admirable patience and fortitude, he died at Rome, where, notwithstanding the difference of religion, such extraordinary honours were paid to his memory, as had never graced that of any other British subject, since the death of Sir Philip Sidney. The fame he left behind him is the best consolation to his afflicted family. And to his countrymen in this isle, for whose benefit he had planned many useful improvements which his fruitful genius suggested, and his active spirit promoted, under the sober direction of a clear and enlightened understanding. Reader, bewail our loss, and that of all Britain."

To a distant and unimproved region, like Skye, the loss of such a man was irreparable. The example of his learning and virtues, his kindly feelings towards his people, and the encouragement and improvements he contemplated for them, would, no doubt, have produced incalculable advantages. His learning and accomplishments could have been understood and appreciated by the gentlemen farmers, tacksmen, and others of his people, who, as I have already noticed, were so well educated, that conversations were frequently carried on in the Latin language. The clergymen were also of a superior class. Born of good families, zealous in the discharge of their religious duties, and learned and exemplary in their conduct, their influence over the minds and actions of their flocks was great and beneficial. Even Dr Johnson, with all his prejudices against Scotland, and the Presbyterian clergy, could not conceal his surprise at the well selected libraries and the learning he met with in Skye.

The early death of Sir Alexander Macdonald was a severe loss to Skye on another account. A few years after this event, his widow, Lady Margaret, removed to England for the education of her three sons. Sir James, the elder, was old enough, before he left his native isle, to form a strong attachment to his poor and affectionate adherents; -an attachment which would have been productive of the highest

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benefit to them had his life been spared. Sir Archibald Macdonald, a posthumous son, who had entered into a laborious profession, and had, by his talents and virtue, risen to be Chief Baron of the Exchequer, did not, like his great countrymen and brother judges, Lords Mansfield and Rosslyn, return to his native country. Sir Alexander, (the successor of Sir James,) afterwards Lord Macdonald, having been also educated in England, Dr Johnson observed of this mode of educating a young man, heir to a great estate, at a distance from, and in ignorance of, the country where he has so high a stake;-that he cannot acquire a knowledge of the people ;-can form no local attachment;

-must remain a stranger to his own property and tenants; -and must be often disgusted with both, although the one be valuable by its produce, and the other estimable in character. "A strong-minded man, like Sir James Macdonald," says the Doctor, " may be improved by an English education, but in general they (the Highland chieftains) will be tamed into insignificance." In continuation of the same subject, Mr Boswell says, "My endeavours to rouse the English bred chieftain, in whose house we were, to the feudal and patriarchal feelings, proving ineffectual, Dr Johnson this morning tried to bring him to our way of thinkingJohnson, "Were I in your place, Sir, in seven years I would make this an independent island. I would roast oxen whole, and hang out a flag to the Macdonalds.”—Sir Alexander was still starting difficulties.-Johnson, "Nay,

This attachment was reciprocal. Several years after Sir James's death, Mr Boswell accompanied Dr Johnson to the Isle of Skye, and one day" after dinner, when I alone was left at table with the Highland gentlemen who were of the company, having talked with very high respect of Sir James Macdonald, they were all so much affected as to shed tears. One of them was Lieutenant Donald Macdonald, of the Highland regiment raised by Colonel Montgomerie, now Farl of Eglinton, in the war before the last. From this gentleman's conversation I first learned how popular his Colonel was among the Highlanders, of which I had such continued proofs during the whole course of my Tour."

Sir, if you are born to object, I have done with you; Sir, I would have a magazine of arms.”—Sir Alexander, “They would rust."-Johnson," Let there be men to keep them clean; your ancestors did not use to let their arms rust.” .. Four years after this conversation, Sir Alexander (created Lord Macdonald in 1776) found that arms put in the hands of his people would not be suffered to rust, and that, when an opportunity offered, they were ready to take them up in defence of their country. This was in 1777, when the Macdonald Highland Regiment was raised under the patronage of Lord Macdonald.

སྙ བ ར

Upwards of twenty years posterior to the embodying of the 76th regiment, the present Lord Macdonald requested permission from his Majesty to raise a regiment on his estates in the Isles. This request was readily granted, and a respectable body of men soon recruited.

The Regiment of the Isles was inspected and embodied at Inverness by Major-General Leith Hay, on the 4th June 1799. It would appear from the selection made, that there was no want of men on Lord Macdonald's estate, as their age averaged twenty-two years, a period of life the best calculated to enter upon military service; not too young to suffer from, or be incapable of, supporting the hardships and fatigues peculiar to the profession, nor too old to mould the mental and personal habits of the soldier to the moral and military restraints, which the profession renders necessary. The good effects resulting from men commencing their military career at a proper age, were seen by the conduct of this regiment in garrison and quarters; for they were not called on any other duty except on one occasion, when a combination took place among the seamen of Whitehaven in 1801. The object of the seamen was to augment the rate of wages, and the ship-owners resisting their demand, the sailors persevered for several weeks, in preventing vessels from leaving the harbour. The magistrates, anxious to avoid resorting to force, endeavoured, by argument and persuasion, to prevail upon the seamen to return to their

duty, but their exertions having failed, the assistance of the Regiment of the Isles was called in. Without force, and more by the respect in which the regiment was held, and the imposing appearance of the men when drawn up and ready to act, than by any violence, the officers prevailed upon the sailors to give up their point; every man returned to his ship; order and tranquillity were restored; and, so far from any persons being hurt or touched, the soldiers had no occasion to take their firelocks from their shoulders. Their conduct was particularly noticed by General Musgrave, who commanded on the occasion.

In July 1802 the regiment was marched to Fort George, and reduced. "Knowing the general character of Highlanders to be very tenacious of their rights, the field officers uniformly made it a rule that every man should be made fully sensible of the nature of these rights; and that not the most trifling item should, on any pretence whatever, be withheld. In this manner, when the soldiers saw themselves and their rights respected, they, in their turn, respected and obeyed their officers, flying with cheerful eagerness to execute every the slightest command or wish of men to whom they were much attached; and hence the misunderstandings, unhappily too frequent in Highland regiments in former times, were never heard of in the Regiment of the Isles. At the reduction, the soldiers ordered out all the carriages in the garrison, and putting the officers in them, dragged them to the village of Campbeltown, where they treated them with wine," &c.

As the rugged and barren Isles of Skye and Uist have contributed a large share of the young and active of their population for the defence of their country, I shall enumerate the whole, having ascertained the number from the officers who recruited the men, from others who served with them, and from my own personal knowledge. A view of the number of those men, and of the character they exhibited, may be interesting to those who consider sound morals, respect for religion and the laws, and loyalty to the

King and Government, among the bulk of the people, of vital importance to the prosperity and permanency of the state. The two great proprietors of the Isles, whose lands are occupied by a loyal and moral people, must view this subject with deep interest. They will not overlook their happiness and welfare in the progress of agricultural improvements, which have no object but the welfare of one class of people—the men of capital; nor will they adopt the opinion too often brought forward, that, in those changes which operate injuriously on the comforts of the people, by removing them from the cultivation of the soil, to throw it into the hands of the rich, and crowding them in villages and situations possessed of no sufficient means of subsistence," the misery is only temporary, that the evil will cure itself, and in time find its own level." Has the evil of giving extensive portions of land to men of capital, and confining the bulk of the people to small patches of the soil, found its level, or has it cured itself in Ireland? There it has been long in operation, and its effects on the condition and character of the peasantry must strike every feeling mind with horror, and afford an example which ought undoubtedly to check the progress of a similar system among the moral and peaceable inhabitants of the Highlands. Poverty is an intolerable evil in all countries; and, if occasioned by oppression, especially by the oppression of individuals, whose actions are, in a particular manner, under the observation of those who suffer by them, the inevitable result must ever be, hatred and a spirit of revenge against the immediate actors, and disaffection to the government which allows, or cannot protect them from systems which entail such evils as have rendered desperate the peasantry of a sister island, blessed with a more favourable climate, a better soil, and numberless natural advantages, capable of rendering a people happy; but whose desperation frequently produce such revolting scenes as ought to show the unsoundness of that sophistry which tends to smother the feelings of humanity, under the plea, that such evils will cure themselves, and find their own level.