THE ISLES AND WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 383 



1 1 alarm, returned to the North to lead the Government troops 

 i in person. Buchan and Cannon, the latter of whom had 

 jj rejoined the Jacobites as second-in-command, had pushed 

 I as far north as Inverness, where they waited for Seaforth, 

 | with whose reinforcements they intended to make a con- 

 |j certed attack upon the town. But the celerity of Mackay '"s 

 I movements wholly disconcerted them, that commander 

 I having wisely determined to disperse the insurgents before 

 I the rising in the Highlands could become general. The 

 arrival of the troops in the neighbourhood of Inverness, 

 |j before the Mackenzies had joined their allies, completed 

 I the discomfiture of the insurgents. Buchan and Cannon 

 I turned tail and fled to Lochaber ; and the insurrection was 

 I at an end. 



Seaforth was placed in an awkward situation. Had the 

 f proposed junction between him and Buchan been effected 

 in time, the whole course of the campaign might have been 

 altered, but the flight of Buchan left him exposed to the 

 | vengeance of Mackay, whom he was too weak to meet 

 single-handed. There was nothing for it but to make the 

 best terms he could. He sent his mother and Mackenzie 

 of Coul to interview Mackay. The latter refused to con- 

 sider any terms which did not include the personal surrender 

 of Seaforth. A reluctant consent to this condition was 

 wrung from the Earl ; but to save his credit, he desired 

 Mackay to send a body of men by night, who were to effect 

 his capture in such a way as to create the impression that 

 he had been surprised by them. But Seaforth failed to 

 play the game, for on the arrival of the troops sent to 

 I apprehend him, he declined, on the plea of ill-health, to be 

 arrested. His unconditional surrender would have placed 

 his vast estates at the disposal of the Privy Council of 

 Scotland ; and although his deception may have been inex- 

 cusable, his strong objection to place himself at the mercy 

 of an unscrupulous gang, like some of the members of the 

 Council, is perfectly intelligible. Mackay, annoyed at the 

 trick played upon him, prepared to proceed to extremities, 

 and informed the Earl that unless he surrendered at once, 



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