GLENCOE', a valley well known not only for the terrible massacre through which i has become historically famous, but also for the wildness and sublimity of its scenery, is situated in the n. of Argyleshire, near the border of Inverness, at loch Leven. It a about 8 in. in length, and is divided into an upper and lower valley by a gentle ridge. It is traversed by a mountain-stream called the Cona, and its scarred sides show the beds of numerous mountain-torrents. Excepting a solitary inn, the, traveler looks in vain for any token of social life or of OF GLENCOE. The principal circumstances of this famous tragedy are briefly as follows: The state of the Highlands in the year which followed the parliamentary session 9f 1690 was such as to give the government much anxiety. The civil war which had recently been flaming there continued still to smolder, and at length it was determined, at court, to employ £12,000 or £15,000 in quieting and reconciling the refractory clans. The Edinburgh authorities issued a proclamation exhorting the clans to submit to William and Mary, and offering pardon to every rebel who would swear on or before Dec. 31, 1601, to live peaceably under the government of their majesties, and threatening to treat all who refused to do so as enemies and traitors. All the chiefs submitted before Dec. 31 except Madan, the chief of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, whose submission, from unforeseen causes, was delayed till Jan, 6. The magistrate before whom he took the oath of. allegiance transmitted a certificate to the council at Edinburgh, explaining the circum stances of the case. That certificate was never laid before the council, but was sup pressed by an intrigue, directed (it is supposed) by the master of Stair (sir John Dalrymple, afterwards second viscount and earl of Stair), on whom, undoubtedly, rests the chief blame of this odious transaction. The enemies of MacIan now hurried on their plans for his destruction. The master of Stair obtained the king's signature to an order directed to the commander of the forces in Scotland, and which runs thus: "As for Maclan of Glencoe and that tribe, if they can be well distinguished from the other Highlanders, it will be proper, for the vindication of public justice, to extirpate that set of thieves." Accordingly, on Feb. 1, 120 soldiers—most of them Campbell's, who had a personal spite against the Macdonalds—led by a capt. Campbell and a lieut. Lind say, marched to Glencoe. They had been warned by Stair to do nothing by halves;
,,they were exhorted to be "secret and sudden;" and they obeyed their instructions. Arrived in the glen, they told the Glencoe men that they were come as friends, and only wanted quarters. For twelve days the soldiers lived in the glen. Capt. Campbell, or Glenlyon as he was called from the name of his estate, while visiting daily at the chief's house, employed himself in observing carefully what avenues and passes there were by means of which the Macdonalds might escape, and reporting the result of his observa tions to lieut.col. Hamilton, who was approaching with troops to secure the passes. The morning of Feb. 13 was fixed for the slaughter, and on the night of the 12th, Glenlyon was supping and playing at cards with those whom he meant to assassinate before dawn. At five in the morning the murderous work began. When the day dawned, 38 corpses, among which were several of women, and more dreadful still, the hand of an infant that had been struck of in the murderous tumult, were lying in or around the village in their blood. But the massacre comprehended only a Small portion of the tribe, for Hamilton not having come up in time, the passes were open, and about 150 men, and probably as many women, escaped, but only in many cases to perish from cold or hunger among the snows iu the high mountain-gorges. When Hamilton did arrive, he was disappointed in finding the work so imperfectly done, and seizing an old Highlander, whom, being above seventy, the other butchers had agreed to let live, murdered him in cold blood. The huts of the village were then set on fire, and the troops departed, driving away with them all the flocks and herds of the glen.
The question as to the share'of king William in the guilt of this transaction has been discussed with no little warmth on both sides. Lord Macaulay pleads, in vindication of the king's conduct, that the certificate detailing the submission of Madan had been suppressed; that he knew the Macdonalds only as a rebellious clan, who had rejected his conciliatory offers; and that, in signing the order for their extirpation, he certainly never intended them to be murdered in their, sleep, but merely that their organization as a predatory gang should be broken scene of the massacre is visited annually by tourists, who are accommodated with conveyances in connection with Hutcheson's steam-vessels from Glasgow.