Ossian Collection > Romance of the Highlands

264 THE ROMANCE OF THE HIGHLANDS.
MacDonald to demand his meaning. The reply he
received was brief and to the point — "You have taken
the land from me ; then take them along with the land,
and make of them what you can. I cannot carry them to
the labour market."
Angus Campbell was a decent and inoffensive man
of Rogart parish, but the minister coveted the poor man's
possession and was promised it by the factor. The
Duchess of Sutherland knew Campbell to be good and
industrious, who not only had the bringing up of his
own large family but also supported an invalid brother.
Therefore, when she received a petition from him, she
ordered that he was not to be removed unless an equally
good holding was provided for him. Her interposition
was an offence to the factor, who no sooner saw the
Duchess away than he had the eviction carried out. The
holder's wife was left in the pitiless rain till her husband,
who had been absent, returned. He was now without
land, and no one dare risk sheltering him. But Campbell
was not without some resource. He erected a booth over
the tomb of his father in the old kirkyard and took up
his abode there. This so troubled the factor that he
promised him his old home, which had been left standing,
on his agreeing to pay the expenses of the eviction,
£<\ 13s. in all. No sooner was the money paid than he
was again ejected and care taken that he did not reoccupy
the site in the graveyard. A memorial, largely signed,
was presented to the Duke on the man's behalf, but the
reply came that the case had been settled by the factor
and he could not interfere further!
The poor tenants with the sword of Damocles held
over their heads had no one to whom they could appeal.
Many of the prominent men of the day were, of course,
crying out about the iniquity of it all, but they were
distant and their cry was not heard. The Gael had