A LONG PEDIGREE.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 October 1928, Page 7

A LONG PEDIGREE.

It is impossible within the limits oi a newspaper article to give more than a suggestion of the great part played by the Lords of Lovat in the history of Scotland and the Highlands. The founder, as has been said, had his demesne in Tweeddale, in the south of Scotland. He was Sir Simon Fraser, and the name of ‘Simon has steadily descended from one generation to another of the chiefs ever since, the present Lord Lovat being Simon Joseph. A descendant of the first Sir Simon, who fell in the bloody battle of Halidon Hill, came into possession in 1338 of the tower and fort of Lovat, long held until then by the Bissets. In 1431 the chief was created a Lord of Parliament under the name of Lord Lovat, so that the title is now almost 500 years old. The most notable of all the old Lords of Lovat was Lord Simon of the “45,” who was executed in London, an old man of over 80,' perhaps not so much for his part in the rebellion as for his flagrant duplicity. He pretended sympathy- with b< th sides, denounced the one to the other, but Nemesis overtook him, and he met his end bravely, quoting as he ascended the scaffold the old Latin phrase: “Dulee et decorum pro patria mori.” TR AGEDY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. The present Lord Lovat is now, however, descended directly- from Lord Simon of the “45.” After the rebellion the estates and honours passed to the Frasers of Strichen, Aberdeenshire, from when the present house of Lovat is descended. The romance which has irradiated the story- of Lovat for fivo centuries still clings around it, and middle-aged Highlanders still delight to tell the story of the Lovat Claimant, a gentleman who, forty years ago, laid claim in the court to the dignities and estates of Lovat. The story he told recalled another story of long ago—a storv handed down as a tradition among the Highlanders to this day. Long, long ago some Gaelic satirist had written a song lampooning the house of Lovat. One verse, often quoted, might be rendered thus—the Thomas referred to was then Lord of Lovat: — The son of Thomas wears a dirk, And great and long the dirk is— He wears a sword, although a knife Where fitter for such birkies. A feeble satire—but set to music it was as wrath-provoking for the young Master of Lovat as “Lillibulero” was for James IL He was present at a wedding in the Beauly district when one piper in a spirit of bravado struck up the tune. Furious, the master rushed out. His intention was, it is said, to rip the bag of the piper, but he pushed too hard and the piper fell dead. In alarm he fled for his life and settled in Wales. There, the claimant affirmed, he married, and the claimant as his alleged descendant petitioned the courts to restore to him all the honours of the barony. The case excited profound interest; but the result was that the holder of the title, the present lord’s father, was confirmed in his tenure, and there is never likely to be another claimant. The dispossession of the present house for any reason whatever would be profoundly regretted by all classes of Highlanders, who knew the lords of Lovat best. AN HONOURABLE C IHF.EIt. Popularity seems to be an appanage of the house. The late Lord Lovat was, all Highlanders thought, the very beau ideal of a Highland chief. They rejoiced at his success in the great law case, and they mourned sincerely his tragic death shortly afterwards. The worry and anxiety were past, and he had joined a shooting party on the Moyhall Moors, owned by his brother chief, the Mackintosh of Mackintosh. And there a shooting accident occurred on the moor, and he was fatally shot. It can be said without the least suspicion of exaggeration that his death cast a gloom over the whole Highlands where he was so much beloved. That was in 1887. The present lord was then a boy of 16. When his education was finished he entered the army, from which he resigned after a few years. But when danger threatens or war rages, be sure that the Lord of Lovat will be there. During the South African war he conceived the idea of countering the Boers with their own tactics. He raised the famous Lovat Scouts, a splendid body of athletic, keeneyed mountaineers, mounted on hardy Highland ponies, that could climb like goats and live on the scantiest of herbage. The work the Lovat Scouts did during that war—is it not written in the military chronicles of that period? During the late war Lord Lovat served in Gallipoli, France and Flanders with distinction and retired with the rank of majorgeneral. For many years he has taken the keenest interest in all Imperial questions. His main purpose is to study the question of immigration from this end, and New Zealanders can rest assured that the matter will be dealt with intelligently, sympathetically and impartially, with a sole eye to the welfare, not of New Zealand alone or England alone, but of the whole Empire and the whole British race.