greet him ; that he would be received by joyous crowds with loud cheers, that the towns along his route to the capital would vie with each other in the size of their bonfires, the variety of their bunting, the numbers of their s} Ivan arches, and the length of their addresses ; that the country population would line the hedgerows, the hamlets would teem with women waving handkerchiefs, and huzzaing urchins : that England had awakened from the nightmare into which she had been plunged, that the country had at length shaken off the bonds of invincible ignorance, and was eager to hail the precious guerdon which for a moment she had ungrate- fully cast aside, and to welcome back to the throne of his fathers the now lamented, rightful, and anointed king. It is difficult to decide whether the fatuity which accepted, or the effrontery which solemnly asserted such rubbish as the truth, was the more despicable. It is extraordinary that the experience learnt two years be- fore at Teignmouth had not taught a different lesson. What reason was there to believe that circumstances had li 326 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART LYNASTY. 327 II ! t I SO widely altered ? Why should the ploughmen and miners, who twenty-four months previously had rushed to pikes and scythes to repel the invader, now greet him with hat in hand and loud acclamations ? AVhy should the yeomen and country gentlemen, who had mounted in haste and ridden to occupy Holden Hill, be now prepared to escort in triumph from country town to country town the monarch they had then hurried to repulse ? The Court of St. Germains was infatuated and deceived itself in believing that in the south of England there was any large party which would declare for James. Beyond the Trent, where Eoman Catholics were more plentiful, and many even of the Protestant squires were enthusiastic Jacobites, a rising was, w4th more justice, contemplated. Arms were secretly bought, grooms and yeomen were pri- vately enlisted, horses and saddlery were distributed, and the partizans of the Stuarts were formed into eight regi- ments of horse. It was expected that these would march across country and join James immediately on his land- ing, and consequently very few horses were to be taken with the expeditionary force. James was quite in error in supposing that he could win back his throne by a progress through southern England, unless, indeed, that progress was made at the head of an army which could overawe and keep down the inhabitants. Still, he might have, with good ground, believed that were his force once landed in England, it might, without much difficulty, reach London. He would be able to place on the south coast about twenty-one thousand fighting men in the best trim, which, the best m'ilitary administration in the world could command. There were not ten thousand reg-ular troops in England ; many of these were recruits, many must be kept to hold Plymouth, Portsmouth, Tilbury, and the remainder of the thirty-eight fortified places in the countr}^ Not more than seven thousand effective soldiers at the most could be put in the field to oppose him. These, it is true, would be supported by a mass of militia^ which, badly armed and badly trained, hardly knew the most ordinary movements of the parade ground. They were without any machinery for the supply of food, without any organization for the issue of stores or ammunition. They could have done little but cause confusion in action, and add to the carnage of a rout, if brought to battle against the steady musqueteers and unswerving pikemen of Bellefonds. The masses might have come, as a great historian says, they would with their scythes and pitchforks ; but scythes and pitchforks in the hands of un drilled masses are more baneful than beneficial when opposed to volleys from platoons or rounds from batteries. Another great error was made in the organization of the expedition. French troops would have been regarded by our ancestors as fair foes to be met in fair field ; but the Irish were a detested and execrated race. They were regarded not only as alien but as subjected and despicable. To be conquered by the French would not have been half so odious as to be subdued by the Irish. At such a thought the cheeks of even the Eoman Catholics in England tingled with shame. Within two years, these Irish had been driven like chaff from the Boyne, had fled from the walls of 32S INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. w I i I,' ! Enniskillen, and been cut to pieces at Aghrim. Their king himself had charged them with cowardice. But •though cowards they were believed to be the most cokl- blooded murderers and robbers. No atrocity was too great to be thought a mere trait of their national character. They would murder women and children, destroy all they could not carry away, and reduce Hampshire and Berk- shire to the same conditions as they had reduced southern Leinster. Every plate-cellar would be emptied, every manor-house burnt, every homestead harried, and every church desecrated by these insatiable marauders. The charge of cowardice so freely brought against the Irish has been amply vindicated by subsequent military history, but our ancestors believed this, and more also ; and the presence of the Irish contingent in the expedition would have done more to alienate the people of England from the cause of James, than almost any other step which that ill-counselled sovereign could have devised. James was already on the point of setting out for the point of embarkation before the preparations for the invasion were seriously regarded in England. It now became evident that the troops being massed on the cliffs of the Cotentin could not be mere recruits for the armies of the Low Countries, or of Spain. Vessels would not have been required to carry reinforcements to those points ; the bustle and excitement at St. Germains was seen and reported by English spies. There could remain no doubt that an invasion of a formidable character was contemplated. Vigorous ])reparations were at once made for the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 329 defence of the country. The artizans at the dockyards were set to work in double tides ; every available rigger, every competent shipwright at Chatham, Sheerness, or Portsmouth, was busily engaged. Three large ships were hurried on to be launched for the first time. Flag officers were rapidly appointed, and at once commenced calling crews together. The few regular troops which could be put in the field were concentrated between London and the coast ; and a camp was formed on Portsdowm hill, which looks down over Portsmouth. The militia throughout the country was called out. The trainbands of the City and of Westminster were arrayed and reviewed in Hyde Park by the Queen. Beacons were made ready along the coast, and watchmen placed beside the beacons. The defences of the strong places were rapidly looked to, old breaches were filled up, and new embrasures cut. All that hurry could accomplish to compensate for w^ant of foresight, was done. While these preparations were being made in England, James had gone to la Hogue, where the troops for the expedition were encamped. Here, at the fort of St. Vaast, he fixed his head-quarters, and the red cross of St. George, variegated with the flags of Ireland and St. Andrew, floated side by side with the white standard of the Bourbons. Before setting out, he published a declaration, which was, if not ill-timed, certainly most mjudicious. In it he made no promises of alteration of government or of change of policy. He gave no signs of pardon being granted to those who had risen against him. On the contrary, the declaration seemed to threaten an 330 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. almost wholesale proscription of the nation. As such it was regarded, and as such it did a great deal to turn from his side many who but for the publication of this state paper might have not looked upon it with disfavour. It w^as notoriously disagreeable to Eussell, who was to be Commander in Chief of the Fleet, who had been a Jacob- ite, and whom it was very important to conciliate. The laxity of preparations in England was compensated for by the favour of the elements. The French fleet, which was to convoy the transports, failed to make its rendezvous off Ushant. Strong westerly gales held the squadron of Tourville wind-stayed in Brest harbour ; the same winds headed Estrees, and not only made his struggles to tack through the gut of Gibraltar ineffectual, but drove three of his vessels on the African shore, where they w^ere knocked to pieces by the waves against the rocks near Ceuta. During the pause thus allowed, the admiralties of the allied powers were active; Before the end of April the English ships were ready to take the sea. William had pressed on the maritime preparations of the United Provinces, and by the 29th of April the squadron from the Texel had anchored in the Downs. The divisions from North Holland, the Maes and Zealand soon followed, and by the second week in May the whole allied armament was off St. Helens. The EriQ-lish fleet was under the command of Russell, who hoisted his flag on board the 1 00-gun ship Britannia. His vice - and rear- admirals of the Red were Sir Ralph Delaval and Sir Cloudesley Shovel. Those of the Blue, Sir John Ashby and Richard Carter. The Endish fleet carried 4,500 XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 331 cTuns and more than 27,000 men. The Dutch fleet, under the command of Van AUemonde, carried 2,500 guns, and 13,000 men. Never before had such a power- ful armament been seen as that which early that May floated in the Channel. In three long lines the wooden castles lay ; of nine the sides were pierced with ports for less than fifty guns; while five, the Britanniay Royal Sovereign, London, Victory and Windsor Castle, carried 100 guns in triple tiers. The paint was fresh, the spars were clean, the rigging taut, the sails of snowy white : all was fresh from the dockyard, the material was the best that England could command ; the men were the best that England could produce. Ninety-nine pennants quivered in the breeze, every one borne by a stately sail of the line. It must have been a noble sight from some of the high chalk cliffs that border on the Channel to have seen this mighty armament, as if by an act of volition, shake out all its canvas to the wind on a bright May morning, and slowly glide towards Spithead, where all cast anchor at the end of the second week in May. . The French fleet was inferior to the English in number of ships, when, after long delays, early in May it came together off Ushant, although its largest vessel, the Soleil Royal, carried 104 guns. The total number of line-of- battle ships was but sixty-three, the exact number of the English if they had not been joined by the Dutch ; in weight of metal the French vessels were slightly superior to the English alone. Considerable anxiety was felt in London as to the temper of the English fleet. Several councils were held, 332 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. when it was discussed whether some of the officers should not be suspended on account of their doubtful allegiance to the new dynasty and reputed Jacobite proclivities. The Queen, however, wisely decided that to accuse any would solely have the effect of converting those who might be doubtful subjects into certain rebels. A letter was written to the Admiral, in which it was said that though reports had reached the Queen's ears of the disaffectiou of some of the officers, she would not believe such calumnies against brave men, and placed with confidence the con- duct of the fleet and the safety of the country in their hands. This letter was read to the officers who were assembled for the purpose on the quarter-deck of the Britannia. It was greeted with enthusiasm, and an address immediately subscribed by which the officers pledged themselves to support Her Majesty against all foreign or Popish enemies. This protestation was soon put to the test. On the 18th of May the united fleet weighed anchor and set sail from Spithead. Scarcely had it cleared the Isle of Wight, with the intention of standing across to harass the French coast, and of forcing the Count of Tourville to come out to fight them at daybreak on the 19th, when, Cape Barfleur lying to the south-west, the ma^jts of the French fleet were made out to eastward. The morning was very hazy, and at first it was impossible to determine in which direction the enemy's vessels were sailing, but by four o'clock the sun had dispelled the haze, and the French were seen to be forming line. The English line was also formed with the Dutch in the van, Russell himself in the X7I.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 333 centre, and Ashby in rear. The wind was from the south-west, but was falling very light, and the French admiral might have delayed the engagement had he so chosen. But Tourville was determined to fight. After the battle of Beachy Head he had been taunted with over-caution, he had been told that he had not the courage to face responsibility, but merely the boldness shared by every seaman under his command. He was resolved not again to make the same error, or to subject himself a second time to the same reproaches. A little after ten the whole French fleet bore away together before the wind and came down upon the English centre. The English van and rear were too far distant to enter into the battle, and for a time the French were met by a force not superior to their own. They advanced to within musket shot, and then the Soleil Royal slowly bearing round, opened fire on the Britannia. Instantly the guns flashed and roared from every port ; heavy clouds of smoke hung around the vessels, which was pierced by the flashes. of the guns, but could not be carried away by the light breeze that gradually fell away till a perfect calm came on. Under the thick cloud of smoke the English seamen plied their guns with such rapidity that they poured three broadsides into the enemy for every two received. Both sides suffered seriously, and on both sides vessels were severely handled. For an hour and a half the battle was main- tained by the English Red squadron alone, against the whole French fleet ; by that time the Soleil Royal was much cut up in sails, spars, and rigging. Then a heavy 334 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. fog slowly settled down. The battle was stayed and the firing was suspended, as the weather was so thick that it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe. As yet, on account of the light breeze and the subsequent cahii, the rearward English ships had been unable to get up to the battle, thouo;h all the boats were out ahead towino- but at half-past seven they closed in, the fog cleared off a little, and a distant cannonading commenced, which lasted till half-past nine, when the ships were lost in darkness and in fog. During the action four of Tour- ville's ships were burnt by fireships, the remainder were so much injured that it would have been hopeless for them to endeavour to stand against the now united alhed squadrons. So the French, knowing that with the light winds that might be expected they could hardly stem the flood that runs up Channel, anchored with all sail set ; and when in the night a light air sprang up from the eastward, they slipped their cables and stole away. The allies who had furled sails on anchorinor, lost con- siderable ground in the pursuit, but on the morning of the 20th a part of the hostile fleet was seen, and a general chase began. The wind blew light from the east, every stitch of canvas which the tall spars of the allied liners could expand to the breeze was hoisted ; the sails were freely drenched with water, to afibrd a more un- yielding surface to the air, but the utmost exertions failed to bring the Dutch or English ships within gun- shot of the French, who used every possible exertion to gain the friendly havens of Brest or St. Malo. In the afternoon the light easterly wind fell wholly away, and XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 335 a gentle breeze sprang up from the south-west. This made tacking necessary. Still the French bore slowly away under a full crowd of canvas, still equally persistently the allied vessels held after them in pursuit, till about four in the afternoon, the ebb-tide having ceased, and the wind being too light to carry the huge hulls of the vessels against the flood, both fleets anchored and furled sails. Towards eleven at night, when the tide again ebbed, the English fleet weighed anchor and again plied to the westward. In the night the enemy was lost sight of, but at five in the morning of the twenty-first, when the fleet again anchored to the northwards of Cape la Hogue, the look- out men in the English vessels made out twenty- three French ships anchored near the Eaoe of Alderney, and fifteen more could be descried lying about three leagues farther to westward. The wind still blew softly from the southwest, and soon after anchoring the flood tide came strongly up Channel. Under its influence, aided by the wind, fifteen or twenty of the French ships, anchored near Alderney, began to drift and were borne in a short time to leeward of Cape la Hogue. Three of them managed to get into Cherbourg. Eussell, whose flagship, the Britannia, had lost her fore-topmast during the previous night, and was consequently left some dis- tance to the eastward of the main body of the allied fleet, made signal to Delaval to stand in-shore and destroy the French vessels which had sought shelter in Cher- bourg. Delaval stood in and found three French three- deckers, including the SoleU Roijal, aground close to the 336 INFASTONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. beach and surrounded by rocks. His own vessel drew too much water to approach sufficiently close to the stranded vessels, but he shifted his flag to a smaller ship, the St. Albans, which carried only fifty guns, and, accompanied by the Riiby and some fire-ships, bore down towards the three-deckers on the beach. The French opened a galling fire from the triple tiers of guns in their seaward portholes, the navigation was diffi- cult and dangerous, and the Vice-Admiral was forced to stand out again, and more carefully mature his plans for the attack. For the moment he was baffled, but was not foiled. Next morning, having collected the ships which drew least water, he stood in again, but the English sailors did not know the proper channel, and the water gradu- ally shoaled till at length the lead showed only four fathoms. To approach nearer the shore with ships of the line was impossible. Three fire-ships were selected to carry out the enterprise, and on one the Vice-Admiral himself embarked. One of the fire-ships as it approached was sunk by the French guns and went down. The two others succeeded in getting close up to two of the French ships and set them on fire. The- third was deserted by its crew ; the English seamen quickly poured into her. A large number of dead and wounded were found between her decks. These were carefully removed to the shore, and then she too was set alight. For some hours the conflagration lasted. At first the flames made but little impression on the hulls, but, gradually acquiring power, they burst in force out of XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 337 the portholes, and, running up the rigging, wrapped the masts and spars in fire. As each loaded gun was reached, it went oS* with a loud report, and when the powder- rooms were invaded by the fire, they blew up with a fierce explosion which shattered the hulls and brought down the masts, sails, and rigging on to the beach, a mere mass of expiring sparks and decaying embers. The French crews looked on in helpless astonishment. They could do nothing either to drive off the assailants or to check the flames. The English waited till the fire had done its work, and then leisurely, with measured oars and loud cheering, drew off to their vessels. The other French ships that drove managed to reach the harbour of La Hcgue, close to which the troops were encamped. It was hoped by the French commanders that safety would be there secured under cover of the forts and protection of the land forces. Nine vessels, the anchors of which held fast near Alderney, fled through the dangerous channel named the Race, close beside that island, and gained shelter in the harbour of St. Malo. The passage of the Race was known only to clever French pilots, the seas were stormy and the rocks dangerous, so that Ashby was unable to follow them, and finding that these vessels had eluded him went, un the morning of the 22nd, to join Russell off La Hogue. At noon on the 23rd the combined fleet approached La Hogue. The signal was made from the flagship for all the boats of the fleet to be manned and armed and proceed to the destruction of the vessels in the harbour. Rooke was ordered to take the command. As night 338 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. closed in, all the boats, with steady swing of oars, covered by the guns of the frigates, proceeded to the attack against the French vessels, which were drawn up high and dry on the sands near the forts of Lisset and St. Vaast. Notwithstanding the severe fire from the forts and the ships, the boats pulled steadily in towards the shore, the crews cheering and the officers waving their swords. The French troops made but little resist- ance ; a few shots were fired wildly, then a panic set in, and the land troops fled from the shore. Six of the vessels were boarded with little loss. The English seamen swarmed into them over the bulwarks and through the portholes. As rapidly as the English rushed in the French crews poured out on the landward side. The boarded vessels were quickly in flames, and seamen who had set them alight, with bare cutlasses guarded them from any attempt at re-capture till they were totally consumed. The remaining vessels were farther up the beach, and being protected by the troops that had now been rallied, could not at that time be destroyed. The following morning the boats returned to the attack, and burnt all the vessels left on the preceding night. In all, sixteen large sail of the line and many transports were destroyed. Those destroyed were the Soleil Royal, Amhitreva, Admirable, at Cherbourg ; at La Hogue, Tonnant, Terrible, Magnijique, St. Fhillippe, Cinque- rant, Triomphant, Amiable, Tier, Glorieux, Serieux, Trident, Prince, Sans Pareil, and another. With little loss was this achieved, for the English had XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 339 only ten killed. When the vessels were in flames and their destruction assured, the line of boats was again formed, and with measured order the flotilla slowly rowed back towards the fleet, insulting the hostile camp upon the shore with a thundering chant of " God save the King ! '' The victory of La Hogue deterred for several years any further attempt at the invasion of England. The troops collected in Normandy were sent to Spain or the Rhine frontier, and were, till the Peace of Ryswick, employed in the continental wars of the French sovereign. ATTEMPTED INVASION OF 1708. The project of an union between Scotland and England caused great discontent in the northern kingdom, not only on the part of the Cavalier or Country Party as the Jacobites called themselves, but also among the Presbyterians and Cameronians. There were many enlightened Scotchmen who perceived the enormous advantages that must accrue to their country from a close union with the sister kingdom ; but these were chiefly found among the nobility who had favoured the revolution, or in the mercantile community that desired the extension of trade. But the rural population and the partisans of the Stuarts were alike hostile to the scheme. Both were partly influenced by a feeling of stubborn patriotism which revolted at the idea that Scotland might be made subject and subordinate to her z2 340 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. laro'er neighbour. But two very antagonistic reasons drew both more powerfully to a common conclusion. The Cavaliers feared that if the union were completed the succession to the crown of Scotland must necessarily be regulated by the same measures as that to the throne of England. They were well aware of the power of the part)^ that was determined to strain every nerve to secure the sceptre to the Elector of Hanover, and they recoofnized how much more difficult it would be to drive the Elector from the throne of Great Britain when once established there than to prevent his accession to it. The Presbyterians were urged by very different views. To them it seemed that the conclusion of the union meant the establishment of the Episcopalian religion in Scotland and the subjection if not the suppression of the Kirk. The interests of their ministers were deeply touched, and from every parish pulpit fiery denunciations were thundered out against the accursed treaty. The Kirk, for which so many martyrs had suffered and died, w^as threatened : it was the duty of every one of her sons to stand l)y her in the hour of her danger. What if bishops should be em- powered to frame a new confession of faith ; if the liturgy of England should be imposed and formal prayers mumbled by little better than Popish priests, arrayed in vestments and claiming the power of ab- solution, in every kirk in Clydesdale or Annandale ! Such exhortations were not without avail on the Pres- byterian congregations, and the sons of the Covenanters made deep resolve that the union must not take place. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTV, 341 Affairs on the Continent at the same time inclined the French King to encourage and even to aid the discon- tented factions in Scotland. The arms of Louis were much pressed by the victories of Marlborough, and the Court of Versailles felt disposed to effect a diversion in Britain by abetting a rising in the north in aid of the exiled Stuarts. Communications were accordingly opened between France and Scotland, and already, in 1705, Colonel Hookes was sent from the former to the latter country with letters from the French King and the Chevalier to various Scotch noblemen, who were exhorted to stand up for the interest of the distressed royal family. Louis also promised to assist the Scots his dearly beloved ancient allies, in so good a design as restoring their king to his throne, and empowered Hookes to receive proposals and to ask for some one to be sent by the Cavalier leaders to France fully in- structed to treat. This Hookes had been one of the Duke of Monmouth's chaplains when the latter invaded England. Whether on the defeat of that enterprise he was taken prisoner and pardoned or made his escape is not known, nor is it certain when he became a Catholic or entered the French service. By the time of his mission to Scotland he had risen to the rank of colonel, and held the command of a regiment of foot, was possessed of considerable credit at the Court of Versailles, and was employed to manage the correspondence with Scotland. But however skilful he may have been as a letter writer he was not well adapted to be a negotiator. He desired to assume 342 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 343 the position, not of an emissary from a foreign prince, but of a director of the councils of those to whom he was accredited ; he desired to be admitted to the secret conclaves of the Cavaliers that were held in Pat Steels coffee-house at Edinburgh ; he aspired to dictate the policy of their party, and was so little impressed with the importance of secresy and caution in so delicate an affair, that he actually urged the leaders of the party to move for the restoration of the king in the Scotch Parliament. Had his ardour prevailed and such a course been adopted, the motion would have been negatived without a division, the Jacobite party been rendered ridi- culous, and its tactics greeted with a shout of laughter from Glasgow to Whitehall. The leaders to whom the letters and messages brought by Hookes were delivered, assured him in general terms that they were ready to do everything in their king's cause that could in reason be demanded of them, and that an agent would, as he desired, be sent to France to confer wdth Kins^ James and the French ministers. With this answer, which showed considerable mistrust of himself and a desire to deal with all matters of importance through an emissary from Scotland, Hookes returned to Versailles. Accordingly in the following year. Captain Henry Stratton set sail from Leith, and arrived safely in France. At the same time, the Tories in England were sounded as to -what line they would adopt if James came over and the Scots declared for him, but they were found to be extremely cautious and not nearly so forward in the cause as their Scotch neighbours. In France, Stratton was kindly received, but could bring nothing to a conclusion, for the battle of Ramillies had disconcerted the plans of Louis so much that he was then in no condition to spare either men or money for the service of the Chevalier of St. George. He was dismissed with assurances from James that he longed extremely to be among his Scotch friends, and with fair promises from Louis of doing all that could be expected at another time. Meanwhile, the Court party in the Parliament of Scotland urged forward the measures for the union, not without considerable opposition and tumult. The mob of Edinburgh imagined that if the Act were passed, their town, which had little trade and derived its im- portance from being the capital of the country and the seat of the Parliament, would sink into insignifi- cance. Riots became frequent ; apprentices and students swarmed in the streets during every sitting of the House, cursed and railed the Commissioner as he passed to his lodgings, cheered the Duke of Hamilton who opposed the treaty, and broke the windows and ransacked the house of the Provost. The Court party retaliated by calling out the foot guards, who seized the Netherbow port and occupied the Parliament Close. Members passed in and out through rows of musqueteers with loaded arms; strong bodies of the horse-guards perpetually escorted the Commissioner, but could hardly, with blows from the backs of their swords, keep the crowd off from assaulting his person. The whole army in Scotland 344 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. had to be drawn together near Edinburgh, so serious did these riots become. Proclamations were issued against tumultuous meetings, and orders were given to the guards to fire upon any who did not quit the streets at the sound of the beat of drum. Ad- dresses were sent in from many parts of the country against the union ; at Glasgow, when the Provost and town council opposed the signing of one of these, the mob rose, took up arms, and drove the magistrates from the town ; it was only on the arrival of a detachment of dragoons that order was restored, and the leaders, who were of very humble rank, were taken as prisoners to Edinburgh Castle. The western shires, where the Cameronians were numerous, were in a ferment. A body of between two and three thousand men from Kirkcudbright, Galloway, Clydesdale, Ayr, and Dumfries, marched armed to the town of Dumfries, and there publicly burnt the articles of the union at the Cross. In these same counties the Cameronians had many meetings, divided themselves into regiments, chose their officers, provided themselves with horses and arms, and were even willing to concert measures with the northern counties and the Episcopal party for the restoration of the Stuarts. They were willing to pass over their former deep objection to the king being a Papist, for they argued according to the doctrine of predestination that Heaven might convert him, or that he might have Protestant children ; but that the union never could be good. Nevertheless, the ' Court party were able to carry XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 345 their measure, and the union was established on the 1st of May, 1707. The Jacobites were not disheartened, they still hoped to be able to annul the compact and to restore the Stuarts to the throne. An Act for the supre- macy of the Kirk, judiciously inserted by the Govern- ment in the Act of Union, had a great effect in calming the opposition of the Presbyterian ministers ; but their flocks had taken the matter too seriously to heart to be swayed again, and the ministers, in endeavouring to support the union after their own interests were secured, achieved little in favour of the cause they now advo- cated, but did a good deal towards losing their influence with their congregations. The Cameronians who had always been a sect intolerant of subjugation even to their own Presbyters, were not to be turned from the course they had adopted. In the western shires, where they predominated, an universal expectation arose of the coming of King James, and by the multitude he was eagerly expected. Private delegates from each parish met and concerted measures together, some of their number were specially appointed to collect in- tellio^ence, and the officers were named who should lead them till the nobility and gentry took the command. Arms were being made in many places, and agents appointed to buy horses acted so energetically that twelve hundred good horses were brought over from Ireland and were distributed among the common people. In Clydesdale, where the horses were even then famous, the farmers offered to spare each one or two of their best horses from work so as to have them in good 346 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. condition for war against the time of the coming of the king. All this stir was loudly proclaimed by the Jacobites to manifest the true feeling of the body of the Scotch nation. By their opponents it was described as a mere ferment stirred up and incited by the partisans of the Stuarts. No one can deny that the latter party argued with the more justice. The mobs that disturbed Edin- burgh and Glasgow consisted of but apprentices, shop- boys, and the stray population which is ever to be found on occasions of excitement adverse to order. The men who marched to Dumfries a*nd there burnt the articles of Union were but ploughmen and cottagers, they were not even led by a single nobleman or gentleman of distinction. But the stories of these disturbances were eagerly carried to Versailles, and, as stories at all times, lost nothing of their importance in their passage. In France they were so far credited that the king, either with a hope of restoring the Stuart line or with the idea of striking a blow against England in Great Britain itself again sent Hookes to Scotland. The part of an exiled prince, desirous of regaining his throne, is one extremely diflScult to play. He must con- ciliate each party if possible, and in his endeavours to do so not unfrequently repels all. Each leader, or important personage, who joins the cause of the Pretender, imagines that he alone should be heard, and that his counsel only should be adopted. Personal jealousies spring up between those who should be closely united in striving after a common end ; and schemes, which at the outset promise XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 347 well, not unfrequently collapse, through the intestine rancours of those who most earnestly wish them to suc- ceed. Such was the case in Scotland at this juncture. Two great noblemen, the Dukes of Hamilton and Athole, were both favourable to the cause of the Chevalier, but a hio-h personal jealousy existed between them. Each desired to be the Monk who should bring back the banished sovereign to his native land, and each grudged the other any important share in the transaction. When Hookes landed in the northern part of Scotland early in March, 1707, he fell in w^ith members of the Duke of Athole's party. By these he w^as received and honoured as an ambassador, and openly avowed his errand and his business. He brought with him credentials from the French kino-, which empowered him to treat with the people of Scotland in order to bring about a restoration ; but he also brought a more practical message in the shape of a paper from De Torcy. In it definite queries were made as to how many men could be raised in Scotland, and what conveniences existed in the country for the provision of troops, with meat, clothes, and quarters, as well as what prospect there was of capacity to carry on the war when once commenced ; and what amount of arms, men, and money must necessarily be sent from abroad. A catego- rical answer was compiled to De Torcy's questions, and James was earnestly requested to come over as soon as possible. This paper was signed by sixteen noblemen and gentlemen of Athole's party, and was lodged in the hands of Hookes to be taken to France. The party of Hamilton was not consulted, and was naturally disgusted ; they 348 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. had borne the labour and heat of the day, and saw themselves now passed by when the hour of triumph approached. Hookes had certainly brought letters to Hamilton and the Earl Marischal, but before these were transmitted, he was already committed deeply to Athole's party, and these noblemen, indignant with his conduct, transmitted their answer by another hand. The seeds of a quarrel were already sown, high words rose freely on both sides. Hamilton and his friends were called cowards and said to be lukewarm, Athole and his fol- lowers were declared rash and presumptuous. Such bickerings could have been disregarded, but an im- portant fact to the French ministry was, that, while Hamilton declared that no success was feasible without the presence of ten thousand French troops, and that a faint attempt was w^orse than no attempt at all, Athole held that the cause could be gained with the aid of six thousand foreign musqueteers. Hamilton, living in the Lowlands, foresaw the difficulties and dangers of the enterprise, and was well aware that if the sword was drawn the sheath must be thrown away ; Athole overrated the power of the clansmen, and imagined that an incursion of the Highlanders, supported by a French brigade, w^ould settle the matter. Hookes arrived in France from Scotland in May. August was then fixed as the time for the expedition, but for various reasons it was deferred, and though many dates were determined on, it was continually put off, till, in the following January, many in Scotland gave up hopes of its being undertaken, and Hamilton himself set XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 349 off for England. He had not been three days on his iourney, when he received a despatch from Stratton, to tell him that letters had come to Scotland, which de- clared the enterprise to be determined upon, and that it would take place before the middle of March. He had now a difficult decision to make. To go forward on his journey was to apparently abandon the Stuart cause, to go back would excite the suspicion of the Government, and would possibly lead to the detection of the whole scheme. He determined to proceed, with the intention of forcing his way back to Scotland, as soon as James should land, when Lockhart of Carnwath was to raise the shire of Lanark and join him at Dumfries. There they were to assemble a force from the Stuart partisans of the western shires of Scotland and the borders of England, and hold the frontier against the English forces till an army was formed in Scotland. It was expected by the Jacobites that in that country thirty or forty thousand men would be enrolled for James. The regular troops did not exceed two thousand five hundred men, and it was expected that of these two thousand would go over as soon as the Chevalier landed, and that the very Guards of the Commissioner would be found ready to escort him. The garrisons of Stirling, Edinburgh, Dumbarton, and Inverlochy were unprovided with ammunition or stores, and were expected to yield at the first summons. The equivalent money paid to Scotland on the Union was lodged in Edinburgh Castle, and would afi'ord abundant means for raising men. A Dutch fleet had some time before run ashore on the 350 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. coast of Angus, wherein there was a quantity of powder, cannon, and money, which the gentry of the neighbour- hood were to seize. An artillery train, called the train for North Britain, had been formed on the Union, but there were no conductors or matrosses with it, and it was unfit to take the field. Edinburgh Castle was desti- tute of warlike stores. The magazine of arms placed there in the time of Charles the Second had been lono- since exhausted, many of the cannon had been removed since the Union, and for those that remained there were but four rounds of powder in store. At Versailles, a plan of the Castle had been laid before a board of general officers and experienced engineers, who unanimously agreed, that with the troops, cannon and mortars which could be sent with an expeditionary force, the fortress must be carried within three days, even if properly garrisoned. The very plan of attack was arranged. A false demonstration was to be made against the postern, while a brigade of three battalions, after storming the tete de pont and other outworks on the Castle Hill, was to make a lodgement under the Half-Moon Battery. The regalia and equivalent money would then fall into the hands of the assailants : with the latter men could be raised, and to lead these, four hundred ofiicers, who had served in the wars of Italy, were to be sent from France, with the former two Protestant bishops were to crown the Chevalier King of Scotland, in the high Church of Dunedin. The great bulk of the English army was at this time on the Continent ; in England there were barely five XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE TEE STUART DYNASTY, 351 thousand men, and of these the majority were newly raised. The Jacobites hoped that factions and jealousies between rival parties would create great confusion, as each party would suspect the other of being privy to the desio-n. These hopes were at least visionary, but there is no doubt that England was by no means ready for either an invasion from abroad or a rising at home. The policy of James was to hasten to Scotland with arms and ammunition, and as many regular soldiers as he could obtain to march direct on Edinburgh, proclaim himself king, declare the Union null and void, and publish a manifesto promising to govern both kingdoms according to the established laws, and to provide for the security of every religion, and then as soon as he could form an army to march into England. It was apparent to all far-seeing Jacobites, as it must be to all who review the case at the present day, that the success of the enterprise depended mainly on the regular troops that the Pre- tender could bring with him. The hasty levies of the Jacobites or Cameronians could have been of little avail against the regular troops of the Government. This was well known, and hence the urgent representations to France to send troops as well as arms and money. Even the most san^ine in the cause of James did not estimate the necessary contingent from France lower than one thousand men less than the total force of soldiery in England and Scotland, the more prudent wished it to be considerably superior in numbers. In our time it might be wise conversely to remember that hasty levies, or recruits hurried through their drill, 352 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. would be no match to defend the island against veterans inured to war, and led by captains of European fame. In the latter part of February 1708, news came to England that a French fleet was being prepared at Dunkirk to make a descent on Scotland. Twelve bat- talions and a train of artillery and supplies were report(3d to be ready to take part in the invasion, and intelligence soon after arrived that the Pretender had gone from Paris to the port of embarcation to personally conduct the enterprise. The French fleet assembled at Dunkirk consisted of twenty-six ships, of which most carried more than forty guns. It is wonderful that a secret in which so many were concerned, was so well kept in Scotland. The English Government had been made aware that there had been a correspondence with France, but had been unable to obtain any tangible proofs of an intended rising, and when the French pre- parations were discovered, all Europe, except Scotland, was amazed. Holland feared that the English army would be recalled, and that her own territories would be laid open to the French. In Scotland the news brought great hopes to the Jacobites, who offered up prayers for a happy voyage, and the gentlemen favourable to the cause of the Chevalier^ slipped away from Edinburgh to be ready to raise their tenants and neighbours, as soon as the prince should land. The consternation caused in England by this intelli- gence was great. The English ships were indeed ready rigged and fit to put to sea, but they were not half manned, and there was no apparent prospect of being xv:.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 353 able to procure seamen before the French might have crossed the Channel. Fortunately, at that very moment a fleet of merchant vessels came home with their convoys, the sailors that manned them were partly per- suaded, partly pressed into the naval service, and within a fortnight above seventy ships, bearing the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, were able to take the sea. The Earl of Leven, commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland, hurried down to Edinburgh, and orders were sent to Flanders to embark twelve battalions of infantry, and send them to the mouth of the Tyne. But these were not able to embark at Ostend till the 22nd of March, and, had the French designs been pro- perly carried out, could not have arrived in Scotland till Edinburgh had already fallen. Nor would the troops from England and Ireland have been in time to avert this catastrophe, though a battalion of Foot Guards, the first and second troops of Life Guards, the regiment of Horse Guards, and several regiments of foot were at once ordered to Scotland, for these had to be chiefly drawn from the southern shires, and the army in Ireland was only assembled on the coast after the expe- dition was already defeated. As soon as the French fleet, which consisted of five sail of the line, twenty-one frigates, and two transports, was ready to sail, James despatched Mr. Fleming to acquaint his friends in Scotland of the fact. With this messenger was sent several copies of a paper, telling his subjects how to behave. They were particularly enjoined not to stir till they were sure that he had landed ; then A A 354 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHAI-. they were to secure all the money, arms, and provisions of such as were not well affected. In these orders the Chevalier showed a tender feeling for his partisans, as he did not wish them to risk their own security till there was a great chance of success, although a series of risings in various parts of the country would have materially facilitated his own disembarkation, by neces- sitating the withdraw^al of the troops that might be prepared to oppose him. Fleming was to cause pilots to be sent to meet the French fleet at the mouth of the Forth, as the intention was to land near Dunbar. Accordingly, Mr. George, a skipper, w^as despatched to Fifeness, to act as a pilot, but, at the same time, was deputed to carry to Stratton, at Edinburgh, the news of the approach of the French fleet. George delivered his message, but after doing so spent so much time in carousing, that he was not permitted to recross the Firth, as all the news-letters were now full of the pre- parations of France, and of how Louis had taken formal leave of James, with the expressed wish that he might never see him again. The English fleet, consisting of sixty-four ships of the line, and several frigates and fire-ships, together with three Dutch vessels, stood over to Dunkirk, and appeared within sight of the ramparts of that fortress just as the expeditionary army was already embarked on the 28th of February. The French admiral, Fourbin, who was to command the armament, had not expected any maritime opposition. On the appearance of this imposing fleet he suspended the embarkation, and sent an express to Paris XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 355 for fresh orders. He himself was averse to putting to sea with vessels crowded with soldiers, when a hostile fleet, superior in numbers and weight of metal to his own, was ready close outside the port of departure to engage or pursue him. The English fleet finding the seas high and the tides strong off Dunkirk on account of the approach of the equinox, after appearing off the place, sailed back to the Downs. While it was absent, Fourbin received orders from the King of France to carry out the design at all hazards. During tliis delay, however, James was taken ill of measles, and the troops were disembarked till he was sufficiently recovered to proceed. This was the case within a few days, and on the 6th of March, while the Enfrlish fleet was absent Fourbin set sail from Dunkirk. Hardly had he cleared the port when the wind chopped round, and he was detained in the pits of Newport till the 8th. While here, his vessels were seen and counted from the steeples of Ostend, and before he could sail from the coast of the continent a despatch boat was bearing the news across the Channel to Byng. The latter at once weighed anchor and appeared off Dunkirk a few hours after Fourbin had stood out to sea, but it was un- certain whether the French had not only turned back to Dunkirk, and it was not till twenty hours had elapsed that Byng ascertained that they had actually sailed. The time thus gained should have enabled the French to gain the Forth and effect their landing without interruption from the English fleet. But from fear of falling in with the English squadron, Fourbin A A o 356 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. bore so far out into the North Sea, that the first land he sighted was sixty miles north of Aberdeen. It was necessary to return, the vessels put about, and in the evening of the 12 th of March dropped their anchors oppo- site Crail, at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. A frigate was sent into the Firth to exchange signals with the Earl ^ilarischal, which by some oversight or mistake were not returned. On account of the social proclivities of Mr. George no pilots were forthcoming, and on ac- count of the circuitous course steered by the French Byng was close in pursuit. Next morning his fleet ap- peared in sight. To venture an engagement against such superiority of metal was for Fourbin impossible. To attempt to land troops under the fire of the English squadron was equally impracticable. The Jacobites loudly blamed Fourbin that he did not push up the Forth and seek shelter in its narrow waters, where he could not be pursued by the English liners, but how the French were to make the channel without pilots, or why the French vessels should float in water too shallow for the English ships, these theorists do not explain. Fourbin took the wisest course ; on the appearance of Byng's masts on the morning of the 13th, he cut his cables, and under all the canvas he could crowd stood out to sea with a good breeze. Byng pursued with all the sail that he could make, but the French vessels seem to have been cleaner, and to have sailed quite as well, if not better than the Enghsh. Though every sail was hoisted, Byng could not force an eno-ao-ement, and could get within cannon shot of only three of the French vessels. Of these, one, the Salisbury, XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 357 which had been originally taken from the English, and was now the flag-ship of the French Vice-Admiral, was eno-afyed by two English vessels and captured. On board of her there were some four hundred soldiers, as well as some distinguished exiles, who were made prisoners. At night Byng lost sight of the French, and consider- ing the Firth of Forth the station of greatest importance, und the place where the enemy might again attempt to land, put in there till he could ascertain accurately in what direction the French had actually sailed. Here he was detained for some weeks by high seas and strong winds. Had the French fleet been able to take the sea on the first day that it cleared out of Dunkirk, there is little doubt but that it could have landed its troops before the arrival of Byng in the Forth, and even as it happened, but for the want of a simple precaution it might still have done so. The absence of pilots prevented Fourbin from running up the Forth from Grail as soon as he arrived there. He trusted to find pilots provided in Scotland, yet Scotch vessels went often to Dunkirk, and Scotch seamen were abundant in that port. A few of these could have been brought with the fleet, and would have rendered unnecessary that dependence on others, and the necessity of combination, the failure of which so often wrecks warlike undertakings. No sooner did the French fleet appear ofl" Crail, than an express was sent ofl* from Dunbar, to notify its arrival to Leven the Commander of the Forces. He made pre- parations for the defence of Edinburgh and the Castle, 358 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. though the Jacobites say that he would have retired to Berwick or Carlisle. It is not clear how they knew the secret intentions of the hostile general, nor does it ap- pear probable that he would have done so, as two days after, on an alarm of the return of the French, he, instead of retiring, actually advanced to the shores of the Forth to oppose a landing. The news created great joy among the partisans of the Stuarts and their friends increased AvonderfuUy during the few hours that Fourbin's vessels lay at Crail before the arrival of Byng. Those who had before been doubtful or lukewarm were now most ener- getic and uproarious in the cause of the Chevalier, when beyond the hearing of Leven's guards or patrols. White rosettes, the emblem then of the British, as now of the French Pretender, were secretly carried on men's breasts below their coats, and furtively shown to admiring friends. The clink of glasses, the drinking of toasts, lauc^hter and merriment were loud at Pat Steel's. At the Cross Keys, where the courtiers met, men took their re- freshments in silence, or sat gloomy and sullen. On the morrow all was changed, the Jacobites whispered to one another that Byng had come up, that Fourbin had cast away his anchors and fled to sea ; the white cockades were hidden away ; it was the turn of the Jacobites to look solemn and sad. At the Cross Keys and in the Parliament Close, the courtiers were shaking hands, and gaily rallying each other over their previous terror. The next day was Sunday, and from the ramparts of the Castle, and from the whin-covered heights of Calton Hill, a large fleet of masts was seen slowly bearing XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 359 up Channel before the easterly breeze. Both parties were much agitated; the Jacobites hoped it was the French returning, the courtiers trusted they belonged to Byng. The garrison was called to arms, and marched down by Leven, to form in battle array on the sands of Leith. A boat put off" from one of the vessels, rowed ashore, and brought the news to Leven that it belonged to the English fleet. The hopes and fears of both sides were laid at rest. The French fleet scattered when pursued by Byng, and did not rendezvous till the 14th. Then a council of war was held, and it was determined to attempt a landing in the north. The point designated was Inverness, and pilots were sent for to bring the ships in shore. But the sea rose and the wind blew strong, and Fourbin, fearing that the fleet would be separated, notwithstanding the desire of James to be set ashore, with such of his companions* as were his own subjects, sailed back to Dunkirk. The Jacobites accused Fourbin of havino; secret orders not to land, but only to appear off the coast so as to cause a rising and incite a civil war, which would trouble the English government without committing French troops to the struggle. It does not, however, appear that this accusation can be supported on solid grounds. It is only natural, as is always the case, that a disappointed party should vent its vexation and its spleen on any commander who, however well he may have done his own duty, may not have satisfied their desires. On the news of the arrival of the French at Crail, 360 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Sterling of Keir, Sterling of Garden, and Seaton of Touch, called together their dependants and marched upon Edinburgh, but retired on the intelligence of the departure of Fourbin. They were taken afterwards and tried for being in arms against the King, but as the formal proofs failed they were acquitted. The prisoners taken on the Salisbury were sent up to London under escorts of the Blues, but after being detained a short time in prison were set free. The Duke of Hamilton had already been arrested at Ashton in Lancashire by a messenger, and on hearing of the approach of the Chevalier, was prepared to break from the messenger and force his way to Scotland, but before he put his design into execution heard of the flight of the French fleet. Upon the alarm of this intended descent orders were Sent to Scotland to draw all the forces in the northern king- dom around Edinburgh. Such troops as remained in England were ordered to march to Scotland, so that had the French landed on the eastern coast of England, they might have done so with but little opposition. TLe troops in Ireland were ordered to march northward, to be ready when called for. Twelve battalions were also sent from Ostend under a strong convoy, and lay at the mouth of the Tyne awaiting further orders. These were the preparations made ; but it appeared that the French relied chiefly on the assistance that they expected would come in to them upon their landing. Keports were spread by the French agents all over Europe, at Venice, Rome and in Switzerland, that the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 3G 1 exiled prince of England had been invited by his sub- jects, chiefly those of Scotland, to take possession of the throne of his ancestors, and that the King of France, at their desire, had sent over a fleet and army to aid him ; that he was to pardon all those who should join him and would trouble none on account of religion ; and that upon the Stuart dynasty being re-established in the island, the King of France would give peace to the rest of Europe ; that there was before the expedition was sent an army on foot in Scotland which had proclaimed the exiled King ; and that hostages had been sent from Scot- land to Paris to secure the observance of the engagements into which the Scotch had entered. These reports boldly circulated caused no slight un- easiness among the continental allies of the English government. It was generally concluded, and not with- out justice, that so small a fleet and so weak an army would not have been sent but upon great assurance of assistance, not only from Scotland but also from England. Some severe reflections were made on the conduct of the English Admiralty, and Harley was freely blamed for nedi^ence, and even afterwards, without foundation, suspected of treason. Parliament was sitting ; the Queen communicated to both Houses the information she had received ; both Houses voted addresses to her, giving full assurance of their stedfast adherence to her and to her Protestant succession, not unmingled with broad intimations of their apprehensions of treachery at home. Two bills were passed. The one enacted that the abjuration might I 362 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap be tendered to all persons, and that such as refused it should be in the position of convict recusants. By the other, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended till October, with relation to persons taken up by the government upon suspicion ; and the House of Commons by vote engaged to make good to the Queen all the extraordinary charge to which the expedition might put her. After the French fleet was lost sight of by Byng's cruisers, a fortnight passed without any news of Fourbin's vessels. Three French ships landed near the mouth of the Spey, but only to obtain water and provisions, which were much needed on account of the large number of landsmen in excess of the crews on board. At last the ships all got back in safety to Dunkirk, but the soldiers suffered much. Many died while out at sea, and all the hospitals at Dunkirk were filled with disembarked in- valids on the return of the squadron. It was said the French lost 4,000 men in their expedition, for they were above a month in a very tempestuous sea. Many sus- pected persons were arrested in Scotland ; a few in England, but further discoveries of those who had cor- responded with the French were not then made. If the French had landed it would certainly have had a bad eSect on the paper credit of the country, and if the remittances to Catalonia, Piedmont, and Portugal had been stopped at such a critical season it might have had fatal consequences abroad : for if foreign princes could not have reckoned on our assistance, they might have been disposed to hearken to the propositions that the King of France would probably have made to them. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 303 INVASION OF 1715. The death of Queen Anne, and the sudden accession of the Whig ministry to power, took the Jacobite party by surprise. It had been hoped that the intrigues of Boling- broke and the aff'ection of the Queen would, notwith- standino- the act of succession, have secured the peaceable possession of the crown to the Chevalier of St. George on the death of his sister. These hopes were blasted by the vio-our with which the Whig leaders acted as soon as Anne was known to be mortally ill— a vigour which was indeed well-timed, and might have given peace to the country had it been followed by more lenient action or conciliatory procedure towards the Tory opposition. This party was indeed at first inclined to demur to the accession of the Elector of Hanover, and some fiery spirits would fain even immediately on the death of Queen Anne have kindled a civil war. The most ad- venturous, and what is nearly synonymous, those who had little to lose by national tumult or disturbance, were eager to proclaim openly King James the Third, and the celebrated Dr. Atterbury declared himself ready to proceed in his rochet and sleeves to Westminster, and there, in the face of the world, publish the proclamation. Such hare-brained schemes might suit visionary enthusi- asts or impecunious malcontents, but the leadeips of the Tory party were little inclined to cast in their lot with such desperate resolves. As yet they did not despair of power, place, and emolument under the new prince. It must be his interest and his desire to caress the principal 364 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. men of tie second most important party in the state. It was all very well to intrigue for the succession of the Chevalier during the late reign when the Sovereign was secretly favourable, and the furtive smiles of the Court and the influence of the Ante-chamber were the rewards of the intriguers. But it was a very different matter when for intrigues must be substituted civil war, still more unpleasant when to raise that war all hope of place or power, which were not yet totally lost, and all favour from a prince supported by the strongest party in the country must be for ever abandoned ; when the whis|)ers of the Ante-chamber and the negotiations of the closet must be exchanged by men not inured to such scenes, for the clash of arms and the roar of guns ; when the war if unsuccessful would be followed by all the ghastly consequences of trial for high treason — the block, the axe and the gibbet — and if successful would, as always happens in great convulsions, bring to light new and strong men who would almost certainly trample down the originators of their own success. After some ferment, considerable loss of temper, and not a little quarrelling among the supporters of the divine right of hereditary succession, the excitement of the Jacobites gradually calmed down, and but for the ill-considered vindictiveness of their political opponents would not improbably have totally died away. On the arrival of the Elector at Greenwich six weeks after the death of the Queen, the Earl of Mar, who had been Secretary of State in Scotland during the late reign, was ready to receive the new Sovereign not only with XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 365 assurances of personal loyalty, but also brought with him a long list of Highland chieftains, who in their own names and that of their clans were ready to accept the new prince. It cannot be doubted that the dubious Oxford and the wily Bolingbroke would have been equally ready to kiss the hand of King George. But the party which had been instrumental in bringing him over to England, the party which for years he had been taught to regard as devoted to his interests, and of which the leaders had thickly clustered around him, had been too long deprived of the sweets of oflice, and too jealous of any rivals to the princely favour, to spare any occasion of stirring up a bad feeling on the part of the Prince to the Tory faction. The Whig leaders felt and deeply resented that they had been driven from office by un- worthy intrigues ; they felt that for the last two years they had been fighting an up-hill battle against the Tories, the Church, and the Court, to secure the accession of the Prince whom they had just brought ashore in Kent, amidst the cheers of the populace and the salutes of the ships. Was it to be endured that one iota of their justly earned rewards should be now stolen away by those who had been the constant antagonists to the Hanoverian cause ; and who now changed their policy, as men change their coats to suit an alteration of the weather ? Was it to be tolerated that they who had borne the labour and heat of the day, who for the sake of Prince George had endured the frowns of the Sovereign and the sneers of her favourites, should see raised to an equal place in that Prince's affections the very men who. 366 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. servilely fawning upon the feebleness of a weak mind, had instio-ated the frowns that allowed the sneers ? Such were the counsels poured into George's ear. He himself a foreigner, ignorant of English parties, innocent of English quarrels, was entirely dependent on the advi(:e of the men whom his experience showed had been in- strumental in bringing him to the throne. He could not be expected to understand that the opposition might be conciliated, and that by a judicious oblivion of all former offences the Tories might be won over to a contented submission to his reign, and he might rule his new country as the sovereign of his people and not as the mere head of a party. Those who advised his course of action were strongly interested that such should not be the case, and it was to their advice alone that the newly- arrived Prince could turn for aid. Mar was accordingly informed that the Prince could not accept his homage or receive the assurance of Highland loyalty which lie brought in his hand. Thus the first blow that carried pain, mortification, and insult into the breasts of the Tory party was delivered by the counsellors of the King a few moments after the arrival of their new leader. Had Mar been a simple gentleman, instead of not only a nobleman of high position, but the spokesman of the many leaders of the north, from whose power and animosity so much disorder could arise, it would have been an error to have so gratuitously insulted him amidst the crowd assembled to witness the landing of the new King. Under the circumstances it was not only an error but a grave crime, and had no little share in leading to the bloodshed in XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 367 which the subsequent rebellion was blotted out. As the assemblage was large it was impossible that the incident could pass unnoticed. It could not but be perceived that the Earl of Mar was awaiting the arrival of the Prince with a particular document in his hand. His birth, his connection with the Scotch administration, and the whispers of some of the lower Jacobites, who from curiosity mingled in the throng, soon let it be generally understood what was the nature of his errand ; and men could hardly believe their eyes when after some brief messao-es passed between the Earl and the group im- mediately around the Elector, Mar retired without an interview, bearing on his countenance the signs of mortification and annoyance. The excuse alleged for this strange want of courtesy, was that the statement of the chieftains had been drawn up with the knowledge of the Chevalier. So much greater was the reason for receiving it, for James would then have been implicated in the declaration of allegiance by the clans to the line of Guelph, and could hardly again have summoned the mountaineers to arms without an infraction not only of political faith but of personal honour. The true reason was doubtless that the established courtiers, as is so often the case at courts, viewed with the greatest jealousy any- one who by approach to the Prince might possibly gain a share of his confidence, and that they neither considered nor cared for the effects in the Highlands ; for at this time few people living in the south of England regarded the mountain clansmen as anything more interesting or more formidable to London than we at present consider 368 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the inhabitants of Ashantee. The mountaineers were then regarded as mere robbers and brigands, secured indeed from suppression and extinction by the wild fastnesses of their mountains and swamps, as are at present those of Athos or Calabria, but none imagined that they would sally forth from their hills to encounter the regular troops in the plains. They might indeed frighten the Provost and town council of Glasgow, or lift cattle on the banks of the Forth, but the idea of the defeat of even a detachment of dragoons by a Highland clan would have been regarded as impossible, and the invasion of England by an army of warriors from the glens and straths of Glenorchy or Lochaber as utterly absurd. It was not till the autumn of 1715 that the inhabitants of London imagined that the clans would ever think of crossing the border, and it was only thirty years later when the young Pretender was at Derby, and the City in a panic, that the military power of the Highlands was truly appreciated. Still more ill-judged than their conduct towards Mar was the action of the new ministry with regard to the English leaders of the Tory side. The Earl of Oxford was committed to the Tower, and charges to be submitted to Parliament prepared against him. The Duke of Ormond and Lord Bolingbroke were also impeached, but flying to the continent to avoid trial not unnaturally cast in their fortunes with James. These measures caused grave disquiet among the Jacobites and High Church party. By more prudent action the bulk of both parties could have been won XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTF. 369 over to the new government. By want of conciliation and the desire to press their victory to the uttermost, the Whio-s alienated and estranged both, not only for the moment but for many years. Politicians do not suffi- ciently often consider how much every action affects not only the immediate present, but strikes a knell which reverberates, more or less perceived from generation to generation, till it only dies away and is lost in the depths of the recesses of distant time. The treatment of the Tories on the accession of George the First stirred up the ano-ry feelings that caused the rising of 1715. The blood spent in that attempt and the punishments that followed its suppression nursed the morose thirst for revenge that led to the invasion of 1745, and this was only entirely laid at rest when the sympathies of the Highlands were at length enlisted in the same cause as that of England, when Scottish remiients and Scottish officers bore no mean share in the long and bloody wars that culminated in the overthrow of the first Napoleon. It was perceived that the cavaliers and High Church- men had nothing to expect from the clemency of their enemies, and that the new prince was entirely led by the counsels of their opponents. Their only hope of recognition, representation, or, indeed, personal security from subjection or insult lay in the overthrow of a dynasty that was bound hand and foot to the Whig interest. That overthrow could only be accomplished by force of arms. There was no reason that the attempt should not be made. They might possibly improve their position — they could hardly make it worse. A B B 370 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. return of the Stuarts would waft at once into the sun- light of power and consideration those who now saw themselves threatened with a long vista of gloom and suppression. When such sentiments gained the minds of men who had been statesmen, dignitaries of colleges, and the aristocracy of many counties, they quickly ex- tended to many of lower rank, who caught them up Avith more violence and spread them with greater gusto. All whose necessities exceeded their income were readily inclined to foster such an enterprise ; and of such there w^ere many among the landed gentry of the lowlands of Scotland and the northern and western shires of England. The increase of trade which had quickly fol- lowed the Union had increased the necessities of life to the upper classes, and at the same time as these neces- sities had been developed in magnitude, they had been raised in price. The landed gentry of the less fruitful shires who depended for their whole income on their rent-rolls, found themselves now unable to maintain without embarrassment the hospitality and show which they considered indispensable to their dignity and station. They would not dream of reducing their dignity ; they had no means of increasing their incomes ; consequently, as their expenditure could not be diminished or their revenues increased, they had no resource but to incur debt, and many of them were already seriously embar- rassed, and had their properties mortgaged to the class they most despised. In the meantime the mercantile community which was looked upon by the landed aristocracy with a proper scorn XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 371 began to acquire riches, and were rapidly surpassing the squires of the county in the architecture of their houses, the magnificence of their plate and the luxury of their equipages. To find themselves at a disadvantage in these respects with merchants wdio did not understand the quartering of a coat of arms, or of tradesmen who had yesterday been shopboys, w^as extremely galling and irritating to the landed gentry who boasted escutcheons dated from the Conquest, and cherished armour borne by their ancestors in the wars in the Holy Land. It was still worse to be obliged to hand over to such, in consideration for a loan, the title-deeds wdiich perhaps originally won by arms, had lain for generations in the panelled strong-box in the old oak hall. They foresaw no prospect of change, and thought with a shudder that the hand of the daughter of the family might have to be given in marriage to the son of the upstart to clear off the obligation. They little foresaw how, not two centuries later, money w^ould become almost the sole claim to social consideration, and the aristocracy of wealth would treat, on more than equal terms in the marriage contract, wdth the aristocracy of birth. Men in debt are ever discontented with any existing state of affairs ; they become more discontented with present circumstances w^hen a change may possibly bestow upon them posts and emoluments which may recruit their finances, and so restore their dearly- cherished precedence. Nor were those wanting who promised loudly and v>oastfully that every possible advantage, that every B B 2 372 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 373 certainty of success must ensue from the adoption of the Jacobite cause, while the suspicion of failure was either not allowed to be mentioned or drowned by a clamorous declamation which contained a good deal more of assertion than of argument. Whenever a desio-n is undertaken or even thought of which requires secresy, mystery, and hidden communi- cation between various individuals or various bodies, in all ao-es and at all times, a class of men seems to have suddenly sprung up who partly are adopted and partly intrude themselves as agents and conspirators. More than usually was this the case at the period now under our consideration. As soon as the feelings of the more respectable portion of the Jacobite party were roused, a swarm of bustling, meddling adventurers sprang into life. They quickly distributed themselves over the northern and western shires of England and the lowlands of Scot- land. Wherever a few people were gathered who might have Jacobite proclivities, some of these bustling in- triguers were found upholding the advantages of revolt, and ever ready to quen(:h the thirst caused by their declamations by emptying tankards at the expense of their hearers to the health of the expected king and the confusion of his enemies — an act of loyalty which, un- like most virtues, brought its own immediate reward. These creatures professed to have entire knowledge of the designs of Bolingbroke, the intentions of the Chevalier, the views of Ormond, and the fears of the Cabinet at Whitehall. Their arguments were adapted to every taste. If anyone suggested that a rising would be hopeless without an invasion of Scotland from France, an invasion was at once promised by the Duke of Ber- wick at the head of many thousand French troops. If an attack on England was preferred, it was at once asserted that the Duke of Ormond, with a still larger number of men, was only awaiting the first signal of disaffection to throw himself on the Hampshire coast. If a doubt was expressed lest the insurgents should not be well supplied with ammunition and stores, vessels from France were promised to any number, which were already freighted and only attending on a favourable wind. If a promising convert feared that he should have no arms, weapons were promised in profusion not only for himself but for all his friends. If a want of provisions was hinted at, graphic pictures were drawn of the long lines of wains which, creaking under their loads, were driving along the roads of northern France to the ports of departure. Such orators, ever impetuous in stirring up others to desperate acts, ever extremely backward themselves in incurring danger, made not a few converts among the simple and the credulous. But the feelings of discontent against the government which had been first raised by its own actions, extended far more widely and deeply than amongst the class that could be swayed by such preachers of a crusade. The universities, more especially Oxford, were strong in High Church principles. The heads of colleges and lead- ing authorities viewed with dismay the prosecution of Tory leaders, and began to feel a renewed enthusiasm for the dogmas of hereditary descent. Their example 374 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. was caught up by the undergraduates ; and in many halls King James came to be daily toasted, if not so deeply, still more noisily than in the taverns of the town where many disbanded officers, sulky on account of their reduction and eager for tumult, sought a retreat near to the kindred feeling of the university. In the western shires many of the leading gentry were strongly imbued with the Jacobite spirit ; and in the north where Catholicism still lingered, still more were likely to aid with heart and hand the restoration of the Stuart line. The Highlanders of Scotland were of course ready to snatch up the claymore and targe at the call of their chieftains, and would be sure to muster in large gather- ings for a cause that promised them at the worst the plunder of the lowlands. In the low countries of Scot- land many of the gentry were as embarrassed, as jealous of being eml)arrassed, and as ready to make a desperate throw for fortune as their compeers beyond the border. The episcopal clergy of Scotland and the whole of the Anglican Church were almost to a man convinced of the necessity to salvation of High Church doctrines, and of the duty of every churchman to add to the diffusion and ascendency of these doctrines even by means of violence and of recourse to the sv\^ord. Some of them were so impatient to be up and doing that they, instead of hindering by exhortations and precept the mob from riot, even encouraged disturbances, and the rabble, ever prone to disorder without the instigation of such vener- able ringleaders, was only too ready, by way of aiding a creed which it did not obey, to impede the religion of XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 375 others and to tear down the meeting-houses of those who differed from its own views. Each individual who was converted by these self- styled emissaries at once set to work to convert others. The smallest mind could perceive that the success of the scheme depended mainly on the numbers that would adopt it, and each person who committed himself so far to take part in the expected rising, as that either shame or fear of having trespassed beyond the bounds of pardon prevented his drawing back, had an immediate individual interest in urging as many others as possible equally to implicate themselves. Thus the promises of assistance from abroad, and the assurances of discontent at home, were passed from mouth to mouth and greatly exaggerated. In many instances they fell on willing ears, in many others on ears which gradually were made willing by hearing constantly the same views repeated over and over again, and by hearing no arguments on the other side. All the tales told pointed especially to two great means of success. The one was an invasion from France ; the second a general rising throughout the country. As to both of these the apostles of in- surrection argued without grounds and asserted without calculation. The most cursory glance at existing facts in France should have shown how little of open assistance was to be expected from the government of that country. However much Louis himself, through a chivalrous feel- ing of friendship towards James I., may have desired the success of the Chevalier, it was perfectly impossible for his ministry to take any overt measures for his aid. 376 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Their country had been crippled by a long and unfor- tunate war, in which its borders had been invaded by hostile armies, and the light cavalry of the enemy had been seen from the spires of the capital. From this Avar it had only escaped by a peace of which the terms were much more favourable than could have been ex- pected, and the nature of these terms w\as chiefly due to the wish of England not to enact a more severe retribu- tion. AVith England it w^as absolutely necessary for France to preserve peace . if she did not again wdsh to find the allied armies arrayed on her northern frontier, while she herself, exhausted of men and munitions, could hardly have lifted a hand to oppose their march on Paris. So strongly w\as this necessity felt, that thou^rh the Chevalier hastened to Paris on the death of Queen Anne, he w^as informed that the French Court w^as so fearful of provoking a war with England, that it must adhere to the article of the treaty of Utrecht, by w^hich an asylum w^as denied to the Pretender in the French dominions. Whatever may have been the secret conversation between Louis and the Chevalier, whatever assurances the latter may have obtained of hidden sup- port, such was the action of the French government patent to the world, and the proof w^as apparent in the fact that the Chevalier returned almost immediately to Commercy, where he had lived in the domains of the Duke of Lorraine, since he had not been permitted a residence in France. Nor in Great Britain were the circumstances now so favourable to an insurrection as they had been a few years previously. It is true that xvi.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 377 the Jacobite party was mortified by seeing the succession oiide away to the house of Hanover, that the Tory party was incensed and driven to bay by the ill-advised impeachment of their leaders, that in the west, where lay the influence of Ormond and Wyndham, the cathedral tow^ns cherished and fostered high church feeliucr, and in the halls and colleges of the Universities deep murmurs and morose discontent prevailed. In the north again a still stronger religious feeling animated men still more adventurous, and impelled by circum- stances to yield readily to anyone that tempted them to desperate endeavours. But in the southern and midland shires farming was prosperous, profits w^ere good, and the grazier of Leicestershire, the hop mer- chant of Kent, or the sheep breeder of Hants, looked with dismay on the idea of a tumult which would certainly stay their business, imperil their gains, might even convert their rich pastures or well-tilled lands into fields of battle, and without payment or compensation sweep their valuable droves or numerous herds into the commissariat depot of an insurgent army. In the cities trade had been developed year by year, and commerce had proportionately increased, many men had amassed capital, and were strongly opposed to any disturbance that would imperil the value of their securities or their credit. The oflicers of the army were angered against the Tory ministers through a professional feeling of dis- gust at the disgrace of Marlborough, the general who had led them to so many victories and such great glory, as well as through a more personal feeling of annoyance 378 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [cHAr. at the couclusion of the peace, which had naturally been at once followed by a sweeping reduction of the military establishments. Some of the reduced officers were ready through want of occupation to embrace a cause which might give them employment, commands higher than those to which their rank entitled them in the regular service, and might finally land them if successful in positions of competency and comfort ; but those who still were retained in the service, the most experienced and most versed in their profession, those who held the command of troops, and whose example the soldiers were sure to follow, were strongly attached to the exist- ing order of things. Hence the army, in case of either insurrection or invasion, was certain to be found on the Hanoverian side, and, though small in number, was a much greater security than grooms and tenants armed by dons of colleges or commanded by country gentlemen could be a danger. In Scotland the agitation against the Union which a few years previously had been so violent had gradually died away. It was found that that treaty, far from being followed by the desolation and degradation which had been so freely prophesied, had led to a great ex- tension of trade in the lowlands, and trade brought prosperity in its train. Glasgow was already giving an earnest of the mercantile wealth which it afterwards acquired, and was anxious even at the cost of arming its own citizens to maintain quiet. Edinburgh was reconciled to the loss of the presence of its Parliament, which was forgotten almost as soon as it had ceased to XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 379 be visible. The shopkeepers had found new customers to supply the places of the Lords and members who were their former patrons. The malt tax, one great source of discontent, had been politically suspended. In the western shires the trade of Glasgow stimulated employment, men had begun to put aside the custom of wearing armour, and were turning their energies to peaceful pursuits. They were already busy and con- sequently happy, and were well inclined to hearken to the dictates of the Presbyterian clergy, who never failed to recommend to their flocks a wholesome hatred to an equally abominable triumvirate, the Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender. Though in the lowlands there were still many malcontents, yet thus the great majority of the common people desired quiet, and the possession of the throne to King George ; and here the Chevalier, if truly instructed, could only have reckoned on finding more enemies than friends. If the reports of the armaments on the continent were exaggerated in Great Britain, not less was the discontent in the island magnified by the busy-bodies who carried news to Versailles and Commercy. The newly-found advisers of the Pretender, who were eager to hazard a triumphant return to London, as well as those who had long pined in exile, considered the time favourable for an invasion and an insurrection. Judg- ing from their feelings of anger against their opponents, they thought that many who were now lukewarm or antagonistic would flock to their standard as soon as it was unfurled, that the Highlanders would bring thirty 380 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. thousand men together that would sweep like an irre- sistible torrent into the low country ; that there the Cameronians were still hostile to the Union, and would join in arms with their hereditary enemies to bring back a Papist king, and that the lowland gentry would form strong squadrons to support both ; thence that the conflagration would spread beyond the border, that Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire would fly to arms, secure their enemies, and proclaim the here- ditary king. It was believed that at the same time a general levy would take place from the Land's End to the bridge of Reading, and that Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire would not be behindhand. Imbued with these ideas, his counsellors strongly urged James to hazard the attempt, and he was by no means loth to follow their counsel. A secret correspondence was begun between Commercy and Paris and London. In the last city the disaftected Jacobites established a sort of head centre for a general insurrection in Great Britain, and hence the correspond- ence necessary to arrange the combination, as it could not be trusted to the ordinary conveyance of letters, was carried by various gentlemen who rode through the country in the usual dress of gentlemen travelling for curiosity, and were, according to the custom of the time, armed with sword and pistol. Louis was pre- vailed upon to permit the secret equipment of some vessels at Havre, though the French government was supposed to be totally ignorant of their existence, and had, l)y no overt act which might entail a war, given XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTr. 381 assistance to James. Towards the month of July the plans of the malcontents were tolerably matured, and they were such as, had they been based on solid in- formation, and energetically carried through, might have had a fair prospect of success. The general scheme seems to have been that the small fleet from Havre should, with a supply of arms, money, and ammunition, eff'ect a landing on the Devonshire coast to join the risino- which Ormond in the meanwhile was to organize in the western counties : that the Highlands were to be simultaneously raised, and it was hoped that then France would send a corjys cVarmee to Scotland under the com- mand of the Duke of Berwick, which should form a strong nucleus for the Highland clans and the insurgents of the borders. One point of considerable importance seems to have been entirely overlooked. England still held, had indeed increased the maritime superiority which she wrested for ever from France at the battle of La Hogue. It may be remarked that those who planned the ex- pedition seem never to have calculated on how the flotilla from Havre or the French corps cTarmee was to get across the Channel without being stopped if not demolished by an English squadron. It may be imagined that a plan was almost desperate when part of it consisted of the dangerous hazard of forming a combination that depended in any measure on a rising in Devonshire, which itself was to be nourished and supported with arms and ammunition from an armament that could only hope to fetch the southern coast by a whole chapter of most happy accidents. But there are N 382 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap two means by which an invasion across the sea may be effected. If the invader could hold the command of the Channel for even a few hours, he would probably succeed in landing his troops ; if, on the other hand, as in the present case, he must despair of gaining the naval command of the narrow seas, he must trust to surprise. And surprise is not to be despised as rashly as is often the case. In the year of which w^e are treating, the Duke of Ormond appeared on the coast, without any opposition from the English navy, and as far as the men-of-war were concerned, mig;ht have landed an army without interruption. Nor was this the case alone w'hen ships of war were dependent on the winds, and when the transmission of intelligence might be delayed by an unfavourable gale or a contrary tide. Within recent memory, with steam at our dis- posal and telegraphs available, the transport for an army of forty thousand men was collected in the northern ports of France, and while the vessels rode in the harbours and the troops to fill them were held ready to embark for what migi;ht have been an invasion of Hampshire, the English Foreign Office believed and publicly announced that never had there been such quiet in the political horizon of Europe. Within a few days a mighty war was raging. An opportunity to strike a heavy blow against the English government in a direction where it would have had valuable effect was omitted by those who framed the plan. The neighbouring island would be the place where it might have had a great effect. Yet XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 383 Ireland was entirely neglected, and no attempt made to raise a rebellion in that favourable soil ; in consequence the whole army on the Irish establishment was left free and undistracted to be employed as suited the wishes of the government at Whitehall either in England or Scot- land. Communications w^ere opened with Bath, Bristol, Lancashire, and the country beyond the Tay; but no emissaries seem to have been employed to encourage or suggest an insurrection in Munster or Connaught, where the native gentry and population still alike bitterly brooded over the wars of William, and cursed the supremacy of the Protestant creed. The only notice we find of any Jacobite movement in Ireland is that a few persons were arrested in that country for attempt- ing to raise recruits for the Pretender. While these intrigues were in progress in England, and exertions being made abroad, the adherents of the Jacobites in France were mortified by the sudden ap- pearance of Ormond on the continent. He had pro- mised to remain at Richmond till the last moment, and then if threatened with imprisonment to hurry into the west and create an immediate rebellion. Thouorh personally a brave man, his heart seems to have quailed at the last moment before the responsibility of being the first and for a time the unsupported leader of a civil war, for in politics, as in religion, it is often found th^t, while many are willing to become unobtrusive heretics, few dare to play the part of the marked heresiarch. The arrival of Ormond not only damped the spirits of the Jacobites, but had a decided influence 384 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CTIAP. in the court of France. The agents of tlie Stuarts had proclaimed loudly the popularity of this nobleman in the districts where his possessions lay, and had boasted often and long of the thousands that would spring at his mere beck to arms against the government. It said little for his popularity or power to find him forced to fly his country, without even a tumult being made in his favour, a fugitive and an exile ; and the ministers of Louis, not without reason, when they found some of the assertions of the Jacobites so signally refuted, began to look askance upon all. Hereafter they were still more determined not to risk an overt quarrel with England, but the personal inclination of their King pre- vented a total rupture with the Chevalier, and a small fleet was allowed to be begun to be made ready at Havre. This consisted of as many ships as the funds which James had in hand, or managed to borrow, allowed him to charter. Some seven or eight vessels were got to- gether and began to be loaded with arms, ammunition, and such money as could be saved from the immediate necessities of the service. Had these ships been allowed to sail they would have brought about twelve thousand stand of musquets with a due complement of ammu- nition to the insurgents. But before this small convoy was prepared to put to sea the English government gained some insight into what was going on. It was hardly to be expected that a secret so widely diff'used, and a plan that necessitated such an amount of combination, should not get to the ears of some who either were attached to the govern- XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 385 ment or trusted to make themselves valuable to it by being the bearers of such important information. Nor do the Jacobites seem to have been so cautious as even ordinary prudence required to make the scheme success- ful, for some in the exultation of the moment actually assumed the colours of the Stuarts ; and many were to be seen in the streets even of the metropolis wearing white roses in their button-holes. These symbols and the information given by friends from various places and the private communications sent by Lord Stair, the ambassador at Paris, soon showed the Privy Council that some scheme was afoot for the restoration of the banished royal family. Accordingly, in July, preliminary measures were taken to nip an insurrection in the bud as soon as it should show a head. The means at the disposal of the Government were limited, for though the army estimates for the year show a strength of sixteen thousand men, of these barely nine thousand were at home. Thirteen new regiments of cavalry and eight of infantry were at once ordered to be levied. The army in England was speedily widely cantoned, so that detachments of regular troops lay in almost every town of importance. The regiments in Flanders, except two battalions left in garrison at Ghent, were ordered home. The Life Guards were encamped in Hyde Park, where their loyalty was encouraged by copious supplies of beer on the Prince of Wales' birthday, and parties of the Foot Guards were distributed in London and Westminster to prevent the wearing of white roses. The garrisons of the Channel Islands were brought over to England and were stationed c c 386 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. near AYindsor, but no troops were sent to Scotland, for any danger to London from the Highland clans was regarded as chimerical, and it was considered that any rising in that country would be but a feint to draw the army to the north and to leave the south-western counties uncovered for an invasion from abroad. The Dutch Government was requested to send over the six thousand men which, by its guarantee to the Act of Succession, it w\as bound to furnish, and at first ordered the Scottish regiments in its pay to the coast, Init de- clined to let them embark on the plea that the Frenclj Ambassador had sfiven an assurance -that France had no intention of drawing the sw^ord in favour of the Clicva- lier. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and a reward of one hundred thousand pounds offered for the capture of the Pretender. These steps showed the uneasiness of the Government, and this, while it caused anxiety to the AVhig party, caused great satisfaction to the Jacobites. They were pleased to see the Government troubled wdthout consider- ing that this troul^le was strongly calculated to lead to measures by which all their objects would l)e defeated. With strong hope they believed tliat the present uneasi- ness was but a prelude to the impending catastrophe that was about to fall upon the supporters of the esta- blished dynasty. Among these was a general sense of gloom, nervousness, and irritation. Men felt and knew that there was some plot, some conspiracy, but none could toll how deep it lay or how wide were its ramifi- cations. It was impossible to guess who w^ere impli- XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTF. 387 cated : the partner of the firm, the brother of a family, the occupant of the next seat at the hostelry or the tavern, might be privy to the whole conspiracy, and perhaps one of its secret leaders. A wagon destined for Bristol fair apparently laden with forage, had caught fire at Hounslow, and under a thick covering of hay a large quantity of arms had then been accidentally found. It was impossible to tell how many more might have without discovery already reached their consignees. Eumours, of course, were rapidly circulated, and exagge- rated facts and invented fictions. A sullen distrust per- vaded London except where in the coffee-houses and ale- liouses patronized by noted Jacobites, significant smiles were exchanged, peculiar signs passed, and particular modes of turning the tankard or emptying the bottle implied a furtive toast to James or a secret Avisli for the confusion of, as the Whig party was vulgarly termed, the Hanover rats. While the political atmosphere was thus charged with latent electricity which preluded, ere long, a fierce ex- plosion ; a despatch from Stair brought to Westminster the news of the death of Louis the Fourteenth. The King had expired on the 1st of August. It might be thought that this intelligence w^ould at once cast a damp on the Jacobites in Eng:land. The late sovereim of France had been personally interested in the Stuart fortunes ; he had made a promise to James the Second to sustain his son's right to the English crown, and the pride of his character and chivalry of his nature alike impelled him to carry out his word. A new ruler would c 2 388 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. be moved by no such motives. He might in all probability regard with secret dislike a family which must always be a firebrand between France and the most formidable of her enemies at a time when peace was peculiarly necessary to recruit her impoverished resources and disordered finance. This was clearly per- ceived by the Jacobites on the continent, and the death of Louis was by them lamented with all the sorrow which men so acutely feel when the death of another is detrimental to their own interests. In England and Scotland, however, the death of Louis was asserted by all the noisy advocates of insurrection as really a favour- able event. It was urged that a young and active prince would take more energetic steps and bolder measures to aid the Chevalier than could have been expected from an old and worn-out man sinking into the grave with a broken heart. The Whigs judged more rightly. They had for years seen Louis the open supporter or secret abettor of the line they had expelled with so much labour, and held aloof with so much pain. Their un- easiness began to calm down ; and passing from the confines of despair to overweening confidence, they began to smile at the precautions of Townshend and the military preparations of Stanhope. Though their satisfaction was more exaggerated than w\as warranted by facts, the events proved that they were more just in their calculations and opinions than the party which should have weighed carefully every probability in the balance, and adjusted every decision to the utmost nicety. The new head of the French XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 389 state, the Regent Duke of Orleans, showed a coldness towards the Jacobite agents in Paris which could not be mistaken and could not be explained away. No English envoys from the court of the Chevalier were now favoured with the earliest interview, though the antechamber might be crowded with expectant ministers or impatient ambassadors. The Pretender was allowed to feel that he had indeed lost his royal father's royal brother, and, what was worse, allowed to experience the fact without much prospect of consolation. The new Eegent did not at once lay an embargo on the vessels being fitted out at Havre, which all, except those who were wilfully blind, saw were intended for an invasion of England ; nor did he prevent their being further laden with warlike stores, but he looked with no favour on the plan, and when besought to encourage its execution, preserved a stern and unpropitious silence. While nego- tiations were in progress between the Jacobite agents and this prince, a more powerful argument than a change in the policy of France was brought to bear against the furtherance of the invasion. Stair had care- fully followed the designs of the Jacobites step by step, and had as carefully and as scrupulously kept the Government in London informed of every preparation and every arrangement. Suddenly Sir George Byng appeared with an English squadron in the roadstead of Havre, and at the same time Stair presented to the French Ministry a list of the vessels which he truly asserted to be intended for the assistance of the Pretender, and demanded that they should be delivered up to Byng by 390 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [ciiAr. XVI.] INrJSIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 391 the Government. Some diplomacy ensued, but in the end — the Regent being pressed, although he did not comply with the English demands — caused the vessels to be cleared of their cargoes, and the arms and ammunition that had been placed on board to be carried away and stored in the French arsenals. Thus the hope of any material aid to the Chevalier from France was effectually blighted, and the Jacobites in our island could expect little help from the continent in any more material shape than the presence of the Chevalier in person among them. ]\Iarshal Berwick says that, on this expedition bc- cominor abortive, James sent orders to Lord Mar to at once raise the Highlands, and carry through the rebellion which had been arranged there. The Marshal had un- doubted sources of information, and is always thoroughly veracious, but in this instance he appears to have been mistaken, for it is much more in accordance with com- mon sense that as other authorities declare James coun- selled his partisans in Scotland to delay till a rising could be simultaneously begun in both Scotland and England. A consideration of the dates of the various events irrefragably too contradicts Berwick's statement. The death of Louis occurred on the 1st of August ; and the following day, before intelligence could have been received or the demise possibly known in England, Mar quitted London for Scotland. It was not till some time after the death of Louis that Byng's pennants appeared off Havre or the English ambassador handed in his memorandum at Paris. The Earl of Mar was a man of great political activity, o-ood judgment, and pleasing address, but he was totally destitute of knowledge of war, and depended entirely for his military advice on Captain Clephame, whose counsel he blindly followed. The latter had served with some distinction in continental campaigns ; he seems to have been an honest and painstaking regimental officer, but was totally unskilled in the higher duties of his profession. He could no doubt excellently command a company, but he was helpless to plan the strategy of a campaign ; he might be fully equal to lead a storming party, but was quite incompetent to direct the tactics of a battle. With such a leader and such an adviser it is not to be wondered at that the Jacobite arms fared badly. Mar was at home in cabals, but helpless in a camp ; Clephame was incom- parable in a barrack-yard, but worthless in the office of a chief of the staff. Mar was deformed in person, and so shifty in politics, that his enemies said of him that he was as crooked in his mind as in his body ; and his bearing at the outbreak of the rebellion does not belie the epigram. On the 1st of August he attended the levee held by King George ; on the 2nd he started from London to raise the clansmen in the cause of King James. In company with Major-General Hamilton and Colonel Hay he sailed in a small collier, and it is even said that he worked his passage in order the better to conceal his rank. The collier was bound to Newcastle ; here they changed vessels and sailed onwards in another to the coast of Fife, where they landed, and then tra- velled from the house of one friend to that of anothei*. t ! -i ■ i 392 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. till they reached the Earl's home at Braemar, among the mountains of Aberdeen. While he was making this journey, Mar sent invitations to the principal Jacobite noblemen and chieftains, begging them to be present at a great hunting match on the 27th of August, which was well understood, as it was intended to be a cloak for a great political council which should arrange the means for a general rising. On the 27th of August accordingly the Chief of Glengarry, the Earl of Southesk, the Marquises of TuUi- bardine and Huntley, eldest sons of the Dukes of Athole and Huntley, and many other noblemen and gentlemen met. After the hunting of the red deer was concluded, all the persons of note were bidden by Mar to an enter- tainment, where he addressed them on the important subject of the meeting. He told them that though he had been instrumental in forwarding the union of the two countries, now his eyes were opened, and he would therefore do what lay in his power to make his country- men again a free people, and restore their ancient liberties, which, by the cursed Union, were delivered up into the hands of the English. The new courtiers and the Hanoverian King were prepared to enslave them further, and many were now resolved to defend their liberties, and establish on the throne of the realm the Chevalier of St. George, who had the only undoubted right to the Crown. He added that thousands were in league with him to rise and depose King George and establish the Chevalier ; that the Regent of France was being engaged to aid and assist with men and money, and XVI.] INFASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 393 that the French would ^not fail to land in the West of England with a good force under the command of the Duke of Berwick. At first, those who were present were not inclined to act on Mar's assurance, as he had been Secretary of State to Queen Anne, and they were not convinced of his sincerity ; but when he produced a portrait of the ^Chevalier, and repeatedly kissed it with tears in his eyes, those assembled agreed to return to their estates, call out their men and bring them together, first taking an oath to be faithful to each other and to Kino- James. But it was not with unalloyed confidence that the chieftains issued the fiery cross. The most discerning felt that the death of Louis the Fourteenth was a most serious blow to any vigorous assistance from France, and without such aid they could not but per- ceive what small probabilities of victory were to be bought by the hazard of their lives and fortunes. Still they could not fail in the summons of the Chevalier, and though with misgiving called their vassals together. The clansmen recked little of the consequences ; they were always prepared to follow their leaders to war, and they trusted that at the worst they would be able to secure some booty in the Lowlands and bear it back to their huts, which their hills and marshes rendered inaccessible to the pursuer or avenger. On the 9th of September, Mar set up the standard of the Chevalier at the small market town of Kirk- michael, in the district of Braemar, and solemnly pro- claimed James, King of Scotland, England, and France. The standard, on its erection, was consecrated with 394 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. prayer, but the Higlilanders, ever observant of omens, saw with a shudder that as the staff' was phanted in the ground the gilt globe was shaken from its summit and fell to the earth. At this time the Earl had with him only sixty men, but his forces rapidly increased, and when he reached Dunkeld he had two thousand warriors under his command. Mr. John Hay, brother of the Earl of Kinnoul, seized Perth on the 16th of September, with a party of two hundred horse, before the Earl of Eothes, who at the same time was moving with five hundred men to occupy the town for the Government, arrived. Eothes retired without a blow, and Mar joining Hay fixed his headquarters at Perth. In the meantime the fiery cross had sped over the hills and straths of the Highlands. Clan after clan had donned the white cockade. The first to rise were the Macintoshes, who were formed into a regiment by the brigadier of that name, and joined Mar at Perth, bringing to his aid five hundred stout warriors. Mar's own vassals were also formed into a regiment, which equally mustered five hundred men ; they alone of the clansmen did not wear the national dress, but were clad in the same manner as continental troops. As the fiery cross flew far and wide the clans rushed to arms. King James was proclaimed by Lord Panmure at Brechin, by Lord Huntley at Gordon, by the Earl Marischal at Aberdeen, and by Mr. Graham, brother of the celebrated Claverhouse, at Dundee. The MacDonalds, the Macleans, and the Camerons, were up in the west, and made an attempt to surprise the garrison of Inverlochy. They succeeded A M 1 « XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STVART DYNASTY. 395 so far as to capture two redoubts at some little distance from Fort William, in one of which were an ofiicer and twenty men, and in the other a sergeant with five ; but the main garrison being on their guard, the mountaineers failed to secure the fort, and marched off" to Argyleshire to impede the rising of the Campbells on the side of the Government. The Highlanders who joined Mar fought on foot, for cavalry he was forced to rely on the inde- pendent gentlemen who came in provided with their own horses. These were formed into a body under the Earl of Linlithgow, to which was confided the guard of the royal standard and the name given of the Royal Squadron. This troop, which at the outset only numbered twenty horsemen, soon increased to several hundreds. The men of Clanranald, Glengarry, Appin, Keppoch, MacGrcgor, Robertson, MacKenning, Glencoe, Glenmoriston, and Chisholm, seized their claymores and targes at the call of the chieftains, and marched to join Mar at Perth. Some of these had firearms, which were however of ancient pattern and obsolete construction ; many had only the same armament as their ancestors had used for generations in mountain warfare, and which had already done duty at Kilsyth or Killiecrankie. In consequence of these risings nearly the whole of the country north of the Tay fell into the power of the insurgents, except where the men of Sutherland, Grant, and Argyle were hurrying into harness on the side of King George. > 1 1 396 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. ATTEMPT IN EDINBURGH. On the same day as the standard of the Stuarts was unfurled at Kirkmichael, the Jacobites in Edinburgh made a daring attempt, which only just missed placing that city and with it probably the ^vhole of the South of Scotland in their possession. On the news that Mar had gathered the northern chieftains in council on the slopes of the Grampians, the magistrates and citizens concerted measures for the defence of their city against any Jacobite attempt. The city guard, which normally numbered one hundred and twenty men, was increased to four hundred files, who were divided into companies of forty each : the walls and ports were repaired, trenches were duor, and the sluice of the North Loch shut to deepen the water. This lake, which has now been drained, lay in the valley between the precipitous rock which is topped by the castle, and the lower hill, where the new town of Edinburgh has since been built. In dry weather a swampy morass, in wet weather a sheet of water of un- fordable depth, which has lately been replaced by elegant gardens, where a beautiful monument to Sir Walter Scott rears its stately spire, the loch guarded the city on its northern face. The embattled rocks of the castle which, towering high above the city, completely commanded the streets, shielded it in the west, and a high stone wall pierced for thoroughfare by ports, as the gates were locally termed, formed a defence against assault on the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE TEE STUART DYNASTY, 397 west and east. Volunteers were enrolled in a regiment that was styled the Associate Band of Volunteers. The gates and the ramparts were repaired. The Provost, the Lord Advocate, and the Lord Justice Clerk had frequent conferences, and measures were taken which it was hoped would suffice to keep down at once any tumult of the rabble within the town or beat off* any cursory attack that might be made from the country. Provisions were stored up, the trained bands mustered, and every night a hundred sentinels were posted on the walls. A design w^as, notwithstanding these precautions, made to seize the castle, which was occupied by Governor Stuart with a garrison of Marshal Shannon's foot, now the Twenty-fifth or Edinburgh regiment. It still contained one hundred thousand pounds of the equivalent money and the bulk of such stores and arms as were at the disposal of the Government. But it w\as not only in Edinburgh that measures were taken to oppose the Highland insurrection. As soon as the chieftains in the north were known to be gathering together, the act for encouraging loyalty in Scotland was passed, which aimed at the destruction of the feudal supe- riority of the heads of the clans. By a clause of this statute, power was given to summon suspected persons to Edinburgh or to confine them in their own houses. The Lord Advocate quickly acted under this provision, but his summonses had little effect, except to elicit civil excuses, and to bring into his hands, instead of leaders of the conspiracy, a collection of medical certificates, which, if exact, Avould not only have thoroughly hin- 398 INVASIONS OF ENGLANB, [ciiAr. dered those who forwarded them from all idea of travel, but would have testified to a general epidemic of sucli complicated diseases among the Jacobite leaders tliat nature alone would have rendered unnecessary any military precautions against them. As perfect faith could not however be placed in these productions, General AVhitham, the Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, was ordered to march to Stirling with all the troops he could muster, form a camp in the park there, secure the bridge and the passage of the Forth, and occupy the castle. Tlio troops at his command were few : for, though there were four reoiments of foot in Scotland on the reduced esta- blishment introduced after the peace, such regiments numbered only two hundred and fifty-seven men, and the three regiments of dragoons had a strength of below two hundred each. At first the camp at Stirling did not contain more than thirteen hundred men ; but the Scots Greys were hurried from England to Edinburgh to rein- force Whitham. From two troops of the Greys and two troops of the Royals, a new dragoon regiment was formed which now exists in the army list as the Seventh Hussars. The Third Dragoons, which at first it was considered necessary to retain at Glasgow, were relieved there l)y the voluntary enrolment of the citizens who, at tlic expense of the town, formed two regiments, each one thousand strong, that were supplemented by one of equal strength levied by Lord Glasgow at his private expense. Two reofiments of foot were marched to Scotland from England, and the infantry regiment of Clayton, now the fourteenth of the line, with Wisfhtman's and Evans' XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE TUE STUART DY NASTY. 399 drao'oons, were called over from Ireland. The Board of Ordnance was directed to prepare a field train of artillery for service in North Britain, and Albert Borgard, the first colonel of the royal regiment of artillery, was desio'nated to conduct it into action. The people in some other parts took up arms in the cause of the Government, notably at Dumfries, where volunteers were enrolled; but in the eastern counties, even in the Lowlands, hardly a man could be found to engage himself for the service of King George, and the people of Teviotdale and Ettrick turned heedless ears to the entreaties and expostulations of even their most popular pastors, though loudly raised in the King's cause. At the same time half-pay officers were distributed through the country to encourage and help in the exercise of the train bands and the militia, but these levies could not be expected to be of any use in the open field. The utmost that could be hoped from them was that they might shield their towns or parishes from raids for contributions or requisitions, and perhaps hold a pass for a few hours till the regulars might come up. The reinforcements arrived only slowly ; and at the begin- ning, or even in the middle of September, the Royalist army at Stirling was reduced to great hazard if it had been in the presence of a Montrose or a Dundee. Either of them would have sprung clown from the hills at the head of the mustered clansmen, dealt the King's tiny force a sledixe-hammer blow, and driven Whitham in wild confusion, and not without a moment's pause in the pursuit across the border. 400 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Before sucli a catastrophe could overtake that general he was superseded in his command by the Duke of Argyle, whose knowledge of the country, and power, as chief of the formidable clan Campbell, were extremely valuable. At the same time the Earl of Sutherland was sent to the extreme north to raise his retainers and any of the neighbouring clans he could persuade to take arms on the side of the Government. The scheme against Edinburgh Castle was headed by Lord John Drummond, a Roman Catholic, who, on its success, was to be appointed governor for King James. His companions were all gentlemen, about ninety in number, and chiefly Highlanders. Among them was a Captain Maclean who had lost a leg at Killiecrankie, and an Ensign Arthur, who two years before had served with the Scots Fusilier Guards previous to the removal of that regiment on the Union to London from the Castle. All these were promised commissions under James the Eighth, and one hundred guineas each if they succeeded. Ensign Arthur had gained over a sergeant of the garrison named Ainslie, to whom he promised a lieutenancy, a corporal who was to have an ensigncy, and two privates who were to receive one eight, and the other four, guineas. The attempt was to be made on the night that the troops marched from St. Anne's Yards to fight the Earl of Mar ; and it was arranged that as soon as the place was captured, three rounds of cannon would be fired from the ramparts to acquaint the lairds of Fife who were to muster at the old Castle of Halyards, and cause XVI.] INFA^IONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 401 beacons to be lighted on the lofty Lomonds, which were to be repeated from hill-top to hill-top till they apprised Mar that the Castle was held for the Chevalier. He wr.s then at once to push his march for Edinburgh. The evening of the 9th of September, at nine o'clock, was the hour fixed for the attempt, as then one of the corrupted privates would be sentinel at the sally-port. The conspirators resolved to scale the rocks on the north side of the Castle hill where it was less precipitous, and wliere the path near the sally-port ran down to the road that led to the Meuse. A ladder was prepared which would allow several men to climb abreast, furnished with grapnels at its top to admit of its being fixed to the coping of the wall. This was to be drawn up and secured by the sentinel, and by its aid the party was to pour over the w^all, rush into the guard-house, disarm the soldiers, and fire the three rounds agreed upon to tell Mar of his advantage. The night of the 9 th of September w^as as dark and stormy as the conspirators could have wished ; all the troops except the detachment of Shannon's foot in the Castle, and the town guard had marched to join the camp at the park of Stirling, where Argyle had drawn all his available force to hold the passage of the Forth and secure Stirling Bridge. Ensign Arthur, in the exultation he felt at the certainty of success, confided his secret to his brother, a physician in the city, who volunteered to accompany him, but was nervous and uneasy before setting out, and could not conceal his anxiety from his wife. When pressed by her as to the cause, he had not the firmness D D |i' 402 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. to keep his counsel, but unwarily disclosed to her tlie whole design. A secret in charge of a lady soon ceases to be so, and here there was no exception to the rule. Animated either by dread for her husband's safety, or hatred of the Jacobite cause, or, as has been suggested, by a passion for one of the officers in the fortress, Mrs. Arthur sent an anonymous letter to the Lord Justice Clerk, Sir Adam Cockburn of Ormistoun, informing him of the intended assault. He immediately sent an express with the same information to Colonel Stuart ; but it was ten o'clock on the night of the 9 th before the Justice Clerk received Mrs. Arthur's letter, and eleven had struck before his message was brought into the Castle. Had the conspirators punctually kept their tryst, they would have thus been able to carry out their enterprise before its disclosure had reached the Governor ; but they whiled away so much time in a tavern drinking bumpers to the health of King James, the confusion of his enemies, and the success of their enterprise, that by the time they reached the foot of the wall, the clock of St. Giles' had struck twelve, and the plot was discovered. The Lieutenant-Governor thought little of the importance of the Justice Clerk's express, or being secretly attached to the Stuart cause, wished Drummond success. He merely mentioned the matter to the officer on duty, and retired to bed ; but the latter thought it his duty to patrol around the walls on the inside all night. When they finished their carousals, the conspirators started for the Castle hill, and about midnight the first XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 403 party of forty men, led by Drummond, Arthur, and Maclean who, notwithstanding a wooden leg, clambered up the rocks as actively as his companions, arrived at i\\^ foot of the postern wall unseen by any except their friend the sentinel on the rampart. There was some difficulty with the ladder, for all the lengths had not been brought, but eventually it was hauled up and secured by the sentry to the copestone of the wall. The assailants began to climb, when suddenly Lindesay, the lieutenant of the day, going his rounds with a patrol of the guard came upon the sentinel. He observed the whole, and ordered the sentry to fire to alarm the garrison. The ropes were cut, and the broad ladder with those upon it fell heavily on the rocks below, while the rounds poured a volley into them. The discomfited Jacobites fied or tumbled down the rocks and im- mediately dispersed ; but the city gates being shut, and the guards on the alert, they could not get back into the town. Most dispersed into the country, four were captured by a patrol of the city guard, which the Lord Justice Clerk had caused to be sent out through the west port, which also secured the ladder as a trophy. Among these was the veteran Maclean who was taken with a firelock in his hand at the west port. Leslie, who had been page to the Duchess of Gordon, was taken near the sally-port, and Bos well and Ramsay described by their capturer as two *' writer lads," being writers to the Signet, were also made prisoners. The sentinel, who had been seized by the patrol, was fettered hand and foot and thrown into the blackhole, D D 2 404 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. where lie confessed the whole affair. Sergeant Ainshe by sentence of court-martial was hanged over the postern wall, and the corporal and privates were severely flogged. Colonel Stuart was displaced for negligence by the Duke of Argyle, and Brigadier Grant appointed as Commandant in his place. Thus, as Lord Mahon remarks, through the combined influence of wine and woman was this daring scheme defeated. The news of an actual outbreak in Scotland made the English Government redouble its vigilance. By the unanimous consent of the House of Commons, six of its members were arrested and brought up to London, where they were confined in places of safety. Of these the most notable was Sir John Packington, who was brought from his seat in Worcestershire, where he was prepared to head a rising of the population that dwells around the Malvern hills. The titular Duke of Perth and the Lords Lansdowne and Duplin were committed to the Tower by virtue of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and Colonel St. Paul of the Guards, who was discovered enlisting men for the Pretender, was placed in confine- ment. General Wade who commanded in the western district took energetic measures to anticipate and suppress any rising within the sphere of his command. In accordance with his orders, many suspected persons were secured in the western counties and their houses were seized. The Fourth regiment of Horse, now known as the Third Dragoon Guards, with Rich's Dragoons occupied Bath ; the Queen's regiment of Horse, now the First Dragoon XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 405 Guards, marched into Bristol. Li both places the houses of suspected Jacobite partisans were ransacked, many arms were found, and many persons who were believed to have been privy to their purchase and concealment were arrested. An intention to seize Plymouth was also foiled by the apprehension of several suspected persons. Oxford was occupied by a detachment of Dragoons under Colonel Pepper. The half-pay officers escaped not without difficulty, and the heads of houses, thoroughly frightened by the actual sight of the soldiery, promised their future good behaviour, and abandoned the idea of the rising which they had planned to be combined with that at Bristol. A severe blow was struck at the insurrection in the west by the attempted capture of Sir William Wyndham, the late Secretary of State for War, who was to have have been one of the principal leaders of the revolt. A messenger and an officer of the Guards surprised him in bed. He escaped by a side door under the pretext of taking leave of his wife who was with child, but finding his correspondence intercepted, thought it prudent to surrender himself in London. The garrison of Plymouth was increased, the roads and lanes of Devonshire were constantly patrolled. Mounted pickets were posted at every cross road, and sentries paced in the high street of every important town. By this rapidity of action, the Jacobites of the west who were not arrested were dispersed. No rising was possible, when the collection of even two or three men would immediately draw upon them a squad of 406 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. dragoons or even a volley of musquctry. The arms that were not seized were hastily hidden in haystacks or thrown into ponds, the commissions from the Pretender w^ere torn to pieces or cast into the fire, and the western Jacobites were perforce obliged to remain silent if not contented. These measures entirely checked the in- surrection in the wxst, and when Ormond arrived off' Plymouth, instead of finding the ramparts of that fortress, the cities of Bristol and Bath in the hands of his associates, and the whole of the west, from the gates of Oxford to the Land's End, in arms for the Chevalier, he w^as refused even a night's lodging in the district which he fancied was permanently secured for his kino-. In the north many of the gentlemen of Cumberland and Westmoreland were thrust into Carlisle Castle. Warrants were freely issued against others, and messengers were sent from London to secure and bring up to town Mr. Forster, the member of parliament for Northumber- land, and the Earl of Derwentwater, a most influential proprietor and noted adherent of the Catholic succession in Westmoreland. Whether the insurrection in the Hiojhlands com- menced by orders or without orders from Commercy, w^hen it was once on foot the only prospect of success for the Pretender was to support it as vigorously as possible. The Duke of Ormond set out from Paris to make a descent on Devonshire from the coast of Nor- mandy, and the Chevalier held himself in readiness to start from Lorraine. Although it was no longer possible, on account of XVI.] IISFJSIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNAS'IT. 407 the action of the French Government, for him to carry over with him as many men as would prevent his being taken by the constables of the first county in which he might land, James was extremely eager to embark and share the fortunes of his friends in the island. He had several times determined on a day for the commencement of his journey from Lorraine, but as often deferred his setting out in deference to the earnest entreaties which he received from Enoland, and which continually urged delay. It was only on the 28th of October that he was permitted to set out, when he travelled in disguise to the harbour of St. Malo. In the meanwhile the Duke of Ormond, taking with him about twenty officers and as many troopers of Nugent's regiment, had sailed from the coast of Nor- mandy with the intention of landing in Devonshire. He had settled on this course with his partisans in that county, and expected to find them up in arms on his arrival. But his plans had been betrayed to the Government by one of his intimate agents, and measures had been taken to nip the insurrection in the bud. His leading friends had been arrested, the remainder had fled ; strong bodies of infantry as well as cavalry had been pushed into the western counties, and were replaced in the neighbourhood of London and Windsor by the regiments ordered home from Flanders and the Channel Islands. When the Duke reached the place appointed for the rendezvous, he found no tokens of a rising, no answer to his signals, and not a single 40S h\FJSlONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. armed man was waiting to meet him ; and he failed to obtain a lodging for even one night in the town of Plymouth. To remain alone under such circumstances would have been to court instant capture ; he could only put his ship about and steer back to St. Malo. Here he found the Chevalier, who had engaged a few vessels, and was shipping off some supplies to Scotland. Ormond and his prince had several con- ferences : it was now impossible to stay the rising of the clans in the north ; to abandon them would be to leave a number of brave and loyal men helpless victims to the rage of the Government ; to secure success with- out a rising in England to support that in Scotland would be extremely doubtful. Ormond resolved to make a desperate venture, and again set sail, intending to throw himself on the Devonshire shore and trust to a happy fortune and the chapter of accidents. But before he could make the opposite land a violent storm sprang up, and again forced him back to France, just before several English men-of-war appeared in the offing and established a strict blockade over the port of St. Malo. The Chevalier was now unable to sail from that harbour, but he was determined at all risks to join his friends in Scotland, since the project of in- vading southern England was completely baffled. It was extremely dangerous for him to travel through France, as it was probable that Stair would demand his detention, and that the French Ministry would not dare to refuse it. But he sent word to Dunkirk to have a ship prepared for him, and succeeded in reaching XVI.] INVASIOXS TO ELSTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 409 that place on the 8 th of December, after a painful journey by side roads, rendered extremely difficult through frost and snow. He embarked on board of a small vessel which carried only eight guns, and with no escort but six gentlemen, who like himself were disguised as French naval officers. The possession of Perth gave Mar the command of the passage of the Tay, and of the whole of Fife — where there were coal mines which supplied his camp with fuel — and of the sea coast of that county, which had convenient harbours for communication with the continent. Here he was joined by two thousand men of TuUibardine and Breadalbane, and early in October had under his command fully eight thousand warriors. At Perth the Pretender was proclaimed with much solemnity. Any arms and ammunition that could be found in the neighbourhood were brought into the camp, and some cannon were brought from Dundee and Dunnottar Castle. A vessel had been freighted with arms from Edinburgh Castle, which were shipped at Leith to be conveyed to the Earl of Sutherland in the extreme north ; but the master of the ship, instead of making a direct course, called in at Burnt Island to see his wife and family, and thus by female influence his cargo was lost to his employers. For Mar, having noticed this fact, under cover of a false rumour of attack against the front of Argyle's outposts and piquets, on the evening of the 2nd of October sent off four hundred horse with as many foot mounted behind them, who arrived at Burnt Island about midnight, and 410 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 411 having pressed all the boats in the river, boarded the vessel and seized the arms. They also found about one hundred stand of arms in that town, and twenty or thirty in another, with all of which they returned unmolested to Perth. In the meantime Argyle lay in his camp at the park of Stirling, content with the maintenance of the passage of the Forth. The Fourteenth regiment from Ireland reinforced him early in October, but still his army did not amount to four thousand, while Mar's increased to close upon twelve thousand. In cavalry Argyle w^as his superior, and his grey horse and Seventh Dragoons made occasional raids and dispersed small meetings of insurgents, or cut off stragglers. At the same time as Stirling Bridge was secured, the half-pay officers of the army were quartered over the country to encourage the militia, and orders were given to all officers in the seaport towns to keep an eye on any ships arriving, lest they should land the Pretender or arms or ammunition. Notwithstanding these precau- tions, the militia seem to have put in but a small ap- pearance, and two vessels from France succeeded in making Arbroath. Argyle was not only inferior in numbers but almost destitute of artillery : so dilatory were the proceedings of the Board of Ordnance, that though a field train was ordered on the news of the disquiet in Scotland, it was not ready to leave the Thames till December, and did not arrive in the Forth till February. Then the ordnance was • never disem- barked, but the gunners were sent to serve fifteen indifferent pieces of cannon which had been collected, and were moved to Stirling from Edinburgh early in November. Under these circumstances, and the well-known diffi- culty of hol^ling the Higlilanders long together, the clear course for Mar to pursue was to strike boldly southwards wdth his wdiole united forces, carry the passage of the Forth at all cost, and seize Edinburgh. Every day lost would increase Argyle's army : every day gained risked a diminution of his own. But, instead of striking one decided blow, he attempted a series of complicated combinations, for the success of which were absolutely necessary an accurate punctuality which can be rarely commanded among irregular troops. He himself was to advance against the Forth in the centre, while General Gordon wdth about two thousand five hundred men of the western clans was to reduce Inve- rary and occupy Glasgow. At the same time Mackin- tosh, with an equal number, was to throw himself across the Firth of Forth, and raise the eastern lowlands, and threaten Argyle in rear. Such a combination, with well-drilled troops, would have been exceedingly feasible, for each detachment of the northern army would have possessed a numerical equality to the whole force of the enemy; but with undisciplined troops it was exceed- ingly hazardous. In the north of England, however, the rising was not so easily quelled. Here the spirit of Catholicism lin- gered longer than in any other part of the country, and it was fanned in August by the chief directors of the 1 412 INVASIOXS OF ENGLAND. [chap. I plan, who made London the centre of their operations. JMr. Forster, the member for Northumberland, and Lord Derwentwater, were implicated in this correspondence, and warrants were issued for the arrest of both. Hearing of this, and also that messengers were actually near at hand to apprehend them, and aware that in a few days they would be either imprisoned or hurried up to London, when they would be separately examined, and ignorant of what each other said, they boldly re- solved, after consultation with their friends, at once to appear in arms. Pursuant to this resolution, they met on the 6th October at a place called Greenrig ; and that evening, with sixty horsemen, some mounted on Lord Derwentwater's coach-horses, and all on good useful animals, occupied the market-town of Rothbury. Next day they seized Warkworth, another market-town upon the sea coast, and here they spent Sunday. They ordered the clergyman of the parish to pray for the Pretender as King, and to omit the name of King George from the Litany; and on his declining to do so, their own chaplain occupied the church, read prayers, and preached a sermon full of exhortations to be hearty and zealous in the cause, while the rector of the parish went off to Newcastle to acquaint the authorities with what had happened. Here Mr. Forster was chosen as general, not on account of any supposed deep military knowledge, nor by reason of superior station, but because he was the only Protestant of any note among the party, and it was deemed imprudent to excite popular animosity by appearing with a Papist leader. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 413 The Pretender was proclaimed as King of Great Britain by Forster, in disguise, by the sound of trumpet, and with all the formality that the circumstances and place would admit. On Monday the 10th of October they marched to Morpeth, and on their way were joined by seventy Scots horse or rather gentlemen from the Borders, and when they entered the latter town numbered three hundred horsemen. Many of the country people were anxious to enlist, but there were no arms wherewith to equip them, and Forster postponed levying infantry until he could, as was hoped, surprise Newcastle, and seize the stores in that place. The insurgents hoped that this town would open its gates to them, but finding a delay in its doing so, they drew off without any special design to Hexham. Had they pushed on rapidly they might probably have gained the place, for there were there many friendly to their cause ; but, while they wandered about, the magistrates called the militia and train-bands into the city, whither flocked also, mounted, a con- siderable number of country gentlemen, so that the town was filled with horses and men. At the same time from the townspeople themselves seven hundred volunteers were armed, and the keelmen (lightermen), who were mostly Dissenters, offered a body of seven hundred men, to be always ready at half an hour's warning. The old and strong stone wall round the place was rapidly repaired, though there was no cannon to defend it, and the gates walled up with stones and lime, so that they could not be forced without the 414 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. employment of artillery. In the midst of this hurry a battalion of foot and part of a regiment which had been ordered from Yorkshire arrived by forced marches ; and Lieutenant-General Carpenter, who had left London on the 15th of October with Hotham's regiment of foot, Cobham's, Moleworth's, and ChurchilFs dragoons, arrived at Newcastle on the 18th, with orders from Government to pursue the rebels, and began to prepare to attack them at Hexham. Here Forster remained three days, and seized all the arms and horses he could lay hands on, especially such as belonged to those who were well affected to the Government. He proclaimed the Pretender as Kins: James III., and then started for Rothbury, on account of another insurrection which had sprung up in the south-west of Scotland. Lord Ken- mure, the only nobleman in that part, had been solicited by Lord Mar to take up arms for the Pretender, and to command such forces as should join him on the south of the Forth. On the 12th of Octol>er he unfurled a blue standard, with the Scottish arms in gold, and with the motto "No Union!" and **For our wronged King and oppressed Country ! " at Moffat in Annandale. Next day he attempted to seize Dumfries, but was hindered by the Marquis of Annandale, who threw himself into the town with his servants, and held it for King George. Foiled in this direction, Kenmure drew off to Eccle- fechan, and on the 14th, on a common near that })lace, formed his force, which was near upon two hundred horsemen, into a regiment divided into two squadrons, one commanded by Earl Winton, the other by the Earl XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 415 of Carnwater. Hence they marched towards Hawick, and on approaching that place received a despatch from Mr. Forster asking them to meet him at Rothbury. On this they moved by way of Jedburgh across the Border, and were joined there on the 19th by the Northumbrian party, who, hearing that Carpenter was about to attack them, had retired from Hexham. After their junction, learning that Brigadier Macintosh, from Mar's army, had crossed the Firth, and was already arrived at Dunse on his way to reinforce them, they started for Kelso, crossed the Tweed, and entered that town. Here they were almost immediately, on the 22nd of October, joined by the Highlanders, who came in from the Scots side with their bagpipes playing, led by old Macintosh : but these made a very indifferent figure, for the rain and long marches had extremely fatigued them, though the old Brigadier, who marched at their head, looked well. The movement which brought ^lacintosh to Kelso had been planned before Mar was aware of the existence of the rising in Northumberland. It was part of the scheme by which, instead of marching l)oldly against Argyle, he had hoped to envelop his army on the right, while the western clans turned his position on the left. In this direction he sent Brigadier Macintosh to cross the Firth of Forth, land on the Lothian side, and there join the friends who were expected to rise about Had- dmgton. The troops selected for this service were the regiments formed from the men of Macintosh, Strath- more. Logic Drummond, Lord Nairn, Earl of Mar, 416 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAI\ and Lord Charles Murray, and numbered about two thousand five hundred men, under the command of Brioradier Macintosh, Laird of Borlum. It was of itself a bold and daring scheme to attempt to cross an arm of the sea, about seventeen miles wide, in open boats, and the difficulty was increased by the presence of three English men-of-war in the channel. The magistrates of Edinburgh, having received notice of the design from Argyle, had all the boats on the south side of the Forth brought to Leith, and placed under guard of the citadel : three custom-house smacks were also ordered to burn or bring in all boats from the northern side ; but as the insurgents held the com- mand of the whole coast line from Cromarty to the mouth of the Forth, they were able to collect transport sufficient for their purpose. While Macintosh was marchino; towards the extreme mouth of the channel, another detachment moved down upon Burnt Island, and made a noisy demonstration of embarking at that point, as if with a view of crossing above the road of LeitL The men-of-war immediately weighed anchor, and with a favourable tide stood up channel to inter- cept them. In the meantime the Brigadier silently drew his men down to the shore on the night of the nth, where boats had been made ready at Crail Pitteu- veen and Elie, some twenty miles further to the east. The Highlanders were embarked, and the flotilla put to sea, keeping clear of the English vessels, the lights of which told the steersmen how to shape their course in order to avoid falling in with them. At daybreak XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE: THE STUART DFNASTK 417 the English seamen perceived the fleet of boats already half way across the Firth, and immediately gave chase ; but the wind and tide were against them, and the ships could not come within cannon-shot. The English boats were got oat and sent in pursuit, but the main body reached Aberlady and North Berwick in safety. But all were not so fortunate. One boat was captured with forty men in it, who were taken as prisoners to Leith, and confined in the gaol there. Lord Strathmore and several more were cut off from the southern shore and forced into the islet of May, whence they afterwards returned through Fifeshire and rejoined Mar; but of the two thousand five hundred men embarked, about sixteen hundred safely gained the southern shore, and occupied Haddington. Hence they marched upon Edinl)urgh, where it was expected that the rabble would rise and join them. The city was in dismay at finding the formidable Highlanders close upon its gates ; but by the precaution of the magistrates order was maintained within the city, the citizens took up arms and organized themselves, and an express was sent off to the Duke of Argyle to bring aid to resist the foeman without the walls. As soon as the Duke received this intelligence, he set out from Stirling with four hundred cavalry, partly of Lord Patmore's Scots Greys regiment, and partly of Lieutenant-General Carpenter s and Lord Stairs dra- goons, with two hundred foot of Shannon's and Lupin's regiment, and the Scots Fusiliers, mounted on country horses, he arrived at Edinburgh on the 13th. Mean- E E 418 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. while Macintosh on his advance against the city, when within a mile of Holyrood at a place called Jock's Lodge, heard of the approach of Argyle, and, finding that no party was for him in the city, resolved to turn to his right and attack Leith. So he turned to the right, entered the town without resistance, and released from gaol the forty men captured on the passage across the Firth. Here the Highlanders were entire masters of the place, and that they might not be fallen upon to disadvantage, they marched over the bridge into an old demolished fort built there bv Oliver Cromwell, and called the Citadel. Here they began to fortify themselves, and seized from the ships in harbour, eight pieces of cannon with powder and ball, and a quantity of brandy, meat, meal, and other provisions, hastily barricaded the gateways with wood, and were ready next day to stand a siege. The next morning Argyle marched down from Edinburgh with the troops he had brought with him, to which he joined four hundred militia, and one hundred and twenty of the town-guard of Edinburgh and the Associate Volunteers. With this force of about eleven hundred men he appeared in front of Leith, and sum- moned the citadel, and threatened to use force if the garrison did not yield. The Highlanders haughtily refused to surrender, and Argyle's horse could be of little use to him in an attack on a work. The volunteers were at first particularly eager that the assault should he given, but on being informed that the post of honour and the leading belonged of right to them as volunteers, they became rapidly convinced of the absolute necessity of XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 419 artillery and of the advisability of deferring the attack till the following day. He also, after a minute survey, found that the garrison was too well entrenched to allow the place to be taken without the aid of artillery, so for that day he marched back his troops to Edinburgh, intending to bring down some guns the next day and seriously assault the citadel. But while Argyle was marching back his troops to the port of the Leith wynd, and the volunteers were tramping home with not altogether pleasant thoughts of the Hifdilanders and the morrow, Macintosh was forming a resolve which prevented the necessity of a display of valour on the part of the Associates, or an employment of artillery against the citadel of Leith. Finding that the return of Argyle had baffled his hope of surprising Edinburgh, that no party rose within the city to aid him, and that he might very possibly, instead of capturing the castle, be forced himself to lay down his arms, he determined to act in accordance with his original idea and march into the eastern shires. Before setting out it was extremely important that Mar should be made acquainted with his movements, but it was equally difficult to find any means of communication, for on the land side the country people were not favourable, and the English men-of-war lying in the Firth seemed to bar the passage of any courier towards Fife. A stratagem was employed which proved successful. A boat was sent off from the shore, and as it pulled away from the fort, some shots were sent after it. The English seamen concluded that thus it must be manned by some hostile E E 2 420 INTASJONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. to the Highlanders, no pursuit was made, and the letter it carried was brought safely to Mar and told him of his lieutenant's operations. The same Saturday evening as Argyle returned to Edinburgh and was preparing an attempt at an artillery train, at nightfall the Highlanders silently stole out of Leith citadel. They marched along the sands, so as to pass the more easily unobserved, and crossing the mouth of the river where the water even at the low tide rose as high as their knees, made away towards the east. Little had been gained by the occupation of Leith, for on account of having no transport they could not carry with them the stores which they had found in the private vessels or in the public custom-house. Nor were even the forty men who had been released from gaol gained as an increment to their army, for on marcliing out, forty had to be left behind, who had, with patriotic zeal, made a brave endeavour that the brandy captured in the cellars of the excise should never revert to the Sassenach government, but succumbed before they had thoroughly accomplished the self-imposed task of drinking it all. The night was dark and dreary, constant alarms disturbed the column, every loud splash of the sea was imagined to be the dash of the oars of the English cutters, every horse moving near or neighing in the distance was thought to belong to the grey dragoons or the mounted militia. The Highlanders, with an almost superstitious dread of cavalry, and nervous through the circumstances, mistook their own mounted advanced guard for enemies, and fired upon them. As they passed into the town of Musselburgh, some shots were fired out XVI.] INFASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 421 of the houses which killed one of Mar's regiment, and made his comrades still more excitable and irritable. A horseman came near who was one of their own side and was challenged in Gaelic, — not understanding the ques- tion nor having a sufficient command of the dialect to respond, he was immediately shot dead. After a march of seven hours, about two on the morning of Sunday the 16th, they arrived weary and exhausted at Seaton Palace, the abode of Lord Wintoun, which they found had been already ransacked by the Lothian Militia. The furniture had been broken, the walls much injured, and the fittings of the chapel torn down and smashed to pieces, and the bodies torn from the graves, not because Lord Wintoun was likely to become a rebel, but because he had committed the otoss outra^je of being: born of a Roman Catholic line. The Palace of Seaton was an ancient castle with a large garden surrounded by a high stone wall. Within it the Brigadier took up a position, and made such hasty intrenchments as he could to guard against pursuit. Argyle, on hearing of the retreat of Macintosh, deter- mined to attack him at Seaton ; but during the night express after express galloped into Edinburgh from General Whitham, who had been left in command at Stirling, saying that he was threatened by an advance of the whole Highlands, and must be reinforced or over- whelmed. But if Whitham was fearful of being attacked, Mar seems to have been quite as nervous about attacking. He had been rejoined by Lord Strathmore and the men of Macintoshes division that had been 422 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP stranded on the Isle of May, and prevented from getting across the Forth by the English vessels. From these he learned that the Brigadier himself with his remaining troops had safely gained the southern shore ; and to distract the attention of Argyle from this movement, he made an advance from Perth to Dumblane, as if with the view of crossing the Forth. This movement promised success, and if it had been vigorously carried out, might have gained the whole of Scotland. If Argyle con- centrated his forces to resist Mar, Macintosh would be unopposed, and could either attack Edinburgh or march without encountering a single patrol of dragoons from North Berwick to the borders, raising the country as he passed along. If, on the other hand, the Duke concen- trated against Macintosh, the passage of the Forth was left free, and nothing could hinder Mar from pushing boldly through Clydesdale to Carlisle. But a strategical combination of such a nature is pre- eminently dependent on accuracy of information and communication, and Argyle possessed the enormous advantage of holding the interior position between Mar and his lieutenant, and thus preventing a free corre- spondence. Had Macintosh been aware of Mar's advance, he should not have moved from Leith, and Argyle could hardly have returned to Stirling while the Highlanders lay in their lair close at hand ready to spring upon the capital. The retreat of Macintosh permitted the Duke to hurry back to guard the Forth, although he had intended to attack Seaton on Sunday, in consequence of Whitham's pressing demands. Leavmg XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 423 two hundred dragoons in Edinburgh with the remainder of his troops, he hastened to Stirling, and arrived in time only to find that Mar, with four thousand men, supported by four thousand more, was at Dumblane, within six miles of Stirling Castle, and that Whitham had already been forced to blow up the bridge over the Forth at Donne, as well as that close to his own camp. That Monday afternoon it was expected by everyone that next morning at daybreak the tartans would be wading, and the slogan resounding on the northern bank of the Forth, and that a bloody struggle for the passage of the river would take place between the claymores of the clansmen, and the bayonets of the red- coats. But Mar thought otherwise ; he perhaps imagined his object achieved by drawing Argyle ofi* Macintosh ; perhaps when the moment for action came he felt instinctively incompetent to direct the operations of battle. Without coming within range of the outposts of the Southerners, he returned to Perth, alleging as an excuse that the country about Dumblane was too much exhausted to feed his troops, and that he was determined not to cross the Forth till all the clans were assembled and the Earl of Sutherland had been reduced. The best means to hasten the reduction of Sutherland would have been a brilliant success in the south, and by proclaiming that food for his army was wanting within a few miles of the rich carse of Gowrie, he proclaimed that he was totally unfit for his command. For two days Macintosh remained at Seaton. His com- munication with any friends of his cause that there might 424 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 425 be in Edinburgh was ma le difficult, and perhaps inter- rupted by the Lords of Eothes and Inchiquin, who came out with the two hundred dragoons to reconnoitre Seaton on the day Argyle left. From Edinburgh he could not hear of the departure of the Duke, but the same boat which had been sent from Leith returned to Port Seaton with letters, and succeeded in landing them, notwith- standing the heavy fire from the English fleet. This must have told him of Mar s forward movement, and lie might again have advanced on Edinburgh, but he con- tented himself with sweeping provisions from the country into Seaton, and establishing a magazine there, as if with the view of remaining some time. To check these de- predations, the dragoons left in Edinburgh, with three hundred volunteers, made a demonstration against the position of the Highlanders, but after a distant survey of the post the volunteers again came to the conclusion that the rebels were too strongly intrenched : an assault was impossible without the aid of artillery ; and, having exchanged a few shots at too great a distance to incur any harm, returned to their homes and narrated their adventure, with not perfectly strict accuracy, in the bosoms of their families. On the same day, Tuesday, the 18th of October, as General Carpenter arrived at Newcastle with troops to put down the Northumbrian insurrection, two gentlemen reached Seaton with the news of the rising of Mr. Forster, and of that of the South Country Scots under Lord Kenmare. A request at the same time was brought from Forster, asking Macintosh to unite forces with him at Kelso. This application caused the Highlanders to alter their intention of remaining at Seaton, and on the following day they started for the south. Several of the clansmen objected to move further from their native glens, and deserted when the head of the column was directed southwards. Not a few stragglers were captured by the dragoons from Edinburgh who hovered in their rear. The main body pushed forward, levying every w^here the public money. They took the road by Dunse, where they drew up in order of battle and proclaimed the Pretender, and after four days, reached Edmund bridge, where, as a token of respect for their valour in crossing the Firth, they were met by the horsemen of Forster and Kenmare, and escorted into Kelso. The total force thus collected on the borders consisted of something over two thousand men, of whom about fifteen hundred were Highlanders under Macintosh, and six hundred horsemen, from Northumberland and Dumfries, under Forster and Kenmare. The former were, with the exception of the men of Lord Strathmore's regiment who had managed to cross the Forth, equipped in their national costume, and well armed with claymore, dirk, and target. By means of requisition and capture, they had nearly all by this time acquired fire-arms and bayonets. The Scotch horsemen were well mounted on strong useful animals, and were well armed with pistols and basket-hilted swords. The English troopers rode lighter and more thorough-bred horses, which seemed better adapted for the race-course than for the shock of 42G INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [ciLir. a charge ; many of tliem had no swords, and there was a great deficiency of pistols and good curb bridles. They appeared, indeed, so much better accoutred for rapidity of movement than for the rude press of battle, that some of the Scotch had a misgiving that at the moment of action their English confederates might feel inclined to trust more to their horses' heels than to their own rio-ht arms. So notorious was the absence of swords and want of discipline, that on entering a town, in order to make an impression, the command was given, " You who have swords, draw them,'' when a voice from the ranks not without justice replied, ''And what are we to do who have none ? " Many of their animals too were small and in mean condition, and some of the men were mere grooms and stable-boys who had no idea of the use of arms. In social position the Scotchmen were superior to the English, nearly all the privates were gentlemen. They were divided into five troops, commanded by the Lords Kenmare, Hume, Wintoun, Carn worth, and Mr. Lockhart. The English were equally divided into five troops, of which the first two belonged to the Lords Derwentwater and Widdrington ; but the third was led by Hunter, who combined the profession of border- farming with the more lucrative occupation of illicit trading across the frontier ; and the fourth was commanded by Douglas, who lived on the profits of the sale of horses which he was in the habit of obtaining without the formality of payment. The day following that on which these forces combined being Sunday, service was performed by Mr. Patten, chaplain to Mr. Forster, in the lofty and beautiful church XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 427 of Kelso, and a political sermon was preached on the text, ''The right of the first-born is His." Li the afternoon a Scotch non-juring clergyman gave a discourse, which had already done duty before Dundee a few days previous to the battle of Killiecrankie. The next morning the little army was formed into a circle, and while trumpets sounded and bagpipes screamed, the Pretender was solemnly proclaimed as James, King of England, France, and Scotland ; while the mob, encouraged by the promise of reduction of taxation, which is always so conveniently professed by every opposition to an existing government, shouted, " No union, no malt-tax, no salt-tax ! '' The proclamation of the Pretender and shouts of a mob that the appearance of a couple of dragoons Avould immediately disperse, could be of little avail to unseat King George from his throne. It was necessary that the insurgents, if they contemplated any success in the adventure they had undertaken, should take immediate and vigorous measures to acquire adherents and to disable their antagonists. Three plans of action were open to. them : they might cross the border and engage Carpenter, who was marching from Newcastle with about nine hundred cavalry ; or they might march northward and attack Argyle at Stirling in rear, while Mar pressed him m front ; or again, they could move westward, reduce Dumfries, occupy Glasgow, give a hand to the western clans, and appear on the left flank of the Eoyal army, which was guarding the Forth. The first of these ideas did not promise much success. It is true that Carpenter's men were a good deal harassed by long and rapid marches, 428 INVASIONS OF ENGLANT). [chap. and, for the most part, were newly raised, but his horses were w^ell cared for, and if his men were recruits, they were at least properly armed. The insurgent horsemen w^re equally recruits of less standing, and were devoid of the leaven of veteran and non-commissioned officers w^hich makes even the most recent levies of reo-ulars so much superior to any irregular forces. The Hioh- landers, who composed the infantry, were superstitiously fearful of horsemen, and might fly before the steady charge of a squadron, while it might be safely assumed that an officer of the experience of Carpenter would take care to engage on ground where his horsemen could act freely, and which would be unfavourable to the clansmen accustomed chiefly to mountain warfare. Were the second plan adopted the southern insurgents would in a few days find themselves on one side of Argyle, while their confederates faced him on the opposite quarter. The success of a common attack, which should destroy the advantage of his interior position, depended entirely on an accurate combination of movement Avith Mar, and experience had already shown how difficult it was to ensure combination. The third plan appeared more promising, but its adoption would draw the English troops further from their homes, which was exceedingly distasteful to them, and w^ould cause a ne^^lect of the opportunity to raise Lancashire, where enormous re- inforcements of men were promised to them. One thing was certain : wdiatever plan of action was decided upon, it should have been carried out at once ; but at first after their junction the leaders seemed quite xvi] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 429 satisfied with having obtained so insignificant a result, and lingered supinely at Kelso. It was only after dallying there for five days, when, on the 27th of October Carpenter had reached Wooler, one day's march only distant, with Hotham's foot, and Cobham's, Molesworth's, and Churchill's dragoons, and contemplated an attack on Kelso next day, that their future course of procedure was ever seriously considered. The intelligence of the proximity of Carpenter made immediate action indispensably necessary. A council of the leaders was hurriedly convened ; the meeting was agitated and stormy. It was proposed on the one hand to march into the west of Scotland ; on the other, to pass the Tweed and engage the King's troops. The latter course should indubitably have been adopted. Every day lost w\as likely to bring reinforcements from England, Holland, or Flanders, to Carpenter. He never could be grappled with to greater advantage ; he could not retreat, after having come so close, without exposing his men to a great moral depression, and was compelled to fight the insurgents wherever he might find them. They could choose their own position, and might even barricade the streets and await assault under cover of the houses of Kelso. The advocates of either plan pressed their own views hotly, and at length a com- promise was made which committed the force definitely to neither course. It was decided to march up Teviot- dale, keeping at some distance from the border, and then to act as circumstances mio^ht sufrcrest. Such a vacillatintr policy was a sure omen of future disaster. The movement 430 INT J SIGN'S OF ENGLAND. [chap. from Kelso was begun, and on the 29tli they reached Jedburgh. Here they found that by some happy acci- dent Carpenter was three days^ march behind them- probably he had halted to collect forage and to rest his horses. Another council was now held. It was determined to pass over the Cheviots and to push into England, and a troop was sent off to take up quarters in Tynedale. But the Highlanders were sullen and dispirited. They saw none of the masses coming to join that they had been led to expect ; they objected to enter an unknown and mysterious land where they heard that regular cavalry was being called together to meet them ; where they believed they would be captured and packed off as slaves to the plantations ; and which had done nothing for the common cause but furnish a few badly- armed horsemen mounted on weeds and ponies. On being pressed to turn towards the south they flatly refused to cross the border, and the movement was perforce aban- doned, and the troop already sent over was recalled. The march was then directed on Hawick, but on the way the Highlanders, catching the idea that a passage into England was determined upon, separated themselves from the column, and went to the summit of a rising ground, when they suddenly rested on their arms, and would allow no one except Lord Wintoun to come near them. This mutiny could not be punished ; for if a struggle had been begun between the two parties, not improbably the Highlanders would have come off vic- torious. Negotiations were begun, and after a debate of two hours, the mountaineers consented to go on. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 431 On Sunday they reached Langholme, not far from the Solway Firth, and pushed forward a detachment of horse to blockade Dumfries, till they could come up in force and attack the town, which had no fortifications, was occupied by no regular troops, and was held chiefly by small detachments of militia and train-bands. The possession of Dumfries would have opened for them the way to Glasgow, and the passage to a junction with the western clans. Here too they would have gained a port where they could have received supplies from France, and the occupation of the town would have placed in their hands a considerable quantity of arms which were stored in the Tolbooth, and of gunj^owder that was placed for safety in the town steeple. There was some alarm in Dumfries when the rebel horsemen appeared, but the citizens took up arms, the militia and train-bands took up their posts, and the ministers of the neighbour- ing parishes, who chanced to be assembled in the town, at once went to their homes, and speedily returned at the heads of columns of their parishioners, bearing arms in their hands. A position was occupied in front of the town and some works thrown up. But these preparations were rendered unnecessary, for Carpenter was closing up, and sent word to Dumfries, that if it could hold out for six hours, he would within that time attack the rear of the enemy. The rebels also became aware of this and a^ain stormy discussions began. The Scotch w^ere particularly anxious to push forward to Glasgow, and effect a junction with the Camerons. The English loudly protested 432 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. against turning away from their own land, wlier(3 they loudly asserted that 20,000 men were only waiting for tbeir appearance to join them in Lancashire alone. This argument prevailed, and when the head of the column reached Ecclefechan on the road to Dumfries, an express was sent to recall the horse who were supposed to he blockading that city, and the route was laid for Langtoii. The Hio-hlanders at once remonstrated, and about 500 of them sturdily refusing to stay with the force, dispersed in small groups, and went away over the mountains, trusting to find their way home by the head of the Forth. Several of these were taken prisoners by the western peasantry, who were chieHy Cameronians, and accustomed to the use of arms. The rest of the army after this diminution marched towards the border, and on the 1st of November entered England, and halted at Brampton, near Carlisle, which could not be entered, as it was strongly held by a garrison from the government. Here Forster opened his commission from Mar, appoint- ing him general in England ; and, to conciliate the Highlanders and prevent further desertion, arranged that for the future each of them should be paid sixpence a day to keep them in order and under command. The first day's operations after Forster had assumed the supreme command, shed the only lustre on the rebel arms that was gained during the enterprise, though this too was due more to the terror of the enemy than to the ability or courage of the rebel leader or his tiny army. This marched on the 2nd of November towards Penrith. In front of this place the horse militia of Westmoreland XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 433 and northern Lancashire, and the whole ijosse comitatus of the county of Cumberland, were drawn out, under the command of Lord Lonsdale and the Bishop of Carlisle, to oppose the rebel advance. They numbered about 10,000 men ; but as soon as some of the rebels' vedettes were seen coming out of the lane, the undisciplined mob was seized with a panic, and fled precipitately, leaving the field of their parade strewn with arms. A considerable number of horses and prisoners were taken ; the former were very valuable ; but as the latter were of no use, they were speedily released. Lonsdale himself, deserted by his whole array, except about twenty of his own servants, had to seek refuge in the old castle of Appleby. Penrith was consequently occupied by Forster without further resistance, and thence he directed his march by Appleby on Kirkby Lonsdale. Here the little army of the insurgents reached the border of Lancashire. It had marched through two counties of England and had hardly gained a man to raise its strength, for the govern- ment had taken measures in good time, and before Forster could cross the borders all the gentlemen of these shires that were likely to have the influence and inclination to head a rising or lead men to join the rebel standard were already safely secured in Carlisle Castle. The Scotch gentlemen and Highland soldiers began to murmur loudly. They asked angrily where the numerous levies were which had been so freely promised to induce them to turn away from an enter- prise which promised success in Scotland, and to march nito a county where, loudly as the High Church party F F 434 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. had talked over their cups, not a single person had come to share their dangers or join their fortunes. Nothing had as yet been done of any importance in England, no recruits had been raised, and no arms acquired ; the public money which had been secured was not a large sum, and the proclamation of the Chevalier and substitution of his name in the churches for that of King George would be preferable as the result rather than as the prelude of military action. But at Kirkby afiairs seemed brighter. The county of Lan- caster was strongly Catholic ; and already at Kirkby some gentlemen joined with their servants. This was a slight encouragement, and under its influence Forster gave the order for the advance to Lancaster. On the way, while the troops were halted and resting on their arms, the news came to them that the gentlemen of Lancashire were up and coming to join them with 1.200 men, and that that very day the Chevalier was pro- claimed at Manchester. This intelligence was greeted with a round of cheers, the Highlanders plucked up their hearts, and with swinging strides and bagpipes playing poured into the town of Lancaster. The notorious Colonel Chartres, who commanded in the place, proposed to blow up the bridge over the Loyne to stay the advance of the insurgents, but, yielding to the loud expostulations of the townspeople and the consideration that the river could be easily forded, retired wdth his detachment of Stanhope's dragoons. Here the Pretender w^as proclaimed at the cross, the gaol was thrown open, and those who had been XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 435 imprisoned on account of the riots against meeting houses released. Some arms were seized in the custom-house, as well as a considerable quantity of brandy, which was distributed among the Highlanders, in order to cultivate their good humour. Six pieces of cannon were also found, which were at once mounted on wheels taken from the coach of Sir Henry Haughton, a principal supporter of the government. Lancaster possessed a castle and a seaport, both of which it would have been desirable to hold wdth a garrison that might serve as a nucleus round which other adherents in the northern portions of the county might rally, but the force was too small to permit of detachments being left behind, and the insurgent leaders fondly hoped to push on to War- rington bridge, and, having secured that defile, to seize the more important town of Liverpool. With this object they moved on the 9th, and that night their horse occu- pied Preston, but the foot, detained by the bad weather and deep roads, could only march on the following day. But now they were in high spirits, for two squadrons of dragoons retired before them, and, as is so often the case with men ignorant of war, they rushed from the extreme of despondency to that of confidence, and con- cluded that the royal troops were afraid to face them. This confidence was considerably damped by the appear- ance of the 1,200 Lancashire men who now joined them, for they were badly armed, WTctchedly equipped, and a mere rabble that could do little but impede their more effective associates. It was observed, too, with mortifi- cation that all the men of influence who came in were F F 2 il 436 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 437 Papists, and that no representatives appeared of the High Church party, which the Highlanders had been taught to believe would rise unanimously in their favour. But while Forster and his chief of the staff, Oxburgh, who was more fitted for a priest than a soldier, con- templated the seizure of Warrington and capture of Liverpool, General Wills, who commanded in Cheshire, was preparing a most convincing proof of the determina- tion of the Eoyal troops to fight. Notifying his intentions to General Carpenter, who, on hearing that the rebels were over the border, passed over the mountains and struck across Durham, with the object of cutting their line of march. Wills ordered the troops under his command, who were widely cantoned, to concentrate at Warrington on the 10th. These consisted of Preston's regiment of foot, the old Cameronians ; of the 3rd Horse, now the 2nd Dragoon Guards ; and of the newly-raised dragoon regiments of Stanhope, Wynne, Honey wood, Munden and Dormer. With these he pushed forward to meet the rebel advance, and on the morning of the twelfth was in front of Preston. During the march through Cumberland and Westmoreland Forster had taken measures to obtain information of the movements of the enemy ; but on entering Lancashire he was assured by the gentlemen of the county that no enemy could come within forty miles without their knowledge. The confidence with which this assurance was given induced the leader to relax his pre- cautions. But he was not justified, for on the morning of the 12th, when the insurgents were starting from Preston to march on Wigan, the advanced guard unexpectedly found Wills' vedettes close up to the Kibble. Forster was completely surprised, and on the spur of the moment had to decide what course he should pursue. He might hold the passage of the river, which offered many advantages, as the bridge was long and narrow, and terminated in a deep lane that extended for half a mile up to the town, between high hedges and through gardens and enclosures. Here the horsemen of Wills would not be able to act, and Farquharson of Invercauld was already on the bridge with a hundred Highlanders, and was willing to defend it to the last drop of his own and his clansmen's blood. Forster apparently conceived it more advantageous to hold the town itself. The Highlanders were withdrawn from the bridge, and every available man set to work to construct barricades. These were barely completed and armed with the cannon when the head of Preston's column was seen approaching by the road that leads from Wigan. The guard placed at the barricade that barred this approach opened on the Cameronians, but the insurgent army had no artil- leryman or matross to direct their fire, and a seaman who proffered his services for the occasion had either so little judgment or so much ale that his first round, instead of reaching Preston's ranks, knocked the top off a steeple in the neighbourhood of his own battery. Afterwards he succeeded in getting the range, and did some execution. Wills ordered Preston to attack the barricades, . s 438 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 439 despatched the horse to watch the fords of the river, and extended his dragoon regiments so as to complete as far as possible the blockade of the place. The Cameronians rushed up three of the streets to the assault, but the Highlanders and moss-troopers fought savagely, and received them with a withering fire of musketry that drove back the heads of the columns. Again and again attacks were made, but though the Cameronians seized some houses on the outskirts of the town, they failed to carry, or even get close up to, the barricades. The soldiers, abandoning then the direct assault up the streets, set fire to the houses between their position and the barriers. There was a sharp frost, and the weather was very still, so that the conflagration did not sprend, but by the light of the burning houses the skirmish was carried on all night, and every rebel who showed in the streets drew a bullet from the buildings where the Cameronians lay. Under cover of the darkness most of the wretched Lancashire men who had joined the insurgents attempted to steal away and regain their homes. Many escaped, but many were sabred by the horsemen who watched the fords cf the river, or the dragoons who patrolled the roads. The same evening as Wills began his attack on the rebel position, Carpenter arrived at Chtheroe, and appeared with his cavalry on the north of Preston, at midday on Sunday the 13th. He at once completed the blockade of the town, and thus deprived its defenders of all hope of escape. To repel the attacks of the assailants was now impossible, and all that remained was to arrange the best terms for laying down their arms. The Scotchmen spurned the idea of retain- ino- life at the cost of surrender, and clamoured to be led out with the desperate attempt of cutting their way through the regulars. But the English hoped to obtain terms, and Oxburgh was sent to the royalist head-quarters to propose a capitulation. When this was known, Forster was nearly pistolled by a Scotch gentleman, but saved by a neighbouring hand that struck up the weapon. The only terms that the English generals would grant were unconditional surrender, and the only modification that could be obtained was that the prisoners should not at once be put to the sword, but spared during the king's pleasure. After many attempts to obtain ameliorated conditions these were accepted, Brigadier Macintosh and Lord Derwentwater were sent into Carpenter's lines as hostages for their fulfilment on the part of the insurgents, and an English oflicer with a drummer rode up to the houses occupied by the Cameronians ; beat the chamade ; and the desultory firing that had been going on between the windows and the barricades died away. The following morning the conditions were carried out. Preston s foot occupied the town and received the arms of the rebels. These were now about 1,400 in number, and they were all made prisoners. The soldiers were confined in the church, where the coldness of the weather forced them to break up the woodwork for firing, and to rip off" the cloth of the pews to serve as covering to their bodies. The leaders were sent up 440 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 441 under escort to London, and were brought into the metropolis pinioned with halters for the edification of the patrons of the beer-houses amid the hoots of the populace and the insults of the crowd that accompanied the procession, beating upon warming-pans in allusion to the supposed fictitious parentage of the Pretender. Thus was quelled the insurrection in England, and on the same day as Forster was treating for a surrender at Preston, the cause of James sufiered a still more serious blow in the northern kinofdom. Shortly after the departure of Macintosh to carry the war into the Lowlands, the Earl of Mar made the inefiectual movement towards Stirling which has been already noticed, and returned to Perth on account of the alleged scarcity of provisions around Dumblane. Here he remained during the remainder of October throwing up fortifications as if with the view of making Perth a strong place of arms and a base of operations for a southward movement. Meanwhile both sides re- ceived reinforcements, the troops from Ireland gradually arrived at Stirling, and Mar was joined by Seaforth, who was enabled to quit the north by the retreat of the Earl of Sutherland from the neighbourhood of Inverary into his own country. Little of military importance was undertaken by either side. Some detachments of the Highlanders sent out to raise the cess and sequestrate arms, were fallen upon by detachments of the royal troops and suffered some loss at Dunfermline and Kinross. Towards the end of the month, Gordon with the western clans appeared before Inverary and began cutting fascines as if he designed an attack on the town, but finding that the Earl of Isla who commanded there was ready to receive him with a thousand men of the Campbell clan, he returned from before the place and marched through Glenorchy to join the main body of Mar at Auchterarder. By the beginning of November Mar had received all the reinforcements he could reasonably expect, though it is doubtful whether he was not less fitted now to begin a successful campaign in the Lowlands than a few days after he had first arrived at Perth. His army had been diminished, though not to the extent of his reinforce- ments, by desertion ; for many of the Highlanders had gone off home to deposit in safety such booty as they had been able to find. Any increase in his force was more than counterbalanced by the additions made to that of Argyle, for these were all regular soldiers trained to discipline and manoeuvre ; and in a contest against undisciplined bravery much more valuable than a mere statement of their numbers would imply. There was no excuse now for delay, and Mar must necessarily either advance or disband his forces. The advance was determined on, and the design seems to have been to move on the line of the Forth in three columns. One of these was to march against the long causeway that continued the road into the Highlands from Stirling bridge, and was to be sup- ported by two flanking attacks, of which the one was to be directed against the Abbey ford a mile below Stirling, and the other against Drip-coble ford, a mile and a half 442 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap above that town. On the 10th of November the camp at Perth was broken up, and the insurgent army moved to Auchterarder, where the infantry were cantoned, while the cavahy were scattered in the neighbouring villages. The loijg delay at Perth had not been improved. By the time for the advance, the state of the defences of the fords and passes held by Argyle w^as totally unknown to Mar or Clephane, and in a camp where so many of the soldiers must have been natives of the districts through which the army was to march, the intelligence was so badly managed that there was no other guide than the celebrated Eob Eoy, who, while professing to conduct the army of Mar, was sending secret information of all plans to his patron, the Duke of Argyle, in the opposite camp. Nor does it appear that any means were pro- vided or precautions taken for repairing the bridges over the Leith or the Forth, when it must have been evident that at so late a season of the year the fords might very possibly be found impracticable. The consequences of this neglect never, however, became apparent, for on the morning of Saturday, the 12th of November, the Duke of Argyle having called in all his detachments, and thus collected a body of about 4,000 men, marched out of Stirling towards Dunblane. At Auchterarder the Highland army was considerably reduced by the defection of the whole clan Fraser, numbering 400 men. These had been led to Perth by the husband of the heiress of their late chieftam, but were now recalled to allegiance to King George by XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 443 Fraser of Lovat, the heir male of the family who had arrived in the north. At the same time 200 of Hunt- ley's followers, complaining that an unfair amount of fatigue duty had been cast upon them, went away. Such are the difficulties of carrying on war with voluntary levies not bound by the strict laws of military discipline. The diminished army advanced, led by the Macdonalds and western clans, with a party of Sinclair's horse as the advanced guard, with the intention of occupying Dunblane, w^hen a messenger brought the news that the redcoats were already in that town. A party sent to reconnoitre confirmed this intelligence, and the Highland army was at once concentrated on a moor, which, from being used as a training-ground of the posse comitatus of the Sheriffdom of Menteith, was called the Sheriffmuir. Here, wrapped in their plaids and with their hands on their claymores, notwithstanding a hard frost, the mountain warriors slept soundly. A few miles to the south the army of Argyle also passed the night in the open, with the officers at their posts, and thirty rounds of ammunition in each soldier's pouch. At early morning the sentries could hear the bagpipes awakening the clansmen, and at once the notes of the reveille rang out from the English trumpets, piercing sharply the frosty morning air. Argyle, escorted by a squadron of horse, rode forward to reconnoitre. On the other side Mar summoned a council of chieftains and nobles, and put to them the question, "Fight or not?'' In vain Huntley, with some sagacity, endeavoured to enquire what advantages 444 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. would accrue from a battle now, which could not be followed up in the face of the numerous cavalry that would cover the retreat of the southerners. A deep mili- tary strategy found little favour among the fiery spirits who thought that a whole campaign should be decided in a few moments by a fierce onset with the broadsword An universal shout of *' Fight ! " was the response to the general's query, which was caught up by the two lines of Highlanders formed in order of battle, and repeated with deafening cheers, loud shouts of joy, and the tossing up of bonnets and hats into the frosty air. In this state of excitement the army of the insurgents moved to battle. Each line was broken into two columns that wheeled and then moved straight upon the position where the enemy lay. In rear of each column of infantry marched a division of horse, and the left flank of the army lay towards a morass, which it was expected would guard it from the enemy's cavalry. As soon as Argyle, who was reconnoitring, saw the movement of advance, he galloped back to his own lines, and ordered his troops to move forward as quickly as possible to seize the rising ground between his army and that of the enemy, which was nearer to the English, but the Highlanders ran forward so quickly that their horse was obliged to canter to keep up with them, and though the redcoats went forward at the double the Highlanders first seized the top of the hill. Both armies were thus surprised to find the enemy almost within pistol-shot. Both began instantly to deploy their columns into line, and in the disposition xv[.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 445 of both some confusion not unnaturally occurred. The Highlanders had intended to reform their two lines with the horse on either flank, but in the hurry of the moment some of the cavalry became formed in the centre of the left wing. Still the army of Mar was formed so quickly that it excited the admiration of even the veteran officers on the opposite side, and by all accounts seems to have been ready for conflict before the regular troops. But the favourable moment was lost, as is so often the case with troops not thoroughly inured to discipline and manoeuvre ; the general-in- chief could not at the same moment see everything or decree everything, and the leaders or staff* of divisions or brigades hesitate to take the responsibility of com- mencing an action, even at a manifest advantage. Had the Highlanders, who were 10,000 strong, made their customary impetuous attack the moment that they were formed, it is possible that they might have swept away the whole of the scarlet battalions, who were taking up their alignment and dressing not without some dis- order. With such troops a general should lead, not direct. Mar should have been the first man at the top of the rise, and the moment the clansmen gained the summit have dashed down sword in hand against the forming enemy. As it was a pause ensued, and not irrelevantly a Gordon chieftain cried with anguish, '' Oh for one hour of Dundee.'' The breathing space lost by the Highlanders was not neglected by the Eoyal troops. The cool and experienced officers of the Buffs quickly formed their 446 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. regiinent in a steady red line, gaudy with yellow facings, and bristling with glittering bayonets, on the extreme right of Argyll's position. Three more battalions, which now" are known as the 8th, the 11th, and 17th of the line, carried on the alignment to the extreme left of the first line, where the 14th Eegiment that had doubled with difficulty through the deep heather and broken ground, was some time in taking up its formation. In rear of this first line three more battalions, now the 21st, 25th, and 36th Regiments, were rapidly deploying in reserve, and on their left the 3rd Dragoons and Kerr s 7th Dragoons came up at a hand gallop into position. On the other flank Cathcart seeing that the hard frost of the previous night had rendered the morass to which Mar's left extended pass- able for cavalry, made a slight detour, and forming sharply to his left, rattled across the frozen surfiice at the head of the Greys, the 4th, and the Inniskilling Dragoons, and threatened the left flank of the High- landers. But before he could charge home these had commenced the assault. The Macdonalds, Macleans, and men of Breadalbane had quickly formed on the riofht of the northern line, under the command ol General Gordon. The general was awaiting orders, when Captain Livingstone, a veteran who had served in the armies of James before the Revolution, rode up, and with round oaths entreated him to attack. Gordon hesitated, but the chieftains and clansmen saw the opportunity. The plaids and philabegs were cast aside, bonnets pulled close over the eyes, a brief XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 447 prayer said for King James, and then with wild slogan cries the mountaineers rushed down the slope to attack. As they approached the still forming line of the 14th they poured in a volley, immediately dropped their firelocks, and drawing their claymores, rushed with a yell among the redcoats. In close contest the bayonet fixed at the end of an unwieldy musket was no match for the broadsword. The points were dashed aside as the mountaineers closed, many of the soldiers went down killed or wounded : those that were uninjured were quickly dispersed and driven with great slaughter from the field. The defeat of the 14th carried with it that of the two adjacent battalions, and within a few moments the whole of the left winp: of the royal army was in rout, and flying tow^ards the passes that led to Stirling, with the exception of the Dragoons, who could not indeed stem the torrent of the Hiorh- landers, but retired before it in good order. The defeat of the left wing of Argyle's troops exposed unprotected the flank of the centre, which off*ered a fair mark for the rebel horsemen, but these, instead of seizing the advantage, proved inadequate to the occasion. Two squadrons, under Drummond and Marischal, went off" after the soldiers whom the Highlanders had scattered, while Lord Huntley and the IMaster of Sinclair remained inactive on the field, without eno^amno; at all. On the right the issue was very diflerent. There the assault of the mountaineers was equally furious as on the left, but it was checked by a withering volley from the completed lines, and, while the tartan ranks were 448 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. stao-gering under the fire, Catlicart, at the head of his grey horses, swooped down upon their flank. The attack was immediately baSled. The mountaineers, thrown into confusion by the very impetuosity of their onset, could oppose no resistance to the heavy shock of mounted men ; and while the Dragoons smote them in flank the Bufi*s and the two battalions further west poured volley after volley into their front. Thus assailed, the Highlanders broke and fled, and were pursued with considerable slaughter as far as the Eiver Allan. Several times they rallied and showed a front ; over and over again the gallant squadron which carried James's standard charged to retrieve the disaster, but its numbers could not cope with the superior weight of Cathcart's horsemen, and it was so severely handled and so constantly assailed, that it lost the standard which it was its special pride to guard. The battle now presented a most confused aspect. Mar did not take measures to improve his advantage on his right. The clans that had here defeated the enemy neither attacked the flank of the .still firm troops of Argyle, nor pursued the regiments they had already defeated. No orders were apparently sent to them, and they drew up on a rising ground and rested on their arms. Had these followed Argyle and attacked him in the rear as he pressed their comrades towards the Allan, they would have placed him in a precarious position. As it was he was able to push the defeated left wing of Mar's army across the Allan, and saw nothing more of the victorious right wing till he XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 449 returned to Sheriff'muir, where it still halted. Menaces of attacks were made by both sides, but apparently both armies had a desire to regain their less fortunate comrades. After a few unimportant manoeuvres the Highlanders drew ofl" to the north and the battalions of Argyle to the south. As was natural after such a con- fused encounter, both generals claimed the victory ; but it is not a victory, but the fruits of victory, that are of any practical benefit, and in the present case these were certainly reaped by Argyle. He captured the standard of the enemy, some prisoners, six pieces of cannon, and four waggons. These interesting trophies were not very important, but the grave result of the contest on Sheriffmuir was that he preserved the passage of the Forth and the security of the Lowlands, and that Mar never afterwards attempted to advance from Perth. The result of the battle of Sherifi'muir virtually indeed decided the fate of the rebellion. Argyle, through want of a battering train, and perhaps from a desire to avoid bloodshed, did not advance against Perth, but contented himself for more than a month with holding the passage of the Forth. Men of experience in the rebel camp saw that their undertaking had failed. No greater resources, no larger numbers could be expected than the Highland army had possessed at Sheriffmuir. The success of the rebellion depended on the success of an invasion, and the action of the French Government had blighted all hopes of any invasion. The failure of assistance from abroad was only more serious than the failure at home to drive the King s army off the Forth and to invade the G G 450 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Lowlands. After the action at Sheriffmuir circumstances daily became more unfavourable. The defection of the Frasers allowed the Earl of Sutherland to move against Inverness, and to collect in arms for King George the Grants, the Eosses, and the Monroes. The clans whose countries lay near these were forced to leave Perth to protect their own valleys, and many who were not perhaps absolutely required at home, took advantage of the excuse to quit a failing cause. Quarrels sprang up between the Highland chiefs and nobles, who wished to continue the war, and the more intelligent Lowland o-entry, who saw the prospects of eventual defeat, and had no inaccessible mountains to guard their properties or persons from eventual punishment. Several of the disputants retired from the camp in high dudgeon. Among the common Highlanders, any who had secured plunder at Sheriffmuir started off home to place it in their huts, as it could not safely be trusted to any hand but that of the owner, and among those who thus departed few cared to return from the idle life of the chase to work as labourers on the fortifications of Perth. Mar was forced to keep this town as long as possible, for the Chevalier had been invited over and must soon arrive. This unfortunate prince landed at Peterhead on the 22nd of December, and was conducted to the camp at Perth in such royal state as circumstances would permit. He had expected to find his army in possession of all Scotland, and his flag flying at least on the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, if not even at Carlisle and York, and a Highland host of half a hundred thousand warlike XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 451 mountaineers ready to march upon London. He found instead a small division of discontented Highlanders and grumbling gentlemen at Perth, and their leaders determined to abandon that place and retreat into the Highlands on the first advance of the general of the government. He thus had no hopes of success in Scot- land, and no chance of assistance from abroad, and not unnaturally exclaimed that his advisers had brought him to his grave instead of to a throne. On his arrival at Perth some manifestoes were published ; some of them were very hopeful, but the most sanguine were deprived of any joy on account of the arrival of their prince, for which a public thanksgiving was ordered, by the news that quickly came. The troops of the government were reported on the point of breaking up their camp at Stirling and of advancing upon Perth. That this was the fact was fully shown to even the common soldiers by an order issued that the houses of the village of Auchterarder and other hamlets between Perth and Stirling, with the corn and other forage, should be destroyed, lest they might afford quarters and sus* tenance to the enemy in their advance. In consequence of this order the town of Auchterarder and several villages were burnt to the ground. Not only did this measure depress the spirits of the men by showing that all idea of an advance southward was abandoned, but their hearts were made heavy by the sight of the inhabitants who, in the middle of an unusually severe winter, even for that part of Scotland, were driven out destitute and houseless into the fields. G G 2 452 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. But, while the Chevalier at Perth was issuing mani- festoes in the name of James VIII. of Scotland and III. of England, was making proclamations for thanks- giving for his safe arrival, for prayers to be offered up for him in all churches, for the legal currency of foreign coins, for summoning a Scottish convention of estates, and for all fencible men between sixteen and sixty to join his standard, as well as for the ceremony of his coronation on the 23rd of January, the army of Argyle at Stirling had been considerably increased. No doubt the wish of the duke was that the Highland army should melt away of itself, and that the insurrection should thus come to a bloodless termination. But the government were anxious that not only should the insurrection fade away, but the roots of future dis- order should also be torn up. General Cadogan, a trusted officer, an intimate friend of Marlborough, who was now Captain-General, was sent down to Stirling to act as military chief of the staff to Argyle, and to urge him forward in his attack on the Highlanders at Perth. Argyle made excuses for delay, and dwelt with con- siderable force on the deficiency of any artillery train. The field train, which had been ordered to be sent from London by sea to Edinburgh, had not arrived; but Cadogan, with promptitude and energy, hastened to Berwick, and there organised a temporary train, which he urged upon Argyle must be sufficient for the pur- poses of the campaign. Delay acted with its usual result on irregular forces, and Mar's army had already dwindled to half its original numbers. In his ranks there were xvT.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STL ART DYNASTY. 453 not a few hopeless of success. Having learnt of the surrender at Preston, these w^ere inclined to lay down their arms if they could only obtain easy terms, and Mar actually entered into communication with Argyle as to a cessation of hostilities. The ministry in London, however, w^ere by no means inclined to take the lenient view of the chief of the house of Campbell. Ormond's invasion had been averted ; Foster's advance had been crushed : the best part of the troops of the government which had before been held in England on account of Ormond and Foster were now free, and the government were determined not to treat as belligerents rebels who still remained in arms. Also six thousand Dutch auxili- aries, for whom application had been made, had landed in the Thames in November, and were now in the camp of Stirling. By the arrival of these reinforcements the army of the south was increased in still greater propor- tions than the losses of the army of the Highlands, and though a very heavy fall of snow and a peculiarly hard frost prevented the easy advance of the southern army, still the Highlanders only held Perth on sufferance. When the news arrived that the Duke of Argyle was about to advance from Stirling, a council was held, and the question of the enemy's advance on Perth w^as seriously discussed. It is noteworthy that during the time that hostilities w^ere lulled no measures had been taken for raisino; fortifications round the town of Perth, and it was only on the reported advance of the enemy that any steps were taken for rendering it more than -an open town. At this council the future conduct of the 454 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. campaign was earnestly and hotly debated. A few, with true Highland spirit, wished to advance and attack the enemy as he approached — some more desired to at least hold Perth, and trusted that the weather would make the opening of trenches exceedingly difficult to hold it as a field-post against the advance of the regular troops. But these were in the minority, and not unjustly so. While Mar was lying at Perth and Argyle at Stirling, both inactive, the English ships of war that w^ere in the Frith of Forth had driven the rebel forces from the Castle of Burnt Island, the royal troops had established themselves throughout the greater part of Fifeshire and had cut off the supply of much food and of all fuel from the Highland army at Perth. On the 24th of January, after several days had been spent in clearing away the snow for the advance of the troops, Argyle broke up his camp at Stirling, and the march for Perth commenced. The clearing away of the snow was reported at the Highland head-quarters, and probably it was intended by Argyle that this should be so in order that the rebel army might retreat without further bloodshed. In the council at Perth on the 29th of January it was resolved that the army of the Chevalier should retreat, and the order for this movement to be carried out was promulgated to the troops on the 30th, the anniversary of the execution of Charles I., and a day of evil omen to the House of Stuart. Early on the following morning, notwithstanding the indignation of the Highland subalterns — who exclaimed with anger, *' Why did the King come hither ? Was it to see his XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 455 subjects butchered like dogs without striking a blow for their lives and honour ? '' and urged him to trust his safety to them, saying, that if he were willing to die hke a prince, he would find that there were ten thousand men in Scotland willing to die with him — the clans began to file over the Tay, which though usually a deep and rapid river, was now a sheet of solid ice, and bore both horse and foot with safety. The march of the dejected and sullen clansmen was led along the Carse of Gowrie to Dundee. About twelve hours after the rear- guard of the Highlanders had left, Argyle at the head of his dragoons entered Perth, and allowing his men there a day of rest, set forward on the following morning with a picked body in pursuit. From Dundee the retreating army continued its march to Montrose. Here a report arose among the Highlanders that the King, the Earl of Mar, and some other leaders were about to abandon them and take flight by sea. No doubt it was the best advice that could be given that the Chevalier should seize the first opportunity to leave the shores of Great Britain and seek safety on the Continent. It was evident now that the insurgent army had no chance of restoring the war, and that the presence of the Chevalier only incumbered the movements of the troops, and exposed his person to the danger of being taken by the government. When it was determined that the Prince should retire from Scotland, such policy should have been boldly avowed ; but unfortunately, to pacify the troops, orders were given that the march should be continued to Aberdeen. The reports of the intention of the Chevalier 456 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. to leave the army were contradicted ; his guards were ordered to parade as usual, with his horses and equipao-e, before his lodgings, and his baggage was sent forward as if he were about to continue his journey. But, on the evening of the 4th of February, James sallied out of a back door, went on foot to the quarters of Lord Mar, and thence to the water side. They together pushed away from the shore in a little boat, and embarked in a small French vessel which was waiting for them in the roads, and which immediately stood out to sea. Thus the Chevalier left the shores of Scotland, having done little more than to involve his partisans in difficulties with the government, and to bring away his commander-in- chief safe and sound. On General Gordon, for whom the Chevalier left a commission of commander-in-chief and full powers to treat with the enemy, fell the difficult and disagreeable duty of conducting the wrecks of a broken army back to Aberdeen. As the clansmen marched towards the citv, hourly they melted away and escaped to the hills, or concealed themselves in different directions. From Aberdeen the diminished remnant of the force rethed by Strathspey to the wild countries of Badenoch and Lochaber. Few fell into the hands of the enemy, partly from the tardy nature of Argyle's pursuit to Aberdeen, and partly from the difficulty and danger of leading regular trooj^s in the rugged and desolate tracts beyond that city, where there were no roads worthy of the name. In the western highlands the insurgent body finally dispersed. The common XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 457 clansmen, safe in their obscurity, retired to their homes, while the leaders, for the most part, took boat and escaped to the Orkneys, and afterwards made their way to the Continent. The Chevalier himself, after a voyage of seven days, landed at Gravelines, and proceeded thence to St. Germains. Thus ended the invasion of England of 1715. This attempt proved fatal to many ancient and illustrious Jacobite families. Its failure may be attributed to various causes, and not least to the inactivity of the Earl of Mar before the battle of Sheriffmuir, since he allowed the Duke of Argyle, by assuming a firm, defensive atti- tude, to neutralise and control a force of four times the numbers which Argyle himself commanded. The govern- ment acted with moderation in the punishment of those who had taken part in the rebellion, and free pardons were distributed with liberality to all who had seceded from the insurgent ranks before their final dispersion. The Highland chiefs and clans were in general for- given upon submission and the surrender of the arms of their people. This surrender of arms was, however, practically of disadvantage to the government, as among the disaffected tribes old, antiquated, and useless weapons were alone given up, while the loyal clans carried out the wishes of the government and gave up weapons which might have been of practical benefit in after years. It was by accident that the rebellion of 1715 was not assisted by what, would have apparently been a most important and possibly successful invasion of England. 458 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. The fiery and impetuous Charles XII. of Sweden had been seriously annoyed by King George on account of liis connection with the absorption of the duchies of Bremen and Verden. During the rebellion of 1715 the Duke of Berwick had formed a project of invasion by the Swedes, and held several conferences upon it with Baron Spaar, the Swedish minister at Paris. It would be interesting to consider what might possibly have been the result of such an attempt, planned by the astute strategy of Berwick, and executed by the fiery valour of Charles. Certainly the eSect of a Swedish alliance would have been of great political assistance to the Stuart cause. People in England would have seen that the Pretender no longer relied on such Papist countries as might please to use him as a tool for annoyance to Protestant England, and Englishmen might have looked upon their northern neighbours, the Swedes, as allies and assistants, and with more kindly eyes than their hereditary and orthodox enemies, the French or the Spaniards. At the time that Mar was holding Perth it was intended that a body of seven or eight thousand Swedes, then encamped near Gottenburg, should be embarked at that port ; that a sum of 150,000Z. should be advanced by the Chevalier for their expenses, and that they should sail to Scotland. This course, as Marshal Berwick himself observes, would allow an invasion by surprise to be easily made, since no one had the least idea of such a scheme, and since with fair winds the passage from Gottenburg to the Forth might have been accomplished in forty-eight hours. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 459 A messenger was sent with the project to the King of Sweden, but Charles was then closely besieged in Stralsund. It was long before the communication could reach him, and when it did the critical state of his own affairs compelled him to decline it. But two years later Baron Gortz, minister of Charles, devised a confederacy for dethroning George I. and placing on the throne of England the heir of the House of Stuart. This idea was a favourite project of Charles. The views of Gortz were most extensive. He had the idea of a peace with the Czar, and a perfect concert of measures between that monarch and Sweden; a con- spu:acy against the Regent in France, who had neither the power nor the inclination to aid the Stuarts in their attempts on England ; an insurrection against George I. of England and an invasion of Scotland by the King of Sweden in person, at the head of a Swedish army. Spain also entered warmly into the scheme : its prime minister, Alberoni, sent to Spaar a subsidy of a million of French livres, and the mimic court of the Pretender offered 60,000/. The invading army was to number 12,000 Swedish veterans, and the military reputation of Charles was worth probably 10,000 more. But the conspiracy was discovered by the spies of the French Eegent, who communicated it to the English Government. The Swedish Envoy was arrested in London by General Stanhope. His papers were seized, and their contents fully vindicated the course of the British Government. They confirmed in the most undoubted manner the existence of a wide-spread 460 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. conspiracy for the aid of the Jacobites. But the plan of the invasion was entirely disconcerted, and all hopes of its being carried out destroyed, by the death of Charles XII. before Frederickshall in 1718. But the enterprising Spanish prime minister, Alberoni, found it advisable two years later, in the hopes of dealing a blow against the Triple Alliance, to again attempt an invasion of Great Britain, this time by means of Spanish forces. As the prospect of a Swedish invasion was closed for ever by the death of Charles, Alberoni determined to assist the Pretender with an expedition from Spain itself The Chevalier de St. George was, in 1719, invited to Madrid, and there received with the honours due to the King of England. Directions were given to equip a formidable armament, and its command was offered to the Duke of Ormond, the same general who some years previously had conducted an English expedition against Spain, who had made a demonstration against Cadiz, and had carried Vigo by assault. In the beginning of March, 1719, James, who had secretly embarked at the little port of Nettuno, landed at Eosas. He was received at Madrid with all the deference due to royalty. His residence was appointed in the palace of Buen Eetiro, and the King and Queen of Spain paid him official visits as to the King of Great Britain. On the arrival of the Chevalier at Madrid orders for sailing were despatched to the fleet at Cadiz. The expedition consisted of 5,000 soldiers, partly Irish, and carried arms for 30,000 more, whom it was hoped XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 461 to raise in the Highlands* The fleet numbered five men-of-war and about twenty transports. Several of the chief officers of 1715 were engaged in the enter- prise. Ormond himself was to embark on the fleet at Corunna, and was to assume the command with the title of Captain-General of the King of Spain. The Duke of Orleans, Eegent of France, now in close alliance with England and eager to requite a similar favour, had sent the English Government timely warning of the expected expedition in a letter of Abbe Dubois to Earl Stanhope, which bears the date of March 15th, 1719. The French Government at the same time offered to England the help of any number of their troops. These troops were indeed declined, but six battalions were accepted from the Austrian Government, and came over from the Netherlands, as well as 2,000 Dutch auxiliaries from the States General. The English troops at home were cantonned to the best advantage in the north and west of England. A squadron of English men-of-war, under Sir John Norris, rode in the British Channel. Both Houses of Parliament addressed the King, assuring him of their support, and a proclamation was issued oSering 10,000/. for the apprehension of Ormond on his landing. But the elements and fortune seem ever to have declared against the unlucky House of Stuart. No sooner was the Spanish fleet off Finisterre than it fell in with a severe gale, which lasted two days, drove two transports and men-of-war back separately and in disorder to Spain, and disconcerted the whole enterprise. 462 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. An inconsiderable portion of the expedition being the frigates from St. Sebastian, escaped the violence of the storm, and pursued their voyage to Scotland with 300 men, some arms, ammunition, and money. These reached the place of the intended assembly of the expedition in the Isle of Lewis. On board of them were the Earls Marischall and Seaforth, and the Marquis of Tullibardine, with the 300 Spanish soldiers, and with some arms for those wdiom it was hoped would be raised in the Highlands. On arrival in his own Island of Lewis, Seaforth raised a few hundred Highlanders, and with these and the Spanish troops the expedition crossed over to Kintail, hoping to raise the clans of the Western Highlands. But only very few men joined the adven- turers, and during some wrecks they appear to have remained unmolested. It w^as even believed by the officers of the government that they had re-embarked. At length some ships of war coming to the part of the coast where they were lying almost concealed, retook Donan Castle, of which the rebels had made themselves masters. General Carpenter, who commanded in Scot- land, directed some forces against them from the garrison of Inverness, aided by the Monroes, Rosses, and other Whicr clans of the Northern Hio-hlands. The officer in command of the expedition, Major-General Wightman, who had with him about 1,000 men, found Seaforth at the head of an insurgent body about 2,000 strong, holding the pass of Strachells, a strong position near the valley of Glenshiel. On the evening of the 10th of June Wightman commenced his attack on the Highland XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 463 position. A desultory combat took place, in which there was much skirmishing and sharpshooting among the heather-tufted rocks and dwarfed oaks of Glenshiel. The heavily-weighted and heavily-clothed soldiers had little success against the Highlanders in their own country, who were adepts in every species of mountain w^arfare. The advantage remained on the side of the mountaineers, who lost only one man, while the troops of the govern- ment had 20 killed and 120 wounded. The royal troops were compelled to retreat without dislodging the enemy from their position, and to retire so hastily as to leave their wounded on the field, many of whom the holders of the battle-ground are reported to have despatched with their dirks. But though the invaders obtained a partial success, it was not sufficient to encourage perseverance in the enterprise, especially as their chief Seaforth w^as badly wounded, and could no longer direct the adventure. The Highlanders accordingly, swift of foot, and familiar with the country, dispersed as soon as night fell, and easily made their escape one by one to their own glens. The 300 Spaniards, who w^ere ignorant both of the country and of its language, and wdio were forced for safety to keep together as a body, were compelled next day to lay down their arms at discretion in front of the superior forces of Wightman. This affair of Glenshiel may be termed the last spark of the great rebellion of 1715, which rather died out of itself from want of fuel than was driven back by the energy or preparation of the resisting government. 464 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. There can be little doubt that if the Earl of Mar had pushed forward with energy and rapidity, he would have found the south of Scotland in an almost defence- less condition. The powerful families of Jacobites in England would have risen, the troops of the government were scattered in small numerical force, and it is not impossible that London might have fallen, and the crown have been transferred, at least temporarily, from the House of Hanover to that of Stuart. None can regret that such a result was not achieved. All think- ing men must recognise what misery and misfortune would have fallen upon this country had the House of Stuart, with its bigoted views and its doctrines of arbitrary and despotic royal authority, sat again upon the throne. But the fact that an important invasion died out through the supineness of its own leaders, rather than through the power of resistance offered to it, is not encourao^ins: to those who believe that the presence of a hostile force in the capital of England is impossible. The rebellion of 1715 taught the English Government that it was necessary to inquire seriously into the causes which made the Highland clans dangerous to public tranquillity, and to take measures to prevent their ready mountain valour from being in future abused into the means of causing injury both to themselves and others. The law for disarming the Highlanders was enforced— so much so that many Highland chiefs complained that their people were deprived of the means of protecting themselves, and were exposed to robbery by bands of XVI. INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 465 armed men who traversed the country and plundered the defenceless people. These claims were doubtless not without foundation, but they were greatly exagger- ated by Simon Eraser, the notorious Lord Lovat. Yet such representations and the general condition of the Highlands caused the government to grant a warrant in 1724 to Field-Marshal Wade, an officer of skill and experience, to investigate and report upon the state of the Highlands, and to propose the best measures for enforcing the law, protecting the defenceless, and opening up means of communication throughout the country. In consequence of Marshal Wade's report, various im- portant measures were taken. Several clans who had evaded the law of disarmament were compelled to give up their weapons. Most of these made an ostensible surrender of their arms, although many of the most serviceable muskets, claymores, and targets were hidden away in caverns and recesses of the rocks, to be brought forth on another occasion in the cause of the white cockade. An armed vessel was stationed on Loch Ness to com- mand the shores of that extensive lake. Barracks were built at Euthven, and fortifications were established at Inverness, Fort William, and Fort Augustus, along the chain of lakes which are now traversed by the Caledonian Canal. These it was hoped would separate the lawless bands of the Western Highlands from the more pacific and loyal tribes of the south and east. In order to protect the unarmed population against robbers, inde- pendent companies of Highland soldiers were formed to secure the peace of the country and suppress gangs of 11 II 466 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [ciiAr. thieves. These companies consisted of Highlanders dressed and armed in their own manner, and were placed under the command of Scottish gentlemen sup- posed to be well affected to the government. From, the fact that these men were clothed in the Highland garb to distinguish them from the regular troops, who wore the red uniform, they gained the name of black soldiers, and were embodied, with four additional companies that were raised in 1739, into the 42nd Eegiment of High- landers, w^hich still bears the name of the ''Black Watch." But by far the most important portion of General Wade's task, and that which he executed with most complete success, w^as the establishment of military roads through the rugged regions of the north. By these the free passage of regular troops w^as ensured in a country of which in its natural state every mountain was a ready- made fortress, every valley a position of defence. The roads through the Highlands had hitherto been mere tracks worn by the feet of the clansmen and of the cattle that they drove before them. They w^ere broken by rocks, morasses, and torrents. Along these the passage of any regular body of troops with cavalry, artillery, and baggage was altogether impossible. By the labour of his soldiers. Marshal Wade converted these rugged places into excellent roads of great breadth and sound forma- tion. Ever since his time these have afforded a free and open communication through all parts of the north of our island. They were made at small expense, and arc as worthy to be regarded as public monuments of skill XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 467 and patience as were the classic roads of the ancient Komans. They were made also upon the Roman principle, for regular soldiers were employed on the work, and WTre rewarded for their labour by a trifling addition to their daily pay. Thus much expense was saved which would have been necessary had civilian labourers been employed, even if it had been possible to obtain such labourers ; and it is curious that an experi- ment which then succeeded so well has not led to the general adoption of military labour on public works. Two of these great military roads, as they emerge from the low^ country, enter the hills, one at Creiff, the other at Dunkeld. Passing around the mountains in different directions, these two branches unite at Dalnacardoch ; then in a single line they reach Dal- whinnej^, where again they divide into tw^o. The north-westerly branch runs through Garriemore, and over the tremendous pass of Corryarrack, to a fort raised by Marshal Wade, called Fort Augustus. The other branch extends from Dalnacardoch north to the barracks of Ruthven, and to Lochaber, and thence to Inverness. From that town it strikes almost due west- ward across the island, connecting Fort Augustus wdth Inverness, and both enter Fort AVilliam and Lochaber, pushing through the country inhabited, in the time of Wade, by the Camerons, the, Macdonalds of Glengarry, and other clans supposed to be the worst affected to the reigning family. These roads w^ere of considerable im- portance in the last invasion undertaken in the cause of the house of Stuart, which burst forth in 1745. H H 2 468 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY 469 ATTEMPTED INVASION OF 1744. Twenty-five years after the last remnants of the invasion of 1715 had died away amidst the dropping fire of musketry echoed back from the mountains of Glenshiel, Eno-land was a^^^ain tln^atened with an attack. On this occasion the banished Stuarts were rather tools than authors. Yet this invasion was perhaps more fraught with danger to our country than any with which England has been menaced since the successful inroad of William III. Early in the summer of 1743, Cardinal Tencin, the Prime Minister of France, irritated by the assistance which England in the German war was giving to the Empress-Queen, both in the shape of men and money, urged the Chevalier James, wdio since shorth' after the ill success of 1715 had made Eome his residence, that his son Prince Charles Edward should come to France in order to take the command of an expedition then being fitted out against England. James not imprudently replied, that the journey of the Prince should rather be postponed till the preparations for the expedition were complete, as otherwise the movements of the young Chevalier would only be of use in putting the government of King George upon its guard, and lead it to adopt more active and effectual measures for the defence of the island. This argument apparently w^as of effect. Before the Prince moved from Eome 15,000 veteran soldiers were drawn too;ethcr nt Dunkirk. N This army, under Prince Charles Edward, was to be commanded by the Marechal de Saxe, a son of the late King of Poland, and at that time the most renowned officer for skill and courage in the gallant army of France. A large number of transports to carry the troops across the Channel w^ere collected in the port of Dunkirk and the neighbouring harbours. A fleet of eighteen men-of-war was held ready to sail as their convoy from the military ports of Eocliefort and Brest. News of these preparations reached England. A pro- clamation w\as put forth to set the laws in motion against Papists and non-jurors. Troops w^ere poured by forced marches to the coasts of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire ; and an eager application w^as made to the Dutch govern- ment for the 6,000 auxiliaries that the States were bound by treaty to furnish in case of a threat of invasion. Loyal addresses and offers of voluntary service poured in to the government from all quarters ; yet with all this show, the clear eyes of Lord Mahon have indubitably discerned that no more than 7,000 British troops could be calculated upon for the defence of London or any of the neighbouring counties. AVhen it was known at Eome that the equipments of Dunkirk were in a state of forward preparation, the Chevalier St. George, on the 23rd of December, 1743, signed a commission declaring Prince Charles Edward his son, Eegent, with full powers in his absence. A proclamation was also draw^n up to the people of England to be published on the landing. This invasion was certainly prompted much more by the desire of the 470 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. French government to annoy the English, than by any disinterested wish to aid the cause of the Stuarts ; but the presence of Prince Charles Edward with the invading army was most useful, as an extensive Jacobite conspi- racy was well laid in England, and ready to burst forth as soon as the troops of Saxe should have disembarked on the shores of Kent. Charles Edward himself, then in his 24tli year, left Eome on the night of the 9tli of January on the pretence of a hunting expedition, attended only by a single servant, who personated a Spanish secretary. In the disguise of a courier he reached Savona. There he em- barked in a small vessel, ran through the British fleet at great risk of being taken by Admiral Matthews, but arrived safe at Antibes. Thence he pushed his journey with such speed that on the 20th of January, the very day on which his father at Eome publicly announced his son's departure, the young Prince rode into Paris. At the French capital Charles found the Earl Marshal and Lord Elcho. An interview with the King of France was eagerly solicited by the young Chevalier, but without result ; and he was never admitted to the honour of a royal interview until after his subsequent return from Scotland in the following year. From Paris the Prince hastened to Gravelines, where, under the name of the Chevalier Douglas, he lived in strict seclu- sion, so as not to be noticed or known. At the same time as the invasion on the south of England was to be hurled against the shores of Kent or Sussex, a simulta- neous descent was intended to be made upon Scotland XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 471 by the Earl Marshal. To secure the aid of the doubtful Simon Eraser, Earl Lovat, the Chevalier issued a patent to bestow on him the dukedom of Eraser, and which nominated him King's Lieutenant in all the counties of Scotland north of the Spey. While Prince Charles Edward lay hidden at Gravelines, the French squadrons of Brest and Eochefort concentrated, and, under the guidance of Admiral Eoquefeuille, began to move slowly up the British Channel. It was prepared cither to engage the English fleet, so as to give time for the transports from Dunkirk and Gravelines to cross the Channel, or, by driving the vessels of the government from the waters, to aff'ord a fair passage to the troops. The British squadron, which had till within a few days lain at Spithead, consisted of twenty-one ships of the line. It was commanded by Sir John Norris, an ofiicer of much experience, but Avhose desire of adventure, it was said, had already been dimmed by the advance of ao-e. On hearinef of the concentration of the French squadrons, Norris sailed to the Downs, where he was joined by some more ships from Chatham, and was then at the head of a force considerably superior to the French. By the time that the English fleet had concentrated ofi" Dover, Eoquefeuille had come up Channel as far as the Isle of Wight. His look-out men could discover no signs of English vessels, and no mast bearing the standard of England could be descried outside of the Needles. The French commander rashly rushed to the conclusion that Norris had sought a retreat beneath the 472 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [ciiAr. guns of Portsmoutli. Under this belief lie sent a desputcli- boat to Dunkirk with an urgent message that the expedi- tion should sail without delay. The military leaders were only too anxious to act directly in accordance with the advice of the naval commander-in-chief. Seven thousand of the soldiers were at once embarked in the first line of transports. The Prince and the Marcchal de Saxe put out to sea in the same ship ; while the French admiral, pursuing his course, had already come to anchor off Dungreness. o At this critical time the British fleet, steerino- down from the Downs, advanced against Eoquefeuille, now anchored within two leagues of the French coast, but this, it will be seen, left the Downs and the mouth, of the Thames open for invasion from Dunkirk. At no time perhaps has England been so open to the chances of invasion. The French army was ready to embark, the French fleet, if equal or superior in force, had merely to engage and defeat the English, or, if inferior, had only to draw away, and must lead the greater bulk of the English in pursuit, thus leaving the Channel unprotected for the passage of the troops. Norris, although within striking distance of the French fleet, resolved to post- pone the action till the followinsf mornino-. Next morning at daybreak, however, when all was ready to clear for action, and the seamen confidently anticipated a victory, the French fleet had disappeared. Their admiral, conscious of the numerical superiority of his enemy, and satisfied with having made a diversion for the troops, had weighed anchor in the night, and sailed xv[.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 473 back to French harbours. Next day a fearful tempest, which greatly damaged the French ships, protected them from the pursuit of the English, and inflicted consider- able injury on the English men-of-war. The storm which robbed Norris of a few spars, and caused some slight casualties to his vessels, proved fatal to the French transports carrying the soldiers. The wind blew directly on Dunkirk and the French northern coast with terrible violence. Some of the largest ships, with all the men on board of them, were lost ; others were wrecked on the coast; and the remainder were obliged to put back to their harbours, with no small injury. For four or five days these terrible storms continued. No less authority than Sir Horace Walpole himself stated that the invasion was defeated by the force of the winds, which gave the English government time to make preparations, and said that if the French expedition had been ready to sail three weeks before, when the Brest squadron of men-of war stood out to sea, all had been decided. It is presumed that by the term ''all had been decided,'' the English statesman meant that the invasion had certainly been successful. At that time the Dutch auxiliaries had not arrived in Eno'land. These winds, which kept back the French fleet of those days, and held them in the harbours of Dunkirk and Gravelines, would be of little avail now since the introduction of steam, which by the power that it gives to an assailant to strike a blow with certainty, both as to strength and direction, has probably tended more to the advantage of an invader than to the benefit 474 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI. of the invaded. The ill-success of their troops on the stormy seas that rage around our island discouraged the French ministry, and also diminished the number of French troops who were held ready for the descent. Charles himself for sometime trusted to renew the attempt, but the government at Paris was downhearted ; the Marechal de Saxe was drawn away from the coast, and appointed to the command of the French forces in Flanders ; the soldiers were removed from Dunkirk, and the expedition was abandoned. In this instance certainly the safety of our country was due more to good fortune than to good management. LOSDON : R. CLAY, SONS, A^•D TAYLOR, PRIXTLKS, BREAD bTRELT HILL, QUEEN YICTORIA STRECT. END OF VOL. 1. CO LUMBIA UNIVERSITY 0032254547 9AZ H85 1 1.^ Lr 1§ pROmOPY-^ JAN 5 1968 ' ■ .^Ikii^ .. ,, ^- -^ ■ .' v.. -. -...,.;:.■."'■■ , f iW^^l^-^plMfafe--- Columbia ®nitiers!itp THE LIBRARIES THE INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. V u THE INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. HISTORY OF THE PAST, WITH LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE. BY CAPTAIN H. M. HOZIER, AUTHOR OF "THE SEVEN WEEKS' WAR ' IWAT} " IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. " Happy England !— happy with a special reference to the present subject, In this, that the wise dispensation of Providence has cut her off by that streak of silver sea." — Edinburgh Review. I^oivbon : MACMILLAN AND 1876. CO, {The Right of TranslcUion and Reproduction is Reserved, "l CONTENTS. * LONDON : R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. CHAPTER XVI. {Co7itinued.) Invasions to Restore the Stuart Dynasty luvasionof 1745 PAOE 1 CHAPTER XVII. Invasions in Connection with the American Colonies . . . 172 Invasion in Connection with the Independence of America . . . 199 ^ CHAPTER XVIII. Invasions of the Wars of the French Revolution .... 214 Invasion of the Irish Rebellion 293 CHAPTER XIX. Attempted Invasion by Napoleon 309 CHAPTER XX. Prospects of Invasion 370 138555 'I?^ > • THE INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. f THE INVASIONS AND ATTEMPTED INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER XVI. {Continued.) INVASION OF 174 5. We now come to the romantic enterprise of the Young Pretender, which for a brief space raised so high the hopes of the Jacobites, and spread alarm and dismay amidst the supporters of the established government. The former were crushed down and stamped out in the torrents of blood that flowed on the heath of CuUoden. The state of Scotland was considerably changed during the thirty years which elapsed between the descent of the Pretender at Peterhead and that of his son at Moidart. The sequestrations and attainders that followed the rebellion of 1715 had made the High- land noblemen cautious, and unwilling to embark in civil war, which, unless successful, was certain to entail severe penalties. The measures taken by the govern- VOL. II. . ^ k INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap XVI.] INFASIOyS TO ItESTORE THE STUAliT DVNASTr, III ill ment after the defeat of the insurrection of Mar had also tended to render the success of a rising much less probable than formerly. Soon after the suppression of the rising of 1715 the clans were disarmed by Act of Parliament, and detachments of regular troops were employed to receive the weapons of the Highlanders. The loyal clans gave up their arms, but among those dangerous to the rulinoj dvnasty the Act was as far as possible evaded. Still, as arms could only now be kept by stealth and in secret, they were obtained with much difficulty, and as the popuhtion increased a far larger proportion of the clansmen were unprovided with weapons. On the other hand, good roads had been made through the Highlands by the military labour which allowed of the passage of troops and guns into the wilds that were formerly inaccessible. Permanent garrisons of regular troops were stationed at the military posts of Fort William, Fort Augustus, Ruthven, and Inverness These were also supported by independent companies of Highlanders, who were taken into the pay of the government to suppress the thefts and depredations of the lawless spirits of the North. These were in 17:39 regimented and formed into the distinguished corps then known as the Black Watch, and which bears now, concurrently with its former appellation, the title of the 42nd Hig^hlanders. In the Lowlands, as the effect of the Union was more and more perceived to be beneficial, as trade became more and more developed, the party of order gained strength, and the Jacobites, who could only look to a restoration of the Stuarts through disorder and civil strife, lost ground. Had a more enlightened policy been pursued it is probable that by the middle of the eighteenth century not a single adherent of the Stuart cause would have remained in the Lowlands. But through a fear of admitting opponents to the dynasty into any position of trust, oaths of office were rigidly maintained and a bitter political feeling on the part of those who could not take the pledge was fostered and nourished. The conscientious men whom oaths would have bound were averse to stigmatise as treasonable the opinions of their fathers and relatives, though perhaps they themselves were gradually sliding away from their views. Those who had no consciences had little scruple in taking or in breaking an oath as opportunity might require. Thus many of the best men in Scotland were unable to obtain employment in their native land, and were driven into foreign service, where, surrounded by a Ciitholic atmo- sphere and in communication with the agents of the Stuart line, they nursed a morbid hatred to the govern- ment which exiled them from home, and hoped for the restoration of a dynasty which would alone permit their return to useful employment in their native country. Both in the Highlands and the Lowlands the capacity of the people for war was reduced. In the north the feudal power of the chieftains had been considerably sapped by the Clan Act and the sequestrations made after the last rebellion. The -improvements in firearms made the military profession a more special employ- ment, and amonor the Hio^hlanders there were few but B 2 I INFASIOXS OF ENGIASD. [chap. the gentlemen who possessed muskets or understood their use. The private clansmen still trusted to the broadsword and dirk, and many did not even have them, but were contented to take the field with scythes lashed to long poles. In the Lowlands, the greater technicality of military training, the presence of regular troops, and the consequent preservation of order by public means, had for nearly hnlf a century relieved individuals of the care of their personal safety and of the security of their goods and families. Armour had been entirely discarded and the use of arms forgotten except by the militia, which was generally contented with one annual parade as a mere preliminary to a dinner on the King's birthday. The only clan in Scotland which was at all fitted by training to cope with regular troopers was that of Fraser. The notorious Lovat, the chief of this tribe, had the command of one of the independent companies, and passed all his retainers in rotation through a course of drill in the ranks which gave him the command, in case of outbreak, of a battalion of about one thousand strong. This Highland chieftain, who thus anticipated on a small scale the system by which Scharnhorst raised the army that freed Germany from Napoleon, professedly held his soldiers for the service of the government. But the policy of this wily chieftain was regarded as so suspicious that his commission in the Black Watch was withdrawn in 1737, and he failed to obtain the arms from the government to equip his force, that would have been thrown into either scale accordinor to his own interests. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTr, 5 In England the Jacobites, thirty years after the disaster of Preston, still remembered with dread the insurrection of 1715, and although among the High Church party, and especially at the University of Oxford, there were vet many who looked vvith favour upon the restoration of a sovereign endowed with hereditary light, the mer- cantile community had gained strength. This important bulwark of peace and order was a serious impediment to the organisation or execution of any plans of insurrection. After the failure of the attempted invasion from Dunkirk in 1744, Prince Charles Edward returned to Paris, and there sought to incite the French government to aid him in a further attempt against England. But the ministers were cold and heartless in the extreme. They were engaged in Continental war, and recked little of the Stuart cause, except so far as it might be of avail to cause difficulties to England at convenient moments. Murray, who had been sent as an emissary to Scotland to find out what chances of rising there were among the Highland chieftains, returned to Paris and reported that the Highlanders would rise if the French government would aid them with one thousand auxiliary troops, ten thousand stand of arms, and ninety thousand louisd'or. Without this assistance the Scottish chiefs declared that a risino- would not only be useless, but would bring ruin and disaster ou all concerned. To obtain such assistance from the French Court was found to be impossible, and at length Charles, wearied out and disgusted with the perpetual procrastination of INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the French niinistiy, resolved to start with only such force as he himself could command. From such a rash undertaking all his Scottish friends, except the Duke of Perth, strongly disadvised him, but the Young Chevalier was not to he swayed by either their arguments or entreaties. He calculated that the defeat of the allies at Fontenoy, which had taken place in April of the same year, w^ould tie the British regular army to the continent, and that during its absence he might with the Highlanders and the Jacobite partisans alone sweep away the militia, the recruits, and the trainbands, and secure the crown. When he had formed this resolve he preserved it a close secret, and did not even cc^mmunicate it to his father. The only member of the French ministry that was made aware of the design was Cardinal Tencin, who rather acquiesced in than approved of the undertaking. A considerable sum of money was borrowed from a firm of merchants, Paitledge and Walsh, who made a business of fitting out privateers against the English trade, and from the san «. source Charles obtained a ship of war named the Elizabeth, on board of which were stowed twenty guns and a considerable number of stands of arms. A frigate named the Doutelle was also chartered. She carried eighteen guns, and received a cargo of two thousand muskets, about five hundred swords, and nearly four thousand louisd'or. The rendezvous was appointed at Nantes, and on the 2nd July, the Prince, accompanied by some half dozen Scottish partisans exiled on account of the rising of 1715, embarked in the Doutelle, and, in company with XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY the Elizaheth, set sail from St. Nazaire, at the mouth of the Loire. Till the 13th the two vessels were detained off Belleisle by contrary winds, but on that day, with a favouring breeze, they stood out to sea and bore away northwards. On the fourth day out from Belleisle a man-of-war carrying English colours hove in sight. She was the Lion, of fifty-one guns, and bore down upon and engaged the Elizaheth, The Prince was extremely anxious to take part in the action with the Doutelle, but the master exerted his authority, kept out of gunshot, and declared that if the Prince attempted to interfere in the command he would order him down to his cabin. After a contest of several hours the Elizabeth and Lion were both so severely injured that they were mutually forced to put into friendly harbours to refit. The latter made away to Plymouth, while the former with difficulty gained a shelter in Brest. ThQ Doutelle, which had held aloof from the encounter, now stood away alone for Scotland. Avoiding another man-of-war which appeared on the horizon, she arrived in safety off South Uist, one of the western isles, which owned the feudal seignoralty of Macdonald of Clanranald. Olanranald himself was away upon the mainland, but was represented by Macdonald of Boisdale, who was summoned on board the Doutelle as soon as she dropped anchor. He came on board, but on being urged by the Prince to take up arms and to engage in the cause his powerful neighbours Sir Alexander Macdonald and the chief of the Macleods, he sturdily refused to do so, and declaring 8 INrjSIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the adventure to be so rash as to verge on insanity, avowed his intention of using all his influence with his nephew Clanranald to prevent his entering into it. He stated that the Macdonalds and Macleods were only will- ing to rise if the assistance were brought from abroad on w-hich they had stipulated, and that they would certainly abide by this determination. Durinor the conversation the anchor was weighed, and while it continued the Doutelle steered towards the mainland. In vain Charles argued, remonstrated, and endeavoured to persuade, Boisdale remained firm, and was at length permitted to take his boat and return to his island. On his departure the Chevalier called his friends together and asked their advice. He himself seemed for a moment prepared to relinquish the enterprise, and of those present only one voice was raised in favour of its further prosecution. Sir Thomas Sheridan, an Irish gentleman, who had been the Prince's tutor, and had considerable influence over him, argued that to return without at least further testing the feelings of the Highland chieftains, would expose them all to ridicule and contempt, and imply on the part of the Prince an eternal renunciation of his birth- right. These views determined Charles to consult at least the chieftains on the mainland, which now lay close under the bow^s of the Doutelle, The course of the frigate was laid in the bay that lies between Arasaig and Moidart, and entering Loch-na- Nuagh, she there cast anchor. The Prince at once informed Clanranald of his arrival, and the chieftain attended by his kinsman Macdonald of Kinloch Moidart. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. came on board. The same arguments which had been in vain exhausted on Boisdale were now ^applied to Clanranald as he and Charles paced up and down the deck, while the rest of the adventurers rested and refreshed themselves under an awning which had been raised near the poop. Clanranald was as firmly of opinion as his uncle that a rising could without foreign assistance prove only ruinous, and the interview was near being closed without result, when one of those little accidents occurred on which so often mighty issues hang. A young Hio-hlander who was brother of Moidart, and accom- panied his chieftain as an armed escort, beginning to perceive in whose presence he was, became feverishly impatient at the reluctance of his chief to join the long- expected Prince, and with nervous excitement began to dally with the handle of his claymore. This notion was noticed by Charles, who, turning to the dhunie-wassal, with a happy readiness exclaimed, ''You at least will not forsake me.'' " 1 will follow you to death," cried the henchman warmly, ''though there w^ere ne\er another to draw a claymore for you.'' Shamed by the eager enthusiasm of their youthful kinsman, the chieftains could not be surpassed in loyalty. Argument, foresight, and prudence were cast aside, enthusiasm and excitement carried them away. They avowed themselves ready to support their Prince to the utmost of their military power and to the last drop of their blood. Charles, secure of the clan that marched under Clanranald, landed on the twenty-fifth of July and occupied the house of Borrodale as a temporary « 10 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [cKAr. residence. The place was wel] suited for concealment, and afforded easy communication both with the clans of the Hebrides, who it was now hoped would join, and who could bring fifteen hundred warriors into tlie field, as well as with the chieftains of the mainland, who were most devoted to the House of Stuart. Seven persons only came ashore with the Pretender to the crown of Great Britain and Ireland and the claimant to the title of King of France. These were the Marquis of Tullibardine, who had been attainted for the rebellion of 1715, and was known by the Jacobites as the Duke of Athole, though the government had con- ferred the title on his younger brother ; Sir Thomas Sheridan, the Prince's tutor ; Sir John Macdonald, an officer in the Spanish service; Francis Strickland, an English Catholic gentlem.an ; Kelly, who had been implicated in the affair of Bishop Atterbury; ^neas Macdonald, a banker in Paris, brother of Moidart, and Buchanan, the envoy who had summoned Charles to France to undertake the expedition from Dunkirk. One who either came with him or immediately joined hiai w\as a Macdonald, who was father of the celebrated Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarento, whose brilliant military genius w\as torn from our country and placed at the disposal of an enemy through political discord and civil strife. Cameron of Lochiel was one of the first chieftains summoned to an interview with the Prince at Borrodale. He arrived fully prepared to combat the intention of a rising, and in hopes of convincing the Chevalier of the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTOBE THE STUABT LYNASTY. 11 madness of the attempt. He was cautioned by a relative, Cameron of Fassiefern to write his views, and not to trust himself within the sphere of the Chevalier's fasci- nation ; but, confident in his owm firmness, he attended the meetino-. The result proved the justice of Fassiefern's forebodings. As long as Charles argued Lochiel was firm, and replied with reason to reason and with argument to argument. But the sting of being suspected of failing his sovereign in the hour of danger told more power- fully on the feelings of the high-minded chieftain. Charles, as if in conclusion, said, " I have come deter- mined to claim my rights or to perish in the attempt. I am determined to take the field with those who will join my standard. Lochiel, whom my father considered his best friend, may stay at home and learn from the newspapers the fate of his Prince.'' Cameron's sagacity gave way, his good sense was overborne by his devotion, and, much aflfected, he vowed his own assistance and that of every man over wdiom he had influence. His decision was the real commencement of the rebellion, for it is generally understood that not a clan would have risen had the head of the Camerons persisted in remaining quiet. As soon as the adherence of the Camerons was secured the fiery cross was sent out far and wide in every direction to summon the friendly clans to join with all their power the royal standard, which was to be raised at Glenfinnan on the 19th of August. Clanranald was despatched on a mission to the Hebrides, where it was hoped that he might persuade 12 ISFASIOXS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat, and Maeleod of Macleod, each of whom could bring several hundred men into tlie field, to join. But both alleged that their engagement was to rise only if the foreign auxiliary force stipulated for was brought to Scotland, and both stood aloof from the enterprise. I'heir absence was but indifferently compensated for by the zeal of the leaser chieftains, who came in with less numerous followers. The departure of Prince Charles from France was skilfully kept secret for some time. It w\as not till the 30th of July that Lord Tweeddale, the Secretary of State for Scotland in London, was aware of his sailing from Nantes, and it was not known in Edinburgh by the 8th of August. How this delay occurred has not been sufficiently accounted for, as the Lion must have brought back to Plymouth the news of her encounter with the Elizabeth by the 20th of July. But the suspicions of the government had already been aroused by a stir and activity that was noticed among the Jacobites, and measures were taken for the arrest of several suspected persons. Among these was the titular Duke of Perth, who was living at his seat of Castle Drummond, when Captain Campbell of Mocraw, who commanded an inde- pendent company lying in the neighbourhood, received orders to secure him. Campbell, in a manner little customary with a British officer, obtained an invitation to dine at Castle Drummond, and was received as a guest. When the ladies withdrew he informed the duke that he was his prisoner. The latter affected to treat the matter with indifference, and said that as it was so :vi.] INFJSIOXS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 13 there was no help for it. But on leaving the dining-room he made Campbell pass before him, as if by an ordinary action of courtesy, and as soon as the officer was across the threshold quickly closed "and locked the door upon him, then tied by a side door into the w^oods, where he found a pony, on which, although barebacked and with only a halter as a bridle, he made his escape into the Highlands. There he lay hidden till he heard of the landing at Moidart, when he immediately joined the Chevalier. John JVIurray of Broughton in the meanwhile had performed the dangerous duty of having the manifestoes printed in the Lowlands, and joined Charles at Kinloch Moidart, whither he moved after a short stay at Borrodale. He was at once appointed Secretary of State to the Prince, and intrusted with the internal administration of the undertaking. Murray formed a plan for seizing Fort Augustus and Fort William by sending false infor- mation to the governors, which it was hoped would cause the garrisons from those posts to be sent out to disperse alleged meetings of Jacobites in the vicinity. But the commandants were not to be deceived, and held their men within their parapets. Yet in the vicinity of these forts civil war broke out before the standard of the invader was raised. The commandant of Fort Augustus, anxious for the safety of Fort William, which lay near to the disaffected clans, sent two companies to reinforce its garrison under the command of Captain Scott. Scott left Fort Augustus early in the morning of the 16th of August with the 14 UFASIOKS OF ENGLAND, [ciJAf. XVI .] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DrNASTK 15 object of reaching Fort William before niglitfall. His route lay along the military road which passes by the lakes now joined by the Caledonian Canal, and is on both sides flanked by high and intricate mountains. He seems to have marched without the ordinary precaution of an advanced guard, but as he afterwards rose to be a general this can hardly have been the case. Still, after the detachment had passed the lakes, and was within eiglit miles of Fort William, it approached a narrow defile, named High Bridge, where the road crossed the river Spean on a steej) and narrow bridge sunk among the rocks and woods that overhung the ravine cut by the river. As the troops were marching down to the brido-e the silence and solitude were suddenly broken by the shrill notes of a bagpipe and the shouts of Highlanders, wdio appeared in arms among the stones and bushes on the further bank of the Spean. These were a party of Macdonalds of Keppoch, and consisted only of a dozen or fifteen men ; but as they rushed from rock to rock and from bush to bush, constantly disappearing and as con- stantly appearing at different points, it was impossible for the captain of the regulars to make out their strength. A sergeant and private, sent forward to ask their meaning, as the country was then at peace, were taken prisoners and not allowed to come back. There was no doubt now of the hostile intentions of the clansmen, and Scott wished to push forward and force the defile. But the other officers were averse to a rash advance through a difficult pass against an enemv who had the advantage of position, and whose strength could not be guessed at. The privates who were newly raised showed some symptoms of hesitation. Under these circumstances Scott attempted to retreat along the road by which he had advanced under cover of a rear- guard that was quickly engaged by the Highlanders. The firing alarmed the country, and more mountaineers quickly appeared on the scene, and were increased by fresh arrivals. With superior activity, they could run along the mountains faster than the regulars could march on the road, and were able to line the rocks and thickets overhanging the path, from which they overwhelmed the reo-ulars with a destructive fire. These could only return random shots at invisible enemies, and, rapidly losing all confidence, and demoralised by the yells of the pibroch and constant appearance of fresh adversaries, ran in confusion for five or six miles. Then they were stopped in their flight by the presence of another party in their front. Their ammunition was exhausted, and being closely pressed in flank and rear, and cut off* in front, they lay down their arms and surrendered. Cap- tain Scott and five or six of his men were wounded without having been able to maim a single mountaineer in return. This success gave great confidence to the Highlanders, and showed their power in difficult country against the more heavily-equipped and more tightly-clad regular soldiers. The prisoners were treated with great humanity, and taken to Lochiel house, where the wounded were carefully tended. As the governor of Fort Augustus would not alhw a surgeon to go out to attend Captain Scott, Lochiel sent him on parole to 16 IKFJSIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] mr AS] ONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 17 •« . the fort, so that he might not be deprived of medical assistance. War was then openly commenced, and on the 19th Charles arrived in the narrow vale where the Finnan cuts a way through high and craggy mountains to the sea. He was attended by two companies of the Macdonalds, whose chief, Clanranald, was absent raising men in every quarter where he had influence. Charles expected to find the narrow valley filled with tartans and studded with bonnets ; but on entering the o-len his eye rested on a solitude as complete as if no summons to arms had been issued, and no fiery cross had sped forth. Two hours passed, and no waving tartans came in sight, no distant bagpipe nor clank of weapons of marching men fell upon the ear. The prospect was gloomy, and the Prince retired into a hut, and seemed uncertain and anxious for his fate. Then the strains of the bagpipe were heard, and the columns of the Cameron clan wound into the glen. They marched in two long lines, escorting as prisoners in the centre the two companies which had been taken at High Bridge. Three hundred Macdonalds arrived shortly afterwards under Keppoch, who, but for a dispute with his clan on account of not allowing their Ccitholic chaplains to come out with them, would have brought more men into the field. The standard was then unfurled by the Marquis of Tullibardine. The manifesto of the Chevalier was read, as well as the commission of regency granted to his son, and Prince Charles made a short speech, saying that he came for the happiness of the people, and was willing to shed the last drop of his blood at the head of his adherents. For a few days the Prince remained at Auchincarrie, the house of Cameron of Lochiel. Here he was joined by the men of Glencoe, the Stuarts of Appin and Glengarry, and his force was swelled to about two thousand combatants. News came that the regular troops were advancing to quell the rising, and the in- telligence was received with joy, for Charles was determined not to imitate the policy of procrastination which had proved so fatal to Mar, but to avail himself speedily of the fierce activity and ardent energy of his Hio-hland followers. He determined at once to advance ; but as the Highlanders were most loath to carry baggage, and no horses could be obtained, and the roads were miserable, he was forced to leave behind a quantity of swivel guns and pioneers' tools, for which he could not obtain conveyance. Only when the insurrection had already gained some strength were the representatives of the government in Edinburgh made aware of its existence, and though the adventure was rash, the time of its occurrence made it extremely formidable. George 11. was absent in Hanover, and the government was entrusted to a Council of Eegency, termed the Lords Justices, whose actions, as those of most conglomerate bodies, showed neither vigour nor sagacity. Early in summer they had received intelligence that the young Chevalier was preparing to sail from Nantes with a single vessel, and on the 30th July it was known in London that he had VOL. 11. c 18 INFASIONS OF EiVGLAiVD. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 19 actually started. It was not till the middle of August that the landing at Moidart was known certainly in Edinburgh to the officials who there presided over the direction of affairs in Scotland. These were the Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Cope, the Justice Clerk, Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton, and the Lord President Duncan Forbes. The last was a devoted and unwearied asserter of the Protestant succession. On the first rumour of the rising he hurried down to his seat, CuUoden House, which lay near Inverness, and in- spirited the Sutherlands and Mackays to support the government. When the news of the landings of Charles was in- dubitably known in Edinburgh, there was considerable alarm, for the regular troops were chiefly on service on the continent. There were not in Scotland, exclusive of garrisons, three thousand men, and of these only one battalion was an old corps, while one battalion and a half were quite newly raised. Two regiments of dra- goons, Hamilton's and Gardiner's, now the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Hussars, were the youngest in the service. There were some independent companies hired for the purpose of completing regiments in Flanders, and there were also several companies of the Highland regiment of Lord Loudoun, but these, being Highlanders, were not to be implicitly trusted in the present emergency. Out of this small force two of the newly-raised companies had been captured at High Bridge. Nevertheless Sir John Cope considered the strength at his command not only sufficient to defend the passes into the Lowlands, but to justify offensive action, and he proposed to the Lords Justices in England that he should at once advance, bring the rebels to action, and crush the revolt. His proposal was warmly approved, and he was ordered by the Lords Justices to carry it out. At the same time they provided him with a proclamation which had been issued in the London Gazette, and which proffered a reward of £30,000 to any person who should seize and secure the son of the Pretender, so that he might be brought to justice. Sir John Cope, in obedience to his instructions, issued orders on the 13th August for the several parties of his troops to draw together at Stirling, whither arms and ammunition were sent from Edinburgh; and on the 19th, the day on which Prince Charles was unfurling his standard at Glenfinnan, he himself set out to place himself there at the head of his army, which consisted of Murray's regiment of foot, eight companies of Lascelles' ret^iment, two of Guise's, five of Lee's, one hundred and eighty-three men of the Highland regiment, and Hamilton's and Gardiner's dragoons. On the 21st the Genera] advanced from Stirling with his infantry, six field-pieces, and two culverins ; but he left the dragoons behind in the south, as they could not be of much service among the hills, and it would have been extremely difficult to find forage for them in the mountainous country. He took with him, however, a large quantity of baggage, a drove of black cattle to kill for food in case supplies from the country failed, and about a thousand stand of arms for the use of such loyal clans c 2 20 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. as might be willino: to rise in his favour. As none such could be found, he sent back about seven hundred stand of arms from Crieff to Stirling. His march was directed on Fort Augustus, as a central point from which he hoped to strike a decisive blow. His road was the same by which the Highlanders were advancing in an opposite direction, and on his arrival at Dalnacardoch he heard that the Chevalier was advancing with the purpose of meeting him and giving him battle at the wild and precipitous pass of Corryarrack. While the Prince lay at Invergary, behind Corryarrack, a messenofer arrived from the false and fickle Fraser of Lovat, who was most anxious to obtain the patent of Duke of Fraser and the Lord Lieutenancy of Inverness- shire, which had been promised to him, without com- promising himself by giving in exchange for these ideal advantages any solid aid that might imperil him with' the government in case of the failure of the rebellion. It was easily seen that Fraser was anxious to obtain his reward without fulfilling his engagements ; but as his in- fluence in Inverness-shire over the Macphersons, Mackin- toshes, and Farquh arsons was very great, it was highly desirable to conciliate him, and the patent and com- mission were sent to him. At the same time Fraser was in daily communication with the Lord President ; but his conduct in its result only proved the truth of the old adage, that honesty is the best policy ; for notwithstand- ing his playing fast and loose with both sides, he was ultimately detected and brought to the scaffold. While these negotiations were in progress, the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 21 Chevalier was kept constantly informed of the proceed- ings of Sir John Cope by deserters from the Highland regiment, who constantly stole away from the regular troops to join the rising. As the forces of the govern- ment marched along the military road which led through Dalnacardoch on Fort Augustus, the Prince determined to secure the i)ass of Corryarrack, and there bar the way, hoping in the rugged ground, eminently favourable to the Highlanders, to inflict upon the enemy a defeat which would allow him to sweep them away before him in hopeless rout even beyond the passages of the Forth. On the twenty-sixth of August, the Highland army, . after burning and destroying its baggage and all en- cumbrances that could impede its march, occupied Aberchallader, within three miles of Fort Augustus, and early on the 27th was on the mountain slopes of Corryarrack. This high and steep mountain is ascended on the • southern side, whence Cope was expected by Wade's military road, which painfully gains the summit of the pass by seventeen zig-zags or traverses, that gave to this portion of the way, in the language of the country people, the name of the Devil's staircase. The mountain side, except where cut by the road, is alm.ost inaccessible, and 'the line of road itself is repeatedly intersected by gullies formed by mountain torrents, crossed by bridges that could be rapidly broken down. Everywhere rocks and thickets, where an ambush might lurk, or unseen sharpshooters gain an inaccessible cover, overhang the way. It offered a splendid battle-field for agile irregular 1^ ■ t ,11 1 >i i>L 22 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. troops, such as the Highlanders, against the heavily- accoutred and stifly clad soldiery ; for inconvenient accoutrements and uncomfortable dress were then con- sidered as indispensable necessities to a well-drilled army. Charles discerned the advantages which the steep mountain offered to him, and at early dawn moved forward to seize the crest. While the clansmen were stepping cheerily up the northern face, two officers were hurried up to the summit to reconnoitre. In haste and breathless, they gained the highest point of the road, and ran forw^ard to peer down the further side of the mountain, expecting to view the long line of Cope's bayonets, artillery, and baggage slowly toiling up the Devil's staircase. But to their astonishment, the road was perfectly solitary and still. No clank of arms, no buzz of men, no beat of drum, no loud word of command was wafted up to them. The cry of the curlew and blackcock alone broke the silence of the hill side, and not a movement caught the eye but the waving of the heather, or the quiver- ing of aspen in the morning breeze. For a time not a single man was to be seen, then a few Highlanders came in sight. These were at first taken to be scouts of the enemy, who it w^as only natural w^ould be furnished by the Highlanders of Lord Loudoun's regiment. But though they came steadily forward, no advanced guard and no columns followed in their wake. They proved to be deserters from the scouts of Cope's army, and they brought the astonishing intelligence that their general had turned aside to avoid the expected action, and was :vi.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 23 now in full march for Inverness. The fact proved to be that Sir John Cope, on approaching the Highland army, found much greater difficulties in attacking it than he had previously anticipated. He was met in the w^ay by an officer who had been taken prisoner by the rebels, and had been present at the raising of the standard at Glenfinnan, and who had been released by Charles. This officer reported the numbers of the rebels to be far greater than had been expected, and Cope now saw all the difficulty and danger of attacking Corryarrack, though it seems that it would not have required very much prescience to have foreseen that the Highlanders would rise in considerable numbers, and that an irregular army in a mountainous country would probably take post in a difficult defile. But this does not seem to have been considered beforehand, and the chief, devoid of confidence in his own abilities, and overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility, had recourse to the favourite refuge of an incompetent leader, and summoned a council of war. It was now too late to decide whether it would not have been better to remain at Stirling, and hold the Forth, while troops were sent to the north to raise the loyal clans near Inverness and act against the rear of the Highland army. To attack Corryarrack seemed impossible ; to remain before the pass might check the Highlanders, but expose Cope himself, to be attacked in rear by other clans whose want of loyalty had been proved by the fact that they refused to take up arms on his forward march, and then even if they could make no serious impression against 24 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. disciplined troops, could certainly prevent him from drawing supplies from the country, and could eventually starve him out. There seemed no course open but either to return to Stirling or to move on Inverness and gain there an accession of strength from the well-aflfected clans. To retreat before a dispersed and undisciplined enemy would be ignominious; it was decided to move on Inverness, and it was hoped that this movement would draw the army of the Pretender in the same direction, for it was but natural to suppose that the Highlanders would scruple to move forward into the Lowlands, and leave their countries, their families, and their cattle uncovered and unprotected from the British force at Inverness. In this view Cope was misled. He did not understand the wild enthusiasm with which the mountaineers had thrown themselves into the cause of the Young Chevalier, an enthusiasm which urged them to spare neither land, nor property, nor child, nor life to secure his accession to the throne. He also made a false calculation as to time, for before he could press on in the Highland glens, so as to call back the clansmen to protect their homes, the Highland army was already threatening his own base of communication and the capital of Scotland, and he was forced to hurry back to protect the seat of the government. Fortified by the opinion of the council of war on the 27th of August, the same day that Prince Charles occupied Corryarrack, the British troops turned off by the other branch of the military road from Dalwinny and moved for Inverness. Great was the exultation in the Highland army when XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTOBE TEE STUART DYNASTY. 25 the flio-ht of Sir John Cope— for such his retreat was considered— became known. There was a general call to follow him, and some of the chieftains proposed to march five hundred picked men over the mountains, who should throw themselves across the Inverness road ahead of the regular troops, and detain them till the whole force of the Highlanders could come up in their rear and destroy them. But the Prince perceived that the Lowlands were the decisive point where the campaign must be decided, and in deference to his views the proposed attack on Cope was abandoned, and the Highlanders pushed down from Corryarrack towards the south. A detachment was sent to attack the barracks of Euthveld, but was beaten off by the bravery of the little garrison of regular troops that was posted there. But it did not rejoin the army entirely empty-handed, for it brought back the chief of the Macpherson clan, who was son-in-law of Lord Lovat, and was made prisoner either accidentally or on purpose. After passing through the mountains of Badenoch on the 30th of August, the Prince entered the vale of Athole, and occupied Blair Castle. Here he remained two days, and was joined by several new adherents, and on the 4th September made his public entry into the city of Perth amidst the acclamations of the people. The possession of Perth opened the way to the towns of Dundee and Montrose, whither parties were despatched to search for horses and to levy the public money. The halt that was necessary to carry out these measures was employed in drilling and organising the troops. This 26 INFASIONS OF ENGLAT^T). [chap. work was not one of such long duration as would be requisite with wholly untrained levies, for the High- landers were already familiar with a species of manoeuvre well suited to their own irregular tactics. As Sir Walter Scott says, " They marched in a column of three abreast, and could wheel up with prompt regularity in order to form the line, or rather succession of clan columns, in which it was their fashion to charge. They were accustomed also to carry their arms with habitual ease, and handle them with ready promptitude; to fire with a precise aim, and to charge with ready vigour, trusting to their national weapons, the broadsword and target, with which the first rank of every clan, being generally gentlemen, were armed." The clans were from their native training ready to act as battalions, and it was only necessary to model them into brigades. While this was being done two most valuable person- ages joined the standard of the Chevalier. These were the Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray. The former brought with him about two hundred of his tenantry : the latter was most useful in inducing the men of his brother, the Duke of Athole, to enlist, and both were made Lieutenant- Generals of the Prince's army. Lord George Murray was in other respects an important acqui- sition ; he had served in the Sardinian army, had studied deeply the military art, and, what is far more important, had meditated upon it much. Indeed he was the only person in the Highland force, beyond the Prince himself, who seems to have strategically considered the cam- paign, for the chieftains considered their duty confined to XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 27 leading their clansmen gallantly in action, and the French and Irish officers had been so carelessly selected, that their knowledge was little more than what is necessary for inspecting a company or relieving a guard. Over such men Lord George Murray had a great superi- ority ; but this was damped by a failing of temper and manners. Proud of his superior attainments, he was unconciliatory to the feelings of others, impatient of any opinion that diS*ered from his own, and blunt and dogmatic in putting forward his own views. During the halt at Perth news was received that Sir John Cope was directing his march from Inverness to Aberdeen, and had ordered transports to be sent to that seaport with a view to embarking his army and carrying it by sea to aid in the protection of Edinburgh. Charles was determined not to imitate the inaction of Mar, but to anticipate the movement, and himself seize Edin- burgh before Cope's arrival. On the eleventh of Sept- ember he broke up from Perth, and although it was not easy to draw the Highlanders away from the comforts of a town, that night occupied Dunblane. On the thir- teenth the passage of the Forth was made at the fords of Frew, where Mar had failed although at the head of a more numerous army. The passage was efi'ected without difficulty, on account of the drought of the weather, and thus the bridge of Stirling, which was commanded by the guns of the Castle, supported by some vessels of war, was turned. As the heads of the Highland columns filed down to the Forth, the outposts of Gardiner's dragoons fell back before them and retreated 28 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. fcHA] to Linlithgow, although they could have much impeded the passage of the river had they boldly charged the head of each column as it emerged from the stream. The sight of the Highland clans filing past, and of their royal standard, drew a few shots from Stirling Castle, one of which is said to have fallen within twenty yards of Charles himself ; but the cannonade was ineffectual, and the town of Stirling opened its gates and furnished provisions. Everything was paid for, and discipline so strictly maintained, that Lochiel, finding one of his men plundering in spite of his orders, shot him dead with his own hand. The army marched across the plain of Bannockburn, and on the fourteenth was billeted in the town of Falkirk or bivouacked among some broom-fields round Callender House. At that mansion the Prince was entertained by Lord Kilmarnock, its owner, who informed him that Gardiner's dragoons had occupied Linlithgow bridge with the intention of disputing the passage there next day. A thousand Highlanders were sent forward under Lord George Murray before day-break in the hopes of sur- prising them, but found that the dragoons had decamped the previous evening. Without any opposition Lord George took possession of the town and of the ancient palace. A few hours later they were joined by the Prince in person, and the advanced guard was pushed on, and occupied Kirkliston, only eight miles from the West Port of Edinburprh. Edinburgh had long been a peaceful town, little accustomed to the din of arms. No one in the middle XVI.] INFASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 29 of the eighteenth century, in that capital, seemed to imagine that the wild Highlanders could cross the Forth, and, even after the intelligence arrived that the Young Chevalier had landed at Moidart, appeared to give credit to serious danger. But a sudden awe seemed to burst upon the city when the unexpected news arrived that General Cope had passed from the front of the rebel army to Inverness, and left the road to Dunedin un- covered. The capital was abandoned in great measure to its own resources, and the inhabitants were swayed either by fear or by joy, according to their hatred or their love for the Stuart cause. In a military point of view, Edinburgh was almost an open town. The squares, streets, and monuments of the new town, which have now gained for the capital of Scotland the not unfit appellation of the Modern Athens, had in the middle of the eighteenth century, and for a long time afterwards, no existence. The city was strictly limited to its original boundaries, which had been estab- lished as early as the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The defences were of a character merely calculated to ex- clude wayfarers, vagrants, and tramps, but of no nature to resist the slightest attack of troops, accompanied even with a weak field-train of artillery. A high wall enclosed the city from the West Port on the west, to the Canon- gate, and then, turning northward, ascended the ridge on which the town is built, formed one side of the suburb called St. Mary's Wynd ; and extended to the Nether- bow Port ; hence the wall ran down Leith Wynd, and terminated at a hospital close on the banks of the Ik M'' w It, L* i 1; - 30 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 31 li North Loch. Above the town towered indeed the Castle, armed with artillery, and occupied by an English garrison under the command of a veteran general ; but the views of that officer appear to have been entirely confined to the maintenance of his own fortified post, and not to have embraced any defence of the city. The population were little fit to supply the want of that artillery which the town wall was too narrow to carry. Such as were able to bear arms were indeed embodied under the name of trained bands, and had muskets, which were kept in the town magazines. Their numbers amounted nominally to a force of sixteen companies of about eighty or one hundred men each ; but there was little discipline, and not much military ardour among the inhabitants of Edinburgh. Ifc was not doubtful that if these trained bands were to be called out, nearly as many of them would probably declare for Prince Charles as for King George. There was a small body of infantry, called the City Guard, that consisted of perhaps 120 men, who acted as the police of the city, but were hardly calculated to defend their town against the inroads of Highlanders. The only regular troops, except the small garrisons of English in the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, in the Lowlands, were the two regiments of Dragoons which General Cope had left behind him when he passed into the mountains to engage the rebels. Yet the citizens of Edinburgh, especially among the upper classes, were generally friendly to the Government and the House of Hanover ; and a certain necessity of demonstration of military courage urged them not to yield up the metropolis without a blow to a few wild insurgents from the hills and valleys of the north. As soon as, on the 27th of August, it was known in Edinburgh that General Cope had, with the regular troops, marched to Inverness, and uncovered the road to the Lowlands, a meeting of the friends of Government was held, at which it was resolved that the city should be put in a state of defence. Some fortifications were indeed commenced under the direction of a professor of mathematics, but the great hope of the burghers lay upon the arrival of General Cope. An aide-de-camp to that officer came in from Inverness by sea, with directions that a number of transports then lying at Leith should be despatched without loss of time for Aberdeen. Captain Rogers — this aide-de-camp — stated that General Cope intended to move with his troops from Inverness to Aberdeen ; embark them at the latter seaport, by means of the transports from Edinburgh. It was hoped he would thus be able to return to the Lowlands by sea in time to interpose between the city and the advance of the Pretender. The probable approach of the regular infantry increased the military ardour of the citizens, and as a regiment which had been voted by the town could not be levied without the warrant of the Government, several of the burghers petitioned to be allowed to enroll themselves as volunteers for the defence of the city. The numbers of these volunteers soon increased. On the night of the 31st August the news of the rebels having entered Athole came to Edinburgh. The drums beat to arms, and Hamilton's (now the 13th 32 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 33 Hussars) Dragoons, encamped close to the town. Gar- diner's Dragoons, which had been left at Stirling, were intended to cover the road towards Edinburgh in the direction of Linlithgow. By the time that, on the evening of the 11th Sep- tember, the Highland army had reached Dunblane, the confusion in the capital was greatly increased. The volun- teers had at no time amounted to more than four hundred men, and of those who had taken arms, several had done so merely out of an enthusiasm which threatened to eva- porate the more closely it was brought to a serious test before the wild courage of the Highlanders. As the advanced guard of the mountaineers, formed of detachments of the best men of every clan, pushed forward, the Dragoons of Colonel Gardiner fell back before them, and retired as far as Corstorphine, within three miles of Edinburgh. There Gardiner decided to make a stand ; and sent for the second regiment of Dragoons from its quarters at Leith. At this time the van of the rebels was at Kirkliston. General Guest, the Lieutenant- Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh, then proposed to the Lord Provost, Archibald Stewart, who commanded all the forces of the city, that the volunteers, instead of waiting to be attacked, within the town, since they were numerically too weak even to man the wall, should aid in an oflfensive movement, which he intended to make, in order to protect the city, by engaging the vanguard of the enemy at once. With this view Guest proposed that Hamilton's Dragoons should march from Leith and join with Gardiner's at Corstorphine ; in accordance with the request of the latter officers ; and that the mounted men should be supported by the infantry volunteer corps, numbering about four hundred combatants. The Provost, having agreed to this proposal, also consented that ninety of the city guard should march out along with the armed citizens to engage the Highlanders. Not the whole of the volunteers were willing to pledge themselves to instant conflict, but about two hundred and fifty, it was understood, were prepared to expose themselves to the dangers of the claymore. Orders were sent to Hamilton's dragoons to march through Edinburgh, and take their way to Corstorphine. The following day, Sunday, the 15th of September, Hamilton's dragoons broke up from their quarters at Leith and marched into the city, on their w^ay to join Gardiner. As they passed through the town it was considered necessary that the volunteers should parade at once, in order to march directly in their rear, and to support their movement. Accordingly, although divine service was in progress at the time, the fire-bell (an ominous and ill-chosen signal) began to toll, and the volunteers slowly commenced to fall in upon their parade ground. As the dragoons passed, the volunteers cheered the horsemen, who clashed their swords and responded also with loud huzzahs. The sound and sight of the swords filled many of the volunteers with consternation ; and those who did not perhaps at first feel much dread for themselves were considerably moved by the terror of their relatives and friends. A general decrease of martial ardour was apparent among the civic soldiery. As the VOL. II. . D If 1 m J* I. 34 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. author of the Tales of a Grandfather so truly remarks, there is nothing of which men in general are more easily persuaded, than of the extreme value of their own lives ; nor are they apt to estimate these more lightly, when they see that they are highly prized by others. A Calvinistic divine, who was brought from his pulpit by the sound of the fire-bell, stated as his opinion that such valiant men as the city volunteers ought not to sally forth, but reserve themselves for the defence of the city and the peaceful inhabitants, of which he (the clergyman) was no doubt one. This exhortation of the reverend gentleman fell upon ears probably more willing to obey his injunctions on this than on other occasions, and a great part of the volunteers themselves were speedily convinced that their lives were too precious to their city to be risked three miles away from it. As the regiment was ordered to move towards the West Port, the route by which the field of battle could be gained, the files grew gradually thinner and thinner on the way down the Bow ; and by the time the Grassmarket was passed, not above forty- five volunteers remained to reach the West Port. After some difiiculty a hundred more were collected, but only on condition that the advance to Corstorphine should be abandoned ; and out of Edinburgh not one of the volunteers ever issued. They had to be led back to their parade ground and dismissed for the evening. So hazardous is it to trust to the native valour of undisciplined troops in the hour of danger. No men, unless accustomed to military discipline, and to act together in time of peace, can ever be relied upon to XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 35 suddenly become heroes in the moment of peril. The citizen soldiers of Edinburgh on this occasion were probably men of not less courage and nerve than any other men, either in the regular army, or perhaps in the Highland clans that might have been opposed to them ; the want of discipline allowed the nervousness of each individual to be communicated from himself to others, and so to permeate through the whole body. But on this occasion the prudence of the volunteers was not destined to be entirely eclipsed by the valour of the regulars. The two regiments commanded by Gardiner and Hamilton were the youngest in the service, and were composed almost entirely of recruits. It was still hoped that the town might be protected by these two regiments of draofoons which Colonel Gardiner, who has become so justly celebrated for his private worth, his bravery, and his devotional character, now commanded. On the night of the 15th September, General Fowkes, however, who had been sent from London by sea, arrived at Leith and superseded Gardiner. Early the next morning, the new General drew up the two regiments of dragoons near the north end of the Colt Bridge, which spans the water of Leith about two miles nearer Edinburgh than Corstorphine. The Highlanders were already advancing from the latter village. In front of the vanguard of the kilted clansmen rode a very few mounted gentlemen as scouts, to reconnoitre the enemy. As these came near the dragoons they fired their pistols, after the usual manner of skirmishers. The young recruits, who formed the pickets of the dragoons, were immedi- D 2 w u ii } m 1 1- 3G INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. ately seized with an unaccountable panic ; and wheeling their horses, they fled towards the main body, without returning a shot. The panic communicated itself im- mediately to the squadrons, who also turned and galloped as fast as possible to the rear. The officers, unable to rally the ranks, were compelled to join in the flight. At full gallop, the flying dragoons tore along the fields on which now the new town of Edinburgh is built. General Guest from the castle ramparts, and the inhabitants of the city from the walls, could see this scandalous flight, which is now so well known in Scotland as the canter of Colt Brigg. Even at Leith, whither, as the regiments had lately encamped there, the men turned by a sort of instinct, it was possible to halt them only for a few moments. Before their nerves had recovered from their trepidation a cry was raised that the Highlanders were approaching, and the retreat was renewed as rapidly as before. A second time, near Preston, the officers succeeded in rallying their men; but one of them falling into a waste coal-pit, his cry for aid was supposed to be a Highland slogan, and the retreat again was resumed in the darkness of the night, and was only stopped on the sea coast near Dunbar and North Berwick. The retreat of the dragoons deprived the town of Edinburgh of all hope of defence from without. At the same time a message was received from the camp of the invaders, informing the citizens that if they opened their gates their town should be favourably treated ; but if they attempted resistance the inhabitants must not xvf. ; INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 37 expect to be considered as prisoners of war. This uncomfortable message, which was speedily followed by sight of the flying dragoons passing into the horizon on the other side of tlie city from the enemy, caused a general aversion amongst the inhabitants to any idea of defensive measures. The Provost called a meeting of the magistracy, and also solicited the advice of the Crown officers : but the latter, with a prudence even superior to that shown by the dragoons, but more quiet than the volunteers, had already quitted the city and taken refuge some distance from it. During the meeting of the magistracy, a letter was re- ceived from the Chevalier, signed, " Charles Prince Regent,'^ informing the city that if any opposition were made the rebel leaders could not answer for the con- sequences, being firmly resolved to enter the town. This letter was read against the protest of the Provost. Its contents drove the citizens to almost a desperation of terror. Crowds gathered in the streets, and surrounded the Provost, entreating him to give up all thoughts of defending the walls. The volunteers, on a false report that the Highlanders were immediately approaching, re- solved as a measure of personal precaution rather than of general protection, to disembody themselves, and return their arms to the magazine in the Castle. Thus by the flight of the dragoons, and the disbandment of the volunteers, the armed force of Edinburgh was reduced to the city guard and the few recruits of the newly-raised Edinburgh regiment, who were in the Castle. It was agreed to send a deputation of the Town Council to wait ^? w 38 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 39 ft i J ( P J I ■ If it on the Prince at Gray's Mill, within two miles of the city. These were instructed to beg for a suspension of hostilities until the magistracy should have had time to deliberate on the letter which had been forwarded from the rebel camp. Not long had this deputation passed out of the AVest Port, when intelligence arrived informing the Provost that Sir John Cope's army had arrived in the transports from Aberdeen ; that the vessels had been sighted off Dunbar, where the General was about to land his troops, and move instantly to the relief • of Edinburgh. A message was sent to recall the deputation to the Pretender; but it had already passed within the rebel lines. The news of the advance of Cope stirred up again martial ardour in the breast of the citizens. General Guest, the Governor of the Castle, was bombarded with various proposals. He was begged to recall the the dragoons ; but wisely replied, that he considered it better for the service that they should unite with General Cope. Some of the more fiery volunteers re- quested a new issue of arms ; but Guest seems to have been unwilling to place weapons again in hands which had certainly hardly proved staunch in danger, and contented himself with an intimation that the magistracy might arm those whom they could trust from the city mao-azines. About ten o'clock on the same night, of the 16 th September, the deputation which had been sent to the Pretender returned with an answer of much the same purport as was contained in the first summons to surrender the city. At the same time a demand was made that a positive reply should be made before two o'clock in the morning. This made the magistrates sensible that the leaders of the assailants were as alive as they could be to the value of hours and minutes under such critical circumstances. It was determined to send out a second deputation to Gray's Mill with instructions to entreat for further time to parley ; and this deputation was carried to the Highland head-quarters in a hackney- coach which has since not become undistinguished in history. When the deputation reached Gray's Mill the Prince refused to admit its members into his presence, and they were obliged to return without an answer. During the anxious night of the 16th September the Heir of the Stuarts, within a few paces of the early capital of the founders of his race, slept only two hours, without taking ofi" his clothes. In his council several plans were agitated for carrying the city by a sudden surprise ; and there were various points at which it would have been easy that an attack by coup-de-main could be made. Conscious of the value of time, and with a determination to seize any advantage that might sud- denly present itself, Lochiel and Murray of Broughton, with five hundred Camerons, were sent forward during the night to watch any favourable opportunity ; and they were already beneath the walls of the city before the second deputation had left Gray's Mill. AVithout being perceived, this force crept close to the Netherbow Port, and there lay in ambush, provided with a barrel of gun- powder, to blow up one of the gates if necessary. But the hackney-coach, whicli had carried the second ■,-» i i rrj («« » it'»- «»•--* 1'^ u i h 40 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap, deputation to the rebel camp, prevented the necessity of the Camerons having recourse to this petard. After the coachman had deposited the members of the deputation, on his return from the camp, he wished to return from the main part of the city through the Netherbow Port to his stables in the suburb of the Canongate. The sentries of the city guard, knowing that the man had been engaged that night in the service of the magistrates, readily opened the gate to let him go home. Close behind the portals lay hidden, in the shadow of the wall, an advanced guard of twenty Camerons, clustered against either side of the gate. In deep silence, a few paces further down St. Mary's Wynd, was huddled a support of sixty mountaineers ; and the remainder of the five hundred of the Cameron clan were in reserve at a further distance, near the foot of the lane. An attempt to have the gate opened for one of the Highlanders, dis- guised in a riding coat and hunting cap, had already failed, and the Camerons were about to quit the foot of the wall, when the portals were thrown open for the passage into the Canongate of this famous hackney coach. No sooner had the leaves of the gate been unfolded than the leading Camerons rushed in and secured and disarmed the few watchmen of the city guard. With the same ease they rushed into the guard- house and disarmed such soldiers as there were found. Once inside the walls, it was a work of small time to occupy the other military posts and the gates without a drop of blood being spilt. As day dawned the Camerons were found in possession of the city ; and I XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTV. 41 with no more noise and tumult had they gained the place, than if one guard peacefully had relieved another. Shortly after daybreak the clan was marched up to the Cross ; when the Castle, angered by the news of what had happened, fired a shot or two to annoy the Highland occupants of the town. The most part of the citizens of Edinburgh were roused by the shots, and awoke to find the city in the hands of the partisans of the Stuart cause. Strict seems to have been the discipline maintained by Lochiel, for from six to eleven the Camerons remained drawn up in perfect order at the City Cross ; and the Highlanders, refused the whisky which was ofi'ered to them by the citizens, and refrained from all plunder, though even a continental army might have claimed booty in a town thus taken as it were by storm. At noon of the same day, 1 7th September, another striking ceremony was enacted at the Old Cross of Edinburgh, already so famous in the annals of Scottish history. The heralds and pursuivants, arrayed in their antique and glittering dresses of office, were forced by the clansmen to proclaim King James VUL, and read the royal declaration and commission of regency, while the bagpipes played triumphal strains ; and, as is usual, from the populace, which ever sides with success, acclamations were not wanting. At nearly the same hour as King James VIII. was being proclaimed at the Cross, Prince Charles Edward, who till then had remained at the head of his vanguard, prepared to take possession of Holyrood House, the palace of his ancestors. To avoid the fire of the English 42 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. garrison in Edinburgli Castle, he made a considerable circuit to the south, and coming round by the village of Duddingston, halted in the hollow between Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. He entered the King's Park by a breach which had been made in the wall, and approached Holyrood House by the Duke's Walk, so called as it had been a favourite place of exercise of his grandfather the Duke of York during his residence in Scotland. So surrounded was the Prince by the populace, that although he had commenced to walk on foot, he was forced to mount on horseback, so as not to be thrown down by the people who crowded round him in enormous numbers, and with loud shouts of welcome. Thus mounted, he rode on to the palace, having on his right hand the Duke of Perth, on his left Lord Elcho, the eldest son of the Earl of Wemys, who had joined him a few days before, and followed by a crowd of Highland chiefs and Lowland gentlemen. The personal appearance of the Chevalier was prepossessing ; his figure was tall and well formed, his limbs athletic and active ; he excelled in all manly exercises, and w^as inured to every kind of toil, especially long marches on foot, having applied himself to field sports in Italy, and become an ex- cellent walker. His face was striking and handsome, of a perfect oval, with a fair complexion ; his eyes light blue ; his features high and noble. Contrary to the fashion of the times, which prescribed perukes, his own fair hair usually fell in long ringlets on his neck. His manners were graceful, and most courteous. Such was Prince Charles Edward Stuart at the time of his entry into XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 43 Edinburgh ; how different from him in his later years, when his constitution was ruined by intemperance, and his temper soured by the ill-health which resulted from indulgence in that vice! The dress that the Prince wore was national. A short tartan coat, a blue bonnet with a white rose, and the order and star of St. Andrew, seemed all chosen to identify him with the ancient nation that he called to arms. So far as the acclamations of the mob, and smiles of the most fickle part of the populace, the women, could be taken as a test, the Prince was so favourably received on his entry into Edinburgh that few who judged from appearances could doubt that he miofht have levied a thousand men from the town in half an hour, if he could have had the arms with which to equip them. Even those who are most convinced of the blessings which have Mien upon this country through the accession of the House of Hanover, and who are most certain of the miseries that would have crushed our people and our land had the Stuart dynasty seized the crown, which it lost through the assertion of dogmas intolerable to free subjects, can hardly fail to feel a sympathy for the brave young Prince who, in defence of the rights which he considered inalienable, had the courage to land on a lone portion of the western coast, with less than a handful of supporters, and to throw himself, his fortunes and his life, on the generosity and valour of followers bound to him little by interest, though greatly by affection. Nor is it possible not to admire the sturdy fidelity of the clansmen, who clung with unfailing hope to the Stuart cause. The 44 TNFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. chiefs indeed may have followed the dictates of prudence, and have trusted that by playing a high stake for the return of the Stuarts they might, if successful, have secured for themselves position, emoluments, and rewards; but the lowly herdsmen and hunters of the glens and the hills had little thought of appointments under government in London, or of lucrative positions in the south. Yet out of pure devotion to a cause which they could but little comprehend, they were ready to penetrate at the call of their chieftains into what to them w^as a mysterious, a dangerous, and a far-off land. Those who w^ere able to see beneath the clamour or the crowd, discerned internal symptoms of weakness in the means by w^iich Prince Charles Edward hoped to carry through his daring enterprise of driving a popular and beloved dynasty from the throne of these islands, and of tearing from the hearts of the great bulk of the people of England and Scotland the affection that they already felt for the House of Guelph. This affection was the more sure and constant, as it had already been evoked by the kindly hearts which so consistently beat within the breast of the House of Hanover. Even one hundred years ago the loyalty towards the reigning line was more firm than any loyalty based merely on the dogmatic assertion of Divine right or hereditary principle. The gentlemen of the clans, or duinhewassels, as they were termed, w^ere attired in the full Highland costume with fire-arm, broad-sw^ord, dirk, target, and pistols ; but such complete equipment was the portion of but few of the followers of the Pretender. The lowdier clansmen were XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 45 glad to be satisfied with some single weapon, as a sword, dirk, or pistol. In spite of all evasions of the disarming act, the law had been so far effectually put in force in the Highlands that many of the clansmen were armed only with scythe-blades, set straight on poles, and some with no better weapons than clubs or cudgels. The scanty and ill-provided appearance of the poorer soldiery gave them an air at once wretched and terrible. Some had no coats and little but a torn cloth tied round their waists. Many were devoid of brogues or shoes. Some had their long and unkempt hair, tied back merely with a leather strap, without bonnet or covering of any kind. Inured to war and hardship, spare and muscular, their variety of costume and weapons gave them a fierceness of aspect w^hich made them rather appear as a formidable collection of brigands than an army disciplined and equipped for modern w^arfare. As the Prince came near to Holyrood House the gunners of the castle fired upon him, but without doing any injury. He entered the palace, preceded by James Hepburn of Keith, who drew his sword and marshalled the way up-stairs. In the evening the long- deserted halls of Holyrood were enlivened with a splendid ball ; and Charles there won the favour of numbers of ladies of both rank and beauty, who that night danced at Holyrood, the relatives and friends of the gentlemen who were in arms. More important to his cause, perhaps, were the junc- tions of the Earl of Kelly, Lord Balmarino, Lockhart the younger of Carnwath, Graham of Airth, Rollo, Hamilton 46 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. FCHA P. of Bangor, Sir David Murray, and other gentlemen of distinction, who now linked themselves with his fortunes. The next morning, that of the 18th, attention was turned to more serious matters. From the magazine of Edinburgh about a thousand muskets, the arms of the trained bands which had been lodged in the city stores, were obtained. These served to arm some of the Hio-h- landers, but by no means provided for all. A requisition was laid upon the city for tents, targets, shoes, and can- teens. But notwithstanding the ball at Holyrood and the acclamations of the crowd, scarcely one of the common people who pressed in thousands around the Prince's person when he went abroad, to kiss his hands and touch his clothes, could be induced to take up arms in his service. Perhaps the reflection that in a few days a battle must take place between Prince Charles and General Cope was to the prudent citizens of Edinburgh a check upon their loyalty for the Stuart cause. From the north, however, came 500 of the clan Mac- Lachlan ; and another reinforcement arrived of High- landers from Athole. The whole force was reviewed by the Prince in the camp of Duddingston, and Charles announced his resolution to lead his force forward and give battle to Sir John Cope. This step was the wisest probably that could be pursued, as it encouraged the fiery zeal of the Highlanders ; and the conduct of the dragoons had already shown that, as far as horsemen were concerned, who are the most formidable antago- nists always to mountaineers, the insurgents had little to fear from the attack of the regular soldiery. ' XVI.] INTASIONS TO RESTORE TEE STUART DYNASTY. 47 Only one entire day, the 18th September, Charles rested at Edinburgh ; on the night of Thursday the 19th he came to the village of Duddingston, and the troops lay upon their arms, ready to move. It was agreed that the Highland army should march forward early on the following morning. The Prince asked the chiefs how they thought their men would behave ? These desired that Keppoch, who had served in the French army, and was well acquainted both with the Highlanders and continental troops, should answer for them. Keppoch replied that as the country had been long at peace, few or none of the clansmen had ever seen a battle, and it was not easy to say how they would conduct themselves ; but he would venture to assure the Prince that the gentlemen would be in the midst of the enemy, and that the private men, as they loved their chiefs and loved their Prince, would be sure to follow them. Early on the morning of the 20th, the Highlanders broke up from their camp at Duddingston, and began to move eastwards in a single narrow column. As the Prince put himself at their head, he drew his sword and cried to his advanced guard, ** Gentlemen, I have flung away the scabbard." This expression was answered by loud cheers. The cavalry of the insurgents scarcely amounted to fifty men, being only some gentlemen with their grooms, or huntsmen on horseback. But the numbers of the whole force together amounted to 2,500 fighting men. To the army there was attached but one single piece of artillery ; an iron gun which was fired as a signal for the commencement of the march, but was >iag ">'i B 'liM i * ) iWi WIW P" iw ii^ai i i ;< 48 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. useless as a piece of ordnance. The Prince had desired to leave this behind him, as a mere incumbrance, but the Highland chiefs interposed, and urged the prejudices of their followers in favour of '* the musket's mother," as they termed any cannons. Being carried with them accordingly, it was dragged along in rear of the column by a long string of Shetland ponies. Besides the royal standard, each clan displayed its banner, inscribed with its gathering cry, such as that of A thole, '* Forth and fill the fetters." As the column moved away from Duddingston, three men abreast, with tartans waving and pipes playing, a few straggling shots from the Castle dropped near it ; but with a rapid swinging stride the Highlanders soon placed themselves beyond the reach of the guns of Guest. Meanwhile, on the same day that King James VIH. was proclaimed at the Cross at Edinburgh, and Prince Charles Edward took up his residence in Holyrood, General Cope had commenced landing his troops at Dunbar, anxious to repair the false step which he had made in leaving the military roads from the Highlands to the Lowlands open to the insurgents. The disembark- ation of the troops was not completed till the 18th. Cope had been reinforced at Inverness by an addition of Lord Loudon's Highlanders, and was joined at Dunbar by the dragoons who had retreated so precipitately from Colt Brigg. These horsemen numbered about 600, and his whole force was about 2,200 men. This was composed of Gardiner's dragoons, now the 13th Hussars; and Hamilton's dragoons, now the 14th Hussars ; which XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 49 together mustered 567 men ; two companies of Guise's, now the 6th regiment of the line : and eight companies of Lascelles', now the 57th regiment. These brought into the field 570 musqueteers and pikemen. There were also under Cope five companies of Lee's regiment, which is now^ the 44th regiment ; with Murray's regiment, now the 46th ; making a strength together of 763 men : besides 183 Highlanders, the remnants of Lord Loudon's regiment that had not as yet deserted. A few gentlemen from the Lowlands joined Cope as volunteers, but brought little except moral support. The principal of these was the Earl of Home, who was attended by only two servants. To the Southern army were also attached six pieces of artillery, a most efiective arm against Highlanders ; but these were not manned by gunners of the Royal Artillery, but only by seamen, who seem to have been pressed into the service from the transports. On the 19th Cope marched from the neighbourhood of the place of disembarkation, and encamped that night near Duddingston. Next morning he resumed his ad- vance. He expected that the Highlanders, if they dared to face his approach, would be met along the regular highway ; but it was supposed, not only by the country people, but by many of the royal officers, that there would be no battle, but that the clans would melt away at the very appearance of the regular soldiery. The Highlanders, when they left Duddingston, kept in one narrow column towards Musselburgh, where they crossed the Esk by the old bridge. They then advanced to the VOL. n. E •~ ^!. | p l *» Mll ^l l■ ^lWll ! W l LJl l lMWllMl l Wi^i^^^■tJ» ^i^, 4 I 50 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. eminence of which Carbury Hill is the termination on the south-west. There they occupied the brow, the spot famous in former years for the surrender of the unhappy Mary Queen of Scots. The tactical arrangements of the Highlanders were extremely simple. On the march they formed a column of three men abreast ; when required to halt and form line, each individual faced to the right or left as directed, and the column became a line of three men deep, which by simply facing to eitlier flank might again become a column on a single word of command. The handful of cavalry attached to the Highland army, though scarcely amounting to fifty men, was occupied on the march in rc- connoitering. They obtained a tolerably accurate report of the strength of the royal army, except as to the number of the guns, which one party exaggerated to twenty field-pieces, and none stated as under twelve, though there were really only six in all. The English General, hoping to obtain early intelligence of the movements of his enemy, had sent forward two of the Edinburgh volunteers, who had joined his camp, and who it was supposed from their knowledge of the country would obtain good information. These however proved hardly more competent for this than for other military duty ; and it is said could not resist the temptation of some oysters and sherry in a public-house that they remem- bered from former days. Here they were surprised, and both taken prisoners by a young lad, a lawyer s clerk. The English General received no report, and on Friday the 20th, after having marched about eight miles, while xvr.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 51 he continued to feel for the enemy to the west, suddenly found them crossing the ridge on his left to the southward. It appears that Cope had supposed that the Highlanders would advance along the high road, passing from Seaton House to Preston, which was the regular way from Duddingston. But he failed to remember that an irregular army of mountaineers, marching with- out baggage, would probably by preference cross the country and occupy heights at the bottom of which the public road took its course. The Highlanders, when they crowned the hill immediately above Tranent, perceived on the cultivated plain below them then in stubble the column of the enemy, gorgeous in scarlet uniform, bright with yellow facings, and capped with glittering steel. On finding his enemy crossing the hills and threatening his flank, Cope immediately changed front, drew up his troops in order of battle, his foot in the centre, with a regiment of dragoons and three guns on either flank. The wall of the park of Colonel Gardiner, and the village of Preston, covered the right flank of the royal army, while at some distance on its left stood Seaton House. The sea, with the village of Prestonpans lay in the rear of Cope's right ; while at the hamlet of Cockenzie, on the rear of his left, his baggage and military chest were stationed, under the guard of some of Loudon's Highlanders. When the royal troops first saw the insurgents, they set up a loud shout of defiance, which, with hearts as big and yells as loud, was promptly answered by the High- landers. The space between the two armies was less e2 52 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. than a mile, and between them lay the little town of Morant. At the bottom of the ridge occupied by the insurgents was a piece of broken and swampy ground, intersected with ditches and inclosures, and traversed near the foot of the hill by a thick strong hedge running alono" a broad wet ditch. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and Charles was anxious to indulge the impatience of his troops by an instant attack. Before doing so, however, it was necessary to reconnoitre the ground, and he sent forward one of his officers, Kerr of Graden, who coolly examined the apparently impracti- cable morass, which divided the armies, with great care, and in various directions, totally regardless of several shots that were fired at him by the royal pickets. Kerr deliberately, in several instances, alighted, pulled down gaps in one or two dry stone walls, and led his horse over them. He then returned to the Chevalier to inform him that the morass was too difficult to be passed, so as to attack the army of Cope in front, without exposing the assailants on a narrow path, to a heavy and destructive fire of some continuance, in face and flank. A wagon road for the conveyance of coal worked in the vicinity of Tranant, for the use of the salt works at Kinsale did indeed cross the morass, but it would have been ruinous folly to have engaged troops on such a narrow front exposed to be swept at once in front and flank by artillery and musketry fire. Charles accordingly desisted from his purpose, to the great dissatisfaction of the common Highlanders, who feared that the enemy in- tended to escape from them as before at Corryarrack ; XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART BTNASTV, 53 and they were not appeased, till Lord Nairn with 500 men was despatched to the westward, so as to prevent the English General from stealing oS" towards Edinburgh, had he so wished, unperceived and unopposed. In the meantime Sir John Cope, having found a position in which he could not be attacked, considered himself fortunate ; although, as Sir Walter Scott remarks, instead of seeking safety he should have looked for victory. Colonel Gardiner urged upon him in vain the necessity of the initiative, and of bolder measures. The only ofl'ensive movement of the king's troops that after- noon was to fire a few rounds of artillery, which dislodged a party of Highlanders from Tranent churchyard. In the evening it was resolved in the Highland army that at all hazards Cope should be attacked next morning, opposite Tranent, where the morass seemed less difficult. Fortunately for the Chevalier, there was in his army a gentleman named Anderson of Whitburgh, a native of East Lothian, to whom the ground in the neighbourhood of Tranent was perfectly familiar, and who suddenly remembered a path which led from the height on which the insurgent army lay, round the morass, down to the plain below. This important fact was communicated to Lord George Murray, who immediately went and awoke the Prince. Charles received the tidings with much cheerfulness, and immediately the scheme was prepared to be put in execution. An aide-de-camp was sent to recall Lord Nairn with his detachment, the Highlanders were got under arms, and with perfect silence formed olumn, and began the march which should place them ,'* 54 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. on the left flank of the royal army, Anderson leading the way. The path was found lonely and unguarded, and the morass was passed without much difticulty ; though even by this chosen path some of the Highlanders sank knee keep. The night was dark and cold, and as day began to break a frosty mist covered the plain, and rising high above the morass, entirely concealed the movements of the Highland army from the outposts of the Royalists. But when the leading clansmen gained the plain, the dragoon pickets stationed there heard the sound of their feet and the clatter of their arms, after challenging and shouting '' Who goes there ? " fired their pistols and galloped off to give the alarm. A signal gun was almost immediately afterwards heard, warning the regular troops to get under arms. The right of the Highland line was yielded reluctantly to the Macdonalds by the Camerons and the Stuarts , although both supposed that they ought to have held the post of honour. Charles placed himself at the head of the second line, which was close behind the first. The first line consisted of the clans of Clanranald, Glen- garry, Glencoe, Macgregor, Appin, and Lochiel ; the second consisted of three regiments. Lord George Mur- ray's Athole men, Lord Nairn's regiment, and those of Menzies of Shian. Lord Strathallan with his tiny force of cavalry was ordered to hold the height above the morass, and to do what his numbers would allow to improve the victory in case one should be gained. It is extraordinary that the English army should have placed no sentries or outposts on this important path, by xvl] invasions to RESTORE THE ST if ART DYNASTY. 55 1 which the morass was passed; and it would almost appear that the vicinity of the royal army was not properly reconnoitred or patrolled, although a deserted embrasure was discovered by the insurgents in their advance, which showed that the fortification of this passage had been contemplated. On reaching the firm ground beyond the morass the Highland column advanced due northward across the plain, in order to gain ground for turning towards the enemy and forming line of battle. On the alarm being given in the English camp that the Hio-hlanders were close at hand, a gun was fired as a signal for the troops to get under arms. Seeing that the Highlanders had completely turned his left flank, and were now advancing from the eastward, along a level and open plain without interruption of any kind. Sir John Cope lost no time in disposing his troops to receive them. He changed front to his left, and altered the dispositions which he had made the previous evening along the morass ; he formed his line facing eastwards, with the walls of Preston Park and of Bankton, the house of Colonel Gardiner, close in the rear of his army. His left flank extended towards the sea ; while his right rested upon the morass which had lately been in his front. The infantry stood in the centre ; Hamilton's dragoons on the left of the line; and Gardiner's, with the artillery in front of them, on the right next to the morass. This disposition, against which Colonel Gardiner is said to have remonstrated, was found to be very disadvantageous in the course of the action. .1 m 56 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND [chap. The Highlanders had no sooner advanced so far to the northward as to clear with the rear of their column the passage across the morass, and to place the whole of their force on open ground, than they turned to the left, and formed their line of battle of three deep. For an instant there was a pause in the Highland ranks. With uncovered heads the clansmen bent and muttered a short prayer; then pulling sternly their bonnets over their brows, they drev7 their weapons ; the bagpipes screamed forth the signal of attack ; and breaking into small bodies, the tartan warriors rushed forward with a slogan cry that gradually rose into a tremendous yell. The first attack- ing line rapidly closed amongst the guns, and though Colonel V/hiteford, who had joined Cope's army as a volunteer, fired five of the pieces on the advancing Highlanders, the Camerons and the Stuarts, running in upon the cannons, stormed the battery. Gardiner's dragoons, who were drawn up in rear of the guns, re- ceived orders to charge, but, like the seamen gunners, were seized with panic, dispersed under the fire of the Highlanders, and fled from the field, without even an attempt to advance, riding down the guard of the guns in their flight. Colonel Gardiner himself stood his ground, and encouraging some of the infantry near him to fire upon the advancing Highlanders, was struck a mortal blow and borne to the earth dead. At the same time as the Camerons and Stuarts scattered Gardiner's dragoons on the right of the English line, in the same manner did the Macdonalds drive Hamilton's regiment like chafl" before them. The English infantry now XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 57 remained uncovered on both flanks, but was still steady, and poured upon the Highland centre a close and well- directed fire, before which several of the best clansmen fell. But the fire of the infantry was no more efl'ectual in staying the wild onset of the clans than was the appearance of the cavaliy. The Highlanders, not an instant checked by the fire of musketry, charged into the ordered ranks, parried the bayonets of the foot soldiers with their targets, and broke at several points the extended and thin lines of the regulars. By this fierce assault the whole of the centre of the English li];ie was thrown into confusion ; while the inclosures and park wall of Preston impeded its retreat. So rapid was the Highland onset, that in five or six minutes the whole brunt of the fight was passed. Had Cope had any means of rallying his fugitives, the day might have been in some degree avenged ; for the first line of the Highlanders dispersed themselves almost immediately in search of booty and prisoners. The second line, headed by the Prince himself, who had followed so close to the first line that to Sir John Cope's army the two lines appeared but as one body, would have probably disbanded in the same manner, had not a report spread that the dragoons had rallied, and had returned into the field. But the dragoons had no intention to look near the enemy again. They retreated in every direction. Some rushed into Edin- burgh, and carried the news of the Highland victory to the capital. Others flew in the direction of Stirling and the west country. Some were rallied by Sir John Cope I 58 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 59 and conducted in a not satisfactory plight to Coldstream, and then to Berwick. At the latter town the un- fortunate General himself arrived, as it is said, being the first to bring the tidings of his own defeat. The victory was most complete. The dragoons, being mounted, and there being no cavalry to pursue them, escaped ; but not two hundred of the infantry got away. All the rest were either killed or taken prisoners. The total number of slain in the royal army was about four hundred, and of these none were lamented more than the benevolent and pious Colonel Gardiner, who was carried senseless to the clergyman's house of Tranent, and there expired a few hours after the battle. Great moderation was shown by Prince Charles Edward in his victory. He remained on the field till mid-day, giving orders for the relief of the wounded of both armies, without distinction of friend or foe ; and on seeing the bodies of the English soldiers, expressed deep commiseration for what he considered his father's misguided subjects. On the part of the Highlanders the battle, though short, had not been bloodless. Four officers and thirty men w^ere killed ; six officers and seventy men w^ounded. Thus in five or six minutes the whole of the regular infantry in Scotland, except the small detachments which garrisoned the military posts, were swept away, and the cavalry was scattered in retreat, or driven into the southernmost corner of the kingdom. Scotland was thus freed from the troops of the Government, and almost entirely at the mercy of the insurgents. No sooner was the victory decided than most of the Highlanders disbanded for plunder. The standards, and trophies, and the military chest, contain- ing about £2,500, was brought to the Prince, but all other supplies were reserved by the captors for them- selves. This plunder was of considerable disadvantage, as a great number of the Highlanders, unaccustomed to luxuries, retreated to the mountains to place their booty in a place of safety. Had at this time the French Government acted with energy, and thrown troops, either on the coast of England, or sent reinforce- ments to the Forth, it is probable that they might have made the invasion of Prince Charles Edward, commenced with only seven men, successful and have also obtained Flanders as an easy conquest for themselves. As it was, the British troops who w^ere recalled from Flanders in consequence of the rebellion in Scotland, which led to the sudden conclusion of the Convention of Hanover, left a great opportunity to Marechal de Saxe. That skilful officer invested Brussels in the following winter, and on the 20th February the capital of the Low Countries surrendered, and its large garrison became prisoners of war. As it was, vessels were despatched from time to time from France wdth money and supplies, though only in small quantities. One of these vessels arrived some time after the victory of Preston at Montrose, with £5,000 in money, and 2,500 stands of arms ; a train of six brass four- pounders, was also sent ; and some Irish officers came by these vessels. But such aid was not sent either 60 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. in sufficient quantities, or with a sufficiently orgo.nised plan, and after a time, to intercept such commuDications, Admiral Byng entered the Firth of Forth with four or five royal men-of-war, which forced the cavalry of the insurgents to scour the coasts with patrols, in order to prevent the landing of the English seamen. In the meantime the Government in London had not been idle. At the new-s of the progress of the in- surrection King George himself had set out from Hanover, and on the 31st August had arrived in London, three weeks before the battle of Preston. He found that the Regency in his absence had not neglected precautions. A requisition had been sent to the Dutch government for the six thousand auxiliaries they were bound by treaty to furnish ; and it had been resolved to recall some of the Endish redments from Flanders. Marshal Wade had also been ordered to collect as many troops as he could concentrate at Newcastle ; and the militia of several counties had been called out. But the people as a rule in no degree supported the endeavours of the government ; but remained cold spectators ; not indeed openly favouring the rebellion, but little inclined to struggle against it. Marshal Wade himself, in a letter written early in September, before the battle of Preston, says, that England is, according to liis belief, the prize of the first comer ; that if anybody could tell w^hether the six thousand Dutch, and the ten battalions of English from Flanders, or five thousand French or Spaniards, w^ould be here first, the fate of the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTr. 61 country would be known. The same officer, writino- a few days later, says, '' Th3 Freniih are not come, God be thanked ; but had five thousand landed in any part of this island a week ago, 1 verily believe the entire conquest would not have cost them a battle.'' Parlia- ment was summoned for the 17th October. On the tidings of the first success of Prince Charles Edward, the King of France became better disposed towards him, and the French court took into consideration what, if promptly carried out, might have been a most important diversion in his favour. It was intended to put the younger brother of Charles Edward, Henry of York, at the head of the Irish regiments in the French service, and of some native French troops, and with these attempt to c0"ect a landing in England. Preparations were actually begun with that object in the harbour of Dunkirk, but intrigues sprang up against the intended expedition, pretexts of delay were always found, and obstacles invariably interposed. The French govern- ment deferred long, and finally lost the fairest chance that it had ever had since the Eevolution of swaying the destinies of Britain into the channel that it so much desired. The first wish of Prince Charles himself w^as that the blow struck at Preston should be followed up as rapidly as possible by a bold irruption into England ; and that he himself at the head of his army should march immediately upon London. The morning after the action an agent was sent into Northumberland with instructions to stir up the country and prepare the w^ay 62 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. for the cominof of the Prince. Had he been able at this moment to push forward with a body of two thousand or three thousand men, there is reason to believe, from the state of matters in England, the apathy of the people, the terror consequent on the victory at Preston, the want of troops previous to the arrival of the Dutch and the battalions from Flanders, the jealousies and intrigues in the English cabinet, that the Highlanders might liave reached London with but little opposition, and succeeded at least in a temporary restoration. On the road from Scotland to the metropolis beyond the Tweed, there was no fortified town, except New- castle ; and even at Newcastle there was consternation. Though the walls were mounted with cannon, and pre- parations made to sustain an assault, the townspeople were busy in removing their goods, and most of the best houses were left without either furniture, or inhabitants. This is stated positively by an eye-witness on the second day after the battle of Preston. In Scotland, where previous to the action at Preston, the heir of the Stuarts could claim control over hardly an acre of land, beyond that occupied by the lines of his clansmen, his victory in Lothian had placed the whole country at his feet. Nowhere, except in the Castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and the four small posts in the Highlands, was the standard of the govern- ment flown. Yet the Prince could not but be aware that his own army, after the battle of Preston, was reduced by nearly one half, through the number of Highlanders who had xvi.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 63 returned home to deposit the booty which they had captured in the field. His Scottish advisers were almost unanimous against an expedition into England, and urged with an appearance of force that he might triple or quadruple his army by reinforcements from the High- lands, and also might obtain the advantage of the supplies which were beginning to arrive at the eastern ports of Scotland from France. Such arguments pro- bably were fallacious ; for the supplies from France might have been equally directed to the ports of Eng- land, and the English Jacobites would probably have furnished as many recruits to the white flag as might be expected from the Highlands; provided that the advance had been made into England, while the govern- ment was still unprepared. But the melting away of the clansmen after the victory of Preston left hardly any course open, except to remain in Scotland until larger supplies of men were forthcoming, Avith which to advance southwards. It was accordingly determined that the Highland army should take up its headquarters at Edinburgh, and await the reinforcements from the hills, which the news of the victory of Preston would probably cause quickly to take up arms. The Chevalier having passed the night of his victory, the 21st September, at Pinkie House near Musselburgh, returned on the following evening, to fix his residence for some time in Edinburgh. The main body of his army was encamped at Duddingston, where it was with great difficulty that the mountaineers could be persuaded to make use of, as covering, the tents !> I h 64 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. which they had captured from the regular troops, after the battle of Preston. The appearance of the camp was most irregular, the assistance of the quartermaster- general was entirely discarded ; clans drew up their own lines and pitched their own camp as best suited their convenience ; and regulations of a sanitary nature seemed almost entirely to have been disregarded. As it was, however, it does not appear that any amount of sickness worthy of note broke out amongst the clansmen, who were probably in their native glens fully inured to exposure to the weather, and had been probably ]jred without much regard to cleanliness. A considerable quantity of troops marched back into Edinburgh with the Prince in triumphal procession, escorting the prisoners, the supplies, and the colours that had been taken in battle. The multitude, as all multitudes, ever eager to side with success, greeted the Highlanders and their leaders with repeated acclamations ; while the pibrochs of the pipemen woke up the echoes of the old High-street, with the well-known Jacobite air of *'The king shall enjoy his own agam. ;> The battle of Preston made Prince Charles Edward master of all Scotland, except the few posts held by the royal troops. In almost every town his father was pro- claimed as King James VIII. while the public cess and the excise were collected in his name and for his service. Circular letters were sent to the masfistrates of all towns in Scotland, commanding them to repair immediately to Edinburgh to pay their proportion of the contributions which were imposed on every district. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 65 The collectors and controllers of the land tax and customs were also forced to bring to Holyrood their books and the public money in their hands, on pain of high treason ; while the goods in the Customs House of Leith, held for the Government, were sold out for the military chest. On the city of Glasgow, the richest and least friendly to the Jacobite cause, an extraordinary contribution of £5,000 was imposed. The Prince himself at Holyrood bore all the state of royalty, and made every exertion to confirm and exalt popular feeling in his favour. He prohibited rejoicings for his victory, giving as a reason that the men who had been slain were his countrymen and his father's mis- guided subjects. The clergy of Edinburgh were, by edict, encouraged to resume the exercise of their func- tions and assured of the protection of the Prince. The ministers, however, not confident, perhaps, in the security of the protection which even the goodwill of the Prince might afford to them, against the Highlanders and Papists, who composed the bulk of his forces, left their pulpits vacant.| It is only recorded that one, Mr. Macvicar the minister of the West Church, continued to conduct his services with boldness and even to pray for King George. It is worthy of notice, however, that the West Church was within easy point-blank range of the guns of the Royal garrison of the castle. The Chevalier was urged to punish the boldness of the clergyman in praying for the reigning king of England ; but with wisdom refused to disturb the services of the congregation ; and possibly out of gratitude for this immunity, Mr. Macvicar on the VOL. II. F II fif) INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 67 ] following Sunday added to liis prayers iu behalf of King George, this petition in favour of Prince Charles. "As to this young person who has come among us seeking an earthly crown, do Thou in Thy merciful favour give him a heavenly one.'' More inconvenience than was caused by the prayers of the worthy minister arose from the banking companies of Edinburgh having on the advance of the Highlanders withdrawn into the Castle, carrying with them the specie which supplied the currency of the country. A proclamation was issued, which invited these establisli- ments to return into the city, and to resume the ordinary course of their business. But the controllers of money felt no more security against the inroads of the Highlanders than did the majority of the controllers of spiritual exercises, and declined to trust themselves beyond the sentries of the Castle. This fortress was at first closely blockaded, but the Governor wrote to the magistrates of Edinburgh, that unless communication with the country was re-opened, and means given him to supply food to his garrison, he would fire upon the city and lay the houses in ruins. It is probable that the earnestness with which the Governor insisted upon the communication with the country being kept open, was not prompted by any fear of the starvation of his garrison, for it is believed now that there was a large supply of salt provisions in the place. He was eager, however, that the insurgent army might be induced, by the hopes of a speedy capitulation of the Castle of Edinburgh, to remain before its guns instead of leaving to march southwards before there were troops of the government assembled to bar the way. The threat of the Governor to fire upon the town caused naturally much alarm among the magistrates and citizens, whose valour had not been proved to be of the highest order before the victory of Preston. A day's respite was obtained from General Guest, in order that his threat might be laid before Prince Charles at Holyrood. The answer from the headquarters of the rebel army was delivered in writing. It expressed surprise that any ofiicer should be so barbarous as to threaten ruin to the inhabitants of a city for not doing what they were im- potent to accomplish, and pointed out, not unjustly, that the government might with equal reason require the rebel army to leave the city under threat of reducing it to ruins, if it were thought that an instrument could be made of the Prince's compassion for the people. This answer was transmitted to the Castle, and after entreaty the magistrates obtained from the general an agreement to suspend hostilities till the return of the express which was immediately despatched for orders from London. General Guest expected that, pending further instructions, no inconvenience would be given to the garrison, but as that condition was not understood or promulgated through the rebel army, a few days after some High- landers fired at a party of country people carrying provisions up the Castle hill ; upon this the gunners immediately opened fire, the streets of the town were swept with shot, and several of the inhabitants as well as many of the advanced posts of the Highlanders were F 2 68 TNFJSrONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 69 '"iy .:.:(- killed. An earnest appeal was now made to the Prince to interpose and save the city from destruction; and with a moderation which does him infinite credit, the Chevalier himself insisted that the blockade should be raised and free communication allowed between the garrison and the sources of their supply. Although the inhabitants of Edinburgh were well pleased with the Prince's generosity, his clemency in another matter excited no small disappointment among his followers. It had been proposed that one of the prisoners taken at Preston should be sent to London in order to demand of the Court of St. James that an exchange of prisoners who had been taken or should be taken in the war should be allowed ; in fact a demand that the rebels should be treated as belligerents, with the intimation that if this course were declined, and that if any of the Prince's followers fell into the hands of the government and were put to death as rebels, the Prince would be compelled to treat his captives in the same manner. It was evident that a recognition by the government of the rights of the insurgents to be treated as belligerents, and not as rebels, would be of the utmost importance, as many would be willing to face the dangers of war and the field and join the army as recruits who would not be prepared to add to the hazard of battle the subsequent horrors of the gibbet, the rope, and the scaffold. It was urged upon the Prince that in order to induce the English officers to bring pressure to bear upon their government to allow the exchanges of prisoners, some English ofiicers who fell into his hands should be »» made examples of, so that their own comrades might be anxious that the exchange of prisoners should be allowed. With a moderation which is usually the best policy, Charles stubbornly refused his sanction. *' It is below me," he said, " to make empty threats, and I will never put such as these into execution. I will not in cold blood take away lives which I have spared in the heat of action.'' In opposition to the advice of those who had urged this barbarous course, great clemency was shown by the Chevalier himself to the prisoners taken at Preston. Within a few days of the battle the officers were liberated on parole, and permitted to live where they chose in the town of Edinburgh. Little more restraint was imposed upon the privates, but as an officer, unworthy of the the English army, broke his parole and escaped into the Castle, both officers and privates were sent afterwards into custody near Perth. Few were persuaded to enlist into the Prince's army ; but as it was found expensive and troublesome to confine those who had been sent to Perth, the greater number were released on taking an oath not to serve against the House of Stuart for one twelvemonth— an engagement which, it is alleged, was not respected by the English government. Nor is it un- natural that the government should consider that an oath made to a rebel commander was invalid. It had been intended by the Prince to summon a Scottish parliament at Edinburgh, but the difficulties of the scheme were found to be insuperable. He published however a proclamation on the 9th of October, 70 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE Till!: STUART DYNASTY. 71 '!» denouncing the pretended parliament of the Elector of Hanover, summoned at Westminster for the I7th, warning the Endish not to attend, and declared the attendance of the same to be high treason on the part of the people of Scotland. On the 10th of October, the following day, an important proclamation was issued by the Prince, in which he announced that his father would never ratify the " pretended union with England," but that with respect to every law and act of parliament since the rebellion, so far as in a fair and legal parliament they should be approved, he w^ould confirm them. He also publicly proclaimed that the King his father would uphold liberty of conscience, and give the most solemn promise to accord whatever a free parliament should propose for the happiness of the people. These pro- clamations had probably less effect than the victory in Preston in bringing reinforcements to the Prince's standard. But many loyalist gentlemen now joined the ranks of the rebels. General Gordon of Glenbucket led down from the upper part of Aberdeenshire one hundred men ; Lord Ogilvie, eldest son of the Earl of Airlie, appeared at the head of six hundred men, from Strathmore ; Lord Pitsligo, a still more important accession, being a nobleman of the most irreproachable character, and already in an advanced stage of life, took the field at the head of a squadron of north country gentlemen, amounting to one hundred and twenty in number, while Lord Gordon, brother of the Duke, declared for the Chevalier, and undertook to levy a considerable force in his owm country, though his V brother declined to join the rebel standard, mindful probably of the result of 1715. Macpherson of Cluny, avIio had gone from Perth to levy his clansmen, returned to Edinburgh with about three hundred. Lord Balmerino, a bold, hard-drinkiug veteran of the old Scottish stamp, took up arms again, as he did in 1715. These new forces were oro-anised in all possible haste. Two troops of cavalry were formed as guards, one of which was placed under the command of Lord Elcho, the other, which was at first intended to be commanded by the son of Lord Kenmure, who declined to join, was subsequently conferred on the unfortunate Balmerino. A troop of horse grenadiers was placed under the command of the equally unhappy Kilmarnock. Mr. Murray of Broughton the Prince's secretary, desirous of military as well as civil command, levied a small regiment of hussars, intended for light cavalry duties, which were commanded under him by an Irish officer in the French service, named Lieutenant Colonel Bagot. The dress of these horsemen is recorded with considerable accuracy. The privates in their ranks were all gentlemen, and w^ere uniformly clothed in blue, faced with red, and had scarlet waistcoats laced with gold. These accessions were chiefly men from the Lowlands, and from the Lowland counties of the Highlands, and not from the hills. With Sir Alexander Macdonald and the Macleods the Stuart cause found less favour. Three days after the battle of Preston the Chevalier had des- patched a messenger to the chieftains of Macdonald and ^f 79 INrASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Macleod, exborting them, but in vain, to join his standard . These two great chiefs were probably deterred from entering upon any decided action through the duplicity of Lord Lovat. He hesitated even after the battle of Preston, chiefly through the instrumentality of Forbes, President of the Court of Session, who possessed over him that species of ascendency which men of decided and honest principle usually hold over such as are crafty and unconscientious. Had Lovat, the Macdonalds, and the Macleods thrown in tbeir fate with the Chevalier, their united forces would nearly have doubled the numbers which Charles was collecting at Duddingston, and with such a force the Prince might have ventured on an instant march to England after the battle of Preston, where every day's news was now prompting Marshal Wade aud the English government to collect troops and make arrangements to bar his progress, as . well as to resist the threatened invasion from France. Lovat proposed to form with the Mackintoshes, Farquar- sons, and other branches of the clan Chattan, over whom he possessed considerable influence — a northern army at the pass of Corryarrack, which, united with the Macleods and the Macdonalds, would probably have amounted to five or six thousand men. He believed that he could have retained this army, to throw it on whichever side might subsequently serve best to promote his own interests. But the crafty Lovat overreached himself. The chiefs of the Macdonalds and Macleod of Sleat perceived that the mere desire of Lovat was to profit by their services without giving them any share A XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. of his expected advantages, and thought it not un- reasonable to secure to themselves the price of their own labours. They began to listen to the more sincere and honest counsel of Lord President Forbes, who exhorted them to keep their dependents from joining in the rebellion, and finally induced them to raise their vassals on behalf of the House of Hanover. The President was furnished with commissions which the government had placed at the disposal of this active and intelligent judge, and he distributed these among such clans as were disposed to take arms in defence of the government. Both Sir Alexander Macdonald and Macleod were prevailed upon to accept some of these commissions, and as soon as these chieftains had done so they had committed themselves to the government too far to allow them to retire from their enoraorement. Other chieftains among whom commissions were dis- tributed were the Lord Seaforth, the Earl of Sutherland, the Master of Eoss, and the Laird of Grant. The companies raised under these commissions were ordered to assemble at Inverness, and this northern army of Eoyalists was there concentrated about the end of October, in the rear of the insurgents, while the in- creasing forces under Marshal "Wade at Newcastle threatened to bar the possibility of an entrance into England. The defection of Macdonald and Macleod made Lovat 's plan of the northern army of Highlanders assembled at Corryarrack altogether abortive, and now, afraid of losing all credit with the Pretender's party, he adopted 74 JNFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the dastardly middle course of exposing his son's life to protect his own. It was arranged that his eldest child, the Master of Lovat, should join the Chevalier with seven hundred or eight hundred of the best-armed and most warlike Frasers, while Lovat protested to his neighbour, the Lord President, that the march was made to his infinite sorrow, against his repeated orders, and alleged that the Frasers having by accident come too near the rebel army, were compelled by force to join them. The previous hesitation of Lovat had lasted so long that the Frasers had not arrived at Perth till after the Chevalier had entered England. Although he was disappointed in receiving the re- inforcements which he might have hoped to have expected from the Highlands proper, the army of the Chevalier six days after his victory mustered nearly six thousand men in the camp of Duddingston. Great pains w^ere taken here during the halt to equip and discipline the infantry. Their rations were punctually supplied ; all the regiments of foot wore the Highland garb, even those who consisted not of Highlanders proper, but of Lowlanders. The regiments of infantry were sixteen in number, but many of them were very small.^ The pay of a captain in this army wiis 2s. ^d. a day ; a lieutenant 25. ; an ensign Is. 6d. ; and a private received 6d. a day without deductions. In the clan regiments every company had two captains, two 1 Highland C/ans.— Lochiel, Appin, Keppock, Glencoe, Mackinnon, Mac- pherson, Glengarry, Glenbucket, Macloughlan, Strowan, Glen Morrison. Lou-landers, — Athole, Ogilvie, Perth, Nairn, Edinburgh, //"orse.— Lord Elcho, Lord Balmerino, Lord Pitsligo, Earl Kilmarnock. XVI.] INFASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. lieutenants, and two ensigns. The front rank of each clan consisted of persons who called themselves gentle- men, and were paid l5. a day. These gentlemen were better armed than the men in the ranks behind them, and had all of them targets, which many of the others had not. A spy sent from England about the middle of October, who obtained an audience of the Prince, as desiring to become a partisan, and was asked by him many questions as to the number of troops, and the state of public feeling in England, reported as follows : ** They consist of an odd medley of grey beards and no beards ; old men fit to drop into the grave, and young boys whose swords are nearly equal to their w^eight, and I really believe more than their length. Four or five thousand may be very good determined men, but the rest are mere dirty, villainous-looking rascals, who seem more anxious about plunder than their prince, and will be more pleased with four shillings than a crown." The spy, however, cannot have been w^ell informed, because by the middle of October there were hardly more than five thousand men in all in the Highland camp at Dudding- ston, and in spite of their looks, their discipline was good, and little plunder or pillage was committed against the people of the country. Sometimes a comfortable citizen was stopped by a Highland musket levelled at him with threatening gesture, but the price at which he was allowed to pass free without insult or hindrance was a penny. Some serious robberies which were at first supposed to have been committed by the High- landers were subsequently traced to have been the work 76 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. of professional thieves, who took advantage of the prestige of the Highlanders as robbers to improve the occasion for their own benefit. Money, which is scarcely less necessary in war than men, was obtained in the manner alluded to above by the levying of contributions within the country, and also from a French ship which anchored at Montrose with £5,000 on board. Three other ships coming to the same coast carried £1,000 more, and also brought with them a valuable contribution in the shape of five thousand stand of arms, a train of six brass four-pounders, and several French and Irish officers. With them came over also M. de Boyer, called the Marquis d'Equilles, who was entrusted with a letter of congratulation to Charles from Louis XV. To bear this letter was the real object of his coming; but the Chevalier, with excellent policy, insisted on calling him Monseigneur de Boyer, and received him with studious honours and careful ceremony, afiecting to regard him as the ac- credited agent of the King of France. This, together with a promise of the French landing in England to aid the enterprise, tended in no small degree to raise or sustain the spirits of the warriors of the white cockade. To consult upon the strategical objects of the campaign, and confer as to the execution of administrative measures both military and political, the Prince formed a council, which met every morning in his drawing-room. This consisted of the two Lieutenant- Generals, the Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray, the Quartermaster- General, Colonel O'SuUivan, the Colonel of the Horse XVI.] INFASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 77 Guards, Lord Elcho, the Prince's Secretary, Murray of Broughton, Lords Ogilvie, Nairn, Pitsligo, Lewis Gordon, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and the Highland Chieftains Lochiel, Keppock, Clanranald, Glencoe, Lochgarry, Ardshiel, and Glenbucket. This council met every morning at ten o'clock. It was then the practice of the Chevalier first to declare his own opinion, and after- wards to ask that of every other member in their turn. The deliberations were often void of harmony and concord, and were embittered by quarrels and jealousy between the Scottish and Irish officers. The latter appear, with a servility which is not unusual among those attached to the person of a prince, but which is a curse to a prince himself, as it prevents him obtaining the real opinions of those whom he would wish to consult, to have always confirmed what the Chevalier said. It is also stated that his Royal Highness, with a dogmatic idea of his own perception, which cannot be regarded as extraordinary in one trained up as a prince in the doctrines of the Stuarts, could not bear to hear anybody differ in sentiment from him, and took a dislike to everybody that did so. The Chevalier and Sir Thomas Sheridan, who had been his former tutor, an Irishman by birth,' but who had lived abroad, were both ignorant of the ways and customs of Great Britain, and both were believers in the doctrine of divine right and absolute monarchy. They would easily have fallen into blunders which must have hurt the cause, had not wiser counsellors interposed and prevented them from adopting measures which must have seriously injured the whole li 78 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. enterprise. Among the most experienced of the officers was Lord George Murray. He was however, unfortu- nately, endowed with a blunt temper, without tact, which frequently caused considerable offence to the Prince and also to Sir Thomas Sheridan. The Duke of Perth, on the other hand, was courteous, gentlemanly, and affiible, and he possessed the advantage, in the Prince's eyes, of being a Catholic. Between Lord George Murray and the Duke of Perth there sprung up con- siderable differences of opinion, which burst out openly at the council table and also in the camp. These diflferences were fanned by Murray, the secretary, who calculated that he should gain a stronger influence over the milder temperament of the Duke than over the blunt and soldier-like spirit of Lord George Murray. It appears that the secretary spared no pains to lower the capabilities and devotion of the former in the eyes of the Chevalier. The Prince created a committee also for providing the troops with forage, which was composed of various gentlemen and officers of the army. Courts-martial also sat every day for the discipline of the army. So strongly was this discipline enforced that some who were found guilty were punished with death. Before his council met in the morning Charles always held a levee. When the council was concluded he dined in public with his principal officers, and then rode out with his Life Guards, usually to the camp at Dudding- ston. On returning to Holyrood in the evening a drawing-room was usually held for the ladies of the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. pa-rty, and not unfrequently the day closed with a ball, given in the old picture-gallery of Holyrood. The courtly manners of the Prince and his constant desire to please were neither relaxed through his good fortune, nor clouded by his cares. In the camp he talked familiarly to the meanest Highlander ; at the balls he was careful to call alternately for Highland and Low- land tunes, so as to avoid an invidious preference for either. The fair sex in general throughout Scotland, became devoted to his cause, won over either by his gaiety and gallantry, or dazzled by his romantic enterprise and situation. If it is true, as all accounts seem to lead us to believe, that the Prince was dogmatic and selfish ia his council, and listened only with impatience to the advice of the best of the men around him, we can hardly fail to be struck with the wonderful ability and power of administration he showed in the nomination of his council ; in the careful tact which led him to please the lowliest of his officers, in the measures which he took for the maintenance of the life, security, and property of the inhabitants of the country, which the majority of his followers occupied only in the position of a hostile army, and the knowledge he seems to have shown of the minute details of Scottish life. Till towards the end of October the Chevalier lay at Holyrood, and his army at Duddingston. By that time, having collected as large a force as he had any hope to expect would join him, he was eager to move forward into England. He was not inclined to remain at I .! 'ii i i 80 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. Edinburgh inactive and aimless, while his difficulties^ and his enemies thickened around him, and was not unjustly disposed to supply by energy and activity his want of numerical forces. Towards the end of October he informed his council abruptly that he intended to march for Newcastle, and give battle to Marshal Wade, who he was convinced would fly before him. This idea appears to have been entirely his own, and he was strongly persuaded that even the paid soldiers of England would hesitate to lift their weapons against their rightful Prince, the representative of an injured and banished monarch, whom heaven itself would not fail to befriend, if the rights with which providence had invested him were boldly asserted. But the Scottish officers, on the contrary, held that the army now at the Chevaliers disposal consisted still of under six thousand men, and was far beneath the number necessary to force the English nation to accept him as their sovereign ; that it would be time enough for him to march to the southern kingdom when he should be invited by his friends there to join them, or to favour their rising in arms. It was also observed that as Marshal Wade had assembled a great many troops lately arrived in England from Flanders at Newcastle, with a view to march into Scotland, it was better to let that officer advance than to move forward to meet him, because when Wade moved into Scotland he must of necessity leave England undefended exposed to any insurrection of the Jacobites, or to the landing of the French expedition which the Marquis d'Equilles r f XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYN^STT. 81 confidently promised. Lord Mahon, whose opinions on military matters are worthy of the utmost confidence, and are endowed with the clearest perception, considers that the advice of the Scottish counsellors in this case was founded on traditional feelings rather than upon strong reasons; that the young Prince perceived with better judgment that, in his circumstances, to await attack was to insure defeat, and his only hope of retaining Scotland lay in conquering England. This might be so if it had been intended that as a part of the plan the throne was only to be nested from the House of Hanover by a small band of Highland marauders, but the essential and the first condition under which the Highlanders had agreed to take up arms, and which the best men in the Scottish camp considered was of vital importance to success, Avas that a French force should land either in England or Scotland to support the enterprise of the Chevalier. At this time it was confidently expected that the French forces were beina formed in the harbours of Dunkirk, Calais, and Bolougne"; and would soon be on the southern coast ; and it would appear to have been of the utmost importance that the attack on the English metropolis should have been made simultaneously by the army which advanced from Scotland and by the force which descended upon the coast from France. To attadc separately and at difl^-erent times, allowed the whole bulk of the forces of the government. coUected for the defence of the kingdom, to be hurled on either side in their entirety. Tt was not even VOL. II. _ ^ Of ..-«1'a» 82 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. supposed or ascertained at the council of Holyrood, that the French force was yet ready to embark in the Channel ports. It would appear that in this instance the author of one of the best, if not the best, histories of England has dealt unjustly with a nation to which on other occasions he has given fair and generous praise. At three different councils, towards the end of October, the Chevalier accordingly proposed to march into England and fight Marshal Wade, whose army was gathered at Newcastle ; as often was his proposal over- ruled. At length he replied to all the objections offered to his scheme by saying in a positive manner, " I see, gentlemen, you are determined to stay in Scotland and defend your country ; but I am not less resolved to try my fate in England, though I should go alone." It was clear that the determination of the Chevalier was taken, and the Scottish chiefs could not separate themselves from his project without endangering his person and ruining the expedition irretrievably. Lord George Murray and the other leaders reluctantly yielded to his wish ; but, in hopes of gaining some middle course between their own plan and that of the Prince for marching directly to fight Wade, proposed that the Highland troops should enter England on the western frontier. They would thus, it was calculated, avoid a hasty collision with the English army, which it was their obvious interest to defer, and would at the same time afibrd their partisans in England an opportunity to rise, or the French to land their troops, if either were «j> xvT.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 83 disposed to act upon it. If neither should so act, and Wade, being left unimpeded, should march across the country towards Carlisle in order to give the invaders battle, he would be compelled to do so at the cost of a fatiguing march over a mountainous country ; while the Highlanders would fight to advantage among hills not much unlike their own. The Chevalier reluctantly gave up his plan of a direct attack against the main force of the enemy at Newcastle, and rather acquiesced in than adopted the views of Lord George Murray. To mislead the English General as long as possible by the idea that an attack would be made upon his canton- ments, the Chevalier adopted another suggestion of Lord George's, that the army should proceed in two columns, which should be concentrated on an appointed day near Carlisle. The first with the baggage and artillery was to march by the direct road of Moffatt ; but the second, with the lightly equipped-division, was designed to move under the Prince in person, and make a feint on Kelso, as if with the design of pushing into Northum- berland. On the 31st October, 1745, Prince Charles Edward, the heir of all the Stuarts, marched out of the ancient capital of his race at the head of his Life Guards and of Lord Pitsligo's horse. The rendezvous was at Dalkeith, where they were joined by other corps of their army from the camp behind Duddingston, and from their various cantonments. There the two columns suggested by Lord George Murray were formed. The first of these, which consisted chiefly of Lowland G 2 84 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHxiP. reo-iments, was commanded by the Duke of Perth ; in it marched the Athole brigade of Highlanders, the men of Perth and Ogilvie Eoy Stuart and Glenbucket, the horse of Kilmarnock, the hussars of Murray, with all the baggage and artillery. This division was com- manded by the Duke of Perth, and took the western road towards Carlisle. Though intended to act as a kind of escort to the baggage, the troops were com- pelled at Ecclefechan, by the badness of the roads, to abandon part of their train, which after they had marched on was seized by the people of Dumfries. The second and lighter column of the army consisted chiefly of the three regiments of Macdonalds, of Glen- garry and Pitsligo, with the remainder of the clansmen. This division was commanded by the Prince in person. That night Charles slept at Pinkie House, the same as he had occupied on the evening after the battle of Preston. The following morning the army began its march toward England. At this period however the government at London was no longer, as immediately after the battle of Preston, unprepared or defenceless. The regiments which had been recalled from Flanders, in consequence of the convention of Hanover, had left the camp at Vilvorde in the middle of September, embarked at Wilhelmstadt about the 20th of that month, and arrived in England about the 1st of October. Among these were a battalion of the First Foot Guards, a battalion of the 2nd Guards, a battalion of the Coldstream or 3rd Guards, and seven regiments of infantry of the line. The Blues, the King's \ XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. ^^ Horse, now the 1st Dragoon Guards, Ligonier's Horse, now the 7th Dragoon Guards, and the 1st Dragoons? also crossed, while the Greys, the Enniskillens, and the 7th Dragoons embarked, but were driven back by bad weather. The regiments in Ireland on the Irish establishment were moved up towards Dublin. Among these were the regiments now known as the 4th, 5th, and 6th Dragoon Guards, which then were called from the colour of the facings and the arms borne by them, the Blue and Green Horse and Carabineers. The army of Wade at New^castle already amounted to near ten thousand men. Under his command there were the Queen's Horse, now the 1st Dragoon Guards, Wade's Horse regiment which is now the 3rd Dragoon Guards, the 8th, or St. George's Dragoons, and the 8th Hussars, Montague's Horse, now the 2nd Dragoon Guards, 2nd battalion 1st Regiment, 3rd battalion 1st Regiment, and other battalions of foot. The Duke of Cumberland, who had been recalled from Flanders, and had arrived on the 18th October, was mustering another force in the midland counties. To it were attached, among other regiments, Ligonier's Horse, now the 7th Dragoon Guards, and some companies of Guards. Troops were scattered through the country to oppose the intended invasion. The Blues were cantoned at Aylesbury, Andover, and Weybridge. To the same duties were also assigned the King's Horse, now the 1st Dragoon Guards, the 1st Dragoons at Windsor, Reading and Colnbrook, and the 4th Dragoons. The militia had been raised under the acts which still did 86 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. not sanction the employment of this force without its own county. The Duke of Bedford, with thirteen other noblemen favourable to the reigning line, had undertaken to raise a new regiment of his own, but the Duke of Kingston's, known as Kingston's Horse, the first light cavalry ever adopted in the British service, and the Duke of Montague's Carabineers were the only corps so raised that did effectual service. The 2nd Dragoons, or Scots Greys, the Enniskillen Dragoons, and the 7th Dragoons embarked at Wilhelm- stadt for England, but were driven back by bad w^eather, and with Wolfe's Foot, now the 8th Eegiment, Graham's the 11th, Pulteney's, the 13th, Howard's, the 19th, SemphilFs the 25th, the 32nd, and 33rd Regiments, encamped behind the Dyle. The House of Commons had voted not merely a loyal address, but, what was of much more practical importance, liberal supplies. The regiments on the establishment w^ere ordered to beat up for recruits ; and an order was promulgated that no Irish, Scottish, or vagabonds (the terms appear to have been regarded as synonymous) should be enlisted. In order to throw no discredit on the auxiliary forces, a strict injunction was issued to the Guards that they were not to laugh or make game of the militia when reviewed, under pain of military penalties. The House of Commons, usually so jealous of what is regarded almost as much a bulwark of the British con- stitution as trial by jury, consented to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act. The statesmen on both sides of XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 87 ^v'l I i\ the House had begun to open their eyes to the importance of the impending danger, and the Chancellor awakened to a sudden study of geography, remarked, that although he had hitherto thought nothing of the Highlanders, he h ad now discovered that in the map of the island they formed a third part. Every means that could be used to stimulate the people were exerted ; and with a true p erception of the tastes of the multitude, appeal was made to the feelings which mostly sway them. The butchers were reminded that the Papists eat no meat in Lent, and hence it would be bad for trade if London were captured by the supporters of the Catholic Stuarts. The most absurd and exaggerated stories were spread with regard to the Highlanders. It was asserted that these were cannibals, and that the children of the citizens of London, should the invasion be successful, would probably be eaten, but if rescued from such a fate, would certainly be torn from home and country, and forced to endure slavery in the French galleys and the Spanish Inquisition. The just appeal which might have been made to the danger of the religion and liberties of the people was not so much insisted upon ; it was probably justly believed that the people took much more interest in the probable results to trade, than to religion, through a conquest by the Stuarts. But the exertions of the government and of a few leading noblemen, and the exaggerations of pamphleteers, do not seem to have produced much patriotism among the great body of the nation. The county of York, where property must have been imperilled by the , .~*^*. -"fHI«**-^«** ■"«»-- •i^.xWf I •t^^ '^ '* ^ ■ } 88 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [crap. I *- immediate advance of the Scotch, appears to have been the only one where the gentry and yeomen, headed by the Archbishop, made a public and zealous appearance. The fourteen regiments which were promised mostly vanished into air, or dwindled into jobs, as the colonels would name none but their own relations and dependants to hold the commissions of officers of any rank. But if the supporters of the government did little, the sup- porters of the Jacobite cause did less. These seem to have remained inactive and palsied, and took no apparent measures to rise in arms or to assist to overcome the immense numerical superiority of regular troops which the Chevalier would have to encounter. The force divided by Prince Charles at Dalkeith did not muster six thousand men in all. Four hundred or five hundred were horsemen, and of the whole number not quite four thousand were real Highlanders of the mountains, who formed the clan regiments, and v/ere the true strength of the insurgent army. A march into England was extremely distasteful to the common clans- men, who attached some superstitious idea of mis- fortune to the movement, and believed that evil fortune must necessarily fall upon them after their crossing the border. Desertions rapidly increased, and although the army when it marched off from Dalkeith consisted of nearly six thousand men, ere the border was crossed it is estimated that at least a thousand combatants had melted away from the ranks. The weather too was most unfavourable, and added to the difficulties and hardships of the advance. xvj.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 89 \ i I \ J The light colum.n commanded by the Chevalier in person moved from Dalkeith for Kelso, where it halted for two days, and sent orders forward to Wooler to have quarters pre2)ared in England. Thus Wade was alarmed, and his attention was diverted from Carlisle, the real objective point. Turning from Kelso by a sudden march to the westward, and down Liddisdale, this column entered Cumberland, on the evening of the 8th Novem- ber, and having passed by Hawick, took post at the village of Brampton in Cumberland, to cover the other column ^against an advance by Wade from Newcastle, in case he should make such a movement. In the meantime the column of the Duke of Perth, which con- sisted chiefly of Lowland regiments, horse, and artil ery, had advanced by the western road and reached Carlisle. On the following morning both columns united and proceeded to the investment of the place. Carlisle had long been the principal garrison of England upon the western frontier, and many a Scottish army had in former days recoiled from before its walls. It was now surrounded by only mouldering defences, which had been raised in the reign of Henry VIII., and slightly improved in the time of Elizabeth. The Castle, upon a slight eminence and surrounded by deep ditches, was old and out of repair, but respectable on account of the massive nature of its walls, and strong from its situation. It was, however, little qualified to stand a regular siege, though it might have resisted the efibrts of an enemy who possessed no ordnance of larger calibre than four-pounders. In the Castle there was only a ^1 90 INVASIONS OF EN'^LAND, [chap. garrison of one hundred invalids, commanded by Colonel Durand, of the 1st Guards, but in the city there had been mustered a considerable body of the Cumberland militia. The commandant of the Castle and the mayor both took measures for the defence of the place, and returned no answer to Prince Charles's summons ; while the mayor issued a proclamation to inform the towns- men that his name was not " Paterson," nor was he a native of Scotland, but Pattison, a true-born Englishman, and determined to hold the town to the last. The Chevalier determined upon a siege, and already orders had been given to open trenches. But a false report that Marshal Wade was marching from New- castle to relieve the city held the Prince in person at Brampton, although he had detached a considerable portion of his column under the Duke of Perth to assist in the attack upon the place. On the 1 3th November a battery was raised on the east of the town, and the Scottish noblemen worked in the trenches with spade and pickaxe to encourage their men. As the battery rose, the courage of the brave mayor, born Englishman as he was, began to ooze away. A white flag was hung over the mouldering wall of the city, and a capitulation was requested. An immediate express was sent to the Prince, who with true military knowledge refused to grant any terms, unless the Castle was included ; and the result was that both the town and the Castle sur- rendered. The defence cannot have been extremely serious, as but one man was killed and another wounded in the besieging army ; and as the defenders had the [II I H XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE TEE STUART DYNASTY. 91 advantage of cover, it is not probable that their loss exceeded much that of their assailants. The conditions of capitulation were that the garrison and militia might retire where they pleased on surrendering their arms and horses, and engaging not to serve against the Stuart cause for the space of one twelvemonth. It was also agreed that the privileges of the community should be respected. The capitulation was signed by the Duke of Perth and Colonel Durand, and by it about three months' provisions for the militia, and nearly two hundred horses with their furniture were gained. In the Castle were found a thousand stand of arms, a hundred barrels of powder, and a large quantity of military stores. The military chest was not the worse either for the occupation of the Castle of Carlisle, as the inhabitants of the country, for several miles round, had there secured their money, • plate, and valuable effects, as in a place of safety. In the town and neighbourhood the cess, excise, and land tax were exacted, under severe penalties, and a contri- bution was extorted from the inhabitants upon pain of military execution. On the 17th November the Chevalier himself made a triumphal entry into Carlisle ; but the inhabitants, who entertained no affection for his cause, and were probably smarting under the application of the contributions and the loss of their effects, received him exceedingly coldly, though they could not help expressing gratitude for the clemency with which they had been treated by the Duke of Perth on their surrender. As for Marshal Wade at Newcastle, the feint on 92 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Kelso had completely blinded him as to the real point of attack. This general was already of considerable age, and his military movements seem to have partaken of that tardiness which is so often concomitant with advanced years. He did not move from Newcastle until the 9th November, the day after Carlisle had surrendered,'; and hearing of that fact at Hexham, and finding the roads across the mountains very difficult on account of a fall of snow, he considered that he was too late to avert a disaster, and thought proper to return to his cantonments at Newcastle, leaving the insurgents at liberty to push forward if they pleased. The fall of Carlisle added no small lustre to the arms of the Chevalier, and terror to his name. But the advantage derived from the occupation of the fortress which covered the road into Scotland was balanced by a quarrel that it produced amongst his generals. Lord George Murray, angered by the expressions of gratitude and the favour which the Prince thought himself obliged to bestow upon the Duke of Perth, considered these as an encroachment upon his own pretensions ; he also made an excuse of the Duke, being a member of the Eoman Catholic faith, to consider that he should be disqualified from holding such an important post as one of the chief commanders in the expedition. Lord George, influenced by these feelings, wrote to the Prince, resigning his commission as Lieu tenant-General, in no very courteous terms. At the same time a petition was presented from several officers, praying that the Prince would be pleased to dismiss all Eoman Catholics from i XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 93 his councils, and to reinstate Lord George Murray in his command. The Chevalier at first accepted the resig- nation of Lord George Murray, and was disposed to support his own friends and his own faith ; but Perth, seeing the danger that discord might bring upon the cause, at once professed his willingness to serve in any capacity, waived his pretensions to command, and the Chevalier thus continued to benefit by the far superior military skill of Murray. Nor was the success achieved at Carlisle unalloyed by bad news from Scotland. On leaving Edinburgh the Chevalier had appointed Lord Strathallan commander-in- chief durinof his absence : and directed him to collect as many reinforcements as he could at Perth. Strathallan had, by the arrival of the Master of Lovat, of the Earl of Cromarty, and of Macgregor of Glengyle, and other detachments from various clans, mustered between 2,000 and 3,000 men. Three battalions had also been raised by Lord Lewis Gordon in Aberdeenshire. But as we have already seen, the clans friendly to the government under the Earl of Loudon and the Lord President were gathered in considerable force at Inverness. The populace of the towns of Perth and Dundee had intimated their dislike of the Stuart cause, and their adherence to the House of Hanover, by assembling on the birthday of King George to celebrate the festival with the customary demonstrations of joy. Glasgow, Paisley, Dumfries, and Stirling had resumed their allegiance to the reigning line, and had called out their militia in support of the government. At Edinburgh the troops from the Castle had resumed 1 94 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. possession of the city, which had been deserted on the march of the Highland army towards England. The lords of session and the government officers who had quitted the town on the approach of the insurgents, had re-entered the city in a solemn procession, and had ordered a thousaDd men, formally voted to the govern- ment, to be immediately levied. General Handiside had also marched to the capital of Scotland on the 14th November from Newcastle, with the regiments of Price and Ligonier, as well as with the two regiments of dragoons which had fled from Colt Brigg, and been defeated at Preston, and already had an unfortunate experience of the country on the banks of the Forth. Colonel John Campbell, heir of the Argyle family, and representative of the chief of that powerful clan, had arrived at Inverary, and was raising, in the interest of the government, the whole of the feudal array of his house, as well as the militia of his county. These were symptoms that showed the frail and brief nature of the influence of the Chevalier in Scotland, and that the cause of his party was not likely, in the Lowlands at least, long to endure after the absence of his army. The forces of the Highlanders which had been levied in favour of the Stuart cause, lying at Perth, Doune, and other towns on the road between the extreme north and the Lowlands, now amounted in all to perhaps 4,000 men. Under these circumstances the chief of Maclachlan was sent back from Carlisle to Scotland with orders to Lord Strathallan to march and join the Chevalier in England with his whole force and with v XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 95 the utmost speed. Strathallan, however, cautious as to an advance, pled some of those excuses that are never wanting to those who wish to excuse inaction, and delayed an immediate advance until a time when a movement to the front was far less useful to the cause, and much more dangerous to himself and to those under his command. So true is it that in war more is ever lost by timidity than by temerity. While these reinforcements from the Highlands were being waited for, a council was held, at which the sanguine Chevalier proposed that his army should with- out delay pursue its march to London. Lord George Murray objected that the Scottish gentlemen engaged had consented to the invasion of England in the hope of being joined by the English friends of the Prince, or in the expectation of a descent from France. He held that without one or other of these events it was hopeless to undertake to efiect the restoration of the Stuart family. The Chevalier replied that he was confident of gaining the junction of a strong party in Lancashire, if the Scots would but consent to march forward; and d'Equilles vehemently affirmed with oath and wager his immediate expectation of a French landing; while Murray of Broughton, who was financial controller as well as Secretary, assured the council that it was impossible to stay longer at Carlisle for want of money. On hearing these urgent reasons for an advance southwards the council acquiesced. The little army was now reduced to about 4,400 men; out of which a garrison of 200 or 300 had to be left in 96 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Carlisle, to keep open the comnmnication with Scotland. "With the remainder it was resolved to march on London by the road through Lancashire, although, including militia and newly-raised regiments, it was to be ex- pected that they would encounter upwards of 6,000 men under arms upon the side of the government, lying directly on the line of the advance. The better course would probably have been to have awaited at Carlisle the reinforcements that were expected to arrive from Perth ; but this proposal w^as made and overruled. In two divisions, on the 20th of November, the insur- gents marched out of Carlisle. The first was commanded by Lord George Murray, the second by the Prince in person. The divisions moved about half-a-day's march from each other. At Penrith the whole army reunited on the evening of the 21st, and hearing that Wade was advancing from Newcastle to attack, halted there one day; but ascertaining that the English general had retired from Hexham towards Newcastle, the invaders pursued their progress southward. The line of march lay by Shap, Kendal, and Lancaster to Preston ; where the whole army again concentrated on the 26th and rested on the 27th. The column which Lord George Murray commanded was composed of what were called the Lowland regiments ; that is to say, the whole army, except the clan regiments ; although the greater part of the so-called Lowlanders were Highlanders by language. The Prince himself, at the head of the clans, properly so called, each of which formed a regiment, led the way on foot at the head of his column, with his target on his XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART LYNASTY, '()7 shoulder, sharing all the fatigues of the march. On arriving at Preston Lord George Murray had to contest against the superstition of the soldiers whom he com- manded. There was a belief among the Highlanders, based upon the defeat of the Duke of Hamilton in the great civil war, and the later misfortune of Brigadier Mackintosh in 1715, that Preston was a fatal barrier, beyond which a Scottish army could not pass. To allay this feeling, Lord George, on the first night of arrival at Preston, led his advanced guard across the bridge over the Eibble, a mile beyond the town. The fiitality which was supposed to arrest the progress of Scottish troops beyond the fatal river was thus thought to be broken. The rubicon was crossed, and the road to London was believed to lie open. At Preston Charles was received with cheers, the first which had greeted him in England • but on sending out officers to beat up for recruits,"thosJ who had been willing to cheer did not testify any eagerness to enlist. The Prince, however, was still sauguine that he would- be joined by large numbers o± friends at Manchester ; and M. d'Equilles renewed his protestations that the French had either already landed, or would certainly land within a week Thus the murmurs which were beginning to rise amongst the men against a further progress were once more reduced to silence. From Preston the army pushed forward to m^an The road was thronged with people anxious to see tlie Hivere advancing on Glasgow, the Glasgow regiment fell back with the other troops, which had concentrated on the Forth, to Edinburgh, with a view to the defence of the capital. Glasgow was thus left open ; and while the citizens of London were suffering from the apprehension of the arrival of the Highlanders, those of Glasgow paid the penalty attached to their presence. But this did not cool the obstinacy of the burghers against the Pretender ; and one fanatic fired a pistol at him as he rode along the Saltmarket. Clothing for the troops and stores for their supplies were demanded from the town to the value of more than 10,000Z., which the citizens were compelled to pay, under the threat of military execution. The stores demanded on requisition from the magis- trates of Glasgow to furnish the Highland army, were— 1,200 shirts, 6,000 short coats, 6,000 pairs of shoes, 6,000 bonnets, 6,000 pairs of stockings; the value of these, added to the 5,500?. paid on the 27th September, ,* 120 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. amounted to 10,000Z. Parliament, in 1749, after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, granted 10,000Z. to the Corporation of Glasgow as reimbursement for this expense. It was not till his arrival at Glasgow that Prince Charles Edward became aware of the succours sent to him by France. These consisted of his own regiment in the French service, the Royal Scots, detachments of the six regiments of the Irish brigade, and about two squadrons of Fitzjames's light-horse. The French expedition against the southern coast, which it was intended should be under the command of the Duke of Richelieu, and numerically to muster 9,000 infantry and 1,350 cavalry, was abandoned on the news of the retreat of the Highlanders from Derby. Charles did not, however, for a long time either hear or believe that the scheme had been given up ; and his confidence that the French intended to persevere in it led him into more than one error. Having arrived at Glasgow, the question now for the Prince and his advisers to decide was, in what way his forces could be best employed. Some held that an advance ought to be made direct upon Edinburgh. Part of the troops which Wade had concentrated at Newcastle were now preparing to hold the capital of Scotland ; and the rest of his forces were pushing forward towards that city under the command of General Henry Hawley. This officer had been ap- pointed in place of Marshal Wade, whose talents had become torpid beneath the advance of age, and of whose XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 121 inactivity just complaints had been made during the late movements in England. General Henry Hawley was an officer of some experience ; he had served in the battle of Sheriffmuir as a major of dragoons, but seems to have possessed more of the power of detail of a sergeant-major than of the capacity of a captain. He was hated by his own soldiers for a cruel, violent, and vindictive temper. One of his first measures, on arriving at Edinburgh to take the command-in-chief, was to order two gibbets to be erected ; and he had a stafi" of several executioners attached to his army on its march. Such ferocity is fortunately as alien from as it is rare in the military character. It was believed that although Edinburgh was thus Hkely to be strongly held, the Highlanders could in the winter season distress the English troops, by forcing them to concentrate, and preventing them from separating to obtain quarters ; thus causing them to undergo hard- ships which would be most severe to the southerners, but would be little regarded by the men of the Highlands. Charles, howeverj although this scheme might have promised considerable advantage, both political and strategical, was tempted by the fact that Lord John Drummond had brought with him from France some engineers and a train of artillery. He considered that with these the first measure which should be undertaken must be the reduction of Stirling Castle, in order to promote a free passage of the Forth and a clear com- munication between the Highlands and the Lowlands. This view cannot be considered wrong. Indeed through- 122 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. t out, the military capacity which Prince Charles Edward showed in his campaign'appears to have been underrated by historians. The Highland army, in their advance into the low countries in summer, had crossed the Forth by the fords of Frew. This passage was easy for the clans- men, unencumbered by horse, artillery, or baggage. In the Lowlands, however, they had been joined by the horsemen of Pitsligo, Balmerino, Elcho, and Kilmarnock. They had also now with them a small train of artillery ; certainly the pieces were light, but it must be remem- bered it was more difficult in those days to drive artillery of four-pound calibre along roads rendered difficult by a Scottish winter than it would now be to move heavy siege ordnance. On the other hand, at Montrose, Lord John Drummond had landed with the forces from France, consisting partly of cavalry. The continental troops were accustomed to supplies of baggage and camp equipage, which were totally unnecessary for the Highlanders. It appears tolerably clear that if the campaign was to be prosecuted in the Lowlands, and if any. idea of a future invasion of England was adhered to, there must be a free communication over the Forth, especially in the winter season, by which waggons and artillery could move. The fords of Frew — especially in a winter which was exceptionally rainy and severe — did not permit of this. Stirling Castle, on its craggy height, covered the passage of the Forth. Beyond it lay the forces of Lord John Drummond and Strathallan. The Castle was held by an experienced governor. General Blakeney, and a sufficient garrison. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 12^ To afford an easy access for troops of all kinds, it was advisable that this fortress should be reduced. On the 3rd January, 1746, Prince Charles Edward evacuated Glasgow, after a halt there of eight days, and inarched towards Stirling. On the following day his headquarters were fixed at the House of Bannockburn, while his troops occupied St. Ninian and other villages in the neighbourhood of the Forth. The town of Stirling was summoned, and not being fortified, was surrendered by the magistrates, although there were about six hundred militia within it. Some of these left the place, and others retired to the Castle. Those who read carefully the accounts of this invasion must derive some benefit from considering the position which the militia and volunteers are seen at this time to have held. We see in this instance at Stirling, as in other similar cases, that the militia appear to have acted solely under the orders of the civil authorities, and to have been independent of the commandant of the troops. In the cases of Edinburgh and Stirling, the commandant of the garrison appears to have held no control over the militia, nor to have leavened the auxiliary forces with any detachments of the regulars. On the contrary, the governors of the castles seem to have considered that their sole duty was to defend the fortress with the regular troops at their disposal, and to leave to the magistracy the defence and care of the towns with their own auxiliaries. The castle was summoned, but the general gave a resolute refusal to surrender, and the Chevalier resolved to open trenches without delay. 124 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Although an order had been sent by Charles throuo'h Colonel Maclachlan for the forces from Perth to follow him into England, Strathallan had found excuses for delay, and demurred to obey the command. From Dumfries another order was sent, summoning the body at Perth to ptish on to Stirling. When this order arrived at Strathallan s quarters, thei'e were assembled at Perth the Erasers, the MacEwans, the Mackintoshes, the Farquharsons, together with the troops which had come over from France, under the command of Lord John Drummond, besides a regiment of men from the low country of Aberdeenshire, under the command of Lord Lewis Gordon, These forces amounted to about 4,000 men. They came down to the Forth w^hen the Prince appeared on its southern side from Glasgow, and the total force under the banner of the Chevalier amounted now to about 9,000 men. This was the largest number which had ever united under his command, and it is to be regretted by those who wish w^ell to the cause of the Stuarts, that it was necessary to employ an army eminently calculated for an active campaign in the field on the slow and trying operations of a siege. On the 10th January trenches w^ere opened before the fortress of Stirling ; but the siege operations were soon interrupted by the advance of a relieving army. The Duke of Cumberland, who had obtained the capitulation of Carlisle on the 29 th December, occupied that fortified town, and made his entry on the 31st. But XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 125 his movement towards the north was here stayed by an order which arrived for him to return to London, in order to be ready to take the command against the expected invasion from France. The greater part of his infantry, which had been concentrated at Lichfield when the Highlanders were advancing southwards, was now marched to the coast of Kent and Sussex, in order to resist the threatened descent ; but that part of the Duke's army consisting of dragoons and mounted infantry which he had carried with him to Newcastle, was ordered to continue its march northward and to join the troops which General Hawdey took the command of at Edinburgh. These amounted in all to about 8,000 men, of whom two-thirds were veteran regulars ; the remainder consisted of about 1,200 men of Argyle, commanded by Colonel Campbell, heir to the house of Argyle, and of the Glasgow regiment. They were also joined from Yorkshire by a body of volunteer light horse called the Yorkshire Hussars, who had taken up arms for the House of Hanover and the Protestant succession. General Hawley himself, on account of his experience in the campaign of SherifFmuir with Evan s dragoons, was believed to have a special knowledge of Scotland, and of the mode of fighting adopted by the Highlanders, and therefore to be extremely well fitted to cope with the insurgent army. With such a strength concentrated at Edinburgh, Hawley not unnaturally concluded that he was about to raise the siege of Stirling. He accordingly formed his force into two divisions, and the first, which consisted 126 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. of five battalions of the line, a corps of militia, and some dragoons, marched out of Edinburgh on the 13th January under the orders of General Huske, Hawley's second in command. The Highland army before Stirling was naturally, by means of country people and Jacobite informants, regularly apprised of the movements of the enemy. On the 13 th January Lord George Murray, who, covering the siege, occupied Falkirk, heard that the people of Linlithgow had received orders from Edinburgh to prepare provisions and forage for troops, Avhich were instantly to advance in that direction. He determined to move with a sufficient force and anticipate the advance of the royal army, and to destroy or cany off the provisions that might be collected in obedience to their requisition. With the three Macdonald regiments, ;and those of Appin and Cluny, and the horse of Elcho and Pitsligo, Murray marched to Linlithgow. Patrols of cavalry were pushed out to beat the road towards Edinburgh for intelligence. About noon these sent back information that a small body of dragoons, formino; the scouts of Huske's division, which had marched from Edinburgh that morning were in sight. Orders were sent to the patrols to drive back the dragoons upon the main body, and to obtain information without retiring, unless they saw themselves in danger of being overpowered. In the meantime the infantry was formed in line of battle in front of the town of Linlithgow. Lord Elcho, who was in command of the cavalry, pushed back the scouts of Huske upon a detachment of sixty dragoons, and then forced these XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 127 also to retire upon a village where both horse and foot were massed in strength. Elcho reported the amount of force which he had in his front as far as he could make it out, and then received orders to re- treat, leaving a small corps of observation. It was not Murray's purpose to fight an army of a strength which, though unknown to him, was obviously consider- able ; he therefore determined merely to remain in Linlithgow, make his adversary show his force, and then retreat. This object was accomplished, and on passing Linlithgow bridge, so little distance was there between the advanced guard of the royal troops and the rear-guard of the Highlanders, that abusive language was exchanged between the men, though without any violence. Murray continued his retreat to Falkirk, where he halted for the niorht. On the followino* day, falling back before the enemy, he again retreated to the villages in the vicinity of Bannockburn, where he heard that Huske with the government army had arrived at Falkirk, and that Hawley in person had also arrived there on the IGth with a second division ; and that besides the regular troops of the government there were more than a thousand Highlanders of the clan Campbell in the enemy's ranks. Upon the 15th and 16th of January the Chevalier, leaving a thousand or twelve hundred men under Gordon of Glenbucket, to protect the siege works and continue the blockade of Stirling C-astle, drew up the rest of the army on a plain about a mile to the east of Bannockburn, expecting an attack. His horse reconnoitered close to 1R ( 123 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the hostile camp, but could perceive no appearance of movement. On the 17th the same operation was repeated, the Highland army being drawn up on the same open ground near Bannockburn, w^hile that of the government still remained inactive in Falkirk. Hawley meanwhile, filled with a vain and ignorant contempt for the Highland rabble, as he termed his enemy, believed that they would disperse at the mere news of his approach. He neglected the most ordinary precautions of sending out patrols or scouts, and had accepted an invitation from Lady Kilmarnock, whose husband was in the insurgent army, to Callender House. Here, under the influence of the wit and gaiety of the lady, he remained from the time of his arrival at Falkirk till his visit was disagreeably interrupted on the afternoon of the 17th January.^ A council of war was held on the field where the Highland army was drawn up, and it was determined, since the English general did not move forward to attack, that he should be saved the trouble, and that an immediate advance should be made against him. A distance of only about seven miles lay between the two armies, and the absence of patrols in front of the royal troops gave the insurgents an opportunity which proved eminently successful. Lord John Drummond * It must be remembered in the account of this campaign that the Old Style of date is used, by which the date of any particular day is eleven days earlier than it would be according to the present calendar. Thus what occurred on the 17th January, according to Old Style, would by New Style have happened on the 28th. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 12^ with his own regiment, the Irish detachments, and all the cavalry of the insurgent army, was ordered ta advance upon the straight road leading from Stirling and Bannockburn towards Falkirk. With this detach- ment were to be carried the royal standard and other colours, and of these a great display was to be made in front of the old forest of Torwood. This march, and the position to be occupied by Drummond in front of the forest, were however only intended as a feint, in order to lead the royal generals to suppose that the whole- insurgent army was advancing from that direction. While Drummond was moving forward, the Prince with Lord George Murray and the main body was to march by the south side of the Torwood, cross the river Carron near Dunnipace, and advance to the southward of the high ground called Falkirk Moor, which then was an open and uninclosed common, swelling into a con- siderable ridge or eminence that lay on the westward, and to the left of the royal camp. About eleven o'clock Drummond's division was seen from the English camp, and as had been intended, attracted the exclusive attention of General Huske, who during Hawley 's absence was in command. Between one and two o'clock, when the English soldiers were preparing to have their dinner, some peasants, hurriedly running in, told that the High- landers were close at hand, and were only separated from the flank of the Eoyal army by the swelling upland of Falkirk Moor, which lay on the left of the English troops. The report of the country people w^as quickly VOL. II. K 130 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. ^ f confirmed by two officers, who, climbing a tree, were able with a glass to discover the advance of the clans. The drums instantly beat to arms, but Hawley, whose task it peculiarly was to remedy the dilemma, was still absent at Callender House. An orderly galloped off for him, and Huske hurriedly formed line of battle in front of the camp ; but in the absence of his senior had it not in his power to direct any movement of importance, either toward the division of Drummond, who threatened him in front, or against that which was pushing up the heights of Falkirk Moor against his left. The royal regiments remained tied to their ground in wonder, impatience, and anxiety, while murmurs rose from both officers and privates ; for little can be so trying to brave men as to be hopelessly tied down by the laws of discipline, and to see themselves without an order sacrificed through the neglect of superiors. Hawley, startled by the tidings which had been brought to him at Callender, soon galloped up in hot haste, having left the house so rapidly that he had forgotten his hat. He suddenly appeared in front of the camp and imme- diately ordered his three regiments of dragoons— Cobham's, now the 10th Hussars, on the left, with Hamilton's, now the 13th Hussars, and Ligonier's, now the 14th Hussars on the right — to advance up the hill called Falkirk Moor. With his sword drawn he placed himself at their head, and pushed up the acclivity, trusting by a rapid movement to anticipate the High- landers, and before them to gain the summit of the eminence. The infantry, which consisted of the 1st XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 131 battalion of the Eoyals, the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 27th, 34th, 36th, 37th, 48th, and Batecrean's regi- ments, with the Glasgow and Paisley militia and the Argyle Highlanders in reserve, was ordered to follow as fast as possible with fixed bayonets. The royal troops pushed forward in a storm of wind, to which heavy rain was now added, beating full in the faces of the soldiery. The Highland movement had been calculated so as to give the clansmen the advantage of both the weather and the ground. In the meantime the portion of the Highland army with which it was intended to seize the heights of Falkirk Moor had marched in three divisions, keeping along the ground in such a manner that first the thickets of Torwood, and afterwards the swell of the ground of the moor itself, hid them in great measure from the royal camp. In this movement they kept their columns parallel to the ridge of the moor ; and when the heads of the columns had pushed as far southward as was neces- sary to gain room for their formation, the men in each column, turning to the left, formed line of battle, and then began to climb the hill. The first Highland line had the clans of the Macdonalds on the right, and Camerons on the left ; in the second marched the Athole brigade on the right, the men of Aberdeen, under Lewis Gordon, on the left, with Lord Ogilvie's regiment in the centre. The third line, or reserve, Avas weak in numbers, and consisted chiefly of cavalry and the Irish detachments. Lord John Drummond, who had made the demonstra- tion in front of the Torwood, remained with his troops K 2 if H 132 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. on the high road, until the whole of Murray's division had passed the Carron, and then, moving to his right, fell into their rear, and joined the cavalry who were with the Prince; thus reinforcing the third line of the insurgent army. When Hawley, from the opposite side to that up which the Highlanders were quickly climbing, pushed up the hill with his three regiments of dragoons, the infantry of the King's army followed in line of battle, having six battalions in the first line and five in the second, while Howard's Buffs (now the 3rd regiment) marched in the rear of the right and formed a small reserve with the militia. It seemed a race between the dragoons and the High- landers, which first should gain the summit of the hill. The mountaineers were the first on the top of the moor, and Hawley, seeing that they had gained the vantage ground, halted, and drew up his men on a somewhat lower level. There was a rugged ravine which separ- ated the two armies, and dipped towards the plain, on the left of the King's forces. The whole position thus forced upon the English General was far from favourable to the movements of regular troops. The English artillery, consisting of 3-pounders and 6 -pounders, also stuck fast in a morass which formed part of the plain. It could not be extricated in time for the battle ; but as the Highlanders had also left their guns behind, neither force had in this matter any advantage. On line being formed, the English horse showed a front, which occupied as much ground as half of the first line of the Chevalier's m XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 133 army. Charles himself took his station, as at Preston, in his second line, or rather close behind it, on a conspicu- ous mound still known by the name of Charley's hill, and now overgrown with wood. Hawley commanded in the centre of the English infantry, with Huske on the left. The cavalry was under Colonel" Ligonier, who on the death of Gardiner had succeeded to his regiment. The Highlanders, with hardly a moment's pause, pressed their advance towards the enemy. Down the ravine between the two armies they swept, and up the opposite slope in high spirits, and with their natural ardour further increased at the sight of the enemy. The mountaineers kept their ranks close, and, advancing shoulder to shoulder, hurried on at a tremendous rate towards the ridge occupied by the red coats. The dra- goons in vain endeavoured to stop this movement of the clans by one or two feints. Seeing their rapid approach, Hawley sent orders to Ligonier to charge with all the horse upon the hostile right. The Macdonalds, who were on that flank, rested on a morass, which prevented the horseman getting round into their rear. The dra- goons came on towards their front at a full trot with their sabres drawn and raised high, as if to charge and cut down the Highlanders, who kept still pushing forward. The clans, seeing the threatened charge, reserved their fire, with the utmost steadiness, until the horsemen were within ten yards' distance. Then, only at Murray's signal, the Highland muskets went up to the shoulders, close and well levelled by the skilled marksmen of the mountains. A rolling volley was I 134 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap poured in, a number of hostile horsemen reeled and fell from their saddles ; numbers of the horses came down ; the ground was covered with gasping dragoons and struggling animals ; and about 200 red coats were lying in an instant on Falkirk Moor. The greater part of those who were unwounded belonged to the dragoon regiments which had fled at Colt Bridge and at Preston, and now repeated the military manoeuvre that they had performed so effectually at both those places, with an aptitude which showed considerable skill and experience in this evolution. The 3rd regiment, Cobham's (now the 10th Hussars), stood firmer for a while, but was soon compelled to retire after heavy loss. This defeat of the cavalry began the battle well on the side of the insurgents, but they well-nigh paid dear for their success. At the instant the attack commenced a violent storm of rain came on, which, carried by a fierce and gusty wind, blew straight in the faces of the royal troops, greatly annoyed them, and so wet their powder that they could barely give fire. Lord George Murray wished to bring the victorious Macdonalds back into the regular line. He cried to them to stand fast and pay no heed to the flying horsemen, but to keep their own ranks and to reload. His care was fruitless. The Mac- donalds, in their usual manner, rushed on sword in hand and dropped their muskets. The insurgents' left wing at the same moment fell furiously with the claymore on the right and centre of Hawley's foot, broke them, and put them to flight. But the extreme right of Hawley s first line considerably overlapped the left of the High- XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 135 landers. Here, on some low ground in rear of the right, the Buffs were seen standing " firm as the rocks of their own native shore." They became a rallying point for the Eoyals, who were forced back, and these two regiments joined by the 4th, 14th, and 48th, under Brigadier Cholmondeley, with some of Ligonier s dragoons, stood fast on the extreme flank, having the advantage of the ravine in front, which prevented the Highlanders from attacking them sword in hand, according to their favourite mode of fighting. These troops gallantly maintained their position, and by repeated and steady volleys repulsed the Highlanders from the opposite side of the ravine. One of the three routed regiments of dragoons rallied in the rear of this infantry, which stood firm. The other two, who had been at Preston, followed up the course of action pursued by them at that battle. The battle was now in a curious state. On the royal left all was disorder and confusion. In vain did the General attempt to animate his troops in this quarter by his personal courage, with his white head uncovered and conspicuous in the front rank of the combatants. But the three regiments who held their ground on the right had a decided vantage over the Chevalier's left, and many Highlanders quitted the field under the impression that the day was lost, and spread disastrous tidings of defeat in their rear. Charles, who had seen from his commanding position the state of affairs, had put himself at the head of his second line, and advancing against the enemy's right, arrested their temporary triumph. The three regiments ! w 136 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. of the royal army who had remained firm like their comrades, were compelled to withdraw from the field, and in their retreat covered the flight of their com- panions. These drew oS" in steady order, with drums beating and colours flying ; and Cobham's dragoons also retreated in tolerable condition. Had the Highlanders pursued, there seems little doubt that Hawley's army must have been utterly destroyed. But the Prince, from the want of discipline among the troops he commanded, and through the extreme severity of the weather and the darkness of night, which was rapidly falling, could hardly ascertain the real position of affairs. It was XVI.] INFASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNAST r, 157 Maclaughlan, Maclean, and Farquharson ; while on the left were ranged the three divisions of Macdonald's, called after their respective chiefs, Clanranald, Keppoch, and Glengarry. These preparations for the engagement were not made with prudence. By a singular fatality, which now seems to have fallen over the councils of the Pretender, the disposition of this order of battle involved the point of honour esteemed of the utmost importance in this singular army. The Macdonalds had claimed from the beginning of the expedition, as being the most powerful and numerous tribe, the privilege of holding the right of the whole army. At the battle of Preston Lochiel and Appin had waived any claim to this idle precedence. At the battle of Falkirk the Macdonalds had also been upon the right. But now, when the left was assigned to them, the men of the clan regarded the arrangement as not only an evil omen, but also as a personal insult The second line of the Highlanders, or the reserve, was divided into three bodies, with an interval between each. On the right were the horse of Elcho, Fitzjames, and Strath - allan ; with the infantry regiments of Abbachie and Ogilvie. The centre was formed of the Irish detach- ments from the French army, the regiment of Lord John Drummond, and the horsemen of the Earl of Kilmarnock ; while the left wing consisted of the hussars, with the Lowland battalions of Sir Alexander Bannerman and Moir of Strongwood. The number of the whole first line was possibly about 4,700 men ; that of the second 2,800, of which 250 were cavalry. But 158 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. LCHAP. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 159 the numbers that formed up in order of battle on the morning of the 15th, were considerably diminished before the subsequent action took place. The commissariat department of the Highland army was apparently totally incapable, as during the whole of the 15th the men received no provisions, except a single biscuit per man, as the ration for the whole day. Thus if the army had been victorious upon the 16th it must have been broken up immediately, to disperse through distant quarters from the mere necessity of supply. Soon after mid-day, on the 15th, Lord Elcho brought in his report as to the position of the enemy's troops. Upon this Prince Charles assembled the chief officers of the army and held a council of war. There was a diversity of opinion as to the best course to be pursued. The want of provisions, however, was an imperative cause for an action, and rendered a battle inevitable ; the place and mode alone were matters for discussion. With justice, Lord George Murray asserted that the strength of an irregular army such as theirs depended in its power of surprising its adversary. Eegular soldiers, he said, depended much on their discipline, an advantage of which they were deprived by darkness and confusion ; Highlanders, on the contrary, had little discipline, but that which was of a natural kind, independent either of light or regukr formations. This oflBcer gave his opinion that the right division of the first line should march in two divisions at the dusk of the evenino:, move round the town of Nairn, and attack the Duke of Cumberland's camp in the rear ; at the same time he proposed that the Duke of Perth, with the left division of the first line, should attack the camp of the Duke of Cumberland in front ; and he did not doubt the confusion occasioned by the sudden onset on both points, joined to the eff'ects of the past day's festivity, would throw the regulars into total confusion, and afford the Highlanders a complete victory. The whole of the second line, or reserve, was to move forward under the command of Charles Edward himself, to support the front attack. The Prince, who had already formed the same scheme, rose and embraced Lord George Murray on his proposing it ; and orders were immediately given for its execution. The moor on which the army was lying was set on fire at night, so that the light might convey an idea of the troops still holding the same position ; the watchword given out by Prince Charles was '' King James VIII." During the day, however, the army had been still further diminished, for many stragglers, worn out by want of food, had left the ranks and gone to Inverness and other places to seek for something to eat, and they told the officers sent after them to shoot them if they pleased, rather than compel them to starve any longer. In the hopes of getting back some of these stragglers the movement was deferred, and it was not till eight at night that every preparation was complete. Lord George Murray then started at the head of the first column; Charles put himself at the head of that which followed, and gave the signal to march. The distance from Culloden was about twelve miles. The night was dark, and so far favourable to the purpose IGO INFJSLONS OF ENGLAND. |_CHAP. of surprise ; but for the same reasou the guides were deceived, and the progress of the troops in consequence of losing their way was considerably delayed. The men, too, were exhausted with privation, and could not display their wonted energy. The columns slowly and painfully toiled through the heathery waste or marshy hollows, while many men dropped from the ranks, and the rear fell away considerably from the van-guard. In order to cross the Nairn, it was necessary to take advantage of the passage near Kilravock House ; and in order to get to their intended points of attack, the whole of the army was forced to follow one road as far as this point. Thus a long and stragglijig column was formed, and as the march proceeded, the van which could push forward without impediment drew away considerably from the rear. Messages were frecj^uently sent forward to Lochiel, who was in front, and to Lord George Murray, who was at the head of the advance, begging them to halt until the rear of the columns could make up their lost ground. Fifty of these messages were brought to the van-guard before they had marched over the eight miles to Kilravock Castle. At this point the Duke of Perth himself, who com- manded the second division of the first line, came up to Lord George Murray, and insisted that the rear could not come up unless the van was halted. Here a halt was made accordingly, and several of the principal officers came to the head of the column to consult what was to be done. Many of the Highlanders had straggled from the ranks and lain down to sleep in the wood of I i A XTi.] INFASIOm TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 161 Kilravock. It was now two o'clock in the morning, the hour at which the attack had been intended, l)ut the head of the column was still four mUes distant from the English camp. It seemed doubtful then if the assault could still be made in the dark, and to come within striking distance of the enemy's camp after the dawn would expose the columns to his observation. WhUe a discussion was stiH going on the sudden roll of the drums from the royal army told that the king's troops were on the alert, and that all possibHity of taking them by surprise was gone by. Messages came up from the Pnnce to say that his Eoyal Highness would be glad to have the attack made, but that as Lord George was m the van, be could best tell whether the assault could be carried out or not. With these powers Lord George gave orders for the retreat, and Charles, afterwards riding up, was convinced of the unavoidable necessity of retiring Meanwhile the Duke of Cumberland's army, neither by means of patrols, nor scouts, nor spies, was alarmed on the advance of the enemy ; and it appears probable that but for the unfortunate circumstances which delayed the movement, the attacking column would have had a great chance of success. The retreat was carried out with much more rapidity than the advance, as it was unnecessary to take any precautions for concealing the movements of the troops and the road was also well known to the guides At five o'clock in the morning the whole army had regained the heights of CuUoden, and had resumed its former position. But the Highlanders were now harassed and VAT TT WJ-IV.1. VOL. II. M k i iD i iwin» i»wi— na ~f mtm mm 'Mm^i 162 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTF. 163 i hungry, without any neighbouring stores of provisions. Even for the Prince himself no refreshments beyond a little bread and whisky could be found. It was the wish of Lord George Murray and other ojficers that the army, thus unfitted for exertion, should retire and take up a position behind the river Nairn, where high and inaccessible hills would give them a post where they could not be attacked by cavalry. Charles, however, was imbued with the chivalrous idea that he ought not to take advantage of the ground in action, nor enable his enemies afterwards to say that his victory had not been owing to valour. This was a romantic absurdity for any leader of men in war. In war there is no chivalry ; it is the duty of every man who has the lives of troops and the happiness of a country in his hands to take every advantage he possibly can of his enemy, and the science of war is but to place by every means one's enemy in the most disadvantageous position possible. The weary clansmen threw themselves on the burnt heather to rest, while many started away towards Inverness in order to seek for provisions. From their repose they were roused about eleven o'clock by the news that the outposts had seen the advancing scouts of the Duke of Cumberland's army in the distance. The chief officers immediately mounted their horses, the drums were beat, and the pipes were ordered to bray out the gathering pibrochs. This sudden summons to arms caused much hurry and confusion among the men, who, half dead with fatigue, were sudd^ly roused from f I the sleep which they so much needed. The chiefs in charge did what they could to get them together, but as the men were dispersed in all directions as far as Inver- ness itself, nearly 2,000 of the Highlanders who had been in line of battle on the preceding day were absent from the action on the 1 6th. The Duke of Cumberland's army now appeared about two miles off, advancing straight against the front of Charles's line of battle. The royal force consisted of for the most part the troops which had been worsted by the same enemy at Falkirk ; but they were commanded by a very different leader. The order of battle was in two lines, of which seven battalions formed the first, and eight the second. The second line was supported by two squadrons of horse on the right, and four squadrons of dragoons on the left. On the left of the whole line were the Campbells, with the dragoons. There were two pieces of cannon ranged between every battalion in the first line, while three guns were on the right and three on the left of the second. Had the whole insurgent army been concentrated, there would have been Httle if any numerical difference between the contending parties, each of which amounted to about 9,000 men. But, as has been seen. Prince Charles was deprived of above 2,000 of his troops who had not yet come up, and the stragglers who had left his standard amounted to at least 2,000 more, so that at the decisive battle of CuUoden only 5,000 of the Highland army were opposed to 9,000 of the King's M 2 164 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. troops. The men who were absent also were chiefly- true Highlanders, who formed the particular strength of the army of the Chevalier. To obviate the effect of the Highland target, the soldiers of the royal troops had been drilled to direct in action their bayonet thrusts, not at the man directly opposite, but against the one who fronted his right-hand comrade. Eoth armies were apparently full of spirit. On the royal side an appeal made to the troops by the Duke himself was answered by loud cheers and repeated shouts of '* Flanders, Flanders." On the Highland side there was no want of loud huzzahs and slogan cries, and the mountaineers seemed as if they had lost all sense of fatigue at the sight of the enemy. On the left of the field the Macdonalds, alone sullen and discontented, stood silent and morose, offended at the post which had been assigned to them. The battle began with a cannonade from the artillery on both sides, in which the royal army was little harmed; but the insurgents suffered considerable loss. The staff of the Chevalier himself as he rode along his ranks to animate the men, was a conspicuous mark for the royal gunners. Several of his guards fell, and a servant who held a led horse was killed by his side, while Charles himself was covered by the mud thrown up by the ball. Without being discomposed, he coolly continued his inspection, and then, as at Falkirk, stationed himself on a little height close behind the second ]ine. The Duke of Cumberland took up his position between XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 165 his first and second lines. During the preparations for action a bitter storm of snow and hail had begun to fall ; but, unlike the day at Falkirk, the storm now blew full in the faces of the Highlanders. On the right. Lord George Murray, finding his division lose so much more than they inflicted from the cannonade, sent Kerr of Graden to the Prince, requesting permission to attack; this was allowed. The right wing and the centre of the Highland first line, with one loud slogan cry, rushed forward, firing their muskets, and then dropping them, came on furi- ously, sword in hand, against the red lines of the enemy. They were received with a rolling fire of musketry, and were ploughed into by grape-shot and cannon-balls. But, like waves dashing up against a wall of sand, with a resistless onset, they dashed aside the bayonet points of their opponents, broke through Munro's and BurrelFs regiments in the first line, and captured two pieces of cannon. The Duke of Cumberland, however, having foreseen the probability of this event, and in order to provide against its results, had carefully strengthened his second line. It was drawn up three deep, with the front rank kneeling, so as to afford three lines of fire. These, reserving their discharge till the enemy were close upon them, poured in then a volley so well sustained and destructive as completely to disorder them. Before the Highlanders, shaken by this wither- mg fire, could recover or rally, the royal troops advanced, and with the bayonet point, driving the clans together till they became one mingled ma^s, 166 INrJSJONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. turned them into fugitives. Many of the best chiefs were borne down, killed, or wounded, and trampled upon. Lochiel himself fell seriously hurt, but was carried away from the field by two retainers ; and in vain the other chiefs cried to their men to attack again, who were being forced back by bayonet and musketry fire. In a very few minutes the whole right and the centre of Prince Charles's force was in irre- parable disorder, and was being pushed back across the moor by superior numbers of fresh troops, while they themselves were dropping from previous fatigue. On the left the Macdonalds, sulky because they thought themselves aggrieved by their exclusion from the post of honour, stood motionless and irresolute. In vain did the Duke of Perth, who commanded, tell them that he would in future make a right of the left, and call himself Macdonald, if they behaved with their usual bravery. In vain did Keppoch charge against the enemy's line with a few of his kinsmen ; his clan, with a carelessness for their chieftain almost unknown in Highland history, refused to follow, and without emo- tion saw their chief brought down by the bullets of the enemy. Thus they remained, while the right and centre of the army was put to flight ; and then, fall- ing back in good order, with colours flying and pipes playing, joined the remainder of the second line. Another danger was already threatening the rear and right flank of the line so formed. By this time the Argyleshire Highlanders, supported by some English horse, had broken gaps through the park walls on the XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 167 right of the insurgents, had passed through the breaches so made, and formed up on the open moor beyond. Had these been reinforced in time, the retreat of the defeated army might have been cut ofi". The remnant of the insurgent army, with which perhaps an efiectual endeavour might still have been made to restore the fight, did not long remain compact and united. It was pressed by the royal troops in front and flank, and was forced into two divisions. Of these the smaller, composed of the French auxiliaries, and some of the Lowland troops, who were naturally tempted to trust more to roads than rugged pathways across the hills, were driven back towards Inverness, where they were forced to lay down their arms. The other, preserving some degree of order, but thinned every moment by men who quitted the ranks to hasten singly to their homes, made its way to Euthven and Badenoch. Fourteen stands of colours, 2,300 muskets, and all the cannons and baggage of the insurgent army fell into the hands of the King's troops. It was reckoned that the loss in the Eoyal ranks amounted to 310 men, while that of the insurgents was about 1,000, or a fifth of their army. Quarter was seldom given to the stragglers and fugitives, except to a few who were kept back for public execution. The wounded were most of them put to death on the following day. At the close of the battle the horse and the dragoons had closed in upon the insurgents upon both wings. They were cruel in the moment of success, and only too eager to avenge the previous defeats of their comrades 168 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. at Preston and Falkirk against tlie unhappy victims who now fell into their power. A general carnage ensued ; the moor was covered with blood ; and the men, accord- ing to an eye-witness, what with killing the enemy and dabling their feet in the blood, and splashing it about one another, looked like so many butchers. The road from Culloden to Inverness was everywhere strewed with dead bodies. The wounded insurgents were permitted to be left among the dead on the field of battle, stripped of their clothes, in bitter weather, from Wednesday, the day of the engagement, till the afternoon of Friday, when detachments were sent to knock on the head those who were still alive, and some who had resisted the effects of the continual rains which had fallen till this time, were then despatched. A barn, where many of the wounded Highlanders had taken refuge, was set on fire, and the unfortunate wretches burnt together with the walls. Soldiers were stationed round the building, who with fixed bayonets drove back any miserable men who attempted to save themselves. The conduct of the generals who commanded in the royal ranks was certainly most severe, and much of the severity is said to have been due to the counsels of General Hawley, whose character for ferocity has been certainly thoroughly established. From the field of CuUoden Charles rode with a few foUowers to Gortuleg, where Lord Lovat was residing ; but the latter wa^ far too much engrossed with the danger that might ensue to himself to bestow any sympathy'^or compassion on the Prince. He accordingly passed on, XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY. 169 »/ / and on the morning of the I7th, with his little party, gained Glengarry's castle of Invergarry before daybreak. The battle of Culloden decided the campaign and the invasion. France had already abandoned all idea of an expedition against the southern coast when the retreat from Derby commenced. The news of the defeat of the Highland army at Culloden confirmed this resolution of the Court of Versailles. The further efforts of the French government were confined to sending two vessels to aid in the escape of the Chevalier, who, after many months of wandering, privation, hardship, and danger amidst the Highlands and islands of the western coast, was enabled to embark on the 20th of September, five months after the battle of Culloden, at Loch- nanuagh, the same point at which he had landed at the time of his descent on the coast of Scotland. With Lochiel and about 100 more fugitives, he embarked, and landed at the small port of Eoscoff, in Brittany, on the 29th September. After the battle of Culloden the Duke of Cumberland fixed his head-quarters near Fort Augustus, in the centre of the insurgent districts, whence parties were detached, who laid waste the rebels' country, plundered their houses, burnt their cabins, carried away their cattle, and reduced the people to such misery and destitution, that the women and children sometimes followed the bands of soldiers, praying for the ofial of their own cattle to sustain the sparks of a flickering life. Every brutality seems to have been perpetrated in the camps and the expeditions of the conquerors, for which, if truth is told, 170 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. General Hawley appears to have been personally respon- sible. Matrons and maidens suffered from the brutal and profligate soldiery horrors which to the women of the Highlands must have been worse than death; while races of naked native women on horseback were held at Fort Augustus for the amusement of the troops. It is beyond the province of this work to go further into the history of the rebellion. The battle of CuUoden decided the fate of the invasion. Penal steps were taken for the punishment of the chiefs, the clansmen, and the soldiers who were implicated in this last eflFort to place the House of Stuart on the throne of these islands; while legislative measures were soon after enforced, which broke down the feudal power of the mountain chieftains, disarmed the clansmen, and de- stroying the military character of the Highlands, prevented these districts in future from being a hotbed for a rebellion in the cause of the Stuarts, which might be made use of by a hostile government, at any time, to create a diversion for an invasion of England. The war between France and England was terminated two years afterwards by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle which was signed in 1748. One of the conditions of the treaty wa^ that the government of France should no longer afford an asylum to the family of the Pretender to the throne of Great Britain. Prince Charles Edward was reluctantly compelled to quit France and to take refuge in Italy, where he gradually sank into a life of dissipation, which alienated many of his supporters XVI.] INVASIONS TO RESTORE THE STUART DYNASTY, 171 ii from him, while the moderate policy of the English government and the glories which the country gained under the subsequent administration of Pitt, linked the great majority of the nation firmly in a loyal bond of affectionate union to the House of Guelph. / CHAP. XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH AMERICAN COLONIES, 173 CHAPTEE XVII. INVASIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. AuTHORrTiES.~Lord Mahon's *' History of England ; " Regimental Records of the British Ai-my ; Allan's " Battles of the British Navy ; ^ in Carlyle's " Frederick the Great " will be found a picturesque descrip- tion of the actions of Quiberon ; the " Annual Register " commences in 1758, the first part of this work is attributed to Burke ; the "Life of Pitt," by Stanhope ; and Lord Macaulay's two Essays on him ; together with the " Life of Pitt," by Thackeray ; Duncan's " History of the Royal Artillery;" Bancroft's " History of the United States ;" Massey's " History of England, from the Accession of George IIL ; '' Walpole's II Memoirs of the Early Reign of George IIL ;" Mr. Green's excellent " History of the EngUsh People ; " may be consulted with advantage. By the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle both parties to the quarrel which had raged between France and England restored their conquests. In England it was considered, with the usual want of foresight which distinguishes our insular administration of military affairs, that now peace was secured, immediate retrenchment must begin in the military and naval establishments. Eegiments were dis- banded, and those that were maintained were reduced to a strength of 285 men, including officers ; whHe in each battalion the numbers of companies were diminished. Multitudes of half-pay officers and soldiers were thrown upon the country. These had no occupation or employ- ment, and many of the soldiers turned to a mode of life which little, if at all, differed from that of highwaymen. The consequence was that public indignation was aroused, and a new clause was inserted in the Mutiny Bill for 1749, by which half-pay officers and privates w^e rendered amenable to military law. A wiser aaid more merciful method of dealing with the disbanded soldiery was, on the instigation of Captain Coram, found in establishing a military colony on the coast of Nova Scotia, which was named Halifax, after Lcord Halifax, who was the President of the Board of Trade^ and which has now grown into the thriving commercial port of that name. Although the English ministry reduced the military force of the crown with no sparing hand on the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, it was soon seen that tliis treaty had only been under pressure of force agreed in by some of the continental powers ; war between France and England soon again threatened. The quarrel now was not on account of any increase of territory in Europe. The squabbles of a few colonists in the distant mountains of America led to this war between the mother countries. The French settlers in the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi desired to connect their settlements in Canada and Louisiana by a chain of forts, and, determined to check the spread of the English colonies, declared that our countrymen should not fix their settle- ments beyond the Alleghanies. To enforce this command, and as a link in the chain of military communication to extend from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, i 174 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND [chap. xvii.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 175 Fort Duquesne was planted on the waters of the Ohio, amidst pathless woods and swampy marshes, where now rises the busy and smoky city of Pittsburg, encircled with furnaces and factories. The Fort of Niagara, also on the St. Lawrence, and that of Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, supported by a chain of less important posts, threatened to sever the English colonies on the coast from any possibility of extension over the prairies of the west. In 1755 General Braddock was sent against Fort Duquesne with a small force of regulars and of colonial militia. A part of this latter was under the command of Colonel George Washington, who is now well known throughout the world as the great and good Washington, the first President of the United States. Contemptuous of the auxiliary force and of the Indians who marched in his train, and who might have been utilised as spies, Braddock fell into an ambush, and was repulsed with great slaughter and loss to his men. It was now necessary for the English government to take serious measures, as war between France and England was inevitable, both on account of America and India too, where a Frence adventurer was founding a French empire and planning the expulsion of English merchants from their settlements along the coast. In the war which then ensued between England and France the true alliance which naturally should exist between England and Prussia was first commenced. The Queen of Hungary, by a startling change of policy, had as early as 1 752 secretly drawn to the alliance of France and Spain, while Saxony and Eussia, in league ^ J t ] with her, had formed a secret agreement for the partition of Prussia. In 1755 the league of these five Powers was silently completed. So secret were the negotiations that the Duke of Newcastle, who was at the head of the English ministry, was not aware of any intention of the kind. But the keen eye of Frederick of Prussia had detected the secret alliance from its origin. He proposed to England an alliance between himself and the King of England. War was soon after imminent, and as it was evident that Hanover lay exposed to the attack of the French, and would suffer on account of its connection with England in the quarrel that was about to ensue, it was only natural that the English ministry should gladly welcome an alliance with the King of Prussia, the first soldier of the age. The conclusion of this alliance at the close of 1755 gave the signal for the Seven Years' War. The struggle threatened to be gigantic ; but with such sweeping retrenchment had the military establishments of our country been reduced on the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, that only three regiments fit for service were in England at the commencement of 1 756. France, on the other hand, was well prepared, and she opened the war with vigour and energy. Fort Mahon in Minorca, the key of the Mediterranean, which was then in the occupation of the English, was besieged by an expedition under the Duke of Eochelle and forced to capitulate. A fleet sent to raise the siege under Admiral Byng retreated before the French, to the rage and mortification of the English people. In Germany, Frederick had grasped Dresden at the commencement 176 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND [OHAP. XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. ] 77 I - of the war, and forced the Saxon army to surrender at Pirna. In 1757 his victory of Prague laid Bohemia at his feet ; but a defeat at Kolin drove him back again into Saxony. In this year the Duke of Cumberland, who had occupied the line of the Weser with an army of 50,000 men, to defend Hanover, was forced to retire before a French army to the mouth of the Elbe, and compelled by the Convention of Closter-seven to disband his forces. A despondency such as perhaps never either before or since possessed our country, fell upon it on the news of this reverse, and Chesterfield groaned in despair, " We are no longer a nation/' But at the moment that the people were raging, and some statesmen were despairing, our country^ was on the eve of its greatest triumphs. The early disasters of the war drove the Duke of Newcastle from the direction of aiffairs before a storm of popular anger, and in Novem- ber, 1756, the great genius of William Pitt undertook the government of England. In a few months Pitt was forced to resign and Newcastle returned to office. But m July, 1757, it was seen that Pitt was the only man who could save the country. His genius roused in the nation a temper which made ultimate defeat impossible, and though there were many errors and many failures in his earlier military operations, yet Pitt seems to have been the only minister who ever combined the power of diplomacy and of military energy which causes a ruler to make his nation great and triumphant. Probably from the time of Pitt till the time of Bismarck, no smgle man has, in his own mind, embraced so many of )iii .T the qualifications necessary for the statesman as dis- tinguished from the politician, and the general as distinguished from the sergeant-major. Frederick of Prussia, afterwards recognising a genius parallel with his own, exclaimed, '' England has long been*in labour, but she has at last brought forth a man.'' The French government had been a good deal surprised at the treaty between Prussia and England, but afiected to take little notice of its importance. They declared quietly, hinting at an invasion, that perhaps there were places nearer home where the French troops could be employed to more advantage than in Germany, the neutrality of which was guaranteed in the treaties of the alliance of our country with Prussia. And the danger of an invasion was not slight. There had been great diligence in French dockyards, many troops had been moved to the coast, and it was tolerably clear that an invasion of England was likely to be attempted. Both England and France were alike fiercely deter- mined on war. But the state of preparation of the two countries was widely different. The French, although their navy had suffered much in the previous war, had now got war-ships again, and seriously meant to try the question of supremacy at sea once more. In England, as has been before remarked, there were only three regiments in the country, and the Duke of Newcastle, the first minister of the crown, did not dare to have colonels, still less higher officers, appointed, because the Duke of Cumberland would claim the privilege ^ VOL. II. ir \ J i 178 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. naming them, and he was hostile to the ministry, and would name political enemies to his Grace. The country was seized with terror. Cries arose that Hessians should be hired and Hanoverians subsidised to defend our country from the French ; that appli- cation should be made to the Dutch for the 6,000 men which they were bound by treaty to furnish us. But the Dutch piteously proclaimed the dire necessity that they themselves should guard their country against France, and that they must keep their men in Holland. The English government had no power to enforce the treaty, and the Dutch auxiliaries remained at home. Hessians and Hanoverians were sent for to guard against the invasion. About 10,000 from each country did land. The native population immediately became disgusted with them, and refused to billet them. The following extract from Carlyle's '' Frederick the Great '' describes graphically the state of aflfairs at this time : — "The native population very sulky on them (the Hessians and Hanoverians). We will not billet you, not we; build huts and be . With much parliamentary XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 179 newspaper commentary going on of a distressful nature. Saturday, 15th May, 1756, Hessians disembark at Southampton, obliged to pitch camp in the neighbour- hood. Friday, 21st May, the Hanoverians at Chatham, who hut themselves Canterbury way, and have what IS the sum total of their achievements in this country, a case of shoplifting. Pocket-handkerchief across the counter in open day, and the fellow not to be tried by us for it, which enrages the constitutional heart. Alas, 2*. my heavy-laden constitutional heart ; but what can we do? These drilled soldiers will guard us should this terrible invasion land.'' But there was no need for the Hessians and Hano- verians, because the movement of troops towards the coast, as if for an invasion of England, was a feint to cover the departure of the expedition against Minorca, which succeeded in taking that place. On the 2nd December, 1756, the session of Parliament was opened with Pitt as Secretary of State. Under his energetic hand, immediate measures were taken for the increase of the military forces • and the scheme of a national militia was in the Speech from the Throne recommended to the care and diligence of Parliament. Already in the previous year, when war was seen to be likely, in order to obtain light horsemen, whose value had been proved in the previous war, measures were taken per- manently to establish light dragoons in the British service. A troop of light dragoons was ordered to be added to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd regiments of Dragoon Guards; and to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 10th, and 11th regiments of Dragoons, as well as to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Irish Horse, which now form the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Dragoon Guards ; but the 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, and 1 4th Dragoons, being on the Irish establishment, did not receive the same addition. These troops of light dragoons were mounted, armed, equipped, and trained, according to specific instructions, calculated to render them available for the services for which they were designed. Several of them were reviewed in Hyde n2 n 180 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Park in 1756 by His Majesty, and their neat appearance, celerity of movement, and the exact manner in which they performed their evolutions, were much admired by the populace. At the same time we j&nd the regiments of foot guards practising the Prussian pike exercise in Hyde Park, so the military preparations apparently began to be seriously made. It was also announced that the unpopular foreign soldiers should be ordered to return to G^^many. During the summer the Hessians were encamped near Winchester, the Hanoverians near Maid- stone. VV^hen the cold season came on, and the magistrates refused to billet foreigners in the public - houses, the wretched soldiers were left in their camps, exposed to the wind and rain, until the transports were ready for their return. Under all circumstances, during their stay in this country the conduct of these German troops was not only free from all exception, but most exemplary. Their discipline, good conduct, and sobriety were very different from the conduct of the profligate and immoral English soldiery such as we find it, not at the now spoken of time, for there were almost no soldiers, but in the previous war. The case of shoplifting to which Mr. Carlyle so graphically alludes is now clearly allowed to have been due to a mistake, by which the foreigner, buying handker- chiefs in a shop, took away erroneously the whole piece, containing six, having paid only for four, through misunderstanding. A robbery was sworn against the man, and he was committed to gaol. The action of the commanding ofiicer caused, however, hot clamours XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES, 181 amongst the constitutional people of England, as Count Kilmansegge, ignorant of our law, applied to the Secretary of State, who signed an arbitrary warrant for the soldier's release. This despotic action of an English minister raised a popular uproar, and was avenged upon Count Kilmansegge, who was ordered to leave the country immediately, and upon the unhappy soldier,^ who atoned for the sin of the minister by receiving 300 lashes. It is hardly necessary to point out that this occurred before Pitt was associated with the ministry, and while the pusillanimous Duke of Newcastle alone held direction of affairs. The foreign troops which had been summoned to England by the King at the express request of both Houses of Parliament were accordingly sent away as soon as the popular mind recovered from the terror of invasion, and lampoons and diatribes were hurled against the Sovereign for his supposed partiality for his Han- overian subjects. The gratitude of the English nation is indeed wonderful. Although Pitt himself, almost from the day of his appointment, became bedridden with gout, and could take but little part in the parliamentary campaign, the vigour of his nature was seen in the preparations for carrying on the war. 55,000 men were voted by the House of Commons for sea service, and 45,000 for land service. Eeinforcements were despatched to the Earl of Loudon, the new Commander-in-Chief in the American plantations, while fresh regiments were rapidly raised at home. The total supplies granted for the year amounted to 8,300,000?., the national debt ' s 182 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. being at the outset of the war about 7*2,000,000?., having decreased but 6,000,000Z., notwithstanding all the retrenchments in the military and naval service in the seven years since the conclusion of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. But Pitt was not content to rely on the ordinary methods or usual system of raising soldiery. With the originality of true genius, he commenced at this period his bold, but, as it was afterwards proved, most safe and wise policy, of raising regiments of Highlanders from the lately disaffected clans. We who have read of and seen the gallant actions of the Highlanders in Egypt, the Peninsula, the Low Countries, and the Crimea, can hardly realise that any should have doubted of the success of this experiment. Yet there were grave fears expressed by even far-seeing statesmen, and it was only with a due sense of pride that Chatham himself, in after years, recalled the memory of the House of Lords to the bold- ness of his step in the following words :—*' My lords, we should not want men in a good cause ; I remember how I employed the very rebels in the service and defence of their country ; they were reclaimed by that means ; they fought our battles ; they cheerfully bled in defence of those liberties which they had attempted to overthrow but a few years before. ''^ Another measure of public defence was the new modelling of a national militia. Pitt had already brought in a bUl for this object in a previous session, but it was rejected by the Lords, chiefly through the 1 Speech in House of Lords, December 2nd, 1777. fj XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 183 instigation of Lord Hardwicke. This nobleman objected to the establishment of the militia on the curious ground that their being exercised on Sunday, as was proposed, would lead to constant fairs and scenes of jollity in the several parishes where those exercises might be held, notwithstanding an injunction being given to the men to previously go to church ; and he considered that if this was permitted, the face of religion would soon be abolished from the country. On account of this sup- posed danger, the idea of creating this force for the defence of the nation was abandoned. It would ap- pear that at this time the militia were intended to be of much the same character as the present volunteers, and to be formed of men engaged in civil pursuits, and in ordinary avocations of life, and only to be embodied and called out in case of actually being required to take the field. As soon as Pitt took office a bill was again brought into the House of Commons by Colonel George Towns- hend, eldest son of Lord Townshend, to form a militia. After many discussions in the Commons, it underwent several amendments, and notably the number of militia- men proposed in the Lower House was reduced to half, namely, 32,340 for England and Wales. During the progress of the bill through Parliament its objects had been most popular with the nation at large. No sooner had it passed, however, than the people who had clamoured for it found that it pressed heavily upon themselves ; and, as is usual with the populace, which ever desires to make others fight its battles and become 184 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 185 soldiers, but objects very much to any military hardships thrown upon itself, the Act became highly unpopular. Although the invasion from France, which had been threatened at the beginning of 1756, had been diverted to Minorca, there was a constant danger of invasion during the time that the military preparations of this country were in such a backward condition. The great genius of Pitt from the beginning perceived that the true defence against an invasion of this island is the pawer of taking the offensive against an enemy, and ol compelling him, through fear of his own dominions, to retain at home those troops which might be launched against our shores. In 1758, accordingly, expeditions were sent by the English ministry against the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, and against Eochefort, and did some damage to French towns and villages. But as there was not force sufficiently available to furnish a large army, these expeditions were little more than buccaneering descents, and were not pushed with suffi- cient strength to enable them to threaten the enemy's capital ; though such must be ever the true objective point in war. It is manifest that when the French were threatening English interests on the Ohio and in India, if the English government had been able to push an army into France, defeat the French troops under the walls of Paris, and dictate a peace in the capital of the French government, it would have been absolutely necessary for the King of France to consent to any terms which might have been insisted upon. In the same way, at the present time, when there is public anxiety in England lest Russia may advance through the sterile deserts and over the trackless steppes of Central Asia against our Indian Empire, it seems to be entirely forgotten tbat if Russia seriously contemplates the annexation of our Indian dominions, it would be much more easy for her to attempt an invasion of England, and to settle the question of supremacy in the Orient by a battle on the banks of the Thames. Should an action in front of London go against the British arms, there would be no resource for our government but to accede to any terms which a victor might demand, and to hand over, if required, without a blow being struck out of Europe, the entire control over the rich plains of Hindustan. In 1757, as soon as Pitt returned to office at the beginning of July, although the session was too far advanced for him to exert much influence on that year's campaign, which was so unfortunate for English arms in Germany, he applied himself to the fitting-out of a secret expedition against France, which was intended to make a descent on Rochefort, and capture there one of the chief French naval magazines. This blow was calculated as a powerful diversion for the armies of the Duke of Cumberland and the King of Prussia. The opportunity was favourable for such an enterprise, since over 100,000 French troops had marched to Germany, and scarcely 10,000 remained to protect the coast of France itself from St. Valery to Bordeaux. The expe- dition was unsuccessful, but it is well worthy to be remembered, as in it Colonel Wolfe, afterwards the 1^ 186 INFJSIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. conqueror of Canada, first attracted the notice of the great minister who was directing the affairs of the country. In 1758 British expeditions were directed against Cherbourg and St. Malo, but these were only on the buccaneering scale ; while the French were gradually pushed back to the Rhine by Prince Ferdinand in Germany, through his victory at Crafeld. He had, however, subsequently to retire into Westphalia. In the course of that year the British navy reaped some of its brightest laurels. It captured or destroyed 16 French men-of-war, 49 privateers, and 104 merchant ships. The enemy had in the latter respect the advantage, for their capture of merchant ships exceeded 300, while of our privateers they took only 7, of our men-of-war only 3. Early in 1759 the court of Versailles, stung with the success of the allied Prussians and British in the previous year, determined in good earnest on a descent upon the shores of England. At Havre and several other ports flat-bottomed boats were built to assist the projected invasion, and large fleets were equipped at Toulon and Brest, besides a small squadron in Dunkirk, under the command of a brave and skilful seaman, named Thourot. In England preparations were made to resist the invasion. All the country squires were in regimentals. The militia was embodied, while a British fleet, numeri- cally superior to the French, swept up and down the Channel. At this time the first attempt which is found upon record was made to render the militia a force available for the general defence of the country, instead XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 187 / of, as hitherto, only of their own counties. In May powers were taken to enable the government to march the regiments of militia out of their several shires. In July Admiral George Rodney, under the instructions of the ministry, cast anchor in the roads of Havre, and began a bombardment, which continued for fifty-two hours without intermission, destroying many of the newly-constructed flat-bottomed boats intended for the conveyance of troops, and causing considerable damage to the town itself. In August the fleet which the French had assembled at Toulon put out to sea in order to join the fleets assembled in the northern ports. It was pursued immediately by Admiral Boscawen from Gibraltar, and attacked off* Lagos, in Algarve. Of its largest vessels two were captured and two others run ashore. In the Downs an English squadron watched the preparations for invasion which were being made at Dunkirk, while an English fleet, under Sir Edward Hawke, blockaded Brest. But with a true appreciation of the advantage of assuming the off'ensive in order to provide for defence at home, an expedition was despatched against the French islands in the West Indies, consisting of six regiments and several ships of war. A still more important enterprise was undertaken, the conquest of Canada, which remained a French colony in North America, although the other dominions and dependencies in that continent, which had been formerly French, had already fallen into our hands. To command the expedition against the French colony of Canada, Wolfe was m 188 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. selected. It is hardly necessary to recall the bold attack upon Quebec, or the heroic death of its designer. The surrender of Quebec gave Canada to England, and led to the annihilation of the French power in America. On the very day (the 20th November, 1759) that Pitt was speaking in a debate in the House of Commons upon a monument to Wolfe, a great victory was achieved by the British navy. We have seen that the preparations for the French expedition against England from Havre had been interrupted by the bombardment of Rodney in July, while Thourot was blockaded in Dunkirk, and the French fleet from Toulon was rendered hors- de-combat by Boscawen off Lagos. During the whole summer the Brest fleet had been closely blockaded by Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, while some frigates under Commodore Dufl" cruised along the coast to the southward, from Orient to Oleron. Within Brest Admiral Conflans had the supervision of many preparations for the invasion. At Vannes, where the ships of Dufi* were watching, preparations were also being made. 18,000 troops were massed at these two places, and large numbers of flat-bottomed boats were ready for their embarkation. While Hawke watched the outlets of his harbours, Conflans, however, dared not go to sea with convoys of transports. On the 9th November a wild gale of wind drove Hawke from the coast of France to Torbay. The French admiral rapidly seized the opportunity, and put to sea on the 14th November, with twenty-one ships of the line and four XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 189 frigates. He intended to attack and overpower the squadron of Duff before the larger fleet could come to its assistance. But Hawke had weighed anchor from Torbay immediately he could profit by the slightest varia- tion of the weather ; and hearing that the French fleet was out of Brest, crowded every stitch of canvas that the wind would allow him to carry. At break of day on the 20th November the English admiral signalled '' a fleet in sight ; " and soon after, " the French fleet in sight." The day of trial had come. The French admiral was of about the same sfcrenofth as Hawke, and much was expected of his fleet by France. But, with the addition of the squadron of Duff", the English admiral was superior in strength to the French. He had a stronger force by two ships of the line and six frigates. At the moment that Hawke came in sight Conflans was endeavouring to open the way for the convoy from Vannes, and was in hot chase of Com- modore Duff and his small squadron, which had been blockading the troops there. These were running with all their canvas available, while the French fleet followed in hot pursuit. On a sudden the little * squadron, aware of the appearance of Hawke, whirled round, and with a sky-rending cheer commenced advancing towards the French. The French admiral, astonished, perceived that Hawke was coming down from windward at his highest speed, and that now he must prepare to be chased, and give over chasing. About eleven o'clock Hawke was close down upon the French, and eight of his foremost ships were sweeping on for action. ■ t 190 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. .'i. The French admiral at first determined to fight, formed line-of-battle, and made an attempt to resist, but seeing the whole British fleet closing up, he decided to draw his ships close in shore towards the mouth of the Vilaine, and to take shelter along the shoaly coasts in nooks guarded by granite rocks and craggy islets, and dangerous with shoals and quicksands, which were naturally unknown to the English masters. The weather was extremely bad, and almost a gale of wind was blow- in o*. But neither the terrors of an unknown coast, nor those of a winter storm, even on an early closing winter day, prevented the English admiral from engaging. Probably, had Newcastle still held the reins of power in England, excuses would not have been wanting for the fleet not coming into action, but the energy of Pitt communicated itself to all of those who served under him. Under his administration the leaders both of the land and sea services viewed obstacles and dangers only as a spur to exertion, and as an additional stimulus to fame. Such is always the case when great men guide the destinies of a nation. The same has been seen under Frederick of Prussia ; under Napoleon ; in the camp of Wellington ; and at the present day under the ruler of Germany. The English admiral gave the signal for immediate action, but it was two o'clock before he, with his van- guard of eight vessels, could close with Conflans. Hawke himself, passing by the rest of the hostile fleet with his own vessel, the Royal George, reserved his fire for the Soleil Royal, which bore t French admiral, and XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 191 was at this time the largest vessel in the French navy. The navigating officer represented to Hawke the dangers of the coast and the perils of the navigation ; but the admiral answered, '' You have done your duty in this remonstrance ; you are now to obey my orders : lay me alongside the French admiral." Conflans waited and exchanged a couple of broadsides witfi tl^e Royal George, but then sheered off", finding the fire too heavy. The French vice-admiral also poured a broadside into Hawke's vessel, and then also moved away, satisfied with the return. Some four other vessels in succession also poured their broadsides into him, so that the Royal George seemed swallowed in volcanoes of fire and smoke, and the blue flaof of the admiral flvinor from her mast was invisible for some time. But although the smoke was great, and the Royal George seemed buried iji its heavy clouds, the firing of the French gunners was very bad, and various British ships were crowding all their canvas to come to the aid of their commander. A fifth vessel. La Superhe, a seventy-four, that came up against Hawke, was answered by aU the guns of one side of the Royal George together, which sent La Superbe to the bottom in a hideously sudden manner. One other, the Thisbe, had alreadv sunk in fighting, and the Soleil and the Heros were running shoreward. By the close of the action four French vessels were sunk, while two others had struck. The rest of the French squadron sought refuge, more or less damaged, by running up the Vilaine ; and the country, people, to the number of 10,000, who had been crowded n j-a*- lie- ., a».pw#-' -vtv^mf^lt^iit^ 192 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES 193 on the shore to watch the battle, disappeared into the interior, sad at heart and sorrowful at the disgrace which had fallen on the white flaof. Such a night as followed had seldom been witnessed before. Walpole says, the roaring of the elements was redoubled by the batteries from our ships, and both con- curred in that scene of horror to put a period to the navy and hopes of France. During the whole night Hawke heard guns of distress, but could not tell whether from friend or foe, nor yet, on account of the weather, offer any assistance. Seven French ships of the line, which o-ot into the shoals, lay there fourteen months, strictly watched by British vessels ; thumping against the shallow bottom every tide, till their backs were broken, and only three liners, with three frigates, ever got out again. Eight more escaped into the river Charente ; the French admirals own ship and another were run on shore and burnt ; one was captured by the English, two, with their crews, were sent to the bottom. Lord Howe, who attacked La FormidaUe, bore down on her with such violence that her prow forced in his lower tier of guns. Captain Digby, in the Dunkerqice, received the fire of twelve of the enemy's ships ; but so unskilful were their gunners that he lost not a single man. KeppeFs vessel was full of water, and he thought her sinking, when a sudden squall emptied his ship. But he was informed all his powder was gone ; then said he, " I am sorry I am safe." They came and told him a small quantity was undamaged, '' Very well," said he, '' attack again." Not above eigh-t of -our ships were engaged in obtaining this decisive victory. In the morning it was found that besides the French ships stranded, two British, the Resolution and the Essex had been lost, havinof become entangled in the shoals ; but all their men and part of their stores were saved. The number of our killed had been but forty, of our wounded but 200. Such was the entire loss attending this important victory, won in the midst of storm and tempest, which ended all thoughts of the threatened invasion in force from France, and gave the finishing blow to the naval power of that country during the whole remainder of the Seven Years' war. This brilliant result seems to have been almost entirely due to the superior gunnery of the British seamen ; surely when gunnery has become more scientific than it was one hundred years ago, it is more than ever necessary for our country to nurture and foster a similar superiority. Hawke continued watching the mouths of the Vilaine and Charente rivers for a good while after the action, and without interruption henceforth. Supplies of fresh provisions had come to him from England all the summer, but had latterly been stopped by the wild weather.^ The British seamen, with sarcastic appreciation of the grati- tude which the British people usually feel towards their 1 Walpole's " George II. and III." 232. Here is the Ust of ships accu- rately made out, according to Mr. Carlyle :— " Fii-st, Formidable, struck about 4 p.m. ; second, Thishe, sunk by a tumble it got while in action under an unskilful captain ; third, La Superde, sunk ; fourth. Hews, struck, could not be boarded, such bad weather, and recommenced next day, but had to run and strand itself, and be burnt by the English ; as did also fifth, the Soleil Royal, flagship of Conflans ; Conflans and crew, like those of the Hiros, getting out in time." VOL. II. Q 194 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. soldiers and sailors, the moment that the terror of an enemy is removed, passed round the fleet the following stave, which, as Carlyle says, has "a wrinkle of briny humour grinning through it." *' Till Hawke did bang Monsieur Conflang, You sent us beef and beer ; Now, Monsieur^s beat, we've naught to eat, Since you have naught to fear." This stave is worthy to be placed in the same rank as the more modern one, which says — " When danger's near, and foes are nigh. On God and the soldier is all our cry ; When the enemy's beat, or the danger righted, God is forgotten, and the soldier slighted." The invasion that had been contemplated from France at this time was on a grand scale. It had been intended through the means of 500 flat-bottomed boats and other transports, to carry over and land in England more than 54,000 men. Many regiments had already been ordered on the expedition, and a number of the king's guards were also to go. The Prince de Conti had been designated as the Commander-in-Chief of the expedition, and with him were associated as generals the Prince de Soubise and an Irish Jacobite of the name of Thourot. The same gale which drove Hawke away from the front of Brest had driven the British blockading squad- ron from before Dunkirk. There the brave and able Thourot seized the opportunity to make his escape ; but his force did not consist of more than five ships ; and with these, in order to give time for a general and simul- XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES 195 taneous attack on the English coasts, he at first sought shelter along the shores of Norway and Sweden. It appears that he had as his instructions a descent on the north coast of Ireland, in order to act as a diversion, and to prevent the regiments of the Irish establishment being taken over to England, in order to assist in the defence of the country against the main invasion. On his escape from Dunkirk Thourot first steered for Got- tenborg in Sweden, and thence to Bergen in Norway. Here he remained some weeks, and then, sailing round the north of Scotland, attempted to land near London- derry. The vessels with which he left Dunkirk consisted of the Marechal de Bellelish, of forty-four guns ; the Begon, the Blonde, the Terpsicriore, each of thirty guns, and Le Marente, of twenty-four guns, having on board 1,270 soldiers and 700 seamen; 200 of the troops were disembarked on account of sickness before they sailed, and at Gottenborg and Bergen. During a violent storm, as Thourot was about to attempt a landing in the vicinity of Derry, the wind became tempestuous, and blew him again out to sea. Then the Marente parted company, and never again joined. Blown away from the coast of Ireland by this storm, he steered north, and anchored off* the Island of Isla, where he was forced to put in for fresh provisions, of which he stood greatly in need. For these he punctually paid, instead of plunder- ing, as he so easHy might have done, the defenceless people. ^ As Lord Stanhope says, indeed throughout the expedition the honour and humanity of this brave •adventurer are warmly acknowledged by his enemies. '? 196 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. At Isla, Thourot obtained the first tidings of the defeat of Conflans ; but as he could not be sure that this intel- ligence was not invented for the purpose of deceiving him, and as he felt unwilling to return without making an effort, he adhered to his resolution of descending upon Ireland. The weather no sooner permitted, after he had obtained his provisions, than he steered for the Bay of Carrickfergus, and on the 28th of February, 1760, effected an unopposed landing with 600 men ; his ships at this time having been reduced to three.^ The garrison of Carrickfergus consisted only of four companies, chiefly composed of recruits under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Jennings. The town itself was defended only by a ruinous wall ; nevertheless the gates were shut, and a sharp fire of small arms was kept up against the French. The French prisoners in custody at Carrickfergus had previously been sent to Belfast. A regular attack was soon commenced by the French, and sustained by the British, as a French author says, "with their usual spirit,'' until all the English ammunition was expended. Then the little garrison retired to the castle, which was in all respects untenable, not only on account of the wall having a breach fifty feet in width, but also from the total want of provisions and ammunition. It is stated, that notwithstanding the want of cartridges, the assail- ants were repulsed in their first attack, even after the gate was burst open, the *^ enthusiastic heroism of ^ Lord Stanhope makes this descent the 28th of Febraary, the French authorities assert it to have been accomplished on the 21st ; but the difference is of slight importance. XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 197 Britons supplying the want of shot with stones and rubbish." This is, however, only from an English account, written in order to prove to England the im- probability of the success of a French invasion against this country, and appears a little exaggerated by patriotism. Finally, Jennings was forced to surrender, though not unconditionally, as it was arranged that his men were not to be sent prisoners to France, but to be ransomed by the exchange of an equal number of French prisoners in their places. Thourot demanded a supply of fresh provisions from the magistrates of Carrickfergus, which they were imprudent enough to refuse. The town was accordingly plundered, and a contribution levied. He had now re- ceived certain news of the defeat of Conflans at Quiberon, and also ascertained that several thousand men, reo-ulars militia, and volunteers, were being assembled at Belfast to act against him. He therefore hastily re-embarked his soldiers and sailed away. But about nine o'clock on the morning of the 28th, when he had not been many hours out of Carrickfergus, he was brought to by Captain John Elliott with three English frigates. These had been lying in the harbour of Kinsale, when orders came from the Duke of Bedford, the Lord-Lieutencint, for them to go in search of the French expedition. A hot engagement ensued. The vessels were equal in number, being exactly three frigates to three. Thourot displayed his usual courage, and fought his ship until she was nearly filled with water, and the deck was covered with killed and wounded. At length he himself was 198 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. slain. The fall of so gallant a chief disheartened not only his own, but the other French crews, and Elliott was cannonading them hotly. The whole of the three French frigates struck their colours. Captain Elliott's lieutenant boarded the Belleisle, and these vessels were carried captive to Kamsey Bay, in the Isle of Man, to be repaired. The loss of the English in killed and wounded did not exceed forty men, but the French lost over three hundred. This, and the relative proportion of loss at Quiberon, shows conclusively that at this time the naval battles between the French and the English were mainly decided by the superior skill of gunnery shown by the English sailors. Probably that skill in gunnery was considerably aided by the skill in seamanship, which allowed the guns to be advantageously placed, worked and pointed. Thus ended the invasion which was attempted during the Seven Years' War against the coasts of England. This war was brought to a close by the peace of Paris in September 1762. By no war has England's fame, glory, or gain been so increased as it was during this contest. By it she obtained possession of India and America. In the first the French abandoned all right to any military settlement ; in the second they yielded up Canada and Nova Scotia. Never has our country played so great a part in the history of mankind as in the latter years of that war. Three of its many victories were decisive for many years to come of the destinies of the world. '' With the victory of Eossbach, gained by the brilliant strategical genius of Frederick, began the xvn.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 199 restoration of Germany, and its political union under the leadership of Prussia and her kings. With that of Plassey the influence of Europe told for the first time since the days of Alexander on the nations of the East." 1 **The world," in Burke^s gorgeous phrase, '^ saw one of the races of the north-east cast into the heart of Asia new manners, new doctrines, new institutions. With the triumph of Wolfe on the heights of Abraham, began the history of the United States of America." INVASION IN CONNECTION WITH THE INDEPENDENCE OF AMERICA. The very colonies on account of which England had originally embarked in the Seven Years' War were about twenty years later forced by British misgovernment to shake ofi" their allegiance to and connection with the mother country, and to declare themselves an inde- pendent nation, under the style and title of the United States of America. The independence of the United States was recognised by France in two treaties of commerce and alliance, that were sig-ned at Paris on the 6th February, 1778. But for some weeks it was endeavoured to keep these treaties secret so as to aff*ord further time for the coveted accession of Spain to the alliance. During some weeks, accordingly, the official announcement of the treaties to the Court of St. James's was postponed, but the negotiation between the American 1 Green's " Short History of the English People." IH 200 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. commissioners and the French orovernment did not lono- remain a secret to the British ambassador at Paris, nor even to the British public. On the 13th March, in the same year, however, the French ambassador in London, the Marquis de Noailles, delivered to the Secretary of State, Lord Weymouth, a note formally announcing the treaty of friendship and commerce as lately signed between France and the United States. The note was couched in terms of irony, almost of derision, and stated that the United States " are in full possession of inde- pendence, as pronounced by them on the 4th July, 1776." As at this moment the troops of the Kino- and the troops of what was regarded by the English govern- ment as the rebellious colonists were in open arms against each other, this French note could only be regarded as an insult. The British ambassador was ordered to return from Paris forthwith, and the Marquis de Noailles likewise took his departure from London. A war with the Court of Versailles was now impending, though not as yet avowed or declared. Measures were taken at this juncture by means of the lord-lieutenants to call out and assemble the militia in several counties. It was expected that Lord Chatham, the Mr. Pitt of the Seven Years' War, would be called into office. If called upon he was ready to obey the summons. His blood was again roused, as it had been before against the House of Bourbon, and although he deprecated the measures which had alienated the colonies of North America from British rule, and also the civil war which was raging between men of English blood, he considered :i XVII.] IN CONNECTION fTITII THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 201 that the war with France, if it could not be averted, should be most vigorously conducted. On reading the French note recognising the independence of America, he had given his eldest son. Lord Pitt, permission to re- enter the army, a permission that was necessary, as he had insisted on his son resigning his commission rather than bear arms against our colonists and fellow country- men in America. An invasion of Great Britain or Ireland from France was already under consideration at Paris, and it may be gathered that it was the intention of Lord Chatham to place at the head of the army Prince Ferdinand, under whom British arms had been so successful in Germany in the Seven Years' War. General dismay prevailed among all ranks and conditions of society, arising from an opinion that the administration of Lord North was not equal to the necessities of the times. This opinion was so universal that it prevailed amongst those who were most dependent on and attached to the ministry, and was current even amongst the ministers themselves. King George III. was strongly averse to Lord Chatham, but notwitlistanding his aversion, his Majesty would pro- bably have yielded to the pressure of public opinion. It seems beyond doubt that had Lord Chatham's last and fatal illness been delayed a few weeks, nay even perhaps a few days, he would have been called to the helm of public affairs, and have had the opportunity of endeavour- ing to solve the problem which he had himself propounded, to regain the affections while refusing the independence of our American fellow-subjects. But before a summons 4. ( 202 INVASIONS OF UNOLAND. [chap. was received from St. James's, on the 7th April, 1778, Lord Chatham, while speaking in the House of Lords fell down in a fit, and to all appearance lay in the very- agonies of death. Without its being certain whether he ever recovered full consciousness, he died on the 11th May. In 1779 Spain also joined the league against England, and on the 16th June of that year the Spanish ambassador delivered to Lord Weymouth a state paper which amounted to a declaration of war. Projects of invasion were now loudly vaunted by both France and Spain, and appeared near and impending. It was necessary to provide most vigorous measures for defence. The ministry proposed and passed, though not without some criticism in the Upper House, an Act for augmenting the militia. The government had prepared a much more stringent measure, namely, to suspend for six months all exemptions from impressment in the royal navy. This was practically an attempt to give the government the power during the period to man the fleet with any portion of the people at their discretion. This unprecedented measure, which was tantamount to the establishment of conscription in these realms, was brought forward in a no less unprecedented manner. On the night of the 23rd June, at twenty minutes past twelve o'clock, as the House of Commons was on the point of adjourning, the Attorney -General, Wedderburn, rose, and, without any previous notice, moved for leave to bring in this Bill, with a retrospective efi'ect from the 17th. He did not attempt to disguise its arbitrary XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 203 character, but defended it on the ground of necessity. He urged that when an invasion of the country was threatened by perfidious foes, it was necessary to remove all legal impediments from the path of the State in calling every man to its aid. He also argued that it was a necessity to encourage the willing and to compel the reluctant to join in the defence of the country. He stated that there were at Portsmouth six or eight ships of the line ready for sea, but useless through want of seamen, and that they could not be manned if the power (of impressment continued to be fettered by common law and statutory restrictions. So much was an invasion probable at this moment that the Attorney-General in his speech asked the House of Commons, " Will you submit to an inferiority at sea, allow your men of war to rot in your harbours, and trust the existence of this country to the fate of a battle on shore ? '' Notwithstanding the endeavours of such of the opposition as were present, at one o'clock that night the Bill was brought in and read a first and a second time. The House of Lords fortunately acted as a bulwark of the liberties of the subject, and though it was sent to the Upper House on the following day, the Bill did not receive the royal assent until the very end of the session. So much did the men who ruled England at this time consider of importance the mari- time supremacy of England, that this measure was thus hurriedly brought in and attempted to be thus hurriedly passed, although, according to a speech made in the House of Commons about the same time, the number of J 204 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. 1 . our seamen was stated to be 81,000, notwithstanding that 18,000 of the sailors employed during the previous war had been lost to us through our not now having possession of America. Parliament was prorogued on the 3rd July, but the warlike preparations of the country were not slackened. On the 9th a royal proclamation was issued, commandino- all oflScers, civil or military, in the event of an invasion, to cause all horses, cattle, and provisions to be driven from the coasts. A boom was drawn across the entrance of Plymouth harbour, and the fortifications round Ports- mouth were lined with troops and guns. Yet it does not appear that the country was suflBciently prepared against danger, at least if the statements of the opposition may be credited. It was said that at Plymouth there was no adequate supply of powder ; that the diameter of the cannon balls was not adapted to the calibre of the guns ; that there were no hand- spikes or sidearms, or small stores for the batteries ; and that even flints for the muskets of the infantry were wanting. Most of these charges were hotly denied on the side of the government, and it is difficult to discover whether they were advanced with truth, or merely from party spirit. The Duke of Richmond declared in the Peers that he had in person examined Plymouth, and that he had found collected there nearly 5,000 soldiers, but not more than thirty-six invalids, as artillerymen, to handle 200 guns, which were mounted on the works. But the First Lord of the Admiralty asserted with equal vigour that at the time and place which the duke had *ij XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES 205 named there were upwards of 500 seamen on shore well acquainted with gunnery, and quite ready to serve if required. For some time a camp had been in existence on Cox- heath, in front of Maidstone, at which were collected several regiments of militia drawn from various counties. A large force was arrayed on the opposite shores, and an invasion was every day expected. Yet the public credit was not diminished, and in the month of July, when the danger of invasion was at its height, the funds were never more than one per cent, below the point at which they stood in the preceding January. Both private individuals and public bodies, among whom the East India Company were perhaps the foremost, gave large subscriptions for raising troops, for giving bounties to seamen, and for equipping privateers. It was acknow- ledged, even by the opposition, that the militia then in arms did not fall far short of 50,000 men, and that there were within the kingdom almost as many regular troops, while the King himself had determined, if the French should land, to place himself at the head of his subjects in arms, and to animate them by his exertions and example. On the other side of the Channel the preparations for invasion had been made upon a formidable scale. The finances of the French government, which lately had been on the verge of bankruptcy, had now been brought to a more flourishing, or, at least, more promising, con- dition, since M. Necker, a rich and able banker from Geneva, had been named Director- General of Finance. !! / 206 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. A French army, amounting probably to close upon 50,000 men, had been directed on the various Channel ports from Havre to St. Malo, and had taken up their quarters in the maritime towns along the coast. The vanguard was under the command of the Comte de Eochambeau, while the Marechal de Broglie commanded the main body. It was intended that a landing should be made on the shores of the south of England. The French fleet, having left the port of Brest without any interruption from the English, effected a junction with the Spanish, and the whole force, thus combined, amounted to no less than sixty-six sail of the line, with the proper complement of frigates and smaller craft. Never since the time of the Armada had so formidable a fleet ap- peared in the British Channel. Sir Charles Hardy, who commanded the English squadron, had with every exertion been unable to gather together more than thirty- eight men-of-war to dispute the passage with these sixty- six liners. He was powerless to prevent the enemy from insulting the coast of England, or from forcing him back, first near the Scilly Islands, and then compelling him to retire towards the narrow straits between Dover and Calais. The English admiral appears, however, to have acted with judgment and discretion. Only one ship, the Ardent, and that by mistaking the hostile fleet for the British, was captured. Hardy succeeded in drawing the enemy away from before Plymouth, and also in covering Spithead ; and, favoured by an easterly breeze, gained the greatest of all objects in defensive war, the power of temporising. Neither the Spanish nor the French ships :vii.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES 207 were quite seaworthy. Both had been too hastily fitted out ; and it was afterwards stated by Lord North in the House of Commons that had Sir Charles Hardy known then as well as he did afterwards the interior economy of the enemy's fleet, he would have wished and earnestly sought an engagement, notwithstanding their superiority of force. Fortunately for England, the division of command — the offspring of divided opinions which is ever the danger of an allied undertaking— had arisen in the ranks of the enemy. The Spanish admiral desired to land the invading army without delay on the coast of England ; the French commander, on the other hand, thought that it was necessary in the first place to attack and defeat the British fleet, and leave the passage of the Channel open. Sickness had broken out amongst the crews and the troops, and as the approach of the equinoctial gales was imminent, it was feared that the unseaworthiness of the allied ships would be prolific of grav^e disaster. Under these circumstances the Spaniard declared in a peremptory tone that it had become necessary for him to relinquish the present enterprise, and return to the harbours of his own country. The French commander, D'Orvilliers, had no choice but to follow his example. He sailed back, therefore, with his own fleet into Brest, where, mortified at his failure, he resigned the command, and afterwards, it is said, withdrew for the remainder of his life to a monasterv. The squabbles of two admirals thus for the time averted all danger of invasion from our country, and J ■A 208 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. tr. i' I when the House of Commons again met, the Prime Minister of England described the proceedings of our enemies in the late campaign as follows : — " They had fitted out a formidable fleet, they appeared upon our coasts, they talked big, threatened a great deal, did nothing, and retired. Their immense armaments were produced to no purpose, and their millions spent in vain. t) But though the combined fleets of France and Spain were unable to cover an invasion of the country by land forces some buccaneering transactions in the north bitterly mortified our national pride. Paul Jones, by birth a Scotchman, but by feeling a bitter foe to his native land, a bold and hardy seaman, though in his conduct a mere buccaneer, held at this time a commission in the American service. With three ships and one armed brigantine, off the Yorkshire coast, he attacked the English Baltic fleet, convoyed by Captain Pearson in the Serapis, and Captain Piercy in the Scarborough, After a desperate engage- ment, both the British vessels were taken, and though Jones's own best vessel, the Boiihomme Richard, which had been furnished to him by France, was so far damaged in the fight that it sank two days afterwards, he carried his prizes safely into the ports of Holland. Paul Jones with his remainiug ships next appeared in the Firth of Forth. Sir Walter Scott, then still a boy, was at Edinburgh at this time, and has vividly described the humiliation felt that the capital of Scotland should be threatened by what seemed to be three trifling sloops, or brigs, scarcely fit to have sacked a fishing village. XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH TEE AMERICAN COLONIES. 209 But Edinburgh was not totally devoid of brave men to resist this insult. In the capital of Scotland there then happened to be Alexander Stewart, of Invernhale, one of the clan of the Stewarts of Appin ; a veteran who, according to Scottish phrase, had been "out in the '45,'' and who now gloried in the prospect, as he himself said,^ of drawing the claymore once again before he died. He offered to the magistracy, if broadswords and dirks could be obtained, to find as many Highlanders among the lower classes as would be sufficient to defend the town. The magistrates deliberated, but came to no decision on his scheme. A steady and powerful west wind fortunately springing up settled the matter, by sweeping Paul Jone& and his vessels out of the Firth of Forth. ^ It is stated that this west wind was the direct result of the prayera of a minister at Edinburgh. The war continued in America. Attempts were made by the French and Spaniards on Gibraltar ; and con- siderable popular ferment and excitement existed at home. It was well known that on any favourable oppor- tunity an attempt at invasion might be made on our shores; and in 1782 a French descent seemed to be actually impending. By the demands of the American war, our country had been denuded of troops. From the absence of compulsory clauses, the Militia Act had remained a dead letter, and in the face of this danger the kingdom was found almost entirely defenceless. Official intelligence was received, though it was after- wards proved to be unfounded, that an attack was 1 See the Historical Introduction to " Waverley." VOL II. P I i 210 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap, XVII.] IN CONNECTION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 211 I' i ( meditated on the north of Ireland. At all events, the people of Belfast and Carriekfergus solicited the govern- ment to send some military force for their protection. The government of Dublin found at this time that they could not spare any greater force than sixty troopers. It was not unnatural, then, that the people of these towns, loyal as they were, notwithstanding some dis- affection in Ireland, should endeavour to arm themselves for their own protection. They formed themselves into two or three companies. The spirit spread, and by degrees, through all parts of Ireland, but more especially in Ulster, there arose independent companies of volun- teers. In May, 1779, this force was already computed to number upwards of 10,000. Many of the chief men in the country were in command, such as the Earl of Clanricarde in Connaught, and the Earl of Charlemont in Ulster. They chose their own officers, and though claiming arms as militia from the government stores, did not recognise any subjection to government control. These irregular armaments caused great perplexity in the minds of the government. To defend their native country from invasion was a course not only excusable, but praiseworthy. But, on the other hand, it was clearly both unconstitutional and dangerous to assemble in arms without any orders from the crown. As soon as the imme- diate alarm of an invasion passed away, the Secretary of State, writing of the volunteer companies, directed the Lord-Lieutenant—- That they be discouraged by all proper and gentle means." But this order was more easily given than carried out. Delicate hints, implying disapprobation, though not boldly stating this opinion, fell unheeded on reluctant ears ; and the volunteers con- tinued to grow both in numbers and in repute. Before the end of 1779 they appear to have been not far short of 50,000 strong. By degrees they assumed a louder tone. No longer content with separate commanders, they combined to elect Lord Charlemont, a man deservedly esteemed on all sides, but far more accomplished than able, as their general-in- chief. In 1783 definite treaties of peace were signed with France and Spain ; the independence of the United States was recognised by the King of England, and a wretched civil conflict was brought to a conclusion. During this war, for three years, from 1779 to 1782, General EUiott held against famine and bombardment the rock fortress of Gibraltar. From the hour of Chatham's death England entered on a conflict with enemies, whose circle gradually widened, till she stood single-handed against the world. A quarrel over the right of search banded Holland and the Courts of the North into an armed neutrality against her, and added the Dutch fleet and those of France, Spain, and America to the number of her assailants. Yet England held her own at sea, while her losses in the West were all but balanced by new triumphs in the East, where Hastings commenced the conscious and deliberate pur- pose of subjecting India to the British crown, and the progress of Hyder Ali was hurled back by the victory of Porto Novo. Now was laid the foundation of an Indian p2 u 212 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVII.] IN CONNECTION jriTH TEE AMERICAN COLONIES 213 n I empire, which the genius of Hastings was bold enough to foresee. But while our countrymen were triumphant in the East a terrible disaster fell upon our arms in America. Lord Cornwallis having failed in an attempt on North Carolina, fell back in 1781 on Virginia, and intrenched himself in the lines of Yorktown. Washington, by a sudden march, brought his army in front of the English troops, at a moment when the French fleet held the sea in their rear. The army of Cornwallis was driven by famine to a surrender as humiliating as that of Burgoyne at Saratoga. England seemed on the brink of ruin. Even Ireland turned against her. The Protestant volunteers who had been raised for the defence of the island made a demand which was in efiect a claim for Irish independ- ence. There were no means of resisting the demand, for England was destitute of any force which she could oppose to the Irish volunteers. The hopes of her enemies rose high. Spain refused peace at any other price than the cession of Gibraltar. France demanded that England should surrender all her Indian conquests save Bengal. At this moment the fleet of England restored the balance of the trembling scale. Admiral Eodney, the greatest of English seamen save Nelson and Blake, saved our country from a dis- honourable peace. He fell in with the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, and only four of its vessels escaped to Cadiz. The French admiral De Grasse had been triumphant in the West Indies, but Rodney, on the 12th of April, 1782, who had followed him to the West, broke the French line by a manoeuvre which he was the first to introduce, and drove the French vessels in confusion from the sea. The final repulse of the allied armament before Gibraltar, in September, 1782, concluded the war. In November the treaties of Paris and Versailles, while yielding nothing to France, and only Minorca and Florida to Spain, acknowledged without reserve the independence of America. CHAP, xviii.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 215 •: ) I . I t CHAPTER XVIII. INVASIONS OF THE WARS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Authorities.— Von Sybel's '' History of the French Revolution ; " Regi- mental Records of the British Army ; Lord Comwallis's Correspond- ence ; Alison's " History of Europe ; " Sir William Napier's " History of the Peninsular War ; " Stanhope's " Life of Pitt ; " Clode's " Mili- tary Forces of the Crown;" Clode's "Military and Martial Laws;" Walpole's " Memoirs of the Reign of George III." ; Thiers's " Consulat et I'Empire" may be consulted, as well as the great bulk of the military works of French authors which refer to this period. When Europe was startled by the outbreak of the French Revolution, the state of England was very diflferent from what it was at the time of the invasion of the Old Pretender. Men had expected that our country would be ruined by the loss of her American colonies, the independence of which was guaranteed by the peace of Paris. But these expectations were quickly disappointed. England rose from this struggle stronger and greater than ever. The ten years which succeeded the inde- pendence of America saw an increase of industrial activity within our country such as the world had never before witnessed. During the twenty years that again followed, our ancestors wrestled almost single-handed against the energy of the French Revolution, as well \i A I as against the colossal force of the empire of the First Napoleon, and emerged from the earlier struggle unconquered, from the later victorious. In December, 1783, William Pitt occupied the post of First Lord of the Treasury, and at the general election of 1784 every great constituency returned supporters of his policy. The great strength of Pitt as a statesman lay in finance, and he was placed at the head of the administration of the country at a time when the growth of English wealth made a knowledge of finance essential to a minister. During the eighteenth century the population of our islands more than doubled, and the increase of wealth was even greater than that of the population. The war with America had added one hundred millions to the national debt, but the burden sat lightly on the country. The loss of America only increased our commerce with the independent colonies. Industry began that great career which was to make England the workshop of the world. During the first half of the eighteenth century the cotton trade, of which Manchester was the principal seat, had only risen from the value of 20,000Z. to that of 40,000^., and at the time that Charles Edward from Derby threatened the metropolis, the handlooms of Manchester still retained the primitive shape which is yet found in the handlooms up-country in India. Three successive inventions in ten years, in the latter part of the century, made Manchester the centre of a hive of industry whicli included the whole of Lancashire. The spinning machine invented by the barber Arkwright, in 1768, the ! it 216 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. ii ! i »» u spinning jenny by the weaver Hargreaves, in 1764, and th^ mule by the weaver Crompton, in 1776, together combined to effect that revolution. At the accession of George III. the whole linen trade of Scotland was of less value than the cloth trade of Yorkshire. On the retreat of Prince Charles Edward from Derby to Glasgow, a requisition to the amount of 10,000^. was all that it was considered could be borne by the citizens of that town ; and so serious was this considered, that after the suppression of the rebellion Parliament made a special grant to compensate the city for its suffering. Before the close of the reign of the Third George Glasgow was already taking its rank as one of the great trading capitals of the world. The potteries which Wedgwood established in 1763 in Staffordshire soon eclipsed in fame those of France or Holland, and before the peace of Paris was signed more than 20,000 potters were employed in that county alone. This rapid growth of manufactures and increase of wealth brought about a corresponding improvement in the means of communi- cation throughout the country. Up to the middle of the eighteenth century the roads throughout England had been of the rudest sort, and were for the most part so wretched, that all cheap or rapid transit was impossible. So much so that it was considered impossible to move a train of artillery which was intended for the Duke of Cumberland's army from London to Edinburgh by land, and it was necessary to forward it by the more precarious and uncertain method of a sea voyage. At the time of the outbreak of the rebellion caused by the landing of XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRFNCH REVOLUTION. 217 Charles Edward, probably owing to Marshal Wade, roads were better in northern Scotland than in any other part of the United Kingdom. The cotton bales of Manchester were still at that time carried to Liverpool or Bristol on pack-horses. During the latter part of the eighteenth century one of the great works of which our country may be .proud was carried out, and England was covered with a vast network of splendid highways. Nor were roads alone considered sufficient to supply the demands of the new commerce ; in 1761 a canal which crossed the Irwell by a lofty aqueduct, constructed under the supervision of Brindley, was made to Manchester. This experiment was successful, and soon led to the general introduction of water carriage. The Trent was linked by a water way with the Mersey ; the Thames with the Trent ; the Forth with the Clyde. The economy of the new mode of trans- port, as well as the progress of engineering, developed English collieries to an extent that soon allowed coal a front place among our exports. Watt in 1765 discovered the value of coal in producing mechanical force through the steam-engine. During the same period, between the earlier and the later years of the eighteenth century, an agricultural change passed gradually over the face of the country. A fourth part of England was reclaimed from waste and brought under culture, while on the tilled land itself the production was more than doubled by the advance of the science of agriculture that began with the travels and treatises of Arthur Young, the introduc- tion of the system of large farms by Mr. Coke of Norfolk, and the development of scientific tillage in the Lothians. I If ' 218 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 219 4' I 'm The steady progress of English industry was to be checked by a series of events with which England her- self had no concern, save so far that she had given the model for constitutional privileges, the absence of which led to the French Revolution. In 1783, before the conclusion of peace, the regular soldiers of Great Britain amounted to 54,678 men. The peace was signed, and in the succeeding year the esti- mates provided for only 17,483 men in Great Britain. This seems to have been the number for which barrack accommodation could be found. In the same year 17,247 men were voted for the plantations ; and for the first time 6,336 regular troops for India. This strength was not changed till 1787, when a slight reduction was made, as there usually is in England shortly before a war. Till the year 1788 Parliament imposed no restric- tions on the East India Company as to the number of its own army, but the company was commanded to maintain 12,200 Europeans beside part of the imperial troops in India. During the reign of George III. the Board of Control could order a force not exceeding 8,045 officers and men to be maintained in India out of the Indian revenue. This number was subsequently raised to 20,000 men. Such soldiery was on a different footing to the troops which now garrison Meerut, Agra, Delhi, or Peshwur. All the levies now sent to India are placed on the Indian establishment and paid by the Indian revenue, but are regular soldiers of the British crown, and there is no power to prevent the crown from recalling them to this country at any moment they may be required. The Puritan opposition of the seventeenth century had succeeded in checking, as far as England was concerned, the general tendency of the time to religious and political despotism. Since the accession of William III. the people's right to govern itself through its parliamen- tary representatives and religious freedom of conscience had been practically established. From ages previous every man, from the highest to the lowest, was subject to and protected by the same laws. The aristocracy were possessed of few social privileges, and prevented from becoming a seporate caste by the wholesome legal and social tradition which counted all save th e single heir of a noble house as commoners. No insuperable boundary parted the nobility from the gentry, the gentry from the commercial classes, nor these from the working classes of the community, and public opinion was already one of the powerful elements of English government. In the other great states of Europe, however, the religious wars of the seventeenth century had left but the name of freedom ; governments tended to pure despotism, privilege was supreme in religion, in politics, and in society. Classes were rigidly divided one from the other, and the mass of the people were debarred from any equal rights of justice or protection for the fruits of their industry. In the eighteenth century such an arrangement of national life was rendered absurd through the wide diffusion of intelligence which was spread over Europe. In almost every country some far-sighted rulers endeavoured by well-timed reforms to satisfy to some extent the sense of wrong which they found amongst |i i m m I I* \i • l\ ■ 220 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. their peoples. Sucli were Frederick the Great in Prussia; Joseph II. in Austria and the Netherlands ; while in France similar endeavours were made by such statesmen as Turgot. But in this last unhappy country the contrast between the actual state of society and the new ideas of individual rights were most keenly felt. In no other land in Europe had the victory of the crown been more complete. The aristocracy, though deprived of all share in the government of the country, enjoyed social privileges and exemption from taxation, without any of that sense of public duty which an influence on government would engender. Guilds and monopolies fettered the industry of the trader and the merchant, and parted these from the working classes, while the fictitious price set upon noble blood severed both from the nobility. Yet in no country was public opinion more free, though powerless to influence the government, than in France. A literary class had sprung up which devoted itself with wonderful activity acd wit to popularise the idea of social and political justice which had been learnt from English writers or from contact with English society. Throughout France the new force of intelligence found itself in direct antagonism with the existing state of afiairs. The priesthood, who were predominant, were denounced by the philosophers, such as Voltaire and Montesquieu, as tyrants. The peasantry, feebly reflectiug the opinions of the cities, grumbled at the absolute right of the lord to judge him in feudal courts and to exact feudal seiwices from him. The merchant was chafed and annoyed by restrictions on trade and heavy taxation. '•i XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 221 But none of these classes, philosophers, peasantry, mer- chants, nor even the country gentry, had much influence on the actions of the government. Yet it was by the force of public opinion that France was obliged to ally herself with America in its contest for independence. The public mind was however strangely excited by the conflict, and many French volunteers under Lafayette joined the army of Washington. The American war spread throughout the nation more widely the craving for equality of rights, while at the same time the exer- tions made by the government brought on the exchequer a financial embarrassment from which the rulers of the country could only free themselves by an appeal to the people. This necessity led Louis XVI. to summon the States-General, a body which had not met since the time of Richelieu, with a view of applying to the nobility to yield up their immunity from sharing the public bur- dens of the country. But the vision of popular repre- sentation stirred at once into vigour and energy the impulse and desire which had for years been seething in the minds of the masses. The States-General no sooner met at Versailles in May, 1789, than the whole fabric of despotism and privilege began to crumble. A riot in Paris destroyed the Bastile, and the fall of this for- tress-prison was regarded as the inauguration of a new era of constitutional freedom for France. In October of the same year the mob of Paris marched on Versailles, and forced both king and assembly to re- turn to the capital, and a constitution, hurriedly drawn up, was accepted by the sovereign in lieu of despotic power. 222 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. I Pitt, who was at the head of the administration in England, was little anxious to interfere with the internal arrangements for the new constitution or government of France. The natural conservative tendency of the English people against violent change was fanned by Burke into a detestation of the revolution, and a frenzied fear as to its consequences. Continental powers also would have been anxious at first not to have interfered with France. Eussia had risen into greatness under Catherine II., and Catherine had resolved from the first on the annexation of Poland, the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, and the erection of a Eussian throne at Constantinople. In her first aim she was bafiled for the moment by the genius of the great Frederick. When Frederick, in union with the Emperor Joseph II., forced Russia to admit Germany to a share in the spoil of the partition of Poland, she had already made herself mistress of the whole of the kingdom ; her armies occupied the entire country, and she had seated a nominee of her own on its throne. This Polish partition of 1773 brought the Eussian frontier westward to the upper waters of the Dwina and the Dnieper, gave Galicia to Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, and West Prussia to Frederick him- self. When the, death of Frederick removed Catherine s most watchful and dangerous foe in 1788, the Em- press and Joseph joined hand in hand for a partition of the Turkish Empire. But Prussia, although deprived of the guiding mind of Frederick, was still wakeful ; and England was no longer, as in 1773, fettered by troubles with irritated colonists. The wise friendship and alliance XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 223 established by Chatham between England and Germany, which had been suspended temporarily by the feebleness of Bute, and all but destroyed during the northern league of the neutral powers, had been restored by the brilliant mind of Pitt, and its weight in Europe was now seen in the alliance of England with Prussia and Holland, in 1789, for the preservation of the Turkish Empire. It is to be hoped that both English and German statesmen may not hastily depart from the traditions hallowed by the genius of Chatham and adorned by the intellect of Frederick, which link our two countries closely together in alliance, as they are by nature and blood. A European war seemed at hand, but the treaty between England and Prussia swept away the danger of hostilities. In 1791 the flight of Louis XVI. from Paris again for a moment brought Europe to the verge of war. But he was intercepted and brought back, and not only accepted the constitution prepared by his subjects, but earnestly begged the Emperor of Germany that no armed inter- vention should be made by foreign powers, as such a step would assuredly bring ruin to his crown. In August of the same year the Emperor and the King of Prussia met at Pilnitz, and contented themselves with a vague declaration, inviting the European powers to co-operate in restoring a sound form of government in France, but availed themselves of the neutrality which Pitt openly asserted England would maintain, as a reason for refusing all military aid to the French princes. The peace, however, that these sovereigns desired soon became impossible. The royalists in France availed 224 INFASlOyS OF ENGLAND. [cnAP. themselves of the popuhir irritation caused by the declaration of Pilnitz to raise again the cry for a war, which, as they held, w^ould give strength to the throne. The Jacobins, on the other hand, under the influence of the Girondists, or deputies from the south of France, aiming at a republic, saw in the prospect of a great struggle a means of overthrowing the monarchy. These determined, in spite of the opposition of Robespierre, on a contest with the Emperor. Both parties were at one in demanding the breaking up of an army which the French emigrant princes had formed on the Rhine; and though Leopold assented to this demand, France declared war against his successor, Francis, in April, 1792. Pitt refused all aid to France in this war, but stipu- lated that Holland must remain untouched, although he promised the neutrality of our country, even though Belgium should for a time be occupied by a French army. In the King s speech at the opening of Parlia- ment on the last day of January, the English cabinet had expressed a confident hope of the maintenance of peace, and as the best pledge of their belief, confidently recommended an immediate reduction in the naval and militaiy establishments, and a proportionate relief of the people from the weight of taxation. On the conviction that peace could be preserved, Pitt himself bringing forward his budget, asked the House to vote only 16,000 seamen, being 2,000 less than the number voted in the preceding year. As to the land forces, he pro- posed not to renew the subsidiary treaty with Hesse XVIII.] TROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 225 Cassel, which had been concluded in 1787, and by which, for 36,000Z. per annum, England obtained the service of 12,000 Hessian troops to serve in the pay of Great Britain. So little was war anticipated at this moment in England, so high was then the public credit, that Pitt intended to propose a reduction of the 4 per cents to 3 J per cents ; but on further consideration he resolved to defer the measure until the next session, whea he hoped to be able to reduce these funds to 3 per cent. Thus little did even the most prudent men in the country foresee what the next session would brin^y forth, and that not only many years, but tens of years, would pass ere any opportunity for reduction would again occur. Peace grew hourly more impossible. The French revolutionists, eagerly anxious to find an ally in their war with Austria, strove by intrigues throughout Eng- land to rouse the same revolutionary spirit in our island as had been called forth in France. Burke, too, was working hard, on the other hand, in writings, whose extravagance of style was forgotten in their intensity of feeling, to spread alarm throughout Europe. At the threat of war against the Emperor the Courts of Austria and of Prussia had drawn together, and, reluc- tantly abandoning all hope of peace with France, concentrated 80,000 men under the Duke of Brunswick, who advanced slowly in August on the Meuse. France, though she had forced on the conflict, was in truth almost defenceless. Her army in Belgium broke on the first shock of arms into shameful rout ; and the panic VOL. n. 226 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVITI.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 227 spreading from the soldiery to the nation at large, took violent and horrible forms. On the first news of the advance of Brunswick the mob of Paris broke into the Tuileries on the 10th August, and on its demand the king, who had taken refuge in the Assembly, was suspended from his office and imprisoned in the Temple. From this moment the progress of France towards political, social, and religious freedom was at an end. Licence was immediately substituted for liberty, and the populace of the capital, with the commune of Paris at its head, imposed its despotic will upon the Assembly and the nation. Liberty was crushed down by the horror which its extravagances hereafter evoked, and for years after, whether under the Commune or the Directory, or even the more enlightened rule of Napoleon, the government was a despotism. The progress of Brunswick was stayed in the defiles of Argonne by the skill and adroit negotiations of Dumouriez. But while this general checked the advance of the invaders, bodies of paid murderers butchered in September the royalist prisoners who crowded the jails of Paris. The numbers of Brunswick's army delayed in the Argonne were so reduced by disease that the advance on Paris ultimately became impossible, and a brilliant victory gained by Dumouriez at Jemappes, laid the Netherlands at his feet. In November the New Convention decreed in Paris that France offered the aid of her soldiers to all nations who would strive for freedom. '' All governments are our enemies ; all peoples^are our allies," said its president ; and without any jiretext for war, the French government resolved, encouraged by its victory at Jemappes, to attack Holland, and ordered its generals to enforce by arms the opening of the Scheldt. To do this was to drive England into hostilities. Public opinion was urging daily more strongly upon Pitt the advisability of war. The horror aroused in England by the massacres of September, and the hideous despotism of the Paris mob, had powerfully estranged England from the revolution. Pitt alone of all men in our country held firm to the hopes of peace. At the opening of November he still urged upon Holland a studied neutrality. It was France, and not even popular opinion in England, which at last forced him reluctantly to draw the sword from the scabbard. The decree of the Convention and the attack on the Dutch left him no choice but war, for it was impossible for England to suffer a French fleet at Antwerp, or to desert allies like the United Provinces. Across the Channel the moderation of Pitt was only supposed to betoken fear, while in England the general mourning which was worn on the news of the execution of the French king showed the growing popular desire for a conflict. Both sides resolved upon hostilities, and on the 1st February, 1793, France issued her declaration of war against England and Holland ; and our shores again became exposed to the danger of an invasion. A similar declaration against Spain followed on the morning of the 7th March; and thus the last hopes of peace departed, and trumpets once more sounded to battle. Q 2 228 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. At the same time England was little prepared for war. A charge indeed has been made against Pitt, that under his administration the English army was the laughing-stock of Europe. No doubt during the administration of this statesman there were many miscarriages by land to set against our victories at sea ; but the same fate attended all the armies which at that period were formed in line against France. It was no easy matter to prevail over a nation at all times most brave and warlike, and then inflamed to a preternatural strength by its revolutionary ardour. When, therefore, the English army is declared at that period to have been the laughing-stock of Europe, we may ask what other European army at the same time enjoyed better fortune, or was more justly entitled to smile at oursi It must also be borne in mind that the military failures laid to the charge of Pitt continued long after Pitt had ceased to live. With the greatest failure of all which stains our military administration at the com- mencement of this century, the expedition to Walcheren, Pitt was not at all, except in kindred, connected. The truth is that at the time of the outbreak of the revolu- tionary wars our generals for the most part were any- thing but men of genius. Those who had served in the campaigns in America had not gained leasons of much avail in European warfare ; nor, indeed, had the army acquired such honour in the American war as would tempt men of talent and vigour to enter its ranks. While the navy, on the other hand, was certainly at XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION 229 that time in England the popular service. Lord Gran- ville, writing to his brother, in strict confidence, on the 28th of January, 1799, even some time after war had broken out, " What defence have we to oppose to our domestic and external enemies ? Some old woman in a red ribbon ! '' The truth is that these miscarriages in our military euterprises, far from being confined simply to the time of the administration of Pitt, continued, with few exceptions, in regular and mortifying series, tiJI, happily for England and for Europe, there arose a man as great in the field as was Pitt in the cabinet ; and till the valour which never had failed our troops even in their worst of battles was led to victory by the surpassing genius of Wellington. The campaign commenced early on the side of Flanders. Scarce a fortnight after ih<^ declaration of war, Du- mouriez crossed the frontier and invaded Holland ; but was called to the Meuse by the advance of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg at the head of some Austrian troops, and defeated at the battle of Nerwinde, by which the Aus- trians recovered the whole of Belgium almost as ra; idly as they had lost it. From the lower Ehine the French were driven back to Alsace, and the city of Mayence was besieged, and after an obstinate resistance taken by the Prussians. Dumouriez was so chagrined at this reverse of fortune that he entered into secret communi- cations with the enemy, and passed over into the hostile lines, but refused to take any part in carrying on war against the French arms, and finally settled in London. In England there were about 10,000 troops ready for 230 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. the defence of Holland when invaded by Dumounez ; being freed from that duty by the retreat of the French, they were designed to take part in the campaign of Flanders, and accordingly were landed at Ostend. Their commander was Frederick, Duke of York, who from early youth had applied himself with zeal to the study of military science. AU seemed now to go ill for France ; she was girt in by a ring of enemies ; the Emperor, Prussia, Saxony, Sardinia, Spain, were leagued in arms against her, and their efforts were seconded by civil w^ar. The peasantry of Poitou and Brittany rose in revolt against the revolu- tionary government. MarseiUes and Lyons were driven into insurrection, and the enemies of the government in a great naval port, that of Toulon, not only hoisted the royalist flag, but admitted an English garrison within its walls to hold its works. This garrison, which was thrown in by Lord Hood, consisted of only 1,500 men for the defence of the place, but received some succours from the Sardinian and Neapolitan armies. Quickly were they surrounded by republican besiegers, and although the great importance of holding Toulon was felt and acted on by the English government, its fate was decided before reinforcements could arrive. The attacks made upon the works were frequent and formidable, and the artillery directed against them was handled by a young Corsican officer, whose name then first rose to distinction, but ere long resounded through the world. The lieu- tenant of artillery was Napoleon Bonaparte. By the middle of December the besiegers obtained possession of XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH RIVOLUTION. 231 the fort which commanded the inner harbour, and the allied troops found themselves compelled without delay to relinquish the town and re-embark. But the chance of crushing the revolution was lost by the greed and rapacity of the allied powers. Russia, as Pitt had foreseen, was now free to carry out her schemes of aggrandizement in the East ; and Austria and Prussia turned from the vigorous prosecution of the French war to the final partition of Poland. The Duke of York, in conjunction with the Prince of Coburg, found themselves opposed to Dampierre, the successor of Dumouriez, and, under the advice of General Mack, an excellent officer as far as paper was concerned, but with little of the dash necessary to the successful prosecution of a campaign in the field, frittered away their forces, which should have been pushed into the heart of France, in a succcession of profitless sieges. The garrisons which capitulated were left free, although engaged not to serve against the Emperor or his allies, to crush down with no sparing hand the civil revolts which, if encouraged in France, might have aided the allied cause. At the same time the Austrian chiefs appear to have contemplated the curtailment of French territory, if not the partition of France. Whatever were the crimes and violence of the Jacobin leaders at this time, the whole body of French- men felt the value of the revolution, and rallied enthusi- astically to its support. New levies flocked 'in great numbers to the tricolor standard, and filled the ranks of the revolutionary armies. Fired with no common ardour, without even for a moment belying the martial spirit of 232 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION 233 their race, they seemed careless alike of danger, privation, and fatigue. The fruits of this new spirit soon appeared. The Duke of York was compelled by Hoche and Houchard, without the walls of Dunkirk, to raise the siege of that place. The chiefs of the Convention displayed terrible energy against the insurgents within the limits of France. Lyons was retaken, and laid waste with fire and sword ; its buildings were ordered to be rased to the ground; its very name was decreed to be obliterated, and changed to Commune Affranchie. Marseilles, in like manner, was forced to yield to the regular troops ; while at Le Mans the Vendeans were utterly routed, and great numbers of them butchered. Throughout this winter the most strenuous exertions had been made in France for the prosecution of the war. The Committee of Public Safety, with Robespierre for its leader, seemed to imprint its savage energy on all around it. Above a million of Frenchmen, as was com- puted, or guessed at, took up arms. Every frontier of the new Republic was lined with numerous and daring levies. The army of the north, as it was termed, that is in front of Flanders, mustered, including the garrisons, 250,000 men. Its command was entrusted to Pichegru, while Jourdan was at the head of the army of the Moselle. On the side of the allies a combined march to Paris was intended, and great hopes were founded on the arrival of the Emperor of Austria at Brussels. It was thought that his presence might serve to restore the loyalty of his ill-affected subjects in the Low Countries, and compose the dissensions of his jarring generals. In April he came to the Belgian capital, and reviewed an army of no less than 140,000 men, with which the siege of Landrecies was shortly afterwards undertaken. Dur- ing this operation the Duke of York, with one division, covered the right flank of the main army in the direction of Cambray, and repulsed an attack of the French against his lines, capturing thirty-five pieces of cannon. But the French were far from dispirited ; they quickly resumed the ofi'ensive, and crossed the Sambre, and the battle of Fleurus, in June, allowed Pichegru and Jourdan, advancing in consort, to enter Brussels and to recover all the recent conquests of the allies. In the Mediterranean an insurrection in Corsica allowed the British to throw a force into that island under a convention with General Paoli, who had been elected General-in-chief by the popular deputies ; and while our General Sir David Dundas lay idle at San Fiorenze, not giving one of the five regiments he had there to assist in the operations. Captain Nelson, of the Agamemnon, who afterwards became so famous, and Lord Hood, seized the town of Bastia, where 4,500 men laid down their arms to less than 1,000 British marines, and ensured the full possession of the island. Corsica was afterwards annexed to the throne of England, as another kingdom, and with a free constitution of its own. In the Channel a formidable French armament was cruising, which threatened this country with an invasion, as, should it be able to defeat the English fleet, the passage would have lain open for any number of the hastily 234 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REFOLUTION. 235 raised levies of the Republic to be poured on to our southern shores. The French vessels in the month of May left the harbour of Brest, in pursuance of orders from Paris, for the purpose of protecting a large convoy, laden chiefly with flour, which was expected from America. It consisted of twenty-six sail of the line, equipped with great care, and having for its chief admiral Villaret Joyeuse ; but his authority was often overruled by a commissioner from the terrible Convention, Jean Bon St. Andre, who, though totally ignorant of seaman- ship, and trained in his youth as a Calvinist divine, had come on board and assumed the tone of a great naval authority. Nor was the French admiral adequately supported by his captains or his crews. The revolution had been the means of driving the best naval officers from the French service ; for under the influence of the new ideas every attempt at maintaining discipline in a ship of war was denounced by the Jacobins at the sea- ports as savouring of aristocracy, and as an inroad on the rights of the people. Lord Stanhope, in his Life of Pitt, states that even before the close of 1791 it had been calculated that three-fourths of the officers of the royal marine had either retired or been dismissed. Their places had been supplied from the merchant service, with a very searching test as to politics, but with a very slight test as to naval knowledge or skill. The commander of the British Channel fleet was at this time Earl Howe. He had reached the verge of three score years and ten, but he possessed the mind of forty years of age, and had not a thought separated from fr honour and glory. Under him sailed several gallant admirals, as another Hood, afterwards Lord Bridport, and Admirals Graves and Gardiner, both subsequently raised to the peerage. In the action of the 1st of June, which derives its name from no local connection, but from its date, the French were superior to the English by one line-of-battle ship, and by a considerable weight of ordnance. When after daybreak the English ships bore down together for close action, the attack was commenced by the English admiral. His object was to break the enemy's line. On the French side a heavy fire was opened against the English as soon as they came within range ; but Howe, in his own ship, the Queen Charlotte^ 100 guns, ordered his men to returu none of the broad- sides poured in upon them until his master could place him alongside of the French admiral's ship, the Montague, 120 guns, the largest vessel at that time in the whole French navy. Thus breaking the French line of battle, and closely followed by five vessels of his own fleet, he closed upon the Montagne. So unpleasant on board the enemy's flagship appeared the sight of the advancing Englishman, that M. Jean Bon St. Andre, with a total want of the polemical courage which might have been expected from his early education, abandoned the deck, and retired into the cockpit below water mark. The battle raged furiously, but after a harassing conflict the French admiral gave way, and, followed by all his ships, still in sufficient order, made sail away. One of his seventy- fours, the Le Vengeur, went down during the action. r> M 236 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLT] T ION. 237 with many hundred men on board, as also did some nearly disabled ships, that might otherwise have been secured ; still five were left as prizes and brought home in triumph by Howe. This victory was most season- able in its influence on England. It proved the continued supremacy of our navy on its own element, as we love to call it, the sea. It revived the spirits that were drooping from the adverse results of the continental campaigns. It secured also for the time our southern shores from the danger of invasion. The battle of the 1st June, though it secured England from an invasion, had no effect in facilitating the offensive movements against Paris on the part of the allies, which, if successful, would have been the best means of obtaining peace, and of guarding our country for some considerable time from danger. On the con- trary, a serious and unexpected blow was dealt in the winter aofainst the allied armies. These had withdrawn to winter quarters. It was thought that the campaign had concluded ; but, as it chanced, the winter in the Low Countries set in with extreme severity, such as had not been experienced for many years. The great rivers that form the barriers of Holland to the south were frozen over, and their condition seemed to invite rather than guard against invasion. General Pichegru, who was ill at Brussels, hastened back to his troops. The French soldiery, displaying their usual alacrity for action, came forth with tattered clothing and worn-out shoes, but without a murmur, from their winter- quarters. The ice was strong enough to carry them, and they crossed with the greatest ease both the Meuse and the Waal. General Walmoden, with the English and Hano- verians, fell back to Deventer to effect their retreat to Hanover by way of Westphalia. The Prince of Orange, with the Dutch, retired on Utrecht and Amsterdam. He asked for a suspension of hostilities, and offered terms of peace, but both were disdainfully rejected. Thus no other resource was left to him. The French troops pressed forward in overwhelming numbers, and the French party, which had been crushed down in 1787, again raised its head. The prince relinquished the contest and embarked for England, while Pichegru entered Amsterdam in triumph on the 20th March. Yet this was not all. The greater portion of the Dutch fleet lay ice-bound in the Zuyder Zee. Some regiments of cavalry and horse artillery were at once despatched against it by Pichegru ; and for the first time perhaps in the annals of war did ships surrender to horsemen. Only a small proportion of armed vessels that lay in the outer ports could get away to England and remain of use to the House of Orange. During the spring and summer of 1795 there was for the most part a lull in the military operations. The French rulers seemed satisfied with the rapid conquest of Holland and the formal annexation of the Belgic provinces. But in this year many of the allies who formed the coalition against France fell away from the common cause. The Grand Duke of Tuscany made peace with the Republic on the 9th February. On the 5th April there followed the signature at BAle of a treaty ri 238 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVUI.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 239 with Paris, by which the Court of Berlin consented that the French should remain in full possession of their conquests to the left of the Rhine, and in July the King of Spain concluded peace with the French. England, anxious for peace, was unable to obtain terms whtch could be accepted. The French attacked our country by raising an insurrection of the Maroons in Jamaica. England retaliated by the reduction of the ancient colonies of Holland, which now were under French subjection. The Malaccas and others surrendered without a blow. A small expedition was sent to the Cape of Good Hope, which, although no more than 1,600 men could be landed, overpowered the resistance of the much larger Dutch forces and gained this important colony. But England at this time, under the wise adminis- tration of Pitt, fully perceived the danger of trusting its defence to a mere inactive, defensive policy. A descent was projected on the western shores of France, where it was believed that an insurrection against the Republican government would break out as soon as a British fleet with a body of land forces appeared in sight. A descent was accordingly made at the bay of Quiberon by a con- siderable body of French emigrants in English pay, protected by an English fleet under Lord Bridport. These were within three days joined by 10,000 men, but General Hoche, who was then commanding for the Republic in Brittany, assailed the position taken up by the invaders at Quiberon, put them to rout, and drove them in utter confusion into a narrow space on that peninsula. Great numbers were slain ; the rest, though protected by a sharp fire from the English gun-boats, were driven back to the extreme end of the tongue of land, where those who were not shot down by" the musketry of Hoche, or drowned in their endeavours to get through the raging waves to the English boats, capitulated. The subjugation of Holland by the French arms, and the capture of the Dutch fleet, added much to the danger of invasion to England, as it placed the Dutch flotilla at the disposal of the Republican government. At the time when the head of Louis XVI. fell beneath the guillotine it was certainly not foreseen that the chief of the still reigning Bourbon princes would be the first to conclude a treaty of alliance with the regicidal Republic. Such however, was now the case with Spain. Its feeble sovereign, Charles IV., was wholly governed by his queen, Elizabeth of Parma, and she in her turn by a favourite, Don Emanuel Godoy, created Prince of the Peace. Partly through dread of the French armies, and partly by means still more unworthy, a treaty of alliance with France was signed at San Ildefonso on the 1 9th of August. In pursuance of the measures then concerted, war was declared against England by Spain on the 5th October, 1796. In September of the same year Mr. Pitt travelled to Weymouth, the main object of his journey being to lay before the king a project of negotiation with France. George III. assented to the proposition, and Lord Malmesbury, as ambassador, arrived at Paris in the latter part of October, having been furnished with the requisite 240 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. passports from the Directory, which now formed the executive government of the Eepublic. But while the directors thus openly expressed a willing- ness to treat, they were actively in secret pursuing a project for the invasion of our shores. Ireland was the chief objective point. A large fleet had been equipped at Brest, to which was now expected the accession of some Spanish vessels that had been ranged in the fleets antagonistic to England by the treaty of San Ildefonso. Considerable land forces were collected near Brest, and General Hoche was appointed to the chief command. Theobald Wolfe Tone, a man of no common aptitude and ardour, received the rank of Adjutant-General in the French service. To the expe- dition also was attached General Clarke, who was described by Tone then as a handsome, smooth-faced young man. He had come from America to take part in the expected enterprise, and was known well in after years, under the title of Due de Feltre, as minister of war both to Napoleon and Louis XVIII. Born of Irish parents, and having once travelled for a few weeks in Ireland, he claimed an intimate knowledge of Irish affairs. Yet, according to the account of Tone, this knowledge must have been rather superficial, for he expected that in the event of a French invasion the Lord Chancellor would aid the invaders. The king's speech at the opening of the new parliament alluded to this project of invasion, and the ministry lost no time in bringing forward measures for defence. *' Our navy," said Pitt, '*is the national defence of this kingdom XVI IT.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLVTION, 241 in case of invasion. In tliis department, however, little remains to be done ; our fleet at this moment being more formidable than at any former period of our history. .... But I would propose in the first place a levy of 15,000 men from the diff'erent parishes for the sea service and for recruiting the regiments of the line. Of all the modes to obtain any further force there is none so expeditious, so eff'ectual, and attended with so little expense, as that of raising a supplementary body of militia, to be grafted on the present establishment. I would propose that this supplementary body should con- sist of 60,000 men, not to be immediately called out, but to be enrolled, officered, and gradually trained so as to be fit for service at a time of danger. .... Another measure which I would suggest to the committee is, to provide a considerable force of irregular cavalry, with the view of repelling an invasion. The more this species of force is extended, the greater advantage is likely to accrue from it, as an invading enemy, who must be destitute of horses, can have no means to meet it upon equal terms. ... By the produce of the recent tax we find that the number of horses kept for pleasure in England, Scotland, and Wales is about 200,000."^ " It certainly would not be a very severe regulation, when compared with the object to be accomplished, to require one-tenth of those horses for the public service. Thus might we raise a cavalry force of 20,000 ' As far as can be ascertained from the returns of the Board of Trade, it would appear that the number now in the same countries is over three millions. VOL. IL u :' l] > I ) I 242 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. There is still another resource which ought not to be neglected. The licences to shoot game taken out by gamekeepers are no fewer than 7,000. Upon the supposition of an invasion, it would be of no small importance to form bodies of men, who, from their dexterity in using fire-arms, might be highly useful in harassing the operations of the enemy.'' ^ These measures were opposed by the Opposition even at a time of great public danger, and when the very existence of our country might be at stake. Both Sheridan and Fox inveighed with great warmth, but with little success, against the propositions of the minister. Another member, the celebrated Mr. Wilber- force, had another grievance. In one of the new bills it was provided that the supplementary corps of militia should be trained on Sunday afternoons. Against this clause he strongly protested, and finally prevailed ; and the country, even at this crisis of peril, refused to allow its volunteers to be exercised on Sunday. At this point it may not be uninteresting to review generally the position of the British army at this time, and also of that body, the national militia, to which Mr. Pitt alluded in the above speech. At this very time Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas caused the archives of the state to be ransacked for all information relative to the defensive measures adopted against invasion at the time of Elizabeth, when England was threatened by the Armada. And a most interesting report was then drawn up for the government, both as regards the ^ Speech in the House of Commons, October 18th, 1796. ii I XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 243 defensive and ofi'ensive measures that have been adopted by England when threatened with attack. The militia, to march which out of its several counties the elder Pitt took Parliamentary powers, was a force of long standing in the British Islands. The conquest of England by William the Conqueror did not alter the original military constitution of the kingdom so much as is generally supposed. Most histories tell vaguely of the feudal system, feudal arms, and knights' service. Those, however, who will take the time and trouble to seek deeply into the old records will find that from the time of the Conqueror to the present day the principal of the natural force for the defence of the realm has remained much the same. The general levy of free men which was recognised by the laws of the Conqueror for the defence of the realm is still represented, though in a considerably altered form, by the militia. This force, however it may have been named in different periods, has always been the defensive army of England. In the Early-English days it is seen as the assembly of the trythings and hundreds ; under the Plantagenets and Tudors as the posse comitatus ; and under the House of Hanover as the militia. It little matters whether it was officered and commanded by trything-men, hundreders, sheriffs, or lord-lieutenants ; it has always existed in England, and till quite modern times service in the mihtia has been a compulsory duty of every English freeman. Legally it is so still, though the laws of the ballot have been allowed to fall into abeyance. In the early days of English history, after the Norman E 2 244 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. I conquest, the militia, or natural force of the country, although it was never legally abandoned, was not at all an important part of the forces at the disposal of the crown. It was neural that this should be so ; the militia has in every age been an eminently national force, and till within almost the eighteenth century was composed of the masses of the people. After the Conquest the masses of the people were, however, strongly opposed to the foreign invaders and the buccaneers from Normandy, who had conquered England and divided among them- selves the lands and property of the island. At that time, except among the clergy, land was almost the sole species of property, and the men of England who had formerly been rich landowners were by the results of the battle of Hastings reduced to penury and misery, and sometimes to serfdom. With the rich landowners their relations and dependents suffered. To all these classes with want came naturally discontent, and to such a discontented and depressed people the Norman Conqueror could not look for the safe defence of his newly-acquired possessions either from external or internal enemies. It was not so much by design as by force of circum- stances that the feudal system Vv^as accordingly introduced into England. The same would be the case in all con- quered countries, and the result has been similar in the lands of Europe that were subjected by military power to Turkish domination. The Norman expedition to England was not an invasion by one irritated nation into the dominions of another to seek revenge or satisfaction. It XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 245 was pre-eminently a filibustering expedition ; in it the chieftains, and indeed the people of Normandy, took but an insignificant part. The soldiery that followed the Conqueror from the valley of the Seine across the Channel were widely recruited from desperadoes and soldiers of fortune from Flanders, Germany, and France. Their object was plunder, their aim the forcible exchange of penury for plenty. The skill of their leader, the courage of the men themselves, and the internal jealousies of Englishmen gave them the victory of Hastings, and, with one pitched battle won, England fell without another stalwart blow into their hands. Thus vainly do those argue who maintain that the spirit of English- men is indomitable, and that, contrary to all military and political expectation, England would form an exception to the general rule of human nature, and would maintain an undying and perpetual conquest against an army of invaders, however powerful or however successful. When England had been occupied and its lands divided after the battle of Hastings, it was requisite not only to seize the property that had been acquired, but to preserve it. The Norman adventurers, though largely recruited from beyond the Channel, after fortune had once declared in their favour, were but an insignificant minority in the face of the whole English people. The latter were disarmed, but the laws which rendered them liable for a defence of their country were not repealed, and although the national militia was suspended, it was not abolished. Yet the national militia could obviously ♦ • : 246 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap* XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 247 not be trusted to defend the conquests of its conquerors, either from other adventurers who might be tempted by the success of the former expedition to attempt another descent on the island, or from insurrections on the part of their own countrymen. It was necessary to establish a guard and a garrison for the conquered possession against either foreign or native assailants. This led to the introduction of what is termed the feudal system into the country about the year 1086. A considerable change was then made in the military establishment of the nation, but was adopted not by the sovereign alone, but with the consent of the great council of the realm assembled at Sarum, where all the principal landholders subjected their possessions to military ser- vices, became the king's vassals, and did homage and swore fealty to his person for the lands held of him as over-lord. By this system all the lands in the country were divided into certain portions, each producing an annual revenue, called a knight's fee. By the feudal laws every tenant holding immediately from the king the quantity of land amounting to a knight's fee was bound to hold himself in readiness with horse and arms to serve the king in his wars, either at home or abroad, at his own expense, for a stated time, generally forty days in a year, which were reckoned from the time of joining the army. Persons holding more or less were bound to do duty in proportion to their tenures. Sometimes the king compounded with his tenants for particular services, accepting in lieu thereof pecuniary payments, with which he hired stipendiary troops. This arrangement was soon found to be more convenient for both sides : the king naturally could rely little on a force which was likely to break up at the end of forty days. It would be impossible with such an army to venture on a distant expedition, or to enter upon any campaign that might be of any long duration. Gradually fines to the crown in lieu of personal service became the custom, and subsequently were levied by assessments at so much per every knight's fee, under the name of scutages. These appeared to be raised for the first time in the fifth year of Henry II., on account of his expedition to Toulouse, and were apparently mere arbitrary compositions, as the king and the subjects could agree. But side by side with the feudal force, the constitu- tional force of the militia, such as had existed in the Early-English days, was continued, and in internal struggles the local militia, under the name of posse comitatus, was occasionally called out. This posse comitatus, or power of the county, included every free man between fifteen and sixty, and was only liable to enrolment in case of internal trouble or actual in- vasion. But though not legally abolished, we find no trace of the posse comitatus being employed till 115 years after the landing of the French, and when time had allowed the English and invaders to become fused together. Then a law was enacted to provide for the armament of the national force. In the time of Edward L effective measures were taken for the efficiency and armament of the militia in the celebrated statute of 248 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. TCHAP. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCfl REVOLUTION. 249 Winchester. By that law every one possessed of lands to the yearly value of 15Z. and 50 marks of goods, was forced to keep a habergeon, an iron headpiece, a sword, knife, and horse. Those with property under this amount had to keep the arms, but Tvere excused from the horse. This statute was repealed in the first year of Philip and Mary, and another enacted, wherein armour and weapons of a more modern date were inserted. The invention of gunpowder in the thirteenth century laid the foundation of great changes and new systems of military organisation. Under the altered conditions of war new arms were required, and the equipment became more costly and difficult. It was generally found advisable to train up bodies of men for the sole purpose of war, and to separate them as much as possible from those other employments in which formerly all soldiers were occasionally engaged. Thus standino^ armies arose in Enorland. Soon after o o the invention of gunpowder the Tudors established their standing guards, the earliest symptom of our present standing army, in the two bodies which still exist as the gentlemen-at-arms and the yeomen of the guard. The custom of employing mercenary troops was also henceforth much developed, and the practice was finally established in the latter part of the fourteenth century. As the regular troops were always available and better disciplined, it naturally followed that tlie old militia fell into disrepute, especially on the Continent. But in England the militia was never entirely super- seded by the standing army, nor was it utterly neglected, as in most other European nations. In the time of Philip and Mary an Act was passed for the general armament of the kingdom. By this statute it was enacted that all persons having an estate of a thousand pounds and upwards should from May 1st, 1558, keep six horses or geldings, and for maintaining demi-lances, three of them at least to have sufficient harness, saddles, with bows covered w^ith steel, and weapons for the said demi-lances. Other requirements were also made, and it was further enacted that any person whose wife wore any kind of silk, French hood, or burnet of velvet, or any chain of gold about her neck, except the sons and heirs- apparent of dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, barons, and others having hereditaments of the yearly value of 600 marks or above, during the life of their fathers, should keep and maintain a gelding, able and meet for a hght horseman, with sufficient harness and weapons for the same. Thus the maintenance of horses and armaments for war was made a land and income-tax. The apprehension of the Spanish invasion during the reign of Elizabeth caused attention to be seriously bestowed on the militia. A commission was issued in 1572, by which all men over sixteen, and not physically incapable, were obliged to be mustered and reviewed. Such as were liable to provide horses and arms by the statute of Philip and Mary were obliged to furnish them within a limited time. From the whole population thus mustered as many men were taken as could be kept 250 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 251 furnished at the expense of each shire, and these were formed into bands and properly drilled, and each band of 100 was made to contain forty arquebusiers and twenty archers. In these we now find the musket and the bow arrayed side by side. Those who were over sixteen, and not enrolled in these bands, were not released from service. They were exercised in the use of their arms, and held liable to be called up if required by the necessities of war. The muster in consequence of this commission amounted in England and Wales to a total of 132,689 men. In the reign of James I. many old statutes were repealed that related to the armament of the people, and that were now found to be unsuited to the spirit of the times. Such were the statutes of Winchester and the statutes of Philip and Mary. The repeal of these laws was a strong proof of the altered circumstances of the country. It is true that there were no more borderers since England and Scotland were united under one crown. The necessity for armies was lessened, but tlic increased use of gunpowder had shown that untrained bodies were not trustworthy for regular war, and there- fore it was useless to maintain a general armament of the whole population. In this reign it was found that the militia had fallen into great decay, since nothing had stirred the national blood since the time of the Spanisli Armada, and some measures were taken to restore its^ eflSciency. Lord -lieutenants had been instituted as military authorities of counties instead of sheriffs, who previously held that position. As early as the reign of Edward VI. there were ordered to make a general muster of the trained forces and foot in their counties, and see to the efficiency of men, horses, and arms. A& a rule the arms of the militia were placed in magazines,, but the City of London retained its train-bands and artillery company. The great struggle between Charles L and the Parliament broke out on the question of the control of the militia. The King and Parliament both called out the militia, and lord-lieutenants of counties obeyed the- side which they favoured. Under the Protectorate the militia of each military district was organised apart under the general of the district, and was kept distinct from the standing army, which was maintained on permanent pay. Although a standing army was maintained by Charles II. and his successors, the only army then recog- nised by law was the militia. Two Acts of Parliament were passed shortly after the Eestoration which remodelled that force. By these every man who possessed 500Z. a year derived from land, or 6,000?. of personal estate, was bound to provide, equip, and pay at his own expense one horseman. Every man who had 50 Z. a year the product of land, or 600/!. of personal estate, was similarly charged with one pikeman or musketeer. Small pro- prietors were united in a kind of confederation, and each county, according to its means, was forced to furnish a horseman or a foot-soldier. The whole force thus, maintained was popularly estimated at 130,000 fighting men. This number appears very small after the 132,000 r 252 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. N 1 which could be raised in the time of Elizabeth. It would seem as if the result of the civil war was equivalent to an entire stagnation of population. The king was by the ancient constitutional law, and by the recent acknowledgment of both Houses of Parliament, the sole captain-general of this armed force. The lord-lieutenants and their deputies held com- missions from him, and appointed assemblies for drills and inspections. The time occupied by such assemblies was not allowed to exceed fourteen days in each year. For breaches of discipline every justice of the peace was authorised to inflict certain penalties. The ordinary cost of the militia was paid by the county, but when the trained bands were called out against the enemy their subsistence became a charge on the general revenue of the state, and they were subject to the articles of war. There was no legal sanction issued for the government of the standing army. Men who had been on the Con- tinent and seen the warlike resources of continental powers looked afterwards with apprehension on the English militia. Those who knew the bastions and the ravelins of Vauban, who had seen the armies poured out by Germany to drive the Ottoman from Vienna, or the gorgeous processions of the maison du roi at Versailles, saw with a shudder the way in which the peasants of Lancashire and Sussex marched and wheeled, trailed pikes or carried muskets, and reflected with horror when they thought of the battalions which a westerly wind might bring to the shores of Hants or Dorset. Yet the militia was dear to the Tory party. These rural X7ITI.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 253 levies were almost entirely commanded by country gentlemen and noblemen, and any disparagement of the citizen soldiers was considered as a direct insult to themselves. The Revolution, which changed the relative position of the King and the Parliament, and placed the Crown and the Commons at unity, exposed England also to the threat of an invasion. In a few weeks a host of veterans, inured to conflict and conducted by able and gallant officers, might have been landed on our coasts. Before such a force the militia would be scattered like chaff", and a regular army was accordingly developed, and a Mutiny Bill passed. When the Militia Acts were passed in the reign of Charles IL, as all the men who were to be arrayed in arms were to be placed under the control 6f the crown, a direct prohibition was laid down against the continuance of train -bands after 1663. The train -bands of the City of London, however, and their auxiliaries, were excepted and continued. The Acts passed in the reign of Charles II. continued in force till the middle of the following century. These placed the militia of each county under a lieutenant, to be appointed by the crown. This lieutenant had the power of appointment of deputies and officers. The pay of the soldier and the ammunition used in his traininor were paid for by the provider, while the county was charged with a fund to furnish necessaries. All offences were punished by the civil magistrate, the power to make articles of war being advisedly left out of the Act. It is noteworthy that this organisation of the militia was If 254 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 255 % I ^* arranged directly after the Kestoration, and was not afiected by the revolution which placed William III. on the throne of England. Mr. Clode says that the militia force, though strictly local, could be led to any county for the suppression and defeat of insurrection, rebellion, or invasion. This, however, appears to be an error, as if such had been the case there would have been no necessity for the elder Pitt in 1758 to take powers to remove regiments of militia beyond their own counties. Mr. Hallam says that on this point at the time of the rebellion the royal prerogative was plainly deficient ; and that it still remained so in the middle of the eighteenth century was clearly the view of Lord Chatham. Yet we find in the rebellion of 1745 that the Argyleshire militia was certainly moved from its own county, as well as that of Glasgow and Paisley, and the former took part in the battle of CuUoden. But the militia of Argyle was rather the clan Campbell, raised by their chieftain, than a government force, and the other militia were but train-bands levied for a particular occasion. The point appears doubtful, and I have endeavoured in vain to clear it up. The militia force, as established by the Acts of Charles II., was to consist of horse and foot-soldiers, provided by or at the expense of the owners of all property, not of land exclusively. Its numbers, as dependent on the wealth of the inhabitants, were undefined ; nor does it appear from the Commons' journals that any exact estimate of the probable number that would be available under these statutes was ever laid before Parliament, though in the debate on the 15th March, 1688-9, the number of the militia is spoken of as 150,000 men. The county was charged with making provisions for a fund, afterwards known as trophy-money, which was to be appropriated to munitions of war and other necessaries, and afterwards, as the lieutenant should see fit, to the inferior officers employed in the force for their pains and encouragement. This trophy-money is still levied in the City of London. Although in the time of Charles II. considerable doubts were entertained as to the loyalty of many of the men who might be enrolled under arms, it was considered absolutely necessary that all men trained and arrayed in the use of weapons should be organised under lawful authority proceeding directly from the crown, and a direct prohibition was laid down against the continuance of train-bands. The City of London was, however, too powerful to be treated in this manner, and the train-bands of the city and their auxiliaries were continued, and are still represented in the Honourable Artillery Company. These train- bands sprang out of a voluntary association, called the Artillery Company, formed in the reign of Henry VIII. for the encouragement of archery, and which acquired a more respectable and marked character at the time of the Spanish Armada. Such was the footing on which the militia force was placed by the legislature in the reign of Charles II. for the security of the people from foreign enemies on the one side, and from military oppression on the other. During the reigns of that sovereign and his successor, f%. i 256 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. XVIII. FROM WARS OF FRENCH REFOLUTION. 257 Parliament reposed its confidence in the militia, and frequently mistrust of the standing army was manifest, as the regular army was at the time maintained ex- clusively by the crown, and was regarded, not unjustly, as a constant threat against the liberties of the people. The officers of the militia were under the immediate influence of the English aristocracy; the officers of the regular army were courtiers, and owed their allegiance entirely to the king. The militia was •beyond the control of the crown so far that its numbers could not be reduced by the sovereign ; nor could the influence of the crown be exercised on its ranks except through the lieutenants or deputy-lieutenants. With regard to the army the case was the converse. Its existence was wholly dependent on the crown ; the promotion of the officers and men depended entirely on the favour of the king. The army was as dependent upon the crown as tlie crown was upon the army; and the militia became a standing counterpoise to the standing army and a national security, and consequently enormously popular with the people. To the present day even, when the regular army of England is as constitutional a force as can be found in the whole world, as it is voted by Parliament, and its numbers determined by the House of Commons, it is still the custom amongst old-fashioned people to talk of the militia in contradistinction to the regular army as " our constitutional force.'' After the Eevolution it was proposed that the militia should be reformed and made a substitute for standing armies, but no measure was passed for the purpose, and the militia had attracted little attention until the middle of the succeeding century, when the war with France directed the genius of the elder Pitt to the formation of defensive forces for our country. During the years from 1757 to 1763 the mihtia law, and the principle of raising the militia by ballot, which was now for the first time introduced with parliamentary sanction to recruit the defensive forces of the kino-dom engaged the serious attention of Parliament. In 1756, to supply the regular troops with recruits, a Conscription Act had been passed, applicable to men not following " any lawful calling or employment.'' A similar Act to supply the regular forces with recruits had been passed during the reign of Anne. In the following year it was proposed to raise a militia force of 32,600 men by ballot, the principle of voluntary service being ignored. As the Conscription Act, which ignored voluntary service for the regular forces, applied only to the pauper classes, not unnaturally the common people objected to this Act relating to the militia. The gentlemen in many counties stood aloof, and the officers' commissions remained for some months unfilled. Opposition to the Act sprang up in various districts, amounting, in Yorkshire, to high treason, where four persons were found guilty of that crime for obstructing the Militia Act, and one under- went the punishment of death. Invasion was still threatening, and in 1759 the Commons petitioned the Throne that direction might be given to the lord-lieutenants to use their utmost VOL. II. s 258 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. diligence, and to put the militia law into execution. Yet at this time some result had already been obtained, as by July, 1759, 17,436 men had been raised, and 6,280 were then upon embodied service. The plan upon which the militia was now organised differed crreatly from the organisations which had existed under the Acts of Charles II. The crown had more direct authority given to it over the appointment of officers, as the names of deputy-lieutenants were in future to be approved, and those of the officers to be submitted before appointment. From this time, too, the crown had the appointment of adjutants and sergeants. All the officers, except the king's adjutant, were to have a property qualification. The men were to be raised from each county in specified proportions, to serve for three years. Any balloted man might pay a forfeit of 10^., to be applied in providing a substitute. The pay was to be the same as that of the army, and the clothes were to become the property of the men after one years embodied or three years disembodied service. Every fourth year one- third of the officers, save the kings adjutant, were to be discharged for others willing to accept commissions. The militia when out for training, or embodied was henceforth to be under the Mutiny Act and Articles of War. The crown gained also the power of calling out the militia in case of war, and placing it under the general officers of the army. Ad Annual Pay and Clothing Act was required to be passed to provide for the pay and clothing of the men. This Act is still continued. The most important provision XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 259 . contained in the Acts passed under George II. was that which enabled the crown, under the condition of previously apprising parliament thereof if sitting, or of calling parliament together if not sitting, to draw out and embody the militia in case of actual invasion, or upon imminent danger thereof, or in case of rebellion, and to place it under the general officers of the regular array, to serve in any part of the kingdom for the suppression of such invasion or rebellion. No express limits were imposed by Parliament upon the duration or period of the embodied service. It appears that whenever actual danger of invasion threatens, it is seen that it becomes more and more necessary that every defensive force, such as the militia, should be more closely allied to the regular army, and placed more under the direct control of the officers appointed by the crown for the government and conduct of the regular troops. The relative ranks of the officers in the militia was laid down then as equal in degree but junior in service to those of the regular forces. In 1760 an attempt was made to introduce the system of mihtia then adopted in England into Scotland, but the Bill was lost by a considerable majority. The militia system instituted by the elder Pitt endured a quarter of a century, after which the militia laws were consolidated, in the year 1786, in one Act, containing as its preamble the words, that '' a respect- able militia force, under the command of officers possessing landed property within Great Britain, is essential to the constitution of this realm; and the s2 260 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTIOK 261 militia now by law established has been found capable of fulfilling the purposes of its institution." At the outbreak of the French revolutionary wars the statutory quota of militia for England and Wales was 30,740 men, to be raised by ballot, or by parish officers obtaining volunteers, to be paid by a bounty from the rates. In 1794 the militia was augmented by permitting persons to raise companies of militia, and so to obtain rank; and in 1795 men were allowed to volunteer from the militia into the artillery or navy. In 1796 Parliament sanctioned the raising of a supple- mentary militia of 59,441 men for England and 4,437 for Wales. In the same year a provisional cavalry force was to be raised by ballot in the proportion of a horse and man for every ten horses kept. In 1797 the militia system was first applied by law to Scotland. Although we find that in the rebellion of 1745 militia regiments were employed, it would appear that these were much more volunteers and train-bands than actual militia, such as we should consider to be militia in the present day. Scotland at the end of the lasj) century had to raise 6,000 militiamen, who were embodied in 1798; and in 1802 its quota was fixed at 7,950 men. At the present time 10,000 men can be raised in Scotland in ordinary times, and an addition of 5,000 in case of war. In Ireland the militia establishment dates from 1715, when an Act of the Irish Parliament was passed, on account of the rebellion, authorising the governors of counties to array all persons between the ages of sixteen and sixty. In 1809 the militia laws of Ireland were consolidated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The number of Irish militia is now 30,000, with power to raise an additional 15,000 in time of war. In 1802 the militia ceased to be exclusively Protestant ; in that year it numbered 46,963 men. Since those times the area for the service of the militia has been much widened. Though the militia of .each kingdom exists as a separate force, by statute, tlie whole militia force of the three kingdoms can be used interchangeably, or consolidated in one kingdom, if desired. The crown has now also the power to accept voluntary oflFers firom the militia to serve in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The militia since 1757 has rendered embodied service for the country on several occasions. During the Seven Years' War it was embodied against invasion. In 1778, during the American war, it was again embodied, and the force remained embodied till March, 1783. Again for the suppression of insurrection and rebellion, suc- ceeded by the threat of invasion, the proclamation for embodiment was issued in December, 1792, and it w^as disembodied in April, 1803. After the rupture of the peace of Amiens, on the apprehensions of the descent of Napoleon on the coast, the militia was again embodied. The policy of the Act of 1802 was to prohibit the men of the militia from entering the regular army ; but in the time of the Peninsular war the difficulty of finding recruits for the army caused the government to make an alteration. Thus the militia was invited to change 262 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. its character from a defensive to an offensive force, and to join the army in Portugal. Again in the Crimean war, the same reason led to volunteers being freely accepted from the militia to join the regular ranks as recruits. By the laws at present in force service in the militia is obligatory on all men balloted between eighteen and sixty, but the ballot is not practically put in force. The first symptom of the formation of a standing army in England is to be found in the shape of the body-guards raised by the Tudors, which still endure as the gentlemen-at-arms and the yeomen of the Sfuard. These were of small numbers. But each sue- cessive improvement in fire-arms made the government depend more and more on mercenary troops, till after the Eestoration it was necessary to form a regular standing army. In the time of Henry VII. the only foreign war was a military expedition to Boulogne ; and in that of Henry VIII. the battles of the Spurs and Flodden took place ; but these were conducted by regular mercenary troops. In the reign of James I. it was proposed to send an army from England of 25,000 infantry, 5,000 horse, and twenty pieces of artillery to aid in the recovery of the Palatinate ; but this force was far too large to suit the parsimonious tastes of the king, and ultimately only one regiment was sent. This l)ody consisted only of 2,200 men, and was composed chiefly of noblemen and gentlemen. Later in the reign of James, on account of the war with Spain, an army of G^OOO men was sent over to the United Provinces. And XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 263 in the first year of Charles I. an army of 10,000 men " raised by the press," as the Commons refused to grant supplies, was sent against Cadiz. This army, without encountering the enemy, succumbed in the wine cellars of the town, and became so insubordinate that it had to be re-embarked and brought home. In 1627 the expedition which was so unfortunate was sent against the Isle De Ee. It consisted of 7,000 men ; those who were saved from annihilation were billeted on their return in various parts of England, and the conduct of this soldiery had much to do with the framing of the Petition of Right, which was founded on the four grievances — exaction of money under the name of loans, suspension of the Habeas Corpus, billeting of soldiers on private persons, and the exercise of martial law. The civil war was fought out chiefly by volunteers, train-bands, and militia. The king was supported by most of the nobility and gentry, by the Church of England and the Catholics. On the other hand, the City of London, most of the corporations, and the commercial portion of the community upheld the Commons. Both sides levied troops of a volunteer description, as far as they possibly could, and the custom then was introduced, which has lasted to the present day, of designating regiments by distinctive appellations. We hear of the King's Life Guards Foot, dressed in red, the Royal Horse Guards, the Prince of Wales's regiment of horse, and others. The Parliamentary regiments were usually dressed in the liveries of their colonels, and designated according to their colours. Thus we find Sir William 264 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. CHAP. Constable's Blue Coats, Lord Robart's Red Coats, Colonel Meyrick's Grey Coats, &c. But none of these regiments have any connection with those who at the present day are designated Life Guards, Blues, or Buffs. The best troops on the Parliamentary side were the celebrated Ironsides raised by Cromwell. Under the Protectorate Cromwell kept up the army. It was well organised and regularly paid, and at one time consisted of 80,000 men. During the reign of the Stuarts, after the Restoration, the Commons were strongly opposed to a standing army within the country, having been sickened by the military despotism of the Protectorate. But the necessity of keeping garrisons in the various fortified, places, such as the Tower of London, Portsmouth, and Pendennis Castle, was admitted. A guard to the sovereign was also a necessity in the days when police were unknown, and for this purpose a small standing army was allowed. On the ]'estoration of the monarchy in 1660, the army which was at that time in existence, consisting of fifteen regiments of horse and twenty-one regiments of foot, was disbanded by the Convention Parliament. The Act of Disbandment, however, sanctioned the continuance of guards and garrisons. The garrisons were to be re- established and placed in the same condition as they were in the year 1637, and out of the residue of soldiers, including some regiments that were on the Scottish establishment, the king was at liberty to retain as a guard such of them as his majesty should think fit to provide for at his own expense. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 265 The Act gave an authority to the king which was easily abused, for it did not specify the points on which all parliaments since the Revolution have laid such stress, namely, the number of men to be retained in pay as soldiers. During the reign of Charles 11. the retention of these troops in the employ, and nominally in the pay, of the crown, was a grievance to the people, as they were often left at free quarters. From the Restoration date the title-deeds of the present standing army of England, the army which has carried with honour and glory the colours of our country in Germany, the Low Countries, the Peninsula, India, and Africa. Of the Parliamentary army which had existed before the Restoration, after the accession of Charles II., General Monk's regiment, which had been raised at Coldstream was retained, and is still known in the Armv List as the Coldstream Guards. This regiment was placed on the English establishment as the second regiment of Guards. Two troops of Life Guards, now the 1st and 2nd regiments of Household Cavalry, were formed from gentlemen who had been in exile with Charles. In the autumn of 1660 a regiment of horse commanded by the Earl of Oxford was raised ; it was then known as the Oxford Blues, now as the Royal Horse Guards Blue. In 1661 the first regiment of Guards, now known as the Grenadier Guards, was formed. In the same year Douglas's regi- ment, which had been serving on the Continent, was brought to England. This regiment is now the 1st Royal Scots. At the same time the present 2nd Queen's, which 266 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. had been raised for the garrison of Tangier, and which still bears the Paschal Lamb, that had l)een assumed as a device when fighting against the Moors, as well as the 3rd Bufis, were placed on the English establishment. On the Scottish establishment, which existed separate from the English till the Union, there was a troop of Life Guards and a regiment of Scotch Guards, now known as the Eoyal Scots Fusilier Guards, which at the time of the Union were transferred to the English list. There were also some dragoons in Scotland as well as the infantry regiment now known as the 21st North British Fusiliers. These troops may be regarded as the nucleus of the present standing army. During the reign of Charles II. there was also the Admiral's regiment, which then ranked as the third of the line. This regiment, after being on various occasions disbanded and restored, has been gradually converted into the Royal Marines. With the exception of the Admiral's regiment, Avhich Avas employed on particular service, and the fixed garrisons of the fortified places, the remainder of the army was chiefly used as armed police. It was employed in enforcing the laws against Dissenters. One of the few statutes w^hich have ever expressly sanctioned the employment of' the military in the discharge of civil duties was that passed in the time of Charles 11. for the suppression of conventicles. On this account orthodoxy appears at this time to have been considered a most rigorous necessity in the soldiery. So much was the army subject to ecclesiastical domination, that in the old articles of war of the time of James II., it is xvni.] FROM WARS OF FllENCH REFOLUTION. 267 declared that any soldier who blasphemes shall have his tongue burnt through with a red-hot iron. This punishment is now obsolete, and therefore we may pre- sume that anathemas are now unknown in the British -army, and that there is no necessity for their suppression. The military forces were also employed in other police duties : to apprehend highwaymen and thieves, to put down riots, to arrest runaway seamen from ships, to pluck up and destroy all tobacco planted, to patrol the roads round the metropolis against footpads, and to furnish escorts for specie being sent to Portsmouth for the use of the fleet. At this time the army claimed immunity from the civil law and to be responsible solely to the crown. It was held that no magistrate could imprison an ofiicer or soldier except for high treason, or for killing or robbing any person not being a soldier. There was no Mutiny Act, and the army was governed solely by articles of war arbitrarily issued by the crown. At this time there were no barracks, and the soldiers were billeted in taverns and public-houses, and often to the great grievance of the people, in private houses. The men were supposed to find their own food out of theii* pay, but the pay depended entirely on the civil list, and was often not provided for, or much in arrear ; so that practically the troops generally lived at free quarter, and the people on whom they were billeted were glad to pay each man ^d. or 6d a day to find himself in food. Notwithstanding that there was an article of war which condemned every man who abused or beat his host to be 268 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM TFARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 269 'A- put in irons, or who exacted free quarter without leave of his chief officer to be punished by court-martial, this billeting of soldiers was a great grievance to the people ; but it continued in England through full a century even in time of peace. When Englishmen complain of the expenses of their army they should bear in mind that one of the serious items of army expenditure consists in the cost of the barrack establishment, which provides for the retention of the soldiers in special barracks, and the freedom of the householder from their entertain- ment. This and the freedom from conscription are two great luxuries which the Englishman enjoys in com- parison with the foreigner. Under the Stuarts the distribution of the army rested solely with the crown. A regiment might be ordered to any place that convenience might suggest. When a town was selected, the Secretary of State intimated to the local authorities that they must find the necessary accommodation for officers and men. In Westminster special parts of the town were told ofi* for each con- tingent of the Life Guards and Household Infantry, who crowded every alehouse and brandy shop round White- hall, from the country end of Piccadilly to the city gate of the Strand. ' The standing army in the early days of Charles II. consisted of about 5,000 men ; but when the Dutch ravaged the coasts 12,000 men were raised for the land service. The Commons looked with great jealousy upon this increase, and passed a Bill to humbly request his majesty that, when a peace was concluded, the new force was to be disbanded. In the next year the Commons voted the standing army a grievance, and on the announcement of peace the king declared that the army in England should be reduced to a less number than in 1663. At this time the crown had the power to keep an army of any strength abroad. It was attempted, indeed, to raise a force of 20,000 foot and 2,000 horse in Scotland ; and it would have been* possible for the king to maintain a large English army in the pay of France, which the crown could bring over when required to subvert the liberties of England. In 1677 and 1678 these dangers were cancelled by the introduction of a Subsidy Act, with a sort of estimate and appropriation clause. In the reign of Charles II. the purchase of com- missions by officers was established. A warrant was issued for the regulation of prices to be paid, and the royal assent gave the system legality. These prices were with some modifications retained till our own day, when the purchase system was abolished, and compensation given to the officers interested, in 1871. For poor soldiers, before this time, who were worn out in the service, there were no pensions. Such were thrown on the poor-rates, and looked on as a nuisance by the guardians. This increased the unpopularity of the army among the people. Chelsea Hospital was then founded as a hospital for aged and infirm soldiers upon an estate vested in the crown. The cost of its erection and main- tenance was defrayed by a poundage levied on the pay of every soldier ; and this system was only abolished in 270 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap.. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 271 I I > I . colour of their facings. At the time of the rebellion of Monmouth there were also raised the 3rd and 4th regiments of dragoons ; the corps which is now known as the 2nd regiment of Dragoons being already in existence on the Scottish establishment as the Scots Greys. The nine regiments of infantry which now rank as the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th of the line, were also raised at this time. The result of these augmentations and the recall of the garrison of Tangier was that the standing army was increased from the numbers of the previous reign to nearly 20,000 men. When James was threatened with the invasion of ft the Prince of Orange, his regular army was the largest that any king of England had ever commanded. It was rapidly augmented ; new companies were added to the existing regiments, and fresh commissions were issued for raising more regiments. Four thousand men were added to the English establishment; 3,000 were sent for with all speed from Ireland ; as many more were ordered to move southward from Scotland ; and it was estimated that the king could meet the invaders at the head of 40,000 men besides the militia. But the army was not to be trusted in the cause. It was, like the people, anxious for a liberal prince ; and though the soldiery did not desert their sovereign, the officers did in large numbers ; and it was impossible to oppose the enemy in more than one skirmish near Reading. Lord Faversham, on hearing of James's flight, ordered his army to disband ; but the Protestants were XVIII.] FJWM 7FANS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 273 re-assembled by William, and the Irish soldiers sent home. Two regiments which had been in the service of the United Provinces were brought to England in William's reign at the time of the war in Ireland. These are now known as th^ 5th and 6th of the line. At tli^i time of Dundee's rebellion in Scotland, from amono- the western Scotch, who were of strong Puritan principles, the Cameronian regiment was raised, and is now the 26th of the line. This regiment had a very peculiar character ; the soldiers were all strict Puritans ; one of their first acts was to petition parliament that all drunkenness, licentiousness, and profaneness should be rigorously punished. It was intended to establish a Puritan organisation in the regiment; each company was to provide an elder, and these, with the chaplain, w^ere to form a court for the suppression of immorality and heresy. The elders were not however appointed, and from the regimental records it does not appear that this peculiar regimental court has been established, even up to the present day. In the year 1693, on account of the war, the army was increased by four new regiments of dragoons, six of horse and fifteen of infantry. By the time of the peace of Ryswick the army consisted of 87,000 excellent soldiers, which in three years were reduced after the peace to 7,000 men. It must be borne in mind, however, that a large number of the former were foreigners in English pay. After the peace of Ryswick a serious question arose VOL. II. rp 274 hWASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap I (I 'g as to what was to be done with the army. A stroii party wished the regular troops disbanded altogether, and the safety of the country entrusted solely to the militia. The court wished to maintain an army of oO,000 men. The Commons, howev^er, passed a resolution which reduced the army to the same strength as that at which it had been after the peace of Niaiegucn. This, according to Macaulay, was about 10,000 men. The resolutions passed by the Commons were : first, that all the land forces of England in English pay, exceeding 7,000 men, commissioned and non-commissioned, officer^ included, be forthwith disbanded ; secondly, that all the forces in Ireland exceeding 12,000 men, including officers, be forthwith disbanded, and that such forces as should be kept in Ireland should be kept by the kinc/dom of Ireland. Thus a standing army in Ireland was established by a permanent statute. It was increased to 15,234 men in the reign of William III. by a statute which remained in force till the time of the union. Notwithstanding these reductions, we find, however, that there were on the English establishment 14,834 men ; and on that for the Plantations and abroad 1,258; and the Irish establishment had 15,488 men. The reason of the surplus of troops can be accounted for. The Commons did not then fix the amount of the force to be maintained by the crown ; they merely voted the money to support the army, and if the crown could make the money suffice for a larger number it seems to have been permitted to do so. The army vote at this time amounted to 350,000/. As usual with our xviu ] /'VrO.i/ irjiis OF FRFxr/i liFrournox. 27 r) English system of military administration, before Lord Card well assumed the reins of the War Office, an un- sparing reduction caused a most expensive and lavish increase. The war that soon followed ol)lioed Great Britain again to engage a large force. 41iis consisted of foreign rather than of native troops. In 1711 the soldiery mustered in the pay of England amounted to 201,000 men. The peace of Utrecht was afterwards made, and the Secretary for War laid his first estimate before the Commons for his Majesty's forces in the Plantations, Minorca, Gibraltar, and Dunkirk, showdng 11,125 men to be in pay there. He was the following day ordered by the House to bring forward an estimate of 8.000 men ; this second estimate was adopted. A Mutiny Act was passed w^hich limited the force to 8,000 men with regard to his Majesty's person and the safety of his kingdom. This economy led to a rebellion and the raising of an army of 15,000 men— such is generally the result of the sudden reduction of military establishments. In the reign of George I. the conspiracy against the king s life was the avowed reason for the augmentation of the army. Its duration was to be for one year ; but the last estimate submitted in the reign of George I. was for 18,22G men, besides an increase of 8,286 men to the guards and garrisons of Great Britain. During the reign of George II. there were several augmenta- tions to the army, and some new services provided. The Admiral's regiment, which had been raised as a marine force in the reign of Charles II., was T 2 I 1 li I 276 INFASTONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIU.] FROM IVARS OF FRENCH UEFOLUTION. 277 disbanded at the revolution ; and the BiifFs, or Holland regiment, then took the rank of 3rd of the line. In the year 1694 two regiments of marines were raised by order of council ; they were placed under the direction of the Admiralty, and imder the command of the naval officers when on board ship. In 1702 the 30th, 31st, and 32nd reo^iments of the line were formed, and served as marine regiments. On the peace of Utrecht they were disbanded, but in the year 1739 the marine force was aorain established. In 1746 it was restored, and at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 again totally disbanded. The marine force as at present established under the Admiralty dates from the year 1755. The marines, when serving in tlie army, rank between the 49th and 50th regiments of the line. In 1735 Walpole considered that there should never be less than 18,000 regular troops in -this country; and in 1763 there were 18,000 men voted for England, 10,000 for America, and the usual number of a little over 12,000 for Ireland. In 1739 the Highland regiment now known as the 42nd Highlanders, or the Black Watch, was regimented, being formed of the independent companies of Highlanders then in English pay for the protection of the northern portion of the island against robbers. After the suppression of the rebellion in 1745, two troops of Life Guards were disbanded and the Life Guards were reduced to two troops. At the time of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 the estimates showed for the army in Great Britain 49,939 men; and 15,627 for the Plantations and abroad. As soon however as the war was brougfht to a close, as usual, the estimates show a reduction of the forces to 18,857 men for Great Britain, and 9,542 for the Plantations. No sooner almost were these reductions made, without any care as to future necessity, or without any organiza- tion of reserves, while no power of recalling men into the ranks had been provided, than an augmentation was necessary. In 1755 this was gradually increased, till in 1762 the aggregate of men voted was 67,766 for Great Britain and Germany, and 37,347 for the Plantations. Yet so difficult was it to house troops on account of the want of a barrack establishment, that immediately on peace being made, for this reason, as well as on account of economical considerations, the estimates were reduced to 17,536 men for Great Britain, and 28,406 for the Plantations and abroad. In 1770 there w^as an apprehension of war Avitli Spain, and 5,000 additional men were voted for one year. With this exception, no important increase was made to the army till 1778, when the numbers were increased to 20,057 men. The recognition of the independence of America by France led to war with the latter country, and in 1779 the estimates showed 30,346 men for Great Britain ; 47,038 in the Plantations, besides 5,360 of the Irish establishment; 14,440 men in augmenta- tion ; 24,039 foreigners, besides 786 foreign artillerymen serving under treaties in the pay of Great Britain. In 1783 the soldiers in Great Britain were augmented to 54,678 men. The peace followed, and in the succeeding 278 INFJSIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XV. ;i,] mOM WARS OF FliKNCll REVOLUTION. 279 I I i^ year the estimates provide, with on extraordinary de- crease, for only 1 7,483 men in Grrat Britain. This number, which now^ for fifty years seems to have been the number allotted to Great Britain in peace, appears to have been the amount for which barrack accommoda- tion could be found. In this year, for the first time, G,336 men were voted for India. The strength voted in 1784 was not changed till 1787, when a slight reduction was made, as there usually is in England just before a war. In 1787 the crown subsidised Hesse (vossel, and for 36,000/. per annum obtained the services of 12,000 Hessian troops to serve in the pay of Great Britain. That subsidy did not pass w^ithout debate in the House of Commons, but being supported by Burke, was eventually agreed to without a division. Now comes the period of the wars of the French Revolution. It was necessary to increase the army in 1794, and no reduction could eflectively be made till after the Waterloo campaign of 18J5, as Mr. Pitt was too prescient to allow the reduction which would pro- bably otherwise have been made directly after the peace of Amiens, and pressed upon Mr. Addington, the Prime Minister, the necessity of careful and vigorous military preparations in view of another outbreak of hostilities. No serious reduction was accordingly made till after the fall of Napoleon I. From that time the army has never been reduced in peace to the low state in which it was previously held. Barracks have been provided, which relieve the people of the onus of billeting, while a wider diffusion of education, and more liberal view^s, have convinced even those most wedded to sole reliance upon the militia, that under the happy constitution of this country a standing army is not a menace, but a streno:th and a defence to the liberties of our nation. Besides the measures taken for the increase of the army, the ministry did not neglect financial arrange- ments. The National Debt had now risen to upwards of 400,000,000/., and the strain upon the public re- sources was indicated by that sure barometer, a steady decline in the price of stocks. In January of this year the lowest point to which the Three per Cents had fallen had been 67; in the September following they fell at one time to 53. A new loan of 18,000,000/. was announced at 5 per cent., to be taken at 112/. 10^. for every hundred of stock ; and with an option to the proprietors to be paid off at par within two years after a treaty of peace. But these terms, which at the present time would ai)pear exorbitant, under the threat of an invasion w^ere considered but scanty, and the subscription list for the loan could never have been filled had not Pitt, in proposing it, addressed himself to higher motives than the love of gain. He urged it to be taken up, not as a profitable speculation, but as a patriotic duty, and hence it was called the Loyalty Loan. This surely ought to be an example to the people of England to be careful in maintaining their defences agaiust invasion in a state of preparation, when we see that on the mere threat of an invasion the funds fell to 53 ; and it was only through patriotic spirit, and not 280 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVllI.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 281 •! through auy sense of profitable invest me lit, that a loan for eighteen millions at 5 per cent, could be obtained in the rich city of London and throughout the country. The negotiations begun by Lord Malmesbiiry at Paris went badly. The English government insisted that the Low Countries should not remain a part of France. It became clear that the French government were wholly adverse to such a sacrifice; and on the 19th December, 1796, M. Delacroix, as Minister for Foreio-u Atfaii's, wrote to Lord Malmesbury, requiring him and his suite to quit Paris within forty-eight hours, and to lose no time in departing from the territory of the French Republic. During the whole of the summer and autumn of 179(3 General Hoche in Brittany had been indefatigable in his exertions to prepare for the invasion of Ireland. For a loDg time he was thwarted by the incapacity, perhaps even the ill-wilJ, of the naval commanders employed. But at the beginning of December he held at Brest, ready to embark, 15,000 regular troops, with transports to convey them, escorted by about twenty frigates and seventeen sail of the line. Under him were servin^y Colonel Shee and other good officers of the Irish brigade raised in the French service. Some of these, however, were to him the less useful, as having in great part forgotten their native language Wolfe Tone, whose journal of this expedition is one of the best authorities to consult in its study, was also there, full of his old hatred against the British government. He had drafted addresses and proclamations to the peasantry of Ireland, and spoke confidently of a popular rising as soon as the army of invasion landed. The preparations made at Brest for this invasion have in them nothing at all repugnant to the rules and usages c)f ordinary war, calculated as they were to cause civil strife and bloodshed. But another scheme proposed by the French government at this time can hardly be classed in the same category. The Directory had equipped a large number of felons and galley-slaves. It was their intention to cast these loose on the shores of England, not with any purpose of conquest, of victory, or even of an organised scheme of requisitions, but merely with the view of havoc and destruction to the lives and honour of the defenceless country people. These scoundrels were not admitted into the regular French service, but were organised into a special body, distinguished by a black uniform, and called La Legion Noire. They were under the command of Colonel Tate, an American officer, who volunteered his services for this special unsavoury duty. Wolfe Tone in his journal of 10th November writes: — '' I saw the Legion Noire reviewed, about 1,800 men. They are the banditti intended for England, and sad blackguards they are ; they put me in mind of the Green- boys of Dublin.'' Again on the 26th of the same month he says : — '' To-day by the general's orders I have made a fair copy of General Tate's instructions, with some alterations, particularly with regard to their first desti- tion, which is now fixed to be Bristol. If he arrives safe it will be very possible to carry it by a coup-de-maiii, in which case he is to burn it to the ground. I cannot but w O Q .> INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. observe here that 1 transcribed with the greatest sang- froid the order to reduce to asbes the third city of the British dominions, in which there is perhaps property to the amount of 5,000,000? " And yet once again. *'A conflagration of the city of Bristol is no slight afl'air. Thousands and thousands of fiimilies, if the attempt succeeds, will be reduced to beggary. I cannot help it ; if it must be so, it must; and I wall never blame the French for any degree of misery which they inflict on the peopk) of England. For the truth is I hate the very name of England ; I hated her before my exile, I have hated her since, and I hate her always."- To such dangers as the burning of an important centre of commercial industry such as Bristol does the absence of security agaiust invasion expose us. The Directory had sent their final orders to General Hoche to attemj^t the invasion, while the negotiation with Lord Malmesbury was still in progress in Paris, and the armament sailed from Brest on the 15 th December, four days before the injunction to c^uit Paris was transmitted to the English ambassador. '' We are all in high spirits," writes Wolfe Tone, " and the troops are as gay as if they were going to a ball." Bantry Bay was assigned as the place of general con- centration. The French vessels succeeded in avoiding the English fleet, which w^as cruising ofl" the coast of Brittany to stay their passage, and from which they were hidden by a thick fog. But the same fog that was favourable to their passing round the English fleet was a great obstacle to their keeping safely together and xviii.J IROM WARS OF FliliNCll REVOUJTLON. 283 making the proper course ; while heavy gales which also sprang up tended to disperse the convoys. Only a part of the armament reached fjantry Bay and anchored there. General Hoche, who was on board one of the frio-ates with his wdiole staff", found himself driven to a diff'erent point of the Irish coast. Thus on the shores of Ireland at this time there w^as an invading general without troops and a force of invading troops w^i-thout a ofeneral. The officers who w^ere in command had at one time determined to land w^ithout Hoche, and push forv/ard into the country ; but they found that they could not get together half of the original force ; and such as was in Bantry Bay w\as almost without artillery, stores, or supplies. In the absence of the general the admiral refused his sanction to placing the men on shore, wx'ighed anchor, made sail, and steered back to France. The convoy reached Brest in safety, but not without some loss of ships, and. Hoche with his staff came back to La Eochelle. The idea of invasion was now relinquished, because Hoche w^as appointed to the command of the army of the Sambre and Mouse. The French government seems to have abandoned this invasion without any valid cause, and to have given it up on the very slightest symptom of failure. It is of course difficult to calculate what would have been the results had the army landed in Ireland. Wolfe Tone considered that their success would have been great ; but in this it is not unlikely that he deceived himself with that impetuosity which usually characterises exiles hoping to return to their own country. I It. 284 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIIl.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH RFFOIUTION 285 Meanwliile the government had taken vigorous mea- sures for defence, and several friends of Tone, on whose assistance lie calcuhited, had ah-eady been arrested for high treason. We find that the Lord-Lieutenant reports to the Secretary of State that the volunteers seemed to vie with the regular troops in loyal ardour, and he adds, '* About the time the army was ordered to march the utmost attention was paid them by the inhabitants of the towns and villages through which they passed ; so that in many places the meat provided by the com- missioners was not consumed. Some of the poor people even shared their potatoes with them, and divided their meal without demanding payment. The roads, which had been in parts rendered impassable by the snow, were cleared by the peasantry. At Carlow a considerable subscription was made for the troops as they passed through. A useful impression was no doubt made on the minds of the lower Catholics by an address of the titular Bishop of Cork.'' Much reliance, however, can- not be placed on the conduct of the peasantry to an army marching through the country. It is well known that the peasantry in any country will always work for the officers of an army who pay them for their labour; while the individual soldiers are usually on good terms with the people in whose houses they are billeted, unless they are stirred up by their officers to plunder and ferocity. The banditti expedition to England was not, however, given up when the expedition from Brest was abandoned. In hopes of more favourable weather than had befallen the armament of Hoclie, it did not set out till the month of February. Then two French frigates, a corvette, and a lugger, sailed from Brest, and entered the Bristol Channel with Colonel Tate, and about 1,200 of his blackguards on board. They anchored at Ilfracombe on the 22nd of February, and scuttled several merchant ships, but, notwithstanding their instructions, attempted no further progress in that quarter. Hearing that some troops were out against them, they steered to the opposite coast of Pembrokeshire, and anchored in Fish- guard Bay the same evening. Here they landed and began to plunder ; but here again the volunteers and militia were instantly h\ front of them, commanded by Lord Cawdor. These were only a few hundred strong, but they were joined by great numbers of the country people, armed with implements of husbandry, or with the first weapons they could lay hands on. Another incident of a humorous kind is said to have done great service. A large crowd of old Welsh women had gathered on the beach, dressed in the scarlet cloaks which then, and for some years afterwards, were in common use among the female peasantry of England. These being seen from the ships afar oft', led to the idea that they were regular troops. Colonel Tate, impressed with the scarlet cloaks, and being deprived of any means of retreat by his ships having sailed away, sent a flag of truce with an ofi'er of capitulation. Lord Cawdor answered by requiring the invaders to surrender them- selves as prisoners of war. They complied, and next day accordingly laid down their arms without a blow. Both \ h I oo Z86 IXFASIONS OF EXGLAM). [CTIAP. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 287 the frigcites which had brought them were taken by Engrlish men-of-war on their return to France, and thus ingloriously ended this unwarrantable enterprise. Till this invasion it had been usually understood that a descent could not be effected without transports. In the present instance the French government appears to have considered that tlie best transport vessels which could be used for the conveyance of troops were tliose which carried guns ; and the soldiers were embarked on the men-of-war which under ordinary circumstances would have been required to act as the fighting convoy of the transport fleet. The design of Hoclie and the buccaneering ex{)editio]i of Tate were, however, onlv desired as tlie forerunner of a more important expedition against our shores. To invade England upon a larger scale was now a favourite scheme with the French Directory and the French people. With the object of obtaining a large naval force witli which they might gain the command of the Channel and cover the convoy of troop-ships, they had recourse to their new allies at Madrid and at the Hague. It was intended that the great body of the Spanish fleet and also of the Dutch fleet should sail out of the harbours of Spain and Holland and unite with the French armament at Brest. It was calculated that by this union of perhaps full seventy ships of the line the French government would have naval strensfth sufficient to command the British Channel and to render easy a descent upon the south coast of Ens^land. The main Spanish fleet, commanded by Don Joseph de Cordova, was lying at this time in Carthagena Bay. It sailed on the 1st February, with Cadiz as its first destination, but it was driven from its course by contrary winds off Cape St. Vincent. Thei-e on the 14th Sir John Jervis, with the British squadron from the Tagus, fell in with it. Cordova had with him twenty-five sail of the line ; one of these, built at the Havana in 1769, named the Saniissima Trinidad, had four decks and carried 130 guns, and was the largest ship which at that time existed in the world. The Spanish crews were, however, for the most p:irt untrained and ill-affected to the service, having been recently raised by a forced conscription of landsmen. At this moment Sir John Jervis had been most seasonably joined by Admiral Parker from England and Commodore Nelson from Elba ; yet notwithstanding this accession of strength, Jervis could only place fifteen ships of the line in action. By a splendid manoeuvre, however, at the beginning of the contest, his fleet passed through the hostile ships, cutting off from the latter a division of six vessels. The main brunt of the battle that ensued was sustained by Commodore Nelson and Captain Collingwood. Nelson most gallantly boarded one of the Spanish eighty-gun ships, the St. Joseph, crying, " Victory, or ^Yestminster Abbey,'' as he rushed forward, fighting, from deck to deck, and, supported by Collingwood, he finally prevailed. In a private letter Collingwood thus describes the scene : '' The Commodore on the quarter-deck of a Spanish first-rate, receives the submission of the swords of the II I } '^ I 288 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [cf?AP. xviii.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 289 officers of the two vessels ; one of his sailors, William Fearney by name, bundled up the swords with as much composure as he would have made fogirots, though twenty-two sail of their line was still within gun shot." At the close of the action there had struck their flags, l)esides the St. Joseph, three Spanish ships of the line, while several others, and among them the Santissima Trinidad, were almost entirely disabled. The Spaniards showed no inclination to renew the fio-jit, but retired during the night to the refuge of Cadiz Bay. This victory, though not comparable either as to the fierceness of the struggle or the magnitude of the results, to some others at sea that followed it, was, as for as England was concerned, of the utmost moment. By the action off Cape St. Vincent the Spanish fleet was prevented from joining the armament at Brest, and thus Jervis defeated one of the divisions of the enemy's squadron in detail, and prevented the concentration, which would have been full of peril to our country. It was intended that the Dutch fleet should have been ready at the same time to assist the Spanish fleet to gain the French armament at Brest, but with signal good fortune to England the equipment of the Dutch was delayed until the celebrated mutinies of the fleet at Portsmouth and Sheerness, which broke out about this time, had passed away. It was not till near the close of June that the preparations in the ports of Holland were completed. Then Wolfe Tone was summoned to the Hague ; here General Hoche had already arrived just before him, and cried, in welcoming Tone, '' Good news for you; the two Dutch chiefs, the Governor-General Daendels and the Admiral de Winter, desire to do something striking that shall rescue their country from decline. By the most indefatigable pains they have got together at the Texel sixteen sail of the line and eio-bt or ten frigates, all ready for sea, and in the best condition ; the object they have in view is the invasion of Ireland. For this object they will embark the whole of their national troops, amounting to 15,000 men, besides 3,000 stand of arms and eighty pieces of artillery." But there was an obstacle. The French government demanded that of the invading force 5,000 men at least should be French, and that General Hoche should hav^ the supreme command of the whole. On the other hand, the Dutch government, who had met the entire expense, wished to have the whole glory of the expedi- tion. General Hoche ultimately, in a generous spirit, waived his pretensions, and went back to Paris, and from thence to his army on the Sambre and Meuse. The French Directors, not a little annoyed, ordered another armament of their own to be prepared at Brest, for the command of which, when ready, they again designed Hoche. The Dutch fleet was now ready to set sail, and at this time had a fair chance of success. The British admiral, Duncan, off* the Texel, had only eleven sail of the line ; but as it chanced the Dutch ships were kept m port the entire summer by adverse winds. If ever a I 1 VOL. II. u 290 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIIl.] FROM JTARS OF FRENCH RKFOIUTION. 291 fair breeze sprung up, it either changed or died away again in the course of a few hours. During this time the favourable season passed by, and the English fleet was reinforced. The journal of Tone at this period abounds with dismal entries: — '^ July 19. — Wind still foul. Horrible, horrible ! Admiral de Winter and I endeavour to pass away the time playing the flute, which he does very well ; we have some good duets. July 26. — I am to-day eighteen days aboard, and we have not had eighteen minutes' fair wind. Well, *' * It's but in vain For soldiers to complain.' " At length, towards the middle of August, the admiral summoned Tone to a private conference. He pointed out that the fleet of Duncan had now increased to seventeen sail of the line, so that the British vessels at Texel were superior in force to the Dutch. Moreover, that the Dutch land troops, so long pent up on ship- board, had at this time consumed nearly all the pro- visions supplied for the expedition, and that even a victory over Duncan in such circumstances would not allow the expedition to go forward. In this case he considered that it would be wiser to relinquish the expedition to Ireland, although a descent on a 'much smaller scale upon some point of the English coast might perhaps still be attempted. Tone, though most bitterly annoyed, had little to advance against such arguments. Soon afterwards he quitted the fleet, and went to join the head-quarters of General Hoche at Wetzlar, where another mortification not less keen awaited him, as Hoche, whom he found in declining health, died a fortnight afterwards. With General Hoche died the master-mind that planned the expeditions for the invasion of Ireland. Henceforth the prepara- tions of the armament at Brest were only slowly and languidly carried on ; but the French government hoped to strike a blow against Duncan : they brought pressure to bear on the government of Holland, and caused Admiral de Winter to be ordered to sail out and engage the English fleet. The Dutch admiral accordingly sallied forth with the first favourable wind. Admiral Duncan, on the other hand, having sustained some damage in the recent gales, had crossed over to repair in Yarmouth Eoads ; but he had left behind him some armed sloops to watch the Dutch fleet, and no sooner did he learn its advance than he returned with all the sail he could carry. He found the Dutch ships not yet out of the sight of that part of the coast of Holland which lies between Camperdown and Egmont. Without any hesitation he forced his own vessels between the Dutch and the land, so as to drive them to an action even if they had desired to avoid it. The two fleets were nearly equal in their number of ships, since the British had sixteen sail of the line and two frigates, and the Dutch fifteen sail of the line and four frigates ; but the English were superior both in the number of men and the weight of metal. Shortly after noon on the llth October, the English fleet bearing down in two lines, the battle began. Admiral Onslow, in the u 2 292 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 293 Monarch, led the van. As he went on his captain drew his notice to the fact that the enemy's ships lay close, and that he could find no passage through them. ** The Monarch will make a passage/' answered Onslow, and still held on his course. Then the Dutch ship opposite gave way, and he passed through, engaging without delay the officer of corresponding rank, the Dutch vice- admiral. An action commenced with such a spirit augured victory. Duncan himself, on board the Venerable, and at the head of the second line, brought his own vessel alongside the Vryheid, the flag-ship of De Winter. The two ships, each of them carrying seventy-four guns, sus- tained a well-matched conflict within pistol-range for the space of three hours. So heavy was the firing that at last De Winter was, it is said, the only man on his quarter- deck who was not either killed or wounded. Not in the Vryheid alone, but throughout the fleet, the Dutch fought with a courage and perseverance worthy of their ancient renown. But fortune declared against them. By four o'clock De Winter s ship had struck to Duncan, and the Dutch vice-admiral to Onslow. The action ceased, and the English found themselves captors of nine Dutch ships of the line besides two of the Dutch frigates. The scanty relics of De Winter's fleet sought refuge along the coast or in the Texel, while Duncan through a heavy gale carried his prizes to the Nore. The loss in both fleets had been most severe in the well-sustained fight. Of killed and wounded there had been upwards of 1,100 on the Dutch and upwards of 1,000 on the English side. Duncan himself in his official report declared the carnage on board the two ships that bore the admirals' flags had been beyond all description. The battle of Camperdown, which name it has borne since, was hailed by England with applause. And worthily so, as Duncan in that battle broke up another division of the fleet which might, united with the French at Brest, have been used to sweep the Channel and cover the passage of an invading force. In the autumn of this year England found herself almost the sole antagonist of France, and with scarcely an ally except the small kingdom of Portugal, as a definitive treaty of peace between the Empire of Germany and the French Eepublic, consequent upon the great victories gained by General Bonaparte in Italy, was signed at Campo Formio on the I7th October. By this Venice was granted to the Court of Vienna in return for the cession of Belgium and Lombardy to France. INVASION OF THE IRISH REBELLION. On the very day after the proclamation in Paris of the treaty of Campo Formio an order was issued by the Directory decreeing the formation of an army on the coast, to be called L'Armee d'Angleterre. To the command of this force General Napoleon Bonaparte was appointed. Wolfe Tone writes of this : — '' Bravo, this looks as if they were in earnest ! " At first Bonaparte displayed his characteristic energy. He paid a visit of inspection to the northern ports, and " ^ ■■ -^■— — 'M 294 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. directed active preparations ; but by degrees his mind and the minds of the Directors appear to have been diverted from the invasion of our country to the superior importance of striking a deadly blow against England on the more vulnerable point of her communications with the East. The expedition which had been ostensibly prepared against our own shores was designed to be diverted towards Egypt. With the greatest secrecy plans were formed that it should start in the spring of 1798. From the Irish exiles this change of plan was most studiously concealed. These continued to be flattered with a hope that the full force of France was to be employed in the aid of the rising in Ireland against the English rule. At the outbreak of the French Eevolution, the Irish were already sufficiently disposed to ally themselves with an army which promised to liberate them from the odious yoke of the Saxons. The dreams of liberty and equality which the French spread wherever they went, and that turned so many of the strongest heads in Europe, proved altogether intoxicating to their ardent and enthusiastic spirits. From the beginning of the Revolution its progress was watched with intense anxiety in Ireland. The horrors of the Reign of Terror had no effect in opening the eyes of Irishmen to the tendency of revolutionary principles. The greater and more energetic portion of the Catholic inhabitants, who constituted above three-fourths of the whole population, soon became leagued together for the establishment of a republic in alliance with France, the severance of the connection xvni.] ^'ROM VARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION, 295 with England, the restoration of the Catholic religion, and the resumption of the forfeited lands. Judicial proceedings were instituted against those who formed themselves into associations with the object of raising an insurrection against the government. With these judicial proceedings were combined military measures. In March, 1797, a proclamation was issued by General Lake, requiring all persons in his military district, namely, in the five northern counties, to surrender their arms. To assist in recovering the weapons that might remain concealed, the proclamations invited the aid of all informers, promising inviolable secrecy and a reward of the full value of the arms that might be seized. In the following May this proclamation was extended to the whole kingdom, in the form of a proclamation from the Lord-Lieutenant. Thus at the beginning of 1798 all in Ireland was dark and lowering, and foreshadowed a coming storm. The revolutionary association formed in the island un- der the name of United Irishmen, at the beginning of that year, pressed for succour for their rising against the English government on the Directory of France. Since Hoche had first formed his armament at Brest in 1796, the leaders of the French Republic had watched atten- tively the course of events in Ireland, and had perceived that the opportunity to inflct a blow against the United Kingdom existed in the difficulty of the management of the sister island, and that a force landed in Ireland would at least provoke a considerable diversion, and tend \li 296 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] tROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 297 to lessen resistance to an invasion of the southern shores of England. In the months of May and June the long-smoulderincy insurrection burst forth. Some districts in Leinster were the first to rise. The mail-coaches in various directions near Dublin were stopped and plundered. Kildare, Naas, Hacket s Town, and other places, became scenes of conflict, and at Prosperous the rebels achieved a slight success by surprising the small town in the middle of the night and putting to the sword almost to a man the few soldiers by whom it was garrisoned. The real conflict was however in Wexford county, where a large body of peasants had assembled under the command of Father John Murphy, curate of Bonvalogue. He, with a force of 4,000 men, occupied the hill of Oulart. On the morning of Whit-Sunday, 27th May, Lieutenant Foote, with only 110 men of the North Cork militia, rashly advanced against the insur- gents. As might have been expected, the militiamen were defeated and slaughtered, only the commanding ofiicer himself and four privates being spared. This easy victory added very considerable numbers to the insurgent ranks, and the principal insurrectionary army gradually swelled to a force of 15,000 strong. This body turned to Enniscorthy, a town of no inconsider- able commerce on the river Slaney, which was carried in the face of 300 regular soldiers. From Enniscorthy they advanced upon AVexford, whence the royal troops retired on their appearance. The estimates and preparations of Great Britain for I the year 1798 were on a reduced scale, as on account of the loss of allies no foreign subsidies were required. The approach of a serious struggle for existence on our own shores was however apprehended. A message from the king on the 20th April announced :— " Considerable and increasing activity in the ports of France, Flanders, and Holland, with the avowed design of attempting the invasion of his Majesty's dominions;" and had called for " such further measures as may enable his Majesty to defeat the wicked machinations of disafl*ected per- sons.'* A Bill was introduced by the government at once for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and another Bill as to aliens. The regular army was fixed at 109,000 men, besides 63,000 militia. One hundred and four ships of the line and 300 frigates and small vessels were put in commission, manned by 100,000 seamen. At this time a great change w^as made in the military policy of our country, which was fraught with the most important results both upon the public mind and the final issue of the war. This was the introduction of the volunteer system and the general armament of the people at large. During the uncertainty which prevailed as to the destination of the great armaments that were being prepared by France, both in the harbours of the Channel and of the Mediterranean, the British government naturally felt the greatest anxiety as to the means of providing for the national defence, without incurring a ruinous expense by the augmenta- tion of the regular army. The discipline of the regular •fi 1-1 H \l 298 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. troops was, as at present, admirable, and their courao-e, as it has always been, unquestionable ; yet the numbers of the regular soldiers were limited, and it appeared de- sirable to provide some subsidiary body which might furnish supplies of men from a class that could not, ex- cept in times of considerable national emergency, afford to abandon labour and serve continually in the ranks. For this purpose the militia was insufficient. Under the pressure of the danger of the invasion which was anticipated, the government, with the approval of the king, ventured on the bold, but as it turned out wise, step of allowing regiments of volunteers to be raised in every part of the kingdom. On the 11th April of this year, 1798, the cabinet determined to take this step, and soon afterwards a Bill was brought into Parliament hj the Secretary for War, Mr. Dun das, to permit the regular militia to volunteer to go to Ireland, and to provide for the raising of volunteer corps in every part of the kingdom to replace the militia as a garrison army at home. The statesman who brought in this Bill made no attempt to conceal the danger which menaced the country. '' The truth/' said he, '' is undeniable that the crisis which is approaching must determine whether we are any longer to be ranked as an independent nation. We must take the steps which are best calculated to meet it. Let us provide for the safety of the infirm, the aged, the women, the children, and put arms into the hands of the people. We must fortify the menaced points, accumulate forces round the capital, xvTii.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 299 affix on the church doors the names of those who liave come forward as volunteers, and authorise members of Parliament to hold commissions in the army without vacating their seats.'' The danger to national independence from foreign invasion was obvious. The Bill passed the House without opposition, and in a few weeks 150,000 volun- teers were in arms in Great Britain. Another Bill, which at the same time passed through Parliament, authorised the crown in the event of an invasion to call out a levy en masse of the population, and conferred extraordinary powers upon lord- lieutenants and generals in command for the seizure, in case of an invasion, of horses and carriages, and provided for the indemnification at the public expense of such persons as might suffer in their properties in consequence of these measures. And there was grave reason that England should arm. In Ireland insurrection was more than smouldering. An extraordinary degree of activity prevailed in all the harbours, not only of France and Holland, but of Spain and Italy. The fleets at Cadiz and Toulon were in a condition to put to sea. That at Brest only awaited their junction to sally forth and form a preponderating force in the Channel, where the utmost exertions were being made to construct and equip flat-bottomed boats for the conveyance of land troops. Men of-war were already collected in the harbours on the south side of the Channel for the transport of 60,000 men. A great part of the armies of the Rhine was brought down to the M. \\ W \ n 300 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. maritime districts, and lined the shores of France and Holland from Brest to the Texel. Nearly 150,000 men lay on these coasts, forming, the Armde d'Angleterre. This immense force would have occasioned even greater anxiety to the British government, had it been supported by a powerful navy; but the battles of St. Vincent and Camperdown had relieved our island of considerable apprehension. Immense preparations were made at the same time in Italy and the south of France. The whole naval resources of the Mediterranean were put in requi- sition. The JBower of the army of Italy was marched to Toulon, Genoa, and Civita Vecchia. However, it is doubtful whether the embarkation of an invading force was seriously intended by the French government. The Directory, secretly alarmed at the reputation achieved by the conqueror of Italy, were more anxious to see Napoleon engulfed in the sands of Lybia than a conqueror on the banks of the Thames ; while he himself, whose whole thoughts and passions at this time centred in the East, the theatre of ancient glory, dreamt more of emulating the career of Alexander towards India than the descent of Caesar in Britain. In the middle of February of this year General Bona- parte visited the coasts, accompanied by Lannes and Bourrienne. In less than ten days he inspected Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Antwerp, and Flushing. Till midnio-ht he sat up at every town, interrogating sailors, fishermen, and smugglers ; and it is said that to that period is to be assigned the origin of the great conceptions concerning Antwerp which, after he became emperor, he executed XVIII.] ^ROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION 301 with such vigour. Having acquired all the information which could be obtained, he turned away from an expe- dition which was distasteful to him, and said, " It is too doubtful a chance ; I will not risk it ; I will not hazard on such a cast the fate of France.'' It may be supposed that from this observation the great military genius of Napoleon considered an invasion of our shores extremely hazardous, if not impracticable. Such does not, however, appear to have been the case. It must be remembered that at this tme Napoleon was eager to rival the glories of Alexander in the East, and dreamt of there extending an empire greater than that of ancient Greece. It is confessed that it was not the diffi- culty of transporting 60,000 or 80,000 men to our shores that deterred General Bonaparte, even at a time when the transport of such a force was much more difficult than it would be at the present day. He considered the great difficulty would be the power of supporting and sustaining his army after once having effected their landing, as the naval force of Britain was superior to that of France, and it could only be rationally expected that the French army in England would be severed from all supplies of stores from its own country. At the present time such arguments would be little considered by the leader of an invading force. The richness of the southern counties of England is such that an army could live upon the country, and would be dependent upon its base of communications for no supplies except those of ammunition. A sufficiency of ammunition could be brought over with an invading force to last it # ' 'I 302 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. for any time which the war might be expected to con- tinue. To return to Ireland. The capture of the important town of Wexford gave the insurgents possession of a considerable train of artillery which was stored there, and also opened a port for communication with France. The Bill permitting the militia of England to volunteer for service in Ireland was of effect. On the 16th June Mr. Secretary Dundas brought down to the House of Commons a message from the king, announcing that several regiments had freely tendered the extension of their services to Ireland. Several militia regiments accordingly went over. By the middle of June the commanders of the troops of the government had col- lected about 15,000 men in the county of Wexford. On the 20th June one body of the insurgents was routed by General Moore at Goff's Bridge, and on the follow- ing day General Lake attacked their principal encamp- ment at Vinegar Hill. He had with him about 13,000 men in four columns, with which it was intended to attack the position simultaneously at four different points. But the accidental delay of one of these left the insurgents a loophole for escape ; for this reason probably only a faint resistance was made. The whole loss of the royal army was only one man killed and four wounded. On the same day General Moore re- occupied the town of Wexford, and although some thousands of fugitives from Vinegar Hill, armed with pikes, sought shelter in the Wicklow mountains, the main strength of the insurrection was now stamped XVIIl.] FROM JVARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 303 down, and the favourable opportunity for the French invasion of Ireland had for the time passed away. A month before the action at Vinegar Hill General Bonaparte sailed from Toulon on the 19th May, with the greater portion of the army which had been intended for the invasion of England, for Egypt. He reduced the island of Malta on the way, and began to disembark his troops on the coast of Egypt on the 1st July, having eluded the British fleet which, under Admiral Nelson, was watching in the Mediterranean to prevent the expedition. But while the main body of the force destined for the invasion of England was diverted to Egypt, the Directory did not totally neglect the assist- ance of the insurrection in Ireland. Their armaments for this purpose were, however, so small and so tardy that practically they only injured the cause which they were designed to serve. One small division intended to assist the Irish rebellion, consisting of three frigates and some transports, sailed from La Rochelle under the command of General Humbert, who had with him about 1,100 men. This force was evidently only to be auxiliary to the force of native Irishmen who were expected to rise on its landing, as the expedition carried with it a considerable number of spare muskets and some Irish exiles, among whom was the celebrated Tone. The force had with it a considerable quantity of ofl&cers and en- gineers, and was intended to be rather the skeleton of a force than an active army itself. Humbert sailed from La Rochelle about the beginning of August, and eluding the British cruisers, though seventeen days at sea, m \> II « »> ' \ »4,> 1 .1 \ 304 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. appeared ojff the Irish coast on the 22nd. He landed in Killala Bay, in the county of Mayo, and took up his quarters in the bishop's palace at that place. He then called upon the peasants to join his standard. At Killala there was almost no garrison, but an officer and twenty men of the Prince of Wales's Fencibles, who occupied the place, were taken prisoners, as well as the Bishop of Killala and his two daughters, and were kept as hostages. Lord Cornwallis, who at that time had lately been appointed Lord-Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, on hearing of the landing of the French at Killala, immediately sent General Lake across the Shannon, intending himself to follow in a few days. General Lake accordingly took the command of several regiments of the Irish militia, that were quartered at Castlebar. The French under General Humbert, thouo^h inferior in numbers to this body of militia, pushed forward from the sea-coast and boldly attacked them at Castlebar on the morning of the 27th. The Irish regiments behaved with considerably more caution than valour, as the greater portion of them bolted without firing a shot, leaving behind them seven pieces of cannon and six hundred prisoners. An officer who was present, the secretary of General Lake, declared that he never saw so shameful a rout. Two of the colonels — Lord Ormonde and Lord Granard — exerted themselves with great spirit to hold and rally their men, but in vain ; though it is probable, as Lord Stanhope says, that many of the militiamen may have run through disaffection quite 3;. XVllI.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 305 as much as through panic, since immediately afterwards several hundreds of themjoined the French. But the triumph of General Humbert did not long endure. Lord Cornwallis came up with some regular forces and considerably superior numbers. On the 31st August General Humbert issued a proclamation, being a model of a provisional government for the county of Connaught, whereof John Moore was appointed presi- dent. But the latter did not long enjoy the dignity, as he was soon afterwards taken and hanged. Lord Cornwallis made the necessary dispositions either for supporting a general attack or intercepting the march of the enemy. On the 8th September General Humbert, who had 'pushed forward to Ballinamuck was attacked by considerably superior forces, and forced to surrender. Of the insurgents who had joined him about 400 were killed in action, and about 180 suffered by sentence of court-martial. About the same time a single French brig from Dunkirk, the Anacreon, appeared off the coast of Donegal with the notorious Napper Tandy on board. He published a vehement proclamation, calling upon his fellow-countrymen to take up arms against the govern- ment, and exhorting them to refuse to grant any concession to the English. He had boasted that, land where he pleased, he would be joined by 30,000 men. But when the Anacreon appeared on the coast, there was not the slightest sign of any rising. And the con- duct of the intended leader was far from keeping pace with his vehement protestations. No sooner did he VOL. II. X 306 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII.] FROM WARS OF FRENCH REVOLUTION. 307 hear of the reverse sustained by the French troops who had landed under Humbert in Killala Bay, than he re-embarked with great precipitation and sailed off to Norway. These two descents appear to have been part of three intended expeditions which were formed at Brest and Dunkirk. The Anacreon was the only vessel of the whole armament from Dunkirk which could escape from the English blockade and reach the coast of Ireland by going north about. But the most formidable force in appearance and actual strength was yet to make its attempt. It had been for some time past prepared at Brest, and consisted of the Hoche of seventy-four guns, eight frigates, and a schooner, containing 3,600 men, with great quantities of arms and stores of every kind. The vessels were com- manded by Admiral Bompast, and the troops by General Hardi. Only four Irish exiles accompanied this ex- pedition, but among them was the ablest of them all, Wolfe Tone, who now bore the commission of a French oflBcer under the name of Smith. On the 11th October this armament entered the Bay of Killala, but it was pursued by a superior squadron under Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren. It appears that the French vessels hardly dropped anchor in Killala Bay, for on the following day — the 12th — this squadron was engaged ojff Tory Island, the north-westermost point of Ireland, by Warren, who had with him the Canada, the Robust, the Foudroyant, the Magnanime, the Ethlion, the Naelampus, and the Amelia. After a severe engagement the Hoche was taken, as well as four of the French frigates. Three of those that escaped anchored on the following morning in Donegal Bay, and sent a boat with sixty men on shore. But these were repulsed in their attempt to land by the Mount Charles Yeomanry, commanded by Captain Montgomery. Wolfe Tone, who was taken prisoner in the sea-fight, in which he had shown great bravery, was tried by court-martial, but anticipated the sentence by suicide. Although the French government did not lose sight of the advantage that might accrue from an invasion of Enorland, their thouofhts were diverted from our shores by the victory gained by Nelson on the 1st August, 1798, over the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, by which the army of Bonaparte in Egypt was cut ofi* from com- munication with France, and in the following year by the ill-success of the French arms in Italy. In the same year (1799) the British government, with a true appreciation of the importance of oflensive action, de- spatched an expeditionary force to Holland, and by subsidies encouraged its allies on the Continent to push forward against French territory. In 1799 the cam- paign in Italy was eminently successful for the allies, but the return of Napoleon from Egypt and the battle of Marengo again laid Italy at the feet of France in 1800. In that year Mr. Pitt, anxious to settle the Irish question, and to soothe the disafi'ection in Ireland, pro- posed and carried the union of Ireland with England. On the completion of this measure the regiments which had hitherto been borne on the Irish military establish- ments were transferred to the imperial establishment. x2 H ■II i- i J 303 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XVIII. No further serious attempt was made at an invasion until after the rupture of the peace of Amiens. Military preparations in England were continued on a considerable scale. In the first year of this century the land forces of Great Britain amounted to 168,000 men, exclusive of 80,000 militia ; and for the service of the fleet 120,000 seamen and marines were voted. In this same year the ships in commission were no less than 510, including 124 of the line. From a return made to parliament at this time it appeared that the whole troops, exclusive of militia, which had been raised for the service of the state during the eight years from 1792 to 1800, had been only 208,000, a force not greater than might have been easily levied in a single year out of a population then amounting to nearly sixteen millions in the three kingdoms, and which, if ably conducted and thrown into the scale of continental warfare when the balance of the contest hung almost suspended between France and Austria, w^ould unquestionably have terminated the war in the late campaigns. So shortsighted is it to dally with war. True policy must ever be to strike with all available force at the very commencement of a campaign and drive the conflict home with all rapidity into the vitals of an enemy. CHAPTER XIX. ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. Authorities.— Von Sybel's " History of the French Revolution ; " Regi- mental Records of the British Army ; Lord Cornwallis's Correspond- ence ; Alison's '' History of Europe ; " Sir William Napier's " History of the Peninsular War ; " Stanhope's " Life of Pitt ; " Clode's " Mili- taiy Forces of the Crown ; " Clode's " Military and Martial Law ; " Walpole's " Memoirs of the Reign of George IIL ; " the " Consulat " of M. Thiers now becomes of considerable interest, as well as " Le Precis des Affaires Militaires," by Dumas. So early as the autumn of 1802 it was foreseen that the peace of Amiens, which had been ratified only in the October of the previous year, would not be of long duration; and on the 11th October of the later year Mr. Pitt himself underlines the words in his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Addington, '' Content ourselves with the state of very increased and constant prepara- tion, both naval and military." For Mr. Pitt himself now was no longer Prime Minister, having resigned on account of his views on Catholic Emancipation being in opposition to the wishes of the king. At the same time Colonel Sebastiani had been sent by Bonaparte, who was now the First Consul of France, to Egypt and Sjrria to prepare an elaborate military report, which 't A 1 % T. 310 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. proved that the idea of conquest on the banks of the Nile had not been abandoned by the French govern- ment. The conduct of France with regard to Italy and Switzerland also demonstrated some ambition for foreign annexation, while England was resolved not to yield up the possession of Malta. Influenced by these circum- stances, the British government sent orders to delay the evacuation of Malta, Alexandria, and the Cape of Good Hope, which had before been resolved upon and in part commenced, and openly declared its resolution to retain these important stations till some satisfactory explana- tion was obtained of the French movements. This resolution gave rise to an angry diplomatic correspond- ence between Paris and London, and there could be little doubt that the anger of diplomatists would soon lead to the clash of arms. The result was that the English cabinet gave orders for the collection of forces. On the 8th March, a message from the king to both Houses of Parliament announced that " As very considerable military pre- parations are carrying on in the ports of France and Holland, his Majesty has judged it expedient to adopt additional measures of precaution for the security of his dominions. The preparations to which his Majesty refers are avowedly directed to colonial service, yet as discussions of great importance are now subsisting between his Majesty and the French government, this communication has been deemed necessary.'' On the 10th there was another message from the king, with a view to call out the militia. On the 11th a vote i XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON 311 was carried in the Commons for 10,000 additional men for the sea service. A few days afterwards the militia was called out, and preparations were made in the principal harbours in the kingdom for the most vigorous hostmties. Thus it will be seen that no energy was spared and no time was lost. These measures were immediately met by corresponding preparations on the part of the French. Lord Nelson was entrusted with the command of the Mediterranean fleet ; Lord Keith set out for Plymouth ; Sir Sidney Smith received orders to put to sea with a squadron of observation. A hot press for seamen was immediately made in the Thames, sixteen ships of the line were put in commission, and, as Alison says, '' England resumed her arms with a degree of enthusiasm exceeding even that with which she had laid them aside." So fickle is the English people. The First Consul was as active with diplomatic measures and endeavouring to contract alliances on seeing that a conflict was approaching, as he was in mUitary energy and forwarding warlike preparations. Ambassadors were sent to Berlin and St. Petersburg to endeavour to rouse the northern powers to reassert the principles of the armed neutrality and join the league against Great Britain. The army of France was put on a^'war footing. An immediate levy of 120,000 men was ordered; the troops both in Holland and Italy were reinforced; Flushing and Antwerp were placed in a state of siege ; the great arsenal which was after- wards constructed in the Scheldt was commenced at ft 11 li 312 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. this time. The naval preparations of the country were pressed on with the most incredible activity, and already numerous corps began to be directed to the shores of the Channel, which under the name of the army of England so seriously were to menace the independence of Great Britain. Patriotic feeling was roused to the highest pitch in France as well as in England, and never was war commenced with more cordial approba- tion on the part of the people of both countries. An ultimatum presented by England was rejected by the French government. No hope of peace remained. On the 1 2th May Lord Whitworth, the British ambas- sador, left Paris; on the 16th, General Andreossy, the French envoy, departed from London. On this latter day also a message from the king was brought down to both Houses, by which his Majesty announced that the negotiation with France was over, and that he appealed with confidence to the public spirit of his brave and loyal subjects. Letters of marque were issued by the British government on the 16th, the same day as the French ambassador embarked at Dover. While the French embassy was still in England, agents had been sent in the train of the ambassador with instructions to take soundings in English ports and obtain information as to the military situation in all the provinces of the kingdom ; and when the government of England appealed to the French ambassador to have these removed, the First Consul avowed a determination to introduce authorised emissaries, under the name of commercial agents, to prepare in the midst of peace XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 313 the most efiectual means for our annoyance and destruc- tion in time of war. It would appear that the English government, although they have been blamed for hurrying on this war, acted only wisely. Napoleon himself in his works has said that he had no wish to go to war in 1803, or expose his infant navy to the risk of being swept from the ocean or blockaded in its harbours. He had resolved upon a strictly defensive plan till the afi'airs of the Con- tinent were finally settled, and his naval resources had accumulated to such a degree as to enable him to strike a decisive blow. He ordered the construction of canals in Brittany, by the aid of which, in spite of the English navy, he could maintain an internal communication between Rochefort, Nantes, Holland, Antwerp, Cher- bourg, and Brest. He proposed to have at Flushing or its vicinity, docks which were to be capable of receiving the whole fleet of Holland fully armed, from whence it could put to sea in twenty-four hours. He projected in Boulogne a dock similar to that of Cher- bourg, and between Cherbourg and Brest a roadstead like that of L'Isle de Bois. Sailors were to be formed by exercising young conscripts in the roads, and per- forming gun practice and other operations in the harbours. He intended to construct twenty or twenty- five ships of the line every year ; at the end of six years he would have had 170 ships of the line, at the end of ten as many as 300. The afiairs of the Con- tinent being finished, he would have entered heart and soul into the operations against England. He would V I f ■|:i ; .-XO-' 314 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CIIAP. XIX.] ATTEMFTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 315 have assembled the greater part of his forces on the coast from Corunna to the mouth of the Elbe, havino- the bulk on the shores of the Channel. All the resources of the two nations would thus have been called forth, and he conceived that he would either have subjected England by his moral ascendency or have crushed it by his physical force. He believed that the English, alarmed, would have assembled for the defence of Plymouth, Portsmouth, and the Thames ; the three French corps from Brest, Cherbourg, and Antwerp would have fallen on their central masses, while the wings turned the garrisons of Scotland and Ireland. Everything then would have depended on a decisive action. And as Napoleon himself says, " I was estab- lishing my ground, so as to bring the two nations as it were body to body ; the ultimate issue could not be doubtful, for we had forty millions of French against fifteen millions of English. I would have termi- nated by a battle of Actium." All this was justly prevented by the initiative taken by the EngHsh government. The renewal of the war was immediately followed by hostile preparations of unparalleled magnitude on both sides of the Channel. Ten days after the French ambassador embarked at Dover, the French army in Holland advanced against Hanover and overran the electorate, which was then ruled by the same king as England. On the 23rd June the First Consul formally commenced that contest which he so bitterly and so long maintained against English commerce. He published a I decree that no colonial produce, and no merchandise coming directly from England, should be received in the ports of France, and that all such produce or merchan- dise should be confiscated ; and that any vessel coming from or which had touched at a harbour of Great Britain was declared liable to seizure. The most extraordinary efi'orts were also made for a descent on the shores of Great Britain. The ofiicial journals openly announced the intention of the First Consul of putting himself at the head of the expedi- tion, and called on all the departments to second the attempt. The public spirit of France and the hereditary rivalry with which its inhabitants were animated against England produced the most strenuous efforts to md the government. The tapestry of Bayeux, on which was embroidered the incidents of the landing of William the Conqueror, was passed from town to town, and hung up in the theatres to encourage the people in hopes of another conquest of the island. All the arse- nals on the coast w^ere in activity from the Texel to Bayonne. Forts and batteries, thrown up on every hillside and accessible points of the French shores, secured the coast from insult, and gave protection for the small craft proceeding from the places of manufac- ture to the general places of rendezvous. The depart- ments vied with each other in gifts and offerings for the patriotic cause. That of the Upper Ehine contri- buted 300,000 francs for the construction of a vessel to bear its own name, and that of Cote d'Or furnished at its own expense 100 pieces of ordnance to arm the flotilla. ir \ 316 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chat. f • The object of all these preparations was the assembly at a single point of a flotilla capable of transporting an army of 150,000 men, with its field and siege equip- ments, ammunition, stores, and horses. At the same time a sufiicient naval force was to be provided to cover the passage of the flotilla across the Channel and to secure the safe disembarkation of the land troops, notwithstanding every resistance that could be opposed by the enemy. The harbour of Boulogne was adopted as a central point for the assembly of the vessels destined for the conveyance of the troops. The natural harbour was not of sufficient size to contain the flotilla, but a new basin of large dimensions was dug out of the sand by the labour of soldiers, protected by an enormous tower, and armed with heavy cannon, ranging for a couple of miles. Similar excavations were made at the neighbouring ports of Etaples, Ambleteuse, and Vimereux. In every harbour, from Brest to the Texel, gunboats of different dimensions were built in the dockyards. The ship- wrights were working day and night. As fast as vessels were finished they were sent round under the protection of the numerous batteries with which the coast was studded, to Cherbourg, Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk. The British cruisers in the Channel rendered this a work of danger and difficulty ; but the First Consul impressed the energy of his own character on those who worked under him, and at length made great progress in the assembly of naval forces within sight of the shores of Britain. No sooner were the English cruisers driven >» "*'-•-.., .-^v^^ ''— ■ XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 317 from their stations by heavy winds, than semaphores announced the favourable opportunity to the different harbours, and numerous vessels were quickly seen speeding round the headlands and closely creeping along the shore, while gunners with lighted matches in their hands and shotted guns stood in the batteries along the coast to shield their passage. The small draught of water of the gunboats enabled the greater part of them to reach Boulogne scatheless, though a considerable number were intercepted and destroyed by the British seamen. The small vessels collected at Boulogne consisted of four different sorts. The praams carried each six 24-pounders, and were intended rather as a con- voy for the smaller vessels, which were to carry the troops, than to be actually employed as transports themselves. The next class bore four 24-pound guns and one howitzer; they were intended each to carry from 150 to 200 men, and were constructed with flat bottoms, in order that they might draw as near as possible to the shore. The third kind were armed, each with two 24-pounders, and were capable of conveying eighty men each ; while the smallest description had a 4-pounder at the prow and a howitzer at the stern, and bore from forty to fifty men each. It was intended that the artillery should be embarked in the larger vessels, the cavalry in those of a medium size, and the foot soldiers in the smallest. So good was the organisa- tion with which the descent was planned, that every man knew the vessel on board of which he was to embark, and his place in that vessel. It was proved I; 318 mrjsiONS OF England. [chap. by trial that a hundred thousand men could be in their places in the boats in less than half-an-hour. In the course of the year 1803 more than 1,300 vessels of this nature were collected at Boulogne and the nei^hbourinor harbours. But it was not on them alone that the First Consul relied for the execution of his project. Numbers of transports were at the same time assembled, which although armed were intended as the receptacles of the stores and ammunition of the army. Napoleon himself went to the coast to hasten by his presence the preparations which were going forward, and to judge with his own eyes of the measures which should be adopted. He stayed- in the camp at Boulogne and occupied a tent on the summit of the cliff which looks over towards England, where the site occupied by his quarters is still marked by a monument. All the material points in the maritime districts were visited. He inspected at Flushing the new docks and fortifications which had been com- menced and quickly decided upon Antwerp as a central point for the chief arsenal where the naval subjugation of England should be prepared. By a decree of the 1st of July it was enacted that a dock should be there constructed capable of holding twenty-five ships of the line and a proportionate number of frigates and smaller vessels. Those immense works were immediately com- menced, which in a few years rendered this the greatest naval station on the Continent. But the naval forces of France constituted but a portion of those destined to be employed in the XIX.] ATTEMPTED UFASION BY NAPOLEON. 319 conquest of our country. The whole fleets of Holland and Spain were to be engaged in this great enterprise. The design of Napoleon, which he himself has pro- nounced to have been the most profoundly conceived and nicely calculated that he ever formed, was to assemble the fleet intended to compose the covering naval force at Martinique. By a junction of all the squadrons in all the harbours of Spain and the Mediterranean and the West Indies, this combined armament was to have been brought rapidly back to the Channel, while the British blockading squadron was traversing the Atlantic in search of the enemy. It was then to raise the blockade of Eochefort and Brest, and enter the British Channel with the whole of its force, amounting to seventy sail of the line. Under cover of this irresistible armada. Napoleon calculated that he should cross over to England at the head of 150,000 men, with whom he could reach London in five days. The English government were really little aware of the danger which threatened them. For the successful issue of this attempt a large military as well as naval force was necessary. The First Consul turned his attention to the need of restoring the strength of the army, which the expedition to San Domingo and detach- ments into Italy and Hanover, had much diminished. The soldiery of France, long accustomed to the plunder and excitement of war, had become weary of the monotony of a garrison life. Discipline was considerably relaxed, and desertion, especially among the old soldiers, had increased to an alarming extent. Energetic /J 320 INVASIONS OF -ENGLAND. [chap xrx.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 321 i measures were rapidly taken to arrest this evil. New regulations were issued to insure a rigid enforcement of the conscription. The height required for recruits was reduced to five feet two inches, a proof that the expenditure of human life in the preceding wars had already begun to exhaust the stronger portion of the population. The conscription laws were now enforced with such punctuality that escape became hopeless, and the price of a substitute, which rose soon to 500Z., made it almost impossible for the middle class to avoid personal service. At this period not much over 200,000 men in the French empire annually reached the age of twenty, the period when liability to personal service commenced. The conscription required from 120,000 to 200,000, thus nearly all of every class except the aged and infirm were thrown into military life. In the meantime foreign aid was also invited to assist in the descent on our shores. Ney, who had been in command in Switzerland, concluded a capitulation by which 16,000 troops in the service of the government of Berne were placed at the disposal of the First Consul, and soon afterwards formed near Amiens the reserve of the army of England. To Compiegne, an Italian division under General Pirio, came across the Alps to form part of the same expedition, while a corps was formed at Bayonne under Augereau to force the Courts of Madrid and Lisbon into the conclusion of treaties on the footing of the desires of the Tuileries, while the province of Louisiana was sold to the United States of America, and the English navy was thus deprived of one of the points where a blow might have been inflicted on the French government. By an order addressed to the minister at war on the 14th of June, 1803, the organisation of the expeditionary army was established. The whole army was divided into six corps, each of which was to occupy a separate camp. Among the names of the leaders were Nej^ Soult, Davoust, and Victor. The cantonments of the expeditionary force spread along the whole coast from the Texel to the Pyrenees. The first camp lay in Holland, the second at Ghent, the third at St. Omer, the fourth, as reserve, at Compiegne, the fifth at St. Malo, the sixth at Bayonne. The total force of troops concentrated at these various points over against England was to exceed 150,000 men. The camp of HoUand was to consist of 30,000 men ; 18,000 of these were to be French troops, and 12,000 Dutch ; those of St. Omer and Compiegne, each 15,000. As yet the strength and composition of the camps of St. Malo and Bayonne had not been determined. AU the corps united in these camps had orders to be ready to furnish at the end of the summer their two first battalions completed to a strength of a thousand men each. The command of the forces so assembled was to be entrusted to the most famous generals of the French army. Such was the first basis of organisation of the grand army which the Continental powers saw without un- easiness being assembled on the shore of the ocean. Yet the wide dispersion of the troops along the coast might have led to the supposition that only a portion was VOL. II. T !», 322 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 323 intended really for the invasion of our country, and that this invasion was perhaps not seriously contemplated by the First Consul, but that, under the cloak of an attack upon our island, steps were secretly taken which allowed military operations to be arranged and military organisation to be completed, with a view to the subjugation of Continental states. The French troops assembled at all points consisted of 341,000 infantry, 26,000 artillery, over 46,000 cavalry, and between 14,000 and 15,000 invalides, thus amounting to the aggregate of nearly 430,000 men, independent of the national guards and coastguards, who numbered alone more than 200,000. Besides these there were arrayed in line or in reserve the forces of Holland, Switzerland, and the Italian States. On the other side of the Channel the government and people of England were equally determined on war, and equally eager in preparation. The militia, 73,000 strong, were called out on the 25th of March. On the 6th June the army estimates came before the House, and Pitt himself stated that the number of militia should not bear too large a proportion to the whole of our force. He considered that a war that should be solely defensive would be in his opinion both dis- honourable and ruinous. He urged an expedition, and proffered himself as ready to assist with others in sharing the obloquy of harsh measures of defence and finance at such a crisis. On the 10th of June a vote for 40,000 additional seamen was passed without opposition, and almost without remark ; and on the 20th of June Mr. Charles York, as secretary at war, submitted his plan relative to the defence of the country. The House of Commons agreed to the unusual step of raising 50,000 men as an army of reserve by ballot, to serve four years, in the proportion of 34,000 for England, 10,000 for Ireland, and 6,000 for Scotland. This, it was calcu- lated, would raise' the regular troops in Great Britain to 112,000 men, exclusive of the troops in the colonies. On the 18th July another measure for the public defence was brought before the House of Commons. It was named the Military Service Bill, and was introduced by Mr. York. The object was to bring into form and shape the great national movement now in progress — the volunteers. With this view the Bill gave powers for the enrolment and embodying of all men between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five capable of serving, and for their being exercised and drilled. These were to be divided into regiments according to their several ages and professions. All persons, however, were to be exempt from this conscription who were members of a volunteer corps approved by his Majesty. Such was the general zeal and enthusiasm of the country that in a few weeks 300,000 men were enrolled, armed, and disciplined in the different parts of the kingdom, and the compulsory conscriptions fell to the ground. Nor with regard to the land forces only were prepara- tions made on a gigantic scale. Fifty thousand seamen, including 12,000 marines, had been voted in the first instance for the service of the year, then 10,000 additional were granted when it became probable that y2 fl I. If I i 324 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON, 325 war would ensue, and when war actually broke out 40,000 more were added. Immense activity was shown in the fitting out of adequate fleets for all the important naval stations, although the dilapidated state of the navy in consequence of the economy which was instituted after the peace of Amiens rendered it a matter of consider- able difficulty. Seventy-five ships of the line and 270 frigates and smaller vessels were put in commission. The harbours of France and Holland were closely blockaded. Nelson rode with a squadron in the Mediterranean, and except where the small craft were stealing round the headlands of the coast of France towards Boulogne, the tricolor flag disappeared from the ocean. Colonel Crawford brought forward in the House of Commons on a subsequent day a motion for a more ex- tensive measure of national defence, and Mr. Pitt spoke in approbation of the idea. Colonel Crawford dwelt strongly on the great danger of the capital and the principal depots for naval and military sources being wholly unfortified, and mentioned with truth and justice that, under these circumstances, the loss of a single battle might draw after it the surrender of the metropolis and chief arsenals of the kingdom, the effect of which both in a political and military point of view would be most disastrous. Mr. Pitt supported Crawford, and declared himself as clearly in favour of defensive works for London. He said, '' We are told that we ought not to fortify London because our ancestors did not fortify it. Why, sir, that is no argument, unless we can show you that our ancestors were in the same situation as we are. We might as well be told that because our ancestors fought with arrows and lances we ought to use them now, and that we ought to consider shields and corselets as aflbrding a secure defence against musketry and artillery. If the fortification of the capital can add to the security of the country, I think it ought to be done. If by the erection of works such as I am recommend- ing you can delay the progress of the enemy for three days, these may make the difterence between the safety and the destruction of the capital. It will not, I admit, make a difierence between the conquest and independence of the country, for that will not depend upon one nor upon ten battles ; but it may make the difi*erence between the loss of thousands of lives, with misery, havoc, and desolation, spread over the country, on one hand, or on the other of frustrating the efibrts, of confounding the exertions, and of chastising the insolence of the enemy." On the close of the session Mr. Pitt himself did not disdain to take command of the Cinque Porte volunteers. By great activity and energy he had very soon on foot an excellent regiment, divided into three battalions, and numbering 3,000 men. He was constantly seen on horseback, and in full volunteer uniform as the colonel- in-chief, exercising and reviewing his men. He also obtained an ofier from the people of Deal of fifty gunboats, which he immediately communicated to the government, and it was accepted. Convinced of the great utility of such a defence, he obtained from some other places an off*er of fifty more ; and before he was regularly authorised to communicate this to the adminis- / . .--^* — ris*^ 326 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. tration he received a private letter from Lord Hobart, requesting him to get more boats if he could. He wrote to the Admiralty to beg that the second set might be fitted, to which he obtained an answer that other measures were being taken for obtaining gunboats, to be equipped, as well as found, by the ports which furnished them, and that the Admiralty had no carronades to spare. So powerless are even the greatest against bureaucracy. The arguments advanced in support of the fortification of London produced little practical result ; but there can be no doubt that they were well founded, and all must have had bitter cause to regret their neglect if Napoleon with 100,000 men had landed on the southern coast. Central fortifications round a metropolis are of unques- tionable importance in order to gain time for the dis- ciplined strength of the kingdom to assemble when it is suddenly assailed. Such was proved in 1870 and 1871, when two great armies advanced upon Paris ; and fortifications might have saved France in 1814, when the allies then concluded the war by the occupation of the French metropolis. The only result of the arguments in favour of the fortification of London seems to have been that some block-houses were erected to guard the entrance to the Thames. The construction of these works and the stupidity of the ministry with regard to further fortifications called forth the following lines, which are ascribed to Canning — " If blocks can from danger deliver, Two places are safe from the French ; The one is the mouth of the river, The other the Treasury Bench." XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 327 r The spirit of the volunteers w^as animated by a grand review on the 24th October, in Hyde Park, where there passed before the king sixty battalions of volunteers, amounting to 27,000 men, besides 1,500 cavalry, all equipped at their own expense, and in a remarkable state of efficiency. The total number of volunteers in the metropolis amounted to 46,000, and a second review, comprising other regiments from the same districts, was held on the 26th. It has been declared by a spectator that this was the finest sight he had ever seen. The king himself was in high health and excellent spirits. When the Temple companies marched past, his Majesty inquired of Erskine, who commanded them as their colonel, of what the corps was composed. '* They are all lawyers, sir," said Erskine. " What, what ? " exclaimed the king, *' all lawyers, all lawyers ! Call them the 'Devil's Own.'" And the "Devil's Own" they were called accordingly. Even at the present day this appel- lation has not wholly died away from the volunteers of the Inns of Court. On the 7th of December, 1803, the army estimates were brought forward for 1804. Mr. Wyndham began by a most ingenious and amusing speech in disparage- ment of the volunteers. While admitting their zeal, he said that the country could not rely on their exertions, and must place entire dependence on regular troops. Mr. Pitt spoke in the debate, and said that the country should not trust alone to the regular army, even aided by the militia. He said, " It appears to me extremely desirable that the discipline of the volunteers should be 328 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. improved ; that every battalion of volunteers should in addition to its own officers have the assistance of two officers of the service, one a field officer, and one an adjutant, to assist in the drill and discipline of the troops. These officers should be considered as belonging to the army, and should in every respect enjoy their rank, pay, and other advantages as if they were serving in the army." The regular military and naval forces kept on foot for this year were more considerable than that of the previous years. The land troops amounted, including 22,000 in India, to about 300,000 men, exclusive of 340,000 volunteers. The naval forces also were very considerably augmented, there being no less than 100,000, including 22,000 marines, voted for the services of the year, and 83 ships of the line, 390 frigates, and smaller vessels were in commission.^ Yet notwithstanding the regular forces at their com- mand it was evident that the government was not competent for administration, and small successes or advantages were gained during the first year of the war. Popular dissatisfaction increased ; the maladministration of the navy excited great discontent. The majority of the government in the Commons continually declined. On the 25th of April, on a question of the army of reserve, it was only thirty seven, and on the 30th of April Mr. Pitt was recalled to the direction of afiairs. ^ The force was distributed as follows : — In the British Isles, 129,039 ; colonies, 38,630 ; India, 22,897 ; recruiting, 533 ; militia in Great Britain, 109,947 : total, regular and militia, 301,046. Volunteers in Great Britain, 347,00C» ; total, 648,046 ; Irish volunteers, 70,000 ; military total, 718,046 ; navy, 100,000 : total in arms, 818,046. \ ^ "> >ii. ' 'P. I'l I ■^■'F-j V ^yjfi %■■!''%' I'l?^! *•"■' ■ 1 ^--TT^^-"" '■' "T*"«-^- XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON, 329 Till the early summer of 1804, in the contest with France, England had stood single-handed. But besides the return of Mr. Pitt to power other events which had recently occurred were at that time tending to a renewal of concert and alliance with the great European powers. Foremost amongst these events was the melancholy tragedy of the death of the Due d'Enghien, who was executed on the 21st of March at Vincennes, having been seized on neutral territory. Another circumstance of a different kind was the re-establishment of monarchy in France. On the 18th of May the First Consul was solemnly proclaimed sovereign of the French by the title of the Emperor Napoleon. This would appear to have added little interest to the war, as it was a matter that seemed at first solely of concern \o the French themselves. But it was not so. The fact of Napoleon being crowned emperor excited the jealousy and hostility of other sovereigns, and notably of Eussia. Immediately on the return of Pitt to office he anxiously applied himself to prepare and produce a measure for the public defence, the Additional Force Bill, as it was called. He gave notice of it for the 1st of June, but desiring still more time to mature its details, it was deferred till the 5th. On that day it was un- folded to the House of Commons. Pitt desired above all things to remove the difficulties which stood in the way of recruiting for the regular army, by putting an end to the competition which prevailed between those who recruited for a limited time and those who recruited for general service. Out of this competition a system of 330 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. enormous bounties had arisen. Yet he would nob be satisfied merely to do away with these obstacles. He desired to create a new additional force that should be a permanent foundation for a regular increase of the army. There was at present, he said, a deficiency of nearly 9,000 men in the number appointed to be raised under the Army of Eeserve Bill. It would be his first object to complete that number ; his next would be to reduce the militia, which had grown to 74,000, to its ancient estab- lishment of 40,000 for England, and 8,000 for Scotland. The remainder, and what was then deficient of the number voted, he wished to be transferred to the addi- tional force. This, he conceived, would lay the founda- tion for a permanent establishment, w^hich would yield 12,000 recruits annually to the regular army. The dis- advantage of the army of reserve at present was that its severe penalties caused such high bounties to be given for substitutes. He therefore wished to make the ballot less burdensome on individuals, and to encourage and in some cases oblige the parishes to find the number of men that was assigned as their portion. If the parishes failed, he washed to impose on them a certain and moderate fine, to go into the recruiting fund. The new force he would propose to be raised for five years, to be joined to the regular army in the w^ay of second battalions, and not to be liable to be called out for foreign service, but to act both as an auxiliary force to the army at home, and as a stock from which the army could be recruited. The plan, it w^as considered, would have the further effect of rendering the regular army far ! XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 331 more capable of becoming a disposable force for any distant enterprise. These measures were carried with finally only a majority of twenty-eight, and it was ex- pected by the opposition that Pitt would in consequence be obliged to vacate office. It shows from these measures, which Mr. Pitt was obliged to bring in in 1804, that the popular enthusiasm evoked by the threat of invasion in 1803 was abeady melting away, as it is now evident that it was necessary to have recourse to the ballot to supply not only the army of reserve, but the regular forces. During the autumn there was no relaxation for the prime minister. Under his master guidance active measures of defence were everywhere in progress. Martello towers, so called, according to Mr. Wyndham, from the place of that name in Corsica, rose at intervals along the southern coast. A defensive canal and dyke of great strength were thrown across from Hythe to Rye, cutting off Eomney Marsh from the interior of the country. This canal is still known as the Eoyal Military Canal. The chief direction of such measures was nomi- nally vested in Lord Chatham, but in truth devolved upon Mr. Pitt himself. The Prime Minister was con- stantly riding from Downing Street to Wimbledon, and from Wimbledon to Cox's Heath, to inspect military carriages, camps, and reviews. Nor was it out of place that he should do so, for although some statesmen, who should have been well informed, thought it ridiculous to expect the coming of Napoleon at that period, it was the very period at which Napoleon had absolutely determined 332 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. w [chap. to come. This fact is placed beyond question by the French archives. As M. Thiers says : " It has sometimes been doubted, but can be doubted no longer by any one who sees, as I have seen, several thousand letters which all combine to the same point.'' It may be added that several of the secret letters from Napoleon to Decres, minister of marine, and from Decres to Napoleon, are interspersed by M. Thiers in the course of his own most valuable narrative, and tend materially to the elucidation of this point. Napoleon had then fully decided upon his plan ; though, understanding thoroughly that secrecy must be one of the main conditions of success, it was imparted to as few persons as possible. On the 20th July, soon after the ceremony of the inauguration of the Legion of Honour, the emperor repaired to the headquarters of the grand army at Boulogne, and took on himself the chief command. He intended to attempt the invasion of Kent some day in the month of August, but he did not rely solely on the great army, or the vast flotilla there assembled, to support and assist the enterprise. He had found another project well worthy of his genius. It was of the greatest importance that when his troops began to cross the Channel they should be protected by a large French fleet, if possible superior to the British. At Brest there lay eighteen ships of the line under Admiral Ganteaume, but these were held blockaded by the English. Five ships of the line were at Eochefort under Admiral Villeneuve, but these also were blockaded by an English squadron. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 333 Toulon, from its greater distance, was less suspected, and from its geographical situation could be less easily watched. Here there were eight, and if necessary, would be ten ships of the line. It was intended that these, under the command of a skilful and intrepid seaman, Latouche Treville, to whom the high task was assigned by Napoleon, should sail out in the direction of Egypt, and spread abroad reports that the re-conquest of that country was to be attempted. As soon as the fleet were out of sight of land, however, it was to turn suddenly through the Straits of Gibraltar, appear first before Eochefort, then before Brest, give an opportunity to the squadron of Villeneuve and the flotilla of Ganteaume to come out by raising the blockade, and with all the vessels combined to sail straight to Boulogne. It seemed assured that for two or three days at least the British navy would not be able to oppose to these combined squadrons an equal force, and during those two or three days the descent might be thoroughly carried out. " Let us be masters of the Channel for six hours, and we are masters of the world," so wrote Napoleon himself in a secret letter to Latouche Treville on the 2nd July. Thus was the whole of this able plan decided and matured. On arrival at Boulogne, Napoleon saw no cause to alter the principal arrangements, but decided, on a view of the works, that a little further time was desirable for their completion, and postponed the date of the undertaking from August to September, and he anticipated that he should be able to return in triumph from England by November, when the Pope was to be in Paris to crown / J^ i\ 334 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. him emperor in the cathedral of Notre Dame.^ Napoleon also directed M. Denon, then the chief of the French mint, to strike a medal in commemoration of his expected conquest. The die was accordingly made ready to be used in London, but owing to the course of events was subsequently broken. All preparations being thus complete, even to the medal which was to commemorate the result, orders were sent by Napoleon to Admiral Latouche Treville to put to sea ; but Treville suddenly fell sick, and on the 20th August died. There was no second officer of the fleet in the secret of the intended expedition. No longer at Toulon was there either the head to plan or the hand to execute. After some hesitation Admiral Villeneuve was sent to the vacant post. But the favourable moment had passed. No sufficient time remained that summer to allow the new chief to master the details of his fleet or the minutiee of the difficult operations which he was required to undertake. Before the death of Treville at Toulon, on the 16th of August, the anniversary of the fete of the titular saint of the empire, a grand and imposing spectacle took place. Marshal Soult had received orders to assemble the whole of the troops in the camps of Boulogne and Montreuil. A force of nearly 80,000 men were massed on the slopes of a vast natural amphitheatre situated on 1 Does not this recall — " Go, and return in glory, To Clusium's royal dome, And hang o'er Nurcia^s altars ' The golden shields of Rome " 1 XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 335 the western face of the hill on which stands the tower of Caesar, lying immediately to the eastward of the harbour of Boulogne. In the centre was raised a throne mounted on a platform of earth, on the summit of which a flight of steps led up to the seat. The serried masses of soldiery were arranged in the manner of rays of a circle, the centre of which was the throne. The cavalry and artillery stationed beyond the infantry formed the exterior ring of the glittering host, while beyond the troops an innumerable multitude of spectators crowded the slope, in a dense mass of black, up to the very summit of the hill. On the right and left of the central mound were ranged the music of all the regiments of the army. Punctually at mid-day the emperor ascended the throne amidst the thunder of a salute from all the batteries of the army and the trumpet calls of all the trumpets. In front of him was the buckler of Francis I. and the helmet of the Chevalier Bayard, containing the crosses and ribbons which he was about to distribute. Eound about him were grouped his brothers and the chief officers of state, the marshals of the empire, the stafl'of the army, and all the generals and field officers of the troops. Above the heads of the soldiers waved in the bright sun- light the standards of the regiments, some of them new and yet unstained by war, others torn by shot and shell, and blackened with smoke and battle. In the ranks there were a few of the conquerors of Hohenlinden, though the greater majority of the troops which had served under Moreau had been drafted to St. Domingo, for fear of being inclined to support the republican / / 7 f mi i-S:'^m-.tW~- ■ •»< 336 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 337 proclivities of tlieir leaders. But the heroes of Marengo, the coming heroes of Austerlitz, were there, with many who had shared the Italian campaign, and already carried the standards that they so proudly reverenced, into the heart of Austria. The ceremony of taking the oath of the Legion of Honour concluded with a general review of the army, which marched past in front of the throne. But Napoleon was doomed to be disappointed even at the hour of this magnificence. It had been arranged as a part of the spectacle that a naval display should take place at the same time. When the troops had defiled the eyes of the Emperor and minister of marine anxiously gazed towards the headlands round which the vanguard of the flotilla was intended to appear. About four o'clock the leading vessels came in view, but at the same moment a violent tempest arose ; the wind blew with terrible force, and several of the vessels, in the hands of unskilled seamen, were stranded on the shore. This unfortunate accident, though of little impoi-tance to the operations of the war, was excessively mortifying to Napoleon, the more so as it occurred not only beneath the eyes of his own army, but also of the crews of the English cruisers, who were hovering in front of Boulogne, and were much amused by the catastrophe. While the French army was being massed on the shores of the Channel these cruisers had not been inactive. In May Sir Sidney Smith made a dash before Ostend, with the object of preventing the juncture of a small part of the hostile flotilla from Flushing. In July Captain Owen, of the Immortality frigate, attacked some of the boats in front of Boulogne ; and in August at Havre, Captain Oliver of the Melpomene, made a similar attempt, but these officers, in the face of the bristling batteries which guarded vessels of light draught, were able to effect but little damage to the enemy. On the 16th of August the brilliant pageant was enacted at Boulogne. On the 20th Latouche Treville died at Toulon. The expedition had to be deferred for the present, but the emperor was not idle. Starting from his camp opposite the British shores, he traversed the coast of the Channel as far as Ostend, everywhere reviewing the troops, inspecting the harbours, stimulating the pre- parations, and communicating to all classes the energy and vigour of his own indefatigable spirit. From the shores of the Channel he proceeded to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he endeavoured by all means to revive the recol- lections of the empire of Charlemagne, and thence to Mayence, where he matured the design that he had already contemplated for a confederation of the Ehine under the protection of France, which would extend the power of the empire into the heart of Germany. Here also he conceived the plan of the great combination to elude the British fleets by concentrating an overwhelm- ing force in the Channel, which so nearly proved successful in the following year, and placed England and its sovereign in greater danger than the country had incurred since the expedition of 1744 was blown back to Dunkirk, or William the Conqueror had landed at Pevensey. After the emperor had departed from Boulogne, an VOL. II. 7 I I \ 338 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. enterprise from which much was expected was attempted against the French flotilla. At that port the British Admiralty had formed a high opinion of the effect Avhich would be produced with some vessels filled with com- bustibles and explosives, which were named catamarans. It was intended that these should be towed close under the enemy's gunboats, and there exploded in a certain time, according to the length of the match left burning in them. The experiment was considered of so great moment that Lord Keith with his whole squadron ap- peared off* the coast of France to arrange its execution and witness its success. On the 2nd October the attempt was made. About 150 of the French flotilla were lying outside the harbour of Boulogne. The catamarans were directed against them. Twelve in succession were sent forward. They slowly drifted down towards the enemy, and amidst the breathless expectation of the British fleet, exploded. Not the slightest mischief resulted to either the ships or batteries of the French, except the loss, which was afterwards acknowledged, of twenty-five men killed and wounded. This was the sole result of ^an experiment on which the government and public in England had been taught to build, and had built, the most exorbitant hopes. A few days after this abortive attempt had been made to blow up the flotilla that threatened England with invasion, another incident occurred on the sea which added to the enemy's force another fleet to aid in the invasion of our country. During the autumn of this year Charles IV. King of Spain and the Indies, or perhaps, XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 339 more properly, Godoy, Prince of the Peace, w^ho ruled in his name, became from a secret and unavowed an open and declared enemy. For more than a year the Spanish government had been wholly subservient to the ruler of the French, and by a convention in October, 1803, the extra force which Spain by the treaty of San Ildefonso, that had been concluded in 1796, was bound to furnish to the French government, was commuted into a subsidy to the amount of 2,880,000Z. yearly. The large amount of this subsidy and the hostile nature of this treaty wa^ a matter of considerable jealousy to the British govern- ment, since it evidently furnished money, the sinews of war, to France. The money also was directly applied to the equipment of the armaments and the gunboats intended for the invasion. But it was well known in England that the Spanish Cabinet in paying this tribute were truly constrained by necessity, and England abstained from any measure of retaliation. Still in February, 1804, Mr. Frere, the British minister at Madrid, according to his instructions, delivered a note, stating that so long as the Spaniards continued in a position of merely nominal neutrality, any naval armament in their ports must be considered as imme- diately terminating the forbearance of England. Thus matters endured for more than six months, but in the following September Admiral Cochrane, who was posted with his cruisers off" the coast of Gallicia, reported home that orders had been given by the Cabinet of Madrid to fit out immediately at Ferrol four ships of the line and two smaller vessels. His despatch also z 2 340 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON, 341 stated that similar orders had been received at Carthagena and at Cadiz. At this time a French naval force of four ships of the line was lying at Ferrol, and several detach- ments of French troops, amounting in all to about 1,500 men, had marched from Bayonne to Ferrol, apparently to be embarked upon them. Information also came that all the vessels which were thus to 1)e fitted out were to be assembled at Ferrol, and that the concentration would be effected within a month ; that though the ships were said to be bound for America, they were victualled for three months only, and that the Spanish government was merely awaiting the arrival of the treasure frigates from the western hemisphere to abandon further conceal- ment and openly avow hostile intentions against England. The English Minister of Foreign Affairs had directed the ambassador at Madrid to use the strongest language to the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs. " You will state to M. de Cevallos that it is impossible to consider this proceeding, unaccompanied as it has been by any previous explanation whatever, in any other light than as a menace directly hostile. It imposes upon his Majesty the duty of taking without delay every measure of pre- caution, and particularly of giving orders to his admiral off the port of Ferrol to prevent any of the Spanish ships of w^ar from sailing from that port, or any additional ships of war from entering into it. . . . His Majesty cannot allow Spain to enjoy all the advantages of neutrality and at the same time to carry on against him unavowed war by assisting his enemies with pecuniary succour, to which no limit is assigned, and by obliging him at the same time to divert a part of his naval force from acting: aofainst those enemies in order to watch the armaments carried on in ports professing to be neutral." ^ The answers returned by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs were, as was expected, thoroughly unsatisfactory. Mr. Frere demanded his passports, which were forwarded to him on the 7th of November, but the English government had in the meantime con- sidered itself justified in acting on the warning which had already been given to the Court of Madrid by Mr. Frere in the preceding February. Orders were sent to the British cruisers to stop the treasure-ships laden with dollars from the Eio de la Plata, which were then on their w^ayfrom America to Spain. Under these instructions four English frigates, on the 5th of October, closed with as many of the Spaniards laden with treasure. The officer in command of the English vessels. Captain Moore, informed the Spanish commander that he had orders to detain his vessels, and earnestly intreated that this might be done without bloodshed. The Spanish officer, not unnaturally, declined to submit in this way. An engagement took place, and in less than ten minutes one of the Spanish ships blew up with a terrible explosion. The result, as might be expected, was, in the course of December, a declaration of war against England by the Court of Spain. On the 2nd December Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned in solemn state by the Pope at Notre Dame as Emperor of the French. On the news of the Pope's 1 Despatch from Lord Harrowby to Mr. Frere, September 29th, 1804. 342 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 343 journey to Paris it was clear to everybody that the French descent was for a time no longer imminent. The expectation of battles by land or sea pa-ssed away, popular enthusiasm became evanescent, laxity of discipline and of energy became manifest amongst the volunteers, and the nation began to sink into that state of lassitude and indiflference w^hich is so character- istic of our countrymen with regard to military prepara- tion, except at the very moment when a terror of an imminent danger forces them to devote to defence some of the energy and vigour which is a marked trait of our race in all other circumstances of life. At the beginning of 1805 there came a letter from the Emperor Napoleon to King George III. This com- munication expressed, though in very general terms, a strong desire for peace. But details and particulars were so much needed that Mr. Pitt and his colleae^ues in the cabinet considered that the overture was designed to conciliate popular opinion much more than to lead to practical negotiations. An answer was drawn up and forwarded, not from the king to the emperor, but from the English Minister of Foreign Affairs to M. De Talleyrand, who filled the similar post in Paris. It stated that the king had most sincerely the object of peace at heart, but that he must, in concluding it, act in concert with certain powers on the Continent, and espe- cially with the Emperor of Eussia. On the 15th January, 1805, the sessipn of the British Parliament was opened by the king in person. The royal speech announced the war with Spain, and promised some explanatory papers. It also communicated the recent advance made by the French government, and the nature of the answer which had been returned. While calling for measures to prose- cute the war with vigour, the king congratulated his parliament on the many proofs of the internal wealth and prosperity of the country. It also stated that the Emperor of Eussia had given the strongest proof of the wise and dignified sentiments with which he was ani- mated, and the warm interest which he took in the safety and independence of Europe. It was not without reason that this allusion was made to Eussia. Mr. Pitt, wisely seeing that the only chance which England had of ultimately beating back all danger of the French invasion, and of securing a peace which should guarantee the safety of our shores, was in an offensive attack against the territories of the enemy, had throughout the whole course of this winter and spring been^ busily engaged in diplomatic negotiations. It was apparent to him that England at the present time, unprovided with a large military force, could not alone invade France with any prospect of a successful termina- tion of a campaign by the capture of Paris ; nor that she would be able to inflict such serious damage on French territory as to force the energetic emperor to conclude, worsted, a treaty of peace. It was Pitt's object to look round for allies, united with whom an advance might be made against the enemy, which would divert his intention from the English shores, and cause him to withdraw the forces united for offensive action to cover his own country defensively. The object of the minister 344 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. ;■■.! % : I was, that England should no longer stand alone as she had during the last few years. The difierences which in the course of the past year had arisen between the Courts of Paris and St. Petersburg were highly fiwourable to his plans. The Emperor Alexander, irritated with the Emperor Napoleon, began to appreciate the English character, and seek concert with the English arms. A treaty between Eussia and England was concluded in April, 1805, for offensive and defensive measures. The objects of the alliance were that Eussia and England should endeavour to form a general coalition of the powers of Europe, and to collect upon the Continent a force of 500,000 effective men for operations against France. The objects of these operations should be the evacuation of the Hanoverian territory and all northern Germany by French troops, the independence of Holland and Switzerland, the re-establishment of the King of Sardinia m Piedmont, with an increase of territory, the complete evacuation of Italy and of the Island of Elba, and the formation of an order of things in Europe which should present a solid barrier against future French annexa- tions. To this compact the accession of Austria was afterwards obtained, and it was through the operation of this treaty that the force that was threatening England on the cliffs of Boulogne -was drawn away to the valley of the Danube. In the early part of the year 1805 Napoleon went to Italy, and was crowned with the Iron Crown of Charle- magne, in the Cathedral of Milan, as King of Italy. The assumption of this title gave great offence and alarm to XIX.] ATTEMPTED INFASION BY NAPOLEON. 345 Austria. It seemed to involve a claim to the Venetian Provinces, which she had only lately acquired by the treaty of Campo Formio. But greater jealousy and greater alarm soon sprang from other acts of Napoleon at nearly the same time. The one was the annexation of the Eepublic of Genoa to France ; the other was the grant of Lucca as a fief to one of his sisters, the Princess Eliza Baciocchi. The Emperor Francis of Germany signified his accession to the treaty between Eussia and Austria on the 9th August. In the same month also Sweden acceded to and concluded a similar convention with the English government. Thus was formed, under the guidance of Mr. Pitt, a coalition against France, to cover, indirectly, England from French invasion. In the meantime Napoleon, having accomplished his objects beyond the Alps with his usual energy, flew back from Italv. He left Turin on the evenino: of the 8th July, reached Fontainebleau on the morning of the 11th, and on the 3rd August was once more at his camp at Boulogne, surveying the preparations for the descent, and intent on the accomplishment of the enterprise. The day after his arrival he wrote to Decres in nearly the same language as he had employed the year before. *' The English do not know what is hanging over their heads ; if we can be but masters of the passage for twelve hours VAngleferre a vecu — England will have ceased to he,'' The most minute movements of the navies of France, Spain, and Holland, which were all to co- operate in the expedition, as well as of the vast army 346 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIX.] ATTEMI'TED INVASION BY NAPOLEON, 347 destined for his immediate command, were regulated by his personal activity. Napoleon was well aware that if England was destroyed the Continental coalition would fall to pieces, as it was only sustained by English subsidies, and that a blow struck on the banks of the Thames would much more effectually break up the league against him than the most brilliant success in the valley of the Danube, or even on the frontiers of Eussia. The army which the Emperor of the French had now assembled for the invasion was one of the most formid- able in point of numerical strength, and the most perfect in point of organisation, that had ever been brought together. The combatants mustered 114,000 men, accompanied by 432 pieces of ordnance and 14,654 horses. They were massed in the camps of St. Omer, Bruges, Montreuil, and Boulogne ; besides a detach- ment of 12,000 at the Texel and Helvoetsluyes, and a similar force at Brest, ready to embark in the vessels of Admiral Ganteaume. Thus England was threatened at this moment with an invasion by nearly 150,000 men in the highest state of discipline and equipment. The composition of the armament at Bouloo-ne and the amount of stores which were collected to accompany it are given by Dumas as follows :— Infantry ... Cavalry ... Artillerymen Waggoners Non-combatants Total Gunboats 76,798 11,G40 3,780 3,780 17,476 113,474 1,33.9 Transport vessels • • • • • ■ • «« • • • • 954 Which would carry 1 1 • • • • • • • 161,215 men. And horses • • • • • • • * • t • « 6,059 Guns mounted on armed vessels • • • • • • 3,500 Horses • • • • • r • • • • • • 7,394 Spare muskets . . . • •• • •• • • • • • • 32,837 Cartridges • • • • • • • • « • t t 3,000,000 Flints • • • • • • • • • • • » 1,268,400 Biscuits (rations) • • t • • t • • • • • • 1,434,800 Bottles of brandy • • • • • • • t • • • • 236,230 Intrenching tools • • • • • • • • • • • • 30,375 Saddles ... • • • • • • • • • • > • 10,560 Field-pieces • • « • • • • • • • • • 432 Bounds of ammunition • • • • • • • • t 86,400 Loads of hay • • • • • • • • • • • • 70,370 Loads of oats • • • • ■ • • ■ • • • • 70,370 Sheep • • t • • • « • t t • • 4,924 It is curious to notice by the above table what views the emperor must have had as to his landing in England. The amount of spare muskets would seem to imply that he expected to raise in the country a certain small force of adherents, while the quantity of saddles, to which pro- bably would be attached suits of harness, may lead us to suppose that he intended to seize many horses of the country for transport purposes ; while the loads of hay and of oats are calculated for about two days' rations for the horses which could be carried across in the boats in one journey. It is probable that the intention was to eflfect a landing on the shores of England, fortify the position with entrenchments as the base of operations, send back the boats for more troops, and push forward with the great bulk of the army immediately on London. At Boulogne provisions for the whole army for three months were collected. f 348 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. During its encampment on the shores of the Channel the organisation of the army of the emperor had been placed on a footing different from that which had as yet been employed in modern European warfare. At the commencement of the revolutionary wars the French army was formed in divisions, which generally mustered 15,000 or 18,000 combatants; and these, on the out- break of hostilities, were hurried under the first general ofiicer who could be attached to them into the field. It was found by experience that few generals were capable of directing with skill the strategical movements of such large bodies of troops ; while on the other hand, if the divisions were curtailed, there was a want of that unity in tactics which is requisite on the battle-field to ensure success. Napoleon adopted a system by which the advantages of both methods were embraced in his organisation. His army was divided in the first instance into corps composed of from 20,000 to 30,000 men each, and the direction of each was entrusted to a Marshal of the Empire. To each of these corps was allotted, in proportion to its numerical strength, a suitable comple- ment of field and heavy artillery, and two or three regiments of light cavalry, in order to perform the out- post duties of the corps. The heavy cavalry and dragoons were, however, not embodied with the infantry divisions, but were retained in separate divisions, and frequently were united in one corps and placed under the command of one general. This same organisation, slightly modified, has existed for some years in the XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 349 German army, and has been productive of the victories which have led to the resurrection of the German Empire under the head of the House of Hohenzollern, and the affiliation of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to the Empire. In each corps there were four or five divisions, various in strength, commanded by generals of division, who received their orders from the general of the corps. The troops in these divisions were always under the same officers. In this way the generals came to know their officers, and the officers their soldiers ; while a spirit of esprit de corps grew up, not only among the members of the same regiment, as in our service, but among those of the same division and corps. The camps in which the soldiers were lodged during their long stay on the shores of the Channel were ad- mirably organised, though Napoleon was far too careful of the mobility of his army to allow his troops to be encumbered with camp equipment. They were laid out in squares intersected by roads, and composed of huts constructed with the materials which were furnished from the neighbouring country. At Ostend the huts were formed of light wood and straw ; at Boulogne and Vimireux, of sharp stakes cut in the forest of Guenis, supported by masonry. The beds of the soldiers, raised two feet above the ground, were formed of straw, on which the camp blankets were laid. The utmost care was taken to provide for cleanliness in every particular. These field barracks were found to be extremely healthy even during the winter, on the cold and bleak shores of (M 350 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 351 the British Channel. But constant employment was the true secret, both of the good health and of the improved discipline of the soldiery. Neither officers nor soldiers were ever allowed to remain idle. When not actually engaged in drill or parade they were constantly employed in raising or strengthening the field-works on the different points of the coast, levelling embankments, draining marshes, or filling up hollows to form pleasant esplanades or parade grounds in front of their camps. There was much emulation between the different corps and divisions in the performance of these works of utility. Labours of pure ornament were also undertaken, gardens were formed, flowers were cultivated, and in the vicinity of a stirring military life the aspect of nature was successfully improved. Frequently the camps were amused and entertained by the spectacles of the assaults of the English cruisers on French vessels. While from the system of divisions and corps discipline was much more easily maintained, the habit of acting together in large masses was roused, and a high degree of precision in the performance of manoeuvres on a great scale, and the result was a facility of move- ment which had never been before attained in t}ie French service. It was here, too, that Napoleon organised the system which conduced so much to the subsequent success of the armies, of trusting to his subordinates the details of administration and of execution of strategical and tactical operations in his campaigns. Each marshal in command of a corps received general instructions as to the line of operations which he was to adopt and the end to which his efforts were to be directed. But he was left entirely master of the means by which these objects were to be attained. Napoleon was frequently extremely minute in his directions to his subordinates ; but he confined his directions more to making it clearly understood what his views and his objects were than endeavouring to interfere with the details, which should always be left to the discretion of lieutenants. The same system of confidence and of responsibility was estab- lished between the marshal of a corps and the general of his division. To all of these a certain discretionary power was granted in the execution of orders. Yet though Napoleon left to each officer discretion and responsibility, he maintained a most vigilant superin- tendence over all departments of the army. He did not interfere in the details of administration, and above all of organisation, but he was most particular and severe as to the result. Nothing escaped his vigilance, and if any defect was anywhere apparent, an immediate and stern reprimand from Berthier informed the officer to blame that the attention of the emperor had been directed to his shortcomings. His attention was habitually turned to the subsistence of his troops. This branch of the service came under his particular care, and necessarily so. The forces which he led into battle were larger than those to which any system of supply had anywhere hitherto been accus- tomed. The rapidity with which he moved inaugurated a new system of warfare. There was no question now t i p \f 352 INVASIONS OF ENGLdND. [chap. XIX.] JTTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 353 as to the foundation of magazines. Corps had to live on the country, and the whole system of regulation of supply had consequently to be established on a new basis. The arrangements connected with the transport vessels were as perfect as those for the land forces. The fleet was divided into as many sub-divisions as there were sub-divisions in the army. All the stores, baggage, and artillery were embarked, so that nothing remained but for the men to step on board. So perfect were the arrangements that not only every division of the forces, but every regiment and every company had a sub- section of the fleet assigned to it. The point of embarkation and the vessel in which it was to take place was told off to every man and horse in the armament. Everv soldier down to the smallest drummer knew at what point of the coast he was to step on board, what vessel was to contain him, and what station he himself was to occupy on the deck. From constant practice and unceasing exercise the troops had arrived at such precision in this branch of duty, which is one of the most difficult for soldiers to acquire, that it was found by experiment that a corps of 25,000 men drawn up on the beach opposite the vessels told off to them could be completely embarked in the short space of ten minutes. Had we not the authority of two such excellent military critics as Ney and Dumas for this assertion it would appear incredible. No one can doubt that the Prussian staff have brought the science of military •organisation almost to perfection. Yet during the late wars it was proved in the German service that it was possible to place within a railway train, which would appear to be a more easy operation than embarkation on board ships, not more than 1,000 men per hour from a single railway station. The gunboats and armed forces which lay at Boulogne were not intended to force a way across the Channel in the teeth of the British navy, but merely to provide transports for the conveyance of troops, with their fire to cover the landing of the soldiers, to drive away the few coastguard vessels which might possibly be found near the English beach, and especially to distract the attention of the enemy from the quarter whence the force really intended to cover the design was ex- pected to arrive. To carry 100,000 men in safety from the shores of France to the coast of Kent would have been a most hazardous attempt so long as the British fleet swept backwards and forwards over the waters of the Channel. Napoleon accordingly determined not to embark his troops till, by a concentration of his naval forces in the Channel and by the command of the sea, he should acquire time at least for an uninterrupted passage. As the action of the British government in the rupture of the peace of Amiens did not allow him time to develop his infant navy to such a strength as to cope with the British fleet on superior terms, and to drive it by weight of ordnance into its harbours, he resorted to stratagem. It Avas determined to decoy our fleet to distant parts of the world, and the stratagem then conceived by the emperor would probably have VOL. U. A A 1 f 354 'INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. been successfully carried out had its execution been entrusted to an admiral with stronger nerves than those which Villeneuve possessed. Not one person in the British dominions, except the far-seeing Admiral CoUing- wood, penetrated the real design, which was that the English fleet should be decoyed to the West Indies by way of covering our colonial possessions from an attack by the enemy's squadron, and that the latter should return immediately to Europe and cover the landing while the vessels of England were still far away on the Atlantic. Napoleon himself thus gives an account of his intention : — '* What was my design in the creation of the flotilla at Boulogne ? I wished to assemble forty or fifty ships of the line in the harbour of Martinique by operations combined in the harbours of Toulon, Cadiz, Ferrol, and Brest, to bring them suddenly back to Boulogne, to find myself in that way during fifteen days the master of the sea, to have 150,000 men encamped on the coast, 3,000 or 4,000 vessels in the flotilla, and to set sail the moment that the signal was given of the arrival of the combined fleet. That project has failed. If Admiral Villeneuve, instead of entering into the harbour of Ferrol, had contented himself with joining the Spanish squadron and instantly made sail for Brest and joined Admiral Ganteaume, my army would have embarked, and it was all over with England. '' To succeed in this object it was necessary to assemble 150,000 men at Boulogne, to have there 4,000 transports and immense material to embark all these, and neverthe- less to prevent the enemy from divining my project. It XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 355 appeared scarcely possible to do so. If I had succeeded it would have been by doing the converse of what might have been expected. If fifty ships of the line were to assemble to cover the design upon England, nothing but transport vessels were required in the harbours continually, and all that assembly of gunboats, floating batteries, and armed vessels was totally useless. Had I assembled together three or four thousand unarmed transports no doubt the enemy would have perceived that I awaited the arrival of my fleets to attempt the passage ; but by constructing praams and gunboats I appeared to oppose cannon to cannon, and the enemy was in that manner deceived. They conceived that I intended to attempt the passage by main force by means of my flotilla : they never penetrated my real design, and when, from the movement of my squadrons, my project was revealed, the utmost consternation prevailed in the councils of London, and all men of sense in England confessed that England had never been so near its ruin." To accomplish this strategy Napoleon desired that Villeneuve at Toulon and Missiessy at Rochefort should put to sea at the first favourable opportunity. His ide^ was that they should sail straight to the West Indies. Thither he hoped that they might attract a large pro- portion of the English fleet, and thence they might suddenly return, forming one armada, and ride superior to the English squadron opposite Brest. The supreme command was vested in Villeneuve, an officer of courage, fidelity and energy, but who was rather inclined to shrink from great responsibility. A A 2 356 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 357 The English government, as soon as the Spanish war broke out, lost no time in taking measures to meet the new enemy that had been thrown into the hostile ranks. Five ships of the line under Sir John Orde commenced the blockade of Cadiz. Carthagena also was watched, and a fleet was stationed in front of Ferrol. These squadrons, however, were hardly equal to the enemy's strength in the harbours before which they were cruising, and were wholly unfit to prevent the juncture of these forces with any superior hostile fleet which might approach. Thus if one division of the combined fleets was able to get to sea, it might raise the blockade of all of the harbours and release the combined armament for the projected operations in the Channel. Already in January orders had been sent for the Eochefort and Toulon squadrons to put to sea. Early in that month the former of these, under the command of Admiral Missiessy, favoured by a storm, managed to get out of Eochefort, and sailed straight for the West Indies. It arrived in western w^aters without falling in with any English vessels. The Eochefort fleet arrived at Martinique on the 5th of February, and having landed the troops and ammunition which were destined for that island, sailed for Dominica, St. Kitt's, and Nevis. In the latter island contributions were levied, and some valuable merchandise burnt. The arrival of Admiral Cochrane in the West Indies forced Missiessy back to Europe, and he reached Eochefort in safety in the beginning of April, and there awaited another combination of the French and Spanish squadrons. This expedition to the West Indies created great alarm in England. It showed how exposed our colonial possessions were to sudden onslaughts from the enemy's fleets, and caused great anxiety among our naval commanders to pursue any hostile vessels which might break the blockade in order to prevent their inflicting damage on our outlying dependencies. On the 30th March, Villeneuve seized the opportunity of sailing from Toulon with eleven ships of the line. Oflf Cadiz he effected his junction with the Spanish Admiral Guavina, and on the 14th May cast anchor at Martinique with eighteen ships of the line and ten frigates, which had on board 10,000 veteran troops. At the same time the Brest squadron under Admiral Ganteaume, consisting of twenty-one ships of the line, put to sea and remained three days off" the Isle of Ushant : but retired to their harbours on the approach of Admiral Cornwallis with the Channel fleet, which only amounted to eighteen vessels. When Villeneuve broke out of Toulon Nelson w-as commanding in the Mediterranean. He had been forced from his position in front of Toulon, but had left some outlying vessels to give him information as to the move- ments of the enemy, and on his return towards the coast of France, was met by the Phcebe with the intelli- gence that Villeneuve was putting to sea, and was steering for the coast of Africa. The British fleet immediately made sail for Palermo, under the idea that the French were about to descend on Egypt, but by the 11th, Nelson felt certain from the information brought him by his cruisers that the French admiral 358 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. had not taken that direction. He turned about and bore up with the utmost difficulty against strong westerly winds to Gibraltar, in the utmost anxiety lest before he could overtake the enemy they might make an attack upon Ireland. Notwithstanding every exer- tion, Nelson, however, was unable to reach the Straits of Gibraltar before the 1 3th of February with ten ships, and even then the wind was so adverse that he could not pass through, and was compelled to anchor on the Barbary coast for five days. At length he received certain information that the combined fleet had made for the West Indies, and amounted to eighteen sail of the line and ten frigates. He had with him only ten sail of the line and three frigates, his ships had been for nearly two years at sea, and the crews were weary and fatigued ; but he did not an instant hesitate what course to adopt, and immediately made signal to set every stitch of canvas and bear away to the West Indies. The combined fleet had about thirty days the start of Nelson, but he calculated from his superior activity and seamanship upon gaining ten days upon them during the passage of the Atlantic. In fact Villeneuve reached Martinique on the 14th May, while Nelson arrived at Barbadoes on the 4 th June, having in the mean- time been joined by Admiral Cochrane with two more ships. The information of the English admiral being in those seas determined Villeneuve to return, and on the 9th of June he was already in full sail back to Europe. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 359 Nelson on his part, with his twelve ships, was most eager to close with Villeneuve, but, misled by wrong intelligence, he sought the enemy at Tobago instead of Port Royal. Finding this information was false, on the 13th June, with his own ten and only one of Cochrane's ships, he set sail for Europe, and on the 19th July anchored at Gibraltar. Next day he says, "I went on shore for the first time since June 16, 1803." Thus he had been over two years on board the Victory without having touched land. He, however, did not rest at Gibraltar; there he found his old friend Admiral CoUingwood, with whom be consulted. The two naval commanders believed that the invasion of Ireland might be the ultimate object of the French and Spanish fleet. Accordingly Nelson set ofi" again under full sail to protect the Irish coast. Finding that the French vessels had not been seen or heard of in that direction, without an hour's loss of time he steered into the British Channel, where he hoped to find them. On the 15th August he joined the fleet of Admiral Cornwallis ofi" Ushant. In this pursuit of Villeneuve to and from the West Indies, Nelson showed skill in seamanship such as seldom has been equalled, and never surpassed. French writers, with honourable candour, have expressed this opinion in terms of even higher commendation of their gallant enemy than has even Mr. Southey, his own biographer. The real purpose of Villeneuve was in the first place to set free the squadron at Ferrol. On his way to do so, off Cape Finisterre, he fell in with the fleet of Sir 360 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. Robert Calder, and on the 22nd July there ensued an action between them. Calder had with him but fifteen line-of-battle ships to face the twenty vessels which sailed with Villeneuve. Yet ere evening fell two of the Spaniards had struck their flags. Next morning, and for some time longer, the two fleets hovered near each other, and at last bore away in different directions, as though by mutual consent. For this both admirals were severely censured. The French officers complained that Villeneuve did not renew the battle when his superior force gave well-grounded hopes of victory. The English officers complained that Calder did not further pursue the advantage which he had already won. At the time public feeling was strongly aroused against Calder. He was tried by court-martial, and was found guilty, but only of an error in judgment. It was due to the foresight of Nelson that this action of Calder's, which at least detained Admiral Villeneuve, was fought. When Villeneuve quitted the West Indies he returned to Europe as rapidly as adverse winds would permit. Napoleon was in the greatest anxiety for his return. He counted the days and hours till some intelligence should arrive of the approach of the great armament from the West Indies, which should be the signal for the completion of his profound and great combinations. Nelson, on hearing of the departure of the French, despatched from Antigua on the 13th of June some fast sailing vessels. One of these, making a more rapid passage than the line-of-battle ships, out- stripped the combined fleet, and by the celerity of its XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON 361 sailing saved England. The Courieux brig arrived in the Channel on the 9th July, having made the passage from Antigua in twenty-five days. Within twelve hours the Admiralty despatched orders to the admiral who com- manded the squadron before Eochefort to raise the blockade of that harbour, join Sir Robert Calder off Ferrol, and cruise with their united force off* Cape Finisterre, with the view of intercepting the allied squadron on its passage towards Brest. The orders reached the vessels before Eochefort on the 13th July; on the 15th they joined Calder in front of Ferrol, and together they sailed out to sea with fifteen line-of- battle ships to take up their appointed stations, and intercept the enemy. Hardly had this squadron reached the place assigned for it, about sixty leagues west of Cape Finisterre, when the combined fleet of France and Spain hove in sight, with twenty line-of-battle ships, a fifty-gun ship, and seven frigates. Though Calder had by his action checked Villeneuve, it had been necessary, in order to place the force off" Cape Finisterre to intercept him, thus to raise the blockade of Eochefort and of Ferrol. Under these circumstances it can hardly be seen how Calder could have been expected to renew the hazard of an engage- ment on the following day with Villeneuve, as at any time the two squadrons realeased from these ports, might have come upon his rear while engaged in action with Villeneuve in front. It would appear he only acted with due discretion in falling back on the Channel fleet off Brest, concentrating there the whole force of the 362 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. English na^7' in those seas, maintaining the blockade of Brest, and preventing the junction of Admiral Gant- eaume with Villeneuve and the squadron of Ferrol and Rochefort. After the engagement with Calder Villeneuve, instead of pushing boldly forward, touched at Vigo, and then, after some days spent in refitting and making repairs, sailed for Corunna and Ferrol. The Spanish line of battle-ships ready to join him at the latter port increased his total number to twenty-nine. He found there renewed orders from Napoleon to sail straight to Brest to break the blockade of the port by an action with Cornwallis, and then to proceed into the Channel in con- junction with Ganteaume. The personal bravery of Villeneuve urged him to this attempt, but his fear of responsibility deterred him. He expected to find Nelson already in combination either with Cornwallis or with Calder, and he knew that such a combination would be sufficient to overpower his fleet. In this it happened that, nervous as to responsibility, he trusted too little to the favour of fortune. On the 22nd July the action with Calder was fought off Cape Finisterre. On the 1 9th of that month Nelson arrived at Gibraltar, ignorant of the movements of his adversary. Had Villeneuve pushed boldly forward to Brest he would have had time to have raised the blockade of Brest and penetrate up the Channel, so as to permit the passage of the army from Boulogne. As it was, Villeneuve passed some days in great uncertainty and anguish of mind. When he had formed his resolution he did no more than hint it in private XTX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 363 letters to Decres, the Minister of Marine. He concealed it even from General Lauriston, and it was not until he had again put to sea from Ferrol that he announced the course which he meant to pursue. He had decided that his force was inadequate to the enterprise upon Brest, and therefore he held it to be his duty to steer in the very opposite direction and proceed to Cadiz, where he might expect to be reinforced by several ships of the line. It was on the 21st August, the day on which the emperor expected Villeneuve at Brest, that he arrived at Cadiz. When Napoleon arrived at Boulogne at the beginning of August he was in a state of great suspense and most eager expectation as to the proceedings of his fleet. For hours and hours together he would stand on the sea- shore straining his eyes over the expanse of the water and watching for a sail to arrive in the distant horizon. Staff'-officers stationed, telescope in hand, along the cliffs had orders to bring him the earliest information of anything they could discern. His troops at the various small ports around Boulogne were prepared and ready to embark at a moment's notice. Not a moment was to be lost when the fleets of Ville- neuve and Ganteaume should appear. His anxiety was the greater at this moment since the designs of Austria and Russia, which had been encouraged and fostered by Mr. Pitt, were no secret to him. Austria, indeed, had all but openly declared herself, and her army was already in movement to cross the frontier stream of the Inn. Still Napoleon trusted that he should have time 364 INVJSTONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. to strike a quick, decisive, and deadly blow on England before he was called away from the shores of the Channel to wage a continental war in Germany. Under these circumstances every day and every hour became of the most pressing and paramount importance. It was under such circumstances that the tidings reached him that his fleet had left Ferrol, but instead of making for Brest was steering back to Cadiz. The scene which ensued has been described by Count Daru, his private secretary and the eminent historian of Venice : — " Daru found him transported with rage, walking up and down the room with hurried steps, and only breaking the stern silence by broken exclamations. ' What a navy ! ' * What sacrifice for nothing ! ' ' What an admiral ! ' All hope is gone. Villeneuve, instead of entering the Channel, is taking refuge at Cadiz. It is all over ; he will be blockaded there. Daru, sit down and write.'' Thus the profound calculations of Napoleon for the invasion of this country were bafiled and thwarted by the incompetency and moral timidity of an admiral. Fortu- nately for England, at the same time the ofi'ensive coalition which the skill and energy of Mr. Pitt had set in motion began to bear fruit. The Austrians were pressing forward tow-ards the frontier of the Inn. The Eussians w^ere arming, and were ready to move up in support in their rear. It was necessary for Napoleon to relinquish the scheme of his descent on our country, and take some energetic measures against armies which threatened to invade his own territories. Had it not been for this coalition and for the advance XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON. 365 of the Austrians at this time, England might have for years been threatened with invasion. The expedition of Villeneuve or some similar stratagem might have been repeated time after time, and it is probable that finally the mental capacity of the emperor would have arranged some combination by which for a sufiicient time the Channel should have been in his power to allow the passage of his transports. It was this retreat of Villeneuve to Cadiz which suspended operations against England and ruined the project of invasion— the best conceived project, as Napoleon said, and the surest that he ever in his life had formed. On the very day that news was received at Boulogne of the retreat of Villeneuve to Cadiz, Daru, by the orders of the emperor, wrote down, under his dictation, and for several hours transcribed a series of detailed instructions to carry out an entirely new plan of war on the Continent. Although the emperor could no longer deal his blow against England, he determined to strike at the Austrian armies before the Russians were prepared to join them in the field. With this view immediate orders were given, and the several divisions of the French army were withdrawn as silently as possible from th^ coast of the Channel, and moved by rapid marches to difi-erent points on the Rhine. The artillery and stores were sent forward to Strasburg and Mayence. Possibly it was intended that after the campaign in Central Europe had been concluded another attempt should be made on the shores of our island ; but all possibility of such an invasion was for many years ^ 11 m Cll 866 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. \ ■ J \ \ %': \ t* destroyed by the energy and ability of Nelson. He arrived at Portsmouth from Gibraltar on the 17th of August, and there heard of Calder's action of the 22nd of July, and the retirement of Villeneuve. For one or two weeks he resided at his country house at Mertoii in Surrey, but he was earnestly intent to close with the French fleet now lying at Cadiz, which he had watched or chased without cessation for the last two years. Accordingly he wrote to Lord Barham, the head of the Admiralty, offering to undertake the com- mand of the great fleet which was now being prepared to go out to meet and if possible engage the enemy ofl" Cadiz. The off'er so nobly made was most gladly accepted. At the interview which subsequently took place Lord Barham desired him to choose his own officers. Many an admiral might on such an occasion have thought kindly of his relatives or his hangers-on, but the answer of Lord Nelson was dictated by a nobler spirit, " Choose yourself, my lord,'' he said ; '*the same spirit actuates the whole profession: you cannot choose wrong." On the 14th of September Nelson embarked at Ports- mouth in his flag-ship, the world-renowned Victoini, and on the 21st of the same month arrived off Cadiz with a great fleet, intent upon the destruction of the French and Spanish squadrons that were there assembled. The defensive measures of the English ministry for England were at this time in a favourable state. On the 26th of September Napoleon was at Strasburg, intent on resisting the advances of the Austriaus. On XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASION BY NAPOLEON, 367 i the 29th of September Nelson was ofi* Cadiz intent on destroying the fleet to which the French Emperor was forced to trust for the passage of the Channel. In Central Europe matters went badly. On the 2nd of November a rumour reached London that the great bulk of the Austrian army had capitulated at Ulm. It was not at first believed by the ministry, but on the following day, Sunday, the 3rd, a Dutch news- paper came to hand in which the account of the capitulation was inserted at full length. Gloom settled down upon England. It was expected that the warlike genius of Napoleon would dash away the Austrian forces, fall upon the Eussians single- handed, and smite them also to the earth. For four days men in London were anxious and gloomy; but on the 7th of November men were shaking each other by the hand and congratulating themselves on safety from invasion, although a deep feeling of sadness mingled with their joy. Great news had come that day from the fleet ; but the joy that it roused was clouded with grief for the fate of the hero to whom the victory was due. Nelson, who had been joyfully received by the fleet ofi" Cadiz, had recourse to a stratagem to induce the French admiral to come out and test the hazard of battle. He caused his fleet to keep out of sight of the harbour, leaving only a few vessels to look out, to signal the moment the enemy appeared. Villeneuve, angry and excited by the reproaches of his chief and the sarcasms of his officers, seized the bait, and, eager to i 368 INVJSIONS OF ENGLAND. [criAp. XIX.] ATTEMPTED INVASIONS BY NAPOLEON 369 \ \ \ > ) i restore his fame, sailed out into the open sea and accepted battle. On the 21st of October was fought the great action of Trafalgar, which destroyed the combined fleets of France and Spain, and established so firmly the naval supremacy of England during the remainder of the war that it was hopeless for Napoleon longer to meditate an invasion. And thus, amidst the thunders off the coast of Spain, the last great danger to which our country has been exposed passed away, while the last faint glimmers of life of the great seaman, who achieved our country's safety, flickered out. Much does our country owe to the exertions of Nelson. The great naval actions in the French Revolutionary war may be regarded as six. The First of June, which for the time warded off" the invasion that was then prepared by the mutilation of the French fleet ; St. Vincent, in which the Spanish fleet, which would have combined with the remains of the French fleet to cover an invasion, was swept from the sea; Camperdown, in which the Dutch fleet, that also would have been combined against us, was placed out of the list of combatants ; the Nile, by which the army of France in Egypt was cut off* from its com- munication with home ; Copenhagen, where, before the conclusion of the peace of Amiens, was destroyed the Danish fleet, which would have been ready, after its rupture, to join in covering the transports of the army from Boulogne ; and Trafalgar, which finally established the naval supremacy of England on the sea, and disposed of the combined squadrons of France and Spam. Of these six four were achieved with Nelson's aid, and three with Nelson in chief command. It is certainly to these actions that the safety of our country from invasion during the wars of the Revolution and of the Empire may be ascribed. And they surely teach us with trumpet tones that the true safety of England lies in maintaining an invincible and insuperable navj as its first line of defence. VOL. I. B B CHAP. XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION. 371 CHAPTER XX. PROSPECTS OF INVASION, The true value of history is not to record merely facts that have passed, but to deduce from those facts lessons for our future guidance. In no branch of historical science is the adaptation of the light of experience of so much moment as in military history. The value of its study has been frequently proved, but there is no brighter instance of the great results which accrue from worship at the shrine of the deeds of past heroes than that of the First Napoleon. His words of counsel to those who would study under him were : — '' Eead and re-read the works of Alexander, of Hannibal, and of Csesar, for from them you will learn the principles upon which you yourselves must act in the theatre of war.' ;? We have seen from the records of the invasions of England that no invasion has been successful against this country since that which established William III. on the throne of England. It is hardly necessary for us to pay much attention at the present time to the invasions which preceded that which led to the Great Revolution of this country, as on account of altered circumstances, change of armament, and different modes of transport, few lessons of value are now to be derived from the feats of arms of the middle ages, or of the still older modern times. The first invasion to which we shall now devote our attention is that which tore the sceptre of this country from the line of the Stuarts, and placed our government on a liberal and enlightened footing. It has frequently been argued that the inva- sion of William III. owed its success to the fact that in this country there was a strong party ready to aid him as soon as he appeared upon our shores. It is undoubtedly true that a powerful political body was ready to give assistance to the Prince of Orange ; but this party was totally unfit to take the field, and was neither equipped nor organised as an armed force. Its moral strength may have been great, but the real secret of the success of the invasion of William III. appears to have been that he was accompanied by an adequate military force. Had it not been that strong battalions marched under the Prince of Orange, the officers of the regular army who, moved by their political bias, deserted the cause of their liege sovereign, would not have dared to have done so. But what strikes us most in considering the descent of William is, that although it was well known that the invasion was in preparation, and although the fleet which bore the soldiers of the Prince actually saluted the Castle of Dover as they passed through the narrow straits of the Channel, and their passage was immediately reported to London, no attempt was made by a land force to oppose the descent at the B B 2 372 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. XX .] PROSPECTS OF INVASION, 373 t momeut of the disembarkation of the troops. It would surely be expected that at this moment the most favourable opportunity was given for a blow to be struck by the defenders of our shores, whether in the cause of a king or of a country. After the troops of the Prince of Orange were once landed, the resistance to them by the regular army, much as it had been nurtured and fostered by James, was absurd and ludicrous. The skirmish at Eeading is not worthy of being ranked amongst ordinary aflfairs of outposts. But we learn the lesson from this descent, of how easily a force invading our island can be dis- embarked, if, either by accident or stratagem, it is enabled to elude the vigilance of our Channel fleet. From the time of the successful invasion of 1688 many attempts have been made upon our shores, uni- versally without success ; but the good fortune which has watched over our country in this respect appears to those who carefully study the matter to be much more due to good luck than to good management. In 1 744 the invasion which was then prepared by France was only thwarted by gales and winds, which stirred up the stormy seas that rage around our island. The inva- sions prepared in the early wars of the French Eevolution were baffled by the skill, the energy, and the enterprise of our naval commanders. That of 1804 promised every chance of success, and this was only apparently torn from it by the sudden death of Admiral Latouche. The great invasion planned by Napoleon in 1805 was apparently on the point of being crowned with. to us, most unhappy results, had Villeneuve only had the nerve to push forward ; as by the dates which have been given in the main body of this work it will easily be seen that he had plenty of time to appear in front of Boulogne, and to hold for several days the mastery of the Channel, before Nelson could possibly arrive to disturb the passage of the French army by means of its flotilla. It can hardly be doubted what would have been the result had a hundred thousand veteran soldiers of France, inured to battle, led by competent and able officers, appeared on the coasts of Kent or Sussex. We can well imagine that the bands of militia and volun- teers, arrayed in our southern counties under the command of squires and country gentlemen unaccus- tomed to war, and ignorant of the life of camps, would have fared but badly before the clouds of skirmishers and the serried columns which had carried the standards of France beyond the Rhine and the Adige. Nor is it at all apparent that, although the volunteers and militia mustered in great numerical force, they were at all fit to enter upon a campaign even of a few days. They seem to have been totally unprovided with camp equip- ment, stores, reserves of ammunition, or, what is more vital than all these combined, commissariat arrange- ments. It is probable that after the first twenty-four hours this undisciplined and hastily-levied soldiery would have found themselves without provisions. Star- vation would have rendered discipliDe amongst such a force impossible ; self-preservation would have induced 374 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [cuAr. I « I them to disband themselves to seek after sustenance ; the country would have been pillaged by its own defenders ; the army would have been disbanded ; those that kept together would probably have been of little avail, except to fill the cottages and hamlets with wounded, and strew the downs and woodlands of our southern shires with corpses. But, in lookinoj towards the future, o;reat chano-es have to be considered. In the time of the last inva- sion threatened by Napoleon the introduction of steam navigation was considered, even by the greatest minds of Europe, as a chimera, and the dream of a madman. Since then, steam navigation has been so much de- veloped that steamers have almost, except in special trades, superseded the use of sailing vessels ; and the number of voyages now performed by steamers are immensely superior to those performed by sailing vessels. Another advance of science has cansed almost a revolution in the military art. When Napoleon was mustering his corps in the camps that stretched from the Texel to the Pyrenees, the orders sent from head- quarters to the diflferent commanders could only be carried by the comparatively slow means of mounted orderlies, or aides-de-camp ; and, however hastily couriers pushed along the roads of France, it was an affair of days, and sometimes of weeks, to carry the simplest command from one flank of an army to another. The introduction of the electric telegraph has changed this. In one moment every division of the most enormous army can be set in motion by the simple will of a single XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION, 375 man. Mistakes are much less likely to occur, as, if an order is not thoroughly understood, it is but the affair of a few minutes to refer it back to the source from which it emanated, and to receive further information and explanation. Had Villeneuve at Ferrol been able to communicate with Napoleon at Boulogne, how differ- ent, in all probability, would have been the fate of our country. An electric spark might have laid our island at the feet of a conquering invader, reduced the United Kingdom to an appanage of the Imperial diadem of France, and pressed the soldiery that conquered in the Pyrenees and on the slopes of Waterloo into a link of the heavy chain which would have quickly fettered the liberties of Europe. It is a question that has been considered, whether the introduction of more rapid means of locomotion through the adoption of steam, and of more speedy methods of Ihe communication of information through the adoption of electricity, will be more favourable in future wars to the attack or the defence. Both will no doubt to a certain extent be benefited, but as the essence of the success of an attack in most cases depends upon surprise, and in all cases on rapidity of action, it appears certain that the assailant will derive more advantage from these improvements than those who have to resist his assault. In case of an invasion being at a future time directed against our shores, it will not now^ be necessary that the transports or the armed vessels that are to convoy them should be assembled in any particular port, or collected beneath some well marked feature of the shore where i I ♦ 376 INFASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. their concentration must be known to the cruisers of the enemy. It will be only necessary that a certain point should be fixed upon the chart as the rendezvous for the flotilla, out of sight of land, and only known to the com- manders who have to direct the operations. These, too, would not necessarily be acquainted with the spot, until they had already left their ports, and were out of sight of land. The power of steam would allow these vessels to be collected at a certain point, without danger of delay, or of being blown back to friendly harbours by unfavour- able breezes. The introduction of the electric telegraph would allow various descents to be made on different parts of the coast simultaneously, and would thus prevent the great advantage which hitherto has accrued to the defence, of acting on interior lines in such a manner as to allow different parts of an assailant force, attacking at intervals, to be overwhelmed by the superior force of the defendant thrown judiciously on particular points, while other points of assault were watched and defended by weak detachments. Science has made another alteration in war. The introduction of rifled small arms and rifled cannon has, it may be assumed, necessitated almost as great a change in tactics as did originally the invention of gunpowder. The invention of gunpower tended to reduce the large numbers of levies who formerly were able in a few days or a few weeks to learn the use of the arms which were needed in hand-to-hand combat. It made the military profession a peculiar and special calling for which a certain training was required, and reduced the large levies of XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION 377 \ ancient times to small bodies of regular soldiers. The introduction of rifled arms would probably have tended in the same direction, and the skill required to wield the new weapons would have reduced the numbers of standing armies to smaller and smaller proportions. But the course of this natural revolution has been arrested. The stringent rules insisted upon by Napoleon after his conquest of Prussia, that the Prussian government should not maintain an army of more than 30,000 men, led the genius of Scharnhorst to devise means by which, without more than that number of soldiers under the colours, a large force should be trained for the great effort for the liberation of the Fatherland from foreign oppression. He devised the means by which a large number of men should be rapidly passed through the ranks of the regular army, taught the use of their weapons, and then, relegated to civil life, should be available, in case of the outbreak of war, again to take their places in the ranks. The advantages of this system were little regarded by European powers, till the wonderful successes of the German army in 1866 and 1870 showed that this mode of arming a nation was the only one which allowed a country to enter into a war with a great numerical superiority of fighting strength. All nations have more or less within the last few years adopted the rudiments of the plan first devised by Scharnhorst ; and although opponents may argue against it, it appears only accord- ing to common sense that some such method must be adopted in future by all countries that wish to maintain 378 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND, [chap. XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION. 379 ♦ ii I a military position. No doubt everybody would desire that soldiers should be perfectly drilled, admirably dis- ciplined, and accustomed by constant repetition of the manoeuvres of the parade-ground to perform their evolutions with the most mechanical accuracy. But to have such soldiers so highly perfect they must be retained for many years in the ranks. As long as Continental nations place armies, not of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, but of millions of fighting men in a theatre of war, it is impossible that any country, however rich, can maintain an army able not indeed to cope with such armaments, but even to act in such force as to be w^orth consideration as an ally. Lord Cardwell per- ceived this in our country, and with a wisdom which will be more and more appreciated, endeavoured to graft upon the British military system a means by which soldiers should be taught their duty by a short service in the ranks of the regular army, passed into the reserve, and be liable to recall into their regiments in case of war. Should time elapse before the necessity arises for the employment of our army on an active campaign, we shall in a few years be able to place in the field a force which, although not so large as that of many Con- tinental powers, will be at least respectable, and which could oppose, if properly handled, with every chance of success, an army that had once landed on our shores. It would appear tolerably certain that in future greater facilities will be afforded to a government that designs the invasion of England for eluding the British fleet intended to cover our coasts than in the days of our ancestors, through the result of the introduction of steam navigation and of the electric telegraph. There is also more probability that in future the British fleet is more likely to be equalled, or even overpowered, than in times past. England is no longer so superior in r^elative wealth as she was in the early days of this century. The amalgamation of Germany under the House of HohenzoUern, has concentrated and knit together the energies, the determination, and the great mental capacity of the German people. The iron works of Essen, the development of manufacture throughout the Fatherland, shows that in Germany, which numbers a larger population than England, there is an industrial activity which may place Germany ere long close to England in the race for wealth. The great development of manufacture in Belgium has not indeed raised Belgium to the rank of a formidable enemy to the liberties of our country, but has placed within easy reach of our shores a field for the industry which the lamentable squabbles between capital and labour have done their best to divert from our own land. Trade and commerce are fickle mistresses, once insulted and turned away, they are most difficult to win back. In France the increase of wealth has been enormous ; and in that country wealth is not only developed, but it is stored up. The economy of the peasantry is proverbial, and has long been acknowledged ; but few men even among the greatest financiers, were aware of the latent power of pecuniary resource in France, until the Stock Exchanges of Paris and Frankfort were startled by the 380 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. rapidity with which the indemnity after the last German war was paid off. So little was the recuperative power of France appreciated, that it is said, and probably with truth, that a Board of Bankers was assembled at the headquarters of the German army, to settle the highest indemnity which France could possibly pay without being entirely crushed ; and that on their report the conditions of peace were based. In Eussia there is at the present time a strong development of industry ; several cotton mills have been erected in various pro- vmces, and it is openly avowed by Eussian statesmen that they desire to make their country independent of the English market. At the same time a dangerous canker is gnawing at our own vitals. The maintenance of our pauper class, which sits lightly upon us in time of peace and of prosperity, is assuming proportions which would weigh upon us heavily in the hour of adversity and of a close and dangerous war. The maintenance of modern navies depends more and more upon the power of the purse ; and as the relative superiority of England with regard to wealth fades away, so does the danger proportionately increase, that foreign navies will be found equal, if not superior, to our own. For these reasons, it appears that hourly, though insensibly, the command of the Channel, is slipping from our hand?, and that before many years are over the naval superiority of the worid will be so evenly balanced, that we must be prepared to view without appre- hension, the possibility of the disembarkation of a hostile force upon our shores. XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION. 381 Nor is it unlikely that this will be soon attempted. At the present time the great wealth of this country and its defenceless position expose it as a ready prey. The indemnity which a Board of foreign Bankers might ar- range for the City of London would probably be quite in a proportionate degree to the exaggerated estimate which is entertained on the Continent of our wealth. Such a stake would be well worth a hazard, especially when the hazard of a counter stroke is infinitesimally small. Here is the weakness of England. Our navy is at the present time very powerful, but our navy is totally incapable of acting offensively against the capital of a hostile power. If at the present time an enemy were to threaten us with invasion, we must remain on the defensive, as long as it pleases the enemy to threaten us. We have no means of carrying an offensive war into hostile territories ; but as has been proved repeatedly, over and over again in history, and as was laid down energetically by the genius of Pitt, the true defence of any country must be in its power of offence against its assailants. A country which is only able to stand on the defensive is la the same position as a prize-fighter who enters the ring, bound by some spell that would prevent him striking his adversary, and forced to stand only upon his guard ; it follows that the guard must sooner or later be broken down, and that the pugilist who has no fear of a counter-stroke can drive his blows home with an effect which must in the end lead to the total defeat, if not annihilation, of his opponent. At the present time the regular army assembled in 382 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. England is a larger force than it has been since the close of the campaign of AVaterloo. It is roughly estimated at 100,000 fighting men ; but within this number are included all recruits, sick, and "soldiers who from age or infirmity would not be able to take the field. It can hardly be doubted that at the present time our country could not send into the theatre of foreign war a larger effective force than 50,000 men ; such a force, in comparison with the armaments of France, Germany, Austria, or Eussia, is so small as to be contemptible. For defensive purposes, to guard the shores of our island, we have in addition a force of militia and a force of volunteers ; but if the true principle of defence, that of power of assuming the offensive, is to be observed, the militia and the volunteers are utterly worthless. Nor even are they competent to take part in a campaign in Surrey, Sussex, or Kent. They are totally unprovided with transport, hospital equipment, reserve of clothing, ammunition, or commissariat arrange- ments ; while the regular army is encumbered with enormous masses of camp equipment, which are utterly unnecessary in a country such as England, where towns and villages for the cantonment of troops are abundant. If the enemy is so near that corps cannot be cantoned, he must be so near that tents could not be pitched, or the roads encumbered w^ith the transport waggons which are necessary to carry the camp equipage. If, on the other hand, the enemy is so distant that camps can be formed, there can be no danger in separating troops, so that they may take advantage of the house accommoda- XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION, 383 tion of the theatre of war. It would certainly appear that for defensive purposes it is absolutely unnecessary that the militia and volunteers should have in the time of peace a certain organisation prepared which would enable them within a few days, or a few hours even, to take the field and take part in a campaign ; but that if the true principle of defence is carried out, by some radical change, the militia certainly, and a proportion of the volunteers, should be enrolled and enlisted on such a footing that they would be liable in case of European war for service on the Continent. If an invasion were to take place, and our fleet had either been eluded or overpowered, in what position are we ? The troops which could be collected to oppose a landing or bar the progress of an enemy from the coast towards the capital are unprovided with the material which would allow them to take the field. There is in England hardly sufficient military transport or administrative service to permit of even the small division at Aldershot being mobilised and placed in line of battle. It is improbable that an enemy would land upon our shores in the case of a serious invasion with a less force than 100,000 men. Against such an attack even the most stalwart Englishman can hardly argue that the Aldershot division would suffice. It would probably be swept away in the battle of a few hours, and crushed beneath an enormous superiority of numbers. Nor can we believe that after having cleared its passage of the Aldershot division the army of the enemy would be kind enough to remain inactive 384 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. while the militia could be collected from Ireland and Scotland, and could be provided with an impromptu transport service made up from the cab cripples and omnibus horses of London. Nor even if they would, would these valued animals be immediately available. The inhabitants of London would probably be unwilling to remain to share their houses and homes with, and to part with their plate and valuables to, the soldiery of the invaders. They would probably be inclined to make at this period of our history an exodus more universal than that which occurs annually from the metropolis at the commencement of August. Our government, which depends so much upon popular opinion, would hardly venture to sequestrate the cab-horses upon which would depend the means of numerous families getting to the railway stations in order to seek safety beyond the actual area of operations. If a battle were once fought between the coast and London, it appears that there would be no means for checking the further advance of the enemy. The total want of fortifications round our metropolis places London in the same position as Paris occupied when the allies entered it in 1814. It would be able to make no resistance, and the en^my must march in as if into an open town. Simultaneously with the fall of London would occur the fall of Woolwich Arsenal, and with that great seat of military manufacture in the hands of the enemy, not only could no ammunition be obtained for our troops in the field, but no guns, shot, or shell could be provided for either our artillery or our navy. XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION. 385 Yet the fall of Woolwich would be of slight importance compared with the capture of the metropolis. The threat to fire the city and light up in flames the forests of masts below London Bridge would probably be sufii- cient to force our government to make peace on any terms that could be obtained. Among these terms probably would be included the cession of India, and with that cession the total repudiation of the Indian loans, which have been raised under .the guarantee of the Secretary of State for India. Thousands of families would be thrown into misery and destitution. Such is, however, but one of the results that might accrue from an invasion. Another result which may tolerably certainly be anticipated would be the payment of an immense war indemnity, which would increase to a crushing extent the weight of taxation of our im- poverished country for many many years to come. Nor is it probable that an enemy who directed a large force against London would be content with inflicting injury on the metropolis alone. If our navy were over- powered the sea would be open to hostile cruisers ; even if our fleet were concentrated so as to attempt to bar the passage of the Channel, vessels could not be spared to perform the duty of watching our outlying ports. It may be certainly anticipated that powerful cruisers from the enemy's harbours would, impelled by steam, appear suddenly and unexpectedly at Glasgow, Liverpool, Leith, Hull, Newcastle, Bristol, and every other port where there were dockyards to set in flames or municipalities to terrify. In every port an indemnity would be raised, VOL. n. ^ ^ 386 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. under the threat of an immediate bombardment. These ports are undefended, except at Liverpool, where a few earthworks, which are almost contemptible, have been erected. Against a bombardment directed against ware- houses, stores, and vessels in docks, or alongside quays, the energies of the local volunteers would be useless. In time of peace it would certainly appear only prudent that some fortifications should be thrown up to bar such passages and to hinder vessels on buccaneering expedi- tions from entering our important harbours. For a similar reason it would appear only prudent that the metropolis should be fortified by a circle of forts, such as proved of immense value to Paris when the Prussians advanced against that city in the late war. The introduction of rifled arms has not succeeded in making the military profession a smaller and more select body, as might have been anticipated from a comparison with the results of the invention of gun- powder. This has been due to the necessity of Con- tinental powers bringing a great numerical strength of soldiers into the field ; and their reason has been just, because a small force of marksmen, however skilful, and however intelligent, must be surrounded by a very large force of opponents, and then the line of communication, on which their supplies of ammunition depend, would be cut off. When they were surrounded at a distance, beyond the range of their bullets, so that their ammu- nition, when once expended, could not be replenished, the most skilled body of marksmen, under these circum- stances, would be left as defenceless as if they were XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION. 387 armed with claymores or broadswords. In order to allow soldiers to shoot well with rifles, time for drill is necessary. The system adopted in European armies, by which soldiers are passed through the ranks, and serve there a certain number of years, gives them time suffi- cient to become tolerable marksmen. In our country, where the main auxiliary force, the militia, does not serve in the regular ranks, and is only called out for a few days comparatively in the year, the men are unable to be taught rifle-shooting, which in future wars must be the key to the efficiency of an army. Consequently our militia are at present totally unable, as effective soldiers, to take the field, even in the case of an invasion. Time would be required after the militia was embodied to drill its constituent members into marksmen. This drill could not be carried on in the open field in time of a campaign ; but if London were surrounded with forts of sufficient strength to prevent the enemy closing in between them upon the city, within the shelter of those forts, the militia might be drilled and brought to such a degree of perfection that they would within a certain number of months be able to take the field with hopes of success, and to march out from under shelter of those forts to engage the enemy. The second great auxiliary force of our country is the volunteers. The great body of our volunteers are good marksmen ; and probably in the volunteer ranks are to be found a larger proportion of better riflemen than in the regular service. But while the militia have c c 2 388 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. a certain amount of discipline without power of shooting, the volunteers have a certain power of shooting without discipline. In order to bring the volunteers into that compact and homogeneous state of crystal]* sed discipline which is necessary for the execution of field movements, time would be required, and such time could only be gained if an enemy which had once landed on our shores could be delayed. It would appear that the only way in which this delay could be ensured would be by a series of fortifications which would force an invader either to open trenches, or to rely upon the slow and tedious measure of a blockade. The fortifications alone would be of small avail, unless measures were adopted that the troops which held those fortifications should be well supplied with provisions and with ammunition. No system of fortifi- cation of the metropolis would be complete which did not include Woolwich Arsenal ; and if Woolwich Arsenal were successfully held, it could turn out sufficient sup- plies of ammunition to provide for all the defensive purposes that would be required. Food is another and very serious consideration. The vast population of our metropolis is not self-supporting in the smallest degree. Every article of consumption of its numerous inhabit- ants, which now muster nearly four millions of mouths, has to be brought in from the outer country ; and but a small portion of this country could be included within the area covered by fortifications. Power could be taken by the government to compel all useless mouths to leave London in case of an invasion ; but this power should XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION. 389 be taken in peace. Nor would it be possible to confine the inhabitants of our metropolis to merely the number of fighting men who would be required to hold the works. Business could not be suspended, the public offices could not be closed, and it would be necessary that a certain number of men should be retained to carry on the necessary work of every-day life. Great misery would also be inflicted upon the poorer classes, who might be driven forth by the edict* of the govern- ment to allow of a longer defence being made of the works ; and to meet such a catastrophe measures ought certainly to be organised in time of peace, and arrange- ments made by which, either through camps of refuge or through agreements with municipalities of provincial towns, the wretched people who might be driven forth from their only habitations should not be left to misery or starvation, or thrown indiscriminately on the poor- rates of whatever parishes they might be enabled to reach. It would be necessary also in time of peace that provisions of food should be supplied for the garrison of London. Not only is our metropolis dependent for its food on districts of country beyond the space covered by its houses, but our whole island depends for its supplies upon distant lands. Were suddenly, as if by the stroke of a magician's wand, the British fleet swept from our seas, and a stern line of blockade established round our coasts, this country, within a certain time, though comparatively a long time, must be reduced to a state of starvation. Its teeming population of mouths 18 too large for its productions. If the metropolis of 390 INVASIONS OF ENGLAND. [chap. England were to be put in the position to withstand a long blockade to give time for its militia to be made marksmen, its volunteers to be made disciplined soldiers, and for the great defensive energy of the country to be brought into play, measures should be taken during peace to store up and provide a certain amount of provisions within the area covered by the guns of the works which should protect the city. It is unnecessary here to touch more fully upon the state of our regular troops. Within the last few years every exertion has been made by the War Office to place our military force in a more efficient condition. For the development of the ideas which now so wisely prevail time is necessary ; and not only time, but an expenditure of money. The government of a country which depends upon popular opinion can hardly, how- ever, be expected to come forward and make heavy demands upon the national purse, unless impelled by public feeling. In a country such as ours, where we all claim to have a voice in the government, through the organs of our opinion and through the press, we must be prepared to undertake individually, as well as collectively, some of the responsibilities of neglect, as well as some of the satisfactions of success. If money sufficient is not devoted to placing this country in a condition of safety, the fault cannot be laid to the charge of any particular minister. The crime lies at the door of every educated man who has not raised up his voice to impel the government to take the measures necessary for our national security. If we were willing XX.] PROSPECTS OF INVASION. 391 boldly to sacrifice ourselves to the guidance of a despotic government, which would relieve us of all care and of all thought, we might also plead justly, we were thus relieved of all responsibility. Such is not the case in England. Every man can make himself heard, and it is the duty of every man to have a care for his national security, inasmuch as it is the duty of every father of a family who has not abundant means to insure his life, and as it is prudent of every man to insure his house and furniture against the possibility of fire. There can be no doubt that one of the main reasons that this rich country exposes its riches to the cupidity of an assailant is because of an unwise economy. No doubt it is distressing that taxa- tion should be placed upon the people which presses heavily upon the middle classes, whose incomes are small, and on whom every increase of taxation weighs heavily ; but the very wealth of England, which forms the bait to a probable assailant, should be our best bulwark against the possibility of that assailant being successful. Were the country at large to insist upon proper sums of money being spent for its defence, the financial talents of the ministry could with justice be called upon to devise a means by which those who were most interested in the defence of our wealth should be the most bound to subscribe for its security. At the present time it is possible that war is not far distant. Let us be wise in time. THE END. 1 LONDON : 11. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOE, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET. O X X /^ I V / / 942 H85 Z t DC WX PHOTOCOPY I JAN 6 I95i