The Leading Facts of English HistoryMontgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
History
The Leading Facts of English History
Montgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
Great Britain -- History
With that, followed by his troops, he rused upon the enemy with such
impetuosity that they turned and fled. This was the last battle in
which an English king took part in person. It was followed by that of
Fontenoy, in the Netherlands (Belgium), in which the French gained the
victory. After nearly eight years fighting the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, secured a peace advantageous for England.
543. Invasion by the "Young Pretender"; "The Forty-Five."[1]
[1] "The Forty-Five": so called from the Scotch rising of 1745.
While the War of the Austrian Succession was in progress, the French
encouraged James II's grandson, Princle Charles Edward, the "Young
Pretender" (S535), to make an attempt on the English crown. He landed
(1745) on the northern coast of Scotland with only seven followers,
but with the aid of the Scotch Jacobites (SS495, 535) of the Highlands
he gained a battle over the English at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh.
Emboldened by his success, he now marched into Derbyshire, England, on
his way to London. He hoped that as he advanced the country would
rise in his favor; but finding no support, he retreated to Scotland.
The next year he and his adherents were defeated, with great slaughter
by "Butcher" Cumberland, as the Scotch called him, at Culloden, near
Iverness (1746). (See map facing p. 120.) The "Young Pretender" fled
from the battlefield to the Hebrides. After wandering in those
islands for many months he escaped to France through the devotion and
courage of the Scottish heroine, Flora Macdonald. When he left the
country his Highland sympathizers lost all hope. There were no more
ringing Jacobite songs, sung over bowls of steaming punch, of "Wha'll
be king but Charlie?" "Over the Water to Charlie," and "Wae's me for
Prince Charlie"; and when (1788) Prince Charles Edward died in Rome,
the unfortunate House of Stuart, which began with James I (1603),
disappeared from English history.[2]
[2] Devoted loyalty to a hopeless cause was never more truly or
pathetically expressed than in some of these Jacobite songs, notably
in those of Scotland, in honor of Prince Charles Edward, the "Young
Pretender," of which the following lines from "Over the Water to
Charlie" are an example:
"Over the water, and over the sea,
And over the water to Charlie;
Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go,
And live or die with Charlie."
Scott, "Redgauntlet"
544. War in the East; the Black Hole of Calcutta; Clive's Victories;
English Empire of India, 1751-1757.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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