414 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



leaders. He entered the service of Russia, but soon drifted 

 to the Court of Frederick the Great, and became a Field- 

 Marshal of Prussia and one of the most renowned generals 

 of his time. His death was that of a soldier. He was 

 killed in 1758 at the battle of Hochkirche. To this day, 

 his memory is cherished, both in the German Empire 

 and in Banffshire. His statue adorns Berlin ; and in 

 1889, the German Emperor gave orders that the 22nd 

 Silesian Regiment should thereafter be called the Keith 

 Regiment. 



The leaders of the ill-starred rising of 1719 were com- 

 pelled to shift, each man for himself, when their hopes of a 

 fresh insurrection were finally dissipated. Seaforth fled to 

 France, after addressing a circular letter to his people, in 

 which he counselled them not to pay their rents to the 

 Government.* A copy of this circular was sent to every 

 parish comprehended in the Seaforth properties, and as 

 the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates soon discovered, 

 the advice which it contained was faithfully followed. A 

 body of Lewismen under Mackenzie of Kildun who, 

 according to Burt, had "power over the inhabitants of 

 Lewis" co-operated with the Mackenzies on the main- 

 land, in resisting the soldiers who, on two different occa- 

 sions in 1720, were sent to 'compel payment to the 

 Government agents. The determination and strategy of 

 Daniel Murchison, Seaforth's intrepid factor, baffled the 

 officers of the Crown, and they were forced to relinquish 

 the attempt to coerce the refractory tenantry. Murchi- 

 son collected the rents and remitted them to Seaforth,f 

 giving the tenants receipts, which protected them from 

 having to pay the money over again to the Government. 

 When General Wade, in 1725, received the submission 

 of the Seaforth tenantry at Brahan Castle, he indemni- 

 fied them against any proceedings which might be taken 

 for the rents so remitted (the factors had threatened 

 to make them pay over again) ; * and agreed to their 



* Seaforth MSS. in Brit. Mus. 



f Burt's Letters (Full account, pp. 268-284). 



