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termed, seemed like a revival of the system that had been destroyed, and in deliberate perfidy and cruelty fell little behind any of the foul deeds of the former government. Nor was the outery confined to Scotland alone: the Jacobites, glad to find a parallel to any of their own execrable acts, made Europe resound with their loud expressions of abhorrence. The Paris journals blazoned it with every aggravation; and while William's character suffered abroad, every art was used to render him detestable at home. The most odious part of this horrible transaction does certainly belong to the deliberate, revengeful, and villanous politics of Dalrymple; but it is impossible to free William from having incautiously at least signed a warrant for military execution, without having sufficiently ascertained the necessity of the case. That there were precedents for letters of fire and sword, forms no excuse; the restorer of a nation's rights cannot plead, in extenuation of his errors, the execrated precedents of an abolished tyranny; but for the second exterminating order there was no precedent. His only excuse for a crime which rendered the Highlanders irreconcilable to his government, must be sought for in the error which alienated from him the affec-tions of a majority of his Lowland subjects-his associating in his councils men inured to all the despotic and sanguinary measures of the late reigns, and rewarding, instead of punishing, the ministers of cruelty, who first ruined, and then betrayed. their late master."*

The massacre of Glencoe was long held in remembrance and detestation in Scotland, and contributed materially to assist the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, in which certain Highland clans, as is well known, played a conspicuous part. By the superstitious Celt, it was believed that the massacre would hang like a curse on the Campbells, for their treacherous cruelty on the occasion. A thrilling story illustrative of this is told by General Stewart.. "The late Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon," he says, "retained this belief through a course of thirty years' intercourse with the world, as an officer of the 42d regiment, and of marines. He was grandson of the Laird of Glenlyon, who commanded the military at the massacre of Glencoe, and who lived in the Laird of Glencoe's house, where he and his men were hospitably received as friends, and entertained a fortnight before the execution of his orders. He was playing at cards with the family when the first shot was fired, and the murderous scene commenced. Colonel Campbell was an additional captain in the 42d regiment in 1748, and was put on half-pay. He then entered the marines, and in 1762 was major, with the brevet rank of lieutenantcolonel, and commanded eight hundred of his corps at the

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History of Scotland, by James Aikman. We have preferred taking the account of this terrible affair from a writer favourable to the Revolution settlement, and not likely to overstate the melancholy circum

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Havannah. In 1771 he was ordered to superintend the execution of the sentence of a court-martial on a soldier of marines condemned to be shot. A reprieve was sent; but the whole ceremony of the execution was to proceed until the criminal was upon his knees, with a cap over his eyes, prepared to receive the volley. It was then he was to be informed of his pardon. person was to be told previously, and Colonel Campbell was directed not to inform even the firing party, who were warned that the signal to fire would be the waving of a white handkerchief by the commanding officer. When all was prepared, and the clergyman had left the prisoner on his knees, in momentary expectation of his fate, and the firing party were looking with intense attention for the signal, Colonel Campbell put his hand into his pocket for the reprieve, and in pulling out the packet, the white handkerchief accompanied it, and catching the eyes of the party, they fired, and the unfortunate prisoner was shot dead.

"The paper dropped through Colonel Campbell's fingers, and clapping his hand to his forehead, he exclaimed, 'The curse of God and of Glencoe is here: I am an unfortunate ruined man.' He desired the soldiers to be sent to the barracks, instantly quitted the parade, and soon afterwards retired from the service. This retirement was not the result of any reflection or reprimand on account of this unfortunate affair, as it was known to be entirely accidental. The impression on his mind, however, was never effaced."

The barbarity which suggested the massacre of Glencoe was almost paralleled by the proscription of the clan Macgregor (see an account of Rob Roy and the clan Macgregor, No. 117, in the present series), which, like every other act of vengeance, led to consequences the very contrary of those which were intended. Rankling with indignation, full of traditionary hate, and unrestrained by habits of peace, certain clans in 1715 poured down to aid the Earl of Mar in his attempt to re-establish the Stuarts. Being eventually defeated in this enterprise, they afterwards became a subject of serious consideration to the government, and some attempts were made during the reigns of George I. and II. to break up their military power. An act passed for disarming them succeeded to a certain extent; though, it is said, the clans friendly to government were thereby rendered powerless, while the disaffected tribes either secretly retained a great part of their weapons, or were afterwards supplied with more. Something was also done by means of garrisons at Fort-William, FortAugustus, and Inverness, to overawe the country. But the most effectual expedient was the cutting of two lines of road from Crieff to the two chief forts, which was done by the garrison soldiers under General Wade. These roads, which were finished in 1737, and amounted altogether to two hundred and fifty miles in aggregate extent, destroyed in a great measure

that impregnable and fortress-like character which had formerly belonged to the Highlands. Yet long ere any particular effect was observed to result from these measures, another insurrection' took place. Under the direction of Prince Charles Stuart, an army of Highlanders descended upon the Lowlands, September 1745; and having defeated a body of national troops at Prestonpans, marched into England, where they reached a point only a hundred miles from the capital ere any adequate force could be assembled to oppose them. This army was ultimately defeated at Culloden, and the terrors of military law were again let loose on this unhappy district of country.

It was, however, getting too late in the day to continue any regular system of oppression. The phenomenon of a Highland host near the seat of government turned public attention to the condition of the clans, and the government felt that deliberate inquiry and legislation were necessary. We cannot better convey an idea of the state of the Highlands at this period, than by extracting the following passages from a narrative written in 1747, and entitled "An Inquiry into the Causes which Facilitate the Rise and Progress of Rebellions and Insurrections in the Highlands of Scotland: ".

"The Highlands," begins this accurate and interesting paper, "comprehends about 230 parishes, including the Western Islands and Orkneys. There are not fewer in every parish, at a medium, than 800 examinable persons-that is, persons above nine years of age. Those of nine, and under that age, will amount to 200 -that is, about one-fifth of the whole number. Thus in every parish, at a medium, there will be 1000 souls, and in the country 230,000; and the whole force and power of this country, were every man betwixt the age of eighteen and fifty-six to be put under arms, would be equal to an army of 57,500 men. But according to the present economy of the Highlands, there is not business for more than one-half of that number of people; that is, the agriculture, the pasturage, the fishery, and all the manufactures in that country, can be sufficiently managed by one-half of that number. The other half, then, must be idle and beggars while in the country; that is, there are in the Highlands no fewer than 115,000 supernumerary people.

"The expense of 115,000 souls, who at present can have no business or employment in the country, cannot be less than one penny sterling a-day-that is, about £1, 10s. sterling a-yeareach person: that is, their whole expense per annum will be £172,500 sterling. A great number of these persons do probably gain equal to their expense, in the low countries, during the season of herding [tending cattle in open-field pastures], of harvest, of hay, and by other labour during the spring and summer; but then the rest of these people must be supported in the Highlands, where they constantly reside, as they gain nothing. These

we cannot suppose under one-half of the whole number; so that there are in that country 57,500 souls who live, so many of them upon charity, and who are vagrant beggars through the Highlands and the borders of it. Many of them live an idle sauntering life among their acquaintance and relations, and are supported by their bounty; others get a livelihood by blackmail contracts, by which they receive certain sums of money from people of substance in the country, to abstain from stealing their cattle; and the last class of them gain their expense by stealing, robbing, and committing depredations.

"It is not easy to determine the number of persons employed in this way; but it may be safely affirmed that the horses, cows, sheep, and goats yearly stolen in that country are in value equal to £5000; that the expenses lost in the fruitless endeavours to recover them will not be less than £2000; that the extraordinary expenses of keeping herds and servants to look more narrowly after cattle on account of stealing, otherwise not necessary, is £10,000. There is paid in blackmail or watch-money, openly and privately, £5000; and there is a yearly loss by understocking the grounds, by reason of thefts, of at least £15,000; which is altogether a loss to landlords and farmers in the Highlands of £37,000 sterling a-year.

"These last mischiefs occasion another, which is still worse; although intended as a remedy for them; that is, the engaging companies of men, and keeping them in pay to prevent these thefts and depredations. As the government neglect the country, and don't protect the subjects in the possession of their property, they have been forced into this method for their own security, though at a charge little less than the land-tax. The person chosen to command this watch, as it is called, is commonly one deeply concerned in the thefts himself, or at least that hath been in correspondence with the thieves, and frequently who hath occasioned thefts, in order to make this watch, by which he gains considerably, necessary; The people employed travel through the country armed, night and day, under pretence of inquiring after stolen cattle, and by this means know the situation and circumstances of the whole country. And as the people thus employed are the very rogues that do these mischiefs, so onehalf of them are continued in their former business of stealing, that the business of the other half may be necessary in recovering."

The author, it will be seen from these extracts, considered the principal cause of the readiness of the Highlanders to plunge into rebellions to be their extreme poverty-the over-populousness, in other words, of the Highlands in proportion to their resources. "This poverty," he says, "is occasioned and continued. by a custom that is presently in use, and hath long obtained in that country-namely, the practice of letting of many farms to one man, who again subsets them to a much greater number than

those can maintain, and at a much higher rent than they can afford to pay. This obliges these poor people to purchase their rents and expenses by thefts and robberies, in which they are indulged and protected by their landlords, as these are the principal means of providing both. There are many instances of sixteen families living upon one plough of land; and in the head of the parish of Buchanan, and many other places, there are about one hundred and fifty families who live upon lands that don't pay of yearly rent above £90 sterling; none of them have any employment; most of them possess a cot-house, a little yard [kitchen garden], an acre or two of ground full of rocks, and a cow's grass or two. Thus the people are always poor, and always dependants."

The following are the author's observations on the character of the Highlanders, as formed by the system he has just described: The commonalty are of a smaller size than the people of the low country; and as they are not accustomed to any hard labour, and are in the constant use of hunting, fowling, and following their cattle through the mountains, they are of wonderful agility of body, and capable to travel with ease at a great rate. Their dwellings and dress expose them so much to the weather, that by custom they can bear the severities of it without prejudice. Their diet is neither delicate nor opulent; nay, they will feast upon a meal that would starve most other people. They know no more of the improvements in common life than the breeding of cattle, the making of hay, butter, and cheese. Notwithstanding of this, they are masters of a wonderful sagacity and cunning, and which is scarcely to be found in any other common sort of people. But as the estate of every considerable heritor is there looked upon as a kind of principality, so hence arise so many separate interests, and from thence jealousies, feuds, depredations, and thefts; all which affect the common sort, and in so far open their understandings and sharpen their judgments. The tacksmen or goodmen, as well as the gentry, are generally larger-bodied men than the inferior sort. The whole of the people are capable of any improvement; and to deny them courage and valour would be doing them great injustice, for in that they are inferior to none, and few equal them." Gentlemen of estates, and the better sort, who have had the advantages of education, make as good a figure in their station of life as any other people who move in the same sphere; only they affect a stateliness much above their rank in the world, and much above what their small estates can afford. The great, nay, absolute submission paid them by their dependants, the want of the frequent society of people either of a superior or equal quality to themselves, and their remoteness from places where the authority and strength of the civil government is vigorously preserved by its various subordinate powers, may occasion some singularities." The conclusion at which the author arrived was one which

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