Note 44 — Chapter IV

There is no indication of any racial division in the attitude of the Scots. Some Highlanders, from various personal causes, are found on the English side at the beginning of the War of Independence; but Mr. Lang has shown that of the descendants of Somerled of Argyll, the ancestor of the Lords of the Isles, only one fought against Wallace, while the Celts of Moray and Badenach and the Highland districts of Aberdeenshire, joined his standard. The behaviour of the Highland chiefs is similar to that of the Lowland barons. If there is any racial feeling at all, it is not Celtic v. Saxon, but Scandinavian v. Scottish, and it is connected with the recent conquest of the Isles. But even of this there is little trace, and the behaviour of the Islesmen is, on the whole, marvellously loyal.