THE SCOTTISH BACKGROUND THE LOOTING OF

E.J. COWAN

[ADDRESS OF BEELZEBUB]' But, hear me, my lord! Glengary, hear! To the Rt HonbleJOHN, EARL OF BREDALBANE,Presi- Your HAND'S OWRELIGHT ON THEM, I fear: Your FACTORS,GREIVES [overseers], TRUSTEES an' BAILIES dent of the RcHonb" the HIGHIANDSOCIETY, which [bailiffs], met, on the zjd of May last, at the Shakespeare, I canna say but they do gailies [tolerably]; Covent garden, to concert ways and means to frus- They lay aside a' tender mercies trate the designs of FIVE HUNDRED HIGHLANDERSwho, Ad tirl [strip] the WLIONS [rascals] to the BIUIW as the Society were informed by M' McKenzie of [bristles]; Applecross, were so audacious as to attempt to escape Yet, while they're only poin'd [distressed], and herriec [plundered], from their lawful lords and masters whose property They'll keep their stubborn Highlan spirit. they are emigrating from the lands of Mr McDonald But smash them! crush them a' to spaik [splinters]! of Glengary to the wilds of CANADA,in search of that An' mt the DWOU fiankrupts] i' the J~W! fantastic thing -LIBERTY- The young dogs, swinge [flog] them to the labour, Let wman' ~mcmmak them sober! TEDCowm is Professor of Scottish History and Litera- The ~rzuw,if they're oughtlins fausont [at all ture at the University of Glasgow. He has taught at the decent], Universiry of Edinburgh, and from 1979-1993was Profes- Let them in DRURYLANE be lwon'd! sor of History and Chair of Scottish Studies at the Uni- An' if the wives, an' dirty brats, versity of Guelph. He is the author of Mont~osc.For Cov- Come thiggan [begging] at your doors an' yets [gates], antand King and The PcopIr's Perg Scottish Folk in Flaffan [flapping] wi' duds [rags], an' grey wi' beese Scottish History, as well as numerous articles on various Frightan awa your deucks an' geese; aspects of Scottish History. He is currently researching Get out a HORSE-WHIP. or a iomm ihoundl. the Vikings in , Scottish popular culture 1500- The langest thong, the fiercest growler, 1800. and Scottish emigmion to Canada. He has no An' gar- [make] the ratreid gipseys-. . .pack McMillan connection whatsoever. Wi' a' their bastarts on their back! PART 11: THE SCOTTISH BACKGROUND

Thus in 1786, in excerpt from his only poem link- duet, and a gamekeeper; and he was involved in iev- ing Scotland and Canada, Scotland's national bard, era1 bloody assaults.' At the Invergarry Highland Robbie Burns, encapsulated the great debate on emi- Gathering, he invented the sport of twisting the four gration which raged throughout his own short life- legs off a cow, first prize being a fat sheep. His own time (1759-1796). and beyond it to 1820, the year of life ended impetuously in 1828 when a steamer was the 'Radical War' when the 'lower orders' of Scotland wrecked on rocks south of Fort William. All the pas- were allegedly on the brink of revolution. During sengers were safely landed, except for Glengarry who these years, the British establishment such as 'jumped off the plank, or fell off on hi head on the Breadalbane and Glengarry frowned upon emigration roch and was killed.'' He left debts of £80.000 which since it reduced the number of bodies contributing to presumably would have been higher had not some of the economy and the military. West Inverness-shire his tenants and clansfolk been considerate enough to emigrants, the subject of this book, thus departed depart for Ontario. from their native land when such activity was dis- Although many of those who remained were couraged. proud of their chief's behaviour, Glengarry typified Rare is the historian of Highland history who is the unreality infecting many contemporaries. He uninfluenced by the mythos of the Gaidhealtachd craved the profits of modern economic management (Gaelic-speaking Scotland). It requires a considerable in order to bolster a pre-industrial lifesryle and due effort of will to put aside the various prisms through system; he sought shelter from modernity in a semi- which the Highlands have long been viewed, from mystical past; and he lived a Highland legend while 1 the primitivism of James MacPherson whose famed knowing little of the real world. Even someone as 1 translations of the legendary poet Ossian brought pragmatic as the Rev. James Robertson was fascinated about the Romantic revival in the aftermath of the by the mystique of clanship. Of the inhabitants of last Jacobire Rising of 1745-6; to the tartan-tinted Inverness-shire Robertson wrote: spectacles of Sir Walter Scott, obswed as he was with the clash between tradition and technology. The bru- They have uniformly proved themselves to be tality of the Clearances when people were replaced by warm in their attachments, true to the cause they sheep, and subsequently deer, contrasts painfully with espouse, steady in their engagements, prudent the image of empry scenery peddled by the Scottish under many privations, vigorous in their consti- Tourist Board. The desolation of modern Loch tution, inured to toil, active in their mocives, in- Arkaig is a powerful monument to a human tragedy defatigable in exertion and fearless in the hour of danger. Descended, or conceiving themselves to that was part of a profound historical process. be descended, from some renouned leader of The Glengarry of Burns' poem, Alastair their tribe, and counting kindred with the Chief- MacDonneU, the 'Highland devil', was himself a glo- tain of their own time, they feel the impulse of rious, if dangerous, anachronism with a head full of honour, natural to such blood, and becoming Ossianic nonsense. He swaggered around in full such connexion; and disdain to bring a stain Highland regalia topped offwith a Glengarry bonnet upon their Clan, by bringing a stain upon them- invented by its wearer, as well as a light sporran. He selves. This pride of clanship affects their man- was remembered as 'a man of excitable disposition, ners, their habits, their conversation, their senti- desirous to be considered the type of an old chief, ab- ments, their address, and their prospects in life. It solute in hi commands, litigious, and sometimes inspires them with a certain elevation of mind, hurried by his ungovernable temper into acts of the which is perhaps unfriendly to the drudgery of ( most serious nature.' He killed an innocent man in a continued labour, while untutored by experience I CHAPTER 2: THE LOOTING OF LOCHABER

Clan map of Lochaber, Scotland, by Somerled McMillan for his Bygone ~ochaber(l971).

or not supported by clear views of interest. It era1 of the great clans such as the McDonalds, the gives them, however, consequence in their own Macleans and the Mackenzies were in the process of eyes, and they aspire to obtain the same conse- self destructing through fragmentation, internecine quences in the opinion of others.' strife and intra-clan rivalry. The Camerons were drowned in debt, their estates largely held in wadset While Robertson's assertions contain some truth, (mortgage) by the Campbells and the Gordons. ) the clan system itself was over in many parts of the There is little sign that the McMillans had functioned Highlands by the early seventeenth century when sev- as a clan since the fourteenth century, if ever. PART II: THE SCOTTISH BACKGROUND

Clan survival was a myth perpetuated by lingering served for the Lochiel estates as well as for those of clan rivalries. During the hundred years between the MacDonnell of Glengarry and the Macdonald estates Montrose wars of 1644-45 and Bonnie Prince of and , the homelands of most of Charlie's Jacobite Rising of 1745-46, the so-called the emigrants who would find their way to Canada 'Loyal Clans' fought for the Stewart cause again and some fifty or sixty years later. Some of those who had again, motivated by contempt for Clan Campbell, followed Cameron to join Prince Charles were reluc- the most successful of all clans. The lesser clans hoped tant recruits. It has even been asserted that some of to regain territory and estates. Their victories during Lochiel's own tenants assisted the Duke of Cumber- Montrose's 'Glorious Year' were not to be repeated, land's troops when they burned Castle in the apparent successes, for example, at Killiecrankie 1746. There is also the legend that when the Prince (1689) or Prestonpans (1745), being mere flashes in sought refuge in the heather after Culloden, not one the heather. British armies enjoyed superior technol- Highlander would play Judas by betraying him for a ogy and the military function of the clan was becom- reward of £30,000. Somerled MacMillan, however, ing redundant. While individual participants showed has pointed out that two out of three Lochaber men bravery, clan sentiment was cynically exploited in a willing to claim the reward were McMillans.5 doomed cause. When Lochiel fled to the Continent, his estates At the same time the chiefs were becoming alien- were forfeited and administered by strangers, to the ated from their kinsfolk and tenants. The Statutes of detriment of tenants and kindred alike. Tenants were Iona (1609) had insisted that the sons of chiefs be forced to pay double dues, to Lochiel in exile, and to educated in the Lowlands, as many of them had been the crown. It was such irritants that led to the murder for over a century. By 1620 the heirs of the Earl of of Colin Campbell of Glenure - the Red Fox - in Sutherland were attending schools in England. The nearby Appin in 1752, the central episode in Robert Jacobite fiasco of 1745-46 forced several chiefs into Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped A similar event exile. The abolition of heritable jurisdictions in 1748 took place on the shores of ~ochArkaig in 1746 when (first mooted by James VI in 1597), which effectively an unnamed assailant shot Captain Munro of removed a chief's powers.over his clanspeople, legis- Culcairn. There is, however, little record of resistance, lated what was already a reality in many parts of the even though large numbers of livestock were looted Highlands and Islands. from Lochaber, and substantial numbers of men on When Cameron of Lochiel, the major landowner the forfeited estates were conscripted into the British in Lochaber and feudal superior of the McMillans, set, army. At times, parts of the Highlands, including out to meet Charles in 1745, he was determined to west Inverness-shire, were occupied territory, and the block the Prince's rash attempt. The 'Gentle' Lochiel's culture and the economy of the Gaidhealtachd were brother, John Cameron of Fassiefern, was suspicious. transformed. The clan system, already in decline for 'I know you better than you know yourself,' he told over a century, was forever shattered. A rental of the Lochiel. 'If this Prince once sets his eye on you, he Lochiel estate for 1787 lists sixty-five Camerons and will. make you do whatever he pleases.'4 Fassiefern's sixty-two others including McMasters, Macdonalds, ~nstinctwas correct. Lochiel fell for Charles, and was Macintoshes, Mackinnons, Macphees, MacLachlans, forced to flee into exile. Malcolms, Mackenzies, a Macinnes, a Rankin and a Aker the battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, the Robertson, as well as McMillans. By that date any looting of Lochaber began in earnest. The victorious bond or affection that had once tied the clansfolk to Duke of Cumberland pillaged and burned the prop- their chiefs had evaporated. Yet such realities did not erty of Jacobite supporters. Particular ferocity was re- prevent commentators on the Highlands at the time of the migrations from evoking concepts such as Before the advent of sheep, the main crop was chieftainship and clanship. People tend to romanti- black cattle. Glenpean was described as 'a beautiful cise cultures on the edge of extinction and the roman- green grazing' region, and Glenelg as 'the richest spot tic haze which descended upon the Highlands in the both in grass and corn.' Thomas Telford's map of the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellions has not since marked the large forests of fir on both lifted. It has often served to camouflage a way of life sides of Loch Arkaig. Lochiel owned more plantations far from romantic. than anyone else in Lochaber, he and his brother tak- Although the Rev. Robertson was mightily upset ing great care, unlike other proprietors in the county, by the 'sneering remarks' directed against the impov- to enclose their valuable oak woods. It is not surpris- erished dwellings of the Inverness-shire folk by trav- ing that Archibald McMillan became involved in the ellers from the south, even he had to admit that such timber industrv of the Ottawavallev. He and his ten- slights were well observed. Commentators assumed ants had acquired some expertise in forestry in that the inhabitants of 'mean, dirty and inconvenient Lochaber. houses' must be 'poor, spiritless and indolent, and The parish of Kilmallie where the Lochiel estate what is worst of all, perhaps, oppressed.' Like many was situated was part of the Synod of Glenelg, as was others, Robertson found their earthen structures 'be- the parish of the Small Isles - Muck, and Rhum yond description.' He added that 'the huts of the -whence some of the emierants" were drawn in 1802. Indians bordering- on the Lakes of the St Laurence It was this ecclesiastical organization that embraced cannot be worse, in point of structure and accommo- the large area (including Moidart and Knoydart) sup dati~n.'~For such appalling- - - conditions he blamed the plying emigrants in the period under review. Infoi- landlords. Joseph Mitchell, in his Reminiscences, con- mation about emigration schemes, as about cattle curred. When the Highlanders 'did not dwell in com- sales and military recruitment, was communicated mon with their animals, their byres and stables were through the parish churches. in close and offensive proximity,' and the houses of Excellent detailed investigations of the McMillan the tacksmen, who managed the chief's lands and migrations, such as Jack Burnsted's The Peopkj Ckar- were responsible for the clans' military organization, anccsand Marianne McLean's The Peopk of Gkngany, were often little better, according to Mitchell. The already exist. Historians, however, have not focused McMillans of Glenpean and Murlaggan were tacks- on the outrage and despair with which government men of Cameron of Lochiel. officials and church ministers greeted the craze for The average tenant was less distracted by military emigration. The Rev. Robertson asked, 'Is there no matters than by the daily struggle for existence. Diet remedy to prevent this voluntary exile of the inhabit- was adequate if somewhat monotonous. During the an=? Are the Highlands to be depopulated?' Every summer, 'a season of contentment, of feasting, of effort was to be made 'to render emigration unneces- health and joy,' dairy products, produced at the shie- sary ... to prevent the Highlands from becoming a lings (upland pastures), formed the major part of the desert.' Robertson's book was conceived as a solution diet. Otherwise the people depended upon meal and to a problem no less prevalent today than in 1802. the invaluable (and recently introduced) potato, ac- Much to his shame and indignation, Robertson companied by fish or a little meat. Salmon and her- lived in an age that valued money more than people. ring were plentiful. Fuel was generally peat, some- Estate managers had discovered that 'the rearing of times wood. Ceilidhs were joyous occasions, the bestial in place of men, was the most lucrative specu- ) Gaels, then as now, having a great fondness and tal- lation.' 'The sordid oassion of accumulation' was ent for music, song and poetry. ruining the Highlands, and its consequence was PART 11: THE SCOTTISH BACKGROUND emigration. 'This outrage against the human race,' dating back to the sixteenth century. The colourful Robertson railed, Allan, so legend has it, took part in the last duel to be fought with broad swords. Cameron drove the blade when it prevailed hath invariably produced its of his opponent, Fear Muirshearlich, into the latter's natural consequence upon their minds - aver- brain. Cameron fled to Mull and eventually to sion, hatred, indignation, contempt. Some of the America to serve in the Royal Highland Emigrant Chiekains themselves have given the death-blow Corps. He had several adventures which led his to Chieftainship; they have cut the cords of affec- American opponents to charge him with 'the unmili- tion, which tied their followers to them and to tary proceeding of tampering with the native Indians one another: and with rhei; own hands, have torn to pieces the bonds of consanguinity betwixt in their loyalty to American interests.' He was re- them and their uibes, which, with their eyes warded with two years imprisonment in Philadelphia open, they have driven from them!' as a common felon. He escaped and returned to Brit- ain where he fought battles on behalf of the Highland Robertson well understood the pressures that lay Society of London, notably to restore the wearing of behind emigration, namely the steep increase in rents. Highland attire. He wrote what remains the most elo- He claimed that in some instances grasslands had quent defence of the kilt, in response to a suggestion risen tenfold in rent between 1748 and 1808. In some that the Highland regiment should be clad in trews or places a shepherd and two under-shepherds could dis- 'tartan pantaloons,' as he called them. Allan was to place between one hundred and one hundred and enjoy a distinguished career which would take him to twenty people. While townships were in ruins, short the rank of General. or nonexistent leases were also a disincentive to ten- In 1784, the Camerons of Lochiel regained control ants. The devastation of depopulation would have of the Lochaber estates when the whole property was been even greater were not populations actually in- restored to Donald (Lochiel's grandson) on payment of creasing, because of women marrying younger, better a fine of £3.432. However, while stii a minor and with- child care including increased smallpox vaccinations, out ever visiting the estates, Donald sold a substantial and improved diet, thanks to the potato. Neverthe- chunk to Allan. The legality of the transaction was less, Robertson noted, 'the monster of depopulation questionable, though Allan later protested that he was has travened almost every corner: his gigantic strides well aware of Donald's age and that he had simply in- have ventured from sea to sea, overthrowing cottage tended to alleviate the latter's financial embarrassment. and farmhouse, and without mercy driving the mis- In 1790, Donald of Lochiel visited Scotland for the erable inhabitants before him, whenever he has ap- first time. He attempted to keep the transaction a se- peared.' Robertson was, undoubtedly, allowing his cret from his guardians, knowing full well that he had rhetoric to carry him away, and statistics show that no right to 'suffer the estate to be dismembered in emigration was actually less than he implied, and that such a manner, immediately upon its being restored population increase was substantially greater. How- by the benignity and liberality of government, to the ever, in historical investigation, popular perceptions heir of a very ancient and respectable family, and be- are just as important as the so-called 'reality' recreated fore that heir was of age to enter into a possession of by historians. an estate which he was bound by so many ties to pre- Some light is shed on the problems besetting the serve entire and undiminished.' However, Allan's Camerons, and thus their estate and tenants, by court brother began to boast that Allan was 'now laird of documents. The family of Allan Cameron of Erracht part of the estate of Lochiel,' and the whole business I had a rival claim to the chiefship of was made public. A court case followed. CHAPTER 2: THE LOOTING OF LOCHABER During proceedings, Allan contrasted himself - power play familiar to their ancestors. Tacksmen were 'born on the farm of Erracht' worked by his father known to depose a weak or hopelessly inept leader until his death - with Donald of Lochiel who had and in the ensuing struggle for power, the clan some- been educated at Westminster School and abroad, times fragmented, witness the best known case, the and who 'in consequence of some youthful dissipa- great Clan Donald. When a financially strapped chief tion ... had got into some pecuniary embarrassment could sell his lands, and possibly even peddle his from which he wished to be relieved.' chiefship, then the writing was clearly on the mcks The case was finally settled in 1792. Allan lost, and and it was only a matter of time before the snows on 6 March 1792 the sale was declared null and void. would leave . When that happened, every- Three years later the Lyon Court reduced and an- one knew that it was time for the Camerons to leave nulled Errachtb patent as Chief of Clan Cameron. Lochaber. Not by coincidence, 1792 was the year that Alexan- Such considerations lay behind Alexander McMillan der McMillan of Glenpean departed Lochaber for Up- of Glenpean's emigration, with Macdonnell of Green- per Canada. The tensions revealed by the case no field, to Glengarry, Ontario, in 1792. These men and doubt contributed to Glenpean's decision to emi- their people, and those who came afterward, sought grate. For example, the first action of Lochiel's cura- to preserve a way of life perceived to be on the very tors after the restoration of the estate to Donald in verge of disintegration. 1784 had been to demand additional rent from the Although he had won back the Cameron estates, ) tenants to pay off the fine. 'From the natural and Donald of Lochiel did not linger in Lochaber. well-known attachment of Highlanders to the place Around 1800, he moved to Achnacany where he of their nativity and connections, the tenants in gen- started to build a fine new house costing £g,ooo at eral agreed upon this occasion to pay one third of ad- the very moment that the Lochaber emigrants were ditional rent,' a hefry increase. In addition, Lochiel's heading out to the Ottawa valley. 'With his French factor 'assumed the absolute management, and, by his training and education and want of acquaintance residence on the estate, obtained arbitrary sway with the old clan, and the customs of the country, it among the tenantry,' obliging some of them 'to seek a can easily be imagined how distasteful a Highland life retreat in the wilderness of America.' During the trial, must have been to him,' observed Joseph Mitchell.9 Allan had declared himself the champion of the There were other economic factors encouraging Camerons, arguing that if he had not bought the migration at the turn of the nineteenth century in lands in question they might have been acquired by Lochaber. In 1804, Thomas Telford commenced con- strangers. He claimed to deplore the renting of sheil- struction of the . Ninerv-six kilo- ings as separate farms, which effectively raised farm metres long, of which some sixty-four kilometres rents. Allan described sheep farming as 'the curse and were lochs, the canal required the construction of scourge of the poor ill-fated Highlander.'' twenty-eight locks at a cost of £1.25 million. The Allan of Erracht projected himself defender of the project employed three thousand Highlanders over a clan, opposed to economic innovation, invoking the twenty year period thus fulfilling one of its remits - bond between people and lands in opposition to an 'to prevent that emigration which will deprive the ignorant, spendthrift young chief. Beneath Allan's country of its hardiest and bravest protectors, who gentlemanly exterior lurked the Gaelic warrior pre- have distinguished themselves most conspicuously by pared to push claymores into heads to advance his land and sea.'I0 In fact some of those involved later ) claims to be chief. The young chiefs own close rela- worked on theTrent and Rideau systems in Ontario. tives, the him-uaislror tacksmen, were involved in a Telford envisaged a network of roads throughout the PART 11: THE SCOTTISH BACKGROUND

Highlands. The old militaq road of General Wade cannot be described, yet I have no hesitation in say- from Fort Augustus to Bernera Barracks in Glen Elg ing that considering the arrangements that daily take followed a tortuous route and was frequently impass- place and the total extinction of the tyes twixt Chief able. New roads were built from Fort William to and dan, we are surely better off to be out of the reach , from Invergarry to Kinlochhourn and from of such unnatural tyranny.' Invermoriston to Glen Sheil and Loch Duich, thus So the Lochaber emigrants, like their countrymen rendering redundant the old road that struck west of of 1786, went in search of 'that fantastic thing - Lib- Loch Arkaig to the coast, further isolating the area. erty.' Whether they found it is for Canadian histori- The provision of good communications hrther facili- ans to judge. tated emigration. Two years after the McMillan migration of 18oz, APPENDIX Duncan Cameron of Fassiefern informed Archibald Since The Statistical Account of Scotland is not readily 'Murlaggan' McMillan that 'every single tenant' on available in most North American libraries, the fol- both sides of Loch Arkaig was to be dispossessed' and lowing description of the people of Kilmallie is ap- 'everything is turned upside down since you left pended from Volume xvrr, page 155 in order that de- Lochaber.... Families who have not been disturbed scendants of the Lochaber migrations can reflect for 4 or 500 years are turned out of house and homes upon the fine ancestral stock., It was appended to his and their possessions given to the highest bidders. So account by the Rev. Alexander Fraser of Kilmallie, much for Highland attachment between Chief and who said that 'the following character of the people, clans.' But then he added that in his opinion the drawn up by a friend of the incumbent's, does not landlords were responsible for 'a general good without seem to err, on, what is too commonly the case, the any intention of doing so, by driving those people to side of partiality; and is therefore given, as in general desperation and forcing them to quit their country'." the dergy are accused of having transmitted accounts, He was articulating a sentiment often enunciated in rather too favourable, of the manners and morals of the decades to come and reiterated in the sterile their parishioners.' rhetoric of modern planners on both sides of the Atlantic. cwrxenOF THE PEOPLE. They are sometimes Cameron's letter confirmed McMillan's suspicion accused of being given to change; but many in- that there would soon be more Highlanders in stances of steady and unshaken friendship are not Canada than in the Old Country. 'I never spoke more wanring. In profainns of kindness they are pro- Gaelic any winter in Lochaber than I did last winter fuse; and their sincerity, in general, is more to be [in Glengarry, Upper Canada], the Highlanders depended on, than is usual on such occasions. They are inquisitive, but (more especially after powering down every day in most astonishing num- having had the advantage of some intercourse bers.' In 1806 he petitioned to have the name of Suf- with the world at large), distinguished by the pn- folkTownship changed to Lochaber, 'which will be an liteness of their manners, and the insinuation of inducement to those from that part of the old Coun- their address: Fond of sauntering in idleness, hut try to settle in it who are every year arriving.' less addicted to a roving life than heretofore: To suggest, as does Jack B~msted,'~that such erni- Though pwr, indined to indolence; and though gration was voluntary, is misleading. Closer to the naturally sagacious and intelligent, yet not in mark were the well chosen, if oft quoted, words of general learned: Less revengehl and implacable Archibald 'Murlaggan': 'We cannot help looking to than formerly, and, now, more disposed to deter- our native spot with sympathy and feelings which mine marters by litigation, than by arms; family CHAPTER 2: THE LOOTING OF LOCHABER

dissensions imhitter not their lives, as in the fcu- the County of Invemrn (London: Board of Agriculrore dal times: Impatient of restraint; yet, when under 1808). 5. a proper leader, in whom rhey have confidence, 4. AJexander Mackenzie, Histoy ofthe Camernin (Invcr- invincible by fatigue, cold, or hunger: Intrepid, ness: A. & W. Mackenzie 1884), 218.9. equal to any race of men ever known, in rhe 5. Somerled McMillan, Bygone Lochabrr (Glasgow: K. midst of the grearest dangers: Less hospitable & R. Davidson 1971) 167. than of old, (indeed the old exertions of hospital- 6. Robertson, General View of the Agriculture in the ity are not now so necessary as formerly:) hut County ofInuerness. 56 and 373. when feasts are prepared, the cheer is good: Spir- 7. Robertson, General Vinu of the Agriculture in the ited in a high degree to promore works of public County ofInuemess, 187 and 327-9. urility: Charitable and willing to relieve the dis- 8. Mackenzie, History ofthe Camrmns, appendix 2. tressed, as far as rheir circumstances will admit of: 9. Mitchell, Reminiscences of My L$ in the Highland, Though no strangers to the power and influence 255. Allan never finished the house. When Mitchell visited of religion, yet rarher apt to undervalue its holy Achnacarry in 1837 he found that it 'was all bur finished ordinances: Fond of spiritous liquors, yer seldom when [Lochiell became disgusted with the place, lefr it and habitual drunkards: They desenre praise for their never returned. We found that the plaster ornaments of the contincncc: hur are rarher addicted to swearing - ceiling lay all that iime on the floor ready ro he fixed, and Thesc arc some of the predominanr traiu; and doors of the rooms, of beautiful Highland pine, gone tho~~glithcrc must be a great variecy of character brown with age, leaned against the dlready n, he screwed among 4.215 persons, yet there are, in this dis- on. They had remained in position for thirty-five years.' trict, no inconsiderable proportion of persons, 10.Mitchell, Reminircmca ofMy Life in thr Highlands, distinguished by their generosiry, humanity, dis- 20-2. intercsrcdness, benevolence, hospitaliry, remper- 11. National Archives of Canada, Archibald 'Murlaggan' ance. piery, and religion. McMillan & family papers, MG zq, I 183. These letters have been consulted in photocopies supplied by Hugh NOTES MacMillan. They are also printed in Somerled McMillan's I. 7hfPnems nrzdSongr ofRobert Burns, 3 Vols. (Oxford: Bygone Lochaber, 182-3. I am also indebted ro the late Don Oxford University Press 1968),Vol. I, no. 108, 255. McOuat who kindly presented me with a copy of his col- z. Joseph Mitchell, Reminiscences ofMy Lif in the High- lecred materials on the Invenkilavulin Emigration. lands, z Vols. (London: Gresham Press 1884).Vol. I, 73-7. 12. Jack Bumsted, The Peoplcs Ckarance (Edinburgh: 3. James Rohertson, General View ofthe Agriculture in Edinburgh University Press 1982)xi, 229 andparrim.