He went to France in the days of the French Revolution,
and took great interest in the Jacobin dreams of progress. The minor
title of the House of Selkirk was Daer, and so the young collegian saw
one Daer depart, then another, until at last he held the title, becoming
in 1799 Earl of Selkirk and was confirmed as the master of the beautiful
St. Mary's Isle, near the mouth of the Dee, on Solway Frith. On his
visits to the Highlands, it was not alone the Highland straths and
mountains, nor the Highland Chieftain's absolute mastership of his clan,
nor was it the picturesque dress--the "Garb of old Gaul"--which
attracted him. The Earl of Selkirk has been charged by those who knew
little of him with being a man of feudal instincts. His temper was the
exact opposite of this. When he saw his Scottish fellow-countrymen being
driven out of their homes in Sutherlandshire, and sent elsewhere to give
way for sheep farmers, and forest runs, and deer stalking, it touched
his heart, and his three Emigration Movements, the last culminating in
the Kildonan Colonists, showed not only what title and means could do,
but showed a kindly and compassionate heart beating under the starry
badge of Earldom.
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