[90] A
chain of fortified posts was to be established among the Grampians, and
at various commanding points in Invernessshire. On the west a strong
garrison was to be placed in the castle of Inverlochy, the northernmost
point of Argyle's country overlooking the stronghold of the Camerons. A
small fleet of armed frigates drawing a light draft was to cruise off
the western coasts, and to watch those dangerous islands whence issued
the long war-galleys of the Macdonalds and the Macleans. Stores and
transport enough to keep a considerable force in the field for one month
was to be collected; and a skilled body of pioneers, equipped with all
the tools necessary for road-making, was to accompany the column.
Having already sketched out this plan in a letter to Hamilton, Mackay
was in hopes to find on his arrival in Edinburgh that measures had been
begun to put it into operation. He was grievously disappointed. He found
nothing but quarrels and intrigues in the Parliament House and out of
it. Each man was too intent on out-manoeuvring his neighbour in the
great struggle for place, to spare a thought for a foe who was happily
separated from them by a vast barrier of mountains and many hundreds of
miles of barren moorland, deep waters, and dense forests. He saw that
his plan for subduing the warriors of the Highlands must wait till the
Lowland politicians were at leisure to listen to him; yet he determined
to return to his duty, and to do his best with such means as he could
find or make for himself.
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