Great Britain -- History -- 18th century -- Sources; Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778; Walpole, Robert, Earl of Orford, 1676-1745
After the battle of Fontenoy and taking of Tournay, among other
regiments the one commanded by Lord John Drummond was garrisoned in
Tournay, in which corps Duncan Cameron (some time servant to old Lochiel
at Boulogne in France) served. When Duncan was in Tournay he received a
letter from Mr. Æneas MacDonald, banker in Paris, desiring him forthwith
to repair to Amiens, and if possible to post it without sleeping, where
he should receive orders about what he was to do. Accordingly Duncan set
out, and in a very short time posted to Amiens, from whence Æneas, etc.,
had set out, but had left a letter for Duncan, ordering him to follow
them to Nantes, to which place he set out without taking any rest, where
he found the Prince and his small retinue, consisting of seven only,
besides servants.
The seven were the Duke of Athol, Sir Thomas Sheridan, Sir John
Macdonald, Colonel Strickland, Captain O'Sullivan, Mr. George Kelly (a
nonjurant clergyman), and Æneas MacDonald, banker at Paris, brother to
Kinlochmoidart.
As Duncan Cameron had been brought up in the island of Barra, and knew
the coast of the Long Isle well, in some part of which the Prince
intended to land first, so Duncan's business was to descry to them the
Long Isle.
At Nantes the Prince and his few attendants waited about fifteen days
before the _Elizabeth_ ship of war came, which was to be their convoy in
the expedition. To cover the design the better, Sir Thomas Sheridan
passed for the father, and the Prince for the son, for none knew the
Prince to be in company but the seven, some few others, and Mr. Welch
(an Irishman, a very rich merchant in Nantes) who was to command the
frigate of sixteen guns, on board of which the Prince and the few
faithful friends with the servants were to imbark.
After the Prince was on board he dispatched letters to his father, and
the King of France, and the King of Spain, advising them of his design,
and no doubt desiring assistance.
The Prince when in Scotland, used to say that the 10th of June was the
day on which he stole off, and that he did not mind it to be his
father's birth-day till night was far spent. From whence some have
affirmed that to have been the day of the embarkation, and others to
have been the day when he left Paris and began to be incog.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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