§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he has received a Report relating to the recent religious disturbances at Plockton, the persecution of Alexander Macrae, and the conduct of the police during the disturbances; and, if so, whether he will communicate its purport to the House?
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR,) ClackmannanThe subject to which this question relates was by my direction fully investigated on the spot by the Procurator Fiscal, and the evidence of the witness whom he examined was duly forwarded to me. It appears that a man named Alexander Macrae, from Loch Carron, was working as a mason's labourer at the erection of a house in Plockton, and that a feeling of irritation had arisen against him there, in consequence of its being believed that he had written and spoken disrespectfully of the Free Church Minister, although there is no evidence that he had done so. The result was that on several evenings bodies of young men assembled and requested Macrae to leave Plockton, intimating at the same time that if he did not do so voluntarily they would put him into a boat and convey him to Loch Carron. On the following Sunday he was prevented by some young men from entering the Free Church, and another hostile demonstration was made during the week, in consequence of which Macrae went to Strome Ferry, and he seems to have since been more or less under the protection of the police. No violence was, however, at any time used towards him, nor, so far as appears, was any violence seriously threatened. From the time when the police were called in, they seem to have behaved with judgment and discretion. On the occasion of Macrae's last visit to Plockton, before the Report was made tome, no notice was taken of him, and I hope that there will be no repetition of such unseemly proceedings.