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Part I
A Sketch of the
Moral and Physical Character, and of the Institutions and Customs of the
Inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland
Sketches of the Highlanders
Section IX.
Attachment to the Exiled
Family—Political differences between the Loxlanders and the
Highlanders—Disinterested but mistaken feeling of Loyalty—Military
conduct.
Under the House of Stuart,
[See Appendix, R.] the Highlanders enjoyed a degree of freedom suited to
the ideas of a high-spirited people, proud of having, for a series of
ages, maintained their independence. The occasional interference of the
royal authority, and the policy frequently pursued, of employing one chief
to punish another, and of rewarding the successful rival with a share of
the lands forfeited by the vanquished, had a greater tendency to
perpetuate than to allay the endless feuds between different clans and
districts. It had another effect; it turned the exasperation of the
subdued clan against those who attacked them, and directing it from the
person of a distant sovereign, whose power was sometimes so weak that he
had no other means of establishing his authority than that of setting the
clans in opposition to each other. In this state of hostility, their rage
and irritation being expended against their neighbours and rivals, the
part the Sovereign had taken attracted little notice; and thus loyalty and
attachment to his person continued unshaken. Of this we have striking
instances in the case of the Macdonalds of Cantyre and Islay, and the
Macleans of Douart, whose lands were forfeited and granted to the Earl of
Argyll in consequence of some acts of violence committed in the course of
their mutual feuds; and yet no people in the Highlands retained a stronger
or more lasting attachment and loyalty than these two clans. The case was
the same with the Macleods of the Lewis, whose lands were granted to the
Mackenzies; and it is not a little remarkable that the Macdonalds,
Macleans, and Macleods, with all their reverses and forfeitures, preserved
a kind of enthusiastic loyalty to their ancient sovereigns and their
descendants,—an attachment which was early forgotten by those who were
more favoured, and were enriched by the grants of their estates. The
actual interference of the sovereign or any distant authority being little
felt by the Highlanders, it contributed to give them an idea of
independence, and fostered a kindly feeling towards the King, whose
severity was not immediately felt, as few mandates came directly from him.
Thus a species of freedom and independence continued with little
interruption, and always accompanied with loyalty and a high spirit, till
after the reign of Charles I. and during the Commonwealth, when Oliver
Cromwell planted garrisons in the heart of their country to punish them
for their loyalty during the civil wars. It was then that they began to
find their independence lowered, and their freedom restrained. This
restraint, however, continued only during the period of the Usurpation ;
for soon after the Restoration, the garrisons were withdrawn by Charles
II. in consideration of the eminent services rendered to his father and
himself in their adversity. The subsequent measures adopted by King
William helped greatly to awaken and confirm the attachment of the
Highlanders to their ancient kings, while it increased their aversion to
the new monarch.
To these causes may in part
be ascribed the eagerness with which the Highlanders strove for the
restoration of their ancient line of sovereigns. Another source of this
attachment may be traced to the feudal system itself. When we take into
account the implicit devotion of the clans to the interests and the honour
of their chiefs, we may cease to wonder at their respect for a family,
between which and many of their chiefs a connection by birth, marriage,
and hereditary descent, was known to subsist. This connection was nearly
similar to that between the chief and many members of his clan, The
doctrine of hereditary succession, and indefeasible right, never, in its
abstract sense, formed any part of their system. Acute and intelligent in
regard to all objects within their view, they had but vague and indefinite
ideas of the limits of royal power and prerogative. Their loyalty, like
their religion, was a strong habitual attachment ; the object of which was
beyond the reach of their observation, but not beyond that of their
affections. The Stuarts were the only kings their fathers had obeyed and
served. Of the errors of their government in regard to the English, and
Saxons of the Lowlands, they were either ignorant or unqualified to judge.
Poetry was here a powerful auxiliary to prejudice. Burns has said, that
"the Muses are all Jacobites." "There are few Scotchmen, even of the
present day," says Laing in his History of Scotland, "whose hearts are not
warmed by the songs which celebrate their independence, under their
ancient race of kings." The sympathy which we naturally cherish, when the
mighty are laid low,—the generous indignation excited by the abuse of
power, or by insulted feeling,—and the tender anguish with which the
victims of mistaken principle looked back from a foreign shore, where they
wandered in hopeless exile, to the land of their forefathers;—these and
similar themes were more susceptible of poetical embellishment than the
support of a new and ill-understood authority; a subject not of feeling,
but of that cool and abstract reasoning which was the more unpoetical for
being sound and conclusive. Accordingly, we find, that the whole power of
national song, during that period, inclined towards the ancient dynasty;
and the whole force of the ludicrous, the popular, and the pathetic,
volunteered in the Jacobite service. It is beyond question, that the merit
of these Jacobite songs eclipsed, and still eclipses, every attempt at
poetry on the other side, which has produced little beyond a few scraps of
verses, in ridicule of the bare knees, the kilts, and bad English of the
Highlanders. [Now, as the House of Hanover has not more loyal or devoted
subjects than the descendants of the honourable old Jacobites, it may be
permitted to notice a few of those popular songs which so powerfully
affected many of the last generation, and which continue to afford
occasional amusement and pastime to the present:—"Hey Johnnie Cope, are ye
wauken yet?" "Hame, hame, it's hame I would be, For I'm wearied of my life
in this foreign countrie;" " A health to them that I lo'e dear;" "Kenmure's
on and awa;" "The King shall enjoy his ain;"—all of which spoke to the
heart in the strong and simple language best suited to awaken its most
powerful emotions. When it is considered how many feel, and how few
reason, the power of popular poetry will be easily understood. Of this the
government in 1746 seemed to be fully sensible ; for great numbers of the
popular ballads and songs were bought up and publicly burnt.]
The last great cause which
I shall mention of the attachment of the Highlanders to the House of
Stuart, was the difference of religious feelings and prejudices that
distinguished them from their brethren of the South. This difference
became striking at the Reformation, and continued during the whole of the
subsequent century. While many Lowlanders were engaged in angry
theological controversies, or adopted a more sour and forbidding demeanour,
the Highlanders retained much of their ancient superstition?, and, from
their cheerful and poetical spirit, were averse to long faces and wordy
disputes. They were, therefore, more inclined to join the Cavaliers than
the Roundheads, and were, on one occasion, employed by the ministry of
Charles II. to keep down the republican spirits in the West of Scotland.
The same cause, among others, had previously induced them to join the
standard of Montrose.
It has been said by a
celebrated author, [Dalrymple's Memoirs.] that the Highlands of Scotland
is the only country in Europe that has never been distracted by religious
controversy, or suffered from religious persecution. [Although they never
suffered from religious persecutions, they sometimes resisted a change in
the mode of worship. The last Episcopal clergyman of the parish of
Glenorchy, Mr David Lindsay, was ordered to surrender his charge to a
Presbyterian minister then appointed by the Duke of Argyll. When the new
clergyman reached the parish to take possession of his living, not an
individual would speak to him, and every door was shut against him, except
Mr Lindsay's, who received him kindly. On Sunday the new clergyman went to
church, accompanied by his predecessor. The whole population of the
district were assembled, but they would not enter the church. No person
spoke to the new minister, nor was there the least noise or violence, till
he attempted to enter the church, when he was surrounded by twelve men
fully armed, who told him he must accompany them; and, disregarding all Mr
Lindsay's prayers and entreaties, they ordered the piper to play the march
of death, and marched away with the minister to the confines of the
parish. Here they made him swear on the Bible that he would never return,
or attempt to disturb Mr Lindsay. He kept his oath. The synod of Argyle
were highly incensed at this violation of their authority; but seeing that
the people were determined to resist, no farther attempt was made, and Mr
Lindsay lived thirty years afterwards, and died Episcopal minister of
Glenorchy, loved and revered by his flock.]
This is easily accounted
for. The religion of the Highlanders was founded on the simplest
principles of Christianity, and cherished by strong feeling. On this,
also, was grounded a moral education, without letters, (so far as regarded
the lower orders I mean; the middle [See Appendix, S.] and higher classes
having, for many generations, been well educated,) and transmitted to them
from their forefathers, with which was mixed a degree of honourable
feeling [One instance of the force of principle, founded on a sense of
honour, and its consequent influence, was exhibited in the year 1745, when
the rebel army lay at Kirkliston, near the seat of the Earl of Stair,
whose grandfather, when Secretary of State for Scotland in 1C92, had
transmitted to Campbell of Glenlyon, the orders of King William for the
massacre of Glenco. Macdonald of Glenco, the immediate descendant of the
unfortunate gentleman, who, with all his family, (except a child carried
away by his nurse in the dark), fell a sacrifice to this horrid massacre,
had joined the rebels with all his followers, and was then in West
Lothian. Prince Charles, anxious to save the house and property of Lord
Stair, and to remove from his followers all excitement to revenge, but at
the same time not comprehending their true character, proposed that the
Glenco men should he marched to a distance from Lord Stair's house and
parks, lest the remembrance of the share which his grandfather had had in
the order for extirpating the whole clan should now excite a spirit of
revenge. When the proposal was communicated to the Glenco men, they
declared, that, if that was the case, they must return home. If they were
considered so dishonourable as to take revenge on an innocent man, they
were not fit to remain with honourable men, nor to support an honourable
cause; and it was not without much explanation, and great persuasion, that
they were prevented from marching away the following morning. When
education is founded on such principles, the happiest effects are to be
expected.] which never forsook them in public life, whether engaged in
open rebellion, as in 1745, or as loyal subjects fighting the battles of
their country, in after periods.
"The two principal
distinctions in the religion of the Highlanders are the Presbyterian and
the Roman Catholic. The latter, with few exceptions, is confined to the
county of Inverness, particularly to the districts of Lochaber, Moidart,
Arasaik, Morrer, Knoidart, and Strath Glass, and to the islands of Cannay,
Eig, South Uist, and Barra, where the adherents to the religion of their
ancestors are equal, if not superior in number, to the disciples of the
Reformation. There are likewise a few Episcopalians, chiefly among the
gentry.
"The religion of a
Highlander is peaceable and unobtrusive. He never arms himself with
quotations from Scripture to carry on offensive operations. There is no
inducement for him to strut about in the garb of piety, in order to
attract respect, as his own conduct insures it. Not being perplexed by
doubt, he wants no one to corroborate his faith. Upon such a subject,
therefore, he is silent, unless invited to conversation, and then he
entertains it with solemnity and reverence. The relationship between him
and his Creator is more in his heart than on his tongue. I believe his
religious feelings to be as sincere as they are simple and unassuming, and
that moral precepts are more congenial to his disposition than mysteries.
"Another circumstance,
still more astonishing, is, that Protestants and Papists, so often
pronounced to be eternally inimical, live here in charity and brotherhood.
On neither side is humanity forgotten in their doctrine of divinity. In
Fort William there is the Scotch church, and the Episcopal and the Roman
Catholic chapels. The inhabitants of the town, and of the neighbourhood,
know no division, except at the doors of their respective places of
worship. [Pennant, speaking of the island of Cannay, says, "The minister
and the Popish priest reside in Eig; but, by reason of the turbulent seas
that divide these isles, are very seldom able to attend their flocks. I
admire the moderation of their congregations, who attend the preaching of
either indifferently as they happen to arrive,"]
On a Sunday morning they
may be seen in the street, and approaching by the several roads,
conversing together ' in unity of spirit and in the bond of peace,' till
the time arrives for their separation, when each man bends his course
according to the dictates of his own conscience, without note or comment
from the others; and when the assemblies are dismissed, they meet again as
cordially as they parted. The advocate for intolerance will say, such a
people must either be lukewarm and indifferent, or the thing is
impossible. Not at all. They are truly earnest in their devotion. The same
spirit of charity is diffused throughout families. A master does not
require his servants to think as he thinks; he merely requires them to do
as they are bid. A husband is not offended because his wife loves
consubstantiation better than transubstantiation, provided she loves him.
As for their children, they easily come to an agreement about them, if
they agree in every thing else. I visited a family, where the master of
the house and his sons are Roman Catholics, his wife and daughter
Episcopalians, and the tutor a Presbyterian. What a mixture! And does it
not lead to confusion and wrangling? By no means; quite the contrary. It
is a daily lesson of good-will and kind-hearted forbearance, and every one
in the house is benefited by it." This was the state of religion,
liberality, and Christian charity among different sects twenty years ago.
In more ancient tiroes, the minds and principles of the Highlanders were
influenced and guided by their institutions; by their notions, that honour,
or disgrace, communicated to a whole family or district; by their
chivalry, their poetry, and traditionary tales: in latter periods the
labours of the parish ministers have, by their religious and moral
instructions, reared an admirable structure on this foundation. No
religions order, in modern times, have been more useful and exemplary, by
their instructions and practice, than the Scotch parochial clergy. Adding
example to precept, they have taught the pure doctrines of Christianity in
a manner clear, simple, and easily comprehended by their flock.
Thus, the religious tenets
of the Highlanders, guided by their clergy, were blended with an
impressive, captivating, and, if I may be allowed to call it so, a
salutary superstition, inculcating on the minds of all, that an honourable
and well spent life entailed a blessing on descendants, while a curse
would descend on the successors of the wicked, the oppressor, and ungodly.
[The belief that the
punishment of the cruelty, oppression, or misconduct of an individual
descended as a curse on his children, to the third and fourth generation,
was not confined to the common people. All ranks were influenced by it;
and many believed, that if the curse did not fall upon the first or second
generation, it would inevitably descend upon the succeeding. The late
Colonel Campbell of Glenlyon 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 Glenco, and who lived in the
laird of Glenco's house, where he and his men were hospitably entertained
during a fortnight prior to the execution of his orders. 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 Lieutenant-Colonel, and commanded 800 of his corps at the Havannah.
In 1771, he was ordered to superintend the execution of the sentence of a
court-marshal on a soldier of marines, condemned to be shot. A reprieve
was sent; but the whole ceremony of the execution was ordered to proceed
until the criminal should be upon his knees, with a cap over his eyes,
prepared to receive the volley. It was then that he was to be informed of
his pardon. No 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, the clergyman having left the
prisoner on his knees, in momentary expectation of his fate, and the
firing party looking with intense attention for the signal, Colonel
Campbell put his hand into his pocket for the reprieve; but 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 Glenco is here; 1 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, but
the impression on his mind, was never effaced. Nor is the massacre, and
the judgment which the people believe has fallen on the descendants of the
principal actors in this tragedy, effaced from their recollection. They
carefully note, that, while the family of the unfortunate gentleman who
suffered is still entire, and his estate preserved in direct male
succession to his posterity ; the case is very different with the family,
posterity, and estates of the laird of Glenlyon, and of those who were the
principals, promoters, and actors in this infamous affair.]
These, with a belief in
ghosts, dreams, and second-sighted visions, [See Appendix, T.] served to
tame the turbulent and soothe the afflicted, and differed widely from the
gloomy inflexible puritanism of many parts of the south. The demure
solemnity and fanaticism of the plains, offered a ceaseless subject of
ridicule and satire to the poetical imaginations of the mountainers. The
truth is, that no two classes of people of the same country, and in such
close neighbourhood, could possibly present a greater contrast than "the
wild and brilliant picture of the devoted valour, incorruptible fidelity,
patriarchal brotherhood, and savage habits of the Celtic clans on the one
hand; and the dark, untractable, domineering bigotry of the Covenanters,
on the other." [Edinburgh Review.]
Differing so widely in
their manners, they heartily despised and hated each other. "The Lowlander
considered the Highlander as a fierce and savage depredator, speaking a
barbarous language, inhabiting a gloomy and barren region, which fear and
prudence forbade all strangers to explore. The attractions of his social
habits, strong attachment, and courteous manners, were confined to his
glens and kindred. All the pathetic and sublime records were concealed in
a language difficult to acquire, and utterly despised as the jargon of
barbarians by their southern neighbours. If such was the light in which
the cultivators of the soil regarded the hunters, graziers, and warriors
of the mountains, their contempt was amply repaid by their high-spirited
neighbours. The Highlanders, again, regarded the Lowlanders as a very
inferior mongrel race of intruders, sons of little men, without heroism,
without ancestry, or genius; mechanical drudges, &c. &c, who could neither
sleep upon the snow, compose extempore songs, recite long tales of wonder
or of woe, or live without bread and without shelter for weeks together,
following the chase. Whatever was mean or effeminate, whatever was dull,
slow, mechanical, or torpid, was in the Highlands imputed to the
Lowlanders, and exemplified by allusions to them ; while, in the Low
country, every thing ferocious or unprincipled, every species of
awkwardness or ignorance, of pride, or of insolence, was imputed to the
Highlanders." [Mrs Grant's Superstitions of the Highlanders.] These mutual
animosities and jealousies, long sustained, operated as a check to a more
free communication, and cherished the affections of the Highlanders to the
exiled family. Their frequent contentions with the peasantry of the plains
adjacent to the mountains, and the comparison of their own constancy and
loyalty with what they regarded as the timeserving disposition of the
Lowlanders, exalted them in their own estimation, and contributed, by a
feeling of personal pride, to confirm them in their political
predilections.
This attachment, too, will
appear the less surprising if we bear in mind, that the Highlanders, far
distant from the seat of government, and not immediately affected by the
causes which produced the Revolution in England, were imperfectly
acquainted with the circumstances which led to that event. Hence we may
discover an apology for their subsequent conduct, as proceeding more from
a mistaken loyalty, than from a turbulent restless spirit. Since this
adherence to the House of Stuart produced most important consequences, as
affecting the Highlanders, and led to measures on the part of government,
which have conduced so materially to change the character and habits of
the people; we may shortly examine the causes and motives in which it
originated, and the manner in which it displayed itself.
With few exceptions, the
Highlanders were of high monarchical notions. Opposed to these was the
family of Argyll, which took the lead in the interest of the Covenanters
and Puritans, and which, during two-thirds of the seventeenth century, was
at feud with the families of Atholl, Huntly, Montrose, and Airley. This
opposition of religious feeling and political principles, the warlike
habits of the Highlanders, and the natural conformation of the country,
suddenly rising from the plains into mountains difficult of access, and of
exterior communication, combined to keep up that difference of character
already noticed, which, though so distinctly marked, was divided by so
slight a line, as the small stream or burn of Inch Ewan below the bridge
of Dunkeld, the inhabitants on each side of which present perfect
characteristics of the Saxons and Celts. [The author of Waverley has, with
great spirit and humour, given an admirable delineation of this difference
of character, in the account of Waverley's journey from Glenquaich, and
his rencounter with Gilfillan, the evangelical landlord of the
Seven-branched Golden Candlesticks at Crieff.] One of the most remarkable
of the latter was the celebrated Neil Gow, whose genius has added fresh
spirit to the cheerful and exhilarating music of Caledonia, and who,
although he was born, and, during the period of a long life, lived within
half a mile of the Lowland border, exhibited a perfect specimen of the
genuine Highlander in person, garb, principles, and character.
While both sides of this
line differed so widely, the language of the northern division, together
with their chivalry, their garb, their arms, and their Jacobite
principles, kept them too well prepared, and made them too ready to join
in the troubles that ensued. The disarming acts of 1716 and 1725, with
various irritating causes, contributed to keep alive these feelings, and
to encourage the hopes of the exiled family. These hopes led to the
Rebellion of 1745, when Charles Edward landed in the West Highlands
without men or money, trusting to that attachment which many were supposed
to cherish to his family; and committing to their charge bis honour, his
life, and his hopes of a crown, he threw himself among them, and called
upon them to support his claims. This confidence touched the true string,
and made a powerful appeal to that fidelity which had descended to them,
as it were, in trust from their forefathers.
[It was not without reason,
he relied on this loyal attachment to his person and family. The numerous
anecdotes in proof of this attachment, are so remarkable, as to appear
almost incredible to those unacquainted with the manners and feelings of
the Highlanders.
When the late Mr Stewart of
Balichulish returned home, after having completed a course of general and
classical education at Glasgow and Edinburgh, he was a promising young
man. A friend of the family happening to visit his father, who had "been
out" in 1715 and 1745, congratulated the old gentleman on the appearance
and accomplishments of his son. To this he answered, that the youth was
all he could wish for as a son; and "next to the happiness of seeing
Charles restored to the throne of his forefathers, is the promise my son
affords of being an honour to his family."
A song or ballad of that
period, set to a melancholy and beautiful air, was exceedingly popular
among the Highlanders, and sung by all classes. It is in Gaelic, and
cannot be translated without injury to the spirit and effect of the
composition. One verse, alluding to the conduct of the troops after the
suppression of the rebellion, proceeds thus: "They ravaged and burnt my
country ; they murdered my father, and carried off my brothers; they
ruined my kindred, and broke the heart of my mother;—but all, all could I
bear without murmur, if I saw my king restored to his own."]
Seeing a descendant of
their ancient kings among them, confiding in their loyalty, and believing
him unfortunate, accomplished, and brave, "Charles soon found himself at
the head of some thousands of hardy mountaineers, filled with hereditary
attachment to his family, and ardently devoted to his person, in
consequence of his open and engaging manners, as well as having assumed
the ancient military dress of their country, which added new grace to his
tall and handsome figure, at the same time that it borrowed dignity from
his princely air; and who, from all these motives, were ready to shed the
last drop of their blood in his cause; and descending from the mountains
with the rapidity of a torrent at the head of his intrepid Highlanders, he
took possession of Dunkeld, Perth, &c. &c." [Letters of a Nobleman to his
Son.]
So universal and ardent was
this feeling, that had it not been for the wisdom and influence of the
Lord President Forbes, [See Appendix, U.] a general rising of the
Highlanders would probably have ensued. This will appear the more
remarkable, if it be true, as is insinuated by that eminent person, that
there was no previous plan of operations, or connected scheme of
rebellion; although, had there really been a preconcerted scheme of any
kind, it will be allowed, that the Lord President of the Court of Session
was not the person to whom treasonable plots would have been disclosed,
how intimate soever he might be with the persons concerned. The whole,
however, would seem to have been a sudden ebullition of loyalty, long
cherished in secret, and cherished the more intensely, for the very reason
that it was secret and persecuted. The Lord President, in a letter to Sir
Andrew Mitchell, dated September 1745, gives the following account of the
spirit then displayed in the North: "All the Jacobites, how prudent soever,
became mad, all doubtful people became Jacobites, and all bankrupts became
heroes, and talked of nothing but hereditary right and victory. And what
was more grievous to men of gallantry, and, if you believe me, more
mischievous to the public, all the fine ladies, [Of all the fine ladies,
few were more accomplished, more beautiful, or more enthusiastic, than the
Lady Mackintosh, a daughter of Farquharson of Invercauld. Her husband, the
Laird of Mackintosh, had this year been appointed to a company in the then
43d, now 42d, Highland regiment; and, restrained by a sense of duty, he
kept back his people, who were urgent to be led' to the field. These
restraints had no influence on his lady, who took the command of the clan,
and joined the rebels, by whom her husband was taken prisoner,—when the
Prince gave him in charge to his wife, saying, " that he could not be in
better security, or more honourably treated." One morning when Lord Loudon
lay at Inverness with the royal army, he received information that the
Pretender was to sleep that night at Moy Hall, the seat of Mackintosh,
with a guard of two hundred of Mackintosh's men. Expecting to put a speedy
end to the rebellion by the capture of the person who was the prime mover
of the whole, Lord Loudon assembled his troops, and marched to Moy Hall.
The commandress, however, was not to be taken by surprise; and she bad no
want of faithful scouts to give her full information of all movements or
intended attacks. Without giving notice to her guest of his danger, she
with great, and, as it happened, successful temerity, sallied out with her
men, and took post on the high road, at a short distance from the house,
placing small parties two and three hundred yards asunder. When Lord
Loudon came within hearing, a command was passed from man to man, in a
loud voice, along a distance of half a mile : The Mackintoshes,
Macgillivrays, and Macbeans, to form instantly on the centre,—the
Macdonalds on the right,— the Frasers on the left; and in this manner were
arranged all the clans in order of battle, in full hearing of the
Commander-in-chief of the royal army, who, believing the whole rebel force
ready to oppose him, instantly faced to the right about, and retreated
with great expedition to Inverness; but not thinking himself safe there,
he continued his route across three arms of the sea to Sutherland, a
distance of seventy miles, where he took up his quarters.
Such was the terror
inspired by the Highlanders of that day, even in military men of
experience like Lord Loudon. It was not till the following morning that
Lady Mackintosh informed her guest of the risk he had run. One of the
ladies noticed by the President, finding she could not prevail upon her
husband to join the rebels, though his men were ready; and perceiving, one
morning, that he intended to set off for Culloden with the offer of his
services as a loyal subject, contrived, while making tea for breakfast, to
pour, as if by accident, a quantity of scalding hot water on his knees and
legs, and thus effectually put an end to all active movements on his part
for that season, while she dispatched his men to join the rebels under a
commander more obedient to her wishes.] if you except one or two, became
passionately fond of the young Adventurer, and used all their arts and
industry for him, in the most intemperate manner. Under these
circumstances, I found myself almost alone, without troops, without arms,
without money or credit, provided with no means to prevent extreme folly,
except pen and ink, a tongue, and some reputation; and if you will except
Macleod (the Laird of Macleod), whom I sent for from the Isle of Skye,
supported by nobody of common sense or courage."
During the progress of this
unfortunate rebellion, the moral character of the great mass of the
Highlanders engaged in it was placed in a most favourable point of view.
The noblemen and gentlemen too, who took a lead in the cause, were
generally actuated by pure, although mistaken motives of loyalty and
principle. Some of them might be stung by the remembrance of real or
supposed injuries, by disappointed ambition, or excited by delusive hopes;
yet the greatest proportion even of these staked their lives and fortunes
in the contest, from a disinterested attachment to an unfortunate prince,
for whose family their fathers had suffered, and whose pretensions they
themselves were taught to consider as just. Into these principles and
feelings, the mass of the clansmen entered with a warmth and zeal unmixed
with, or unsullied by, motives of self-interest or aggrandizement; for
whatever their superiors might expect, they could look for nothing but
that satisfaction and self-approbation which accompany the consciousness
of supporting the oppressed. They were therefore misguided, rather than
criminal, and to their honour it ought to be remembered, that though
engaged in a formidable civil war, which roused the strongest passions of
human nature, and though unaccustomed to regular discipline, or military
control, though they were in a manner let loose on their countrymen, and
frequently flushed with victory, and elated with hopes of ultimate
success, they committed comparatively very few acts of wanton plunder, or
gratuitous violence. They withstood temptations, which, to men in their
situation, might have appeared irresistible; and when they marched into
the heart of England through fertile and rich districts, presenting
numberless objects of desire, and also when in the northern parts of the
kingdom, often pinched with hunger, and exposed throughout a whole winter
to all the inclemencies of the weather, without tents, or any covering
save what chance afforded; in these trying circumstances, acts of personal
violence and robbery were unheard of, except among a few desperate
followers, who joined more for the sake of booty, than from other and
better motives. Private revenge, or unprovoked massacre, [See Appendix,
V.] wanton depredation, the burning of private houses, or destruction of
property, were entirely unknown. When the cravings of hunger, or the want
of regular supplies in the north of Scotland, compelled them to go in
quest of food, they limited their demands by their necessities, and
indulged in no licentious excess. The requisitions and contributions
exacted and levied by the rebel commanders, were the unavoidable
consequences of their situation, and did not in any manner affect the
character of the rebel army, which conducted itself throughout with a
moderation, forbearance, and humanity, almost unexampled in any civil
commotion. In a military point of view, they proved themselves equally
praiseworthy. Neither in the advance into England, to within a hundred and
fifty miles of London, nor in the retreat, when pursued by a superior army
while another attempted to intercept them, did they leave a man behind by
desertion, and few or none by sickness. They carried their cannon along
with them, and the retreat "was conducted with a degree of intrepidity,
regularity, expedition and address, unparalleled in the history of
nations, by any body of men under circumstances equally adverse." [Letters
from a Nobleman to his Son.]
When such were the
character and conduct of the rebel army,—irreproachable in every respect,
except in the act of rebellion,—it is to be lamented that their
enlightened and disciplined conquerors did not condescend to take a lesson
of moderation from these uncultivated savages, (as they called them;) and
that they sullied their triumphs, by devastation and cruelty inflicted on
a defenceless enemy. As to the burning of the castles of Lovat, Lochiel,
Glengarry, Clunie, and others, some apology may be found in the expediency
of punishing men, who, from the circle in which they moved, and their
general intelligence and knowledge of the world, must have known the stake
which they hazarded, and the consequences of a failure. Not so with their
followers, who acted from a principle of fidelity and attachment, which
had withstood the lapse of so many years of absence and exile, and which,
by gentle treatment, might have been turned into the proper channel.
Instead of this, a line of conduct was pursued infinitely more ferocious
und barbarous, than the worst acts of the poor people, to whom these
epithets were so liberally applied.
These cruelties compelled
many of the followers of the rebel army, afraid of punishment, and
unwilling to return to their homes, to form themselves into bands of
freebooters, who frepuented the mountains of Athole, Breadalbane, and
Monteith, districts which form the border country, and often laid the
Lowlands under contributions; defying the exertions of their Lowland
neighbours, assisted by small garrisons, stationed in different parts of
the country, to check their depredations. The harsh measures afterwards
pursued were more calculated to exasperate, then to allay the discontents
which they were intended to remove, and were perhaps less excusable as
being more deliberate. |
