Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

loyalty and good feeling, left his presence the warmest and most devoted of his supporters.* Kings of England, p. 210.

RAISING THE STANDARD.

The memorable ceremony of "raising the standard," accompanied by the gathering of the clans, took place on the 19th of August, 1745, in the vale of Glenfinnan, situated about forty miles south west of Fort Augustus. The spot was a romantic and desolate one, being a narrow and sequestered valley, overhung on each side by high and craggy mountains, between which the small river Finnan pursued its quiet course towards the sea. To this spot Charles, having disembarked at the further extremity of Loch Shiel, proceeded under the escort of two companies of the Macdonalds. He had anticipated, it is said, beholding the valley alive with armed men, and with floating tartans; but when he entered the desolate ravine it extended before him in its accustomed stillness and solitude, and, for the first time since he had quitted France, the adventurer appears to have felt himself thoroughly dispirited and forlorn. Having entered one of the rude huts of the friendly inhabitants of the valley, the prince was condemned to endure two long hours of feverish suspense. At length, however, the scene changed. Suddenly the thrilling sounds of the pibroch were heard in the distance, and presently a body of 700 Highlanders were seen rapidly descending the mountain paths. As the latter caught a glimpse of the prince and his followers, the air resounded with their enthu

* His triumph over the scruples of the gallant Lochiel may be cited as an example of his extraordinary power over the human heart. On his road to Borrodaile to expostulate with the prince, and point out to him the hopelessness of the undertaking, the chieftain stopped to pay a passing visit to his brother Cameron, o Fassefern. The younger brother, but too well aware of the ardent temperament o Lochiel's character, strongly urged him on no account to expose himself to the fascinations of a personal interview with the young prince, but by all means to communicate his arguments by letter. "I know you," said Fassefern, "better than you know yourself; if this prince once sets eyes upon you he will make you do whatever he pleases." Lochiel, however, persisted in his original intention e waiting on the prince in person; and the result of their interview was exactly such as had been anticipated by Fassefern. For a considerable time, indeed, Lochiel stood firm against the entreaties and arguments of Charles, till the latter. in a moment of great excitement, and by the exercise of that happy combination of language and mammer, that irresistable appeal to the generous feelings of his listeners, which had already scattered to the winds the pre-determined caution and circumspection of more than one of his present followers, at length decided the fate of Lochiel. "In a few days," he said, "with the few friends I have, I will raise the royal standard, and proclaim to the people of Britain that Charles Stuart is come over to claim the crown of his ancestors-to win it or perish in the attempt. Lochiel, who my father has often told me was our firmest friend, may stay at home. and learn from the newspapers the fate of his prince." "No," said Lochiel, wh caught the enthusiasm of the moment; "I will share the fate of my prince, and s shall every man over whom nature or fortune has given me power." On the result of this important conference depended, according to Home, the great question peace or war; for had Lochiel remained firm in his determination to resist prince's eloquence, it was the general opinion in the highlands that no other chieftain would have joined the standard of the adventurer, and that the spark d rebellion must inevitably have been extinguished in the north.

siastic shouts, and louder and more joyous rose the heart-stirring notes of their national music. Well, indeed, might Charles have been proud of the band of few but daring and devoted followers by whom he was now surrounded; and grateful also might he well be for their ardent and disinterested attachment. He had come among them an exile and a proscribed man; and he, who but a short time since, had been doomed to encounter but the cold looks and unmeaning professions of luke-warm friends and calculating politicians in the glittering saloons of Paris, now found nimself enabled, as if by the wand of the magician, to people the wild valleys of the north with spirits as brave and devoted as ever fought on behalf of the wildest dreams of freedom, or in the cause of legitimate right. Perhaps, indeed, in no country, and in no age-not excepting even the glorious struggles for freedom which have rendered illustrious the wild fastnesses of the Tyrol, nor the contests on behalf of legitimate right which inflamed the inhabitants of La Vendée-was there ever exhibited such romantic devotedness, such a thorough abandonment of selfish views and interests, as that which prompted the rising of the hardy Highlanders of 1745, in the cause of the exiled and unfortunate Stuarts. That among the Highland chieftains there were a few individuals who joined the standard of the Stuarts solely from motives of self interest, and who played the desperate game of throwing for a coronet or a coffin, there unfortunately can be but little question. But such were far from being the motives which actuated the majority of those unfortunate gentlemen who now hastened to join the standard of Charles Edward. Generally speaking this gallant body was comprised of individuals whose feelings of pure and devotional loyalty partook but too closely of the character of romance; who generously discarded every dictate prompted by self-interest in supporting what they sincerely believed to be the cause of religion and of right; who conscientiously regarded the reigning sovereign in the light of an alien and an usurper; and who hastened as to a bridal, to greet the young representative of their ancient and legitimate Kings. "The Scots," says Lord Mahon, "have often been reproached with a spirit of sordid gain. The truth is merely-and should it not be a matter of praise?-that by their intelligence, their industry, their superior education, they will always, in whatever country, be singled out for employment, and rise high in the social scale. But when a contest lies between selfish security or advancement on one side, and generous impulse or deeprooted conviction on the other; when danger and conscience beckon onward, and prudence alone calls back; let history declare whether in any age or in any cause, as followers of Knox or of Montrose, as Cameronians or as Jacobites, the men-aye, and the women-of Scotland have quailed from any degree of sacrifice and suffering! The very fact that Charles came helpless obtained him the help of many. They believed him their rightful prince, and the more destitute that prince, the more they wer

bound in loyalty to aid him. Foreign forces which would have diminished the danger, would also have diminished the duty, and placed him in the light of a hostile invader rather than of a native sovereign. Moreover, Charles was now in the very centre of those tribes which ever since they were trained by Montrose-such is the stamp that great spirits can imprint upon posterity!-had continued firm and devoted adherents to the house of Stuart. True it is, at this distance of time, that we may well congratulate ourselves that the reigning dynasty was not destroyed, and that the doubtful experiment of restoring the legitimate line, and trusting anew to the tender mercies of the ill-advised and ill-fated Stuarts, was not carried into effect. But not the less should we admire the affectionate devotion of those brave men whose zeal, though it was mistaken, was not the less admirable; who, it must be remembered, acknowledged not the supremacy of the German sovereigns of England; and who now came forward to hazard their lives and fortunes in a cause which they religiously believed to be that of duty, of legitimacy, and of right.

The site which was fixed upon for the "raising of the standard" was a small mound in the centre of the sequestered valley of Glenfinnan, where a monument bearing a Latin inscription still points out the memorable spot. The banner, which was of red silk, with a white space in the centre, on which was inscribed the famous motto, "Tandem Triumphans," was unfurled with great ceremony by the Marquis of Tullibardine,

"High-minded Moray!-the exiled-the dear!"

who was at this period labouring under the tortures of disease and the infirmities of age, but whose heart continued to beat as warmly as ever in the cause which had been the passion of his youth, and for which he had already lost a dukedom, with all its accompanying advantages of station and of wealth. As the banner unfolded itself to the mountain breeze, the air resounded with the shouts of the elated Highlanders; and in the words of a bystander, "the bonnets which were thrown joyously aloft almost overclouded the sky.' When the noisy and tumultuous enthusiasm of the clans had a little subsided, Tullibardine, supported, on account of his infirmities, by a Highlander on each side of him, read aloud the manifesto of the old Cavalier, in which he denounced the claims of the German usurper; exhorted his loyal subjects to join the standard of their legitimate sovereign; and finally set forth the grievances which had befallen Great Britain under the new dynasty, and expressed his determination to redress them by every means in his power, and at the same time to respect all existing institutions, rights, and privileges whatever. This document was dated at Rome, December 23rd, 1743, and was signed "James the Eighth.' Another paper was then read aloud, in which James granted a commission of regency to his As soon as the reading of this paper was concluded, Charles presented himself to the admiring Highlanders, and in a brief, but

son.

animated speech, spoke of the satisfaction which he felt on finding himself among the loyal and gallant gentlemen who now surrounded him. He had come among them, he said, because he was satisfied they were prepared to live or die with him; and for his part, he added, he was resolved to conquer or to perish at their head. Having concluded his brief oration, the standard, guarded by a body of fifty Camerons, was formally carried back to the prince's quarters. Such is a brief description of the famous ceremony of the raising of the standard in the valley of Glenfinnan; a ceremony which, when we call to mind the wild scenes amidst which the drama was enacted; the picturesque garb and remarkable character of those who took part in it; as well as the eventful circumstances and chivalrous exploits to which it was the immediate prelude-partake rather of the character of a romantic tale, than of a dry episode in the pages of real history.

Memoirs of the Pretender, by John Heneage Jesse, vol. i., p. 194. The scene has been well described in glowing verse by the greatest modern master of fiction and of song:

"There is mist on the mountain, and night on the vale,
But more dark is the sleep of the sons of the Gael.

A stranger commanded-it sunk on the land,

It has frozen each heart, and benumb'd every hand:

The dirk and the target lie sordid with dust,
The bloodless claymore is but redden'd with rust;
On the hill or the glen if a gun should appear,
It is only to war with the heath-cock or deer.

The deeds of our sires if our bards would rehearse,
Let a blush or a blow be the meed of their verse!
Be mute every string, and be hush'd every tone,
That shall bid us remember the fame that is flown.

But the dark hours of night and of slumber are passed,
The morn on our mountains is dawning at last;
Glenaladale's peaks are illumined with rays,

And the streams of Glenfinnan leap bright in the blaze.

O! high-minded Moray!-the exiled-the dear!
In the blush of the dawning, the STANDARD uprear!
Wide, wide on the winds of the north let it fly,
Like the sun's latest flash when the tempest is nigh!
Ye sons of the strong, when that dawning shall break,
Need the harp of the aged remind you to wake?
That dawn never beam'd on your forefather's eye,
But it roused each high chieftain to vanquish or die.

O! sprung from the kings who in Islay kept state,
Proud chiefs of clan Ranald, Glengary, and Sleat!
Combine like three streams from one mountain of snow,
And resistless in union rush down on the foe.

True son of Sir Eve, undaunted Lochiel,

Place thy targe on thy shoulder and burnish thy steel!
Rough Keppoch, give breath to thy bugle's bold swell,
Till far Coryarrick resound to the knell !

Stern son of Lord Kenneth, high chief of Kintail,
Let the stag in thy standard bound wild with the gale!
May the race of clan Gillean, the fearless and free,
Remember Glenlivat, Harlaw, and Dundee !

Let the elan of grey Fingon, whose offspring has given
Such heroes to earth, and such martyrs to heaven,
Unite with the race of renown'd Rorri More,

To launch the long galley, and stretch to the oar !
How Mac-Shimei will joy when their chief shall display
The yew-crested bonnet o'er tresses of grey!
How the race of wrong'd Alpine, and murder'd Glencoe
Shall shout for revenge when they pour on the foe!
Ye sons of brown Dermid, who slew the wild boar,
Resume the pure faith of the great Callain-More!
Mac-Neil of the Islands, and Moy, of the lake,
For honour, for freedom, for vengeance awake!—
Awake on your hills on your islands awake,
Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake!
"Tis the bugle-but not for the chase is the call;
"Tis the pibroch's shrill summons-but not to the hall.
'Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death,
When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath;
They call to the dirk, the claymore, and the targe,
To the march and the muster, the line and the charge.
Be the brand of each chieftain like Fin's in his ire!
May the blood through his veins flow like currents of fire!
Burst the base foreign yoke, as your sires did of yore,
Or die like your sires, and endure itno more!"

Flora Macivor's Song, Waverly, vol. i., p. 342.

BATTLE OF CULLODEN.

This never-to-be-forgotten battle, which struck the death-blow to the cause of the Stuarts, was fought on the 16th April, 1746. After many gallant charges the Highlanders were overpowered by the superior discipline of the king's troops, under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, and totally defeated. Twelve hundred are said to have been slain or wounded on the field or in the pursuit. 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 indiscriminating vengeance of the victors. Provoked by former disgraces, the soldiers were actuated by the most savage thirst for vengeance. Not contented with the blood which was profusely shed in the heat of action, they traversed the field after the battle, and massacred those miserable wretches who lay maimed and expiring. Detachments were sent off on all hands to hunt down the fugitives, and lay waste the country with fire and sword. The castles of Glengary and Lochiel were plundered and burned; every house, hut, or habitation, met with the same fate, without distinction. All the cattle and provisions were carried off; the men were either shot on the mountains like wild beasts, or put to death in cold blood without form or trial; the women, after having seen their husbands and fathers murdered, were subjected to brutal violence, and turned out naked with their children to starve on the barren heaths. One whole family was enclosed in a barn and consumed to ashes. These ministers of vengeance were so alert in the execution of their office that in a few days there was neither house,

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »