Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/359

A.D. 1715.] did numbers of other Highlanders, amongst them the Camerons of Lochiel and the Stuarts of Appin.

After the battle Argyll satisfied himself with retiring to Stirling, and Mar resumed his position at Perth.

Such was the extraordinary battle of Sheritfmuir. It was in this battle that Gordon of Glenbucket, indignant at Mar drawing off his troops, made the exclamation which became so famous—"Oh, for an hour of Dundee!" Even after this there was ample opportunity for Mar to renew the contest. He had still forces superior to Argyll; and to keep up their spirit, and even to keep them together, the only way was to show confidence. General Hamilton urged him strenuously to this course. "If we have not yet gained a victory," he said, "we ought to fight Argyll once a week till we make it one." But nothing could infuse a soul into Mar. His delay and indecision had undermined the reliance of his troops. The Highlanders and Lowlanders, having nothing else to do, had quarrelled, as they always did in such cases; and the Highlanders, from these causes, and some of them because they had obtained a good booty, began to steal away into their hills. Then came the news that lord Sutherland was advancing from the north with the Monroes, the Mackays, and the other clans, and that Forbes of Culloden and the infamous Simon Frazer had taken Inverness from the insurgents. Frazer, whom we have seen so active in raising the rebellion, had now suddenly turned round in order to obtain the headship of his clan, which now resided in a juvenile heiress. On receiving this news, Huntly and Seaforth, who were only waiting for an excuse, led off their contingents, on the plea that it was necessary to protect their districts from Sutherland.

Whilst those causes were every day thinning Mar's army, the duke of Argyll received information that the six thousand Dutch troops were on their march to join him. Probably Mar had heard this too, for he now showed an earnest desire to come to terms. He set at liberty colonel Lawrence, and sent him as a bearer of his overtures to Argyll. He also employed the good offices of the countess of Murray, the duke's aunt. Argyll received the proposals with great friendliness. He lamented that he was not authorised to treat with any but individuals, but informed Mar that he would immediately apply for enlarged powers. But in this he was unsuccessful. The government had heard some whispers of Argyll's doubtful views, and declined to enlarge his powers. They were now in the ascendant. Ormonde's threatened insurrection in the west had vanished from the sky like a thundercloud. Forster and Derwentwater were crushed, and the Dutch forces had arrived. They were in no disposition for leniency, but for making a severe example of the rebels. Argyll was ordered, on the arrival of the Dutch reinforcement, to dislodge Mar from Perth, and make an end of the insurrection. This was deferred only through a heavy fall of snow.

At this juncture arrived the pretender. His delay till this moment had been created by no fault of his own. Lord Stair, the English ambassador in Paris, kept such an acute look-out, that he was immediately aware of every movement in favour of or by the pretender. The regent, who would have been glad to be well rid of the pretender, and the anxiety and expense which he occasioned to France, was, on the other hand, afraid of letting the English government perceive any of his acts in furtherance of the pretender's scheme. Stair had procured the stoppage and unloading of the Scottish ships at Havre, but, being soon informed that a messenger had arrived from England to the pretender, having come disguised as the servant of a gentleman, and brought the most encouraging letters of the pretender's affairs in England and Scotland, of the promising movements in Northumberland and in the Highlands, so that, in consequence, the pretender's plate, equipage, and other property taken from the unloaded ships, with the powder and ammunition, were returned to him and secured for his use — he immediately waited on the regent, and thanked him for "seizing the arms and ammunition at Havre, and for refusing to see Ormonde or Bolingbroke." He also assured him that the information that the regent had given him that the pretender would not attempt to get over to England was, he found, quite correct, for Stair had heard that Ormonde and Bolingbroke were arranging matters for an invasion, but that the pretender was not to go himself till the tories had declared for him. Stair saw by the coolness of the regent's looks that he had grown more confident of the pretender's affairs, and he next waited on him to inform him that he had received orders from king George to conclude a treaty securing the succession of the two lines of France and England, and that it was to guarantee the maintenance of the regency under his royal highness that he was prepared to complete these treaties at once, but that, if any delays were interposed by France, the king would proceed to put down the rebellion in Scotland, and leave the treaty unexecuted, and that it was for the regent to consider which was best for the interests of France. So long as the news continued good from England, Stair could make but little impression. The regent avoided seeing him, though he called four times. There was also a determined endeavour on the part of the pretender's creatures and the women about his court to get rid of Bolingbroke, who was too acute and proud either to overlook or tolerate their squabbles and wretched intrigues, and they engaged Ormonde in this endeavour.

But speedily came the news of the rout of Preston and the check at Sheriffmuir, and the French court was thunderstruck by it. They had begun to call the pretender king of England openly, but now all that was abandoned, and the regent professed to be in earnest to prevent any attempt on the part of the pretender to go over into England; it was, however, only pretence. Meantime the pretender's partisans in Scotland were urging his going over with ever-increasing earnestness. Mar represented his position as now far better than before the battle of Sheriffmuir, and that his army amounted to sixteen thousand men. Bolingbroke, on the other hand, was averse to the pretender going to Scotland on the faith of such representations, and the pretender himself did all in his power to persuade the duke of Berwick to go over and take the management of the war. He sent him a commission for this purpose, but Berwick was too clear-sighted. All that he would do was to allow his son to embark in it, but he himself records the failure of that endeavour. The duke's son, accompanied by the chevalier Erskine and old Bulkeley, took over with him one hundred thousand