It was not a united opposition that confronted the
Government. Above all, the methods of land-tenure had already been
rendered subject to very considerable modification. Since the reign of
James VI, the law had been successful in attempting to ignore "all
Celtic usages inconsistent with its principles", and it "regarded all
persons possessing a feudal title as absolute proprietors of the land,
and all occupants of the land who could not show a right derived from
the proprietor, as simple tenants".[99] Thus the strongest support of
the clan system had been removed before the suppression of the clans.
The Government of George II placed the Highlands under military
occupation, and began to root out every tendency towards the persistence
of a clan organization. The clan, as a military unit, ceased to exist
when the Highlanders were disarmed, and as a unit for administrative
purposes when the heritable jurisdictions were abolished, and it could
no longer claim to be a political force of any kind, for every vestige
of independence was removed. The only individual characteristic left to
the clan or to the Highlander was the tartan and the Celtic garb, and
its use was prohibited under very severe penalties. These were measures
which were not possible in the days of David as they were in those of
George. But a further step was common to both centuries--the forfeiture
of lands, and although a later Government restored many of these to
descendants of the attainted chiefs, the magic spell had been broken,
and the proprietor was no longer the head of the clan.
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