Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/125

Rh am here." Seldom have prince and subject met under such circumstances of adversity. As the royal wanderer had long been a stranger to a comfortable meal, some minced collops were fried for him with butter in a large saucepan, to which the luxury of a silver spoon was added; and poor Charles, after partaking very heartily of these savoury viands, could not help exclaiming, "Now, gentlemen, I live like a prince!" Turning to Lochiel, he asked, "Have you always fared so well during your retreat?" "Yes, sir," replied the chief, "for nearly three months past I have been hereabout with my cousin Cluny; he has provided for me so well, that I have had plenty of such as you see, and I thank Heaven your royal highness has got through so many dangers to take a part."

Soon after this meeting, two vessels of war, despatched by the French government, arrived, and in these Charles and about a hundred of his adherents, of whom Lochiel was one, embarked at Lochnanuagh, on the 20th of September. Soon after his arrival in France, Lochiel received the command of a regiment in the French service, to which the young Chevalier wished a title of British nobility to be added; but this the Prince's father refused, observing very justly, that it would create envy in the other Highland chiefs who might expect a similar distinction; and that Lochiel's interest and reputation in his own country, and his being at the head of a regiment in France, would give him more consideration there than any empty title he could bestow. By this time, however, the mere question of a coronet was of little importance to the brave and good Lochiel, for he died in his place of exile in 1748. At his death, he left two sons, of whom John, the eldest, succeeded to his father's regiment, but died in early life. Charles, the younger, who succeeded to the family claims of his brother, obtained leases from the British Crown of parts of the family estate upon very easy terms, and received a commission in the 71st Highlanders, to which regiment he added a company of clansmen of his own raising. On the regiment being ordered for foreign service, his Camerons refused to embark without him, upon which, though he was dangerously ill in London, he hurried down to Glasgow to appease them, but found that this had been successfully done by Colonel Fraser of Lovat, the commander of the regiment. This violent exertion, however, was too much for his exhausted strength, so that he died soon afterwards. Nothing, it is said, could exceed the enthusiasm with which the arrival of Charles Cameron was welcomed by the citizens of Glasgow, for it was their conviction that it was his father who had prevented their city from being plundered by the rebel army in 1745.

Another member of the Lochiel family still remains to be mentioned; this was Dr. Archibald Cameron, whose name has already occurred more than once in the course of this notice. After having endured his share of the hardships which befell the rebel army, and aided the Prince in his wanderings among the Highlands, he was one of those who embarked at Lochnanuagh, and reached France in safety. Some doubtful causes, however, not sufficiently explained, but which seem to have been altogether unconnected with politics, induced him to return to Scotland privately in 1749, and subsequently in 1753; but at his last visit he was apprehended, tried at London, and sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn, as one of the attainted persons who had been "out" in 1745. He was the last victim of the fears or the vengeance of government; and many even of its best friends thought that after so long an interval, and on account of his well-known amiable character, his life ought to have been spared.  V.