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that, in 1726, an aged Highland laird told Mr Burt, that Oliver's colours were so strongly fixed in his memory, that he still thought he saw them spread out by the wind, and bearing the word EMANUEL upon them, in very large golden characters.1

Upon the Restoration, the Stuarts, who owed so much to the Highland clans, for what they had done and suffered in the royal cause, under Montrose, Glencairn and Middleton, rewarded the chiefs by relaxing the discipline under which Cromwell had placed them. The forts established at Inverness, and elsewhere, for bridling the mountaineers, were dismantled, or abandoned. The Marquis of Argyle (in Highland phrase Gillespie Gruomach) had acquired a prodigious ascendency in the Western Highlands and Isles during the civil wars, and received from Parliament many large grants both of lands and jurisdiction. It is well known by what means and for what causes Charles II. and his brother prosecuted the ruin of this nobleman and his son, in consequence of which, the MacDonalds, MacLeans, and other clans, who had been overpowered by the weight of the marquis's authority, were restored to independence. The Duke of York, during his residence at Edinburgh, had frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the principal northern chieftains, whose stately fierté well suited his own reserved and haughty temper: they were, besides, either Catholics, or bigoted to the prelatic establishment;

1 Letters from the North of Scotland.-Letter XI.

and, in either case, were deemed fit persons to countenance, in opposition to the Presbyterian interest, so odious to the reigning family. The laws against their excesses were therefore greatly relaxed; and it was even thought politic to employ the clans in overawing the western shires, where the prohibited conventicles of the Presbyterians were most numerous. Six thousand Highlanders were invited from their mountains to pillage these devoted counties; a task which they performed with the rapacity of an indigent people attracted by objects of luxury to which they were strangers, but with less cruelty than had perhaps been expected from them. In the mean while, encouraged by these marks of favour and indulgence, they had again established their own exemptions from the general law of Scotland, both in civil and criminal concerns, as will appear from the curious case of MacDonald of Keppoch.

This chief and the laird of MacIntosh had long disputed a territory called Glenroy, in the central Highlands. MacIntosh had obtained a crown charter, comprehending a grant of these lands. Keppoch, disdaining, as he said, to hold his lands in a sheepskin, took forcible possession of Glenroy, and there maintained himself. MacIntosh, in 1687, with the assistance of a body of regular forces, commanded by MacKenzie of Suddy, summoned his clan, and marched against Keppoch, but received a severe defeat at Milroy, where Suddy was slain, he himself made prisoner, and compelled to renounce his right to the lands in dispute. A

strong body of military was next marched into the Highlands to revenge this insult, and under the authority of letters of fire and sword, Keppoch's lands were laid waste with great severity. Yet this did not break the strength, or diminish the spirit of Keppoch, for in 1689 he was able to lay siege to Inverness; and, what is still more extraordinary, the severe usage which he had received did not diminish his zeal for the Stuart family, for he was the first to join the standard which the Viscount of Dundee raised against King William. Dundee, a man at once of genius and of military experience, knew how to avail himself of the enthusiastic energy of a Highland army, and to conciliate and direct the discordant councils of their independent chiefs. He fell in the battle of Killiecrankie, one of the greatest victories ever gained by an Highland army; and those who succeeded in the command, being men of routine, and of limited views, the war dwindled away into a succession of inroads and skirmishes, in the course of which the bordering Highlanders plundered the low country so severely, that in many districts the year of the hership (plunder) was long afterwards mentioned as an era. King William, just arrived at the possession of a crown which seemed still precarious, and having his attention engaged by the continental war, and that of Ireland, thought it best to purchase peace in this remote corner of his new kingdom, and the Earl of Breadalbane

See Crichton's Memoirs in Swift's works: Captain Crichton was himself employed on this occasion.

was intrusted with L.20,000 sterling, to be distributed among the Highland chiefs. Breadalbane was artful, daring, and rapacious. Some chiefs he gratified with a share of the money; others with good words; others he kept quiet by threats; and it has always been supposed that the atrocity well known by the name of the massacre of Glencoe, was devised and executed to gratify at once an ancient quarrel, to silence an intractable chief, who had become clamorous about the division of the peace-offering, and to serve as a measure of intimidation to all others. It is said that when Breadalbane was required by the English minister to account for the sum of money put into his hands for the above purpose, he returned this laconic answer" My Lord, the money is spent the Highlands are quiet—and this is the only way of accounting among friends." This termination of a war, by a subsidy granted to the insurgents, was by no means calculated to lower that idea of their own consequence, which the Highland chiefs most readily entertained at all times. Each set about augmenting his followers by every means in his power, regarding military strength as the road to wealth and importance in the national convulsions which seemed approaching.

Contrary, however, to what might have been expected, the crisis of the accession of the Hanover family did not at first make a strong impression on the Highland chiefs. After much consultation among themselves, an address was drawn up to congratulate George I. on his accession to the

throne, and to implore his favour. We have given this curious document in a note. It is said to have been delivered to Archibald, Duke of Argyle, to be presented by him to the new sovereign: but

We are ignorant whether it has ever appeared in any collection of state papers. Ours is given to us as copied from a manuscript of the period; and though this remarkable paper is unnoticed in history, we believe it to be genuine. It is entitled — "Address of one hundred and two Chief Heritors and Heads of Clans in the Highlands of Scotland, to King George the First, on his Accession to the Throne, which by Court Intrigue was prevented from being delivered to his Majesty: the consequence was, their joining in the Rebellion in the year 1715.

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May it please your Majesty,

"We of the chief heritors and others, in the Highlands of Scotland, under subscribing, beg leave to express the joy of our hearts at your Majesty's happy accession to the crown of Great Britain. Your Majesty has the blood of our ancient monarchs in your veins and in your family; may that royal race ever continue to reign over us! Your Majesty's princely virtues, and the happy prospect we have in your royal family of an uninterrupted succession of kings to sway the British sceptre, must extinguish those divisions and contests which in former times too much prevailed, and unite all who have the happiness to live under your Majesty into a firm obedience and loyalty to your Majesty's person, family, and government; and as our predecessors have for many ages had the honour to distinguish themselves by their loyalty, so we do most humbly assure your Majesty, that we will reckon it our honour stedfastly to adhere to you, and with our lives and fortunes to support your crown and dignity against all oppressors. Pardon us, great Sir, to implore your royal protection against any who labour to misrepresent us, and who rather use their endea vours to create misunderstandings than to engage the hearts of subjects to that loyalty and cheerful obedience which we owe, and are happy to testify towards your Majesty. Under so excellent a king, we are persuaded that we, and all your other peaceable and faithful subjects, shall enjoy their just rights and liberties, and that our enemies shall not be able to hurt us with your Majesty, for whose royal favour we presume humbly to hope, as our forefathers were honoured with that of your Majesty's ancestors. Our

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