256 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



stay in the Capital against arrest for certain undischarged 

 liabilities.* 



In order to appreciate the true inwardness of Rory Mor's 



change of attitude, it is necessary to hark back a little. 



Macleod had tried rebellion and found himself a landless 



outlaw, who dared not show his face in Edinburgh. A 



letter of 4th May, 1610, granting him a remission by the 



King for all his past offences, marked a change in his 



relations with the Crown ; and the commission with which, 



in the same year, he was entrusted for the capture of Neil, 



points in a similar direction. The reward of loyalty quickly 



followed. On 4th April, 1611, by a charter under the 



Great Seal, all his lands were restored to him, and he 



received, in addition, a grant of Waternish in Skye, a 



property which had belonged to the Siol Torquil, and 



which had passed with Lewis to the Mackenzies.t Clearly, 



loyalty was a more paying game than rebellion, and Rory 



Mor was not slow to realise the fact. When, therefore, he 



delivered up the confiding Neil to the Council, he was only 



fulfilling the commission with which he had been charged 



by his Royal master. This argument may serve the 



sophist, but will hardly satisfy the upholder of Highland 



honour, nor accord with the well-grounded belief in the 



sacredness of Highland hospitality. Ruari meant to profit 



by his services in capturing the redoubtable rebel. Nothing 



short of a visit to London to see the King would satisfy 



him. Accordingly, he received permission to proceed to 



Court. He left Scotland plain Ruari ; he returned to his 



native country, Sir Roderick. The surrender of Neil and 



the receipt of the honour of knighthood form an unpleasant 



conjunction of events. They may be merely a coincidence ; 



but if so, the coincidence is unfortunate. It is impossible 



to dissociate them, or to regard them otherwise than as 



cause and effect. Whatever Neil's offences and they 



were not few he had placed his life in the hands of an 



old comrade, and had been basely betrayed. It may be 



* Reg. ofP.C., Vol. X., p. 3. 



f Reg. Mag. Sig. (1609-20), No. 458. 





