which, in case of occasion, is very necessary, as all the above
articles are at this time very difficult to be had. Therefore may it
please your Honors to take all and singular the premises under your
serious and immediate consideration; and as your petitioner wants an
answer as soon as possible, he further prays that as soon as they
think it meet, he may be advised. And your petitioner, is in duty
bound, shall ever pray."

This petition was presented during the formative state of the army, and
when the colonies were in a state of anarchy. Congress had not yet
assumed control of the army, although on the very eve of it. With an
empire to found and defend, the continental Congress had not at its
disposal a single penny. When Washington was offered the command of the
army there was little to bring out the unorganized resources of the
country. At the very time of Donald McLeod's petition, the provincial
congress of New York was engaged with the distracted state of its own
commonwealth. Order was not brought out of chaos until the strong hand
and great energy of Washington had been felt.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 143: Lecky's History of England, Vol. IV. p. 151.]

[Footnote 144: Bancroft's History United States, Vol. VI, p. 136;
American Archives, Fourth Series, Vol. I, p. 1543.]

[Footnote 145: Leeky's History of England, Vol. IV. p. 346]

[Footnote 146: History of England, Vol. IV, p. 338.]

[Footnote 147: Annual Register, 1776, p. 39.]

[Footnote 148: See Appendix, Note M.]

[Footnote 149: See Appendix, Note N.]

CHAPTER XIII.

HIGHLAND REGIMENTS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

The great Pitt, in his famous eulogy on the Highland regiments,
delivered in 1766, in Parliament, said: "I sought for merit wherever it
could be found. It is my boast that I was the first minister who looked
for it, and found it, in the mountains of the north. I called it forth,
and drew into your service a hardy and intrepid race of men; men who,
when left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artifices of your
enemies, and had gone nigh to have overturned the State, in the war
before the last. These men, in the last war, were brought to combat on
your side; they served with fidelity, as they fought with valor, and
conquered for you in every quarter of the world."

ROYAL HIGHLAND EMIGRANT REGIMENT.

These same men were destined to be brought from their homes and help
swell the ranks of the oppressors of