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landers' attack was entirely at variance with the slow
and decorous movements to which his men were accustomed.
They had, in fact, been given a lesson in the art of irregular
warfare, and ten years later, under Braddock in North America,
Lee's, then commanded by the gallant Halkett, was to receive
a still harsher one.
At the same time there is also no doubt that Cope's troops
- par- ticularly the dragoons - were not only inexperienced
but ill-disci- plined, and a contributory cause of his defeat
was the lack of training of the dragoon horses. For, as
Fortescue observes, little attempt was made in those days
to accustom them to fire-arms, and he instances the fact
that at Dettingen both the King's and Cumberland's chargers
took fright and bolted.
Despite the verdict of the Board that Cope ' did his Duty
as an Officer, both before, at, and after the Action: And
that his personal Behaviour was without Reproach', it is
difficult to acquit him of a distinctly casual attitude
with regard to his artillery. For in spite of Forbes's warning
early in July, it was not until 3rd August, when acknowledging
Tweeddale's report of the Prince's landing, that he remarked
en passant: ' If I come to want to make Use of any Field
Train or Artillery at all, we have not any Gunners for that
Purpose.' Cope's delay in mentioning this important fact
and his doubt about whether to employ artillery are equally
surprising. For even if, as Scott suggests, the Highlanders
had lost much of their former dread of 'the musket's mother',
a well-manned train would have greatly increased his army's
morale, and what could be done with one in expert hands
was to be demonstrated by Cumberland at Culloden.
To the Government the news of Prestonpans came as a severe
shock. Soon after the outbreak of the Rising 6,000 Dutch
troops had been ordered to Britain under the terms of a
former treaty, and had not part landed 'providentially the
day before the news of Cope's defeat', wrote the Duke of
Newcastle to Cumberland, 'the confusion in the City of London
would not have been to be described, and the King's crown,
I will venture to say, in the utmost danger'. They were
followed two days after the battle by 10 British battalions,
earlier recalled from Flanders, and orders were now sent
recalling still more troops.
These and other measures taken by the Government received
widespread public support, and all over England 'loyal associations'
sprang up pledging men and money in defence of the establishment.
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