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As soon as it was determined to remain in Scotland till the
army should be reinforced, every measure was adopted that could tend to increase it.
Letters were despatched to the Highlands, and other parts of Scotland, containing the news
of the victory, and urging immediate aid; and messengers were sent to France to represent
the state of the price's affairs, and to solicit succours from that court. Officers were
appointed to beat up for recruits, and every inducement was held out to the prisoners
taken at Preston to join the insurgents. Many of these, accordingly, enlisted in the
prince's army, and were of considerable service in drilling recruits, but before the
Highland army left Edinburgh, almost the whole of them deserted, and joined their former
companions at Berwick. The principal person selected by Charles to go to the Highlands, on
the present occasion, was Mr Alexander Macleod, a gentleman of the Scottish bar, who
carried along with him a paper of instructions, dated the 24th of September, and signed by
secretary Murray. By these instructions, Macleod was directed forthwith to proceed to the
Isle of Skye, to assure Sir Alexander Macdonald, and the laird of Macleod, and other
gentlemen of their names, that the prince did not impute their not having hitherto joined
him, to any failure of loyalty or zeal on their part, for this father's cause; but to the
private manner in which he had arrived in Scotland, which was from a desire to restore his
royal father without foreign assistance - that he was ready still to receive them with the
same affection he would have welcomed them, had they joined him on his landing - and that
as they well knew the disposition of the Highlanders, and their inclination to return home
after a battle, they would be sensible how necessary it was to recruit the army with a
strong body of men from their country. Macleod was directed to require of these chiefs to
repair with all possible speed with their men to Edinburgh, where they should be furnished
with arms. In case they were found refractory, Macleod was directed to use all proper
means with the gentlemen of their different families, to bring them to the field with as
many followers as possible, - that to encourage them to take up arms, he was to acquaint
them that the prince had received undoubted assurances of support from France and Spain, -
that the Earl Marischal was expected to land in Scotland with a body of troops, - that the
Duke of Ormond was also expected in England, with the Irish brigade, and a large quantity
of arms, ammunition, and money, - and that before passing the Forth, he had received
letters from the Spanish ministry, and the Duke of Bouillon, containing positive assurance
of aid. In conclusion, Macleod was ordered to assure these gentlemen that the
encouragement and favour which would be shown them, if they joined the prince's standard,
would be in proportion to their loyalty and the backwardness of their chiefs. He was
likewise directed to send for the chief of Mackinnon, and to tell him that the prince was
much surprised that one who had given such solemn assurances, as Mackinnon had done, to
join him, with all the men he could collect, should have failed in his promise. As Macleod
of Swordland, in Lenelg, who had visited the prince in Glenfinnan, had there engaged to
seize the fort of Bernera, and to join Charles with a hundred men, whether his chief
joined or not, the messenger was instructed to ask him why he had not fulfilled his
engagement. The result of this mission will be subsequently noticed.
Seated in the palace of his ancestors, Charles as Prince Regent, continued to discharge
the functions of royalty, by exercising every act of sovereignty, with this difference
only between him and his rival in St. James's, that while King George could only raise
troops and levy money by act of parliament, Charles, by his own authority, not only
ordered regiments to be raised for his service, and troops of horseguards to be levied for
the defence of his person, but also imposed taxes at pleasure. To give eclat to his
proceedings, and to impress upon the minds of the people, by external acts, the appearance
of royalty, he held a levee every morning in Holyrood-house, and appointed a council which
met every morning at ten o'clock, after the levee was over. This council comprised the
Duke of Perth and Lord George Murray, the lieutenant-generals of the army, O'Sullivan, the
quarter-master-general, Lord Pitsligo, Lord Elcho, Sir Thomas Sheridan, Secretary Murray,
and all the Highland chiefs.
As nothing could injure his cause more in the eyes of the people than acts of oppression
on the part of his troops, one of Charles's first acts after his return to Edinburgh, was
to issue an edict granting protection to the inhabitants of the city and the vicinity, in
their persons and properties; but farmers, living within five miles of Edinburgh, were
required, before being entitled to the protection, to appear at the secretary's office, in
Holyrood-house, and grant bond that they should be ready, on twelve hours' notice, to
furnish the prince with horses for carrying the baggage of his army to Berwick-upon-Tweed,
or a similar distance, according to their plowgates. By another proclamation put forth the
same day, viz, the 23d of September, he denounced death or such other punishment as a
court-martial should order to be inflicted on any soldier or person connected with his
army, who should be guilty of forcibly taking from "the good people of
Edinburgh", or of the country, any of their goods without a fair equivalent to the
satisfaction of the parties. These orders were in general scrupulously attended to,
though, in some instances, irregularities were committed, under the pretence of searching
for arms. The greater part, however, were the acts of persons who, though they wore the
white cockade, did not belong to the army.
Besides the clergymen of the city, a considerable number of the volunteers had deserted
their houses in dread of punishment for having taken up arms. To induce these, as well as
the ministers of the city, to return, Charles issued a proclamation on the 24th of
September, granting a full pardon to all or such of them, as should, within twenty days
after the publication thereof, present themselves to Secretary Murray, or to any other
member of the council, at Holyrood-house, or at such other place as the prince might be at
the time. A few volunteers only took advantage of this offer.
When the Highland army first approached the city, the directors of the two banks then
existing, had removed all their money and notes to the castle, under the apprehension that
the prince would appropriate them to his own use. As great inconvenience was felt in the
city by the removal of the banks, Charles issued a proclamation on the 25th of September,
in which, after disclaiming any intention to seize the funds belonging to the banks should
be free from any exactions on his part; and that he himself would contribute to the
re-establishment of public credit, by receiving and issuing the notes of the banks in
payment. The banks, however, declined to avail themselves of the prince's offer; but when
applied to for money in exchange for a large quantity of their notes in possession of the
Highland army, the directors answered the demand.
As the wants of his army were many, the next object of the prince's solicitude was to
provide against them. Anxious as he was to conciliate all classes of the people, he had no
alternative on the present occasion, but to assess the burghs of Scotland, in sums
proportionate to the duties of excise drawn from them. He accordingly sent letters, dated
the 30th of September, to all the chief magistrates of the burghs, ordering them, under
pain of being considered rebel, to repair, upon receipt, to Holyrood-house, to get the
contributions to be paid by their respective burghs ascertained, and for payment of which,
he promised to assign the duties of excise. For immediate use, he compelled the city of
Edinburgh, on pain of military execution, to furnish his army with 1,000 tents, 2,000
targets, 6,000 pairs of shoes, and other articles, to the value of upwards of £15,000, to
liquidate which, a tax of 2s 6d per pound was laid on the city, and in the Canongate and
Leith. From the city of Glasgow he demanded £15,000, a sum which was compromised by a
prompt payment of £5,500. The prince, at the same time, despatched letters to the
collectors of the land-tax, the collectors and comptrollers of the customers and excise,
and to the factors upon the estates forfeited in the former insurrection, requiring all of
them, upon receipt, to repair to Holyrood-house with their books, and to pay such balances
as might appear upon examination to be in their hands, - the first and last classes, under
the pain of rebellion and military execution, and the second class, besides the
last-mentioned penalty, under the pain of high-treason. Charles, at the same time, seized
all the smuggled goods in the custom-houses of Leith and other sea-ports, which being
sold, yielded him £7,000. Besides the exactions from public bodies, he compelled several
of the nobility and gentry in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh to supply him with
considerable quantities of hay and oats. Parties of the Highlanders were sent to the seats
of the Dukes of Hamilton and Douglas, and the Earl of Hoptoun, to carry off arms and
horses. From the last mentioned nobleman they took nearly 100 horses. |
