1715.

THE REGENT DUKE OF ORLEANS.

141

measures of the late Sovereign were immediately changed. The Regent could not, indeed, any more than Louis, entirely forsake the cause of an unfortunate kinsman of one sprung, like himself, from the blood of the heroic Henri Quatre. He perceived, moreover, that should the Chevalier prevail in his enterprise, the Government of France could not fail to obtain, as it would deserve, great influence and ascendency over the restored Government of England, and he was careful to put no obstacle in the way of such advantages. But he also perceived, that should the Jacobites be crushed and overpowered, he might derive no small accession of strength from a close alliance with the Ministers of George. He had, in fact, already, during the lifetime of Louis, entered into secret negotiations with them*; and in this course he had peculiar facilities from his personal knowledge of the new Secretary of State, with whom he had lived on familiar terms in early life, and whom, during his Spanish campaigns, he had entrusted with some most delicate and confidential overtures.† On the whole, therefore, Lord Stair's representations were far more favourably heard than during the former reign; while Bolingbroke and Ormond, though by no means altogether repulsed, were much less warmly encouraged.

Bolingbroke continued for some time, however ineffectually, to ply the new French Government with his projects and demands. Ormond, on the contrary, hoped

that he had found a shorter and surer channel to the Regent's favour in one Mrs. Olivia Trant, a lady much addicted to intrigues both of politics and love; but, unhappily, by no means so great a proficient in the first as in the latter. It was found very easy to entangle the Regent in the snares of beauty, but impossible to draw from him through those means any more effectual_succour, or even any less cautious expressions. The Duke

* See the Mém. de St. Simon, vol. xiii. p. 396. ed. 1829; and Lord Stair's Diary in the Hardwicke State Papers, vol. ii. p. 533. and 541. It appears that the English Ministers went so far as to offer the Duke of Orleans assistance in troops and money, if requisite, to secure his regency. Mém. de Sevelinges, vol. i. p. 197.

I venture to refer the reader to my War of the Succession, pp.

261-266.

Ormond afterwards gives an account of a private interview he

of Orleans, in fact, was a man who deserves at least this praise that amidst all his manifold amours he never allowed any of his mistresses any influence in business. Once, it is related of him, being anxiously and repeatedly urged by one of these fair politicians at a private interview, he at length led her before a mirror at one end of the apartment. "Look at those lovely lips," he cried, "and own yourself that they were not made for state "affairs!"*

It was in the midst of these useless negotiations that Admiral Sir George Byng came into the road of Havre with a squadron, and that Lord Stair positively demanded that certain ships, which he designated by name, and which he truly alleged to be equipped for the Pretender, should be given up by the French Government. Thus pressed, the Regent did not, indeed, comply with the requisition or surrender the ships, but he ordered them to be unloaded, and the arms which they conveyed to be deposited in the King's magazines.† Such was the early blight that fell on the Pretender's only armament; and thus, too, it became apparent that little assistance from the Continent, beyond the encouragement of his personal presence, was any longer to be looked for.

Under these circumstances Bolingbroke despatched an agent to London, with a message to Lord Mar-that he understood it to be his Lordship's opinion that Scotland could do nothing effectual without England-that England would not stir without assistance from abroad-and that no assistance from abroad could be relied upon; and he requested his Lordship to draw the inference from these three propositions. But this agent, on arriving in London and communicating with Erasmus Lewis, the late secretary to Lord Oxford, and now an active mem

had with the Regent, in a letter to the Pretender, Oct. 21. 1715. Stuart Papers. He adds, "I have only told it the Queen; Lord "Bolingbroke knows nothing of this; it being desired by Mr. O'Brien "(the Regent) that he should not."

*See Duclos, Mémoires, vol. i. p. 402. ed. 1791.

† Bolingbroke writes, however, to the Pretender: "There are at "Havre 1300 arms, 4000 weight of powder, and other stores on board "another ship which is not yet discovered. I intend to send her, as "I write to Lord Mar." September 21. 1715. See Appendix.

1715.

JAMES LEAVES LORRAINE.

143

ber of the Jacobite conspiracy, learned that Mar had already gone to raise the Highlands. It is positively asserted by Berwick, that the Pretender, without any intimation either to himself or Bolingbroke, had sent orders to Mar to begin the insurrection in Scotland without further delay.* The veracity and the means of information of Berwick are equally unquestionable; yet it seems difficult to credit such an extremity of falsehood and folly in James. There are several circumstances to disprove, there are none to confirm it; and, on the whole, I suspect that Berwick must have been misled by an excuse which Mar afterwards invented for his own rashness. James himself, writing to Bolingbroke on the 23d of September, expresses an anxious desire that his Scotch friends will at least wait for his answer, if they cannot, as he hopes, stay so long as to expect a concert with England. Is it not beyond belief that he should already, several weeks before, have given positive orders to the opposite effect-that he should have issued such momentous directions at a moment so unfavourable, and concealed them from his best friends and most able advisers?

The insurrection once raised, however imprudently, there was no other course for the Chevalier than to maintain it vigorously. Both he and Ormond gave abundant proof of personal courage. The latter immediately set off from Paris; and the former was as fully prepared to leave Lorraine and take ship for Great Britain, although Bolingbroke observes, that it was then no longer possible to carry over even such a handful of men as should secure the Prince from being taken by the first constable he might meet on shore. He had several times fixed a day for his departure from Commercy, but had as often been compelled to postpone it, in compliance with the earnest injunctions which he received from England, and which continued to prescribe delay.§ It was not till the 28th

* Berwick, Mém. vol. ii. p. 158.

† James to Lord Bolingbroke, September 23. 1715. See Appendix. Letter to Sir William Wyndham.

§ See Lord Mar's account from France. Tindal, vol. vi. p. 506. James's partisans circulated a shameful rumour that Lord Stair had formed a plan for his assassination on the road. See Mém. de St. Simon, vol. xiii. p. 403.

of October, that, freed from these trammels, he set out in disguise, and travelled westward to St. Malo.

Meanwhile the Duke of Ormond had sailed from the coast of Normandy to that of Devonshire*, where, according to his last engagements with his partisans, he expected to find them in arms. But the English Government had now taken vigorous measures to nip the rebellion in its bud. Maclean, an active agent of Ormond, had betrayed him. The principal friends of Ormond were arrested; the others dispersed; and when the Duke came to the appointed place he found no signs of a rising-not a single man to meet him, instead of the thousands he expected; and he was compelled to steer again towards France. On landing in Brittany he found, at St. Malo, the Chevalier just arrived from Lorraine, and actively employed in shipping off supplies for Scotland. After several conferences with him, the Duke again embarked, with the daring and indeed desperate project of throwing himself upon the English coast, and taking the chance of some favourable circumstances; but a violent tempest forced him back a second time. On the other part, the Chevalier seeing the plan of the English insurrection baffled, and having completed his business at St. Malo, resolved to proceed himself to Scotland; but having been obliged to postpone his sailing for a few days, he found it at the end of that time to be no longer practicable, the harbour being closely blockaded by several English menof-war. In this extremity the young Prince set off by land from St. Malo, where, says Bolingbroke, he had as many Ministers as there were people about him. He travelled privately on horseback across the country to Dunkirk, having previously sent directions that a ship should be prepared for him in that port. There he arrived in the middle of December, when he immediately embarked on board a small vessel of eight guns, attended only by six gentlemen, who were, like himself, disguised as French naval officers; and with this scanty retinue did the last heir of the Stuarts set sail for their ancient kingdom.

*He took with him only about twenty officers and as many troopers from Nugent's regiment. Mém. de Berwick, vol. ii. p. 165.

† Lord Bolingbroke to the Pretender, Nov. 8. 1715. See Appendix.

1715.

LORD MAR.

145

We must now revert to what had been passing on the other side of the Channel, and especially to the proceedings of Lord Mar.

John Erskine, eleventh Earl of Mar, was made of the willow and not of the oak. He had early in the late reign entered public life as a Whig; he had afterwards turned Tory; he had again joined the Whigs in promoting the Scottish Union: but in 1710, when the Tories came into power, he discovered that his principles were entirely in accordance with theirs, and readily became their Secretary of State, and manager for Scotland. His embarrassed fortune has been urged, but should scarcely be admitted, as an excuse for these changes, which had gained him no very honourable nickname in his native country.* On the accession of George he had addressed to that monarch a letter full of loyal congratulations and warm professions of attachment.† Finding himself, nevertheless, deprived of office, and with little hope of regaining it under that government, he plunged headlong into all the intrigues of the Jacobites, and became their chief for Scotch as Ormond for English affairs. He was a man of great activity, judgment, and address, but no knowledge of war; at home in Court cabals, but, as we shall afterwards find, unskilful and helpless in a camp. In person he was deformed, and his enemies were accustomed to say of him that his mind was as crooked as his body.

Till the moment of his leaving London, Mar evinced no common duplicity. On the 1st of August he appeared at the levee of King George; on the 2d he set off to raise the Highlands for King James. He embarked in disguise, with Major-General Hamilton and Colonel Hay, on board a small collier; and it is even said that, the better to conceal his rank, he wrought for his passage.

*He was called "Bobbing John." See Chambers's History of Dundee's and Mar's Rebellions, p. 172. a very compendious and pleasing narrative.

† See this letter in Tindal's History, vol. vi. p. 406.

Memoirs of the Master of Sinclair, p. 51. MS. I am indebted for the communication of this valuable document to the kindness of my friend Mr. Lockhart. It is copied in about 1400 quarto pages, and enriched with notes by Sir Walter Scott. The Master of Sinclair