Hostilities were renewed next summer, but the contest was not long
or doubtful, notwithstanding some little advantages obtained by
the Lord of the Isles. He was compelled for a time to give up his
claim to the earldom of Ross, to become a vassal of the Scottish
Crown, arid to deliver hostages for his good behaviour in the
future.
Murdoch must have felt secure in his stronghold of Ellandonnan,
and been a man of great prudence, sagacity, and force of character,
when, in spite of the commands of his nominal superior - the Lord
of the Isles - to support him in these unlawful and rebellious
proceedings against the King and threats of punishment in case of
refusal, he resolutely declined to join him in his desperate and
treasonable adventures. He went the length of saying that even
if his lordship's claims were just in themselves, they would not
justify a rebellion against the existing Government; and he further
informed him that, altogether independently of that important
consideration, he felt no great incentive to aid in the cause of
the representative of his grandfather's murderer. Mackenzie was
in fact one of those prudent and loyal chiefs who kept at home in
the Highlands, looking after his own affairs, the comfort of his
followers, and laying a solid foundation for the future prosperity
of his house, "which was so characteristic of them that they always
esteemed the authority of the magistrate as an inviolable
obligation.
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