WILLIAM AND MARY.
exploits left no trace which could be discerned after the lapse ofa few weeks. Victories of strange and almost portentoussplendour produced all the consequences of defeat. Veteransoldiers and statesmen were bewildered by those sudden turnsof fortune. It was incredible that undisciplined men shouldhave performed such feats of arms. It was incredible that suchfeats of arms, having been performed, should be immediatelyfollowed by the triumph of the conquered and the submission ofthe conquerors. Montrose, having passed rapidly from victoryto victory, was, in the full career of success, suddenly abandonedby his followers. Local jealousies and local interests hadbrought liis army together. Local jealousies and local interestsdissolved it. The Gordons left him because they fancied thathe neglected them for the Macdonalds. The Macdonalds lefthim because they wanted to plunder the Campbells. The forcewhich had once seemed sufficient to decide the fate of a king-dom melted away in a few days; and the victories of Tippermuirand Kilsyth were followed by the disaster of Philiphaugh.Dundee did not live long enough to experience a similar reverseof fortune; but there is every reason to believe that, had hislife been prolonged one fortnight, his history would have beenthe history of Montrose retold.
Dundee made one attempt, soon after the gathering of theclans in Lochaber, to induce them to submit to the discipline ofa regular army. He called a council of war to consider thisquestion. His opinion was supported by all the officers who hadjoined him from the low country. Distinguished among themwere James Seton, Earl of Dunfermline, and James Galloway,Lord Dunkeld. The Celtic chiefs took the other side. Lochiel,the ablest among them, was their spokesman, and argued thepoint with much ingenuity and natural eloquence. “ Oursystem,” — such was the substance of his reasoning, —— “maynot be the best: but we were bred to it from childhood: we
CHAP
XIII.
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