It has been contemptuously rejected by some writers as a
manifest forgery, on the ground that no Highlander would have understood
a word of it. But there were Dundee's own officers and men to be
addressed; and, moreover, his language would have been perfectly
intelligible to some, at least, of the chiefs, who would have conveyed
its purpose to their men. It was still the fashion for a general to
harangue his troops before leading them into action, and it was a
fashion particularly in vogue among the Highlanders. I see no reason,
therefore, to doubt the general authenticity of this speech. Exactly as
it stands in the Nairne Papers probably Dundee did not deliver it; the
style being somewhat more grandiloquent than he was in the habit of
employing. But its general purpose, which I have endeavoured to give in
a paraphrase, seems to be very much what such a man would have said at
such a moment. The authority for Mackay's speech will be found in his
own despatch to Lord Melville after the battle.
[103] It was the disastrous experience of this day that led Mackay to
devise a plan of fixing the bayonet to the musket so that each could be
used, as now, without interfering with the other.
[104] "History of the Rebellions in Scotland." Even the men who had
stood by Lord Murray joined in the slaughter.
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