THE FIFE ADVENTURERS. 211 



ready to describe them officially as the vilest wretches that 

 cumbered the ground ; they would bless the Adventurers 

 and curse the Lewismen to the heart's content of their 

 Sovereign. But on the question of supplies they were 

 adamant ; none of the nation's money, they were resolved, 

 would be spent on such a wild-cat scheme. The Adven- 

 turers were welcome to waste the whole of their private 

 means on the undertaking, if they pleased ; but that was 

 entirely their concern. 



Foiled in his attempt to extort money by lawful means, 

 King James had the effrontery to propose the coinage of 

 base money, wherewith to pay the soldiers who were to 

 serve in Lewis. The English people were laughing at him, 

 their future Sovereign, and all on account of a few stubborn 

 islesmen who had set him at defiance. Such a thing was 

 not to be tolerated. He would crush the rebels and punish 

 their insolence while keeping his own sacred person at a 

 safe distance. But the soldiers had to be paid, and his 

 Parliament would grant no supplies. What matter ? He 

 would cheat his soldiers by paying them in false coin, and 

 would thus revenge himself on the Lewismen at a minimum 

 of expense, and with a clear conscience, if Parliament 

 sanctioned the proceeding. To their credit, the Estates 

 did no such thing. The King who stooped to make such 

 a proposal could be defied with impunity ; and defy him 

 they did.* 



The matter then passed into the hands of the Privy 

 Council, the members of which were more pliant than the 

 stubborn Estates. As the result of the deliberations of the 

 Council, it was resolved that a proclamation be issued, 

 calling out the Highlands to assist the Marquis of Huntly 

 to re-conquer Lewis, and place the Adventurers again in 

 possession of the island. Mackenzie of Kintail was in 

 Edinburgh at this time, for the purpose of interviewing the 

 King, relative, probably, to affairs in Lewis. He appears 

 to have succeeded in disarming the suspicions which were, 



* MSS. in Public Record Office (State Papers, Scotland, Eliz., Vol. LXVIII., 

 Nos. 73 and 86). (See Appendix B.) 



