The true cause of all the misfortunes which happened to the Scotch and those who took arms in the north of England, lies here: that they rose without any previous certainty of foreign help, in direct contradiction to the scheme which their leaders themselves had formed. The excuse which I have heard made for this, is that the act of parliament for curbing the highlanders was near to be put in execution: that they would have been disarmed and entirely disabled from rising at any other time, if they had not rose at this. You can judge better than I of the validity of this excuse. It seems to me that by management they might have gained time, and that even when they had been reduced to the dilemma supposed, they ought to have got together under pretence of resisting the infractions of the union without any mention of the pretender, and have treated with the government on this foot. By these means they might probably have preserved themselves in a condition of avowing their design when they should be sure of being backed from abroad; at the worst they might have declared for the Chevalier when all other expedients failed them. In a word I take this excuse not to be very good, and the true reason of this conduct to have been the rashness of the people, and the inconsistent measures of their head. (_b_) _The Pretender no Leader of Men._ +Source.+--_A true Account of the Proceedings at Perth, Written by a Rebel_, 1716, p. 20. I must not conceal that when we saw the man whom they called our King, we found ourselves not at all animated by his presence, and if he was disappointed in us, we were tenfold more so in him. We saw nothing in him that looked like spirit. He never appeared with cheerfulness and vigour to animate us. His countenance looked extremely heavy. He cared not to come abroad among us soldiers, or to see us handle our arms or do our exercises. Some said, the circumstances he found us in dejected him; I am sure the figure he made dejected us; and had he sent us but 3.000 men of good hopes, and never himself come among us, we had done other things than we have now. (_c_) _The Nation's Dread of Popery._ [Just as in 1745 the Curse of Ernulphus was reprinted in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for September "to shew what is to be expected from the Pope, if he come to be supreme head of the church in this nation," so in 1715 the same fears were worked upon in innumerable pamphlets. The first Article of Impeachment of High Treason against Lord Derwentwater is the charge of re-establishing popery, and is taken from _A Faithful Register of the Late Rebellion_, 1718, p. 41; the second extract is from _A Caveat against the Pretender_, 1725, p. 5.]