seems to be that the public men who were assembled in the capital of Scotland knew little and cared little about the fate of a thieving tribe of Celts.  The injured clan, bowed down by fear of the allpowerful Campbells, and little accustomed to resort to the constituted authorities of the kingdom for protection or redress, presented no petition to the Estates.  The story of the butchery had been told at coffeehouses, but had been told in different ways.  Very recently, one or two books, in which the facts were but too truly related, had come forth from the secret presses of London.  But those books were not publicly exposed to sale.  They bore the name of no responsible author.  The Jacobite writers were, as a class, savagely malignant and utterly regardless of truth.  Since the Macdonalds did not complain, a prudent man might naturally be unwilling to incur the displeasure of the King, of the ministers, and of the most powerful family in Scotland, by bringing forward an accusation grounded on nothing but reports wandering from mouth to mouth, or pamphlets which no licenser had approved, to which no author had put his name, and which no bookseller ventured to place in his shop-window.  But whether this be or be not the true solution, it is certain that the Estates separated quietly after a session of two months, during which, as far as can now be discovered, the name of Glencoe was not once uttered in the Parliament House.

CHAPTER XX

State of the Court of Saint Germains—­Feeling of the Jacobites; Compounders and Noncompounders—­Change of Ministry at Saint Germains; Middleton—­New Declaration put forth by James—­Effect of the new Declaration—­French Preparations for the Campaign; Institution of the Order of Saint Lewis—­Middleton’s Account of Versailles—­William’s Preparations for the Campaign—­Lewis takes the Field—­Lewis returns to Versailles—­Manoeuvres of Luxemburg—­ Battle of Landen—­Miscarriage of the Smyrna Fleet—­Excitement in London—­Jacobite Libels; William Anderton—­Writings and Artifices of the Jacobites—­Conduct of Caermarthen—­Now Charter granted to the East India Company—­Return of William to England; Military Successes of France—­Distress of France—­A Ministry necessary to Parliamentary Government—­The First Ministry gradually formed—­ Sunderland—­Sunderland advises the King to give the Preference to the Whigs—­Reasons for preferring the Whigs—­Chiefs of the Whig Party; Russell—­Somers—­Montague—­Wharton—­Chiefs of the Tory Party; Harley—­Foley—­Howe—­Meeting of Parliament—­Debates about the Naval Miscarriages—­Russell First Lord of the Admiralty; Retirement of Nottingham—­Shrewsbury refuses Office—­Debates about the Trade with India—­Bill for the Regulation of Trials in Cases of Treason—­Triennial Bill—­Place Bill—­Bill for the Naturalisation of Foreign Protestants—­Supply—­Ways and Means; Lottery Loan—­The Bank of England—­Prorogation of Parliament; Ministerial Arrangements; Shrewsbury