THE SEAFORTH ESTATES. 419 



established, the attainted chief of the clan would have been 

 the person to reap the solid benefits. The nominal owner 

 of the Seaforth estates would have been Kenneth Mac- 

 kenzie of Assynt, or Kenneth Mackenzie of Gruinard, but 

 the real owner and the recipient of the rents would have 

 been Earl William, the only possible head of the clan, 

 according to Highland notions, had he been proscribed for 

 his politics, and disinherited for his religion, a hundred times 

 over. Frances, Countess of Seaforth (Kenneth Og's widow), 

 being in doubt whether to oppose, or concur in, Assynt's 

 claim, was advised by her lawyers that " it may be easier 

 dealing with the Protestant heir than with the Crown." 

 And so, in truth, it would have been, had the claim proved 

 successful. 



In 1726, Seaforth, who had returned to Scotland after a 

 final rupture with the Chevalier, received a pardon, chiefly 

 through the instrumentality of General Wade. Argyll was 

 opposed to the pardon, but the bluff General threatened to 

 throw up his commission, if his promise to the Mackenzies 

 were not implemented. He added, as a further reason for 

 the pardon of Seaforth, that it was good policy on the part of 

 the Government to maintain the balance of power between 

 the four men who ruled the Highlands, viz., Argyll, Atholl, 

 Gordon, and Seaforth. His representations prevailed.* 



In 1727, the Earl was in Edinburgh attending to business 

 matters. The Trustees for the Forfeited Estates were 

 about this time engaged in reducing the debt on the 

 Seaforth property, by selling parcels of it, and applying the 

 rents collected by them for the same purpose. Seaforth was 

 now not in receipt of a farthing from the property, except 

 a certain income derived from compounding with the 

 creditors. The Countess Frances, his mother, was engaged 

 in an unsuccessful lawsuit in respect of her jointure, which 

 seems to have been in arrears for a considerable time. The 

 Earl abstained from identifying himself with the interests 



* Lockhart Papers, Vol. II., p. 300. In 1667, the Earls of Argyll, Atholl, 

 and Seaforth were appointed to have the oversight of the Highlands, with the 

 effects of all thieves and forfeiture of their associates, after restoring stolen 

 goods to their owners. CaL of State Papers , p. 356. See supra, p. 374. 



