THE SEAFORTH ESTATES. 421 



friends of the Seaforth family, and that they being the 

 highest (and only) bidders, must get possession of it, if no 

 other purchasers appeared before the expiry of the com- 

 mission. In view, therefore, of the fact that the Bill would 

 probably have the effect of strengthening the hands of the 

 Mackenzies, without benefiting the public, it was rejected. 



The author of the Highlands of Scotland in 1750 states, 

 that when Seaforth obtained his pardon in 1726, a " creature 

 of the Earl's " bought the property for less than three years' 

 purchase, the remoteness of the estates and the disaffection 

 of the tenantry deterring others from bidding. The debts 

 on the property were more than twice the rental value, and 

 the sale resulted in the ruin of a number of the creditors. 



According to the recently published Report by the 

 Crofters' Commission on Lewis, the Seaforth estates, in- 

 cluding the island of Lewis, were sold by public auction to 

 Mr. John Nairn of Greenyards for 16,909 8s. 3^d., under 

 burden of an annuity of 1,000 (capitalised as 9,000) to 

 Frances, Countess Dowager of Seaforth.* The transaction 

 was understood to be in the interest of Seaforth's son, 

 Kenneth, Lord Fortrose. 



During the debate which took place in Parliament on the 

 above-mentioned Bill, some hard things were said about 

 the Seaforths. One speaker made a bitter attack upon 

 them, declaring that they had been a " lawless family for 

 several generations," and that if they had paid their debts, 

 they would have been without an estate many years before. 

 " I don't know," said he, " but it might have been the 

 desperate circumstances of the family that pushed them on 

 to the late rebellion." It is impossible to ignore the fact 

 that the Seaforths, like others of the Highland chiefs, were 

 playing for high stakes in taking up arms for the Stuarts. 

 The odds were against them, but were fairly represented 

 by the ratio which existed between the risks of failure and 

 the rewards of success. The successors of George, the 



* In the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. II., p. 1126, the death is chronicled, 

 on 1 5th December, 1732, at Paris, of the "Duchess Dowager of Seaforth." 

 This would seem to imply that Kenneth Og was created a titular duke before 

 his death. 



