HIGHLAND CHARACTER. LOCHABER. 71 



" To his blue hills that rose in view, 

 As o'er the deep his galley bore, 

 He often looked and sighed adieu ! 

 We'll never see Locliaber more !" 



The feelings of those exiles, who for years lingered in foreign lands with the 

 vague expectation of being restored to their native mountains, are the subject 

 of many sympathizing lays. The severe measures which were put in force 

 by government for the suppression of the insurrection, compelled great numbers 

 of the Highlanders to seek for refuge on the continent. Those who escaped 

 to France,* were chiefly of the upper class, and were consoled for the loss of 

 property and the ruin of their families, by escaping a tragical death on the scaffold, 

 while, at the same time, they were protected, and in many instances pensioned, 

 by the humane and liberal government of France. A sum was set apart for their 

 subsistence, and thus les braves Ecossais were supplied with every means of support, 

 and cheered by daily proofs of sympathy. The Dutch alone, on a demand of the 

 British minister, consented to deliver up twenty of the unhappy emigrants. But of 

 these one only was arrested ; the others escaped to countries of greater security.f 



It is worthy of record, that, during their exile, Cameron of Lochiel, Stewart 

 of Ardsheal, and others, whose estates had been confiscated, were still supported 

 by spontaneous contributions from their former tenantry, who, besides paying 

 one rent to government, reserved another for their chiefs, whose misfortunes 

 seemed only to add to the strength of their claims as landlords, and to the 

 affectionate attachment due to them as the hereditary leaders of their race. 

 Instances of this attachment are numerous, and reflect the highest honour on 

 the warm-hearted and faithful Highlanders. 



When the earl of Seaforth was in similar circumstances, after his attainder 

 in 1716, he experienced the same generous and disinterested fidelity. When 

 the rents were collected for the purpose of being sent to him in France, four 



was reserved for a more melancholy fate. " I remember," says the late Dr. Spence, " while a sch<jpl-boy at 

 Linlithgow, Dr. Cameron being brought into the town under an escort of dragoons. He wore a French 

 light-coloured great coat, and rode a grey pony, with his feet lashed to its sides ; but, considering his 

 situation and prospects, looked remarkably cheerful. As the party were to rest for the night, the prisoner 

 was placed for security in the common jail ; and well do I remember," continues Spence, " as I remained 

 with the crowd at the prison door, over-hearing the doctor within singing to himself his native song 

 ' Farewell to Lochaber,' 'we'll maybe return to Lochaber no more!' He was afterwards conveyed to 

 London, and suffered an ignominious death on Tower-hill. 



* Sens, in Burgundy, was one of the principal cities in which the Scottish emigres found a sanctuary, 

 and where their names still survive in their descendants. 



f Nothing proves more strongly the persevering vengeance of the British cabinet against those unhappy 

 fugitives, than the fact, that, after the lapse of thirteen years, the chevalier Johnston did not think himself 

 safe in Canada, and had serious apprehensions of being sent home for trial. 



