CHAPTER VI.

The Rebels are totally defeated at Culloden..... The Duke
of Cumberland takes Possession of Inverness, and afterwards
encamps at Fort-Augustus..... The Prince Pretender escapes
to France..... Convulsion in the Ministry..... Liberality of
the Commons..... Trial of the Rebels..... Kilmarnock,
Balmerino, Lovat, and Mr. Ratcliff, are beheaded on Tower-
hill..... The States-general alarmed at the Progress of the
French in the Netherlands..... Count Saxa subdues all
Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault..... Reduces the strong
Fortress of Namur, and defeats the Allied Army at
Roucoux..... The French and Spaniards are compelled to
abandon Piedmont and the Milanese..... Don Philip is worsted
at Codogno, and afterwards at Porto Freddo..... The
Austrians take Possession of Genoa..... Count Brown
penetrates into Provence..... The Genoese expel the
Austrians from their City..... Madras in the East Indies
taken by the French..... Expedition to the Coast of
Bretagne, and Attempt upon Port L’Orient..... Naval
Transactions in the West-Indies..... Conferences at
Breda..... Vast Supplies granted by the Commons of
England..... Parliament dissolved..... The French and Allies
take the Field in Flanders..... Prince of Orange elected
Stadtholder, Captain-general, and Admiral of the United
Provinces..... The Confederates defeated at Laffeldt.....
Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom—The Austrians undertake the Siege
of Genoa, which however, they abandon..... The Chevalier de
Belleisle slain in the Attack of Exilles..... A French
Squadron defeated and taken by the Admirals Anson and
Warren..... Admiral Hawke obtains another Victory over the
French at Sea..... Other Naval Transactions..... Congress at
Aix-la-Chapelle..... Compliant Temper of the new
Parliament..... Preliminaries signed..... Preparations for
the Campaign in the Netherlands..... Siege of
Maestrieht..... Cessation of Arms..... Transactions in the
East and West Indies..... Conclusion of the Definitive
Treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle

THE REBELS ARE TOTALLY DEFEATED.

In the beginning of April, the duke of Cumberland began his march from Aberdeen, and on the twelfth passed the deep and rapid river Spey, without opposition from the rebels, though a detachment of them appeared on the opposite side. Why they did not dispute the passage is not easy to be conceived; But, indeed, from this instance of neglect, and their subsequent conduct, we may conclude they were under a total infatuation. His royal highness proceeded to Nairn, where he received intelligence that the enemy had advanced from Inverness to Culloden, about the distance of nine miles from the royal army, with intention to give him battle. The design of Charles was to march in the night from Culloden, and surprise the duke’s army at day-break; for this purpose the English camp had been reconnoitred; and on the night of the fifteenth the highland army began to march in two columns. Their design was to surround the enemy, and attack them at once on all quarters; but the length of the columns embarrassed the march, so that the army was obliged to make many halts: the men had been under arms during the whole preceding night, were faint with hunger and fatigue, and many of them overpowered with sleep. Some were unable to proceed; others dropped off unperceived in the dark; and the march was retarded in such a manner, that it would have been impossible to reach the duke’s camp before sun-rise. The design being thus frustrated, the prince-pretender was with great reluctance prevailed upon by his general officers to measure back his way to Culloden; at which place he had no sooner arrived, than great numbers of his followers dispersed in quest of provisions; and many, overcome with weariness and sleep, threw themselves down on the heath and along the park walls. Their repose, however, was soon interrupted in a very disagreeable manner. Their prince receiving intelligence that his enemies were in full march to attack him, resolved to hazard an engagement, and ordered his troops to be formed for that purpose. On the sixteenth day of April, the duke of Cumberland, having made the proper dispositions, decamped from Nairn early in the morning, and after a march of nine miles perceived the highlanders drawn up in order of battle, to the number of four thou-sand men, in thirteen divisions, supplied with some pieces of artillery. The royal army, which was much more numerous, the duke immediately formed into three lines, disposed in excellent order: and about one o’clock in the afternoon the cannonading began. The artillery of the rebels was ill served, and did very little execution; but that of the king’s troops made dreadful havock among the enemy. Impatient of this fire, their front line advanced to the attack, and about five hundred of the clans charged the duke’s left wing with their usual impetuosity. One regiment was disordered by the weight of this column; but two battalions advancing from the second line, sustained the first, and soon put a stop to their career, by a severe fire, that killed a great number. At the same time the dragoons under Hawley, and the Argyleshire militia, pulled down a park wall that covered their flank, and the cavalry falling in among the rebels sword in hand, completed their confusion. The French picquets on their left, covered the retreat of the highlanders by a close and regular fire; and then retired to Inverness, where they surrendered themselves prison-ers of war. An entire body of the rebels marched off the field in order, with their pipes playing, and the pre-tender’s standard displayed; the rest were routed with great slaughter; and their prince was with reluctance prevailed upon to retire. In less than thirty minutes they were totally defeated, and the field covered with the slain. The road, as far as Inverness, was strewed with dead bodies; and a great number of people, who from motives of curiosity had come to see the battle, were sacrificed to the undistinguished vengeance of the victors. Twelve hundred rebels were slain or wounded on the field, and in the pursuit. The earl of Kilmarnock was taken; and in a few days lord Balmerino surrendered to a country gentleman, at whose house he presented himself for this purpose. The glory of the victory was sullied by the barbarity of the soldiers. They had been provoked by their former disgraces to the most savage thirst of revenge. Not contented with the blood which was so profusely shed in the heat of action, they traversed the field after the battle, and massacred those miserable wretches who lay maimed and expiring: nay, some officers acted a part in this cruel scene of assassination, the triumph of low illiberal minds, uninspired by sentiment, untinctured by humanity. The vanquished adventurer rode off the field, accompanied by the duke of Perth, lord Elcho, and a few horsemen; he crossed the water at Nairn, and retired to the house of a gentleman in Strutharrick, where he conferred with old lord Lovat; then he dismissed his followers, and wandered about a wretched and solitary fugitive among the isles and mountains for the space of five months, during which he underwent such a series of dangers, hardships, and misery, as no other person ever outlived. Thus, in one short hour, all his hope vanished, and the rebellion was entirely extinguished. One would almost imagine, the conductors of this desperate enterprise had conspired their own destruction, as they certainly neglected every step that might have contributed to their safety or success. They might have opposed the duke of Cumberland at the passage of the Spey; they might, by proper conduct, have afterwards attacked his camp in the night, with a good prospect of success. As they were greatly inferior to him in number, and weakened with hunger and fatigue, they might have retired to the hills and fastnesses, where they would have found plenty of live cattle for provision, recruited their regiments, and been joined by a strong reinforcement, which was actually in full march to their assistance. But they were distracted by dissensions and jealousies; they obeyed the dictates of despair, and wilfully devoted themselves to ruin and death. When the news of the battle arrived in England, the nation was transported with joy, and extolled the duke of Cumberland as a hero and deliverer, Both houses of parliament congratulated his majesty on the auspicious event. They decreed, in the most solemn manner, their public thanks to his royal highness, which were transmitted to him by the speakers; and the commons, by bill, added five-and-twenty thousand pounds per annum to his former revenue.

ENLARGE

Culloden Moor