;i8 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 104., Dec. 26. '57. 



author. Fat, pompous, and rather heavy, he 

 looks like one who, if he took flattery at all, 

 would wish it strong, and he certainly had enough 

 to kill any ordinary man, if it did not make him 

 sick. 



Dr. Eyre probably saw some other book on 

 the same day, describing the ship that was to go 

 against wind and tide, and jumbled the two in his 

 memory. For that he may be excused, but not 

 for calling an author of whom he knew only what 

 was told him, and forgot much of that, a High 

 Dutch quack. H. B. C. 



U. U. Club. 



NOTES ON REGIMENTS : ARMY MOVEMENTS. 



• • (2"" S. iv. 437.) 



It is not, perhaps, generally known that the 

 78th Highlanders, the regiment which has so dis- 

 tinguished itself at Cawnpore and elsewhere, 

 under the gallant Havelock, is of old renown in 

 East Indian warfare. The original denomination 

 of the regiment was the Seaforth Highlanders, or 

 the 78th of the line, and it was raised in 1778 by 

 the restored Earl of Seaforth from his estates, in 

 gratitude for the favours conferred upon him by 

 his sovereign. About a thousand men were then 

 enlisted in Rosshire, from among the Mackenzies 

 and the Macraes, and the latter clansmen formed 

 so large a portion of the corps that it became 

 known by their name. A strange affair occurred 

 at Edinburgh after their enrolment, and it was 

 called the " Affair of the wild Macraws" Men 

 lately living talked of it, and remembered it well. 

 The soldiers composing the regiment had bound 

 themselves to serve only for a limited period of 

 three years, and had made it a condition that they 

 were not to be sent out of Britain. 



"In fact," says Smibert, in his Clans of the High- 

 lands of Scotland, " having usuall}' their natural chieftains 

 for their colonels, the regiments rather looked upon them- 

 selves as having engaged to follow their superiors tem- 

 porarily to war in the old v/ay,than as having regularly 

 entered the service of their king and government. Hence 

 the strong sensation that was excited among the Seaford 

 Highlanders when the rumour spread abroad that thej- 

 were in reality destined for service in the East Indies : 

 in short, that they had been expressly sold to the East 

 India Company bj' the government, and by their own 

 officers. In consequence the greater number of the men 

 (about 600) mutinied, and refused to embark, demand- 

 ing full satisfaction as to their intended scene of service 

 before they set foot on board the transports. Compul- 

 sion was impossible. The men were a powerful and de- 

 termined band, amply provided with fire-arms, as well as 

 the means of using them. With the view of placing 

 themselves in some strong position for defence, they 

 marched in regular order to Arthur's Seat, with two 

 plaids fixed in poles instead of colours, and the pipes play- 

 ing at their head. In this position they remained for 

 three days and nights, refusing all overtures to yield 

 until they received some pledge, of undeniable validity, 

 that the promises originally made to them would be fulfil- 



led. At length the authorities came to the resolution of 

 granting the demands of the insurgents, and a bond was 

 drawn up containing the following conditions : — Firstly, a 

 pardon to the Highlanders for all past offences ; secondly, 

 all levy-money and arrears due to them to be paid be- 

 fore embarkation ; thirdly, that they should not be sent 

 to the East Indies. This bond was signed bj' the Duke 

 of Buccleugh, the Earl of Dunmore, Sir Adolphus Ough- 

 ton, and General Skene. On Tuesday morning, Sept. 29, 

 1778, the band who had created this extraordinary dis- 

 turbance assembled, according to orders, in front of Holy- 

 rood Palace, and with the Earl of Seaforth and General 

 Skene at their head, marched to Leith, where, in presence 

 of an immense multitude, they went on board the trans- 

 ports with the utmost alacrity and cheerfulness, and set 

 sail for Guernsey, to which they might be carried without 

 infraction of the compact made with them. The Seaforth 

 Highlands, or 78th foot, having satisfied themselves that 

 they were not to be sold to the East India Company, vo- 

 luntarilj' offered to go abroad, and on the 1st of May, 

 1781, embarked for the East Indies, whither their chief 

 accompanied them. Thej' served their country bravely 

 in that region, and afterwards in many other quarters of 

 the globe." 



J. M. 



CHAIRMAN S SECOND OR CASTING VOTE. 



(2"'^ S. iv. 268. 419.) 



In some institutions a second vote is given to 

 the chairman, to make a majority ; but it is objec- 

 tionable because it makes him equal to two of his 

 coadjutors, and it is doubtful if a point so decided 

 would stand good in law. Christian (note on 

 Blackstone, i. 181.), says — 



" In the House of Commons the Speaker never votes 

 but when there is an equality without his casting vote, 

 which, in that case, creates a majority ; but the Speaker 

 of the House of Lords has no casting vote, but his vote is 

 counted with the rest of the House ; and in the case of an 

 equality, the noncontents, or negative voices, have the 

 same effect and operation as if thej- were in fact a ma- 

 joritjV (Lorcif' Jbar, June 25, 1661.). . . . "There is no 

 casting voice in courts of justice ; but in the Superior 

 Courts, if the judges are equally divided, there is no de- 

 cision, and the cause is continued in court till a majority 

 concur. At the Sessions the justices, in case of equality, 

 ought to respite the matter till the next Sessions ; but if 

 thej' are equal one day, and the matter is duly brought 

 before them on another day in the same Sessions, and if 

 there is then an inequality, it will amount to a judgment : 

 for all the time of the Sessions is considered but as one 

 day." . ..." A casting [second] vote neither exists in 

 corporations nor elsewhere, unless it is expressly given 

 by statute or charter, or, what is equivalent, exists by 

 immemorial usage, and in such cases it cannot be created 

 by a bye-law." (6 T. R. 732.) 



It will be seen from the above that in the Lords 

 there is perfect equality — all are peers — and the 

 Speaker has not even the control on questions of 

 forms of proceeding. In the Commons, the 

 Speaker, being approved by the Crown, has no 

 vote, except in cases of equality, and cannot give 

 his opinion or argue any question in the House, 

 but his voice is imperative on questions of order of 

 proceedings. 



