492 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Hood married the Right Hon. James Alexander Stew; 

 of Glasserton, nephew of the seventh Earl of Galloway, 

 who assumed the name of Mackenzie, represented the 

 County of Ross in Parliament, held office under Lord 

 Grey, and was, in 1838, appointed High Commissioner t< 

 the Ionian Islands, whence he was transferred to th< 

 Governorship of Ceylon. Mr. Stewart-Mackenzie proved 

 an active and enterprising proprietor of Lewis, one of his: 

 most important acts being the abolition of the tacks- 

 men as middlemen, and the letting of land to the crofters 

 direct. 



By a charter dated 3Oth September, 1825, "the Hon. 

 Mary Frederica Elizabeth Stewart-Mackenzie, with th( 

 special advice and consent of James Alexander Stewart- 

 Mackenzie, her husband, and the said James Alexand< 

 Stewart-Mackenzie for his own right and interest," em- 

 powered the feuars of Stornoway to elect nine of theii 

 number to be Magistrates and Councillors, two of whom ' 

 were to be Bailies, one to be Treasurer, and the other six to ' 

 be Councillors. The charter defined the powers and duties 

 of the magistrates, and provided for the Baron-Bailie or 

 Bailies in the Barony of Lewis to have cumulative jurisdic- 

 tion over the inhabitants of Stornoway, with the bailies 

 chosen by the feuars. And a special stipulation was made 

 that the popular election should be without prejudice to the 

 powers in respect of the town, which had been conferred by 

 Royal charters.* 



That this charter was held to be valid, is proved by the 

 fact that in a letter dated 28th February, 1834, from Acting 

 Chief Magistrate Roderick Morison to the Commissioners 

 on Municipal Corporations in Scotland, it is stated that 

 Town Council was created in virtue of the grant. Imme- 

 diately after the charter was signed, considerable sums were 

 produced by the fees for the admission of freemen, but for 

 some years prior to 1834, no entries had taken place. 

 There were, in 1834, no guilds, corporations, or crafts, 



* Report from Commrs. on Municipal Corpus. (1836), Vol. XXIII., 

 pp. 190-2. 



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