The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1, Thomas Babington Macaulay [ebook pc reader txt] 📗

With such a force he would be

able to defend that wild country against the whole power of the

kingdom of Scotland. and would also have secured an excellent

base for offensive operations. This seems to have been the wisest

course open to him. Rumbold, who had been trained in an excellent

military school, and who, as an Englishman, might be supposed to

be an impartial umpire between the Scottish factions, did all in

his power to strengthen the Earl's hands. But Hume and Cochrane

were utterly impracticable. Their jealousy of Argyle was, in

truth, stronger than their wish for the success of the

expedition. They saw that, among his own mountains and lakes, and

at the head of an army chiefly composed of his own tribe, he

would be able to bear down their opposition, and to exercise the

full authority of a General. They muttered that the only men who

had the good cause at heart were the Lowlanders, and that the

Campbells took up arms neither for liberty nor for the Church of

God, but for Mac Callum More alone.


Cochrane declared that he would go to Ayrshire if he went by

himself, and with nothing but a pitchfork in his hand. Argyle,

after long resistance, consented, against his better judgment, to

divide his little army. He remained with Rumbold in the

Highlands. Cochrane and Hume were at the head of the force which

sailed to invade the Lowlands.


Ayrshire was Cochrane's object: but the coast of Ayrshire was

guarded by English frigates; and the adventurers were under the

necessity of running up the estuary of the Clyde to Greenock,

then a small fishing village consisting of a single row of

thatched hovels, now a great and flourishing port, of which the

customs amount to more than five times the whole revenue which

the Stuarts derived from the kingdom of Scotland. A party of

militia lay at Greenock: but Cochrane, who wanted provisions, was

determined to land. Hume objected. Cochrane was peremptory, and

ordered an officer, named Elphinstone, to take twenty men in a

boat to the shore. But the wrangling spirit of the leaders had

infected all ranks. Elphinstone answered that he was bound to

obey only reasonable commands, that he considered this command as

unreasonable, and, in short, that he would not go. Major

Fullarton, a brave man, esteemed by all parties, but peculiarly

attached to Argyle, undertook to land with only twelve men, and

did so in spite of a fire from the coast. A slight skirmish

followed. The militia fell back. Cochrane entered Greenock and

procured a supply of meal, but found no disposition to

insurrection among the people.


In fact, the state of public feeling in Scotland was not such as

the exiles, misled by the infatuation common in all ages to

exiles, had supposed it to be. The government was, indeed,

hateful and hated. But the malecontents were divided into parties

which were almost as hostile to one another as to their rulers;

nor was any of those parties eager to join the invaders. Many

thought that the insurrection had no chance of success. The

spirit of many had been effectually broken by long and cruel

oppression. There was, indeed, a class of enthusiasts who were

little in the habit of calculating chances, and whom oppression

had not tamed but maddened. But these men saw little difference

between Argyle and James. Their wrath had been heated to such a

temperature that what everybody else would have called boiling

zeal seemed to them Laodicean lukewarmness. The Earl's past life

had been stained by what they regarded as the vilest apostasy.

The very Highlanders whom he now summoned to extirpate Prelacy he

had a few years before summoned to defend it. And were slaves who

knew nothing and cared nothing about religion, who were ready to

fight for synodical government, for Episcopacy, for Popery, just

as Mac Callum More might be pleased to command, fit allies for

the people of God? The manifesto, indecent and intolerant as was

its tone, was, in the view of these fanatics, a cowardly and

worldly performance. A settlement such as Argyle would have made,

such as was afterwards made by a mightier and happier deliverer,

seemed to them not worth a struggle. They wanted not only freedom

of conscience for themselves, but absolute dominion over the

consciences of others; not only the Presbyterian doctrine,

polity, and worship, but the Covenant in its utmost rigour.

Nothing would content them but that every end for which civil

society exists should be sacrificed to the ascendency of a

theological system. One who believed no form of church government

to be worth a breach of Christian charity, and who recommended

comprehension and toleration, was in their phrase, halting

between Jehovah and Baal. One who condemned such acts as the

murder of Cardinal Beatoun and Archbishop Sharpe fell into the

same sin for which Saul had been rejected from being King over

Israel. All the rules, by which, among civilised and Christian

men, the horrors of war are mitigated, were abominations in the

sight of the Lord. Quarter was to be neither taken nor given. A

Malay running a muck, a mad dog pursued by a crowd, were the

models to be imitated by warriors fighting in just self-defence.

To reasons such as guide the conduct of statesmen and generals

the minds of these zealots were absolutely impervious. That a man

should venture to urge such reasons was sufficient evidence that

he was not one of the faithful. If the divine blessing were

withheld, little would be effected by crafty politicians, by

veteran captains, by cases of arms from Holland, or by regiments

of unregenerate Celts from the mountains of Lorn. If, on the

other hand, the Lord's time were indeed come, he could still, as

of old, cause the foolish things of the world to confound the

wise, and could save alike by many and by few. The broadswords of

Athol and the bayonets of Claverhouse would be put to rout by

weapons as insignificant as the sling of David or the pitcher of

Gideon.348


Cochrane, having found it impossible to raise the population on

the south of the Clyde, rejoined Argyle, who was in the island of

Bute. The Earl now again proposed to make an attempt upon

Inverary. Again he encountered a pertinacious opposition. The

seamen sided with Hume and Cochrane. The Highlanders were

absolutely at the command of their chieftain. There was reason to

fear that the two parties would come to blows; and the dread of

such a disaster induced the Committee to make some concession.

The castle of Ealan Ghierig, situated at the mouth of Loch

Riddan, was selected to be the chief place of arms. The military

stores were disembarked there. The squadron was moored close to

the walls in a place where it was protected by rocks and shallows

such as, it was thought, no frigate could pass. Outworks were

thrown up. A battery was planted with some small guns taken from

the ships. The command of the fort was most unwisely given to

Elphinstone, who had already proved himself much more disposed to

argue with his commanders than to fight the enemy.


And now, during a few hours, there was some show of vigour.

Rumbold took the castle of Ardkinglass. The Earl skirmished

successfully with Athol's troops, and was about to advance on

Inverary, when alarming news from the ships and factions in the

Committee forced him to turn back. The King's frigates had come

nearer to Ealan Ghierig than had been thought possible. The

Lowland gentlemen positively refused to advance further into the

Highlands. Argyle hastened back to Ealan Ghierig. There he

proposed to make an attack on the frigates. His ships, indeed,

were ill fitted for such an encounter. But they would have been

supported by a flotilla of thirty large fishing boats, each well

manned with armed Highlanders. The Committee, however, refused to

listen to this plan, and effectually counteracted it by raising a

mutiny among the sailors.


All was now confusion and despondency. The provisions had been so

ill managed by the Committee that there was no longer food for

the troops. The Highlanders consequently deserted by hundreds;

and the Earl, brokenhearted by his misfortunes, yielded to the

urgency of those who still pertinaciously insisted that he should

march into the Lowlands.


The little army therefore hastened to the shore of Loch Long,

passed that inlet by night in boats, and landed in

Dumbartonshire. Hither, on the following morning, came news that

the frigates had forced a passage, that all the Earl's ships had

been taken, and that Elphinstone had fled from Ealan Ghierig

without a blow, leaving the castle and stores to the enemy.


All that remained was to invade the Lowlands under every

disadvantage. Argyle resolved to make a bold push for Glasgow.

But, as soon as this resolution was announced, the very men, who

had, up to that moment, been urging him to hasten into the low

country, took fright, argued, remonstrated, and when argument and

remonstrance proved vain, laid a scheme for seizing the boats,

making their own escape, and leaving their General and his

clansmen to conquer or perish unaided. This scheme failed; and

the poltroons who had formed it were compelled to share with

braver men the risks of the last venture.


During the march through the country which lies between Loch Long

and Loch Lomond, the insurgents were constantly infested by

parties of militia. Some skirmishes took place, in which the Earl

had the advantage; but the bands which he repelled, falling back

before him, spread the tidings of his approach, and, soon after

he had crossed the river Leven, he found a strong body of regular

and irregular troops prepared to encounter him.


He was for giving battle. Ayloffe was of the same opinion. Hume,

on the other hand, declared that to fight would be madness. He

saw one regiment in scarlet. More might be behind. To attack such

a force was to rush on certain death The best course was to

remain quiet till night, and then to give the enemy the slip.


A sharp altercation followed, which was with difficulty quieted

by the mediation of Rumbold. It was now evening. The hostile

armies encamped at no great distance from each other. The Earl

ventured to propose a night attack, and was again overruled.


Since it was determined not to fight, nothing was left but to

take the step which Hume had recommended. There was a chance

that, by decamping secretly, and hastening all night across

heaths and morasses, the Earl might gain many miles on the enemy,

and might reach Glasgow without further obstruction. The watch

fires were left burning; and the march began. And now disaster

followed disaster fast. The guides mistook the track