men. Sir John Dalrymple, the Master
of Stair, in whose hands the government of Scotland at this time mainly
rested, had hoped that a refusal of the oath of allegiance would give
grounds for a war of extermination and free Scotland for ever from its
dread of the Highlanders. He had provided for the expected refusal by
orders of a ruthless severity. "Your troops," he wrote to the officer in
command, "will destroy entirely the country of Lochaber, Locheil's
lands, Keppoch's, Glengarry's, and Glencoe's. Your powers shall be large
enough. I hope the soldiers will not trouble the Government with
prisoners." But his hopes were disappointed by the readiness with which
the clans accepted the offers of the Government. All submitted in good
time save Macdonald of Glencoe, whose pride delayed his taking of the
oath till six days after the latest date fixed by the proclamation.
Foiled in his larger hopes of destruction Dalrymple seized eagerly on
the pretext given by Macdonald, and an order "for the extirpation of
that sect of robbers" was laid before William and received the royal
signature. "The work," wrote the Master of Stair to Colonel Hamilton who
undertook it, "must be secret and sudden." The troops were chosen from
among the Campbells, the deadly foes of the clansmen of Glencoe, and
quartered peacefully among the Macdonalds for twelve days till all
suspicion of their errand disappeared. At daybreak on the 13th of
February 1692 they fell on their hosts, and in a few moments thirty of
the clansfolk lay dead on the snow. The rest, sheltered by a storm,
escaped to the mountains to perish for the most part of cold and hunger.
"The only thing I regret," said the Master of Stair, when the news
reached him, "is that any got away."

But whatever horror the Massacre of Glencoe has roused in later days few
save Dalrymple knew of it at the time. The peace of the Highlands
enabled the work of reorganization to go on quietly at Edinburgh. In
accepting the Claim of Right with its repudiation of Prelacy William had
in effect restored the Presbyterian Church to which nine-tenths of the
Lowland Scotchmen clung, and its restoration was accompanied by the
revival of the Westminster Confession as a standard of faith and by the
passing of an Act which abolished lay patronage. Against the Toleration
Act which the king proposed the Scotch Parliament stood firm. But though
the measure failed the king was as firm in his purpose as the
Parliament. So