fe were very
recent factors in Scottish history. They did not appear, indeed, until
after the battle of Culloden and the failure of the Rebellion of 1745.
Loyalty, firm and unbending, has always been a characteristic of the
mountaineer. The {10} Highlanders held to the ancient house of Stuart
which had been dethroned. George II of England was repudiated by most
of them as a 'wee, wee German Lairdie.' More than thirty thousand
claymores flashed at the beck of Charles Edward, the Stuart prince,
acclaimed as 'King o' the Highland hearts.' When the uprising had been
quelled and Charles Edward had become a fugitive with a price on his
head, little consideration could be expected from the house of Hanover.
The British government decided that, once and for all, the power of the
clans should be broken.

For centuries the chief strength of the Highland race had lain in the
clan. By right of birth every Highlander belonged to a sept or clan.
His overlord was an elected chief, whom he was expected to obey under
all circumstances. This chief led in war and exercised a wide
authority over his people. Just below him were the tacksmen, who were
more nearly related to him than were the ordinary clansmen. Every
member of the clan had some land; indeed, each clansman had the same
rights to the soil as the chief himself enjoyed. The Highlander dwelt
in a humble shealing; but, however poor, he {11} gloried in his
independence. He grew his own corn and took it to the common mill; he
raised fodder for his black, shaggy cattle which roamed upon the rugged
hillsides or in the misty valleys; his women-folk carded wool sheared
from his own flock, spun it, and wove the cloth for bonnet, kilt, and
plaid. When his chief had need of him, the summons was vivid and
picturesque. The Fiery Cross was carried over the district by swift
messengers who shouted a slogan known to all; and soon from every
quarter the clansmen would gather at the appointed meeting-place.

The clans of the Highlands had led a wild, free life, but their dogged
love for the Stuart cause brought to them desolation and ruin. By one
stroke the British government destroyed the social fabric of centuries.
From the farthest rock of the storm-wasted Orkneys to the narrow home
of Clan Donald in Argyllshire, the ban of the government was laid on
the clan organization. Worst of all, possession of the soil was given,
not to the many clansmen, but to the chiefs alone.

While