134 THE MASTER OF STAIR-TARDY SUBMISSION OF MAC-IAN. [1691. loose assertion; but letters of Dalrymple, written to lieutenant-colonel Hamilton early in December, prove that he had an especial grudge against the MacDonalds, "for marring the bargain which the earl of Breadalbane was doing with the Highlanders;" and that he entertained a hope that the MacDonalds would "fall into the net"-that is, not comply with the Proclamation. He further intimates that the government is obliged to ruin some of the clans, "in order to weaken and frighten the rest." That Dalrymple contemplated something like "the black design" mentioned by Burnet, is evident from his letter of instructions to the commander of the troops for his guidance, if the obnoxious clans should not have submitted by the prescribed day. He is directed to destroy entirely the country of Lochaber, Lochiel's lands, Keppoch's, Glengarry's, and Glencoe's. "Your power shall be large enough. I hope the soldiers will not trouble the government with prisoners." Mr. Burton considers that Dalrymple, from whose letters of this nature we now turn with such loathing, "only pursued the old policy of Scottish governments towards the Highlanders. The rule had always been to show no more consideration to Highlanders than to wild beasts." * The clan of the MacDonalds dwelt in the valley of Glencoe, under their venerable chief MacIan. Their huts were scattered in several hamlets around his house-a small population of not two hundred adult males.t He had fought with his few hardy followers in the ranks of Dundee at Killiecrankie; he had the reputation of being one of the most daring of the Highland marauders; he had driven off cattle in the territories of Argyle and Breadalbane. He was therefore an object of especial hatred to those proud nobles, who regarded him as a paltry robber to be crushed when the opportunity came. MacIan had his own pride, and deferred his obedience to the Proclamation till the last moment. On the 31st of December he presented himself, with some of his clan, at Fort William, and offered to take the oaths before colonel Hill. The commander of the garrison had no legal power to receive them; he was not a magistrate. Hill gave him a letter to the sheriff of Argyleshire, stating the application that had been made to him, and expressing a hope that the submission of the "lost sheep recovered" would be received. It was six days before he reached Inverary, over mountain paths covered with snow. The sheriff yielded to the old man's prayers and tears; administered the oath, and sent to the Sheriff-Clerk of Argyle, then at Edinburgh, a certificate to be laid before the Council of the circumstances which had led him to do what was a departure from the letter of the Proclamation, but which was within its spirit. The Sheriff-Clerk first tendered the certificate, with a copy of Hill's letter, to the Clerks of the Council, who refused to receive it. He then applied to individual Privy Counsellors, who would not interfere in the matter. The certificate was finally suppressed, and the general body of the Council were kept in ignorance of it. Amongst those who advised that the certificate should not be sent in, was the Lord President, father of sir John Dalrymple. Dalrymple, the Secretary, was the medium for the transaction of Scottish affairs with the * "History of Scotland," vol. i. p. 170. Macaulay says "two hundred persons; " certainly an error. 1692.] ORDER AS TO REBELS NOT SUBMITTED. 135 king. It would appear that the general submission of the clans was not quite certain; for the king had signed, on the 11th of January, instructions to sir Thomas Livingstone, to pursue with fire and sword those Highland rebels who had not taken the benefit of the indemnity; but to allow them to surrender on mercy. Objections were taken to the use of the old term "fire and sword" in these instructions. On the 16th of January the instructions of the 11th were repeated, with verbal alterations, and with this addition: "As for MacIan of Glencoe and that tribe, if they can be well distinguished from the rest of the Highlanders, it will be proper for the vindication of public justice to extirpate that sect of thieves." Burnet alleges that "the king signed this, without any inquiry about it; for he was too apt to sign papers in a hurry." Those who doubt this, allege that it was not only signed but superscribed by the king. The Hon. William Leslie Melville says "that the king's having both superscribed and subscribed 'one unfortunate sentence,' should not be received by all our historians and poets as a conclusive proof of his being cognisant of their contents. I find numerous warrants and orders from him, some superscribed and subscribed, some only superscribed, some only subscribed, as a man in haste would dispatch business of form."* It is of some importance to bear in mind that what William superscribed and subscribed was a long letter of instructions containing several clauses. It was a duplicate, with alterations, of what he had signed five days before. In this duplicate the "one unfortunate sentence" was added. In a little book, very useful as a summary of events, the compiler prints the words beginning, "As for Maclan," and ending, "sect of thieves," with "William R." as the superscription of these four lines only, subscribed "W. R." He then rejects the notion that William signed without reading the document, because it consisted of so few words." We attach no importance to Burnet's defence. In our view the character of William is best defended by assuming that he did read the order; that he signed without knowing that MacIan had irregularly taken the oaths; and that the words, "to extirpate that sect of thieves," who were represented in a state of rebellious warfare, was not to direct their butchery. with circumstances of treachery and cruelty. We are inclined to believe that William not only signed the order with a complete knowledge; but that the attempt to prevent any indiscriminate slaughter, by the words "if they can well be distinguished from the rest of the Highlanders," looks like an emanation from his mind. The Master of Stair would have little cared how many were slaughtered in a loose construction of the exceptional case of the MacDonalds. Whether the argument that the word extirpate "would naturally bear a sense perfectly innocent, and would, but for the horrible. event which followed, have been universally understood in that sense," may admit of a difference of opinion. The word meant, no doubt, a complete suppression of a community not conforming to the laws of civilized society; but, as it appears to us, it did not mean their indiscriminate slaughter. Hill, who appears to have been no cruel oppressor, desires that the rebellious clans "may be utterly rooted out." To extirpate, and to root out, are synonymous *Preface to "Leven and Melville Papers," p. xxxv. +"Annals of England," vol. iii. p. 371. Macaulay, vol. iv. p. 205. 136 terms. ORDER FOR MAC-IAN OF GLENCOE AND HIS TRIBE. [1692. We believe that William knew what the word implied. He had probably never read "The Tempest;" but used the word as Shakspere used it when he makes the king of Naples hearken to the suit of Prospero's brother, that he "Should presently extirpate me and mine If the long letter of instructions, concluding with the short sentence relating to the MacDonalds, had run in the ancient form for the destruction of Highlanders, he might have hesitated: "To invade them to their utter destruction, by slaughter, burning, drowning, and other ways, and leave no creature living of that clan, except priests, women, and bairns."* At any rate we may affirm, that it is a falsehood in the compiler of the Life of James II. to say, "By an order, which Nero himself would have had a horror of, the prince of Orange commanded one colonel Hill and lieutenantcolonel Hamilton, to put Glencoe to death, and all the males of his line, [in age] not exceeding seventy."+ It is observed by Walter Wilson, in his Life of Defoe, that "the inveteracy that marked the language of the Jacobites when speaking of king William, and with which their works are so highly seasoned, has descended in full force to our own day." We have an example of this temper in the valuable but somewhat prejudiced "Annals" issued from Oxford, in which it is inferred "that Stair did not really go beyond William's instructions in planning the massacre of Glencoe, although the Parliament of Scotland had the complaisance to lay the greater blame on the minister." The Parliament of Scotland expressly said, as the first result of their investigation in 1695, "We found, in the first place, that the Master of Stair's letters had exceeded your majesty's instructions." William was, indeed, justly indignant at this resolution; "frequently repeating that he thanked the Parliament of Scotland; they had used him better than England had done his grandfather, for they had tried him for his life, and brought him in not guilty." His pride was wounded that any investigation at all should have taken place as to his concurrence in the act of his minister. The Parliament had voted the Glencoe slaughter to be a murder; and he thought it no compliment to be formally acquitted as an accessory before the fact. In transmitting from London the instructions signed by the king on the 11th of January, the Secretary of State for Scotland wrote to sir Thomas Livingstone, "I have no great kindness to Keppoch nor Glencoe; and it is well that people are in mercy. Just now, my lord Argyle tells me, that Glencoe hath not taken the oath, at which I rejoice. It is a great work of charity to be exact in rooting out that damnable sept, the worst of the Highlanders." When Dalrymple sent the instructions of the 16th, he wrote to Livingstone, "For a just example of vengeance, I entreat the thieving tribe of Glencoe may be rooted out to purpose." To colonel Hill he wrote on the same date, "That such as render on mercy might be saved;" but entreats that "for a just vengeance and public example the tribe of Glencoe * "Spalding Club Miscellany." "Life of James II." vol. ii. p. 470. Quoted by Mr. Burton. Detoe, "History of th Union," p. 72. 1692.] LETTERS OF THE MASTER OF STAIR. 137 may be rooted out to purpose. The earls of Argyle and Breadalbane have promised that they shall have no retreat in their bounds." During another fortnight nothing was done towards accomplishing Dalrymple's entreaties. On the 30th he wrote again to Livingstone: "I am glad that Glencoe did not come within the time prefixed. I hope what is done there may be in earnest, since the rest are not in a condition to draw together to help. I think to harry their cattle, and burn their houses, is but to render them desperate lawless men; but I believe you will be satisfied it were a great advantage to the nation, that thieving tribe were rooted out and cut off." To Hill he writes, on the same day, "Pray, when the thing concerning Glencoe is resolved, let it be secret and sudden." Colonel Hill sent his orders to lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, to march with eight hundred men straight to Glencoe; "and there put in execution the orders you have received from the commander-in-chief." Hamilton addressed his orders to major Duncanson, his second in command; concluding his letter by directing that the avenues be so secured, "that the old fox, nor none of his cubs get away: The orders are that none be spared, nor the government troubled with prisoners." Major Duncanson then despatched captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, to proceed to Glencoe, in advance of the other troops, with a detachment of a hundred and twenty men of Argyle's regiment. He arrived there on the 1st of February. The valley of Glencoe has been variously described, according to the associations of those who have visited it. In the eyes of the picturesque historian of this period,-who regards it as a rugged desert, "valued on account of the shelter which it afforded to the plunderer and his plunder,"it is "the most dreary and melancholy of all the Scottish passes, the very Valley of the Shadow of Death." To the equal-minded tourist, "the scenery of this valley is far the most picturesque of any in the Highlands."+ To the enthusiastic believer in Ossian, it is the valley of Fingal,—having a name, indeed, signifying in the Celtic tongue, the Valley of Tears-" the most peaceful and secluded of narrow vales." Here "the matchless melody of the sweet voice of Cona first awaked the joy of grief." The blue stream of Ossian's Cona here bends its course to Lochleven. The glen, "so warm, so fertile, so overhung by mountains which seem to meet above you," is described as "a place of great plenty and security." The admirable historian of Scotland from the Revolution, tells us of the narrow slip of grazing ground between the Alpine walls of Glencoe; and a few, still narrower, on the upper levels. If the MacDonalds had not lived, he says, by plunder, their arid glen could not have supported the population.§ Whether barren or fertile, whether filled by robbers, or by "born poets," who treasured up" the songs of Selma,"-here dwelt the MacIans in patriarchal simplicity. Campbell of Glenlyon, who came with his hundred and twenty Highlanders. of the Argyle regiment on the 1st of February, 1692, spent twelve days with his men amidst the somewhat unpoetical hospitalities of the clan. The Maclans had no affection for the Campbells; but Glenlyon's niece was * Macaulay, vol. iv. p. 191. + Pennant. See Mrs. Grant's "Letters from the Mountains." Letter xi. 1773. § Burton, vol. i. p. 162. 138 HIGHLAND TROOPS ARRIVE IN GLENCOE. [1692. married to the second son of their chief; and when he and his lieutenant, Lindsay, said they came as friends, and asked for quarters, being sent to relieve the garrison of Fort William, who were overcrowded, they were received with cordiality. Undoubtedly the chief and his clansmen trusted to the indemnity of the government which they thought had been secured by the oath which MacIan had taken before the Sheriff of Argyle. Here they lived for twelve days as Highlander with Highlander. They had beef and spirits without payment. They were sheltered from the snow storms in the huts of the poor people. Glenlyon became affectionate over his usquebaugh with the husband of his niece; played at cards with the old chief; and entertained two of MacIan's sons at supper on the night of the 12th. At that time he had the following letter in his pocket, from major Duncanson, dated on the 12th from Balacholis, in the immediate neighbourhood: "You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the Macdonalds of Glencoe, and put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have especial care that the old fox and his sons do on no account escape your hands. You are to secure all the avenues, that no man escape. This you are to put in execution at five o'clock in the morning precisely, and by that time, or very shortly after it, I'll strive to be at you with a stronger party; if I do not come to you at five, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the king's special command, for the good and safety of the country, that these miscreants may be cut off, root and branch. See that this be put in execution without fear or favour, else you may expect to be treated as not true to the king and government, nor a man fit to carry commission in the king's service. Expecting you will not fail in the fulfilling hereof, as you love yourself, I subscribe these with my hand." Captain Campbell did not tarry for his superior officer. He was strong enough to do his murderous bidding without his aid. Sir Walter Scott thinks that the purposed crime was more foul, through its perpetration being "committed to soldiers, who were not only the countrymen of the proscribed, but the near neighbours, and some of them the close connexions of the Macdonalds of Glencoe." He adds that, "the massacre has been unjustly attributed to English troops." We venture to believe that English troops had not the qualities which would have recommended their employ. It is impossible not to see that the revenges of the Campbells had as much to do with this act, as "the king's special command." Argyle and Breadalbane were not promising that the clan Mac Donald should have "no retreat in their bounds," without making known their desire to their people that "the old fox and his cubs " should be wholly " cut off." The cunning of the affair was characteristic of the mountain tribes: "Highland history is crowded with incidents, which, in modern phraseology, would be stamped as treachery, but in the social system of the actors passed as dexterity."+ Some agitation amongst the Argyle soldiers-whisperings and murmurs-had roused the fears of John Maclan. He went at midnight to the house of Inverriggen, in the hamlet where Glenlyon was quartered. The captain was up and his men about him. He was ordered, he said, to march against Glengarry's people. Could he be likely to harm his friends, and especially those amongst whom his niece had married! Would he not have given a hint to Alaster? The man was satisfied. The * "Tales of a Grandfather," chapter lviii. Burton, vol. i. p. 165. |