The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

226 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
same time to declare himself independent ; for this purpose,
having collected a numerous army in the Isles, he suddenly
appeared before the castle of Inverness, and having been
admitted by the governor, who believed him faithful, he im-
mediately proclaimed himself king of the Hebrides. He then
invaded the district of Atholl, and arriving unexpectedly at
Blair, he stormed the castle, seized the earl and countess of
Atholl, and carried them prisoners to I.sla, where he confined them.
But the workings of superstition effected that which it would
have been found perhaps difficult by any other means to obtain,
for a storm of thunder and lightning having sunk the greater
part of his galleys on his return to the Isles with the rich booty
he had obtained, it was ascribed to the wrath of heaven, in con-
sequence of his having plundered and attempted
to burn the
chapel of St. Bridget, in Atholl ; and in order therefore to
expiate the crime for which he now began to feel remorse, he set
the earl and countess at liberty, and performed penance on the
scene of his sacrilege.
Angus Og next induced his father to enter into a treat}- with
the king of England and the earl of Douglas, which had for its
object no less than the entire subjugation of Scotland, and its
partition among the contracting parties. This remarkable
treaty is dated at London, on the 13th of February, 1462, and
by it the lord of the Isles agreed, upon payment of a stipulated
sum of money to himself, his son, and his ally, Donald Balloch
of Isla. to become the sworn vassal for ever of England, and
that along with the whole body of his subjects, and to assist him
in the wars in Ireland as well as elsewhere. But in addition to
this, it was provided that in the event of the entire subjugation
•of Scotland by the earls of Ross and Douglas, the whole of the
kingdom to the north of the Scottish Sea, or Firth of Forth, was
to be divided equally between Douglas, the lord of the Isles, and
Donald Balloch, while Douglas was to be restored to the possession
of those estates between the Scottish Sea and the
borders of England, from which he was now excluded. No
step, however, appears to have been taken upon this extraordinary
treaty, until the year 1473, at which period the lord of
the Isles appears to have been in open rebellion, and to have
continued so for several years. But Angus Og docs not appear