air Di-h-Aoine, an Dara-là-fichead de cheud mhios an Earraich, 1924. An Ridire Iain Lathurna MacLeoid, LL.D., Ceann-feadhna a' Chomuinn, anns a' Chathair. Riaghlairean na Cuirme: Seumas Seac agus Oran Fear na Cathrach Fear na Cathrach Alasdair MacAmhlaidh Fear-Freagraidh-Maidsear R. MacGill' Eathain. Iomradh na Bliadhna so Chaidh-Alasdair N. MacNeacail, Rùnair Oran Alasdair Grannd An T-Urr N. MacGill' Fhaolain Alasdair MacAmhlaidh Seòras MacCoinnich Fear-Freagraidh-An T-Urr D. MacEachairn. Fear na Cathrach Seumas MacShim Alasdair MacDhòmhnuill “Dhia Gléidh an Rìgh." THE HIGHLAND HOST (1678) By WILLIAM MACKAY, LL.D. 24th MARCH, 1924. Sheriff George Campbell, D.L., V.D., presided over a large attendance of members and friends at a meeting held on this date. The undernoted, who had been duly nominated at the previous meeting, were unanimously elected members of the Society-As a Life Member-Colonel J. Hamilton Leigh, Bindon, Somerset. As Ordinary Members-Mr James Grigor, Daviot Lodge, Inverness, and the Rev. Lewis Sutherland, Inverness. The Secretary stated that H.R.H. The Duke of York, K.G., K.T., Patron of the Society, had been graciously pleased to accept, through the Society, a copy of "The Sword of the North," by the Bard of the Society, the Rev. Dugald MacEchern, B.D., Bower. The Chairman intimated that a paper, entitled "The Highland Host (1678)," by William Mackay, LL.D., would be read by Mr George Mackenzie. Dr Mackay's con tribution was as follows: The story of the events that led up to the expedition into the south-west of Scotland, which became known in history as "The Highland Host,' is so well known that it is unnecessary for me to give it at any length. It may, however, be helpful to remind readers that at the Reformation the Reformed Church in Scotland took a Presbyterian form -without bishops, and governed by a general assembly and lower courts, generally on the lines which still hold in the Church of Scotland. The Roman Catholic Church was disestablished by law in 1560, but when, in 1561, the young Mary Queen of Scots returned from France she was full of loyalty to the old Church, to which she faithfully adhered until her death. Her son and successor, James VI, acquiesced in the Reformation, and, to begin with, in the constitution of the Church of Scotland as it then stood; but he had a strong bias towards Episcopacy-" no bishop no king" being his favourite maxim-and in 1584 he induced Parliament to acknowledge himself as head of the Church, to restore a modified Episcopacy, making bishops independent of the General Assembly, and ministers who refused to take an oath of obedience to the bishops liable to loss of benefice. Thus began a long period of conflict between the Kings and the Episcopal party on the one side, and the Presbyterian party on the other. Sometimes James found it prudent to make concessions to Presbytery, but in his heart he disliked it, and his disapproval became more pronounced after 1603 when he became King of England. He took to appointing bishops in Scotland, and to persecuting their opponents-a policy that was after his death continued even more vigorously by his son, Charles I. The great bulk of the people of Scotland, however, continued to adhere to Presbytery, and in 1638 the National Covenant was, in spite of Charles and his counsellors and advisers, adopted and subscribed by the majority of them -certain parts, however, including Aberdeenshire and the greater part of the Highlands, adhering to a modified Episcopacy. In December, 1638, the noted General Assembly of Glasgow passed an Act formally abolishing Episcopacy, and calling on the people of Scotland to adhere to the Covenant; and that led to a state of war between the King and the Scots, or, as the Scots themselves declared, between them and the King's advisers. The King had his troubles in England, and out of the agitation in both Kingdoms came the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, between the Presbyterians of Scotland and the Puritans of England. Later came the great Civil War in England and the campaigns of Montrose in Scotland; and in 1649 King Charles was tried and executed by the English, against the wish and protest of the Scots. The Scots immediately proclaimed Charles's son, Charles II, king; England, however, adopting a Republic or Commonwealth, with Cromwell as Lord Protector. A Scots army, including a regiment raised by Lord Kintail, with Mr Donald Macrae, Minister of Kintail, as chaplain, and a regiment raised by Lord Lovat, of which the Rev. Donald Fraser, Minister of Kilmorack, was chaplain, and also including many men from other parts of the Highlands, invaded England, and was defeated by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester; and after some further resistance Scotland became part of the Commonwealth. After Worcester Charles escaped to the Continent, where he remained till his restoration in 1660. At his Scottish Coronation in 1651 he signed the National Covenant of 1638 and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, and took a solemn oath to adhere to them, but immediately after his Restoration in 1660 he entered on a course of arbitrary government and of persecution of the Covenanters, which continued until his death. In September, 1661, a Royal Decree was proclaimed, announcing the abolition of Presbytery and the restoration of Episcopacy, and bishops were appointed, some of them being Presbyterian ministers who had conformed to Episcopacy. The clergy who refused to conform were deprived of their livings, and they and their people, now and generally known as Covenanters, took to holding meetings or conventicles in private dwellings and in the open air. That was soon declared to be a serious offence against the law, a period of persecution followed, many suffering death for their adherence to the principles of the Covenants, and many more suffering heavy fines and long periods of imprisonment. The result was that the Covenanters became more and more extreme, and that, especially in the south-west of ScotlandRenfrew and Ayr and the counties adjoining them-men took to coming to the conventicles armed for battle against the armed forces of the Crown, and that many fights and acts of reprisal took place. With the view of stopping these offences against the law the Scottish Privy Council, over which the Duke of Lauderdale presided, issued a proclamation requiring all proprietors and tenants to sign a bond, which became known among the Covenanters as the Black Bond, binding themselves to conform to the law, and also making them responsible for the conformity and good behaviour of their families, tenants, employees, and dependants. The bond somewhat resembles bonds taken by Cromwell from proprietors who were suspected of disloyalty to the Commonwealth, a specimen of which-the Bond by Angus Macdonald of Glengarry and his cautioners to Cromwell, dated at the Inverness sconce or citadel on 12th March, 1655-is given in a paper read by the late Mr Lachlan Macdonald of Skaebost to the Gaelic Society of Inverness on 7th December, 1887. A copy and a facsimile of Glengarry's bond is given in the 14th volume of the Transactions of that Society. The Covenanters strongly resented the Black Bond and its obligations, and few were found in the south-west of Scotland to sign it. The result was that the persecution increased, and it was estimated that, before the end of the year 1677, 17,000 Covenanters of all qualities and of both sexes suffered from imprisonment, finings, confinings, denouncements, and intercommunings-many of the imprisoned being kept con |