Wha'll Be King but Charlie

DESCRIPTION: "The news frae Moidart came yestreen... For ships of war have just come in And landed royal Charlie." Listeners are called to rally, for "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" Both men and women are roused to come "to arms for royal Charlie"
AUTHOR: Carolina Oliphaunt, Lady Nairne ?
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845
KEYWORDS: Jacobites royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 3, 1745 (new style dating) - Bonnie Prince Charlie arrives in Eriskay
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke/MacMillan-PenguinBookOfCanadianFolkSongs 44, "Who'll be King but Charlie?" (1 text, 1 tune, linked to this by title but with "Weevily Wheat" verses)
DT, WHAKING*
Roud #42006
SAME TUNE:
The Man We Love So Dearly (concerning Andrew Jackson) (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 242)
When British Bands (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p.79)
NOTES [266 words]: I've seen this credited to Carolina, Lady Nairne, but it's not found in "Lays from Strathearn," the original collection of her works, so the evidence for this is, at best, weak.
The "News frae Moidart" of the first line is a reference to the arrival of Bonnie Prince Charlie in Scotland in 1745. Properly he landed on Eriskay, but that island had too few people to use as a base, so he quickly transferred to Moidart. And there the Forty-Five Rebellion was born. For this see, e.g., Frank McLynn, Bonnie Prince Charlie: Charles Edward Stuart, 1988 (I use the 1991 Oxford paperback edition), pp. 128-129.
The statement that "ships of war have just come in and landed royal Charlie" is a bit exaggerated. Charles's original expedition consisted of two ships, the Elizabeth and the Du Teillay or Doutelle. The Elizabeth was a warship (though not a very large one), but the Du Teillay carried primarily cargo. And the Elizabeth was forced to fight the British ship Lion on the way to the Hebrides, and dropped out of the expedition. Thus, though one might argue that Charles had set out with "ships of war," he arrived in Eriskay with one ship which was not intended to fight. (See McLynn, pp. 127-128).
Nor did all the clans "declare to stand or fall for Royal Charlie." He managed to rouse many of the clans, including notablly the Camerons and MacDonalds -- but Clan Campbell stood against him, and a rising without Clan Cambell had little hope. As events proved. As for the Lowlands supporting Charlie -- hah. A few came out; more supported the Hannoverians; most simply sat. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: DTwhakin

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