Part 20

In the year 1654 Seaforth led a body of his own men, with a part of the broken army under the command of Middleton, to Assynt and made great depredations, destroyed a very great quantity of wine and brandy, which the Laird of Assynt had bought, besides other commodities, in all to the value of 50,000 merks, out of a ship then on that coast, carrying off 2400 cows, 1500 horses, about 6000 sheep and goats, besides burning and destroying many families. Assynt was not liable in law to any such usage from them, having receipts from Seaforth and Lord Reay for his proportion of the levy appointed at that time for the King's service. When Middleton came to that country he declared that he had given no warrant for what Seaforth had done, and that in presence of Lord Macdonald and Sir George Munro, etc. When Assynt pursued Seaforth before the English judges of the time, Seaforth defeated his process by proving that Neil had been in arms against the English, and did then allege no cause for the injuries done by him to Assynt, except a private quarrel. But when Macleod afterwards, at the Restoration, pursued Seaforth, he alleged in defence that he had acted by a warrant from Middleton, who was then commissioner for the Parliament. But Neil says, if there was any such warrant it was certainly given after the injuries had been done to him. However, things stood then in such a way that Neil was not likely to procure any justice.

There was another claim which seems to have brought matters to a crisis. Macleod had become a party to a bond of caution granted by Ross of Little Tarrel in the sum of L150 sterling, for which, in 1656, an apprising was laid upon the estate of Assynt, at the instance of Sinclair of Mey, in Caithness, who subsequently assigned his claim to Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbat and John Mackenzie, second son of Kenneth Mor, third Earl of Seaforth, afterwards known as the Hon. John Mackenzie of Assynt. The matter was contested for a time, but "in the year 1668 or 1669 or 1670, the legal apprising being expired, decree of mails and duties was obtained upon the claim against the estate of Assynt and ejection against himself. Upon pursuing this ejection in 1671, several illegal steps were alleged against Assynt, particularly holding out the Castle of Ard-Bhreac against the King, and his otherwise violently opposing the ejection; whereupon Neil of Assynt, who it seems had been negligent in defending himself against the foresaid accusations, was denounced rebel, and a commission of fire and sword was obtained in July, 1672, against him and his people," granted to Lord Strathnaver, Lord Lovat, Munro of Fowlis, and others, who at once invaded his territories with a force of 2300 men "and committed the most horrid barbarities," until all the country of Assynt was destroyed.

After this raid Neil, "under the benefit of a protection," went to consult Seaforth, who gave him a certificate of having obeyed the King's laws, and fifteen days to consider a proposition which his lordship made to him to dispose of his estates to himself on certain conditions, and so settle the dispute between them for ever. But Macleod, considering that it was not safe for him to return to his own country, resolved to proceed to Edinburgh by sea, and to carry his charter chest along with him. "Seaforth being apprehensive, it seems, of the con-sequences of Assynt's going to Edinburgh, immediately entered into correspondence and concert about the matter with the Laird of Mey, in Caithness. The consequence was: Assynt being driven by unfavourable winds to the Orkneys the Laird of Mey, with a body of men, seized him there, to be sure under the notion of an outlaw, and, by commission from Seaforth, stripped him to his shirt, robbed him of everything, particularly of his charter chest, and of all the writs and evidents belonging to his family and estates, carried them to the castle of Mey; where he was kept prisoner in a vault. From thence he was carried prisoner, under a strong guard, to Tam, and at last to Brahan, Seaforth's house. In Brahan (to which place the charter chest was brought, as was afterwards proved in the Process of Spoilzie) Neil was many months detained prisoner in a vault, in most miserable circumstances, still threatened with worse usage if he would not agree to subscribe a blank paper, probably designed for a disposition of his estates, which was, it seems, the great thing designed to be procured from him by all this bad usage. At last Neil was brought south to Edinburgh, where he arrived after being in thirteen or fourteen prisons, and in the end he obtained the remission formerly mentioned," for the offence of defending the Castle of Assynt, and all the other crimes that were alleged against him.

His apologist makes out a strong case for him, if half his allegations are true. In any case it is but fair to state them. Neil was in prison, according to the "Information," when the ejection proceedings were carried out against him. He was ignorant of the legal steps taken against him until it was too late, and, in consequence of his great distance from Edinburgh, he was unable to correspond with his legal advisers there in time for his defence. His messengers, carrying his correspondence, were more than once seized, on their way south, and imprisoned at Chanonry. When in the south, the contributions of his friends towards his support and the expenses of his defence were intercepted, and his people at home were put to great hardships by their new master, the Hon. John Mackenzie, "for any inclination to succour him in his distress." "By all these means, the unfortunate gentleman was reduced to great poverty and misery, and was disabled from procuring the interest or affording the expense needful in order to obtain justice against such potent adversaries." And "it was easy for them (the Mackenzies), being now possessed of his estate, to get in old unjust patched claims from such as had them, and being possessed of his charter chest and the retired vouchers of debts therein contained, by all these means, to make additional titles to the estate of Assynt, while he, poor gentleman, besides his other misfortunes, was deprived of his writs and of all his evidences needful to be produced in his defence against the claims of his adversaries." If a tithe of all this is true poor Neil deserves to be pitied indeed. But after giving such a long catalogue of charges, involving the most cruel and deceitful acts against the Mackenzies, the author of them is himself doubtful about their accuracy, for he says that, although the Mackenzies, after possessing the estates, had all the advantages and means for doing the unjust things which he alleges against them of inventing new claims and additional titles, "it is not pretended to be now told what additional titles they made" - an admission which largely discounts and disposes of the other charges made by Macleod's apologist. And, notwithstanding all his disadvantages and difficulties, Neil made another effort "towards obtaining justice to himself and his family"; and to that end, in 1679 and 1680, he commenced a new process against Seaforth and all others "whom he knew to have or pretended to have" claims against him or his estate. It was, however, objected (1) that he had no title in his own person to the lands of Assynt, and (2) that he was at the horn and had no personam standi in judices. Neil made "very pertinent" answers to these objections in 1682, but he was wisely advised to stop the proceedings of reduction, and to commence a Process of Spulzie against the Earl Sinclair, of Mey, the Laird of Dunbeath, and others. Seaforth having died while these proceedings were pending, there appears in process an Oath by his successor, "who swears that he not then nor formerly had the charter chest, nor knew what was become of it; and as he was not charged with having a hand in the Spulzie he was freed thereof and of the consequences of it, by their Lordships. Neil having given in an inventory of the writs contained in his chest, his oath in litem was taken thereanent, and he referred his expenses and damages to the judgment of the Lords," with the result that, in 1692, they decerned in his favour for the sum of two thousand pounds Scots, in name of damages and expenses, to be paid to him by the defenders, and at the same time superseding his further claim until he should give in more particulars regarding it. He assigned this decree to his nephew, Captain Donald Macleod of Geanies, and it remained as the basis of the process which was raised by Norman Macleod, XIX. of Macleod, in 1738, already referred to "for what thereof is unpaid." But Neil, "being unable by unparalleled bad usage, trouble, and poverty, and at length by old age, it does not appear that lie went any further towards obtaining of justice for himself than what is above narrated in relation to the process of reduction and Spulzie"; and that his friends failed in their subsequent efforts to punish Mackenzie or re-possess themselves of the Assynt estates is sufficiently well-known. [For Neil's connection with the Betrayal of Montrose see Mackenzie's "History of the Macleods," pp. 410-419.]

In 1648 Seaforth again raised a body of 4000 men in the Western Islands and Ross-shire, whom he led south, to aid the King's cause, but after joining in a few skirmishes under Lanark, they returned home to "cut their corn which was now ready for their sickles." During the whole of this period Seaforth's fidelity to the Royal cause was open to considerable suspicion, and when Charles I. threw himself into the hands of the Scots at Newark, and ordered Montrose to disband his forces, Earl George, always trying to be on the winning side, came in to Middleton, and made terms with the Committee of Estates; but the Church, by whom he had previously been excommunicated, continued implacable, and would only agree to be satisfied by a public penance in sackcloth within the High Church of Edinburgh. The proud Earl consented, underwent this ignominious and degrading ceremonial, and his sentence of excommunication was then removed. Notwithstanding this public humiliation, after the death of the ill-fated and despotic Charles I., Seaforth, in 1649, went over to Holland, and joined Charles II., by whom he was made Principal Secretary of State for Scotland, the duties of which, however, he never had the opportunity of performing.

Charles was proclaimed King on the 5th of February, 1649, in Edinburgh, and it was decided by him and his friends in exile that Montrose should make a second attempt to recover Scotland; for, on the advice of his friends, Charles declined the humiliating terms offered him by the Scottish faction, and, in connection with the plans of Montrose, a rising took place in the North, under Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine, brother to the Earl of Seaforth, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, Colonel John Munro of Lemlair, and Colonel Hugh Fraser. On the 22d February they entered Inverness, expelled the troops from the garrison, and afterwards demolished the walls and fortifications. On the 26th of February a Council of War was held, present - Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine, Preses, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, H. Fraser of Belladrum, Jo. Cuthbert of Castlehill, R. Mackenzie, of Davochmaluak; Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch, R. Mackenzie of Redcastle, John Munro of Lumlair, Simon Fraser of Craighouse, and Alex. Mackenzie of Suddie.

This Committee made certain enactments, by which they took the customs and excise of the six northern counties entirely into their own hands. The Provost of Inverness was made accountable "for all the money which, under the name of excise, has been taken up in any of the foresaid shires since his intromissions with the office of excise taking." Another item is that Duncan Forbes be pleased to advance money "upon the security which the Committee will grant to him," to be repaid out of the readiest of the "maintaince and excise." Cromarty House was ordered to be put in a position of defence, for which it was "requisite that some faill be cast and led," and all Sir James Fraser's tenants within the parishes of Cromarty and Cullicudden, together with those of the laird of Findrassie, within the parish of Rosemarkie, were ordered "to afford from six hours in the morning to six hours at night, and one horse out of every oxengait daily for the space of four days, to lead the same faill to the House of Cromarty." By the tenth enactment the Committee find it expedient for their safety that the works and forts of Inverness be demolished and levelled to the ground, and they ordain that each person appointed to this work shall complete his proportion thereof before the 4th day of March following "under pain of being quartered upon, aud until the said task be performed." They further enact that a garrison be placed in Culloden House, "which the Committee is not desirous of for any intention of harm towards the disturbance of the owner, but merely because of the security of the garrison of Calder, which, if not kept in good order, is like to infest all the well-affected of the country circumjacent." [For these minutes see "Antiquarian Notes," pp. 157-8.] General Leslie having been sent against them, they retired to the mountains of Ross, when Leslie advanced to Fortrose and placed a garrison in the castle. He made terms with all the other leaders except Pluscardine, who would not listen to any accommodation, and who, immediately on Leslie's return south, descended from his mountain fastnesses, attacked and re-took the Castle of Chanonry.

Pluscardine was then joined by his nephew, Lord Reay, at the head of three hundred men, which increased his force to eight or nine hundred. General Middleton and Lord Ogilvie, having brought up their forces, Mackenzie advanced into Badenoch, with the view of raising the people in that and the neighbouring districts, where he was joined by the Marquis of Huntly, formerly Lord Lewis Gordon, and they at once attacked and took the Castle of Ruthven. After this they were pressed closely by Leslie, and fell down from Badenoch to Balvenny Castle, whence they sent General Middleton and Mackenzie to treat with Leslie, but before they reached their destination, Carr, Halket, and Strachan, who had been in the North, made a rapid march from Fortrose, and on the 8th of May surprised Lord Reay with his nine hundred followers at Balvenny, with considerable loss on both sides. Eighty Royalists fell in the defence of the castle. Carr at once dismissed the Highlanders to their homes on giving their oath never again to take up arms against the Parliament, but he detained Lord Reay and some of his kinsmen, Mackenzie of Redcastle, and a few leaders of that name, and sent them prisoners to Edinburgh. Having there given security to keep the peace in future, Lord Reay, Ogilvy, Huntly, and Middleton were forgiven, and allowed to return home, Roderick Mackenzie of Redcastle, being the only one kept in prison, until he was some time after released, through the influence of Argyll, on payment of a fine of seven thousand merks Scots.

Carr now returned to Ross and laid siege to Redcastle, the only stronghold in the North which still held out for the Royal cause. The officer in charge recklessly exposed himself on the ramparts, and was pulled down by a well-directed shot from the enemy. The castle was set on fire by the exasperated soldiers. Leslie then placed a garrison in Brahan and Chanonry Castles, and returned south. The garrisons were then expelled, some of the men hanged, the walls demolished, and the fortifications razed to the ground. Thus ended an insurrection which probably would have had a very different result had it been delayed until the arrival of Montrose. The same year General Leslie himself came to Fortrose with nine troops of horse, and forwarded detachments to Cromarty and "Seaforth's strongest hold" of Ellandonnan Castle.

The following account of this period by a contemporary writer is very interesting: "Immediately after the battle of Auldearn Seaforth met and communed with Montrose, the result of which was that Seaforth should join Montrose, for the King against the Parliament and States, whom they now discovered not to be for the King as they professed; but in the meantime that Seaforth should not appear, till he had called upon and prevailed with his neighbours about him, namely, My Lord Reay, Balnagown, Lovat, Sir James Macdonald of Sleat, Macleod of Dunvegan, and others, to join him and follow him as their leader. Accordingly, Seaforth having called them together, pointed out to them the condition the King was in, and how it was their interest to rise and join together immediately for his Majesty's service and relief. All of them consented and approved of the motion, only some of them desired that the Parliament who professed to be for the King as well as they, and desired to be rid of Montrose and his bloody Irish, should first be made acquainted with their resolution. Seaforth, being unwilling to lose any of them, condescended, and drew up a declaration, which was known as Seaforth's Remonstrance, as separate from Montrose, whereof a double was sent them; but the Parliament was so far from being pleased therewith that they threatened to proclaim Seaforth and all who should join him as rebels. Now, after the battle of Alford and Kilsyth, wherein Montrose was victorious, and all in the south professing to submit to him as the King's Lieutenant, he was by the treachery of Traquair and others of the Covenanters, surprised and defeated at Philiphaugh. In the beginning of the next year, 1646, he came north to recruit his army. Seaforth raised his men and advertised his foresaid neighbours to come, but none came except Sir James Macdonald, who, with Seaforth, joined Montrose at Inverness, which they besieged, but Middleton, who then served in the Scots armies in England, being sent with nearly 1000 horse and 800 foot, coming suddenly the length of Inverness, stopped Montrose's progress. Montrose was forced to raise the siege and quit the campaign, and retired with Seaforth and Sir James Macdonald to the hills of Strathglass, to await the arrival of the rest of their confederates, Lord Reay, Glengarry, Maclean, and several others, who, with such as were ready to join him south, were likely to make a formidable army for the King but, in the meantime, the King having come to the Scots army, the first thing they extorted from him was to send a herald to Montrose, commanding him to disband his forces, and to pass over to France till his Majesty's further pleasure. The herald came to him in the last of May, 1646, while he was at Strathglass waiting the rest of the King's faithful friends who were to join him. For this Montrose was vexed, not only for the King's condition, but for those of his faithful subjects who declared themselves for him and before he would disband he wrote several times to the King, but received no answer, except some articles from the Parliament and Covenanters, which after much reluctance, he was forced to accept, by which he was to depart the Kingdom against the first of September following, and the Covenanters were obliged to provide a ship for his transportation, but finding that they neglected to do so, meeting with a Murray ship in the harbour of Montrose, he went aboard of her with several of his friends, namely, Sir John Hurry, who served the States the year before, John Drummond, Henry Brechin, George Wishart, and several others, leaving Seaforth and the rest of his friends to the mercy of these implacable enemies; for the States and Parliament threatened to forfeit him for acting contrary to their orders, and the Kirk excommunicated him for joining with the excommunicated traitor, as they called him, James Graham; for now the Kirk began to rule with a high hand, becoming more guilty than the bishops, of that of which they charged him with as great a fault for meddling with civil and secular affairs; for they not only looked upon them to form the army and to purge it of such as whom, in their idiom, they called Malignants, but really such as were loyal to the King; and also would have no Acts of Parliament to pass without their consent and approbation. Their proselytes in the laity were also heavy upon and uneasy to such as they found or conceived to have found with a tincture of Malignancy, whereof many instances might be given." But to return to Seaforth. "After he was excommunicated by the Kirk he was obliged to go to Edinburgh, where he was made prisoner and detained two years, till in the end he was, with much ado, released from the sentence of excommunication, and the process of forfeiture against him discharged; for that time he returned home in the end of the year, 1648, but King Charles I. being before that time murdered, and King Charles II. being in France, finding that he would not be for any time on fair terms with the States and Kirk, he proposed to remove his family to the Island of Lewis, and dwell there remote from public affairs, and to allocate his rents on the mainland to pay his most pressing debts, in order to which, having sent his lady in December to Lochcarron, where boats were attending to transport himself and children to the Lewis by way of Lochbroom, wherein his affairs called him, he, without acquainting his kinsmen and friends, went aboard a ship which he had provided for that purpose, and sailed to France, where the King was, who received him most graciously and made him one of his secretaries. This did incense the States against him, so that they placed a garrison in his principal house at Brahan, under the command of Captain Scott, who (afterwards) broke his neck from a fall from his horse in the Craigwood of Chanonry, as also another garrison in the Castle of Ellandonnan, under the command of one William Johnston, which remained to the great hurt and oppression of the people till, in the year 1650, some of the Kintail men, not bearing the insolence of the garrison soldiers, discorded with them, and in harvest that year killed John Campbell, a leading person among them, with others, for having wounded several at little Inverinate, without one drop of blood drawn out of the Kintail men, who were only 10 in number, while the soldiers numbered 30. After this the garrison was very uneasy and greatly afraid of the Kintail men, who threatened them so, that shortly thereafter they removed to Ross, being commanded then by one James Chambers; but Argyll, to keep up the face of a garrison there, sent ten men under the command of John Muir, who lived there civilly without molesting the people, the States were so incensed against the Kintail men for this brush and their usage of the garrison, that they resolved to send a strong party next spring to destroy Kintail and the inhabitants thereof. But King Charles II., after the defeat of Dunbar, being at Stirling recruiting his army against Cromwell, to which Seaforth's men were called, it proved an act of oblivion and indemnity to them, so that the Kintail men were never challenged for their usage of the garrison soldiers. Though the Earl of Seaforth was out of the kingdom, he gave orders to his brother Pluscardine to raise men for the King's service whenever he saw the King's affairs required it; and so, in the year 1649, Pluscardine did raise Seaforth's men and my Lord Reay joining him with his men, marched through Inverness, went through Moray, and crossed the Spey, being resolved to join the Gordons, Atholes, and several others who were ready to rise, and appeared for the King. Lesley, who was sent from the Parliament to stop their progress, called Pluscardine to treat with him, while Seaforth's and my Lord Reay's men encamped at Balveny, promising a cessation of hostilities. For some days Colonel Carr and Strachan, with a strong body of horse, surprised them in their camp, when they lay secure, and taking my Lord Reay, Rory Mackenzie of Redcastle, Rory Mackenzie of Fairburn, John Mackenzie of Ord, and others, prisoners, threatening to kill them unless the men surrendered and disbanded; and the under officers fearing they would kill them whom they had taken prisoners, did their utmost to hinder the Highlanders from fighting, cutting their bowstrings, etc., so they were forced to disband and dissipate. Pluscardine, in the meantime, being absent from them, and fearing to fall into their hands, turned back to Spey with Kenneth of Coul, William Mackenzie of Multavie, and Captain Alexander Bain, and swam the river, being then high by reason of the rainy weather, and so escaped from their implacable enemies. My Lord Reay, Red-castle, and others were sent to Edinburgh as prisoners, as it were to make a triumph, where a solemn day of thanksgiving was kept for that glorious victory. My Lord Reay and the rest were set at liberty, but Redcastle was still kept prisoner, because when he came from home he garrisoned his house of Redcastle, giving strict commands to those he placed in his house not to render or give it until they had seen an order under his hand, whereupon Colonel Carr and Strachan coming to Ross, after the defeat of Balvenny, summoned the garrison to come forth, but all in vain; for they obstinately defended the house against the besiegers until, on a certain day, a cousin of Carr's advancing in the ruff of his pride, with his cocked carbine in his hand, to the very gates of the castle, bantering and threatening those within to give up the castle under all highest pain and danger, he was shot from within and killed outright. This did so grieve and incense Colonel Carr, that he began fairly to capitulate with them within, and made use of Redcastle's own friends to mediate and persuade them, till in the end, upon promise and assurance of fair terms, and an indemnity of what passed, they came out, and then Carr and his party kept not touches with them, but, apprehending several of them, and finding who it was that killed his cousin, caused him to be killed, and thereafter, contrary to the promise and articles of capitulation, rifled the house, taking away what he found useful, and then burnt the house and all that was within it. In the meantime Redcastle was kept prisoner at Edinburgh, none of his friends being in a condition to plead for him, till Ross of Bridly, his uncle by his mother, went south, and being in great favour with Argyll, obtained Redcastle's liberation upon payment of 7000 merks fine." [Ardintoul MS.]

While these proceedings were taking place in the Highlands, Seaforth was in Holland at the exiled Court of Charles II., and when Montrose arrived there Seaforth earnestly supported him in urging on the King the bold and desperate policy of throwing himself on the loyalty of his Scottish subjects, and in strongly protesting against the acceptance by his Majesty and his friends of the arrogant and humiliating demand made by the commissioners sent over to treat with him by the Scottish faction. It is difficult to say whether Seaforth's zeal for his Royal master or the safety of his own person influenced him most during the remainder of his life, but whatever the cause, he adhered steadfastly to the exiled monarch to the end of a life which, in whatever light it may be viewed, cannot be commended as a good example to others. Such vacillating and time-serving conduct ended in the only manner which it deserved. He might have been admired for taking a consistent part on either side, but with Earl George self-preservation and interest appear to have been the only governing principles throughout the whole of this trying period of his country's history. The Earl of Cromarty thought differently, and says that "this George, being a nobleman of excellent qualifications, shared the fortune of his Prince, King Charles I., for whom he suffered all the calamities in his estate that envious or malicious enemies could inflict. He was made secretary to King Charles II. in Holland, but died in that banishment before he saw an end of his King and his country's calamities or of his own injuries." We have seen that his conduct was by no means steadfast in support of Charles, and it may now be safely asserted that his calamities were due more to his own indecision and accommodating character than to any other cause.

Earl George married early in life, Barbara, daughter of Arthur Lord Forbes (sasine to her in 1637) with issue -

I. Kenneth Mor, his heir and successor.

II. Colin, who has a sasine in 1648, but died young and unmarried.

III. George of Kildun, who married, first, Mary daughter of Skene of Skene, with issue - (1) Kenneth, who went abroad and was no more heard of; (2) Isobel; and several others who died young. He married, secondly, Margaret, daughter of Urquhart of Craighouse, with issue - Colin of Kildun and several other children of whom no trace can be found. All his descendants are said to be extinct.

IV. Colin, who has a sasine of Kinachulladrum in 1721, as "only child now in life, and heir of his brother Roderick." He married Jean, daughter of Robert Laurie, Dean of Edinburgh, with issue - (1) Captain Robert Mackenzie, killed in Flanders, without issue, Colin married, secondly, Lady Herbertshire, with issue, (2) Dr George Mackenzie, who, in 1708, wrote a manuscript "History of the Fitzgeralds and Mackenzies," frequently quoted in this work, and "Lives of Eminent Scotsmen." He, with his father sold the estate of Kinachulladrum to Roderick Mackenzie, IV. of Applecross, in 1721, and died without issue. (3) Barbara, who married Patrick Oliphant.

V. Roderick, I. of Kinachulladrum, who married, first, Anna, daughter of Ogilvie of Glencairn, in 1668 (sasine 1670), with issue - (1) Alexander, II. of Kinachulladrum, who married Anne, daughter of Alexander Mackenzie, III. of Applecross (marriage contract 1707), with issue - Anne, his only child alive in 1766; (2) Kenneth, who died without issue; and two daughters. Roderick married, secondly, Catherine Scougall, daughter of the Bishop of Aberdeen, with issue, all of whom died young.

VI. Jean, who married, first, John Earl of Mar, with issue; and, secondly, Lord Fraser.

VII. Margaret, who married Sir William Sinclair of Mey, with issue.

VIII. Barbara, who married Sir John Urquhart of Cromarty.

IX. John, first of Gruinard, a natural son whose illegitimacy is fully established in the chapter dealing with the Chiefship of the clan. When his Lordship received the news of the disastrous defeat of the King's forces at Worcester he fell into a profound melancholy and died in 1651, at Schiedam in Holland - where he had lived in exile since the beginning of January, 1649 - in the forty-third year of his age. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

XV. KENNETH MOR, THIRD EARL OF SEAFORTH,

Kenneth was born at Brahan Castle in 1635, and when he was five or six years old his father placed him under the care of the Rev. Farquhar Macrae, minister of Kintail, and constable of Ellandonnan Castle, who had a seminary in his house which was attended by the sons of the neighbouring gentry, who kept young Kintail company. One of the manuscript historians of the family, referring to this practical early training of his Lordship, says - "This might be thought a preposterous and wrong way to educate a nobleman, but they who would consider where the most of his interest lay, and how he was among his people, followers, and dependants, on which the family was still valued, perhaps will not think so, for by this the young lord had several advantages; first, by the wholesome, though not delicate or too palatable diet he prescribed to him and used him with, he began to have a wholesome complexion, so nimble and strong, that he was able to endure Stress and fatigue, labour and travel, which proved very useful to him in his after life; secondly, he did not only learn the language but became thoroughly acquainted with and learned the genius of his several tribes or clans of his Highlanders, so that afterwards he was reputed to be the fittest chief or chieftain of all superiors in the Highlands and Isles of Scotland; and thirdly, the early impressions of being among them, and acquaint with the bounds, made him delight and take pleasure to be often among them and to know their circumstances, which indeed was his interest and part of their happiness, so that it was better to give him that first step of education than that which would make him a stranger at home, both as to his people, estate, and condition but when he was taken from Mr Farquhar to a public school, he gave great evidence of his abilities and inclination for learning, and being sent in the year 1651 to the King's College at Aberdeen, under the discipline of Mr Patrick Sandylands, before he was well settled or made any progress in his studies King Charles II., after his army had been defeated at Dunbar the year before, being then at Stirling recruiting and making up his army, with which he was resolved to march into England, the young laird was called home in his father's absence, who was left in Holland (as already described), to raise his men for the King's service, and so went straight to Kintail with the particular persons of his name, viz., the Lairds of Pluscardine and Lochslinn, his uncles; young Tarbat, Rory of Davochmaluag, Kenneth of Coul, Hector of Fairburn, and several others, but the Kintail men, when called upon, made a demur and declined to rise with him, because he was but a child, and that his father, their master, was in life, without whom they would not move, since the King, if he had use for him and for his followers, might easily bring him home." [Ardintoul MS.]

Kenneth, like his father in later years, became identified with the fate of Charles II., and devoted himself unremittingly to the services of that monarch during his exile. From his great stature he was known among the Highlanders as "Coinneach Mor." On the arrival of the King at Garmouth, in June, 1650, his reception throughout all Scotland was of a most cheering character, but the Highlanders, who always favoured the Stuarts, were specially joyous on the return of their exiled king. After the defeat by Oliver Cromwell of the Scottish army at Dunbar - a defeat brought about by the interference of the Committee of Estates and the Kirk with the duties of those in charge of the forces, and whose plans, were they allowed to carry them out, would have saved Scotland from the first great defeat it had ever received at the hands of an enemy - the King resolved to come north and throw himself upon the patriotism and loyalty or his Highland subjects. He was, however, captured and taken back to Perth, and afterwards to Edinburgh, by the Committee of Estates, on whom, it is said, his attempted escape to the Highlands "produced a salutary effect;" and they began to treat him with some respect, going the length even of admitting him to their deliberations. A large number of the Highlanders were already in arms to support him; but the Committee, having the King in their power, induced him to write to the Highland chiefs requesting them to lay down their arms. This they refused, and to enforce the King's orders a regiment, under Sir John Drown, was despatched to the North, but it was surprised and defeated on the night of the 21st of October by Sir David Ogilvy of Airley. On receiving this intelligence, General Leslie hastened north with a force of 3000 cavalry. General Middleton, who supported the King's friends in the Highlands, and who was then at Forfar, hearing of Leslie's advance, forwarded him a letter containing a copy of a bond and oath of engagement which had been entered into by Huntly, Athole, the Earl of Seaforth, and other leading Highland chiefs, by which they had pledged themselves on oath to join firmly and faithfully together, and "neither for fear, threatening, allurement, nor advantage, to relinquish the cause of religion, of the king, and of the kingdom, nor to lay down their arms without a general consent; and as the best undertakings did not escape censure and malice, they promised and swore, for the satisfaction of all reasonable persons, that they would maintain the true religion, as then established in Scotland, the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant, and defend the person of the King, his prerogative, greatness, and authority, and the privileges of parliament, and the freedom of the subject." Middleton pointed out that the only object of himself and friends was to unite the Scots in the defence of their common rights, and that, as would be seen from this bond, the grounds on which they entered into association were exactly the same as those professed by Leslie himself. Considering this, and seeing that the independence of Scotland was at stake, he urged that all Scotsmen should join for the preservation of their common liberties. Middleton proposed to join Leslie, to place himself under his command, and expressed a hope that he would not shed the blood of his countrymen nor force them to shed the blood of their bethren in self-defence. These communications ended in a treaty between Leslie and the leading Royalists at Strathbogie, dated 4th November, by which Middleton and his followers received an indemnity, and laid down their arms. ["Balfour," vol, iv., p. 129. "Highland Clans," p. 285]

Immediately after the battle of Worcester, at which Charles was defeated by Cromwell in 1651 - where we find among those present Thomas Mackenzie of Pluscardine as one of the Colonels of foot for Inverness and Ross, and Alexander Cam Mackenzie, fourth son of Alexander, fifth of Gairloch - Charles fled to the Continent, and, after many severe hardships and narrow escapes, he found refuge in Flanders, where he continued to reside, often in great want and distress, until the Restoration, when in May, 1660, he returned to England "indolent, selfish, unfeeling, faithless, ungrateful, and insensible to shame or reproach." The Earl of Cromarty says that subsequent to the treaty agreed upon between Middleton and Leslie at Strathbogie, "Seaforth joined the King at Stirling. After the fatal battle of Worcester he continued a close prisoner until the Restoration of Charles." He was excepted from Oliver Cromwell's Act of Grace and Pardon in 1654, and his estates were forfeited, without any provision being allowed out of it for his wife and family. He supported the King's cause as long as there was an opportunity of fighting for it in the field, and when forced to submit to the opposing forces of Cromwell and the Commonwealth, he was committed to prison, where, with "much firmness of mind and nobility of soul," he endured a tedious captivity for many years, until Charles II. was recalled, when he ordered his old and faithful friend Seaforth to be released, after which he became a great favourite at his licentious and profligate Court.

During the remainder of his life little or nothing of any importance is known of him, except that he lived in the favour and merited smiles of his sovereign, in the undisputed possession and enjoyment of the extensive estates and honours of his noble ancestors, which, through his faithful adherence to the House of Stuart, had been nearly lost during the exile of the second Charles and his own captivity. Referring to the position of affairs at this period, the Laird of Applecross says that the "rebels, possessing the authority, oppressed all the loyal subjects, and him with the first; his estate was over-burthened to its destruction, but nothing could deter him so as to bring him to forsake his King or his duty. Whenever any was in the field for him, he was one, seconding that falling cause with all his power, and when he was not in the field against the enemy, he was in the prison by him until the restoration of the King." Restored to liberty, he, on the 23d of April, 1662, received a Commission of the Sheriffship of Ross, which was afterwards renewed to him and to his eldest son Kenneth, jointly, on 31st of July, 1675; and when he had set his affairs in order at Brahan, he re-visited Paris, leaving his Countess Isobel, daughter of Sir John Mackenzie of Tarbat, and sister to the first Earl of Cromarty, in charge of his interests in the North.

Kenneth married early in life Isobel, daughter of Sir John Mackenzie of Tarbat, father of George, first Earl of Cromarty, with issue -

I. Kenneth Og, his heir and successor.