experience, and not less firm than conciliating. Born in the Highlands, he had served for nineteen years in the 42d regiment, and understood perfectly the peculiar habits and dispositions of his countrymen. Aided by Lieutenant David Barclay, the paymaster, an investigation took place, and every man's claim was clearly made out. When this statement was laid before Lord Macdonald on his arrival, his Lordship and Major Donaldson advanced the money, and -took the risk of recovering it from those whose conduct had nearly ruined a brave and honourable body of men, as they afterwards proved themselves to be; and it is a fact that ought not to be overlooked, and which I have from the best authority, (as, indeed, are all I state,) that, when the individual claims were sent to the Isle of Skye, all, without exception, were found to be just;—a circumstance which, no doubt, was taken into consideration by those who had to form a judgment of this act of insubordination. No man was brought to trial, or even put into confinement; and when all was settled, the Highlanders embarked with the greatest cheerfulness; but, before they sailed, all the men of Skye and Uist sent their money home to their families and friends.

ATHOLE HIGHLANDERS,

OR SEVENTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT.

Ar the peace of 1783, this regiment was marched to Portsmouth, to be embarked for the East Indies, although the terms on which they had enlisted were to serve for three years, or during the war. They showed, however, no reluctance to embark, nor any desire to claim their discharge, to which their letters of service entitled them. On the contrary, when they came in sight of the fleet at Spithead, as they marched across Portsdown Hill, they pulled off their bonnets, and gave three cheers for a brush with Hyder

Ali. But no sooner were they quartered in Portsmouth, to wait till the transports should be ready, than distrust and discord appeared. Emissaries from London, it is affirmed, expatiated on the faithlessness of sending them to such a distance, when their term of service had expired, and inflamed them by reports of their being sold, for a certain sum per man, to the East India Company. Some of the officers, it was added, were to divide the money among themselves. Had their confidence in their officers not been thus undermined, they would not have been so easily stirred up to disobedience and disregard of their authority, and disbelief of the explanation given by those to whom they had hitherto shown the greatest attachment. But the influence of these motives having been destroyed by false insinuations against their officers, there was the less restraint on their indignation at what was but too true; that no regard was paid to the engagement by which they had bound themselves. The consequence was, a determination on the part of the soldiers to adhere to their terms of service, and not to embark for India. After some days of disorganization and misrule,* in which the officers lost all command, Government acquiesced and countermanded the order to embark.

The following account of this affair, dated at Portsmouth, was published in February 1783: "The Duke of Atholl, his uncle, Major-General Murray, and Lord George Lennox, have been down here, but the Athole Highlanders are still determined not to go to the East Indies. They have put up their arms and ammunition into one of the magazines, and placed a very strong guard over them, whilst the rest of the regiment sleep and refresh themselves. They come regularly and quietly to the grand parade, very cleanly dressed, twice a day, their adjutant and other officers pa

A soldier of the garrison invalids was killed, and several others wounded, in an attempt to prevent the Highlanders from obtaining possession of the main-guard and garrison parade.

rading with them. One day it was proposed to turn the great guns, on the rampart, on the Highlanders, but this scheme was soon overruled. Another time it was suggested to send for some marching regiments quartered near the place, upon which the Highlanders drew up the drawbridges, and placed sentinels at them.”

Another account states," You may be assured I have had my perplexities since the mutiny commenced in the 77th regiment; but I must do the men the justice to confess, that, excepting three or four drunken fellows, whose impudence to their officers could only be equalled by their brutality, the whole regiment have conducted themselves with a regularity that is surprising; for what might not have been expected from upwards of one thousand men let loose from all restraint? Matters would never have been carried to the pitch they have, but for the interference of some busy people, who love to be fishing in troubled waters. The men have opened a subscription for the relief of the widow of the poor invalid, for whose death they express the greatest regret. On their being informed, that two or three regiments were coming to force them to embark, they flew to their arms, and followed their comrade leaders through the town, with a fixed determination to give them battle; but on finding the report to be false, they returned in the same order to their quarters. The regiment is not to go to the East Indies contrary to their instructions, which has satisfied them, but will be attended with disagreeable consequences to the service; and since the debates in the House of Commons on the subject, I should not wonder if every man intended for foreign service refused going for the rea sons there given, which, you may depend on it, they are now well acquainted with."

In the course of the Parliamentary debates on this subject, Lord Auckland, then Mr Eden, and Secretary of State for Ireland, said, " He had happened to have the 77th regiment immediately under his observation during sixteen months of their garrison duty in Dublin, and though it was

not the most agreeable duty in the service, he must say that their conduct was most exemplary. Their officers were not only men of gentlemanly character, but peculiarly attentive to regimental discipline. He having once, upon the sudden alarm of invasion, sent an order for the immediate march of this regiment to Cork, they showed their alacrity by marching, at an hour's notice, and completed their march with a dispatch beyond any instance in modern times; and this, too, without leaving a single soldier behind."

It is difficult for those who are not in the habit of mixing with the Highlanders, to believe the extent of the mischief which this unhappy misunderstanding has occasioned, and the deep and lasting impression it has left behind it. In the course of my recruiting, many years afterwards, I was often reminded of this attempt on the Athole Highlanders, which was always alleged as a confirmation of what happened, at an earlier period, to the Black Watch. This transaction, and others of a similar description, have created distrust in Government, and in the integrity of its agents.

If Government had offered a small bounty, when the Athole Highlanders were required to embark, there can be little doubt they would have obeyed their orders, and embarked as cheerfully as they marched into Portsmouth. The regiment was marched to Berwick, and disbanded conformably to the original agreement. No man was tried or punished. An inference in consequence has been drawn, and never forgotten, in the Highlands, that however unjustifiable in the mode of redress, the men had just cause of complaint.

SEAFORTH.

In the year 1778, the Seaforth Highlanders were marched to Leith, where they were quartered, for a short interval, though long enough to produce complaints about the

infringement of their engagements, and some pay and bounty which they said were due to them. Their disaffection was greatly increased by the activity of emissaries from Edinburgh, like those just mentioned as having gone down from London to Portsmouth. The regiment refused to embark, and marching out of Leith, with pipes playing and two plaids fixed on poles instead of colours, took a position on Arthur's Seat, of which they kept possession for several days, during which time the inhabitants of Edinburgh amply supplied them with provisions and ammunition. After much negotiation, in which the Earls of Dunmore and Seaforth, Sir James Grant of Grant, and other gentlemen connected with the Highlands, were actively engaged, the causes of the soldiers' complaints were investigated and settled to their satisfaction; they then marched down the hill in the same manner in which they had gone up, with pipes playing; and "with the Earls of Seaforth and Dunmore, and General Skene, at their head. They entered Leith, and went on board the transports with the greatest readiness and cheerfulness."

In this case, as in that of the Athole Highlanders, none of the men were brought to trial, or even put into confinement, for these acts of open resistance; consequently, similar inferences have been drawn, accompanied by a feeling of that distrust in their future transactions which I have just noticed, and which has contributed to give strangers an unjust and prejudiced view of the real character of this race of people; for when a seemingly ungenerous want of confidence and narrowness of mind has, in a manner, been forced on men, by meeting with breaches of faith and deception from the hands of their superiors, it cannot, with justice, be called their original native character.