Chapter VI

TWO years before Alan's return from America, the Highland Society of London was instituted for "Promoting objects of advantage to the Highlands generally; and good fellowship with social union, among such of its natives as inhabited the more southern part of the island." To the foregoing summary were also added several specific objects, such as the restoration of the Highland dress; the preservation of the music; and cultivation of the Celtic language, &c., &c. An institution for the support of these objects would have particular attraction for Alan; and now that he was not otherwise specially employed, he could give some attention to their promotion. The members of the society were composed of almost all the men of rank and position belonging to, or connected with, Scotland. In the list Alan appears to have been elected at a meeting on 21st January 1782, and with the names of other gentlemen on the same occasion that of John Home (Author of _Douglas_) is included.

The Act of Parliament which enacted the suppression of the Highland dress was in force in Scotland during Alan's childhood, and up to the time of his departure from it, after the encounter with _Morsheirlich_, so that he had never worn the garb of his ancestors until he had joined his regiment in America. Its use was still (1782) prohibited in the old country. Alan and many of his friends became the most active members for promoting the objects of the society. Having found that one of these was the restoration of the Highland dress, they formed a committee to co-operate with a member of the Legislature to have that obnoxious Act obliterated from the Statute Book. Of that committee the following were the Executive, and being the authors of the extirpation of this national stigma, they are entitled to be remembered, by Highlanders especially, with admiration and everlasting gratitude. They were--Hon. General Fraser of Lovat (President); Lord Chief Baron Macdonald; Lord Adam Gordon; Earl of Seaforth; Colonel Macpherson of Cluny; Captain Alan Cameron (Erracht); and John Mackenzie (Temple), Honorary Secretary.

Fortunately for the committee, the Marquis of Graham, one of the members of the society, had a seat in the House of Commons, and to this nobleman they entrusted a Bill for the repeal of the Act passed in 1747, commonly known as the _Unclothing Act_. The noble Marquis took charge of the bill, which he introduced to the House in May 1782, with so much earnestness that it passed through the various stages in both Houses of Parliament with unusual rapidity. Indeed, within a few months after this date, the legal restriction placed on the dress of a people for the past thirty-five years, was obliterated for ever. "The thanks of the Society were given to his Lordship for his exertions in procuring a law so acceptable to all Highlanders."[C] Addresses in prose and poetry were presented to the Marquis from all the Highland parishes, while at the same time the contemporary Gaelic bards were profuse with patriotic songs of praise, notably among them, that by Duncan M'Intyre (_Donnachadh Ban_) commencing--

Fhuair mi naidheachd as ùr
Tha taitinn ri rùn mo chridh
Gu faigheamaid fasan na dùtch
A chleachd sinn an tùs ur tìm,
O'n tha sinn le glaineachan làn,
A bruidhinn air màran binn,
So i deoch slainte Mhontrois
A sheasamh a choir so dhuinn.

The next action of national importance which engaged the attention of the Society was the publication of the Poems of Ossian in the original Gaelic. In the prosecution of this project Alan Cameron was also zealous, but before it was completed he was called away to duties of a sterner nature. About the same time the controversy respecting the authenticity of the poems was continuing to run its rancour unabated. During the few days of Alan's sojourn as a fugitive in Mr Bond's house, they had conversed on the merits of Ossian's poems, the latter gentleman informed Alan that he had such evidence in favour of their ancient existence that he was convinced of their being the genuine remains of poetry of a very remote period, adding that he owed his intimacy with Ossian to the acquaintance of the Rev. Colin M'Farquhar (a native of one of the Hebrides), at this time minister in Newhaven of Pennsylvannia. It occurred to Alan that it would be desirable to get the testimony of the reverend gentleman respecting the poems, therefore he decided to address himself to his kind friend in Philadelphia on the subject. In due time Mr Bond replied with a communication from Mr M'Farquhar, dated, "Newhaven, Penn., January 1806," stating as follows:--"It is perfectly within my recollection when I was living in the Highlands of Scotland, that Mr James Macpherson was there collecting as many as he could find of the Poems of Ossian. Among those applied to was a co-presbyter of mine, who knew that a man of distinguished celebrity had resided in my congregation, and he requested the favour of me to have an interview with him and take down in writing some of these poems from his lips for Mr Macpherson, which I did, but cannot recollect at this distance of time the names of the poems, though I well remember they were both lengthy and irksome to write, on account of the many mute letters contained in almost every word. Indeed, it would be difficult to find one among ten thousand of the Highlanders of the present day who could or would submit to the task of committing one of them to writing or memory, though in former ages they made the repetition of the poems a considerable part of their enjoyment at festive and convivial entertainments. Well do I remember the time when I myself lent a willing ear to the stories of Fingal, Oscar, Ossian, and other heroes of the Highland bard. I cannot, therefore, forbear calling that man an ignorant sceptic, and totally unacquainted with the customs of the history of the Highlanders, and the usages prevailing amongst them; who can once doubt in his mind their being the composition of Ossian? And as to being the production of Macpherson or any of his companions, I have no more doubt than I have of the compositions of Horace or Virgil to be the works of these celebrated authors."

The Secretary laid Mr Bond's letter and its inclosure with the foregoing statement of the Reverend Mr M'Farquhar before the Highland Society, which they considered so important as to have adopted it in Sir John Sinclair's "Additional Proofs of the Authenticity of the Poems of Ossian." While on this subject, another reference must be made to Mr Bond. The Highland Society in acknowledging the receipt of his communications, alluded to the service he had rendered to their fellow-countryman (Erracht) when in distress. The Marquis of Huntly, who was President, moved that the Society's Gold Medal be conferred on Mr Bond; also that he be elected an _Honorary_ member of the Society.[D] The propositions were unanimously approved, and thus his friendship to the benighted prisoner was not forgotten by the members of this noble and patriotic Society.