"The common people of the
M’Kays are the most religious of all the tribes that dwell among the
mountains, south or north, and are short of none in their zeal and
affection to his Majesty. Of old, they were reckon’d the most barbarous
and wicked of all the clans; but they were effectually civiliz’d in the
time of the late Lord Reae."
The fire which the third
Lord Reay kindled and nourished all his lifetime became bigger and
brighter after his death, under the fostering care of his children,
especially Donald, fourth Lord Reay, and General the Hon. Alexander
Mackay. A prominent feature of this great movement in Strathnaver during
the second half of the eighteenth century was the avidity with which the
people called for the schoolmaster. During the years 1730-90 the following
twenty-one schools were started, and continued in the country of
Strathnaver, as an examination of the S.P.C.K. reports shows, viz.,
Knockbreck, and Asheylemore, 1730; Farr, 1740; Hunleam, 1748; Revigill,
1754; Philine, 1755; Torrisdale, and Kirkton, 1758; Skerra, 1776; Langdale,
Cambusandun, and Bighouse, 1777; Strathmore, and Lettermore, 1780;
Achiness, Bunnahavin, and Edderachilis, 1783; Havachery, Melness, Oldshore,
and Rhiloisk, 1790. Dr Kemp, Edinburgh, Secretary of the S.P.C.K.,
reporting in 1796 on the work in Strathnaver, says:—
"Their thirst after
knowledge is great. . . . Among such people it is not to be doubted that
the Society’s teachers are received with avidity and gratitude, and their
schools well attended. . . . Nor did he find in any part of the Highlands
young people who discovered a quicker genius for learning."
It was in these
circumstances that John Macdonald paid his first visit to Skerray in 1776
as the accredited teacher of the S.P.C.K. But not long after this Britain
became engaged in one of the most tremendous conflicts she ever waged, and
needed men to fight her battles. The States of America revolted and drew
the sword, France and Spain, taking advantage of our entangled position,
joined them, to be followed soon after by the Dutch States; while Denmark,
Sweden, and Russia formed a hostile combination against us without coming
to blows. Thus we were called upon at one and the same time to fight four
nations, and to keep a sharp eye on three others who might jump upon us at
any moment. At the tumultuous call to arms, which sent its echoes pealing
to far Cape Wrath, Dominie Macdonald threw down the tawse, and shouldering
his bagpipes set out to do and dare, like many another in that
countryside.
After serving for a short
time in the North Fencibles at Fort George, under Captain Mackay of
Bighouse, Macdonald joined the 2nd battalion of Lord Macleod’s
Highlanders, as he tells us. "Lord Macleod," who was a Mackenzie by
surname, son and heir of the Earl of Cromartie, was attainted along with
his father for rising in the ‘45, fled abroad to serve as a soldier of
fortune, but in the hour of his country’s need returned to offer the
service of his sword and influence ("Book of Cromartie"). The sequel was
the raising of two fine battalions of Highlanders. And, while the 1st
battalion was hotly fighting in India, the 2nd was sharpening the sword at
Plymouth when the combined fleets of France and Spain appeared in the
offing of the Ram-head, sending a thrill of anxious concern quivering
through the land. This was a huge armada, but, like most combinations of
the kind, it lacked cohesion and did little harm, thanks to the alertness
of our British sailors (Mahan’s "Sea Power").
To wrest Gibraltar from our
grip was Spain’s prime reason in making war upon us; it was part of her
own natural soil and an eyesore in the hands of the British. So on the
21st June 1779 she besieged the historic Rock which grim General Elliot
held with a garrison of 5,382 men all told. Gibraltar stands at the
extremity of an isthmus running north and south. Its north or landward end
consists of a high rock rising from a comparatively level neck of sand; on
the east side the rock springs sheer from the sea, but on the west it
slopes up more gently from the water. The Spanish plan of operations was
to throw up a strong line of fortifications right across the isthmus
whence they could pelt the garrison with heavy artillery, and to cut off
supplies with a coalition fleet at sea. Though Gibraltar is naturally very
strong, if the allies could hold the sea the capitulation of the garrison
was only a matter of time; but that if they had to tackle, and the
sequel shows that the if was too much for them.
By the end of the year, and
after a siege of six months, the supplies at Gibraltar were running so low
that General Elliot experimented upon himself as to how little rice
sufficed to sustain a grown-up person, and actually lived for eight days
upon four ounces a day. Admiral Rodney, however, whose hands were full
enough elsewhere up to that time, slipped away with a fleet from Plymouth
on the 27th December, convoying supplies and carrying the 73rd or Lord
Macleod’s Highlanders. He had the good fortune to come athwart a richly
laden fleet of Spanish merchantmen in the Bay of Biscay which he easily
captured, and on the 16th January 1780 bore down to the south-east of Cape
St Vincent upon a strong Spanish war fleet under Don Juan de Langara,
which he practically annihilated, capturing the admiral (Mahan’s "Sea
Power").
Shortly afterwards Rodney
sailed triumphantly into Gibraltar Bay laden with spoil, replenished the
garrison stores and disembarked the Highlanders. When the Highlanders left
Plymouth they were intended to reinforce the garrison of Minorca, but
after a council of war and at the earnest entreaty of General Elliot they
were left at Gibraltar to strengthen his depleted force. Captain
Drinkwater, in his "History of the Siege of Gibraltar," says:—"Their
strength at this time was 30 officers, 6 staff officers, 50 serjeants, 22
drummers, and 944 rank and file; an excellent reinforcement in our
situation since the scurvy had already begun to appear among us."
Rodney, having effected his
immediate purpose, sailed away to police the home waters, and left the
garrison to keep the Spaniards at bay.
Although the Spanish had
collected a considerable fleet to blockade the Rock, enterprising British
and foreign ships laden with corn, fruit, sheep, &c., managed to run in
from time to time during the night, and found shelter at the New Mole
under the guns of the fort, where a few small British ships of war lay. It
was to destroy these that the enemy sent nine fire-ships into the bay on
the morning of the 7th June 1780; but their efforts were vain, for the
British tars with great gallantry towed them to a place of safety, and
from these same fireships most acceptable fuel for the garrison was
afterwards obtained.
Since Rodney brought
supplies to Gibraltar in January 1780, until it was relieved again by
Admiral Darby on 12th April 1781, the garrison suffered much from the fire
of the enemy’s batteries, from the lack of food, and from consequent
scurvy. In some instances the food brought by foreign ships running the
blockade was secretly purchased by Jewish merchants on the Rock who sold
it to the garrison at ransom prices. And when the great bombardment took
place on the arrival of Darby it was found that these merchants had larger
stores hidden away than was expected. It was the exasperation provoked at
the discovery of these hidden stores ("Siege of Gibraltar") that led the
famishing soldiers to commit the excesses of which Macdonald complains. As
they came upon casks of brandy, which the fugitive merchants left behind
them in their haste, the ardent spirits naturally did not improve their
temper, but this was the only case of excess during the long siege.
The relief brought by Darby
only increased the vigour of the enemy; they brought up more troops,
poured in a hotter fire, and made redoubled efforts to advance their lines
nearer the Rock. Elliot, however, bided his time, and when he was ready
struck hard. In the sortie of the 26th November 1781, which Macdonald so
graphically describes, he gave his foes a staggering blow which kept them
silent for a considerable time. The wounded Spanish officer who was
captured, and who afterwards died, was Baron Von Helmstadt of the Walloon
Guards, and the other was Don Vincente Freeze. From the plan of the
sortie, given by Drinkwater, we notice that the grenadier and light
companies of Lord Macleod’s Highlanders stormed the central and strongest
fort in the enemy’s lines that night.
On the night of 23rd March
1782, two frigates, a storeship, and four transports with the 97th
regiment on board got through the Spanish fleet to Gibraltar, and on the
12th April following Rodney decisively defeated a strong French fleet
under De Grasse in the West Indies. But the allies were determined to
reduce Gibraltar and to this end collected a fleet at Algeziras, built
specially prepared floating batteries, greatly increased their land
forces, and were so sure of success that two Bourbon princes came into the
camp to grace the expected victory. When the attack came off, however, on
the 13th of September 1782, the victory was to the British, for
General Elliot with his red-hot balls made a bonfire of the enemy’s
floating batteries after a tremendous mutual pounding. And on the 10th
October following, Lord Howe with a British fleet convoyed supplies to the
garrison in the teeth of a very much stronger allied fleet, who failed to
contest the passage.
The failure of the grand
attack on the 13th September followed so closely by Lord Howe’s success in
provisioning the garrison demonstrated to the allies what a hard nut they
had to crack in Gibralter. Peace came on the 20th January 1783, and
brought to a close the memorable siege, after running its course of three
years and a half. During all this time the French and Spanish fought
gallantly on shore, but the garrison on the Rock fought with at least
equal gallantry, and, backed by the sea power of Britain, more than held
their own in a never-to-be-forgotten tug of war.
Macdonald’s subsequent
service with Lord Heathfield, his trip to India, and his voyage to China
are so fully described in his own journal that we do not feel called upon
to make any comment. When in 1793 war broke out again between
France and Britain, the Government, apprehensive of a rising in Ireland,
embodied fencible regiments to garrison that island. Among those raised in
the north were the Caithness Legion, the Sutherland Fencibles, and the
Reay Fencibles. The latter regiment, in which Macdonald served for a short
time, distinguished itself at Tara Hill in 1798, and was not disbanded
till 1802. Although its numbers were reduced in 1796, before 1798 it was
increased; again to at least seven full companies, and in the latter year
its lieutenant-colonel, Mackay of Bighouse, died. To his memory the
regiment raised a monument in the Big-house Aisle, Reay.
The volunteers to whom Macdonald
refers in connection with the burial of Captain Mackay of Skerray, were a
local force embodied in 1798, and drawing pay at home like the fencibles.
All the men who could be spared out of the country were serving in Ireland
with the Reay Fencibles, and those who were absolutely required at home
banded themselves together into this volunteer militia. In Strathnaver
alone there were five companies of this force, but then every able-bodied
man served in the ranks ("Book of Mackay," p. 227).
After Macdonald’s re-settlement in
the parish of Tongue he makes frequent reference to the periodic epidemics
which scourged these northern parts, during one of which Captain Mackay of
Skerray was taken away. These painful visitations were due to the utter
lack of sanitary knowledge prevalent not only in the north but in the
large towns of the south. Within the memory of people still living the
strands of Edinburgh were such vile smelling sewers that during hot
weather passersby had to cover the nose with their pocket handkerchiefs;
and at the same time to keep a sharp look-out for the contents of slop
pails from upper windows, when the warning cry gardez vous rang
out. Since this was the case in Edinburgh not so long ago, the state of
matters in the north may be more easily imagined than described. What with
rotting manure heaps at the doors, filtering into their wells, the wonder
is that people survived at all. And when fell disease struck, the only
remedy almost was bleeding!
One is also struck with the
kindly references Macdonald makes to the tacksmen of these northern parts,
and especially to the Mackays of Skerray. That there were many among them
of conspicuous humanity and piety is undoubted, but the land system under
which they flourished was barbarous to a degree. The smaller tenants as a
rule held their land off the tacksman, who held his land off the
proprietor. The tacksman not only drew rent from his sub-tenants but
feudal service as well, and had it in his power to evict at pleasure. A
selfish, hardhearted tacksman could be a terrible tyrant, for his
sub-tenants were to a large extent serfs. To explode such a system France
had her revolution and Russia is having hers, but we mercifully escaped
such a calamity by making just and timeous concessions to the people. May
not our peaceful evolution be ascribed to the growing power of God’s Word
over peer and peasant? We think so indeed.
When peace came in 1815
after Waterloo, it was followed by a great depression of trade and poverty
all over the country, and the north was no exception to the general rule.
The country was impoverished by a long and exhausting war, the labour
market was glutted by discharged soldiers who could find no employment,
the harvest of 1816 was a poor one, and the winter following was so stormy
that much stock died. Lord Reay, writing in 1826, says:—
"The estate was let in 1815
when produce was perhaps at the highest, and if prices had continued the
returns [rent of estate] would be about £13,000. The year 1816 was the
most severe that has occurred since, and with tacksmen so circumstanced in
means, and holding such extensive farms, it was both reasonable and
politic that indulgence and every accommodation on my part should be shown
them. I consequently did take bills" ("Reay Papers").
A large dealer, writing in
1821, proceeds: - "The best cheviot sheep in this neighbourhood will not
average more than from 10s. to 11s. I bought famous ones to-day at 10s.
6d. clad, and cheviot wedders will not average more than 17s. or 18s." ("Reay
Papers").
The fact is, many of the
tacksmen became bankrupt, as the "Reay Papers" show. In these
circumstances small wonder though Macdonald found himself in straitened
circumstances when his stepson Macpherson returned from the war on a
wooden leg.
