and inclination, to the advice and desire of his Council."

The character of one individual was, however, elicited in this affair.
"From this time," observes Mr. Maxwell,[133] "the Secretary ceased to be
in odour of sanctity with those that were not highly prejudiced in his
favour. The little knave appeared plainly in his conduct on this
occasion. He argued strenuously for the retreat, because he thought it
the only prudent measure, till he found it was carried by a great
majority, and would certainly take place; and then he condemned it, to
make his court to the Prince, to whom it was disagreeable, and lay the
odium upon other people, particularly Lord George, whom he endeavoured
to blacken on every occasion." Some people will wonder that this
bare-faced conduct did not open the Prince's eyes as to the baseness of
Secretary Murray's heart; "but," says Maxwell, "if we consider that
Murray was in the highest degree of favour, the steps by which he rose
to it, and the arts he used to maintain himself and exclude everybody
that could come in competition with him, he will easily conceive how he
got the better of any suspicions his behaviour might have created at
this time."

The question, whether the arguments of Lord George Murray were guided by
wisdom, or whether they might be better characterised as the result of a
cold, and, in this case, unworthy prudence, has been very differently
canvassed.

"There are not a few," observes Mr. Maxwell, "who still think the Prince
would have carried his point had he gone on from Derby; they build much
upon the confusion there was at London, and the panic which prevailed
among the Elector's troops at this juncture.[134] It is impossible to
decide with any degree of certainty, whether he would or would not have
succeeded,--that depended upon the disposition of the Army and of the
City of London, ready to declare for the Prince. What could he do with
four thousand four hundred men, suppose he got to London, whatever were
the dispositions of the Army and the City? It is certain the Prince had
no intelligence from either. This leads me to examine the conduct of the
Prince's friends in England. The cry was general against them about this
time in the Prince's army, and they are still exclaimed against by
foreigners, who, having but a very superficial knowledge of these
affairs, conclude that either the English are all become Hanoverians,
or, if there are still some that have an English hea