Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

STRATHAIRD. 431
Here, it is said, he spent a few days with some of his
faithful followers; followers who were then, I believe,
all Islanders, and whose attachment was the more noble
and generous, because it was in no sense hereditary.
It has been often said, as if it were universally true,
that the conduct of the Highlanders at that period,
was the consequence of their affection for the hereditary
line of their beloved monarchs. This cannot be a correct
theory, as far as relates to the Islanders, nor to those
who, whether on the mainland or in the Islands, had
sprung from Norwegian Princes, or had held a regal
or baronial state, independent of the Scottish Crown.
The Stewarts were Lowlanders, Sassauachs in hereditary
odium. Stewarts were imposed on Lorn, after the con-
quest and forfeiture of one of the most ancient and power-
ful of the Highland Princes. In 1405, and long before, the
Highlanders of the West rebelled against two Roberts,
Kings and Stewarts. In 1411, they were opposed, if not
beaten, by a Stewart, at Hara Law. James the First, a
Stewart, was at eternal war with them, and hanged their
Chiefs. So was James the Second, another of the same
line of kings. James the Third pursued the same system,
and deprived their most potent Chief of his earldom,
James the Fourth declared his territories forfeited and
annexed to the crown. James the Fifth paid them a
visit in person, and imprisoned or forfeited their rebel
Chiefs. Their spirit of Chivalry displayed no attachment
to unhappy and deserted Mary. James the Sixth de-
prived the most royal of their Chiefs of Isla, and
invaded Lewis to civilize it. If their attachment to the
race of Stewart commenced with the First Charles, it
soon expired ; when they joined in an address to the
First George, and had contrived, before that, to make
friends of William. It is necessary to make distinctions ;
it is necessary to seek for other reasons, as far as a large