Strathspey F"encible.s at Dimfries i\ 1795. ^^^ 



M'liilDsIi, were to di'.iw lots — the lot fell upon Charles 

 M'lntosh. 



The sentenre w.is then put in execution — Frascr was a 

 little turbulent, and was oblig-ed to be bound hand and foot 

 before the sentence could be executed. M'lntosh submitted 

 to his fate with the utmost calmness. W'e are happ\ to 

 observe [remarks the complacent reporter] that everything 

 was conducted with the utmost regularity and order. The 

 crowd of sp[e]ctators from e\ ery quarter was verv great. "^ 

 The two lucky men were pardoned and drafted into regiments 

 abroad, and Corporal Macdougall was also pardoned. 



^\'e shall not now, I suppose, discover the real causes of 

 the insubordination. It was evidently a trifling incident that 

 set it aflame. I). Stewart in his Sketches of the Hijihlanders 

 and the Hiphhitul Ref^inunits,^^ says it originated " in a re- 

 mark by a soldier in the ranks, which might pass for a joke, 

 or a piece of wit, according as the affair was taken," while 

 William Grierson says the man was confinetl " for speaking 

 in the ranks," and adds, " no feeling heart but must lamer/ 

 the fate of two such men, for the sacrifice of their lives for 

 such a small fault was only supposed to gratify the pride and 

 spleen of an officer." Who the officer was is not stated, but 

 the Laird of Altyre was evidently very proud of his share in 

 the affair, for year after year in Burke's Peerage it is stated 

 that he received the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief " for 

 suppressing a mutiny at Dumfries, 1794." 



.Stewart could not specify the underlying cause of the 

 incident. He wonders whether it was the severe code of 

 punishment, which he strongly deprecated for Highlanders, 

 or whether the men believed that they had been " teased with 

 long drills and fatiguing discipline, not required for soldiers 

 who were ne\ er to meet an enemy, or perhaps not very neces- 

 sary for any ser\ ice, whether the individuals themselves were 

 of a character different from, and inferior to," cases he had 

 mentioned, " or whether, as is most probable, some un- 

 pleasant recollections of the affair at Linlithgow still existed." 



9 Thr Dumfrii's Wrrkh/ Jotinud. July 2L 179-5 



10 Vol. ii.. 3L5. 416. 



