On the 26th of April following the Tutor receives a commission for the pursuit and apprehension of Coll MacGillespic Macdonald, Malcolm Mac Rory Macleod, and other fugitives, described as "the Islay rebels," who had fled from justice, should they land in the Lewis or in any other of the territories belonging to Lord Mackenzie of Kintail. In order that he may the better attend to this duty, along with several other heads of clans named in the same commission for their respective districts, and as "it is necessary that the commissioners foresaid remain at home and on nowise come to this burgh (Edinburgh) to pursue or defend in any actions or causes concerning them," their Lordships continued all actions against them until the 1st of November next, ordaining the said actions "to rest and sleep" till that date.
On the same day, a second dispensation under the signet is addressed to the Sheriff of Inverness and his deputes in favour of Lord Colin, requesting that despite his minority he be served heir to his father, the late Kenneth, Lord Mackenzie of Kintail. On the 25th of June following he is ordered to provide twenty-five men as part of an expedition for the pursuit of Sir James Macdonald and Coll MacGillespick. In June, 1616, he is appointed a Commissioner of the Peace for the Sheriffdom of Elgin and Forres.
On the outbreak of a new rebellion in the Lewis another commission, dated the 28th of August, 1616, to last for twelve months, was issued by the Privy Council, in favour of the Tutor and other leading men of the clan, couched in the following terms:
Forasmuch as the King's Majesty having taken great pains and troubles and bestowed great charges and expenses for reducing of the Islands of this Kingdom and continent next adjacent to his Majesty's obedience, and for establishing of religion, peace, justice, order, and government, within the same, in the which his Majesty by the force and power of his royal authority has had such a happy and good success as almost the whole chieftains of clans and headsmen of the Isles are come in and in all dutiful submission doth acknowledge his Majesty's obedience, so that now there is no part of the Isles rebellious but the Lewis - the chieftains whereof, as from time to time they raise up in credit, power, and friendship among the barbarous inhabitants thereof, have been apprehended and by course of justice have suffered their deserved punishment, and at last the traitor Neil, who was last ringleader of that rebellious society, being apprehended and executed to the death, whereby it was presumed that in him all further trouble, misery, and unquietness in the Lewis should have ceased and rested; notwithstanding it is of truth that Malcolm Macleod, son to Rory Macleod, sometime of the Lewis, has embraced that rebellious and treasonable course wherein his treacherous predecessors miserably perished, and having associated himself with the persons following - Rory and Donald Macleod, sons to the said umquhile Neil, and William and Rory Macleod, brothers to the said Malcolm, Donald Mac Ian Duibh-the Brieve, Murdo Mac Angus Mhic-an-t-Sagairt, Donald Mac Angus Mhic-an-t-Sagairt his brother, Gillecallum Caogach Mac-an-t-Sagairt, John Dubh Mac Angus Mac Gillemichell, Murdo Mac Torquil Blair, Norman Mac Torquil Blair, John Roy Mac Torquil Blair, Donald Mac Neil Mac Finlay, Gillecallum Mac Allan Mac Finlay, and Donald Mac Dhomhuill Mac Gillechallum - who were all actors in the first rebellion moved and raised in the Lewis against the gentlemen venturers who were directed by his Majesty there, and did prosecute that rebellion against them with fire and sword and all kinds of hostility, for the which and for other thievish and treasonable crimes committed by them they and every one of them were upon the second day of February, 1612, orderly denounced rebels and put to the horn - they have now combined and banded themselves in a most treacherous, disloyal, and pernicious course and resolution to maintain a public rebellion in the Lewis, and to oppose themselves with their whole power and strength against all and whatsoever courses shall be further taken by his Majesy's direction for repressing of their insolence; whereby is not only all intercourse and trade which by his Majesty's good subjects in the Lowlands would be entertained amongst them, made frustrate and void, but the preparative of this rebellion in consequence and example is most dangerous, and if the same be not substantially repressed, may give further boldness to others who are not yet well settled in a perfect obedience, to break loose. Accordingly, as it is "a discredit to the country that such a parcel of ground possessed by a number of miserable caitiffs shall be suffered to continue rebellious, whereas the whole remanent Isles are become peaceable and obedient; and whereas the said Lords, for repressing of the insolence of the whole of the rebellious thieves and limmers of the Lewis and reducing them to his Majesty's obedience, passed and expede a commission - to Roderick Mackenzie of Coigeach, Tutor of Kintail, Mr Colin Mackenzie of Killin, Murdo Mackenzie, their brother, Alexander Mackenzie of Coul, and Kenneth Mackenzie of Davochmaluag, for reducing of the limmers of the Lewis to obedience," which commission "is now expired, and the said thieves, taking new courage and breath thereupon, are become more insolent than formerly they were, and have lately made a very open insurrection and committed slaughter and bloodshed within the said bounds, in contempt of God and disregard of his Majesty's laws"; therefore his Majesty and the Lords of Council, understanding of the "good affection" of the said persons, now reconstitute them commissioners for the reduction of the said rebels, with full power and authority, etc. (as in previous commissions granted them) and, "for the better execution of this commission, to take the lymphads, galleys, birlinns, and boats in the Lewis and in the next adjacent Isles for the furtherance of his Majesty's service, - the said justices being always answerable to the owners of the said lymphads, galleys, birlinns, and boats for delivery of the same at the finishing of his Majesty's said service." Proclamation was to be made at Inverness and other places charging the lieges within the bounds of the North Isles and within the lands of Colin, Lord of Kintail (except those of the name of Fraser, Ross, and Munro, their tenants and servants), to assist the said commissioners in the execution of their duty.
By a commission dated the same day, Sir Roderick, along with Simon Lord Lovat, and Urquhart of Cromarty, is appointed, for the trial in the Burgh of Inverness of all resetters within thc Sheriffdom of the county of any traitors in the Isles, the commission to last for one year.
In 1618, along with Grant of Grant, he assisted the Mackintosh against the Marquis of Huntly. On the 18th of June, 1622, he is one of the chiefs named in a commission against the Camerons, among the others being Mackintosh of Mackintosh, Sir Roderick Macleod, XIII. of Harris, Grant of Grant, Sir John Campbell of Calder, John Grant of Glenmoriston, Patrick Grant of Ballindalloch, and John Macdonald, Captain of Clanranald. [See Mackenzie's "History of the Camerons," p. 86.]
At the death of Kenneth, Lord Kintail, the estates were very heavily burdened in consequence of the wars with Glengarry and various family difficulties and debts. His lordship, in these circumstances, acted very prudently, as we have seen, in appointing his brother, Sir Roderick Mackenzie I. of Coigeach - in whose judgment he placed the utmost confidence - Tutor to his son and successor, Lord Colin. Knowing the state of affairs - the financial and numberless other difficulties which stared him in the face, at the same time that the family were still much involved with the affairs of the Lewis, and other broils on the mainland - Sir Roderick hesitated to accept the great responsibilities of the position, but, to quote one of the family manuscripts, "all others refusing to take the charge he set resolutely to the work. The first thing he did was to assault the rebels in the Lewis, which he did so suddenly, after his brother's death, and so unexpectedly to them, that what the Fife Adventurers had spent many years and much treasure in without success, he, in a few months, accomplished; for having by his youngest brother Alexander, chased Neil, the chief commander of all the rest, from the Isle, pursued him to Glasgow, where, apprehending him, he delivered him to the Council, who executed him immediately. He returned to the Lewis, banished those whose deportment he most doubted, and settled the rest as peaceable tenants to his nephew; which success he had, with the more facility, because he had the only title of succession to it by his wife, and they looked on him as their just master. From thence he invaded Glengarry, who was again re-collecting his forces; but at his coming they dissipated and fled. He pursued Glengarry to Blairy in Moray, where he took him; but willing to have his nephew's estate settled with conventional right rather than legal, he took Low-countrymen as sureties for Glengarry's peaceable deportment, and then contracted with him for the reversion of the former wadsets which Colin of Kintail had acquired of him, and for a ratification and new disposition of all his lands, formerly sold to Colin, and paid him thirty thousand merks in money for this, and gave him a title to Lagganachindrom, which, till then, he possessed by force, so that Glengarry did ever acknowledge it as a favour to be overcome by such enemies, who over disobligements did deal both justly and generously. Rory employed himself therefore in settling his pupil's estate, which he did to that advantage that ere his minority passed he freed his estate, leaving him master of an opulent fortune and of great superiorities, for be acquired the superiority of Troternish with the heritable Stewartry of the Isle of Skye, to his pupil, the superiority of Raasay and some other Isles. At this time, Macleod, partly by law and partly by force, had possessed himself of Sleat and Troternish, a great part of Macdonald's estate. Rory, now knighted by King James, owned Macdonald's cause as an injured neighbour, and by the same method that Macleod possessed himself of Sleat and Troternish he recovered both from him, marrying the heir thereof Sir Donald Macdonald, to his niece, sister to Lord Colin, and caused him to take the lands of Troternish holden of his pupil. Shortly after that he took the management of Maclean's estate, and recovered it from the Earl of Argyll, who had fixed a number of debts and pretences on it, so by his means all the Isles were composed and accorded in their debates and settled in their estates, whence a full peace amongst them, Macneill of Barra excepted, who had been an hereditary outlaw. Him, by commission, Sir Rory reduced, took him in his fort of Kisemull, and carried him prisoner to Edinburgh, where he procured his remission. The King gifted his estate to Sir Rory, who restored it to Macneill for a sum not exceeding his expenses, and holding it of himself in feu. This Sir Rory, as he was beneficial to all his relations, establishing them in free and secure fortunes, purchased considerable lands to himself in Ross and Moray, besides the patrimony left him by his father, the lands of Coigeach and others, which, in lieu of the Lewis, were given him by his brother. His death was regretted as a public calamity, which was in September, 1626, in the 48th year of his age. To Sir Rory succeeded Sir John Mackenzie of Tarbat; and to him Sir George Mackenzie, of whom to write might be more honour to him than of safety to the writer as matters now stand." [The Applecross Mackenzie MS.]
We shall now draw to some extent on the family manuscripts. The narrative in this form will add considerable interest to the information already given under this head from official sources. Sir Roderick was a most determined man, and extremely fertile in such schemes as might enable him to gain any object he had in view. One of his plans, connected with Mackenzie's possession of the Lewis, in its barbarous and cruel details, almost equalled the Raid of Cillechriost. Neil Macleod, accompanied by his nephews, Malcolm, William, and Roderick, the three sons of Roderick Og; the four sons of Torquil Blair; and thirty of their more determined and desperate followers, retired, when Kintail obtained possession of the whole of the Lewis, to the impregnable rock of Berrissay, at the back of the island, to which Neil, as a precautionary measure, had been for years previously sending food and other necessaries as a provision for future necessity. Here they held out for three years, where they were a source of great annoyance to the Tutor and his followers. On a little rock opposite Berrissay, Neil, by a well-directed shot killed one of the Tutor's followers named Donald MacDhonnchaidh Mhic Ian Ghlais, and wounded another called Tearlach MacDhomh'uill Roy Mhic Fhionnlaidh Ghlais. This exasperated their leader so much that, all other means having failed to oust Neil from his impregnable position, the Tutor conceived the inhuman scheme of gathering together all the wives and children of the men who were on Berrissay, and all those in the island who were in any way related to them by blood or marriage, and, having placed them on a rock exposed only during low water, so near Berrissay that Neil and his companions could see and hear them, Sir Roderick and his men avowed that they would leave them - innocent, helpless women and children - on the rock to be overwhelmed and drowned on the return of the tide, if Neil and his companions did not at once surrender the rock. Macleod knew, by stern experience, that even to the carrying out such a fiendish crime, the promise of the Tutor, once given, was as good as his bond. It is due to the greater humanity of Neil that the terrible position of the helpless women and children and their companions appalled him so much that he decided immediately upon yielding up the rock on condition that he and his followers should be allowed to leave the Lewis with their lives. It cannot be doubted that but for Macleod's more merciful conduct the ferocious act would have been committed by Sir Roderick and his followers; and we have to thank the less barbarous instincts of their opponents for saving the clan Mackenzie from the commission of a crime which would have secured to its perpetrators the execration of posterity.
After Neil had left the rock he proceeded privately, during the night, to his cousin Sir Roderick Mor Macleod, XIII. of Harris. The Tutor learning this caused Macleod to be charged, under pain of treason and forfeiture, to deliver him up to the Council. Realising the danger of his position, Macleod prevailed upon Neil and his son Donald to accompany him to Edinburgh, and to seek forgiveness from the King; and under pretence of this he delivered them both up on arriving in the city, where Neil, in April, 1613, was at once executed and his son afterwards banished out of the kingdom. This treacherous conduct on the part of Macleod of Harris cannot be excused, but it was a fair return for a similar act of treachery of which Neil had been guilty against another some little time before.
When on Berrissay, he met with the captain of a pirate, with whom he entered into a mutual bond by which they were to help each other, both being outlaws. The captain agreed to defend the rock from the seaward side while Neil made his incursions on shore. They promised faithfully to live and die together, and to make the agreement more secure, it was arranged that the stranger should marry Neil's aunt, a daughter of Torquil Blair. The day fixed for the marriage having arrived, and Neil and his adherents having discovered that the captain had several articles of value aboard his vessel, he, when the master of the pirate was naturally off his guard, treacherously seized the ship, and sent the captain and crew prisoners to Edinburgh, expecting that in this way he might secure pardon for himself in addition to possession of all the stores on board. By order of the Council the sailors were all hanged at Leith. Much of the silver and gold taken from the vessel Neil carried to Harris, where probably it helped to tempt Macleod, as it previously tempted himself to break faith with Neil. The official account of these incidents has been already given at pages 194-95.