92 THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES. 



conduct of the proprietor towards them as harsh ; but they 

 thought that the Court of Session writs should be peaceably 

 accepted. The Amazons, 'however, thought otherwise, and 

 they expressed in no qualified terms their intention to resist. 



Those who suffered in spring are looked upon as heroes 

 and martyrs, and some feel themselves driven to such a 

 state of desperation and exasperation that they are well nigh 

 indifferent as to what may happen. " Whatever becomes of 

 us," they say, " we cannot he worse off than we are." The 

 application of force may crush them individually, but in the 

 present frame of mind of these people, force will be no more 

 a remedy in the Braes than in Ireland ; and I am satisfied 

 that any attempt at evicting them, or selling them out, with- 

 out some attempt at an amicable settlement, will be attended 

 with some rough work. 



The officers were re-called to Inverness on the nth of 

 September, having remained in the Island for nine days 

 without again attempting to serve the writs. 



The same correspondent, in one of a series of able 

 articles, writes, under date of nth October, regarding a 

 rumour which was then current in well-informed circles, to 

 the following effect : " During the week of the Argyle- 

 shire gathering, when the gentry and nobility of the west 

 were promoting social intercourse in Oban, an informal 

 meeting of proprietors was there held in private, to consider 

 the present position and future prospects of land ownership 

 in the Highlands. The Skye question naturally formed a 

 leading topic of discussion, and the opinion was expressed 

 that Lord Macdonald, in the interests of his class, ought to 

 have gone long ago to the Braes and to have endeavoured 

 to settle the dispute between himself and the crofters ; and 

 it was felt that so long as the question remained in its present 

 aspect it will naturally be kept before the country, and the 



