At Moffat, this column halted; and divine service was performed in
different parts of the town, all the men attending. "Our people,"
remarks Lord George, "were very regular that way; and I remember, at
Derby, the day we halted, as a battle was soon expected, many of our
officers and people took the sacrament."[159]
On the twenty-fifth of December, Lord George arrived at Glasgow, having
passed through the towns of Hamilton and Douglas, and here, on the
following day, Charles Edward also arrived, with the other column. Lord
Elcho, who had conducted the cavalry through Dumfries, preceded the two
great divisions. It was resolved to give the army some days' rest after
the excessive fatigue which the men had uncomplainingly sustained. The
spirits of Charles Edward were now recruited, and his example
contributed not a little to the alacrity and energy of his force. Small,
indeed, did it appear, when he reviewed it on Glasgow-green, and found
how little he had suffered during his expedition into England. Hitherto
Charles had carefully concealed his weakness; but now, hoping in a few
days to double his army, he was not unwilling to show with what a
handful of men he had penetrated into England, and conducted an
enterprise, bold in its conception, and admirable in its performance.
At Glasgow, the melancholy fate of the brave garrison in Carlisle became
known to the Jacobite army. Two days after the Prince had left, the Duke
of Cumberland invested it, and began to batter that part of the wall
which is towards the Irish gate. The governor of the Castle, Mr.
Hamilton, determined to capitulate even before a breach had been made in
the walls; and his proposal was vainly resisted by the brave Francis
Townley and others, who were resolved to defend themselves to the last
extremity. "They were in the right."[160] They might have held out for
several days, and perhaps obtained better terms; but the governor
persisted in surrendering to the clemency of King George, promised by
his inhuman and dishonourable son. Assurances of intercession were given
by the Duke of Cumberland, and the garrison of three hundred men
surrendered. On the Duke's return to London, it was decided by the
British government that he was not bound to observe a capitulation with
rebels. The brave, and confiding prisoners perished, twelve of the
officers by the common hangman, at Kennington; others, at Carlisle--many
died in prison. Their fate reflected strongly upon the conduct of
Charles Edward; but the general character of that young Prince, his
hatred of blood, his love of his adherents, prove that it was not
indifference to their safety which actuated him in the sacrifice of the
garrison of Carlisle. He was possessed with an infatuation, believing
that he should one day, and that day not distant, re-enter England; he
was surrounded by favourites, who all encouraged his predilections, and
fostered the hereditary self-will of his ill-starred race. The blood of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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