THE INSURRECTION OF DONALD DtJBH. m 



threw patience to the winds, and with it, all attempts at 

 conciliation. Perhaps it was hoped that the appointment 

 of the Commission would cause such dismay in the 

 Hebrides, as would bring the Islesmen to their knees, beg- 

 ging for pardon. Whether or not such was the case, it was 

 not until 1501 that the Commissioners began to get to 

 work. In that year, the necessary legal steps were taken 

 for expelling " broken " men from the disaffected districts, 

 and replacing them with " true," i.e. loyal, men. This was 

 the most formidable task which the Crown had yet under- 

 taken, for it virtually meant the expulsion of the most war- 

 like, the most determined, and the least amenable subjects 

 within the length and breadth of the Scottish dominions. 



And then Donald Dubh escaped from the Castle of 

 Inchconnel and fled to his uncle, Torquil Macleod of 

 Lewis. It is impossible to dissociate his liberation from 

 the preparations then in progress for the foolish war of ex- 

 termination about to be waged in the Hebrides. The events 

 synchronise so closely as to suggest that the men of 

 Glencoe, who effected Donald's release, were acting under 

 instructions from the confederation of chiefs which had 

 been formed. The Macians themselves were among the 

 "broken" men who had been displaced; and it is not un- 

 likely that their action was part of a plot, hatched by the 

 malcontents, for taking the offensive as the best means of 

 defence, and the means which best accorded with their 

 traditions. The arrival of Donald Dubh in Lewis was the 

 slogan which sounded the call to arms. Here was their 

 natural leader for an insurrection, the direct heir of the last 

 Lord of the Isles, who had died in Paisley Abbey two 

 years before. For the legitimacy of Donald Dubh was 

 never doubted by the men of the Hebrides. Whatever 

 legal quibble may have converted the son of Angus Og 

 into a bastard received no recognition by the Islesmen 

 who, with their pride of descent and intimate knowledge of 

 genealogical intricacies, can hardly have been deceived 

 into a false belief in the justice of Donald's claims. But 

 above all, he was the representative of the old order of 



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