The highlanders had for the most part fought valiantly; their losses were great, and few of the prisoners were to see their families again. The rigors of triumphant vengeance already were commencing to spend themselves on them. The Duke of Cumberland and General Hawley did not feel the sentiments which had formerly affected Charles Edward after the battle of Prestonpans. The prisoners and the wounded suffered hunger and thirst. A certain number of the fugitives were burned in the cottages where they had concealed themselves. "It is necessary to draw a little of this country's blood," said the Duke of Cumberland. "We weaken this folly, but we do not cure it. Even if we have destroyed them, the soil is so impregnated by this rebellion that it will crop out again." Already the prince's agents were scouring the country seeking fugitives of note, searching houses, and leaving traces of their passage by fire and sword. "I think it will not be long before I lay my hand on old Lovat," wrote the duke. "I have several detachments on the way to search for him, and papers which suffice to convict him of high treason."
It was at the house of Lord Lovat, the most perfidious of all his secret adherents, that Charles Edward had sought refuge after leaving the battle-field of Culloden. The cruel old man, grown hoary in intrigues, had refused to join him personally, whilst sending him his son. He was henceforward determined to sacrifice all his possessions in order to save his life. He coldly received the unfortunate prince, who would not sleep under his roof, and who pursued his way as far as the abandoned castle of Invergary. A fisherman of the neighborhood brought two salmon that he had just caught in the little river. The prince and his companions were worn out with fatigue, discouraged, and convinced with reason that the check was definite and the cause lost. Lord George Murray had rallied twelve hundred men at Ruthven. Prudent in the moment of success, dauntless in the hour of reverse, he advised the prince to maintain the struggle at every risk. "We can hold out in the mountains so long as there is a cow and a measure of meal in Scotland," said he. A message from the prince thanked his faithful adherents for their zeal, asking of them, as a last favor, to think of their personal safety. All were gravely compromised; danger was imminent; they scattered, and the rebellion of 1745-1746 was over.
While the Duke of Cumberland established himself in Fort Augustus, exercising to the full all those cruelties which made him deserve the name of butcher, while the most fortunate of his enemies escaped with great difficulty, Prince Charles Edward, as his grand-uncle, King Charles II., had formerly done after the battle of Worcester, wandered from hiding-place to hiding-place, exhausted, dying of hunger, a hundred times recognized, forced to trust to the poorest people, to the most powerless of his friends, yet everywhere served, assisted, defended, with a devotion which was proof against everything. He had taken refuge in the little archipelago which bears the name of Long Island. The English vessels cruised along the coasts; houses were incessantly searched; peasants were arrested; the danger was increasing every day. A young girl, Miss Flora Macdonald, who was on a visit in the Isle of Wight succeeded in procuring herself a passport for the Isle of Skye. She disguised the prince, and, taking him in her suite as a lady's maid, went for refuge to the house of her cousin, Sir Alexander Macdonald, who had been constantly adverse to Charles Edward's attempt, and had ended by actively opposing it. His wife, Lady Margaret, seconded Flora's efforts. The castle was filled with militia officers, but she succeeded in effecting the prince's escape. Some days later he crossed to the Isle of Rosay, almost at the moment when his deliverer, Flora Macdonald, was arrested and conducted to London, where her detention lasted about a year. Some people found fault with Lady Margaret's conduct, the Princess of Wales being of the number. "In such a case would you not have done as much?" said her husband, turning quickly upon her. "I hope so; I am sure of it." The persevering fidelity of the Jacobites endowed Flora Macdonald. After five months of perils and sufferings courageously endured, the fugitive prince at last set foot in France. He embarked on the 20th of September at Lochmanagh, almost at the same place where he had formerly landed full of the most joyous and brilliant hopes. "Nothing troubled him, neither fatigues nor privations," said one of the temporary companions of his flight. "He alone should suffer," he said; but when he thought of all those who were in peril for his sake, his heart was strained and on the verge of losing courage. His name long dwelt in the popular songs of the highlands, which remained persistently faithful to the remembrance of common efforts and dangers.
"I have had sons; I no longer have any. I have brought them up with difficulty, but I would be willing to bear them all again and to lose them for love of Charles."
Whilst the prince, the object of a devotion so passionately disinterested, was receiving at the court of Louis XV. a welcome as impressive as it was vain, his illustrious partisans thronged the prisons and scaffolds, while their lands were laid waste by the English soldiers. In vain did Duncan Forbes claim the application of laws. "Laws!" replied the conqueror; "I will make laws with a brigade." Colonel Townley and his companions had already endured their horrible sentence at Kennington Common in sight of an eager and terrified crowd. Lord Cromarty, Lord Kilmarnock, and Lord Balmerino were confined in the Tower. When they were brought before the Court of Peers the first two pleaded guilty. Lord Cromarty implored the compassion of his judges for his wife and eight children. Lord Balmerino pleaded not guilty. "I wish to be judged by God and my peers," said he proudly. All three were condemned to the punishment of traitors; Lord Cromarty alone obtained pardon. "I do not consider him worthy of life who is not ready to die," said Lord Balmerino when his sentence was confirmed. As the sheriff pronounced the customary formula, "God save King George," Kilmarnock uttered an "Amen." Balmerino raised his head. "So God save King James," exclaimed he; "if I had a thousand lives I would give them all for this cause." He knelt down on the scaffold. "My God, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, bless King James, and receive my soul," he uttered in a loud voice. The agitated executioner had scarcely strength to cut his head off.
Last of all, Lord Lovat had suffered the punishment merited by his entire life rather than by his part in the Jacobite rebellion. A coward and a suppliant as long as he believed pardon possible, he recovered on the day before his death the theatrical pride of his best days, and even on the scaffold he murmured the line of Horace: "Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori." Legal measures had followed these bloody executions; the highlanders were disarmed; hereditary jurisdictions were abolished; their national costume was forbidden to the mountaineers. Along with the power of the Jacobites the feudal spirit was slowly extinguished in Scotland. Keppoch had sorrowfully said on the battle-field of Culloden, when he saw the Macdonalds quietly retire without fighting, "Have I lived long enough to see myself deserted by the children of my people?" Death had seconded fatigue and private grudges. "It is to the Duke of Cumberland that we owe this peace," was what was written on the monument of Culloden battle-field.
The anger and harshness of the English government in regard to the Jacobites multiplied the checks that the coalition had encountered everywhere on the continent, with the exception of Italy. At the moment when the Duke of Cumberland was defeating Charles Edward at Culloden, Antwerp surrendered to Louis XV. in person. Mons, Namur, and Charleroi were not long in yielding. The victory of Raucoux in 1746, and that of Lawfelt in 1747, had carried the glory of Marshal Saxe to its height. Originally a foreigner like him, like him serving France gloriously, the Count Lowendall hard pressed the Dutch, who were against their inclination engaged in the struggle. He had already taken Ecluse and Sas de Gand; Berg-op-Zoom was besieged. As in 1672, the French invasion had given rise to a political revolution in Holland. The aristocratic bourgeoisie, which had regained power, yielded to the efforts of the popular party, directed by the House of Nassau and sustained by England. "The republic needs a chief to oppose an ambitious and perfidious neighbor who makes game of the faith of treaties," said a deputy of the States-General on the day when the stadtholdership was proclaimed, which was re-established in favor of William IV., grand-nephew of the great William III. and son-in-law of George II. King of England. The young prince immediately took command of the Dutch troops, but a good understanding did not long exist between him and the Duke of Cumberland. "Our two young heroes scarcely understand one another," wrote Mr. Pelham on the 14th of August, 1747. "Ours is open, frank, resolute, and a little hot-headed; the other is presumptuous, pedantic, argumentative, and obstinate; in what a situation do we find ourselves? We must ask God to come to our aid, for we can direct nothing. There is nothing to be done but appease quarrels and obtain time to breathe. Perhaps somebody will recover common sense."