 fact as well known as any in his
history, and, so far as I know, entirely undisputed, that the Prince's personal
entreaties and urgency positively forced Boisdale and Lochiel into insurrection,
when they were earnestly desirous that he would put off his attempt until he
could obtain a sufficient force from France, it will be very difficult to
reconcile his alleged reluctance to undertake the expedition, with his
desperately insisting on carrying the rising into effect, against the advice and
entreaty of his most powerful and most sage partisans. Surely a man who had been
carried bound on board the vessel which brought him to so desperate an
enterprise, would have taken the opportunity afforded by the reluctance of his
partisans, to return to France in safety.
It is averred in Johnstone's Memoirs, that Charles Edward left the field of
Culloden without doing the utmost to dispute the victory; and, to give the
evidence on both sides, there is in existence the more trustworthy testimony of
Lord Elcho, who states, that he himself earnestly exhorted the Prince to charge
at the head of the left wing, which was entire, and retrieve the day or die with
honour. And on his counsel being declined, Lord Elcho took leave of him with a
bitter execration, swearing he would never look on his face again, and kept his
word.
On the other hand, it seems to have been the opinion of almost all the other
officers, that the day was irretrievably lost, one wing of the Highlanders being
entirely routed, the rest of the army out-numbered, outflanked, and in a
condition totally hopeless. In this situation of things, the Irish officers who
surrounded Charles's person interfered to force him off the field. A cornet who
was close to the Prince, left a strong attestation, that he had seen Sir Thomas
Sheridan seize the bridle of his horse, and turn him round. There is some
discrepancy of evidence; but the opinion of Lord Elcho, a man of fiery temper,
and desperate at the ruin which he beheld impending, cannot fairly be taken, in
prejudice of a character for courage which is intimated by the nature of the
enterprise itself, by the Prince's eagerness to fight on all occasions, by his
determination to advance from Derby to London, and by the presence of mind which
he manifested during the romantic perils of his escape. The Author is far from
claiming for this unfortunate person the praise due to splendid talents; but he
continues to be of opinion, that at the period of his enterprise, he had a mind
capable of facing danger and aspiring to
