n of their
masters. We do not say, therefore, that the intimation has emanated
from the Duke; but this we say, that an exemplary Sutherlandshire
minister of the Protesting Church, who resigned his worldly all for
the sake of his principles, had lately to travel, that he might preach
to his attached people, a long journey of forty-five miles outwards,
and as much in return, and all this without taking shelter under the
cover of a roof, or without partaking of any other refreshment than
that furnished by the slender store of provisions which he had carried
with him from his new home. Willingly would the poor Highlanders have
received him at any risk; but knowing from experience what a
Sutherlandshire removal means, he preferred enduring any amount of
hardship, rather than that the hospitality of his people should be
made the occasion of their ruin. We have already adverted to the case
of a lady of Sutherland threatened with ejection from her home because
she had extended the shelter of her roof to one of the protesting
clergy--an aged and venerable man, who had quitted the neighbouring
manse, his home for many years, because he could no longer enjoy it in
consistency with his principles; and we have shown that that aged and
venerable man was the lady's own father. What amount of oppression of
a smaller and more petty character may not be expected in the
circumstances, when cases such as these are found to stand but a very
little over the ordinary level?

The meannesses to which ducal hostility can stoop in this hapless
district impress with a feeling of surprise. In the parish of Dornoch,
for instance, where his Grace is fortunately not the sole landowner,
there has been a site procured on the most generous terms from Sir
George Gun Munro of Poyntzfield; and this gentleman--believing
himself possessed of a hereditary right to a quarry, which, though on
the Duke's ground, had been long resorted to by the proprietors of the
district generally--instructed the builder to take from it the stones
which he needed. Here, however, his Grace interfered. Never had the
quarry been prohibited before; but on this occasion a stringent
interdict arrested its use. If his Grace could not prevent a hated
Free Church from arising in the district, he could at least add to the
_expense_ of its erection. We have even heard that the portion of the
building previously erected had to be pulled down, and the stones
returned.

How are we to accou