From the feeling of self-respect which the urbanity and condescension of the chiefs naturally created in the minds of the people, arose that honourable principle of fidelity to superiors and to their trust, which we have already noticed, " and which," says General Stewart, "was so generally and so forcibly imbibed, that the man who betrayed his trust was considered unworthy of the name which he bore, or of the kindred to which he belonged." Besides the instance already given in illustration of this honourable principle, others will be related in the course of this work.

From this principle flowed a marked detestation of treachery, a vice of very rare occurrence among the Highlanders; and so tenacious were they, on that point, that the slightest suspicion of infidelity on the part of an individual estranged him from the society of his clan, who shunned him as a person with whom it was dangerous any longer to associate. The case of John Du Cameron, better known, from his large size, by the name of Sergeant Mor,* affords an example of this. This man had been a sergeant in the French service, and returned to Scotland in the year seventeen hundred and forty-five, when he engaged in the rebellion. Having no fixed abode, and dreading the consequences of having served in the French army, and of being afterwards engaged in the rebellion, he formed a party of freebooters, and took up his residence among the mountains between the counties of Perth, Inverness, and Argyle, where he carried on a system of spoliation by carrying off the cattle of those he called his enemies, if they did not purchase his forbearance by the payment of Black mail. Cameron had long been in the habit of sleeping in a barn on the farm of Dunan in Rannoch; but having been betrayed by some person, he was apprehended one night when asleep in the barn, in the year seventeen hundred and fifty-three, by a party of Lieutenant (after Sir Hector) Munro's detachment. On finding himself seized, being a powerful man, he shook off all the soldiers who had

The following amusing anecdote of this man is related by General Stewart :-" On one occasion he met with an officer of the garrison of Fort-William on the mountains of Lochaber. The officer told him that he suspected he had lost his way, and, having a large sum of money for the garrison, was afraid of meeting the sergeant Mor; he therefore requested that the stranger would accompany him on his road. The other agreed; and, while they walked on, they talked much of the sergeant and his feats, the officer using much freedom with his name, calling him robber, murderer.— 'Stop there,' interrupted his companion, he does indeed take the cattle of the whigs and you Sassanachs, but neither he nor his cearnachs ever shed innocent blood; except once, added he, that I was unfortunate at Braemar, when a man was killed, but I immediately ordered the creach (the spoil) to be abandoned, and left to the owners, retreating as fast as we could after such a misfortune!' 'You,' says the officer, what had you to do with the affair? I am John Du Cameron,-I am the sergeant Mor; there is the road to Inverlochay,-you cannot now mistake it. You and your money are safe. Tell your governor to send a more wary messenger for his gold. Tell him also, that, although an outlaw, and forced to live on the public, I am a soldier as well as himself, and would despise taking his gold from a defenceless man who confided in me.' The officer lost no time in reaching the garrison, and never forgot the adventure, which he frequently related."

ABHORRENCE OF TREACHERY.

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laid hold of him, and attempted to escape, but he was overpowered by the remainder of the party who had remained outside. He was carried to Perth, and there tried before the court of justiciary for the murder alluded to in the note, and various acts of theft and cattle stealing. Being found guilty, he was executed at Perth in seventeen hundred and fifty-three, and hung in chains. It was generally believed in the country that Cameron had been betrayed by the man in whose barn he had taken shelter, and the circumstance of his renting a farm from government, on the forfeited estate of Strowan, on advantageous terms, strengthened the suspicion, but beyond this there was nothing to confirm the imputation; yet this man was ever after heartily despised, and, having by various misfortunes lost all his property, which obliged him to leave the country in great poverty, the people firmly believed, and the belief it is understood is still prevalent in Rannoch, that his misfortunes were a just judgment upon him for violating the trust reposed in him by an unsuspecting and unfortunate person.

Such were some of the leading characteristics of this fine and celebrated race of people, who preserved many of their national peculiarities till a comparatively recent period. These, however, are now fast disappearing amidst the march of modern improvement and civilization, and we are sorry to add that the vices which seem almost inseparable from this new state of society, have found their way into the Highlands, and supplanted, in some degree, many of those shining virtues which were once the glory of the Gaël

CHAPTER VII.

Accession of Alexander I.-Defeat of the Earl of Moray at Stracathrow-Insurrection in Moray-Rising of Somerled, Lord of the Isles-Defeat of Earl Gilchrist-New revolt of Somerled-Tumults in Ross-Rebellion of Donal Bane-his death-Attempts of Harold, Earl of Orkney and Caithness-Insurrections in Ross, Moray, and Argyle -Revolt of Gillespoc M'Scolane-Inauguration of Alexander III.-Revolt in Ross against the Earl-Battle of Bealligh-ne-Broig-Robert Bruce defeats the Lord of Lorn-His expedition against the Western Isles-their submission-New revolt of the Islanders-Feud between the Monroes and Mackintoshes-and between the Clan Chattan and the Camerons-Combat on the North Inch of Perth between the Clan Chattan and Clan Kay-Devastations of the Wolf of Badenoch and his son-Battle of Gasklune-Feud between the Earl of Sutherland and the Mackays-Battle of TuttimTurwigh-Formidable insurrection of Donald of the Isles-Battle of Harlaw.

We now resume the thread of our historical narrative. During the short reign of Edgar, which lasted nine years, viz. from one thousand and ninety-seven to eleven hundred and six, Scotland appears to have enjoyed repose; but that of his brother and successor, Alexander I., was disturbed in the year eleven hundred and twenty by an insurrection in Moray, under Angus, the grandson of Lulach, who laid claim to the crown. This rising was immediately suppressed by the king in person, who, from the promptitude displayed by him, obtained the appellation of the fierce from his people. The Earl of Moray, ten years afterwards, again took the field for the purpose of overthrowing the government of King David; but the latter having collected all his forces, and being aided by the martial barons of Northumberland, with Walter L'Espec at their head, Angus was completely defeated at Stracathrow, one of the passes in Forfarshire, whither he had advanced with his army.

The next enterprise of any note was undertaken by Somerled, Thane of Argyle and the Isles, against the authority of Malcolm IV.; who, after various conflicts, was repulsed, though not subdued, by Gilchrist, earl of Angus. A peace, concluded with this powerful chieftain in eleven hundred and fifty-three, was considered of such importance as to form an epoch in the dating of Scottish charters. A still more formidable insurrection broke out among the Moray men, under Gildominick, on account of an attempt, on the part of the government, to intrude the Anglo-Norman jurisdiction, introduced into the Lowlands, upon their Celtic customs; and the settling of Anglo-Belgic colonists among them. These insurgents laid waste the neighbouring counties, and so regardless were they of the royal authority, that they actually hanged the

J.

heralds who were sent to summon them to lay down their arms. Malcolm despatched the gallant Earl Gilchrist with an army to subdue them, but he was defeated, and forced to recross the Grampians.

This defeat aroused Malcolm, who was naturally of an indolent disposition. About the year eleven hundred and sixty he marched north with a powerful army, and found the enemy on the muir of Urquhart, near the Spey, ready to give him battle. After passing the Spey, the noblemen in the king's army reconnoitered the enemy; but they found them so well prepared for action, and so flushed with their late success, that they considered the issue of a battle rather doubtful. On this account, the commanders advised the king to enter into a negotiation with the rebels, and to promise, that in the event of a submission their lives would be spared. The offer was accepted, and the king kept his word; but as the Moray men were, as Buchanan says, "Homines inquieto semper ingenio," men of a factious disposition, his Majesty, by the advice of his nobles, ordained that every family in Moray which had been engaged in the rebellion should, within a limited time, remove out of Moray to other parts of the kingdom, where lands would be assigned to them, and that their places should be supplied with people from other parts of the kingdom. For the performance of this order, they gave hostages, and at the time appointed transplanted themselves, some into the northern, but the greater number into the southern counties.* Chalmers considers this removal of the Moray men as "an egregious probability," because "the dispossessing of a whole people is so difficult an operation, that the recital of it cannot be believed without strong evidence;"† but it is not said that the whole people were removed, and it is very probable that only the ringleaders and their families were transported. The older historians say that the Moray men were (pene internecionem) almost totally cut off in an obstinate battle, and strangers brought into their place; but this statement is at variance with the register of Paisley, and the fact, that while there are very few persons of the name of Murray in Moray, they are numerous in the counties on the English borders, and are to be found in the more northern counties, where some of them have taken the name of Sutherland, favours the account which that writing gives of the transportation of the Moray men.

About this time Somerled, the ambitious and powerful lord of the isles, made another and a last attempt upon the king's authority. Having collected a large force, chiefly in Ireland, he landed in eleven hundred and sixty-four near Renfrew, the seat of the Steward of Scotland; but he was defeated by the brave inhabitants and the king's troops in a decisive battle, in which he and his son Gillecolane were slain.

The reign of William the Lion was marked by many disturbances in the Highlands. The Gaëlic population could not endure the new settlers whom the Saxon colonization had introduced among them, and

• Shaw's Hist. of Moray, p. 259-60, New Ed.

+ Caledonia, vol. i. p. 627.

every opportunity was taken to vex and annoy them. At this period, the Gaëlic people rose upon them, and forced them to retire to the towns and castles for shelter. An open insurrection broke out in Rossshire, which obliged William, in the year eleven hundred and seventynine, to march into the north, where he built two garrisons to keep the people in check. He restored quiet for a few years; but in eleven hundred and eighty-seven, Donal Bane again renewed his pretensions to the crown, and raised the standard of revolt in the north. He took possession of Ross, and wasted Moray. William lost no time in leading an army against him. While the king lay at Inverness with his army, a foraging party under the command of Roland, the brave lord of Galloway, fell in with Donal Bane and his army upon the Mamgarvy moor, on the borders of Moray. A conflict ensued, in which Donal and five hundred of his followers were killed. Roland carried the head of Donal to William, "as a savage sign of returning quiet." on the fifth of July, eleven hundred and eighty-seven. ters remained pretty quiet in the north till the year eleven hundred and ninety-six, when Harold, the powerful earl of Orkney and Caithness, disturbed its peace. William dispersed the insurgents at once; but they again appeared the following year near Inverness, under the command of Torphin, the son of Harold. The rebels were again overpowered. The king seized Harold, and obliged him to deliver up his son, Torphin, as an hostage. Harold was allowed to retain the northern part of Caithness, but the king gave the southern part of it, called Sutherland, to Hugh Freskin, the progenitor of the earls of Sutherland. Harold died in twelve hundred and six; but as he had often rebelled, his son suffered a cruel and lingering death in the castle of Roxburgh, where he had been confined.

This happened After this, mat

During the year twelve hundred and eleven, a new insurrection broke out in Ross, headed by Guthred, the son of Donal Bane, or M'William, as he was called. Great depredations were committed by the insurgents, who were chiefly freebooters from Ireland, the Hebrides, and Lochaber. For a long time they baffled the king's troops; and although the king built two forts to keep them in check, and took many prisoners, they maintained for a considerable period a desultory and predatory warfare. Guthred even forced one of the garrisons to capitulate, and burnt the castle; but being betrayed by his followers, and delivered up to William Comyng, the Justiciary of Scotland, he was executed in the year twelve hundred and twelve.

Shortly after the accession of Alexander II. in twelve hundred and fourteen, the peace of the north was attempted to be disturbed by Donald M'William, who made an inroad from Ireland into Moray; but he was repulsed by the tribes of that country, led by M'Intagart, the earl of Ross. In twelve hundred and twenty-two, an insurrection broke out in Argyle. Notwithstanding the formidable obstacles which presented themselves from the nature of the country, Alexander carried his army