Alarmed by the preparations of the Highlanders, and the state of affairs within the city, a meeting of the inhabitants was held, at which it was resolved to surrender the town. For seven days the garrison of the city, kept in constant alarm by the Highlanders, had scarcely enjoyed an hour’s continued repose; and while many of the men had, from illness, absolutely refused to assist any longer in the defence of the city, numbers were hourly leaving it clandestinely by slipping over the walls; so that in several cases the officers of some companies had not more than three or four men left. In this state of matters the only alternative was a surrender; and as a crisis appeared to be at hand, a white flag was exhibited from the walls, and a messenger despatched to the Duke of Perth to request terms. His Grace sent an express to Brampton to know the prince’s pleasure; but his Royal Highness refused to grant any terms to the city unless the castle surrendered at the same time. At the request of the mayor, a cessation of arms was granted till next day; but before the time expired, Colonel Durand, the commander of the castle, agreed to surrender the fortress along with the town. The conditions were, that the liberties and properties of the inhabitants, and all the privileges of the town, should be preserved inviolate;—that both garrisons, on taking an oath not to serve against the house of Stuart for one year, should be allowed to retire,—and that all the arms and ammunition in the castle and the city, and all the horses belonging to the militia, should be delivered up to the prince. This capitulation was signed by the Duke of Perth and Colonel Durand on the night of the 14th.[1003]
Next morning at ten o’clock the Duke of Perth entered the city at the head of his regiment, and was followed by the other regiments at one o’clock in the afternoon. The castle, however, was not given up till next morning. The Duke of Perth shook hands with the men of the garrison, told them they were brave fellows, and offered them a large bounty to enlist in the service of the prince.[1004] The mayor and his attendants went to Brampton, and delivered the keys of the city to the prince.[1005] The duke found 1,000 stand of arms in the castle, besides those of the militia. He also found 200 good horses in the city, and a large quantity of valuable effects in the castle, which had been lodged there by the gentry of the neighbourhood for safety.[1006]
On the day following the surrender, the Chevalier de St. George was proclaimed in the city with the usual formalities; and, to give greater eclat to the ceremony, the mayor and aldermen were compelled to attend with the sword and mace carried before them. Along with the manifestoes formerly noticed, another declaration for England, dated from Rome, 23d December, 1743, was also read, of much the same tenor as the others.
After the Chevalier had been proclaimed, and the different manifestoes read, the corporation went out to meet the prince, who entered the city under a general salute of artillery.[1007]
In many points of view the capture of Carlisle would have been of great importance to the prince, if he had been strong enough to have availed himself of the state of terror which that event, and his subsequent advance into the very heart of England, had thrown the people of that kingdom; but his means were soon found quite inadequate to accomplish his end. Even if his resources had been much greater than ever they were, it seems doubtful whether the jealousies and dissensions, which, at an early period, began to distract his councils, would not have rendered all his exertions, for obtaining the great object of his ambition, unavailable.
The origo mali, the source of the discord, and all the misfortunes, as the Jacobites would say, that flowed from it, are attributed by an individual[1008] who had good opportunities of judging, and whose narrative appears to be impartial, to “the unbounded ambition of Secretary Murray, who from the beginning aimed at nothing less than the whole direction and management of every thing. To this passion he sacrificed what chance there was of a restoration, though that was the foundation on which all his hopes were built. He had an opportunity of securing the prince’s favour long enough before he could be rivalled. He was almost the only personal acquaintance the prince found in Scotland. It was he that had engaged the prince to make this attempt upon so slight a foundation, and the wonderful success that had hitherto attended it was placed to his account. The Duke of Perth, whose character indeed was well known to the prince, judging of Murray’s heart by his own, entertained the highest opinion of his integrity, went readily into all his schemes, and confirmed the prince in the esteem he had already conceived for Murray. After Mr. Kelly was gone, there was only Sir Thomas Sheridan and Mr. Sullivan, of those that had come along with the prince that had any thing to say with him, and these Murray had gained entirely. Lord George Murray was the man the secretary dreaded most as a rival. Lord George’s birth, age, capacity, and experience, would naturally give him great advantage over the secretary; but the secretary had got the start of him, and was determined to stick at nothing to maintain his ground.
“He began by representing Lord George as a traitor to the prince. He assured him that he had joined on purpose to have an opportunity of delivering him up to the government. It was hardly possible to guard against this imposture. The prince had the highest opinion of his secretary’s integrity, and knew little of Lord George Murray, so the calumny had its full effect. Lord George soon came to know the suspicion the prince had of him, and was affected as one may easily enough imagine. To be sure, nothing could be more shocking to a man of honour, and one that was now for the third time venturing his life and fortune for the royal cause. The prince was partly undeceived by Lord George’s gallant behaviour at the battle [of Preston], and had Lord George improved that opportunity he might have perhaps gained the prince’s favour, and got the better of the secretary; but his haughty and overbearing manner prevented a thorough reconciliation, and seconded the malice and malicious insinuations of his rival. Lord George did not altogether neglect making his court. Upon some occasions he was very obsequious and respectful, but had not temper to go through with it. He now and then broke out into such violent sallies, as the prince could not digest, though the situation of his affairs forced him to bear with them.
“The secretary’s station and favour had attached to him such as were confident of success, and had nothing in view but making their fortunes. Nevertheless, Lord George had greater weight and influence in the council, and generally brought the majority over to his opinion, which so irritated the ambitious secretary, that he endeavoured all he could to give the prince a bad impression of the council itself, and engaged to lay it entirely aside. He had like to have prevailed at Carlisle, but the council was soon resumed, and continued ever after to be held upon extraordinary emergencies. It was not in this particular only that Murray’s ambition was detrimental to the prince’s affairs. Though he was more jealous of Lord George Murray than of any body, Lord George was not the only person he dreaded as a rival. There were abundance of gentlemen in the army, in no respect inferior to Mr. Murray, but his early favour gave him an opportunity of excluding most of them from the prince’s presence and acquaintance. All those gentlemen that joined the prince after Murray were made known under the character he thought fit to give of them, and all employments about the prince’s person, and many in the army, were of his nomination. These he filled with such as, he had reason to think, would never thwart his measures, but be content to be his tools and creatures without aspiring higher. Thus some places of the greatest trust and importance were given to little insignificant fellows, while there were abundance of gentlemen of figure and merit, that had no employment at all, and who might have been of great use had they been properly employed.”[1009]
Till the siege of Carlisle, Secretary Murray had been able to disguise his jealousy of Lord George Murray, who, from his high military attainments, had been able hitherto to rule the council; but, on that occasion, the secretary displayed his hostility openly, and Lord George thereupon resigned his command as one of the lieutenant-generals of the army. The circumstances which led to the resignation of Lord George were these. It appears that, before the blockading party left Brampton, he desired Charles to give him some idea of the terms his royal highness would accept of from Carlisle, not with the view of obtaining powers to conclude a capitulation, but merely to enable him to adjust the terms according to the prince’s intentions, and thereby save a great deal of time. Charles not being able to come to any resolution before Lord George’s departure, his lordship begged of him to send his instructions after him, that he might know how to conduct himself in the event of an offer of surrender by the city; but the secretary interposed, and told Lord George plainly, that he considered the terms of capitulation as a matter within his province, and with which Lord George had no right to interfere.[1010] Lord George has not communicated the answer he gave to Murray on this occasion. The part of the army destined for the blockade, though willing to take their turn along with the rest of the army, was averse to bear the whole burden of it. Their commander was aware of this feeling, and, in a letter written to his brother, the Marquis of Tullibardine, from his head-quarters at Harbery, on the 14th of November, proposed a plan which he thought would satisfy both parties. After alluding to the indefatigable exertions of the Duke of Perth, who had himself wrought in the trenches to encourage his men to erect the battery, and the great difficulties he had to encounter from the nature of the ground, Lord George requested the marquis to represent to the prince, that the men engaged on the blockade would not expose themselves either in trenches or in the open air within cannon shot, or even within musket shot of the town, but by turns with the rest of the army; and he proposed that it should be decided by lot who should mount guard the first night, second night, and so on. To carry the views of his men into effect, Lord George proposed the following plan, subject to the approval of a council of war, viz., that 50 men should be draughted out of each of the battalions that remained at Brampton, with proper officers, and at least two majors out of the six battalions; and that these should be sent to Butcherly, within a mile of the battery; and that as 150 men might be a sufficient guard for the battery, the six battalions would in this way furnish two guards, in addition to which, he proposed that two additional guards should he draughted, one from the Athole brigade, and the other from General Gordon’s and Lord Ogilvy’s regiments; and, by the time these four guards had served in rotation, he reckoned that the city would be taken, or the blockade removed. A council of war was held at Brampton upon this proposal, which came to the resolution, that as soon as the whole body forming the blockade had taken their turn as guards, the division of the army at Brampton should occupy its place, and form the blockade, but that no detachments should be sent from the different corps; nor did the council think it fair to order any such, as these corps had had all the fatigue and danger of the blockade of Edinburgh.[1011]
Such were the circumstances which preceded the resignation of Lord George Murray, who, in a letter to Prince Charles dated the 15th of November, threw up his commission, assigning as his reason the little weight which his advice, as a general officer, had with his royal highness. He, however, stated, that as he had ever had a firm attachment to the house of Stuart, “and in particular to the king,” he would serve as a volunteer, and that it was his design to be that night in the trenches. In a letter, which he wrote the same day to the Marquis of Tullibardine, he stated that he was constantly at a loss to know what was going on in the army, and that he was determined never again to act as an officer; but that as a volunteer, he would show that no man wished better to the cause, and that he would do all in his power to advance the service. At the request of the marquis, who informed Lord George that Charles wished to see him, Lord George waited upon the prince, who appears to have received him dryly. On being informed by Lord George, that he had attended in consequence of a message from the prince, Charles denied that he had required his attendance, and told him that he had nothing particular to say to him. His lordship then repeated his offer to serve as a volunteer. Charles told him he might do so, and here the conversation ended. In a conversation which took place afterwards, between Lord George and Sir Thomas Sheridan, the former entered into some details, to show that in his station, as lieutenant-general, he had had no authority, and that others had usurped the office of general, by using the name of the prince. He complained that, while he was employed in the drudgery, every thing of moment was done without his knowledge or advice. He concluded by observing, that he had ventured his all,—life, fortune, and family,—in short, every thing but his honour,—that, as to the last, he had some to lose, but none to gain, in the way things were managed, and that, therefore, he had resolved upon serving in a humble capacity.[1012]