The Portland daily press., 1893-05-31

sons" Such is the entry in the peerage
and baronetage of 1881 to designate the
gentleman who has subsequently by the
death of his father become head of the
great Clan Maclean and is to preside at
the world reunion of that famous clan
at Chicago in June. The chief (now Sil
.Fitzroy) and the chieftains of Penny.
cross, Loeb Buie, Ardgour, Uruuhart
and Kingerloch are to arrive together,
and on June 10 the Clan Maclean of
America will give them reception in
the Auditorium, after which will come
banquets and concerts at which every
vMaclean from every land who can posi-
bly, do so is expected to be present.
OF course such an occasion will not
only attract many descendants of other
clans, but will excite in millions of
Americans an intense feeling Of sympa-
thetic interest, for in all history there is
nothing more romantic and touching
than the annals Of the highlanders.
Even their failings leaned to virtues
side, and while there was much Iawless-
ness, much of hot blood and hasty re-
yenga there were for many hundred
years a faithfulness to clan and chief
tain which despised death and sense
Of honor 80 keen that it felt stain more
than wound.
The origin Of the Clan Maclean as Of
the most of the other clans is lost in
the mists of antiquity, but its written
record is traceable at least as far back as
the twelfth century. At the time of the
first complete and official registry Of
the clans when the lordship of the isles
was forfeited, there were four independ-
emit branches Of the Clan Chilean, and
this was beft -e the first syllable of the
many Gaelic names had been replaced by
the universal Mac, which has about the
same force as the French and Spanish
De, the German Won, the Dutch Van and
the Irish O.
Of these four the most important was
that Of Quart, who have been lords Of
Null for SO many centuries and whose
Quart castle, overlooking the sound of
Null, is stillNone of the sights of Scot
i land. The founder Of this branch was
Lachlan Maclean, surnamed Lubanich,
who in 1865 married Margaret, daughter
of John, first lord Of the isles. Maclean
of Quart has ever been considered the
head Of all the Macleans, but to trace
down the descent to the present Sir Fitz-
roy Donald Maclean would fill several
columns like this. The second branch
was the Macleans of Lochbuy. The
third was that of Coll, which produced
the famous ..Coll of the Cows" cele-
brated by Macaulay. Fourth were the
Macleans Of Ardgour, merely an offshoot
of the house of Quart. -
The history of Scotland, as every reader
knows, begins with the visit of Julius
Caesar, at which time all Great Britain
from Lands End to John o. Groat's was
peopled by race almost purely Celtic
or Gaelic. When Agricola invaded
North Britain in the year 81, the region
now called Scotland was inhabited by 81
tribes, of which the Caledonians were
the greatest and eventually gave name
to the whole. The Scots came from Ire
land, and early in the fifth century the
combined Celts had driven out the Ro-
mans. There were then 40 kings of the
.Picts or Caledonians and 20 Of the Scot
Irish race, sometimes contemporary and
sometimes successive, which dynasties
lasted to the year S48. Then the regular
Scottish kings began to rule overa toler-
ably united nation, and their dynasty
lasted until 1897 And through all these
years the distinction between highland
and lowland was not sufficient to cause
trouble. as all the Saxons and Normans
in the country were either guests, e1iles
or captives taken in waS.
g. g