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1719.

TWO FRIGATES REACH SCOTLAND.

349

sent them forth strong and well appointed ships saw them return one by one as crippled wrecks. Against such disasters even the genius of Alberoni could not strive, and all further thoughts of the expedition were abandoned.*

It was only a further aggravation of the calamity of this tempest to the Jacobites that two frigates escaped its violence and pursued their voyage to Scotland, since, thus unsupported, they could of course only bring ruin on those whom they conveyed and on those who welcomed them. On board were the Earls Marischal and Seaforth, and the Marquis of Tullibardine, with some arms and about 300 Spanish soldiers. They landed on the 16th of April at Kintail in Ross-shire: and the frigates putting out again to sea, left them scarcely any alternative but to become either conquerors or captives. Their first object was concealment, in order to await the expected landing of Ormond in England; accordingly, they scarcely advanced beyond Kintail **, and for some time the Government believed that they had reembarked. A few hundred Highlanders joined them, either the devoted adherents of the exiled Lords, or the bold adventurers that always swarm in a lawless country, but there was no general gathering of the clans.*** During some weeks they appear to have remained unmolested; a strong proof of the unwillingness to give information, and of the thorough

* Ormond himself had written to Alberoni from Coruña, (March 22. 1719, Stuart Papers,) requesting a delay, or in fact a relinquishment of the enterprise, as its design was already known to France and England. He could not, he says, be so imprudent as to propose to attack England with 5000 men, unless by surprise.

** According to San Phelipe, Lord Seaforth went on to Bracaam (Coment. vol. ii. p. 216.); meaning, probably, as has been suggested to me, Brahan Castle, the chief seat of the Mackenzies. The names in San Phelipe are often strangely distorted. With him the Duke de Maine, for instance, becomes Humena; Lord Townshend, Fouveskendem; and Lord Cobham, Chacon.

*** "A resolution had been universally taken not to move in Scotland "till England was fairly engaged." (Lockhart's Mem. vol. ii. p. 22.) The Jacobites at Edinburgh were also on their guard against false rumours. An express came to them from Lord Stormont in Annandale, that Ormond's fleet had been seen to pass that coast; "but I gave it no credit," says Lockhart, "when I perceived his Lordship's letter was dated at one in the 6.6 morning, about which time I knew he was apt to credit any news that "pleased him."

disaffection of that district to the existing government. At length some ships of war coming to that coast retook Donan Castle, of which the rebels had made themselves masters; and General, now Lord, Carpenter, who commanded in Scotland, directed some forces against them from Inverness. The officer employed in this service was General Wightman: he had with him about 1000 men, and found the insurgents above 2000 strong, occupying a strong position across the narrow valley of Glenshiel. Making the best disposition of his scanty force, he began the attack on the evening of the 10th of June, the Pretender's birthday. The triumph of discipline over numbers was on this occasion easy and complete; the Highlanders did not venture to come to a close engagement, but were driven from rock to rock, until they dispersed in confusion along the mountain sides. The loss of the King's troops scarcely exceeded 20 killed and 120 wounded. The Highlanders, swift of foot and familiar with the country, easily made their escape one by one to their homes; but the Spaniards, who had no such facilities, and who kept together as a body, were compelled to surrender at discretion. They were sent prisoners to Edinburgh, where the leading Jacobites vied with each other in showing civilities, and even advancing money, to the officers.* As for General Wightman, "I am taking a tour," he writes, "through all the difficult passes of Seaforth's country, to "terrify the rebels by burning the houses of the guilty, and "preserving those of the honest."** It may be doubted, however, whether this delicate operation would be performed with the nice discrimination it required, and whether hasty and exasperated soldiers were always the best possible judges of who had and who had not a leaning to the Jacobites.

* Lockhart's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 23. "The great straits of the officers," he says, "appeared even in their looks, though their Spanish pride would "not allow them to complain."

** General Wightman to Lord Carpenter, June 17. 1719. London Gazette.

1719.

EARL MARISCHAL.

351

The three leaders of this forlorn hope, Lords Tullibardine, Marischal, and Seaforth (the last of whom had been wounded in the action), succeeded in escaping a surrender, which, in their case, would have been the first step to the scaffold. They took shelter in the Western Isles, where they lurked till the ardour of pursuit had abated, and then embarked in disguise for Spain. The further fate of these eminent exiles was very various. Seaforth received the Royal pardon in 1726, and returned to Scotland, where he passed the remainder of his days (till 1740) in quiet retirement. Tullibardine survived to share the enterprise of Prince Charles in 1745, and to die next year of a broken heart in the Tower. The Earl Marischal, with his brother, James Keith, after various vicissitudes, entered the Prussian service; where the latter rose to the rank of Field Marshal, and to the friendship of Frederick, and closed his heroic life on the fatal field of Hochkirchen. On his part Lord Marischal was employed in civil affairs; went on missions into France and Spain; and in the evening of his life, when in need of repose, was appointed Governor of the little state of Neuchatel. It was there that, in 1762, he became the patron and friend of Rousseau, who has drawn an interesting portrait of his honoured old age. "He used," says that eloquent writer, "to call me his child, and I called him my father..... "When first I beheld this venerable man, my first feeling "was to grieve over his sunk and wasted frame; but when I "raised my eyes on his noble features, so full of fire, and "so expressive of truth, I was struck with admiration.... "My Lord Marischal, though a wise man, is not free from "defects. With the most penetrating glance, with the nicest "judgment, with the deepest knowledge of mankind, he yet "is sometimes misled by prejudices, and can never be dis"abused of them. There is something strange and wayward "in his turn of mind. He appears to forget the persons he (6 sees every day, and remembers them at the moment when "they least expect it; his attentions appear unseasonable, "and his presents capricious. He gives or sends away on the

"spur of the moment whatever strikes his fancy, whether "of value or whether a trifle. A young Genevese, who "wished to enter the service of the King of Prussia, being "one day introduced to him, my Lord gave him, instead of "a letter, a small satchel full of peas, which he desired him "to deliver to His Majesty. On receiving this singular re"commendation, the King immediately granted a commis"sion to the bearer. These high intellects have between "them a secret language which common minds can never "understand. Such little eccentricities, like the caprices of a pretty woman, rendered the society of my Lord Marischal "only the more interesting, and never warped in his mind "either the feelings or the duties of friendship."*

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After the failure of Ormond's expedition, the Pretender could no longer forward the views of Spain; his presence at Madrid was only an additional bar to peace, and his entertainment an additional burden on the treasury. Alberoni, therefore, began to wish for his departure, and the Prince himself to be weary of his stay. A pretext alone was wanting on both sides, when news was brought that Princess Sobieski had contrived to make her escape from Inspruck, and to reach Bologna without further molestation. Her liberation was mainly contrived by Charles Wogan, who had been one of the prisoners of Preston, and who continued a most devoted partisan of the Stuart cause. Arriving at Inspruck under a false name, he obtained admittance for a female servant of one Mrs. Missat, into the convent where Clementina was confined, and proposed, without letting her fully into the secret, that she should change clothes with the Princess. But, at nearly the last moment, Jenny, the maidservant, hearing Wogan and his companions name the word "Princess" to each other, became acquainted with the real rank of the person concerned, and afraid of engaging any further in an affair of state. Many fair words and some pieces of gold were tried in vain to persuade her; but her female resolution melted away before the well-timed promise of a

* Rousseau, Confessions, livre xii. But I cannot swallow his peas.

1719. CAMPAIGN ON THE PYRENEAN FRONTIER.

353 beautiful suit of brocade belonging to her mistress. Thus taking advantage of a storm of wind and hail, and, consequently, a dark night, the Princess assumed the disguise of Jenny, came out of the gate in her place, and set forth on the horses which Wogan kept ready; and, nothwithstanding bad roads and worse weather, she never rested in her journey, till she had left the Austrian, and entered the Venetian, territories.* At these tidings, which afforded the desired pretext for departure, James immediately took leave of the Spanish Court, and returned to Italy, to solemnise his marriage.

Alberoni had hoped that a few of the shattered ships of Ormond's fleet might be speedily repaired and sent out; not, indeed, for their original destination, but for the smaller object of rousing and exciting the malcontents in Brittany. Partly, however, from necessary repairs, and partly from the dilatory disposition of Don Blas de Loya, the officer intrusted with this enterprise, the proper time for it slipped by, and the French Government was enabled to pour troops into the disaffected province, and to quell every hope of a rising.**

Nor was the campaign on the Pyrenean frontier less adverse to the views of Alberoni. Early in April, the French had taken the field with more than 30,000 men; and though Villars had refused the command, it had been accepted by Berwick. It was strange to see the conqueror of Almanza warring against Philip the Fifth, and the father of the Duke of Liria in arms against his son; but it was known that his cold temper was seldom stirred by any personal partialities; and that his stern sense of duty never yielded either to terror

Tales of a Grandfather, vol. ii. p. 212. ed. 1830. Wogan was knighted for this service by the Pope. He afterwards entered the Spanish service, and became a valued correspondent of Swift. (Works, vol. xvii. p. 438, &c.)

**Jai lu le procès de ceux qui furent exécutés à Nantes. Je me suis "entretenu plusieurs fois avec quelques uns des juges et de ceux qui furent "effigiés; je n'ai jamais vu de complot plus mal organisé. Plusieurs ne "savaient pas exactement de quoi il était question ou ne s'accordaient pas "les uns avec les autres." (Duclos, Mém. vol. ii. p. 30. ed. 1791.)

Mahon, History. I.

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