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WILLIAM AUGUSTUS DUKE OF CUMBERLAND Emory Walker Ph Sc William Augustus Duke Of Cumberland from a Painting by David Morier LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD WILLIAM AUGUSTUS DUKE OF CUMBERLAND HIS EARLY LIFE AND TIMES (1721-1748) BY THE HON. EVAN CHARTERIS FELLOW OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY AUTHOR OF "AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND, 1744-46" WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD 1913 [All rights reserved] TO MAURICE BARING PREFACE IN 1770 a statue of the Duke of Cumberland was placed in Cavendish Square by Lieutenant- General William Strode. On the pedestal were inscribed the following words: “In gratitude for his private kindness; in honour to his public virtue.” Many years later the statue was removed and melted down to its original condition of shapeless metal. This act of destruction excited no protest. The incident is only too significant of the position occupied by Cumberland in public esteem: “Private kindness and public virtue” have seldom been the qualities by which the Duke has been known. On the contrary, his memory has been associated with a dull obloquy and odium. To the great majority of those among whom his name is familiar, he is merely known as that “Butcher of Culloden” who extinguished the last hope of a romantic cause by a series of acts of savage brutality. That is a reputation from which, hitherto, no very serious effort has been made to reclaim him. It has been customary to approach the rebellion of 1745 from the Jacobite side, and to view it with eyes dazzled by the glamour that has gathered about the personality of “Prince Charlie.” This may well be the cause of the strange discrepancy between the esteem in which Cumberland was held by soldiers and statesmen who were his contemporaries and the hostility with which he has been regarded by succeeding generations. In the following pages it is hoped that sufficient material will be found to justify the admiration expressed for the Duke by the leading politicians of his own time, and to induce some reconsideration of the portrait of him which tradition has handed down for our acceptance. In spite of his foreign origin, Cumberland was thoroughly representative of the England in which he lived. To a greater degree than any member of his family, he understood and profited by his education in English traditions and English ways of thinking, while at the same time British nationality, with its patriotism and its obligations, will be found to have been the dominating influence in his career. That must be the excuse—since one may well be considered necessary—for referring so fully in the present volume to the scene in which Cumberland was called on to act. The proportion of give-and-take between an individual and his environment is always a question of interest; but in the case of Cumberland, owing to the circumstances in which he was placed, it is hardly possible to ignore it. Upon his own individual characteristics were superimposed the characteristics peculiar to that country and that age in which he played the part both of a soldier and a statesman. In fact, the charges which have been brought against the Duke, in so far as they are not tainted by exaggeration, are charges applicable to the England of his time. It has therefore been thought expedient in the present volume, at the risk of traversing some familiar ground, to emphasize the extent to which Cumberland was a reflexion and epitome of the political, moral, and social conditions of the age. To His Majesty the King I beg leave to record my humble gratitude for permission to make use of the Cumberland Papers at Windsor Castle. These papers—except for the purposes of an admirable article by Colonel E. M. Lloyd in the “Dictionary of National Biography”—had not hitherto been searched for information with regard to Cumberland. My thanks are also due to Mr. A. J. Balfour and to Mr. Edmund Gosse for valuable suggestions while the following pages were preparing for the press; to Colonel E. M. Lloyd, R.E., for leave to print his plan of the Battle of Laffelt; to Major William Hawley, for allowing me to make quotations from the Hawley Papers in his possession; to Major John Hall, for permission to print the letter which appears in Appendix C; to M. le Commandant Colin, for leave to re-produce his plan of Fontenoy; and to Mr. W. B. Blaikie, for the loan of pamphlets and documents relating to the rebellion of 1745. Mr. Patrick Shaw Stewart, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, has kindly read the proofs. It has not been deemed necessary in all cases to burden the pages with reference to the better-known printed works of the period; on the other hand, where original documents have been cited, there are obvious reasons for indicating the source of information, and that has in every case been done. In addition to the Cumberland Papers at Windsor Castle Library, the principal documents that have been consulted are the Newcastle Papers, the Hardwicke Papers, the letters of Lord Stair, Lord Carteret, Henry Pelham, and Sk John Ligonier—all to be found in the Manuscript Room of the British Museum; also the State Papers in the Record Office. The account of the Battle of Fontenoy has already appeared in the Edinburgh Review, and is now reprinted in the present volume by kind permission. With regard to dates, Old Style has been adhered to except in the chapters dealing with the campaigns of Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Laffelt. In these cases, owing to the use of the Gregorian Calendar on the Continent, the adoption of New Style has been found on the whole more likely to lead to accuracy. E. C. July, 1913. FACING PAGE William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland Frontispiece From the painting by David Morier. The Duke of Cumberland as a Child 22 From the painting by Charles Jervas. John Carteret, First Earl Granville 160 Plan of the Battle of Culloden 266 From an old drawing. Thomas Holles, Duke of Newcastle 326 FOLDING PLANS Fontenoy 192 Laffelt 322 Flanders At end Contents PREFACE ....................................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER I WALPOLE’S ACCESSION TO POWER ................................................................ 9 CHAPTER II THE COURT OF GEORGE I ................................................................................ 16 CHAPTER III SOCIAL CONDITIONS ...................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER IV THE NEW REIGN ............................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER V GEORGE II.’S FAMILY ....................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER VI CUMBERLAND AND THE SPANISH WAR ................................................... 50 CHAPTER VII THE STATE OE THE ARMY ........................................................................... 57 CHAPTER VIII SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS IN LONDON ......................................................... 67 CHAPTER IX THE MENACE OF EUROPEAN WAR ............................................................. 74 CHAPTER X CARTERET IN POWER....................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER XI THE CAMPAIGN OF DETTINGEN .................................................................. 86 CHAPTER XII THE JACOBITES .............................................................................................. 94 CHAPTER XIII FALL OF CARTERET .................................................................................... 101 CHAPTER XIV CUMBERLAND AS CAPTAIN-GENERAL ................................................. 110 CHAPTER XV FONTENOY ..................................................................................................... 118 CHAPTER XVI PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD ..................................................................... 128 CHAPTER XVII DISASTERS IN FLANDERS ........................................................................ 138 CHAPTER XVIII CHARLES ADVANCES ON LONDON ..................................................... 145 CHAPTER XIX FALKIRK AND THE RETREAT OF CHARLES ......................................... 157 CHAPTER XX CULLODEN ..................................................................................................... 168 CHAPTER XXI SUPPRESSION OF THE JACOBITES ......................................................... 181 CHAPTER XXII LAFFELT ....................................................................................................... 193 REFERENCES. ...................................................................................................................... 206 CHAPTER XXIII NEWCASTLE .............................................................................................. 208 CHAPTER XXIV MAURICE DE SAXE AND THE PEACE .................................................. 218 CHAPTER XXV CHARACTER OF CUMBERLAND ............................................................ 227 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................. 233 APPENDIX B LIST OF REGIMENTS AND LOSSES AT THE BATTLE OF FONTENOY, APRIL 30, 1745 .......................................................................................................................... 235 APPENDIX C Mrs. Hepburn to Miss Pringle. ........................................................................... 236 WILLIAM AUGUSTUS DUKE OF CUMBERLAND CHAPTER I WALPOLE’S ACCESSION TO POWER ON April 15, 1721, the firing

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