 success of his
enterprise perhaps depended. It was proposed to send one of the prisoners to
London, to demand of that court a cartel for the exchange of prisoners taken,
and to be taken, during this war, and to intimate that a refusal would be looked
upon as a resolution on their part to give no quarter. It was visible a cartel
would be of great advantage to the Prince's affairs; his friends would be more
ready to declare for him if they had nothing to fear but the chance of war in
the field; and if the court of London refused to settle a cartel, the Prince was
authorised to treat his prisoners in the same manner the Elector of Hanover was
determined to treat such of the Prince's friends as might fall into his hands:
it was urged that a few examples would compel the court of London to comply. It
was to be presumed that the officers of the English army would make a point of
it. They had never engaged in the service, but upon such terms as are in use
among all civilised nations, and it could be no stain upon their honour to lay
down their commissions if these terms were not observed, and that owing to the
obstinacy of their own Prince. Though this scheme was plausible, and represented
as very important, the Prince could never be brought into it; it was below him,
he said, to make empty threats, and he would never put such as those into
execution; he would never in cold blood take away lives which he had saved in
heat of action, at the peril of his own. These were not the only proofs of good
nature the Prince gave about this time. Every day produced something new of this
kind. These things softened the rigour of a military government, which was only
imputed to the necessity of his affairs, and which he endeavoured to make as
gentle and easy as possible.«
It has been said, that the Prince sometimes exacted more state and ceremonial
than seemed to suit his condition; but, on the other hand, some strictness of
etiquette was altogether indispensable where he must otherwise have been exposed
to general intrusion. He could also endure, with a good grace, the retorts which
his affectation of ceremony sometimes exposed him to. It is said, for example,
that Grant of Glenmoriston having made a hasty march to join Charles, at the
head of his clan, rushed into the Prince's presence at Holyrood, with
unceremonious haste, without having attended to the duties of the toilet. The
Prince received him kindly, but not without a hint that
