Chapter XXXVII: A.d. 1746 (4)

The career of Charles in the hereditary dominions of his ancestors was now ended. Attended by seven persons only, he had, with daring hardihood, landed about fourteen months before on the spot where he was destined to depart as a fugitive, and, with a handful of men, had raised the standard of insurrection and set the whole power of the government at open defiance. The early part of his progress had been brilliant. With a few thousand undisciplined mountaineers, he had overrun land, in the face of three hostile armies, had carried dismay to the capital. The retreat from Derby, the merit of which belongs to Lord George Murray exclusively, quieted for a time the apprehensions of the government; but the defeat at Falkirk again convinced it that the succession settlement was still in danger; and that, perhaps, at no distant day, the young and daring adventurer might place the son of James II. upon the throne from which his father had been expelled. Even after his retreat to Inverness, the supporters of the house of Hanover could have no assurance that the Duke of Cumberland’s army might not share the fate of its predecessors, in which event the new dynasty would probably have ceased to reign; but the triumphs of Charles were at an end, and the fatal field of Culloden, after witnessing the bravery of his troops, became the grave of his hopes. Then commenced that series of extraordinary adventures and wonderful escapes, of which some account has been given, and which could scarcely have been credited had they not been authenticated beyond the possibility of dispute. During the brilliant part of his career Charles had displayed great moderation and forbearance; and though his spirits sank when compelled to retreat, yet in the hour of adversity, when beset with perils and exposed to privations which few princes could have endured, he exhibited uncommon fortitude, strength of mind, and cheerfulness.

In his wanderings Charles laid down a rule to himself, to which he scrupulously adhered, never to intrust any person from whom he was about to depart with the secret of his route, so that, with the exception of the few friends who were about him for the time being, none of those to whom he had been formerly indebted for his preservation knew the place of his retreat. This was a wise precaution, but was attended with this disadvantage, that it prevented him from acquiring early information of the arrival of the French vessels upon the coast. But no means he was able to take for his own security could have saved him, had he not had a guarantee in the incorruptible fidelity of the persons into whose hands he committed himself. At the risk of their own destruction they extended to him the aid of their protection, and relieved his necessities. Many of these persons were of desperate fortunes, and there were others in the lowest ranks of life; yet, among nearly 200 persons to whom Charles must have been known during the five months he wandered as a fugitive, not one ever offered to betray him, though they knew that a price of £30,000 was set upon his head. History nowhere presents such a splendid instance of disinterested attachment to an unfortunate family.

Accompanied by Lochiel, Lochgarry, John Roy Stewart, Dr. Cameron, and a considerable number of other adherents, Charles departed from Lochnanuagh on the 20th of September, and had a favourable passage to the coast of France, where he landed on Monday the 29th of September. He immediately proceeded to Morlaix, whence he despatched Colonel Warren the same day to Paris, to announce his arrival to the French court. He also sent at the same time a letter to his brother Henry, to the same effect, and enclosed a similar one to his father.

FOOTNOTES:

[1240] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p 541.

[1241] Macleod’s Narrative in _Jacobite Memoirs_.

[1242] _Lockhart Papers_, vol. ii. p. 541. _Kirkconnel MS._

[1243] _Kirkconnel MS._

[1244] Macleod’s Narrative.

[1245] _Genuine and True Journal_, p. 16.

[1246] O’Neil’s, Burke’s, and Macleod’s Narratives, in _Jacobite Memoirs_. Macleod was taken prisoner a few days afterwards in Benbecula, by Lieutenant Allan Macdonald, of Knock, in Sleat, in the island of Skye. He was put on board the Furnace, and brought down to the cabin before General Campbell, who examined him most minutely. The general asked him if he had been along with the Pretender? “Yes,” said Donald, “I was along with that young gentleman, and I winna deny it.” “Do you know,” said the general, “what money was upon that gentleman’s head?--No less a sum than thirty thousand pounds sterling, which would have made you and your family happy for ever.” “What then?” replied Donald, “what though I had gotten it? I could not have enjoyed it for two days. Conscience would have gotten the better of me; and although I could have gotten all England and Scotland for my pains, I would not have allowed a hair of his body to be touched if I could hinder it, since he threw himself upon my care.” Campbell observed that he could not much blame him. Donald was sent to London, but released on the 10th of June, 1747. When he arrived in Leith from London, on his return to Skye, he had no money to carry him thither; but his wants were supplied by the Rev. Robert (afterwards bishop) Forbes, an episcopal clergyman in Leith, who set a subscription on foot in that town, and in Edinburgh, “to make out,” as the bishop says, “for honest Palinurus, if possible, a pound sterling, for every week he had served the prince in distress; and,” continues the worthy bishop, “I thank God I was so happy as to accomplish my design directly.” In acknowledgment of his fidelity, Donald was presented by Mr. John Walkinshaw of London, with a large silver snuff-box, handsomely chased, and doubly gilt in the inside. Upon the lid of this box there was the representation of an eight-oared boat, with Donald at the helm, and the eight rowers making their way through a very rough and tempestuous sea. The Long island is seen in the distance upon one of the extremities of the lid, and the boat appears to be just steering into Rossinish, the point of Benbecula where Charles landed after leaving Lochnanuagh. On the other end of the lid there was a landscape of the end of the isle of Skye, as it appears opposite to the Long island, on which the sites of Dunvegan and Gualtergill are marked. The clouds were represented as heavy and lowering, and the rain descending; and above the clouds, i.e., near the hinge, the following motto was engraved:--“Olim hæc meminisse juvabit. Aprilis 26to, 1746.” Upon the bottom, and near the edge of the lid, was this inscription,--“Quid Neptune, paras? Fatis agitamur iniquis.” The following words were engraved on the bottom of the box:--“Donald Macleod of Gualtergill, in the isle of Skye, the faithful Palinurus, æt. 68, 1746.” Below which there was a representation of a dove with an olive branch in its bill. Donald never put any snuff into this box, and when asked the cause by Mr. Forbes, he exclaimed, “Sneeshin in that box! Na, the diel a pickle sneeshin shall ever go into it till the King be restored; and then, I trust in God, I’ll go to London, and then I will put sneeshin in the box, and go to the Prince, and say, ‘Sir, will you take a sneeshin out o’ my box?’”--_Jacobite Memoirs._

Burke, the other trust-worthy individual, who was a native of North Uist, skulked about the hill of Eval, in his native island, for seven weeks, living part of the time on sea-weed and limpets. He afterwards took refuge in a cave, and, when the troubles had subsided, went to Edinburgh, where, unheeded, he spent the remainder of his days as a sedan-carrier or chairman.

[1247] Flora Macdonald’s Narrative. Home’s Works, vol. iii. App. No. 45.

[1248] Father of the well-known Marshal Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum.

[1249] The letter by Armadale to his wife, was as follows:--

“I have sent your daughter from this country lest she should be any
way frightened with the troops lying here. She has got one Betty
Burke, an Irish girl, who, as she tells me, is a good spinster. If
her spinning pleases you, you may keep her till she spin all your
lint; or, if you have any wool to spin, you may employ her. I have
sent Neil Mackechan along with your daughter, and Betty Burke to
take care of them.--I am your dutiful husband,

“HUGH MACDONALD.”

“_June 22, 1746._”

It has been suspected that Armadale was privy to his step-daughter’s design.

[1250] _Kirkconnel MS._

[1251] Soon after this occurrence, Lady Clanranald was taken prisoner, and sent to London. On 1st November, Clanranald, and Boisdale his brother were also apprehended, and shipped for London. They were discharged in the month of June following.

[1252] A few days after parting with Charles, this trusty officer being betrayed by a person in whom he had confided, was taken prisoner. Being brought before Captain Ferguson, and refusing to give any information about the prince, he was stripped, ordered to be put into a rack, and to be whipt. When the last part of this order was about to be executed, he was saved from the intended ignominy by a lieutenant of the Scotch Fusileers, who, drawing his sword, threatened Ferguson with his vengeance if he used an officer in such an infamous manner. O’Neil says that, four days after he was taken, General Campbell sent him word, upon his parole of honour, that if he had any money or effects in the country, and would send them to him, they should be safe; and that as he had always imagined that the word of honour was as sacredly kept in the English army as in others, he went with a detachment for his money and gold watch, which he had hid among the rocks; that he sent to General Campbell by Captain Campbell of Skipness, 450 guineas, his gold watch, broadsword and pistols; but that although he repeatedly applied to him to return him his property, he never obtained it!--O’Neil’s Narrative in _Jacobite Memoirs_.

[1253] Roy Macdonald’s Narrative among the _Forbes Papers_.

[1254] _Genuine and True Journal_, p. 29.

[1255] “Donald Macleod said the prince used to smoke a great deal of tobacco; and as in his wanderings from place to place the pipes behoved to break and turn into short _cutties_, he used to take quills, and putting one into another, ‘and all,’ said Donald, ‘into the end of the _cutty_, this served to make it long enough, and the tobacco to smoke cool.’ Donald added, that he never knew, in all his life, any one better at finding out a shift than the prince was, when he happened to be at a pinch, and that the prince would sometimes sing them a song to keep up their hearts.”--_Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 401.

[1256] Boswell’s _Tour_.

[1257] When Dr. Johnson visited Kingsburgh, in company with Mr. Boswell, in 1774, he slept in the same bed that Charles had occupied twenty-eight years before. “To see (says Boswell) Dr. Samuel Johnson in that bed, in the isle of Skye, in the house of Miss Flora Macdonald, struck me with such a group of ideas, as it is not easy for words to describe, as they passed through the mind. He smiled and said, ‘I have had no ambitious thoughts in it.’”--_Tour to the Hebrides._

[1258] Donald Roy’s Narrative among the _Forbes Papers_.

[1259] Donald Roy’s Narrative.

[1260] Macleod’s _Narrative_.

[1261] Boswell’s _Tour_.

[1262] “John Mackenzie is alive (in 1774); I saw him at Raasay’s house. About eighteen years ago he hurt one of his legs when dancing, and being obliged to have it cut off, he now was going about with a wooden leg. The story of his being a _Member of Parliament_ is not yet forgotten. I took him out a little way from the house, gave him a shilling to drink Raasay’s health, and led him into a detail of the particulars which I have just related. With less foundation, some writers have traced the idea of a Parliament, and of the British Constitution in rude and early times. I was curious to know if he had really heard or understood any thing of that subject, which, had he been a greater man, would probably have been eagerly maintained. ‘Why, John,’ said I, ‘did you think he should be controlled by a Parliament?’ He answered, ‘I thought, Sir, there were many voices against one.’”--_Boswell._

[1263] Idem, p. 227. _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 270.

[1264] Boswell’s _Tour_.

[1265] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 478.

[1266] _Jacobite Memoirs_, pp. 477-8.

[1267] Idem. p. 480.

[1268] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 482. Boswell, in his _Tour_, gives a different version of this story. “After this (breakfast) there came in an old woman, who, after the mode of ancient hospitality, brought warm water, and washed Malcolm’s feet. He desired her to wash the feet of the poor man who attended him. She at first seemed averse to this from pride, as thinking him beneath her, and in the periphrastic language of the Highlanders and the Irish, said warmly, ‘Though I wash your father’s son’s feet, why should I wash his father’s son’s feet?’ She was, however, persuaded to do it.”

[1269] The following is a copy of the note:--

“SIR,--I thank God I am in good health, and have got off as
designed. Remember me to all friends, and thank them for the
trouble they have been at.--I am, Sir, your humble servant.

“JAMES THOMSON.”

“ELLIGHIUL, _July 4th, 1746_.”

[1270] This ‘cutty,’ as a small tobacco-pipe, almost worn to the stump, is called in Scotland, was presented by Malcolm, when at London, to Dr. Burton of York, a fellow-prisoner, who got a fine shagreen case made for it.--_Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 487. Mr. Boswell gives the following sketch of this worthy Highlander in his Tour to the Hebrides: “He was now (1774) sixty-two years of age, hale and well proportioned, with a manly countenance, tanned by the weather, yet having a ruddiness in his cheeks, over a great part of which his rough beard extended. His eye was quick and lively, yet his look was not fierce; but he appeared at once firm and good-humoured. He wore a pair of brogues, tartan hose which came up nearly to his knees, a purple camblet kilt, a black waistcoat, a short green cloth coat bound with gold cord, a yellow bushy wig, a large blue bonnet with a gold thread button. I never saw a figure which gave a more perfect representation of a Highland gentleman. I wished much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite in the true sense of the word.”

[1271] True Journal, p. 47.

[1272] The subsequent history of the estimable Flora Macdonald may be stated in a few words. After her return to Skye, she married, in 1750, young Macdonald of Kingsburgh, whom she accompanied to North Carolina, America, probably in 1774. Young Kingsburgh joined the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment, embodied in 1775, but was taken prisoner in 1776 and committed to Halifax gaol. He afterwards served with the regiment in Canada, holding the rank of captain, and, at the close of the war, returned to Scotland on half-pay. The vessel in which Flora and her husband sailed was attacked by a French privateer, and while Flora, with characteristic spirit, stood on deck, animating the seamen, she was thrown down and had her arm broken. The wanderers, however, arrived in Skye, and never afterwards left it. Flora died on the 4th of March 1790, aged 68, and was interred in the churchyard of Kilmuir, in a spot set apart for the graves of the Kingsburgh family. Kingsburgh died on the 20th September 1795. Flora had seven children--five sons and two daughters; the sons all became officers in the army, and the daughters officers’ wives. Dr. Johnson and Boswell visited Skye in the autumn of 1773, and were entertained at Kingsburgh house by Flora and her husband. Flora, then aged about 51, is described by Johnson as a woman of middle stature, soft features, gentle manners, and elegant presence; and by Boswell as “a little woman, of a genteel appearance, and uncommonly mild and well-bred.”--See Carruthers’ Edition of Boswell’s _Tour to the Hebrides_, p. 143.

[1273] _Jacobite Memoirs_, pp. 488-90, 492.

[1274] _Jacobite Memoirs_, p. 494.

[1275] Author of the Journal and Memoirs, printed among the Lockhart papers, beginning at p. 579.

[1276] Mr. Home mentions an interview with one Macraw in the Braes of Kintail, which is not even alluded to in the narrative of the prince’s escape, drawn up by Glenaladale and others, and printed among the _Lockhart Papers_. If such an interview took place, its omission can only be fairly accounted for by supposing that the writer of that part of the narrative (Captain Alexander Macdonald, a younger brother of the Laird of Dallely,) was not aware of it. The following is Mr. Home’s account of this affair:--

“After having crossed the line of posts, Glenaladale, thinking the West Highlands a very unsafe place for Charles, resolved to conduct him to the Ross-shire Highlands, amongst those Mackenzies who remained loyal, and therefore were not visited with troops. These Mackenzies, Glenaladale thought, would not betray Charles; and the person whom he had pitched upon to confide in was Sir Alexander Mackenzie of Coul. Charles and his attendants, setting out for Ross-shire on foot, suffered greatly in their journey from want of provisions; and when they came to the Braes of Kintail, inhabited by the Macraws, a barbarous people, among whom there are but few gentlemen, necessity obliged them to call at the house of one Christopher Macraw. Glenaladale, leaving Charles and the French officer at some distance, went to Macraw’s house, and told him that he and two of his friends were like to perish for want of food, and desired him to furnish them with some victuals, for which they would pay. Macraw insisted upon knowing who his two friends were, which Glenaladale seemed unwilling to tell. Macraw still insisted, and Glenaladale told him at last that it was young Clan Ronald and a relation of his. Notwithstanding the consequence of the persons, Macraw, though rich for an ordinary Highlander, made Glenaladale pay very dear for some provisions he gave him. Having received the money, he grew better humoured, and desired Glenaladale and the other two to pass the night in his house, which they did. In the course of the conversation they talked of the times, and Macraw exclaimed against the Highlanders who had taken arms with Charles, and said that they and those who still protected him were fools and madmen; that they ought to deliver themselves and their country from distress by giving him up, and taking the reward which government had offered. That night a Macdonald who had been in the rebel army came to Macraw’s house. At first sight he knew Charles, and took an opportunity of warning Glenaladale to take care that Christopher should not discover the quality of his guest.”

[1277] _Kirkconnel MS._

[1278] Chisholm was at Edinburgh many years after the rebellion, and was visited by several persons out of curiosity, some of whom gave him money. In shaking hands with his benefactors he always gave the left hand, and excused himself for offering that hand by stating that as he had shaken hands at parting with the prince, he was resolved never to give his right hand to any man till he saw the prince again.

[1279] Chambers’s _Rebellion_. Stewart’s _Sketches_, i. 59.

[1280] The party in question consisted of about two hundred of Lord Loudon’s Highlanders, under Captain Grant of Knockando, Strathspey.

[1281] Appendix to Home’s Works, vol. iii. No. 46. Cluny himself had several places of concealment on his estate. “He lived for nine years chiefly in a cave, at a short distance from his house, which was burnt to the ground by the king’s troops. This cave was in the front of a woody precipice, the trees and shelving rocks completely concealing the entrance. It was dug out by his own people, who worked by night, and conveyed the stones and rubbish into a lake in the neighbourhood, in order that no vestige of their labour might betray the retreat of their master. In this sanctuary he lived secure, occasionally visiting his friends by night, or when time had slackened the rigour of the search. Upwards of one hundred persons knew where he was concealed, and a reward of £1,000 was offered to any one who should give information against him; and as it was known that he was concealed on his estate, eighty men were constantly stationed there, besides the parties occasionally marching into the country to intimidate his tenantry, and induce them to disclose the place of his concealment. But though the soldiers were animated with the hope of the reward, and though a step of promotion to the officer who should apprehend him was superadded, yet so true were his people, so strict to their promise of secrecy, and so dexterous in conveying to him the necessaries he required, in his long confinement, that not a trace of him could be discovered, nor an individual found base enough to give a hint to his detriment. At length, wearied out with this dreary and hopeless state of existence, and taught to despair of pardon, he escaped to France in 1755, and died there the following year.”--_Stewart’s Sketches_, 3d Edition, vol. i. p. 62.

“The late Sir Hector Munro, then a lieutenant in the 34th regiment, and from his zeal and knowledge of the country and the people, intrusted with the command of a large party, continued two whole years in Badenoch, for the purpose of discovering the chief’s retreat. The unwearied vigilance of the clan could alone have saved him from the diligence of this party. At night Cluny came from his retreat to vary the monotony of his existence, by spending a few of the dark hours convivially with his friends. On one occasion he had been suspected, and got out by a back window just as the military were breaking open the door. At another time, seeing the windows of a house kept close, and several persons going to visit the family after dark, the commander broke in at the window of the suspected chamber, with two loaded pistols, and thus endangered the life of a lady newly delivered of a child, on account of whose confinement these suspicious circumstances had taken place. This shows that there was no want of diligence on the part of the pursuers. Cluny himself became so cautious, while living the life of an outlaw, that on parting with his wife, or his most attached friends, he never told them to which of his concealments he was going, or suffered any one to accompany him,--thus enabling them, when questioned, to answer, that they knew not where he was.”--_Idem._

It may be here stated _en passant_ that Cluny did not leave Scotland from his “dreary and hopeless state of existence,” but in compliance with a special request made to him by Prince Charles. See a letter from the prince to Cluny, of 4th Sept., 1754, among the _Stuart Papers_.

[1282] Vide several letters from Colonel Warren to the Chevalier de St. George and others, among _Stuart Papers_.