|
WAR having been declared
against Spain in the year 1739, the Chevalier de St. George
despatched Lord Marischal to Madrid to induce the court of Spain to adopt
measures for his restoration. But however willing Spain might be to assist
him, he was desirous that no attempt
should be made without the concurrence of France. About the same time, that
is, in the beginning of the year 1740, some of the more zealous and leading
Jacobites, in anticipation of a war with France, held a meeting at
Edinburgh, and formed themselves into an association, by which they engaged
themselves to take arms and venture their lives and fortunes to restore the
family of Stuart, provided the King of France would send over a body of
troops to their assistance. The association, like that which brought over
King William to England, consisted of seven persons, viz., Lord Lovat, James
Drummond, commonly called Duke of Perth, the Earl of Traquair, Sir James
Campbell of Auchinbreck, Cameron of Lochiel, John Stuart, brother to Lord
Traquair, and Lord John Drummond, uncle to the Duke of Perth. [Letters to
the Duke of Ormond and Lord Marischal, 27th January, 1740, among the Stuart
Papers. Minding to his expectations of assistance from France, the
Chevalier, in a letter (of which a copy is also in the same collection,)
written to Marischal on the 11th January, 1740, while the latter was on his
way to Madrid, says, "I am betwixt hopes and fears, though I think
there is snore room for the first than the last, as you will have perceived
by what Lord Sempil (so an active agent of James was called,) has I suppose
writ to you. I conclude I shall sometime next month see clearer into these
great affairs."] The conspirators
despatched Drummond of Bochaldy, or Balhady, (nephew to Lochiel,) to Rome
with the bond of association, and a list of those chiefs and chieftains who
were considered by the associates to be favourable to the cause. Drummond
was instructed to deliver these papers into the hands of the Chevalier de
St. George, and to entreat him to procure assistance from France in
furtherance of their design. The project was well received by 3ames, who,
after perusing the papers, forwarded them immediately by the same messenger
to Cardinal Floury at Paris, with a request that the court of France would
grant the required assistance. But the cardinal, with that caution which
distinguished him, would come under no engagement, but contented himself at
first by a general assurance of conditional support.
The negotiation was, however,
persevered in, but the death of the Emperor Charles VI., which happened on
the 20th of October, drew off the cardinal’s attention to matters which
appeared to him of greater importance. The emperor was succeeded in his
hereditary dominions by his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, married to the
Grand-duke of Tuscany, formerly Duke of Lorraine. Though this princess
succeeded under the title of the pragmatic sanction, which had been
guaranteed by England, France, Spain, Prussia, Russia, Holland, and the
whole of the Germanic body, with the exception of the elector-palatine, and
the electors of Bavaria and Saxony, a powerful confederacy was formed
against her by almost all these powers, to strip her of her dominions.
Alarmed at the formidable
confederacy formed against her, the Queen of Hungary applied to Great
Britain for succour; but Sir Robert Walpole evaded the demand, and
recommended an immediate peace with Prussia. The parliament, as well as the
nation, however, had different views; and as the minister saw that he would
be compelled to fulfil his engagements to the house of Austria, parliament
was called upon to support the Queen of Hungary, and maintain the liberties
of Europe. The commons cheerfully voted a sum of £300,000 to enable George
II. to fulfil his engagements, which sum was remitted to the Queen of
Hungary, and the contingent of 12,000 Danish and Hessian troops, which Great
Britain had engaged to furnish, was got in readiness.
While the flames of war were
thus spreading over Europe, the situation of the British ministry was every
day becoming more critical from the clamours of the Tories and the
discontented Whigs. Walpole had triumphed in both houses on motions for an
address to the king to dismiss him from his presence and councils; but his
triumph was short, and the approach of an election redoubled the efforts of
his enemies. Though the Jacobites required no incentive to induce them to
assist in displacing a minister who had been the chief obstacle to the
restoration of the exiled family; yet to make perfectly sure of their aid,
Lord Chesterfield went to France, and by means of the Duke of Ormond,
obtained, it is said, a circular letter from the Chevalier do St. George to
his friends, urging them to do every thing in their power to ruin Walpole.
To encourage the popular clamour against the minister, reports, the most
absurd and incredible respecting him, were circulated among the people and
believed; and while the general discontent was at its height, the election
commenced. The contests between the two parties were extremely violent; but
the country party, backed by the adherents of the Prince of Wales, who had
formed a party against the minister, prevailed. So powerful was the
influence of the Duke of Argyle, who had lately joined the opposition, that
out of the forty-five members returned for Scotland, the friends of the
ministry could not secure above six. The new parliament met on the 4th of
December, 1741; and Walpole, no longer able to contend with the forces
arrayed against him, retired from office within a few weeks thereafter.
Encouraged by appearances,
and imagining that some of the old discontented Whigs who deprecated the
system which had been pursued since the accession of the house of Hanover,
of maintaining the foreign dominions of the sovereign at the expense, as
they thought, of the honour and interests of the nation, Drummond of
Bochaldy proposed to the Chevalier to visit England, and make overtures in
his name to the " old Whigs." This plan was highly approved of by
James, who wrote him a letter in his own hand, which was intended to be
exhibited to such persons as might seem inclined to favour his restoration.
This letter was inclosed in a private letter containing instructions for the
regulation of his conduct in the proposed negotiation, which it was intended
should be kept an entire secret from the Jacobites, both in England and
Scotland. Erskine of Grange, who enjoyed the confidence of some of the
discontented Whigs, and who privately favoured the designs of the exiled
family, was pitched upon as a fit person to make advances to the old Whigs.
In pursuance of his
instructions, Drummond departed for England about the beginning of the year
1742, but it does not appear that at this time he entered upon the subject
of his mission. He came privately to Edinburgh in the month of February, and
there met some of the persons who had entered into the association, and
several others, who, in conjunction with the original conspirators, had
formed themselves into a society, denominated by them "the Concert of
Gentlemen for managing the King’s affairs in Scotland." To these,
among whom was Murray of Broughton, Drummond represented that, on his return
from Rome, he had been extremely well received by Cardinal Fleury, to whom
he had delivered the papers which he had carried from Edinburgh,—that the
cardinal expreased great satisfaction with the contents of these papers, had
the Pretender’s interest so much at heart, and was so sanguine of his
success, that provided he had sufficient assurances from the friends of the
exiled family in England, that they would assist in the restoration of the
Stuarts, he would send over an army of from 13,000 to 15,000 men, the number
required. One division of this force, consisting of 1,500 men, was to be
landed on the east coast of Scotland, at or near Inverness; another of a
similar amount in the west Highlands of Scotland; and the main body, which
was to consist of 10,000 or 12,000 men, was to be landed as near London as
possible. He added, that, provided assistance could be obtained in England,
the projected invasion might be put in execution the following autumn.
Before leaving Edinburgh, Drummond had an interview with Cameron of Lochiel,
who came to town at his desire, and to whom he communicated the result of
his mission to Rome and Paris.
After a short stay at
Edinburgh, Drummond returned to Paris, where, according to his own account,
as communicated in letters to Lord Traquair and Lochiel, he had an audience
of the cardinal, to whom he represented matters in such a favourable light
that he promised to carry his design of invasion into effect in a very short
time. The French minister, however, though he appears to have seriously
contemplated such a step, was not yet in a condition to come to an open
rupture with England; and to postpone the enterprise, he proposed to
Drummond that an application should be made to Sweden for a body of troops
to invade Scotland, and that a person from Scotland, along with another
person from France whom the cardinal would appoint, should be sent thither
to urge the application at the Swedish court. The cardinal gave as his
reason for thus deviating from his original plan, that the Swedes being
Protestants, would be more agreeable to the people of Scotland than French
or Irish troops. In accordance with this proposal, Lord Traquair suggested
that Murray of Broughton should be sent to Sweden on the proposed mission,
but he declined.
From the turn which the
affair of the invasion had now taken, and the time when it was expected to
take place being allowed to elapse without any preparations on the part of
France, a suspicion began to be entertained by the members of the Concert,
that the cardinal never had any intention to invade Scotland, and that the
whole was a scheme of Drummond’s to keep alive the spirit of party in
Scotland, and to make himself pass for useful in the eyes of his employers.
To ascertain the real state of the case, Murray of Broughton, at the
suggestion of Lord Traquair, was sent to Paris in the month of January,
1743. He took London on his way, but before he reached the capital, he heard
of the death of Cardinal Fleury. After staying a short time in London,
Murray went privately to Paris, where he met Drummond and Sempil, who
managed the Chevalier’s affairs in France. They stated to him, that in all
probability the scheme of invasion would have been carried into effect, had
not the army of Marshal Maillebois been sent towards Hanover instead of the
coast of Flanders, as at first intended; and that from the interest taken by
the cardinal in the affairs of the Stuarts, he had put all the papers
relating to them into the hands of Monsieur Amelot, the secretary for
foreign affairs.
At an audience which Murray
afterwards had with Monsieur Amelot at Versailles, the foreign secretary
told him that, on being made acquainted by Sempil with the cause of Murray’s
journey, he had informed the King of France of it, and that his majesty had
authorised him to assure Mr. Murray that he had the interest of the Stuart
family as much at heart as any of the gentlemen who had signed the memorial
of association, and that as soon as he had an opportunity he would put the
scheme into execution.
Shortly after this interview,
Murray left Paris for London, accompanied by Drummond, who came over to
obtain the assurances required by the French court from the English Tories
and Jacobites. After remaining a few days in London, Murray returned to
Edinburgh, to report to his friends the result of his mission. Drummond
stopped at London, where he met Mr. Erskine of Grange, but although
overtures were then, it is believed, made to Lord Barrymore, Sir John Hynde
Cotton, and Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, they declined to give any assurance
or promise of support in writing. By desire of Drummond, Lord Traquair met
him in London shortly after his arrival to assist him in his negotiations.
At first view it may appear
singular, and the circumstances must convey a very sorry idea of the
councils of the Chevalier do St. George, that a person of so little weight
and influence as Drummond, who was utterly unknown to the English Tories and
Jacobites, should have been sent on such an important mission; but when it
is considered that some of the leading Jacobites were proscribed and in
exile, and that those at home were strictly watched by the government, and
were therefore afraid to commit themselves by any overt act, it cannot
excite surprise that the Chevalier availed himself of the services of one
whom he considered "an honest and sensible man." Drummond was,
however, considered, even by his original employers, as a person unfit to
execute the trust reposed in him, and Lord John Drummond, one of the seven
who had signed the association, was quite indignant when he found him
engaged in the mission to England. Nor was Sempil, between whom and Drummond
a close intimacy subsisted, more acceptable to the Scottish Jacobites, some
of whom he offended by his forwardness.
During the earlier part of
the year 1743, the French ministry were too much occupied with the war in
Germany to pay much attention to the affairs of the Stuarts; but towards the
close of that year they began to meditate an invasion of Great Britain. The
British parliament met in the beginning of December, when a motion was made
in the house of peers by the Earl of Sandwich, for an address to the crown
to discontinue the Hanoverian troops in British pay, in order to remove the
national discontent, which was represented to be so violent, that nothing
but their dismission could appease it. The motion was negatived, but renewed
in another shape on the army estimates being brought forward, when it shared
the same fate. The attention of the French ministry being drawn to these and
similar discussions, and to the general dissatisfaction which seemed to
pervade the people of Great Britain, by the agents and partizans of the
exiled family, backed by the influence of Cardinal Tencin, entered upon the
project of an invasion in good earnest. The cardinal, who now had great
influence in the councils of France, had, while a resident at Rome, been
particularly noticed by the Chevalier de St. George, by whose influence he
had been raised to the cardinalate, and he was moved as much by gratitude to
his patron as by ambition to bring about the restoration of the Stuarts. The
court of Versailles, indeed, required little inducement to engage in an
enterprise which, whether it succeeded or not, would at all events operate
as a diversion in favour of France in her contest with the house of Austria,
whose chief support was Great Britain; but it is not improbable that they at
this time contemplated a more serious attempt. In intimating, however, his
resolution to undertake the expedition, the King of France notified to the
Chevalier de St. George that it was to be kept a profound secret, and that
neither the Duke of Ormond nor Lord Marischal should be told, till the
enterprise was ready to be put into execution.
The command of the troops
designed for this expedition, amounting to 15,000 men, was given to the
celebrated Marshal Saxe; and the naval part, consisting of thirteen ships of
the line, besides transports, collected at Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne,
was intrusted to Monsieur de Roquefeuille, an officer of considerable
experience and capacity. This force was destined for the coast of Kent, and
a smaller force was to be landed in Scotland under the command of Lord
Marischal.
While the preparations for
the expedition were going on, Cardinal Tencin kept up an active
correspondence with the Chevalier de St. George. As James felt rather
disinclined to accompany the expedition himself, he proposed that his eldest
son, Charles, then in his twenty-third year, should go in his stead; but as
it was doubtful whether the prince would arrive in time to join the
expedition, the Chevalier sent an express to the Duke of Ormond requesting
him to accompany the expedition, and to act as regent, by virtue of a
commission of regency formerly granted him, until the prince should arrive.
On arriving in England, the duke was directed to advise with the principal
friends of the family, among whom he particularly enumerated the Duke of
Beaufort, the Earls of Barrymore, Westmoreland, and Orrery, Lord Cobham, and
Sirs Watkin Williams Wynne, John Hynde Cotton, and Robert Abdy. Having
obtained the consent of the French court to this arrangement, the cardinal,
upon the completion of the preparations for the expedition, despatched a
messenger to Rome to request the attendance of the young prince at Paris.
Accordingly, on the morning of the 9th of January, 1744, Prince Charles,
accompanied by his brother Henry and two or three attendants, left Rome
before break of day, but they had not proceeded far when they parted, the
prince on his route to France and the duke to Cisterna. The former was
disguised as a Spanish courier, and took only one servant along with him on
his journey. To account for the departure of the two brothers, it was given
out at Rome that they had gone to a boar hunt, and so well was the secret of
the prince’s real destination kept, that nearly a fortnight elapsed before
it was discovered.
Provided with passports
furnished by Cardinal Aquaviva, the prince travelled through Tuscany and
arrived at Genoa. From Genoa he proceeded to Savona, where he embarked in a
felucca, and passing by Monaco arrived at Antibes. From the latter place he
proceeded to Paris, where he met Marshal Saxe and other officers belonging
to the expedition, and after a private audience of the French king, he set
out incognito for the coast of Picardy. The route by Genoa and Antibes was
selected as the safest, and, from the season of the year, the most
expeditious; but so unfavourable was the weather, that the prince had to
stop some days at different places, and when he reached Antibes he was
recognised, and information of his arrival there and of his departure for
Paris was sent to the British government by persons in its interest.
Hitherto the British ministry do not appear to have had any suspicion that
the armaments at Brest, Boulogne, and other French ports, were destined for
the shores of Britain, but the appearance of the eldest Son of the Chevalier
de St. George in France opened their eyes to the dangers which now menaced
them. At this time the military force in England did not exceed 6,000 men,
so that if the threatened invasion had taken place, the result might have
been disastrous to the reigning family.
Meanwhile, the French fleet,
consisting of 15 ships of the line and 5 frigates, under M. de Roquefeuille,
sailed from Brest, and for several days displayed itself in the channel.
Knowing the object for which these ships had put to sea, the government was
greatly alarmed, and not without cause; for, besides the paucity of troops
in the island, they had only six ships of the line at home ready for sea,
the grand fleet being then in the Mediterranean. The activity and
preparations of the government corresponded with the magnitude of the danger
with which it was threatened. Orders were instantly sent to fit out and man
all the ships of war in the different ports of the channel. These orders
were so promptly obeyed, that in a few days an English fleet of three ships
of 100 guns, four of 90, six of 70, and six of 50, was collected at Spithead
under the command of Sir John Norris. Several regiments were immediately
marched to the southern coast of England; all governors and commanders were
ordered to repair forthwith to their respective posts; the forts at the
mouth of the Thames and Medway were put in a posture of defence; and the
militia of Kent were directed to assemble to defend the coast in case of an
invasion.
On the 15th of February, the
arrival of Prince Charles in France, the preparations along the French
coast, and the appearance of the French fleet in the English channel, were
announced to parliament in a message from the king. Both houses joined in an
address, in which they declared their indignation at the design formed in
favour of "a popish pretender," and assured his majesty they would
take measures to frustrate so desperate and insolent an attempt. The city of
London, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the principal towns in
Great Britain, almost all the corporations and communities of the kingdom,
the clergy of the establishment, the dissenting ministers, and the Quakers,
or Society of Friends, presented similar addresses. Ademand was made from
the States-general of the 6,000 auxiliaries which by treaty they had engaged
to furnish on such occasions; and this force was immediately granted.
Forgetful of the wrongs which he had suffered at the hands of the
government, the Earl of Stair tendered his services, and was reappointed
commander-in-chief of the forces in Great Britain. Several noblemen of the
first rank followed his example, among whom was the Duke of Montague, who
was permitted to raise a regiment of horse. Orders were sent to bring over
the 6,000 British troops from Flanders; and both houses of parliament, in a
second address, exhorted the king to augment his forces by sea and land, in
such manner as he should think necessary at this dangerous juncture of
affairs. The habeas corpus act was suspended for six months; several
suspected persons were taken into custody; the usual proclamation was issued
for putting the laws in execution against the unfortunate Catholics and
nonjurors, who were ordered to retire ten miles from London; and every other
precaution, deemed necessary for the preservation of the public tranquillity,
was adopted.
Meanwhile the preparations
for invasion were proceeding rapidly at Boulogne and Dunkirk, under the eye
of Prince Charles. Roquefeuille had in his excursion in the channel come in
sight of Spithead; and, as he could perceive no ships there, he imagined
that the English ships had retired within their harbours. Judging the
opportunity favourable, he detached M. de Barriel with five ships of war to
hasten the embarkation at Dunkirk, and to order the transports thereupon to
put to sea. Roquefeuille then sailed up the channel with the remainder of
his fleet as far as Dungeness, a promontory on the coast of Kent, off which
he anchored to await the arrival of the transports. Having received
intelligence of Roquefeuille’s arrival from an English frigate which came
into the Downs, Sir John Norris left Spithead with the British fleet, and
doubling the South Foreland from the Downs, on the 23d of February
discovered the French fleet at anchor. Though the wind was against him, Sir
John endeavoured, by availing himself of the tide, to come up and engage the
French squadron; but the tide failing, he was obliged to anchor when about
two leagues from the enemy. He intended to attack them next morning, but M.
de Roquefeuille, not judging it advisable to risk an engagement, weighed
anchor after sunset, and favoured by a hard gale of wind from the north-east
which blew during the night, ran down the channel and got into Brest harbour.
So violent was the gale, that all the English fleet (two ships only
excepted,) parted with their cables and were driven out to sea, and before
they could have returned to their station, the transports, under convoy of
the five ships of war despatched by Roquefeuille, might have disembarked the
army under Marshal Saxe had the storm not reached the French coast; but the
tempest, which merely forced the English ships to quit their moorings, was
destructive to the expedition, and utterly disconcerted the design of
invading England.
On the very day on which the
two fleets discovered each other, Marshal Saxe, accompanied by Charles
Edward, arrived at Dunkirk, and proceeded to get his troops embarked as fast
as possible; 7,000 men were actually shipped, and proceeded to sea that day
with a fair wind, but in the evening the wind changed to the east, and blew
a hurricane. The embarkation ceased, several of the transports which had put
to sea were wrecked, many soldiers and seamen perished, and a considerable
quantity of warlike stores was lost. The remainder of the transports were
damaged to such an extent that they could not be speedily repaired.
Such was the result of an
expedition planned with great judgment and conducted with such secrecy as to
have escaped the vigilance of the government till on the very eve of its
being carried into execution. After the discomfiture it had met with from
the elements, and the formidable attitude which England, aroused to a sense
of the imminent danger she was in, had now assumed, the French court must
have instantly abandoned, as it is believed it did abandon, any idea of
renewing the enterprise; but Charles Edward, sanguine of success, and in no
shape discouraged by the catastrophe which had happened, daily importuned
Marshal Saxe to re-embark his troops and proceed to England; but the marshal
excused himself, by urging the necessity of fresh instructions from court
and the previous repair of the damaged transports. The French ministry,
however, finally resolved to postpone the expedition.
Although war may be said to
have virtually commenced between Great Britain and France by the battle of
Dettingen, which was fought between the allies and the French in the month
of June, 1743, no formal declaration of war was issued by either power till
the month of March following, after the expedition against England had been
given up.
After the failure and
abandonment, of the enterprise, Prince Charles retired to Gravolincs, where
he lived several months in private, under the assumed name of the Chevalier
Douglas. Ever since his arrival in France he had been forced by the French
court to preserve an incognito, which, though highly approved of by Drummond
and Sempil, his father’s agents, was productive of great uneasiness to the
Chevalier de St. George, who could not understand the reason for affecting
to conceal a fact which was notorious to all the world.
The preparations for invasion
had raised, not without foundation, great hopes of a restoration in the
minds of the Scottish Jacobites; but when they ascertained that the
expedition was relinquished, they felt all that bitterness of disappointment
which the miscarriage of any cherished scheme is sure to engender. They did
not however despair of effecting their object ultimately, and, in the
meantime, the leading members of the Concert despatched a messenger to the
prince to assure him of their attachment to his cause, and inform him of the
state of the country and the dispositions of the people. About the same time
Murray of Broughton went to Paris, by advice of the Earl of Traquair, to
ascertain the exact situation of affairs. Here he was introduced to the
prince by Drummond and Sempil. At a private interview which he had with
Charles the following day, Murray stated, that from the absurd and
contradictory nature of the communications made by the prince’s agent at
Paris, they had, as it appeared to him, a design to impose upon him with the
intention of serving themselves. Charles alluded to the association which
had been formed at Edinburgh, said that he did not doubt that the King of
France intended to invade Britain in the ensuing spring,—that he was
already preparing for it, and intended to execute it as soon as the campaign
in Flanders was over; but that whether the King of France undertook the
expedition or not, he himself was determined to go to Scotland. Murray,
thereupon, endeavoured to show him that such an attempt would be desperate,
as he could not at the utmost expect to be joined by more than 4,000 or
5,000 men; but notwithstanding Murray’s representations, Charles repeated
his determination of going to Scotland. Murray says that he was so much
against the undertaking, that he spoke to Sir Thomas Sheridan —an Irish
gentleman who enjoyed the prince’s confidence — to endeavour to persuade
him against it, and that Sir Thomas told him, on his arrival in Scotland,
that he had done so, but to no purpose. On returning to Scotland Murray
reported to the members of the association all that had passed at the
conference with the prince; and all of them, except the Duke of Perth,
declared themselves opposed to the prince’s resolution of coming to
Scotland without troops. Murray then wrote a letter to Charles, stating the
opinion of his friends, and representing the ruinous consequences which
might ensue from such a rash undertaking. This letter was committed to the
care of a gentleman who went to London in the month of January, 1745; but he
neglected to forward it, and it was returned to Murray in the month of
April. Murray made several attempts afterwards to forward the letter to
France, and at last succeeded; but it never came to the hands of the prince,
who departed for Scotland before the letter reached its destination.
During the spring of 1745,
the agents of the Chevalier de St. George renewed their solicitations at the
French court for another expedition; but Louis and his ministers were too
much occupied with preparations for the campaign in Flanders to pay much
attention to such applications. They however continued to amuse the Jacobite
negotiators with assurances of conditional support; but James began to
perceive that little or no reliance could be placed upon such promises. To
relieve himself from the ennui occasioned by the failure of the
expedition, and the state of seclusion in which he was kept by the French
government, and to obtain some knowledge of military tactics, Charles
applied for permission to make a campaign with the French army in Flanders;
but although he was warmly backed in his application by his father, Louis
refused to accede to his wish. Though frustrated in his expectations of any
immediate aid from France, and denied the trifling gratification of making
a campaign, Charles manifested little of the restlessness and hauteur which
he afterwards displayed on his return, from Scotland. Though he had much
reason, as he observed, "to be out of humour," he resolved,
notwithstanding, to bear with patience the disappointment which he had
experienced.
To ease his mind from the
anxieties which pressed upon it, the Duke of Fitzjames and other friends of
his family, invited the prince to pass the spring at their country-seats in
the neighbourhood of Paris, where, amid the society of his friends and rural
recreations, he seemed, for a time, to forget the object for which he had
come to France. |
