Historical memoirs of Rob Roy and the Clan Macgregor

23O MEMOIR OF ROB ROY.
ure was appointed factor over the estate of
Ardsheal, which had been confiscated after
that period ; and being supposed partial, he
removed some old tenants from the lands
to give place to others of his own choos-
ing. This was resented by an assassin named
Allan Breck Stewart, who waylaid Campbell,
and shot him, in May 1752, and immediately
fled to France. James Stewart was supposed
to be accessory. He was taken up without
legal warrant, carried to Inverary, and though
no proof was adduced, condemned to death and
to be hung in chains, by the Duke of Argyll,
as Lord Justice-General, and a jury, of whom
eleven were Campbells, and under the Duke's
authority. It would seem as if government,
afterwards blushing for the cruelty of the deed,
were desirous of bringing the actual murderer,
Allan Stewart, to justice ; and as it was known
that he had taken refuge in France, the pro-
posal was made to James Macgregor, when he
was discovered likewise to be in that country,
that if he would seize this Allan Breck, and
bring him to Britain, he should himself receive
a pardon, and be allowed to return to his
country and family. But as Macgregor's origi-
nal letters, lately in the author's custody, will