17 THE SUTHERLAND CLEARANCES. 



MR. ROBERTSON opened the case on the part of the 

 panel. The object of addressing the court at this time 

 was to state such observations as occurred on the relevancy 

 of the indictment, and to give a general view of the line of 

 defence. On the former, he remarked, that various object- 

 tions did occur to the relevancy of the charges, particularly 

 to the second and fourth branches of the indictment. With 

 these, however, he did not mean to trouble the Court, as 

 Mr. Sellar was so conscious of his innocence, that he courted 

 investigation, being unwilling that any part of his conduct 

 should be left uninvestigated. No objection was, therefore, 

 made to the relevancy of any part of the indictment, so far 

 as it charged any specific crime against which the panel 

 might be prepared to defend himself. But, certainly, he did 

 object to those parts of it which contained general charges, 

 of destroying "a number of houses," injuring "a number of 

 tenants," &c., unless these were understood merely as intro- 

 ductory to the specific crimes mentioned. He also objected 

 to the last charge, if meant as anything more than matter of 

 mere aggravation. 



On the merits, he gave a short sketch of the causes which 

 gave rise to the present trial, alluded to the clamour which 

 had been raised in the country the prejudices of the people, 

 the disgraceful publications in a newspaper called the 

 Military Register, and the pains which had been taken to 

 circulate these false and mischievous papers through Suther- 

 land and the adjacent counties. The general line of defence 

 he stated to be, That, as to the ist charge, of heath-burning, 

 this was done with the express consent of the tenantry, and, 

 as could be proved, to their positive advantage. As to 

 the removings, the defence was quite clear. The lands 

 mentioned in the indictment were advertised to be set 

 on the 5th of December, 1813, at the Inn of Golspie, 



