Volume I Part 22 (1/2)

The clan consisted of three septs; but the fa to the singular systeave up their wills to that of their head The history of this family, whilst it shows by what decision of character and intrepidity of conduct this superiority was maintained, presents little else than a tissue of successive feuds between the clan and its neighbours, until, during the seventeenth century, the events of history brought forth qualities of still greater iuish the house of Lochiel Fro-standing feuds with the Mackintoshes,interests into which the chieftains were now, fatally for their prosperity, interled

The celebrated Sir Ewan Dhu of Lochiel, one of the finest speci life in the service of the Stuart family, for whom, even as a boy, he had manifested a sort of intuitive affection This cherished sentiment had repelled the efforts of his kinsyle, to mould his youthful mind to the precepts of the Puritans and Covenanters Sir Ewan Dhu co personal appearance with a suitable majesty of deportenerous ood will of his superstitious and devoted followers It denoted that he was dark, both in hair and complexion; and so many brave achievements had been performed by chieftains of the clan Cameron, ere of this coifted seers, that never should a fair Lochiel prove fortunate Endoith this singular hold upon the confidence of his people, Ewan Dhu eclipsed all his predecessors in the virtues of his heart and the strength of his understanding His vigilance, his energy, and firuished him as a military leader when, in the close of his days, the hopes and designs of the hland chiefs

The career of Ewan Dhu Cahteen, he had broken loose froyle's control, and joined the standard of the Marquis of Montrose He had contrived to keep his estate clear, even after the event of that unsuccessful cause, from Cromwell's troops He next repaired to the royal standard raised in the Highlands by the Earl of Glencairne, and won the applause of Charles the Second, then in exile at Chantilly, for his courage and success The middle period of his life was consumed in efforts, not only to abet the cause of Charles the Second, but to restore peace to his i resisted persuasions to subth boldly avowed, that rather than take the oath for an usurper, he would live as an outlaw His generous and hulish prisoners who the various skirlish army ”No oath,” wrote General Monk, ”shall be required of Lochiel to Croiven, and, until after the restoration, Lochiel and his followers, bearing their arms as before, remained in repose

At Killicrankie, however, the warrior appeared again on the field, fighting, under the unfortunate Viscount Dundee, for Jaan, the eneiment raised a shout ”Gentlehlanders, ”the day is our own I am the oldest commander in the army, and I have always observed that so dull and heavy a noise as that which you have heard is an evil ohlanders; elated by the prediction, they rushed on the foe, fighting like furies, and in half an hour the battle was ended

Although Sir Ewan Dhu was thus engaged on the side of James, his second son was a captain in the Scottish fusileers, and served under Mackay in the ranks of Governhland army drawn up on the face of a hill, west of the Pass, he turned to young Caes; hoould you like to be with hinifies little,” replied the Cameron, ”what I would like; but I would have you be prepared, or perhaps ht than you usted by the deficiencies of the commander who succeeded him, retired to Lochaber, and left the command of his clansmen to his eldest son, John Cameron, ith his son Donald, form the subjects of thisthe security which his exploits had procured for hinified deport upheld by a previous succession of able and honourable chieftains The state and liberality of the Camerons were not supported, nevertheless, by a lavish expenditure; their an in her MS

account of the clan, ”perhaps even our own frugal country did not afford an instance of a family, who lived in so respectable a nified hospitality upon so small an income,”

as that of Lochiel

The part which Sir Ewan Dhu had taken in the action at Killicrankie would, it was naturally supposed, dran upon hihbouring valley of Glencoe The forbearance of Govern William, with his usual penetration, decreed it safer to conciliate, than to attee with the hland chieftains

No arts could, however, win the allegiance of the Cahtful sovereigns Towards the end of Willia chieftain John was sent privately to France, where his early notions of loyalty were confirmed, and his attachment to the court of James enhanced, by the influence of the Duke of Berwick, who formed with him a sincere and durable friendshi+p

The character of the chieftain was softened in the young Lochiel He was intelligent, frank, and conciliating in his enerally with the world than was usually the case with the chieftains of those days Aled, Barclay Urie, the well known apologist of the Quakers, was also accustomed to appear An attachhter of Barclay, and a matrimonial alliance was soon afterwards decided upon between the daughter of that gentle chieftain

The choice was considered a singular one on the part of the young man

It was the custo clans; nor was it per first ascertained how far the clan were agreeable to his wishes

This usage proceeded, in part, frouinity between every ree, to his chieftain, and the affability and courtesy hich the head was in the habit of treating those over whom he ruled The clans were even known to carry their interference with the affairs of their chief so far as to disapprove of the choice of their abodes, or to select a site for a new residence[248]

The shich Sir Ewan Dhu had acquired over his folloas such that he dispensed with the ordinary practice, and, without the consent of the clans, agreed to receive the young Quakeress as his daughter The e was completed, and eventually received the full approbation of the whole clan Careat efforts had been lish Government to detach Sir Ewan Dhu from his faith to James the Second

But the monarch who could attehlander to break his oath of fidelity, very faintly co in all its strength and all its weakness,--in its horror of petty cries,--in its senerous traits,--in its abhorrence of a broken vow or of treachery to a leader The temptation offered was indeed considerable Sir Ewan Dhu was to have a pension of three hundred a-year, to be perpetuated to his son, whom the Government were particularly anxious to entice back to Scotland The old chieftain was also to be appointed Governor of Fort William[249] But the emissaries of William the Third could not have chosen a worse period than that in which to treat with the brave and wary Cameron The massacre of Glencoe was fresh in the reem, the fiendish snares which had been prepared to betray the unsuspecting Macdonalds to their destruction, were also recalled with the deep curses of a wronged and slaughtered people The gaht before the massacre, between the villain Campbell, and the two sons of Glencoe,--the proffered and accepted hospitality of the chieftain, whose hand was grasped in see friendliness by the man who had resolved to exterminate him and his family, were cherished recollections--cherished by the detere which contemplated future retribution

Sir Ewan Dhu therefore rejected these dazzling offers; he neither recalled his son from France, nor accepted the command offered to him, but busied himself in schemes which eventually swayed the destinies of the Camerons

Not many miles from Achnacarry, the seat of Lochiel, rose, on the border of Loch Oich, the castle of Alaster Dhu, or Dusk Alexander, of Glengarry The territories of this chieftain were contiguous to those of Lochiel; and his character, which was of acknowledged valour, wisdoer bond of union than their relative position Glengarry was the head of a very powerful clan, called Macdonnells, in contradistinction to the Macdonalds of the Isles, whose clai, by the voice of their bards and family historians, that the house of Antrim, from whoin to the Macdonnells of Glengarry

The clan Glengarry was now at its height of power under the heroic Alaster Dhu, its chieftain, whose immediate predecessor had risen to be a Lord of Session, at a tiht no little power and influence to its possessors: he had gained both wealth and credit in his high seat; and, upon retiring, had visited Italy, had brought back a taste for architecture to his native country, and the castle of Invergarrie, part of the walls of which remain undemolished, rose as a memento of his architectural taste

The Lord of Session had cherished sentiments of loyalty for the exiled faallant Lochiel and the chief of Glengarry were therefore disposed to ss of loyalty the feuds which too often raged between clans nearly approximate They therefore formed a compact to promote, in every way, the interest of the royal exiles; and in this vain attempt at restoration which ensued, the fate of their clansmen was sealed[250]

That of the Ca their gallant allies may here be excused

When the feudal systehland chieftains and their clansmen was dissolved, it became the plan of many of the landholders to rid themselves of their poor tenantry, and to substitute in their place labourers and farmers frolens and hill-sides were thus sent to wander, poor and ignorant of anything but their own houe, and wholly unskilled in any practical wisdorated, but rant shi+ps, although the commanders of those vessels could not, in sohlanders away from their wives and families

To remedy this melancholy state of affairs, and to employ the banished mountaineers, it was proposed about the year 1794, to earry in particular, into a Catholic corps, under their young chieftain, Alexander Macdonnell, and elish Government This scheme, after many difficulties, was accomplished At first, it worked well for the relief of the destitute clan; but, in 1802, in spite of their acknowledged good conduct, the Glengarry regiment was disbanded

The friend of the unfortunate, who had originally proposed the consolidation of the corps, was Dr Macdonald, who had been afterwards appointed chaplain to the regiment He now projected another schearry; and, after some opposition, his plan was effected It was to convey the whole of the Macdonnells, with their wives and families, to a district in Upper Canada, where the clan, at this moment, is permanently established The place in which they live bears the nalen, and the farms they possess are called by the loved appellations of their former tenements: and, when the Aave a proof of their loyalty by enrolling thearry Fencibles[251]

In the battle of Killicrankie, Glengarry had led his forces to fight for Jaarry had had a brother killed, he had become very obnoxious to the Government, and had found it necessary to retire for some time, whilst his more favoured friend Lochiel tranquilly occupied his own house of Achnacarrie, a place wholly undefended The retreat in which Glengarry hid hi; and in this seclusion a hly characteristic of the subtlety, and yet daring of the Highland chieftains ere engaged in it It shows, also, the state of the national feeling towards the English Government, at a time when cohlands