The Duke of Richelieu, it was said, was to put himself at their head.

"As to the embarkation at Dunkerque," writes the advocate Barbier, at the close of the year 1745, "there is great anxiety about it, for we are at the end of December, and it is not yet done, which gives every one occasion to make up news according to his fancy.

This uncertainty discourages the Frenchman, who gives out that our expedition will not take place, or, at any rate, will not succeed." Charles Edward had already been forced to fall back upon Scotland.

As in 1651, at the time of the attempt of Charles II., England remained quite cold in the presence of the Scottish invasion.

The Duke of Cumberland was closely pressing the army of the mountaineers.