That a general massacre throughout the Highlands was contemplated by the
Whig government, is a fact established by overwhelming evidence. In the
course of the subsequent investigation before the Scots Parliament,
letters were produced from Sir John Dalrymple, then Master of Stair, one
of the secretaries of state in attendance upon the court, which too
clearly indicate the intentions of William. In one of these, dated 1st
December 1694,--_a month_, be it observed, before the amnesty
expired--and addressed to Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, there are the
following words:--"The winter is the only season in which we are sure
the Highlanders cannot escape us, _nor carry their wives, bairns_, and
cattle to the mountains." And in another letter, written only two days
afterwards, he says, "It is the only time that they cannot escape you,
for human constitution cannot endure to be long out of houses. _This is
the proper season to maule them, in the cold long nights_." And in
January thereafter, he informed Sir Thomas Livingston that the design
was "to destroy entirely the country of Lochaber, Locheill's lands,
Keppoch's, Glengarry's, Appin, and Glencoe. I assure you," he continues,
"your power shall be full enough, _and I hope the soldiers will not
trouble the Government with prisoners_."

Locheill was more fortunate than others of his friends and neighbours.
According to Drummond,--"Major Menzies, who, upon his arrival, had
observed the whole forces of the kingdom ready to invade the Highlands,
as he wrote to General Buchan, foreseeing the unhappy consequences, not
only begged that general to send expresses to all parts with orders
immediately to submit, but also wrote to Sir Thomas Livingston, praying
him to supplicate the Council for a prorogation of the time, in regard
that he was so excessively fatigued, that he was obliged to stop some
days to repose a little; and that though he should send expresses, yet
it was impossible they could reach the distant parts in such time as to