Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/492

478 doubted this step till something more decided warranted it. The English Jacobites had, when urged to prepare themselves, given very little assurance of earnestness in the matter; and James wrote to Tencin, saying that, if the French court were bent on the expedition, it would be more prudent to defer the journey of the prince till it was actually ready to set out; otherwise, it would at once excite the attention of England, and induce it to make every preparation to defeat the invasion. This was sound advice, and the French government, accordingly, acted upon it by beginning to draw together at Dunkirk fifteen thousand veterans under marshal Saxe. A great number of transports were collected in the channel, and fifteen ships of the line were ready in the harbours of Rochefort and Brest to protect them. These preparations being notified to James, on the 23rd of December, 1743, he put his signature to various important acts. Amongst these were a proclamation to the British people, to be issued on landing; a commission, declaring prince Charles his regent, with full powers; and a patent, creating lord Lovat duke of Frazer, and royal lieutenant in all the counties north of Spey.

Prince Charles now set out from Rome on the night of the 9th of January, 1744. To escape observation, he gave out that he was going to hunt the boar in the Pontine Marshes and the wilds of the Maremma, as he was used to do at that season. He took with him only one attendant, and, disguising himself as a Spanish courier, he gave to his follower the dignity of a Spanish secretary. It was necessary to use all this precaution, because the king of Sardinia would be ready to seize him on land, and the British admiral, Matthews, by sea. The secret was not even imparted to his younger brother, Henry, for some days. He travelled day and night, reached Savona, and, running in a small boat through the British fleet, in imminent danger of being stopped, he arrived safe at Antibes. Thence he rode post to Paris, where he arrived on the 20th. That same day his father announced the fact of his son's departure and its object at his table, and received the congratulations of his family. On the 29th a secret letter was dispatched to the English government by one of its agents in Rome, giving all the particulars of the prince's departure.

Charles had set out in great exultation, in the assurance that at length France was in earnest in the cause of his family. He was therefore proportionately disappointed and chagrined when, notwithstanding the most earnest entreaties, he was not permitted by the king to have audience of him. LouLs, whilst actively moving in his favour, was to the last moment avoiding the appearance of it. He received the best advice, however, of the banished earl marischal, one of the wisest and most zealous of the Stuart supporters, and of lord Elcho, an equally zealous but secret adherent. He then proceeded to Gravelines, to be ready for the expedition. There he for the first time beheld the white cliffs of the glorious island which his family had lost by its bigotry and despotism, and which he now trusted to regain. He was obliged, however, to maintain the strictest incognito, being attended only by Drummond of Bohaldie, and passing himself as the chevalier Douglas. In his letters to his father he describes the anxious secrecy which he maintained, in constant apprehension that some one should recognise his features. "I often think," he says, "that you would laugh heartily if you saw me going about with a single servant, buying fish and other things, and squabbling for a penny, more or less. . . . Everybody," he added, "is wondering where the prince is. Some put him in one place, and some in another, but nobody knows where he is really; and sometimes he is told news of himself to his face which is very diverting." He was soon, however, joined by the earl marischal, who meant to accompany the expedition to Scotland.

The expedition against England was at this moment actually in motion. The squadrons of Brest and Rochefort were already united under the command of admiral Roquefeuille, and sailing up the channel to clear the way for the transports containing the soldiers. Sir John Norris had been appointed admiral of our channel fleet, consisting of twenty-one ships of the line. Norris had, according to the duchess of Marlborough, lingered when ordered to waylay the Spanish West India fleet, but then he had the excuse of bad weather; now, he had no obstacle. He had lain at Spithead, but had quitted that station and sailed into the Downs, where he was joined by other ships from Chatham; and thus was not only superior in number to the French, but had the advantage of being well acquainted with the coasts, he having long been captain of Deal Castle. Roquefeuille sailed right up to the Isle of Wight, and, observing no vessels of Spithead, he, in his French egotism, concluded that the fleet had sought shelter in Portsmouth harbour. He therefore lost no time in dispatching a small vessel to Dunkirk to hasten on his armament. Seven thousand men were instantly sent on board transports, and the prince and marshal Saxe accompanied them. Roquefeuille, meantime, proceeding on his voyage, came to anchor off Dungeness, which he had no sooner done than he beheld the British fleet bearing down upon him in much greater force than his own, for he had only fifteen ships of the line and five frigates. The destruction of the French fleet appeared inevitable, but Sir John Norris this time justly incurred the censure of lingering. He thought, from the state of the tide and the approach of night, it was better to defer the attack till morning; and, when morning came, no Frenchmen were to be seen. The French admiral, much more active than poor old Sir John, had slipped his cables and made the best of his way homewards.

Tho next day, that Providence which has on so many occasions defeated the attempts to invade "the inviolate island of the brave and free," sent out His tempests and scattered the approaching transports. Sir John thought the storm quite sufficient excuse for not pursuing; but the winds pursued the invaders, and blowing furiously direct from London towards Dunkirk, scattered the French transports, sunk some of the largest of them with all their men. wrecked others on the coast, and made the rest glad to recover their port. Charles waited impatiently for the cessation of the tempest to put to sea again, but the French ministers were discouraged by the disaster, and by the discovery of so powerful a British fleet in the channel. The army was withdrawn from Dunkirk, marshal Saxe was appointed to the command in Flanders, and the expedition for the present was relinquished.