The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

224 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
the remainder \vere rescued with some difficulty by the earl
of Mar. Donald Balloch, however, considered it hazardous to
follow up his success, and having ravaged the neighbouring
districts, he retired to the Isles, and subsequently to Ireland,
to avoid the vengeance of so powerful an adversary as the
king of Scotland.
James now saw that the absence of the chief, so far from
rendering the clan more disposed
to become amenable to his
will, rather roused them to acts of rebellion and revenge, and
that it was better to have at the head of the clan, a chief
who had become bound to him from acts of clemency, than
to expose them to the influence of the other branches of the
family, who were irritated by the indignity
offered to the
Island lord ; he therefore proceeded in person to the north,
for the purpose of quelling the remains of the rebellion : his
expedition was attended with his usual success, by
the sub-
mission of all the chiefs who had been engaged in it. Donald
Balloch was, soon after this, betrayed, and his head sent to
the king, upon which he at once restored the lord of the
Isles to liberty, granted him a free pardon for all the various
acts of rebellion he had been guilty of, and also confirmed to
him not only all his titles and possessions, but even granted
him the lordship of Lochaber, which had been forfeited from
his cousin Alexander, and given to the earl of Mar. The
policy of this act was soon apparent, for although Alexander
of the Isles was naturally thrown into opposition to the court,
and entered into a strict league with the earls of Crawford
and Douglas, who at that time headed the opposition, yet
it does not appear that the peace of the country was again
disturbed during his life. But on his death, the parties engaged
had not
in the league, which, although strictly preserved,
hitherto led to an)- manifestations of actual insurrection, at
length broke out into open rebellion, and the new lord of
the Isles, who was as active an opposer of the royal party
as his father had been, seized the royal castles of Inverness,
Urquhart, and Ruthven, in Badenoch, and declared himself
independent.
In this state of open rebellion, John, lord of the Isles,
was secretly supported by the earl of Douglas, and openly