18

HISTOBX OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

XVIII.

It 192 ,

depend.* But, even on the supposition that he read the order•to which he affixed his name, there seems to be no reason forblaming him. That order, directed to the Commander of theForces in Scotland, runs thus: “As for Mac Ian of Glencoe andthat tribe, if they can'be well distinguished from the otherHighlanders, it will be proper, for the vindication of publicjustice, to extirpate that set of thieves.” These words naturallybear a sense perfectly innocent, and would, but for the horribleevent which followed, have been universally understood in thatsense. It is undoubtedly one of the first duties of every govern-ment to extirpate gangs of thieves. This does not mean thatevery thief ought to be treacherously assassinated in his sleep,or even that every thief ought to be publicly executed after a fairtrial, but that every gang, as a gang, ought to be completely brokenup, and that whatever severity is indispensably necessary forthat end ought to be used. If William had read and weighedthe words which were submitted to him by his Secretary, hewould probably have understood them to mean that Glencoewas to be occupied by troops, that resistance, if resistance wereattempted, was to be put down with a strong hand, that severepunishment was to be inflicted on those leading members of theclan who could be proved to have been guilty of great crimes,that some active young freebooters, who were more used tohandle the broad sword than the plough, and who did not seemlikely to settle down into quiet labourers, were to be sent to thearmy in the Low Countries, that others were to be transportedto the American plantations, and that those Macdonalds who

* Burnet, in 1693, wrote thus about William: — “lie suffers mattersto run till there is a great heap of papers; and then he signs them as much )

too fast as he was before too slow in despatching them.” Burnet MS. I-Iarl.

6584. There is no sign either of procrastination or of undue haste in Wil-liam’s correspondence with Heinsius. The truth is, that the King under-stood Continental politics thoroughly, and gave his whole mind tothem. To English busiuess he attended less, and to Scotch business leastOf all,

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