In order to break the force of clanship,
administration has always practised the political maxim, Divide
et impera. The legislature hath not only disarmed these
mountaineers, but also deprived them of their antient garb, which
contributed in a great measure to keep up their military spirit;
and their slavish tenures are all dissolved by act of parliament;
so that they are at present as free and independent of their
chiefs, as the law can make them: but the original attachment
still remains, and is founded on something prior to the feudal
system, about which the writers of this age have made such a
pother, as if it was a new discovery, like the Copernican system.
Every peculiarity of policy, custom, and even temperament, is
affectedly traced to this origin, as if the feudal constitution
had not been common to almost all the natives of Europe. For my
part, I expect to see the use of trunk-hose and buttered ale
ascribed to the influence of the feudal system. The connection
between the clans and their chiefs is, without all doubt,
patriarchal. It is founded on hereditary regard and affection,
cherished through a long succession of ages.
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