CHARLES FRASER-MACKINTOSH, M.P., F.S.A., SCOT.

BIOGRAPHICAL Sketches of prominent Highlanders have from time to time appeared in these pages. It will be very generally conceded, whatever differences of opinion may exist on minor matters of detail in his public career hitherto, that the subject of the present sketch is a very prominent Highlander, and that he well deserves a very high, if not the leading place among those who will have left their mark on the history of the Highlands, politically and socially. A notice of his career will be specially interesting at the present juncture, when the labours and the result of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the state of the Highlands, in which he has taken such a distinguished part on the side of the people, is placed before the country, and that quite independently of whether the result of the Inquiry is considered satisfactory or the reverse.

Mr Fraser-Mackintosh was born on the 5th of June 1828 at Dochnalurg, on the estate of Dochgarroch. His father, Alexander Fraser, a cadet of the family of Fraser of Kinneries, was born so far back as 1764. His great-grandfather, also named. Alexander, lived in 1708 at Achnabodach, now Charleston, on the property of Kinmylies, and is on record as having paid a sum of money to the Town Council of Inverness for the freedom of toll over the old stone bridge, carried away by the flood of 1849, for himself and for his heirs for ever. Two of his sons,

having been "out" in 1715, were among the first Highlanders who emigrated to South Carolina; and from them sprung the numerous and wealthy Frazers (for so they spell their surname) who, for the last century and a-half, have held such influential positions in the city of Charleston, and were so prominent in the late Federal and Confederate war in the United States of America.

Alexander Fraser, Dochnalurg, married Marjory, daughter of Captain Alexander Mackintosh, only son of William, only son of Duncan, a Captain in the Mackintosh Regiment of 1715, and third brother of Brigadier Mackintosh of Borlum, who commanded the Highlanders in the first Stuart Rising. Among the issue of this marriage was our present subject, Mr Charles Fraser

Mackintosh, M.P., F.S.A., Scot. His grandfather, Captain Alexander Mackintosh, above named, married his cousin, Janet, eldest daughter of Charles Maclean of Dochgarroch, the head of a family for several generations prominent in the immediate vicinity of Inverness, descended from Sir Charles Maclean of Urquhart, after whom they were styled Clan Tearlaich.

Mr Fraser-Mackintosh received his early education under the private tutorship of the Rev. A. Watson. Later, from 1836 to 1840, he was under the tuition of Mr Forbes, of Dochgarroch School, an eminent classical scholar, who did such justice to his charge that in his eleventh year he gained prizes at a great Highland competiton, held in 1839 in Inverness, for Latin and Greek. After leaving Dochgarroch School Mr Fraser-Mackintosh attended for one year Messrs Gair's Seminary at Torbreck.

It had been first intended that he should seek his fortune abroad, but an elder brother having then recently died in Calcutta, while another was at sea, and his mother having the bones of one uncle and of three brothers resting in foreign lands, it was finally resolved that young Mr Charles should seek his fortune at home, in the legal profession. In 1842, in his fourteenth year, he entered the office of Mr John Mackay, solicitor, Procurator-Fiscal for the county; and in 1844 he was indentured as an apprentice with the late Patrick Grant, Sheriff-Clerk for the county of Inverness, with whom he remained for three years. From 1847 to 1849 he served with the late Mr Charles Stewart of Brin, after which he went to Edinburgh, where he served in the office of a Writer to the Signet, meantime attending the classes of Civil Law, Scots Law, Conveyancing, and Rhetoric, taking an honourable position in nearly all of them. He passed as a Notary Public in May 1853; and in the following month, in the 25th year of his age, was admitted a Procurator at Inverness. He soon made for himself a good position in his profession at the head of an extensive and lucrative practice.

In 1857 he appeared prominently for the first time in public life, acting as one of the agents of Alexander Campbell of Monzie, who in that year unsuccessfully contested the Inverness Burghs as an Advanced Liberal, against Mr (now Sir) Alexander Matheson, the sitting member.

In the same year his uncle, Encas Mackintosh, formerly an

officer in the Royal Navy, who died in August 1857, by his settlement-proceeding on the narrative that he was the last descendant of Duncan Mackintosh, third son of William Mackintosh of Borlum, and for the keeping up of the family namerequested his nephew, the subject of these remarks, to assume the additional surname of Mackintosh, to whom the Royal license for that end was duly granted.

The same year, he was urged to become a candidate for the Town Council, and he stood for the Third Ward, when he was returned at the top of the poll, very much in consequence of his energetic and warm advocacy of the popular Parliamentary candidate, Mr Campbell of Monzie, in the recent contest; and this position he always maintained until he finally retired from the Council in 1862, where he had invariably supported the advanced popular and reform party, then, and for several years after, in a minority.

In 1859 he again supported the advanced Liberal party in the Burghs in their second attempt to return Mr Campbell of Monzie, on this occasion giving his services as agent gratuitously, and subscribing 100 towards the expenses of the contest.

In 1860 he was elected Captain of the 4th Inverness Company of Rifle Volunteers, and continued in command for the next ten years, when he had to resign in consequence of other pressing engagements.

In 1861 he was associated with Messrs G. G. Mackay, C.E., Donald Davidson, and Hugh Rose, solicitors, in bringing about the most important improvement that was ever made in the town of Inverness-the great Union Street Scheme, which has so largely benefited and beautified the town, and proved so lucrative to the projectors. In 1863 he bought the estate of Drummond in the neighbourhood, which had once belonged to his great-great uncle, Provost Phineas Mackintosh; and in 1864 that of Ballifeary, both now important and populous suburbs of Inverness.

In May 1867 he retired from the legal profession, when he was entertained to a public dinner by his brother townsmen, and from June in that year until July 1868, he travelled all over Europe. On his return home he consented to act, for a limited period, as Commissioner for the late Mackintosh of Mackintosh, but he gave up that position in 1873, when he was entertained to

a public dinner by the tenantry, at which the late Chief and several of the leading farmers and smaller tenants spoke of his estate management in the highest and warmest terms.

In 1873 many electors in Inverness thought that a change from a Whig representative to one who would more distinctly and actively represent the real opinions of the Burghs had become necessary in their political life. About fifty of these met together, and after a consultation among themselves and with Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, it was resolved to test the feeling in the constituency in favour of a change, more decidedly, by a requisition in his favour, he meantime agreeing to contest the next vacancy, should the requisition prove satisfactory. The proposal was found to be most popular, and in a few days a requisition, signed by about six hundred electors, was presented to him, when he at once finally consented to stand as an Independent candidate at the end of the existing Parliament. In the meantime he proceeded to Algiers, where he remained until Parliament was dissolved in 1874. After a keen contest in the four Burghs, he was elected, much to the surprise of the old Whigs, by the substantial majority of 255, and has continued to represent the Burghs with increased activity, usefulness, and popularity, without a contest, ever since. In the first speech which he delivered, as a candidate to represent the Burghs in Parliament, on the 28th of August 1873, he declared "I claim your suffrages as a Highlander-speaking and familiar with the Gaelic language, and ready to advocate in the highest quarters all the legitimate requirements of the Highland people-many of which have hitherto been entirely neglected, and grievously overlooked and ignored."

Before dealing with his Parliamentary career, and the manner in which he carried out this pledge, it is right to state that he had already made for himself a place and a name in the literature of his country. In 1865 he published his " Antiquarian Notes," a most interesting and valuable addition to the literature of the Highlands, and now so rare that scarcely a copy can be procured second-hand at four or five times its original published price. In 1866 he issued “Dunachton Past and Present ;" and in 1875 appeared his “Invernessiana,” being "Contributions towards a History of the Town and Parish of Inverness, from 1160 to

1599," illustrated by excellent engravings and lithographs of some of the most interesting buildings and antiquarian relics in or connected with the town. The work is invaluable to all who take any interest in the early history of the Highland Capital, and it is already becoming rare. Mr Fraser-Mackintosh informs us in the preface that he was induced to perform this important service to his countrymen "from a desire to honour Inverness, for," he says

'I take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof;'

and also from having been favoured with a perusal of many valuable old papers connected with the burgh—in their original language and caligraphy unintelligible to ordinary readers-and which are nearly all unknown to the public, having never before appeared in print." The work occupied his intervals of relaxation during a period of eight years, engaged in other arduous occupations, by which he preserved many valuable literary relics and memorials of Inverness and the North, which would otherwise, in course of time, be for ever lost.

In 1876 he had placed a notice of motion on the Books of the House of Commons in favour of teaching Gaelic in Highland schools, but as he was only able to secure for it a second place, and in consequence of the motion having precedence of it leading to a long debate, he was unable to bring it on. Mainly, however, through his efforts the Education Department in 1877 reluctantly agreed to issue circulars to Highland School Boards containing queries (1) As to whether or not the School Boards were disposed to take advantage of Gaelic; (2) whether or not Gaelic teachers could be got; and (3) the number of children that would probably attend these schools. These circulars having been returned in 1877, were printed, and the result was considered highly satisfactory to the advocates of Gaelic teaching in the schools; especially so, as they showed that there would be no difficulty in getting a sufficient number of teachers to teach the language. On the strength of this return, Mr FraserMackintosh set again to work, with the result that in the Code for 1878, Gaelic was recognised to the extent of permitting it to be taught for at least two hours a-week, and might be used as a means of instruction in other branches. Unfortunately, however, the Highland School Boards took no advantage of the concession secured, and, notwithstanding Mr Fraser-Mackintosh's continued