242 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



place in the memory of all who love the Hebrides ; for the 

 Statutes which he framed revolutionised the religious, 

 social, and economic conditions of his diocese, and im- 

 planted a new and far healthier spirit throughout the length 

 and breadth of the Isles. Disorder in the Hebrides was 

 not permanently stamped out, but its area was restricted, 

 and its effects considerably modified, by the operation of 

 the Statutes. One of the first results of the lona agree- 

 ment is seen in a contract of friendship and mutual for- 

 giveness of injuries which, on 24th August, 1609, was 

 entered into between Macleod of Harris and Macdonald of 

 Sleat ; and on 28th June, 1610, an obligation was entered 

 into by seven chiefs, viz., Macdonald of Dunyveg, Maclean 

 of Duart, Donald Gorm, Macleod of Harris, the Captain of 

 Clanranald, Allan Cameron of Lochaber, and Mackinnon 

 of Strath, binding themselves to assist, with their whole 

 forces, the King's representatives in the Hebrides ; to live 

 together for the future " in peace, love, amytie"; and to 

 settle any disputes between them by the ordinary course 

 of law and justice. But the Statutes did more ; for from 

 their enactment dates the commencement of that re- 

 markable attachment to the Stuart dynasty, and cohesion 

 in a common cause which, in after years, characterised the 

 Highland chiefs. The agreement carried in its train 

 political and economic results of far-reaching significance. 



One island of the Hebrides formed a marked exception 

 to the general conversion ; and that island was Lewis. 

 For Neil Macleod and his followers held it against all- 

 comers. The Privy Council would have acted wisely had 

 they commissioned Bishop Knox to confer with Neil ; but 

 instead of the emissary of peace, they sent the wielders of 

 the sword. Of the three grantees of Lewis, one, viz., Lord 

 Balmerino, the Secretary for Scotland, had been convicted 

 of high treason, and after his forfeiture, his share of Lewis, 

 Trotternish, and the properties of Ruari Mor passed, on 

 1 5th November, 1609, to his co-partner, Sir George Hay/* 



. Mag. Sig. (1609-20), No. 167. 



