The Fate of Glengarry

T H E FA T E O F G L E N GA R R Y : O R T H E E X PAT R IAT IO N T H E M A D N E LL C O S . A n Hi sto ri c o-Bi ra h i t og p cal S udy . ' BE R N A R D w K E L LY . A u flw r of Th e Lif e o f C a rdin a l Y e rk Th e Co n q uero r o f C ullod t‘ n A S h o rt S ke tc h o f Ch urc h ’ ist t H o w . e c 5 Dubl in J AM E S DUFFY Co LTD . , U 15 Wsu x mros Q AY . 1900. - Wal ter Cl if f ord M al l et , E sq . (Co unt o f th e H o ly R o ma n E mpi re) C R A I G A R D : A S E A R G Y L LS H I R E C R R I C K C A T L , T H E FOL LOW I N G I S D E B/CA TE ! ) I N G R ATE FUL AC K N OW LE D G M EN T O F H I S S Y M PA ’P H Y ' W l ’ l ‘ H T H E AU H R S S UD I ES T O T . PREFACE . THE exodus of an historic race from th e land of its fathers mu st al way s be a subject s and th e n a of some intere t . in followi g p ges an eff ort h as been made to give a short narrative accoun t of the emig ration of th e Macdon ells of ( l l engarry to Canada a little S me more than a century ago . o biographical and oth er details rel ating to the subject t ta i s have been reated of inciden lly , and it hoped that the little historical study will comme nd itself to those concerned in cla n an d in a ef s t ship , the soci l fect remo ely ’ u a th Th bro ght bout by e 45. e writer begs to express his obligations to Professor . a s i s A M cdonell of Corpu Chr ti College . a e E s . K . C . Oxford , Alex M cdon ll , q , , of G d O tar an d th e reenfiel , n io , Marquis of R v n and R ai e l u ig y neval , for supplying s vera a e e s m valu bl it m of infor ation , which , but e r ss ta w a for th i kind a is nce, ould not h ve ee r b n fo thcoming . CONT E NTS . PR E FACE — l . G LEN G ARRY - F H A I I . AT ER M C DO N E LL I I I —T H G G Y G I M T . E LEN ARR R E EN - ' - IV . N ms rv E i c ur . V - M . E IG RAT ION — VL N E W G LEN G ARRY — VI L LAS T su —T E F C H A rr mx A . H REN R OYAL S co r s — n s A D N E L L B. S o M C O O FFI CER S I N D EX. TH E FAT E OF G LE N G A R R Y ; on, TH E E rpatriation of the macbonel l s. H A P C T E R I . Gl eng arry . O speak of the tragedy of the ’45 is T to enunciate one of the common places of history . The career of its hero from the landing at M oidart to his death at Rome , long and bitter years after, have been and are still being made the subject of searching e n inquiry . The liv s and fortu es of his distinguished foll owers come next in interest, and these , too, have received an amount of critical attention only second in degree to that of the master they served so well . But little , we s e to venture to as ert, has be n done trace the subsequent history of the clans who carri ed the Stuart standard triumphant well nigh to the very heart m of the empire, and whose clay ores l a A 2 T HE FAT E OF struck the last blow for right divine P at reston , Falkirk , and Culloden . In the following pages the writer has en deavoured to narrate the vicissitudes that befell one of the best known of these—the Macdonells of Glengarry as wel l as to furnish some particular of their venerable benefactor, the Right Rev . Dr . Alexander Macdonell, of Kingston , Upper Canada , whose name will ever be held in benediction by the descend ants of his race in their home beyond the sea . The name of Glengarry stands pro mi nentl y forward in highland legend , song, and story . Geographically it forms the connecting link uniting the “ great glen of Albyn with the waters e of Loch Hourn , while its magnific nt b il l stretch of heather and , clothed with intermingled red pine and weep i ing birch, g ves the general aspect of the place a character for wild and lonely grandeur that forms the peculiar charm of the country north-west of the Firth of Forth . Glengarry, like so many another highland vale, is but the memory of an historic past . Scattered far and wide on many a distant shore are the race that once it sheltered and the descendants of the chiefs who disputed E R R Y GL NGA . 3 with the lords of Cl anranal d and Sleat “ the heritage of Somerled , Lord of the Isles —the famous lineage celebrated ‘ ’ in Flora M I vor s so ng : 0 sp rung from the kings who in Islay ke s a t t te , o s of R e a G a Pr u chief Clan n ld , leng rry , and Sleat ! Combine like three streams fro m one o a s m unt in of now, And resistless in union rush down on the foe l ” Two of the al lied tribes invoked in the stirring address of the Waverley heroine obeyed the martial summons ’45 in the , and from the date of that memorable epoch the decline and fall of the house of Glengarry may be said h to ave commenced . Though John Macdonell , twelfth chief of the name , with a prudence that frequently char acteri sed the conduct of highland chief and lowland laird in those times of Jacobite risings and Hanoverian repri n sal , abstained from appeari g in arms s for the Chevalier, his son Aenea was “ out ” with a goodly muster of the “ ” n fa cla . In all the af irs and episodes that marked the last struggle of the exiled dynasty for the throne the Glengarry men were ever to the front . At Cli fton their claymores wrough t 4 T H E FAT E OF havoc among Cumberland’s dragoons and covered the retreat of the i nsur gent columns . A few weeks later, amidst the raging storm and murky darkness of the night encounter at Falkirk, their prowess largely contri buted to the total di scomfiture of ’ Hawley s left . But here a sudden and er fearful tragedy curbed their high care . Shortly after the close of the engage ment the young chieftain of Glengarry, - the above mentioned Aeneas , fell mor tally wounded by a ball fired at random Clanranalds. by one of his kinsmen , the His death was purely accidental ; but nothing could appease his follo wers short of the summary execution of the re luckless cause of the disaster . A f usal would probably have led to a highland mutiny, and Charles Edward, like his great grandfather in the case f of Straf ord, unjustly consented to his death . While these things were enacting in R uadh Scotland, Alastair Macdonell, - s elder brother of the ill fated Aenea , was captured at sea on his way to the scene of the rebell ion with some drafts of the Irish Brigade and the French “ Royal Scots) His misfortune was R o al s see e For the French y Scot , App n di x A . , end ' u a smi a auw u or CLE NGAR av (Th e all e ed g Pickl e th e S y p . Fr oma rare woodcmt i n th e o p ssessi oa of (h e A uth o r . GLENGARRY . 5 analagous to that of Colonel the Hon . ’ R atcl ifie de ure Charles , j third Earl of Derwentwater, but with this essential — difference that Colonel Ratcliffe was beheaded and Alastair released from the Tower in 17 47 The Government of the day, thoroughly alarmed as it was by the magnitude and gravity of “ ” the horrid and unnatural rebellion , long cast mercy to the winds, and the unconditional release of young Mac donell , joined to certain subsequent coincidences, has led Mr . Andrew Lang to identify h imwith the odious “ Pickle ” o . the Spy, the Judas of the l st cause e It is hard, of cours , to believe that debonnai r this gallant, young Chief as his portrait reveals him— who was ’ Charles E dward s constan t companion in Paris in 17 48—who received a gold snuff box from the Prince as a pledge f — 17 51 of af ection who at Rome, in , “ soli cited Cardinal York for a relick of the precious wood of the Holy ” Cross, was the smiling villain that sold Dr .

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