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Whilst Charles's partisans have painted him in the most
glowing colours of admiration, as the paragon of all that is noble and high-minded, others
have represented him as a man devoid of any good and generous feelings, - as despotic,
revengful, ungrateful, and avaricious, - having, in short, all the vices without one of
the redeeming virtues of his race. Paradoxical as the ascertion may be, there is some
truth in both delincations; but considerable abatements must be made from the exaggerated
eulogies of the one party, as well as from the sweeping condemnation of the other. There
were, in fact, as has been well observed, two Charles Edwards. The hero of 1745 was a
generous and high-minded youth, who, notwithstanding some constitutional defects, merited
a better destiny; but the Charles Edward of a subsequent period was a degraded man, who,
dispirited by misfortune and soured by disappointment, lost all command over himself, and
became the sport of his passions. He retained, however, to the close of his existence, a
vivid recollection of his early exploits, and frequently betrayed genuine emotion on
hearing any allusion to Scotland and the Highlanders.
When Charles was ill in 1784, his brother the cardinal, supposing him to be on his
death-bed, drew up a paper maintaining his pretensions to the British crown, which, he
declared, were in no way prejudiced or renounced by his retention of the incognito title,
Cardinal Duke of York. A copy of this document he sent to the pope, cardinals, and various
foreign ministers. When his brother the prince did die, and Henry was left the last and
sole representative of the royal Stuart race, he caused a medal to be struck bearing the
inscription, "Henry IX, King of England, by the grace of God, but not by the will of
men". This, however, was all the cardinal ever did to maintain his right divine to
the throne from which his grandfather fled. He appears to have been perfectly contented
with his life as a Roman cardinal, to have been generous and gentle in disposition, and to
have performed his duties faithfully as a minister of the Catholic Church, although in his
own home he is said to have insisted upon a strict observance of all the etiquette usual
in the residence of a reigning sovereign. He had many rich livings both in Italy and
France, but of most of these and of all his wealth and treasures, literary, antiquarian,
and curious, he was despoiled by the emiasaries of the French revolution in 1798, when he
took refuge in Venice infirm and destitute. His case was represented to his successful
relative George III, who immediately, and in as delicate a manner as possible, generously
settled on the cardinal a pension for life of L.4000 a year. The cardinal returned to Rome
in 1801, and resided there till his death in 1807, aged 82 years. He was buried in St
Peter's, beside his father and brother, "and a stately monument, from the chisel of
Canova, but at charge, as I believe, of the House of Hanover, has since arisen to the
memory of James the Third, Charles the Third, and Henry the Ninth, Kings of England -
names which an Englishman can scarcely read without a smile or a sigh! Often at the
present day does the British traveller turn from the sunny height of the Pincian or the
carnival throngs of the Corso, to gaze in thoughtful silence on that sad mockery of human
greatness, and that last record of ruined hope!".
Henry of York, as we had said, was the last scion of the direct line of the royal house of
Stuart, although he was by no means the last of the Stuarts, as the genealogy of nearly
every royal and princely house of Europe can testify. Much valuable information on this
point is contained in Mr Townsend's Descendants of the Stuarts, where the reader will meet
with many interesting and a few strange and startling facts. The Stuart blood, it would
seem, enriches the veins of every Christian sovereign of Europe, and among the European
noble families will be found many princes who, by the now ignored and we hope never to be
revived, priciple of divine hereditary right, are nearer heirs to the British throne than
the Prince of Wales. The heir-of-line of the Stuarts is, we believe, Francis, ex-Duke of
Modena, the heiress presumptive being his niece, Maria Theresa, wife of Prince Louis of
Bavaria. Great Britain, however, is as likely to assert her right to the allegiance of the
United States as is any of the many descendants of the Stuarts to endeavour to establish a
claim to the throne of England, to the prejudice of the reigning family. The Lady who at
present occupies the throne of Britain (Queen Victoria), and in whose veins runs a large
share of the ancient Stuart blood, had won her way to the hearts of all classes of her
subjects, Highland and Lowland, by her true nobility of character, genuine womanliness,
and anxious interest in the welfare of her people, as effectually as did the young
Cheavalier by his youthful thoughtless daring, fascinating manners, and feigned enthusiasm
for all that was Highland. Still the ancient spirit is not dead, and probably never will
die, so long as Gaelic and Lowland Scotch is understood in the land, and so long as there
exists such a superabundance of Jacobite songs unmatched for pathos and humour, and set to
music which cannot fail to touch the heart of the "canniest Scot" that ever
tried to over-reach his neighbour. This sentimental Jacobitism, initiated by Scott,
appears to be getting stronger and stronger ever year, and pervades all classes of society
from the "Queen on the throne to the meanest of her subjects"; it has, indeed,
become now to a certain extent fashionable, no dount owing largely to the example set by
the greatest lady in the land, in her love and admiration of the Highlands and
Highlanders. Tartans, not very many years ago proscribed and forbidden to be worn under
severe penalties, and regarded as barbarous and vulgar, have now become the rage, and are
as indispensable to every Scottish family, Highland or Lowland, as its crest or its family
ghost. |
