Hampton Court ... Illustrated with forty-three drawings by Herbert ...

GLENCOE MASSACRES 101
January 1692 he heard the news that Glencoe had
submitted and taken the oath. On the 16th he
signed the order for the extirpation. Of the men being
punished as robbers there is not the slightest proof.
It is most unlikely that the King, who had followed
the matter with so much attention, would affix his
signature in two places to the order for their extirpation
without reading it over. Nor did William ever
express displeasure at the deed; and in his pardon to
Stair the " manner of execution " alone is referred
to as worthyof condemnation.
May we not then conclude, with Mr.Paget, keenest
of historical detectives, that the King " had not the
excuse, poor as it may be, that he was urged on by
personal wrong and animosity, like Breadalbane, or
by chagrin and disappointment at the failure of a
particular scheme, like the Master of Stair; " and
that there is no room for doubt that his " signature
was affixed to the order with full knowledge of the
facts, and that his intention was to strike terror into
theHighlanders by the ' extirpation '— [and there is no
question as to the meaning of the word here, as there
is in the case of the Rohillas, where Macaulay takes
an exactly opposite view to the one he maintains in
the Glencoe affair] — of a clan too weak to offer any
effectual resistance, but important enough to serve as
a formidable example." Glencoe certainly will not be
forgotten by Scotsmen when they judge the character
of William III.; and side by side with it they will
place his refusal of aid to the colonists of Darien.