Book Review - The Killing of the Red Fox

[endlessrarities]

The book I'm reviewing is an oldie, I'm afraid, so I'm sorry if any interested parties have trouble tracking it down.  I was fortunate enough to pick up a copy second hand at a library clearance sale, which reflects rather badly on our local library...  Still, its loss is my gain, so there!

The book in question is a non-fiction tome, The Killing of the Red Fox: An Investigation Into the Appin Murder by Seamus Carney (published 1989 by Lochar Publishing Ltd.).  Its subject matter covers the assassination of Colin Campbell of Glenure in 1752.  This murder of a Hanoverian Government-apponted state official by a known Jacobite sympathiser is an event which has been elevated into near-mythical status following its appropriation by Robert Louis Stevenson, who used it as inspiration for his celebrated novels Kidnapped and Catriona.   Carney's book opens with the death of Campbell of Glenure, and objectively discusses its tragic and perhaps inevitable consequences, which ultimately resulted in the execution of James Stewart of Appin, aka 'James of the Glen'.

I've previously read and enjoyed Kidnapped , and I'd be the first to admit that as far as the novel's concerned, the rakish and impulsive Allan Breck Stewart steals the show.  When I spotted Carney's book I snapped it up, because I was eager to try and get closer to the truth behind the fiction.

The book's well-written and easy to read, but as is inevitably the case with a work dedicated to such a complex subject, the vast array of characters - which includes such colourful individuals as James Mor, Allan Oig, and Young and Old Ballachulish - can be difficult to follow,  Mind you, it's well worth the effort.  I found my loyalties wavering throughout, as different points-of-view were discussed in depth.  Glenure was a reasonable official, making the best of a bad job.  He most certainly did not deserve a bullet in the back. 

At the end, however, I was left thinking that a terrible miscarriage of justice had taken place.  I'm convinced that Allan Breck was the man most likely to have pulled the trigger, but I find it unlikely that James of the Glen had any involvement in planning and executing the murder.  But it does seem plausible that he was involved in covering-up Allan Breck's involvement and in trying to assist his escape.  These days, he'd be charged of attempting to pervert the cause of justice, which is hardly a hanging offence.

In the end, James was tried by a jury dominated by Campbells who were forced to endure a gruelling 48 hour sitting before they finally delivered the guilty verdict.  His death was politically motivated, and the accounts Carney quotes most certainly do not give a lasting impression of a true, unbiased trial.

To quote Carney:-

Each of the few pieces of evidence is open to various interpretations, putting it out of the question to give an arguable yeah or nay on the accused's guilt, but James guilty seems more of an assault on common sense than James innocent.  He needed no mystic insight to predict that Glenure would be replaced by a harsher factor with a draconian brief, that the evictions would go ahead, and the dead man's clan demand his neck.  To believe James guilty we are obliged to accept that a middle-aged, conscientious farmer induced a scapegrace daredevil [Allan Breck], a ranter whose mere presence was enough to make him the leading suspect, to shoot a man with whom the ringleader had drunk away the previous Hogmany. (Carney, 1989, 177).

Whether James Stewart of the Glen really deserved to die and have his body hung in chains at the spot of Glenure's murder is debateable,  But it seems unlikely, given the circumstances of his trial and the political situation at the time (not to mention the speedy departure of Allan Breck to safer shores) that there could have been any other outcome to this sad tale. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in 18th century Scotland and the Jacobite cause.  I'd also recommend it to those familiar with Kidnapped, as a way of putting this celebrated novel into its proper historical perspective. 

I must dig out my own copies of the RLS novels before I have the chance to forget the meaty contents of Carney's book, so I can carry out my own compare and contrast exercise...

Comments

[bellakara.livejournal.com]

That book does sound interesting. Terrible to think the poor man was innocent. I wondered if it was Breck and whether his conscience was ever haunted by it.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Breck also protested his innocence... He was a character who slid into folklore - an acquaintance of Sir Walter Scott allegedly met him once in a seedy hostelry in Paris, but it's hard to say whether the account was completely accurate.

A lot of the evidence does point towards Breck. The author cites a traditional tale passed down amongst the Campbells, that the young hotheads of the area had a shooting contest to decide who would be the man given the task of wiping out Glenure. It sounds quite plausible, that there were a lot of folk involved in the run-up to the killing and that James of the Glen probably wasn't one of them!