battle, but who had not so much as viewed it
before the affair of Culloden. He next pointed out the negligence, if
not treachery, of Mr. Hay, who had the charge of the provisions. To the
disgraceful mismanagement of this important department might, indeed,
the ruin of the army be traced. "For my own part," added Lord George,
"I never had any particular discussion with either of them; but I ever
thought them incapable and unfit to serve in the stations they were
placed in."

After these too just remarks, Lord George formally resigned his
commission into the Prince's hands. It had, it appears, been his
intention to have done so after the failure at Blair; but he was
dissuaded by his friends. "I hope your Royal Highness will now accept of
my demission. What commands you may have for me in any other situation,
please honour me with them."

This letter was dated from Ruthven, two days after the battle of
Culloden. The inference which has been drawn from it was, that Lord
George did not contemplate the abandonment of the campaign. It appears
to have been his opinion that the Highlanders could have made a summer
campaign without any risk, marching, as they could, through places in
which no regular troops could follow them. They could never starve as
long as there were sheep and cattle in the country; and they might
probably have carried on an offensive, instead of a defensive war. But
Charles, disheartened, as men of over sanguine tempers usually are, in
misfortune, to the last degree, resolved on escaping to France. He
addressed a farewell letter to the Chiefs, and then commenced that long
and perilous course of wanderings in which his character rose to
heroism, and which presents one of the most interesting episodes in
history of which our annals can boast.

Lord George Murray was long a fugitive from place to place in his native
country, before he could find means to escape to the continent. In
December (1746) he visited, in private, his friends in Edinburgh, and
then embarking at Anstruther, in the Frith of Forth, he set sail for
Holland. Whether he ever returned to his native country is doubtful,
although it appears, from a letter among the Stuart papers, that he had
it in contemplation, in order to bring over his wife and family.

His fate in a foreign land, however embittered by the ingratitude and
hatred of Charles Edward, was cheered by the presence of his wife and
children, with the exception of his eldest son, w