People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1893 — ACROSS THE DEEP. [ARTICLE]

ACROSS THE DEEP.

A Beautiful Description of the Land of Rob Roy. Halle, a. s. Oct. 23, 1893. “Theeagle, he was lord above, And Rob was lord below." —Woodsworth. I venture, before leaving the Scottish lake country, to give a short recital of tne life of Rob Roy and the deeds which tradition has associated with his name. The story of this Scottish Higland chieftain is part, and parcel of the nursery tales of every land. I doubt if there are many children of America, who have passed through that period of childhood, when great individual deeds appealed to them as the ideal of heroic man or womanhood, without being impressed with the struggle of Rob Roy. The long, dreamy winter evening are the times when the boy takes his story book, whose pages are filled with the magnificent deeds of Tell, Roy, Marion, Sumpter, Putnam, Carson, and a host of others of this type of men, whose lives are a part of the lives of succeeding generation, because they have been installed in the minds of the young at their mother’s knee or from their teacher’s lips in the earlier days of their school life. That school which fails to instill such deeds in the mind of the pupil before arriving at the age when history becomes a series of laws, has made a grave mistake and has failed to clothe history in life and blood, and to give it a vitality to the beginner of historic study, which is necessary to a proper appreciation of the deeds and acts of individual men. History is so intricately associated with our great lives that a first attention of them is the basis of after appreciation of historic developement.

These heroes of the youthful immagination are not always correct models, but it is the nature of humanity to forget the bad and laud the deeds of her great heroes. A paradox in human thinking! Mankind is not so generous with the common man. But men who have attained a certain standing in the minds of humanity begin to be the ideal of their thinking. It is the effort of humanity to impute its ideas to consecrate deeds, so when a man has fixed the attention of the masses upon some great act of public, or private virtue, the public mind begins at once to lose sight of the human side of his nature and clothes him in characteristics that leave him forever for the contemplation of those who care not to disturb the verdict of the common mind. So it is, that in some parts of Switzerland it is. not safe for one to deny that such a personage as Tell ever lived. But later research denies his historic existance. Few Americans know the human side of Washington’s life. I sometimes think that it would be a grave mistake for the public mind to realize the weaknesses of those to whom they have looked as ideal public benefactors. Let us see what there is in the deeds of Rob Roy which entitles him to the place where tradition has pleased to assign him. Roy was comparatively a modern personage. He was born in 1660. As was natural to that section of Scotland, around Loch Lomond, and south to the County of Stirling, and north to the County of Perth, he was engaged at first in the business of a cattle-breeder. This vacation of cattle breeder is where he developed his war-like tendencies as he engaged in the act of repelling raids in quest of stock upon his lands. Over the tract above mentioned be exercised at time despotic control. And while he was a real, historic personage, his deeds often attain a degree which would place him in the realm of a mythical hero. At the time in which he lived, Scotland was divided into clans, which were controlled by strong noble families. At this particular time the two noble houses of Montrose and Argyll were contending for supremacy in Scottish politics and so happened that the clan of Rob Roy lay directly between the clans of these two families and the one could not encroach upon the other without his consent. So he was courted and flattered by these two Scottish Dukes. Montrose at last succeeded in getting Rob Roy dependent upon him through debt. Debt meant complete bondage to Montrose until paid. In order to overcome the political influence of the Duke of Argyle, in Scottish politics, it would be necessary to prefer grave charges against him at the English

court. He wrote Roy that if he would furnish evidences of 1 Argyle's treason against the j king he would release him from | the penalty of debt. This underhanded scheme did not appeal directly to Roy’s sense of fair play and he at once sent the letter to Argyle to warn him of the intent of Montrose. These letters were placed before the English court and Montrose was severely reproved. Naturally this brought down upon Rob Roy the severest indignities of the disappointed Duke. But while these proceedings were taking place at court, Roy was in North England in search of funds to Chase his freedom, so dear to every Highlander. He had succeeded and was on his way home rejoicing at a speedy release from the clutches of the vindictive Duke. But before he arrived the Duke had reluctantly obtained from the court an order to evict Roy from his lands because of non-payment of debt. This order was carried out in a most shameful manner. Roy's family was driven from home and his wife subjected to the most inhuman treatment. Driven from home she pursued her path in a November snow storm in quest of shelter. According to Celtic custom she gave expression to her afflictions in crooning an old song of sorrow which has since been crystalized in the touching melody known in Scot-; tish lyrics as “Rob Roy’s Lament.’’

Roy was returning home with joyful heart with the ransom of of his family’s freedom when he found his lands laid waste and his home desolated, his wife inhumanly treated and his family scattered. No strong immagination is required to see this Highland Chieftain in righteous rage. He then and there swore eternal vengance on the perpetrator of this dastardly deed. The sentence of outlawery against him placed his life in the hands of the meanest peasant. So he resolved to merit his position as an outlaw. He gathered around himself the men of his family, which were quite numerous, and made frequent raids upon the lands of Montrose. In order to protect his lands, Montrose caused the government to build a fort at Inversmaid on Loch Lomond. This territory Roy also claimed. Roy was content to see this stronghold built in his sight and patiently watched its completion. The fort was begun late in the summer and was not completed till late in the winter. The inspector of the fort had come from Edinberg to give the final inspection, before handing it over to the government. He arrived in a blinding snow storm which continued in the night with terrific fury, and as the workmen were hovering around the fire they heard a voice without as if one seeking shelter. The inspector ordered the door open and in sprang Rob Roy with his highland followers, brandishing their weapons and threatening all who offered resistance. So the government built the fort for Roy, and which remained in his hands for some years, and gave him a basis for raids against Montrose. This illustrates the method and daring of Rob Roy’s warfare. His life is filled with such deeds of daring and we can only select the most characteristic. He was especially fond of directing his raids against severe rentrackers of the estates of Montrose. A poor widow held a small piece of ground on these estates and as rent time came she was unable to meet her obligations and knowing the severity of Montrose she sought the protection of Rob Roy. He gave her sufficient money to pay the rent and then with his followers he posted himself to intercept the servants of Montrose as they returned with the widow’s rent. And by such a business transaction he paid the widow's rent without loss to himself.

Roy became involved in the political troubles of the time as England was attempting to bring Scotland under subjection. As a true Highlander, he was ever on the side of Scotland. But the fortunes of war did not enrich his condition. With the success of the government forces he found himself an exile with a reward of a thousand pounds placed on his head. He lurked in caves along the shores of Loch Lomond in the vicinity of his old home. At the north end of the lake in the cliffs was his favorite retreat, and the cave is still pointed out, which bears his name. It is very near the fort of Inversmaid, the stronghold of his enemies who little suspected his nearness,

Rob Roy was taken prisoner: several times and daring are the I means he employed to effect his escape. At one time he so man- j ageu that his watchers imbibed j to freely of Scotch whiskey and 1 while they were helplessly drunk made good his escape after Montrose had boasted of his capture I and security. At another time he was on his way to the prison ! of Stirling Castle under a strong I mounted guard. Rob Roy was I perfectly familar with every part * of the road over which they must travel. The party must pass through one of the narrow passes of the Trossachs mountains, refered to in a previous letter. Roy so managed it that the horse in the rear of him became frightened, thereby throwing the rear of the party in confusion, w’hile the advance rode on and the pass being so narrow that it became impossible to turn the horses back. With the accustomed quickness of a Highlander he had dismounted and vras well up the mountain side before the guards realized the force of circumstances, and was beyond capture before they could dismount. His deeds might be recited almost without end but the abovo are sufficient to see his claim as the hero that the Scotch have made him. Injustice drove him to acts of injustice. The laws of Scotland made him an outlaw. The peculiar trait of Scotch character has enrolled him among the heroes of his country. The lawless condition of the time was peculiarly adabted for the developement of such a man. Such men are to be estimated according to time and place. Modern Scotland would not tolerate such a hero within her borders so far as police powers could prevent. Judging Rob Roy in his time and place we can not be adverse to many of his acts. Desperation had driven him to the life of a robber, yet not robbery in the sense of today. A government had placed a price upon his head which it never had to pay.

Rob Roy died a free, sturdy warrior in the fastnesses of his native land while his followers chanted in his presence the highland warrior’s song of victory. The character of Rob Roy can be well brought out by a parallel with that of Jesse James. Rob Roy was driven to outlawery by acts of injustice and so was Jesse James if his words are to be trusted. The one robbed the Duke’s cattle yards and the other Uncle Sam’s mail bags; the one unmercifully slaughtered the followers of Montrose, the other those who showed resistance; the one hid in the caves of Scotland at times, the other at times in the caves of America; a price was offered over the head of one. a price was offered over the head of the other, a price was never paid for the head of one, a price was never paid for the head of the other; the one has inspired the highland lad at his mother's knee, the other has inspired many a venturesome American boy to dream of highway robberies; the one was captured only to escape again by new deeds of daring, the other was too shrewd for his pursuer; the other treated with kings and nobility, the other treated with American railway passengers; the one died surrounded by friends and in a warriors garb; the other by the betrayers bullet; the one has been crystalized by the “Wizzard of the North,” the other has been the source of countless tones of “yellow backed literature.” the one was an outlaw, and so was the other; the one lived in a time and country where such deeds made men heros, the other lived in a time and country where such deeds made men dispised and branded as a murderer.