382 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



like the good soldier that he was, with additional energy, to 

 the suppression of disaffection in the Highlands. His plan 

 was to erect a fort at Inverlochy, of sufficient strength to 

 overawe the Western Highlands ; and in spite of the want 

 of Government support, he managed to surmount his diffi- 

 culties with the help of the citizens of Glasgow. These 

 preparations were not without their effect upon the insur- 

 gents. But the arrival of Major-General Buchan from 

 Ireland, in April, 1690, whence he had been sent by James 

 to assume supreme command of his supporters, heartened 

 the Highlanders afresh. A conference took place to decide 

 upon a course of action, when it was resolved to renew the 

 contest immediately after the spring. In the meantime, 

 Buchan was to harass the enemy on the borders of the 

 Lowlands, while emissaries were sent to the islands, in 

 particular to Skye, to sound the clans and ascertain the 

 support upon which the insurgents might count from that 

 quarter. On ascertaining that Buchan had taken the field, 

 Mackay ordered Sir Thomas Livingston, who was stationed 

 at Inverness, to keep a watch on the movements of the 

 Jacobites. The operations that succeeded in which 

 Lieutenant-Colonel Buchan, a brother of the Jacobite 

 General, was associated with Livingston were not produc- 

 tive of any tangible result, until Livingston came in touch 

 with the insurgents at Cromdale on the Spey. A skirmish 

 took place, in which Buchan, taken by surprise, was worsted, 

 and his men were dispersed. 



Such, then, was the condition of affairs in Scotland when 

 Seaforth came over from Ireland, with a body of troops, to 

 give his powerful support to the Jacobite cause. Mackay 

 having completed the erection of a fort at Inverlochy which 

 he named Fort William in honour of the King was about 

 to lead a force to Mull to subdue that island, when he 

 received orders to proceed south in view of an anticipated 

 invasion of the French. The insurgents took advantage of 

 his absence to resume offensive operations, but the promis- 

 ing commencement of this fresh campaign underwent a 

 change when Mackay, on the subsidence of the French 



