despair the idea of being forced from the land of their
nativity, or emigrating from that beloved country, hallowed by the
remains of their kindred.

The Highlander, by nature, was opposed to emigration. All his instincts,
as well as training, led him to view with delight the permanency of home
and the constant companionship of those to whom he was related by ties
of consanguinity. Neither was he a creature of conquest, and looked not
with a covetous eye upon the lands of other nations. He would do battle
in a foreign land, but the Highlands of Scotland was his abiding place.
If he left his native glen in order to become a resident elsewhere,
there must have been a special or overpowering reason. He never
emigrated through choice. Unfortunately the simplicity of his nature,
his confiding trust, and love of chief and country, were doomed to
receive such a jolt as would shake the very fibres of his being, and
that from those to whom he looked for support and protection. Reference
here is not made to evictions awful crimes that commenced in 1784, but
to the change, desolation and misery growing out of the calamity at
Culloden.

Notwithstanding the peculiar characteristics of the Highlander, there
would of necessity arise certain circumstances which would lead some,
and even many, to change their habitation. From the days of the Crusader
downwards he was more or less active in foreign wars; and coming in
contact with different nationalities his mind would broaden and his
sentiment change, so that other lands and other people would be viewed
in a more favorable light. While this would not become general, yet it
would follow in many instances. Intercourse with another people,
racially and linguistically related, would have a tendency to invite a
closer affiliation. Hence, the inhabitants of the Western Isles had
almost constant communication, sometimes at war, it is true, but
generally in terms of amity, with the natives of North Ireland. It is
not surprising then that as early as 1584, Sorley Buy MacDonald should
lead a thousand Highlanders, called Redshanks, of the clans or families
of the MacDonalds, Campbells, and Magalanes, into Ulster, and in time
intermarry with the Irish, and finally become the most formidable
enemies of England in her designs of settling that country. Some of the
leading men were forced to flee on account of being attainted for
treason, having fought under Dundee in 1689, or under Mar in 1715, and