THE AUTUMN CAMPAIGN. IOI 



brought to bear upon Lord Macdonald by some of the 

 Highland lairds to bring about a settlement with his people, 

 if at all possible ; but hitherto, so long as he expected a 

 military force to crush them, without avail. 



The urgent appeals made by the County authorities to 

 the Home Office for a military force completely failed. It 

 is well known in certain circles that Sir William Harcourt 

 would not even listen to the proposal, and that he openly 

 ridiculed the idea of sending Her Majesty's soldiers to 

 settle a paltry dispute between a landlord and a few of his 

 crofters, which, by the exercise of a little sound judgment 

 and ordinary prudence, could be arranged by sensible men 

 in a few minutes. In consequence of this attitude on the 

 part of the Crown authorities further pressure was brought 

 to bear upon Lord Macdonald to come to terms with the 

 Braes crofters, and it is well known in well-informed circles 

 that under this pressure he finally agreed to enter into 

 negotiation, in the event of proposals to that effect emanat- 

 ing from the crofters themselves or from any of their friends. 

 After a good deal of private correspondence in influential 

 circles on both sides, negotiations were arranged, as we shall 

 see hereafter, which ultimately ended in a settlement satis- 

 factory in the circumstances to all concerned. 



The special correspondence in the Courier had an effect 

 also in other quarters than that of the landowners. Immedi- 

 ately on its perusal a patriotic Highland gentleman of means, 

 who resides in the Channel Islands during the winter 

 months, telegraphed on the 28th of October, as follows, to 

 the writer of these pages : 



"To Alexander Mackenzie, Esq., Dean of Guild of Inverness, 

 from Malcolm Mackenzie, Vue du Lac, Guernsey. 



" Tender by telegraph to Lord Macdonald's agent all arrears of rent 



