or over five
months relentlessly pursued by the troops and spies of the government.
Disguised in female attire and aided by a passport obtained by the
devoted Flora Macdonald, he passed through Skye and parted from his
gallant conductress at Portree. Towards the end of July he took refuge
in the cave of Coiraghoth in the Braes of Glenmoriston, and in August he
joined Lochiel and Cluny Macpherson, with whom he remained in hiding
until the news was brought that two French ships were in waiting for him
at the place of his first arrival in Scotland--Lochnanuagh. He embarked
with speed and sailed for France, reaching the little port of Roscoff,
near Morlaix, on the 29th of September 1746. He was warmly welcomed by
Louis XV., and ere long he was again vigorously intriguing in Paris, and
even in Madrid. So far as political assistance was concerned, his
efforts proved fruitless, but he became at once the popular hero and
idol of the people of Paris. So enraged was he with his brother Henry's
acceptance of a cardinal's hat in July 1747, that he deliberately broke
off communication with his father in Rome (who had approved the step),
nor did he ever see him again. The enmity of the British government to
Charles Edward made peace with France an impossibility so long as she
continued to harbour the young prince. A condition of the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded in October 1748, was that every member of the
house of Stuart should be expelled the French dominions. Charles had
forestalled the proclamation of the treaty by an indignant protest
against its injustice, and a declaration that he would not be bound by
its provisions. But his indignation and persistent refusal to comply
with the request that he should voluntarily leave France had to be met
at last with force: he was apprehended, imprisoned for a week at
Vincennes, and on the 17th of December conducted to the French border.
He lingered at Avignon; but the French, compelled to hard measures by
the English, refused to be satisfied; and Pope Benedict XIV., alarmed by
the threat of a bombardment of Civita Vecchia, advised the prince to
withdraw. Charles quietly disappeared; for years Europe watched for him
in vain. It is now established, almost with certainty, that he returned
to the neighbourhood of Paris; and it is supposed that his residence was
known to the French ministers, who, however, firmly proclaimed their
ignorance. In 1750, and again, it is thought, in 1754, he wa