Macleod The Duke of Montrose, Earls of Bute 700 5,600 31,930 We have here exhibited in one view the power by which this mixture of patriarchal and feudal government was supported. When the kindred and followers of the chief saw him thus surrounded by a body so numerous, faithful, and brave, they could conceive no power superior to his; * and how far soever they looked back into the history of their tribe, they found his progenitors at their head. Their tales, their traditions, and their songs, continually referred to the exploits or transactions of the same line of kindred and friends, living under the same line of chiefs; and the transmission of command and obedience, from one generation to another, thus became, in the eye of a Highlander, as natural as the transmission of blood, or the regular laws of descent. The long unbroken line of chiefs + is as great * When the first Marquis of Huntly waited upon King James VI. in Edinburgh, on being created Marquis, in the year 1590, he stood in the presence chamber with his head covered; and on being reminded of his seeming want of respect, he humbly asked pardon, assigning as an excuse, that as he had just come from a country where all took off their bonnets to him, he had quite forgotten what he owed to his present situation. + Eighteen Highland chiefs fought under Robert Bruce at Bannockburn. The number of direct descendants who are now in existence, and in possession of their paternal estates, is singular. The chiefs at Bannockburn were M'Kay, Mackintosh, Macpherson, Camerọn, Sinclair, Campbell, Menzies, Maclean, Sutherland, Robertson, Grant, Fraser, Macfarlane, Ross, Macgregor, Munro, Mackenzie, and Macquarrie. Cumming, Macdougall of Lorn, M'Nab, and a few others, were unfortunately in opposition to Bruce, and suffered accordingly. When we consider the state of turbulence and misrule which pre a proof of the general mildness of their sway, as of the fidelity of their followers; for the independent spirit displayed on various occasions by the people, proves that they would not have brooked oppression, where they looked for kindness and protection. "This power of the chiefs is not supported by interest, as they are landlords, but by consanguinity, as lineally descended from the old patriarchs or fathers of their families; for they hold the same authority when they have lost their estates, ás may appear from several instances, and particularly that of one who commands his clan, though at the same time they maintain him, having nothing left of his own." * This was the late Lord Lovat, who, with all his good and bad qualities, possessed, in a singular degree, the art of securing the love and obedience of his clan. Though attainted and outlawed, and though his estate was forfeited, and given to the next-heir of the female line, yet such was the fidelity of the clan to their real chief, that they flocked to his standard at the first summons, quitting his rich rival, who, possessed of the estate, had the power of rewarding his friends and supporters. The individuals might change, but the ties that bound together one were drawn more closely, though by insensible degrees, around the succeeding generation; and thus, each family, in all its various successions, retained something like the same sort of relation to the parent stem, which the renewed leaves of a tree in spring preserve, in point of relative position, to those which dropt off in the preceding autumn. † vailed in the Highlands, this unbroken succession, for five hundred years, of so great a proportion of the chief agitators and leaders is the more remarkable, as there has been a greater change of property within the last forty years of tranquillity, abundance, and wealth, than in the preceding two hundred years of feuds, rapine, and comparative poverty. * Letters from an Officer of Engineers to his friend in London. + The attachment and friendship of kindred, families, and clans, were confirmed by many ties. It has been an uniform practice in the families of the Campbells of Melford, Duntroun, and Dunstaffnage, that, when the head of either family died, the chief mourners should be the two other lairds, one of whom supported the head to the grave, while the other walked before the corpse. In this manner friendship took place of the nearest consanguinity; for even the oldest sons of the deceased were not permitted to interfere with this arrangement. The first progenitors of these families were three sons of the family of Argyle, who took this method of preserving the friendship, and securing the support of their posterity to one another. In a manner something similar, the family of Breadalbane had their bonds of union and friendship, simple in themselves, but sufficient to secure the support of those whom they were intended to unite. The motto of the armorial bearings of the family is "Follow me." This significant call was assumed by Sir Colin Campbell, Laird of Glenorchy, who was a Knight Templar of Rhodes, and is still known in the Highlands by the designation of Caillain Du na Roidh, "Black Colin of Rhodes." Several cadets of the family assumed mottos analogous to that of this chivalrous knight, and when the chief called "Follow me," he found a ready compliance from Campbell of Glenfalloch, a son of Glenorchy, who says, "Thus far," that is, to his heart's blood, the crest being a dagger piercing a heart ;-from Achline, who says, "With heart and hand;" from Achallader, who says, "With courage," and from Barcaldine, who says, Paratus sum: Glenlyon, more cautious, says, Quæ recta sequor. A neighbouring knight and baron, Menzies of Menzies, and Flemyng of Moness, in token of friendship, say," Will God I shall," and "The deed will show." An ancestor of mine, also a neighbour, says, "Beware." SECTION III. Consequences of this system—The abridgment of regal authority -Deadly feuds and hostilities—Associations for mutual protection and support. * MANY important consequences, regarding the character of the Highlanders, resulted from this division of the people into small tribes, and from this establishment of patriarchal government. The authority of the king was rendered feeble and inefficient. His mandates could neither stop the depredations of one clan against another, nor allay their mutual hostilities. Delinquents could not, with impunity, be pursued into the bosom of a clan which protected them, nor could his judges administer the laws, in opposition to their interests or their will. Sometimes he strengthened his arm, by fomenting animosities among them, and by entering occasionally into the interest of one, in order to weaken another. Many instances of this species of policy occur in Scottish history, which, for a long period, was unhappily a mere record of internal violence. The consequence of this absence of general laws was an almost perpetual system of aggression, warfare, depredation, and contention. These little sovereignties touched at so many points, yet were so independent of one another; they approached so nearly, in many respects, yet were, in others, so distant; there were so many opportunities of encroachment, on the one hand, and so little of a disposition to submit to it, on the other; and the quarrel of one individual of the tribe so naturally involved the rest, that there was scarcely ever a profound peace, or perfect cordiality, between them. Among their chiefs the most deadly feuds frequently arose from opposing interests, or from wounded pride. These feuds were warmly espoused by the whole clan, and * This was acting on the old maxim, Divide et impera. |