Memoir of the Chisholm

68 RESIDES AT EllCHLESS CASTLE.
the 27th of May, 1831, at Inverness, to cele-
brate the re-election of Mr. Charles Grant for
the county, he was called upon to acknow-
ledge a toast which had been proposed,
" Chiefs and Clans, and the Chisholm ;" and,
in so doing, said, 'he could only hope that
Highland Chiefs would henceforth employ
that rank, which was now, he feared, merely
an empty name, in setting an example for the
improvement of the people, which in former
days their situation in the county only ena-
bled them to prevent V
The utterance of these sentiments, and the
circumstances which called them forth, lead
us to consider the part which the Chisholm
thought it his duty to take in the affairs of
the county in which he lived. The first occa-
sion on which he came forward, was that to
which reference has been just made,- in the
middle of the year in which he attained his
majority, 1831, when he seconded the nomina-
tion of the Right Honourable Charles Grant,
as a candidate for the representation of the
county of Inverness. Again, towards the
* Inverness Courier, June 1st, 1831.