Lairds of Glenlyon

THE LAIRDS OF GLENLYON. 63
enough justify to himself the horrible cruelty of the means,
by the importance of the results to the well-being of society,
ten times better after the massacre than before its commis-
sion. But there was one man engaged in the affair — who,
though concealed, was chief actor — that had every reason
to be displeased with the result, and that was Breadalbane.
He had made himself extremely active on the side of
William at the conclusion of the war in 1691. The King
placed ;£i 5,000 at his disposal to bring the Jacobite chiefs
to reason. He held a meeting of them at Achalader, in the
Braes of Glenorchy, on the 30th June, 1691. M'lan at-
tended this meeting, and quarrelled with the Earl about
the reparation which the latter demanded from him, for
having plundered his lands. M'lan denounced the treach-
erous character of the Earl to the other chiefs, and was
the principal cause of making the negotiations come to
nothing. Further, he threatened to expose his conduct to
Government, and show, that, though he was Willie's man
in Edinburgh, he was Jamie's in the Highlands. The
charge was well founded enough, as subsequent events
show, though Breadalbane sheltered himself for the time
under the permission of the King authorising him to act
this double part. In addition to the new insult, the more
intolerable to the Earl because he felt it was merited,
the M'lans had been, with the other M'Donald's, harrying
Breadalbane when the battle of Stronclachan was fought,
in which the Earl lost eighteen of his nearest kinsmen.
Besides, the position of Glencoe rendered the M'lans a
perpetual thorn in his side. If he hoped for success in
the complicated intrigues in which he was about to engage,
for bringing about another revolution, and making him-