HUNTLY AND THE NORTH ISLES. 233 



| that he must forbear from trafficking with seminary priests 

 or excommunicated Papists. 



From these proceedings, it may be inferred that having 

 failed to extort better terms from Huntly for the sub- 

 jugation of the islands, the King, chagrined by his stub- 

 bornness, determined to abandon him to the intolerance 

 I and rancour of the extreme Presbyterians, who were bent 

 ; on the ruin of the Catholic Marquis. The interference 

 ! of the Kirk was as opportune as the deadlock over the 

 ! rent was fortunate, for the latter circumstance led to the 

 withdrawal of the King's favour, which would otherwise 

 have protected Huntly against Presbyterian bigotry. It 

 may be hoped that the Marquis profited by the sermons. 

 Homilies on the sixth and eighth commandments might 

 have proved more efficacious than expositions of the 

 principles of Calvinism, for the Marquis of Huntly was 

 apparently impervious to the teaching of both command- 

 ments. As for the King who deliberately consigned 

 hundreds of his subjects to extermination, like so much 

 vermin, he has to thank religious intolerance and a sordid 

 money squabble for saving his memory and the Stuart* 

 name, from being stained by a crime which would have 

 horrified the civilised world, caused the Stuart dynasty 

 to be execrated by Highlanders, and, perhaps, rendered 

 the risings of 1715 and 1745 impossible. 



The following despatch in the Venetian archives, dated 

 23rd May, 1607, summarises the situation created in the 

 Highlands by the negotiations between Huntly and the 

 King and his advisers. It states : " News has come from 

 Scotland that certain inhabitants that look towards the 

 islands and Ireland have risen, and opposed armed forces to 

 the King's officers. The reason is, that as these people 

 were always turbulent, some of the Scottish gentry offered 

 to subdue them, and a few months ago obtained leave to do 

 so. When this was known, the people rose. The rebels do 

 not exceed 3,000, though their numbers may increase, for 



* The popular spelling "Stuart" is here and in the following pages 

 adopted, instead of the more strictly correct rendering of " Stewart," 



