"Furthermore, we have in his name to declare, that the "same rule laid down for the funds, shall be followed with "respect to every law or act of parliament, since the re"volution; and in so far as, in a free and legal parlia"ment, they shall be approved, he will confirm them." He next declares, that his expedition was undertaken without assistance either from France or Spain: "but," adds he, "when I hear of Dutch, Danes, Hessians, and Swiss, "the elector of Hanover's allies, being called over to pro"tect his government, is it not high time for the king my "father to accept also of the assistance of those who are "able, and who have engaged to support him"."

This declaration had by no means the desired effect. It did not effectually remove the fears of the monied men in regard to the security of the funds, while it filled the body of the people with apprehensions of a French invasion. Every one, from some motive or other, seemed attached to the established government. Loyal addresses, from all quarters, were presented to George II. on his return from his German dominions, congratulating him on the reduction of Cape-Breton, and expressing detestation at the unnatural rebellion

Nor were these addresses merely complimentary. Above a thousand of the most eminent merchants, tradesmen, and manufacturers in the kingdom, in order to support public credit, signed an agreement, that they would take the notes of the bank of England in payment of any sum due to them, and use their utmost endeavours to make all their payments in the same paper12. was a step of the utmost importance; as it not only prevented the danger of a run upon the bank, but interested. many in the defence of the house of Hanover, whose hearts were with the pretender, or whose minds were wavering.

This

Other measures conspired to fix the unsteady, and to warm into zeal timid or prudential loyalty. The habeas

11. Contin. of Rapin, vol. ix, 12. Id. ibid. Smollett, vol. xi.

corpus

corpus act was suspended, and several persons were taken. up on suspicion of treasonable practices. Six thousand Dutch auxiliaries were landed; and the flower of the British troops, recalled from Flanders, arrived in England, with the duke of Cumberland at their head. Beside a

number of new regiments, voluntarily raised by the nobility and gentry, the militia of every county were assembled; arms were liberally distributed to the people, and the whole southern part of the kingdom was put into a posture of defence.

Notwithstanding this hostile appearance, and the formidable force that was now collected, the young adventurer left Edinburgh, and entered England by the NOV. 6. western border, with only six thousand men; the duke of Perth acting as commander in chief, and lord George Murray as lieutenant-general. They immediately invested Carlisle; and both the town and castle, though defended by the militia of Cumberland and Westmoreland, supported by the inhabitants and some companies of regular troops, surrendered within three days.

The whole kingdom was filled with consternation at the progress of the rebels. Terror took possession of every heart; and the most frightful apprehensions were at the same time entertained of an invasion from France, where great preparations were making for a descent in favour of the pretender. The militia of the maritime counties were drawn toward the coast, and signals fixed for a general alarm. But the vigilance of admiral Vernon, who was stationed with a fleet in the channel, and effectually blocked up the French ports, prevented the projected invasion. The embarkation was to have been made at Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk, in large boats, and a landing attempted in the neighbourhood of Dover under cover of night. The troops were to have been commanded by the attainted earl-mareschal of Scotland; who, regardless

of danger, in what he esteemed so good a cause, threw up

up his commission in disgust, on finding the French naval officers afraid to venture out13.

Meanwhile the rebels, having left a small garrison in Carlisle, advanced to Penrith; and continuing their route through Lancaster and Preston, took possession of Manchester, where the pretender established his head-quarters. Thinking himself now in the heart of the English interest, he promised himself a great accession of force; but although the inhabitants of Manchester received him with marks of affection, and celebrated his arrival with illuminations, they shewed little inclination to join him, and the people of the country still less. He was only able to raise about two hundred men, who were formed into a regiment, in hopes it would soon be completed, under colonel Townly, a roman catholic gentleman of some eminence in that neighbourhood, and who had served in the French army.

Charles, who had been led to suppose, that as soon as he should enter Lancashire, the majority of the people would flock to his standard, was very much mortified at this backwardness in his reputed friends. He endeavoured, however, to conceal his disappointment his: and followers, in general wore a good face, though it was known to them that general Wade, who had assembled an army. of fourteen thousand men at Newcastle, was advancing through Yorkshire, and that the duke of Cumberland, assisted by sir John Ligonier, had taken post near Litchfield with thirteen thousand veteran troops. A council of war was called; and it was resolved to proceed by the way of Chester and Liverpool into Wales, where the pretender expected a number of adherents. But learning afterward that those two towns were secured, and that the bridges over the river Mersey had been broken down, Charles took the route of Stockport and Warington; and

13.Contin. of Rapin, vol. ix.

passing

passing through Macclesfield and Congleton, turned suddenly off by Leeke and Ashbourn, and unexpectedly entered Derby. There his father was proclaimed with great solemnity.

DEC. 5.

Having gained, by this rapid movement, a day's march of the royal army, under the duke of Cumberland, the pretender, who was now within an hundred miles of London, might have made himself master of the capital, had he proceeded directly forward. And, in that event, the French would probably have been encouraged to attempt a descent in his favour; while many well-wishers, who still kept at a distance, would certainly have joined him, and public credit would have received a terrible shock. Yet must we not rashly suppose that Charles would have been finally successful, had he even got possession of the metropolis, as an army of thirty thousand men, firmly attached to the reigning family, could have been assembled in the neighbourhood in a few days; in order to watch the motions of the rebels and cut off the commu

nication between the town and country. And a powerful fleet would have obstructed all supplies by sea.

The rebels must even have hazarded an engagement, before they could have entered the capital; for no sooner was it known, that, having eluded the vigilance of the duke of Cumberland, they had it in their power to march southward, than orders were given for forming a camp upon Finchly-common, where the king resolved to take the field in person, accompanied by the earl of Stair, commander in chief of the forces in England. And all the regular troops in the neighbourhood of London, the new raised regiments, the volunteer companies, the militia, and the trained bands, were commanded to hold themselves in readiness for the same service. Little resistance, however, could have been made by men enervated by the sedentary arts, nursed in the bosom of a voluptuous city, and but slightly acquainted with the use of arms; whose imagination was filled with the most frightful ideas of the savage ferocity,

bodily strength, and irresistible valour of the Highlanders; while they were apprehensive, on the other hand, of being every moment overwhelmed by a French invasion, or massacred by an insurrection of the roman catholics. They might have been broken at the first encounter; and as George II. was obstinately brave, he must have sunk beneath the arm of his youthful antagonist.

Happily things did not come to this extremity. The pretender had advanced into the heart of England, without receiving any considerable accession of force, or being joined by any person of distinction. It appeared as if all the jacobites in the kingdom had been annihilated. The Welsh took no measures for exciting an insurrection in his favour, nor did the French attempt an invasion for his support. He lay, with a handful of men, between two powerful armies, in the midst of winter, and in a country hostile to him. Having inconsiderately spent some time at Derby, he could not now enter the metropolis without hazarding a battle with one of those armies, and a defeat must have proved fatal to himself and all his adherents. It was therefore resolved in a council of war, by the majority of the Highland chiefs, to march back into Scotland, where the pretender's affairs had taken a fortunate turn, although Charles himself, the duke of Perth, and Cameron of Lochiel, were for proceeding to London, be the event what it might. And they perhaps were right; especially as they were under the necessity of making a retreat in the face of two superior armies; a retreat which, it was to be feared, beside the danger attending it, would utterly ruin their cause in England, and greatly dispirit their friends in Scotland. A retreat, however, was attempted; and conducted with a degree of intrepidity, regularity, expedition, and address, unparalleled in the history of nations, by any body of men under circumstances equally adverse.

14. Id. ibid. Smollett, vol. xi.

On