Clan chief

“ The old clan-system, with the idea which it nourished of the close relation between the various grades of the clan, of the duty of the chief to support his people, and of the people to do the will of the chief, must be abolished, and the Highlander must be taught, each man to depend entirely upon himself and his own exertions, and to expect nothing from any man but what he could pay for in labour or money. ”

“ The feudal lordship, in its genius and scope of operation, was diametrically opposed to the salient characteristics of the clan system. The distinctions need not be enlarged upon here, let it suffice to draw attention to the fact that clanship was a distinct form of government, under well recognized and applied principles. In modern literature we find the characteristic most emphasized to be the loyalty with which the clansman followed and served his chief, as in the words of the quotation on our toast list, "Master, go on and I will follow thee, to the last gasp, with truth and loyalty." ”

“ He, at the same time, called his clan together, absolved them from their allegiance, and implored them also to save themselves by flight; and to their honour be it said, one and all spurned the idea of leaving their chief in his old age alone to his fate, exclaiming—‘that death itself was preferable to shame and dishonour.’ To the surprise of all, however, the son, dressed in his best garb, and armed to the teeth, after taking a formal and affectionate farewell of his father, took to the hills amidst the contemptuous sneers of his brave retainers. ”

“ The predominance will probably, unless there be a great disparity in the actual size or importance of the clans, and perhaps even to a certain extent notwithstanding such a disparity, fall to the clan whose chief by his superior ability or courage or force of character, or perhaps capacity for palavering, has succeeded in securing for himself a predominating influence in the community. ”

“ Such family groups were what we call clans, and so far as is known they were the earliest form in which civil society appeared on the earth. Among all wandering or partially settled tribes the clan is to be found, and there are ample opportunities for studying it among our Indians in North America. The clan usually has a chief or head-man, useful mainly as a leader in wartime; its civil government, crude and disorderly enough, is in principle a pure democracy. ”

“ The clansmen considered themselves as the children of the chief, and the system demanded that they subordinate themselves to his rule. Without a chief or his substitute there could be no organized clan, and it is rightly understood how important was his position under the clan system. Chiefs of our Clan proved themselves to be worthy of the position, as a rule, and Simon Joseph, Lord Lovat, the young nobleman who now holds the chiefship, already gives promise of faithfully following in the footsteps of his forefathers. ”

“ For centuries the chief strength of the Highland race had lain in the clan. By right of birth every Highlander belonged to a sept or clan. His overlord was an elected chief, whom he was expected to obey under all circumstances. This chief led in war and exercised a wide authority over his people. Just below him were the tacksmen, who were more nearly related to him than were the ordinary clansmen. Every member of the clan had some land; indeed, each clansman had the same rights to the soil as the chief himself enjoyed. ”

“ I acknowledge, the benefit of being chief of a clan is in our days of very little significancy, and to trace out the progress of this honour to the founder of a family, of any standing, would perhaps be a matter of some difficulty. ”

“ Of old, the chieftain was not so much considered the master as the father of his numerous clan. Every degree of these followers loved him with an enthusiasm, which made them cheerfully undergo any fatigue or danger. Upon the other hand, it was his interest, his pride, and his chief glory, to requite such animated friendship to the utmost of his power. The rent paid him was chiefly consumed in feasts given at the habitations of his tenants. ”

“ Moreover, the clan is a society which is less able than any other to do without an emblem or symbol, for there is almost [Pg 233] no other so lacking in consistency. The clan cannot be defined by its chief, for if central authority is not lacking, it is at least uncertain and unstable. ”

“ But his rule only lasts as long as the others choose to obey him, and instead of being a sovereign, or even a commander-in-chief, he is but primus inter pares.
The clans themselves vary exceedingly in numbers, and, as a general rule, each clan consists of one family, gathered together after the patriarchal system. Then if one of the men should happen to excel his fellows he is sure to get together a band of followers, to separate in time from his family, and found a clan of his own. ”

“ Their united authority extended over all the members and the possessions of the clan, and they were independent of every other clan. There are in some places vestiges of this primitive state of society still remaining; the transition to a limited or to a despotic monarchy may be traced by means of the ancient legends in some islands, and in others it is a matter of recent history. One clan being more numerous and stronger than another, and its chief being ambitious, it is easy to see how by conquering a neighbouring clan he increased the importance of his clan and extended his own power. ”

“ When, through misfortune or otherwise, the family of the chief had become so reduced that he could no longer afford to his clan the protection required, and which formed the correlative obligation on his part to that of fealty and obedience on theirs, then the clansmen followed the oldest cadet as the head of the most powerful sept or branch of the clan ”

“ The ancient superstition concerning the foster son of the white doe was counterbalanced by a new and later prejudice, and the father took the opportunity of presenting to the clan his long hidden son, whose youthful, but handsome and animated, countenance, haughty carriage, and active limbs excited the admiration of the clansmen, who joyfully received him as the heir and descendant of their chief, notwithstanding the ominous presage attending his birth and nurture. ”

“ A clan consists of a chief whose authority is merely nominal, and of a number of his relatives varying from 20 to perhaps 200 souls. The whole system is patriarchal, no coercion being used unless it is sanctioned by the more influential members, approved by the consensus of opinion of the people, and in accord with traditional custom. ”

“ Should a chief have a very favourite boi, he sometimes grants him admission into his own clan. The “puitiam” being called, a fowl or a pig is sacrificed, after the appropriate prayer has been said, and a few of the hairs or feathers are tied round the man’s neck, and he is henceforth considered to belong to the chief’s clan. Anyone can thus admit another to his clan, but in practice it is seldom done, except by chiefs. I think the sacrifice is made with a view to propitiate the Sakhua of the clan which the man is abandoning. ”

“ Here, as elsewhere among the American aborigines, the clans were named after the animals chosen as their totem, but there were in addition {196} to these ordinary clans, the Sun clan, the Live Oak, the Turquoise, or others named from objects of nature. Each group of clans was governed by a priest chief, who had authority in all religious matters and, consequently, through religious influences, had large control in affairs pertaining to household government, and to social and political life in general. ”

“ While the position of chief was hereditary, yet the heir was obliged in honor to give a specimen of his valor, before he was assumed or declared leader of his people. Usually he made an incursion upon some chief with whom his clan had a feud. He gathered around him a retinue of young men who were ambitious to signalize themselves. They were obliged to bring, by open force, the cattle they found in the land they attacked, or else die in the attempt. If successful the youthful chief was ever after reputed valiant and worthy of the government. ”

“ The very entity of a clan springs from the kinship of its individual members, and, as in a family, the stronger or abler brother might be selected on a given occasion to represent, defend, or otherwise uphold the family, so in a Manóbo clan or sect the stronger or the wiser member is recognized as chief. ”

“ Indian-wise, his parents had arranged a suitable marriage for him, selecting a girl of his own tribe, of the correct clan to mate with his own, so that the line of blood heritage would be intact, and the sons of the next generation would be of the "Blood Royal," qualified by rightful lineage to inherit the title of chief. ”

“ The clan, of which remains still exist in the mountains of Scotland, and the sept of Ireland, is a modification of the patriarchal society: it is the family of the chief, expanded during a succession of generations, and forming a little aggregation of dependents, still influenced by the same attachments, and subjected to the same authority. ”

“ The military ranks of the clans were fixed and perpetual. The chief was, of course, the principal commander. The oldest cadet commanded the right wing, and the youngest the rear. Every head of a distinct family was captain of his own tribe. An ensign or standard-bearer was attached to each clan, who [318] generally inherited his office, which had been usually conferred on an ancestor who had distinguished himself. ”

“ Clan, a tribe of blood relations descended from a common ancestor, ranged under a chief in direct descent from him, and having a common surname, as in the Highlands of Scotland; at bottom a military organisation for defensive and predatory purposes.
Clan-na-Gael, a Fenian organisation founded at Philadelphia in 1870, to secure by violence the complete emancipation of Ireland from British control. ”

“ After that, unless he obtained the intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he was forced to obey, return to his own clan, or contract an alliance elsewhere. “The women were the chief power in the clans, and they did not hesitate, when necessary, to depose a chief, and make him re-enter the ranks of simple warriors. The election of the chiefs always depended on them.” ”

“ It is necessary that a chief of each of the three "clans" of the Mohawks shall assist in this ceremony. The veteran chief, who sang the formula, was of the Bear clan. His son, Onwanonsyshon, was of the Wolf (the clan-ship descends through the mother's side of the family) . Then one other chief, of the Turtle clan, and in whose veins coursed the blood of the historic Brant, now stepped to the edge of the scarlet blanket. ”

“ In the case of very great families, or when the domains of a chief became very extensive, it was usual for the head of the clan occasionally to grant large territories to the younger branches of his family in return for a trifling quit-rent. These persons were called chieftains, to whom the lower classes looked up as their immediate leader. These chieftains were in later times called tacksmen; but at all periods they were considered nearly in the same light as proprietors, and acted on the same principles. ”

“ The clan headmen were always subordinate to the tribal chief, the early tribal governments being a loose confederation of clans. The native Australians never developed a tribal form of government.
The clan peace chiefs usually ruled through the mother line; the tribal war chiefs established the father line. The courts of the tribal chiefs and early kings consisted of the headmen of the clans, whom it was customary to invite into the king's presence several times a year. ”

“ At first the father of a family would take council with the sons, the head of a clan with the fathers of families, the chief of a tribe with the heads of clans, and as these heads of clans grew into little kings, the ablest of them would lead the nation in time of war, as Agamemnon did the chiefs p. ”

“ A member of a clan is simply a relative, a person of the same blood and family as the head of the clan, and according to their custom he obeys the commands of his chieftain.
In ancient times, when a Highland chieftain went to war, he had the right to call on every man in the clan to join him. ”

“ As the system of clanship was calculated to cherish a warlike spirit, the young chiefs and heads of families were regarded or despised according to their military or peaceable disposition. If they revenged a quarrel with another clan by killing some of the enemy, or carrying off their cattle and laying their lands waste, they were highly esteemed, and great expectations were formed of their future prowess and exploits. ”

“ The whole body of the clan were summoned to decide upon the question of war or peace. Every petty chieftain of every minor tribe, if not every individual clansman, had a voice not only in this primary question, but also, when the war was declared, in the questions arising upon subsequent military operations... The kings or chieftains were themselves chosen by the clan, although the choice was limited to those who possessed a sort of hereditary right, often complicated by a comparison of the personal merits of the rival claimants. ”

“ When all military character, all feudal subordination, all heritable jurisdiction, all independent authority of chiefs, are extracted from what used to be called a clan, nothing remains of its essential and peculiar features. ”

“ Pity him who has lost their defence, Pity him who forsakes their protection. There is no clan like the clan Donald, The noble clan of firmest mind. Who is there can number their gifts? Who is there can count their nobles? Without limit, commencement or close, Of excellencies among their gentry. First of all with the clan Donald, There is knowledge which they learn; Last of all, there is among them Polish, generosity, and modesty. ’Tis in sorrow and in grief Understanding and learning are got, By him who them would have. ”