Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

THE DAl;iEN COMPANY, 1G95. cclxxxvii
any autlior.' He had tlie advantage of the report of 1C95 made by tlie royal
commissioners specially appointed for the purpose of inquiring and reporting
on the slaughter. The Scottish parliament had become very excited on the
subject. Tliey were suspicious that tlie commission of 1695 might prove a
failure, like the previous commission of 1C93. Chancellor Tweeddale had
difficulty in restraining their eagerness ;
and when it became known that the
report had been issued and transmitted to tlie king, before it could be laid
before parliament, there was a great outcry for its piuJuction, and, to satisfy
the intense curiosity which prevailed, the report was at length produced.
Lord Macaulay acknowledges his great indebtedness to the report, and
passes a high eulogium upon it. He says that every intelligent inquirer
will concur v,-ith its conclusion, " that the slaughter of Glencoe was a bar-
barous murder," and "the letters of the ]\Ia3ter of Stair were the sole warrant
and cause." -
The recommendation made by the Scotch parliament to King William to
prosecute the Master of Stair, Lieutenant-Colonel James Hamilton, and the
other military officers concerned in the massacre, was not acted upon. The
king, however, dismissed Stair as secretary, and 'also upon the advice of
Colonel John Hill, reinstated the surviving Macdonalds in tlil'ir inheritance
of Glencoe.^ This reinstatement was speedily done.
The same parliament of 1G95, which investigated and reported on the
massacre of Glencoe, passed an act on 2Gth June entitled, "Act for a com-
pany trading wit'i Africa and the Indies."* The act is elaborate, conferring
very comprehensive powers ou the incorporated company, commonly called
" the Darien Company," to make settlements, build cities, harbours and
fortifications, in any place in Asia, Africa or America, uninhabited, or where
1 It exteuds from p. 1S8 to p. 217 of * Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland,
volume iv. of the History of England, 1S55. vol. ix. p. 377. The Corap.any vas hound to
- M.icaulay's I.istory, vol. iv. pp. 574, :>'5. \