1715 apathy at 10. The Expedition of Brigadier Macintosh.-The Expedition of Brigadier Macintosh had been planned even before Mar received intelligence of the Northumbrian insurrection. Instead of boldly attacking the Duke of Argyle at Stirling, while his forces were still assembling, Mar lingered at Perth, and began to Mar's fatal weave a complicated web of stratagems for the purpose Perth. of enclosing the Duke in "a hose net" as he termed it. He despatched Colonel Gordon to seize Inverary, prevent the Campbells from rising, and then descend on the English army from the west. To effect a similar diversion on his left, he entrusted Brigadier Macintosh of Borlum with 2,000 men chiefly from the clan Macintosh, to cross the Firth of Forth and threaten Argyle from the rear. This passage of the Firth by Macintosh, almost under the guns of three English men of war, was the one brilliant episode of this rebellion. To divert the English cruisers, an appearance of bustle in preparing boats was made in the neighbourhood of Burntisland, whilst an embarkation of troops took place at Craile, Pittenween and Elie, where the estuary was broadest, and a passage in open boats would be considered hazardous. About 1,600 men were thus carried across to Aberlady and North Berwick, on the night of the 2nd of October; but in the morning, the Government vessels were on the alert; one of the boats containing 40 men was captured, whilst others were stranded on the Isle of May and blockaded by the fleet. Argyle threatens Argyle saves the city. The city of Edinburgh, unprovided with troops, was thrown into consternation by this dexterous exploit, and though Macintosh's orders were to go on south and meet his Macintosh friends who were in arms there, he was tempted by what Edinburgh. he saw and heard, to march straight upon the capital before Argyle could be there to defend it. But his stay at Haddington for one night, gave the citizens time to summon the duke from Stirling and recover from their first surprise. arrived at the city almost as soon as Macintosh. The latter therefore turned aside to Leith, and took up his quarters in the citadel; but being threatened with a siege, he stole away under cover of night and directed his march southward, according to his original intention. The duke did not molest him, because Mar made a feint advance from Perth and compelled him to return speedily to Stirling. Macintosh was thus enabled to effect a junction with the cavalry of Foster and Kenmure at Kelso on the 22nd of October, where the rebel forces now amounted to about 1,400 men.* * Burton's Scotland, VIII., 285-290. CHAP. IV. 11. The Rebel March to Preston.-The three armies thus brought together, composed of Northumbrian and Lowland horsemen, and Highland foot, formed a strange and incongruous force, with various natures, various ultimate objects, and without a powerful leading mind to guide them to a steady purpose. The only course on which they seemed to be agreed was, the proclamation of the Jacobite King in every town they entered, with as much noise and show as the trumpets, bagpipes and banners could produce; and Disunion among the rebels. the reading of a Manifesto afterwards, which enumerated the evils of the Union, and promised to the people deliverance from Popery and arbitrary power! But when the actual work before them came under discussion, and it was proposed that they should advance northward and take Argyle in the rear, or proceed into England and give battle to General Carpenter who was following them from Newcastle, wrangling and dissension began. The Highlanders refused to enter England, and the English were as resolutely bent upon not proceeding further into Scotland. Under these circumstances, they agreed to a compromise and advanced along the range of the Cheviots. As they proceeded westward, their disputes increased, and when after reaching Langholm, they finally resolved to invade Lancashire, 500 of the Highlanders returned homewards. On the 31st of October, the diminished forces reached Longtown, and being now on English ground, the command of the whole band was assumed by Mr. Foster, who held his commission from the Earl of Mar. But during their advance southwards through Penrith and Appleby the leaders saw with uneasiness that the chief business of their expedition was making no progress-the country was not joining them. They were, in fact, passing through districts where there were many Low Church Whigs, Protestant Dissenters and Quakers, and they owed their uninterrupted march, more to the peaceful habits and the timidity of the people, than to their sympathy. On the 7th of November they entered Lancaster, where for the first time they met with kindliness; the Roman Catholic ladies inviting the and Preston. officers to the then novel and aristocratic luxury of drinking tea. On the 9th, amidst rain, and through deep miry roads, they made their last march, and reached "proud Preston "the fatal end of their career. This town was then the home of the old Catholic gentry of Lancashire; and the insurgents received a hearty welcome from the inhabitants; yet the number of citizens and retainers who joined them, fell far short of their expectations. Their recep.. tion at Lancaster 1715 They had been told that 20,000 men would flock to their standard ; but no more than 1,200 joined them, and these were imperfectly armed, and totally ignorant of military drill. Nevertheless, Foster and his comrades were full of confidence, and the previous negligence and irregularity of the leaders seemed now to deepen into utter oblivion and unconsciousness. They minded nothing, remarks an observer, but courting and feasting with the ladies, who were very beautiful and richly attired.* Foster's 12. The Battle of Preston. The duty of defending Lancashire had been entrusted to General Wills, who arrived at Manchester on the 8th of November, and set out for Preston early on the morning of the 12th, with a well-ordered force of foot and cavalry. The news of his advance somewhat awakened the rebels incapacity. from their tranquillity; but their general was wholly incapable of acting upon it; it is even said that he was unable to comprehend its nature, because he was under the influence of liquor at the time, and had to be put to bed. His subordinates therefore took their defence into their own hands, and held a council of war, without his presence. They resolved to send advanced guards to the bridges over the Ribble and Darwen; but next morning Foster countermanded these orders, to the surprise and indignation of his unfortunate officers. Even when the actual appearance of Wills's army convinced him of the reality of his danger, Foster left the town by the Ribble bridge to make some unimportant movement, while he sent vague and unmeaning orders, by his chaplain, to prepare for the reception of the enemy within the town. The bridge, which was the great pass towards Preston from the south, and the first point to which any general desiring to save the place would Arrival of look, was actually abandoned, and the deep road or defile at Presten. between the bridge and the town, which in 1648 was the scene of Cromwell's hardest encounter with the royalists, was also undefended. There were men, however, among the rebels, whose natures were not such as their leaders, and who were resolved upon making the best fight they could. Macintosh and Derwentwater had been actively engaged in making trenches and barricades, and when Wills came up to the outskirts of the town, he found very formidable preparations for his reception. Macintosh himself took the command of the principal of these barriers across the entrance from the Wigan road, and close to the church. At the first attack on this barricade, General Wills Burton's Scotland, VIII., 298-305. See also Lancashire Memorials. And of Carpenter. CHAP. IV. the Highlanders, who were thorough masters of their muskets, killed 120 men out of 200 who assailed it; three other barriers were also the scenes of sharp conflicts, so that when night came on, the besieging force had made little impression upon the rebels. Early next morning (Sunday, 13th November) General Carpenter, who had been following the insurgents from the Scots Border, arrived with a body of 2,500 cavalry, and Preston was effectually surrounded. At this dread juncture, the Highlanders proposed to rush forth and cut their way through the enemy; the English gentlemen thought of negotiating for a surrender; but Foster lost heart entirely and surrendered at discretion. Those officers who had borne commissions in Foster the king's service were shot as deserters by sentence of a court martial; the remainder, including Derwentwater and Foster, were conveyed to London and carried in chains through the streets to the Tower; while the private men were shut up in close prisons at Chester and Liverpool, where many of them died of the effects of foul air and scanty and unwholesome provisions.* surrenders. acter of 13. The Battle of Sheriff Muir.--On the very same day that the English insurrection thus came to an end at Preston, the battle of Sheriff Muir decided the fortunes of Mar's enterprise in Scotland. That dilatory earl never started from his culpable lethargy Motley char at Perth before the 10th of November, when he marched Mar's forces. Southward with about 8,000 men. This force presented a very motley appearance; and consisted of gentlemen and their servants; volunteers from the towns; Lowland peasants; Highland chiefs and their mountaineers, in every kind of garb, and with every variety of weapons. On the 12th these troops came to Ardoch within eleven miles of Stirling; and Argyle, whose forces now numbered 3,000 men, advanced to Dumblane. On Sunday, the 13th, both armies came in sight of each other, a broad eminence formed by a spur of the Ochil Hills, lying between them. This ground, called the Sheriff Muir, because it had been the former place of meeting for the militia of the sheriffdom of Monteith, was well adapted for cavalry evolutions, and Argyle had already planned, in his own mind, to fight the rebels on so convenient a spot. He therefore put his troops in battle array, taking to himself the command of the right, giving the left to General Whitham, and the centre to General Wightman. The insurgents on their part were equally eager to engage, and the The battlefield chosen by Argyle. Stanhope's England, I., 168-172; Knight's Pop. Hist., VI., 12-14; Pictorial Hist., IV., 316-317; Burton's Scotland, VIII., 305-312. 1715 action in fact began on their left with a sharp and well-sustained fire. By the aid of a frozen morass Argyle out-flanked this portion of the rebel army, and drove it from the field as far as the river Allan. But at the same time his own left experienced a similar fate, General Whitham being defeated and pursued by Mar as far as the village of Corntown near Stirling. The centre also under General Wightman narrowly escaped equal discomfiture. Thus the battle was exceedingly doubtful; but when after a few hours, the leaders on each side returned to the field, Mar, instead of pushing his advantages, gave the order to retreat, and Argyle, whose men were too much exhausted to renew the fight, reaped all the benefits of a victory. Mar continued to fall back till he reached Perth; but his men deserted in crowds on the way, while Argyle returned to his former camp at Stirling, and was content to maintain the passage of the Forth.* 14. The Pretender lands in Scotland. It was at this juncture that the Pretender landed at Peterhead (22nd December) with only six followers. But the time for successful action had now passed; the Government, which had averted Ormond's and suppressed Foster's insurrection, was now on the alert; the best part of their troops were at their disposal; a Dutch contingent of 6,000 men, furnished by the States, in pursuance of the treaty which guaranteed the Protestant Succession, was already in full march to Scotland; and General Cadogan, one of Marlborough's best officers, was sent down to quicken the movements of Argyle, many reports reaching London of his doubtful and temporising policy. The Preten der does not favourable impression. The impressions which the presence of the Chevalier made upon his Highland friends, were not calculated to excite much resistance to these formidable preparations. Although his manners were graceful and his attention to business ex- make a emplary, he displayed little interest in military affairs. His frame was feeble and his action listless; and the clansmen were as much disappointed with his want of spirit, as they were offended at his taciturnity. His reception, therefore, by the troops was very unpromising; many began to fall away; while Huntley and other leaders were privately treating with the Government for submission. Under these untoward circumstances, and on hearing that Argyle was preparing to advance upon Perth, the Chevalier Stanhope's England, I., 172-178; Knight's Popular History, VI., 15-16; Burton's Scotland, VIII., 313-320. |