The Gaelic-speaking mountainous Highlands of Scotland had been largely autonomous from the rest of Scotland since the late medieval period and the region was viewed as lawless by people living in the Lowlands and in England. The 1745 Jacobite Uprising saw an increase in anti-Highlander sentiment following the support of several clans for Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Some of these clans had joined the Jacobite cause after facing hardship caused by decades of poor harvests and recurrent famine, while others, such as the MacDonalds of Glencoe, retained the Roman Catholic faith and had remained loyal to the Stuarts after the 'Glorious' Revolution of 1688 and the 1715 Uprising. Some clans also joined the cause due to their maintaining rivalries with the clans that supported the Hanoverian kings.
After the Jacobite defeat at Culloden in 1746, the British government sought to limit Highlander autonomy by introducing oaths of allegiance, establishing schools and banning many Highland cultural practices such as the wearing of tartan and the carrying of weapons. This anonymous manuscript is a fair copy of a series of recommendations made in 1752, perhaps as a report to the Commander in Scotland, George Churchill to be sent to Prince William, Duke of Cumberland in his role as commander-in-chief of the army. The text contains much pejorative language and reflects longstanding prejudices against the clans. While offered as new proposals to ‘civilise’ the Highlands, many of the recommendations had already been introduced by various Acts of Parliament from 1747 to 1751.