=15. Battle of Culloden.=--Meanwhile the King's troops were closing round the rebels, who, cooped up in the barren mountains, were reduced to the greatest straits. All supplies sent from France were cut off before they reached them, and for several days they had no food but a little raw oatmeal. It was plain that the battle that was unavoidable must be a defeat. _Culloden Moor_ was the scene of this the last battle fought on British ground. The rebels, who were nearly starving, and who had been worn out by a long march and an attempted night-attack that had altogether failed, soon gave way, and were easily routed by the Duke's well-disciplined and nearly twice as numerous army: April 16, 1746. The _French_ auxiliaries fled towards _Inverness_, where they laid down their arms. The rebels lost one thousand men, a fifth of their whole number; the victors only three hundred and ten. About twelve hundred of the fugitives rallied at Ruthven; but Charles begged them to disperse, and every man sought his own safety as he best might. The after measures of the victors were disgraceful to all concerned. No quarter was given; the wounded were slaughtered in cold blood, or burnt in the houses to which they had crawled for shelter. For three months martial law prevailed; the country was wasted, the houses burnt, the cattle lifted, the people left to perish. It was not till July that the Duke, who in Scotland was called _the Butcher_, went back to London, where he was hailed as the deliverer of his country, and rewarded with a pension of 25,000_l._ a year.