WILLIAM DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.
A. Fullarton & Co. London & Edinburgh.

Having received his instructions, the duke lost no time in preparing for his journey. He left London on the 25th of January, attended by Lord Cathcart, Lord Bury, Colonels Conway and York his aides-de-camp, and arrived at Holyrood House on the 30th. He was waited upon by the state-officers, the magistrates of the city, the professors of the university, and the clergy, all of whom were graciously received. His royal highness was presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box. In the afternoon he held a sort of drawing-room, which was attended by a considerable number of ladies very richly dressed. The most conspicuous among them was a Miss Ker, who wore a busk, at the top of which was a crown done in bugles, surrounded with this inscription, “Britain’s Hero, William, Duke of Cumberland.” To celebrate his arrival the city was illuminated in the evening, but although the Jacobites, from prudential motives, concurred in this demonstration, their windows were broken by the mob.[1124]

In the course of the day the duke inspected the army. His appearance revived the spirits of the soldiers, who, it is said, desired nothing so much as an opportunity of wiping away the disgrace of their late defeat. Such being the favourable disposition of the troops, it was resolved in a council of war held in the evening to march next morning to the relief of Stirling castle. Accordingly, early in the morning the army, which, by recent reinforcements, had been increased to fourteen battalions of foot, and four regiments of dragoons, besides the Argyleshire men, left Edinburgh in two divisions, preceded by Hamilton’s and Ligonier’s dragoons. One of these divisions, comprising eight battalions, at the head of which the duke was to place himself, proceeded towards Linlithgow, and the other, consisting of six battalions under the command of Brigadier Mordaunt, marched in the direction of Borrowstownness. The duke himself left Holyrood House at nine o’clock in the morning, in presence of a large assemblage of citizens, who, from curiosity, had collected before the palace at an early hour to witness his departure. He entered a splendid coach, which, with twelve beautiful horses, had been presented to him by the Earl of Hopetoun, and was accompanied in his progress through the city by many persons of distinction, and by a crowd of citizens. On reaching Castlebarns, a place about a quarter of a mile from the West-port, by which he left the city, the duke mounted his horse, and taking off his hat thanked the people for their attentions. He told them that he was in great haste to fulfil the object of his mission, and concluded by wishing them farewell. This short address was received with a loud huzza. The duke then took leave of the nobility and gentry who surrounded him, and at parting said, “Shall we not have one song?” He then began to sing an old Scottish song:—

“Will ye play me fair?

Highland laddie, Highland laddie.”

But before he had finished the first stanza he stretched forth his hand, and, putting spurs to his horse, went off at full gallop to join the army.[1125]

The duke took up his quarters for the night at Linlithgow with the eight battalions, and Mordaunt stopped at Borrowstowness with the other division. The dragoons were quartered in the adjacent villages, and the Argyleshire men were posted in front towards the river Avon. Early next morning, the duke received intelligence that the main body of the Highland army, quartered at Falkirk, had retired to the Torwood, where, they gave out, they intended to make a stand. Determined that no time should be lost in following the insurgents, the duke, after reviewing his army in the morning, advanced towards Falkirk. Several parties of the Highlanders, who were seen hovering on the hills between Falkirk and Linlithgow, retired with precipitation on his approach; but some stragglers were brought in by his advanced scouts, who reported that the Highlanders, afraid to risk another battle, on account of the increase of the royal army, and the diminution of their own by desertion, were repassing the Forth in great confusion. Two great explosions, like the blowing up of magazines, which were heard from a distance, seemed to confirm this intelligence. On reaching Falkirk, the duke found that all the wounded soldiers who had been made prisoners in the late action, had been left behind by the insurgents in their retreat. His royal highness halted at Falkirk with the main body of his army, and immediately detached Brigadier Mordaunt with the Argyleshire men and all the dragoons, in pursuit of the Highlanders. The duke passed the night in the house which Charles had occupied on the evening of the late battle, and slept in the same bed on which the prince had reposed. Next morning Prince William marched to Stirling, of which Brigadier Mordaunt had taken possession the previous evening. He complimented General Blakeney on his defence of the castle, and was informed by the latter that, had the siege continued much longer, he (Blakeney) must have surrendered for want of ammunition and provisions.

In his march the duke was accompanied by several officers of the English army, who had been taken prisoners at Preston, and who, under the pretence of being forcibly released by armed parties of country people in Angus and Fife, had broken their parole, and returned to Edinburgh. The Duke of Cumberland, who appears to have thought it by no means dishonourable to break faith with rebels, not only absolved these officers from their parole, but sent circulars to all the other officers, who continued prisoners of war, releasing them from the solemn obligation they had undertaken not to serve against Prince Charles for a certain time, requiring them to join their respective regiments, and threatening with the loss of their commissions such of them as should refuse to return immediately to the service. Only a few officers had the virtuous courage to refuse compliance, declaring their sense of the insult offered to men of an honourable profession, by remarking that the duke was master of their commissions, but not of their probity and honour.[1126]

It was not without considerable reluctance that Charles had been induced to consent to a retreat. So late as the 28th of January, on which day he received information at Bannockburn that the Duke of Cumberland was expected at Edinburgh in a day or two, he had sent Secretary Murray to Falkirk to acquaint Lord George Murray, that it was his intention to advance and attack the Duke of Cumberland, when he should reach Falkirk, and to request his lordship to remain there till the duke came to Linlithgow. Lord George did not express any disapprobation of Charles’s design, but immediately drew up a plan of the battle in contemplation, which he carried to Bannockburn, and showed to Charles. The prince, who was in high spirits, expressed himself much pleased with the plan, which differed in some respects from that he had sketched previous to the late battle; but, to his utter astonishment, he received a packet from Lord George Murray by an aide-de-camp, containing a representation by his lordship and all the chiefs,[1127] who were with him at Falkirk, advising a retreat to the north.

In this paper, after stating that they considered it their duty, “in this critical juncture,” to lay their opinions in the most respectful manner before his royal highness, they proceeded to say, that they were certain that a vast number of his troops had gone home since the battle of Falkirk, and that, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the commanders of the different corps, they found that the evil was hourly increasing, and that they had it not in their power to prevent it,—that as they were afraid Stirling castle could not be taken so soon as was expected, they could, from the inequality of their numbers to that of the enemy, anticipate nothing but utter destruction to the few troops that might remain behind, should the enemy advance before the castle fell into Prince Charles’s hands. For these reasons, they gave it as their opinion, that the only way to extricate his royal highness, and those who remained with him, out of the imminent danger which threatened them, was to retire immediately to the Highlands, where the army could be usefully employed the remainder of the winter in taking the forts in the north,—that they were morally certain they could keep as many men together as would answer that end, and would hinder the enemy from following them to the mountains at that season of the year,—and that, in spring, they had no doubt that an army of 10,000 effective Highlanders could be brought together, who would follow his royal highness wherever he might think proper. Such a plan, they maintained, would certainly disconcert his enemies, and could not but be approved of by his royal highness’s friends both at home and abroad, and that if a landing should happen in the meantime, the Highlanders would immediately rise either to join the invaders, or to make a powerful diversion elsewhere. On considering the hard marches which the army had undergone, the season of the year, and the inclemency of the weather, his royal highness, they said, as well as his allies abroad and his adherents at home, could not fail to approve of the proposal,—that the greatest objection to the retreat was the difficulty of saving the artillery, particularly the heavy cannon; but that it would be better that some of these were thrown into the Forth, than that his royal highness and the flower of his army should be exposed to the risk they inevitably would, should the proposed retreat not be agreed to, and put in execution without loss of time; and that they thought that it would be the greatest imprudence to risk the whole on so unequal a chance, when there were such hopes of succour from abroad, besides the resources his royal highness would have from his adherents at home. In conclusion, they informed the prince that they had just been apprised, that numbers of their people had gone off, and that many were sick, and not in a condition to fight. They added, that nobody was privy to the address but the subscribers; and they assured him that it was with great concern and reluctance they found themselves obliged to declare their sentiments in so dangerous a situation,—a declaration which nothing could have prevailed upon them to make but the unfortunate diminution of the army by desertion.[1128]