Libera nos, Domine.”
That the Jacobite songs tended largely to nourish and perpetuate Jacobite sympathies long after all idea of endeavouring to restore the Stuart dynasty had been abandoned, all must admit who know anything of Scotch social life during the latter part of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. In the early part of the latter century, an additional and most powerful instrument in the cause of sentimental Jacobitism came into play, in the shape of the poems, and especially the novels of Sir Walter Scott, on whose bold imagination and strong sympathy with chivalry and the days of old, the story of the young prince and the misfortunes of the Stuarts and their adherents generally, appear to have taken a strong hold. The very first of the Waverley Novels presented the history of the ’45 in its most fascinating aspect, and painted its hero in the most attractive colours, as the handsome, chivalrous, high-minded, but unfortunate prince. In one or two of Scott’s other novels the same episode is made use of, and with such bewitching power as only the Wizard of the North could exercise. The influence of these matchless fictions continues unabated, and as it is from them that most people derive their knowledge of the last rebellion, and of the Stuarts and their cause, it is no wonder that even at the present day there exists a wide-spread, tender sympathy for the unfortunate race, a sort of sentimental Charlie-worship, adoring as its object the ideal presented by Scott, filled in with some of the most attractive and touching features from the sweetest and most popular of the songs. With perhaps no exception, this admiration of Prince Charlie and the other heroes of ’45 is of the same nature as the unthinking admiration of the “good old days” generally, of King Arthur and his knights, of the days of chivalry, of Robin Hood and his merry men, and of the bold Rob Roy; he would be looked upon as a harmless imbecile, who should ever talk of doing aught to restore any of the institutions of these old times, which are as likely to find active partisans as is the restoration of the Stuart dynasty.
BALMORAL.
THE HIGHLAND RESIDENCE OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.
However, that Jacobitism still runs in a few old families as something more than a sentiment, as something like an ideal politico-religious creed, cherished as the remnant of the Cameronians cherish the ancient covenant, we have good reason to believe. These families are, practically, perfectly loyal to the present government and the present sovereign, and would as soon dream of taking to cattle-lifting as to rebellion; but still they seem to regard the Stuart dynasty as their first love, the love of their impulsive youth, with whom a closer relation was impossible. The creed of these modern Jacobites we may be permitted to state, in the words of one who has ample opportunities of mixing with them and knowing their sentiments. “As a principle of action,” he writes, quoting the words of a noble lord, “it is dead and gone, but in sentiment and sympathy there are still lots of us.” He himself proceeds:—“I quite agree with him. We claim, with the late Professor Aytoun, to be White-Rose Scots, Tories in some things but not in others—some of us Tories—some I daresay Radicals—none of us Whigs; all of us animated by an abhorrence of Macaulay’s History as an audacious libel on our forefathers and their principles.” In another letter he says:—“The question you ask, as to whether we would now stand up for any of the descendants of Prince Charles, is one I have no difficulty in answering. We should not. I cannot say we have any great love for the present royal family; they cross our feelings and prejudices in many ways, by marriages in Lent, and alliances with Campbells!! But were the time of trial to come (and a contest between monarchy and republicanism may come in this country sooner than many expect), Queen Victoria would find none more loyal—I could almost venture to say, none so loyal—as those whose sympathies go with the former enemies of her race. To us she represents ‘the powers that be, as ordained of God,’ and we must bear a good deal at their hands. Queen Victoria herself certainly does appreciate the Highlands and Highlanders. Our loyalty is a matter of principle, not of preference, and might be found to wax the warmer, as that of others—when subjected to a strain by the royal family running counter to their ideas and prejudices—waxed cold.” Indeed Jacobitism, as an active principle, is as much a thing of the past as clan-feuds, cattle-lifting, and active religious intolerance.
Her present Majesty has done more to win the hearts and command the loyalty of the Highlanders than ever did any of her predecessors, by taking up her residence yearly in their midst, and in many other ways showing her trust in and love for them, and her unbounded admiration for all that is Highland. As is well known, before her widowhood, her favourite plaid was one of Stuart tartan of a special pattern. If any section of her Majesty’s subjects is at all inclined to use occasionally expressions savouring of disloyalty, it is that of which one or two Cockney newspapers are the mouthpieces, the grievance being that the Queen spends so much of her time in the Highlands. The loyalty and love of the Highlanders, and of all Scotchmen, have been for ever intensified by the recent marriage of one of the Queen’s daughters to the son and heir of one of the oldest and greatest Highland chiefs.[1385]
So far as the record of external strife or inward feud constitutes history, that of the Highlands may be said to end with the battle of Culloden in 1746. By many, however, the period from that date onwards will be considered as of far more interest and importance than all the previous centuries put together; for in the years succeeding the last rebellion are witnessed the struggle of lawlessness with law, of semi-barbarism with civilization, the gradual but rapid breaking-up of the old patriarcho-feudal way of ruling men and regulating property, on which the whole social life of the Highlands was based, and the assimilation of that district in all respects to the rest of the kingdom of which it forms a part.
That innovations such as were of necessity forced upon the Highlands should be adopted without a struggle, without resistance, without hardship to many, was not to be expected. No thoughtful person could expect that there could be accomplished without many difficulties and mistakes the abolition of a system which had maintained its sway for many centuries, and the introduction of a new one so little adapted to the character stamped on the Highlander under the former, and in every respect so contrary to the ideas and prejudices which had been transmitted from father to son for many generations. Any sudden change of an old-established system, by which the every-day life of thousands of people is regulated, would in any case almost inevitably lead at first to disorder and a certain amount of hardship. It was to be looked for that, in the case of the Highlands, which in many respects were centuries behind the rest of the country, there would be much trouble and confusion before they could be brought up to the stand-point of their Lowland fellow-countrymen. Such was the case. It took very many years—indeed, the process is still going on—before the various elements got settled into their places according to the new adjustment of matters. There were, of course, many interests to be attended to, and necessarily many collisions and misunderstandings between the various classes; often no doubt unnecessary hardness, selfishness, and want of consideration for inferiors on one side, as frequently met on the other by unreasonable demands, and a stubborn and uninformed determination to resist the current of change, and not to accommodate themselves to inevitable innovations. The old clan-system, with the idea which it nourished of the close relation between the various grades of the clan, of the duty of the chief to support his people, and of the people to do the will of the chief, must be abolished, and the Highlander must be taught, each man to depend entirely upon himself and his own exertions, and to expect nothing from any man but what he could pay for in labour or money. Of course it would be hard for a Celt to put himself on the same footing in this respect with the low-minded, greedy, over-reaching Saxon; but it had to be done, and, like many other things which seemed hard to face, has been done, and the process is still going on, and probably will go on, till there be not only an assimilation in habits and ways of living and thinking, but till the two races be so fused or blended together by intermarriage and otherwise, that there shall be neither Celt nor Saxon, but a mixed race superior to either, combining the best qualities of each, the fire, the imagination, the dash, the reverence, the heart of the Celt, with the perseverance, clear-headedness, patience, fairness, capacity for business, head of the Saxon. Ere long, no doubt, the two will become one flesh, and their separation and strife a tale of bygone days.