AN

IMPARTIAL HISTORY

OF

IRELAND,

FROM THE PERIOD OF THE ENGLISH INVASION TO THE PRESENT TIME.

THE desire of Anne, that her brother should succeed to the crown, was most advantageous to Louis XIV. Peace, as advantageous to France as the queen could obtain, was concluded. Oxford, whose deception to the Jacobites was discovered, was removed; a new ministry appointed; but, four days after his dismissal, their views were frustrated, by the death of Anne, on the 12th of August, 1714. Agreeable to the act of succes sion, George I. son of Ernest Augustus, elector of Brunswick, and of Sophia, grand-daughter of James I. was proclaimed king of Great- Britain and Ireland. The schemes in favour of the Pretender were discovered. Oxford, who had frus, trated the design, was sent to the Tower. Bolinbroke and Ormond escaped to France.

Parliament met at Dublin, in November 1715, His majesty's title to the crown was zealously recognized. The late ministers of the queen were voted enemies to the succession. The justices acquainted them that the kingdom was to be invaded. The commons addressed his majesty,

expressed their abhorrence of the design, and their zeal and affection for his person and go

vernment.

Meanwhile the earl of Mar, who had been secretary of state for Scotland in the reign of queen Anne, and lieutenant-general Hamilton, sailed from London, by direction of the Pretender, and landed in the north of Scotland. He assembled his friends and vassals, and proclaimed the Pretender. A great number of highlanders and principal noblemen having joined him, he marched forward and seized upon the town of Perth, by which means he was master of all that part of Scotland which is beyond the river Tay.

Some officers had, at the same time, attempted to surprise the castle of Edinburgh, which would have made Marr master of all, and would have obliged his enemies to quit the post of Stirling; but this project failed. As soon as king George was informed of the revolt of Marr, he sent the duke of Argyll from London, who, without stopping at Edinburgh, advanced to Stirling with all the troops he could collect, which did not amount to more than fifteen hundred men. George I. at the same time, caused some regiments to march from England into Scotland, and gave orders that several should be brought over thither from Ireland; he also sent to demand of the States general the six thousand men they were bound to give by the treaties made by the late king, in favour of the protestant succession.

Marr, in the mean time, amused himself with forming his army, and settling all his affairs, as

if he was sure of having all the time he wanted. Had he marched forward as soon as he had collected eight or ten thousand men, he certainly would not have met with any opposition, and Argyll would have been obliged to quit Scotland, to retire to Berwick. He might then have been able to put his army in order, to assemble a parliament, and to march to the frontiers, either to defend them against king George's troops, or to advance into England, and join the friends of the Pretender, in case they should form a party there, as there was reason to expect; but his little skill in military affairs made him lose this opportunity, and he gave time to the troops that were marching from all quarters to join the duke of Argyll. A man may have a great deal of understanding, a great deal of personal bravery, and be a very able minister, without having the talents requisite for an enterprize of this nature. It is certain that Marr had them not; and we must not therefore wonder that he did not succeed. After he had drawn the sword, he did not know in what manner to proceed.

Soon after Marr had seized upon Perth, M. Forester, a respectable gentleman in the county of Northumberland, the lords Derwentwater, Widrington and others, took up arms there, and proclaimed the Pretender; but their principal force consisting in cavalry, they asked of Marr a reinforcement of infantry; upon which he detached brigadier M'Intosh, to join them with eighteen hundred highlanders. M'Intosh passed the Firth, near Edinburgh, in spite of

some ships of war, which happened to be there; and instead of marching the nearest way to join Forester he drew near to Edinburgh. The Duke of Argyll hastened thither from Stirling, and M'Intosh retired into an old ruined fort, called Leith, at a mile distance from the town; he would not have been able to maintain his ground there for want of provisions, if the duke of Argyll had not been obliged to return immediately to Stirling, to oppose Marr, who was marching thither. As soon as M'Intosh was relieved from the situation he had foolishly got himself into, he made what haste he could towards the frontiers of England; and was joined in his way by the lords Kenmure, Nithsdale, &c. with five hundred horse from the south of Scotland; but he lost a great number of his highlanders, who went back into their own country. After they had all joined, Forester, instead of marching directly into Scotland, to attack Argyll on one side, while Marr attacked him on the other, which was the only wise step they could take, they advanced into the bishoprick of Durham, having some hopes that the town of Newcastle would declare for them; but general Carpenter having got there before them, and having posted himself with one battalion and some dragoons, they took the road towards Lancashire, where their army was increased by numbers of catholics. They advanced as far as Preston, thinking that the neighbouring counties would also take up arms; but general Wills, whom king George had sent there, having got together some infan