104 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



speaking Lowlander ; between the men of the North who 

 despised the civilisation of the South, and the men of the 

 South who sneered at the barbarism of the North ; it is not 

 surprising that the Hebrideans should have as their per- 

 manent ideal, the solidarity of their race to resist the 

 aggression of the Saxon. How often that solidarity was 

 broken by the clan feuds which desolated the Hebrides is 

 only too evident. The policy of the Crown was to prevent 

 cohesion, for it was rightly judged that the strength which 

 union imparted to the clans, equipped them with so for- 

 midable a weapon of defence as to be a permanent source 

 of danger to the State. 



As for the Lords of the Isles themselves, their history is 

 the most eloquent testimony of their character. They were 

 brave, energetic, and hospitable. But they were ambitious, 

 ruthless, and not overburdened with scruples. They were 

 not, however, a whit worse in those respects than the great 

 barons of the South. And in explanation, if not in defence, 

 of their treasonable practices with England, it may be 

 urged that the independent sovereignty over the Isles 

 which they both assumed and exercised, placed them in a 

 position of detachment which was occupied by no other 

 subjects of the Scottish Crown. They probably still re- 

 garded themselves as the representatives of the Norse 

 Viceroys, who had ruled the Hebrides in a state of complete 

 independence, subject only to the benevolent suzerainty 

 of Norway. As such, and as the acknowledged Kings of 

 the Isles, there was sufficient temptation for them to throw 

 off their allegiance from Scotland when it suited their 

 ambitious purposes to do so. 



About the year 1460, a great invasion of Orkney by 

 Hebrideans took place. That raids to the Orkneys were 

 of frequent occurrence is undoubted. In the Preface to the 

 Exchequer Rolls (Vol. 8) it is stated that they must have 

 taken place annually before the death of James II. From 

 a letter dated 28th June, 1418, written by William Tulloch, 

 Bishop of Orkney, to King Christiern of Denmark, and 

 from a manifesto of an earlier date issued by the Orca- 



