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During his stay at Perth, Charles devoted almost all his
time to the disciplining and training of his men, in writing despatches, and in a variety
of military details to which he had hitherto been unaccustomed. Though fond of amusement,
he never allowed it to occupy much of his time; and if he accepted a convivial invitation,
it was more from a wish not to disoblige than from a desire to join in the festivities of
his friends. Amid the occupations of the camp he did not, however, neglect the outward
observances of religion. For the first time, it is believed, of his life, he attended the
Protestant service at Perth, on Sunday the 8th of September, rather, it may be
conjectured, to please his Protestant friends, than from any predilection for a form of
worship to which he was an entire stranger. The text appropriately chosen on this occasion
by the preacher, a Mr Armstrong, was from Isaiah xiv, verses 1,2 "For the Lord will
have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; and the
strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the
people shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall
possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them
captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors". The
nonjuring Jacobites discourse delivered on the occasion in question, would certainly form
an extraordinary contrast with the democratic harangues to which Charles's
great-grandfather, Charles I, and his grand uncle, Charles II, were accustomed to listen
from the mouths of the stern Covenanters.
While Charles was thus employed at Perth, Sir John Cope was marching from Inverness to
Aberdeen. After leaving the direct road to Fort Augustus, Cope had proceeded by forced
marches to Inverness, where he arrived on the 29th of August. Here he met the Lord
President, who communicated to him a letter he had received on his arrival in the north,
from Sir Alexander Macdonald, informing him of the names of the chiefs who had joined
Charles, and requesting directions how to act in the event of the insurgent chiefs being
forced to retire to the islands. After consulting with the President, Cope resolved to
march back his army to Stirling, provided he could obtain a reinforcement of Highlanders
from the Whig clans in the neighbourhood of Inverness. An application was accordingly made
to the chiefs; but as it turned out ineffectual, Cope determined to march to Aberdeen and
embark his troops for the Frith of Forth. The feelings of alarm and anxiety with which he
was agitated on this occasion, are thus described by himself in a letter which he wrote
from Inverness, on the 31st of August, to Lord Milton the Justice Clerk:- "I, from
the beginning, thought this affair might become serious; and sorry I am that I was not
mistaken: indeed, my lord, it is serious. I know your activity and ability in business, -
the whole is at stake, - exert your authority, - lengths must be gone, - and rules and
common course of business must yield to the necessity of the times, or it may soon be too
late. So much fatigue of body and mind I never knew of before; but my health continues
good, and my spirits do not flag. Much depends upon the next step we take. In this country
the rebels will not let us get at them unless we had some Highlanders with us; and, as
yet, not one single man has joined us, though I have lugged along with us 300 stand of
arms. No man could have believed that not one man would take arms in our favour, or show
countenance to us, but so it is".
It is rather singular, that on the same day on which the above-mentioned letter was
written, the adherents of government at Edinburgh, who had hitherto derided the
attempt of the prince, should have been at last aroused to a full sense of the danger they
were in. Lulled by a false sense of security, they had never, for a moment, doubted that
Cope would be successful on his expedition in the north; but certain intelligence, brought
to them by James Drummond or Macgregor, son of the celebrated Rob Roy, who arrived at
Edinburgh on the 26th, began to open their eyes. With the object of throwing the
government party in the capital off their guard, this man was despatched from the Jacobite
camp in Lochaber to Edinburgh, with the necessary instructions. Enjoying in some degree
the confidence of the Whig party, he was the better fitted to impose upon them by his
misrepresentations. When introduced to the public functionaries on his arrival, he stated
that the Highland army was not 1,500 strong, - that is was chiefly composed of old men and
boys, who were badly armed, and that from what he saw and knew of them he was sure they
would fly before Cope's army. Though unsuccessful, as will be seen, in this branch of his
mission, he succeeded in another which he had volunteered to perform, by getting one
Drummond, a Jacobite printer, to print the price's proclamations and manifestos, which he
took care to distribute throughout the city among the friends of the cause. When apprised
of the fact of the publication, the magistrates, without suspecting Macgregor as the
importer of these treasonable documents, issued a proclamation, offering a large reward
for the discovery of the printer.
Edinburgh, at the period in question, and for many years afterwards, was confined within
narrow limits. It had never been properly fortified; and its castle, which majestically
overtops the city, and forms the western boundary of that division now called the
"Old Town", could afford it little security. On the south and on the east, the
ancient city was bounded by a wall varying from ten to twenty feet high. On the north
side, a lake, easily fordable, called the North Loch, now drained and converted into
beautiful gardens, was its only defence. In several places the old wall had been built
upon, so that dwelling houses formed part of the wall, but these erections were overlooked
by rows of higher houses without the city. There were no cannon mounted upon the wall, but
in some places it was strengthened by bastions and embrasures. The standing force of the
city consisted of two bodies, called the Town Guard and the Trained Bands, neither of
which now exist. The first, which, at the time we are now treating of, amounted to 126
men, acted in lieu of a police; and though pretty well versed in the manual and platoon
exercise, were, from their being generally old men, unfit for military duty. The Trained
Bands, or Burgher Guard, which was composed of citizens, and in former times amounted to a
considerable number of men, did not at the period in questions exceed 1,000. Anciently,
the tallest men were armed with pikes, and those of a lower stature with firelocks, and
both were provided with defensive armour. The captain of each company, eight in number,
instructed his men one day in every week in the exercise of arms; but the pikes and armour
were afterwards laid aside, and since the Revolution the Trained Bands had appeared in
arms only once in the year, to celebrate the king's birth-day, on which occasion they were
furnished with arms for the service of the day from a magazine belonging to the city.
As it was obvious that, under these circumstances, no effectual resistance could be made
to the entrance of an army into the city, the provost and magistrates held a meeting on
the 27th of August, at which some of the principal citizens attended, to devise means of
defence. At this meeting it was resolved to repair the walls and to raise a regiment of
1,000 men, to be paid by a voluntary contribution of the inhabitants. A standing committee
was, at the same time, appointed to carry this resolution into effect, and to advise with
the Lord-Justice-Clerk and other judges then in town, and the crown lawyers, as to such
other steps as might be considered necessary in the present crisis. To obtain the
requisite permission to embody the proposed regiment, an application was sent to London by
the Lord Advocate; and leave to that effect was granted on the 4th of September. |
