Trials of James, Duncan, and Robert M'Gregor, three sons of the celebrated Rob Roy

XXXV 11
to their chiefs in the shape of services, both
civil and military, was followed only by the
most contemptuous disobedience. The man-
date for disarming the clans was, if possible,
still more impolitic ; for it was obeyed only
by the adherents of Government, whom it
was not intended to affect, and cunningly
eluded by the discontented clans, against
whom alone it was intended to operate. What
other consequence could be expected, from an
attempt to inflict the last penalty and degra-
dation of conquest upon an unexplored terri-
tory, which had never been actually subdued,
and which, even at the moment when this
inconsiderate law was enacted, would have
boldly refused, to the pretended victor, the
slightest tribute or token of his achieve-
ment?
The Highlanders saw clearly enough the
determination of Government to destroy every
vestige of their peculiar usages and institu-
tions, and to reduce them (and this was deep
humiliation in their eyes) to an equality with,
the people of the low country, whom they
despised; but they did not discover, in the
means employed, either the sagacity or the
power which was to accomplish this fatal re-
volution. They continued accordingly to ad-
here to their ancient manners, and their jea*
d